Update 12/14/09: Gary K. Wolfe’s review is now online.

Today I read two reviews of The Devil’s Alphabet, one by Karen Burnham at SF Signal, and the other by Gary K. Wolfe at Locus (printed on actual paper). Both were pretty positive — Wolfe starts the review calling me “amongst the most interesting of the newer writers to emerge in the past decade, and rapidly becoming one of the most unpredictable,” which is nice, and Burnham gives me 4/5 stars — so I’m not complaining. But what I most appreciated was the thoughtfulness of the reviews.

Gary Wolfe is pretty much the dean of SF critics, the reviewer I’ve been reading the longest, and the person I most wanted to be reviewed by when I started writing novels. When I get my copy of  Locus, I read his column first, every issue. He’s such a good writer that I find it difficult to disagree with him, even when I don’t agree with him. So it was with some sense of trepidation that I read his review — if he said I sucked, what was I supposed to do with that massive cognitive dissonance?

Karen Burnham has been reviewing for a couple years, and when I met her at a convention a couple years ago, I was immediately struck by her excellent taste — because she immediately told me she liked my short stories. She hasn’t been reviewing enough lately — she’s works for frickin’ NASA, for crying out loud, so her day job’s a bit busy — but her review of Pandemonium last year pointed out something I hadn’t been conscious of, that you could read the story as one family’s struggle to take care of someone with mental illness. It’s the mark of a good review that afterward you think, damn, maybe that IS what I meant.

So, two reviews in one day. Wolfe (I’m going to call him Wolfe, because in his review he uses my last name, like reviewers do) pointed out that while Pandemonium was a mash-up of content, Devil’s Alphabet was a mashup “of form and genre.” Then he goes down the line sighting echos and references that seemed to have informed the book, all of which made me think, damn, he must be right.

On the one hand, the novel hovers around a sort of evolutionary hard SF of novels like Greg Bear’s Darwin’s Radio… on the other, it returns to an earlier kind of evolutionary SF that we’d seen in novels from van Vogt’s Slan to Sturgeon’s More Than Human, in which the focus is more on the pariah status of the victims than on the biological puzzle, and on the inability of the larger society to cope meaningfully with the implications of the event. But then again, it’s also a homecoming tale about a young man (unaffected by “the Changes”) who has escaped his rural origins for a life in Chicago. Finally–and this is what drives the novel’s main plot–it’s a small-town southern Gothic murder mystery. No one can accuse Gregory of being a one-note author.

Wolfe then goes on to describe the overstuffed plot, and says, “While Gregory does an impressive job of keeping all these plates spinning without losing his narrative’s coherence, there is still a sense that a bit much is going on all at once, and that some of those plates are starting to wobble.”

This is definitely something I struggled with while writing the novel. How to pay off all those plot lines? How to keep them in balance? I think it’s something I’ll continue to struggle with. I was happy, though, to have him end the review with this:

The larger question, of what eventually might become of these evolutionary exiles as they move into second and third generations, seems to move us back into Theodore Sturgeon territory, and it’s fortunately a territory that Gregory has mastered well. The novel’s quiet ending, in a snowbound South Dakota winter, is haunting.

In Burnham’s (not Karen’s) review, which I won’t quote from as much, ’cause you can read it yourself, she points out something that is kind of my modus operandi — I try to wed a mainstream, character-driven story to sfnal weirdness. In fact, it’s pretty much all I’m trying to do, every outing.

But Burnham takes a couple paragraphs to do something that the best critics do — consider the work in context of a career. One, she doesn’t think Pandemonium or Devil’s Alphabet measure up to my short stories, and she’s particularly sad that neither book has a female character as the main protagonist, as some of my stories (her favorites of mine) do.

This is an interesting problem for me, in a couple ways: one, I don’t want to be writing the same characters over and over, and having the main protagonist always be young, white, and male is boring and a bit odd. (Besides, I want to stay as unpredictable as Wolfe thinks I am.)

