(1) #BACKTOHOGWARTS. Warner Bros. kicked off the weekend with a behind-the-scenes featurette for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Excited about #BackToHogwarts tomorrow? Watch J.K. Rowling and the cast of #FantasticBeasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald reminisce over their favourite Hogwarts memories.
(2) FIRST DAY OF FALL. Bill Capossere’ gives the new release a favorable review, “The Fall of Gondolin: A welcome addition to Christopher Tolkien’s close looks at his father’s work”. He also explains to Fantasy Literature readers:
As with Beren and Lúthien, with regard to the stories themselves (as opposed to the analysis), there is little “new” here; the various versions can be found in others of Christopher’s HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH books. What the stand-alone offers that those books do not is a single-minded focus on one story, allowing us to trace the tale’s evolution more fully and in more detail. I’ve personally found that singular focus to be well worth the purchase price despite owning the versions in other books. Also, I should note that both the publisher and Christopher are (and have been) quite upfront and transparent about this. There’s been no attempt to present these as “new” texts.
And about one part, The Last Version, he says –
Unfortunately, cruelly even, Tolkien abandoned this version, what Christopher calls “this essential and (one may say) definitive form and treatment of the legend,” just after Tuor passes the last gate. I’m with Christopher when he confesses that for him it “is perhaps the most grievous of his many abandonments.”
(3) TANSY RAYNER ROBERTS REVIEWED. At Fantasy-Faction, Richard Marpole praises the novella “Cabaret of Monsters by Tansy Rayner Roberts”.
Rayner Roberts’ writing style is lively and conversational, she doesn’t shy away from grown-up words or a bit of satire here and there either. Evie’s attempts to get away with wearing trousers in a city still mired in traditional gender roles adds a pleasant dash of feminist commentary to proceedings. (Though, among the Creature Court and the bohemian set at least, alternative sexualities and genders seem to be well represented and completely accepted in Aufleur, which is always nice to see.) There are plenty of pretty descriptions and well-turned phrases here, but they don’t slow down the pace.
(4) HERE’S MY NUMBER AND A DIME. NASA is waiting for a call. Engadget has the story: “Mars Opportunity rover will have 45 days to phone home”.
As a planet-wide dust storm enveloped Mars, many were concerned about the fate of the Opportunity rover. After all, Opportunity is dependent on solar panels; the opacity of the dust storm meant that she wasn’t getting enough light to stay powered. The team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory last heard from Opportunity on June 10th. Now, the storm is lifting, and once its opacity reaches a tau level of 1.5, the little rover will have 45 days to respond to the team’s signals. Otherwise, NASA will stop actively listening for the rover.
The tau measures the amount of dust and particulate in the Martian atmosphere. The team hopes that, once the skies have cleared enough and the rover has recharged its batteries, Opportunity will be able to hear and respond to the signals that Earth is sending its way. If 45 days have passed without a response, the team will cease its active efforts to recover the rover. “If we do not hear back after 45 days, the team will be forced to conclude that the Sun-blocking dust and the Martian cold have conspired to cause some type of fault from which the rover will more than likely not recover,” said John Callas, Opportunity’s project manager, in a statement.
However, that does not mean they will abandon all hope, as the article goes on to explain.
(5) MORE WORLDCON 76. Stephanie Alford’s report includes some good panel notes.
While WorldCon76 was my second worldcon, it was my best con ever! Big backpack stuffed with con survival gear (food, books, journals, pens, etc.), bowler hat squarely on my head, I wandered the convention center with a big smile on my face.
Panel:
1001 Years Later – What Happened to Arabian Fiction – Shayma Alshareef and Yasser Bahjatt
Panel:
SETI: What Do We Do When We Find Them? – Andrew Fraknoi, Guy Consolmagno, SB Divya, Douglas Vakoch, Lonny Brooks
(6) PIXLEY AT WORLDCON. Joy Pixley explains the con’s distinctive features in “Back from Worldcon!”
