James Bacon on Dublin Riot

James Bacon was in centre city Dublin yesterday when a riot broke out; File 770 asked him what happened.  


Dublin has had a shocking day yesterday, with an appalling knife attack on school children followed by a protest by racists that degenerated into a full blown riot with looting by malevolent youths spurned on by right wingers. 

I had arranged to meet some friends and spend some time going around comic shops and then relaxing and enjoying a coffee. I visited the city centre comic shops, Sub City and Dublin City Comics and went to Wigwam to meet comic writer Stephen Walsh and we all variously enjoyed chat, tea, coffee and a cider.  The talk ranged from war comics to fanzines and was good. 

Sadly about this time an attack occurred where a man stabbed a young girl of five years of age then stabbed two more children and a carer while they were lined up outside their school, Gael Scoil Colaiste Mhuire on Parnell Square in the city centre. I understand that an Irish lady and an American lady saw what was happening intervened and helped to restrain the man, who is an Irish citizen, here 20 years.  There’s no details on the why, but the young girl is badly injured and of course, thoughts are with all of them. The man was arrested.  

Oblivious to this, Stephen and Pádraig went home and myself and a pal walked over to Forbidden Planet. 

The knife attack, an appallingly terrible thing was meanwhile maliciously used as a  catalyst for a racist protest organised by people  described by the head of An Garda Síochána Commisioner Drew Harris as “a complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology”. 

Continuing in ignorance of what was unfolding we walked over to Hapenny Bridge and into Forbidden Planet. 

As matters became clear to the management and staff that the situation was escalating, prompt action was taken. Kevin the manager and his team went around the shop as most customers like ourselves were totally unaware of what was going on outside, and we were calmly warned of the situation, informed of where to avoid and the threat to safety shared.

Kevin the manager and his team at Forbidden Planet Dublin were kind and considerate, and took an impressive stance, thoughtful and caring. They calmly ensured awareness and encouraged comic buyers to get home safely. There were offers of walking folks home if required. 

Really nice in what are exceptionally unusual circumstances and difficulties.

This prompt, preventative and proactive action was wise, as a very short time later, matters escalated to unprecedented levels of violence and destruction as the situation deteriorated and buses, a tram and police cars were set on fire in what has been the worst rioting to be seen in Dublin, in my lifetime, at least.

As our thoughts go to those poor unfortunate children and carer who were attacked, a sense of gratitude with the feeling of real community thoughtfulness comes from the actions of Kevin and staff at Forbidden Planet International Dublin.

Update: Further reports point to a Brazilian deleveroo driver who intervened: “’I used my helmet as a weapon to stop him’: Brazilian Deliveroo rider intervened in knife attack at school on Parnell Square” in The Irish Times.

A Brazilian Deliveroo rider who intervened in the knife attack outside a school on Parnell Square on Thursday said he “didn’t think twice” before acting.

Caio Benício (43) has two children, and when he realised it was an attack, he dismounted and hit the suspect on the head with his motorcycle helmet.

Mr Benício said he was still in shock on Friday to see the riots that took to Dublin streets last night and said: “It does not make sense at all. I know the protest involved anti-migrant groups. And I, as a migrant, was the one that helped to hold back the assailant.”

Pixel Scroll 10/10/23 Nobody Knows The Pixels I’ve Screened

(1) CHENGDU WORLDCON PROMO VIDEO UNVEILED. “Chasing Dreams for the Future_Worldcon” on YouTube.

A two-and-a-half minute video was released today on various platforms, including the official con site.  It features animated characters, against imagery based on a variety of SF works, and also references prior Worldcons.

(2) CHENGDU WORLDCON ROUNDUP. [Item by Ersatz Culture.]

No reference to Lukyanenko in latest PR material

This Weibo post from the con’s official account has a couple of interesting details.   Google Translate rendition of the post text (minor manual edits to fix mangled names):

The World Science Fiction Conference is held for the first time in China. This science fiction event brings together the best science fiction writers and industry insiders from the East and the West in Chengdu, where the past and the future are intertwined.

Liu Cixin, Robert Sawyer, Richard Taylor, Lezli Robyn, Michael Swanwick, David Hull, Satoshi Hase, Neil Clarke, Wu Jing, Guo Fan, Wang Jinkang, Han Song, He Xi… these shining names in the science fiction world, these stars who evoke the exciting dreams of countless science fiction fans, will all be unveiled at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Conference. 

I think this might be the first official mention of Michael Swanwick’s attendance?  Also, Japanese novelist Satoshi Hase is a name that I don’t think I’ve previously seen mentioned as a guest.

The linked weixin.qq.com page has an article by a reporter from the Chengdu Business Times org, which is involved in the running of the con.  The piece is titled (via Google Translate) “Liu Cixin and Robert Sawyer: Representative figures of hard science fiction from the East and the West will appear together in Chengdu!” Liu and Sawyer are interviewed, and it seems this will be the first in a series of interviews with con guests:

Starting today, we are launching a series of reports called “When Science Fiction Stars Shine” to introduce the science fiction writers, academicians, experts, and industry figures who will appear at this conference, and look forward to and welcome the event with everyone.

There’s also a slightly puzzling statement which says “Robert Sawyer and Liu Cixin will appear together at The 81st World Science Fiction Convention Industrial Development Promotion Conference (WSDF)”, with “WSDF” being an acronym appearing in the Chinese text.  Whilst I’ve seen a bit of con-related material that has references to “industry” and “promotion”, this is the first I’ve heard of something called the “WSDF”.  This “WSDF” term also appears in Weibo posts today from the HELLOChengdu and GoChengdu accounts, which reference the same news item.

Sawyer/Liu/Lukyanenko anthology published

It is reported that the “Stellar Concerto” Chinese-language anthology featuring stories from the three (ahem) Worldcon GoHs, which was previously covered in the September 28th Scroll, has now been published.  The ToC shows that of the 18 stories, 7 are by Sawyer, 6 from Lukyanenko and 5 from Liu.

Special edition coffee packaging

I guess I jinxed things in yesterday’s updates when I said I hadn’t seen any evidence of sponsor branding, because guess what showed up today?  Coffee cups and bags adorned with a stylized representation of the con venue. In fairness, they seem to be licensing from the science museum rather than the Worldcon — the text in the photos only mentions the former.  

A couple more  Xiaohongshu posts

A short video of street artists decorate an electricity substation.

This post has a handful of images, most of which are fairly familiar views of the interior and exterior of the venue, but there are a couple of things I haven’t seen before: a topiary of something that I can’t quite fathom, and what I assume is interior signage for the fan area.

(3) ON THE DRAWING BOARD. Jeremy Zentner offers advice about “Designing Your Fictional Spaceship” at the SFWA Blog.

Spaceships have been iconic in science fiction ever since Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon. There are many features for writers to consider when designing their craft, including microgravity, faster-than-light (FTL) capabilities, journey time, habitation and resources, whether there’s a menacing AI on board, and so much more. In this article, we’ll examine how many published authors designed their sci-fi spaceships, so strap in and get ready for launch!

Interstellar travel: To FTL or not to FTL. In general, books that describe interstellar travel write about ships with FTL capability. In The Indranan War series, K.B. Wagers uses the Alcubierre drive, a concept developed by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre to enable interstellar travel. Other books use wormhole technology. In John Scalzi’s The Interdependency series, ships penetrate a network of wormholes called the Flow to travel to other star systems. Since the Flow is a natural phenomenon, it’s also subject to cosmic events that can change the nature of its location, culminating in a great plot point. In Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the Galactic Commons uses artificial gates that tunnel through the fabric of subspace, built by scrappy crews like that of the Wayfarer….

(4) CROWDFUNDING FOR APEX ANTHOLOGY. The Kickstarter campaign for The Map of Lost Places, edited by Sheree Renée Thomas and Lesley Conner, is now live. Click here – “The Map of Lost Places: A Horror Anthology by Apex Publications” to join in bringing this anthology to life. Check out the submission guidelines as well if you’re interested in sending a story to the open call in December.

Here are the perks:

Beyond the anthology itself, we’ve got all sorts of fantastic rewards, add-ons, and stretch goals included in this Kickstarter. Ai Jiang has contributed a beautiful handmade planner as an add-on, and there are five slots available for 15-minute Zoom calls with Brian Keene. A little ways down the line, we’ll have a few surprises from co-editor Lesley Conner, and maybe one or two other things up our sleeves….

Lesley and Apex Magazine managing editor Rebecca Treasure are also offering critiques on up to 7,500 words. Additionally, we have ten explorer care packages available, which will include items to keep you safe on your travels: a train ticket, holy water, a book of protective phrases…visit the Kickstarter page to find out more! Stretch goals include excitements like more open call slots, a new dark microfiction anthology from Marissa van Uden, art for the interior of the Map of Lost Places anthology, and an introduction written by Linda D. Addison.

(5) WARNING ABOUT KOSA. Charlie Jane Anders is quoted in the Sacramento Bee’s paywalled article “CA senators quiet on bill allowing removal of LGBTQ content”.

“Simply put, KOSA as currently written would allow (Texas Attorney General) Ken Paxton and other red-state attorney generals to bring frivolous lawsuits against any content they believe is harmful to kids — which includes LGBTQIA+ content in their view. The states are already passing state laws to censor the internet, but a federal law would give them much more leeway,” said writer and commentator Charlie Jane Anders in an email interview with The Bee.

(6) NOT QUITE THE ELEVENTH HOUR. The latest (in 1968) episode of Star Trek did not wow Gideon Marcus: “[October 10, 1968] Going Native (Star Trek: ‘The Paradise Syndrome’” at Galactic Journey.

With two episodes under its belt, the third season of Star Trek has both disappointed and elated.  The general reaction to “Spock’s Brain” amongst the fan population (beyond the Journey) was universally negative.  Buck Coulson of Yandro has even called for this season’s producer Fred Freiberger to be ridden out on a rail.  On the other hand, “The Enterprise Incident” wowed everyone.  And so, we waited eagerly for Trek at 9:59 PM on a Friday night, a night when we could have been out drinking and carousing (who are we kidding—we’re probably the only group for whom the Friday night “death slot” is actually perfect timing).

