Uncreated Conscience

A stormy weekend at Bear's parents' shorehouse.

Holiday weekends are never long enough to do both what is pleasurable and what is necessary. After having a survived a rather hellish post-BEA month, I thought I deserved a little mental respite, so Bear and I went down to his parents’ shorehouse for a mini-break. It rained buckets the entire time we were there–practically a deluge–but in the end, it was rather nice lounging about watching Syfy’s Twilight Zone marathon with the lights off as thunderstorms rolled in over the bay.

Bear and I have this game called Spot The Goosebumps Original when it comes to Twilight Zone episodes. Growing up, I didn’t watch much Twilight Zone, but I did smuggle home a few Goosebumps books every now and again. My parents summarily banned these books from our house because they were 1) mass-produced and 2) ungodly. (I was raised Presbyterian and attended Catholic school, although my mother is Methodist and my father is a lapsed Mormon–more of an atheist, really. Still, the Devil was en vogue in Korean Bible School when I attended church.) As an adult, I discovered The Twilight Zone and subsequently discovered the best of my childhood “horror” novels ripped off famous Rod Serling plots.

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I meant to review both EVERNIGHT by Claudia Gray and THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan this weekend but I was somewhat incapacitated by extreme fatigue. Why? I’m not sure. I was fearful of coming down with some sort of illness, but after having slept all day Sunday, I awoke this morning chipper and ready for work (albeit out in New Jersey–the commute was surprisingly easy this morning). Saturday I hung out with Katranna, wherein we discussed our favourite types of books as she cooked me food (she’s so awesome) and had tea.

Floating about the brain this morning is the stigma of science fiction/fantasy. All over my Twitter account is this article about SciFi channel changing their name to SyFy in order to shed its association with “geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games.” Firstly, excuse me, but I’m a geek and quite proud of it. I am also dating a geek in medical school and while we love our video games, he’s also decidedly not dysfunctional (well, more than usual) or antisocial (he’s actually more social than flitterygibbet little me). I generally find that geeks and nerds are the most interesting sorts of people to talk to.

Secondly, the name “SyFy” is simply ridiculous. No one, but no one, is going to read that and think “Hmmm, I wonder what that stands for. Perhaps this television station is full of interesting, non-genre related programming!” I’m not sure why network execs think that this move is going to prevent them from being “held back.” There is an audience for everything and while science fiction and fantasy are certainly somewhat niche, so are chick flicks and Lifetime television (there’s a stigma attached to those as well). Know thy audience; it will probably serve you better in the longer run. What have been the big blockbuster movies of the past five years? Comic book and fantasy movies. Spiderman, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter. Ain’t nothing wrong with science fiction and fantasy; they seem to be pulling in the big bucks. SciFi Channel has seen an increase in viewers in the past year, but I think in these rough economic times, it’s because science fiction and fantasy is a great form of escapism.

Thirdly, I take umbrage with the assumption that genre consumers are by and large 1) male and 2) antisocial and dysfunctional. I am girl, thank you. I am also probably freakishly well-adjusted (despite my attempts at the contrary). I am a girl who likes to read and write fantasy and graphic novels with two lovely parents who would rather have me shot than mooch off them by living in the basement (of which southern California doesn’t have any). Science fiction and fantasy is not merely elves and sorcery and other tropes and clichés; it can span anything from Charlie Kauffman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to Haruki Murakami’s THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE to TV’s LOST.

More on fantasy as mode on another day. I did promise to review a few books after all.

Reviews of the following after the cut

1. The movie Tropic Thunder
2. EVERNIGHT by Claudia Gray
3. THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan

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I know I promised to review some books & I swear that shall be done. Mostly I haven’t had time during the day and at night I come home and immediately fall into bed.

