By Steve Vertlieb: Very exciting news. The long awaited CD soundtrack release of 12 O’Clock High is now available for purchase through La-La Land Records and is a major restoration of precious original tracks from Quinn Martin’s beloved television series. Airing on ABC Television from September, 1964 until January, 1967, 12 O’Clock High was based upon the 1949 20th Century Fox classic starring Gregory Peck as General Frank Savage, a stern commanding officer demanding the best from his pilots during stressful encounters in the Second World War. The film co-starred Dean Jagger, and featured a brilliant musical score by composer Alfred Newman.
20th Century Fox Television and Quinn Martin Productions joined forces to present a realistic, faithful presentation and extension of the original story with a powerful recreation of the lead character in the performance of star Robert Lansing. Always among the most versatile and compelling lead actors in television, Lansing delivered a towering vision of General Frank Savage for the TV series which was every bit as powerful in its interpretation of the confidant, yet emotionally conflicted commanding officer, as was Gregory Peck in the original motion picture.
Robert Lansing
Sadly, the network decided that Lansing’s performance was, perhaps, entirely too realistic for television audiences and that a younger, less intense actor was needed to appeal to a wider television audience. Lansing was replaced in the second season by actor Paul Burke who had shone so brightly as the star of television’s long running Naked City New York police series. Burke tried valiantly to elevate the series to its original levels of brilliance but, unfortunately, was never able to capture the magnetism of Robert Lansing once the character of Frank Savage had been unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of season two.
The one element of the series that continued its excellence into subsequent seasons and episodes was the musical score by Dominic Frontiere that remains to this day among the finest examples of thematic scoring for episodic television in history. Frontiere was a skilled and gifted composer whose hauntingly reliable themes were utilized not only for this groundbreaking program but heard, as well, throughout the first season of ABC’s science fiction classic The Outer Limits (replaced by One Step Beyond composer Harry Lubin for the second year), The Invaders, and (along with primary composer Pete Rugolo) the original Quinn Martin, history making tv classic The Fugitive.
Now, for the first time, the classic scores and themes for 12 O’Clock High by composer Dominic Frontiere (1931-2017) have been released in a limited edition soundtrack CD of just 2,000 copies. For anyone who has ever hummed and cherished the familiar musical cues of this landmark television series, this is an historic release.
File 770 usually has a tiny uptick of Twitter followers every month, and I happened to notice that what was tracking +19 a few days ago is now +6. Since I don’t think I did anything new to make people irate during the week I am going to guess it’s not about me and instead reflects the followers who have terminated their Twitter accounts because Elon Musk took over the service.
I’ve seen many Twitter users in the sff community discuss what course they should take once Musk assumed control because at times he has signaled there will be a radical change (for the worse) in content moderation and a weakening of rules enforcement. Some wrote they were thinking about leaving. I read a few announcements by others just before they did terminate their accounts. Their decisions are to some degree a protest, and an obviously more quantifiable one than the subtle changes that will be registered in other users who, although unhappy with developments, keep their accounts but filter more severely what they post, or simply post less.
I wondered if there was data that could be used to infer how many people have taken the step of actually quitting the service.
I laid the subject before John Scalzi and asked if he’d experienced a fluctuation in his large Twitter following this week. He had:
I was at 204.2K this time last week; I’m down to 202k today, so I’ve seen a drop of about 1%. When I noted that, other people also anecdotally noted similar percentage drops. My expectation is that the drops may be skewed by general political affiliation and/or antipathy to Musk, either as a person or with regard to his stated aims for the service. 1% is not a large number overall — I’ve had larger drops before when Twitter cleared out some bot accounts — but the question is whether these drops will stabilize, as they’ve done in the past, or continue as Musk continues to bumble along. If I drop below 200k, and especially if that happens by the end of this month, I will consider that not great news for Twitter’s general direction.
(Thanks to John for permission to quote his reply.)
That people are actually terminating their accounts speaks to their determination to separate themselves from the future of Twitter. Because there are easier alternatives, like just abandoning the account. Think how common that phenomenon is anywhere in social media where accounts are free. Therefore, the wave of departures from Twitter this week indicates an intentional message, and we will watch to see whether it is the start of a trend.
A. K. Mulford is a bestselling fantasy author and former wildlife biologist who swapped rehabilitating monkeys for writing novels. She/they are inspired to create diverse stories that transport readers to new realms, making them fall in love with fantasy for the first time or all over again.
She now lives in New Zealand with her husband and two young human primates, creating lovable fantasy characters and making ridiculous TikToks (@akmulfordauthor).
By A.K. Mulford: If only I knew the first time I picked up The Hobbit, how closely my life would be tied to the world of Tolkien. As a child, I kept a notebook filled with my favorite quotes. (How did I not know I was going to be an author?) The first quote? “Not all who wander are lost.” There was everything from 90s rom com lines to Wordsworth poems in that notebook, but Tolkien filled the most pages.
I remember that when I read The Hobbit in fifth grade my mind exploded at the idea of world building. I’ll admit, I spent math class filling the margins of my pages with conjugated words in made up languages. At the time I thought it was just more fun to create other worlds than write stories in my own, but the seed was planted and, despite my left turn into wildlife biology, that seed kept growing.
Then the Lord of the Rings movies came out . . . and I watched every single director’s cut and behind-the-scenes footage over and over, wishing I could be an elf and live in Middle Earth. Cut to a decade later and I meet a very handsome kiwi chap while living in Guatemala as a wildlife biologist. We moved to New Zealand and there I was, living in Middle Earth. The Hobbit films were being shot at the time and my partner was working on them (!), so I fell even more deeply in love with the art of making fantasy worlds come to life. A CGI version of my pet hedgehog even made it into the films (how’s that for a claim to fame?).
