Comments on: Stay on Valencia Street, GW Metanovel

By: Steve H

Steve H — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:52:28 +0000

Yeah, ’cause writing science fiction is all about being relevant. Like, um, DUNE was popular back when everybody was into, like, ecology and stuff.
Har. Write ‘em your own way, and tend your own garden; is that relevant enough?
Maybe this novel will be the next STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and everyone will grok it. Or maybe you’ll just enjoy the hell out of writing it and get paid for the pleasure.
Maybe it will be so grim soon that we all end up writing humorless crap about fighting to defend our rights and taking back our country. POSTSINGULAR sounds like more fun.
- Steve H, Defender of Liberty and Justice and the A-Merican Way

By: Rudy

Rudy — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 05:32:39 +0000

I’ve never gone for hthtfhfcghjg’s argument that fiction should be about current events.
“We don’t have time for art, times are too dire.” Anti-intellectual pinhead have said that in every time. Should Bruegel have done his paintings, or should he have been going to meetings to evict the Spanish troops? Should Jack Kerouac have written ON THE ROAD, or should he have been demnonstrating against the Bomb?
In any case, as it happens, MATHEMATICIANS IN LOVE has a major plot element involving the overthrow of a stupid and criminal president who has stolen an election. And in POSTSINGULAR an evil president is convicted of treason and put to death.
Being political alone isn’t enough to carry a novel, though. If you want the novel to be read, you need things like plot, interesting characters, good language, and ideas.

By: hthtfhfcghjg

hthtfhfcghjg — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:57:42 +0000

I’m getting more and more the feeling that this novel is going to be utterly irrelevant. Hey Rudi, your country has declared war on the world! The Neo-Nazis have taken over and already destroyed one country! And you write novels about candy in cyberspace? Sorry man your novels were always good but they also dropped in relevance over time.

By: greg r

greg r — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 00:01:47 +0000

if you don’t already know, michelle tea wrote a beat novel ‘valencia’ a few years back. haven’t read it, but it is about being a drunk, stoned lesbian writer in the mission. the mission is nice. the people at Borderlands say positive things about you and had ‘lifebox’ in the window. i’m over the hill in bernal. peace