Vicki Rosenzweig’s cat sleeps darned near sff:
I was going through old photos and found this one, of my late cat Julian sleeping with a Pratchett novel.
Photos of your felines resting on genre works are welcome. Send to mikeglyer (at) cs (dot) com
By John Hertz: I’ve been trying to give Cat Eldridge a hand with birthday notices. As an SF character whose name rhymes with grok used to say, fascinating.
A few weeks ago was the birthday of a graphic artist who gave us Cheech Wizard and lizards.
What a genius.
What was his name?
How should we pronounce it? How should we write it?
How did he?
Another man who strained our orthoepy promised to teach us about his own name at a Lunacon once. For a while I was able to attend this New York convention (hosted by local club the Lunarians) so regularly that some thought I lived in New York. I had, but not then. I was obliged to say I do not have that honor. I was even Fan Guest of Honor one year.
Anyhow, at Lunacon XXXVIII Poul Anderson was Writer Guest of Honor. Our Gracious Host was Fan Guest of Honor. Mark Blackman, who now and then appears here, was Chairman. As he has elsewhere remarked, this year silvers the memory of that weekend.
Mr. Anderson (or in Danish Hr. for Herre), addressing a crowd of us, graciously said “I’ll teach you all how to pronounce my name.”
We waited eagerly.
He said, slowly and distinctly, “ANN-der-son.”
Some time after I met the Wizard and lizards I happened to be re-reading Heinlein’s Space Cadet. I was told, as its readers are, of Tex Jarman’s Uncle Bodie. Must be the same name! I thought.
The spelling was different. That happens in English, particularly with names.
I still didn’t know what to say.
The unassisted letters for this Wizard artist are VAUGHN BODE. I felt sure his surname was bisyllabic; it didn’t rhyme with showed or hoed or Mr. Toad.
In a birthday notice here I wrote Bodé and explained,
The equipment won’t show his name as he wrote it; over the “e” shouldn’t be an accent acute (which is what you see), but a macron (horizontal line), i.e. indicating a long vowel, not emphasis: it doesn’t rhyme with “okay”. I never heard him say it; I spent years thinking it was like body, but maybe it’s like Commando Cody.
This drew comment. I replied,
You probably know Wikipedia, the great and terrible, says
As explained by Bod?’s friend Fred A. Levy Haskell, in the collection Vaughn Bod?’s Poem Toons (Tundra Publishing, 1989),”the line over the ‘e’ in Vaughn’s signature is not an acute accent, it is a long mark. That is, it is not part of the family name, and is not pronounced as if it were a long ‘a’ – he added it to his signature to indicate that you are supposed to pronounce the long ‘e’ at the end of his name.”
I wrote to Fred today by real mail before I saw your comment.
Maybe we’ll all learn something.
Here’s what Fred said.
Vaughn’s legal surname. It is my understanding and recollection that it is “Bode”, without accent or other marking, pronounced “Boh-dee”, and that “Bod?” (with, as you say, a macron) is the form he settled on for signing his art; although he had experimented with a number of different forms before settling on that. I believe he told me once that it was because he got tired of people calling him “Baahd” and “Bohd”.
Wikipedia cites me? Li’l ol’ me? Gawrsh.
Those, as a friend of my father’s used to say, are the conditions that prevail.
[Editor’s Note: This list is no longer available at the original site, however, JJ was able to retrieve a copy and with Steven H Silver’s permission we are hosting it here.]
A tribute to the genre fans and creators we have lost in the past year.
– Compiled by Steven H Silver
Author and poet Nell Anne “Charlee” Jacob (b.1952) died on July 14. Jacob’s works included Soma, The Myth of Falling, and Dark Moods. She won the Stoker Award four times, for her novel Dread in the Beast and for three of her poetry collections, Sineater, Vectors, and Four Elements.
Fan Andi Malala Shechter (b.1953) died on July 15. A science fiction fan and conrunner, she focused a lot of her attention on Bouchercon and other mystery cons, chairing Left Coast Crime in 1997. Shechter was also a book reviewer. She was a longtime companion to Stu Shiffman and the two married shortly before his death in 2014.
The Victims of the Kyoto Animation fire, July 18. 26 people who worked for Kyoto Animation at their production studio were killed when a man set fire to the building. KyoAni made the series Lucky Star, K-On, and Haruhi Suzumiya.
Editor Greg Shoemaker (b.1947) died on July 19. Shoemaker was the founder and editor of The Japanese Film Journal, which he published from 1968 through 1984.
Author and publisher Sam A. Gafford (b.1962) died on July 20. Gafford ran Ulthar Pres, which published chapbooks, including works by William Hope Hodgson. His own writing includes The House of Nodens and the collection The Dreamer in Fire and Other Stories. His non-fiction study William Hope Hodgson: Voices from the Borderlands was nominated for the Stoker Award.
NASA Director of Flight Operations Chris Kraft (b.1924) died on July 22, just after the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Kraft was instrumental in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions and he trained other flight directors. He retired from NASA in 1982.
Swedish fan Christian Rosenfeldt (b.1956) died on July 22. Rosenfeldt was an active fan in publishing fanzines.
Author Robert Mayer (b.1939) died on July 23. Mayer’s genre novels include I, JFK, and the satirical Super-Folks.
Filker Zanda Myrande (b.1955) died on July 24. Myrande’s filk albums included On the Battlements, Blood on Bookwalk, Return to Argenthome – The Rough Cuts, and more.
Game designer Mike Brunton (b.1962) died on July 25. Brunton worked at TSR UK on Imagine and various D&D supplements. He edited White Dwarf in the late 1980s and produced Warhammer works, eventually bringing out Realms of Chaos. Brunton also worked on the Total War videogame franchise.
Australian fan Susan Evans (b.1961) died on July 25. Evans worked on a variety of conventions, including Octacon, the 1982 New Zealand Natcon. She was also a contributor to APAs.
Academic Josh Lukin (b.1968) died on July 25. Lukin was a writing instructor at Temple University and published essays on Philip K. Dick, Kate Wilhem, and Chan Davis, among others.
Fan Martin Hoare (b.1952) died on July 26. Hoare was an inveterate con-runner, serving on more Eastercon committees than any other individual. He co-chaired two Eastercons, Seacon ’84 and Helicon 2, and worked as a Division Head for ConFiction. In 2015, he received the Doc Weir Award. Over the years, Hoare became known for accepting Dave Langford’s Hugo Awards when Langford couldn’t attend Worldcon. He was scheduled to be the Bar Manager for Dublin 2019.
Game designer Richard H. Berg (b.1943) died on July 26. Berg was the recipient of numerous Charles S. Roberts Awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987. His games includes SPQR, The Campaign for North Africa, Terrible Swift Sword, Hastings 1066, The War of the Ring, and numerous others.
Author Maggie Secara (b.1950) died on July 27. Secara, also known as The Countess of Southampton, published the Harper Errant trilogy, beginning in 2012 with The Dragon Ring.
Author Barry Hughart (b.1934) died on August 1. Hughart is the World Fantasy Award winning author of Bridge of Birds, as well as its sequels, The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. Hughart managed a bookstore for five years in the 1960s.
Fan Matthew R. Sims (b.1966) died on August 4. Sims served as gamemaster at Fencon from the convention’s founding and took joy in introducing new games to fans. He was one of the founders of the Mechwarriors’ Guild and ran FenCon Squares.
Author Toni Morrison (b.1931) died on August 5. Prior to becoming a Nobel Prize winning author, Morrison worked as an editor, occasionally in the science fiction field, working with, among others, Michael Moorcock. Morrison went on to write the novels Beloved, Jazz, Paradise, and The Bluest Eyes. In addition to winning the Nobel, she also won a Pulitzer.
Children’s author Lee Bennett Hopkins (b.1938) died on August 8. His fiction included “Great-Aunt Pippa’s Pepperoni Pizza” and “”The Ninety-Sixth Ghost.” He also edited the anthologies A-Haunting We Will Go, Monsters, Ghoulies, and Creepy Creatures, and Witching Time.
Author J. Neil Schulman (b.1953) died on August 10. Schulman won the Prometheus Award for his novels Alongside Night and The Rainbow Cadenza. His other two novels, Escape from Heaven and The Fractal Man, were also nominees for the award. In addition to writing science fiction, he also wrote non-fiction and “Profile in Silver,” an episode of The Twilight Zone that aired in 1986.
Illustrator Charles Santore (b.1935) died on August 11. Santore’s illustrations appeared in editions of L. Frank Baum’s The Tin Woodman and The Wizard of Oz as well as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. He also provided the cover for Daniel Grotta’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth.
Fan Carl Slaughter (b.1958) died in a car accident on August 11. Slaughter’s writing appeared in Tangent Online, File 770, SF Signal and other venues.
Author and editor Robert N. Stephenson (b.1961) died on August 14. Stephenson was the editor of Altair magazine as well as several anthologies. His short story “Rains of la Strange” won the 2011 Aurealis Award.
Game designer Rick Loomis (b.1946) died on August 23 after a battle with cancer. Loomis founded Flying Buffalo and published Nuclear Destruction and later Nuclear War. In 1975, he published the second edition of Tunnels and Trolls and was one of the founders of GAMA in 1978.
Editor Charles M. Collins (b.1935) died on August 26. Collins was one of the founders (in 1970, with Donald M. Grant) of Centaur Books. He edited the anthologies Fright, A Feast of Blood, and A Walk with the Beast. When he wasn’t editing, he worked as a salesman for several publishers.
