MLK Day 2026: Hierarchical Chaos or Equitable Community?

 

MLK Day Parade and March, Chattanooga, TN (Jan. 19, 2026)

Since last year’s MLK Day post was called “Where Do We Go From Here?” I thought I’d continue alluding to King’s 1967 book by calling this one “Chaos or Community?” 

Floating in the Dream-Sea: The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

 

I first read Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show about 30 years ago. It always stuck with me. Not so much specific plot points or even all the major characters, but certain ideas, scenes, and turns of phrase. I'm glad I decided to read this again. I loved it every bit as much, if not more, than I did the first time.

Like much of Barker's work, this might properly be called dark fantasy rather than horror, per se, although there are plenty of horror elements. 

It's also, as the introduction to this edition informs us, a result of Barker's engagements with philosophy. As an academic philosopher, I was amused by Barker's distain for "philosophical equations" encountered in university philosophy courses (a fair criticism of much of what we in the biz call analytic philosophy). Instead, Barker has been intrigued by Big Questions about belief, imagination, and mind--a point which makes a lot of sense of his work, especially when you combine it with some Lovecraftian sensibilities and Barker's own gnarly imagination.

And when it comes to The Great and Secret Show in particular, Barker tells us that Carl Jung was a major inspiration. The idea of a collective unconscious is too fertile for artists and storytellers like Barker to pass up, and I can see why, especially when Barker creates something as interesting as the concept of the dream-sea of Quiddity as his own riff on Jungian ideas.

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. What about the plot?

We meet a man named Jaffe who works in a dead letter office in Omaha, Nebraska in 1969. He begins reading letters about something called the Art, a secret, more real world beyond our own, and a sea of imagination and dreams called Quiddity. He embarks on a quest to control this other realm for himself (first step: murder his boss). This part of the novel goes a bit quickly, but somehow Barker makes it work as Jaffe goes from miserable postal employee to megalomaniacal murderer in a few dozen pages.

But the real story picks up a few years later in town of Palomo Grove, California. Jaffe and an antagonist of sorts called Fletcher become something more than human, and draw the town into their machinations, which result, in complicated Barker dark fantasy fashion, in the birth of several babies with both human and nonhuman fathers.

Okay, the story really picks up 18 years later with the babies now young adults. And Jaffe and Fletcher are still around, but also not exactly human.

Things get, um, complicated from there. But every twist and turn along the way is worth the journey. We meet a washed-up Hollywood comedian. A journalist and his friend named Tesla, both of whom become vital to the story later, as are some of those 18 year olds (Tesla in particular is an awesome character). There's also an ape-human hybrid, a wizard residing in a pocket dimension, and a character from other Barker stories who shows up briefly in this one and (if I remember correctly) much more in the sequel, Everville (which I also plan to re-read). And eventually there are horrors from beyond...

And yes, this is Clive Barker, so there's plenty of gnarly violence and kinky sex (and plenty of gnarly sex and kinky violence).

I don't know if I could summarize the whole plot here if I wanted to, which gets complicated and involves a lot of surprises, but my recommendation is to enjoy floating on the currents in Barker's dream-sea.

But what about Quiddity? It's a beautiful and deep idea. Definitely one I remembered for the last few decades. It's Barker's riff on Jungian ideas, with his own special touches. Particularly beautiful is the idea that all humans swim in the dream-seas of Quiddity three times in their lives: once at birth, once when they sleep next to the love of their life, and again before death. It's the source of love and life and creation for human beings (and not just human beings).

It's also dangerous, at least in the hands of those who want to control it rather than be shaped and invigorated by it. I love this way of thinking through the deep mystery of the human creative process: what are we doing when we create art and stories? How is creativity tied to love and hope and meaning? Are there worlds beyond that which we can see and hear and touch? Are those worlds more real than we know? How would we know?

Reading this again makes me wonder if Barker was one of the authors that made me think the kinds of thoughts that led me to study philosophy. I'm glad he turned away from academia and became, well, Clive Barker. But I'm also grateful that he's still enough of a philosopher to write beautiful, deep, and complicated works like The Great and Secret Show. Barker may also have explored a form of philosophical idealism somewhat similar to Kashmiri Shaivism in classical Indian philosophy (all is mind, and mind is a type of creativity).

Like Quiddity itself, however, The Great and Secret Show is vaster than I can summarize here. My advice: take the plunge for yourself.

See also my Goodreads review.

Random Thoughts, Part 25: Mysticism, Paranormal Politics, Grief, Technology, Driving Too Fast, Plato, Non-Ironic Mullets, and Iron Maiden

Dear reader, the last month has been ... a lot. I lost two friends in October, and then there was the US election (I wrote about the election and Plato beforehand, and post-election thoughts may be coming soon). I admit I've had trouble finding the energy and time to do much with the blog lately (although I keep reminding myself that my tenth blog-aversary is coming next month!). Part of my blog-based reticence has been dealing with the aforementioned events. Some of it is that I've just been busy: there was Halloween, the election, and then in the last week, my Horror and Philosophy students had their film festival showcasing their short philosophical horror films (which were great!), and then the next day I went with a friend to Charlotte, NC to see Iron Maiden in concert for the first time since 2010 (see below for more on that experience!). One might say that I've been living a random life. Which of course calls for more random thoughts! And memes!

