Pixel Scroll 3/18/16 How Green Was My Pixel?

(1) WHEN MARS HAD BEACHES. The Daily Galaxy covers the announcement — “NASA: ‘Ancient Mars Had a Vast Ocean Covering Half Its Northern Hemisphere’”.

A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth’s Arctic Ocean, according to NASA scientists who, using ground-based observatories, measured water signatures in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Scientists have been searching for answers to why this vast water supply left the surface.

“Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space,” said Geronimo Villanueva, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the new paper. “With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars.”

Perhaps about 4.3 billion years ago, Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 450 feet (137 meters) deep. More likely, the water would have formed an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’ northern hemisphere, in some regions reaching depths greater than a mile (1.6 kilometers).

(2) ELLISON AUDIOBOOK CROWDFUNDED. The Kickstarter for a Skyboat Audiobook of Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek Teleplay “The City on The Edge of Forever” has successfully funded.

This project will produce a full-cast audiobook of the Harlan Ellison’s original Star Trek Teleplay, including Ellison’s commentary on the story’s inception and development and the controversy over its rewriting by the TV show heads.

The Stretch Goal for a separate enhanced adaptation of the teleplay with a full Dolby soundtrack and complete Foley sound effects was not achieved.

Links to audio and video snippets from the recording process can be found on the Campaign Updates tab.

(3) HAUNTED IRELAND. Dublin, the City of Ghosts and Guinness will host the Dublin Ghost Story Festival from August 18-21. Guests of Honour will be Derleth Award winner Adam Nevill (Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, House of Small Shadows, No One Gets Out Alive, and Lost Girl).

The literary ghost story in all its guises has deep roots in Ireland – from the domestic hauntings of Mrs. Riddell’s Weird Stories to the spectral disturbances of J.S. Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly; from Elizabeth Bowen’s urbane “Demon Lover” to Bram Stoker’s blood-drenched and monolithic contribution to literature: Dracula. We invite you to join us at the Dublin Ghost Story Festival to raise a pint of the black stuff and celebrate literature of the supernatural—both past and present—in a city where some of the genre’s most memorable nightmares were born. Slainte!

The MC will be John Connolly (The Book of Lost Things, Nocturnes, and Night Music). Other guests include John Reppion and Lynda E. Rucker.

(4) MAINSTREAM ENTROPY. Brandon Kempner has his “Final Best of 2015 Mainstream Meta-List” at Chaos Horizon.

It’s Spring Break for me, so I’ve got a chance to wrap up some of my “lists of lists.” The first we’ll look at is my Best of 2015 Mainstream Meta-List. This list collates 20+ “Best of 2015” lists by mainstream outlets such as the NY Times, Amazon, Goodreads, Entertainment Weekly, and so on.

The collation works in a simple fashion: appear on a list, get 1 point. I then add up the points from all 20 lists. Results are below. I tried to use the same sources as last year so we can meaningful year-to-year comparisons.

(5) DRAKE OBIT. Larry Drake, who won two Emmy Awards playing mentally-challenged office worker Benny Stulwicz on L.A. Law, passed away March 17 at the age of 66.

He also starred in the 1990 cult classic, Darkman, as well as playing Administrator Chellick in the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Critical Care” and had additional appearances on various shows including Firefly, Crossing Jordan, and Six Feet Under.

(6) HUGO NOMINATING DEADLINE. The Worldcon reminds you that March 31 is not far away….

(7) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • March 18, 1964 The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao makes its premiere in Denver, Colorado.

(8) REACTING TO THE PUPPIES. Rachael Acks does a very good job of presenting a writer’s thought process about the Sad Puppies 4 list in “I wish I could trust you and I hate what we’ve become”.

But it’s just a recommended list. But it’s got the “Sad Puppy” name all over it and all that goddamn baggage.

Because this is the thing. After three years of slates and shouting and people being intensely shitty, after the porous barrier between sad and rabid and the fecal stench known as Beale that clings to everything, I cannot fucking trust any of this.

