Pixel Scroll 1/12/16 Have Starship Trooper Power Suit, Will Travel

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(1) NOT MY CUPPA. The Traveler at Galactic Journey found the January 1961 issue of Galaxy filled with well-done short stories that didn’t personally appeal to him. Of course, he was younger in those days.

(2) MISS FIT. Liwella at Astounding Yarns was enjoying the Cosmonauts exhibition at the Science Museum right up to the moment she discovered their souvenir t-shirts weren’t available in a women’s fit.

I loved the exhibition so much that I wanted to take home some souvenirs.  Particularly one of the range of awesome tshirts that were for sale, given that I love wearing geeky tshirts.  I wear them round the house with jeans.  I wear them with skirts and funky tights when I’m out and about.  Perhaps I should buy one featuring the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.  Or one inspired by those glorious Russian propaganda posters, with their instantly recognisable design aesthetic.  But it turns out that the Science Museum only offered one tshirt in a woman’s fit – a rather dull design based on a spacewalk motif.  When I asked the assistant on duty if there were any woman’s fit tshirts available he seemed surprised I’d even asked.

(3) KEEP YOUR MONEY HANDY. “Hasbro, Disney Launching new Rey ‘Star Wars’ Toys” reports the Wall Street Journal.

“One of the biggest surprises that filmmakers wanted to keep under wraps was that the Force awakens in Rey and she carries a lightsaber,” said Paul Southern, head of licensing for Lucasfilm. “We always planned a second wave of product after the movie’s release that would include secrets revealed in the movie.”

Hasbro’s new Rey toys will be based more on her action scenes later in the film, including a climactic one in which she wields a lightsaber.

There have been products including toys, T-shirts and costumes featuring Rey available for months, but to date virtually all have featured her only as she appears in the movie’s earliest scenes.

Nonetheless, some fans were upset about three toys in which the Rey character was notably absent, including the Monopoly game and a set of action figures, sold exclusively at Target, that excluded her entirely.

The movie’s director, J.J. Abrams, has supported those fans.

“It seems preposterous and wrong that the main character of the movie is not well represented in what is clearly a huge piece of the ‘Star Wars’ world in terms of merchandising,” he said that the Television Critics Association’s press tour Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly.

(4) BALMORAL-ICAN GRAFITTI. J. K. Rowling celebrated the ninth anniversary of finishing Deathly Hallows with a tweet, says Mashable.

Rowling placed the finishing touches on the seventh Harry Potter book at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, the city where she lives. After finally completing her manuscript, she indulged in a little friendly vandalism to commemorate the occasion, a photo of which she tweeted Monday.

 

(5) AXANAR UPDATE. Now Alec Peters has written his own FAQ – “Captain’s Log – Jan. 7th, 2016”.

Q:  How can you be non-profit and pay salaries?

A:  Non-profit does not mean “volunteer”.  Just like the CEO of The Red Cross gets $400K a year in salary, non-profits can pay salaries.  Payroll is an expense.

Q:  Why did Alec Peters get paid $ 38,000 as noted in the annual report?

A: Because Alec (as well as Diana) worked full time at Axanar, certainly 60 hours a week not including conventions on the weekends.  That means Alec and Diana probably got paid minimum wage.  And Diana deferred all her salary.  Now go compare that to any Hollywood studio exec putting out medicore content, and tell us Alec and Diana were paid too much!  That doesn’t even cover their expenses.  We don’t expect full time employees to work for free.

Q:  Is Ares Studios a for-profit studio?

A:  Ares Studio is the term we use to describe the warehouse we have built our sound stage to make Axanar.  There is no profit being made, and in fact Alec personally guaranteed the 3 year lease, so the last two years are a $ 250,000 liability he is responsible for.  Axanar Productions has been paying for the building while we build sets and prepare the make the movie.  Would we like to make movies after Axanar?  Sure would, but that is all speculative.  We don’t have any revenue from the studio and so such talk is nonsense.

(6) MAJOR TOM. Bowie lyrics on the marquee of the closed Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena.

