THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/16/14 -- Vol. 32, No. 46, Whole Number 1806
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Context Is Everything (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Trailer Park Returns
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch (book review
by Gwendolyn Karpierz)
AS HIGH AS THE SKY (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Genealogy and DNA (letter of comment by Steve Milton)
Meat, Hugo Comments, and Freebie Books (letter of comment
by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (IMAGINED COMMUNITIES, THE ART OF THE
MOVING PICTURES, Hugo Award news) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Context Is Everything (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I just don't understand myself. I like latkes (potato pancakes) a
lot, particularly but not necessarily with apple sauce. I really
like the crispiness. I realized some years back that just about
everything I like about them I can get in Burger King hash browns.
I am not all that keen on Burger King hash browns, but I get them
in entirely a different context. So why don't I have more
affection for Burger King hash browns? [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Trailer Park Returns (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
In the old days, which were really not all that long ago, one of
the joys of going to the World Science Fiction Convention was that
the film distributors would send trailers of their upcoming films
that they thought would be of interest to science fiction fandom.
The program would be called "Trailer Park". I guess it was a place
where trailers could be "parked" and then shown to the fans. For
many of us this was the first time we were hearing of some of the
films that were coming out. I can remember seeing the trailer for
a film called ED WOOD. I did not expect a lot from the film, but I
said right there that Martin Landau would get an Academy Award
nomination for playing Bela Lugosi. Actually he got the Oscar
itself. The trailer for GATTACA looked like a made-for-television
scare film. It later turned out to be one of the best science
fiction films of the 1990s. I used to write a commentary on the
film trailers I had seen.
I have not been to a Trailer Park in years, but a lot of trailers
are available on-line so I will make my own trailer park using a
list of the summer science fiction published by io9.com. Here is
what I see coming up in the next few weeks. You can read my
remarks and then see the actual trailer with the links provided.
So as not to let this article go too long I cover only releases
through
June 6.
[I will excuse myself from watching a GODZILLA trailer. I want to
see the film having seen as little publicity as possible.]
List of films: http://tinyurl.com/mtv-summer
THE DOUBLE (May 9)
Already in minimal release is this updating of a story by Fyodor
Dostoevsky, though the trailer has more the feel of Franz Kafka.
Simon (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is a nearly nameless functionary
in a government job. That would be bad enough but the same agency
hires James who looks identical to Simon but has a social life and
a personality. Having an identical twin becomes a mixed blessing.
James can give Simon advice on the opposite sex, but soon they
apparently have a weird falling out. Simon and James are both
played by Jesse Eisenberg.
http://tinyurl.com/mtv-doubles
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (May 23)
This film features Wolverine in a story involving time travel.
From the trailer I pick up that Wolverine (Hugh Jackman whom
elsewhere was Jean Valjean) has been sent fifty years into the past
to the 1970s to bring a message from somebody to his fifty-year-
younger self. This mission deals with stopping somethings called
"the Seminals." They apparently are robotic killing machines that
were intended to kill mutants but--gosh darn it--are targeting
mutant and non-mutant alike. There are a lot of comic-book films
and they seem to still be making big profits, but I expect that
they will at some point overstay their welcome. People will get
used to the better writing of television series like GAME OF
THRONES and will tire of the sameness of comic book themes.
http://tinyurl.com/mtv-days-future
MALEFICENT (May 30)
The Broadway and West End musical "Wicked"--seeing Oz from the
point of view of the Wicked Witch--did really well and Disney is
apparently looking at their back material to see what can be the
source for films. Maleficent was the villain of "Sleeping Beauty"
and Disney Films will be similarly showing her side of the story.
Disney is gambling that SLEEPING BEAUTY is as beloved as THE WIZARD
OF OZ. I am not so sure. In any case they appear to be retelling
the fairy tale capturing the look in live action. Angelina Jolie
will take the title role and has artificial REALLY high cheekbones.
The trailer is certainly reminiscent of the original animated film
artwork. But the whole film feels like a "me-too" copy. Then
again, Disney Studios by now knows how to do their old work in
live-action.
http://tinyurl.com/mtv-maleficent
EDGE OF TOMORROW (June 6)
Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt are apparently soldiers fighting the
same battle over and over again until they figure how to win it.
It sounds a lot like a video game and even more like GROUNDHOG DAY.
