By Rich Lynch: I read the news about him today at the File770.com newsblog: “Past Worldcon chair and First Fandom Hall of Fame inductee Roger Sims died January 23 at the age of 91 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.”
My memories of Roger go back to 1987, when I first met him at the Corflu fanzine convention in Cincinnati. We only talked for a very short time, but it was enough to cement a friendship that had its roots about a year earlier when I had contacted him about being on the program at the 1986 Atlanta Worldcon. My wife Nicki and I were organizers of the Fan Programming track at ConFederation, and we wanted to see if he would be available to introduce the highly-entertaining video production FAANS, where he played a hotel detective during a fictional science fiction convention who became drawn into much intrigue involving iconic fannish myths and legends. Alas, I didn’t actually see him at ConFederation because I missed the panel due to a scheduling conflict. But after that, Nicki and I were looking for opportunities to preserve some of Roger’s memories about previous fan eras in our fanzine Mimosa.
Me and Roger at the 2011 Worldcon. Photo by Nicki Lynch.
And it turned out there were many. Roger was a good writer and the articles he authored or co-authored for Mimosa were both entertaining and informative. They ranged from stories about 1950s science fiction conventions (including the now-famous Room 770 party at the 1951 New Orleans Worldcon) to recollections about nearly-forgotten fan organizations (such as the Morgan Botts Foundation). From a tale about a memorable fan dinner to a recollection of an even more memorable few months sharing an apartment with Harlan Ellison. From a story about the possibly apocryphal Second Fandom to a heartfelt remembrance of his closest friend, Lynn Hickman, written not long after Lynn’s passing. It was our honor and privilege to have published Roger’s essays about his fandom, and I wish there had been more of them.
Even after Mimosa ended its run in 2003, Nicki and I maintained our friendship with Roger and his wife Pat. Strengthened it, actually. We crossed paths only a few times each year at Midwestcons and Worldcons, but always looked forward to times where we could sit down and talking and as well as opportunities to dine together. In particular, Midwestcons were essential fan activities for us because it was a fannish nexus – we knew we could reconnect with Roger & Pat as well as other fans from storied eras of the past.
I can’t remember for sure which Midwestcon it was when I noticed that Roger seemed to be having mobility issues. Pat informed me that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease which I knew would eventually result in his death at some indeterminate point in the future. And every year after that he seemed a bit more frail, though far from fragile – fandom had been a big part of his life for many decades and my impression was that it would take something truly dire to prevent him from being at his favorite fan gatherings. And unfortunately, about two years ago, there was.
One of the many things I despise about the pandemic world of 2020 and 2021 was that it curtailed in-person fan events. The last time I saw Roger, at the 2019 Midwestcon, his wellbeing appeared to have worsened to the point where his attendance at future conventions probably seemed questionable. But you know, I never really thought that – he was such a constant at Midwestcons that, to me, it seemed inconceivable that he wouldn’t be back. And then COVID happened.
I wish I could recall what Roger and I talked about during that final Midwestcon for him. We did have some quality time together and probably shared some memories about recent and long-ago fan happenings. But I just can’t remember for sure. So instead I’ll let my mind travel back to a much-earlier Midwestcon. It was back in 1988, not long before the New Orleans Worldcon where he was the Fan Guest of Honor, that Nicki and I tape-recorded a Saturday night ‘bull session’ where Roger and his friends Howard Devore, Lynn Hickman, and Ray Beam had a grand time reliving their fabulous fandom of the 1950s. There was a small crowd of fans who had gathered around and I have an image frozen in my mind of all the pleasantness and amusement on faces of people who were there. And that’s how I’m always going to remember Roger – a good friend who had many memorable experiences that he was happy to share. And in doing so, made them a permanent part of the legendry of fandom. As is he.
The second place winner, Yue Feng, is awarded $500, and the third place winner, Vinnia Kemala Putri, is awarded $200.
The contest provides a boost to beginners in the field. The judges were Juliana Pinho and Charis Loke, and the contest coordinator was Dante Luiz.
In addition to cash prizes, all winners receive first pick of workshop seats at Flights of Foundry and showcase events at the online convention in April 2022.
Not everyone identifies as a woman or a man. The movement to recognize gender identities beyond female and male is growing in places like Western Europe and the United States, and changing languages around the world.
In English, the pronouns people use — such as ‘she,’ ‘he,’ or ‘they’ — have come to the fore. In some languages, other parts of speech can also be feminine or masculine.
Modifying language to reflect a spectrum of gender identities is a fundamental change that stirs fierce debate….
(2) FIRST CHAIR. Actor Doug Jones will receive the inaugural The Chair Award from the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild (IATSE Local 706). Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green will present the honor during the guild’s awards ceremony on February 19 — The Hollywood Reporter has details.
He’s known for roles such as the so-called Amphibian Man in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, which won 2017’s best picture Oscar, and Pale Man in del Toro’s Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth. He was the Silver Surfer in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and the blue fish-man Abe Sapien in del Toro’s Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Jones is also the villainous title character in a remake of Nosferatu, currently in postproduction.
TV roles have included such series as Star Trek: Discovery, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Falling Skies….
It seems as if Denis Villeneuve can’t keep his eyes from the stars. The director of 2021’s Dune has been signed on to direct another science fiction adaptation. This time the subject will be Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke.
The project was picked up by Alcon Entertainment, who previously worked with Villeneuve on Prisoners and Blade Runner 2049. The rights to the novel had previously been under the control of Morgan Freeman and his partner Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment. The film has been a passion project of Freeman since the early 2000s, but the project was stuck in development hell for many years.
It seems as if the film is finally going to get its wings with this new partnership at last. Alcon will be financing the project….
(4) WHEN NOT ONLY KANGAROOS HAVE POCKETS. At CrimeReads, “Juneau Black” (pen name of Jocelyn Cole and Sharon Nagel) discusses how to write an animal fantasy where the animals have human characteristics: “How To Craft Non-Human Characters With Plenty of Personality”.
… Our problem in a nutshell: Foxes don’t own handkerchiefs. Well, that’s an obvious statement, isn’t it? Of course they don’t. They don’t have hands. Yet in the world of Shady Hollow, our civilized animal denizens do wear clothes and own accruements and if someone starts blubbering into their coffee, it would be downright rude to not offer a clean bit of cloth to soothe them.
But what to call that cloth? It has to be a word that instantly conveys the idea of handkerchief, without the human-centric assumption of hands. We could call it a pawkerchief…but that sounds too cutesy for a book with murders in it. So we looked for alternatives: Hankie? No, it’s a riff on “hand” and therefore isn’t a word that would exist in this world (and its logical equivalent “pawkie” is so twee it’s sickening). Snot rag is accurate but maybe too gross. Pocket square turned out to be our winner, since it describes the object in a way that the characters themselves would understand….
