Pixel Scroll 5/19/17 And He Beheld White Scrolls And Beyond Them A Far Green Pixel Under A Swift Sunrise

(1) BUSINESS MEETING. Worldcon 75 has posted the Business Meeting Agenda [PDF file] on the WSFS Business Meeting page. It’s 18 pages — and it may not be done growing yet.

(2) DELANY. The New Republic devotes an article to “Samuel R. Delany’s Life of Contradictions”.

The first volume, In Search of Silence, begins in 1957, when the author was just fifteen, a student at the academically exclusive (and very white) Bronx High School of Science. It ends in 1969, when he was already a successful novelist, about to leave for San Francisco to spend arduous years crafting the novel Dhalgren, his masterpiece. Traversing Delany’s youth, we see a precocious mind grappling with his own talent. Remarkably absent are extended reflections on the difficult circumstances of his outer life: At the time, Delany was navigating through the racism and homophobia of his era, and struggling with poverty, an early marriage, and his own disability. In light of this, the diaries’ portrayal of his serenely intellectual inner life is startling.

(3) COMING TO GRIPS. “On convention hugging” by Sigrid Ellis is a rational model for solving a social dilemma.

It’s SF/F convention season again, and once more we are all presented with the conundrum —

Do I hug this person hello and goodbye, or not?

Social hugging! It’s a thing! Yet, it is MOST DEFINITELY NOT A THING for a lot of people.

Here is how I, personally, navigate these situations. While this may not work perfectly for you, feel free to modify it for your own use….

(3) EMERGING INDIGENOUS VOICES. Silvia Moreno-Garcia says:

We are in touch with the Indigenous Studies Association (ILSA) and it seems this [award] will become a reality. Therefore you can find an IndieGoGo to funnel money via: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/emerging-indigenous-voices#/. My name doesn’t appear on that page, it says Robin Parker, but I am in touch with Robin so don’t worry.

Through today, $70,485 has been pledged. Moreno-Garcia’s latest update has further information:

The Indigenous organization in question will reveal details about how the money will be handled once some logistics are determined, but they are a trustworthy group so don’t be afraid, the money will reach a good place.

There are many other place you could support: Indian and Cowboy, Red Rising Magazine. There’s the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, and last but not least Full Circle, which supports the development of Indigenous playwrights.

There are other ways to support Indigenous creators. Read, share and discuss their books. This should not be a one-time occurrence, guilt should not be the vector that guides your actions, virtue-signaling should not be your driver.

(4) APPERTAINMENT AT THE NEBULA CONFERENCE. They couldn’t slip a blatant typo like this past the pros:

(5) KAREN DAVIDSON OBIT. Karen Lynn Davidson, wife of Amazing Stories’ Steve Davidson, passed away today after a long battle with cancer. Steve said on Facebook, “Goodbye baby doll. I hope you got where you wanted to go.”

He also wanted everyone to know how much credit Karen deserved for the existence of Amazing Stories.

It is very important for me to be sure that everyone knows the following:

Behind the scenes, Karen made Amazing Stories happen.

Before we were married, Karen became well acquainted with my love for science fiction. She was not as interested (preferring Stephen King), but she happily indulged my passion…including all of my books.

When I discovered that the Amazing Stories trademarks had lapsed, Karen was the one who double checked me and confirmed that unbelievable fact.

When it came time to register new trademarks for the name, Karen was the one who agreed to spend some of our (very limited) cash reserves to fund the project.

When our investors dried up, Karen agreed to go back to work and allow me to try to bootstrap the magazine.

Whenever I was unsure what direction to take, Karen always provided valuable insight.

Whatever you may think of Amazing Stories, please know that without Karen, none of it would have happened.

This makes me wonder how many other non-fan supporters are owed a big debt by fandom and the genre for that support.

I’m taking the time now to thank Karen for this very special thing she did for me. If you know someone like her, it might be a good idea for you to do the same.

(6) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • May 19, 1928 — First Jumping Frog Jubilee in Calaveras County, California.
  • May 19, 2011 — HP Lovecraft’s The Whisperer in Darkness opens in Los Angeles.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY

(8) NATAL YEAR FLIX. Thrillist invites you to check out “The Biggest Movie From the Year You Were Born”. It’s no surprise that I was considered old enough to see the “biggest” picture long before the “Best Picture” winner.

