Journey Planet has released Issue #80, a one-page fanzine edited by Sara Felix, James Bacon, and Chris Garcia focused on the creation of the Glasgow 2024 April Fools Hugo.
The one-off Hugo was designed by Sara Felix and the sculpt was a joint effort between Sara and Vincent Villafranca. Sara and Vincent also designed the Worldcon 76 base together back in 2018.
The JP walks through the basics of where the idea came from and follows through the process. After reading an article that appeared in the souvenir book for Noreascon 4 written by Peter Weston, Sara thought a tartan rocket was possible with the design and approval of Landing Zone Glasgow which Sara designed for the convention previously.
Sara says, “This design is dedicated in loving memory to Deb Geisler. If it wasn’t Deb sending me a link to the article that Peter wrote I would never had the idea in the first place. She was amazing and always a source of inspiration for me.”
By Paul Weimer, Allison Hartman Adams, Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon:
Paul Weimer and Allison Hartman Adams join James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia in an issue of Journey Planet that focuses on the future of the Hugo awards, looking at realistic and achievable solutions to prevent a recurrence of what occurred in 2023.
This fanzine considers what’s next, looking forward, looking at solutions, looking to rebuild trust, honesty, respectfulness and democracy.
Our focus is on “What is to be Done”, a more productive approach than speculation on the whys and wherefores, and how important it is to “be part of the change”.
GUIDELINES
We’re delighted with the interest from fans in this issue so far.
We are also pleased to announce we will be working in partnership with Mike and File 770 publishing articles where agreed subsequently here.
We wanted to share our content guidelines and the submissions email for this issue.
Content Guidelines: We are looking for next steps, solutions, where we go from here, and motions to be brought to the WSFS business meeting.
While reflecting on what occurred in 2023, we are looking to the future. There’s been a lot of Hot Air, and we are not interested in musings for the sake of it. But if you are involved actively with a current or future Worldcon, we do want your view as a person who makes this magic happen.
Contributors are welcome to send us an outline, after which we can confirm acceptance of the proposed article.
Deadline for Contributions: May 5th and May 17th 2024
Word Count: 1200 words maximum.
OPTIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Option 1: Submit a motion with explanation for publication. The motion and explanation might get some light copyediting (if necessary) but otherwise will be published as-is.
Deadline 17th May.
Word Count: 1200 words maximum.
Option 2: Submit a motion that will then be reviewed and commented on, by experienced practitioners and WSFS parliamentarians in a helpful way. Comments could include suggestions, pointing out possible flaws, recommendations for where to adjust, etc. These comments would be published along with your original piece, but you would have the opportunity to revise your article based on this feedback prior to publication if we have it before the 5th of May.
Allowing critique time is the 5th until the 12th, then 5 days for review, with our final deadline 17th of May.
Word Count: 1200 words maximum.
Option 3: You are involved actively with the Hugo Awards and Worldcon and want to share your future view.
Deadline 17th May.
Word Count: target of 1200 words, longer pieces will be considered.
Option 4: You are a current or past Hugo Awards finalist, and you have some views on your experience that you wish future conventions to consider constructively.
Deadline 17th May.
Word Count: target of 1200 words, longer pieces will be considered
When you submit your materials, please also let us know
If you’re attending Glasgow 2024 Worldcon?
If you will be proposing this motion and attending the business meeting?
If we should put you in touch with other fellow travelers with similarly-themed motions (with the potential to collaborate)?
Can we republish your contribution on File770.com?
By Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk: If science fiction has siblings, one of them would be the labour union movement. Both are children of the industrial revolution, when technological progress was creating new types of work and new types of workers, forcing people to confront what that meant. Both are focused on the impacts of change and how we adapt.
From William Morris’ News From Nowhere to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, the genre has played with what work means and how humans collaborate in times of change.
We invite people to explore the (sometimes troubled) relationship between labour and science fiction in an upcoming edition of Journey Planet.
We are interested in a range of topics in various formats, from broad issues such as the depiction of the management class in space opera, to more narrowly focused analysis such as how Star Trek: Deep Space Nine can offer a model for collective action, as well as the real-world practicalities of exploitative labour practices in fandom-related employment. Reviews, short essays, fiction, art — it’s all welcome.
