Weekly Short Story: The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs

The 1902 short story The Monkey's Paw, by W.W. Jacobs, continued the fictional tradition that it's possible to get three wishes by possessing a special bottle or object...and how those wishes almost inevitably backfire.  Mr. and Mrs. White live in a remote, boggy area with their farm and their son Herbert.  A retired military man, Sergeant-Major Morris, is paying visit to their home one night after making Mr. White's acquaintance a few days before.  The father directs the conversation to Morris's monkey paw, which the latter claims grants three wishes to three different people: he warns the family that a holy man had put a spell on it to show that fate ruled over desire.  But he gives the monkey's paw to Mr. White, and the wishes ensue...along with their unintended consequences...

Most of us know the story of Aladdin, his magic lamp, and the three wishes.  And there have been variations on this theme...on old Twilight Zone episode likewise featured a genie who granted wishes to an impoverished shopkeeper with dire results.  The moral to these tales is almost always that there is no magical shortcut to the fulfillment of people's dreams...and bad things happen to people to try to bypass the natural order of things.  The Monkey's Paw, which could be considered as a horror story, certainly fits this pattern.  I've read it a number of times and you can as well by clicking on the following link to read it in PDF: [The Monkey's Paw].  After reading it, I wondered whether Stephen King might have gotten some of his inspiration for Pet Sematary here...after reading both, you'll know what I'm talking about.  In any event, this story of W.W. Jacobs is a classic and worth reading, although some sensitive folks might suffer nightmares afterwards...

Tuesday's List: 1991 Senate Confirmation Vote for Clarence Thomas

As the confirmation process for United State Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sadly continues down the path of examining his youth in light of allegations of sexual misconduct...with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday...I thought it might be interesting to go back in time to 1991 when Republican president George H.W. Bush's nominee, Clarence Thomas, after Anita Hill's accusations against him, was narrowly confirmed by the Senate body, 52-48.  At that time the Democrats controlled the Senate, 57-43.  It was a very different era, politically, with 11 Democrats crossing over to vote for Thomas's confirmation and 2 Republicans voting in opposition...imagine that sort of thing happening in today's extremely partisan setting...

Here are the senators crossing over in that vote:

DEMOCRATS VOTING FOR THOMAS
RICHARD SHELBY (Alabama)...later joined Republican Party
DENNIS DECONCINI (Arizona)
SAM NUNN (Georgia)
WYCHE FOWLER (Georgia)
ALAN DIXON (Illinois)
J. BENNETT JOHNSTON (Louisiana)
JOHN BREAUX (Louisiana)
JAMES EXON (Nevada)
DAVID BOREN (Oklahoma)
ERNEST HOLLINGS (South Carolina)
CHUCK ROBB (Virginia)

REPUBLICANS VOTING AGAINST THOMAS
BOB PACKWOOD (Oregon)
JIM JEFFORDS (Vermont)

Looking at the above list of Democrats voting for Clarence Thomas's confirmation, you'll note that six of the eleven senators are from Deep South states.  Only Shelby was a staunch conservative and he himself switched parties later in the decade.  The other five were moderate Democrats...back then southern voters weren't anywhere nearly as skewed to the political right as they now are...

By the way, back then in 1991 there were some familiar, much younger faces in the Senate for that vote: here's a list that includes currently sitting senators, two former vice-presidents, three presidential general election candidates, and a vice-presidential candidate..all of them voted along their party's line:

JOHN MCCAIN (Arizona)
JOE BIDEN (Delaware)
JOE LIEBERMANN (Connecticut)
CHUCK GRASSLEY (Iowa)
BOB DOLE (Kansas)
MITCH MCCONNELL (Kentucky)
JOHN KERRY (Massachusetts)
AL GORE (Tennessee)
ORRIN HATCH (Utah)
PATRICK LEAHY (Vermont)

I composed the above lists by referencing Wikipedia's page about Clarence Thomas.  In looking at what's going on regarding Brett Kavanaugh, I have to sit back and allow the upcoming events to play themselves out before I can form a reasonable opinion.  Of course, now there seem to be two other people in his past who might offer damaging testimony, although I wander whether Grassley, McConnell, and Company won't just quickly push for a final vote after Thursday's hearing...

Just Finished Reading We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

Stephen King is one of the people I follow on Twitter.  Not that I expect anything of special literary value from his often overtly political posts, but I like to keep up with what's on his mind.  From time to time he recommends a book he's just read...I read Garth Risk Hallberg's novel City on Fire after reading such a Tweet.  The other day he promoted another one, Matthew Thomas's 2014 debut novel We Are Not Ourselves...and I promptly checked it out.  Set primarily in New York City, the author's home town, it is a fictional voyage through the life of Eileen Tumulty/Leary from her childhood with her Irish parents into adulthood and her marriage to Ed Leary, a scientist whose values on materialism sharply clash with her longing to become more high society.  A lot of stories I've read try to make the protagonist into a character of virtuosity: one thing I liked a lot about We Are Not Ourselves is the way that the author, while focusing on Eileen's point of view, revealed many flaws in her personality and how her behavior often aggravated relational problems she had with others, most particularly her husband and son.  Ultimately, though, what won this novel over for me was the way it depicted the debilitating and fatal Alzheimer's Disease, from the initial stages of divergent behavior with its accompanying denials and rationalizing, to the final stage of complete incapacity...how sad.  This was a difficult book to get through, but not for any fault of Matthew Thomas and his adroit writing.  He plunged head first into real, often very unlikeable characters as well as dealing with a topic that for many has eclipsed their lives, if not as Alzheimer's patients than as their caretakers...along with a stinging indictment of the American health care system that, even in the era of Obamacare, forces families into bankrupt conditions just to obtain needed government assistance...

If you want to read a story about people who are "real", warts and all, and don't expect the author to sugarcoat your reading experience, then you just might also like We Are Not Ourselves.  As far as I'm concerned, Stephen King is "two for two" with his book recommendations...

Proud of Gators' Play Against Tennessee Yesterday

Back in the middle of their football season in 2008, the University of Florida football team...anticipating an undefeated season...played Mississippi at home, losing to them 31-30.  It was a shocking wake-up call to this team, which had become overconfident and cocky...they didn't lose again that year, eventually taking down Oklahoma in the national championship game.  For several reasons I wouldn't place this year's squad on a par with that one, but a couple of weeks ago Kentucky similarly shocked them into somber self-assessment: the Wildcats caught Florida sluggish and flatfooted on the way to a 27-16 upset on the Gators' home turf.  Since then first year head coach Dan Mullen has lit a fire under this team, and you can see the results by the relentless energy and pursuit they put on the field, especially on the defensive side.  Yesterday Florida went to Knoxville as underdogs to play Tennessee and whipped their rivals 47-21, scoring 24 of their points off Volunteer turnovers and preventing a Tennessee touchdown from another...that's a 31 point differential from an aggressive defense and an opportunistic offense...way to go!  As for Kentucky, Florida's earlier loss to them doesn't look quite as bad as before: 14th ranked Mississippi State just fell to them 28-7...

I don't know how many games Florida will win this year, but if Mullen can keep this team focused, intense, and hungry for victory against quality opponents...now that they have a taste of what it's like...I feel confident that they will be able to stand on the same field with any team, including LSU and Georgia, and put on a good, respectable show.  Which is all I'm asking from them...

Just Finished Reading Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged

I am currently juggling three fantasy fiction series with my reading: Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive (I've just quickly reread the first two books in anticipation of starting the third), Lightbringer by Brent Weeks (about to start book two), and this one: Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy.  I was fortunate in that my son Will, an avid reader, already had the first two volumes...including Before They Are Hanged, which I just finished reading.  Of the different series, I clearly prefer Abercrombie's because he keeps the magic uncluttered from excessive detail...very refreshing!

