Our secret is safe!
I liked Spider Robinson for a while, but I drifted away. However, since I liked Stardance (and I think I was told I wasn't supposed to), I suspect the Callahan side of his oeuvre may be like new to me, whether I like it or not.
Oh, yeah. There was this time I was pinned down by this guy that played left tackle for varsity... Well, at least he used to before he was a vampire... Anyway, he had this really, really thick neck, and all I had was a little, little Exact-O knife ... You're not loving this story.
Buffy ,'Beneath You'
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
§ ita § - Jun 29, 2004 12:11:23 pm PDT #951 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
-t - Jun 29, 2004 12:12:39 pm PDT #952 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I used to love Spider Robinson, but then he pissed me off and he hasn't won me back, yet. Funny thing, I don't remember why I'm mad at him, but I'm still mad.
I think I will adopt ita's hierarchy of Brust as my own, but with smaller gaps. I think about Freedom and Necessity every time I eat a plain baked potato.
libkitty - Jun 29, 2004 12:15:11 pm PDT #953 of 10001
Embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. Grace Lee Boggs
Jhereg
But it's been so long I'm unsure. May need to re-read. Darn.
§ ita § - Jun 29, 2004 12:15:49 pm PDT #954 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think about Freedom and Necessity every time I eat a plain baked potato.
I think about it every time I encounter an example of the Hegelian dialectic.
Now, I don't understand the Hegelian dialectic. I don't think. But I do think I got the book. So why did they have to keep mentioning it like it was important? Would I love it if I could only grok Hegel? Or why the dialectic needed a name?
-t - Jun 29, 2004 12:24:47 pm PDT #955 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Thesis -> antithesis -> synthesis...is there more to it than that?
I honestly don't remember that in the book, but I read it not too long after taking a history of europe in the 19th c. class, and constant mentioning of Hegel probably seemed very natural, then.
§ ita § - Jun 29, 2004 12:27:31 pm PDT #956 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Whatever it was, it was either something I completely failed to get, or something so incredibly ingrained in my late 20c self that I failed to see why it had to be brought up all the time.
Gus - Jun 29, 2004 12:29:55 pm PDT #957 of 10001
Bag the crypto. Say what is on your mind.
:: wildly slings his mono-filament sword to and fro, creating a zone of protection around the radiance of Spider Robinson's name::
Sure, he is ridiculously enamored of Heinlein. Sure, the Key West of his imagination is augmented by way too much cannabis. This can all be trumped by a single word:
Stardance.
-t - Jun 29, 2004 12:47:58 pm PDT #958 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I liked the Callahan stories when they were just independent stories, When he started turning them into more novel like things, he lost me. I really dug Night of Power.
I know I read Stardance, but I don't remember much about it.
arby - Jun 29, 2004 12:59:07 pm PDT #959 of 10001
Guy #1: Man, there are so many hipsters around. I hate hipsters! Guy #2: You're at the wrong place. That's like going to Vegas only to say "I hate titties!" --The Warsaw, Williamsburg (OINY)
Brokedown, Issola, Paarfi, the rest of the Vladiad EXCEPT Teckla, Agyar, Sun Moon & Stars (which I remember liking a lot when I read it at 13, but I think I read a special "Children's" version with just the fairy tale), Gypsy, To Reign in Hell, Freedom & Necessity, [big gap], Cowboy Feng, Teckla. I kind of hate Teckla. It's just so depressing.
Brust himself says about Cowboy Feng:
Not one of my better efforts, I think, but there are bits of it I like. It started out to be funny, developed a serious side, and I was never able to get the elements to blend the way I wanted them to. Grumble grumble. It's always pleasant to run into someone who liked this book; it means that I can still do all right when I'm not on my game.
Gus - Jun 29, 2004 1:03:12 pm PDT #960 of 10001
Bag the crypto. Say what is on your mind.
Stardance should be taught in high school. KristenT, are you listening? How about you, kat?
While you are at it, show American History X, Apt Pupil, and Swing Kids.
Make them understand the dynamic at work in these films.
I really dug Night of Power...
Oh, no. Just, uh-uh.
-t, perhaps you should hook up with ita. We are not compatible, except for the Brust thing.