And it’s not like I don’t like to write about women. Burnham mentioned some of the short stories, and in  the novels some of the strongest and smartest characters are female. In Devil’s Alphabet, as a reviewer on SFF World pointed out last week, most of the power structure of Switchcreek is female, led by Aunt Rhonda, the mayor of the town, who shares some of the POV duties in the book. But none of these women are the main character, as Burnham points out. So what’s up with that?

Now, I realize that this is a sample size of 2 novels, and hopefully I’ll have more opportunities to write more books. But the problem for me is that I don’t have much choice in these matters. When I wrote “Second Person, Present Tense,” the main character walked on stage, and she was a teenage girl. There was never any question that she’d be a boy. In “The Continuing Adventures of Rocket Boy,” I likewise knew that this was the story of two boys who were best friends. In “The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm,” the welder and minion of the supervillain was always going to be a woman– and so on, for every story.

With secondary characters, I have a bit more leeway. They’re more vaguely defined in my subconscious, so when they walk on stage I can ask myself if they’d be more interesting, and better for the story, as female or male, gay or straight, of color or not. But with main characters, they pretty much arrive as-is, with no refunds, packed alongside the idea that carried them into my brain. Maybe it’s different for other writers.

So, will I ever have a female protagonist in a novel? I can’t believe I won’t at some point. If the short stories are any indication, some woman’s going to walk on stage with a novel-sized idea under her arm and demand to have her story told. I have to admit, though, that in the book I’m writing now, the main character is another guy. Maybe Book 4, then.

Do you remember Rubik’s cube? yesterday in Berlin it magically re-appeared in pop form. Constructive constructivism…a cubic chain reaction.

“Tennant, ein Gentleman mit Hang zur Noblesse, und Lowe, der introvertierte Musikdirektor, sind nicht die geborenen Bühnenpersönlichkeiten. Dennoch gelingen ihnen seit der ersten “Performance”-Tour vor 18 Jahren immer wieder spektakuläre Live-Kunststücke. Diesmal steht die Show ganz im Zeichen des Würfels. Die Boys und ihre vier Tänzer erscheinen zu Beginn mit klobigen Klötzen auf dem Kopf und im Hintergrund stehen Unmengen von übereinander gestapelten weißen Pappkartons, die als Leinwand dienen”.

Source: Pupia tv and Berliner Morgenpost

E.Coli Scare ‘09… pandemonium hits Portland, people throw away perfectly good ice cubes, start wondering if this is a sign of a pending apocalypse.

Sincerely folks, you’re fucking whack.

I really don’t understand how an entire city is just going to freak the fuck out over a little dirty water. And when I say little, I mean a little! E.Coli is a near constant in the water supply, a flock of geese could have set this scare off. Some E.Coli doesn’t even make you sick. A headline on an article last night read:

Portland may never know the source of E. coli in its drinking water

But honestly guys, who the fuck cares at this point?? It wasn’t even showing up in tests as of Sunday. Drama over.

I think my favorite quote thus far has been from The Oregonian:

“The challenge is that diarrhea is always a common illness in the community, so investigating these reports can turn out to be tricky,” said Dr. Gary Oxman, health officer for Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.

Shits ‘n Giggles!!! (god, that takes on a whole new funny meaning today doesn’t it?)

“The most compelling aspect of the debate between Milton’s Satan and his fallen minions [in Paradise Lost] is its entirely non-Christian perspective on the workings of evil. Evil is action supervenient upon the rebel’s rational criticism of ‘good.’ It exercises a certain degree of liberty but, as the above quotation implies through its multiple puns on the word sentence, it does so within the confines of a predetermined war with ‘good’ that is always open, revealed, evident, clear. The Miltonian host of demons has the freedom to decide as it wills, but will always remain under certain constraints set upon them by God.

