Bits and Pieces: Culture August 25, 2012
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Culture.trackback
Okay, first up the good news for all of you curious as to the whereabouts of Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman, who vanished after dissing the Cult and Mission who were supposed to be going on tour with KJ (this may be a limited number of you, but I’ll persevere). Said Coleman was found in the Sahara working on a solo album. He claimed it wasn’t him who wrote the offending Facebook comment but said KJ wouldn’t be playing with the other two anyway.
Latest news? Ian Astbury of the Cult has apparently offered an olive branch.
This could run and run.
Secondly, less happy news that Harry Harrison, author of Make Room! Make Room! on which Solyent Green (They’re Made of People!) was based and the Stainless Steel Rat novels amongst others died earlier this month at 87. He was one of those writers who always has an interesting angle in his work – just thinking to myself how many of his books I’d read I was genuinely surprised, even taking into account that his was a prolific life. He made his home here in Ireland for much of his life. He was also something of a progressive both in terms of anti-militarism and a life long advocacy of Esperanto. He’ll be missed.
As is my way one day I was idly looking through Wiki’s list of post-nuclear holocaust films (and more on a related topic in a few weeks time). And what comes up but Amerika, 1987 ABC TV series set in the aftermath of a successful Soviet occupation of the US. It’s never been released on DVD but you can, should the mood take you, find it here on YouTube.
For those of you who know John Oliver from the Daily Show on Comedy Central (and the stand up show he fronts on the same channel) there is The Bugle podcast where he and friend and colleague Andy Zaltzman offer up something many will find highly entertaining and surprisingly (or perhaps not) political.
Those of you who watch good to excellent US comedy import Community will know that the name of the institution at its heart is Greendale, which entertainingly (for me) is the name of the er… Community School in Kilbarrack which I went to back in the 70s and very early 1980s. Just sayin’.
And what about Iain Banks who perhaps gave away a bit too much in the Guardian a few weeks ago when revealing that the structure of Use of Weapons, one of his best science fiction novels (and the one he thinks is his best), was in large part the result of a suggestion from his friend and colleague (and sometime commenter here) Ken MacLeod. I like both of them immensely as writers and Use of Weapons even without that particular twist would be a fine book, but in a way I wasn’t surprised at the revelation. Still, it’s a bit like music. I’m not sure I want to know who helped write a particular track (though having once forced myself through a KISS autobiography the question arose who hadn’t helped write various songs of theirs, it was quite an eye opener). And the same with books.
As it happens I think that Use of Weapons while perhaps a shade better than the rest of his Culture books is near enough matched by those from Excession onwards.
Speaking of the Guardian, refreshing to see how it has beefed up its SF reviews in its book review supplement. What was once a thin column has now been supplemented in recent times, and it’s become entertainingly snarky too with some of Christopher Priest’s reviews (Example A).
Lastly, those of us who like a certain J. Whedon and all his works may find this of interest, from the Firefly 10th Anniversary:
Only ten years to go! Neo-liberalism – eh?
You wouldn’t recommend me a few SF books would you wbs? Or anyone else for that matter. My favourite book critic is Michael Dirda of the Washington Post who writes so engagingly about sf/fantasy he’s persuaded me it’s a big gap in my reading. Reading The Forever War persuaded me he’s probably right.
Do you think Eamon Ryan wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks, ‘I should have said something when we went along with everything Fianna Fail proposed. But no, I was the soylent green.”
Of course if a businessman actually (spoiler alert) did turn people into food the PC crowd would all be complaining about it.
Weren’t you asking about Pavane the other day? I put a reply in comments but you may have missed it.
Wow, SF books. We could be here all day.
