By Mark L. Blackman: On the evening of Wednesday, February 19, the monthly Fantastic
Fiction at KGB Readings Series hosted award-winning authors James Patrick Kelly
and P. Djèlí Clark at its longtime venue, the definitely Red Room at the 2nd
floor KGB Bar in Manhattan’s East Village.
The event opened with Series co-host Ellen Datlow (fighting
through a cold) welcoming the crowd and announcing upcoming readers:
March 18: Robert Levy, Daniel Braum
April 15: Michael Cisco, Clay MacLeod Chapman
May 20: Leanna Renee Hieber, Ilana C. Myers
June 17: N.K. Jemisin, Kenneth Schneyer
July 15: Mike Allen, Benjamin Rosenbaum
She concluded by introducing the evening’s first reader.
P.
(for Phenderson) Djèlí Clark (and yes, it’s a penname) is the author of the
fantasy novellas The Black God’s Drums and The
Haunting of Tram Car 015, and “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro
Teeth of George Washington,” a short story that earned him both a Nebula and
Locus Award, and was a finalist for both the 2019
Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the 2019 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. As
it was Black History Month and just after Presidents’ Day (formerly
Washington’s Birthday), his opening offering was from that story, the first six
teeth.
Washington’s famous choppers were not wooden (and certainly not
carved from that legendary cherry tree), but were made from his own teeth that
had fallen out, animal teeth and slaves’ teeth purchased from slave-owners. (His
dentures, one might say, were the original George Washington bridge.) Clark,
an historian in the other part of his professional life, imagines a mouthful of
supernatural backstories for the titular dentation, of African warriors and
conjuremen (wisdom teeth?), a strange counterpoint to the barbaric practice.
He followed up by reading from an advance bound manuscript of his
forthcoming (in October or November) dark fantasy novella Ring Shout. In an alternate 1922 Macon, Georgia, a trio of black
women – a bootlegger with a magic sword, a sharpshooter World War vet, and a
“Harlem Hellfighter” – hunt Klansmen (“Ku Kluxers”). The original Klan’s sheets
were intended to make them seem ghostlike, adding to the terror they induced,
but here their hell-raising is given a literal twist, evil, malevolent sorcery.
(While Clark didn’t say, in his story, it seems that D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation cast an actual
spell drawing on the hatred and ugliness at America’s heart, leading to the
rise and rebirth of the Klan … much as, absent the sorcery, it did in ours.)
Advisory: there was much use of the n-word (small “n”) and “graphic language.”
After an intermission, Mercurio
David Rivera, filling in for co-host Matthew Kressel (who
was off on another island), introduced the second featured reader.
James Patrick Kelly has been honored with the Hugo Award for his novelettes “Think Like a Dinosaur” and
“1016 to 1,” and the Nebula Award for his novella Burn. His most recent books are the novella King of the
Dogs, Queen Of the Cats (which he described as a “romantic comedy” set on another planet
in the far future, where dogs and cats have been uplifted, mostly in a circus),
and a collection, The Promise of Space. (Like Clark, he too likes secret
history;with John Kessel, he
co-edited the anthology The Secret History of Science Fiction.)
Despite his description of it, he did not read from King of the Dogs, Queen
Of the Cats, but instead a story so new that his wife (who was
present) hadn’t read it, and that didn’t yet have a title (working titles
include “Showdown,” “5°C” and, maybe seriously not in contention, “OK, Boomer”).
Set in New Hampshire, it’s a future of cybernetic prosthesis and rejuvenation
drugs, where rangers hunt Boomers (the only generation, he said, everyone
agrees on hating – Kelly is one, as am I – but I thought it was Millennials
whom everyone agrees on hating), like Willow’s great-grandmother.
Datlow closed the evening with the traditional exhortation to
support the Bar by buying a drink. Prior to the readings, as usual, she snapped
photos of the readers and the audience. Her photos of the event may be seen on Flickr now, and later
at the Series website, http://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/.
Editor’s Note: My mother’s pacemaker update went very smoothly. Her
tech is good for years to come. Thanks for all the good wishes – which I
relayed to her and she was pleased. And voilà, there’s a Scroll today after
all.
(1) VERBAL KNIT. The official site says there will be text-based
coverage of the Hugos and Retro Hugos: “Live
Coverage of Hugo Award Ceremonies”. Details to come.
As usual we will be providing live, text-based coverage of this year’s Hugo Award Ceremony, which takes place at 8:00pm on Sunday evening, Dublin time.
This year we also plan to bring you live, text-based coverage of the Retro-Hugo Award Ceremony, which will take place as part of the Worldcon Opening Ceremonies at 8:00pm on Thursday evening, Dublin time.
The Navy will begin reverting destroyers back to a physical throttle and traditional helm control system in the next 18 to 24 months, after the fleet overwhelmingly said they prefer mechanical controls to touchscreen systems in the aftermath of the fatal USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) collision.
The investigation into the collision showed that a touchscreen system that was complex and that sailors had been poorly trained to use contributed to a loss of control of the ship just before it crossed paths with a merchant ship in the Singapore Strait. After the Navy released a Comprehensive Review related to the McCain and the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) collisions, Naval Sea Systems Command conducted fleet surveys regarding some of the engineering recommendations, Program Executive Officer for Ships Rear Adm. Bill Galinis said.
In the same vein, Elissa tells why she prefers sci-fi shows with physical ship controls. Thread starts here.
Side-note, as someone brought it up: the 2000s reboot of Battlestar Galactica uses all this very interestingly, as it (and high-tech networked stuff generally) is an actual plot point in the show.
Basically, the new shit doesn’t work, and the old stuff survives to fight more.
(3) FLAME ON. Alan Weisman takes two books with dire
warnings about climate change as his texts for “Burning
Down The House” in New York Review of Books.
David Wallace-Wells’s The Uninhabitable Earth expands on his 2017 article of the same name in New York, where he’s deputy editor. It quickly became that magazine’s most viewed article ever. Some accused Wallace-Wells of sensationalism for focusing on the most extreme possibilities of what may come if we keep spewing carbon compounds skyward (as suggested by his title and his ominous opening line, the answer “is, I promise, worse than you think”). Whatever the article’s lurid appeal, I felt at the time of its publication that its detractors were mainly evading the message by maligning the messenger.
Two years later, those critics have largely been subdued by infernos that have laid waste to huge swaths of California; successive, monstrous hurricanes—Harvey, Irma, and Maria—that devastated Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico in 2017; serial cyclone bombs exploding in America’s heartland; so-called thousand-year floods that recur every two years; polar ice shelves fracturing; and refugees pouring from desiccated East and North Africa and the Middle East, where temperatures have approached 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and from Central America, where alternating periods of drought and floods have now largely replaced normal rainfall.
The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. This book is meant to scare the hell out of us, because the alarm sounded by NASA’s Jim Hansen in his electrifying 1988 congressional testimony on how we’ve trashed the atmosphere still hasn’t sufficiently registered.
(4) FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTPRINTS. Doug Ellis told
Facebook readers that his company, Adventure
Pulp LLC, has acquired the rights to the works of A. Merritt.
I’m already chatting with some folks regarding a few possible projects, and I hope to have some exciting Merritt publishing news soon!
Along with the rights, I acquired the remaining papers and art owned by the Merritt estate. Argosy reprinted Merritt’s classic “Seven Footprints to Satan” in five installments in 1939, starting with the June 24, 1939 issue. Merritt insisted that they use Virgil Finlay (with whom Merritt was working at American Weekly) to provide the illustrations for the story. This was Finlay’s entry into the Munsey pulps, and besides further work for Argosy, he would shortly be turning out great work for the Munsey pulps Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels. All five Finlay originals for this story were among the art I acquired.
Plague, virus, and zombie apocalypse narratives tend to share a few common threads: Often, humanity brings such terrors upon itself; usually, survivors or those with immunity come together in ragtag groups and attempt to find a cure and/or fight their way through to where the other healthy people are; and, almost always, humanity survives — perhaps in drastically reduced numbers, sans modern technology — and must learn to rebuild itself anew. The central metaphor in these narratives tends to be that humanity is really quite an awful, violent species that wars with itself constantly, and that our boundless curiosity and hubris — whether that involves scientific research gone awry or meddling with forces beyond our ken — ultimately lead to our own near-complete destruction.
This metaphor is definitely present in Kira Jane Buxton’s debut novel, Hollow Kingdom, but luckily for anyone drawn to its gorgeous cover (it’s an eye-catcher, a bright, near-neon green with a black and purple crow staring intensely from behind the white font), Buxton takes a joyfully original approach to apocalyptic fiction. See, instead of us humans being the focal point in the story of our own extinction, it’s the plethora of life that we leave behind that takes center stage.
The novel is largely narrated by a domesticated crow named S.T. — short for something unprintable — who has spent his life with a beer-drinking, junk-food-eating, sports-loving, breast-obsessed man named Big Jim, who raised S.T. from a hatchling. A dopey, lazy dog named Dennis rounds out their little Seattle-based family. When Big Jim’s eye unexpectedly falls out of his head, S.T. knows something is very wrong, but it takes him a good long while before he gives up on his beloved MoFo — S.T.’s term for humans, learned at Big Jim’s bosom — and leaves home, accompanied by Dennis.
(6) EATING THE FANTASTIC. While Scott Edelman’s flying to
Dublin he invites you to listen to the new episode of Eating the Fantastic, and
“Bite
into a burger with P. Djeli Clark”.
