Where Are the Women?

Unless a top 10 list is derived from actual statistics, it's not worth worrying about, especially when it comes to books.

The latest top 10 is 10 science fiction novels you pretend to have read.... The compilers of this list go on to list their reasons why you should have read these books. The basic premise is that if you pretend to have read these books and haven't it's because you are trying to be something you're not. The last time I saw an illustration of this elitist philosophy was in the remake of Born Yesterday in which Melanie Griffith (before all the cosmetic surgery that left her needing a mask that covered her from head to toe) actually read a huge tome that was all the rage in Washington D.C. At a party, she began discussing the book with people who hadn't read the book but pretended they did because it was the in thing to do. And here she comes to the party to discuss this most essential book on politics or economics or something very Washington D.C. and she was alone without anyone to discuss what she read. Isn't that always the way?

The link above lists books I've not heard of, although there are books I have read, like Dune by Frank Herbert (and I read the entire series), 1984 by George Orwell, which I recently read and am willing to discuss -- and often do), and Jonathan Strange & Dr. Norrell, which I began and just could not get into. What was the point of the book? I couldn't figure out whether or not there was a story or how far into the massive doorstop I'd have to tunnel before I got to it and gave up. Good thing it was a library book and all I had to do was return it and pay the fines. The other books I don't think I've ever heard about.

The list is arbitrary. How about my own list of 10 books you should read? How about any of Andre Norton's books, especially her Witch World series where the war between the sexes really was fought and a society that was essentially equal, until all the men went and ruined it, split apart and women took over rule after fleeing their native country over the mountains and sealing the mountains behind them and setting spells to make sure no one could even think about that direction? Now that is a great trick. People know north, south, and west, but there was no east and no one thought about it or considered it strange until Simon Tregarth came through the Siege Perilous and found himself in the midst of their world. Oh, Karsten and Alizon were still mostly male ruled, but the Witches of Estcarp kept them at bay. Then there were the Falconers who resemble a more militant and misogynistic society where the the females ran their villages and male children were taken away when they came of age to join the men in their mountain eyries and bond with a falcon that would be their mate, except for time to go to the villages to breed, for the rest of their lives. Now that is a separatist society. Add magic and the evils of technology that brings a loss of self and soul and which the Witches constantly battled and you have a complex and intricate world where the coming of triplets from a Witch forsworn who lost her virginity but did not lose her power mated with Simon Tregarth and you have interesting times coming.

Then there is the Pliocine Exile books by Julian May who weaves a world of telepaths and telekinetics that jumps time back and forth and creates a future that sees a time where you can be Unified or not and how that affects the worlds that bind their minds together in harmony. This is a universe filled with anomalies and possibilities that bred Bodiless Jack and Diamond Mask and it all began with a group of telepaths that fled to the Pliocine era of Earth to escape Unity. Lots of complexities and adventures there, not to mention a great deal about politics, science, technology, and minds capable of massacre and beauty.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series is another good choice. The world of Darkover was a world in chaos and at the mercy of minds and telepathic/telekinetic abilities that nearly destroyed them until they signed the pact and chose to fight each other eye to eye and hand to hand with swords. Seeing a world where power was used for good until some bright group of powerful individuals decided to see how far they could go and how it nearly destroyed them, and then their climb back from the brink until discovered by humans is a masterful work. The people of Darkover living side by side with humans and their advanced technology is a lesson in human and humanoid nature.

That's just the start of my list. Yes, there are three women there, something that was missing from the 10 science fiction novels you pretend to read to fit into some elitist group of society. Let's not forget Ursula K. Le Guin and the many worlds and civilizations and worlds she created and continues to create. My first thought is The Left Hand of Darkness and Madeleine L'Engle and A Wrinkle in Time for starters. There's also C. J. Cherryh. The first of her books I read was Down Below Station and it was very good. How about the Petaybee series by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough? Anne McCaffrey created the world where dragons and human riders were paired and fought Thread and then added smaller dragons that everyone could join with and later on included dolphins. Now that was a world to be explored and enjoyed and the intricacies of their society as it devolved from a technological world to a world more like medieval times where dragons and humans protected all is a study in politics and economics that cannot be easily forgotten.

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough also wrote some wonderful fantasies based on Scandinavian myths and folklore very much like Terry Brooks and his Shannara series and just as good, and sometimes better, although I enjoyed Brooks's books as well, cutting my teeth on Sword of Shannara.

I'd have to say that my top 10 list would be mostly composed of female writers, not because they're better or more inventive, but because they have been slighted by the people who think they matter. There is a world full of wonderful science fiction, hard and soft, written by women, many of whom chose to go by their initials or take on male names to be recognized and accepted, as if having a penis is the only real criteria for who and what are best in science fiction.

