Strange Horizons Reader CommentsApril to June, 2001
What Do These People Know Anyway, by Paul Schumacher, is a breath of fresh air. Paul has put into words exactly what many of us have been thinking. It's about time people woke up to the fact that being a famous actor is not a qualification of expertise in politics, medicine or any other field other than acting. (And in some cases even that is debatable!) Well done, Paul. Thanks for your insight.
Amelia Wright James Allison's A Private Unbinding of Time is nothing short of excellent. It's refreshing to read a genre story with this level of emotional depth and intelligence. The story leaves a lasting resonance in the mind. I look forward to reading more stories by James Allison.
William Johnson <suzyuzi@hotmail.com> James Allison's "A Private Unbinding of Time" impressed me greatly. The characterizations are excellent. The mystery takes the reader by the hand and leads him/her gently through the narrative, like a child. It is always intriguing, never predictable. The ending contains both a twist and a sense of hope; two worthy qualities in any ending. I hope to see more of James Allison's work in the future.
Cecilia Dart-Thornton James Allison's story, "A Private Unbinding of Time," carried me along on an emotional wave that never lost its elegance. Excellent!
Angel Leigh McCoy <syrinx@nwlink.com> James Allison's "A Private Unbinding of Time" was delicious! Urban fantasy at its artistic best.
Marcy <mrockwell@rbf.com> Tim Pratt's name has become one I look out for. The poem about masks which reveal, rather than hide, the wearer is beautiful.
Alison Raouf <alison@alicat.com> Cool poem about masks by Tim Pratt. While I could've done without the last 2 lines, I loved the imagery and the way the narrator wanted to be other things, but couldn't get away from his/her true nature - the spider. All writers are spiders in a way, weaving with words instead of webs, definitely living in two worlds. Nicely done, and this from one who doesn't read poetry unless forced to...
Michael Jasper <mjasper@gateway.net> Just finished reading "With the Dawn" by Jon Hansen. It was fascinating reading - very well written!
Suzanne Palmer Mark Rudolph's story, "Going Once", was great. Passion and politics meld together nicely, or not so nicely in this case. Glad to see Strange Horizons doesn't flinch from some difficult subjects.
Chris Just wanted to say 'Wonderful job' to Derek for 'A Piece of Bamboo.' Excellent illos, as well, Ms. Myles!
Cristopher Hennessey-DeRose <madgael@graveworm.com> Just finished reading John Teehan's review of 'The Outpost' by Mike Resnick. He's right. In everything. In fact, I might've considered writing a review myself, by really, why bother? John's covered it all, covered it eloquently, and all I can add is this: Go and buy 'The Outpost.' Read it. Love it. John and I both did. Robyn Herrington
Robyn Herrington <rmherrin@ucalgary.ca> I have just finished "Things We Were Not Meant to Know" by Mack Knopf. After some consideration, it makes some sense that Lovecraft was a part of and a product of the general collapse of the rigid hierarchy of most schools of thought during the inter-war period of the 1920's and 1930's. However, I have one small issue of note to address -- the cause of this change in our thought. It seems that no area of Western academic study, from hard science to law to history to writing, escaped the influence of the aftereffects of WWI. Or so it is currently written by most 20th century social historians. However, WWI was a profound and dramatic shock mainly to Europe, where most of the men who fought were from and where they suffered. This seems obvious because of the dramatic change that being close such a cataclysmic war brings. Why then assume the same traumatic shock to the United States? We came in at the end, and had (relatively) few soldiers die. More importantly, the vast majority of our citizenry did not see these "new" horrors of war and were mostly insulated from them. Even more, we already had a cataclysmic war of epic proportions using modern technology (the Civil War) and had already had a culture shift (though not collapse) from it. Why then would we be affected by the WWI mindset shift in Europe? Yes Europe was a leader in the arts as well as the sciences, but that alone should not have been sufficient to force a collapse in our legal thinking (which it did--a transformation from stark rule based thinking to more flexible situation-specific rules) or to shatter our then current theories concerning english and history (which it also did). Especially when you consider that we had evolved independently in many of these disciplines and only tangentially referred to the already stagnating European views. The Europeans, while still influential, were no longer assumed by Americans to be the absolute or even in many cases the persuasive authority in many fields. Here is my theory--WWI did NOT affect us as greatly as it did Europe, but it did shake our confidence in ourselves when the Europeans began to question their own ideas