The crew of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but it is actually a dark, dangerous world, whose sole inhabitant is the synthetic David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. Coming in 2017.
[Thanks to JJ for the story.]
By Ron S. Friedman: How to use evolution, consciousness and behavior science to create a three-dimensional villain that can believably confront the hero. Eliminate the BS factor and the pitfalls of a simplistic moustache-twirling bad guy.
By the way, that’s not me.
This blog post is based on a 50-minute visual presentation I gave at Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and When Words Collide festival for readers and writers in 2016.
###
Let’s plunge right into our first example:
This image shows a scene from The Walking Dead TV series. The two people above are the protagonist, Rick Grimes, and The Governor, his adversary during multiple seasons.
Both Rick and The Governor are natural leaders. Each of them leads a group of people who are trying to survive in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Both are motivated by the same goals—to ensure the survival of the people who are dependent on them. Both want to protect their families and friends. Both are willing to do horrible things, overcome moral dilemmas, make hard choices, fight and even kill to achieve these noble goals.
These two characters are almost identical. Not much difference, eh?
So, why Rick is the hero, and The Governor the villain?
There is one profound aspect that’s set them apart. The Governor, to increase the survival chance of his people, is willing to prey on the weak. He will ambush, rob and kill people outside his group to ensure a supply of ammunition, medicine and other valuables critical for survival. This is a step Rick will not endorse, at least not as his first choice.
###
Type of conflicts:
On my way to deliver the Villains and Conflict presentation at Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, my neighbor stopped me for a chat. I told her I was about to give a presentation on Conflicts.
“Wow! That’s my favorite topic,” she said, smiling.
“Conflicts?” I scratched the back of my head. “Really?”
“Yes, conflict resolution. Love it.”
“Oh no, no, no.” I waved my hands and laughed. “You got me wrong. I’m a writer. My speech has nothing to do with conflict resolution. On the contrary, I will talk on how to create conflicts. I want conflicts.”
Conflict are essential plot device. Conflicts are the main drive that moves your story forward. Without them, your story will be as dull and boring as a TPS report.
Granted, there’re many types of conflicts, traditionally covered in many creative writing classes. The major conflict types include: Character vs. character, character vs. self; character vs. society, society vs. society, character vs. nature, character vs. technology, character vs. supernatural and character vs. destiny.
We’ll focus primarily on character vs. character conflicts, which is, in my humble opinion, the most interesting type. And besides, isn’t that what villains are all about?
###
How not to write villains:
Let’s start with the bad example—the cliché.
Here are some essential steps you can undertake, assuming you want to create an awful villain and ensure your story is rejected by publishers and mocked by readers.
Step one: Make sure your villain dresses like a villain, talks like a villain, and look like a cliché villain. Your favorite color is black, and yes, a moustache is a crucial fashion statement.
Step two: Make certain your villain acts villainously with no obvious motivation. Do evil just for the sake of evilness. Also, you want your villain to be flat and with no history.
Step three: A bonus. Include a weak female character who is only there to be kidnapped by the villain and saved by the hero, and be grateful for that. And yes, a powerful screaming voice is a plus.
If this can’t ensure a rejection, I don’t know what does.
Proviso: A cliché villain may work in some rare cases, such as in a parody, as was seen in the latest do-gooder Dudley Do-Right movie.
###
A good character vs. character conflict:
My theory on how to create an appealing villain and a grabbing character vs. character conflict could be summarized in one sentence: Conflict occurs due to a disagreement over fictional realities.
To understand that, we’ll start from the beginning. And when I say beginning, I mean roll back the clock the appearance of life on planet Earth, and the evolution of the human brain.
###
Life’s most basic function:
What is life’s most basic function?
It doesn’t matter what kind of organism you are. You could be fungus, bacteria, plant, zebra in the savannah, a chimpanzee in the jungle or humans in the office. Whenever I ask this question during conventions, the answer I almost always get is:
Let me repeat that. Life’s most basic function is to survive. Whatever we do is directly or indirectly derived from our wish to increase our survival chances, or the survival of the people close to us or our species.
Sometimes someone may say that life’s most basic function is procreation. That may be true. But if you think about it, procreation is crucial for the survival of the species, hence, survival.
We eat to survive. We breath to survive. We go to the doctor to survive. We go to work to earn money, to buy food, shelter and healthcare to survive. We engage in office politics to survive in the office. We study to increase our chance to find better opportunities to earn more so we could … do better in this survival stuff.
Hold on to that thought.
We’ll go back to survival. I promise. But first I want to review the evolution of consciousness and the human brain. Then, I’ll tied that to our survival instinct to create the survival model—the perfect villain machine.
###
The evolution of consciousness:
We, Homo Sapiens human, have this extra brain mass in the front of our head. A part called the frontal lobe, or the frontal cortex. We, humans, can simulate the future and act upon it. We can build pyramids designed to survive for thousands of years. We can plan our career and our retirement. We can plan projects, such as the space program, that may take decades to implement. And we can worry about climate change in the next century.
Now, it is true that it appears that some animals, such as squirrels who collect nuts for the winter, seems to think about the future. But like the ants, this behavior is derived from genetics and not from drawing intelligent conclusions.
Non-human mammals can only plan a few minutes into the future. Coordinate a hunt or other short-term endeavors. If you tell your cat that you lost your job, and you won’t be able to pay the mortgage next month, it won’t even register.
Yes, my dear readers. We, humans have great powers to predict the future. Jedi Powers.
Conclusion: To avoid the pitfalls of a flat villain, give him or her a level four consciousness. The ability to create a model of the world, calculate how it will evolve in order to achieve a goal.
###
More about creating a model of the world – The cognitive revolution
We are almost ready to dive into the survival model and create the perfect villains. All that is left is to discuss the cognitive revolution. The next evolutionary step that had allowed Homo Sapiens to become the dominant animal of planet Earth.
Before the cognitive revolution, early human could only cooperate in small bands of no more than a few dozen individuals. In that respect, we were no different than apes, wolves and other social animals. Cooperation was limited to personal connections. The leaders and the members of the band or the tribe knew each other on an intimate basis, and using those personal connections the groups was able to function, cooperate, plan and quickly adapt to changing conditions.
There was no common story, an ideology or a unified world view that would allow millions of strangers to cooperate to achieve a common goal. Each small band had its own goals.
About 120,000 years ago, we, Homo Sapiens, had tried to leave Africa. We were repealed by the Neanderthals.