…Our coolest new project is watching the original Star Trek “as it comes out” on the original air dates (minus 55 years). And they’ve got the original commercial breaks in them! It’s been fascinating watching this classic in its original form, and with about a dozen young people who have never seen it before. We’ve also been reading the period trekzines and fanzines of the time, and that’s been a trip.
…Thank you! It’s been really neat. The show was designed with the traditional four act and teaser format, punctuated with little cliffhangers. The commercials give the show room to breathe and marinate. Plus, the period ads give context — you go from Kirk fighting a giant lizard to… cigarette ads.
Hey, they’re both killers!
(6) FANCAST Q&A. Cora Buhlert posted another Fancast Spotlight for GeekShock, a podcast run by several people who met while working at a Star Trek live show in Las Vegas: “Fancast Spotlight: GeekShock”.
Tell us about your podcast or channel.
GeekShock is a podcast about the week-in-geek. We like to think we’re a funny bunch, so we style ourselves as a comedy podcast. We approach geek topics of the day however they may strike us as humorous, but we get serious when serious subjects arise. We talk about movies and television of course, but we also cover subjects in comics, games of all types (video, board, tabletop rpg), geek accessories i.e., toys, collectables, curiosities, and genre literature.
In this lecture, Wendy Wall, Professor of the Humanities at Northwestern University, describes how 17th-century woman Hester Pulter, while sick and confined to her bedroom after giving birth to her 15th child, sought solace in an unusual way: she wrote poems about taking off into space to explore planets in the heliocentric universe. While intellectuals of the day feared that new conceptions of astronomy undermined cherished religious beliefs, Pulter was exhilarated in incorporating cutting-edge ideas about space into a new type of devotional poem. How can this relatively newly discovered female poet enlarge our understanding of ways that writers used poetry to interconnect religion, science, and the imagination? How might Pulter’s poetry reveal previously unacknowledged ways that early modern women engaged in intellectual production and the mapping of the heavens, even from their remote estates or bedrooms?
What some call science fiction, I prefer to call science possible or sometimes science probable. One branch of sci-fi is based on imagined technological or scientific advances, and major social or environmental changes. It was that branch that I embraced when I wrote Pig Heart Boy. I loved the idea of exploring xenotransplantation through the eyes of Cameron, a 13-year-old boy with a bad heart who just wants to live. I found the whole notion of transplanting organs from one species into another fascinating and the perfect subject matter for a children’s book.
Now I hasten to add that I’m not a scientist or expert on xenotransplantation, nor do I claim to be. I’m a layperson with a love of science who occasionally reads science magazines. My approach was from an author’s angle, spending months on research before writing a single word…
(9) ANOTHER NAME FROM APPENDIX N. Ngo Vinh-Hoi profiles fantasy writer John Bellairs, one of the more obscure names listed in the Appendix N to the original D&D Dungeon Master’s Handbook: “Adventures in Fiction: John Bellairs” at Goodman Games.
… The modest success of The Face in the Frost was enough for Bellairs to turn to full-time writing, and his next work The House with a Clock in its Walls was also a dark fantasy. Supposedly Bellairs had difficulty selling the book until a publisher suggested rewriting it as a young adult (YA) book set in the fictionalized Michigan of Bellairs’s childhood. The House with a Clock in its Walls proved to be a huge critical and sales success, so much so that Bellairs became a full-time YA author for the rest of his career, completing a total of 15 books for young readers, most of which were illustrated by the great Edward Gorey….
(10) WILL THE REAL CONAN PLEASE STAND UP. Howard Andrew Jones explains which of the many Conan pastiche novels are worth reading: “The Best Of The Conan Pastiche Novels” at Goodman Games.
… You can fit the sum total of all the Conan that Howard wrote (including some fragments and rejected stories) into one large hardback. That’s not a lot of fiction about such a great character, and so for decades, people have been trying to create new tales of adventure starring Conan, mostly because they wanted MORE!
What makes those stories pastiche instead of fanfic, I suppose, is that many of these writers were paid to write it and the result was distributed widely. You would assume that meant that the work was well-edited and had some kind of consistency, but a lot of people, me among them, would tell you you’re wrong….
(11) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
1971 — [Item by Cat Eldridge.] Fifty-one years ago, City Beneath the Sea premiered on NBC. It had a tangled history as it was originally a pilot for a series that Irwin Allen had pitched to that network several years earlier. The film itself was an expansion of a much shorter idea reel that Allen had shown to the network.
The story was by Allen, but the screenplay was by John Meredyth Lucas who had written four Trek episodes, “Elaan of Troyius”, “The Changeling”, “Patterns of Force” and “That Which Survives” in addition to direction and production duties there.
The primary cast was Stuart Whitman, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Colbert, Burr DeBenning, Robert Wagner, Joseph Cotten and Richard Basehart. Irwin’s suggested cast for the series was Glenn Corbett, Lloyd Bochner, Lawrence Montaigne, Francine York, Cecile Ozorio and James Brolin.
I couldn’t, for love or money, find any critical reviews of the film. Rotten Tomatoes has none which is highly unusual. Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes weren’t fond of it giving it a rating of just forty percent. Here’s the trailer for it. City Beneath the Sea (1967).
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born January 25, 1905 — Margery Sharp. Her best remembered work is The Rescuers series which concerns a mouse by the name of Miss Bianca. They were later adapted in two Disney animated films, The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. I’m reasonably sure I’ve seen the first one a very long time ago. Her genre novel, The Stone of Chastity, is according to her website, based on English folklore. Other than the first volume of The Rescuer series, she’s not really available digitally though she is mostly in print in the dead tree format. (Died 1991.)
Born January 25, 1918 — King Donovan. Jack Belicec in the original and by far the best version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Thirty years later, he’d be Lunartini Husband in Nothing Lasts Forever, a SF comedy film with a contentious history. His only other genre appearance was a one-off on Night Gallery. (Died 1987.)
Born January 25, 1920 — Bruce Cassiday. Under two different pen names, Con Steffanson and Carson Bingham , he wrote three Flash Gordon novels (The Trap of Ming XII, The Witch Queen of Mongo and The War of the Cybernauts) and he also wrote several pieces of non-fiction worth noting, The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, co-written with Dieter Wuckel, and Modern Mystery, Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers. The latter done in ‘93 is rather out of date and out of print as well. Checking the usual suspects shows nothing’s available by him for this genre though some of his pulp novels are available with appropriately lurid covers. (Died 2005.)
