Schedule note: There will not be a Scroll on January 16 – I will be away at a meeting and won’t have time to prepare one. I’ll still moderate comments, since I can do that by using my Kindle to check in periodically.
(1) DOWN THESE MEAN FOOTPATHS. Peter McLean, author of Drake, explains some of his work in a post at Black Gate, “On Writing Modern Noir Fantasy”.
A Noir world.
So what’s that? Noir needs to be dark, by definition, but I don’t think it has to be tied to any particular time period. The classic Hollywood Noir is set in LA or New York in the 1940s but it can work equally well in the backstreets of ancient Rome or the mean cantinas of Mos Eisley, or even in modern South London for that matter.
Noir implies bitter, cynical black-and-white men in hats and beautiful, dangerous women with secrets to hide, but it doesn’t have to be that either. You could have a hard-bitten battle-scarred female veteran of an alien war as your main character and still be writing Noir.
It’s about the feel and the vibe rather than the place or even the people who occupy that place. Noir is about dark thoughts and dark motives, deep introspection followed by double-crosses in back alleys and brief moments of sudden, brutal violence.
But there is a certain aesthetic as well, and I think that’s important. To understand the visual motif you only have to look at how the old movies play with light and shadow, the half-seen faces and the way sunbeams stream through the slats of a blind into the air of a smoky room.
(2) LISTEN IN. Leah Schnelbach of Tor.com was there for – “Race, Publishing, and H.P. Lovecraft: A Conversation With Daniel José Older and Victor LaValle”.
Earlier this week, a large and enthusiastic crowd packed Greenlight Bookstore in defiance of freezing temperature and threats of snow. Greenlight hosted a launch party for Midnight Taxi Tango, Daniel José Older’s second novel in the Bone Street Rumba series. But rather than the usual reading-and-wine-soaked-light-conversation that is the centerpiece of most literary events, this party soon became a lively and wide-ranging conversation about race, publishing, and the true legacy of H.P. Lovecraft. Older’s reading was fantastic, but it was his discussion with Victor LaValle, author of The Devil in Silver and the forthcoming The Ballad of Black Tom, that turned the event into one of the best literary nights I’ve ever attended.
(3) FREAKY FRIDAY. Washington Post writer Peter Marks reports the Disney Theatrical Group and Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia are producing a musical version of Freaky Friday, which will receive its premiere this fall. The musical will be composed by Tom Kitt with lyrics by Brian Yorkey.
In a deal that rockets Signature Theatre into a whole new producing orbit, the Arlington company will team up this fall with the Walt Disney Co. to present a world-premiere musical version of “Freaky Friday,” with a score by the Pulitzer Prize-winning team behind “Next to Normal.”
(4) BEAR NECESSITIES. Adam Rowe’s “The Taxonomy of Crazy Fantasy Art: A Visual History of 1970s Polar Bear-Drawn Sleighs” at the B&N Sci-FI & Fantasy Blog, a glorious post idea in its own right, includes this insightful quote —
As one blogger at the Ragged Claws Network puts it, “Chaykin’s attempt to supply Urlik Skarsol’s polar bear team with a semi-plausible harness […] actually diminishes rather than enhances Frazetta’s gloriously silly original concept by drawing undue attention to the mundane question of how, exactly, the fantasy hero’s cool mode of transportation could be made to work in the real world and whether Chaykin’s design is, in fact, a viable solution.”
(5) NOT HAPPY DAYS. Geek Art Gallery shows what forces would have been awakened if these new heroes and villains had met while attending Star Wars High School.
(6) YODA YOU CAN TALK LIKE. Infogram by Grammarly.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Alan Baumler.]
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@Matthew. I didn’t really care as much for Rosenberg’s series as I thought I would. Even if its premise is the basis of a lot of D&D campaigns back in the day–what if you, modern player, became a Roleplaying character? (Heck, I ran a scenario on that basis myself)
I, personally, am not going to risk the 2017 Hugo administrators ruling that having a book for sale in 2015 allows it to be eligible for 2017.
