By Steve Vertlieb: Here is my affectionate tribute to cherished friend Ray Bradbury, whose loving presence occupied my world and my heart for nearly four decades. Born August 22, 1920, Ray would have turned 98 years young today. Ray was one of the most distinguished writers of the twentieth century and, with H.G. Wells, perhaps the most influential, legendary science fiction writer of the past one hundred years.
More importantly, however, Ray was a gentle little boy whose love of imagination, fantasy, and stories of other worlds influenced hundreds of writers and millions of admirers all over the world. His monumental presence upon this planet warmed and inspired all who knew him, and I was honored to call him my friend for thirty-eight years. Here, once more, is my loving remembrance of the life and world of Ray Bradbury, “I SING BRADBURY ELECTRIC” at americanmusicpreservation.com – “A Ray Bradbury Remembrance (Film Music Review 14th Anniversary Special”).
He was a kindly, gentle soul who lived among us for a seeming eternity. But even eternity is finite. He was justifiably numbered among the most influential…
Our historic first meeting with the immortal Ray Bradbury in his West Los Angeles living room during the joyous Summer of 1974. His chronicles, and legend, eclipsed mere humanity, burning his manuscripts with searing imagination.
Steve Vertlieb, Ray Bradbury, Erwin Vertlieb
My final get together with beloved friend, Ray Bradbury…a last and lasting hug from August, 2011. A fabulous writer, and wonderful friend. Oh, how I miss him. Remembering my beloved friend, and wishing you a joyous, Happy Birthday among Heaven’s celestial stars, Ray, where your genius continues to burn at “Fahrenheit 451.”
The convention is being called Spikecon and will be held simultaneously with Westercon and will take place in the Davis Convention Center July 4-7, 2019.
The NASFiC bid’s railroad themed emblem is shown and the historic background explained in this announcement:
(1) OPENING MONOLOGUE. Thanks for everyone’s congratulations about the Hugo and kind wishes for my health. Back with a short scroll while I’m still in the hospital (for medical issues (which I’m not going to plaster all over the internet, but check with me via email if you want to be in touch about that.) Full gratitude to Jo Van Ekeren for doing the honors of accepting File 770’s Hugo for me in the emergency (and facing the lion’s den of the Hugo Losers Party after having had her hands on the trophy.)
(2) CONZEALAND. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ) has posted a great set of ”Links for CoNZealand” for the now-officially-selected Worldcon of 2020, CoNZealand. (And let me say how enthusiastic I am that they picked a nickname, rather than just numbering the con! Since I don’t buy the idea that numbering enhances the Worldcon brand, there’s never been any attraction in it for me.)
(3) HUGO STATS. PDF files of the Retro-Hugos and 2018 Hugos have been posted by Worldcon 76.
(4) THE WINNER IS. Worldcon 76 has video of the Hugo ceremony online —
Miss the Hugo livestream? Want to watch it again? Head over to Worldcon 76’s YouTube Channel. The video of the entire ceremony is available to view.
(5) OH, JOHN (DIFFERENT JOHN). This is far better than any set of second-place remarks I ever thought of, even after consecutive finishes behind Locus or David Langford!
Last night I did a thing that no one else in the entire history of the Hugo Awards has ever done, an achievement so singular, so unique, that no one could have possibly have imagined it for me or for anyone else:
I came in second in the Best Novel category to someone who has won back-to-back-to-back Best Novel Hugos!
No one else has ever done this! Ever! My achievement is monumental! No one can take this spectacular moment in time from me!
And naturally, I owe it all to N.K. Jemisin, who, by being the first person ever to win back-to-back-to-back Best Novel Hugo awards, created the necessary conditions for my exceptional position in the history books. I couldn’t have done this without all of her hard work over the years, and I thank her for it.
….So, while the first part of this post was obviously a bit silly, do not doubt that I am in all seriousness proud and happy to have come in second in the Best Novel category this year. The right book, and person, won, and I am delighted.
(5) SECOND FIFTH. Another thing I missed was N.K. Jemisin’s Best Novel Hugo acceptance speech. The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog has posted the text (and the video is available online – presumably as part of the ceremony video above, for one.)