Worldcon is much more oriented toward books than other large fan cons like Comic Con, that have huge movie trailer premieres and feature famous celebrities. I mean, Worldcon does have celebrities, it’s just that we readers and writers think of authors as being big celebrities, not actors. So it doesn’t have quite the glitz or the production value of commercial cons, but then, the guests of honor actually walk around the convention center and go to talks and sit down for drinks, just like everyone else. To me, that makes it feel so much more inclusive and approachable.
(7) SEVERIN OBIT. Marie Severin, who was a pioneering woman in comics, mostly for Marvel, died August 29. The Washington Post’s Matt Schudel marked her passing: “Marie Severin, versatile Hall of Fame comic-book illustrator, dies at 89”.
Ms. Severin spent more than 50 years as an illustrator, handling all three of the major visual tasks in comic-book production: penciling, inking and coloring. She worked closely with Marvel’s editor in chief Stan Lee for decades and in 2001 was named to the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame.
In the 1970s, Ms. Severin was a co-creator of Jessica Drew — better known as the superhero Spider-Woman — and designed the character’s skintight red-and-yellow costume.
“Marie Severin did it all — penciler, inker, colorist, character creator,” historian and publisher Craig Yoe, the former creative director of Jim Henson’s Muppets, wrote in an email. He called her “one of the last of comics’ greatest generation.”
(8) ZADAN OBIT. He brought musicals to live TV, some of them genre: “Craig Zadan, 69, Dies; Produced Musicals for Stage, Screen and TV”.
Craig Zadan, an ebullient showman who helped engineer a revival of Broadway musicals on television with live NBC broadcasts of “The Sound of Music,” “Peter Pan,” “Hairspray” and “The Wiz,” died on [August 21st] at his home Los Angeles. He was 69….
The success of “Gypsy,” broadcast in 1993, led to ABC, where [he] produced “Annie” (1997), with Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming, and “Cinderella” (1999), with Brandy Norwood in the title role and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother….
(9) HEATH OBIT. Russ Heath (1926-2018), a long-running comic artist, although less known in genre, who drew for Hero Initiative (fund that helps comic book artists in need), died August 23. The New York Times obit is here: “Russ Heath, Whose Comics Caught Lichtenstein’s Eye, Dies at 91”.
Heath seemed to feel his comics had done more than just catch the renowned pop artist’s eye.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born August 31, 1890. E.E. “Doc” Smith. Writer, the Lensman and Skylark Universe series, each of which has a lot less novels in them then I thought they did, but which have influenced a number of later genre works including the Babylon 5 series. I admit I’ve not read them, so are they worth reading?
- Born August 31 – Steve Perry, 71. Apparently there’s quite a living to be made in writing genre fiction that’s based in universes created by someone else as he’s written novels in the Predator, Aliens, Aliens versus Predators, Conan, Indiana Jones, Men in Black and Star Wars franchises. Not to mention both books based on both work by Leonard Nimoy snd Tom Clancy. And Isaac Asimov. not sending a lot of originality here.
- Born August 31 – G. Willow Wilson, 36. Writer of such work as Air, Cairo, Ms.Marvel and Alif the Unseen. She won the World Fantasy Award for the latter and a Hugo Award went also to Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal.
(11) COMICS SECTION.
- In the Bleachers gives us a gaming crossover.
- Tom the Dancing Bug insists he was only joking about the solution to a mystery.
(12) RETURNING THIS FALL A Superheroes Fight Back Trailer from the CW to let everyone know their new season starts October 9.
(13) EPISODE IX CASTING. ScienceFiction.com learned “‘Star Wars Episode IX’ May Be Looking For Another Female Lead!”
A character breakdown for the upcoming ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ has been released, and it teases a new female character who could be joining the cast soon! It was previously reported that the film was on the hunt for two new female leads, one being a 40-50 year old female to play a character being called “Mara”, and the other being an African-American actress, age 18-26, to portray a character by the name of Caro.
That Hashtag Show reported that the film is now looking for another actress age 27-35, for a character being called “KARINA.” The character breakdown describes the supporting role as:
“A younger Charlize Theron with street smarts and a sharp wit… a good sense of humor, solid comedic timing and a strong voice.”
(14) THE CONTINENTAL. If people still put destination stickers on their luggage, John Scalzi’s bags would be accumulating a new batch next year.
