The World Cup: Something for Everyone

June 26th, 2010 Posted in Musing
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It’s been really great wandering around the blogosphere (hang on, MS spell check recognises ‘blogosphere’ as a word..?) during the World Cup.

I don’t follow league football, but I’ve always watched the international competition.  I remember watching the World Cup in 1986 and having my tender, six-year-old heart broken by the Hand of God.  I remember the Italians diving like an Olympic swimming team in 1990 and that penalty shoot-out in 1996.  I’ve had my heart broken every two years since that moment in 1986.

Since moving away from home and onto the Internet, I’ve become used to being in a minority.  My love of the beautiful game is something I’ve had to keep close and safe in a world that thinks it’s a pointless waste of time, an indicator of low-intelligence and backwards tribalism.  Since the majority of the English-language Internet seems to be taken up by Americans, I was expecting a brief outpouring of scorn at ‘soccer’ followed by apathy.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised.  Lavie Tidhar (not an American, I know) wrote some World Cup fiction, Jeff VanderMeer instituted a kind of ‘World Cup of fiction’ to celebrate, and even Wil Wheaton is Tweeting about it.

This article was linked from Fark today:  Why it’s okay for women to ogle the football players.  Hey, even American pop-culture feminist site Jezeble is watching the World Cup!

The Fark thread was predicable:  ‘Oh, right, so when women do it, it’s okay, but when men do it, it’s sexist… farking hypocrites.’

There is something wrong with that, and it’s only when I sat down and tried to comment on the thread that I managed to put into words.

The basses of -isms (sexism, racism, ageism, classism, etc) isn’t, ‘person x is treated different from person y in the same situation’.  It’s, ‘person x in a position of privilege unfairly exerts that privilege over person y’.

In the meta Western society, men are in a position of privilege over women.  Objectifying women is an assertion of that privilege–it’s yet another drop on the prayer wheel which says a woman’s value is determined by what other people think of her body.  When women objectify men, they’re not exerting privilege, so it’s okay.  As Jezeble points out:

“In our current universe, men do not have trouble being taken seriously based on their looks or perceived sexiness, nor is their worth in society primarily judged by them…  They will not be told their primary value is based on whether women want to fuck them. They will not be paid less on the dollar or subject to violence in representation or acts. They will not be treated like meat or chattel.”

In other situations, women objectifying men isn’t okay.  In a female-dominated workplace when the women hold the privilege and agency, it’s not okay.  They’re exerting their privilege.  In a relationship when the woman holds all the power and agency, it’s not okay.  They’re exerting their privilege over their partner.  The partner is being told, ‘I’m only with you for your looks, and I can leave you if I ever find someone who I think looks better than you, and there’s nothing you can do about it’.

So anyway, England are playing Germany tomorrow.  Our performances against the US, Algeria and Slovenia left a lot to be desired, so I’m not expecting much.  It seems a little unfair that we’ve met German so soon.  Germany always feels like the final game boss in our Championship campaigns.

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Steampunk, Steampunk Reloaded, and Steampunk stories

March 3rd, 2010 Posted in Steampunk, Writing
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I know it’s old news by now, but I wanted to mention that the Steampunk Reloaded table of contents has been revealed.  Yes, I shall be buying a copy.

I finished the first Steampunk anthology of the VanderMeer’s a couple of weeks ago.  I’m not too sure what the they think Steampunk is, but the anthology hit the nail on the head.  It’s an eclectic mix of strange worlds and inspirational people.

Two stories have stuck with me:  ‘The Giving Mouth’ by Ian R. MacLeod, and ‘Seventy-Two Letters’ by Ted Chiang (although ‘The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel’ by Joe R. Lansdale definitely deserves an honourable mention).

‘The Giving Mouth’ and ‘Seventy-Two Letters’ are the two sides of the coin which my spec-fic slot machine takes.  ‘The Giving Mouth’ is a thick broth which sucks you down like a tar pit.  The world is something out of a children’s film, not some kind of Tim Burton-esque ‘adult fairy tale’ but The Never-Ending Story but without the background music, Jim Henson ‘cute’ puppets and horrifically eighties production (sorry, but you know it’s true…).  It’s the Wild Palms and Videodrome that nurtured me as an adolescent.

‘Seventy-Two Letters’ is a brilliant scientist working to solve a particular problem in his world.  No explosions, no romance, no world-spanning travels, no evil villains.  Just science and human beings.  It’s just like some early John Crichton.  Of course, it’s the science of an alternate world, a science that takes a small, neglected slice of our own world and makes it real.  (Imagine a whole novella devoted to Ponder Stibbons.  Why yes, The Science of Discworld is one of my favourite Discworld novels.)