Then, between 30,000 and 70,000 years ago, something changed. Suddenly, we were able to cooperate in large numbers, and in a relatively short timeframe we managed to take over the world.
What happened?
The ivory statue above is called the Lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel. It was found in Germany, and it’s dated to 35,000 – 40,000 years ago.
Have you noticed something weird about it?
You are absolutely right. The statue has the body of a man and the head of a lion. The truth is that such an animal does NOT exist in nature. Trust me. There really is no animal in nature with a human body and a lion head.
A cave man 35,000-40,000 years ago created a statue of an animal that does not exist?
How is this possible?
Welcome to the cognitive revolution. Fictional story had just become a reality.
Scientists are not sure what happened. One theory suggests that a minor evolutionary change to the human brain had allowed better communication between the left and the right parts.
Regardless, we, Homo Sapiens, heroes and villains, now have the ability to create imaginary stories, and attract others to believe in them.
These fictional tales gave us a huge evolutionary advantage over other human spices and other animals. They allowed us to cooperate in large numbers toward a common goal, giving us the evolutionary advantage that other Human species didn’t have.
Examples to imagined realities that allow large-scale cooperation includes: Corporations, national borders, countries, money, religions, ideologies etc.
I have to say it once more. Now, millions of people who don’t know each other, are willing to work together and even follow a charismatic leader and wage war.
Splendid. Imagined reality had made Homo Sapiens inherited the Earth.
How is this knowledge be used to create reliable villains?
###
The Survival Model—the plot thickens
If you want to take only one thing from this essay, make it the survival model.
In the survival model we combine what we’d learned so far about Survival, Consciousness and the Cognitive Revolution.
Here is a diagram of the survival model.
An event happens, (represented by the “What happened?” the circle on the left). That event is interpreted differently by different people, based on their culture, language, identity, sex and other factors. (represented by the “What I made it mean” the circle on the right).
Different people can see the exact same image and interpret it differently. The person with the pessimistic world view may say that the picture above is a glass half empty. Another person may say it’s half full. And a third person may say that the glass is fully filled, half with water and half with air.
O.J. Simpson’s trial and verdict is another example where different people with different perspectives interpreted the same event differently. Some people sympathized with the victim and the police, while others sympathized with the defendant.
###
The good villain and the bad villain.
The key for creating a good villain is to make him or her make choice like a human, based on the survival model. Don’t create a villain who acts villainously for no reason but to fulfill his antagonist role. Make the villain a real person with real human motives, real needs and real dilemma.
A good villain sees himself as a hero. A good villain only wants to survive and to protect his world. The only reason he is a villain is because he sees the world differently, and he make choices to survive based on his unique world view that results in a conflict with the protagonist.
I’m a big J. R. R. Tolkien fan. Tolkien invented the epic fantasy genre. I love Lord of the Rings.
Having said that, I, personally believe Saruman is a better villain than the main antagonist, Sauron.
I couldn’t understand Sauron’s motivation. Yes, he was evil. He was powerful and badass. He wanted to kill the Hobbits, destroy Minas Tirith and take over the world. But why?
I could relate much better to Saruman. I could understand him and his motives. Who knows, in his shoes, I may have acted in the same way as he did. The way he saw the world made him believe that Middle Earth had no chance of winning a war with Sauron. From his perspective, joining Sauron was the wise choice. The only logical choice to survive. As an act of friendship and kindness (in Saruman’s perspective) he even offered Gandalf to join him.
The conflict with Gandalf only occurred because Gandalf saw reality differently. Gandalf believed a war with Sauron is not a lost cause.
Wouldn’t you agree that Saruman is a much better villain than Sauron?
###
A few examples:
Erik Lehnsherr, known by his villain name Magneto, is the main antagonist in the X-men universe. As a child, he saw his family being exterminated in the Holocaust because the Nazis thought Jews were genetically inferior.
Magneto sees today’s world as the reflection of his childhood. In the modern world, he sees mutants being marked and targeted by genetic discrimination. He hears that some normal people view mutants as a threat, and they propose to act against mutants. Based on his Holocaust survivor viewpoints, he believes that all the non-mutants are a threat, and he will act to destroy this treat in order to ensure the survival of his fellow mutants.
Isn’t Magneto a much better villain than that flat alternative who just want to kill normal people for no apparent reason but evilness?
The Borg queen is the Federation’s most malevolent adversary in the Galaxy. The queen is not a traditional leader like in many human societies. She is the face, or the representative of the Borg Collective, which is structured in a similar principle of the internet, with no centralized control.
The Borg are not evil just for the sake of being evil. The Borg Collective see themselves as the most advanced form of civilization in the Galaxy. They believe that the best strategy to ensure the long-term survival of the Collective is by assimilating other species into the collective and adding their technological and biological distinctiveness to their own.
Again, the Borg Collective see the universe in a certain way, and act to increase its own survival chances.
###
When Evil Doesn’t make sense.
I really liked Guardian of the Galaxy. A vivid movie, great dynamics between the characters and just the right amount of humor.
Having said that, I don’t really understand the antagonist’s motivation. Yes, it was mentioned in the movie that Ronan the Accuser had an old hatred toward the Xandarians. But as a viewer, it didn’t sink. We didn’t see the ancient wars. Maybe the Xandarians had inflicted terror and horror upon the Kree. Maybe it only occurred in Ronan’s mind. Regardless, as a viewer I didn’t believe it.
It wasn’t natural for me to understand why Ronan took the suicidal risk and use the deadly Infinity Stone. Why did he defy Thanos, the most powerful entity in the galaxy? It goes against the survival model.
The movie itself was fun and entertaining. But wouldn’t it be even better had the motivation behind the villain’s actions been clearer and more humanlike?
###
The crazy ones.
In the initial DC Comics the Joker was crazy. A nut case. Batman and the readers could not explain why he acted the way he did. It looked like he did so just for the sake of being an interesting Batman’s antagonist. It’s not like being cracked had helped the Joker to achieve a goal that could increase his or his loved ones’ survival rate.
This deficiency had been noticed by the readers and the writers. In later Comics issues and in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight movie, the Jokers behavior was explained. The Joker saw himself as an agent of chaos. He truly believed that by spreading chaos, society would improve itself. (a.k.a. increased its long-term survival chance.) This motivation is similar to the Shadows’ motivation in the Babylon 5 series. Bringing the villain’s motivation back to an explanation that fits the survival (of society) model.
