THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
07/20/12 -- Vol. 31, No. 3, Whole Number 1711
Beauty: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Beast: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
All material is copyrighted by author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent will be assumed authorized for inclusion
unless otherwise noted.
To subscribe, send mail to mtvoid-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send mail to mtvoid-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
The latest issue is at http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm.
Topics:
Trajectory of a Falling Batman
Redshirts (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Look of High Tech (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Stream the Restored METROPOLIS (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Wah Ming Chang, Another Special Effects Genius (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
A Look at Jo Walton's Take on the Dramatic Presentation
Hugo (1992 Films) (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S. A. Corey (book review
by Joe Karpierz)
THE HIDDEN REALITY: PARALLEL UNIVERSES AND THE DEEP LAWS OF
THE COSMOS by Brian Greene (book review
by Greg Frederick)
THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
How to Vote the Hugos (comments by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
This Week's Reading (THE LONG GOODBYE, A TANGLE IN SLOPS,
THE BOOK OF THE UNKNOWN: TALES OF THE THIRTY-SIX, and
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Trajectory of a Falling Batman
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/395518/batman-jpg.pdf
This paper by D. A. Marshall, T. O. Hands, I. Griffiths, and
G. Douglas begins:
"In the film BATMAN BEGINS, Batman can glide from tall buildings
using his 'memory cloth' cape, which becomes rigid when a current
is passed through it [1]. This method of gliding is similar to
that used by base jumpers with wingsuits, where the wingsuit acts
as an aerofoil to create a horizontal force propelling the base
jumper forwards [2]. This paper analyses whether Batman could
generate enough lift to glide successfully."
[-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: REDSHIRTS (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Writer John Scalzi has an amusing sixteen-minute interview on NPR
discussing his new novel REDSHIRTS. You can hear it at the link
below.
http://tinyurl.com/void-redshirts
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The Look of High Tech (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Technology has made people look very different. BlueTooth has
convinced people to walk around with things hanging from their
ears. Soon we are getting Google Glasses. I think somebody
defaced a poster in a subway and now we are developing technology
to make everybody really look like that. We will soon have the
Microsoft missing tooth and the Apple mustache. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Stream the Restored METROPOLIS (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Not long ago someone found a lot of footage that had been cut from
Fritz Lang's 1927 classic science fiction film METROPOLIS after its
release. The whole film including the new footage was restored.
It seems to me there were special showings with a high admission
price to see the film. Then Turner Classic Movies showed the full
restored film to those who had TCM on their cable. (That was when
I saw it.) But as these things go they generally become free to
the public eventually. You can now stream it. The Open Culture
site (a good site to follow) has found it on YouTube and is making
it public together with a 32-page, profusely illustrated, film
program from the original 1927 release. (For the program click on
the picture at the top of the Open Culture posting.)
http://tinyurl.com/leeper-metropolis
(Gad, what I wouldn't have given to have access to all this stuff
when I was 14. Now it is given away free.) [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Wah Ming Chang, Another Special Effects Genius (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
Last week I was talking about JACK THE GIANT KILLER (1962), which
was a me-too knockoff of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958), a film
with special effects by the very well known stop-motion animation
effects creator Ray Harryhausen. For JACK THE GIANT KILLER the
effects were done by a group of lesser-known effects artists
including Jim Danforth, Gene Warren, Tim Barr, and one familiar
name, Wah Chang. I vaguely remembered Wah Chang had worked on
George Pal's THE TIME MACHINE. In fact I had seen his name
associated with several films and television shows. Curiosity led
me to look up his filmography in the IMDB, and the sheer breadth of
his film credits was very simply a jaw-dropper. No disrespect
meant for toward Ray Harryhausen, but Wah Chang's contributions may
well be as widespread as Harryhausen's. I certainly have heard or
read of him but am surprised that he is not better known than he
is. So what have I been able to find out?
Wah Ming Chang was born in Hawaii, but his parents moved to San
Francisco. Both Chang's parents were artists but also ran a
tearoom that had many artists in it clientele. The young boy would
sit in the tea room and sketch and get advice from local artists
including one well-known, Blanding Sloan who mentored him from age
seven. Wah took particular interest in puppets. By age nine Wah
was having public showings of his art. At age eleven Wah's mother
died and his father decided to start over in Europe without his
family. The young Wah was more or less adopted by Blanding Sloan.
