University of Nebraska Press

Linking in Lincoln: May, 7 2008

                                           RETURN OF THE "LINKING IN LINCOLN"

New, to us, this month from the University of Nebraska Press, is The Great Romance by the Inhabitant, edited by Dominic Alessio. This two volume novella published in the late nineteenth century under the pseudonym “The Inhabitant” has had countless influences on the history of science fiction. Most commonly known was the book, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. Reuniting these two very rare volumes, Alessio discusses the significance, and the revolutionary nature of the work.  Today, in respect for the genre that taught us to fear all things Utopian, Linking in Lincoln is going to fast forward and take a glance at our burgeoning scientific society.  Now, if you’ll just join me in the Da Lorean, we can get a move on….

When you think science fiction do you picture pale young men, sitting in a basement sporting some sort of tin foil hat, talking about  how “they” are coming for him? Well, then meet all my high school boyfriends… however it now looks like these nice, sun challenged young men may also be sporting a Masters Degree in Science Fiction. Think you might be interested, than check it out at Liverpool University.

Edward Bellamy is the author of Looking Backward, which is rumored to be influenced by The Great Romance. If you care to learn more about this prolific writer and the third best selling book of it’s time, then check out Wikipedia.

In case you’re curious, his cousin Francis Bellamy is the patriotic writer behind the Pledge of Allegiance, click here if you’d like to know more.

Go to this website to check out the top ten science fiction films of all time.

If you’re more of a literary person then check out the Associated Content website for the top ten science fiction books of all time.

Are you like millions of Americans and curious if Scientology is a legitimate religion or just a fodder to get Tom Cruise all hyped up and couch jumping? If so, then let’s head to Wikipedia once again and find out!

Just in case you need some more information, check out Ron L. Hubbard, creator of Scientology. He was allegedly quoted as saying, 'I'm going to invent a religion that's going to make me a fortune. I'm tired of writing for a penny a word.”  Spark some interest? Well search away, here.

Well, bloggers that’s it for today! Did you enjoy our little romp into the realm of science fiction?  If so, then check out The Great Romance, at the University of Nebraska Press.  Have a great day!!

UNP Author Interview!

UNP Author on Fresh Air (show Barber/Songs cover art)

UNP author Charles Barber appeared recently on NPR’s Fresh Air discussing his new book Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation. During the fascinating sixteen-minute interview, guest host Dave Davies mentioned that he had also read Songs from the Black Chair, Barber’s account of his personal experiences with mental illness published by UNP. Davies called it “a truly absorbing and beautifully written story,” and said that he “couldn’t put it down.” Give the interview a listen here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89882885

Back on the (Bike) Saddle and off the Bookshelf

For those of us in the Midwest, warm spring weather appears to finally be here for good. Whether we're ready to spend most of our free time on the trails or because we want to save at the pump with a cycling commute to and from work, people are pulling their bikes out of storage, checking their gears, and they're ready to ride.

Current and future users of Nebraska's Cowboy trail, which stretches from Norfolk to Valentine and when completed will reach Chadron, should pick up a copy of our new guidebook. Author Keith Terry describes flora and fauna along the trail and also advises the hiker, bike rider, or horseback rider on food, lodging, and camping. View the Table of Contents and read an excerpt from Nebraska's Cowboy Trail.

Cycling enthusiasts will also enjoy Daryl Farmer's memoir, Bicycling beyond the Divide: Two Journeys into the West. Farmer intertwines the stories of his first bike trip from Colorado to the West Coast in 1985 with the one he took 20 years later in 2005.

Another speedy bike read is Need for the Bike by Paul Fournel, translated and with an introduction by Allan Stoekl. French writer Fournel gives us a mix of his memories and thoughts spanning his 40 years of cycling.