The Forever War is fantastic. I’ll have to think about that. But if you haven’t read Banks/MacLeod they’re a very good place to start. Stephen Baxter is interesting in a different way (I’m hard pressed to find a word to describe it – mainstream sounds too negative, but realistic is wrong too). Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic (basis for Stalker the film) and any of their Wanderer books, particularly Beetle in the Anthill (great Soviet SF). Jack Vance. James Tiptree Jr (who was a woman). New wave writers from the 60s/70s are A1. Erm.. how long have we got.
Zelazney, Stross, Vance (particularly Vance), Christopher Priest (Indoctrinaire), Mieville (fantasy, sf?), Alastair Reynolds, Clarke and Asimov, Greg Bear back in the day, Ian McDonald, Greg Egan, McAuley… Reed…
What did you say about Pavane? I must check out Roadside Picnic. Stalker is one of those strange films which seem like a bit of a trial when they’re on but set up all kinds of reverberations later on and send you back to them. I suppose most of Tarkovsky is like that.
It feels like there’s an entire world out there I haven’t discovered, appropriately enough I suppose. Dirda is very big on Gene Wolfe who I hadn’t heard of before but seems to be a towering if somewhat controversial figure. And also The Stars My Destination which does sound exciting. I don’t really know why I never got into SF given that it seems to have been a big influence on all kinds of bands and writers in other genres I really like. Though I have read quite a lot of Ballard who I suppose is the godfather of the new wave and was undoubtedly a genius.
Hope I haven’t stuck up too much extraneous material but one reason I really like this thread is because of the host of connections it sparks off.
Nah, fire ahead. It’s great. Re Pavane. Roberts was one a number of 60s/70s/80s writers who it’s hard to know quite what to make of, and pretty conservative too (his collection Ladies from Hell is interesting in that regard), but it’s a fine book. Kiteworld, a later one has some of the most depressing tales as regards human nature I ever read.
Bester is great, but then again so is Budrys, who I like an awful lot (he wrote a novel later filmed as the probably forgotten Who?). And Ballard is just remarkable. I was rereading some of his stuff over the Summer and there was something he locked into. Very strange and fascinating.
Now that Jaz Coleman is all right, I can put this up without being accused of either morbidity or bad taste. One of the great riffs.
And many’s the time I thought about this one at the height of the Tiger era.
Never had much time for The Cult.
This gang were much better though.
Which made me think of this.
Then this.
Watched this during the week, thought it was terrific. Anyone into matters post punk would really enjoy it. Donegal woman Vivienne Dick features quite prominently as one of the film-makers. As does John Waters. I’ve never quite been able to square his direction of Polyester, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble with his Irish Times articles on why God wants us to vote Fianna Fail for some reason.
Perhaps worth pointing out that not all of Iain Banks books are SF, although the Culture series are very good. As are the occasional ones of his straight fiction I’ve read.
I remember reading a interview a few years ago, in the Guardian I believe, when he was alternating between straight fiction and SF on a yearly basis – I think he has, wisely, eased off from that strict regime.
ANYhoo… for SF it’s Iain M Banks.
Recommendations wise, as good a place to start is probably some of the great anthologies of short stories.
That’s very true. And they’re generally excellent the non SF books. Anything edited by Gardner Dozois is good as an anthology, though going back a bit Terry Carr, etc, etc…
Ah, yeah… Harrison was great.
The anthology route sounds like a good idea. I like the look of Dangerous Visions. Worth the few bob on Amazon?
To my shame I’ve never read it, or I that I remember, bu definitely worth it. New Maps of Hell is worth a go if you can find a copy and there’s a Brian Aldiss Pan collection from the 1970s which was recently updated which us well worth ago. Tbh I think of SF as related, overlapping, but oddly distinct genres, so pre 1940s SF is mainly of a type, likewise with 50s, and o on. It’s not that simple of course but there are semi chronological trends…
WbS
Forgot to add.
Likewise sad to hear about Harry H.
As a young teenager [early 80s] I loved The Men from P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T. and devoured any, and all, of the appearances I could find of Slippery Jim diGriz.
Pre-internet, that was… happy days…