Pixel Scroll 9/29 What Color is Your Parvo Shot?

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(1) Today’s birthdays —

1547 – Miguel de Cervantes, author of that famous tome about the old windmill tilter

1942 – Madeline Kahn, a signature comedic actress of the 1970s, who appeared in Paper Moon, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety and many more films.

(2) The 30th anniversary of Back To The Future means a new chance to sell a Blu-ray release, and to help market it Christopher Lloyd is back in character as Doc Brown in an exclusive short video. Go to the link to watch a new trailer.

Lloyd has donned his lab coat and white wig once again to play the mad scientist in a brand new original short film ‘Doc Brown Saves The World!’ that’s being exclusively released in the ‘Back To The Future 30th Anniversary Trilogy’ box set on 5 October.

Little is known about the plot of the new short story, but we can see that the famous time-travelling DeLorean DMC-12 will feature heavily. The new box set will also gather the trilogy of time-travel comedies starring Michael J Fox. the entire ‘Back To The Future: The Animated Series’, plus hours of bonus content all together for the first time.

(3) Jamie Todd Rubin has already done the groundwork for one source of 1941 Retro Hugo nominees.

As he explains in “The Retro Hugo Awards for 1941 at MidAmeriCon II” —

Next summer at MidAmeriCon II–the 74th World Science Fiction Convention–among the awards given out will be the Retro Hugo awards for 1941. The award will cover stories published in 1940. I have a particular interest in this award because a few years ago, when I was taking my Vacation in the Golden Age, I read, and wrote about, every story that appeared in Astounding Science Fiction from July 1939 – November 1942. That means that I read and commented on every story that appeared in 1940 issue of Astounding.

Rubin lists his favorite stories from the 1940 issues of ASF:

  1. “Final Blackout” by L. Ron Hubbard1 (April, May, June 1940)
  2. “Requiem” by Robert A. Heinlein (January 1940)
  3. “Cold” by Nat Schachner (March 1940)
  4. “The Stars Look Down” by Lester Del Rey (August 1940)
  5. “The Mosaic” by J. B. Ryan (July 1940)
  6. “If This Goes On–” by Robert A. Heinlein (February 1940)
  7. “Butyl and the Breather” by Theodore Sturgeon (October 1940)
  8. “Fog” by Robert Willey2 (December 1940)
  9. “One Was Stubborn” by Rene La Fayette3 (November 1940)

(4) British Eastercon attendees are invited to help decide the con’s future by completing a questionnaire. (For more info about the process, read the FAQ.)

We’re hoping that a wide variety of people will be filling in this questionnaire, so we start by asking what you know about Eastercon, and why people go to Eastercons. Then what you think works or doesn’t work, and whether you have any suggestions for improvement. Then about issues, and some suggestions people have already made to deal with them. Finally, we’ll ask whether you would like us to keep in touch, and because no matter how hard we try we can’t capture everything, you have the opportunity for a final comment.The results will be published on our website, and discussed both at Novacon and at next year’s Eastercon. You do not have to provide any personal details unless you want to, and if you do your participation will be kept strictly confidential.

We hope this will take you no more than about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

To fill it out, visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ndMn5Soj0FHE4Gkj-XjUbVgFM9w8Ma5PvgvND9g8WZE/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

(5) A new Rick Riordan series – my daughter has already announced she is waiting for the minutes to tick past so she can buy the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer. Bibliofiend has an exclusive – read the first five chapter free. [PDF file]

(6) The 2015 MacArthur Genius Awards are out. Better check and see if your name is there.

(7) Europa SF reports the winners of the 16th Swedish Fantastic Short Story Contest. Article (and where needed, translation to English) by Ahrvid Engholm.

The Fantastic Short Story Competion (“Fantastiknovelltävlingen“, in Swedish) has been running yearly since the year 2000, and is dedicated to stories of science fiction, fantasy and horror. It is probably Sweden’s oldest at present; at least one short story contest that used to be older has folded.

This year the contest received 117 entries, and the jury decided to distribute the prize money of 2000 Swedish crowns (just under €200) to the following three winners. Titles given in Swedish with English translations and some comments from the jury are added:

First prize: “Bläcklingar” (“Inklings”) by Fredrik Stennek. “A fine tale in the succession of HC Andersen… A portrait of a society collapsing under censorship and oppression…but humour and longing for freedom is bigger. It raises questions of freedom of the press and freedom of opinion“.

