dimanche 6 avril 2003

'Ship of Fools' For centuries, the Argonos has journeyed through space, its mission and origins obscured by time and many of its records destroyed. The latest generation aboard is divided, like those on the 'Titanic', among the favoured people of the upper levels, an under-class of 'downsiders' and the crew. Nikos Costa, its captain, risks losing his grip to his rival on the Executive Council, a bishop who claims that the vessel has always existed, with Earth but a legend. Mutiny is in the recycled air. But then comes planet-fall: Antioch. In the remains of a human colony there, the captain's advisor, the club-footed, deformed and widely disliked Bartolomeo Aguilera, with priest Father Veronica and others in the survey team, make a discovery which restores purpose to all on the "ship of fools". Their gruesome find, with the sudden beamed signal that's a hallmark of "first contact" novels, leads Bartolomeo, our narrator, and his thousands of shipmates into an encounter with the alien so macabre that Bishop Soldano deems it the Evil of an Apocryphal text. Bartolomeo knows little but the essentials of the mechanics of space flight, the workings of weapons systems and the mysteries of navigation, matters best left to Costa and the crew. This conveniently leaves him -- and author Richard Paul Russo -- free to tell the story of the Argonos and its fate by concentrating on the finely drawn characters involved and their different, deepening dilemmas. The novel could be "Alien with an intellect", wrote Interzone in April 2001. Yes, and much more. Some of Russo's visions will long linger in my imagination: the long shadows, strange machines, rent pipes and torn cables of the bowels of the Argonos; a few of the ... things found by exploration groups (no spoilers here!); and -- oh well, just one, in part:   "The enormous stained glass window at the head of the cathedral, which had always been too dull, indistinct, and chaotic to reveal any concrete images, now blazed in the depths of space, burning in the side of the Argonos. The Church's beacon to the stars.   The Crucifixion.   A crimson sky blazing as if the air itself was on fire.   Against that flaming sky, the Cross, the wood so dark it was almost black, stained with sweat and blood.   Jesus hanging from the dark wood, metal spikes driven through wrists and ankles. He stared not upward, but out at the universe, at whoever looked at Him. At me." Bartolomeo may never be a believer, but his trials and encounters enrich both him and the reader. It may simply be an accident of circumstance that religion and complex moral issues, in one form or another, have cropped up in all the books I've reviewed to date. But at the start of this millennium, the metaphysical thriller would seem to be decidedly in vogue. With 'Ship of Fools', Russo has shown that he's very good at it. 5:38:13 PM  link   your views? [] Of photojournalism, AFP & Getty Well, Béatrice seems to be doing just fine in Nigeria, going by a story about President Olusegun Obasanjo on the campaign trail for re-election which was singularly colourful. You're well out of it here, B. It mildly pleases me to see that the day we all had to get on our bikes or hotfoot it across Paris to work, Yahoo chose to illustrate a story on the French pension reforms Day of (in-)Action with an AFP picture of the only Métro line that was really working. Line 14 is entirely run by robots. From Nairobi, AFM reminds me of some strong stuff at AfricaPhotos, where the visual essays are not all recommended to those seeking a break from war news. One of many bids to classify such sites, some well worth the visit, can be found at a photojournalism webring (attention: pop-ups). A few people there even invite you to use their work, so long as it's not for commercial reasons. zzz AFP has begun its partnership with Getty Images. Since this is not an AFP weblog (though I'm occasionally jotting down notes about life at the agency, encouraged by a number of you abroad), it should be added that this venture has met with concern as well as curiosity among staff on both sides [article in French] of the Atlantic. (For the SNJ view, see the internal wires. My own, FWIW, is that this sure is a "turning point", as photo director Jean-François Le Mounier told 'Le Monde'; and one to be watched closely. Should it not turn sour on us, it bodes interesting times to come.) 1:47:15 PM  link   your views? [] Note de service A lot of people have said they find AFP's instructions sent with their voting papers for this year's elections incomprehensible. Somebody also slipped the white papers into the ballot envelopes in the mistaken belief that they were meant to "hide the others" -- and thus nearly cast a blank vote. Others are sticking them into the internal post, but in France, they must go into a public letter-box. David S. has drawn up an easy to understand explanation of how it works. Keep your eyes peeled: this will be released very soon. David's also been working very hard on other practical info to go online once he's ready. And I'm searching through cupboard after drawer after cupboard of files for a guide I wrote to the jungle of the French unions.... 11:29:58 AM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.