(1) Ernie Hudson has filmed a cameo for the new Ghostbusters. All was forgiven sometime after gave this interview (quoted on The Mary Sue)….
Back in October of last year, Hudson told The Telegraph, “If it has nothing to do with the other two movies, and it’s all female, then why are you calling it Ghostbusters? I love females. I hope that if they go that way at least they’ll be funny, and if they’re not funny at least hopefully it’ll be sexy. I love the idea of including women, I think that’s great. But all-female I think would be a bad idea. I don’t think the fans want to see that.”.
Rumors r true. Was asked not to talk about it at all but when director @paulfeig tweets it himself… #Ghostbusters3 pic.twitter.com/pxEfk5G7YF
— Ernie Hudson (@Ernie_Hudson) September 20, 2015
(2) Mashable has the story – Astronauts on the International Space Station got an advance screening of The Martian.
Watched @MartianMovie on @Space_Station last night! Today working towards our #JourneyToMars during my #YearInSpace! pic.twitter.com/rIEBjFxRIr
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) September 20, 2015
Duncan Long asked, “Isn’t this a little like showing The Poseidon Adventure on a cruise ship?”
(3) Lincoln Michel in “Is It Time for Literary Magazines to Rethink the Slush” on Electric Literature.
Last month, I got entangled in a long twitter conversation about submission fees. The author Nick Mamatas took issue with The Offing magazine—an exciting new offshoot of the LA Review of Books focusing on promoting marginalized writers—deciding to charge a $3 fee for submissions. You can read Mamatas’s storify plus this follow-up blog post to see his side of things. Here’s a defense of fees from Nathaniel Tower for the other side. In general, the literary world is far too shy about talking about money, and publishing can be quite closed to marginalized voices who can’t afford unpaid internships, reading fees, and other entry barriers. This is a conversation we need to have.
Overall, I agree with Mamatas that there’s an ethical issue in charging submission fees. We never instituted them at Electric Literature for Recommended Reading, Gigantic, or any other magazine I’ve worked on. Plenty of journals barely take any work from the slush, but even a magazine that only publishes slush is likely only taking 1-2% of submissions. So the majority of unpublished writers are funding the minority of published, which isn’t a great foundation. Imagine if every worker had to pay to get a job interview? (Or, since most magazines don’t pay, maybe the analogy is paying to get an unpaid internship.) The defense of submission fees is that the fee is pretty small, perhaps only as costly as snail mail postage. But $3 adds up quickly. I’ve often heard the average story gets rejected twenty times before an acceptance. 21 x 3 = $63. The Offing pays $20-50, meaning you’d expect to lose between 13 and 43 bucks per story. Literary writers can’t expect to make much money from quiet short stories about cancer and obscure poems about birds, but surely we don’t need to actively lose money to get published!
I’d like to note here that The Offing is hardly the only magazine to charge a fee. Missouri Review, Sonora Review, Crazyhorse and so many others charge that when I asked about this on Twitter, I was told it would be easier to make a list of those who don’t. And the fact that The Offing pays $20-50 already puts them ahead of the vast majority of lit mags who pay nothing at all…
Could it be that The Singularity is not engaged in some kind of literary war crime but, in comparison to other magazines that don’t pay contributors, deserves to be commended for not charging a submission fee? (Rocks incoming in 5…4…3…)
(4) Yoon Ha Lee in “Outlining a Novel” —
[First 3 of 8 points.]
- I use parts of Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake method for writing a novel. If you haven’t looked at this (I’ve mentioned it several times in the past), it’s worth a look–it probably takes only a few hours to figure out whether or not it’s something that’ll work for you.
The parts I use are the first few steps:
– The one-sentence summary of the novel. I want to nail the core conflict and the protagonist. Ingermanson suggests fewer than 15 words. I use that as a rough guideline–sometimes I have to go a little over because the plot needs some sf/f setting setup. But not much over.
– One-paragraph summary. You can use three-act structure or similar if you like that. Ingermanson suggests “three disasters plus an ending.” It’s not a bad starting place.
