Memories of the 28th Century

Some writers of fiction are fastidious about the information they write, while others realize that fiction means that something was made up. If you know what sort of writer you are reading, then you can learn a lot from reading fiction.

A good example of the fastidious type is the late, great Kenneth L. Roberts, who wrote such great novels as ARUNDEL, RABBLE IN ARMS, CAPTAIN CAUTION, and others. I have read that the description of the Battle of Valcour Island that he wrote in Rabble ...

A few hours ago I read a disturbing discussion on an online forum. It was about whether it was acceptable to ignore sexism in writing a work of fiction. Most of the replies seemed to assume that sexism as a cultural form was a large part of the life of all women. Not being a woman, I can’t speak to all of that, but the concept of sexism that was being discussed seemed to be related to the different sex roles of men and women, and those roles are imposed by DNA and nature, not by culture.
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In the past (http://www.online-literature.com/for...blems&bt=65182 ) I wrote about photography as an attempt by people with poor memories to hang onto images of things. Analogously with what Plato wrote in regard to writing and reading photography is damaging the abilities of many people to remember what things and people look like. In addition, photography is an intrusion into personal space, and many photographers don’t even recognize the right of ...

I realize that this is a minority view now. The U.S.A. is preparing to elect a president, who is of Benito Mussolini’s political stance, and the sitting president has already tried ruling by edict, and this is not a just a recent trend. U.S. presidents have been ignoring the limits on their office for decades, some more and some a little less. The Bushes both played fast and loose with the U.S. Constitution; W referred to it as a piece of paper in an attempt to show his respect for it. Clinton was ...

So who really owns what is in the public domain, and I am referring to intellectual property? This should be a question, because no one (no individual or group of individuals) owns what is in the public domain. This came up because of a discussion of something that J. K. Rowling is writing in regard to North American wizarding. She takes some terms from American Indian spiritual practices, and some people seem to be very upset about that. It is my opinion that Rowling has as much right to use such ...