(1) THE MAN WHO LOST THE MOON. Where do you hide something this big? “Giant moon artwork goes missing in post on way to Austria”.
A giant replica of the moon which is displayed all over the world has gone missing in the post.
The 7m (23ft) orb, covered in detailed imagery of the lunar surface, has been created by Bristol-based Luke Jerram and was en route to a festival in Austria.
Mr Jerram said the disappearance of the structure, titled Museum of the Moon, was “really annoying and upsetting.”
Courier firm TNT said it was looking into the issue.
Mr Jerram said the artwork has been booked for a series of public events across Europe over the summer.
https://twitter.com/lukejerram/status/1020557031797927941
(2) FUTURICON. Rijeka, Croatia is going to host Eurocon 2020, which will be called Futuricon. Their bid was accepted this week at Eurocon in Amiens. Their site has been home to Rikon for almost two decades.
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka
October 2-4, 2020Rijeka, the coastal city in Croatia in which the annual convention Rikon has already been held nineteen times, has won the prestigious title of European Capital of Culture 2020. As part of the ECoC nomination, the SF society 3. zmaj, is announcing Futuricon, our bid for Eurocon 2020, for which we will combine the most important things the city of Rijeka has to offer – centuries of culture, diversity and tolerance, and a fresh glimpse into a positive future created by the people who live and breathe culture. With the support of the City and University of Rijeka, as well as other Croatian SF societies, we are confident that we can create a unique European experience for everyone.
(3) ALWAYS IN STYLE. Debra Doyle, novelist and editor, makes a statement “With Regard to the Recent Email to Nominees for the Hugo Awards”.
Science Fiction’s Hugos would not be what they are without accompanying periodic outbursts of controversy. This year’s topic is the email sent out to nominees for the award, “encouraging” them to dress professionally for the awards ceremony. The backlash from the sf/fantasy community was, shall we say, vociferous and overwhelmingly negative.†
As well it should be. To quote my elder daughter, on an occasion some time ago when I was fretting about the advisability of going out in public with my hair pulled back using a kid’s Snoopy-the-Flying-Ace hair tie:
“Don’t worry, Mamma. You’re a science fiction writer. You can wear anything.”
(4) THE MORE THINGS STAY THE SAME. You may not have thought the question of what Worldcons want people to wear to events was a new controversy. But would you have expected E.E. “Doc” Smith to be the person complaining about it? In 1962? Here’s a letter the author of the Lensman Series wrote to Chicon III chair Earl Kemp before the con.
(5) ONE BIG CHECK. That’s what you’ll be writing if you want any of his stuff — “One giant sale: Neil Armstrong’s collection goes to auction”. ABC News has the story.
Admirers of Neil Armstrong and space exploration have a chance to own artifacts and mementos that belonged to the modest man who became a global hero by becoming the first human to walk on the moon.
The personal collection of Armstrong, who died in his native Ohio in 2012, will be offered for sale in a series of auctions handled by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, beginning Nov. 1-2 and continuing in May and November 2019.
The collection includes a variety of artifacts from Armstrong’s 1969 lunar landing and private mementos that include pieces of a wing and propeller from the 1903 Wright Brothers Flyer that the astronaut took with him to the moon.
The article names several other flown artifacts that will be in the auctions.
(6) ACCLAIMED SHORT FANTASY. Rocket Stack Rank lists 46 outstanding stories of high fantasy from 2016-2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards, included in “year’s best” SF/F anthologies, or recommended by prolific reviewers in short fiction (see Q&A). That’s 46 out of 166 high fantasy stories from those two years, and out of 470 outstanding SF/F stories from 2016 and 2017.
For our purposes, we define “high fantasy” as a fantasy story that takes place in a secondary world. That is, something like Lord of the Rings, where Middle Earth is clearly not in the past or future of our world.
(7) ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN. There was just one problem with choosing John Crowley as the winner: “Maine Literary Award withdrawn because of ineligibility; new winner named”….
