Monthly Archives: October 2009

Sound and Fury Signifying Trivia

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Today’s trivia question: Every winner of the Best Fan Writer Hugo has made at least one professional sale, but two winners have never sold a science fiction story. Can you name them?

The winners since the creation of the category in 1967 are: Terry Carr, Richard E. Geis, Mike Glyer, Dave Langford, Cheryl Morgan, Alexei Panshin, John Scalzi, Bob Shaw, Wilson Tucker, Harry Warner Jr., Ted White and Susan Wood.

Most of the names are easy to rule out because their record in the sf field is so well known.

Wilson Tucker won the 1970 Best Fan Writer Hugo, then had Year of the Quiet Sun nominated as Best Novel in 1971.

Scalzi’s novel Old Man’s War and its sequels have received Hugo nominations.

Dave Langford’s “Different Kinds of Darkness” won Best Short Story in 2001.

Bob Shaw’s classic short story “Light of Other Days” received a Hugo nomination in 1967. He didn’t get around to winning the Best Fan Writer Hugo until 1979 (and again in 1980.)

Ted White’s first novel was written in collaboration with another Best Fan Writer winner, Terry Carr. Invasion from 2500 (1964) was published under the pseudonym Norman Edwards. Ted went on to write lots of other novels under his own name.

Terry Carr, in the middle of a run of seven other nominations for his fan writing and fanzines (Fanac, Lighthouse) had a short story nominated for the Hugo in 1969, “The Dance of the Changer and the Three.” The year Terry finally won the Best Fan Writer Hugo, 1973, he was also nominated for Best Professional Editor (in the category’s debut), and it was as an editor he won his last two Hugos (1985, 1987).

Alexei Panshin won the first Best Fan Writer Hugo in 1967. He declined his nomination in 1968, hoping to set an example for future winners. He also had great success as a pro. His novel Rite of Passage received a Hugo nomination in 1969 and won the Nebula.

Harry Warner Jr. had 11 short stories published in the mid-1950s (and grumbled when that was discovered by his neighbors in Hagerstown — see the link below in comments).

Richard E. Geis has sold any number of erotic sf novels.

I trail this parade at a respectful distance, with one pro sale that appeared in Mike Resnick’s Alternate Worldcons.

That leaves two winning fanwriters to account for: Cheryl Morgan and Susan Wood. Cheryl has made nonfiction sales, but the Locus index lists no fiction. Susan Wood published scholarly work about the sf field, but no stories. So Morgan and Wood are the answer. (Subject to correction, as always…)

Update 10/12/2009: Of course Harry Warner sold short stories — text corrected. Thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden for the assist. Update 10/13/2009: And to Dave Langford for catching mistakes about Shaw’s story I have been helplessly repeating since, oh, 1967, although they ought to be avoidable  — I can always remember the exact year “Neutron Star” won its Hugo. 10/18/2009: Alexei Panshin’s comment gives the real reason he turned down his Best Fan Writer nomination in 1968.

Bradbury at Big Read

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Ray Bradbuy and Thomas Steinbeck

Ray Bradbuy and Thomas Steinbeck

By John King Tarpinian: “Santa Barbara hosted the National Endowments for the Arts Big Read program, during Banned Books Week. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was their book of choice. Ray was introduced by Thomas Steinbeck, son of John, to the capacity crowd. While we were in the green room Thomas Steinbeck told a story that brought tears to my eyes. For Halloween his father would read Something Wicked This Way Comes to him and his brother John, Jr. Think about that, John Steinbeck reading a story by Ray Bradbury to his boys. How cool is that?”

Snapshots 33 and a third long play

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Here are 10 developments of interest to fans:

(1) What is the scariest horror movie of all time? Surprise! It’s based on a story by Golden Age sf editor John W. Campbell.

(2) After seeing this Montreal Gazette report Andrew Porter says Saturn has a real “lord of the rings”:

Stunned astronomers have discovered that a small, distant moon of Saturn has the largest ring in the Solar System.

Phoebe, a Saturnian satellite measuring only 214 kilometres (133 miles) across, has a circle of dusty debris with a diameter of some 13 million kms (8.12 million miles), they report on Thursday in Nature, the weekly British science journal.

And CNN adds these intriguing details:

The new ring orbits in the opposite direction to Iapetus. And, say researchers, it’s possible that the moon’s dark coloring is a result of the ring’s dust particles splattering against Iapetus like bugs on a windshield.

“Bugs on a windshield.” I love it.