This is the year in which I get to smile at all of those naysayers: every single mediocre, insecure wannabe who fixes their mouth to suggest that I do not belong on this stage, that people like me cannot possibly have earned such an honor, and that when they win it’s meritocracy, but when we win it’s identity politics,” she said. “I get to smile at those people and lift a massive shining rocket-shaped finger in their direction.”
(6) THIRD FIFTH NOT LAST AND NOT LEAST. As always, Camestros Felapton thinks of the appropriate reference at these moments, in “Post Hugo Post”.
So first off, thank you to everybody who voted for me. It really was special having Robert Silverberg present the awards. Sarah Gailey was a very deserving winner. I had a respectable showing but I guess the most elegant outcome would have been to have lost to No Award :).
(7) MORE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS, RESISTING ALT-RIGHT IMPACT ON SCA. A Society for Creative Anachronism member who participates as Fulk Beauxarmes has written two more insightful follow-up posts about trending problems symptomized by the Kingdom of Trimaris.
….It isn’t enough to be a passive ally anymore, because we’re losing ground; it’s not enough to hold the belief that everyone should have the right to join the SCA, you need to stand up and be seen. How many newbies have seen something objectionable early on in their SCA career, have seen nobody speak against it, and just decide that the SCA isn’t the place for them? Judging from my comment section, too many. (As an aside, I’d like to see a real push to making sure that every SCA group, from canton on up, follow the example of the Barony of Ayreton and publish a statement of inclusivity so that newcomers can have no doubt.)…
Over the weekend, a member of the Board of Directors wrote a blog post in the form of an open letter to me, rebutting my most recent blog post Power, Justice and Safety in the SCA on an almost point-by-point basis. To her credit, Baroness Franca Donato contacted me ahead of time for permission to extensively quote from my blog as per my posted rules, which is a gesture of respect and courtesy which I greatly appreciated. Her post was exhaustively researched, politely written and as I said when I updated my blog post to include it yesterday, an invaluable addition to the ongoing discussion that is raging in the SCA; having a member of the BoD go on record with what the BoD can and can’t do was extremely educational.
A number of people have been vocally offended by Baroness Franca’s post on my behalf. My response to that is to simply state that I am not offended because people are allowed to tell me I’m wrong….
[Thanks to the heroic efforts of Jo Van Ekeren and Rick Moen and DB, I bring you today’s Pixel Scroll from high atop the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, with the lilting cardio rhythms of That Guy. Thanks to all of you who sent in items and I hope to get to a bunch soon. Some thanks in advance to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Cat Eldridge, Carl Slaughter, Chip Hitchcock, and Jason. Title credit goes to contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
The winners of the 2018 Hugo Awards, John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) Award for Best Young Adult Book were announced on Sunday, August 19, 2018, at the 76th World Science Fiction Convention.
The administrators received and counted 2,828 valid ballots (2,810 electronic and 18 paper) from the members of the 2018 World Science Fiction Convention.
The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honoring science fiction literature and media as well as the genre’s fans. The Awards were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia (Philcon II), and they have continued to honor science fiction and fantasy notables for well over 60 years.
The winners are:
2018 Associated Awards (not Hugos)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Rebecca Roanhorse
The World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) Award for Best Young Adult Book
Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
2018 Hugo Awards
Best Fan Artist
Geneva Benton
Best Fan Writer
Sarah Gailey
Best Fancast
Ditch Diggers, presented by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace
Best Fanzine
File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
Best Semiprozine
Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Julia Rios; podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
Best Professional Artist
Sana Takeda
Best Editor – Short Form
Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
Best Editor – Long Form
Sheila E. Gilbert
Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form
The Good Place: “The Trolley Problem,” written by Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, directed by Dean Holland (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television)
Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form
Wonder Woman, screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, directed by Patty Jenkins (DC Films / Warner Brothers)
Best Graphic Story
Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood, written by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Best Related Work
No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Best Series
World of the Five Gods, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Harper Voyager / Spectrum Literary Agency)
Best Short Story
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex, August 2017)
Best Novelette
“The Secret Life of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)
Best Novella
All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
The 2018 Hugo Award base, designed by Sara Felix and Vincent Villafranca.
