Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day! I would like to give a big shout out to all the vet's who have served our country and the people who are currently serving our country.

On this day, I give a shout out to my dad, who was a Commander in the Navy as well as to my many friends who are in the Air Force, especially Kelly who is currently deployed overseas. We miss you here in Albuquerque and can't wait for you to come back.

I'd also like to take a moment to remember my friend Mike McGahan, who gave his life for this country.

And when I think about people fighting and dying for their country, I always think about Les Mis. So in honor of Veteran's Day, here is the latest International Trailor for the Les Mis movie, which comes out this Christmas.

Look beyond the barricade, dear readers, and fight for freedom.

Avenge America!

Click here for the Shirt this Image Comes From

I don't like talking about politics, but since tomorrow is the presidential election, it's sort of the topic of the day. So I want to talk about the presidential candidate I would love to endorse. If he was real.

Steve Rogers. With running mate: Tony Stark.

You laugh because well...they're not real and they're Avengers. But honestly, if these two men were real and ran for president, I would vote for them in an instant.

Let's put aside the fact that if we lived in the world of the movie Avengers, both men were critical in saving us from an alien invasion and the nuking of New York City. If that doesn't make you a shoe in for office, I don't know what does. But that's not why I would vote for them.

I would vote for them, because I think these two men would stand for pretty much everything I believe in. America and Science. 

Steve is the All-American. He is freaking Captain America. He stands for truth, justice, and the American way. He's a legitimately good guy and he grew up as a Brooklyn underdog. Essentially he's one of the 99%. 

Some might argue that Steve would be a little too old fashioned for office. He was a young man in the 1930's and 1940's. But I would argue, who would better understand the importance of getting America's economy straight then a man who was a teen and young adult during the Great Depression? 

He's a Christian, which would win him the South, but a New Yorker, which would help bring in the Northeast. People might be afraid he'd be a little backward. A man from the 1940's...might he be a little bigoted and backwards? You forget that Captain America led a strike force made up of men of multiple ethnicities and nationalities. You forget that he fell in love with a woman who was a trusted agent of the British Government in a time when women weren't trusted to do much. You forget that this is the man who doesn't judge Dr. Banner on the fact that he occasionally turns into an uncontrollable rage monster. Steve Rogers is exactly the sort of man who judges you based on your actions and merits, not on your history, ethnicity, gender, or even sexual orientation. And he's the sort of man who believes that the American Dream should extend to all of these people.

Which makes Steve a little bit of an idealist, which is not necessarily the perfect man for an office. But that is why he needs Tony Stark to balance him and to keep him in touch with the modern world. Tony would also bring in the vote of the wealthy, since as a billionaire-himself, the wealthy would trust him not to completely screw them over. Of course, Steve is the presidential candidate and not Tony. Steve would not forget about those of us who are less wealthy and would understand that the wealthy made their wealth on the greatness of America, and that means they need to help support America.

Tony would bring practicality, pragmatism, and the ability to deal with the dirty side of politics to the administration. Steve is a little too good to deal with that sort of thing, so Tony could do all the behind the scenes dealing.   

And when it comes to balancing the budget, both Tony and Steve would not allow our nation to forget the importance of science. Steve's super human strength and ability was created by science. Tony's entire life has been founded on technology and going further. They would not allow America to fall behind, but they also wouldn't allow us to become Hydra or double deal weapons under the table. Something I think we can all agree is a good thing. 

This is just a high level description of why I would vote Rogers/Stark tomorrow, if it was possible. And being superheroes, they would be up to the task of avenging America, of fixing this nation so that it is the land our forefather's lived and died for. 

Alas, neither is a candidate. But one can dream.   

NaNoWriMo

The month of November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. (Which for some reason I always pronounce in my head as Nano-rammo instead of Nano-rye-mo as it probably should be). Rather than just being some sort of "compliment a writer and give them a new journal" sort of thing, NaNoWriMo is instead presented as a challenge. This is the month when everyone is encouraged to write a novel, or rather 50,000 words. If you reach 50,000 words by the end of the month, you are said to have "won" NaNoWriMo.

Normally I don't "participate" in NaNoWriMo. Which isn't to say I don't write novels during the month of November. I've just never much cared to label it or push myself to get to 50,000 words by Nov 30. Being in school messes with your priorities like that. Last year, I accidentally won NaNoWriMo. Between finishing my thesis and finishing The Descent of Chris Chappell as a de-stress while writing my thesis, I think I actually managed to write somewhere around 70,000 word in the month of November. It was intense. 