Author Brad Linaweaver (b.1952) died on August 29. Linaweaver was the author of Moon of Ice, Anarchia, and novelizations for the television shows Sliders and Battlestar Galactica. He was a two-time Prometheus Award Winner and a winner of the Phoenix Award.
Author Melissa C. Michaels (b.1946) died on August 30. Michaels began publishing short fiction in 1979 and begin her first series of novels in 1985, publishing five volumes in the Skyrider series, as well as other novels. She was also active in SFWA, creating the organizations first website and serving as webmaster for the first five years.
Author Terrance Dicks (b.1935) died on August 29. Dicks wrote several episodes of Doctor Who and served as script editor from 1968-74. Dicks also worked on The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and Space: 1999. In addition to his scripts, he also wrote numerous Doctor Who novelizations for Target Books.
Author Katherine MacLean (b.1925) died on September 1. MacLean began publishing in 1949 and had a lengthy career publishing short fiction and some novels. She won the 1972 Nebula Award for her novella “The Missing Man” and was named a SFWA Author Emeritus in 2003. She was the first professional GoH at Wiscon. In 2011, she won the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.
Editor Lee J. Salem (b.1946) died on September 2. Salem was an editor at Universal Press Syndicate who worked with Gary Larson on The Far Side and with Bill Watterson on Calvin and Hobbes.
Fan Jack Weaver (b.1926) died on September 2. He joined SFSFS in Florida and helped run the art show at Tropicon with Lee Hoffman. Weaver served as the webmaster for FANAC from 1995 until 2016 and continued to contribute code until his death. In 2016, he received an award at FanHistoricon 13.
Author David Hagberg (b.1942) died on September 8. Hagberg wrote the novel Last Come the Children and also wrote the novelization of Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines and six uncredited Flash Gordon novels. Most of his fiction was techno-thriller, published under a variety of pseudonyms.
Author Hal Colebatch (b.1945) died on September 10. Colebatch published Return of the Heroes, a study of heroic fantasy, and contributed to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. His own science fiction writing focused on stories in Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars series, and he wrote numerous non-genre works.
Fan Laurie Kunkel (b.1966 Laurie Yates) died on September 11. Kunkel helped create the Fantastic Fiction Club of UNLV in 1987 and Neon Galaxies semiprozine. She was also one of the founders of SNAFFU and was active in FAPA and SNAPS.
Author Anne Rivers Siddons (b.1936) died on September 11. Although Siddons is not known as a genre author, her novel The House Next Door does include supernatural elements.
Cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn (b.1937) died on September 12. Jähn became the first German to fly into space when he flew on Soyuz 31 in 1978 and served on the Salyut 6 space station.
Comics historian William Carl “Bill” Schelly (b.1951) died on September 12. Schelly began editing the fanzine Sense of Wonder when he was 15 and eventually published a memoir of the same title outlining what it was like to grow up gay in fandom. He also wrote a biography of Harvey Kurtzman and won an Eisner Award for The Golden Age of Comic Fandom.
Writer Frank Key (b.Paul Byrne, 1959) died on September 13. Key was best known for his nonsensical stories in the Hooting Yard series, which was presented on the radio and also turned into a series of short story collections.
Arizona fan Curtis Stubbs (b.1948) died on September 14. A long-time conrunner and fan, he was involved in the bid to bring the Worldcon to Phoenix in 1978, which resulted in IguanaCon.
Fan Norm Metcalf (b.1937) died on September 21. Metcalf published the fanzines Tightbeam, Idle Hands, New Frontiers, and RPSF as well as The Index of Science Fiction Magazines, 1951-1965. He was active in SAPS, OMPA, FAPA, and other APAs.
Fan Lester H. Cole (b.1926) died on September 26. Cole chaired SFCon, the 1954 Worldcon in San Francisco. He was a member of the Elves, Gnomes and Little Men’s Science Fiction and Chowder Society and published the fanzine Orgasm. In 2017, along with his wife, Esther, Cole was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame.
New Zealand author John Millen “Jack” Lasenby (b.1931) died on September 27. Lasenby wrote children’s fiction, including Because We Were the Travelers, Taur, and The Conjuror.
Author John A. Pitts (b.1965) died on October 3. Pitts began publishing short fiction in 2006 with “There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket (A Fortean Love Story),” co-written with Ken Scholes. He went on to write several short stories on his own and in 2010 began publishing novels under the name J.A. Pitts with Black Blade Blues, the first novel in his series about Sarah Beauhall. From 2015 through 2016, he published The Cleric Journal, a sword-and-sorcery serial which featured daily additions and totaled more than half a million words.
Game designer Keith W. Sears (b.1961) died on October 4. Sears designed SOL: The Omniversal Roleplaying System and related works such as Steeltown. He was a contributor to Alarums and Excursions.
Comics author Tome (b.Philippe Vandevelde, 1957) died on October 5. Tome worked on the comic strip Spirou et Fantasio from 1980 through 1998.
Children’s author Berthe Amoss (b.1925) died on October 6. Her novels Lost Magic, The Great Sea Monster, and The Loup Garou contain genre elements.
Academic Edgar L. Chapman (b.1936) died on October 11. Chapman wrote Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction, The Road to Castle Mount: The Science Fiction of Robert Silverberg, and The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer.
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (b.1934) died on October 11. On March 15, 1965, he became the first man to perform a spacewalk. He was slated to be the first Soviet to walk on the moon. In addition to being a cosmonaut, Leonov was an artist whose experiences in space influenced and inspired much of his art.
Author Alice “Lisa” Lepovetsky (b.1951) died on October 11. Lepovetsky begane publishing work of genre interest in 1985 with her short story “Along Came a Spider” and her poem “The Old Dragon’s Song.” She continued to publish short fiction and poety and in 2016 released the collection Voices from Empty Rooms.
Author Alison Prince (b.1931) died on October 12. Prince’s genre novels included The Others and Bird Boy. She also wrote short fiction and a non-fiction study of Kenneth Grahame. Prince wrote for the British show Jackanory and appeared on the show as the Storyteller.
Critic Harold Bloom (b.1930) died on October 14. In addition to his crtiticism, Bloom was known for editing a series of critical anthologies that included works by Shelley, Poe, Le Guin, and Lessing. His only novel is The Flight to Lucifer.
Chicago fan Beryl Turner (b.1965) died on October 17. Turner was active in Windycon, Duckon, and was one of the founders of Anime Central.
Author Alex J. Geairns (b.1964) died on October 20. Geairns ran the Cult TV Festival from 1994 to 2007. He published the novel Mindful under the pseudonym alex:g.
Author Michael Blumlein, MD (b.1948) died on October 24. Blumlein wrote the novels The Movement of Mountain, X,Y, and The Healer and his short fiction was collected in four volumes. His works earned him nominations for the World Fantasy Award, the Stoker, and the Tiptree Award.
Fan Barbara A. Wright (b.1947) died on October 28. Wright ran the Chicago TARDIS Masquerade and was active in the International Costumers’ Guild for the Chicagoland chapter.
Comic store owner Cliff Bland died on October 29. Bland was the co-owner of Dragon’s Lair in San Antonio, Texas.
Spacesuit designer Benjamin Franklin Jones III (b.1918) died on November 3. Jones worked as an engineer who oversaw the development of airplane de-icing systems and the design of the Mercury spacesuits.
Author Taku Mayumura (b.1934) died on November 3. Mayumura won the Seiun Award for his novels Shometsu no Korin and Hikishio no toki. His novel Administrator, part of his Shiseikan series, was translated into English in 2004. He got his start when he won the first Kuso-Kagaku Shosetsu Contest.
Author Stephen Dixon (b.1936 died on November 6. Dixon’s genre work included the novel Letters to Kevin and some short stories. Most of his writing was non-genre and he received the Guggenheim Felloship, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize.
UK fan Allan Adams died on November 9 or 10. Adams organized two Doctor Who-themed conventions in Peterborough in the mid-1990s.
Bookseller Bruce Robert MacPhee died on November 13. Also known as Spike, MacPhee was the owner of the Science Fantasy bookstore in Harvard Square.
Comics writer Tom Spurgeon (b.1968) died on November 13. Spurgeon edited The Comics Journal from 1994 through 1999. Beginning in 2004 he contributed to The Comics Reporter. He co-wrote Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book.
New England fan Ralph Calistro died on November 19. Calistro was an active costumer and part of the Northern Lights Costumers’ Guild. With his partner, Judy Mitchell, he attended various conventions.
Publisher Walter J. Minton (b.1923) died on November 19. Minton served as president and chairman of Putnam. During his tenure, the company published works by James Blish, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert as well as The Lord of the Flies.
Artist and author Gahan Wilson (b.1930) died on November 21. Wilson’s cartoon work was epitomized by his mixture of horror, fantasy, and humor. His work appeared in Playboy, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and other magazines. Wilson also wrote short fiction and his movie and book reviews appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine and Realms of Fantasy. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from World Fantasy Con in 2005 and designed the World Fantasy Award trophy, a bust of H.P. Lovecraft, which was in use until 2015.
Author Andrew Clements (b.1949) died on November 28. Among the children’s books Clements wrote were the three books in his science fiction trilogy that opened with Things Not Seen.
UK fan Anne Page died in November. Page was active as a conrunner and costumer. She was a guest of honor at the 1990 Eastercon in Liverpool and served on the 1987 Brighton Worldcon committee.
