Unless you’ve been living in a yurt overseas you’re probably aware that ebooks are flying off whatever the digital equivalent of shelves are. I bet even people in yurts are aware of this fact. What you may not know is that there is a revolution inside this digital revolution and it has a naughty side. Much the same way personal stereos made it easier to listen to music without judgement, people have figured out that ebook readers are like brown paper wrappers for books — no one need know what you are reading. The result? As most of the major ebook sellers will tell you, barely a week goes by without erotica titles in the top ten.

One of those titles (now a series) has made quite a splash. Fifty Shades of Grey made the leap from online fan-fiction to ebook and print-on-demand title to full-fledged print run. The first book was followed by two more titles, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. The trilogy has sold enough copies to take the three top spots on the New York Times Trade Fiction Bestseller list and several film studios have bid on the rights.

Before you think society is well on its way down the proverbial slippery slope, it’s not only erotica that is benefiting from the anonymity revolution. More people than ever are reading in public, everything from diet books to business tutorials to well, every shade of fiction and non-fiction you can conjure. When Harry Potter became a hit, adults didn’t want to be seen reading kid-lit so the publishers released the same book in a more adult binding. It sold like hotcakes. Now, I would bet you that many of those same adults would have no problem downloading kid-lit into their e-reader. Or how about a teen boy who doesn’t want to be seen reading Pride and Prejudice? Or the grandmotherly type who always wanted to read American Psycho. The anonymity of the e-reader allows people to transcend what they “should” be reading and just read what they want. Incidentally, Amazon just announced that the Harry Potter series is being released to the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library so J.K. Rowling can expect even more royalties soon!

My brown-wrapper secret is self-help books. Motivational volumes on simplifying life, organizing your home, finding a spiritual centre, starting a new career, shifting gears, and basically moving toward a better life. Self-help is something I’d long scoffed at and still can’t bring myself to browse in public but downloading? I can do that. I have dozens of books that I never would have bought otherwise sitting in my reading applications.

In an ideal world, no one should be judged by their choice in reading materials and I suspect most of the time the harshest judge is ourself. If you’ve hesitated to pick up an e-reader, perhaps this will convince you that it’s time. Free your mind, they say, and the rest will follow. And next time you see someone engrossed in their e-reader, don’t assume you can guess what they’re reading.

Photo Credits

iRiver Story eBook – Creative Commons By Andrew Mason, Flickr

eBook reader – Creative Commons By Aitor Calero, Flickr

Guest Author Bio

Cheryl DeWolfe
Cheryl DeWolfe is a West Coast girl through and through, born and raised in Victoria BC. She has a habit of composing haiku about everything from traditional captured moments in nature to coffee, zombies and even movie reviews. Cheryl works in an academic library but in her spare time pursues many different creative interests from arts and crafts to gardening to photography and writing. Cheryl lives with her equally creative husband, daughter and two cats.

Blog / Website: http://www.cheryl.dewolfe.bc.ca/flotsam/

EBooks Brown Wrapper Revolution is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

My Mother is 78 and very anxious about the possibility of getting Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, touch wood, my mother is very spritely, intelligent and healthy. In my mind I perceive her as being aged in her 50s or 60s, not approaching 80, and I have to remind myself of the reality.

Due to her anxiety she began to read the book by Jean Carper, “100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s And Age – Related Memory Loss.” I’m in my 40s and I tell you there are times when I feel like I’m having Alzheimer moment myself rather than my mother. I’ll be having a discussion with someone, an idea will pop into my head but I will forget a name, place or event and will be unable to conceptualise my thoughts and argument. It is unbelievably frustrating. So I was just as eager as my mother to read this book and implement some of the ideas.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks neurons in the brain, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills, and behavioural changes as it destroys the cells in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Regions of the brain affected by the disease become clogged with two abnormal structures called neurofibrillary tangles (tau proteins) and amyloid plagues (insoluble deposits of beta amyloid proteins.) This clogging interferes with normal communications of nerve cells in the brain. Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and in fact, scientists are still conducting research to discover the causes of the disease.

However, Jean Carper notes that researchers no longer view Alzheimer’s as a sudden brain catastrophe of old age. It is in fact a continuum of disease that spans decades and is influenced by early, midlife and late-life factors such as nutrition, infections, education, diabetes and mental and physical activity. Given this, she concludes that we can lessen our risk of getting AD or defer its onset by being socially, physically and mentally healthy, and she suggests 100 ways to achieve this. I would like to share some of her findings with you.