For the record, I don't recommend writing technical theses and novels at the same time. It's not good for your health. 

So NaNoWriMo has never been at the top of my priority list, but this year a local friend of mine wanted to do it and asked if I would do it with her. So of course I said yes.

I say "of course" for two reasons. 

(1) WRITING BUDDY! YAY! I have so few writing buddies, and I have none outside of the internet that I know as real every day people, so I'm super excited to have someone local I can talk to about all the kinks and foibles of writing, and who gets it when I lament that I feel like I'm forcing everything and I just can't find Zeke's voice. (Also, she's awesome, my writing buddy. She's writing a YA travel novel.)

(2) I've had a terrible time getting into my writing groove now that I'm out of school. Sure I have a ton of free time, but for some reason, I just find myself not writing. I don't know if it's because my computer is in a separate room from my TV now (which is actually a big problem. I'm thinking I'm going to have to fix that this weekend, because I really need to be able to see the TV while I write) or if it's because my work has been crazy lately (working on weekends = not fun). So I'm hoping this NaNoWriMo will jolt me back into full writing mode. 

So NaNoWriMo started yesterday and I managed to write about 1200 words, which puts me under pace, but this month has two work holidays in it. I think I can catch up. 

If I can find my character's voice. *sigh*

Anyone else out there doing NaNoWriMo?

Emotional Overload

I originally planned to write a post apologizing for being a slacker blogger and then something about Halloween. But all of that is pointless now. Yesterday my entire world was rocked by the announcement of one movie.

Star Wars Episode VII. 2015.

It's not so much that Disney bought Lucasfilm that concerns me. In my mind Disney and Lucasfilm have always been one big happy family. I went to high school in Orlando and attended Star Wars weekends at Disney yearly. Disney has attractions that deal with both Indiana Jones and Star Wars. So that part didn't blow my mind too much, and if that had been the only announcement I would have shrugged my shoulders and been like, "Ok. They're just making their relationship Facebook official."

But Disney didn't stop there. They announced we would be getting Star Wars Episode VII in 2015.

My gut reaction was this:

I love Star Wars. A lot. My feelings for Star Wars cannot be expressed in words. My love of Star Wars borders on the blasphemous. My love of Star Wars is....is crazy. It's my first and greatest geek love. 

I love Star Wars so much that I can watch the prequel trilogy and see past the bad writing and bad acting and see the kernel of greatness that it could have been, and love them for that kernel.

So my gut reaction came from pure fear, fear that somehow they would make Star Wars even more of a laughing stock than it already is. And fear that they will completely disregard the 25 years of Expanded Universe Novels that I love. 

I've known how Star Wars continues after The Return of the Jedi since I was nine-year-old and read Heir to the Empire. And I don't think I could stand to watch someone butcher Han, Leia, and Luke, who I watched grow from the smuggler, princess, and farmboy to the leaders of the New Republic and then even retire from that.

But I love Star Wars so much I also can't help but squee in joy and dance around because they're making another movie of the thing I love. It's coming back to the big screen! A new adventure! My favorite thing in the whole universe! How can I not be happy? How can I not be dancing in joy?

The prequels were bad, but this time George Lucas will be involved only as an adviser, which is the only role he is any good at. The prequels left a bad taste in everyone's mouth and made a lot of people mock Star Wars and deride the thing I love. Maybe this will redeem Star Wars! Maybe Disney will make it amazing and beautiful again, and bring back everything that was good and wonderful about Star Wars. Maybe Disney will make people fall in love with Star Wars anew. 

Such hope! Such a brilliant tantalizing hope!

But my emotions swing back and forth between fear and hope, between horror and joy. 

Disney holds my heart in their hands with this movie. I can only hope they treat it well.

So my advice to Disney is to remember that Star Wars is my dream, my love, like so many others. And in the words of Yeats,

"I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

The Seanchan

This post is going to reference The Wheel of Time, but it's using the Wheel of Time to discuss a bigger topic, so feel free to read even if you don't love the Wheel of Time.

Also, it's only going to reference cultures, not plot points in the Wheel of Time. So more of a setting and less of a spoiler discussion. 

In The Wheel of Time, there is a powerful people called the Seanchan. Their culture has a very rigid hierarchy, where everyone knows their place and doesn't seek to expand beyond their place. Part of their hierarchy involves slavery. 