The winner of a 2018 Maine Literary Award was found ineligible because he is not a resident of Maine, and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, which gives the awards annually, has named a new winner of its speculative fiction prize.
The award, which had gone to Massachusetts resident John Crowley for his book “Ka,” since has been given to Unity College writing instructor Paul Guernsey, who had come in second place for his book “American Ghost.”
“Ka” was nominated by the editorial director of Saga Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, whose marketing manager told the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance that Crowley owned a home in Maine and lived here part time. Crowley, who was born in Maine, was named the winner of the award in a June ceremony.
According Joshua Bodwell, executive director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, Crowley notified the group that he did not live in Maine. While the award can go to seasonal or part-time residents, it is open only to people who live in Maine. Crowley reached out to say that he was unaware that his publisher had nominated him or that his publisher and his editor had said he met the eligibility requirements.
(8) STOPPING FOR ICE. Galactic Journey’s Ashley R. Pollard tells about the latest trend in fiction 55 years ago: “[July 21, 1963] Ice Cold Spies”.
I marvel at how quickly SF concepts have gone mainstream. With so many SF ideas transitioning into mainstream fiction, one of the current trends I see is the fascination with the Cold War and spies. Who as I’ve alluded to earlier, are it seems to be found everywhere.
The result is the creation of a new genre that blend SF with contemporary thriller to create what is being called a “techno-thriller.” A techno-thriller will use many of the ideas that were once purely science fictional, but set them within a conventional world that’s recognizable as our own.
A new novel by Allister MacLean called Ice Station Zebra has caught the public’s imagination. Whether this is as a result of all the stories of spies in the news I don’t know. MacLean is well known as a writer of action-adventure stories, but this new novel sees him move into a new genre.
Maclean is not the first author to do so. Fellow Scottish writer Ian Stuart wrote a similar techno-thriller, which came out last year called, The Satan Bug….
(9) A PAIR TO DRAW TO. SYFY Wire’s SDCC story “Guillermo del Toro confirmed to guest on The Simpsons in season 30” that confirms the celeb writer/producer/director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, The Hobbit trilogy, the Hellboy movies and games, and many more) will guest star on The Simpsons this coming season. He joins Gal Gadot (the Wonder Woman movies and others in the DC Cinematic Universe) in the “confirmed” column. There was apparently no indication the two would be on the same episode. The season’s first episode of their 30th season will will air September 30.
(10) FRONT ROW TO A SHARKNADO. Syfy Wire reports from SDCC: “Sharknado will return next year… with a live stage show!” Mike Kennedy says, “The article title pretty much says it all. I expect next we’ll have <engage echo effect> Sharks [arks… arks… arks] On [on… on… on] Ice [ice… ice… ice] !!!! <disengage echo effect>.”
You can’t keep a good Sharknado down. On Friday, at San Diego Comic-Con, the cast and crew held a panel on The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time. Yes, as you might imagine, this is the sixth and final in the Sharknado film franchise. But Sharknado will live on…
… with a live stage show.
Indeed, there is going to be a live stage version of Sharknado. No details were offered at the panel, other than it is expected to premiere at a resort/casino in 2019, and will be a sensory overload, if you will. An official announcement is expected later this year.
(11) HELL WARMED OVER. You may recall that Lucifer, canceled by Fox at the end of this past season, was picked up by Netflix for a 10-episode 4th season. At SDCC, star Tom Ellis dropped a few hints about what might be coming up after the major season 3 cliffhanger. SYFY Wire wraps up stories from other sources in “Lucifer’s Tom Ellis Teases Season 4 on Netflix”.
“We get straight back into it,” Ellis told TV Line of the start of Season 4, and teases that Lucifer was unaware that he had the devil face on at the time, so Chloe’s likely shock will come as a surprise. The pair are “apparently” still working together, but Ellis added that “The weird thing this year about coming to Comic-Con is that I can’t talk about the show and what’s going to happen so much, because I don’t know.” The scripts haven’t been written yet, and production begins August 13. Netflix has yet to announce a premiere date….