Born January 25, 1950 — Christopher Ryan, 72. He’s played two different aliens on Doctor Who. First in the Sixth Doctor story, “Mindwarp”, he was Kiv where he looked akin to Clayface from the animated Batman series. Second in the era of the Tenth Doctor (“The Sontarian Experiment” and “The Poison Sky”) and the Eleventh Doctor (“The Pandorica Opens”), he was the Sontarian General Staal Commander Stark.
Born January 25, 1958 — Peter Watts, 64. Author of the most excellent Firefall series which I read and enjoyed immensely. I’ve not read the Rifters trilogy so would welcome opinions on it. And his Sunflower-linked short stories sound intriguing. He won a Hugo for Best Novelette at Aussiecon 4 for “The Island”.
Born January 25, 1963 — Catherine Butler, 59. Butler’s most important work is Four British fantasists : place and culture in the children’s fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper. Another important work is Reading History in Children’s Books, with Hallie O’Donovan. Her website is here.
Born January 25, 1973 — Geoff Johns, 49. Where to begin? Though he’s done some work outside of DC, he is intrinsically linked to that company having working for them for twenty years. My favorite work by him is on Batman: Gotham Knights, Justice League of America #1–7 (2013) and 52 which I grant which was way overly ambitious but really fun. Oh, and I’d be remiss not to notehis decade long run on the Green Lantern books. He’s the writer and producer on the most excellent Stargirl now streaming on HBO Max.
Born January 25, 1975 — Mia Kirshner, 47. She was Amanda Grayson in Star Trek: Discovery. Her first genre was in the really not great The Crow: City of Angels as Sarah Mohr. (I editorialize, it is what I do.) she had another run as Isobel Flemming in The Vampire Diaries and one-offs in The War of The Worlds, Dracula: The Series, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Wolf Lake. She had a plum role in Defiance as Kenya Rosewater.
Given that this movie stars the Beatles and that it is intended as a comedy, it makes sense that its central world domination plan would be nonsensical.
However, even by that standard, the central plot strains the ability of the audience to make sense of anything of what is happening, much of which revolves around a seemingly magical ring. The fact that the movie moves along at a frantic pace makes its plot even more difficult to follow.
(14) SWORD & SORCERY’S ANCESTRY. At DMR Books, Brian Kunde chronicles his research into the life of Clifford Ball, Weird Tales contributor and probably the most obscure of the first wave of sword and sorcery writers: “Who Was Clifford Ball?”
…In this we are in a position similar to that of Shakespearean scholars, who on the basis of surviving records have also put together a threadbare sketch of an outer life while likewise failing to illuminate the inner man. As with them, our surest guides to our subject’s inner life and interests remain those we started with—in Ball’s case, his published works, together with what he and “W. C., Jr.” set down in their letters and notes in Weird Tales. Having left no descendants, whatever else Ball might have left of a personal nature likely perished with him or his near heirs. The who we already had may have led us to a more complete picture of the life he lived, but how that life was reflected in his thoughts, hopes and dreams remains elusive….
(17) TROLL SIGHTINGS. Jim C. Hines has updated the “Jon Del Arroz’s History of Trolling and Harassing” webpage: “Among other things, JDA had a friend take pictures of Tomlinson at ConFusion, which JDA posted for mockery.” The screencaps are here.
…Many of us are increasingly aware that American childhoods can look very different from one another, varying with race and ethnicity, geographic location, economic status, and many other factors. This has always been true, of course, but until very recently, the imagined child reader was monolithic. So your favorite Newbery from childhood may now seem out of touch, hopelessly uncool. Worse yet, it may feature offensive viewpoints and stereotypes.
Some readers may reject older titles for their objectionable content. But some people feel that recent medal books threaten a long-cherished vision of a universal American childhood experience—a vision they still hold dear. This was the case recently when schools in Katy, Texas, retracted (then subsequently reinstated) an invitation for author Jerry Craft to speak. Craft’s 2020 medal winner, New Kid, depicts a Black boy’s first year in a predominantly white prep school, where he faces frequent microaggressions. Concerned that somereaders might experience white guilt, agitators claimed the book ran afoul of Texas’ ban on teaching critical race theory….
…The Newbery makes aspirationally high art for children into news.
This is what Newbery founder Frederic Melcher had in mind: Librarians’ professional neutrality would keep prizing above the taint of commercialism, benefiting publishers’ bottom lines and also, of course, children’s minds and spirits. The prize was about building a junior American canon, books that cultivated readers and inspired the highest ideals of democratic citizenship in the nation’s youth. But the result was a canon that is overwhelmingly white and often marked by a colonialist worldview. Today, the Newbery’s mission increasingly encompasses an awareness of past failures to think about all children as future leaders….
On a bed of arugula and carrot slices, an Icelandic pizzeria has laid out an unusual topping for their new, seasonal pizza: a sheep’s head boiled in stout beer.
The head itself is laced with a smoked chili barbecue sauce that plays up the animal’s flavour — more than when it’s traditionally been served for Thorrablot, the midwinter food festival celebrating Iceland’s pagan history.
And that’s because the sauce includes another juicy ingredient — sheep dung.
“It’s really delicious. I mean, it has to be tasted to be able to describe it,” Laufey Sif Larusdottir, the owner of Olverk Pizza and Brewery in Hveragerdi told As It Happens host Carol Off.
As the tide rose, it began to look perilous for Millie the jack russell-whippet cross, who had defied the efforts of police, firefighters and coastguards to pluck her from treacherous mudflats.
So the rescuers had to think imaginatively, and came up with the idea of attaching a sausage to a drone and hoping the scent of the treat would tempt Millie to safety. It worked gloriously and Millie has been reunited with her grateful owner after following the dangling sausage to higher, safer ground.
Millie disappeared after slipping her lead in Havant, Hampshire, and after frantic public appeals was spotted on the mudflats, in danger of being engulfed by the tide. She resisted efforts to encourage her to a safer spot until a drone pilot suggested attaching food to one of the unmanned aerial vehicles that had been used to track the dog….
