coolthingstoread (#2163)(an instance of Generic Mail Recipient made by melusina)A place to talk about the things we read. Praise for cool things, warnings about tedious things. Perhaps a little discussion just to spice things up a bit. Go to location of this object, Mail Distribution Center. MAIL MESSAGES: Date: 1994 Nov 15, 10:56:20 a.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *graffiti (#107) and *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Yet another list, woo woo. It seems that conversation around here often turns to the cool things we've read/mean to read when we have the time, or to the horrid things that we've suffered through reading but firmly believe that no one else should have to experience. So, in the interests of creating MORE mail for people to read, and in turning my elseReality procrastination into something productive SOMEWHERE, I've made this list. *coolthingstoread, *cttr, or *books. I put *books as the last alias because I wanted to indicate the flexibility of the list (heh. Like the populace wouldn't just run with it anyway). Anyway. So, what are the cool things you've been reading lately? Oh yeah, this was mainly Patro's idea. hisses, mel who warns you all to give _Mina: The Dracula Story Continues_ (Marie Kiraly (aka Elaine Bergstrom)) a miss. Unless you're really bored. Date: 1994 Nov 15, 04:57:27 p.m. PST From: hAHAHhAHAHhAHhA (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Things I've Been Meaning to Finish _Complexity:_The_Emerging_Science_at_the_Edge_of_Order_and_Chaos_ by M. Mitchell Waldrop _The_Joke_ by Milan Kundera _Virtual_Light_ by Wm. Gibson _The_Lurker_at_the_Threshold_ by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth _The_Rainbow_Stories_ by Wm. Vollman _Chariots_of_the_Gods_ by Erich von Daaniken (All are great books that I'd recommend in a second. However, I'd be surprised if I finish any of them. So it goes.) -- hAHAHhAHAHhAHhA Date: 1994 Nov 16, 03:50:41 p.m. PST From: Boudicea (#1021) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Interesting linguistics texts Aliens and Linguists After Babel Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things Date: 1994 Nov 16, 04:08:27 p.m. PST From: Cypher (#1399) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Sick, twisted, warped, and absolutely entrancing... Paul Sammon (ed.), _The King Is Dead_. The _Dangerous Visions_ of Elvis-related fiction. (Not quite an established genre, I know, but...) Date: 1994 Nov 17, 11:51:34 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: out of print.. OK, here's a list of cool things to read, with the only common denominator being that all these books are (alas) out of print. Samuel Delany, Dhalgren (obviously) Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies Philip Pullman, Galatea Anna Kavan, Ice Alfred Chester, The Exquisite Corpse Date: 1994 Nov 17, 02:04:40 p.m. PST From: Boudicea (#1021) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: my favorite books nonfiction: _Metamagical Themas_, Douglas Hofstadter fiction: _Little, Big_, John Crowley _Winter's Tale_, Mark Helprin _The Cider House Rules_ _Six of One_, Rita Mae Brown comics: _Concrete_ middle-period _Cerebus_ (Church and State, Jaka's Story) _Sandman_ Date: 1994 Nov 17, 08:29:47 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: A suggestion... How about telling us WHY we should read these books? While (yes, I know) it takes longer to post, it'd be nice to hear opinions on what exactly is cool about these things to read. mel the librarian. Date: 1994 Nov 18, 09:22:25 a.m. PST From: Silvia (#2083) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: More input... I can't believe that I'm calling it input... but anyway... I'd like to finally get down to reading "Life, A User's Manual" which has been sitting in the stack by the modem (forever!) and I'd like to reread "The Quincunx" because I'm sure I didn't catch everything the first time around... Not to mention the new John Irving book, which I have on reserve.... P.S. - Melusina were you kidding, or are you really a librarian? Date: 1994 Nov 18, 12:21:46 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Trouble in River City... Heh. No, I'm not a librarian, I just play one on the MOO. Actually, I've been told that I look quite like a librarian when I wear my glasses, but. Here's my pick of the week: _Drawing Blood_, Poppy Z. Brite's new one. The blurb on the back from _Fangoria_: "Exotica...disaffected youth...a spicy gumbo of sub-cultural hipness simmered in a cauldron of modern horror fiction." It's a ghost story populated by a comicbook artist and a hacker on the run. I liked this one better than _Lost Souls_ (even though LS is her vampire novel, woowoo), maybe because it isn't also populated by a series of women who exist only to die gruesomely. Not that I've got anything against a good gruesome death, but LS sets my critical teeth on edge. Sexy vampires, though. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of Brite, she's got a new collection of vampire erotica out (she's the editor; none of the pieces are hers) called, um, ohdamn, my room seems to have eaten it. It's got a red-eyed vampire with impossible cleavage on the cover, though. You can't miss it. Actually, DO miss it. Although a few of the stories are pretty interesting, it's not worth the glossy-oversized-collection price. mel, wondering about Kathe Koja. Anyone? Date: 1994 Nov 20, 07:47:39 p.m. PST From: Patroclus (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Red Mars I don't care much for sci-fi, but I'm reading an interesting book now called _Red Mars_ by Robinson. Frederick Jameson compares it to _The Disposessed_ by LeGuin. It's the first of a series about the colonization of Mars. Technically very realistic, but what is really interesting about this book is the character development and the political intrigue. The book is really about building a new world. Starting with a group of idealistic scientists, who themselves are split over the issue of whether to terriform Mars or not, the author adds in the pressures of "newbie" colonists and the power struggles of countries and transnational corporations on Earth. Date: 1994 Nov 21, 02:22:20 p.m. PST From: Eclipse (#538) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: red mars i haven't read _red mars_, but next semester i am taking a course based on the book. interestingly enough, the course is a MUD. it's an anthropology course where you and your classmates settle `red mars', and conduct studies on the social development of your settlement. the pre-existing mars that the class settles upon is based on _red mars_. i am told the book will be recommended but not required reading for the course. nifty, eh? _and_, it's a 300-level course, where the prof tells me i'm certain to do well. actually, the prof of that course is a fairly well-known inhabitent of dhalgren, woo woo! Eclipse Date: 1994 Nov 21, 04:03:54 p.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Red Mars Is this one of those books in the same series as _Alien_Tongue_? I forget what the name of the series is, but it's got introductory essays by scientists and has the general theme of "REAL SCIENCE" fiction, that is, scifi with the pretense of plausibility. Is this it? I picked up some book about Mars like this years ago, but it was called _Red_Planet_, I think. Or, is that a Heinlein title? I'm getting confused. Pass the crack pipe, please. -- yduJ Date: 1994 Nov 22, 06:05:51 p.m. PST From: Patroclus (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Red Mars Robinson's book is more of a Jamesonian treatment of late capitalism in a futuristic setting. It does try to be techological, but politics and personalities are its main thrust. Date: 1994 Dec 4, 02:06:38 p.m. PST From: Silvia (#2083) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Dead Certainties Hey there... has anyone else tried reading Schama's book _Dead Certainties_ and found it difficult to work out the connections? I mean it's fairly straightforward, but I couldn't figure out why the two pieces were put together aside from the family thing. Who knows? You know? Let *me* know... Date: 1994 Dec 7, 06:25:16 p.m. PST From: Marcus (#812) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Turner on pilgrimage Marcus has been reading all kinds of fragments of things. One is an anthropology text: "In the evolution of man's [sic] symbolic 'cultural' action, we must seek those processes which correspond to openendedness in biological evolution. I think we have found them in those liminal, or 'liminoid' (post-industrial revolution), forms of symbolic action, those genres of free-time activity, in which all previous standards and models are subjected to criticism, and fresh new ways of describing and interpreting sociocultural experience are formulated. The first of these forms are expressed in philosophy and science, the second in art and religion. --Victor Turner, DRAMAS, FIELDS AND METAPHORS: SYMBOLIC ACTION IN HUMAN SOCIETY (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), p. 15 "I tend to see pilgrimage as that form of institutionalized or symbolic structure (or perhaps meta-structure) which succeeds the major initiation rites of puberty in tribal societies as the dominant historical form. It is the ordered anti-structure of patrimonial feudal systems. It is infused with voluntariness though by no means independent of structural obligatoriness. Its limen is much longer than that of initiation rites ... and it breeds new types of secular liminality and communitas. The connection between pilgrimages, fairs or fiestas, and extensive marketing systems will be discussed later....(Turner, p. 182.) [comment--Sites of pilgrimage prove often to be shrines to the Goddess, located in a web mapped across, in relation to, but not congruent with the map of the hierarchies of political and concentrated economic power. One wonders how activity on the net may be likened to a pilgrimage; and what are its centers and circumferences....] --Oh, there's plenty more...Marcus Date: 1994 Dec 7, 07:00:45 p.m. PST From: Marcus (#812) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Gamble's God-Idea Another book off the wall from Marcus-- _The_God-Idea_of_the_Ancients_, by Eliza Burt Gamble. (New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1897.) 