Alita Battle Angel

Alita Battle Angel is the latest anime inspired flick to hit the big screen. Its an adaptation of the 1990s manga Gunnm, also known as Battle Angel Alita. Directed by Robert Rodriquez, written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau. As you can see this is a multi-million dollar movie with James Cameron [of Avatar fame] involved. 

Alita Battle Angel reminds you of a lot of things. Avatar because Alita is acted out using a sensor capture suit, with big wide-eyed anime eyes, complete with a cyborg body, which is totally Ghost in the Shell. The actual city that the movie takes place in, Iron City is complete with neon signs, multilingual people, and different races. Very reminiscent of Blade Runner. Those are great things to be reminded of. 

Alita is found in the scrapyard by a paternal scientist named Ido, who gives her a cybernetic body that he was planning on using for his daughter [not weird at all!]. Alita is mostly cyborg but she has a human brain intact, giving her emotions. Hence, she's a lot like a teenage girl at first and gets a teenage boyfriend, who turns out to be a bad guy. Turns out this guy is apart of a youth gang that hijacks cyborgs and steals their parts, while they're still alive. Then his gang sells the parts to Vector [a guy who gets his fashion sense from the Matrix], in what they believe is the only chance to get to the utopian city Zolumn in the sky above Iron City. Sound convoluted yet? It is.

However, it is not the razor-blade addled cyborg fights or the intense violence of Motorball [basically death race, a futuristic sport where you throw a ball and try to kill your opponents, while racing on motorized roller blades]. Nor is it the fact that Alita learns that she was an ancient weapon used some 300 years ago in some battle, possibly fighting to destroy Zolumn [again convoluted]. 

The thing that makes this movie good, maybe even memorable for a few months [for me at least] is the sheer emotional appeal of this cyborg girl. Some people would find the emotional scenes in this movie to be corny. I did not. I was moved when Alita was trying to justify herself to her boyfriend, only for him to respond, "You're the most human person I've ever met." Their love was real in that scene. That shows that even a cyborg girl is capable of loving, and of being loved back. Very powerful indeed. 

Another characteristic moment was when she was talking to the boyfriend about going to Zolumn. She says, "I'll do anything to get you to Zolumn. I'll give you my heart. It's so powerful it can power the city for a whole year!" Then the boyfriend responds, saying "I can't do that to you. You can't just give people things. You can't be so naive." And the reality is that Alita is quite naive, she's basically like a teenage girl. 

The climax of the movie is when the love interest dies, killed by an unknown villain in Zolumn, [who like a characteristic anime character wears some cyberpunk googles that look really cool]. At some point Alita finds her 300 year old Erhm bodysuit and she discovers that she's a Battle Angel, an ancient weapon, which is the reason why she was able to beat the crap out of Hunter Warriors, cyborgs who do the policing in Iron City. The new suit has bigger breasts and a small waist. There's something of a feminist affect in Alita Battle Angel but for whom, and why? I can't really say. Some scenes have feminist overtones. Like when Alita beats up everyone in the Hunter Warrior bar and when her boyfriend says not to challenge them she says, "I'm gonna need you to step back." As if men should sometimes take a step back from women, that kind of thing. But the fact that her body suit is sexy and sleek, with the 'ideal' feminine traits, I think that is something purely for the male fanboy audience. Of which I am apart of [lol]. The one thing that I liked regarding Alita's physical appearance was her big anime eyes that never seemed to close, and that seemed to change during emotional scenes. I think they did a great job with those eyes. You can see Alita's soul through her eyes. However, I can also see the eyes in a negative sexual sense. Someone might say she looks like a sex doll. Or something.

Alita becomes a Hunter Warrior and a pro Motorball player in her attempt to get to Zolumn, to discover more about the world, and herself, I presume. The movie ends much better than it starts, on a cliffhanger. Rodriquez and Cameron believed that the world would catch Alita fever. While I don't see that being the case [most of my friends haven't seen it], I do think they had something here with this movie. It may not even be as good as Ghost in the Shell [it lacks the maturity that Ghost in the Shell had] but I think that the little bit of pathos utilized here was good enough for me. However, I'm a fanboy that has watched years and years of anime, so I'm a bit biased. 