Screenwriter D.C. Fontana (b.1939) died on December 2. Fontana had a lengthy career as a scriptwriter and story editor for various versions of Star Trek, dating back to the original series. She also worked on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Babylon 5, The Six Million Dollar Man, War of the Worlds, and numerous other television series, both genre and non-genre.
Author Andrew Weiner (b.1949) died on December 3. Weiner immigrated to Canada from Britain. His first novel was Station Gehenna. Subsequent novels included Getting Near the End and Boulevard des disparus, the latter only published in French. His fiction was nominated for the Aurora and BSFA Award.
Actor Rene Auberjonois (b.1940) died on December 8. Best known within the genre for his portrayal of Odo on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he also appeared on Warehouse 13, The Librarians, provided a voice for Ebony Maw in the animated Avengers Assemble, and various other roles. His first credited film role was a Father John Mulcahy in MASH.
Puppeteer Caroll Spinney (b.1933) died on December 8. Spinney famously played the roles of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street from 1969 through 2018, making appearances as both on a variety of other shows and movies, including Supernatural and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Book collector Bert Chamberlain died on December 11. Chamberlain was a frequent Worldcon, World Fantasy Con and Nebula Conference attendee who could often be found browsing for rare first editions and getting them signed.
British fan Ian Covell (b.1953) died on December 11. Covell published An Index to DAW Books in 1989 and J.T. McIntosh: Memoir and Bibliography. Beginning in 1994, he also provided British book listings to Locus magazine.
Fan Amy Wenshe (b.Amy Dobratz, 1957) died on December 11. Wenshe was the chair of Windycons 27 and 28 and served on the ISFiC Board. She ran Windycon’s childcare and was involved in multiple Chicago Worldcons
Game designer Bill Olmesdahl (b.1966) died on December 15. Olmesdahl worked for West End Games and TSR. He authored the Star Was Gamemaster Screen, Supernova, and Galaxy Guides for West End’s Star Wars RPG. His other work included Sorcerer’s Crib Sheets, The Unnaturals, and TORG RPG: The High Lord Guide to the Possibility Wars.
Chinese children’s author Da Chen (b.1962) died on December 17. While most of his works are not genre, he did write the novel Wandering Warrior.
Verne scholar Brian Taves (b.1959) died in December. Taves co-edited The Jules Verne Encyclopedia and wrote Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen. He also translated many of Verne’s works into English.
Author Elizabeth Spencer (b.1921) died on December 23. Spencer published a handful of science fiction stories among her oeuvre, including “A Long-Forgotten Memory,” “Aspidocelone,” and “First Dark.”
Comics creator Gerry Alanguilan (b.1968) died on December 29. Alanguilan published he graphic novel Elmer. He worked as an inker for both Marvel and DC on titles such as Wolverine, Superman: Birthright, and Fantastic Four.
Author and artist Alasdair Gray (b.1934) died on December 29. Beginning with his novel Lanark, Gray designed his own books, which included Poor Things and A History Maker.
Designer Syd Mead (b.1933) died on December 30. Mead created the look for many films, including Tron, Blade Runner, Aliens, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 2010, and Mission to Mars. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for Short Circuit.
Publisher Sonny Mehta (b.1942) died on December 30. Mehta oversaw the initial publication of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and revived the Picador imprint. He published many mainsteam fantasies.
French agent Michelle Lapautre (b.1932) died on January 3. Lapautre represented authors such as Ray Bradbury for French translation.
Author Earl Staggs died on January 3. Primarily a mystery author, some of Staggs’ work, such as Memory of a Murder, included science fictional elements.
Australian author Kurt Bracharz (b.1947) died on January 6. Bracharz began publishing short fiction of genre interest in 1977 with “Vorschalg zur Kopfarbeit” and published seven more stories over the next fourteen years. His story “Venice 2” was translated into English.
Rush drummer Neil Peart (b.1952) died on January 7. In addition to playing for Rush, Peart co-wrote the Clockwork Angels books with Kevin J. Anderson as well as some short stories and poetry.
Author and editor Mike Resnick (b.1942) died on January 9. Resnick is the five-time Hugo Award winning author of Kirinyaga, Santiago, and Ivory. He also edited numerous anthologies of short stories, through which he mentored many newer authors. Most recently, he served as the editor of Galaxy’s Edge magazine. Resnick was also one of the founding members of ISFiC, the organization that runs Windycon in Chicago.
Carol Serling (b.1929) died on January 9. Serling was married to Rod Serling, who created The Twilight Zone. In 1981, she launched The Twilight Zone Magazine and served as editor through 1989. She also licensed Serling’s image and name for television projects and Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Chicago fan Alan Voecks (b.1968) died on January 10. Voecks was active in conrunning, heading dealers’ rooms for Capricon and also spending time behind dealers’ tables selling t-shirts.
Actor Stan Kirsch (b.1968) died on January 11. Kirsch is best known for his role on television in Highlander, but he also appeared on Grimm and other science fiction and fantasy series and films.
Fan artist and Hugo winner Steve Stiles (b.1943) died on January 11 following a battle with cancer. In addition to his fan art, Stiles also drew comics for Marvel and underground publishers. He was first nominated for the Hugo in 1967 and finally won in 2016.
Academic Paul K. Alkon (b.1935) died on January 13. Alkon wrote the works Science Fiction Before 1900: Imagination Discovers Technology and Transformations of Utopia: Changing Views of he Perfect Society.
Author Christopher Tolkien (b.1924) died on January 15. Not only did Tolkien draw the maps for The Lord of the Rings, but following his father’s death, he edited The Silmarillion as well as Unfinished Tales, the multi-volume The History of Middle Earth, and other works by his father.
Author Charles Alverson (b.1935) died on January 15. Alverson wrote the screenplay and novelization for Jabberwocky and co-wrote the original draft of Brazil with Terry Gilliam.
British fan David Brider (b.1969) died on January 20. Brider was a Doctor Who fan who could frequently be found at British Who conventions.
Comics author Wolfgang J. Fuchs (b.1945) died on January 20. Fuchs co-wrote Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium with Reinhold C. Reitberger as well as Comics-Handbuch. He also translated Prince Valiant into German, as well as Garfield, and created original comics.
Comedian Terry Jones (b.1942) died on January 21 after suffering from dementia. Jones was a member of Monty Python and directed their films Monty Python’s Holy Grail and Life of Brian, in which he played various roles as well. Jones also made documentaries on medieval life and the barbarian invasions of Europe, and he wrote the novelization of Douglas Adams’s Starship Titanic.
Artist Barbara Remington (b.1929) died on January 23. Remington painted the covers for the initial Ballantine editions of The Lord of the Rings as well as works by E.R. Eddison.
German YA author Gudrun Pausewang (b.1928) died on January 24. Pausewang published the novels Noch lange denach, Die letzten Kinder von Schewenborn oder…sieht so unsere Zukunft aus?, and Die Wolke, which won the Kurd Lasswitz Prize.
Screenwriter Jack Burns (b.133) died on January 26. Burns wrote for The Muppet Show and was nominated for a Hugo Award for The Muppet Movie. He also wrote an adaptation of Peter Pan and episodes of Darkwing Duck and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.
Harriet Frank, Jr. (b.Harriet Goldstein, 1917) died on January 28. Best known as the screenwriter of Hud and Norma Rae, Frank wrote the science fiction novella “The Man from Saturn” in 1953.
German author Christoph Meckel (b.1935) died on January 29. Meckel published several short stories bweteen 1975 and 1983, with many of them translated into English and collected in The Fiture on the Boundary Line. He also worked as a graphic artist.
Author Mary Higgins Clark (b.1927) died on January 31. Best known as a suspense novelist, her novels The Anastasia Syndrome, Before I Say Good-Bye, and Two Little Girls in Blue have genre elements.
Translator Jean Migreene (b.1938) died in January. Migreene primarily translated poetry, but also worked on portions of Samuel R. Delany’s Atlantis: Model 1924.
British fan Marge Nuttall died in January. Nuttall was a member of the Liverpool Science Fiction Soiety and was married to fellow fan Stan Nuttall.
Author Paul Barnett (b.1949) died on February 3. Barnett also published as John Grant. In addition to writing the Lone Wolf novels with Joe Dever, and several of his own novels, he co-edited the Encyclopedia of Fantasy with John Clute. He won Hugo Awards for both the Encyclopedia of Fantasy and The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Retrospective.
Fan and author Earl Kemp (b.1929) died on February 6. Kemp was active in fandom and chaired Chicon III, the 1961 Worldcon and edited The Proceedings: Chicago III. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1961 for Who Killed Science Fiction. His career as a writer was linked to William Hamling and Greenleaf Classics.
German fan Rolf Bingenheimer (b.1946) died on February 7. Bingenheimer owned the science fiction bookstore Transgalaxis in Fredrichsdorf, Germany, which was founded by his father, Heinz.
German fan Ulrich Bettermann died on February 11. Bettermann reviewed various films, video games, and novels related to science fiction and was a long-time con attendee.
Game designer Daniel Palter (b.1950) died on February 17. Palter was the owner of West End Games and was the publisher of Star Wars: The Role Playing Game, which helped expand the Star Wars brand after the release of Return of the Jedi. He later founded Final Sword Productions, where he was developing games based on the works of David Weber and S.M. Stirling.
Author Charles Portis (b.1933) died on February 17 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Best known for the western True Grit, Portis wrote the science fiction novel Masters of Atlantis in 1985.
