tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137348642024-03-12T21:32:59.596-04:00AttemptsA reality-based blog by Stephen Saperstein Frug<br><br>"There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone."Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.comBlogger1505125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-28339199888308539592023-07-09T11:41:00.003-04:002023-07-09T11:42:33.854-04:00I'm Now Writing Elsewhere, Come Read Me There<p>To put this all in one post for the top of this page: I've moved.</p><p>If you want to read my essays and link round-ups—the sort of thing I used to put here, but now delivered to your inbox, and at a steady once-a-week rate—you should go and subscribe to <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">Attempts 2.0</a> over on Substack:</p><p><a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">https://stephenfrug.substack.com/</a></p><p>And I am also publishing <a href="https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/">a series of short stories</a>, which you should go read! Learn more about them here:</p><p><a href="https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/">https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/</a></p><p>I will of course leave this up for its archives, but if you want to see anything new, go to those places. I hope to see you there!<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-55963356557502617672023-03-10T19:26:00.003-05:002023-07-09T11:44:55.297-04:00Introducing Retcon: A Mosaic Story in Three Movements<p><i>This is cross-posted from <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">Attempts's new home on substack</a>. If you are reading this, you should go subscribe to the substack! New updates will be mostly there, and new essays & other substantive material will be exclusively there. We now return you to your regular post, already in progress:</i></p><p>I am debuting a new project—a big project—one I've been working on
for a few years and which I have been gathering ideas for for longer
than that. And I am hoping that you will give the first installment a try.</p><p><span>What is this project? you ask. Why, say I, I am glad you asked that.</span><sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-1-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="It's easier when you're playing both parts.">1</a></sup></p><p></p><div class="subscribe-widget is-signed-up is-fully-subscribed"><p class="button-wrapper"></p></div><p>Well,
you remember that <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/on-mosaic-stories">last week I put forward the term "mosaic stories" to
refer to the general form of stories where small, to-some-degree
self-contained stories make up a larger one</a>? It so so happens, in an
astonishing coincidence, that that's precisely the form of the story
I've been working on.</p><p><span>The story's name is </span><i>Retcon</i><span>.</span></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" href="https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/399bba77-26da-429c-9843-e93e4c27f31a_2000x2200.jpeg","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":1602,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":446,"bytes":1997075,"alt":"","title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":"https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/","belowTheFold":true,"internalRedirect":null}" height="490" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F399bba77-26da-429c-9843-e93e4c27f31a_2000x2200.jpeg" title="" width="446" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><span>It
will be a large story composed of twenty-seven smaller ones, divided
into three sections, or "movements" as I've decided to call them.</span><sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-2-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="I was going to call them three 'series', as British TV does its sub-sections, but given that the entirety is also a series, I thought that would be confusing.">2</a></sup><span> The smaller stories are (prose) short stories, averaging about 15,000 words each.</span> <sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-3-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="Actually, given their length, those more plugged into the terminology of the writing business they are 'novelettes' or, in one or two cases, 'novellas', but I don't think these are distinctions that need detain ordinary readers.">3</a></sup><span>
The stories are going to be released
as ebooks (to begin with), although I have plans for print collections too. I am planning to
release them on a monthly schedule, with a break between movements, so
there will be one a month for nine months, and then a break, and then
another movement will begin.</span> <sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-4-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="Yes, yes, just like a television show with its seasons (although closer together in time). Pity the poor fiction writer, always scuttling about in the shadow of those larger beasts, like tiny mammals dodging dinosaurs.">4</a></sup></p><p></p><p>And the first one is available now. It's called "Zero Second"</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb724f818-2148-4cde-b439-3e27351ba863_1800x2700.jpeg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b724f818-2148-4cde-b439-3e27351ba863_1800x2700.jpeg","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":2184,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":364,"bytes":2821888,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"internalRedirect":null}" height="546" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb724f818-2148-4cde-b439-3e27351ba863_1800x2700.jpeg" width="364" /></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><svg class="lucide lucide-maximize2" fill="none" height="16" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="#FFFFFF" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="16" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><br /></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><h2 class="header-with-anchor-widget">So how can I read this story?<div class="header-anchor-widget offset-top" id="§so-how-can-i-read-this-story"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button-container"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/i/104717960/so-how-can-i-read-this-story"><svg class="header-anchor-widget-icon" fill="none" height="20" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></h2><p><span>You can buy the ebook! It’s only $0.99.</span><sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-5-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="If that honestly, no kidding represents a financial difficulty to anyone, then drop me an email at stephenfrug - that little symbol for at - gmail.">5</a></sup></p><p></p><p>As for where to buy it, there are lots of options.</p><p><span>• If you want to buy it </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BX4MTHKM?tag=charity48-20" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">at Amazon (for Kindle), which is where the majority of ebooks are sold, you can do so at this link</a><span>.</span></p><p><span>• </span><a href="https://stephenfrug.com/product/zero-second/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Or, if you’d prefer, you can buy it directly from me at my web site.</a><span> </span></p><p><span>• Or you could buy it from another ebook vendor; it is available at </span><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1353874" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Smashwords</a><span>, </span><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/zero-second-stephen-saperstein-frug/1143138419" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Barnes & Noble</a><span>, and </span><a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/zero-second" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Kobo</a><span>. (So far Apple is being difficult, but I hope to get it up there too before too long).</span></p><p><span>•
Or, if you are willing to commit to the whole narrative (and/or are
interested in supporting the series, and this substack in the bargin), </span><a href="https://stephenfrug.com/product/entire-retcon-series-emailed-as-published/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">you can pre-order the entire series in advance, and I will send them to you as they are released.</a><span> Note that this offer is exclusive to my web site.</span><sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-6-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="Read: I don’t know how to set it up elsewhere or if it’s even possible.">6</a></sup></p><p></p><p><span>As