'By this attempt to construct a masculine Deity, absurdities were presented to the human judgment and understanding which for ages could not be overcome, and by it contradictions were necessitated which could not be reconciled with human reason and with the ideas of Nature which had hitherto been held by mankind. It was not, therefore, until reason had been suspended in all matters pertaining to religion, and blind faith in the machinations of priestcraft had been established, that a male God was set up as the sole Creator of the universe. 'When women, who had become the legitimate plunder not only of individuals but of bands of warriors whose avowed object was the capture of women for wives, had degenerated into mere tools or instruments for the gratification and pleasure of men, Perceptive Wisdom or Light, and Maternal Affection the Preserver of the race, gradually became eliminated from the god-idea of mankind. Passion became God. It was the Creator in the narrowest and most restricted sense.' (p. 103) Normally Marcus doesn't go for God stuff much. But has a definite thing for fin-de-siecle moralizing.... Next he'll have to quote from Alice LePlongeon's deathless 1902 epic, Queen_Moo's_Talisman. Date: 1995 Jan 9, 02:44:52 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: -Skin- well, thanks to legba's overflowing generosity, I finally got my hands on a copy of Kathe Koja's _Skin_. I'm 100 pages into it and I pretty much adore it so far. So, for all of you who threatened me with death if I didn't read it, phtphtpbbbt. welding cutting hisses, mel. Date: 1995 Jan 9, 02:56:05 p.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Pynchon I'm thinking of reading Gravity's Rainbow and wanna know which of the various companion/annotation books is the best. Anyone ever seen any of these? -- Ark Date: 1995 Jan 10, 11:48:32 a.m. PST From: Boudicea (#1021) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: gravity's rainbow Oh, just read the thing. It's only more ponderous and silly if you try to read a speculative analysis at the same time. I've read Gravity's Rainbow and a couple of commentaries, and the latter added nothing of value, IMHO. Date: 1995 Jan 11, 10:18:35 a.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Skinned okay, I finished -Skin-. I Could Not Put It Down. Koja's writing is pretty amazing, and welding is really sexy. A question I have for those who have read it: I kind of got the sense that the writing at the end was a little overblown. Did anyone else feel this way, or was it just that I was so feverish to finish that I didn't pay enough attention? Also, recommendations for another of hers to read? hiss hiss, mel. Date: 1995 Jan 13, 12:55:45 p.m. PST From: Silk (#558) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: The Shipping News anyone else read it? It has nothing to do with cyberspace at all (!) and I loved it. by E. Annie Prohtl (damn...forgot how to spell it, never learned how to pronounce it). Date: 1995 Jan 13, 09:47:41 p.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies OK, I've already failed several times in trying to describe this book. Lemme make one more effort. Jane Bowles is a better writer than Paul Bowles, though less known. Two Serious Ladies bears a certain relationship to The Sheltering Sky, except it is even _more_ scary than Paul's novel, while at the same time being hilariously funny (as Paul never is). My best metaphorical comparisons to other novels & writers: 2 Serious Ladies is like Jane Austen on LSD, or like Lewis Carroll if he had been a lesbian. Favorite quote: "Mrs Copperfield started to tremble after the girl had closed the door behind her. She trembled so violently that she shook the bed. She was suffering as much as she had ever suffered before, because she was going to do what she wanted to do. But it would not make her happy. She did not have the courage to stop from doing what she wanted to do. She knew that it would not make her happy, because only the dreams of crazy people come true. She thought that seh was only interested in duplicating a dream, but in doing so she necessarily became the complete victim of a nightmare." Date: 1995 Jan 13, 10:06:29 p.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Anna Kavan Another one of my favorite neglected writers. British, upper-class, 1901-1968, lifelong junkie. Her earlier books are kinda boring, but the late ones (like _Ice_, _Julia and the Bazooka_, and _Mercury_) are really amazing. They are hallucinatory, obsessive, and hyperbolically masochistic. Characters wandering through delirious northern ice-filled landscapes. The cliche of female-as-vulnerable-victim pushed to so extreme a point that it becomes something else entirely... Heartrending, and yet somehow ferocious at the same time. Dunno what else to say, really... Date: 1995 Jan 16, 10:51:57 p.