A Couple of Comic Books

So lately I've been researching a new book that contains science and is indeed fiction, but isn't science fiction per se. Not even alternate history. And this hasn't left me much time to look at anything sf lately. (sorry) But, life has a way of reminding me that I'm still a fangirl at heart and this time it was the New York Comic Con. I saw it and had to go, rationalizing this need by announcing to friends and family that I have a blog to keep up.

Of course, I did check out what the big comic companies were doing, however if you are really interested in Marvel, DC, Image, or Dark Horse, you probably know where to find them and don't need my help in doing so. The fun of these conventions aren't the big guys anyway (okay, so I lie, sitting in a room and listening to Orson Scott Card or Stan Lee and even if I don't get an autograph or specifically meet them, just being in the same room... well, I'm a fangirl, okay?) But besides that, the fun is learning about the independents that are coming out. Smaller runs, new writers and new artists, or sometimes known writers putting out more difficult work or work that doesn’t fit the big companies.

The independents are where comics get exciting (not that I’m not thrilled about another skrull invasion or another ultimate/final crises or anything. Holding out judgment on those). So instead, here are a couple of independent projects I’m looking forward to.

The first is Leviticus Cross, created and edited by Seth Hays, written by Jose Torres, drawn by Hector Sevilla, and colored by Francisco Perez. This story promises to have gods, demigods, giants, mutant superheroes, and all that kind of good stuff, set in a prehistoric age (superheroes before time. How cool is that?). The art is good, sort of manga inspired. The exposition monster sort of eats up the first half of the first comic (haven’t seen the others yet) so we get a prologue on the cover and then the entire first half of the comic that is explanation and the introduction of a character who had disappeared before our story begins. Is all that exposition important? Not yet, but we’ll see where the story goes. The second half introduces us to Naitia, our main character, a girl with a deformity (and a bit more exposition to explain the town and culture to us). But it is a powerful deformity and she is forced to keep it covered up. Her father is a traveling merchant coming into the city of Leviticus Cross and they are greeted and accompanied into town by the very nice Lord Magistrate (at least I assume he is nice since he helps street urchins steal fruit to eat and punishes the mean vendors who insist on getting paid. I’m not sure he’s entirely thought out his version of civic responsibility, but we’ll go with it) whose presence still makes Naitia nervous. As her father sets up and sells things, she goes off alone. And of course, any shy, young girl with a deformity and powers she must hide is going to get into all sorts of trouble.

The only real problem with Leviticus Cross is I have no idea how to tell you to get your own copy. There is no web address on the comic. If you search under Leviticus Cross you get the creator’s blog and it lists a website, but when you go there, at least when I go there, it says I don’t have permission to go there. So who knows? If you do, leave a comment. Creator blog says he’s ramping up so that all the issues are guaranteed to come out, so when I know more, I’ll let you know.

The second thing I’m excited about is a new Flash Gordon comic, written by Brendan Deneen and drawn by Paul Green. You can imagine with my love of the history of sf that just someone saying “new Flash Gordon” would be enough to make me squeal like a socialite running into her new BFF. Flash Gordon is one of the first heroes of comics. He predates every other comic book hero you can think of (Batman, Spider-Man, etc.--though he started out as a comic strip) and along with Buck Rogers, influenced sf and the way people think of sf. Possibly more so for Flash Gordon because it was also a tv series. Before there were Trekkies and before anyone told Luke to use the force, Flash Gordon was interesting kids in space and science and rebel groups fighting against the big empire. And now there is a new Flash Gordon comic book.

They haven’t actually come out with an issue yet. What they had at the comic con was actually issue #0, a teaser issue with a look at the art work (beautiful artwork that is a mix of modern and retro. Flash himself looks so cool) and a bit from J. M. DeMatteis, editor-in-chief (more squealing) and the first half is a teaser of the actual book.

You don’t need to know the story of Flash Gordon or the characters to jump right in. In fact it might be better if you don’t because then the slow reveal of who are the good guys and who are the bad guys will work better. By the end, you know about this world and what each side is fighting for and our good guys have been summarily trounced and may be dead and Flash Gordon hasn’t even shown up yet!! It’s infuriating! It’s crazy! It makes for a heck of a teaser.

