THE MT VOID
03/17/23 -- Vol. 41, No. 38, Whole Number 2267

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Synchronicity (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini Reviews, Part 16 (THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN,
RAYMOND & RAY, VENGEANCE) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE SPARE MAN by Mary Robinette Kowal (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
Nebula Award Finalists
This Week's Reading (WHAT IS ART?, AN EXPERIMENT IN
CRITICISM, ON MORAL FICTION) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Synchronicity (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I have talked about synchronicity before (e.g., issue 02/23/2018),
but what weird coincidence led me to read about Ivar the Boneless
in a book I am reading and then also hear about him in a totally
unrelated podcast within a 24-hour period? [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 16 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the sixteenth batch of mini-reviews, all character studies.
As an extra St. Patrick's Day bonus, one is set in Ireland:

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN: THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN seems to be
fundamentally a story of how life on an isolated island can either
dull your brain or drive you insane. (It is so dull that even the
Irish Revolution going on at the time is perceived only at muted
explosions heard across a wide expanse of water.) In the film,
one of two close friends (played by Brendan Gleeson and Colin
Farrell, who were also both in IN BRUGES, which was also written
and directed by Martin McDonagh) suddenly decides that the other is
too dull and no longer desirable as a friend. But the cast-off
friend will not accept this. In some sense, each decides the other
is on a different intellectual level. And a third character, a
young boy (played by Barry Keoghan), seems to represent both
aspects--not quite sane, and somewhat intellectually challenged.
Their actions and reactions drive the plot, such as it is, but the
film on the whole seems just a look at a very bleak lifestyle.

Released theatrically 4 November 2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or
6/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11813216/reference>

What others are saying: <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_banshees_of_inisherin>

RAYMOND & RAY: In RAYMOND & RAY, the title characters (played by
Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke) are two very different half-brothers
on a road trip to their father's funeral. For reasons never
entirely explained the father has left instructions that not only
should they attend the funeral, but that they must dig the grave
and bury him themselves. (He has also left other odd instructions,
also never explained other than by people saying he was strange.)
The brothers use the time to vent their anger at each other and at
their father, and of course family secrets are also discussed and
revealed, as is predictable in this sort of film.

Released on streaming 21 October 2022. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
or 6/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15334032/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/raymond_and_ray>

VENGEANCE: VENGEANCE starts off with witty dialogue, and writer
B. J. Novak maintains this level throughout. Novak is also the
director (and star) and he and editors Andy Canny, Hilda Rasula,
and Plummy Tucker use short choppy takes to disorient the viewer.
The plot is familiar: a cosmopolitan goes to the country and finds
the unexpected and not the stereotypes--well, okay, some of the
stereotypes. In this case, an intellectual New York Jew goes to
rural West Texas and meets Texan weirdos. (Just to give one other
example, in LOCAL HERO, a Houston urbanite goes to rural Scotland
and finds the unexpected and not the stereotypes--well, okay, some
of the stereotypes.)

Anyway, there's a great joke based on "Chekhov's gun", and our main
character thinks himself superior, but doesn't know basic stuff; he
doesn't know who won the Alamo, doesn't recognize the tune to "Deep
in the Heart of Texas", and is constantly asking patronizing
questions which get surprising deep answers. The whole movie is a
murder mystery within this cultural experience.

Released theatrically 29 July 2022. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or
7/10

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11976532/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_2022>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: THE SPARE MAN by Mary Robinette Kowal (copyright 2022,
Audible Studios, 11 hours and 24 minutes, ASIN: B0B8K159G7,
narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal) (audio book review by Joe
Karpierz)

THE SPARE MAN is Mary Robinette Kowal's brilliant, witty, and fun
followup to her recent Lady Astronaut books. Not that those books
weren't terrific themselves; they certainly were. But THE SPARE
MAN, inspired by the 1934 movie THE THIN MAN, goes off in a
different direction entirely than those novels. I love it when an
author shows their ability to branch off and do different things.
And yes, I know she's written novels and short fiction, fantasy,
romance, and science fiction. She's won the Hugo, Nebula, and
Locus Awards. She won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.
*and* she's a professional puppeteer. Other than all that, she
hasn't done much.

THE SPARE MAN can be described as a locked room murder mystery
science fiction romance with one of the most awesome dogs in
science fiction history as well as a lawyer that I would love to
have as MY lawyer if I had enough money to retain her services.
The setting is the cruise space ship I.S.S. Lindgren, traveling
between the moon and Mars. Artesia Zuraw and Mishal Husband (yes,
it's an inside joke; you'll just have to read the book to
understand it), along with their service dog, a Westie named
Gimlet, are taking a honeymoon cruise to Mars. They are your
stereotypical rich couple, used to living in luxury, with a
penchant for drinking a variety of cocktails. We'll get to that.