<a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/bricolage-1"> I mentioned a few weeks ago</a>, a number of people have offered to support <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">my Substack</a>, for which I was very grateful. Well, if you <i>are </i>
interested in supporting <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">this Substack</a>, the best way to do it would be
to support </span><i>me</i><span>, and the best way to do that would be to support my series. So please: go buy it, and read it!</span></p><p><span>And, just as important: if you like it, please tell people! Reviews (on </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BX4MTHKM?tag=charity48-20" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Amazon</a><span> or elsewehere) are really helpful. Even better: tell a friend that you think might like it, and get </span><i>them</i><span> to read it.</span><sup><a class="footnote-anchor" id="footnote-anchor-7-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" title="And if you want to support this substack qua substack, do the same for it: tell people about it! Forward the link to essays they might like! Share!">7</a></sup><span> Word of mouth is how this series will find its audience, if it does.</span></p><p></p><p>So… go! Now! Read! Enjoy!</p><div class="subscribe-widget is-signed-up is-fully-subscribed"><p class="button-wrapper"></p></div><h2 class="header-with-anchor-widget"><span>But what's this story actually </span><i>about</i><span>?</span><div class="header-anchor-widget offset-top" id="§but-whats-this-story-actually-about"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button-container"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/i/104717960/but-whats-this-story-actually-about"><svg class="header-anchor-widget-icon" fill="none" height="20" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></h2><p>A fair question!</p><p>I
wrote a blurb for the series, which I will share in a moment. But while
it fairly represents the whole series, it is something of a spoiler for
parts of the first story. So before you read any further, you should go
buy or listen to “Zero Second”!</p><p>All right, everyone back? Or at least not too spoiler-phobic?</p><p>Here’s what the story is about:</p><p><i>In
1951, a pair of scientists at Cornell discovered time-travel. With the
specter of the atomic bomb in the immediate background, they decide not
to replicate Einstein's mistake of drawing the attention of the
political authorities to what might be a weapon. Instead, they decide to
set up a clandestine research program to investigate the phenomenon,
swearing all those who work on it to keep the secret.</i></p><p><i>Then,
in 1991, a time traveler returns from 2031 with a disturbing message:
no traveler and no message has ever come farther back from the moment in
time when he left; beyond that instant—dubbed "zero second"—is
unreachable. No one knows why. All people know is that something happens
on April 4, 2031, to prevent any news of the future.</i></p><p><i>This
is the story of what happens next... if "next" is the right word for a
narrative which, in the way of things, is necessarily non-linear.</i></p><h2 class="header-with-anchor-widget">A Final Repeat of the Basic Point<div class="header-anchor-widget offset-top" id="§a-final-repeat-of-the-basic-point"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button-container"><div class="header-anchor-widget-button" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/i/104717960/a-final-repeat-of-the-basic-point"><svg class="header-anchor-widget-icon" fill="none" height="20" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" stroke="currentColor" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></h2><p><span>I
hope you will all go read the story; and then go and
tell a friend, or three. This is the work of my heart, which I have been
pouring myself into, “the heart’s reflections, writ in tears”, as the
poet said.</span><sup><a title="This footnote is too long and broke the title bar function. But it's RIGHT DOWN THERE, just scroll down a bit.">8</a></sup><span> I hope you’ll give it a try.</span></p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" href="https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/835a492e-ad53-4183-9b44-e9eb465b3b19_448x446.jpeg","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":446,"width":448,"resizeWidth":164,"bytes":123865,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":"https://stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mosaic-narrative-in-three-movements/","belowTheFold":true,"internalRedirect":null}" height="163" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F835a492e-ad53-4183-9b44-e9eb465b3b19_448x446.jpeg" width="164" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-1-104717960" id="footnote-1-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">1</a> It's easier when you're playing both parts.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-2-104717960" id="footnote-2-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">2</a> I
was going to call them three "series", as British TV does its
sub-sections, but given that the entirety is also a series, I thought
that would be confusing.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-3-104717960" id="footnote-3-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">3</a> Actually,
given their length, those more plugged into the terminology of the
writing business they are "novelettes" or, in one or two cases,
"novellas", but I don't think these are distinctions that need detain
ordinary readers.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-4-104717960" id="footnote-4-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">4</a> Yes,
yes, just like a television show with its seasons (although closer
together in time). Pity the poor fiction writer, always scuttling about
in the shadow of those larger beasts, like tiny mammals dodging
dinosaurs.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-5-104717960" id="footnote-5-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">5</a> If
that honestly, no kidding represents a financial difficulty to anyone,
then drop me an email at stephenfrug - that little symbol for at -
gmail.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-6-104717960" id="footnote-6-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">6</a> Read: I don’t know how to set it up elsewhere or if it’s even possible.</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-7-104717960" id="footnote-7-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">7</a> And
if you want to support this substack qua substack, do the same for it:
tell people about it! Forward the link to essays they might like! Share!</div><div class="footnote"> </div><div class="footnote"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/introducing-retcon-a-mosaic-story#footnote-anchor-8-104717960" id="footnote-8-104717960" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">8</a> Actually, Pushkin’s entire description of his own work resonates with me in contemplating mine:<div class="footnote-content"><blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><pre class="text"><span>Half humorous, half pessimistic,
Blending the plain and idealistic—
Amusement's yield, the careless fruit
Of sleepless nights, light inspirations,
Born of my green and withered years...
The intellect's cold observations,
The heart's reflections, writ in tears.
— </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Eugene-Onegin-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538646?tag=charity48-20" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Pushkin, </a><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Eugene-Onegin-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538646?tag=charity48-20" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Eugene Onegin</a></i><span>, </span><a href="http://onegininenglish.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">trans. James Fallen</a></pre></div></blockquote><p><span>
…although I should say “l’havdil”, the Talmudic term for saying that a
comparison made on one front is not a comparison in other ways (so that
to compare God to a king is not to say that kings are like gods, nor
that God is like a king in </span><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56969/speech-no-matter-where-of-comfort-no-man-speak" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">living with bread</a><span>, feeling want,</span><br /><span>tasting
grief, and needing friends): I am not comparing myself to Pushkin!