Rialto marquee

(7) DANGEROUS. Forbes writer Ron Salkowitz analyzes “David Bowie’s Dangerous Visions: Sci-Fi Touchpoints For The Thin White Duke”.

Much of Bowie’s work throughout his career is a dialogue with New Wave SF, refracting it through his own sensibility and bringing the concepts to a mass audience via the medium of rock and roll. As I’ve been listening to the Bowie catalog for the past day, I’m reminded of a few specific connections and patterns of inspiration.

The Jerry Cornelius Novels (Michael Moorcock). Moorcock, the quintessential New Wave author, is better known for his sword and sorcery character Elric, but in 1968, he unleashed the sexually ambiguous secret agent Jerry Cornelius on an unsuspecting public in a novel called The Final Programme. An acid-drenched mashup of James Bond and Doctor Who, the dapper Cornelius hopscotches around space and time foiling plots against reality, assuming new identities and dazzling people with his avant gard aesthetics as he goes. Three further novels followed, each stranger than the next. Jerry Cornelius is less a specific inspiration for Bowie’s work than a template for his entire persona.

(8) GREETINGS GATES. The passing of David Bowie prompted Mental Floss to remind fans that “Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) Choreographed ‘Labyrinth’”. A photo and video clips there, too.

Most geeks like me know Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. But before her Trek role, McFadden was Director of Choreography and Puppet Movement on a bunch of Jim Henson films, including The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and even The Muppets Take Manhattan. As a choreographer, she’s typically credited as Cheryl McFadden — Cheryl is her first name, Gates is her middle name.

(9) DRAWN THAT WAY. The Slipper says farewell to David Bowie the comics reader and reproduces many images that characterized him or were influenced by his appearance.

(10) TODAY IN HISTORY

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY

In 1695, aged 67, he wrote Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, a series of moral tales designed to prompt the reader to reflect on the dilemmas presented to the protagonist, which were well-known from folklore even then.

The volume contained the story now known as Mother Goose, alongside perrenially recognised titles such as Puss in Boots, Blue Beard and Cinderella, and less famous stories Ricky of the Tuft and Little Thumb

(12) MEESA QUITS. You won’t have Jar-Jar Binks to kick around anymore. Try not to let it get to you.

Issa bad news from Naboo… Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks will never return to the ‘Star Wars’ movies, even if he was asked, adding ‘I’ve done my damage’.

Binks, perhaps the most reviled character in all of ‘Star Wars’ history, was the Gungan soldier know initially for his cack-handed clumsiness, and then, appropriately, his latter career as a politician in George Lucas’s prequel movies.

But in a rare interview, Best said that he has no intention of ever reprising the character.

(13) HUGO CAMPAIGNER. Robin Wayne Bailey would hate for you to miss a chance to vote his story a Hugo. On Facebook, he’ll tell you how to get a free copy.

Last month, November, saw the release of the very excellent science fiction anthology, MISSION: TOMORROW, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. The anthology is chock-full of great stories, and my own “Tombaugh Station,” I’m honored to say, leads it all off.

I believe strongly that “Tombaugh Station” is one of the best science fiction stories I’ve ever written, strongly enough that I’d love to see it make the 2016 Hugo Awards ballot next August right here in my own hometown.

However, that November release, late in the year and only a month before the ballot was released (a week ago) is the very definition of what’s known in this business as an “end of the year handicap,” that is, few voters will have had the chance to see the story before voting begins. Now, I don’t particularly want to quietly fall victim to that handicap.

So I’ve just asked and received permission from Baen Books to give my story away. That’s right — I’m actively campaigning for a place on the 2016 Hugo ballot. I used to frown on such shenanigans, but that stigma obviously has melted away.

LOL! Sure, it’s understandable why a Baen Books author might think that…

(14) AFROFUTURISM & OTHER TOPICS. “The State of Black Science Fiction Convention” will be held June 11-12 in Atlanta, GA.

(15) SHERRY’S LONGLIST. Joe Sherry has posted “My 2016 Hugo Awards Longlist Recommendations” at Adventures In Reading, which is both interesting in its own right, and as an index of where recused creators and works might belong.

