Monthly Archives: October 2013

Captain America Trailer

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Captain America posterThe first trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released October 24. The movie arrives in theaters April 4, 2014.

Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941, Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is produced by Kevin Feige, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell, with Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

McDonald’s To Give Away Kids Books

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Would you like prose with that?

During the first two weeks in November kids will find books in their McDonald’s Happy Meals rather than the usual little toy.

In partnership with Reading Is Fundamental, McDonald’s will give away about 20 million copies of stories with anti-obesity themes.

There will be four different books, reports the LA Times’ Carolyn Kellogg —

“The Goat Who Ate Everything,” — Tells a story of a goat who has a big appetite and struggles to eat right. But when he does, he feels great and becomes the playful ‘kid’ everyone loves.

“Deana’s Big Dreams” — Shares how Deana, the world’s smallest dinosaur, grew tall by eating right.

“Ant, Can’t” — Features Ant, a bite-sized bodybuilder who’s big on encouraging physical fitness through exercise and eating right.

“Doddi the Dodo Goes to Orlando” — Follows happy-go-lucky bird Doddi who travels the world. She eats right because this dodo is always on the go-go.

Each will be available in a downloadable Spanish version too.

Many enthusiastic articles have been written about the campaign. The only negative post I’ve seen came from a blogger who claimed —

Some will argue that Mickey D’s distributing an anti-obesity message via books makes about as much sense as Joe Camel telling you not to smoke.

Don’t be surprised if that writer finds a lump of coal in his next Happy Meal.

FYI, here’s an ad for the 2012 UK version of the McDonald’s book giveaway:

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Frank Dietz Passes Away

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Frank Dietz. Photo by and copyright © Andrew I. Porter.

Frank Dietz. Photo by and copyright © Andrew I. Porter.

By Andrew Porter: The death of Franklyn M. Dietz, Jr., — Frank to his many friends — was announced on Facebook on October 22. Dietz, who lived at the end of his life in Marietta, Georgia, participated in many of the major activities of mid-20th century SF fandom. With David A. Kyle and his then wife Belle, in late 1956 he founded the Lunarians, aka the New York Science Fiction Society, which in turn launched Lunacon, a convention that continues to this day. For years, Lunarians met in his Bronx apartment at 1750 Walton Avenue, moving with him and his second wife, Ann — Belle had died — to Oradell, NJ, as the neighborhood around them decayed.

He was chairman of the first 14 Lunacons, and was Fan Guest of Honor at the 2007 Lunacon. His activities as “Station Luna,” an effort to record the proceedings of many World SF Conventions, continued for many years. He recorded events at the 1951 Worldcon in New Orleans. It was there that a loud party in his room was moved to a larger venue: the now legendary Room 770, and the name of a Hugo-winning newszine. He was one of the organizers of the Guild of Science Fiction Recordists, and of the International Science Fiction Correspondence Club in 1949, which promoted correspondence among fans in different countries. Frank recorded events on tape at many other conventions, continuing at least until the 1967 Worldcon in New York City.

He possessed an original tattoo of a mouse on his upper arm, done especially for him by Hannes Bok.

He recorded events at the 1957 Worldcon in London, and while there was inducted into the Order of St. Fantony, which featured, according to Rob Hansen’s website, “an elaborate ceremony staged by the Cheltenham Circle, in full medieval costumes, with real swords, armor, etc. Those who received this signal honor were Walt Willis, Bob Silverberg, Terry Jeeves, Bobbie Wild, Eric Bentcliffe, Ken Slater, Bob Madle, Franklin Dietz and Ellis Mills. We were given the test of the true fan, under threat of the executioner’s axe — a real one — if we failed. It was to drink a glass of water from the well of St Fantony. It looked like water, smelled like water … but it turned out to be 140 proof white Polish liquor.”

Photos of Frank and Belle, and many other legendary figures in SF, at Loncon, are here.

