(1) BRAM STOKER AWARDS. Horror Writers Association President Lisa Morton reminds members they have until January 15 to recommend works for the 2017 Bram Stoker Awards.
– ALL members may recommend works, including Supporting.
– ALL members may recommend works in ALL categories.
– If you’re trying to get your work considered, please review the Bram Stoker Awards etiquette page
– We’ve already seen a few examples of authors whose works appear on the Recommendations page claiming to be “nominated.” Please do NOT refer to your work as “nominated” unless you are listed on the Final Ballot.
The Bram Stoker Awards® Etiquette Rules begin with these general principles, then go into detail.
If there is a single thought to keep in mind here, it is the difference between promoting and soliciting.
Promoting (acceptable) is the business of spreading the word about your work and making sure anyone who wants to can read it.
Soliciting (unacceptable) is the practice of wheeling and dealing, whining and wheedling, in order to get yourself an award that you may not deserve.
Works that are truly worthy of the award tend to rise to the top without help if enough people read them. If you have to go out and beg for recommendations or votes, that says something rather uncomplimentary about both you and the work. So you’re doing yourself a service if you refrain.
(2) THE BDO. James Davis Nicoll provides “A Brief History of the Big Dumb Object Story in Science Fiction” at Tor.com.
I was recently reminded of the golden age of Big Dumb Object stories (hat tip to reviewer Roz Kaveny for coining the phrase). As this is not yet commonly accepted genre shorthand, perhaps a definition is in order.
Contrary to the name, BDOs are not necessarily dumb. In fact, most of them have rather sophisticated infrastructure working away off-stage preventing the story from being a Giant Agglomeration of Useless Scrap story. What they definitely are is large. To be a BDO, the Object needs to be world-sized, at least the volume of a moon and preferably much larger. BDOs are also artificial. Some…well, one that I can think of but probably there are others…skirt the issue by being living artifacts but even there, they exist because some being took steps to bring them into existence.
(3) INTERNET ARCHIVE INFRINGEMENT CHARGED. SFWA’s “Infringement Alert” warns —
The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is carrying out a very large and growing program of scanning entire books and posting them on the public Internet. It is calling this project “Open Library,” but it is SFWA’s understanding that this is not library lending, but direct infringement of authors’ copyrights. We suspect that this is the world’s largest ongoing project of unremunerated digital distribution of entire in-copyright books. An extensive, random assortment of books is available for e-lending—that is the “borrowing” of a digital (scanned) copy. For those books that can be “borrowed,” Open Library allows users to download digital copies in a variety of formats to read using standard e-reader software. As with other e-lending services, the books are DRM-protected, and should become unreadable after the “loan” period. However, an unreadable copy of the book is saved on users’ devices (iPads, e-readers, computers, etc.) and can be made readable by stripping DRM protection. SFWA is still investigating the extent to which these downloadable copies can be pirated. Unlike e-lending from a regular library, Open Library is not serving up licensed, paid-for copies, but their own scans.
The post includes guidance about how writers can deal with infringement issues.
(4) FAWLTY REASONING. Doctor Strangemind’s Kim Huett sent a link to “Jack Vance & Fawlty Towers” with the warning: “I have to admit the logical progression of this installment is a little unexpected. I’m sure you’ll manage though. I have every confidence in you all.” The metaphor addresses William Atheling Jr.’s misguided review of a Jack Vance book, both written in the 1950s.
It’s with Vance’s next point however that we encounter what surely his Basil Fawlty moment. I’m willing to bet the restrained sarcasm Vance employed in order to agree with Atheling that the short stories contained in The Dying Earth collection made for a terrible novel is as nothing to how he felt when he first read Atheling’s complaint. As somebody who has read The Dying Earth collection, albeit many years ago, the thought that anybody could miss the assorted changes in plot, location, and characters is an astounding one. As the author of these assorted stories and thus more intimately involved with then than any reader could be the Atheling complaint was surely a source of intense frustration for Jack Vance. How do you deal with being told you have failed when the basis of the claim is as demonstrably wrong as this? There are things that should not need explanation, that are a chore, an undeserved burden to set right. If it had been me in Vance’s place the sheer frustration of Atheling’s comments would have had me curling up Basil Fawlty style.