In the world of The First Law, we see the central kingdom, called The Union, threatened in war by different forces, one from the north (the Northmen) and one from the south (the Gurkhuls).  Part of the troubles arise from an ancient feud taking place between the order of the Magi (near-immortal wizards) that is playing itself out.  There are three separate narratives going on throughout this second installment: Collem West, a brave and loyal officer for the Union, is in the north with his forces fighting Bethod's Northmen (resembling the Vikings) in concert with a band of renegade northern fighters, the Dogman being the main character among them.  In the south, the brutal Gurkish Empire is laying siege to the Union city of Dagoska, and Inquisitor Glokta (an exquisitely cynical, insightful, and pragmatic protagonist) has been sent to head the resistance and sort out corruption and treason.  And in the west, a motley band is venturing to retrieve what Magi Bayaz calls "the Seed" that will purportedly aid him in saving the world and settling his ages-old scores...with him on the trek are Northman Logen "Ninefingers", Ferro (a violent, vengeful woman from the south), Jezal (a master fencer with no combat experience), and a couple of minor characters (at least right now they're minor).  The book toggles between these three narratives, all of which are very interesting...I grew to care about these characters and how they might survive (or not survive) their many ordeals.  As expected, the end of this book left me hanging, eagerly ready to start the last one, titled Last Argument of Kings.  One problem: Will didn't seem to leave this one behind...or at least I haven't yet found it...so I'll have to check it out from the library.  Not a problem: I've got plenty of other stuff to read in the meantime...

Quote of the Week...from Stephen King

I was "in" enough to get along with people. I was never socially inarticulate.  Not a loner.  And that saved my life, saved my sanity.  That and the writing.  But to this day I distrust anybody who thought school was a good time.  Anybody.                             ---Stephen King.

Stephen King, my all-time favorite author, turned 71 today and I thought I might take advantage of the occasion by quoting him on something.  The above comment of his made an impression on me in a couple of ways...my complete divergence from his experiences in school and my complete agreement with his assessment of our respective experiences.  Stephen, you can trust me: school for me was anything but a good time...but I wasn't "in" enough to get along with people, I was always socially inarticulate, and was one of the biggest loners around.  But the fact that I am wired a bit differently and see things from another perspective got me through those horrific years, having long given up on ever getting any positive social reinforcement from others be they classmates or teachers...and I didn't write back then, either. And, like this wonderful author whose birthday I'm celebrating, I did not believe that I was the only one suffering through school, either: I saw misery, humiliation, fear, and loneliness pervade the souls of so many of my fellow students...it's hard to come out of those years without having a cynical worldview as well as a sad kind of empathy for broken people.  Yet, as ol' Johnny Cougar once sang, life goes on, long after the thrill of living has gone...we need to now take our lives one day at a time and live in the present.  I've seen a few South Park episodes and tend to identify with the Goth Kids whenever they're featured...to me nothing would have been more appealing back then then to stay up late at night at some all-night diner with my fellow malcontents, swilling black coffee and railing about how awful everything is.  Yes, that's one group...had it existed when I was going to school...that I just might have fit in with...

9/16 Sermon on Miracles, Part 2

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his series discussing seven miracles of Jesus as described in the Bible's New Testament book of John with the second miracle: the healing of the official's son, found in John 4:43-54...click on the passage to read it through Bible Gateway.  With this message comes an examination of faith, both by the official in the narrative and how our faith develops...a faith, as Pastor Philip stated, that makes its way into every aspect of our lives.  And, he continued, it's not the amount of faith we have that matters, but rather the object of our faith: Jesus...

Philip laid out three stages in the development of faith among believers: first, crisis-based faith, then needs-based faith...and, finally, life-giving faith.  Our pastor added to this the four types of healing: physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual...there is a kind of rough correspondence between these and the development of faith.  Finally, Pastor Philip brought up the story of a daredevil tightrope walker who would span the falls to the applause of the awestruck spectators.  One day he brought out a wheelbarrow and asked the crowd if they believed he could push someone in it on the tightrope across the falls.  Everyone yelled that they believed...but then he asked for volunteers!  There's a big difference between noncommittal faith on the sidelines and committed faith in the trenches...we need to "get in the wheelbarrow" and trust in Jesus to protect and carry us...

You can watch this sermon on the church's YouTube video website...just click on this link: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its weekly services Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30, featuring praise and worship music, prayer, fellowship...and, of course, the message.  Part three of the ongoing series on miracles is slated for this Sunday...