Save that my work, howevermuch lesser than his, is also half humorous,
half pessimistic, and also mixes “the intellect’s cold observations/the
heart’s reflections, writ in tears”.</span></p></div></div>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-85408115069465974362023-02-02T16:27:00.002-05:002023-02-02T16:27:14.605-05:00Re-Launching Attempts on Substack<p>I have decided to re-launch <a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">Attempts on Substac</a>k. You can read (and subscribe for free) here:</p><p><a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/">https://stephenfrug.substack.com/</a><br /></p><p>The inaugural post in which I say "I have decided to re-launch Attempts on Substack" at far greater length is here:</p><p><a href="https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/essaying-again">https://stephenfrug.substack.com/p/essaying-again</a><br /></p><p>I hope that, if you happen to be here, you will hop over there and subscribe—which means that instead of you having to come to the blog, the <i>blog</i> will come to <i>you</i>(r inbox)!<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-47982908027052715542022-11-24T11:54:00.003-05:002022-11-24T11:55:22.934-05:00The Same Thanksgiving Post I Have Put Up Every Year Since 1621<blockquote>
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.... Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.<br />
<br />
-- <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ps/100.html">Psalm 100</a>: 2, 4<br />
<br />
ANYA: I love a ritual sacrifice.<br />
BUFFY: It's not really a one of those.<br />
ANYA: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie.<br />
<br />
-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</span>, "<a href="http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season4/transcripts/64_tran.shtml">Pangs</a>" by Jane Espenson<b></b></blockquote>
<p>If you are reading this, I am thankful that you have (to borrow from another tradition) been granted life, been sustained, and been enabled to reach this occasion. </p><p>The <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> quote above comes from the Thanksgiving episode Pangs; you can watch the clip of it here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zY7hWPSbbw0" width="320" youtube-src-id="zY7hWPSbbw0"></iframe></div><br /><p>And another, bonus quote from the same episode is here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aRQFli6zMh4" width="320" youtube-src-id="aRQFli6zMh4"></iframe></div><br /><p>It's a fun episode; but for those of you reading this who aren't familiar with the show (hi Jon), not really the best place to start. Hit me up if you want more advice along these lines.</p><p>Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-72428891287496704442021-09-29T15:32:00.001-04:002021-09-29T15:32:52.129-04:00The Aeneid, Book 1, Line 203<p>…forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.</p><p> — <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0055%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D198">Virgil</a> (19 BCE)<br /></p><p> <span style="display: inline; float: none; line-height: 1.2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;">An hour will come, with pleasure to relate</span><br style="line-height: 1.2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;" /><span style="display: inline; float: none; line-height: 1.2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;">
Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate.</span></p><p><span style="display: inline; float: none; line-height: 1.2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;">— <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aeneid_(Dryden)/Book_I">Trans. John Dryden</a> (1697) </span> </p><p> It well may be<br />
some happier hour will find this memory fair.</p><p>— <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D198">Trans. Theodore C. Williams</a> (1910)</p><p>Perhaps one day you will remember even<br />these our adversities with pleasure.</p><p>— Trans. Allen Mandelbaum (1971)</p><p>Some day, perhaps, remembering even this<br />Will be a pleasure.</p><p>— Trans. Robert Fitzgerald (1983) </p><p><span style="display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.2; text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this. </span></p><p><span style="display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.2; text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">— Trans. Robert Fagels (2006) <br /></span></p><p>
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</div><p><span style="display: inline; float: none; font-family: Charis; font-size: 1em; text-indent: -1.45em;">Maybe the day’ll come when even this will be joy to remember.</span></p><p><span style="display: inline; float: none; font-family: Charis; font-size: 1em; text-indent: -1.45em;">— Trans. Frederick Ahl (2007) </span></p><p><span style="display: inline; float: none; font-family: Charis; font-size: 1em; text-indent: -1.45em;"><span style="display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 1em; text-align: left;">…perhaps one day you’ll even delight in remembering this.</span></span></p><p><span style="display: inline; float: none; font-family: Charis; font-size: 1em; text-indent: -1.45em;"><span style="display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 1em; text-align: left;">— <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidI.php#anchor_Toc535054294">Trans. A. S. Kline</a> (2016) </span></span> </p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-46981647080978374352021-07-28T14:52:00.004-04:002021-07-28T14:52:51.086-04:00Snark and Boojum Press<blockquote>
<p>“‘You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care;<br /> You may hunt it with forks and hope;<br />You may threaten its life with a railway-share;<br /> You may charm it with smiles and soap—’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am pleased to say that <a href="https://stephenfrug.com/snark-and-boojum-press/">Snark and Boojum Press</a> now has a web page.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-msz6sg6eLfQ/YQGnbvwX9FI/AAAAAAAACUA/o4OcR3QGbioMLkRSXquKBkgZHuyY1XRhACLcBGAsYHQ/s485/Snark%2B%2526%2BBoojum%2BPress%2BLogo_2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="472" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-msz6sg6eLfQ/YQGnbvwX9FI/AAAAAAAACUA/o4OcR3QGbioMLkRSXquKBkgZHuyY1XRhACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Snark%2B%2526%2BBoojum%2BPress%2BLogo_2a.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-321704822200266402021-05-19T12:00:00.004-04:002021-05-19T12:00:00.194-04:00Nine Years Ago Today<p>This happened nine years ago today; adjusting for time zones, this post should go up at the moment (6pm Spanish time, 12pm Eastern US). It's one of the happiest things to ever be on the internet. Go ahead and watch it. Even if you've seen it before, it's worth enjoying again.</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kbJcQYVtZMo" title="YouTube video player" width="500"></iframe>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-62831604762364340742021-04-25T12:36:00.001-04:002021-04-25T12:36:24.811-04:00On the Afterlife of Photographic Subjects: A Strange Sub-Sub Genre on the Border of History and Journalism<p>I just read the remarkable piece of journalism about the woman who was the subject of this famous photograph:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9fznqUUTbE/YIWO4VtaMvI/AAAAAAAACOY/xgLzSHlSaMcJMkreIb9x7k81o7hXvRp_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1125/Kent-State-Shooting.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="1125" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9fznqUUTbE/YIWO4VtaMvI/AAAAAAAACOY/xgLzSHlSaMcJMkreIb9x7k81o7hXvRp_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Kent-State-Shooting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It was written by Patricia McKormick, whose work I was previously unfamiliar with, but who (judging by this piece) is superb; it was first published <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/04/19/girl-kent-state-photo-lifelong-burden-being-national-symbol/">in the Washington Post</a> (<a href="https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/04/the-long-life-of-a-photograph">h/t LGM</a>), but if that link hits a paywall for you, you can also find it <a href="https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2021/04/21/the-girl-in-the-famous-kent-state-photo-and-the-lifelong-burden-of-being-a-national-symbol/">in the Anchorage Daily News</a>.