Discussing 1984!

Discussing That Hideous Strength!

Continuing the Space Trilogy Discussion w/Perelandra!

And, unfortunately, that's all I have ready for this post. But the next should be pretty chock full. In addition to some comic and book reviews, I also plan to share an essay on the abuse of Captain America. Hope you'll stop by on the 17th for the fun!

ETA: The second post of the month has now been pushed back to 7/31. Many apologies!

One Review, One Advertisement, and Several Streams

Let's open this post with the review: Yesterday, I started - and rapidly finished - Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, which is absolutely outstanding and thus earns my highest recommendation. Indeed, I don't think I've been this excited about a book in quite some time.

How shall we describe the premise of Weir's third novel? Well, I read it as an offspring of a marriage between The Martian (reviewed here) and my favorite first contact narratives (like, for example, James Cambias' A Darkling Sea, reviewed here), . 

Like Mark Watney, the protagonist and point-of-view character in Project Hail Mary - Dr. Ryland Grace - is a wise-cracking, super-skilled scientist who must rely on his wits to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. In this case, however, the primary test he faces is not mere survival but an imminent apocalypse: a newly-discovered space-faring unicellular lifeform is syphoning energy off our sun (and off many other stars in our local cluster), and Grace has been sent to Tau Ceti on a fast-tracked suicide mission to find a solution before crop failures and radical climate change destroy the human race. 

Interestingly, the above remit is not something Grace realizes right off the bat; interestingly, it is something he has to discover gradually after waking up from an extended medically-induced coma with severe memory loss. And it is this choice to situate the main character in the same condition of ignorance as the reader as to the full context of his predicament that, in part, makes for a riveting story. 

The other thing that kept me turning the pages besides Grace's slow-to-resolve amnesia (and, of course, Earth's impending doom) is "Rocky," our second principal character. "Rocky" (dubbed thus by Grace because of his mineral-based exoskeleton) is an ammonia-breathing alien spider from the Eridani system who has come to Tau Ceti to save his own species from the very same invasive organism that is threatening Earth. It is "Rocky" who brings the Darkling Sea elements to the table; after Grace and "Rocky" encounter each other, much of the middle chapters are devoted to their attempts to 1.) recognize each other's sapience, 2.) communicate, and 3.) learn about each other's biology and cultural traditions. I suppose another breed of reader might find such exposition boring, but I don't; on the contrary, I'm attracted to science fiction precisely because it tackles this challenge of mutual comprehension so often.

Plus? "Rocky" is so. damned. likable. Once Grace and "Rocky" learn the basics of each other's languages and it's revealed that they're both the sole survivors of their respective missions, they strike up a genuine, heart-felt friendship that, at several points, moved me to tears. The end of chapter 19 in particular is a stand-out moment. I actually had to stop for a while to collect myself before proceeding to chapter 20.

Bottom line, what we have in Project Hail Mary is a book that brings several positives to the table: 1.) sympathetic characters, 2.) high stakes, and 3.) more than one intellectually engaging mystery. On top of all that, we can add the fact that our main characters do not, as we eventually learn, hail from the cream of the crop. "Rocky" is a workhorse engineer, and Grace -- well, I don't want to spoil the specifics about his history, but suffice it to say that he's not a stellar specimen either. And I like what that says, implicitly, about the heroic capacities of ordinary people. This novel is competence porn -- but it's also Human Wave to the core. A+

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Now for the advertisement: If you have the time, I encourage all of you to sign up for the July 3rd Zoom seminar that's been arranged by The Society of Tolkien. Said seminar promises to celebrate Tolkien's works as they were intended to be celebrated: without Current Year nonsense. Because of course, Tolkien was a mid-20th century Catholic fantasy writer who, if he were ported to 2021, would find present-day fixations utterly incomprehensible and bizarre.

(Yes, I'm throwing shade at a certain converged organization that shall remain nameless. And no, I'm not even remotely sorry about that. Authorial intent does matter -- and so does historical context.)