What we got was…well, closer to “Spock’s Brain” in terms of quality….

(7) WHEN FRANCHISES LOSE THEIR WAY. Not behind a paywall! “Jedi Knights and Vulcans Both Suck Now. What Happened?” asks Charlie Jane Anders at Happy Dancing.

Something strange happened to both Star Wars and Star Trek around twenty-five years ago: both franchises suddenly became disillusioned with their spiritual, selfless bands of heroes.

The Jedi knights and the Vulcans had been an essential part of these iconic universes from the very beginning, and twentieth century viewers would have come away with a mostly positive impression of them. That changed drastically in the late 1990s, when both Trek and Wars started portraying their respective bands of detached, disciplined seekers of truth as uptight jerks. It was a jarring transformation, and I’m still wondering what exactly happened….

(8) THERE IS ANOTHER. And what about Battlestar Galactica? To find out what Charlie Jane Anders thinks you’ll need to listen to episode 138 of Our Opinions Are Correct “Battlestar Galactica, 20 Years Later”.

One of the greatest science fiction shows on TV debuted twenty years ago: the rebooted version of Battlestar Galactica. This show broke new ground in depicting realistic politics — and a nuanced view of a society of artificial people. How does it hold up? To find out, Charlie Jane went back and watched the entire series — here’s what she found.

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born October 10, 1924 Ed Wood, Jr. Best remembered for Plan 9 from Outer Space which inexplicably has a sixty-eight percent rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes. Really how could they? He did a lot of terribly bad genre films including Night of the Monster and Bride of The Ghouls. (Died 1978.)
  • Born October 10, 1927 Dana Elcar. Most of you will remember him as Peter Thornton on MacGyver which I submit is possibly genre, but he has a long genre history including Russ in Condorman which was inspired by Robert Sheckley’s The Game of X. He also played Sheriff George Paterson in Dark Shadows, and showed up in 2010 as Dimitri Moisevitch. (Died 2005.)
  • Born October 10, 1931 Victor Pemberton. Writer of the script for the the “Fury from the Deep”, a Second Doctor story in which he created the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. He had appeared as an actor in the series, in a non-speaking role as a scientist in “The Moonbase” story. In 1976, he wrote the BBC audio drama Doctor Who and the Pescatons which I remember hearing. Quite good it was. (Died 2017.)
  • Born October 10, 1931 Jack Jardine. A long-time L.A. fan who was present at many West Coast cons and who shared the dais on panels with some of the major names in SF. He attended his last convention, in a wheelchair, assisted by his daughter Sabra, after a debilitating stroke at the age of 70. His health continued to get worse until he died from heart failure. File 770 has more here. (Died 2009.)
  • Born October 10, 1941 Peter Coyote, 82. He actually did two genre films in 1982 with the first being Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann in which he appeared as Porter Reese and the second being E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial which he’s Keys, the Agent hunting E.T. down. Sphere in which he’s Captain Harold C. Barnes is his next SF outing followed by The 4400 and FlashForward series being his next major genre involvement.
  • Born October 10, 1947 Laura Brodian Freas Beraha, 76. While married to Kelly Freas, she wrote Frank Kelly Freas: As He Sees It with him along with quite a few essays such as “On the Painting of Beautiful Women or Ayesha, She Who Must Be Obeyed” and “Some of My Best Critics are Friends – or Vice Versa”. She’s credited for the cover art for New Eves: Science Fiction About the Extraordinary Women of Today and Tomorrow.
  • Born October 10, 1966 Bai Ling, 57. She’s Miss West in that wretched Wild West West and the Mysterious Women in the exemplary Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, she has a major role as Guanyin in The Monkey King which aired on Syfy. Nope, not seen that one. Her last genre role was Zillia in Conjuring: The Book of the Dead, a horror film riffing off Alastair Crowley. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

  • Pearls Before Swine – “I’ll just say — it hits pretty close to home even with my minimal experience at autographings!” says Rich Horton.
  • Wizard of Id has a Dune reference.

(11) DUBLIN COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL. James Bacon’s report about the other con he went to last weekend: “In Review: Diving deep into DCAF 2023, the Dublin Comics Art Festival” at Downthetubes.net.

The Dublin Comics Art Festival, held this year over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th of October, has been connecting comics and comic fans for years and I got the opportunity to go to their new venue, Richmond Barracks, which is now repurposed as a community cultural centre and library.

I depart Octocon, the National SF convention taking place at the Gibson Hotel and jump onto a Luas (tram), which terminates outside the hotel door and get off at Golden Bridge and its a very short walk to this excellent venue.

This gathering is in a lovely open and airy hall, filled with excitement and art, it’s a welcoming space and it’s busy. 

… In many respects I found DCAF as rewarding as Thought Bubble when it comes to small press, entry level publications, zines and art. It’s a good show, with a wide and desirable selection of vendors. I also liked how relaxed everyone was. It was friendly but there is no hard sell. An occasional “feel free to browse” or “happy to answer questions” and I have to bite my tongue and not ask “why haven’t Marvel hired you for covers” because actually, the creative art of writing and drawing ones own unique story, for me as a reader, is hugely rewarding. I’ll take this, thanks….

(12) HE MADE A LITTLE MISTAKE. The New York Times reports “Unity Chief Resigns After Pricing Backlash” “John Riccitiello angered video game developers who use Unity’s software when he announced a new fee structure that could have significantly increased their costs.”

John Riccitiello, the chief executive of Unity Technologies, abruptly stepped down on Monday, less than a month after a change to the company’s pricing structure infuriated thousands of software developers who rely on the video game company’s tools.

Unity, which makes the underlying software that powers video games, has long imposed an annual licensing fee on developers. But in September, the company said it would begin charging developers additional money each time someone downloaded one of their video games. That meant developers would pay more as their games increased in popularity. Mr. Riccitiello was one of the main proponents of the change….

…His swift exit underscored the precarious position Mr. Riccitiello found himself in after an attempt to fix a corporate balance sheet awash in red ink. But the abrupt shift in the company’s financial model angered many programmers who rely on Unity for their own businesses….

(13) IN THE ZONE. In “20 Best Quotes From The Twilight Zone (& What They Mean)”, ScreenRant sifts through the series’ twists and morals. Among them:

 Season 4, Episode 1, In His Image

“In His Image” follows an android man named Alan, created by Walter Ryder to be a perfect version of himself. However, as the ending reveals, Alan has unexplained flaws that cause him to want to kill others. Walter takes over his life at the end of the episode, realizing he is actually a perfect version of Alan. The episode’s quote, “There may be easier ways to self-improvement, but sometimes it happens that the shortest distance between two points is a crooked line.”

The common phrase says the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but The Twilight Zone turns this on its head. The quote is saying the bizarre scenario in which Walter created a robot version of himself was the quickest way for him to realize that he is actually the best version of himself. There may have been an easier way, but this is the fastest way he came up with. This could be applied to various areas in life, as sometimes unusual circumstances can be the most effective way to realize or accomplish something.

(14) THE EVOLUTION OF WOMEN. “Eve by Cat Bohannon review – long overdue evolutionary account of women and their bodies” in the Guardian.

…This long overdue evolutionary account is the pre-history to Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women (2019), showing how wrong it is to think of women as just men with breasts and wombs bolted on. Over hundreds of thousands of years, women have developed more sensitive noses (particularly around ovulation and pregnancy), finer hearing at high frequencies, extended colour vision, and longer life expectancy than men by an impressive half decade. Forget plasma exchange and supplementation – entrepreneurs trying to extend human life should be studying women, who comprise around 80% of today’s centenarians.

American academic and author Cat Bohannon asks how this came to be, tracing defining female features back to our “presumed true ancestors”, our Eves as she calls them. The story starts more than 200m years ago in the Jurassic period with a rodent, Morganucodon, nicknamed Morgie, which still laid eggs but also had glands on its tummy that began secreting milk. It was perhaps the first breastfeeder….

… There is no fossil record of brains or wombs. Where any organ once was becomes a cavity of uncertainty. Bohannon finds the gaps “incredibly fun”, excavating possibilities from silence. She revises the opening of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example, replacing the testosterone-filled scene of early man as the “primordial inventor” of weapons, with women who were sharpening the tools while also making the babies…

(15) IS STEPHEN KING ‘KING’? [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Moid over at Media Death Cult channel on YouTube is teasing us as to whether Stephen King the horror writer is a king of SF????

The Science Fiction Of Stephen King Filmed in a haunted forest in the pouring rain.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Ersatz Culture, John King Tarpinian, Steven French, Rich Horton, James Bacon, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Mike Kennedy  for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jayn.]

Octocon 2023: The Irish National Science Fiction Convention

Octocon 2023 The Irish National Science Fiction Convention
Gibson Hotel, Dublin
October 7-8, 2023   

By James Bacon: Octocon has moved to a new venue, The Gibson Hotel, in Dublin city, and it felt really nice, and with 321 people attending it was a good amount present. The convention sold over 65 young adult memberships, and there was a youthful vibrancy and excitement that was really very welcome. The team attributed much of this younger attendance to promotional work and a table at Dublin Comic Con which saw many younger fans welcomed.

Paul Carroll and Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan was the Guest of Honour and she has an incredible way about her, so friendly and engaging but also encouraging with a wry insightfulness. I often find listening to her brilliant fun, and given how much Sarah has had published, and her success, her view as an established author can be refreshing, a real presence on panels and also engaging at the social aspects of the convention.

Jessica Thorne / Ruth Long (left), Sarah Rees Brennan (center),

The Glasgow 2024 team turned up in purple and tartan and were a welcome presence as they offered a gin tasting session that saw a fabulous crowd gather, while Funcon 1: Space Leopards will Eat your Face (funcon1.lol) filled the workshop room with 25 people, all keen to make crochet Space Leopard coasters. The Eastercon Belfast reported strong uptake, exceeding expectations with 20 new members.