<p></p><p>But it occurred to me that it is, in fact, an example of a small little niche genre: stories about the lives of not-particularly famous people who appeared in famous photographs. A few more examples occur to me.</p><p>First, there are stories about this other famous photograph from the Vietnam War, in which American napalm, dropped on children, has burned off the clothes of a little girl:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mT8ELI_cGs/YIWPrzXwBBI/AAAAAAAACOg/mWiRIxxEkL0JMXgreDyeLdm4B_NrcAVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s819/Napalm%252Bgirl%252B-%252BPulitzer%252BPrize%252B-%252BKim%252BPhuc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="819" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mT8ELI_cGs/YIWPrzXwBBI/AAAAAAAACOg/mWiRIxxEkL0JMXgreDyeLdm4B_NrcAVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h264/Napalm%252Bgirl%252B-%252BPulitzer%252BPrize%252B-%252BKim%252BPhuc.png" width="400" /></a></div>Well, the story (which I've had occasion to mention <a href="https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2008/04/vik-muniz-drawing-from-memory-from-life.html">before</a>) of the girl—how the photographer rushed her to the hospital, how she eventually ended up in Canada, how she and the photographer became friends—has been told, briefly, here: <a href="http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0008/ng5.htm">http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0008/ng5.htm</a> and at greater length in a book (which I haven't yet read) called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Picture-Story-Photograph-Vietnam/dp/0140280219?tag=charity48-20"><i>The Girl in the Picture</i> by Denise Chong</a>.<p></p><p>Another example, about a different iconic <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_plBJOB-7F00/RvkFKJVTRMI/AAAAAAAAAZg/RRDGs1oatBw/s1600/cuar01_littlerock0709.jpg" title="Actually, this one wasn't a single photographs; there were two or three images taken at almost the exact same moment, from different angles, two (at least) of which are widely reprinted; see Margolick for details.">photograph*</a> from a different iconic midcentury event, this one the 1957 integration of Little Rock, Arkansas's high school:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qzaW_IQNec/YIWR50b46xI/AAAAAAAACOo/RBMrUDUxc1g3LWwST4-3XxYD-DhdiWJ2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s493/cuar01_littlerock0709.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="493" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qzaW_IQNec/YIWR50b46xI/AAAAAAAACOo/RBMrUDUxc1g3LWwST4-3XxYD-DhdiWJ2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cuar01_littlerock0709.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The story (which I have also had occasion to mention <a href="https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/tale-of-elizabeth-and-hazel-updated-and.html">before</a>) of the relationship between the two women (girls, at the time) in the photograph has been told by David Margolick, briefly, here: <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/09/littlerock200709">https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/09/littlerock200709</a> and in longer form in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Hazel-Women-Little-Rock/dp/0300187920?tag=charity48-20">his book <i>Elizabeth and Hazel</i></a>.</p><p>But the more I think about it, the more examples come to mind.</p><p>There have been many stories told about this famous photograph from V-E day:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0C5dAXPc8S4/YIWW_xZAd-I/AAAAAAAACOw/EwJswbNzZQM0jTxyN0JbjMIRi-peHWytQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="734" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0C5dAXPc8S4/YIWW_xZAd-I/AAAAAAAACOw/EwJswbNzZQM0jTxyN0JbjMIRi-peHWytQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net.jpeg" /></a></div> About which there are, apparently, both questions concerning the identity of the people in the photograph and (conditional on who it actually is!) the fact that the kiss was non-consensual and more of a sexual assault than a celebration (see, e.g., here: <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-controversy-surrounding-alfred-eisenstaedts-iconic-photo-v-j-day-kiss">https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-controversy-surrounding-alfred-eisenstaedts-iconic-photo-v-j-day-kiss</a>, but this has gotten a lot of coverage.) And yes, that too has been <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Sailor-Mystery-Behind-Photo/dp/1612510787?tag=charity48-20">a book, <i>The Kissing Sailor</i></a> (another I haven't read), which appears to focus on the who-are-they mystery angle.<br /><p></p><p>Then there's this photograph, less historic than the others here, perhaps, but very widely known in the art world, of the artist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp">Marcel Duchamp</a> playing chess (the activity he abandoned art to persue) while at the first retrospective of his work, with a young woman named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Babitz">Eve Babitz</a> who would go on to be a novelist of some note: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg37fazWoVk/YIWYSVyfAbI/AAAAAAAACO4/F1LPnzu0JqgzfVw94wW564e3oGjVvmRYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s900/JuxtapozJulianWasser000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="900" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg37fazWoVk/YIWYSVyfAbI/AAAAAAAACO4/F1LPnzu0JqgzfVw94wW564e3oGjVvmRYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/JuxtapozJulianWasser000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This story (less shocking than any of the above, but still quite interesting) was told first <a href="https://classic.esquire.com/article/1991/9/1/i-was-a-naked-pawn-for-art">by Eve Babitz herself</a>, and then in greater detail by writer Lili Anolick in this engaging & worthwhile essay: <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/eve-babitz-marcel-duchamp-chess-nude">https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/eve-babitz-marcel-duchamp-chess-nude</a>. Anolick has also written <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hollywoods-Eve-Babitz-History-L/dp/1501125796?tag=charity48-20">a biography of Babitz, <i>Hollywood's Eve</i></a>, which also tells the story, of course.<p></p><p>And those are just the ones that come readily to mind. I'm sure there are a lot more. Please leave any that occur to you in the footnotes. It would be nice to curate a list!<br /></p><p>_____________________________ <br /></p><p>* Actually, this one wasn't a single photographs; there were two or three images taken at almost the exact same moment, from different angles, two (at least) of which are widely reprinted; see Margolick for details.<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-59001293684217225372021-01-20T16:48:00.002-05:002021-01-20T16:48:28.393-05:00Kim Stanley Robinson's THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE: A Review<p> ...by me, but not here; it's at <a href="https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/"><i>The Ancillary Review of Books</i></a>, and you can read it here:</p><p><a href="https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/01/20/even-this-is-too-good-to-be-true-review-of-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/">https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/01/20/even-this-is-too-good-to-be-true-review-of-the-ministry-for-the-future-by-kim-stanley-robinson/</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WLQP0OO_GWo/YAik2GpW2jI/AAAAAAAACJ8/8jhTFUniI4glK1VhHpgFvGGCsblOHRozQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1126/81haelyty5l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WLQP0OO_GWo/YAik2GpW2jI/AAAAAAAACJ8/8jhTFUniI4glK1VhHpgFvGGCsblOHRozQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/81haelyty5l.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-47300453520321957472021-01-20T14:55:00.005-05:002021-01-20T14:56:06.783-05:00Poem of the Day: When people say, “we have made it through worse before”<p>
