Science Fiction-Free September '24 wrap-up

Last week I wrapped up the 2024 installment of my annual Science Fiction-Free September. I'm happy to proclaim this year's moratorium on SF novels (and, more broadly, commercial fiction) a success.

I planned for five novels, plus two extras if time remained. I completed six, plus a handful of plays by Aphra Behn and a few Japanese light novels (in English). So overall, I read 14 individual titles this September, with a number of them being short and light reading. But the main selections were anything but light! I noted last year that I'd chosen some heavy-hitting fiction, and the same is true this year.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 12

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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Using the new primal Pattern he had created before Brand stole the Jewel of Judgment, Corwin teleported himself to the battleground at the Courts of Chaos. There, Brand took Dierdre hostage as a bargaining chip to force Corwin to help him with his own plans. However, he was shot by a mysterious green-clad archer, causing him, Dierdre, and the Jewel fell into the Chaosian abyss. The archer revealed himself as Caine, who had faked his own murder to get to the bottom of the intrigue in Amber secretly. As they spoke, they were interrupted by three trumpeters on horseback emerging from the black road.

RIP auto-posting

Sometime after Sunday, I realized that my posts weren't automatically publishing to Twitter. After a bit of investigation, I learned that dlvr.it ended their free tier. Oddly enough, I was informed that my "trial" had ended, though I've been using the service for years.

Well, that's annoying. It's their business, of course, but one of my pet peeves is when long-established free services on the Internet start demanding money out of the blue.

And then I thought, "Wait a minute, I'm a programmer." Why can't I roll my own auto-poster? Polling the site and grabbing the title and URL for new posts is easy, so the only thing I really need to learn is how to access the X API. (And in so doing, I realized I'd inadvertently been "spamming" for several months, by posting substantially identical tweets to both my accounts. I'll be a bit more creative with the second cross-post, I promise!)

Not that the Faithful Readers will necessarily notice, but automatic posting will resume shortly. That is all.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 11

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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Corwin was riding from Amber to the Courts of Chaos, to bring the Jewel of Judgment to Benedict's battle there and give them an advantage against the Chaosians. However, he was overtaken by the oncoming Chaos storm of Shadow being torn apart after Oberon's possibly failed attempt to repair the primal Pattern at Amber. To protect himself from the storm, Corwin used the Jewel to create a new Pattern where he was. He was successful, but when he was finished, Brand appeared and stole the Jewel from him.

Corwin then used the new Pattern to transport himself to the battlefield in Chaos. He found Brand at a vantage point overlooking the scene, using his partial attunement with the Jewel to fight the Amberite forces with lightning. As the Amberites reached Brand, he took Dierdre hostage.

Happy birthday, Jimmy Carter

On December 12, 1952, the first meltdown of a nuclear reactor occurred in the National Research Experimental (NRX) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario. There were no fatalities or injuries, but radioactive material was leaked into the environment and vented into the atmosphere.

The cleanup took months and involved hundreds, including 150 American military personnel, led by a 28-year-old U.S. Navy submarine lieutenant named Jimmy Carter who was part of the fledgling nuclear submarine program. Disassembling the reactor involved donning protective gear and being lowered into it for only a few minutes at a time to avoid overexposure to radioactivity.

Supposedly, Carter's exposure to radiation was 1000 times what would be considered safe today: it's said that he peed radioactive urine for six months, and his ability to have children in the future was in question.

As it turned out, he had four children, became the governor of Georgia, and then was elected the 39th president of the United States. Following his presidency, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. And today, Jimmy Carter turned 100. Not only is he the longest-lived ex-president and the former president with the longest post-presidency, but he's the first president to become a centenarian. Carter has outlived all his predecessors in the Oval Office, and two of his successors. It would appear that the comic books are right: exposure to radioactivity endows you with superpowers.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 10

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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Corwin hellrode most of the way from Amber to the Courts of Chaos, facing opposition from Brand and others all the way, only to find that he would not be able to complete the journey, as he could not outrun the oncoming storm of Shadow being undone by Oberon's failure to repair the Pattern in primal Amber. Instead, Corwin decided to create a new Pattern where he was to hold back the destruction. Where Oberon failed, he succeeded—but immediately he was attacked by Brand, who materialized, stole the Jewel of Judgment, and disappeared.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 9

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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While Oberon attempted to repair the primal Pattern, he tasked Corwin with riding from Amber to Chaos, delivering to him the Jewel of Judgment by messenger bird along the way. Corwin was hindered in that mission: by his brother Brand who attempted to steal the Jewel and shot his horse, by the seductive Lady, by murderous leprechauns, and by a ponderous crow, and last by a murderous jackal. Finally Corwin reached a vast plateau he could not hope to cross before the storm of Shadow undoing itself caught up with him. On the plateau he sees the black road, proving that Oberon had failed. He realized his only choice was to use the Jewel to create a pattern where he was.

He plants the staff he cut from the tree, Ygg, in the ground. Staring into the Jewel, which contains the template of the Pattern, Corwin begins to walk its shape on the ground. He meets no resistance as he goes, unlike walking an established Pattern like the one in Amber. The act brings up pleasant memories of his past life on Earth, especially of Paris in the early 20th century. However, around the periphery of the Pattern, images of faces mock him. The advancing storm finally catches up with and overtakes him, but it does not obliterate the ground where he is working.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 8

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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On his hellride to the Courts of Chaos, Corwin has been hindered multiple times: by Brand, who attempted to trap him in Shadow and shot his horse in an attempt to take the Jewel of Judgment; by Lady, a woman who tried to seduce him away from his mission; by a party of little people who stole his horse, tried to get him drunk and set upon him; by a giant trapped in a swamp who told him his quest was pointless; and, finally, by a phiosophical crow named Hugi who tried to convince him that it was just his ego striving against illusion and hindering his oneness with the Absolute. He finally stumped Hugi, and he flew away. As Corwin approached Chaos, the terrain became more difficult and misty. Out of the fog emerged the form of a large animal.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 7

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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As part of Oberon's plan to repair the primal Pattern in Amber, he tasked Corwin with riding as quickly as possible through Shadow from Amber to Chaos. As he did so, he was waylaid twice by Brand trying to persuade him to surrender the Jewel of Judgment. He then narrowly escaped a group of little people who tricked him into drinking with him in their underground hall, and then a third confrontation with Brand in which he tried to kill Corwin with a crossbow, but mortally wounded his horse, Star, instead. Corwin was then rescued by his bloodbird, who pecked out Brand's eye before they both disappeared.

Chapter 7 is heavy on dialogue and philosophical ruminations, so I'm going to approach it a bit differently, by interleaving my own commentary with the plot summary.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 6

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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Riding through Shadow from Amber to Chaos, Corwin was twice confronted by Brand, claiming that Oberon had failed in his attempt to repair the primal Pattern, and is now dead. Corwin did not believe Brand and escaped his traps. Spending the night in a cave, he met another man taking shelter from an approaching storm, who believed him to be the "Archangel Corwin" described in his holy scriptures. Corwin recognized the storm as Shadow undoing itself because of the change to the Pattern. He also discovered that his horse, Star, had been abducted and taken underground by a group of little people. He and Star barely escaped from them.

Corwin continues his hellride toward Chaos. As he does, the storm continues to bear down upon him, and Shadow appears to be coming apart around him, becoming more bizarre. He uses the Jewel of Judgment an area of stability.

As he rests, he is approached by a woman who calls herself simply "Lady." She has a picnic basket, and they share a meal. She also offers the hospitality of her pavilion to wait out their final hours; however, Corwin declines.