Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
OtherRealms Issue 30 Part 03
Electronic OtherRealms #30
The Parody Issue
Science Fiction and Fantasy in Chaos
Spring, 1991
Part 3 of 4
Copyright 1991 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved.
OtherRealms may be distributed electronically only in the original
form and with copyrights, credits and return addresses intact.
OtherRealms may be reproduced in printed form only for your personal use.
No part of OtherRealms may be reprinted or used in any other
publication without permission of the author.
All rights to material published in OtherRealms hereby revert to the author.
The Writer's Day
Melanie Rawn
People who don't write for a living often ask people who do about
"discipline" and "the writer's routine." Having heard this from
friends and relatives for some years now, I've decided that they don't
mention it because they're interested. Not really. They mention it
because it's a polite way of asking, "What the hell do you do all day?"
I suspect this curiosity has much to do with the fact that I work at
home, set my own hours, and the nearest approximation to a boss (my
editor) is three time zones away. Hey, who's to know if I spend the
day watching rented tapes of Bugs Bunny? (Well, my publisher will
know, of course, once the deadline arrives and the manuscript doesn't,
but why else did I go to college except to learn how to pull all-nighters?)
Every writer works differently. My method (though I'd hardly dignify
it with that term) won't apply to anyone else. But my ideal writing
day goes like this:
8:30 a.m. Read L.A. Times over breakfast
9:30 Sit down at processor and write four
chapters of deathless prose
12:30 p.m. Mail delivery brings royalty check
12:45 Eat lunch while reading (book, Time, etc.)
2:00 Domestic chores
3:00 Energetic hour at health club
4:00 Review day's writing
5:30 Short nap (restorative to brain-burn)
6:30 Eat low-calorie dinner while watching Dan Rather
7:30 Answer all "Jeopardy!" questions correctly
8:00 Write four more brilliant chapters
12:00 a.m. More reading
1:00 Bedtime
Real Life is like this:
10:30 a.m. Stagger blearily from bed (didn't get to sleep until 3:45,
or got to sleep at semi-reasonable hour but got
awakened by a faultline hiccup at 4:52 a.m. I love L.A....)
11:00 Realize that laundry, dishes, letters, bills,
marketing, house plants, phonecalls to
accountant/agent/editor, and 500 other professional
and domestic details have not been dealt with in at
least a month. There goes what's left of the morning.
1:00 p.m. Mail brings more bills, plus book club purchases and latest
issue of Time. Haven't read previous purchases or
last five issues of Time. Have lunch and take early nap.
3:45 Remember that checks will bounce moonward unless there is
immediate transfer of funds; hasten to bank, which
locks up at 4:00. Also recall that laundry is
still in dryer, late bills have not been mailed,
library books are three weeks overdue, last saw the
gym five pounds ago...et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera (as the King of Siam was wont to say).
6:00 Discover fridge contains tray of ice cubes and
absolutely nothing else.
6:05 Discover that total cash on hand is one leftover
quarter from laundry and scant contents of piggy
bank (all pennies).
6:45 Write check for pizza delivery and swear to spend three
hours at gym tomorrow.
7:30 Watch "Jeopardy!" in hopes of reassurance that I am not
in fact brain dead. Phrase every answer in form of
question--and get 73% of them wrong.
8:00 Sit down to work for the first time that day. Phone
rings. Wait for answering machine to kick in and
recall on fifth ring that I forgot to hook it up.
First call is computer-generated sales pitch.
Second is friend. Third is relation. Fourth leaves
message because it's now 10:00 and I finally pushed
the right button.
10:30 Neighborhood felines begin utilization of my outdoor
plants as catbox. Spend 20 minutes in vigorous
attack with water spritzer and resolve to buy truly
vicious cactus.
11:00 Remember that Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Scott
Bakula, or other major heartthrob is scheduled to
appear on Arsenio.
12:10 a.m. Review notes of what was supposed to be written today.
Correct typographical error in notes.
12:15 Go to bed.
5:12 Parrots vacationing in local palm trees begin vigorous
discussion of flight plan back home to Mexico.