<u>When people say, “we have made it through worse before”</u></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal">all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of those who did not make it, those who did not</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">survive to see the confetti fall from the sky, those who</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">did not live to watch the parade roll down the street.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have grown accustomed to a lifetime of aphorisms</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">meant to assuage my fears, pithy sayings meant to</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">convey that everything ends up fine in the end. There is no</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">solace in rearranging language to make a different word</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">tell the same lie. Sometimes the moral arc of the universe</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">does not bend in a direction that will comfort us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes it bends in ways we don’t expect & there are</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">people who fall off in the process. Please, dear reader,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">do not say I am hopeless, I believe there is a better future</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to fight for, I simply accept the possibility that I may not</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">live to see it. I have grown weary of telling myself lies</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that I might one day begin to believe. We are not all left</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">standing after the war has ended. Some of us have</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">become ghosts by the time the dust has settled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">— <a href="https://readwildness.com/19/smith-people">Clint Smith</a></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style> <br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-11687374640184254902021-01-20T10:54:00.002-05:002021-01-20T10:55:13.507-05:00America! America outraged! America broken! America martyred! But America liberated!<p> A sneak preview of Biden's inaugural address in just over an hour:</p>
<iframe width="450" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yuv_vbxu4lI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-41753685135013473912021-01-14T19:26:00.002-05:002021-01-14T19:27:31.406-05:00Piranesi: a Spoiler-Free Review<p class="MsoNormal">I just finished reading Susana Clarke's second novel, <i>Piranesi</i> (2020) and it is just as wonderful as her first novel, <i>Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell</i> (2004) while being so utterly
unlike it that you would never guess that they were by the same author. Their only
commonality is that both are distinctly British fantasy novels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, if you like good fantasy novels,
pick it up & read it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That's the long and the short of it, except that I should
add that I think it's a particularly good book to go into blind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I finished reading it, I glanced at a
few reviews, and I was very glad I hadn't done so first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, for many of you, "by the
author of <i>Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell</i>" is sale
enough. The rest of you should go <b>read</b> <i>Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell</i>.—Ok, I kid: I know that that latter book was not
for everyone, although for a large number of people it was utterly superb. But
I will say that if you generally like fantasy but were put off by <i>Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell</i>, then probably the parts that put you off are
absent from <i>Piranesi</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EvV0t7UhJ0U/YADg0ArIgcI/AAAAAAAACJY/IbqsClH1N0wLM2lLACwLM1L_HdjVZA-EwCLcBGAsYHQ/s906/cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EvV0t7UhJ0U/YADg0ArIgcI/AAAAAAAACJY/IbqsClH1N0wLM2lLACwLM1L_HdjVZA-EwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cover.jpg" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwSrF3mjkdE/YADg0fzbsNI/AAAAAAAACJc/goBT-jSAVWcfSy044XuX0jxnbG7rndxlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1425/cover%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="948" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwSrF3mjkdE/YADg0fzbsNI/AAAAAAAACJc/goBT-jSAVWcfSy044XuX0jxnbG7rndxlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/cover%2B2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">Beyond that? Try to learn nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first page or two of <i>Piranesi</i>
can be confusing, but the immediate mysteries are cleared up within another few
pages. You'll be quite comfortable with them before the new mysteries, the ones
you don't want spoiled, start piling up.
</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There's more to say about this book — a lot more — but for
now, that's where I'll stop. It's great, go read it, avoid reviews.</p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-60059898487479758322020-12-03T13:19:00.002-05:002020-12-03T13:21:56.982-05:00The Inscription Over a Modern Gate to Hell<p>Philip Terry is a writer who works in the <a href="https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2005/11/new-edition-of-oulipo-compendium-is.html">oulipian</a> <a href="https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/search/label/Ou-X-Po">tradition</a>. He is the author of a novel, <a href="http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/terryp/bookofbs.htm"><i>The Book of Bachelors</i> (1995)</a> (which was published in its entirety in an issue of <i>The Review of Contemporary Fiction</i>), which consists of nine chapters, each a <a href="https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2007/01/perec-on-lipogram.html">lipogram</a> on a different letter of the alphabet. He wrote a book of versions of Shakespeare's Sonnets, each modified by a different oulipian constraint (the results are predictably mixed). And he did a... you can't really call it a translation... adaptation of Dante's Inferno.</p><p>For comparison, here are the opening five stanzas of <a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/">Alan Mandlebaum's translation of the Inferno</a>, <a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-3/">Canto III:</a></p><p></p><blockquote><p>THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,<br />
THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,<br />
THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST.</p>
<p>JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;<br />
MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,<br />
THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE.</p>
<p>BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS<br />
WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.<br />
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.</p>
<p>These words—their aspect was obscure—I read<br />
inscribed above a gateway, and I said:<br />
“Master, their meaning is difficult for me.”</p>
<p>And he to me, as one who comprehends:<br />
“Here one must leave behind all hesitation;<br />
here every cowardice must meet its death.</p></blockquote><p></p><p> </p><p>And now, here are the opening lines of Philip Terry's Canto III:</p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE DOLEFUL CAMPUS,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">THROUGH ME THE WAY TO ETERNAL DEBT,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE FORSAKEN GENERATION.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">FREEDOM OF THOUGHT INSPIRED MY FOUNDERS;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY RUINED ME,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">COUPLED BY BETRAYAL OF PRINCIPLE AND PLEDGE.<br />
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS WERE MADE,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">NOW I SHALL MARK YOU ETERNALLY.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I saw these words spelled out on a digital display</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Above the entrance to the Knowledge Gateway.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Master,’ I said, ‘this is scary.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He answered me, speaking with a drawl:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Now you need to grit your teeth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This isn’t the moment to shit yourself. </p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style> It's quite funny— the first nine lines are, I think, a very good joke.</p><p>But I am rather uncertain, having read (thanks to Amazon's "see inside" feature) the opening two and a half cantos, whether it's a joke that can be sustained over an entire book. So I am hesitant to plunk down $16 to get a copy.</p><p>Anyone know if the whole thing works at all?<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-77452130951516865682020-11-26T05:00:00.003-05:002020-11-26T05:00:05.775-05:00The Same Thanksgiving Post I Have Put Up Every Year Since 1621<blockquote>
