Just a reminder that the new SCI FI Channel show Eurkea premieres tonight at 9PM (EST). In case you missed it, I gave Eurkea what is practically a rave review over at Intergalactic Medicine Show.
So check it out tonight, and let me know what you think!
A few days ago, I received a copy of Jonathan Lethem’s How We Got Inspid, a 1500-copy limited edition hardcover which reprints two of Lethem’s previously uncollected stories, “The Insipid Profession of Jonathan Hornebom,” and “How We Got in Town and Out Again,” and includes an original afterword by the author.
Along with the book was a somewhat puzzling note. It says that the publisher can’t send review copies of the book to trade journals or to book reviewers for newspapers or magazines. Why? I’m guessing that Lethem’s regular publisher–the one who’s publishing his novels that keep making the bestseller lists–are afraid that Subterranean publishing this collection might somehow interfere with their corporate marketing machine and/or cut into Lethem’s sales of the books they publish. Not only that, but Subterranean is also forbidden from selling the book in stores via normal channels. And all of this is actually contractually forbidden.
So, given the handcuffs placed on Subterranean’s marketing efforts, I guess we’ll find out if bloggers and other non-traditional review sources can be just as effective at selling books as Publishers Weekly, The New York Times, and the rest.
I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ll post some thoughts once I have the chance to take a look at it.
Paradise Lost is a documentary about a triple-homicide in West Memphis, AR in the mid-90s, in which three teen social outcasts were railroaded by the justice system and imprisoned for a ghastly crime they didn’t commit.
How this film evaded my radar I’ll never know, but though it originally aired on HBO over ten years ago, I just saw it recently. It’s a powerful and troubling film. What’s troubling about it is what a complete travesty of justice it depicts. The case was so riddled with police misconduct and incompetence, I wouldn’t have believed it it I’d seen that on Law & Order. It’s a case where truth is stranger than fiction; I’d’ve thought that no police force would conduct an investigation that way, not in this modern era. Yet it really happened, and these innocent kids are still rotting in jail. And how did they end up there? Well, it’s complicated, but it’s mostly because of this: they thought metal and witchcraft were cool.
There’s a follow up documentary (and a third one in the works), which updates the status of the West Memphis Three (as the convicted teens came to be known), and examines the actual physical evidence found at the crime scene. What’s funny (or sad) about it is that it confirms what seemed obvious to me even without all the extra detail. The police’s case indicates that the kids were murdered in the woods in Robin Hood Hills, where they were found, but it was immediately clear to even an untrained investigator like me that it was simply a dump site and not the murder scene. A forensics expert confirms this in the sequel, and shows other evidence not previously disclosed in the documentary: namely that one of the victims had bite marks on him. And oh yeah, the creepy and obviously unbalanced step-father of one of the victims just happened to have all his teeth removed at some point (when and how varies, depending on when you ask him–he’s provided several different stories).
In any case, it’s riveting stuff, though prepare to be outraged before viewing it. You can read more about the West Memphis Three and the case on the Free the West Memphis Three website.
On a lighter, but related note, in the documentary, the crazy step-father at one point says on camera, as if addressing the West Memphis Three: “The day you die, every year on May 5 I’m gonna come to your grave, I’m gonna spit on you, I’m gonna curse the day you were born, and I’m sure while I’m standin’ there I’m gonna have to let go of some other bodily functions on your grave!”
Well that little snippet was used at the start of some metal song, and now for the life of me I can think of what it was, or what band it was. When I first heard the song, I had no idea of the significance of that as an epigraph, so now I’m curious to go back and read the lyrics to see how deep the song actually is. Anyone have any idea what song that’s from?
SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, whose second novel, Snake Moon, was just published this month by Night Shade Books.
As per the instructions, I’m bolding series of which I’ve seen at least three episodes, and bolding and italicizing those for which I’ve seen every episode.
Because the meme is crazy long, click on the extended entry to see it.
[via Chris Roberson]
The latest installment of my book review column, STRONG MEDICINE: Books That Cures What Ails You, has just been published at Intergalactic Medicine Show.
In this column, I review Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series: His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War; for comparison and contrasting purposes, I review Mike Resnick’s Dragon America; and on a wholly separate note, I review Jim Kelly’s & John Kessel’s new slipstream anthology, Feeling Very Strange.
[Excerpt:] Talking dragons, or talking animals or beasts of any kind really, is no easy trick to pull off, but Novik manages it nicely. Given that there is no magic in Novik’s world–the only fantasy element present is dragons, and their existence is treated scientifically–there are some issues with the talking that require some suspension of disbelief (as do some other issues with the dragons). Even if you set aside their miraculous language skills (Temeraire learned to speak fluent English through the shell in about a week’s time, for instance), there is the issue of speech: just how exactly do those giant beasts make human sounds with those huge dragon jaws? There are other examples of nitpickery one could dwell on, but ultimately all of those things are irrelevant; if you can’t get past them, you probably won’t enjoy the books, but if you simply accept the fact that there are certain allowances that need to be made in order to have the world Novik created function, you’ll likely get completely sucked into the story as I did.
Go read the review and then come back and tell me how awesome it is.
Intergalactic Medicine Show just published the latest installment of my column, Camera Obscura, in which I review the first two episodes of the new TNT miniseries, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, which premieres tonight on TNT (if you missed it already, never fear, there are encore airings, and each episode stands alone).
[Excerpt:] Stephen King has said “I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries,” which is to say that he’s kind of an everyman writer: nothing too fancy, just something good and satisfying. Although he may think that, I don’t think it’s true, and if you examine the failed films that have been adapted from his stories, I think you can see why. The reason is that King’s ideas often aren’t revolutionary in of themselves; instead, he uses his craft to spin those ideas into something truly special. And so when you strip away his prose, and adapt the work into film, you are left with nothing but the idea–an idea that’s been filtered through the creative process of an entire cast and crew. This filtering sometimes results in a product that seems watered down and devoid of spirit, and that’s the case with “Crouch End.”
So, as I indicated in my previous teaser post, Readercon was awesome. Gordon rented a big minivan and drove a bunch of locals up there. In the van were me, Gordon, Doug Cohen, Chris Barzak, Rick Bowes, and Konrad (a Polish translator and scholar; not actually a local, but he’s temporarily local). On the drive up, it was like we had our own mini-con going on, as we chatted pretty much nonstop about the genre. The only thing dampening our enthusiasm was the fact that the gas gauge on the rental was malfunctioning, and so we never really knew how much gas we had. In transit, Doug delighted us all with the first verse of his rap, “Spittin’.” I’m not much of a rap fan, but I dug it; his wordplay is undeniably clever. Konrad seemed rather astounded by the whole thing, and treated us to a few lines of Polish rap.
[Since this post is crazy long, I’ll post the rest in the extended entry.]
SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about Romanitas, Sophia McDougall’s first novel, which was recently nominated for a Sidewise Award.
Just a quick note to say Readercon was AWESOME! I’ll post a more detailed report soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this picture of Doug sitting on a very little bench (and feel free to go enjoy the other photos too).
