I called my mother last night during the Indians-Red Sox play-off game (Go Tribe!) to talk about the Heir and she informed me that she is sending me some family mementos.
One is my great-grandfather Abraham's pocket watch, which had belonged to my grandfather and now my grandmother has. Apparently she said she wanted me to have it now.
The other are some dreidels from my Aunt Ellen's collection. Ellen, who was my favorite aunt, died last spring after a prolonged illness. Apparently the family split them up and all the grandkids are getting a few.
I am having all sorts of mixed feelings about all of this. I've been coping with my aunt's death largely by ignoring it as much as possible. I suppose having some physical reminders of her around the apartment will make finally have to deal with it emotionally.
But getting the pocket watch is really getting to me emotionally. I never knew my great-grandfather. He died before I was born and I'm named after him. And while I have always loved pocket watches and have owned several over the years and would love to have this one, I can't shake the feeling that Grandma is starting to split up her stuff ahead of dying.
Now she's 98 years old and it is perfectly logical for her to have death on her mind and making preparations for it. I just don't think I'm ready to do deal with her mortality. I always react poorly to the death of close relatives and I don't want to think about Grandma dying until it actually happens. This may not be the most mature thing but I'm sufficiently self-aware to know it is true.
Showing posts with label personal history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal history. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2016
Friday, May 29, 2015
In which I am made (in)famous
Leeman Kessler at Ask Lovecraft answers one of my questions.
And yes, we actually did that once. Fail a SAN roll, remove an article of clothing. :)
And yes, we actually did that once. Fail a SAN roll, remove an article of clothing. :)
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Heinlein and me
One of the common complaints from the Sad Puppies is that nowadays Robert Heinlein could not get published. I think this is nonsense, at his best he was technically an excellent author and a great storyteller. But this isn't about Puppygate but rather how Heinlein got me into science fiction.
My dad was always a big science fiction fan and when I was growing up there were always books by Heinlein and Isaac Asimov (his favorites) lying around the house. When I was nine years old I picked up his copy of Starship Troopers and devoured it. At ten I swiped his copy of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and fell in love with it. At this age I was too young to really pick up on the problematic parts of both books and just considered them good space stories. That these were my first two SF novels probably explains a great deal about me.
Nevertheless I think dad was slightly appalled at my choices and pushed me towards Heinlein's juveniles. I know I read most if not all of the juveniles at this time but most don't seem to have stuck with me. I remember enjoying Space Cadet but was not overly impressed with The Rolling Stones. Eventually I moved on to SF by other authors but whenever I was bored I kept coming back to my first two books. When I was in eighth grade we had an assignment to do a book report and create diorama based on the book. Mine was the battle with the Skinnies in the first chapter of Starship Troopers. This probably explains a lot about why my teachers thought about me the way that they did,
About this time I got interested in board wargaming and again RAH via my dad is to blame. Dad had a copy of the old Avalon Hill Starship Troopers wargame. He never really got into it but I thought it was really cool and basically appropriated it for myself. In fact I still have it stored away someplace. It hooked me on the hobby and I was soon saving my money to buy my own hex map and cardboard chits wargames. First on SF&F themes but later historical ones too and I still enjoy the hobby.
I didn't get back to reading more Heinlein until I went to college. I read the Future History short stories. I loved Time Enough For Love, especially the Notebooks of Lazarus Long sections. I was disgusted with the sexism of Glory Road. And I tried several times, then and since, to read A Stranger In A Strange Land but I could never get into it despite everyone saying it was his master work. Apparently RAH thought it wasn't his best work either, so I guess I'm in good company.
I was in college in the mid-Eighties and this was when his later, weirder works were coming out. I liked the setting of Friday if not the actual story. While he had always had a tendency towards author tracts in his books it became more obvious near the end as the story gave way to the characters philosophizing. In short, I got bored.
And it was in college that I finally became aware of the really problematic, if totally polar opposite, politics of Starship Troopers and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and they became less and less of my go to reads when bored. Basically I finally grew up and grew past Heinlein. I haven't really read any thing by him in about fifteen years when I re-read Number Of The Beast shortly after moving to Nevada and was mildly amused by the fact that the major characters get married in Elko.