The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall is a book that I have been looking forward to, a mixture of World War II historical fiction and a time travelling mystery that links to modern war and relationships, with a hint of the fantastic by Jessica Thorne/ Ruth Long. I was delighted to see Ruth after a very good panel and get this one signed. 

I was pleased to pick up Dave Green’s first book in the Empire of Ruin series. The second book in the series, Path of War was nominated for best novel 2023 for the British Fantasy Award as described: “David Green is a neurodivergent writer of the epic and the urban, the fantastical and the mysterious….  Hailing from the north-west of England, David now lives in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland with his wife and train-obsessed son.” Dave was great in person, and very engaging, and it was great to get a start on this series.

Dave Green

Jog Brogzin is a cartographic genius! He is a fantasy artist and mapmaker from Dublin and when his pen touches paper he becomes an intrepid explorer of worlds who has vowed to map the entire multi-verse in search of his long-lost immortal love. His clients include RPG publishers, boardgame designers and fantasy authors. He is also accomplished at drawing real world locations, often with a fantasy twist, including Dublin, Cork, London and various buildings on the Old Kent Road. Top-down maps, elevated maps, isometric maps, side view maps, hex maps, even made a few star maps.  His map of the Octocon site was an instant hit and everyone got one, which was amazing and also he helped with some fun mapping activities.  www.instagram.com/jogbrogzin and https://www.patreon.com/jogbrogzin

Jog Brogzin

Local comic artist Leeann Hamilton had some really lovely new items available including a fun looking publication Eggy! and I was well impressed with her Edge of Spiderverse fusion print, which brought together a selection of characters that Leeann had sketched in a beautiful distinct piece. There is a history of comics being an active and integral part of Octocon and this was represented both by panels, but also the Trade Hall.  

I got the chance to chat with Michael Carroll. I am loving his work on Dreadnoughts and Proteus Vex for the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD respectively. I have been enjoying them as they develop with each new series and am hopeful that as the current run of Dreadnoughts comes to a close, and gosh is it wonderful in its near future insightfulness of law enforcement, that another installment of Proteus Vex will not be far away.

I took the opportunity during the day to go over to the Dublin Comic Arts Festival, which was taking place at the Richmond Barracks, which is now a lovely community cultural centre and library, and the Luas (tram) stop outside the con, led directly to DCAF, which was very handy. A full report on DCAF can be found shortly on Down the Tubes.

Máire Brophy’s second book Between the Sea and the End of the World was released during the convention. Leading on from After The World, this series is fascinating as it looks at what it is to be on the losing side of a war. As it describes itself, “An orc general struggles to come to terms with his role in the destruction of his people. Running and hiding from the humans and elves that hunt him down, he searches for other orc survivors.” (Strangefictionpress.com)

Paul Carroll, the Octocon chair, and his team did a lovely job. Paul is also a writer and the editor of comic collections from Limit Break Comics. His previous titles include Turning Roads, which looked at Irish folklore stories, and Down Below comics based on Greek Myth noir. Next is Fractured Realms which is a Nordic Horror anthology and is on Kickstarter.

Conor Carroll

As Octocon came to a close, some time was given to Marguerite Smith and Brian Nisbet, co-chairs of the bid to bring Worldcon back to Dublin in 2029, who took the opportunity to update hundreds of fans present with their hopes and plans.

Marguerite Smith and Brian Nisbet

They said that pre-supports would be opening up in the future, and they called for support, demonstrating the international and national enthusiasm for the bid. They have a sneak peek of potential venues planned in the future and overall, this was met with great enthusiasm and excitement by all present.  

Paul has steered the convention well, the whole team worked well, the Pub Quiz and raffle had raised a fine amount for charity, there was a good vibe about the programme, and the move to this new venue while no small undertaking seems to have been appreciated by all concerned. There was much appreciation as the convention then came to a close and deservedly so, the team worked hard, to do things they feel are fun and many fans had really appreciated it. 

A very good Octocon.

Next year’s Octocon date was announced as the 5th and 6th of October 2024, and there are plans to come back to this successful venue. 

Fandom Exhibition Arteteka Regional Public Library in Krakow

By James Bacon: This is a lovely exhibition of fan paraphernalia, con booklets, fanzines, badges, and some superb looking publications. It’s neatly laid out, smartly presented with great descriptions and captures nicely the subculture that celebrates science fiction, fantasy and horror in many forms. This display was brilliantly put together by local fan Marcin Klak.

I was exceptionally impressed with the details in the clearly set out but detail heavy posters that were in both Polish and English.  These have been very thoughtfully presented, well written and offer fans and those interested considerable detail. 

On one we hear about Polish Fandom:

“Fandom appeared in Poland with some delay. One cannot point to a specific date, as its birth was a lengthy process. Some crucial dates from the early days of the history of the SF&F and the M&A fandoms in Poland.”

  • The 70s — the first SF&F fan clubs appear in Polish cities.
  • February 26, 1976 — the creation of OKMFISF (the All-Poland Club of Fiction and Science- Fiction Lovers)
  • August 1976 — Eurocon (the European convention for fans of SF&F fiction) is held in Poznań. It should be noted that the decision on its organisation was made in 1974.
  • 1995 — Robert ‘Mr. Root Korzeniewski’ publishes the first articles on the phenomenon of manga and anime in the print gaming journals Secret Service and Gambler
  • March 11-12, 1995 — During the demoparty (meeting of creators devoted to making works combining IT and computer art) Primavera II in Starachowice, the first Manga Room is organised – a room devoted to showing anime.
  • August 16-17, 1997– Manga no Sekai (the World of Manga) the first Polish manga and anime convention – is held in Gdynia

The key moments are covered but there is so much more detail to enjoy, with this series of highly informative posters. 

There is a fascinating set of interesting key dates, a few of which I note here:

  • October 1930 — the founding of the first SF fan-club in Great Britain – the Ilford Science Literary Circle
  • October 22, 1936 — a group of fans from New York visited fans in Philadelphia. Some of the researchers consider this meeting to be the first convention (an organised meeting of fans), but others grant this title to a later event in Leeds.
  • January 3, 1937 — the first convention is held in Leeds in Great Britain
  • December 21, 1979 — the first Comiket is held in Japan – a convention and expo for creators of fan-created manga (or so-called doujinshi).
  • August 13, 1987 — Yamato Con is held in Dallas, Texas – the first American convention for fans of manga and anime

As one looks at the covers and considered the effort and output, it was lovely to see such a variety represented, and unexpected to find a Dublin 2019 item although no surprise that there were a nice selection of items relating Glasgow 2024, the next European Worldcon. 

Local activities were well documented.

“THE SFF NETWORK OF KRAKÓW

One of the phenomena present in this fandom are clubs, as well as other forms of regular fan meetings Clubs may be registered formally, operate within some other institutions, or be completely informal in Poland, both SF&F clubs (such as the Gdańsk SF&F Club) and M&A clubs (such as the Animatsuri Association) operate. Sometimes, a general SF&F club has its own section/division devoted to manga and anime (such as Section 9 within the Silesian Fantasy Club).

The intensity of club life depends on the given organisation. In Kraków alone, a number of different clubs existed throughout the years, both devoted to SF&F and M&A. Unfortunately, not all of them survived to this day. One – the SFF Network of Kraków (Krakowska Sieć Fantastyki – KSF) is celebrating its 10th anniversary since its formal registry (though it has operated for longer informally).

The KSF was formed in 2009. At first, it was an informal network meant to facilitate contacts and holding fan activities for people from Krakow and its surroundings. The KSF was created by combining previously existing groups: the Kraków LARP Group, the Avatar Club, the Victorian Underground group, and the group of organisers of the Nethershell LARP

At first, the members of KSF met almost weekly in the Jędruś Club (located in the Centrum A estate), where they would play board games and RPGs. They also held LARPs. Another crucial element of club activity consisted of maintaining a web forum, as the aim of the group was to facilitate networking. After several years, the club formalised its activities and was entered in the Polish National Court Register (the KRS) in November 2013

Over the years, the KSF had its ups and downs. There were years when apart from organising a convention, the club was quite devoid of other activities, as well as those (as at present) when meetings were held several times per month. Among the conventions organised or co-organised by the KSF, we can mention:

»Lajconik – the Kraków RPG Days (2011-2023)

» Lemcon – Stanisław Lem’s birthday (2017-2019)

»Plansówki – The Kraków Boardgame Days (2018-2019)

»Cthulcon- the Kraków Lovecraftian convention (2018)

»In 2022, the KSF supported the Historia Vita Foundation in organising Imladris-Polcon.

Nevertheless, the KSF does not limit itself to organising conventions – It is active in many fields. Beside events and the aforementioned club meetings, it also boasts a functioning literary section Protoposty, as well as publishing books and fanzines.

 More information is available at https://ksf.org.pl, although only in Polish.”

Overall it’s a very fine exhibition, it gives both insight and shares the enthusiasm and history as well as the breadth of activities.

Pixel Scroll 9/15/23 I Can Scroll Up Pixels From The Vasty Deep

(1) TOP HORROR AUTHORS OFFER FREE CONVENTION. “Christopher Golden’s House of Last Resort Weekend” will be held January 18-21 in Portsmouth, NH. Admission is FREE with weekend hotel room reservation.

Spend a weekend with your favorite scary authors in a unique, intimate setting! This one-time-only event features Christopher Golden, Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, Victor LaValle, Owen King, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Eric LaRocca, V. Castro, Cynthia Pelayo, Ronald Malfi and many more.

If you’d like to join us at the convention hotel, see below and book your room at a discounted rate. Whether or not you will be staying with us, please click [on the link above] to register for the event.

(2) CHENGDU ADDS TO HUGO VOTER PACKET. Ersatz Culture reports the two missing voter packet categories – Fanzine and Fan Writer — have been added to the downloads on the Worldcon site.