For everyone else in Europe, in 2019 I will be in London, Budapest, Northern Spain and Dublin. I'll be ALL OVER your continent!
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) August 31, 2018
(15) QUICK SIPS. Charles Payseur gives Tor.com’s short fiction a whirl in “Quick Sips – Tor dot com August 2018”.
Two short stories and a novelette round out the SFF originals from Tor this month, with a definite focus on science fiction, on futures of humanity interacting with the universe and, perhaps more importantly, with the Earth. Whether that means dealing with the touch of climate disaster and change, or working to move beyond the bounds of our terrestrial home through uploading and flight, or gaining a new and non-human presence to co-inhabit the planet with, the pieces look at how humans see the Earth, and how that perspective shifts as the gaze becomes less incorporated in a human body. It’s a month full of strangeness and longing, risks and looming dangers, and it makes for a fascinating bunch of stories. To the reviews!
(16) MARVEL SHOWS HEART. Several stars of Marvel films have sent short videos — as themselves — to a teenager who has terminal brain cancer. Josh is a particular fan of Deadpool, causing actor Ryan Reynolds to lead the charge. He’s also recruited Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) to make videos of their own. You can see all five at “Marvel stars line up crossover to send powerful vibes to teen with terminal cancer” on SYFY Wire.
(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Tink by Mr. Kaplan on Vimeo is a short film about an animated Rube Goldberg machine.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Chip Hitchcock, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
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First?
Hopefully the rover gets better.
And good vibes to Hilde, and Bruce, from yesterday’s scroll.
Thinking good thoughts for Opportunity, hardy little robot that she has always been.
Desconstructing Roy Lichtenstein
Fourth.
@17: I wouldn’t call it a Rube Goldberg machine as there’s no sequence of actions — it’s a bunch of independent pieces — but it’s still cute.
@10: IMO, Doc Smith is worth reading only if you’re into deep antiquity. He started writing in 1919, and was still writing 1919 books in the 1940’s. The gender attitudes are not much worse than in Anderson’s Virgin Planet or de Camp’s Rogue Queen, and I remember the writing as vigorous, but memory says it was all slapdash — OK when I was a 15-year-old in a village with twelve (12) SF books in its library, but not something I’d recommend to anyone who I’d want to continue reading SF.
edit: unintended fifth — I was second when I started….
@10, I tried to read the Lensmen books when I was a teenager back in the 1970s, and bounced off hard.
Second Fifth is the Best Fifth!
I’ve…got nothing.
Skylark was started in the 20s and it shows.
Lensman is fun if you’ve reset your brain to “30’s pulp adventure”, but start with Galactic Patrol, not Triplanetary or First Lensman. GP starts with a bang and doesn’t stop until the final book where they’re tossing planets around. Death Star? Barely a popgun!
Triplanetary is a lot like Skylark – it wasn’t even originally written as a Lensman book. (Though the WWII section is a good read and widely considered to be somewhat autobiographical). First Lensman was written after the others – it’s OK as far as backstory goes, but that’s about it.
The only Smith I’ve ever read was The Galaxy Primes (not Lensman, but a stand-alone), and hooboy would I not recommend it to anybody now!
@Jamoche: 1919
For anyone who remembers events leading up to
this (fully quoted from BBC because AFAICT there’s no direct link to the segment):
That was from 23 Aug; on 29 Aug the authorities decided to postpone a decision. If you want to see just how ugly it would be, search for “battlefield” on this page
10) I repeatedly tried to read E.E. Smith, starting with Triplanetary, then starting with Galactic Patrol and always bounced off hard. Maybe if I’d found Smith earlier and not after I’d already read/watched umpteen things influenced by his work, I’d have enjoyed him more.
But as it is, his work is extremely important to the history of the genre (and interesting for historical reasons), but doesn’t really hold up all that well.
It’s a big enough project maybe they’re right. Though the mention reminds me of the Henry Tudor biography I read last year which devoted a chunk of wordage to analyzing the disputes about where exactly the battle took place, albeit in that general area.
Hey, I had that myself just last week.
E.E. Smith’s work has value for SF’s history, but even when I read it in the late 60’s/early 70’s during my late teens/early 20’s, it was clearly not great literature. Read the entire series back then, but the last several books were more from a sense of obligation than enjoyment.
