Is Your Fav SF Tome Banned? or We Braved the New Slaughter House #5 and What a Strange Clockwork Land it was Indeed.

Seriously, consider one of your most cherished Science Fiction book.  Is there a possibility that the book you hold near and dear is on someone's ban list?

I am not too sure how how I got here, but I was following link and five or six layers deep came across an IO9 article written by Susana Polo that originally appeared at Geekosystem.   Her article was the top ten banned science fiction works.  Now, the first few were works that I wasn't familiar with, but then it got....interestin!

Check it out

7:  Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein -This book was:

• pro-religion, free love was controversial even when it was published in 1962.  So naturally it was challenged as part of the curriculum of a summer "Science Academy" course in Texas.

6: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - As the author of this io9 article points out :

• In a textbook example of "missing the point," in 1981, Jackson County, Florida challenged ... Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in its schools and libraries, claiming that the book was pro-communism and anti-Semitic 

Did they even bother to read past the first chapter?  Clearly they never understood the novel what so ever!

5: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - I wonder if anyone stopped for a second to savor the irony of this situation?  Banning a book whose very nature rails against book banning! Here, from the article itself:

•  In 1998, Fahrenheit 451 was removed from the curriculum in a Mississippi high school because a parent objected to the use of the phrase "god damn."

4:  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle - I myself am not familiar with this book, but I feel the  book bears mentioning if for nothing else than for the number of times they were banned.  From the article:

• This first book of  the series, tackles the the vastness of time and the universe, the nature of evil, and the dangers of blind belief.  But, it's got characters known as "witches"...... 

3: Slaughterhouse-Five - is a thinly veiled autobiography of Kurt Vonnegut's experience during the bombing of Dresden which killed tens of thousands of German civilians by firebombing the city. 

From the article:

• Not only banned (in New York State, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin) and challenged (in Louisiana, Michigan (twice), Texas, Virginia, Rhode Island, Illinois, Kentucky (twice), and Wisconsin again), copies of Slaughterhouse-Five were burned in North Dakota in 1973.

It is like you combined Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451!  Bradbury's novel was a work of fiction....right?

2: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley   Here is a clear example of not understanding  what you are reading.   BNW was banned because it was supposed to endorse:

• free love, free drugs, atheism, and rejection of the nuclear family.

Now as  Susana Polo points out that this would be a legit argument if  BNW was presented as a utopia

But even I, ( Paul ) as a very green SF reader when I first started reading SF, could PLAINLY see that this WAS NOT as it was portrayed but a not to subtle Dystopia! Who could have missed this heavy handed wide brush painting of everything that is wrong with society whether it is early 20th or early 21st. Be that obvious as it may:

• It was banned in Ireland in 1932, a Missouri town in 1980, an Alabama high school in 2000; and challenged in Oklahoma in 1988, California in 1993, Texas in 2003, and Indiana in 2008.   

1: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - Now I know...everyone is going to say Novel? No!  Movie directed by Stanley Kubrick starring Malcolm McDowell.  Granted, the movie is brilliant at times and disturbing, but at other times almost self indulgent.  But we are talking about banned books here and Burgess wrote the short novel....... And the book itself did have some strange moments in the annals of banned bookdom.  Here from the article is one of the more warped book bans, and I have to think, this one was based not on reading the book, but watching the movie...:

• in 1973 a shop owner in Utah was arrested for selling the book, and though the charges were later dropped, the store was forced to relocate due to the controversy. Later in the 70's it was removed from two high schools for "objectionable language." Presumably they didn't mean bratchny, droog, or garbles.

full IO9 article with the complete list HERE

Get A Life!

Xnews man sends in an article from the NY Daily News concerning one of the funniest and one of the most iconic phrases spoken by a science fiction television show personality. I even remember seeing this episode of SNL where William Shatner faces a gathering of fanatical (and faux) "Trekies". After a stream of inane questions from the fans, Shatner informs the gathering in frustration to "get a life!"

