(1) TURNING THE TABLE. Scott Edelman volunteers to be the next interviewee on the Eating the Fantastic podcast if you’ll think of the questions. Thread starts here.
(2) BALTICON MOVES ONLINE. Michael Rafferty, now Chair, Virtual Balticon 54, and the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) have announced “a free Virtual Balticon” over Memorial Day weekend.
We decided this was the best way to bring the Balticon Community together without contributing to the spread of the illness.
Plans for Virtual Balticon are still in development….
The virtual convention will kick off Friday night May 22nd, 2020 and run until Monday afternoon. Details on the schedule will be listed on the Balticon website (https://balticon.org).
The shift to a virtual convention this year presents a challenge to many of the artists and dealers who depend on sales made at Balticon for a substantial part of their income. If you had planned on attending Balticon 54 and making purchases, please consider purchasing directly through the links we will provide at Balticon.org.
BSFS depends on memberships from Balticon for nearly all of its yearly budget, including the seed money for the next Balticon. While the Virtual Balticon will be free of charge, donations would be greatly appreciated. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all donations to BSFS are tax-deductible (please contact your tax professionals for full details). Please visit http://www.bsfs.org/donate.htm to donate.
Lastly, we have been sending emails regarding pre-paid Balticon 54 memberships and reservations for Artist Alley, Dealers Room, or Art Show. If you purchased one of these and have not yet received an email, please contact refunds@balticon.org.
(3) CHOSEN HORROR. At The Line-Up, “Ellen Datlow Recommends 13 Dark & Creepy Books to Read In the Time of COVID-19 (That Are Not Apocalyptic)” . The list includes:
The Library at Mount Char
By Scott Hawkins
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is an accomplished debut novel. A group of neighborhood children orphaned simultaneously in a devastating event are taken in by a mysterious stranger who becomes their overbearing “father.” Whenever the reader thinks they know what will happen next, the story veers into another direction, perfectly controlled by the author. An excellent, very dark fantasy about the monstrousness of gods. It’s both horrifying and funny, and it hits every mark.
(4) NGHI VO CONSIDERED. NPR reviewer Jessica P. Wick gets busy “Uncovering The Secrets Of A Fallen Ruler In ‘Empress Of Salt And Fortune'”.
“Accuracy above all things. You will never remember the great if you do not remember the small.”
What details are truly small? Who says they are? Ask yourself as you read The Empress of Salt and Fortune.
This book is not a happy ending book. This is a salt and fortune book: dangerous, subtle, unexpected and familiar, angry and ferocious and hopeful. Here, the truth is delicately, tenderly fished out of darkness. Ugliness is couched in exquisite poetry and the ordinary is finely-drawn; any object, however plain in purpose or silly in function, might be a relic of endurance and a witness to greatness. Nghi Vo’s story of women and intrigue at the end of one empire and beginning of another reveals in flashes that what you think you see isn’t all there is to see. It asks — and answers — the question: What is important? Who is important? Here, the old aphorism “all that glitters is not gold” is particularly apt.
Cleric Chih is on their way to the new Empress’s first Dragon Court, accompanied by their assistant Almost Brilliant (a “neixin” or talking hoopoe with mythical, generational recall of history), when word comes that all sites put under imperial lock during the previous Empress In-Yo’s reign have been declassified. Fortunately, they happen to be near Lake Scarlet, the haunted site of In-Yo’s exile from court “before the mammoth trampled the lion.”
They can’t resist the chance to be first to uncover Lake Scarlet’s secrets about this mysterious but important time in the empire’s history, and are surprised to find the residence there, though locked down, hasn’t been abandoned….
(5) XPRIZE GETS INVOLVED. The “Xprize Pandemic Alliance” intends “to bring the innovative power of the global crowd together with a powerful network of partners who can work together to solve the world’s greatest challenges and enable radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.”
The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego is a proud founding member of the XPRIZE Pandemic Alliance, a data-powered global alliance to stop COVID-19.
