Department of Book Reports: The Paranoid Style in American Politics: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

This week we explore a book where the Apocalypse meets the paranoid. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick's novel of the future, and the literary inspiration of the movie Blade Runner, was originally published in 1968. Dick himself was a prolific writer, having written some 40 plus novels in his lifetime, and many more short stories. His books were all in the science fiction genre and he became the first sci-fi author to be included in the Library of America series. Among the many themes Dick explored, one of the most important is the question of what makes us human? What makes us real and what is fake.

And, indeed, this is what Electric Sheep is about. In spite of the many differences between the book and the movie (the phrase Blade Runner never is used by Dick, and in fact, was a borrowing by the screenwriters from William S. Burroughs), the plot outlines are similar. Rick Deckard is bounty hunter, living in a post-Apocalyptic United States, who specializes in "retiring" replicants, human synthesized androids. Six (four in the movie) replicants have escaped from the off-world and have returned to Earth. Deckard, a man who once owned a live sheep which has died of tetanus, and has replaced it with a sheep replicant, now must find the replicants and destroy them.

The test used to detect androids is called Voight-Kampff, which measures certain bodily responses to a series of questions and by which a bounty hunter can determine whether the respondent is a replicant; replicants are incapable of empathy. The new, improved Nexus androids are otherwise indistinguishable from humans. Living in a world where one doesn't know if the person next to you is "real" or "fake", and with a powerful, totalitarian government, one could easily be a bit paranoid. Deckard, at least in the book, displays his empathy. He feels empathy for his prey. In a book (and movie) as richly textured and felt as Do Androids, I could write another book explicating it's many facets. This feature is the one I most wanted to emphasize. Empathy. Not important? Perhaps you'll remember the Sotomayor hearings last year and the Republican objections to her "empathy" as being an insufficient reason to placing her on the court.

The movie Blade Runner, as I've mentioned, differs in many details from the book. But I love it. It is lush in its visuals, and the story remains complex, and the moral issues it raises remain important. The cast, the direction with an incredible film score by Vangelis, bears many repeated viewings. I see something new in it each time. There are a couple of books I can recommend: Blade Runner by Scott Bukatman (British Film Institute) is a good scholarly look at the film. Paul M.Sammon's Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner (HarperCollins) is a great history of the film's production.

And I'll leave you with this. The clip is the climax of the film wherein the replicant leader, Roy Batty, saves Deckard from falling to his death. and as Batty dies, delivers his "I've seen things..." speech. And I wonder if Batty saves Deckard because, at last, he can feel some empathy? Or does Batty save Deckard so there may be someone who will remember him?

These books are available from Jackson Street Books and other fine Independent bookstores. (Our copy of Do Androids is a scarce first paperback printing and, hence, a bit pricy...but we'd be happy to get you a good reading copy).As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: will grayson, will grayson

will grayson, will grayson by John Green & David Levithan (Dutton, $17.99) ages 14 and up.

Will Grayson lives in Chicago with his doctor parents, and has been best friends with the larger than life Tiny Cooper since fifth grade. He's always known Tiny is gay. Does the bear shit in the woods? Tiny is his orbit, but lately Tiny's pre-occupation with his epic production of "Tiny Dancer" has left him on the sidelines. Will tries to blend in at school and follow his 2 rules: Don't Care too much, and Shut Up. Jane seems to flirt with him, but she has an older boyfriend and maybe she just wants more members in the newly formed Gay-Straight Alliance.

will grayson lives in Evanston OH, his mom & dad divorced and he has been on antidepressants of one sort or another since. maura has shown an interest, but he was able to shut that down after finding Isaac in a group chatroom.

Will Grayson and will grayson are about to meet. In Frenchie's Porn shop. Will is wandering the town after finding his fake ID's date won't get him into clubs until next January and will has just found out maura has been faking Isaac's chat all this time and there is no boy to meet in Chicago. Well of course Tiny falls in love with the other will grayson.

Tiny's show procedes, and even though Will can't convince Tiny to write out the role of the embarassing and way too personal Phil Wrayson, Tiny finally has an epiphinany: The Show must be about LOVE! It's not about Tiny! It's about LOVE! all the songs and script must be re-written. On the night of the production, Will and the other will begin to understand who orbits who.

This is a delightful novel of identity. What is it and when did you get it? For Tiny, he's always been gay. Will Grayson and will grayson? They are about to find out. There will be misunderstandings along the way, but this charming novel faces every situation honestly. The show tunes and theater banter are great fun. I recommend this terrific read to any reader, high school and up (Strong Language).

