tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63490608953649694442024-02-07T02:07:36.225+00:00Magpie MothReviews-geekery-activism-etceteraMagpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.comBlogger635125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-71873859880051353312019-12-28T11:27:00.003+00:002019-12-28T11:29:02.056+00:00Introductory postscript<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hi!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're reading this, welcome to the now-concluded Magpie Moth blog (2010-2019). I'm leaving it online as an archive of nine years of writing, journaling, art and photos.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Going forward, future writing can be found at <a href="http://www.magpiemoth.com/">www.magpiemoth.com</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why the change? Partly the chance to upgrade my online presence, partly the chance to create a more focussed home for my writing rather than the 'anything goes' fanzine approach here. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While I decided in the end not to compile a 'best of the blog' I'll be moving the odd piece over to the new site from time to time if it fits. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, do have a look around, see if anything takes your fancy. :)</span><br />
Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-60624383746362654562019-06-20T21:38:00.001+01:002019-12-28T11:12:10.033+00:00Reading recommendations round-up<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now updated to cover the end of the year </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">William S Burroughs - Junky </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Becky Chambers - Record Of A Spaceborn Few</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Martin Fitzgerald - Ruth And Martin's Album Club </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Viktor Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stuart Jefferies - Grand Hotel Abyss<b> </b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T Kingfisher - Swordheart </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T Kingfisher - Minor Mage </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ann Leckie - Provenance </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yoon Ha Lee - Revenant Gun</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones And The Six</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seanan McGuire - One Salt Sea </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seanan McGuire - A Red Rose Chain </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sylvia Patterson - I'm Not With The Band </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">John Scalzi - Head On</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As ever, <b>bold font of greatness</b> indicates a five-star rating - only awarded once this year (possibly a sign of too much comfort reading?).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre-wise, we've got</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SF - 5 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fantasy - 4</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Autobiography - 3 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Biography - 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Music - 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Contemporary fiction - 1 </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-9441668304348538052019-03-27T22:11:00.001+00:002019-03-27T22:11:23.807+00:00Update<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I'm still here.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I'm still going to add things as and when I have a sense that this blog may have run its course in its present incarnation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the moment, my main priority rather than writing any new material is to compile a 'best of' as suggested last year and cap off eight years of the blog.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longer term it's a choice between either </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- going back through and sorting some HTML formatting issues in older posts to make the blog fit for purpose and then continuing to use it for whatever purposes I see fit. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- or making a new start on a new platform because the thought of wrestling with HMTL makes my teeth hurt. Maybe doing something different or a little more focussed. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suspect the act of compiling the A-Z of Magpie Moth or whatever it ends up being will perhaps make my mind up for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, for now, I'm still here.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-55197390667109909972019-03-12T19:05:00.000+00:002019-03-27T21:55:36.415+00:00Reading recommendations round-up<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coming off hiatus to record another 8 months of reading recommendations. Once and future classics in bold</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ben Aaronovitch - The Furthest Station </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Edgar Cantero - Meddling Kids </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ruthanna Emrys - Deep Roots</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">E M Forster - Two Cheers For Democracy </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Neil Gaiman - Norse Mythology </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mike Gayle - The To-Do List</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Matt Haig - Reasons To Stay Alive</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dave Hutchinson - Europe At Dawn </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lindsey Kelk - One In A Million </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Victor Lavalle - The Ballad Of Black Tom</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Michael Lewis - The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mhairi McFarlane - Don't You Forget About Me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seanan McGuire - An Artificial Night </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Simon Sebag Montefiore - The Romanovs </span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Robert M Pirsig - Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elizabeth Sandifer - Neoreaction: A Basilisk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Tara Westover - Educated </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Catherynne M Valente - Space Opera<b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roger Zelazny - Isle Of The Dead</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">plus an honourable re-read mention for <b>Edward Said's Orientalism</b> - still an excellent book.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By sub-category:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SFF - 8 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Romantic fiction - 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Autobiography - 3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mainstream fiction - 1</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Experimental fiction - 1 </span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Economics - 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Essays - 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">History - 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mythology - 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Politics - 1</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-38422839092576105602018-09-10T22:18:00.001+01:002019-03-12T18:50:05.783+00:00Greatest hits, or indulging my archival tendencies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNR7qSmDfYQ08Tol8ynA4NEfTsW3Aj7dz-TWCmJLeGGqh192jYk5YL_rexdP1M5Lh0vkf0GMtLJXbgdI09KDddntR0zcCb9QlyDFUX-Za1fxZqDlY1xIpxKXbBAxnkUQ6wREG21R8bbfUi/s1600/512px-UNOG_Library_Filing_Cabinet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNR7qSmDfYQ08Tol8ynA4NEfTsW3Aj7dz-TWCmJLeGGqh192jYk5YL_rexdP1M5Lh0vkf0GMtLJXbgdI09KDddntR0zcCb9QlyDFUX-Za1fxZqDlY1xIpxKXbBAxnkUQ6wREG21R8bbfUi/s400/512px-UNOG_Library_Filing_Cabinet.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/UNOG_Library_Filing_Cabinet.JPG"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">By Moumou82 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons</span></a> </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Somewhat to my surprise - this blog has been going for eight years and over 600 posts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite occasional protestations to the contrary, it's has remained as it started - a personal space for me to write about whatever felt like a good idea at the time. It's always been a zone of freedom rather than something I had to do for this, that or the other reason. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ultimately, that accounts for both its persistence and its lack of (a single) focus.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a while now, I've toyed
