Science Fiction Classics: Ringworld by Larry Niven

Image from wikipedia.org

                                             

Ringworld is probably Larry Niven's most famous work. It's a mix of adventure story and hard science fiction novel, with interesting aliens and some really cool concepts. The book was published in 1970, and it won the Nebula award that year, and the Hugo and Locus the next.

I enjoyed parts of the novel, but it didn't suck me in, like my favourites do. The Ringworld is a very interesting idea, and I did like the explanation of the Dyson sphere, but the technobabble went on a bit too long for my liking. A lot of the book is just Our Heroes exploring Ringworld and getting in trouble. Mostly it didn't feel that urgent, and I didn't get the feeling they were actually in trouble or stranded until the end. There's a line after the crash about the ship not needing to fly for them to get off Ringworld, and that kind of zapped the excitement for me.

The characters are mostly fun, like the Pierson's Puppeteer Nessus, who's a coward (all Puppeteers are), but is introduced acting extremely reckless and pissing off two kzin, nasty catlike beings with predator ancestors. When he falls back into his normal behaviour, the contrast is hilarious. We find out that he's been suffering from a state of temporary insanity. Apparently any Puppeteer that leaves the safety of their world is considered crazy. Imagine, that other beings only ever meet the insane members of a race. That's an interesting idea.

Nessus recruits the others for the trip to Ringworld. The main character, Louis Wu, is a 200-year-old man, bored with his boosterspice-elongated existence. He's the intelligent adventurer, the person whose eyes we see through. The kzin, Speaker-to-Animals (yeah, that means us), is a lot of fun, and never feels like a trope. The ship names are also hilarious, like the Lying Bastard.

But then we get to the problem: the female characters. The book is over forty years old, so I'll give it some leeway, but this bothered me enough that it interfered with the reading experience. The only woman among the Ringworld explorers, Teela Brown, is naive and stupid, picked because she's lucky. Because she's so lucky, she's never been hurt, and that is used to explain why she is the way she is, almost a child in a woman's body. But then the idea is put forth that she doesn't even have free will, because her luck makes her choices for her. Breeding for luck is an interesting concept, but the execution bothered me. The only other woman is a ship's whore they encounter on Ringworld. Nessus conditions her to fall in line with the tasp, a weapon that stimulates the pleasure centres of the brain. The tasp as a weapon is a cool idea, but, again, this bothered me. And the characters joke many times about Teela being there to sleep with the main character. Add to that a few sentences about every woman possessing a tasp of her own, a rape joke, and the info that the kzin females (and the puppeteer breeders?)  aren't sentient, and I started to feel a bit icky.

So, all in all, neat ideas, but I won't be reading this again. Have any of you read Niven's other novels? Should I try something more recent?


Science fiction classics read: 40/193.

The Great Moscow State Circus

                 
                  "Emotions" Great Moscow State Circus with Zapashny Brothers
                 
     
Guess what I did this weekend!

Here's some info from the event page:

The Great Moscow State Circus, lead by the Zapashni Brothers, has been voted world's best circus at many international festivals. The Zapashni family has been in the circus business for 90 years and their shows are the world-famous; they've even made the Guiness book of records with some of their stunts. The Emotions tour combines modern and traditional circus into an amazing show that included acrobats, jugglers, magicians, and clowns. This is their first performance in Finland.

I love the circus. My favourite performance in recent years was Cirque Dracula, a Dracula-themed performance in an antique spiegeltent.  It was cozy, atmospheric, and Victorian, with some amazing acts. The Great Moscow State Circus was a different animal; big, flashy, and breathtaking. If you compare it to Cirque du Soleil, it's less surreal and more pure fun.  I think kids would enjoy this more.

My favourite part were the acrobats. They had an amazing act with the teeterboard, which culminated in one of them doing a jump on stilts, and then just one stilt. The wheel of death/wheel of steel act also blew me away. When the performer started jumping rope on the rotating wheel and tripped, I was sure he'd break his neck. The apparatus is called the "Wheel of Death" for a reason!

If you get a chance see them perform, definitely go. This is a world-class show.

There's a Storm Coming

It's super creepy outside right now. The light's a weird, sickly kind of yellow, and the air feels heavy and thick. 

                   

                                                           That looks even more ominous. 

