The five Philip K. Dick Award judges for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original format in the United States in the 2021 award year are:
John P. Murphy 30 Peaslee Rd Merrimack NH 03054-4517 ebooks in .mobi format to [email protected]
Kelly Robson 96 Saint Patrick Street, Suite 315 Toronto, ON M5T 1V2 Canada ebooks in .mobi format to [email protected]
David M. Sandner 1530 Ponderosa Ave Fullerton, CA 92835-2039 ebooks in .epub or .pdf format to [email protected]
Allen Steele PO Box 299 Whatley MA 01093-0299 ebooks in .mobi format to [email protected]
Molly Tanzer c/o J. Campanella 1310 Carriage Dr. Longmont, CO 80501-8921 ebooks in .mobi format to [email protected]
Publishers who issue eligible titles during the calendar year 2021 are encouraged to provide copies to each of the judges as the books are published during the year. (All works of science fiction published originally in the United States as paperbacks during the year 2021 are eligible.) The nominees will be announced in January 2022.
The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the award ceremony is sponsored by the Northwest Science Fiction Society. The 2020 award for work published in 2019 was given to Sooner Or Later Everything Falls Into The Sea: Stories by Sarah Pinsker (publisher: Small Beer Press) with a special citation to The Little Animals by Sarah Tolmie (Aqueduct Press). The 2021 award will be announced on April 2, 2021 at Norwescon 43.
[Introduction: Wolf von Witting is the editor of the fanzine CounterClock, full of information about Europe’s science fiction fandom, its history and future.]
By Wolf von Witting: A phenomenon reported to me on this day, prompted me to write this account. My interest in this subject grew gradually. Over twenty years ago, as I was emptying the washing machine I pulled out a dry and dirty sock among the wet, clean laundry. For a moment I stood dumbfounded with sock in hand. I tried to grasp what I had just experienced and how to explain it. It is not exactly the kind of thing which merits an article by itself.
This thought also crossed my mind while I still held the sock.
I assumed that the sock must have been on top of the machine. I didn’t see it. When I opened the hatch, it must have fallen down and bounced on the hatch into the machine. I didn’t see that either. But it is the only rational explanation and a fully satisfactory one.
Since then I have observed a number of phenomena I have been unable to explain. And some occurrences which have been resolved. There was a painting which slid down the wall. It happened in the next room, but I was facing the door and saw when it fell. It slid straight down along the wall and positioned itself between the furniture supporting our TV and the wall. My fiancé stood with her back to the open door. She only heard it fall. At first, none of us expected it to be strange at all. I went to pick up the painting and looked at its back. No, the wire it had been hanging on was intact. So, the nail must be… No! The nail was still in the wall. What the…?!
This mystery was solved after 12 years. I told a colleague about it and he said that maybe the painting wasn’t hanging on the wire to begin with, but on the frame itself. First chance I had to examine the painting again, I turned it around and scrutinized its backpiece. Yup, my colleague’s theory held up well. There was even a mark from the hook.
If memory serves, it was in 2002, I saw a rare phenomenon called a moonbow. I only descibed what I saw. I didn’t know what it was and very few on this planet have ever seen one. I had to wait nine years before I found out what it was.
Another solved mystery was that of the vanishing pancake. A friend of mine, by profession police officer, was standing at his stove, frying pancakes. As we both did with pancakes, we flipped them around in the air. So did my friend on this day.
His mystery was that the pancake never came back down. It vanished. There was no trace of it.
He had his suspicions but didn’t pursue the matter at the time. The conundrum was solved after nine months as his family of two was moving to another apartment. When they pulled away the oven from the wall, the pancake was found standing upright between the stove and the workbench next to it. It had turned green. The pancake had come down exactly in the narrow opening between stove and workbench, like a coin dropping down a slot and not left the slightest trace.
This story was told to me, as I began to investigate “paranormal experiences”. I phrased myself as follows: “Have you ever experienced anything you can’t explain? If so, then please describe the event. Eerie coincidences were among the least remarkable events I was told.
But it puzzled me, that some mature people and elderly had seen one, two or more strange things, while others had seen none. Ever. And they were not inclined to believe in any such occurrences either. My supposition was that people who consciously or subconsciously fear the unknown, immediately suppress a weird, unusual occurrence because their rational mind can’t explain it. Almost instantly after, they don’t remember anything weird happened.
Location, south Sweden, farmland. Number of observers: 1 – A man was in his youth chopping wood in a woodshed. Suddenly he felt the axe being pulled out of his hands from behind. There was no one there. He held his hands over his head and ran out of the shed, afraid the axe would come back down somehow. It started to get dark and he didn’t return to the shed until the next day. The chopped logs were gathered and piled, but the axe was never found.
Location, north-east Italy, small town. Number of observers 2 – A few days ago, two women were out walking, in the middle of the day. Ahead of them was a beautiful white cloud in the clear blue sky. Suddenly the cloud pulsated. It looked big, then small, then big again, small again, big again. While they were looking at it. Both saw it. It was as if the cloud suddenly twice moved into the distance. The observation took less than a minute and the transition was instant, not gradual.
I can speculate, but I don’t know for certain what weird tricks the atmosphere can play on the eyes.
A possible explanation should not raise additional questions or be attributed to gods, demons or aliens. There are plenty of inexplicable phenomena and none of them are evidence of visitors from outer space or supernatural beings. Not that I wish to exclude any such possibility exists. I just find it reasonable to look for less spectacular explanations first. It doesn’t make it boring. And we are not crazy.
Location, Stockholm, railway station. Observer 1 – As we arrived in town, I had to urgently visit the bathroom. I rushed into the station and towards the emergency exit for male employees. As I was in reach of the door, the door itself conveniently swung open and I could release the pressure on my bladder shortly after. As I turned around I stopped at the door. It was not an automatic door. There was no device to move it. The door was hanging on regular hinges. There was nothing to cause it to move by itself. But it did. I swear it did! I have never been able to explain it. The easiest explanation, is that I was hallucinating it. It was only me there, so no one else could have observed it.
Location, south Sweden, farmland. Observers 3 (one of them being the axe man). The attic in the main house was a spooky place. The walls appeared to be glowing in the dark. Sometimes it was heard a sound as if someone was trying to tune in a channel on the radio and sometimes in the night, footsteps were heard from the attic. They told a neighbor about this and he just laughed. “Tear down the wallpaper, he said. You will find your explanation.” They did so.
It turned out this very old wallpaper contained a type of glue with phosphorus in it. This explained the glowing. Under a wooden beam they found a porcelain cup hanging with two metal wires going into it. When a gush of wind moved the cup, the wires created this eerie sound of someone turning the dial on an old radio.
One day they had a guest who had a trained police dog with him. The steps were heard again from above and the dog went to the stairway leading up to the attic and stood there growling. The owner had never seen his dog behave this way before. He went up the stairs and into the attic. He found nothing. The footsteps were never explained.
Even when a story doesn’t have an explanation. This is not evidence for the existence of a ghost. We don’t know what it was and nobody is mad to believe it happened. It happened. We only tell the story. We’re not trying to explain it, because we can’t. Somebody else may be able to.
Finally the weirdest of them all.
Location, Stockholm city. Observers 3+ – A former colleague of mine was out walking with his sister and parents. In a park, over a distance he saw his brother. His parents and sister saw him too, but only my colleague went over to talk to him.
His brother asked if he wanted to join him to visit… (I forgot what it was) “We’re on our way home,” he answered. “I’m with them,” he said and gestured to his parents and sister.
They went home directly. As they came home, his brother just comes out of the shower and he swears he had been at home all of the time. My colleague didn’t know what to make of it. But he had since then been wondering what had happened, had he gone with the man he thought was his brother.