You don’t have to risk it. There is a procedure for dealing with this, by proposing a motion for extended eligibility at the business meeting. I’m sure someone would be willing to do this.
@Paul(princejvstin): YMMV, obviously. That trope was already fairly old when the series came out, and I thought Rosenberg did a good job of running with it and taking it places other people hadn’t. It was also the first fantasy series I ever read where the point of the action was to change the world, rather than return it to its original condition, which made it stand out for me.
Of course I did first read it when I was twelve, so…
Re new Bujold book – as I understand it, most of the reading public don’t own e-readers. Of those that do, only a tiny percentage look for books anywhere other than the “store” associated with their model. If the eArc meets eligibility requirements, the Bujold book won’t be receiving a Hugo as I doubt most people have this information. I didn’t even know that they sold the ebook versions early. I wasn’t going to look for it before the announced publication date of February 2nd until I read here it was already out. Of course , Bujold isn’t hurting for recognition of her work.
I determine eligibility by the copyright date inside the book. It’s a blow to learn that this is not accurate.
The question of evaluating GJ&tRQ as a 2015 vs 2016 book raises another question, if it is the case that the e-ARC received substantial editing before “real” release. And that is: if people nominate it as a 2015 book and if it ends up on a 2015-based short-list, shouldn’t it then be evaluated only on the basis of the e-ARC text and not on the basis of the final text?
And for our next trick, we’ll debate how many of the angels dancing on the head of the pin would qualify for nomination…
Me:
Andrew M on January 18, 2016 at 5:47 am said:
1. Such a motion most properly ought to come from either Bujold, who won’t be there and possibly isn’t a member this year, or Baen. I suppose a fan could propose it.
2. Even if someone did propose it I, as a WSFS member who intends to be at the business meeting, would have to be persuaded to vote in favor. Don’t get me wrong, Bujold is my favorite author and I’d be very sad if this year-split deprives her of a nomination. But that part of the Constitution is meant for works that have very limited release. Being available to anyone in the entire world with an internet connection and a credit card doesn’t seem very limited to me.
The Hugo admins are going to have to decide, re: Bujold. I suspect it’s going to come down to their personal experience with Baen’s eARCs and whether or not they see the pre-sale version as a “proof” or not. That said, and despite the fact that I sort of brought this up in the first place, I don’t think it matters all that much in terms of nominations. If the book is judged ineligible for 2015, anyone who wants can nominate it next year. If it isn’t judged ineligible for 2015 and misses a nomination because not enough people have read it . . . well. Lots of good books miss Hugo nominations for one reason or another. (See: hardcover publication, for those without access to good libraries.)
I do think it might be worthwhile to bring the question of eARCs in general up at the business meeting, one of these days. No, I’m not going to do it–haven’t the energy or the skills for that sort of thing–but the availability of ebooks at various (new) points in the publication cycle probably should be dealt with.
Just one question, for those of you who own eARCs: is there a formal copyright page? I seem to remember that “publication date” usually referred to magazines, though the WSFS constitution isn’t exactly clear, and not all ebooks have copyright pages, in my experience . . . it really does need clarifying, I think, and I wish the Hugo admins much joy of the process!
@Johan P
I’m not finished with the series yet, but I’m far enough that I can say they’re more like dragon souls. And there are some excellent ones, but I don’t recall their names.
I wonder if this question has come up in the past. Kevin Standlee might know.
I seem to recall a discussion about eARCs back in about November, where it was mentioned that the copyright date in the eARC was Feb 2016.
Not going to try finding it, though, as it may not have been here.
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen and Hugo eligibility…
Andrew M said:
Only under certain circumstances. The rule says, “In the event that a potential Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation…” It’ll be hard to argue that being available for international sale on the Internet qualifies as “extremely limited distribution”.
Ryan H said:
Magazine cover dates are specified in the rules because they’re an exception to the generally assumed rule, which is that something is published when the general public can read/view/listen to it.