– One-page summary. At this point I’m just expanding things out. I sometimes skip this step.
- I write down an unsorted list of elements and events that I want to make sure to include. Key scenes, particular relationships, cool tech toys, whatever.
- Determination of POVs. Mostly I base this on:
– Characters who are going to have growth arcs.
– Coverage of plot events.
– Information control. For example, some characters can’t be POVs because they spoil the entire damn book to the reader.
There are other considerations that come into play sometimes but they tend to be edge cases.
(5) Michael Cavna of the Comic Riffs blog on the Washington Post reports women swept the Small Press Expo’s Ignatz Awards given for outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning.
I JUST want to know, cartoonist C. Spike Trotman joked, how she’s going to get those three bricks through airport security.
Trotman, as emcee of the Small Press Expo’s Ignatz Awards ceremony Saturday night, was quickly finding the funny as Sophia Foster-Dimino hit the brick trifecta, picking up three trophies — which are an inspired nod to George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat” — and leading the field for the esteemed indie award.
The night felt like a coronation for Foster-Dimino, who dazzled voters with her “Sex Fantasy” comic and was selected best Promising New Talent. At the lectern, the cartoonist looked genuinely moved by the moment. And how better to build a young career than brick by brick?
Sophie Goldstein also picked up multiple awards; her work “The Oven” was voted Outstanding Comic and Outstanding Graphic Novel. When Goldstein kept her remarks brief upon her second win, she warmly joked that she was following Foster-Dimino’s humbled lead.
And just two years after every presenter at the Ignatz ceremony was a woman, now, at this year’s event, every winner was a woman.
The voting deadline nears: The official @SPXcomics 2015 Ignatz ballot: #SPX2015 pic.twitter.com/M0gQYI9kpW
— comicriffs (@comicriffs) September 19, 2015
(6) Don’t miss out on the current membership rate for the Helsinki Worldcon!
42 is a magical number in #fandom! There are 42 days left before the 1st membership rate rise for our #Worldcon! Do you have a membership?
— Worldcon 75 (@worldcon75) September 20, 2015
(7) On Startalk Radio Neil deGrasse Tyson holds A Conversation with Edward Snowden (Part 1)
In this week’s episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson chats with whistleblower Edward Snowden via robotic telepresence from Moscow. The two card-carrying members of the geek community discuss Isaac Newton, the difference between education and learning, and even how knowledge is created. They also dive into the Periodic Table and chemistry, before moving on to the more expected subjects of data compression, encryption and privacy. You’ll learn about the relationship between private contractors, the CIA, and the NSA, for whom Edward began working at only 16 years old. Edward explains why metadata tells the government much more about individuals than they claim, and why there’s a distinction between the voluntary disclosure of information and the involuntary subversion of individual intent. Part 1 ends with a conversation about Ben Franklin, the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the CIA’s oath of service, and government Standard Form 312, which is the agreement Snowden violated.
(8) David Gerrold wrote on Facebook
I’ve had the name “Noah Ward” registered as an official pseudonym with the Writers’ Guild since the late 70s. (I’ve actually used it twice.)
In the planning for the Hugo award ceremony, one of the gags in the script was that if No Award won, I would accept the trophy as “Noah Ward.” Tananarive would protest, and I would whip out the letter from the Writers’ Guild to demonstrate the official-ness of my pen name. Tananarive would then explain the difference between No and Noah and I would grumpily give up the trophy.
If a second category came in as No Award, I was prepared to do “You like me, you really like me.”
But …
As it became clear that we might be looking at as many as 5 categories with No Award and that the voters seemed to be heading toward a massive smackdown of the slates, that joke had to be jettisoned.
In retrospect, that was the right choice. No Award in any category is an uncomfortable moment, even if that’s the result you voted for. So any attempt to add a joke to the moment would have been in very bad taste. And as much as I love a tasteless joke, this wasn’t the place for it.
It was fun to think about, it was the kind of gallows humor that people indulge in to release energy and frustration, but when it came down to the final moments, it was obvious that it wouldn’t play.