German author Ror Wolf (b.Richard Wolf, 1932) died on February 17. Wolf wrote the novel Die Vorzüge der Dunkelheit and also published a short story and poem. Most of his writing was not genre and he also published under the pseudonym Raouk Tranchirer.
Fan Elyse Rosenstein (b.1950) died on February 20. Rosenstein was one of the organizers of the first Star Trek convention, held in New York in 1972. She went on to run Nova Enterprises with her husband, Steve, selling Star Trek related materials. She chaired the 1983 Lunacon and was named an honorary Lunarian.
Comic book artist Nicola Cuti (b.1941) died on Feburayr 21. Cuti co-created E-Man, Moonchild, and Captain Cosmos. His first published story, “Grub,” appeared in Creepy Magazine. In the 1970s, he worked for Charlton.
Author Walter Satherthwait (b.1946) died on February 23. Mostly known for his mysteries, Satherthwait did write two short stories of genre interest, “Territorial Imperative” and “Murder One.”
Calculator Katherine Johnson (b.Creola Katherine Coleman, 1918) died on February 24. Johnson worked as a calculator for NASA from the the 1950s through the 1970s calculating orbits and trajectories for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and space shuttle missions. She was one of the focuses of the book Hidden Figures and subsequent film. NASA has named two facilities in her honor.
Author Clive Cussler (b.1931) died on February 25. Cussler wrote the Dirk Pitt novels and used his money and celebrity to further oceanographic exploration. His best known work, Raise the Titanic! Was turned into a film in 1980.
Game designer Kazuhisa Hashimoto (b.1958) died on February 25. Hashimoto is best known for creating the Konami Code, which allows gamers to acquire extra lives in video games.
Children’s author Betsy Byars (b.1928) died on Feburary 26. Best known for the book Summer of the Swans, her genre works included The Winged Colt of Casa Mia, The Computer Nut, and McMummy.
Scientist Freeman Dyson (b.1923) died on February 28. A theoretical physicist and mathematician, Dyson’s concept of a sphere around a sun inspired numerous science fiction stories and novels.
Fan Frank Lunney (b.1952) died on February 28. Lunney was a best fanzine Hugo nominee in 1970 for editing Beabohema, which he published from 1968 to 1971. He later published the fanzine Syndrome on an occasional schedule.
Fan Kate Hatcher (b.1974) died on March 5. Hatcher was the chair of Spikecon, the combined 2019 NASFIC, Westercon 72, 1632 Minicon and Manticon. Prior to Spikecon, Hatcher was active in Utah fandom and conrunning for many years.
Malaysian fan Nesa Sivagnanam died on March 6. Sivagnanam was active in the Malaysian International Literature Society and attended conventions around the world. She edited 25 Malaysian Short Stories for Silverfish Books.
New York fan Ariel Makepeace Julienne Winterbreuke (b.c.1954) was found dead on March 8. Winterbreuke, who was also known as Abby, I Abra Cinii, and Ariel Cinii, was a contributor to APA-NYU, a filker, artist, and performer. She wrote the Touching Land’s Dance trilogy and was one of the first trans people in fandom. She once appeared on the $10,000 Pyramid, partnered with William Shatner.
Comic illustrator Allen Bellman (b.1924) died on March 9. Bellman began working for Timely Comics in 1942 and began working on early issues of Captain America and Human Torch. He stopped working on comics in 1953.
Georgian author Giwi Margwelaschwili (b.1927) died on March 13. Margwelaschwili was a philosopher and authors whose only work of genre interest was the novel Officer Pembry.
Belgian illustrator René Follet (b.1931) died on March 14. Follet’s first comic, an issue of Treasure Island, was published when he was 14. He went on to work on both Tintin and Spirou, making a career out of one-shot comics and short runs.
Netherlands fan Jan Veldhoen (b.1939) died on March 20. Veldhoen served as treasurer for the NCSF (Nederlands Contactcentrum voor Science Fiction) and for the King Kong Award/Paul Harland Prize.
Astronaut Al Worden (b.1932) died on March 18. Worden was the command module pilot on Apollo 15. On the return to earth, Worden performed the first deep space EVA. Worden detailed his experiences in the book Falling to Earth.
Comics writer and illustrator Albert Uderzo (b.1927) died on March 24. Uderzo was the co-founder and illustrator of the Astérix sieres. He also drew the comic Oumpa-pah.
Fan Dan Goodman died on March 26. Goodman was a St. Paul fan who was active in MNStf. He edited issues of Einblatt and was later a member of LASFS and FiSTFA.
Fan William Levy (b.1955) died on March 26 from an heart attack. Levy was active in a variety of areas, including work as an artist, writer, cartoonist, and game designer. In addition to his cartooning, Levy created the role-playing game Deep Sleep.
Game designer Brian J. Blume (b.1950) died on March 27 of Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Blume designed the game Boot Hill and wrote the AD&D Rogues Gallery.
Artist and author Tomie dePaola (b.1934) died on March 30, a week after suffering from a fall. DePaola was the author and illustrator of the Strega Nona series as well as numerous other books. DePaola won the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Medal.
Gamer Paul Cardwell, Jr. (b.c.1934) died on March 31. Cardwell served as the Chair of the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games and wrote articles in which he defended RPGs from hostile media coverage. He was a contributor to Alarums and Excursions.
British fan Brian Varley died on March 31 from COVID-19 complications. He had been attending conventions since Medcon in 1953 and wrote a column under the name Machiavarley that appeared in Ethel Lindsay’s fanzines.
Argentine comic book artist Juan Giménez (b.1943) died from COVID-19 complications on April 2. Giménez was a co-creator of The Metabarons and The Fourth Power.
Michigan fan Tom Barber (b.1949) died on April 4 from complications from COVID-19. Barber was active in the Dorsai Irregulars. He was active as a filker and chaired ConClave 1 and chaired or co-chaired several subsequent ConClaves. He chaired the 1986 ConFusion and was a GoH at the con in 2001.
Chinese comic book artist Rao Pingru (b.1922) died on April 4. Rao wrote and drew the comic Our Story following the death of his wife.
Bay area fan Tony Cratz (b.1955) died on April 5. Cratz was the Support Services Division head for ConJose and worked on other Bay area conventions as well, although he had backed away from fandom in recent years.
British artist Tim White (b.1952) died on April 5. White began painting book covers in 1974 with Arthur C. Clarke’s The Other Side of the Sky and went on to paint numerous other covers. His art was collected in The Science Fiction and Fantasy World of Tim White as well as later collections.
Fan JoAnn Wood died on April 5. Wood was the founder of the Connecticut Valley SF Society and an early member of NESFA. She was on the bid committee for 7 in ’77 and Hawaii in 1981. Her husband, Ed Wood, was one of the founders of Advent:Publishers.
Fan Al Fitzpatrick (b.) died on April 6 from COVID-complicated pneumonia. A native of England, Fitzpatrick was involved with Australian fandom and later MnStf.
Children’s author Jean Little (b.1932) died on April 6. Although Little wrote numerous books and stories, only a couple of them, “Without Beth” and Once Upon a Golden Apple are of genre interest.
Australian fan and bookseller Merv Binns (b.1924) died on April 7 following a lengthy illness. Binns was one of the founders of the Melbourne Science Fiction Group in 1952 and was one of the group’s driving forces. In 1971, he founded Space Age Books, which remained open until 1985. He published Australian Science Fiction News. Binns won the Big Heart Award in 2010.
Mad Magazine artist Mort Drucker (b.1929) died on April 8. Drucker drew for Mad for more than five decades, specializing in satires of films and television. He held the longest continuous tenure of any artist for the magazine.
Fan John Sardegna died in early April from complications from COVID-19 and pneumonia. Sardegna was a comic book fan and a frequent participant in the pro/fan trivia contest at San Diego Comic Con International.
Editor Keith Ferrell (b.1953) died on April 11. Ferrell wrote the biography H.G. Wells: Citizen of the Future and later became the Editor-in-Chief of OMNI magazine.
Boston fan Stacy Mandell (b.) died on April 12. Mandell became active in fandom and con-running at Stony Brook in 1977. She served as the president of the Science Fiction Forum and ran the soft-sculpture business Sleeping Dragon. She ran the Masquerade Green Room at Arisia as well.
Los Angeles fan Ken Rowand (b.1948) died on April 12. Rowand was diagnosed with kidney cancer late last year. Rowand interviewed Ralph McQuarrie for the zine Bantha Tracks. Rowand was a comics fan as well as a Star Wars fan. He is survived by his wife, Marta Strohl.
Brazilian author Rubem Fonseca (b.1925) died on April 15. Fonseca is the author of Corações solitários, which was translated into English as Lonelyhearts. Most of his works were non-genre and he tended toward being a recluse.
Fan D.J. Rowe (b.1937) died on April 19. Rowe’s appreciation of Michael Moorcock led to him running Nomads of the Time Stream, the first Moorcock fan club. Rowe published many articles in the club’s zine, The Time Centre Times.
Fan Hugh Casey (b.1964) died on April 21. Casey served as the President of PSFS, chaired two Philcons, and also served as programming chair for the convention. He was a guest of honor at 5 Pi-Con in 2010.
Chicago fan Shelagh Nikkel (b.1966) died on April 24 after a long battle with cancer. Nikkel began coordinating massages at Chicago area conventions when she was still in massage school, including at Chicagon 2000, and continued after she set up her own practice.
Author and editor Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (b.1955) died on April 24. Pulver edited the anthologies The Grimscribe’s Puppets and Cassilda’s Songs: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow Mythos.