At twenty-one Wah went to work for Walt Disney Studios making
maquettes. Maquettes are three-dimensional wooden models of the
characters in the film so that artists can see to help them to draw
cells. That same year he also contracted polio and lost the use of
his legs. It was a strong inconvenience, but it did not sap his
vitality. Blanding Sloan gave him art projects that he could do
from a wheelchair. He did character maquettes for PINOCCHIO,
FANTASIA, and BAMBI. Even with the inconvenience of his paralysis,
he was all over fantasy films and television.
After World War II he partnered with Gene Warren, whom he had met
doing work on one of the Puppetoons for George Pal, "Tulips Shall
Grow". Chang together with Gene Warren formed special effects
house to make short films, Centaur Productions. It failed, but
later they founded and headed up a loose confederation of artists
in a group called "Projects Unlimited". They were the first real
special effects company, the forerunner of Industrial Light and
Magic. That name, "Projects Unlimited", should be familiar to
fans of the original "Outer Limits" science fiction television
program. Each episode credited Projects Unlimited. For that
program Chang helped to create the ant-human chimeras called "The
Zanti Misfits".
One day when Pal was planning TOM THUMB he ran into Gene Warren on
the street. Right there he hired Projects Unlimited to do effects
for TOM THUMB. That started a long relationship with Pal, Chang,
and Warren. Chang worked for Pal on films including TOM THUMB; THE
TIME MACHINE; ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT; THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF
THE BROTHERS GRIMM; 7 FACES OF DR. LAO; and THE POWER. In Pal
films his work seems frequently to have a sort of storybook quality
and he will often be the visual creator of dragons. While Chang
did not design the famous Time Machine--that was designed by George
Pal and William Ferrari--he did build the miniature version that
carries the bent cigar into the future.
Also doing work for Universal, Chang did the giant spider puppet we
see looking in a bedroom window in TARANTULA. He did the cubist
robotic energy collector for Fox for KRONOS. Chang did small
figures for SPARTACUS to be used for forced perspective and
designed headdresses for Elizabeth Taylor in CLEOPATRA. He did
designs for the dinosaurs on "Land of the Lost." He did props for
PLANET OF THE APES (1968).
The original television "Star Trek" series owes much to Chang. He
built models for the original "Star Trek". The communicators that
crewmembers of the Enterprise use and which inspired the design of
many flip cell phones were created by Chang. Chang Also designed
the tricorder and the tribbles for the episode "The Trouble with
Tribbles".
Wah Chang died December 22, 2003, in Carmel, California.
From the end of World War II for thirty years, Wah Chang from his
wheelchair was a major force in visual fantasy films and television
in the United States. It is sad that fans of these films generally
know so little about him.
Postscript: I cannot help but feel that by concentrating so much on
Chang I have slighted Gene Warren whose career is also very
impressive. Perhaps I should do a piece on him also.
IMDB Entry for Wah Chang:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0151853/
Biography of Wah Chang:
http://colemanzone.com/Time_Machine_Project/wah_chang.htm
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: A Look at Jo Walton's Take on the Dramatic Presentation
Hugo (1992 Films) (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Jo Walton recently published a series of retrospectives on the Hugo
Awards through 2000. While she concentrated on the novels, she
also occasionally discussed other categories, and was remarkably
consistent in her dislike, not to say outright hostility, towards
the Dramatic Presentation category. Her stated opinion was that
often there weren't even enough worthy candidates to fill the
ballot, and she rarely thought the winner worthy of a Hugo.
Well, I am not going to look at every year, but let me choose one,
somewhat at random with the requirements that Walton dislike it and
that it be recent enough for fans to remember it. I chose 1992
(Hugos awarded in 1993) for which she said, "Bah, humbug." (See
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/07/hugo-nominees-1993 for her full
column for that year.)
The nominees were:
ALADDIN
ALIEN 3
BATMAN RETURNS
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: "The Inner Light"
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: "The Inner Light" was the winner.
I will agree that several of the nominees were not all that Hugo-
worthy, namely ALADDIN, ALIEN 3, and BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA. For
what it's worth, Mark agrees with me, having rated the films as
follows on a 0-to-10 scale:
ALADDIN: 5
ALIEN 3: 4
BATMAN RETURNS: 8
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA: 7
So in some sense, I agree with her "Bah, humbug."