1957 Worldcon in London: (Seated at left) Belle Dietz. (Standing) Frank Dietz, John Wyndham, Sam Moskowitz (in background), Ted Carnell, Arthur C. Clarke, Bob Silverberg, Barbara Silverberg.

1957 Worldcon in London: (Seated at left) Belle Dietz. (Standing) Frank Dietz, John Wyndham, Sam Moskowitz (in background), Ted Carnell, Arthur C. Clarke, Bob Silverberg, Barbara Silverberg.

He was involved in a notorious legal battle, with suits and countersuits, over the incorporation of the World SF Society, Inc., which had its genesis in the 1956 Worldcon, and ended at the 1958 Worldcon with a whimper and the bang of Anna Sinclair Moffat’s gavel at that worldcon’s Business Meeting.

Among the fanzines he published or co-published, with Belle and later with his second wife, Ann, was Science, Fantasy and Science Fiction, starting in April 1948, Ground Zero, from March 1958 to February 1960 and Luna Monthly. He and Ann also published books as Luna Publications, including Speaking of Science Fiction, a collection of interviews by Paul Walker. They also did typesetting for other publications, including for my own Algol (later Starship), Science Fiction Chronicle, and various of my Algol Press titles, including The Book of Ellison.

In an editorial in the December 1990 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle, I wrote, “Don Wollheim … took me seriously… I must have been 13, maybe 14 at the time; I’d been reading SF for about 4-5 years. ‘What you need is fandom,’ is more or less what Don told me, and more to the point, he told me how I could contact this miraculous community. He gave me the name and phone number of … Frank Dietz, who headed the New York SF Society, the Lunarians… I … fit right in with the Lunarians. My first fannish contact, I dimly remember now, was the Lunarians Christmas party in December, 1960.”

I wrote, then, “Thirty years ago this month.” Now, it’s fifty-three years ago. And I’m finally saying farewell to Frank Dietz.

Update 10/24/2013: Corrected year of NOLAcon I to 1951 per comment.

Gillespie Releases SF Commentary 85

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Another issue of SF Commentary, one of the world’s great fanzines, is available for download from eFanzines.

The highlights of Issue #85 [PDF file] are editor Bruce Gillespie’s roundup of “Favourites from 2012” including books, short stories, films, CDs, and “even some Television (!).” His choices are complemented by Jennifer Bryce’s “Favourites from 2012” covering books, films, theatre, concerts, and opera.

Elaine Cochrane and Dick Jenssen write about “The Real Gosh! Wow!” — the “recent books about cutting-edge cosmic physics that blow your mind in a way no science fiction can.”

The 90,000-word issue also contains a large number of letters about the last two issues of SFC including “Feature Letters” from Ray Wood, Mark Plummer, Steve Jeffery, and Patrick McGuire.

Cover artwork is by Ditmar (Dick Jenssen) and Steve Stiles, illos by Taral Wayne, Steve Stiles, and Brad Foster.

Warner Sues Potter Merchandise Store

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whimsic SMALLWhimsic Alley is a Los Angeles store that identifies itself closely with the Harry Potter brand – too closely to please Warner Bros. The Los Angeles Times reports the studio has filed suit in U.S. District Court to stop Whimsic Alley from selling merchandise that allegedly infringes on its Harry Potter trademarks. A trial is set for January.

Whimsic Alley.

Whimsic Alley.

Whimsic Alley sells some licensed items, however, much of its inventory is unofficial, evocative of clothing and other objects in the Harry Potter universe. And apparel models on the Whimsic Alley webpage shown in school uniforms and professorial gowns bear a strong resemblance to leading players from the movies.The store also sells merchandise from other franchises like Game of Thrones and Doctor Who.

Warner Bros, and Whimsic Alley have knocked heads before. A similar 2004 lawsuit was settled, with store owner Stanley Goldin agreeing not to display items that featured Harry Potter trademarks — or other “confusingly similar” products — in connection with the sale of merchandise.