Weekly Short Story: Fatal Error by Fredric Brown

Frederic Brown (1906-72) was one of my all-time favorite short story writers, whose works ranged from science fiction to mystery to social commentary.  A few years I purchased From These Ashes (NESFA Press), which is a collection of all of this author's short science fiction.  Although technically more a crime story than science fiction, his very short 1961 tale Fatal Error is in it.  Fatal Error reminds me of the Peter Falk mystery TV series Columbo, where each week a very intelligent person devises what he or she thinks is a foolproof murder...but of course Columbo always figures it out in the end.  There's no Columbo in Brown's story, but the intricate plotting on the part of the protagonist is there.  Walter Baxter knows he is the only heir to his rich uncle's fortunes, so he works out a plan to kill him while making it look like the unfortunate by-product of a burglary.  He assiduously goes about implementing his plans, and when it is all over he commends himself on a job well done.  Only one problem: he is quickly arrested anyway.  What happened? The answer is hilarious, a testament to what happens when someone gets so caught up in details that they lose sight of the big picture.  I don't think this story is available on the Internet, but if you can get hold of it I recommend you take the few minutes seconds needed to read it.  It's a hoot...

Tuesday's List: Old Drive-In Theaters and Dog Tracks in South Florida

When I was growing up in south Florida...specifically Hollywood...during the 1960s and early 70s, there were two prominent features that no longer figure into the equation in today's world: drive-in movies and greyhound racing.  When my family went out to see a movie, it was always to the drive-in: we never went to indoor theaters.  And although I never wagered at a dog track, my father became quite an enthusiastic, studying the races and visiting the different locations...and he would fill my ears discussing his betting strategies, to my consternation.  Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for these old times, and although its probably a good idea to eliminate pari-mutuel dog race betting (Amendment 13 is on the ballot in November to this effect) due to the abuse of the greyhounds involved in it, it's still yet another relic of my youth fading into obscurity.  As for drive-ins, though, we had to contend with the heat, humidity, scratchy sound from the speakers, annoying people in other cars, mosquitos, and noisy planes passing overhead...it was great!!!  There are movies I sometimes come across that I remember first seeing in a drive-in, films like A Hard Day's Night, The Ipcress File, Modesty Blaise, Psycho, and others.  Well, I no longer live in south Florida and both drive-ins and dog racing have largely sunk into the past.  Here are a couple of very short lists of the drive-in theaters and dog tracks that made an impact on me during my young years...

DRIVE-IN THEATERS
ARROW DRIVE-IN....North 441, Hollywood...probably went here the most often
GOLDEN GLADES DRIVE-IN...near Palmetto Expressway in Miami Shores, twin screens
HI-WAY DRIVE-IN...US 1 in Dania...I actually worked here at the concessions stand in 1969-70
THUNDERBIRD DRIVE-IN...Sunrise Blvd in Ft. Lauderdale...my dad once was part-time manager of both the HI-WAY and THUNDERBIRD: the latter still exists with 14 screens

DOG TRACKS
MIAMI BEACH KENNEL CLUB...I could be wrong, but I think this closed with the area's renovation, I never went there
FLAGLER KENNEL CLUB...closest to downtown Miami, ran its final race a few months ago
BISCAYNE KENNEL CLUB...in Miami Shores, I went there with my dad a few times, but not to bet
HOLLYWOOD KENNEL CLUB...in Hallandale, I went there a couple of times...

Casinos have taken over organized gambling in south Florida...Flagler and Hollywood dog tracks became only parts of Big Easy Casino and Magic City Casino, respectively.  I never did care for gambling on dog races...like my mother, I just enjoyed watching them chase the "bunny" around the track.  As for drive-in theaters, I think I've become completely spoiled by the lush comfort nowadays in indoor theaters, with their reclining, cushiony seats and all...

Kavanaugh's Accuser Comes Out

With the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh still slated for Thursday (at this writing), a new issue has been brought up.  Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the committee, three days ago came out with an anonymous accusation against Kavanaugh of a past attempted sexual assault that he was alleged to have committed against a girl while in high school.  Feinstein received a lot of criticism for not only having withheld the letter...which she had in possession since July...from the Judiciary Committee, which could have brought up the matter during the hearings, but also for not mentioning it during her own meeting with the nominee when he had earlier visited her in her Senate office.  Well, the accuser has come out publicly now, and it looks as if as she will be testifying under oath before the Committee as early as tomorrow about her experience with Kavanaugh.  All I know about what supposedly happened is that there was a party at a house back then and Kavanaugh, along with a male accomplice, is alleged to have forced the accuser into a back room before attempting a sexual battery against her.  I'm glad this woman decided not to remain anonymous but am concerned about how this will affect her life going forward. I'm hoping that a detailed testimony will direct this nomination process to a decisive vote. If what is being alleged is true, then Kavanaugh would have technically been a minor at the time, but this would not necessarily have exempted him from being charged as an adult.  I doubt that any conclusive proof one way or another can be offered...you either believe the accuser or Kavanaugh in the end.  What this does, though, is give the three Democratic senators running for reelection in pro-Trump states...Manchin (WV), Donnelly (IN), and Heitkamp (ND)...the political cover needed for "no" votes for final confirmation.  And it may (or may not) sway some Republican senators to oppose Kavanaugh as well: Maine's Republican senator Sue Collins last year urged Senate colleague Al Franken to resign over much less serious allegations.  If the nomination fails or is withdrawn, though, the Republicans have a problem: the midterm elections are less than two months away and there is a slight chance that the Democrats might wrest away control of the Senate, effective January 5th next year.  So with this scenario Trump wouldn't have much time to squeeze in a replacement nominee to his ideological liking.  It's all very interesting and I'm going to be watching to see how this all unfolds.  I'm compelled at this time to be angry at Feinstein for secretly holding this card against Kavanaugh, for I had come to like and respect him on a number of levels.  Oh well, I'm open to changing my mind and will strongly do so if the testimony leads me there...let's see what happens...

Early Evening Sky Loaded With Planets, Moon

Yesterday evening just after sunset I stepped outside and looked at the southwest sky...it was a celestial treat with planets abounding.  Nearing the horizon was very bright Venus while Jupiter, still much brighter than any of the surrounding stars, was a little higher.  A little to the left was the moon, approaching its first quarter phase.  And over some more, about due south, was the planet Mars, much brighter than it usually is.  I've been neglecting sky gazing for quite some time recently...the main reason is that it's been so doggone unpleasant at night during this still-sweltering summer here in northern Florida, combined with awful humidity and constantly pestering mosquitos.  Usually in the evening I'm at work, and when I finally do get home my habit has been to get something to eat and watch a little TV.  But yesterday I was off, and I didn't stay outside long enough to get consumed by the nasty little bloodsuckers, who seem to be especially plaguing us more than usual this summer...

So at least in the early evening, if the sky is clear, you'll be able to see three of our fellow planets and a pretty bright moon.  I have to contend with city lights where I live, so the stars just don't work out here for me.  Still, I'll probably be star-gazing more whenever...if ever...the mosquitos kindly pack up and leave us in peace...

Just Finished Reading the Litigators by John Grisham

In the middle of a stretch where I've been reading a lot of fantasy literature I decided to try out another one of legal fiction writer John Grisham's books: I settled upon his 2011 The Litigators, and it was a good choice. It's about three lawyers struggling in their own ways to make their profession work for them in Chicago.  Oscar Finley and Walter "Wally" Figg are barely competent ambulance chasers, dreaming of the big case that will win them millions and set their financial lives at ease.  David Zinc is just one very well-paid staff attorney of many working at a major firm, Rogan Rothberg. Although making money hand over fist, he hates his job and one day finds himself unable to step into the elevator leading to his office.  Instead he turns around and goes to a nearby bar, drinking himself silly all day and eventually noticing a Finley & Figg ad on the side of a bus.  He visits their office in his drunkenness and offers his services...meanwhile, Wally has discovered what he believes is the goose that laid the golden egg: he will join his pathetic firm with a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Varrick, a pharmaceutical company producing the cholesterol-reducing drug Krayoxx.  Krayoxx is suspected in the deaths of many of its users, and the hunt is on to find anyone who has used it recently and passed away.  Oscar is skeptical about the case, but his partner is confident that Varrick will settle and not want a full jury trial...but what if they do?