But what Walton misses are all the other dramatic presentations
that were eligible. There is an irony to this: for the novels she
looks at every novel nominated for all the major awards *and* all
the moderately-known novels they all missed. (I am assuming she
does not list every minor novel published in a given year.) But
for the dramatic presentations, she does not look at what the
nominators missed. Hence, her feeling that there are not enough
worthy candidates is based on very incomplete data.
In 1992, what else could have been on the ballot?
The most obvious omission was PRELUDE TO A KISS, unabashedly
fantasy and present on many "Top Ten" lists of the year (including
Mark's). It is not as though fantasy films had never been
nominated (or won) before this.
This was also the year for atmospheric horror with tinges of the
fantastic. We had both SHADOWS AND FOG and ZENTROPA (a.k.a.
EUROPA), as well as a new version of Franz Kafka's THE TRIAL (with
Kyle MacLachlan, not Anthony Perkins). SHADOWS AND FOG was made by
Woody Allen, who previously won a Hugo for SLEEPER. ZENTROPA was by
Lars von Triers and won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1991. To me,
either of them would seem to be a worthy choice.
For animated film, there was Hideo Miyazaki's PORCO ROSSO. It may
not have been one of his greatest films, but it was certainly
better than ALADDIN.
On television, there was DISASTER IN TIME (a.k.a. GRAND TOUR,
a.k.a. TIMESCAPE), based on C. L. Moore's "Vintage Season". It
does take liberties with the story, but is clearly superior to
ALIEN 3. There was also Julie Taymor's "Fool's Fire" (based on
Edgar Allan Poe's "Hop-Frog"), and David Mamet's THE WATER ENGINE.
And this set of possibilities was generated solely from a catalog
of what we have. There may well be other worthy works that for
whatever reason we do not have on VHS or DVD.
Were these all great? No. Were they better than what did make the
ballot? Yes. I do not remember what I nominated (it was twenty
years ago), and it is possible that a few of the films I did not
see until later. But what I would nominate now would be:
"Fool's Fire"
PRELUDE TO A KISS
SHADOWS AND FOG
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: "The Inner Light"
THE WATER ENGINE
(I am not absolutely sure I would include STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION: "The Inner Light". It has been years since I saw it,
but as I recall it was a well-done episode on a traditional science
fiction trope.)
Of course, maybe this just means that the nominators don't look far
enough afield for worthy nominees. But it is hard to claim that
"Hop-Frog" and THEWATER ENGINE, which ran on PBS, had only limited
releases, or that PRELUDE TO A KISS was hard to find in theaters.
If indeed the only works that get nominated are the blockbusters,
then there is a problem, but it is more with the voters than the
category.
After writing the above, we happened to watch WHO FRAMED ROGER
RABBIT, the winner for films made in 1988 (awarded in 1989). But
I'll write about that year next week. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S. A. Corey (copyright 2011, Orbit,
$15.99, 582pp, ISBN 978-0-316-12908-4) (book review by Joe
Karpierz)
LEVIATHAN WAKES is the last of the Hugo-nominated novels that I'll
be reviewing this year, and in some ways I've saved the best for
last.
James S.A. Corey is the pseudonym for the writing team of Daniel
Abraham and Ty Franck, and they have put together an old school SF
novel of the kind we just don't see enough of any more. And those
of you who read my reviews know that I long for the days of the old
school. Charles Stross (on the back cover) and George R. R. Martin
(on the front cover) call this LEVIATHAN WAKES space opera, but I'm
not quite on board with that just yet. You see, LEVIATHAN WAKES is
the first book in a trilogy called "The Expanse". And if the story
keeps going where it seems to be going, it really is going to be a
space opera in the grand old style tradition.
The story takes place completely within our Solar System, since
humanity doesn't yet have the technology to take it to the stars.
There is a tenuous, at best, peace between the colonies out past
the asteroid belt and those from the belt on inward. But they must
co-exist as best they can, as they depend upon each other for
survival. Then, an ice mining ship discovers a derelict, abandoned
ship that carries a pretty nasty secret. That's where the trouble
begins. Jim Holden, the XO on that ice miner, broadcasts what he
found on the ship and what it implies, and that act starts a war
within the Solar System.
