2019 in review

2019 was a pretty good year for literacy for me.  I need to remind myself of this from time to time.  I didn't read quite as much as I wanted, but I read a lot of great books and had a lot of good discussion about them with friends.  This is something that I want to continue to do and do more of in 2020.

This year I compiled the index for a friend's book, Cavaliers and Economists, and published two essays on tor.com - one about Jack London's dystopian novel The Iron Heel, and the other about Isaac Asimov's use of encyclopedism in Foundation.  I posted a bunch here, as well.  Finally, I started working on some fiction writing projects.  I don't have anything ready to go public yet, but it feels good to work o this, as well.

Looking forward, I want to continue to get involved in the local writers' community and continue to get my work out to a reading audience.  I think next steps really are about making connections with other writers and finding ways to make use of my experience and training in education.  

Dies the Fire

I picked up this book thinking that it was something else.  I had heard about S.M. Stirling's novels of the Change and thought that Dies the Fire was the first book in the series.  The book I wanted is Island in the Sea of Time, which is about an island on the eastern seaboard that it transported from the late twentieth-century to the seventeenth and the inhabitants are forced to figure out how to survive.  Cool sf premise.
This novel is the first in a spin-off series that narrates what happens to a different part of the United States.  An EMP has knocked out all of the world's electronics, forcing the inhabitants of this world to re-invent means of survival and re-discover many technologies and society.  As governments and civil order collapse, people coalesce into factions with competing drives.
The novel opens with Mike Havel flying a charter plane into rough Idaho backwoods.  He must land his now non-functional plane and hike the family in his charge our of the wilderness.  Havel is a capable ex-marine with a talent for bringing out others' skills.  Mike and this family make up the core of the first group in the novel.
The second main group is Clan Mackenzie, headed by Juniper Mackenzie, formerly a musician and high priestess of her coven.  Both groups gradually build their populations and adapt to their new world.  They re-discovery skills in archery and sword craft.
The two groups end up forming an alliance to fight against the Protector, a self-styled feudal lord who has taken over a nearby city.  All through the novel, the groups are in constant danger from roving bands of raiders, the Protector's army, other groups hungry for resources, and starvation as they figure out how to marshall the resources that they have and become more efficient in farming without powered equipment.
Stirling's skill lies in descriptions of combat.  The novel is littered with fight scenes and imaginative battle plans.  The novel is also notable in a certain lack of exposition.  Stirling does not let the reader know more than the characters do.  We see the perspectives of other groups, but we don't know what is going on outside of that.  Stirling doesn't reveal the true cause of the Change, nor does he reveal more of the outside world, aside from the gossip and speculation of characters in the novel.
The novel was enjoyable to read but I am not terribly interested in reading more in this spin-off series.  It runs a little closer to swords and magic fantasy (without the magic, of course), than I normally like.  I will likely check out the first novel of the Change in the main series, however.

Visual Kindred

While reading Octavia Butler's Kindred, I learned that it had been adapted into a graphic novel.  After searching this out online and seeing some of the artwork, I decided that I needed to have this version of the book as well.  After getting it home, I paged through it, glancing at the representations of the book that I was currently reading, but I decided that I wanted to shelve it for a while before reading it.  I wanted to come back to it with a fresher perspective rather than, essentially, reading it twice in a row.
I recently did pick this up and was very happy with this adaptation.  I really enjoyed Butler's novel and I think that this work really does it justice.  The artwork is very careful to show the passage of time on Dana and Kevin.  Their faces and forms change of the course of the narrative to reflect the trials that they endure.
Need Okorafor write in the introduction that this graphic novel serves both as a way into Butler's work for the uninitiated and as a new way to read this novel.  I definitely found this to be the case.  The visual aspect of this book represented both the horror of the novel and the moments of compassion that Dana is able to find with others.  This is definitely a book to pick up.

