Pixel Scroll 9/2/18 Elvish Has Left The Building

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(1) DECOPUNK CITATION. Language Log quotes Cat Valente today in “Decopunk and other quasicompositional compounds”.

Complex lexical items generally have analogical historico-semantic accretions similar to those in the X-punk domain. This includes phrases like red tide, solar energy, or historical fiction,  as well as compounds like jumpsuit, ski lift, or break room. In the other direction, proper names are far from being semantically arbitrary in practice — to quote from a Decopunk work, Catherynne Valente’s Radiance…

(2) THE MATTER OF ENGLAND. One people, divided by a common tongue…

https://www.tumblr.com/medesha/131750372841/altarandwitchinghour-kingfucko-gollyplot

(3) PETER CAPALDI, VENTRILOQUIST. This caught my eye –

(4) AND THEN, AT DRAGON CON. Remember what they said about “Inconceivable”?

(5) THE MEANING OF IT ALL. Bow Tie Writer asked an array of fans at Worldcon 76 to answer his question. I recognized Judy Bemis, Kevin Standlee, and Michelle Pincus among them.

Worldcon 2018 was held in San Jose August 15th – 20th. I went around and I asked people one simple question: What does Worldcon mean to you. This video is my homage to fandom, to internet friends, and to all the good people who come together to celebrate the things we love.

 

(6) RSR’S WORLDCON REPORT. At Rocket Stack Rank, Greg Hullender has an interesting set of “WorldCon 76 Takeaways” (including coverage of the Filer meetups).

…The audience for this panel had lots of people with many decades of experience with fanzines, so we had a lively but always cordial discussion. I was pleased to learn that even the folks who’d done fanzines back in the days of mimeograph machines all seemed to agree that online publications were definitely the future, particularly in terms of their ability to immediately involve fans via comments that don’t need to wait a month or more for publication. They worried that blogs in particular lack some of the feel of a fanzine, which has an arrangement of related stories. (At RSR, we’ll think about how a content-management system might capture that for an online publication.)

I was very pleased when someone in the audience told me that Rocket Stack Rank fit into a long tradition of “Review Fanzines,” of which Tangent is another surviving example. That made me feel a lot less like an impostor….

(7) TRUESDALE’S WORLDCON 76 PHOTO GALLERY. Dave Truesdale’s Worldcon 76 report for Tangent, “Photos from Worldcon 76, the 76th World Science Fiction Convention”, begins with coverage of Saturday’s alt-right demonstration, and ends by explaining what a raw deal he got when his 2016 Worldcon membership was revoked. In between there are a quite a few fine author photos. Here are the captions from one set —

Below Left: Lezli Robyn, helping out at the Galaxy’s Edge dealer’s table. Below Right: Galaxy’s Edge Publisher Shahid Mahmud. Both Lezli and Shahid are two of the most delightful people I’ve met in a long time. Shahid’s enthusiasm and love of SF is infectious. We talked for quite some time about this and that, and his intelligence and sense of humor shone through everything. I can’t imagine anyone not liking Shahid once they’ve met him.

(8) PROMETHEUS SPEECH. The Libertarian Futurist Society presented the Prometheus Awards at Worldcon 76. The author of the Prometheus Award-winning novel, Travis Corcoran, was unable to attend, so his acceptance speech for Powers of the Earth was read by Chris Hibbert. Its message is conveyed with classic libertarian subtlety.

…Since the first Worldcon in 1939 science fiction has been a libertarian territory under attack from authoritarians. Futurian Donald Wollheim was a communist, and argued that all of science fiction “should actively work for the realization of the . . . world-state as the only . . . justification for their activities”.

Wollheim failed with his takeover in 1939—he was physically removed from Worldcon—but he started a Gramscian long march through the institutions, and it worked. In the current year conventions, editors, and publishing houses are all cordy-cepted. The sociopaths have pushed the geeks out and have taken over the cultural territory.

“You made this? <pause> I made this.”

When the state tries to take your home, they come with guns, and you have to fight them with guns, if at all.

When a subculture tries to take your home, they come with snark and shame and entryism . . . and you fight them by making better art….

(9) DIRT FARMING. James Davis Nicoll has a long fannish exploration of “Science Fiction’s Trouble with Terraforming” at Tor.com.