and thoughts (a process which directly led to the view that history is what you say it is, no more no less). HOWEVER, the shaken confidence of the United States was never restored, even through the prosperity of the 1920's, leaving a small but slowly growing vocal minority in the United States which adhered to these newly evolving world views. This explains why certain writers (as well as historians and legal scholars among others) who incorporated or drew from these new ideas in their works were effectively shut out of the mass market (like Lovecraft), while others who merely mixed them into a solid core built from the traditional ideas performed well. This shaken American confidence was finally shattered by the Great Depression, and it was only then, in the early 1930's, that the relativist ideas of interbellum Europe managed to take hold in the United States, which explains the rapid rise to prominence in the United States of many of these new scientific and cultural theories during early 1930's. As such, by the time we hit the beginning of World War II, we were philosophically in about the same position as Europe (well okay with a number of notable exceptions, but much much closer than in 1929), but from a radically different direction. I appreciated the article, and I now think of Lovecraft in a different light. Thanks for writing it!
Michael Howard <howardmc@law.georgetown.edu> Just read "A Piece of Bamboo" and am extremely impressed. I was looking for something else when I got hooked in. Nice work, well constructed and convincing.
MacAndrew <buzzard_73@yahoo.co.uk> A Piece of Bamboo was very well done -- a really polished piece, Derek! Bravo.
Mark Bonica <mbonica@hawaii.rr.com> Just finished "Plenty". Bravo! An excellent piece of urban fantasy. Hope there's more to come...
Morgan <morgan@reincarnate.com> I have just finished reading 'Waiting.' I must say I was impressed by the way the writer glossed the piece over with a heavy coating of bitterness. These are the kind of stories I like to see. You should know what I mean, since you publish a lot of stories similar to this one. The kind of story that has true, honest, raw emotion. Thank you dor publishing a story like this and making it easily available for me to access.
Fox Layng <sykofox@hotmail.com. > The Strange Horizons staff consistently publishes great art, stories and poems but the poem in this particular issue (the one about the moon) just didn't do it for me. My mother always says, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all, but you did ask for comments...
Cathy Buburuz <cathyartist@hotmail.com> YES, YES, YES! Thank you for "What Do These People Know, Anyway?" I've thought the same thing about celebrities and get irritated whenever they espouse on--whatever. The Martin Sheen quote was a good point. I also enjoyed "Waiting." As soon as I saw a reference to "Plainfield" in the story, I wondered if the writer was from NJ (naturally, he was). Then I read the story, and I found it very good--funny and sad. I've bookmarked your site because I'm sure I'll be back to read some more.
Nancy <nanbeck@excite.com> In response to the comments of Jeffrey Holmes, regarding the presence of carbon dioxide and water on the early Earth, I would like to say (in addition to thanks for reading) that while most scientists agree that the early Earth had an atmosphere containing CO2 very early on, I don't think that there are any scientific theories that suggest that there was no water until after life. While it is believed that bacteria generated the molecular oxygen (O2) on Earth, they did not create the water. Indeed, liquid water is pretty much the one thing that everyone seems to agree is needed for life as we know it. Recent geological evidence points to a significant quantity of water on the surface of the Earth 4.4 billion years ago (see Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago by Wilde et al Nature vol 409 11 Jan 2001). This means that water was certainly here before there were any organisms, but the question is how much of the water (and CO2) was brought from the outside? Thanks, Max
Max Bernstein <mbernstein@mail.arc.nasa.gov> I just finished reading Dr. Max Bernstein's article "On the Extraterrestrial Origin of the Species: Molecules From Space and the Origins of Life". Interesting conjecture. I recently read a related article (but will have to find the source) that supported the primordial soup theory, but with a start point where [I believe] carbon dioxide was the most prevalent gas surrounding our planet. As algae and other life forms developed in the soup, they consumed the carbon dioxide and gave off a noxious gas we now refer to as oxygen. Over time this new gas became the essential element for new life forms. And that is how you and I came to be. I also feel it is more likely that water simply formed on the planet as a dispersion element of these early lifeforms, rather than being extraterrestrial. I am not disputing Dr. Bernstein in his theory, it is simply easier for me to comprehend. Interesting speculation.