(21) MYSTERY OF EARTH’S DIFFERENT MOON POSSIBLY SOLVED. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.]Massive Moon strike could explain why its near-side and far-side are so different. Even the minerals on the near and far side are different: why does not the far-side have the lava seas seen on the near-side? One theory has it that a huge object smashed into the early Moon; possibly its South Pole and the Aitken Basin. Whatever the impact researchers at Macau University have modelled what a huge impact would do. Back then the Moon would have had a thin crust and a molten interior. The impact would have punched through the crust and made the molten interior even hotter and more fluid. Gravitational influences from its orbit about the Earth – and remember, in its early days the Moon orbited closer to the Earth – would have caused a more fluid type of magma to migrate to the near side where it erupted onto the surface. Nature has the abstract: “Lunar compositional asymmetry explained by mantle overturn following the South Pole–Aitken impact”.
(22) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In “Harry Potter and the chamber of Secrets Pitch Meeting” on Screen Rant, Ryan George says that in the second Harry Potter movie, if you’re wondering how the pipes surrounding Hogwarts could be big enough for a giant basilisk, hey, kids eat a lot!” Also, the producer wonders why Hogwarts has the Weeping Willow, which is “a tree that bludgeons kids to death.”
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, Cora Buhlert, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson.]
David Gerrold, novelist and screenwriter, is the 2022 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The award is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space. This award is in recognition of Gerrold’s body of work, including his emphasis on young adult space travel novels and inspired creation during Star Trek screenwriting. Hella (2020) is his most recent YA novel about space colonization.
The award will be formally presented during the opening ceremonies of Balticon 56 on Friday, May 27. Balticon will take place at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel (virus situation allowing). Gerrold will participate in the Balticon program across Memorial Day Weekend.
Balticon and the Robert A. Heinlein Award are both managed and sponsored by The Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc. A grant from the Heinlein Society funds half of the costs associated with the award, and the family of the late author Dr. Yoji Kondo provides additional funding.
The Robert A. Heinlein Award is a sterling silver medallion bearing the image of Robert A. Heinlein, as depicted by artist Arlin Robins. The medallion is matched with a red-white-blue lanyard. In addition, the winner receives two lapel pins for use when a large medallion is impractical, and a plaque describing the award for home or office wall display.
The Robert A. Heinlein Award selection committee consists of science fiction writers and was founded by Dr. Yoji Kondo, a long-time friend of Robert and Virginia Heinlein. Members of the original committee were approved by Virginia Heinlein.
Virginia Heinlein authorized multiple awards in memory of her husband. Other awards include the Heinlein Prize, which is fully funded by Virginia Heinlein’s estate, and a National Space Society award for volunteer projects.
More information on the Robert A. Heinlein Award, including past winners, can be found here.
Past Worldcon chair and First Fandom Hall of Fame inductee Roger Sims died January 23 at the age of 91 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. Bill Cavin sent an email informing some friends, adding that Roger will be cremated, and his ashes buried at sea per his wishes.
After serving a hitch in the postwar U.S. Navy, Roger returned to Detroit and discovered fandom in 1949. He called a phone number in the letter column of a prozine, and got connected to the Detroit Science Fiction League (nicknamed the Misfits).
Roger Sims in 1945.
At Aussiecon in 1975.
In 1950 he traveled to Portland, Oregon for the Worldcon – the first of more than 50 he would attend. By the time he went to his second he was fully in the swing of things. At the New Orleans Worldcon of 1951 (Nolacon), he rented a room together with Richard Ellsberry, Max Keasler and Ed Kuss. It was number 770. The party they threw there became a byword for fannish good times, a legend that grew in the telling. Roger said in Mimosa that one of the ‘highlights’ “was a parade around the room in which the marchers rather than walking around the furniture, climbed over it. The march was halted when the slats on one of the beds gave way, spilling fans all over the floor.”
A year later, Roger found he had been catapulted to the top of a list of notables to be introduced at Chicon II, however, his fame had yet to register with the person actually doing the introductions. He recalled in Mimosa:
Opening ceremonies at Chicon found me in the audience; Sam Moskowitz was the Master of Ceremonies. After a ‘short’ speech (as only Sam could) he began to introduce the notables in the audience, and the first words out of his mouth were “Roger Sims!” Now, to this day, I believe that he had not looked at the list until he said those two words; I believe this because the next words out of his mouth were, “Who the Hell is that?” But I stood up anyway. At this point there were a few polite claps and a lot of stares. (The reader should remember that I had, as a result of Room 770, only graduated from the ranks of neo fandom the year before! Now, I’m known for other things, of which most are ‘Rogerisms’, but as Bill Bowers is wont to say, “We love you anyway.”)
During his early days in fandom Roger also acquired the nickname, “Teddy Bear.” According to his friend Lynn Hickman this happened at the 1954 Worldcon in San Francisco when, “Roger was making some moves on a good-looking gal (Irene Baron) and her boyfriend came over and asked her if Roger was bothering her. Irene said: ‘Roger? Of course not. He’s just a Teddy Bear.’”
For a short while, Roger worked in New York City. In 1957, he shared an apartment with Harlan Ellison for three months, yielding enough anecdotes to last a lifetime. As he recalled in a Mimosainterview:
…It was an interesting three months of my life. Harlan was continually broke. I had some money that I had saved up, and I would lend it to him. He would get a check and pay me back, and then two days later he would be broke again. We went back and forth like this for the whole three months. Anyway, he had sold a story to W.W. Scott, who was editor of a SF magazine; Scott was going to send him a check and it would arrive Monday. This was Friday. Well, that would take too long; Harlan had to have the money now, so we went down to Scott’s office. While we were waiting for the check, Scott said to Harlan, “Why don’t you write me a story while you’re waiting?” So Harlan sat down and wrote a story, Scott read it and said, “OK, type it up nicely for me and I’ll buy it.” And he gave Harlan his check, which was for $208. On the way home, we stopped and bought a statue, a book, and a chair. He sent money to his mother, and we took a cab home. We arrived there with seven dollars and fifty cents left….
His first marriage was to Mable “Mae” Young, sister of George Young, another Detroit fan, met when she visited New York. To court her he moved back to Michigan. Soon after arriving he was involved with Detroit’s bid for the 1959 Worldcon. They won, and Roger and Fred Prophet co-chaired Detention, as it was named.
Roger’s first marriage was not a success and the couple divorced. Roger married fellow fan Pat Sims in 1964, having met her at Midwestcon the year before.
Together Roger and Pat hosted Ditto 10 (1997), Ditto 17 (2004) and FanHistoriCon 9 (1999). (Ditto 17 was held in Orlando, because by then the Sims had moved to Florida.)
Roger and Pat also became the 1995 Down Under Fan Fund delegates. Non-fan honors bestowed on them (through fannish connections) included being commissioned as Kentucky Colonels, and being named Honorary Captains of The Belle of Louisville.
Roger and Pat Sims in 1990.