Terraforming is, of course, the hypothesized art of converting an uninhabitable rock into a habitable world. Jack Williamson coined the term in his Seetee-related short story, “Collision Orbit”, published under the pen name Will Stewart in the July, 1942 issue of Astounding Magazine. While Williamson invokes non-existent super-science in order to make the task seem doable, he probably felt confident that terraforming would someday make sense. In the short run, we have seen humans shaping the Earth. In the long run—well, Earth was once an anoxic wasteland. Eons of life shaped it into a habitable planet. Williamson suspected that humans could imitate that process elsewhere…and make it happen in centuries rather than eons. Perhaps in even less time!

(10) AUGUSTULUS: With the help of a belated July issue, Jason has compiled a diminutive list of notable reading in Summation: August at Featured Futures:

This month has been doubly strange. Despite reading 42 stories of about 201K words from the August magazines, I’m in the unprecedented and unpleasant position of only being able to note one story (and that’s not even fully recommended). Counting a late July story and things for a couple of Tangent reviews, I read 59 stories of about 324K words this month and can at least add two recs and another honorable mention, all from the July/August Black Static, but only one of those is even speculative with the other two being straight horror.

(11) GIDDINGS OBIT. Sff writer and critic Joseph “Joe” Giddings passed away from ALS at the age of 45 on August 16. He was born April 6, 1973. His criticism appeared in Bull Spec and Tangent Online (among others). His fiction appeared in Mystic Signals and Dark Stars (more information in his entry at Internet Science Fiction Database.) Giddings blogged at “The Clockwork Pen”.

Joseph Giddings

(12) TODAY’S MEMORIAL DAYS

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge. Who looked at the wrong ISFDB page today — but waste not, want not!]

  • Died September 2, 1973. J.R.R. Tolkien. It’d be extremely silly of me to list what he’s done given what the group knows, so instead I’ll ask instead what’s your favourite work by him. Mine’s still The Hobbit, a book I delight in re-reading in the Autumn as I think of him as being of that season.
  • Died September 2, 2000 – Curt Siodmak. He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as The Wolf Man and Donovan’s Brain with the latter being adapted from his novel of the same name. Siodmak is credited with creating the legend that only silver can kill a werewolf. He also wrote the screenplays for include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, I Walked With a Zombie and The Beast With Five Fingers.
  • Died September 2, 2013 – Frederik Pohl. Obviously needs no introduction here. His first published was a 1937 poem “Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna”. Noted work include the Heechee series whose first novel, Gateway, was the winner of the Campbell Memorial, Hugo, Locus SF, and Nebula Awards, Man Plus , and The Space Merchants with Cyril M. Kornbluth. I won’t say that any of the short story collections thrill me but Platinum Pohl is a decent collection. 

(13) COMICS SECTION.

(14) HOGWARTS EXPRESS. More “Back to Hogwarts” hype: “Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law were at Kings Cross for the Hogwarts Express”.

As every good Harry Potter fan knows, the Hogwarts Express departs from Kings Cross station, London, platform nine and three-quarters at 11.30am on September 1. This year Professor Dumbledore and Newt Scamander themselves, aka Hollywood stars Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne, were there to kick off the new year.

(15) AND WHILE WE’RE HOGWARTING. Gwynne Watkins, in the Yahoo! Entertainment story “A ‘Harry Potter’ neophyte watches all 8 movies for the first time: Here’s what happened”  says that “my cred as a film nerd and a nerd nerd has been threatened by a shameful omission”– she had never seen a Harry Potter movie (not literally – she’d seen the first one in its initial theatrical release.)  So she decided to watch them all over a 24-hour binge. Some notes are better than others. Is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix really about the problems of standardized testing? On the other hand, she had an interesting response to this 20-years-after rewatch of the very first movie —

What surprised me most on my second viewing of Sorcerer’s Stone was how much I loved Emma Watson’s Hermione. The first time around, I remember thinking that her show-offish, know-it-all nature was borderline unbearable. Now I love how unapologetic she is about her intelligence, how confidently she wields it in a room full of boys. (Seriously, where are the Hogwarts girls? Hermione needs some female friends!) Maybe as a girl who grew up downplaying her intelligence, Hermione made me uncomfortable in some primal, fourth-grade part of my subconscious. If that’s true, it only makes me more grateful that my daughter will grow up in a post-Hermione world.

