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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mallus" data-source="post: 3465318" data-attributes="member: 3887">That's the spirit!Hey, a honest disagreement about the content of his post. We can't have that.When I read the words 'great clomping foot of nerdism', I didn't feel anger, I felt recognition. I recalled the days when my perfect book had both a glossary and a map. It goes without saying it was set in the far future or in the time of  the elves (thus I loved both Dune and LotR). I had a passion for the minutiae of made-up things and places. This is what I looked for in literature. It was somewhat later I discovered most people don't...I'm very interested in figuring out why what appeals to the boy still appeals to the man. Why does the mere mention of the 'Holtzmann suspensor-nullification effect' or 'Minas Morgul' bring me pleasure? Is it simply the promise of a thrilling world of wonder? One that's somehow improved by extensive mapping, by survey, by the kind of atomizing that would seem to demystify it. What the Hell is going on? What's the allure of of BS science (spice gas, tetrion particles, wave-motion guns), constellations full of faux stars, and highly-detailed systems of magic (another important criteria I looked for). It  starts to look like a toybox full of autism. Harrison comes out swinging and says 'this is a waste of time'. Part of me agrees. It's the reduction of the fantastic --which ought to be chock full of myth, fear, primary process badthink-- to fetishism. Tell me something about the human condition, or the expanse of human conception. Don't putter around drawing out the sewer map of Hobbiton. And yet I'd probably buy the sewer map of Hobbiton. (or at least the latest Star Trek Technical Manual). It's a conundrum, hence my interest.Ok, rant over. I probably shouldn't have been posting while listening to the new NIN album (it's good. Quelle suprise!)I have plans to drink whiskey tomorrow night with a bunch of my more literary-minded buddies, where I intend to bring up Harrison's blog entry. Maybe they'll be a fight! (I can see the headlines now: Nerd throw-down in South Philly!)That's the spirit... err, spirits!</blockquote>

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