Meanwhile, a detective on the asteroid Ceres named Miller, is
assigned to look for a missing girl. It seems her parents own a big
corporation and they're willing to go a long way to get her back.
Miller is a down on his luck detective--divorced, lonely, and a
growing drinking problem. In short, he's the kind of detective
we've seen in a lot of classic detective stories. His
investigation leads him to Holden and the derelict ship.
And then things really get interesting. Because it's not just the
outer planets vs. the inner planets anymore - it involves big
corporations, greed, corruption, and all sorts of, in my mind, cool
things that make you go "yeah, that's what I'm talking about". You
see, it seems that a couple of billion years ago an alien race sent
a "protomolecule" toward earth. We don't know what the intent was,
but it certainly doesn't appear to be a good intent. And with this
revelation, we see the grand scope that The Expanse is aiming for.
This novel has a little bit of everything: SF, horror, romance,
detective work, you name it. The characters are believable and
engaging. And so is the plot, really. We understand the
motivations of the big corporation named Protogen simply because
we've seen it a thousand times before, both in other stories and in
real life. We understand Miller's behavior and motivations,
because who hasn't fallen in love with someone that's out of his or
her reach? We understand Holden's motivations, because who hasn't
wanted to set things right when they're so obviously wrong? The
list goes on.
This is a terrific novel, and I am looking forward to reading the
second book in The Expanse, CALIBAN'S WAR. Just one more book on
my to-read stack, but one that I might pop off sooner than I
normally would. [-jak]
==================================================================
TOPIC: THE HIDDEN REALITY: PARALLEL UNIVERSES AND THE DEEP LAWS OF
THE COSMOS by Brian Greene (book review by Greg Frederick)
This is a review of the latest book from physicist, Brian Greene
titled THE HIDDEN REALITY: PARALLEL UNIVERSES AND THE DEEP LAWS OF
THE COSMOS. Greene's previous two science books THE FABRIC OF THE
COSMOS and THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE were national best sellers and very
good essays on science. Though the topic of this book from Greene
sounds like a subject from the realm of science fiction it is not.
Greene suggests in the book that a number of scientific theories
are pointing or leading scientists to consider the possibly that
multiple universes could exist. Major developments in theoretical
physics including relativistic physics, quantum physics,
cosmological physics, unified physics, and computational physics
have lead some scientists to more seriously consider this
possibility.
Some of the possible parallel (or multiple) universe proposals
include: Quilted Multiverse, Inflationary Multiverse, Brane
Multiverse, Cyclic Multiverse, Landscape Multiverse, Quantum
Multiverse, Holographic Multiverse, Simulated Multiverse, and
finally the Ultimate Multiverse. The Quilted Multiverse relies on
the concept that conditions in an infinite universe will repeat
across space and therefore create parallel worlds. The
Inflationary Multiverse has as the central idea the theory that
inflation is eternal and continually creating multiple universes as
the initial inflation period after the Big Bang created our own
Universe. The Quantum Multiverse suggests that all possibilities
of a probability wave are realized in a parallel universe. This is
also known as the "Many Worlds" interpretation of Quantum
Mechanics.
Greene mentions that there are a number of cases where scientific
theory has pointed to new insights that were not initially
projected or envisioned by the theory's originator. Such examples
include Einstein's General Relativity theory where the math
predicted either an expanding or contracting universe, but Einstein
himself initially believed the universe was static eternal and not
expanding or contracting. Only years later when Edwin Hubble, an
astronomer, showed him evidence from his astronomic studies that
many galaxies are moving away from our galaxy and the Universe is
expanding did he change his mind. In my opinion, this book is a
good read about the new directions physics is taking theoretically.
[-gf]
==================================================================
TOPIC: THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Arizona-based second-time writer/director Travis Mills
gives us a nifty little film noir thriller, economically shot but
with good writing. A reporter quits his job to write a book on the
real business of being a private detective in the 21st century. On
the way he meets a legendary private detective and falls for the
detective's mistress. It overcomes its meager budget and is
and is sufficiently well-written to give the viewer that "what the
heck is going on" feeling. In the end the solution is genuinely
surprising.Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Scott Miller (played by Travis Mills) is a pretty good reporter who
is stuck in a dead-end position at his paper. In his spare time he
interviews real-life private detectives and writes a book about
their business. One detective tells him about another who is
considered to be the real deal, John D (Rob Edwards), a genuine
hard-boiled PI. Sadly this real deal is anything but the stuff of
an exciting book. He describes his job as, "I sit. I watch. I
listen. It's boring." At least one thing is not boring about John
D. He has a girl friend Chris (Cara Nicole) who is sexy, makes
porno films, and is dangerous to know. After a one-night-stand
with Chris, Miller's life becomes a lot like something out of a
detective novel. But is he the detective or the next victim? Or
both?
