Trash Sex Magic

[vgqn]

I must have totally missed the buzz about Jennifer Stevenson's book Trash Sex Magic when it came out in 2004, because there surely must have been buzz about it! I'd rate it one of the best books I've read in a long time. The writing is beautiful and sensual, the characters both charming and infuriating, and the whole book is infused with healthy doses of, yes, trash, sex, and magic. I think I need to own a copy of this book so I can reread it whenever I want to. Her descriptions of nature were particularly startling and evocative. I should go back and try to find some passages to quote, because my words sound so flat compared to the richness of the book.

I've also just read and enjoyed An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil by Jim Munroe, which employs, in typical Munroe fashion, a sort of reverse magical realism. It's a fun romp with some fairly artsy late 20-/early 30-somethings in Toronto and on the road. I could hardly believe there were stacks of these at Wiscon not being snapped up immediately, though one person told me he didn't take one because he thought it was horror. Given the title, I can see that, but trust me, it's not. If you like this one, read Munroe's earlier novel Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask for a similar feel. Angry Young Spaceman is also unexpectedly sweet.

Guess it's time for me to go back to reading War and Peace for our book group meeting in a week and a half, though I have a copy of Flora Segunda (by Ysabeau Wilce) calling out to me. It's YA, surely it won't take me long to read. But The Orphan's Tale: In the Cities of Coin and Spice (by Catherynne Valente, co-winner of last year's Tiptree for The Orphan's Tale: In the Night Garden)  I had better save until after I'm caught up, though it's a treat I'm dearly looking forward to.

Comments

[coth.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Angry Young Spaceman last year. I'll look out for the Stevenson.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have the impression, not founded in much, that smokingpigeon has had a hard time getting through the guard of tastemakers in the SF community.

K.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Ah, well now I know why she was serving "Smoking Pigeon" cocktails at her party at Wiscon.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

I love Trash Sex Magic, and may be guilty of not helping create buzz. But I'm glad you found it!

And Cities of Coin and Spice is indeed a treat.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I'm embarassed to admit that I haven't read Munroe's "Opening Act" yet. HIs "Fly Boy" was, IMHO, rather poor Science Fiction -- but the best novel about being 20 years old, written from the inside, that I've ever come across, so I'm hoping he's found his stride. (And he did some great /f/a/n/zine writing when he was a full-service Punk in highschool, while keeping up a perfect GPA.)

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

If you want SF, try Angry Young Spaceman. I had some objections to the ESL aspects, but I still liked it. Though I think the others, set in real world settings, are better. Opening Act is much more like Flyboy, not SF, but charming in its own right, and a great window on that particular world of artsy 30-somethings.

A fanzine fan, eh? I never knew. (But I have to admit I'm a faux fanzine fan, in truth -- I just happen to be friends with lots fanzine fans.)

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, not "fanzine"; "zine". That big class of amateur publications produced by people who would probably have become fanzine fans if they'd been exposed to fandom & fanzines at the right time. As it was, they just more-or-less independently invented a medium for their self-expression, communication, and creativity. (Well.... maybe less than more independently -- there was a lot of direct and indirect influence from our microcosm, especially by way of Mike Gunderloy.)

As I sometimes put it: "Many zines differ from fanzines mostly by containing the names of people I don't recognize, and maybe by dealing more with science-fiction." That's overly-glib, of course -- it's been years since I could go to a WorldCon and at least recognize the names of more than half the members, and modern members of our fandom _do_ talk/write more about sf than they used to (in the '60s, many of us considered the topic All Used Up, considering that we'd talked it to death). But still, I've come across dozens of pieces in zines that would have fit perfectly into the best of our fanzines (and many more that would have been acceptable in the less-than-best ones, despite a tendency towards interest in pop music). If Jim Munroe's highschool/early college Zine ("Celtic Pamplemousse") and one-shots had been circulated in our fanzine fandom, he'd have been hailed as "Most Promising NeoFan of the Year". I'm not sure if he's Doomed to be a Writer, but I'm glad he's continuing to develop that aspect of his Creativity.