(1) OSFCI ANNOUNCEMENT. OryCon, the annual Portland, OR convention, is returning from a year away due to the pandemic. However, after this year’s event is held on November 12-14, the con will be going on another hiatus for an indefinite period. Thread starts here.
(2) DISCON III PRESSER. Video of yesterday’s DisCon III media briefing with chair Mary Robinette Kowal and vice-chairs Marguerite Smith and Lauren Raye Snow has been posted to Facebook.com.
(3) AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL. “America’s first vampire was Black and revolutionary – it’s time to remember him” urges The Conversation’s Sam George.
In April of 1819, a London periodical, the New Monthly Magazine, published The Vampyre: A Tale by Lord Byron. Notice of its publication quickly appeared in papers in the United States.
Byron was at the time enjoying remarkable popularity and this new tale, supposedly by the famous poet, caused a sensation as did its reprintings in Boston’s Atheneum (15 June) and Baltimore’s Robinson’s Magazine (26 June).
The Vampyre did away with the East European peasant vampire of old. It took this monster out of the forests, gave him an aristocratic lineage and placed him into the drawing rooms of Romantic-era England. It was the first sustained fictional treatment of the vampire and completely recast the folklore and mythology on which it drew.
By July, Byron’s denial of authorship was being reported and by August the true author was discovered, John Polidori.
In the meantime, an American response, The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo, by one Uriah Derick D’Arcy, appeared. D’Arcy explicitly parodies The Vampyre and even suggests that Lord Ruthven, Polidori’s British vampire aristocrat, had his origins in the Carribean. A later reprinting in 1845 attributed The Black Vampyre to a Robert C Sands; however, many believe the author was more likely a Richard Varick Dey (1801–1837), a near anagram of the named author.
What is so remarkable about this story is that it is an anti-slavery narrative from the early 1800s which also contains America’s first vampire who is Black….
(4) CORA’S NEW FANCAST Q&A. Cora Buhlert has another Fancast Spotlight up today since the replies seem to be coming in all at once. The latest is a Foundation podcast called Seldon Crisis: “Fancast Spotlight: Seldon Crisis”.
Why did you decide to start your podcast or channel?
I read the full Foundation series for the first time last summer during lockdown. I had read the trilogy in my youth but had forgotten most of it and it was pure joy to re-read it. I had that common feeling after reading a great work of literature of wanting to share it with others, and decided the easiest way to share it with the world was in podcast form. I had no knowledge of the AppleTV series until after I’d written the first several scripts.
(5) ANATHEMA’S FUNDING APPEAL. Anathema: Spec From the Margins, a semiprozine featuring SFF by people from marginalized backgrounds, is looking for funding for its year six: Anathema: Spec from the Margins Year Six” at Indiegogo.
Anathema is an Ignyte Award-nominated online tri-annual magazine of speculative fiction (SF/F/H, the weird, slipstream, fabulism, and more). We exclusively publish the work of people of colour (POC)/Indigenous/Aboriginal creators on every range of the LGBTQIA spectrum….
…We’ve had the chance to be a home to stories that have a hard time getting picked up elsewhere – some for being too unusual, others too nakedly queer, others just not fitting the expected mold a primarily white publishing establishment wants from QBIPOC creators. Anathema, by intent, occupies a radical socialist queer space in the larger genre conversation. And in so doing we walk in the footsteps of giants, our own path fleeting and hope that the work we do can leave some lasting mark. But that takes funds. And we are not yet a self-sustaining entity. We earn some revenue through our website store, but most of our operating funds come from informal subscription drives and more formalized fundraising campaigns like this one….
(6) S&S KICKSTARTER. Tales from the Magician’s Skull, a magazine publishing good modern sword and sorcery, is also running a Kickstarter for its next issues. They have already passed their goal, Cora Buhlert calls them “A good magazine that deserves to be better known” — “More Tales From The Magician’s Skull by Goodman Games” at Kickstarter. No wonder they’re raking in the money – look at this special incentive if you pledge at the highest level.
