I'm Here

As the post title indicates, I'm once again making the attempt to do some blogging on a somewhat regular basis. Uncoincidentally, I'm teaching Philosophy and Science Fiction this semester.

Much more significant than my reappearance in the blogosphere is a recent short film by Spike Jonze, also titled I'm Here. If you haven't seen it, follow the link and watch this haunting and beautiful film straightaway. One of the many thoughts I've had after watching it is how nicely it refutes the idea that sf can be written off because it's about "weird stuff" like robots or vampires or aliens or whatever. Like a lot of good sf, this film is really about us, isn't it?

Jonze also directed several other films belonging to our genre: Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Adaptation (2002), and Being John Malkovich (1999). The latter two are based on scripts by the wonderfully quirky Charlie Kaufman.

The soundtrack (streamable) to the film is quite nice, too, featuring Sleigh Bells, Girls, Animal Collective, and others.

After you've seen it, come back and say something!

Need a LOTR fix?

If you haven't already, check out The Hunt for Gollum, a 40 minute fan film that tells the story of Aragorn's quest to find Gollum before he falls into the wrong hands. And, if you don't already know, that makes it a prequel of sorts to LOTR, based on some bits in the appendices.

Philosophy and Science Fiction Projects

For the final project in my Philosophy and Science Fiction class last semester, I gave my students the following choice: Either (a) write a philosophical essay exploring some interesting question in the context of sf or (b) write an sf short story that explores some philosophically interesting territory. Unsurprisingly, most of them chose to write a story. The results of their labors can be seen here. Take a look! And let the student authors know what you think!

sf for free! print edition: Elric of Melnibone!

A couple of months ago I lamented in a post that there was no free fiction available from Michael Moorcock. Therefore, I am delighted to help spread the word that The Stealer of Souls, the first in a new volume of Moorcock's classic Elric stories is now available for you to read online. If you've already read Moorcock, you'll want to have another look--and to read the foreward by Alan Moore and the new introduction by Mike himself. If you haven't read any Elric, don't miss the chance to check it out for nothing!

From Alan Moore's forward:

Its alabaster hero Elric, decadent, hallucinatory and feverish, battled with his howling, parasitic blade against a paranoiac back-drop that made other fantasy environments seem lazy and anaemic in their Chinese-takeaway cod orientalism or their snug Arcadian idylls. Unlike every other sword-wielding protagonist in the anthology, it was apparent that Moorcock’s wan, drug-addicted champion would not be stigmatized by a dismaying jacket blurb declaring him to be in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Melnibonéan landscape— seething, mutable, warped by the touch of fractal horrors— was an anti-matter antidote to Middle Earth, a toxic and fluorescing elf repellent. Elric’s world churned with a fierce and unself-conscious poetry, churned with the breakneck energies of its own furious pulpdeadline composition. Not content to stand there, shuffling uneasily beneath its threadbare sword and sorcery banner, Moorcock’s prose instead took the whole stagnant genre by its throat and pummeled it into a different shape, transmuted Howard’s blustering overcompensation and the relatively tired and bloodless efforts of Howard’s competitors into a new form, a delirious romance with different capabilities, delivered in a language that was adequate to all the tumult and upheaval of its times, a voice that we could recognize (p. xv).

And from the beginning of the Melnibone tales...

Elric, the moody-eyed wanderer—a lonely man who fought a world, living by his wits and his runesword Stormbringer. Elric, last Lord of Melniboné, last worshipper of its grotesque and beautiful gods—reckless reaver and cynical slayer—torn by great griefs and with knowledge locked in his skull which would turn lesser men to babbling idiots. Elric, moulder of madnesses, dabbler in wild delights...(pp. 11-12)

I discovered these stories when I was a sophomore in high school (back in the late 70s) and consumed the entire six book series (from DAW books, of course) in a couple of days. I'd still put them near the top of the list of the epic fantasy I've read.

Thanks for the tip go to SF Signal, who regularly alert us to the existence of new free sf possibilities.

Big Brother and Little Brother

Cory Doctorow's wonderful Little Brother has been nominated for a Hugo Award and you can check it out for free here. If you read the novel, you'll have a pretty good idea why all of his stuff is available online for free.

