Musings and books

[darthparadox]

The silver lining to the shit-filled cloud
Now that the Republicans have half of Congress, they have to start delivering, or the same wave of populist anger that swept them into the House of Representatives will sweep them right back out again. And I think they're completely incapable of actually getting anything fixed, because the greedy

Comments

[ext_185598]

oh, Hamlet, you insufferably emo whiner layabout, you.

YES THIS omg.

I don't know if you're intending to release your NaNo story (with or without editing), but I can safely say it's the first one I've encountered that I would be genuinely eager to read if made available. I never did competitive math myself -- took a few national exams in HS and college; failed hard at them -- but my God, what a fascinating idea for a plot. Do want!

[nightsinger]

I've read the first, oh, 3300 words or so of his NaNo this year... it's actually amazingly readable and engaging, despite being a NaNo and therefore a first draft.

He just told me he sent what he's got to you already. XD I'd love to hear your thoughts, too. Chris always claims I'm biased; maybe he'd trust you more. ;)

[misterflames]

Piers Anthony... yeah. I read that series back when I was in my twenties, I think. Not that bad, honestly, but not that deep, either. And if you really want to see him writing crazily about women, get the Bio of a Space Tyrant series.

Triplanetary, actually, is a prequel sort of book. It was written to help lay the foundations for the Lensmen as a series of books rather than a collection of novellas. Just remember that when it looks its most cliched, Doc Smith was the guy who made them so that others could turn them into cliches.

[darthparadox]

Hell, at least Incarnations of Immortality is far better than Xanth so far.

I know it's a prequel (though I didn't make that fact clear originally) - it being obviously a first-of-a-series isn't necessarily a bad thing. But remembering "no, this wasn't a cliche when it was written, it's why it's a cliche now" is definitely worthwhile. David Drake is definitely tromping around in Doc Smith's shoes; I need to read more of both of them before I can decide whether he's actually filling said shoes or not...

[mcmartin]

Triplanetary, the first novel of the famous Lensman series, is obviously a first-book-in-a-series

Actually, it was the third written; Galactic Patrol, the third in the series, was the first written and published (as serials). Triplanetary and First Lensman are prequels.

I suppose an early trait, and perhaps weakness, of the space-opera genre is the need to constantly be topping one's previous conflicts; it's often driven by an arms race within the narrative, but it sometimes feels more like the author's in an arms race with himself.

This onion-skin design is intrinsic to the series and one of its defining factors. Suffice to say you haven't seen anything yet. (The other, for a modern audience, being "There hasn't been WWII yet, eugenics and casual racism and sexism aren't unfasionable".)

[darthparadox]

Got it. I knew that it was revised from the serialization and published after some of the others, but I wasn't sure where in there it was written.

I'm reminded of the standard Type I/II/III Civilization scale, which I think corresponds to the capability of harnessing the power output of an entire planet/star/galaxy? I imagine we'll be moving up that scale pretty quickly.

[xaandria]

The sexism in Incarnations can be worthy of teeth-grinding, but it's far more noticeable in the books in the POV of the male incarnations. Gaea and Clotho/Lachesis/Atropos and Jolie/Orlene stories are a bit less overtly misogynist, although they then tend to twist over to misandry which isn't necessarily better. Wielding a Red Sword is one of the worst misogynist works I have come across that isn't trying to show a totalitarian past/future or be satire.

They're worth a read, if for nothing other than the interesting play on mythology, but I have to shake my head in confusion at the mind who so polarizes the two genders to the point of making them both incomprehensible.

[kazriko]

*headscratch

[darthparadox]

I'd imagine that, within the Democratic Party, receiving massive corporate contributions probably correlates strongly with the tendency to defect to the Republicans. I don't really have the time to do the research right now. Suffice it to say, I agree that corporate control of the Democrats is a problem, and the problem is that it's made them act more like Republicans

[kazriko]

They won't pass tax cuts for the middle class without cutting it for the rich because it is unfair to cut taxes unevenly. The old example is of a restaurant that charges people based on their ability to pay. Say there are 10 people splitting the $100 tab. 1 person picks up $40 of the check. The next picks up $20, the next 2 pick up $15, the next two pay $5, and the last 4 pay $0. The restaurant owner finds some deals on his ingredients one day, and ends up only charging $90 instead of $100. Most of those saying that the rich are getting too big of a tax cut would in this situation complain that the rich guy is getting $4 off his bill, while the ones who pay $5 are only getting 50 cents off their bill, and that cuts should be equal... So you should cut costs by $1 for everyone? What about the people who pay $0? Should they get money back for eating there

[darthparadox]

If it's unfair to cut taxes unevenly, why bother with brackets at all? The tax cut for the middle class is removing some of the burden from a group of people with far more need of that money than the rich have. The reason we have brackets is that the less people make, the less of their income they can afford to give up as taxes. And it's clear that the rich can afford to take on far more of the burden of funding this country; the highest marginal tax rates were far higher even under Reagan than at present, never mind during that boom time of the 1950s