With all of the shenanigans regarding groups putting together slates to directly influence what gets on the final ballot, what I’m going to do instead is post a growing long list of stuff I thought was awesome in 2015. This list will likely grow and change as I continue to discover stuff published in 2015 that I likewise think is awesome. I’m listing everything alphabetically either by title or author, so don’t view anything listed at the top of a category as being my ranked order. It’s not.

(16) INSIDE BASEBALL. Lesley Conner’s guest post at Far Beyond Reality tells how several stories got selected for Best of Apex Magazine: Volume 1.

From Slush Pile to Magazine to Anthology: The Making of Best of Apex Magazine: Volume 1

I came on board as the managing editor of Apex Magazine in October, 2014. I’d been involved with Apex for a while before that, but it wasn’t until then that I was let into the shadowed world of the slush pile and started sifting through to find stories to bring into the light. Because of this, and the fact that Best of Apex Magazine: Volume 1 covers the first six years of Apex Magazine, I missed that magical moment of discovery for many of the stories that ended up in the anthology. But not all of them.

Today I’d like to give you a peek behind the publishing curtain and share the journey that some of the stories in Best of Apex Magazine took from the slush pile to the anthology.

(17) IT’S A MYSTERY. Vox Day says the count is now up to four of people following his author page who have been banned from Goodreads. What the rest of their Goodreads activity consisted of he doesn’t say.

(18) BB-8. Here are two videos starring science fiction cinema’s latest Small Cute Robot.

Unlike some, BB-8 is too shy to come out of its shell…

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Will R., and James H. Burns for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

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241 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 1/12/16 Have Starship Trooper Power Suit, Will Travel”

  1. John Lorentz on January 13, 2016 at 2:54 pm said:

    Of course, some of us are also old enough to still think of Pluto as a planet…

    I want a Village-style penny-farthing button with the number 134340.

  2. @JJ

    Some of us still have a bit of resentment over Pluto’s loss of planetary status.

    You should have a look at A Quantitative Criterion for Defining Planets, by Jean-Luc Margot. If you like, you can skip the math and just look at figures 1 and 2.

    What it does is define “dynamical dominance” in terms of mass of the planet, mass of the star, and distance of the planet from the star. It makes an extremely sharp distinction between planets and smaller bodies, and it’s easy to apply to extra-solar bodies.

    It doesn’t make Pluto a planet again, but it makes it very clear why it isn’t in the same class.

  3. JJ

    Did you miss it in 2006 when Pluto, which had been designated the 9th planet in our solar system since it was discovered in 1930, was demoted to “dwarf planet”, reducing the number of planets in our solar system to 8?

    No I was around for Pluto losing its planet status. Which makes me right again when I told my teachers it was more important to know how to look up data then memorize lists because stuff always changes. I consistently failed on tests of planet names/dates. Now I know the name of a not-planet better than the 8 still planets. I’m all for making it a planet again although I sympathize with the astronomers who found themselves in a dilemma due to all the new information we now have. Six years ago I was a much more involved sympathizer.

    But I wasn’t around when it was first named a planet. 😉

    ETA: Greg – what does science have to do with it? They took our planet away… *mutters while wandering off*

  4. Greg Hullender: You should have a look at… It doesn’t make Pluto a planet again, but it makes it very clear why it isn’t in the same class.

    Oh, I’m well aware of why Pluto was demoted. That’s not my point.

    My point is that for some of us, the solar system will always look like this.

  6. I just finished reading a pretty good romance, which nevertheless was not what I wanted to be reading, and a bit darker than i would have preferred, because I had promised. Now I need to read something…happier? More fun? Lighter?

    Is The Nun’s Dragon by Christine Emmert a safe choice?

  7. RedWombat on January 13, 2016 at 3:00 pm said:

    Salesman on the last one greeted my husband. He said “She’s buying the truck.” Salesman recovered, barely, but made small talk with my husband the whole time, clearly didn’t know what to say to me.