Fan Reed Andrus died on April 25. His fanzines included Laughing Osiris and The Bull of the Seven Battles. He was a member of the National Fan Federation, contributing to Yesterday and Today.
Rare book librarian George McWhorter (b.1931) died on April 25. McWhorter developed and curated the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection at the University of Louisville and published the Burroughs Bulletin and the Gridley Wave.
Swedish bookstore manager Michael Svensson died in the spring. Svensson worked at SF-Bokhandeln. He was also a conrunner and fanzine editor and in 1986 won the Alvar Appeltoff Memorial Award.
Author Wally K. Daly (b.1940) died on April 30. Daly was primarily a playwright and screenwriter, but when his script “The Ultimate Evil” was cancelled for filming on Doctor Who, he turned it into a novel, which was later adapted by Big Finish.
Comic book writer Martin Pasko (b.Jan-Claude Rochefort, 1954) died on May 10. Pasko wrote Superman for various media, the script for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Doctor Fate. Other work including Thunfarr the Barbarian, The Tick, and scripts for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Twilight Zone, and Max Headroom.
Comic book writer Frank Bolle (b.1924) died on May 12. Bolle worked on Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom and Detective Comics. Many of his comics were westerns or romance, but he also inked about a dozen stories for Marvel.
D.C. area fan Barry Newton (b.1949) died from cancer on May 12. Barry wrote reviews for SFRevu and was an active con attendee and conrunner in the Washington, DC area.
Chinese author Ye Yonglie (b.1940) died on May 15. Ye began publishing science fiction in 1978 with Xiao Lington Manyou Weilai, and became known as one of the country’s foremost science popularizers. He was most active prior to 2000.
Montreal fan Alice Novo (b.1958) died on May 19. Novo was active in the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (MonSFFA) and wrote for the group’s fanzine, WARP. She was also involved in running conventions.
Academic Marshall B. Tymn (b.1937) died on May 24. Tymn was the founder of the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education and published numerous academic works, including A Director of Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing Houses and Book Dealers, The Teacher’s Guide to Science Fiction, and The Celebration of the Fantastic. In 1990, he received the Pilgrim Award from SFRA.
Academic Colin Manlove (b.1942) died on June 1. Manlove was a literary critic who wrote Modern Fantasy: Five Studies and Science Fiction: Ten Explorations. He wrote several volumes on C.S. Lewis as well as books on Harry Potter.
Screenwriter Bruce Jay Friedman (b.1930) died on June 3. Friedman wrote the film Splash and its sequel as well as the show Sniff. He also wrote the afterlife play Steambath.
Croatian translator Melina Benini (b.1966) died on June 4. Benini receved the SFERA Award six times and multiple Artefakt awards. She translated works by Guy Gavriel Kay, Terry Pratchett, Michael Moorcock, N.K. Jemisin, and Iain M. Banks from English into Croatian.
Comic editor Dennis O’Neill (1939) died on June 11. O’Neill worked on Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Batman, creating the characters Ra’s al Ghul and Talia al Ghul. He also served as editor-in-chief of DC Comics.
Author Stella Pevsner (b.1921) died on June 11. Pevsner was a children’s author whose works included Sister of the Quints and Is Everyone Moonburned But Me?
Fan and game designer Monica Stephens died on June 18. Stephens worked for Steve Jackson Games in nearly every capacity and helped Jackson make the first Munchkin test set. She was Jackson’s companion for 30 years, attending numerous conventions with him.
Author Carlos Ruiz Zafón (b.1964) died on June 19. Zafón was the author of The Shadow of the Wind.
Author Wendy Cooling (b.1941) died on June 23. Cooling established literacy programs in England and also wrote numerous children’s books in the Quids for Kids series, including Aliens to Earth and Weird and Wonderful.
Comic book artist Joe Sinnott (b.1926) died on June 25. Sinnott worked on various titles for Marvel, including Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Thor. He inked the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic.
Artist Milton Glaser (b.1929) died on June 26. Glasser co-founded New York Magazine and created the “I (heart) NY” logo. His genre contribution was to design the logo for DC Comics.
Artist Jim Holloway died on June 28. Holloway worked on interior illustrations for TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons books, and did the cover art for several of their games. He was the original artist for Paranoia and also worked for Pacesetter and Sovereign Press.
Fan Jomil Mulvey (b.1950) died on July 11 from COVID-19. A poet, she was also known as Lady Mare and Lady Elinor de la Paz.
(1) STATE GUIDANCE ISSUED FOR SF IN CHINA. Variety reports“China Issues Guidelines on Developing a Sci-Fi Film Sector”.
Chinese film authorities issued a new document outlining policy measures to boost the country’s production of science fiction movies.
Entitled “Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films,” the document highlights how the sci-fi genre fits into the ruling Communist Party’s broader ideological and technological goals. It was released earlier this month by China’s National Film Administration and the China Association for Science and Technology, a professional organization.
The document focuses on domestically developing pro-China science fiction film content and high-tech production capability. It comes in the wake of the country’s first VFX-heavy sci-fi blockbuster hit, “The Wandering Earth,” which remains the third highest grossing film of all time in the territory with a local box office of $691 million.
…To make strong movies, the document claims, the number one priority is to “thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought.” Based on the Chinese president’s past pronouncements on film work, filmmakers should follow the “correct direction” for the development of sci-fi movies. This includes creating films that “highlight Chinese values, inherit Chinese culture and aesthetics, cultivate contemporary Chinese innovation” as well as “disseminate scientific thought” and “raise the spirit of scientists.” Chinese sci-fi films should thus portray China in a positive light as a technologically advanced nation.
…Nevertheless, China’s lack of strong sci-fi is primarily due to a lack of innovative ideas and scripts, the document said. The country should focus on generating strong sci-fi scripts through talent incubators and prizes, and by urging film festivals to set up specific sci-fi film departments. The adaptation of sci-fi literature, animation and games should be encouraged to stimulate the production of new original content.
Elementary and middle school students should be made to watch “excellent sci-fi movies,” while universities should be urged to “strengthen the training of sci-fi related talent.”
(2) CANCELLATION CULTURE. David Brin writes much more about what he suspects in “The Postman speaks: Save the Post Office!”
Amid outcry over Republican efforts to wreck the U.S. Postal System, scientist/science-fiction author David Brin — author of the popular novel “The Postman” — offers a few tools and perspectives….
What Will They Do to Destroy the Mail?
Oh, these proto-Holnist traitors can be feral and clever. Here are some ways they have already — or plan to — sabotage our nation’s oldest institution.
(3) JOB DESCRIPTION. David Gerrold shared a free post on his Patreon: “I Am Not A Writer. I Am A Storyteller.”
…I have been accused of being a writer. I’m not. My 1962 writing instructor was right when he told me, “You can’t write. You’re wasting your time. You’ll never be a writer.”
He was right. I’m not a writer.
I’m a storyteller.
A story is — pay attention now, this is the good stuff — a story is about a person with a problem.
Let me repeat that. A STORY IS ABOUT A PERSON WITH A PROBLEM.
This is why stories are the essential part of human intelligence. Because all human beings have problems. We either defeat them or they defeat us.
But either way, we end up with a story about the problem.
The essential definition of a story is this: “Here’s a problem. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what did work. And here’s what I learned.” It’s that last phrase that’s important. The problem is an access to the lesson. Even if the problem didn’t get solved, the lesson is still critical. And if there is no lesson to be learned, then it wasn’t a real problem, just some stuff to be handled. (“I have to do the dishes,” isn’t a problem. Just do the damn dishes.)…
(4) COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND UPDATE. Graeme McMillan, in The Hollywood Reporter story “Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Attempts to Rebuild After Chief’s Exit” discusses how the fund is rebuilding after the departure of Charles Brownstein on sexual harassment charges.
On June 22, Charles Brownstein resigned from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund after serving as executive director for 18 years. The exit came following pressure from comic industry professionals as details of his alleged assault of creator Taki Soma 15 years earlier re-emerged online. More than a month after his departure, the CBLDF is attempting to rebuild both itself and trust from the comic book community.
In 2005, Soma reported to police that Brownstein assaulted her during the Mid-Ohio Con convention, with details becoming public the following year. In 2006, Brownstein admitted to the assault, calling it “a stupid, drunken prank, of which I’m ashamed” in a public statement, although he kept his position inside the CBLDF following an independent third party investigation.
… “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a response from the fund that would make me feel comfortable supporting them after Brownstein’s departure,” Batman writer James Tynion IV told The Hollywood Reporter. “I want to see who they put forward as the voice of the fund, and see what kind of work they’re open to doing to make a better community. Until they do that, I’ll be a skeptical observer, and my money will keep going to the [another comic book non-profit] Hero Initiative, where I can see measurably good work being done.”
Harrow County artist Tyler Crook is also skeptical about the continued viability of the organization.
“I’m very glad to see Brownstein gone, but I won’t be supporting them until after we see what changes they make to reform the organization,” said Crook, adding that Brownstein remaining with the organization for so many years despite his alleged behavior identified structural problems that need to be addressed. “Right now, I’m feeling pretty pessimistic about the CBLDF’s ability to change. I think our industry might be better served with a new, organization built on stronger foundations and with a stronger moral compass.”
Calvin Reid, in “Trexler Named Interim CBLDF Executive Director” in Publishers Weekly, says that Jeff Trexler has been named interim director.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has appointed Jeff Trexler its interim director, effective immediately. He succeeds Charles Brownstein, who resigned from the position in June after allegations of assault leveled against him resurfaced.