Never one to let an opportunity pass, Shatner went on to pen a book in 1999 called “Get a Life!,” exploring the cult of “Star Trek” fans and conventions.

Expanding on the 1999 book, Shatner now plans to host a documentary of the same name.

“Get A Life!,” is set mostly at the 2011 Las Vegas Star Trek convention. It features interviews with fans from around the world who travel to the gatherings, as well as cast members from the franchise.

Life copying art copying life....

For more you can check the NY Daily News article here

All Things Good and Scholes

Hey how many of you thoroughly enjoyed David Scholes story Intervention that I read on episode 320? As you may remember this story was about a pair of beings examining a field of battle that capped the end of an ancient titanic war between the godlike benevolent race called the Brell and  a loose confederacy of the agents of chaos and darkness.  

The Brell it would seem are for all intents all powerful, but it is the small set back and reversals that over the ages eventually had drastic effects on Brell to protect themselves and those they had promised protection to and eventually led to defeat. 

Now the after effects are all that were hinted at in Intervention, when the god like Brell ( which now it seems were the basis for the Norse gods legends) appear to recover a long dead hero (who may or may not have been the inspiration for Thor).

Being just hinted at in the previous story, this last great stand by a Brell hero is brought to light in Scholes' Soldier of the Brell where Intervention is expanded and filled in with the book starting with the very same cataclysmic battle of the Gods! 

Even though we had a wonderful treatment in Intervention, the beginning of Soldier brings the majesty back home to roost and that is not the best part!  That is only the beginning!  Soldier of the Brell goes on to greater heights at a pell mell pace!  Because the fabulous part of Soldier is that is is less that 100 pages which leave it in a unique position to give us a rousing read in just a few settings!

The really fun part of this book is that you get the feeling that you have heard the story and recognize the players , but I ascribed this to Scholes solid grip on the Norse mythology and plainly he can weave a wonderful tale.  Scholes indeed would be that person around an ancient cookfire that could mesmerize with the flame and the tale.  

Soldier of the Brell is almost impossible NOT to recommend.  Just because he has managed to hammer a wide vista into a smaller venue and everyone benefits! 

Ebook versions are to be found on Xlibris and Amazon. You can also get a killer paperback version on Amazon as well.  I love the cover!  But if you like your E book version...OMG they are so REASONABLE!  

In other great news from Dave - He writes:

Just to let you know that the e-book version of my Alien Hunter, Star Trooper novella is currently free on Amazon (until 11.59pm Friday 20 July US Pacific Time).

This should be the link: 

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Hunter-Star-Trooper-ebook/dp/B007HYRT6K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331248758&sr=1-1

Yep that works Dave!  And you saw it, people!  FREE  Alien Hunter Star Trooper!  Do I need to say more people?! 

David Steffen Announces Winner of Free Book Contest!

Several weeks ago, David Steffen announced that he was giving away a free copy of Uncle John’s Flush Fiction anthology with his newest stories in it (along with others).  David would like to congratulate BMU fan - Michael Hanrahan who mentioned BMU as one of the Blogs he frequents.

Congrats Mike!

Now you need to contact either Dave or me, so we can get this very entertaining book into your hands asap.

Thanks to all who entered, All of the blogs and podcasts mentions really appreciate the interest, count on it!

Paul Cole

Beam Me Up podcast on WRFR lp/fm Rockland Maine usa

beammeuppodcast@gmail.com

New Book Reader In the Past

I really enjoyed this article I came across in Boing Boing. The device you see in the graphic is from the April, 1935 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics. In it we see what they envisioned as the future of machines for reading "electron" books. What I see is a technology that was used up until a few years ago, the microfiche machines. Also you can see the influences from the picture viewers popular a few years earlier. The technology to the best of my knowledge never made the transition to the consumer book field. But as you can see, it is based on tried and true technology.

