Monthly Archives: March 2013

Ellison Coming To The Simpsons

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Harlan Ellison announced yesterday on his message board: “It’s on! For the 25th anniversary of THE SIMPSONS, the script will include Harlan Ellison performing Harlan Ellison!!!!!!!! Caloo callay!”

He will join the array of writers who have visited the series, listed by a commenter as — Stephen King, John Updike, Thomas Pynchon (twice), Gore Vidal, Amy Tan, J.K. Rowling, Tom Clancy, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, James Patterson, Alan Moore, Mitch Albom, David Mamet and Neil Gaiman.

Getting cast in The Simpsons trumps Harlan’s appearance on Scooby Doo a few years back.

Improving Your Shatner Vocabulary

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The Wordnik Word of the day for Friday, March 22 is “Shatneresque.” It means, “In the style of William Shatner, particularly in overacting or singing.”

Sam Long comments, “Poor ol’ Bill: now he’s an adjective.” And not a very flattering one.

He didn’t do well as a verb, either – his Shatoetry app includes the command “Shat that!”

[Thanks to Sam Long for the story.]

Rick Hautala (1949-2013)

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Rick Hautala

Rick Hautala

Rick Hautala, a winner of the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, died March 21 of a heart attack.

He has written and published over 30 books, plus a large number of short stories.

His third novel, Night Stone (1986), was one of the first books to feature a holographic and sold over a million copies. His short story collection, Bedbugs (1999) was a Barnes & Noble selection as one of the most distinguished horror publications of the year 2000.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Gerhartsreiter Trial 3/21

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Postcards ostensibly mailed by Linda Sohus from France were the focus of the Gerhartsreiter murder trial on Thursday, March 21.

Susan Mayfield, Linda Sohus’ mother explained how confusing it was to receive her daughter’s postcard mailed from France because she had never talked about leaving the country and lived “paycheck to paycheck.”

The prosecutor accused Gerhartsreiter of using someone to mail three postcards for him to create the illusion John and Linda Sohus were away.

Another witness, Elaine Siskoff, said she received an unexpected postcard years earlier from Gerhartsreiter. She dated him while both were students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the early 1980s. When he left Wisconsin, he told her he was moving to California to pursue an internship with director George Lucas.

The postcard, which was displayed for jurors, bore an image of the queen of England and was mailed from England, which, he wrote, “is just great!” He wrote that he was teaching a Sunday school class in England and would soon be traveling to Africa. Prosecutors have said Gerhartsreiter was in San Marino when the card was mailed.

The LA Times, in another article, caught up with additional testimony given March 19 by someone who knew Gerhartreiter the summer John Sohus was murdered.

Dana Glad Farrar, who knew the defendant as Christopher Chichester, asked him about the overturned dirt while playing Trivial Pursuit at the home months after the landlady’s son John Sohus and his wife went missing in 1985. “He said he had been having plumbing problems,” she testified.

Farrar testified Gerhartsreiter claimed to be descended from royalty, and passed out cards with a family crest.

She testified that Gerhartsreiter hosted a gathering in the summer of 1985 and that she saw him go into the main house on the property, bringing out spoons, ice and sugar for the iced tea his guests were drinking. Farrar asked him why he went into the house.

“They are away; they will not mind,” she recalled him saying.

Hertz: Moskowitz to Eaton, $250 to DUFF

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home_eaton-collection-hours_columnBy John Hertz: An anonymous donor has given DUFF $250 to send a rare copy of Sam Moskowitz’ Immortal Storm to the Eaton Collection.

SaM chaired the first World Science Fiction Convention. Besides his fan activity he edited a Gernsback magazine, wrote s-f, anthologized, and was generally a force of nature.

The Immortal Storm is his history of s-f fandom from the 1920s to World War II. Its title indicates its impassioned style. It remains indispensable.

This copy is from the limited mimeograph edition of 1951, after the Storm burst in Langley Searles’ Fantasy Commentator, before the 1954 hardback. A knowledgeable collector has estimated it is in Very Good condition.

DUFF the Down Under Fan Fund, like TAFF the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, sends fans on long-distance visits. TAFF began in 1953, DUFF in 1972, others followed, all sustained by donations. DUFF goes between North America and Australia – New Zealand.

Eaton, the world’s largest publicly accessible holding of science fiction, fantasy, and like that, is located at the Riverside campus of the University of California.

Last year Chicon VII the 70th Worldcon, at Chicago, had as is customary an auction to benefit the fan-travel funds. It was held in the exhibit hall, next to the Fanzine Lounge.

Some items came too late to be auctioned and will have to be used for raising money otherwise. One was this copy of Storm from Bob Passovoy (with his wife Anne, Fan Guests of Honor at Chicon VI) who could not get to the con that day but wanted to support DUFF.

Speaking as DUFF’s North America Administrator, I do not consider DUFF or its sister funds sell things.

As an Englishman once said, the exchanges which take place are measures of mutual assistance rendered by friends, in a spirit of confidence, sympathy, and good will.

A copy of this edition of Storm shows how physical production can be informative. It illustrates the art of mimeography.

The texture of the paper, the color of paper and ink, the appearance of typewriting, done by hand, teach what amateur publishing was sixty years ago, even to someone who may never have practiced slipsheeting or worked at a collating party.

Dr. Melissa Conway, head of Special Collections & Archives at U.C. Riverside and thus of Eaton, says the Storm has arrived.

Artifact as well as thought is elemental to history.

Will Jedi Perform Marriages in Scotland?

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Should I be worried? The BBC reports “Jedi could perform marriages, says Free Church of Scotland”.