Related (though it may not seem to be), the Wheel of Time has magicians called "channelers". What they do is not important. What is important is that the Seanchan enslave their channelers. It's a rather horrid practice. They "leash" their channelers, basically putting a collar on their neck that has a leash that connects to a band on another woman's wrist. (It's always a woman channeler, aka "damane", and a woman leash holder, "sul'dam". Men have their own can of worms that are unimportant to this discussion.) What makes it particularly horrid is that the collared woman, the damane, can do nothing without the sul'dam's permission. If the sul'dam takes off her wrist band, a damane can't do anything--she can't move away without experiencing immense pain (from the wrist/collar device). The damane is taught from the moment she is labelled as a channeler that she is worthless and useless and nothing and then the most she can aspire to in her life is being treated as a pampered pet. It is very very terrible.

And I think we can all agree. Slavery is wrong. No person (magician or not) should think of themselves as not a person, as horrible piece of crap that's only worthwhile because someone else is controlling them. This is a terrible, terrible, terrible practice. 

Also in the Wheel of Time universe, there is a group of creatures called "Trollocs". They are innately evil beasts that have features that mix bear, goat, man, whatever. It's not that which makes them evil though. They are essentially created by the Dark Lord (bum bum buuuuuuummmmm) and he created them with innate darkness. They spend their entire lives murdering, raping, and pillaging. Do they enslave people? No. Because they capture them and rape them and EAT them. Seriously. It's really terrible.

So yes, with that in mind let's go on with the conversation.

There is a Wheel of Time re-read I follow on tor.com.This past week's post covered a chapter that deals with a different people who are in opposition to the Seanchan, so that brought up some discussion about the Seanchan people. And the comments for these posts are always really long discussions. I don't usually comment, because my Wheel of Time knowledge cannot even begin to compare to other people. But on occasion, someone strikes a chord and I just have to say something. This week someone made the following comment:

"....[the Seanchan] are abhorrent and deserve to die, more so even than Trollocs in my opinion...."

To which my reaction was WHOA!  WHOA? WHAT? Did someone really just say that? A people group deserves genocide? GENOCIDE? 

Now maybe they didn't mean it that way. Maybe they mean Seanchan practices are abhorrent and those practices deserve to die. But that's not how it reads. What they seem to be saying is that a group of people, made up of good and bad people, deserve to die because of cultural practices that we--from our cultural perspective--view as bad. That they deserve to die even more than an innately evil group of monsters who pillage, rape, and eat people.

I'm sure my little sister would have something to say about being "ethnocentric" in all of this. But whatever. Let's say we all agree that slavery is evil. And I think that's a fairly decent point. (My sister may not agree, but she is an anthropologist, which is why she gets into these shades of gray cultural arguments. Heck, she writes papers on objectively viewing human sacrifice. Anthropologists are weird.). I disagree with how the Seanchan treat their channelers. I think it's inhuman, wrong, and yes, even evil. But does an evil practice of a people warrant the genocide of that people?

Do two wrongs make a right?

Let's look at it this way. Nazism? Bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. They tried to commit genocide of another people! But is the appropriate reaction to that to commit genocide on every German? NO! The appropriate reaction is to make them stop the practice and then rehabilitate their culture. 

No one is irredeemable. No people is irredeemable. 

To quote the Wheel of Time, "no one is so far in the dark, they can't see the light."

It's will take work, but the Seanchan can be saved. I think they are worth saving. 

Yes, they're fictional, but this sort of view of fictional peoples frightens me, because it so easily translates into the real world. 

Every people is worth saving. Every culture has some worth in it. No matter how "evil" a culture might be, genocide is not the answer.

Genocide is never the answer.

Just ask Ender Wiggin. 

The Young Avengers

A while back, I wrote about the impossibility of diving into comic books. Despite the seeming impossibility of it all, I haven't truly given up hope. Sure I hadn't read a comic in months, but I was still keeping my ears open for "Where to Start" advice. Just some way to get into the comic universe.

So one day, I was laughing my head off while reading the archives of Memos From Fury and came across a post, when someone asked the question I've been asking. "I liked the movies. Tell me where to go into the comics that's not too hard." 

