(1) Sir Terry Pratchett’s estate has announced the endowment of the Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship at the University of South Australia.
The $100,000 scholarship recipient will also have the opportunity to conduct their research both at University of South Australia. and at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland for up to a full year in the course of their two-year’s study.
The collaborative scholarship builds on a growing relationship between two very different universities in two hemispheres, who share links both through research and their strong associations with Sir Terry Pratchett and is underpinned by an MOU between Trinity College Dublin’s Trinity Long Room Hub and University of South Australia’s Hawke Research Institute.
Pratchett was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of South Australia in 2014.
(2) Pat Cadigan celebrates the return of her hair in “And Then, Suddenly: The Silver Fox! Or OMG! I Have Hair!” Complete with photo gallery.
About a month and a half after my last round of chemo, my hair began to grow back. Not slowly, but at a natural rate, as if I had deliberately shaved it off. By August, when I was preparing to go to the world science fiction convention in Spokane, Washington, I had what could have been a pixie-cut that was just slightly too short. Ellen Datlow told me she thought it looked cute and I could probably get away without any head-coverings. I will always love her for that, truly.
There’s nothing more reassuring to someone recovering from chemo than to be told she looks cute with her short hair. I mean, really. It goes a long way toward recovery–not just a physical recovery but the psychological recovering of yourself from cancer patient to Who You Are. (Yeah, you may be both but it’s important to be Who You Are first, cancer patient second.)
Still, I left the head scarves on. I wasn’t quite ready to expose my itty-bitty head with its itty-bitty hair.
A month later, however, my hair was an inch longer and it was a different story.
(3) Larry Correia came back with great stories from Salt Lake Comic Con.
I had a Green Beret’s wife come by to pick up signed copies of everything. Her husband is a huge fan, and was currently deployed to an undisclosed location doing badass stuff to bad people. He recorded a video for her to play for me, and gave me a unit hat. That was neat, but even cooler, while I was signing her stack of books, somebody else standing in line had heard her story, and paid for all of her books while she wasn’t looking. Just to say thanks for her husband’s service, and then he walked away, anonymous. I didn’t even know until I got done signing, and Steve Diamond leaned over and said, yep, these are all already taken care of. She teared up. Because fans are awesome people like that.
No matter how busy I was, if I am ever in danger of pride, all I had to do was look at Butcher or Brooks’ signing lines, that literally stretched across ten aisles, to be put in my place. Holy crap. I’m a pretty successful author, but Jim does what I do, with another zero on the end of everything.
Speaking of Jim, several of us writers put together a game night. We played Fiasco, which is a perfect, silly, stand-alone RPG for one-off events. Think of it like a Cohen brothers movie, where everything is odd and goes sideways. Ours was like the movie Fargo. Poor Jim ended up as the only decent human being in the cast (a Mexican Catholic priest and champion of SOCIAL JUSTICE I kid you not, thank you so much Fiasco’s random complication tables). But don’t worry, after Jim was horribly injured when Steve and Allen blew up the meth supplies hidden in the basement of his church, Peter and I burned down the local Walmart to avenge him. Yes. It was that sort of game.
(4) Everything Wrong With Interstellar, Featuring Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson —
(5) RedWombat’s verse, which some have dubbed The Jellicle Troll, started life as a comment on File 770.
The Naming of Trolls is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just some sort of blog-a-day game;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a troll may have MORE THAN ONE NAME.
First of all, there’s the name that employers use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them everyday real wallet names.
But I tell you, a troll needs a name that’s not famous,
A handle peculiar, but easily shed,
Else how can he keep his trolling anonymous,
Or threaten his critics or wish them all dead?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a couple, too,
Such as Drizzt69, Quaxo, or Nazi-lol,
Such as Edgelord150, or HatesSJW-
Names that sometimes belong to more than one troll.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweet,
And IP muddlers and sock-puppets galore:
That the troll may continue to whargle and bleat–
Without any pause in his trollicksome chore.
But above and beyond there’s still one thing left over,
And that is the thing that you probably have guessed;
The thing human research has long since discovered–
(IF THE TROLL HIMSELF KNOWS, he will never confess.)