The Pandemic Alliance is a global coalition that combines the power of collaboration, competition, innovation, and radical thinking to accelerate solutions that can be applied to COVID-19 and future pandemics. We are focusing on dire areas such as accelerating solutions for remote care, provision of personal protective equipment to the front line, testing access, and food and medicine security for vulnerable populations.
The Clarke Center joins the Alliance alongside the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Ending Pandemics, Intel, Illumina, IEEE Standards Association, MIT Solve, C2 International, Cloudbreak Health, the Foundation Botnar, McGill University, Nvidia, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and the PPE Coalition, among others. Dr. Erik Viirre, Director of the Clarke Center, is Medical Director of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE.
(6) GEEZER WORLD. Cosmos declares “Jupiter is the most ancient planet in the solar system”.
…According to the modeling, Jupiter’s inner core grew to the equivalent of about 20 times the mass of the Earth within the first million years. The Sun was still a protostar at this stage, not having become dense enough for hydrogen fusion to begin.
The growth rate then slowed down, but continued, reaching about 50 times the mass of earth three million years later.
“Thus, Jupiter is the oldest planet of the solar system, and its solid core formed well before the solar nebula gas dissipated,” the team writes.
(7) GOODMAN OBIT. Minneapolis-area fan Dan Goodman (1943-2020) passed away March 25. He discovered fandom in New York City in 1962, participating in FISTFA (the city’s “fannish insurgents” group), before moving to the Bay Area and on to Los Angeles. He joined LASFS in 1969 and remained active for several years. When I knew him he worked as a typist at the IRS producing statutory notices of deficiency (which was no trivial job for a typist in those days). We were together in several APAs, not the least of which was the weekly APA-L. Goodman, Jack Harness, perhaps John Hertz, and I don’t know who else, lived near downtown and helped each other get their contributions in, or delivered finished copies of the APA, and joked about being members of STUD – Shoving Things Under Doorways. He contributed to my early genzines, and even to an issue of File 770 — in #12 (1979) Dan’s article “Just the Facts” used his own fannish biography to satirically demonstrate how anyone bidding for a convention could simulate an impressive resume. Dan was one of several LASFSians who were attracted by Minneapolis’ very congenial fandom and moved there. He edited some issues of the Minn-stf’s newsletter, Einblatt. He was always strongly interested in fiction writing – I’m a little surprised that ISFDB reports only one published story, “The Oldest Religion” which appeared in Tales of the Unanticipated in 1988. His CaringBridge page indicates Dan’s health began a final decline early this year. In a wonderful gesture on February 8, they brought the Minn-stf meeting to him – about 10 people. It certainly sounds like he chose the right place to put down roots.
(8) TODAY IN HISTORY.
- March 28, 1959 — The Manster premiered. Shot in Japan, it was produced by George P. Breakston as directed by Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane. The screenplay was by Walter J. Sheldon. Sheldon’s script was based on Breakston’s story which he originally titled The Split, presumably because the process that created the monster gave it two heads. (It was marketed as The Split in areas.) It starred Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura and Terri Zimmern. One reviewer at the time called it “a pathetic pot-boiler” and another noted that “the second head lolled around at random”. The audience at Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 30% rating. You can see it for yourself here.
- March 28, 2003 — Tremors: The Series premiered on Syfy. It followed three Tremors films and starred Michael Gross, Gladise Jimenez, Marcia Strassman and Victor Brown. Created by Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson who brought us the entire Tremors franchise, it lasted but thirteen episodes. You can watch the first episode, “Feeding Frenzy” here.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born March 28, 1922 — A. Bertram Chandler. Did you ever hear of popcorn literature? Well the Australian-tinged space opera that was the universe of John Grimes was such. A very good starting place is the Baen Books omnibus of To The Galactic Rim which contains three novels and seven stories. If there’s a counterpart to him, it’d be I think Dominic Flandry who appeared in Anderson’s Technic History series. Oh, and I’ve revisited both to see if the Suck Fairy had dropped by. She hadn’t. (Died 1984.)
- Born March 28, 1932 — Ron Soble. He played Wyatt Earp in the Trek episode, “Spectre of The Gun.” During his career, he showed up on a huge number of genre series that included Mission: Impossible, The Six Million Dollar Man, Shazam, Planet of The Apes, Fantasy Island, Salvage 1 and Knight Rider. His last genre role, weirdly enough, was playing Pablo Picasso in Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills. (Died 2002.)
