Review of Brutarian Quarterly #44
My review of Brutarian Quarterly #44 is up at Tangent Online. There’s one great story (Megan Crewe’s “Horns”) and two good ones.
See, despite what you might think from yesterday’s post, I don’t like to give unfavorable reviews.
More later. I’m busy taking tonsils out today.
D.
The Karl Rove Controversy Continued
Point 2
Over on DailyKos.com there is an interesting thread (search for espionage) discussing whether the Espionage Act of 1917 was violated. (If you’re a real glutton for eye strain, here is the actual statute .)
The MSM is only discussing whether the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was broken. Allegedly, Rove is unlikely to be prosecuted under the Identities Act since that crime is almost impossible to prove in a court of law. As stated today in the New York Times:
“The 1982 law that makes it a crime to disclose the identities of covert operatives is not easy to break. It has apparently been the basis of a single prosecution, against Sharon M. Scranage, a C.I.A. clerk in Ghana who pleaded guilty in 1985 to identifying two C.I.A. agents to a boyfriend.”
If you want to read a discussion on the application of this law, click over here at Tabella .
Of course, the controversy is NOT solely a legal question. Even if no one is convicted, the story could catch on with the public and cause real political embarrassment to the Bush Administration. A “successful” scandal is relatively simple, easily explained, and contains a dramatic hook with an emotional appeal. For example, if Valerie Plame’s alleged network was exposed and an operative was killed in an excessively gory fashion, that might provide enough drama to hold public interest.
Do I sound cold? I go through dozens of news sites each day. THAT would make anyone jaded.
An Open Letter to My Victims
Updated August 13.
I’ve decided this post was too snarky to live. Consider it a humor-misfire.
As for authors who take issue with my reviews:
- I do my best to critique the story that was written, not the story I wanted to read.
- I approach every story with an open mind.
- If I gave you a negative review, I’m sorry, but your story must have irked me deeply. You can’t please every reader.
- And if you feel like I missed the point, by all means TELL ME. If you can make me appreciate your story, I’m not above changing my mind.
D.
A Bit of Trivia on the Karl Rove Controversy
The Karl Rove/Valerie Plame story has reached critical mass and even the mainstream media is discussing it. I won’t bother to reiterate the facts or speculate further since everyone is blogging, chatting and otherwise electronically interacting. If you feel the need, simply go to HuffingtonPost.com or DailyKos.com and you’ll find as much speculation and discussion as anyone could desire. There are two interesting points that a casual observer might miss, however.
Point #1
This story is somewhat controversial (and murky and complicated so bear with me) but Valerie Plame may not be the first undercover agent to be outed by the Bush Administration for political purposes. On July 2004, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a high-level al Qaeda operative, was arrested and “turned” by Pakistani intelligence. Khan had been communicating through encrypted emails with an al Qaeda cell that was planning an attack in Great Britain; his laptop also contained 3-year-old information about a possible attack against financial buildings in the U.S.
On July 26-29th, 2004 the Democratics held their 2004 convention and nominated John Kerry with the usual fanfare. Typically, this type of three-day-long political advertisement provides the candidate with a bump in the polls. On Aug. 1, 2004, Tom Ridge issued an alert that al Qaeda was planning an attack on financial buildings in the U.S. and gave some background information to reporters. John Kerry did not get any significant improvement in the polls, possibly due to fear and the public perception that Bush had a “tougher stance” on terrorism. The New York Times printed Khan’s name on Aug. 2nd and British intelligence had to prematurely arrest 13 suspects. They had to release 5 of them due to lack of evidence. British officials were really pissed off.
The question is, how did the NY Times get the name? The reporters stated in this article that they received the name from a Pakistani source. But how did the reporters know they should be looking in Pakistan? I’m completely sure that Karl Rove had prior knowledge about Ridge’s announcement; Rove was running the campaign and this warning had obvious political implications. On the other hand, could Ridge be sure that a U.S. attack was not imminent? If he guessed wrong and an attack occurred, the consequences would be dire. For more info, check here on wikipedia.org, here on cnn.com and here on antiwar.com.
It’s late so I’ll finish this tomorrow.
Technorati Tags: Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, Karl Rove
The Shatter Manifesto
Note added 8/13/05.
Lots of folks read this post without knowing me or being familiar with my blog. Guess what: they get the wrong idea about me. A great deal of this seems to hinge on the word ‘Manifesto’.
I’m a humorist. I liked the word ‘Manifesto’ precisely because it is so fatuous, overblown, and arrogant. The word tickles me.
Unfortunately, some folks come over here and assume I am fatuous, overblown, and arrogant. Well, maybe I am. On the other hand, perhaps you don’t understand my sense of humor, or perhaps I’m a crappy humorist. All I ask is that you consider these competing hypotheses.
