Cars that go bump in the night

Spring is in the air and it's time to start gardening. These are before shots of the back border.
Cut to 10:50pm last night, Hoquiam police officer at the door, with our neighbor Allie, who's car had a brake failure and took out some of the fence. I figured it was the corner at the main street, which has taken some dings in the past.Yikes! The brake failed while the car was parked up hill. No one was in it when it went over, thankfully, no one was hurt.I could tell that half the forsythia was broken off, but I was so glad the car missed the lovely Japanese Maple that turns a brilliant red in the fall.
Not so lucky after all. The maple is completely broken off.
So, today will be spent talking to the police and insurance companies and if the sunshine holds for a couple days I see a chipper/shredder session in my future.

Toy Town

My dear friend Shini has posted a very cool photo editor, Tiltshift. You can play with the sliders and upload your final picture. And since I'm spending the day with my left foot elevated, it was a lovely way to play with some local scenery.
This image can turn into a miniature toy set:
If you have a strong vertical image, you may not need to tinker at all!
Remember the chainsaw artist in North Hoquiam?
I like this one a lot: the Lady Washington, docked at Westport.
I just had to play with this shiny picture of Roisin & HRM's hotrod.
The train tracks next to the Hoquiam River:
Just across the river, a train moves up the siding.
A crabbing dock outside Westport.



If anyone makes a cool picture, send it to me and I'll add it here!

Department of Books Reports: The Paranoid Style in American Politics

In the wake of the nomination of Barry Goldwater for President by the GOP in 1964, and at what was probably the height of the influence of the John Birch Society as an organization, American historian Richard Hofstadter wrote this magnificent essay for Harper's Magazine. It is well worth reading and has been collected in book form as "The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays" (Vintage Books $15.95).

He begins by stating:

"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind."

Hofstadter goes on to define the Paranoid style:

"The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms — he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization... he does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated — if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes."

And the "enemy" looks a lot like this:

"The enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral superman—sinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving. Unlike the rest of us, the enemy is not caught in the toils of the vast mechanism of history, himself a victim of his past, his desires, his limitations. He wills, indeed he manufactures, the mechanism of history, or tries to deflect the normal course of history in an evil way. He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced. The paranoid’s interpretation of history is distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someone’s will. Very often the enemy is held to possess some especially effective source of power: he controls the press; he has unlimited funds; he has a new secret for influencing the mind (brainwashing); he has a special technique for seduction (the Catholic confessional)."

Resonant, no? And from 1964 it only looks worse. Once again I can highly recommend Dave Neiwert's The Eliminationists, which I discussed here.

So why am I bringing this up? Well, for my next few reports, I want to examine some fictional works, and their film adaptations from the 1960's as well as some more contemporary works that involve the "paranoid style" and what those works said about us as a people then, and what they may say about us now. I'm thinking of such books as Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey's "Seven Days in May", Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler's "Fail-Safe" (and possibly their other novel from 1958, "The Ugly American"), Peter George's "Red Alert" (filmed by Stanley Kubrick as "Dr. Strangelove...." and Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", among others. And this is where you gentlefolk can help me. I'd like to hear your suggestions. Feel free to put them into the comments section. I think we can have a fruitful and, fun, discussion.

In the meantime, I still have not seen the long-awaited cookbook by democommie. And I'm getting hungry.

Department of Book Reports: A Twisted Faith

A Twisted Faith, By Gregg Olsen (St. Martin's Press $25.99)
Using actual interviews with the community, Gregg Olsen has written a True Crime book that reads like a novel. The town of Bainbridge and its residents across the Sound from Seattle are honestly portrayed here.

Nick Hacheney is the up-and-coming Youth Pastor at Christ Community Assembly when his wife tragically dies, in a day after Christmas fire at their home. The police and fire departments rely on the local coroner's office verdict that a crushed larnyx caused Dawn to die with no smoke in her lungs. Other troubling clues that were overlooked initially won't surface for several years. The church rallies around him, but soon rumors of inappropriate contact with a woman going through his Marriage Counseling surface. And then, another rumor. As the church shifts and begins to set out on it's own Apostolic journey, these hints are dismissed and simply not linked up.

Amazingly, it takes several years for this to finally come to light. By that time Nick has seduced 5 members of the congregation and manipulates these women for his own sexual quest. Justice will come to town, but it will take a long time.

Gregg Olsen has been a prolific author, documenting the Stella Nickells' Excederin capsule poisoning, Mary Kay Letourneaus' quest for true love, to the turn of the century Health Spa that starved its clients to death in Starvation Heights. He isn't flashy or gratuitous of his subjects, but treats them with respect and a critical eye.
A Twisted Faith is a fascinating look inside a church undone by murder and sexual obsession.

Thanks again to Gregg and St Martin's for my copy! It was a great read. I'm hoping he'll join us soon in Second Life and compare what we've learned of other Apostolic churches.

And today, at Noon Pacific Time, Peter May will be reading and discussing Virtually Dead, at Lacamas Hall in SL. Hope you can join us!

Department of Book Reports: Virtually Dead

Virtually Dead, by Peter May (Poisoned Pen Press $14.95)

Michael Kapinsky has returned to his old job as a Crime Scene photographer with the LAPD after the death of his wealthy wife, Mora. Unable to come to terms with her loss, he is now being targeted by Mora's first husbands family who want a larger share of the inheritance. The bank has smelled the troubles brewing and foreclosed on his $3 million dollar mortgage.

As he goes through the motions of letting go of the groundskeepers and others, his therapist proposes a unique way to continue his therapy sessions without cost. Join a group session in Second Life. A surprise party thrown by the cops from work in Real Life nicely sets the reader up for more surprises in Second Life. I liked the way Peter kept the tension during Michael's initial dis-orientation in Second Life.

When Michael confides in his co-worker, Janey of his sessions in SL, she invites him to become an investigator at her SL Detective Agency. (Peter actually hung a shingle out in SL himself and ran the Flick Fauld's Detective Agency while researching this novel.) Investigations from RL and SL begin to blur as Michael realizes the hand/eye icon on recent murder victims computer screens is actually the SL logo. Murdered in RL, but also in SL, with the rumored "super gun" which can kill avatars and steal all the Linden dollars in their accounts.

A Second Life glitch has dropped an amount of Lindens that would cash out to over 3 million US into Michael's account and when the bank threatens again, he cashes out and pays off the house note. That triumph is short lived, when it is uncovered that the murdered avatars had been involved in a Mafia plot to launder cash through the Linden banking system.

Michael has to dodge bullets and bad guys in both Second and Real Life, while trying to ensure his friends aren't the ones who wind up dead.

I appreciated that Peter was able to craft an exciting story using the frame of SL, with insight from having experienced the virtual worlds himself. Too many writers have set out to write "about" SL and completely miss the point. I've rarely seen anything rise above the level of FanFic and this is a welcome raising of that bar.

If you'd like to meet Peter May in the pixel, he'll be reading and discussing Virtually Dead at Lacamas Reading Hall at Noon PST/SLT, February 6th. Download the free software and create your avatar. Use the search to find people and send an IM to BookemJackson Streeter and I'll help you find good free stuff to get you started. We're very happy to have welcomed Cricket and Hedera in recent weeks.
Last Sunday's interview at Off the Shelf is posted now. I had great fun chatting with Kghia & Simeon.


Virtually Dead is available at Jackson Street Books, and includes the special offer of a freebie surprise ARC with every order.

Department of Book Reports: Boneshaker

Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (Tor Books $ 15.99)

Briar Wilkes Blue's son has gone off into the walled-off Pioneer Square of Seattle, hoping to prove once and for all the innocence of his father. 16 years earlier, prior to Zeke's birth, his father was a brilliant inventor who won a contest from the Russians who are looking for a better way to mine gold out of the frozen land of Alaska. Something went terribly wrong during the first test drive of Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine, it veered off course and hit some unknown vein of poisonous gas releasing the heavy yellow Blight gas into downtown Seattle. "Banker's Row" on Second Avenue has collapsed into its basements and gold and currency are missing from the vaults. Dr. Leviticus Blue has vanished and his widow claims no knowledge of his where-abouts. Was Dr. Blue the villain, or a mis-understood genius? And what of Maynard Wilkes, Briar's father whose last act was to release the prisoners held in Seattle's impromptu jail before they could be blighted into Zombies from the gas? His bravery is honored by the remaining residents of Seattle, but despised by the settlers outside the wall.

A wall has been erected, 200 feet tall and 18 feet thick around the waterfront area and only air pilots are able to get anywhere near the toxic city. Left inside are an assortment of Zombies and Doornails. The Zombies are hungry because food has been short for 16 years, and the Doornails (townspeople who did not leave and are not yet Zombies, but are "dead to the rest of the world") try to eke out a living in the Underground catacombs. Briar Wilkes must navigate this dangerous zone and the evil Dr. Minnerricht (who may or may not be Leviticus Blue) and bring her boy out alive.

This Steampunk alternate history is a real "rip-snorter" of a read. Some bits of Seattle's history have been moved around a bit to accommodate the storyline, but you'll be too busy dodging Zombies, criminal overlords and pirate zeppelin Captains to notice. This is a novel that buckles every swash and you'll love every moment.
Cherie Priest just won the Northwest Booksellers Award last week and it's well deserved.

Special H/T to Zathras Afarensis for his hearty recommendation of this book. We're hoping Cherie can join us in Second Life in February, stay tuned.

Boneshaker is available at Jackson Street Books and every order will include a freebie "ARC" surprise.

On Sunday afternoon I will be interviewed on Off The Shelf, a production of Bookstacks in Second Life. We'll be talking about the SLJackson Street Bookstore. You can listen live here, or attend yourself at 1pm, SLT.
Codpast is up now

Department of Book Reports: Mariposa

Mariposa, by Greg Bear (Vanguard Press, $25.95)
In a near-future America, teetering on the brink of financial devastation, 3 remaining members of the Turing Seven must infiltrate Axel Prices Talos Corporation. Talos is in the business of out-sourcing its Security Forces (think Blackwater), which now perform operations for all aspects of US government. The Turing Seven are FBI agents who have undergone the experimental Mariposa treatment, gene modification to rid them of their post traumatic stress demons.

Rebecca Rose is called back from her sabbatical to join with Nathaniel Trace to try and rescue Fouad Al-Husam who is undercover in the high security Talos complex in Lion City, Texas. It becomes a race against time as the effects of the Mariposa degeneration begin taking a toll. When the Vice President remorselessly kills his wife, and the President is shot with bullets whose fragments are coated with a delay release poison the timeline shortens to a week.

Filled with lots of high-tech gadgetry, this is a fast paced read that completely draws you in. I was reading this when we went to see the movie Avatar, and that reading gave me many "a-ha!" moments at the technology I saw there. Greg has been a consultant with many government and private organizations from XBox, Microsoft Corporation, the State Department and U.S. Army, Homeland Security, Sandia National Laboratories,to Callison Architecture, Inc. His association with the FBI gave him the idea for this novel and the first in this series, Quantico. If you're a Sci-Fi or Spy Thriller fan who enjoys the tech side of things, these books are for you. There's also a large dollop of politics, and unlike our current world, the bad guys get their due.



I wanted to link to Greg's website, but I keep getting error messages at www.gregbear.com, so here's his publisher site. Greg has won two Hugos and five Nebulas for his fiction. Jackson Street Books has a nice selection of Greg's books, several of which are signed. I suppose this is the proper place for a disclaimer. I was given this novel as an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) at our local trade show last fall, courtesy Vanguard Press and Greg. The fact that I was given a copy had no bearing on whether I would do a book report, I report on books I love and can recommend enthusiastically.