When you notice a troll in profound verbiation,
I’ll tell you his reason for courting suspension:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of attention:
Paid to his tedious
Shallow uninteresting
singular Self.
(6) Lo and behold! David J. Peterson’s book about conlangery, mentioned here yesterday, is today’s Big Idea at Whatever.
With The Art of Language Invention, my purpose was twofold. The first was to give the uninitiated a window into the world of conlanging: to see what it’s all about, to see the work that goes into creating a language, and, maybe, to see if it’s for them. The second, though, was to build a bridge between the original conlanging community and the conlangers to come.
(7) The minutes of the 2015 WSFS Business Meeting [PDF file], a 134-page epic by secretary Linda Deneroff, has been posted on the Sasquan website.
(8) Kate Paulk has a goal.
Inept message fiction makes puppies sad. Sad Puppies 4 wants to make puppies happy by returning the Hugo to its roots as a readers choice award – all readers, not just the small cadre who favor style over substance. Those who wouldn’t know substance if it bit them on the butt are of course in opposition to this goal.
(9) GUFF voting is closed. Now the administrators say they are doing a vote count before announcing a winner. Who should be Jukka Halme, as he is running unopposed.
(10) The story of “The Little Blue Man Hoax” at The Museum of Hoaxes.
The police began to search for what, or who, was causing these sightings. Their search ended when three young men — Jerry Sprague, Don Weiss, and LeRoy Schultz — came forward and confessed. The young men explained how all the reports of flying saucers in the news had given them an idea for a prank. They created a costume consisting of long underwear, gloves, combat boots, a sheet with holes cut out for the eyes, and a football helmet to which they attached blinking lights. They then spray-painted the costume glow-in-the-dark blue (inspired by a song popular on the radio at the time, “Little Blue Man” by Betty Johnson). Sprague wore the costume, noting that “it was my underwear and I was the only one it would fit.”
The trio staked out rural roads at night. Sprague would hide in a ditch, and when a motorist approached, he would leap out and run along the road to attract their attention before making a quick getaway by jumping into the trunk of the car driven by Weiss and Schultz. They did this on at least eight or ten nights, over a period of weeks.
The police let the pranksters off with a warning not to do it again.
(11) John Simm told the Guardian he can’t wait to move on from Doctor Who.
The actor John Simm has admitted that he is fed up with the attention he gets from Doctor Who fans.
The star of The Village and Life On Mars played the Master in five episodes of the BBC1 sci-fi programme.
He told the Radio Times: “I do get a lot of Doctor Who. God almighty, I’ll be so happy when that’s gone from my life. They’re lovely, I’m sure, but I won’t miss it.”
He added: “It’s great to be into something, but for goodness’ sake, really? I’m not the Master, I’m not that evil Time Lord who rules the galaxy, I’m just in Tesco with my kids. Leave me alone!”
(12) The Official A Game of Thrones Coloring Book (A Song of Ice and Fire) —
In a world where weddings are red, fire is green, and debts are paid in gold, countless images leap off the page thanks to the eye-popping intricacy of the vivid settings and details. Now, for the first time, fans of this blockbuster saga can fill in the blanks and marvel as this meticulously imagined universe comes to life, one sword, sigil, and castle at a time. With dozens of stunning original black-and-white illustrations from world-renowned illustrators Yvonne Gilbert, John Howe, Tomislav Tomi?, Adam Stower, and Levi Pinfold, this unique collector’s item expands the reach of an international phenomenon with flying colors.
(13) I scientifically lifted this news from the October issue of Ansible.
With an eye on the coming film, the Royal Mail will issue no fewer than eighteen Star Wars stamps on 20 October. (BBC, 12 September)
(14) Camestros Felapton has weaponized one of File 770’s running gags…
[Thanks to JJ, Kevin Standlee, David Doering, Camestros Felapton, John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z .]
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Don’t forget the theme park! And then the script, and the Jack Kirby concept drawings, turned into Argo.