At the Hugo Awards Web Site, Kevin Standlee has compiled the available information about 2018 Hugo Ceremony coverage:
WHEN: The 2018 Hugo Awards Ceremony begins Sunday, August 19, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. North American Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7). Master of Ceremonies will be Artist Guest of Honor John Picacio.
WHERE: McEnery Convention Center Grand Ballroom in San Jose, California. The Ceremony will also be simultaneously shown in Callahan’s Place in the Exhibit Hall in a more relaxed environment where attendees can eat, drink, and socialize during the event.
TEXT: The Hugo Awards web site will offer text-based coverage of the Hugo Awards ceremony via CoverItLive. The hosts will be Kevin Standlee, Susan de Guardiola, and Cheryl Morgan. You can sign up at the CoverItLive event site for an e-mail notification before the event starts.
I would like to let you all know that I was taken to the hospital this morning after experiencing a bad episode of dizziness. They have run some tests and given me some medication, and I am feeling much better, but they have told me that they will be keeping me in the hospital overnight for observation.
Please do not worry about me. I will keep you updated as I find out more. I would like to thank the people who assisted me this morning, including Steven H Silver and Helen Montgomery.
Those of you who are at Worldcon 76, please continue to attend events, have fun, and post updates. And as always, comments from everyone else in the community are welcomed.
[statement provided by Mike Glyer from the hospital]
Nichelle Nichols is spry and lucid, and doesn’t need to be controlled by a bunch of people who don’t have her best interests at heart — including her son– so says a woman claiming to be her close friend.
According to new legal docs filed by Angelique Fawcette … the ‘Star Trek’ icon’s son, Kyle Johnson, doesn’t really care about Nichols’ well-being … she says he’s trying to use her health issues as an excuse to gain possession of her riches.
Fawcette claims Nichelle even wrote a note to her son in March 2017, letting him know she wants to amend her will because he allegedly told her … “I can’t wait to get rid of this sh*t and sell [your] house and property.”
(4) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
Born August 18 – Christian Slater, 49. Genre work includes Tales from the Darkside, Beyond the Stars (an Apollo 11 film), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles and the voice of Deadshot in various animated Justice League productions.
Born August 18 – Sarita Choudhury, 52. The alternate history series The Kings noted here before, the Hunger Games film franchise and the Blindspot series.
(5) ARMORED LIVING. Engadget takes a look at a FoMoCo program to equip some of its factory workers with passive exoskeleton vests (“Ford thinks exoskeletons are ready for prime time in its factories”). Though the upper-body machines do not do anything to make the workers stronger, they are said to enhance endurance. Though not entirely clear, part of the intent seems to be to reduce injuries.
The EksoVests (built by Ekso Bionics) are available for employees that have to reach overhead multiple times a day. The exoskeleton vest doesn’t have a motor or battery pack to make its wearer stronger. Instead, it’s a mechanical device that offers passive arm support from five to 15 pounds.
As the person reaches up, the vest offers their arms additional assistance. The higher they reach, the more support the system adds. “It’s not a strength enhancer, it’s an endurance enhancer,” Marty Smets, Ford’s technical expert of human systems and virtual manufacturing, told Engadget.
…Smets was quick to note that those using the vest are only a small portion of the assembly line. The company will issue a total of 75 exoskeletons, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that many. “Today, it’s only the passive upper-arm support skeleton that helps with overhead work,” Smets said. However, it’s just the beginning
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Carl Slaughter, Mike Kennedy, Chip Hitchcock, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day ULTRAGOTHA.]
Erin Sith and some other alt-right Bay Area figures carried on the National March Against Far-Left Violence outside the San Jose Convention Center on Saturday while Worldcon 76 continued inside. In the absence of Jon Del Arroz, who announced yesterday he wouldn’t be at the rally he had instigated due to reasons of family health, it was not apparent whether any of his “anti-pedophilia in sf” agenda was carried out, other than as a sign someone was holding.
Around 12:15 p.m. the first San Jose police officer arrived on sidewalk in front of the SJCC plaza. At 12:30 p.m., when the protestors were scheduled for set-up, a small knot of people, four of them wearing red MAGA hats, walked onto sidewalk beside the plaza (which is also a bus stop), and the cop went and stood next to them.
