(1) SCRAMBLED WHO. “Neil Gaiman Shares That There Are Multiple ‘Doctor Who’ Easter Eggs In ‘Good Omens’” — ScienceFiction.com has the story.
So, what kind of Easter Eggs might we see appear on the screen? Gaiman chimed in and shared:
“Jack Whitehall plays Newton Pulsifer, and the first time you see him going off to do a job he’s about to be fired from, his tie is actually the fourth Doctor’s scarf — really small, as a tie.
You know he must be an enormous Doctor Who fan, because he only owns one tie”
There’s also a new teaser trailer for the show –
(2) SINGING GEEKS! “Batman! Spider-Man! Marvel! DC! The Geeks are back this Sunday night in NYC!” The Off Broadway production of Geeks! The Musical! opens April 21 at St. Luke’s, 308 W 46th Street in New York. The music is by LASFSian Ruth Judkowitz.
David Bratman reviewed the 2014 production in San Diego.
…The story takes place over several days at a Comic-Con, though it could be any large generic media-oriented SF con – the coincidence of running into somebody and the difficulty of finding them when you’re looking for them plays some role in the plot. It’s the story of three pairs of friends who come to the convention, one set specifically in hopes of selling the avant-garde comic they’re working on, the others to buy collectibles or to attend programming or just to people-watch. They interact, and romantic pairings, both straight and gay, ensue….
The material has been updated for the 2019 production.
(3) TYPECAST ON TWITCH. Half a dozen sff and game writers will launch TypeCast RPG on Twitch this coming April 23. The continuing role-playing game will stream live Tuesday nights from 7-10 MST.
The members of TypeCast RPG will adventure in a world they’ve collaboratively created named Vaeron. Throughout the sessions, the dungeon master and five game players will make use of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition rule system to take their characters through a dark and heroic world in which cities have been built on the backs of slumbering eldritch monsters, stone-age dangers lurk in the lands below, and sky-ships plunder both land and air!
The cast includes:
- Dan Wells will serve as the Dungeon Master for the group.
- Charlie N. Holmberg will be playing Fleeda, a Stone Age human druid with complicated family problems.
- Alan Bahr brings forth Seggrwyrd, the gentlest (and biggest) Jotunnblut barbarian you’ve met.
- Notable Works: Founder of Gallant Knight Games, Creator of TinyD6 RPGs and more. Twitter – Website – Gallant Knight Games
- Robison Wells is Grummund, a scoundrel sky dwarf pirate you’ll cheer for.
- Mari Murdock is Grisk, a half-orc rogue torn between profit and faith, and willing to switch allegiances for the right reward.
- Brian McClellan is Krustov, the necromancer cleric and atheist (yes, it’s that confusing).
After the livestream wraps up, video viewing will be available on YouTube, as well as a podcast intended to launch on Wednesday afternoons. Various bonus content such as interviews, industry discussions for both fiction writing and gaming, and guest stars will be part of the live stream and other formats!
(4) AMAZON WILL PUBLISH SFF COLLECTION. The AP service carried the announcement of a prestigious collection:
Amazon Original Stories, an imprint of Amazon Publishing, announced today the forthcoming six-part science-fiction collection Forward, featuring original short stories from some of today’s most celebrated voices in fiction, including Blake Crouch, N. K. Jemisin, Veronica Roth, Amor Towles, Paul Tremblay, and Andy Weir. Forward will be available for free on September 17 th, 2019 to Prime and Kindle Unlimited customers. Readers can download the collection as a Kindle eBook or Audible audiobook.
Forward explores a central theme: the resounding effects of a pivotal technological moment. While each author started with this same prompt, readers will discover that each story unearths a unique corner of the sci-fi genre, ranging from intimate to epic, grounded to far future, hopeful to harrowing.
Andy Weir ( Artemis, The Martian ) imagines a high-tech Las Vegas casino heist; Paul Tremblay ( The Cabin at the End of the World ) immerses readers in a patient’s mysteriously slow healing process; Amor Towles ( A Gentleman in Moscow ) explores a fertility clinic’s god-like abilities to alter an unborn child’s life path; Veronica Roth (Divergent trilogy) spins a story of finding connection in the face of our world’s certain destruction; N.K. Jemisin (The Broken Earth series) subverts all expectations when an explorer returns to the ravaged Earth his ancestors fled; and Blake Crouch ( Dark Matter) follows a video game designer whose character Maxine unexpectedly “wakes up.”
