Callahan's Law

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon", the first collected volume of Spider Robinsons Callahan's stories... 

...My absolute favorite series of stories and novels; which, in all honesty and seriousness, and without any hyperbole at all, I fully credit with saving my sanity, and my soul; more than a couple times... 

...Was actually published on the exact day of my birth.

Thank God for that... because it, and the other two collected volumes of stories in the series, "Time Travellers Strictly Cash"  and "Callahan's Secret" (all three are now collected in a single volume "The Callahan Chronicles"), were all in paperback a dozen someodd years later, the first time I really needed them. 

... There have been many other times I have needed them since... 

And the six more novels to follow, between 1989 and 2003, which were also there when I needed them... As was Spider himself once... though only by email, no less a help for it. 

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him in person, but my friends who have, and particularly those...more than a couple... who also call him friend; have told me he's just what I would expect him to be, from my experience with him, and his writing, and his music. He is a man who must, by nature, because of his intellect, his empathy, his sincerity, his force of will, his sheer heart... reveal himself in all he does. 

I will say without a shadow of a doubt... I would not be alive, or remotely sane today, if it weren't for Spider Robinson, and Callahans... Or if by some awful curse or terrible miracle I was, I would be in prison... or very much worse. 

You see.. Callahans law states: 

"Just as there are Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy, so there are in fact Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy. Neither can ever be created or destroyed. But one can be converted into the other. Shared pain is lessened;  shared joy is increased - thus do we refute entropy"

If you think you might need Callahans too... I'm happy to help you out as I can. For that matter, theres at least a few thousand people just like me, all around the world, who also know they wouldn't be here, or sane, without Callahans... and without exception, they will help anyone who needs it, if they can.

Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased - Thus do we refute entropy.

If he can pull it off...

Ridley Scott is turning Philip K. Dicks masterwork, one of the greatest SF novels of all time, "The Man in the High Castle", into a miniseries for the BBC.

If he can pull it off, it will almost certainly go down as the best science fiction film ever (yes I know, it's a miniseries, its still a film), and will be nominated for every award there is.

Scott is one of the few producers who COULD pull it off.... MAYBE.

I just don't think any studio, even the BBC, is going to allow Scott to make the movie that it needs to be; especially since he is producing, but not directing.

It's a HARSH story. A dark story. It's NOT happy. It's not "TV friendly". It's not possible to convey visually...

I just don't see how they can do it.

A Refresher Course in History and Moral Philosophy

I was reminded of something today, which caused me to think very hard about an important experience in my life...

And I realized something...

Though I've only read it fully twice, and haven't read Robert Heinleins "Starship Troopers" in a hell of a long time; there are still to this day, entire passages that I can quite word for word from the book (and many others that I remember nearly word for word).

...but...

I had to think very hard about when the last time I read the book was. Thinking back, I realized that it was while I was in college, more than 15 years ago.

note: in my mind it's not "more than 15" it's "almost 20 years ago", but my wife says "Saying 'almost 20 years' makes you sound old... You aren't all THAT old"....

Actually I think either 16 or 17 years I don't remember the exact date, just where I was living and who I was living with at the time... which narrows it down sometimes between late '93 and early '95. 

Of course, the fact that 1993 qualifies as "almost 20 years ago" induces a certain cognitive dissonance all by itself. 

I've read and re-read many Heinlein classics since then of course (most recently re-reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and  "Time Enough for Love", late last year and early this year); but for some reason I haven't read "Starship Troopers" or "Strange in a Strange Land", in almost 20 years.

 At any rate, time to correct that. I've got the complete works of Heinlein as ebooks, I'll start re-reading it tonight... It's pretty short I'll probably be through it by tomorrow. Maybe I'll re-read "The Sixth Column" another of my Heinlein favs (And a short one) that I havent read in years (though more recently than "Troopers"... I think I re-read it about 7 years ago, around the time I moved back to the U.S. from Ireland.)

One of the most basic questions of Science Fiction Geekdom

Star Wars, or Star Trek...

I can't believe I've never blogged this one. It's one of the biggest geek jihads there is.

Well... it really depends on what you consider canon. How much of the "universe" of each you allow into your evaluation.

If we go just on the movies and TV shows, Star Trek by a country mile... even with the soft and squishy pseudosocialism crap.

The writing, the acting, the cinematography, and the direction of Star Trek are in general far superior to Star Wars; as is the general body of work (one great, one good, two bad, one mediocre and two AWFUL movies, and one good and one bad TV show on the Star Wars side. Three great, three good, three bad and two AWFUL movies, and three good, one mediocre, and two bad TV shows for Star Trek).

As SciFi as a whole... that's more difficult. Star Trek is really post golden age science fiction, whereas Star Wars is classic golden age Space Opera. They're really different genres, and are difficult to compare directly.

If we include the full universe of each, including the novels and in canon video games... It's a wash. Two entirely different philosophies, two entirely different universes, two entirely different sets of writing styles etc... and lots of great writers/authors for both (witness Mike Stackpole, and Vonda McIntyre).

My general personal preference is for Star Trek; because I like the characters and character oriented writing, more than the archetypal mythological arc oriented writing of the Star Wars franchise.