I thought that would be it–– I was just a Tolkien-adjacent fan who happened to write high fantasy stories. But the world of Tolkien had one more big adventure for me: having my series picked up by Harper Voyager. Seeing the new covers of the Lord of the Rings books across their socials was such an awe-filled moment for me. If only I could go back and tell that fifth grader making up languages in class that one day her books would be published by the same publisher as Tolkien. (I’d also like to tell my math teacher that me slacking off in class ended up paying off too!). Being an author was my very first big dream––creating stories that transported readers to other realms, where they could get lost in another world for a while, where they could wander through their own imaginations in the same way Tolkien did for me. And here I am, alongside his world.
ABOUT THE ROGUE CROWN: A NOVEL (THE FIVE CROWNS OF OKRITH BOOK 3)
Romantasy on an epic scale, A.K. Mulford’s newest book follows fae warrior Briata Catullus as she sets out on a mission to investigate the murder of her queen and, upon her arrival at the court, meets an enchanting princess she can’t seem to stay away from. The Rogue Crown (10/25) is a tale of star-crossed lovers packed with action and adventure, sure to please the fans who’ve been anxiously awaiting its release and anyone who loves a good romantic fantasy.
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The action moves west in A.K. Mulford’s romantic, action-packed epic fantasy series, The Five Crowns of Okrith, as young fae warrior Bri investigates the murder of her queen while protecting the beautiful princess she may be falling for.
Determined to uncover who killed the Western Queen, fae warrior Briata Catullus sets out on a mission to defeat the witch hunters and safeguard her princess. But when she arrives at the Western Court, things are even worse than she feared. The icy reception from the fae is the least of her problems—they’ve heard the prophecy that Bri will seize the crown from its sovereign, and the last thing they want is for her to usurp the throne. No, the witch hunters are out for royal blood, and it will take everything Bri has to keep them at bay.
It doesn’t help that, still grieving the loss of her mother, Princess Abalina Thorne is reluctant to allow Bri into her confidence, only agreeing to let her serve as one of her guards at the behest of the princess’ cousin.
As the threat of the witch hunters grows, they find themselves thrown together, working closely to uncover the secret plot of their enemies. Along the way, the princess realizes that Bri is one of the few people she can trust. But Bri is determined to forge her own path and prove the prophecy wrong, not letting the beautiful Lina distract her from defeating the witch hunters. She has a duty to the princess, a duty to the Western Court, and a duty to her own destiny.
By Jonathan Cowie: The Science Museum (that’s the world famous one in Kensington, London) has just launched a new exhibit on what Carl Sagan once mused (though not mentioned in the exhibit itself) science fiction and science’s ‘dance’. SF2 Concatenation reprographic supremo Tony Bailey and I were invited by the Museum to have a look on the exhibition’s first day. (The exhibition runs to Star Wars day 2023, May the Fourth.) Having braved Dalek extermination at the Museum’s entrance, we made our way to the exhibition’s foyer – decorated with adverts to travel to Gallifrey – to board our shuttle.
The exhibition covered aspect of SF in all its forms: literature, cinematic, television, comics etc. But it was the science and SF interplay that was the theme linking the displays, the way science fiction inspires scientists both as a career choice and sparking their imagination.
Still from Earth to Moon next to early editions of Verne’s novel and Wells’ First Men in the Moon.
And so we had Uhura’s costume from the Star Trek film and International Space Station US astronaut Mae Jemison pictured who was inspired by Uhura as the character suggested that one day she might be an astronaut.
Astronaut Mae Jemison pictured was inspired by the Uhura character
Along the way we got to do the Drake equation inputting our own variables to calculate the possible number of extraterrestrial technological civilisations in our galaxy.
There was much else to see including SF robots, spacesuits (both SF and Apollo), aliens, hypothetical FTL drive, SF art, comics among a great deal else including several SF Easter eggs for die-hard aficionados: ‘space is really big’, docking bay, 1138 etc.
You can do the entire exhibition at speed in under an hour, but it really is worthwhile reading all the displays’ texts and doing all the interactive items and this will take getting on three hours. If there was a flaw, it was that the list of those participating in the exhibitions planning had a dearth of scientists who have become professional SF authors. Had their brains been picked the exhibit might have been even better!
An expanded version of this article with extra pictures will shortly be advance-posted by SF2 Concatenation (no doubt there will be a link from File 770.)
Concatenation Science~Com Jonathan Cowie is an environmental scientist who has had a career in science communication (science writing, publishing, author, bioscience advice to Parliamentarians and Government Departments, etc). He is also an SF fan (first convention 1977 Novacon) and is a founding editor of SF2 Concatenation (1987-present) as well as, among much else, an occasional contributor to File 770. He has never curated a museum exhibition.
As environmental problems caused by industrialisation and post-industrialisation continue to increase, the public is looking for ecological solutions. As pandemics, economic crises, and wars plague our society in different ways, thoughts turn to the good old times. But were they really all that good? People are escaping increasingly into fantastical stories in order to find a quantum of solace. But at what point was there a utopia in our society. If so, at what or whose cost did it exist? Whether or not we ever experience living in a utopia, the idea of finally finding one drives us to continue seeking ideal living conditions.