P. Djèlí Clark won both the Nebula Award and the Locus Award for Best Short Story earlier this year for “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” — and is currently up for a Hugo Award not just for that, but for his novella “The Black God’s Drums” as well. His fiction has appeared online at Tor.com, Lightspeed, Fireside Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and elsewhere, and in print anthologies such as Hidden Youth and Clockwork Cairo. He is founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine.
We got together for dinner Friday of [Readercon] at Quincy’s Fat Cat Restaurant, which specializes in comfort food like nachos, wings, mac and cheese, and ribs, though they also serve higher end items like duck and ribeye steaks. But our tastes were not quite so upscale that night, so we stuck to chicken quesadillas and burgers.
We discussed his upcoming first novel (the sale of which was announced only days before we spoke), the background which gave birth to his award-winning story “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” the reason The Black God’s Drums switched point-of-view character during his writing of it, what he learned about New Orleans due to an unfortunate encounter with the local police department, ….and much, much more.
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born August 12, 1894 — Dick Calkins. He’s best remembered for being the first artist to draw the Buck Rogers comic strip. He also wrote scripts for the Buck Rogers radio program. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Complete Newspaper Dailies in three volumes on Hermes Press collects these strips. (Died 1962.)
Born August 12, 1903 — J O Bailey. ESF says that “his Pilgrims through Space and Time: Trends and Patterns in Scientific and Utopian Fiction (1947) was the first academic study of sf, which it analyses primarily on a thematic basis, and without ever using the term ‘science fiction’, referring instead to ‘scientific fiction’ and the Scientific Romance.” (Died 1979.)
Born August 12, 1910 — Jane Wyatt. Spock’s mother of course. She also was In Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon. (Died 2006.)
Born August 12, 1921 — Matt Jefferies. He’s best known for his work on the original Trek where he designed much of the sets and props including the Starship Enterprise, the Klingon logo, and the bridge and sick bay. The Jefferies tubes are named after him. (Died 2003.)
Born August 12, 1931 — William Goldman. Writer of The Princess Bride which he adapted for the film. Wrote The Stepford Wives script and King’s Hearts in Atlantis and Misery as well. (Died 2018.)
Born August 12, 1947 — John Nathan-Turner. He produced the series from 1980 until it was cancelled in 1989. He finished having become the longest-serving Doctor Who producer and cast Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors. (Died 2002.)
Born August 12, 1954 — Sam J. Jones, 65. Flash Gordon in the 1980 version of that story. Very, very campy. A few years later, he played the lead role in a TV adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit.
Born August 12, 1992 — Cara Delevingne, 27. She shows up in the Suicide Squad as June Moone aka The Enchantress, and in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets as Laureline. I adore The Fifth Element, should I see this film?
Polaroid Originals is also releasing collectable special edition film, perfect for super fans to capture their stranger moments. As a further ode to the Stranger Things universe, each pack of 8 will include 16 graphic design prints, which will transport you back to the summer of 1985 in Hawkins, discovering Scoops Ahoy at the town’s new Starcourt Mall and back to the flashing lights of Joyce Byer’s living room.
Stranger Things is renowned for re-imagining the early 80s, and is infused with popular culture from the period, from walkie-talkies and Fabergé Organic big hair to Dungeons and Dragons. Retro Polaroid cameras pop up throughout the series, capturing moments from the Hawkins middle school’s Snow Ball to the gang’s iconic Ghostbuster Halloween costumes. After all what would the 80s be without a Polaroid snap?
If the historians of the future try to pinpoint the exact moment when the term “digital fur” became ubiquitous in our culture, they might eventually identify the evening of July 18, when the “Cats” trailer premiered online just as the first public screenings of Disney’s “The Lion King” remake were unspooling across the country.
Here were two state-of-the-art endeavors, using computer-generated fur — by all accounts an enormously difficult and time-consuming special effects undertaking — toward extremely different ends.
…Dr. Ballard has always wanted to find the remains of the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared in 1937. But he feared the hunt would be yet another in a long line of futile searches.
“You have it in a holding pattern in your head,” said Dr. Ballard, founder of the Ocean Exploration Trust. “You’re still saying, ‘No, no, it’s too big a search area.’”
Then, a few years ago, another group of explorers found clues so compelling that Dr. Ballard changed his mind. Now, not only is he certain he knows where the plane is, he has set course for a remote atoll in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to recover it.
If his expedition succeeds, he’ll not only solve one of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century. The 77-year-old explorer will also be transferring his legacy of discovery to a new generation of oceanic detectives.
Until recently, Dr. Ballard accepted the Navy’s version of Earhart’s fate: On July 2, 1937, near the end of their round-the-world flight, the aviator and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished over the Pacific. After a lengthy and costly search, the Navy concluded on July 18, 1937, that the two died shortly after crashing into the ocean.
But in 2012, an old friend presented Dr. Ballard with a startling alternative….
Early last year, President Trump riffed on an idea he called “Space Force” before a crowd of Marines in San Diego.
It drew laughs, but the moment was a breakthrough for a plan that had languished for nearly 20 years.
“I said maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the Space Force,” Trump said at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in March 2018. “And I was not really serious. Then I said, ‘What a great idea, maybe we’ll have to do that.'”
But now, under a new name and with Congress’ support, Space Force is closer to becoming a new military reality. It would be the first new military service in more than 70 years.
In January 2001, a special commission chaired by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said space needed to become a top national security priority. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks derailed those plans.
Since that time, military leaders, lawmakers and experts have warned that new resources were needed in space to get ahead of a potential, hostile nation setting out to destroy a U.S. satellite. Such a move could threaten our everyday lives, from our cell phones to the electric grid to the military’s ability to launch nuclear weapons.
As a result, proponents argue that the U.S. has fallen behind and needs to upgrade an existing Air Force office focused on space to become an official service.
Two male penguins at Berlin Zoo have been caring for an abandoned egg since July in their long quest to become parents.
The same-sex couple, Skipper and Ping, are keen to have a chick of their own, and have even been known to “try to hatch fish and stones”, spokesman Maximilian Jäger told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.
He said the two king penguins adopted the egg, which had been abandoned by the sole female of the species at the zoo, and are “behaving like model parents, taking turns to keep the egg warm” by nestling it on their feet under a flap of belly skin.
The are now doing their best to protect their precious charge from jealous rivals, after a little encouragement from their human guardians.
(14) CONIC SECTION. Got to love the new art for next year’s Gallifrey One convention. Baskin-Robbins meets the TARDIS!
(15) GEICO’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. A time portal-themed commercial for GEICO insurance.
For her science fair project, Sophie creates a wormhole which release figures from the past like Abraham Lincoln.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Chip Hitchcock, Errolwi, John King
Tarpinian, Michael Toman, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, JJ, Carl
Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to
File 770 contributing editor of the day Rob Thornton.]
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) announced the winners of the 54th Annual Nebula Awards in Woodland Hills, CA on May 18.
The Nebula Awards, given annually, recognize the best works of science fiction and fantasy published in the previous year. They are selected by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The first Nebula Awards were presented in 1966.
2018 NEBULA AWARD WINNERS
Novel
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Novella
The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard
(Subterranean)
Novelette
The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com
Publishing)
Short Story
“The Secret Lives of the Nine
Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18)
Game Writing
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Charlie Brooker (House of
Tomorrow & Netflix)
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Screenplay by: Phil Lord and
Rodney Rothman
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction
or Fantasy Book
Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt;
Macmillan)
OTHER
AWARDS PRESENTED
The Kevin
O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award
Lee Martindale
The Kate
Wilhelm Solstice Award
Neil Clarke
Nisi Shawl
Damon
Knight Memorial Grandmaster Award
William Gibson
Tweeted photos of winners who were present:
NBD I'm sitting at the #nebulas2019 with William Gibson and his @sfwa grandmaster award. Cool fact: the small planet at the bottom rotates out of view depending on your angle. pic.twitter.com/Occb95ShOk
Best-selling novelist Nora Roberts is suing a Brazilian writer for copyright infringement, alleging that Cristiane Serruya has committed “multi-plagiarism” on a “rare and scandalous” level.
In papers filed Wednesday morning in Rio de Janeiro, where Serruya lives, Roberts called Serruya’s romance books “a literary patchwork, piecing together phrases whose form portrays emotions practically identical to those expressed in the plaintiff’s books.” Citing Brazilian law, Roberts is asking for damages at 3,000 times the value of the highest sale price for any Serruya work mentioned in the lawsuit.
“If you plagiarize, I will come for you,” Roberts told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview. “If you take my work, you will pay for it and I will do my best to see you don’t write again.”
Roberts added that she would donate any damages from the lawsuit to a literacy program in Brazil.
In a telephone interview Wednesday with the AP, Serruya called herself a “fanatic” of Roberts’ work. But she denied copying her and said she had not received notification of any lawsuit. Serruya added that she often used ghost writers for parts of her books and “could not guarantee that no part was copied” by them….
… Lawyer Saulo Daniel Lopez, a specialist in authors’ rights, said a case like this can take 5 to 10 years to be decided in Brazilian courts. If plagiarism is proven, Serruya could be forced to pay from the proceeds of her books, Lopez said.
The WGA has filed suit against the ATA and the Big Four agencies (WME, CAA, ICM and UTA), alleging that the practice of collecting package commissions constitutes breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition under state and federal law.