Firstly, diet. She recommends eating in moderation as being overweight in midlife can lead to brain shrinkage, which increases the risk of AD. High blood pressure and diabetes also hasten brain aging. Eat foods high in antioxidants as they form a defence system against free radicals that can degenerate the brain. The foods highest in antioxidants are berries ( blueberries, raspberries, elderberries, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries) raisins, artichokes, prunes, black currants, plums, garlic, dates, cherries, figs, red cabbage, apples with peel, red lettuce, pears with peel, asparagus, sweet potato, broccoli, oranges, beet greens, avocado, red grapes, radishes and spinach. Stay away from foods with high salt and sugar levels (such as soft drinks) as these can raise your blood pressure levels. Drink juice, especially apple juice. Apple juice boosts the production of acetylcholine. Carper recommends 2 cups a day, though I think my dentist may not be too happy with that. Eat low GI foods like oats, legumes and vegetables. Eat nuts, especially walnuts and almonds. Eat fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines and herring. Tuna and salmon also have the Vitamin Niacin, which is she highly recommends. It is also found in chicken and turkey breast, peanuts and some cereals. Add turmeric, cumin and cinnamon to your food. Use olive oil and vinegar as salad dressings rather than dressing high in Omega 6 fats. Stay away from Omega 6 fats found in corn oil, soya bean oil, and margarine. Saturated fats and Trans fats are brain enemies. So restrict your intake of fast foods. Substitute Omega 3 fish oils or monounsaturated fats. Omega 3 fish oil stimulates neuronal birth. Don’t eat too much red meat or processed or cured meats. Make sure you are not deficient in Vitamin B and D. Eat choline rich food such as eggs, wheat germ, peanuts, pistachios, cashews, almonds, shrimp, fish, spinach, cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Drink alcohol moderately. One glass of red wine a day can be beneficial. There are also benefits to drinking tea, coffee and chocolate high in flavanols. Treat yourself to dark chocolate. It boosts blood circulation in the brain. Control bad cholesterol. Get tested for celiac disease.

Regular aerobic exercise is crucial. A brisk walk every day, especially in nature, stimulates the birth and growth of brain cells. Ensure that you have good balance. When playing contact sports make sure your head is protected from injury. When you are middle aged take the following tests – carotid artery ultrasound, echocardiogram and an ankle-brachial index. These will detect any cardio problems. Meditate to reduce stress. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins such as pesticides and pollution. Look after your eye,s as the eyes reflect and influence how your brain functions. Take care of your teeth, as infection causing gum disease can give off inflammatory by-products that travel to the brain. Keep copper out of your system. Only take iron supplements if prescribed by your doctor.

Don’t be a recluse. Social interaction stimulates the brain. It is the reason why a good marriage or relationship can help ward off AD. The happier you are, the more optimistic and conscientious your attitude the more resistant you are to AD. Depression is a risk factor for AD as are sleeping disorders.

As the saying goes: “use it, or lose it.” The same goes for brain reserves. Carper recommends continued higher education, learning a language or a new skill or activity, the emphasis being on “new.” Use the internet for brain games and google. Have a stimulating job.

AD is a very sad disease for all involved. I have visited old age care facilities where clients are left sitting in chairs on their own with very little mental stimulation. This book is certainly proof that more needs to be done to improve the care provided to these elderly people. I remember when I was in Brownies and Girl Guides and going to nursing homes to sing Christmas carols. Maybe we should have visited more regularly to play scrabble, chess or to read. I also remember thinking that I hope I don’t become like these elderly people in the future.

Carper’s book is definitely food for thought, though some suggestions are based on preliminary research and further research is needed in many areas. If you know someone suffering from Alzheimer’s you may be disappointed by this book. I also note that there are numerous people who have been active physically and intellectually but have been unfortunate to have contracted AD. My other criticism of the book is that it is repetitive and could be more concise. Some suggestions also need to be considered with reference to other research such as the suggestion to use nicotine patches, drink lots of caffeine and to take supplements. Overall, this book supports healthy eating and regular physical and mental activity and who can argue with that! I for one will take on some of her suggestions.

As a postscript, this month, a team of researchers at the University of Newcastle announced that they believe they have developed a predictive blood test that will detect signs of AD before symptoms appear. Prof Moscato said “If biological markers for Alzheimer’s were detected early it would allow people to make lifestyle changes, such as more exercise”.

Image Credit

Jean Carpenter Book Cover 

Guest Author Bio

Amanda Makrides
Mother of two beautiful sons. Aspiring writer and poet. I like to write provocatively with a tongue in cheek style. Political and human rights activist. Lover of music, the arts and square pegs that don’t fit into round holes.

100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

I am a hard-core unabashed book lover. There is something about the physical printed word for which other media can never fully substitute. At any given time, an electronic resource may well be more accessible, but over the long haul, hard copies will win out.

I was raised among books. My parents were both English professors, and they lined the walls of their large house with an amazing and eclectic collection of volumes, much of it of a scholarly nature. There were no Harlequin romances under the parental roof. A librarian would probably have looked at this private library and pronounced it outdated and irrelevant, but as a young child in grade school I didn’t know any better. I devoured books on history, geography, and science published fifty or a hundred years before I was born, and acquired a frame of reference more suitable to an adult living before the First World War than to a ten year old child in Eugene Oregon in 1958.

