[A Pleasurable Headache] a carefully architectured nightmare
Nowt but links this week. A batch of shorts have gone out to various publications. Breath held as always. In the interim I’m breaking ground on another new short, this time the inspiration coming from one of those writing prompt bots on Twitter that seem to be rife right now. I guess the hellsite is good for something.
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Squid Game’s Strike Flashbacks Were Modelled on Our Real-Life Factory Occupation
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/squid-game-ssangyong-dragon-motor-strike-south-korea/
Lee Chang-Kun writes at Jacobin about the very real Ssangyong Motor strike in 2009 that formed the basis for the main character’s flashbacks in show of the moment, Squid Game.
“Out of the blue, we were left with no option but to squat at the factory. We first attempted to turn to each other to survive together. However, we were thrown into a life-or-death situation, often with no other option but to betray and dupe each other. At least once, as in Squid Game, we each had to hurt our closest friends. By the time the police raided the strike, there were only about 700 of us left, and mistrust of our coworkers nearly outweighed our trust. This pains me.”
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Twitter Is The Worst Reader
https://medium.com/@fondalee/twitter-is-the-worst-reader-2ac343c41874
Author Fonda Lee shares her thoughts on the increasingly haphazard relationship between writers and the eponymous hellsite.
“Twitter removes the trust between writer and reader by flattening meaning to the single most offensive understanding and proliferating that version alone.”
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Fascine Mattresses: Basketry Gone Wild
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/11/fascine-mattresses-basketry-gone-wild.html
The excellent Low Tech Magazine on the wonders of Fascine Mattresses and the incredible way in which they have influenced the landscape and geography of the Netherlands. Engineering simplicity.
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Gears of War’s Heroes Are At Once Tools And Victims of Fascism
Grace Benfell at GameSpot looks at the elements of fascism present in the GoW franchise.
“The game’s settings only really have two colors: decayed gray and blood red. Even if the game presents the COG’s fascism as necessary, it also shows that they do little to protect the vulnerable and only a little more to protect their own. Their once-grand cities are dead, and maybe nothing will ever bring them back to life. Even Marcus says their monuments are built on lies.”
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HORROR FICTION IN THE AGE OF COVID: A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
https://crimereads.com/horror-fiction-in-the-age-of-covid-a-roundtable-discussion/
A fantastic roundtable discussion over at CrimeReads between some of horror’s best current writers. They discuss horror’s recent evolutions and its place in a world full of dystopian and horrific elements of its own. I loved Cassandra Khaw’s take on why horror is more popular than ever:
“I suspect it’s one part capitalism and one part ‘the world is on fire and it’s a relief to immerse yourself in a carefully architectured nightmare that you know will eventually end.”
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Ecological Leninism
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n22/adam-tooze/ecological-leninism
Adam Tooze covers the last few books of Andreas Malm, most of which focus on post-pandemic climate politics. Malm’s recent work How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a proponent of direct action in such matters (if you couldn’t tell from the title).
“In an echo of Clara Zetkin’s argument that fascism is history’s revenge for the failure to make a socialist revolution, they see the hypocrisy and inconsistency of mainstream climate policy as driving voters towards the far right. To harp on the climate crisis while doing nothing about it is, in the long run, intolerable. Liberals’ failures make Trump look honest. He may deny the science, but at least he’s true to himself.”
Tooze is one of the better writers on economics and history right now. I’ve dipped in and out of his books on the economy of the Nazi regime, post WW1 economics and even his more recent book on the pandemic. If you’re a fan too you may be pleased to know he now has a newsletter. Recommended.
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David Graeber’s Possible Worlds
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/david-graeber-dawn-of-everything.html
Finally, long time readers may be aware of my love of the work of David Graeber. NY Mag has a new piece up by Molly Fischer that looks at the late Graeber’s newest work, a book he was working on weeks before his death. The book, The Dawn of Everything, was co-written with archaeologist David Wengrow and sets about challenging some of the long held beliefs about the beginning of civilisation.
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I’m off to count all of the empty promises coming out of COP26. See you in two!