- Born March 28, 1933 — J. R. Hammond. Looking for companionable guides to H.G. Wells? Clute at EoSF has the scholar for you. He wrote three works that he recommends as being rather good (H G Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, Herbert George Wells: An Annotated Bibliography of his Works and An H G Wells Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Romances and Short Stories). Clute says that his “tendency to provide sympathetic overviews, now as much as ever, is welcome.” (Died 2018.)
- Born March 28, 1944 — Ellen R. Weil. Wife of Gary K. Wolfe. She wrote a number of works with him including the non-fiction study, Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever. They wrote a fascinating essay, “The Annihilation of Time: Science Fiction; Consumed by Shadows: Ellison and Hollywood”, which can be found in Harlan Ellison: Critical Insights. (Died 2000.)
- Born March 28, 1946 — Julia Jarman, 74. Author of a children’s book series I like a lot, of which I’ll single out Time-Travelling Cat And The Egyptian Goddess, The Time-Travelling Cat and the Tudor Treasure and The Time-Travelling cat and the Viking Terror as the ones I like the best. There’s more in that series but those are my favorites.
- Born March 28, 1955 — Reba McEntire, 65. Her first film role was playing Heather Gummer in Tremors. Since then, she’s done voice work as Betsy the Cow in Charlotte’s Web and as Etta in The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave. She also voiced Artemis on the Disney Hercules series.
- Born March 28, 1960 — Chris Barrie, 60. He’s Lara Croft’s butler Hillary in the most excellent Tomb Raider franchise films. He also shows up on Red Dwarf for twelve series as Arnold Rimmer, a series I’ve never quite grokked. He’s also one of the principal voice actors on Splitting Image which is not quite genre adjacent but oh so fun.
- Born March 28, 1972 — Nick Frost, 48. Yes, he really is named Nick Frost as he was born Nicholas John Frost. Befitting that, he was cast as Santa Claus in two Twelfth Doctor stories, “Death in Heaven” and “Last Christmas”. He’s done far more genre acting that I can retell here starting with the Spaced series and Shaun of The Dead (he’s close friends with Simon Pegg) to the superb Snow White and The Huntsman. He’s currently Gus in the forthcoming Truth Seekers, a sort of low budget comic ghost hunter series
(10) COMICS SECTION.
- The Argyle Sweater delivers a superheroic pun.
- A day earlier, The Argyle Sweater amused with a subtle innuendo.
(11) A PSA YOU SHOULD FOLLOW. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] When the Silver Surfer tells you you should practice #SocialDistancingNow, you should probably listen. You really don’t want him to sic Galactus on you. “Silver Surfer Provides a PSA for Self-Quarantining” at CBR.com.
“Hello, True Believers! This is Norrin Radd, Sentinel of the Spaceways and Herald to Galactus, Devourer of Worlds,” begins Radd. “It is important to remember that while I wield the Power Cosmic, you do not and, as such, it is your responsibility to maintain your social distance during this pandemic.”
After delivering the PSA, the Surfer goes on to play electric guitar and sing his own theme song.
(12) LEADFOOT ON THE TIME ACCELERATOR. I thought it was interesting to read how developments from the coronavirus epidemic broke into John Scalzi’s plan to get away from the news while he was on the JoCo cruise: “The Last Best Time”.
(13) LIVE! With everything under quarantine, the nerd-folk duo doubleclicks compiled this list of upcoming live shows streamed directly to your computer screen: “We Recommend These Live Shows You Can Watch From Your House!”
Last week, the Doubleclicks streamed every day and played games, interviewed authors, recorded and even wrote songs! It was really fun, and you can watch all the videos we made up on this YouTube playlist. We’ll definitely do more streaming in the future, but we’re taking a little while to regroup and rest next week. However, we want to recommend some awesome livestreams you should check out, done by people we really enjoy and recommend!