The entire ecosystem under which writers found jobs is upended. Under the California Talent Agencies Act (TAA), only licensed talent agents can “procure” employment for writers. The WGA has issued a statement delegating authority to managers and lawyers to find work for writers notwithstanding the statute, but many (including the ATA) question the union’s authority to do so. The WGA has offered to indemnify lawyers and managers against TAA claims. So far, however, no one has taken it up on this offer.
Lawyers, but especially managers are in a tight spot. They have writer clients to service without agencies to back them up and provide cover. They can procure employment for their clients in violation of the TAA, at risk of being required to disgorge any commissions received if their client files a claim with the State Labor Commissioner. Meanwhile, the big agencies have made it clear that they will not look kindly upon managers and lawyers who encroach upon their territory, and will remember who their friends are when this dispute is finally resolved.
No one knows how open writing assignments will be filled, since this was a central role of the agencies. The WGA has set up an online database to facilitate matchmaking, and showrunners are falling back on their personal networks. These are early days, however. There will undoubtedly be loss of efficiency in staffing but how serious it will be and who will suffer remains to be seen.
(3) A VIEW OF THE
HIMALAYAS. Ursula Vernon continues to post Twitter threads with photos and
comments from her adventures in Tibet. Starting here,
They had a 3000 year old statue of the Buddha-like figure who united the warring tribes and taught them the way of living. No photos in the sanctum, of course, but it was thing strange, simple figure compared to the gold Buddhas we’ve seen so many of.
(4) NYRSF READINGS. “Black Gods, Black Drums, Black Magic” is the theme of May’s installment of the New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series, assembled by guest host Cam Rob. Phenderson Djèlí Clark and Yvonne P. Chireau will headline.
For most Americans, the historical and mystical dimensions of the African American religious experience remains unexplored, secret, long hidden. This place of heroines, gods, danger, and true things is a vital, living piece of our story. But to venture forth, require guides. Today, we will follow two griots who know the way.
This will be a reading, a seminar, and a discussion with professors Phenderson Djèlí Clark and Yvonne P. Chireau. Phenderson will read from his new novella, Black God’s Drum, and Professor Chireau will discuss the Black American magical traditions to give us historical context as well as read from her book, Black Magic. This will be followed by discussion and Q&A from the audience.
Yvonne Chireau is a professor of Religion at Swarthmore College. She is the author of Black Magic: African American Religion and Conjuring Tradition (2003) and co-editor of Black Zion: African American Religions and Judaism (1999) with Nathaniel Deutsch. She is interested in black religions in the US, African-based religions such as Vodou, and the intersection between magic and religion in America. She blogs subjects having to do with Voodoo and Africana religions at Academic Hoodoo.com
Phenderson Djéli Clark is the Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon nominated author of the novellas The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Fireside Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies including, Griots, Hidden Youth and Clockwork Cairo. He is founding member of the FIYAH: A Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.
The readings take place Tuesday,
May 7, 2019 from 6:45-9 p.m. at the Brooklyn Commons Café, 388 Atlantic Bl.,
Brooklyn, NY 11217-1703. $7 suggested donation.
Kim Stanley Robinson–the multiple award-winning science fiction writer, climate change expert, and UC San Diego alum–joins us to deliver the closing keynote to San Diego 2049, sharing his insights into the future of the border region and how the practice of science fictional worldbuilding can help us imagine–and impact–issues of vital importance to individuals, our communities, our species, and life on planet Earth.
This evening will also feature the final projects of several UC San Diego graduate student teams who have been participating in the San Diego 2049 series and imagining their own future scenarios for the region.
Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, and in 2017 he was awarded the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Red Moon, New York 2140, the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt and 2312. In 2008, he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, which is hosted each summer at UC San Diego. He is an alumnus of both UC San Diego and the Clarion Workshop and lives in Davis, California.
Items from the Library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection provide a window into the diversities of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture that have always been a part of science fiction and fantasy.
…Some of the many books represented in the exhibit are The Female Man, Dune and Memoirs of a Spacewoman. Explore the arts and visual media Cushing has displayed with posters from famous movies such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show,Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman and TV series like Star Trek:Discovery and Luke Cage. Album covers from David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) are on display as well.
“What both this exhibit and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection at Cushing Library hope to show visitors is simply this: science fiction and fantasy and horror, in their abounding variations, are part of our shared cultural heritage,” said Jeremy Brett, curator of the exhibit. “They are not, nor have they ever been, the property of any one class of creator or fan.”
Also included in the exhibition are the 1984 Grand Master Award and the 1998 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement for famed female sci-fi and fantasy writer Andre Norton. She was the first woman to be made a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Mary is still in touch with the Dietsches, the Wolfes’ old neighbors from Peoria. Rosemary Dietsch, Gene’s childhood playmate, comes to Texas for a visit. Gene and Rosemary discover that they still like each other. Before long, they’re engaged. Rosemary is Catholic, so before the wedding, Gene starts studying Catholic doctrine. For a while now, maybe because of his war experience, he’s been thinking about suffering and compassion and how human beings can be better. Catholicism resonates both with his sense of humanity’s fallenness and with his sense of the dedicated, lifelong commitment required for each individual’s redemption. Eventually, he decides to convert. He and Rosemary get married in 1956, two clean-cut kids smiling postwar American smiles. He tells people she saved him.
(8) NIGHTCAP. In 1982, Isaac Asimov,
Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe appeared together on the Nightcap cable TV talk show.
Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, and Gene Wolfe discuss science-fiction writing with Studs Terkel and Calvin Trillin on the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS), the predecessor of today’s A&E (Arts and Entertainment Network). The program was called “Nightcap: Conversations on the Arts and Letters.”
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled
by Cat Eldridge.]
Born April 27, 1901 — Frank Belknap Long. He’s best known for his short stories, including contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos. During his life, he received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award. (Died 1994).
One – that’s
it!
(10) COMICS SECTION.
Oh, those aliens are such practical jokers – Reality Check.
(11) ON THE BUTTON. Cora
Buhlert tweeted a photo of this Dublin 2019 memento:
(12) MY PETRONA. The 2019
Petrona Award shortlist for the Best Scandinavian
Crime Novel of the Year has been announced. In spite of the name, this is a
British award given out at CrimeFest Bristol and is one of the comparatively
few genre awards for translated fiction.
The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.
THE ICE SWIMMER by Kjell Ola Dahl, tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway)
THE WHISPERER by Karin Fossum, tr. Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway)
THE KATHARINA CODE by Jørn Lier Horst, tr. Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph; Norway)
THE DARKNESS by Ragnar Jónasson, tr. Victoria Cribb (Penguin Random House; Iceland)
RESIN by Ane Riel, tr. Charlotte Barslund (Doubleday; Denmark)
BIG SISTER by Gunnar Staalesen, tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway)
The winning title will be announced at CrimeFest on May 11.
The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a
cash prize, and the winning author will receive a full pass to and a guaranteed
panel at CrimeFest 2020.
(13) SEEVERTLIEB ON TV. Steve Vertlieb’s star turn
is available for online viewing —
I want to thank popular comedian and radio personality Grover Silcox for inviting me to share a delightful segment of his new Counter Culture television interview series which aired February 19th on WLVT TV, Channel 39, Public Television in Allentown. We sat together at the famed “Daddypops Diner” in Hatboro, Pennsylvania where the wonderful series is filmed, and talked about Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi…, Lon Chaney, Sr., and Lon Chaney, Jr. at Universal Pictures, as well as Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing at Hammer Film Productions, and the long, distinguished history of Horror Movies. For anyone who didn’t see the program during its initial broadcast, you can catch my episode on line by accessing the link below. You’ll find my segment in the middle of Episode No. 3.
(15) HEAR NEWITZ. In
episode 22 ofInto the Impossible, the Clarke Center’s podcast, they welcome Annalee
Newitz, journalist and fiction author,
and co-host of the podcast series Our Opinions are Correct.
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award and nominee for the Nebula and Locus awards, her ability to use her scientific knowledge in both her fiction and nonfiction works is something that makes Newitz’s work remarkable. Dr. Brian Keating speaks to her about creative process behind her newest novel Autonomous, as well as the forthcoming The Future of Another Timeline, and more. Enjoy!
And if you’re curious about her talk at UC San
Diego, “Your Dystopia Is Canceled,” take a few minutes over at the
Clarke Center YouTube channel:
But speculative fiction studies, though it overlaps with scholarship on science fiction, is a different animal: broader, more capacious, less concerned with technical literary and generic questions. While some have tried to demarcate the bounds of speculative fiction—with Robert Heinlein and Margaret Atwood proposing the most famous definitions—others find the ambiguity of the term attractive.2 In Migrant Futures: Decolonizing Speculation in Financial Times, Bahng is “less interested in literary taxonomies than in the various modalities of writing and reading that can alter relations between writer and reader, shift ways of thinking, and produce different kinds of subjects”; she sees potential in speculative fiction’s “promiscuity and disregard for the proper” (13, 16). Similarly, Streeby embraces the term speculative fiction in Imagining the Future of Climate Change: World-Making through Science Fiction and Activism “because it is less defined by boundary-making around the word ‘science,’ stretching to encompass related modes such as fantasy and horror, forms of knowledge in excess of white Western science, and more work authored by women and people of color” (20). In Commander’s Afro-Atlantic Flight: Speculative Returns and the Black Fantastic, Afro-Atlantic speculation exceeds science fiction, or even Afro-futurism, which Commander regards as only one “subgenre of Afro-speculation of the twentieth and twenty-first century that is concerned with the artistic reimagining of the function of science and technology in the construction of utopic black futures”
(17) ALIEN
STAGE PLAY. Mr. Sci-Fi, Marc Zicree, posted “My Favorite Moment” from the
high school performance of Alien. (Tough
audience – applauding the chest-burster scene!) Zicree adds —
And let’s give hats off to the writer Dan O’Bannon for thinking this up in the first place. Nothing like it had ever been seen before.
