Plague Books: Magic City

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages, TOR Books, 2017

Provenance: This was in the big box of books I got from someone at TOR. I told that story here, when I reviewed Network Effect, so I won't go into the who rigamarole on that. But I still had a pile of books, and I picked this one off the top. It is the sort of book I might pick on recommendation or based on a review, but in all honesty it was on the top of the pile, and had an odd title and it was short.

Review: Wow, this is a gem.

This is one of those books totally make it worth the risk of reading an author you've never read before. Magical, mystical, and sweet.

The novel opens with an elderly Asian woman diagnosed with a terminal condition, putting her affairs in order. On the final days of her life, she rescues original piece of pulp art from its hiding place in the basement of a building she owns. It is the last piece of a legendary pulp artist, and she sells it to a rather repellent dealer for a great deal of money. Then she goes home and takes an overdose.

But that's not the story. Actually we go back to 1940 in San Francisco, and into queer subculture of the era and tell the story of the artwork. The artist is question, Haskel, has been midgendered by time - she is a woman drawing sensational pulp covers. She has a collection of friends, about half-a-coven, that include a scientist and her girlfriend, who has a bit of mystical ability in folding maps. The Asian woman in question, Helen, is there, who is both a lawyer and a dancer at a local tourist restaurant that caters to racial stereotypes near Chinatown. Into their orbit falls Emily, a young woman, newly arrived from back East with a wonderful voice and a talent for cross-dressing as a man named Spike. The artist, Haskel, falls hard for Emily. It is a love story cast against the background of San Francisco in the shadow of the war.

And the writing is wonderful. Klages makes San Francisco come alive. David Dodge gave us a collection of street names and called it San Francisco, but, Klages brings entire neighborhoods alive. You get a sense of wonder and delight, and yes, magic, that only belongs to certain places in certain times with certain people. It lifts you up and carries you forward and makes you really care about the characters.

Her writing about San Francisco sparked whole sequence of pleasant memories for me.. I am on the record of being neutral about LA, but San Francisco is one of those cities that I visited and said "yeah, I could live here." I remember visits and conventions and just wandering through this city and visiting friends and relatives in the Bay Area. San Francisco has always been magical and chimerical. It is Nova Albion and Emperor Norton and Sam Spade and Vertigo and the Cliff House and Tony Bennett. I have gone on record as being LA-Neutral, but San Francisco holds a particular charm for me, its own magic.

But there is darkness in the magic as well, as shown in the book. The local lesbian club, Mona's, solely exists by being a tourist stop for moralizing mid westerners, on the barest fringe of acceptability. The cops are crooked and the law is stacked against them.. Both the artist Haskel and the dancer Helen cater to public trafficking in racial stereotypes to make their living. Women in general, and lesbians in particular, are either invisible to the greater world or targeted by it. They are both integral to the world and outsiders to it.

The heart is the romance between Haskel and Emily. It is not just a slow burn. It smolders like exotic spice in a brazier. The fantastic elements of the tale are hinted at early, but actually arrive only towards the end of the book. In the meantime, we get a sweet, sweeping romance in the shadows, mature in a positive sense in that we are dealing with grown-ups and real feelings and all the messiness that that involves.

Passing Strange is one of those books that I want to press into the hands of others, because I think they will enjoy it. It has been out for a while, so it can be probably found easily. Treat yourself to it.

More later,

Theatre: Who's Afraid of the Toxic Male?

True West by Sam Shepard, Directed by Braden Abraham, through Feb 16

Well, that was cringeworthy.

I really want to just leave it there with a Twitter-friendly put-down, but I can't. True West is one of those plays that makes me question if I am capable of understanding theater, or at rather theatre. You've seen me tilt at this particular windmill before - plays that are Pulitzer-nominated (like this one) or Pulitzer-awarded that just leave me scratching my head and asking "Why this one?" What makes this a brilliant play? Why do people like this?

Because I'm not getting it.

Here's the shuffle and deal - Austin, a screenwriter (yes, it's another damned play involving a writer), is house-sitting for his Mom while he's in LA to do a deal on his new project. His older brother Lee, a drifter and petty thief, arrives. They don't like each other. Lee gets the movie deal with a horrible but earnest idea and a lot of BS. Austin is broken by this turn of events. By the time Mom gets home, they have trashed the place with their arguing, which turns violent. Toast is involved.

It IS billed as a comedy. which means it has funny moments. But a lot of them are that "uncomfortable funny" of personal humiliation.