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And finally, here are the links to my most recent streams:

This one is our discussion of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

This one is our regular Iron Man stream, which covered the latest annual, a plot-arc from the early 2000's, and one story from Tales of Suspense.

And this is the one we streamed today on C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.

Hope you enjoy!

ICYMI: My Latest Comics Stream w/#1 Marmaduke Fan

Here, we talk about the incredibly stupid marketing campaign for the Hellfire Gala, dive deep into Way of X #1, and then finish the broadcast with my favorite title: Iron Man!

Video: Is Star Trek Communist? (Short Answer? No.)

For what it's worth, I do believe the intent behind Trek is secular-humanist and progressive at the very least; we're not exactly lacking when it comes to first-person sources on this subject. But in execution, the show speaks to universal values that fans across the political spectrum can appreciate -- and DS9 in particular often gives alternate points of view a voice because its writers were talented and just couldn't help but craft nuanced stories with multiple layers.

For more of my thoughts on the political orientation and appeal of Star Trek, check out the post here.

Western Comics, 4/2021

Kamen America, vol. 3
Writer: Mark Pellegrini
Artist: Timothy Lim
(Iconic Comics, Superhero)

The young ladies who make up the Kamen Corps are just as adorable - and layered! - as ever in this, the third entry in the crowdfunded Kamen America series. Once again, Pellegrini and Lim demonstrate that they are consummate pros when it comes to delivering a product that is both entertaining and of high quality. I didn’t feel quite the same emotional punch with this book as I did with volume 2 (see my first column for Tightbeam), but there is still much here to inspire my happy recommendation, including a twist in the final pages that will make you want to read the first three volumes again — and an on-point-yet-subtle commentary on the chaos envy can wreak in many female relationships. PS: My own prediction regarding Carly’s rival turned out to be 100% accurate. Go me! ★★★★

Flying Sparks, vol. 1
Writer: Jon Del Arroz
Artist: Jethro Morales
(Amazon, Superhero)

Yes, I know: I’m incredibly late on this one — and I regret that because the concept that animates this book is a super fun spin on a classic trope. I’ve always been a big fan of what some on the net term “identity porn.” I love, for example, all those scenes in my classic Marvel comics in which some other Avenger openly praises or longs for Tony Stark’s engineering expertise while Iron Man is standing right there. Well, in Flying Sparks, Del Arroz takes the identity porn to a whole new - and delicious - level. You see, in their ordinary lives, Johnny and Chloe are boyfriend and girlfriend — but in their secret lives, they are, respectively, a budding supervillain and a budding superhero. The irony this sets up as we jump between competing narratives definitely makes for an excellent read. ★★★★

Stillwater, vol. 1
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Ramon Perez
(Image Comics, Fantasy — Real World Setting)

As you may have noticed, Zdarsky is a writer I trust and like, so when I saw this series up for sale, I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. The eponymous town in this book is one in which, thanks to a mysterious event years ago, no one ever ages and no one ever dies. To protect the secret of Stillwater, the town judge has locked the place down and barred any of its residents from leaving — or communicating with outside friends and family. But not everyone is happy with this state of affairs; some are chafing under the judge’s tyrannical rule and are assembling to challenge his authority so that they may live ordinary lives. It’s an interesting premise - particularly in this day and age - because it highlights the tension that always exists between a population’s security and its liberty. The first issues here haven’t really gotten to the meat of the story just yet, but I absolutely see its potential and will be following this series in the future. ★★★ 1/2

Wrath, #1-2
Writer: Scott Kysh
Artists: Emi Utrera & Drew Smith
(Wikid Publishing, Fantasy — Real World Setting)

The main character of this new crowdfunded comic is a survivor of childhood abuse who learns that his anger at his biological father can escape his body and take physical form in the real world. The story has only just begun, so I don’t know yet where the author intends to take this idea. However, I’m intrigued already that the protagonist does not have perfect control over his spirit monster — and that he seems to get a possibly corrupting rush from using his new ability. This could be a really strong exploration of the negative impacts of unprocessed trauma depending on what happens next. As with Stillwater above, there is potential here, and I’m genuinely eager to buy the next issue. I just hope I don’t have too long to wait! ★★★ 1/2 .

