books

Book discussion: Slan

This entry was posted in Book discussion and tagged books science fiction on by

Promotional note: I think I’ve finally got my social sharing buttons working, after switching to a different plugin (Kiwi Social Share). Please take advantage of them to let your book-loving friends know about these posts. Or copy and paste the URL of this article, which seems simpler to me.

Once again, my topic is eugenics in science fiction. It was popular and respectable in the early twentieth century. Numerous writers presented supermen, including Superman himself. A. E. Van Vogt’s Slan published in 1940, was a very popular instance. My copy has a 25 cent price on the cover and is about as old as I am.
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Book discussion: The Hero with a Thousand Faces

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Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a fascinating book. It explores and compares stories from many cultures. Some people, notably George Lucas, have used the patterns he found as a template for their stories.

Cover, Hero with a Thousand FacesBut the attempt to extract a “monomyth” from all the world’s heroic quest stories doesn’t impress me very much. It has an intensely Freudian focus and plays down aspects of myth which don’t fall into that scheme. I’m no folklorist, so don’t expect expert analysis here, but to me the basic formulation seems forced.
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Book discussion: The State Against Blacks by Walter Williams

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Economist Walter Williams died on December 2, 2020. As with my post on James Randi, this article is more a memorial to him than a discussion specifically of The State Against Blacks. If you haven’t heard of Williams, Thomas Sowell’s essay on him is a good place to start. It’s worth reading even if you have. (Sowell is 90 years old himself. I hope I don’t have to do a similar piece on him too soon.)
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End-of-year sale on Smashwords!

This entry was posted in My writing and tagged books ebooks Files that Last magic battery on by

I’ve joined the end-of-year sale on Smashwords. For the rest of 2020, you can get The Magic Battery and Files that Last for 50% off with the code SEY50. This code is provided right on the pages for the books, so you can just go over and buy the books or give the link to others. This sale is only for direct purchases from Smashwords.

This is a site-wide promotion on Smashwords, so you’ll find lots of other discounts if you head over.

If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to read about Thomas’s magical inventions or learn how to preserve your data, and you have some free time this week, it’s a great opportunity to pick up these books.