Lee is a bully and a thief. Austin is a milksop. The first act is pretty much Lee abusing Austin verbally and Austin just taking it. Then in the second act, after Austin breaks, he gets to turn on Lee, who, while he can hustle a deal, can't really write. The play consists of looping arguments that don't seem to go anywhere, except to provide ammo for future arguments.

And the set is a well-appointed Southern Cali bungalow with a too-big kitchen. Which gets trashed.

It is a play that uses a lot of blank space. Conversations are cut off or just trail off. Lots of pregnant pauses. Blackouts to show there has been time passed. At intermission, the lights came up, and no one in the audience moved. There was nothing to build to that moment to cue them. No cliffhanger. No rising tension. No indication that now is the time you should go urinate.

And in the end, there is no resolution, just another blackout. The play could have ended five minutes earlier or five minutes later. It doesn't matter. It is a comedy in that funny things happen. Not a comedy is that it doesn't have a positive outcome. The Revolutionists was a curious play for me that redeemed itself in the last 15 minutes. This one, not so much. And it left me angry.

The Lovely Bride and I don't share our views usually right after the play, instead walking to the car and making small talk (we have voiced opinions publicly before, and had strangers join the conversation to argue with us). This time was particularly frosty because the play was just upsetting for no good reason. Two hours of toxic masculinity that makes you want to slap the protagonists with a golf club by the end and yell at poor drivers on the way home. No lessons learned, no larger point made.

The Lovely Bride and I came home and she made toast. So there's that.

More later,

Play: On a Clear Day

Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins, Directed by David Bennett, through 22 November, Seattle Rep.

True confession? I'm not a big Streisand fan. I have friends who are big fans of hers, but I just merely like her stuff, which sounds kind of small-minded, since her "stuff" includes award-winning movies, Broadway, music, and public works and excelling in all those things. So I feel a little petty when the best I can sum up is "Wasn't she was good in 'What's Up, Doc?'"

Not Shown - Basement Mall

Similarly, I don't get the haters, either. Yeah, I hear the whole nine yards of being demanding and private and litigious, but had to go look up the Streisand Effect on the wikipedia, which apparently stems from the fact that she tried to squash a picture of her mansion in Malibu, and as a result called attention to said picture and spread it far and wide (the Wiki page shows the picture she was trying to squelch, and actually does have some bearing on this review).

So I'm lukewarm on Barbra. But Buyer & Cellar? That's laugh-out loud funny.

Here's the reality at the core of it all: In the basement of Streisand's Mansion's Barn (you can see it in the photo), there is a mall. Or rather, all of Streisand's stuff is stored in this basement as a recreation of a series of old-timey shops. Sort of a personal museum crossed with a glorified U-Stuff-It.

Jonathan Tolins wondered aloud in his blog about what it would be like to work in that underground mall, with its various specialty shops along with a popcorn machine and smoothie-maker - a mall with effectively one customer. And that turned into a long, wonderful, one-act called Buyer and Cellar.

Alex Moore (A delightful Scott Drummond) is that friend who you get together with every so often for lunch and dish like a couple old women. He's a would-be actor banned from working in Disneyland after an "incident" at Toon-Town. This sort of one-actor play demands from the outset that you like the one actor, and Drummond is likable in spades. We are pulling for him from the get-go as he confidentially leans towards you and tells you that everything you're about to hear is imaginary. And you don't care.

After the Toon-Town debacle, Alex gets a gig in the mansion's cellar, tending to the exhibits, dusting, and awaiting the arrival of "The Customer". And it is every bit as weird as it sounds. Drummond dances between the characters of Alex, his support network (his boyfriend), the house staff (a Frau-Blucher-like intermediate), James Brolin (complete with Capricorn One reference) and Barbra herself. Drummond doesn't "do" Streisand like an impressionist, but rather gives enough conversational takes to capture the character (though I will admit that some of his Barbraesque reactions verge on the Nora Desmond, and an air of Sunset Boulevard hangs over the proceedings).

And it is funny. Laugh-out loud funny. You like Alex, and you both appreciate Barbra and recognize the humor in the huge gulf between Employer/Superstar/Customer and Property Manager/Property Alex. But more importantly, every joke lands. OK, there are couple references to famous interior designers that went right over my head, but Tolins' handling of modern popular culture and modern life is spot on. In five years most of the references will feel as creaky as watching on old episode of the Red Skelton Show, but for this moment and this point in time, it is hilarious.