Books To Be Reviewed After the Cut

1. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
2. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
3. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
4. 100 Girls (a graphic novel) by Adam Gallardo & Todd Demong

Yesterday was primarily spent on an organizing spree for my boss at work but I was allowed to wade through the queries at the end of the day, which I had been looking forward to since my day one. Most of my time at Writers House has been spent reading partial and full manuscripts and offering my editorial comments but I really wanted to jump into the slush pile and pick out the stuff that interested me. (Instead of reading the requests of my predecessor.)

Of course, I have to keep my boss (and her boss)’s reading tastes in mind–thrillers/mysteries (which I’m afraid I have no eye for), women’s fiction/romance, and health-related non-fiction–but after a while I got into the rhythm of looking at genres I wouldn’t ordinarily pick up.

You know, I always thought that Miss Snark might have exaggerated some of the ridiculousness of the queries that land in her inbox but I was wrong. Very wrong.

Dear Prosaic Slush Slogger:
I refuse to read a 250,000 novel-in-progress. I don’t care how “unique” and “creative” the hook is (which it isn’t); no one in her right mind would willingly read an unfinished 1000 page novel about ghosthunters.

Dear I Have A Personal Relationship With Christ Slush Slogger:
If My Friend Jesus were any bit as entertaining as the idea of Buddy Christ I would have requested you…

Dear I Can’t Read The Directions Slush Slogger:
If you can’t obey simple instructions, then you deserve to rejected outright.

Dear My Book Is Fiction–I Swear!–But I Need To Give You My Life Story In My Query Slush Slogger:
You’re not kidding anyone.

Perhaps I am mean. Perhaps I am quick to dismiss a work of genius–if I would only just read a sample!–but no. I am content to be mean. I am shallow and judgmental and I’m totally okay with that.

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How lovely it is to be home and smelling like oneself again! After two weeks of showering at my parents’ place, indulging in my favourite products from The Body Shop is a joy. My skin is an utter wreck from travel and the dry, polluted air around southern California but hopefully a few days of my skincare regimen and all will be well again.

I think in the past month I’ve cycled from Writing Muse to Webdesign Muse to Drawing Muse to Arts & Crafts Muse. Why can’t I call upon the ones I need at will? Right now I need to be revising (working on that 2009 resolution to send out Elijah’s Chariot) but instead I am contemplating more crafty things. Like knitting.

Katranna once said to me of skydiving, “My other friends have hobbies like knitting. You jump out of planes.” Well, as it’s too cold to be jumping out into the open right now and the season doesn’t start up again until May, I’ve decided knitting was a good alternative. You know…stabby…pointy…needles. And fluffy yarn. Nice combination, right? I have the idea to recreate this scarf from ModCloth, except with a felt White-Harp appliqué. Should be fairly simple (I hope); I know how to knit a scarf anyhow. I ordered a set of knitting and crochet needles of different gauges as well as Stitch ‘n’ Bitch: A Knitter’s Handbook to get me started. I haven’t decided on what yarn and what colours I want to use for the scarf though.

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Christmas has come and gone and in the grand tradition of the Jones Family, I gifted my little brother the books I want to read (ah, to be a 13 year old boy). I gave him The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. Being that my brother is more of the video game playing persuasion than the book reading persuasion, I decided to temporarily knick Uglies (which I had been meaning to read for a while) from him because I figured he wouldn’t miss it for an evening.

Review of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

It seems odd that I’m not much for science fiction being as I love science and engineering and “what ifs.” I do have select science fiction authors I do love and I’m a huge fan of space operas like Star Wars (but not Star Trek) and Firefly, but as a whole, I don’t dig through this genre often. That being said, Uglies is highly lauded around the publishing blogosphere and the premise interested me so I willingly entered the world of science fiction.

Simply put, in the distant future, all humans undergo a cosmetic operation at the age of 16 to become Pretty. Science has broken the code defining beauty: symmetrical features, wide eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, etc. and to make everyone “equal” based on how we react to each other biologically (regarding looks). This has broken culture down into distinct groups: the pretties (Late, Middle, and New), the uglies, and the littlies.

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