(5) YOU’RE GRACE PARK. Io9’s Jill Pantozzi digs into The Magicians new season and asks “Could You Have an Entire Conversation in Pop Culture References? The Magicians Challenges Us All”.
Eliot’s entire conversation with Queen Margo is perfection but hits a high note by kicking things off referencing another Syfy series: Battlestar Galactica. Take a look (unless you want to go into the episode fresh, of course). And don’t worry if you’re not entirely versed in pop culture; there are helpful subtitles to explain some of the references.
(6) CALIFORNIA BOOK FAIR. The 51st California International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held on February 9-11, 2018 at the Pasadena Convention Center.
Featuring the collections and rare treasures of over 200 booksellers from over 30 different countries the California International Antiquarian Book Fair is recognized as one of the world’s largest and most prestigious exhibitions of antiquarian books. The California International Antiquarian Book Fair gives visitors the opportunity to see, learn about, and purchase the finest in rare and valuable books, manuscripts, autographs, graphics, photographs, print ephemera, and much more.
(7) FOR THOSE SCORING AT HOME. Rocket Stack Rank’s Greg Hullender reports, “We’ve created the 2018 version of our page that helps people nominate for the Hugo Awards. In addition to our reviews, this incorporates feedback from six other prolific short-fiction reviewers to produce a sorted list of the best-reviewed short SFF of 2017.” — “2018 Hugo Awards”.
New this year: they have highlighted which stories were most recommended in different categories.
- Novella: Nexusby Michael Flynn (RSR:5 SFRevu:5 GDozois:5 RHorton:5)
- Novelette: A Series of Steaksby Vina Jie-Min Prasad (RSR:4 SFRevu:4 GDozois:5 RHorton:5 JStrahan JMcGregor:5 CPayseur)
- Short Story: The Martian Obeliskby Linda Nagata (RSR:4 GDozois:5 RHorton:5 JStrahan JMcGregor:5)
Hullender continues: “As in the past, the pages offer nomination help several different ways. The list of stories is helpful for readers looking for stories to read, but it’s also helpful to people who need help remembering the stories they’ve already read. The Campbell page identifies everyone eligible for the Campbell (based only on short stories we reviewed).”
(8) HUT CUISINE. New fiction from Mad Scientist Journal: “Excerpts from the Diary of Theodore Miro, Competitor on CryptoChefs Season 2”. The artwork makes it rather irresistible —
Guess what? Chicken hut. New fiction from @zachbistall https://t.co/Z9oxipVqJA pic.twitter.com/kjqplxaRej
— MadSci Journal (@madscijournal) January 8, 2018
Here’s the opening paragraph:
May 6th
I understand that TV audiences want to see a little more showmanship than I’m used to providing on the line back at Lilette, but this is ridiculous. They trucked in a six-foot tall burlap sack with “HOUSE FEED” painted on the side, and we had to spend two hours getting shots of me and some crew pouring it out onto a giant plate. They kept having to refill the bag between takes, and I had nothing to do but sit around in the freezing-ass Russian afternoon. The only wifi reception out here is a 1980-looking suitcase laptop with one of those inch-thick rubber antennas. I think all it does is let Chaz keep in touch with the producers through some kinda HAM radio satellite or whatever. No apps or anything. I’d tried making small talk with him in between takes, but I think the only thing he’s ever actually read is liner notes from Smash Mouth albums. Album, singular? I don’t even know. He sure would though.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOYS
- Born January 8, 1862 — Frank Nelson Doubleday (publisher)
- Born January 8, 1908 — The first Doctor Who. actor William Hartnell
- Born January 8, 1942 – Stephen Hawking
(10) SEVEN CENTURIES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA. A Marvel comics milestone is approaching —
This spring, OUT OF TIME will culminate with the release of CAPTAIN AMERICA’s milestone 700th issue, concluding the arc in an oversized story from creators Mark Waid and Chris Samnee!