    It worked out well, though. Saleman had bad eyesight and his monitor was set huge and he had it at an angle. Now, I have freakishly good eyesight, so by leaning back and putting my feet up, I could read the instant messages he was sending the manager. I did not pay too much for that truck.

    WONDERFUL!

    Nowadays, with the existence of more than one website dedicated to telling a consumer everything about a potential car purchase, down to the price paid by others in their zip code, it is a lot easier to cut through the nonsense with a sales person.

    I was pleasantly surprised 2 years ago when I went to buy a new car and the guy beat the best price I was willing to pay. And thank ghu I’ve never felt the service department was trying to cheat me. Of course, I once repaired my car’s cable cluch in a parking lot, so argle bargle doesn’t work well on me.

  9. @Bruce Baugh:

    Now I’m reminded of Alan Moore’s introduction to Elric: The Stealer of Souls, the first volume in Del Rey’s chronological reprinting of Elric stuff:

    Nice. The Moore excerpt seems to track roughly with my memory of the White Wolf omnibuses of Moorcock (from the 90s?), except for that bit about the reconstruction of Iraq.

  11. I am never, ever, going to understand why people are so bent out of shape over Pluto’s status. Unless you happen to be a planetary astronomer applying for a grant with very narrow criteria, Pluto’s new status as a dwarf planet has absolutely no impact on your life. It’s bewildering.

  12. I’m reconciled to the Pluto thing, if only because “dwarf planet” makes it sound so adorable.

  13. Nancy Sauer: I am never, ever, going to understand why people are so bent out of shape over Pluto’s status.

    We always root for the underdog…

  15. @Mike Gleyer

    Does this extend to being a Cubs fan? 🙂

    @Lis Carey

    I was a Saturn fancier myself–it had rings. Yes, I know everything has rings these days, I’m showing my age.

  16. Ereader advice wanted.

    I’ve been using a Pandigital Novel 7″, which is basically a super cheap knockoff Nook, for the past four or five years as my ereader, but it’s starting to get flakey. I’m slowly starting to look at new ereaders. I’m interested in something cheap, 7″ or 8″, which I can sideload epubs on, because the way I do ebooks is to buy them with my computer, archive them there (using Calibre if necessary to get rid of drm), and sideload them onto my tablet, and I don’t see any good reason to change. Though I could be persuaded, I suppose, if anyone has a good argument. In any case, I need to be able to read the epubs I already have. And I’d like to continue using my ebook case, which I really like and they don’t make any more; it holds tablets up to about 8″ x 6″ or so.

    My first brief research makes me think the Kindle Fire 7 might be a good bet costwise, but I’ve no idea how/if it handles epubs. And would I be locked into Amazon, or could I continue to sideload books straight from my computer? Because I really don’t like Amazon.

  17. RedWombat; that really cheered me up! Thank you for this story; there are days when we need to read something which has heart.

  18. I am never, ever, going to understand why people are so bent out of shape over Pluto’s status.

    I also think its partly because it is (was) the only planet in our solar system to be discovered by Americans. I’ve always thought there was an “Americanness” to Pluto, the frontier of the solar system, and all that.

    I’ve always been much more of a Mars fan, though. Though I wouldn’t have minded if we had wound up with Minerva instead of Mars (a la Turtledove’s A World of Difference).

  21. Meredith on January 13, 2016 at 5:58 pm said:
    I’m reconciled to the Pluto thing, if only because “dwarf planet” makes it sound so adorable.

    Like that tiny BB-8 nestling with the baby chicks in the video above?

  24. I was not upset by Pluto’s demotion — more bemused. It was as if a foundational fact of life had just been changed.

    My reaction would have been similar if I’d been told that scientists had determined that ROYGBIV was actually just ROYGBV, or if music experts announced that they had determined that Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do was wrong, and it is actually Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-Ti-Do.

