Clarion West is returning as a virtual workshop in 2021. The faculty for the Clarion West Six-Week Summer Workshop will be Andy Duncan, Eileen Gunn, Tina Connolly, Caroline Yoachim, Nalo Hopkinson, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Ted Chiang.
Following the postponement of the 2020 workshop due to Covid-19, Clarion will be welcoming these new writers into their community this summer —
Fawaz Al-Matrouk (San Francisco, California, USA) Jana Bianchi (São Paulo, Brazil) December Cuccaro (Miami, Florida, USA) Daniela L. Guzmán (Guadalajara/Pachuca, Mexico) Joel Donato Ching Jacob (Bay, Laguna, Philippines) Serena W. Lin (Bay Area, California, USA) Clara Madrigano (Rio de Janeiro/Curitiba, Brazil) Lue Palmer (Toronto, Canada) Alex Payne (Portland, Oregon, USA) Shakirah Peterson (Los Angeles, California, USA) Stefan A. Slater (Los Angeles, California, USA) Amanda Song (USA/China) Yilin Wang (Sichuan, China/Vancouver, Canada) Sagan Yee (Toronto, Canada) Joule Zelman (Seattle, Washington, by way of New Jersey, USA)
This year’s workshop, scheduled from June 20 to July 31, will be held virtually to prioritize the health and safety of students, instructors, staff, and community.
[Based on a press release. Thanks to Michael Toman for the story.]
(1) MOOT COURT. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] This is from Robert Barnes’ Washington Post report of a Supreme Court hearing an argument about whether states have the right to punish “faithless electors” who cast a vote in the Electoral College other than the candidate who won a state’s electoral votes.
“What of the elector who decides after the election ‘I really like Frodo Baggins,’” asked Justice Clarence Thomas, referencing one of the principal protagonists of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings. That person is free to vote his or her convictions, a lawyer challenging state restrictions said, but not for a hobbit; the candidate must be a real person.
On Monday, May 18 at 4 p.m. Eastern, they’ll have another virtual event on Zoom with Connolly in conversation with VR developer Dennis Bonilla.
(3) WINDING DOWN NASFIC. Columbus 2020 NASFiC announced today it is cancelled. Their statement “We will not be offering any refunds but, that being said, we still plan on publishing a souvenir book for all attending and supporting members” received some pushback in a public Facebook conrunners’ group. Treasurer Kim Williams has responded with a supplementary statement:
We don’t know what our bills are going to be or what will be left over, And now unfortunately one person has escalated their unhappiness about no refund to PayPal and is encouraging her entire group of friends to do likewise.
So, why did NASFIC say no refunds?
1. We just got to the point of cancellation This Morning. It’s hard to be in the land of “who knows?” so we got the main piece of information out to everyone as soon as possible. We didn’t want people making travel plans and fighting to cancel those too. I treated you with the respect I would have hoped for.
2. We do not have all the information from the hotel or any of our other vendors on what we owe them. We don’t know what is going to be left! I’m negotiating with each vendor doing the best I can.
3. We have to say no refunds at this point because we can’t even begin to know what might be left over.
4. We really would like to do a Souvenir/Program Book because we want to do something for our guests. We put a lot of thought into our choice of guests and feel horrible about not having a convention for them.
5. One of the issues we discussed TODAY is what we should do if any funds are left after that. What we would like to do is participate in the “pass along” program, just like any other WSFS event even though we didn’t receive any.
But if this person continues her claim, it risks all of the above, She wants her refund before anyone else even has a chance.
So, now I really don’t know what is going to happen. .
(4) MORE CONVENTION CANCELLATIONS. Oxonmoot and KublaCon are two more of the many fannish events now off the calendar.
It is with great sadness that we have reached the decision that it will be impossible to hold a face-to-face Oxonmoot in 2020.
At all times, we have had in mind that we would only run Oxonmoot if we could do so in a way which was safe for our members.
Following the publication on Monday 11th May of the UK Government document “Our Plan to Rebuild”, describing their Covid-19 recovery strategy, it is clear that some level of social distancing will still be required in September, and this has a dramatic impact on the way the spaces in college can be used – for example the capacity of the Hall is reduced by almost 80%. This has led the college to advise that they do not feel able to accommodate our event. In addition, the proposed introduction of a 14-day self-isolation period for overseas travellers would make it difficult for overseas members to attend….