So is it a recommended reading list, innocently offered? Or is it a Trojan Horse, intending to get people to maybe think hey, we don’t really need to ratify those WSFS amendments everyone voted on last year when we were almost universally pissed off about a slate rolling the Hugos. See, it’s not so bad. Let it go. And then next year it starts all over again because nothing’s been fixed.

Or is it a way to try to fuck over a lot of writers who don’t want anything to do with this, because suddenly they’re on the damn list, and no one knows if it’s a slate or not, but there’s the knee jerk feeling of if these assholes want a thing, I don’t.

Or is it a way to score some cheap points because if these writers end up on the final ballot and win (or score over No Award), look at all these SJW hypocrites, see they’re okay with slates as long as it’s people they like. That’s certainly consistent the Wile E. Coyote-style Sooper Genius I’m Totally Playing Six Dimensional Chess nonsense we perennially get out of Beale.

And is the very existence of this post (and ones like it) going to be used to add to the carefully curated sense of grievance that’s been fueling this entire stupid, stupid fight?

This makes me so angry, because I’m already seeing people getting dragged into this bubbling cesspool of bullshit and paranoia. And I hate thinking like this. I hate it. I want to believe the best in people. I want to believe in good intentions, and change, and moving on from bad times.

(9) MAKING A DECISION. Catherynne M. Valente asks “When Is a Slate Not a Slate? or Why Is the Puppy Sad?”

So what do I do? Honestly, I still don’t know. My stomach hurts. At the moment, it really does look like people just liked my book. Anyone could recommend something, after all. Locus doesn’t need my permission and neither does anyone else, so requiring it from the Puppies alone, as long as it is not a slate, would be strange. I’ve been on some WEIRD rec lists in my time, I tell you what. And I will absolutely not dismiss readers because of the URL where their desires are expressed.

It all comes down to whether this recommendation list is a list or a slate.

Right now, it doesn’t look like a slate. Right now, it looks like a list complied by people with extremely wide-ranging tastes and interests. Right now, I’m inclined to try to mend fences across fandom in whatever little way I can by giving them the benefit of the doubt that this is all in good faith–because I want to be given the benefit of the doubt that I act in good faith. So for right now, that’s what I’m going to do. I am going to believe in the better angels of our–and Puppy–nature. I’m going to choose to believe that they looked at the thousand suggestions of ways to recommend books that would not run afoul of the spirit of the Hugos and adjusted their methods accordingly. I’m going to choose to believe that the political rhetoric of the Puppy movement is a thing of the past, and from here on out, it will be about what each and every one of us said it should be about–good books. Nothing else.

If this changes, if all that ugliness comes roaring back and it becomes about something other than the content of books, I will change my mind and very quickly. But for right now, I have to try to believe that things can get better. This is my Pollyanna moment. I sincerely hope I don’t regret it.

(10) NO DILEMMA. John Scalzi does not have conflicting feelings about his presence on the SP4 list — “Notes on Awards and Slates 3/18/16”.

8. In sum: I’m not seeking award consideration this year; I would not willingly participate on an award nomination slate; If I’m on such a slate it’s without my consent; Those who have put me or my work on such a slate should remove me from it; If they won’t remove me, or anyone who asks to be removed, they’re likely assholes; And maybe you should factor that in when thinking about them and their motives.

(11) NO WAR. Alexandra Erin recommends a simple response to the list, in “The Pups of Wrath Yield Bitter Whine”.

So, if the Sad Puppies have a plan to claim victory no matter what happens, the question is, how do we beat them?

And the answer is: we don’t. We shouldn’t. No one’s goal should ever be to “beat” these truly sad individuals at anything, no more than our goal should be to shut them up or shut them out of the process.

The Sad Puppies are at war with both the future and past of science fiction and fantasy, but no one is (or no one should be) at war with the Sad Puppies. Our goal should be to make speculative fiction welcoming and inclusive in spite of them, not to shut them out of it in the hopes that this will make things welcoming and inclusive. Our goal should be to get more people involved and keep them engaged so as to dilute the ability of small cliques of bigots motivated to become the tastemakers and kingmakers to game the system.