The special effects in the trailer look exquisite like maybe only
twenty or thirty other films opening this summer. The trailer
starts out with Cruise trying to tell someone that what he has to
say sounds crazy but the people he talks to have to listen. Sound
like the X-MEN trailer? That coincidence makes the writing looks
even more derivative than we were expecting. These films seem
designed to show off Cruise, who does look good for his age, but
who cares?
THE SACRAMENT (June 6)
Ti West (who made the low-budget horror films THE HOUSE OF THE
DEVIL (2009) and THE INNKEEPERS (2011)) does a horror story that
looks like it could almost be true. A magazine sends a film crew
to visit Eden Parish, a Christian utopia. I have to say that I
personally like films of religious zealotry gone awry, especially
TICKET TO HEAVEN (1981) and the more recent MARTHA MARCY MAY
MARLENE (2011). This one may have limited appeal because it is yet
another found-footage film.
RIGOR MORTIS (June 6)
I cannot tell a lot from the trailer except that there is a lot of
horrific action and a lot of subtitles ripped away too fast.
Apparently the story has to do with Chinese hopping ghosts who have
something to do with vampires. Normally the two don't mix, in
spite of the fact that the film MR. VAMPIRE was really about a
hopping ghost. The trailer seems to involve both. Actually a
hopping ghost is a ghost who still has a soul (or "po"). The newly
dead person walks at night, or rather is too stiff to walk so he
hops. Somehow I find that too often these Hong Kong films will
have a good first two acts, but they try to pack too much action
into the final reel. Still, I bet this will be a film worth
seeing.
That about covers the next month. Let me know if you like this
sort of guide. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch (copyright 2006,
Bantam Spectra, $7.99, 566pp, ISBN 978-0-553-58894-1) (excerpt from
the Duel Fish Codices: a book review by Gwendolyn Karpierz)
If you're reading this, you probably already know my dad, Joe
Karpierz, who's been writing book reviews for the MT VOID for as
long as I can remember. Well, I'm about to graduate with a
creative writing degree, and I'm throwing down the glove. Let's
duel.
I thought I would introduce myself by fawning over one of my
favorite books in the entire world, THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA. This
book is about what I can best describe as "high-class con men
outsmarting the hell out of everyone else." That's actually what
this whole series is about: the Gentleman Bastards, a group of
orphans brought together under a con artist priest who teaches them
to live the high life while pretending not to. I ... I could go
into more detail, but really, that's it, distilled down to its most
perfect essence.
What do I talk about first in describing the masterpiece that is
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA? How do I encompass all of it without
writing a review as long as this book? (And it is a long book.
More than 700 pages. Worth it.) Should I begin with the world,
the characters, the style? I'm not sure I'm qualified to talk
about the characters without dissolving into unintelligible raving,
since it is impossible not to love them. They are just ...
magnificent. Have I used the word magnificent yet in this review?
I intend to use it several more times. Each of these characters is
impossibly compelling. I might be a little in love with the Sanza
twins--but I am /definitely/ in love with Locke Lamora. But, see,
I'm not in love with them because they're perfect and beautiful
people. They're pretty much not. They steal for fun, they're not
pretty, they swear a lot--and they're /incredibly/ witty and
inventive and resourceful and /brilliant/. Each one has their own
specialties and pasts, and they use what they're given to them.
They acknowledge their flaws and are utterly hilarious about it.
***
"My name," said Locke Lamora, "is /Lukas Fehrwight/... I am
wearing clothes that will be full of sweat in several minutes. I
am dumb enough to walk around Camorr without a blade of any sort.
Also," he said with a hint of ponderous regret, "I am entirely
fictional."
"I'm very sorry to hear that, Master Fehrwight," said Calo...
"My attendant will be along any moment," Locke/Fehrwight said as
he/they stepped aboard the barge. "His name is /Graumann/, and he
too suffers from a slight case of being imaginary."
"Merciful gods," said Calo, "it must be catching."
***
So what next? The world. The /world/. I am utterly boggled by
the world that Lynch has created here. It's so unbelievably in-
depth ... on top of being, yes, magnificent. First, there was this
strange alien civilization. We don't really know anything about
them except that they are called the Eldren, they built these
entirely spectacular cities made of Elderglass--which is
phenomenally gorgeous and does not break, among other things - and
they left long before the people. But see, Lynch doesn't stop
there. That wasn't the only thing that happened in this world
before the story. There's /history/ here, whole swathes of past.