(5) BLADE. Is this the sword that Claire Ryan’s pen was mightier than? Authors thanked Claire Ryan for her work helping to expose #CopyPasteCris. (A list of 40 plagiarized authors is posted at the link.)
(6) RAISING A WRITER. Stuart Anderson’s Forbes profile “Isaac Asimov: A Family Immigrant Who Changed Science Fiction And The World” starts with a topical hook but is mainly a literary biography.
Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century, came to America as a family immigrant. In fact, he came as part of what some people, sometimes those not particularly in favor of immigrants, today call “chain migration.”
(7) NO SURPRISE. You will not be shocked by this BBC news item — “Hellboy: David Harbour remake fails to fire up box office”.
The latest remake of Hellboy has failed to catch fire, mustering a mere $12m (£9m) at the US box office in its opening weekend.
The turnout falls short of Lionsgate’s $20m (£15m) estimated figures.
Directed by Neil Marshall, the film stars Stranger Things’ David Harbour as a demon who switches satanic allegiance to protect humanity from evil.
Based upon Mike Mignola’s graphic novels, tensions reportedly plagued the R-rated superhero production.
Its poor performance with audiences, (underlined by its disappointing C-rating on Cinema Score), was also reflected by critics.
The Chicago Sun-Times described it as “loud and dark – but almost instantly forgettable,” while the Washington Post lamented its “flat performances and incoherent story”.
(8) PICARD. Three additions to the CBS All Access “Picard” series have been announced. Variety: “‘Star Trek’ Jean-Luc Picard Series Adds Three to Cast”.
Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway and Isa Briones have jumped aboard as series regulars alongside Sir Patrick Stewart in the upcoming untitled “Star Trek” series.
They join previously announced cast members Santiago Cabrera, Michelle Hurd and Evan Evagora.
…Pill, who is represented by CAA and The Burstein Company, is best known for playing Maggie Jordan on Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series “The Newsroom.” Treadaway is known for playing Victor Frankenstein on “Penny Dreadful.” He is represented by Principal Entertainment LA. Briones, who recently starred in “American Crime Story: Versace,” is repped by Piper/Kaniecki/Marks Management.
(9) ALIEN RETURNS TO STAGE. “Date announced for North Bergen High School’s ‘Alien’ encore performance” reports NorthJersey.com.
There will be an encore performance of the stage version of the classic 1979 sci-fi movie, which became a viral sensation when some enterprising North Bergen High School students produced it with eye-popping sets and effects.
On April 26 at 8 p.m., North Bergen will reprise the show, which was staged for only two performances in March. Those performances caused a tsunami of interest when a video posted the weekend of March 23 got some 3 million hits.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born April 17, 1923 — Lloyd Biggle Jr. He was the founding Secretary-Treasurer of Science Fiction Writers of America and served as Chairman of its trustees for many years. Writing wise, his best-known series were the Jan Darzek and Effie Schlupe troubleshooting team, and the Cultural Survey. I find it interesting wrote his own Sherlock Holmes stories from the perspective of Edward Porter Jones, an assistant who began his association with Holmes as a Baker Street Irregular. There’re are two novels in this series, The Quallsford Inheritance and The Glendower Conspiracy. (Died 2002.)
- Born April 17, 1923 — T. Bruce Yerke. He was active member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, serving as its secretary for many years, and is credited with getting Bradbury involved with the group. Myrtle R. Douglas, Forrest Ackerman and he edited Imagination!, the Retro Hugo Award-winning fanzine. (Died 1998.)
- Born April 17, 1942 — David Bradley, 77. It’s his Who work that garners him a Birthday honour. He first showed up during the time of the Eleventh Doctor playing a complete Rat Bastard of a character named Solomon in the “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” episode. But it was his second role on the series as the actor who was the First Doctor that made him worth noting. He portrayed William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time and then played the role of the First Doctor in “The Doctor Falls” and “Twice Upon a Time”, both Twelfth Doctor stories. He is also known for playing Argus Filch in the Harry Potter film franchise, Walder Frey in Game of Thrones and Abraham Setrakian in The Strain.