Various people brought up changes between the “eARC” and final versions:
For an extra year of eligibility, the changes would have to be substantial enough to make the final version a new work. Exactly how substantial is left up to the administrator’s judgement, but it seems safe to assume that grammar and spelling fixes wouldn’t be enough.
If this were a book I felt very strongly about nominating, I would absolutely nominate it this year.
Officially, he’s a jhereg, because there are theoretical full-sized dragons in Steven Brust’s universe, but I’d still say Loiosh (and to a lesser extent Rocza, though we almost never get her thoughts or PoV) would have to count for a dragon bracket.
From Seraphina, I’d argue for Seraphina, but if she’s disallowed, then as well as Orma, I’d also argue that Ardmagar Comonot, at least as presented in Shadow Scale after he’s learned a kind of diplomacy and understanding towards humans, is a contender. (I’ve seen people present weirdly tactless and rampant ambassadors before and called them politically savvy, but Comonot is the first time I’ve believed that his particular form of tactlessness might be persuasive to people *not already on his side*.)
Puff the Magic Dragon, despite most illustrations thereof fitting squarely into the “these are the kinds of dragons I don’t like” category*, is one of the only two fandoms for which I have written fanfic. I blame having kids; I sang the song and looked at the picture book enough that my brain started going, “now, wait a minute. You grew up, so you had to put away childish things including an immortal and powerful best friend??? Who the hell abandons their childhood friends like that?” and I wanted an answer other than “that Paper kid is a real dick.”
* The illustrations in the main classic children’s book are handsome stylized things, but Puff has a huge body and tiny wings. I give leeway for aerodynamics with dragons because Magic, but utterly unaerodynamic dragons are one of my banes. It’s the biggest weakness for me in the How to Train Your Dragon movies — I’ve never read the books, being turned off them by a fellow film fan who tried — only Toothless, of the named part of the dragon cast, is plausible. Of course, Puff was son exaggerated I came up with a different alternate.
I pulled up my eArc here’s some interesting data
On the copyright page
Copyright 2015
First printing 2016
On 2nd page after cover
Gentlemen Jole and the Red Queen – eArc
Advanced Reader Copy
Unproofed
And has a header on every page stating EARC
There are no author notes or acknowledgments or bio. I don’t have a published copy yet to know what additional material has been added.
Did I mention Baen putting these up for sale on their website really complicates things? Are people from countries around the world able to purchase from their website? Did they do any marketing of the eArc?
@Ultragotha
Is this how it’s usually done? My understanding is anyone can bring a proposal before the business meeting.
ULTRAGOTHA said:
I don’t think the author or publisher of a work has ever been involved in a request for extended eligibility, and IMHO the merest hint of commercial interests meddling in the affairs of WSFS would turn people against such a motion who might otherwise vote for it. Absolutely it needs a fan completely unconnected with Bujold or Baen to propose it.
@Tasha: “Are people from countries around the world able to purchase from their website? Did they do any marketing of the eArc?”
I can’t speak to global accessibility in the post-VATMESS era, but the eARCs are featured in Baen’s email newsletter and have their own section on their webstore’s site (in addition to being featured on its front page).
On the one hand, the content looks just like a standard ARC – warnings about lack of proofreading and possible content changes between this and the final version, post-dated copyright, and so on. I would have no trouble believing this format was created to make review copies easier to send out… and then, somebody points out that the Barflies would probably pay for access, and if we do that, why not open it up to everybody? And if they’re generally available, why not advertise?
In other words, this smells to me like an unplanned decision with unforeseen consequences. I’d wager nobody involved with the decision even considered the effect of widespread eARC distribution on awards eligibility.
Tasha Turner asked:
I think we can take that as read by now. 🙂
AFAIK, Baen doesn’t impose any geographical restrictions on who can buy from them. (Also, they make the eARCs available as rich text and HTML, so you don’t have to have a dedicated e-reader to read them. So once it’s available, it’s available to anyone with US$15 and a computer.)
I’m sure it was announced to their Facebook/Twitter/newsletter etc. readers.
@Petréa Mitchell: “AFAIK, Baen doesn’t impose any geographical restrictions on who can buy from them.”
