Nurturing the Creative Soul

Every so often it’s good to feed your creative soul. There’s no better way to do it than spending quality time with a community of readers and writers with whom you share a common history. I’m grateful to my pal Rick Wilber for convincing me to crash with him at Readercon in Boston this past weekend. I was lucky enough to remember my camera, so here’s a quick review in pics:

My pal Ricky with Locus photo-maven and good friend Amelia Beamer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a terrific time with my editor Robert J. Sawyer. Here we are, two happy eggheads, followed by a shot of Rob with his editor from Tor, David Hartwell, snapped on David’s 62nd birthday. They’re holding a copy of Distant Early Warnings, the brand-spankin’ new anthology of Canadian science fiction from Robert J. Sawyer Books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long-time con pal, fine editor, and one of the great ladies of science fiction Ellen Datlow, captured and held hostage outside the hotel restaurant. (I released her eventually.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That crazy Coyote Allen Steele. After several beers, we figured out that the last time we’d seen each other was the Final Rivercon (XXV) nine years ago! Which led to another beer. Sigh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, to confirm your suspicions, I’m taking all these closeups myself, with my trusty Kodak digi…left-handed!

Everybody loves James Patrick Kelly! Including me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guys from Tachyon Publications, Bernie (left) and Jacob. We had a terrific dinner together Thursday night, and then they couldn’t get rid of me. That’ll teach ‘em!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samuel R. Delaney signing autographs in the Readercon Bookshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Edelman published a couple of my stories years ago when he was editing the late-great SF Age. He’s still tall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend for me was finally meeting my all-time short-story-writer-hero Howard Waldrop. After I made a complete fool of myself telling him how much I adore him, he kindly consented to this pic. Howard is one of the most weirdly original science fiction writers of our time, and he’s been a great inspiration to me. I love you, man!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why does Daryl Gregory have that glazed look in his eyes? It’s not just because he’s standing next to Rob Sawyer. Daryl was also a nominee for the 2009 Shirley Jackson Award.

Dillinger: A Love Story

Robbing, Killing, Romancing: Those Were the Days!

Well, okay, what the heck, why not? Director Michael Mann does everything in his power to turn Public Enemies into a love story between John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), while at the same time trying to keep within the ball park of historical accuracy. He gets high marks for coming pretty close, and for a good tight story, and for coaxing decent performances out of everyone, including the stoic Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, and both Depp and Cotillard. Good solid work all the way around, but certainly nothing special, which I must say was a bit disappointing considering the talent.

In the end I thought that Mann was trying too hard to pretend that Dillinger wasn’t really a rotten, murdering bank robber. Does anyone really, seriously believe that Dillinger had a heart of gold and was a misunderstood product of a failed American judicial system? Mann also glosses over the fact that Dillinger was a fella who enjoyed his prostitutes (and in fact was in the company of one when he was finally gunned down on the street), which kind of throws a wet towel over the whole romance thing.

The bank robberies and the daring escapes didn’t seem very romantic either. Maybe I’m just tired of all the senseless killing these days, in real life and on the big screen. It was a long film at two hours and 23 minutes and it felt long. By the end of the movie I was yawning, and I didn’t quite buy into the tragic-hero climax that the director was hoping for and that we all knew was coming. A good rental maybe. Mildly recommended. 

Sci Fi Frey

Speaking of love stories, remember Oprah and James Frey? Frey, the controversial author of the memoir A Million Little Pieces (2003) fibbed his way into the literary limelight via Oprah’s Book Club. He has landed another book deal, as reported in the New York Times, this one with a movie attached to it. Frey’s continuing success proves the old adage that even bad press is good press. HarperCollins signed Frey and collaborator Michael Bay to write a YA series, and DreamWorks has already purchased the film rights. The story, a science fiction concept, is about a group of young alien teens hiding out on Earth after their own planet has been attacked. Any author these days who can make big bucks writing should be an inspiration to us all. Congratulations. But it does make you kind of wonder about the whole celebrity of writing and what it means to the rest of us, doesn’t it?

Of further interest…

James Frey “Bending the Truth“

The Smoking Gun exposé

One of my favorite actors is Giovanni Ribisi, who played a bit part in Public Enemies. If you’ve never seen Heaven, check it out. It’s a great little film. You won’t be disappointed.

Post 9/11 Weirdness

Jess Walter’s post 9/11 novel The Zero is a crazy ride from beginning to end. In the opening of the novel, main character Brian Remy, a police officer, shoots himself in the head in an apparent suicide attempt after the attacks on the World Trade Center. The fact that he fails and lives to tell the tale of what happens to him over the next several months turns out to be a bizarre, absurd, mysterious, surreal, and unpredictable story of insanity and remorse, as Remy suffers chronic bouts of amnesia that no one seems to notice but him.

During these bouts, Remy, who might also be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of 9/11, is another person altogether who is working as an undercover agent, torturing terrorist suspects, and cheating on his girlfriend, the one person in his life he truly loves. Add to that a broken marriage, a son who prefers to think of Remy as dead, and a serious drinking problem, and you have a main character who seems, more often than not, a dead man walking.

9/11 is not an easy subject to tackle in the realm of fiction, and neither is the emotional fallout from it, where a minefield of sentimentality and over-dramatization must be carefully avoided, and yet the elephant in the room has to be addressed. In lesser hands, such an ambitious work could have been a disjointed mess. But the novel is a treasure for fans of fractured narratives (and people), conspiracy theories, and dark satire, and for those who don’t mind being set adrift in a story that remains, in the end, as unresolved as the topic Jess has decided to take on. High scores for masterful writing as well: Highly recommended.

Of further interest…

The Zero was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award. You can learn more about the author at his website.

Oh, BTW, I picked up this book at the McNally Robinson in Winnipeg on my last visit there; they have some of the best remainders in the biz!

Citizen Vince was the winner of the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel. I’m definitely adding this one to my list of must-reads.