The Retronaut via Boing Boing

Dave Scholes new novel Alien Hunter now available

Writer Dave Scholes send in an item that is real good news.  This is the gist of the note is:

• Just to let you know that I've just published a novella based on my Alien Hunter series that was published on the GVM site.
• 
  
• At present its only available on Lulu but will become available on Amazon etc and as an e-book for e-readers in the coming weeks.
• The Lulu link is here

 Thanks for the update Dave

Beam Me Up episode 297 now online

Wow does it go fast in Beam Me Up episode 297!

I start off with a new Symphony of Science titled  The Greatest Show on Earth and I follow it up with another piece of music – When Will You Die?  from They Might be Giants.

Not slowing a bit I play episode three of Erin Bassett’s Clockwork.  This week, tensions begin to build higher as classes start in earnest and Ester once again finds that she is in the midst of the same group of antagonists. However the mysterious Holland seems to always be at the right place and right time to keep things from spiraling completely out of control. However he seems to know more about Ester than he is letting on!

Next up Ron Huber gives us a great review of Under the Moons of Mars: The new Adventures of Barsoom. Ron gives us a great review of the Simon and Shuster release due out 2/12/12.

And at the bottom of the hour I play the conclusion of Beautiful Dreamer by Edward McKeown.  In part 2 Sagawa is confident that her dream will pervail, and Taluma can not muster the confidence to dream her people’s future. But after aiding the human child Brittony to gain memories of her mother she may have gained more than just a grateful child but a powerful ally in the dream!

How We Play Football in Alabama And Other Short Stories From Doug Hilton

Hey! Regulars to Beam Me Up and the podcast will recognize Doug Hilton. Well, Mr. Hilton just wrote us a short note, of extremely good news. Here ya go...

• My 42-story anthology of short sci-fi stories has been published on amazon kindle for all the world to see. Here’s a link to the book in the Kindle store:
• How We Play Football in Alabama And Other Short Stories From Doug's World
  
• Here is the link to the book HERE

Cover art and interior illustrations are by Richard H. Fay.

The title story is very funny. If you are interested in a taste of Doug's writing can log to the Beam Me Up podcast episode 246 for his cover story How We Play Football in Alabama

Dark Tower Crumbling...

Topless Robot is reporting that the much vaunted Ron Howard "Dark Tower" project has stalled if not closed all together.

Robot writes:

• Variety reports that the studio is now considering abandoning Ron Howard's ambitious adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels.

and

• Deadline now reports that the Dark Tower pre-production staff have been asked to stop working, and that all plans for a September start date have been canceled.

The skinny may be that Universal finally got a whiff of the cost of the project and may be looking for another studio to share the "load" Warner being a likely candidate. They may be concerned about the length of the arc which may cover the best part of a decade. ummm can anyone say Star Wars. Also some of the arc would play on TV and that is worrisome....again...ummm Star Trek? I really think the problem here is acute lack of foresight. Ron Howard might not be a SURE THING but damn close and come on even the frackin worst King movie made money! (well that might be stretching it a little....I keep seeing visions of a KW with a huge goblin face on it...shudder) So I wouldn't hold my breath about seeing a Dark Tower movie in the next 3 or 4 years.

Review: Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh

Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh
Night Shade Books (www.nightshadebooks.com)

Just about every post apocalyptic work I have ever read, treats the event as an instant or all but instantaneous event. Even movies for that matter, ie oh lets see...the first Mad Max, The Postman (book and movie) oh there are many movie examples, you don't want to drag out a movie I guess, but a book..... but even then its hard to put a finger to any that slowly let the world come apart. Granted, I may be nit picking here, but it does lend itself well to describing Will McIntosh's Soft Apocalypse. It could almost be called slow apocalypse but I bet NSB would have called him on that.

Anyway, Soft Apocalypse instead of taking place fairly quickly, evolves over a decade. The main character Jasper meanders through basically can be called southern United States for the most part. McIntosh has created something of an everyman with Jasper. Not your average post apocalyptic type. Not someone you would consider as a survivor, not overly successful in relationships, lots of self doubt and fear, just not the person you have come to expect when looking at a main character. But many times more realistic I suspect. Just because he seems to feel and react much as the average person would. At one point flat out wonders why thing just can't continue to get worse instead of one last gasp collapse. A frightening but I suspect all together normal.