And he’s in no hurry to have Lucifer and Chloe embrace a romantic relationship. “I think it’s the heartbeat of the show, Chloe and Lucifer’s relationship,” he told [Entertainment Weekly]. “It wouldn’t be very wise to get these two characters together now… When you get the characters together, ultimately that’s kind of resolution. And you don’t want resolution till the very, very end.” But if/when that finally happens, “I am all for it.”
There were hints that Ellis could drop trou on Netflix, something that would have been Right Out on Fox.
(12) SHAZAM! Let’s catch up on our comic history before watching the trailer: “DC’s ‘Shazam!’ Makes a ‘Big’ First Impression in Comic-Con Trailer”.
And for those of you asking, yes, he really is the first hero called Captain Marvel, debuting 20 years before Marvel Comics existed as a brand. Fawcett Comics was sued by DC in the early 1950s over claims that “Captain Marvel” ripped off “Superman,” and went temporarily out of business after it agreed never to publish the character’s comics again. However, in 1972 DC licensed “Captain Marvel” from Fawcett and brought the character into the DC universe.
But during the intervening decades, Marvel realized the trademark on the name “Captain Marvel” had lapsed, and introduced its own character of the same name. Which is why, to avoid legal problems, DC called its re-launched comic book “Shazam” and eventually changed the character’s name outright.
(13) SDCC TRAILERS. Here are several more trailers that got released this weekend.
(14) GRAND BOOK THEFT. These weren’t books he checked out. Now he may be checking into the pokey: “Men accused of stealing $8M in rare books, items from Pittsburgh library”.
Two men are facing charges of stealing or damaging more than $8 million in rare books and materials from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh over more than two decades.
Investigators on Friday charged Greg Priore and John Schulman with the crimes, alleging the two men worked together to remove the items from the Oliver Room.
According to the criminal complaint, Priore worked as the manager and sole archivist of the library’s Oliver Room, which houses rare books and items, for 25 years before being fired in June 2017. Schulman is the co-owner of Caliban Book Shop in Oakland, which specializes in rare books.
The Oliver Room closed more than a year ago once authorities discovered the thefts.
Priore first contacted Schulman about the scheme in the late 1990s, according to the criminal complaint. Priore allegedly told police he made between $500 and $3,000 for items he stole and gave to Schulman to sell.
(15) BE ON THE LOOKOUT. Lou Antonelli, who was slated onto the Hugo ballot in 2015, mourns his “Lost Rockets” [Internet Archive link].
…I decided I’d start wearing my pins this year, and I took them with me when I went to SoonerCon in Oklahoma City June 22. After I checked in and got my badge, I took them out and I was going to stick them on.
I took the first one out, and as I tried to stick it on, I fumbled it. I never saw it land. It disappeared. I never saw it again. I put the second one back in its bag. The next day, I realized I’d lost it also.
After I told this story to one colleague at Libertycon, he said, “Well, you can always ask WorldCon for a replacement.”
I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding! They didn’t want us to have them in the first place! Do you think they would ever give me a replacement!”
(16) JANELLE MONAÉ. Rolling Stone lets you “Watch Janelle Monae Perform ‘Americans,’ Talk Science Fiction on ‘Colbert’”. Video at the link.
Twice during Monáe’s Late Show appearance, the singer danced atop Colbert’s desk: Once to close out the interview portion – where she and the host talked about first meeting at Barack Obama’s 55th birthday party at the White House – and again to kickstart “Americans.”
During the 10-minute interview, Colbert and Monae also discussed their shared love of science fiction, which heavily influenced the singer’s new LP Dirty Computer.
“I loved being able to see these different worlds that were different from mine, that allowed me to kind of escape from where I was,” Monáe said of the genre. “It just stayed with me. I started to write science fiction as a teenager… It stayed with me throughout my work.”
(17) ONCE MORE WITH FEELING. I ran this link yesterday before seeing Mike Kennedy’s take, which I think Filers will enjoy seeing just the same.