Frozen in time, awakened in a decimated future and once again a man out of his era, there is only one way for Steve Rogers to restore order and rebuild civilization—and that’s to rule it as King Captain America!
“No dream, no hoax, no lie, this IS Cap and this IS happening!” said SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort. “Guest-starring the Thing and the Hulk (or as much as is left of them), it’s a celebration of 700 issues of star-spangled adventure! Plus, Mark Waid delivers an untold tale from Captain America’s past, featuring the classic artwork of Jack Kirby!”
(11) MILES MORALES. In “Jason Reynolds Is Revolutionizing the Art of Writing Characters”, Washington City Paper’s Kayla Randall profiles Jason Randall, an experienced African-American YA author whom Marvel picked to write Miles Morales: Spider-Man, a YA novel which appeared late in 2017.
When Marvel Comics calls, people answer. That seems to be a general rule. But local author Jason Reynolds was hesitant when he got his call. Marvel had plans to publish a young adult novel about Spider-Man, specifically Miles Morales, an immensely popular iteration of the character and the first black boy to don the spider suit in the comics. Reynolds was the author the bosses wanted.
That he would be on Marvel’s radar as it identified authors to write about a black Puerto Rican teenager coming of age in Brooklyn comes as no surprise. The Oxon Hill native, who now lives in Northeast D.C., has written nine books and become widely known over the past few years for writing complex young black characters, mostly boys. His book Ghost was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and As Brave As You was a 2017 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.
“I’ve written a gazillion books about black boys in Brooklyn, so it was kind of like ‘Look dude, this is your wheelhouse, will you take this on?’” Reynolds says.
His initial answer was “I don’t know.” He was afraid the stranglehold of a corporation with huge intellectual properties to protect and monitor would stifle his writing. Then there was the immense pressure he’d feel to properly represent a beloved superhero in his own words.
(12) SMALL WORLD. Yahoo! shares “A portrait of Earth and the Moon from 3 million miles away”:
Sometimes you need to step back to see the big picture, and if your subjects are 249,000 miles apart, you need to step waaay back. Luckily, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is moving rapidly away from us and was recently just in the right position, around 3.1 million miles away, so it trained its MapCam instrument towards its former home and captured this poignant portrait of the Earth and the Moon.
(13) LESSON FROM AN EXPERT. Mad Genius Club’s Dave Freer, in “‘Hold-my-beer’ Precedent”, criticizes practices like —
‘De-platforming’ – Another precedent set and accepted and much beloved by the modern Left – those in power should be able to effectively silence any dissent, and isolate dissenters by denying them a public place – be that a convention, Twitter, or a book for sale to the public. The puppy-kickers and indeed SJW’s believe de-platforming an important and completely justified tool… in their hands. They’re in power and think it a great idea.
I know Dave can speak about de-platforming from experience, having banned me from MGC’s comments section.
And what explosive thing did I say to trigger him? My last comment there responded to their site redesign by asking them to make the bylines larger and more readable. No, no, this wasn’t concern trolling. It just seemed an obvious thing to fix as long as they were doing a makeover anyway.
(14) JON PINOCCHIO. Yesterday he was telling the world File 770 has no readers. In February he tweeted the figure below as a taunt. Which was true? Neither. Isn’t that a surprise. There has never been anything remotely like that number of outbound clicks from here to his site.
I want to thank File 770 for referring 500 unique users to my website. I don't know who to thank tho. Not on twitter, internet illiterate.