That said, Jamoche’s comment re Triplanetary: “the WWII section is a good read and widely considered to be somewhat autobiographical” is one I agree with. (Tho’ I recall it as being set in a First World War munitions plant, rather than WWII; I may be wrong.) It’s the only part of the Lensman series I’d be willing to read again. (Hopefully the Suck Fairy hasn’t gotten to it too.)
Bruce Arthurs: I was introduced to The Lensman Series by a friend when I was about 15 and it had a lot to do with turning me into a voracious reader of sff. However, with the Vietnam War going on at the time, and counter-culture inspired skepticism everywhere, I found I was glad I’d encountered it when I had because I really couldn’t recommend it later on.
(6) PIXLEY AT WORLDCON. Her lovely name is like a scroll title. 😉
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS. Steve Perry’s written non-tie-in fiction as well, e.g., his “Matador” series. IIRC I enjoyed The Man Who Never Missed from that series, many years ago.
@Cat Eldridge: FWIW I seem to recall blog posts (from authors writing both tie-in and non-tie-in fiction) saying that, despite popular belief, it really does take originality and creativity to write tie-in fiction. Tie-in fiction’s not my thing, I hasten to add, but your “originality” dig at Steve Perry rubbed me the wrong way. (shrug)
That said, I appreciate the birthday info send to @Mike Glyer for the Pixel Scrolls. Thanks for doing it. 🙂
(11) COMICS SECTION. LOL at both of these!
I reread most of the Skylark books and the Lensman series recently. The Skylark books do not stand up at all well. The Lensman books are far better, although still dated. Triplanetary has one incredibly problematic scene and I would recommend skipping it and First Lensman unless you really want to get all the references added to “later” books.
That said, I did not get the same disappointment I got from rereading Asimov’s older robot stories.
So, if you can take them for what they are yes, you can read and enjoy the Lensman books. I wouldn’t go as far as recommending them, but I wouldn’t actively dissuade anyone who knew what they were getting into.
I commented on Twitter that the very least they could do is make it a horse track instead. Richard III would have wanted horses, I hear tell.
According to Cat Rambo on Twitter, some variety of apparent pup was seen loitering with intent outside the SFWA Meeting at Dragon*Con. When asked what he wanted, he replied that he wanted to burn down the Hugo Awards.
…which, of course, the SFWA have nothing at all to do with, as they subsequently informed him.
That seems like a wise use of his time.
“Doc” Smith was an early, umm, influence, I guess – as a teenager, I loved the spectacular bits, but I can’t say it’s great literature, and a lot of the science and the attitudes look dated now. Still, it’s historically interesting, and there’s a certain amount to dig into, with Smith – I’ve always wondered about the parallels between him and Lovecraft (both loaded down with hyperbolic adjectives, both include creatures which live in wildly non-earthly settings and are incomprehensible in appearance), and there’s a lot to be said for evaluating him in his historical context.
(@Bruce Arthurs: the bit in the chemical/munitions plant is WWII, but the protagonist is the same guy who’s in the WWI segment – older, and restricted to civilian work. I’d agree that this non-SF, vaguely autobiographical bit is the best thing in Triplanetary.)
The Skylark series is older, and somewhat weaker (and I think you can safely ignore the last of the four books, which features Our Heroes committing quite the biggest act of genocide I’ve ever seen in SF, and pulp SF features a whole lotta genocide.) As for The Galaxy Primes, with psychic superman Garlock rampaging around the universe before returning to Earth and setting up a Fascist state with himself at the top… no. Just no.
Godstalk!
@Ray Radlein
A member of the Superversive crew, it turns out. If he checks in the dealers room he may be able to buy a clue.
I tried Smith a couple of times back when I was young, a couple of decades ago, but could never quite make any headway. I’m most familiar with him from the essay that Heinlein wrote in … was it in Expanded Universe?
(now Clark Ashton Smith, on the other hand … there’s a Smith I really got along with)
I’m going to get The Fall Of Gondolin, for Christmas probably, but it’s going to make me sad…
I guess I hit E. E. Smith when I was young in the sweet spot after finishing all of the Edgar Rice Burroughs in my dad’s collection and before Dad handed me Hal Clement’s Needle. At the time, I liked the series a lot, but I was probably eleven or twelve.