Even when explained by somebody who thought the asterisks were a good idea, it’s impossible to see why it was a hard choice to cut this gag….
[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 would-be contributing editor of the day Nigel.]
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21ST CENTURY FANTASY, ROUND THREE
At last! Some pairs I can honestly vote on!
4. ELENA TERESA CENIZA-BENDIGA, MEET DACH’OSMIN CSETHIRO CEREDIN
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
I must revisit the Powers book, as I don’t recall feeling very much about it. Whereas I am still feeling a warm glow from TGE.
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross
Much as I like them both, I’m giving this one to Charlie, as I feel he’s the underdog going up against a champion here.
@MDW: “VD as the Errant?”
I forget my Malazan cast of thousands, but wouldn’t he be Bauchelain/ Korbal Broach?
Only read them in the main series, where I think they consistently fail to realise that they’ve bitten of more than they can chew, and get into vast amounts of trouble over that.
And then do the same thing all over again because their capacity for learning is quite limited….
1. SETTING THINGS RIGHT
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
2. PHANTASMAGORIC CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
3. MANIPULATED BY THE GODS
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin
4. ELENA TERESA CENIZA-BENDIGA, MEET DACH’OSMIN CSETHIRO CEREDIN
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
Declare, Tim Powers
Tie. Also, Kyra, I don’t so much hate you as regard you as a useful demonstration of the truth of Lovecraft’s views about the detached callousness of the universe.
5. THEY ALMOST RHYME
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
Tie. See above, but this time in a more Kafka sort of way, where there is the promise of a truth at hand except that we are never allowed to and allowing ourselves to grasp it.
6. TERRIBLY! VIOLENT! TITLES!
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
7. MORE THAN JUST A WEAPON
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
@snowcrash
I remember Bauchelain and Broach as fairly competent, but underestimated Quick Ben.
I picked the Errant for VD because of the spiteful dragging down of everybody on both sides, including nominal allies.
3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin
4.The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
6. Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
7. His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
8. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
5. THEY ALMOST RHYME
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
7. MORE THAN JUST A WEAPON
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner
I’m arbitrarily banning myself from declaring ties, because I’d just give up and tie everything.
1. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
I really really really like Gaiman, but this isn’t my favourite work of his. MRK, on the other hand, hit a high spot with this one.
2. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
I’m a very recent Gladstone convert (my credit card company sends their love to all of F770, btw) and I’m suitably impressed, but Mieville is absolutely brilliant.
3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin
I couldn’t have voted against a Miles book, but in this case the Jemisin is a perfect example of how to write Big Stakes fantasy while keeping it about characters.
4. Declare, Tim Powers
OK, maybe I’m doing ties. TGE was my Hugo pick, it’s such a brilliant book. On the other hand, Declare is (arguably) my favourite book from Powers. I’d love to read a sequel to TGE. A sequel to Declare, on the other hand, would be heresy, because it’s wonderfully complete. Declare.
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
The Lynch is great fun, but JS&MN is all things.
6. Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
ASOIAF is an epic series in so many ways, but the damn man needs to stop faffing around and get everyone in the same continent so three-quarters of them can die and resolve the storyline. Tooth and Claw is a delightful read, but the element that’s giving it the win here is the way that Walton slowly introduces elements of dragon society that make perfect sense in the Austenesque society while revealing it to be much more disturbing than the opening suggested.
7. His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
I’m just amazed this didn’t go up against Tooth and Claw.
8. There wasn’t an 8th bracket on my screen.
I must say that the ongoing discussion of the Worldcon asterisks is tilting me more and more in the “bad idea” direction, which is a bit of a surprise to me.
2. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville. TPD is really great fun, but PSS was, and remains, just astonishingly good (although the Scar is better).
3. Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
4. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Pretty much the same as 2 – a really good book pipped by one that just clicks perfectly.
8. The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross. I must be odd in not seeing the greatness of Night Watch – I’d even put Maskerade above it.