The first issue is supposed to come out in August. Their website (turn sound down if you are procrastinating at work.  Their website makes noise) gives a list of comic book stores that will carry it and the possibility of buying direct (at least I think that’s what I’m reading) but no instructions on what to do. If you click on the link they give you, you get an email, so I guess you email them. Of course, there is still lots of time until August, so you could always go talk to your local comic book store and tell them to buy some copies so you can buy it from them. In fact that would probably be preferable.

Okay, so I have more comics from the con to read, not to mention sf books, and a lot has happened at Nebraska Press I need to catch up on, so I should stop writing and start reading. Enjoy.

Tuesday Triva: Pilgrims on Ice

TUESDAY TRIVIA: PILGRIMS ON ICE

“By far the most authoritative analysis of Scott’s Discovery expedition ever written.” New this month from University of Nebraska Press is, Pilgrims on Ice: Robert Falcon Scott’s first Antarctic Expedition by T.H. Baughman.  Baughman chronicles the exciting, albeit tragic, 1912 South Pole expedition that ended with the deaths of Scott and his crew; shedding light on both the renowned hero, and the “bumbling fool whose mistakes killed him and his entire party.” In today’s Tuesday Trivia, we are going to take a long, perhaps cold, look at our own knowledge of the continent. Fancy an expedition of your own? Well, make sure to bring the right dogs! Now for the trivia….

1. Approximately how many large scale expeditions have been done in Antarctica?

2. Which of the following dogs are the most commonly used as sled dogs?

  A. Siberian Husky

  B. Alaskan Malamute

  C. Mackenzie River Husky

3. True or False? Humans have only inhabited the continent of Antarctica for 100 years.

4. Who played Robert Falcon Scott in the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic?

5. True or False? Scott’s rival Roald Amundsen left him a tent, supplies, and a letter to deliver at the pole just one month earlier.

6. Sled dogs have been known to travel how many miles in a 24 hour period while pulling 85 pounds each?

7. Before it was ever discovered, most explorers were convinced a large southern continent existed. They called it Terra Australis Incognita, meaning what?

8. In what year did the did the infamous South Pole race occur?

How did you do bloggers? Did you catch the little (or big) hint I left you? Be sure to come back tomorrow and check your score. While you’re at it, you’re definitely welcome to visit the University of Nebraska website.

Guest Blogger: Gregory McNamee of Moveable Feasts

In the 1993 film So I Married an Axe Murderer, Canadian comic Mike Myers, contemplating the strange thing that is haggis, observes that Scottish cuisine is the only one in the world that is based on a dare. This is not strictly so: The same can be said of nearly every cuisine in the world, at least at some point in its history. What brave Roman was commissioned to determine when the flamingo buried in the back yard was ready to eat? How many Aymara Indians had to die before the potato was finally bred out of its poisonous ways? How many countless humans have fallen before the mushroom? What of the proto-Indo-European steppe dweller who decided that it would be a good idea to raid a beehive for honey, competing with brown bears to do so? These are our pioneers, explorers of the table, and one day a museum will have to be built in their honor.

Knowing about where our food comes from in history, I think, enhances our understanding of where it comes from today. History, of course, is mutable, just as the future is unwritten. American taste has shifted in the last half-century, toward greater consumption of fresh, organically produced vegetables and other foodstuffs---at least for those who can afford them in an increasingly class-structured, polarized nation. This pattern will likely continue, so that at least one stratum of society supports a healthy if boutique-like farming culture.

Yet, some economists warn, it is likely that as farmland gives way to housing developments and shopping malls, as the world's population grows, and as the supply of fossil fuels declines, the cost of food will rise substantially, perhaps as high as half of net income. If this in fact happens, then grain production, so much of which is given over to livestock feed and, lately, fuel production, will be diverted to human consumption, so that Americans and other first-worlders will in time eat what the rest of the world eats: grains and vegetables, with meat making up only a small portion of our caloric intake. Stay tuned: given the food crises roiling around the world, this may happen sooner than any of us think.