(3) CHENGDU SCIENCE FICTION MUSEUM CONSTRUCTION VIDEO. [Item by Ersatz Culture.] This link to another video of the Chengdu Worldcon venue shows the current under-construction state of the interior. The post on Xiaohongshu rather than Weibo, an Instagram-like site. The date of the video is not apparent from a machine-translation of the post. There is untranslated Chinese text in the video which may say more.

There’s also a very short video posted to Weibo by 云上深夜快递 — which seems to be a Chengdu TV and radio station — about the “sky tunnel” that leads to the convention center. They highlight that the roof has some sort of lighting effect to look like the night sky, although it doesn’t really come across in the video.  It looks like the tunnel is for vehicles only, not pedestrians.  

The Starry Sky Tunnel simulates the “starry sky” through decorative lights on the top of the tunnel, such as swimming in the vast Milky Way, the starry sea and the brilliant universe in the dome will provide citizens with a beautiful immersive landscape experience. The reporter saw at the scene that at present, the lights and streamers in the tunnel have entered the final commissioning and acceptance work. After the tunnel is officially opened to traffic, it will further narrow the distance between the main urban area of Pidu and the main venue of the science fiction convention

(4) NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FICTION LONGLIST. The 2023 National Book Award Fiction Longlist includes one work of genre interest, Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

(5) CORN EXCHANGE HOSTS A COMIC-CON. James Bacon reviews “NICE 2023 – an amazing comic con!” for Downthetubes.net.

There’s a lovely welcoming atmosphere at NICE in Bedford and I got that feeling of regret… Why did I not go to this amazing comic con in previous years? NICE is, actually, really blooming… er, nice!

The promise of a good weekend began in a nearby bar as fans, professionals and dealers gathered on Friday for the weekend. There was great chat, laughter and the meeting of old friends, and the opportunity to meet new people. It’s been a few years for some, and this was evident, but also it was friendly – and I got the chance to meet established writers and artists for the first time. 

This spirit continued to the queue outside the cracking venue in the heart of Bedford, the Corn Exchange, a traditional hall that was filled with tables, all about comics. There were quite a number of dealers selling a lot of comics: a great variety from 50p and £1 boxes, to key Silver Age and some really lovely to see Golden Age comics. 

The range of writers and artists was just impressive….

(6) SIMULTANEOUS TIMES. Space Cowboy Books in Joshua Tree, CA has released episode 67 of Simultaneous Times, a monthly science fiction podcast. This one is done in collaboration with Radon Journal. Theme music by Dain Luscombe,

Stories featured in this episode:

  • “Hello This is Automatic Antigrief” by Jenna Hanchey; with music by Fall Precauxions; read by Zara Kand
  • “Lost in Transcription” by Abigail Guerrero; with music by Phog Masheeen; read by Mark Soden Jr., Pedro Iniguez, Jean-Paul Garnier, and Zara Kand.

(7) ROBERT BLOCH WEBSITE. Robertbloch.net announced its Non-Fiction page has been significantly expanded to now include interviews, introductions/forewords/etc., and more.

(8) BEWARE SPOILER. Watch out, the spoiler is in the headline:“DC Comics Blue Beetle Ted Kord Has Died Four Times — Does It Matter Anymore?” at CBR.com

Writer Josh Trujillo just blindsided fans in the newest Blue Beetle comic series by killing off the fan-favorite second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, when the mysterious new supervillain ‘Blood Scarab’ made his debut and impaled the hero in his lab. As shocking as this is, Ted Kord is no stranger to death.

Each time a superhero dies, it matters a little less. Ted Kord has died numerous times in DC Comics. While Kord’s latest demise is obviously meant to bring some emotional weight to the new Blue Beetle series, it’s hard for it to really matter after Maxwell Lord killed him in 2006. Comic book deaths are always associated with diminishing returns. When a supposedly carefree hero like Blue Beetle has died so many times, it makes it hard for fans to care….

(9) IT WILL CHANGE YOUR WORLD! ALLEGEDLY. The Hollywood Reporter unpacks the “Monsters of California Trailer: Aliens Exist in Tom DeLonge Film”.

DeLonge, the Blink-182 rocker and noted champion of UFO research, helmed and co-wrote the film that Screen Media launches theatrically and on-demand Oct. 6….

Monsters of California centers on Dallas (Samson) and his outcast group of high school friends attempting to shed light on a paranormal conspiracy in Southern California that the political powers that be have kept under wraps….

“They don’t want you to know anything,” Kind says ominously in the footage. “This is going to shatter any idea you have about reality.”

The trailer shows Dallas working to use his father’s clandestine research to help shed light on the family’s mysterious past. “I’m literally about to find out what happened to Dad after all these years,” he exclaims. “I’m this close.”…

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born September 15, 1890 Agatha Christie, or to give her full name of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller). I’m here to praise her for my favorite work by here which is Murder on The Orient Express but anything involving the fussy little Belgian detective is worth reading. The best use of her in genre fiction is the Tenth Doctor story, “The Unicorn and The Wasp” with her involved in a Manor House mystery. (Died 1976.)
  • Born September 15, 1940 Norman Spinrad, 83. I’ll admit that the only novel I’ve read by him is Bug Jack Barron which I really do like. My bad. And I was fascinated to learn he wrote the script for Trek’s “The Doomsday Machine” episode which is an amazing story. So how is that he’s never won a Hugo? 
  • Born September 15, 1943 John M. Faucette. He published five novels and one short story. He left seven unpublished novels in various states of completion at his death. Two of his novels; Crown of Infinity and Age of Ruin, were published in the Ace Doubles series. None of his works are in print in digital or paper format currently including his Black Science Fiction anthology which he as an African-American SF writer was very proud of. (Died 2003.)
  • Born September 15, 1946 Howard Waldrop, 77. I think that the The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 which he wrote with Jake Saunders is my favorite work by him. His short fiction such as “The Ugly Chickens” which won The World Fantasy and Nebula Awards is most excellent. A generous selection of his short fiction and novellas are available at the usual suspects.
  • Born September 15, 1952 Loren D. Estleman, 71. You’ll have noticed that I’ve an expansive definition of genre and so I’m including a trilogy of novels by this writer who’s better known for his mainstream mysteries featuring Amos Walker. These are set in the Sherlock Holmes Metaverse, and are Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. I think it was Titan Book that maybe a decade ago republished a lot of these Holmesian pastiches of which there are more than I want to think about. ISFDB lists two other novels by him as genre, Journey of the Dead and The Eagle and the Viper.
  • Born September 15, 1956 Elton T. Elliott, 67. Editor, publisher, reviewer. His solo fiction debut was “Lighting Candles on the River Styx” in Amazing (March 1991). His early novel-length work appeared in the 1980s in collaboration with Richard E. Geis under the pseudonym Richard Elliott. He edited Science Fiction Review from 1990 to 1992 which, yes, I remember reading at the time. 
  • Born September 15, 1962 Jane Lindskold, 61. My first encounter with her was the Zelazny novel she finished, Donnerjack. It’sexcellent though how much is Zelazny is open to vigorous debate. Of her own novels, I recommend The Buried Pyramid, Child of a Rainless Year and Asphodel as being very good. 

(11) COMICS SECTION.

  • The Far Side might be described as saying “we come in peace”, but not loudly enough.

(12) EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTIBLES. Scott Edelman is auctioning off some rarities to fund new equipment for his Eating the Fantastic podcast. One of them is his personal DC Comics baseball jacket circa 1980, the back of which is decorated with the iconic bullet icon from that period. Scott says, “I’ve never seen one on the secondary market.” Here’’s the direct link. Another dozen or so items up there can be seen at his eBay store link.

(13) THIS JUST IN 55 YEARS AGO. CBR.com tells “How Lord of the Rings Inspired Led Zeppelin”.

…Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 with Robert Plant as the lead singer and lyricist. Plant was also a known Lord of the Rings fan. Thanks to his influence as a songwriter, many of Led Zeppelin’s songs had themes of mythology and mysticism, which are prominent within The Lord of the Rings series. Over time, the band’s songs began to reflect more of Plant’s life and experiences, such as lost romance and political protests. In a few select songs, Plant weaves his interest in Lord of the Rings with details of his life as a treat for the series’ fans among the Led Zeppelin audience. Some of LOTR‘s key moments and iconic characters lend themselves well to Led Zeppelin’s unique and otherworldly storytelling….

Here’s one example:

The song Ramble On was released in 1969 on the album Led Zeppelin II. The song mentions Gollum and Sauron hiding in Mordor and stealing Plant’s girl.

Mine’s a tale that can’t be told, my freedom I hold dear

How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air

‘Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair

But Gollum and the Evil One crept up and slipped away with her

Ultimately, this song is about a man finding his perfect girl and traveling the world to find her. However, some fans have theorized that this song is actually about Aragorn having to choose between staying with Arwen or searching for Gollum before Sauron finds him. Others theorize the song references Frodo’s journey to destroy the One Ring; the girl in the song is the Ring. Plant was quoted in an interview as embarrassed by the LOTR reference since Mordor has no beautiful women, and Gollum wouldn’t even be interested in them if they were.

(14) POP QUIZ. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Apocalyptic fiction is an established trope of SF. So arguably of interest to us know-it-all fans is Nature’s challenge, “Do you really know the way the world is heading? Take this quiz on plans to save humanity.”

The United Nations has ambitious aims to end poverty and clean up the planet by 2030. See whether you know how the world is faring…

(15) AI: WHO CARES? [Item by Mike Kennedy.] The BBC Global News Podcast (updated several times a day) has created a special episode on Artificial Intelligence with opinions and analysis from different perspectives including the public. “Special Edition – Artificial Intelligence – who cares?“

What is AI? What can it do and what are its current limitations? A tool for good – or should we be worried? Will we lose our jobs? Are we ready to be cared for by machines? Our Tech Editor, Zoe Kleinman, and a panel of international experts explore AI’s impact on healthcare, the environment, the law and the arts in a special edition recorded at Science Gallery London.

(16) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Here’s the final trailer for The Creator, coming to theaters September 29.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, Rich Lynch, Lise Andreasen, Scott Edelman, Ersatz Culture, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Dan’l Danehy-Oakes.]

