@SnehalMarten: Bad of me to overlook the cool stuff Ellis and Alan Moore have done lately with old pulp tropes. I'd like to read a longer story (dare I say, a non-graphic novel) with a Yellow Peril-type villian in the lead. Deeply bitter over the Opium Wars and Unequal Treaties, he forms a secret army to crush the West. He'd be like Govenor-General Lin Zexu but with less compunction against killing and more about the super-science.
Having an accent doesn't mean broken English. My grandfather spoke fluent English in a beautiful blend of aristocratic Shanghai and 1920s' London, the old boy was educated in that Green and Pleasant Land for economics.
It's been ages since Lansdale has edited an anthology, I want to say at least a decade. I'd have to check my collection, but I'm pretty sure that RAZZORED SADDLES was late 80's/early 90's, and his two western non-fiction books were mid-90's.
Subterranean Press is predominately a small press publisher that caters to the collector's market. It was actually their stranglehold on Lansdale's secondary publications that I was forced to skip a chunk of his work from the last 5 years or so. One just can't keep paying $40-$100 for a book, no matter how much you liked the guy.
Is there any word on a mass market edition?
I was going to suggest that anyone interested actually go to Shocklines.com to order the title, but it appears they are shutting down. A portion of all Joe sales goes to Protect.org, a child protection charity which Joe is an advisory board member, along with Andrew Vachss and The Wachowski Brothers....
@Allen_Richards: Knowing Subterranean, we'll probably never see an affordable edition of any of the Retro Pulp collections.
But hey, good news! Tachyon Publications is coming out with a Best of Joe R. Lansdale collection in the nearish future. I'm trying to get a confirmed shipping date out of Mr. Weisman but he's as slippery as an eel, he is.
Stay tuned
@Grey_Area: AI best of Joe? Then it'll just be another rehash of his older OOP collections, all of which I own. I was speaking to Joe once and he even told me not to bother spending the loot for one of his last collections, which was basically all of his stories from BEST SELLER'S GAURANTEED.
His short stories have ALWAYS been better than his novels, but these days it's rare he ever publishes them. I'd like to see a collection of shorts written, say, since WRITER OF THE PURPLE RAGE.
I can attest to the truth of the background of Harlan's story, though I haven't seen his intro to this book. The editor at Bantam who looked at it did not grok that it was a parody. It gave all of us taking part in the conversation to lament the cultural ignorance of the then current crop of editorial gatekeepers.
@SuprabhaIguana: Thanks for this info, sir/madame.
He was being way silly and obfuscatory in that intro (just to the story, Keith Lansdale did the book intro). I wasn't sure what to believe but I got a real kick out of it.
I think it won't surprise most frequent io9 readers that I disagree with this article.
"I don't mean to disparage hard science fiction, because done well it's one of the most glorious things in the world. But done badly it becomes a mess of awful, badly-written data dumps that wind up having about as much scientific validity as a spy ray."
So, because it's difficult to do it right, let's not even try and let's just do the easy thing and bullshit science left and right. Fine, let's settle for mediocrity.
"Somehow Walter and Peter's mad science manages to capture a truth about real science that "hard SF" rarely does: The sheer, awesome plunging-into-the-unknown of it."
The first sentence, that Fringe's bad science somehow captures some truth about real science, couldn't be farther from the truth. I think that is the perception that most people have because most people don't know squat about real science. I once attended a lecture by Carl Sagan at Cornell where he described how much more interesting and amazing Star Trek could be if the Enterprise did NOT travel at faster-than-light speeds. People think the trail of stars when the Enterprise goes into warp is cool, but the true and correct relativistic effects of near-lightspeed travel are much much cooler than that. There are color and geometric distortions that put the warp trail to shame.
And speaking of Carl Sagan, his mid-80's TV show Cosmos is still going strong in many countries in the world, proof that science can be done right on TV and still be both entertaining and successful.
One of the problems is that people who understand real science are too busy doing it to create TV shows and movies. As a result, what passes as science on these shows and movies is the imagination of people who barely know any science at all. And since audiences typically know very little science as well (especially in the US, where the education system is so lacking in science), they buy into the bullshit. As a result, the terrible science that shows like Fringe portray is perpetuated and even exalted as a substitute for real science in entertainment.
A good example is House. Not to pick on you, Annalee, but you just referred to House's science as an example of correct science. Well, it is NOT. Most of the time, the medicine in House is almost as faulty as the science in Fringe. There is a blog that reviews House, run by an actual medical doctor, and frequented by actual doctors and the consensus is that House is consistently bad in the real-science department.
House and your opinion about its science are a good example of something I'm very concerned about, namely, that people are slowly being brainwashed, so-to-speak, into accepting bullshit science as the real thing. And since these people vote on - or otherwise make decisions about - issues such as stem-cell research, the direction of the space program, whether or not to teach creationism in school, and other such issues, you see why I'm concerned. Moreover, indirectly, the bad science in entertainment is also responsible for the commercial success of all kinds of new-age bullshit enterprises and, of course, the exploitation by psychics and astrologers.