Jeffrey Holmes <jholmes@satx.rr.com> I have just found your magazine and read "Nun, Widow, Wife, and More!: Career Options for Medieval Women" By Rachel Hartman. I enjoyed the article very much. What surprized me was the fact that women could own anything during the medieval period. Interesting reading, and well written. You have a great magazine and I wish you well.
Jeffrey Holmes <jholmes@satx.rr.com> Paul, Thanks for your comments on my review; I'm glad you liked it.
Heidi Elizabeth Smith I thoroughly enjoyed Chris Barzak's Plenty, a gentle story of magic amidst the grime. Let's see more!
Madeleine Reardon <roseriter@yahoo.com> John, it's certainly true that at Strange Horizons, I have a tremendously fabulous staff of about 25 people, and I can't imagine doing the magazine without them. It gives us a lot of flexibility -- some staff members put in about 3-5 hours per week -- some put in closer to 20. On rough estimate, putting together Strange Horizons each week takes a couple hundred hours of combined work -- it'd be impossible to do this magazine with just me. But with that said, I don't think that necessarily means that a new magazine editor needs a large staff, or needs a staff at all. It depends on how frequently you want to publish, for example. Lucy Snyder has been doing Dark Planet (on a quarterly schedule, I believe), mostly on her own, for many years. Tim Cooper has been doing Speculon eight times a year mostly on his own -- only recently has he added a poetry editor, Tim Pratt. So you certainly *can* do it alone, if you want, and that might not be a bad starting point, to start slow and accumulate good people as you grow. That actually applies even for a larger staff model. We actually started with about twelve people, about ten of which are still with us -- the rest joined us in the first months. I still haven't met most of my staff in person. But I think they do fine work nonetheless. :-) It all depends on what kind of magazine you're trying to do, really.
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> I am a newcomer to your site and would like to say it shows great promise. I've just read Mary Anne Mohanraj's article on the nuts and bolts of starting and maintaining an e-zine. It was very informative and answered many questions that were burning a hole in my bowel. However, despite being a total novice in this field and knowing that it's impossible to publish a genuine complete how-to volume in the space allotted, I'm certain there is one critical category that you overlooked. I can not imagine anyone successfully doing a project of good quality alone. There are so many elements to consider; graphics, editing, raising revenues, etc. that few people are sufficiently gifted/knowledgeable to wear all the required hats. Therefore, I would presume that there is little that could be more critical to the venture than affiliating oneself with the right people. If any involved can not match the dedication, work ethic, and necessary skills of yourself, the project is most certainly doomed.
John Prohaska <johnprohaska2000@yahoo.ca> Thanks for your comments, Janine. Glad you liked the article on medieval women. Take a look in our archives - we have a piece by the same author on the medieval agricultural year that you might find of interest. David Horwich Articles Editor
David Horwich <articles@strangehorizons.com> Thank you for the wonderful article on women's lives in the middle ages. This is my first visit to the SH site, and to read such a warm and accurate piece, that extolls the virtues of more *real* women in ficton is just wonderful! As an aspiring writer of fantasy and historical fiction, I've been inspired by this article, and I'm sure I'll be returning often to your site to learn more and hear what some like-minded souls are thinking and doing. Well done! (I *loved* the pictures too! Thank You) Janine.
Janine <orbitaltorch@excite.com> Great article on the extra-terrestrial origin of organic molecules! Clear, entertaining and thought-provoking. I enjoyed it very much.