(1) JEOPARDY! Tonight’s installment of Jeopardy! featured an entire category about the Nebula Awards. The first clue even mentioned the L.A. Science Fiction League of 1937. Andrew Porter provides screencaps. (Click for larger image.)
Fans of science fiction learned last week that the word “robot” was first used in 1920—a full three years earlier than originally thought.The “massively important yet obvious” change in date was confirmed with a search of the Internet Archive, which has a digitized first edition of the Czech play, R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots, published in 1920. There on the title page, hiding in plain sight in an English-language subtitle to the work, is the earliest known use of the word “robot.”
This important piece of information is one of many little-known facts captured in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. The project was completed this year by historian Jesse Sheidlower,…
(3) PROGRESS REPORT. Alastair Reynolds, in “We’ve been landing on Mars for a long time”, compares the length of time probes have been going to Mars with a benchmark in the history of eartbound aviation.
A piece of the Wright brothers’ first airplane is on Mars.
NASA’s experimental Martian helicopter holds a small swatch of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, the space agency revealed Tuesday. The helicopter, named Ingenuity, hitched a ride to the red planet with the Perseverance rover, arriving last month.
Ingenuity will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet no sooner than April 8. It will mark a “Wright brothers’ moment,” noted Bobby Braun, director for planetary science at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, the Wrights’ hometown, donated the postage-size piece of muslin from the plane’s bottom left wing, at NASA’s request….
An appeal to the public to raise £4.5m to buy JRR Tolkien’s former home in Oxford has failed.
Project Northmoor launched a crowdfunding campaign in December to raise money to acquire Tolkien’s former house at 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford, before it was put on to the market. Backed by names including Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, who played Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf in adaptations of Tolkien’s novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the campaign said it wanted to turn the Grade II-listed property into “the first literary centre in the world dedicated to Tolkien”, and that it needed £4.5m to do so.
The Tolkien Society distanced itself from the project, after being approached for support by organisers, saying that the house “would not be a museum and would not be open to the public”, and that given the property is a listed building and already has a blue plaque celebrating the author, it is “well protected under the law and not in need of rescue”. The Tolkien Society was also concerned that plans it had seen for the property included “spiritual retreats”, that the charity’s “business model includes running a bed and breakfast, with a full-time resident warden”, and that its “primary intention appears to be to run creative workshops, rather than educational programmes about Tolkien”. It was also critical of the fact that “no prominent members of the Tolkien community – be they writers, academics, artists etc – are directors of the company”…
(6) “BLERDS” EXPLORE INTERSECTION OF BLACKNESS AND NERDINESS. Adam Bradley of the New York Times offers an insightful article titled “The Black Nerds Redefining the Culture”. In it, he traces how race and nerd subcultures overlap and affect each other.
“Blerds still love the same types of content [as other nerds],” Terril “Rell” Fields, the 33-year-old founder of the Raleigh, N.C.-based blerd.com says. “A Blerd just sees nerd culture through their Black cultural lens.” They may notice things that other nerds don’t: a Black or brown supporting character in a comic book that might otherwise be forgotten; a political allegory of race and democracy played out in a sci-fi television series.
…As a retired intelligence professional and a published novelist, and now the author of a spy novel, I’m here to set the record straight: Even when you’ve been in the espionage business, it’s hard to write a good spy novel.
The heart of a good spy novel is not the caper but the personal or moral issue facing the protagonist. In a nutshell, that is the spy business, particularly on the clandestine side. You’re constantly asking yourself, am I doing the right thing? Do the ends justify the means? If I do this questionable thing, what does it mean about me as a person? The best spies—like the best people in general—question themselves. Test their motives. And try to hold themselves accountable. Because—like Spiderman—spies have great power, and with great power comes great responsibility….
That’s right, the mind behind the brilliant TV series The Americans put a few years in with one of the three-letter agencies. Before his transition to television, he wrote this absolutely true-to-life novel. There was a tussle with CIA’s pre-publication review board that resulted in redactions, which the publisher cheekily decided to leave in. Without fail, when asked what it’s like to work at the Agency, this is the book I recommend. An Ordinary Spy perfectly captures what happens in the beginning, when your James Bond dreams crash into reality.
(8) THERE ARE OLD EQUATIONS, AND BOLD EQUATIONS, BUT THERE ARE NO OLD, BOLD COLD EQUATIONS. Netflix dropped a trailer for Stowaway, about a stowaway aboard a Mars mission,
(9) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
March 24, 1978 — Quark was slotted in on NBC as a mid-season replacement series. Yes, the pilot aired on May 7, 1977, so technically that its birthday but let’s skip past that technically please. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of Get Smart. It starred Richard Benjamin, Tim Thomerson, Richard Kelton, Tricia Barnstable and Cyb Barnstable. It specialised in satirizing popular SF series and films and the Wiki article says three episodes were based upon actual Trek episodes. It lasted but eight episodes, beating Space Rangers by two episodes in longevity. You can see the first episode here.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
Born March 24, 1852 – Edward Page Mitchell. Editor-in-chief of the New York Sun; pioneering SF author. “The Crystal Man” predated Wells’ Invisible Man; “The Clock That Went Backward” predated The Time Machine – though Wells must be credited for that superb name, and story; faster-than-light travel (“The Tachypomp”) in 1874; other firsts. See Sam Moskowitz ed., The Crystal Man (1973). More here. (Died 1927) [JH]
Born March 24, 1874 — Harry Houdini. His literary career intersects the genre world in interesting ways. Though it’s not known which, many of his works were apparently written by his close friend Walter B. Gibson who as you know is the creator of The Shadow. And one famous story of his, “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs”, was actually ghost written by Lovecraft! ISFDB lists another piece of genre fiction for him, “The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstad”. (Died 1926.) (CE)
Born March 24, 1897 — Theodora Kroeber. Mother of Ursula K. Le Guin. Anthropologist, Ishi in Two Worlds is the work she’s most remembered for. ISFDB lists her as having but one genre work, a children book titled Carrousel with illustrations by Douglas Tait. Ishi is available on the usual suspects. (Died 1979.) (CE)
Born March 24, 1911 – Gabriel Mayorga. I know of five covers, half a dozen interiors for us, but he may have done more. Tuned a notable artistic vision to the demands of our publishers. Here is the May 40 Super Science (Fred Pohl, editor). This Jun 40 Astonishing was re-used by Justine Larbalestier for The Battle of the Sexes in SF. Here is the May 41 Super Science Novels (also Pohl). Painted, sculpted, and taught in New York City, working in oil, pastel, watercolor, epoxy, plastic and polyester plastic. Here is Strength (1928) carved from a bar of soap for a contest. He illustrated this Theory and Practice of Fencing. More here. (Died 1988) [JH]
Born March 24, 1930 — Steve McQueen. He got his big break by being the lead, Steve Andrews, in The Blob. Setting aside the two different roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents he had which are at least genre adjacent, The Blob is his only genre appearance in his brief life. He died of a heart attack. (Died 1980.) (CE)
Born March 24, 1946 — Andrew I. Porter, 75. Editor, publisher, fan. Major member of NYC regional fandom starting in the early Sixties. Editor of Algol: The Magazine About Science Fiction which became Starship. Algol / Starship started in the Sixties and was a five-time Hugo nominee in the Seventies, and exceedingly superb reading it was. He won a Hugo for Best Fanzine in 1974, in a tie with Richard E. Geis, who was doing SFR. He founded the newzine Science Fiction Chronicle in May 1980 and published it monthly, eventually selling it to DNA Publications in May 2000. He has won myriad awards including the Big Heart Award. He has attended hundreds of science fiction conventions and nearly forty Worldcons since his first in ‘63. He was Fan Guest of Honor at several conventions, including the 1990 Worldcon. And with John Bangsund, he was responsible for Australia hosting its first Worldcon. (CE)