Devil Master/Where Angels Rot/Hammr/Subtype Zero

Growing up near Cleveland, I went to a lot of small and local punk shows, but last night was the first time I took the opportunity to see a smaller metal show.  Over the last few years I have gotten to see a lot of bigger acts in big venues and it felt good to be in a smaller crowd, closer to the actual band.
Now That's Class is a small club nestled in between Cleveland proper and Lakewood.  They frequently host local and regional punk, indie, and metal shows and have a skateboard ramp inside of an old double storefront.  Walking in, the place reminded me of countless dive punk bars I've been to in the past to see shows.  My buddy paid $5 for our two beers, and it felt like home.  The walls were covered in stickers and graffiti and one shelf behind the bar was a veritable shrine to Rodney Dangerfield, complete with something that looked like a cookie jar shaped like Rodney's head, a vinyl copy of "Rappin' Rodney" and the No Respect board game.  The first band was just performing their sound check as we entered.

Where Angels Rot tended to have good energy and played black/death metal to a handful of people.  They were young and the drummer had a very big kit that he seemed a little lost behind.  They were at their best when playing the slower, almost dirge-like interludes that peppered most of their songs.  But when they kicked into faster tempos the double bass drums tended to muddy and lag.  They played well individually but need more time together to gel as a group.  The guitarist stood out as the talent in the group, taking on both lead and rhythm duties in the four-piece.

The second band, Subtype Zero, played incredibly well together and were a lot of fun to watch.  They played a thrashier, shreddier metal that had hints of Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies groove to it.  The two guitarists traded leads, the bassist added harmonics to the composition, and the drummer was much more at home behind his set. 

Hammr is a 3-piece grind metal group.  The members are a bit older and fit well into their roles.  Their brand of metal isn't one that I normally listen to, but it was a lot of fun to watch live.  The highlight of their set for me was watching the singer switch out his bass for a guitar after the first song.  He had initially strapped on the bass and played through their opener but then set it on top of his stack, I thought to change a string or tune.  But then he grabbed a gig bag as though he had forgotten it and got out another guitar.  The band played the rest of the set with the bass atop the amp and playing two guitars.

The headliner for the night, Devil Master from Philly, put on a great show beginning with setting up.  My buddy and I had been watching a dude in a long leather duster through the whole show because he looked like someone from '80s goth metal band Christian Death.  I missed the beginning of the set up because I had gone to use the restroom and buy a beer, but when I got back I saw Christian Death stringing artificial cobweb from a nail on the wall to the microphone in the center of the stage.  The band packed the tiny stage with its 6 members, the largest band of the night.  The band played a punk-infused black metal, a crossover I had not heard much of before.  Among other highlights of the show was the keyboard player who made no facial expressions and barely moved the entire show.  For many of the songs, his hands were placed atop his keyboard, fingers draped over the front of it.  It was a strong performance choice, but fun as hell to watch amid the frenetic dancing and gesturing of the rest of the band.

The show was great and here it is, nearly 12 hours later and my ears are still ringing.  All four bands reminded me of what I loved about going to shows in Cleveland when I was young.  The small venue started out rather sparsely attended but was packed by the time the headliner wrapped.  A few people moshed just in front of the stage and a few feet in front of where I stood and there was an overwhelmingly open and welcoming atmosphere.  This is a place I want to go back to see more shows.

Quick notes on 2 books

In the last couple of weeks I finished reading two different books.  I didn't have a lot to say about either of them, so I figured that I would go for a combined post on the two.  These two don't really have anything in common aside from when I read them.  Here it is: notes on two books.

 I picked up this copy of Psycho by Robert Bloch at The Book Shelf.  This book store is a nonprofit that benefits Project: Learn, an adult literacy program that services my county.  I like to shop here because they turn over used books pretty quickly and I can often find oddballs like this book.  I have known for years that Hitchcock's film was based on a novel but I had never come across it before and it had never really dawned on me to seek it out.
Honestly, the film follows the book pretty closely.  I was surprised that Hitchcock didn't take more liberties with the plot.  He changed some aspects about Norman's personality and the specific nature of his affliction, but the content and tone are very similar.  This is a quick read and it is very pulpy.
I remember hearing that Hitchcock had bought out copies of this novel across the country in an attempt to keep the public from knowing the ending going into the movie.  Apparently Hitchcock took spoilers very seriously.
What I like best about this copy is that it was a promotional re-printing for the Gus VanSant remake of Psycho starring Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.  This copy must have been languishing on someone's shelf for quite a while before I got my hands on it.