- Born April 17, 1959 — Sean Bean, 60. His current role that garners him recognition is his performance as Ned Stark in Game of Thrones, but he’s worked in our area of interest a long time. His first genre role was in GoldenEye as the the antagonist of Bond, Alec Trevelyan (Janus). Next he shows up as Boromir in the first of The Lord of the Rings films. He played Dr. Merrick in the horror SF film The Island and was James in horror flick The Dark which purports to be based off Welsh myth. Following in the horror vein, he’s Chris Da Silva in Silent Hill (which gets a sequel later in Silent Hill: Revelation) and in yet more horror is John Ryder in the remake of The Hitcher. (Was it so good that it yearned for a remake? I doubt it.) Black Death — yes more horror — and the character of Ulric ensued next. Finally something not of a horror nature in playing Zeus in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief happened. I’m going to forgo listing the subsequent horror films he’s in and just finally note that he’s in The Martian playingMitch Henderson.
- Born April 17, 1972 — Jennifer Garner, 47. Back before there was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there were Marvel Comic movies. Such was the case with Elektra Natchios and its lead character of Elektra Natchios. Don’t remember anything about the film anymore. She also had the same role in Daredevil.
- Born April 17, 1973 — Cavan Scott, 46. To my thinking, there’s somewhat of an arbitrary line between fanfic and professional writing. (Ducks quickly.) which brings me to the world of fiction set in media universes where a lot of fanfic is set. This writer has apparently specialized in such writing to the extent that he has novels in the universes of Dr. Who (including the subgenre of Professor Bernice Summerfield), Blake’s 7, Judge Dredd, Skylanders Universe, The Tomorrow People, Star Wars and Warhammer Universe. Judge Dredd? Novels?
(11) SOMEONE BLEW THE BUGLE. Do cats really have nine lives, or do they make up the other eight? The question is inspired by the latest installment of Timothy the Talking Cat’s autobiography — “Beyond the Bounds of Genius: Chapter 3”
Chapter 3: Marine Sergeant Tim
…My first attempt failed as I had mistaken the Post Office for the Marines. In my defence “Royal Mail” and “Royal Marines” look very similar if you are reading a sign from cat height. Further confusion at the Salvation Army ended more violently as I attempted to attack a uniformed man with a trumpet in an attempt to show my martial temperament….
(12) RIGHT THERE IN THE TAX RECORDS. CNN reports: “Shakespeare home in London, where he wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ found by historian”.
…Marsh’s quest began after The Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in East London’s Shoreditch, was discovered in 2008. The historian wondered where Shakespeare was living when his plays were performed there, which predated The Globe as the playwright’s workplace.
It had previously been identified that the Shakespeare lived in Central London near Liverpool Street Station, then known as the parish of St. Helens, after he was listed on taxpayer records in 1597/98, but the exact location was never identified….
(13) UNQUOTE. This 1975 letter from Thornton Wilder mentions the Dinosaur from “The Skin of Our Teeth” while illustrating a classic writers’ problem:
Before leaving for Europe (hope you had a lovely time) you sent me a beautiful American Wildlife Calendar. I was enjoying the pictures – the timber wolf, the woodchuck, the bison – and the mottos, Job, Walt Whitman. Dostoievsky, Dante – when I was thunderstruck to see my name-my birthday month, April … subscribed to a howling idiocy: “The best thing about animals is that they don’t say much.” I never wrote that! I never thought that! I yelled for Isabel and pointed it out to her, the tears rolling down my face. “Isabel! Somebody’s played a cruel joke on me. WHEN DID I SAY SUCH A THING? Let’s move to Arkansas until the laughter dies down.”
“Don’t you remember that Mr. Antrobus says it in The Skin of Our Teeth when the Dinosaur is whining about the Ice Age.”
“But l, I didn’t say it.”
Then I thought of all the damaging things that could be brought up against me from that same play:
The Child Welfare Calendar: “A child is a thing that only a parent can love” Thornton Wilder.
The Anti-War Calendar: “God forgive me but I enjoyed the war; everybody’s at their best in wartime.” Thornton Wilder.X
No more playwriting for me.