I'll definitely watch the anime version sometime soon. 

Artificial Kid

Artificial Kid is the second novel by Bruce Sterling. Written in 1980, the book is over the top and satirical, reminding me of the kung foo 80s films. The book's protagonist is a young clone, artificially born at an adult age. He's a big action star. He's a combat artist, where people fight on film, and people pay to watch. One of the Orwellian concepts Sterling uses is the idea of a constant surveillance state. In the world of Artificial Kid everyone films themselves doing everything: eating with friends at dinner, having sex, combat art, the works. All the plutocrats of this society used them constantly. The social structure of the society highly stratified. However, with Kid being a pop star combat artist, owning 4 shares of stock, he was super rich, and famous despite being young. This is something of a cyberpunk novel, as there are some pretty advanced technology.
But then bad things happen to Kid. This guy calls a blood feud on him, wipes Kids' maids mind [akin to murder], and has some goons beat him to a bloody pulp. Barely surviving, Kid and his entourage start living on the run. They find themselves getting blown up on a ship from another enemy sent by Angeluce, who's part of the Cabal, the society that controls the planet.

Moses Moses, Saint Anne-Twiceborn, and Kid end up swimming for hours and hours, only to somehow land upon a flying island. On the island kid miraculously finds his mentor, a scientist. They each take turns telling their personal story, as they might be about to die at any time. They were being hunted by Angeluce, because they knew about Moses Moses, who was out of cryosleep, and was apart of the original government some 300 years ago. Yes, none of this makes sense. 

Although none of the middle and ending sections have too much action, this section where the characters tell their own stories is where Sterling shines at creating a character, even if we have to use a bit of suspension of belief. Saint Anne really comes off as a true loving woman and Kid realizes this. Moses Moses' story about how the world and government of Reverid came to be is fascinating, as it works as exposition for the world. 

The story isn't executed nearly as well as the ideas themselves. Perhaps the outcome of a sophomore slump? I've read a lot of short reviews for Artificial Kid and reviews seem to be mixed. I think the novel is terrific. The plot is all over the place but I think the the characters were well written and the ending is quite nice.

Kid grows up as the story progresses. He starts off as an arrogant, drug addled, violent brute that smashes people with nunchucks, but in the end he turns into a loving guy and reciprocates the love of Saint Anne. Kid and Saint Anne raise Quade, the maid who got mind-wiped, up as a kid. But here we see that Kid gives up the combat artist lifestyle, and ends the novel living in peace with Saint Anne and Quade, on an island, his old mentor's house. Kid goes through an odyssey of his own to find out what the really important things are in life. There's even an alien eating a human head.

There are lots of novels with the theme used here. Candide comes to mind. The satirical aspects are strong here. The characters use 80s arcade slang and made-up slang jargon as well like, "Oh wau, holy death!" stuff like that. The gore described herein is pretty hardcore. At one point Kid kills a man for the first time and he ends up ripping up his skull, with grisly details. There is a science, technology, philosophy, and sociological intensity to the extensive dialogue of the characters and that's where the reader learns more and more, getting caught on turns of plot. I think that this is still a strong book from Sterling, and I've read a few of his books now so I can see where he's made his leaps and changes in writing.  

I do think that the plot could have been written in a more elegant or smooth style. But I think rather than rely on plot Sterling used a lot of dialogue for the reader to learn more about the history and lore of the utopia/dystopia planet, as well as the backgrounds of each of the main characters. It worked, for me. I would even be interested to read this again at some point.  As you can see from my list below of all the other Bruce Sterling books, I've read a lot of Sterling's work. I've even read his first novel Involution Ocean, a science fiction Moby Dick. I would say there's a good evolution from 1980 Artificial Kid Sterling to 1985 Schismatrix Plus Sterling. All great stuff relatively speaking, and definitely worth reading.