with the idea of going back through the blog, picking out a
representative set of posts and editing them into a small compendium for
an probably imaginary audience.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This
seems like as good a moment as any to look back and see what stands
out. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reviews </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(mainly books and music with a side order of cinema) </span>have tended to dominate, in as far as anything has. Its a form I feel at ease with going right back to my dabblings in student journalism and lends itself well to short updates. But they can - and for me often are - a way of approaching the personal from a flanking position too. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alongside these reviews you'd find over the years a whole kitchen sink of thoughts on the above plus politics, activism, organising and even the odd (in both senses) attempt at poetry. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taken together - who knows - they might even amount to a coherent position?</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2010</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is where it all started and it's a bit tentative. There's really only three contenders for inclusion in any compilation and they'd all need a bit of work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- A rather nice, if short on full sentences, <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2010/04/adding-magical-elements-to.html">exploration of how magic might work in an eighteenth century fantasy</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- A rough transcript of a <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2010/08/musings-on-tolerance-and-so-called.html">talk I gave at Lewisham Unitarians</a> about the need to go beyond 'mere tolerance' of others' beliefs and work towards a positive appreciation of difference. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- An <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-inception.html">overly florid review of Inception</a>, which either needs half the adjectives and adverbs removing or extending to twice its current length. Either way, it needs to be much less dense. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>2011</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ah! Now it starts to get more interesting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The book reviews start to pick up, with takes on <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/01/squids-are-alright-pt-1-china-mieville.html">China Mieville's Kraken</a>, <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-lord-of-light-roger-zelazny.html">Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light</a> and Stephen Donaldson's Covenant Chronicles (the last an expansive take in four parts over a particular quiet December)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/most-important-failure-in-modern.html">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/most-important-failure-in-modern_27.html">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/most-important-failure-in-modern_28.html">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/most-important-failure-in-modern_31.html">Part 4</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I really, really, really didn't like fantasy parody <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/04/your-highness-reviewed-and-damned.html">Your Highness</a> (but then it only scores 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, so this may be shooting fish in a barrel). I preferred Thor, or at least my <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-want-my-mumblecore-thor-and-i-want.html">alternative mumblecore reading of Dave Thunder's adventures</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's short, but I remain taken with a piece of Hercules And Love Affair and the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/09/have-you-ever-thought-about-progressive.html">politics of dancing.</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also - the blog exhbits first signs of a recurring annoyance with nostalgia (heavily indebted to Simon Reynolds <i>Retromania</i>) in a <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2011/10/second-hand-music-plush-it-real-good.html">review of Plush's album Fed</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2012</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We're now getting up to 60-odd posts a year. Granted, a lot of these are photos, quotes and Christmas doggerel, but still - 60 posts!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2012 was when my interest in metal really flared up (I blame living in Birmingham) and I wrote a series of posts trying to <strike>justify</strike> account for this of which these are the best. </span><br />
<a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/06/magpiemoths-metal-week-how-i-learnt-to.html"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/06/magpiemoths-metal-week-how-i-learnt-to.html">How I learned to stop worrying and love metal. Sort of. </a></span><br />
<a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/06/metal-week-on-volume.html"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On volume</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/07/thoughts-on-sincerity-in-metal.html">On sincerity</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Token anti-nostalgia post - <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/05/cream-tea-nick-berry-and-anomie-on.html">being grumpy about the Heartbeat tourist industry in the North Yorkshire Moors</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course in no way contradicted by posts on teenage favourites <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/01/pawn-of-prophecy-or-how-to-become-wish.html">David Eddings</a>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/01/tanu-dig-it-many-coloured-land-and.html">Julian May</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-sheri-tepper-waters-rising.html">Sheri Tepper</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A review of <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/04/early-tanith-lee-reviews-like-anais-nin.html">early Tanith Lee</a> is also interesting for being a first crack at praising the strangeness inherent in much of the best fantasy, despite how much Eddings and his imitators try so squeeze it out. It's also a reminder of how often I misspell 'weird'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm still rather pleased with <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-writing-idea-thresholds.html">my idea of 'thresholds' </a>- curated augmented reality spaces - even though I've yet to do <strike>much</strike> anything with it.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2013</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first of two prolific years<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As an outsider exploring the margins of metal I continued to turn up gems - it's this year that the love affairs with <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-black-metal-nick-drake-alcest-les.html">Alcest</a> (AKA the black metal Nick Drake) and <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-genius-of-ulver-in-5-clips.html">Ulver</a> started. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a more polemical mode though I suggested that <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/01/terrorizer-grow-pair-take-stand-on.html">Terrorizer magazine might want to take a stronger stand on racism</a> (which in turn prompted further thought on how far an <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/02/against-wagner-defence-ideas-thread.html">artist's politics could be separated from their art</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/03/cthulhukitsch.html">Lovecraft</a> and his buddy <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/03/wierd-reading-clark-ashton-smith.html">Clark Ashton Smith</a>, as well as <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/07/teetering-on-brink-of-metrosexual.html">Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius</a>, all get a look in on the weird fiction front. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other genre fiction reviews of note included Spider Robinson's <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/03/callaghans-crosstime-saloon-and-down.html">Callaghan's Crosstime Saloon</a>, Robert Silverberg's <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/08/lord-valentines-castle-challenging.html">Lord Valentine's Castle</a> and Patrick Rothfuss' <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-wise-mans-fear-giving-patrick.html">The Wise Man's Fear</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I didn't often write about non-fiction but this piece on Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-spirit-level-will-gird-your.html">The Spirit Level</a> is pretty good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also managed to review both <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/04/re-reading-hobbit-better-than-lotr.html">The Hobbit</a> and the <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/01/hobbit-film-surprisingly-good.html">first of the Jacksonian cinema trilogy</a>, as well as getting a surprising amount of material out of the morality of force while reviewing <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-dodgy-dossier-for-north-korea-olympus.html">Olympus Has Fallen</a>, <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3-john-galt-in-tin-can.html">Iron Man 3 </a>and <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/10/you-dont-whisper-fire-in-burning.html">Prisoners</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Still true:<a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/04/too-much-twitter-outrage-makes-me-want.html"> too much Twitter outrage makes me want to look at cat pictures on the internet</a> (there was a follow-up post in 2014 about <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2014/02/tweeting-in-trolling-paradise-problem.html">tweeting in a trolling paradise</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Token anti-nostalgia post: <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-wasteland-of-curators-nmes-top-500.html">dismay at the NME's top 10 albums of all time</a> (<a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-final-note-on-dead-hand-of-musical.html">and postscript</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year's ideas I didn't do anything much with: <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/01/towards-cartography-of-hope.html">mapping a cartography of hope</a> and <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2013/08/wilderness-festival-signposts-to-future.html">festivals as neartopian spaces</a>.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-54566249300560028522018-09-09T11:07:00.002+01:002018-11-06T21:28:30.654+00:00In the future, all bananas will be scannable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5N0ZETScAzHaDm7B5b009ikPjWoOq-wFv1KjxCpgzWPIgfIAt4OfGlD-od6o0bKA9H-cJ5a32IVI9FiqmEfmUF9KBcbIxpUnDfklGjlWEaLXh_UsebmI4PLBC5jvjZrDBE-rkbR3iwT7/s1600/bananas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="1600" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5N0ZETScAzHaDm7B5b009ikPjWoOq-wFv1KjxCpgzWPIgfIAt4OfGlD-od6o0bKA9H-cJ5a32IVI9FiqmEfmUF9KBcbIxpUnDfklGjlWEaLXh_UsebmI4PLBC5jvjZrDBE-rkbR3iwT7/s400/bananas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More everyday science-fiction here courtesy of multinational banana corporations. <br /><br /> I don't Shazam, but one of my colleagues does (it works on the photo as well as the banana itself) and brought up a 3D rendering of a rainforest.</span></span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-38113207140146518082018-08-23T20:12:00.001+01:002018-09-10T21:40:38.862+01:00Everyday science-fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gangs of obsolete technologies huddle on street corners, radiating greyscale menace.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-43531077780371258122018-08-04T21:42:00.000+01:002018-09-10T21:40:47.123+01:00A miscellany of West Midlands superheroes<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Barnt Green Lantern </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Black Country Widow (or Canary) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Clint Barton-under-Needwood (aka the Staffordshire Hawkeye) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ironbridge Man</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Redditch Tornado </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Scarlet Wychavon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Solihulk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Star City Man (or indeed Lord) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wolvo-rine </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-83283899556420965002018-07-19T21:50:00.002+01:002019-03-12T19:12:33.938+00:00The golden age of post-modern role-playing 3 - Shadowrun<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Alright, let's go high concept.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Because what separates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun"><i>Shadowrun</i></a> (<a href="http://www.shadowrun.com/">online home here</a>) from the genre collages of <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-golden-age-of-post-modern.html"><i>Rifts</i></a> and <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-golden-age-of-post-modern-role.html"><i>Torg</i></a> is that it tries, and to be fair mostly succeeds, in explaining why elves, dwarves and orcs should be runnng round the back streets of Seattle looking like members of <a href="http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/FAS7100_ShadowrunFirstEdition.jpg">The Sigue Sigue Sputnik Fan Club</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">To understand <i>Shadowrun</i> you have to know how big a deal cyberpunk was in the late 80's. Influences from fiction (<i>Neuromancer</i> et al), film and music had combined to create an aesthetic and a set of tropes that were very marketable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gunmetal bionic limbs! Mirrorshades! Cyberspace! Defy the corporate system in tight leather trousers! Hairspray! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ahem. You get the picture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">What pure cyberpunk role-playing games foundered on, in your correspondents opinion, was translating the moral ambiguity of the genre into a satisfying gaming experience. Usually - at least if you were a teenager who had cut your teeth on DnD and Games Workshop, any complexity tended to be discarded in favour of those cool cybernetic implants and those outsize guns in a nihilist race to the bottom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">By combining fantasy and cyberpunk - the old favourite and the flavour of the month - <i>Shadowrun</i> gave itself more options. Rather than banging your head repeatedly against the nightmare of dystopian capitalism, it opened the door to myth, magic and the possibility of hope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">And nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the narrative of how enchantment returns to the moderm world, with the indigenous peoples of the Americas regaining the use of their traditional magics to reclaim much of the continent east of the Mississippi. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">(as I recall, it's pretty well done for its time and a tribute to the never knowingly under-backstoried original creators at FASA, a company who lavished such love on the Battletech universe - a game essentially about giant mecha firing rockets at each other - that I can still remember whole star systems-worth of it today.