I like to be in America/Everything free in America

[rolanni]

For those interested in cautionary tales, or who believe that mob rule cannot prevail, I recommend The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu. It's not a quick read, and it is a little dense at times. On the other hand, there's an immense amount of material to cover, from the birth of comics in the New York newspapers of the 1890s through their rise, persecution, and death in the mid-1950's, from the ashes of which Mad magazine eventually arose. This history is of special interest to science fiction folks, since the comics are a first cousin, and more than few of the names of influential and quoted people will be familiar -- Harry Harrison, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, to name a few. Includes a list of comic book artists and writers who lost their jobs in the purges of the 50s -- upwards of 900 of them -- and who were never able to work in their field again. I'm not sure if those who committed suicide as a result of hounding, ridicule, and eventual bankruptcy are included.

In other news, Steve's still sick. He is at home, tended by cats. I apologize for having to state the obvious, but while he is sick, SRM Publisher -- which is a one-person operation -- is closed, and no orders are being processed. Thank you for your understanding.

The temperature this morning was -2F/-18C this morning, which is as cold as we've seen in a while, and the little green Subaru thought about refusing to start, but then decided that it was a nice morning for a run. Good little green car.

Circumstantial evidence gathered on the way up from the parking lot indicates that the crows still find the campus grounds pleasing to themselves.

So, what've you read lately that was thought-provoking and strange?

Comments

[christymarx.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say that comics died in the 50s by any means. They retrenched, adapted and evolved, but Wertham utterly failed to kill the medium, happily for me.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I suspect there's another book about the rebirth. The last chapter of this one does a hodgepodge about the rebirth of the superheros in the 1960s, but that's not really his focus.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

...and rethinking this a little more on the drive home...

The book ends with Mad reinventing itself, from a comic to a magazine, and adopting the editorial strategy of satirizing real-world people-and-events. The comics industry of the 50s was able to be successfully attacked because it wasn't (according to the text) paying sufficient attention to real-world events that concerned it. The implication is that the attack on and victory over the comics actually produced a smarter, savvier opponent.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I am reading The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. It's interesting, if a little over written. It's not crisp, the way you and Steve write.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

How much is coffee in Amer-i-ca?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

If I drink anymore coffee, it's gonna get ugly.

Oh.

Wait...

read lately

[k-10b.livejournal.com]

The Magicians by Lev Grossman: strange in that it managed to be one of the most joy-less coming of age fantasies I've ever encountered. Thought-provoking because I suspect Quentin reacted to life in a far more "real world" sort of way than most authors dare to posit.

Currently reading The Silver Lake by Fiona Patton ... I could wish for a little more exposition and translation, but it offers an interesting take on how gods are born. I usually enjoy having to work as a reader (thanks for the P. C. Hodgell rec), but don't like unexplained, completely foreign vocabulary very much. However, like most of her books, it's gender neutral in some fairly amazing ways.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Just finished "Halting State" by Charlie Stross. Most unusual in that it is written in present tense second person, and multiperson at that (each cahper is from a different person, but all addressed as 'you'). It's a combination I haven't seen before, and took me a while to get used to it -- present tense (which I normally dislike, it's difficult to do well), second person (which I've only seen before in computer games, of the sort "you are in a maze of twisty corridors, all looking exactly alike"; once again difficult to carry off outside that context), and multiperson (usually either 3rd person PoV or 1st person 'diary' style).

As well as being a good story, though, he actually managed to make that unusual style readable. That's a rare feat, and kudos to him for even attempting it, more for succeeding, and lots for making me like it. There's a rumoured sequel in the works and I rather look forward to it.

Hot Colors

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

Currently rereading Crystal Soldier & Crystal Dragon (gave same to roommate for Xmas, and am reading with her for ease of discussion and because I wanted to reread them.)

Over lunch today I read the YA biography The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton, a biography of the two brothers who invented Day Glow colors, inks and paints. Very cool. Here's an animation (http://www.charlesbridge.com/client/client_pages/day-glo-brothers/day-glo-home.html) that shows how the day-glo colors achieve their glowing nature.

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

Good thoughts to Steve - still fighting off the remnants of a really STUBBORN sniffle=cough that's on week 4 now...hope the cats are helpful. Alas, now that we have integrated Kaya to the rest of the household (It being now one tail the less), my allergies kick in on top of the remnant most evenings.