[Thanks to
John King Tarpinian, JJ, Cat Eldridge, Cora Buhlert, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse
Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, Steve Vertlieb, and Andrew Porter for
some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the
day Jack Lint.]
The American Library
Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audio books for
children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King,
Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
Results of genre
interest include:
A Newbery Honor Book, The Book of Boy was illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, son of famed sff artist John Schoenherr.
The Corretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award went to a story that begins with the Big Bang, The Stuff of Stars, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. And one of the King Illustrator Honor Books is a space race historical Hidden Figures, illustrated by Laura Freeman and written by Margot Lee Shetterly.
The Schneider Family Book Award for teens (ages 13-18) was won by Anger Is a Gift, written by Mark Oshiro, sff author, YouTuber, and a director of Con or Bust.
Four of the 10 Alex Awards for best adult books that appeal to teen audiences went to sff works:
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark
Circe, by Madeline Miller
How Long ’Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
The Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults was won by sff author M.T. Anderson.
Neil Gaiman has won the 2020 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, and will present a lecture at a winning host site.
The honor books for the Pura Belpré Awards, honoring a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience included Islandborn, illustrated by Leo Espinosa, and written by Junot Díaz.
Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked
the 1938 Invasion of America, written by Gail
Jarrow, was named a Robert F. Sibert Award Honor Book “for
most distinguished informational book for children.”
Toni Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone was a
finalist for the William C. Morris Award, given to a debut author writing for
teens.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Older Readers category winner is Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster,
by Jonathan Auxier.
A list of all the 2019 award winners follows:
John Newbery Medal for the most
outstanding contribution to children’s literature:
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
Newbery Honor Books
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
The Book of Boy written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr
Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for
children:
Hello Lighthouse, illustrated and
written by Sophie Blackall
Caldecott Honor Books
Alma and How She Got Her Name,
illustrated and written by Juana Martinez-Neal
A Big Mooncake for Little Star, illustrated and written by Grace Lin
The Rough Patch, illustrated and
written by Brian Lies
Thank You, Omu!, illustrated and
written by Oge Mora
Coretta Scott King (Author)
Book Award recognizing an African-American author and
illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, written by Claire Hartfield
King Author Honor Books
Finding Langston, written by Lesa
Cline-Ransome
The Parker Inheritance, written by Varian
Johnson
The Season of Styx Malone, written by Kekla
Magoon
Coretta Scott King
(Illustrator) Book Award:
The Stuff of Stars, illustrated by
Ekua Holmes
King Illustrator Honor Book
Hidden Figures, illustrated by
Laura Freeman, written by Margot Lee Shetterly
Let the Children March, illustrated by
Frank Morrison, written by Monica Clark-Robinson
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Alice Faye
Duncan
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe
New Talent Author Award:
Monday’s Not Coming, written by Tiffany D. Jackson
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe
New Talent Illustrator Award:
Thank You, Omu!, illustrated and written by Oge Mora
Coretta
Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Dr. Bracy is Professor of Library Science and Director of the Office of University Accreditation at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).
Michael
L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young
adults:
The Poet X, written by Elizabeth Acevedo
Printz Honor Books
Damsel, written by Elana K.
Arnold
A Heart in a Body in the World, written by Deb Caletti
I, Claudia, written by Mary
McCoy
Schneider
Family Book Award for books that
embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:
Rescue & Jessica A Life-Changing Friendship, written by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, illustrated by Scott Magoon and published by Candlewick Press, wins the award for young children (ages 0 to 10).
One honor book for young children was selected: The Remember Balloons” written by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Children.
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, written by Leslie Connor and published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, is the winner for middle grades (ages 11-13).
One honor book for middle grades was selected: The Collectors, written by Jacqueline West and published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Anger Is a Gift, written by Mark Oshiro and published by A Tor Teen Book, Tom Doherty Associates, is the winner for teens (ages 13-18).
One honor book for teens was selected: (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health, edited by Kelly Jensen and published by Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing.
Alex
Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen
audiences:
The Black God’s Drums, By P. Djèlí Clark
The Book of Essie, By Meghan MacLean Weir
Circe, By Madeline Miller
Educated: A Memoir, By Tara Westover
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After, By Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil
Green, By Sam Graham-Felsen
Home After Dark, by David Small, illustrated by the author
How Long ’Til Black Future Month? By N. K. Jemisin
Lawn Boy, By Jonathan Evison,
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
Children’s
Literature Legacy Award honors an author or
illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a
period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for
children through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all
children’s lives and experiences.
Walter Dean Myers
Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults:
M.T. Anderson
His books include: Feed; The Astonishing Life of Octavian
Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party; and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing,
Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves
2020 May
Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizing an
author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, who
then presents a lecture at a winning host site.
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a
language other than English in a country other than the United States, and
subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States:
The Fox on the Swing — Originally published in Lithuanian as “Laime Yra Lape,” the book was written by Evelina Daci?t?, illustrated by Aušra Kiudulait?, translated by The Translation Bureau and published by Thames & Hudson, Inc.
Four Honor Books also were selected:
Run for Your Life, published by Yonder, an imprint of Restless Books, Inc., written by Silvana Gandolfi and translated from the Italian by Lynne Sharon Schwartz;
My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder, published by Graphic Universe, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., written and illustrated by Nie Jun, originally published in Mandarin and translated from the French by Edward Gauvin;
Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, published by NorthSouth Books, Inc., written and illustrated by Torben Kuhlmann and translated from the German by David Henry Wilson; and
Jerome By Heart, published by Enchanted Lion Books, written by Thomas Scotto, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated from the French by Claudia Zoe Bedrick and Karin Snelson.
Odyssey
Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or
young adults, available in English in the United States:
Sadie, written by Courtney Summers and narrated by Rebecca Soler, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and more.
Odyssey Honor Audiobooks
Du Iz Tak produced by Weston Woods Studio, a division of Scholastic, written by Carson Ellis and narrated by Eli and Sebastian D’Amico, Burton, Galen and Laura Fott, Sarah Hart, Bella Higginbotham, Evelyn Hipp and Brian Hull;
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist, produced by Live Oak Media, written by Susan Wood and narrated by Brian Amador;
The Parker Inheritance, produced by Scholastic Audiobooks, written by Varian Johnson and narrated by Cherise Booth; and
The Poet X, produced by HarperAudio, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers and written and narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo.
Pura Belpré Awards honoring a Latinx writer and illustrator whose
children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural
experience:
Belpré Illustrator Award winner
Dreamers, illustrated and
written by Yuyi Morales
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
Islandborn, illustrated by Leo
Espinosa, written by Junot Díaz
When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana, illustrated by Jose Ramirez, written by Michael Mahin
Pura Belpré Author Award winner
The Poet X, written by
Elizabeth Acevedo
Belpré Author Honor
Book
They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems, written by David Bowles
Robert F. Sibert Informational
Book Award for most distinguished informational book for
children:
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s
Art Changed Science, written by Joyce Sidman
Sibert Honor Books
“Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild,” written by Catherine Thimmesh and published by Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt;
Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked
the 1938 Invasion of America, written by Gail
Jarrow
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees, written and illustrated by Don Brown
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga,
written by Traci Sorell,
When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana, written Michael Mahin, illustrated by Jose Ramirez
Early Learning Digital Media
Award
Play and Learn Science, produced by PBS
Kids.
Honor recipients
Coral Reef, produced by Tinybop Inc., and
Lexi’s World, produced by Pop
Pop Pop LLC.
Stonewall Book Awards
Mike Morgan & Larry Romans
Children’s Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience:
Julián Is a Mermaid, written by Jessica
Love
Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Young
Adult Literature Award
Hurricane Child, written by Kheryn
Callender
Honor Books
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, written by Ashley Herring Blake
Picture Us in the Light, written by Kelly
Loy Gilbert
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
for the most distinguished beginning reader book is
Fox the Tiger, written and
illustrated by Corey R. Tabor
Geisel Honor Books
The Adventures of Otto: See Pip Flap, written and illustrated by David Milgrim
Fox + Chick: The Party and Other Stories, written and illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth, written by Dori Hillestad Butler, illustrated by Nancy Meyers
Tiger vs. Nightmare, written and illustrated by Emily Tetri
William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens:
Darius the Great Is Not Okay, written by Adib Khorram
Other Finalists
Blood Water Paint, written by Joy
McCullough
Check, Please!: #Hockey, written and
illustrated by Ngozi Ukazu
“Children of
Blood and Bone,” written by Tomi Adeyemi
“What the
Night Sings,” written and illustrated by Vesper Stamper
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults:
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees, written and illustrated by Don Brown
Four other books
were finalists for the award:
The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor, written by Sonia Sotomayor
Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam, written by Elizabeth Partridge
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler, written and illustrated by John Hendrix
Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction, written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.
