Posted at Alan White’s Smell the Fandom site.
Monthly Archives: February 2013
Liu, Wasserman at NYRSF Readings for 3/6
Jim Freund asks:
If March comes in like a lion, does it have to be cowardly? Perhaps so, if our theme is Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond; a new anthology co-edited by Doug Cohen and JJA. And look what Toto dragged in — two of the best writers working in speculative fiction today: Robin Wasserman and Ken Liu!
Ken Liu is nominated for three Nebulas, it was announced today. An author and translator of speculative fiction (and lawyer and programmer), his work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons. Already on his awards shelf are a Nebula, a Hugo, a World Fantasy Award, and a Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award.
Robin Wasserman is the author of several books for children and young adults, including The Book of Blood and Shadow, the Cold Awakening Trilogy, the Chasing Yesterday Trilogy, and Hacking Harvard.
John Joseph Adams is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. Forthcoming work includes Wastelands 2, Dead Man’s Hand, and Robot Uprisings. John is also the editor of Lightspeed Magazine and Nightmare Magazine, and co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.
Douglas Cohen is the former editor of Realms of Fantasy Magazine. In the magazine’s final year, they published their 100th issue, won a Nebula Award, and were nominated for a second one. Oz Reimagined marks his first anthology.
This session of the NYRSF Readings takes place March 6 at the SoHo Gallery for Digital Art (see info below). Doors open 6:30 p.m. Suggested donation: $7.
The full press release follows the jump.
Vulcan Takes The Lead
It is, after all, the logical choice.
At this writing Vulcan is far out in front of an online poll to name two recently-discovered moons of Pluto, with over 100,000 votes. Cerberus and Styx continue to be the next most popular nominees.
A tweet by William Shatner prompted the host of Pluto Rocks, SETI’s Mark Showalter, to add Vulcan to the original list.
Showalter also added eight other write-ins to the official ballot last week — Elysium, Hecate, Melinoe, Orthrus, Sisyphus, Tantalus, Tartarus, and Thanatos. (See explanations at About the Names.) Thanatos has received the most votes among these newcomers, though it remains far back in the field.
Voting on the Pluto Rocks website ends February 25. SETI will review the contest and make recommendations for naming P4 and P5. The International Astronomical Union is responsible for naming the moons and has the final say.
Nebula Awards Nominees Announced
The nominees for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Awards are —
Novel
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (OrbitUS; OrbitUK)
Novella
“On a Red Station, Drifting,” Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
“After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall,” Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors”, Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis”, Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)
Novelette
“The Pyre of New Day”, Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters”, Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves”, Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas”, Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation”, Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia”, Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White”, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)
Short Story
“Robot”, Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Immersion”, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes”, Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day”, Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream”, Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”, Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain”, Cat Rambo (Near + Far)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight )
The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray writers), (Lionsgate)
John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)
Joe Pilati Death Reported
Joe Pilati.
Joe Pilati passed away on June 8 last year. A teenaged fanzine editor in the Sixties, Pilati had been for the past three decades the chief writer and editor for Corporate Campaign, Inc., supporting labor rights, free speech and environmental issues.
He earlier worked for the Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix and the Village Voice, before joining the staff of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1976 to help craft the historic J.P. Stevens Campaign.
Joe Pilati started Smudge, his first fanzine, in 1960 at the age of 14. Jay Lynch, later founder of Bijou Funnies but then only 16 himself, soon discovered the zine and started doing cartoons for Pilati —
Well…In 1960 I was in high school doing cartoons for the school paper and stuff. In an issue of Cracked magazine, which was edited by Paul Laikin back then, I saw a plug in the letter column that Paul gave to a kid in Pearl River, NYnamed Joe Pilati. Pilati had just published the first issue of SMUDGE, a little fanzine printed on a ditto machine that ran interviews and news about the guys who did the professional satire mags of the day…HELP!, MAD, CRACKED, SICK, those mags. So I sent for a copy, and wound up doing illustrations and cartoons for SMUDGE. That plug in Cracked was also seen by Skip Williamson, Art Spiegelman, and several other kid cartoonists. They all sent for SMUDGE and did drawings for SMUDGE. In the back of SMUDGE, Pilati would run reviews of amateur satire fanzines printed on ditto machines and mimeograph machines by kids around the country. Many of ‘em contained original satirical articles on a variety of topics. Kids doing their own imitations of MAD.
Pilati published Smudge on his school’s ditto machine. The zine had a circulation of 80 copies. He also ran news and interviews with the editors, writers and artists of the various Mad-style satire magazines of the era.
A couple years later Pilati shifted his efforts to a new fanzine named Enclave with a focus on science fiction and politics. Enclave attracted new work by Harlan Ellison and Ray Nelson. It had a larger circulation, 150 copies — good coverage in the fandom of those days.
Joe Pilati’s raucous sense of humor — and ability to yank columnist Tom Perry’s chain — was chronicled in a 1965 issue of Hyphen:
But other than that, Joe Pilati is a very pleasant house guest. It’s nice for an isolated fan to find someone else with similar attitudes… for instance, towards the coming of the mail. My wife and the neighbors are practically indifferent to this exhalted event, but Joe shows a proper reverence. My only complaint is he seems to get more than I do.