Having one person write, direct, and take the lead role is
frequently a bad idea. But THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER has a brisk,
polished look and feel. And the setting sets off the story. One
fault might be that Mills will take a wordless sequence, let it run
long, and show it with just jazz music playing over it. You either
are into jazz music or you feel like you have been put on hold on
the telephone. The film is brief as it is, 89 minutes, and did not
need padding.
THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER is filmed in crisp black and white, giving it
a look that probably belies a small budget. Mills takes his
cameras to the streets of Arizona and while the setting is not Los
Angeles in the 1940s, his visual sense keeps the view of interest
while still filming mostly close to his home. It may not have a
lot of the multicultural feel I expected of Phoenix. But some of
the references, like a mention of the sheriff's posse, should
reassure the locals that they are watching a gen-u-ine Phoenix
film. Keeping that budget low is a cast and crew of people you
probably have not seen or heard of before. That probably includes
Mills whose only previous feature (again writing, directing, and
starring) was 2011's A BIG SOMETHING. But here the story is what
is most important and THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER is surprisingly
engaging. In the end there is a little that is not quite
explained. There is just enough that is not spelled out to give
the viewer something to talk about on the drive home.
For someone just starting out--you can judge Mills' age because
there he is on the screen--Mills does a pretty good job of pulling
a film together and carrying it. I will be interested to see how
his career continues. I rate THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER a low +2 on the
-4 to +4 scale or 7/10. THE DETECTIVE'S LOVER will show
theatrically in Arizona and elsewhere it will be available for
download.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2338303/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: How to Vote the Hugos (comments by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
In response to David Shallcross's (and others') comments on Hugo
rankings in the 07/13/12 issue of the MT VOID, Dale Skran writes:
This discussion is helpful in educating the voting public about the
oddness of the Hugo voting system. Evelyn is quite right in her
conclusion that the Hugo system really only works well if you have
read or seen each nominee.
As for my ranking, I in fact understood that I was ranking HUGO
below no award by not voting for it. My rationale is that it does
not appear to be SF or fantasy. Also, HUGO has received many
awards and nominations already, and hardly needs a Hugo. It's
possible that if I saw it, I might change my mind, but it is not
the sort of film I have a lot of interest in. My main purpose in
providing the listing was to emphasize my view that SOURCE CODE is
an excellent SF film. [-dls]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE LONG GOODBYE by Raymond Chandler (ISBN 978-0-394-75768-1) is a
classic hard-boiled detective story to be read slowly so as to
savor Chandler's use of language: "I went out to the kitchen to
make coffee--yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot,
ruthless, depraved. The lifeblood of tired men."
Or, "Off to my left was an empty swimming pool, and nothing ever
looks emptier than an empty swimming pool."
One character talks about what the public wants from books: "I've
got five hundred pages of typescript here, well over a hundred
thousand words. My books run long. The public likes long books.
The damn fool public thinks if there's a lot of pages there must be
a lot of gold."
And there is Chandler's take on law enforcement:
I got up slowly and went over to the bookshelves. I took down
the bound copy of the California Code. I held it out to
Dayton.
"Would you kindly find me the section that says I have to
answer the questions?"
...
He said: "Every citizen has to co-operate with the police. In
all ways, even by physical action, and especially by answering
any questions of a non-incriminating nature the police think it
necessary to ask." His voice saying this was hard and bright
and smooth.
"It works out that way." I said. "Mostly by a process of
direct or indirect intimidation. In law no such obligation
exists. Nobody has to tell the police anything, any time,
anywhere."
[Of course, Marlowe ends up in the holding cells for three days,
which neatly sums up what was--and still is--the difference between
the law in theory and the law in practice.]
A TANGLE IN SLOPS by Jeffrey Barlough (ISBN 978-0-9787634-2-8) is
the sixth book in the "western Lights" series. I have reviewed a
couple of the previous books; this maintains the quality. "Slops"
is Slopshire, another one of Barlough's glorious place names.
