Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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prefer the easier options. But easy or not, it is a direct function of how I perceive the world. Therefore when I see such character insights in a story and when those insights push my buttons (yes - - that's exactly how the character should react) I get a little frisson, a genuine moment of transcendental knowledge. The writer has brought someone alive for me. Perhaps the ultimate test of a writer, and certainly a moment to which all real artists must aspire. So the question reduces to this -- for any given writer, how genuine do the insights that the writer presents to me feel? How well has the writer penetrated the motivations and makeup of the characters I am reading about? The better the writer does this, the more likely I am to weep at the tragedies and rejoice in the triumphs. However the plain fact is that any writer will always find it easier to convince me to believe in a male character than to believe in a female character simply because the writer doesn't have to work nearly as hard at it -- it's an outgrowth of my biology to believe in and understand male characters. That doesn't make it impossible for me to believe in and understand female characters. Just harder, both for me and the writer. Notice that unlike Silverberg I make no a priori judgement about the gender of the writer in question -- I have deliberately used impersonal words in developing this train of thought. I don't believe that gender of the writer has any relevance to the question at all. Ursula Le Guin makes me believe in her heroes and Gene Wolfe in his heroines (to name but two) and that fact alone shows that it is always possible to transcend mere biology. It is simply a question of belief on the part of the reader; of how convincing the writer (male or female) is to that reader. But for exactly these same reasons it will often be the case, as Silverberg implied, that a male writer will write about the male worldview and a female writer will write about the female perspective. That's the path of least resistance and it is a most unusual person who won't travel that path. Though a number of writers are unusual, and do take the opposite approach, and when they succeed, will definitely find their books occupying pride of place on my bookshelves. Asimov, for example, has done it at least three times (but then he always was unusual wasn't he?). Probably one of his best characters, and certainly his own favourite, was Susan Calvin from the Robot stories, but there was also Arkady Darrell from the Foundation stories and Marlene from Nemesis. Gene Wolfe also presented a very believable female viewpoint in Pandora by Holly Hollander. On the other side of the gender divide, Maureen F. McHugh managed the truly amazing feat of telling a male viewpoint story in the first person with the novel China Mountain Zhang. Ursula Le Guin, with the character of Shevek in The Dispossessed, also managed to present a most convincing male worldview (this book remains one of my all time favourites). All of them exceptions, and all of them exceptional. But they prove the rule. It doesn't always work, of course. There is considerably more to it than simply giving a character a name associated with the opposite gender. Heinlein tried many times to write from a feminine perspective but in my opinion he never once succeeded in being convincing -- at least not on the levels of presentation that we are examining in this essay! Put all these thoughts together and the conclusion you come to is that the male writer is more likely to convince me (as opposed to you) of his male insights than the female writer is to convince me of her female insights. Contrariwise, the female writer is also much more likely to convince me of her male insights than the male writer is to convince me of his female insights. And no, damnit -- that doesn't mean that I only read books about male characters and neither does it mean that the only books I read by female writers are about male characters. It means no more than it says -- it is much more difficult to convince me outside of these areas. And therefore when it works
outside of these areas it is correspondingly that much more rewarding than any other reading experience and is to be treasured as such. Look at Mischa in Vonda McIntyre's The Exile Waiting (also Snake in Dreamsnake), Kivrin in Doomsday Book by Connie Willis or Leisha Camden in Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress if you don't believe me! So taken as a whole, that's the closest I can come to an explanation of why the books on my shelves are skewed towards the male, though not exclusively so.
