OK, so this is going to be a pretty compact version of FPB, principally because it’s been compiled on Thursday prior to me trundling off to the Big Smoke for the Foundation Masterclass taking place over the weekend. Hence, no photo (gasp!).

However, because I know you guys thrive on living my life vicariously at one remove*, here are some select highlights …

Album of the week

Holographic Universe by Scar Symmetry. Apparently an example of “melodic death metal”, but I’d classify it as accessible heavy metal with a strong pop edge in the choruses - everything, in fact, that Bullet For My Valentine reach for but fail to achieve.

Books and magazines seen

Yet another instalment in the seemingly-endless F&SF subscription** arrived in the form of the July 2008 issue, complete with Ballard-on-acid cover art (which I rather like).

The Orbit gang have punted me Charlie Stross‘ new one, Saturn’s Children - with its much-more-agreeable UK edition artwork, thankfully.

And a couple from the good people at Pyr to be reviewed at Futurismic (if you’re interested in taking them on, do get in touch): Multireal, the second book of David Louis Edelman’s Jump 225 trilogy, and Alan Dean Foster’s Sagramanda (which looks very tempting, and which I may have to make a point of reading for myself).

Coda

Well, by the time this goes live we’ll have wrapped up day one of the Masterclass, and will doubtless be deciding on a suitable venue for supper. Naturally I’ll be lobbying for some sort of Indian establishment (one must try to uphold one’s traditions, even when in foreign climes, wot?), but given I’ll be in the company of generally super and interesting folks, I’ll be going with the flow this week as far as my Friday evening meal is concerned.

I’ll leave with the parting shot that tomorrow evening I’ll be seeing My Bloody Valentine play live - which is something I’ve wanted to do since about 1991. Never let it be said that I don’t achieve my goals … though admittedly it takes me a while sometimes.

Hasta luego, amigos. Suerte!

[ * Oh, don't try to kid me, I know how it works. I can see my click-through stats, you know. I only maintain FPB to keep you all sane***. SRSLY. ]

[ ** A final subscription ending warning note came this week, too, so I must just have had my dates mixed up. Selah. I've still got about six full issues that I've not had time to read yet. ]

[ *** This is quite possibly not true. ]

I’ve been asked to pass on this news by the inestimable Farah Mendlesohn - there’s a new venue for the 2008 SFF Masterclass in science fiction criticism.

To quote from Farah’s email:

SFF Masterclass:  June 20th, 21st, and 22nd 2008

Class Leaders: Wendy Pearson, Geoff Ryman, Gary K. Wolfe.

The aim of the Masterclass is to provide those who have a serious interest in sf criticism with the opportunity to exchange ideas with leading figures in the field, and also to use the SFF Collection.

The Masterclass will take place in Seven Sisters, London. Each full day of the Masterclass will consist of morning and evening classes, with afternoons free to prepare.

Applicants must provide a short CV of either: academic credentials, essay/book publications, reviews  and writing sample (this may be from a blog); all of these will be valued equally as we are looking for a mixture of experiences and approaches.

Applications will be assessed by an  Applications Committee consisting of Paul Kincaid, Andy Sawyer and Jenny Wolmark.

Completed applications must be received by 31st January 2008.

Due to the cancellation of the Science Fiction Research Association’s conference in Dublin we have decided to relocate the Science Fiction  Foundation Masterclass to the UK. As the University of Liverpool archive will still be closed for refurbishment in the summer of 2008 we have decided to relocate the Masterclass to London, specifically to Seven Sisters where the James/Mendlesohn collection of critical works will be available, and will be supplemented by a visit to the famous Clute Cellar.

Dates: 20-22nd June 2008
Times: 9-7pm each day.

Venue: Kitap Evi Café and Bookshop on Tottenham High Street (underground to Seven Sisters and then a bus—numbers will be provided—, three stops north drops you outside the café).

[The Kitap Evi Café is a Turkish café which is also a bookshop, highly committed to education and with a book lined, large, airy upstairs room which they use regularly for meetings for evening classes. Downstairs there is internet access, and fabulous food suitable for omnivores, vegans, vegetarians,  celiacs and the lactose intolerant. Prices range from £2.50 for soup or mezze, to around £7 for an entrée.

Please note: this venue is not wheelchair accessible for which we apologise profusely. Our regular, Liverpool venue is accessible, but the need to relocate the masterclass and keep the rates down has left us with very few options.]

Evening venue: 23 Ranelagh Road for drinks, chat and general book perusal.

Accommodation: we will make details of hotels in the area available, but we are also actively seeking cheaper accommodation.

Masterclass Fees: £170

As some of you may remember, I went to the inaugural Masterclass earlier this year … and despite some people thinking I was being uncritical (only kidding, Jonathan), I really would recommend it to anyone who wants to get their teeth into the more serious end of lit-crit as applied to genre work.