…We know this will disappoint many of you, we are disappointed along with you. We also know there will be questions as to what comes next.
Some of us on Staff, myself included, lost their day job amid this pandemic, many more staff are at home, quarantined; just like you. You may be wondering what happens to your badge fees, ticket fees or booth fees. We want to help answer all of that and we humbly ask for your help too….
(5) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Scott Edelman is still “Social Distancing” – which means eating at home and withstanding the sharp cross-examination conducted by fans of his podcast, something the accomplished raconteur is thoroughly prepared to do,.
Two episodes ago, we sheltered in place together as I ate lunch and answered 33 questions from listeners and former guests of Eating the Fantastic. Since it’ll be awhile before the convention circuit starts up again and restaurants are back in business, I decided to once more invite you into my home to join me for a meal.
After all, my original call for questions had yielded 95 of them, and there was no way I was going to let that meat go to waste!
So after having roasted up a pork butt and assorted vegetables, I pulled together a plate and attempted to answer as many as I could while (metaphorically) breaking bread with you.
…I talked about my early days in the Marvel Comics Bullpen, the many things legendary editor Gardner Dozois and I shoved up our noses, when my food and fandom interests began to overlap, what I would have said to Harlan Ellison had he been in Barry Malzberg’s shoes, whether experiencing personal tragedy helps or harms a writer, the cognitive dissonance I feel about comics having taken over the world, which character caused me to start writing (hint: it was Conan the Barbarian), what I wishes I knew less about, who I was the most thrilled to have met in my life, whether I still get a kick out of my favorite childhood treats, what a terrible collaborator I am, and much, much more.
(6) NEWTON OBIT. Barry Newton, past President of the Washington Science Fiction Association (2014), died May 12 of cancer. He was 70. Barry was part of WSFA for nearly 50 years, having joined in June 1970.
He contributed items to the Scroll in years gone by.
He was retired from the National Institute of Standards & Technology.
His daughter, Meridel, said on Facebook he will be cremated and inurned in Arlington National Cemetery whenever they resume burials. A celebration of life will be held when gatherings become possible again.
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY.
May 14, 1996 — Doctor Who aired on the Fox Television Network in the United States. Starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Daphne Ashbrook as Grace Holloway and Eric Roberts as The Master. It was directed by Geoffrey Sax off a script by Matthew Jacobs. It was intended as a pilot to American produced and based Who series but internal politics at BBC killed it off. Some critics loved, some hated it; the audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes gave it a decent forty eight percent rating. He has since reprised the role, briefly in video form and quite extensively in audio form for Big Finish.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
Born May 14, 1848 – Albert Robida. French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, novelist. Edited and published Caricature magazine 1880-1893; 520 illustrations for Pierre Giffard’s weekly serial The Infernal War (1908); 60,000 during AR’s life. In The Twentieth Century (1882; set in 1952), War in the Twentieth Century (1887), Electric Life (1890), five more, imagined technological developments integrated with daily living, e.g. the telephonoscope, whose flat-screen display shows news, plays, conferences, 24 hours a day; here’s an aerial rotating house. Books about Brittany, the Touraine, Normandy, Provence, Paris, The Old Towns of Italy, The Old Towns of Spain, text, drawings, lithographs. Illustrated Cyrano de Bergerac, Rabelais, Swift. Clock of the Centuries; The End of Books (with Octave Uzanne); The Long-Ago Is With Us Today; In 1965. (Died 1926) [JH]
Born May 14, 1852 – Henri Julien. First full-time newspaper editorial cartoonist in Canada. Interiors for Douglas Erskine’s novel A Bit of Atlantis (1900), reviewed by Everett Bleiler in Science Fiction, the Early Years (1991). Here’s a flying canoe. Louis-Philippe Hébert (1850-1917) called him the most original talent in the country. Posthumous collection, Album Henri Julien (1916). (Died 1908) [JH]