Stanley Goldin of Whimsic Alley as featured in Costco Magazine feature in 2006.

Stanley Goldin of Whimsic Alley as featured in a 2006 issue of Costco Magazine.

Pulp Studies at Pop Culture Conference

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Papers and panels on Pulp Studies are sought for the Pop Culture Association/American Culture Association 2014 National Conference being held in Chicago, IL, April 16-19, 2014. Full details here.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Pulp magazines were a series of mostly English-language, predominantly American, magazines printed on rough pulp paper. They were often illustrated with highly stylized, full-page cover art and numerous line art illustrations of the fictional content. They were sold for modest sums, and were targeted at (sometimes specialized) readerships of popular literature, such as western and adventure, detective, fantastic (including the evolving genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror), romance and sports fiction. The first pulp Argosy, began life as the children’s magazine The Golden Argosy, dated Dec 2, 1882 and the last of the “original” pulps was Ranch Romances and Adventures, Nov. 1971.

The Pulp Studies area exists to support the academic study of pulp writers, editors, readers, and culture. It seeks to invigorate research by bringing together scholars from diverse areas including romance, western, science fiction, fantasy, horror, adventure, detective, and more. Finally, the Pulp Studies area seeks to promote the preservation of the pulps through communication with libraries, museums, and collectors.

With this in mind, we are calling for papers and panels that discuss the pulps and their legacy. Suggested authors and topics:

  • Magazines: Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Wonder Stories, Fight Stories, All-Story, Argosy, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Spicy Detective, Ranch Romances and Adventures, Oriental Stories/Magic Carpet Magazine, Love Story, Flying Aces, Black Mask, and Unknown, to name a few.
  • Editors and Owners: Street and Smith (Argosy), Farnsworth Wright (Weird Tales), Hugo Gernsback (Amazing Stories), Mencken and Nathan (Black Mask), John Campbell (Astounding).
  • Influential Writers: H.P. Lovecraft, A. E. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Donald Wandrei, Clark Ashton Smith, and Henry Kuttner. Proposals about contemporary writers in the pulp tradition, such as Joe Lansdale and Michael Chabon are also encouraged. New Weird writers and others, such as China Mieville, whose work is influenced by the pulps, are also of interest.
  • Influences on Pulp Writers: Robert Bloch, H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, and Edgar Rice Burroughs were all influences, along with literary and philosophical figures such as Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herbert Spencer.
  • Popular Characters: Conan of Cimmeria; Doc Savage; Solomon Kane; Buck Rogers; Northwest Smith; The Domino Lady; Jiril of Jiory; Zorro; Kull of Atlantis; El Borak; The Shadow; The Spider; Bran Mak Morn; Nick Carter; The Avenger; and Captain Future, among others. Also character types: the femme fatale, the he-man, the trickster, racism and villainy (such as Charles Middleton’s Ming the Merciless), and more.
  • Artists: Popular cover artists including Margaret Brundage (Weird Tales), Frank R. Paul (Amazing Stories), Virgil Finlay (Weird Tales), and Edd Cartier (The Shadow, Astounding).
  • Periods: The dime novels; Argosy and the ancestral pulps; Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and the heyday of the pulps; the decline of the pulps in the 50s and 60s; pulps in the age of the Internet.
  • Theme and Styles: Masculinity, femininity, and sex as related to the heroic in the pulps; the savage as hero, the woman as hero, the trickster as hero, etc.
  • Film, Television and Graphic Arts: Pulps in film, television, comics, graphic novels and other forms are especially encouraged. Possible topics could include film interpretations such as Conan the Barbarian, comic book incarnations of pulp magazines and series; “new weird” reinventions of the pulps such as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Watchmen; fan films; and newer productions, including the recently released Solomon Kane and Conan.
  • Cyberculture: Cyberpulps such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies and pulp-influenced games such as the Age of Conan MMORPG or the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

These are but suggestions for potential panels and presentations. Proposals on other topics are welcome.