Cat Faber <cat@teleport.com.nospam.please> Thanks for publishing Derek James' story, "A Piece of Bamboo." The story was full of excellent details, especially about battle in the past and future tech, not to mention the use of bamboo as both a weapon and musical instrument. And the ending was perfect. Also, I liked Tomo's choice to go back to "see" Shintaro for one final, illegal visit, and how that choice cost Tomo everything. But it was for the best, for him, I think. Nice -- I like it when a story surprises me like that. Well done. Excellent artwork, as well.
Michael Jasper <mjasper@gateway.net> _Plenty_ was a lyrical, descriptive story. It had a moral at its centre, but Christopher Barzak wrote gently around it. Well done. I also enjoyed Susan Marie Groppi's editorial on spiders and reality in fiction. Funny and true. Thanks! Melissa Yuan-Innes
Melissa Yuan-Innes <dr_sassy@yahoo.com> Just read "Plenty." Really a great story, one of the most beautiful and gentle stories I've read in a long time. We should remember this story come next Hugo-nominatin' time.
Frank I'd like to thank Rachel Hartman for responding to my comments with grace and clarity. She raises a good point about the anonymity of women in history, even those women whose names are known to scholars.
Cliff Winnig <cwinnigatyahoo.com (please note the nospam formatting)> Just read Chris Barzak's "Plenty". A gentle moving story which left me with a melancholy feeling that I can't quite understand. Lovely. Thank you for publishing it. Hope we'll see more from Barzak.
Justine <jazza@english.usyd.edu.au> I waited until the second week to read "Slugball" all the way through. I don't really like the serial format (at all), but I'm willing to put up with it if it's the only way I can read longer fiction online. I also don't like serials in paper magazines, so it's not really a web bias. I do think you were entirely clear that it was a two-part story, and I didn't even start reading "Slugball" until the second week. I don't know how typical that response is, but I'm sure other responses will make that clear.
Marissa Lingen <mris@gritter.dsg.stanford.edu> Glad you liked "Slugball," Cliff; you'll be happy to know we've got a couple more two-parters coming up in the next few months. (Though we don't want to run two stories that long too close together.) Other readers: did it bother anyone to wait a week for the pulse-pounding conclusion? Did you refrain from reading part 1 'til part 2 was available? If you're going to read a long story online, would you rather read it all at once or take a break partway through? Were we clear enough upfront that part 1 was not the whole story?
Jed Hartman <fiction@strangehorizons.com> Just want to add my thanks for Strange Horizons in general and "Plenty" in particular. Chris Barzak's reverse Mrs. Havisham tale points to all the complications and shadings of hunger in prose that can only be described as shimmering. Way to go Barzak, way to go Strange Horizons.
Christopher Rowe <cvrowe@kih.net> I would like to address Cliff Winnig's response to my article, in hopes of clarifying what my poor writing apparently obscured. First of all, thank you for your comments! It pleases me to no end to know that someone is not only reading but thinking about what I've written! I put Isabella in my list of famous medieval women for one reason alone -- name recognition. I think more people know who Isabella was than, say, Trotula of Salerno or Hrotswitha Von Gandersheim. I was trying to come up with three medieval women your average person on the street could name. Joan of Arc and Isabella are the most obvious, although I think Hildegarde has a pretty high recognition value today as well. And then, of course, I added Christine de Pisan because she _should_ be a household name even if she isn't. I would dispute your assertion that I am holding these women up as role models. My original version of this essay, for example, referred to Joan of Arc's "visions" as "hallucinations," but I changed it in deference to the respect many people have for her. I believe the adjective I use to describe them as a group is "extraordinary," and I mean that in its most literal sense. If you look at the examples I have chosen (with the exception of Christine), my first paragraph indicates that in order for a medieval woman to be remembered she had to a) do something dramatic, remarkable, and insane (Joan), b) separate herself from the masculine world (Hildegarde), or c) be a queen (Isabella). That's sad, in my opinion. I do plead guilty to a flip characterization of Isabella. I was trying to sum her up in very few words and chose to rely on the easily recognizable, elementary school-book version... but I did it for the same reason I chose Isabella over Eleanor of Aquitaine or Empress Agnes in the first place. Her name still means something (accurate or not) to the modern reader. She is remembered. As you point out, it is important that she be remembered accurately, and you are correct that my quick sketch glosses over a lot. But does she belong on my list? I think she does. Thanks again for your comments and your careful reading. Obviously, if you wish to discuss this further, you know where to find me.