The title is (obviously) a reference to the omnipresent looming presence of Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984, which you can also read free online. You might also be interested in the philosopher Peter van Inwagen's paper "Was George Orwell a Metaphysical Realist"?

Doctorow's book takes place in the (all too?) near future of the U.S. and maps out a route into an Orwellian future. Yet it's ultimately a very hopeful book. Significantly, while technology can be the means of the state's oppression and control, in Doctorow's story it's the savviness and technological sophistication of a group of geeks that creates the possibility of liberation.

And it's a really great read.

sf for free! print edition: four fantasy novels

If you've got some time--and even if you don't--you might want to take advantage of the opportunity to check out the following books that are available free online.

His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik, the first novel in her alternate military history series about the Napoleonic Wars--but fought with dragons. If you like Patrick O'Brian and the like, try this one.

Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmer's Daughter, the first book in her Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, is a top-notch heroic fantasy with a strong female protagonist.

Assassin's Apprentice, by Robin Hobb, another first entry in a series.

And The Element of Fire, by Martha Wells.

More Firefly!

I just found out that Steven Brust, author of the very entertaining Vlad Taltos fantasy series, has written a Firefly novel with the title My Own Kind of Freedom and it's available to download or read online! I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but when you find out an author you like is playing around with some characters you love, it's clearly worth a look. Let me know what you think!

Chimps and Robots Get Religion

A new story -- Mike Resnick's "Article of Faith."

And a classic one -- Robert Silverberg's "The Pope of the Chimps."

Thinking Meat?

Philosophers often see problems and paradoxes in what look like ordinary places, whether by asking an unexpected question or by turning things on their heads. Terry Bisson's wonderful short story "They're Made Out of Meat!" is a hilarious philosophical exploration of the idea that we are material beings. That we are mere meat is an absurd idea -- according to a pair of extraterrestrial beings who are made of who knows what....

A surprising number of folks have been inspired to create short film versions of this story. See here 1 and here 2 and here 3 and here 4. Which one is the best?

sf for free! print edition: John Carter meets Conan

Lots of free sf novels and short stories can be found on the web for free. A couple of sites that link to such finds can be found here and here.

In this post I'll introduce a couple of authors from the early days of sf that you can explore for free. This isn't the most thought-provoking stuff in the world, to be sure, but it's pretty exciting--and you can see lots of the seeds of the fantasy and role-playing genres in these stories.

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote all kinds of speculative fiction--"pulp" stories, as they're sometimes called--early in the twentieth century. The picture I've included here gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect... Perhaps his best known literary creation is Tarzan, who featured in many, many books. He also wrote fast-paced adventure stories that take place in odd places, including The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core, and the memorable Barsoom series about a U.S. soldier named John Carter who somehow gets transported to Mars and falls in love and fights against all kinds of enemies, many of whom have four arms. A movie is in the works... I'd start with A Princess of Mars, the first of the John Carter books. But lots of his books are to be had for free at Project Gutenberg.

Robert E. Howard is the creator of Conan the barbarian and other larger than life characters.

A few Conan tales: "The Devil in Iron," "The People of the Black Circle," and "Red Nails." But many more can be found at the same site.

The Hour of the Dragon is a novel-length story about Conan after his adventuring days are over and he's become king.

Other formative sf writers include Fritz Leiber (creator of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, the original hulking barbarian and nimble thief duo), and Michael Moorcock, who created Elric of Melnibone, the albino prince-sorcerer who carries Stormbringer, the evil black sword that takes the souls of those it slays. These are familiar tropes from the genre, of course, precisely because of the influence of these authors. No free stuff from these guys, though. And--it goes without saying, right?--J.R.R. Tolkien should be added to the list, along with all kinds of other folks.

sf for free! video edition

Every so often I'll point you to a few things you can get for free on the web. For today, think about watching a couple of classic 80s sf movies: Robocop and John Carpenter's The Thing. The first is one of the earlier cyborg pics and the latter is an excellent sf/horror flick.

If you haven't already watched the sadly short and solitary season of Firefly, please do so as soon as possible. For a bit more Joss, check out Dr. Horrible! Or the first couple of seasons of Buffy.

Finally, I'll confess a fondness for the Highlander series. There can be only one.

All this good stuff (and much, much more) courtesy of Hulu. Beware of too much Hulu, however.

UPDATE: You can see The Fifth Element, too--on Joost.