The correct course of action to take on the Puppy list is to ignore it. If they’re going to claim victory no matter what happens (and the fact that they claimed victory in 2015 should be enough to convince anyone that they will), then there’s really nothing more for anyone to do except get out and nominate now, and get out and vote later. Don’t let the existence of their list or its contents sway you one way or another.

And if you found yourself on their list? Well, they’re just a pack of dogs howling at the moon. This is not a situation that requires the moon to answer.

(12) MY MILEAGE MAY VARY. Meanwhile, back in 1961, The Traveler deprecates the short fiction in the April issue of Analog, including a slap at one of my favorite Christopher Anvil stories. Hmph! Don’t expect to see Galactic Journey on my Seacon Hugo ballot!

Back to the dreary stories, Pandora’s Planet, by Chris Anvil (whose best work always appears outside of Analog), is another “Earthmen are just plain better at everything than everyone else” story.  In this case, some fuzzy humanoids can’t seem to win a war to subjugate a planet’s native race without the help of some plucky, original Terrans.  The point of the piece seems to be that unorthodox war is just as valid as “real” war, and stuffy rigidity will only lead to failure.  That’s fine so far as it goes, but the canny Terran tactics aren’t that innovative, and the stodginess of the fuzzies is insufficiently explored.  Two stars.

(13) HANGING AROUND THE GUARDIANS SET. At ScienceFiction.com, “Karen Gillan Takes Us Behind-The-Scenes In This ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2? Photo!”

If you’ve been dying to see more from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘ it looks like Karen Gillan (‘Doctor Who’,’Oculus’) has brought us another behind-the-scenes photo from the set! Our first shot of Nebula in the film came from Gillan herself and while it wasn’t much, this time we’ve got quite a different view as the 28-year old looks to be flying around in a harness against a blue-screen.

 

(14) TOTALLY TEA. The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog delivers the latest in a series of Incredibly Specific Lessons, “A History of the Tea-Creating Machine in Fact and Fiction”.

Synthetic food replicators in science fiction (and real life) can vary a ton. They might create anything imaginable, or just spit out soylent green; they might function perfectly, or constantly fall apart. But everyone wants just one thing out of them: tea.

The entirety of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is the masterpiece of a sci-fi satire artist, but the franchise features one particularly memorable moment: when Arthur Dent locates the Nutri-Matic Drinks Dispenser and places a simple, if predictably English, request.

Of course Beckie Leckie is also in the mix.

(15) DICK SHORTCOMINGS. MD Jackson suspects “You Don’t Know Dick”, but tries to remedy your shortcomings in a post at Amazing Stories.

So how is it that this crazy science fiction writer (and, some would argue that he was literally crazy) has come to have such a hold on audiences today? How is it that his work (lauded as it was) that languished in the sci-fi ghetto of the mid-twentieth century, has become amplified in the twenty-first? Has the rest of the world only now caught up to where Dick was when he wrote all those stories years ago?

The phenomenon is nothing new. Look at Vincent Van Gogh. Largely ignored in the 1800’s, he died poor and insane, but in the twentieth century his genius is applauded by the art world. Almost everyone in the twentieth century loves a Van Gogh. In the 18th he couldn’t sell a painting to save his life.

Is Phillip K. Dick the twenty-first century’s Vincent Van Gogh? Have we arrived at the place where he was decades before? Is he watching us, amused that it took us all so long to get here?

(16) ZWICKER INTERVIEW. The indefatigable Carl Slaughter has an interview with “Short Story Writer Richard Zwicker on Humor, Detective, and Greek Mythology” at SF Signal.

CS: Why Greek mythology?

RZ: I don’t usually write straight fantasy. I do like to borrow from mythology, however. Borrowing can work as long as you do something different and worthwhile with the source material. You’re not going to get far if all you do is retell the myth or slap on a different POV. On the other hand, many myths aren’t detailed, so there is plenty of opportunity to flesh things out or consider “What if?”

A recurring detective character I use is Phokus, set in ancient Greece, who has to deal with the whims of the gods. In these I borrow problems from the Greek myths. Phokus gets hired by Zeus to find out who stole fire, or he has to track down Daedalus, who pushed his nephew Talus off a cliff.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, James Bacon, JJ, and David K.M. Klaus for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day ULTRAGOTHA.]