One of my prized possessions is my grandfather’s set of the 11th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, purchased new in 1911. When writing papers in high school, I learned to rely on it heavily, because it was so much more complete and accurate than the newer encyclopedias in the school library. I also learned to conceal the fact that I relied on it, because of a general prejudice that existed even then against anything except the newest information source.

I started noticing discrepancies, particularly the way in which pieces of the past seemed to simply disappear from view, without explanation. The excuse given — that so much is happening now that something needs to be mothballed — rang false when I could see that large type, uninformative verbiage and arbitrary illustrations meant that my textbook’s coverage of the Second World War contained less concrete factual information than the century-old textbook had on the War of 1812.

If I had come into a Cold-War era World History class without the prior frame of reference, I would probably have accepted the narrative in our textbooks as the unvarnished truth. Some of my classmates still do, not having approached the learning experience with skepticism at the outset and not having formally studied history and science since leaving high school. Those textbooks have long since been consigned to the junk heap, but the attitudes they fostered are still evident in the voting patterns of my generation. Since these were books with US copyrights, copies still presumably exist in the Library of Congress, but a person doing scholarly research on how ideology influences pedagogy would be hard put to find a copy elsewhere.

In the 1960s, rewriting a textbook was still a big deal, requiring that the author retype the revised copy and the typesetter manually key in the changes. The amount of physical effort and technical expertise required to produce a book has declined dramatically in recent years, while the amount of effort required to produce thoughtful, well-researched text has not. As a result, the publishing world is inundated with ephemeral new editions and compilations.

Electronic publishing is a great boon to certain sections of the publishing industry, and to the public. Catalogs and telephone directories need constant updating. Real-time text-based news feeds with internal links put a wealth of information at a person’s fingertips. Specialized articles generated outside of Academe, which would even a few decades ago have remained in manuscript, unread and unnoticed, can reach a wide audience through the Internet.

There are problems, however, with relying on an essentially ephemeral medium to be the repository of timeless knowledge. Enormously detailed data sets, laboriously gathered, can disappear utterly, inadvertently or perhaps purposefully erased, destroyed when a hard disc crashes or stored tapes and discs deteriorate, or rendered inaccessible due to technology change. Because of the author or researcher’s low level of engagement with the product, human memory is not as helpful in data retrieval as it would have been if the material were actually written out.

Another contrast between printed books and electronic media, which I encountered in my own research, is the issue of access. Not long ago I was working on two separate projects. One of these involved Leonhart Fuchs’ De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignis, first published in Basel in 1542 and a landmark in the history of science. The other was a current cutting edge topic in the biological sciences. A scanned copy of Fuchs’ beautiful herbal is available on line, but our library also had the original in its rare book room, where I could have consulted it. There are several hundred copies of this early printed book still extant after nearly five hundred years.

Cutting edge biology proved inaccessible to an independent researcher. Until recently I was able to use more recent journal acquisitions in the sciences, by physically going to the library and taking the journal off the shelf, but the library now gets many critical journals only in electronic form and access is restricted to faculty and current students. Electronic media tend to be either extremely available or highly restricted, with the restrictions only apparent to a person with a research background.

I fear that the ease of accessing information electronically is producing a generation of people who fail to notice discrepancies and gaps in the record, because they have less of an internal memory bank upon which to rely.

Image Credits

Books In A Stack @ Flickr

Leonhart Fuchs @ Wikipedia

Books of Life is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

There is definitely something wrong with the publishing industry when a book that is unanimously regarded as excellent, including by those in the industry, has absolutely no chance of being considered for publication. Sound odd? I thought so too.

I was having coffee with a fellow-author friend of mine not long ago, and we were discussing the various trials and tribulations of dealing with agents, doing our own marketing, and in general the challenges most authors face in the publishing world today. We found a lot in common, but I was shocked (and, at the same time, sadly not surprised) when she told me of the reaction by agents to her book.

The book in question is called “The How Did You Die Show” and it’s a stunning collection of mixed-media works from the exhibit of the same name that graced several major art shows in Toronto. The title is provocative, the art within compelling. The artist, Lisa-Scarlett Cruji, enjoyed so much success with the shows that she decided to publish the exhibit in book form.

Despite her success in the art world, Lisa-Scarlett struggled to get the attention of an agent. But she was lucky enough to meet with a literary agent who worked for the TV industry – someone who could give her an honest, professional assessment of the book’s potential with no obligation. The agent devoured the artwork, and when she finished reviewing the entire collection, this was her conclusion:

“It’s fabulous. I love it. No agent will ever touch it.”

Her explanation was that the book didn’t fit into any established category. It would be hard for an agent to create a snappy “elevator pitch” and harder still for a traditional editor to know how to work with it. It might be brilliant, but because it was so different it would be too much work (read, too much money) for the traditional publishing industry to embrace.