[Via Rick Thomas and Andrew Porter.]

NYRSF Readings for 11/5

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At the NYRSF Readings on the Fifth of November, Guy Fawkes Day, count on fireworks from two writers who just sold their debut novels, Rajan Khanna and Fran Wilde. Amy Goldschlager is Guest Curator.

Rajan Khanna, a writer, narrator, and blogger, regularly contributes to Tor.com and LitReactor.com. He has narrated fiction for Podcastle, Escape Pod, Starship Sofa, Lightspeed Magazine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. His first novel, Falling Sky, will be out from Pyr Books in Autumn of 2014.

Fran Wilde is an author, programmer, and technology consultant whose first novel is forthcoming from Tor in 2015, with two more to follow. Her short stories have appeared or will appear in Asimov’s (April/May 2014), Nature, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and The Impossible Futures anthology. Her nonfiction interviews with writers have appeared under the banner “Cooking the Books” at Strange Horizons.

The New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series on November 5 opens its doors at 6:30 p.m. Suggested donation $7 — minimum entry, a penny for the guy. Location and other details in the full press release which follows the jump.

Continue reading →

Alan Lee To Miss WFC 2013

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World Fantasy Con 2013, which takes place in less than two weeks, is truly snakebit. The con has lost yet another guest, Alan Lee announcing he will be too busy working on the second Hobbit movie to attend.

In September, the con’s Master of Ceremonies China Miéville notified the committee he would be unable to attend “due to circumstances completely beyond my control.”

And, of course, Richard Matheson died in June, having already announced health would prevent him from attending. (His son, Richard Christian Matheson, also a GoH, still plans to be there.)

[Via Locus Online.]

Future Worldcon Bids

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Who’s bidding for the Worldcon? Here is a summary of ongoing bids pieced together from the presentations at LoneStarCon 3, the 2012 Smofcon, plus other online discussions — and my own Machiavellian speculation thrown in for seasoning.

2016

There is an unopposed bid for Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri: KC in 2016 proposes to hold the con August 17-21 at Bartle Hall and the Kansas City Convention Center.

Kansas City is a sentimental favorite in some quarters after losing three Worldcon bids in a decade — 2000 (chairs Jim and Susan Satterfield), 2006 and 2009 (both chaired by Margene Bahm).

The current bid’s co-chairs are Diane Lacey, Jeff Orth, and Ruth Lichtwardt. The committee is Chaz Boston Baden, Margene Bahm, Warren Buff, Aurora Celeste, Glenn Glazer, Barry Haldiman, Sheril Harper, Parris McBride Martin, Tim Miller, James Murray, Paula Murray, Mark Olson, Priscilla Olson, Jesi Lipp Pershing, John C. Pershing II, John J. Platt IV, Keith Stokes, Beth Welsh, Ben Yalow, Jim Young.

George R.R. Martin has plugged the bid.

URL: http://kcin2016.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KC2016
Twitter: @KCin2016

2017

There are four bids in various early stages of activity, Helsinki, Montréal, “Northeast Corridor” (USA) and Nippon.

Helsinki, Finland: This is a rollover of Helsinki’s narrowly-defeated bid for 2015. Eemeli Aro will chair, with Karoliina Leikomaa as the bid’s Project Manager. Other committee members are Crystal Huff, Jukka Halme and Hanna Hakkarainen.

They propose to hold the convention in August 2017 at the Messukeskus, the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre.

The committee has posted details about its goals here, adding that 2017 is Finland’s centennial year as an independent nation.

One bidder observed that many Helsinki supporters who voted in the 2015 race will acquire supporting memberships in the Spokane Worldcon, making cost less of a factor in qualifying as 2017 site selection voters. I still wonder how the Helsinki committee resisted the temptation to bid for 2016, whose Worldcon site will be decided by members of Loncon 3, among them a very large number of European fans.