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.... Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.<br />
<br />
-- <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ps/100.html">Psalm 100</a>: 2, 4<br />
<br />
ANYA: I love a ritual sacrifice.<br />
BUFFY: It's not really a one of those.<br />
ANYA: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie.<br />
<br />
-- <span style="font-style: italic;">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</span>, "<a href="http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season4/transcripts/64_tran.shtml">Pangs</a>" by Jane Espenson<b></b></blockquote>
<p>The title of this post is false, of course: after an unbroken streak from 1621-2013, I have not posted it in seven years. But a friend of mine said he looked forward to it, so, in honor of the day, I am resuming, at least for this year, the ritual. There are so many rituals we will lack this year; this is one I can reclaim.</p>
<p>If you are reading this, I am thankful that you have (to borrow from another tradition) been granted life, been sustained, and been enabled to reach this occasion. Too few of us have. I hope you are being safe today; for even fewer will have by next year, or even by New Year's.</p><p>The <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> quote above comes from the Thanksgiving episode Pangs; you can watch the clip of it here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zY7hWPSbbw0" width="320" youtube-src-id="zY7hWPSbbw0"></iframe></div><br /><p>And another, bonus quote from the same episode is here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aRQFli6zMh4" width="320" youtube-src-id="aRQFli6zMh4"></iframe></div><br /><p>It's a fun episode; but for those of you reading this who aren't familiar with the show (hi Jon), not really the best place to start. Hit me up if you want more advice along these lines.</p><p>Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.<br /></p>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-28140349404894940222020-09-15T09:30:00.002-04:002020-09-15T09:30:56.077-04:00A Longer-Term Problem<p> </p><div data-contents="true"><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="cf2el-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cf2el-0-0"><span data-offset-key="cf2el-0-0"><span data-text="true">I know we're all (rightly) paralyzed with fear and anxiety about the next few months, but allow me a moment for a longer-term worry.</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="9t36i-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9t36i-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9t36i-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="cu646-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cu646-0-0"><span data-offset-key="cu646-0-0"><span data-text="true">I heard some of Biden's speech on climate change this morning. And I had two thoughts. First, it was (as far as a Democratic candidate goes) superb: a level of alarm and seriousness which is very welcome (and, yes, long over due). I doubt that Bernie could have done better.</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="fjvom-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fjvom-0-0"><span data-offset-key="fjvom-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="2i30-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2i30-0-0"><span data-offset-key="2i30-0-0"><span data-text="true">But I fear he fell into a trap not specific to him, but broadly arising out of liberal politics. He said that if we reelect a "climate arsonist" (great term), more of America will burn, more will flood. But he seemed to imply that if we elect him instead, this <i>won't</i> happen. The horrible truth, of course, is that at this point 20-30 <i>years</i> of ever-increasing climate misery are <i>already baked in</i>. We're going to spend the next three decades paying for the <i>last</i> three decades of emissions (you know, the 50% of all emissions throughout history which were produced <i>after</i> we were thoroughly warned & had supposed begun to react).</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="71u4l-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="71u4l-0-0"><span data-offset-key="71u4l-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="3rqi9-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3rqi9-0-0"><span data-offset-key="3rqi9-0-0"><span data-text="true">This doesn't mean that reducing our emissions rapidly is not a priority; it has to be. But that's because if we don't act now things will be unimaginable—perhaps literally unendurable—in the second half of the century. We need to ensure a future for later generations. But the near-term present will be increasingly worse regardless. — Of course, there <i>are</i> things we can and should do to help the next few decades, adaptation and social strengthening of all sorts. But those are to live through the climate misery, not avert it.</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="8vkl-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8vkl-0-0"><span data-offset-key="8vkl-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="45gu3-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="45gu3-0-0"><span data-offset-key="45gu3-0-0"><span data-text="true">Again: nothing Biden said was wrong, precisely. Certainly a vote for the climate arsonist is as immoral as it is possible to imagine—<i>solely</i> on these grounds, even aside from everything else. But he hasn't done anything to prepare people for the longer-term struggles ahead. I don't think that's a failure of Biden's; I think it's a problem with liberal democracy, which must sell people the idea that they will have a better life if they vote for us. Whereas now we have reduced ourselves to choosing between bad and worse for the rest of our natural lives.</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="2k803-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2k803-0-0"><span data-offset-key="2k803-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="82ffp" data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-text="true">Not now, not in the next two months, but soon, we're going to have to learn, as a political movement, as a society, to talk about these things. We don't want Joshua Hawley or Tucker Carson or Don Jr to get up and say in 2024, "you said you'd fix this!". We need to communicate to people the urgency, but also the length of the storm. This won't be fixed in four years, nor even in forty, although in forty we will make some serious strides (or else have dug our own graves). We need to learn to speak of care; of struggling together to survive the damage already done; of preparing for the long term. Because that's what we need to do, now.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9ukte-0-0"><span data-text="true"><i><b>Housekeeping</b>: this is reposted from FB. Preparing it for blog publication, it occurs to me I've been nattering about this long enough that the tag is "<a href="http://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/search/label/Global%20Warming">global warming</a>" and not the more up-to-date "climate change" — or the currently trending "climate emergency". What will we call it in a decade? Just ordinary life, I suppose. Or perhaps our long twilight struggle.</i><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-42312421062826995492020-03-08T11:21:00.003-04:002020-03-08T11:21:45.615-04:00A Pesitlence Isn't a Thing Made to Man's Measure<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the
world; yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on
our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in
history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.…
When a war breaks out, people say: 'It's too stupid; it can't last
long.' But though a war may well be 'too stupid', that doesn't prevent
its lasting.…<br />
<br />
"In this respect our townfolk were like everybody<span class="text_exposed_show">
else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were humanists;
they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn't a thing made to
man's measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere
bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always
pass away and, from one dream to another, ti is men who pass away...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
"They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views.
