Solidarity in Space
September 25, 2015 1:56 PM Subscribe
Really, though, shouldn’t authors be more likely to write about unions now that labor is so gravely imperiled? Don’t we need more novels about what unions are capable of, now that pencil-necked geeks like Scott Walker are eviscerating them in public? - The Seattle Review of Books reviews Windswept, a new science fiction book by MeFi's own Adam Rakunas. Interview. He also posts fiction on Twitter at Adam's Bedtime Story.
good amazon reviews too (even from people who don't like unions!).
posted by andrewcooke at 2:11 PM on September 25, 2015
posted by andrewcooke at 2:11 PM on September 25, 2015
This is really cool.
posted by RakDaddy at 3:36 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by RakDaddy at 3:36 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Omg unions in space is like, one of my favorite weirdly specific book genres. Off to go have a look!
posted by sciatrix at 4:24 PM on September 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by sciatrix at 4:24 PM on September 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
She’s not one of those scary organizers that Scott Walker warned me about, right?
Oh god, the organizers of mine are just truly terrifying people (actually drove a very pro-union friend of mine out of there) and actually act like stalkers. I've literally run away from them while they were harassing me. And oh goody, recruitment time must be near so they'll be tracking me down at work next. They genuinely don't get whyyyyyyyy they have low participation. I kind of want to tell them why (in great insulting eviscerating "don't harass people you WANT on your side" language), except god only knows what they'd do to me after that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:10 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh god, the organizers of mine are just truly terrifying people (actually drove a very pro-union friend of mine out of there) and actually act like stalkers. I've literally run away from them while they were harassing me. And oh goody, recruitment time must be near so they'll be tracking me down at work next. They genuinely don't get whyyyyyyyy they have low participation. I kind of want to tell them why (in great insulting eviscerating "don't harass people you WANT on your side" language), except god only knows what they'd do to me after that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:10 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
There's a crane chase? I'm so buying this one.
posted by Banknote of the year at 6:11 PM on September 25, 2015
posted by Banknote of the year at 6:11 PM on September 25, 2015
Omg unions in space is like, one of my favorite weirdly specific book genres.
There are others? Do tell...
posted by EmilyClimbs at 7:46 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are others? Do tell...
posted by EmilyClimbs at 7:46 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
There's a crane chase? I'm so buying this one.
Also rum.
Possibly I should have led with that.
posted by Artw at 8:18 PM on September 25, 2015
Also rum.
Possibly I should have led with that.
posted by Artw at 8:18 PM on September 25, 2015
Hell, I keep neglecting the rum every time I talk about this book.
posted by RakDaddy at 9:42 PM on September 25, 2015
posted by RakDaddy at 9:42 PM on September 25, 2015
There are others? Do tell...
It's not in space, but there's a fun take on union organising and strike breaking in China Mieville's book Kraken.
posted by knapah at 6:44 AM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not in space, but there's a fun take on union organising and strike breaking in China Mieville's book Kraken.
posted by knapah at 6:44 AM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also rum.
Damnit, now you have me buying a book and more rum.
posted by Banknote of the year at 10:04 AM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Damnit, now you have me buying a book and more rum.
posted by Banknote of the year at 10:04 AM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sound interesting. It brings to mind another Sci-Fi author who opposed unions in his work, the great-grandaddy of all space opera, Doc E.E. Smith.
In one of the early Lensmen books, he rails against unions, making claims of laziness, people expecting pay and promotions for just showing up, and so on -- the usual claims. Then, just a book or two later, he vividly describes a mine disaster, one where presumably a union mandating better security protocols would have made the death toll much less, if it couldn't have prevented the unsafe explosives handling in the first place. And the parallel between the Lensmen Corps itself and a union wasn't lost on even my 12 year old self.
Anyway, thanks for the pointer, I'll be sure to check it out.
posted by Blackanvil at 12:41 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
In one of the early Lensmen books, he rails against unions, making claims of laziness, people expecting pay and promotions for just showing up, and so on -- the usual claims. Then, just a book or two later, he vividly describes a mine disaster, one where presumably a union mandating better security protocols would have made the death toll much less, if it couldn't have prevented the unsafe explosives handling in the first place. And the parallel between the Lensmen Corps itself and a union wasn't lost on even my 12 year old self.
Anyway, thanks for the pointer, I'll be sure to check it out.
posted by Blackanvil at 12:41 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Omg unions in space is like, one of my favorite weirdly specific book genres.
There are others? Do tell...
Martian Time-Slip, Philip K. Dick
posted by CCBC at 5:16 PM on September 26, 2015
There are others? Do tell...
Martian Time-Slip, Philip K. Dick
posted by CCBC at 5:16 PM on September 26, 2015
Sounds cool, purchased at robot trading.
posted by signal at 7:27 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by signal at 7:27 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
If anyone would like Official Windswept Signed Stuff*, MeFi Mail me, and we'll make it happen.
*So, far, that's just bookmarks. And they're union printed!
posted by RakDaddy at 9:53 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
*So, far, that's just bookmarks. And they're union printed!
posted by RakDaddy at 9:53 PM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
First Chapter:
I was sitting at my usual stool at Big Lily’s, talking with Odd Dupree about his troubles down at the plant, when something big and stupid came crashing through the front door. Vytai Bloombeck’s head swiveled like a pumpkin mounted on a sack of compost as he scanned the faces of the regulars. I tried to duck beneath the ironpalm bar, but it was too late – he had zeroed in on me.
“Padma!” he shouted, moving toward me like a runaway cargo can, “I got something, make us both righteously wealthy, like Jesus would want.” He shoved Odd to the side as he plopped into two chairs. Odd’s eyes rolled back into his head from the smell. Bloombeck’s job was to fish blockages out of the city’s sewer mains, a Contract slot he’d kept since Time Immemorial because no one was stupid or desperate enough to take it from him.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:36 AM on September 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was sitting at my usual stool at Big Lily’s, talking with Odd Dupree about his troubles down at the plant, when something big and stupid came crashing through the front door. Vytai Bloombeck’s head swiveled like a pumpkin mounted on a sack of compost as he scanned the faces of the regulars. I tried to duck beneath the ironpalm bar, but it was too late – he had zeroed in on me.
“Padma!” he shouted, moving toward me like a runaway cargo can, “I got something, make us both righteously wealthy, like Jesus would want.” He shoved Odd to the side as he plopped into two chairs. Odd’s eyes rolled back into his head from the smell. Bloombeck’s job was to fish blockages out of the city’s sewer mains, a Contract slot he’d kept since Time Immemorial because no one was stupid or desperate enough to take it from him.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:36 AM on September 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older Playing 20 Questions with the Mind. | Android x86 Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Artw at 2:09 PM on September 25, 2015