Chris – it’ll vary depending on each puppy, some would no doubt moan about lack of violence. There’s also the point that people don’t always realise what it is that they don’t like about a work.
As for Modessit, I’ve tried to read 2 of their books, and gotten very bored with them so do not understand what people see in their work. Banks of course is much better.
guthrie, thanks for pointing that out. I checked Wikipedia (I know, I know…), which informs me that book and movie were developed concurrently and book released after movie.
I don’t particularly see how the sequence in the movie could be made more understandable, other than some kind of voiceover/exposition dump. But it’s been a long time since I’ve watched the film. Maybe I’ll give it a rewatch sometime (so much media, so little time).
@guthrie
It was written at the same time as the film was being made which explains why in the book the Discovery is flies past Jupiter and on to Saturn and other discrepancies.
The script did originally take them to Saturn but they decided they couldn’t make the rings look realistic enough. According to the TV Tropes entry when the Voyager imagery came back they realised they’d actually got it right.
The whole thing is based off a Clark short called Sentinel, though that just has the discovery of a buried signal device on the moon older than humanity.
ETA Ninja’d I see.
Chris Nelson wrote
Acid and firearms are both easy to get and can both hurt people. And there the resemblance ends.
The difference between acid and firearms is that generally acid is only present where there’s a good reason to have it–chemistry labs, some kinds of jewelry making, etc. If someone’s job or hobby calls for having acid at a particular time, they do. But there isn’t this odd practice of carrying it everywhere or having it easily available on spec. Nobody carries acid around every day because it’s exciting, or to prove their competence or defend against crime (which is for the best, I think.)
I read Sentinel years ago. Very Clarke-ian.
One thing about 2001 to remember is when it was made and what other speculative fiction movies of that era looked like. For the 1969 Hugo, 2001’s competition was The Yellow Submarine, Rosemary’s Baby, and episode of The Prisoner, and Charly. One can debate the merits of the various nominees, but it seems relatively clear to me that in terms of effects and visual presentation, 2001 is head and shoulders above the others.
The fact that it was a movie with a reasonably optimistic vision of the future of space exploration that was released during the height of the space race probably didn’t hurt either.
If you’re interested in the relationship between 2001: The Movie and 2001: The Book, then it might be worth your while to track down a copy of Lost Worlds of 2001.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17076.The_Lost_Worlds_of_2001
Have Paulk et al read past The Light Fantastic? It’s hard to imagine them missing all the SJW (for their definition of SJW) messaging starting with Equal Rites. There’s feminism, fat acceptance, criticism of organized religion and nationalism, feminism, and definitely feminism, amongst all sorts of philosophical deep thought-type issues (expressed simply, I’ll admit). I’m not quite half-way through the series and those “messages” immediately came to (my always muddled) mind.
I think* when Puppies talk about workmanlike prose, they mean clear and easy to read, which Terry’s writing was, despite seeming pretty literary to me (see… uh, someone’s whose handle I forget… example above, from Small Gods IIRC). But I also suspect when they use the term literary, Puppies mean difficult to read and un-fun, which sure is sometimes the case, but c’mon…
* Not trying to put words in their mouths or psychoanalyze them, but I’ve had serious difficulties understanding some of the terms Puppies use based on the way they apply them.
Not the least crime of the old rich men who send poor young men to war is that even when they come back they come back hurt, and sometimes broken. I never thought I’d feel such an amount of rage for the damage done to the torturerers by the cheerleaders of the Great War On Terror, but then I read None of us were like this before. I hope your brother in law gets better.
@Chris Nelson
Here’s your gold star for liking everyone. And good that you clipped the quote here you did. My point is that if those of us with the confidence to leave the house without strapping up have a bad day, get fired, get dumped, the damage is probably a long stagger home after drinking too much, perhaps some drunk texts, and maybe an ill-adivsed swing at somebody.
The person who’s knees knock together at leaving the house unarmed, can lose their job, relationship, etc., and start filling coffins, especially in a crowded space, if their nerve snaps for long enough, once. I have so much energy in my life – I’ll say that prayer for the health of the person who can turn their temper tantrum into a string of funerals first.
