Pixel Scroll 2/25/22 Pixels, Comments, Shoggoths, That Scroll! Credentials, Nitpicks, Wrongtime Is That Scroll!

(1) PAY THE WRITER. Publishers Weekly says a New York State legislator has introduced a bill designed to upgrade protections for freelancers, including writers: “‘Freelance Isn’t Free’ Bill Introduced in New York State”.

Roughly five years after the implementation, in New York City, of the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, a local law intended to establish and enhance the rights of freelance workers—including authors, journalists, and other writers on contract—a similar law has been proposed at the state level.

On February 18, Democratic New York state senator Andrew Gounardes and assembly member Harry Bronson introduced S8369, also nicknamed “Freelance Isn’t Free,” a new bill intended to “protect contract and freelance workers from wage theft by ensuring all freelancers receive appropriate contracts for their work, are paid in a timely manner, and have state support to recoup unpaid wages.” It would, the lawmakers explained in a release, build upon the prior New York City bill, expanding the protections for freelancers state-wide.

The bill, should it become law, would also lower the threshold for mandating additional financial remediation from contractors to contract workers should the latter not be paid in a timely manner from $800 to $250. It would also make the New York State Labor Department the regulatory agency for freelancers in the state, including New York City, where, currently, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection oversees the protection of freelancers, but has no ability to pursue legal action against delinquent contract clients….

(2) RELATED WORK. Cora Buhlert has released her latest Non-Fiction Spotlight. This one features a new biography of Robert E. Howard:  “Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard by Todd B. Vick”.

What prompted you to write this book?

The simple answer: I’ve been a fan of Robert E. Howard’s work since 1981 when, at the time, my best friend loaned me his Ace paperback copy titled, Conan, with the Frank Frazetta cover art for Howard’s story, “Rogues in the House.” The idea for a biography came to me when I purchased a copy of Glenn Lord’s work, The Last Celt back in the mid-80s. Lord’s book made me realize there were others out there who took Howard’s work a bit more seriously than the casual reader. Due to life and higher education, Howard was sidelined until I began work (mostly research) on the biography in late 2002. I am currently working on a novel….

(3) 25 BEST SFF SHOWS. Den of Geek declares these to be the “Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of the Past 15 Years”. I don’t want to spoil everything by posting their #1 – but here, let me spoil number nine…

9. The Mandalorian

Star Wars has long been a little too beholden to one particular corner of its mythology. The Skywalker Saga looms large, perhaps too large, in pop culture consciousness. Deviate too much from it, or fail to pay sufficient homage to childhood classics, at your peril. But The Mandalorian managed to deliver everything longtime fans want from Star Wars, while also making the galaxy far, far away equally appealing to those who might be experiencing it for the first time. As much a space Western or a riff on Lone Wolf and Cub as it is an actual science fiction show, The Mandalorian is every bit as cinematic as the most famous entries in the franchise, exploring deeper corners of the Star Wars universe than we’re accustomed to seeing in live action (with apologies, of course, to the brilliant Rogue One).

Alternately as episodic as the vintage movie serials that first inspired George Lucas and as intricately woven as any other prestige TV effort, it’s made all the more remarkable by the fact that it’s anchored by a riveting performance by its lead (Pedro Pascal), who spends all but moments of the show’s entire runtime so far hidden completely behind a mask. And then there’s Grogu (Baby Yoda), a character who should feel like the cloying, craven little cash grab he is who instead became an instantly (and deservedly) beloved Star Wars fixture. – Mike Cecchini

(4) NOVACON. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Novacon is Britain’s longest-running regional SF convention. Last November it held its 50th event. SF2 Concatenation has just Tweeted an advance post of a review of the 50th anniversary Novacon report ahead of its next seasonal edition that is slated for April. [The con took place November 12-14, 2021.]

There were around 250 attendees: about a quarter of those you’d get at the average Eastercon these days. Being the 50th anniversary event, the occasion was marked by a special publication, Burning Brightly, edited by Ian Whates, gathering stories generated exclusively from various Novacon publications over the decades, with work by such luminaries as Iain M Banks, Adrian ( Shards of Earth) Tchaikovsky and Stephen (Flood) Baxter among others. Each attendee received a free copy.

There were two programme streams with main hall events running parallel to fringe events in a side room, and everything was on the ground floor with easy access. (The accommodation was upstairs, served by a dreadful, slow rickety tin elevator with a mind of its own)….

(5) ASK THE D.A. “Peter Sarsgaard: ‘Have we reached superhero saturation? Probably’” answers the actor in The Guardian.