The Litigators, from start to finish, may be John Grisham's funniest book...I'll have to read all of them to render a final "judgment".  Oscar and Wally represent a segment of the legal community that just barely rises above malpractice...and sometimes dips down into it, too.  Their secretary Rochelle is the one stabilizing character keeping them afloat, but David's entry into the firm will change not only all of their lives, but his own as well as he discovers how he wants to develop and employ his skills as a litigation lawyer.  The author examines litigation in both its seedy and honorable aspects, and from the perspectives of both plaintiff and defendant.  I loved the characters in it and want a sequel...probably won't happen, though.  Yes, this was one of my favorite John Grisham novels: you'll enjoy it!

Quote of the Week...from Robert Heinlein

The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.                          ---Robert Heinlein.

Robert Heinlein, who died in 1988, was a renowned American science fiction writer, responsible for such works as Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers...all books that I have read and recommend.  It's been thirty years since he left us...his above quote is much more significant and true today than it ever was.  When he composed it he was referring to the notion that too many of us hold that our celebrities have some kind of special wisdom...which got them to their level of fame and success in their respective specialties...that they can extend to issues, philosophy, and politics, giving their opinions more weight than those of people who are actually more knowledgeable and skilled in these areas. I have three reactions to this...

First, I'm fine with entertainers and athletes giving their opinions on what's going on around us...they have as much a right to do this as you or I.  The problem is how the public at large treat them: instead of learning something new from our celebrities, we tend to use them to prop up our worldviews, not from persuasive argumentation but rather by serving as living banners or symbols supporting our preconceived beliefs.  Second, our media with its soundbites and commercial breaks, along with over-politicized late night talk shows, wants limited arguments about issues and, with social media taking off the way it has, embraces overgeneralizing and simplicity over analysis and objectivity: it's easier to take a known name and run with their opinion than come up with a much more obscure, real expert who would more likely than not provide a nuanced and more lengthy response.  And third, I have a great problem with the tendency of the last few decades...greatly magnified in the last few years...of the formation of social-political movements, most of them protests in nature, that promote various innately biased narratives labeling in a sweeping manner certain groups of people as "victims" and other groups as villainous '"aggressors".  Entertainers and professional athletes seem to be especially attracted to this kind of political correctness and make any legitimate attempt at mitigating the arguments of the "protesters" more difficult...

Yes, I bet Robert Heinlein would have plenty to say about what's going down today...

9/9 Sermon on Miracles, Part 1

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville our senior pastor, Philip Griffin, began a new sermon series about seven miracles of Jesus as they appeared in the Bible's New Testament book of John.  The first of these miracles was at the wedding feast, which you can read from John 2:1-11 by clicking on the passage (through Bible Gateway)…

The miracle at the wedding feast in which Jesus turned water into wine, Pastor Philip began, was a sign of revelation, which can be broken down into three parts: his mission, his power, and his glory.  In traditional Jewish weddings of that time, the parents of the families involved negotiated a contract through which costs would be paid. Jesus was considering the costs of his own spiritual wedding with his bride, which is the church with his mission entailing dying on a cross, when he was told that they had run out of wine.  The atoning power of Jesus, Philip continued, which was represented by the wine, symbolically replaced the water of purification that had preceded it. The incredible amount of wine produced was a demonstration of the abundance of his love and power.  This miracle glorified God: it was something magnificent and praiseworthy that draws us into worship and belief.  Our pastor concluded by reminding us that there is an eternal void in our hearts that longs for the glory of God and a deep relationship with him...

You can watch this sermon through the church's YouTube video website...click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its weekly services on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30.  Along with the excellent and thought-provoking message is wonderful praise and worship music, prayer, and opportunities to join small groups for discipleship and fellowship.  There are plenty of friendly people here to get to know, as well as a hospitality room providing free coffee before and between services.  The miracles continue this Sunday...

Weekly Short Story: The Picture Man by John Dalmas

The Picture Man, by John Dalmas, is the opening story in the anthology Donald A. Wollheim Presents The 1985 Annual World's Best SF.  The narrator is a college professor whose wife had earlier left him for another man and who is now adjusting to his empty house.  One evening he notices a man...obviously homeless...going through his garbage and invites him in for some food, even letting him clean himself up and giving him some of his own clothes to change into.  The man's name is Finnish: Jaakko Savimaki is from a town in Michigan that essentially shut down decades earlier when its mines closed.  Jake, for short, is grateful for our narrator's hospitality and wants to return the favor, asking him if he has a Polaroid camera.  The good professor then is told to take a snapshot of Jake's head...the resulting picture is of an old house...Jake's old Michigan home.  Another picture is snapped and a different scene comes out.  It seems that Jake has inadvertently developed the psychic ability of transferring something from his mind to film.  The narrator gets hold of some people who study parapsychology and they test Jake, getting even more amazing results.  Finally, he is steered toward showing what Soviet spaceships will soon look like...and then the story takes a sharp left turn.  To find out what happens, you'll have to read it for yourself: I'm not spoiling the ending...