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Shadowrun</i> says another world is possible. Which is most decidedly not a cyberpunk sentiment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">One can see how the genre-blending <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070627074200/http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/98-3/issue7/gibson.html">understandably irritated William Gibson</a> and wouldn't work half as well in a literary context. But it goes to show a) that books and role-playing games are different media with different needs and in particular that b) role-playing narratives often benefit from being anti-hegemonic in a way which fiction simply doesn't need to be.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-79074089662971139792018-06-11T11:43:00.001+01:002018-09-10T21:41:23.519+01:00Link library: compassionate communities<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thinking of narratives for volunteer recruitment, I wonder how useful the concept of compassionate communities will be?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">- <a href="http://www.dyingmatters.org/sites/default/files/user/documents/Resources/Community%20Pack/1-Introduction-1.pdf">Dying Matters: why we should develop compassionate communities?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">- <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/106/12/1071/1633982">Compassionate communities: end-of-life care as everyone’s responsibility</a> - article in QJM by the originator of compassionate communities, Professor Allan Kellehear</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">- <a href="http://endoflifecareambitions.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ambitions-for-Palliative-and-End-of-Life-Care.pdf"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ambitions for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Palliative and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">End of Life Care: </span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://endoflifecareambitions.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ambitions-for-Palliative-and-End-of-Life-Care.pdf">A national framework for local action 2015-2020</a>, by the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">National Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership of which the MND Association is a member. S</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ee in particular chapter 6 which is all about volunteers</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">- <a href="https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/blog/compassionate-communities-caring-for-people-through-death-and-loss-is-everyones-business/48518">Blog post on Marie Curie</a> about Prof Kellehear's ideas and its implications for their work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Update:</b> a couple of new links courtesy of Sue Muller</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.goodlifedeathgrief.org.uk/news/news/launch-of-compassionate-inverclyde/">- Compassionate Inverclyde launches</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://palliverse.com/2016/07/27/bills-story-bill-united-as-a-compassionate-community/">- Bill's story</a> - video explaning compassionate communities from Palliverse</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Update The Second:</b> similar issues from a slightly different angle - as a joint group of government officials and voluntary, community and social enterprise reps put forward an action plan for involving the sector in improving health, well-being and social care outcomes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://vcsereview.org.uk/2018-action-plan/?utm_source=National+Voices+Members&utm_campaign=0bb13780e7-MU_130717_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_00458e9137-0bb13780e7-108603921">See the VSCE Review website for more information</a>.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-1501740474007240832018-06-09T21:54:00.000+01:002018-09-10T21:41:34.127+01:00Reading recommendations from 2018 so far<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A quick round-up of the best books I've read so far this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>At The Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails</i> - Sarah Bakewell</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Honours</i> - Tim Clare </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Walkaway</i> - Cory Doctorow<i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Normal</i> - Warren Ellis </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Winter's Tide</i> - Ruthanna Emrys</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Raven Stratagem</i> - Yoon Ha Lee </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Will To Battle</i> - Ada Palmer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Aurora</i> - Kim Stanley Robinson (<a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2018/02/more-per-ardua-than-ad-astra-kim.html">review here</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Osama</i> - Lavie Tidhar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A Night In The Lonesome October</i> - Roger Zelazny</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">All genre fiction, except for Sarah Bakewell's overview of existentialism. And all very good, although not quite great enough to merit bold type. :) </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-70923677857733303442018-06-08T19:41:00.002+01:002018-09-10T21:41:44.876+01:00The patron saint of Eurodance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Found art: author unknown but fond of Eiffel 65.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-85360287941666523502018-06-08T10:15:00.003+01:002018-06-08T10:15:53.866+01:00Useful charity links 8 June<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://mobilisationlab.org/self-care-collective-wellbeing/">Why self-care and collective well-being are crucial to winning change</a> (MobLab) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://mobilisationlab.org/city-of-dreams-brazil/">City of Dreams</a>: report from a Brazilian climate change campaign mobilising popular input and support (MobLab)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardy Merriman offers a <a href="https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/blog_post/movement-centered-support-model-considerations-funders-organizations/">useful theoretical model for defining a movement</a> (International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://mobilisationlab.org/blueprint-distributed-organising/">A blueprint for distributed organising</a> (MobLab)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://outrageousimpact.co.uk/flatpack/">Free download report from Outrageous Impact on charity innovation</a></span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-22113628484438750142018-05-24T10:14:00.002+01:002018-06-12T13:44:16.914+01:00Link library: volunteer recruitment best practice <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the <a href="http://www.mndassociation.org/supportvolproject">Support Volunteer Project</a> at work, we're having a look at the Association's approach to recruiting support volunteers like Association Visitors. A quick search this morning brought up the following articles, often saying more or less the same thing but each with their own slightly different perspective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.alivewithideas.com/blog/12-ways-to-keep-your-volunteers-engaged-and-inspired">Alive With Ideas</a> - 12 ways to keep your volunteers motivated and engaged</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.charitytimes.com/pages/ct_features/september06/text_features/ct_september06_feature4_finders_keepers.htm">Charity Times article</a> - a useful overview, with editorialising and quotes from various charities</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/voices/janet-thorne-why-skills-based-volunteering-is-the-untapped-resource-for-charities.html">Civil Society Voices</a> - guest blog by Janet Thorne, Chief Executive of Reach, on skills-based volunteering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogs.constantcontact.com/social-media-to-recruit-volunteers/">Constant Contact</a> - on using social media to recruit volunteers</span><br />