I am trying to remember the last show I saw this funny at the REP. There have been funny shows, shows with humor, shows with jokes, but they tend to be harnessed to a greater purpose. Buyer and Cellar addresses that whole American class-system-by-success, but that's not its real purpose. Instead, it takes a ridiculous situation, twists it to make if more ridiculous, and lets fly. After the inevitable Greek tragedy of A View from the Bridge, this is a delightful little lift of a play.

More later,

San Diego - Day 1

In which my feet are already rendered down to inoperative slabs of meat and muscle.

One thing I am struck by in my 20 year absence is how much the downtown has transformed itself. The Gaslamp District was a bit sketchy in places back in the day, but now is a line of eateries and pubs stretching halfway up the hill. Horton Center looks like it has seen better days, though, surviving best with its top floor eateries and movie theaters. And there is a lot more of a skyline, and those buildings closest to the Comic Con have full-size billboards painted over them for Red Faction and Skyline, which can literally be viewed by aircraft coming in on approach. Add to that mobile trucks with huge HD screens playing trailers. I almost expect to see blimps floating by, blaring how a new life awaits me in the off-world colonies.

The day itself started with a relaxed breakfast, an interview with MMORPG, and a panel with Stan and Hunter Freberg (for the younger folk, he made comedy albums back when vinyl was cool, was the voice of Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent, and brought the funny to commercials, including a Geno's pizza roll commercial which probably needs its own blog entry to unpack what it says about America in the 60s). My big disappointment was among the younger friends who say "Who?" when I said I was going to see Stan Freberg. I, on the other hand, was delighted, because like so many young creatives of my era (who are no longer so young), I grew up on Mad magazine and Stan Freberg.

I tried to remain paper-free for the day, since I didn't want to schlep around anything or have to take it back to my mile-away room. Unfortunately, I found the Source (out of Minnesota), which carried a huge amount of Call of Cthulhu material, including some German stuff I had never seen, Ken Hite's Dubious Shards, and a lot of bound monograms from Chaosium. So I ended up schlepping around some stuff.

Sat in on the 38 Studio/Big Huge reveal for Reckoning, in support for Bob Salvadore and Ken Rolston (both of whom I remember from the days back when). Went looking for the supposed protesters, but found only one guy holding up a sign saying "HAVE YOU SEEN MY KEYS?". Have a nice interview with Neoseeker and a surprise video interview with ngame.tv. Had I known I would be on video, I would have worn a louder shirt.

By this time my dogs were starting to go out, so I walked back to the hotel, which in my absence had been moved further uphill. Now they are in a little pain and I'm not sure the ankles work anymore. So I'm going to take it easy for the evening, have an early night, and read some of my swag.

Oh. and if you see the guy with the sign, tell him I found his keys.

More later,

San Diego - Day 0

I don't normally blog on the road, but hey, the wireless is complementary here at the hotel:

Getting down to San Diego went smoothly, even though I was not 100% sure I even had a seat on the plane until I got to the gate (each stage of the ticketing process assured me that the NEXT stage of the process would be the one to give me a seat assignment, but it all went smoothly). San Diego itself is not horribly hot (yet) and has been overcast, and the hotel is only a mile north of the convention center (this is, in Comic-Con terms, incredibly close).

As I mentioned, we're imposing on sharing booth space with the Aion and City of Heroes team, who will have demos running in the booth while we flit in and out like pixie-winged divas. I am used to putting in long booth hours, so I have chosen to embrace this cosmic oddity by actually exploring the hall.

This will, I am now convinced, be a multi-day quest, the hall is so large, urban legend says, that when empty you can see the curve of the earth. And I have revealed myself as being ancient beyond words, remembering aloud how small the hall was there the last time I was there (it was the first year they started selling Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles stuffed animals), by pointing at Petco Field and saying "When did THAT get built here?". I did have lunch with some of the team at a nice place in Little Italy (San Diego has a lot of good restaurants in close proximity).

After getting badges (again, kudos to the team for sparing me a huge but well-organized and swift-moving line), I went exploring, and managed to take a few pictures without the supposed horde of fans. I also ran into the good and glorious Maggie Thompson for the first time in years, which pretty much made the entire trip down worth it. Then I met up with Stan!(who, by the way, created some cool D&D Christmas wrapping paper for Game Paper) and discovered the attraction of the fried fish taco at Tin Fish (surprisingly good seating, despite the fact it was right across from the teeming convention). We wandered the floor, got Galactus hats from Hasbro (pictures of me in one that may appear on the net are lies. LIES I tell you!), saw Odin's throne, traded my Galactus hat for a notebook, got some things for my brother and the Lovely Bride (don't tell her - its a secret), met my editor from Simon & Schuster, re-engaged with Godland, found some nice gems in the Web comic/small press sections, picked up a few new t-shirts, and probably covered all of a quarter of the hall (but most of it having comics in it, so I was happy). Ran into people I know and people Stan knew and introductions were made all around and finally, about 9, we retired from the field.