Rachel Hartman <amyunbounded@yahoo.com> Chris, What a simple but powerful story. Keep writing!! Kalyani
Kalyani I loved "Slugball" -- both the story and illustrations, especially the poster-style advertisement. :-) I wouldn't mind seeing more 2-part stories, because you publish enough interesting articles, that I don't mind waiting for part 2.
Cliff Winnig <cwinnigatyahoo.com (please note the nospam formatting)> I'm a big fan of _Amy Unbounded_, and so I was really happy to see an article on medieval women by Rachel Hartman. Overall, the article is excellently researched and a good overview. However, something in the first paragraph stopped me cold, and I feel the need to respond to it, rather than leave it unchallenged. Ms. Hartman opens with nods to a few famous medieval women and touches upon their exploits. By the way she touches on them, Ms. Hartman holds them up at some level as role models. It's by no means uncommon to see Isabella of Castille held up in that manner. In grade school, I was taught how "Good King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella" funded Columbus. The "good" description was inseparable from their names. This rhetoric is tied into an unchallenged assumption of manifest destiny. While 1992 provided an opportunity to reexamine Columbus, a reexamination of Isabella has never been part of mainstream public consciousness. Isabella and Ferdinand are responsible for the start of the Spanish Inquistion, and for the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Spain. Isabella in particular was very close to her confessor, Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada. Until Hitler's inner circle, the trio of Ferdinand, Isabella, and Torquemada were arguably the most devastating anti-Semites in European Jewish history. And although, as Ms. Hartman states, Isabella "helped unite Spain," this was accomplished partly by marriage, and partly by the military defeat of the moors, arguably much more enlightend and civilized rulers. I feel strongly that an article whose stated purpose is to reexamine history should not take for granted as heroes people with a great deal of blood on their hands. Cliff Winnig <cwinnigatyahoo.com>San Leandro, CA -- Thursday, May 31, 2001 at 19:52:28 (EDT) PLENTY resonates and illuminates. Good job, Christopher Barzak!
M.M. <mmhdaze@mac.com> Thanks for providing a good read week after week. Really enjoyed "Plenty" by Christopher Barzak, thanks.
Gavin Grant <info@lcrw.net> Thanks for the story "Plenty" by Chris Barzak. It's a quiet tale about the decisions we make in our lives, how those decisions create us, and how we can't unmake them. It's also a tale about kindness: that true charity is a magical gift in and of itself. Giving of oneself is not a means to an end -- it requires no reward.
Mark Rudolph WOW! Just finished reading "Plenty". Found it to be a fascinating story. Very enjoyable. Hope to read more by this author.
Joyce <dbar46@aol.com> "Plenty" is a delight, a fable of sorts that lets the "plentitude" and the hard grittiness of the city exist side by side. It's both real and highly unreal at the same time because of this. Kudos!
Alan DeNiro <adeniro@rocketmail.com> strange horizons, thanks for publishing "plenty" by christopher barczak. you continue to exhibit the range of your editorial palette, and you continue to impress me. "strange horizons" is by far the best sf/f e-zine i've found.
Barth <bander5731@aol.com> Chris, "Plenty" is lyrical and haunting, a pleasure to read (again). Marjorie
Marjorie <mfarrell@attglobal.net> I just finished reading "Plenty". A wonderful 'slice of life' story. Now, back to read others.
kristine campbell <krcstudio@yahoo.com> Wow! "Waiting" was a great read. Thank you for the opportunity. : ) *dustin
Dustin Herron <dustin_herron80@hotmail.com> Paul, thanks for the comments -- I'm glad you're enjoying the site. A tip for those who find the framed navigation unhelpful, for whatever reason -- click the "no frames" link in the left navigation bar. You'll find text links at the bottom of each page, hopefully allowing you to navigate with ease.