There is a small hiccough in a reference to the Tudor kings--
Barlough has been pretty diligent in avoiding a specific historic
background for his world, which must perforce differ from our own
due not only to the extension of the last Ice Age, but to the
"Sundering", whatever that was.
The series itself seems split in two parts. The first three novels
(DARK SLEEPER, THE HOUSE IN THE HIGH WOOD, STRANGE CARGO) are
clearly set on a western coast of a North America isolated from the
rest of the world by the Sundering and in the grip of a new Ice
Age. But the last three (BERTRAM OF BUTTER CROSS, ANCHORWICK, and
A TANGLE IN SLOPS) *seem* to be back in Britain, and in a climate
that, while often dreary, is not an Ice Age. In particular, the
references in A TANGLE IN SLOPS to Orkney and Zetland, and the
Scandinavian names of some of the characters, would seem to place
the action in the British Isles rather than North America. This is
a bit peculiar, since everything I have read indicates that all the
books take place in North America and there are overlapping place
names between the first three and the last three books. But there
is a definite difference in the *feel* of the two subsets.
Also included is a "Western Lights" short story for children,
"Ebenezer Crackernut".
THE BOOK OF THE UNKNOWN: TALES OF THE THIRTY-SIX by Jonathon Keats
(ISBN 978-0-8129-7897-1) is a collection of a dozen stories of the
Lamedh-Vov--the thirty-six righteous men on whom the continued
existence of the world depends. (Keats has updated it somewhat,
and some of the Lamedh-Vov are women.) There is an introduction
explaining the tales, but it becomes clear that it, and the
editors' afterword are just another fiction. Fantasy based on
Celtic legends is very common in the "fantasy" sections of
bookstores; fantasy based on Jewish legends is much rarer and
usually found only in the literary fiction section. (Even the
Jewish section is barren of them, that section being reserved for
non-fiction.) There are a few exceptions: THE RED MAGICIAN (Lisa
Goldstein), GOLEM IN THE GEARS (Piers Anthony), and FEET OF CLAY
(Terry Pratchett).
Keats's "saints" (to use the common term) are very atypical saints:
a thief, a murderer, a whore, a gambler, ... not your usual saintly
material. Yet they are each unique in their own way, and each has
that "essence of sainthood" that is needed. If I had to put it in
a category, I would say that it is closest to magical realism and
that it has more in common with a book like Laura Esquivel's LIKE
WATER FOR CHOCOLATE than with a high fantasy such as THE LORD OF
THE RINGS or sword and sorcery such as the "Conan" stories. Some
might say this would appeal to Jewish readers, but I think its
appeal is broader than that, and would recommend it to those who
want a different sort of fantasy.
And finally, a correction to my comments on the translations of
Jules Verne's FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in the 08/12/11 issue of
the MT VOID:
I had said:
The result of all the bad translations is that Verne's knowledge of
Florida (and the United States in general) often seems as shaky as
his knowledge of the moon. Mercier/King has Stones Hill, near
Tampa, have an elevation of 1800 feet; the highest elevation
anywhere in Florida is 345 feet. The Edward Roth translation is
only marginally better than Mercier/King's, with and elevation as
"nearly a thousand feet." But Verne got it right: the original
French gives Stone's Hill an elevation of only 300 feet.
Recently Dorothy Heydt asked me, "Uh, dumb question: did Verne say
'feet' or 'meters'? Because (in absence of other data which I bet
you can supply) if he actually said 'feet' (in spite of being a
19th-century Frenchman) and somebody *thought* he had said '300
metres' and converted it into 'feet', that would actually be
'nearly a thousand feet'."
So I went to look at what Verne actually wrote was: "Cet
emplacement est situe a trois cents toises au-dessus du niveau de
la mer par 27d7m de latitude et 5d7m de longitude ouest;"
So actually it seems to say 300 *fathoms*, which would be 1800
feet. So Mercier/King got it right.
How did I get it wrong? Well, GoogleTranslate says "fathoms" if
given the single word "troises", but "feet" when given the whole
sentence! I must have fed the whole sentence in and (foolishly)
assumed the translation was correct! [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
It is possible to store the mind with a million
facts and still be entirely uneducated.
--Alec Bourne