If one is honest with oneself, one is struck by the ramifications of thinking about God in this way. For one, if God establishes the struggle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, then he is morally exempt from both ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ Humanity partakes in the struggle for good’s triumph over evil, but does so by the determining power of God who wrote the sentence-s Milton’s demons juggled among themselves! Consquently, the greater sin seems to be unlawfully ascribing to oneself the ability to transcend one’s moral obligation  under the law of God to (1.) obey or (2.) rebel…”

these are the registered teams for the powerlifting pandemonium tomorrow,if you didnt get to sign up with a team come anyways because its gonna be fun =)

for more info concerning the text above read below:

Hey gang! Powerlifting Pandemonium is happening tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:00 WST. We only have room for 8 teams in the tourney and we’ve got 8 signed up for the event! Don’t worry though, if you didn’t get on a team be sure to come anyways. Sometimes players don’t show up and a team will need some backup! Here are the teams that are registered for the tournament:

Rocking Lifters: Rexsours, Hammmy, Tyranos

Massive Lifters: Beastlybeast, Screechie and Videogamemaster

The Cool Dinos: Lacoca, Coolmojo, Soyjoy

Fudgevik: Sathvik, Sludge and FireIce

The Dino Fire Balls: Fujiann, Generator and Mellybten

The Untouchables: Chipmunk, Blueknight and Hippo

Weboknights: RIbb, Flaminatormax and Altrum

Power Dinos: Turtpip, Necksaur and Okeydokey

Remember, we meet at 12:00 WST at the Croc Peninsula Treefort in the Triassic server. See you there!

-Rex

I know it’s serious, and I pray no one else dies from this, but I can’t help making fun of the pandemonium and media frenzy that has taken place around the world; the pandemonium taking place today in my province, as people line up for six hours or more, people with chronic illnesses, with their babies and toddlers, standing in the freezing cold, hacking and coughing on each other, waiting to get this vaccine. There’s got to be a better way.

On Swine Flu

I’m standing in line,
and I’ve got a gun.
Gimme that shot for H1N1.

Roses are red, violets are blue.
Let’s make love; not swine flu.

And for your holiday cards:

Kiss me, Santa Baby,
but don’t use tongue.
Let’s not spread H1N1.

the official website has already set up a countdown until next years festivities & 83% of retail respondents have agreed that they are down to host ‘fashion’s night out’ events again for 2010. an outstanding turn out for fashion capitals around the globe, sales numbers reported via shoppertrak, registered an estimated 50% sales spike  in new york city from last years event. celebrities joined forces with fashion industry elite & retail locations to promote the restoration of, ”consumer confidence”, while amping the industry for new york fashion week & contributing to the national september 11th memorial fund. rihanna hit an in-store event with intermix, sarah jessica parker met up with oscar de la renta & bette midler & models, musicians, actors & actresses all took part in PSA’s to promote the event- all for one amazing night. victoria beckham made an appearance at bergdorf goodman & the olsens almost didnt appear due to the pandemonium they caused by offering to serve drinks at barneys. though other fashion capitals are still in negotiation for sister events slated for next year, expected to sign on along with new york are london, paris, tokyo, milan and beijing. an exciting addition to mark on next years calender of events. many credit anna wintour for her involvement in the success seen in the fruition of the event as all five boroughs participated & retailers from every price point were represented. anna even went to queens to sign t-shirts at macys that night in support of the event. next years event is scheduled for september 9th. [SOURCE]

Eccomi qui, con un blog più esteso e meno personale. Dove recensire concerti e segnalare album, date live, appuntamenti radiofonici, djset notturni da non perdere, tutto rigorosamente legato al mondo dell’indie e dell’alternative rock.  Questa la versione scritta. Per quella on air vi ricordo Pandemonium, il programma di Radio Città Fujiko che va in onda tutti i pomeriggi dalle 15 alle 18 sui 103.1 Fm di Bologna.