(14) IS THE EFFECT MORE THAN YOU THINK? In the Washington Post, Ron Charles interviews Tom Perrotta, whose 2011 novel The Leftovers shows what happened to America three years after an apocalypse wipes out two percent of the American population. “Tom Perrotta’s ‘The Leftovers’ imagined 2 percent of the population disappearing. That could be our reality.”
…Speaking from his home outside of Boston, Perrotta says he was startled by some people’s scornful response to the premise of “The Leftovers.” “Two percent?” they said. “That’s nothing.”
But that would be 6.5 million Americans, and it could soon be this administration’s economic plan for the United States.
The horror of even contemplating a loss of that magnitude is staggering. “I look out my window, and it’s a beautiful day, and the water comes out of the faucet when I turn it on, and my car works,” Perrotta says. “The infrastructure of the world is intact, but there is this feeling of dread and grief that makes it feel entirely different than what it did a month ago. I wake up and as soon as I go downstairs and come in contact with any information, this heaviness just comes over me that I carry through the whole day. And I think, you know, 2 percent is a lot.”
As he suggested in “The Leftovers,” which was later adapted into an HBO series, Perrotta doubts anybody would survive such a “minor” apocalypse unscathed. “It may not be somebody in your first ring of acquaintances,” he says, “but it’ll be someone in the second and maybe someone right next to you. One of the things it does is really make you aware of just how connected we are.”
(15) SO MUCH FOR THAT. “OneWeb blames pandemic for collapse” says BBC.
OneWeb, the high-profile London-based satellite start-up, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.
The firm, which has been building a network to deliver broadband across the globe, blamed the Covid-19 crisis for its inability to secure new investment.
OneWeb issued a statement saying it was laying off most of its staff while it seeks a buyer for the company.
The start-up recently launched the 74th satellite in a constellation planned to total at least 648 spacecraft.
The idea is that this network will provide high-bandwidth, low-latency internet connections to any point on Earth, bar Antarctica.
Rumours of a collapse had been swirling around OneWeb this past week. It had raised £2.6bn to implement its project but experts in the space industry speculated that double this sum would probably be needed to complete the system.
The statement released by OneWeb in the early hours of Saturday, London time, said the company had been close to obtaining financing but that, “the process did not progress because of the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of Covid-19”.
(16) NOT SO DIFFERENT. “Neanderthals ate sharks and dolphins”. “You know when he bites sharks with his teeth, babe…”
Neanderthals were eating fish, mussels and seals at a site in present-day Portugal, according to a new study.
The research adds to mounting evidence that our evolutionary relatives may have relied on the sea for food just as much as ancient modern humans.
For decades, the ability to gather food from the sea and from rivers was seen as something unique to our own species.
Scientists found evidence for an intensive reliance on seafood at a Neanderthal site in southern Portugal.
Neanderthals living between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago at the cave of Figueira Brava near Setubal were eating mussels, crab, fish – including sharks, eels and sea bream – seabirds, dolphins and seals.
The research team, led by Dr João Zilhão from the University of Barcelona, Spain, found that marine food made up about 50% of the diet of the Figueira Brava Neanderthals. The other half came from terrestrial animals, such as deer, goats, horses, aurochs (ancient wild cattle) and tortoises.
(17) THE NATIVES ARE RESTLESS. “East Antarctica’s glaciers are stirring”.
Nasa says it has detected the first signs of significant melting in a swathe of glaciers in East Antarctica.
The region has long been considered stable and unaffected by some of the more dramatic changes occurring elsewhere on the continent.
But satellites have now shown that ice streams running into the ocean along one-eighth of the eastern coastline have thinned and sped up.
If this trend continues, it has consequences for future sea levels.
There is enough ice in the drainage basins in this sector of Antarctica to raise the height of the global oceans by 28m – if it were all to melt out.
“That’s the water equivalent to four Greenlands of ice,” said Catherine Walker from Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
[Thanks JJ, Martin Morse Wooster, Ben Bird Person, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, Chip Hitchcock, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
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That book deserves a lot more love — and I don’t even read horror.
NOT for the faint of heart, though. Notnotnot.
edit after reading the list —
Oooo, I liked that one too. Hey, this Ellen Datlow has good taste. She may go places in this field.