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Marguerite Young Another one of my all-time-favorite authors, unjustly neglected. Author of only one novel: _Miss Macintosh, My Darling-, 1198 pages long and published in 1965. Kinda hallucinatory; gorgeous page-long sentences, shifting in and out of the consciousness of a whole gaggle of crazed, deluded characters. Continual kaleidoscopic delirium--swindlers, suicides, rich new england junkies, vigorous midwestern hyperrealists, heroic Lesbian mountain climbers, incestuous/necrophiliac Republicans, women obsessed with hysterical pregnancies and abortions, men obsessed with money, music, and metaphysical conundrums... The overall effect is sorta like Proust on quaaludes...despite its length, I never wanted it to end... Date: 1995 Jan 31, 08:09:03 a.m. PST From: Eclipse (#538) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: next message the next message on here is gonna be a bit long, and will discuss the plot of a book in relation to some building ideas it has inspired in me. the building discussion will hopefully go back to *g, but i'd be more than happy to discuss the book here, too. :) thanks for your patience, Eclipse Date: 1995 Jan 31, 08:22:19 a.m. PST From: Eclipse (#538) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: the snow queen/building carbuncle this book is a cool thing to read, but this post is also in reference to a post i made on *g about combining the settings of other authour's books with the setting already existing here. the book is called "the snow queen", by joan d. vinge. she has taken the faery tale of the same name by hans christian anderson and turned it into a fascinating space opera of sorts, set in a futuristic world where highly advanced technology and space travel are made available to all. basically, the book revolves around the snow queen, who rules in the city of carbuncle, on the planet of tiamat, and a pair of young lovers whose destiny she steps into the middle of. the young woman must save her lover from the enchantment of the self-centered snow queen, and defeat her to keep her from potentially causing much greater harm. of course, since it is a 500+ page book, there's a lot more to it, but that's the very basic storyline. what occured to me as possibly compatible with dhalgren was the city of carbuncle. this city was built upon an island on a planet of mostly water, but quickly grew to be its own island, in and of itself. in the story, carbuncle is the center of interaction between natives and offworld travelers, as well as the center of exchange of technology for other things. however, the planet of tiamat is cut off from the rest of the planets by a "black gate" that closes every 100 years for 100 years, then opens again for another century. now, the offworlders provide the technology to the natives, but keep them from developing it themselves by forbidding the study of working technology, and by disabling all technology on the planet just before the gate closes and nearly all the offworlders depart so as not to get stuck on tiamat for the rest of their lives. this keeps the people of tiamat, who become dependant on the technology (including the snow queen), under the thumb and at the mercy of the offworlders, who benefit from exploiting the technology-addicted tiamatan people when the black gate finally opens up again and they can return. my point in relating all of this is that i personally would find it interesting to have a city here that is somewhere off the coast, surrounded by water, where the possibility for technology remains just out of reach, due to its deliberate and permanant disabling. i can see such a situation leading to sort of the same environment and "feel" that i believe is a major - and important - part of bellona. call it post-apocalyptic or whatever... i'm pretty sure you all know what i mean about the air that this setting has to it. i believe that at least one of theconcerns with building new areas is the desire to keep the same "feel" to everything that bellona has, but i also think that this has the potential to be a complete change of scenery and chance for building/exploration while still keeping with the feel and air that bellona has about it. anyhow, this was something that just jumped in my head this afternoon, and seemed to have some potential. i'll agree that this would need to be fleshed out a bit more before building were to commence, but i'd like to know what you all think about it...is it a good idea, or does it suck smelly sweat socks? what do you think? zipping it, Eclipse p.s. - if you decide you wanna read this book and you devour it like i did, be sure to pick up the sequel that just came out in paperback, "the summer queen". just as fascinating, if not moreso. :) Date: 1995 Jan 31, 09:31:52 a.m. PST From: Trismegistos (#1457) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Margaret St. Clair: Sign of the Labrys I read this extra-cool, early 60's SF work a long time ago. It's way out of print, and I LOST (argh!) my paperback copy. On the subject of building, it strikes me as a quite Dhalgrenoid thing to possibly add to our fair postopolis. The novel is about a surreal underground mega-survival-shelter complex in a post-apocalyptic land. As the hero descends deeper into this bizarre environment (halls carpeted with living mutant white mice ... a whole level of pleasure-seekers in total denial ... ) he becomes aware of an underlying, Goddessy, witch-conspiracy, led by the mysterious Despoina. Is anyone else familiar with this much-neglected work? -- Trism Date: 1995 Feb 15, 10:11:50 a.