Everything goes sideways when a murder occurs outside their cabin,
and Mishal goes chasing after who he thinks is the perpetrator of
the crime after trying to help the victim. Thing is, the victim
wasn't dead when Mishal checked on her, and he has her blood on his
hands. This results in, you guessed it, Mishal getting accused of
the murder. This leaves it up to Artesia to begin tracking down
what actually happened and who the actual murderer is.

As you might expect, things and people are not what they seem.
Artesia and Mishal are actually Tesla Crane and Shal Steward.
Tesla is a brilliant scientist and inventor, and Shal is a famous
detective. They were traveling incognito in an effort to enjoy
their honeymoon without being hounded by their fans--especially
Tesla's--who are everywhere (none of this is a spoiler, as these
facts are revealed early in the novel). And yes, Gimlet truly *is*
a service dog, but that's because Tesla is suffering from PTSD due
to a work accident that happened several years ago. Tesla suffered
a debilitating injury in that accident, so not only has to deal
with the PTSD but the physical effects of that industrial accident.
Tesla's physical problems as well as the PTSD play a huge part in
the story, and Kowal does an awesome job of not only weaving them
into the story but showing what a person who is affected by these
things has to go through just to make it through everyday life.

I did say they were rich. In fact, they are very rich (Throughout
the novel, Kowal shows us that Tesla is very aware of her wealth
and privilege, and that she really has to rein in that privilege
every time she wants to wield it like a sledgehammer. That's not
to say that Tesla doesn't strategically wield it; she just doesn't
wield it as often as she could.). They are so rich that they can
have one of the Solar System's top lawyers, Fantine, on call for
them. Tesla can not only afford to have Fantine as her lawyer, but
can also afford to have several long interplanetary phone calla
with her (complete with increasing time lags as the ship gets
further and further from Earth) on the trip. Fantine is a joy to
listen to. Her insults are such that I would like to be
imaginative to come up with them on my own.

I mentioned their habit of drinking a variety of cocktails. One of
the perks of their wealth is that they could bring expensive liquor
on board the ship with them in order to make a variety of exotic
cocktails. This not only contributes to the plot of the story, but
allows Kowal to provide recipes for cocktails at the beginning of
every chapter. Some of them are real, and some are those she made
up. Did I mention I love it when an author can do different things?

So, yes, it's a locked room murder mystery science fiction romance
in a big over-the-top cruise space ship (if you've ever been on a
cruise ship, you know how over the top they can get; they're like
little cities themselves) with cute dogs, musicians, yoga
instructors, robotics experts, incompetent security staff, security
staff that seems to be incompetent but isn't, and all the rest of
the trappings of that kind of story. And to top it all off, it's
fun. Agatha Christie just might be proud of this one. And it
certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings if Kowal decided to write more
Spare Man novels.

As I may have mentioned earlier, Kowal is multitalented, and proves
that by not only being a terrific writer but an awesome narrator.
Now I suppose it helps that she's reading her own material here, so
she knows in her head what's going on without having to dig in and
research it. Still, her delivery is outstanding, and her ability to
come up with a myriad of voices for all her characters that help
the listener understand who and what that character is supposed to
be contributes to the story in ways other narrators are unable to
do. [-jak]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Nebula Award Finalists

Nebula Award for Novel:
LEGENDS & LATTES, Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)
SPEAR, Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom)
NETTLE AND BONE, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
BABEL, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
NONA THE NINTH, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Nebula Award for Novella:
A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN-SHY, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
"Bishop's Opening", R. S. A. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
I NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY, Jordan Kurella (Vernacular)
EVEN THOUGH I KNEW THE END, C. L. Polk (Tordotcom)
HIGH TIMES IN THE LOW PARLIAMENT, Kelly Robson (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novelette:
"If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the
Informal You", John Chu (Uncanny 7-8/22)
"Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold", S. B. Divya (Uncanny 5-6/22)
"Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital
Darkness", S. L. Huang (Clarkesworld 12/22)
"A Dream of Electric Mothers", Wole Talabi (Africa Risen)
"The Prince of Salt and the Ocean's Bargain", Natalia Theodoridou
(Uncanny 9/22)
"We Built This City", Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld 6/22)

Nebula Award for Short Story:
"Destiny Delayed", Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Asimov's 5-6/22)
"Give Me English", Ai Jiang (F&SF 5-6/22)
"Rabbit Test", Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11-12/22)
"Douen", Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)
"Dick Pig", Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare 1/22)
"D.I.Y", John Wiswell (Tor.com 8/24/22)