The Therin Throne, the wars and rebellions, an intricate web of
city locales with their own anecdotes, rules and laws and rumors,
everything. Lynch could write volumes of history for his own
world. (Maybe he has. I wouldn't know.)
I will let this lead into one tiny qualm I have with this book:
/occasionally/ he tells us a /little too much/. Just a little.
Most of the time, I love exploring the world with him, but
sometimes, the interludes are infinitesimally out of place, and
yank me out of the tale. For example: I will never quite agree
with the addition of the handball narrative, which is an amusing
interjection with a justifiable reason for being included ... but
it's still pretty unnecessary. Counterexample: the story of the
fall of the Therin Throne is obviously a perfect foundation to
explain to us the utter lunacy in Locke's subsequent actions.
It would, admittedly, be nice if these things were woven in a
little more. I like subtle but not obscure foreshadowing, but
these interludes aren't really integrated. Either we have these
completely blunt interjections, or we have absolutely no way of
being able to guess what's going to happen. There were really no
clues to allow us to guess at the Gray King's identity or
motivations, and even reading this for the fourth time, I had no
idea what was going to happen, because there just aren't any clues
to remind me. Even looking for them, there aren't any.
Okay, so this book isn't /one-hundred percent/ perfect. It has
flaws, like its characters. That probably makes it better. It's
still /at least/ 97% perfect. Moving on.
***
The hour of Falselight had come.
From the heights of the Five Towers to the obsidian smoothness of
the vast glass breakwaters, to the artificial reefs beneath the
slate-colored waves, Falselight radiated from every surface and
every shard of Elderglass in Camorr, from every speck of the alien
material left so long before by the creatures that had first shaped
the city. Every night, as the west finally swallowed the sun, the
glass bridges would become threads of firefly light; the glass
towers and glass avenues and the strange glass sculpture-gardens
would shimmer wanly with violet and azure and orange and pearl
white, and the moons and stars would fade to gray.
***
I will never not be in love with the Elderglass. It is beyond
intriguing - and additionally, it is described with such loving
detail. But the thing about Lynch's style is that it is a
beautiful--dare I say, /magnificent/--amalgam of description and
... well, not description. He could bog us down in describing
every single thing in exquisite detail, but he doesn't. He
describes some things, which are gorgeous and intricate and
meticulously-depicted--but then he also lets things /happen/, lets
perfect dialogue flow, lets action surround the description. I
/want/ him to describe things to me in glorious illumination. Then
I want him to move on. And he does. And the suspense! Lynch is
fantastic at suspense, especially in the beginning.
Perhaps I should also spare a moment for the plot. The plot! It
does /not/ fall down on the job of supporting the rest of the
phenomena of this book. There are a couple plots that weave
together beautifully, starting with an intricately planned theft
and devolving into /heart-rending agony/, revenge stories, and
Locke Lamora/the Gentleman Bastards /outsmarting the hell out of
everyone else/. Because they are that fabulous.
***
Reading these books fills me with the strange paradoxical emotions
of wanting to /write immediately/ and knowing that I should /never
write again/ because I can never create anything an /eighth/ of the
brilliance Locke's schemes. I am actually convinced that Lynch
must be a criminal mastermind himself. How else would his
characters be able to imagine such /inconceivable solutions/ to
such /inconceivable problems/?
In summary: I love this book too much.
Revised summary: If you haven't read this book, your life is an
/empty, yawning abyss/ and you will not realize what poor life
choices you have made until you /rectify this immediately/. [-gmk]
==================================================================
TOPIC: AS HIGH AS THE SKY (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Nikki Braendlin writes and directs a film that tells us
being alone can be an act of fate, but getting a family can be an
act of choice. Abandoned by her fiance, Margaret lives
mechanically to care for her fancy home. When her sister and niece
come unannounced for a short visit Margaret's life is in for
change. This is a bittersweet story of loneliness and family
relationships. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
This is a bittersweet story of family relationships going wrong and
going right. Margaret (played by Caroline Fogarty) was devastated
when the man she was engaged to for three years suddenly broke off
their relationship. It seems to have ripped out her emotions. Now
she lives without apparent feeling with her only real companion
being the fabulous house and garden she cares for meticulously as
if it took the place of the husband and possible child she expected
to have. Using this dull but disciplined lifestyle as a surrogate
for family, she lives like the living dead and seems to be the
least qualified person to do her job, planning fun parties for
others. Her social life seems to be long phone conversations with
two boring aunts.