And in other news, RevPaperboy has been making podcasts, and last night Dan & I had our dramatic debuts in Second Life. Click to listen to Papers please!As always, books ordered here will have a freebie publishers Advance Reading Copy included as a thank you to our blogosphere friends.

Department of Book Reports: The Bullpen Gospels

Today, I'm taking a break from looking at the literature of the American paranoid style, and returning to the topic I hold very dear, indeed, Baseball.

I first learned of Dirk Hayhurst's new book, The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran (Kensington $14.95), last December when Keith Olbermann posted on his baseball blog, Baseball Nerd, that he, Keith, had read an advanced copy of the book and said it was the best baseball book in the past 30 years. High praise, indeed. So I was very excited to read it. I was not disappointed.


Written in much the same vein as Jim Bouton's Ball Four or Jim Brosnan's classic diaries of The Long Season and Pennant Race, Dirk Hayhurst chronicles his baseball year of 2007, playing in the San Diego Padre system. Beginning with his off-season workouts, sleeping on an air mattress at his crazy Grandmother (who I hope isn't reading this blog), moving onto Spring training and his disappointment at being assigned to Class A ball, in this, his 5th professional season, he moves onto the season at hand with its ups and downs. Dirk discusses his trials and tribulations, which include a promotion to Double A ball and the ultimate success of his team in winning the Texas League championship.

And what is playing in the minors like? There are long bus rides, with bus drivers getting lost, and not arriving at hotels till 7 A.M., just a few hours before game time. There are the BS sessions in the bullpen where such questions of whether or not gay sex is all right if the Taliban had a gun to your head. Some of the dialogue and the juvenile behavior between the players makes a fraternity party sound like it has the sophistication of New York literary cocktail scene. And what do you when you discover a tarantula in the bullpen? Then there are the clubhouse Kangaroo courts where fines are meted out for flatulence as well as referring to oneself in the third person. Or getting promoted to the Bigs and not taking along your teammates. Hayhurst is rich in anecdote and humor. I had many a belly laugh while reading.

It is also a journey of self-discovery. Dirk comes from a dysfunctional family with an angry and alcoholic brother and parents that can seem emotionally distant. He finally finds success when he realizes he has to stop worrying about failure, and that he cannot let baseball define his whole being. LIke all the great books about baseball, the book is not just all about baseball. It is about what matters in being a human being. Dirk Hayhurst is very human; he is also very humane. I really cannot say enough good things about The Bullpen Gospels. Read it, even if you are not a sports fan.

Dirk is currently on the 60-Day Dl on the Toronto Blue Jays and he has his own blog: and, if you are in the twittersphere, you can follow him. I hope to see him on the field soon.

The Bullpen Gospels is available at Jackson Street Books and at other fine independent bookstores.As always, books ordered by friends of the General get a freebie publisher's Advance Reader Copy included in the shipment.

U.S. Military Attorneys to Hold Virtual Town Hall on Guantanamo Bay

I first heard the story of GITMO detainee, Fayiz Al Kandari from GottaLaff of thepoliticalcarnival.com. She had been in contact with his military attorney, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard. In her first post, she told how he had despaired of getting any traction with the American press.
Lt. Col. Wingard is a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the Air Force representing Fayiz al-Kandari. He began his career in the Army as an enlisted infantryman and then an infantry officer, has served 26 years and is a veteran of both Bosnia and Iraq conflicts.

Here is Fayiz's story:

He comes from a well to do family in Kuwait. He has studied law in the United Arab Emirates, and was on a charity mission to Afganistan when he was grabbed by bounty hunters and sold to the American authorities.