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Cooper & Grossman Well, I know you've all been just -dying- to hear what I've been reading lately. I just finished -Frisk- (novel) and -Wrong- (stories) by Dennis Cooper. Very queer, very edgy, very graphic, very I-love-you-so-much-I'm-going-to-eat-you (this last very is probably why -Frisk- reminded me of Winterson's -Written on the Body-, although the two have little else in common). I personally preferred his stories to the novel; seems to me that the sort of experimentation with narrative he's after works better with the intensity of a shorter piece. I've heard of his poetry, but not read any. Anyone have any title recs? The thing that I'm reading right now is -The Alphabet Man- by Richard Grossman. This is one that I just pulled off of the shelf because I liked the cover (red photo of a scary clown and a little kid), it was nice and thick, a flip-through revealed that there's visual play within the text (pages of nothing but AAAAAAAA, for example), and it's about a psychotic poet/serial-killer. So, all in all, right up my alley. The author, again, is a poet. -TAM- is his first 'published novel' (heh). Anyone heard of this guy? He's really impressing me, so far. Anyway, that's my latest. More blood and violence, O Horrors. hiss, mel. Date: 1995 Feb 15, 10:22:36 a.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Dennis Cooper I like Dennis Cooper, even tho his stories sometimes are too psychotic for my taste. If you read _Wrong_, check out "Introducing Horror Hospital", the story of a young punk rocker with blue hair. :-) I like his novel _Try_ better than _Frisk_. _Frisk_ has been made into a movie, and there is quite a bit of controversy over it, because it portrays some very negative fringe elements in queer culture. Date: 1995 Feb 15, 06:47:54 p.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: More on Dennis Cooper I keep on trying to stop reading Dennis Cooper, I mean each time he has a new book out, I think, ack, it's just the same snuff stuff all over again..but then each time his prose seduces men, and I have to read the new book, and find ways in which it is subtly different from the previous ones. Date: 1995 Feb 15, 07:00:31 p.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: burroughs I had a similar experience with William Burroughs. I read everything he ever wrote, always thinking I had had enough of orgasm death gimicks. Date: 1995 Feb 15, 08:06:41 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: prose & seduction Rebis wrote (wrt Cooper): 'each time his prose seduces men.' Is this a typo for 'me', or is this an actual statement about the way that Cooper's prose works? Because if it is, I'm wondering what sort of gender-specific seduction you're talking about, Rebis. I mean, I was pretty seduced, and I'm not a man. or, maybe that's just me. hiss, mel. Date: 1995 Feb 16, 10:01:59 a.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Logic All A are B, I am an A, Therefore, I am a B. All men are people who are seduced by Cooper's writing, I am a man, Therefore, I am seduced by Cooper's writing. A statement indicating that his writing seduces men says nothing towards whether or not it seduces women. Please don't confuse "If I am a man" --> "I like Cooper" with "If I like Cooper" --> "I am a man." Of course, it was all probably a typo. -- Arc Date: 1995 Feb 16, 10:17:06 a.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Buh? For something silly to read, consider subscribing to the Buh? mailing list. Contains odd and obscure reposts of things found across the net. Has contained snippets of the ALF episode guide, posts about spontaneous head explosions and trepanation, directions on how to make spud guns, the address for Archie McPhee, the CIA credo and information about the rat-like kangaroo named "the quokka," among other things. To subscribe, send mail to listproc@nextsrv.cas.muohio.edu with: SUBSCRIBE BUH as the body of the message. Enjoy. -- Arc Date: 1995 Feb 16, 11:08:27 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Cooper, etc I suppose I could say that "men" was a typo for "me", but I don't really believe anything is 'just' a typo. I remember George Bush once said, after making one of his many verbal gaffes, "It doesn't mean anything, it was just a Freudian slip." Date: 1995 Feb 18, 09:34:09 p.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Diamond Age I've been enjoying Neal Stephenson's new book, _Diamond Age_. I think its better than _Snow Crash_, and it showcases nanotechnology in the way that SC showcased virtual reality. The plot revolves around an interactive book, programmed to teach subversion and creativity, that falls into the hands of a young girl living in poverty. Date: 1995 Feb 20, 05:11:04 p.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: cool web interview Check out http://www.altx.com/interview/marcos.novak.html Date: 1995 Feb 20, 05:20:21 p.