— Jon Del Arroz (@jondelarroz) February 14, 2017
(15) JDA’S NEXT CHESSMOVE. Jon Del Arroz has posted “An Open Letter to Worldcon GoH Spider Robinson”.
In an unprecedented move, Worldcon pre-banned me, an action they haven’t taken since 1964 with Walter Breen, a convicted pedophile. Unlike Walter, I’m no criminal, just a family man and professional in the field. I’m an outspoken conservative and Christian, which sets me in the “other, not human” category for some people in science fiction writing, and I’ve been a target of a hate campaign because of my worldviews since coming on the scene. It’s about the opposite of what I imagined a loving, tolerant group would be.
I’ve been given no information to why I’m banned other than I “intend to violate the code of conduct” which I’ve stated several times I don’t. As a popular writer in the field, it seems a move solely based on hate and discrimination of people like me. I wish we could all get along despite differences like in Callahan’s, but it appears some in our world aren’t ready for that.
(16) GAME OVER. John C. Wright begins his January 8 post, “Love Crimes and Hate Crimes”, with this news –
Milo Yiannopoulos’ DANGEROUS website, for reasons, so they reassure me, that are no reflection on my writing, have suspended my column there, temporarily, or so they hope.
(17) INSPIRATION. There was a famous composer who answered the question “Where do you get your inspiration” with the remark, “When the check arrives.” Ridley Scott would like somebody to inspire him that way — “‘Blade Runner 2049’ Sequel: Ridley Scott Already Has Plans for a Third Chapter”.
Director Ridley Scott has an idea for a new “Blade Runner” film and is hoping to get it off the ground. Although he recently vocalized some strong opinions about why the second chapter, “Blade Runner 2049,” underperformed at the box office (“It’s slow. It’s slow. Long. Too long. I would have taken out half an hour,” Scott told Al Arabiya), he seems to be eager to return to the series.
When asked about continuing the saga, Scott told Digital Spy, “I hope so. I think there is another story. I’ve got another one ready to evolve and be developed, so there is certainly one to be done for sure.”
(18) A CHECK OF MONEY. Subterranean Press did inspire Harlan Ellison that way, and he allowed Jason Davise to put together the collection Blood’s A Rover. The Ellison-signed edition is already sold out ($500 a pop). Unsigned copies are available at $40.
Harlan Ellison introduced you to Vic and Blood in 1969’s Nebula Award-winning novella, “A Boy and His Dog.” You thrilled to their on-screen adventures in the 1975 Hugo Award-winning feature film adaptation billed as “a kinky tale of survival.” 1977 and 1980 brought brief reunions in “Eggsucker” and “Run, Spot, Run,” and the promise of another story—and a third solo, Spike, to make the Dystopian Duo a Tribulation Trio—but only audiobooks and comics followed, revisiting the same tales.
Now, nearly fifty years after they first set off across the blasted wasteland, Vic and Blood are back.
Harlan Ellison and his editor, Jason Davis, have painstakingly assembled the whole story of Vic and Blood and Spike from the author’s files, using revised-and-expanded versions of the novella and short stories, interstitial material developed for Richard Corben’s graphic adaptation, and—for the first time—never-before-published material from the aborted 1977 NBC television series Blood’s a Rover to tell the complete story of A Boy and His Dog, and a Girl who is tougher than the other two combined.
(19) IN HOC. Not genre, but too snarky to ignore — “New Latin State Mottoes for the 21st Century” from McSweeney’s. Examples:
Massachusetts
Tacete, scimus nos asperos esse
“Shut up, we know we are rude”Ohio
Nostra flumina non iam ardent
“Our rivers no longer catch on fire”
(20) GOOD GOVERNMENT JOB. Seal of approval?: “SpaceX Rocket Launches Secret Government Payload Into Orbit”.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched a top secret U.S. government payload into orbit, while returning its first-stage booster to the ground for reuse.