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> Good site. I'll be back to read more. Slugball(both parts)was a good read, tight and fast. The Sacred Pool review was also excellent. Quality work seems to be reflected in all the other bits I've skimmed too. Only negative thus far is the web page layout(and the banner configuration error). Almost 50% of the page is lost to the banner, header and menu combined with the IE browser. More overlap and shifting of material to the left required to give a reasonable amount of space to the primary data area.
Paul Ryan <paul.ryan@dewrsb.gov.au> Compare the editorial "Spiders in the Bedroom" with my review of "The Longest Journey". Though Susan was commenting that protagonists generally don't have to deal with daily life, I think TLJ is an exception to this -- as noted in the review, part of what makes it good is that the heroine does have a "real life" which interacts with her more fantastical adventures. RMH
R Michael Harman <rmharman@lanminds.com> Hey, Mike. Glad you liked the Slugball illo -- we agree that Frank did a great job! (We leave it up to the artist, btw, whether they think their piece will work better in color or black and white). I'm afraid we won't be moving to an illo a story anytime soon. A fair market wage for illustrations is about $75 right now; doing one for every story would take an additional $2700 annually. Just not in the budget at the moment, unless some generous contributor appears unexpectedly. :-)
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> Great art by Frank Wu for "Slugball"! Loved the colors and the movement of the second one, especially. Any chance of more illos (like maybe one per story)?
Michael Jasper <mjasper@gateway.net> Some technical problems with the comments file now appear to be fixed. Our apologies if you've had problems using it.
Brian Loved "Something on the Bed". It's a great 'bed time story'.
Billy Vincent On _Higher than Usual_:
Yuri Your article on Beltane was not only informative and personally intriguing, but it also struck a resonant chord. Well done.
Liam <NaTursichan@msn.com> It warms my Celtic heart to see Celtic content in your magazine. As a Celtic Studies major, however, I have a small quibble. The article on Beltaine is from a modern Wiccan perspective, which is evident in the use of such terms as Lammas, a Medieval Christian word. Lughnasadh is the old Gaelic name for the August seasonal celebration of the god Lugh. I look forward to reading more issues of Strange Horizons. Slainte, B. MacKellar, Editor, Celtic Curmudgeon.
Barbara MacKellar <celt@inorbit.com> "The Biggest Numbers in The Universe" was brilliant - understandable by even mathematic illiterates like myself with the subject matter simply awe inspiring. The Turing Machine explanation was great - if only such a simple (& graphical) explanation was in Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon"...a perfect illustration of the advantages of net publication.
Dr Radium <drradium@evilemail.com> "Pale Foxes" was absolutely fantastic--unique and intriguing. The accompanying illustrations added another element to the piece. I am always impressed by the quality of your publication. Keep up the good work!
Stevie Miller <xena@yourinter.net> Nan Proctor's "Sittin' a Spell at Miz Love's" was terrific! Unusual, provocative, and richly imbued with the colors and flavors of a child's experience, it went that one step further to question the nature of good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate... not many writers (or many publishers) dare to push those boundaries anymore. Thanks for daring to print "real" fiction--and I hope to see more from Ms. Proctor in the future.
Ana Perry <ana@ap-web-design.com> Nan Proctor's "Sittin' a Spell at Miz Love's" is a knockout piece. Southern fiction always got me, and this is one of the best examples I've ever read. The reality is something you can actually feel, see and smell when reading the story, yet it's done so naturally that you barely notice that you're standing on that cracked sidewalk, looking at a house you've passed dozens of times before. Good work. Hope to see more by her.
Mike Dumas <ks4iq@hotmail.com> Just read Sittin' a spell at Miz Love's, great story- I love the ending.
Evaryan <everyan@home.com> I greatly enjoyed Heather Shaw's Beltane article-- a wonderful mix of historical information and practical suggestions for celebration, with a sense of sexy fun throughout.