😉
I have a small mystery. Locus reviewed the first of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers novels but I see no indication on their website that they reviewed the next two, nor do I see that they’ve interviewed her. I find that surprising given how good the novels are. Can someone who subscribes to it confirm that indeed they didn’t really review the next two novels?
Yes I’m listening to them now and finding the first one quite excellent.
Cat, Becky Chambers was interviewed in the December 2018 issue of Locus. But you’re right, it doesn’t look as though they reviewed either A Closed and Common Orbit or Record of a Spaceborn Few. They did review To Be Taught, If Fortunate.
JJ says Cat, Becky Chambers was interviewed in the December 2018 issue of Locus. But you’re right, it doesn’t look as though they reviewed either A Closed and Common Orbit or Record of a Spaceborn Few. They did review To Be Taught, If Fortunate.
H’h. Their reviewer didn’t precisely like the first novel as they thought it really needed pruning. I on the other hand am finding the rambling story quite fascinating.
Oh … Cat Eldridge … As a fan of Grimes and Flandry you may find this of interest. https://www.baen.com/the-dark-dimensions.html
I read the first of Chandler’s Grimes novels last year. Still stood up well and was enjoyable. Now that I’m retired, chances of getting further in the series have improved.
Yes, I’ve retired. Punched my last timeclock this morning, I have a long list of things to do for at least the next several years, I reckon. That “several years” doesn’t include whittling away at the TBR pile, though that’s a goal as well.
I actually first “retired” in 2008, after 30 years with the Postal Service, just as the economy collapsed. The USPS pension was welcome, but didn’t cover every cost, so I’ve been working security since then, for the last eight years for a major golf-equipment maker. (Sure never expected I’d have a career in sports!)
And now I’m retiring in the midst of a global pandemic, with another financial collapse possibly in the cards as well.
If I ever go back to work again, for God’s sake don’t let me retire a third time! Pretty sure there’d be a giant meteor impact involved.
“Look around you… can you fashion some sort of rudimentary Lathe of Heaven?”
Nonfunctional.
Sorry.
Nick Frost was the hapless Commander Henderson in Hyperdrive, a short-lived SF comedy series which… wasn’t altogether good, but had some funny moments.
(15) Covid-19 is going to replace “My dog ate my homework” as an excuse for the foreseeable future. Every bad business plan, case of gross mismanagement, over extension, and any business that had been propped up by the raising tide finally failing will be blamed on it. I have already seen it being used as an excuse for things failing or under performing before it was even noticed in China.
Back in the future I was on a very famous pixel scroll
Congrats on your second retirement, Bruce!
1) He should do a webcam cook-a-long where a guest gives him a recipe, then watches him cook it on the webcam while they chat and the guest correct any mistakes. Do it with a split screen. And then they eat in their own houses while chatting.
9: Cat, thanks for including A(rthur) Bertram “Jack” Chandler. Add “gourmet” to “popcorn” and our assessment of his work agrees.
Most of Chandler’s work takes place within a shared background/future history, with the majority devoted to the adventures of a single character – John Grimes.
There are, however, alternate time lines and other, shorter series concerning different leading characters – Empress Irene, Derek Calver, Wilkinson…
Below, all of the Rim Worlds stories in their proper reading order. Notes indicate whether it is a mainline Rim Worlds story, John Grimes or an alternate time line.
Most of the John Grimes works are collected in the five volume SFBC omnibus series or the 6 volume Baen series, though not all of them and not in completely the correct order in all cases. Most of the novels and collections can be found on ABE.com, and for not that much. Hard to find are Prime the Pump, Hamelin Plague and The Deep Reaches of Space.