[Item by Mike Kennedy.] Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana
In 2016. the British Antarctic Survey asked the public to pick the name for their new survey vessel. They picked Boaty McBoatface. Well, the BAS was not particularly happy with that, and named the craft the RRS Sir David Attenborough, though they did relent and name an autonomous underwater vehicle Boaty McBoatface (the lead vehicle of its class).
Jump to the present.
The European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency are asking the public for help naming an upcoming Mars rover to be launched in 2020 (and land in 2021).
You get three guesses what the public wants so far (and the first two don’t count). Yep, Time Magazine notes that Rovy McRoverface is already trending on Twitter. Gizmodo throws in Marsy McMarsface and Spacey McSpaceface as their suggestions.
But apparently ESA and UKSA did learn at least a little from the Boaty McBoatface incident, since they say that they’ll be using a panel that they appoint to make the final choice. Or, at least they do if you dig deep enough into their 5-page PDF of Terms and Conditions. With no mention of this on the page where you make your recommendation, it would be easy enough for someone to misunderstand and think this was a straightforward popular vote.
(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Fired on Mars” on Vimeo, Nick and Nate ask, “What happens if you’re a corporate drone who gets fired–except your bosses are on earth and you’re on Mars?”
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Chip Hitchcock, Andrew Porter, Carl Slaughter, JJ, Eric Wong, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
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First!
(18) “What happens if you’re a corporate drone who gets fired – except your bosses are on earth and you’re on Mars?”
Speaking of which, I just finished Emma Newman’s space colony mystery Before Mars, which is fantastic. I really enjoyed Planetfall and After Atlas, but this one is, I think, head-and-shoulders above its predecessors, and it is on my Hugo Novel longlist for next year.
While the 3 books are ostensibly a series, Before Mars merely references some occurrences in the previous books while providing context for them, and stands quite well on its own. RECOMMENDED. 👍
First Click?
Sigh. Always a third.
(17) What is actually wrong with Boaty, or Rovy or Spacey for that matter? They have a bit of a snarky, impertinent ring to them. If that’s what the public wants, why not?
Latest read: Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse. Charlie Jane Anders was raving about this on Goodreads, saying Roanhorse has basically reinvented the urban fantasy genre. I don’t think I would go that far–it’s a first novel, and it’s a little rough–but the setting (on the Navajo reservation after global flooding caused by climate change has caused Navajo myths, legends and monsters to be reborn in the flesh) and protagonist (Maggie Hoskie, Navajo monster hunter) are unique. If Rebecca Roanhorse doesn’t win the Campbell this year, on the strength of this I will definitely be nominating her again.
With regard to discussions on other threads about potential Long Form Editor and Professional Artist eligibility lists for next year’s Hugos, I’m up to 90 works for Artists and 50 works for Editors thus far.
I welcome submissions of titles of works with Editor and/or Artist/Designer at jjfile770 at the Google mail place. Back covers, back flaps of book jackets, and copyright pages of your favorite works are good places to find Artist and Designer names (please include both if they are available); Acknowledgments sections are good places to look for Editor names (and occasionally Artist names).
(11) Naked Tom Ellis is all very well, but really what I want to know is whether Lucifer will finally kiss a dude on screen. (We know he’s into both women and men but so far all the men seem to happen somewhere else.)
1) This would appear to be an indexing error of the “if you don’t label your shit, you can’t find your shit” variety. Sooner or later someone will notice a Very Big Box.
7) A high-class response.
10) Why?
12) Well, that looks like a fun romp.
(1) I guess they need a new moon to tide them over
Anything that is Black Mc Blank is not to be taken seriously. Why invoke McDonald’s in anything?
Morning.
[INSERT SELF-REFERENTIAL PIXEL SCROLL TITLE HERE]
(4) THE MORE THINGS STAY THE SAME.
So it is a long-standing Hugo tradition for the organisers to request (semi)formal dress, and it is equally Hugo tradition for the attendees to tell them what to do with that request?
(15) Some guys are so invested in their own narrative that they insist on victimizing themselves.