Second prize: “Hon” (“She”) by Eva Ullerud. “A wonderfully creepy story… When the threat is close, really close, it easily becomes invisible, but even creepier.”

Third prize: “Götheborg” (“Gothenburg”) by Dennis Jacobsson. “An alternate history explaining why the ship Götheborg went under in the 1700’s. The atmosphere is as thick as the wool in the woolen clothes of the characters, the danger as tangible as the smell of gunpowder on gundeck, and the curiousity of the reader picks up wind.”

Five stories – By Jonas Bengtsson, Emanuel Blume, Lisa Hågensen, Hanna Kristoffersson and Jens Mattsson – also received honourary mentions by the jury, consisting of the sf/f authors Niklas Krog, Pia Lindestrand and Karolina Bjällerstedt Mickos. All stories were judged without author identification.

(8) Lela E. Buis called a story to the attention of select Twitter readers.

Here’s her description of David Levithan’s Every Day.

Every Day was published in 2013 and received the Lambda Award for Best LBGTQ Children’s/Teen Book. It went on to feature on the New York Times Bestseller List. This means my opinion isn’t unusual, either from the literary community or the fan community. However, this book never made a ripple in the SF&F community because SF&F isn’t something Levithan normally writes.

(9) NASA has some thoughts about how difficult it would be to send humans to Mars.

(10) The agency also helped celebrate National Coffee Day.

(11) Kameron Hurley might be overdue for a few convention Guest of Honor invites.

https://twitter.com/KameronHurley/status/648874752631775232

https://twitter.com/KameronHurley/status/648879242730713088

(12) Hurley also tweeted a link which ultimately takes readers to G. Derek Adams’ guest post on This Blog Is A Ploy about how to sell your books in a way that actually sells books, but doesn’t make you feel like a shyster.

(13) Amanda S. Green agrees that she was quote laundering. Too bad she can’t admit that without first strawmanning a false accusation about something I never said.

First of all, I had someone (and I will let you guys guess where they came from) basically accuse me of not having read Scalzi’s post that I referred to in my Saturday blog. The entire basis for this person — as well as the condemnation from the referring blog — seems to be because I didn’t link to the Scalzi post. Instead, I linked to Teleread. Well, let me set the record straight. I did read the original post. I didn’t link to it because I know the readers here on MGC have the ability to google and find the original source if they want to read it. Teleread had excerpted the parts I wanted and I happened to also agree, for the most part, with what Chris Meadows had to say. So, that is what I linked to.

There are basically two reasons why I don’t link to a post. The first is as I stated above. I know our readers here can go find the original if they want to. The second is when I don’t want to send additional traffic their way.

(14) The X-Files is returning as a six-episode event series in 2016. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will also be back as Mulder and Scully.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

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312 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 9/29 What Color is Your Parvo Shot?”

  1. Round Three Statistics

    Women have leapt back up a bit for their strongest round yet in this particular bracket. The strong Canadian contingent has suddenly largely vanished. Demons, zombies, vampires, and taverns all still have a horse in the race.

    Women: 45% (9/20)
    Men: 55% (11/20)

    U.S.: 75% (15/20)
    UK: 20% (4/20)
    UK/CANADIAN: 5% (1/20)

    Zombies: 5.3% (1/19)
    Vampires: 5.3% (1/19)
    Demons: 5.3% (1/19)
    Tavern in the Snow: 5.3% (1/19)

  2. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson

    3. POLITICS
    Pass

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1 Blindsight
    2 River of Gods
    3 Red First Light

  3. RedWombat @ Nicole: I am, I freely admit, a pretty lousy human being in my head, because I found that bit very satisfying.

    “that bit” references a scene in Tepper’s The Fresco which Nicole Rot13ed (I have to say the community standards here for avoiding spoilers are among the very highest of all internet communities I have ever participated in!).

    *joins RedWombat on the “lousy human being side,” with full agreement on everything said about it being “dumbass wish-fulfillment” (but it’s dumb-ass wish fulfillment that totally made my day and year and decade). I adore that scene, and the following ones, and cackle evilly every time I read that (in fact, it’s been a while since I read it, hmmmm…..) and admit to wishing that very fate on certain Tea Party Politicians and Pundits. But then my mother had to have an illegal abortion a few years before I was born due to failure in the early pills and my father’s asshole refusal to use a condom (she was the only one working since she was putting him through graduate school).