                                 

                      This is probably what the world feels like just before the apocalypse. *shudder*

The Genreblender Writing Competition

In Finnish only, I'm afraid. Here's the info:


Genreblender-kirjoituskilpailu (dl 31.10.2016)

Turun yliopiston tieteiskulttuurikabinetti ry. ja Turun Science Fiction Seura ry. julistavat kaikille avoimen scifi- ja fantasianovellien kirjoituskilpailun otsikolla “Genreblender”. Kilpailussa haetaan tekstejä, jotka yhdistävät kahta erilaista populaarikirjallisuuden lajityyppiä uudeksi ja omaperäiseksi kokonaisuudeksi.

Valittavia lajityyppejä voivat olla esimerkiksi länkkäri, rintama- tai sotakuvaus, romanttinen kirjallisuus, dekkari, vanhanaikainen salapoliisitarina, agenttijännäri, suomalainen tai englantilainen kartanoromantiikka, rillumarei, muu historiallinen fiktio, vampyyritarina, Lovecraft-tyyppinen tai muu yliluonnollinen kauhu, kova scifi, avaruusooppera, aikamatkailu- tai rinnakkaistodellisuustarina, korkea tai matala fantasia, steampunk, kyberpunk tai mikä tahansa muu tunnistettava lajityyppi.

Valittuja genrejä voi olla enemmänkin kuin kaksi, mutta on syytä muistaa että kokonaisuuden tulisi olla luettava ja ymmärrettävä. Myös kirjallisten kunnianosoitusten tekeminen esimerkiksi elokuvan lajityypeille on sallittua, ottaen kuitenkin huomioon tekijänoikeuksien asettamat rajoitukset. Tunnistettava ja suora fanfiction on siis rajattu kisan ulkopuolelle.

Oleellista on, että kahden genren yhdistelmänä syntyy jotain uutta ja omaperäistä, mutta myös se, että lajityypit muodostavat luontevan kokonaisuuden. Mitä odottamattomampi, riemastuttavampi ja raikkaampi yhdistelmä on, sen parempi. Riippumatta valituista genreistä tekstien tulisi sisältää tarinaan loogisesti kytkeytyvä spekulatiivinen elementti, eli sen tulisi olla laskettavissa scifiksi tai fantasiaksi.

Tekstien enimmäispituus on 20 liuskaa (välilyönteineen noin 45 000 merkkiä) ja ne on kirjoitettava suomeksi. Tekstien on oltava tallennettu rtf-muodossa (noin 30 riviä arkilla, riviväli 1,5, fonttikoko 12 pt, marginaalit noin 2 cm). Töiden tulee olla alkuperäisiä ja ennen julkaisemattomia koskien sekä paperi- että verkkojulkaisuja.

Kilpailuun otetaan osaa nimimerkillä. Nimimerkin avulla tekijöiden henkilöllisyys pysyy salassa tuomareilta. Tekijöiden aiemmat ansiot eivät näin pääse vaikuttamaan töiden arvosteluun ja kilpailijat ovat samanarvoisessa asemassa. Kisaan saa osallistua useammalla kuin yhdellä novellilla, mutta kunkin novellin kanssa tulee käyttää eri nimimerkkiä.

Työt on lähetettävä viimeistään 31.10.2016 keskiyöllä osoitteeseen genreblenderkilpailu@gmail.com. Laita sähköpostin otsikoksi nimimerkkisi ja tekstin nimi sekä viestin leipätekstiin yhteystietosi (nimi, osoite, puhelinnumero ja sähköpostiosoite) ja työ sähköpostin liitteeksi.

Kilpailun tuomareina toimivat kirjailija Anni Nupponen, kirjailija Jussi Katajala sekä Pasi Karppanen järjestäjäseurojen edustajana. Kilpailussa on esiraati, joka valikoi tekstit tuomaristolle. Esiraati tai tuomaristo saa hylätä ohjeiden vastaisesti kirjoitetun tekstin. Palkintosumma on 500 euroa, jonka tuomaristo jakaa parhaaksi katsomallaan tavalla.

Tavoitteena on koota voittajatöistä järjestäjätahojen julkaisema antologia. Mikäli töiden määrä ei anna mahdollisuuksia tähän, järjestäjät varaavat mahdollisuuden käyttää niitä Turun Science Fiction Seuran julkaisemassa Spin-lehdessä. Sijoittuneita tekstejä ei saa julkaista muualla ennen päätöstä niiden käytöstä kilpailun jälkeen.