Written after Stephen King's Firestarter, The Picture Man also addresses an issue I've discussed a number of times over the years on this blog: if someone possesses a paranormal talent, then the last thing they would want to do would be to openly advertise it in the manner that all the fake professional "psychics" around us do.  For a truly paranormally-endowed individual would quickly become a target of governments...and not necessarily ours, seen both as a potential asset in covert matters or a dangerous threat.  In any case such a person would end up losing their liberty, at the very least.  Jake recognizes this in Dalmas's tale and acts accordingly...

Besides the main story line, I felt that The Picture Man had a certain sweetness and optimism to it not only by how the professor treats Jake, but also how others embrace and accept this once forlorn man into their community.  And Finnish curiously fits into it all...

On This Tuesday, 9/11

Seventeen years ago on both this date and day Islamic extremist terrorists of Al Qaeda...15 of the 19 involved from Saudi Arabia...hijacked four American passenger jets and crashed them, bringing down the two World Trade Center towers, damaging the Pentagon, and one plane intended for the Capitol or White House taken down into a remote Pennsylvania field when its passengers bravely revolted.  The deaths from these attacks totaled about 3,000 with several thousands more injured...a great number of them were first responders at the Towers, killed or injured when they collapsed.  Since then the United States has been in a perpetual state of war in Afghanistan, where the then-ruling Taliban had been giving sanctuary and support to Osama Bin-Laden and his organization.  As I usually do on this date each successive year, I went through the TV channels looking for shows about this event which should never be forgotten or diminished...I was surprised to see that MSNBC, which had for years been faithfully rebroadcasting the NBC live ongoing account of that day's events, wasn't showing it anymore.  There were the events at the Trade Center site with the readings of the names of the dead from 9/11, the news channels were showing recaps of the attacks, and the History and Discovery channels had special 9/11 programming as well.  Maybe some of the other channels will devote something to it later, but I'll be at work then.  This year it seems to me like the "reading of the names" ceremony is being pushed as the main media remembrance, as opposed to the attacks themselves and the importance for us to remain vigilant and uncompromising in the face of terrorism.  I'll never forget 9/11 and get very frustrated when I hear political correctness about the source of most of our terrorism used to confuse people about the ideological background of its perpetrators.  And terrorism is still here as much as we might like to pretend that we are insulated from it...the tactics have changed but their violent, delusional hatred hasn't...

Judge Kavanaugh's Senate Hearings and His Expressed Attitude

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Anthony Kennedy as the next United States Supreme Court justice took place last week.  The proceedings, aired live on C-Span and the major cable news channels, gave the country a chance to see for themselves what kind of person he is.  From my point of view, he did quite well, very composed in the face of continually screaming hecklers and some very harsh questioning from the Democrats, most severely by Senator Kamala Harris.  We all know that he is conservative, but Kavanaugh himself stated that he would put his own personal views on issues to the side and address how the various cases he is presented with stand up to the law...most importantly, the foundational U.S. Constitution.  However, I've heard similar pronouncements from Court nominees in the past: Gorsuch, Kagan, Sotomayor, Alito, and Roberts all would supposedly deal with the law and not allow personal prejudices to influence them.  The only problem is that the pattern in any decision that has come down over the past few years with politically partisan implications has seen these justices and the others predictably line up on their different "sides" that they claim don't exist.  Kavanaugh said that he would treat the Supreme Court as the "team of nine" and would work hard to create more of a consensus with rulings instead of the sharply divided 5-4 votes that have characterized it in recent years.  Well, I'm pretty sure that he will be confirmed...maybe this will be one of those justices in history who will make a positive difference in unifying the nation.  I have written before that I like Brett Kavanaugh: unlike with Neil Gorsuch, whose performance at his hearings made me skeptical of his fairmindedness, this nominee far exceeded my expectations...in fact, much better than did the previous ones I've mentioned.  I wish him the best, but I'm also hoping against hope that he will truly be the independent justice that he promises to be...wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air for a change...