Roger’s one pro sf sale was to Mike Resnick’s Alternate Worldcons (1996), “An Old-Fashioned Worldcon,” – “The 1982 Worldcon in Detroit is a classic event with none of the frills such as Masquerade, movies, gaming, Regency dance, etc. All the trufen attend—all four of them.” (Roger was also a character, in Dick Spelman’s “The Forgotten Worldcon of ’45”, in the same anthology.)
When the Worldcon returned to New Orleans in 1988, Roger was Nolacon II’s Fan Guest of Honor. For the Program Book he “set the record straight” about the famous party at the first Nolacon. (Strong drink may have played a role in everyone’s fun, if that’s what was in the 284 empty glasses Roger estimated were stacked on trays left outside the door.)
In 2020 he was inducted to the First Fandom Hall of Fame.
Lynn Hickman called Roger Sims “the nicest, gentlest, most honest person you would ever want to meet” – the very best way to remember a lifelong fan with many accomplishments.
[Thanks to John L. Coker III for supplying these photos from the archives of First Fandom.]
(1) CYBERSTALKING. Patrick Tomlinson has written a 27-tweet thread about the cyberstalking campaign against him, daily threats, invasions of privacy, fake delivery orders, and email accounts impersonating him to send offensive messages to people. His efforts to learn the identities of the stalkers were contested by Cloudflare and a California court refused to require them to be disclosed. Thread starts here.
The pain caused to him and his family has been mocked by the right-wing comics site Bounding Into Comics, and in numerous tweets and videos by Jon Del Arroz.
Their campaign of targeted harassment here on twitter has included more than 300 accounts impersonating me, as well as other twitter users in my sphere. They've spammed replies, harassed and threatened followers, and made hundreds of sexist/racist/homophobic comments. 2/
Over the course of the last three and a half years, members of this group of terrorists have used phones and fax to harass local businesses I frequent with obscene calls and pornographic images. They send fraudulent food orders to my home almost daily. 4/
They've used the contact forms on the websites of dozens of prominent people in my industry, usually women or POC who they see as more vulnerable targets, once again to impersonate me and send sexually or racially demeaning messages hoping to damage my professional reputation. 6/
Holy smokes, these are beautiful. Three significant points in the Foundation era, illustrated in stunning detail and each with a representative character. Hari Seldon sits on a throne of carefully calculated order. The Mule takes a wrecking ball to the plan and lounges amid the ruins. And Arkady Darell strides through the world that was reborn from that destruction, as nature reclaims the Empire’s decaying vestiges. I love these covers. Bravo!
Huh? Doesn’t the Mule kind of look like a clown here? That’s right! It was Magnifico the whole time, making the Mule an unusually cerebral addition to the hallowed Scary Clown Hall of Fame. Pennywise can eat your soul, but the Mule could make you happy about it….
No Way Home made headlines on the global stage as it passed up 2019’s The Lion King ($1.66 billion) and 2015’s Jurassic World ($1.67 billion) to become the No. 6 film of all time worldwide with $1.69 billion in worldwide ticket sales through Sunday, not adjusted for inflation.
In North America, Sony and Marvel’s No Way Home returned to No. 1 in its sixth weekend with an estimated $14.1 million from 3,705 theaters for a domestic total of $721 million, the fourth-best showing of all time.
Icicles were glued on to vintage streetlamps as Glasgow was transformed into a wintry Gotham City over the weekend, as Batgirl became the latest blockbuster to take advantage of Scotland’s versatile urban locations and glorious scenery.
Last summer the city was draped in US flags and bunting to simulate a New York parade for the latest Indiana Jones movie, while the stars of the Amazon Prime series Good Omens 2 have been spotted recently in Edinburgh.
For Screw, the flagship new-year drama by STV Studios for Channel 4, the inside of Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall – now host to a £11.9m television studio jointly funded by the Scottish government and Glasgow city council – was transformed into a prison wing….
(5) IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR IT TICK. Citizen is ready to sell fans Star Wars Watches, in a variety of franchise themes. Here are two examples, Boba Fett, and Rebel Pilot (each marked down to a mere $280!) There are 18 altogether.
(Click for larger images.)
(6) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.
1952 — [Item by Cat Eldridge.] Seventy years ago this month, Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man is first published in three parts starting in the January 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. Although he had been writing short fiction since 1939, this was Bester’s first novel.
The novel is dedicated to Galaxy‘s editor, H. L. Gold, who made suggestions during its writing. Bester’s preferred title was Demolition! but Gold convinced him it was not a good one. Anyone know where the title came from?
The Demolished Man would be published in hardcover by Shasta Publishers the next year. Shasta Publishers was formed in 1947 by a group of Chicago area fans.
Critics at the time really loved it. Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas in their Recommended Reading column for The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy said it was “a taut, surrealistic melodrama [and] a masterful compounding of science and detective fiction.” And Groff Conklin in his Galaxy5 Star Shelf column exclaimed that it is “a magnificent novel as fascinating a study of character as I have ever read.”
As you know The Demolished Man would win the first Hugo for Best Novel at PhilCon II. It was also nominated for the International Fantasy Award.
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born January 24, 1911 — CL Moore. Author, and wife of Henry Kuttner until his death in 1958. They collaborated in such delightful works as “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” and “Vintage Season”, both of which were turned into films which weren’t as good as the stories. She had a strong writing career prior to her marriage as well with such fiction as “Shambleau” which involves her most famous character Northwest Smith. I’d also single out “Nymph of Darkness” which she wrote with Forrest J Ackerman. I’ll not overlook her Jirel of Joiry, one of the first female sword and sorcery characters, and I believe that the “Black God’s Kiss” story is the first tale she wrote of her adventures. She retired from writing genre fiction after he died, writing only scripts for writing episodes of Sugarfoot, Maverick, The Alaskans and 77 Sunset Strip, in the late Fifties and early Sixties. Checking the usual suspects , Deversion Books offers a nearly eleven hundred page collection of their fiction for a mere three bucks. (Died 1987.)
Born January 24, 1917 — Ernest Borgnine. I think his first genre role was Al Martin in Willard but if y’all know of something earlier I’m sure you’ll tell me. He’s Harry Booth in The Black Hole, a film whose charms still escape me entirely. Next up for him is the cabbie in the superb Escape from New York. In the same year, he’s nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor as Isaiah Schmidt in the horror film Deadly Blessing. A few years later, he’s The Lion in a version of Alice in Wonderland. Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders is horror and his Grandfather isn’t that kindly. He voices Kip Killigan in Small Soldiers which I liked, and I think his last role was voicing Command in Enemy Mind (2010). Series wise let’s see… it’s possible that his first SF role was as Nargola on Captain Video and His Video Rangers way back in 1951. After that he shows up in, and I’ll just list the series for the sake of brevity, Get Smart, Future Cop, The Ghost of Flight 401, Airwolf where of course he’s regular cast, Treasure Island in Outer Space and Touched by an Angel. (Died 2012.)