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And while you're here, click below to listen to my latest Iron Man-focused stream!

Don't Destroy Cultural Artifacts. Contextualize. - Round II

Or: Dr. Seuss and the Hygiene Hypothesis.

I know I'm late to the party when it comes to commenting upon the Dr. Seuss brouhaha. Forgive me, but it took me this long to track down some of the forbidden books so that I might revisit the so-called "offensive content" - and its context - for myself. Unlike The Very Smart Set, I'm not inclined to follow, sheep-like, whenever the clerisy declare that some popular American writer or artist is "problematic." No: our blue check twits are currently encouraging a moral panic that outpaces the Red Scare in its cultural destructiveness -- and its detachment from anything resembling reality. I'm not going believe that the books that taught my brother and me how to read are racist simply on these commentators' say-so.

So I read four of those books again (I couldn't find the other two): McElligot's Pool, If I Ran the Zoo, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and Scrambled Eggs Super. My conclusion? Some of the content would never pass muster today because it's dated at best and - yes, in a few cases - racist at worst. If I Ran the Zoo is the biggest offender on this score (for relative values of "big"). But in none of these books - not even Zoo - were the questionable bits so omnipresent that they completely overshadowed the benign elements of the text in which they were embedded. In fact, in three out of the four books, I could only find one page that featured words or art that would offend the politically correct. Why pull a book out of print for one controversial page out of 20-30? Why not simply add an introductory disclaimer (if you absolutely must)?

And yes, before some Very Smart Person says it, I know this was the choice of the Seuss estate, I know they have the right not to publish certain works if they choose, blah blah blah. It's still overkill driven by a craven and eminently critique-worthy fear of sociopathic bullies -- and I think it's only going to do more damage in the long run to the people our censors say they're trying to protect. According to the hygiene hypothesis, asthma, allergies, and autoimmune conditions may be more common in the developed world because, given our public sanitation and almost obsessive personal cleanliness, we no longer train our developing, antifragile immune systems to fire on the right targets. Similarly, purging our cultural space of anything deemed offensive seems to be making people more upset and uncomfortable, not less. Granted, some SJW's claim to be traumatized by, say, simple mentions of the n-word because they know the victim card confers the power to intimidate -- but I also think the younger folks who've been swept up in this are dead serious. Because they have not been taught how to confront less egregious instantiations of cultural insensitivity in a measured, confident way, they sincerely process every such "microaggression" as a Thanos-level threat. This is not good for them; it locks them into a state of permanent anxiety that prevents real empowerment and productive activity. Better, I think, to allow kids to encounter the questionable in the relatively safe context of old picture books than to bubble them up and deny them the chance to build their resilience.

"That's easy for you to say, RG." Is it, though? Do you think I've never had the experience of being the only X in the room? Because I have bad news for you: as a conservative-leaning Catholic Christian, I get "hit" all the time in fannish spaces - and in many of the books and comics I read - with casual, unthinking misconceptions about my political and religious beliefs. Do I complain about it? Yes. Do I wish writers and my fellow fans would actually do some research instead of embracing cheap stereotypes? Of course. Does the "hitting" inspire me to lift up people and works that actually get my worldview right? You bet. But I while I hope that fandom one day learns to respect the conservative minority in its midst and will continue to write posts that challenge fandom's endemic bigotry, I will never ask that any book that contains a problematic representation of conservatives and/or Christians be pulped for the sake of my feelings because, over time, I've learned to attribute such nonsense to ignorance -- and I've learned not to take them as intentional, malicious attacks on me as an individual. (At least, not without very good evidence.)