Mythic utopias
Most myths are about a loss of power and/or balance. The idea of creating a utopia, or for trying to recover a lost one goes back to mythic times. For example, in the great Indian myth, entitled the Ramayana, there’s a utopia of sorts within the kingdom of King Dasharatha. But his second queen asks him for a boon, which is to send the king’s heir-apparent, Lord Rama into exile in the forest for ten years. That’s where trouble begins, and though Lord Rama manages to recover his kingdom, and establish Ramaraj, or good governance, it’s not without a price.
Also, in the Mahabharata, there’s trouble and outright war between two sets of step-brothers the Pandavas (who are five in number) and the Kauravas (who are one hundred in number). Their ideal world is shattered, and never fully recovers. Lots of heroes on both sides lose their lives, and a lot of fantastical weapons are mentioned in it. Some authors think that the outcome of the war mentioned in these Indian myths was akin to nuclear devastation. The Mahabharata also describes different types of flying vessels, which even had the capability of travelling between places on earth, and also between stars. However, that technology was lost after the great war in the Mahabharata.
Greco-Roman Myths
In the Greek myths, the Hesperides and Elysium are ideal realms where not everyone is allowed to enter. Even heroes have difficulties to enter these spheres. For example, Mount Parnassus, home of the Nine Muses, is supposed to be an ideal, and sacred place in pagan myths.
The prosperous and flourishing city of Troy, which was a utopia of its kind, was lost in Greek myths. Odysseus ended up on the islands of Circe and Calypso respectively, and could have lived in these utopias, but had to leave to go back home. However, he didn’t find any peace at Ithaca after his return either. It wasn’t his utopia anymore.
Celtic Myths
In the Celtic Myths, the Tuatha Dé Danann (a race of supernatural beings) lose their homeland, which was their own utopia. They are obliged to go underground by the Milesians. There are many stories of paradise lost, also at the individual level in these myths. Lyonesse is an island thought to have disappeared beneath the seas off the coast of Cornwall. Though it was a fair land in the beginning with hard-working folks in it, due to a horrible crime committed by its inhabitants it was sunk beneath the sea by a storm, as a punishment to its people. It’s yet another land that disappeared.
Paradise Lost
Biblical stories are about the fall of Man from legendary Eden, and the efforts of human beings to be allowed back into it. Consciousness in the Occident is filled with the idea that our paradise is lost, mainly due to Eve’s mistake. However, long before the advent of the three book-based creeds such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, all of which outline the story of the fall of man, these kinds of stories abound in myths.
Camelot as Utopia
In the Occident, Arthurian legends are about establishing or seeking utopias. Camelot was a utopia of sorts with its fabled Round Table. All the knights who were allowed to sit at this table were supposed to be equals. But all this was before trouble began. With the fall of King Arthur, the utopia at Camelot dissolved.
The Castle of the Holy Grail was a utopia of sorts for the questing knights. Sir Lancelot wasn’t allowed to go in that castle because of his ‘sin’ with Queen Guinevere. Sir Percival was allowed to go in the castle because he was pure of heart. The Isle of Avalon was also a utopia of sorts and not everyone was allowed to go there. It’s Arthur’s final resting place and he’s supposed to come back from there after being healed, since he’s the once and future king.
Camelot; excerpted from Castles. Artist: Alan Lee
Utopia in LOTR
Since Tolkien based his stories on myths and legends, it shouldn’t be surprising that the concept of a lost utopia can be found in his Legendarium as well. The new Amazon TV serial, Rings of Power (ROP) will touch upon how the utopia of the Elves was tampered with by Morgoth, and how the Elves spent a long time defending Middle Earth and ultimately their Blessed Realms against threats. Then they defeated Sauron at the end of the Second Age, and then again at the end of the Third Age
Photo above: Rivendell; Artist: Alan Lee
In Middle earth, the Elves founded some peaceful realms such as Doriath, and Gondolin, and later on Rivendell, and Lothlorien which were kept hidden from the enemy. The Shire was a utopia for its inhabitants before it was attacked by Saruman at the end of the Third Age. In a way Tolkien’s long saga can be seen as attempts to restore the peace of the utopia in the worlds of the Elves, the Blessed Realms.
Dwarves arrive at Rivendell:
Dwarves have dinner at Rivendell:
The Fellowship reaches Lothlorien:
A utopia of sorts was also restored in Middle-earth when Aragorn became king, with Lady Arwen by his side at the end of the Third Age. And finally all Elves led by Lady Galadriel were able to go back to their version of paradise, ie the Undying Lands.
Utopia in ASOIAF
The world of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF)is much darker and grittier than that of Middle Earth. Yet, it can also be interpreted as being that of a search for a lost paradise in a way. Winterfell for its problems was a utopia of sorts for the Stark children.
Feast at Winterfell:
Danaerys Targarayen thought King’s Landing and Westeros would become her own personal utopia, but at least in the TV show, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
Theon Greyjoy’s personal utopia was going to be his native Islands of Pyke, but that turned out to be just a pipe dream. He was pressured by his father to turn upon the Starks who’d treated him so well that he’d forgotten he was supposed to be a hostage there. In fact, once Theon helped turn the relative peace of Winterfell into a dystopia, he had cause to regret his actions very deeply.
Bran Stark thought he would find his own version of utopia beyond the Wall, but that didn’t work out for him quite as well as he’d imagined it. Although it’s arguable who is really the person on the Iron Throne at the end? Bran Stark or the three-eyed raven controlling him? The three-eyed crow was Ser Brynden Rivers, a Targaryen. So is a Targaryen sitting on the Iron Throne at the end of the GOT TV series? Or are some parts of Bran Stark somewhere inside his own head too?