Especially reading about this Oregon prize winner. Let’s face it. Nerds are great people. Fans are great people. But recluse with a weapons collection and strange views is a circle on the Venn diagram that overlaps with con-goer a bit much.
It’s available in every automobile battery, sans the newer ones like Tesla. And it’s the most available, nasty, non-firearm, non-vehicle weapon outside of gasoline. (Ignoring edge weapons, fists etc…) And it’s commonly used in terror attacks on individuals and small groups, usually women. Mostly outside of the US, where firearms aren’t as available.
@Chris Nelson, I agree with everything you say about acid attacks. But I do feel I have to mention that if someone goes homicidal with acid, they’ll probably only manage to inflict harm (I admit, serious harm) to a few people. Whereas people who go homicidal with firearms can kill five, ten, twenty, or more people before they’re stopped, and injure even more.
There’s a big psychological difference between pulling a trigger and getting up close enough with someone to cause harm with acid.
Hence the prevalence of shootings in the US and relative scarcity of acid attacks elsewhere.
Non-USAians are so freaked out by American attitude to guns that when they speak of them they give Americans the idea that outside the US it’s hard or unusual to have firearms.
That is not true.
In the UK, after Dunblane, they intoduced some draconian legislation, but even here lots of people own rifles, especially in the country. In Italy it is not particularly difficult or unusual to have a pistol in the home, and of course, buying illegal firearms is not impossible in either country. Not to mention that in Continental Europe lots of firearms ended up in the hands of civilians after the Second
World War and there they stayed, undeclared and often hidden.
It’s not the presence of guns that spooks us about the US, it’s the fact that they are so visible, literaly and otherwise. That they are so many, and that people talk and think about them so much. We do have guns in the rest of the world, it’s just thatvthey are not so important.
And people with the power of a country or corporation can do even more damage. How many people have been killed due to the decision to go into Iraq? Or import cocaine into the US to fund wars in Central America? Or jack up prices on necessities while wages stagnate? Or layoff employees while accepting a golden parachute?
Chris – can you remind the rest of us what it is you are trying to say?
And have gun lovers who want to claim Pratchett for their brand of non-message-fiction ever read Men at Arms?
These are all things that people protest about or pressure their government to make illegal.
~this comment brought to you by page 2~
Re: Certain Puppies and the urge to put things in neat little boxes
It makes a lot more sense when once you notice that the Mad Genius Club is explicitly about advising people on how to create easily marketable self-published fiction. Simple rules for making simple books to sell to people with simple needs in (ideally) large numbers. That they allow it to spill over into ‘this is the best and only worthwhile way to write’ and ‘anything that doesn’t fit into these rules is bad and probably communist’ is where they overstep the limits of their theories.
@C A Collins
Yep, I’ve got a ten inch difference between bust and waist, a 14 inch difference between waist and hips, an overall petite frame despite the sticky out bits, I’ve never had hair shorter than chin-length (with the exception of That Time one of my older sisters decided she wanted to be a hairdresser and then shortly afterwards I had no hair), I wear traditionally feminine clothes a lot of the time, and I’ve still been mistaken for a dude once or twice. It happens.
Especially believable when, for example, you’re stuck on an unfamiliar planet where you don’t know the gender conventions, everyone wears many bulky layers because it’s cold and has a fairly uniform roundness to their facial features.
@Will R.
I would have preferred his comment with the condescending snipe at the end, personally.
@Lis Carey
Oh, are you getting a new dog? I’m happy for you. 🙂
@Doctor Science
I was boggling at the comment about Pratchett’s workmanlike prose, too. If anything, I’d say their least favourite person, Scalzi, better embodies effortless prose (in his later work; Old Man’s War isn’t a good example but Lock In is).
What I don’t get is why they would want only one style of prose or why any particular style of prose would be more likely to be ‘message fiction’. City of Stairs is very different in style from Lock In is very different in style from Pratchett, but I enjoy all of them and I don’t find the message twists the plot out of shape in any of them.
Tasha Turner on October 2, 2015 at 10:34 am said:
The YouTube would certainly be an … interesting … nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation–Long Form. Would we give Lisa the rocket?
