Blind Prophecy

I know I have lots of catching up to do, but let’s start with books…

Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons. Not so much two books in a series as one 2,000 page long story. Inventive, literary, smart, and entertaining. These books are almost the perfect formula for satisfying a nerd like me – mix Shakespeare, Homer, Proust and other great literary plots into a complex sci-fi story with multiple subplots and more woven threads that Fashion Week. Sadly, though, the one missing element was an emotional storyline I could identify with. Don’t get me wrong, Simmons got me to connect with a wildly unusual cast of characters: a cyborg/robot, a frumpy and cynical old university professor way outside his element, a shallow man-child forced to grow up too quickly, and a who’s who of sexist, testosterone-filled Greek warriors. Despite getting me to care about all these various characters, the story lacked a strong emotional hook. Perhaps the structure of the story (so obsessed with predestination, fate, or god-driven events) and the cultures (ancient Greek, postliterate Earth) negates any of the human elements that I’d normally get emotionally wrapped up in. Maybe it’s that despite dealing with epic romances and tragedies as Helen and Paris, Odysseus and Penelope, the Fall of Troy, the end of the Muslim-Jewish wars, and more… the book tries too hard to subvert those epic stories and offers nothing in return. Sadly, the reaction of Achilles to the death of Patroclus is the most engaging part of the story, but even that gets short-circuited by a story determined to show Achilles as a simple-minded brute (yet also capable of coming up with a plan that will fool the nearly omniscient Zeus?!?).

Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin. The thing that made the early books in the Tales of the City universe so engaging was the local color, the attention to things and people “uniquely San Francisco,” and the mix of melodrama with nearly implausible stories (cannibal Episcopals, Jim Jones alive and living in Golden Gate Park). As the books progressed, the stories began veering further and further away from San Francisco and became much more focused on the more realistic struggles of the characters. The fact that we know and love these characters after 7 books is pretty much all that makes Michael Tolliver Lives as entertaining as I found it. Some 30 years have passed since we were originally introduced to “Mouse” and much has happened in that time. Michael may be over 50, but he’s found true love in a 30-something daddy chaser. Dear old Anna Madrigal is still around, but in her 80s her health isn’t so great and she isn’t given much to do except teeter on toward death and serve as a mascot to the good old times. Brian is panicking about an empty nest as his growing-up-too-fast daughter announces her plan to leave San Francisco, but fills his time with an obsessive quest to locate a local legend. Mona (poor thing) died of breast cancer in her English mansion, and Mary Ann is long since gone (to become a suburban housewife) and not-quite-forgotten. Michael has lived with AIDS longer than anyone expected, so much so that his mother is now dying. We spend a lot of time being shocked at all the people who died before Mouse. The plot takes Michael and his new lover, Ben, back to Florida for some long overdue relationship mending with his fundamentalist Christian family (and, of course, a threesome with a black hairdresser/stripper). A few new characters are introduced, including Jake, the trans man who doesn’t want to have bottom surgery and his attempts to find love (a plot that sadly gets dropped and abandonded — perhaps Maupin is setting up the younger San Franciscans for TotC: the Next Generation).

The plot is short, simple, and as emotionally engaging as Ilium and Olympos was not. The book looks and reads as though it were written for 55-year-old Michael Tolliver (lots of spacing, fairly large print, short chapters — and before you accuse me of being ageist, Tolliver may be 55 years old, but I can’t help but picture him as a man in his seventies based on the amount of time he spends commenting on his old age) and was an odd contrast to the dense 2,000 page epic I read before this. Maupin has said that this book is not the 8th book in the TotC series, but he’s wrong. Without the 7 book history–without Dr. Jon Fielding, Mona Ramsey, the early connection between Mary Ann and Mouse, the family of Anna Madrigal, and the progression of Mouse over the decades, and without 28 Barbary Lane (which no longer exists in the story)–this story has nothing to offer. Indeed, when I sat in the airport and choked back tears as Anna lie dying in the hospital and Mary Ann suddenly reappears in their lives, I realized that it would have no impact on me, none at all, if I hadn’t read the previous 7 books. This tale does not stand alone. I’m not saying it’s a bad book, quite the opposite, but it’s not a book for a beginner just entering the TotC universe.

And now, in order to catch up without actualy having to describe the Pride-Vegas-Staff Retreat week of adventures… PICSPAM! (I know you wanted it!)

Trans March 2007, June 22, 2007

Dyke March, June 23, 2007

Pink Party, June 23, 2007

San Francisco Pride Parade, June 24, 2007

SF Pride Festival, June 24, 2007

SHRM Conference, Las Vegas, June 25-26, 2007

Staff Retreat, Oakland, June 27-28, 2007

Finally, a photo of me and my buddy Nick. It’s been way too long since we last got a chance to hang out and it was really good getting drunk and high with him Monday night in Vegas.

Filed under: books, livejournal by Jere Keys