That, and of course his carelessness about MY mail. I was working from 10am to 6pm recently and had to call home each day to find out what had come. “Nothing,” Garrett said after Joe had brought in the mail. I went home to lunch with my heart down in my socks. When I came back I found a note to call home. Joe Pilati was apologetic. “There is a letter from Bob Lichtman for you,” he said. “It got lost in my letters. I’m really sorry, Tom.” I could hear him chuckling off mike. “That’s OK, Joe,” I said. “There’s also a letter from Germany, he added. Now his laughter was wild, insane. “It must have got, uh, lost among my huge masses of letters,” “Sure, Joe, sure,” I said, senile tears in my old eyes. Fortunately, there WERE letters from Lichtman and Germany waiting when I got home—else you might read in Fanac next year about a sensational fannish murder case in Ohama, Bebraska.
Pilati’s death was brought to fandom’s attention by the February 2013 issue of a political newsletter edited by one of his friends.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]
The Cover Story
The Fan Activity Achievement (FAAn) Awards feature a new Best Fanzine Cover category this year.
Bill Burns has added a page to eFanzines of cover images from electronic and paper fanzines published in 2012 so voters can familiarize themselves with the contenders for the award.
Strictly speaking, this is an assembly of the front pages from 2012 fanzines. Some have full-page art (my idea of a cover), while others combine text and a decorative illo or background image.
Voting is open to all fans, not only Corflu members. A copy of the FAAn ballot with voting instructions is available here [PDF file]. The deadline to submit your vote is April 6, 2013.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]
Favorite Fictional President?
San Diego’s ConDor science fiction convention invites you to nominate a Fictional President to be nominated into its “Fictional President Hall of Fame.”
The nominations are open to any fictional Presidents* from Science Fiction, Fantasy, Past, Present, Future, Human, Non-Human, Alien, American, Non-American, Alternate Universe, etc. You can nominate a character that’s already been nominated. The more nominations a character has the better chance s/he will make it on the final ballot.
*Presidential Characters of Countries/Worlds/Star Systems whose political decisions can and/or did affect whole civilizations.
Who would I vote for? I was impressed with Morgan Freeman’s presidential turn in Deep Impact. Nor have I ever forgotten Henry Fonda on the phone in Faile-Safe ordering the A-bombing of New York. And what about the soft spot in my heart for that double-fictional President, Dave, the imposter coached by Frank Langella and Kevin Dunn? Not an easy choice.
Nominations close February 28. The final ballot will be available at ConDor and online. The Fictional President Hall of Fame inductees will be announced Sunday, March 10.
Nominations can be posted to Facebook.com/ConDorCon or submitted through the con’s online response form.
ConDor 20 takes place March 8-10 at the Town & Country in San Diego. This year’s theme is “There and Back Again: Journeys in Fantasy and Science Fiction.” Connie Willis is Guest of Honor. David J. Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language for HBO’s Game of Thrones will also attend.
Don’t Touch That Dial
It’s America’s foremost “Grumpy Gus,” Edward L. Green, starring in “My Landlord Is In Hot Water” from the TV show America’s Court with Judge Ross.
There is absolutely no reason to suspect Ed of being a flirtatious landlord who takes his revenge through plumbing escapades. None whatever.
Want to see the rest of Ed’s video resume? Click here [YouTube].
Donations Sought for C. S. Lewis Memorial
Since reporting that a C. S. Lewis memorial will be added to Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey this coming November 22, I’ve learned they need to raise £20,000 to make it happen.
The C. S. Lewis in Poets’ Corner site explains, “The Dean of Westminster has kindly given his permission for this memorial, but the Abbey itself does not finance such projects, and so we invite your support.”
Lending their names to the appeal are Dr. Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia and The Narnia Code, Professor Helen Cooper, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, University of Cambridge (the professorial Chair which Lewis held, 1955-1963), Jason Lepojärvi, President of the Oxford University C.S. Lewis Society, Professor Alister McGrath, author of C.S. Lewis, A Life, Michael Ramsden, Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and Dr. Judith Wolfe, co-editor of C.S. Lewis and the Church and General Editor of The Journal of Inklings Studies.
Terry Deary Disses Libraries
British children’s author Terry Deary, creator of the “Horrible Histories” series, favors closing public libraries. He’s quoted in The Guardian saying they “have been around too long,” “are no longer relevant,” and have “had their day.”
And in case you don’t know, they’re hurtful to the publishing industry! I guess über-capitalist Andrew Carnegie didn’t realize what harm he was doing to business when he emptied out his fortune in the cause of building free libraries. Nor did his fellow rich guys who owned presses and thought he was doing a great thing, buying lots of copies of their books.
Now we know better!
Deary is calling for a public debate around libraries, and for an end to the “sentimentality” he believes has framed the issue so far. “Why are all the authors coming out in support of libraries when libraries are cutting their throats and slashing their purses?” he asked. “We can’t give everything away under the public purse. Books are part of the entertainment industry. Literature has been something elite, but it is not any more. This is not the Roman empire, where we give away free bread and circuses to the masses. People expect to pay for entertainment. They might object to TV licences, but they understand they have to do it. But because libraries have been around for so long, people have this idea that books should be freely available to all. I’m afraid those days are past. Libraries cost a vast amount … and the council tax payers are paying a lot of money to subsidise them, when they are used by an ever-diminishing amount of people.”Deary, who ironically is the seventh-most borrowed children’s writer from UK libraries, said libraries are hurting the industry.
Deary’s fallacy is ignoring the difference between ending libraries and ending free public libraries. People may grumble but will accept paying a user fee to get into a national park much more readily than they will locking the gates to the park. But Deary’s full exposition in The Guardian is that libraries are unacceptable competition for booksellers — a more extreme view than held even by robber barons of the steampunk era.
[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]