Here are a few names for you: Octavia Butler, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood (although she prefers not to be called a science fiction author), Nancy Kress, Lois Bujold, and Catherine Asaro to name a few.

Take another look and try some of these books. You won't be sorry. The real test is in stretching the limits of one's mind -- or prejudices -- and realizing there is no need to go back to a more myopic and less rich view of science fiction and the world.

Got Story?

Some books are a breeze to read, even when they run over 800 pages, and some books, no matter how long or short, are more like slogging through muddy clay wearing lead boots. Books like that often have excellent grammar, wonderful similes and metaphors, and the writing is sublime, but something is missing. An important ingredient didn't make it into the final product, like leaving the chocolate out of a hot chocolate. All that's left is hot milk and that is just gross. A little vanilla would help the taste, but chocolate makes it tasty.

Finding the reason why the book plods instead of zooms along has been the focus of my review work for the past 9 years of my professional reviewing life. After a box full of such books, I long for Stephen King, Dan Brown, or even an old favorite like Andre Norton. The genre doesn't make nearly as much difference as the writer. Stephen King loads on the horror, and I'm not averse to that. Dan Brown's technique leaves a lot to be desired and he loves information dumps, but he makes it all seem so effortless, if a bit facile at times. Andre Norton wrote what would now be considered YA (young adult) novels, but to me they were passports to worlds of magic and warfare and the stuff of dreams.

I recently read Moonfire by Marion Zimmer Bradley, whose Darkover series I devoured whole. The short story was disappointing and I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I'd loved so many of her other short stories and novels, and series, so why wasn't it jelling for me? Why did I feel like I was plodding through that muddy clay pit in leaden shoes again?

I've been switching between E. L. Doctorow's All the Time in the World and The Flatey Enigma, both books that I have to review, and the leaden boots were getting heavier. A few of the stores in Doctorow's anthology were interesting but most seemed pointless. I chalked up having trouble getting through The Flatey Enigma as a fail in translation between Norwegian, the author's original language, and English. It happens sometimes, but then I enjoyed
Juan Gomez-Jurado's The Traitor's Emblem, despite a few plot inconsistencies. Maybe translations problems were not the source of my struggle with the book.

I put both books down and decided to read Charlaine Harris's Grave Sight, the first book in the Harper Connelly series. I have to force myself to put down the book so I can get some sleep or write for a while. It's that good. I have had the same reaction to most of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Harris.

That's when it hit me. I couldn't put the heavy plodding down to lack of characterization, bad grammar, horrid sentence structure, no technique, or being so in love with the words and creating beautiful and memorable passages. It's much more basic than that. There is no story. That's why I had to put A Dance with Dragons aside for a while and why Terry Pratchett's Pyramids got stuck going on the downslope. The authors did what so many authors fall prey to; they forgot the whole point of writing is to tell a story. Among all the witticisms, great battles, wonderful characters, and marvelous prose, the story was lost, and a good story is the only reason for a book to exist.

That's what Dan Brown, Stephen King, Andre Norton, and even Marion Zimmer Bradley when she's on her game, do so well. They tell great stories. The genre isn't important; that's a matter of taste. Story is important.

Literary, horror, adventure, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, romance, mainstream, none of that matters if the author keeps to the whole reason for books, if they tell a good story. Scheherazade would have been killed long before she got through her first night of storytelling for the king if she had been dressed it all up with fancy words and intelligent technique and forgot to tell an entertaining story that was so good the King had to keep listening, needed to know what happened next.

I read a considerable amount of literary novels but some authors leave me cold, no matter how many awards they win. I enjoyed Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending and couldn't get through John Banville's The Sea. Banville left me cold and Barnes's almost novella enticed me with wondrous prose, detailed descriptions, and a memorable character. Barnes's story was worth the read. I still can't get through The Sea.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday series has caught my interest and his stories are stories within stories, as has Ian McEwan's Atonement. I still haven't gotten to read any more of his books, but there are plenty in my to be read pile. Salman Rushdie enchants me with exotic fare and Terry Pratchett almost always makes me laugh while the tale ends far too quickly. Pyramids was an aberration -- or at least I hope so.

We are all children putting off having to go to bed, wanting to stay up just a little longer as our parents read just one more chapter of Peter Pan or Wind in the Willows or even Harry Potter. We want to hear a story, even a made up story, as long as it is a good story. Forget all the pyrotechnics, academic prizes, and prose stylings. All of those are as satisfying as a masterful and artistic wrapping job on a box that contains the good, in this case a story. Just tell me a story and make it a good one. I can live without the trimmings as long as there is sufficient meat on the bones. Books like that take no time at all to read because a wondrous story is at the heart of it.

When a writer forgets the basic premise of putting together a book, none of it matters if the story is not there or only half there. If you've got story; you will have readers, faithful readers who will snap up everything you write.