Born March 24, 1946 — Gary K. Wolfe, 75. Monthly reviewer for Locus for twenty-seven years now and yes, I enjoy his column a lot. His brief marriage to Ellen R. Weil which ended with her tragic early death resulted in them co-writing Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever. Old Earth Books has reprinted many of his reviews done between 1992 and 2006 in Soundings: Reviews 1992-1996. He’s also written several critical looks at the genre, Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy and The Known and the Unknown: The Iconography of Science Fiction. (CE)
Born March 24, 1949 — Tabitha King, 72. Wife of Stephen, mother of that writing brood. I met her but once on the lot of the original Pet Sematary a very long time ago. ISFDB to my surprise lists only two novels she’s written solely by herself, Small World and Wolves at the Door, and one with Michael McDowell, Candles Burning. None of her books are with her husband which surprised me. (CE)
Born March 24, 1949 – Bob Walters, age 72. A score of covers, a hundred eighty interiors. Here is Sunspacer. Here is the Dec 84 Asimov’s. Here is the May 85 Analog. Here is A Thunder on Neptune. [JH]
Born March 24, 1960 – Lene Kaaberbøl, age 60. A score of novels for us; also crime fiction. Nordic Children’s Book Prize. Morgensen Prize. First published at age 15. “I was born in Copenhagen, by mistake, really, since my parents are both Jutlanders…. the distinction may appear trivial to non-Danes, but to insiders it is a crucial one!… The Morning Land was one of the first … Danish fantasy novels for adults.” Silver medal in pétanque at the World Championships. [JH]
Born March 24, 1975 – Carl Hancock Rux, age 46. Author of novels, essays, poems, plays, songs; actor and director; instrumentalist, singer (five solo albums, a dozen singles). Village Voice Literary Prize, NY Fdn. for the Arts Prize. Alpert, Bessie, Doris Duke, Obie Awards. Asphalt (novel, play) is ours. More here. [JH]
Born March 24, 1988 – Viktoria Gavrilenko, age 33. Three covers for us. Here is Villains, Inc. Here is Young Sentinels. Freelance concept artist and illustrator (also as “Viccolatte – call me Vik”); other occupations, tea drinking, writing, staring at ducks. [JH]
(11) COMICS SECTION.
xkcd’s “IMDb Vaccines” illustrates an eccentric thought experiment about a scene in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
Frank and Ernest discuss the legal issues of a monster stomping on a city.
… For those who are unfamiliar with the show, Arsenic and Old Lace is a dark comedy about two sweet old ladies who murder for fun, and their poor nephew, Mortimer Brewster, who discovers their nasty habit and tries to clean up the whole mess. Further conflict arises when Boris Karloff- I mean Jonathan Brewster, Mortimer’s brother and a notably malicious murderer, returns home to hide out for a while. As you might imagine, insanity ensues….
Though the rest of the cast is marvelous, I’d have to say Tony Randall gives the best performance as Mortimer Brewster, the straightman nephew. You may believe I have a slight bias in favor of Randall at this point, and that’s probably true, but I think it’s also fair to say that his execution of Mortimer ties the whole show together.
(13) BEEN THEN, DONE THAT. The Science Fiction 101 podcast returns in episode 2, “It’s About Time”.
Phil [Nichols] and Colin [Kuskie] consider the persistence of the concept of time travel. And we have a little guess-the-mystery-sound competition, albeit with no prizes to speak of other than (a) some small kudos and (b) a shout-out on our next episode. (Post a comment if you can identify the sound.)
Gold prospectors first discovered the so-called Shigir Idol at the bottom of a peat bog in Russia’s Ural mountain range in 1894. The unique object—a nine-foot-tall totem pole composed of ten wooden fragments carved with expressive faces, eyes and limbs and decorated with geometric patterns—represents the oldest known surviving work of wooden ritual art in the world….
Based on extensive analysis, Terberger’s team now estimates that the wood used to make the Shigir statue is about 12,250 years old. Carved from a single larch tree with 159 growth rings, the object itself was likely crafted around 12,100 years ago, at the end of the Last Ice Age, reports Michelle Starr for Science Alert.
Writing didn’t always come easily for Douglas Adams.
That may be a surprise to fans of the late British comedy and sci-fi writer, whose prolific resume includes the iconic novels The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, as well as classic episodes of Doctor Who and Monty Python.
But it’s no surprise to his sister Jane Thrift, who was there when he was writing some of his most famous works, and often got a sneak peek at his earliest drafts.
“If it was going well, oh, it was exciting. He’d call you in and print it off the printer or show you what he’d written and he’d stand there. And it was a bit tricky sometimes because he was just waiting for the expression or the laugh,” Thrift told As It Happens host Carol Off.
“But the times when it was difficult — those were difficult. Those were hard. It was hard to watch him go through that process. And I think it was probably as he became more successful, he knew the value of each word and it had to be perfect.”
Adams’s insecurity about his own writing is one of revelations about the author’s inner-life that will be explored in the forthcoming book 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams. …
Ever wondered what the world looks like through a cockatoo’s eyes? How about a giraffe—or even a butterfly?
For a new study published last month in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, a team of researchers set out in search of answers. As lead author Eleanor Caves explains in a press release, humans have higher visual acuity than most members of the animal kingdom, who “see the world with much less detail than we do.” And in recent decades, researchers have been slowly teasing apart how clear (or blurry) each critter’s view of the world is.
… As the measure decreases, an animal’s (or individual’s) vision worsens: At less than 10 cycles per degree, a human is deemed legally blind. The majority of insects, however, are lucky to see even one cycle per degree.
(17) STILL MORE SHAT! Birthday week continues with “William Shatner for the Commodore VIC-20” on YouTube. Shat learns that in 1982 you can play computer games on a computer!
(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “The Cloudy Dog Talk About” on Vimeo is a cartoon by Asami Ike for Filers who know dogs are their friends!
[Thanks to JJ, Mike Kennedy, Rich Lynch, Michael Toman, Martin Morse Wooster, Olav Rokne, Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, John Hertz, Jennifer Hawthorne, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]
Carmen Maria Machado’s nonfiction work about domestic abuse, In the Dream House: A Memoir, has won the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021, given “to celebrate the best literature of our time, regardless of form.” The winner receives a £30,000 prize.
Machado is already well-known to sff readers for the acclaimed collection Her Body and Other Parties, winner of the Shirley Jackson and William L. Crawford Awards, and finalist for the World Fantasy Award.
Machado also has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize.
The Rathbone Folio Prize 2021 press release said this about the award-winner:
Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House is a breathtakingly inventive, unflinchingly honest examination of domestic abuse in a female relationship, in which Machado breaks down the idea of what the memoir form can do and be – and bravely approaches a subject for which literary treatment has been extremely rare.
Roger Robinson said: “Carmen Maria Machado documents, in great detail, the descent of lives into obsessiveness, possession and, eventually, abuse amongst the queer community in which this is not often documented in literature. This already makes this book substantial. But it is its challenging of memoir form that is even more impressive. Machado breaks it down into short, sharp vignettes, written in impeccable prose, and mixes up the timeline. As the reader, In the Dream House gives me a feeling of traumatic fragmentation, so you have that constant tension as to what might be revealed next, like a veritable house of horror ride.”
Sinéad Gleeson said: “Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House is an exceptional, important book. It takes everything a reader expects from a memoir, and upends and deconstructs it, playing with the possibilities of the form. Machado explores queerness, domestic violence and bodies in a multi-genre masterpiece, told in taut, stunning prose.”