You’re gonna need a bigger scroll.
(9) Russ Heath also drew stories published by the great EC Comics company. Other EC alumni were writer Harlan Ellison (died 6/28), writer Nick Meglin (died 6/2) and artist Marie Severin (died 8/29). I not aware of any other living EC creators other than artist Angelo Torres, who is 86.
I think my first exposure to Doc Smith was “Backstage Lensman” by Randall Garrett. I thought it was pretty funny at the time even without having read any of the Lensman books.
My second exposure to Doc Smith might have been the Triplanetary game by GDW. I don’t really think it had much to do with the books other than the name.
Eventually I read all of the books in the Old Earth Books editions. Some of the stuff is pretty silly and some of it still works.
I keep waiting for someone to write a how to succeed in business book based on teaching of the Galactic Patrol. Some of the best bits of the books are about how the various lensmen succeeded in the businesses they were working in while undercover.
Knives, pixels, files, scrolls of energy raved against the screens of the Dentless
I bounced off EE Smith pretty hard myself. Gave him a couple of tries–I grew up in fandom, hearing people talk about how important and influential he was–but never managed to find an entry point that interested me.
Which, I guess, helped prepare me for the idea that stuff doesn’t necessarily age well.
It is a bit funny, though. Even though I was just the right age to get totally sucked into the whole New Wave “revolution”, I did still like a lot of old, pulpy SF. I devoured Edgar Rice Burroughs like candy, even as I was also reading William. But Smith, somehow, just never did it for me.
This might amuse some people here (and horrify some others). I don’t know how many of you will be able to see this (Facebook’s access rules are beyond me), but it’s a public post on a public FB group, so you might.
A post in the “Your Mom is So Berkeley” group mentions an old (’98) Hugo nominee. (A mom was not-too-flattering about it.)
@Jack Lint: the more you know of the books, the funnier Garrett’s parody is. Knowing bits of popular culture of the time (e.g., The Caine Mutiny) also helps but is less important.) Garrett notes in Takeoff! that Smith saw the first version of the parody and “laughed all through the convention” — not surprising, as he appears to have been an all-around good sport.
I read the Lensman book in my later teens and liked the as mindless fun. There are more swashbuckling pulp than SF though, akin to superman comics: Big bad, hero artives, hero is captured, hero is using his superpower to escape and later to finish the baddie. A bit of an overall arc where superhero is levelling up and has to finish a harder boss monster every time. Nothing I would read now, unless for nostalgia though.
With a little help by my clones
The Lensmen also had a more sensible process for rehabilitating planets after they freed them from their oppressive tyrants than any real-live situation has ever tried. For one thing, they actually had a process!
I really enjoyed the Lensmen books, when I was pretty young, and at being sexist was simply a thing I had to cope with. They were fun. They were not literature. There were delightful bits, and bits where, as much as I took the sexism for granted, I had to stop and privately rant about it.
Quite a few older fans talked about the Skylark books as if that was the good stuff, more thoughtful, better written, more exciting…
No. Just no.
I cherish my memories of the Lensmen series, and will not be rereading them.
I will do my bit to ensure no one tries to read the Skylark books.
I’m pretty sure The Galaxy Primes does not exist in this timeline, and if it does, I will find a way to eject it into another.
I read Skylark of Space at 11; I was off and running with Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron and Skylark DuQuesne (taking far too long to realize that the ‘S’ in that lattter name is silent), but oddly, by the time I discovered the Lensman series, I no longer found Smith so compelling.
I re-read Skylark of Space a couple-three years ago (fast re-read) and found it “clunky”, but still capable of evoking those early “gosh wow” moments (nostalgic “gosh wow” as opposed to contemporary “gosh wow”).
It took me the longest time to realize “DuQuesne” was *not* pronounced Doo-Kwez-Nee.
I only figured out how to pronounce DuQuesne when I heard it spoken out loud on one of the CSIs, because a character had the same surname. I always wondered if there was an SF fan on the writing staff.