On a side note I couldn't find any good reviews for Artificial Kid on a google search. So that's why I decided to write my own. Sterling gets props for imagining a world everybody is constantly being watched by their own cameras. Its like he could see to the age of postmodernism where people enjoy watching Keeping up with the Kardashians and other reality TV popcorn bubblegum. Its an old trope for the state of a brutal regime, but its actually come to pass. Sometimes its good to turn off the cameras.

Check out my other Bruce Sterling novel reviews
https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/12/holy-fire.html
https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/zeitgeist.html
https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/schismatrix-plus.
https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-difference-engine.html 

Floating Worlds

Floating Worlds is a terrific science fiction novel from 1975. Written by historical fiction writer Cecilia Holland, this is her first and only science fiction novel. The book is about a biracial woman named Paula Mendoza, who at the beginning of the book gets tired of her lame boyfriend, dumps him, and gets a job working for The Committee, a group of Anarchists who help manage Earth's government. This all happens thousands of years into the future by the way, where pollution has decimated the Earth, resulting in humans living protected in domes. 

Enter Styths. Paula's job is to get the Styths to agree to a treaty, which lasts ten years. The Styths are descendants of the first humans on Uranus, except they've changed, they're mutated. They're eight feet tall mutated humans [aliens], that speak a different language, live in a patriarchal society, are disgustingly racist [use the n-word all the time], and are complete savages who raid Mars and enslave thousands of people. They are described as black skinned mutants with long mustaches. Paula's means of getting the Styths to sign the treaty is a bit scandalous. She seduces their leader, Saba, and has a Styth baby by him, goes to live with him on his home planet, and engages in the politics from there.

Saba is a brutal alien. He beats Paula and at one point even rapes her. However, Paula comes back to him in order to do what she wants, which is whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. She's the idea of the female man, she's the perfect anarchist because although she's working for the Committee, she's also working for herself, and for the Styths, all at the same and sometimes different points in the novel. In a sense, we never get to know whats going on in Paula's head, but we can infer from the prose.

Floating worlds has two very important quirks. First, the prose is very short and simple sentences. Second, Holland never explains anything. There's no legendary or epic grand science fiction exposition here. This isn't Man Plus, with its eloquent and long exposition, a book I read recently. She doesn't explain how any of the technology works, the world of the space opera itself, the psychological state and/or feelings of the characters. Instead, we get a point of view of the character told from these short simple sentences that explain whats going on, and the dialogue between the different characters. It's a unique way to write, a very inspiring one as well when you realize that sometimes all you need is to be simple and straight to the point. In a way, this book taught me a new way to approach writing. I realized that technically, I don't have know the scientific facts that exist in the world of science fiction. You could just have incredible technology and just have it work, that's what Holland does here. None of the tech is explained, the characters just use these advanced computers and they work fine without any fine details.

There's space combat, tribal duels to claim the Styth throne, romance, lesbian sex, lots of sex in general, seduction, betrayal, politics regarding gender, race, and class, war, a fallout Earth that feels like the 1970s, contemporary. The ending itself is almost the same as the ending for Schismatrix, which came out ten years later, which is the main character walking away from the entire space opera in a state of experienced zen-bliss? Perhaps something like describes it.

There are many reasons why this novel is important. The biggest reason is that this is a science fiction novel with a powerful female protagonist. Another important female protagonist I can think of is Lady Jessica, of the Bene Gesserit Order, from Dune. Also, this is a space opera on a grand scale that takes place over twenty years. You're going to be going through long reading sessions to finish this novel [465 pages]. However, you get in a rhythm, pacing if you will, when you learn to enjoy the simpleness of the sentences, and the uniqueness of the prose. I can see how the 80's of writers like Bruce Sterling may have been influenced by this. If not influenced then at least definitely aware. Schismatrix Plus comes to mind especially. Lastly, because of the writing style and lack of psychological detail and exposition, this is a very unique science fiction novel, which makes it worth reading, dusting off the 1970's dust and brought into the light of 2019.