It’s also a great opportunity to meet people in the field with a similar close-focus interest to yourself, which can be harder to achieve in the social hustle and bustle of a full-blown con. Plus, the chance to check out the legendary Clute Cellar … that’s got to be worth the price of admission alone!

I was going to skip it this time, ironically enough because of the location, but this move makes it a more viable option. That is, if they’ll have me back a second time …

This will be a brief FPB, because I have to get my train home fairly soon. So here’s a shot of a street in Liverpool from when we were heading to Chinatown for a meal on Wednesday night:

Colourful sunset, I thought.

Well, you already know what I’ve been doing all week, and I have no incoming materials to report … or rather, I expect I have a mailbox brimming with those red cards the postman leaves when you’re not in to receive stuff, but what they relate to will remain to be seen.

I’ll say it again though - I’ve had a super week, met some great people and learned loads of good stuff. I’m looking forward to getting home, though, and hoping that I’ve not battered my immune system too badly with latenights and restaurant meals. What the hell - even if I have, it’s been a more than worthy sacrifice.

One hanging point is - how the hell will I have The Friday Curry? I’ve got a six hour journey home on the train, and probably won’t get in to Velcro City until well past 9pm … which isn’t too late, of course, but whether I’ll be in the mood for a takeaway after a long tenure in the vagueries of the UK rail networks remains to be seen.

Still, that’s my problem, not yours. Your problem is to have yourselves a good weekend. Everything here at VCTB should be back to normal by Monday. Until then, take care.

Despite an endemic shortage of sleep and excess of good times and conviviality, I feel I’ve learned a huge amount from this week, and I expect the last lecture to come this afternoon will add some more. I’m incredibly glad I came.

It’s been a great relief to find that not only am I in no way looked down upon as being the only non-academic on the course, but that my position as such is actually valued. It’s also been very flattering to be told that my contributions have had as much merit as anyone elses - for once in my life, I’m prepared to simply accept that as said and not assume it’s flattery or politeness in action.

I applied for this Masterclass because I felt I needed a wider range of interrogatory tools to use in my work as a reviewer (which I am told is a very post-modernist attitude - go figure!), and that is exactly what I have acquired. Brian Stableford’s lectures have been particularly inspirational, providing a taxonomy (partly drawing on work-in-progress by the one and only Farah Mendlesohn) for fantastic literatures that actually works when applied to almost any text. Add to that some introductions to Freudian, Marxist and Feminist critical frameworks, and I feel many times more confident about knowing what criticism is actually for, and where I can hope to go with it.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable with Feminism - it seems to have agendas way beyond the text it is applied to, which is all well and good in and of itself, but doesn’t really offer me the sort of tools I’m after. I’m primarily interested in making each book or story the focus of each piece of critical writing I do, rather than use the book in question to illustrate a broader agenda. Plus the jargon is incredibly dense - which coming from a man who is frequently described as having swallowed a dictionary is a strange thing to say. Selah - it’s still good to know how it works and what it stands for. I have no objections or opposition to its aims, that’s for sure. I’m just not sure I can use it in the same way I can use the other stuff.

I’ve also been inspired by my own thoughts and those of my fellow attendees. Despite the apparent demise of Scalpel (yes, OK, people warned me, but I like to give people a chance on my own terms rather than unquestioningly taking on board the opinions that others hold of them), I still believe that the science fiction criticism scene needs more communication and dialogue, and this week has only served to strengthen that opinion. I have ideas, you might even say plans. People will be getting emails once my life gets back to normal. Oh yes.

Well, it’s raining again outside, but this cafe is nice and warm, serves good coffee and doesn’t close for another hour or so. There’s lively conversation about fiction in various media forms, and a final lecture in two hours time. Life is good. Just the plenary discussions and the long journey home tomorrow, and everything will be back to normal. Which is almost a shame … but I’ve missed the familiarity of my flat and the calming ritual of writing gibberish here on VCTB. Selah. Hope you’ve all been having a good week too. See you soon.

Well, I’m pretty much all packed, my laptop is charging, Jeremiah Tolbert’s holding the fort at Futurismic, and I’ve managed to clear pretty much all my responsibilities and obligations. In other words, I’m ready to go away for the week.

The Masterclass is going to be a lot of fun, I think, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly apprehensive. After all, my last involvement with formal education in literary matter was my GCSEs, way back in 1992. I’m sincerely hoping there aren’t too many moments when someone says something like “well, of course, if viewed from a poststructuralist angle …” and I have to say something like “er, poststructuralism, if you could just remind me of the basic ideas there, please?”

Ah, I’m sure I’ll be OK. If I’m worried about anything, I should be worrying about the damned reading list!

As I mentioned before, I have no idea how often I’ll be able to get online, if at all. I’m going to schedule a few things to run while I’m away, and hopefully at the very least I’ll manage to send some photos or brief missives from my cameraphone. But essentially I’m on holiday (even if my brain will be extremely busy), so it’ll be short shrift here at VCTB until I return from the distant North next weekend.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a good week!