Born January 24, 1937 — Julie Gregg. A performer that showed up in a lot of SFF series though never in a primary role. She was in Batman: The Movie as a Nightclub Singer (uncredited) in her first genre role, followed by three appearances on the series itself, two as the Finella character; one-offs on I Dream of Genie, Bewitched, The Flying Nun, Mission: Impossible, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Incredible Hulk followed. Her only lead role was as Maggie Spencer in Mobile One which can’t even be stretched to be considered genre adjacent. (Died 2016.)
Born January 24, 1944 — David Gerrold, 78. He of course scripted “The Trouble With Tribbles” which I absolutely love, wrote the amazing patch-up novel When HARLIE Was One, has his War Against the Chtorr series and wrote, with Robert Sawyer, Boarding the Enterprise: Transporters, Tribbles, and the Vulcan Death Grip in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. He’s been a screenwriter for Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Land of the Lost, Logan’s Run (the series), Superboy, Babylon 5, Star Trek:Deep Space Nine, Sliders, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, and Axanar. Very, very impressive.
Born January 24, 1949 — John Belushi. No, he was not in a single SFF series or film that I can mention here though he did voice work on one such undertaking early in his career that I’ll not mention here as it’s clearly pornographic in nature. No, he’s here for his brilliant parody of Shatner as Captain Kirk which he did on Saturday Night Live which you can watch here. (Died 1982.)
Born January 24, 1967 — Phil LaMarr, 55. Best known I think for his voice work which, and this is a partial list, includes Young Justice (Aquaman among others), the lead role on Static Shock, John Stewart aka Green Lantern on Justice League Unlimited, Robbie Robertson on The Spectacular Spider-Man, various roles on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and T’Shan on Black Panther. Live roles include playing a jazz singer in the “Shoot Up the Charts” episode of Get Smart, a doctor on The Muppets in their ”Generally Inhospitable” segment, a lawyer in the “Weaponizer” episode of Lucifer and the voice of Rag Doll in the “All Rag Doll’d Up” episode of The Flash.
Born January 24, 1985 — Remi Ryan, 37. You most likely remember as her as ever-so-cute hacker urchin in RoboCop 3 who saves the day at the end of that film. She actually had her start in acting in Beauty and the Beast at four and was in The Flash a year later. At twelve, she’s in Mann & Machine. A year later is when she’s that urchin. Her last genre undertaking was in The Lost Room eight years ago and she retired from acting not long after.
(9) MARVEL LOADS UP FOR FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. Marvel Comics will celebrate Free Comic Book Day on May 7 this year with three free one-shots. The second title to be announced is Free Comic Book Day 2022: Marvel’s Voices #1, an introduction to the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Voices series, which spotlights creators and characters across Marvel’s diverse and evolving universe. The book will include seven Marvel’s Voices stories, spotlighting creators and characters from different cultures, communities, and identities.
(Click for larger images.)
In addition to a new story starring Moon Girl by writer Nadia Shammas and artist Luciano Vecchio, the issue will reprint these stories from other Marvel’s Voices one-shots:
Writer Evan Narcisse and artist Jahnoy Lindsay’s tale showcasing the heroic journey of Brother Voodoo from MARVEL’S VOICES (2020) #1
Acclaimed artist Jeffrey Veregge’s showcase of Marvel’s greatest indigenous heroes from MARVEL’S INDIGENOUS VOICES (2020) #1
Oscar winning writer John Ridley and artist Olivier Coipel’s action packed Miles Morales adventure from MARVEL’S VOICES: LEGACY (2021) #1
Writer Alyssa Wong and superstar artist Whilce Portacio’s Wave and Bishop teamup story from MARVEL’S VOICES: IDENTITY (2021) #1
Artist Luciano Vecchio’s rousing exploration of the history of LGBTQ+ representation in Marvel Comics from MARVEL’S VOICES: PRIDE (2021) #1
Writer/artist Leo Romero’s celebration of Brazilian culture with the X-Men’s Shark-Girl from MARVEL’S VOICES: COMUNIDADES (2021) #1 by Leo Romero
(10) N3F SHORT STORY CONTEST. The winners of the 2021 National Fantasy Fan Federation Short Story Contest have been announced.
First Prize ($50): “The Prudence of Silver,” by Sean Jones: A Swords and Sorcery “dungeon crawl,” with monsters, skeletons, high priests, and a small band of determined heroes to penetrate the depths and accomplish their dire mission. But things are not always what they seem, and, in war, who is really a “good guy?”
Second Prize ($30): “Breaking Good,” by Adrian Rayner: A “Noir” style conflict between a publisher and an extortionist. When the armbreakers are making demands, whom can anyone trust?
Third Prize ($20): “Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair,” by Markus Nyström: A space battle goes badly — as badly as it could conceivably go — and our hero volunteers to salvage the situation in the only way possible. Will he succeed?
Honorable Mention: “The Landing at the Somme,” by Patrick McKay: What if the Martian war machines from “War of the Worlds” had landed in the middle of one of the climactic battles of World War One? What better time to attack, than while earthlings make war on each other?
(11) CRICKETS WILL BE CHIRPING. Netflix has announced that Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is coming in December.
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
The world’s biggest, most powerful space telescope arrived at its observation post 1 million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe.
On command, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly five minutes to go into orbit around the sun at its designated location, and NASA confirmed the operation went as planned.
The mirrors on the $10 billion observatory still must be meticulously aligned, the infrared detectors sufficiently chilled and the scientific instruments calibrated before observations can begin in June.
But flight controllers in Baltimore were euphoric after chalking up another success.
(13) JEOPARDY! Andrew Porter witnessed a category take a bite out of a contestant on tonight’s episode of Jeopardy!
Category: Writers do Right
Answer: This author of vampire novels donated $1 each from the sale of “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” to the Red Cross.
Wrong question: Who is Anne Rice?
Right question: Who is Stephenie Meyer?
[Thanks to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, Dan Bloch, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jon Meltzer.]
The MidSouthCon committee announced today that guests of honor David Mack and Amanda Makepeace, and toastmaster Maggie Thompson, will not be attending the convention. Mack says his decision is due to the convention’s state-imposed Covid policy. Makepeace and Thompson have not specifically commented in social media about their reasons.