Birthday Reflections 2024: Eldritch Eons and Birthday Drinks on a Wednesday

 

Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/580823683164479108/ 

As has become tradition on this blog, I’m making a post for my birthday! 

Birthdays, of course, remind us that we’re closer to death, but they are also a good excuse to celebrate life—while we have it. I can no longer pretend I’m a young person. As of today, I can’t even pretend that I’m in my mid-40’s anymore.

To loosely paraphrase Gandalf, I’m at an age where it’s becoming increasingly obvious that I can’t choose how much time I have left, but I can choose what to do with the time that is given to me. 

The Lathe of Fascism: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

 

At first I wasn't sure what to think about Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh, then I started to really love it, then I lost the thread as the central science fictional premise never really made sense to me, and then it came back together toward the end with some interesting thoughts on fascism, gender, indoctrination, and war. This one is nominated for a Hugo this year, and I will be voting for that soon. So, what did I think?

Splendidly Scalzian Felines: Starter Villain by John Scalzi

 

John Scalzi's Starter Villain is a delight! Scalzi is as entertaining as ever. I love the cats and the dolphins.

Charlie is down on his luck when he discovers that his mysterious and recently deceased uncle left him a profitable parking ramp business. Or so he thinks. Turns out, as the dust jacket tells us, his uncle was actually a super villain, like something right out of James Bond (or really more Austin Powers). Hilarity and hijinks ensue with plenty of that patented Scalzi snark. I laughed out loud several times while reading this one.

Two points I wanted to discuss here: let's call them "evil is actually dumb" and "animals can talk, and boy, are they hilarious!"

Israel/Palestine: A Dialogue with Myself

Me: I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s happening in Israel/Palestine, but I’m not sure what to say. I haven’t been saying much about it. 

Me 2: But who are you to say anything? You’re not Jewish or Muslim, Israeli or Palestinian? Why should anyone care what you think? 

Me: I don’t know, honestly. Obviously, I relate to this issue differently and less personally than people more directly affected by it, or by the recent rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia here in the US. I guess maybe writing this is a way to figure out what I think? Maybe it could help others? Or they could tell me where I’m wrong? 

Review of Reviews: June 2023 (The Regulators, Schrödinger's City, and The Eye in the Pyramid)

 

It's time for another review of reviews! I'm still eagerly awaiting the announcement of this year's Hugo finalists so I can start this year's Hugo reading (although I'm taking a gamble by starting R. F. Kuang's Nebula-winning Babel, which is fantastic even if we improbably live in a universe where it won't be a Hugo finalist). While I'm waiting, I'm reading other books that are on my ever-increasing to-read list: The Regulators by Richard Bachman (aka, Stephen King), Schrödinger's City by Matthew Buscemi, and The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I guess the through-line here is that all three of these novels are pretty weird--and delightfully so. Just to mix it up, let's start with the one I finished last: The Eye in the Pyramid!

So I Watched All the Oscar Nominees for Best Picture

 

I don't always care about the Oscars. I don't even watch the ceremony every year. But this year I happened to notice that I had seen a few of the nominees for Best Picture already, so I figured: why not watch them all? So I did! And here's what I thought about all of them in a series of mini-reviews!

Overall I have to say I was pretty impressed with this year's crop of Oscar nominees. I found something to like about all of them, and some of them I thought were really good. One film stands far and above the others for me, but overall I can say I'm glad I watched all of these. I kind of hate ranking things precisely, so below is sort of my order of overall preference. But really who cares what I think? I guess we'll see what the Academy thinks a few hours after I post this!

Review of Reviews: February 2023

 

Although I still occasionally write a longer review, most of my book reviews have been shorter as of late. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just appreciating brevity these days, so on that note, on to the reviews of books I've read in the last month or so!

The Space of Minds: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

I loved Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, which is some of the most interesting science fiction I've read in recent years. I found this sequel, Children of Ruin, a bit harder to follow, but it's mainly because there's just so much going on it was easy for me to forget who's who and what was happening (maybe this one is written too much in octopus mode for my mere human intellect!). Still, I loved this book. I only rate it slightly lower in comparison to the first.

Empires and Persons: A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

 

I loved the first book in this series: A Memory Called Empire. It grabbed me right away and carried me through until the end. This sequel, not as much. Maybe that "new universe smell" has worn off. Maybe I had forgotten too many details to get invested in the political intrigue, or maybe the interesting stuff doesn't really get going until about halfway through. Still, once A Desolation Called Peace does get interesting, it gets really, really interesting and expands some of the philosophical themes of the first one. So I recommend it to fans of the first one. In fact, you might benefit from reading this soon after reading the first one, rather than two years later like I did.

