Positive Obsession and Furor Scribendi

 

I've just completed reading a trio of books by Octavia Butler: The Parable of the Sower, The Parable of the Talents, and Bloodchild and Other Stories. The latter contains two essays, Positive Obsession and Furor Scribendi, which I heartily recommend. Replace writer by researcher and everything remains true.

Persistence is essential to any writer--the persistence to finish your work, to keep writing in spite of rejection, to keep reading, studying, submitting work for sale. But stubbornness, the refusal to change unproductive behavior or to revise unsalable work can be lethal to your writing hopes.

Octavia Butler, "Furor Scribendi"

Simon Stålenhag: Swedish Retrofuturism

I find these paintings by Simon Stålenhag disturbing and alluring.Spotted via Boing Boing.

 

Iain Banks

In April, Iain Banks discovered he had cancer of the gall bladder, and proposed to his girl friend by requesting she `do me the honour of becoming my widow'.  Yesterday his death was announced.  In his honour, here is something he wrote for the Observer.  See also this tribute from Ken McLeod.

These days, I support the idea of an independent Scotland. It's with a heavy heart in some ways; I think I'd still sacrifice an independent Scotland for a socialist UK, but… I can't really see that happening. What I can imagine is England continuing to turn to the right and eventually leaving the EU altogether.

Scotland, though, could have a viable future either as a completely independent country or – more likely – within Europe. The European ideal is taking a battering right now, certainly, and the gloss has come off comparing our prospects to Ireland's or Iceland's, but it remains both possible and plausible that Scotland could become a transparent, low-inequality society on the Scandinavian model, with fair, non-regressive taxes, strong unions, a nuclear-free policy, a non-punitive tertiary education system, enlightened social policies in general and long-term support for green energy programmes.

We'd need to make sure our banks were small enough to fail, and there are problems of poverty, ill health and religious tribalism that will take decades to overcome. But with the advantages and attractions that Scotland already has, and, more importantly, taking into account the morale boost, the sheer energisation of a whole people that would come about because we would finally have our destiny at least largely back in our own hands again – I think we could do it.

And that we should.