… His tendency to seem half-asleep and harmless until – snap! – he has you in his teeth, like a Venus flytrap, serves him well in the world of The Batman. Robert Pattinson plays the caped vigilante, while Sarsgaard is Gil Coulson, the shady, shaven-headed district attorney of Gotham City. “Gil is leading a double life,” he says. “He is protective of his family, but he’s involved in some things that are not legit.” The mix of sweet and sour appeals. “It creates more conflict. What if the biopic of Donald Trump showed how he made a damn good cherry pie on Thanksgiving, and sang songs with his family, but then he did all this other stuff?”…

(6) A MIRROR TO LIFE.  Two scholars and their cats announce a Call for Papers for Gardeners of the Galaxies: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One by Drs. Sørina Higgins and Brenton Dickieson”.

As the climate crisis worsens, our home planet and our conversations about it are heating up–and creative writers both reflect and anticipate such concerns. Thanks to the recent ethical turn in science fiction and fantasy, many speculative works offer readers a mirror in which to view our own world. Its beauties and vulnerabilities take on special clarity through the page or the screen. A tale of terraforming another planet reminds us how precious and fragile our home world is. The perennial conflict between nature and technology comes alive when trees march to war. We find insights into healthy, diverse communities by spending time with characters in a fellowship–or on a starship….

(7) HENRY LINCOLN (1930-2022). Doctor Who writer Henry Lincoln has died at the age of 91. Doctor Who News paid tribute.

Henry Lincoln was the last surviving writer to have worked on Doctor Who in the 1960s. He wrote three Doctor Who stories, co-creating The Yeti and the character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. 

…In the 1960s he formed a writing partnership with Mervyn Haisman and together they were commissioned to write a six-part story for the second Doctor. The result was The Abominable Snowmen which saw the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria battle The Great Intelligence and their robot servants The Yeti. The story was so successful the team was immediately commissioned to write a sequel, this time bringing the Yeti into the claustrophobic world of the London Underground in The Web of Fear.

The story introduced a new character in the form of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart played by Nicholas Courtney. Not only was the story highly regarded but the new character caught the imagination of the producers and would return the following year, albeit with a promotion, and become a regular throughout the Pertwee years. 

Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman’s third outing with the Doctor was not so successful. Their six-part story, The Dominators would cause a permanent rift with the BBC following an argument over who owned the characters The Quarks. The story was rewritten and reduced to five episodes resulting in the writers asking for their names to be removed from the credits. The story was transmitted under the pseudonym Norman Ashby. …

(8) GEORGE OLSHEVSKY (1946–2021). Artist George Olshevsky died in December of Covid, according to an announcement by SDCC’s Jackie Estrada on Facebook. A profile of his work for Marvel can be found on the Marvel Database.

…Graduate of M.I.T. Olshevksy indexed all of the Marvel Comics major titles in the 1970’s and Early 80’s. This quite extensive project also employed Lou Mougin and many others. Olshevksy was also aided by a complete personal collection of Marvel Comics….

(9) MEMORY LANE.

2019 [Item by Cat Eldridge] Two of my favorite individuals, Charles de Lint, who would later win a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, and Charles Vess, who received a Hugo at Dublin 2019 for Best Professional Artist and a World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. collaborated on The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, a follow-up to their A Circle of Cats

Fourteen years ago, it would win the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, an award that until this moment I’d not heard of. My bad for not knowing of this award. 

If you’ve not encountered this novel, it’s considered a young adult work but I’d recommend for anyone interested in a good read grounded in Appalachia folklore with the fantastic artwork of Vess profusely illustrating it. You can read the Green Man review here. And here’s our review for A Circle of Cats as well. I’ve got one of his signed prints for A Circle of Cats in my apartment.

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born February 25, 1909 Edgar Pangborn. For the first twenty years of his career, he wrote myriad stories for the pulp magazines, but always under pseudonyms. It wasn’t until the Fifties that he published in his own name in Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Ursula Le Guin has credited him with her realizing it is possible to write humanly emotional stories in an SF setting. And yes, I know he wrote Davy. (Died 1976.)
  • Born February 25, 1917 Anthony Burgess. I know I’ve seen and read A Clockwork Orange many, many years ago. I think I even took a University class on it as well. Scary book, weird film.  I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the Enderby series having not encountered them before now. Opinions please. (Died 1993.)
  • Born February 25, 1964 Lee Evans, 58. He’s in The History of Mr Polly as Alfred Polly which is based on a 1910 comic novel by H. G. Wells. No, not genre, but sort of adjacent genre as some of you are fond of saying.
  • Born February 25, 1968 A. M. Dellamonica, 54. A Canadian writer who has published over forty rather brilliant short since the Eighties. Her first novel, Indigo Springs, came out just a decade ago but she now has five novels published with her latest being The Nature of a Pirate. Her story, “Cooking Creole” can be heard here at Pod Castle 562. It was in Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by Nalo Hopkinson.
  • Born February 25, 1971 Sean Astin, 51. His genre roles include Samwise Gamgee in the Rings trilogy, Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, and Bob Newby in the second season of Stranger Things. He also shows up in Justice League: War and in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis films voicing both aspects of Shazam, a difficult role to pull off. He reprises that role on the Justice League Action series. 
  • Born February 25, 1973 Anson Mount, 49. He was Black Bolt in Marvel’s Inhumans series. He now has a recurring role as Captain Christopher Pike, a role he first played on Discovery, and which he will reprise on Strange New Worlds this year.  I see he was in Visions, a horror film, and has had appearances on LostDollhouse and Smallville.