How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which
rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views.
They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free, so long as
there are pestilences."<br />
<br />
— Albert Camus, <i>The Plague</i></div>
</blockquote>
Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-62639928610732305712019-09-24T17:45:00.000-04:002019-09-24T18:14:33.417-04:00TWO IMPORTANT LANGUAGE NOTES1) The proper English term for the Jewish celebrations in early adolescence is hereby termed "b'mitzvah" (both singular and plural). This allows easy sentences like, "when are your kids' b'mitzvahs?" or "we've been going to a lot of b'mitvahs lately", to say nothing of gender-noncomforming kids.<br />
<br />
2) The word ducking is now an intensifier, as in "I can't ducking believe Pelosi actually had the guts to start impeachment hearings", and "I hope that the GOP is willing to do its ducking job and convict". Easier on kids & Apple ducking lets you type it.<br />
<br />
Signed,<br />
<br />
The English Language AcademyStephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-69941482967033608682019-06-22T19:38:00.003-04:002019-06-22T19:38:51.566-04:00Happenstance: the Print EditionI assume most visitors to this blog know that I spent many years creating a graphic novel, and that over the past two years I have been <a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/">serializing it online (you can read it here</a>.) Now I am trying to fund a print edition by running a kickstarter campaign. You can learn more, donate and pre-order the book here:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happenstanceprint/happenstance-the-print-edition">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happenstanceprint/happenstance-the-print-edition</a><br />
<br />
Go have a look!Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-89098851801717148712019-06-05T10:19:00.002-04:002019-06-05T10:19:54.803-04:00"But What Can I Do?"A friend on facebook (who will be anonymous unless they say they'd like to be named) asked. re climate change<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/climatechange?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG"><span class="_5afx"><span class="_58cm"></span></span></a>: "But what can we do? I have yet to come up with anything we can do as individuals that could possibly help. Have anything?"<br />
<br />
My reply:<br />
<br />
"As individuals"? No. Nothing we can do as individuals is remotely
equal to the scale of the problem. I mean, sure, drive less, fly never,
get solar panels — all good things. But if everyone who cared did this
it won't help. Only a radical restruc<span class="text_exposed_show">turing of society and the economy can save us.</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
So what can we do? What we need to do is to elect politicians committed
to a restructuring of the economy and society to a degree consonant
with the problem. Not just Democrats; AOC Democrats, not Biden
Democrats. (Along those lines: go to marches. Sign petitions. Give
money. Make sure Jay Inslee is in the debates, at least.)<br />
<br />
How do
we do this? The only thing I know of, broadly, is to change the way
people think. The best thing to do, I suppose, would be to find
conservatives you know and convert them. That's tough, though. Second
best? Try to convince liberals you know to treat the problem with the
seriousness that is its due.<br />
<br />
That's why I post on it all the
time. If enough of us get that this is an emergency, one that will need
to be solved by greater-than-WW2 style mobilization starting yesterday,
then maybe, *maybe*, we can overcome this.<br />
<br />
So talk about it, as
often as you can stand or more. Be that annoying person who always
points out that the house is on fire. And get everyone you know to talk
about it.<br />
<br />
If enough of us talk, if enough of us listen, then we
won't be individuals any more, but a collective. And then maybe we can
do something that can help.</div>
Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-77682803927511738322019-05-02T09:01:00.004-04:002019-08-14T11:30:51.992-04:00HAPPENSTANCE, pages 402-403<a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/">My graphic novel <i>Happenstance</i></a> — which I have mentioned & linked before on this (admittedly all-but-dormant) blog — continues to be published, two pages twice a week, <a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/">here. If you haven't read it, check it out!</a><br />
<br />
Today's pages, however, are highly unusual: an attempt to (in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Drawing-Words-Writing-Pictures-Graphic/dp/1596431318/?tag=charity48-20">Abel & Madden</a>'s marvelous phrase) draw words without the usual addition of written pictures. It's part of a sequence that is interspersed throughout chapter 11, in which one of the characters sits with another in the hospital. Intercutting between that and a conversation, I use different techniques to try to capture this experience. Most of those techniques are visual. This is linguistic — or, rather, linguistic-as-visual. It's an old technique, of course: the first of the page owes much to the work of William Gaddis and similar writers; the one on the left is an example of concrete poetry, which is a whole form with its own traditions, etc.<br />
<br />
But the result of this is that I am using more words in smaller fonts than elsewhere in the book. And the way the site that hosts the work works, I have to use smaller file sizes than the book was created in... and thus the words aren't always easy to read. So I am reposting these pages here, full-size:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-awwdKVUSqno/XVQo-54PgUI/AAAAAAAAB44/LjgbHARZYqMPYOgcE6Dg_2HdcYxuxbafACLcBGAs/s1600/Happenstance_pp402-403_%2528ch11p34-35%2529_R.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-awwdKVUSqno/XVQo-54PgUI/AAAAAAAAB44/LjgbHARZYqMPYOgcE6Dg_2HdcYxuxbafACLcBGAs/s320/Happenstance_pp402-403_%2528ch11p34-35%2529_R.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Click through to see it more clearly!<br />
<br />
And if you haven't read <a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/"><i>Happenstance</i></a> before, I hope you will <a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/">check it out. Just go here and click through!</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1200" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZYTgqBNfqfM/XMrppkVVjoI/AAAAAAAAB2A/4qKR08tdN68lFJQRM-RbmymdstKKRFG1ACLcBGAs/s320/Happenstance_web_000-001s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
(And don't overlook the helpful little "save my place" button on the bottom of each page!)Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-61504717407703329982019-04-16T11:50:00.002-04:002019-04-17T09:36:22.474-04:00Poem of the Day: Notre-Dame de Paris de Gérard de NervalNOTRE-DAME DE PARIS<br />
<br />
Notre-Dame est bien vieille : on la verra peut-être<br />
Enterrer cependant Paris qu'elle a vu naître ;<br />
Mais, dans quelque mille ans, le Temps fera broncher<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> Comme un loup fait un boeuf, cette carcasse lourde,<br /> Tordra ses nerfs de fer, et puis d'une dent sourde<br /> Rongera tristement ses vieux os de rocher!</span><br />
<br />
Bien des hommes, de tous les pays de la terre<br />
Viendront, pour contempler cette ruine austère,<br />
Rêveurs, et relisant le livre de Victor :<br />
- Alors ils croiront voir la vieille basilique,<br />
Toute ainsi qu'elle était, puissante et magnifique,<br />
Se lever devant eux comme l'ombre d'un mort!<br />
<br />
— Gérard de Nerval (1808 - 1855)<br />
<br />
And here is a translation by Guy Lionel Slingsby (from Facebook):<br />
<br />
Notre Dame is quite old: one will see it perhaps<br />
Still bury that Paris it saw at its birth;<br />
But in a few thousand years Time will cause to collapse<br />
(As wolves do to cattle) this carcass to earth,<br />
Twist its tendons of iron, then with a deaf tooth<br />
Chew its bones made of rock, which fills us with ruth.<br />
<br />
From all over the world, many people will go<br />
To gaze at and brood on this ruin thus purged,<br />
But these dreamers, rereading the work of Hugo:<br />
Will imagine they see standing there the old church,<br />
Just as it was in its glory and power:<br />
Like the shadow of death, the cathedral will tower!Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-38228388364769066782019-03-15T22:04:00.002-04:002019-03-15T22:05:02.076-04:00Poem of Some Day That Turns Out to Be the Poem of TodayW. S. Merwin died today. (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/obituaries/w-s-merwin-dead-poet-laureate.html">NY Times obituary</a>.)<br />
<br />
Here's a poem he wrote for the occasion.