Born May 14, 1853 – Sir Hall Caine. Novelist, dramatist, short-story writer, poet, critic. Secretary to Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Recollections of Rossetti (rev. 1928). Son of a Manxman, moved there, elected to its legislature; Bram Stoker dedicated Dracula to him in Manx. The Christian, first novel in Britain to sell a million copies; The Mahdi, The Eternal City (translated into thirteen languages), The Scapegoat, The White Prophet, The Prime Minister (play), fantasy; fifteen more novels, seventeen plays, four films (plus more made from his books); The Supernatural in Shakespere (HC’s spelling), The Supernatural Element in Poetry, eighteen more books of non-fiction; ten million books sold. Went to Russia, Morocco, Iceland, Egypt. Sixty thousand people at his funeral. (Died 1931) [JH]
Born May 14, 1929 – George Scithers. His fanzine Amra 1959-1982 won two Hugos. Chaired three Disclaves and the 21st Worldcon; Fan Guest of Honor at the 2nd NASFiC (N. Am. Science Fiction Convention, held when the Worldcon is overseas) and the 59th Worldcon; frequent chair of the annual WSFS (World SF Society) Business Meeting. Served as President of WSFA (Washington, D.C., SF Ass’n) and Official Arbiter of The Cult (an apa – amateur press ass’n – famous in song and story). First editor of Asimov’s; two Hugos as Best Professional Editor. Perpetrated the Scithers SFL (Science Fiction League) Hoax. Revived Weird Tales (with John Betancourt). World Fantasy special award for Weird Tales (with Darrell Schweitzer), 1992. World Fantasy lifetime-achievement award, 2002. (Died 2010) [JH]
Born May 14, 1933 – Ron Bennett. British fanwriter, collector, publisher, used-book dealer, even while living in Singapore. TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) delegate, 1958; trip report, Colonial Excursion. Chaired the 13th Eastercon (United Kingdom natcon, i.e. nat’l convention), ran the Dealers’ Room at the 45th Worldcon. Member variously of OMPA (Off-trails Magazine Publishers Ass’n, serving awhile as its Official Editor), FAPA (Fantasy Am. Press Ass’n), The Cult (see G. Scithers note); best-known fanzines, Skyrack (rhyming with “beer hack” because, as RB well knew, it meant shire oak, but what a name), Ploy. (Died 2006) [JH]
Born May 14, 1935 — Peter J. Reed, 85. A Vonnegut specialist with a long history starting with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: The Vonnegut Chronicles: Interviews and Essays that he wrote with Marc Leeds, and Kurt Vonnegut: Images and Representations with Leeds again. He also wrote a handful of essays such as “Hurting ’til It Laughs: The Painful-Comic Science Fiction Stories of Kurt Vonnegut“ and “Kurt Vonnegut’s Bitter Fool: Kilgore Trout”. (CE)
Born May 14, 1944 — George Lucas, 76. For better and worse I suppose, he created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are fine. Several Star Wars films are.) And let’s not forget THX 1138. My fave works that he was involved in? Labyrinth, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back and Willow. Oh, and and The Young Indy Jones series. (CE)
Born May 14, 1947 — Edward James, 73. Winner at Interaction of Best Related Non-Fiction Book for The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction which he did with Farah Mendlesohn. A companion volume, The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, was also edited with Mendlesohn. He was the editor of Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction from 1986 to 2001. (CE)
Born May 14, 1952 – Kathleen Ann Goonan, 68. Author, Montessori certified teacher, professor at Georgia Tech (Ga. Inst. of Technology). Three Nebula nominations; John W. Campbell Memorial Award for In War Times; first novel Queen City Jazz, a N.Y. Times Notable Book; six more novels, forty shorter stories, translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish; cover art for her collection Angels and You Dogs. Reviews in SF Eye, N.Y. Rev. SF. John Clute caught her allusion to Julio Cortázar (1914-1984) and said of her Nanotech Cycle (QC Jazz the first published) that its heavy plotting only partially coats over the intellectual ferment of the whole. [JH]
Born May 14, 1968 — Greg Davies, 52. He played King Hydroflaxq In the Twelfth Doctor story, “The Husbands of River Song“. A man who’s just a head. Literally. He’s also the Balloon Man in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. (CE)
(11) SCALZI Q&A. It’s a good interview about a writer’s interaction with literature, but the New York Times’ headline has no relevance to any of his answers that I can see: “The Science Fiction Writer John Scalzi Readily Quits Reading”. (If I’m wrong, I’m sure you’ll let me know!)
Any comfort reads?
I reread James Clavell’s “Shogun” a lot when I travel; I tend to think of it as epic fantasy as I am unsure of its historical and cultural accuracy. Speaking of epic fantasy, Katherine Addison’s “The Goblin Emperor” is always a joy to reread; I leaned on it a lot when creating my own unready imperial ruler for the Interdependency series, the last book of which is out very soon now. And I always have at least one Susan Orlean book on my phone for when I’m stuck in the airport and in the mood for nonfiction; the current one I have at the ready is “The Library Book.” She writes books that are comforting and fascinating at the same time. That’s a good skill to have.