(3) Here’s a question bound to hook a lot of readers: What scares Stephen King? A Canadian paper says the answer is: U.S. television studios:

Mr. King has partnered with Canadian television producer E1 Entertainment Inc. to make his latest creation, a television series titled Haven, based on his best-selling novella The Colorado Kid.

It is a deal that shatters the conventions of big-budget television productions. Rather than take his concept directly to a Hollywood studio, the author has specifically gone outside of the U.S. in order to retain more creative control over how the series is made.

(4) It doesn’t take long for sensational promise to be transformed to crushing disillusionment in the age of the internet. For a breathtaking New York minute Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol was selling more Kindle copies than hardcovers, smashing to flinders the holy “5% rule” — the usual percentage of ebook sales in relation to overall sales.  The Los Angeles Times tells what happened:

When Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” was released on Sept. 15, Amazon’s rankings revealed that Kindle sales outstripped sales of the hardcover. This led some ebook enthusiasts to herald the dawning of a new era. FastCompany asked, “Could Dan Brown’s new book be heralding the e-book age?” CNet wrote: “The possibility that the Kindle version of ‘The Lost Symbol’ — which follows Brown’s wildly popular ‘Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels & Demons’ — is outselling hard copies on Amazon could be a monumental moment in the e-book industry.”

But it was only a moment, one that lasted less than 48 hours. By the time the week was out, with more than 2 million copies sold in the U.S., Britain and Canada — breaking the publisher’s previous one-week record set by Bill Clinton with “My Life” — hardcover sales had easily eclipsed sales of the ebook. Of the 2 million copies sold, only 100,000, or 5%, were electronic versions.

(5) The wildy-hyped release of Brown’s new novel is the kind of thing that naturally attracts scoffers. Strangely enough, Amazon itself hosts the must-read satirical review of The Lost Symbol:

Remember, it’s got to be at least 450 pages – if it doesn’t snap the strap of a Timbuk2 messenger bag, it’s not literature!

Although the review gives away the ending (as well as the beginning and the middle) it’s unlikely anything is spoiled thereby.

(6) And by no means deprive yourself of the pleasure of seeing the “20 Worst Dan Brown Sentences” given the treatment previously reserved for “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses.”

(7) Here’s quite an interesting article from the Boston Globe exploring the reasons why Hollywood screws up children’s classics, titled “Where the Wonder Goes” —

Respecting the source, traditionally, is not what Hollywood does to children’s books. The great art of these works (and “Wild Things” is generally acknowledged as among the greatest) is their simplicity: The ways in which they address profound aspects of childhood while seeming to look the other way. It’s that simplicity, a staging ground for a child’s boundless imagination, that is often the first thing to go. Movies, especially ones with massive budgets, usually want to do the imagining for you.

(8) Evelyn C. Leeper hosts her full Denvention 3 (Worldcon 2008) convention report at the new Leeper.us domain. Bandwidth problems are a thing of the past in the Leeper household.

(9) The recent visit from Tor’s goodwill ambassador reminds me that October is Steampunk Month at Tor publications. Especially charming is Irene Gallo’s article “How Stubby, the Tor.com rocket, became the H.M.S. Stubbington,” which traces the logo’s evolution through a series of sketches  by Greg Manchess.

(10) Think there’s much chance George W. Bush will be invited to cut the ribbon when the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” theme park based Rowling’s novels opens in 2010 at Universal Orlando Resort? Here’s what he’ll be missing:

Rides will include the high-tech Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the Dragon Challenge twin roller coaster and the family roller coaster Flight of the Hippogriff, according to Universal. And what’s a theme park without stores to unload your money? Don’t worry, there will be plenty of Potter-themed merchandise, including chocolate frogs and “Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans,” magic wands and Butterbeer.

 [Thanks for these links goes out to Andrew Porter, Janice Gelb, Evelyn Leeper, James Hay, and John Mansfield.]

Joe Haldeman News 10/10/2009

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Joe Haldeman has slowly improved over the past couple of days, reports Gay Haldeman on SFF.net. He still has a gastric tube down his throat, and a trach tube for the respirator. But the respirator is being decreased and that’s been tolerated so far. They may get Joe into a chair soon. Next week he probably will be moved to an acute care rehab facility.

Hitchcon 09

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A gateshow celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first print appearance of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy takes place October 11 at London’s Southbank Centre.

The Guardian‘s announcement is appropriately less-than-reverent:

If you see large groups of middle-aged men carrying towels in the vicinity of London’s Southbank this weekend then you may be well advised to follow them. They have not have discovered a new local swimming pool, but will instead be heading for this celebration of the 30th anniversary of the publication of Douglas Adams’s legendary tome The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. 

Eoin Colfer will be there reading from his newly-released addition to the Hitchhiker series, And Another Thing… The original radio cast including Simon Jones and Mark Wing-Davey will perform a show ‘radio-style’ of excerpts from the original radio series. And attendees can order Pangalactic gargleblasters at the bar to anesthetize themselves at any point during this day-long commercial.

Apollo 13 Anniversary Coming

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Fans will make a pilgrimage to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in 2010 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. Roger Tener and readers of Chronicles of the Dawn Patrol have circled the April 16-17 weekend on their calendars when Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, Flight Director Gene Kranz and other Mission Control and NASA personnel are expected to join the celebration.

The Cosmosphere did the Apollo 13 command module restoration and keeps it on display along with Jim Lovell’s flown spacesuit.

The 40th anniversary weekend will include panel discussions, screenings of the Apollo 13 movie and other documentaries, a gala dinner, a chance for photos with the Apollo 13 Command Module, and autograph opportunities.

[Via Chronicles of the Dawn Patrol.]

There’s Something You Don’t
See Every Day, Edgar

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People appreciate Edgar Allen Poe now. When he died in 1849 only 10 people came to his funeral, but on October 11 when the Poe House and Museum staff give him the sendoff they think he deserved 350 mourners will attend each of two services. The macabre tribute is part of a year-long celebration of the 200th year of Poe’s birth.

A coffin holding a replica of Poe’s body will be the centerpiece. John Astin, best known as Gomez Addams on TV’s “The Addams Family,” will serve as master of ceremonies: 

“It’s sort of a way of saying, ‘Well, Eddie, your first funeral wasn’t a very good one, but we’re going to try to make it up to you, because we have so much respect for you,'” said Astin, who toured as Poe for years in a one-man show.

I think if Poe wasn’t dead already when they put him in the coffin, waking to discover Gomez Addams presiding over his funeral would finish the job.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

San Antonio in 2013 Bid

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I’m also overdue to report that the Texas in 2013 committee chaired by Bill Parker announced at Anticipation they’re bidding for San Antonio.

Gary Shelton told readers of the September NASFA Shuttle that San Antonio’s bid party at Anticipation served “Texas-sized chicken or steak fajitas. They were outstanding to say the least.” I’m sorry to have missed that party.

San Antonio has added convention facilities since LoneStarCon 2. Now there is a Grand Hyatt Hotel near the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center, in addition to the Marriott Rivercenter and Marriott Riverwalk hotels used in 1997.

For the Record, It’s the Hyatt Regency

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Writing about Chicago in 2012’s pulp magazines made me realize I never followed up the story I wrote before the Worldcon promising they’d announce the name of the facility they panned to use if they win. They did, and most of you know it already, just the same I’ll let myself be guided by the principle that every story is news to someone.

If Chicago gets the 2012 Worldcon, they’ll bring it back to the Hyatt Regency. The committee got bids from two major hotels, researched the supplemental facilities that might be needed in either case, and had long, detailed internal discussions before choosing the Hyatt.  The hotel has hosted three Worldcons before, a fact that made the bidders honestly more willing to look another facility: if they found something they liked better that would help convince fans they’re not resting on their laurels. However, the renovated and expanded Hyatt is a fine place to hold a Worldcon and I applaud their choice.

Octavia Butler’s Papers Come to Huntington

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Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler’s papers have arrived at the Huntington Library where they will join those of Robert Silverberg and any number of other well-known writers like Jack London, Christopher Isherwood and Charles Bukowski.  

Butler, the most prominent African American woman in the field of science fiction, died in 2006. Butler lived for decades in the city where she was born, Pasadena, CA before moving to Washington state in 1999, and the city treasures her memory — Pasadena Public Library’s annual “One City – One Story” program selected her novel Kindred for 2006. It is fortunate for the community that Butler’s manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, photos and other materials were acquired by a prestigious library so close by – in San Marino, the next town over.

The librarian responsible for Butler making the donation, Sue Hodson, the Huntington’s curator of literary manuscripts, is finding it a bittersweet experience:

“In a sense I wish I hadn’t had the opportunity” to go through the papers, Hodson said, referring to Butler’s untimely death in 2006. “I thought it would be someone who came after me. It’s a great joy, but I’m sorry, in a way, it’s me unpacking the boxes.”

Diana and I think the world of the Huntington. Diana spent a couple of summers using their facilities to work on her Inklings book. 

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]