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>For the Anniversary of My Death</b><br />
<br />
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day<br />
When the last fires will wave to me<br />
And the silence will set out<br />
Tireless traveler<br />
Like the beam of a lightless star<br />
<br />
Then I will no longer<br />
Find myself in life as in a strange garment<br />
Surprised at the earth<br />
And the love of one woman<br />
And the shamelessness of men<br />
As today writing after three days of rain<br />
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease<br />
And bowing not knowing to what<br />
<br />
—W. S. Merwin</blockquote>
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RIP. Baruch dayan ha-emet.Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-67324239265335005772019-01-04T14:41:00.002-05:002019-01-04T14:43:49.001-05:00My Photographic Novel, Happenstance, Is Nearly 3/4 Posted! Start Reading Now!A graphic novel I wrote & illustrated (using photographs and photoshop) has been serializing online for about a year and a half, now. It's about two friends who change their religious views in opposite
ways, but in dialogue with each other; and about the fallout from those
changes in each of their lives. I thought I'd pop up here and say it's still posting! You can go read it! Two new pages go up twice a week, on Mondays & Thursdays. It's nearly 3/4 up — I just put up pp. 332-333 out of an eventual 444 yesterday, and we're nearing the end of chapter 9 (of 12). So click here and check it out:<br />
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<a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1200" height="247" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MzBa3S08NT4/WUASuU-CkMI/AAAAAAAABrU/mhHy-V3zf14zHe_dI9mEjKP6F9qg_35_QCLcB/s320/Happenstance_Web_000-001s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The graphic novel to date can be read here: <a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/</a><br />
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<a href="http://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1200" height="247" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vn6PWAs7XZg/WUATbweoJ3I/AAAAAAAABrY/Mi0ca0svEHk3WI38VIVPU1RoNDjlw29uQCLcB/s320/Happenstance_web_004-005s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you haven't read it, give it a try; and if you like it, shar<span class="text_exposed_show">e it with your friends!</span>Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-39712560638993975652018-02-27T20:12:00.000-05:002018-02-27T20:13:09.890-05:00Poem of the Day: Four Strategic Lines<blockquote>
<b><u>Four Strategic Lines</u></b><br />
<br />
There, four strategic lines are anagrams.<br />
I'm rearranging letters. A chaos features<br />
in the rule, frames reason, grates a tragic,<br />
rare formula. A strange aesthetic reigns.<br />
<br />
— <a href="https://anthonyetherin.wordpress.com/">Anthony Etherin</a></blockquote>
Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13734864.post-2482820077313420662018-01-26T10:56:00.002-05:002022-12-06T17:06:01.936-05:00Barry Eisler Reading Order<b>Charted updated as of December, 2022</b>. <br />
<br />
Some of my favorite light reading are the thrillers of Barry Eisler. As he's gone along, the overlaps in his characters/series have become more complicated. So, in a fit of OCD and with a nod to the <a href="https://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index.html">Terry Pratchett Reading Order guide</a>, I made this chart. I offer it here for the edification of all and sundry. But do take the compiler's note about how you can start anywhere seriously.<br />
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<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcENhSpRRqhPsxW1drSGPjI0PWyAftt-buKS1k-Im7jV7aQcGAq7ELncWM1xPuUMIYu2yJz9G4ktZDY6htBsvdsOsTKT9l_qJLlyJXxWdIBjJdeS1XLve4c3Ul9sweIjbqPW8EOMXoo1gNsT9c9mo6mmr6x5EJZJsvEXRxn7sXh6v3H0z78jA/s4850/Eisler%20Reading%20Order_2_3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1145" data-original-width="2748" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcENhSpRRqhPsxW1drSGPjI0PWyAftt-buKS1k-Im7jV7aQcGAq7ELncWM1xPuUMIYu2yJz9G4ktZDY6htBsvdsOsTKT9l_qJLlyJXxWdIBjJdeS1XLve4c3Ul9sweIjbqPW8EOMXoo1gNsT9c9mo6mmr6x5EJZJsvEXRxn7sXh6v3H0z78jA/s4850/Eisler%20Reading%20Order_2_3.jpg" title="Barry Eisler reading order chart, version 2.2" width="320" /></a></div><p>(Click for a larger version.)<br />
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Incidentally, I got into this because I had just bought my aunt the second Livia Lone book as a present — she'd liked the first — and was trying to think of how to explain who Dox was and how he fits in. It's tricky! <br /></p><p> (Now updated for his forthcoming novel <i>The Chaos Kind</i> (October, 2021). Also released under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons BY-SA license</a>, in case anyone feels inspired to improve upon it. (Email me for the photoshop file if you want it.)Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524368948187746248noreply@blogger.com4