Monthly Archives: March 2014

Tarpinian: 2014 Paperback Collectors’ Show

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Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison

Report of the 35th Annual LA Vintage Paperback Show and Sale on March 16, 2014

By John King Tarpinian: Based on how my feet were yelling at me the morning after it was a good show. We were at a new venue this year. Everybody appeared pleased with the new location, The Glendale Civic Auditorium, a 1938 WPA project. Attendance was almost double that of last year. We were conservative in the number of vendor tables that were sold, 101, and could have sold a couple dozen more. The vendors I talked to said they had the best sales in years. Some that only had one table this year already said they’d be adding tables next year.

We are proud of our list of authors who come to sign: Karen Anderson, Peter Atkins, Ann Bannon, Stephen Blackmoore, James Blaylock, Jason V. Brock, Louis Charbonneau, John DeChancie, Dennis Etchison, Christa Faust, Mel Gilden, Donald Glut, Cody Goodfellow, Scott Tracy Griffin, Barbara Hambly, Denise Hamilton, Earl Hamner, Jr., Odie Hawkins, Glen Hirshberg, Stephen Jared, George Clayton Johnson,   Earl Kemp, Bruce Kimmel, Tim Kirk,,Dani & Etan Kollin,  Michael Kurland, Terrill Langford, Rick Lenz, Richard Lupoff, Michael Mallory, Ib Melchior, Lisa Morton, Larry Niven, William F. Nolan, Charles Nuetzel, Gary Phillips, Felice Picano, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, John Skipp, Harry Turtledove, Len Wein and Stephen Woodworth.

Our special guest this year was Harlan Ellison, always irascible and entertaining. His signing line did not move as quickly as would have liked. To that end Harlan stayed hours after the show was over and signed books for those who chose to stay. A table was setup outside the hall even after the doors were officially locked. Say what you may, I believe that was a class act!

One sad note, this is now the only show of its type in the world. It used to be just the largest in the world now it is alone unto itself. London is no more, New York announced that last year was its last year, others had already fallen by the wayside. Not sure if the attendees are aging out or people are no longer picking up a real book to read. Yes, eBooks have their benefit but can you imagine these authors signing iPADs or Kindles all day long?

All uncredited photos by John King Tarpinian.

The hall at 9:15 a.m.

The hall at 9:15 a.m.

Hall at 10:30 a.m. Photo by John Sasser.

Hall at 10:30 a.m. Photo by John Sasser.

Harlan Ellison holding court.

Harlan Ellison holding court.

Harlan Ellison and Len Wein. Photo by John Sasser.

Harlan Ellison and Len Wein. Photo by John Sasser.

Classic Twilight Zone writer Earl Hamner Jr. meets new Twilight Zone writer Dennis Etchison. Photo by John Sasser.

Classic Twilight Zone writer Earl Hamner Jr. meets new Twilight Zone writer Dennis Etchison. Photo by John Sasser.

Logan's Run collaborators William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson with heads bowed, signing.

Logan’s Run collaborators William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson with heads bowed, signing.

Klima Named SFWA Bulletin Editor

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I was wrong to think SFWA wouldn’t hire a fanzine editor to run the Bulletin. John Klima, whose Electric Velocipede won the 2009 Best Fanzine Hugo, has been picked to helm SFWA’s revived quarterly. (Hey, Electric Velocipede even had actual paper issues, good prep for running the Bulletin.)

Of course, that’s not all he’s done — unlike most faneditors (myself included) he also has a considerable pro resume.

John Klima previously worked at Asimov’s, Analog, and Tor Books before returning to school to earn his Master’s in Library and Information Science. He now works full time as the assistant director of a large public library. John edited and published the Hugo Award-winning genre zine Electric Velocipede from 2001 to 2013. The magazine was also a four-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award and recipient of the Tiptree Honor List for one of its stories.

In 2007 Klima edited an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories based on spelling-bee winning words called Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories. In 2011, Klima edited a reprint anthology of fairytale retellings titled Happily Ever After. He co-edited Glitter & Mayhem with Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas — a 2013 Kickstarter-funded anthology of speculative nightclub stories.

This is a timely opportunity for Klima, who recently shuttered Electric Velocipede.

2014 Clarke Award Shortlist

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The six finalists for the 2014 Arthur C. Clarke Award are:

  • God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Del Rey UK)
  • Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit)
  • The Disestablishment of Paradise, Phillip Mann (Gollancz)
  • Nexus, Ramez Naam (Angry Robot)
  • The Adjacent, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
  • The Machine, James Smythe (Blue Door)

The panel of judges is chaired by Andrew M. Butler and consists of Duncan Lawie and Ian Whates for the British Science Fiction Association, Sarah Brown and Lesley Hall for the Science Fiction Foundation, and Georgie Knight for SCI-FI-LONDON. Awards director is Tom Hunter.

The winner will receive £2014 of prize money and a commemorative bookend. The winner will be announced May 1 in London.

The Clarke Award has been beset by controversy for the past two years. In 2012, Christopher Priest called the shortlist “dreadful”. In 2013, the absence of women among the finalists attracted a great deal of criticism. This year with Priest and two women among the nominees, the shortlist may enjoy smoother sailing.

Last year’s kerfuffle has led the Clarke Award administrators to publicly list of works submitted for consideration and the inevitable statistical analysis was included in The Guardian’s coverage:

The books were selected from 121 submissions, which were made public by the award following controversy around last year’s all-male shortlist. This year, said director Tom Hunter, 34 books were submitted by female writers, a ratio of “approximately one in four, [of which] one in three made it through to the discussion list of 30 titles from which the judges made their final selection today”. This ratio “carried through into the final six shortlisted titles, two of which are by new female authors,” said Hunter.

