It’s a Shiny New Year!
Well, geeky ones, I’ve had a quiet and relaxing holiday with some good friends, a copy of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic Dune and Joss Whedon's instant classic Serenity – which I watched for the first time on the day after Christmas. And as 2007 draws to a close, I’m thinking about the coming year in terms of mainly two things: writing deadlines and geekery. As this column is the purest intersection of the two, I thought now might be a good time to share my 2008 Geeky Resolutions – that is, the fandom-related things I hope to do before it’s time to write my Jan. 1, 2009 column.
I mean, it’s way more productive than vowing to eat less chocolate and drop those ten pounds you’ve been fighting since sophomore year of college, right?
Right. So. What do I want to do since I’m not about to give up the occasional almond rocca to look like a teenager again?
1. Read the Dune series. “My other car is a shai-hulud” is a slogan on an author friend’s online avatar that baffled me (but not enough to, you know, actually google it or ask her or anything) until my friend Amy pushed her copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune into my hands right before Christmas.
“You’ll love it!” She insisted. “It has giant sandworms.”
Giant sandworms otherwise known as shai-hulud. When a part of geek culture that puzzles me gets explained, I get interested. And I get even more interested when the explanation also comes with a gorgeous desert planet, intelligent characters, genuine humor, more political intrigue than the current presidential administration and a war between humans and machines that makes The Matrix look like a game of Hearts played on a dial-up modem.
And don’t forget. Giant. Freaking. Sandworms. With a way cooler name than the ones on Beetlejuice had. Not to mention a hero’s journey arc that would make Joseph Campbell proud. They say Herbert’s work inspired Star Wars and it shows, folks: evil galactic empire, a band of diverse rebels, heck, even a desert planet. And unlike Star Wars, which ended after three films (or should have, yuck!), this series consists of Herbert’s original six books, and three prequels, three sequels and a few other books written by Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson after Frank Herbert’s death.
I’m not anal enough to count, but I’m assuming I’ve got at least 9,000 pages waiting for me in 2008. Since this is space opera at its finest and purest, I can’t push through them fast enough.
2. Finish the Lord of the Rings. Yes, I have read The Hobbit. No, I haven’t finished the trilogy set after The Hobbit. Yes, I am a very, very bad geek. Yes, combined with all of the supplemental material (such as The Silmarillion) Lord of the Rings could probably take on Dune in a cage match. Yes, I have my work cut out for me.
3. Watch Firefly. I am a very bad geek, seriously.
4. Win an Eye of Argon reading contest at a con. For the uninitiated, The Eye of Argon is reportedly the worst science fiction novella ever written, so bad that even its authorship is in question, with some crediting the work to Jim Theis, others to a cabal of anonymous satirists with too much time on their hands. It contains such classic lines as:
“Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian,” gasped the first soldier.
“Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death, wretch!” returned Grignr.
Grignr. Seriously.
Hey. Properly rested and without the hindrance"help" of hard liquor, I think I might have a fighting chance.
5. Attend Worldcon. This is a ginormous convention that, true to its name, is held in a different city annually. The fact that it was held in Yokohama, Japan last year probably shows you why having it next door in Denver is a pretty big deal for me.
Okay, that’s five for me. Now, five for you, my geeky ones.
6. More author interviews. There are plenty of fantastic gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender authors writing equally fantastic genre fiction today, some of it queer-themed, some of it not. They need attention, you always need books, and I have a column. It fits together like sygian haunts of hell, fleeting steads of death and Grignr. Or something.
7. More fan stuff. Geeks are not only devoted to the games, movies, books, TV shows and stories we love, we’re also a pretty creative and talented bunch. With so much fabulous fan fiction, fan art, fan costumes and even fan videos out there, it’s a shame that all this appreciation doesn’t get more recognition. Again, I’ve got a column and you have cool stuff. Pretty good fit.
8. More con reports. Because they’re good places to find gay pros, fans and other geeks doing cool stuff. And because I am totally serious about that Eye of Argon thing.
9. More suggestions from you. Is there something gay and geeky I should check out? That’s the purpose of joselle@qsaltlake.com.
10. More explosions. Okay, not really. But it worked for the intro to Season 4 of South Park.
Happy New Year, geeky ones. No reading Eye of Argon with a hangover, y’hear?