Pulp Books

Labonte, Richard and Schimel, Lawrence editors, "The Future is Queer", Arsenal Pulp Press. 2006


Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

So much is happening so fast in the world of technology and politics that it is anyone's guess what will happen in the future in terms of gay and lesbian life. We have come very far in the last few years and even though great strides have been made in acceptance and equality there is still a long way to go. Think about some of the monumental progress we have made. People are actually talking openly about the idea of gay marriage--something we could not have imagines several years ago. There have been well organized anti-gay campaigns led by the religious right to ensure that we are still a long way from being taken seriously and there have been scientific breakthroughs and they are openly spoken about. It has been forty years since the inception of a g ay rights movement but it does seem that we are embarking on a new age for our community. "The Future is Queer" is a new anthology of stories and articles that posits a queer future for us and covers the issues of cloning, gene manipulation and gender reassignment. It is not about a world where little green men with big eyes and antennae roam the earth but it asks the important questions of who we are and where are we going as well as dealing with what we want and what we should be afraid of.
There are selections from around the world which are though provoking yet possible if we learn to deal with both our present and our past. We can be assured by reading this anthology that our future will be different but will resonate with lessons from the past and that it will be as diverse as we are but there will be a place for every one of us.
The book is subtitled as a science fiction anthology but as fast as things are happening, it is indeed possible that much of what s written about here will in all probability come to be. Many of the things that I read about seemed to be extraordinary yet possible. We are embarking n a future of freedom but will too much freedom be suffocating? Is it possible that the religious right will finally not bother us because of our sexual bent but concentrate on religious faith instead? Can we live in a future where gender choice is simply as easy as checking a box on a questionnaire? Will it be possible for us to communicate with the dead? Is it not indeed possible that the future will provide for us the chance to have all that we desire because of the advancement of technology? A more important question may be--how much fiction is science fiction when we live in a world that is changing so quickly? "The Future is Queer" provides a great deal of food for thought. In fact it is a banquet of entrees that we need to taste. There are some amazing ideas here.

I'm not a big Java user, but that language does come up on occasion. Though experienced in software development, i'm not quite your typical left-brained analytical programmer, but more spatial, intuitive, etc., so what attracted me to this book in the store was the title - it's for Artists! Also, the table of contents revealed all kinds of topics i didn't know squat about and had no books at home to cover. Having "Artists" in the title doesn't mean this is a book on graphics; it seems meant to imply coverage of general, big-picture topics in addition to language detail, discussion of why not just how and what. That was fresh and appealing.

My only other Java book is Learning Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Jonathan Knudsen. Compared to J4A, LJ is more clean and straightforward on the language and its most-used libraries/packages/whatever, with explanation and examples, but does not give an overview of how one would organize a Java app or try to teach OO and UML; these are strengths of J4A not found in most other programming books.

The fresh-approach feeling of J4A wore off quick - the typography got in the way, the numerous diagrams and tables and overly-hierarchical headings prevented smooth flow (yet the authors talk about establishing "flow" in programming). Another annoyance: the code samples are in small print. You can get these source listing from the included CD or website, but it'd be nice to have at least the essential snippets of any listings in print at readable size for away-from-desk reading.

After getting used to the book's style, one of the advantages i found were exercises and questions, not found or too few in other books. I liked that, even if they were a bit textbooky and beginneresque. I still had to stop and think for a few seconds, since, after all, i am beginneresque when it comes to Java. The other main advantage is, as suggested by the table of contents, it does indeed cover a lot of topic i didn't know about (and didn't know that i didn't know)

J4A explains some of the more useful design patterns: Model-View-Controller, Factory, Singleton and others but does not mention all the patterns one finds in real-world use. It's just not a patterns book, so if that's important to you, seek out the old classic Go4 book.

Students with little programming experience my find this book of greater use and enjoyment than i, while experienced programmers already knowing general software concepts needing only Java language details would find the usual mainstream Java books more helpful. I probably would not recommend this book for most people of the sort i usually work with - mostly sharp-minded scientists and CG artists. It's especially weak in not covering serious mathematical topics of the sort physicists and 3D CG programmers would want to work with - but then, in those cases, other languages are sure to be considered ahead of Java anyway. It's a bit slow for my taste, not getting to arrays in much detail until page 180 and serious text file I/O until beyond p. 500, but then your tastes may vary. There is much material of more general non-Java nature along the way - the key deciding factor for buying this book is: do you want that?

For learning OO concepts, threading, networking etc. there are many other books readily available, as well as other programming languages allowing easier exploration of these topics, e.g. Ruby for a pure OO experience. BTW, i've never found a decent UML book, but then i don't normally work in situations where UML is used; J4A may continue to be my only book that goes into UML in any depth.

It takes the Phantom a while to uncover this crime, as it is a complex plot involving a crimelord, the doing away of some scientists, and some other trying to get the site of a new government plan moved.