If you were born in 1953…

The BIGGEST movie was The Robe , which grossed $17.5 million in the United States.

The Best Picture winner was From Here to Eternity, which also won Oscars for Best Director (Fred Zinnemann), Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), Best Writing, Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Film Editing, Best Sound

But the best movie was Tokyo Story. A delicate, heart-crushing view into the lives of two grandparents reaching out to their narcissistic children for support and finding none — marked by director Ozu Yasujiro’s pristine attention to detail and framing.

(9) A HUNK OF BURNING LOVE. Add this to the list of things I’ve never heard about before: “China claims breakthrough in mining ‘flammable ice'”.

The catchy phrase describes a frozen mixture of water and gas.

“It looks like ice crystals but if you zoom in to a molecular level, you see that the methane molecules are caged in by the water molecules,” Associate Professor Praveen Linga from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore told the BBC.

Officially known as methane clathrates or hydrates, they are formed at very low temperatures and under high pressure. They can be found in sediments under the ocean floor as well as underneath permafrost on land.

Despite the low temperature, these hydrates are flammable. If you hold a lighter to them, the gas encapsulated in the ice will catch fire. Hence, they are also known as “fire ice” or “flammable ice”.

Chip Hitchcock suggests, “Filers may remember a sudden release of hydrated methane starting off a John Barnes(?) novel.”

(10) ICE HOUSE. Meanwhile, in the land of the midnight blog, Jon Del Arroz trolls the Worldcon.

(11) MEMORY VERSE. Carl Slaughter thought I should know this:

“I do not aim with my hand,
I aim with my eyes.

 

I do not shoot with my hand,
I shoot with my mind.

 

I do not kill with my gun,
I kill with my heart.” – The Gunslinger

 

The Dark Tower
Stephen King

(12) TRAGIC TROPE. Steven Harper Piziks tells “Why I Won’t See Alien: Covenant” — and he hopes everyone else will give it a miss, too. BEWARE SPOILERS.

I will not see this movie. I will not rent the DVD. I will not support this movie. And here’s why.

SPOILERS (you are warned)

According to various on-line sources, the sins of the same-sex relationship portrayal are the standard ones we’ve come to expect. First, although there were several initial shots to the contrary, there is little or no indication of a marriage–or any kind of relationship–between the two men throughout the film. They don’t touch. They don’t exchange endearments. There was apparently a brief moment of hugging between them in a preview, but that scene has been cut from the film, and that preview has been removed from the Internet. In other words, gay people are still invisible. No LGBT characters are actually in the spotlight. No LGBT protagonists. Just a couple of background guys who may or may not be in a relationship.

But the worst sin comes early in the second act. Hallett, one of the (so far probably) gay men, becomes infected with the alien infection, and a baby alien bursts out of his face. (Not his chest, like in the other movies, but out of his freakin’ face. He’s probably gay, so we have to up the nastiness.) While the ship’s captain leans in to murmur quiet apologies, Lope, the other probably gay guy, whispers, “I love you” and then is forced to walk away.

One more time, we have the gay tragedy….

(13) CRACKED CORNERSTONE. Critics gave the movie that launched the franchise a cool reception (for different reasons) — “‘Alien’: Why Critics in 1979 Hated It”. (I liked it a lot, myself.)

“Don’t race to [Alien] expecting the wit of Star Wars or the metaphysical pretentions of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” wrote Vincent Canby of The New York Times. A better comparison, he wrote, would be Howard Hawks‘ 1951 monster movie The Thing from Another World, all suspense and jump scares. Canby wasn’t the only critic to associate Alien with the kinds of horror flicks that played at 1950s drive-ins. Variety compared the film to It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), and The Guardian’s Derek Malcolm to The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). To these critics, Scott’s film was a throwback to a less sophisticated era of filmmaking. That’s why The Chicago Sun-Times’ Roger Ebert dismissed Alien as “basically just an intergalactic haunted-house thriller,” while Chicago Reader‘s Dave Kehr described the film’s conceit as “a rubber monster running amok in a spaceship.”

(14) PRIZE-WINNING ADS. Adweek reports “Graham, the Human Redesigned to Survive Car Crashes, Wins Best of Show at New York Festivals”. “Field Trip to Mars” and “Gravity Cat” also received awards.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has won Best of Show at New York Festivals for “Meet Graham,” the PSA campaign for Australia’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC) that involved the model creation of a human designed to withstand car-crash forces.

