The Dogs of Paris

Robert Altman's "Ready to Wear" notwithstanding, I have only seen one serious pile of dog poop in three weeks. I have seen a lot of dogs, though, and thought I should take the opportunity to make a few observations about them. The Parisians seem to like small dogs best. I would say 90% of those I've seen have been in the "toy" dog category. Miniature poodles, of course, shitzu types, terriers of various descriptions, though only the small ones, no airedales or wheatens. Lots of Yorkies.

What has surprised me is that I've seen more dogs in disrepair, more genuinely scruffy dogs, more really disreputable dogs here in three weeks than in a lifetime in Canada. For a city that prides itself on fashion and grooming, and whose people seem on the outside at least to be quite fastidious, noone seems to pay much attention to the condition of their dogs. This is not just dogs in some need of a haircut, but dogs who are half bald and have skin problems, dogs that look as if they are one solid matt, as well as dogs with just plain bad haircuts.

Yet the Parisians quite obviously adore their dogs and give them privileges we in Canada can only dream of. At Mont St Michel, the couple at the table next to me at the fancy restaurant brought their miniature poodle (name of Gadget, I found out later) in with them. Gadget mostly slept quietly under the table all evening, but once or twice popped out and gave a plaintive paw to his owners, and once came over to say good evening to me. I was of course delighted, but could only think of the coffee shop in Victoria that closed down because it encouraged people to bring dogs in to a space shared with those who were actually drinking coffee... heaven forbid. Meanwhile, in Paris there are dogs on the Metro, dogs in shops, dogs everywhere having nice walks on the streets. Heaven. Now if they could only get a decent haircut...

Bittercon: "I'm So Special"

For those on my flist not able to join oursin and brisingamen at Wiscon, or who did not go and have fun at Kalamazoo (or even those who did!) but who would like to participate in a Con panel, there is lively discussion at papersky, sartorias and katenepveu and others coordinated in the community bittercon. Here's my panel topic:

"I'm So Special" - Wish Fulfillment Fantasy and Science Fiction

From Harry Potter to Heroes, there's a whole sub-genre of SF in which the "outsider" suddenly discovers that he or she is not an outsider but a member of some elite class of beings (wizard, superhero, Herald). There is a sub-genre of this trope in which the person becomes special by being CHOSEN by some kind of sentient animal - think particularly of the works of Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey.

My question is not so much about the popularity of such a class of novels - I think the attraction is fairly obvious - but whether any of these authors, or others, have dealt with the notion of being the one NOT chosen. J K Rowling never really allows her characters to interact with "normal" Muggles, only the dreadful members of Harry's family - I'd love to read something from the perspective of such a character. There are several Pern novels in which some of the suspense is derived from the viewpoint character not being chosen by a dragon when expected to be so, but I believe that all of them end up with that character being chosen in the end.

I've often thought of writing something called "The Unchosen" from the perspective of someone in that position who feels, perhaps, bitter (hey - Bittercon!) and excluded. Do any works exist in which the main character is "normal" within a society such as I've described and comes to terms with it?

A related question is that these, with the possible exception of Harry Potter, seem to fall into the category of "guilty pleasure" reading - basically not terribly good books that are nevertheless fun escapism. Are there any "good" works, by which I mean books that you don't have to apologize for reading, that fall under this category? And if not, why not?