    I have been a fan of Tepper’s since I picked up the first True Game novel (or was it the first Marianne novel?—I forget which—I also have her mysteries published under Oliphant and Orde, and her two horror novels (a duology, Blood Heritage, The Bones). I freely admit to her work, especially later, being totally MESSAGE fiction (and to the problematic aspects of her mostly white always heternormative storyverses).

    I think one of the reasons I so adore Tepper’s work is my age. I’m turning 60 in a month and remember what it was like before some of the changes that came about because of feminist activism (I also understand the anger Joanna Russ shows in her books–I’m a couple of decades behind both of them, but damn Idaho was behind the times, still is as far as I can tell–and I have been watching with horror the Moral Majority/Republican/Tea Party/conservative/GOP attacks on women’s rights the past few decades. ). [Big birthday plans: celebratory tattoo.]

    I would argue that when it comes to SF predicting the future (which it mostly doesn’t), Tepper is the single sf author who got certain aspects of the fundamentalist conservative War Against Women *right* (OK, probably gurer vf abg na nyvra qrzba sebz nabgure cynar va gur obql bs cbjreshy pbafreingvir yrnqre juvpu vf gur erirny va Tvoobaf Qrpyvar & Snyy, naq vg’f jvfushysvyyzrag gb guvax gurer vf, naq gung’f bar bs Grccre’f jrnxarffrf, V guvax, gung ure jbex birenyy pbagnvaf gur rffragvnyvfg vqrn bs frk/traqre gung jnf gehr bs fbzr 70f srzvavfgf, ohg qnza, vs lbh ybbx ng gur riragf va gung abiry, naq fbzr bs ure bguref, ONZ, vs nalguvat fur haqrerfgvzngrq guvatf–naq juvyr crbcyr nyjnlf ersrerapr NGjbbq’f Unaqznvq’f Gnyr va guvf pbagrkg, V guvax Grccre naq Fhmrggr Unqra Rytva nf jryy qvq vg orggre, fbzrgvzrf rneyvre, naq qba’g tb nebhaq fnlvat ehqr guvatf nobhg FS nf n traer).

    SO, yes that scene in The Fresco is one of my favorite ones in all her work. TF is one of my favorite novels (GRASS is probably my mostest favorite of all her work). And given that she worked at Planned Parenthood for *years* before publishing her first novel, I’m not really surprised by some of the messages around women’s bodies and women’s rights that appear throughout her work, and you know, in a genre where I stumbled across John Norman’s GOR novels in the Moscow Public Library when I was in high school, I’m gonna say that at least Tepper’s message fiction is damn satisfying and fun and wonderful even though (and I think this is one of the flaws in her work) the only way she can show change coming about is by some sort of dramatic change to humans as a species–but then Butler’s work tends that way as well, as does Tiptree’s.

    I’m a bigger fan of the Jinian Footseer trilogy than the True Games (Peter is as far as I’m concerned an ass a great deal of the time). Some of the Mavin Manyshaped is brilliantly scary and evocative—and underneath all the fantatistic worldbuilding, a pretty stark description of to many women’s reality. (Hah, I see RedWombat shares my Jinian lurve—and my assessment of Peter—I think Tepper’s decision to shift to mostly female protagonists was a good one.).

    I read some complaints about her last book—I forget where—and commented that if I could produce a book like that when I was in my early 80s, I would not be unhappy (it was an attempt to ‘tie’ up all the strands of different storyverses—which, you know, Asimov and Heinlein both did in their later works…).

    Tepper’s work is uneven, but at her best, I think it’s brilliant, and as a body of work, it’s one of the largest of the feminist sf authors (acknowledging that many feminists have and would disagree with her take on a great many issues).

  4. 1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson

    3. POLITICS
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Pass

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    2. Lock In, John Scalzi
    3. God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  5. Good for avoiding book spoilers, but after the last day or so I’m a lot more familiar with the plots of Snowpiercer and Cabin in the Woods than I was before. :p

  6. “Open the bookstore doors, Hal”?

    That’s a loaded title if I ever heard one.

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS

    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (Thanks to Kyra for playing fair about this.)