(12) TWO REVIEWS OF SNOWPIERCER. [Item by N.] I’m personally skeptical because the creators seemed to excise all the Bong Joon-ho-isms I enjoyed from the movie but it looks like they kept all the sociological critique. Will be interesting to see.
… But the world that this “Snowpiercer” arrives in is one that has moved incrementally closer to the catastrophe that the series anticipates. Though the themes of the show may be more resonant now, the people who made “Snowpiercer” cannot be sure whether it will be more compelling or more terrifying to audiences as a result.The power of good science fiction, [Daveed] Diggs said, is a universality that extends beyond the moment in which it was created. “No matter what time we’re living in, it allows us to reflect on ourselves through a particular lens,” he said. “We certainly did not know that this would be the lens through which we’d be viewing our own show.”
… We are now coming up on two full months of quarantine here in the States, and though we are not exactly survivors aboard a 1,001-car high speed train careening around a frozen planet, it’s hard for dialogue like this not to resonate. Or for scenes depicting horrendous displays of classism to not gnaw at our collective conscience as we watch our ugly realities play out on a TV screen.
“Do you remember hugs? Do you remember leaving the house without a mask and gloves at the ready? Do you remember what it was like before?”
What happens when there is less to learn from the allegory than from reality itself? When simile becomes metaphor? It’s not that the society we live in is like the fictional world of Snowpiercer; it’s that the society we live in is Snowpiercer.
Friends and coworkers aren’t the only ones silently taking stock of what’s going on in the backgrounds of people’s daily virtual calls these days.
Staff at the Brattle Book Shop have also been scanning the scenes with a watchful eye. And as experts in the book trade, they’ve come to a conclusion: That shelf just beyond your upper torso? Yes, that one, with the torn edition of “Twilight” that’s next to the lilting fern. Perhaps it could use some touching up if it’s going to be on camera.
“Zoom calls: no one can see your legs,” store employees tweeted recently, “but everyone can see your apartment. We’re here to help, with the bookshelves at least.”
Like many businesses impacted by the spread of the coronavirus, Brattle Book Shop was forced to close its doors to walk-in customers back in early March. But to help fill the downtime while also staying connected to clientele both old and new, the downtown Boston business decided to tap into a niche market — one that’s been propelled by our newfound reliance on teleconferencing services like Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime.
In April, bookstore owner Ken Gloss and his team began offering to curate people’s shelves with hand-picked selections of books to display during video meetings. The service, staff says, can help add a pop of character to the otherwise disorganized backdrops being scrutinized by people on the other side of the computer screen.
To Gloss, having some aesthetically-pleasing spines perfectly arranged at eye level, or even a few well-known titles neatly stacked up for show, “offers a lot of prestige.”
“When you look at someone’s books, you can tell a lot about them,” he said. “Put back there the impression that you want to give.”
This concept of cleverly organizing backgrounds specifically for Zoom calls isn’t altogether novel, Gloss explained. It’s more of an inventive take on a familiar practice at the historic family-owned business.
For years, the bookstore has fielded requests from customers looking to decorate their shelves with carefully selected reading materials and antique-looking books, items that create a more homey atmosphere.
Two cooling towers have been demolished in spectacular controlled explosions at a disused nuclear power plant in south-western Germany.
(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Alex and Mr Fluffkins” on Vimeo, Adeena Grubb and Andy Biddle discuss what happens to a man and his cat when the lockdown is finally over and they can go out.
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Joey Eschrich, Michael Toman, Martin Morse Wooster, John King Tarpinian, JJ, Cat Eldridge, John Hertz, N., Chip Hitchcock, Dann, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Olav Rokne.]
(1) LUKE CAGE CONTINUES. From Netflix, “Marvel’s Luke Cage – Season 2 Official Trailer.”
After clearing his name, Luke Cage has become a celebrity on the streets of Harlem with a reputation as bulletproof as his skin. But being so visible has only increased his need to protect the community and find the limits of who he can and can’t save. With the rise of a formidable new foe, Luke is forced to confront the fine line that separates a hero from a villain.