Digging in the vaults for Mexico photos again, because I’ve not been out with the camera. This is the view eastwards over Mexico City*, as taken from the observation deck of El Torre Latinoamericana, right in the heart of the city. When it was first built it was the tallest building in the Latin Americas, but it lost that title some time ago. It’s still pretty damned tall though.

And Mexico City (more correctly referred to as ‘El Distrito Federale’, or ‘El D.F.’) is vast**. You get up in that tower, and whichever direction you look in, it’s just city … all the way to the horizon. Mindbending stuff - especially to someone who’s still reeling from altitude adjustment and culture shock, as I was on the first day of my travels when this was taken. Possibly the most intense place I’ve ever been in my entire life.

[* If you recognised it as being the image from which VCTB's header is cropped, well done. Have a tequila on me.]

[** Population according to official census in 2005 was near nine million, but it is claimed by various charities and other organisations that the black economy of unregistered economic migrants may add anything up to half that number again.]

***

Well. Today I am damp, and in less than the best of moods - had you caught me at 12:30 when I got to work, however, you’d have seen me at high-peak rage. Suffice to say that Portsmouth received a week’s worth of rainfall within the space of about twenty minutes today … with the twenty minutes in question falling within the timeframe of me leaving my home and me arriving at work. I’m still trying to figure out a way to make my shoes dry effectively without making them stink.

But hey, things could be worse. It’s not been a bad week, all told, although very little has occurred that’s worth reporting. In other words: no one has decided to offer me money for writing for them yet. Hmph. Gotta keep hustlin’.

However, I have received a cheque for my Strange Horizons review of Extended Play, and while it may not be for very much money, it’s symbolically heartening nonetheless. Only thing is I don’t think I can pay it into my account directly, because it’s in US dollars … which is ironic, because it arrived about a week after I got a PayPal account set up for business purposes. It’s all fun and games, this freelance lark!

Oh yeah - I went to see Electric Six at short notice on Wednesday night for reviewing purposes. Put it this way: if you’ve heard the well-known singles, you’ve already heard the best they have to offer. Selah.

***

Incoming materials for the week are as follows:

• Postsingular by Rudy Rucker (Tor US ARC) - the privileges of being part of the reviews editorial team at Interzone include being able to cherrypick anything I especially want to cover myself, and I love Rucker’s writing to bits. This new novel has been described as ‘especially weird’; when you consider how odd Rucker’s material is usually, this should be quite something.
• Electric Velocipede #12 - the extra-nice thing about the small press quarterlies is that you tend to forget about them until the new one arrives in the letterbox. I have fond memories of the last EV, so I’m looking forward to reading this one … when I can find the time.

***

Of course, next week sees me up in Liverpool for the SF Foundation Criticism Masterclass … and seeing that (as far as I can tell) I’m not going to have internet access on tap, I should get a lot of reading done. The twelve hours of train travel alone should see to that! I’ll need to spend most of it going through the reading list for the course, though - most of which has been very kindly emailed to me in PDF form by one of the course administrators, who also took the however-many hours necessary to scan them. Thanks, Fatima, if you’re reading!

A week off work - wow. Doesn’t happen often. Doesn’t happen often enough, for that matter! I’m looking forward to it - it’ll be nice to get out of town for a while, meet some new people and learn some new things. I’m just trying not to think of the state of my bank balance, which has already suffered unexpected damage through having had to replace my broken cooker … oh well. You can’t take it with you, as the saying goes. And worrying about it won’t do any good either, so I’m determined to ignore it as much as possible and have a good time.

As mentioned above, I have no idea how easy it will be for me to get online while I’m away, so blogging here may be thin to non-existant. I may try to set up the reposting of some gems from the archives just to tide you over, and there’s probably a few reviews that I could shove up as well … we’ll see what happens.

***

Well, that’s your lot for FPB this week. Time for me to engage in The Culinary Ritual Of Friday Curry Justice before hacking out the daily bloggage for Futurismic, and then I can settle down to the weekend. I hope you all have a good weekend, too, whatever it is you end up doing. Adios, amigos!

This weekend, I got an email from Farah Mendlesohn (which makes it a red letter weekend by anyone’s standards, no matter what she has to say). Here’s what that email said:

Dear Paul

I am very pleased to say that the Committee have accepted your application to join the Science Fiction Foundation Masterclass, 19th June to 22nd June.

We would be grateful if you could confirm that you wish to accept.

My immediate response (verbally) was a loud and enthusiatic OMGWTFBBQ! I later emailed to accept the offer of a place (pushing aside the awkward thoughts that keep telling me that I’ll need to be selling some major organs this year).

I am absolutely stoked. I applied on the off-chance (I’ve developed a “what have I got to lose” attitude that has landed me an awful lot of reviewing gigs so far), but had no expectation of getting through. Looks like I’d better start upping my professionalism a notch or two. Like, now.