The new Joker is a much better villain. Wouldn’t you agree?
###
Real live villain vs. the unthinkable out of this world villain.
A recent survey tried to list and rank all the villains in the Harry Potter series. The top two villains turned out to be Voldemort and Dolores Umbridge.
Umbridge is a school teacher, a senior undersecretary which assumed the position of a school principal. She has a tendency to speak to people she feels are her lessers in a very condescending tone. And on occasions, she buses her authority to gain more control.
Voldemort is basically a Wizard Hitler. He is powerful. He is a racist who hates and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard. He kills his opponents, he tried, and in one occasion succeeded, to kill Harry Potter. He even kills his close servants when it gives him an edge, no matter how minor. Remember Professor Snape?
Who do you think is the number one villain in the series? The school principal who abuses her authority, or the mass murdered Wizard Hitler?
You guested it right. Only 11% of the people who participated in the survey thought Voldemort is the main evil, while 56% of the survey participants gave that honor to Umbridge.
Why is that?
Clearly, Voldemort is much more dangerous and he causes significantly more pain and damage. However, he isn’t real. The series young adult readers had ever met a Wizard Hitler in their life. While a teacher who abuses her authority is definitely something Harry Potter’s readership can relate to.
###
More tricks for your arsenal:
The last tools I can provide that can help you create different world views, and better villains and conflicts are:
Free Will vs. Determinism. Causality – cause and effect
Philosophers and scientist are debating how the human mind works. On one hand we have free will, where we assume each person can decide her own action and fate. On the other, we have causality, cause and effect. The assumption that whenever we act, it’s only because something forced us to react.
These two philosophies are represented in the Matrix movie series, where the Oracle is the agent of free will, and the Merovingian (The Frenchman) represents causality.
Do we have the free will to act and change our fortune? Wars had been fought over this question. The most famous is Martin Luther’s reformation which eventually led to the schism between the Catholic Church and the Protestants and to the devastating Thirty Years War. What was the root cause for these millions of deaths? A disagreement whether a person can pay for forgiveness thus buy a spot in heaven.
Scientists don’t have an answer if we have free will or not. But our legal system is based on the assumption that we do. Without free will, no one can be accountable for anything.
Causality – cause and effect is an excellent way to generate disagreement among characters.
This philosophy exists for more than 2500 years, since ancient Greece. It’s embedded in our thought process since childhood.
What is the beauty of cause and effect in term of creating villains? People will NEVER agree what was the initial cause that started a cause and effect chain of events. Someone can always find a cause for the cause … I’m originally from Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be summarized as a disagreement of what was the cause of the conflict, and whether the clock should be turned back to 1967 (The Six Day War), 1948, 1947, 1917, 1897, 800 AD, 960 BCE and some people even go as far back as 1800BCE. But frankly, it all started with a Big Bang nearly fourteen billion years ago.
Disagreement over a root cause is a way to create conflicts and better motivation behind villains.
###
I hope the survival model and the science behind the way the human mind words, can help you create real, multi-dimensional villains and more reliable conflicts.
Ron S. Friedman
RON S. FRIEDMAN is a Best Short Fiction finalist in the 2016 Aurora Awards, Canada’s premier Science-Fiction and Fantasy awards. Ron’s short stories have appeared in Galaxy’s Edge, Daily Science Fiction, and in other magazines and anthologies. Ron co-edited two anthologies and he received ten Honorable Mentions in Writers of the Future Contest.
Ron is a member of SFWA and SFCanada.
In March 2017, Ron is releasing his Short Stories Series Escape Velocity, which will include many of his Honorable Mentions stories.
For more information, please visit: https://ronsfriedman.wordpress.com/
by John Hertz: A seasonal poem.
Strange that I’ve become
A red-suited man with deer;
Nothing of Myra;
Truth to tell (what else?) I love
A time folk rejoice and give.
An acrostic (read down the first letters of each line) in 5-7-5-7-7-syllable form like Japanese tanka. Santa Claus is in origin Nicholas (270-343), Bishop of Myra, then part of Greece, today part of Turkey; “Santa” is saint, “Claus” is Nicholas – I’d better not call it a nickname. Stockings before the fireplace, and gifts that appear in them, are part of his story. He died on December 6th. Naturally he tells the truth, he’s a saint.
(0) OFF ON THE TWENTY-FIFTH. Me and the reindeer will be dashing between family events tomorrow, so may your Christmas be merry and bright, or another holiday you celebrate be outta sight!
(1) SEASON’S GREETINGS. Kip W. created the blog version of a favorite carol:
Deck the file with scrolls of pixels!
Follow, la la la, and tick the box.
Stalk the gods with well-aimed clicksels,
Follow, la la la, and tick the box.
Jolly verses, filks a-sounding,
Follow la, follow la, tick that box
Jesting titles, puns abounding,
Follow, la, and don’t forget the box
(2) ALL-TIME BEST SELLING SFF AUTHORS. Gift-giving fans are making the cash registers ring this holiday season, giving The Wertzone’s Adam Whitehead the idea for an interesting roundup – “The SFF All-Time Sales List”.
George R.R. Martin is not in the top 10!
(3) WHERE’S SANTA? Follow Santa’s journey around the world with NORAD’s Santa Tracker. Yes, even the jolly old elf can’t escape the eye of our surveillance society!
(4) WORLD SF. Paul Kincaid reviews the VanderMeers’ The Big Book of Science Fiction for the LA Review of Books.
Of the 105 stories in The Big Book of Science Fiction, 31 are by women, which is a remarkable advance in comparison to many of its predecessors.
More remarkable is Sinisalo’s nationality. As a literature of the 20th century, science fiction has often been perceived as characteristically Anglo-American. The usual story goes like this: SF is often said to have originated in Britain (Mary Shelley, Wells), but with the advent of the pulps, particularly Gernsback’s Amazing Stories, the genre quickly became overwhelmingly American. Writers from Canada or Australia were allowed into the club, but anything not written in English was for all intents and purposes invisible. After Verne, Zamyatin, and ?apek, science fiction in languages other than English certainly didn’t feature in the histories. There may have been an awareness that science fiction was being written in Germany, in the Soviet Union, and perhaps even in Japan, but there was little idea of what that science fiction might actually look like. Even when work by Stanis?aw Lem and the Strugatsky Brothers began to appear in translation, these were regarded less as representatives of other science fiction traditions than as clever foreigners who had learned how to do an American trick. Only since the turn of the century has the idea of science fiction as an international literature once again started to take hold. Even so, representative anthologies still tend to be overwhelmingly American.