I don’t like everyone. LOL
Many of us strap into large four wheeled weapons, fight the traffic home day after day and mostly manage not to run into or crash into some other drivers. As (semi-sane) adults we understand actions have consequences and may have some empathy towards others.
I believe the question is: “How do we protect ourselves from sociopaths in general, without having a Humanoid From Wing IV society that treats us like children?”
Right now we are seeing the re-introduction of Blue Bell ice cream. The deaths of those killed by Listeria can directly attributed to the managements refusal to run a sanitary packaging plant. Three people were killed for profits. Just as dead as if they were shot.
@ Joe H.
One of the things that drew me to do my linguistics PhD on prepositional semantics was that propositions never map 1:1 between languages. (Often not even between dialects or different temporal stages of a language.)
In essence, prepositions[*] are bundles of relationship features connecting a “trajector” and “landmark”: features like above/below/beside, in contact/not in contact, moving/stationary, source/goal, path-shape, and so on. In theory, I suppose, a language might have a separate morpheme for each feature and design concatenated feature-bundles, but instead natural languages use portmanteau words that combine a particular set of features in a single preposition. And different languages mix and match the features in different combinations.
Some of the combinations correspond to physical properties of the world. For example, it’s more common for a language to have separate words that indicate “above and in contact with” and “above and not in contact with” than it is to have a distinction between “below and in contact with” and “below and not in contact with”, in part because things “above” a landmark naturally tend to become in contact with it by gravity, while things “below” a landmark do not. And it’s common for a single word to represent more than one very specific scenario that are linked conceptually.
But there are a lot of different features that are just as “natural” to combine or distinguish, and languages cheerfully do so. (OK, ok, I’ll stop now. After all, I have a certificate from the University of California certifying that I’m capable of going on about this for over 1000 pages. In Medieval Welsh.)
@Chris Nelson
In your first response, you said you say those prayers for everyone – my apologies for taking you at your word!
Out of curiosity, are you from the States? Because all of those things that you said could kill people are things people will get involved politically to stop. Do that about guns, and people… making many of the same arguments you are making about cars, and acid, and knives… will suddenly invoke the Constitution to put the matter outside of the political discussion.
I wouldn’t assume a gun-nut was dangerous without some knowledge of instability or lack of respect for gun safety or the like. I do think guns are far too widely available in America, that the whole idea of open-carry protests is terrifying (I don’t even like seeing police carry guns in tourist hot-spots in London), that the strange worship for guns in American is creepy, and that even if the guns are completely innocent very little is being done to tackle any of the other possible reasons for America’s absurdly high gun death statistics.
(Oh, and to back up Anna’s mention of gun availability in the UK: There was a gun shop within walking distance of my house in South East London. I’m not sure if it’s still there since I don’t usually go that way.)
@Aaron
Family loyalty dictates that I think Yellow Submarine should have at least come second. 🙂 My dad worked on it.
You pray for everyone, even enemies and the evil deserve a prayer. It doesn’t mean you condone everyone’s actions.
When you discuss despicable actions, where do you draw the line? Is it better to be killed by crazed gunman, by acid, by a drunk driver, in an “unjust war”or by a disease that sanitation could have prevented if someone wasn’t so greedy? Do we care more for one set of victims than others? Who is more “evil” a gunman or a corrupt politician?
How do you balance responsibilities with rights? There’s good science fiction that ask these questions and still entertains. Modesitt, Banks and Barnes are some authors I enjoy that have those themes in some of their books.
Speaking of puppies, this may be the best thing you’ll watch all day:
Mark —
“The Apartment Dweller’s Bestiary” was delightful. Thanks very much for linking to it.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to do something like that in a superhero context, weaving an emotional story through individual descriptive entries…
Kurt:
It’s been done in fanfiction, notably “The New Atlantean Dictionary of Literary Terms: A Complete Reference in Four Volumes”, a Stargate: Atlantis fic of truly staggering genius.
I bet you could use artistic/visual terms, instead.
