Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Proper Subject for Science Fiction

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My friend Joshua Lukin is pushing the Moonstone appearance this Friday of Chan Davis at the Moonstone Arts Center, 108 S. 13th Street, here in Philadelphia.  Six p.m.


Chan Davis, you say.  Who he?  And what the heck is this evening going to be about?  Well, I'll let Josh put it in his own words:  "Do you like octogenarian ex-Communists? Do you like middle-aged nervous Jews? Would you like to see an octogenarian ex-Communist in conversation with a middle-aged nervous Jew? THEN THIS IS THE BOOK TOUR FOR YOU!"

The full title for the evening is The Proper Subject for Science Fiction: A Conversation With Chandler Davis and it's in support of his Aqueduct Press book It Walks in Beauty: Selected Prose of Chandler Davis.  Which contains five of his stories, two letters, three essays, a speech, and an interview.

Above and beyond the inherent interest of the evening, I think that anybody who believes I'm a terrible Lefty should be required to attend.  That includes my beloved son, Sean.  "Christ!" I tell him.  "You have no idea.  You've never even met a real leftist."  There used to be thousands of them everywhere.  They darkened the sky with their passage.  And today?  Almost as rare as the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Sad, really.   They were a passionate and idealistic group.  Argumentative, mind you.  They loved to argue.  As Gordon Van Gelder said of Phil Klass, "He was a difficult man to agree with."


Above:  A jpg of the event's flyer.  All the info you need is there.

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