Scotland currently recognizes religious marriages, conducted by an authorized religious celebrant, and civil marriages, conducted by a state registrar. A pending Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill would authorize a third option, marriages performed by a representative of a “belief body.” (See a copy of the existing law marked up to show the effect of the proposed changes here.)

The law writers say they have intended to benefit humanists, who are classed as religious rather than non-religious under present law, but heaven only knows who else will be exercising the privilege —

The Free Church of Scotland has raised concerns about religious and civil partnership ceremonies being joined by a third category.

Church spokesman, the Reverend Iver Martin, told BBC Alba: “The third category is quite astonishing because it is the so-called belief category without really defining what belief means.

“There are loads of people in a diverse society like this for whom belief can mean virtually anything – the Flat Earth Society and Jedi Knights Society – who knows?

“I am not saying that we don’t give place to that kind of personal belief, but when you start making allowances for marriages to be performed within those categories then you are all over the place.”

Are Jedi getting a bad rap here? What is Reverend Martin really trying to warn us against? The only reason Anakin Skywalker and Padme didn’t let a Jedi officiate at their wedding is he would have put a stop to it. I dare say there are weddings Reverend Martin would like to put a stop to. He may have more in common with the Jedi than he thinks.

Etchison Fete at Mystery & Imagination on 3/30

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DennisEtchison70Help celebrate author Dennis Etchison’s 70th birthday on March 30 at Mystery & Imagination Bookstore. The event begins at 2:00 p.m.

Etchison’s fiction has earned three British Fantasy Awards. The anthologies he’s edited have captured two World Fantasy Awards. The distinguished author and editor is also past President of the Horror Writers Association.

Mystery & Imagination is located at 238 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA.

[Thanks for John King Tarpinian for the story.]

James Herbert (1943-2013)

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James Herbert

James Herbert

James Herbert , UK horror novelist, died March 20. Herbert’s first two books, The Rats (1974) and The Fog (1975), were disaster novels with man-eating giant black rats in the first and an accidentally released chemical weapon in the second.

He wrote three sequels to The Rats – Lair, Domain and The City (a graphic novel). His 23 published novels sold more than 54 million copies worldwide. He was awarded an OBE in 2010.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Sohus Murder Described For Court

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On the second day of testimony in the Gerhartsreiter muder trial, the jury heard a description of John Sohus’ death based on physical evidence.

Dr. Frank Sheridan, the San Bernardino County Coroner, reviewed the fractures in Sohus’ skull and said they “occurred at or about the time of death.”

“When they happened the victim was still alive, but died very soon after,” he said. “That’s what I determined from these fractures. ”

Sheridan, who has performed nearly 9,000 autopsies, said the fatal blows were delivered to Sohus’ skull with a blunt, perhaps rounded, object and rendered with a force as high as 1,000 pounds per square inch.

Sheriff’s criminologist Lynne Herrold testified about the plastic book bags that held John Sohus’ head, the condition of Sohus’ clothing, and blood evidence in the guest house where Gerhartsreiter lived when he was Chichester in San Marino.

The plastic bag containing Sohus’ head came from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. That style was only used from 1979 to 1983, testified a university bookstore manager. Gerhartsreiter was a student at the university in during that period.

Herrold stated that in June 1994 investigators using luminol detected four blood spots in the guest house. One of the stains was 25 inches wide. It is still unknown how long the blood had been there, who it belonged to and whether it is human blood, she said.

She testified that based on the small cuts in the shirt Sohus had on when buried it appeared he had been stabbed six times, and discoloration of those cuts indicated they occurred about the time he died. The cuts, she said, were to the left shoulder of the shirt and the left elbow, suggesting Sohus’ arm was raised when the cuts were inflicted or that he was cut from behind.

Two acquaintances of Gerhartsreiter also testified about his life history, Ed Savio, a San Francisco screenwriter whose family hosted Gerhartsreiter in 1978 and early 1979, and Elmer Kelln, a Loma Linda man who first met Gerhartsreiter in Bavaria in 1978.

Here are links to local news reports.

Pasadena Star News
Witnesses recall fake Rockefeller as teen who loved America

Los Angeles Times
Fatal blows described in Rockefeller impostor case

Men Into Space: A History

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MenIntoSpace_front-500x500Steve Davidson gave a glowing review to Men Into Space by John C. Frederiksen on the Amazing Stories blog. Men Into Space was the late-1950s hard science fiction adventure series that in the eyes of pre-teen Mike Glyer took up where the space exploration episodes of Disneyland left off.

Publisher Bear Manor Media’s description is in synch with my memory of the show’s only season:

Popular actor William Lundigan appeared as the redoubtable Colonel Edward McCauley, who grappled with many of the same problems that real astronauts encountered in their quest to reach the Moon a decade later. It was a somber departure from previous televised science fiction fare, aimed at juveniles, and served up the drama and excitement of space flight in realistic fashion.

In 38 black-and-white episodes, McCauley endures lunar crashes, renegade satellites, runaway space stations, meteor strikes, and colliding tankers, in addition to memorable encounters with feuding scientists, balky subordinates, hostile cosmonauts, and space babes. All told, Men Into Space is a classic slice of 1950s Americana and exuberantly reflects the national obsession with astronautics of its day. It is a must for devotees of the heroic age of spaceflight and early science fiction television.

Davidson praises all aspects of the book, especially its episode summaries —

Where Men Into Space really shines though is John’s presentation of all 38 episodes. With loving detail and an evident encyclopedic familiarity with each one, Frederiksen lays out the action, the conflict, the personalities and the emotion in a page-turning, exciting and completely engaging manner; the closest comparison I can find to his semi-fictional presentation are James Blish’s Star Trek (TOS) episode novelizations.

You’ve sold me, Steve. Dialing my Kindle now…