(14) DREAMSNAKE. Adri Joy gives a very fine overview of the book and its influence in “Feminist Futures: Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre” at Nerds of a Feather.
Executive Summary: Snake is a healer in a fractured post-apocalyptic world, travelling through various communities which live out relatively isolated existences in a world which appears to have gone through nuclear war. As you might guess from her name, the title, and almost every book cover Dreamsnake has been released with (except for a 1994 edition which decides to focus on the book’s stripey horse. There’s also… this.) this healing involves snakes: Mist, an albino cobra, and Sand, a rattlesnake, are both bred to synthesise various cures and vaccinations for illnesses, representing a combination of genetic engineering and on-the-spot biochemistry. The third snake is even more special: Grass is a dreamsnake, an extremely rare “offworlder” breed able to create hallucinations and pleasant dreams which are most often used to ease the pain of the dying.
(15) THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. Spacefaring Kitten bring Nerds of a Feather readers up to speed about the series of which this new Reynolds work is a part: “Microreview [Book]: Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds”.
There’s something in the dying (or at-least-super-old) Earth subgenre that has always resonated with me: a storyworld littered with weird and wondrous leftovers from times so far past that people are not quite sure what to make of them. In those stories, the massive weight of history hangs over the world and makes it alien in a very specific way….
(16) NO SHORTAGE. Charles Payseur uncorks more short fiction reviews in “Quick Sips – Beneath Ceaseless Skies #275”.
The two stories from Beneath Ceaseless Skies’ first April issue feature young women separated from their families to learn some hard lessons from some rather kick ass older women. The pieces look at death and loss and war and where the characters fit into the larger tapestry of their communities, families, and worlds. They look at service, and sacrifice, and honor, and all the complicated ways those are used both against and to educate children, to prepare them for the roles they are expected to inhabit. These are two stories that carry some heavy darknesses, and yet tucked into them as well are narratives of care, healing, and hope. To the reviews!
(17) MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. The BBC will supply a soundtrack for the anniversary of the first Moon landing — “The BBC Proms are going to outer space: 2019’s season highlights”.
The BBC Proms will blast into hyperspace this summer, with a series of interstellar concerts marking the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings.
Alongside classics like Holst’s The Planets, the season will include a Sci-Fi Prom, featuring scores from films such as Gravity and Alien: Covenant.
A CBeebies concert will take children on a journey to the Moon, including a close encounter with The Clangers.
And the season opens in July with a new piece inspired by the first Moon walk.
Zosha Di Castri’s Long Is The Journey, Short Is The Memory will be premiered on Friday 19 July, under the baton of Karina Canellakis – the first female conductor to oversee the First Night of the Proms.
Meanwhile, art-rock band Public Service Broadcasting will play their concept album Race For Space in a special late night Prom.
The record, which combines sparse electronic beats with archive audio recordings from the US-Soviet space race, will be presented in a new arrangement with the Multi-Story Orchestra.
(18) DESERVES A TOUNGELASHING. “Star Wars: George Lucas names Jar Jar Binks as his favourite character”. Check the calendar – nope, it’s not April first.
George Lucas’ has revealed that Jar Jar Binks, one of the most reviled characters in the Star Wars saga, is actually his all-time favourite.
The 74-year-old director made the surprise announcement at a fan event marking the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
“[It] is one of my favourite movies and of course Jar Jar is my favourite character,” he said via video.
(19) A.K.A. Maybe George was just creating a distraction to keep us from noticing that “Disney Has Officially Renamed The First Star Wars Movie”. Let Gamebyte explain:
Just when you think you’ve got your life sorted and you know what’s what with the world, Disney has to go and screw with all our heads and rename the original Star Wars movie.
Heading back to 1977, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope was our first trip to that galaxy far, far away and made household names of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. Jump to 2019 and we’re on the cusp of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX.
We’ve come a long way since A New Hope, but now, the House of Mouse is renaming George Lucas’ epic space opera. The movie is now called Star Wars: A New Hope, fitting with Disney’s current naming of the movies since Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.
(20) COMIC RELIEF. Philip Ball’s 2014 post “The Moment of Uncertainty” translated his interview on uncertainty, with Robert Crease, historian and philosopher of science at Stony Brook University. The interview appeared in the French publication La Recherche. Amid the serious scientific stuff is this little joke —
There’s even an entire genre of uncertainty principle jokes. A police officer pulls Heisenberg over and says, “Did you know that you were going 90 miles an hour?” Heisenberg says, “Thanks. Now I’m lost.”