Detroit — The lure of federal cash assistance for needy Detroit families sparked pandemonium Wednesday at Cobo Center, as hundreds of city residents pushed, jostled and trampled others in a rush to apply for the aid. 60,000 residents applied for the aid over two days, although the city will only be able to help about 3,400 families.

Source:
http://detnews.com/article/20091008/METRO01/910080431/1409/METRO/Chaos-erupts-at-Cobo-as-thousands-jockey-for-federal-aid

Por: Juan Carlos Delgado

Esta semana el PlayStation Store nos trae el juego Critter Crunch, y el clásico Pandemonium! . Además, nuevo contenido para varios juegos, como LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, Guitar Hero y Rock Band. También un nuevo episodio de Pulse, y como siempre muchas cosas más. Para la lista completa del nuevo contenido en la tienda, presiona aquí.

Juego

• Critter Crunch ($6.99)

Clásicos de PlayStation para PS3 y PSP

• Pandemonium! ($5.99)

Contenido Adicional

• LittleBigPlanet Original Music Pack 1 ($3.99)
• IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey Mission Pack ($9.99)
• DiRT 2 Trust Fund ($4.99)
• DiRT 2 Access All Areas ($4.99)
• Fallout 3 Mothership Zeta ($9.99)
• Fallout 3 Point Lookout ($9.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour: Riviera Golf Course ($7.50)

Guitar Hero

• “Everybody Wants You” by Billy Squier ($1.99)
• “The Stroke” by Billy Squier ($1.99)
• “When She Comes To Me” by Billy Squier ($1.99)
• Billy Squier Track Pack ($5.49)

Rock Band

• “Head Over Feet”— Alanis Morissette ($1.99)
• “Ironic”— Alanis Morissette ($1.99)
• “Handlebars”— Flobots ($1.99)
• “Dance Epidemic”— Electric Six ($1.99)
• “Gay Bar”— Electric Six ($1.99)
• “I Don’t Like You”— Electric Six ($1.99)
• Electric Six Pack 01 ($5.49)
• “Many Shades of Black”— The Raconteurs ($1.99)
• “Salute Your Solution”— The Raconteurs ($1.99)
• “Steady As She Goes”— The Raconteurs ($1.99)
• The Raconteurs Pack 01 ($5.49)

Vídeos (GRATIS)

• Pulse 10/8 Edition
• Gran Turismo PSP Launch Trailer
• Gran Turismo PSP Producer Interview 2
• Need For Speed: Shift Driver Film Andrea Bertolini Trailer
• Need For Speed: Shift Track Film Willow Springs Trailer
• Burn Zombie Burn – In Space Trailer
• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Trailer
• NBA 2K10 Momentus Trailer
• NBA 2K10 Signature Play Trailer
• NBA 2K10 Gameplay Trailer
• Summer Dew Tour 09 Portland Videos (x8)

Temas visuales para el PS3

• Dark Elves PS3 Theme ($1.49)
• Halloween Vampires PS3 Theme ($1.49)
• Creature Creations PS3 Theme ($1.99)

Imágenes de fondo (GRATIS)

• Fate Unlimited Codes Wallpaper 3

Is this a riot or are you just pleased to see me?
Why aren’t we holding hands and talking sweet
I love you really, though I know no-one believes me
There’s chaos every time we meet

Oh now look what you’ve gone and done
You’re creating pandemonium
That song you sing means everything
To me, I’m living in ecstasy
The stars and the sun dance to your drum
And now it’s pandemonium!

You’re crashing everywhere, it’s like you’re smashing china
Skidding on an icy road
You’re major trouble since you were almost a minor
I sometimes think we’ll both explode

Oh now look what you’ve gone and done
You’re creating pandemonium
That song you sing means everything
To me, I’m living in ecstasy
My world’s gone mad, what did you do?
Telling perfect strangers that I love you
The stars and the sun dance to your drum
And now it’s pandemonium!