Soft Apocalypse is a slow but steady decline but at the same time a morphing of the norm as well. Society doesn't just become a more violent version of itself, even though there is that aspect, but it is almost like there is this ultra slow quest for some sort of equilibrium.

McIntosh has put some effort into fleshing this mileu out. The type of breakdown societies are there but real early on and as things continue the paradigm shifts.

Soft Apocalypse is an edgy construct that I honestly think will be popular.

Review: Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places

Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places
Gustavo Bondoni
22 stories 269 pages
published by Altered Dimensions
paperback $14.95 Ebook $7.00
http://www.sciencefictionpaperbackbooks.com/

I really like the option that many publishing houses are using now. Quite often you are given the choice of buying the print or an electronic only version of a given book. Don't get me wrong, I love books. The look and feel of the pages not to mention the smell of opening a brand new book or for that matter a book that has been on a shelf for years. There really isn't any comparison to that. When I first started reviewing books it was so exciting to have someone SEND you a book. However that rapidly changed to oh plead no, don't send me any more books! They were stacked everywhere. With the e-book I could have all the books in my office available on my laptop drive. Certainly has it's attraction.

So, needless to say when I saw that Altered Dimensions was releasing Gustavo Bondoni's new collection Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places I was there! Bondoni is one of those writers that just surprise. When I first started reading his works I really thought that here is a competent writer but not great. Well instead of falling down when he first stumbled he just started moving his legs faster so by the time he was upright he was moving at blazing speeds!

The first story I read that I thought was exceptionally good was Evasion. Gustavo made an aging station in the distant reaches of the Solar System breathe. You buy right into his characters and the plot line moves fast and steady. Plus to realize that he had sprung a mystery story on me without being aware he was doing it was a real treat. So you can imagine how finding this story as part of his collection just tells me that this is going to be a fun read.

Tenth Orbit starts out with a melancholy tale that just breathes age and loss followed by a gut wrenching post war tale of a mother's love. Yep, there are certainly some gems in Tenth Orbit. Mixed into the balance are short pieces, funny, light and decidedly dark.

Bondoni is one of the rare writers who are honestly interested in honing their craft and its a rare treat indeed when we are invited along to witness the process.

Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places is certainly worthy of a look. Bondoni is a writer that we will be seeing a great deal of in the future. Tenth Orbit is certainly a laudable effort.

Comment: Banned Book Week

I think that one of the most fundamental reasons I consider reading one of my major hobbies is the freedom I have enjoyed since I started reading in earnest way back in the 60s. Not that my reading habits changed all that much during that period, I still read mostly for entertainment, but what before was satisfied by comics now required a bit more meat. Mainly I suspect it was something to do with attention span. I wanted material that would take me away for longer periods of time.

My parents never really put limits on what I read. It wasn't until much later when it came to me that not being serious readers they may have never considered books anything more than what they were fundamentally. That very likely worked in my favor, for had I been told that I must read this, I would have looked upon reading as a chore.

So I spent my formative years and early adulthood exploring the trials of the dustbowl years, the fate of indentured or otherwise in the civil war years, Idealized Polynesian society, small town social / economic strife in a small new England town in the 60s, wild adventures along the Mississippi frightening political upheaval during the 30s and 40s. It was all open to me.

Then in the 70s I discover science and science fiction. Now the past present and the future were my playgrounds. I was free to read whatever I wanted....or so I thought.

Yes, I am talking about that horror called banned books. Dan brought me some pages this week to the September 2010 issue of the AARP Bulletin. On page 39 they list some of the books banned by American schools and libraries. Even this list is astounding and frightening. There is just something inherently ugly and evil about banning books. It should be so easy, if you choose to object to and not read something fine but what gives you the right to tell me that I must adhere to your choices.