Pixel Scroll 8/17/23 These Scrolls Don’t Understand The Concept Of Pixels The Same As We Do

(1) FACES IN THE NEWS. A long, detailed infographic has been posted here by Chengdu Association for Science and Technology (Chengdushi Kexue Jishu Xiehui), which Zimozi Natsuco says, “is always considered as the upper guidance institution of Chengdu Science Fiction Association”. It is translated:  

Understand Worldcon by 1 picture: All you want to know about 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention is here!

It opens with a six-pack of guests:

Shown in addition to GoHs Robert J. Sawyer and Liu Cixin are new guests Michael Swanwick, David Wesley Hill, Touya Tachihara and Kim Bo-young.

(2) TWO BEAUTIES. In two minutes James Bacon tells the story of two copies of X-Men 28, featuring the debut of Banshee, one with fanhistorical significance.

I share here two issues of X-Men 28, videoed in the basement of Sub-City in Dublin. The very nice high grade copy on the left belongs to the store, the one on the right is of Irish fanhistorical significance. Both are very beautiful.

(3) SEANAN MCGUIRE VIRTUAL AND LIVE APPEARANCES. Join urban fantasy author Seanan McGuire as she celebrates the two new additions to the October Daye series — Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep with a series of events.

September 5 — Seanan McGuire In conversation with Catherynne Valente: Virtual Event Hosted by Mysterious Galaxy House

September 29 — Seanan McGuire Reddit AMA / October Daye – Astra Publishing House —  Reddit.com/ r/Fantasy

October 30 — Seanan McGuire in Conversation at University Book Store in Seattle, WA

(4) JUST ADD WATER. Radio Times reports “Doctor Who lost story The Underwater Menace to be animated”.

The partially missing Doctor Who adventure The Underwater Menace is set to be restored with new animated visuals.

Out of 253 episodes from the show’s first six years, 97 remain lost in their original form, due to the BBC’s policy of junking archive programming between 1967 and 1978.

However, audio recordings of all episodes exist, with The Underwater Menace – a 1967 serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor – being the latest story to be given new life by way of animation….

All four episodes will be animated in colour for a new DVD and Blu-ray release – though the second and third episodes do exist in their original live-action form and these will also be available on the set, along with the option to watch the animated episodes in black-and-white.

(5) OCTOTHORPE. John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty read Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. They they talked about it, and recorded it, and now you can listen to it: “Resolutely Alison All the Time”. You can also play the fun game, ”Who was away during the recording time leading to the release of a bonus episode”, which is always a hoot, eh? 

(6) BARBIE’S INFERNO. Fanac.org has posted the audio recording from Minicon 23 (1988) of Jeanne Gomoll reading her fanzine article “Barbie’s Inferno”. (There’s a YouTube transcript available.)

Minicon 23 was held April 1-3, 1988. On Saturday afternoon, David Emerson hosted a program of fanzine readings, including Jeanne Gomoll’s reading of her hysterical short piece, “Barbie’s Inferno.”  This 18 minute audio recording, enhanced with images, is a delightful visit both to that program in 1988, and to the subject matter – Jeanne Gomoll’s childhood experiences with Barbie…Jeanne is an outstanding writer, as well as an excellent reader.  This short recording provides an empathetic glimpse into what many fans have experienced — what it’s like to grow up in a family where you and your parents have very different ideas of who you should be.  Plus you learn about waxers. 

Thanks to Geri Sullivan for recording, preserving, digitizing and providing this program.

Originally published in Harlot (edited by Anne-Laurie Logan and Avedon Carol, 1983), a newly revised version of “Barbie’s Inferno” is contained in Pretending, the first volume of Jeanne’s two volume memoir, Pretending and Becoming (to be released).

(7) PROMETHEUS AWARDS CEREMONY AUGUST 19. Sarah Hoyt (Darkship Thieves) and Dave Freer (Cloud-Castles) will participate in the 43rd annual Prometheus Awards live Zoom ceremony Saturday, August 19, along with leaders from The Heinlein Society and Heinlein Trust.

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s half-hour awards show is free and open to the public, including all interested sf/fantasy fans, and will begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The Zoom link is here.

This Prometheus Blog post also has the Zoom link and more details about the speakers.

(8) FREE READ. Grist shares new climate fiction from Imagine 2200 in “When We Are Ruins, Dance On Us”.

A revolution has moved society off of fossil fuels. In Singapore, the former Supreme Court building, long abandoned and newly haunted, bemoans what it has lost. Through the building’s musings, we hear about how the world has changed, and how hard it can be for the privileged to let go of an unjust past that benefited them.

(9) HOW FI IS CLI-FI? Ann-Marie Cahill asks “How Accurate is Climate Fiction? (And Does Is Matter?)” at Book Riot.

Here’s a great question to kick off your next book club meeting: How Accurate is Climate Fiction? To be clear, I am not questioning the Climate Crisis, nor any of the far-more-educated-than-me climate scientists who feel like they have been screaming into the void for eons. Unfortunately, you are more likely to elicit action out of people with an Aerosmith song and Bruce Willis brooding in space than reading the latest World Meteorological Organization report (it’s here, in case you’re interested).

The follow-up to this great opener is, naturally: Do We Even Want Cli-Fi to be Accurate? And there lies the problem. Science Fiction has always been the go-to genre for exploring our options. Climate Fiction (or cli-fi) fits in this perfectly, giving us a literary platform to test our worst-case scenarios and come up with some inspiration to make it better. Or at least that’s the theory. Cli-fi has been a fairly popular sub-genre for science fiction, with a recent surge in the last five years — not a surprise when you consider the growing need to do something about the Climate Crisis. For many climate scientists, it may be the best way to impart much-needed information to the general public. Of course, there is a fine line between accurate and “based on sound scientific principle.” One sells the hard science message, and the other sells the books. The difference is a question of how much accuracy we, as the reader, can handle in our climate fiction. And if it’s not accurate, why don’t we feel any better about our future? …

…In short, Climate Fiction is as accurate as the author wants it to be. Whether the book passes your mental benchmark for accuracy, reasonable scientific principle, or an acceptable suspension of disbelief is completely up to you. If you don’t like it, you can always close the book. Life’s too short to spite-read….

(10) SCOFFER. Unlike the previous writer, Sergey Lukyanenko thinks what the West calls climate change is very overrated. Here’s a quote from the transcript of his appearance at VK Fest 2023, “The Image of the Future in Russian Science Fiction”.

What dangers await humanity? What do you see today from the key for the next 50 years?

SERGEY LUKYANENKO: I’m not going to talk about environmental problems, which are very fond of being raised in the West, because these problems, in fact, are much less terrible than they are trying to show us. This is a slightly invented problem from the finger, so that there is something to fight with and how to fill heads. I may say a sad thing for people, but on the scale of planet Earth, humanity, in general, is such a trifle that can be completely compressed into cubes and drowned in a small lake. They say that if all of humanity is collected and placed in Lake Baikal, the water level there will rise by only a couple of millimeters. That’s all you need to know about us and our impact on nature.

Of course, we do a lot of harm to nature, but some serious exploding volcano will release carbon dioxide and other dust into the atmosphere in a couple of days much more than humanity does in a year. Remember, there was such an Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. As soon as he “baited” a little there in Iceland, and all over Europe, the planes stopped flying, because it became dangerous to fly. Ecology is not such a big problem, in my opinion.

(By the way, why is Lukyanenko’s picture missing from item #1?)

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born August 17, 1930 Harve Bennett. The individual who gave us Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Really he did. He would then serve as Producer on the next three Trek films, The Search for SpockThe Voyage Home and The Final Frontier. Bennett also wrote Star Trek III, co-wrote the story and screenplay for Star Trek IV, and co-wrote the story for Star Trek V. His only on scene appearance is in the latter as the Starfleet Chief of Staff. He’s the voice of the Battle simulator computer in Wrath of Khan, and the Flight Recorder in the Search for Spock. (Died 2015.)
  • Born August 17, 1945 Rachel Pollack. She’s getting a Birthday note for her scripting duties on her run of issues 64–87 (1993-1995) of Doom Patrol. She also assisted in the creation of the Vertigo Tarot Deck with McKean and Gaiman, and she wrote a book to go with it. She won a World Fantasy Award for Godmother Night, and an Arthur C. Clarke Award winner for Unquenchable Fire. She also wrote Salvador Dali’s Tarot, a book-length exposition of Salvador Dalí’s Tarot deck, comprising a full-page color plate for each card, with her commentary on the facing page. (Died 2023.)
  • Born August 17, 1956 John Romita Jr., 67. If you’ve read Spider-Man since the Sixties, it’s very likely that you’ve seen his artwork as he had six stints on it between 1980 and 2009. He find a number of other titles on Marvel and DC including SupermanGhost Rider, HulkAll-Star BatmanEternalsCaptain America and Daredevil to name but a few of the titles he illustrated. He also worked with Mark Miller at Image Comics on Kick-Ass, and did the one shot Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights
  • Born August 17, 1962 Laura Resnick, 61. Daughter of Mike Resnick. She is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She’s the author of the Esther Diamond series, and I’ve not read her Manhattan Magic series so I’m interested to know what y’all think of it. She’s readily available at the usual.
  • Born August 17, 1966 Neil Clarke, 57. Editor in Chief of Clarkesworld Magazine which has won a impressive number of Best Semiprozine Hugos and a World Fantasy Award before crossing the threshold to become a prozine. He’s a nine-time Best Editor – Short Form nominee. SFWA also gave him a Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. He edits The Best Science Fiction of the Year series for Night Shade Books.  
  • Born August 17, 1973 Rae Carson, 50. She’s done ten novels including one in the Star Wars universe. (I’m tempted to say who hasn’t?) Quite impressively, her debut novel, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Award and the Andre Norton Award. And she is married to Charles Coleman Finlay, SF editor and writer.

(12) COMICS SECTION.

  • Tom Gauld has it figured out.