[Thanks to JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Michael Toman, John King Tarpinian, Mlex, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip WIlliams.]
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(8) Alison Pill was great in the Scott Pilgrim movie.
(9) They could do it as a double bill with the high-school “Spamalot” production Mark Evanier links to on his blog, News From Me.
Speaking of looking at the bright side, I’m going to the 40th anniversary showing of MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN at the local cinema tomorrow night. Looking forward to it, and I hope the audience isn’t too much into yelling out the punch lines of every scene.
(Thanks for the title cred, Mike. Top of the world, man!)
3) Very cool. Alan wrote McClellan’s Powdermage RPG, among many other games. I have a small contribution in his Tiny Wastelands RPG.
https://www.newsfromme.com/2019/04/15/todays-video-link-2901/
There. I tried repeatedly to put this link (which takes one to the blogpost at Evanier’s page, which in turn has a link to a video) into my comment. Finally, it quit letting me do anything. Bah.
edited to add: I must have offended a demigod. My comment went away. It was something about the above blogpost from Mark Evanier regarding a high-school production of Spamalot, followed by me happily announcing that I’m going to a 40th anniversary showing of MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN tomorrow night, and thanking Mike for the title cred.
“I’m a Scroll Man….”
[click]
“Pixels scroll in a little glass File.”
“A little glass File?”
“A LITTLE GLASS FILE!”
@15: I returned the book to the library, so I can’t check: did the reviewer get the term wrong, or am I misremembering that Reynolds called the infrequently-opening treasure asteroids “bobbles” (not baubles) in an obvious nod to Vernor Vinge?
I was hoping for a second tag for Thornton Wilder, but alas it is not to be.
I am still amazed that Ms. Serruya plagiarized 91 (!!!) writers. Good for Ms. Ryan in catching her.
18) While he is not my favorite, I don’t have a problem with Jar Jar. The level of dislike for him has always puzzled me.
10) I think I saw him in Goldeneye first, but I first became aware of Sean Bean through his role in Ronin (not genre, but best. Car chases. Ever). And also not genre, but he did many episodes of Sharpe for the BBC and I suspect the overlap between genre fans and Sharpe fans is not insignificant.
Martin Wooster: I didn’t remember there was a first Thornton Wilder tag. Now that I do, it only makes good sense to edit in another.
Here in 656, oh, heck, I’m not well and have nothing clever to say. Or even mildly useful.
(15) glad there’s a sequel, Revenger seemed to me to be a bit of a waste of a really intriguing setting.
Can’t remember what the term was for the asteroids, either.
The name Lloyd Biggle is extremely familiar to me, but I’m not exactly sure why. Nothing on his isfdb page is ringing any bells, but I seem to have a vague memory of liking him.
@bookworm1398: a lot of people thought Jar-Jar was an offensive stereotype. If you didn’t spot the stereotype, well, then no, he probably wouldn’t seem that bad.
(5) nice to hear of a happy ending to a sad story, though I’d like to see the plagiarist face legal consequences, and good to know the recipient actually uses swords.
Happy birthday to David Bradley and Sean Bean (“seen bean”, or “Shawn bawn”?), both fine Shakespearean actors. Bradley’s had a long career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, though he was also a brilliant Henry IV for the National, while Bean just stopped by the RSC on his way to TV and movies. Stayed long enough to play Romeo, however.
After one week without Vlad, my most wonderful little kitten, I was falling to pieces. So next week, I will get two new fluffballs. Hopefully they will sleep on some SF. Or at least play on it.
@ Chris S.: “Baubles”?
@Chip Hitchcock & Chris S.:
You got me doubting myself, but I checked it and ‘bauble’ it is. 😀
“But still, every time we took the launch back from the surface of a bauble, we were reminded what our ship looked like from the outside.”
@ Hampus,
Best wishes for you and your future family members!