In three simple sentences, the agent captured one of the big problems with today’s publishing industry: it is totally about the money. Whereas in the old days publishing houses had the liberty to take chances on unique, niche books like “The How Did You Die Show” for their artistic merit, today the various squeezes on publishers force them to put their resources into those books for which there is an immediate, obvious and lucrative audience. The latest Jody Picoult novel will be gobbled up by her fans. An autobiography of, say, Justin Bieber will send the tweens flocking to the ebook sites. But an artistically fascinating collection of mixed-media artwork on a sometimes-uncomfortable topic by an artist unknown outside Toronto? Sorry, not gonna happen.

Now don’t get me wrong. Jody Picoult is a brilliant author who deserves her legion of fans, and the Biebz is just so darn cute how could I not want to know his hard-earned insights over eighteen years of life? But books, like all art, are supposed to be able to challenge us and open our minds to new ideas and fresh perspectives. Perhaps like no other media, books have the ability to explore deep into the human condition, to reveal truths gradually and often with powerful counterpoints built in. No visual art can compete with literature for the gradual, thoughtful revelation of the profound, and while music is beautiful and essential, it can’t explore intellectual ideas with the precision of writing. All art has always been about pushing boundaries, and some of the greatest artists in any medium have been those who have thrown aside the conventions of the day and created something revolutionary.

So why is the publishing industry turning away from the innovative and strange, and instead filling the bookstore shelves with yet another glossy picture book on jet fighters, yet another retired politician’s memoirs, and yet another summary of why the Kardashian sisters are so completely amazing?

Because those books sell. Period.

I’ve come to know quite a few people in the publishing industry, and by and large they’re excellent, sincere, hardworking folk. But when I ask about their company’s attitude toward manuscript quality versus marketability, they sigh and shrug, and just resign themselves to the fact that that’s the way it is. A publisher’s got to make money, otherwise it goes out of business. Likewise an agent’s got to represent financial winners, otherwise no commission cheques come. I get this. I understand that publishing is an industry like any other, and that companies have to be profitable to survive. But publishing has a responsibility to the art form that it represents, and one of the biggest aspects of that responsibility is to ensure that new, avant-garde forms of this art have the chance to meet the public.

Will everyone like “The How Did You Die Show”? Probably not. But many will. That’s the thing about art – it’s personal and subjective. The more important question is: does the book deserve the chance to be judged by the wider public? Absolutely. It’ll be only one of approximately 85,000 books published in North America this year, so it’ll be up against some stiff competition, but it’s a quality piece and it deserves the chance.

The modern publishing industry fails its audience when it retreats completely into the economic safety of mass market best-sellers and rejects the unusual or the bold. With the various e-technologies now becoming more and more accessible to all, the modern publishing industry is at real risk of losing the best and brightest authors to new media. The revolution is already beginning – stay tuned.

Image Credits

Images courtesy of Lisa-Scarlett Cruji

How Did You Die, Ava? One of the best-selling works from the show

The Cover of “The How Did You Die Show”

Artistic Freedom Under Fire is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

On one end, there’s a North-American woman portrayed in media wearing skin-baring, brand-name clothing and high heels, splaying cleavage, thighs, buttocks and strutting her stuff. She has a perfect body, perfect complexion, little body fat, styled hair, make-up. The expression of feminine sexuality is free and uninhibited. And in her society, she is considered equal to a man.

On the other end, there’s a Muslim woman, shrouded in a black hidjab to hide all of her form and womanness; the only parts exposed may be her eyes and feet. She must do anything and everything she can not to arouse a man’s sexual appetite, or she will be blamed for chaos in her community, and sometimes, face physical violence or death. She is not free to walk on the streets unless she is escorted by a man. Her genitals are cut and sewn shut, apart from a small hole to allow urine to pass, to demonstrate her “purity” to the society and to the husband-to-be. Until the day that her husband tears the scar tissue open during the first intercourse, or, if he is merciful, allows her to have it opened at a hospital.

I’ve recently had the privilege to read Infidel, an autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali  (Ali is her grandfather’s last name that she adopted when applying for refugee status in Holland to stay safe from those that might try to track her down after she fled from her forced marriage.) She was born into an Islamic community in Somalia and was the middle child of three. At the age of five, while her parents were away, her grandmother secretly had her and her two siblings, four year old sister and six year old brother, circumcised. The book tells a story about her experiences of childhood, teenage, and adulthood. About how she was forced and beaten into submission. And then about how, against many odds, through her will, courage, and determination, she ended up in Holland, in the University of Leiden, to study political science, and graduated as Master of Science. She describes the struggle between staying true to and serving the Quranic Allah, and, from studying books written by free thinkers, learning about the possibility of being an autonomous individual and human being; the possibility of expressing a “self”. Her dedication to the well-being of Muslim women lead to her working as a member of the Dutch Parliament, to try to affect change for the betterment of their lives and to tell the society the truth about their lives and the expression of Islam.