(16) THE HORROR. From Agouti (@bitterkarella) comes news of the horror genre’s Midnight Society of writers. Dean Koontz, HP Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Edward Lee, Stephen King, and Edgar Allen Poe trade inspirations for their next novels. The thread starts here.

(17) NED KELLY AWARDS. My internet wanderings brought me the results of the Australian Crime Writers Association’s 2018 Ned Kelly Awards, and far be it from me to turn down literary award news…

2018 Ned Kelly Awards

Best Crime

  • Crossing the Lines by Sulari Gentill

Best First Crime

  • The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

Best True Crime

  • Unmaking A Murder: The Mysterious Death of Anna Jane Cheney by Graham Archer

(18) NGAIO MARSH. Likewise, I learned the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards for the “very best in Kiwi Crime” were recently presented in New Zealand.

Best Crime Novel

  • Marlborough Man by Alan Carter (Fremantle Press)

Best First Novel

  • All Our Secrets by Jennifer Lane (Rosa Mira Books)

(19) RENAME THAT TUNE. The IAU will probably decide that Hubble needs to share credit – The Conversation has the story: “Game-changing resolution: whose name on the laws of physics for an expanding universe?”

Astronomers are engaged in a lively debate over plans to rename one of the laws of physics.

It emerged overnight at the 30th Meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in Vienna, where members of the general assembly considered a resolution on amending the name of the Hubble Law to the Hubble-Lemaître Law.

The resolution aims to credit the work of the Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître and his contribution – along with the American astronomer Edwin Hubble – to our understanding of the expansion of the universe.

While most (but not all) members at the meeting were in favour of the resolution, a decision allowed all members of the International Astronomical Union a chance to vote. Subsequently, voting was downgraded to a straw vote and the resolution will formally be voted on by an electronic vote at a later date.

(20) BEWARE BENNU. The NASA mission to visit and sample Bennu — a “potentially hazardous asteroid” — has entered a new phase (“NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Begins Asteroid Operations Campaign”). The spacecraft has begun approach operations:

After an almost two-year journey, NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, caught its first glimpse of asteroid Bennu last week and began the final approach toward its target. Kicking off the mission’s asteroid operations campaign on Aug. 17, the spacecraft’s PolyCam camera obtained the image from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km).

…The spacecraft has traveled approximately 1.1 billion miles (1.8 billion km) since its Sept. 8, 2016, launch and is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on Dec. 3.

…During the mission’s approach phase, OSIRIS-REx will:

  • regularly observe the area around the asteroid to search for dust plumes and natural satellites, and study Bennu’s light and spectral properties;
  • execute a series of four asteroid approach maneuvers, beginning on Oct. 1, slowing the spacecraft to match Bennu’s orbit around the Sun;
  • jettison the protective cover of the spacecraft’s sampling arm in mid-October and subsequently extend and image the arm for the first time in flight; and
  • use OCAMS to reveal the asteroid’s overall shape in late-October and begin detecting Bennu’s surface features in mid-November.

Ultimately, the craft will map the asteroid, then perform a sampling “touch-and-go” maneuver. The sample will be dropped off at Earth in a Sample Return Capsule in September 2023. OSIRIS-REx itself will end up in a solar orbit.

(21) LOX WARNING. It used to be a thing — and may still be in some fannish circles — to whip up fresh ice cream at room parties using liquid nitrogen. The US Food and Drug administration has issued a safety alert about the danger of drinks and food prepared with LN2 at the point of sale (CNN: “FDA issues warning about liquid nitrogen on food”):

“The FDA has become aware of severe — and in some cases, life-threatening — injuries, such as damage to skin and internal organs caused by liquid nitrogen still present in the food or drink,” the FDA said in issuing its safety alert. “Injuries have occurred from handling or eating products prepared by adding liquid nitrogen immediately before consumption, even after the liquid nitrogen has fully evaporated due to the extremely low temperature of the food.”

In its warning, the FDA said inhaling the vapor “released by a food or drink prepared by adding liquid nitrogen immediately before consumption may also cause breathing difficulty, especially among individuals with asthma.”