I liked this book so much that I ended up buying a used copy from a third party on Amazon for eight bucks. This is going to be one of my prized SF novels on my book shelf. It's so good that I'm planning on reading Holland's historical fiction at some point in the future too. This is a work of great lost art from the '70s, it deserves to be on anyone's book shelf. 

[my copy has this book cover, the original book cover, pictured top]

Jazz Duo

This is a track from my jazz duo project, for lack of a name yet I'll just call it the Figueroa/Thomas Duo.

Guitar, Orlando Figueroa
Alto Saxophone, Jason Thomas

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/jazz-duo

Eden

Eden is an early science fiction novel written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, in 1959. However, it wasn't translated into English until 1989-way, way later.

The characters here don't have names, rather the crew are called the Doctor, the Chemist, the Captain, etc. The story starts with a crew landing on an alien planet called Eden. The ship gets damaged, but its repairable. So the crew works on fixing the ship as well as exploring the planet. 

What they see sort of reads like a horror story. They find spider-like plants, mass graves of dead aliens with amorphous shapes and faces all over the place, a bio-factory of aliens, flying, spinning discs, etc. All of which makes the whole experience look like an alien concentration camp. The crew keeps trying to make sense out of everything but at the end of all the debate they realize that nothing makes sense no matter how much they keep learning. 

Most of the book is the crew repairing the ship, exploring, and explanations of what they see, in their jeep with their giant robot. At one point they get attacked by aliens [whom they call doublers], and they retaliate using an atomic weapon! 

Nothing is really known the longer the novel goes on until the last chapters. In fact, there's no character development nor is there any clear plot or story line. At the end the crew finds an alien [a doubler] that's wearing clothes [a rag-like thing]. They find out through the doubler's star maps that he is a man of learning and science. They figure out a way to get the ship's computer to translate the doubler's gurgling cough language. 

From here we learn that the alien civilization here is highly stratified. There used to be a tyrannical government in place in the beginning. Then there were leaders who led anonymously. There's jails set in place where the aliens serve voluntarily, sent there for punishments from the higher ups of the planet, perhaps for doing wrong, perhaps not, we don't know as the computer is iffy with the doubler's translation. The higher ups also control who gets to distribute information, an Orwellian influence. Basically a concentration camp without any guards, designed so that prisoners stay inside on their own free will. I still don't quite get it, but I'm not sure if I'm suppose to nor do I think its that important. Its an interesting concept nonetheless. 

We also learn that although the doublers have no sense of nuclear power, they did once conduct a mass experiment to enhance the species. The experiment failed, which resulted in deformed doublers, who are ostracized from the main society. The doubler tells them that because information gets you killed here, that when he found out that a ship with aliens crash landed, he took this as the chance of a life time, which the humans empathized with.

The crew realizes that they've been exploring something of a prison planet, that sort of thing. The two doublers that the crew found during their stay decided to stay behind the ship's exhaust and die, rather than go back to their oppressive society.  

Before the crew leaves the planet the Captain and the Doctor have a debate. Should they intervene? This is the book's philosophical angle. In the end the Captain decides they shouldn't interfere with these aliens and their society, which makes sense especially because this book was written under Soviet-style regime. However, it also makes the case against having an influence upon another society, another civilization. Sometimes its best to leave things be, which they decide to do. 

Although the prose here isn't anything grand, this book kept my attention. I finished the novel in three days because I was so curious about what was happening on the planet. The book was sort of terrifying in a way, what with the whole prison concentration camp vibe. However, I think that horror element keeps the story exciting, as the prose is sort of dry. 

When the crew is flying off they look back at Eden and see that its a beautiful violet sphere. They realize that it was because of its beauty that they accidentally flew too close and entered its atmosphere. Because of this beauty, that's the reason its called Eden.

I would definitely read more Stanislaw Lem, he's one of the only modern European science fiction writers I've read. I've seen the movie version of his book Solaris, a terrific 1970s sci-fi flick. I would be interested in reading that. 

