tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077773.post5009860972439961042..comments2024-03-26T15:22:25.095-06:00Comments on The Earliad: Strange New Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh...Earl J. Woodshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07963936256606285358noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077773.post-53288378036415657112007-02-09T08:52:00.000-07:002007-02-09T08:52:00.000-07:00Thank you for a very thoughtful and cogent analysi...Thank you for a very thoughtful and cogent analysis. It's given me a lot to ponder, particularly the idea that there's an awful lot of irony and self-awareness in literature these days. Personally I love reflexive literature and film, but there's something to be said for simply telling a story...you might even generate a new idea by doing so, instead of, as you say, holding up yet another mirror. <BR/><BR/>In any event, the experience of finishing the story, having it turned down, and your analysis is probably a lot more valuable in the long run than an actual sale. I haven't made nearly enough mistakes yet to become a real author. It's long past time I start making some more.Earl J. Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07963936256606285358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077773.post-53445626096376718732007-02-09T02:13:00.000-07:002007-02-09T02:13:00.000-07:00Thank you for sharing your story, Earl. It was a ...Thank you for sharing your story, Earl. It was a pretty good read, but I do agree with your analysis in the end. The "context-sensitive" doors is too big of a left turn for the story to support. <BR/><BR/>I think you are also perhaps missing some "big picture" issues as well: 1) The key to personal enlightenment is through watching Star Trek reruns on TV (even if it is mis-shapen). This seems also as self-reflective as the context-sensitive doors, something of a gimmick. 2) Human values are the only thing that can save the galaxy. While your Talosians seem to certainly value human spirit, it does seem rather anthrocentric to assume that our Earthpersonal ideas are the best ones for every creature in the galaxy. This isn't any real fault of yours, Earl, but a common enough assumption of Star Trek and much of science fiction in general. <BR/><BR/>We seem to need to want these stories to affirm to us that we as a people can strive beyond our current condition, as well as to show us "traps" to "avoid" in our humanistic quests. However, all of our storytelling, our on-screen pyrotechnics, our deep-voiced heroes and plucky heroines, really function much in the same way as the Talosian mind illusions, albeit on a much more primitive level. We turn to SF, TV, movies, games, and books to provide a certain amount of escape from our lives, which can be sometimes mis-shapen as well. If there is instructive material to be found in those media, it's often on the level of a sales pitch - buy the toys related to the story. That's perhaps not so evident in your story, but there are elements of it -- we're going to have to search out episodes from two different runs of Star Trek to fully apprecieate your references, and last time I looked, the DVDs were not cheap. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes there's more to SF: the so-called "mirror" that society can use to see themselves within the context of the fiction. For a while, I was thinking this idea has some legs to it, but not so much any more. It doesn't work too well for a society that is sick of looking at mirrors all the time, and it makes all the difference as to what kind of mirror is being held up, and even who is lurking hidden in behind whilst holding up the mirror nowadays. I doubt people reading the golden age of SF really asked themselves that kind of question, but now, I think you may risk a certain naivete if you don't. <BR/><BR/>That's really a lot to read into a little SF story, and I wonder if much of it went beyond the basic quality issues and merchandising angles with regards to accepting some stories and rejecting others at Pocket Books. <BR/><BR/>All of that being said, we don't need Pocket Books much anyway. The chances that I would have picked up the book on my own are very short odds. We have your blog, we read your posts, and they give us more to think about, talk about, and enjoy than ever before. Please keep up the great writing, allow us our criticisms, and above all have fun doing it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com