(7) ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT. “A Beloved William Shatner Star Trek Prop Is Selling For Half A Million Dollars” – GiantFreakinRobot has the story. (Click for larger image.)
In the vast world of Star Trek lore, there are plenty of iconic pieces to collect. From communicators and uniforms, phasers and tribbles, and even blaster rifles, the Star Trek fandom puts significant meaning to collectible items, some of which can be difficult to come by. Now, eager Trekkie collectors can gush over the recently announced auction of the one-of-a-kind phaser used by Captain James T. Kirk in his pilot episode. The rifle is being sold by a private collector with Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas; and it can be yours for just half a million dollars (no energy credits accepted).
The phaser rifle made its Star Trek appearance during the original series second pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before….
Get your bid down on this item here at Heritage Auctions.
(8) A FACE TO MEET THE FACES. For this installment of Building Beyond, “Mask On, Mask Off”, the premise is: “Over the course of every person’s life, they grow a mask.”
Sarah Gailey is joined by Greg Kasavin and Nome to develop worlds around this idea.
(9) MEMORY LANE.
1976 – Forty-five years ago, one of the better pieces of horror got released in Carrie. It was based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, and it was directed by Brian de Palma being his first hit. Lawrence D. Cohen wrote this screenplay as he would the third version thirty seven years later. It had a stellar cast of Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, William Katt, Nancy Allen. and John Travolta.
Like most horror films of the time and particularly King films, it had a truly minuscule budget of under two million dollars which is why it was a box office success when it made just thirty four million.
So what did the critics think of it? One and all they loved it madly with Roger Ebert saying that it was an “absolutely spellbinding horror movie” and Pauline Kael calling it the “best scary-funny movie since Jaws”.
Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give it a rather scary seventy-seven percent rating. As I noted above, there are three more films made off the novel, one in 2002 and one in 2013. Neither, not surprisingly to me, fares particularly well at Rotten Tomatoes.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born November 3, 1929 — Neal Barrett, Jr. He was nominated for a Hugo at Noreascon 3 for his “Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus” short story. He was Toastmaster at LoneStarCon 2. He was prolific writing over two dozen novels and some fifty pieces of short fiction including a novelization of the first Dredd film. As good as much of his genre work was, I think his finest, best over the top work was the Wiley Moss series which led off with Pink Vodka Blues. He’s generously available at usual suspects. (Died 2015.)
- Born November 3, 1933 — Jeremy Brett. Still my favorite Holmes of all time. He played him in four Granada TV series from 1984 to 1994 in a total of 41 episodes. One source said he was cast as Bond at one point, but turned the part down, feeling that playing 007 would harm his career. Lazenby was cast instead. (Died 1995.)
- Born November 3, 1942 — Martin Cruz Smith, 79. Best remembered for Gorky Park, the Russian political thriller, but he’s also done a number of genre novels in The Indians Won (alternate history), Gypsy in Amber and Canto for a Gypsy (PI with psychic powers) and two wonderful pulpish novels, The Inca Death Squad and Code Name: Werewolf.
- Born November 3, 1952 — Eileen Wilks, 69. Her principal genre series is the World of Lupi, a FBI procedural intertwined with shapeshifters, dragons and the multiverse. Highly entertaining, sometimes considered romance novels though I don’t consider them so. The audiobooks are amazing as well!
- Born November 3, 1953 — Kate Capshaw, 68. Best known as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (which I’ll confess I’ve watched but a few times unlike the first film which I’ve watched way too much), and she was in Dreamscape as well. She retired from acting several decades ago.
- Born November 3, 1960 — Kevin Murphy, 61. American actor and writer best known as the voice and puppeteer of Tom Servo on the Mystery Science Theater 3000. He also does RiffTrax which are humorous audio commentary tracks intended to be played along with various television programs and films.