The Main in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle, by Phillip K. Dick is a grand and magisterial science fiction novel. Written in 1962, the only thing 'science fiction' about it is the fact that its an alternate history novel. Set in 1962, fifteen years after an alternative ending to World War II. Here, Germany and Japan actually win the war. Now, both countries share control over the entire world, including the United States. The Man in the High Castle won the most prestigious science fiction award [the critically acclaimed Hugo Award] in 1963. In 2015, Amazon Prime adapted the novel into a series. However, you can't compare the show to the novel, its just not good enough to even compare notes on. 

Inspirations for the book include Ward Moore's alternate Civil War history, Bring the Jubilee [1952], various classic World War II histories, as well as the I, Ching [used by the characters in the novel], which creates a sense of a novel within a novel.   

More on the world within the novel. FDR was assassinated in 1934, leading the continuation of the Great Depression and isolation during the War. Hitler and Nazi Germany take over Europe and the Soviet Union, murdering anyone they don't like. Japan controls Eastern Asia and Oceania. The Nazis helped Italy conquer Africa. Japan invades the US West Coast while Germany invades US East Coast. By 1947, the US and Allies surrender to the Axis powers, ending the War. The US is still independent, but under Nazi rule. 

By 1960 Japan and Nazi Germany are the worlds' superpowers. Japan establishes the Pacific States of America [P.S.A] from the former Western United States, with the Rocky Mountains as a neutral zone between the PSA and the Nazi-occupied former Eastern United States. For reasons not explained the UK, Spain, Canada, and many other nations in the world remain independent. 

Hitler is still alive but he's going through an advanced stage of syphilis, not governing. Martin Bormann is Chancellor of Germany, with Goebbels, Heydrich, Göring, Seyss-Inquart (who oversees the extermination of the peoples of Africa), and other Nazi leaders soon trying to take his place.

The Nazis drained the Mediterranean to make room for farmland, developed the hydrogen bomb, designed rockets for fast travel across the world as well as space, having colonized the Moon, Mars, and Venus. The novel takes place in PSA, where Chinese are second class citizens, and blacks are slaves. The secondary setting for the novel is the Rocky Mountain states, Cañon City, Denver and Cheyenne.

Now for the plot. This is where things get interesting. In 1962, Robert Childan owns an antique shop frequented by bourgeois Japanese who like historical American artifacts. Childan is contacted by Tagomi, a high-ranking Japanese official, who is seeking a gift for Baynes, a Swedish industrialist. Childan's store is stocked with items from WM, a company that Frank Frink [formerly Fink, a Jewish name] works for. 

Frank Frink is secretly an American Jew who survived Nazi Germany. He's just been fired from WM, so him and Ed [also from WM, Ed quits WM] go into the jewelry making business on their own. 

Meanwhile, Frank's ex-wife Juliana, works as a judo instructor in Canon City, Colorado, where she begins a sexual relationship with an Italian truck driver and ex-soldier, Joe Cinadella. Throughout the book, most of the characters, resort to using the I, Ching, a cultural import from China used ask questions, "what should I do?". Ask the Oracle. Most of the characters are also reading the Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a popular work of fiction that depicts a world where the Allies won the War, similar to our real life world. 

Frink reveals that WM has been selling Childan counterfeit material, not stuff of actual historical value, which works to blackmail WM so he can fund his new jewelry venture. Tagomi and Baynes meet but Baynes keeps delaying until they get word from a third party from Japan. Suddenly, the Chancellor of Germany, Martin Bormann dies, making national and world-wide news. Childan takes Frink's work on consignment to some Japanese, who tell them that the artwork is junk, but contains spiritual value. That the items could be sold in Asia or Latin America as magic good luck charms, things of that nature. This upsets Childan, who thinks that original American artwork is too good to be junk magic charms. Juliana and Joe out of nowhere decide to visit Abendsen, the writer of the Grasshopper. Goebbels is announced as the next new Chancellor of Germany. 