It may be a pleasing shock, therefore, to discover that the contents of this anthology include stories from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Spain.
(5) WITH OCCASIONAL SILVER LINING. John Scalzi selected 20 posts that represent the year at Whatever:
It’s a politics-heavy wrap-up, which is not surprising in an election year, and in this election year in particular; it could have been even more election-heavy but I didn’t want to depress everyone more than they already are. There are other things thrown in there as well for balance, including some happy stuff (really!). No matter how you slice it, however, 2016 was a dark mess, and many of the best Whatever entries this year reflect that.
(6) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
(7) SCHEMING STREAMING VIDEO. Steve Davidson might deserve a lump of coal for finding a new reason to worry about the Hugos this weekend — “It’s not that I don’t get it, I can’t get it!”.
Until very recently, Hugo voters in North America could pretty much count on everyone having access to the same shows, with little to no (or at least customary) expense associated with that access.
Things have been changing. I, for example, do not get HBO (nor any of the other premium movie channels). Which means that I can’t watch Game of Thrones, which means that I don’t vote for Game of Thrones, not because it isn’t a worthy property, but because neither I, nor anyone else, should vote for things they are not familiar with.
Personally, that’s a minor issue for me. I’m not that much into fantasy (ok, so it might have some SF elements looming) nor soap operas.
But what about The Man in the High Castle? That’s on Amazon Prime. Or the new Star Trek: Discovery coming to CBS’ premium streaming service. Or Jessica Jones on Netflix. Or some series on Hulu.
Right now, “TV” shows can be delivered to you through broadcast, cable, through multiple paid streaming services, through your gaming console and VR (strap your phone into a goggle system) is beginning to rev up.
An individual wanting to have access to everything that might be eligible will soon need to spend a tidy sum; internet access, multiple premium cable channels, Amazon, Hulu and Netflix subscriptions, two (or more) gaming consoles, a VR headset (and who knows what subscriptions) and, potentially, subscriptions to streaming services offered by multiple broadcasters and indie streaming outlets….
(8) THE POET LARIAT. Camestros Felapton lifts our spirits —
So this is pixels and what have you done
Another scroll over, a new one just begun
And so this is pixels, I hope you have fun
The near and the dear books, the old and the young
A very merry pixels and a happy new scroll
Let’s hope it’s a good one with a variety of beers
And so this is pixels for blogs and for books
The rich and the poor ones, the hobbits are Tooks
And so happy Scroll Pixels for pups and for not
For SF and F let’s stop all the fights
A very merry pixels and a happy new scroll
Let’s hope it’s a good one without any um, what rhymes with scroll? Roll? Poll? Drole? Prole? Soul? Stole? Mole?
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian and Gregory Benford for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Redheadedfemme.]
While you’re waiting for Santa, appertain yourself a hot chocolate (or stiff belt), settle back, and enjoy this collection of some parody verses and holiday filks that Filers have been leaving in comments the past few months.
Camestros Felapton
Did you get my vote, Chuck Tingle?
I can’t remember another Hugo vote like this
You were on their slate Chuck Tingle
But you were parodying yourself and softly pounding something new
I could see the cheesy artwork
And sounds of raptor calls were coming from the blue
There was something on the slate that starred
The buckaroos were hard, Chuck Tingle
They were pounding there for you and me
For liberty, Chuck Tingle
Though I hope that No Award will win
There’s no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Chuck Tingle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsjAbZDx-4
Kip W
Don’t put your pixel in the scroll, Missus Woofington,
Don’t put your pixel in the scroll.
For the publishing field is vicious, and the going’s dog eat dog
The editing scene is angry and mean,
It’s right there in my blog.
It’s a quick read, though not substantial, I may say,
And written in a cloying way
And that’s enough of that.
No Award, Missus Woofington,
FNORD, Missus Woofington!
Don’t put your pixel in the scroll!
Camestros Felapton
Pokestops abound in San Jose
But I’ve been away so long, I might go wrong and catch a Magikarp
Pokestops are great in San Jose
I’m going back to find an electric kind in San Jose
Stoic Cynic
With profuse apologies to Porgy, Bess, George Gershwin, and 33,000 cover versions
(really, 33,000! Wikipedia says so):
Hugo Time And the votin’s not easy
Pups are slatin’
And the rotten is high
Your reading’s done
And No Award’s good lookin’
So hush little voter
Don’t you cry
One of these WorldCons
Pups’re going to give up trolling
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll fly to the sky
But till that morning
There’s a’nothing can harm you
With EPH & 3SV standing by
One of these WorldCons
Pups’re going to give up trolling
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll fly to the sky
But till that morning
There’s a’nothing can harm you
With EPH & 3SV standing by
PhilRM https://file770.com/?p=32560&cpage=1#comment-524729
Pacific Rim, Or A Vision on A Screen
For robinareid, because it’s all her fault.** **Not actually her fault. I took laudanum a few liberties with meter, but then, so did Coleridge.
In Pacific Rim did del Toro
A desp’rate Shatterdome decree;
The last defense ‘gainst humans’ foe,
By airlift mighty Jaegers go
Down to a Kaiju sea.
So twice ten miles of city ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
A bulwark to end the toll of Kaiju-kills.
But here is where I must beg to disagree
With those enthralled by Kaiju-punching thrills:
This movie really didn’t work for me.
Because oh! To me it doesn’t make any sense:
Why must they rely on giant robot fists?
We have missiles and nukes – mighty armaments!
Why don’t you zip it? replies the audience.
Can’t you see we’re all really enjoying this?
So: from the portal, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in CGI were breathing,
Two mighty Kaiju sinuously emerge.
Humanity’s end now looms on the verge:
While critical Kaiju-lore has been acquired,
A scientist’s bold risk that must be admired
Has tragically caused a new scale of trouble:
The Kaiju assault has literally doubled.
The Kaiju-pair’s most cruel and murderous attack
On crews Russian, Chinese and Australian –
Impossibly fierce – through no human failing
Leaves the noble Jaegers scattered like sea-wrack.
To face the next peril from Kaiju-hell:
Two half-teams, and two battered Jaeger shells.
To seal the breach is the only throw:
Chance so slight it’s all but lost.
A hopeless trip to depths below?