Then Margaret's sister Josephine (Bonnie McNeil) who has a nearly
opposite personality and her daughter Hannah (Laurel Porter) come
for an unannounced visit. Margaret sadly watches her sister and
niece. They have more a friendship than a mother-daughter
relationship. But Hannah does not at all like her Aunt Margaret.
More family--more people close to care about--is just what Margaret
needs. Margaret decides to win over her niece, little expecting
that Josephine is holding back a secret that will change her
relationship.
All of the speaking roles are women's roles. The three main
actresses, Fogarty, McNeil, and Porter take naturally to their
parts. Porter is a little prickly as a twelve-year-old is likely
to be. Her acting reminds one of Amara Miller from THE DESCENDENTS
(2011) and she goes through a similar evolution. Caroline
Fogarty's flaming red hair almost belies her timid and brittle
personality. Her sister, played by Bonnie McNeil, is the kind of
mother who makes life exciting as she seems always anxious to take
a bite out of life.
AS HIGH AS THE SKY is Nikki Braendlin's first produced screenplay
and her first time as director. She also has a credit as executive
producer. The budget has been kept low by mostly filming in just
one house. And it is a beautiful house. The idea that a party
planner is sufficiently successful to be able to afford such a
house leads one to wonder just what actually goes on at the sort of
parties that Margaret plans. The house has a very pleasant color
scheme of pastel blues and oranges that extend to Margaret's
wardrobe. She almost fades into the background.
Braendlin's film gives us three women who find they have to weather
and adapt to very different sets of changes to their lives. It
takes a while but they become endearing. I rate AS HIGH AS THE SKY
a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. So far the film has mostly
played at film festivals but was released on DVD on May 6, 2014,
and will be released to VOD on June 6.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119383/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/as_high_as_the_sky/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Genealogy and DNA (letter of comment by Steve Milton)
In response to Greg Frederick's comments on genealogy and DNA in
the 05/09/14 issue of the MT VOID, Steve Milton writes:
My wife discovered she is distantly related (on her Mother's side)
to about 40% of Laplanders (Sami MtDNA (female) haplotype U5b1)
which is quite interesting since none of her ancestors are
Scandanavian. [-smm]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Meat, Hugo Comments, and Freebie Books (letter of comment by
John Purcell)
In response to the 05/09/14 issue of the MT VOID, John Purcell
writes:
Once again I thank you for the latest VOID, which certainly fills
the weekly hole in my email account. A couple quick comments are
in order, naturally. [-jp]
In response to Mark's comments on meat, John writes:
Bouncing around a bit here, I am definitely an omnivore since I'll
eat pretty much anything, but I do enjoy eating meat. Probably too
much, I'm afraid. Discovery Channel's Andrew Zimmern would be my
choice for patron saint of food: Adam Richman is obviously the
patron saint of gluttony. [-jp]
Mark responds:
I also eat just about anything including spider. I have, however
given up on octopus because it is amazingly intelligent and has an
interesting personality. [-mrl]
In response to James Nicoll's comments on the Hugo nominees, John
writes:
The comments about gender parity in the Hugo Awards make sense to
me since there are certainly a lot more women writers and artists
today. So I'm not surprised except that of all the people I'd
consider sexist, SF fans would not be my first choice. Then again,
maybe chauvinistic habits born of societal training are hard to
break. We people are such products of our environments. [-jp]
And in closing, John writes:
I've been reading the freebie books I picked up at LoneStarCon 3
and reviewing them in my perzine ASKEW. So far the quality is hit
or miss: of the three read so far one was enjoyable but
predictable, another pretty good for yet another vampire novel, and
the third one (a modern horror) dull and poorly paced. So it goes.
[-jp]
And so goes this loc. Slow going on a cellphone, too. Oh, well.
Such is how it goes these days. [-jp]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
IMAGINED COMMUNITIES: REFLECTIONS ON THE ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF
NATIONALISM by Benedict Anderson (ISBN 978-0-86091-546-1) is a 1991
revision of an earlier edition. In the original 1983 introduction,
he talks about the nationalization of Marxist movements, as
reflected in conflicts between two nations, both of which are
Marxist and hence would be presumed to be allies. "Who can be
confident that Yugoslavia and Albania will not one day come to
blows?" By 1991, most of the Marxist regimes he mentions are no
longer Marxist, and Yugoslavia was in the process of destroying
itself as a single nation. While in the preface to the new edition
the author recognizes his lack of foresight in the collapse of the
USSR, the revision was probably written too early to recognize that
Yugoslavia was destined for the same result.