Baynes and Tagomi meet their Japanese contact as the Nazi secret police close in to arrest Baynes [who is actually a high ranking Nazi official, although he is really a Jew, complete with body changes and enhancements to lose his Jewish 'look']. In fact, it turns out that Baynes is actually a Nazi defector named Rudolf Wegener. Wegener warns his contact, a famous, high-ranking Japanese General of Operation Dandelion, a Goebbels approved surprise attack on the Japanese Home Islands, in order to destroy them in one fell swoop! 

Frink is exposed as a Jew and arrested [but is later released with no explanation]. Meanwhile, Wegener and Tagomi take down two SD Agents, actually it is Tagomi who kills both of them with an antique Civil War revolver. Back in Colorado, Joe cuts his hair short, dyes it blonde, and starts acting differently, making Juliana believe that he's going to kill Abendsen. In fact, she's been had. He's actually a Nazi on assignment to kill the famous writer of Grasshopper. 

Wegener flies back to Germany and finds out that Goebbels has been ousted by Reinhard Heydrich, who is anti-Dandelion. Tagomi is extremely shaken by the blood on his hands. He goes back to sell the antique revolver to Childan, but Childan doesn't take it back. Instead, Tagomi buys one of Frink and Ed's 'silly' trinket items that Childan had on consignment for EdFrank Jewelry. Tagomi goes on an intense spiritual quest where he momentarily perceives an alternate history of San Francisco. He does 'see' into the metaphysical reality, a philosophical section of the book.

Elsewhere, Juliana puts a razor blade to Joe's neck, presumably killing him. Then she goes on to meet Abendsen, who it turns out, doesn't live in a High Castle surrounded by weapons, but in a normal house, with his family and friends. In fact, Abendsen doesn't even occupy his mind with thoughts that he's going to get assassinated. However, when Juliana tells him that she saved him from a potential killer [Joe], Abendsen is grateful. Juliana asks Abendsen tough questions about how he wrote the Grasshopper. At first he gives her half-assed answers and is arrogant. But eventually he admits that he used the I, Ching to write Grasshopper, which leads to Juliana, before leaving, to infer that "Truth" wrote the book in order to reveal the "Inner Truth" that Japan and Germany really lost the War. 

I don't usually go into this much detail about the plot of a book when I write a blog about it. However, this novel is so important and great that I felt obligated to, so that if you, the reader don't have the time to actually read the novel, you can read my synopsis and find the inspiration to make time to read this great book. 

Some novels just hit you on the head and a light bulb goes on, a little voice in your head says, "This is an important book."  This is so with The Man in the High Castle. The material here, so much about Nazi's and whatnot, is hard to bear, and I think snowflakes in the Twitter literary world would find lots to complain about. However, because it was written in 1962, it got the praise it deserved, for it shows a world that could have been, may have been, if only we had lost the war. 

Culturally, there is a lot going on here. For example, just like how the characters in the book used the I, Ching to make important decisions, so did Phillip K. Dick use it for decisions regarding plot and such. Not only that but in order for Dick to write the book he did a ton of Nazi history reading. Going down that road is difficult for anyone [excluding Nazis], for that history is hard to take in, absorb, and write about. In fact, Dick wanted to write a sequel but couldn't because he just didn't want to read and write more about Nazis, understandably so. 

The use of the I, Ching makes for a great novel-within-a-novel theme [so does the Grasshopper book]. The use of the I, Ching is downright fascinating. This book has everything: extrapolation, suspense, action, art, philosophy, plot, and character. Its no wonder that it won the Hugo Award in 1963, its a masterpiece. 

In addition, another thing that really 'spoke' to me as I read the book was the pure artistry of Dick's literary style, technique. He's a true master of fiction. I learned more about how to write a sympathetic character, from studying the way Dick describes the thoughts of the characters as they 'perform' in the world of this particular fiction. I haven't thought about doing this sort of thing in my own fiction. I'm striving to become a great fiction writer, and although I think it would be super difficult to imitate Dick's style, I also think I've learned from his style as well, how to use the voice of the writer as well as the voice of the characters. Very important stuff.