Charlaine Harris is not a prose stylist and her books are a joy to read most of the time because she tells fascinating stories. Harris unlocked the mystery that I have struggled with for so long, reminding me of what is important and why I write. It's all about the story. Where would Scheherazade be without a compelling story? As a storyteller, without listeners, but as a woman trying to save her life . . . dead.

Give them story.

Literary Therapy

Today has been an early day of uploading book reviews. I should have done them earlier, but got caught up in all the work drama that now seems to be sliding slowly toward a new path. There are worse ways to spend my life, but making more money with better benefits and a whole lot less stress doesn't seem to be one of them. These are the times I go back to basics, one of those being the comfort of an old friend -- a book.

The book is Andre Norton's Moon of Three Rings about a Free Trader (space faring free trader) on a new world caught up in that world's intrigues who ends up wearing fur for a while. The fur is a barsk, a dangerous and violent animal not easily tamed, dying from abuse. The Moon Singer, Maelen, finds and saves the barsk and ends up putting Krip Vorlund in the barsks body, shoring up both spirits since his body has been beaten. Thus begins an odyssey into the interior of Yiktor among the Thassa and a price that Maelen must pay for her actions.

I read Moon of Three Rings for the first time nearly forty years ago and I find something new every time I read it, picking up little details and bits of writing that I missed the first few times. Each time it's a new book, not because I don't remember the story, but because I am coming to the book a little different, older, hopefully wiser, but most definitely changed by time and experiences. I bring a different me to the book each time, as I do to other books I reread. My experiences change me, but they also change the way I view the world and the world within the books. Good books just get better with time, and I was in need of a good book, although I almost opted for the next Disc World book from Terry Pratchett.

I flirted briefly with another Jasper Fforde, likely The Eyre Affair, the first in the Thursday Next series, but decided a good old book was exactly what I needed.

I often wonder if doctors ever think of library therapy for what ails their patients. It should be a required treatment for depression, ennui, high blood pressure, and stress, among other ailments that have accumulated with our modern age. Sometimes the best treatment is slowing down with a good book, not just any book, but a really good book, a golden oldie if possible. There's something to be said for a trip through the pages of a well loved book where the characters are familiar and the environs comforting. It's the literary version, at least in my opinion, of stopping to smell the roses. A vase of fresh cut roses wouldn't go amiss while sitting down and reading and you'll have time to smell the gentle fragrance while you read. Two birds. One stone.

The world changes so quickly and times begins to feel like it's traveling past at mach speed. The vistas change and so do we, but at the core we are the same people who fell in love with a story or an author as children and need a little reminding. I may even dig up a copy of the very first book I ever owned and read it again, imagining myself lying in the sweet hay on clean sheets in the loft looking up at the stars shining into the attic with Heidi. Or I could journey back in time with John Carter or swing through the jungles with Tarzan or even go on an adventure with Conan the Barbarian.

What I really need is a box full of vintage comic books and a Creamsicle or a bowl of popcorn and a stack of fairy tales or 1001 Arabian Nights. Sometimes the world looks better from a fantastical perspective. Thoreau did say to simplify and fairy tales, comic books, and fantasies are the simplest and best pleasures I know.

Simplify. Find a comfortable spot with good lighting and read a book. You can enjoy your lunch in a comfortable chair as easily as at the table or a counter, but bring a napkin so you don't mess up the book. Don't forget the roses.

Riots, Powder Kegs, and Time

Parents out of town and teenagers, left to their own devices, will have a party. It's like the reason for climbing Mt. Everest, or any big mountain, because it's there. Food, alcohol, plenty of space, and the parents are gone, so why not have a party. That's how I see the riots in England in the wake of a constable's death. It's a reason for a party or, in this case, a riot. A chance to break into shops and take whatever is wanted -- or needed.

In times of economic difficulty, especially in the heat of summer when tempers are short and the temperature is high, cities and towns are like powder kegs with fire burning nearby. One inch to close and BOOM! The constable's death was an excuse, not a reason, and the powder keg blew with stunning force. Shop windows were broken and contents damaged and stolen. Police were called out to keep order and one bookseller, whose store was in the heart of the rioting, kept his cool. He is reported to have said that if the rioters want to steal his books it was fine with him; they might learn something. That's the thing about books, they change a person's perspectives, feed a hunger for education, and provide a safe place to play and imagine a different life. It's why most authors write books, too, and, evidently, why booksellers get into the business of selling books to the public.

Borders, a bookstore that has been an institution, is now closed. The remaining stock will be parceled out to remainder shops or other bookstores to satisfy some of the chain's debts and the stores will remain empty, homes for spider, or will morph into something else: a dance club, a big box bargain or scratch and dent store, or even a getaway for drug addicts looking for a safe place to shoot up or smoke themselves into a different reality. Too bad they didn't get hooked on books and fall into worlds created just for getting away from reality and imagining a different life.