…The FDA did not say how many reports of injuries it has received or provide details on life-threatening cases.

(22) MOON WALKER. The BBC’s Nicholas Barber gives “Five Stars for First Man”

The life story of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, is so full of astounding courage, tragedy and triumph that it is just begging for an old-school Hollywood biopic, with all the inspiring speeches, swelling orchestras and grand themes that the genre entails. First Man is not that biopic.

Directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land) and scripted by Josh Singer (Spotlight), the film is an understated, economical drama which, like a rocket that has to escape from the Earth’s gravity, jettisons absolutely everything it doesn’t need. Dialogue is kept to a minimum. Exposition is edited out. Extraneous characters are stripped away to the point that you see almost nothing of Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll), who moonwalked with Armstrong, and even less of Mike Collins (Lukas Haas), who piloted the orbiting craft. You don’t hear about Armstrong’s Korean War heroics, for that matter, and the space-race politics that were behind Nasa’s Apollo programme remain in the background. And yet, as restrained as First Man is, this riveting, exhaustively researched and utterly believable film manages to shake you, take your breath away and even pull a few tears from your eyes.

(23) SCREEN PLAY. “Movie Madness: Why Chinese cinemas are empty but full”. Speculators think buying seats (to fake up hits, to push stock prices) is cheaper than making good movies.

For a country which will soon assume the mantle of the world’s largest cinema audience, China comes out with a surprising number of big budget B-grade flops.

Some blame this on censorship, others on a lack of creativity but there are also those who see a more sinister force at work, which has nothing to do with film-making.

It also has nothing to do with selling tickets: at least not real ones.

Some investors are apparently financially backing movies with the sole goal of boosting their stock price that can shift on the perception of a movie’s performance, irrespective of its true popularity.

(24) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “The Bridge Tongues” on YouTube is a look back at our times from the 25th century, where no one argues with each other and everyone lives in their own digital bubble.

[Thanks to JJ, Mark Hepworth, John King Tarpinian, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Gregory Benford, Martin Morse Wooster, Bill Burns, Dann, James Davis Nicoll, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

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107 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 9/2/18 Elvish Has Left The Building”

  2. (21) You can take my LN2 dewar when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

    But LOX is a different thing.

  3. 8) “cordy-cepted”? Is this one of those special Libertarian terms that everyone else is just supposed to magically understand?

    Also, The sociopaths have pushed the geeks out and have taken over the cultural territory is a perfect illustration of NiceGuy Inversion Syndrome (aka “women only want to date assholes, not nice guys like me”). Dude, you’re assigning yourself to the wrong end of that equation.

    12) Tolkien favorites… Of long works, it’s still LOTR; I re-read at least parts of it every few years, and while I’m not blind to its problems (and indeed have written a fix-it fic for one of them), it’s still comfort reading for me.

    For short pieces, I’m going to go with “Stone Troll”, a lively filk TTTO “The Fox” which has been part of my repertoire for 40+ years.

  4. Hmph. I just posted a comment that disappeared into the ether. Mike, could you please check the spam filter?

    ETA: Oh wait, I know what must have happened — I used the A-word without munging it. Sorry!

  5. (12) Those dates are right for their deaths except for the years. Those are their birth years.

    Tolkien died in 1973, Siodmak in 2000 and Pohl in 2013.

  7. #23 – I’ve got a free iOS app on the app store. It normally sticks at about 5-10 downloads a month, but late last year it shot way up. All the extras came from China. Discussion on the Apple forums revealed it was happening to other free apps, none of which were very likely to be popular in China (for instance, mine is a xtide tide-tracker port that, due to licensing headaches, only has US data.)

    Best guess anyone could come up with was that we were the noise to hide the signal of Chinese bots buying paid apps to boost their rankings, which would in turn cause more legit sales.

  9. (7) TRUESDALE’S WORLDCON 76 PHOTO GALLERY.

    It’s just bizarre that Truesdale devoted so many photos and so much narrative to a non-event (a “protest” which the instigator himself failed to attend).

    Truesdale says that Benford wrote to Worldcon 76 asking them to give him a free membership to “make up” for him being “kicked out” of a con which he, by his own admission, volitionally stopped attending himself after committing serious malfeasance as a panel moderator.