Etymology Expeditions: Let's Go to the Circus

Up this week, circus-related words.

The word circus is from the late 14th century, a reference to the Roman circus, Latin for "circle, ring." The Romans used them for performances, contests, and horse-racing. The Latin word is preceded by the Greek kirkus. The meaning of "traveling show" is only from 1896. What about Piccadilly Circus? Well, that just means buildings arranged in a ring. This usage is from the early 18th century. Did you know there's also an adjective form, circensian?

Juggler comes from Old English geogelere "magician, conjurer," also from Anglo-French jogleour, where we also get jongleur. The word's origins are in the Latin ioculari "to joke, to jest." Apparently the connection between magic and juggling is dexterity.

The word acrobat is pretty young in English, only from 1825, but its roots also go back to the Greeks.  The English version comes from 14th century French acrobate, from Greek akrobates "rope dancer, gymnastic performer," which is related to akrobatos "going on tip-toe," from akros "topmost" + bainein "walk, go."

Okay, let's bring in the clowns. Clown is from the 1560s, meaning "rustic, boor, peasant." Origin is uncertain, but it might be from Scandinavia, maybe Icelandic klunni "clumsy, boorish fellow," Swedish kluns, Danish klunt"log, block," and North Frisian klönne. The meaning of "professional fool" is from around 1600.

Sources:

http://www.etymonline.com/

Sorrow

Was saddened to wake up to news of yet another shooting on Monday. My heart goes out to the victims and their families and the LGBT community in Orlando.

If you haven't read Chuck Wendig's thought-provoking post on the subject, here's a link. He also posted info at the end about what you can do to help.

Amusements and Exposition in Tampere

Last weekend I attended a writing class in Tampere. The class was on Saturday, but because the train schedules wouldn't cooperate, I decided to go up on Friday. I  took the laptop, of course, and planned to get some writing done, but first I went for a walk and ended up at the Särkänniemi amusement park. 

                          

          The sky's looking kind of ominous in this shot. About five minutes later it started hailing.

                        

                                           They have a beautiful old carousel. 

                            It would be cool to ride this in full steampunk regalia. 

                      

                                          My favourite traffic sign ever!

                      

                      I had a very balanced and nutritious dinner that night. (Not.)

                     

I stayed at the Lapland hotel Tampere, mainly because the location was convenient for the course. It turned out to be a very nice hotel. The golden antlers above the bed were kind of cool. 

                     

                               You have to appreciate the attention to detail.


The writing course was fun, too. Met lots of interesting people and got valuable feedback on my story. We talked about exposition and did a writing exercise, where first we wrote description of our setting and then a scene that integrated description into action. It's surprisingly difficult to write something half-decent in a short time!

The best part of these kinds of things is realising that you're not alone: other writers are struggling with the same issues. When we did introductions, a lot of the people there said they had started writing only a couple of years ago, as adults. The myth that to be a "real" writer you have to start writing as soon as you can hold a pen is quite pervasive, and it takes the pressure off to hear that you're not a freak if you get into writing in your thirties.

Even our writer guest Liliana Lento, whose first novel, Dionnen Tytöt, had just come out, didn't start writing as a kid. It was really interesting to hear about her journey from writer to author. She started with short stories, and one day she got a book-sized idea. That's also something that feels like a relief, because I was starting to think that people are destined to be either short story writers or novel writers, not both. A lot of the writers I've asked have said that they just naturally started doing one or the other. My approach has been to try to perfect my short story writing skills first (my definition: a sale to a pro mag) and only then attempt a novel-length work. Maybe it's an okay approach after all, and one day I'll get an idea that has enough meat on it for a novel, or one of the short stories will refuse to be a short story and grow into a novel, I dunno.

A very fun course. I hope I can attend the next one, too.

Oh, and I started reading Neil Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats, a collection of his nonfiction. It's great and thought-provoking, and I highly recommend it. I like to support local bookstores when I can, so I tried to get a physical copy, but unfortunately the book hadn't arrived yet, so Amazon got my hard-earned pennies once again. I love my kindle (you know, 'cause it's bigger on the inside, ha ha), but it's not the same thing. I suppose I could have waited, but they said it would take TWO WEEKS to arrive. Come on! That's too long to wait when what you want is just one click away.