Many times throughout reading this book I thought of my five year old niece that is being raised in Finland by my sister, and I’m grateful and relieved that she is growing up in the safety of her loving family, in our country, where she is free to express her individuality, and she will be free to have a say in her society about what is important to her. And I’m horrified to imagine, knowing how vulnerable and innocent a five year old child is, that there are girls in the world the same age as my niece, experiencing extreme physical and psychological pain, and they grow up illiterate and ignorant, and have no access to see that there is anything wrong with how they are being treated and regarded.

I have tremendous respect and gratitude for Ayaan for what she has done and is doing, in the face of continuing threats on her life, for generously sharing her story with me, and with people around the world.

Photo Credit

Infidel Book Cover – Wikipedia Fair Use

Guest Author Bio

Pia Gronqvist
I’m a woman in my mid-thirties, born and raised in Finland, living in the West-Coast of Canada and working in the Information Technology industry.

Infidel, The Book is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Human genomics is one of those big waves of science and change that I have mostly tried to ignore, in the hopes that it will just wash over me and I will come up, sputtering but alive, after it crashes through.

If you are a non-scientist like me, you also hope that when the term human genomics is thrown out at some dinner party you can deliver one pithy line of commentary and then retreat to the kitchen to refill your glass.

Here Is a Human Being: at the Dawn of Personal Genomics is an entertaining book about one man’s foray into the world of personal genomics – the process of having his entire DNA sequence identified and made public for all.

“All human genomics is personal – that is to say, it is finally about us,” Misha Angrist writes. “Mothers and fathers can negotiate almost anything: marriage, money, careers, sex, cooking, laundry, the Netflix queue, who gives the dog a bath. What they can’t negotiate are their own genomes.”

Here Is a Human Being tracks Angrist’s experience as the fourth subject of the Personal Genome Project. By participating in the project, Angrist would have his over 22,000 genes catalogued and made public to any scientist, administrator, regulator or unknown other to view. To his credit, Angrist makes the story of this highly complex scientific field highly personal.

It is a field that has burst too suddenly upon those of us who spend our days doing more mundane things. A map of the human genome was created in 2001 and fleshed out, so to speak, by 2007. Mapping one’s genes has the potential for significant medical advantages, while also raising huge ethical and practical questions.

If I discover that I carry a gene associated with a certain disease, presumably I can make early moves to offset that genetic tendency. Yet I am also, potentially, given a death sentence by that genetic knowledge. Furthermore, what does my insurance company do with the knowledge that I’m not likely to see (let’s pick a number) 65?

Few people can answer those questions better than Misha Angrist. He has not only had his genome mapped but is a very bright person with the ability to understand and interpret the experience for the rest of us.

It’s clear early on in Here Is a Human Being that Angrist is equal parts scientist and self-deprecating humorist. He talks about wanting to hide his potbelly which he says is probably a result of “genes acting in concert with ice cream.” He claims to be a “thirty-three year old dinosaur” in his post-doctoral study of molecular genetics, where everything “was changing at a pace that, more and more, left me dizzy and exhausted.”

Despite those concerns about his own knowledge, Angrist is just the right guide for this adventure. Like the field of study he explores, Angrist is driven by curiosity. He is aware of the risks and opportunities of having his genome mapped but one gets the sense that it is, ultimately, curiosity that causes him to take the plunge.

What follows is a book that is by turns amusing, engrossing, a tough slog, and enlightening. Angrist shows us that there is no separation between science and the people who practice science. It is no surprise, but a valuable insight nevertheless, to learn that a cast of quirky characters with diverse motives, emotions, abilities and deficiencies is driving the science.

We learn about the people, the organizations, the corporations, the genetics labs in detail. In the process, we perhaps absorb a wee bit of science. For a non-scientist like me, there are certainly sections where my brain is overwhelmed by the waves of unfamiliar lab talk.

Angrist is telling a story of immersion – his entire life is immersed in the story of personal genomics. At times, the reader wants to call out ‘too much information’ – particularly in sections that detail the behind the scenes manoevering of various researchers.

For the most part, though, Angrist is a considerate, charming and insightful guide to the weird new reality of personal genomics. He cracks jokes, he tells stories, he shares his fascinations and frustrations. He writes well.

When reflecting on his brave and fascinating journey, I kept coming back to a Paul Verlaine quote offered in the book’s front pages: “When one goes on a journey of self-exploration, one should go heavily armed.” We are all, like it not, venturing into the world of human genomics. Arm yourself with a copy of Here Is a Human Being.

Photo Credits

Book Cover Image From Misha Angrist’s Blog

Thumbnail and Feature Imahe – Public Domain

The Scientific Map Of A Human is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

I set out to write a novel, but it fractured into episodes. I fought this disintegration for a long time, trying in vain to hold the pieces together, convincing myself that I had failed to live up to my vision. Then one day I realized it wasn’t me, it was the subject that couldn’t hold to the novel form. The subject was “holidays,” and as I discovered, it’s perfectly suited to the short story. Here’s how it all happened.

