FUTURIST FICTION & FANTASY: The Racial Establishment

Futurist fiction and fantasy encompasses a variety of subgenres: hard science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, sword-and-sorcerer fantasy, and cyberpunk. Unfortunately, even though nearly a century has expired since the advent of futurist fiction and fantasy, Richard Pryor’s observation and a call for action is still viable. Despite the growing number of Black futurist fiction and fantasy writers, the proportion of Black futurist fiction and fantasy authors to White futurist fiction and fantasy authors is dismal. This disproportion means that Black futurist fiction and fantasy authors have a limited presence in the industry. Thus, although Black futurist fiction and fantasy authors have produced novels falling into the last four futurist fiction and fantasy categories enumerated above, they have not produced a single hard-science fiction novel, although Samuel R. Delany, Jr., and Octavia E. Butler have incorporated hard science into their speculative fiction. The most recent Black FFF authors, all publishing their first FFF novels after 1996, constitute the most rapid appearance of new Black FFF authors in the short history of the genre. LeVar Burton—best known for his roles as Kunta Kinte in the 1977 television dramatization of Alex Haley’s Roots (1976) and most recently as Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge of Star Trek: The Next Generation—is perhaps the most well-known of all the authors. Following in the footsteps of William Shatner, who is best known as Capt. James T. Kirk of the original Star Trek serial and subsequent movies, Burton has moved from directorial engagements with the Star Trek phenomenon to speculative fiction. His novel, Aftermath (1997), unfolds in a post-Holocaust Los Angeles. Aftermath follows the exploits of three people, an African-, European-, and Native American, who are attempting to save a United States decimated by the assassination of its president, a major earthquake in the Midwest, and socioeconomic collapse in the aftermath of the nation’s second civil war. His speculative fiction career has not generated much attention, despite endorsements from Barnes and Ben Bova. The second member of this newest set of Black FFF authors, Nalo Hopkinson, has already made her mark by winning the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest and the Locus Award for Brown Girl in the Ring (1998). Hopkinson ensures the continuation of a female voice in Black FFF. As a native West Indian, she has already introduced new elements into the genre. Afro- Caribbean gods enter the theatre of fiction as active participants in a manner respecting the traditional theology surrounding these deities. Hopkinson uses themes similar to those found in Butler’s Parable saga and Barnes’ cyberpunk novels. But by setting Brown Girl in Toronto instead of Los Angeles, Hopkinson assumes the vantage point of a single, unwed, Black mother attempting to reconcile tradition, modernity, and romance in an inner city officially severed from society. Race loses much of its centrality in Hopkinson’s novel as class warfare, often existing along ethno-racial fault lines, predominates. The publication of Walter Mosley’s Blue Light (1998) could well be the most significant event for Black FFF yet. In Blue Light, a mysterious blue light from the firmament strikes the Earth and hyper-evolves those humans caught in its beam well beyond their former peers. Told by a biracial male, the novel ventures into questions of identity, race, and humanity probed by such notable novels as James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), Nella Larsen’s Ouicksand (1923), and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952). Even more important than its connection to the canonical texts is the institutional significance of Blue Light as a Black FFF text. As the author of the very successful Easy Rawlins series, Mosley has seen one of his novels—Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)—converted to cinematic life in 1996. Moreover, former President William Jefferson Clinton has endorsed him as one of his favorite novelists. Mosley’s established name, which no doubt now has national as well as international recognition, may provide Black FFF greater legitimacy among the African- and European-American lay and academic communities. When Delany began writing in the early 1960s, his goal was to create classic works of literature respected by literary scholars. In some sense, the circle has been completed, for the Black FFF authors whose efforts made Blue Light a possibility likewise benefit from its release: Butler has released yet another novel, Parable of the Talents (1998), the much anticipated sequel to Parable of the Sower (1993), her preceding novel. Perhaps out of this synergy one is witnessing, as Mosley observed, “[T]he beginning of a new world of autonomy created out of the desire to scrap 500 years of intellectual imperialism” (33). Indeed, as the next millennium rushes forward, it is possible for one to say, of diasporic African arts and letters, it is going where no person has gone before

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article Race, Slavery, and the Revaluation of the T\u27ang Canon Gregory E. Rutledge re-evaluates—from the purview of African Diaspora literary studies—historiography that considers the place of East African slave lore in T\u27ang Dynasty fiction. Julie Wilensky\u27s The Magical Kunlun and \u27Devil Slaves\u27: Chinese Perceptions of Dark-skinned People and Africa before 1500 (2002), a revision of Chang Hsing-lang\u27s The Importation of Negro Slaves to China Under the T\u27ang Dynasty (A.D. 618- 907) (1930), is pivotal since it occupies the nexus between European-American, East-Asian, and African-Diasporic canons and policies. Rutledge situates Wilensky\u27s and Chang\u27s works in the context of Edward W. Said\u27s Orientalism, an essential heurist for understanding Western subjugation of the Orient. However, in light of Wilensky\u27s and Chang\u27s non-engagement with the vast body of Western research on slavery, Rutledge argues that an older Afro-Orientalist frame is needed to establish an heuristic sensitive to the ancient East African culture and exceptionalism immanent in the stories Wilensky and Chang treat

