Forgotten Causes, 04 Posthuman Envoy, is now posted.
If she wasn’t human, she sure looked it.
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Archive for March, 2021
Forgotten Causes, 04 Posthuman Envoy
Posted March 31, 2021 By John C WrightSeeing the Elephant
Posted March 31, 2021 By John C WrightTom Simon, in one of his typically luminous essays, on the topic of why Americans fear dragons, reports that, as a matter of fact, they do not.
In part, he has this to say:
Our composite American has never shied away from fantasy or the imagination. He loved tall tales long before he learnt to read; and since he grew up in a landscape of wild and wonderful possibilities, he did not much care whether the tall tales were strictly impossible or not.
He is equally delighted with Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. He will swallow the feats of Natty Bumppo, which are flatly impossible without being magical, right along with the ghost stories of Edgar Allan Poe, which are magical and might not be quite impossible.
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Tenet (Part IV)
Posted March 31, 2021 By John C WrightTENET (Part IV) The Practice of Time Travel Explained
We are examining the practice of how to write a time travel story, which is, in theory, a story that should be impossible to write. There are three major cheats which allow such a story to be written, namely, fatalism, acausality, and myriad worlds theory; there are several minor or halfway cheats; and the biggest cheat of all, which is merely not to bring up the topic. We will discuss each in order.
Tenet (Part III)
Posted March 30, 2021 By John C WrightTENET (Part III) The Theory of Time Travel
With all this in mind, this brings me to my main complaint and main compliment about the film, which regard the worldbuilding.
My main complaint is that it is time travel film. My main compliment is that is a cleverly done time travel film.
Now, be it known that, as an old hand in the science fiction field, as I said, I have read my share of time travel stories, perhaps one too many, and thought out it, or overthought it, and there are certain themes and conceits to which I have learned to take a hearty dislike.
Great Bookshelf Hunt of 2021
Posted March 27, 2021 By John C WrightI would like to encourage my beloved readers to go join in the Great Bookshelf Hunt of 2021.
Please visit the following link to Superversive Press, my publisher, and vote on books listed there, or add to the list.
The purpose in compiling this list is several-fold:
One: To recognize good books!
Two: To provide a reference for people looking for books to read
Three: To provide raw materials for nominations for the Dragon Awards and other such awards.
Since 2020 does not entirely overlap the Dragon Award year, books that qualify for the Dragons will be marked with an asterisk on our final list.
Filed in Announcement
The One Murder Policy
Posted March 26, 2021 By John C WrightA reader with the royal but hibernian name of Kingmcdee comments:
Even this very day I saw a Malthusian Prophet in a Youtube comments section proclaiming that resources are being exhausted at terrifying pace and that every country in the world needed to implement a One-Child Policy for several generations in the name of humanitarianism. He countered every accusation of draconian tyranny by wailing about how the alternative was so much worse.
This is one of the few issues where I put my Vulcan training aside, and turn into a passion-driven beast, restrained by weakest scruples from bloody murder.
My fatherly instincts are provoked.
Tenet (Part II)
Posted March 26, 2021 By John C WrightTENET (Part II) Theme, Plot. The Theory of Worldbuiling
Having said that, the characters are well drawn, but grim and dark and darkgrim grimdark. This is to be expected in the genre: spies and assassins and gunrunners are not a swashbuckling, cheery, upbeat gang, generally speaking. Even a spoof of such a genre is a spoof of what is a grim business, after all.
Despite all this, the theme of this film, while ambiguous (as are all Nolan themes) was not grim and dark, but a paean to the right and duty of every man to make his own fate. Since the background was, of necessity, fatalistic, this is something of a daring choice, and Nolan handles it well.
In less masterful hands, the same theme would have seemed absurd or trite. More on this later.
And, again, as is unusual in time travel films, the victory came at a cost.
Defining Semantics
Posted March 25, 2021 By John C WrightI gently suggest all here avoid semantic argument if possible.
I have no objection to pedantry, for I am a pedant myself, but I do wish to avoid arguments were there is no matter at stake, only a difference of preference of how to express it.
As a general rule, in the comments here, each man of good will may use both literal and figurative speech, or define his terms for the sake of clarification, each man as he sees fit, provided only political correctness and other forms of deception are not practiced.
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Filed in Reasonings
Today’s Recommended Reading
Posted March 25, 2021 By John C WrightI recommend this 2016 essay by our generation’s G.K. Chesterton, our own beloved Tom Simon:
It begins with a discussion of a rhythm and blues song, moves onto the horror of plastic knives at picnics, and dives into the deeper waters of discussing the goodness of mosquitoes, the Human Extinction Movement, and other matters of import.
