Books

Draining the Oceans and Dreaming Ahead: Randall Munroe’s “What If?”

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So WHAT IF you threw a baseball at 90% the speed of light?

So WHAT IF you threw a baseball at 90% the speed of light?

One of the most interesting things about knowledge and learning is how they allow us to form conjectures, imagine possibilities, engage with the hypothetical; in other words, what we know allows us to imagine what we don’t yet know for certain. The more fanciful and strong imaginations can combine with knowledge to ponder especially perplexing matters. For example, once we’ve learned enough about science, we could look at the earth and ask, “What if it stopped spinning? What would happen?” That question happens to be the first of many discussed in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe.

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J&STAC: October’s New #1 Issues

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-J. Michael Bestul is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Stephanie Ruehl works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books and graphic novels. Combine all that into a biweekly feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”

Every month, loads of new series, mini-series, or one-offs are released to the public. We take a look at some of the #1 issues of the past few weeks that grabbed our attention, in ways both good and bad. We start with Marvel’s god of thunder, who is now the goddess of thunder:

bc81b3bc24ae6f76e29062b52ec7be32 [Read more…]

J&STAC: Rat Queens, vol 1

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-J. is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Steph works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books & graphic novels. Combine all that into a regular feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”

J. & Steph Talk About Comics: the Pilot Episode

For our inaugural discussion, we’re looking at the comic book that inspired us to do this series. High fantasy, tons of RPG elements, snark, wit, and the most ass-kicking characters this side of a d20 — Rat Queens. Volume 1 is collected in the graphic novel, “Sass and Sorcery,” and volume 2 is currently on its second issue in comic book format.

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So You Want To Be A Writer

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A guest post by Jason Fabeck, who lives in Chicago and is currently writing a book while trying desperately to match his socks. 

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

-Charles Bukowski

Before you ask, the answer is yes. I titled my first piece after a Bukowski poem. I decided to take a risk and quote a famous writer. But guess what? That’s what writers do: take risks. We wear hats! We have relationship problems! We own dogs with dead celebrity names! Now, you say, “So do I. And I’m not a writer.” Well, you might just be. The first rule of becoming a great writer-human is to know that you are capable of being one. Sounds silly but I really think it starts as simple as that.

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Talking Time Travel With Shaun Manning

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Shaun Manning writes novellas, marketing plans for the University of Michigan Press, theatrical productions, work for BBC Radio… and comics. Lots of comics. These include the new graphic novel, Interesting Drug, which was published by Archaia/Boom! Studios to excellent reviews including praise from Comic Book Resources and Broken Frontier.

Interesting Drug takes one of the classic science fiction/fantasy conceits and gives it a new spin. Andrew Smith, a brilliant but unambitious college dropout, meets Tristram Lang, a handsome and charming man who is self-confident to the point of cocksure. Tristram claims to be from ten years in the future, when Andrew has invented a way to make time travel possible, and he’s come back to make sure Andrew succeeds. To his own surprise, Andrew does develop Chro-Noz — a drug that rewires your consciousness to send you back through your timeline. His joy at this discovery is short-lived, for the world becomes addicted to Chro-Noz (and its nostalgia), outpacing contemporary drugs like cocaine or heroin. Andrew, now an unwilling criminal mastermind, discovers that Tristram knows more about time travel than he tells…

Shaun Manning very graciously spoke with me about the challenges of forging a unique addition to the canon of time travel literature. 

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Roxane Gay On “Bad Feminism,” Beyoncé, & Blogging

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Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, reads at Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonvile.

What does it mean to be a “bad feminist”? Author Roxane Gay defines the term in the intro of her book of essays of the same title. She admits she may not be as up on feminist texts as she’d like and sometimes she finds herself singing along to pop music she knows is bad for women. But she also supports equal pay for equal work and a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health with unfettered access to health care. A “bad” feminist accepts that she or he cannot be a perfect ideal and example of feminism at all times.

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Story Club Class Lets Writers Test Waters

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Story Club was founded in 2009. (Image via)

If you’ve ever wanted to see if joining Chicago’s live lit scene is for you, you can find out in a stage setting anxiety-free this fall. Story Club host and founder Dana Norris is continuing a series of storytelling shows and classes at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 and Oct. 20 at Holiday Club on N. Sheridan Rd.

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Rainbow Rowell’s “Landline” offers call from the past

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(image via)

When I was in college, I had few female friends — the ones I did have were not close, and more often than not they were the girfriends of my guy friends. I didn’t think much of it at the time, and possibly even prided myself on what I saw as passing as “one of the guys.” I wasn’t passing, and looking back now, I can see that while I was busy trying to be the cool girl surrounded by guys, I missed out on a lot by rejecting female bonds.

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Mapping Awesome With John Green

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Ever the history nerd, I was all too willing when my boyfriend suggested we watch ten-minute, “crash course” youtube videos on World History. The host was not the stereotypical, boring teacher from middle school who fixated on dates and the reigns of King X and Queen Y. No, John Green was a dude who was passionate about history.

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