Although Worldcon members with badges had been crossing the plaza into the Convention Center freely up to that point, security now began controlling the doorways to the plaza, permitting traffic through only one side. And they would not allow to leave the building someone who came downstairs from the main convention area dressed as Ronald McDonald and holding a large sign painted as a Hustler magazine cover with an image of President Trump. However, the clown made his way out another exit and shortly reappeared, displaying himself to the protestors on the sidewalk.
A few minutes later a woman carrying a large image of a UFO alien head (couldn’t tell if it was a sign or simply an exotic purse) walked into the plaza and stood apart watching the proceedings.
Another half-dozen San Jose police arrived shortly before the official starting time of the protest at 1 p.m., plus two motorcycle cops. More protestors began moving up and down the sidewalk, two with Trump banners, one blue, one white, someone in a wheelchair with a big American flag, and a person bearing what looked like a green version of a German military flag except with an unidentifiable image in the center (rather than a Maltese cross or swastika).
That was also when Worldcon members who had volunteered as Pink Shirts came on duty, offering to escort people entering the SJCC.
There was a good vantage point on the second floor of the SJCC for seeing the plaza through several big windows, and that’s where I kept an eye on events, joined at various times by ULTRAGOTHA, Amy Thomson, Kevin Standlee, Marc Schirmeister, Tom Becker and others. I also had a chance to say hello to Alasdair Stuart, who served as one of the pink shirts.
As one might have expected, the rally was one big photo op. Even though there were not very many alt-right protestors at the outset, there were eight or ten people holding up smart phones and a camera to capture video of anything that happened.
More police arrived, and took up positions at intervals along the plaza at the edge of the sidewalk, keeping the action off the SJCC plaza itself.
At this point we’d seen perhaps 10 protestors, counting the flag and banner holders and the four in MAGA hats. There was another infusion of police – at one point, we counted 22 officers in view.
Then, at 2:00 p.m., some more people, a few in MAGA hats, filed down the sidewalk to a spot where police were allowing them to set up on a bank of steps under the eaves of the SJCC just past the plaza. Erin Sith in a pink hat emceed a series of alt-right speakers. The full size of the gathering seemed to be about 40 people, who could be seen energetically applauding after each speaker turned over the mic.
An antifa counter-protest had been called, and some of the video/photography was being done by their people. However, from my vantage I never saw a definable group of antifa protestors, although it was clear that the police were trying to funnel participants in each rally to opposite sides of the plaza. I can’t estimate how many there were. Perhaps more video will come online later with those views.
ULTRAGOTHA shot these photos through the windows:
Another fan sent these, on the suggestion of one of the pink-shirt volunteers:
A side-effect of the rallies was that the alt-right group blocked access to the bloodmobile supporting the traditional Worldcon blood drive:
Nearly everyone who showed up for Jon Del Arroz & Erin Sith's tiny rally at #Worldcon76 in San Jose is on the speaker list. No audience. Another failed effort by right wing extremists. Nobody wants to hear their BS. Haley Adams traveled for this? ???? #AllOutSanJosepic.twitter.com/895HihBVgc
Video of the event shot by Ryoga Vee is on YouTube. Between many closeups of him chewing gum there are shots of the alt-right rally participants, and the police moving them away from the San Jose Convention Center when their time expired around 4 p.m.
Berkeley Antifa tweeted close-up photos and its identifications of speakers at Erin Sith’s rally. The thread starts here .
The official Hugo Awards site has posted photos of the display Hugo that was shown at Opening Ceremonies. The base design is by Sara Felix and Vincent Villafranca. What a beauty!
More importantly, however, Ray was a gentle little boy whose love of imagination, fantasy, and stories of other worlds influenced hundreds of writers and millions of admirers all over the world. His monumental presence upon this planet warmed and inspired all who knew him, and I was honored to call him my friend for thirty-eight years. Here, once more, is my loving remembrance of the life and world of Ray Bradbury, “I SING BRADBURY ELECTRIC” at americanmusicpreservation.com – “A Ray Bradbury Remembrance (Film Music Review 14th Anniversary Special”).