Trexler will oversee and update the CBLDF’s operations and its mission. He will also be charged with restoring the organization’s credibility and stature in the comics community after the departure of Brownstein, who held the executive director position at CBLDF for 18 years.
“The original mission of CBLDF is one I passionately support as a longtime member of the comics community,” Trexler said in a statement. “This is a time of evolution for the organization, and I am honored to be a part of it.”
Before joining the CBLDF, Trexler was associate director of the Fashion Law Institute. He is a member of the ethics committee at Kering Americas, and has served on the board of the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art. Trexler is also a lifelong comics fan as well as a lawyer, and has provided legal analysis on a variety of issues surrounding the comics industry….
(5) FULL COURT PRESS. “CBS Beats Copyright Claims Over ‘Star Trek: Discovery’” – Bloomberg Law has the story.
A story arc about a giant tardigrade in “Star Trek: Discovery” didn’t infringe a copyright in an unreleased video game that also featured a giant tardigrade, the Second Circuit affirmed Monday.
Many elements of the work that CBS Broadcasting Corp. and Netflix Corp. allegedly infringed covered uncopyrightable scientific facts and ideas about tardigrades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said.
Anas Osama Ibrahim Abdin owns a copyright in the “distillation” of the concept for his video game “Tardigrades,” a compilation of images, descriptions, and illustrations detailing the game’s characters and backstory. It features a space-station botanist who travels through space after being absorbed into a giant tardigrade, based on the real-life microscopic creature that can endure extreme heat, cold, pressure, and radiation.
Three episodes in the first season of CBS’ “Star Trek: Discovery” also involve a space encounter with a massive tardigrade-like creature, and Abdin sued CBS for copyright infringement in Manhattan federal court. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed Abdin’s claims in September.
The Second Circuit affirmed that CBS and Netflix—which is licensed to air “Discovery” outside of the U.S.—didn’t infringe because the works aren’t substantially similar. Abdin’s use of tardigrades largely wasn’t copyrightable, the court said.
“Abdin’s space-traveling tardigrade is an unprotectable idea because it is a generalized expression of a scientific fact—namely, the known ability of a tardigrade to survive in space,” the court said. “By permitting Abdin to exclusively own the idea of a space-traveling tardigrade, this Court would improperly withdraw that idea from the public domain and stifle creativity naturally flowing from the scientific fact that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of space.”…
(6) WELL WORTH YOUR TIME. [Based on notes from John Hertz.] Roberta Pournelle left our stage on August 3, 2020.
There was no public church service and no public interment. Her remains were laid to rest at Forest Lawn on August 14th, as it happens not far from OGH’s father’s.
“Roberta Jane Isdell Pournelle, 16 June 1936–3 August 2020” is Jennifer Pournelle’s eulogy.
… I was hardly an “only child,” and I’m not merely referring to my wonderful brothers. Roberta taught in schools where most would not. She taught kids who were guilty of being poor, or black, or Latinx, or homeless. or abused, or dyslexic, or otherwise illiterate and/or desperate. Kids with “form,” kids with little future; kids who were pregnant or fathers or incarcerated for crimes real or imagined and precious little hope of anger management. The kids nobody wanted. The kids dismissed as “juvvies.” The kids about whom precious few truly, actually, cared.
Advised to leave, advised to cease, advised that her talents lay elsewhere, she taught on. She was there….
(7) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
August 18, 1950 — Destination Moon, produced by Geotge Pal, premiered in the United Kingdom. It would be voted a Retro Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation at the Millennium Philcon. It was directed by Irving Pichel from the screenplay by Alford Van Ronkel and Robert A. Heinlein and James O’Hanlon. It’s based off Robert A. Heinlein‘s Rocketship Galileo novel. It starred John Archer, Warner Anderson, Erin O’Brien-Moore, Tom Powers and Dick Wesson. Mainstream critics usually didn’t like but Asimov said In Memory Yet Green that it was “the first intelligent science-fiction movie made.” Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give it a mediocre 48% rating. It is not in the public domain but the trailers are and here is one for you.
(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
(9) COMICS SECTION.
(10) FACE THE MUSIC. Stephen Colbert repurposed the last Avengers movie trailer:
(11) CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE. David Langford’s contribution didn’t make it into the CoNZealand edition of Worldcon Order Of Fan-Editors (W.O.O.F.) for whatever reason, so he posted it on his own site: Cloud Chamber #164.
(12) FIRST CABIN. George R.R. Martin told Not A Blog readers he’s “Back in Westeros”.
…But some decades ago, wanting more solitude, I bought the house across the street and made THAT my writer’s retreat. No longer would I write all day in my red flannel bathrobe; now I would have to dress and put on shoes and walk all the way across the street to write. But that worked for a while.
Things started getting busier, though. So busy that I needed a full-time assistant. Then the office house had someone else in it, not just me and my characters. And then I hired a second assistant, and a third, and… there was more mail, more email, more phone calls (we put in a new phone system), more people coming by. By now I am up to five assistants… and somewhere in there I also acquired a movie theatre, a bookstore, a charitable foundation, investments, a business manager… and…
Despite all the help, I was drowning till I found the mountain cabin.
My life up here is very boring, it must be said. Truth be told, I hardly can be said to have a life. I have one assistant with me at all times (minions, I call them). The assistants do two-week shifts, and have to stay in quarantine at home before starting a shift. Everyone morning I wake up and go straight to the computer, where my minion brings me coffee (I am utterly useless and incoherent without my morning coffee) and juice, and sometimes a light breakfast. Then I start to write. Sometimes I stay at it until dark. Other days I break off in late afternoon to answer emails or return urgent phone calls….
(13) SFWA. “SFWA Announces New Communications Manager”, Rebecca Gomez Farrell.
… The Communications Manager will lead SFWA’s communications initiatives to produce high-quality content to engage both SFWA members and potential members within the SF/F community, as well as expand the organization’s brand recognition.
… SFWA Executive Director Kate Baker said, “Because of the nebulous nature of the organization, and because our members are located around the world, having a steady and engaging presence via social media is more important than ever. I am thrilled that Rebecca has joined the organization to help shape our messaging, to build upon the excellent work done by past volunteers, and to promote not only the organization and its members, but communicate what is important to all SF/F writers, wherever they may be. Please join us in welcoming Rebecca to the team!”
“Since joining in 2012,” said Gomez Farrell, “my fiction career has benefited greatly from the events and services SFWA offers its members, but most importantly, from the community we share. I’m thrilled to lend my skills in new media communication to fostering more of that community for my fellow members.”
(14) SPECTRUM. The new Spectrum Advisory board was announced on Muddy Colors. Arnie Fenner listed the names with short bios at the link.
….it’s Cathy’s and my pleasure today to present in alphabetical order our new Spectrum Advisory board!
… Talk about a Dream Team!
And what exactly does the Spectrum Advisory Board do? Well, they have two primary jobs: the first is to nominate, debate, and ultimately select each year’s Grand Master honoree. (I wrote about the criteria for the Grand Master Award in a previous Muddy Colors post for anyone that’s curious.) It’s a big responsibility, for sure, but the Board’s second job is even more difficult and crucial:
Job #2 is to help us not be stupid.
Cathy and I started Spectrum because of a sincere love for fantastic art in whatever guise it takes and a desire to help creators receive the recognition and respect we felt they deserved. Spectrum quickly became a welcoming home, a community, and a family, for all artists regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality, politics, or ethnicity, a celebration of diversity and imagination. Though we’re moving a little slower and our energy isn’t what it once was, that love and that purpose are as strong in us today as they were when we first began 27 years ago. But time and technology march on and nothing survives in a vacuum: with so many changes and challenges, with so many societal minefields to traverse, we count on our Advisory Board to help us avoid the avoidable mistakes (as best anyone can) and better serve the community as a whole….
(15) STAND UP, EMPTY POCKETS. The “Stand Still. Stay Silent. – Book 3” Kickstarter appeal invites donors to “Help us print the third book of Minna Sundberg’s award-winning Nordic fantasy and adventure webcomic Stand Still. Stay Silent.” There being a lot of people wanting to lock down a copy of the book, they have raised $198,054 of their $35,000 goal with 26 days to go.
An underfunded, questionably selected, rag-tag team of explorers are assembled and launched into the unknown in a search for information and relics of the Old World – hopefully valuable relics. Stand Still. Stay Silent. follows six people (and a cat) on a journey filled with adventure, camaraderie and Nordic mythology. Who knows what they might find on their journey… and what they might lose.
(16) CATCHING UP. Nnedi Okorafor’s new book was released today – just in time for one feline’s appreciation.
(17) ALWAYS NEWS TO SOMEONE, Let File 770 be the last to tell you what Yahoo! Life was the next to last to tell you: “Somehow We All Just Figured Out Where Gandalf Keeps His Pipe”.
Nearly two decades years after the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, fans are still discovering new things in Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There’s a lot of material to cover, with the three lengthy theatrical releases further extended in their home video editions. Which is why it’s so surprising that, all these years later, people keep spotting one particular detail for the first time.
We’re talking about Gandalf’s pipe, specifically where he keeps it…
(18) REAR VIEW. “Why did scientists paint eyes on hundreds of cattle butts? To save lives, study says”.
For four years, researchers painted fake eyes on hundreds of cattle butts for the sake of science. What seems like a silly prank, the “eye-cow technique” proved lifesaving for the animals as it made predators rethink their attack, choosing another meal instead.