<a href="https://www.energizeinc.com/hot-topics/2014/september" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Energise Inc</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - some recruitment maxims, including the interesting suggestion than no role should have 'volunteer' in the title - and <a href="https://www.energizeinc.com/art/writing-persuasive-volunteer-recruitment-appeals">writing persuasive volunteer recruitment appeals</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://knowhownonprofit.org/your-team/volunteers/recruiting/copy_of_process">NCVO volunteer recruitment advice page</a> - good summary of the basics - <a href="https://knowhownonprofit.org/how-to/how-to-write-persuasive-volunteer-recruitment-ads">and how to write a persuasive advert</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://nonprofithub.org/volunteer-recruiting/5-creative-free-ways-attract-volunteers/">Nonprofit Hub</a> - QR codes on posters and ensuring your enquiry process is mobile friendly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://signup.com/volunteerspot/Volunteer-Management-Ideas/volunteer-recruitment">Signup.com listicle</a> - especially for points 6 (gratitude) and 8 (getting out there with stalls etc)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/volunteer-recruitment-ideas/">Volunteer Hub</a> - a nice point on volunteer advocacy on social media (<a href="https://www.southamptonvs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Volunteer-Recruitment-Ideas_1.pdf">Southampton Voluntary Services</a> make a similar point about asking volunteers to design the ideal recruitment effort)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://volunteeringmatters.org.uk/volunteer-recruitment-getting-word-out/">Volunteering Matters volunteer recruitment advice page</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.volunteernow.co.uk/fs/doc/publications/workbook-2-attracting-and-selecting-volunteers-20131.pdf">Volunteer Now (p17-20) of a longer PDF</a> - discusses 'warm body', 'targetted' and 'concentric' approaches to volunteer recruitment</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-37996858338937018842018-04-24T14:16:00.002+01:002018-05-06T21:03:04.021+01:00Dream Master! Dream Faster! <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the years, Roger Zelazny has been the most reviewed author on this blog (see previous thoughts on <i><a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/amber-guity.html">Amber</a>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/review-lord-of-light-roger-zelazny.html">Lord Of Light</a> and <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/pulp-with-depth-roger-zelaznys-this.html">This Immortal</a></i>), which is odd because while I like his work I don't necessarily love it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I may find him easy to write about because many of his interests - pop psychology, mythology, religion - coincide with my own. I also like the way his allusiveness - rich descriptions and deep conversations spanning the pulp architecture of his plotting - resists easy explanation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n a way Zelazny represented the accessible end of the 'New Wave' of fantasy and SF of the late 60's and early 70's. He displays influences beyond the genre and a degree of literary experimentation, but he is a much easier entry point than fellows such as Ballard, Disch or Delany.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That said, his second novel </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Dream Master</i> (1966) is more difficult to fathom than many of his works. It follows Charles Render, a psychologist trained in the construction of healing dreams for his clients using a technowomb. Ostensibly the perfect therapist, his hubris undoes him when he attempts to give a blind woman dreams of sight.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a confusing book - intentionally so. Fragments of other narratives are placed alongside the main plotline, often without context. So much is hinted at, often in crucial passages that attempt to follow the logic of dreams themselves, that the reader apprehends the book as if through a glass darkly.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This gives it undeniable atmosphere. But a rushed ending in particular ultimately denies <i>The Dream Master</i> its potency. Zelazny himself felt the short story on which it was based did a better job, but having not read that I can't comment. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I will say that several of the supplementary narratives felt like padding (interesting, but nevertheless padding) and the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">one-dimensional nature of the women in the book much less easy to overlook than they might have been at the time.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interesting enough that it begs a re-read, but flawed enough that it stands more as a statement of ambition than of craft. </span></span></span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-65935825249527170612018-04-09T15:07:00.001+01:002018-04-09T15:07:44.639+01:002018 Hugo Awards shortlist - initial thoughts<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2018-hugo-awards/">2018 Hugo Awards for science-fiction and fantasy shortlist </a>has recently been announced. I didn't contribute to the nomination process this time around (although I may register to vote) but here are my initial thoughts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Best Novel </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've read two of the six novels on the shortlist. Yoon Ha Lee's <i>Raven Stratagem</i> is a considerable improvement on last year's <i>Ninefox Gambit</i>, <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/this-review-removed-for-non-compliance.html">which I admired more than I liked</a>. I'm starting to see him as a potential successor to Iain M Banks and his intricate far-future epics. The novel is definitely a strong baseline for others on the shortlist to see if they can better, although it may suffer from being a sequel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And with four other Best Novel award-winners on the shortlist (N K Jemisin, Ann Leckie, Kim Stanley Robinson and John Scalzi) to reckon with the competition could be steep. Scalzi's <i>The Collapsing Empire</i>, however, is merely <i>default Scalzi:</i> highly enjoyable space opera but <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/feels-like-im-fixin-to-die-captain-john.html">no Redshirts</a>, and not the remarkable work you'd expect to clinch the award. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Short fiction</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Much to my surprise, I've read seven of the short fiction entries already, which is highly unusual. I've not been absolutely floored by any of them yet but here is what is setting the pace:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Novella: Sarah Gailey, <i>River Of Teeth</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Novelette: Sarah Pinsker, <i>Wind Will Rove</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Short Story: Vina Jie-Min Prasad, <i>Fandom For Robots</i></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Best series</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A new category as of last year. I'm particularly pleased to see Robert Jackson Bennett's <i>Divine Cities</i> trilogy up - it started well with <i>City Of Stairs</i> (<a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/">my review here</a>) and finished very strongly last year with <i>City Of Miracles</i>.<i> </i></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Best film (AKA Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Probably the Hugo equivalent of the Group of Death, with </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blade Runner 2049, </span>Get Out, The Last Jedi, The Shape of Water, Thor: Ragnarok</i> and the mighty <i>Wonder Woman</i> all battling it out.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Best Fan Writer</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nice to see a nod for <a href="https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/">Camestros Felapton</a>, who I've nominated in previous years.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No block voting - hurray!