Automobiles have evolved much faster than humans. Graham was created by artist Patricia Piccinini, with help from a trauma surgeon and an accident research engineer, after she was commissioned to study the effects of road trauma on the human body. As the only “human” developed to withstand trauma on our roads, Graham is meant to make people stop and think about their own vulnerability, Clemenger says.

Two other campaigns received two Grand Prize Awards each: Lockheed Martin’s “The Field Trip to Mars” by McCann New York, in Activation & Engagement and Outdoor/Out of Home Marketing; and Sony Interactive Entertainment/Gravity Daze 2’s “Gravity Cat” by Hakuhodo Tokyo, in Branded Entertainment and Film–Cinema/Online/TV.

[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, Mark-kitteh, Cat Eldridge. Steve Davidson, Carl Slaughter, John King Tarpinian, and Michael J. Walsh for some of these stories. A little bit short today because I’m fighting a terrible cold. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Niall McAuley.]

152 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 5/19/17 And He Beheld White Scrolls And Beyond Them A Far Green Pixel Under A Swift Sunrise

  1. Makes it even worse that they have a history of this sort of thing that dates back that far and with one of the greatest SF authors to ever live at that.

    I see that you didn’t actually read or understand what Xtifr wrote.

  2. Jon Del Arroz: Makes it even worse that they have a history of this sort of thing

    …makes it even worse that Baycon, like all other fan-run cons, has a history of not including on their Programming every single author who would like to appear on their Programming because there just are not time or space enough to do so. 🙄

  3. …makes it even worse that Baycon, like all other fan-run cons, has a history of not including on their Programming every single author who would like to appear on their Programming because there just are not time or space enough to do so. ?

    Dude…it’s Poul fricking Anderson. He’s not “every single author” he is a legitimate Grand Master even by your friends in SFWA’s standards. This is big news that Baycon disinvited him.

  4. Del Arroz is trying to be funny again. He just sent me a request asking if I’d review his new book. Sorry, no. He failed the important test of “does reading what this author posts in public forums make me want to read anything else they have written”.

  5. Del Arroz is trying to be funny again. He just sent me a request asking if I’d review his new book. Sorry, no. He failed the important test of “does reading what this author posts in public forums make me want to read anything else they have written”.

    Your loss! Gonna be hot. But busy getting to the bottom of this Poul Anderson Baycon disinvite thing. This is huge SF history that’s worth finding out details of.

  6. I’m not impressed by you or your publisher.

    Aside from a blog entry or two, Castalia doesn’t seem to be del Arroz’s publisher. His first novel and a short story in an “adult-oriented” Christmas anthology are both published by Evil Girlfriend Media.

    Could be he’s eyeing Castalia as a step up from EGM, in which case I expect he’s doomed to disappointment.

  7. This is big news that Baycon disinvited him.

    1. Baycon didn’t disinvite him. They merely didn’t put him on their programming. He attended anyway.

    2. You’re talking about Anderson in the present tense. He died in 2001.

    3. Sometimes even Grand Masters don’t get put on programming. They aren’t objects of worship to be venerated at all opportunities.

    4. Your inability to understand simple text Xfitr wrote is the chief reason I’m not inclined to read your book. You have demonstrated that you are, at best, semi-literate.

  8. Aside from a blog entry or two, Castalia doesn’t seem to be del Arroz’s publisher. His first novel and a short story in an “adult-oriented” Christmas anthology are both published by Evil Girlfriend Media.

    Could be he’s eyeing Castalia as a step up from EGM, in which case I expect he’s doomed to disappointment.

    Correct, my fiction is not published by Castalia. Hi by the way, I was a big fan of yours growing up if you’re the Kurt Busiek I think you are!

  9. This is big news that Baycon disinvited him.

    Authors who don’t know what words mean give one a feeling of such confidence.

  10. Xtifr: The fact that someone who apparently makes their living with words is so unclear on [the meaning of “disinvited”] is…not a good sign.

    I agree. Despite numerous people pointing out that the definition is completely different from his usage, he is still using the word incorrectly.

    He does not seem to be someone who is educable, which never bodes well for an author, especially in SF.