The scientists say their method is a more humane and “ecologically sound” alternative to lethal control and fencing used to separate cattle from carnivores. The team even theorizes the technique could be used to prevent human-wildlife conflicts and reduce criminal activity, according to a news release. A study was published Aug. 7 in the journal Communications Biology.
“The eye-cow technique is one of a number of tools that can prevent carnivore-livestock conflict—no single tool is likely to be a silver bullet. Indeed we need to do much better than a silver bullet if we are to ensure the successful coexistence of livestock and large carnivores,” study co-author Dr. Neil Jordan, a researcher with the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, said in the news release.
“But we’re hoping this simple, low-cost, non-lethal approach could reduce the costs of coexistence for those farmers bearing the brunt,” he added.
Eye patterns can be found — naturally — on butterflies, fish, molluscs, amphibians and birds to scare predators away. Images of eyes have even been shown to reduce bike theft in people, a 2012 study showed. But no mammals are known to possess eye-shaped patterns on their coats.
So, in the Okavango Delta of Botswana in Southern Africa, where livestock and lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs and wild dogs coexist, such a deceptive tactic could save animals from their death sentence, the researchers thought.
(19) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Honest Trailers: The Old Guard” on YouTube, the Screen Junkies take on the latest film from Netflix designed to “make you look up from your phone for two minutes so it counts as a view.” The film featured Charlize Theron leading a group of “illumi-hotties” who, although they’re thousands of years old, haven’t come up with a cool catchphrase.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter, JJ, Cat Eldridge, Lise Andreasen, Chip Hitchcock, John Hertz, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Bill Higgins, Hampus Eckerman, Daniel Dern, Michael Toman, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W. (I had to come back and use the other half of Kip’s 2018 verse.)]
By Cat Eldridge: In honor of Ellen Datlow sharing the cover for Best Horror of the Year, Volume Twelve, let’s note that the first volume in what would be the long-running award-winning Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror anthology series was published in August of 1988. It wasn’t called that but was titled The Year’s Best Fantasy: First Annual Collection. Cover art here as it was for all twenty-one volumes is by Tom Canty. It was edited by her and Terri Windling as it would be for the next sixteen years until Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link would take over for Windling for the last five volumes.
As a reviewer would note of a later volume, “…the essays at the beginning are fascinating: Summation of Fantasy 1993 by Windling; Summation of Horror 1993 by Datlow; Comics by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull; Horror and Fantasy in the Media by Edward Bryant.” I don’t remember if the first volume had the summations but I’ll ask Ellen. (Some hours later and after a long email conversation of fiction, living spaces and dark chocolate.) Yes, she says that they’ve always had the summations.
Oh, the authors you ask. Just look at the cover below. It’s a fair representation of the writers found in the series but I couldn’t summarize the diversity of those whose writings are here as Datlow and Windling over their sixteen volumes would find writers and fiction of an amazing breadth, often delving into literary publications for these works that were delightfully obscure. Harlan Ellison and Jane Yolen are here, but so are Natalie Babbit, author of Tuck Everlasting, and Kathryn Ptacek, later winner of two Stokers, who I’d never heard at that point but who turned out to be delightful writers. Did I mention there’s a Alan Moore Liavek novella here?
The first volume won a World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology and the series would eventually win a total of three World Fantasy Awards and a Stoker. You won’t find them being offered up in digital form as the packager has said in an email to me when I asked if that was planned that they didn’t secure digital rights when the original author contracts were done.
A hallowed series was off to a very fine start. If you’ve not read it, the trade paper edition can be had rather reasonably.
David Steffen has launched a Kickstarter appeal to publish Long List Anthology Volume 6, designed to celebrate more of the fiction loved by the Hugo Award voting audience.
Every year, science fiction and fantasy fans vote for their favorite works for the Hugo Award, and the winners of those are chosen at Worldcon in a different city every year (if you think that sounds cool, it is, and you should get involved as much as you want to, the rules for the award are fan-voted too if you can attend Worldcon). After the Hugo Awards each year, the World Science Fiction Society (who administer the award) publishes a longer list of works that fans cast nomination votes for. The works on the ballot get a lot of attention — but these other stories were also loved by so many fans, and the purpose of this anthology is to help more readers find them.
The starting point for Volume 6 is the 2020 Hugo voting report. Steffen notes, “This project is not endorsed by nor affiliated with the Hugo awards, WSFS, Worldcon, or any associated entities. The Hugo name is used with permission.”
Backers have already pledged $956 of its initial $1,850 goal with 23 days to go.
The cover art is by Jorge Jacinto.
WHAT STORIES WILL BE IN THE ANTHOLOGY?
Short Stories (base goal with digital-only rewards, $1850)
Novelettes(stretch goal at cost to be determined, trying to finalize some details with a service that can handle add-on rewards with shipping)
Further stretch goals:
…novellas if 1 or more can be confirmed (these are queried one by one, and reprint rights tend to be less available, so they tend to take longer
THE LONG LIST ANTHOLOGY BOOK CLUB. A new facet to the Long List Anthology this year, they will be running a discussion group on the Kickstarter where “backers can come together, discuss the individual stories, and share their thoughts and reactions.” Everybody backing at the $15 level and up will have access.
[Thanks to JJ and Standback for the link.]
Mark R. Kelly has been probing for books to consider for his next Black Gate column.
For Edgar Pangborn, I thought to start with his first, West Of The Sun, which I have a copy of, now sitting on my table where my cat, Potsticker, is lying, stretched out in the Bay Area heat.
And looking through my stacks, I realize I have the Old Earth Books edition, courtesy Michael J. Walsh from nearly 20 years ago. And Potsticker is sitting up.
Photos of your felines resting on genre works are welcome. Send to mikeglyer (at) cs (dot) com
The Speculative Literature Foundation has awarded its 2019 Working Class Writers Grant to Carrie Callahan.
The $1,000 Working Class Grant is intended to assist working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to the financial barriers that have made it much harder for them to access the writing world. SLF created the annual grant in 2013.
Callahan received the grant for her short story “The Zombie in the Yard.” She is also the recipient of a 2019 Writers of the Future Award for her short story “Dirt Road Magic,” which appears in Writers of the Future Volume 35.
Callahan has described her writing as Dirt Spec, or speculative fiction about people who are economically disadvantaged, inspired by her own background. She says that she “strives to portray these people with nuance even amid space wars, zombie invasions, and magical school graduations.”
[Based on a press release. Via Locus Online. Note: Two different award years are given in the press release. The SLF grant winners list indicates this is the 2019 grant.]
(1) BUSIEK LIVE. Filer Kurt Busiek will be interviewed by Mark Evanier. The livestream starts August 18 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific.
Just two comic book writers sitting around, hundreds of miles apart, talking about comics. Mark Evanier chats with his pal Kurt Busiek about the comic book field and what some people don’t understand about it.
(2) STAMPING IT OUT. In the Washington Post, retired admiral William H. McRaven, who served as the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011-14, says that the 1997 movie The Postman is a fairly accurate description of the problems America faces in 2020. “Trump is actively working to undermine the Postal Service — and every major U.S. institution”.
In the 1997 film “The Postman,” set in post-apocalyptic America, Kevin Costner plays a drifter trying to restore order to the United States by providing one essential service, mail delivery. In the story, hate crimes, racially motivated attacks and a plague have caused the breakdown of society as we know it. In his quest to restore order and dignity to the nation, the Postman tries to recruit other postal workers to help rebuild the U.S.?government. But Costner’s character is opposed by the evil General Bethlehem, who is fighting to suppress the postal carriers so he can establish a totalitarian government. Fortunately, our hero, gaining inspiration from the motto, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night,” fights on against Bethlehem and saves the country.Not surprisingly, the movie was panned by critics and was a financial disaster. I mean really, racial strife and a plague so bad that it threatened our society? And even if that happened, who would try to destroy the Postal Service? Where do they come up with these crazy plots?
In retrospect, maybe we should give the movie another look. Today, as we struggle with social upheaval, soaring debt, record unemployment, a runaway pandemic, and rising threats from China and Russia, President Trump is actively working to undermine every major institution in this country….
(3) EXTRAS. After Hastings author Steven H Silver, who shared “The Novels I Didn’t Write” with File 770 readers today, has collected this essay, the related ones published at John Scalzi’s and Mary Robinette Kowal’s blogs and Black Gate, as well as the information from his After Hastings website into a chapbook that is available for $3 plus postage (also available as a pdf). Silver says, “People interested can e-mail me. It runs to about 10,000 words.” Contact him at: [email protected]
(4) TERRY PRATCHETT ON THE EXPENSIVENESS OF POVERTY. [Item by rcade.] A passage from the legendary Terry Pratchett is making the rounds on Twitter as a lesson on why being poor costs a lot of money:
It’s from his 2003 Discworld novel Men at Arms and also turns up in Sarah Skwire’s article for The Library of Economics and Liberty “Buying Boots”.
It’s not clear whether Ankh-Morpork has a functioning credit system. (Paper money doesn’t appear in the city until Making Money, the 40th novel in the series, for example). It’s also not clear–given the general rough and tumble aspects of Ankh-Morpork’s “business” community–whether borrowing money is a particularly safe notion.
And here on Moneywise as an illustration of why poor people can’t save money: “Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness”.