And as proof that hindsight is always better, Anderson wrote of the
paradox of "the formal universality as a socio-cultural concept--in
the modern world, everyone can, should, will 'have' a nationality,
as he or she 'has' a gender." In 1983, or even perhaps 1991, the
universality of gender as a descriptor was still thought by most to
be a given. Today, it seems as outdated as the idea that someone
has a specific race.
Anderson's premise seems to be that many (most?) nationalist
movements are based around a vernacular language, or more
specifically, a written vernacular language. But this seems less
based on the language per se and more on the ability to use the
written vernacular language to arouse a nationalist sentiment.
Anderson relates one incident that is one of those "what were they
thinking?" incidents. In 1913, the Dutch decided to celebrate the
centennial of the "national liberation" of the Netherlands from
French imperialism. So the Dutch colonial government in Batavia
(Netherlands East Indies) decreed that they too would celebrate it-
-not just the Dutch community, but also the native population. Not
surprisingly, Indonesian nationalists jumped onto this, pointing
out to the apparently clueless colonial government that 1) a people
held in subjection to Dutch imperialism might not be that
enthusiastic about Dutch independence from France, and 2) a people
held in subjection to Dutch imperialism might take inspiration from
the Dutch gaining independence from France, and decide to get their
own independence.
THE ART OF THE MOVING PICTURE by Vachel Lindsay (ISBN 978-0-375-
75613-9) is said to be the first book of film criticism. The
problem is that almost all the films Lindsay discusses are unknown
today (and quite possibly lost). One thing that remains is his
division of films into three categories, which he says are
analogous to painting, sculpture, and architecture. We have the
intimate drama, based on characterization--that's painting. We
have the action film--that's sculpture. And we have the epic--
that's architecture.
Lindsay puts forth the radical notion that films should not have a
musical accompaniment, but rather that theaters should promote
conversation among the audience during the film! However, he does
say that if sound films ever get to a naturalistic level (rather
than the very primitive experiments in sound films in 1915, which
consisted mostly of playing a record to go along with the film), he
would change his mind.
The only other comment I have is that where we say that a character
is "played" by an actor, Lindsay says they were "impersonated" by
someone. Every time I read this, I think that the actor is somehow
claiming to be someone else with malicious intent.
In further Hugo Award news, the "Hugo Packet" is still not ready,
but at least three of the five current-year novel nominees will
*not* be in the packet.
"This year, Orbit--the publisher of Mira Grant's 'Parasite', Ann
Leckie's 'Ancillary Justice', and Charles Stross's 'Neptune's
Brood'--have decided that for policy reasons they can't permit the
shortlisted novels to be distributed for free in their entirety.
Instead, substantial extracts from the books will be included in
the Hugo voters packet."
Now my comments:
It should be noted that the three authors (Charles Stross, Anne
Leckie, and Mira Grant) have expressed their unhappiness with this
decision.
Actually, the packet is most useful to the serious Hugo voter for
the other categories, especially the related book and fan
categories. Traditionally, the short fiction has been hard to
find, though as everything goes electronic, it should theoretically
become easier.
John Scalzi's and Charles Stross's blogs contain the authors' joint
statement, as well as lots of comments. Culled from these comments
is the information that many people were led to believe that if
they bought a Supporting Membership, that would include all the
novels, and that a *thousand* Supporting Memberships have been sold
since the Hugo slate was announced. Several of these people have
said (in the comments) that they bought the membership to get the
"Wheel of Time" but had hoped to get the other novels to see what
they were like. However, they would probably not get them
separately, which could lead to a lot of ballots with a vote for
"Wheel of Time" and nothing else in the Novel category (or any
other category except maybe Dramatic Presentations). This would
have two effects: "Wheel of Time" would win for Novel because the
other works were not available (a thousand first-place votes go a
long way), and some categories might be eliminated entirely this
year because of the rule that any category must be voted for on at
least 25% of the total ballots submitted. Stay tuned for further
developments.
I have not heard anything about what, if anything, from the Retro
Hugo ballot will be in the packet, and I am curious about that
since some of the short fiction has only been reprinted once or
twice in hard-to-find books. (The good news is that I think four
of the five Dramatic Presentations can be included; traditionally
none of the DPs get included.) [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
--Sir Winston Churchill