Well, Lou Antonelli has decided to go full-blown Martyr. He’s changed his profile photo to that of one of the robot-laser-cut discs and posted this:
Louis Antonelli: I know that it seems like forever, but Tuesday the 22nd marks 30 days since the Hugo Awards ceremony was held. For that day I plan to change my profile picture to this one of the infamous as(s) terisk as a silent reminder of what happened that evening.
Do these people honestly not understand how they are portraying themselves as huge whiny babies?
News Flash, Lou: You were on the Hugo ballot because of a cheat. You didn’t earn your place there based on merit. Complaining about the fact that people have (rightfully) pointed this out just makes you look even more like a Big Cheater Baby.
@ JJ: I think it mostly makes him seem like a person in DIRE need of milestones.
How about:
– 1 day since spring started!
– 22 since September started!
– 3 months since the summer solstice!
– 8 days since I got this nasty head-cold!
The disgraceful 2015 Hugos, where for the first time in Worldcon history someone actually made disgustingly false statements to the police about a guest of honor’s mental state? Those? Yes, Mr. Antonelli, I think it’s commendable for you to acknowledge your dangerous folly and seek penitently to proceed more humbly and thoughtfully in the future.
…oh, wait. Never mind.
@ JJ: knew Hoyt way back when, and that all this “I was so oppressed by the horrible Fascists, and I’m a refugee who had to flee from terrible persecution, and I still suffer from terrible nightmares about this” schtick is merely revisionist history.
To clarify, it’s a portrait of her past I never heard, rather than a revised version. The only things I recall her mentioning about her earlier life in Portugal were funny or engaging anecdotes. Politics was a subject that never came up between us at all, not even indirectly, so I never knew =any= version of what she thought of Portuguese politics or governance.
Something good that has come out of this whole asterisk business is that I guess the Puppies and their fellow travellers now understand how hurtful and terrible a thoughtless gesture from the Hugo host can be.
At least they now understand why so many people were unhappy and/or concerned when Jonathan Ross was asked to host the Loncon Hugo’s.
The difference though is that Ross was steeped in fandom. He made multiple TV-shows about his fan obsessions. His wife was a Hugo winner and multiple Hugo nominee. He’s a regular presenter of other awards without anyone ever saying they’d be any more than fun.
Most of the people objecting to him had no idea who he was.
Did I read that sentence on Antonelli’s FB right? “I’m ambivalent about stomping on other people’s right to free speech.”
@NickPheas
Some of those who objected to Ross certainly did know about him. They objected because of the way the decision had been made in addition to his sometime public persona. In the end everyone involved could have handled things better.
“Most of the people objecting to him had no idea who he was.”
That would depend on who “most of the people are”. It may be at least more accurate to say that many only knew him as the guy from ITV or on the Russel Brand thing.
As in the case with the asterisks, context is certainly useful, but it is a mitigant, not a cure-all.
Yes, exactly. Most Worldcon fans had no idea who he was, and a fair number checked him out online when he was announced. Loncon should have anticipated this, and should have recognized the need to introduce him to non-British fandom. The fact that they didn’t see that need still leaves me with a lingering doubt that they really understood that his humor as presented on his show would be considered offensive by, at least, a lot of American fans.
And if they didn’t recognize the potential problem there, why should I have any faith that Ross wouldn’t have, in fact, brought a barely toned down version of it to the Hugo ceremony? And then been genuinely shocked that people were upset by it–but then the damage would have been done. Apologies after the fact, even if they’d been forthcoming, wouldn’t have undone the damage on the night itself.
Sarah Hoyt reminds me of someone… Oh, yes:
:: sigh :: Hard choices to make, again….
1. SETTING THINGS RIGHT
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
2. PHANTASMAGORIC CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
3. MANIPULATED BY THE GODS
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin
4. ELENA TERESA CENIZA-BENDIGA, MEET DACH’OSMIN CSETHIRO CEREDIN
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
5. THEY ALMOST RHYME
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
6. TERRIBLY! VIOLENT! TITLES!
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
7. MORE THAN JUST A WEAPON
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross
A few comments and responses:
> “Near-future apocalypse where two sisters get stuck in their isolated home in the woods, stuff ensues. With Ellen Page! *quiet fangirling*”
I have been longing to see “Into the Forest” since I heard about it a year or so ago! Patricia Rozema directed one of my favorite mid-90’s movies! Plus Ellen Page!