Not that this is a new idea. It so happens I’ve been watching The Phil Silvers Show (Sgt. Bilko) over the last couple of days, and the episode I just finished was about a guy’s enlistment being up. Bilko finds out that he and his wife have saved $400 and plan to start a luncheonette with it. Bilko’s taken him for a fair amount of money over the years, but doesn’t want to see the guy fail, so he resolves to give him the money back – estimating that it comes to about $400, which will at least double their stake and give them something of a cushion.
So Bilko goes over to give him the money. The wife swears he’s up to something, and they refuse. Bilko figures the guy wants to win it back, and decides to rig a sure-lose bet – which falls through because once again, everyone thinks Bilko’s up to something and the sure thing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now Bilko’s got $800 to give back to him. The next sure thing is the man’s birthplace, $800 against the man’s car, with Bilko taking the nutty position that the man was born overseas when neither of his parents have even left Peoria. This one almost works, but at the last second, the guy switches the bet around and loses his car. Finally, Bilko manages to “sucker” the guy into betting on his own name, the same way the guy forced Bilko to switch positions on the birthplace bet, and only then does the guy get the win and the $400 that Bilko’s been trying to get him to accept all along. At last, Bilko figures, the guy’s going to retire and have a happy life as a restauranteur.
Except that now the guy figures his luck has changed, so he re-enlists for another hitch. The guy won’t take the win.
Just like Lou, so wrapped up in his hard-luck story that he won’t even make the inquiry.
4) Thanks for sharing that. A long-standing thing, indeed.
@Bob I vaguely remember reruns of that show growing up. You are right…why wouldm’t Lou *ask*? I guess it is easier for him *not* to.
18) Well that’s a godawful small affair… 😉
@Bob, @Paul Weimer, it’s simple why he won’t ask. Being a Card-Carrying Victim of the Eeeevil SJWs and the Biased Worldcon is pretty much all he has going for him. If he asks and they say, “sure, no problem, where do we send them….?” then his narrative collapses.
@Paul:
I got the whole series on DVD some time back, but I only started watching last week. It’s been interesting to see a couple of recognizable guest stars pop up – so far Fred Gwynne’s made two appearances and Tom Poston’s had one walk-on.
@Cassy B:
Like I said, invested in his own narrative.
(15) BE ON THE LOOKOUT. Antonelli: We fellow sufferers
I do love how CUL keeps dragging out the Hugos as this horrible thing by which he was supposedly “victimized”.
Dear Lou: anything you “suffered” was the direct result of your choice to actively participate in getting your sub-par works cheated onto the Hugo ballot. Stop blaming other people for the consequences of your own choices.
Antonelli: “The way we have been vilified,” I said. I’d be afraid to wear my pins, I’d be afraid someone would assault me at a convention.”
The only ones I’ve seen with that sort of impulse-control and anger-management problem is you with your numerous stalking and harassment attempts, and your very vocal fellow Puppy who attempted to physically assault a filker at Sasquan. You’re projecting.
Also, regarding that “vilification”, see “consequences of personal choices”. 🙄
@Cassy B: That’s very plausible, in that “I was told that they’ll replace lost Hugo pins, but they told me to go pound sand” would be a more impressive story, and get more sympathy, than “I didn’t ask because I know they don’t like me.”
On the other hand, whatever else is true of Antonelli, he is human, so human psychology applies, and it’s fairly common for people not to ask for/apply to things, because the fear of being rejected is stronger than the pain of assuming you will be. On some emotional level, the logic is “doing without isn’t as bad as asking, being told no explicitly, and then doing without.”
It can be hard to even bring the possibility of getting what you ask for into view, let alone reframe the question as “would the pain of possible rejection, plus any stress from having to ask, be more of a bad thing than the pleasure of a possible acceptance minus the stress of having to ask?”
On the other hand, when I’ve done vaguely similar things, I haven’t gone and told all my friends about them. (Some of this was pre-Internet, but I didn’t tell everyone in the college dining hall, or write about them in an apazine, either.)