Jon McGregor said: “In the Dream House is a compelling memoir, a striking piece of storytelling, and a work of art. This is my story, Carmen Maria Machado tells us, and it needs to be heard. I loved the way she moves through a range of forms in order to view the story from different angles, using language to hold a hidden experience up to the light. In the Dream House has changed me – expanded me – as a reader and a person, and I’m not sure how much more we can ask of the books that we choose to celebrate. I’m honoured to play a part in awarding this book the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021.”
Machado’s acceptance speech is in the following video:
G. Scott Huggins of Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, has won the grand prize in the 2021 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award competition with his short story “Salvage Judgement.” The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest has been held annually since 2007 and is focused on stories of space exploration and discovery, with an optimistic spin on those activities for the human race.
Last year, Huggins won the 2020 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, another short story contest sponsored by Baen Books. Both contests are judged anonymously.
FIRST PLACE
“Salvage Judgement” by G. Scott Huggins
SECOND PLACE
“Reaction Time” by C. Stuart Hardwick
THIRD PLACE [tie]
“Samba do Espaço” by Gustavo Bondoni
“Love On The Ganymede Trail” by Kurt Pankau.
Judges for the award were NASA scientist and science fiction author Les Johnson, and the editors of Baen Books. Stories were judged anonymously. The Jim Baen Memorial Award will be presented May 27 in a virtual ceremony at the annual International Space Development Conference.
The winner receives a distinctive award and professional publication of the story in June 2021 at the Baen.com web site. Second and Third place winners receive a year’s membership in the National Space Society and a prize package containing various Baen Books and National Space Society merchandise.
“The National Space Society and Baen Books applaud the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science and have teamed up to sponsor this short fiction contest in memory of Jim Baen, the founder of Baen Books,” said William Ledbetter, contest administrator. “Winning the contest and attending the ISDC is a wonderful opportunity for winners to meet scientists and space advocates from around the world.”
Entrants hail from all over the world. This year, in addition to the United States, stories come from many countries, including: Libya, Nigeria, Romania, Sudan, Bolivia, Iraq, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Canada, Algeria, and Spain.
[Based on a press release.]
What the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award looks like.
(1) LIGHTS ON. Today, Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination published Cities of Light, a collection of science fiction, art, and essays about “how the transition to solar energy will transform our cities and catalyze revolutions in politics, governance, and culture.” The book is a collaboration between Arizona State University and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It explores solar futures in four U.S. cities: Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and San Antonio, Texas.
Cities of Light features fiction by Paolo Bacigalupi, S.B. Divya, Deji Bryce Olukotun, and Andrew Dana Hudson, and essays by experts in fields ranging from electrical engineering and data science to sociology, public policy, and architecture. The book is free in a variety of digital formats. You also can order print-on-demand copies.
(2) WELLS UPDATE. Martha Wells tweeted this morning that she was in a car accident. She’s okay.
WonderCon is returning to your living room for panels, exhibits, contests, and more! Check out www.comic-con.org and subscribe to our YouTube channel to join us @Home March 26-27! Featuring panels by: Netflix, Penguin Random House, IDW, DC Entertainment, Dark Horse, Adult Swim, Warner Bros. TV, Amazon Studios, CBS, Hulu, and more!
(4) TITLE REVEAL. Is there anybody who doesn’t already know the title John Scalzi’s forthcoming book, announced today in this Whatever post? “And Now, the Title of the Novel I Just Completed, Plus a Very Little Amount of Detail About the Book”. Hands, please. One. Two… Bueller? Bueller? Everyone already knows? Well, I’m reporting this anyway: The Kaiju Preservation Society. Because Scalzi’s post was entertaining.
…What is it about?
It’s about a society that preserves kaiju! Look, it’s all right there in the title.
Why do kaiju need preserving?
Because otherwise they might spoil.
Is that a serious answer?
Maybe….
(5) THE UNKINDEST CUT OF ALL. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert presented “Justice League: The Colbert Cut” – a takeoff on the post-credits scene from the non-Snyder version of Justice League.
Stephen Colbert is proud to present this sneak peek at his four hour, three minute cut of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” which expands on the pivotal post-credits conversation between Lex Luthor and Deathstroke.
…Like WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is set after half of population of the Earth (and the Universe) were snapped back into existence and deals with the aftermath of what has apparently been termed “the Blip” in the Marvel Universe. Our heroes, Sam Wilson a.k.a. the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and James “Bucky” Barnes a.k.a. the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), were among those who were first snapped out of and then back into existence.
…However, Sam is back in action now (quite literally) after five years of non-existence. And indeed, the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier starts off with a thrilling action set piece….
(7) THE THING THAT ATE YOU. The Horror Writers Association blog features a Q&A with a poet: “Under The Blade An Interview With Mary Turzillo”. Includes numerous examples of Turzillo’s work including “The Thing That Ate You.”
Deadpool brings his inimitable style, foul-mouthed humor, and notorious skill with a blade to the kitchen in this hilarious take on a traditional cookbook, featuring classic recipes with a Deadpool spin and a whole lotta chimichangas.
No super hero takes food quite as seriously as Deadpool. In this gorgeously designed cookbook that paid reviewers have described as “glorious” and “the best cookbook I’ve ever read,” Deadpool offers his take on a curated collection of epicurean classics. Narrated by the wisecracking super hero (and sexy master chef) himself, this book also incudes recipes inspired by some of his closest friends/enemies (Here’s lookin’ at you, Spidey) and his favorite meals, including chimichangas, tacos, pancakes, and hamburgers with no pickles.
(9) IRREPRODUCIBLE RESULTS. Ursula Vernon tells about an important turning point in her career in a thread that ends —
(And this is why I don’t give career advice to young writers.)
(10) WORLDCON RUNNER REMEMEBRED. Steven H Silver reminds fans, “Six years ago [on March 22] we lost Peggy Rae Sapienza. You can help honor her memory with a donation to the Peggy Rae Sapienza Endowment at the Northern Illinois University Library to support the growth, maintenance, and promotion of the science fiction and fantasy collections in Rare Books and Special Collections, including documenting SF/F Fandom.” More information here: Memorial and Endowment Funds – Friends of the NIU Libraries.
(11) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
March 23, 2007 — The Last Mimzy premiered. The film was based off the winner of the 2019 Dublin Retro Hugo for Best Novelette “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett (a pseudonym of the writing team of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore), originally published in the February 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction Magazine. It was directed by Robert Shaye and produced by Michael Phillips from the screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, Toby Emmerich, James V. Hart and Carol Skilken. It has a middling rating among the audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes of fifty-five percent. The story’s in The Best of C.L. Moore which is available currently from the usual suspects for $2.99.