> “Wait, weren’t these both seeded? Shouldn’t that mean they don’t meet each other until later?”
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms just missed being seeded for this round (essentially by one vote).
> “Kyra, you INVESTED in the forehead cloth business, didn’t you?”
Well, technically, the “official” bracket forehead cloths fall under the purview of the Bracket Trademark Protection Committee, although by agreement the local Bracket Committee of any individual bracket is permitted to produce one-off bracket headcloths representing the entire bracket convention, but bear in mind that the bracket vote itself is only one small part of the bracket convention, and … well, really, this is all spelled out in sections 587.3 – 587.91038476 of the Bracket Constitution.
Yeah, no. Look up the guy’s professional work (it’s right up there on youtube) and see that hosting a Hugo awards ceremony. It would have been chaotic disaster, and not in the good sense. Not to mention, holy hell, how wide was the field you could have asked to step in? This is the UK we’re talking about, some of the best writers in the genre were there, not to mention some of the best comics and hosts if you just wanted a well-known name who wouldn’t mess things up. Dara O’Briain anyone? Graham Linehan? Hell, any of the Doctors Who… or all of them…
Instead they chose someone with a rather controversial comedy style which was woefully badly matched to people who, frankly, didn’t have the cultural context most UK viewers would have had and who would only have been insulted by some of the material.
I mean, if you wanted to do that, at least do it right and get Frankie Boyle…
21ST CENTURY FANTASY, ROUND THREE
1. SETTING THINGS RIGHT
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
2. PHANTASMAGORIC CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
3. MANIPULATED BY THE GODS
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
4. ELENA TERESA CENIZA-BENDIGA, MEET DACH’OSMIN CSETHIRO CEREDIN
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
5. THEY ALMOST RHYME
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
6. TERRIBLY! VIOLENT! TITLES!
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
7. MORE THAN JUST A WEAPON
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
@Mark
Does Dara Ó Briain or Graham Linehan have a reasonable connection to SF or fandom? I wouldn’t support someone from outside SF or fandom being imposed.
As for the actors who play the Doctor – well that could have been awkward considering the BDP Short.
Three books I’ve read in the whole thing and of course the one I don’t care about is against something I haven’t read.
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Initially thought that would be a hard decision as like someone else said the Laundry series could easily been commissioned with me in mind. But not against pTerry.
Re cheering no award. I can see why it happened as the tension leading up to it was relieved. I can also see why some would view it as boorish.
On the gripping hand though, what would have been a reaction that would not have not been used as a pretext for outrage by the pups? The entire audience could have sat in silence and they’d have been portraying it as “the audience sat stony faced, as their awards burned full of malice and spite.” They were going to play the victim card regardless.
NickPheas: Most of the people objecting to him had no idea who he was.
A lot of them did. I’ll point out that the uproar on the European side was such that Ross had offered to withdraw from hosting before most of the people in the U.S. had even awakened that morning. And as Lis Carey pointed out, those who didn’t know who he was, when they Googled him, what did they find? An avalanche of past misogynistic comments and behavior. In what universe would exactly this result not have been expected?
Mark Dennehy: Instead they chose someone with a rather controversial comedy style which was woefully badly matched to people who, frankly, didn’t have the cultural context most UK viewers would have had and who would only have been insulted by some of the material.
And his appointment as Hugo host was accomplished by a go-around-the-accepted-procedure sleight-of-hand: the 2 chairs just said “we’re going to do this” and then went ahead and arranged it, without going through the rest of the Concom. One of the concom members, when she found out what they were doing, warned them that it would be (my words, not hers) a huge clusterfuck. She ended up resigning from the committee in protest of the chairs’ highhandedness.
The fact that the chairs were so incredibly clueless that they thought they could just “finesse” something like this through — instead of laying the groundwork, preparing responses in advance to expected objections, working with the selected host to prepare him for the possible reaction and proactively help him come up with responses, doing some positive PR, and making the announcement in a planned fashion — well, I really can’t imagine what they were thinking.
