"the most improper job"

[eldritchhobbit]

Happy birthday to nekrokedeia, the design editor we have to thank for all of those gorgeous Valancourt Books book covers. May you have a fabulous day and a wonderful year to come!


Lots of interesting things have been posted lately, so I have several new links to share with you today:

* Weird Tales posted a list of "The Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years."

* On the dystopian front, the site io9.com posted "Paradise Is A Lie: A History Of False Utopias."

* SFSignal invited science fiction authors to discuss this question: Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion? I think this is best paired with StarShipSofa's excellent podcast on Religious Themes in Science Fiction.

* Revolution Science Fiction posted a list of "Sci-Fi Love: Star-Crossed Couples." (My vote would go to John Fitzgerald Byers and Suzanne Modeski from The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen.)

* And last but not least, I offer an example of what happens when you mix The Goonies and The Pirates of the Caribbean:

The quote of the day...

"Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people... The most improper job of any man, even saints, is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity."
- J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to his son Christopher in 1943

Comments

[penandnotebook]

1. that io9.com link just fell from heaven especially for me. Yes, I am a bit deluded, would explain my strange fascination with utopias...

2. As of now, I'm pretty convinced Tolkien is one of my personal heroes. It is depressing, somehow, that men who share this or similar viewpoints in terms of power are not political leaders, but then again, they're not precisely for their conceptions, I think. Still, man of genius.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

He's one of my personal heroes, too. :)