The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The Streets of Ashkelon
(1962)[short story]
by Harry Harrison

The Streets of Ashkelon is easily one of the best stories ever written addressing the loss of innocence. On a planet populated by a species with no religion, spirituality, guilt, or shame, a human missionary lands to convert the locals despite the vehement objections of a human trader who has lived among the natives for several years. This results in a scene that is both thoughtful and chilling.

Harrison's most anthologised story, and the one which he had the most difficulty getting into print. It broke one of the current taboos of the SF publishing world in 1962: its hero was an atheist. The story was originally written for an collection called The Thin Edge. Said collection never saw print. Harrison continued to try and sell the story but it was rejected by all the usual markets, and didn't see publication until over a year after it was completed. Brian Aldiss bought the story for More Penguin Science Fiction in the UK. It was on Mr. Aldiss acceptance that it was sold to New Worlds, where it appeared first. The story did not see print in the USA until six years after it was originally written.

This story can be found in:

Dark Voices, ed. Stephen Jones & Clarence Paget, London: Pan 1990

Science Fiction Stories, ed. Andrew Goodwyn, Oxford University Press 1991

Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #24 (1962), ed. Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW 1992

Stainless Steel Visions, Tor 1993

The Young Oxford Book of Aliens, ed. Dennis Pepper, Oxford University Press 1998

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

This film, based on the novel by Arthur Golden, unfolds from the perspective of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), a girl who, at the age of nine, is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto in the early 1930s.

Here, she learns that becoming a geisha can be the single path to wealth and independence for a woman.

The head geisha of her house, however, Hatsumomo (Gong Li), is bitterly jealous of Chiyo and abuses her at every opportunity.

Eventually Chiyo is taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), by far the most famous and successful geisha in their district.

Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes Sayuri, the most legendary geisha in the nation, skilled in all areas, from conversation to dance, and sought after by seemingly every man alive...except for the one whom she has secretly longed for since she began her training.

The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) -- a man who showed her kindness at a time when her view of the world had turned the most bleak.

Now as World War II approaches, Japan stands at the brink of a new era and Sayuri must confront the possibility that history will leave all that she has worked for behind.

My husband, Joshua

My daughter, Elyse

My daughter, Jillian

My son, Liam

My son, Marcus

My daughter, Eirian

My daughter, Sian

My sister and I

My brother and I

My mother

My daddy and I

I just thought I should let everyone know.
I don't mind fair ratings, but just know,
I give you what you give me.

=D

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Steven Segal
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