@Paul Weimer: “I’ve got…nothing.”
As it happens, so do I. Rather overstocked with the stuff, actually. If anyone’s running low, it’s free for the asking… as long as you pick it up on-site.
E.E., Clark Ashton, Matt… why do I have the urge to make an homage album cover? I’d need one more, though. Any nominations?
George O.? He did the Venus Equilateral stories, about a human-staffed radio relay station in solar orbit.
@Rev. Bob: how about the other E.E. Smith? Evelyn E. Smith, that is.
Speaking Randall Garrett, this reminds me that there’s a series I enjoyed that was . . . Sherlock Holmes-derived (I believe)! His “Lord Darcy” series. I read it years ago and re-read it via audiobook in the past year and still enjoyed it (though it could be a bit slow occasionally). I forget why I originally bought it years ago (I have an SFBC edition, so maybe just fantasy-mystery interested me then, as it doesn’t necessarily now).
So I shouldn’t be so quick to say “ANOTHER Holmes knock-off?!” perhaps. 😛 Though tastes change. Hmm.
@Ray Raedlin ; but they already have got a track for riderless horses, it’s the second half of the Epsom steeplechase course..
My big sister brought the Lensmen and Skylark reprints ( with the Jack Gaugahn (sic!) covers, yum!) home from college. I read them all, and can attest that the Golden Age of Science Fiction is, indeed, fifteen.
For those with an interest in space opera written by a fan of Doc Smith but with much more modern sensibilities, I highly recommend Grand Central Arena by Ryk Spoor. The first manned test of an FTL ship strands the crew inside The Arena, a light-years wide scale model of the universe which was created by ancient aliens who rewrote the laws of physics (as you do) in order to force all FTL-capable aliens to interact more or less peacefully. Often falling on the “less” end of the spectrum.
The series is full of awesome heroics, ridiculous tech and more sensawunda than you can shake a very large stick at. One of the characters actually is a Doc Smith character, or a reasonable facsimile. He was genetically modified in an artificial womb and reared in a virtual reality environment by what can only be called very dedicated fans of Smith’s work. Needless to say, this had a bit of an effect on his psyche. He’s not the only one, either. There were dozens of fictional characters made real like him, and several of them pop up during the course of the series.
This is one of my favorite series of all time, and I really can’t recommend it enough.
@Bruce Arthurs
Except for my grandmother’s uncle, who was “Ques” for short. (Illinois farm kid. When would they have heard it?)
Another list for people to slam! 😉 Unbound Worlds, who posted a “100 Best Fantasy Novels of All Time” list a while back, now has a 100 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time list. As before, they’re clear they just asked staffers for top sci-fi recs, but in comments, someone stopped looking at the list because their pet book wasn’t listed (never mind that presumably this means the staffers didn’t read it, didn’t like it, or liked others better, and Tastes Differ).
No list suits everyone, but it has a good mix of classics, recent works, and works inbetween. It’s weird to see 1984 side-by-side with All the Birds in the Sky, though. 😉
ObStats: I’ve read 27/100 (nearly all of which I liked or loved, methinks) and seen the movie or TV show for a few others, so I’m going to call this 30 total. 😉 I have another 16, a few of which surprised me and a few of which were free ebooks from publishers or whatever (i.e., not all were purposeful acquisitions). And then another 6 are on my list to try.
BTW I’m not getting the Edit options today after posting. Apologies for any major typos or other bizarre errors.
On finding “DuQuesne” and its pronunciation in various parts of the US: Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) and its ties to George Washington’s “Fort Necessity”. I covered it in… 6th?… grade.
@Ray Radlein:
That’s… special.
@Mark:
That’s… extra special.
I hope the SFWAns referred him to their Hugo Awards Secretary, Helen Waite.
@Kendall, 60 for me. (With perhaps five more that looked vaguely familiar but I’m not certain about, so I didn’t count them.) Not a bad list. No list, of course, can possibly be exhaustive, and there are a few on there which just didn’t work for me. But for the most part, I can’t argue. Which is actually really quite good for one of these lists…
(Has the shoggoth gone off in the time machine again? It’s been 2018 for quite some time, now…)