You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 1, 2008.
I quote from the site:
The eScholarship Editions collection includes almost 2000 books from academic presses on a range of topics, including art, science, history, music, religion, and fiction.
Access to the entire collection of electronic books is open to all University of California faculty, staff, and students, while over 500 of the titles are available to the public. Print versions of many of the electronic books can be purchased directly from the publishers.
Nice.
John Grant (aka Paul Barnett). co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Fantasy is interviewed by Jeff Vandermeer about his book Corrupted Science. Great interview and the book looks like a must-read.
V.K. Arseniev’s travelogue Dersu the Trapper recounting his cartographic expeditions to Eastern Siberia is in print in English. I found a second-hand copy in April in Glastonbury and stupidly didn’t get it, on the lame excuse that I didn’t have much money – never a valid reason for not buying a book.
Kurosawa’s masterpiece (one of many) Dersu Uzala is based on this account, telling the story of how the trapper saved Arseniev’s life and then guided his team through the forests and mountains and how in the end he himself became trapped by the encroaching civilisation.
If memory serves, which frequently it does not, I believe Ursula Le Guin described the film as one of the best SF films ever made. I think she meant that it captured perfectly the meeting and sharing of different worlds with consequences positive and negative. She cited the scene where Dersu frantically builds a grass shelter over Arseniev as the sun sets and the temperature drops as better capturing ‘alienness’ than any of the special effects laden movies of the time.
I have only glanced through the book – it also has lovely sketches in it – but it’s on my infinite wish list. I think the style may seem dated and the attitude towards Dersu paternalistic and romanticised, but then it reflects the time and Arseniev’s views represent a vast improvement on the average ones shown towards Native Siberians.
James Blaylock seems to have two new titles in the pipeline.
Well, one of them is not exactly new. It is an anthology called The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, classic steampunk novels chronicling the exploits of the eponymous hero. The volumes collected have mostly been long out of print and the collection is being published by Subterranean Press in November 2008.
The other looks like a new addition to the loosely entitled ‘California Sequence’, where Blaylock spins supernatural yarns into closely observed novels set in modern day urban California. I have loved all of the set so far and the new one seems promising. The Knights of the Cornerstone will be published in December 2008 by Ace.
They’d make great Christmas gifts…
John Grant (aka Paul Barnett). co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Fantasy is interviewed by Jeff Vandermeer about his book Corrupted Science. Great interview and the book looks like a must-read.
James Blaylock seems to have two new titles in the pipeline.
Well, one of them is not exactly new. It is an anthology called The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, classic steampunk novels chronicling the exploits of the eponymous hero. The volumes collected have mostly been long out of print and the collection is being published by Subterranean Press in November 2008.
The other looks like a new addition to the loosely entitled ‘California Sequence’, where Blaylock spins supernatural yarns into closely observed novels set in modern day urban California. I have loved all of the set so far and the new one seems promising. The Knights of the Cornerstone will be published in December 2008 by Ace.
They’d make great Christmas gifts…
Dan Simmons has been running a series giving his thoughts on how to write well. I only just discovered it (evidently), and he is on part 9 already, when I finally got around to posting a link to his site. Knowing his work, it should definitely be worth a careful read.
This entry reminded me of Dale S Wright’s book Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism, which is certainly the best book on Zen I’ve read, and maybe the best in philosophy too.
Nautiloid Burblings 