There’s this guy. Let’s call him Larry. Middle aged. Outward successful. Rich, even. But Larry’s got some regrets and some dark secrets. One is a girl he once loved. The biggest mistake of his life might have been letting her go. The other is the source of his wealth, the result of a strange coincidence that led him to make an unethical choice that haunts him still. His story is told chronologically from the time he and this girl get together.

There’s this girl. Let’s call her Julie. Middle aged. Outwardly successful until her life falls apart just before the novel opens. She’s got a couple of grown kids who’ve moved away, a husband who’s just run off and no career. Julie also has a dark secret, one that involves Larry, though he doesn’t know anything about it. This secret caused a kind of splintering in her life after she moved away to go to university so she constantly imagines herself living other lives. After the trauma of her husband’s abandonment, she decides to move back to her hometown where she imagines herself beginning again. Her story is told as a series of flashbacks after she returns home and happens upon Larry on, of all days, Valentine’s Day.

And there you have it, the seed of destruction. Valentine’s Day is a particular kind of day, one for which we have certain expectations. We will feel this way. We will do that. We will be happy. Of course, the truth about Valentine’s Day – and about Julie’s life – is that it’s just as likely to make us feel ways we don’t want to feel, ways we believe are not appropriate for that day. We are just as likely to feel like failures because our lives haven’t lived up to our collectively mythologized version of the perfect romantic life that this holiday presents as normal.

Larry’s story starts out as a baby in his mother’s arms as she carries him into a house as stuffed at Christmas as the turkeys in the oven, but with uncles, aunts and cousins. At the centre of this scene are a larger than life great grandmother and great grandfather who are a kind of judgement on what baby Larry will become. Another seed of destruction planted.

The novel fell apart… a short story collection was born.

I realized that holidays are like short stories – they concentrate human experience. At holidays, families gather, expectations rise and are met or not, myths grow out of our experience. Joys and sorrows, successes and failures are intensified. In other words, holidays are microcosms of life. And the short story is the perfect form to explore the subject because they too are concentrated, episodic in nature, pivoting on a single event.

I wrote about a father at his first Christmas after a separation from his wife. I wrote about children giving each other candy hearts and cards at Valentine’s Day and how adult expectations about romantic love can be disastrous in kids. I wrote about the end of summer at Labour Day and how that holiday can ask us to measure the joy we’ve managed to accumulate or not to that point in our lives. I wrote about April Fool’s day and Halloween. I set one story in Jamaica where the main character is on a winter holiday. I wrote about a young man working after graduation and about an older couple learning how to live with each other all over again after retirement. I even wrote a story that takes place during the hockey playoffs when, at least around here, fans seem to take a spring holiday to watch them.

In the end, I wrote 18 holiday stories. Borealis Press liked the idea and my book called – what else – Holidays has just been published. (If you want a copy, visit my website) In all, 13 of those stories made it into the collection. A version of Larry’s story as a baby at Christmas opens the collection. It’s called “What It Would Make of Him as He Went Along.” Julie’s experience didn’t quite succeed as a short story, so it didn’t make the cut. But it could yet anchor a novel.

Photo Credits

Holidays Cover

Author Darcy Rhyno with Relatives

Holidays and Short Stories is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Let’s face it. Science fiction is great.

It covers a vast canvas of human thought, inspires some of our brightest minds to invent new technologies, and has the unique ability to laugh at itself. But who are the artists that shape this genre? Who are the folks that create these fantastic visions of other worlds for us? There are dozens of brilliant sci-fi authors and movie-makers – far too many to list here – but in this final installment, and figuring some of you are looking for Christmas gift ideas, I wanted to introduce you to just a few of Canada’s science fiction best:

Margaret Atwood is a pillar of Canadian literature. She’s among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history, and while she might not be the first author who comes to mind when you’re thinking science fiction, and she herself has certainly distanced herself from the “talking squids in outer space” sort of sci-fi, some of her books, led by the brilliant but chilling Handmaid’s Tale, represent some of the finest works in the genre.

Robert J. Sawyer is a highly accomplished sci-fi author who has been heavily involved with supporting and developing Canadian science fiction. In addition to his 20 novels and a wide range of short fiction which have earned him more than 40 awards, he has contributed tremendously to Canada’s literary future through his work as a professor and writer-in-residence. I personally am a huge fan of his Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, which depicts a highly-evolved dinosaur culture.

William Shatner is perhaps THE icon of science fiction, portraying Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk for nearly forty years. In addition to his success as an author and his many film and TV roles, the Shat has created an entire industry around making fun of himself and the larger-than-life caricature we’ve all come to love and/or hate. I struggle to recommend one single item of his repertoire as the best, but I think my personal favourite would have to be the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

James Cameron is one of the most successful movie-makers in history, and his recent film Avatar shattered box-office records and wowed audiences worldwide with his fantastic vision of another world. Although most of his movies would rate high on my recommendation list, since we’re talking sci-fi here, Avatar is the clear must-see. It’s a stunning portrayal of humans on another world, with some clear messages about life on Earth today.