Picture Book
Drawn Together, written by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat
Children’s Literature Category.
Front Desk, written by Kelly Yang
Young Adult Literature
Darius the Great is Not Okay, written by Adib Khorram
Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Younger Readers
All-of-a-Kind-Family Hanukkah,
by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky,
Older Readers
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster, by Jonathan Auxier,
Teen Readers
What the Night Sings, by Vesper Stamper,
illustrated by the author
[Editor’s note: be sure to read the comments on this post for more novellas and more Filer reviews.]
By JJ: I’m a huge reader of novels, but not that big on short fiction. But the last few years, I’ve done a personal project to read and review as many Novellas as I could (presuming that the story synopsis had some appeal for me). I ended up reading 31 of the novellas published in 2015, 35 of the novellas published in 2016, and 46 of the novellas published in 2017 (though a few of those were after Hugo nominations closed).
The result of this was the 2016 Novellapalooza and the 2017 Novellapalooza. I really felt as though I was able to do Hugo nominations for the novella category in an informed way, and a lot of Filers got involved with their own comments. So I’m doing it again this year.
The success and popularity of novellas in the last 4 years seems to have sparked a Golden Age for SFF novellas, with Tor.com, Subterranean Press, NewCon Press, PS Publishing, Book Smugglers, Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Tachyon bringing out a multitude of works, along with the traditional magazines Asimov’s, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Analog – so there are a lot more novellas to cover this year. By necessity, I’ve gotten to the point of being more selective about which ones I read, based on the synopsis being of interest to me.
It is not at all uncommon for me to choose to read a book despite not feeling that the jacket copy makes the book sound as though it is something I would like – and to discover that I really like or love the work anyway. On the other hand, It is not at all uncommon for me to choose to read a book which sounds as though it will be up my alley and to discover that, actually, the book doesn’t really do much for me.
Thus, my opinions on the following novellas vary wildly: stories I thought I would love but didn’t, stories I didn’t expect to love but did, and stories which aligned with my expectations – whether high or low. Bear in mind that while I enjoy both, I tend to prefer Science Fiction over Fantasy – and that while I enjoy suspense and thrillers, I have very little appreciation for Horror (and to be honest, I think Lovecraft is way overrated). My personal assessments are therefore not intended to be the final word on these stories, but merely a jumping-off point for Filer discussion.
I thought it would be helpful to have a thread where all the Filers’ thoughts on novellas are collected in one place, as a resource when Hugo nomination time rolls around. Which of these novellas have you read? And what did you think of them?
I’ve included plot summaries, and where I could find them, links to either excerpts or the full stories which can be read online for free. Short novels which fall between 40,000 and 48,000 words (within the Hugo Novella category tolerance) have been included.
Please feel free to post comments about any other 2018 novellas which you’ve read, as well.
…We’re guessing you’ve never heard of it, anyway. In writing this article, we asked several dozen people if they had. One guy said he might have maybe seen it, a long time ago.
It was called Brainstorm.
Anyone? No?
Brainstorm was supposed to be huge. The director—himself a three-time Oscar nominee—was Douglas Trumbull, a visual-effects genius who had already worked on some of the most monumental films of all time: as Stanley Kubrick’s special photographic effects supervisor on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and as visual effects supervisor on Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982).
Brainstorm starred Christopher Walken, who two years earlier had won the best supporting actor Oscar for The Deer Hunter; Louise Fletcher, an Oscar winner for her unforgettable role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; and Cliff Robertson, who had won a best-actor Oscar for Charly in 1968.
The fourth leading actor was Natalie Wood.
(2) UTAH’S CON CALENDAR JAMMED IN 2019. The five-year-old Salt Lake Gaming Con is moving to the Salt Palace in SLC and expects a 60% increase in attendance over their 25,000 last year. Their dates are just the week before the Westercon/NASFiC in Layton, UT on July 4th So, in one month within 20 miles of each other there will be:
June 7-9: Ogden UnCon–pop culture
June 21-23: FyreCon–general SF/F con
June 27-29: Salt Lake Gaming Con
July 4-7: Westercon/NASFiC
(3) 2017 COMPILATION. Eric Wong alerts readers to Rocket Stack Rank’s annual short story selection of “Outstanding SF/F by People of Color” from 2017. (Thanks to the recently-installed WordPress 5.0 I can no longer take layout blocks already formatted with numbered lists and also display them as quotes, so I am going to stick lines before and after the excerpt….)
There are 59 outstanding stories by
people of color from 2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards included
in “year’s best” SF/F anthologies, or recommended by prolific
reviewers in short fiction (see Q&A).
The default Length/Rating view shows RSR reviewed 45 of the 59 stories (76%), recommended 18 of the 45 (40% 5-star or 4-star), and only recommended against 6 of the 45 (13% 5-star or 4-star).
Compared to other prolific reviewers, RSR’s 18 recs is more than STomaino’s 8 and JMcGregor’s 6.
Among Year’s Best anthologies, JStrahan and PGuran tied with 10, followed by GDozois, NClarke and RHorton with 8, then BASFF with 7.
Among awards, Locus had the most with 13, followed by Hugo (8), Nebula (5), Sturgeon and World Fantasy (4), Shirley Jackson (3), Eugie (2), and British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Association with 1 each.
The Length/Score view shows the top scoring novella is “The Black Tides of Heaven” by JY Yang, novelette is “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, and short story is “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” by Tobias S. Buckell. (The top score for novellas is typically less than the other two lengths because there’s room for few of them in year’s best anthologies and they’re usually not covered by prolific short fiction reviewers.)
The Publication/Length view shows the top three magazines with the most stories here are Lightspeed (6), Clarkesworld (5), and Tor Novellas (5), out of 29 magazines, anthologies, collections, and singles.
(4) 200K TO ADD TO YOUR
TBR. Vajra Chandrasekera has compiled a list of links to all Strange Horizons’ “Original
Fiction in 2018”.
2018 was an excellent year for original fiction at Strange Horizons! We published over two hundred thousand words in five novelettes and 42 short stories, including three themed special issues featuring original fiction, focusing on work by trans and nonbinary writers in January; by writers from India in April; and an extra-large issue with work by writers who are black, indigenous, and/or people of color from the Southeastern USA in July, the fiction selections for which were curated and edited by guest editors Sheree Renée Thomas, Rasha Abdulhadi, and Erin Roberts.
…No regrets, no surrender, I would gladly do it again until I died with my boots on. But my voice, at least in English, has been silenced, though not in translations, particularly in French. My last novel to be published in English, THE PEOPLE’S POLICE, was shamefully shit-canned by internal politics in the publisher, rendering the next one, WELCOME TO YOUR DREAMTIME, a commercial dead duck, and the one after that, NOWHERELAND sitting in first draft until I find the courage to finish it and spec it. That I am far from the only novelist frantically swimming on the event horizon of this terminal black hole does not exactly prop up my spirits with schadenfreud.
For a man known for writing about science, the first surprise is that the book begins in faux-ancient History and spends much of its time telling us a two-thousand-year-old story of the kingdom of Taprobane (clearly a fictional version of Clarke’s new home, Sri Lanka.) Although much of the book is set in the 21st century, the first few chapters are about how a mountain on the island of Sri Kanda became the Buddhist temple of Yakkagala and has frescoes around its perimeter. This is also based on a real place known to Clarke, actually Sigiriya, which Clarke in his Afterword states is a place “so astonishing that I have had no need to change it in any way.” The reason for this is soon revealed – that the mountain site is the best location for the creation of a space elevator that, once built, will allow cheap travel into space. This first part of the book reflects Clarke’s own interest in the real Sigiriya and his curiosity into religion, in this case Buddhism. Whilst not religious himself, Arthur was interested in the importance of such things to the wider world and the influence they have upon human cultures and society. This part allows him to respectfully examine such matters.
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled
by Cat Eldridge.]
Born December 22, 1951 – Charles de Lint, 67. I’ve personally known him for twenty-five years now and have quite a few of his signed Solstice chapbooks in my possession. Listing his fiction would take a full page or two as he’s been a very prolific fantasy writer, so let me offer you instead our Charles de Lint special edition that we just updated this past Sunday: http://thegreenmanreview.com/2017/01/03/charles-de-lint-edition/. My favorite novels by him? That would be Forests of The Heart, Someplace To Be Flying, Seven Wild Sisters and The Cats of Tanglewood Forest. You’ll find my favorite chapter from Forests of The Heart in our Words menu.
Born December 22, 1951 – Tony Isabella, 67. Creator of DC’s Black Lightning, who is their first major African-American superhero. That alone is enough reason to him in Birthdays. He also created Mercedes “Misty” Knight, an African-American superhero at Marvel Comics whose played by Simone Missick in the various Netflix MCU series.
Born December 22, 1954 – Hugh Quarshie, 64. First genre role was as Sunda Kastagirin in Highlander followed by being Detective Joyce in Clive Barker’s Nightbreed and Lieutenant Obutu In Wing Commander. He’s Captain Quarsh Panaka In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He’s got a log tv history starting with playing Philostrate in A Midsummer Night’s Dream along with being Professor John Galt in the pilot for The Tomorrow People and Solomon in the Doctor Who episodes of “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks”.
