babel-17/empire star [science fiction]

Samuel R. Delany is one of those criminally under-read science fiction authors, the size of whose readership seems inversely proportional to the quality of his writing. Part of the reason, I think, is that Delany writes literary-intellectual science fiction: “intellectuals” tend to turn up their noses at anything even vaguely associated with genre-fiction, while hardcore sci-fi fans want more guns & fewer inquiries, say, into the nature of language. Well, too bad for them.

When I find someone interested in picking up some Delany, I always recommend Babel-17 (& its accompanying novella, Empire Star) as a point of entry into Delany’s peculiar worlds. Babel-17 can be described either as the adventure of interstellar captain & poet Rydra Wong as she tries to track down the alien threat that’s been sabotaging the galactic system or as an extended inquiry into the ways in which language drives—either to promote or to limit—thought, from the ontological & existential base-structure to the nuances of social chat. The novel is, in fact, both, & holds up under examination from either angle. Lyricism, referentiality, complexity; drugs, sex, space-fights. The only bad thing about Babel-17 (which won the Nebula) is that Delany wrote it when he was 23—no one has any right to be so talented.

[originally written for publication over at plasmapool.org]

the maemo project [literature & advertising]

nokia has produced a sort of amazing commercial for one of its new products. it doesn’t really matter which one, but the advert is actually worth watching, because it’s a fine example of a strange phenomenon in advertising that i’m struggling to pin down in my own thinking.

the advert is hosted (by youtube) at its own website for something called the maemo project, which apparently has some whole community of participating users, in an attempt, clearly, to harness the community power of the internet to do development, which isn’t a bad idea, if it actually works. good for you, nokia, at least you know that the internet exists. too bad about that iphone thing, though.

anyway. back to the matter at hand. advertising as a concept is something that i think i’ve lost track of, somehow. it must be the internet, & the fact that i don’t really watch videos on it. but a 2.5 minute advert that takes its sweet time to sell its product? that obviously took a pretty talented design team? with its own website, the url for which rings “avant-garde viral thing”, when it isn’t? this shit is wheels within wheels, people.

think about it: this is an advert, for a phone, made by a giant corporation, & you can practically close-read it. not that your reading would be all that complex, but there are definitely elements of this short film that can’t be explained away as clever marketing, that seem to point to some weird science-fictional dystopian narrative where bright people get locked up & then questioned in order for—companies? the government?—to R&D new tech: this doesn’t sound like a commercial at all. it sounds like a novel. maybe not the most literary or inventive novel, but a novel nonetheless.

on tragedy & writing [creative impulses]

neil gaiman is, as ever, sensible:

I don’t think immediate tragedy is a very good source of art. It can be, but too often it’s raw and painful and un-dealt-with. Sometimes art can be a really good escape from the intolerable, and a good place to go when things are bad, but that doesn’t mean you have to write directly about the bad thing; sometimes you need to let time pass, and allow the thing that hurts to get covered with layers, and then you take it out, like a pearl, and you make art out of it.

i think this is exactly right. people say to me, sometimes, they do, “oh, i had my heart broken so i am going to write a poem about it,” or something along those lines, & i think that writing because you have been hurt is all well & good but that the name of that writing is rarely, say, “a poem” & is, instead, “a journal entry.”

which is fine; but you have to know the difference between them.

the saga continues [2666]

the lurkers do not support me in email! oh no!

from a correspondent:

The three-book version of 2666 is actually cooler than the hardcover? I don’t believe you—please explain.

so i have tried. what follows is from an email &, as such, is in a rather different style. forgive me. i am lazy.

2666 [books]

YOU MUST READ THIS.

roberto bolaño’s 2666 is killer. i’m only part-way through the first book¹ (what with finals & all) but well hell i just have to recommend it right this instant.

a teeny tiny excerpt, to whet just the edge of your keen interest:

What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze paths into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows and spurs us on, amid blood and wounds and mortal stench.

i’m not going to write a review of the thing, as i haven’t finished it & i hate book reviews. but the impulse is almost overwhelming;—which is, perhaps, recommendation enough.

it kind of makes me want to tear my hair out.