Kenneth Tam is a home-grown Canadian success story and a prolific writer with no less than 20 novels published, including his Equation series and the Defence Command series. He is actively involved with small publishing and the science fiction convention scene. I recommend his series His Majesty’s New World for a fun escape.

This is just a short list of science fiction notables, and just from my home country of Canada. No matter what your taste, no matter what your interests, I bet there is a sci-fi book, movie or TV show out there that you will love. So if you’ve never been interested in science fiction before, I challenge you to give it a try. Ask your friends, browse the bookstore or movie guide, and take a chance. I’ll wager you won’t be disappointed.

Science fiction is great, and it’s waiting there for you to discover. Enjoy the ride.

Read The Previous Parts Of This Series

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 1

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 2

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 3

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 4

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 5 – The Finale

Photo Credits

Photos Are Public Domain

Science Fiction and Why It’s Great – Part 5 – The Finale is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

So far we’ve talked about some big reasons why science fiction is great, and in every article I’ve made a point of asking readers to look past the absurdities of the science fiction fringe and focus on the strength of the core. But now I want to invite all that ridiculousness to the party – let’s talk about the Klingon university courses, the sleeping outside movie theatres for days, the pointy ears, the little green men, the freakish ability to quote movie lines and the whole range of absurdities that are a huge part of sci-fi. Although purists may shudder and closet-geeks may cringe, all that wacky weirdness is one of the things that makes science fiction great. So let’s get it out there.

Science fiction was always a bit quirky, even in what many consider to be its heyday in the 50’s and 60’s. There were no big conventions back then and no fictional languages being taught in community colleges, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the guys on the high school football team who were picking up the latest copy of Analog or Amazing Stories. Right from the beginning, science fiction found its home away from the popular limelight, and as the size of the sci-fi subculture grew so diminished its likelihood of ever being cool.

In the late 60’s a revolutionary TV show started to change that. Star Trek, undermined by its own network and unceremoniously dumped after three seasons, did something remarkable. It actually grew in popularity even after it was cancelled. People loved it so much they started to meet in groups to talk about it. Authors started writing new stories to keep the adventure alive. And then, in 1972, there was an event called a “Star Trek convention” where cast and crew from the show actually turned up to meet with fans and talk about this fictional universe that was supposed to be dead but was very much alive. Although hardly the first science fiction convention (the very first can be dated back all the way to the 30’s), the sheer passion that fueled the Star Trek movement took the convention concept to a whole new level.

And then in 1977 another work of science fiction changed our culture forever. Star Wars exploded across our collective consciousness and, for a brief, glorious moment, made science fiction not only mainstream, but incredibly cool. I was 4 years old, and Star Wars was the first feature-length movie I ever saw. My parents say that my brother and I didn’t blink for two hours, and I can state with conviction that my entire childhood was dominated by that galaxy far, far away.

From these two cultural colossi comes pretty much all the weirdness that sci-fi is so well-known for. By the 80’s the idea of the sci-fi convention had grabbed hold, giving rise to vast venues where fans of everything from Voyage to the Centre of the Earth to V could meet, discuss, debate and buy collectibles, in total safety from muscle-bound bullies and beautiful women. (Okay, okay, perhaps an exaggeration: some very muscular guys are sci-fi fans too.) This sub-culture, for so long underground and in hiding, had been primed by Star Trek and liberated by Star Wars, and now it was free to go absolutely crazy. Costumes, action figures, comic-book adaptations, posters, china sets… A multi-billion dollar industry in collectibles was spawned, and sci-fi fanatics felt comfortable going loud and proud.

But …

But alongside all this fun and absurdity, despite science fiction moving in popular perception from being a mildly-nerdy but otherwise inoffensive genre to being a lunatic fringe of crazies who wanted to form a new society based on the United Federation of Planets, the core of what made science fiction great never changed. Science fiction continued to produce fascinating, intelligent and challenging works of literature that stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of human creativity. Science fiction is more diverse than any other genre. It is still grounded firmly in the real science that has created our modern world. It produces thought-provoking, allegorical commentary on fundamental issues of the human condition. Some of the finest novels, movies and TV shows of the past thirty years are within the realm of science fiction and no amount of silliness at the fringe has changed that. I challenge you to name me another genre of fiction that can simultaneously be so intelligent and so incredibly silly and pull off both with such conviction and panache.

And best of all, science fiction can even laugh at itself. One of the most-watched shows on TV today is The Big Bang Theory, which follows the hilarious misadventures of four uber-nerdy physicists. A half-dozen or more (often quite obscure) references to sci-fi culture are made in each episode and the main thrust of the show’s humour is making fun of sci-fi geeks. But I don’t know a single sci-fi fan who is offended – indeed most of us are huge fans of the show.