I can’t make sense of anything
All I know is the party’s in full swing
If we both just stopped for a minute
I’d declare war and then you’d win it

To tell you the truth, I thought I was shockproof
Until I saw what you get up to
When you think about it, it’s quite an achievement
That after all I still love you

Oh now look what you’ve gone and done
You’re creating pandemonium
That song you sing means everything
To me, I’m living in ecstasy
My world’s gone mad, what did you do?
Telling perfect strangers that I love you
The stars and the sun dance to your drum
And now it’s pandemonium!

Evening everyone!  It’s the start of another glorious weekend!  The weather here in NC is absolutely beautiful this time of year.  The air is starting to get a touch of a chill in the mornings, and I have been noticing the leaves are starting to turn colors, as well.  I’d say Fall is definitely around the corner.  My favorite time of year.

I have a few photos I’d love to share with you all today.  These just bring a big smile to my face.  A series of Classic Peter.  Boy does that child ever like to goof off for the camera.

And finally……………

a normal photo!  All I wanted was one decent shot of the two of us on Peter’s birthday.  Who knew it would be so much work?

And now I have this week’s challenge from the Creative Pandemonium blog to share.  You are to use polka dots, an arrow, and at least 3 journaling spots.  Here is what I did.

I took this gorgeous picture of Nik about 4 years ago when I first got my digital camera.  LOVE this photo of her, and this was actually taken right in front of our local grocery store.  Go figure.

I used some Making Memories Halloween paper strips for the polka dots, a large Heidi Swapp arrow, and a combination of Heidi Swapp and Making Memories for the journaling spots.  Other papers include Creative Imaginations and Paper Salon.  I added a fun chipboard piece from Fancy Pants, a pumpkin metal charm, some ribbon, and alphabet stickers from American Crafts.

Hope you will check out the blog and play along!  I’d love to see what you do!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Hi everyone!  Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend.  I have been having the most marvelous last few days.  Since Thursday, I’ve been doing all sorts of playing and cavorting, including hanging out with my best girlfriends, shopping, scrapping, and eating out.  What could be better than that?  Honestly!   Truly nothing much could top that list……..except to perhaps throw a little Halloween goodness in there, as well.  I know it’s only the first week of September, but I am in the mood.  Of course it doesn’t hurt that I stopped off  at one of my all-time favorite places, and saw enough Halloween decorations to jump start even the most luke-warm of spirits.  I’m thinking I need to get a job there, just so I can purchase pretties all year long!  This place NEVER fails to put a smile on my face.  Check out these great photos I got.

Wrap it all up!  I’ll take it!

So now that I got you in a Halloweeny mood, I will share my page for the current challenge over at the Creative Pandemonium blog.  I scrapped one of my favorite photos of Nik on Halloween night about 4 years ago.  She called this costume her “elephant trainer” outfit.

She is just too cute to spook, isn’t she?  Hence the irony of the title, “something wicked this way comes”.  Meant to be a little bit of a joke there.   The challenge is to use some sort of stitching, hand journaling, and non-alphabet stickers.  I used zig-zag rub-on stitches, hand-written journaling strips, and some Creative Imaginations stickers for my challenge requirements.  Paper and orange, chipboard alphabet is from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I covered a Melissa Francis chipboard bat with patterned paper and added gemstone eyes for a bit of Halloween-themed fun, and finished off my title work with some older Reminisce alpha rub-ons from my stash.  Always love using old stash items!

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

One of the great joys I take in writing this blog is reviewing books I like by people I like. So it came to pass with Daryl Gregory’s Pandemonium.

Daryl’s story takes place in a slightly alternate universe (or maybe moderately cracked might be a better description), where demon possession is commonplace and ordinary people are often randomly seized by such pure maniacs as Smokestack Johnny, the Little Angel, the Painter, and the Captain. These demons recur like collective nightmares and bring their distinctive and destructive personalities with them wherever they light.