With an anticipated publication date set for American Labour Day (September 2, 2024), we need to have your proposals submitted by May 30, with final copy to the editors due by July 15.
Paul Weimer joins James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia in a forthcoming issue of Journey Planet that focuses on the future of the Hugo awards, looking at realistic and achievable solutions to prevent a recurrence of what occurred in 2023.
Button created by Brad Templeton’s ClariNet the day after a mixup in announcing a 1992 Hugo winner.
Paul is one of a number of people who were treated appallingly by the Chengdu Worldcon, whose valid nomination was arbitrarily made ineligible by Dave McCarty under Ben Yalow, in the disastrous Chengdu Hugo Awards corruption of 2023
This fanzine considers what next, looking forward, looking at solutions, looking to rebuild trust, honesty, respectfulness and democracy.
The editors welcome hearing from fellow fans who are keen to see through changes. To be part of the change, to help see it through.
This issue will work to bring together ideas, and imaginative but manageable proposals that other fans can galvanise around.
We know many fans already have thrown themselves into considerable amounts of work, ensuring the Hugo’s are spectacular, transparent and democratic with check points and if they have time, we will see what they too think, as well as seeking input from experienced practitioners, who are like ourselves appalled, but may have views on workloads and feasibility.
Making the argument now is important, to ensure there is support, as fans will be at Glasgow in person, or have representatives, to speak for and vote on motions.
There has been much hot air, obfuscation and silence. Figuring things out with the people who will have to work to deliver on any changes is vitally important. Moving notions and ideas forward needs the engagement and the views of those by all stakeholders directly impacted while welcoming all who from the community who wish to be part of the solution.
While many parts of Fandom have had vast amounts of activity, discussion and engagement, we hope we can create a focus point for distilling these into potential motions and suggestions. Contributions will have limitations in length, (1,200 words) and also contributors will be asked to state if they will be at Glasgow willing to put forward their argument.
We will work to connect common ideas, to see if consensus can be formed, while also seeking an understanding of the mechanics required from a parliamentary perspective. We have planned with Mike Glyer to then publish the articles in order on File 770 for broader consideration and looking to galvanise consensus.
Paul wants to focus on “What is to be Done”, a more productive approach than speculation on the whys and wherefores, and how important it is to “be part of the change” and we welcome that.
Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it. – V
42 years after the publication of V for Vendetta, so many of V’s sentiments, statements and ideas resonate with us today. Society and the world seems to be full of villains: right wing politicians banning books; the creation of divisiveness and hatred to distract from government and corporate incompetence and greed; international aggression, the sort that sees countries like Ukraine invaded; and the media ignoring the horrors that are perpetrated. Politics is nasty, and the balance is set against regular people.
We share awareness of the dangers and the ease with which the slide to totalitarianism can occur, while appreciating a story that shares what is an ageless concern, through the medium of comics so brilliantly portrayed, art creating thoughtfulness.
This issue of Journey Planet on V for Vendetta features an exclusive in-depth interview on the evolution of V and the role of comics in our society with David Lloyd, co-creator and artist of V for Vendetta. David’s insight and understanding offers a unique opportunity for readers of the comic as we also share considerable amounts of his art.
Discussions of the power of symbols to the role of feminism to comics as political commentary, and everything in between, added to articles on roses, trains, the film, and letters of comment on previous issues, well over twenty articles from a variety of fans and professionals fill the ninety-two pages, as we hear a variety of perspectives.
Art by David Lloyd is accompanied by a piece by Steve Dillon, thanks to Steve’s family.
This issue of Journey Planet is co-edited by Allison Hartman, Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon as they revisit Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s landmark comic V for Vendetta and examine how the lessons still resonate in the 21st Century.
By Ersatz Culture: The first two — out of a projected three — issues of the Hugo Award-winning Best Fanzine Zero Gravity SF covering the Chengdu Worldcon are now available for download.
A machine translation (with manual edits) of editor RiverFlow’s announcement follows, with the original Chinese text at the bottom of this post. A similar announcement can be found on Weibo. That Weibo post includes the instructions for downloading the two PDFs from Baidu, but I have also uploaded them to Google Drive as individual files, which may be easier for people outside of China to deal with; see further down this post for the links.