Nichelle Nichols, who is known for her iconic role as Uhura in “Star Trek” is living with severe dementia.
Nichols’ son Kyle Johnson says that his 85-year-old mother needs protection to prevent people from taking advantage of her.
According to TMZ, Johnson filed documents nominating 4 fiduciaries to become his mother’s conservators—giving them control of her finances and authority to make decisions regarding her health.
(3) FANTASTIC FICTION AT KGB. At the next Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Tina Connolly & Caroline M. Yoachim. Date and time: Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 7 p.m. at the KGB Bar.
Tina Connolly
Tina Connolly’s books include the Ironskin trilogy (Tor), the Seriously Wicked series (Tor Teen), and the collection On the Eyeball Floor and Other Stories (Fairwood Press). Her books have been finalists for the Nebula, Norton, and World Fantasy awards. She is one of the co-hosts of Escape Pod, and runs the flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake. Find her at tinaconnolly.com.
Caroline M. Yoachim
Caroline M. Yoachim is the author of over a hundred short stories. Her fiction has been translated into several languages, reprinted in best-of anthologies, and is available in her debut collection Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories. Her 2017 short story “Carnival Nine” is a Nebula and Hugo finalist. For more about Caroline, check out her website at carolineyoachim.com
The KGB Bar id st 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave, upstairs.), New York, NY.
(4) NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER. David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist who studies climate evolution and habitability of other worlds, and Alan Stern, the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, say “Yes, Pluto is a planet” in Washington Post op-ed.
Three years ago, NASA’s New Horizons, the fastest spaceship ever launched, raced past Pluto, spectacularly revealing the wonders of that newly seen world. This coming New Year’s Eve — if all goes well on board this small robot operating extremely far from home — it will treat us to images of the most distant body ever explored, provisionally named Ultima Thule. We know very little about it, but we do know it’s not a planet. Pluto, by contrast — despite what you’ve heard — is.
Why do we say this? We are planetary scientists, meaning we’ve spent our careers exploring and studying objects that orbit stars. We use “planet” to describe worlds with certain qualities. When we see one like Pluto, with its many familiar features — mountains of ice, glaciers of nitrogen, a blue sky with layers of smog — we and our colleagues quite naturally find ourselves using the word “planet” to describe it and compare it to other planets that we know and love.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced an attempted redefinition of the word “planet” that excluded many objects, including Pluto. We think that decision was flawed, and that a logical and useful definition of planet will include many more worlds….
(5) TRIVIAL TRIVIA. Because the International Space Station does not have a way to wash dirty clothes, astronauts shoot their laundry into the Earth’s atmosphere to be incinerated. Consequently, a crew of six can go through 900 pounds of clothing per year. (Source: Smithsonian.com)
(6) TODAY IN HISTORY
May 7, 1950— Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles became the first new work of science fiction ever noted in the New York Times Book Review, breaking that glass ceiling via Rex Lardner’s “Fiction in Brief” column. As John King Tarpinian tells it, “Ray was not happy with Martian being described as Science Fiction but heck, who cares now…”
(7) COMICS SECTION.
Lise Andreasen says the lesson learned from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal’s“Soulmate” is never build a dating website.
Afrofuturism is perhaps best summed up by the queen of contemporary afrofuturism herself — Janelle Monae.
Her futuristic music videos and radical aesthetic (she even calls her fans “fAndroids”) are seen by some as a key force for pushing afrofuturism into the mainstream.
“Afrofuturism is me, us… is black people seeing ourselves in the future,” she explains in a 30-second video clip for Spotify.
It is no surprise then that Janelle cites the movement as the inspiration for her new narrative film, Dirty Computer: Emotion Picture, a visual accompaniment to her latest album (which is currently trending on YouTube).
In compiling my personal Shadow Clarke shortlist, I’ve opted to forego the pressures of dutiful or adventurous reading, and have stuck to a selection of books which, for various reasons, I’d already planned to read. Partially, I’ve done so out of pragmatism: it’s hard enough at the best of times to force myself to read something in which I have little to no existing interest and whose premise doesn’t appeal to me, and if I can’t actually bring myself to read my selected works, there’s little point in being a shadow judge at all. At the same time, I’d argue that the parameters of the Clarke Award are such that the final selection of any judge or judges, whether shadow or otherwise, is always going to hinge on personal taste. The submissions list, as the name suggests, does not come pre-curated: in order to be in contention for the award, eligible works need only be submitted for consideration by their publishers. While there’s invariably a fascinating conversation to be had about which of their titles particular houses either forget, neglect or actively decline to submit in the first place, the impact of those choices is at best a process of curation by collective omission. That being so, the contents of the submissions list as is become something of a crapshoot, running the gamut from obvious, big-name contenders to self-published indies to midlist titles flung at the wall to see what sticks. But then, science fiction, when not broken down into subgenres, is a spectacularly broad mandate – how else can it be honestly navigated except through personal preference?