The Falcon lifted off at 8 p.m. ET Sunday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As the first-stage of the Falcon returned to Earth for an upright landing, the upper stage lofted the mysterious Zuma, presumed to be a spy satellite or military communications satellite, into an undisclosed orbit.
(21) HEAVY METAL. Beating swords into stereos? “Headphones made from recycled firearms”.
Sweden’s Yevo Labs has unveiled a set of wireless headphones that incorporate metal made from seized illegal guns.
The charging case and a band on the headphones themselves are made of a material branded Humanium.
It is created by the Humanium Metal Initiative, also based in Sweden, and used by a number of Scandinavian manufacturers.
One analyst said the idea should help the headphones stand out in a crowded market.
(22) MIRROR, MIRROR. Cora Buhlert evaluates a popular episode of Black Mirror — “‘USS Callister’ and the Successful Mutiny Against Toxic Masculinity”.
…In the end, it turns out that “USS Callister”, the “Star Trek” episode of Black Mirror is only superficially about Star Trek. This shouldn’t really come as a huge surprise, since Black Mirror normally focusses on “five minutes into the future” tech dystopias and not far future space opera. And indeed, my initial reaction to the “USS Callister” scenes in the general season 4 trailer was, “Huh. Now that doesn’t look like Black Mirror at all.”
And indeed it quickly turns out that the scenes in the trailer of a day-glo 1960ish Star Trek type space adventure are just an immersive virtual reality game created by a programmer named Robert Daley, where he can forget his sad everyday existence and instead live in the world of his favourite TV show, a Star Trek clone called “Space Fleet”, as the heroic captain leading an adoring crew to explore the unknown. At first glance, this seems to be harmless enough, though it is notable that the crew of the USS Callister look very much like his co-workers. Things take a turn towards the seriously creepy when Daley steals the coffee cup of a new employee, swabs it for DNA and pushes a sample into a device attached to his computer…
(23) CW SUPERHEROES. The super season returns starting Monday, January 15 on The CW. Very amusing trailer.
[Thanks to JJ, Martin Morse Wooster, Chip Hitchcock, John King Tarpinian, Daniel Dern, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Nigel.]
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Remember a few weeks back when I was insisting that the Internet Archives contained lots of pirated material and others were saying that they were above reproach because they were librarians? I’d like to take this moment to say “Ha!”
You earned it.
(13)
[Scene: a cocktail party]
Host: Ah Dave! Let me introduce to a dear friend of mine. Dave this The Slippery Slope Fallacy. Slippery Slope Fallacy, this is Dave.
Slippery: Oh, Dave and I’ have met before!
Dave: Really?
Slippery: Sure Dave! We were at that s dinner party only the other day!
Dave: That doesn’t ring a bell.
Slippery: Jon C Wright was there with Affirming the Consequent and Vox Day was there on a date with Ad Hominem.
Host: On a date? I thought those two were going steady?
Slippery: Come on Dave! You can’t have forgotten me! Why only the other day you, me and False Equivalence were hanging out Correlation Is Not Causation’s place.
Dave: No…that can’t be right. I was hanging out with Brilliant Analogy at Great Statistical Argument’s place. Amazing Argument Against Leftism was there.
Slippery: hmm I think I see the problem. I’m often mistaken for Amazing Argument Against Leftism…
Dave: Well that must be it then!
Slippery: but actually we look nothing alike. I can’t understand how people keep getting the two of us confused.
Dave: It must be the hat.
Slippery: Oh, do you like it? Non Sequitur bought it for me. I’ve no idea why…
Bravo, Camestros! 👏
*still chortling*
19) They should add ‘But check back later.’ to the Ohio motto, given what Trump has done to the Great Lakes cleanup funding.
13) The usual term is “no-platforming”. I mention this because calling it “de-platforming” adds the implication of something being taken away, which is only the case if you believe free speech includes the right to an audience of your choice. (I can’t decide if the change is conscious propaganda or just wounded entitlement, but I doubt it really matters.)