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD

    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION

    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    9. RANK ‘EM

    1. Lock In, John Scalzi
    2. God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  7. I’m always fascinated how in the Mission Impossible movies, there’s some piece of critical data that’s behind so many layers of nigh-impossible-to-penetrate security that there’s no way said data can be useful to whoever is actually supposed to have access to it.

    A lot of movies seem to be concerned with “how difficult is this to hack” (or steal) without considering “how difficult is this to use,” yep. Security should be designed to make access as difficult as possible for unauthorized users, but at worst inconvenient for authorized users.

    (The “Mission: Impossible” milieu never seemed too concerned with convenience, though. “The director mumbled that last critical line. Let me just replay this–” *fzzzt!*)

  8. 2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    I HATE KYRA AND HER DICE AND ALL THEY STAND FOR.

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1. Lock In, John Scalzi
    2. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    2. God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  9. 3. POLITICS
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

  10. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    Aaaauuuuuuggggghhhhhh! I loved The Martian, and it will probably get a re-read, but Anathem is a fantastic, mind-bending piece of work.

    3. POLITICS
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1 Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    2 Lock In, John Scalzi
    3 God’s War, Kameron Hurley
    I’ll probably never read books like the Southern Reach trilogy again. This (The New Weird) is really not my “thing”. But that was a wild, amazing experience. (Bear in mind, I’m really not tempted to re-read. EVER. Lock In and God’s War might get re-read someday.)

  11. @Meredith: Good for avoiding book spoilers, but after the last day or so I’m a lot more familiar with the plots of Snowpiercer and Cabin in the Woods than I was before. :p

    Me too though I’ve been skimming (SWAMPED at work, WHERE did all this work come from). I must say I am feeling smug about my decision to not view either of those films!

    Speaking of films: we saw The Intern Saturday night (desperate for some fun out), and enjoyed it a great deal! I could identify simultaneously with the younger female protagonist AND the older male protagonist at the same time.

  12. 1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    Argh.

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    More argh.

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    Argh again…

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Lock In, John Scalzi
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    God’s War, Kameron Hurley

    Can’t vote; still haven’t read VanderMeer or Hurley

  13. *watching the brackets scroll by with admiration and awe*

    I missed the start, and so haven’t even been trying, but admire Kyra’s dedication and titles.

    I’m sort of glad I’m not having to make choices right now I must admit.

  14. Pass the forehead cloths, please. Have they been invented yet in the year 112?

    21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
    abstain

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir
    abstain

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross
    abstain

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1. Lock In, John Scalzi
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  15. 2. Anathem, Neal Stephenson

    3. Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    7. LIFE CHANGES The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1 Lock In, John Scalzi
    2 Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

    That was easier than I thought

  16. 3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

  17. @rrede

    Oh, I don’t know, they both had their defenders. I wouldn’t want to write them off entirely. I’m just happy that spoilers rarely harm my enjoyment.

  18. Looks to me like you’ve covered most of the SF anthology shows.

    I was afraid of that.

    I have seen references to a Northwest Smith audio series but I have never found a copy….

  19. Brackets. Still got a couple favorites in the running…

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    Actually getting a little nervous for this round! I don’t need forehead cloths yet, but I’m surprisingly invested in the fate of my darlings.

  20. I actually stopped reading Tepper because it became overwhelmingly message fiction. It’s generally messages with which I agree, but dear $deity, is it painful to slog through.

    But I went ahead and read Fish Tails because I was eager to walk with the characters again. And oh boy was I upset.

    If *this* had won the Hugo, I’d find myself agreeing with the Puppies. But it didn’t get anywhere near a Hugo. Because it *is* pure message fic with no story. And despite their plaints, that sort of work doesn’t get nominated. I hated Simmons’ Flashback for the same reason. Their politics couldn’t be more different, but despite loving so much of their work, I just can’t stand that much polemic in one place.

    I always think of Grass as Tepper in her prime. A good story AND it makes you think. But that is sadly long ago now – her books are so predictable now. I think The Margarets is her only book in the last 20 years that I loved. Which makes me sad. Because I want more Grass.

    Throughout the whole Puppy kerfuffle, she and Simmons are the examples I used for “too much message fic”. It does exist. It’s just not winning awards, no matter what the Puppies say.

    To be fair to Simmons (as much as I loathe the politics he espoused in Flashback), he seems to leave the nasty stuff out of most of his writing. These days Tepper seems to only write for the sake of preaching the same message again and again.