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
Born March 23, 1882 — Charles Montague Shaw. His most remembered role came in 1936 as Professor Norton in the quite popular Undersea Kingdom serial. It was done in response to the Flash Gordon serial then being played. Ironically, he would appear several years later in The Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars serial as the Clay King. (Died 1968.) (CE)
Born March 23, 1904 — H. Beam Piper. I am reasonably sure that the first thing I read and enjoyed by him was Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen followed by Little Fuzzy and related works which are damn fun reading. Has anyone here read Scalzi’s Fuzzy novel? (Died 1964.) (CE)
Born March 23, 1921 – Ethel Lindsay. A Scot who lived in Surrey 1955-1978, serving a term as President of the London Circle, co-founding the SF Club of London and serving as its Chairman (the suffix -man is not masculine) and hosting it, winning the Skyrack poll for Best Fanwriter – the name of this newsletter deriving from shire oak and thus skyr ack (rhymes with beer lack), not sky rack – and being voted TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) delegate, see her report here. Fan Guest of Honour at Eastercon 22. Fanzines, Scottishe and Haverings. Doc Weir Award (service). Went north again, was brought to Conspiracy ’87 the 45th Worldcon by a Send a Scot South Fund. More here. (Died 1996) [JH]
Born March 23, 1934 — Neil Barron. Certainly best known for Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction which actually is still a damn fine read which is unusual for this sort of material which leans towards being rather dry. If memory thirty years on serves me right, his Fantasy Literature and Horror Literature guides were quite good too. (Died 2010.) (CE)
Born March 23, 1950 – Keith Kato, Ph.D., age 71. Dissertation student of Greg Benford, thus pursuing, as GB has, interests in and out of fandom. Served a term as President of the Heinlein Society. Known for cooking up vats of chili at SF cons, both hot (impressing Robert Silverberg) and mild (edible even by me), therewith hosting parties sometimes open (anyone may walk in), sometimes closed (invitation-only). [JH]
Born March 23, 1952 — Kim Stanley Robinson, 69. If the Mars trilogy was the only work that he’d written, he’d rank among the best genre writers ever. But then he went and wrote the outstanding Three Californias Trilogy. I won’t say everything he writes I consider top-flight, the Science in the Capital series just didn’t appeal to me. His best one-off novels I think are without argument (ha!) The Years of Rice and Salt and New York 2140. I should note he has won myriad awards including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, BSFA Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. And the Heinlein Society gave him their Robert A. Heinlein Award for his entire body of work! (CE)
Born March 23, 1958 — John Whitbourn, 63. Writer of a number novels and short stories focusing on an alternative history set in a Catholic universe. It reminds me a bit of Keith Robert’s Pavane but much more detailed. A Dangerous Energy in which Elizabeth I never ascends the throne leads off his series. If that’s not to your taste, Frankenstein’s Legion’s is a sheer delight of Steampunk riffing off Mary Shelley‘s tale. He’s available at the usual digital suspects. (CE)
Born March 23, 1959 – Maureen Kincaid Speller, age 62. Reviews, essays, in fanzines e.g. Banana Wings, The Gate, Matrix, Vector, prozines e.g. Amazing, Analog, F & SF, Tomorrow, semiprozines e.g. Interzone, Strange Horizons. Contributor to apas e.g. Acnestis, TurboAPA (more fully Turbo-Charged Party Animal APA). Served a term as judge of the Rotsler Award. Guest of Honour at Eastercon 47 (with husband Paul Kincaid). TAFF delegate. Nova Award as Best Fanwriter. [JH]
Born March 23, 1960 – Kimberlee Marks Brown, age 61. Chaired Loscon 25, SMOFcon 32 (Secret Masters Of Fandom, as Bruce Pelz said a joke-nonjoke-joke; con devoted to studying the past of, trying to improve the future of, SF cons and like that). Fan Guest of Honor at Loscon 37 (with husband Jordan Brown). [JH]
Born March 23, 1969 – David Anthony Durham, age 52. Four novels, eight shorter stories, some with Wild Cards; Campbell Award (as it then was) for Best New Writer. Also historical fiction; two NY Times Notable Books, Legacy Award for Début Fiction, Hurston/Wright Award. The Shadow Prince to appear September 2021. Outward Bound instructor, whitewater raft guide. Teaches at Univ. Nevada (Reno), Univ. Southern Maine. [JH]
Born March 23, 1977 — Joanna Page, 44. It’s not the longest of genre resumes but it’s an interesting one. First she’s Ann Crook in From Hell from the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. Next up is appearing in yet another version of The Lost World. (I think that there’s a legal contract requiring one be made every so often.) And finally she’s Queen Elizabeth I in The Day of The Doctor. (CE)
Born March 23, 1983 – Sir Mohamed Farah, age 38. Three novels (with Kes Gray). Two Olympic Gold Medals in 5,000 and 10,000 m running; ten global titles; holds four European records, two world records; three-time European Athlete of the Year. Most decorated in British athletics history. Memoir Twin Ambitions (twin brother Hassan still lives in Somalia). More here. Website here. [JH]
(13) COMICS SECTION.
The Far Side has told the story that couldn’t be written at the time. The true story.
Nadria Tucker writes for TV. She also wants to make sure her own personal story and truth are told, as well.
In November 2020, Tucker took to Twitter to announce that her contract as a producer on The CW’s show Superman & Lois had not been extended.
“Some personal news: Wednesday I got word that my contract on Superman & Lois won’t be extended, my services no longer needed, my outline and draft subpar (obviously I disagree with that last bit lol),” Tucker tweeted. “This, after months of me flagging #metoo jokes in dialogue; of me defending the Bechdel test; of me FIGHTING to ensure the only Black faces onscreen aren’t villains; of me pitching stories for female characters (there’s one in the title of the series!) that went ignored. If I sound bitter, it’s because this one stings.”
“I’ve been assured by colleagues that I was great in the room, so I know I’m not nuts. I debated whether to post this but my own mental wellbeing demands that I do. The only way shit changes is to expose it,” she continued.
…“After months of pitching ideas, fighting for diversity and representation and good feedback on my actual writing—I don’t want to leave that part out [about getting good feedback]—I [was] fired seemingly out of nowhere. It made me angry,” Tucker explained to The Root during a phone call earlier this month…
Short pay is also an issue:
… Sources close to the matter told The Root that Tucker was compensated for the first 13 episodes she was contracted to work on and that she did not receive compensation for episodes 14 and 15 because her contract was not extended for those episodes….
Deadline has confirmed that a Hawkeyespinoff series centering around that series’ character Echo is in early development with Etan Cohen and Emily Cohen set to write and executive produce. Echo (aka Maya Lopez) is a deaf Native American superhero who has the talent to imitate any opponent’s fighting style. She has also been in the circles of Daredevil, Moon Knight and the Avengers.
Hawkeye is set to debut later this year with Jeremy Renner reprising his Avengers archer. Hailee Steinfeld stars as Hawkeye’s protege Kate Bishop. Vera Farmiga is her mom Eleanor, Florence Pugh reprises her Black Widow role of assassin Yelena Belova, Fra Fee plays villain clown Kazi, Tony Dalton is Hawkeye’s mentor Jack Duqesne and Zahn McClarnon is William Lopez, Echo’s dad.
(16) THE HOLE TRUTH. I can’t resist Alexandra Petri’s intro to this CBS News story:
Starting Monday, any customer with a valid COVID-19 vaccination card will receive a free Original Glazed doughnut at participating locations nationwide. The iconic doughnut shop specifies that any guests who have received at least one of the two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine qualify for the promotion.
All you need to show is your vaccination card to redeem your doughnut — a vaccine sticker is not valid.
…Storyfile is set to launch in June 2021. The technology used to to deliver interactive storytelling includes the patented “Artificially Intelligent Interactive Memories System” on Conversa, which uses natural language processing and other innovative technologies….
(18) NINETY YEARS OF SHAT. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] The birthday retrospective continues. In “William Shatner For Promise Margarine 1974 TV Commercial” on YouTube, Shat wants people in New Jersey to eat lots of margarine to reduce their “serum cholesterol.” His claim is based on science because he has a chart!
(19) TALKIN’ ABOUT MY REGENERATION. In “Super Cafe: Snyder Cut” on YouTube, How It Should Have Ended spots Batman and Superman chilling out with a coffee discussing all the exciting things that happened to them in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and Batman worries what will happen to him when he morphs into The Batman for the Robert Patterson movie.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, N., Daniel Dern, rcade, Mike Kennedy, Joey Eschrich, Martin Morse Wooster, Andrew Porter, JJ, John Hertz, Michael Toman, Lise Andreasen, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Peer. (It’s not Peer’s complete line, which was great, but this is its own wonderful thing.)]