So while I owe Robert Heinlein and my dad a great deal for getting me into both science fiction and wargaming, I find that I cannot really be one of his defenders. As I said the man could write a good story in his prime but he just became too weird and too controversial for my tastes.
Two final notes. First, I have never seen Paul Verhoeven's film adaptation of Starship Troopers nor do I ever intend to. Aside from pumping up the already fascist elements of the novel up to eleven, when I found out the Mobile Infantry wasn't going to have power armor my immediate and continuing reaction was "What's the point?" After all it was the only real cool thing in the book,
The second is the only RAH novel I still own a copy of continues to be The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. I still have something of a week spot for it. Yes, I recognize it as a completely unrealistic libertarian fantasy but Manny and Mike the Computer are still two of my favorite characters in all of science fiction.
My dad was always a big science fiction fan and when I was growing up there were always books by Heinlein and Isaac Asimov (his favorites) lying around the house. When I was nine years old I picked up his copy of Starship Troopers and devoured it. At ten I swiped his copy of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and fell in love with it. At this age I was too young to really pick up on the problematic parts of both books and just considered them good space stories. That these were my first two SF novels probably explains a great deal about me.
Nevertheless I think dad was slightly appalled at my choices and pushed me towards Heinlein's juveniles. I know I read most if not all of the juveniles at this time but most don't seem to have stuck with me. I remember enjoying Space Cadet but was not overly impressed with The Rolling Stones. Eventually I moved on to SF by other authors but whenever I was bored I kept coming back to my first two books. When I was in eighth grade we had an assignment to do a book report and create diorama based on the book. Mine was the battle with the Skinnies in the first chapter of Starship Troopers. This probably explains a lot about why my teachers thought about me the way that they did,
About this time I got interested in board wargaming and again RAH via my dad is to blame. Dad had a copy of the old Avalon Hill Starship Troopers wargame. He never really got into it but I thought it was really cool and basically appropriated it for myself. In fact I still have it stored away someplace. It hooked me on the hobby and I was soon saving my money to buy my own hex map and cardboard chits wargames. First on SF&F themes but later historical ones too and I still enjoy the hobby.
I didn't get back to reading more Heinlein until I went to college. I read the Future History short stories. I loved Time Enough For Love, especially the Notebooks of Lazarus Long sections. I was disgusted with the sexism of Glory Road. And I tried several times, then and since, to read A Stranger In A Strange Land but I could never get into it despite everyone saying it was his master work. Apparently RAH thought it wasn't his best work either, so I guess I'm in good company.
I was in college in the mid-Eighties and this was when his later, weirder works were coming out. I liked the setting of Friday if not the actual story. While he had always had a tendency towards author tracts in his books it became more obvious near the end as the story gave way to the characters philosophizing. In short, I got bored.
And it was in college that I finally became aware of the really problematic, if totally polar opposite, politics of Starship Troopers and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and they became less and less of my go to reads when bored. Basically I finally grew up and grew past Heinlein. I haven't really read any thing by him in about fifteen years when I re-read Number Of The Beast shortly after moving to Nevada and was mildly amused by the fact that the major characters get married in Elko.
So while I owe Robert Heinlein and my dad a great deal for getting me into both science fiction and wargaming, I find that I cannot really be one of his defenders. As I said the man could write a good story in his prime but he just became too weird and too controversial for my tastes.
Two final notes. First, I have never seen Paul Verhoeven's film adaptation of Starship Troopers nor do I ever intend to. Aside from pumping up the already fascist elements of the novel up to eleven, when I found out the Mobile Infantry wasn't going to have power armor my immediate and continuing reaction was "What's the point?" After all it was the only real cool thing in the book,
The second is the only RAH novel I still own a copy of continues to be The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. I still have something of a week spot for it. Yes, I recognize it as a completely unrealistic libertarian fantasy but Manny and Mike the Computer are still two of my favorite characters in all of science fiction.
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