Born December 22, 1961 – Ralph Fiennes, 57. Perhaps best known genre-wise as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, he’s been M in the Bond films starting with Skyfall. His first genre role was as Lenny Nero in Strange Days, one of my favorite SF films. He went on to play John Steed in that Avengers films which is quite frankly shit. He shows up in Red Dragon, prequel to The Silence of the Lambs. If you haven’t seen it, he voices Lord Lord Victor Quartermaine in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Run now and see it! I’ve prolly overlooked something but I’m sure one of you will add it in.
Born December 22, 1965 – David S. Goyer, 53. His screenwriting credits include the Blade trilogy which I like despite their unevenness in storytelling, the Dark Knight trilogy, Dark City, Man of Steel, and its sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (which is horrid). Let’s see what else is there? Well there’s there’s Nick Fury film and two Ghost film which are all best forgotten… Oh, he did The Crow: City of Angels. Ouch. Series wise, he’s been involved in FlashForward, Constantine, Da Vinci’s Demons which is a damn strange show, Krypton, Blade: The Series, Threshold, FreakyLinks and a series I’ve never heard of, Sleepwalkers.
Born December 22, 1978 – George Mann, 40. Author of the Newbury & Hobbes Investigations, a steampunk series set in a alternative Victorian England that I’ve read and enthusiastically recommend. He’s also got two Holmesian novels on Titan Books that I need to request for reviewing, Sherlock Holmes: The Will of the Dead and Sherlock Holmes: The Spirit Box. And yes I see that he’s written a lot more fiction than I’ve read by him so do tell me what else is worth reading by him.
P. Djèlí Clark’s debut fantasy-alternate history Afrosteampunk novella features a young teen lead, which, together with the general pitch of the whole narrative, puts The Black God’s Drums firmly in the teen/YA category. In the brief space of a hundred pages, Clark successfully combines Haitian mythology, magic, and a rich real and fictional history of New Orleans, while keeping the reader entertained with a lively cast of characters even in an otherwise typical plot.
(10) ANAKIN, I AM YOUR FATHER. [Item by Mike Kennedy.]DorkSideOfTheForce says that “Star Wars comic finally reveals Anakin’s father.” You may recall that Anakin Skywalker’s mother, Shmi, basically said she just woke up pregnant one day. Well, kinda… The DorkSide post opens with a well-deserved Spoiler Alert, then continues:
The topic of who Anakin’s father has been a subject of discussion for some time. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace touched on this by explaining that there was no father. His mother Shmi told Qui-Gon this by simply explaining that she carried him, gave birth, and raised him. She can’t explain how it happened but there was definitely no father.
This then led Qui-Gon to believe that Anakin was born from the force itself and that Anakin was a creation of Midi-chlorians […]
Fast forward 19 years, seven movies, and a bucket load of comics and other Star Wars-related releases later, and Darth Vader No. 25 has provided us with the answer.
Research published in a major medical journal concludes that a parachute is no more effective than an empty backpack at protecting you from harm if you have to jump from an aircraft.
But before you leap to any rash conclusions, you had better hear the whole story.
The gold standard for medical research is a study that randomly assigns volunteers to try an intervention or to go without one and be part of a control group.
For some reason, nobody has ever done a randomized controlled trial of parachutes. In fact, medical researchers often use the parachute example when they argue they don’t need to do a study because they’re so sure they already know something works.
Wolves, as it turns out, might not be the bloodthirsty, moose-slaughtering, northwoods-roaming carnivores you always thought they were.
New research on wolf packs at Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is challenging the conventional wisdom on wolves: Their diets are a lot more varied than scientists previously thought.
Researchers with the Voyageurs Wolf Project, a collaboration between the park and the University of Minnesota, have for the first time documented wolves hunting freshwater fish as a seasonal food source — and they have video to prove it.
When comics creator Taneka Stotts accepted an Eisner Award — the comics industry’s highest honor — this year for her anthology Elements: Fire — A Comic Anthology by Creators of Color, she was fired up.
“I hold this award,” she said, “and I declare war on the antiquated mentality that tells us our voices and stories aren’t ‘profitable’ enough … we’re not waiting for you to catch up anymore. We are here, we have always been here, and we will do as you’ve always told us. We will make it ourselves.”
And she’s doing just that. Not only is Stotts a creator and a writer, she’s a self-publisher and an editor, organizing anthologies like Elements: Fire, which features 23 stories from creators of color based in the United States and around the world. She’s already working on a follow-up anthology Elements: Earth. I sat down with Stotts the afternoon before the Eisner awards ceremony, and we talked about why she calls Elements “the little book that could,” and about whether it gets tiring, being a voice for change in the comics community.
On the popular meteorite-list listserv, scientists and amateur enthusiasts alike debated the nature of the Carancas event. People were skeptical about both the illness and the crater itself. The only way to make a proper determination was to see it in person, collect samples, or retrieve the impact mass. The rock itself would be enormously valuable, both for scientific inquiry and also to collectors in the brisk, high-end market for meteorites, in which a rare, crater-producing landfall could command especially steep prices. But this crater was in a remote area, difficult and expensive to reach. And there were only so many people in the world willing to head to the highlands of Peru at a moment’s notice to look for things that fell out of the sky….
(15) FULLY LOADED. In the December 15 Financial Times (behind a paywall), Sam
Leith, literary editor of the Spectator,
discusses a paper in the Medical Journal
of Australia by a research team led by Nick Wilson of New Zealand’s Otago
University about James Bond’s drinking habits.
As well as the inevitable martinis, and his own invention, the ‘Vesper Martini’ (three measures gin, one measure vodka, and half a measure of Kina Lillet shaken and garnished with a large sliver of lemon peel), Bond will chug-a-lug anything that comes to hand: neat vodka, Champagne and once, in an instance of utter depravity to which he was driven by product placement, Heineken.
In one on-screen binge he knocks back six Vesper Martinis–more than a week’s worth of units in a session–and in one of the books, apparently, he manages 50 units (of alcohol) in a day, which would kill most of us stone dead.
The Hollywood Reporter: You’ve hired Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to work on a possible Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. Can Pirates survive without Johnny Depp?
Bailey: We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with.
A Pirates of the Carribean movie without Jack Sparrow is hard to imagine, especially after he became the most famous and popular character of the five films. It’s ironic when you consider that the top Disney brass initially hated his performance in Curse of the Black Pearl, which Depp based on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The actor’s reasoning was that pirates were the rock star renegades of the Seven Seas, and sure enough, his gamble paid off. Richards even appeared as Sparrow’s father in At World’s End.
[…] That said, the quality of the movies began to decline once [director Gore] Verbinski left and Sparrow was placed at the forefront of the subsequent sequels. Pirates really is in need of a good reboot, but we wouldn’t say no to a nice little cameo from Depp.
(17) SILLY COMMERCIAL. Macaulay
Culkin finds himself “Home Alone Again with the
Google Assistant.”
Even Kevin McCallister needs a little help. Add aftershave to your shopping list, set reminders, and fend off bandits, hands-free:
[Thanks to
David Doering, Mike Kennedy, Jennifer Hawthorne, Martin Morse Wooster, John
King Tarpinian, Carl Slaughter, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, and Andrew
Porter. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z.]
)
(1) BRONYCON TO END. Next year’s BronyCon is the last, it was announced at this weekend’s event in Baltimore.
BronyCon is the world’s largest family-friendly convention for and by fans of the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
For 7 amazing years, this fandom has come together to help us host an amazing event. Next year will be our last BronyCon. Join us for a 4-day party, August 1-4, 2019 in Baltimore! Visit https://t.co/k6aY1p950o
(2) HELP HUGO AND CAMPBELL FINALISTS ATTEND WORLDCON. Mary Robinette Kowal is running a GoFundMe appeal to help get more award finalists to Worldcon 76.
Kowal says, “We’ve managed to get six finalists to the Hugos who otherwise would not have been able to attend.”
Earlier this year we raised money to bring one of our Campbell Nominees to the Hugos and were met with astounding support! Now, we want to offer that same opportunity to the other WorldCon Awards Finalists so that they can participate in the celebration of their work.
Much like the previous fundraiser, we want to raise money for:
Plane tickets
Hotel stays
WorldCon memberships
Per diem
Ceremony attire rental
Other potential costs, based on individual needs
Thankfully, we have a strong community that is dedicated to celebrating authors, their work, and these awards. We want to hear from the folks we’re voting for, and they should be able to attend their own party!
What happens if we raise more?
That money will go towards an ongoing fund dedicated to defraying the costs for future WorldCon Finalists.
(3) RINGBEARERS. David Doering is ecstatic, because of the LTUE connection:
BIG, BIG News here for Utah–INCREDIBLE NEWS in fact! Our own LTUE alumnus JD Payne and his writing cohort Patrick McKay will pen Amazon’s new The Lord of the Rings series. WOW! Those who met him last year know he’s one of the most approachable people and an inspired writer.
As Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke previously has suggested, creating the big-scope fantasy drama will involve a writers room. Payne and McKay were selected from a shortlist of scribes considered for the job, most of them from features, in the talent search, overseen by Amazon’s head of genre Sharon Tal Yguado.
Payne and McKay are rising feature writers who recently worked on Star Trek 4 for producer J.J. Abrams. I hear Abrams was one of a number of high-profile filmmakers and producers who recommended the duo for the LOTR job.
With the search for lead writers completed, the development of the series is moving to the next stage with the set up of . writers room to collaborate on Payne and McKay’s vision. It is unclear yet — but possible — that any of the other writers who made it to the short list for the gig would be invited and that the project would bring in a showrunner.