The other book is Jonathan Ames' The Double Life is Twice as Good.  My wife suggested this book to me as something she had enjoyed and I might as well.  The book is a collection of Ames' varied work: personal essays, short fiction, and journalism.  His voice is fairly consistent throughout, meaning that his fiction reads like his reportage and delves into very similar subjects, such as drug use, visiting prostitutes, and spending time with celebrities in public.  Ames' personal writing style is engaging, but he retreads similar territory and many of his pieces seem to be more about himself than about his subjects.  This style is similar to that of David Foster Wallace's journalism but much more sparse.
The book worked as a breakfast table read.

Chili and Cornbread

I like food.  I also like cooking to share with others.  I don't tend to use a lot of recipes but usually just go with what I have on hand and what looks good to me.  Chili is one of those things that you can make a lot of different ways with a variety of ingredients.  Here is one version that I recently made.  This one includes a step with garlic-stuffed roasted peppers that I don't always use but really gives your chili a depth of flavor.  The preparation for the peppers can be done in advance.

Tempeh Chili and Cornbread
Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 poblano pepper
1 medium onion
4 carrots, peeled
4 ribs celery
1 package tempeh
assorted cans of beans
assorted cans of tomatoes
1 can of beer
some vegetable stock
assorted spices including chili powder, cumin, allspice, cayenne, etc.

Process:
Roasted peppers
1. Peel and trim all garlic, julienne half and mince the rest.

Hollowed pepper with julienne garlic

2. Cut off tops of jalapeno peppers and remove ribs and seeds.
3. Stuff julienne garlic into hollowed peppers.
4. Coat poblano pepper and stuffed jalapenos in olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast at 350 for about 30 minutes or until skin begins to bubble.
 

5.  While peppers are roasting, dice the onion, carrots, and celery.  Crumble tempeh into small grounds.
6. Heat some olive oil in the bottom of your biggest pot.  Once the oil gets to temperature add garlic and onions.  Once these begin to caramelize, add salt, pepper, and remaining seasoning.  Get your onions and garlic nice and coated with the seasonings. 

7. As the onions and garlic begin to turn translucent, add tempeh in.  You will want to get the tempeh coated in oil and seasoning (you may need to add a bit more olive oil here) and continue to sautee until it begins to brown.  At this point, add in your diced veggies.
*note: you pretty much always want to start out your dishes by sauteeing your onions and garlic first.  This will mellow out the sharper flavors of the vegetables and the caramelization will add a sweetness that contrasts well with the other flavors in the dish.  In this case, the caramelized garlic and onions with the roasted peppers will contrast any spiciness you add to the chili.

8.  Once the vegetables begin to soften a bit, you will want to deglaze them.  The idea here is that the heated oil coating the vegetables will continue to sautee them until you "wash" the oil off.  For chili, I like to do this with beer, but depending on the dish you can also use wine, sherry, stock, vinegar, or citrus juice.  Once the beer is in the pot, I like to stir it all up and let it braise for a bit before adding in my other ingredients.  Once the foam from the beer settles, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to let this simmer.

9.  Have a beer for yourself!  Cooking is thirsty work.

Bubbly skin peppers

10.  By now your peppers are probably done roasting.  Allow these guys to cool down a bit before trying to handle them.  You are going to want to remove as much of the skin as you can.  You should see the skin bubble up and it is pretty easy to remove.  I like to just get in there with a paring knife but you can also either cover the peppers or put them into a paper bag.  The steam from the cooling peppers will help to lift the skin off.