I have long been interested in food and its ways, convinced that, just as our making good cities teaches us to protect wilder climes, so learning about what we eat can make us better guardians of the garden and table. That trust may be misplaced, but becoming better consumers is certainly within the sphere of enlightened self-interest, given how many opportunities the present market offers to ingest things that are not good for us, that come from deep in the bowels of dubious labs, that do not much seem like food at all. Think of margarine, dessert toppings, cheese puffs, and most industrial hamburgers---or, for that matter, think of what passes for tomatoes in so many groceries.

Moveable Feasts is primarily a book of food history, science, and lore, and not of cookery strictly speaking. Be forewarned as you read its recipes, then, that you put a bite of unfamiliar food into your mouth at your own risk. But you knew that, as did the brave men and women who preceded us, generation after generation, to taste and test the foods of the world, bringing them at considerable risk but with great rewards from every corner of the world to our tables. Blessings be upon them, and forgiveness, too.

Linking in Lincoln: April, 30 2008

Lincoln’s Crazy Links!

                                       New this month from University of Nebraska is, Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt by Marvin V. Arnett. This memoir about an African American woman growing up during the Great Depression, traces the fine line of memory and history. Each chapter works as a stand alone one-act play, contributing to the whole as each square does to a quilt. With comparisons to the Victorian age stories Arnett read as a child, the reader gets an apt sense of how conflicting the world in her books was from the one she existed in. Today for Linking in Lincoln we are going to play a bit with this theme. As each link stands alone, keep in mind how it contributes to the larger story of Arnett’s life. If you find you are intrigued, then don’t hesitate to pick up your own copy of this book. Happy Linking!

Ever read a one act play? Of course you have…. right? Well, just in case you’re looking for some new ones or, ahem, a first one….we’ve got the website for you. Just go to One-Act Plays.com and take the literary plunge!

Did you know Ford Motor Company was once accused of being Nazi Collaborators? To get the whole scoop along with a broader history of the company go to Wikipedia.com

For more stories of real people who lived during the depression, visit this website!

Ever heard of a six word memoir? Legend has it Ernest Hemingway once bragged that he could write an entire story in six words. Authors have been taking their own hand at it since. For memoirs click here, if you’re more of a science fiction fan (like myself) than click here.

How much do you know about the Victorian Era? For a comprehensive history go, once again, to Wikipedia.com and see if you can imagine how different it must be from growing up in Detroit during the  depression.

    Did we peak your interest at all? If so, then check out the University of Nebraska Press website to get your own copy!

New May Books

New in May from the University of Nebraska Press: the first English translation of Jules Verne's The Golden Volcano, a memoir about growing up in the Enders Hotel of Soda Springs, Idaho, and a guide to Nebraska's Cowboy Recreation and Nature trail. New paperback editions include a timely study of wildfire in America as well as Restoring the Burnt Child by William Kloefkorn. Browse all of our new books here.

Praise for A Sacred Feast

Praise for A Sacred Feast: Reflections on Sacred Harp Singing and Dinner on the Ground by Kathryn Eastburn

“Dishes with charming names like ‘Ivalene Donaldson’s Lazy Man Fruit Pie’ beg to be tested. A Sacred Feast appears equal parts historical documentary and cookbook, with the pensive, yet lively and descriptive writing for which the author is regarded.”—Matthew Schniper, Colorado Independent

More Praise for Chief Bender's Burden

Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star by Tom Swift

“A gem. . . . Swift’s mission is to reassert Bender as an important figure in the history of the game, both as a player and a groundbreaking figure. His book does well in both ways.”—Kevin Canfield, Chicago Sun-Times

To read earlier praise for Chief Bender's Burden, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2008/02/starred-review.html.