A couple of minor amendments to the rules that I’d like to put to this year’s WSFS business meeting, but I need at least one co-sponsor. I won’t be there myself, but I think that these are technical and uncontroversial, and encode existing best practice in order to remove ambiguity. Please let me know, in comments here or by other channels, if you are a Worldcon 76 member willing to add your name to the list of sponsors. The deadline is 2 August.
(5) TOY STORY LAND. In the Washington Post, Steve Hendrix visits Toy Story Land at Disney World, which opened in late June, where Baby Boomer favorites (Etch-a-Sketch, Yahtzee, Barrel of Monkeys) illustrate the rides and you can get snacks in a food station shaped as “Andy’s lunchbox propped open by Andy’s Thermos.” — “Larger-than-life charm at Walt Disney World’s Toy Story Land”.
You only have to go a few steps into Toy Story Land to sense that big thinkers have made huge efforts to make you feel small. The pieces used to assemble this toy-dimensional universe are agreeably supersize, from the Tinker Toy fences the size of satellite dishes and water mains to the life-size (because they’re alive) green army men marching to and fro in this 11-acre Pixarian play yard.
Specifically, it’s a backyard. In Walt Disney World’s newest major addition, which opened in late June at Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in the Florida resort, the Imagineers are trying to place you between the very blades (in this case, soaring shoots of bamboo) of a grassy lot filled with the daily detritus of a child at play.
…It’s part of the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to become a world tourist destination. Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island (yaaaaas!) already features Ferrari World, which includes the world’s fastest rollercoaster, and Waterworld. (No, not thatWaterworld.) You also have Dubai as a major travel center, with other local parks including Legoland, IMG Worlds of Adventure, and Motiongate.
Excited yet? Look, you can book a flight here! We’ve seen prices as low as $800 round-trip (though it’ll be around $2,500 if you want to leave, like, NOW).
You enter the park through Warner Bros. Plaza, which features old-school Hollywood style in an art deco setting. Like Disney’s Main Street U.S.A., it’s the portal to the rest of what this park offers. Then you can venture into the bright superhero world of Superman’s Metropolis or the darker realm of Batman’s Gotham City, as well as checking out the other cartoon-themed realms.
WH: So many wonderful accomplishments so far! What other career would you have if not writing/publishing?
I actually have another career that I love: I’m a bookseller. I work for a used and rare bookstore, where I get to catalogue some truly magnificent rarities.
WH: How awesome that you get to go through daily life surrounded by stories. Which of your written works are you most proud of?
I think my novel Malediction, which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award (but lost to Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep).
WH: Malediction, about curses, psychic powers, ghosts and such sounds like my perfect cup of horror. If you could have coffee with any horror author, gone or alive, who would it be?
He’s not primarily a horror author, but I have to say Philip K. Dick.
(8) TODAY IN HISTORY
Born July 29, 1958 — The U.S. Congress passes legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
On this day in 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act creating NASA. The #NASA60th anniversary of our first day and birthday is October 1. See how we were signed into existence, bringing about decades of achievements: https://t.co/f7oKkcJRkN#OTDpic.twitter.com/jAWVA6S685
The real richness of the novella is it is delight in invention, with an eye for creating a world that is rich for the potential for story and adventure. From the palpable existence of very active orishas, to an alternate history with a Confederacy, Haiti as a Caribbean power, and, naturally, airships, the world that Clark has created is a fascinating one that we only get a small short-novella taste of, but I want to read more of. The vision of New Orleans as a freeport where the Union, the Confederacy, Haiti and other powers all meet and trade, complete with extensive airship facilities is a compelling and fascinating one. There are hints that the world beyond what we see is similarly not the one we know, either, but really, Clark could tell many stories just in the North America and Caribbean around New Orleans. There is just simply a lot of canvas here for the author to unleash her protagonist and other characters upon.
…while Early Riser is another magnificent entry in Fforde’s bibliography, it didn’t wow me to the same extent as The Eyre Affair or Shades of Grey did; I’m quite happy that it’s intended to be a standalone, and don’t feel a great need to explore any more of this particular world beyond what this volume offers. Everything just feels more constrained than Fforde’s other work, and while part of this is just the claustrophobic hibernal setting, I suspect it’s also just built on a smaller scale. The weird details and tangents are just interesting enough to carry the story they are in, without leaving much additional food for thought. It’s highly obnoxious to judge a work based on the timelines of the author’s unfinished series, but I suspect for a lot of long-time fans, Early Riser might be a mixed experience: great fun, a promising sign of more to come, and yet not quite what we were waiting for. That said, being a standalone at least means it doesn’t end with more tension, wrapping up Charlie’s story and its world-changing implications in a swift but ultimately satisfying conclusion.
(12) WHEN BEST MEANS BEST. Joe Sherry is on his way to a flying finish – “Reading the Hugos: Series” at Nerds of a Feather.
It’s time for another installment of Reading the Hugos and it’s time to either go big or go home. Since I’m already sitting at home while I write this, I think I’m going to go big and cover the abundance of excellence up for Best Series.
There is so much goodness here that it isn’t even fair.
Best Series last year was a trial run, a special one time category (pending the ratification at the WSFS business meeting at last year’s Worldcon) – which makes this the first full year of the category. I’m probably the only person who is going to think of things like this.
If last year was a proof of concept and this year represents the very high bar we should expect from the Best Series quality, we’re looking at one of the strongest categories on the ballot year after year. The series I ranked lowest on my ballot is exceptional. The only challenge here is that there is a lot of reading to do to at least get a brief overview of each series, let alone do a deep dive.
Upon graduation from the University of Zurich, Curt joined his brother in Berlin. There, the vagaries of the financial situation made it impossible to pursue his engineering career. Instead, he drifted into his brother’s film circle and wrote scripts for several of Robert’s films. Both brothers fled the Nazis in the early thirties and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Curt was quickly given a job writing a sarong picture for Dorothy Lamour and a succession of such assignments followed for the next two decades. A number of his assignments for Universal Pictures— The Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, and others—have since become horror classics. This, as he makes clear in the following conversation, was entirely accidental. He had no particular affection for or interest in either horror or science fiction—indeed, he never read the stuff. It was merely a job….
I see. Did you always think science fiction was gibberish?
Of course, it was always gibberish. You know, the human mind is so limited. We write about societies on other worlds, and they resemble us so much. You look at the paintings of Brueghel or Bosch10 and all those demons look like men with two eyes and two arms—hard to think of a new shape. The same with societies. You go into outer space and you find fascism or communism or the Roman Empire or feudal Europe. We don’t have much in our brains.
I wrote a few books about space, Skyport and City in the Sky.11 A friend took me to visit engineers at Lockheed because he thought talking with them would help give me ideas. They got their ideas from reading my books!
For instance, instead of launching rockets from the ground to reach orbit, why not have a huge elevator into space, miles high? Launch things from the top and they save so much on fuel!
Didn’t Arthur C. Clarke already write about that in The Fountains of Paradise?12
Who? I don’t know. I never read that.
(14) DRAGONS. Coming to the Worldcon 76 art show.
In three weeks swing by the art show @worldcon2018 in San Jose and check out my new, desktop dragon skull. Snag this, or any of the other great art pieces! pic.twitter.com/0aDa67VWFR
Swing by the art show at @worldcon2018 in three weeks and check out my new red dragon. Bid on this, or any of the great art pieces to take home. pic.twitter.com/mChjEOxpjD
(15) FAMILY OKAYS CARRIE FISHER APPEARANCE. Members of Carrie Fisher’s family are expressing support for her appearance in the next main-line Star Wars movie (SYFY Wire: ”Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd, couldn’t be happier for Leia’s return in Star Wars: Episode IX”). It had already been reported that Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, approved the plan to recycle unused footage shot for Episode VII in Episode IX. Now Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, has given has given his blessing, also.
“I couldn’t be more personally thrilled and happy that our Carrie will reprise her role as Princess Leia in the new and final Star Wars Episode IX, using previously unreleased footage of her shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” he said. “As we, her family, as well as her extended family of fans around the world so believe, Carrie’s Princess Leia is forever entrenched in the franchise and her indelible presence is fundamental to the film. J.J. Abrams understood Carrie’s iconic role, and he has masterfully re-crafted this final entry to include this unused and very last footage of Carrie ever taken, without resorting to CGI or animatronics. Our family and her fans will look forward with great anticipation for this one! Her force will forever be with us!”
It was previously announced that Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and directed several episodes of Star Trek television and two movies, will direct an episode of The Orville Season Two. It seems Frakes is bringing his Imzadi with him, as Marina Sirtis, who played Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, recently shared a photo of herself with Frakes and [Seth] MacFarlane asking, “Where am I?”
Frakes seemingly confirmed that Sirtis is on The Orville set in the photo by responding to the tweet, saying “Cat’s out of the bag now…”
Trek Movie has since also confirmed that Sirtis will guest star in an episode of The Orville
(18) PLAGUE PRACTICE. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security created a simulation of a “moderately contagious and moderately lethal” emergent virus that could decimate the world population—in the literal sense of killing 10% of humans (Business Insider: “Pandemic virus simulation from Johns Hopkins shows our vulnerability”). The “Clade X” simulation concerned a bioengineered virus, but a novel emergent natural virus could have the same effect. The fictional situation is described as killing 150 million in 20 months of simulated time, expected to rise to 900 million eventually if no vaccine could be created. At that 20-month mark of simulated time, researches paused for a real-time day:
On May 15th, when the “Clade X” simulation was played out real-time, the people acting out the scenario were the sorts of individuals who’d be responding to this situation in real life. The players included former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Indiana Representative Susan Brooks (R), former CDC Director Julie Gerberding, and others with extensive experience….