And there were times Bilko also fell into his own narrative and rationale and it stung him, as when he made a date with Doberman’s sister.
15) The thing to do would be for whoever would replace those pins to do so without him asking:
“We heard you’d lost your Hugo pins; here’s your replacement. You are no less deserving of these than you were the original ones.”
@Rev Bob
Reminds me of a story a World War 2 vet told me years ago ( presented as true but almost certainly apocryphal):
So it’s monsoon season at a temporary air base in the South Pacific and one of the pilots notices a hole in his tent, drip, drip, dripping away. He’s decides some fabric tape they use to patch holes in aircraft is just the ticket for fixing this. So he sets out for the supply tent and the wind is howling and the rain is sheeting and he’s getting soaked to the bone miserable. As he walks, the idea starts a forming in his head – ‘ after all this, what if they won’t give me the tape?’ The more he ponders on this the more it becomes a certainty in his head that this is ‘exactly what those so and so’s s would do’. And he’s getting angrier and angrier – what the heck is wrong with them? It’s just a little piece of tape. Why he oughta… And the idea just keeps building steam. So when he finally gets to the supply tent he marches right up to the sergeant in charge, shakes his fist at him, screams “I didn’t need your god damned tape anyways!”, and marches right back out into the storm. Leaving behind a mystified supply sergeant to wonder what the heck that was all about…
John A Arkansawyer: The thing to do would be for whoever would replace those pins to do so without him asking
The pins come out of each year’s Worldcon budget, and it’s my understanding that if replacements are requested, they are paid for by the requestor. The thing for him to do would be to contact this year’s Hugo Admin and ask if he could buy replacements.
@RWS:
Indeed; that episode was also part of tonight’s lineup.
In watching these, I can’t help thinking that Bilko’s Col. Hall sounds a lot like Hawkeye’s Col. Potter. Purely in terms of the voice, I mean.
@JJ: I stand corrected. They should instead write and offer to replace them. If other people don’t get free replacements, neither should he.
(1)
We scrolled upon this file
We ticked the box of was and when
Although I wasn’t there
He said I was to appertain
Which came as some surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you read alone
A long long time ago
Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You’re face to face
With the man who lost the moon
Speaking as someone who has dressed up each and every time I’ve gone to the Hugos–I didn’t get the original email that set this off, but it would have gotten my hackles up.
I’m not worried about whether or not other folks in attendance are respecting me sufficiently by dressing up. I have always assumed that anyone who’s gone to the trouble of attending considers the event important, and if their clothes aren’t what I would have chosen myself, I assume that either their ways of expressing their delight in being there don’t match mine, or they’re doing the best they can. Either way I don’t spend much time worrying about anyone else’s clothes choices–except maybe to admire.
Now, I believe one hundred percent that the message was not intended to set a dress code. I’m quite sure what they meant was some version of “lots of people dress up in some way and that’s awesome and we like it!” and I’m glad that John Picacio has spoken to the relevant folks and clarified the issue.
But I don’t think it’s so easy to just say “well this is a tempest in a teacup, it’s obvious what they mean and besides who cares, wear what you want.” Some of us are used to running into weird roadblocks–dress codes, as it happens, are one of many ways to restrict access to various events and resources in racist and/or sexist ways without overtly admitting that racism or sexism. And certain rules can safely be ignored–by certain people. If you’re a person who belongs to a group that is often not allowed to ignore “silly rules” you’re going to have a very, very different reaction to what seems to be the imposition of just such a silly, supposedly ignorable rule.
When I was in college, working at the faculty club, several of my Black co-workers used to marvel at the way the wealthy, white membership would dress–sloppy old clothes that my co-workers wouldn’t go out of the house in. The reason, of course, is that when you’re rich and white, you can wear whatever you want, wherever you want. When you’re poor, or Black–dressing sloppy is just one more sign of your criminality or inferiority, one more means by which bad treatment can be justified.