Peter S. Beagle’s representatives announced in a press release today that he, as part of a new ownership group, has prevailed after years of litigation in securing control of his literary works and other intellectual property following a sale recently approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court. This comes after a 2019 California court decision that awarded Beagle $332,000 in damages against his former manager Connor Cochran.
The press release follows:
Following a lengthy bankruptcy court and California state court battle, Peter Beagle has finally reclaimed rights with respect to the vast majority of his Intellectual Property (IP) for the first time in decades. The bankruptcy case stemmed from a 2015 lawsuit in which Peter Beagle sued, and prevailed, against his ex-manager for elder abuse, fraud and other serious claims. The Bankruptcy Court recently approved a sale, which was effectuated shortly following that order that facilitates the return of Beagle’s body of work to an ownership group that includes Beagle, the IP’s creator and rightful owner.
A Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America 2018 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, Beagle’s best-known work is “The Last Unicorn”, a fantasy novel, which Locus Magazine subscribers voted the number five “All-Time Best Fantasy Novel” in 1987. A prolific and multi-award winning author, the 81-year old’s “The Last Unicorn” was included in TIME’s list of “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” published in October 2020. TIME describes these books as “the most engaging, inventive and influential works of fantasy fiction, in chronological order beginning in the 9th century.” The IP spans the entire breadth of the acclaimed author’s decades-long career and includes newer works that have never been seen by the public.
In 2015 Peter Beagle sued his ex-manager. After four difficult years, in July 2019 the Superior Court of California issued a judgement in Beagle’s favor. According to the decision, Beagle won on four out of six causes that went to trial: “financial elder abuse (which Plaintiff also characterized as “elder abuse – constructive fraud”); Fraud; Breach of Fiduciary Duty; and Defamation (Slander).” Kathleen Hunt, Beagle’s attorney in the case said, “We sued because Peter had suffered from a host of injuries including fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. When the trial was about to begin – actually hours before we were scheduled to be in Court – his ex-manager filed for bankruptcy.” Hunt, Beagle’s estate planning lawyer, stepped up and took on the case pro bono after it became increasingly clear that Beagle was being abused. The Court decided to bifurcate some of the bankruptcy matters from the claims made in the original case. “First we won the trial, and then Peter and I followed his ex-manager right to the Bankruptcy Court. Peter wanted his reputation and his life’s work back. I couldn’t be happier” added Hunt.
James “Jamie” Null, a partner at Loeb & Loeb’s Capital Markets and Corporate practice in New York City, coordinated Beagle’s representation in the bankruptcy matter. Null said, “While it is a sad commentary that it took Peter so many years to get back what he already had, we are delighted to be looking forward to advising on the wonderful possibilities that come with reintroducing millions of new readers and viewers to the amazing world that Peter created.” Loeb & Loeb’s strong and deep core competencies in a variety of areas, including Bankruptcy (particularly with respect to publishing and media assets,) library acquisitions, copyright and artist estate planning allowed the case to get to the finish line. Null began the multi-year bankruptcy process with his Eversheds Sutherland colleague at the time, William Dudzinksy. “There was a significant and dedicated years-long group effort — including attorneys and other fellow travelers like Lauren Sands –– to give back to Peter some measure of control and the economics to the vast majority of his life’s work,” added Null. “It is somewhat unique in the media space to have such a complete body of an author’s work, where the author has real creative input and a dedicated and experienced group of partners and advisors that are respectful of the works and author while also being practical business minded professionals,” continued Null. The bankruptcy case has allowed Beagle indirectly to retain a significant part of his IP, and to reacquire certain rights with respect to The Last Unicorn, including author-driven sequels.
For Peter Beagle, his journey over the past several years has reinforced the dangers of elder abuse and the urgent need to shine a spotlight on this far too common and sinister crime. Older people, and often older writers, can be easy targets, particularly individuals whose age might make them more susceptible to claims that they’re in cognitive decline. These types of insidious suggestions and claims – notions that someone has dementia or looks like “they’re losing it” –serve to reinforce typical fears, creating and heightening self-doubt even when it is not warranted. The result can be terrifying for any vulnerable older person. The risk for the elderly is great when confronted by someone like Beagle’s former manager who, as described by the Superior Court of California in Beagle’s case, “…presents as an extremely intelligent, articulate, overly-aggressive hustler and pitchman…[with]…a flair for the dramatic that is at best loosely based in truth.”
“I’ve known older people who were seriously abused,” said Beagle. “So I can understand, on a bad day, the self-doubt, the terror. Writers don’t know how we do what we do. We don’t know what it was that came and then left us. That makes it awfully easy for us to believe the doubt even when it shouldn’t be there.”
One of Beagle’s future projects will be to advocate and raise awareness about elder abuse, with plans for the creation of a non-profit to address this issue in the works. But Beagle’s focus right now is on getting down to business, working in partnership with SHP to explore new projects based upon his extensive library of works, now back within his creative control, and continuing to write new material. “I’m going to be working. For me, that’s perfect. There are so many possibilities. This feels like a rebirth. I’m not only still here, I’m more still here.”
ABOUT SHP AND THE BEAGLEVERSE ®
SHP, LLC is a newly formed entertainment company founded by deeply experienced industry veterans Lauren Sands and Michael Heard in partnership with world-renowned fantasy author Peter S. Beagle. Beagleverse ® possesses arguably one of the greatest collections of fantasy writings ever created by a single artist, a veritable gold mine of transformative content. Possessing a deep expertise in Live Action, Animation, Broadway Musicals, Comics, Gaming and Disruptive Entertainment Technology, Beagleverse ® is poised to leverage Beagle’s libraryand spread the Beagleverse ® brand across traditional and emerging platforms and consumer markets.
PETER S. BEAGLE – Noted author and screenwriter Peter Beagle is a recipient of the prestigious Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Mythopoeic Awards, and a World Fantasy and Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America 2018 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, among other literary achievements. He has given generations of readers the magic of unicorns, haunted cemeteries, lascivious trees and disgruntled gods. A prolific author, his best-known work is The Last Unicorn, a fantasy novel, which Locus Magazine subscribers voted the number five “All-Time Best Fantasy Novel” in 1987. Fellow Hugo and Nebula-award-winning author Neil Gaiman has described Beagle’s A Fine and Private Place as his “I-wish-I’d-written-that first novel.” In October 2020, The Last Unicorn was included in TIME’s “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” a group of books that was compiled together with a panel of leading fantasy authors—N.K. Jemisin, Neil Gaiman, Sabaa Tahir, Tomi Adeyemi, Diana Gabaldon, George R.R. Martin, Cassandra Clare and Marlon James. TIME describes these books as “the most engaging, inventive and influential works of fantasy fiction, in chronological order beginning in the 9th century.”
Ray Bradbury and Peter S. Beagle in 2009. Photo by John King Tarpinian.
Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, read by Chiwetel Ejiofor, has been named the 2021 Audiobook of the Year. The winners of the 2021 Audie Awards in 25 competitive categories were announced by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) on March 22. The Audie Awards® recognize excellence in audiobook and spoken word entertainment.
Author judges Jennifer Egan, Tommy Orange, and David Sedaris named Piranesi the Audiobook of the Year for several notable reasons. “The reading is a triumph of tone… one of the best readings of contemporary literature that I have ever listened to,” said Egan. “I have already recommended it to several people, including my 18-year-old son and 82-year-old mother.” Sedaris noted: “I think the reading perfectly complements the author’s intent. The characterization is complex, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s voice is appropriately naive and full of wonder. The novel is a bit confusing at first, and Ejiofor masterfully pulls us through the fog.” Orange stated: “When the book got darker and more thrilling, and as the mystery at the center of the novel was revealed, Chiwetel Ejiofor moved the story along beautifully.”