  21. 2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    One nerd versus a whole monastic order of nerds? Anathem wins.

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    The Hunger Games movies are great – the books are OK. Leviathan Wakes wins

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    Sorry Strossy – The Girl With All the Gifts – the fungus made me vote for it.

  22. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    I can’t stand either. Can I just have Fortune’s Pawn back, please.

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    Neither is a favourite, but Embassytown wins out narrowly.

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    1. Lock In, John Scalzi
    3. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    2. God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  23. 2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET (*)
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    3. POLITICS
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    Huh. Tie, I guess. My comparison-meter is having trouble with this one.

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

    (*) The They Might Be Giants song “Destination Moon” is now going through my head. This is not a bad thing. By rocket to the moon / By airplane to the rocket / By taxi to the airport / By front door to the taxi / By throwing back the blanket hanging down the legs.

  25. And this is what I get for browsing Amazon — eBook releases of both C.J. Cherryh’s Faded Sun trilogy and Roger Zelazny’s Guns of Avalon. (Although I really hope the folks handling the Zelazny stuff pick up the pace again — one Amber book every 3-4 months seems like an awfully long time to wait.)

  26. I only ever read part of one of Sheri Tepper’s books (whose name I appear to have blotted from my memory). Very well written book, I was enjoying the whole thing where the forests start invading the cities, and a cop investigates a missing person case – a baby that has gone missing, sympathetic characters – until the cop begins theorizing on somewhat slender evidence that the trees have eaten the missing baby on the grounds that his mother already had too many kids – and the cop IMO begins expressing what to my taste is a unseemly enthusiasm for the idea of the trees continuing to scarf up those nasty surplus babies as (ecologically speaking) the best thing to do in the long run. IMO, there should been a little more ambivalence about the issue rather than the wholehearted embrace she gave to the idea, and one couldn’t help thinking that she would’ve been bit less enthusiastic about the process if she’d been considered among the humans marked for annihilation, but the trees discern her wholehearted allegiance and take her as their favorite, so she’s fine with them blotting out the others. I gave up on the book and the author around that point – well written and all, I just refused to look through those eyes any more…

  27. 1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    God’s War, Kameron Hurley

  28. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
    whimper

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Lock In, John Scalzi
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    God’s War, Kameron Hurley
    Haven’t read God’s War, reducing this to two choices.

    The time machine, sadly, seems to be on the fritz again.

  29. This round, I’ve read only one set of pairs, but I’m also voting where I either love the book I have read and/or feel strongly that I would not like its opposite number.

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    I9. RANK ‘EM
    2. Lock In, John Scalzi
    1. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer

  30. @jayn – That’s “The Family Tree.” If it helps, at this late a date, the baby turns up fine.

  31. …um, and then general *SPOILER* so nobody read it now because I assured you that everything was fine. It kinda isn’t. But that particular element resolves happily, anyway, in the short term, in case it was still bugging you.

  32. Pffft. I just realized I left a word out of my rankings. Drat. I blame the way my dying laptop is playing Drink Me every thirty seconds. I vote a tie between Diplomatic Immunity and Passage.

    I’m a fan of the True Game books, with a particular love for Jinnian’s arc, but mostly have been bored by the other things Sheri S. Tepper has written. I’ve frequently felt bludgeoned by what appears to be an implicit demand that I agree with whatever message is being not so subtly conveyed.

  33. I think I haven’t voted in this round yet, but I’m tired and might be mistaken.

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
    Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

    Kirstein

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    Weir

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton
    Embassytown, China Miéville

    Walton

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    Abstain

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    Abstain

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    Carey

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Lock In, John Scalzi
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    God’s War, Kameron Hurley

    Abstain

  34. @jayn – That’s “The Family Tree.” If it helps, at this late a date, the baby turns up fine.

    That’s nice to know…but that doesn’t make the blithe enthusiasm of the cop for the idea of smushed babies for the good of the ecosphere any more appealing.
    Still, thanks for telling me.

    On second thought, if the cop turns out to be the villain at the end, instead of the protagonist, I may have judged this book unfairly after all.

    Not asking for any spoilers in the clear, of course. (Don’t worry, I’m sure the baby was a very minor plot point, since he’d spent most of the book presumed smushed).

  35. Not suggesting you want to re-read it, because there’s a lot more dark and Eco-weird following that, but I’ll offer the brief defense that if memory serves, the cop is at that point under a…spell, for lack of better shorthand…that prevents her from being able to feel strong emotions of any kind. She is, however, still the protagonist at the end.

