(1) 2022 HUGO WINNER GETS UNEXPECTED VAT BILL. [Item by Cora Buhlert.] My Hugo trophy saga continues, because I got an invoice today charging me import duties and VAT for my trophy. I’m kicking up a bit of a stink … Continue reading
(1) VISIONS AND REVISIONS. At the Australian Book Designers Assn., W. H. Chong tells “How to Deconstruct a Science Fiction Cover” using some historic examples. …Among the golden names I picked: Clarke, Asimov, Dick, Gibson, a pair of books stuck … Continue reading
(1) HUGO I.O.U. The Chengdu Worldcon’s Chinese-language website added a post today with the (computer-translated) headline: “The 2023 Hugo Award call for nominations is opening soon”. But there’s only a headline, no article – plus a playable 15-second audio sound … Continue reading
(1) KINDRED CANCELED. Can the news get any worse? The Hollywood Reporter tells us “’Kindred’ Canceled at FX”. The drama was based on Octavia E. Butler’s 1979 novel about a young Black woman who is pulled back and forth in … Continue reading
(1) REVISED 2025 WORLDCON BID DEADLINE. The Chengdu Worldcon has recalculated the deadline for 2025 Worldcon bids to file in order to appear on the printed ballot. They tweeted: According to Section 4.6.3 of the WSFS Constitution, the new deadline … Continue reading
(1) PETER WATTS Q&A. Media Death Cult’s Moid Moidelhoff hosts Peter Watts in “The Big Interview”. Peter Watts is a Canadian marine biologist who also writes awesome science fiction stories. We talked for about three hours, we will do it … Continue reading
(1) GREG BEAR MEDICAL UPDATE. File 770 has been receiving copies of Astrid Bear’s FB friends-locked updates about Greg Bear’s decline during the past week, the kind of thing I ordinarily run only with permission of the author. However, today … Continue reading
(1) SHAUN TAN Q&A. Steven Heller interviews artist Shaun Tan for Print in “The Daily Heller: One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater”. You create nightmarish visions that have a witty or acerbic quality, like the one-eyed creature on the cover … Continue reading
(1) MEASURED BY ANOTHER YARDSTICK. “Too Dystopian for Whom? A Continental Nigerian Writer’s Perspective” by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki at Uncanny Magazine. It is a common conception that people come to fiction, especially the speculative, to escape reality. And that is … Continue reading
(1) SECRETS OF PKD’S SUCCESS. David Samuels bids you “Welcome to Philip K. Dick’s dystopia” at UnHerd. …What made Dick a literary genius, then, was not any special talent for predicting hand-held personal devices or atom bombs the size of … Continue reading