    I’d still color my rainbows with 7 colors, I’d still sing “La”, and I still draw my solar systems with 9 orbiting bodies — it’s just that the one farthest from the sun has a skewed, elliptical orbit. 😀

  26. @Cally: (e-readers)

    I continue to recommend the Kobo hardware line, if not necessarily the Kobo bookstore. I use mine in exactly the manner you describe, and if you get one of the older Glo models (as opposed to the Glo HD), you can increase the onboard memory just by (carefully) upgrading the internal microSDHC card. If you’re not into that, you can just use the external microSDHC slot. The Aura H2O is even waterproof, and with its 6.8″ screen, it’s a bit bigger than the 6″ Glo and Touch – almost the same dimensions as my iPad mini. They even handle both EPUB and MOBI, although I haven’t tested the MOBI support extensively.

    Oh, and it’ll show the ebook cover when asleep/off if you want it to. 🙂

  27. RedWombat: I wrote this back when Pluto was deplaneted, in case anyone wants small cute flash fiction.

    Oh, that is wonderful! Thank you!

    Now I’m imagining Pluto as Emo Kylo Ren.

  28. @Lis Carey

    I also think Pluto was doing quite okay as a planet. Also, that I always enjoy reading your words on this blog; I’m sure you’re worth any twenty of the haters.

  29. RevBob: I’d prefer an LED to epaper screen because in a pinch it’s useful to be able to use my tablet to check email, but I’ll certainly do some research on the Kobo Glo Non-HD, because at this point I don’t know for sure WHAT I want. Thanks for the recommendation!

  30. Cally, I have a Kobo Aura HD with light. You can see it at bells on Sunday if you’re curious. It has a (beta) webbrowser but it’s very slow (e-ing has a slow refresh rate) so it’s not good for much more than checking email.

    I like it because the e-ink doesn’t strain my eyes, unlike LCDs. But it has the limitations that come with that benefit.

    And I know price is a consideration for you; the better Kobos run about $100 or more. If you’re looking for cheap-7″-tablet, this ain’t it.

  31. Yeah, I’m looking for cheap, which is why the Kindle caught my eye; Amazon is basically subsidizing it, so it’s $150 worth of tablet for $40 or $50. But I wouldn’t want it if I couldn’t sideload my existing epubs, or if I was stuck with Amazon.

  32. @Cally:

    In a pinch, the Kobo firmware does have a web browser built in. It’s not great, but it functions; I’ve used it to download books directly rather than going through the sync process. It also appears that the Glo HD is upgrade-friendly – pop the back off, and the internal microSD slot is easily accessible. However, it’s also notable that, so far as I can verify, the Aura H2O is the only current Kobo reader that has an external media slot, and thanks to the waterproofing, that device is very much not upgrade-friendly in terms of replacing the internal card. The original Glo and Touch did, the Aura H2O does, but the Glo HD and Touch 2.0 do not. (The H2O’s slot is hidden under the bottom panel, next to the charging port.)

  33. @Cally
    I’m pretty sure the Kindle Fire will do what you need/want. You should be able to check out the apps available for it to confirm it has epub apps (nook, kobo, etc.) on the Amazon website.

  34. Internet hugs much appreciated.

    Also kind words.

    Can anyone give me an opinion on whether The Nun’s Dragon is a safe next choice?

  35. @cally – I use a kindle paper white or somesuch – the one cheaper than the fire, not backlit. I assume book importing and etc. is approximately the same.

    I use calibre – I import drm’d books to strip the drm. You need to convert epubs to mobi to send them back to the kindle. I haven’t had problems with professionally released files in quite some time. I assume amazon is working to make it more difficult to re-import files that have had the DRM removed, but that is an inherent problem with vendor-controlled hardware (for instance, Apple has rendered iPods basically useless for those of us who don’t use Windows or the Mac OS). And they haven’t succeeded so far.

  36. Lis Carey, if you’ve not yet read A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, it’s sweet, and pleasant, and character-driven with nice people. It would likely be a nice unicorn chaser.

    I know nothing about The Nun’s Dragon so I can’t help you there, alas.

  39. Paul Weimer: I also think its partly because it is (was) the only planet in our solar system to be discovered by Americans. I’ve always thought there was an “Americanness” to Pluto, the frontier of the solar system, and all that.