5:40 Fellow tenant who owns brand new fire-engine red
Corvette and works two jobs to keep up payments
opens car door without having first turned off
alarm system.
5:45 Seriously consider phoning agent and editor in NYC to
say "I quit!" and find honest work.
8:30 Get hot idea for solving plot problem.
5:30 p.m. Two chapters later, decide not to peruse Help Wanted ads.
MIZ MANEURS
HELLO AND WELCOME ALL! I've gotten a massive pile of mail recently,
and I was most happy to handle it all in the form of this column, on
request of Mr. C. Rospach. So much to do, and so little time....
Do write in with your questions, you'll always receive some sort of
response if you include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. That is,
unless I need the stamps for something myself.
Dear Miz Maneurs:
I receive over 60 submissions/week. Though I've attempted bravely to
advertise what I am looking for, writers continually send me material
unrelated to my publication, which is basically fantasy. How can I
deal with (l) religious nuts (2) horror writers and (3) writers who
sign their name with initials, thereby giving me no option in
addressing a proper response?
Concerned Fantasy Editor
Dear Concerned:
Forget the stuff you get unrelated to the tripe you are looking for.
Make a form note, stick it on to your response if they provide an
SASE, and take a Tylenol. Your form reject needs to say "Sorry, I
can't give you a cigar for this submission." You don't need to explain
further. If no SASE, burn it and enjoy. As for initials only--I think
this is just wonderful. You should praise the Lord that you have
initials instead of a proper name, which implies sexist origins.
Nobody cares if you want to be nice. You are an Editor, silly fool.
Dear Miz Maneurs:
I've been starving in Albuquerque for seven months and am down to only
245 lb., trying to find work as a poet. My last girlfriend threw me
out, and has tried to have me blacklisted, only I'm white. I write
lots of offensive things, and wonder if the SF/F genre is best suited
for my talents. If so, how can I redeem myself and get money to afford
an apartment? This box is too small for me and my seven cats.
Franz K.
Albuquerque Alley
Dear Franz:
You deserve what you ask for. Poets are students of the mind and never
will make any money because they write short stuff. Everyone knows
it's only for filler, and you can't get anywhere if you say something
that is too short. Even if it is, indeed, time-saving. I suggest you
find a nice old lady who likes cats, move in with her. Then convince
her you need a typewriter and write novels, like anyone with common
sense does.
Dear Miz Manneurs:
I need yor help despritly. I a woking posin who is allso writtting to
sel my storys. I rite sience and ficton. Somtimes i get no respons frm
editrs. Well, I rite relly well, so i can not figur what si wron.
P.S. Du you gt any kikbakcs?
Alma Mae of Crossover, Tx.
Dear Alma Mae:
You are doing just fine. You need a spell-check and a computer and all
that sort of thing, so I'm sending you my free brochures on what
equipment to purchase with the money you'll get for appearing in my
column. And yes, I do enjoy the residuals of my occupation.
Dear Miz Manneurs:
How many pages is a short story supposed to be? I have a ROYAL, with
elite type and I single spaced it so how come they won't accept my
story because it was a really great story, and only cost $.95 to mail?
Oh, I also used the back of the pages, so as to save money. I think
this is a great idea. What do you say?
Frustrated Author (Omaha)
Dear Frustrated:
A short story? Well, we don't like short stories too much. That is, I
wouldn't go public with them except in the very very small press.
Mostly, they are used for filler just as poetry is, but I wish you
luck. A tip: buy some of the equipment listed in my brochure and see
if that helps. Also, if you MUST save paper, be sure you stamp
"recycled" all over your pages before typing your stories. This really
grabs the editors nowadays. Most editors are into saving the Earth,
all that. A short story is about four pages, but you seem to be headed
in the right direction for a really long one.
Dear Miz Manneurs:
I am a science fiction artist who has tried time and again to have my
works published. I can't find any listings of anywhere to send them
except the ones that ask for an S.A.S.E. I think this is quite rude.
Do you think I have to cater to editor's whims?
Down and Out Artist in Boulder
Dear Down:
In a word, yes. Don't forget to read my brochure.