MidSouthCon will take place in Memphis, Tennessee from March 25-27. Their Covid-19 Policy requires masks, however, Tennessee state law prohibits them from requiring proof of vaccination or negative covid tests.
Our attendee’s health and safety is our priority. With that, we are following the guidance of our venue and our local, state, and federal authorities.
1. Masks – per our venue, masks are required for all visitors/guests in all public space, which is any non-guest-room space. All convention attendees will be expected to adhere to this requirement.
2. Vaccinations – per a recent state law passed by our Tennessee legislature, government entities and private businesses in Tennessee are prohibited from requiring proof of vaccination or negative covid tests to employees, patrons, and visitors…
It is with deep regret that I have canceled my appearance as the Author Guest of Honor for this year’s MidSouthCon, because of the impossibility of verifying the vaccination/negative test status of attendees, staff, guests, and volunteers as a condition of attendance.
This would have been my very first time as an Author Guest of Honor at any con, and this invitation meant a great deal to me. However, protecting my health and that of my family against unnecessary risks during a pandemic, especially in the face of an extremely contagious COVID variant such as omicron, must take a higher priority.
I will be reimbursing MidSouthCon for any and all out-of-pocket costs they have incurred on my behalf.
At the time MidSouthCon and I made our plans, we had no idea the pandemic was coming. We certainly could not have known in 2019 that the Tennessee state government would pass a law that actually makes it harder to keep people safe from infection.
That fact is the key difference between this cancellation and the one I announced last week regarding my planned appearance at Farpoint Convention. The state of Maryland has no law at this time that prevents events and venues from requiring proof of vaccination as a condition of entry and/or service. The state of Tennessee, unfortunately, does. Whereas Farpoint could have chosen to apply a stronger standard for the protection of its guests, et al., but chose not to, the concom of MidSouthCon had no such option….
Artist Amanda Makepeace said in a tweet today, “I stressed myself out this weekend over a decision I needed to make. But once I accepted what was in my heart all that worry went away. Staying true to yourself is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.” The timing suggests a connection without limiting other possibilities.
Having had to pull out of two conventions, David Mack took a look ahead to address whether Covid policies would affect his participation in any other. His only upcoming convention appearance is Shore Leave, happening in Hunt Valley, Maryland from July 15–17. Shore Leave has a posted COVID-19 policy that will require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry/service to the convention’s designated areas and functions. Mack says, “As long as that policy remains in effect, I will look forward to attending Shore Leave this summer.”
He also has added a statement to his website’s Contact page that he “will not participate in person at any event held in a state…that legally bars venues and events from requesting proof of vaccination as a condition of entry and service.” Ballotopedia shows that currently includes the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The flash nomination phase for the 2021 Clarkesworld Reader’s Poll began today and continues until January 26 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. The top five go onto the final round in February.
Editor Neil Clarke invites readers to celebrate their favorite Clarkesworld cover art and stories. He says you don’t need to have read everything, just vote for what you love. “At worst, you can just look at the twelve covers and say which of those spoke to you the most. Takes all of a couple minutes, tops!”
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the 2022 Youth Media Award winners — the top books, digital media, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – virtually during LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience.
Congratulations to Ryka Aoki, Genevieve Gornichec, T.L Huchu, Everina Maxwell, Rachel Smythe, and Heather Walter whose genre novels received Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.
Also of genre interest:
Newbery Medal winnerThe Last Cuentista, written by Donna Barba Higuera, is about “a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children — among them Petra and her family — have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.“ Higuera’s book also won the Pura Belpré Children’s Author Award.
Newbery Honor Book — A Snake Falls to Earth, written by Darcie Little Badger.
Mildred L. Batchelder Award — Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba.
The Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award, which recognizes an author or entity who has made a substantial contribution over time to the genre of Jewish children’s literature, went to Jane Yolen.
[Introduction: Melanie Stormm continues her humorous series of posts about the misdirected emails she’s been getting. Stormm is a multiracial writer who writes fiction, poetry, and audio theatre. Her novella, Last Poet of Wyrld’s End is available through Candlemark & Gleam. She is currently the editor at the SPECk, a monthly publication on speculative poetry by the SFPA. Find her in her virtual home at coldwildeyes.com. Wipe your feet before entering.]
WHAT HAPPENED AT HOGSWATCH
Hello, All! Melanie here.
I’ve truly missed passing on Writer X’s emails to fellow Filers. It’s been a longer time than I’ve wished.
I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to share, but through the years I’ve made the mistake of being too quiet about my life, not just the good times, but the bad, too. I’m trying to be kinder to myself and correct this.
In the week before Christmas, my beloved father passed away unexpectedly. He was an author with a lifelong love of comics, science fiction, and fantasy. I write because of him. He was a spellbinding storyteller and the thought that his affected storytelling voice is a thing that now exists only in memory is still hitting me. He didn’t allow us to have a TV so he told us stories to pass the time, and then encouraged us to tell our own as well.
Get this, his real name was Johnny Stormm although, by the time he and my mum got to having kids, I think he preferred to be called John. And, yes, he set himself on fire a number of times. Some of which were intentional. I think it’s in the name.
My name was almost accidentally Suzanne Stormm, but both parents decided on Melanie. I just had an ironic thought while writing this: I’m sharing these events from my life with you because I’ve decided I need to make my humanity less invisible.
(Wow, I miss you, dad!)
On return from being with my family, I discovered that I had contracted COVID. Then, I learned that my whole family had it. Kids included. Healing has been slow.
X continued to send me emails through that time but, with everything going on, I didn’t have the steam to read them and pass them on. Life kept inserting itself into all my other plans. I’ve since caught up.
I’ve gone back and forth on how to proceed. Some of her emails are rather long. Sending them all at once would be overload. For sake of digestibility, I’m sending them one week at a time if they’re long. One of her later emails is particularly cryptic and brief. Likely I’ll lump emails like that in with another from the previous week and let you know that I’ve done so to keep track of her timeline.
As I convalesce, it’s been a strangely heartwarming thing to go through her emails, regardless of their content. The emails have, by and large, faithfully come every week. It’s good to know that X was somewhere out there being X on a full-time basis and hasn’t given up on her novel—to say nothing of her other—um, choices.
There’s a hitch. She didn’t send an email last week. And she didn’t send an email this week either. I did ping her, but nothing’s come back so far.
I’m not going to spoil the next few emails when I say that I hope she hasn’t been scooped up by the FBI or whatever equivalent there is in her reality.
Whether you’re slugging away at your latest work of fiction, or if you’re slugging away trying to figure out how to write fiction, I wish you happy writing from the bottom of my heart. Happy reading, too.
