Ruminations

(My online time is frequently in short supply during the holiday season, so these acknowledgements are somewhat belated; however, January 6th seems an apropos day on which to honor both a scholar and an icon of Victorian genre fiction.)

ratmmjess  sets forth his lone New Year's resolution:

To always remember this:

It is not necessary to have been a tiger from the first and by nature in order to display tigerish qualities. Social conditions exist by which lambs may be converted into tigers. (1)

And Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Tetradecimal on Journalfen, delivers an exquisite takedown of a particularly officious would-be Fandom Cop (2); a sample quote:

My dear Watson, there is no man so enamored of rules and regulations than he who has no authority to pronounce them.

(1)  http://ratmmjess.livejournal.com/221317.html

(2)  http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1235661.html

...namely, ratmmjess . (Gratuitous Literary Fun Fact: you share your birthday with Neville Longbottom, the Spare to the Prophecy from the Harry Potter books.) (1)

(To others who may be reading, this seems like a suitable point at which to note that Jess's second massive pop-cultural Junior Woodchucks' Guide, The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes, is in search of a publisher.  MonkeyBrain Books, publisher of its predecessor, The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana (2), is apparently very much a mom-and-pop operation and a labor of love, and one of its operators is now devoting his time chiefly to his own writing career; Jess explains the situation further here: ratmmjess.livejournal.com/217198.html


I myself have no particular clout in publishing circles, but perhaps the blogosphere and the Six Degrees of Connection may bring this to the ears of friends of friends.)

(1) As well as Henry Ford, Laurence Fishburne, and Der Gubernator.

(2) Which volume is highly regarded by those lucky enough to have snagged a copy, and commands impressive prices on Amazon and Ebay; any publisher caring to reprint that book as well ( perhaps as a trade paperback?) would find a ready readership.


(Soon following, when I have the time to unleash a Teal Deer Stampede, will be a list of the things I've read thanks to your influence.)