Sean Bean has caused an interesting ‘problem’ in deciding the reading order of the Bernard Cornwell ‘Sharpe’ books. When read in publication order Sharpe changes from a small dark Londoner to a taller fair-haired Londoner who ran away to Yorkshire at an early age over the course of a few books. Read in chronological order he flips from one to the other. Apparently Sean Bean’s portrayal of the character got firmly wedged in Bernard Cornwell’s brain.
Hampus, Cat Pictures Please!
@xtifr Lloyd Biggle Jr’s “Monument” made a big impression on me when I was growing up, but I don’t recall ever reading anything else by him. Yay, more TBR.
@ Hampus:
Glad to hear. Your kittens will be very happy.
Those are going to be two lucky kittens, Hampus.
The Lloyd Biggle, Jr. stories which made the biggest impression on me were “The Botticelli Horror”, which was truly horrific science fiction, and “And Madly Teach”, which is a light-at-heart, yet dead serious story about the value of teachers to education, a point of some dispute today.
The other short stories didn’t make such an impression as to remember them decades later. I have them somewhere and might revisit them. Those two I think of often.
Does anyone have a novel of his to recommend?
Yerke was born in 1933? So he was 10 when the events chronicled in AH! SWEET IDIOCY! occurred? This seems unlikely.
(10)
Surely there’s a very sharp line, which is on one side of it you have a license and get paid, and on the other side you are violating copyright and ought not to get paid.
Much of Cavan’s tie-in writing has actually been audio dramas, not novels. Like, he wrote one Blake’s 7 book, but eight audios: http://cavanscott.com/audio/
(18) Lucas is just trolling everyone at this point, right?
@Steve Mollmann: I am not convinced that fan fiction requires copyright violations to be fanfic.
I mean, yes, there’s one side that is most definitely “you have a license and get paid” and there’s another where you’re definitely “violating copyright and don’t get paid”. And there’s a whole murky middle in between, where there’s probably a fractal line dividing one, from the other.
And there are definitely at least one case where a license was obtained well after the work was completed, then ended up being published by a traditional publisher.
Ingvar on April 18, 2019 at 7:06 am said:
I think all the stories in Star Trek: The New Voyages I and II were originally fanfic that Bantam then got permission to publish. Those books were my first inkling that such a thing as fanfic existed.
@Ingvar: “Ishmael” by Barbara Hambly, for example https://fanlore.org/wiki/Ishmael
“….When I started writing Ishmael…My agent called me saying that Pocket Books (a division of Simon & Schuster) had acquired the Star Trek franchise, and were looking for already-published science fiction authors who had Star Trek stories sitting around in their files. I dug out the manuscript of Ishmael that I’d written for my friends, about the first third of what it later became. I knew MUCH less then about how licensing worked, but I wrote to the editor of the new Trek line explaining that it was a cross-over, and saying that I could easily and cheerfully re-write it in a generic Western milieu – a cow-town in the 1870s, I think. “
@becca – probably :). In the Industrial Light And Magic reception area there’s the prop of Han Solo in carbonite. Not to far away is another carbonite-encased character: Jar Jar.
18) I’ve often considered that Jar Jar ought to be digitally removed and replaced with various other characters—say Pee Wee Herman, Herman Munster or Howdy Doody.
And the dialog used by Jar Jar Binks was a couple of rungs up from Stephin Fetchit. That’s why he grated on a lot of nerves.
@ Robert Whitaker Sirignano
Jar Jar probably would have been barely acceptable if they hadn’t given him that “meesa” dialect.
@Andy Lange: “Monument” became Monument, which provided room for a lot more sidebars about the Trumpesque developer’s bad effects on the world while preserving the punchline.
@spacefaringkitten: TFTC — another example of an overactive eye-to-brain parser.
@bookworm1398: see Stepin Fetchit, along with a horde of dumb-native characters. Even without the stereotype, to a lot of viewers Jar-Jar was just Not Funny, a ham-fisted attempt to lighten a ponderously dumb and unbelievable plot.
@John A. Arkansawyer, re Biggle novel suggestions: I liked The Still Small Voice of Trumpets for various reasons, but I suspect it reads a little slowly these days; All the Colors of Darkness was a lot of fun and adventure.
@Andrew: it’s not clear from that entry whether permission for HCTB was obtained; I’ve been told (not authoritatively) that Hambly’s pay for that book disappeared as part of a settlement. But what I most remember about the book was Hambly mildly grumbling about How Much for Just the Planet (at a panel at the 1987 Worldcon); before Ford, Hambly was the only person to write an OST book in which nobody dies — although in both books some people almost die of embarassment.