That meshes with my knowledge, but if true, that’s really setting them up for a big tax bill from the EU. I hope someone at Baen is tracking that location data.
I wonder if the authors don’t do better financially with the Baen method than they would winning Hugos. A large cut of they money isn’t lost to retailer take and the eArc cost more & gets the buzz out. This should mean an early boost towards earning out the advance. I don’t think this would work for every publisher.
Maybe the puppies should take a new marketing tactic:
Proud to have never won a Hugo.
They could make a list of the great company they are in. Although I recommend they have someone fact check to make sure the list really doesn’t have any Hugo winners on it. It could be a great badge of honor if done right.
When I mentor writers about dealing with their first one star review I suggest they look up their favorite authors. Then celebrate making it to the big time as they are in good company with all the greats.
It could be an impressive list. Mike Resnick, on stage as a Hugo presenter either for novella or novelette, once read off a list of great stories in that category, names every fan recognized — with the kicker that none of them had won the Hugo.
@Lenora Rose: does it say anywhere in the song that Puff flies? Since he’s I an island, he may be a swimmer, like a penguin.
Not that any wings make much sense for something like a dragon- that’s one reason I prefer Chinese dragons.
For good dragons, there’s the highly obscure Rodrigo, the Roaring Dragon of Redrose. He would protect the town from the robbers, if only his roar wasn’t “Wace! Wun! Wobbers be done!”
I love the artwork, by the way- it’s amazing how Richard E. Martin the artist, who died last year, is almost totally forgotten.
DRAGONS:
@Matthew Johnson: OMG yes, Ellegon was a fantastic (and good) snarky dragon! And yes, I liked that whole “we must change the world” and how they went about it.
@Paul: I “re-read” the first 4 “Guardians of the Flame” books by Rosenberg in the past couple of years (I forget when) as audiobooks and, for what they are, they held up rather well for me. I stopped at #4 because I remember not being as into the 5th book originally; I believe I just got tired of the series at that point, when first I read it.
@Lenora Rose: LOL at your comments about the Puff story. Is your fanfic on the net? Not that I tend to read fanfic, but.
MOAR DRAGONS:
@Rose Embolism: I like Asian dragons; my tattoo is a wingless one, holding a yin-yang symbol.
NON-DRAGONS:
@Mary Frances: I do agree eARCs normally are like the review-proof copies. BTW I do wish all ebooks had a clear copyright page; most of the ones I own seem to, but as you say, not all. (grumble)
@Various: I wonder if Hugo admins look into all finalists (the shortlist) for eligibility, or only ones that are challenged. Anyway, if they rule against it for “that didn’t count as publication” – which I doubt would happen – it should be fair game next year. Not that subsequent Hugo admins always agree, even about eligibility matters.
@Tasha: Thanks for posting the copyright page info; that “First printing 2016” looks like one of the famed Baen typos to me. 😉 (I’m at least half-kidding, but I do feel it’s incorrect.)
@World Weary: Almost any ebook (if notany ebook) can be read without an ereader; I originally read ebooks on my desktop computer at home. 😉
@Petréa Mitchell: Thanks for weighing in; I’ve gotten the impression over the months that you’re very WSFS-savvy.
History shows both administrator vetting of the top 5 vote getters and outside complaints play a role. We know about the latter, because a number of times items have been pulled after the final ballot was announced.
Sometimes it’s surprising the disqualifying facts complained about weren’t caught by the administrator, but that’s a different issue.
@Mike Glyer
I’m sure many had never been nominated or made the long list/shortlist. 100s/thousands of SFF books/stories have been published every year since 1900s. Since inception most Hugo worthy work doesn’t show up on Hugo long(15)/shortlist(5) never mind be the one work per category to win.
It’s like winning the lottery. Buying a ticket (being written) doesn’t guarantee you’ll win anything. Winning (being nominated) doesn’t mean you’ll be rich. Jackpot winner (Hugo winner) can only be one (well ok my example falls apart here as more than one can win the jackpot but…).
