Monthly Archives: January 2012

Ellison’s Next Live Online Appearance

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Harlan Ellison is speaking again to the Cinefamily at The Silent Movie Theater on Thursday, January 19. The show is already sold out but fans can catch a live video stream of the whole thing on the Cinefamily blog, starting around 8 p.m. (PST).

Ellison’s first talk was so filled with lively anecdotes that at the end of three hours he had covered only the first half of his career in television! So his next talk will entertain listeners with the equally colorful second half of his TV writing career.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Tepper, Levin Engaged

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LASFS member Matthew Tepper has announced his engagement to Debra Levin:

Debra Levin and I plan to get married this coming October. At present I’m 58 and she’s 45. This will be my first, and her second; she is the widow of Rob Levin, aka “Lilo,” founder of Freenode.

The long-time bachelor says that when he announced this news at last Thursday’s club meeting he asked Karl Lembke to play “The World Turned Upside Down” on his computer. I know that tune was played when the Brits surrendered at Yorktown. But I asked him if the reference is apposite – after all, Matthew wants to surrender to matrimony!

So Matthew pitched this Shakespearean reference instead: “[A]nd in such great letters as they write ‘Here is good horse to hire’ let them signify under my sign ‘Here you may see Benedick, the married man.’”

Zounds!

Happy Birthday Edgar!

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How will you celebrate Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday? Come January 19 there should be 202 candles on the famous writer’s cake. The Washington Post suggests a few silly ways to mark the occasion, such as —

Convince all your friends that you’ve died, then emerge from your vault just as they’re reading something scary. For an extra surprise, undermine the structural integrity of their home so it breaks in half right after you do this.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Gerhartsreiter Hearing, Day 1

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A bulldozer operator testified how he discovered a skull in a San Marino backyard in 1994 on the first day of hearings to determine whether Christian Gerhartsreiter will stand trial for the 1985 murder of LASFS member John Sohus.

Prosecutors also called a witness to help verify that the skull and other skeletal remains uncovered by authorities are those of Sohus. Identification was complicated by the fact that he was adopted reports the LA Times:

Prosecutors on Wednesday moved toward establishing that the skeleton was Sohus’, calling to the stand a half-sister who said she never knew of the man’s existence. Lori Moltz, 55, said in brief testimony that a sheriff’s deputy came to her home in late 2008 to take a swab from the inside of her mouth. She also testified that she recognized her mother’s handwriting on John Sohus’ birth and adoption records.

There was another interesting byplay when a defense attorney asked Superior Court Judge Jared Moses for permission to keep calling Gerhartsreiter by his alias, Clark Rockefeller. Moses refused, quoted in the Times saying “I honestly have never seen a circumstance where a defendant is referred to in court by one of his AKAs.”

Orlando Worldcon Bid Update

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Steve Davidson, The Crotchety Old Fan, remembers “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” That’s why he is spreading the news that Orlando in 2015 has negotiated its function space — a convention center on the grounds of a Disney resort — for $0 if the room bloc commitment is met. (And they are getting a rate of $139/night.) That, he observes, might create “some flexibility in membership fees, particularly discounts for targeted groups – be they families, students, daily tasters, whatever.”

There’s also a new Frank Wu poster on the bid’s website. If you think it’s as “amazing” as Steve does I’m sure that will bring a smile to his face.

Connie Willis Named SFWA Grand Master

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Connie Willis is the recipient of the 2011 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award given by SFWA for lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.

Connie told her fellow SFWAns:

Being named a Nebula Grand Master is an unimaginable honor–quite literally. When I began writing science fiction as a teenager, my biggest goal was to actually sell a story. My greatest castles-in-the-air fantasy was to someday win a Nebula Award. If you’d told that teenaged girl that she’d someday end up a Nebula Grand Master, with her named linked to those of the authors she worshiped, demigods like Jack Williamson, Ray Bradbury, Joe Haldeman, and Robert A. Heinlein, she’d NEVER have believed it. I’m not sure I believe it. But I’m very, very grateful. And I’m even more grateful that I’ve been able to spend my entire life among the work and the people I fell in love with when I was thirteen.

The award will be presented at the 47th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in Arlington, Virginia, May 17-20, 2012.

The Docket

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Two crime stories of interest to fans will play out in court over the next few weeks.

Christian Gerhartsreiter, charged with the 1985 murder of LASFS member John Sohus, is due in Alhambra Superior Court on January 18 for a preliminary hearing where a judge will decide if enough evidence exists for the case to go to trial.

A defense attorney estimates the hearing will last six days.

Gerhartsreiter first gained notoriety as the impostor “Clark Rockefeller” who was convicted of abducting his daughter and imprisoned in Massachusetts. In 2011 he was extradited to face murder charges in California.

Edward Kramer’s next hearing in his contested extradition proceedings will be February 6. Charged with felony risk of injury to a child last September in Connecticut, Kramer was freed on bond then taken back into custody when Georgia officials, including Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter, asked the governor of Connecticut to issue a warrant while they sought his extradition to Georgia where Porter now expects to take Kramer to trial on child molestation charges which have been pending for over 10 years due to a court determination that he was medically unable to assist in his defense.

Kramer reportedly continues to have medical problems treated while in custody. DA Porter told the media:

“The interesting thing is, as (Kramer’s) made more and more medical complaints, they’ve moved him further into the system… Last thing I heard, he was in a maximum security prison.”

Kramer is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, CT.

Pulpfest Creates the Rusty Award

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Pulpfest, the pulp magazine convention held annually in Columbus, Ohio, has renamed its service award — formerly called the Munsey — in honor of Rusty Hevelin. Hevelin died December 27. Writes Jack Cullers, one of the organizers of Pulpfest:

The Munsey is a prestigious award given each year at PulpFest to the person deemed most worthy by the majority of his or her peers. It recognizes the efforts and ongoing involvement of the recipient in the improvement, elevation, and continuance of keeping the pulps alive and well. As a result of the recent death of one of the organizers and stalwarts of the hobby, PulpFest is announcing that henceforth the award will be called The Rusty Hevelin Service Award, or, in short, the Rusty. Hopefully, this will be accepted as a tribute and memory to a man who was influential in making PulpFest and its predecessors as successful as they are today.

I’m not sure how Rusty would receive this development, though I mean only that I’m not sure. Today’s PulpFest was launched a few years ago after a division among the conrunners who used to put on Pulpcon. Two rival groups announced events for 2009 both named Pulpcon. Litigation resulted in the newer – and now, only surviving – one being renamed PulpFest. Rusty, to my knowledge, had a stronger bond with the people whose attorney prevented the offshoot group from using the Pulpcon name (but whose event did not survive).

However, it’s self-evident that the honoree of a memorial award isn’t around to have an opinion. A better question is what will fans think of renaming the award for Hevelin? My guess is they will be pleased that Rusty’s memory will be honored at an important event in the specialized field which held his interest for a lifetime.

Pulpfest will be held August 9-12 at the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Howard Hopkins (1961-2012)

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Author Howard Hopkins died January 12 of a heart attack while walking home in the snow near his home in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. He was 50.

Howard was known for graphic novels such as a Sherlock Holmes series and a children’s series called The Nightmare Club.

His recent project was The Chloe Files, a supernatural/horror series, Night Demons, Grimm, The Dark Riders.

Under the pen name Lance Howard (his first and middle name reversed) he wrote 33 western novels, the latest being The Killings Kind.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]