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: better yet Better yet, check out the home page for that, http://www.altx.com/althome.html Date: 1995 Feb 26, 11:34:29 a.m. PST From: Trismegistos (#1457) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Delany interview In a new book called 'Flame Wars' edited by Mark Dery (Duke University Press) there is an interesting interview of Samuel R. Delany (by the editor) touching on race and politics in his work, science fiction at large, and the cyberpunk genre in particular. Delany, as usual, speaks trenchantly, especially in handling silly questions. The book also reprints the good Dr.Dibbell's Village Voice article on LambdaMOO, and has a number of other essays on cyberculture which I didn't scan. (Maybe on my next extended trip to the local bookstore...) For a particularly neat quote from the interview, ask the Novelist (at the eastern end of the bridge) what's on TV ..." Trism Date: 1995 Mar 6, 01:04:03 p.m. PST From: Trismegistos (#1457) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: URL's for Webheads Alternative X A site just too alternative for words ... featuring the Helms-hated rantings of Mark Amerika, interviews with pomo luminaries, and a link to Black Ice Press (Delany fans alert: it's the company that's putting out a limited hardcover edition of _Hogg_) ... http://marketplace.com/alt.x/althome.html Extropians Cyber-supremacist-millennialist rhetoric a-go-go. Ever wanted to upload your consciousness? You will ... http://www.acm.usl.edu/~dca6381/c2_mirror/extropy.html Krazy Kat Was George Herriman's Krazy Kat the original spivak? This and other lit-crit musings, plus numerous klassic Kat komix from the early years of this century, await. http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pmc/pop-cult.194.html/start.html Fantagraphics Under construction as of early March, this URL is the space to watch for _Love & Rockets_ info on the web. _L&R_ (NOT the Bauhaus spinoff band) is the coolest comic ever conceived. Nuff said. http://www.eden.com/comics/fantagraphics.html Rave A comprehensive pointer-guide to raver subculture resources. http://hyperreal.com/ Pirate Tortures Gruesome etchings for fans of those floatin' Croatoans that flew the Jolly Roger... http://www2.ecst.csuchico.edu/~beej/pirates/torture.html Incunabula Weird, Borges-style bibliography of materials that slowly make a case for the existence of drug-and-sex-induced dimensional travel cults .. http://204.156.22.13/love/feat/incunabu/travel.html Osawa Just one of 20+ posed photographs in this exhibition examining the fringes of sensuality. Classier than most visual cyberotica. http://www.atom.co.jp/GALLERY/PICTURE/Osawa/Osawa-9.html Date: 1995 Mar 6, 02:06:08 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: poetry on the web So, I'm looking for poetry/drama stuff on the web. I've run searches, and have an enormous pile of links to check out, but I'm wondering if people here have any suggestions for cool sites for this kind of thing. So, do you? hiss, mel. Date: 1995 Mar 7, 01:19:17 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: VURT I just finished reading VURT, by Jeff Noon, and I'm on a high. I've liked this more than any new science fiction novel I've read in I don't know how long; Noon is the first new author I've fallen in love with, since I fell for Kathe Koja last summer. I can't find any handy comparisons for VURT. The drugs/different levels of 'reality' stuff is reminiscent of Philip K Dick; the cyborgization of humans with robots, dogs, etc, is reminiscent of cyberpunk; but the overall tone and effect of VURT are way different from either. The book is ironic and lyrical; which distinguishes it both from the grunge of Gibson & from the paranoia of Dick. The plot concerns (among other things) incest, beastiality, and addiction, but these are treated entirely matter-of-factly. The book is definitely pro-fun, even pro-ilegal-fun, and it takes for granted that of course we all hate the cops, but it isn't concerned with shock or transgression or anything like that. More with the poetry of desire and loss. I'm not doing a very good job here of conveying its special weirdness and beauty, let's see... The RL of the novel is a future Manchester, UK, with its slums and its permanently unemployable youth underclass. The VR of the novel is VURT itself, a drug, an entertainment, a commodity, the fount of VURT-ual reality. VURT itself is a drug in the form of a feather, which may be blue, black, pink, white, or green--you stick it in your mouth, push it all the way back, and suck on it. VURT is sort of a living dream, it seems real to you but it's somebody else's dream--it is part Hollywood movie, part video game, part acid trip, part alternate world, part addiction, part commodity fetish. Or all of those at once. The VURT-world is separate from the real world, but the two continually cross over into one another--you have venemous dreamsnakes in cahoots with the cops, and bizarre alien beings whose regenerating flesh is the source of hallucinations. You have bodies transformed into psychedelic fractal rainbows, you have dogmen enamored of the smell of their own shit, you have an otherworldly bureaucracy that reads like a mixture between Monty Python and Kafka. No, I can't describe this book. Better to end with one of my favorite quotes from it: "You have come for knowledge. There will be pleasure. Because knowledge is sexy. There will also be pain. Because knowledge is torture." Sorry for the length of this--couldn't help it--got carried away. Date: 1995 Apr 16, 10:56:08 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: New/Old Delany Samuel Delany's notorious porno novel HOGG is finally in print. Delany wrote it 25 years ago, concurrently with DHALGREN, but was never able to get it published before. Apparently even porno publishers found it disgusting and repulsive and wouldn't touch it. But now, thanks to Black Ice/Fiction Collective Two, it is finally available. I just bought my copy...I will post again with comments once I have read it. Date: 1995 May 5, 06:32:04 a.