87 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 3/18/16 How Green Was My Pixel?

  1. Hmm. Might have to move Radiance up my to-read list. We buy most of Valente’s books in this house, but I was going to borrow that one from the library because I didn’t think the rest of the family would be as interested in it.

    Coincidentally, I happen to be reading “Speak Easy” at the moment. Amazon started recommending it to me recently, probably right after I search for some Damon Runyon stories that weren’t in my existing collection.

  2. Kip W:

    “NEVER MIND THE SCROLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PIXELS”

    You, Sir, have won all the internetz.

  3. @rob_matic – stay safe. After the Ankara bombings, and this, many of my colleagues are being adviced to remain indoors. So your call is the right one.

    (6) HUGO NOMINATING DEADLINE. – Eeeeek! Time to finalise my Pro/Fan artist ballot

    (8) – (11) – I think that Erin pretty much lays out, to me, the most practical response to many of the concerns that Acks raises.
    Valente’s article is really well though out.

    (14) TOTALLY TEA. – Enh, I’m good so long as no one brings up the chewability of the damn things.

    In other news, have crawled out as am done with Daredevil s2. Brain still bouncing around, but it maintains the awesomeness of the first season. Quick comments:

    *The fight sequence to watch out for is in Ep 3 this time around
    *The same episode has a much better take on Ennis’s stupid Punisher vs Daredevil scene.
    * Foggy Nelson is the star of this season
    * Overall great, but very much a “middle book” sort of season.

  4. I decided to get my ballot in shape this weekend, starting with a painful triage on my short fiction long list, scratching out some really good stories for what felt like really arbitrary reasons.
    A sea of red ink later and I’ve still got 11 shorts, 9 novelettes and 7 novellas that I don’t want to choose between.
    Do you reckon I can get a second ballot to fit them all on with?

  5. I think that Pupppies manipulating the Hugo ballot, bullying various people, and spreading malicious fabrications should not be ignored. Such behavior should be countered.

    Other than mitigating the damage the Puppies do to individuals, institutions, or the genre, though, I am in favor of ignoring them. I found that almost impossible in 2014, but easy in 2013 and relatively easy–thank goodness!–in 2015. I don’t care what Puppies and their supporters, Rabid or Sad, talk about in their own echo chamber. I don’t care what they think. I don’t care what fiction they write. I don’t care what fiction they read. I don’t care what prose, movies, art, or fanzines they do or do not like.

    I care only that they don’t get to manipulate the Hugos, bully others, spread malicious fabrications, etc. without being firmly and loudly opposed.

  6. @Kimberly K.: I read about the new adaptations of “The Chronicles of Prydain” last night (via a link at SF Signal), and I’m cautiously interested. I hope they start at the beginning this time. But I’m very cautious, because the original “The Black Cauldron” adaptation was also from Disney. So, you know, once bitten, twice shy. 😉

  7. SP4 absolutely demonstrates why EPH is the right choice for nominating works – and it does this wholly independently of the politics or the history of Sad Puppies.

    SP4 allowed everybody to see people nominating things in real time (sort of) and shows how a bunch of people nominating things can pan out. Now it wasn’t the same as Hugo nominations but it is in the same general field. The key point is that people vote for lots of stuff and people don’t necessarily vote for much in common.

    Consequently the work with the most votes will have a minority of the total votes. That isn’t surprising but SP4 really underlines that – most people who ‘voted’ in best novel in SP4 didn’t vote for the top rated novels. I’ve haven’t checked my numbers but you’d need a long list to capture a set of works that collectively got 50% of the votes in SP4’s best novel category.

    What that means is that under the current system the process cannot be said to deliver a set of finalists that is necessarily representative of the people nominating. It may often be representative (or even usually) but that is more down to the culture of voting than the process.

    EPH adds more proportionality without punishing people taking risks by nominating unlikely works.

    Put another way, as things currently stand, a SP3 stand-off can happen in the current system EVEN WITHOUT A SLATE OR A CAMPAIGN i.e. the system can deliver a set of finalists that a majority of the voters don’t think are award worthy. All it takes is a cultural split in the people voting with a smaller group who pick works from a smaller pool and a larger group who pick works from a larger pool – and where the taste/opinion/judgement of the two groups are very different.