“I think we learned that even very knowledgeable, experienced, devoted senior public officials who have lived through many crises still have trouble dealing with something like this,” Dr. Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health Security and the designer of the Clade X simulation, told Business Insider. “And it’s not because they are not good or smart or dedicated, it’s because we don’t have the systems we need to enable the kind of response we’d want to see.”
(19) HEAVENLY ABODES. Business Insider has posted some 1970’s vintage NASA concept drawings for three variants of space habitats, designed to hold between 10,000 and 1,000,000 people each (“NASA once envisioned life after Earth in these fantastical floating cities”). They credit NASA Ames Research Center for the photos, making them public domain and fair game if you want an aspirational image for your computer or smart phone wallpaper. The ships range from a simple toroid to a massive cylinder.
In the 1970s, physicists from Princeton University, the NASA Ames Research Center, and Stanford University created fantastical illustrations of massive orbiting cities for life after Earth. The scientists imagined a worse-case scenario in which our planet would be destroyed, and humankind would move to space.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, ULTRAGOTHA, Chip Hitchcock, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, David Doering, Carl Slaughter, Nicholas Whyte, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories, Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day vondimpleheimer.]
(1) GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. SF Crowsnest reviewer Eamonn Murphy isn’t a big fan of Uncanny Magazine. His review of issue #13, which is still online, passes such judgements as —
The non-fiction in ‘Uncanny Magazine’ usually consists of essays complaining about the lack of one-legged Mexican lesbian heroes in films because of the white Anglo-Saxon phallocentric conspiracy that controls the media or about how difficult it is to be a ‘Star Wars’ fan if you have a big nose.
At this hour, however, Murphy’s more recent review of Uncanny Magazine #14 is a 404-sized hole in the internet. It was yanked in response to the outraged reaction provoked by Murphy’s sarcastic comments about the transgender and gay characters in Sam J. Miller’s story “Bodies Stacked Like Firewood.”
Murphy’s review is still available as screenshots in Sarah Gailey’s Twitter feed.
Here is the shamefully hateful SF Crows Nest review of Uncanny 14.
Uncanny Magazine’s editors declared: “A review website published a hateful, heavily transphobic review of Uncanny Magazine 14. They will no longer be receiving review copies.” and “We normally don’t comment on reviews, but we will when there is hate speech in the review directed at the content & the creators.”
Jim C. Hines answered with what I’d call a fisk of Murphy’s review (although Hines doesn’t).
Not only does Mr. Murphy start frothing at the mouth when a story includes a queer or trans character or talks about tolerance, he keeps frothing even when he thinks the story isn’t about those things. We’re talking about a man set to permanent froth, a cross between malfunctioning espresso machine and a dog who ate too much toothpaste and shat all over your carpet.
(2) UP ABOVE THE WORLD SO HIGH. The Nature Conservancy’s Photo of the Month for January pictures the Milky Way over Mount Rainier, positioned so it looks like Rainier is erupting stars. The photographer explains:
This shot was a year in the making. That’s the Milky Way galaxy appearing as if it’s erupting out of the Mount Rainier volcano, with the headlamps of climbers on their way to the summit.
…Once I acquired a good camera from a friend I began tracking the phases of the moon and waiting for that once-a-month new moon when the skies would be darkest. I tracked satellite images of where light pollution was located, tracked weather patterns, and waited for a clear enough sky to perfectly align with the new moon.
I also scouted locations for the exact time and placement in the sky of the core of the Milky Way relative to where I would be hiking. I experienced a lot of trial and error, but finally the ideal location, weather and moon phase all lined up perfectly for a galactic eruption.
(3) FLAME ON. Launched this month — Fiyah Magazine of black speculative fiction.
P. Djeli Clark tells the history behind the magazine and the significance of its title in “The FIYAH This Time”.
Long Time Lurker, First Time Bomber // Malon Edwards
Police Magic // Brent Lambert
Revival // Wendi Dunlap
The Shade Caller // DaVaun Sanders
Sisi Je Kuisha (We Have Ended) // V.H. Galloway
Chesirah // L.D. Lewis
(4) SFWA ELECTIONS. Cat Rambo answered my questions about when the process officially begins:
The official call for candidates goes out January 15, administered by our able Elections Commissioner, Fran Wilde and that’s when we open up the section of our discussion boards where people can post their platforms and answer the inevitably lively “Ask the Candidates” thread. This year the election will be for President, Secretary, and a couple of Director positions.
…File770 readers who are SFWA members who’ve never been on the board might want to think about running for Director at Large. The team is super, the organization is moving towards doing some cool stuff, and it’s a great way to pay things forward.
Talon of God, by Wesley Snipes and Ray Norman (July 25) It’s one thing to hear that Wesley Snipes (yes, that Wesley Snipes!) has written a novel. It’s another thing to find out that it’s one of the best new urban fantasies you’ve read in a long time. Beyond its star appeal and great angels versus demons mythos, the thing that Wesley and Ray Norman do that really drew me in was give us some powerful black heroes at a time when the call for diversity has never been higher—or more necessary.
Sanford personally landed four on the list “including three stars for my Beneath Ceaseless Skies novelette ‘Blood Grains Speak Through Memories.’ This made my day!”
(7) AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BUT CALIFORNIA. From the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America discussion board:
By now virtually everyone in ABAA knows about how Easton Press is no longer shipping autographed books to California. To see this for yourself, just go to the Easton Press website and click on a specific autographed item for sale.
You will see this message:
Sorry, this product cannot ship to California.
No explanation for this is given on the website. Scott Brown reports that Easton Press won’t confirm it has anything to do with the new California law. But what else could it be?
So many well-known authors are represented by Easton Press that this could be the break we have needed to get legislators to understand what is at stake because of their new law:
No one in California can buy an autographed book from Easton Press any more!
Easton Press is currently offering 127 signed items.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
Born January 4, 1785 — German folklore and fairy tale collector Jacob Grimm.
I contacted the University of Oregon to ask who is the second recipient and have not had a reply.
(11) DOCUMENTING FANAC. Joe Siclari shared with readers of his Fanac.org newsletter —
We’re starting to get some notice. Cory Doctorow picked up on our posting of the mid-80s fannish mystery “FAANS” to the FANAC Youtube channel, and wrote about it for BoingBoing.net. The MAC Video Archeology Project contributed some choice pieces of 1976 video, including a truly entertaining interview with Alfred Bester. The interview has had more than 700 views and FAANs is up over 400.
FANAC.ORG website: Our Newszine History Project is still going strong. Since our last update, we have added 200 new issues. We still have 100s more to do and could certainly use some help with missing issues. We’re not ignoring the rest of the fan publishing world though – we’re adding some choice fanzine titles, like Greg Benford and Ted White’s 1950s VOID and Dave Kyle’s 1930s Fantasy World (credited with being one of the first comics fanzines).
I remember a conversation we’ll have when you’re in your junior year of high school. It’ll be Sunday morning, and I’ll be scrambling some eggs….
I remember once when we’ll be driving to the mall to buy some new clothes for you. You’ll be thirteen.
The narrator is Louise Banks in “Story of Your Life,” a 1998 novella by Ted Chiang. She is addressing her daughter, Hannah, who, we soon learn, has died at a young age. Louise is addressing Hannah in memory, evidently. But something peculiar is happening in this story. Time is not operating as expected. As the Queen said to Alice, “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
The latest work, published on 4 January in Nature, is the sharpest look yet at the home of a fast radio burst known as FRB 121102. Located in the constellation Auriga, the intermittent signal was first detected on 2 November 2012. Since then, it has flared up several times, making it the only fast radio burst known to repeat.
A team led by Shami Chatterjee, an astronomer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, began with the 305-metre-wide Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. Its sensitivity allowed the scientists to detect multiple bursts from FRB 121102. The team then used two sets of radio telescopes — the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico, and the European VLBI Network across Europe — to narrow down the location of FRB 121102 even further.
The bursts originate from a dwarf galaxy that emits faint radiation in both radio and visual wavelengths. Follow-up observations with the Gemini North telescope, on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, showed that it is less than one-tenth the size and has less than one-thousandth the mass of the Milky Way.
”The host galaxy is puny,” says team member Shriharsh Tendulkar, an astronomer at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “That’s weird.” With fewer stars than many galaxies, dwarf galaxies would seem to have less of a chance of hosting whatever creates fast radio bursts. That would include neutron stars, one of the leading candidates for the source of fast radio bursts.
But much more work is needed to pin down the physical mechanism of what causes these mysterious bursts, says Chatterjee. For now, FRB 121102 is just one example.
What would you do for your best friend? The 13-minute video follows Solo, yet again being confronted for one of his smuggling antics — but at least this time he’s got a very precise mission in mind. Chewbacca has been captured, and he needs a valuable item to make the trade.
JJ calls it, “A spot-on imitation of Ford’s mannerisms by this actor, and just a fun little film.”
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Hampus Eckerman, Dawn Incognito, JJ, Mark-kitteh, and Bruce D. Arthurs for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson, who may justly complain that I trimmed half his joke.]