Other winners of genre interest include:
FANTASY
The City We Became, by N. K. Jemisin, narrated by Robin Miles, published by Hachette Audio
SCIENCE FICTION
The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, narrated by Daveed Diggs, published by Simon & Schuster Audio
AUDIO DRAMA
Doctor Who – Stranded 1, by Matt Fitton, David K Barnes, Lisa McMullin, and John Dorney, performed by Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Hattie Morahan, Rebecca Root, Tom Price, and Tom Baker, published by Big Finish Productions
BEST FEMALE NARRATOR
The City We Became, by N. K. Jemisin, narrated by Robin Miles, published by Hachette Audio
SPANISH LANGUAGE
El Laberinto del Fauno, by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke, narrated by Luis Ávila, published by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México
Born March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, William Shatner has been an indelible part of popular culture for a good portion of a century. Though he’s most recognizable as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek film and television franchise, Shatner’s career has encompassed everything from the earliest days of television to spoken-word recordings to his own sci-fi book series (TekWar)….
Yes! These are the kinds of things we need to know!
17. WILLIAM SHATNER WAS PRONE TO STEALING LEONARD NIMOY’S BICYCLE ON THE SET OF STAR TREK.
Ostensibly a prank, it was also Shatner’s way of expressing his frustration at Nimoy being able to get to the commissary for lunch faster than everyone else in the cast.
18. WILLIAM SHATNER HAS SOME TROUBLE WITH THE VULCAN SALUTE.
Shatner is apparently unable to do the Vulcan salute, where the Vulcans of Star Trek spread their four fingers to form a “V” shape. When prompted to do so by Conan O’Brien in 2009, Shatner gave the talk show host the middle finger instead.
(2) GOOD COPY. William Shatner is one of the best things that ever happened to science fiction news blogs. File 770 has run 128 items about him over the past 13 years. Here are links to five of my favorites.
(3) FROZEN IN TIME. “William Shatner’s Loblaws Commercial” on YouTube has Shat in the Seventies with a really bad toupee having to deal with a dude in a penguin suit while hawking a Canadian supermarket chain.
(4) NYRSF READINGS TOMORROW. The New York Review of Science Fiction Readings series continues with Karen Russell on March 23 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. This free event can be viewed in the @NYRSF Readings group on Facebook, and on YouTube at https://youtu.be/L9N3j39kFr8
Karen Russell was already considered a great writer when she last read for us at the South Street Seaport in June, 2008, along with Thomas M. Disch. While we’ve conversed on the radio, it’s been all too long since we’ve been honored to play host here.
Karen Russell’s debut novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She was also the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” in 2013. She has expanded her writing into the realm of non-fiction in the pages of The New Yorker, discussing how the pandemic has changed the English language. Her latest book is a collection of stories entitled “Sleep Donation.”
5. You can tell a few people you trust about your nomination as long as you know they won’t blab it all over the internet. Before the official announcement, a handful of people knew I was a Hugo finalist. These include my parents (whose reaction was, “That’s nice,” before turning back to watch a rerun of Midsomer Murders), some folks from Galactic Journey and others in the SFF community, who knew not to say anything before the official announcement, as well as my accountant (because I asked her if buying an evening gown for the Hugo ceremony was tax-deductible) and the guy who repaired my patio, because he just happened to be there, when I got the e-mail. Neither the accountant nor the patio guy are SFF fans, so chances of a leak were zero. They both also probably thought I was quite mad.
(6) IT’S LONG. Comedian Leslie Jones did an extended commentary while watching the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Her tweets are not threaded. They are all tagged longassmovie, but so are hundreds of other people’s. About all you can do is go to Jones’ account and scroll down, down, down. BEWARE SPOILERS, obviously.
The Black Panther and his native home of Wakanda will be in a Marvel’s Avengers expansion called War for Wakanda later this year, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix announced Thursday during the Square Enix Presents digital showcase. The studio also highlighted the game’s most recent update, featuring Hawkeye, which launched alongside the next-gen console version of Marvel’s Avengers earlier today.
Klaw — the Vibranium thief played by Andy Serkis in the MCU — seems to be working alongside AIM in the new expansion, working to steal Wakanda’s most valuable resource.
(8) VOICE OF VAUGHN. In Odyssey Podcast #137, Carrie Vaughn, a guest lecturer at the 2020 Odyssey Writing Workshop, answers questions about revision, plot, and point of view during a Q&A session.
Carrie’s latest novels include the post-apocalyptic murder mystery, Bannerless, winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, and its sequel, The Wild Dead. She wrote the New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty, along with several other contemporary fantasy and young adult novels, and upwards of 80 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She’s a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin, and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. Visit her at www.carrievaughn.com.
(9) MEMORY LANE.
2006 — Fifteen years ago, Neil Gaiman wins the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for his Anansi Boys novel, the sequel of sorts to American Gods, which had been published the previous year by William Morrow. It would also win the BFA August Derleth Fantasy Award and a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It was also nominated for the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
Born March 22, 1855 – Dorothy, Lady Stanley. Author, illustrator, painter (exhibiting in London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester; here under her maiden name is His First Offence); married Sir Henry Stanley, edited his memoirs. Miss Pim’s Camouflage for us; Miss P can become invisible; you can read it here. (Died 1926) [JH]
Born March 22, 1896 – Joe Doolin. Two covers for Weird Tales, a hundred seventy interiors; Planet Comics, Planet Stories, and the range of air, detective, romance, Western magazines. Here is the Dec 26 Weird Tales.Here is a pencil page for “Mars, God of War” in Planet Comics 24. Here is Planet Comics 54 with Mysta of the Moon. More about JD here. (Died 1967) [JH]
Born March 22, 1911 – Raymond Gallun. Half a dozen novels, ten dozen shorter stories; various pseudonyms; “The Making of a Pulp Writer” with Jeffrey Elliot in Foundation; JE interviewed RG in Thrust, completed RG’s memoir Starclimber after RG’s death. First Fandom Hall of Fame. I-CON Lifetime Achievement Award, later named for him. (Died 1994) [JH]
Born March 22, 1920 — Ross Martin. Best known for portraying Artemus Gordon on The Wild Wild West. I watched the entire series on DVD one summer some decades back (which included all the films) in less than a month from start to finish. Now that was fun! It looks like Conquest of Space, a 1955 SF film, in which he played Andre Fodor was his first genre outing. The Colossus of New York in which he was the brilliant Jeremy ‘Jerry’ Spensser came next followed by appearances on Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, The Twilight Zone, Zorro, The Immortal, Night Gallery, Invisible Man, Gemini Man (a far cheaper version of Invisible Man), Quark (truly one of the dumbest SF series ever), Fantasy Island and Mork & Mindy. (Died 1981.) (CE)
Born March 22, 1920 — Werner Klemperer. Yes, he was Colonel Wilhelm Klink on Hogan’s Heroes, but he had a fair amount of genre of work starting with One Step Beyond, and continuing on with Men in Space, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Batman (where he appeared in a cameo as Col. Klink) and Night Gallery. (Died 2000.) (CE)
Born March 22, 1923 — Marcel Marceau. Professor Ping in Roger Vadim‘s Barbarella. A French mime, and I assume you know that, this is the first time Marceau’s voice is heard on film. This is his only genre appearance unless you count the Mel Brooks film Silent Movie as genre adjacent in which case he says the only words in that film. (Died 2007.) ( CE)
Born March 22, 1946 — Rudy Rucker, 75. He’s certainly best known for the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which, Software and Wetware, both won the Philip K. Dick Award. Though not genre, I do recommend As Above, So Below: A Novel of Peter Bruegel.(CE)