  8. @Camestros Felapton

    Put another way, as things currently stand, a SP3 stand-off can happen in the current system EVEN WITHOUT A SLATE OR A CAMPAIGN i.e. the system can deliver a set of finalists that a majority of the voters don’t think are award worthy. All it takes is a cultural split in the people voting with a smaller group who pick works from a smaller pool and a larger group who pick works from a larger pool – and where the taste/opinion/judgement of the two groups are very different.

    A very nice argument in favor of EPH as “something we ought to do anyway.” I’m feeling confident that it’ll pass without problems, though. It won with 75% of the vote at Sasquan, after all.

  9. Bit late in the day, but “The Three Body Problem” is a 99p daily deal on Amazon UK today.

  10. Several of these responses to the SP list (not Valente’s, but Scalzi’s and Acks’s, as far as I can see) do seem to be based on the assumption that the SP organisers chose what went on the list; they ask what they could have meant by doing so, not recognising that is not in any case what happened. It’s clearly true that one can put more widely acceptable works on a slate for manipulative purposes, as VD has been doing so; but that is not what is going on in this case.

  11. @Andrew M,
    “The Sad Puppy [N]” campaigns have acquired such baggage it’s normal now to assume that works on it are placed there for point-scoring, political, or cronyism reasons.

    That’s really on the Sad Puppy organisers’ past behaviour. SP4 might be “different” but the choice to retain the Sad Puppy branding? It was inevitable that the negative associations from previous years would carry over. If SP4 was an attempt to rehabilitate the brand, it was a failed attempt.

  12. @Kip W:

    NEVER MIND THE SCROLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PIXELS

    Omigod that’s brilliant! I just wish I hadn’t had a mouthful of coffee when I read that! 😀

    Re #15: Wait! I read the article and it says someone has built a Dick “android”? Which will answer questions? That’s just plausible enough these days to be believable. Is that actually true? If so, way to bury the lede! (Or has it been covered previously, and I just missed it?)

  13. Soon Lee: To be sure. I’m not suggesting that the list is actually credible, or a reason to vote for anything, or anything like that. But specifically speculating about the SP organisers’ motives for putting things there – as Scalzi does at some length – when in fact the SP organisers did not put things there, still seems to me rather pointless.

    (It would be perfectly reasonable, if the SP organisers had actually created the list, to assume that they put things there for point-scoring, political or cronyism reasons rather than anything more high-minded. It is reasonable to assume that of the RP list. But in the actual case, this just doesn’t apply.)

  14. Andrew M

    I’m wondering whether you’ve even bothered to read Scalzi’s post. He writes about slates. At no point does he identify Sad Puppies, or Rabid Puppies.

    May I suggest that you try reading the post before you decide to opine on it, or is that too much trouble for you? Here in the year 9476 we have at least managed to grasp that reading something before you pontificate about it is helpful, even if it’s not mandatory…

  15. Kate Paulk herself suggested the Castalia House pedophilia series for “related work” in a Mad Genius Club post. It was also suggested by others. Haven’t read it myself but it doesn’t seem to have a good reputation among File 770 commenters.

  16. A couple of ebook deals in the U.S. at some/most stores:

    Nocturnal by Scott Sigler is on sale for $1.99 (with DRM). I was a big fan of Sigler’s in the early days, starting with his original “podiobooks” (podcast audiobooks). I fell behind on his prodigious output, so this one’s still on the shelf waiting for me, but I’ve heard good things about it.

    James Tiptree, Jr.’s Brightness Falls From the Air is on sale for $1.99 from Open Road Media (with DRM). I’m embarrassed to say how little Tiptree I’ve read (next to nothing, or perhaps nothing); she’s one of the many well-known classics I should try out.

  17. Haven’t read it myself but it doesn’t seem to have a good reputation among File 770 commenters.

    (i) Don’t.

    (ii) Deservedly.