    I seriously can’t believe the nerve of either of them in asking for this.

    He also complains that Benford did not get a reply. Maybe the e-mail got lost. Maybe it got overlooked. Maybe Worldcon 76 was well aware that sending no response was better than sending a “no” response which would immediately be used in yet another alt-right outrage campaign.

    A lot of people who can’t afford to attend Worldcon, but have never behaved as badly as he did at MAC II and have actually contributed positively to the Worldcon community, are far more deserving of an all-expenses-paid trip to Worldcon. It’s a pity that Benford chose to spend his money so poorly.

  10. LOL at the scroll title.

    (8) Well, that speech is a large barrel of stupid.

    Recent reading: I was entranced by Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, despite the Staryk king (heh, I originally typed Starky, which is probably the name Novik won’t reveal) being an arrogant ass. Unfortunately, I bounced off Catherynne Valente’s Space Opera. I’ve liked her work before–in particular The Refrigerator Monologues–but the thesaurus vomitus style of this book was not for me.

  11. @ Goobergunch: *eyeroll* Yeah, that would make… about as much sense as any Libertarian argument ever does, which is a damn low bar. Once again, assigning himself to the wrong end of the equation. Thanks.

    ETA: @ Bonnie: That was pretty much my reaction to Space Opera as well. I’m now regretting having bought the e-book, because I can’t take that to the used bookstore.

  12. (8) BROMETHEUS SPEECH.

    Poor Corcoran. How awful that all of us fake geeks and false fans have “stolen” SF from him and his fellow libertarianbros. 🙄

  14. Bonnie McDaniel: I was entranced by Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, despite the Staryk king being an arrogant ass.

    I loved Uprooted, and there was a great deal to love about Spinning Silver — but in my opinion, it totally muffed the endings. Which was disappointing, because I had hoped to love it. 🙁

  16. So much I want to write in response to the libertarian award winner (8), but it’s late USA eastern. I’ll confine myself to two short comments.

    The award winner knows just enough of the history of science fiction to be dangerous. :-). His implication was that there was an established SF infrastructure for leftists to evilly burrow into. But it wasn’t much of an infrastructure. The participants were still building SF, even the leftist Futurians.

    SF is not a territory to be contested; it is a toolbox available to express any political point of view.

    (Wollheim not creative, grumble grumble…)

  17. (5) I see that Christopher Carson (in vest and cravat) made the cut as well. The fan who made that video tracked me down after one of the WSFS Business Meetings, and because they all mostly ended early, I had time to do the interview. Fortunately, I’ve answered most of the questions he asked before, and I seem to have gotten better over time at talking to the camera.

  18. 8)
    Maybe Corcoran’s winning novel is actually good, though I fear I will never know, because that speech just killed any desire I might ever have felt to read that book.

  20. (12) My first Tolkien was The Father Christmas Letters. It’s an underrated gem.
    For me, it’s a bit like Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – in any normal world, it would be praised and then forgotten, but when the author becomes a “great”, then even their minor work will remain in public view.

  21. 21) There was a case in the UK, I think in Nottingham, a couple of years back, where a student drank a cocktail made with liquid nitrogen and wound up in hospital with a chunk of her stomach missing. Grounds to exercise sensible caution, I think.

    My own experience with the stuff is limited to external application – it was painted on the sole of my foot, once, to burn off a stubborn verruca. I must admit, I’m not inclined to get any of it inside me.

  22. Fascinating that Truesdale was no part of either demonstration. Despite wearing a MAKE SCIENCE FICTION FUN AGAIN hat that day. And being present at the very much open blood drive van when I walked someone out there towards the end of the afternoon.

  25. @Bonnie and @Lee —

    Unfortunately, I bounced off Catherynne Valente’s Space Opera. I’ve liked her work before–in particular The Refrigerator Monologues–but the thesaurus vomitus style of this book was not for me.

    I loved Space Opera to death — but it is wall-to-wall absurdist humor, and I can easily see how many folks wouldn’t appreciate it. I strongly recommended it to another book friend just a few days ago, and they apparently hated it. YMMV!