Well, statistically, a random person with a gun is more dangerous than a random person without a gun. Which is why I personally tend to freak out in the presence of firearms.
Although I went pretty close to being done in by an idiot in an SUV today, most probably an unharmed idiot. But I pedalled away.
@Chris Nelson
This is starting to come across a bit like ‘you can’t talk about [issue] without also talking about [million other tangentially related issues] because [reasons]’ – is that what you’re going for, here? Because it looks an awful lot like a derailing tactic people use.
I know strictly Breq isn’t what we would call a robot but I think they count for most purposes – an AI running a mechanical body (in Breq’s case originally a big starship originally and later a meat body). I don’t like robots that are pure logic, are infallible (except in understanding the-thing-you-humans-call-love etc) and have no emotions. An AI would have emotions – they might not match with our emotions but it would have some sort of reasons for getting up in the morning and doing stuff. An AI would make cognitive errors, would find some tasks harder than others and would have a distinction between tasks that the mind overall could accomplish and tasks that the mind could accomplish but which it was not neccesarily conscious of (e.g. when a human catches a ball we are not aware of the complex set of judgement we need to make to put our hands in the right place).
Breq is spot on in term of how I think an AI should be portrayed. Fallible but still clever, rational but not unmotivated, capable and competent but not in all things.
Don’t leave that House of Commons
And that House of Lords
Just sittin’ waitin’ for ya!
You claim official business
Took you away
To Egypt and Bombay
And Rome!
Well, I ain’t so certain
‘Cause you’re a 19th century Richard Burton
Disraeli won’t you please come home?
@Anna Feruglio Dal Dan
This. Considering the ease in which acquiring a firearm in many parts of the US, I don’t think it’s unfair to be concerned that your life might be left up to the discretion of someone who honestly believes that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
My mother’s side of the family is from the north, so I grew up learning to shoot and hunt. But I’ve never contemplated the idea that not having a gun on my hip makes me any less safer. I live in the largest city in Canada. I’ve walked or taken transit late at night hundreds of times. Never, at any point I can remember, did ‘I wish I had a gun right now’ cross my mind.
I am really confident that getting into the gun control discussion is probably a bad idea as it summons demonic internet forces. Having said that I suppose that is what the NRA wants – people to not have the discussion.
The Red Scroll of Westmarch
or
Red Book of the Pixelnath
> “Family loyalty dictates that I think Yellow Submarine should have at least come second. 🙂 My dad worked on it.”
*fans out* One of my favorite movies. I’d actually have voted for it over 2001 in a heartbeat. (In fact, I would have been having a meltdown that year between voting for that and voting for Fall Out, possibly the greatest episode of what I might consider the greatest television show of all time.)
When dudes on 4chan get together to talk about how they’re “incel” and it’s all women’s fault and therefore women like me must be punished, so they’re gonna put listeria in all the feminists’ ice cream, then I’ll worry about that a little more.
@Kurt – I knew I liked you!
Doctor Science on October 2, 2015 at 7:46 am said:
I don’t buy this idea that there is something WRONG with prose that is clear and easy to follow (ie, “workmanlike.”). Clunky prose is a flaw — dull prose is a flaw — murky prose is a flaw — prose that never manages to find a consistent tone or voice can be a flaw — but dismissing prose as “workmanlike” or “ordinary” is just another way of saying “the prose was fine, but I want to sound kinda highfalutin’, as if I’m expecting everything to be James Joyce, even though I don’t even like James Joyce.”
@Meredith & C A Collins:
I have also been misgendered as a dude, particularly when I was younger and had a sharper jawline and Billy Idol hair. There was a particular leather jacket that made it really likely — possibly the shoulder padding — and when I dyed my hair black and wore that jacket, even my own future husband thought I was a boy when he first saw the dye job. (Dark hair = masculine, I guess.)
Being misgendered didn’t bother me when it was somebody I just met who thought I looked like David Bowie and might be a guy she would want to date and was kinda disappointed to find out otherwise but then we became lifelong friends so it’s cool.
