Thunderclouds having sex with the sun

[dreamer_easy]

The Lingua Franca podcast about the English-Djambarrpuyŋu Anatomy Dictionary is full of fascinating things of which this is only one: "Wäyuk is actually the word for 'upper arm', but during ceremonies, particularly about specific laws, the men will wear an arm band on their upper arm, and coming from that arm band are feathered strings and each one of those strings represents a law that is under consideration during that ceremony. And so those strings are also called wäyuk, and so that's what she was saying, it's like that, and so DNA is called djinaga'puy wäyuk which means 'a law for the inside of us'."

Via bodlon, The New Atheists' Narrow Worldview. I was gonna pull a quote from this, but there's too many interesting bits. I particularly appreciated the article as I'm halfway through Iain M. Banks' Surface Detail. If ever there was a book which just didn't need to throw in a little authorial lecture about how Religion Is Bad And Stupid and Will Inevitably Be Overthrown by Reason, this is that book! Although the marvellous description of Von Neumann machines as "the seemingly wizard wheeze of turning the rest of the universe into teeny little copies of yourself" makes up for a lot.

Moreover: GIP.

Comments

[jblum.livejournal.com]

*ignores all post content to grin at the icon*

A bad habit...

[george potter (from livejournal.com)]

...that Banks indulges in far too often for my taste. What really annoys me is that he tends to intertwine them in segments of writing that you actually want to read, making skipping them problematic. I'm agnostic, don't really care if he thinks religion is bad, but I've sort of heard this speech before, Mr. Banks, can we get back to the sentient habitats and whimsically named star-ships please? It's not as teeth-grindingly irksome as Orson Scott Card's mandatory 'Why Mormons Are The Kewlest' lectures, granted, but If I want a speech, I'll....no. I never want a speech. Just never.

How is Surface Detail, by the way?

Re: A bad habit...

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Pretty terrific, actually. Long, but not needlessly long, which was the problem with Matter. Bit of a stock Banks villain, but really lovely use of Culture tech to explore the idea of an afterlife.

(Just now bumped into another annoying authorial intrusion, this time about academic feminism, a little satirical comment from nowhere in the middle of an otherwise gripping, moving scene. It's like you sat on the remote and changed channels for an instant.)

Re: A bad habit...

[george potter (from livejournal.com)]

Ha! Good way to put it. Exactly what I meant by 'problematic to skip'.

Glad to hear it's both long and tasty. I was fascinated by the idea of the 'virtual hells' as soon as I heard about it. I'll be getting it soon via trade with an online friend (also coming in that trade: ""This Is Me, Jack Vance!", the autobiography of a writer I basically worship. Can't wait!)

Re: A bad habit...

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Just finished it not ten minutes ago! It's saved my life in this awful heat by giving me something sedentary to do. :) Anyway, I enjoyed it warts and all - very satisfying. And often very funny.

(Jon is a big Vance fans - I really only know him from one story, Retrograde Summer. I'll have to pull some of Jon's novels off the shelf and give them a go.)

Re: A bad habit...

[george potter (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks for the info. Funny is very much a plus: Banks can be hilariously witty, but often gets into a grim mood that can be hard-going. His better stuff (I'm a particular fan of THE USE OF WEAPONS, THE BUSINESS and the not-mentioned-much collection THE STATE OF THE ART)combines black humor and real character comedy to vivid effect, enhancing the darker moments and serious themes.

'Retrograde Summer' is a John Varley, story (and quite a superb one!)but you certainly aren't the first to get the two confused. Vance was actually quite the influence on Mr. Varley. Vance is probably best known for his THE DYING EARTH story cycle, and the Hugo award winning "The Dragon Masters" and "The Last Castle". He writes what is often called 'baroque' science fiction (though I've heard people say that he goes beyond baroque to rococo!) and that's a fair term in light of his dense, complex but very elegant style. Quite a pleasure to read, but always in service to the story. Unlike many SF writers of his era (he published his first story in '45) he doesn't stint on character development, and he uses that beautiful, sensual language as a device to build and enhance character and personality detail. I highly recommend his work! He's 94 now and still spry, having published the aforementioned autobiography just last year.

(And I recommend Varley as well! :) My personal favorite novel by him is STEEL BEACH, which I think would make a superb six hour mini-series by a better adapter than me. Heh. I've tried several times and -- though I managed to get a pretty fair first two episodes from it, the extremely complex and twisty central section of the novel defies my skill.)

Best,

-George

Re: A bad habit...

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

'Retrograde Summer' is a John Varley story

WAK

lol

And it's Varley who's on Jon's bookshelf, too.