In the entire series, we’re rooting for the Stark children to go back to Winterfell. At last Sansa Stark becomes the ruler and Lady of Winterfell. At least in the Game of Thrones TV series.
Finale for the Stark children:
Utopia in the Percy Jackson series
In the YA Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Camp Hallf-Blood is a safe haven for all the half blood demi-gods. It’s located in a hidden place on the north shore of Long Island near NY. Though there’s plenty of competition and squabbling between the demi-gods, they all feel protected from monsters and threats from the outer world. The Golden Fleece keeps the place protected.
Training at Camp Half-blood:
Finding strength at Camp Half-blood:
After every adventure, the heroes come back safe and sound to this haven. In the Heroes of Olympus series, Camp Jupiter is another safe place near San Francisco for the demi-gods. These utopias serve as anchoring places for these young protagonists. It also gives them a purpose to defend these mini-utopias when they come under threat. And they have a place to look forward to returning to when their quest or adventure is over.
Search for equilibrium & survival in Dune
In Dune, after the Atreides family is destroyed when they first land on the desert planet, the whole arc of Paul Atreides (and his descendants) is to restore their house to its rightful place in their inter-planetary society. And at least in the beginning to help the Fremen get their independence too. Make Dune a utopia for its inhabitants. Since the series stretches over thousands of years and across many planets, things don’t always go according to any one character’s plans. However, the overall quest for most protagonists of this series is to restore some kind of balance in society, even if the story stretches across time and space. Things evolve in surprising ways. But at least humanity strives to find better conditions, and is saved from the threat of extinction in the end.
Conclusion
While dystopias may be very much in fashion, a stable and sustainable society can function in the long term in its own version of utopia. Therefore, it can be argued that utopias are more important than dystopias. In fact, if there wasn’t a balanced and sustainable society to begin with, then it couldn’t be distorted to form a dystopia. For example, in Star Wars, the Empire took over planets and societies which had been functioning independently for years. And the mission to overthrow the evil Empire is a bid to restore balance of power, and/or utopias of different kinds on the planets in its iron grip. Just escaping the oppressive regime of the Empire would be the beginning of a more steady and calmer society on most planets. Utopias also enable growth and evolution both at the individual and the macroscopic levels.
In a way dystopias are dependent on utopias (even distant ones) in order to come into existence. A social structure that is out of balance wouldn’t last too long anyway, as it would collapse one way or the other. Most stories are about restoring some kind of stability so that the protagonists can continue to live or exist in a sustainable world.
-The End-
Note: Some of these ideas were mentioned/discussed at the Utopias Panel, entitled ‘Better Worlds are Possible’ held at Chicon 8 in September 2022. ++ Sultana Raza
Interview conducted by Rob Thornton: This is Part Two of an interview with avant-jazz composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell, who paid tribute to Octavia Butler in 2008 in her composition Xenogenesis Suite. For more information, see Part One. SPOILER WARNING: This part of the interview assumes that you have read the Xenogenesis Trilogy or don’t mind knowing its entire plot.
Rob Thornton:You have talked about the darkness and the complexity of Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy. How does your piece reflect the novels?
Nicole Mitchell: Xenogenesis is an intricate trilogy expressing a metamorphosis of humanity through the interbreeding of extraterrestrials. It exposes our lack of self love, and illuminates Butler’s vivid world of other beings more powerful than humans, while documenting a journey of human survival and resistance. I focused on Dawn for Xenogenesis Suite. I was fascinated with the concept of Lilith being stripped of our homeland and her having to work towards continual survival in an alien world, alone. I created my own narrative inspired by Butler’s story, which served as the foundation of my compositions. You can include some of this below, if you wish.
1. Wonder
In wonder, there is beauty, and in wonder there is power. The power can be equally beautiful and horrific as is the power of humans to be so creative and equally destructive to planet Earth and ourselves. There is a wonder to our intelligence to build societies, study and imitate nature through inventions, and a wonder to our immaturity expressed by our inability to hold life sacred.
2. Transition A
If everything you had known is no longer, and you were placed in a seamless space, what would you feel? The space breathes; you are in the bellow of a monster. How would you find comfort i the unknown, knowing that your state of terror can only be temporary, if you are to survive. The space breathes again, adn you awaken. There is NO WAY OUT and NO WAY Back to what you have known. The only way to survive is to be altered.
3. Smell of Fear
There is a smell of fear. A loud and indistinguishable smell that sticks to its victim. It is residue from the canal between LIFE and DEATH. When on nears the death experience, through accident or tragedy, but is saved on the side of life, she survives with the residue, the smell of fear.
4. Sequence Shadows
When one keeps trying to wake from a dream, but the dream is of the past life. Now you have awakened and try to accept the alien environment that is around you. you have entered a new and strange realm. One awakens to sequences shadows; the eyes cannot grasp the horrific strangeness it sees, so it sees sequence shadows. The new reality dances a strange dance and the human must breathe and accept this new vision in the eyes.
5. Oankali
The names of your caretakers on this new journey. Find humor in your capturers, identify with them, so that you can save your mind.
6. Adrenalin
There’s nowhere to run, in a small space with no windows or doors, but the mind can find a place. Every once in a while, it can search for an opening somewhere, for peace, for the return of memory, of familiar. Where is this place? It is in waterside walks with family, sunshine and good food. The Earth is dead. Only in the mind can this place survive. In our Dreams we will run there.