Escapades on Third Street: Chapters 2-4

It’s early summer, 1971, and school has just recessed. Benjamin Thomas, a typical eleven-year-old boy, has his hopes set on three months of escapades unchecked by the tedium of teachers and books and classrooms. The first few weeks of unadulterated storytelling, exuberant play at The Park, treasure hunting in Piney Forest, rescuing ripe fruit from neighbors’ trees, and a host of deeds and misdeeds, send Ben, his sisters, and his best friends well on their way to an unforgettable summer of fun. . . But then Vincent Solomon comes to town, bringing with him the ideals and enthusiasm of the civil rights movement. And some very grown-up problems festering both outside and inside of Ben’s community. Soon, Ben’s summer escapades turn into a crusade, which then quickly spirals toward a double lynching with Ben and his family caught right in the middle. . . Set in Bradentown, Florida, Escapades on Third Street takes readers on a journey filled with a memorable cast of African-American characters set against a backdrop of southern culture and conflict along racial, class, and generational lines. Escapades on Third Street delves into the rich heritage of one southern African-American community—probing the interdependence based on its shared faith, painful history, hopeful future, gritty humor, soulful music, and struggle for survival—to explore the conflicts seething just beneath the surface that forever change Ben Thomas’ life. Gregory Rutledge was born in Bradenton, Florida, and reared on Third Street. He is a graduate of Emory University (1989), where he studied English literature and philosophy, and the University of Florida Colleges of Law and Journalism & Communications (1992). Greg practiced law in Atlanta for about four years before returning to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Afro-American Studies (1999) and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in English literature. Greg’s plan to write a novel germinated while he was in law school, and became a work in progress in January, 1993. His family has lived on Third Street for several generations. Escapades on Third Street is his debut novel

Race, Slavery, and the Re-evaluation of the T\u27ang Canon

In his article Race, Slavery, and the Revaluation of the T\u27ang Canon Gregory E. Rutledge re-evaluates—from the purview of African Diaspora literary studies—historiography that considers the place of East African slave lore in T\u27ang Dynasty fiction. Julie Wilensky\u27s The Magical Kunlun and \u27Devil Slaves\u27: Chinese Perceptions of Dark-skinned People and Africa before 1500 (2002), a revision of Chang Hsing-lang\u27s The Importation of Negro Slaves to China Under the T\u27ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) (1930), is pivotal since it occupies the nexus between European-American, East-Asian, and African-Diasporic canons and policies. Rutledge situates Wilensky\u27s and Chang\u27s works in the context of Edward W. Said\u27s Orientalism, an essential heurist for understanding Western subjugation of the Orient. However, in light of Wilensky\u27s and Chang\u27s non-engagement with the vast body of Western research on slavery, Rutledge argues that an older Afro-Orientalist frame is needed to establish an heuristic sensitive to the ancient East African culture and exceptionalism immanent in the stories Wilensky and Chang treat

Multiresolution analysis in statistical mechanics. II. The wavelet transform as a basis for Monte Carlo simulations on lattices

In this paper, we extend our analysis of lattice systems using the wavelet transform to systems for which exact enumeration is impractical. For such systems, we illustrate a wavelet-accelerated Monte Carlo (WAMC) algorithm, which hierarchically coarse-grains a lattice model by computing the probability distribution for successively larger block spins. We demonstrate that although the method perturbs the system by changing its Hamiltonian and by allowing block spins to take on values not permitted for individual spins, the results obtained agree with the analytical results in the preceding paper, and ``converge'' to exact results obtained in the absence of coarse-graining. Additionally, we show that the decorrelation time for the WAMC is no worse than that of Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC), and that scaling laws can be constructed from data performed in several short simulations to estimate the results that would be obtained from the original simulation. Although the algorithm is not asymptotically faster than traditional MMC, because of its hierarchical design, the new algorithm executes several orders of magnitude faster than a full simulation of the original problem. Consequently, the new method allows for rapid analysis of a phase diagram, allowing computational time to be focused on regions near phase transitions.Comment: 11 pages plus 7 figures in PNG format (downloadable separately

Multiresolution analysis in statistical mechanics. I. Using wavelets to calculate thermodynamic properties

The wavelet transform, a family of orthonormal bases, is introduced as a technique for performing multiresolution analysis in statistical mechanics. The wavelet transform is a hierarchical technique designed to separate data sets into sets representing local averages and local differences. Although one-to-one transformations of data sets are possible, the advantage of the wavelet transform is as an approximation scheme for the efficient calculation of thermodynamic and ensemble properties. Even under the most drastic of approximations, the resulting errors in the values obtained for average absolute magnetization, free energy, and heat capacity are on the order of 10%, with a corresponding computational efficiency gain of two orders of magnitude for a system such as a $4\times 4$ Ising lattice. In addition, the errors in the results tend toward zero in the neighborhood of fixed points, as determined by renormalization group theory.Comment: 13 pages plus 7 figures (PNG

