Tidbits

Wow, November has been a quiet month around here. But any of you who've been university students can understand why, I'm sure.

Åka has kindly pointed out two posts from Auxiliary Memory, the blog of James Wallace Harris. In Defining Science Fiction he attempts that notoriously slippery task and describes science fiction as a belief system, much like religion. Interestingly, though, while he is an atheist who prefers sci-fi to religion, he doesn't mean this in a triumphalistic way. Actually he's somewhat ambivalent about it, feeling that science fiction can lead a person away from reality just as much as a religion can. In the previous post, The Children of Science Fiction, he mused about the way reading science fiction can shape a person's worldview: Åka contributed some comments to that one. These are profound questions (I personally think there's more overlap or synthesis between systems) but frankly I don't feel I have the spare brain cells to wrestle with them right now - or perhaps I should say wrestle with again, right now.

Lately when I haven't been reading about literate medieval heretics, politics, or Guatemalan atrocities, I've been privileging comic books over science fiction or fantasy. It's really astonishing how many comics you can read when you should be doing homework. It's also amazing how many trade-paperback comics you can get from the Winnipeg Public Library system, too. (Libraries = cheap as free!) One great source of recommendations (besides Holy Heroes!! of course) has been Say It Backwards, a blog devoted to all things Superman. Check out this post on the ten most important stories for understanding what Superman's all about. Also the best Superman stories since 1985.

When I do get around to reading science fiction again, Anathem is at the top of my list. Here's Gabriel's glowing review, subtitled "all books should be about monks that live inside a giant clock." Right on, brother. Just don't forget the space princesses.

PS: Here's some fascinating news. Black holes are not scary things that are trying to kill us, but are in fact a stabilizing force on galaxies. "The powerful black holes at the center of massive galaxies and galaxy clusters act as hearts to the systems."

Other news: An eleven-thousand-year old temple has been discovered! Paging Indiana Jones!