Author: Michael

The American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans is over and now I have entered a state of total relaxation by the pool at the Lion’s Inn in the Faubourg Marigny. Yesterday I couldn’t even rouse myself for lunch between sunning and floating in the pool. We’ll see if I repeat the pattern today. Fortunately Scot arrives tomorrow and we’ll probably be a little bit more active (although he will certainly need his poolside time as well. I’ll try to post some pictures that include us later in the week, and possibly even muster the energy to post a little about post-Katrina New Orleans. In the meantime until Scot arrives, all that’s missing is a poolboy serving me hurricanes as I lounge.

As Scottie mentioned below, we closed on a new condo today. Yippee! That was pretty durn exciting! Check out the new digs on the left. We’re on the top floor, which is to my liking. There’s a porch on the front and the back, and we’ve already brought some stuff over there. It’s kind of surreal. I’ve obviously moved before, but moving into the first place we’ve owned is pretty wild.

As was the whole closing process. I have to say we were quite fortunate, compared to some of the difficulties friends and family have had, the whole process went quite smoothly. I was fascinated to see my signature degenerate as the seemingly endless signing went on. We were halfway through when I realized that I hadn’t been consistent, and several of my signatures were made without the middle initial. I was actually told to go back and insert the middle initial to those I did not use it.

Our next milestone will be next Monday when we movie. Titan Movers and their Secret Weapon… here we come!

Okay, so Scottie and Carolyn were talking about their Japanese names the other night at Yasu, a nifty Japanese sushi/Korean barbecue place in Coolidge Corner (with unfortunate service) and I felt left out. Hence…

My Japanese name is Michizane Ishinomori.
Take The Original Japanese Name Generator by Shu today!
Created with Rum and Monkey‘s Name Generator Generator.

There. I feel better now.

I was stunned and saddened to hear about the passing of Octavia Butler, my favorite science fiction writer, the other day. The author of 12 novels and 1 published collection of short stories, Butler was a pioneer in the science fiction realm, being a lone African-American woman, and a lesbian, in a field dominated by white males. The author died outside of her home in Seattle, after falling and striking her heard on a walkway.

The first of Octavia’s books that I ever read was entitled Wild Seed, and it was a fantastic story about two immortal super beings; one who could change shape, who was in pursuit of the other who possessed complete control of her body. As a young man it made quite an impression on me, and years later, when I read her Xenogenesis trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) I was hardly surprised by the talent behind them. What I loved about this trilogy was the daring exploration of sexuality and gender that they encompassed. Her collection of short stories, Bloodchild and Other stories, was a daring gathering of stories and essays from throughout her career that spanned genre.

After the throught-provoking Parable of the Sower and its sequel, Parable of the Talents which found a new religion forming around a young woman after an apocalyptic tragedy has decimated the earth, there was a noticeable lack of new work from Octavia as she suffered some personal writer’s block. There are interviews where she discusses working on a third book in this series, Parable of the Trickster, but it is apparently unfinished. She did return with a bold new novel last year called Fledgling. This novel might have taken some of her fans by surprise as it was a vampire novel, but one steeped in science fiction rather than fantasy or gothic horror.

In 1995 Octavia was the recipient of a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the only the only science fiction writer to receive such an honor. This $295,000 windfall followed years of poverty and personal struggles with shyness and self-doubt. In an 2004 interview with the Seattle P-I Octavia commented, “People may call these ‘genius grants, but nobody nobody made me take an IQ test before I got mine. I know I’m no genius.”

Octavia’s first novel, Kindred, published in 1979 after being repeatedly rejected by publishers who could not understand how a science fiction novel could take place on a plantation in the antebellum south, is her most popular novel, selling more than a quarter of a million copies to date. I’ve never actually read Kindred and I am looking forward to the experience.

I was struck by how saddened I was by the news of Octavia’s death. This was the first time one of my “favorite artists” of some sort has died, and I was taken aback by the lack of any future work by this talented woman. I can only hope that Octavia knew some fulfillment and happiness from this career that brought so much to her fans.

Okay, so it’s a tired meme, but I enjoyed reading it on lymjello’s blog, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll bite. I’ve also followed lymejello’s lead and added my own category.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Library Administrator
2. Magazine Reviewer
3. Manager of a Record Store
4. Tax form picker/shipper

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Sweet Hereafter
2. Miss Firecracker
3. Passion Fish
4. Last Night

Four albums I can listen to over and over:

1. Emm Gryner, Girl Versions
2. Martha & the Muffins, Then Again – A Retrospective
3. Kate Bush, The Dreaming
4. Jane Siberry, The Walking

Four places I’ve lived (this one’s pretty boring for me):

1. Boston, MA
2. Melrose, MA
3. Andover, MA
4. Reading, MA

Four TV shows I love:

1. Star Trek: Deep Space 9
2. Twin Peaks
3. Days of Our Lives
4. The Comeback

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I’ve never watched a single minute of:

1. 24
2. Commander-in-Chief
3. Alias
4. American Idol

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Australia
2. Canadian Rockies
3. Toronto, ON
4. Phoenix, AZ

Four boys I find adorable:

1. Scottie
2. Don
3. Jonno
4. Phil

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Fancy Pants
2. Pasta Bolognese
3. Danish Pastries
4. Iced “Corn” Cookies

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film
2. Internet Movie Database
3. All These Wonderful Things
4. Dudes Nude

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. A Tropical Nude Beach
2. Watching a movie in a theatre
3. Visiting my friend in Buddina, Queensland, Australia!
4. Visiting Jennifer in Rutland, VT