Технологические решения для строительства эксплуатационной наклонно-направленной скважины на Торгинскую свиту нефтегазоконденсатного месторождения

Цель работы – проектирование технологического решения на строительство нефтяной эксплуатационной наклонно – направленной скважины на Торгинскую свиту нефтегазоконденсатного месторождения (Якутия). В процессе работы проводилось проектирование технологических решений по строительству эксплуатационной наклонно-направленной скважины на нефтегазоконденсатном месторождении республики Саха (Якутия), построение геолого-технического наряда и компоновки низа бурильной колонны, рассмотрены химические реагенты и добавки в буровой раствор для борьбы с: асфальтосмолопарафиновыми отложениями, солеотложениями, коррозией оборудования.The purpose of the work is to design a technological solution for the construction of an oil production directional well at the Torginskaya suite of an oil and gas condensate field (Yakutia). In the course of the work, the design of technological solutions for the construction of a production directional well at the oil and gas condensate field of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), construction of a geological and technical order and the layout of the bottom of the drill string, considered chemical reagents and additives in the drilling fluid to combat: asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits, scale deposits , equipment corrosion

Исследование процесса совместной переработки прямогонных дизельных фракций и растительных масел на цеолитном катализаторе

В работе определены состав и свойства образца прямогонного дизельного топлива, подсолнечного масла и их смеси; осуществлена переработка на цеолитном катализаторе прямогонного и смесевого дизельного топлива в условиях варьирования температуры процесса; определены состав и свойства полученных продуктов; выявлены закономерности влияния температуры процесса на состав и свойства полученных продуктов; оценена целесообразность совместной переработки прямогонного дизельного топлива и растительного масла на цеолитном катализаторе.The work defines the composition and properties of a sample of straight-run diesel fuel, sunflower oil and their mixture; processing on a zeolite catalyst of straight-run and mixed diesel fuel under conditions of varying process temperature; the composition and properties of the products obtained have been determined; the regularities of the influence of the process temperature on the composition and properties of the obtained products were revealed; the feasibility of joint processing of straight-run diesel fuel and vegetable oil on a zeolite catalyst has been evaluated

Kinetic Model for Layer-by-Layer Crystal Growth in Chain Molecules

A kinetic model is proposed to describe the structure and rate of advancement of the growth front during crystallization. Solidification occurs through the mechanisms of surface nucleation and lateral spreading of the solid phase within layers in the vicinity of the growth front. The transformation from liquid to solid within each layer is described by an equation similar to the two-dimensional variant of the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (JMA) equation, but in which the finite size and shape of the critical nucleus and the dynamic evolution of the solid fraction of the underlying layers are taken into account. Connection to the regime theory of Hoffman and co-workers, for surface nucleation and spreading in one or two dimensions, is also made. Given only molecular level information regarding surface nucleation rates, lateral spreading rates, and critical surface nucleus geometry, the resulting set of coupled nonlinear equations for solidification in each layer is numerically integrated in time to obtain the structure and rate of advancement of the growth front, for arbitrarily large systems and long times. Using this kinetic model with input parameters obtained from molecular dynamics simulations, a multiscale modeling analysis of crystal growth in n-pentacontane (C50) is performed.National Science Foundation (U.S.) Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI-1235109

Offshore Radiation Observations for Climate Research at the CERES Ocean Validation Experiment

When radiometers on a satellite are pointed towards the planet with the goal of understanding a phenomenon quantitatively, rather than just creating a pleasing image, the task at hand is often problematic. The signal at the detector can be affected by scattering, absorption, and emission; and these can be due to atmospheric constituents (gases, clouds, and aerosols), the earth's surface, and subsurface features. When targeting surface phenomena, the remote sensing algorithm needs to account for the radiation associated with the atmospheric constituents. Likewise, one needs to correct for the radiation leaving the surface, when atmospheric phenomena are of interest. Rigorous validation of such remote sensing products is a real challenge. In visible and near infrared wavelengths, the jumble of effects on atmospheric radiation are best accomplished over dark surfaces with fairly uniform reflective properties (spatial homogeneity) in the satellite instrument's field of view (FOV). The ocean's surface meets this criteria; land surfaces - which are brighter, more spatially inhomogeneous, and more changeable with time - generally do not. NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project has used this backdrop to establish a radiation monitoring site in Virginia's coastal Atlantic Ocean. The project, called the CERES Ocean Validation Experiment (COVE), is located on a rigid ocean platform allowing the accurate measurement of radiation parameters that require precise leveling and pointing unavailable from ships or buoys. The COVE site is an optimal location for verifying radiative transfer models and remote sensing algorithms used in climate research; because of the platform's small size, there are no island wake effects; and suites of sensors can be simultaneously trained both on the sky and directly on ocean itself. This paper describes the site, the types of measurements made, multiple years of atmospheric and ocean surface radiation observations, and satellite validation results