I have to admit that, when I first heard about Hero, Second Class, the final book which is launching at Marcher Lord Press on October 1st, I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect. If writing good science fiction or fantasy is hard, writing good science fiction or fantasy is ten times as hard. Secondhand bookstores, discount bins, and garage sale tables are glutted with books and films which the creators were convinced were hilarious, but, in the cold light of day, are just bad. (Or, at best, mildly amusing.)
Sometimes, the problem is that the work is attacking a fandom from the outside, and clearly doesn't come from people who "get" the works which they are trying to lampoon. (Compare, for example, Spaceballs, Mel Brooks' lampoon of Star Wars, with Galaxy Quest, a spoof of Star Trek. The former film pokes fun from outside, and while it has its moments, it's only saved from being pointless by that fact that Brooks gave it a self-consistent storyline which works, even if this or that throwaway gag falls flat. The latter film brilliantly skewers the show, the actors, the fans, and those who exploit fans for money. It was obviously made by fans, because the barbs never, ever miss their intended targets. The first movie is mildly amusing. The second is side-splitting.
Sometimes, the problem is that a work will set out to spoof the worst examples of a genre by duplicating all of their flaws. The end result is a work which is just as bad as the works which it sets out to spoof, which makes it kind of hard to appreciate the joke. ("Okay, so let me get this straight: In order to make fun of all the dreck that's out there, you have just gone to great efforts to produce... no wait, I got it... more dreck? What was the punchline again?" ) Mars Attacks is a good example here, as is Harry Harrison's Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers.
That's not to say that it's not possible to do fannish comedy. I loved Galaxy Quest, and the same goes for Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. But I've encountered far more misses than hits in this field, so I was not hopeful.
Well, having read a couple of extracts from the book (first, a description of "Minions" [which reads like a sales pitch from a villain supply catalogue] which Jeff posted as part of his interview on the Christian Fandom mailing list, and second, the sample chapter on the MLP site), I'm prepared to admit that my expectations were almost certainly wrong. Mitchell Bonds, the author of Hero, Second Class, gives every evidence of having a very deft touch with comedy. I actually laughed out loud while reading both excerpts, and in my experience, that is something which is far more often said than done.
So, I've pretty much decided that my brother (who, fortunately, never reads my blog, but could use a good laugh) is getting a copy of this for Christmas. (Then I can borrow it from him, you see...)
And, while we're talking about things I want, I might as well remind you that you can enter to win some truly astonishing prizes, just by signing up to Marcher Lord Press' mailing list. And, if you put me down as the person who referred you, I get entered to win, too. The grand prize is a trip to next year's San Diego ComicCON, which is one of the three coolest possible places for a fan to be. (The other two being Worldcon and Dragon*Con.) But even the consolation prizes are amazing. How about a leather-bound 50th Anniversary Edition of The Lord of the Rings, hmmm? Or maybe a signed and numbered canvas print of space art by Frank Hettick? Or maybe a rubbing from William Shakespeare's tombstone? Or how about a "Dragon Basket" from Donita K. Paul, with an autographed set of her DragonKeeper Chronicles, a T-shirt, dragon tea, dragonfruit candy and gum, and a pewter dragon medallion? (Are you drooling yet? I am!) So go and sign up! Get your friends to sign up! Get the owner of your local Christian bookstore, who told you that "nobody reads that weird stuff" to sign up, so they can learn better. (I am so looking forward to the day when a Marcher Lord title shoots to the top of the best-seller lists, so that CBA bookstores have to order it in. Heh.)
Another book which is launching at Marcher Lord Press on October 1st is Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy, by Theodore Beale. Beale is an experienced author, having co-written Rebel Moon (Pocket Books, 1996) under the pen name of Vox Day, and then putting out The War in Heaven (Pocket Books, 2002) and The World in Shadow (Pocket Books, 2002) under his own name. (The latter two books are known collectively as the "Eternal Warriors" series.)