1 : Drift : 1957 : Tangential Rim Worlds
2 : The Pied Potter : 1971 : Tangential Rim Worlds Rats Tale
3 : THE HAMELIN PLAGUE : 1963 : Tangential Rim Worlds Rats Tale
4 : Castaway : 1947 : Tangential Rim Worlds
5 : All Laced Up : 1961 : Tangential Rim Worlds
6 : Half Pair : 1957 : Early Rim Worlds
7 : THE COILS OF TIME : 1964 : Tangential Rim Worlds Christopher Wilkinson
8 : THE ALTERNATE MARTIANS : 1965 : Tangential Rim Worlds Christopher Wilkinson
9 : Raiders of the Solar Frontier : 1950 : Early Rim Worlds
10 : Preview of Peril : 1948 : Early Rim Worlds
11 : The Habit : 1967 : Early Rim Worlds
12 : Homing Tantalus : 1960 : Early Rim Worlds
13 : No Return : 1960 : Early Rim Worlds
14 : Terror of the Mist Maidens : 1950 : Early Rim Worlds
15 : The Cage : 1957 : Rim Worlds
16 : The Left Hand Way : 1967 : Rim Worlds
17 : Sisters Under the Skin : 1957 : Rim Worlds
18 : How To Win Friends : 1957 : Rim Worlds
19 : Lost Art : 1952 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Andy Grimes
20 : Tower of Darkness : 1946 : Rim Worlds
21 : Bad Patch : 1947 : Rim Worlds
22 : Frontier of the Dark (expanded and novelized 1984) : 1952 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds
23 : Viscous Circle : 1953 : Rim Worlds
24 : Farewell to the Lottos : 1953 : Rim Worlds
25 : I’ll Take Over : 1957 : Rim Worlds
26 : Ghost World : 1957 : Rim Worlds
27 : Dark Reflection : 1957 : Rim Worlds
28 : Fall of Knight : 1958 : Rim Worlds
29 : The Ultimate Vice : 1958 : Rim Worlds
30 : The Bureaucrats : 1958 : Rim Worlds
31 : Flypaper Planet : 1958 : Rim Worlds
32 : Planet of Ill Repute : 1958 : Rim Worlds
33 : Seeing Eye : 1960 : Rim Worlds
34 : The Genie : 1961 : Rim Worlds
35 : Hindsight : 1990 : Rim Worlds
36 : THE DEEP REACHES OF SPACE : 1964 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Peter Quill
37 : Female of the Species : 1959 : Rim Worlds
38 : Swap Shop : 1957 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
39 : In the Box : 1958 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
40 : Words and Music : 1958 : Rim Worlds
41 : Dreamboat : 1958 : Rim Worlds
42 : SOS, Planet Unknown : 1958 : Rim Worlds
43 : The Idol : 1959 : Rim Worlds
44 : Wet Paint : 1959 : Rim Worlds
45 : The Man Who Could Not Stop : 1959 : Rim Worlds
46 : Temptress of Eden : 1959 : Rim Worlds
47 : John Grimes : Autobiography : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
48 : THE ROAD TO THE RIM : 1967 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
49 : TO PRIME THE PUMP : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
50 : Grimes At Glenrowan (events in this tale, told to reporter Kitty Kelly much later in his career, takes place at this time) : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
51 : With Good Intentions : 1972 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
52 : The Subtractor : 1969 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
53 : The Tin Messiah : 1969 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
54 : The Sleeping Beauty : 1970 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
55 : The Wandering Buoy : 1970 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
56 : The Mountain Movers : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
57 : Grimes and the Great Race (events in this tale, told to reporter Kitty Kelly much later in his career, takes place at this time) : 1980 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
58 : What You Know : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
59 : THE BROKEN CYCLE : 1975 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
60 : SPARTAN PLANET : 1968 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
61 : Grimes Among the Gourmets (events in this tale, told to a reporter much later in his career, take place here) : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
62 : THE INHERITORS : 1972 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
63 : THE BIG BLACK MARK : 1975 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
64 : The Far Traveler : 1976 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
65 : The Long Fall : 1977 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
66 : Another Redskin Bit The Dust : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
67 : Let Sleeping Dogs Lie : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
68 : Operation Starquest : 1969 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds
69 : Lost Thing Found : 1960 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds
70 : The Sleeping Beast : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
71 : Journey’s End : 1979 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
72 : STAR COURIER : 1977 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
73 : Grimes and the Odd Gods (events in this tale, told to a reporter much later in his career, take place here) : 1983 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
74 : TO KEEP THE SHIP : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
75 : MATILDA’S STEPCHILDREN : 1979 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
76 : Grimes and the Jail Birds (events in this tale, told to a reporter much later in his career, take place here) : 1984 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
