bookstadon group

I just finished The Thousand Earths by S. Baxter. It was very, very good. It explored a breadth of settings that was stitched together by brief interludes of a 22nd century traveler. While I enjoyed it and thought it well constructed and excellently laid out, I was saddened by how setting driven it was, as opposed to character driven.

Never thought the day would come where I wanted to read about a love plot in my scifi.

That said why does it seem like so many books are about humanity at the heat death of the universe? That's what my last scifi book was on too...

#scifi #reading #books @bookstadon

Today in Labor History January 12, 1876: Working class novelist Jack London was born. As a kid, he was an oyster pirate in Oakland, along the shores of the San Francisco Bay. As a young man, he became a hobo, riding the rails from town to town, looking for handouts and sometimes work. He wrote about these experiences in his short novel, “The Road.” He was also a lifelong alcoholic, which contributed to his early death. In his novel, “John Barleycorn,” he wrote about both his alcoholism and his experiences as a laborer in numerous low-paid, backbreaking jobs. He was also a socialist and a champion of unions and working-class activism. With respect to strikebreakers, he famously wrote: "After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles." London was also one of the first Haoles (non-Native Hawaiian, or white person) to learn how to surf in Hawaii.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #jacklondon #fiction #union #scab #socialism #hawaii #surfing #novel #alcoholism #oakland #pirate #books #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 25, 1927: B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burned copies of the Manusmriti to protest its treatment of Dalit people (formerly known as untouchables). Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist and social reformer who fought discrimination against Dalits. He later renounced Hinduism and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement. The Manusmṛiti or Laws of Manu, is thought to be the first Hindu legal text and constitution.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #dalit #untouchable #cast #india #books #discrimination #hindu #christmas @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 25, 1968: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) were burnt to death in the Kilvenmani massacre in Tamil Nadu. The Dalits had been striking for higher wages. The incident helped lead to major changes in the local rural economy, including a large redistribution of land. Meena Kandasamy portrayed the event in her 2014 novel “The Gypsy Goddess.”

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #dalit #untouchable #cast #india #massacre #strike #wages #landreform #novel #books #fiction #author #writer #christmas @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 3, 1984: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed over 3,800 people and injured up to 600,000 more. Up to 16,000 people died, in total, over the years following the disaster. The Government of Madhya Pradesh has paid compensation to family members of 3,787 of the victims killed. Numerous local activist groups emerged to support the victims of the disaster, like Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, who won the Goldman Prize in 2004. Many of the activists were subjected to violent repression by the police and government. Larger international groups, like Greenpeace and Pesticide Action Network also got involved. The disaster has played a role in numerous works of fiction, including Arundhati Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” (2017) and Indra Sinha’s “Animal’s People” (2007). It has also been referenced in music by the Revolting Cocks “Union Carbide” and the Dog Faced Hermans ”Bhopal.”

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #bhopal #india #ecology #disaster #environment #PoliceBrutality #police #greenpeace #ArundhatiRoy #punk #author #writer #fiction #books @bookstadon

Cyprus Dance Film Festival, supported by my #publisher Deep Immersion.

So honored to present my future #scifi book The Closed Tunnel on the red carpet and give an interview to Cyprus TV☺️

It's such an elegant way to push me to finish writing The Closed Tunnel faster😅.

I’m not sure it will work this way, but still, the attempt counts!

@bookstadon @scifi

Today in Writing History September 25, 1930: Shel Silverstein, American author, poet, illustrator, and songwriter was born (d. 1999). He is perhaps most remembered today for his amusing children’s poetry and fiction, like “The Giving Tree.” However, he also wrote many songs like "One's on the Way" and "Hey Loretta" (which were hits for Loretta Lynn), and "25 Minutes to Go," about a man on Death Row, and "A Boy Named Sue," both made famous by Johnny Cash. He also wrote "The Unicorn," which The Irish Rovers made famous. He also wrote many songs about drugs and sex, like “I Got Stoned and I Missed It,” “Quaaludes Again,” “Masochistic Baby,” and “Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8PfuyowG0

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #fiction #novel #Music #poetry #poem #writer #author #books #play #ShelSilverstein #drugs @bookstadon