While in U.S. custody in Kabul in December 2001, Al-Kandari was shackled in various stress positions for as long as 36 hours at a time. He was beaten with a chain and water hose. Photographs documenting his condition have not been released.
In early 2002, Al-Kandari was transferred to Bagram and held in a roofed tent with no sides where overnight temperatures typically reached below freezing. Photographs again documented his condition, but they have never been released. […] He was transferred to Kandahar in early 2002, … [where] his entire body was shaved (except for a cross on his chest, which was later shaved off) and he was initially kept awake in solitary confinement for five straight days. The abuse continued and resulted in broken ribs and severe bruising documented by medical exams performed months later.
Before being placed on the plane out of Kandahar, his sound-proof headgear was lifted and a female voice whispered, “You are going to hell in GTMO.” At the time, he was also drugged, sandbagged, and placed into a head harness for the 24 hour trip. At Guantanamo, he was again shackled into stress positions for extended periods of time. He was also urinated on and subjected to sleep deprivation, strobe lights, ear piercing music, cell extractions, and extreme heat and cold conditions in his cell via temperature controls. All told, Al-Kandari has been interrogated approximately 400 times and abused throughout the time he was in U.S. custody.
A Department of Defense legal review of Al-Kandari’s case found the evidence against him “is made up almost entirely of hearsay evidence recorded by unidentified individuals with no first hand knowledge of the events they describe.”
In short, the U.S. learned nothing of value from its abusive treatment of Al-Kandari and in all likelihood exculpatory materials confirming Al-Kandari’s whereabouts and accounts of abuse will be classified and withheld from public view.

-the Political Carnival.com
That quote is a bit out of date. It has now been Eight Years.

And, despite the recent admission by former Colin Powell aide, Lawrence Wilkerson that George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent', it seems the Obama administration is not going to act quickly to release these detainees.

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Bogucki was the defense council for

Fouad Mahmoud Hasan Al Rabiah, a fifty-year-old father of four children. Prior to his detention by U.S. forces in 2001, Mr. Al Rabiah was gainfully employed by Kuwait Airways, where he was responsible for managing aircraft parts. He is an international graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University but is neither a licensed pilot nor trained in aircraft operation.


As a peaceful and devout Muslim, Mr. Al Rabiah has an established history of international relief work. For example, in 1988, he worked on a Red Crescent rescue campaign in Kosovo. Similarly, in 2000, he delivered a consignment of medicine to Bangladesh for patients suffering from kidney disease.

In 2001, Mr. Al Rabiah made two trips to Afghanistan to observe and document the refugee crisis and to provide whatever immediate relief he could. During his second visit, the United States invaded Afghanistan and Mr. Al Rabiah was sold by Afghan villagers to the Northern Alliance

-Project Kuwaiti Freedom
Sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? Fouad was released in December '09, and Lt. Cmdr. Bogucki has joined the Fayiz defense team.

Lt. Cmdr. Bogucki also has a impressive record of service:
He received his JD (magna cum laude 1990) from Notre Dame Law School. He received direct appointment into the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps in 1995. He has served two deployments aboard USS TARAWA and the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT. In Aug '08, he reported to the Office of Military Commissions-Defense, where he is currently serving as counsel for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Lt. Cmdr. Bogucki's awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal (4 awards), Navy Achievement Medal (2), Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal (2), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (2) Global War on Terrorism Medal & Service Medal, Sea Service Ribbon (2), and Expert Pistol Shot Medal.

And, now here is why I have told you all this:

U.S. Military Attorneys to Hold Virtual Town Hall on Guantanamo Bay

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard and Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Bogucki to Share Their Client’s Story Via Second Life

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard and Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Bogucki, the U.S. military attorneys for Kuwaiti Guantanamo Bay detainee Fayiz Al Kandari, will hold a virtual town hall meeting at Virtually Speaking Studios at 6:00 PM PST on Monday, April 26, 2010. The attorneys will share Fayiz’s story, discuss legal developments in his case, provide their views on the Obama administration’s detention policies and take questions from the audience, consisting of citizens from across the country.

You can be part of this audience. You could sign up for an account and create your own Second Life avatar, or you can tune into the Virtually Speaking BlogTalkRadio show and call in with your question. I am honored that these gentlemen will come talk to us and report the latest news from Guantanamo, where they have spent the past week.

You can follow Barry's mom on Twitter or search on #FreeFayiz to see the twitter brigade that GottaLaff assembled.

I would also like to thank Jay Ackroyd & the Virtually Speaking crew for his generous offer of hosting our discussion, and their help in getting it all arranged.

I'll close by asking you to read Jane Mayer's The Dark Side as Gottalaff recommends.As always, a book ordered here will have an extra freebie: a publisher's Advance Reading Copy of something cool included.

Department of Book Reports: How I Became A Famous Novelist

How I Became A Famous Novelist, by Steve Hely (Black Cat/Grove $14) Pete Tarslaw wants to be a writer. A Famous Writer. He's decided that would be the best way to humiliate his ex-girlfriend from college at her up-coming wedding. A Famous Writer magnanimously attending her nuptials would surely cause her to see the error of her ways and cause her to ditch the Australian at the altar and fall into his arms once again.