7. Transition C
Eventually, in your process of survival, you allow yourself to be altered, changed, improved by the unknown beings.
8. Before and After
Before being captured, before WAR and the destruction of the life we knew and loved, there were our busy lives. We were unaware and unappreciative of the simple things we loved. Then the explosions, the WAR, the suicide of humans. After, there is nothing. Nothing that we know. Just the unknown.
9. Dawn of a New Life
There is something after, the Dawn of a New Life. Only fragments of the past linger. Our memory altered, overwhelmed with new experiences, interacting with new and repulsive but fascinating beings. Together we enter the Dawn of a New Life.
RT: What method did you use to compose the Xenogenesis Suite? Did you compose for the Black Earth Ensemble or for a set of instruments?
NM: I composed the work for Black Earth Ensemble, my main compositional vehicle. For each project, I choose specific artists who I imagine to manifest the project. For Xenogenesis, Mankwe Ndosi, the vocalist, played a central role, because I imagined her to represent Lilith, as a lone human within a strange extraterrestrial world that the other instruments would represent. I refrained from having her use a lot of language, because without it, her sounds expressed raw emotions ranging from innocence to terror. In that state, the expression of emotions through sounds without words, can also sound very alien, so the idea was to have her simultaneously represent the human element and the extraterrestrial element at the same time. I used a hybrid score, including graphic notation and traditional notation. My handwritten score translated more to the vibe I wanted for the musicians, and the text I gave you above was a guide for them as well.
RT: When you introduced the Suite to the Black Earth Ensemble, what was their reaction?
Xeno was probably the most experimental of my projects at that time, so there were slight challenges. However, I worked with musicians that I trusted and that trusted me, because I was having them do things for this project that were often counter-intuitive, to illuminate what I was trying to express. For example, Dawn of a New Life, the last movement, would sound fantastic with a hiphop beat, but that’s not what I wanted. Marcus Evans, the drummer, had to resist that urge, to express the restrained intensity that I was seeking with the piece.
RT: What was it like to perform the Xenogenesis Suite live? How did the audience react? Did it change when the Suite was recorded?
NM: We actually made the record at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, the day before the premiere at the Vision Festival in New York. It was a bit intense to perform it live, because the musicians really had to trust me even more in front of an audience, to resist some of the ways they normally play. But it went really well and the audience loved it.
RT: In “Before and After,” I hear some instrument (probably the piano) do a superb imitation of a nuclear weapon. Do you recall how that came about?
NM: I’m glad you heard that, because that was my intention. Actually, all the instruments are doing that sound together and it’s written in the score. The full title is “Before and After Nuclear War.” The musicians also have sections in that piece were they create animal sounds with their instruments, as well as cries for help. Butler’s Dawn speaks of nuclear war as the catalyst for the extraterrestrials to swoop down and save Earth and to take over humanity.
RT: For people who are not immediately familiar with avant-jazz sounds, could you give some advice to them on listening to the Suite?
NM: I found that science fiction is the perfect companion for experimental jazz and creative music, because both take the audience on a journey into the unknown. I’m grateful that musicians and audience members have shared with me that they started reading Octavia Butler after learning about this music. Hopefully it can be listened to while reading.
RT: You composed the Suite back in 2008. Looking back at the piece today, how do you feel about it?
NM: I still feel really great about the piece. This year, in 2022, it was incredible to perform Xenogenesis Suite at Carnegie Hall and receive a standing ovation, during the Afrofuturism Festival in February. I think when I wrote it, people weren’t as interested in Afrofuturism as they are now, and it is rewarding to see people’s interest increase now.
Since Xenogenesis Suite, I created two additional suites of music for Octavia: Intergalactic Beings on FPE Records, which sonically revisits Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy, and EarthSeed, which was released in 2020 on Octavia’s birthday, inspired by Parable of the Sower. EarthSeed was a collaboration with Lisa E. Harris, where we created our own EarthSeed spiritual text, inspired by Olamina in the book. In 2017, I released Mandorla Awakening, which is an album inspired by my own Afrofuturist novella.
I really appreciate you interviewing me, because for a long time I’ve wanted to be more engaged with Octavia Butler scholars on the literary side. I know she would want us to be all connected.
Interview conducted by Rob Thornton: Critic Mark Dery created the term “Afrofuturism” in his influential essay “Black to the Future” (1993). In the essay, he included an extensive interview with Samuel R. Delany and pointed to Black visions of the future throughout the world, including musicians such as Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic who used science fiction tropes in their music. Afrofuturism in music has continued since 1993 with Black artists such as Janelle Monae, Kool Keith, Deltron 3030, Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills, and other Black artists such as Erykah Badu and Missy Elliot using futuristic elements in their performances.
Another contributor to the Afrofuturist tradition is Nicole Mitchell, a noted avant-jazz composer and flutist. She chose to take on Octavia Butler’s most challenging works, the Xenogenesis Trilogy, and create the Xenogenesis Suite, a collection of dark and disturbing compositions that reflect the trilogy’s turbulent and complicated spirit.
She has been president of Chicago’s legendary avant-jazz organization the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Influential jazz magazine Down Beat named her a Rising Star in flute from 2004 through 2009. Currently she teaches jazz at the University of Pittsburgh and leads her group the Black Earth Ensemble.
(Note: Given the care in which Nicole gave to her answers, the email answers are provided nearly verbatim with only minimal editing.)
Rob Thornton: How were you introduced to Octavia’s works and what was your initial reaction to them?