@John A Arkansawyer: The stories “The Tunesmith”, “Orphan of the Void”, and “Well of the Deep Wish” (all of which were collected in The Metallic Muse) also made a huge impression on me.
His Cultural Survey novel The World Menders is an underrated masterpiece of anthropological SF. Of his Jan Darzek novels, my favorite by far is Silence is Deadly, which despite its cheesy title (and rather silly MacGuffin, which even the novel thinks is rather silly – although it turns out to be something very different and far more interesting) is another fine work of anthropological SF.
For better or for worse, I’m prepared to take Lucas at his word.
Myself, if I had control the first thing I’d do to the prequel movies (Phantom Menace in particular) is replace all of the badly-accented English alien dialogue with subtitled actual alien-speak, a la Greedo in the original movie.
(The next thing I’d do is overdub about 97% of the English dialogue spoken by humans with dialogue that might actually be spoken by humans.)
@Hampus
Congratulations on your new family members. Will they be the same breed as Vlad, or different?
re: Reynolds’ treasure-troves. It’s “baubles.” No bangles or beads, though.
What everyone misses about Jar-Jar is that he’s got more agency than any of the other good guys in the earliest two movies. Still haven’t seen 3, so I can’t say there.
Rob Hansen says Yerke was born in 1933? So he was 10 when the events chronicled in AH! SWEET IDIOCY! occurred? This seems unlikely.
You’re right and I’ve notified OGH to fix it as it should be 1923. My bad.
@John J Arkansawyer What everyone misses about Jar-Jar is that he’s got more agency than any of the other good guys in the earliest two movies.
Isn’t that just part of Jar-Jar’s role as comedy relief, though? It’s been a long time since I saw The Phantom Menace but my recollection is that “this ridiculous character is useful after all” comes as a punchline.
Congrats on the new kittens, Hampus!
And on that note:
SJW Credential Pictures, Please.
Steve Mollman say Much of Cavan’s tie-in writing has actually been audio dramas, not novels. Like, he wrote one Blake’s 7 book, but eight audios: http://cavanscott.com/audio/
If you read the very, very fine print that come with these Birthday honours, you’ll know that they’re never intended to be considered complete listings. Audiobooks in particular (which I truly love) are hard to get a grasp on there’s no database like ISFDB for them. And therefore I don’t try that hard to include them unless someone has made the effort to include them in the wiki page for that author.
Hmmm… audiobooks might be an even larger marker for media universe tie-ins than traditional text fiction these days given how popular they are. Big Finish alone does a lot of them.
(10) David Bradley also reprised the role of the First Doctor for a series of Big Finish stories
(17) Public Service Broadcasting are fantastic. I just hope the prom is broadcast/webcast.
@Cat: Oh yeah, not criticizing (though I could have worded nicer, I admit). I wouldn’t expect most people to be familiar with the ins and outs of Cavan Scott’s bibliography; I know this because I review tie-in audio dramas. But more of the Judge Dredd tie-ins are audios than they are novels. (The audios that I’ve heard are good fun; the guy who plays Dredd totally commits.)
And yeah, Big Finish’s output is astoundingly large! So many obscure shows revived.
Quote help needed as I finish up the 5779 version of the Haggadah:
Somewhere in one of the first couple of Alvin Maker books, Ben Franklin is said to say something like, “We come to hate those we mistreat.” Does this ring a bell with anyone here? (I’m at the “run in circles scream and shout” stage of Seder prep)
@Sophie Jane: That’s a bit like having it both ways, like Schrodinger’s Stereotype.
My recollection–which is also not great, as I was watching with my kid, who was much younger at the time–is that he came through with the goods more than once.
Bonnie McDaniel:
One of them will be a Bengal as Vlad, but a lynx marble one. The other will be a rescue cat
I’m personally on board with the theory that Jar Jar was supposed to be Count Dooku. He was just playing the fool in Phantom Menace. It makes a lot of sense to me from a story point of view. It also jibes with my recollection of Lucas telling everyone that Jar Jar was going to be awesome, they just had to wait until the next movie.