(11) JEOPARDY! Sure, you’ll get it. But Andrew Porter saw a contestant miss it on tonight’s episode of Jeopardy!

Final Jeopardy; category: Awards

Answer: These awards have a retro version & winners include the novel “The Sword in the Stone” and “The War of the Worlds” radio broadcast

Wrong question: What are the Webbies?

Right question: What are the Hugo Awards?

(12) VASTER THAN EMPIRES. [Item by Daniel Dern.] “Largest Bacterium Ever Discovered Has An Unexpectedly Complex Cell”Slashdot has the story.

A newly described bacterium living in the Caribbean “is visible to the naked eye, growing up to 2 centimeters — as long as a peanut — and 5,000 times bigger than many other microbes,” writes Elizabeth Pennisi via Science.org.

(Cue Christine Lavin singing “The Amoeba Hop”.)

(13) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] Not only can you play Lego Star Wars in “mumble mode,” but your inner eight-year-old will love that you can turn off the weapons noises and replace them with human sounds! “LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – Behind the Scenes”.

[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Chris Barkley, Daniel Dern, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, and Michael Toman for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]

17 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 2/25/22 Pixels, Comments, Shoggoths, That Scroll! Credentials, Nitpicks, Wrongtime Is That Scroll!

  1. 9) Not like I have to say this, but it’s nice to type “Charles de Lint is really great.”

    (FIRST)

  2. Meredith Moment but there is a SPFBO FINALIST SALE 2022 with a lot of books for 99¢.

    Look for SPFBO FINALIST SALE 2022 and M.L. Wang Books.

  3. 11) Yes, one contestant failed to answer the Hugo final-jeopardy question, but the other two got it right, including tonight’s winner, who is now a three-time champion.

  4. The Enderby series is an excellent read.
    There are elements of the fantastic in Enderby Outside – his personal muse (or perhaps a more general sort of muse of poetry) makes a physical appearance as a guest in his hotel, helps him with his poetry and offers him the opportunity to become a great poet. She’s a bit like Graves’s White Goddess in a bikini and Enderby wisely declines her offer of greatness, as he would be consumed.

  5. Rob Thornton says Not like I have to say this, but it’s nice to type “Charles de Lint is really great.”

    He’s also a really nice person whom I’ve counted as a friend for some decades now. When he was publishing them, he sent me signed copies of his annual Triskell Press chapbook, really nice gifts to get.

  6. 13) This is sort of a thing in Star Trek Online – for a couple of years now, every April 1st you can turn on “Artisanal Audio”, where all the standard sound effects are replaced by the dev team shouting “Whoosh!”, “Ee-wee-yoo” , “Pow Pow Pow!” and so on. I think it’s fun anyway.

  7. 1) YAY! As more and more of the world gets freelance, protections like these get more and more important.

    5) Yes. Absolutely. Although some of my feelings on stems from the ending of the indie superhero stuff I was interested in– Star Power– because it couldn’t keep up with the boom from major franchises.

  8. (10) Burgess was one of the greatest authors and scholars in the English language, didn’t write a bad book (even On Sleep was a good one), Earthly Powers one of the most humane about religion, for instance. When he was teaching in Asia he found that he didn’t have any good books about English literature to teach, so, of course, he wrote one himself, one of the better to give a wide and deep summary about the subject.

  9. 10: A bit more genre-adjacent, Lee Evans plays the “We’re sending someone in to negotiate” crew member on board Fhloston Paradise in The Fifth Element.

  10. Meredith moment: a delightful retelling of the Robin Hood legend is available from the usual suspects in the form of Robin McKinley’s The Outlaws of Sherwood for a buck ninety nine. The Justine Eyre narrated version is also exemplary.

  11. Hi Cat. The Sunburst Award has been giving juried awards to the best Canadian speculative fiction for 20 years. It’s on hiatus (thank you COVID) but looks to pick up again soon.

  12. Dena Taylor says Hi Cat. The Sunburst Award has been giving juried awards to the best Canadian speculative fiction for 20 years. It’s on hiatus (thank you COVID) but looks to pick up again soon.

    Yeah but this was the first time I’d run across it. And it tickled me quite a bit that it was given for this rather amazing piece of storytelling. It is definitely a story that I can recommend to everyone here.

    Farhia finally stopped one day and counted the felines in that A Circle of Cats print I have here which is the top image on this page. There’s twenty of them. My brain trauma doesn’t let me count above five without losing track.

  13. 11) Jeopardy!: I played my weekly online team trivia game today and my teammates mentioned this one to me as one that I’d have easily gotten. They weren’t wrong about that.

Comments are closed.