If someone gave me this anthology, I’d have one of those light-bulb moments and realise, ‘hey–this steampunk thing is what I’ve been looking for!’

So yeah, I’m excited about Steampunk Reloaded.  I’m also well-aware that squeals rarely live up to the original and, as Steampunk has become more popular, the stereotypes have become easier to imitate more people are doing it.  People are entering the genre with ideas of what a ‘steampunk’ story should look like, and that’s a Bad Thing.  I am, though, looking forwards to the international Steampunk, especially the work from Brazil.

A quick tip for writers, while I’m here:  Don’t ever, ever write a ‘Steampunk’ story.  Don’t do it.  Don’t even try.  Have an idea, craft your story, make it the best collection of words you can.  Go where the story wants to take you.  And then give it to people who read Steampunk stories, and if they like it, then it’s a Steampunk story.

Oh, and read this post on the Apex blog.  It’s all true.

Edited to change to the link to the updated ToC for Steampunk Relaoded.

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How wise we are in the full blush of ignorance

January 28th, 2010 Posted in Steampunk, Writing
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I think I’m going to have to come clean about Jeff and Ann VanderMeer’s Steampunk.  I’m more of a lifestyler than a fan of the literary side of things, and there’s an increasing gap between the British and US scenes.  I need–no, I want to get into the literary and aesthetic side of Steampunk.  I at least want to understand the mainstream literary Steampunk.  I’m a writer, I’m a Steampunk, and it’s foolish to be in ignorance of what else is happening around me.

The problem with a lot of the things which seem to be coming out the US of late is that they somehow don’t seem to ‘get’ my idea of Steampunk.  Look at Abney Park:  They’re selling pre-made, leather ‘high-altitude masks’ on their website.  Captain Robert, their lead singer, is winning a popularity poll for Steampunks for, ‘making Steampunk sexy’.  In short, it’s all steam and no punk.

I thought the VanderMeer’s anthology would be more of the same.

Ha!

Let me quote a bit from Jess Nevin’s wonderful introduction (which I read while sitting in Speaker’s Corner on a Sunday morning):

“Steampunk, like all good punk, rebels against the system it portrays (Victorian London or something quiet like it), critiquing its treatment of the underclass, its validation of the privileged at the cost of everyone else, its lack of mercy, its cutthroat capitalism.  Like the punks streampunk rarely offers a solution to the problems is decries – for steampunk, there is no solution…”

Maybe one day, I’ll learn to control my expectations before I judge.  I’m about half-way through, and already I’ve got an awful lot of food for thought.  I’ve been made to pause at least once and think, ‘what’s that doing in here?  That’s not Steampunk’, only to go away, think about it, and realise it’s probably the most Steampunk story of the collection so far.

I’ve mentioned Jeste der Vries’ Shine Anthology before.  I love the fact he’s going out of his way to find positive SF.  The tendency for SF these days is to be all doom and gloom, and it gets on my wick.  I don’t want to read stories about how climate change is going to kill us all and it’s all our own fault, no matter how well-written they are.  ‘Humanity is going to kill itself through its own arrogance, short-sightedness and greed’ is a tired old sci-fi trope, and I much prefer it explored through the Cold War.

He’s made me go away, and look at the things I’m writing.  Am I wallowing, or am I trying to do something positive?  When critiquing someone’s writing or ideas, I don’t like to point out problems without offering solutions.

Let me quote a little more from Jess Nevin:

“But most second generation steampunk is not true steampunk–there is little to nothing ‘punk’ about it.  The politics of the punk position have largely disappeared from second generation steampunk, and most of it is more accurately described as ‘steam sci-fi’ or, following John Clute, ‘gaslight romance’.”

So let me introduce third generation Steampunk:  Steampunk with solutions.  Steampunk written by people of China, India, Tieland, Mexico and everywhere else in the world that deals with the issues they have to fight with a thousand miles geographically, culturally and socially from Victorian London as well we British with our issues.  And Steampunk that sees hope on the horizon.  We’re not just writers; we’re environmentalists, activists, anarchists, makers and a dozen-and-a-half other things.  Our solutions runneth over.  Us writers, we’ve got to stress-test them, try and break them and then try to fix them.

