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SF Listing To the Poetic
Dec. 4th, 2024 04:33 pmBoston, Bruce, 2005, Etiquette with your robot wife and 30 more SF/F/H lists, Talisman, Box 565572, Miami, FL 33256; Talismanpub@BellSouth.net, $4.95, saddle-stitched with cardstock cover. 44 pages. Illustrated by Marge Simon.
This book contains 31 of Bruce's list poems, which have been popping up in various publications for the past few years. One, "Things Not to Do or Say When a Mad Scientist Moves into Your Neighborhood," received the Asimov's reader's choice award in 2003. Lists are fun and I have written a few myself. However, it would be hard to deny that Bruce has covered the territory more thoroughly and well than anybody else in the genre.
Here are some of the titles: "Signs your parents are being replaced by automatons," "Reasons the Druids did not survive," "How a werewolf chooses an agent," "The car of the future," and "Advice on meeting the devil in hell." How to tell if your parents are being replaced by automatons ? Here is one way:
_They keep saying the same things
over and over again._
Some of these lists are just silly. Not that there's anything wrong with being silly, but 10 minutes after you read it you want some more. Or something more. Some of these poems tell the truth, which I would argue is the ultimate aim of all literature. Here is one thing not to say when you meet a famous SF writer:
_I've never read anything by you.
But I hear it's pretty good._
If you have a vivid memory of your adolescence, this might make you cringe. By contrast, anything you should not say when being tortured to death is going to sound kind of silly in the comfort of your own home:
_It will actually get hotter if you hold it near
the top of the flame._
or
_I never use my nipples for anything anyway._
Been there, done that, wished I didn't. Seriously, this is a good book. The poems, like all good poems, don't need explanation, because they already tell their tales in the most concise and clear way possible. I have discovered through experimentation that, like an encyclopedia or dictionary of any kind, "Etiquette..." is most enjoyable when browsed rather than read cover to cover. When at a loss, open it up, read one poem, see if that doesn't help. And the next time your domestic robot acts like this it probably needs a tune-up:
_Insists on wearing a sombrero
when it serves enchiladas._
Most of the drawings by Marge Simon are of couples, and illustrate poems for which that is appropriate. They complement the poems nicely.
I recommend this small book to any fan of Bruce's work. Chances are, you have not seen too many of these poems before, as they (collectively) have been printed in so many different places. Even if you have seen many of them before it is nice to have them all in one place. This might be the sort of book to put out on a very small coffee table when hosting a party. It could get people talking. Then again, watch out for the bean dip.
This book contains 31 of Bruce's list poems, which have been popping up in various publications for the past few years. One, "Things Not to Do or Say When a Mad Scientist Moves into Your Neighborhood," received the Asimov's reader's choice award in 2003. Lists are fun and I have written a few myself. However, it would be hard to deny that Bruce has covered the territory more thoroughly and well than anybody else in the genre.
Here are some of the titles: "Signs your parents are being replaced by automatons," "Reasons the Druids did not survive," "How a werewolf chooses an agent," "The car of the future," and "Advice on meeting the devil in hell." How to tell if your parents are being replaced by automatons ? Here is one way:
_They keep saying the same things
over and over again._
Some of these lists are just silly. Not that there's anything wrong with being silly, but 10 minutes after you read it you want some more. Or something more. Some of these poems tell the truth, which I would argue is the ultimate aim of all literature. Here is one thing not to say when you meet a famous SF writer:
_I've never read anything by you.
But I hear it's pretty good._
If you have a vivid memory of your adolescence, this might make you cringe. By contrast, anything you should not say when being tortured to death is going to sound kind of silly in the comfort of your own home:
_It will actually get hotter if you hold it near
the top of the flame._
or
_I never use my nipples for anything anyway._
Been there, done that, wished I didn't. Seriously, this is a good book. The poems, like all good poems, don't need explanation, because they already tell their tales in the most concise and clear way possible. I have discovered through experimentation that, like an encyclopedia or dictionary of any kind, "Etiquette..." is most enjoyable when browsed rather than read cover to cover. When at a loss, open it up, read one poem, see if that doesn't help. And the next time your domestic robot acts like this it probably needs a tune-up:
_Insists on wearing a sombrero
when it serves enchiladas._
Most of the drawings by Marge Simon are of couples, and illustrate poems for which that is appropriate. They complement the poems nicely.
I recommend this small book to any fan of Bruce's work. Chances are, you have not seen too many of these poems before, as they (collectively) have been printed in so many different places. Even if you have seen many of them before it is nice to have them all in one place. This might be the sort of book to put out on a very small coffee table when hosting a party. It could get people talking. Then again, watch out for the bean dip.