Science fiction is a diverse, established genre with a long pedigree of excellence coupled with a lighter side that allows for fun and even self-mockery. In other words, science fiction is well-travelled, mature, intelligent and has a great sense of humour – sounds to me like the very definition of cool. And that, my fellow X-wing pilots, students of Kolinahr, browncoats, dinosaur hunters and conspiracy theorists, is why science fiction is great.

Read The Next Part Of This Series

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 1

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 2

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 3

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 4

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 5 – The Finale

Photo Credits

Darth Vader Fan - By Tom Cochrane
Klingon die-hards – From mydisguises.com
Feature image of USS Enterprise B – Wikipedia

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 4 is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Science has always inspired science fiction writers, but what’s really neat is when the favour is returned.

The ever-quickening pace of our society has resulted in many things, but one of the most lamentable is the superficial nature of what we mostly read. Supermarket tabloids have always been lambasted for their absurd headlines designed to catch the curious shopper’s eye, but now we can all surf dozens of online headlines at a glance, and they usually range from apocalyptic, to titillating to just plain dumb. It seems this is a growing trend in the way we read today, which increases the importance of the third reason why science fiction is great: it encourages – indeed demands us, to use our brains.

The early years of science fiction set the bar high, as authors with solid scientific understanding set out to tell tales that made science the centerpiece. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells may have created some “science” that is laughable in the light of today’s knowledge, but at the time nobody knew what the surface of the Moon was like, or what lay at the centre of the Earth. These authors not only asked the questions, but gave their readers imaginary answers that forced us to think beyond our everyday experience. Could people really live underwater in private yachts like the Nautilus in Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? Could an enemy of overwhelming power really be defeated by the common cold like the Martians in Wells’ War of the Worlds?

As scientific discovery progressed, so did the focus of science fiction authors, but they never stopped challenging their readers to think beyond what was already known. As we learned more about the our solar system, for example, stories about space exploration like Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey made popular the idea of orbiting space stations and humankind visiting our neighbouring planets. As the fundamental nature of the Universe itself was uncovered, readers were invited to stretch their minds wide by Poul Anderson’s Tau Zero taking a spaceship and her crew to the very end of time and beyond. Isaac Asimov created the term “robot” to describe an artificial life form created by humans, and in so doing popularized the notion that life was not necessarily confined to biology.

The laws of physics certainly aren’t always adhered to in science fiction, but even when Einstein is flouted he is often done so in a very intelligent way. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek had no time for such limitations as slower-than-light travel or the integrity of the strong nuclear force, but even so this space opera has managed for decades to explore thoughtful and sometimes controversial questions about our human existence. And Star Trek even sometimes tries to offer explanations as to why the laws of physics have changed, grabbing hold of modern theories when they suggest a hint of how warp drive or transporters might actually exist.

In my novel, Virtues of War, I wanted to stay as close to the current laws of physics as I could, and I found a great ally in the theory of Dr. Lisa Randall from Harvard, who has proposed a fourth spatial dimension beyond the three-dimensional “brane” in which we exist as a solution to why gravity is so different and so much weaker than the other three fundamental forces of nature. I don’t think that the concept of a fourth spatial dimension is going to be discussed on its own merits at coffee shops and soccer games too often, but with luck, having introduced “stealth ships” that can travel in this fourth dimension known as the Bulk and be battled by heroic young space pilots like Jack Mallory, I might have brought this esoteric concept of astro-physics slightly closer to the popular consciousness.

One of the most intriguing results of this thought-provoking genre called science fiction is that so many ideas that were imagined by authors have become reality. A modern nuclear-powered submarine really could travel around the world submerged for 20,000 leagues. Robots have become ubiquitous servants in our industrial society. Space stations orbit the Earth and probes have visited every planet in our solar system (sorry folks, Pluto doesn’t count anymore…). True, we haven’t invented transporters yet, but flip-phones sure look a lot like Captain Kirk’s old communicator. And while we haven’t travelled faster than light yet either, just a couple of weeks ago scientists think they discovered particles travelling faster than Einstein’s 100-year-old intergalactic speed limit. So who knows…?

Science fiction isn’t just about exploring the far reaches of our knowledge – it pushes past that and inspires us not only to think hard, but to think new. Science fiction writers are artists, inspired by scientific reality but driven by their imaginations, and it’s their dreaming that in turn inspires scientists to ask questions, to take risks, and to create wondrous new things. And even for those of us who aren’t scientists, science fiction forces us to keep our brains engaged, to stay curious and to think about things beyond the latest celebrity scandal or playoff game. Science fiction keeps us smart, and that’s why it’s great.

Read The Next Part Of This Series

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 1

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 2

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 3

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 4

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 5 – The Finale

Photo Credits

Early depiction of H.G. Wells Martian Invaders – Public Domain
Astronomers probe the Milky Way with a laser – Wikimedia Commons

Science Fiction And Why It’s Great – Part 3 is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN