Taxes

I'm not generally a political blogger, but I've seen a particular lie repeated over and over as of late.

McCain has an ad out claiming that Obama is going to be a tax and spend liberal, with huge deficits. To be fair, neither candidate is going to balance the budget, despite the implication of the McCain ad.

This chart, published in the Washington Post, breaks down both of their tax plans.



Go back and look at it again - and pay special attention to the three bars that amount to 60% of the population. Not one of those income brackets gets even a 1% tax cut from McCain, while they all get between 2.4% and 5.5% from Obama.

So, it's your call whose plan you like better, just don't buy the lies.

-S

Little Brother Update

I'm well into Little Brother now (I don't know exactly how far), and I admit to being somewhat underwhelmed at first. Hype can do that. The introduction is definitely not the strongest feature of the story, and I have some critiques about everything I've read so far, but...

Well, let me give you some background.
If you speak to me while I am reading, I may be grumpy. The grumpier I am when I respond to you, the more engaging the novel you've distracted me from.

I was pretty grumpy when my Little Brother reading session was interrupted.

So. When I put out a review griping about all the things wrong with the book (which I probably will), remember that I quite enjoyed reading it.

Doctorow, Finally

I'm finally reading one of Cory Doctorow's novels, Little Brother. Anyone who has been paying attention to web fiction knows of Doctorow, and I'll soon be joining those of you who have read his work.

Sometimes We All Feel Ineffective

When presented with issues that really matter, when presented with true human suffering, like genocide in Darfur the shipbreakers in India, or the downtrodden in Afghanistan, it's tough to know how to react. You may, like me, develop a literal ache in your gut.

Frankly, what is happening to so many of these people makes me angry - angry at those who have destroyed these people's lives, and angry at the rest of the world for not doing something.

And right there I stop in my tracks.

What, exactly, am I doing to aid these folks? Well, I've written letters to my representatives and I've always made a point to raise awareness, much to the annoyance of my peers. But really, what action have I taken that prevents a child from starving to death?

I haven't done one single thing to put food in the mouth of a child, or to provide clean water to a refugee. And, frankly, the amount of money I could donate is pitiful. While my $25 donation might make me feel better, and it might keep a child alive for a few weeks, it's really a drop of water in the desert. I'm not just fighting a losing battle, I'm fighting a hopeless battle. How, HOW do I make any long term difference?

Well, I came across something today that gives me a little hope. A company called Kiva is giving you and I the opportunity to fund entrepreneurs in the developing world.

This is all done by offering microloans. In this case, the loans are financed by you. That is, you provide as little as $25 in capital for a poor entrepreneur, and you will get that money back. Can you put 50 bucks on hold for a little while? Excellent.

The best thing about this plan is that it moves people toward a sustainable future, not continually based on aid or charity. My $25 might be part of making a family stable for years to come, and that, I think, is an admirable goal.

Tales of Ascension

I've been reading Forever Peace, by Joe Haldeman, and I've been continually assaulted by the feeling that I've read something much like this before. No, I'm not thinking of The Forever War, by the same author, though that was an excellent novel, and one I heartily recommend.
I've realized that it reminds me of Technogenesis, by Syne Mitchell

As always, it's entirely possible that I am being far less original that I imagine, and far more derivative, or at least repetitive. However, an idea, new to me, at least, has been developing slowly in the stew of my consciousness. As usual, the idea relates to an unexpected commonality between disparate things. I suppose, as science fiction novels, the subjects of my stewing aren't really terribly disparate... but enough of this. Let me actually get to the point.

The Forever War, Technogenesis, and others (perhaps Childhood's End by Clarke, or Blood Music by Bear, and certainly The Changeling Plague, also by Mitchell) are what I would like to call "tales of ascension". Generally these novels could be considered singularity fiction, but I contend that these examples are something else as well, and something worth keeping in our collective mental libraries.

I call them tales of ascension because they are hopeful but deeply frightening stories of the future of the human race. The mechanisms are different, from disease to gengineering, to AI, to alien races, but the result is the same: a fundamentally changed human race. A changed humanity, and one that is greater than that which we currently experience. Often there is an ascension to a higher or group consciousness. Sometimes humanity becomes one undifferentiated unit. Sometimes we are provided the opportunity to move beyond the current boundaries of our bodies and brains. Regardless, the hopeful tone of this huge accomplishment is always tempered by the sheer scariness of the new. One real problem with ascension is that in order to move up, you must abandon your current position. Most of us experience that fear of change (regardless of its apparent positive impact) in our own lives, and I think it is this personal anxiety about change that informs our visceral emotional reaction to a species-wide change on such a high level.

When expanded to the species, however, the issue takes on philosophical overtones. What, for instance, can we call this post-ascension species? Are they still human? In many cases, the ascension is not presented as a sudden event, but rather as something gradual, affecting some before others, or phasing in through our natural generations. In these cases, how do the unchanged react to the ascended?

...

Well, I'm not a writer. YOU go write it. Let me know how it goes.

-S

State of Hypocrisy

I have long condemned Crichton's novel State of Fear as a long, drawn out anti-environmentalist rant poorly disguised as a novel. "Paugh!" I said, (that's to be pronounced phonetically, with the 'augh' involving a stereotypically German level of phlegm.) "Doesn't he have the creativity to write a real work of fiction, instead of a redundant neocon editorial disguised as a thriller?"

Recently, a friend of mine has been actively pursuing my recommendations on novels, particularly the serious reading, as opposed to the fluff. For this reason, I've been confronted with my taste for Dystopian novels, cautionary tales, and social commentary. (Feed, The Handmaid's Tale, and, of course, Fahrenheit 451 number amongst my favorites, in case you were interested).

Pause.

Yes. While more sophisticated than Crichton's lambast of the environmental movement, each of these novels is, essentially, a rant (or social commentary, if you prefer) delivered via fiction. That is, the novel is a platform for these authors to express their political views. Now, this is somewhat less obvious in my favorite novels, since the politics espoused tend to be somewhat more transcendent than Crichton's 600 page jab. However, literary merit and staying power aside, Crichton and Bradbury appear to be utilizing their fiction in a similar manner - as a platform for their soapbox preachings about social ills.

Can then, the difference between my feelings toward Atwood and Crichton be reduced to mere political differences? My goodness, that makes my earlier criticisms somewhat hypocritical, does it not?

Well, yes and no.

My earlier criticisms are certainly less valid in light of my own literary preferences, but, the more I consider it, the less I think that hypocrisy was my problem (sheesh, rationalize much?). Instead, I appear to have misunderstood exactly what it was about the novel that raised my ire. Obviously it wasn't the politicization of fiction, since that's exactly what some of my favorite novels do. Instead, I'm becoming more convinced that I'm offended by the co-opting of science.

Part of why State of Fear is such a long novel is Crichton's extensive use of footnotes, charts, graphs, etc. They make the novel feel less like a novel, and more like a patronizing speech - thus my original complaint. However, I think my real problem is Crichton's pretension of scientific expertise. I don't think I need to really delve into why such a delusion is foolish as well as pretentious, but there's one part of his novel that really sums it up.

He finishes State of Fear with an afterward. In the afterward Crichton explains to us why the book's heavy-handed message is, in fact, true. So here Crichton is frankly and openly admitting that he believes the thematic basis of his book, a theme that he supports with what is essentially fake evidence.

In fact, Scientist Peter Doran wrote "... our results have been misused as “evidence” against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel “State of Fear."



Hopefully this prolonged rationalization session has been successful. Perhaps I've convinced you, along with myself, that not only am I not hypocritical, but I'm also justified in my righteous indignation.

Take that, Crichton!

Collective Editing?

Some good conversation going on here.

Basically, my take is that the "collective filter" idea as proposed by Lexy is spot on. However, it could be of great benefit to many individual writers (and therefore the web fiction community as a whole) for an editing process to be developed for writers of web fiction.

Yes, there is a certain level of community editing that occurs in the comments of the more successful serials, but small time authors never see it. And, anyway, those comments basically amount to copy editing, and what I'm suggesting is something different.

A good editor helps to fine tune and shape up writing in a multitude of non-grammatical ways. Editing can help an author recognize the relative strengths of his or her work, and how to push those, while minimizing the weaker parts of the manuscript.

Certainly, there are some examples of web fiction readership aiding an author in this way, but in my experience, this isn't the norm. Generally, the author gets some good copy editing alongside some crummy copy editing, and has to sort out the conflicting advice for themselves.

So, what am I suggesting?

I think an editorship collective could be an invaluable tool for web fiction authors. Perhaps the participants could be restricted to authors, or to writers, or other folks who put their words on the web, or perhaps anyone could participate. I certainly have neither the time nor expertise to coordinate something like this, but I would happily support any of you who chose to do so.

CatchMe Drafts

Somebody shot this link my way. The author only has one story up so far, called "Off Guard," but it's a fairly intriguing entry. It's awfully short for a short story, but a bit long for microfiction (about 600 words). Regardless, it's an odd little tale, and I can't quite remember what it reminds me of.

I'm really not certain I agree with the point it makes about love and relationships, but, then again, I'm not certain the author does either, just the protagonist (antagonist? Like I said, it's a confusing little story).


Off Guard

Winnie and Walter

Warily we wondered what worth was wrapped within "Winnie and Walter."

The entire story is like that. It doesn't seem very impressive until you read all 450 words of it. It's wearying.

Much credit to the unknown 19th century author who generated this gimmicky gem.

PU update

Lexy now has a Forum up at Pages unbound. I haven't spent too much time there (I've been a leetle bit busy lately), but there do seem to be some good discussions happening already.