Although demon possession lasts only a few minutes in Daryl’s world, the pandemonium a demon can cause in such a short amount of time is off the charts. Part of the fun of this book, and part of the horror, is watching the craziness unfold when a demon jumps into an unsuspecting host. (The demon possession that occurs at O. J. Simpson’s murder trial, for example, is absolute mayhem and worth the price of admission.)

But it’s Del Pierce, the novel’s hero, to whom the reader quickly becomes attached. Del was a little boy when he was possessed by a rare demon known as the Hellion. It has been more than twenty years since the original possession, an unheard of length of time, and the main plot revolves around Del trying to figure out why this atypical possession happened to him and how he’s been able to keep the Hellion at bay for so long. He also desperately needs to get rid of the creepy little monster clawing away inside him, driving him mad, becoming stronger and stronger and threatening to completely destroy him in the process.

Pandemonium is a unique mishmash of fantasy and horror done seamlessly well. It is also a richly woven novel with compelling characters, nerve-twisting moments of suspense, and fine writing. Del’s quest for answers opens the door to the larger questions of what the demons are, how they came to be, and how they might be overcome, urging us, perhaps even against our wills, to think about our own demons in our own moderately cracked universe. 

For anyone who grew up in the golden age of Marvel Comics and the science fiction of the sixties and seventies, as I did, Daryl Gregory offers us a fair amount of well-penned homage to enjoy as well. This novel is equal parts personal journey, coming-of-age, retro-pop, humor and poignancy all rolled into one. In other words, there is something for everyone: Recommended.

Of further interest…

Pandemonium was a debut novel for Daryl. For more info about the book and the author, visit Daryl’s website.

The book was a finalist for three major awards: The Shirley Jackson Award, for best dark fantasy or horror novel, the Locus Award for best first novel, and the Mythopoeic Award, for best adult fantasy novel. Daryl also won the 2009 Crawford Award for best new fantasy writer.

Dear Reader

It is with great pleasure that I bring you today’s post.  Following events yesterday, we celebrate a great moment in the history of Sherby57.  Let me explain.

A recent post of The Sherby57 Project, entitled Games, Puzzles and Lies, gave a description of a riddle that was set way back in October 2007.  This tricky conundrum was none other than the mind-mashing One Was A Stunner, One Was a Dog (follow the link to read just how tricky this brainteaser was).  Many had attempted to solve it, as can be seen in the comments section for the post, but none had succeeded.  Step forward Dr. Angel:

The lovely doctor is a good friend of mine, but our closeness did not come in to play when it came to solving this challenging riddle.  She showed an incredible tenacity and impressive creativity when it came to incrementally homing in on an answer.  And this persistence paid off as Dr. A solved the problem!   She posted the correct answer at 11:52 am yesterday, and pandemonium immediately broke out in the Sherby57 offices.  Indeed, the majority of staff walked around with disbelieving looks on their faces for the rest of the day.  I eventually had to send them all home because no work was getting done, and the party atmosphere was all pervasive.   Coming in to the office this morning, I found a scene of carnage, with bodies laid prone throughout the building and empty bottles of Cristal filling every dustbin.

So, with joy in my heart, I don my ceremonial headdress and offer my official congratulations to dear Doctor Angel.  Well done, you’ve made the world a better place for all of us.

I won’t reveal the answer here, so there is still time for you to have a go, if you haven’t already done so.  There are suggestions and clues throughout the comments section of the post, which may well help you.  If you don’t want to know the anwer though, don’t read past the comment that reads:

I’m sure in some universes that answer would be so correct that you’d be instantly crowned ‘queen of the world’, just for uttering said answer. I hope this helps ease your pain.

You’ve realised that it was less than two women that he had sex with, and are now down to one woman. Are you prepared to go through the looking glass?

Good Luck, and good hunting.

All my love

S57

P.s.

For more information on Dr. A, please visit her blog here.