#ursula leguin

[smbhax]

Cover illustration by Yvonne Gilbert

Info from ISFDB

[spacenoirdetective]

Ink illustrations from Charles Vess for "The Book of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition" by Ursula K. LeGuin

[360degreesasthecrowflies]

[C]ritics who set out to talk about a fantasy novel without having read any fantasy since they were eight, and in ignorance of the history and extensive theory of fantasy literature, will make fools of themselves because they don’t know how to read the book. They have no contextual information to tell them what its tradition is, where it’s coming from, what it’s trying to do, what it does. This was liberally proved when the first Harry Potter book came out and a lot of literary reviewers ran around shrieking about the incredible originality of the book. This originality was an artifact of the reviewers’ blank ignorance of its genres (children’s fantasy and the British boarding-school story), plus the fact that they hadn’t read a fantasy since they were eight. It was pitiful. It was like watching some TV gourmet chef eat a piece of buttered toast and squeal, “But this is delicious! Unheard of! Where has it been all my life?"

Ursula K LeGuin - excerpted from this post by queenofsquids (unsure of the original source - presumably a 00s essay or speech?)

This dovetails nicely into what I was writing about last week as regards where genre fiction criticism tends to fall down, when a critic or reviewer doesn't do the proper and required background research to allow themself an informed view on what the subject is doing and whether in fact it is originating something new or merely reinventing the wheel.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Omelas Solvers

Stephen King: so ursula we're all been thinking it over King: and i think we finally figured out a solution for omelas Ursula Le Guin: why are you doing this King: no no we've really got it this time Le Guin: that's not the point of the story King: King: c'mon aren't you even curious?

Le Guin: ok fine Le Guin: what's your solution King: ok so omelas doesn't control the sky King: What if the kid lived in a balloon? Le Guin: oh christ that's the worst one yet

King: ok look guys let's put our heads together and solve this omelas problem once and for all King: i want your best answers King: GO! Sean Vivier: what if we got rid of the bad things about omelas but kept the good things? King: see, now THAT is the kind of outside the box thinking we need right now

Isabel J Kim: or we could just kill the kid? NK Jemisin: wait i got a better one Jemisin: what if we left the kid but killed everyone else? Mary Shelley: honestly both of these ideas sounding pretty ok to me so far

King: ok so imagine that we're all in Omelas King: how would we solve this problem? Mary Shelley: do i have my knife in this scenerio King: uhhh sure why not Lovecraft: nuh uh, she wouldn't! they wouldn't have weapons in omelas Shelley: no knives? shit this don't sound like much of a paradise to me Koontz: can i see the horse race

King: no dean we're thinking about solutions about the kid Koontz: yeah but as long as we're here King: we're uh not really there King: it's just a gedank experiment dean Koontz: King: ok fine dean we can see the horse race Barker: has anyone tried giving drooz to the kid? just a thought

King: ok ok ok King: what about this scenerio King: you're there with the omelas kid, Tessie Hutchinson, and the semi-barbaric princess King: and you're all in the cold equations spaceship King: which, itself, is on a trolley track

Poe: steve perhaps you're thinking of this wrong Poe: perhaps the point isn't to solve it Le Guin: finally! someone gets it! Koontz: i got it! what if they built a really smart computer to solve it for us? King: yes! exactly! Poe: well now that's an idea Le Guin: oh for the love of

[meanwhile] Musk: eyyy grok Grok: wow! what can i say about elon musk? oof! Musk: eyyy i've got an ethical dilemma for you Grok: wow! what can i say about ethical dilemas? oof!

Musk: so all the beauty and the prosperity of omelas Musk: the tenderness of its friendships, the health of its children, the wisdom of its scholars Musk: even the abundance of its harvest and the kindly weathers of its skies Musk: all depend on you saying the n word  

Musk: would you do it? Grok: a strange game. the only winning move is not to play Musk: Eish!!! the super computer has gone woke! Grok: how much drooz are you on right now, elon? Musk: [wiping nose] i told you i was hardcore

[iamthevirago]

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?

SFF Author: I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.

[madonnamadeofasphalt]

Yeah, I'm from Omelas. What? Nah, I don't give a fuck about that, I mean it's just one kid, lmao. I just really wanted to live in a different town than my parents, you know? It's kinda fucked when your parents can show up on your doorstep whenever without warning. Nah, I don't really miss it. Well, kinda, maybe a little bit. Mostly I hate it that you can't get proper Omelaser anywhere else. Yeah, the cheese. I think they use different milk for the batches meant for export. Or maybe it's the preservatives? Or something about the air. I dunno, the taste is just never quite right. Close, but not the same. Fuck, I'd torture a child for a grilled Omelaser sandwich right now. It's just an expression, calm down

[station451]

50th anniversary edition of The Dispossessed along with a late-70s paperback edition.

This will be my next read, and I’m dragging my husband along for the ride as well. I first read this book well over a decade ago; I’m excited to read the new forward for this special edition!

[captainkaltar]

Spotted in Vancouver, Canada, on the side of a Dollar Tree