The first answer was The Ultimates, if you're looking for something close to the movie, since the movie took a lot of it's inspiration from that comic. But I'd read the Ultimates, and they had done nothing for me. I didn't like the characters. And the Ultimates are not in the main Marvel continuity, which just made it all seem useless.. For breaking into that continuity, the blogger (tumbler?) suggested The Young Avengers, because it required no previous knowledge of characters or story line with the exception of Iron Man and Captain America are awesome and Avengers. Which if you've watched the movies, you of course know.

So I figured I would give it a shot.

I wasn't overly optimistic. My foray into comics/graphic novels has not been the best. It's a weird medium for me, one that makes it hard for me to connect to the characters, generally. I'm used to books, where I'm privy to a character's innermost thoughts. I'm used to movies, where emotional connection is the name of the game. The graphic novel medium just seemed so shallow in comparison.

So basically, I didn't have much hope that I would connect with the Young Avengers, that I would care about these characters who I knew nothing about. 

I opened the comic with hesitation. I closed that first issue and immediately purchased the second one. (For the record, I use the ComiXology app, which means I can instantly download the second issues.)

Finally, in my hands, I had a comic where the plot required no for knowledge. Sure it might be more meaningful for someone who actually knows who Kang the Conquerer is in Marvel continuity, but even being me and not having that knowledge, I still got the emotional impact. What if you were a kid and you discovered you were going to grow up to be Hilter? Wouldn't you try to change your life? But what if by doing so you ruined the world as it was known, and not for the better, essentially discovering that Hitler needed to be a live and do his evil deeds are else the entire world would be destroyed. What would you do? That's a question I don't need to have continuity to understand the depth of.

Finally in my hands I had a comic where there was no character foreknowledge required. This was the Young Avenger's first comic. And it wasn't some ridiculous thing written in 1965. It was written in 2006, which means impressive artwork and a real storyline.

However, it's also a story about teenagers, which gives us a coming of age, dealing with authority story that anyone who has been young can relate to. Also, one of the things that has annoyed me in comics generally is the ridiculous proportions the characters are drawn with. Every man is an Arnold Schwarzenegger. Every woman is an over exaggerate hour glass. I actually kind of find this disturbing to look at. But when it comes to teenage heroes, artists tone down the over-exaggerated build (for the most part...I'm looking at you, Kate Bishop), giving me characters I actually don't find it disturbing to look at.

And somehow, I actually connected with these characters. Their motives are relate-able and real. They just want to be heroes, like their heroes. They want to be more than they are and yet completely themselves.  And one wants to change his fate. 

I fell in love with them all. Patriot. Iron Lad. Hulking. Asgardian/Wiccan. Stature. Kate. Even Speed and Vision, who were in the group the shortest. I loved them all! (Maybe Wiccan a little more than the others if I'm honest, which is a combination of his awesome powers, his general adorableness, and the fact that he's one of the least angst-y in the group...so far). 

After a summer of searching, I found my answer to the comic book conundrum. The Young Avengers should me I could read a superhero comic with understanding. And it showed me that I could read a story in the comic medium and feel the same level of connection I do to a character in a book or a movie.

I found my gateway drug.

So I just thought I would share it with you guys. Read The Young Avengers. It's great. 

Where to Start: Robots/Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov

(This "Where to Start" was requested by a reader. I hope you all enjoy.)

Isaac Asimov is one of those SF authors that everyone knows. After all, you can't have an intelligent discussion about robots in science fiction without talking about the man who invented the term robotics. It doesn't take a SF fan long before they come across a reference to Asimov in some other work, whether it's positronic brains or psychohistory. So sure, you may know a lot about Asimov, but have you actually read Asimov?

Maybe the answer is "yes, of course, duh". And that's awesome. But maybe the answer is a shameful shaking of your head and maybe you admit that part of the reason you've never read Asimov is because there is just so much. And you could ask your friends where to start but you don't want to be labelled as a SF n00b. Or maybe you tried to read Foundation and just got bogged down in his short story-esque writing style and you just can't get what a big fuss everyone is making over Asimov.

Never fear! I am here to help. I have read every novel by Isaac Asimov and most of his short stories. And I am here to help you dig into his universe.

For you see, the majority of Asimov novels actually fall into one universe, and it just happens to chronicle the history of that universe from a time very close to our own (or in the past if you pay attention to the dates) to a time in the far far far far future.