    The whole book hinges on a Big Reveal and is in some regards unabashedly ridiculous. I enjoyed it but it’s not one I re-read frequently.

    (And there are books which I’ve abandoned in disgust and yet still wonder about the dog, so that’s why I’m jumping on random nagging element here! “screw all these people. Was the dog okay? All right, then screw all these people.”)

  36. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson
    The Martian, Andy Weir

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    Even if number two is more about coming from a hostile planet in a spaceship than going to it…

  37. 5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

  38. 3. Embassytown

    4. The Hunger Games ( in part, because it got one of my sisters, who has vehemently hated science fiction and fantasy for all of her life, and swears she has no imagination, to love the series. This trilogy was the first group of genre books I’d been able to talk to her about, ever. And we are a book talky family; I am just used to nobody else being interested in what I love best. She is willing to try more now.)

    5. Ancillary Justice (I truly loved the Moon, and I got so far into the main character’s head that I thought “Of course one would react viscerally to being touched by another person unexpectedly!,” before realizing that no, I don’t feel that way under most circumstances. But… Overall Ancillary is just better, and I got just as deeply into Breq’s equally foriegn head. But I still need a forehead cloth.)

    6. Fledgling (In so many places, this was an uncomfortable read. The power imbalances in the relationships; the appearances of other power imbalances in the relationships; the stark look at racism. Yet it had Butler’s most beautiful and tragic love story, too. I so wish we could have had more stories from her.)

    8. Passage

    9. 1) Annihilation
    2) God’s War
    3) Lock In
    (I am judging Lock In by the prequel novella and first 5 chapters up on TorDotCom; I am judging God’s War on the basis of being only partially through it at the moment. Judge me for that if you will. The brackets have been shaping my to-read pile.)

  39. Well, crap! What are the odds? I’ve read exactly 9 of these: one of each matchup.

    Abstain from everything. Hoping for the following:

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein

    2. BY SPACESHIP TO A HOSTILE PLANET
    Anathem, Neal Stephenson (actually I’m about 500 pages into this one, and loving it. Should have it done by next cycle.)

    3. POLITICS
    Embassytown, China Miéville
    (not the one I read — could NOT finish Farthing)

    4. THE SERIES BEGINS
    Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks

    7. LIFE CHANGES
    Accelerando, Charles Stross

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Lock In, John Scalzi

  40. I cannot EVEN with Tepper any more. It’ll all be going along fine, and then something happens where I must introduce book to wall. Then I wait a few years and try again, the same. The smug is strong with that one. And she gets rilly rilly able-ist.

    BRACKETS!

    1. Lost Steersman
    2. Anathem
    3. ugggghhhh… can I vote against both of them? Abstain
    4. Leviathan Wakes
    5. Ancillary Justice
    6. Look to Windward (small cloth)
    7. Accelerando
    8. Passage (lots of forehead cloths, unscented)
    9. Lock In, No Award

  41. So the impression I’m getting is that I should stay far, far away from anything by Tepper because I’m likely to trip over really awful disableism and that sort of thing would just ruin my day. Tepper fans, accurate? Only accurate sometimes? Safe-from-disableism Tepper books?

  42. Count me among the ranks of people who found that bit in The Fresco therapeutic and amusing. Of course it would be horrifying if it happened in real life, but am I not allowed to imagine other people faced with the full consequences of their ideology in a farcical manner?

  43. 1. Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
    2. The Martian, Andy Weir
    4. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    5. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    6. Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
    8. Passage, Connie Willis

  44. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein

    [that was an easy one]

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton

    (I don’t need a forehead cloth for this one, but it’s closer)

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    9. RANK ‘EM
    Lock In, John Scalzi
    Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
    1. God’s War, Kameron Hurley
    (no preference between the other two)