Jakes, Jacks, and Johns: An Analysis of Elizabeth Moon's Use of Waste
Technology as a Metaphor for Feminist Survivalist Philosophy,
or
"Why So Many Jacks and So Little Shit?"
E. Sophia Burks
Several reviewers have commented on Moon's apparent fascination with
lowtech sewage treatment facilities; some believe this enhances the
realistic "feel" of a low-tech setting, which they assume to be
medieval. But careful analysis of the entire corpus of this writer
reveals that human excreta has in fact a metaphorical significance so
far not appreciated.
In the first place, her choice of the word "jacks" for the privies,
outhouses, garderobes, and latrines might seem to be related to the
traditional "jakes" or the more modern "johns," as "Jack" is often a
nickname for "John" She herself has claimed this derivation (J.T.,
personal communication). It is only necessary, however, to consider
the setting in which these "jacks" appear to realize another, more
ominous, significance in the name.
The first use of "jacks" is in the military-adventure novel
Sheepfarmer's Daughter, in which recruits are set to dig a trench,
Trenches, of course. are traditional military defensive emplacements.
And the military form of "jacks" is the caltrop (children's jacks are
merely miniature caltrops), used defensively against cavalry
(originally) and later against vehicles, whose tires they puncture.
So it is obvious that "jacks" has a military significance unrelated to
any previous term for latrine, and that Moon linked (consciously or
unconsciously) the defensive concepts of trenches and caltrops in her
use of that term. When one considers the Freudian theories of
character formation, in which defensiveness of a certain type is
associated with the anal stage of development, one cannot doubt that
the use of the term "jacks" implies absolute defensiveness of the most
entrenched (or embedded) type. Throughout the novels, one finds
repeated instances of compulsive or obsessive acts which support this
hypothesis.
It would be easy to dismiss the existence of so many defense images as
required by the military setting of the story, were it not that the
writer is a woman who has chosen the pen name of "Moon." Male writers
of military fiction usually make much more use of phallic-aggressive
images; the concentration on trenches, jacks, and cooktents (the
characters eat several times during the book), and the number of
walled cities (whose meaning is obvious to the least instructed!)
suggested an overwhelmingly female approach (or defense) to the
conventions of military fiction. The name "Moon" suggests a fixation
on rhythmic fertility cycles, and a tragic subconscious conflict in
this writer's mind between the desire to compete safely in a male
arena (and this is even more strongly borne out in Divided Allegiance
where the arena is explicit) and a deep female need to reproduce and
express nurturance.
More evidence of such conflict comes with understanding that the
protagonist's name might as easily have been spelt "Pax"--meaning
"peace"--and that the first military mentor this poor peace-loving
girl met was named "Stammel"--an almost Joycean neologism combining
"stammer" and "trammel" to reveal the basic conflict. She was
"trammeled" or trapped (the metaphoric linkage to the spider demon
called the Tangler is powerful) by someone whose goals (again) were
subconsciously confused--hence the "stammer" converting "Trammel" to
"Stammel." The mercenary commander's name also bears such
reinterpretation: "Kieri Phelan" can be pronounced (in what I presume
to be Moon's native southwestern dialect) as "Keer he Fay-lin" or
"Care(s) he, (is he) Feeling?" In other words, as a poignant query to
the destroyer (commander) about his motivation in pursuing war. (One
can almost imagine this as the refrain of one of those wailing nasal
country-western songs the writer must have heard so often in her youth.)
Throughout this first novel, the author's emphasis is on the
character's survival; the minutiae of techniques used to survive a few
days of walking across country with friends reveals the link between
defense (recall that the characters sheltered behind a thorny
bush--again, caltrops, or "jacks"--and slept in hollows [= trenches])
and survival. More deeply, of course, these hollows and thorny bushes
represent the vulnerability and defenses inherent in female anatomy.
Compulsive elements abound, additional indication of psychological (as
well as military) defenses.