By RiverFlowand Ling Shizhen:
To our readers:
At present, the last six articles (53,000 characters plus 48 pictures) of issue #16 of Zero Gravity, the “2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention Feature”, are still being edited and completed. However, in order to fit in with the festive atmosphere of this year’s Spring Festival, we edited the first two issues (#14 and #15) of this feature before midnight of the first day of the Chinese New Year, and made a small-scale dissemination in several QQ groups and WeChat groups in advance.
When the 16th issue is finished on the 15th or 16th of this month, we will unify the WeChat posts, and release the three issues for download on Baidu.com.
Thank you to all the authors who have submitted articles and authorized reprints; your words and photographs from a variety of perspectives have recreated a diverse range of memories and histories.
We would like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!
We wish you all the best of luck as you leave the old and welcome the new, and write your own new chapters in this Year of the Dragon, on top of the old footprints of the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention!
The contents of the two issues are listed below. The author names and article titles are (mostly) machine translated, and are likely to have inaccuracies, although RiverFlow did double check the author names, so hopefully these are the preferred English renditions.
Where articles are translations from another language, I’ve added links to the English versions, where I could find them. Several of the con reports were previously linked – and in some cases excerpted – in prior Pixel Scroll Chengdu roundups.
1. RiverFlow – Editorial 3. Ling Shizhen – Editorial; An Explanation 6. Shuang Chimu – A Journey of Constant Surprises: Interviews from the Worldcon 10. Chen Xuchang – The World is So Big That Science Fiction Can Be Seen: Interviews from the 77th Worldcon 14. Shi Ran – Expand the Boundaries of Imagination: Interesting People Never Say Goodbye: Interviews from the 76th Worldcon 16. Lin Jiayu – If We Never Met: Interviews from the 76th Worldcon 18. [Hugo Finalist] Regina Kanyu Wang – “Smofcon”, a Secret Gathering of the “Masterminds” of Science Fiction Conventions 23. Mo Xiong – Random Thoughts on the 81st Worldcon 26. Dong Fangmu – Dong Fangmu‘s Chengdu Worldcon 30. Tian Tian – Attending the Worldcon in a Dual Capacity 43. San Ma – Under the Sea of Illusion There Are Cornerstones: A Look at the Worldcon 44. Kun Tu – My “Online Cloud Attendance”: Memories, Insights, Feelings 47. Xiao Xinghan – My Trip to the Worldcon 51. Hai Ya – My Hugo Award Acceptance Speech 52. Bu Ya – All We Need is a Reason To Be Together 55. Shi Min – Jinan Fantasy Fans Brave the Worldcon 56. Mo Cun – What I Talk About When I Talk About the Chengdu Worldcon 58. Youlika – Go Ahead, I’ll Listen: Talking About the Kind of Communication We Deserve From the Worldcon 63. Chi Dao – I Still Have Hope For the Sci-Fi Industry 65. Nicholas Whyte – Doctor Who in China: Chengdu Worldcon Memories [Original English language blog posts] 72. Dip Ghosh – It’s Not Fiction, It’s Real! The Chengdu Worldcon Experience [English language translation of the Bengali original] 74. Zhao Liang – Sci-Fi Destinations: Travelling to the 81st Worldcon 78. Sun Saibo – I Want to Follow the Stars 80. Fen Xing Cheng Zi – Worldcon Huawei Science Fiction Salon Essay 82. Wu Bing Keyue – Deep in the light is the way we went: Memories of the Chengdu Worldcon 86. DaDa Black Goose – Our Existence Itself Shines Brightly Enough: Memories and Experiences of the 81st Worldcon 93. [Hugo Finalist] Ren Qing – A Dream With No Standard Answer 95. Shen Yusi – One Man’s Science Fiction: An Insight into the Chengdu Worldcon 97. He Minghan – There’s Something to Fill Your Stomach Again: 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu 99. Roderick Leeuwenhart – 81st Worldcon Report [Original English language blog post] 101. Zhang Jinxuan – Dream of Sci-Fi Romance, Travelling Through the Infinite Stars 102. Chris M. Barkley – My Most Memorable Moment at the Chengdu