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: abject plea for help. so, I've got this problem. I'm looking for a timeline of poetry (primarily British/American) that basically sets up the various schools and lists the authors involved with them. You know, like: The Romantics (1798-1832); Blake, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge &c. Basically, your generic canonical sketch. However, I can't find one. Any suggestions, O Literate Ones? Date: 1995 May 5, 02:40:15 p.m. PST From: Sai (#861) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: a la usenet please add me to the list! this is for the Cindy Crawford nude ftp site list, isn't it? Date: 1995 May 9, 05:13:20 p.m. PST From: Patro (#78) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Ralph Reed Check out the cover of _Time_ magazine this week. "The Right Hand Of God" next to a chilling picture of Ralph Reed (leader of the Christian Coalition). It's an impressive image. The face of fascism in America. Date: 1995 May 10, 05:49:38 a.m. PST From: Caitlin (#1139) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Ralph Reed Why is this not a comforting thing to read first thing in the morning? Ish. Date: 1995 May 10, 07:09:49 a.m. PST From: Trismegistos (#1457) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Rex Reed ... as a guest in the Living Room called him ... ( Rex Rohm? ) Nice, the way TIME covers the Capitol Hill right as a follow-up to OKC. Eerie parallels with our American Freikorps. trsm Date: 1995 May 10, 12:12:34 p.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Cindy Crawford Ralph Reed isn't so bad. He's on the side of God, and anyone who is on the side of God and smites sinners is all right with me. I'm serious. Lucifer works in many ways. I'm sick of rampant liberalism. I honestly believe that you have no patience. Touch the red sides of your souls. Bare yourselves to the greater powers. Praise Bettie Page, -- Arc "Go to Hell, Chomsky" Date: 1995 May 10, 02:45:49 p.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Jane Bowles Just noting that _My Sister's Hand In Mine_, the complete works of Jane Bowles (who I wrote about in an earlier post) is now back in print. Absolutely not to be missed. Date: 1995 May 13, 09:01:20 p.m. PST From: melusina (#907) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: -Grave Markings- Horror pick of the week: -Grave Markings-, by Michael Arnzen. I got it this afternoon and just finished it; I've got that uncomfortable edge that good horror leaves. And this is good and ghoulish: a crazy tattoo artist/serial killer runs amok, inflicting art. Lots of good stuff about tats, also. Mike's a friend of mine; this is his first novel and I think that his visions of horror are some of the coolest I've come across recently. Check it out. Also: -Splatterpunks II: Over the Edge-. For those of you who like gross-out. It's edited by Paul Sammon, and has lots of names (Barker, Brite, Koja, Collins &c). My favorite is "Twenty-Two and Absolutely Free," by John Piwarski. A good delirious story about what things might be like if serial killers get in on the capitalist specialization of labor. mel. Date: 1995 May 24, 11:20:02 p.m. PST From: Random (#1080) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Couple of favorites The Shipping News (as advertised on this group earlier) by E. Annie Proulx, or anything else by her, because she has a wonderful tone and doesn't let stories about growing up become sloppy or sentimental. Crash by J.J. Ballard because it's really eerie and disturbing; a mix of sex and medicine and violence, like MTV on fast-forward. Ballard says in the beginning, basically, that if all literature were erased from knowledge, what people would write is science fiction, as a predictive reflection of our lives. American Steel by Richard Preston. He also wrote the Hot Zone. As a biochemist, I was very disappointed in HZ. American Steel is fascinating. To be able to write a long book about a guy building a foundry is cool. To be able to write a compelling book about it is amazing. Even though I disagree with some of his points, I liked it. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This just rocks. Yellow Raft In Blue Water by Michael Dorris. Ditto above. Geek Love by someone I can't remember. This is one of the WEIRDEST little books I've ever read, about a family of mutant circus performers, one of whom becomes a Hitleresque religous fanatic. It's really disturbing and very hard to put down. Oh, by the way, in this book a geek is a circus performer who rips the heads off chickens with his/her teeth. This gives you a bit more feeling for the tone. The Tale of Genji tr. by Arthur Waley. This book is the soul of Japan. Winter's Tale by Mark Helpern. Like a very mild acid trip through a fantastically literate sketch of New York City. Dense, intricate, and wonderfully written. Blind Date by Jerzy Kosinsky, because I think any book that I can't keep reading, from