Free Ebooks for Women's History Month

The party at WorldCon was so! great! And it helps to have such a nifty book to show off. So I wanted to enthuse a bit more about it and why I’m so happy with it.

1. It’s the old Ace double format. I used to love those whenever I found them in the used bookstores.
2. Vicki Saunders did an amazing job with the book design, including using elements from the interior art to create printer’s ornaments to denote section breaks. In a move I consider above and beyond, they differ between the two books.
3. I have been admiring Mark Tripp’s art for over a decade now. He’s a good friend and I can’t begin to say how much it means to me to use his art, so we’ve got a collaboration other than the game we’ve both worked on for a bajillion years, Armageddon MUD.
4. I found out I had more than enough SF for a collection. In fact, we had to cut some of it. A surprising amount.
5. A favorite editor from Microsoft, Jo Molnar, agreed to do the copy-editing. I’d worked with Jo before and knew he was meticulous and careful, and that he’d bravely face the demands of a spec fic collection, including questions like how one formats telepathic communications.
6. I got plenty of input in how the book looked, the order, the editing and so forth. It’s more than just a collection of my work, it’s an expression of my philosophy regarding books.
7. Publisher and friend Tod McCoy has become one of my favorite people to work with. He solved problem after problem, came up with clever ideas, and was always enthusiastic, knowledgeable and supportive. And fun as hell.
8. The awesome blurbs, including a somehow very Norman-ish note from Norman Spinrad and an unconventional list for an unconventional book by Karen Joy Fowler.
9. Getting to throw a book launch party at WorldCon, the biggest of the SF conventions.
10. It’s appearing in time for World Fantasy Convention, and I know Tod will make sure there’s copies there so I may actually sign more than a couple books at the con.

You can find the book for preordering at Hydra House.

If you’re familiar with C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, you may know what I’m quoting in the title. In the final book of the series, The Last Battle, there is a group of dwarves who believe in their cause so strongly that they cannot perceive reality. There are multiple interpretations of the dwarves, particularly given how prone to Christian allegory Lewis’s work is, but I think they hold a lesson for those of us witnessing and/or participating in arguments on the Internet.

Here’s the thing. Everyone believes their own worldview. It may not totally jibe with the one they project to the world, a la Stephen Colbert. But deep inside, everyone is the champion in their own narrative, or at least that’s the impression that everyone I’ve ever met or read about gives me.

And because they’re the main character in their story, people like to believe that they are good or at least mostly good. But that definition of good can vary wildly from individual to individual. It often is a combination of definitions associated with a particular religion along with whatever personal modifications one requires. Their attitude and behavior toward other beings are shaped by those definitions.

So, the dwarves are being good according to their own dwarvish standards, which, depending on our own internal definitions may or may not seem incorrect to us. That’s worth taking a moment to think about.

Am I saying bad faith arguments are never made, that no one enjoys playing devil’s advocate or creating an elaborate chain of logic one could slip around an opponent’s neck? No, those exist but should be saved for another time. What I’d like to focus on is how one person who’s convinced they’re right can listen to another person who is also convinced that they’re right and end up at a meaningful conversation.

We get angry when people disagree with us. We become defensive when we feel we are under attack. That is a normal response that goes back to our early days of being human. But one of the cool things about human beings is that we can recognize that impulse in ourselves, and take it into account, and then move on to a more considered response which by no coincidence is usually a more courteous response.

To me, part of my definition of being good is questioning assumptions as well as what I’m told by my surroundings, particularly popular culture, and my own biases and filters. It seems to me more meaningful to be good in a way that I know to be correct because I have spent time thinking about it than to accept a definition pre-created for me. I can conceive of a world view, however, where that is not true.

And part of that definition is being willing to listen, to try to find common ground and agreement. To take a little time for give and take, rather than worrying about who’s the most rightest of all. Passionate anger can be a great motivator. But what it’s best at is creating more passionate anger.

Am I saying I am never offended ever? Holy smokies, no. But I am saying that I try to be willing to listen. That I try to extend the person I am listening to the courtesy of assuming they speak in good faith. If they don’t, eventually that will come out, at least in my opinion. Yes, I may feel that they should be listening to me first and that viewpoint may be justified. But what is more important, being right or achieving communication that may enable change of that worldview, or even mine?

I’m aware mileage as far as agreement goes will vary wildly among readers of this blog. And I will save how one reacts to bad faith arguments for some other post. But to me, operating by these guidelines is more effective than not, and gives me the satisfaction of knowing that at least I tried.