  11. Jon, you want to interview me? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    Sure, on one condition. You publish exactly what I say, exactly as I say it. No editing, no censoring. None of the stream of expletives I will use to describe you or your ancestry may be left out. None of the vituperation I hurl at you for being a whiny little self-serving weasel who tries to twist the truth can be omitted. And–and this is key–you will not mention the name of Poul Anderson at any point. Poul was a great writer, a good friend, and a wonderful man, and you are not worthy to utter his name.

    Are those terms acceptable, you complete dillhole? 😀

  12. Your loss! Gonna be hot.

    I doubt either is likely to be true. Even if it isn’t, I’ll just have to console myself with the bookcase full of review copies I have that I need to get to.

  13. Sure, on one condition. You publish exactly what I say, exactly as I say it. No editing, no censoring. None of the stream of expletives I will use to describe you or your ancestry may be left out. None of the vituperation I hurl at you for being a whiny little self-serving weasel who tries to twist the truth can be omitted. And–and this is key–you will not mention the name of Poul Anderson at any point. Poul was a great writer, a good friend, and a wonderful man, and you are not worthy to utter his name.

    It’s cool you knew him, I don’t see why you need to act like this to a fellow big fan of his work. But if you want to discuss him, his work, and his Baycon disinvite I’d gladly post that up unedited. I love doing historical analyses of great SF work and you sound knowledgable, despite the personal attacks. Do you know what year he was given the snub?

  14. Argh, I got so caught up in what I was writing that I forgot to tick the box. Twice!

  15. Do you know what year he was given the snub?

    I see you are still not clear on what words mean. This does not bode well for your career as a writer.

  16. Should anyone be confused about del Arroz’s goals here, he’s already fabricated a quote on Twitter that he claims came from here, using it in an attempt to malign Baycon publicly.

  17. @Kurt: So we can add out and out liar to the list of impressions that Del Arroz has left on people here.

  18. In other news: I was banned from the 1954 Olympics in Melbourne because I voted for Tony Blair. On reflection, I think they made the right call.

    Anybody saying it was because I wasn’t born yet, and that Tony Blair was only a year old at the time and that I have the athletic skills of a tortoise who is singled out by other tortoises for being overly bookish, just isn’t aware of all the facts.

  19. Yup, straight-up liar. And he wonders why I don’t want to chat about him with Poul.

    Jon, there’s probably no way of getting this information into your tiny little pea-brain, but Poul wasn’t “disinvited” (you keep using that word…), and he most definitely wasn’t snubbed. He simply wasn’t invited that year, and came as a regular member.

    He didn’t complain or even express a hint of concern. And why should he? Cons change their guest list from year to year all the time! The only reason I remember this particular case is because I’d thought he might have had other plans for the weekend, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him.

    And he certainly didn’t go around telling the world how the “evil liberals” running Baycon (his friends) were forcing him out for his political beliefs. Because he wasn’t an idiot and that would have been a stupid thing to claim. And it still is.

  20. Just because he wasn’t vocal about something doesn’t mean there wasn’t an issue, it probably means he was more “polite” than I am about it, though the programming director directly said on her facebook wall that it was politically motivated in my case, so it might be a different situation. Would love any details you can provide if you remember about the Anderson incident.

    Still, with Mr. Anderson, I can’t imagine any convention that would go through a list and go “Nah, Poul Anderson, let’s leave him off the list.” That’d be as insane as having Edgar Rice Burroughs or Heinlein local and doing that. It’s certainly worth investigating what happened that year or multiple years if that were the case. I’ve also said nothing of the sort about liberals. I have a problem with social justice warriors — the ones who do actively attempt to remove platforms and blackball and silence, but certainly not true liberals. I live in San Francisco, most of my friends are in fact of a hard-left persuasion.

    So it’s your opinion that the year Mr. Anderson was removed as a guest (let’s use that since the word disinvite seems to be a sticking point for ya’all and I’d rather have a real conversation) was not a politically motivated thing? That’s good news. I do think that the regional SF convention groups were a bit more accepting of different viewpoints back in the 90s — guessing this was the 90s? As the internet’s gotten more vitriolic, problems have compounded of course.

  21. @Camestros

    In other news: I was banned from the 1954 Olympics in Melbourne because I voted for Tony Blair. On reflection, I think they made the right call.