It wasn't in a Borders bookstore, although I spent many hours on Sundays when I was living in Texas, reading, sipping fruit juice, water, or hot chocolate, writing in a journal, or reading a book I picked from the shelves, but in a Waldenbooks bookstore in the Westgate mall in Columbus, Ohio where I got my first taste of worlds and adventures that would change my perspectives and my life. That was where, from across the store, I caught sight of a book cover with three people on it, grouped together like a force of nature. I was drawn to the Science Fiction and Fantasy aisle of the store and I picked up the book. It was Three Against the Witch World by Andre Norton. I was fascinated by the blurb I read and bought the book, taking it home with me. I haven't looked back at that moment for a very long time, but, last night while I was being interviewed for a biography about Andre, that moment came back to me as clear and sharp as it was the moment it happened nearly forty years ago. I was in full reverse mode, sharing the books and stories that I remember best, and talking about a friend who is now gone, a woman who became my mentor, and we met in a bookstore.

I received a Kindle a few months ago and I thoroughly enjoy being able to download books to read. The Kindle is light and convenient and the battery lasts quite a while, especially if I turn off the screensaver. I found that out the other day when I had to recharge it, thinking I had a lot more time on the battery. Even though I already own A Storm of Swords in paperback (part of a four-book boxed set), I decided to buy and download the book to my Kindle. Am I the reason Borders went out of business?

As self-centered as I can sometimes be, I know I'm not the reason Borders closed their doors. Bad business practices is what did Borders in, otherwise Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million would close their doors and call it quits. All of those bookstores, Borders included, sold more than books. They also sold CDs and DVDs of music, movies, and television shows, stationery, magazines, and pens, and some of them sold coffee and food. No one person or lack of people is responsible for Borders going under. It's like the riots in England, no one precipitating event caused people to slip their tethers and go berserk. It's a lot of different reasons catalyzed by a single event or series of events. Borders was a powder keg and someone lit a match too nearby, so it blew.

I don't mourn Borders too much. There are still bookstores with little cafes where I can sit on a Sunday sipping iced cappuccino and read a book on my Kindle or write in a journal, and there are plenty of small bookstores that will now get the book buyers and browsers who once frequented Borders.

These are volatile times financially, politically, and businesswise, powder kegs with fire sparking and burning nearby. There is no telling which powder keg will explode first. Anything is possible. There might be some good Samaritan who will put out the fire and put move the powder keg to a safe place -- or not. Nothing stays the same for long. Everything changes.

One thing never changes and that is the need and desire for knowledge and a place to get away from the cares and woes of the world, places that can be found in a book. Like the bookseller who said, "Let them break in and steal the books. They might learn something," I, too, am confident that what people want can be found between the pages of a book -- print and electronic -- wherein is contained the wisdom of the ages -- and quite a few silly and bad stories. Jump in, the reading's fine.

 

It's all about me

Yes, I'm going to promote Past Imperfect again, but only by way of the interview I did with Laura Fabiani of Nouveau Writer. Take a look. If you have any questions, please comment.

That is all. Disperse.

Travesty of justice

After reading Scott Edelman's post about Andre Norton a couple of days ago, I have been in outraged shock. If you want the story, check out The Tennessean and their article about the current status.

What it boils down to is money and Dr. Horadam is not satisfied with his share of the pie, but what is truly dangerous with far reaching repercussions is the claim that his "greater appreciation" of Andre Norton's work gives him a greater claim to control of the copyrights of more than 300 works created during Andre's life.

To break it down to the nitty gritty, that means that should this judgment stand lawyers and fans with "greater appreciation" of an author's works could be entitled to wrest control of an author's life's work from the heirs. As far as I am concerned, I would rather have control of my work than a fan with greater appreciation. It's not about appreciation because if that was the case there would be a Donnybrook over which fan has greater appreciation. How do you measure appreciation? Do you measure appreciation by the quantity of letters exchanged over a period of time (there are more letters documented by many of Andre's co-authors and friends and fans than Dr. Horadam's) or how many visits to an author's home or how long one stayed in an author's home or some other means? Or do you take the letter and spirit of the author's wishes and last will and testament as sufficient proof of who they wanted to hand their life's work?

Sue Stewart, named in the article as Andre's caregiver, was more than a caregiver. Sue was a friend who rescued Andre from the abusive control of a woman who was disappointed that Andre would not give her the fame and literary boost she craved. Sue made Andre's last years and days the most pleasant in many decades. Sue also gave Andre back control of her life and for that Sue should be commended and not vilified and forced to give up what Andre bequeathed her for the base and fortune-hunting concerns of the likes of Dr. Horadam.

Think about it, authors. How long will you stand by and believe that your last will and testament is the last word when precedents like the one enacted in this case in defiance of the facts and the law are allowed to stand?