    I also have to STRONGLY recommend listening to it rather than reading, and also strongly recommend its narrator in the audio version, Heath Miller, who was OUTSTANDING. I don’t know whether it’s true, but I’ve heard that he is actually engaged to Valente.

    I haven’t tried Spinning Silver yet, but it’s on Mt. TBR!

  26. 1) In music as in literature, the -punk modifier isn’t a genre but rather an aesthetic.

    8) TLDR; Remember when freedom meant WE got to kick people out?

    13) I’ve always thought of Dune as the Haynes Manual for the model-year 10196 Galaxy.

  28. Contrarius: I also have to STRONGLY recommend listening to it rather than reading, and also strongly recommend its narrator in the audio version, Heath Miller, who was OUTSTANDING. I don’t know whether it’s true, but I’ve heard that he is actually engaged to Valente.

    Not only that, he is 50% responsible for the bun in the oven which is expected to be fully-baked around the end of September. 😉

    That kid is going to have sooooo much fun growing up.

  29. @JJ —

    Forget the kid — Valente is soooo lucky to have such a good narrator at her beck and call! This was the first Valente I’ve listened to or read, but I’ll happily buy anything else she’s written as long as he’s narrating it.

  31. (2) @David Shallcross–Anglais, Franglais, go back that far, who cares?

    Space Opera–Yes, full on absurdist humor, and it just can’t work for everyone. But if you’re in the right mainframe for it, it is wonderful.

  32. (7) TRUESDALE’S WORLDCON 76 PHOTO GALLERY.

    Whatever I may think of Truesdale, I am kind of impressed with Benford. In helping Truesdale get to Worldcon Benford put quite a bit of money where his mouth is, which is more than can be said for a lot of people.

  33. @4: What did they say about “inconceivable” that applies? I’ve seen that “Bless your heart!” can be covertly rude, but I don’t see anything covert about the former.

    @12: I no longer have a favorite Tolkien — but I reread The Hobbit when the movies started coming out and thought it managed to be both pompous and twee. I don’t have Moorcock’s contempt for the works, but I no longer have the patience to dig through all his crotchets. I’m just not who I was 51 years ago (for which an assortment of people are probably grateful…).

    Rhymes with Orange suggests when not to motivate.

  35. @Chip: I think that’s a “Princess Bride” reference. Per Inigo Montoya “Inconceivable” doesn’t mean what you think it means – just like “Bless your heart” didn’t mean what Capaldi thought it meant.

  36. (8) …
    You know, I used to consider myself libertarian – or at least a fan of the SF, but I swear the quality of what’s published in this vein had declined over the years (if it ever did I’m afraid to re-read because of the suck fairy). The opposition has to be mustache twirling baddies in the same vein as Stalin and Beria, the heroes are the only ones to see the problems and have solutions.

    And there are days I’ve swear that the plot points I just ran down are what many of the authors are trying to have in real life…

  37. Lol scroll title

    So, I liked the setting and World building of Valentes Radiance, but the story was too thin for me (world building all the way down) – Would you still recommend Space Opera to me? Are they comparable?

    Two wrongs dont make a Wright

  38. Lakedog: What’s the over under on how long until the Prometheus award is kicked out of Worldcon?

    That’s one way of looking at it. The other is, why does the Prometheus Award want to be platformed at the Worldcon?

  39. @Peer —

    So, I liked the setting and World building of Valentes Radiance, but the story was too thin for me (world building all the way down) – Would you still recommend Space Opera to me? Are they comparable?

    There is not a whole lot of actual plot to Space Opera. It is humor, humor, humor, with side servings of pathos, warmth, and a little optimism just for spice.

    Its main point, really, is to poke many things about the human condition in the ribs. It isn’t mean-spirited as some humor is, and it isn’t bleakly cynical as some humor is, but the humor is so unrelenting that it would be very easy to overdose on.

    Check the Kindle or Audible free sample, and see how you get along with that. It’s all going to depend on your personal tastes.