Captain Vimes from Discworld knew that he should buy the good boots, but he simply couldn’t afford it. This problem can be delayed by access to credit, but it’s not the solution, nor should it be. Those with less immediate access to money can make their lives easier with proper use of credit, budgeting, personal savings, and frugal purchasing.
(5) STARING AT THE HORIZON. [Item by Olav Rokne.] Miles Surrey at The Ringer pays tribute to one of the classics of dark 1990s science fiction cinema, and tries to explain the enduring appeal of a movie that barely rates a 30 per cent on Metacritic. “One of the key reasons something as wicked as Event Horizon holds rewatch value: As long as you can stomach the gore, Dr. Weir’s (Sam Neil) pivot from sympathetic scientist to full-blown emissary of hell is a campy tour de force.” “’Hell Is Only a Word’: The Enduring Terror of ‘Event Horizon’”.
For films that feature a character descending into madness, it’s all about the look. Jack Torrance, staring out into the endless blizzard outside the Overlook Hotel; Travis Bickle, shaving his head into a Mohawk; Colonel Kurtz, moving out of the shadows of his decaying temple. Sometimes, a striking image tells you everything you need to know. For Sam Neill’s character in a criminally overlooked horror film from 1997, it’s the sight of him sitting in the captain’s chair of a doomed spaceship, having torn out his own eyes.
“Where we’re going,” he says, “we won’t need eyes to see.”
(6) FUTURE AURORA AWARDS. At the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association annual general meeting over the weekend it was decided that the current Short Fiction category would be split into two awards for 2021. The new categories will be: Short Story for works that have less than 7,500 words and Novelette/Novella for works that have a word counts between 40,000 and 7,500.
The 2021 award ceremony will be held in Ottawa at Can-Con. It was also decided that the 2022 Auroras would be again be held in Calgary at When Words Collide.
(7) YOU’RE FIRED. “The Week Old Hollywood Finally, Actually Died” – the New York Times ran the obituary.
For decades, the best thing about being a Hollywood executive, really, was how you got fired. Studio executives would be gradually, gently, even lovingly, nudged aside, given months to shape their own narratives and find new work, or even promoted. When Amy Pascal was pushed out of Sony Pictures in 2015, she got an exit package and production deal worth a reported $40 million.
That, of course, was before streaming services arrived, upending everything with a ruthless logic and coldhearted efficiency.
That was never more clear than on Aug. 7, when WarnerMedia abruptly eliminated the jobs of hundreds of employees, emptying the executive suite at the once-great studio that built Hollywood, and is now the subsidiary of AT&T. In a series of brisk video calls, executives who imagined they were studio eminences were reminded that they work — or used to work — at the video division of a phone company. The chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment, Bob Greenblatt, learned that he’d been fired the morning of the day the news broke, two people he spoke to told me. Jeffrey Schlesinger, a 37-year company veteran who ran the lucrative international licensing business, complained to friends that he had less than an hour’s notice, two other people told me.
(8) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
(10) COMICS SECTION.
(11) FOCUS. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America listed Focus on the Family Clubhouse in its August 2020 Market Report. (The Google cache file to the listing is here while it lasts.) The listing has been withdrawn.
(12) THE END IS HERE.
(13) BUT IS IT EXCELLENT? Parade Magazine interviewed the talent: “Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Open Up About Their Excellent Adventures in Bill & Ted Face the Music “.
Why do you think the first Bill & Ted became an almost instant cult classic?
Reeves: I think there’s an originality to it—the script, the words and the voices of these characters that had a friendship, a sincerity and an indomitable will. They’re clever, there’s a lot of heart to them, they’re funny and unique.
Winter: Even when we first got the script when we were young, it was that dichotomy of the language being very ornate while the characters are kind of childlike. The writers and producers found it funny that we were taking the language so seriously. But then it’s packed with a lot of stuff, a lot of characters. The movie moves like a freight train.
(14) SOME VOLUME AIR CONDITIONING. A departing research group leader leaves a note “To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab”.
…I’m leaving the note because the previous occupant left me a note of sorts. I was working here late one night. I looked up above my desk and saw a visegrip pliers attached to part of the HVAC system. I climbed up to investigate and found a brief note telling the MIT facilities department that the air conditioning had been disabled (using the vice grips, I presume) as part of a research project and that one should contact him with any questions.
That helped explain one of the peculiarities of the office. When I moved in, attached to the window was a contraption that swallowed the window handle and could be operated with red or green buttons attached to a small circuitboard. Press the green button and the window would open very, very slowly. Red would close it equally slowly. I wondered whether the mysterious researcher might be able to remove it and reattach the window handle. So I emailed him….
(15) CALIFORNIA IS SMOKIN’ AGAIN. They could use more A/C here: “‘Highest temperature on Earth’ as Death Valley, US hits 54.4C”. Also a picture of the “firenado” in Northern California.
What could be the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth – 130F (54.4C) – may have been reached in Death Valley National Park, California.
The recording is being verified by the US National Weather Service.
It comes amid a heatwave on the US’s west coast, where temperatures are forecast to rise further this week.
The scorching conditions have led to two days of blackouts in California, after a power plant malfunctioned on Saturday.
“It’s an oppressive heat and it’s in your face,” Brandi Stewart, who works at Death Valley National Park, told the BBC.
Ms Stewart has lived and worked at the national park on and off for five years. She spends a lot of her time indoors in August because it’s simply too uncomfortable to be outside.
“When you walk outside it’s like being hit in the face with a bunch of hairdryers,” she said. “You feel the heat and it’s like walking into an oven and the heat is just all around you.”
More in the New York Times about these: “Fire Tornadoes Reported in Northern California Wildfire” (same picture as in the BBC story.)
The National Weather Service said it was planning to investigate reports of a rare occurrence of fire tornadoes arising on Saturday from a 20,000-acre wildfire in Northern California.
Dawn Johnson, a meteorologist with the service in Reno, Nev., said on Sunday that the agency had received reports of fire tornadoes in an area of Lassen County, Calif., about 25 miles northwest of Reno.
“It’s not like a typical tornado where it happens, everything clears out and you safely go and investigate,” Ms. Johnson said. “In this case, there’s a massive wildfire burning in the same location, so the logistics are a lot more complicated.”Doppler radar showed at least five rotation signatures, but Ms. Johnson said she could not confirm that they would all be classified as fire tornadoes.
(16) PANDEMIC PROTECTION + SECOND AMENDMENT = ? “The Hero We Need Built a Gun That Shoots Masks Onto People’s Faces” — Gizmodo introduces him to the world. The GIF at the top of the article is…I admit it, I laughed.
(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” on ScreenRant, Ryan George says this film has characters rolling around in hamster balls, and if you lean the wrong way you’ll die!
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Olav Rokne, rcade, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Clifford Samuels, Chip Hitchcock, John Hertz, Cat Eldridge, Michael Toman, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Chris S.]
DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington, D.C., has created the Capitalize! Fan Fund as the first step in their overall diversity and inclusivity initiatives. It will help fans, staff, and program participants from marginalized communities to attend DisCon III.
The fund will assist BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or groups historically underrepresented within the Worldcon community, as well as local DC fans of limited financial means. The committee says, “One of the most important ways to ensure a fabulous Worldcon is to have participants and attendees as diverse as fandom itself.”
Washington, D.C.’s population is about 45% Black or African American.
DisCon III is seeding Capitalize! with 20 memberships that will be discounted for Washington, DC area residents or given out to fans and participants from marginalized communities, who have limited financial means, or who suffer from other barriers to attendance. Fans seeking assistance from Capitalize! will be able to apply to the fund from October 2020.
Beginning immediately, the committee is asking for support for Capitalize! through financial contributions to help open the doors to fandom. A donation button is here.
Funds donated to Capitalize! will be used to provide memberships and travel stipends in the amount of $500 to fans and participants who are BIPOC, LGBTQ, and/or from other groups that have been historically underrepresented within the Worldcon community. The stipend amount represents our estimate of average accommodation expenses for someone in a shared double room, but stipends can be used as needed by the recipient for travel expenses. Depending on the level of funds contributed, DisCon III will offer this assistance to as many eligible attendees from marginalized communities living outside the Washington, DC region as we can.
Although we recognize that this does not address all of the reasons these fans have not participated in the past, DisCon III wishes to lessen the financial barriers of attendance for fans from these groups and enable them to join the big tent that we call Worldcon.
How to Apply for Assistance: Applications will be taken starting October 15, The FAQ states —
If you fall into one of the above two groups (i.e living in Washington, DC or within 20 miles of the city borders and/or self-identifying as a member of a marginalized group within Worldcon fandom), and want to seek assistance from Capitalize! to attend DisCon III, you will be able to apply via this web site from October 15. If you check the box indicating that you wish to be a program participant, please also complete our Program Participant Application.
All applications and awards will be kept strictly confidential. Our goal is to help as many people as possible through Capitalize! If we are unable to meet all requests for expenses or discounted memberships due to insufficient donations, then we (or a partner organization we bring on to help administer Capitalize!) will attempt to assist as many people as possible.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning in March 2021 with priority given to those fans for whom DisCon III would be their first Worldcon and those with multiple barriers to attendance. Stipends will begin being awarded in late spring 2021, based upon funding availability within Capitalize!.
The DisCon III Fan Fund seeks to follow up the successes of the Worldcon 76 Mexicanx Initiative and the Fantastic Dublin Fund.
DisCon III is a project of the Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association, Inc., a US-based 501(c)(3) charity (EIN: 52-1936731). Donations may be tax deductible depending on your individual situation.
[Based on a press release.]