Here is one paragraph from the second half, to whet your curiosity to read more:
A rather saintly German pastor, who had suffered terrible things at the hands of the Nazis, was once brought before Hitler himself. When asked what the Führer looked like, he said, ‘Like any man; that is, like Christ.’ He was capable of seeing the image of God even in his most dangerous enemy. He would not have said to Hitler, ‘You’re no good’; he would have been more likely to say, ‘You have a great capacity for good; why don’t you use it?’ It probably would not have averted the war or the Holocaust, because Hitler was convinced that these things actually were good; but it would at any rate have left the door open for a miracle.
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Years later, another visitor came away with a hauntingly human image of Hitler. Siegfried Knappe, a young Wehrmacht officer (he was twenty-eight when the war ended) who was briefly the youngest divisional commander in German history, was in Berlin during the final agony of 1945. His superiors sent him to Hitler’s bunker to deliver some bad news, fearing (with justification) that he would do drastic things to them if they delivered it personally.
By all means, read the whole thing.
Filed in Only Posting a Link, Wisdom
Forgotten Causes, 03 Memory Discontinuity
Posted March 24, 2021 By John C WrightForgotten Causes, 03 Memory Discontinuity, is now posted.
If this entry is disjointed, I am leaving it that way since that is what it seemed to be. Maybe nightmare. Maybe worse.
They say that at times, forgetting is a blessing. Now if I could only remember who “they” were, I would know what to make of it.
Tenet (Part I)
Posted March 24, 2021 By John C WrightTENET (Part I) Introductory Remarks. Genre, Style and Character
TENET is a 2020 film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, starring John David Washington and Elizabeth Debicki. A friend of mine urged me with heartfelt enthusiasm to watch this film, and bought me a copy to ensure that I did. I am grateful, for it was well worth the time, no pun intended.
As is typical with Nolan films, TENET cannot be discussed without enormous and unforgiveable spoilers, and it is film worth not having spoiled, so I suggest only those who have seen it look beneath the fold for my remarks.
The film maker clearly meant for an audience not knowing what to expect to watch it, and, as a courtesy to him, if not for one’s own enjoyment, that is the proper way to see it.
Be warned that what follows is more an essay than a review, or rather, a series of essays, delving, perhaps unwisely, into the philosophy behind the film, and the theory and practice of storytelling in general.
It will be spaced over six parts, including this.
The Reverse Cassandra Effect
Posted March 22, 2021 By John C WrightA reader with rangiferine yet canine name of Rudolf Harrier observes:
“But at the same time that science has degraded itself, respect for science has only increased…”
The economist Julian Simon coined the phrase “the Reverse Cassandra Effect” to describe the phenomenon of when an oracular prediction, when proved false, increased rather than decreased the prestige and popularity of the oracle.
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Filed in Musings
Somewhither Kindle on Sale
Posted March 19, 2021 By John C Wright
Forgotten Causes, 02 Defense Condition
Posted March 17, 2021 By John C WrightForgotten Causes, 02 Defense Condition, is now posted.
First contact and engagement with unknown hostiles was non-optimal. Sure, it looks like a total CF, but I feel I won that fight.
The Art and Craft of Writing
Posted March 15, 2021 By John C WrightMy lovely and talented wife has penned a book putting into words the valuable insights both yours truly and a number of authors whose names you may have heard have found useful to our craft:
Book Description:
Up your writing game!
Delve into the secrets of writing fiction, presented in clear language to make them immediate and usable.
Insights into theme, character, description, plot, portraying emotions, avoiding infodumps, dealing with tropes, and more.
New hope for writers in despair.
“The course is a treasure trove of practical, positive advice you can use immediately to improve your WIP or solidify your ideas for a new project.” Marina Fontaine, author of Chasing Freedom.
“I took L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright’s “Guinea Pig” writing class in November of 2018 and it definitely upped my game. Since “graduating” her course, I’ve sold over 30 short stories and 2 novellas (as of February 2021). Thanks, Jagi.” —James Pyles, author of multiple published short stories.
“I especially liked how you simply laid out ideas about story and characters, which instantly made me go, ‘Oh, yeah! I’ve seen that before!’… I felt that these were techniques that would have taken me ages to work out on my own, and seeing them simply stated has seriously helped me as a writer.”—Billy Charlton, teen student.
Filed in Announcement