“No!” cries Stacker Pentecost:
“I don’t care if it’s Kaiju five or six;
“We are cancelling the apocalypse!”
Once child-wounded Mako Mori
As warrior does arise;
And enter into brave company,
To share the Drift with staunch Raleigh
New-found friend and best ally.
Chuck and Stacker clear the way
By noble sacrifice;
Gypsy Danger will the Kaiju slay,
With thermonuclear device.
Passage secured by Kaiju-skin,
They face the peril of the breach;
The Kaiju-masters wait within.
Will dauntless heroes really win?
Wait! They have a safety margin:
Rescue by escape pod (one each).
Compelled I’ll credit them with this:
The story ends without a kiss.
Mako Mori Test for the win.
Simon Bisson https://file770.com/?p=32440&cpage=2#comment-521355
“Santa Mike” by Lynn Maudlin
Twas the night before Worldcon, when all through the blog
Not a godstalk was stirring, not even a fan
The pixels were scrolled by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Mike Glyer soon would be there.
The commenters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Hugo Awards danced in their heads.
And mamma in her lettercol, and I in my Chrome,
Had just settled our laptops for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the web there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the keyboard to see what was the matter.
Away to the Windows went Adobe Flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature pixel and eight tiny scrolls.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be our Mike
More rapid than eagles his bloggers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
“Now, Kyra! now, Camestros! now, Kurt and Paul!
On, Meredith On, Hampus! on, Red and Wombat!
To the top of the page! to the top of the Google!
Now scroll away! Scroll away! Scroll away all!”
As dry scrolls that before the wild pixels fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the bloggers they flew,
With the sleigh full of books and Mike Glyer too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The scrolling and pixeling of each little post
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Mike Glyer came with a bound.
He was dressed all in badges from his head to his foot,
And his pixels were all tarnished with ashes and scroll.
A bundle of Hugos he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a faned, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they pixeled, his dimples how scrolled!
His cheeks were like gravatars, his nose like an emojii!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a scroll,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pixel he held tight in his teeth,
And the scroll it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his pixel and a twist of his scroll,
Soon gave me to know I had a huge to-be-read.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the scrollings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the pixel he rose!
He sprang to his posts, to his scrolls gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a pixel,
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Worldcon to all, and to all a good-fan!”
Kurt Busiek https://file770.com/?p=32472&cpage=1#comment-521579
“Pixels and scrolls, pixels and scrolls
Mean so much more when I see
Pixeled and scrolled declarations
On File Seven Seven, um, Tee”
Jack Lint https://file770.com/?p=32472&cpage=1#comment-522130
The file and the pixel,
When they are on a roll,
Of all sites that are on the web,
The file bears the scroll.
Rob Thornton https://file770.com/?p=32472&cpage=2#comment-522307
On a Sunday morning slidewalk,
I’m wishing, Lord, that I was scrolled.
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
That makes a pixel feel alone….
rea https://file770.com/?p=32472&cpage=2#comment-522495
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did scroll
Two pixels were approaching
And the wind began to howl
Rev. Bob https://file770.com/?p=32614&cpage=1#comment-526891
This is the theme to Pixel Scrolls
The off-meter theme to Pixel Scrolls
Filers looked me up and asked if I would filk a theme song
It’s almost halfway finished
No, I didn’t say it was Finnish
How do you like this ode to Pixel Scrolls?
This is the theme to Pixel Scrolls
The crudely-filked theme to Pixel Scrolls
This is the tune that’s guaranteed to shoo off all the Barflies
We’re almost to the part
Where I run out of lyrics
Now let’s read the latest Pixel Scroll!
Charon D. https://file770.com/?p=32614&cpage=2#comment-527403
What pixel is this who scrolled to rest
From Glyer’s laptop of wonders
Where scrollers revel in riotous puns
And appertain when they find blunders
This, this is pixel scroll!
Where fifths flow freely and so do trolls
Tick, tick, the follow-up box
Or you might miss some epic filking
Tom Becker https://file770.com/?p=32667&cpage=1#comment-528522
It’s beginning to look a lot like pixels
Everywhere you go
Take a look in the seven and seventy glistening once again
With rocket pins and silver scrolls aglow
(1) TAILOR-MADE AWARDS. Who can resist a title like that? From The Book Smugglers — “The 2016 Unconventional, Not At All Traditional, And Completely Unscientific Book Awards by Sarah Kuhn”.
Choosing a “best of” list is one of those tasks that always seems to send me down a rabbit hole of over-analysis, self-doubt, and internal hand-wringing, somehow ending in watching the same “pug confused by butterfly” video over and over again until I can’t remember what I was doing in the first place.
So! Instead of doing a “best of” list, I’m handing out very specific awards to the books that delighted me in very specific ways in 2016. All of these books brought me so much joy and will surely have a spot on my re-read shelf for years to come.
Best Use of Emoji Flirting Hold Me by Courtney Milan
Courtney Milan is one of my favorite authors, a virtuoso at combining endearing characters, ingenious plots, and scorching hot chemistry on every single page. In Hold Me, the much-anticipated sequel to the brilliant Trade Me, Maria Lopez and Jay na Thalang hate each other at first sight—but don’t realize they’re falling in love via the internet magic of online chat. It’s a tricky feat to give characters palpable, believable chemistry when they’re not even in the same room, but Milan’s depiction of Maria and Jay’s whipsmart, banter-y texts and emails made me die a kazillion swoony deaths. And of course their special use of emojis is [emoji of cat with heart-eyes].
(2) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Nalo Hopkinson is Scott Edelman’s guest on the milestone 25th episode of his Eating the Fantastic podcast.
Nalo Hopkinson
For the 25th episode of Eating the Fantastic—which is also the final episode of 2016—my guest and I brunched at Aggio during a break from the Baltimore Book Festival. Aggio is a restaurant from Chef Bryan Voltaggio which the Baltimore City Paper recently dubbed as offering the Best Modern Italian in town.
I’d eaten at Aggio before, but that was when it was still a pop-up within a different Voltaggio restaurant, Range, in Friendship Heights—where, by the way, I recorded an earlier episode of Eating the Fantastic with Carolyn Ives Gilman, which I hope you’ll be moved to download for dessert once you’re done with the entree of this episode.
My guest for this meal was the always entertaining Nalo Hopkinson, winner of the 1999 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. And she’s more than lived up to the promise of that award, winning the World Fantasy Award for her short story collection Skin Folk, as well as winning the Sunburst Award, the Prix Aurora Award, and many others. Plus her novel, Sister Mine, won my own personal award for being one of my favorite novels of 2013.