Where do you get your ideas, my youngest brother asked as we were driving to dinner. I shrugged and said, Everywhere. He eyed me sideways, as though to say, it has to be harder than that.
But the truth is that I’ve always tried to look at the world in different ways. As a child, a favorite activity was looking at the ceiling and imagining what it would be like to live from that angle — not so different from our own life, but with much more inconvenient doors, for one. Or later, looking at public spaces to imagine what a superhero battle would be like staged there — where was cover, where the blind spots or perches? …
(11) RAMBO TRIVIA. Time to cram for the quiz:
I will add some random facts since there are some likes. I am a Maryland-certified master gardener.
(13) MINIATURE WORLDCON BID. Kate Secor (bid chair) and Michael Lee (bid treasurer) have announced a bid for “Worldcon 84: The Minimal Viable Worldcon” to be held in Charlottesville, VA in 2026. This is probably supposed to be funny.
W84 is targeting lovely Charlottesville, Virginia as a site. We will be capping attending memberships at 125 (not including staff) in order to fit in our chosen venue, the Charlottesville CitySpace. …
We are currently looking at dates in early October, so as to take advantage of Virginia’s long fall season and lovely natural scenery. We expect there to be sufficient hotel rooms to accommodate all our members at various price points. There will be no official con hotel, although W84 may be able to work with Charlottesville’s Visitor Bureau to change this.
…W84 will be administering the Hugos entirely online and via postal mail, and announcing the results via press release. Trophies will be mailed to the winners. W84 will be administering Site Selection largely via mail, but will accept hand-carried ballots and also allow on-site voting for all members even if they do not have attending memberships.
(14) MODERN WARRIOR. James Breakwell reporting:
7-year-old: *puts a lightsaber, a princess crown, and goldfish crackers in a duffel bag*
Me: Where are you going?
7: To war.
— James Breakwell, Exploding Unicorn (@XplodingUnicorn) April 28, 2018
(15) READY PLAYER THREE. And right after —
Me: I told you to pick up your toys.
3-year-old: I did.
Me: They're still out.
3: I put them back down.
— James Breakwell, Exploding Unicorn (@XplodingUnicorn) May 7, 2018
The closing chapter of Roverandom is a good example of a happy turn of events when you least expect it. Moreover, it is where we can see the results of Rover’s moral journey and how he has changed over the course of the story.
Once out of the sea depths, Rover again addresses Artaxerxes with his request: to change him into his proper size and shape. He does not hesitate to use the word “please” abundantly. The wizard is happy to help the dog as he has become wiser and kinder, too, following his failure as PAM and the anger of mer-people. But, alas, all his spells were destroyed at the bottom of the ocean. Artaxerxes is truly miserable, and he really means it being eager to change Rover back into his normal self. Things would have been pretty bad had it not been for the wizard’s shrewd wife. She kept some spells and now has exactly the one he needs to grant Rover’s request.
“Sisu will get you even through granite,” my Finnish mother-in-law used to say. If you look at the enormous grey outcrops of granite scattered since the ice age through the Finnish countryside and forests, you’ll realise that getting through them is not just difficult, it is pretty well impossible.
‘Sisu’ in Finnish means strength, perseverance in a task that for some may seem crazy to undertake, almost hopeless. My mother-in-law experienced the bombings of the Winter War (1939-1940) when Finland was attacked by the much superior Soviet army but managed to mount a resistance to remain independent. The New York Times ran an article in 1940 with the headline “Sisu: A Word that Explains Finland”.
So, what is this almost mythical quality that appears to be so Finnish? “It is a special thing that is reserved for especially challenging moments. When we feel that we came to the end point of our preconceived capacities. You could say that sisu is energy, determination in the face of adversities that are more demanding than usual,” says Emilia Lahti, a researcher of sisu from Aalto University in Helsinki.
(18) CELEBRATING HEINLEIN’S BIRTHDAY. A Barcelona club plans to celebrate Heinlein’s birthday on July 7. Juan Miguel de la Torre Quesada, Vice-President of Barcelona’s Otium Club sent out an English translation of their press release with the schedule. Here are a few highlights.
H-Day – Heinlein’s Day
Saturday, July 7nth, 2018 – from 10: 00 to 14:00.
Civic Center Joan Oliver “Pere Quart”
C/ Comandante Benítez, 6 – Barcelona (Spain)
About the event:
On the day of his 111nth birthday, this July, the seventh, we’re gathering to celebrate the life and work of Robert Anson Heinlein in a event we have baptised as “Dia H – Heinlein’s Day”. With this activity we wish to present to the greater audience, beyond the limits of fandom, this seminal autor and his influence within the genere of SF as well as in the cultural fabric of our times.
Robert Heinlein is considered one of the greatest and most essential writers in the SF cannon, not only because of his excellent narrative and literary qualities, but as a pioneer in the field, a paladin of critical thinking and of rational pragmatism, owing perhaps to his formation as an engineer, whose ideas and reflections, poured into a hundred Works, remain relevant today and are worth debating.
10:00 Introduction.
Ángel.F. Bueno, founder and President of the Otium Club will welcome the attendees with a brief exposition about the activities, presneting the author and his work, and then introducing the main guest speaker, Salvador Bayarri.
10: 20 – 11:40 Conference : “Robert Heinlein: a libertarian in science fiction”.
Salvador Bayarri, Doctor in Physics and Master Degree in Philosophy, as well as an SF writer, will expound on a complete exploration and biographical analysis on the thought, themes and work of the autor, in a light and humorous manner.
11:40 – 11:45 “The attendees will be invited to blow the candles on a birthday cake customised for the occasion”.
11:45 – 13:13 Screening of “Predestination” (2014) , The Spierig Brothers.
Salvador Bayarri and Ángel F. Bueno will introduce this excellent movie based on the short story “All you zombies!” (1958) by Robert A. Heinlein….
NASA’s InSight lander is on its way to Mars, after a successful launch on Saturday morning.
The lander was launched by an Atlas V rocket taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California shortly after 4 a.m. local time. It successfully separated from the upper stage more than an hour later.
Because InSight is a lander — not a rover — it will stay put on Mars as it carries out “an $813.8 million mission to study the interior of the Red Planet.”
Two CubeSats, or miniature satellites about the size of a briefcase, were launched by the same rocket, basically hitching a ride with the Insight. Named after the characters in the 2008 animated movie, WALL-E and EVE are each about the size of a briefcase or large cereal box. They popped out from the rocket’s upper stage after liftoff and are hightailing it to Mars, right behind InSight. This is the first time CubeSats have set sail for deep space.
[Thanks to Keith G. Kato, JJ, Cat Eldridge, ULTRAGOTHA, John King Tarpinian, Mark Hepworth, Chip Hitchcock, Andrew Porter, Martin Morse Wooster, Lise Andreasen, and Carl Slaughter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]
By Carl Slaughter: The ubiquitous Tina Connolly has a new YA magic coming of age series. The hardcover for the sequel, Seriously Shifted, and the paperback for the original story, Seriously Wicked, are both out in November. Tina will be on the bookstore circuit in November. I’m mighty curious about her main character and she satisfies my curiosity.
CARL SLAUGHTER: Whenever I see a coming of age magician story, I always wonder if the young magician will have the benefit of a magic academy, be mentored by an elder magician, or learn everything by necessity and trial-n-error. Why did you opt for Cam to go through self-discovery instead of structured/guided training?
Tina Connolly
TINA CONNOLLY: Actually in both Seriously Wicked and Seriously Shifted, Cam’s guardian Sarmine is absolutely determined for her to learn magic. But the problem is, Sarmine is a wicked witch, and 10th grader Cam is horrified at the thought of turning wicked. So she initially refuses to learn magic at all. By the time book 2 rolls around, she unbends a little—but starts questioning her own ethics every step of the way!
CB: Without the benefit of professors, curriculum, libraries, labs, exams, contests, etc., how exactly does Cam learn her craft and improve her skills?
TC: Witches in this world are super paranoid. So other than learning from wicked witch Sarmine, Cam has to kind of strike out on her own to learn new things. She tries looking up spells on the witch version of the internet—but there are a lot of malware sites, and some of the spells she runs across backfire. In book 2 (Seriously Shifted) she also tries working in her lab at school to test new spells. Cam was a scientist long before she attempted any spells, so it’s natural for her to do trial and error to find a vegetarian substitute for some of the . . . nastier things the witches use in their spells. And try not to explode herself, or the lab, in the process.
CB: Does Cam have any friends, associates, guardians? Anyone who is privy to her secret? A sounding board? Someone who has her back?
TC: Cam is deeply ashamed of her weird and not-super-awesome home life and has been keeping this secret for a very long time. In book 1 she finally unbends enough to put her trust in her best friend, Jenah. Opening up like this is hard for her, and it gave me a number of great moments to work with in both Seriously Wicked and Seriously Shifted where she and Jenah try to come to terms with what they will share, and when and how they will share it. Jenah is an extrovert who wants to be told everything, Cam is a deeply private person who is trying to learn to trust.
CB: Cam’s stepmother is a wicked witch, Cam wants to be a good witch. Doesn’t that place her in serious danger, no pun intended?
TC: Yep! So first in Seriously Wicked, Sarmine summons a demon who accidentally takes over the new boy at school. Cam has to stop that. But she’s still determined to not be a witch herself, not any kind of one. Then in Seriously Shifted, Sarmine’s three wicked witch friends from college have a little reunion, and they decide to play an old game where they compete to see who can make someone the most miserable. Someone from Cam’s high school. And Cam can’t let that happen. So that’s why Cam, against her better judgement, decides to start down the slippery, ethical-dilemma-laden minefield of learning how to cast spells herself.
CB: Why does Cam assume being a witch means being wicked? Does she not have any alternative role models?
TC: She does not. All the witches are terrible people. Usually in ridiculously awful ways like turning people’s hands to noodles or putting sharks in the courthouse.
CB: Wicked witches, good witches, a dragon, zombies, a demon, a phoenix. Any other fantasy/horror creatures in this story?
TC: The first book also has some pixies, who are basically frogs with wings. Straight humans can’t see the wings. Book two introduces a number of new magical creatures, some of whom are spoilers. 😀
CB: In a TV series, who would play Cam, her step mother, and her boyfriend?
TC: Good question! I’ve never been able to pin Cam and Devon down too precisely, but the image I have in my mind of wicked witch Sarmine is of Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada. But who I actually think should play her on TV would be Christine Baranski, whom I adore.
CB: I can’t read upside down. What’s the title of the green book Cam is reading on the cover?
TC: I think that one says Magic for Beginners. That exact book is not in the book, but I had plenty of fun coming up with ridiculous spell names for the spells the witches do. Like “A Mystikal Spelle of Great Power”, which involves slug guts.
CB: Both books are listed on Amazon as being released on the same date? How did that happen?
TC: Yes! Nov 1, 2016. That’s pretty common – the paperback of Seriously Wicked is being released to coincide with the hardcover of Seriously Shifted. So if you missed out on Seriously Wicked the first time around, you can now try it in paperback, and hopefully get hooked enough to pick up Seriously Shifted! I’m doing a number of book tour events in November, and the stores should have copies of both books. 🙂
CB: How long will the series continue?
TC: It’s a three-book series, and I’m working on the third one right now. They are all standalone stories, but book 3 will also wrap up a couple lingering questions left over from the first two.
Thanks so much for having me on the site!
TINA CONNOLLY’S BOOK TOUR: Tina will be promoting her book on the West Coast for the next few weeks. Here’s the remaining schedule.
University Bookstore, Seattle, Washington, November 14, 7pm. Reading & Signing
Corvallis-Benton County Library (books provided by Grass Roots Books). Corvallis, Oregon, November 15, 4pm. Teen Writing Workshop, Reading & Signing
Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California, November 16, 7:30pm. Reading & Signing
Powell’s Cedar Hills, Beaverton, Oregon, November 20, 4-5:30. Signing as part of the SF Authorfest
Another Read Through, Portland, Oregon, December 3, 1:30-3. Panel with Fonda Lee, Rosanne Parry, & Mary Elizabeth Summer!
By Carl Slaughter: Tina Connolly and Caroline M. Yoachim, who occasionally collaborate on short fiction, each have a short story collection coming out on August 16. And each has written the introduction to the other’s book.