3) I would like more free books on the Internet, please, if only for the sake of my fifteen-year-old self who’d gone through the SF section of the local library and couldn’t afford to buy many books.
(20)
I am glad that the us government hope has a carved stone frog spitting coloured marbles in space.
Camestros: Hurrah!
I can’t comment at Camestros’ blog, probably because my computer is old and bad-tempered, but I did want to say that the Freer comment comparing Worldcon banning del Arroz to the plight of the Rohingya is truly hideous.
Also: yay cont ed credit!
(7) FOR THOSE SCORING AT HOME
I’ve not read Nexus but the other two stories are on my longlists. A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad is particularly charming, and the author is Campbell eligible as well.
20) Quoting the WSJ, boing boing is reporting there was some problems with the launch and the spy satellite is a total loss. It’s all classified so no one will confirm anything.
15) Another take on this is that WorldCon banned JDA early enough for him to cancel hotel and travel arrangements without penalty. Had they waited until the Con to act upon his stated course, he would be out a pretty penny.
After 700 issues, is there any hope that Cap will learn how to use a shield correctly (or that artists will learn how to draw him using a shield correctly)?
At the very least, it should be between you and the enemy…
(17) I massively preferred Blade Runner 2049 to either of the Alien prequels that Ridley has done. So you’ll forgive me if I’m not stirred by this.
As the BBC’s Mark Kermode has said, Scott cannot elevate a screenplay above its shortcomings regardless of his strengths in creating a visual spectacle. Give him a great screenplay like The Martian’s though and you’ll end up with something lush.
As for the pacing, I really enjoyed the more languid style Villeneuve brought. Note that both his previous films, Arrival and Sicarrio, both allow scenes to develop with much less of the rapid fire cuts currently in vogue.
/godstalk
Meredith Moment, though one I suspect is of limited use to us:
Amazon kindle UK Daily Deal: Some obscure book called ‘The Fifth Season‘ for only 99p.
@camestros. Hehehe
15)
I should not have read this, but I did. Mr. Del Arroz has spent too much time in my brain but I wanted to know what he’d say.
This jumped out at me, as you might expect:
“If you know Spider Robinson — please make sure he sees this!”
Frankly, in my singular and individual opinion, anyone who did point Mr. Robinson in the direction of the open letter is doing him no favors. But then that is just my personal experience of Mr. Del Arroz, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Central Committee of File 770 or anyone else.
@Nigel ugh. Words fail.
14, 15, 16) I had no idea it was so difficult to be a straight conservative christian man. I need to re-think my life.
sez JDA: “I’ve been given no information to why I’m banned other than I ‘intend to violate the code of conduct’ which I’ve stated several times I don’t.”
And that magically cancels out all the times JDA stated he was going to do shit that violates the CoC, right? I think that’s how it works…
18) I remember back in what seventy-seven, sometime like that, in the forthcoming books section of Patchin Review there was an announcement that Blood’s a Rover was coming out from Ace.
But then, that was Charles Platt.
(15) This seems to be similar to the way that at least some of JdA’s harassment campaigns have started. If Spider doesn’t respond favorably to the open letter, and JdA stays true to form, JdA will declare that it is because Spider disapproves of his politics and is an SJW, and then launch a campaign to “troll the shit” out of Spider.
On many occasions, it is. And moving very, very quickly.
I got the SubPress email about Blood’s a Rover and was briefly confused at how it could be a new publication until I realized that the book called Blood’s a Rover that I’d been remembering was actually by James Ellroy.
@Aaron
JDA is asking on gab if anyone has Robinson’s contact information. To, I assume, contact him repeatedly with exuberant friendliness, regardless how unwelcome his friendly pokes may be.