(13) MORE SFF IN LEARNEDLEAGUE. [Item by David Goldfarb.] There’s currently a Mini-League going on, focusing on “Notable Women of Asia”. Match Day 7 had this question:

The Astounding Award for Best New Writer, which is awarded to writers in science fiction or fantasy, was renamed after 2019 winner Jeannette Ng called its previous namesake “a fucking fascist” in her acceptance speech, a speech for which she won a Hugo the following year. In her 2020 acceptance speech for that Hugo, Ng called for the freedom of “my most cyberpunk of cities”, the place where she was born. What city is that?

The answer of course was Hong Kong: this had a 57% get rate, with the most common wrong answer being Hanoi (given by 8% of players).

Also in the recent past there was a One-Day Special quiz about the show Quantum Leap. You can read its questions here.

(14) MARRIAGE IS WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER.  The Marvel press release calls it the moment fans never thought would happen—the wedding of Emma Frost and Tony Stark! Taking place in X-Men #26 (on sale 9/6) and Invincible Iron Man #10 (on sale 9/27), writer Gerry Duggan will deliver this highly-anticipated story alongside X-Men artists Jim Towe and Javier Pina and Invincible Iron Man series artist Juan Frigeri. The Fall Of X era has hit both mutantkind and Iron Man where it hurts and as their enemies grow stronger, Emma and Tony will strengthen their alliance to “till death do they part!”

Witness the shocking proposal and Emma’s even more shocking answer in X-Men #26, and then put on your best Hellfire attire for the introduction of Mrs. and Mr. Emma Frost in Invincible Iron Man #10! The circumstances of the ceremony is riddled with secrets and subterfuge, but fans can get their first inside look at the nuptials in the X-Men / Iron Man: The Wedding of Emma Frost & Tony Stark Trailer, featuring never-before-seen artwork!

“Emma and Tony — I think now people are starting to get a sense of how they work,” Duggan told AiPT Comics in a recent X-Men Monday. “I hope you all check it out. They are getting married. I promise no shenanigans. Beyond that, I don’t know what you’re going to get.”

(15) SCIENTISTS LEAVING TWITTER. Nature surveyed scientists to ask their reasons for leaving Twitter. “Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty”.

…Nature obtained the e-mail addresses of thousands of scientists who were identified through a social-media research project as having tweeted about papers on which they were a corresponding author1. The survey from Nature asked whether people had changed their use of Twitter in the past six months and why. The reasons respondents gave varied, but many of those who had markedly reduced or stopped their activity on X mentioned Musk’s management of the platform. Many said that they had noticed an uptick in the amount of fake accounts, trolls and hate speech on the platform.

Žiga Malek, an environmental scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam, mentioned in the survey that he had started seeing a lot of “strange” political far-right accounts espousing science denialism and racism in his feed. He has to block them constantly. “Twitter has always been not so nice let’s say, but it is a mess right now,” he said.

Researchers have found that, contrary to such public claims from Musk, hate speech increased after he took over2. Musk has threatened to sue at least one group studying these trends.

A lot of experts and specialists are leaving the platform, says Timothy Caulfield, a law scholar and science communicator at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. “If that happens, are we just making room for a massive echo chamber that can spread misinformation in a way that is very harmful to society?”

X did not respond to Nature’s request for comments.

Where are they going?

The most popular alternative social-media site that respondents mentioned opening accounts with was the free, open-source software platform Mastodon. Compared with X, Mastodon allows for better community moderation, says Rodrigo Costas, an information scientist at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who has been studying scientists’ use of Twitter since 2011. In February, he and Jonathan Dudek, a communications researcher also at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies, examined the Twitter profile information of 400,000 researchers — obtained for a previous research project3 — to see who was broadcasting their movement to other platforms. Roughly 3% of the profiles mention a Mastodon account, according to the researchers’ preliminary analysis.

Although it has been around for some seven years, Mastodon has a much smaller user base than do other social-media platforms. In Nature’s survey, LinkedIn was the second most popular place for respondents to open new accounts, and Instagram, owned by Meta, was third. Threads, also owned by Meta and pitched as an alternative to X, had started just a few days before the survey was launched. It reportedly attracted 100 million users in its first five days, and was the fourth-most-popular platform among survey respondents, with about 1,000 people saying that they had joined (See ‘Signs of dissatisfaction’)….

(16) I SHALL RETURN. The New Yorker tells what it learned about a growing business that parallels online selling: “What Happens to All the Stuff We Return?”

…Steady growth in Internet shopping has been accompanied by steady growth in returns of all kinds. A forest’s worth of artificial Christmas trees goes back every January. Bags of green plastic Easter grass go back every spring. Returns of large-screen TVs surge immediately following the Super Bowl. People who buy portable generators during weather emergencies use them until the emergencies have ended, and then those go back, too. A friend of mine returned so many digital books to Audible that the company now makes her call or e-mail if she wants to return another. People who’ve been invited to fancy parties sometimes buy expensive outfits or accessories, then return them the next day, caviar stains and all—a practice known as “wardrobing.” Brick-and-mortar shoppers also return purchases. “Petco takes back dead fish,” Demer said. “Home Depot and Lowe’s let you return dead plants, for a year. You just have to be shameless enough to stand in line with the thing you killed.” It almost goes without saying that Americans are the world’s leading refund seekers; consumers in Japan seldom return anything….

(17) SFF SALE. [Item by BGrandrath.] So here is another of my favorite BookTubers promoting a Whatnot sale. I recommend her channel; she has a series called Books Without Barcodes where she reviews…well, books published before they had barcodes. She gives a fresh look to books you and I read years ago. This video is titled “Once in a Lifetime Science Fiction Book Haul”.

[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, James Bacon, John Coxon, Michael Grossberg, BGrandrath, Ersatz Culture, Zimozi Natsuco, David Goldfarb, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Peer.]

Journey Planet 75: Fantastical Musical Instruments

Hugo-finalist Journey Planet returns with a new issue dedicated at fantastical, mythical, and really just super cool musical instruments.

Jean Martin joins Chris Garcia and James Bacon in bringing together looks at musical instruments and the music they produce in everything from Futurama to Dune to Dungeons & Dragons to Star Trek and much much more! There are also a few pieces that look at the roles real-life musical instruments play and how they can become mythical in and of themselves! 

This is an 85-page look into worlds both real and imagined! Available now here.

Table of Contents

Editorial by Chris Garcia
Musical Instruments in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings by Jean Martin
Exploring Instruments in Dungeons & Dragons: The Instruments of the Bards by Robert Pleasant
Gurney Halleck Sings for Us by Allison Hartman Adams
The Baliset by Chris Garcia
Vulcan Lute by Christopher Erickson
Star Trek: The Musical Generation by Sarah Gulde
The Sounds of Star Wars by James Bacon
Native American Flutes by Jade Falcon
Fan Art by Terry Jeeves
Exploring the Oud: A Musical Time Machine for Ancient and Futuristic Soundscapes by Michael Larsen
Captain Eo: The Crew IS the Music by Chris Garcia
Play holophonor for me by Ann Gry (anngry.com)
“Of Holophonors” by Peppard Saltine
Fico in Flash Gordon by James Bacon
Pure Will, True Will, and The Hydrogen Sonata or How Aleister Crowley met Iain M. Banks by Richard Smothers
Music in the Works of Alan Moore Or Alan, Eno, and Me by Pádraig Ó Méalóid
On kings and fiddlers and the harp unstrung by Ethan Hay, MA
Instruments from the Moon to Gaia (via North Queensferry, Scotland) with Two Plugs by Gary Lloyd
A Refrigerator for Music – The Samson Box by Chris Garcia
Under The 5000 Fingers by James Langdell      
Animusic by Chris Garcia
The Legend of Zelda – The Magical Instrument by David Ferguson
Enditorial by James Bacon

[Based on a press release.]

James Bacon Interviews Anton Marks

James Bacon: Anton, can you tell us a bit about yourself for our readers, please.

Anton Marks

Anton Marks: Hey, I’m Anton Marks, a black speculative fiction author from London but originally from the beautiful island of Jamaica. I grew up reading, writing, and drawing, but my first love has always been words. I infuse my stories with wonder, fear, adventure, and history. My books offer a unique blend of high-concept ideas woven through sci-fi, horror, and action genres with an unapologetic diverse and black perspective. I’m an avid reader, film enthusiast, and a timeless Marvel and DC Comics fan. I love travelling, and I’m a dab hand in the kitchen.

JB: Anton, you’ve just released the third part of your Bad II the Bone series; this is your 13th book. Can you share with readers a run-down of the series?

Anton Marks: I absolutely love this series. My pride and joy! It spans three thrilling books but will continue until the girls are done with me. In this electrifying urban fantasy tale, you’ll follow the courageous journey of Yvonne’ Y’ Sinclair, Suzanne’ Suzy Wong’ Young, and Cleo’ Patra’ Jones. These three ordinary women are given supernatural gifts, powers bestowed to them by Anancy, the Spider God, to maintain the balance between good and evil in the city of London. They are the gatekeepers to prevent an irreversible breach between this world and the Hell Realms. Different antagonists will appear in the books, mainly taken from traditional European folklore but adapted with an Afrocentric twist. Prepare for a rollercoaster ride of ghetto charm, real characters in extraordinary circumstances, and enough horror to make your spine tingle!

JB: Would you recommend that readers start with Bad II the Bone and why?

Anton Marks: While each book can be enjoyed independently, but I highly recommend starting with Bad II the Bone. It sets the stage for our fearless trio’s journey, introduces their unique gifts and aspirations, and lays the foundation for the thrilling supernatural world they inhabit. I would want to join them from the beginning of their adventures to fully immerse myself in the action, suspense, and character development that unfolds throughout the series.

JB: How did this series come about?