I am not going to go through the whole list. Find a copy and read the article. It is truly unbelievable. But here are some of the books that I think are well within the venue of BMU.

Animal Farm George Orwell, 1945
1984 George Orwell, 1949
Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1932
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 1954
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962
Slaughter House Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969

Some that might span the gap so to speak would be books like

Cujo, Stephen King 1981
James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl 1961
Harry Potter books J.K. Rowlings 1997 - 2007
Lord of the Rings J.R.R. tolkien 1954

One of the most egregious occurrences has to be Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which according to the article Ballantine sanitized editions sold to schools from 1967 to 1973 and went so far as to SELL ONLY the sanitized editions from 1973 to 1979. You have to ask why would Mr. Bradbury
allow one of his most memorable novels be butchered? Ballantine carried out this campaign without telling or asking Mr. Bradbury! Now that takes a pair right there....

Stay vigilant. I can guarantee that no matter what your political or religious views, the books that you consider as your RIGHT to have own and read are on someone else's ban list. Before you take the easy route and believe that certain people should never have access to certain books, consider your most important book and have someone take it away from you and possibly imprison you for owning it. Don't say that it can't happen because it already has, countless times. If you can justify any banning of books then you are a breath away from agreeing with them all.

September 25th to October 2nd is the American Library Association's annual Banned Books Week

Review: Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age, or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer."

Amanda, of Books of Amanda Land blog, sends us a link for her review of Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age, or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer."

• Have you ever wondered what it might be like to glimpse hundreds of years into the future? Would our race still be kicking or will we have completely destroyed each other? What kind of technology would we have to make life easier or even deadlier?
• Neal Stephenson must have asked himself some of these very question when conceptualizing the world created for the novel "Diamond Age, or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer." Think you might like to check it out? Visit Books of Amanda Land at amandarosetew.blogspot.com for a detailed review of "Diamond Age" and various other novels. It's absolutely mind altering.
  

Books of Amanda Land reviews Stephenson's Diamond Age

Hey here is something neat. I just had a comment pop up from another blogger who does book reviews. The note said that she had a new review of Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age.

The blog is Books of Amanda Land (http://amandarosetew.blogspot.com/) and there other subjects, but the book reviews are interesting. If you haven't read Diamond Age yet, the review might prove pretty damn useful.

Review: Burning Skies by David J. Williams

Burning Skies by David J. Williams

Spectra / Ballantine trade pb 401pp

The first thing I should say about Burning Skies is that it is part two of a trilogy. I honestly didn't know that until I read the author page at the back. The book has been written to accommodate those readers that didn't get the first episode. I can't say that it is rife with flashbacks as you would expect. Burning Skies stands on it's own very well indeed.

The next thing I have to say is that Burning Skies is almost impossible to lay down! Why? Because it quite literally is crammed with non stop action! Just as the speed of the tale slows a bit, Williams shifts perspective and point of view and the reader is off once more at frenetic speed.

The novel is filled with political intrigue, military maneuvering, absolutely stunning rolling gun battles and there is still time for some dialogue! You would think with all this action that one would be left with cardboard cut out characters, and though they might not be “complete” (and there may very well be a reason for that....) Williams has done a credible job of rounding out the players.

If you go by the book cover you would almost expect that it's all a “one person show” when in fact this mysterious player Haskell seems to be playing from the shadows, in truth most of the perspective is from ground pounders though there are hints early on that they may be more to several of them than we are lead to believe early on.

The plot is easy enough to get a grip on. An insurgent / terrorist group called Autumn Rain wants to put mankind under their control. To that end they have disrupted or destroyed the net and assassination of the president. From there they work on the destruction of the Europa Platform. Huge asteroid based habitats.

How Williams keeps all the players and action under control is a mystery to me, but he does it and the hat trick produced from all this plate spinning is The Burning Skies. This isn't a space opera and neither is it a take of introspection. But don't think you have this book figured out in the first hundred or so pages. Williams plays some cards very close. So close in fact that I have had to revisit sections of the tale for those “oh yeah! Ok, I see it now” moments.