Born March 22, 1950 — Mary Tamm. She’s remembered for her role as Romana as the Companion to the Fourth Doctor in “The Key to Time” storyline. It seemed liked she was there longer only because another actress, Lalla Ward, played her in the following season. Ward was soon to be married to Tom Baker. She also appears briefly in the 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors through the reuse of footage from the uncompleted story Shada that Douglas Adams wrote. Tamm had only one other genre gig as Ginny in the “Luau” episode on the Tales That Witness Madness series. (Died 2012.) (CE)
Born March 22, 1950 — Alex Irvine, 51. I strongly recommend One King, One Soldier, his offbeat Arthurian novel, and The Narrows, a WW II Detroit golem factory where fantasy tropes get a severe trouncing. He’s also wrote The Vertigo Encyclopedia which was an in-house project so, as he told me back then, DC delivered him one copy of every Vertigo title they had sitting in the warehouse which was a lot. For research purposes of course. And he’s written a fair number of comics, major and minor houses alike. His newest novel, Anthropocene Rag, sounds intriguing. Has anyone read it? (CE)
Born March 22, 1954 – John Purcell, age 67. One short story I know of; current fanzines Askance and Askew; hosted the Fanzine Lounge at LoneStarCon 3 the 71st Worldcon; TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) delegate; chaired Corflu 37 (fanziners’ con; corflu = mimeograph correction fluid). Correspondent of Banana Wings, Flag, Lofgeornost, SF Commentary, The White Notebooks. College English teacher. Jazz musician. [JH]
Born March 22, 1967 – Suzanne Frank, age 54. Author, journalist. Five novels for us; one of women ornithologists; detective fiction. “I see connections everywhere…. identifying and understanding them deepens my appreciation and joy”. [JH]
Born March 22, 1986 – Tara Crowl, age 35. Two novels, one shorter story. Has read Notes of a Native Son, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Little Prince, Sense and Sensibility, both of Carroll’s Alice books, Lolita. [JH]
(11) SHIELD BEARER. David Betancourt in the Washington Post interviews head writer Malcolm Spellman and director Kari Skogland about The Falcon And The Winter Soldier amid speculation that at the end of the series Anthony Mackie as the Falcon will become the first Black Captain America. “Will ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ finally bring us a Black Captain America on-screen?”
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” the next Marvel Studios event for Disney Plus, debuted the first of six episodes on Friday. The show will follow two Captain America sidekicks, the Falcon/Sam Wilson (Mackie) and Bucky/the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), as they become reluctant partners tasked with carrying the weight of the star-spangled Avenger’s legacy. America needs someone to wield the shield once more. Does Uncle Sam think another Sam is the right man for the job? Or will there be resistance to a Black Captain America — and what, exactly, will that imply about the country he has sought to protect?
Series head writer Malcolm Spellman gives credit to the billion-dollar box-office success of 2018’s “Black Panther,” which gave him the chance to write the journey of the Falcon, another of Marvel Comics’ most recognizable Black superheroes. “Black Panther’s” story of a secret, wealthy, powerful and technologically advanced African nation going up against a fallen son who was left on his own as a Black man in the American diaspora proved Marvel Studios could approach the subject of race and not lose a global audience.
“‘Black Panther’ shattered old superhero movies,” Spellman said. “Part of why it did that isn’t just by what you saw, it’s how positively the fans reacted. It proved that you could be relevant and tackle real stuff without alienating people. ‘Black Panther’ paved that runway for us to bring the America-ness and the obvious struggles that’s going to come from a Black man in America going through this [superhero] thing.”
Spellman would not specify if Sam Wilson does indeed become Captain America in this series. This is Marvel Studios, after all. No spoilers. The fun is always in the secrets that are discovered along the way.
…Time travel is as old as H G Wells (and there is lovely leitmotif to his time machine) and Time Travel Wars as mentioned above go to Jack Williamson. And guarding time is something that Marvel comics has done with Kang turned Immortus. So the ideas that are on display here are not new, but Tchaikovsky puts his own spin and speculations on the premise of how a Time War would look, and most importantly for the point of the novella, how would someone “win” such a Time War, and what would happen afterwards.
My additional touchstones for this story, although the novella is very different in tone and style, are Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity, and Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s This is How You Lose the Time War. This novella is, spoiler, very much not a romance in the same nature as the Gladstone and El-Mohtar novella is, our protagonists here are very different people, but the novella has the same sort of breezy look at history that their story has.
One thing I had hoped for in This is How You Lose the Time War, despite its near perfection, was a bit more historical changes and bits. We get them here in Tchaikovsky’s novella in spades…
(13) UNREAL ESTATE. Bon Appétite’s M.M. Carrigan needs to get out of the house. Maybe out of the planet. “A Eulogy for Mars 2112”.
Mars 2112 was a science-fiction themed restaurant and tourist trap in New York City. Few mourned it when it closed in 2012, one hundred years ahead of its time. It was like a Rainforest Cafe, except with aliens, craters, and a spaceflight simulation ride that dropped space travelers off at the hostess stand. Patrons dined in the three-story high Crystal Crater, decorated with neon lights and bubbling lava pools. Martians with names and backstories mingled among the tables for photo ops and conversation. Having been there just once, when I was 18 years old, I can say it was tacky. It was overpriced. It was basically a space-themed version of Applebee’s. And goddamn it, I miss it. I miss all of it.
We’re over a year into the pandemic. I’ve been trapped in my house with my wife and children. I’m bored. I’m depressed. And I’m fantasizing about partying with martians.
…We’ve written so many eulogies for beloved restaurants over the last year. I guess I just wanted to write a eulogy for an unloved one. I miss restaurants. Nah, it’s more than that. I miss impromptu stupidity with other people in places designed to make it easy. I miss that magical type of food that’s bland and greasy when you’re alone but amazing when you’re with friends. It’s easy to laugh at the unreality of these themed restaurants, the Hard Rock Cafes and Planet Hollywoods and Medieval Times of the world. But after a year in the pandemic, in my 341st day of wearing gym shorts, I’ve begun to question what real even is….
(14) JEOPARDY! Andrew Porter spotted another genre miss on tonight’s Jeopardy! epsisode.
Category: Words in books
Answer: We use this word to describe a boy or girl of 11 or 12; Tolkien used it to mean a Hobbit not yet an adult.
Wrong question: What is an adolescent?
Right question: What is a tween?
(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League Pitch Meeting” on Screen Rant, Ryan George says that the four-hour Zack Snyder’s Justice League has plenty of room for character development because “you can dedicate a lot of time to characters if you devote half a work day” to your movie.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, JJ, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, John A Arkansawyer, and John Hertz for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Paul Weimer.]
By JJ: This thread is for posts about 2021-published works, which people have read and recommend to other Filers.
There will be no tallying of recommendations done in this thread; its purpose is to provide a source of recommendations for people who want to find something to read which will be eligible for the Hugos or other awards (Nebula, Locus, Asimov’s, etc.) next year.
If you’re recommending for an award other than / in addition to the Hugo Awards which has different categories than the Hugos (such as Locus Awards’ First Novel), then be sure to specify the award and category.
You don’t have to stop recommending works in Pixel Scrolls, please don’t! But it would be nice if you also post here, to capture the information for other readers.
The Suggested Format for posts is:
Title, Author, Published by / Published in (Anthology, Collection, Website, or Magazine + Issue)
Hugo or other Award Category: (Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Related Work, Graphic Novel, Lodestar, Astounding, etc)
link (if available to read/view online)
optional “Brief, spoiler-free description of story premise:”