Tim Pratt <timpratt@sff.net> Congratulations to Marge Simon and Bruce Boston on their recent wedding...how often does it happen that two talented people tie the knot and go on to collaborate? Bet it's rare. Extremely rare. -Cathy
Cathy Buburuz "A Gardener Betrayed by Roses" is the perfect poem with a perfect conclusion, simply the finest poem I've read in a very long time. This poet is truly talented.
Cathy Buburuz <cathyartist@hotmail.com> "Something on the Bed" is a fabulous little tale, one that reminds us of all that we've lost in attaining adulthood. And you're absolutely right. There's no such thing as little boys. Or are there?
Cathy Buburuz <cathyartist@hotmail.com> John, Just to address this briefly; most of your points didn't come up in my article because I don't really believe that they apply significantly to short fiction. I've been publishing short fiction on-line since 1992, and have never had my income significantly affected by the (very occasional) piracy of my work. I honestly don't think most authors of short fiction need to worry about this at all. (Of course, most authors don't have an agent really handling their short fiction either; my agent certainly doesn't handle mine). But you and I have been around on this at the Rumor Mill, and may just have to agree to disagree.
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> A comment on the 02 April editorial: I think that, as far as it went, Mary Ann's assessment of the financial impact--in the long run--upon authors of electronic publishing and its converse, electronic piracy, may well be correct. There remain three problems, though, that were essentially skipped over entirely. (1) That "long run" is going to be a long time coming. Based on the way author payments and industry economics are at present structured, it's virtually impossible to see any standardized positive change before the final decisions in Tasini, National Geographic, and Rosettabooks--which I predict will be 2005 or so. Once that happens, things will fall in place. Until then, though, authors have to do work for their shorter pieces that should be done by agents, but cannot be done economically by an agent at this time. (2) In the meantime, some valuable properties will be badly damaged by poor bootlegs. Until it becomes possible for, say, a properly edited edition of the Foundation Trilogy to become available in electronic form, the badly-scanned version on line (which contains some typos that make it potentially libellous) is going to turn people away more than it will help. I don't completely buy the "it will only increase sales" argument, either, because that's true only in aggregate, if at all. (3) The key to the whole argument is the question of who gets to choose the form, timing, and manner of electronic publication. There are essentially three possibilities: the publishers (their position in Tasini/National Geographic/Rosettabooks), the authors (the converse), or the thieves (e-book pirates). I believe that the choice properly belongs to the authors, and to no-one else unless the authors explicitly acquiesces. DISCLOSURE: If you go to The Rumor Mill, you'll notice that I've contributed quite a bit on this subject. That's both on principle and because I'm one of Harlan Ellison's lawyers in the anti-piracy case--which is ultimately about choice and artistic integrity more than it is about money, contrary to the spin applied by Certain Other Individuals.
John Savage <jsavage@authorslawyer.com> re: Rob Gates' review of Point of Dreams Rob's perspective is different from mine (although we both enjoyed the book). It's a bit ironic, though, that Rob, with his connections in the GLB community, did not mention more than in passing the core role of same-sex romance in both books. Whether consciously so or not, Point of Dreams (and, to a lesser extent, Point of Hopes) is a vicious refutation of some of the excesses of the "Regency romance," which seems to dominate "period pieces" of the post-medieval, pre-industrial kind. That's not to say that one must concentrate only on one's own interests in reviewing a book; for example, I don't go into excessive detail over the legal context. I do think it interesting that the review almost consciously avoids the issue. I'm not entirely sure what it means; it certainly doesn't mean as much as some polemicists might want it to.
John Savage <jsavage@authorslawyer.com> So, when you get done reading this issue of Strange Horizons, you may want to check out the latest Asimov's. James Patrick Kelly's "On the Net" column discusses online magazines, and Strange Horizons gets some good commentary. Unfortunately, as Asimov's is a print magazine, the list of online magazines is already out of date - since Kelly wrote the column, GalaxyOnline and Infinite Matrix have both folded. Too bad Kelly spent so much time talking about them and used less ink on SH... Fortunately for us, Strange Horizons is still going strong. It's a credit to the staff and a treat for us readers.