I don't think people at large realize the impact that entertainment has on audiences. Well, except for people in the advertisement industry, who have long ago discovered how they can manipulate audiences into believing almost anything and, therefore, buying almost anything. To pretend that the portrayal of science on TV and movies doesn't have an equally large impact is naive at best, especially considering that we live in a very scientifically-oriented time. And since most of the science portrayed in entertainment is so bad, the bottom line is that ignorance is being perpetuated and rebranded as knowledge.
Now, I am NOT suggesting that TV shows and movies should go in the other extreme and turn into science lectures. What I am suggesting is that people wake up to the effects that bad science in entertainment can and does have on audiences, and demand better.
And I'm perfectly fine with shows such as Fringe, provided that it's made absolutely crystal-clear undeniably obvious to the audience that the science being portrayed is bullshit, because there are lots of people out there who do think that what appears on Fringe is possible, if not already true. Of course, I'm dreaming now, because no TV show would ever present such a disclaimer.
By the way, I forgot to ask this question: why is it that Scientology is so successful? Because it preys on people's gullability regarding bullshit science. And that's another example of what I was referring to when I suggested that bad science in entertainment can and does have bad effects on society.
I was about to ask if they make it anymore. Wiki says, "Boo Berry and Franken Berry are sometimes mistakenly thought to be discontinued as well. In reality, their distribution is just much lower and more sporadic than that of the flagship cereal Count Chocula. The best time of the year to find Boo Berry and Franken Berry is around Halloween."
Fake/fun mad science is what I prefer over hard science - I love that there's a show on TV about it.
But why does it have to be a snorefest like Fringe? Walter's hollywood-style craziness (which is essentially just a series of wacky non sequiturs) is offensively cheesy and the only thing remotely interesting about the show - Pacey is practically superfluous, and the main character lady is Ambien in a pantsuit.
I just don't see what people like about this show.
@James Foreman: But she's Ambien in a totally hot pantsuit. That she wears really well! I am seriously obsessed with Dunham's pantsuits. Maybe this is unhealthy. I've said too much!
@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Well, don't hold the monochromatic thing against her, after all she was brainwashed to wear grey and make some hundreds abs in the mornings.
While I can agree that the "science" part of the show doesn't need to be real or plausible, at least the actual human parts of the show should make sense. The whole "give me all the files" thing was ridiculous and not credible. They are the FBI, and their training involves thorough investigation of all possibilities. The entire season they had been investigating "incidents related to science, biology, or unexplained phenomena", and no one in that entire season thought "gee, perhaps we should see if there are other cases related to science, biology, or unexplained phenomena". And finally at the end of the season someone says that, and I'm to assume they can get all that information and pull the boxes in a matter of an hour or two? I don't think so. If it was realistic they would have already had all those files pulled and reviewed and the map made with the push pins. It would have just been a matter of them not seeing the pattern until looking at it with fresh eyes and with the new information of Jones's window attempt locations.
"While I can agree that the "science" part of the show doesn't need to be real or plausible, at least the actual human parts of the show should make sense"
Also, it's a continuing weekly TV show that follows American Idol.
It's not trying to be Important and Serious and Truthful, it's trying to regularly amuse several million people for an hour on a weeknight, and sell enough cars and soda pop to pay for itself.
07/31/09
07/31/09
07/30/09
07/30/09
you can see some of these here in my personal pulp gallery
http://www.bigmeathammer.com/gallery.htm
07/30/09
07/30/09
Although, I would keep the broken English. It's a rare individual who can speak several languages fluently and without an accent.
07/30/09
Having an accent doesn't mean broken English. My grandfather spoke fluent English in a beautiful blend of aristocratic Shanghai and 1920s' London, the old boy was educated in that Green and Pleasant Land for economics.
He had no links to the Si Fan as far as I know...
07/30/09
07/30/09
Subterranean Press is predominately a small press publisher that caters to the collector's market. It was actually their stranglehold on Lansdale's secondary publications that I was forced to skip a chunk of his work from the last 5 years or so. One just can't keep paying $40-$100 for a book, no matter how much you liked the guy.
Is there any word on a mass market edition?
I was going to suggest that anyone interested actually go to Shocklines.com to order the title, but it appears they are shutting down. A portion of all Joe sales goes to Protect.org, a child protection charity which Joe is an advisory board member, along with Andrew Vachss and The Wachowski Brothers....
07/30/09
Only 3 years since his last anthology...and it got completely by me...
07/30/09
But hey, good news! Tachyon Publications is coming out with a Best of Joe R. Lansdale collection in the nearish future. I'm trying to get a confirmed shipping date out of Mr. Weisman but he's as slippery as an eel, he is.
Stay tuned
07/30/09
His short stories have ALWAYS been better than his novels, but these days it's rare he ever publishes them. I'd like to see a collection of shorts written, say, since WRITER OF THE PURPLE RAGE.
07/30/09
Good to know. I pre-ordered it ages ago, it seems. The first Retro Pulp Tales was a lot of fun.