URL: http://helsinkiin2017.org/ — presently just leads to a Google doc of the bid announcement.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helsinkiin2017
Twitter: @helsinkiin2017

Montréal, Canada: Originally announced as a 2019 bid, the Montréal committee has now set its sights on 2017. The Montréal group proposes to return the Worldcon to the Palais de Congrés, the 2009 Worldcon facility, over August 17-21, 2017.

When questioned at the 2012 Smofcon, Montréal responded that its bid co-chairs are Terry Fong and Diane Lacey, and the committee presently included Robbie Bourget, Liz Cano, Bruce Farr, Terry Fong, Eugene Heller, Dina Krause, Diane Lacey, and Jannie Shea.

René Walling, who chaired the 2009 Wordcon and made Montreal’s original bid presentation at the 2011 Smofcon, is no longer named as a member of the committee.

The bid has no dedicated online presence – webpage, Facebook or Twitter.

NEC (Northeast Corridor): Despite a bidcom that combines the crews of BWAWA, Inc. (Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association) and SPRAWL (the Sprawl in William Gibson’s fiction is a colloquial name for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis) no one has suggested nicknaming the bid 17 for ’17. But I have hope.

The entire list of cities under consideration by NEC has not been published although Laurie Mann has not been shy about the fact that Pittsburgh is one of them. Washington D.C. and Baltimore have been named elsewhere. Warren Buff and Michael Nelson say they are working with several venues and have offers from most of them. Kris “Nchanter” Snyder is also a bid member.

Recent construction in the Washington D.C. area has made the city a viable Worldcon candidate once again. Washington DC’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center opened in 2003 but not until November 2011 was ground broken on a 1,167-room Marriott Marquis across the street. Fans have long considered such a hotel the essential missing piece in any plan to return the Worldcon to Washington.

At LoneStarCon 3 Buff promised details will be revealed in December, which I expect means at Smofcon.

URL: http://bwawa.org/ (No information currently posted.)

Nippon: The Nippon in 2017 committee has shortlisted three cities as possible sites: Yokohama (where the 2007 Worldcon was held), Chiba, and Shizuoka. They would hold the con in August.

Members of the bid are Andrew A. Adams, Masaharu Imaoka, Mutsumi Imaoka, Kyoko Ogushi, Hideaki Kawai, Koji Kurakata, Tomoki Kodama, Trevor Knudsen, Shigeru Hayashida, Vincent Docherty, Mike “Sparks” Rennie, Megan Totusek.

The Nippon in 2017 bid is immediately handicapped by questions about the huge loss incurred by the 2007 Worldcon in Japan whose full dimensions were not revealed until 2012. Bid spokespersons say funding for 2017 is separate. In a move to bolster their credibility they’ve added Vince Docherty to lead the finance division. A great deal more will need to be done to persuade voters that it is economically practical to hold another Worldcon in Japan.

URL: http://www.nippon2017.org/

2018

A New Orleans group is considering launching a bid.

Members of the New Orleans in 2018 Pre-Bid Committee are Raymond Boudreau (Chair), Michael Guerber, Cordelia (Colin) Murphy, Rebecca Smith, Jessica Styons and Kendall Varnell.

Committee member Jessica Styons told File 770, “Obviously we are in the early stages of building support, gauging interest and staking a claim but we are interested in all comments, offers of support and assistance.” Rebecca Smith, chair of CONtraflow, is part of the bid.

URL: http://neworleansin2018.org/Home.html

2019

Two bids are on the radar for 2019.

Dublin, Ireland: James Bacon unveiled the Dublin bid at LoneStarCon 3 and it will officially launch next year at LonCon 3.

They propose to hold the Worldcon in the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) from August 14-19, 2019. There are 1,268 hotel rooms are available within 850 meters or half a mile of the convention center.