Just Finished Reading The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Probably against my own better judgment I decided to start yet another ongoing fantasy book series: I just finished reading The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, the first installment in his reportedly five-volume Lightbringers series...only the "final" book remains to be published.  The story takes place in a world where magic is possible, but only by people gifted with the power of converting certain colors of light into matter...this is called "drafting", the product is a substance called "luxin", and the entire practice with its very complicated rules is called "chromaturgy".  I spent a great deal of effort trying to figure out what the heck the author was trying to say as he described in painful detail the differences between yellow, red, green, ultraviolet, and blue drafters, the different levels of talents, and what happens when drafters draft too much and become "wights".  Ugh, it's all too much...but incredibly, there really is a story here and some interesting characters as well, with a lot of suspense and drama if you can get past the chromatic mess.  There are the two brothers Gavin and Dazen Guile who were rivals for the affections of pretty Karris White Oak.  All three are gifted in different ways with drafting colors, and the brothers years before had been on the opposite sides in a war: Dazen in revolt against the established order and Gavin leading a brutal assault on his brother and his allies.  Thought killed by Gavin, Dazen is instead secretly imprisoned by his brother in a hidden, escape-proof vault deep underground...or is it Gavin imprisoned and Dazen the free one (they closely resemble each other)?  There is a teen-age boy Kip, thought to be Gavin's illegitimate son, who is fighting for his life in the town of Rekton as that "satrapi's" ruler Garadul has decided to burn it down and kill all its inhabitants for their refusal to pay taxes to him.  And then there is the strange white dagger that Kip's mother gives him to use to kill in vengeance the man she blames for their troubles.  In Chromeria, the governing home of the Union that is composed of the Seven Satrapies (isn't this all terribly boring, yawn), Gavin Guile has the supreme position of the Prism, responsible for keeping all colors on the world in a state of balance and charged with the duty of correcting excessive drafting and related abuses with colors...this leads him back to the site of his earlier confrontation with Dazen and the intensification of the story...

Whenever I could step beyond all the tedious jargon about colors and drafting and just follow the story in The Black Prism, I thought it was pretty good.  I get it: the author needed a different gimmick to use in his story, and it was the magical use of colors...in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, it was similarly the magical use of different metals, with a similarly complex system of rules regarding their uses and users.  I'm continuing Weeks' series with the next book, titled The Blinding Knife, with the hope that it won't get too much more intricate with all the colors and such...

Quote of the Week...from Mick Jagger

Don't you think it's sometimes wise not to grow up.           ---Mick Jagger

I can't say that I endorse everything that Rolling Stones front man and rock legend Mick Jagger has done and said in his life...but then again I don't endorse everything I've done and said, either.  Like so many other quotes I come across, I don't know the context of this one...for all I know it might even be part of one of his songs' lyrics.  But it rings true to me, especially since it includes the word "sometimes"...

Life can be funny in that it can run in cycles...parents of little children can find themselves ardent fans of kiddy TV shows...I certainly did.  Kids like to play, and if you're around them, then inevitably you get into that same spirit...me, too.  And when Will and Rebecca were old enough to brave the thrill rides at the various theme parks ringing us...inverted roller coasters and all... then I in turn enthusiastically rode them as well, actually getting a bit fanatical about it.   If you're reading this then you once were a child and most likely can remember being one...I don't think that ever leaves us.  If we're successful in our development, then as adults we shed the childishness of our youth that is based on self-centeredness, impetuosity, and amorality.  But we should retain the childlike sense of wonder and optimism that we had in greater abundance during our formative years, along with an attraction to adventure and new things. And having fun playing games is something we should never "grow" out of.  Nothing wrong with being mature and adult, but respecting the child within us is a good thing, too...

Happy Anniversary, My Dear Melissa

For my wonderful wife Melissa, with whom I've been so blessed to be married for the last thirty-two years, I say "Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!" I'm no Ralph Kramden, but Baby, you're the Greatest!!!