07/30/09
07/30/09
He was being way silly and obfuscatory in that intro (just to the story, Keith Lansdale did the book intro). I wasn't sure what to believe but I got a real kick out of it.
07/30/09
07/30/09
07/30/09
05/15/09
"I don't mean to disparage hard science fiction, because done well it's one of the most glorious things in the world. But done badly it becomes a mess of awful, badly-written data dumps that wind up having about as much scientific validity as a spy ray."
So, because it's difficult to do it right, let's not even try and let's just do the easy thing and bullshit science left and right. Fine, let's settle for mediocrity.
"Somehow Walter and Peter's mad science manages to capture a truth about real science that "hard SF" rarely does: The sheer, awesome plunging-into-the-unknown of it."
The first sentence, that Fringe's bad science somehow captures some truth about real science, couldn't be farther from the truth. I think that is the perception that most people have because most people don't know squat about real science. I once attended a lecture by Carl Sagan at Cornell where he described how much more interesting and amazing Star Trek could be if the Enterprise did NOT travel at faster-than-light speeds. People think the trail of stars when the Enterprise goes into warp is cool, but the true and correct relativistic effects of near-lightspeed travel are much much cooler than that. There are color and geometric distortions that put the warp trail to shame.
And speaking of Carl Sagan, his mid-80's TV show Cosmos is still going strong in many countries in the world, proof that science can be done right on TV and still be both entertaining and successful.
One of the problems is that people who understand real science are too busy doing it to create TV shows and movies. As a result, what passes as science on these shows and movies is the imagination of people who barely know any science at all. And since audiences typically know very little science as well (especially in the US, where the education system is so lacking in science), they buy into the bullshit. As a result, the terrible science that shows like Fringe portray is perpetuated and even exalted as a substitute for real science in entertainment.
A good example is House. Not to pick on you, Annalee, but you just referred to House's science as an example of correct science. Well, it is NOT. Most of the time, the medicine in House is almost as faulty as the science in Fringe. There is a blog that reviews House, run by an actual medical doctor, and frequented by actual doctors and the consensus is that House is consistently bad in the real-science department.
House and your opinion about its science are a good example of something I'm very concerned about, namely, that people are slowly being brainwashed, so-to-speak, into accepting bullshit science as the real thing. And since these people vote on - or otherwise make decisions about - issues such as stem-cell research, the direction of the space program, whether or not to teach creationism in school, and other such issues, you see why I'm concerned. Moreover, indirectly, the bad science in entertainment is also responsible for the commercial success of all kinds of new-age bullshit enterprises and, of course, the exploitation by psychics and astrologers.
I don't think people at large realize the impact that entertainment has on audiences. Well, except for people in the advertisement industry, who have long ago discovered how they can manipulate audiences into believing almost anything and, therefore, buying almost anything. To pretend that the portrayal of science on TV and movies doesn't have an equally large impact is naive at best, especially considering that we live in a very scientifically-oriented time. And since most of the science portrayed in entertainment is so bad, the bottom line is that ignorance is being perpetuated and rebranded as knowledge.
Now, I am NOT suggesting that TV shows and movies should go in the other extreme and turn into science lectures. What I am suggesting is that people wake up to the effects that bad science in entertainment can and does have on audiences, and demand better.
And I'm perfectly fine with shows such as Fringe, provided that it's made absolutely crystal-clear undeniably obvious to the audience that the science being portrayed is bullshit, because there are lots of people out there who do think that what appears on Fringe is possible, if not already true. Of course, I'm dreaming now, because no TV show would ever present such a disclaimer.
05/15/09
By the way, I forgot to ask this question: why is it that Scientology is so successful? Because it preys on people's gullability regarding bullshit science. And that's another example of what I was referring to when I suggested that bad science in entertainment can and does have bad effects on society.
05/15/09
Yawn.
05/14/09
Can't he just slip over to Earth-1 and buy some?
Huh?
Double You Tee Eff.
I want some answers!
05/14/09
I was about to ask if they make it anymore. Wiki says, "Boo Berry and Franken Berry are sometimes mistakenly thought to be discontinued as well. In reality, their distribution is just much lower and more sporadic than that of the flagship cereal Count Chocula. The best time of the year to find Boo Berry and Franken Berry is around Halloween."
05/14/09
05/14/09
But why does it have to be a snorefest like Fringe? Walter's hollywood-style craziness (which is essentially just a series of wacky non sequiturs) is offensively cheesy and the only thing remotely interesting about the show - Pacey is practically superfluous, and the main character lady is Ambien in a pantsuit.
I just don't see what people like about this show.
05/14/09
05/14/09
05/15/09
05/15/09
Maybe Astrid can give her some tips about wearing colors?
05/14/09
05/15/09
"While I can agree that the "science" part of the show doesn't need to be real or plausible, at least the actual human parts of the show should make sense"
Why the double standard? Why not demand both?
05/15/09
Because then you get a fucking boring show like 11th hour, that's why.
05/14/09
It's not trying to be Important and Serious and Truthful, it's trying to regularly amuse several million people for an hour on a weeknight, and sell enough cars and soda pop to pay for itself.