He dreams and schemes while ghost-writing college applications at EssayAides and drunkenly plots his brilliant career path. Pete's studied best selling books and he's sure he's hit upon the formula for concocting the novel that will make him famous. He won't waste time by writing a good book, he'll write a popular book. You can even read Pete's blog from those days.

Pete does get his book published and pinballs through the talkshow circuit as he sees it through a drunken haze. Book Expos and author appearances are a blur to him, often reconstructed by others the next morning. Even bad press seems to propel the books sales. A panel with his nemesis proves to be his undoing. In the aftermath, he starts to read. And it is finally that, reading, that shows him there truly are good books that dis-prove his prior sneering view.

Steve Hely was a writer for the Late Show with David Letterman and other shows, his comedy genius shines through in this story. The wicked satires of the NYTimes Best Seller Lists and USA Today reviews had me chuckling out loud. His broad characterizations of Pete's fellow authors had me wondering just which real life person he was spoofing, but really, there are just too many possibilities. Hely really does have a sharp eye for the foibles of the whole publishing biz and captures it well here. This is a really fun read.As always, books ordered here will have a freebie Publisher's Advance Reader copy of something really cool included.

Department of Book Reports: The Paranoid Style in American Politics: Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind, the famous dramatization of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial of 1925, was first produced on the American stage in 1955 and starred Paul Muni as the Clarence Darrow figure, Ed Begley Sr. as the William Jennings Bryan character and Tony Randall as a newspaperman modeled on H.L. Mencken. The play is a dramitization of the events from Dayton, Tennessee, where a young schoolteacher, John Scopes, was put on trial for violating the Butler Act which forbade the teaching of Darwinism, or any other story of mankind's creation other the one found in Genesis. The trial, as most you know, culminated in the famous cross-examination of Bryan, three time Democratic Presidential candidate, by the equally famous trail lawyer, Clarence Darrow.

The play's authors, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (no, not the General), did change some of the background for dramatic purposes. The trial itself was a test case, brought about by the ACLU, and much of the town's characters were exaggerated for effect. In fact, after Scopes was found guilty and ordered to pay a $100 fine, it was Bryan who paid his fine.

Nevertheless, the play is an impassioned plea for allowing people to use their minds without fear. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as indictment of Senator Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism. And considering that the play was first produced in 1955, at a time when McCarthy still held some sway, it was quite a courageous thing to do. It hadn't been so long before when Broadway artists like Clifford Odets, Jerome Robbins and Lee J. Cobb had named names to the House Committee on Un-American Activities had tried to cleanse the arts of any taint of heresy.

The play was produced as a film directed by Stanley Kramer and starred Spency Tracy as Henry Drummond (Darrow), Frederic March as Matthew Brady (Bryan) and Gene Kelly as H.H. Hornbeck (Mencken). Kramer was a noble-hearted man of liberality, and by no means a great film innovator. In this film, which is very good, Kramer made the wise decision to let the actor's act and not get in their way.

The play is still available in a Ballantine paperback at $9.95 and we still have one used copy at $1.50. Also recommended, if you can find a copy, is Eric Bentley's Thirty Years of Treason, which compiles a lot of the testimony by people in the Arts in front of HUAC. We do have one used copy available at $12.00. If you'd like a new copy, drop a line to info@jacksonst-books.comAs always, books ordered here will have a freebie Publisher's Advance Reader copy of something really cool included.

Department of Book Reports: April Poetry

April is of course, National Poetry Month, as declared by Bill Clinton in 1996. I thought I'd point you at some of the delightful offerings available this year. The folks over at Poets.org will send you a poem a day, and they have a nifty book you can order directly from them Poem In Your Pocket. Carry it around on your daily errands and you can tear out a page and engage in a bit of Guerilla Poetry:

Better yet, take a video of yourself reading a poem at its location of setting and submit it for their contest, Poem on The Range.

Knopf publishing also offers a Poem a Day. This is an annual tradition I'm always sorry to send end on the 30th of the month.

Of course, some people have the opinion that we need poetry everyday, not just April. Writer's Almanac brings a poem and some literary history items to your mailbox all year round.
This also gives me a chance to mention our good friends John & Christine who run a bookstore devoted entirely to poetry: Open Books in Seattle. There's no better way to spend a rainy afternoon than in this cozy shop.

We'd be happy to help you select a volume from our stock. Orders placed here get our special offer bonus: I'll include a free publisher's Advance Reading Copy with your purchase. Have a poetic April!