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Trimmings From The Triffid's Beard
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Foreword Unlike most holics, (if, a
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Buster Keaton and the lateral mind
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Movie Go Round Phlogiston Thirty-Fi
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crisps and a most revolting orange
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Lingua Frankly Phlogiston Thirty-Si
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tranquil islands of San Serif as th
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linguistic analysis. It is a theme
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up is laughable (feudalism across t
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perhaps over six feet." or "The per
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A Dozen Drabbles Phlogiston Thirty-
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This sort of thing had been going o
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In the story Jack Connie Willis cho
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(assuming the author describes them
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You should also consider whether or
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The Lesser Spotted Science Fiction
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. . . She peered at the cracked man
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stick. He hit the bed, and it was s
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Funny Business Phlogiston Forty-One
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...A large bottle. And in the bottl
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His wit and wisdom are highly prais
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16 novels, a Companion and a Mappe,
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weekends, many fine fictional works
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Zelazny brought Corwin's struggle t
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ordinary). He has also written some
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using them. Such ideas are reinforc
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that is quite frightening in the ra
Page 69 and 70: (v = velocity of aeroplane, c = spe
Page 71 and 72: press in recent years about people
Page 74 and 75: John Kilian Houston Brunner (1934-1
Page 77 and 78: In the Beginning Phoenixine Seventy
Page 80 and 81: It's Only Words Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 82: Alan Dean Foster Montezuma Strip As
Page 85 and 86: Drachenfels is absolutely brilliant
Page 88 and 89: There's a Pigeon in the Hole Phlogi
Page 90 and 91: detective story. Currently, under t
Page 92: Shock -- The unofficial Iain M Bank
Page 95: worlds (The Two Timers), interstell
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Page 103 and 104: To Be Continued Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 105: searching out and nullifying sabote
Page 108 and 109: various acquaintances. Most of the
Page 112 and 113: The Mixture As Before Phoenixine Ei
Page 114 and 115: Paul J. McAuley's new novel Fairyla
Page 116: John Barnes Kaleidoscope Century Mi
Page 119: and move hastily on. It is also qui
Page 124 and 125: Bushell of the Royal American Mount
Page 127 and 128: Genre? Phoenixine Eighty-Two, July
Page 129: example, it is genuinely moving. On
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Page 135 and 136: Living in an SF Novel Phoenixine Ei
Page 137 and 138: Robyn Gossett is an entertaining wr
Page 140 and 141: Youthful Vices Phoenixine Eighty-Fi
Page 142 and 143: story is ever continued, I will be
Page 145 and 146: Connections Phoenixine Eighty-Six,
Page 147 and 148: have worried. She is on the top of
Page 150 and 151: New Things Phoenixine Eighty-Eight,
Page 152 and 153: novel with a lot of libertarian pre
Page 155 and 156: Oh Frabjous Day Phoenixine Eighty-N
Page 157: Falco, the detective in Vespasian's
Page 160 and 161: autobiography and several smaller a
Page 162: anyone to be proud of. But Malafren
Page 165 and 166: It sounded good and I dived into it
Page 168 and 169: Real Hols Phoenixine Ninety-One, Ma
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few months ago and complained that
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I Can't Lift up My Book Phoenixine
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There was a time, many years ago, w
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Moronicity Phoenixine Ninety-Three,
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my body opening in anticipation of
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Cats Phoenixine Ninety-Four, June 1
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With Higher Education, Sheffield an
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Food Phoenixine Ninety-Five, July 1
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through. His books pull you up with
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Snot Phoenixine Ninety-Six, August
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I have no hesitation in recommendin
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Tower Blocks and Graffiti Phoenixin
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picture had appeared on the wall an
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As I collected my luggage, the clou
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the Kay Scarpetta stories. Other th
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Ah -- so now I was having earthquak
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went back to the dentist. "Oh yes,
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Tony Phoenixine One-Hundred, Decemb
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ut when she puts her mind to it she
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Bouncy Phoenixine One-Hundred and O
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slammed shut as the wind screamed p
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A series of bizarre murders is shak
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The Universe Hates Me Phoenixine On
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humour with which this farrago of n
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Diatribe on Language Phoenixine One
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unless your school principle says s
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with large gaps in his memory and a
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Toilets Phoenixine One-Hundred and
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wall rather than recessed into it.
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Richard Matheson I am Legend Orb Ro
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almost a reprise of the war of 1812
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McConnell's book Code Complete proc
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Fiji Phoenixine One-Hundred and Six
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Every night the resident trio of mu
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The next day I flew home and the vi
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Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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