Are We All Obnoxious Know-It-Alls?: Know-It-All Society by Michael Patrick Lynch

As a person on the internet I have come to dread the fact that everybody seems to have become an insufferable know-it-all, at least in their online interactions (I am not entirely immune to this tendency myself). In Know-It-All Society: Truth and Arrogance in Political Culture, Michael Patrick Lynch does a great job diagnosing the problem and some of its causes. Like Lynch, I find this problem to be pervasive on both the political right and left. Although it takes different forms at opposing ends of the political spectrum, the phenomenon is annoying in both forms (although I think far more dangerous on the right these days).

Was Social Media a Huge Mistake?

Was social media a huge mistake?

This is a question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. From large scale harms like the propaganda machines of Russian troll farms to smaller issues like the way random acquaintances treat each other on your Facebook page, it seems that social media was maybe a colossal mistake on the part of humanity.

I’m not saying social media is all bad. If it weren’t for Facebook, I’d have lost touch with a lot of friends over the years. Twitter has connected me with philosophers around the world. And of course there was plenty of propaganda and rudeness long before social media.

My concern isn’t so much that social media makes new bad things. Humans have always been intellectually and morally fallible. My concern is that it exacerbates our weaknesses in a deeply unhealthy way.

Institutional King: The Institute by Stephen King

My obsession with Stephen King as of late has almost turned this into a Stephen King blog, so of course I was planning to review his brand new book, The Institute, which was released on Sept. 10, 2019.  I promise I will have some non-Stephen King content soon.

The Institute is definitely one of King's more science fictional novels, probably more in the direction of "hard science fiction" than just about anything he's done. There are also some interesting philosophical questions lurking.  Let me do a regular, non-spoilery review first, and then I'll get to some spoilery philosophical bits.

Almost Coherent Time Travel: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

11/22/63 may be one of my favorite Stephen King novels now. It's almost a coherent time-travel story (I have a few nagging doubts I'll work through below), but there's also intrigue, adventure, and romance.  It's like three or four novels in one, but running at the same time, harmonizing with each other at key points.

I'll get to the time travel business at the end (with spoilers), but first a few spoiler-free remarks about the novel overall.

The Horror of Knowledge: The Dead Zone by Stephen King

I've been wanting to read Stephen King's The Dead Zone for a few decades, and I'm glad I finally did because it's now one of my favorite Stephen King novels.  It's more focused than his longer books, but still intricate and well put-together enough to be interesting.  And there are some great thoughts to be had on love, death, religion, and politics, but perhaps most philosophically interesting (to me, anyway) are the questions about knowledge -- what is it, what do you do with it, and how much of it do you really want?

It’s Us, But Who Are We? – A Polysemic Reading of Jordan Peele’s Us (2019)

After writing up my non-spoilery thoughts on Jordan Peele's Us here after a first viewing, I finally got around to rewatching Us the other day (just in time to avoid the crowds for Avengers: Endgame).  So, now I'm finally ready to write a proper review.

Or am I?  Is this the kind of movie that one could simply review and then get on with other things?  I doubt it.  I can't say a second viewing answered all my questions.  If anything, it left me with more.  But what if that's precisely what makes this such a great film?  After all, one of my all-time favorite films is 2001: A Space Odyssey, and that's a film that leaves me more puzzled every time I see it (also more astounded and amazed and transformed...).

A lamentable trend in recent years has been a proliferation of "[blank] explained" websites.  Maybe you're even reading this because you googled "Us explained"...  There's nothing wrong per se with seeking out some food for thought on a movie, but I balk at this idea that there's some "secret code" or a single fundamental explanation for great works of art.  Part of what makes Us such a great movie is precisely that is can't be reduced to a single explanation.

To illustrate this point, let me give four separate (but importantly: not mutually exclusive) explanations for Us.  At one point in the movie, Jason says of the doppelgängers (i.e., the "tethered"), "It's us."  But who is this "us"?  That's what I'm going to try to explain.

Women's History Month Review Roundup: Nalo Hopkinson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Kate Manne

March is Women's History Month, so I decided to make a point to read only books by women this month.  Since today is the last day of Women's History Month, I thought it'd be a good time to post reviews of some of the books I've been reading: a short story collection by Nalo Hopkinson, a classic novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, and a detailed analysis of misogyny by philosopher Kate Manne.

On a related note, yesterday I took part in a "visionary fiction" workshop led by Walidah Imarisha, the co-editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements.  She was on campus at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at the invitation of my colleague Dr. James Arnett.  If you ever get a chance to hear Imarisha speak or participate in her workshops, I wholeheartedly recommend doing so!

Book Blogs Back!: Responses to Malcolm Keating – Chapters 6-7 (Śrī Harṣa) and Conclusion

My book with a Starfleet Academy mug: both seeking the final frontier?

This is continuation of my responses to Malcolm Keating's excellent blog posts on my book, Three Pillars of Skepticism in Classical India: Nāgārjuna, Jayarāśi, and Śrī Harṣa, which Malcolm wrote in preparation for an event on March 7, 2019.  You can see my previous responses here and here.

In the present post I'm responding to two of Malcolm's posts, which you can find here and here.  As will become clear, this post isn't going to make much sense without reading Malcolm's posts first.

So, here we go!