What's more, I have a couple intellectual questions about the assumptions beneath these censorship efforts that I think deserve real answers. First, have we actually demonstrated that pop culture has a significant impact on our behavior or beliefs? Or is this something we merely assume because it appeals to our common sense? Do our books/movies/television shows/etc. actually shape us as a people, or do they merely reflect a cultural reality that already exists? I don't think this is an idle line of inquiry. After all, I've been told repeatedly that there's no reliable evidence that violent video games lead to increased aggression in children. And those historical figures who've launched campaigns warning the world about the corrupting influence of novels/games/comic books/etc. are - in fandom at least - universal targets of ridicule. So what's the logic here? How can pop culture make us racist -- yet not make us violent, antisocial, or sexually promiscuous?

Secondly, how exactly does a drawing of a Chinese man wearing a conical hat and eating with chopsticks cause harm? What is the mechanism? And is this result truly inevitable? Traditionally, many Chinese did wear conical hats -- and even today, many Chinese do eat with chopsticks. What's the harm in observing something that, in certain times and places, is true? Mere acknowledgement of cultural differences in dress and eating style need not lead to disparagement of those differences (fortunately for any school that's held a multicultural fair). It certainly didn't in the context of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. The boy in said book added the Chinese man because he thought such a person was more interesting than one of his American neighbors. "Orientalism!" cry the activists. "It's objectifying the so-called 'exotic'!" Or, if you would permit me to blow your minds, maybe this depicts a spark of child-like curiosity that could be fanned into a fire of genuine cultural appreciation and - just maybe - friendship and peace. Yes, the visual shorthand in that Mulberry Street illustration would not be used by an artist in current year -- but a child growing up today is not going to look upon such a picture and conclude that the Chinese are rightful targets of prejudice unless he is told by idiot adults that this is what the picture means by default. Or, to put it another way: we as teachers, parents and mentors can, through careful guidance, absolutely change how the young folks in our charge interpret a book like Mulberry Street and thereby squelch any bigotry before it takes root. The Wokerati seem to regard pictures and words as magic charms that instantly re-wire our brains at the moment we encounter them, but that's not what happens at all. Top-down processing exists -- and it can be molded.  

Ultimately, am I saying suck it up and deal? When it comes to openly prejudicial actions perpetrated with malice aforethought, no. When it comes to lingering inequalities that should be tackled with smart public policy, no. But when it comes to art? Yes, especially if you have to pull out an electron microscope (or take a class in critical theory) to see what's offensive -- or if you have to yank the troubling thing out of its exculpatory context in order to argue that it's beyond the pale. By all means, do what I do and - within reason - argue for more accuracy and more sensitivity in our current books.  But it's crossing a bright line to say, for instance, that a historical work like McElligot's Pool deserves to be unpublished because on one page, the point-of-view character imagines a school of "Eskimo fish." No, we don't use the word "Eskimo" anymore. Yes, we now perceive it as derogatory. But lots of innocent people didn't see it that way at mid-century. All a teacher or a parent need do is point out that we don't use that word anymore because we wish to respect the Inuit people -- and then move on to enjoying the beautifully illustrated story about a boy with a sense of wonder who doesn't judge a pond by its outward appearance.

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And ICYMI, here's the second stream in my dystopian fiction series. Here, we discuss The Giver and its relationship to the worship of perfect order, the rise of safetyism, the tension between rationalism and romanticism, and many other topics!

ICYMI: My Most Recent Iron Man Podcast (Cross-Post)

ICYMI: Discussing Fahrenheit 451 (Cross-Post)

The stream above is the start of a new series discussing mid-20th century dystopian literature and its concerning parallels with today's political landscape. In said stream, we talk about Ray Bradbury's ability to anticipate censorship's true origins -- with, of course, many tangents thrown into the mix.

My Simple Plan to Fix Our Conventions

Harness the power of NO.