Divided Allegiance, the second novel, presents more evidence that for
this writer survival as a female involves elaborate and difficult
defenses. Paks, or Peace, repudiates the cruelties of the mercenary
life, and chooses to become a caravan guard--again, a defensive
position. But she bears a secret message to the north (the North, of
course. signifies the intellect) from--not her own commander,
Cares-he?--but Aliam Halveric. Halveric is immediately familiar to
anyone who is conversant with the rather limited literature of Upper
Boglund (annexed in the 13th c., of course.) One knows instantly that
the short bald husband of a tall dark-haired archer is none other than
Fierdi Loppleggin, the "low-father" of his race. The significance of
"Cares-he?" not having children. and of the maiming of Halveric's
(Loppleggin's) eldest son is thus shown forth. Peace has chosen
fertility (again) over the uncaring destructive force represented by
the Red Duke (red signifying not blood but fire, in this instance.)
But the price paid becomes clear only in the third volume (a complete
analysis of which will appear later in a scholarly journal. For
interim analyses of Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold, see also
Burks, Jamerson, and Norris: "Verse and Perverse: Poetry in Modern
Fantasy", "Arachniphobia in Women Writers of the 20th Century," and
"Color Analysis as an Aid to Interpretation of Metaphoric Intent in
Women's Writing.")
Surrender None, overtly a tale of a peasant revolt, shares many of the
same elements. One of the first things the young boy taken for guard
training learns is to put ashes (mourning) on the jacks. This has
several possible interpretations: the ashes may mourn the "gift" of
fertility which rests in the jacks, or the "gift" of life which
soldiers must expect to lose as involuntarily as they eventually
contribute their nitrogen load. The boy's mother (highly significant)
is repeatedly shown to be a fanatic about cleanliness, even to
claiming that "demons" inhabit dirt and cause disease. As one would
expect, a concern with cleanliness is shown to be a female trait,
which the male protagonist has taken in and failed to expel. His
associates express surprise at his attitudes, and chide him for it.
But what a writer omits is often as important as what he or she
includes. In the first three books, one might have suspected a
difficulty with fertility and reproduction, since the main character
never had a sexual relationship or a child. Concentration on excretion
rather than reproduction suggests deep-seated conflicts in the
writer's own psychology. Surrender None, however, is rife with
reproduction and sexual encounters, although many potential
relationships and births are truncated by violence (again, a very
female approach to this issue, since many male writers present war as
a sexual excitant.) Moon also seems to have some bias against small
domestic animals, since there are few dogs or cats in the books, and
no major character has a pet.
Yet the most highly significant omission in Moon's books is that of
the common word for human excreta. Now quite acceptable in print, this
word is surely known even to the writer; in fact (S.S., personal
communication) she is known to have used it verbally. Why, then, does
it not appear where one would expect it to be moat common? Why so many
jacks, and so little shit?
The omission cannot be accidental, which means that it offers another
opportunity to probe the writer's intent. The moat obvious clue comes
from the word itself, which can be seen as a compression of "she" into
"it." Again, in the southwestern dialect, the common pronunciation is
"shee-it!" If one returns to the protagonist of the first three books,
the young girl Peace, who in the process of militarization acts
against her own feminine nature of fertility to become a neuter (note
that she never takes a lover of either sex), then "she" has become
"it" by engaging in repeated acts of survival-oriented defense,
involving trenches (anatomically significant!) and "jacks." And the
result is precisely that "shit" which is then preoccupies the author
through not only a trilogy but a prequel!
Survivalists, especially right-wing survivalists, are often perceived
as being rigid, defensive. and anal...so the link to survivalism is
also quite obvious to the trained mind. Commonly such persona are
assumed to be male, but in recent years women have begun expressing an
interest in survival as well. One well-known group of religious
survivalists is even led by a woman, and although Moon's first novels
were written before that group was organized, it is conceivable that
she was influenced by this changing attitude among women. Yet the path
to feminist survivalism is beset by many dangers, which this author
recognizes (consciously or not) and espresses as concern for
traditional female responsibilities (fertility and cleanliness) and by
denying (in the avoidance of a common English word) that women
survivors have changed from "she" to "it," even when all other
evidence would make that precise conversion obvious.
------ End ------