77 : THE EMPRESS OF OUTER SPACE : 1965 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
78 : STAR LOOT : 1980 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
79 : SPACE MERCENARIES : 1965 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
80 : THE ANARCH LORDS : 1981 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
81 : THE LAST AMAZON : 1984 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
82 : Grimes and the Gaijin Daimyo (events in this tale, told to a reporter much later in his career, take place here) : 2008 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
83 : THE WILD ONES : 1984 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
84 : Man Alone : 1990 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds
85 : Chance Encounter : 1959 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
86 : Motivation : 1958 : Rim Worlds
87 : The Converts : 1958 : Rim Worlds
88 : The Key : 1959 : Rim Worlds
89 : RENDEZVOUS ON A LOST WORLD : 1961 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Derek Calver
90 : THE RIM OF SPACE : 1961 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Derek Calver
91 : THE SHIP FROM OUTSIDE : 1963 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Derek Calver
92 : BRING BACK YESTERDAY : 1961 : Rim Worlds John Peterson
93 : Gift Horse : 1958 : Rim Worlds
94 : Forbidden Planet : 1959 : Rim Worlds
95 : Rim Ghost : 1957 : Rim Worlds
96 : THE WINDS OF IF : 1963 : Rim Worlds Alternate Rim Worlds Andy Grimes
97 : INTO THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE : 1964 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
98 : Giant Killer : 1945 : Tangential Rim Worlds/Rats Tale
99 : CONTRABAND FROM OTHER SPACE : 1967 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Tangential Rim Worlds Rats Tale
50 : Grimes At Glenrowan (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
57 : Grimes and the Great race (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 1980 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
82 : Grimes and the Gaijin Daimyo (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 2008 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
61 : Grimes Among the Gourmets (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
73 : Grimes and the Odd Gods (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 1983 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
76 : Grimes and the Jail Birds (Told to Kitty Kelly at this time, relating past adventures) : 1984 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
100 : THE GATEWAY TO NEVER : 1972 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
101 : The Rim Gods : 1968 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
102 : The Bird Brained Navigator : 1968 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
103 : The Tin Fishes : 1968 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
104 : The Last Dreamer : 1968 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
105 : Hall of Fame : 1969 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
106 : The Sister Ships : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
107 : The Man Who Sailed the Sky : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
108 : The Rub : 1970 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
109 : The Dutchman : 1972 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
110 : The Last Hunt : 1973 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
111 : On the Account : 1973 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
112 : Rim Change : 1975 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
113 : Doggy In the Window : 1978 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
114 : NEBULA ALERT : 1967 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
115 : THE DARK DIMENSIONS : 1971 : Rim Worlds John Grimes Alternate Rim Worlds Empress Irene
116 : THE WAY BACK : 1976 : Rim Worlds John Grimes
9) (Chandler) Finally a reading poll where I can be proud of my score. I bet I have read at least 100/116! I started with The Big Black Mark in 1975 and began my quest to find everything by Chandler.
@Steve Davidson, we talked about Chandler at WorldCon a few years sgo
@9 (Chandler): “popcorn literature” is a bit harsh to the earlier works, and a bit kind to the later works. Those filled in the gap between the randy young Survey Service office and the crusty old port manager by getting randier and randomer while not necessarily getting closer to the Rim, or even visibly older. ISTM that @Steve Davidson’s list needs an intermediate period for books about the nearer colonies, rather than calling them all Rim Worlds — none of them have that tumbleweeds-across-the-tarmac feel, and Grimes keeps looping back to Earth.
@16: the story doesn’t say there were any knives found on site….
@Bruce Arthurs: after you punched the timeclock, could it still ring?
@Michael Walsh: that story was my first thought, although I couldn’t recall the title. I forget whether it was that or the sequel in which Grimes ends up dropped in on Chandler-at-sea and gets written back home — with the author thinking “Good riddance!” afterward.
17) Well I suppose it’s nice to see current events news that isn’t Covfefe-19 related.