    I always thought it had as much to do with the fact that Pluto was discovered in the 20th century–the 1930s! When Pluto was deplaneted, so to speak, there were/are people alive who remember(ed) it being discovered, and what a big deal it was. Actually, once we get past the original five, we were getting One New Planet Per Century from the 1700s on, and Pluto belonged to the 20th. Now there are No More New Planets to Discover (or at least I think that that’s how people took the announcement, on some level). Maybe that does have echoes of the American Frontier, now that I think about it . . .

    RedWombat: Love that story! And agree with robinreid that the last line is hilarious.

  40. With respect to Pluto’s status, my main concern at that time was that it would mess up the lyrics to Interplanet Janet.

  41. #2: People bemoaning the lack of “women’s fit” t-shirts at a -museum- and whispering “sexism!!!” as the reason have never worked retail, or tried to balance an inventory.

    One style is stocked because it fits the most people the least badly. Straight sided t-shirts don’t actually “fit” anyone. Humans don’t have straight sides. You want it to fit, go to Lulu or Under Armor. That stuff FITS. Expensive, but damn it’s nice! I wear UA all the time that I’m not doing something involving dirt or paint.

    Had this woman gone to a store specializing in shirts, possibly she would have a valid, if petty, argument. At a museum? No. Sorry girlie, supply chain reality trumps imaginary patriarchy every time. You’re lucky to get small and medium, most shirts are L, XL and XXL. These days I’m seeing more and more 3XL and even 4XL. Holy burritos, Batman.

    #13: doesn’t Scalzi usually have a ‘suggestion’ of which story of his to vote for? Is this any different? And are you idiots actually sniggering and pointing at a FREE story? Y’all must be richer than me.

    #17: I don’t have a dog in that fight, but I think y’all are getting oddly excited by the idea of the main non-trad publisher of SF/F kicking guys off their service. Pretty soon Amazon could be in a virtual monopoly position and able to make virtually any policy they want, no matter how full of sh1t it might be. Do you really want the policy to be the casual banning of guys who haven’t done anything illegal, immoral or even fattening? Is having an internet reputation as a dick sufficient grounds to kick somebody off Goodreads?

    Thought experiment, the Church Lady buys Amazon and kicks every SJW and LGBQTCIAKGB off Goodreads the next day. Sound fair? No? Why not? Precedent has been set.

  42. Lis Carey, I haven’t read The Nun’s Dragon, so I can’t help you there–but have you read Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s? I picked them up after the enthusiastic recommendation of several filers, a while back, and discovered they were perfect for when I needed an emotional pick-me-up . . . bright, witty (laugh out loud funny, in places), and upbeat.

  43. My mother took the car in for service once in Texas; they had to replace the fuel pump. She got out of the dealership, went across the street to the supermarket, and was just past the dealership on the way home when the car died. She said she could see them thinking ‘Stupid woman didn’t know she was out of gas’ – and they wouldn’t let her call me to come collect her and the groceries. Two hours later they’d replaced the fuel pump – again – and she’d gotten home.

  44. Cally on January 13, 2016 at 7:08 pm said:

    “Yeah, I’m looking for cheap, which is why the Kindle caught my eye; Amazon is basically subsidizing it, so it’s $150 worth of tablet for $40 or $50. But I wouldn’t want it if I couldn’t sideload my existing epubs, or if I was stuck with Amazon.”

    Any crappy, cheapo android tablet can run the Kindle app. Get one with an external SD card slot and/or USB port, you’re good for 64 gigs of storage goodness. That’s a lot of reading.

    Also, there’s this gem here: Calibre E-Book Management. calibre-ebook.com Using this freeware, you can turn any ebook file into any other type of file. Also go from text to ebook, MS Word to ebook etc.

    Armed with that, your library should be safe.

    I recommend a period of experimentation to make sure before paying actual money. It would suck to get stuck with the one thing that doesn’t work.