A lot of people will recommend reading Foundation first. But DON'T DO IT. Foundation is a great book, but for those of us with more modern sensibilities, it can be hard to get through. It's divided into four parts that read more like short stories and aren't (in my opinion) very engaging. So if that's the first Asimov book you ever pick up you may think, "WHY? Why does everyone think he's so awesome. This book is just sort of 'meh'."

So where should you start?

1) I, Robot

Note: I would like to take a moment to say that the movie of the same name is an abomination, and if you saw it, please don't hold it against this book or any other book by Isaac Asimov. Ok?

I recommend everyone dipping a toe into Asimov start with I, Robot. Heck, I've been known to recommend I, Robot to people dipping their toe in Science Fiction in general. This is mandatory reading for anyone who claims they are a Science Fiction fan. But I don't just recommend it first because it's a crucial, pivotal work in the history of Science Fiction. I recommend it first because it's good.

Sure it's just a collection of short stories strung together with a wrapper about a reporter interviewing Susan Calvin for a fluff piece, but it's amazing. The short stories range from mind blowing to hilarious. Basically, there is something for everyone here--minus an epic insane space opera storyline.

And if you read it and you don't like, no big loss of your time, because it's a fairly short collection of short stories. But really, you have nothing to loose by reading it, because it is such a critical work of Science Fiction. At worst, you come out of it having read a classic. And it's maybe a 100 pages of short stories. Anyone can find time to read that. Heck, my program manager who just had a newborn found time to read it.

My second Asimov recommendation (and another book I always recommend to newbies in SF in general) is:

2) Caves of Steel

I love this book. In fact, it's one of my favorite science fiction books. I tend to re-read it every other year. And R. Daneel Olivaw is one of my favorite characters. Ever.

Why is this a book I often recommend to newbies in SF? Well, the answer is because though this is a SF book, it's really a murder mystery that happens to take place in a SF environment. And who doesn't love a good who-done-it? People who aren't used to SF genre can get engrossed in a mystery plot and not get overwhelmed by the different SF elements. After all it's just a story about a cop and his partner who are looking into a mysterious death. Sure it takes place in a mega-city in a Futuristic Earth and introduces us to the struggle of Earthmen against the Spacers...but that's all icing on the cake of a great murder mystery.

Once you read Caves of Steel, you have to finish the robot books, so...

3) The Naked Sun

4) The Robots of Dawn

5) (optional) Robots and Empire

I'm actually going to allow you to skip Robots and Empire. There is one big reason for this and one small reason. The small reason? It's not Asimov's best book. However, you may want to read it for completion, because you've read all the other Robot books and you love Daneel so you want to read this one. That leads us to the big reason. It's impossible to find. You would think that would be fixed in this world of e-readers, but nook doesn't have an e-version (I don't know about kindle). Your best bet is to search Used Bookstores, which is what I had my grandmother do for me for this one and for the Galactic Empire books (which we're about to get to). I now own two copies, but they're both old paperbacks. If you know me personally and want to borrow it, that can be arranged. Otherwise, you're on your own kids.

So now I'm going to go with the road not taken. A lot of people might think, "OK, so you recommend the robot books first, but now Foundation, right?"

Umm...no, not exactly.

Isaac Asimov is one of those authors where I recommend reading his books in order based on their chronology in universe, not publication. And lucky for us, the chronology in universe is easy to find, because Asimov himself defines it in one of his forewards in a book.

So next you'll want to read the Galactic Empire books, which are three standalone, but classic books. The science is wonkey, and they used to be really hard to find (hence I had my grandmother search in used bookstores) but lucky for us they have recently been republished! So now you will have no trouble finding them in book or electronic form!

6) The Currents of Space

7) The Stars, Like Dust

8) Pebble in the Sky

The Galactic Empire books lead directly into the Foundation books, which are the easiest Asimov books to find, so never fear looking for these on the shelf. But be warned. Foundation is a classic for a reason, but it's not because the writing is amazing. It was one of Asimov's first full length novels and it suffers from having been written by a master of short stories. It's basically four short stories thrown together. But they get better! So read it and enjoy.

9) Prelude to Foundation

10) Forward the Foundation

11) Foundation

12) Foundation and the Empire

13) Second Foundation

14) Foundation's Edge

15) Foundation and the Earth

And there you go! You've read all of the novels in the Robots/Foundation universe!

Asimov has also written some standalone novels that don't connect, which are all amazing and you can read in any order you please. I highly recommend Nemesis. 

I really love Isaac Asimov and hope you will enjoy his books too.