Nicole Mitchell: I grew up reading Octavia Butler’s books off my mother’s bookshelf when I was a youth. My mother, Joan Beard Mitchell (JBM) was a self-taught Afrofuturist painter and fiction writer, so at home, I was surrounded with visionary paintings. Two images that come to mind is one with Black women cradling their infants while sitting on planets, and another with a landscape featuring three setting suns on an unknown planet. JBM was brilliant creative person from Chicago, who happened to be from the same generation and have much synergy with the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), whom I would become a part of later in life.
JBM was a big fan of Octavia’s work and had lots of her books, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Octavia had inspired her leanings towards writing sci-fi. On the other hand, my father, Michael E. Mitchell, had always shared his obsession with UFO’s with the family. He believed that there were people from outer space that were much more advanced than humans, and that our life on Earth was a school. My dad had moved us to southern California in the 1970s, partly so that he and my mother could connect with what they believed was a movement of people working to advance spiritual consciousness. They were of a very small group of African Americans involved in the New Age movement. So at my home, I was immersed in a world where Butler’s fiction really came alive and made sense.
RT: Why did you choose the Xenogenesis Trilogy as a source of inspiration?
NM: I had moved to Chicago, the place of my mother’s roots, back in 1990, to continue her artistic legacy. JBM (my mom) had left the planet in 1982 when I was a teenager, and I translated her mission into my own by seeking to make music that “bridges the familiar with the unknown.” As JBM had been a self-taught poet and fiction writer, I gravitated to Third World Press (TWP), founded by Haki Madhubuti, and spent many years working there. I become a cultural mentee of Haki and Safisha Madhubuti’s Institute of Positive Education (IPE) complex, while simultaneously mentoring with musicians of the AACM, including Maia, Shanta Nurullah, George Lewis and Douglas Ewart. In 2006, met Octavia Butler when my Black Earth Ensemble performed for Chicago State University’s National Black Writer’s Conference, organized by Haki Madhubuti. In the moments that I met Octavia, her powerful, yet quiet and gentle mysterious presence reminded me of my mother, and I immediately had the idea to create a musical tribute for her.
Dawn was one of the scariest books I have ever read, because it showed me the horrific side of human nature. With Dawn, Octavia opened up a fascination in me to ponder why we as humans are so compellingly creative and yet so incredibly self-destructive. I didn’t want to mimic Octavia’s narrative with my music, but with Xenogenesis Suite, I wanted to explore the process of facing fear, because Lillith was forced to survive in a constant state of horror, isolation, and disorienting circumstances on that space ship. I realize that Octavia was exemplifying real life horrors that humans have committed to each other over thousands of years, and still today. Power is too often abused. Yet, Octavia brilliantly creates fantastical settings to give readers space to see these human flaws more clearly.
Xenogenesis Suite became a life-altering artistic challenge for me, because in a journey of facing fear, I had to access parts of myself that I was afraid of, and childhood memories where fear dominated. I had to create sounds that illuminated the uncomfortable and the disturbing, which pushed me beyond the boundaries of many of my music listeners’ expectations. (Even though I am a member of the avant garde and experimental side of the “jazz” scene, there remains a lingering expectation that music is supposed to make you feel good).
RT: Chamber Music America commissioned the Suite. How did that come about?
My original intention was to create Xenogenesis Suite in collaboration with Octavia, so that she could give input to my creation of the music. It would be a way to get to know her and to honor her as a living genius. But, literally the day after I turned my proposal to Chamber Music America in the mail, I heard that Octavia had suddenly died. So immediately I decided, whether I got support or not, I was going to do Xenogenesis Suite.
NM: Chamber Music America has a competitive program called New Jazz Works that I submitted my proposal to and I’m grateful that their panel chose to support Xenogenesis Suite that year. It allowed me to be able to fund travel for my eight piece Black Earth Ensemble from Chicago to New York so that we could premiere at the Vision Festival, and it made it possible for us to cover recording costs, travel, hotel and artists fees to record the Xenogenesis Suite album in New Haven for the Firehouse 12 record label.
By Daniel P. Dern: If you’re a fan of something, whether it’s potato cosplay (I just made that up but the phrase gets search results), making Star Trek paraphernalia, volunteering at science fiction conventions, or writing for File770.com, and want to turn your fan fave fun — particularly if it’s geeky — into money, Carol Pinchefsky has a new — published March 1, 2022 — book for you, available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook: Turn Your Fandom Into Cash – A Geeky Guide to Turn Your Passion Into a Business (or at least a Side Hustle).
According to Pinchefsky, book highlights include:
Interviews with lawyers about intellectual property (IP) infringement, with potential ways to avoid infringing.
A sample IP license request that turned two fans with zero experience into RPG/board game developers’ worth $3+ million.
Advice from geeky business owners who make a living doing what they love on how to actually run a business, from creating websites to social media to pricing items.
Frank discussions with people who have made–and lost–money in the geekosphere: cosplaying, running a convention, geeky social media influencing, writing, and throwing a film festival.
An interview with one of the founders of ThinkGeek, which was once valued at $140 million and was bought out by GameStop.
Recommendations from Kickstarter, as well as an author of an academic paper, on how to best run a crowdfunding campaign.
Pinchefsky is a freelance writer of geek culture, technology, science, and business, as well as the competition editor for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Prior to that, she was a first reader for Weird Tales magazine. I recently interviewed Pinchefsky (by email) about her new book, how and why she came to write it, and other parts of her geek background.
DANIEL: What is Turn Your Fandom Into Cash about?