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction:
RUBY FINLEY VS. THE INTERSTELLAR INVASION, K. Tempest Bradford
THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS, H. A. Clarke
THE MIRRORWOOD, Deva Fagan
THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER, Maya MacGregor
EVERY BIRD A PRINCE, Jenn Reese

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation:
ANDOR: "One Way Out", Beau Willimon, Tony Gilroy
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
NOPE, Jordan Peele
OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH, David Jenkins, Eliza Jimenez Cossio,
Zadry Ferrer-Geddes, William Meny, Maddie Dai, Alyssa Lane,
John Mahone, Simone Nathan, Natalie Torres, Zackery Alexzander
Stephens, Alex J. Sherman, Jes Tom, Adam Stein, Yvonne Zima
THE SANDMAN: Season 1, Neil Gaiman, Lauren Bello, Vanessa Benton,
Mike Dringenberg, Sam Kieth, Catherine Smyth-McMullen, Heather
Bellson, Jim Campolongo, Jay Franklin, Austin Guzman, Alexander
Newman-Wise, Ameni Rozsa, David Goyer, Allan Heinberg
SEVERANCE, Dan Erickson, Chris Black, Andrew Colville,
Amanda Overton, Anna Ouyang Moench, Helen Leigh, Kari Drake,
and Mark Friedman

Nebula Award for Game Writing:
Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, George R.R. Martin
Horizon Forbidden West, Ben McCaw, John Gonzalez, Annie Kitain,
Ariadna Martinez, Nick van Someren Brand, Andrew Walsh,
Adam Dolin, Anne Toole, Arjan Terpstra, Ben Schroder,
Dee Warrick, Giles Armstrong
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit A. George, F. Wesley
Schneider, Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Basheer
Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice
Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegon,
Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Stephanie
Yoon, Terry H. Romero
Pentiment, Kate Dollarhyde, Zoe Franznick, Märten Rattasepp,
Josh Sawyer
Stray, Steven Lerner, Vivien Mermet-Guyenet, Colas Koola
Vampire: The Masquerade--Sins of the Sires, Natalia Theodoridou

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I recently read a trilogy of sorts on what constitutes "good art":
WHAT IS ART? by Leo Tolstoy, AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM by
C. S. Lewis, and ON MORAL FICTION by John Gardner [the British
one].

In Chapters XI an XII of WHAT IS ART? by Tolstoy (translated by
Aylmer Maude), I was stuck by how applicable they are to the
current surge in AI-generated fiction. The summary of Chapter XI
is "Counterfeits of art produced by: Borrowing; Imitation; being
Striking; Interesting. Qualifications needful for the production of
real works of art, and those sufficient for the production of
counterfeits." The summary of Chapter XII is "Causes of production
of counterfeits. Professionalism. Criticism. Schools of art.
Perfection of form necessary to produce the infection which
characterizes a true work of art."

Basically, Tolstoy says that "counterfeit art" (what we would
probably call just bad art) is created by observing what is popular
and copying it, or by following what appear to be the rules of the
art (e.g., poetry must rhyme).

And isn't this what an AI is doing--is programmed to do--when it is
creating "art"?

Tolstoy says that good art must convey emotion, and would ask how
an AI could feel any emotion to convey. Tolstoy insists that good
art comes from a religious basis--by which he means the basis of
his form of Christianity--and I doubt any AI is a pacifist
anarchist Christian.

There is however, a lot of truth in what he says about *how* people
decide what is art first (the "I know it when I see it", or "what I
point to when I say it" school) and then fashion the definition to
be sure to include those and only those examples.

Of course, he does the same, deciding that Dante, Shakespeare, and
Wagner (among others) are not good art. What he cites as good art
are plays, songs, etc., that we would probably classify as maudlin,
and expect to see on Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel. Even more
problematic is his claim that these are good because everyone, even
the laboring peasants, can appreciate them. This makes the
definition of good art as dependent on the reader/viewer/listener
as on the creator of the art. I suspect there is no art that all
the working peasants in Russia would have appreciated, let alone
all the peasants and everyone else as well.

Lewis seems to take the opposite position from Tolstoy. Where
Tolstoy insists that good art has to appeal to, and be understood
by, everyone, Lewis is unabashedly "elitist" in saying there are
people who do not read for any elevated reason, and who barely
remember what they read. He definitely assumes class (in the
British sense) has something to do with this, making disparaging
remarks about butchers, for example. For Lewis, art is for the
upper class, possibly with some incursion down the ladder, but
certainly not "art should be understandable by the peasant in the
field." [-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net


I am the kind of writer that people think other people
are reading.
--V. S. Naipaul

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