the man who was pretending to be a lamp

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Robert_Moriyama
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Re: the man who was pretending to be a lamp

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

... Mr. Wilson? Are you a Gonzo fan? (The story was written and submitted well before the Doctor's recent departure, so it wasn't meant as a posthumous tribute, anyway.)<br><br>Robert M.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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kailhofer
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Re: the man who was pretending to be a lamp

Post by kailhofer »

[edit]<br>I replaced my original statement here. It was not flattering, but just because I have a strong, personal distaste for this kind of writing, doesn't mean that its author wasn't just as proud of it as I would be of mine.<br><br>To each his own, but this one was not for me.<br><br>Nate
Last edited by kailhofer on March 20, 2005, 10:00:17 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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Megawatts
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Re: the man who was pretending to be a lamp

Post by Megawatts »

I read this story twice. I didn't understand it at first, but then it hit me! Abstract Art created by words! This story, I'm sure, has different meanigs for each reader. Maybe I'm wrong--- and if I am please someone tell me!
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kailhofer
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Re:  the man who was pretending to be a lamp

Post by kailhofer »

I'm fascinated that people posting here have strong personal distastes for another's vision, and would deem it necessary to even think about taking a run at someone's art based on personal likes and dislikes.
<br>"Taking a run"? How do you mean?<br><br>As for basing our perceptions on our personal likes or dislikes, I'd like to see someone who didn't. Who we are colors our perceptions, and that's just part of being human. <br><br>As for myself, the person who I am didn't like this story. Originally, I said so in terms that, when I looked back on them, seemed hurtful, rather than as objective as they could be. I thought that was wrong, so I removed them. I had already posted, and wanted anyone who had seen the original to know that I had changed my statement. <br><br>There is no person completely able to distance themselves from their own likes or dislikes when evaluating something, especially since there are no "rules" to follow in critiquing. You may like this story. More power to you if you do, but it is not wrong or a personal attack for someone else to say that they don't. <br><br>Nate
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Re: the man who was pretending to be a lamp  

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

...Second, what's this piece doing here anyway? It's not sci-fi, it's not fantasy, it's not horror. My original comment lauded the editors for including it. I hold to that. Why? Because any story I submitted to a zine that focused on surrealist or avant garde or high-brow (?) writing would reject anything I wrote inside of two sentences regardless of the quality. The fact that this story is here at all speaks to Aphelion's editorship. Having said that, I think it's safe to say that this piece is in the wrong market. We're all here because we like--gasp--spaceships and dragons and monsters--we're basically geeks...

Dan E.
<br>As the editor who chose the piece, maybe I can clarify things by quoting what I said to D. Harlan Wilson when I accepted the story:<br><br>'The Man Who ... is one of the weirdest things I've read in a long time, reminding me of the wonderful absurdities of R. A. Lafferty and Philip K. Dick (on his lighter days).'<br><br>The story just tickled me. It was unapologetically, unabashedly strange, and contrary to Dan E.'s remarks, it did contain elements of fantasy. Aside from The Wife, nobody seems to react to The Man's attempts to be treated as a lamp at all, neither pedestrians, nor the police, nor pickpockets nor poltroons (running out of words that start with 'p', obviously). Men with butterfly nets do not appear to whisk him off to Bellevue (or Belle Reve, or Arkham). Then we have the octogenarian lamp-shoppers who devour the hapless salesman (that's kind of horrible, unless you really hate salesmen), and finally, the real lamps, who doff their shades and take to the streets.<br><br>Aside from Lafferty and Dick, those of a more literary bent might also see a little Kafka in there (if, say, the Man had wanted to be a cockroach instead of a lamp)...<br><br>Man, anyone who doesn't see elements of the fantastic in this story lives in a very interesting world, possibly with the aid of much better meds than the ones I'm taking!<br><br>Not to worry, however -- the April issue has spaceships 'on screen' in three stories, and a major plot point in a fourth (not a deliberate attempt at a theme issue -- it just worked out that way). Other stories feature monsters, some of them slimy.<br><br>(The question is, is my 'brow' high, or is that just the receding hairline?)<br><br>Robert M.<br>
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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