  18. StephenFromOttawa: Kate Paulk herself suggested the Castalia House pedophilia series for “related work” in a Mad Genius Club post. It was also suggested by others. Haven’t read it myself but it doesn’t seem to have a good reputation among File 770 commenters.

    Any time someone comments that Sad Puppies 4 has changed their ways, I just remember the Very Special Highlight that Paulk posted, raving about this utterly irrational, character-assassination piece of shit.

    Either Paulk’s reading comprehension and reasoning skills are on a par with those of a 5-year-old, if she really thinks this is quality work — or she’s still carrying water for VD and trying to “blow up SJW heads” despite all her denials and attempts to claim that SP4 is just about promoting quality works.

  19. The level of support a proposal gets at one Worldcon is not always indicative of what it will get at the next one. That’s one of the reasons we require proposals to get majorities at two consecutive Worldcons, after all; to confirm that proposals have broad enough support to pass without reliance upon local or short-term issues.

  20. @Stevie, I’ll be joining Andrew M in reading comprehension jail, because that’s how I read Scalzi’s post as well. Twice. Anecdotes aren’t data, so one alternative is that the piece isn’t as clearly written as it could be.

    @Kip W., all the internets and it was (fortunately) water for me.

  21. Whatever Disney does or doesn’t do with the Chronicles of Prydain, I still have a hard time getting past what Lloyd Alexander did to mangle the original Welsh material. Dammit Arawn is not dammit a dammit evil dammit villain dammit. Dammit Gwydion is not dammit a dammit noble dammit hero dammit.

    Fortunately, I enjoyed Alexander’s series at a tender age, long before I’d encountered the (relatively) more faithful novelizations by Evangeline Walton. And I enjoyed the Walton books long before I read the original medieval tales. Any other order would have been…unfortunate.

  22. I just read, and then re-read, Scalzi’s post. At no point does he mention Puppies of any emotional state. He also doesn’t say “this was done by the leaders” at any point.

    I was going to pull out the highlights of each point, for clarity, only Scalzi’s already done that in point 8:

    In sum:
    I’m not seeking award consideration this year;
    I would not willingly participate on an award nomination slate;
    If I’m on such a slate it’s without my consent;
    Those who have put me or my work on such a slate should remove me from it;
    If they won’t remove me, or anyone who asks to be removed, they’re likely assholes;
    And maybe you should factor that in when thinking about them and their motives.

    speculating about the SP organisers’ motives for putting things there – as Scalzi does at some length

    “At some length”? He spends 139 of 794 words (17% of the post) on it:

    5. Some explanations as to why one might place someone or their work on an awards nomination slate without their expressed consent could include but are not limited to:
    a) Desire to bring the legitimacy of quality to an otherwise dubious assemblage of potential nominees;
    b) A transparent attempt to hide an overall political agenda by bringing in outside work, and/or to use that outside work as camouflage (i.e., slate, minus unwilling draftees to slate, equals actual slate);
    c) The hope that by nominating good, outside work, other more dubious work will also get nominated as people vote the entire slate;
    d) Latching on to the good reputation of the outsiders and their work for the publicity value, to draw attention to other more dubious work;
    e) Being an asshole to people you don’t like, because you’re an asshole.

    And why on earth are we wasting energy arguing about whether Scalzi phrased things perfectly? This is a side-track and distraction from the actual discussion of the ethics of slating.

  23. Heather Rose Jones on March 19, 2016 at 7:24 pm said:

    Fortunately, I enjoyed Alexander’s series at a tender age, long before I’d encountered the (relatively) more faithful novelizations by Evangeline Walton. And I enjoyed the Walton books long before I read the original medieval tales. Any other order would have been…unfortunate.

    Very much ditto!

    There’s quite a few things that work that way. Most Disney adaptations, for example. 😉

    It is possible to get over doing things in the wrong order, though. For example, I already had a pretty strong mental image of Thor (big, obnoxious redhead with huge beard) when I encountered the comic book version, but I managed to start to enjoy the comics after just a few years of shuddering. 😀

    ETA: @Lexica. You just don’t understand. It doesn’t matter what Scalzi actually said. He’s always wrong by definition, and that’s more important than his actual words. 😀

  24. Cheryl S

    I do feel that a guy, with a family, who has been viciously attacked for at least a decade, does deserve a little slack here; I very much hope that no-one, here, and elsewhere, has to experience that kind of relentless stalking, allied to the fear that some bat crazy person will decide to take it up to a higher level.