About as reasonable as Dr Lindgren I’d think, both being pretty heavy on the geek cred (as opposed to say, Stephen Fry who has as much geek cred, but isn’t a science geek, more a gadget geek). See O’Briain’s Science Club or just read Linehan’s twitter feed during the Sad Puppies fun and games this year.
True… on the other hand though, the host doesn’t have to give out every award…
Mind you, you probably wouldn’t have gotten Eccleston. So it would have been a pale shadow 😛
Just wanted to point out that the referees/reviewers don’t normally get paid, because that system is also structured as a scam 😉
@JJ
That’s a very British way of doing things though. Either all existing process and procedure will be followed to the letter leading everyone to complain about how long it takes to get things done. Or someone will say x knows y, can’t they give them a quick ring. Or more likely in days past, x is in y’s club…
IanP: That’s a very British way of doing things though.
It may be. But by the time I found out there was a to-do about it (which was pretty much after it all blew up and fell apart), got online and started reading, I was just shaking my head in exasperation and thinking to the chairs, “What? You seriously didn’t see this train wreck coming MILES down the track???”
I can only presume they’d become so enamored of their idea that they were engaging in wilfull blindness/deafness to anything that wasn’t what they wanted to hear.
This is why you have a committee (even though it means that sometime things take too long to get done). So that someone who isn’t blinded by their own “good ideas” can poke their hand up and say, “Um, here’s what’s going to happen with that, and if you’re going to insist on going ahead, then the least you can do is prepare for it.”
Some votes:
1. Coraline, Neil Gaiman
2. Tie
3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin
4. Declare, Tim Powers
6. Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
7. His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
In fairness, Ross has done a fair amount of presenting at the Eisners (comic book awards given out at San Diego) in recent years, with the only “problem” that anyone up there co-presenting with him apparently needs to warn him off in advance if they don’t want to be snogged on the lips (see: Neil Gaiman, John Barrowman) [i.e. he’s behaved himself, done a good job, and while Neil seemed surprised by it, there’s no evidence that Ross is forcing himself on folk and it’s become schtick at this point].
The things I get up to on the morning commute. This. Reviewing and commenting the new edition of Cthulhutech.
—
21ST CENTURY FANTASY, ROUND THREE
1. SETTING THINGS RIGHT
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
2. PHANTASMAGORIC CITY
Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone
3. MANIPULATED BY THE GODS
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
4. ELENA TERESA CENIZA-BENDIGA, MEET DACH’OSMIN CSETHIRO CEREDIN
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
Because I’ve reread The Goblin Emperor.
5. THEY ALMOST RHYME
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
6. TERRIBLY! VIOLENT! TITLES!
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
7. MORE THAN JUST A WEAPON
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner
8. WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY’S TO BE DONE
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross
Tie.
If VD is the Errant I wonder who is Quick Ben and Anomander Rake. And maybe even more important, who is Kruppe, Tehol Beddict and Bugg.
Re: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet as much of a “fun read” as it was, it still had some significant rough edges. Particularly, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character is a thoroughly outdated and mocked trope that I couldn’t for a moment take it seriously even in a lightly humorous book. I see that Chambers started writing the book several years ago, so it isn’t quite as bad, but she still should have gone back and rewritten the character before publishing.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=manic+pixie+dream+girl
Darren Garrison: the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character is a thoroughly outdated and mocked trope that I couldn’t for a moment take it seriously even in a lightly humorous book. I see that Chambers started writing the book several years ago, so it isn’t quite as bad, but she still should have gone back and rewritten the character before publishing.
The point of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope is that she exists to bring the male primary character to manhood and has no real agency of her own. That’s not what this character is.
Wikipedia: Film critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the term… describes the MPDG as “that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”
I would say that this does not apply to Kizzy’s character — she is a fully-realized person with her own agency.
The book description lost me at “New Jersey Supercollider”. Real estate is far too expensive in NJ for that to happen. It would be cheaper for Princeton (or some other place with lots of money) to build it in some wide open space in Arizona or Texas and buy a private jet so their scientists could commute to it.