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February Reading

January 21st, 2010 Posted in Reading, Steampunk, Writing
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Around the end of December, I realised that January was going to be a hectic month.  By the 31st, I had to:

  • Finish planning and write Symphonie Magnifique;
  • Finish researching, plan and write The Man Who Ate Germany, a piece on German unification under Bismark, for Steampunk Magazine;
  • Work with Allegra to plan and write a piece on being a Steampunk every day instead of just for gatherings and conventions, for SPM;
  • Think about, plan and write my story for an anthology coming out through Vagrants Among Ruins;
  • Read and review Hartman the Anarchist, for SPM;
  • And I’ve just found out about a Big Finish competition to pitch an idea for an audio drama featuring the Fifth Doctor (the best Doctor) and Nyssa.

In most realities, any one of the above would take a whole month.

I impressed myself and submitted Symphonie Magnifique to Crossed Genres on the 13th.  I’ve since been working with Bismark, the mad Junker.  I’m in London for the Steampunk Spectacular this weekend, but I still have confidence that it will all be done on time.

The anthology story has had to be pushed back due to factors outside my control.  Partly, I’m relieved.  I’m also partly annoyed, because I had a nascent, half-formed idea which I was beginning to nurture when I found I’d have to somehow keep the embryo warm but in status.

All this unfortunately means that I don’t have time for reading this month.  Well, I do, but only reading which serves the Greater Good.  That’s annoying, because I got some books for Christmas and spent the few pence I had left from my wages this month on more books.  So, February I’m going to read.  And no one can stop me!

As well as the magazines, blogs and ‘zines, we have:

  • The Judge Dredd/Batman Files and Vendetta in Gotham.  Seriously, Dredd vs. Batman?  The first scene, the first scene, has Batman squaring off against Judge Death.
  • Grandville.  Written by Bryan Talbot and inspired by the work of nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerand, who worked under the pseudonym Grandville and frequently drew anthropomorphic animals.  When it was claimed by both the furry scene and Steampunk scene, I decided I had to get it.  It arrived on Tuesday, and it’s a beautiful book.  Its hard-backed and the covers are textured like those volumes from the 60’s which still lurk on my parent’s bookshelves, and the inside covers have an almost marbled design which echoes those same books.  The binding is solid… in short, it’s turned all the shortcomings of graphic novel production into things to be proud of.
  • Steampunk. Steampunk short stories collected and edited Jeff and Ann VanderMeer.   I’d be a fool to walk away.  Especially because I submitted Of Mice and Journeymen to the follow-up anthology, Steampunk Reloaded.
  • The Apex Book of World SF, edited by Lavie Tidhar.  Difficult though it’s been for me to accept, the world of SF/F has tended to be dominated by white, western, able-bodied men.  The strange new worlds and brave new civilisations imagined have, a lot of times, had WWAM values at their core no matter the fantastical creatures which populate them, and the colonies and cities of the future are images of our western metropolises.  It takes delicacy and skill to open up new cultures to old minds like mine, and I trust Lavie’s judgement to collect stories which, above any sort of agenda, are stories.  They entertain, create and are driven by ideas and characters first and foremost.  I brought this book because I need to read it and because the publishers need to be supported for producing it.  Also, the publishers need to be supported!
  • Crimea, by Trevor Royle.  The Crimean war is, in my opinion, the Steampunk European war.  In the comfortable houses of those in charge, it was a cluster-fuck of diplomatic and military blunders with each side only being saved by the disasters of the other.  In the tents of the soldiers, it was filled with breath-taking acts of humanity and bravery by both sides which have become part of our shared history.  It was also the first ‘media war’, the battlefield ending up on the breakfast tables of London the same way the Vietnam war was beamed live into the living rooms of a generation.

There are probably enough straight reviews out there already, but I may write something about the Apex book on its Amazon page as @apexjason would like some good reviews there (even if he wouldn’t send me a review copy :P ).  I’m sure I’ll be inspired to write something here by all my reading.  And I’m expecting to reap bountiful harvests of fiction-fertilizer, especially for The Colossus Engine, my Crimea war story about a plucky group of rag-tag soldiers and their attempts to destroy Britain’s ‘ultimate weapon’ before it can be used.

And it looks like I’ll have a chance to put some of those fiction-flowers to good use:  I’ve just got an email from Absent Willows about a new fiction contest they’re running.  The universe may or may not be trying to tell me something, but I’m going to err on the side of caution and act like it is.  After all, of all the things you could piss off the universe is probably one to avoid.

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