    I know it’s never interesting to hear about other people’s dreams, but I’m gonna go ahead and let you know that last night I dreamed I was inducted into the US Olympics Team for the 1/4 mile race (I don’t think there is one, but that’s what it was – that’s about one lap of a US football field, so it made sense in my subconscious). I was super bummed that the Olympics had gone so far downhill that someone who literally hasn’t run an entire mile in five years was going to be running the race. And then I had to borrow my friend’s loafers, because I was wearing boots and had forgotten my outfit, and I ran the race wearing a denim vest, jeans, a t-shirt, and navy green loafers (the left one was very loose-fitting). My only comfort was that is was only 1/4 mile, and I used to do distance running, so I could kind of fake it. Then my SJW credential woke me up to ask if maybe I was ready to come check out this awesome hair tie she’d found.

  22. I was inducted into the US Olympics Team for the 1/4 mile race (I don’t think there is one, but that’s what it was – that’s about one lap of a US football field, so it made sense in my subconscious).

    Well, there is the 400 meter race, which is close.

  23. @Jon: Well, having gone to probably 30 more Baycons than you have, I can tell you the reason you weren’t put on programming is because it IS a fan-run local con, which means it has a limited budget. (It’s still chugging along even though there are two other cons in town the same weekend! Some “failure”.) So they like to switch up the authors every year. Did you know that the staff pays for their own badges? Did you know that the guests don’t even get free badges for their spouses or children? Did you know you aren’t even the most “premier heavy cred” Hispanic artist in the time zone, let alone anywhere? Did you know at least 80% of the people who go to Baycon never heard of you till you started this one-sided flame war (I didn’t, and I was there last year)? Did you know Baycon and Worldcon 76 are being run by different people, and different corporations? * So that neither has any control or even input over the other’s programming?

    You probably could have gotten invited back next year or the next if you’d accepted taking turns like all the grownups do. Now that you’ve lied about Baycon in public and thrown this entitled crybaby hissy fit, not only are they not going to invite you back, your invitations to many other cons are going to get lost in the mail as well. Who’s going to want someone who’ll trash them publicly a year later?

    Hell, Baycon hasn’t invited back Lois McMaster Bujold! Are you putting your importance, sales, and cred on the same level as hers?

    You’re still perfectly free to come to Baycon as many, many others, including well-known award-winning authors (and Hispanic people) will do — by buying a membership and showing up. They haven’t banned or uninvited you; I’m sure your money spends as well as anyone else’s. Or, at least, you weren’t banned before you started insulting them and lying about them last week — they may have rethought that. I dunno, I’m not on the con staff and never have been. They don’t tell me anything except where to show up and how much it’ll cost me.

    Also, you don’t deserve to even type Poul Anderson’s name, much less lie about what he and his friends thought of each other. He was a true gentleman, always polite, class act, never put on airs about having more “heavy credibility” than any of the rest of us (though of course he was better at SF than any of us could hope to be), never demanded a thing, and used to come to Baycon regularly on his own dime, not demanding to be on programming — he just showed up because he loved fandom. Regardless of mundane politics. And all us evul libruls loved him back, even with him being an old white straight conservative male who wrote milSF. We cried at his funeral 15.5 years ago. His widow still shows up.

    He was never uninvited — just like you were never disinvited! (Poul was a great wordsmith who would have used the proper term) And the only person I ever heard him be even mildly snarky about was L. Ron Hubbard, who he came up with.

    And “took over” Tor’s Space Opera Week? HAHAHAHAHAHA. By posting the same bit of spam in every comment section, whereupon it was removed for being the same bit of spam?

    Maybe Worldcon would agree to a Castalia House event if the boss himself, Vox or Teddy or whatever he’s going by this week, agrees to show up in San Jose in person and before the con, signs a binding legal contract affirming that if he doesn’t show up IN PERSON at least 72 hours before the event, the event will be immediately and summarily canceled, with no refunds to him or his authors.

    But gosh — I thought Castalia authors were required to abjure Worldcon and all its works? You might catch liberal cooties. Or meet legitimate Hugo finalists.

    I was going to be invited to the 1976 Winter Olympics. I had some really great connections, including knowing the eventual winner of the ladies’ figure skating. However, our mutual home area decided not to host it for financial reasons, and my parents weren’t about to send me to Austria (also for financial reasons) so there went my chance at glory. I made do with Nationals and her haircut.