(3) CHARTING SF. Mark-kitteh sent a link with an introduction, “A long and interesting survey of the field by the VanderMeers (also the introduction to their recent Big Book of Science Fiction). I liked their determination to look more internationally.”
Since the days of Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells, science fiction has not just helped define and shape the course of literature but reached well beyond fictional realms to influence our perspectives on culture, science, and technology. Ideas like electric cars, space travel, and forms of advanced communication comparable to today’s cell phone all first found their way into the public’s awareness through science fiction. In stories like Alicia Yáñez Cossío’s “The IWM 100” from the 1970s you can even find a clear prediction of Information Age giants like Google?—?and when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the event was a very real culmination of a yearning already expressed through science fiction for many decades.
Science fiction has allowed us to dream of a better world by creating visions of future societies without prejudice or war. Dystopias, too, like Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, have had their place in science fiction, allowing writers to comment on injustice and dangers to democracy. Where would Eastern Bloc writers have been without the creative outlet of science fiction, which by seeming not to speak about the present day often made it past the censors? For many under Soviet domination during those decades, science fiction was a form of subversion and a symbol of freedom. Today, science fiction continues to ask “What if?” about such important topics as global warming, energy dependence, the toxic effects of capitalism, and the uses of our modern technology, while also bringing back to readers strange and wonderful visions.
(4) HINES BENEFIT AUCTION. The finale of Jim C. Hines’ Transgender Michigan Fundraiser auctions is the TGM raffle to win a book from DAW Books.
In 24 hours, I’ll be drawing the rest of the winners for the DAW Books raffle, which will officially wrap up the fundraiser.
To enter, just donate $5 to Transgender Michigan and email me a copy of the receipt at jchines -at- gmail.com, with the subject line “DAW Raffle Entry.”
Winners will receive one of the following:
Tad Williams Bundle: each bundle includes one copy of Otherland: City of Golden Shadow (hardcover first edition, first printing) plus 1 Advance Review Copy of The Heart of What Was Lost.
DAW December Release Bundle: each bundle includes one copy of all DAW December titles: Dreamweaver, Tempest, Alien Nation, and Jerusalem Fire, plus a bonus ARC (dependent on stock).
You can donate more than $5. For example, donating $20 would get you four entries. However, you can only win a maximum of one of each bundle.
Looking at the number of bundles remaining, and the number of entries, every $5 you donate will get you an approximately 1 in 6 chance to win. (And hey, even if you don’t win, you’ve gotten yourself a tax deduction and supported a good cause! Not a bad way to wrap up the year, eh?)
I’ll do one more post in a few days to announce the final results. My thanks to everyone who donated, signal-boosted, bid, and otherwise supported the fundraiser. It makes a difference.
(5) PETER DAVID IMPROVING. Kathleen has good news — “Peter David Update Finally Progress”.
I saw Peter yesterday and he was able to stand and take a few steps. This is monumental to getting him home. He is still in pain but nothing compared to that he was even the day before. We know this because he hasn’t taken any painkillers since Wednesday so again a good sign.
So the nebulous might be date is rapidly turning into Saturday, which will mean that he will be home for Chrismas/Hanukkah.
(6) TODAY IN HISTORY
(7) COUNTING ON WOMEN. Aziz Poonawalla writes about “Rogue One, the Force, and gender”.
A (female) friend of mine loved Rogue One, but noted an imbalance in the Force:
Wept tears of joy. And not to nitpick the film’s clear feminist intentions, but couldn’t at least a handful of the nameless cannon-fodder strike force be women?
The ramblings that follow began as a long-winded reply, but grew so unwieldy and disorganized that I decided it fit better here. Spoilers may follow.
I thought the gender distributions were significant and consistent with the themes of Balance in the Force, and the tension between Dar and Light, in the movie canon to date. The Empire was entirely male – scientists, warriors, leaders. The Rebellion has women in elite warrior roles (pilots) alongside men, but political leadership is always female, and heroes are equally female (Leia, Rey, and Jyn vs Luke, Finn, and Solo, though the latter was usually just plot catalyst). The Rebellion’s leadership from Mon Mothma to Leia has been female, but the Republic during the Clone Wars was male-led, even before Palpatine (though the Senate had prominent female members). The villains have always been male, with the exception of the Seventh Sister from Rebels (but Rebels is a true ensemble cast and will skew the analysis).
(8) ANYBODY THIRSTY? Space.com poetically sees “Water, Water Everywhere on Dwarf Planet Ceres”.
There’s water, water everywhere on the dwarf planet Ceres, according to new research. New observations have provided direct evidence that water ice is ubiquitous on the surface and shallow subsurface of this massive asteroid.
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, and has long been suspected of containing significant amounts of water — estimates projected up to 30 percent of its total mass. Evidence has pointed to water ice being mixed with the rock on Ceres’ surface, and in a few rare cases, more concentrated patches of exposed ice have been found. Ceres has even belched up plumes of water vapor.
(9) A HOMER RUN. There are many strange stories in Odysseus’s long journey home after the sack of Troy, but where do they come from? The BBC speculates about “The strange inspirations behind Greek myths”.
One of the early wrong turns comes when strong northerly winds carry Odysseus off course to the land of the lotus-eaters. The sailors enjoy the local delicacy so much that they forget about returning home and Odysseus has to drag them back to the ships. There are multiple theories for what the lotus could be, such as strong wine or opium.
Another contender is a plant called Diospyros lotus – the scientific name means “fruit of the gods”. The fruits in question are round and yellow with succulent flesh that is said to taste like a cross between a date and a plum. That explains its common name: “date plum”. But could tasty fruit be enough to convince Odysseus’s men to stay put forever?
(10) GREETINGS FROM AN IMAGINARY SEASON. At Fantasy-Faction, Laura M. Hughes reviews Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
‘On the second day of Hogswatch I . . . sent my true love back, A nasty little letter, hah, yes indeed, and a partridge in a pear tree—’
Of the quarter or so of the Discworld I’ve explored, Hogfather is my favourite. Vadim Jean’s TV adaptation is superb: I watch it religiously every Christmas, struck each time by just how much of it – dialogue, stage directions, settings, narration, everything – is lifted directly from the source material. This should tell you much about the quality of the book itself, for rare indeed is an original story ‘adapted’ for the screen with so few alterations.
