When a person rereads Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky as an adult in the 21st century, a couple of things stand out. First, there’s the Old Man motif — the wise old mentor who plays as stand-in for Heinlein himself. It’s done well or badly in all of Heinlein’s books (excruciatingly so in Stranger in a Strange Land). In Tunnel, it’s perfectly fine. Secondly, I kinda wish that YA could still be like this. Maybe Read more…
The Austin Lyric Opera‘s production of Pagliacci was a beautiful and heartbreaking performance and reminds me once again how lucky Austin is to be a small city with big-city artistic drive. I am an opera neophyte and freely admit it, so if someone has a more informed criticism of the performances I am sure they will be more useful than mine, but you know what — I still think the singers were extraordinary. Danielle Pastin Read more…
I wasn’t going to mention NaNo this year. I swear. But TIME started it, by referencing my No No NaNoWriMo sentiments of previous years, so I guess you can blame the mainstream media. NaNoWriMo: Is National Novel Writing Month a Literary Threat or Menace? I’m not the only one who views NaNo with trepidation or a jaundiced eye. Check out some of the quotes from the other naysayers. Author Graeme McMillan comes out on the Read more…