They want to do this because a group of men have made a discovery of a pitchblende deposit, enabling the production of radium. This would, of course make them a lot of money.

Some clues from one of the dead men at the start finally lead the Phantom to the truth.

This book contains an interesting collection of articles in different areas related to process control for the pulp and paper industry. Most articles have a practical approach to automatic control and are illustrated with real world examples. However, because of its heterogenous character, this is not a text book for students or engineers who want to learn process control in a systematic fashion, from the beginning.

With very few books available on this band, it is perfect for diehard fans who like to read about the band's background in short form, as well as have lots of full-color pictures to look at. The book contains well over 100 pictures, ranging from the early 80's which the band spent floating around in obscurity, to their launch into superstardom in 1995 with the release of their critically acclaimed masterpiece, "Different Class". The life story of frontman Jarvis Cocker fills many of the 80 something pages, while smaller sections are devoted to the other members. I guess my one complaint is that the book is very short, and while it offers some background, it doesn't really elaborate on much. It can be called the "Coles Notes" of Pulp's story. What it lacks in depth, it makes up in pictues, but I would have prefered a more complete history rather than to look at 100 assorted pictures of Jarvis Cocker. But why nitpick? It is one of very few books on this great band available.

A Science Fiction Story

Local blending mechanics.


3 out of 5

This address book is fun and contains many vintage romance comic book covers....I wish they had included more 1960's covers instead of 1970. Still, it's very nice. I'm not sure I like the binding. If you push it open too much it might break in the seam. Very nice treat for the comic book or nostalgia fan. Terrific colors.

Another day, another fauna themed maniac bedevils Dr. Skull. This one starts by poisoning one of his godsons, Scorpion style.

The Scorpion, rather than a bunch of monsters, prefers henchmen armed with machine guns, so the Skull-Killers is forced into a few gun battles, making a few of the aforementioned mobsters life-challenged.

Using the daughter of a politican and Carol as bait, the Scorpion lures Jeff into his undeground lair, and a trap.

It all ends a bit more explosively than the Scorpion expected.

Throwing Stones at Jonathan is not so much a novel as a collection of thoughts. The narrator, a young gay man working in a cinema, looks back over his life to date; his childhood, past loves and relationships, isolating those moments or events that meant something, like snapshots or rushes from a film. At the same time he questions his love affair with his Argentinean boyfriend, Garcia. Occasional references to notable events provide a time setting.
While beautifully written, almost poetic at times, I found it hard to maintain interest, perhaps due to the lack of any real development. By its mature the recollection of events is all over the place, there being no coherence or logic. Some of the short passages are truly delightful, which makes it all the more frustrating as one would have love to see such passages expanded. Maybe this is something to pick up to cover just a few pages at a time rather than for sustained reading.

The benefit for Little Sister's Defense Fund catalysed following the persecution of a Vancouver bookstore in the 1980s. But the array of talent commanded by this commission shines alone and intersects collectively, each to be a series of embryonic cartoonic zeitgeists in utero... drivels someone somewhere.

In What's Right, Talbot's superb cover of a masked skull scissoring a book into confetti is matched by many clever and funny cartoons including the brilliant salvo against banality Fetus-X by Eric Millikin and Casey Sorrow. In Boneyard by Richard Moore, cartoon porn-stars find their language bleeped by the general nemesis. Yes you've guessed - it's that poxy and voyeuristic Canadian law. What's Right is the more thoughtful of the two books, resulting sadly in a lot of didactic strips of pontificating characters amidst a few gems of political lampooning. Still it's all stuff good enough to cause much more scratching of foreheads (and trouser pockets) down at the Canadian Customs offices, and the various bureaus behind the persecution of the Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium in Vancouver.

In the sister volume, What's Wrong? Explicit Graphic Interpretations Against Censorship, the quality of the talent , storytelling and graphic, are of a higher standard than What's Right?, the latter focussing on the moral side of the debate. Richard Moore's A Bet's A Bet stands out for it's drawing, with your next door animal-guy types getting it on. Art laurels too go to Robin Fisher and Donald King's Vespa Erotica, a girl's daydream of the erotic possibilities to be had by owning a two wheeler. And Creepy Snuff Porn by Howard Cruse, which is equally cute and violent. Union Dues by Taylor gets special mentions for their graphics. Fancy Pants by Michael Noonan is direct enough to be as real as life. In Satan's Free Country, a boy has his mind blown and is seduced by the Lord Pan. Dave Coopers Cartoon Abominations is a brilliant take on Crumb-influenced portraits of comedy mutants.

Should what's right and wrong with them enter into it when the project comes with such political credentials? I would say so. As political cartooning it is disarming just enough to avoid polemics, working best as simple tales of people, couched in a long array of never less than distinctive talents. Whatever you view of the politics of thoughtcrime - and if you can find the time for strips desqueamished, deheroised and humanly intense - then this book or it's companion volume should belong to you.