  45. Going to ROT13 this since it’s edging into spoilerish The Family Tree areas: Nf V ernq vg, Qben jnfa’g haqre gur zvaq-pbageby ng gung cbvag (vg snqrq jura fur jnf njnl sebz Wnerq naq jura fur jnf qrnyvat jvgu nernf bs ure yvsr abg eryngrq gb uvz, yvxr cbyvpvat). V guvax gung cneg jnf zhpu zber qhr gb ure bja crefbany rkcrevrapr. Fbzr jbzra, naq V fcrnx nf bar, qb abg unir n “zngreany vafgvapg” va gung jr srry ab qrfver be hetr gb unir onovrf bs bhe bja* naq Qben znl unir orra bar. Jungrire ure bja fhpu “vafgvapg”, erzrzore gung sebz gur gvzr fur jnf svir lrnef byq, fur unq orra erfcbafvoyr sbe gur pner naq jryy-orvat bs ure lbhatre fvoyvatf, rvtug bs gurz ol gur gvzr fur jnf guvegrra naq Tenaqzn fubjrq hc naq gbbx ure njnl. Ol gur gvzr ure cneragf qvrq, fur unq gra lbhatre fvoyvatf, abar bs jubz jrer (nf V ernq vg) npgviryl jnagrq, nggraqrq gb, be pnerq sbe.

    Vg’f abg fhecevfvat gb zr gung fur jbhyq or snveyl pbyq naq hafragvzragny nobhg crbcyr univat onovrf sbe gur fnxr bs onovrf, juvpu vf irel zhpu gur pnfr sbe gur snzvyl jubfr onol unq qvfnccrnerq.

    “Ubj znal tveyf?” nfxrq Qben, va n uhfurq ibvpr.

    “Sbhe. Gur onol naq gurfr guerr,” [gur zbgure bs gur zvffvat onol] fnvq, vaqvpngvat gur guerr fznyy puvyqera jub unq frngrq gurzfryirf ba gur orq. Gur sbhegu naq svsgu puvyq fgbbq va gur qbbe. “Sbhe oblf. Gubfr gjb naq Obool naq Senapvf. Gurl’ir tbg bar ebbz, gbb. Wnxr jnagf hf gb unir n sbbgonyy grnz, ryrira oblf, fb jr unq fvk orqebbzf naq gur fyrrcvat cbepu bhg onpx, ohg gung’f nyy gur gerrf yrsg hf&zqnfu;guerr orqebbzf. Bar sbe gur oblf, bar sbe gur tveyf, naq bar sbe Wnxr naq zr.”

    *Cyrnfr abgr, guvf vf abg gur fnzr nf qvfyvxvat puvyqera. V rawbl fcraqvat gvzr jvgu gurz (gurl’er fznyy uhzna orvatf, jung’f abg gb yvxr?) naq jbhyq eha vagb genssvp jvgubhg n frpbaq gubhtug gb fnir n urrqyrff gbqqyre. Whfg qba’g nfx zr gb gnxr gurz ubzr nsgrejneqf.

    Maybe not an admirable attitude, but understandable.

  46. This time I’ve read… 7. Gar. Better, proportionally, but only one match-up.

    Oops. Nope. 6. I fell out of A Civil Campaign and haven’t read Diplomatic Immunity yet. No match-ups for me. Full abstention this time around.

    21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL

  47. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL
    Frequently voting if I’ve only read one book in a pair

    1. HIGH TECH AND LOW TECH
    The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein

    3. POLITICS
    Farthing, Jo Walton

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

    6. SOCIOLOGICAL FICTION
    Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

  48. buwaya:

    “Not a rare custom. Many countries/cities/places have this sort of thing. In Manila and elsewhere one often rents a niche, for a period, after which the bones are removed to an ossuary.”

    I know, I have been to the Philippines and visited many graveyards there. It is mostly a catholic thing and was practiced by catholics in Europe also until the earth couldn’t handle the amount of bodies it needed to decompose. Thats why they started to build bigger graveyards outside of the cities.

    The thing here is the mummies, because the mountain air and earth preserved the bodies in a way thats not possible in other places where only the bones would have been left.

  49. Stoic Cynic on September 30, 2015 at 5:59 pm said:
    … And when was the last time you saw a reel to reel, eight track, or 8? floppy drive. (OK I did see an eight track pretty recently at a classic car show but a thousand years from now?)

    In my garage, last time I was back there, a least two out of three.

  50. 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART THREE:
    OPEN THE BOOKSTORE DOORS, HAL
    Still a few of the ones I’ve read in play but only two brackets where I’ve read both.

    5. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD
    Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
    The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon

    The Speed of Dark still sticks in my memory lo these many years after I read it.

    8. IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
    Passage, Connie Willis
    Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

    The greater Willis beats out the lesser Bujold.

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