In terms of Phillip K. Dick, it might not get any better than this. I've read a lot of Dick's novels, and the one I can think of that I enjoyed as much as this one was Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? However, I would say that this is arguably a more important novel in the genre, and for Dick as a writer.  

An aside, this is a very tough-minded book. Not for snowflakes.

Read the novel, skip the show, be amazed. 

Other blogs on Phillip K Dick
http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/05/phillip-k-dicks-cosmic-puppet.html 
http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2015/12/man-in-high-castle.html

February Update

Howdy partner! I've had a lot of free time lately, but haven't been writing as much. However, I've been extremely busy living an interior life, which of course involves a lot of reading and guitar playing. 

Usually I keep the blog updated very frequently but I haven't finished any novels, albums, or seen any interesting movies. However, I'm in the middle of a couple of great books and I'm even writing a rough draft for a novella, which I will try to get published, eventually, maybe in 2020 when I'm done with it. My goal is for it to be around 100 pages. Its about growing up in the Midwest in the early 2000's, very autobiographical. 

For starters, I've been reading this epic [457 page] science fiction novel by Cecelia Holland, a female historical fiction writer, called Floating Worlds. Floating Worlds is her first and only science fiction novel and it is quite grand. In a way, this book heavily reminds me of Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling, however, this book was written in 1976, some ten years before Schismatrix Plus. 

Basically, the Earth has been run down by pollution. Anarchists control the Earth's government. There are people on other planets and even aliens [Martians and others], called Styths. Our female protagonist gets a government job [ironic b/c they're anarchists], and is in charge of writing a treaty between the anarchists of Earth and Styths, these 'black' aliens with mustaches, claws, and very tall bodies. The female lead ends up getting the treaty by sleeping with the Styth leader, and she even has a baby by him! I'm about half-way through the novel. Interesting to note that the Styths say the word 'nigger' a lot, usually in reference to humans. In addition, Martians and other alien races refer to the Styths as niggers. I imagine that this would upset a lot of the social media crowd these days.

The idea is a very popular science fiction trope: a grand space opera spanning many pages. However, the writing is unlike most science fiction space operas I've read. The writing is simplistic, sometimes even bare bones. Sentences read easily, in fact, you could say the book reads itself, although it is quite long. Its quite something to see that you don't have to be as technical as say William Gibson or even Bruce Sterling to write great science fiction. This is a great example of that. 

In addition, I've been reading Being and Time [1927, 500 pages] by Martin Heidegger, the modern German philosopher.  In Being and Time, Heidegger attempts to explain "what is being". He says that since the time of the Greeks, philosophers have avoided the question, instead referring to the analysis of particular beings. He goes on to explain and define the meaning of being. I can't say that I truly understand everything in Being and Time. However, everything written in it is so captivating that sometimes I can't put it down. It keeps my attention, and makes me think very hard about what he's trying to say, which is to definite being. 

One thing that makes it very difficult to understand is the fact that its translated from German, meaning that a lot of the words and phrases get lost in translation. If you truly want to study Being and Time, you would have to read it in German. The other aspect of understanding here is the fact that the ideas presented are so abstract, so abstract that you can get lost in thoughts, your own thoughts about the ideas presented, as well as the sentences themselves. This is the most difficult philosophy I've read, [and I've read bits of Plato, Aristotle, Sir Tomas More, Francis Bacon, Margaret Cavendash, Hobbes, Descartes, Adam Smith, Voltaire, and Bertrand Russell]. Nonetheless, its a terrific work that keeps me thinking and striving to understand 'being'.  Very motivating!

Moving on, and speaking of Germans, I just today started reading Man in the High Castle [1962, 240 pages] by Phillip K. Dick. I read half the book at the library and plan on finishing it soon. Its a terrific novel with a great pace. There is a show based on the novel on Amazon Prime but it doesn't hold a candle to the majesty of the novel itself. This novel won the prestigious science fiction award, the Hugo Award in 1963-well deserved! 