For me, reading Terry Pratchett’s work is not only a joy but an indulgence, too. Sir Terry is one of my major influences. Those books of his I’ve read, I’ve re-read again and again, taking the time to savour the deliciousness of the prose, the wryness of tone, the trademark humour that is at once delightful and poignant.
(11) SANTA YODA!
Ralph McQuarrie illustrates Yoda as a #scifi Santa Claus in the 1982 #Christmas card sent out by Lucasfilm. pic.twitter.com/0fVkg2Amiy
— Humanoid History (@HumanoidHistory) December 23, 2016
(12) CHEWBACCA SINGS SILENT NIGHT. After listening to this, you will know why a silent night is treasured by so many…
Merry Wookie Christmas from HISHE and James Covenant! The brilliant idea for “Chewbacca Sings Silent Night” was actually created in 1999 by Scott Andersen (story here: http://room34.com/chewbacca/) and since then his audio has been shared many times, often without crediting him.
[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, JJ, Mark-kitteh, Scott Edelman, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Redheadedfemme.]
Carrie Fisher suffered a massive heart attack aboard an airplane about 15 minutes before it was due to land in Los Angeles this afternoon.
According to TMZ:
Our sources say Carrie was on a flight from London to LAX when she went into cardiac arrest. People on board were administering CPR.
We’re told the emergency occurred 15 minutes before the plane landed in L.A. A flight attendant asked if there were any medical personnel on board and an EMT who was sitting in the back of the plane came up to first class and administered life-saving measures.
The plane landed just after noon in L.A. and paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital.
The LA Times latest Twitter update says she’s in critical condition –
Actress Carrie Fisher is in critical condition after a cardiac episode during a flight to LAX https://t.co/d5X4R5q5xB
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 23, 2016
Update: The Associated Press is now reporting —
Carrie Fisher is in stable condition after suffering a medical emergency aboard a flight Friday.
Her brother, Todd Fisher, told The Associated Press that she was “out of emergency” and stabilized at a Los Angeles hospital Friday afternoon. He said he could not discuss any other details about what happened.
Update: According to Variety, her brother Todd Fisher has contradicted the Associated Press report quoted earlier —
“She’s in the ICU and everybody’s praying for her,” he told Variety in a phone interview. “There’s nothing new from the doctors. There’s nothing new at all. … There’s no good news or bad news.”
Todd Fisher said media outlets are “writing between the lines” in reporting that she’s now in stable condition. The Associated Press reported earlier today that Todd Fisher said Carrie Fisher was in stable condition and “out of emergency.”
By Carl Slaughter: The Runabout, Kris Rusch’s latest story in her Diving series, is out now in Asimov’s and I am mighty curious about her main character. Boss is an archeologist turned explorer turned corporate executive. Throw in some romance and some political intrigue.
CARL SLAUGHTER: What appeal does the Diving series have for you that you have continued it this long?
KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH: The characters, obviously, but there are lots of mysteries in the Diving universe that I haven’t resolved yet, and a whole bunch of stories to tell to help me figure it out.
CS: What kind of feedback have you received from readers and editors?
KKR: Readers love this series. They are constantly writing me about it, thinking about it, and asking questions. Sheila Williams of Asimov’s has been the most supportive editor on this project. She bought the first novella and all of the shorter works since. She’s just picked up The Runabout, which is a novel, and it’ll run in Asimov’s before hitting print from WMG Publishing.
CS: What was the inspiration for Boss, the main character?
KKR: I never know where these characters come from. She just started talking to me one day. The opening lines of the first novella (Diving into the Wreck) are the first things she spoke to me.
CS: Do you see some of Boss in yourself?
KKR: Oh yes. She loves history. She deals with people as best she can, but would rather be on her own. She’s loyal to a fault. She runs a corporation now, even though she doesn’t want to. (That’s familiar.) And she often dives in (pun intended) with both feet and is often out of her depth. Yep. We share a lot.
On the other hand, I’m not physically capable of doing what she does. She’s stronger and smarter and braver than I could ever be.
CS: Boss is “a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.” But she has to interact with her team and other people she needs and who need her. How does she handle this?
KKR: Poorly at times. She often doesn’t understand why people do what they do. She does pick good people to work with her, though, which is a great thing. And she isn’t afraid to ask for help.
CS: How does she transform over the course of the series?
KKR: She becomes less of a loner. She falls in love. She runs a big company, and tries to preserve the past. She is learning her limits as well.
CS: The story arc seems to get bigger with each story. Will the mystery of the aliens ever be fully revealed?
KKR: Well, there are no aliens in the Diving Universe (that’s the Retrieval Artist). All of the various groups are human, and probably the result of colonization. I say probably, because I’m still guessing about the edges of some of this. But my subconscious and I are firm about the fact that there are no aliens—just humans who are radically different from each other. (Humfph. Rather like Earth.)
CS: Are we ever going to get a collection of all the stories?
KKR: Maybe an ebook. WMG did a collection of 6 of the Diving novellas, and that sucker is loooooong. And since so many are incorporated into the novels, the book is a bit confusing. So there are no plans at the moment.
(1) NEW BOOK REVEAL: The Refrigerator Monologues – basically it’s The Vagina Monologues for superheroes’ girlfriends. Catherynne M. Valente tells the book’s origin story at The Mary Sue.
My partner answered, “Sweetheart, you know you can’t fix Gwen Stacy dying. She was always going to die. She always dies. It’s kind of a thing.”
And I said, “YES I CAN. I’m going to write something and it’s going to be called The Refrigerator Monologues and it’s going to be The Vagina Monologues for superheroes’ girlfriends. I’m going to fix it. Hold my drink. Don’t believe me? Just watch!”
It’s not like I didn’t know Gwen Stacy was going to die. As has been noted, she always dies. But the way the movie was paced, I kind of thought they’d keep that for the third movie, because the Emma Stone/Andrew Garfield chemistry was kind of all that iteration had going for it. So, it blindsided me in a way that Gwen Stacy taking her dive should never blindside anyone born after 1970, and it was a sucker punch, because more or less the last thing Emma Stone does before she quite literally flounces off to meet her doom is snit, “Nobody makes my decisions for me, nobody! This is my choice. Mine.”
I can make my own decisions! Boom. Splat. Death. Girl down.