If you have read the Eternal Warriors books, you may be expecting more of the same: dark fantasy, maybe even edging into horror territory. Summa Elvetica is something quite different: it's a classic fantasy set in an early mediaeval world (still retaining many elements of Roman culture) in which the Church plays a prominent role. Beale has stated in interviews that he wanted something different from the usual mediaeval fantasy where, apart from an occasional spell-muttering monk, Christianity is strangely absent. (He's not wrong. Of the high fantasies I've read, Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring is the only one I can recall where the Church plays any meaningful role.)
Alas, I knew I wouldn't have the time to read through a review copy before this blog tour, so I never even asked for one, but the sample chapters on the MLP web site are tantalising, and I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the complete book.
By the bye, I should probably warn those of you who are hitting my blog because of the blog tour, and want to post comments, that only Xianz.com members can post comments. (Yeah, I know, it's annoying, but blogging is sort of an afterthought here. Note, for example, the lack of a proper blogroll.) But, still, Xianz is fun, in its own way, and there are fans here. Note that the Christian Sci-fi Fans group here has 77 members. And Rebekah, the songstress of the CHRISTSF mailing list, has a page here where you can listen to some of the songs from her album. So there are other reasons to sign up besides posting a comment on my blog. (Not that I don't want you to!)
In my last entry, I promised to tell you why I'm excited about the launch of Marcher Lord Press, besides the reasons I've already talked about. One big reason is one of the books which are launching on October 1st: The Personifid Invasion, by R.E. Bartlett. Bartlett is affectionately known as "Rooth" on the CHRISTSF mailing list, where she has been a long-time member, and the rest of us have all been cheering her on as she broke into print, first with The Personifid Project (Realms, 2005), and now with the sequel. I read and enjoyed The Personifid Project (although I've been terribly slow in getting out a review), so I'm particularly looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel. Jeff sent me a softcopy to review, but this is so good that I want a copy to keep on my bookshelves.
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The Personifid Invasion
by R.E. Bartlett
Published by Marcher Lord Press, 2008
Paperback: [Marcher Lord Press]
Ever since the gnostics in the early centuries of Christianity, there have been those who find the material world repugnant, and long for the ability to free themselves from the limitations of physical reality, and exercise godlike powers in a purely spiritual realm. (There is a story of a gnostic teacher who stood in front of his students and wept for shame that he had a physical body.) Nowadays, this desire is most evident among transhumanists: those who long for technology to develop to the point where they can download their consciousness into computers, and thus become immortal (as long as the power doesn't go out.) Even people who might not go quite that far still spend increasingly large portions of their lives in virtual reality worlds, battling monsters or aliens, or running virtual cities, theme parks, or insterstellar colonies.
In the world of The Personifid Invasion, the goal of the transhumanists has been achieved: people are able – even encouraged – to trade in their real bodies for artificial bodies known as personifids. Oddly enough, this rush to escape comes at a time when technology sufficiently advanced enough to be indistinguishable from magic has made poverty nearly meaningless: even wage slaves working in low-paying jobs can still afford computers which can feed them, clothe them, redecorate their homes, and transport them, Star Trek style, at their whims.
In short, at first glance, the world seems like the next thing to a Utopia. Oh, sure, the oceans have dried up, and you can't go outside your domed city without shielding, because if the polluted air doesn't kill you first, the sun will fry you to a crisp. But aside from that, life is pretty easy, so why is it that people are rushing to commit suicide, and have their minds (or souls) transferred to machines?
It turns out that the technology to detect and capture souls and transfer them into personifids also detected disembodied souls, which came to be referred to as "Interterrestrials." Interterrestrials can also inhabit personifids. A religious group known as the Followers believes that they are evil, and that transferring your soul into a personifid makes you vulnerable to the machinations of the Interterrestrials. Aphra's not so sure. The Interterrestrials she knows seem to be so beautiful, calm, and reasonable. Surely the fact that they keep pushing her to transfer herself into a personifid isn't cause to distrust them, is it?
I'd say that this book is even better that Bartlett's first effort. The tension is ratcheted up, but there is more humour, too. And, even better, she has resisted the temptation to reveal the bad guys through aesthetics. (In the words of Guy, from Galaxy Quest, "They're going to turn mean, and they're going to get ugly somehow." ) Far too many stories depend on looks to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys." It may be an easy shorthand for an author or filmmaker to make the "good guys" look good, and the "bad guys" look ugly, but too many people draw the conclusion from that artistic convention that they can judge real people's characters on the basis of their looks. (And that explains why people keep voting for slick-talking politicians with 100 watt smiles, or baing taken in by con men with perfect hair. And no, I'm not complaining about this just because I can't get a date. Okay, yes I am.)
So, am I completely satisfied with The Personifid Invasion? Well, being the geek that I am, I would like more backstory on these magical computers, and also what happened to make the sun so unbearably hot, and what happened to the oceans. But mostly, I'm now looking forward to the next book, because this one just begs for a sequel.
This Monday through Wednesday, I'll be doing something new, or at least new to me. I'm taking part in a blog tour. This is where a whole bunch of people agree that they're going to blog about the same subject. In this case, I'm joining the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour, and the topic this month is Marcher Lord Press, a new publisher which is officially launching on October 1st.
Why would we get all excited about a publisher which isn't even officially in business yet? Well, for one thing, Marcher Lord Press is going to focus exclusively on fantasy and science fiction. Most of the fiction you see in Christian bookstores is romance novels, and both agents and publishers tell prospective authors that "science fiction and fantasy don't sell." In fact, some publishers seem to be embarrassed that they publish any at all, and will pitch their SF titles as "futuristic" and their fantasy titles as "allegorical." (And, yes, that strategy is every bit as counter-productive as it sounds: it just confuses the mundanes, and offends the fans.) I've been told that women form 70% of the clientele in Christian bookstores, so the publishers are only publishing the kinds of books their customers want to read. My retort is that the only customers who will come into the stores are those who are looking for the products they sell. (I suspect that any Christian bookstore owner who deliberately set out to target the male market would actually do okay, just because they'd stand out from the crowd. Besides which, more than half of my fannish friends, and most of my favourite authors, happen to be female, so the assumption that women won't read science fiction or fantasy is misguided to begin with.)
Anyway, the point is that it's unusual to see a Christian publisher which will embrace the science fiction and fantasy market. For a Christian publisher to pursue this market exclusively is, to the best of my knowledge, utterly unique. So even if I didn't have any other reason to wish MLP well, I'd be cheering it on, just in hopes of seeing more (and, hopefully, better) Christian SF and fantasy.
As it happens, I do have other reasons to cheer Marcher Lord Press on. The man holding the flag (and the mop, since he currently constitutes the entire payroll of the company) is Jeff Gerke, aka Jefferson Scott, the author. We interviewed him, in his author persona, on the SF-CHRISTIAN mailing list in April, 2000 (back before SF-CHRISTIAN was merged into Christian Fandom.) He was only our fourth interview guest, and you can read a transcript of that interview on the Christian Fandom site. We are interviewing him again this month, so if you want to take part in that, you should join the Christian Fandom Mailing List. Jeff also has a site called Where the Map Ends, which establishes his fannish credentials.
I'll go into other reasons for getting excited about the launch of Marcher Lord Press once the blog tour begins on Monday. In the meantime, I highly recommend that you hit the web site and register for the prizes being given away as part of the launch. I was absolutely boggled when I saw the quality and number of the prizes being given away. (And, of course, be sure to give my name as a reference, because I want to win, too!)
(And, yes, those are my T-shirt designs down near the bottom of the prize page. If you want one, and don't win the contest, you can pick them up at the Reality Free Zone.)
A couple of months ago, my friend Dale introduced me to a video called RSS in Plain English, which uses a decidedly low-tech approach to explain a technological topic in a way which pretty much anybody should be able to "get." Basically, the makers of the video are doing a new variation of a method which has been around for decades: explaining an idea by drawing sketches and explaining them. (A museum which accurately explained the origin of most of the technologies we see around us would probably have case after case filled with napkins, envelopes, and other ephemera, covered in doodles.)
Just today, I saw a link to a similar video, only this one explains the gospel. (Yeah, I know, Bill Bright's idea of the "Four Spiritual Laws" has also been around for decades, but in my experience, it doesn't really address most people's issues. Personally, I tend to use a variation I call "Greg Slade's very short history of the universe in six easy steps." ) The video is done by James Choung, who works for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. (I used to attend IVCF when I was at UBC, and they have some pretty good resources.)
I know it's pretty late for Internet Evangelism Day, but you could always count this as being early for next year...
Weird Al does Steven Curtis Chapman (okay, not really)
Okay, this one isn't geeky, and the animation isn't exactly state of the art, but I think it's a funny, "Weird Al"-esque treatment of Steven Curtis Chapman's "I will be here." (And, no, I don't think Hawkins is knocking SC2. I like the original song, too.) Actually, I think the funniest spoof of SC2's work is the one he did himself with DC Talk in "Got 2B Tru": "Rap music is most definitely you. Not!" )
Somebody pointed me to this one last year. It's so funny, I can't believe that I haven't posted it here before. (Although I suppose it does somewhat spoil the effect if you're watching a video about how the whole Internet crashed... on the Internet.)
What's this I hear? A rap song about particle physics? Is it geeky? Check. Is it goofy? Check. Is it scientifically accurate? Check.
Bring. It. On.
(Thanks to Associated Press for the heads up. And who knew AP had a sense of humour?)
Edit: Since posting videos of musical oddities like this has come to be something of a habit with me, I've decided to create a new category for these posts. From now on, you can find all of the posts like this under the heading of "Geekey Tunes" (and, yes, that is intentionally misspelled, to resemble "Looney Tunes", the Warner Brothers cartoons from my misspent childhood.
Upon reflection, I think the reason these videos amuse me so much is that they're so far from the usual theme of popular songs. For every thoughtful or informative song like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" or "Do They Know It's Christmas?", there have to be a hundred songs which run along the theme of "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy writes hit song about heartbreak and consoles himself with screaming groupies." So, when I run into a song which anything even vaguely meaningful to say, to contrast is kind of a shock. (And if it's over-produced out of all proportion to the number of people likely to listen to the song or watch the video, so much the funnier. Of course, that last doesn't apply to Alpinekat's effort, which had been viewed over 650,000 times as of last night.)
I heard a story on the CBC today about PenguinDating, a joint venture between Penguin Books and Match.com, a dating service. (Although I have admit that, when I first heard the name of the site, I wondered if it had to do with Opus' perpetual and fruitless search for love in the comic strip Bloom County.) On the surface, the idea does seem to be a bit silly, but on reflection, I have to admit that some of the best friends I have, I met through a shared love for particular authors. I don't know that I'd go so far as basing my choice of a wife on her taste in books, but it certainly seems to be a good way to meet friends.
If you're like me, you've probably seen any number of "software bundle" offers, where a large number of applications are offered for a low price, and the more people who buy the bundle, the more goodies get thrown into it. If you can find a bundle with an application you really want, it's a great deal, because you can often get the bundle for less than the price of a single application, and then you get all the other goodies thrown in for free.
Blogger Seth Dillingham has come up with a pretty cool twist on the idea: he's asking software developers to donate Mac software, which Seth is auctioning off to raise money for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a bikeathon across Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research.
And, best of all, you don't have to take a whole whack of software you don't want or need. Just browse through the list of what's available, select what you want, negotiate a price, and then make your payment to the PMC in Seth's name. Pretty cool.
(Thanks to Mac Format, my favourite computer rag, for the heads-up.)
I went to college in Nova Scotia, and spent some time in Halifax. Fortunately, it was during the winter, so I didn't get the full Halifax Harbour experience, but I was warned about it. Now, comes word from the CBC that, wonder of wonders, it's now safe to swim in Halifax Harbour. With all the stories about this or that evidence of global warming, endangered species, and so on, it's kind of nice to read a "good news" story about the environment for a change.
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