</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After last year's changes to the nomination process showed <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/2017-hugo-nominations-much-more-open.html">diminishing returns for block voting tactics</a> it's a relief to see block voting entirely absent this year. Discussing the politics of this would take a whole other post, so I'll just say that it didn't noticeably improve the quality of the work on offer to the Hugo voter and in some cases <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-shortlist-that-never-was.html">actively prevented good work making it onto the shortlist</a>.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-41828333636045515862018-02-18T10:49:00.003+00:002018-02-18T10:53:23.383+00:00More Per Ardua than Ad Astra: Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A couple of years back I subtitled reviews of <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/space-is-worst-frontier-andy-weirs.html">Andy Weir's <i>The Martian</i></a> and <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/space-is-worst-frontier-part-2-neil.html">Neil Stephenson's <i>Seveneves</i></a> with the tagline 'space is the worst frontier.' </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For all their faith in science and human ingenuity, both books were unsparing in their treatment of the challenges of space and a welcome corrective to the tendency to handwave them away in favour of a ripping yarn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(novel)">Kim Stanley Robinson's <i>Aurora</i></a> is another book which stands under this credo. It pushes back even harder against the belief that our destiny lies in the stars, to the point of almost calling it into question entirely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Ad astra</i>, yeah, but very much with the emphasis on the <i>per ardua</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's difficult to talk about without at the very least thematic spoilers, so read below at your peril.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXm2JC9N-1jSigdQf9T932ecrapqsNb9KexCcvD_IOLPzULFvq1fMcNoa_YAOxH0u0aquSJJ_ru0SIBwA7Dq83iVsgFrD2A0CDY-sMZJx8fOlEC6Mj2DgqXJhA4kGDkCsWIV-UMLsRveh-/s1600/Cover_of_the_novel_Aurora_by_Kim_Stanley_Robinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="210" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXm2JC9N-1jSigdQf9T932ecrapqsNb9KexCcvD_IOLPzULFvq1fMcNoa_YAOxH0u0aquSJJ_ru0SIBwA7Dq83iVsgFrD2A0CDY-sMZJx8fOlEC6Mj2DgqXJhA4kGDkCsWIV-UMLsRveh-/s320/Cover_of_the_novel_Aurora_by_Kim_Stanley_Robinson.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Aurora</i> takes on an idea well established in science-fiction, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship">generation starship</a>, where a voyage to a nearby solar system can take hundreds of years in a vessel the size of a city. Heading for Tau Ceti, its mission is to colonise the moon of one of its planets, the Aurora of the title, slowly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming">terraforming</a> it to make it habitable for human life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Narrative tricks </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel kicks in a relatively short time (20 or so years) before the ship reaches its destination. We follow Freya, daughter of engineer and general systems troubleshooter Devi and doctor Badim, as she grows up onboard the ship and explores its many biomes and communities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few chapters in, we learn that the story is being told by the Ship's computer, a developing artificial intelligence, Devi's other <i>de facto</i> child and arguably <i>Aurora's</i> second protagonist. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ship does some quite awesome things and would be on my Top 10 literary computers any day of the week. </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a narrator, though, Ship is learning on the job and its odd perspectives and occasionally jarring prose style deliberately bring out a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distancing_effect">distancing effect</a> in the reader. In other words: science (chiefly astrophysics, engineering, ecology and microbiology) is foregrounded; character development and reader empathy somewhat backgrounded. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hard science-fiction often does this accidentally and occasionally <i>ad nauseum</i> and <i>ad infodumpium</i>. This could be because the author is either not that interested in the capital-I Individual or just doesn't have the chops to meet both scientific and literary criteria. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But KSR is a much better writer than that. Taking this approach intentionally as an authorial device is a) a very clever move b) allows him to provide the story with the science it needs anyway c) sneaks the heart back into <i>Aurora</i> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from an unexpected angle, </span>through reader identification with Ship. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Cake: both retained and eaten.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Through interstellar space on a wing and a prayer</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Aurora </i>goes into a lot of detail about the risks of travel between the stars: problems of navigation, of acceleration and deacceleration, of the constant battle by engineers and biologists against entropy, of unrest and social collapse. Whatever you anticipate as a problem and solve before the voyage starts, KSR says, there will be two more you didn't predict that you must deal with when underway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He cautiously concludes, however, that these issues could be solved with a lot of effort and more than a little good fortune and frontier spirit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The far bigger challenge <i>Aurora</i> sets, however, is what happens when you reach your destination? Could you deal with many of the same entropic challenges as you did in transit? At the same time, could you establish a safe base for you and future generations <i>and</i> begin to slowly terraform your new home? How would you cope in an environment outside humanity's frame of reference in which the odds of unexpected crisis<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> therefore increase dramatically?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To put it another way, would you risk a thousand <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony">Roanoakes</a> for a single <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony">Plymouth Colony</a>?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Questions for the space and freedom brigade</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is a novel deeply sceptical of the case for interstellar ventures in a way which would have rarely occured in SF from previous generations. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">KSR might be revisiting old ground on terraforming - he's best known for his <i>Mars</i> trilogy on the topic - but he's drawing more pessimistic conclusions here in a different context.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He also has a long-standing interest in climate change which he's explored in previous works such as <i>Forty Signs Of Rain</i> and <i>New York 2140.</i> <i>Aurora</i> touches on this in later sections of the book and in doing so offers a supplementary critique of renewed contemporary interest in returning to the Moon or colonising Mars. It basically runs: <i>this is both cool and relevant to my interests, but maybe we should prioritise getting our own planet - our actual home - in order first. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel is no polemic, but it is doing what SF does best as a literature of ideas: using our scientific heritage to examine possibilities and raise questions. The questions it raises about both the practicality and importance of space exploration are very relevant at a time when a very rich man has just sent his sports car up on a rocket in some kind of a symbolic ritual to rekindle our interest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Those advocating for or romanticising space travel - whether in the short-term or the long-term - should then engage with the questions KSR is asking. They are perhaps still solvable on their terms rather than his, but ensuring any vision of the future passes the tests <i>Aurora</i> sets is for me a necessity of the first order.