2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Short List

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hans christian andersen awardThe International Board on Books for Young People has announced the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Short List.

Nominated authors are:

  • Ted van Lieshout (Netherlands)
  • Houshang Moradi Kermani (Iran)
  • Mirjam Pressler (Germany)
  • Nahoko Uehashi (Japan)
  • Renate Welsh (Austria)
  • Jacqueline Woodson (USA)

Uehashi has an sf connection, described in the announcement as a writer who bases her literary subjects on ancient Japanese mythology and science-fiction/fantasy.

The nominated artists are:

  • Rotraut Susanne Berner (Germany)
  • John Burningham (UK)
  • Eva Lindström (Sweden)
  • Roger Mello (Brazil)
  • François Place (France)
  • Øyvind Torseter (Norway)

The six authors and six illustrators were selected from 58 candidates submitted by 33 national sections of IBBY.

In alternate years the International Board on Books for Young People presents its Hans Christian Andersen Awards to “a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature.”

The winners will be announced March 24 at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

File 770’s Idea of a Tough Trivia Quiz

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Question # 1: Ed Emshwiller helped Galaxy Magazine celebrate its second birthday by painting a wraparound cover featuring a bevy of writers, editors and staffers. What writer is the focal point of the front cover, surrounded by H. L. Gold, John Anderson, “Bug Eye” and W. I. van der Poel?  

Question # 2: On the night of the Apollo 11 moon landing, an sf author invited to appear on David Frost’s Moon Party grew so frustrated waiting backstage to talk about the historic event as guests like Englebert Humperdinck and Sammy Davis, Jr. went on the air ahead of him that he left the studio, took a taxi to CBS, and was interviewed by Mike Wallace. Who was the author?

Question # 3: This writer was investigated by the FBI due to his outspoken criticism of the U.S. government and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which was investigating real and suspected communists in America. In a full-page ad in Variety, he denounced the committee’s probes as “claptrap and nonsense.” Name that writer.

Question # 4: Who is the only sf writer ever to be the subject of a Hugo nominated music video?

Question # 5: Who was the first science fiction writer to be issued a Martian driver’s license?

Question: # 6: This science fiction writer who hated tea was invited to tea by Aldous Huxley. Who was that tea party pooper?

Question # 7: Which sf author sold a short story to a mainstream magazine because copy boy Truman Capote pulled his manuscript out of the reject pile and convinced one of the editors to publish it? (Another of the magazine’s “copy boys” was Harper Lee!)

Question # 8: Hollywood Insider Edition! Even though Musso & Frank’s didn’t list a hamburger on the menu, whenever this science fiction writer walked in and ordered a burger they always delivered. Who was the customer?

Question # 9: Name the sf writer who gave future Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham his first paying acting job.

Question # 10: In 1971 the Apollo 15 crew named Dandelion Crater in honor of this sf author’s novel. Who was he?

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Original Captain Video, Richard Coogan, Passes

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By James H. Burns: If you didn’t grow up in the early 1950s, it’s a surprise to learn that Captain Video, an early science fiction action TV series, was actually well beloved by many, a hit at certain times, and that at least after its first year, could feature some literary SF concepts of the era, courtesy of the contribution of several leading genre authors.

That unknown legacy is largely due to the fact that almost no episodes exist, scholarship on the show has been limited, and that most of us think of the program only as part of an Ed Norton reverie on The Honeymooners. (Also, it’s jarring. in a few of the surviving shows, to see the program suddenly cut to clips from old westerns, “the adventures of the Captain’s agents on Earth.” Plus, the Columbia Pictures theatrical release filmed serial, inspired by the teleseries,  isn’t necessarily entirely thrilling.)

But it’s also surprising to learn that Richard Coogan, the original Captain Video (followed by Al Hodge), made it to the age of 99 – he would have turned 100 next month! — passing away yesterday, March 12.

He was, after all, for many Americans, one of the first science fiction heroes.

Here is a link to Coogan’s obituary at The Hollywood Reporter.

2014 Compton Crook Shortlist

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The finalists for the 2014 Compton Crook Award are:

  • Glyphbinder by T. Eric Bakutis
  • In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell
  • The Enchanted Skean by Vonnie Winslow Crist
  • City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster
  • Fire With Fire by Charles E. Gannon
  • The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
  • The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  • Shh! It’s a Secret: A novel about Aliens, Hollywood, and the Bartenders Guide by Daniel Kimmel
  • Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society to the best first novel by an individual (no collaborations) published each year in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Selection is made by vote of the BSFS membership. The winner gets $1,000 and has his/her way paid to Balticon for two years.

The Award is named for science fiction author Compton Crook (d. 1981), who wrote under the nom de plume Stephen Tall. The award has been given since 1983. For more information check the BSFS website.

Alan Rodgers Photos

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By Andrew Porter: The photos of Alan Rodgers I’ve seen attached to his obituaries bear little relation to the author I knew in NYC in the 1980s. So, here’s my photo of Alan, upon winning his Bram Stoker Award for 1987’s “The Boy Who Came Back from the Dead”, plus another, from 1990.

Alan Rodgers in 1987. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter.

Alan Rodgers in 1987. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter.

Alan Rodgers in 1990.Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter.

Alan Rodgers in 1990.Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter.