Glen -
Unfortunately I fear you are correct. *I* have
probably *written* at least one Novel's worth (a
Michener or King's worth?) right here on the FRIAM
list, yet you don't see me buckling down to publish my
own next to Doug's. And in fact, I think Doug will
acknowledge that even *he* wouldn't (couldn't) write
his novel today... it was enough focus just to dig it
out, re-asciify it, reformat it, edit, dust, clean,
etc. enough to publish as an e-book on Amazon.
Patricia (and other published fiction authors
here???) might have another perspective of course!
I don't play video games for 6 hour stints, even
though I came of age along with Pong, then Asteroids,
Pac Man, Battlezone, and Missile Command. I do
occasionally fall into a hole dug by Tetris on my
iPhone, however.
But I *rarely* read a novel anymore. I was, as you
were, was trained on such... but the last 22 years
(if you read my last post) have slowly eroded that.
22 years ago I had a TV connected to a VCR in a
cabinet with doors, and I might have indulged in a
movie once every week or two... maybe two during a
weekend. I rarely even turned the tube on, and then
only to maybe catch a local weather forecast.
*Even* I didn't have a *laptop* until about 1998 and
while I spent at least half my time at work in front
of a computer, I spent almost no time at home on a
computer and the other half of my work time
arm-wrestling (other) idiots in meetings or crawling
around fishing cables under raised floors or dropped
ceilings. Today I spend (to this list's chagrin) 4-16
hours a day (350/365 days) in front of this (or one or
another) damned machine either reading/writing e-mail,
surfing the web (for very important stuff), writing
proposals, writing code, (occasionally) writing
invoices, building 3d models for proposals or for
specifying physical parts of systems, or streaming a
movie or ...
I'm lucky to
pull
my face out (2:14) of this machine for any
significant amount of time, it is only because I
maintain something of a "homesteader's lifestyle" that
requires me to chop wood, carry water, repair a
dumptruck/tractor/trailer haul my own trash away,
etc. I still spend *several* hours a week arm
wrestling (other) idiots in meetings but half of them
are on Skype!
Someone needs to design a haptic-interface (and
mediation protocols?) for a USB attached device to
facilitate arm wresting over the wire proper? Rob
Shaw's (also on this list?) brother (Chris) was
involved in a startup 15 years ago (Haptek?) that was
designing pneumatic haptic "suits" for martial arts
games, unfortunately it didn't make it to the market.
They got distracted with
People Putty (and
more)...
I *am* working with the Institute of American Indian
Arts (IAIA) to try to help them develop/teach
*immersive* storytelling in their
Digital
Dome but I fear, even with full 360 surround
environments and full motion tracking, storytelling is
losing something, unless it can somehow transcend and
come full circle. For those lucky enough to
experience Robert Mirabal's live performance (
Po'Pay
Speaks), you might know that there is always
hope for such!
We (most of us) are of a generation that preceded all
this, I can only imagine what it has been like for the
current generation of children who were born *after*
Al Gore invented the Internet and the rest of us
invented the rest of it. I only see MiniVans and SUVs
on the highway with 2.6 (or is it 1.8) kids in the
back seat with 2 video screens (one on the back of
each parent's seat/headrest with either a movie or
maybe a video game (or web browser) running. I have
quoted Jerry Mander with "Shoot your Television".
Obviously that was not enough, my computer snuck in
and filled it's niche to bursting!
Off to a face-to-face meeting that will actually
require walking around outside waving our arms (Hi
Jane) !
I've gotta stop this Twitch!
- Steve
Steve Smith wrote at 03/21/2013 10:24 AM:
I'll see your "King's Men" and raise you a"Stone Junction"
<http://books.google.com/books/about/Stone_Junction.html?id=woneSCNLbrYC> by
Jim Dodge
Ordered!
When Glen writes his "great american novel" (surely to be also an
alchemical potboiler, a digital noir happening, an outlaw epic?) all his
(published on paper or internet, indexed by Google) forgotten influences
and sources will be exposed. His Twitch will be a folding of the
origami paper, or perhaps a pull of the taffy.
Unfortunately, I think the novel is dead as a format for story telling.
It may return if peak oil or a zombie apocalypse obtains. But overall,
I think it's efficacy is dwindling rapidly. I still like them because
that's the way I was trained. But I find them increasingly difficult to
read ... the surrounding people, devices, and non-fiction books with
good indices draw my attention away from novels. I'll play a video game
for 6 hours. But I won't read a novel for 6 hours. Even when I do
manage to read for a long time, it sparks ideas that I have to write
down or pause to look something up in another book. I am no longer
linear ... or even first order continuous.