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psocopteraI left the Le Guin for last on the grounds that I thought I might actually enjoy it, and I did. Her skill with words and her skill of observation are on such a different level than the rest of this stuff, and, I don't know, her wisdom? Like I'm genuinely interested in what she has to say about random things, in her insight and perspective. (And I'm so ongoingly sad that the world has lost that. Le Guin and Carrie Fisher, man.) (Although I admit I did skip all the parts about her cat.)
For me personally, the most emotional part was when she talked about the kinds of fan letters she did and didn't like - I thought for years, on and off, about writing to her with a question, but never did, and sometimes I'm sad about that, now that the opportunity is definitively past.
(The question, if you're curious - SPOILERS for the entire Earthsea series:) The thing I was always tempted to ask was whether she thought Ged was ever willing to see Lebannen again. The reasons I didn't are varied. The idea that the "real" story is what was actually written, not whatever else was in the author's head that never made it to the page. The feeling that if she wanted to answer that question, she would have written a story about it, and if she never did she probably didn't want to. The desire to not be a demanding, entitled fan pestering an old lady about stuff she wrote years ago. An appreciation for the value of difficult stories - that part of what makes Ged and Lebannen's story so powerful is that awful, yearning end of it, but that the possibility that maybe there was still a last-hour reconciliation at the very end is part of the particular character of that, and a definitive no would have been difficult in a different way (and a definitive yes would have diminished it). A sort of personal suspicion that possibly what I wanted was not any Words Of God about the matter but just to sit with my feelings about Lebannen's story for long enough that I eventually figure out something *I* want to say about it... which I sort of hope is what I really wanted, because I'm not getting anything else, now. I don't know. Maybe she would have said something wise and meta about how we think or care about stories and it would have been totally worthwhile, I'll never know.
Space!
My ballot ranking and comments:
1. No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, Ursula K. Le Guin
2. Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate, Zoe Quinn
3. Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal
4. Sleeping with Monsters: Readings and Reactions in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Liz Bourke
5. A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison, Nat Segaloff
I've left off Kincaid's book about Banks, which I suppose means I'm effectively voting for the Ellison book over it, which is the problem with not reading all six things and not liking to rank things I haven't read. I suppose I could just leave Lit Fuse off too, and might do that on my actual submitted ballot. I will admit that my second-place vote for Zoe Quinn is not *so* much for my appreciation of her book as it is for wanting Zoe Quinn to have nice things and for the people who would be angry about that to be spited, but, hey.
For me personally, the most emotional part was when she talked about the kinds of fan letters she did and didn't like - I thought for years, on and off, about writing to her with a question, but never did, and sometimes I'm sad about that, now that the opportunity is definitively past.
(The question, if you're curious - SPOILERS for the entire Earthsea series:) The thing I was always tempted to ask was whether she thought Ged was ever willing to see Lebannen again. The reasons I didn't are varied. The idea that the "real" story is what was actually written, not whatever else was in the author's head that never made it to the page. The feeling that if she wanted to answer that question, she would have written a story about it, and if she never did she probably didn't want to. The desire to not be a demanding, entitled fan pestering an old lady about stuff she wrote years ago. An appreciation for the value of difficult stories - that part of what makes Ged and Lebannen's story so powerful is that awful, yearning end of it, but that the possibility that maybe there was still a last-hour reconciliation at the very end is part of the particular character of that, and a definitive no would have been difficult in a different way (and a definitive yes would have diminished it). A sort of personal suspicion that possibly what I wanted was not any Words Of God about the matter but just to sit with my feelings about Lebannen's story for long enough that I eventually figure out something *I* want to say about it... which I sort of hope is what I really wanted, because I'm not getting anything else, now. I don't know. Maybe she would have said something wise and meta about how we think or care about stories and it would have been totally worthwhile, I'll never know.
Space!
My ballot ranking and comments:
1. No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, Ursula K. Le Guin
2. Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate, Zoe Quinn
3. Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal
4. Sleeping with Monsters: Readings and Reactions in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Liz Bourke
5. A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison, Nat Segaloff
I've left off Kincaid's book about Banks, which I suppose means I'm effectively voting for the Ellison book over it, which is the problem with not reading all six things and not liking to rank things I haven't read. I suppose I could just leave Lit Fuse off too, and might do that on my actual submitted ballot. I will admit that my second-place vote for Zoe Quinn is not *so* much for my appreciation of her book as it is for wanting Zoe Quinn to have nice things and for the people who would be angry about that to be spited, but, hey.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-08 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-09 02:07 am (UTC)BTW, my feeling about ranking Crash Override where i did is that i don't see Those Assholes feeling *non*-spited by Octavia Butler appreciation or queer feminist SF recs, so it's probably fine.