The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel where Germany and Japan won World War II. Now, the Nazi's and Japan share control over the world, including the United States. The book makes use of the I, Ching, an ancient Chinese text used for religion, psychoanalysis, literature, and art. The way its used in the novel is fascinating, a sort of book within a book, with extra variations and themes. Man in the High Castle has everything: art, philosophy, plot, character, suspense, action, and character. I'll probably write about it in my next post. 

Life is moving fast. I'm trying to keep up day-to-day with what is really important. Inevitably, this means that I haven't been playing video games, instead preferring to read, write, and nap [sleep is the best 'drug' you can ever use]. I'm finding that my time is becoming more precious so playing Overwatch just doesn't do it for me anymore. I still play Smash Ultimate with my buddies when I hang out with them. But when I'm by myself I'm going to stick with the more important stuff, reading, writing, napping, and playing guitar. 

Thanks for reading, I look forward to the next post about Man in the High Castle. 

Candide

Voltaire's Candide [written in 1759 by French philosopher Voltaire, written during the Age of Enlightenment]  is a terrific work of satire that attacks Leibniz's philosophy of optimism. This is done through the constant refrains of the character Pangloss [Candide's philosophy teacher] saying, "This is the best outcome in the best of all possible worlds." This happens periodically throughout the story. In a way this is a perfect book for me because it reads like a philosophical cartoon strip. Ironically I think I've got a physical copy of Candide with a cartoon strip for a cover, pictured here.

Satire is used to full effect here. Everybody and anyone is fair game for ridicule. The religious establishment especially. Another important feature is that a lot of the events that occur were actually real events. For example, the Lisbon Earthquake was a real event that killed 30,000 people, an event that makes 9/11 look like nothing.

Voltaire ridicules Leibniz's philosophy through the character Pangloss, who's reasoning is silly. For example, the following is ridiculous:

"It is demonstrable that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles."   

Pangloss goes on to defend optimism and reiterate that "its for the best, in all the best of possible worlds." Consider this section where he explains why its good that syphilis exists:

"It was a thing unavoidable, a necessary ingredient in the best of worlds; for if Columbus had not caught in an island in America this disease, which contaminates the source of generation, and frequently impedes propagation itself, and is evidently opposed to the great end of nature, we should have had neither chocolate nor cochineal."

Candide, the main character, goes on to keep believing everything his philosophy teacher Pangloss says until everything goes wrong for him. Eventually he despairs and is ready to give up on everything in life. Thus Voltaire cures him of his optimism. Although its interesting to call out Leibniz I also think a large part of the idea for this work was to contrast irony with comedy, thus we have satire. And this it does very well. You could say that this kind of novel is created for men [and women] of wit to read for fun. And fun it is. 

Voltaire doesn't invent or exaggerate evils of the world. In fact he displays these things as regular real life events. A simple example of satire is when Candide watches as an admiral gets killed for failing to properly engage a French fleet. "The admiral is blindfolded and shot on the deck of his own ship, merely "to encourage the others" (French: pour encourager les autres, a popular quote from Candide). 

Almost of all Candide is a discussion of the various forms of evil. There is one notable exception; when Candide and Cacambo go to El Dorado. This is perhaps the only optimism in the book, where we find a place where everything is perfect. So perfect in fact, that satire doesn't exist here. But because we don't live in such a perfect world as that, satire must and will exist. 

The book is pretty simple plot-wise, a sort of adventure novel. In a way even its plot is a satire of European novels: Candide is of a lower caste than Cunegund, therefore he shan't dare marry her, romance, making fun of the high arts such as music and theater, the mishaps that happen around every corner, etc. These sorts of things are in a lot of archaic novels I've read. The one that comes to mind is The Blazing World by Margaret Cavandash. However, I think Candide is a lot better than that story. But they are very similar plot-wise and written and are archaic. 

All in all this is a fantastic read. I read it in one sitting last night. If you're a man [or woman] of wit, and enjoy philosophy as well as adventure novels this will definitely be on your reading list. Its a classic for a reason after all.