–
1. you should most definitely acquire the 3-volume boxed set of the novel, as it has been released in both that form & in hardcover from farrar, straus & giroux, & both forms are (in typical FSG fashion) lovely, but the thing was originally plotted to be in five parts & released sequentially anyway, & anyway the little QPs are easier to carry around, & it just looks so much more badass.

eleven steps – one week early [beats]

once more posting on the run, as is my wont:

netlabel rope swing cities has released an album by eleven steps called one week early, which you should run right out & download here.

rich warm tasty guitar-heavy soundscapey ambient. think i’ll probably lie in bed & have a listen right now.

steve’s website is here, & it has links to another release, as well.

two limericks [notes from the front]

overmetaphorization
leads to foolish & facile equations
the logic is flawed
its proponent a fraud
the conclusion an abomination

::

one occupies an ideology
which is modified methodologically
or one holds some beliefs
be they lengthy or brief
they may well emerge pathologically

—c.

thirty things you learn from watching current british sci-fi [sci-fi]

01. If it doesn’t look human, it probably isn’t.

02. When encountering alien species on earth, remember: sympathy is overrated, and empathy is impossible. Automatically assume hostility. When encountering alien species off-world, try not to be a dick until you have to.

03. Talking to a potentially hostile alien life-form doesn’t always help, though sometimes it does.

04. Even if it looks human, it might not be. Never assume a human shape isn’t just a host.

05. Creepy people are creepy for a reason. Children are automatically creepy and are much more prone to accepting contact from alien life, hostile or otherwise.

06. Sometimes humans are the most alien of all.

07. Never question someone immortal, nearly immortal, or just bloody old. Especially if he has really great hair.

08. Get your snog on while you can, but try not to fall for someone of another species. Especially if you work for a top secret organization that specializes in alien technology and neutralizing potential alien threats. Do try not to shag the opposition.

09. However, do stay as close to them as you can. Unless they’re trying to kill you, which may or may not be obvious.

10. If you think you hear or see something, you probably did.

11. Really do try not to get separated.

12. Bring an extra flashlight.

13. The things in the dark are real.

14. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. Don’t blink.

15. Stay out of the shadows.

16. On the other hand, bright lights tend to be less friendly than you would think.

17. When in doubt, run. In fact, “run” should probably just be your default setting.

18. If your phone stops working, run. If the lights go out, you know what to do.

19. Learn how to use a gun, but it probably won’t do you much good.

20. Sometimes it’s smarter just to shoot to kill and ask forgiveness later. Or not ask forgiveness later.

21. Sometimes you just gotta drive a car into a building.

22. Never leave your keys in the ignition.

23. Never underestimate the value of a well-timed kick to the crotch.

24. Avoid London on Christmas. Avoid Cardiff in general.

25. If you find yourself in the midst of a particularly horrifying situation and/or you realize it’s the 51st century, blame Steven Moffat.

26. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity (cf. SEP)—nor of human courage and innovation.

27. Be clever. Use that unstoppable gob.

28. Each person has their own time at which to die. Trying to prevent the inevitable is a bad idea. Bringing people back to life is an even worse one.

29. The universe is full of strange and wonderful things, and some really horrible things, too. The past can be as strange as the future. Life is impossibly sad. But that’s life.

30. If you haven’t told someone you love them and you feel you should, for god’s sake TELL THEM ALREADY.

clay shirky talks revolution [death of the book]

More great stuff on the so-called death of the book, this time by Clay Shirky, who reminds us that not only is it “impossible to be pro-book and anti-revolution”; being pro-book also entails recognizing that the form of the book is subject to change.

Prior to Gutenberg, most of the books in Europe were the Bible; scribal production was so slow that simply recopying that one book took up much of the available output. After Gutenberg, publishers began experimenting with new forms—novels, scientific papers, periodicals of all sorts.

That is, the kinds of information that effectively counted—that were of sufficient (or potentially sufficient) importance to merit a run on the printing press—expanded rapidly & irreversibly. As Shirky points out, a whole lot of garbage flowed into that vacuum & scandalized everyone.

But we managed, even though the volume of garbage hasn’t been reduced all that much. We’ve learned to identify the kinds of publications that interest us, & we’ve seen that a lot of the good stuff still rises to the top. Of course, some truly horrible shit still sells well; that’s the price you pay when you open up the means of production. But that’s been the case since the printing press took off, & trudging through the cesspool still seems infinitely more desirable than being handcuffed to the pre-Gutenberg Church monopoly.

helios [beats]

this is just to say:

helios’s 2006 release eingya is basically a perfect album. if you’re unfamiliar with it, i highly recommend you go pick up a copy.

listen to &/or purchase tracks from the album on his myspace. (NB: the music player seemed to be kind of janked, so i don’t know if it just selects songs randomly from his oeuvre to play; some of his other stuff—especially stuff with vocals—i don’t think is quite as good. there’s a tracklisting for eingya here for reference.)