Also, dunno if it was mentioned here, but wanna-pup Declan Finn has a post up defending JDA while simultaneously noting he acts like a jerk (though he uses wording like mine above to describe said jerky behavior). It’s interesting that JDA seems to be the first puppish lunatic since VD that other puppish types kinda acknowledge is not a good person, even if they couch this acknowledgment in “he’s a super nice guy whose bad behavior is the fault of his victims” kind of language.
18) @Joseph T Major I had an order with a friendly bookseller for a small press release of Blood’s A Rover back in the early 90s too…
… there is only one way for Steve Rogers to restore order and rebuild civilization—and that’s to rule it as King Captain America!
If Captain America became king, he would be King America, not King Captain America. The latter is like Barack Obama becoming Senator President Obama.
Perhaps he should just be King Steve.
I’ve been looking forward to the release of “Dark State” but Googleplay shows it as being released on the 11th. Anyone know why the delay exists? (I know Kobo and Amazon have the book today, but I’m not confident that I can get it from Amazon has in a Calibre-convertible format and Kobo is offering it in EPUB3 format, which I can’t download following purchase). I suppose I can wait until Thursday, since Seanan’s book is available to me today…
@IanP: Word. Everything I loved about Blade Runner 2049 (which was most of it, including the pacing) is the result of Ridley Scott having almost nothing to do with it.
@rcade I’m far from an expert on this, but you definitely can have a royal title AND a military rank at the same time, whereas you can’t be simultaneously Senator and President (right?). So, depending on how the future rebuilt monarchy of America decides to style its titles, King Captain America could totally happen.
(Sadly, the real world example I’m thinking of, Prince Harry, apparently can’t be called Prince Captain Harry. But isn’t the whole point of Captain America that he’s from the land of freedom and opportunity and doesn’t have to put up with the outdated constraints of the ancien regime etc. etc.?)
((Full disclosure: in the Year 3548, the USA is now ruled by Emperox Captain America XVII, and a very benevolent ruler e is too.))
@ artifel:
He’s probably Prince Harry Cpt Windsor. I’m pretty sure military titles bind to the surname. I think the most impressively weird “name with full set of titles” is “Princess Christina Dr. Lady Magnusson” (she’s a princess and a doctor in her own name, but Lady Magnusson by marriage, which is why the “Dr” and “Lady” apparently should go in that order).
(2) THE BDO.
This inspired me to finally get around to reading Rendezvous with Rama (first published the year of my birth). I’m enjoying it. It has some of the issues I expect from older SF, but is very readable. I’m almost mid-way through, which for me is a lot for one reading session nowadays. I was considering continuing the series, but what I’ve heard about the sequels isn’t promising.
Any opinions about the Shaw book mentioned above (Orbitsville)? I read Nicoll’s review and it sounds “meh,” but I’m intrigued by the idea of the Dyson sphere being a trap set by ancient aliens.
Isn’t “Captain” just his first name? Yes, I know his first name is Steve etc but as Captain America the “Captain America” identity is surname=America and firstname=Captain. It can’t be a rank because he didn’t start as Private America.
Also, Kings don’t go by their surname, so if he were King he’d just be King Captain the First.
@Ingvar: If you’re being formal, he’s HRH Prince Henry of Wales and in the military Captain Harry Wales. He doesn’t mix the two, but those that do put military rank first, eg Admiral Lord Hill.
As long as he doesn’t have a female cousin who was told she would inherit the throne…
@8: Mike, I’d ask if you put that in just for the tag (although it’s not as outrageous as writing an entire novel (Lord of Light) for one pun), but the linked story was funny enough on its own.
If there were some way to see the JdA plea to Spider on an independent system, I might do it just for giggles. (I need giggles; every time I turn around the cost of repairing the plumbing goes up.) But the link looks like it’s a pass-through to his site, and I don’t want to give him even one click.
Something for the funny pages (in case JDA is not twittering today): Alex Norris (“Oh No”) points out a loophole.
@kathodus Any opinions about the Shaw book mentioned above (Orbitsville)?
