You annotated WHAT?!?

[yendi]

So the Sci-Fi Book club mailer came yesterday.

The first flyer we looked through had The Annotated Alice.

I've got this, and it's wonderful. If ever a book deserved annotation, it's Alice. And Martin Gardner does it justice.

Next to it was The Annotated Flatland. I don't own this one, but it certainly deserves annotation (although, as a much tinier book, doesn't have the same instant "spend the $20 and buy it" appeal). It's a classic.

(Although it wasn't listed, I own the Annotated Wizard of Oz. This book is a bit more dubious -- it's a wonderful book, and a classic, but it's less subtle than the other two -- many of the annotations are major stretches.)

But then, later in the catalog, there was the kicker:

Dragonlance: The Annotated Chronicles.

You. Must. Be. Shitting. Me.

They fucking annotated Dragonlance? Weis and Hickman, the writers who practically redefined "hack" for an entire generation?

There is way too much crack in the drinking water at Wizards.

What the fuck will they annotate?

"Hickman's use of a lich in this scene is highly representative of his own confused sexuality, with his Mormon faith forcing him to contain his inner homosexual."

"Weis, in this scene, uses a skeleton as a metaphor for dead people who come back to life. Oh, wait. It's not a metaphor. They are dead people coming back to life."

Anyone expecting the Annotated Xanth next?

Comments

[deza.livejournal.com]

That's just...wrong. On so many levels.

Ow.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

First Xanth, then Star Trek novels.

[edie22.livejournal.com]

What's Annotated?

I'm new to this geek stuff.

[deza.livejournal.com]

They have notes about various points of social relelvance or other minutiae in footnotes throughout the text. Remember The Riverside Annotated Shakespeare? I think everyone carted one of those around in college...

[yendi]

I loved the Riverside Shakespeare. Of course, I've got at least four Complete Works (and I want more -- the second edition Riverside looks amazing). :-)

[deza.livejournal.com]

Yeah--I still have to go hunt my friend Marcus down for stealing mine.

Re:

[edie22.livejournal.com]

Not me! I um, only went to a year of college.

Re:

[deza.livejournal.com]

Carry about 25 pounds of wood in a baqckpack, and you'll get the same feel...

But the book really is fun. You just have to remember to read the plays out loud. The more dramatic flourishes, the better. Shakespeare was meant to be performed, experienced, not read.

[jathomas.livejournal.com]

I was actually going to suggest annotated Xanth, but you got to it first...

Yuk yuk....

[yendi]

Heh. Great minds, etc.

[morenasangre.livejournal.com]

Worthless annotations (fun, perhaps, but worthless):

1. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (here we see Rice's gay messianic complex becoming evident...)

2. Merecedes Lackey

3. Robert Asprin's Myth books (here we see a clear reference to Bob Hope's line in Road to Zanzibar )

And why the Frick doesn't someone annotate a Zelazny book? Now THAT would be cool...

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

I have to think books annotated by their own authors would be especially worthless.

[yendi]

The description didn't say who did the annotation. The only self-annotated sf book I can ever recall is Piers Anthony's But What of Earth (and the annotations were specifically attacking copy-editors).

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me to finally give you this link I promised you (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84339&highlight=Piers+Anthony) from the Straight Dope Message Board (http://boards.straightdope.com), in which the pedophilia in Anthony's writing is examined.

[yendi]

Thanks! It's great reading so far -- I'm having happy thoughts about the suggestion one poster makes about having Vachss take on Anthony. I'd pay good money for that.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, I just realized the post from "Fenris" dated 8-29-01, 10:32 PM on that board is talking about the dust-up that I had with Anthony back in June 2000. I'm famous! :)

I lost a lot of respect for Anthony during that incident. He'd always claimed to be somebody to whom integrity was important, which I found to be a total lie. I hadn't read most of his stuff in years, but I will never again pick up another book he's written after the attitude he gave me.

cheers,
Phil

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

Fenris always has smart things to say. He also has the greatest offhand knowledge of comics of anyone I've ever met.

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

I think I need to start following those boards if intelligent people actually hang out there. (Yes, I know Straight Dope readers are statistically more likely to be intelligent, but I've been emotionally scarred by the noise-to-signal ratio I experienced over many years of following Usenet).

cheers,
Phil

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

How about the Gor books annotated by a feminazi? Even just by a feminist would be amusing.
Storm Constantine annotated by a bible-thumper?

[yendi]

Hell, half of genre fiction annotated by a bible-thumper!

I'd place Gor with Misty Lackey -- the quality issues are so severe, that the misogynistic stuff is almost secondary.

Although Lackey writing in the world of Gor is something I might be willing to read. :-)

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

I'v thought that Lackey has improved over the years as opposed to the other people we're talking about. Especially the last series, the 'Owl' books...

How about Sheri Tepper writing in Gor?

[yendi]

*shrug*

The idea of giving Lackey any more chances repulses me. There are too many good books out there for me to bother wasting any more time on her.

Sheri on Gor would be interesting. :-)