Anton Marks: One of my earliest memories of my dad was sitting on his lap, beyond my bedtime and watching Lon Chaney Junior as the Wolfman. My passion genre film and fiction began from there. The Bad II the Bone series was born from a blend of my Caribbean roots love for horror fiction and movies, and a desire to create strong, relatable, diverse characters who navigate the realms of magic and darkness. I wanted to tell stories resonating with my experiences while bringing a fresh and exciting perspective to the genre. The concept of three ordinary women with extraordinary gifts fighting supernatural threats felt like the perfect vehicle to explore these themes and entertain readers.

JB: What do you love about these characters you have created?

Anton Marks: What I find most compelling about Yvonne, Suzy Wong, and Patra is their resilience, courage, and unwavering determination in the face of unimaginable challenges. They never lose their sense of self even when the incomprehensible is exploding around them. They embody the strength and spirit of everyday people who rise to become heroes. I wanted to create characters who defy stereotypes, breaking barriers as they take on the responsibility of protecting their community and the world. Their flaws, fears, and triumphs make them relatable and engaging, drawing readers into their extraordinary world.

JB: Please share the cultural aspects you bring to the stories that readers may find interesting.

Anton Marks: One of the most profound cultural influences in my stories was through the work of Jamaican Icon, poet and performer Miss Louise Bennett. Affectionately called Miss Lou, her tales of Jamaican folklore characters like Anancy have imprinted on me. Her mastery of Jamaican Patois, her vibrant storytelling, and her ability to capture the essence of Jamaican culture have left an indelible mark on my work. I was adamant that I wanted to incorporate characters from this world, such as Anancy, into my tales to add a rich layer of authenticity and cultural significance. Many first heard of Anancy from Neil Gaiman’s bestselling novel and TV series American Gods. But I grew up reading about the cunning and mischievous spider trickster, a beloved figure in Jamaican folklore known for his cunning wit and ability to outsmart his opponents. By incorporating Anancy and other folklore characters into my stories, I pay homage to the oral traditions that have been passed down through generations in Jamaica. Readers can expect glimpses into that world, its spirituality, and the traditions that have shaped Caribbean culture. These elements provide a unique flavour to the narrative, adding depth and authenticity. From the vibrant music and reggae influences, connections with spiritual beliefs and the struggle against adversity, these cultural aspects enrich the storytelling and create a captivating backdrop for their supernatural adventures.

JB: Your fiction resonates with London, the real London. How do you try to bring to your fiction that sense of place? 

Anton Marks: One of my objectives has been to provide a perspective of London unfamiliar in fictional circles. In the Bad II the Bone series, London is a melting pot of cultures where different ethnicities, languages, and traditions coexist. This inclusivity can be reflected in the interactions between characters from diverse backgrounds, highlighting the unity and strength that comes from embracing cultural differences. It allows for a more nuanced representation of the city, where the characters draw upon their unique cultural perspectives and experiences to tackle supernatural threats and protect their communities. The 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s arrival in the UK holds immense significance for me because my portrayal of London is shaped by that. The arrival of the Windrush generation, consisting of Caribbean migrants – including my parents, who sought new opportunities in post-war Britain, brought with it a wave of cultural diversity and contributed to shaping the multicultural fabric of London. This fabric has been tested many times over the decades but still holds firm. This is the London I am writing about. I want readers to feel like they are walking alongside the characters, breathing in the city’s essence. I paint a vivid picture of London’s neighbourhoods, capturing their unique Flavors, sounds, and textures. From the bustling markets of Brixton to the historic charm of Notting Hill, the vibrant streets of Shoreditch to the hidden corners of Camden, I aim to transport readers into the city’s heart, allowing them to feel its pulse and energy.

JB: A detective in the story has suffered racism in the police force, and while cynical, this is not Crime noir. There is optimism from the protagonists. How do you balance that real-life experience being brought to the pages?

Anton Marks: Detective Inspector Winstone ‘Shaft’ McFarlane’s character has experienced racism within the police force. Still, instead of holding him back, he has been singled out as the only senior police officer willing and able to handle the upsurge in paranormal incidents in the city. While I touch upon the harsh realities of racism, I strive to strike a balance between acknowledging real-life experiences and infusing the story with a sense of optimism. The protagonists, Y, Suzy Wong, and Patra, serve as beacons of hope and resilience, showing that even in the face of adversity, one can rise above and make a difference. Their unwavering determination and unity reflect the strength of the community and the power of standing together against injustice. While the themes may touch on the darkness of reality, the series’ overall tone carries a sense of optimism and empowerment.

JB: How are sales, are you at a place you need to be, or where is that?

Anton Marks: Sales, the never-ending quest for success! It was tough in the beginning as I was an unknown quantity. I’m grateful that sales have been steadily growing and gaining momentum, but I still feel the stories need to reach more readers. The Bad II the Bone series has garnered a dedicated and enthusiastic readership, which fills my heart with joy, but I know it can do much better. While there’s always room for growth and reaching new audiences, I’m thankful for the reception thus far. It’s a journey, and I’m excited to see where it leads me.

JB: What else are you working on now?

Anton Marks: Currently, I’ve begun working on the third in my YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy series Joshua N’Gon and the Trial on Gorilla Mountain. I’m reintroducing myself to the cast of characters and pouring my passion and imagination into that vast world. I have a genuinely original novella written in the Bad II the Bone Universe, called Headhunters, that will be available at the end of 2023. Additionally, I’m exploring opportunities to bring the Bad II the Bone series to other mediums, such as television or film adaptations. The possibilities are endless, and I’m excited to continue crafting stories that entertain and resonate with readers.

JB: Do you have any final thoughts to share?

Anton Marks: Lastly, I’d like to express my gratitude to all the readers and supporters who have embarked on this journey with me. Your enthusiasm and engagement mean the world to me. I’m committed to delivering stories that challenge norms, celebrate diversity, and provide an exhilarating escape into the realms of the extraordinary. Stay tuned for more thrilling adventures, heart-pounding suspense, and characters who defy conventions. Thank you for your continued support, and I can’t wait to share more tales of wonder with you all.


ANTON MARKS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Good Girls Gone Bad Landing Page

You can find Anton on:

Follow the below links to buy your copy:

Pixel Scroll 5/31/23 What Can You Say About A Twenty-Fifth Century Pixel Scroll Who Filed?

(1) GOLDEN VOICES. AudioFile Magazine’s 2023 Golden Voice Award winners are Nicholas Boulton, Marin Ireland and Kevin R. Free. All three have done some genre books. Narrator Kevin R. Free has done the most:

Tell us about a memorable character you’ve given voice to. And please name a couple of your favorite performances.

This is a difficult question! I really enjoyed creating a first-person narrative for Noa, the main character in A COMPLICATED LOVE STORY SET IN SPACE by Shaun David Hutchinson. He is a scared teenager with a bit of a sardonic edge. I also find myself thinking about THE COST OF KNOWING by Brittney Morris and THE BOOK OF FATAL ERRORS by Dashka Slater a lot, and how grateful I was to record those titles. The reads I have done of Brandon Taylor, F.T. Lukens, and Hilton Als change my life every time. And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries. Murderbot is the gift that keeps on giving!

(2) MAGNIFICON REPORT. Marcin Klak celebrates “20 years of Magnificon”, a Polish manga and anime con, at Fandom Rover. He comments on two major changes for the early days:

…Magnificon is now run by a company and is a commercial event. The dealer’s hall is one of the most important aspects of it. And in this regard a lot has changed. Firstly I was sad that there were no publishers or book stores selling manga. I would love to browse a bit and buy something interesting. On the other hand there were many booths of artists and I appreciate it a lot. I managed to buy a paper version of Yaoi Market. It is a Polish comic that mocks both cliches in yaoi manga and supermarkets in Poland.

Another big change (when comparing to “ages ago”) is related to guests. For years having a guest from Japan was a dream for M&A cons. At Magnificon there were guests from Japan (plural form!) including Mika Kobayashi. I didn’t listen to any of the concerts but am quite happy that we finally can invite Japanese guests including some very well known artists!…

(3) GIVERS GRANT THANK YOU. Black Science Fiction Society founder and administrator Jarvis Sheffield thanked SFWA in a Facebook post for awarding the organization a 2023 Givers Grant.

…Receiving this grant is a tremendous honor for our organization. It validates the tireless efforts of our members in advocating for underrepresented voices in the speculative fiction genre. With this support, we can continue to foster a thriving community that celebrates and amplifies the narratives of Black creators, nurturing their talents and providing a platform for their imaginative works to shine.

The impact of this grant goes far beyond the financial assistance it provides. It serves as a beacon of encouragement, inspiring us to push boundaries, challenge stereotypes, and explore uncharted territories in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. The recognition from esteemed organizations like yours fuels our determination to break down barriers and ensure that the genre reflects the rich tapestry of human experiences….

(4) EASTERCON BELFAST UPDATE. [Item by James Bacon.] The 2025 Eastercon, which will be held in Belfast, N.I has delayed its membership rate increase until July 2.

Tommy Ferguson, Jo Zebedee and myself met for multiple meetings over the weekend. We are behind, so apologies for that from us as that is on us as chairs.

Tommy hurt his spine, while work has been busy for us all, and so we have fallen behind with some of our tasks that we expected to have had completed by now, the time of our first price rise.

So with that in mind we are going to pause our price rise until the 2nd of July.

Our Accessibility team and Code of Conduct team have signed off on those polices, and we are preparing our website.

We will have these policies up and live soon, and will let you know when they are live, shared on our site.

We are thinking about space allocation, which is important, and have had quotes from a local child minding operation.

We will be at Qcon in Belfast and Enniskillen comic fest to promote the con, and getting members, which is a priority for sure and as both these events are in June, we will take the price rise delay as a sales tactic to those events. Finding the positives as we can.

So once, again, our price rise will occur on the 2nd of July and we will share our website when it is ready, our apologies for the delay, we as chairs fell behind.

As ever welcome queries or questions to [email protected]

(5) LEARNING WHO’S WHO IN FANHISTORICAL PHOTOS. UC Riverside’s Andrew Lippert reports nearly 6,000 digitized images from the Jay Kay Klein photographs collection are now more accessible thanks to new, more descriptive and contextual information in this article from September 2021: “Klein photographs collection now more accessible”. One of the big issues when these photos from Worldcons of the Sixties and Seventies first went online is how few people had been accurately identified.