And then there’s the way that trans folks are policed for the way they dress. Me, I’m a white straight cis woman. I can wear makeup or not, as I please, I can wear men’s jeans if I think they fit me better, I can wear grubby sneakers and a big loose t-shirt to the store–or, you know, almost anywhere I want–and shrug if anyone is ill-mannered enough to comment negatively. But a trans woman wearing exactly the same outfit will be judged very, very differently. She’ll get a very different reaction if she ignores an implied or supposedly loose “just a suggestion” dress code, in quite a lot of situations.
In this case, folks with long experience of the Hugos and the community surrounding them, and folks with sufficient status in that community, will of course feel comfortable navigating such things, and know that they can wear jeans and Hawaiian shirt (or whatever) on the night and not face any sort of censure. Newer folks, and folks who are used to being jerked around by means of just such norms, are pretty understandably going to see “dress in this (confusingly defined, potentially expensive, historically gender-essentialist) way” as maybe not a good thing.
Like I said, I one hundred percent believe in the good intentions of the folks who sent the email, and I’m very glad the issue has been clarified. But it might be worth thinking about the various reasons people had the reactions they did, without dismissing them.
It would be foolish for Worldcon to contact Antonelli. He isn’t looking for pins. He’s looking for more reasons to be angry.
rcade says It would be foolish for Worldcon to contact Antonelli. He isn’t looking for pins. He’s looking for more reasons to be angry.
I admit that I’m interested as to how he lost both of them if they meant anything to him in the first place. I may have extremely faulty memory now but I do know where say a particular item of value is such as the hard cover edition of Liz Hand’s Wylding Hall is kept. Losing both pins is suspect I’d say.
Aw man. I thought “Red Rover” was perfect, but I’m in the U.S. and can’t vote.
1) He’s no Janelle Monae, but then, she’s no Warren Zevon,
either: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YcxxCFqihkk
rcade: “He’s looking for more reasons to be angry.” Very possible, which is one reason to do it. It denies him that. And if he isn’t, all the better.
Regarding the 55-year-old book review of Ice Station Zebra and Satan Bug:
“One would almost think that the authors know or corresponded with each other while they were writing their books.”
Oh they knew each other quite well. Like Isaac Asimov and Paul French, or Michael Crichton and John Lange.
There has been a Hugo Pin Replacement program in place since it was started by Chicon 7. Extra pins have been donated to the program by many of the Worldcons from what they have left over. Nominees who never received their pins or have lost them just need to contact the program’s administrator and request replacements.
We still have a few pins let over from when Ruth and I were the Hugo Administrators for Sasquan, and I’ve just sent email to Lou to verify his mailing address in order to send him replacements.
Whenever I’ve been involved with running the Hugos (in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2015), I’ve tried very, very hard to be neutral and to be professional to all nominees. That’s what the Hugos deserve.
It’s a shame to see them become so politicized–on both sides.
@John: “I’ve just sent email to Lou to verify his mailing address in order to send him replacements.”
It will be interesting to see (a) if he acknowledges this as publicly as he volunteered the smear and (b) if so, how he’ll spin it.
You know, I really don’t care. I’m just interested in doing the right thing, without making a political statement.
John, thank you for doing the right thing. However, please allow us our entirely reasonable resentment against people who gamed the Hugos. That is in no way political.
John Lorentz: I’m glad you have worked that out. I considered mailing him a couple of mine anonymously but couldn’t quite explain to myself why I wanted to do that.
John Lorentz did email me, which was very nice of him, and I have replied:
“John –
“Thanks for your email. Both email addresses are still good, so I got them. My mailing address changed, though. It is now:
“1100 West Jackson St.
“Clarksville, Tx. 75426
“It is very thoughtful of you to offer to replace the pins. I’ll reimburse you for any costs. They were lost because of my clumsiness and carelessness. Certainly not your fault. I didn’t bother to contact WorldCon because, to be truthful, any time I’ve contacted WorldCon subsequent to Sasquan- on any other subject – I’ve never received a reply of any kind. I assume I’ve been blacklisted or banned. I was a bit startled to get your email. Thanks for getting me the pins, I’ll try to be more careful with them.