@Chip Hitchcock – internal references in later works and Grimes Autobiography place those within the historical time line that leads to Grimes Rim World future.
What isn’t detailed in that list is that early Grimes and later Grimes stories are actually two different Grimeses: a Grimes living in a future where the inertial drive is developed and a Grimes living in a future where it is not.
I have chosen to include any and all Chandler works that contain Rim Worlds elements and do not contradict agreed upon canon within the Rim World’s reading time line – which allows one to read (in order) about things that led up to the establishment of the Federation, the Rim World’s succession &c. YMMV
@Chip – that’s Hall of Fame/Kinsolving’s Planet Irregulars and it takes place before Dark Dimensions,
(16) Sharks are delicious, very lean white meat. My ex always used to bitch whenever I’d order it though, since he felt they concentrated all the toxins in the ocean due to their position at the top of the food chain.
@Andrew: “Look around you… can you fashion some sort of rudimentary Lathe of Heaven?”
Hehehe, great mash-up!
Glad you liked it Kendall
(3) CHOSEN HORROR. I’m usually not much into horror or strong suspense, but Datlow does a great job getting me intrigued about these books! Granted, several are already on my Mount TBR (the Heuvelt, Hawkins, O’Malley, and Ruff).
@7Goodman:
Dan Goodman was my housemate for almost a year, from (IIRC) mid-1981 to early 1982. (He moved out when Terry Garey, who’s now been my wife since 1984, came from California to move in with me.) For much/most of his time in the Twin Cities, he was employed as a secretary of some sort in the U of Minnesota (St. Paul campus) Forestry Library.
I’m pretty sure the story in TALES OF THE UNANTICIPATED was indeed his only (semi-)professional sale, which in retrospect is a bit surprising, since he communicated well in print and had an especially fine mind for “what if” scenarios and funny “test to destruction” arguments for political and social issues, which would seem likely to translate well to certain types of sf.
Spoken communication with him was more hit or miss, possibly in part because of his synaesthesia, but was generally worth the effort. In later years I ran into him most frequently at Greg Ketter’s DreamHaven Books and Comics, especially on nights when DreamHaven hosted readings by local authors.
While Dan’s health may have been overall declining anyway, I believe the event that took him over the edge and hastened his death was being hit (as a pedestrian, perhaps trying to absent-mindedly cross tracks when he shouldn’t have) by a light-rail train in St.Paul a couple of months ago.
@7 Goodman:
And one thing I forgot to note was that Dan was not just a sometime-editor of EINBLATT, but the guy who started it in the first place (originally as a typed and photocopied page he would bring to MinnSTF meetings for distribution). I’m pretty sure he was also the person who named it.
#7: FISTFA was not “Insurgent” — it was just the name, the Fannish Insurgent Scientifiction Association, coined by Mike McInerney, who hosted it with Rich Brown initially in their railroad flat on, I think, East 13th Street in Manhattan.
It was held on alternate Fridays from Fanoclasts, which was invitational only.
Anyone could show up at FISTFA.
One day, I went into the kitchen. Someone, not a fan, was boiling a drug needle in a pot of water on the stove. Just someone who showed up.
Mike threw him out. After that, Mike took care to see who was coming, kept it to fans only.
Andrew Porter: I don’t know what being “not’Insurgent'” means in the context of a club that called itself by that name. Perhaps you could explain.
Is Dan Goodman the same fan who is referred to in several David Gerrold stories?
Andrew: While writing this, I double-checked with David, and no, he’s not. (I checked because David and Dan were in LASFS at the same time back in the day.)
Thanks Mike.
More on “insurgent” — there’s probably an origin story for the fans who applied that term to themselves, but it evidently started at least 5 years before I was in fandom (1970). And by the time I was, the New York fans who liked to use that term in their fanzines seemed to be using it to distinguish themselves from the Secret Master of Fandom, Establishment asshole types. The thing was, however, that by the end of the Sixties, everybody in fandom was working hard to identify with the counterculture (no matter what Establishment day job they might have). Insurgent was sort of left as a kind of tribal self-identification so far as I could tell from 3000 miles away.