And it is before the official first day of the con and my feet already hurt.

More later,

Podcasts and Personal Appearances

So, Facebook being what it is, it failed to rebroadcast my schedule for San Diego Comic-Con. Here it is, again.

Friday July 23, 2010 1:00 p.m.–1:45 p.m. NCsoft Booth #5345 - BookSigning and Giveaway - Stop by for a limited giveaway and booksigning by one of the authors of the first Guild Wars® novel: Ghosts ofAscalon. - Signing Staff: Jeff Grubb (Game Designer/Author), Rich Anderson(Concept Artist, Cover Artist)

Friday July 23, 2010 1:45 p.m.–2:30 p.m. NCsoft Booth #5345 - BookSigning and Giveaway - Stop by for a limited giveaway and booksigning of the Art of Guild Wars 2. - Signing Staff: Kekai Kotaki(Concept Art Lead), Rich Anderson (Concept Artist), Kristen Perry(Character Artist)

Saturday July 24, 2010 1:00 p.m.–1:45 p.m. NCsoft Booth #5345 - BookSigning and Giveaway - Stop by for a limited giveaway and booksigning by one of the authors of the first Guild Wars® novel: Ghosts ofAscalon. - Signing Staff: Jeff Grubb (Game Designer/Author), Rich Anderson(Concept Artist, Cover Artist)

Saturday July 24, 2010 1:45 p.m.–2:30 p.m. NCsoft Booth #5345 - BookSigning and Giveaway Stop by for a limited giveaway and book signing ofthe Art of Guild Wars 2. - Signing Staff: Kekai Kotaki (Concept ArtLead), Rich Anderson (Concept Artist), Kristen Perry (Character Artist)

Saturday July 24, 2010 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m. Room 4 - Speaking Session:Guild Wars 2: A New Type of Fantasy MMO - Learn how Guild Wars 2will set a new standard for what is possible in an MMO game! Keycreators examine with you how the lore, design, and gameplay of GuildWars 2 has grown from the original game into something revolutionary,and take questions from the audience. - Speakers: James Phinney (DesignDirector), Jeff Grubb (Game Designer), Kekai Kotaki (Concept Art Lead),Rich Anderson (Concept Artist), Kristen Perry, (Character Artist), ChrisLye (Global Brand Director)

We will be signing out of the NCSoft booth, which is in the far left corner of the exhibit hall, and probably the only location where there will be any space to move around (maybe). Drop by and take a look at us!

If you can't make it to the convention (nobody goes there, apparently - it's too crowded) I have a pair of podcasts that have just been released. One is on Guildcast with Shawn and Rubi from Massively and is all spoilery on Ghosts of Ascalon. And the other delves into the early days of the Marvel Super Heroes game with Andrew Collas on the Zenith Comics podcast. If you can't make it to San Diego, it's the next best thing (well, it's not, but it is a very nice thing anyway).

More later, possibly from SD itself.

Elliot S! Maggin

So my old comic book editor is running for office. Elliot was one of the editors on the now-classic Forgotten Realms book back in the 80s, but is better known for his extensive work as a writer, including a screaming bunch of good comics as well as novels on Superman and Kingdom Come.

Elliot has always had a political outlook, which spills into his public, personal, and fictional lives. Most recently, in the DC Universe, he was the Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen's campaign manager in the superhero's run for Mayor of Star City.

According to the Wikipedia, the 24th occupies parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and is strong Republican. It delivered for George Bush at 56% in the last presidential, and the local Dems got pasted in the 2006 election, but things have been bad for incumbent GOP across the board of late. Rep Elton Gallegy has been making noises about stepping down for medical reasons (he's been in office for 24 years), but has a massive war chest.

Elliot has company for the Democratic primary - other candidates include the Democrat candidate from 2006, Jill Martinez, businesswoman Mary Pallant, 2004 nominee Brett Wagner, and maybe former mayor of Ventura Richard Francis.

It looks like a crowded field. Maybe Elliot can get Oliver Queen's campaign manager to help out.

More later,