The website lists the bid committee’s “Home Team” as:

Shelly Coleman, Carol Connolly, Pat Fanning, Malcolm Hutchison, Gareth Kavanagh, Dave Lally, Ted Lee, Ruth Long, Aisling Lynch, Cat McGrath, Maura McHugh, Alissa McKersie, CE Murphy, Sonia Murphy, Brian Nisbet, Mick O’Connor, Rod O’Hanlon, Peadar Ó’Guilín, Trish O’Flaherty, Sorcha Power, Helen Ryder, Philippa Ryder, Lynda E. Rucker, James Shields, Sten Thaning, Julian West, Nicholas Whyte.

And its “Away Team” includes:

Eemeli Aro, Claire Brialey, Liz Batty, Steve Cooper, John Dowd, Vincent Docherty, Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf, Deb Geisler, Colin Harris, Nigel Furlong, Mark Herrup, Edward James, Alice Lawson, Mark Meenan, Farah Mendlesohn, Helen Montgomery, Mark Plummer, TR Renner, Ian Stockdale, Geri Sullivan, Paul Taylor, Kees Van Toorn.

Though not listed, I suspect James Bacon’s name also belongs somewhere in the mix too…

URL: http://dublin2019.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dublin2019
Twitter: @Dublin2019

France: Is there a genuine French bid? Who is behind it? Is it a plan or just a wish?

So far as I have been able to find out, the torch is being carried by a small number of visionaries both in and out of French fandom.  

Created early this year, a Paris in 2019 webpage invited queries which were answered by UK fan David Steere. He said this is a bid by fans in the UK and France that aims to launch at LonCon 3.

However, since 2009 there has been a Facebook club, Pour l’organisation dune WorldCon SF en France. The initial entry credits Florence Dolisi with the idea to bid for France, inspired by the 2009 Worldcon in Quebec. That post suggested an attitude of openness to anybody who might actually deliver the con —

At the moment there no identified structure, no Committee, no plan of action, but an obvious willingness, now the movement is launched, to lead, and to be able to get useful. [Rendered into English by Google Translate.]

In April 2013, Bernard Henninger collected 33 names of fans willing to support the idea. And Henninger wrote again in August that the idea created a stir at the 2013 Eurocon in the Ukraine – including a show of interest from Finnish fan Eemeli Aro.

So it remains to be seen whether enough French fans want a Worldcon for a solid bid to emerge anytime in the future.

Paris in 2019 URL: https://sites.google.com/site/parisin2019/

France in 2019 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pour-lorganisation-dune-WorldCon-SF-en-France-/177006215665

2020

The one serious bid is for New Zealand.

New Zealand in 2020 is led by Norman Cates, a past DUFF delegate. The general committee members are Kevin Maclean (New Zealand), Maree Pavletich (New Zealand), Lynelle Howell (New Zealand), Malcolm Fletcher (New Zealand), Louise McCully (New Zealand), Struan Judd (New Zealand), Daphne Lawless, Andrew Ivamy (Queensland, AU Agent), James Shields (European Agent).

They have yet to settle on which of the country’s two main islands they’d hold a Worldcon. There are said to be two facilities in Auckland and one in Wellington that could support a 1500-3000 member con. They would hold the con anywhere from late June to late August.

URL: http://www.nzin2020.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NZin2020

And beyond…

At LSC3 a potential 2021 North Texas bid was announced by FenCon’s Tim Miller.

There are also plans for a Chicago in 2022 bid.

Resources:

Fannish Inquisition questionnaires submitted to Smofcon 30 (December 2012).

Kansas City, Worldcon Bid, 2016
Montreal, Worldcon Bid, 2017
Nippon, Worldcon Bid, 2017
New Zealand, Worldcon Bid, 2020

Videos of Worldcon bid presentations at LoneStarCon 3 (September 2013) taken by Lisa Hayes.

Part 6: Nippon 2017 Bid
Part 7: Montreal 2017 Bid
Part 8: Baltimore-Washingon in 2017 or later Exploratory Committee
Part 9: Dublin in 2019
Part 10: New Zealand in 2020
Part 11: North Texas in 2021