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San Francisco, 1:00 AM
Wed Nov 25
23 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/31/09
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."
We are the story-telling apes.
08/31/09
Seeing someone else mention them always makes me happy :)
08/31/09
08/31/09
Stories hold us together and help us to make sense of a Universe that really could care less what we think. Enjoy them and take what comfort you can from them but never ignore Facts (as dicey as those can be).
Sapience is a bitch, yo?
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08/31/09
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." -- Anatole France
He wrote L'Île des Pingouins which looks like avery cool book and was involved in the infamous Dreyfus affair and worked to clear Dreyfus' name. Must read up on this guy. Thanks!
10/30/08
10/30/08
And I liked the Muffy stories, tho before he died, Geo. got very tired of being asked about them; I think he was upset that they were more well-known and talked about than his years of serious work.
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@braak: "Oooooh. My name's braak! I'm soooo smart!"
10/30/08
Lovecraft and gaming: two abominable things that are otherworldly together!
10/30/08
And Lovecraft did do science fiction. "Shadow Out of Time," is a good example of this. Actually a lot of his stories had science fictional themes, disembodied brains, bizarre aliens bent on global conquest, bizarre hyperspatial physics, etc.
Of course back then the genres weren't so clearly defined. The phrase science fiction hadn't even been invented yet. It all seems sort of steampunkish to us now but, according to ST Joshi a leading scholar of Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft's later stuff began to read more and more like straight SF. Many of Lovecraft's stories predate themes commonly found in UFO abduction stories, involving bizarre creatures, dreamlike, nightmarish, visceral.
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But there's a case to be made for Lovecraft being a dick if you include in the category of dickish behaviors "deep-seated and pernicious racism."
10/30/08
The latest "Garrett P.I." book from author Glen Cook deals with a very Cthulhu-esque primordial sleeping monster, who is being roused from his ancient slumber by a bunch of very unpleasent giant burrowing insects who have decided he looks rather tasty.
10/30/08
10/30/08
[www.infinityplus.co.uk]
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10/30/08
2 bucks is "inordinate"?
It's a fun read.
10/30/08
Nevermind, nevermind.
10/30/08
"Resume with Monsters" - freaking hilarious. Cuthulu meets Office Space.
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Uh ... what? Have you actually read Wells' book, or are you just going by the Spielberg crapfest? 'Cause that's the only version of the story where the Martians were buried.
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oh and there's that story 'In the Walls of Eyrx' set on Venus..
there's quite a lot of SF material in ol' lovecrafts works actually...
10/30/08
He didn't believe in voodoo, for god's sake.
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Yog-Sothoth can be convinced, but only if your position is coterminous with all points in space simultaneously.
This is difficult for the average borrower.
10/30/08
Yog-Sothoth can be persuaded easier if you kidnap Wilbur Whateley's twin brother. Good luck with that.
10/30/08
*ZAAAAPPPP* aaaiee!
[www.macguff.fr]
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10/30/08
But if we're going to do it, I would suggest that the only really consistent definition of science-fiction is China Mieville's: Science-fiction is the genre that authoritatively uses scientific language to describe natural or "super"natural events.
Given that, there's no question that Lovecraft qualifies as a science fiction writer--though he often used other kinds of language, he always attempts to ground his paranormal horrors in the scientific language of his era. Even when he talks about things like witches, magical spells, and magical rituals, he takes great pains to indicate that thinking of them as "spells" is something that only primitive, ignorant, degenerate Eskimaux would do, and that they are actually complicated forms of non-Euclidean mathematics.
Song of Fire & Ice, while awesome, makes no such similar attempt.
Also: space aliens. What kind of a thing has space aliens in it without being science fiction?
10/30/08
10/30/08
The Old Ones--the big sort of cucumber-looking monsters that live in Antarctica, are another set of aliens. Lovecraft always makes a distinction between aliens that are essentially biological (like the Old Ones or the Mi-Go), and aliens that are composed of strange, extra-dimensional or stellar matter--so, even if you're disinclined to believe that the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu qualify as genuine space aliens, there are definitely just regular old space aliens hanging around. (Some of them can fly through space on their bat-wings, but that was probably because Lovecraft didn't really get "exospheric vacuum.")
Vampires are always a weird and tricky issue, and I try and stay out of that one. My guess, with regards to Buffy, is two things: 1) there's definitely just regular magic in that show, and regular magic is a big part of it (they call them demons instead of aliens, so, there you go). 2) There's, like, a million places for people to talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and maybe the editors are a little leery of opening that window here.
Do not call up, as they say, that which ye cannot put down.
10/30/08
Was that Lovecraft? I thought it was Tom Cruise.
10/30/08