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| Denial Isn’t Just a River in China…And Neither are 28,000 Others Posted: 03 Apr 2013 08:39 PM PDT
Predictably, the Chinese government has blamed the loss other people — the bureaucrats who came before them or that Ol’ Debbil Climate Change. The truth, however, is that most of the fault lies squarely on their stupid adherence to the deadly precepts of socialism.
A couple notes here. It’s interesting the Chinese government notes those erroneous maps date back to the 1950s, because that’s the decade of the Great Leap Forward, which resulted in roughly 30 million dead thanks to the famine caused by Mao’s unshakable belief that he knew best. Mao’s bureaucrats couldn’t make maps because they were busy trying to turn an agrarian economy into an industrial economy using every ridiculous collectivist notion they could grab. Afterwards, the government could have produced accurate maps but it spent the next two decades of the Cultural Revolution slaughtering its way across the countryside. Instead of governing an intelligent, industrious population and watching China grow into a prosperous and happy nation, Mao and his band of socialist butchers turned it into a paranoid, poor country whose economy is built on intellectual theft and cyber-banditry. And that’s where we are right now. Climate change isn’t to blame for China’s missing rivers. The tyrants in Beijing caused the problem. Look to the mega-dams that have displaces millions, re-routed rivers, and destroyed entire ecosystems. Look to the lack of laws that protect the people or the environment, even though the government has all the power to enforce any environmental law it wishes. Despite all the power concentrated at the very top for more than half a century, China is not a progressive utopia but a horror show. Could we perhaps take a lesson from China and put the brakes on the meddling know-it-alls who, like the tyrants in Beijing, think they know how to run a country all by themselves? I know we’re a long way from Great Leaps Forward and river disappearances but I’d really like to keep as much distance as we can between us and the failures of socialism. America is pretty great and China isn’t. There are reasons for both. Let’s remember them, huh? (Photo Credit: AdamCohn on Flickr)  |
| The Rookie’s Guide to H.P. Lovecraft, in 1500 Words or Less Posted: 02 Apr 2013 02:08 PM PDT
Lovecraft was not exactly a paragon of manly virtue nor was he a particularly nice man. A self-avowed racist, many of his stories contain language you simply would not get past an editor today. As an example, see the name of the main character’s cat in The Rats in the Walls. It’s tempting to say he was a product of his time, and that may be true to an extent, but Lovecraft went a bit over the top when it came to dislike for those of other races (and mixed race relationships, which is odd considering he married a Jewish woman). The Basic Setup and Where to Find the StoriesThe outline of the classic Lovecraft story is this: The protagonist, who is usually a young and curious man with academic leanings comes across something – an old statue, a scrap of old manuscript, a local legend, a forgotten house, a curious medical story — that piques his interest. He begins to investigate the thing that grabbed his attention only to find it is the tip of a mountain of legend and lore that goes back farther and reaches deeper into the shadows of forbidden knowledge than he reckoned. Usually, at some point, another character shows up to warn him off the hunt, but the warning goes unheeded. As the investigation proceeds, the protagonist becomes increasingly disturbed by what he uncovers but is unable to stop. His search often leads him well off the well-traveled roads into towns where the locals aren’t quite right and he’s seen as an interloper. Eventually, he reaches the core of the mystery as which poi–AAAH! NAMELESS AND MIND-BLASTING HORRORS FROM BEYOND TIME AND SPACE! *gibber drool slurp twitch* Okay, his stories don’t all end in a loud minor chord but a good number of them do, which is part of their appeal. Much like Stephen King’s finest novels The Shining and Pet Sematary, we know fairly early on in the story that a Lovecraftian protagonist is going to meet with a horrible end, but we can’t turn away. We need to see where they mystery leads as much as he does, but we at least have the confidence that our brain won’t end up excised by alien insects and prepared for transport to their cold and light-less home. Probably. Because Lovecraft was not possessed with much business sense and died without heirs, his works have passed into the public domain. You can read them all for free on the web at the H.P. Lovecraft archive or download a well put-together compilation of his works for your e-reader of choice. If you choose the latter, please thank CthulhuChick for her hard work. Now that you have the stories in front of you, click on the link or open that book in your e-reader and… Holy Crapweasel! So. Many. Stories.You noticed that, too? Lovecraft was a prolific author and the sheer number of stories are enough to put anyone off. Where in the world do you start? Should you read chronologically (and chance being put off good stories by a few early clunkers)? Are there ongoing themes? I’ll be honest, though I’m a Lovecraft fan, I haven’t read everything he wrote and I probably won’t because some of it, his poetry particularly, isn’t really my speed. That said, you may really dig it and if you do, dive in! Really, you don’t need to read everything. We’re going to use the Table of Contents to send us straight to the good stuff and, after you’ve read those, if you want to cover even more ground, you can. The important thing to remember is that most of Lovecraft’s stories are short. You can read them in one sitting. His novellas are good for a few hours of lights-out, hunker under the covers, keep a baseball bat handy in case something is hiding under the bed or behind the closet door reading. Before I send you to the good stuff, though, let’s do a bit of necessary culling. Set These Aside for LaterWe’ve already set aside the poems (unless, of course, you love poetry, in which case start there and come back in a couple months). Now, let’s lay aside the stories that comprise the Dream Cycle (which you can find in one inexpensive volume here
There are two exceptions to the list . “The Dreams in the Witch House” is a solid story apart from the Dreamlands component and it reads more like a conventional Gothic horror story than, say, “The Silver Key”. Put that one back in the “Read sooner than later” bucket. “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” is Lovecraft’s only novel-length work (about 50,000 words). Though it deals heavily with the Dreamlands, it roams about in other places and is a pretty good introduction to the overall themes that tend to crop up in his other stories – sorcerers, Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, plots from outside time and space, mighty beings who wish the destruction of men, and the ever-present intrepid investigator who ends up in an asylum. It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s not bad. If you decide to get into the Dream Cycle, start with the novel. The Essential ListNow that we’ve set aside the Dream Cycle stories, I’ll sift out the best of the rest. I tried to give you a rough reading order, based on how much I liked each tale, so the last one in each list is my favorite. Longer works:
Shorter works:
There you go. That’s your list of essential H.P. Lovecraft stories. I did leave a few off the list for you to discover on your own. Besides, you don’t want to limit yourself to the stories I like. What’s the fun in that? Go read a few more and find the ones you like best. When you do discover those little gems, leave a note in the comments to tell me what you found and why you liked it. I’d love to hear from you!  |
). Lovecraft wrote an entire category of stories that revolve around “The Dreamlands”, a separate dimension the protagonists could only access through their dreams. While I like the Dream Cycle stories, they’re…different. You may want to tackle them after you get a good feel for Lovecraft’s vibe. I’ve taken this list from | You are subscribed to email updates from The Sundries Shack To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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