If you need a refresher, the last email she sent is here. Even better, there is now a handy dandy index here on File 770 and in the menu above in case you’d like to explore other emails in the X saga.
Without further ado, here she is…
Subject: I think I’m getting skin cancer from my neighbor’s stupid holiday lights!!!
Dear Gladys,
Mr. Morgan and I were able to peaceably settle our lawsuit over my meat-grease coccyx bruising out of court. I agreed to drop the lawsuit and, in exchange, he agreed not to press charges for me impersonating an employee and barricading myself in behind a “tower” of “perishable” eggs.
I did, however, have to pay for the eggs. Fortunately, I was able to salvage most of them but now my fridge is packed with egg cartons and I think I’m going to have to buy a second fridge which means I have to LOWER MYSELF to going to BRIAN’S APPLIANCE STORE!!!
I would tell you more about my investigation into Tod Boadkins but I have to get down to the store before they close at five and that STUPID MAGICAL MARKET keeps popping up everywhere and screwing up my GPS. Not to mention the traffic!!!
Why can’t Bleakwood residents get their own magical market instead of showing up at ours???? This morning I had to park a half mile away from Local College just to bring my protege his chicken and pickle sandwich!!
Anyway. The rest of this email is going to have to wait until after I’ve ordered the second refrigerator and it’s almost time for me to pick up Tryxy.
Try not to run over any gnomes.
xox,
X
Subject: CAR ACCIDENT!!!
Dear Gladys,
I’m writing to let you know that I won’t be able to write you until later tonight. Thanks to my neighbor’s yearly holiday light competition, I have had a small car accident with Ms. B___’s upcycled wine-bottle water-fountain and about twenty two belligerent homeschoolers throwing iceballs at everyone’s holiday decorations. (Mr. D___’s glow in the dark bearded boar fell off his roof and crushed an escaped gnome as a result.)
The homeschooling problem has really gotten out of hand, here!!!
WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITHOUT MY CAR, GLADYS???
xox,
X
sent from my iPhone
Subject: THE ANTI-HORCRUXES OF WRITING
Dear Gladys,
I know that I have a lot of self control, but believe it or not, I have feelings. I’m explaining this because I want you to understand what a low place I was in after mowing over all those homeschooler’s ice forts and wrecking my car on Ms. B___’s stupid fountain. I got very low. Very very low.
Gladys, I almost gave up writing.
When I heard all those pillars of cemented-together empty bottles of chateau de pape crunch under my chassis, it HIT ME.
I’m never going to be a real writer. I’m never going to get these books written. Fenchin is going to die with ME. My whole life is falling apart.
I needed a message from the universe. AFter the tow truck took my car away I was shaking so bad I couldn’t go home and deal with all those weird invisible people gathering in my living room. I decided to take a walk and figure out what kind of sign I need that will get me writing again or tell me to finally give up on this whole thing.
It got me thinking about the future. Do you think famous writers of epic fantasy know the future and that’s why they are able to focus and get their writing done??? I think they have to. Otherwise, how do you know all this work and pain and credit card bills are going to pay off??? And more to my point WHY ARE EPIC FANTASIES ALWAYS ABOUT PROPHECIES???
It HAS to be because writers already know the FUTURE.
Anyways, I was thinking what would happen if I could look into my future—say as far out as NEXT december and find out if I become a famous epic fantasy writer. If I could walk into a bookshop from the future and find my Fenchin books already on the bookshelves at BAM then I would know for a FACT that I succeed. And then I would keep going. Then, I could even maybe look at the books for ideas on how they actually go!!!!
But that’s cheating.
Summoning a high level demon from the void of Ashiput has taught me that you have to establish ethical rules!!! As I mentioned to you before, Gladys, I was very careful in setting groundrules with myself BEFORE I summoned Tryxy. For example, I couldn’t use Tryxy’s powers to make myself famous. I couldn’t use Tryxy’s powers to give me ideas or do any actual writing. It HAS to be MY writing.
No. The only thing Tryxy is here to do is to give me time to write. Maybe when I do become a famous epic fantasy writer, I’ll write my own book about how to summon a high level demon to do your day job so that you can create fiction that CHANGES THE WORLD.
So, if I went into this bookshop from the future and saw my own book there, would it be cheating to get notes from myself? I decided that it’s probably safer to just see the cover of the book and not look inside.
I was thinking all this and I had wandered somehow past the town green and then that stupid magical market popped up with all its cobblestone streets and worn down castle walls and meandering wraiths. Only somehow I had ended up in a part of it that wasn’t so bad and didn’t have hundreds of those juggling MLM gnomes who are always trying to get you to sign up under them and become a juggling gnome, too.
It was a quiet set of streets with new shop fronts poking out of old stone. There was a light dusting of snow and people walking under lamp posts with brightly-colored scarves and wrapped parcels. There was a little bookstore across from a cafe that still had tables out where people could sit in spite of the cold with little bearded boar heads all festively lit. The bookstore was called “Aruetta’s House of Histories” and it looked like the kind of place that I could get an omen from so I went in.
I didn’t find what I was looking for.
Aruetta only had newspapers from the future. She showed me all the newspapers for next December. I couldn’t find my name in any of the book sections and all the headlines were talking about some writer who had entered the Tower of Voice(???) and freed the relic there. There were like TEN ARTICLES on all the Neil Gaiman golems everywhere.
Neil Gaiman is in the newspapers of the future, but I’m not.
I left even lower than I went in. I even decided I was going to delete all my story files. Outside, someone sat in a black wool coat quietly reading a book whose letters moved around every time I tried to read the title. They looked up at me but I couldn’t really see their eyes but their face was undoubtedly Dream Gaiman.
He told me something I’m not ready to share with you just yet. In fact, I don’t know I should tell ANYBODY in case they beat me to it.
Well, honestly, he kept blabbing on to me about the awful fate that will happen to everyone I know and love if I don’t do something. But eventually I got him to talk about WRITING. I asked him if there’s any way to know if you’ll be famous in the future and he said no. I asked him how to become a famous writer and he said he wasn’t sure how one becomes a famous writer, but he recommended reading extensively, finishing the things I write (IF I COULD DO THAT I WOULD HAVE ALREADY) and a lot of close reading and just taking as much time as it takes.
Then, I asked him how you become that kind of writer by next December without having to do all the stuff he talked about and you know what he said?
There IS a way.
Happy Hogswatch, Gladys.
xox,
X
P.S. Do you know where I could get some books on local anti-horcruxes??? Asking for a friend.