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-74633609846244645402018-02-17T11:35:00.002+00:002018-02-17T11:40:47.641+00:00Kittywakes<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'd like to think my cat wakes up at 5 am because she's had some great philosophical revelation and urgently needs to tell me about it.<br><br>As I said, I'd like to think that. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cats?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cats</a></p>— Tim Atkinson (@Magpiemoth) <a href="https://twitter.com/Magpiemoth/status/964409135830679554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">I believe the technical term for this is a kittywake. :-) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cats?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cats</a> <a href="https://t.co/Sopsp8yMos">https://t.co/Sopsp8yMos</a></div>— Tim Atkinson (@Magpiemoth) <a href="https://twitter.com/Magpiemoth/status/964429761379368962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not to be confused with a <i>kittiwake</i>, which you can <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittiwake">read all about here</a>.</span> Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-69564948428918980192018-02-09T08:30:00.000+00:002018-02-10T23:11:49.242+00:00The golden age of post-modern role-playing part 2: Torg<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Part 2 of a look at early 90's genre-mixing RPGs. <a href="https://magpie-moth.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-golden-age-of-post-modern.html">You can find Part 1, including a celebration of Rifts, here.</a> </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of all the games I'm looking at in this series, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torg"><i>Torg</i></a> (West End Games, 1990) was comfortably the most knowing. Literally portraying a clash of competing genres, in it the very notion of reality was contested in a really rather postmodern way. And most of its best bits came from riffing on that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As with its contemporary <i>Rifts</i>, it's another invasion story. Present-day Earth, a world incalculably rich in (ahem) possibility energy, is attacked by a coalition of initially six different realities, each claiming a corner of the planet for their bridgehead.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torg#Setting">Each of the six realms represented a different genre</a>, ranging from the expected (high fantasy and horror) through the then-innovative (</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">golden age pulp) </span>to the rather more distinctive (a corporate dystopia, Catholic cyberpunk and a land of stone-age lizards).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Laws Of The Land </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where <i>Torg</i>
got particularly clever was in its model of how the different realities
interacted with each other. Each brought with them their own laws (or
in <i>Torgish</i>, axioms) governing science, magic, religion and social
organisation. For example, The Living Land, home of the aforementioned
lizard-men, which takes over much of North America, made it very
difficult for technology any more sophisticated than a club to function,
but allowed its priests to work miracle after miracle with living
matter, especially plants.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each
reality also had its own laws reflecting genre conventions, such as
the pulp Nile Empire running on melodrama rather than realism.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This
was a great system, addressing the advantage that technology
(reliable, replicable) usually has over magic or individual heroics in a
straight fight. But it also was a neat storytelling device in which the
GM and the players could explore not just a clash of weapons but of
stories and cultures. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How
would a character from a fantasy world accomodate themselves to a
science-fictional story or vice versa? How would someone from Earth
submit to or resist the tropes of genre fiction? <i>Torg</i> allowed you to play out some really interesting questions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Do you speak Torgish?</b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To make all of this hang togerther conceptually <i>Torg</i> developed its own distinct terminology. All the invading realities or 'cosms' were led by an iconic supervillain or 'High Lord,' each with their own 'Darkness Device' and striving to become 'Torg' (menace #1). Meanwhile the PCs were 'Storm Knights' - either native champions of Earth who were strangely resistant to the
invading realities, or heroic renegades from the other realms. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(given its fondness for capitalised nouns and philosophical jargon it's also strangely fitting that the latest version of Torg - <i>Torg Eternity</i> - is published by German company <a href="http://www.ulisses-us.com/games/torg/">Ulisses Spiele.)</a></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If done right" </span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is probably the phrase to keep returning to when discussing <i>Torg</i>, not least because like any multi-genre game it took a lot of work on the part of the designers and writers, to say nothing of the GM and the players, to try and keep it all on track.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unlike <i>Rifts</i>, which had a decade of Palladium games to draw on for rules, background, magic and monsters, <i>Torg </i>also<i> </i>had to come up with all of its material from scratch. Unsurprisingly, given how many sourcebooks and adventures West End Games put out, there was a lot of variation in content and tone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More often than not, the official material tended to channel the 'anything goes' spirit of pulp. Now, that's not surprising given several of the cosm leant hard in that direction anyway and the rules system was fairly dramatic, with a card deck for the PCs full of special plays. But a narrative of ninjas, superheroes, hackers and Victorian detectives <i>just hanging out, travelling the world and fighting reality wars</i> also reduced the jagged culture-clash/genre-clash potential that made Torg more interesting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of the realities too were easier to keep on the straight and narrow than others. The Cyberpapacy, for example, might win points for the sheer gonzo mashing up of cyberpunk with the Counter-Reformation Catholic Church, but it struggled to make sense<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2955.html">and risked causing occasional offence</a>) as it stood.</span> Similarly, the golden-age pulp Nile Empire was full of gleeful fun but also at times uncritically reflected orientalist fantasies of North Africa, much like its source material. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I'm still not really sure why someone thought naming the realm of horrors Orrorsh, after an anagram of, er, 'horrors,' was a good idea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Torg a la carte? </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of the realities had lots of good ideas - outweighing their faults - and <i>Torg Eternity</i> has probably improved the game and helped it move with the times</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. At the time though, taking a more nuanced appproach to the background <i>and</i> developing <i>and</i> running good scenarios was beyond the means of teenage me. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These days I like to think I could make good on all <i>Torg's</i> promise. One thing I certainly would do is accentuate the genre-clash elements and go deep on perhaps one or two invading realities. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Torg</i> a la carte, if you like. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This would mean I would get the benefit of the source material for those realms without having to spread the game too thinly. I could also frame the characters and plot using only these aspects of the overall conflict and make sure the area invaded had some authenticity and colour, rather than risk it being reduced to one combat backdrop among many.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Man, this sounds good already...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every time I write one of these look-backs, I remind myself what I liked about a game in the first place. As with <i>Rifts</i>, I might come at <i>Torg</i> from a different, more reflective angle these days but the potential I first saw in it back in the early 90's still feels very much there.</span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-58124649460497737662018-02-06T07:41:00.001+00:002018-02-06T07:41:15.430+00:00Nooooooooo!! [shakes fist at sky]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZKMGDVw04gBLL0re21-lqYW0gNRyCuBWvfOL4Kl5JkMcFFXlP780ZRmD4Cq4vdAnwGzB26WSYQe26dpBpnpeSx4dxEV8o9dRPZndUy1jBuPeEIK7a0X63hrPqME-pqxYdNNldHI27B8K/s1600/Noooo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="324" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZKMGDVw04gBLL0re21-lqYW0gNRyCuBWvfOL4Kl5JkMcFFXlP780ZRmD4Cq4vdAnwGzB26WSYQe26dpBpnpeSx4dxEV8o9dRPZndUy1jBuPeEIK7a0X63hrPqME-pqxYdNNldHI27B8K/s400/Noooo.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-76524891914565116462018-02-01T23:08:00.002+00:002018-02-01T23:09:03.374+00:00Steady on, Roger!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Presented without comment, save for a link to the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DoomyDoomsOfDoom">Doomy Dooms of Doom</a> trope.</span></div>
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Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-1137890351308875112018-01-30T20:53:00.002+00:002018-01-30T20:54:09.987+00:00It was a more innocent time<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chapters include 'Thirty-nine lashes, well laid-on', Scars of honour' and 'A caning'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Found (where else?) in our holiday apartment in Hay-on-Wye.</span><br />
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Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-42237240537749631922018-01-27T12:26:00.002+00:002018-01-27T12:27:36.500+00:00Murder on the dancefloor: Ulver's The Assassination Of Julius Caesar<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you find a gothic electro-pop album featuring in several end-of-year extreme metal best-ofs for 2017, it comes as no surprise to discover that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulver">Ulver</a> are responsible. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having wrapped up their Norwegian black metal phase some twenty years ago, they may have followed their own map ever since into ambient soundtracks, trip-hop, psychedelia, prog and neo-classical experiments. But as they were there at the beginnings of a genuine musical phenomenon, and since chief creative spirit Kristoffer Rygg still looks like he could holler under a blood-lit moon with the best of them if the mood ever took him that way, Ulver get lifetime genre-membership privileges. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even though no-one knows which version of the band are going to appear from record to record and it's almost certainly not going to be metal.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSKnCJRaZ3a36gfBbvaZXF9bh2bgSxBqjTPiLz48XoQEFnIE52k1GmNFUrv0A-DFGXOpaJlhGVQ-dxUYTRUmHB75eHeSNBdoVwXQnmSC-7pklxJXDxqyfvixWv-eE5W69_J-0zvGceSbn/s1600/Ulver_The_Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSKnCJRaZ3a36gfBbvaZXF9bh2bgSxBqjTPiLz48XoQEFnIE52k1GmNFUrv0A-DFGXOpaJlhGVQ-dxUYTRUmHB75eHeSNBdoVwXQnmSC-7pklxJXDxqyfvixWv-eE5W69_J-0zvGceSbn/s1600/Ulver_The_Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar_cover.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To these ears, the Ulver that have turned up for <a href="https://ulver.bandcamp.com/album/the-assassination-of-julius-caesar"><i>The Assassination Of Julius Caesar</i></a> really like: Depeche Mode circa Violator; Trevor Horn’s 80’s production work; early 90’s techno; slightly over-earnest songs about the Roman Empire; The Beloved; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The good news is that this foregrounds Rygg’s voice – Ulver’s beautiful, pure-toned trump card – against sympathetic, mostly electronic instrumentation. <i>Assassination</i> is the closest they’ve come to pop since their 2012 psychedelic covers set <i>Childhood’s End</i>, although given that much of their output since then has been freeform jamming this isn’t necessarily saying much. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And granted, the music is still brooding, jagged and lyrically focussed on matters of faith and tragedy. But now Ulver - on, say, closing track Coming Home – are doing their thing over beats not a million miles away from Crockett’s Theme from Miami Vice, which is a big plus in my book. The fussiness I can sometimes resent in their proggier work (I’m looking at you, <i>Wars Of The Roses</i>) is almost completely absent here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In yr blogger’s opinion, then,<i> Assassination</i> is Ulver’s best, most consistent work since the austere majesty of 2007's <i>Shadows Of The Sun</i>. That’s another synth-heavy album and if you like, <i>Assassination</i> is <i>Shadows</i> down the alternative disco, throwing out shapes at a stately 80’s bpm. </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-52698623145549288192018-01-10T20:47:00.002+00:002018-01-10T20:47:28.957+00:00None more brooding: Bective Abbey<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bective_Abbey">Bective Abbey</a> is a wonderful, Romantic (in the poetic sense) ruin in County Meath, Ireland. We made a brief visit there last week as we were staying nearby. Here it is in all its glory on a clear January day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349060895364969444.post-41017061337875859382017-12-30T08:28:00.000+00:002017-12-31T19:41:08.675+00:00Top 10 posts of 2017<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's not been the noisiest year on the blog, but here are the top 10 posts of 2017 by page views.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've decided to leave out the link round-up posts (the Health-Geekery series, mainly) as they don't involve any proper writing and it seems a little like cheating to include them. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/02/paul-liverpool-south-parkway-station-cat.html">Paul, the Liverpool South Parkway Cat</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/09/notes-on-divided-kingdom-part-1.html">Notes from a divided kingdom, Part 1</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/08/to-assassin-john-wick-2.html">The Fisher King of hitmen is back: John Wick, Chapter 2</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-versatility-of-chim-chim-cheree.html">The versatility of Chim Chim Cheree</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/09/sulk-associates-intense-little-jewel-of.html">Sulk: Associates' intense little jewel</a> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/08/8-short-notes-on-poo-emoji-cushion.html">8 short notes on the poo emoji cushion</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/08/cliff-richard-led-astray-by-sorcery.html">Cliff Richard led astray by sorcery!</a> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/04/was-pop-in-crisis-in-1976.html">Was pop in crisis in 1976?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/07/wonder-woman-sense-of-superhuman.html">Wonder Woman: a sense of the superhuman</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10. <a href="http://magpie-moth.blogspot.com/2017/09/too-good-to-leave-to-critics-can-and-i.html">Too good to leave to the critics: Can and I Want More</a> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By category, that's:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Music - 5 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Film - 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cats - 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Horror (poo emoji cushions) - 1 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Politics - 1 </span>Magpie Mothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274196005953926877noreply@blogger.com0