CAROL: The title says it all — it’s about making money in geek culture, showing you the ins-and-outs of making money involved in the worlds you love to immerse yourself in or world you want to create yourself.
DANIEL: What got you interested in this geeky business?
CAROL: I’ve been a geek my entire life, stretching back to a Universal Monsters movie marathon on television, seeing Star Wars when it was released, and then working my way up to the hard stuff: Star Trekand The Twilight Zone. A few years ago, my friend Heather Krasna wrote a book on getting a job in public service and nonprofits (Jobs That Matter: Find a Stable, Fulfilling Career in Public Service), and she said I should write a book about getting a job in geek culture. I said, “Sure,” and started researching.
During my research, I took a look at the dealer’s room at a New York Comic Con, and I saw hundreds of thousands of dollars being exchanged. I also saw several cases of IP (intellectual property) infringement. With so much money on the line, IP holders would be well within their rights to sue these infringers. I spoke with several lawyers who made suggestions on how to avoid drawing the wrath of IP holders.
Here is where my publishers would say this isn’t legal advice, and business owners should consult their own attorneys.
DANIEL: What — other than this book — geek culture money-making projects have you done? Helped others with?
I’ve also co-written two LARPs (live-action role-playing games) with a few friends. The games didn’t put money in our pockets, but we did manage to pay for our hotel rooms, travel, and food for those two conventions. So…kinda sorta money-making-ish.
DANIEL: Of the endeavors you mention in the book, do you have any favorite, most amusing, weirdest, etc, to mention?
CAROL: It’s kind of remarkable how many people had started a business without realizing they had started a business. People just started doing what they loved and managed to make some cash off of it.
I was also impressed by people who managed to insert themselves into their fandoms. For example, Max Salzman made bracelets that appeared in their favorite TV series, Orphan Black, and Troy Foreman was an extra in The X-Files’ finale in 2018.
DANIEL: Any particular products you were excited to be able to buy?
CAROL: I bought a Star Trek dress from Elhoffer Design. Catherine Elhoffer was one of the first designers in the geekosphere to recognize the demand for high-end goods. I also bought a fabulous vest from Volante Design. Volante creates extremely well-made, eye-catching outerwear. My husband has one of their jackets, which billows when he walks. He calls it his “slow-walking jacket,” because it’s what slow-walking villains would wear.
There’s also Tea & Absinthe‘s tea. I recommend their not-Harry Potter, not-House Ravenclaw tea, “Elixir of Wisdom.”
DANIEL: What have you learned about this topic from writing this book (either in research, or the book-writing process?
CAROL: I really liked what I learned and what I taught my interviewees during our conversations.
One of my interviewees is a former executive creative director for DC Comics. He said he had turned down a licensing application for Superman-themed condoms. I laughed and said it was perfect, because of Larry Niven’s essay “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.” It turns out that he hadn’t known about it, so I sent him a link.
Fans of that essay–which explains the foreseeable doom of any person who chooses to have sex with Kal-El–know instantly that Superman-based condoms would be the perfect marketing tie-in.
From there, I learned that IP holders won’t approve any item that goes against their brand, no matter how hilarious it would be.
DANIEL: To anticipate comments from my fellow long-time DC comic fans, there would be ways to avoid said doom, like microdosing Green Kryptonite, etc.
CAROL: Damn, that’s funny. But I think condoms would be the perfect solution to protect the Man of Steel’s lovers. Sadly, Niven failed to mention condoms.
DANIEL: What was some of the first sf/f you read (as a child?)
CAROL: You know the line in Star Wars [Episode IV – A New Hope], “Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough?” When I was 12, my father handed me I, Robot — Isaac Asimov’s collection of his robot stories — and The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein. Around the same time, I also read The Hobbit.
I also got into a fight with a librarian over Dracula. She said the book was too “big” for me and refused to let me take it out. Lucky for me, I had a mother who wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with a librarian, and I got the book.
I started with the greats, and genre fiction keeps getting greater.
DANIEL: What/how got you into fandom?
CAROL: I joined the science fiction club in high school, and we got enough money together to rent a van so we could go to Lunacon — a nearby science fiction convention. That changed my life. Also, my best friend and I found out there was a regular Star Trek-centered convention: Creation Convention. We went to every one for years. We particularly honed in on fanzines like SLAYSU, the Clipper Trade Ship, and anything else fanzine editor Roberta Rogow would sell me. (Funny enough, her daughter Louise became one of my closest friends in college.)
I’ve attended conventions every year, either literary or media, since then. I just love them, because it’s filled with my friends and the friends I haven’t met yet.
DANIEL: Have you sold SF/F fiction?
CAROL: Although I’ve written almost 2,000 articles, I’ve only sold one short story. I’ve also sold multiple poems. I’ve been nominated for three Rhysling Awards (from the Science Fiction Poetry Association). Sadly, I haven’t won. Yet.
DANIEL: What are some of your favorite cons? Favorite con activities?
CAROL: My favorite cons are Worldcons. Not only do I get to meet like-minded people from all over the world, it’s a great excuse to travel.
DANIEL: I have a semi-vague memory from at least a decade ago of meeting you at a Worldcon and briefly comparing digital cameras.
CAROL: That was back when phones were dumb. Soon, we will be welcoming our phone-OS-based overlords.
DANIEL: One or two favorite fan/con anecdotes/memories?
CAROL: At a World Fantasy Con, many years ago, I attended Neil Gaiman’s reading of his upcoming book, Neverwhere. Afterward, I walked up to him and said, “Sell me that book.” He said, “I can’t, I have a reading.” And I said, “You just finished.” He said, “Oh,” looked at the back of the book, and charged me cover price. Because of this, I can officially state that I bought the first copy of Neverwhere sold in the United States.