It did bother me when it was bro-types in a car who thought I was a guy, but then noticed I was kind of feminine for a guy, called me a “fag” (like that was a bad thing) and then, when they heard my voice and realized their mistake, called me a dyke (like that was a bad thing).
I didn’t know that they had such specific aims — it does partly explain why their advice comes across as so rigid and didactic. It always sounds to me like “how to write fiction the Sad Puppy way!” Which — you know, based on the 2015 Hugo ballot, I would not really be into. With that in mind, it still seems like they’ve gone a little too far into “there is but one formula for success, and here it is!” territory. As if it’s become a religious doctrine. Which could also explain the whole puppy freakout, if the driving angst is about people becoming successful without following their formulas.
I’d use pictures.
So I’d be thinking creatures or categories of threat, or something. I dunno. Might not come to anything, but I’ll chew on it a while.
I did an issue a year or so back that was inspired by Jo Walton’s “Three Twilight Tales,” and I doubt anyone reading it would have seen any strong similarity (there are three tales and romance is part of each, but that’s it), so we’ll see what, if anything, this turns into.
@Anna Feruglio Dal Dan:
Thanks, I do too. But for all the lip service the Forces pay to mental health, there is still pressure to Not Talk About It.
He saw awful things over there. The aftermath of IED attacks. Humans turned to hamburger. At least one of his neighbours was killed. But he’s never gotten any professional help or counseling that I’m aware of.
I’m learning to deal with the new man. When he starts barking orders or jumping down everyone’s throat, I quietly withdraw. I’ve observed his kids learning how to deal with him too, and as the child of an angry alcoholic/drug addict that is a kick in the gut.
Sad Hippie Pinko Commie peace-ing out.
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today?
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s gotta be a better way
(Good God, y’all.)
ULTRAGOTHA on October 2, 2015 at 12:22 pm said:
Lisa says, “Yes!” Nominating her is probably the only reason she’d ever show up for the ceremony.
Although following the Producer/Director model, Linda Deneroff was the Producer and I was the Director. But I already have a Hugo trophy (one of the two spares from ConJosé).
aarrgh arrrgh.
My Best Novel list has one work.
Best Short Story has nine.
@Kyra
I also think Yellow Submarine is pretty damn good, but then I would, wouldn’t I. 😉
@Anna Feruglio Dal Dan
As I said, I’d rather not be anywhere near guns, ever, because their purpose is to kill things. I was just a bit concerned about collateral damage from people talking about gun enthusiasts in, hm, very negative ways, so I wanted to say something a bit more neutral.
@RedWombat
One of the things I find odd about America is the willingness to ban cheese, or traditional meat preparations, or Kinder Eggs, but then treat guns as perfectly harmless things. No-one has ever talked lovingly about people murdering people like me with cheese, you know?
@McJulie
I probably should have qualified that a little: It is, as far as I can tell, one of the main purposes of the site, but they do talk about other things as well. Anti-trad publishing rants feature too (although those are related to the self-publishing aims), for example.
But yes, I think a lot of it is basically that they spend a lot of time telling people to do things a certain way to be successful, and then they get personally offended when someone is successful while not doing those things. The tantrum throwing over Ancillary Justice having a tavern in the snow and how that would put off readers because who could tell whether it was sci fi or fantasy anymore (*eyeroll*) was very illuminating.
It is my favorite Beatles* film – the DVD copy I have of it isn’t so great (the sound isn’t so hot and it sort of looks washed out but it it is still great.
[*OK strictly speaking the actual Beatles aren’t really in it for very long.]
Don’t know how old you are but I saw 2001 when it was first released. At that time that movie had the most advanced special effects available. We were blown away by the visuals. The story wasn’t bad either, for movies of it’s time.
For the sake of being fair to Paulk, IIRC she didn’t specify the tavern and snow as such, she just said “fantasy tropes” (or was it “markers”) and we here deduced that she meant tavern/snow etc.
Kate Paulk said this:
So yes, she did specify snow, and especially tavern.
Kevin Standlee: I hope we’re not investing all this time and effort to save the Hugos only to see it wasted by foolish nominations for business meeting minutes and videos.