Monthly Archives: July 2008

All in Color, for Free

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“Piled Higher and Deeper” is Jorge Cham’s popular comic strip about grad school life. He devotes the July 28 strip to a graphical visit with Bowling Green State University’s Department of Popular Culture. That’s where I took my master’s degree, and his comic cracked me up. You’ll enjoy his humor, too, whether or not you own that particular piece of paper.

Some of the other students in the Pop Culture department when I was there were: Dave Feldman, later author of the Imponderables books (like, Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise), whose prior claim to fame was managing Wolfman Jack’s campaign for Governor of California; Deb Hammer Johnson, who once won a “No-Prize” from Stan Lee, and for awhile in the late 70s was an active fan in the Atlanta area; and Michelle Gallery, who went on to be the story editor of the Lou Grant series, and wrote an episode for the show that was nominated for the Edgar award.

[Thanks to David Klaus for the link.]

More About Tennessee Church Shooting

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Friends of the fans present at Sunday’s Knoxville church shooting have e-mailed more news about the incident.

Curt Phillips posted this information to the Trufen list:

More details are being posted to the KASFA list today. At least 5 people in that church were directly connected to Knoxville area fandom. The 5 I know of were all sitting together in a pew directly in front of one of the critically injured people. The son of one of KASFA’s main organizers was running late Sunday morning and he and his girlfriend arrived at the church just about the time that the first police car screamed to a halt in the parking lot.

Jerry Page copied the following message by Debbie Hughes to a Southern fandom listserv:

Our close friends Jamie Parkey, Amy Broyles and their children were there, Chloie Airoldi the mom of Jamie was there and Amira Parkey – Daughter of Jamie and the late Maia Plasil was there as well. None of them were hurt. Jamie was also one of the men who wrestled the gunman to the ground after he shoved his mom and his middle daughter under the pew. Amy was in the crying room with her youngest daughter and was shielded by glass from most of the gunfire.

Debbie Hughes commends this New York Times article about the shooting for its accuracy.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Curt Phillips, Jerry Page and Debbie Hughes.]

DongWon Song Hired at Orbit

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DongWon Song has been hired at Orbit Books as Associate Editor. His previous position was with Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

File 770’s main interest in the story is that Moshe Feder was a runner-up for this job, although he was interviewing for the position of Editor. I’d prefer to be helping him celebrate being hired, but that was not meant to be. Moshe still has managed to find some good news mixed in with the bad:

I don’t have to face the one part of taking the Orbit job that I dreaded, which would have been leaving all my Tor authors behind. So I’ll be continuing for the foreseeable future as a Consulting Editor for the Tor, Forge, and Orb imprints. You can help me keep the bills from piling too high by steering my way any promising new talents you come across. Remember, I get paid by the book!

Moshe adds that his present author list includes Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, the team of Gary K. Wolfe & Archbishop John J. Myers, Juliet McKenna, David Gerrold, and Robert Silverberg.

Andrew Wheeler’s Hugo Handicap

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It’s no surprise that Andrew Wheeler’s 2008 Hugo predictions are interesting in direct proportion to his actual familiarity with the nominees. Or that they sputter and completely run out of gas the moment he ventures into the fan categories:

[Best Fanzine] I’m terribly ignorant about the fan categories, and so tend to make predictions based on the entrails of small mammals or the flight patterns of sacred birds. I vaguely recall that Mike Glyer is a West Coast guy, so I’m going to predict that File 770 will win.

[Best Fanartist] Frank Wu, the current 800-pound gorilla of the category, is nowhere to be seen. (Did he take himself out of contention?) Brad Foster and Teddy Harvia are both former 800-pound gorillas here, Harvia slightly more recently than Foster, and Mason wins whenever the Worldcon is in the UK. My Magic 8-Ball says that Brad Foster will take it this year.

It’s lost on me why Wheeler makes such a public display of contempt for the elementary work needed to make informed comments about these categories, there being links to all five fanzine nominees from the Denvention 3 website. Are we supposed to think it reflects badly on the nominees that they aren’t worth Wheeler’s effort to read? Guess again.

And what about poor Frank Wu, his courtesy to the field ignored. I’m reminded why Charlie Brown never withdrew Locus again after his comparable gesture in 1978 was also ignored.

Fans Present at TN Church Shooting

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A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance Sunday, July 27, killing two people. Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Knoxville, TN church.

Curt Phillips told the Trufen list:

Present in the church was my friend Chloie Airoldi; long time Knoxville fan and an organizer of both the Knoxville Area Science Fiction Association and Knoxville former convention, ConCat; and the son of Knoxville fan and KASFA member JaNell Golden. Both are reported to be uninjured.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter and Curt Phillips.]

Australia in 2010 Rumor

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Someone asked me if the Australia in 2010 bid missed the filing deadline. Whatever Secret Master of Fandom is spreading the rumor should be sent for a week or two of remedial Googling. It’s very easy to learn the correct information.

Kevin Standlee, part of the Denvention business meeting staff, announced on March 13 to readers of the Denvention LiveJournal: “The Chairman of Denvention Three confirmed that to me in an e-mail a couple of days ago. Australia filed and will be on the ballot. No other bids for 2010 filed, so Australia is officially unopposed.”

World Science Fiction Society rules require a bid to file no later than 180 days before the opening of the administering Worldcon (Denvention 3, this year) to be allowed on the 2010 Worldcon Site Selection printed ballot. You’ll find Australia listed there, another hint.

Ray Bradbury at Comic-Con

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Ray Bradbury with Joker look-alike Forrest J Ackerman and Ray Bradbury at 2008 Comic-Con Arnold Kunert Interviews Ray Bradbury

John King Tarpinian fills us in on what it was like to attend the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con with Ray Douglas Bradbury:

“ComicCon was a hoot. Mr. B had four aides to assist him getting thru the crowd. The Staff at was incredibly friendly and accommodating. At every aisle, Ray had to stop for pictures and autographs.

“Ray was mainly interested in seeing two things: The Golden Age comics and the Artists. He went back to the Artists Alley three times and the comics area twice, during the day. Needless to say, Ray went away with a bunch of gifts. His preference, of course, was for the vintage stuff. There were more than a few Amazing Stories from the 40s that had Bradbury stories in them. Ray was amazed that the asking price for these mint editions were $100 plus.

“Ray gave a lecture with a SRO crowd of over 2,000. He was interviewed by Arnold Kunert, Ray Harryhausen’s business manager, who has known him for 35 years. Afterwards, a preview of Ray Bradbury’s Chrysalis was shown with a brief interview with the producer, director and star of the movie. See http://www.chrysalismovie.net/#Scene_1 for more information.”

Jabba the Hutt and Ray Bradbury