Just trying not to be washed overboard

[sovay]

I'm still not entirely sure I'm over Readercon. My head has been full of fragments for days. I am not writing anything substantive; it makes me feel fidgety and pointless. I met rushthatspeaks this afternoon at the Diesel; they showed me the cheeriest and most cracktastic path through Hatoful Boyfriend, which if I tell you is a pigeon dating game will not really explain anything. It was amazing. I'm still not sleeping. I don't expect any longer to become so tired, I simply fall over into a restorative sleep for hours, but it would be nice.

1. Courtesy of derspatchel: Don't Walk on Fish. "Hey, scatterbrain, don't cripple your friends!" is an endlessly applicable suggestion.

2. The Library of America is reprinting nine classic science fiction novels of the 1950's. I grew up with seven of these in the house, I think—mostly in the original editions. One of them I didn't read and Rush informs me I really need to. There are some terrific essays in here. Will someone just dramatize Leiber's The Big Time (1957) already?

3. Tom Lehrer on The Frost Report (1966) explains the decimal system.

4. The Guardian profiles M. John Harrison. I haven't seen a copy of Empty Space (2012), but it should be on shelves by now. I still need to read Nova Swing (2006).

5. I will dig through the boxes of my books in the garage and re-read Margaret Mahy's The Tricksters (1986). I wish I had known Sally Ride had a partner of twenty-seven years before she was a widow.

Comments

[sovay]

Most of the time, I feel I have nothing that seems salient or intelligent to say about them.

You remember what we said about roosting on my friends, T. Witt!

I never want anyone to feel obligated to me. Very few things will flip me over into tiny philosopher territory faster than the feeling that someone has only done something to be nice to me, or because they think I can't take the alternative.

(That said: I believe you. Thank you.)

I could use a hug this afternoon, too. I swallowed a great deal of pride today and got myself evaluated for cognitive therapy. It was not an easy step to make.

Lots of hugs.

*and some extra*

[sovay]

If being daft doesn't work, he can always run Tiny W over with his tiny motorcycle.

WHY CAN NO ONE IN THIS CONVERSATION CARTOON?

[sovay]

A pigeon dating game? Even in Japan, that's got to be unusual.

It's a lot weirder than that makes it sound.

Some classics there, some of which I need to read as well. Should/may I ask which one you did not read?

I haven't read Heinlein's Double Star (1956), which is the one rushthatspeaks recommends. I've read A Case of Conscience (1958), but remember almost nothing about it; I can't remember if I read The Space Merchants (1952) or The Long Tomorrow (1955) or if I only saw them around the house. I don't think I read The Shrinking Man (1956), but I might be confusing it with memories of not seeing the movie.

The one I really want to re-read is Budrys' Who? (1958), because I remember it as the kind of science fiction which could very easily not be: the central character's identity is in question because he has been rebuilt as a nuclear-powered cyborg following—supposedly—a terrible accident, but if you shifted its Cold War politics back about fifty years and gave him plastic surgery, you'd have the same knot of paranoia and spycraft. I remember liking it, but I suspect I was too young to pick up most of the nuances. Fortunately, it seems it won't be hard for me to find a copy at all.

[sovay]

That photo at the top of the obit is just how I remember her.

I am glad you have that memory of her.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I can, I'm just not good at portraits.

[sovay]

I can, I'm just not good at portraits.

I'll accept captions!

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

CARTOON CHALLENGE ACCEPTED (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22411134@N08/7640790958/in/photostream)

[sovay]

CARTOON CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CAPSLOCK IN THE WORLD.

YOU WIN IT ANYWAY.

I can't argue with that caption. My mother wanted to know why I just burst out laughing like a loon and it was difficult to know where to begin.

[selidor]

The Internets, when won, traditionally come wrapped with a nice bow. I think this gets the tiny-zap-gun-motif wrapping paper as bonus.

[rosefox]

I'm still not entirely sure I'm over Readercon.

Ah, not just me, then.

(Admittedly, part of not being over Readercon appears to have been incubating a cold.)

[sovay]

(Admittedly, part of not being over Readercon appears to have been incubating a cold.)

I don't even seem to have con crud! I might feel better if I did!

(Not just you, no.)

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I hear a stuffed beef heart can be super nice, but it's one of the few things I've never had a try at cooking, and I don't really want to speculate intensely on what Ligotti would stuff it with.

The Big Time

[negothick.livejournal.com]

Will someone just dramatize Leiber's The Big Time (1957) already?

Actually, the late much-missed Mark Keller had talked about his plans for doing just that for at least 25 years before his death in 2001. He always said it was a perfect one-set drama that could be performed by the RISFA Players at BOSKONE. But alas, after the three Keller-Anderson musicals of 1977-79, he finished nothing else.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

He is a Hero of the Revolution for that work alone.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I had read that once before and thought it excellent, but I read it again just now and was so moved by the care of it--the care of selidor knowing about each seam, the care of the narrator-seamstress. And then, of course, that contrast of strength and fragility. Those last lines, so powerful.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

CARTOON CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Well done!