    *And did you know that the con chair of San Jose Worldcon has no partner? He does have a husband, however, and they’ve been legally married for nine years. Maybe they’d respond better if you knew the most basic fact of proper address?

    Also nobody who isn’t a Puppy has anything bad to say about either of them. Because they are cheerful, hardworking, and terrifyingly competent in many fields. They pulled off the rare success of NOT officially bidding for a major regional con, and “running against” an unopposed bid. And winning by a 2/3 majority. Two years later, they ran one of the best cons I’ve been to. Dismissing him/them just shows AGAIN how little you really know about fan-run cons.

  24. 5) My condolences.

    8) Well, Around the World in 80 Days is acceptable. The other two? A world of NO.

    9) Yes, that was the precipitating event in Mother of Storms.

  25. @Jon: Im getting confused – Is this about World Con, or Baycon or what?
    – The original tweet was about World Con.. I dont know if Castalia House wanted to rent a booth or not and if they got one or not. The answer seems to indicate that the World Conners can only tell the publishers if they get the booth, that they asked for, once everybody paid. That is normal. Did you wanted to rent a booth?
    Or did you want to go on a panel? Because the latter would be ironic, considering it was VDs special wiosh to “burn down the Hugos”. Are you seriously suggesting that the organisers had to give a platform to those, that want to destroy wat they build?
    Or did you just want to make a joke or twitter? Or what?
    And which World Con are we talking about? The next one (in Finland) or the next next one?
    Or is it about Baycon? As others have pointed out: There is no auto-invite. Im not an author, butr a boardgame designer and in this indutsry its normal that Cons invite different people every year, simply to rotate and give everyone an equal chance of promotions. I dont see why that should be different in SF-publishing.
    Ort did you get a letter that you would be speaking there and then another one saying that you are dis-invited despite the earlier invitiation? You posts so far have indicated that you have not. But feel free to coreect!

    As much as for “hate/dislike you”. I dont know you. So I feel pretty neutral about you personally.

  26. This whole recent conversation about Poul Anderson just reminds me that I need re-read some more of his work, so a yay on that.

  27. @kathodus

    I have it on good authority that hair ties are of GREAT importance compared to mere human sleep and dreams (though possibly not so important as squirrels outside the window, birds outside the window, or ‘when are you dishing the wet food, servant of mine?’).

    Hair ties are eminently huntable, can motivate the servants into playing fetch, and should be cached in secret reserves in case of future shortage.

    Granted her veracity could be questioned. In the incident of ‘who knocked the @#$% spider plant on the floor, again!’ her response was a studied show of butt, a stretch, and sauntering off (probably to a hair tie cache). Still, when required by circumstance, she’s less lied than shown aristocratic disdain for such trifling human inquisition. I hold her opinions on hair ties as impeccable.

  28. @Peer Just some trolling on his part I mean the email he asked people if he should send is pretty amusing. Answers most of the questions you have. It’s next years Worldcon.

    He opens with the oft repeated claim that he’s the leading Hispanic voice in SFF, which is true since he often repeats it regardless of merit.

    He spells out what they would require, a large booth and party room. Not what they would cost to rent, what they’d require. And then mentions the qualifications of the guests, of course including that some are Hugo nominated, which just has to be trolling considering how they were nominated to remind Worldcon of that fact.

    Just in case the trolling part wasn’t clear at that point he ends with stating that the promotional opportunity will bring their membership increase just like the glory days.

    At that point I imagine that they haven’t responded to his email after suffering an injury from rolling their eyes so hard they likely sprained something and can’t see well.

    At this point he has enough material to run a panel with examples of how to ostracize yourself from promoters, reviewers, other authors, and local conventions. Small dog syndrome.

  29. Well I probably would answer with an estimation of the cost and doubt Jon would be willing to shell that out. But who knows? Also is a bit late to book a room, i guess.
    My point is: if he really want to book a room and the date is not too late and he is willing to pay the funds, then he should be able to book it (although its robably moot, because I guess he really just wanted to troll and wouldnt push trough with it. But then a professional response would be even better)

  30. Matt Y on May 21, 2017 at 10:23 am said:
    The kind of letter that somehow always ends up on the bottom of the stack, I gather.