Worldcon [Original English language post] 103. Cora Buhlert – An Open Letter to the 2023 Hugo Finalists, Whoever They May Be [Original English language post] 105. Cao Wenjun – Day and Night of Science Fiction People: Chengdu Worldcon 109. Zui Youjie – Where the Rain Doesn’t Stack Up 112. Zhong Heng Sihai – The Self-Cultivation of a Phantom Fan 113. Lan Mei – Sci-fi is Kinda Nice – A Volunteer’s Memory of the Chengdu Worldcon 119. HG – Live Long and Prosper 120. Li Chi – Science Fiction Convention Rules Weirdness 121. Zhen Guoqing – Loss and Uncertainty After Attending the Convention 122. Silampeta – Is China’s Science Fiction on the Road to Alienation Like the Second Dimension? Afterword to Chengdu Worldcon
1. RiverFlow – Editorial 3. Ling Shizhen – Editorial; An Explanation 6. RiverFlow – Science Fiction Fans Bonded by Care and Gathering: Travelogue of the 81st Worldcon 47. RiverFlow – Confessions After Winning the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine 51. Joseph Brandt – Chengdu Discovery Editorial, or Phantom Voyager Landing in Chengdu [Translated from an English language version which does not seem to be available online.] 59. Fu Shi – Hugo Awards Ceremony at the 81st Worldcon 60. Bai Ta – Some Thoughts on the Chengdu Worldcon and the Hugo Awards 61. Hong Peng – The World of Sci-Fi is Big Enough For You to Love: What a Sci-Fi Retailer Saw, Thought, and Felt at the Worldcon 75. [Hugo Finalist] Arthur Liu (aka HeavenDuke, Yang Feng) – Record of the Chengdu Worldcon 101. [Hugo Finalist] Arthur Liu (aka HeavenDuke, Yang Feng) – India’s Version of Jodorowsky’s Dune 103. SF Light Year – Sci-Fi Fans’ Darkest Hour at the Worldcon 108. Coco – The Journey of Dreams, Brightened by Love 109. Zhang Ran – Seriousness, Grandeur and Roughness 110. Hua Long – Meet Aldiss at the 81st Worldcon 111. Wu Paopian – Friends, I Hope We Meet Again 112. Xu Xiling – Me and RiverFlow 113. Han Song – Reflections on Seven Days at the 81st Worldcon 120. Lin Yun – Reflections on the 81st Worldcon’s Science Fiction Film and Television Forum
Plus three full-page cartoon artworks drawn at the con by Wu Miao and (many, many) photos and smaller pieces of artwork, handwritten messages, etc.
RiverFlow’s original Chinese language announcement:
[INTRODUCTION. I got a little misty reading Heath Row’s article inThe Stf Amateur about LASFS divesting some of its fanzine files. Since the clubhouse was sold in 2016 these decades-old legacies have been in a storage unit, and the club is no longer willing to bear the cost. The good news is part of them will end up filling gaps in the Eaton Collection at UC Riverside, with the remainder hopefully accepted by the University of Iowa’s collection, so the materials will live on. While people were pulling stuff out of the unit they also found some club heirlooms. Heath Row gaveFile 770 permission to run his account of the work party.]
By Heath Row: Fun with Fanzines. Last weekend, I went to Sylmar to join a handful of LASFSans in cleaning out one of the club’s storage units. At the December board meeting, Elayne Pelz informed the board that the unit’s monthly cost had increased substantially, and the board voted to divest the club of the filing cabinets holding the club’s archives and various clubzine back issues, including De Profundis, APA-L, and LASFAPA.
I went to see how much of those I could salvage, box, and fit in our car, for donation to the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy at the University of California, Riverside, and the Iowa Archives of the Avant-Garde at the University of Iowa, which has a sizable holding of apae material, including my previous donations. Pelz had previously reached out to potential homes, finding no takers, but I was able to identify and secure interest. The storage unit in question is not one we have ready access to. Materials are stored in large, wooden walk-in crates—pods—that are then warehoused. With a work group involving Pelz, Christian B. McGuire, Cathy and Dean Johnson, Gavin Claypool, and myself, we were able to empty three of five such crates, cutting the club’s storage costs substantially.
