Um, Mormon church -- quite homophobic.

I tried reading u Pastwatch a long, long time ao, but just couldn't get into it.

See, I rather liked it... sort of. That is to say, I really enjoyed the idea, but wasn't thrilled by the writing.

Fred it is, and misogynst too. But there are Mormons who oppose to homophobia. And Reid is not exactly a liberal Democrat (though not a far right one either). I'm not defending the "Latter Day Saints" - just not allowing it be used as either excuse or full explanation for loony views.

Oh, now I feel bad by dropping that into the thread and disappearing. I should say that I stopped reading Card before I became aware of his politics: his writing simply stopped working for me. The politics has made me less likely to pick him up again, but then I wasn't likely too, anyway.

To change the topic. I just finished reading a fantasy series by someone who is also a ficwriter, although I didn't know that when I started reading the series. This has caused some wonkiness in my brain, because now that I know this, I'm mapping two of the characters in her original novels onto the television characters--and frankly, one of them fits perfectly. Down to the name being kind of similar. Now, I've not read her fic in that universe, but I remember thinking there was an awful lot of unwritten backstory to these people when they showed up in the first novel. Apparently I was right.

Not really sure how I feel about this. This is, in fact, the second time I've witnessed it from a novelist who is also a fan. I find it a bit disconcerting; but on the other hand, if the story works regardless, it's okay.

Hmm.

Irish Breakfast tea:

Great essay here about the genre ghetto and reclaiming 'fantasy' as a label. [link]

I win the Conflicted Prize, though. Because I'm a feminist. And a James Ellroy fan. I hate how he writes women, like a lot. Had a hate-on all through L.A. Confidential(and one day one of my women will smack a man, just for parity's sake) But I happened upon an essay of his in some magazine and the descriptions knocked me back. I wanted to lie to myself about it, too, but that is a talent, if not a talent I'd trust with my panty drawer. And this is not like the Roth thing...I'm not gonna be able to even pick out one passage to say he's not a misogynist...maybe I could say that he doesn't think humanity, as a whole is worth the sweat it took to conceive us(Which, if I truly believed that, I'd kill myself, so it's not even a like-finding-like thing.) I don't even understand that, but there it is.

Fun essay. Although, I thought "magic realism" was the term for the stuff that Allende and Borges write. Wrote. Pick a tense.

Although, I thought "magic realism" was the term for the stuff that Allende and Borges write.

So far as I know, it is. But what makes it that and not fantasy? Because I'm not seeing any kind of definition that draws a valid difference between Marquez and, well, Charles de Lint.

Because I'm a feminist. And a James Ellroy fan.

I forgive you. I hated him for his excessively overwrought bebop style long before I hated him for his politics. He can write a story; unfortunately, he can only write one story, in one way.

I'd love to see him and Elmore Leonard throw down, though. That would be a fight worth watching.

I'm mapping two of the characters in her original novels onto the television characters

You're not gonna tell who this is? Pout.

The funny part of the "magic realism" subtext that author is talking about is who claims the tag and who doesn't. My sense of magic realism in the US is that it's a poorly-disguised term for chick lit where the chicks do magic.

I must confess, though, I've always found it idiotic that one camp calls it "slipstream" and another "interstitial" and they won't admit they're basically talking about the same thing.

I've always had a narrower view of magical realism. I think of it as a form of fantansy in which a particular actually existing society (usually a very local slice of that society) is portrayed in apparently very realistic terms, or at least in an extremely naturalistic style, and in which small amounts of fantasy or magic are used as punctuation in that portrayal. So at least some Charles De Lint would fit into my definition of magical realism.

signed

Jorge Amado is still my favorite.