@Tom Galloway —
So maybe Loncon could have been prepared, and presented that information, giving Ross some context for the rest of us, instead of just expecting that everyone would of course be thrilled when we googled him and found his online clips.
She doesn’t hit every note of the trope (not the love interest of the male lead, for example) but she is a zany, quirky character who dresses funny and knits hats for appliances. She fits the paper-thin stock character enough for me.
Darren Garrison: She doesn’t hit every note of the trope (not the love interest of the male lead, for example) but she is a zany, quirky character who dresses funny and knits hats for appliances. She fits the paper-thin stock character enough for me.
I’ve actually known several people who are pretty much dead-on this character in real life. I guess that’s why I find the character pretty believable.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet now on hold at the library.
David Goldfarb:
This is obviously some strange usage of the word “rhyme” that I wasn’t previously aware of.
‘Norrell’ according to the TV series, is pronounced NORRell (except by Mr Drawlight), so if you pronounce ‘Lamora’ with a short o, LaMORRa, I suppose there is some rhyminess.
The book lost me at “[character] pulled a Glock 46 from beneath the table and pointed it at [other character’s wife]”.
Yes. You, a boxer-turned-particle-physicist would indeed correctly identify and remember the exact model of Glock pistol (a line known for all looking terribly similar) in a kitchen at night when it’s pulled out of nowhere and pointed at your spouse, under bad lighting, after a long day when you’re tired. That is indeed well within the boundaries of normal human experience. Oh, and a 46, so we’re set in the near future, only a mere three glock models away!
/facepalm
And I actually got past the several pages of “career academics, bad: boxing academic who quits princeton to teach in a small college, good” that preceded that. And the inter-woven chapters describing the court trial that happens later with the so-obviously-written-to-fail bad lawyer and so-obviously-written-to-win good lawyer and the complete lack of any tension over what the possible outcome might be and the total lack of connection with reality.
And there wasn’t even a new idea in the book that made the slog worth it either, hell it’s been done a dozen times before (and frankly, when Leonard Nimoy can outdo your book with a fake beard, you’re in trouble). Not impressed.
Some statistics, for those what like statistics. Starting with Round 1. At first, we see a tilt toward women, U.S. authors (plus a big UK author contingent), and among books set in “our world”, books set in Europe (especially the UK). Dragons are the most heavily featured creature, but the number of dragon books overall is still relatively low.
ROUND 1 STATISTICS –
Authors who are
Women: 66.7% (44/66)
Men: 33.3% (22/66)
Authors who are from
The U.S.: 66.7% (44/66)
The UK: 22.8% (15/66)
Canada: 3% (2/66)
Australia: 3% (2/66)
Russia: 1.5% (1/66)
Sweden: 1.5% (1/66)
South Africa: 1.5% (1/66)
Books set at least partly in
Europe: 24.6% (16/65)
— Modern Day UK: 10.8% (7/65)
— Modern Day Mainland Europe: 3.1% (2/65)
— 1940’s Europe: 1.5% (1/65)
— Victorian Era UK: 1.5% (1/65)
— Napoleonic Wars/Regency UK: 4.6% (3/65)
— 15th Century Europe: 3% (1/65)
North America: 15.3% (10/65)
— Modern Day U.S.: 10.8% (7/65)
— Modern Day Canada: 1.5% (1/65)
— 1920’s U.S.: 1.5% (1/65)
— Victorian Era U.S.: 1.5% (1/65)
China: 3% (2/65)
— Modern Day: 1.5% (1/65)
— 8th Century: 1.5% (1/65)
Japan: 1.5% (1/65)
— 12th Century: 1.5% (1/65)
South Africa: 1.5% (1/65)
— Modern Day: 1.5% (1/65)
Middle East: 1.5% (1/65)
— Modern Day: 1.5% (1/65)
Books heavily featuring
Dragons: 6.2% (4/65)
Fairies: 4.6% (3/65)
Blue Hair: 3.1% (2/65)
Vampires: 3.1% (2/65)
Werewolves: 1.5% (1/65)
Unicorns: 1.5% (1/65)
andyl on September 22, 2015 at 2:05 am said:
Starting and, IMO, ending with the Con Chairs. I put the entire debacle entirely in their lap. They didn’t prep Ross for possible backlash, they had absolutely no plan to carefully announce all the cool things he’d done in fandom or tell members they’d spoken about his approach to presentations at the event to assure us he’d be not-hurtfully funny and professional, had done the Eisners just fine, and that his wide fan cred persona would be on that stage and not his laddish insult-people-for-laughs-at-their-expense persona.