The resulting Banker’s boxes, now in my storage.
Over the course of several hours, I was able to prepare almost 20 Banker’s boxes of De Profundis dating back to 1957 (three boxes), APA-L #1-360 (five boxes), and LASFAPA #1-487 (11 boxes). While no archive wants the hard copy APA-Ls—they’re scanned and available online—the other materials will eventually go to Eaton. Duplicates from their holdings will hopefully go to Iowa.
Gavin Claypool and some of the filing cabinets for disposal.
Pelz plans to donate early materials from the 1940s and 1950s to Fanac. Cathy Johnson assessed the club archives, and as far as I know, only clubzine and apae materials were set aside for disposal. (I didn’t see any back issues of Shangri L’Affaires, but there weren’t any in the cabinets we got rid of, so they’re still in storage.) After I’d boxed the materials I wanted to salvage, I got a chance to see some other prime holdings of the club. That included William Rotsler’s 1997 Hugo for Best Fan Artist and the urn that held his ashes after cremation. His ashes were subsequently spread by his family; the urn is empty.
Rotsler’s 1997 Hugo for Best Fan Artist.Rotsler’s urn
I also learned about a new—to me—LASFS-oriented apa, SSAPA, or the Second Sunday APA. It debuted April 14, 2002, and didn’t seem to last long. Does anyone remember anything about the SSAPA? (Joe Zeff, perhaps? You were in #1!) One additional vignette: When we identified the filing cabinets containing LASFAPA, they were locked. There was an assortment of keys and padlocks on hand, but none of the keys worked for those cabinets. I was worried we wouldn’t even be able to open them. I tried to jimmy it open with a flat key ring attachment, and Dean Johnson used what few tools he’d brought. Then we had the storage unit staff drill the lock bolts out! That did the trick.
“Who Watches the Watchmen?” Well, WE do, and we have been watching for almost forty years!
The latest issue of the multiple-award-winning fanzine Journey Planet takes a look at the phenomenon of Watchmen, the groundbreaking, genre-altering comic by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins that brought countless lapsed readers back to comics — and heralded the age of the graphic novel.
Helena Nash, Michael Carroll and Pádraig Ó Méalóid join regular editors Chris and James on an issue packed with appreciation, understanding, insight and consideration of Watchmen and its impact on the world, with contributions from over a dozen fans and comic-book professionals, including Bryan Talbot, Bruce Dickinson, Antony Johnston, Todd Klein, Tony Lee, and Tim Pilcher.
Featuring exclusive new interviews with Neil Gaiman, Harry Partridge, John Higgins and Paul Levitz, stunning new covers by Iain Clark, and an original Choose Your Own Adventure supplement by Helena Nash, the bumper 96-page Journey Planet: Watchmen is now available to download from www.journeyplanet.weebly.com.
Journey Planet 76 – The American War in Vietnam 7th December 2023. Ho Chi Minh City.
On December 7, 1968 PFC Joe W. Haldeman wrote “Notes from the Jolly Green Jungle” about his experiences in Vietnam, which first appeared in the fanzine ODD #20.
55 years later this, plus his “Tales from the Jolly Green Jungle,” which appeared in ODD #19, are reprinted in the new issue of Journey Planet which looks at the American War in Vietnam.
Journey Planet co-editor James Bacon writes from the War Remembrance Museum in Ho Chi Minh City:
“It is important to pay respects to those who suffered so much, and so I am here in the War Remnants Museum, where so much time and effort is spent educating and sharing the horror of the American War in Vietnam. Whole sections are dedicated to war crimes and the effects of the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. These consequences are shown through exhibits and through paintings by children. It is a hard and challenging series of documentations. There is a requiem and photo exhibition for journalists and soldiers alike; there is acknowledgment of those who fought. As much as there is about Lt Calley’s role in the Mỹ Lai massacre, and Senator Bob Kerrey, who was a Navy SEAL and part of the atrocities at Thanh Phong Village, the museum also notes the Veterans Against the War, soldiers who marched for peace, and those like Lawerence Manley Colburn and Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. who fought in their own way to stop atrocities by comrades.”
“This issue of Journey Planet looks at the American War in Vietnam and its connections to fans and professionals as we consider the impact of the War. As I sit here among the artifacts of war, and contemplate it, remembering it, aware of the unbelievable losses, the sadness, the horror and the injuries and death, I am grateful to the fans who have allowed us to share their stories and memories of the War. These are personal and important stories. It is right that we confront and consider our history, and it is right that we confront and consider the experiences of the Vietnamese–those who lived through the War and those who left and those who extensively wrote about it. We started this issue five years ago, and now, at 104 pages, with dozens of people helping bring it together, we hope that you find the issue of interest.
“We look thoughtfully at Vietnamese voices, and how they shared their experience through writing and film. We discuss the works of novelists Doan Phuong Nguyen, Aliette de Boddard, Lê Minh Khuê, Dương Thu Hương, and Hoa Pham; filmmaker Eirene Tran Donohue; graphic novel writer/artists GB Tran, Clement Baloup, Marcellino Truong, Thi Bui, and Minh Lê as we carefully consider how the War is portrayed and shared.”
Along with these Vietnamese voices, they share the writings and art of Joe Haldeman and David Thayer from their time of service in Vietnam, along with excerpts of Dick Eney’s fanzine, “Curse you Red Baron!” which he published from Saigon while he was stationed there for over five years. Bacon says, “We are honored to share first-hand accounts of these vivid experiences with readers.”
Snoopy after Schultz by Col Art
Fans have taken the time to share very personal matters, writing about their family members, some of whom were lost in the War, as they contemplate carefully the personal impacts. Sara Felix, Errick Nunally, Guy Lillian, III, and co-editor Christopher J. Garcia have shared articles about their family members.
The impact of the War on comics is considered as they look at works by Vietnamese comic book creators Nguyễn Thành Phong, Khánh Dương, Huu Do Chi, Nguyễn Khánh Dương, Can Tiểu Hy, and Võ Hùng Kiệt (ViVi). They reprint State Representative Julian Bond’s anti-war comic, Vietnam, which was first published in 1967, look at Snoopy and Charles Shultz during the time of the War, chat to comic writer Garth Ennis, write about Joe Kubert’s connection to Vietnam, and look at how DC Comics and Marvel reacted through their publications to the War at the time, while also making recommendations.
This issue contains a wide selection of art by Keith Burns, Sara Felix, Nguyễn Thanh Phong, Khánh Dương, Guillermo Ortego, Teddy Harvia, Joe Haldeman, Col Art, Arnie Fenner, Juan Gimenez, Võ Hùng Kiệt, TG Lewis, Huy Oánh, Marcia Rosler, Bill Rotsler, and Rick Swan.
Frank Castle. By Guillermo OrtegoFlight of helicopters. By Sara FelixBy Keith Burns
With extensive articles by Brenda Noiseux among many contributors, this issue saw Allison Hartman Adams join Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon as co-editor in this broad look at the American War in Vietnam.
Drink Tank 453, edited by Chuck Serface, Alissa Wales and Christopher J. Garcia, and with a striking cover by Hugo-winning artist Sara Felix, takes a deep look at everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Articles include Juan Sanmiguel considering the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon, Julian West looking at “Spider-Man: The Combination Super-Hero”, and British fanhistorian Rob Hansen talking about how Marvel stories were edited for political content, in an article entitled “Damn Bodavians…”
James Bacon takes a deep dive into the time when Spider-Man went with Joy Mercado to London, encountering an IRA assault, and then onto Belfast where suddenly all political matters were expunged, building on the work of Brian Corcoran some 12 years ago when it was revealed that Marvel offices received a bomb threat in 1986 and speaking to Len Kaminski.
Helena Nash takes a look at the landmark stories in the 1980’s while Pádraig Ó Méalóid considers the history of Ireland and the source of the troubles as described in Web of Spider-Man #19. Chuck Serface looks at books that talk about the Psychology, Philosophy and theology of Spider-Man and wrapping up the issue is an interview with David Hine about Spider-Man Noir, one of the most interesting iterations of the character.
With 80 pages, the zine is free to download as a PDF here.