revulsion, and can't put down, from fascination, is well-written. And, finally, Hothead Paisan the Homocidal Lesbian Terrorist by Diane DiMassa, because Chicken Rules! Random books. Date: 1995 Jun 6, 11:04:49 a.m. PST From: Arc (#2145) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: Things I'm Reading or, at least, Telling People That I'm Reading in Order to Sound More Intellectual and Effete, Like Most of You Who Are Reading This Post * _Farewell,_My_Lovely_ by Raymond Chandler. He rocks, that Chandler does. It makes me feel good to know that he didn't start writing until he was in his 40s. I've got 20 years to slack off before I start my illustrious writing career. * _Big_Sur_ by Jack Kerouac. I don't care what the rest of you think, but, in my eyes, there hasn't been a decent movement in American literature since the beats. Sure, there have been some in "lesser genres," such as cyberpunk, but none that have really grabbed hold of a lot of people like Jack and Bill and Allen and blah blah blah did. So, since it's been years since I've read any of this stuff, I'm going back and reading the ones I never actually read, such as _Big_Sur_, one of his latter novels. I'd rather be thin than famous, but I'm fat! Paste that in yr broadway show. * _Of_Human_Bondage_, W. Somerset Maugham. I have no idea why I bought this, other than I sense that I should read it. * _Requiem_ by Michael Jan Friedman and some other guy. A Star Trek novel. Picard, on the eve of a big summit with THE GORN (the hissing lizard man from that great TOS episode where Kirk and the Gorn fight among the rocks) gets sent back into time. This is fun trash to read. God, I love it. * _The_Abolition_of_Work_, by Bob Black. Fairly inane crap, but nifty sentiment. Makes very little sense, would never work, but you've got to admire the guy for trying. * _Where_I'm_Calling_From_, by Raymond Carver. Most of you probably despise Carver, but, hey, I despise a lot of what you read as well. His stuff is curt, to the point, genuinely touching and most often insightful. Too bad he's dead. * _The_Young_Punks_ by Leo Marguiles. A mid-50s collection of short stories about kids named 'Biff' and 'Rod' who kidnap couples, beat the man senseless and gang-rape the woman. Meant as cautionary tales, but works as comedy. "Her only weapon: a beer-can opener!" * The output of the random-haiku generator. "nuclear test site // next best thing to being there // let's get dangerous" -- Arc Date: 1995 Jun 7, 10:29:59 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: DOOM PATROLS Steven Shaviro's DOOM PATROLS is now available on the Dhalgren web server, http://dhalgren.english.washington.edu/~steve/doom.html Date: 1995 Jun 12, 08:45:24 p.m. PST From: Random (#1080) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: These should be classics and I don't know why they're not. Katherine Anne Porter: short stories. Really cool stuff about what things were like for a woman, alone, working in 1915, and some of the strange social stuff that went on then. Also deals with the influenza epidemic that swept the world, but no one ever really talks about. Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God. Another good quest-for-being story, nifty, fun, stirring, and so forth. Hurston should be a household word, and only Alice Walker is really cheering for her right now. James Thurber: Thurber's Dogs. This was one of the very first things I remember reading. Thurber is great. Nathanial West: Day of the Locust. A GREAT Armegeddon story, circa 1950. Twisted view of California and the United States. S.J.Perelman: Chicken Inspector #23. A very very sarcastic guy. Like Thurber but really bitter. He wrote most of the stuff for the Marx Brothers, and they had to turn most of it down for being too nasty. Oh, and for much more modern stuff, just read John McPhee's "The persistence of the bark canoe." Really excellent if you like rafting/outdoors stuff. McPhee just totally rocks. Everything he's ever written has fascinated me, and this was no exception. Random... Date: 1995 Jun 15, 10:56:00 a.m. PST From: Rebis (#875) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: City of Bits William J. Mitchell's _City of Bits_ is supposed to be available in the bookstores any time now. One of the best discussions of cyberspace, etc. The book has a pretty cool Website as well, with (I think) the complete text, among other things: http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/City_of_Bits/index.html Date: 1995 Jun 18, 12:59:41 p.m. PST From: Dave (#533) To: *coolthingstoread (#2163) Subj: neaux revoir, s'il vous plait To your credit to the thirty faces you created To your headache to the shape of the 1980's I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of playing in your fashion war To the lights to the trend setting in your head Sunday night tears from youth cults already dead I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of fighting in your fashion war Goodbye Seventies! Goodbye Seventies To your credit to the thirty faces you created To your subscription for the million copies of 1980 I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of losing to your fashion war - 'Goodbye Seventies' - Alison Moyet / Yaz - Upstairs at Eric's (1982) |