  45. Black fantasy: you can’t go wrong with Maurice Broaddus.

    I’ve always bought unisex t-shirts, and I’ve gone from scrawny with no discernible secondary gender characteristics, to (all too briefly!) hourglass to my current cylinder with a small narrowing in the middle. Women’s-cut t’s haven’t fitted me in any of those modes, at any of those weights. They’re only “one build of woman”-cut, so if you’re high-waisted or low-waisted, they’re going to fit worse than unisex. They always cost more, they often have cheaper fabric instead (irony), they are too often pink or frilly… It’s just not an issue to me. What I DO want is shirts that are long enough to tuck in/hang over the belt. Particularly in fandom, where we tend to be… erm… hefty about the bellybutton area. @Lenora Rose, I keep eyeing maternity wear as it does fit pretty well, but it’s expensive and either hideous or cutesy.

    My oldest t-shirt has the logo for a movie from 1977 which you may have seen. My second oldest is from the 1983 Worldcon.

    @RedWombat: even before reading, I thought “Who DOESN’T want small cute flash fiction?” And I did. Very good, great last line.

    @Cally: The old Nooks were just dumbed-down Android tablets, so any Android tablet ought to work just fine with the sideloading of ePub and occasional web browsing. They’re bookstore/vendor agnostic.

    @Lis: I don’t think I’ve read anything light-hearted lately myself, eek. Except Wombat’s flash fiction above. But internet hugs anyway.

  46. @lurkertype: Beside Broaddus, there’s Andrea Hairston, Chesya Burke, and Nisi Shawl, for three.

  47. Cathy said:

    With respect to Pluto’s status, my main concern at that time was that it would mess up the lyrics to Interplanet Janet.

    At the Worldcon Masquerade a couple years later, there was an entry based on that. It began with a recreation of Interplanet Janet, which was interrupted by goons from the International Astronomical Union informing them that they could no longer call Pluto a planet. I forget exactly what the counterargument was, but it involved Ben Yalow (a well-known SMOF) running out and gesticulating at a copy the Worldcon Business Meeting minutes while explaining a resolution that the meeting had passed. Then the goons pulled out electric guitars and everyone partied. It was pretty epic.

    That was actually the second entry in that Masquerade about Pluto. In the children’s division, there was a girl who appeared as a princess of Pluto who had come to Earth to protest its demotion (and threaten terrible things if it wasn’t reinstated).

    The actual rule change happened during the 2006 Worldcon. The day after, a box appeared next to the dealers and exhibit area with a sign asking people to donate rocks to help Pluto become a full planet again.

  48. @Phantom

    Y’all are quite behind the times. Mr Beale and his lickspittles were not deleted from Goodreads for being assholes. They were deleted because they were attempting to game the Goodreads ratings system. This has already been discussed here.

    Mark on January 4, 2016 at 11:40 pm said:
    It appears that the official Goodreads line for their action in other banning messages is “attempted manipulation of our ratings.”

    One of Vox’s commenters has posted this message he received from Goodreads giving their reasons:

    Hello Peter,

    Your group Rabid Puppies was recently brought to our attention. We do not tolerate the attempted manipulation of our ratings or any other abuse of our site features.. Given this, we have removed your group from the site.

    Please note that future groups engaging in activity of this nature will also come under review for removal.

    Sincerely,
    The Goodreads Team

    Someone also posted a cached version of Sean O’Hara’s original Goodreads page with screenshots of the now-deleted Rabid Puppies group, but I can’t find it. I did read it, however, and they were boasting about basically carpet-bombing reviewers they didn’t like, starting with our own Lis Carey (which is what led to Sean’s alerting the Goodreads team).

    Karma. It’s not what’s for breakfast anymore.

  49. I think there would have been a bit of a public uproar if Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune had been redefined too. I don’t think it was *just* about Pluto. Most people weren’t aware of the planet definition problem that had been growing along with the list of small worlds found outside of the orbit of Neptune. Most people didn’t realize the discovery of Eris brought this issue to a head. To most people, Pluto was simply one of the nine planets.

    Personally, I would have (mildly) preferred a more inclusive definition that included what are now classified as “dwarf planets” to be counted in the list of “true” planets. But by that argument, we’d also have Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake included as planets today, and potentially many others included in the future. I suspect that many people wouldn’t like that either.

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