@ Rose Embolism: No, the song doesn’t specify — it doesn’t even say the Land of Honalee is an island, though clearly it’s coastal. He sails a boat and frolics, that’s all we know, and the illustrations never show him in flight. They do show him clinging on to a cliffside in a way that would also be physically impossible with his bulk and tiny legs without a different explanation.
@Kendall: It’s on Archive of Our Own.Imaginary Colours
I remember liking the first few Guardians of the Flame books and also losing interest around 5. I think I made it to reading 6 but just had stopped liking the characters and major plot turns at that point. I probably should reread at least the first couple someday, but it won’t be anytime soon.
Tasha Turner: In order to see if Resnick played fair by confining his list to years where Hugos existed I’d have to dig out the paperzine with my 1993 Worldcon conreport (where I think Resnick did this) to see if I named any of the stories (which I probably didn’t).
Lenora Rose: I have to say (quite sincerely) how much I love reading people debate whether Puff belongs on this list.
Oh yes. I’m on the other side of the world, and I had no issues buying it.
RE: Puff
I think that if it’s called a dragon, we should accept it. Otherwise there’ll be issues – Shenrong from Dragonball and The Water Dragon from Jade Empire are not anything like a standard western style dragon (wingless, no breath weapon IIRC), so do we exclude them?
@Mike Glyer: Thanks. History wasn’t clear to me, since there are other explanations for works removed before the list is announced, e.g., someone on the Hugo team noticing something they’re aware of being ineligible, versus actually checking them. But it’s groovy that they do check the finalists.
@Lenora Rose: Thanks for the link; that was very nice and quite sad. I like your explanation for Puff. 🙂
Lenora Rose: the song doesn’t specify — it doesn’t even say the Land of Honalee is an island, though clearly it’s coastal.
Hanalei is a bay off the Hawaiian island of Kauai, as well as the name of a town on that bay. It was the filming location for South Pacific and other movies. It’s claimed that it is the “Honalee” mentioned in the song, though PP&M have said it’s not.
And here is the Dragon of Hanalei.
Petréa Mitchell: I don’t think the author or publisher of a work has ever been involved in a request for extended eligibility
This past August, Michael A. Burstein was one of the (numerous) sponsors for the proposal to extend eligibility for I Remember the Future, a short film based on his Nebula-nominated story by the same name.
His involvement may have bothered some people, but I didn’t have a problem with it — nor, apparently, did a lot of other people, since it passed.
JJ: Neat! I never knew that. Admittedly, I will take PP&M’s word for it not being intentional, but it’s a kind of cool sort of coincidence, and the thing out of which all kinds of readings are based.
Mike Glyer: Puff the Magic Dragon to its original tune is rarely sung in filk circles I know – because most often, at least one person singing along gets genuinely weepy, which always seems like a surprise for a silly-named song usually associated with kids’ music. (One guy gets around this by singing it to a much more upbeat and bluesy tune, which seems to negate the effect, but which version I don’t like as much.)
I figure that means it has a clear and long term effect on people, and thus is clearly an important enough dragon to get into a bracket. Mind you, I suspect I’d vote for most of the others already listed well before I’d vote for him. Maur, Smaug, the Hungarian Horntail, Temeraire, Toothless, most of the dragons of Earthsea…
Lenora Rose: Really enjoyed your Puff fanfic. Your version makes a lot more sense!
Has anyone mentioned Elliot from Pete’s Dragon? I am mentioning him now.
And, ridiculous as it sounds, I kind of want to throw in a mention of the dragon from the Tic Tac Dough game show bonus round. I would run screaming from the room when the bonus round started.
The two dragons are linked in my head because my mom kept trying to talk me around with “Don’t be scared, he’s just like Elliot, and you’re not scared of Elliot, are you?” He was not, however, just like Elliot. He did not make friendly noises like Elliot. He made this terrifying 8-bit-video-game-style roar.
That’s understandable, and quite sweet.
Much nicer than the 1970s-era’s appropriation of the lyric as code for smoking dope.
