Ursula Blogs at Book View Cafe

Inspired by the example of Jose Saramago, who wrote a series of blog posts recently collected in book form as The Notebook, Ursula K. Le Guin has begun blogging on Book View Cafe.

Her posts will appear as the spirit moves her. If her first post is any indication -- it made me think and it made me laugh out loud -- her essays will be "don't miss" reading for readers, writers, and thinkers of all stripes.

Talking About Islam During Banned Books Week

Over on the Book View Cafe Blog, we've been writing about censorship in support of Banned Books Week, an annual event sponsored by booksellers and librarians to counter the attacks mounted against some books. Aquedista Sue Lange waxed funny on banning badly written books, I wrote about porn and the Supreme Court, and others provided eloquent insights on Mein Kampf, gatekeeping, comic books, the history of censorship, and the like.

But given recent issues in the SF/F world about Islam, I think Aqueduct fans will particularly appreciate today's post from Judith Tarr, Banned Books: Devil of the Week. Judith, who has actually read the Qur'an and written alternate history that incorporates Islamic culture, writes movingly about the apparently societal need for a "bugbear" and the lies and wars that got us into this mess. She says:

Hate is hate. Bigotry is the same, whatever its target. People have to hide their racism and their sexism behind code words and cultural shorthand, but it’s fairly widely accepted that the word “Muslim” signifies something negative. Something that, even if you’re quite tolerant and rather well educated, you have to defend yourself for defending.

There's also a guest post on the blog by Bahram Nadimi on Islamic contributions to Western culture, with a link to the Common Ground blog, where he plans to continue exploring this topic.

Update 10/2/10: Sarah Zettel's post today on the Qu'ran and book burning also gives us some well-chosen words on how those who would burn books are trying to "erradicate ideas." She points out, "But, as with the people who would ban books, the people who would burn them seldom know what is actually IN the books."

Anyway, more antidotes for the hateful and poisonous words that seem to make up the bulk of this conversation.

An Update on Book View Cafe

By Nancy Jane Moore

Book View Cafe is moving right along. We've been putting up new fiction every day since we opened, so there's plenty available to read and more being added all the time.

I'm posting a "flash" fiction (short-short story, sudden fiction, etc.) every week on Thursdays. This week's offering is "Thirty-One Rules for Fulfilling Your Destiny," a story that was originally published in my collection, Conscientious Inconsistencies. For those of you who haven't bought a copy of the collection, here's an opportunity to read one of the stories for free and see if you want to buy the book.

Though the story isn't typical of the other stories in the book, since it's an epic tale (fantasy or science fiction, depending on how you read it) told in 31 aphorisms. Some writers have told me they find it inspirational, a number of people have giggled enough for me to figure out that it's funny, and I personally would like to think it's profound, though that's probably just the aphorisms talking.

Of course, if you're an Aqueduct reader, you'll want to get the whole book for the wonderful introduction by Timmi Duchamp!

The Book View Cafe blog is also drawing a lot of readers, most recently to read Vonda N. McIntyre's thoughts on writing Star Trek novels. Twenty plus writers can generate a lot of wildly diverse blog posts, so there's something on the blog for everyone.

Don't neglect your Aqueduct blog reading -- I'm currently awed by Lucy Sussex's essay on the Australian Fires, "Dresden, With Eucalypts" and still thinking about what Cat Rambo had to say in "YACAP."