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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Books "Odd Plants and Oddities for Odd People."

Posted by Alison Hallett on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 5:04 PM

5819/1245283002-riddell.jpg

Missed listing this Saturday reading in this week's paper, so it gets its very own blog post. You will shortly understand why:

Science fiction essayist Paul T. Riddell isn't the first to compare magazine writing to public masturbation, but he's the first to practice what he preached and quite writing. Before he did, he and cohort Edgar Harris (former sports editor of Science Fiction Age) spent thirteen years covering such diverse subjects as assistance to beginning writers ("I want to hunt down the idiot who came up with that 'writers make $37.50 an hour' story and let Whitley Strieber's aliens make him/her squeal like a pig") to Harlan Ellison's cybernetic history and how Canada formally apologized to the UN for the TV series Lexx. Put down the Edmond Scientific catalog, grab a UNIT recruiting flyer, and find out why Ellen Datlow referred to Riddell as ." . .unfailingly incendiary."

Riddell is now a dealer in carnivorous plants—click here to learn more.

That's at the St. Johns Booksellers, 8622 N Lombard, Saturday at noon

(And don't forget about Back Fence PDX tonight! Plus, Ursula Le Guin at the Oregon Council for the Humanities' Think and Drink, on "Morality and Self-Deception." That's at rontoms, 6:30 pm, and it's free.)

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
I wonder if he's going to rant about how much he hates Portland.
Posted by jake on June 17, 2009 at 5:13 PM · Report
2
I wonder if he's going to rant about how much he hates Portland.
Posted by jake on June 17, 2009 at 5:14 PM · Report
3
He's a genius.
Posted by Matt Davis on June 17, 2009 at 5:22 PM · Report
4
Yeah, I like what he writes too--may be a tough crowd though.
Posted by jake on June 17, 2009 at 5:37 PM · Report
5
Isn't it quit writing and not quite writing?
Posted by Is that a mistake on June 18, 2009 at 3:47 AM · Report
6
Oh my god. I rented the first episode of Lexx from Movie Madness a year ago because, well, I have this guilty pleasure for really bad science fiction. Total payoff, btw. I agree wholeheartedly with this fellow. Lexx is a crime against humanity. A hilarious crime.

Also, I'm crying and cutting myself because I had to work, and couldn't go to Back Fence.
Posted by Will Radik on June 18, 2009 at 5:05 AM · Report
7
I was expecting them to say he'd spent years publicly masturbating.
Posted by ROM on June 18, 2009 at 3:23 PM · Report
8
If he hates Portland so much, why is he coming all the way up here just to flog his book? Genius my ass.
Support local writers who appreciate what a great place this is!
Plus, that bookstore smells bad.
Posted by DJGreen on June 19, 2009 at 3:46 PM · Report
9
that's okay, no one in Dallas can stand him either
Posted by Toni on June 19, 2009 at 4:23 PM · Report

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