“Lou Antonelli”
I confess that I did not foresee the self-doxxing.
@ Cat: He says how he lost the first one — he fumbled it, it fell, and he couldn’t find it. Now, I’ve done the first part of that more than once with an earring, so I find that entirely believable. I have a little more trouble with the “couldn’t find it” part, because I’ve always been able to find the earring I dropped — and if you could see the normal state of my bedroom, that statement would be a lot more impressive than it sounds here! It requires some determination and the willingness to reach under things amid the dust bunnies, and/or maybe hunt thru a box of miscellaneous shit (or the wastebasket, if I’m unlucky) that was in the right place for the earring to have fallen into. (I’ve never dropped an earring down the drain, because I don’t put them on in the bathroom, and this is one of the reasons why.)
The second one sounds more like a “well, I put it and its box Somewhere Safe” sort of thing, which means he’s likely to rediscover it eventually.
John Lorentz:
Well done, John!
Lee – I was in a rental car in the parking lot of a convention. I never saw where the pin landed. I looked as best I could, but it must have dropped into some crack or slot. Since it was a rental car, I had to return it on Monday.
As for the second one, I bet you’re right, I probably put it someplace safe, so safe even I can’t find it now.
Rev. Bob – I have no problem being easy to find in my line of work, being a self-employed journalist and small business owner. My office is at 109 South Locust St. Clarksville, Tx. 75426. I can walk to my office, this is a small town. My office phone is 903-427-0002, my cell phone is 903-257-6573. I don’t bother with a land line at home any more.
@John Lorentz: I think that was the right thing to do. The promptness is extra impressive.
Thank you John Lorentz.
@12: Were any of the print origin stories so deliberately silly? I get that he’s just a kid psychologically, but did any previous version have an enabler to provoke him so he keeps not-thinking?
@14: And they figured it all it without Greer Gilman? Maybe it was easier with someone dumb enough to steal for such a small cut?
So — hands up anyone who believes that subsequent Worldcons have refused to answer queries (as opposed to flamemail that doesn’t make any coherent/plausible requests) from LA?
Chip Hitchcock: So — hands up anyone who believes that subsequent Worldcons have refused to answer queries (as opposed to flamemail that doesn’t make any coherent/plausible requests) from LA?
I usually end up e-mailing the Worldcon staff and the Hugo Admins a few times every year. Sometimes the response is slow, and sometimes my message is informational and I don’t need a response, but I do receive a response to every e-mail requiring one.
The “I’ve been blacklisted” nonsense is just more grievance confabulation.
(8) “. . . to create what is being called a “techno-thriller.””
Nobody was calling anything a “techno-thriller” in 1963. The term hasn’t been found before 1978, and didn’t come into common use until Tom Clancy (Hunt for Red October was 1984).
It turns out there’s a lot of SF in The Onion, once you start looking for it. Warning: There are flickering lights starting about 3:20 in:
And another part about contacting “Worldcon” or “The Hugo Awards” is that for the most part, it’s a moving target, with a different group doing it each year. As the primary point of contact for e-mail going to the info@ addresses on the WSFS web sites, I end up forwarding a lot of messages to whoever is the current Worldcon or Hugo Administrators from people who (understandably) don’t know how decentralized Worldcon is and figure e-mail to the “head office” will get where it should go. Usually it does. But if you write to a three-years-ago Worldcon with questions about the current one, there’s a very good chance that nobody will every see your request.
(This year, I sometimes find myself forwarding a message from me to me, as I’m also the WSFS Division Manager for the current Worldcon.)
(6) High fantasy
I’m not sure Tolkien would agree with that.
(8) STOPPING FOR ICE.
I read Ice Station Zebra (along with most of MacLean’s books) as a kid in the 80’s. I don’t remember any details of the plot, but I’m pretty sure I never caught on to the book being over 20 years old and being science fictional at its time. Meaning MacLean must have done a relatively good job at describing the future technology in the book.