    Scalzi has a very bright daughter who is obviously going to be successful; precisely the type who should, in VD’s view, be deterred by throwing acid in their faces.

    Of course, you are perfectly entitled to believe that someone who has spent a decade of actually living through this sort of nightmare should suck it up.

    I just think that view is wrong.

  25. lurkertype on March 18, 2016 at 9:26 pm said:

    1) Still no great civilizations or canals, but I do like the idea of seas on Mars that dried up, slowly retreating. It’s so retro pulpy.

    I’m waiting for the Curiosity rover to find sand trout.

    My sweetheart and I are looking for another comparable con no more than 8 hours drive from the Central Arkansas area later this summer.

    Seconding the recommendation of that little thing called WorldCon in Kansas City.

    ETA: Title credit! Woot!

  26. @Heather Rose Jones

    Fortunately, I enjoyed Alexander’s series at a tender age, long before I’d encountered the (relatively) more faithful novelizations by Evangeline Walton. And I enjoyed the Walton books long before I read the original medieval tales. Any other order would have been…unfortunate.

    TBR +4 minimum (but ooh an omnibus!) and possibly more later. You fiend 😉

  27. @Stevie – Of course, you are perfectly entitled to believe that someone who has spent a decade of actually living through this sort of nightmare should suck it up.

    Stevie, you can join Brian Z. in Troll Jail for bad faith paraphrases.

  28. And I enjoyed the Walton books long before I read the original medieval tales. Any other order would have been…unfortunate.

    I started with the medieval tales, and Walton’s version is okay. I don’t think I’ve read Alexander’s version, or it didn’t stick with me if I did.

  29. Of course, you are perfectly entitled to believe that someone who has spent a decade of actually living through this sort of nightmare should suck it up.

    Oh FFS. I try to cut you slack due to your health issues (which you’ve told us about repeatedly, at length) but this is completely bogus.

    You yourself have said that when you post late at night (your time) you often wind up getting emotionally engaged and saying things you don’t intend to. I’m looking at the clock, which tells me that in the UK it’s past midnight, so I’m trying to read your comment with some charity. It’s tough, though, since you keep doing this kind of thing.

  30. @ P J Evans

    I have a sneaking suspicion that if I read the Walton series again at this point, it might have made a passing acquaintance with the suck fairy. I don’t know, so it may be good that I don’t really have the time for a lot of re-reads.

    Of course, I kind of went overboard on the progression of reading through Mabinogi versions and ended up learning Medieval Welsh. And then had the temerity to start writing my own Mabinogi-inspired fiction…

  31. Well, I was certainly tired, but I was also tired of what seemed to me to be the ‘holier than though’ attitude, where people loftily dismiss reality in favour of telling Scalzi how he should have behaved, notwithstanding the fact that they, very fortunately, haven’t a clue as to the realities of what his experience has been…

  32. @Jencendiary, I like a little gaming, a little panelling about books and media fandom, some LARP and costuming. Sweetheart is not particularly fannish, but did like Cory Doctorow’s panels at the last MSC, and is a massive space science fanboy. MSC does have a robust room party scene, and I do enjoy that.

    Late seeing this, so you may have good suggestions already, but can you get to the Chicago area? Windycon is a good general-interest convention, with about 1000-1200 members (so no DragonCon overcrowding problems) with reasonably diverse programming, including books, media, filking, gaming, and a Masquerade. Also generally it has quality room parties with both noisy-and-alcohol and quiet-and-conversational available. Don’t know about LARPing, as I don’t do that…

    It’s November 11-13 in the western suburbs of Chicago.

  33. @Heather Rose Jones: Your comments regarding Arawn not being an evil villain remind me of my reaction upon seeing Hades as sneaky, manipulative, buffoon villain in Disney’s animated “Hercules.” 🙂

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