Back to the, erm, Manifesto.
Now that I’m writing occasional reviews for Tangent, I have a decision to make. When faced with a story I don’t like, I can (A) write an honest review, or (B) write one of these:
In summary, if you’re the kind of reader who enjoys impenetrable plots, artificially amped drama, liberal use of italics (and exclamation points!!!), unbelievable characters, and inconclusive endings, then you’ll absolutely love Farley Turgid’s “Overdrawn at the Sperm Bank”.
Rereading this, I realize I may have strained the point with my hyperbole. The more common manifestation of this syndrome goes like this:
So if you crave axe-wielding Nordic demigods who speak in Ye Olde English whilst bedding fair naiads in between time travel jaunts to Edwardian England and Imperial Rome, you’ll absolutely love Farley Turgid’s “Not Without My Loki”.
In both examples, the reviewer is trying to put a positive spin on things. But, I’m sorry. I can’t do it. I know what I like, and I’m opinionated enough to tell people about it.
I promise I’ll try to find something good in every story, but sometimes it’s damned difficult. Does that mean it’s a bad story? No. (Well, maybe. Eventually, a consensus opinion may emerge.) It only means I didn’t like it. Does anyone think a reviewer’s opinion is anyone’s but his own?
In An Open Letter to My Victims, I have responded to those present and future authors whose babes I have spat upon. Here, I intend to discuss what I consider a good short story*.
A good short story
- entertains
- puts the story first
- makes me think
- makes me feel
Let’s take ’em one at a time. I’m talking to you, the author.
A good short story entertains. I can forgive a lot, and I mean a LOT, if I have fun while reading the story. Is the story interesting? Amusing? Exciting? If you hold my interest, make me want more, and don’t disappoint me in the ending, I don’t really care if your writing doesn’t sparkle. The editor in me may nitpick, but the reader (and reviewer) will cheer.
A good short story puts the story first. That means it’s about the story — not about you, the author. I’m not interested in your feats of writerly legerdemain. Because it’s about the story, remember? We’re storytellers. Let me put it another way: anything that pulls me out of the story and makes me think about you is a bad thing.
A good short story makes me think. . . . About my values, my life, my loved ones, my world. Not, by the way, about the mechanics of the story (‘Now, who is that character? What just happened? Why did he say that? Who said that?’). I don’t mind putting some thought into the bones of a story, but I shouldn’t have to study it to get the point.
A good short story makes me feel. Mind you, this is an open-ended requirement. The feeling might be awe, amusement, sadness, regret — you name it. But your story should make me feel something.
Do you have to satisfy all four criteria? No, only one; but in my experience, if you’ve nailed one, you’ve nailed them all.
By the way. I had originally intended to have a fifth criteria: “A good short story should make sense.” But I read a story today in Brutarian (“Horns”, by Megan Crewe) which didn’t quite make sense to me. I can guess what the story means, but I wouldn’t swear I have the right take on it. And yet I enjoyed it — it fulfilled each and every one of the above criteria.
Perhaps that’s how it is with poetic fiction. (Good poetic fiction.) It works at a sub-rational level; it doesn’t have to make sense.
D.
*Look at the words: What I consider a good short story. As in, MY opinion. And even if I don’t explicitly say so, it’s still just my opinion.
I am such a geek
From Paperback Writer, by way of Holly Lisle:
You’re The Dictionary!
by Merriam-Webster
You’re one of those know-it-all types, with an amazing amount of
knowledge at your command. People really enjoy spending time with you in very short
spurts, but hanging out with you for a long time tends to bore them. When folks
really need an authority to refer to, however, you’re the one they seek. You’re an
exceptional speller and very well organized.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Menagerie
Menagerie (Zoo) by Kenney Mencher
But back to Bud Camfield. He’d gone a little goofy in the head, which is why the school district demoted him from principal to teacher. I thought the world of him, too, and not because he’d give us hugs. Even in the 70s, teachers weren’t that dumb.
No, Mr. Camfield rocked because he once took me aside and said, “Doug, you and I are the two greatest people I know. You’re special and I’m special.” Which would have been, you know, a real Mr. Rogers moment, except he followed it up with, “And don’t leave your education to the schools. You’re better than that. You have to look for culture, Doug. Listen to music, read the classics.” And then he wandered off, talking to himself.
I took his advice to heart. When I got home that day, I ransacked my parents’ record collection looking for something that might qualify as a ‘classic’. Hmm. Barbra Streisand? Petula Clark? Andy Williams? Finally, I found something that looked suspiciously high brow: George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. All orchestral, no words — this had to be culture.
Shortly thereafter, I hit the library and somehow found Benvenuto Cellini’s autobiography. In time, that led me to The Agony and the Ecstacy, as well as someone’s biography of Da Vinci. I picked up a Shakespeare collection and forced myself through Julius Caesar. That summer, I read Crime and Punishment, The Stranger, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and a whole bunch of other great stuff besides.
Thanks, Mr. Camfield.
D.
So, tell me again, who are the Bad Guys?
In the wake of the leaked British memo describing a possible UK/US partial withdrawal from Iraq, I thought I’d give a short recap of the “good guys” that will be taking over security duties.
1) For starters, there is the Kurdish Peshmerga and related militia who have been accused of sectarian-based murder and torture. The Kurds were brutalized by Saddam Hussein in a deliberate campaign to marginalize them in the oil-rich region around Kirkuk. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the initial Kurdish response in post-Saddam Iraq was to abuse Iraqi Arabs in a similar fashion. This outburst of violence was quelled but soon erupted again, this time also involving the other sizable Kirkuk minority group, the Turkomen. As it stands today, the Kurds, Turkomen and Iraqi Arabs have avoided flat-out civil war but as this May 23rd, 2005 article in USA Today states,
‘In January, four Kurds were dragged into the street in Hawija, a mostly Arab town 20 miles southwest of Kirkuk, and shot to death. Then in March, an Arab police major and three officers were killed in Kirkuk by a roadside bomb during a funeral procession for a fellow officer who was killed the day before by another roadside bomb. The Iraqi Institute for Human Rights in Kirkuk, an independent group, has documented more than 300 cases of vanished Arabs during the past two months. “Every day, someone is in here complaining about it,” says Jalal Ibrahim, deputy director of the institute. Armed Kurdish militia, called peshmerga, or “those who face death,” still patrol the streets in pickups. Other members of the militia have joined the local police.’
You may notice that USA Today (not my favorite media source btw) tries to put a positive spin on the story but even they can’t make death squads sound good.
2) The Mehdi militia. I can’t find much current info except for this article from The Guardian stating that some have joined the Basra police force. Moqtada al-Sadr is obviously still an important figure.
3) The Badr Brigade. This Iranian-trained militia has been targeting Sunni religious figures. The above link and this one also contain some information on this group. There has been a good deal of speculation that the Badr Brigade has been killing ordinary Sunnis as a possible prelude to civil war.
4) The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. Really not good. There are rather graphic descriptions in this link. The human rights abuses may not reach the volume of Saddam Hussein’s regime but the techniques appear to be the same.
With friends like these . . .
This Godless Communism
This seems a timely post, given that I was just accused of being a ‘pinko’ over at the Writers BBS.
From boingboing, this link to The Authentic History Center, which today features, in full, the 1961 Treasure Chest comic, “This Godless Communism”.
Here are a couple of good tidbits. From the first page:
“Modern Communism got its first toehold in Russia through violence and bloodshed. A revolution was directed by a small group of men who urged the people to attack their representative government.”
Emphasis mine. Guess absolute monarchy was too tough a concept for the kids.
From the next page:
The US has been taken over by some sort of Communist coup. Ma and Pa are reading the newspaper.
Pa: “And it says all the Catholic priests and sisters are being sent to a labor camp! Those who resist will be killed!”
Ma: “They’re doing the same thing with most of the Jewish and Protestant ministers!”
Three comments. One: Jewish ministers? They must be mighty conflicted souls. Two: most of the Jewish and Protestant ministers? Do I sense the implication that some of them are collaborators? Three: dig the exclamation marks!!!
***
It’s still not too late to play the Karl Rove Resignation Pool — it’s free, it’s fun. Many good dates are still available. Play now!
D.
The Karl Rove Resignation Pool
It’s patriotic!
Rules:
Predict the date that Karl Rove announces his resignation to the press. It’s that simple. Here are the nitty gritty details.
1. Give your prediction as a reply to this post. Use conventional nomenclature for dates — i.e., 00/00/00, or April 14, 1999. “Tomorrow” or similar predictions will be disqualified.
2. Review previous replies to make sure your prediction hasn’t already been taken by another player. If things start hopping around here, I’ll post a running list of ‘taken dates’.
3. If you accidentally choose a date that has already been taken, and that date becomes the winning date, the earliest contestant to choose that date will be the winner.
4. Prizes:
If you pick the winning date, I will mail you a brand spanking new copy of Cory Doctorow‘s urban fantasy, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. (If you win, you’ll need to email me with your shipping address.)
If you pick the winning date, and if you hype this contest on your blog or website, I will also send you a $US 20 gift certificate to Amazon.com, and a copy (through Amazon) of George Orwell’s 1984.
5. Hmm. Do I really need to mention that you can only enter once?
6. If Rove never resigns, we all lose.
It’s about freedom. It’s about poetic justice.
You can’t afford not to play.
D.
For all the lovely folks at Technorati: karl rove