I vaguely remember Pete’s Dragon. Mostly I have warm fuzzies when I read the name. I wonder if it’s been hit by the suck fairy.
@Nicole:
I now have a completely unreasonable desire to see the Tic-Tac-Dough dragon take on the Press Your Luck Whammies.
Oh, Lenora Rose, that’s a wonderful story.
I always thought it was obvious that children can see dragons but adults can’t, as adults so clearly can’t see other magical things. My head canon for Puff was that, we’ll Puff was a young dragon (Jacky had been his “lifelong friend,” after all), and had not previously experienced his child companion growing old enough that he could not longer see Puff, and therefore stopped believing in him. But other children would surely find him in the future!
In the original poem, he found some other child to play with afterwards.
“But other children would surely find him in the future!”
In the original poem, he found some other child to play with afterwards.
Huh. My kids made me write a new final verse where Jackie’s daughter finds Puff and plays with him — if I’d known something like that already existed it would have saved me some trouble.
(The new verse of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” I did on my own initiative.)
Matthew Johnson:
Alas, the original poem does not exist anymore. Never published, was only used as inspiration. Your troubles were not in vain.
I vaguely remember Pete’s Dragon. Mostly I have warm fuzzies when I read the name. I wonder if it’s been hit by the suck fairy.
It has held up pretty well.
@Matthew Johnson:
As it happens, I rewrote the ending for “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” a long time ago, completed with custom hand movements.
Itsy-bitsy spider
went up the water spout
Down came the rain and
washed the spider out
Out came the sun and
dried out all the rain but
Itsy-bitsy spider
was already dead ::turn “spider-hand” palm-up::
Wha-at?!
For those wondering what the differences are between the eARC of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen and the final eBook version, here it is from the author herself. (Warning, spoilers in that link.)
For those who don’t want to be spoiled:
There’s more detail at the link.
I noticed that there are several words italicized in the eBook version that weren’t italicized in the sample chapters posted to the Baen website, no doubt part of the three pages of errata.
The illustrated book doesn’t SAY Jacky’s daughter finds Puff; but the illustrations over the last two pages (the last repeats of the chorus) show exactly that (complete with new companion being a girl). I think the picture book designers knew the ending was too downer for a picture book otherwise (Where visual images of a sad dragon drooping in a cave would probably be much worse than just hearing the song).
We have a book version of itsy-bitsy spider that adds multiple verses of the spider being frustrated while trying to climb things, but getting up and trying again, right until she finally gets somewhere safe to build her web. I learned its multiple verses from a filk circle years before I found the book.
Matthew Johnson, what did you do as a new verse for Twinkle? Describe what a star really is? Is it added to the whole poem or just the first verse every family knows?
(We have a second verse for Rock-a-bye baby:
“That’s why we don’t put cradles in trees
We like our babies safe if you please.
We’ll keep you snug, and we’ll keep you warm
Here in your crib you’re safe from all harm.”
Not high poetry, but it makes ME feel better.)
@ Lenora: It annoyed me that the song (or at least the one verse I know) presented as mysterious something that’s been quite well explained — there are mysteries aplenty still in the universe, but what a star is ain’t one of them. So I always made sure to add;
Ball of incandescent gas
Burning off your stellar mass
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
Now I know just what you are.
Well, almost…
They Might Be Giants had to write a new song to amend their old song about how “The Sun is a mass of incandescent gas” (The two songs are on Here Comes Science one right after the other, and also used as an example of how science admits error and amends its theses with new information. Also, that DVD is my 4 year old’s current favourite viewing in the entire world, and often on twice a day….)
The original poem is written in the 1850s by a woman with no scientific background and is mostly about travelling through a darkness with the only guide being something as faint and ephemeral as starlight, which is also anachronistic, but a bit more evocative.
Yup, I’m aware. But considering the trouble I got in for insisting on the existence of plasma to my grade 10 physics teacher (it wasn’t in the textbook) I figured I would teach my kids the answer their teachers were most likely to be looking for. They’re bad enough smartasses as it is. (I have no idea where they got that from, he said, whistling innocently.)
Heh.