  31. Peer: Well I probably would answer with an estimation of the cost and doubt Jon would be willing to shell that out.

    Less than 3 months out, there’s pretty much no chance such an extensive room setup would be available, for any price.

    But I don’t think he ever had any intention of paying for anything. He expects Worldcon to provide all this for free — for a tiny publisher of poorly-edited works and little-known and unknown authors — because of his overinflated view of his own and his cronies’ “importance”.

    I’m sure that he thinks he’s being amusing, and has no idea how stupid he’s making himself appear.

  32. Also is a bit late to book a room, i guess.

    Since the e-mail is addressed to the 2018 Worldcon folks, there’s probably time for him to come up with the booth- and party-room fees.

    Or to convince Castalia to shell out for it.

    Or to try, at least.

  33. Oh, honestly. After reading that email, I wouldn’t give that spoiled, mendacious little twit the time of day, much less a room.

    Obviously, he expects Worldcon to provide all this free gratis, just for the “publicity.” Apparently he doesn’t realize that there is such a thing as bad publicity, or rather associating oneself with embarrassing toddlers. (But of course, being a Trump supporter…I’ll let the reader finish that thought.)

  34. Isn’t one of the lessons from Trump’s 2016 campaign “there is no such thing as bad publicity”?

  35. That email reads like something satirical to me. Presented with it without context, I would have assumed it was written by an opponent of the Puppy factions to make fun of them. In context, I guess it’s an exercise in ‘look, we can satirise ourselves’. Note the comments on the email refer to it as trolling.

  36. [11] Not to nitpick the excellent Mister Slaughter too much, but it’s:

    “I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye.

    I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.

    I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.”

  37. @Ryan: “Jon, you purportedly are heavily credentialed as a space opera expert, apparently.”

    I take it the requisite space opera credential is a puppy? 😉

    @Kurt: “Authors who don’t know what words mean give one a feeling of such confidence.”

    Does anyone have a glass of water? That wit was a bit drier than I expected… 😉

    @JDA: “So it’s your opinion that the year Mr. Anderson was removed as a guest (let’s use that since the word disinvite seems to be a sticking point for ya’all and I’d rather have a real conversation)”

    Thought experiment for ya. I just got home from the grocery store. I’ve brought my food in from the car, but all I’ve done with the canned goods so far is put them on the kitchen table. They’re still in the bags and everything.

    Would it, in your estimation, be accurate to say that I have removed those canned goods from my pantry?

  38. @Bonnie: “After reading that email, I wouldn’t give that spoiled, mendacious little twit the time of day, much less a room.”

    I will give the time of day to anyone who asks. If I like them, I’ll even check my watch first! 😀

  39. My goal is to bring fun sci-fi content wherever i go,

    Yeah, but based on what you’ve been doing around here, your idea of fun isn’t very fun for anyone around you.

  40. lurkertype: And “took over” Tor’s Space Opera Week? HAHAHAHAHAHA. By posting the same bit of spam in every comment section, whereupon it was removed for being the same bit of spam?

    He actually did that? Does his mommy know that he’s using her internet? 🙄

  41. Kurt Busiek: Not to nitpick the excellent Mister Slaughter too much, but it’s….

    Good thing I hadn’t actually memorized it yet!

  42. @JJ: Swear to Ghu. He spammed the same Castoolia Hut link to his own blatherations after every.single.article. I happened to catch it while I was reading the (very interesting and super sci-fi/space opera-esque) articles as they were posted. Now all his comments and all replies to him are gone. 🙄

    Turns out message boards don’t like spam! Whoda thunk?

  43. @Stoic Cynic: Frequent tests of the local strength of gravity are also very important. Cat physicists are doing us all a great service by making sure there aren’t any fluctuations in the value of g. I suspect hair ties are something to do with string theory, so that’s also important physics work.

  44. Sorry. Posted in another thread by mistake.

    @Jon

    I really ought to be in your corner. I think enjoyable reading is a positive virtue. I’m certainly willing to listen to (and evaluate) arguments suggesting back room activities where politics may influence outcomes to some extent.

    But I’ve read what you have posted here, on your blog, and one or two other spaces we inhabit together.

    Most folks don’t worry about separating fly poo from pepper when it smells like a stack of pepper. The reverse? Not so much.

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