Day: January 3, 2011

Back to work we me

I went back to work today. I was away from the office long enough that it felt a little weird being back, but not long enough that anything really weird had happened while I was out. And, overall, it was really just a normal day at work. There’s a little panic that a couple of the stock photos we thought we’d licensed for a book right before I left for the holidays were not, in fact, purchased, and the images are no longer available. And of course this happens when the authors are unavailable, incommunicado for at least a couple more weeks. And with photos that were particularly tough to select the first time around. I’m hoping it will just turn out to be a mistake, that we have the files licensed but they weren’t uploaded by the art department with the rest.

Beyond that, though, just a typical Monday.

Monday various

  • Caitlin R. Kiernan on coincidence:

    Coincidence is a constantly occurring phenomenon with a bad rap. Lots of people treat it’s like a dirty word, or something rationalists invoke simply to dispel so-called supernatural events. And yet, an almost infinite number of events coincide during any every nanosecond of the cosmos’ existence. We only get freaked out and belligerent over the one’s we notice, the ones we need (for whatever reason) to invest with some special significance. Co-occurrence should not be taken for correlation any more than correlation should be mistaken for causation.

    • Although you have to admit, with all the weird news of Arkansas recently, it’s tempting to look for correlations and common causes.

  • Theodora Goss raises an interesting question — namely, does fantasy writing, with its made-up languages and grammars, present unique challenges for copyeditors?
  • Peter David on why Aquaman is actually cool.
  • David Forbes re-examines Frank Herbert’s Dune. It’s fascinating, not least of all for its glimpse at the original edition’s semi-ridiculous back cover copy:

    A page of medieval history? Not quite. Duke Leto Atreides is moving from a planet, which he owns, to another planet, which he has been given in exchange. The Emperor, Shaddam IV, is Emperor of the known Universe, not a country. And Duke Leto’s son, Paul, is not a normal noble heir. In fact, he is so little normal in any way that he happens to be possible key to all human rule, power and indeed knowledge! [via]

  • And finally, a fascinating look at Yogi Bear — and there’s a phrase I never thought I’d write — as District 9:

    Yogi Bear is not a kids’ movie. It is a bleak futurist parable about humanity’s inability to accept a non-human sapience. It is also about a bear who wears a hat. [via]