It felt like such a harsh slap in the face. People so often think of iconic characters as organic things that proceed semi-autonomously while the writer just records their actions, but someone chose to give her those words. They made it through many rounds of editing and screen-testing. Someone chose to have her say that right before it all goes to hell. To make those powerful words the punchline to a sad joke about female agency by punishing her for them, by making sure that no matter how modern and independent the new Gwen might seem, everything is just as it has always been. That old, familiar message slides into our brains with the warm familiarity of a father’s hug: when women make their own choices, disaster results.
(2) WRITER HOSPITALIZED. Peter David’s wife, Kathleen, reports “Yes, Peter is in the hospital. No, we are not entirely sure why”.
Well this time it is not a stroke or a heart attack. Right now we are eliminating things rather than getting a diagnosis because every time we think we know what is going on, we get another curve that sets us back to figuring out what is going on.
What we do know that Peter is in the hospital with severe leg weakness. He can’t walk and even standing is dicey.
(3) BEST TV. SciFiNow ranks the “20 Best TV Shows of 2016”. At the top of the polls is —
1) Stranger Things
We bet Netflix wished all of their shows delivered like this. Stranger Things became a phenomenon almost instantly, and it’s easy to see why. The Duffer Brothers created a show that was a love-letter to all of our favourite horror and fantasy films and books from the 80s (hands up who started re-reading Stephen King’s IT after finishing the last episode), while remaining thrilling, scary and accessible to a wider audience. It’s perfectly paced (going for eight episodes instead of 13 was a great decision), it’s both sharp and sensitive, and it is perfectly cast. There’s a reason why everyone went nuts over the Stranger Things kids, and why we were just as invested in Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) as we were in Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). There’s no weak link in the ensemble, and there is nothing about the show that lets it down. From the awesome opening credits to the teasers for the second season, we love everything about this show.
(4) BEST HORROR FILMS. Lower on the same page SciFiNow also picks the 16 Best Horror Films of 2016. And what movie was the most horrific?
- The Witch
Now that Black Phillip is a bona fide cultural icon, what’s left to say about Robert Eggers’ The Witch? Well, perhaps the most important thing is that it’s still, after repeat viewings, a truly chilling experience. It doesn’t get less powerful, it just gets more interesting. Eggers’ much-publicised attention to detail creates a film that really does immerse in you in the cold, uncaring wilderness with this broken family that’s wondering why God has decided to abandon them, and it is a very scary place to be. There’s nothing about the film that isn’t perfect, from the cinematography by Jarin Blaschke to the score by Mark Korven, and the cast is amazing, with Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson bringing a heartbreaking tragedy to their Puritan pilgrims and Anya Taylor-Joy providing a complex emotional anchor. There are moments when it definitely establishes itself as a genre film, but it’s the harsh reality of that life and the fear of God that really drive the horror of The Witch. It’s the horror film of the year and we can’t wait to watch it again.
(5) CURIOSITY. The child in me wants to know what story Lou Antonelli created to go with his title “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love”.
Looks like I will have one last publication before the end of the year. Gallery of Curiosities is slated to podcast my story “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” as part of a double bill on Dec. 28. Mark your calendars!
(6) HINES BENEFIT AUCTION #23. The twenty-third of Jim C. Hines’ Transgender Michigan Fundraiser auctions is for an autographed book and an album from Seanan McGuire.
Our final auction comes from award-winning and bestselling author, filker, and all-around talented person Seanan McGuire. Today’s winner will receive an autographed hardcover of EVERY HEART A DOORWAY, as well as a copy of McGuire’s album WICKED GIRLS.
About the Book:
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things.
No matter the cost.
(7) A 3M REVIEW. James Davis Nicoll has posted a review of Heather Rose Jones’ The Mystic Marriage – “Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood”.
2015’s The Mystic Marriage is the second volume in Heather Rose Jones’ Alpennia series.
Antuniet Chazillen has lost everything: her foolish brother has been executed for treason and her mother is dead by her own hand. Antuniet has been stripped of her aristocratic rank. Determined to restore the family honour, Antuniet flees Alpennia for Austria, there to use her alchemical skills to win back for her family the respect and position her brother cost it.
In Austria she finds a treasure of rare value, a treasure others are determined to wrest from her. She escapes from Vienna to Heidelberg, but her enemies are still close on her heels. She sees no choice but to trade her virtue for transportation to safety.
Which means returning to Alpennia…
(8) SHORT BEER. Beer’d Brewing in Connecticut has a beer called Hobbit Juice. Martin Morse Wooster asks, “Is this what hobbits drink when they are tired of being small and want to ‘get juiced?’”
He’ll be here all week, folks.
(9) A VINTAGE YEAR IN SPACE. Robert Picardo hosts another installment of the Planetary Society’s video series The Planetary Post – “2016: A Magnificent Year for Space Exploration”
Greetings, fellow space fan! Robert Picardo here. As 2016 comes to a close, I thought it would be nice to look back at the year’s highlights in space science and exploration (and a few of the best bloopers from yours truly).
(10) BSFA AWARDS SUGGESTION DEADLINE. Members of the British Science Fiction Association – remember that December 31 is the deadline to suggest works for the BSFA Awards. The categories are — Best Novel, Best Short fiction, Best Artwork, Best work of Non-Fiction. Use the online form. Members will have the month of January to vote for the works that belong on the shortlist.
(11) WHEN SCOTTY INVADED NORMANDY. War History Online tells how “Star Trek star shot two snipers on D-Day and was shot seven times in WWII”.
The beach was so thick with Canadians the later arrivals could not advance. As darkness fell, there was a risk they would end up shooting at each other – which was exactly what happened; not just at Juno Beach, but also at the other landing sites.
At about 11:20 that evening, Doohan finished a cigarette and patted the silver cigarette case he kept in his breast pocket. It had been given to him by his brother as a good luck charm… and a good thing, too.
Some ten minutes later, he was walking back to his command post when he was shot. Six times. By a Bren Gun. The first four bullets slammed into his leg, the fourth whacked him in the chest, while the sixth took off his right middle finger.
It was not a German sniper. He had been shot by a nervous, trigger-happy Canadian sentry. Fortunately, the cigarette case stopped the bullet aimed at his chest. Doohan later joked it was the only time being a smoker saved his life.
(12) BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. “The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Tale of Avian Misery” is a cartoon on Vimeo about what happens when a British woman living in a small flat gets ALL the presents from the Twelve Days of Christmas.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Martin Morse Wooster, and Jim C. Hines for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]
Editor Paula Guran has announced her selections for The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2017.