And at a convention in DC in the early 2000s, there was an auction where I bid on a beautiful necklace. I came back a few hours later to see that Robert Jordan had outbid me…by a lot. Just then, he came by and said, “I want this necklace for my wife.” I said, “You’re richer than me, aren’t you?” He agreed that he probably was. We had a lovely chat about The Wheel of Time before I abandoned all hope of acquiring that necklace.
DANIEL: One or two bits of advice (that are presumably also in the book).
CAROL: If you do try to get an IP license, do start with smaller IP holders, then build up a track record. Work with the owners of a book, an indie game or comic book, or even a YouTube channel you love. They’ll be way more responsive than a large IP holder like Disney, who already works with dozens of creators.
Also, don’t try to do everything yourself. Get help from an accountant when filling out tax forms, and get help from a lawyer for any questions surrounding IP.
DANIEL: Any advice or other thoughts for File 770’s readers?
CAROL: My book is for anyone who thinks Lando Calrissian is the hero of the Star Wars saga. After all, he’s the guy who went from smuggler and scoundrel to successful small business owner.
And talk to your lawyer!
DANIEL: Thanks! And best of luck with your book! (And I see my library has a copy on order, I’m now reserving it — done!)
CAROL: Thank you! If you or your readers have questions about the book, please reach out.
My name is Giselle Anatol. As you might have heard, I started as the new director of the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction (Gunn CSSF) at the beginning of the month. I am honored to have been asked to serve in this capacity; I know I have enormous shoes to fill. Former Director Chris McKitterick and former Associate Director Kij Johnson have my deep gratitude for helping to ease the transition in leadership. I look forward to continuing to work with them, and to hearing from you as we begin plans for the next few years of CSSF programming. Currently, we anticipate establishing a monthly virtual book club, a fall symposium in conjunction with the presentation of the Sturgeon Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story, and a variety of speakers and workshops; we’re eager to foster diverse community engagement, so please let me know if there are other events that you’d like to see and participate in!
This letter also serves as an introduction. My childhood introduction to science fiction came in the early 1970s, sitting beside my father as he watched Star Trek. I was fascinated by Spock’s stoicism, proud to see Uhura—who was brown and female, like me—on the bridge, and determined to figure out how to teleport. I recall, some years later, being a 5th grader and proudly handing my father a library copy of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, which I had just finished. I was awestruck by this book that blended the science of tesseracts, sheet-stealing “witches,” and a poignant reflection of my own pangs of adolescent anxiety about not fitting in. The story conveyed a preteen’s feelings of devotion to her father; it also conveyed science fiction’s power to deepen the bond between me and my father—in essence, establishing bridges between readers of different ages, genders, nationalities, and a host of other experiences.
My family is from Trinidad & Tobago, so when I decided to pursue my doctorate in English literary studies, I focused on Caribbean women’s writing. The study of children’s and young adult literature was also compelling to me. These fields overlap in many of my courses and my scholarship on Black Speculative Literature—works by artists from African nations and the African diaspora (especially the Caribbean) that engage the imaginative considerations of “What If?” My most significant publication in this area is The Things that Fly in the Night: Female Vampires in Literature of the Circum-Caribbean and African Diaspora (Rutgers University Press 2015). For an early lecture I gave on the subject, click here.
I was hired as an assistant professor of English at KU in 1998, and promoted to full professor in 2016. I served for two terms as the department’s Director of Graduate Studies, and have had the chance to teach and learn from a host of students with interests in speculative literatures. One of these students is Jason Baltazar, an exceptionally talented young writer who is completing his doctoral degree this semester. I am delighted to have the chance to work with him again; he has extensive experience working in the Gunn Center and has been appointed as the CSSF Graduate Research Assistant for Spring 2022.
You can contact either of us at [email protected] or by phoning (785) 864-4520. If you are interested in being put on our contact list for news about future events, please email us at this address with your most updated contact information. I will be reaching out to the CSSF Board of Advisors in the near future to ascertain their interest in continuing to work with the Gunn Center.
In the meantime, please accept my very best wishes for 2022!
By Jeffrey Smith: I’ve always enjoyed making lists of books, though with the internet and its copious bibliographies I don’t do near as many as I used to. I love my recent, handwritten Agatha Christie reading order one; I keep thinking I should type it up, except I like the handwritten one so much, with its arrows shifting the positions of books around.
Thinking about Jules Verne, with the new TV version of Around the World in Eighty Days about to start, I just bought the Wesleyan edition of Five Weeks in a Balloon, translated by Frederick Paul Walter – after researching what the good modern translations of Verne are. Verne has been abysmally translated into English over the years, but there’s been a push to correct that.
In the back of this edition, there is a bibliography of Verne’s work that includes lists of good translations and bad translations for each novel. I typed up a simplified version of just the recommended editions of the Voyages Extraordinaires for my own use, and then decided to share it here. This bibliography is from 2015, so reasonably up to date, though there might have been a few good translations since then.
If the recommended ones are old, I’ve marked them “best available” instead of “recommended,” figuring they still aren’t as good as a modern translation. And while my initial thought was that all the ones from the 1960s on were probably good, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, anything translated by I.O. Evans is an automatic don’t-buy; although he loved Verne’s work and thought he was providing a service by translating so many of his novels, and some of them might not be bad, they are spectacularly unreliable. Many of the later novels have no recommended versions at all.