It’s a long time since I read it, but what I remember is a definite ‘meh’. The purpose isn’t really a big part of the plot. There were also two(?) sequels, which were even less memorable.
I remember Rendezvous with Rama fondly, though.
@Cap Fans: The entire phrase “Captain America” is just a title without a name, of course 😉
@kathodus: Due to other mentions of Rendezvous With Rama recently (probably here), I put it on my TBR list. I can’t believe I haven’t read it; it’s good to hear you’re enjoying it! I’m hoping my local used bookstore has a copy.
(15) JDA’S NEXT CHESSMOVE. “…no information to why I’m banned other than…” – In other words, he was indeed given information. 😛 The only winning [chess]move is not to play, JDA.
@Peer Sylvester: LOL, thanks for linking to that comic! The first comment I saw also made me laugh:
“Dan Martin @deathbulge
i shaved my beard like 10 minutes before seeing this and now i’m crying”
@rcade: your analogy is weak — mixing a military rank and a political office is not like mixing two mutually-exclusive political offices — but AFAICT the US custom is to use only the highest rank, i.e. Ike was referred to as President Eisenhower rather than President General Eisenhower. (IIRC he was formally a civilian by then, but last rank commonly attaches to the retired.) OTOH (answering other arguments), ISTM that “Captain” isn’t a military rank in this case; I watched a fanzine argument some years ago over how to translate “Captain Future’s Log” into Hebrew, including the translator’s assertion that they used a word that could mean ship captain, i.e. “boss” (cf dictionary.com‘s definition #1, and derivation from Latin caput “head”) rather than an Army rank. Yes, this is taking the question far too seriously….
@Kendall – FYI, there is casual misogyny and the characters are cardboard cutouts, but it is fast-paced and entertaining if those elements aren’t too off-putting. The entire book is under 300 pages. If written today, I suspect it’d be closer to 600, with a lot of political intrigue and much more character development. I’m enjoying this format, personally – it’s efficiently telling the story Clarke wants to tell.
The talk of royalty and ranks reminds me that in Flint’s 1632 a character has (essentially) two identities – a royal one (including command of all his nation’s armed forces) and a non-royal, lower ranking military one, which allows him to take part in actions (and in some cases, to support causes) that his royal status would preclude.
@bookworm1398: NPR reports several sources supporting this; pity Musk didn’t put his car on this rocket instead of the Heavy to be tested soon?
@Andrew —
The same is done in the Prince Roger series by Weber and Ringo, in which Prince Roger is technically the boss of his entire Marine escort, but chooses to take the rank of Lt. and work under his own troop’s leader. He maintains his “Prince” role for diplomatic issues, and operates in his “Lt.” role for military ones.
(IMHO it’s a fun series, btw. I haven’t liked the only books I’ve tried by Weber and Ringo writing separately, but I’ve enjoyed the first two Roger books.)
It might be relevant that there was a What If issue in which Iron Man was trapped in the past and wound up succeeding King Arthur; he did so as King Anthony. (“King Man”. of course, would be silly, and “King Iron” not much better.)
(18): Blood’s a Rover: Back when Ace Books naively thought that they’d actually get the manuscript for the book on time, they not only announced the book but did up a really nice trade paperback-sized cover proof using Richard Corben artwork. I kept it and when I sold off my comics collection via Jerry Weist in 2007, it went for a 3-figure sum.
The Corben cover here is not the same as the original Ace edition was going to be.
A great resource for up-to-the-minute info is the NASA Spaceflight update forum. Higher volume (but more speculative) is their discussion forum. (I usually follow both.)
Current thinking seems to be that this was Grumman’s fault, not SpaceX’s.
@kathodus, My recollection of Rendezvous With Rama was that it was a fun read. But despite anything that libraries or bookstores may try to tell you, there are no sequels. (And there are no prequels to the Star Wars movies, either. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away the first number was 4. Just sayin’.)