Poblano with skin removed and minced jalapeno/garlic

11.  After removing the skin, cut out the top and clean out the ribs and seeds from the poblano.  Dice the rest of this one up.  Mince or finely chop the stuffed jalapenos.  This combination of peppers is not terribly spicy, particularly with roasting them.  The garlic will impart a rich, sweet flavor to the pepper and to the broth of your chili.  To make a spicier chili, roast a habanero in place of one of the jalapenos or mince a raw jalapeno to add to the vegetables above.
Reserve these peppers for now.



12.  By now your veggies are starting to marry flavors with your spices in the beer broth and it is time to begin bringing this thing together. 
Occasionally I will make my chili from fresh tomatoes if I find big juicy ones that I like or if I don't have anything better to do in a day.  But typically I will opt for canned tomatoes.  This is quicker and you won't notice a huge difference in flavor.  For this recipe, I used 2 big cans of crushed tomatoes and one normal sized can of diced.  This gives the finished chili a bit more texture.
I also use canned beans for this because it is a lot easier and, again, you won't really notice a huge difference in flavor.

A variety of beans is good both for texture and flavor.  In this version, I used one can each of black beans, kidney beans, great northern beans, and pinto beans.  The earthy protein of the beans grounds the chili and balances out the other flavors. 
Dump all of the cans of stuff into your pot, stir it up, and top the whole thing off with stock or more beer.
13.  This whole mess needs to simmer for at least an hour.  Ideally, you should keep this on for 2-3 hours.  Depending on your tastes, you can add in some tomato paste at this point to help thicken up your broth. 
14.  This is also a good point to make your cornbread.  I don't have a good recipe, so I made this one that I found on Minimalist Baker.  This recipe is really great.  I made a couple of minor variations on this, but it is a delicious recipe as-is.  The bread is moist, just the right amount of crumbly, and sweet.  I am not much of a baker but I found this recipe easy to follow. 

Delicious cornbread

15.  Once your cornbread is in the oven, fix up your toppings!  I like chopped cilantro, green onions, and sour supreme to go with my chili.  Avocado and hot sauce is also really good.

More on Heinlein

So, I am going to bast through this one because I am feeling pretty ambivalent about it and I want to get this done before I change my mind.  This novel, like others of Heinlein's I have read, has some interesting aspects to it and is a generally good sci-fi novel but also presents some elements more difficult to swallow.  Really, it is difficult to separate these difficult bits out because they are thoroughly baked into the entire narrative.
Here it is: The Day After Tomorrow is about a small military base in America attempting to resist an occupying force (Panasiatics) after they have defeated the American military and taken down the government.  Heinlein doesn't describe the war, he is just interested in the aftermath.
The base is well-hidden under a mountain and those remaining have access to a new scientific discovery called the Ledbetter effect.  This idea is pretty cool because it exploits expansions of the electromagnetic spectrum that link it to nuclear and gravitic forces.  The colonizers have no idea that this power exists and the Americans seem to be able to do pretty much anything with this new power.  This is the first cool idea.
The second cool idea is that those remaining decide to create a fake religion in order to organize a resistance against the Panasiatics.  They see that religious institutions are left alone and they exploit this to open churches across the country and recruit patriots to fight with them.
So far, so good.
Heinlein consistently dehumanizes the "Panasiatic" enemy and describes ways that the Ledbetter effect can be used to single out individuals based on race.  They can "tune" the effect to work only on those he calls "Panasiatic."  They also use the effect to shield the churches, barring anyone not white from entry.  Heinlein specifies this exclusion, essentially erasing other people of color from America, or at the very least excludes them from participating in the resistance.
The characters in the novel also use a variety of slurs against the "Panasians" that don't bear repeating.
In a previous post, I wrote about the morality that I perceived in Heinlein's work and the difficulties that I have with it.  In this book, he extends these problems.  He celebrates individualism at the same time that he wants everyone to know their place.
I do enjoy many elements of his work and believe him to be a sci-fi visionary in many respects.  This element keeps popping up and it makes it harder to enjoy otherwise meritorious novels.