Michael Jasper <mjasper@gateway.net> Underground, by Jennifer DeGuzman, is a great read about a possible future that I can almost believe. Hey, if any state withdrew from the union, it'd be California. The gritty reality of the drug culture with a backdrop of war really makes you look at life's priorities. Good story.
Mike Dumas <ks4iq@hotmail.com> Pale Foxes is absolutely grand: an anthropological analysis and an archeological dig into the mind. Good going, Meredith.
Mike Dumas <ks4iq@hotmail.com> I liked the article, "The Biggest Numbers in the Universe" by Bryan Clair. I especially liked it when, trying to check my work on one of the puzzles, I overwhelmed my computer's calculator program. I hadn't done that in ages.
Larry Hosken Michael, glad you liked the article. We're talking about some possibilities for a downloadable version of the site; it's all a bit up in the air right now, but rest assured -- we're researching, and will let you all know what's up as soon as we do. :-)
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> A Tale of Collaboration reads beautifully out loud, a new dark, real slant on a historical tale. I loved it!
Linda Addison <nytebird45@aol.com> A Tale of Collaboration is very clever! But I would expect nothing less from Boston and Simon. The poem about meeting the god at the crossroads--well, all I can say is WOW. You folks pick some fine poetry!
Denise Dumars <eerieaerie@hotmail.com> A Tale of Collaboration is one of the best poems I have read on-line -- the implications are breathtaking. Thank you.
DM Rowles <dmrowles@aol.com> The Cow/Piss story started out hard to read but through persistence gained interested till it crashed and burned in a massive ball of stupidity. Very annoying.
MLL Loved Frank Wu's art work, especially "Grendal" and "My Own Private Cubicle." They don't really need to appear as illustrations for stories; they're already stories in themselves.
Mark Siegel <mskyranch@aol.com> I discovered this magazine rather late, so please forgive me if my comments are dated. Overall I like it! There are few enough quality magazines (print or otherwise) showcasing good spec-fic by writers known and unknown --- so thanks to all the staff for birthing Strange Horizons! I did have a comment regarding the excellent review of Ursula K. Le Guin's book "The Telling". I am a long time reader of her works and have been fortunate enough to have been her student. One thing I would like to add to the review --- the philosophical struggles of Akan society mirror the dilemmas of the present-day third world: a rich diversity of traditional ways, customs, foods, world-views etc. are giving way to a monolithic worship of the Western ideal of progress. Not that traditional ways do not have their problems but a lot that is good and unique is also disappearing--- from traditional medicine to non-dualistic ways of viewing the world --- due to the implicit assumption that if it's Western it is superior. Having been involved in both environmental and women's movements in India, I found the concerns of the Akans of Okzat-Ozkat very relevant. I agree that Sutty is much more informed by her past than was Genly Ai of The Left Hand of Darkness --- and this makes her more real to me. Also, most of the details of her life in India and as an immigrant are, for the most part, clear and authentic. This in itself separates The Telling from others works by non-Indian writers featuring Indians, in which the latter are portrayed in stereotypical or inaccurate ways. (I have just finished reading a SF story involving an Indian with a made-up, implausible name, in which the author confuses Hindi, Hindu and Hindish --- I could write a thesis about this, but will desist). Again --- thanks to the SH crew! My apologies for the length of this email. Sincerely, Vandana
Vandana Singh A very good article about online fiction by Mary Anne. While I'm still not crazy about reading anything on the screen, I'm getting better at it. I'd love it if Strange Horizons would make stories and other content available for my latest gadget, a Palm Vx. That way I wouldn't waste trees by printing out stories, and I can throw a bunch of stories onto my Palm with ease. As for the future of story publishing, I feel that it definitely lies in the electronic realm, not paper. While it's nice to get a glossy mag every month in the mailbox, I'd rather save the paper and read the story electronically. If it allows more markets to open for writers and more content becomes available for readers, even better! Thanks for the fine article.
Michael Jasper <mjasper@gateway.net> October to December, 2001, Comments July to September, 2001, Comments January to March, 2001, Comments September to December, 2000, Comments
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