I honestly think that if I can say running gun battles and your pulse goes up, that you will enjoy this book. Or political intrigue played by a master gets you interested....you will enjoy the book. There are no larger than life people here, just a bunch of people that honestly believe in what they are doing...even if what they are doing or believe in was someone else's invention.... Check it out...you won't be disappointed.

Author Peter Riley Wants to Give Away $3000 in prizes!

That's right, according IO9

• Author Peter Riley is giving out $3,000 in prizes to people who'll read his book, Universes, and answer some questions about it.
• Riley hopes that running contests with cash prizes will "stir up interest on the Internet in order to get the book ultimately noticed and published." He's been looking for a publisher since he finished the novel in 1999.
• The contest starts July 4, with prizes range from $50 to $100 each.
  
• According to Riley "They're questions, most of which you'd have to have read most or all of the book to be able to answer,". "The best answer gets a prize."
  
• He'll post a new question every couple of weeks.

You can read Riley's book here.

Daily KOS: Science Fiction you should be reading

Ron Huber send me a cool link to a new feature on the Daily KOS website that might just become a regular feature, if it does, I would be a fan.

The article in question is called Science Fiction you should be reading, and the couple titles that are listed in this introductory article peaked my interest.

After the introduction the first novel that they mention is A Fire Upon the Deep by Venor Vinge. With this blurb:

• Right on the border between the worlds of normal matter-based beings and the unthinkable beyond, a little race called humans has found the wreck of a mammoth computer. With a little work, they might be able to get it going. It could be the greatest thing ever discovered by man. Or the very worst.

and the second is a personal favorite of mine Startide Rising by David Brin.

• The starship Streaker and splash into an alien ocean. Crewed by a mixture of humans, chimpanzees and dolphins, the ship has located something very valuable in space – something that many more ancient races than man are willing to go to war over – but Streaker hasn't shared the location of its find, and as the ship hunkers down to hide beneath the waves, vast forces prepare to battle.

Both novels are discussed in an intelligent manner with background and various other information nuggets that just imbues this article with enough goodness that entertains and informs.

It's a solid recommendation that can be found here and I know I look forward to the next installation.

JP Kelly wins award

From the Science Fiction Awards Watch blog I read:

• James Patrick Kelly’s collection, The Wreck of the Godspeed, has won the Outstanding Book of Fiction award for 2009, given by the New Hampshire Writers’ Project.

Congrats JP!

Probability Angels sequel due out in Spring 2010

Joseph Devon writes:

• First and foremost, fans of of my last book, Probability Angels, will be happy to know that there is a sequel in the works which should hopefully be released next Spring. There will be more info as that date approaches.

Here is my review of Devon's Probability Angels in Feb. 2009 ***review***


Check out Joseph Devon's web site here

Wana buy Gareth Powel's The Last Reef? You name your price!

Hey do you remember that great story that Gareth Powel let me read for Beam Me Up called "The Last Reef"? Well if you have forgotten it, let me remind you. It was about a man who goes to Mars to find out what happened to the woman that he loved very much. When he gets there he finds that she was one of a very small group that has "joined" with a computer communications system that has become self aware. What's more she has managed to walk out and remain virtually unaffected.
Anyway, the story evolves to the point where to save the girl, the sentient system and himself, he must join the machine as well. Not everything is as it appears though and I am not going to ruin the ending.

Why I am bringing this up is that this story is in the collection "The Last Reef & Other Stories" that was originally published in hardback and paperback by Elastic Press in August 2008. It contains 15 short stories, and received great reviews from Interzone, Prism, Sci-fi Online, and The Fix. (here is a link to the reviews ) and now if you would like a pdf of this book Gareth tells us that you can go to his page and make an offer!!!

If you're interested or want more information, you can click on this page link here