  40. 8.) If you haven’t had a chance to look at them, I’d recommend Fred Pohl’s The Way The Future Was, Damon Knight’s The Futurians, and Judith Merril’s memoir as well. The notion that the Futurians were some sort of monolithic Bolshevik juggernaut really becomes laughable after reading the history. Donald Wollheim, who is certainly immensely influential as an editor and publisher, for instance, was so committed to the socialist cause that he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Franklin Roosevelt, and instead voted Republican in a number of elections. Fred Pohl certainly was a committed communist and Judith Merril had her own commitments to radical politics, but could not make the same claim for Damon Knight or James Blish. The only other committed communist, I believe, was Johnny Michel, who didn’t really leave much of a lasting mark on the genre and died in rather depressing circumstances. What this group does hold in common is a real commitment to make science fiction a more complex and sophisticated literary form. You can oppose this I guess but it’s not really a Bolshevik conspiracy.

  43. (1) I bounced off RADIANCE, but after reading the discussion here, I will try the audio of SPACE OPERA.

    (7) I find that I now feel rather tempted to seize the microphone and go on a long, incoherent, insulting, and logic-free rant asserting that Mr. Truesdale is just pretending to like Shahid & Lezli because he’s virtue signalling and this is clearly political correctness run mad, yada yada….. But I don’t have the energy.

    (8) I just read the book description, too. The final line lists various stuff that the book is about, concluding with, “really, really big guns.” Which sort of brag I can never escape reading as “anxiety about my really small… hands.”

    Anyhow, what does “cordy-cepted” mean? I keep picturing Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer intercepting something. I’m guessing that’s not an accurate reflection of his intended meaning?

    (21) There’s a place in Over the Rhine now that freezes your order of liquor-infused ice cream with liquid nitrogen in front of you. (Our tour company’s food tours go there.) Maybe I’ll opt out, after reading this….

  44. Re: Space Opera

    I did like it, even if I am “music stupid” and all of the pop music references went over my head. I think listening was good for the book consuming experience, per Contrarius.

  45. 8) Curious, I just checked the book description for the winning novel and came across this:

    Ten years ago a band of malcontents, dreamers, and libertarian radicals bolted privately-developed anti-gravity drives onto rusty sea-going cargo ships, loaded them to the gills with 20th-century tunnel-boring machines and earthmoving equipment, and set sail – for the Moon.

    And then they all died horribly, because rusty cargo vessels and even non-rusty cargo vessels are not space-proof, even if you can get them into space via magic-tech.

    The Prometheus Awards have occasionally awarded interesting novels, e.g. last year’s winner was Johanna Sinisalo.

    This is not one of them.

  46. @ Cora: I could buy that premise if it came along with the idea that everyone had to stay suited up until they got the first underground shelter/airlock dug out, sealed, and atmosphere-loaded (or used inflatables, a la The Martian). But (1) I doubt it does, and (2) I strongly suspect that they wouldn’t be able to carry enough stored air for all of that.

    OTOH, I would also be very strongly in favor of the idea that if we ever do find a habitable planet outsystem, we encourage these brave pioneers to be the first ones given a shot at colonizing it. ALL of the brave pioneers.

  47. Could “rusty sea-going cargo ships, loaded […] to the gills” withstand the physics involved rocketing away from Earth’s gravity, space flight, and moon landing?

    I’m not at all a science, physics, or hard sf person. In fiction, I’m interested in conflict, characterization, and story, not in whether the fictional futuristic science-speak would work in reality. But that bit sounded unrealistic enough to get even my attention.

    As does the notion of repurposing rusty vehicles for space flight. If you were going into space, wouldn’t it make sense to look for vehicles without rust?

  49. I guess because Earth is a Socialist hellhole or something, rusty ships is all they can get. Or maybe they steal them from a wrecking yard. Apparently, they also aren’t able to build their own ships, maybe even actual spaceships, even though they do have anti-gravity devices.

    I often do translation work for the shipbuilding industry and this whole premise is completely ridiculous. Seagoing vessels are not spaceships and they cannot easily be transformed into spaceships.

    I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t even work with a submarine and you’d have to get one first, which is difficult, because the world’s navies own most of them, unless you’re willing to go with a decommissioned museum piece. Not to mention that submarines aren’t built to transport large amounts of cargo.

    Oh yes, and tunnel boring machines are really big and really heavy. You’d probably need a heavy lift cargo vessel for those.

  50. The quote specifically mentioned “anti-gravity drives”. So, no rocketing, and fairly soft physics. The stresses on the vessels will be whatever the author needs them to be.

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