Samuel Delany: Times Square Red, Timrs Square Blue

Samuel Delany is best known (at least in the circles I exist in) first, for his science fiction writing and second, for his science fiction criticism. But Delany's writing ranges well beyond these realms in its scope, extending from essays on comparative literature and queer studies, to memoir, to porn.

In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany uses both the approach of personal narrative and that of academic analysis to examine the link between urban development and architecture and vertical social contacts among urban dwellers. The two very different essays in the book were prompted by yet another plan to "clean up" Times Square in New York City, and taken together present a strong argument for the inclusion of places where people of different classes, races, and cultural niches can connect - in this instance, to form a loose community based on engagement in transgressive behaviours.

The first essay, Times Square Blue, is a personal record of Delany's experiences and observations as a participant in the street life in and around "old" Times Square - a neighbourhood of porn theatres and other establishments where gay men (and men who, while not identifying as gay, nonetheless chose to have sex with other men) could find willing casual partners, among other things that the renovators want to root out in the interests of protection of family values. Three Two One Contact: Times Square Red is a more theoretical essay, focusing on the changes in Times Square since the beginning of the urge to refurbish the area, and the resulting loss of an important public space where informal contacts can take place, subverting the modern tendency toward uniform neighbourhoods and sterile work spaces.

And interesting book, and a passionate argument for the importance of an urban environment that is organic, messy, open to a diversity of peoples and their needs, and able to facilitate unstructured contact between people.

For another perspective, read Jo Walton's review on tor.com. (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/sex-and-urban-planning-samuel-r-delanys-times-square-red-times-square-blue)

Winona LaDuke: Last Standing Woman

Although Winona LaDuke's novel, Last Standing Woman is written as fiction, the author states in a note that "the circumstances, history, and traditional stories, as well as some of the characters, are true, retold to the best of my ability." Indeed, Last Standing Woman tells with a sometimes searing truthfulness the history of the White Earth Anishinaabe people from the 1860s to the present, through seven generations, including three women named Ishkwegaabawiikwe, or Last Standing Woman.

The story of the White Earth people's resistance to racism, oppression and attempts at assimilation is told in an episodic fashion, tracing first the loss of identity and then the struggle to reclaim it despite such obstacles as land swindling, missionaries and their boarding schools, government housing projects, and alcoholism and sexual abuse.

As if to demonstrate the survival of her people, LaDuke writes the final chapter of the book - which deals with the vision of the newest woman to be named Ishkwegaabawiikwe - in Anishinaabe, declaring to the world that despite all the years of struggle, her people's language and culture survive in the young and will survive into the future.






.

Three by Kathy Reichs

As Constant Reader already is aware, I do enjoy mystery thrillers, and I tend to like them fairly dark and a tad gruesome. This is part of what makes Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan books so much fun - a forensic anthropologist is always going to have a touch of grue about her. Hard to identify human remains are like that. Also, Reichs' novels tend to be entertaining, fast-paced, suspenceful but not too challenging, and it's often fairly easy to figure out the plot twist.

Her latest, Bones Never Lie, was exactly what I've come to expect from a Temperance Brennan book, and that's a good thing. I must say that this time I found the ending very easy to see from a long ways off, the clues were so out in the open, but watching Brennan work out the obvious is fun. I could do with a few less info-dumps and "as you know, Bobs" - but this time everything that is sometimes a bit annoying was offset by the fact that Andrew Ryan is back in Tempe's life, and at last it looks like he's here to stay.

I also gobbled up two novellas, one of which - Bones in her Pocket - was a pleasant surprise because I did not figure out the real killer until shortly before Brennan stumbled over them. The other, Swamp Bones, was a bit easier to figure out, but as usual, watching Brennan do her thing is fun.

And now I am up-to-date with the series, and will just have to wait for the next one to come along.