That's it. That's my advice.

For years now, a small but loud group of activist mediocrities has successfully bullied fandom's honest, largely innocent denizens into increasingly abject postures of surrender, and quite frankly, I'm officially sick of watching this toxic, pointless game. Someone somewhere on some convention committee needs to find his or her stones and tell said mediocrities exactly where they can go.

The "social justice" DIE cultists are never going to be satisfied no matter what conventions do. Why? Because the "anti-racist" ideology that animates their activism is designed only to destroy and deconstruct, not to build. It declares with certitude that racism is an omnipresent and ineradicable feature of our society (or, in this case, fandom) -- and then merrily goes off in search of evidence for that conclusion, thereby enshrining confirmation bias as a central virtue. It erroneously declares society (or fandom) a fixed pie, openly calls for retaliatory discrimination to right cosmic wrongs, and consequently encourages different groups to battle each other over who will get the benefits. And it cares not for logic or consistency in its rules-making, embracing double standards that favor some at the expense of others. 

(To get informed on what we're actually dealing with here, please go here. Fandom is being assailed by hardcore quasi-religious totalitarians, not well-meaning progressives. Recognize this and act accordingly.)  

Virtually no one disagrees that diversity in the fandom - defined properly as the inclusion of people with different worldviews from many different walks of life - is a good thing. And virtually no one disagrees that convention attendees, no matter who they are, shouldn't be subjected to hate and/or harassment. What we absolutely must resist, however, are demands that we silence good-faith disagreement and/or jettison merit in favor of preferential treatment. Claims that someone's speech has caused "harm" should not be automatically accepted at face value -- and "I belong to disadvantaged group Y" should not accepted as a sufficient CV for a seat on a panel and/or special recognition. Learn the difference between toxic diversity and real diversity -- then implement the principles of the latter in your convention spaces.

And if, in adhering to genuinely non-racist values such as those outlined in the post linked above, you become a target of the baying "anti-racist" mob, just ignore those attacks. I cannot stress this enough: if some people scream and cry that they don't "feel welcome" because you and your fellow convention volunteers have chosen to act like reasonable, decent, normal human beings and not like crit-theory-addled psychopaths, invite them to voluntarily remove themselves from your event. "This convention is clearly not for you, so feel free to not come." Don't ever apologize for being liberal. As we've seen with World Con, all that does is encourage further abuse.

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Edited to add bonus content:

Iron Man Sales Through the Ages (Cross-Post)

E-Ratic #1: A Good Premise & Some Brave Social Satire

My Video: 3-2-1 Contact

Saturday Night Chill Stream ft. #1MarmadukeFan

In which #1MarmadukeFan and I talk about writing relatable heroes with believable flaws, creating comics that will genuinely appeal to younger readers, and some other things that happened to come up at random over the course of our conversation. Enjoy!

To be honest, this week's been a waste.

Between the election, work, and several medical appointments, I just didn't have time to get anything worth discussing/reviewing finished. However, this video...

... might be of interest to my readers. I think these guys are especially cogent in their criticism of the new crop of adolescent supergenius heroes. Yes: based on my own experiences as both a teacher and a gifted child, said characters are deeply unrealistic. Being a genius doesn't result in universal popularity or universal competence. Being a genius means you can do calculus in your head -- but can't tie your shoes or conduct a passable conversation on the telephone. See also: Tony Stark in the MCU.

Bass Reeves: One of the Most MORAL Comics of 2020

Thank God Iron Man 2020 Is Finally OVER. (Cross-Post)

I'm fairly proud of this negative review, so what the hell: I'll post it here as well.

Two Geeky Recommendations, 8/24/20

In which I hawk Iron Man Noir and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes to my YouTube audience.

Video: DC Comics News

The comic book industry seems to be going through a major evolutionary period, so I'm definitely following these stories closely. What does the future hold? Like the gentlemen in the video above, I'm going to reserve judgment until we know more.