They announced, on Twitter, that they had chosen him to present with absolutely no other data, and then disappeared for six hours into an all-hands LonCon3 committee meeting, leaving Ross to swing in the breeze of social media with no one from the Con even monitoring.
They did Ross—and Goldman and Gaiman—a HUGE disservice and contributed to fannish fractures that will endure for years. I hope they never come within ICBM striking distance of another chance at that kind of responsibility. Worldcon lost so much goodwill due to their ham handed handling of that.
And they were told! There were people on the Con Committee who told them this would be a big problem. At least one person resigned over it before the announcement. But instead of listening, or even coming up with the smallest mitigation plan, they didn’t share any of the potential problems with Ross, dumped the announcement onto Twitter, and disappeared for six hours with the entire Con Committee.
J on September 22, 2015 at 3:39 am said:
Precisely. The first objections came from British fans who knew exactly who he was. Charles Stross Tweeted in incredulous response five minutes after LonCon3 Tweeted their announcement.
In Round 2, still more women than men but the difference has dropped a little. The UK’s percentage of authors has gone up a little, but we don’t see anyone from outside the UK or U.S. now. European settings are taking up a surprisingly large fraction of those set in “our world”, with Napoleonic War/Regency settings having an especially good staying power. Dragons are still leading in creatures, and are featured in nearly 10% of the books.
ROUND 2 STATISTICS –
Authors who are
Women: 60.6% (20/33)
Men: 39.4% (13/33)
Authors who are from
The U.S.: 66.7% (22/33)
The UK: 33.3% (11/33)
Books set at least partly in
Europe: 30.3% (10/33)
— Modern Day UK: 15.2% (5/33)
— 1940’s Europe: 3% (1/33)
— Napoleonic Wars/Regency UK: 9.1% (3/33)
— 15th Century Europe: 3% (1/33)
North America: 9.1% (3/33)
— Modern Day U.S.: 9.1% (3/33)
China: 3% (1/33)
— Modern Day: 3% (1/33)
Books heavily featuring
Dragons: 9.1% (3/33)
Fairies: 3% (1/33)
Vampires: 3% (1/33)
Unicorns: 3% (1/33)
Kyra, interesting stats! Which settings attract blue hair, or vice versa?
In Round 3, women and men now have equal numbers of books on the bracket. UK authors have crept up a little again, but the ratio between U.S. and UK authors is relatively stable. The percentage of books set in Europe climbs up a little more and the rest of the world drops away — and Napoleonic War or Regency Era UK books now astonishingly occupying close to 20 percent of the bracket. Dragons are the only featured creature remaining on the table, and they’ve reached a solid eighth of all books remaining.
ROUND 3 STATISTICS –
Authors who are
Women: 50% (8/16)
Men: 50% (8/16)
Authors who are from
The U.S.: 62.5% (10/16)
The UK: 37.5% (6/16)
Books set at least partly in
Europe: 37.5% (6/16)
— Modern Day UK: 12.5% (2/16)
— 1940’s Europe: 6.25% (1/16)
— Napoleonic Wars/Regency UK: 18.75% (3/16)
Books heavily featuring
Dragons: 12.5% (2/16)
Where are the stats on the Manic Pixie Dream Dragons?
> “Kyra, interesting stats! Which settings attract blue hair, or vice versa?”
From these high-volume statistics, it can be conclusively stated that blue hair primarily appears in fantasy novels set at least partly in the modern world, primarily either the U.S. or mainland Europe.