…“Special acknowledgement is also due to the FANAC Fan History Project and Fancyclopedia 3; they were both invaluable resources for this project,” Lippert said. “It is difficult to say that this work will ever truly be ‘finished,’ as there are always more identifications to make and more contextual information to add. However, this new version of the metadata will certainly make these photographs more accessible by orders of magnitude.”

“Working on this project was a labor of love that immersed me in science fiction fandom and convention culture spanning several decades from the 1950s through the 1970s,” Lippert added. “Engaging with a single large archival collection on a daily basis always creates a sense of familiarity with the individual(s) and the subject matter that make up that collection; it was no different with Klein’s photos.” Lippert came to feel that he was getting to know some of the mainstays of the SF scene of that era as he found them in photo after photo at convention after convention. “My work on this project led me down countless rabbit holes, paths of discovery, and gave me so much invaluable context for the varied materials of the Eaton Collection as a whole,” he added….

(6) THE DEFINITIVE RANKING OF ANIMATED MOVIES. With the premiere of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, JustWatch offers fans this ranking of all of the animated movies by their popularity and where the Oscar-winning animated film starring Miles Morales fits in. 

It’s not surprising that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes the first place, as the movie won Best Animated Feature and was an unexpected box office success. Right after the newcomer ranked the hits of 2001: Shrek and Spirited Away. A small waste-collecting robot WALL-E wins 6th place, scoring twice as many points as the movie Up

(7) MEMORY LANE.

1986[Written by Cat Eldridge from a choice by Mike Glyer.]

Leigh Kennedy’s The Journal of Nicholas the American is the Beginning this Scroll.

American, she moved to Britain where she’s lived for over three decades. She was married to Christopher Priest from 1988 until 2011, they have twins.

She has two Nebula nominations, one for her “Her Furry Face” short story and the other for this novel. She’s written one other genre novel, Saint Hiroshima, and a generous amount of short fiction, most of which is collected in Faces and Wind Angels.

And now our Beginning…

17 February 198—

Papa visited me last night. I am thinking that I may have to hide now. 

Once again, someone has discovered us–he’s looking for the family, looking for the pozhar-golava. When I was small, a man came looking for old scandal. He didn’t know that dealing with Fyodor Nicholaevich was like trying to fool yourself. Grandfather (my Papa told me once) had him figured out in a moment; he knew he could lie to him, and he did. No, the Dais were city people, from Petrograd–oh, no, we must call it Leningrad now, eh? The man was a refugee from the Hungarian Uprising in 1957, still new to America. Grandfather snowed him with political talk, but if he had been from the Soviet Union, all the lies would have been transparent. 

The search for pozhar-golava was forgotten–obviously our family had nothing to do with strange powers and bloody nights. 

When I got home from class yesterday, I knew that Papa was in my apartment, I felt him there as I wheeled my bicycle into the garage. I picked up the vodka bottle that I had tossed down onto the grass from the top of my steps last week when I’d been drinking. My landlady never seemed to notice such things, but I felt guilty. 

As I got out my key–I don’t know why I always pretend ignorance about my father’s presence–he was already saying hello in his way.

“Papa,” I said, and set my texts on the bookshelves inside the door, then carried my package to the kitchen.

“How are you, Kolya?” “

“Fine, fine.” I opened the cupboard in my tiny kitchen and took down two glasses. 

My father stood in the doorway. “Can’t we talk first?”

(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born May 31, 1895 George Stewart. Author of Earth Abides which won the first International Fantasy Award in 1951. It’s worth noting that his novel Storm which had as its protagonist a Pacific storm called Maria prompted the National Weather Service to use personal names to designate storms. (Died 1980.)
  • Born May 31, 1897 Christine Hartley, better known as Christine Campbell Thomson. Best known for her horror anthologies published in the 1920s and 1930s. The first, Not at Night gave its name to the whole series, which ran to eleven volumes.  In all, there were 170 stories including ones by Howard and Lovecraft, and, according to bibliographer Mike Ashley, a hundred of these came from Weird Tales. All of the fiction she wrote was done under the pen name of Flavia Richardson. Neither the anthologies or her fiction appear to be in print currently. (Died 1985.)
  • Born May 31, 1907 Peter Fleming. Elder brother of that Fleming. Among his works is a novel written in 1940, The Flying Visit about an unintended visit to Britain by Adolf Hitler. It’s apparently a comedy. The Sixth Column: A Singular Tale of Our Time is also genre. (Died 1971.)
  • Born May 31, 1918 Bryce Walton. Writer on Captain Video and His Video Rangers though I can’t tell you exactly what that means as IMDB lists the numbers of episodes he did as unknown. He also wrote for Alfred Hitchcock Presents including “The Greatest Monster of Them All” which is definitely genre. He wrote one SF novel, Sons of the Ocean Deeps, and has one collection of stories, “Dark of the Moon” and Other Tales. (Died 1988.)
  • Born May 31, 1930 Gary Brandner. He’s  best known for The Howling trilogy. The first book was adapted quite loosely into The Howling. Brandner’s second and third Howling novels have no connection to the movie series, though he was involved with writing the screenplay for the second Howling movie, Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf. Who came up with that title?  Howling IV: The Original Nightmare is actually the most faithful adaptation of his first novel hence the title. (Died 2013.)
  • Born May 31, 1946Melisa C. Michaels. Author of the Skyrider series, which starred hotshot belter pilot Melacha Rendell, and a handful of other books, mostly genre. Her short story, “In the Country of the Blind, No One Can See” was included in Terry Carr’s Best SF of the Year 9 anthology. She was SFWA’s webmaster for several years, and received a SFWA service medal in 2008. She also ran a couple of small presses over the years, including Embiid Publishing, one of the very first small-press e-book publishers. (Died 2019.) (Xtifr)
  • Born May 31, 1968 John Connolly, 55. Best known for his Charlie Parker noir crime series where his character solves mysteries by talking to dead. His Chronicles of the Invaders written with Jennifer Ridyard, his wife, are more traditional SF as is the Samuel Johnson series.
  • Born May 31, 1979 Sophia McDougall, 44. She has a very well crafted alternative history series,  the Romanitas series, In which Rome did not fall and rules the world today. She has two SF novels —Mars Evacuees is sort of YA alien invasion novel; Space Hostages reminds of a Heinlein YA novel. 

(9) COMICS SECTION.

  • Mother Goose and Grimm shows two figures from horror experiencing a moment of unexpected terror.
  • Lio catches a big one.
  • Tom Gauld’s imagination isn’t on strike, but one of his creations is.

(10) FEAR THE INVISIBLE MAN. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] There’s a behind the scenes short for Fear the Invisible Man.

Looks like that despite some key changes to the novel, they are very much keeping in with the spirit of the novel. There is also a nod to James Whale version with Claude Rains costume near beginning.

(11) EARLY ASIAN-AMERICAN MOVIE SAVED. “A Rare 1914 Silent Film Was Considered Lost Forever. A Professor Rescued It From a Vault” from the Wall Street Journal. Northeastern University professor Denise Khor made the discovery.

…A film studio called the Japanese American Film Company made the movie, Khor said. The film had a mostly Japanese cast, a rarity in an era when white Americans used yellowface in other films. The studio portrayed a respectable Japanese man in the U.S. at a time of growing anti-Japanese sentiment, Khor said.

Japanese-Americans in the 1910s were trying to claim a place in the burgeoning U.S. film industry, Khor said. Anti-Japanese attitudes and small filmmaking and marketing budgets blocked their way.

L’Abbate, from the Eastman Museum, said the surviving 1914 film reels came from an unknown source. A donor gave them to the museum between 1950 and 1975, when the museum began collecting old film reels. They were placed for safekeeping in the museum’s frigid vaults in Chili, N.Y., outside Rochester….

(12) THE LAST MEN ON EARTH. Biosphere comes to theaters and VOD on July 7.

Billy (Mark Duplass) and Ray (Sterling K. Brown) are lifelong best friends, brothers from another mother – and the last two men on earth. Their survival is largely due to Ray, a brilliant scientist who designed a domed structure with all the systems necessary to sustain life on a planet that could no longer support it. Their custom biosphere is outfitted with basic necessities and creature comforts that make it possible to retain a sense of what life used to be like. A hydroponic garden provides fresh vegetables and a carefully managed fishpond supplies essential protein. Recently, however, fish have begun dying at an alarming rate. With a mere three fish remaining, Billy and Ray face an ominous future. But life may yet find a way.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Rich Lynch, James Bacon, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jayn.]

Journey Planet 73: Hugo Nominee Gifts 

Australian fan Alan Stewart has been tracking down all the little mementoes that Worldcons give to Hugo Nominees. In doing so he was helped by many fans, seeking images and information.   

Alan joined Chris Garcia and James Bacon on Journey Planet 73 – Hugo Nominee Gifts, as they sought to share the research and photos, of the wondrous things that have been gifted. And who knew that such a list existed?

Gifts for Hugo Nominees were generally given to nominees at the Hugo Losers party by the subsequent Worldcon, often seen as a promotional activity as well as welcome to those the community have celebrated to come to the following year’s Worldcon. 

A variety of fans have contributed the images, and a number have written for the issue including Evelyn Leeper, Steven H Silver, Guy Lillian III, Michael A Burstein, Deb Geisler, Rose Mitchell, Helen Montgomery, Sarah Gulde, Alison Scott, Craig Miller, Ian McDonald and Henry Balen who all share insight

It’s a list you might not know existed, and one that’s kind of fun.

Letters of Comment from Rob Hansen and Kerry Kyle also feature, as they both respond to issue 71, the Hugo Base issue.  

James Bacon adds, “We are currently working on an issue with Jean Martin about futuristic, mythical, fictional and imagined musical instruments with an end of June deadline and would love to hear from interested contributors.”

Letters of comment welcome at [email protected] on this or any issue.