- Born November 3, 1963 — Brian Henson, 58. Can we all agree that The Happytime Murders should never have been done? Thought so. Wash it out of your consciousness with Muppet Treasure Island or perhaps The Muppet Christmas Carol. Or Muppets from Space. If you want something darker, he was a puppeteer on The Witches, and the chief puppeteer on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And he voices Hoggle in Labyrinth.
- Born November 3, 1977 — Belén Fabra, 44. Here for her recurring role in the Spanish-language SF series El ministerio del tiempo (The Department Of Time). She also appeared as Captain Sanchez in Origin, a YouTube SF series that lasted but one season.
(11) COMICS SECTION.
- In Last Kiss, John Lustig puts new words on older, existing comic panels.
- In Weflaps Comics, Cthulhu hears a discouraging word.
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal explores the dangerous lure of “old book smell.”
(12) ICON OF RACISM. Witness History’s episode “The enduring legend of Fu Manchu” is available for the coming year at BBC Sounds.
The evil criminal mastermind Fu Manchu was a recurring character in Hollywood films for decades. He epitomised racist stereotypes about China and the Chinese which shaped popular thinking in the West. Vincent Dowd has been talking to writer Sir Christopher Frayling and academic Amy Matthewson about his long-lasting influence.
(13) MOVE OVER PLUTO. Galactic Journey’s Jessica Holmes covers the latest (in 1966) episode of Doctor Who: “[November 2, 1966] An Ending? (Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet)”. Notice how in this future there is still a ninth planet!
EPISODE ONE
The Doctor arrives at the Antarctic base of International Space Command in the year 1986. The men inside (and yes, even in 1986 it seems rocket science is a bit of a boys’ club) take notice of the new arrivals, but there’s no time to worry about them. The latest launch has run into trouble, reporting the sudden appearance of a new planet in the sky. Worse still, their ship is losing power….
(14) THE FIFTY-EIGHTH VARIETY. “’Christmas dinner in a can’ promises answer to supermarket shortages” the Guardian reported, but since Heinz only made 500 cans of Christmas Dinner Big Soup this year it’s already sold out, so how was that supposed to work?
If you’re still amused by the idea, see the Heinz web page for the product, which also offered an optional gift box for it.
(15) LOWERING YOUR RESISTANCE. One of the major comic book websites takes readers on a tour of the Borg Cube Advent Calendar mentioned in a recent Scroll: “Star Trek: A Closer Look at the Borg Cube Advent Calendar From Hero Collector”.
Hero Collector sent ComicBook.com one of these advent calendars to take a closer and share our impressions of it with our readers.
We’ve taken a few photos of the product and opened up a few of the gifts to give you an idea of what is inside. Don’t worry. We only opened the first four, so we’re not putting out spoilers for anyone’s holiday fun. You can take a look at what we found in the photos included below….
(16) NEWS TO ME. I hadn’t previously heard of Philip K. Dick’s novel Humpty Dumpty In Oakland til I saw the first edition being offered by L.W. Currey.
Set in San Francisco in the late 1950s, Humpty Dumpty in Oakland is a tragicomedy of misunderstandings among used car dealers and real-estate salesmen: the small-time, struggling individuals for whom Philip K. Dick always reserved his greatest sympathy.
It is one of Dick’s realistic fiction novels, and was published posthumously. Many reviewers say they find the way he tells this story has a lot in common with his science fiction.
(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In “Honest Game Trailers: Metroid Dread is the latest version of a Nintendo character so ancient she has ’80s shoulder pads. But don’t call the new game Metroidmania, the narrator warns, “or I will personally come to your house and slap you!”
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, John Lorentz, Chris Barkley, Daniel Dern, Lise Andreasen, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]
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First!
I adore the work of Brian Henson and have spent far too many hours happily watching The Muppets and his other creations. But can somebody please explain to me why he thought it was a good idea to make The Happytime Murders? Seriously what was he thinking?
Thanks for the title credit!
(16) I volunteered my services for the PKD illustrated bibliography Precious Artifacts 9 years ago (Kickstarter, I think) and know something about these posthumous first-edition hardcovers of the non-SF novels he wrote throughout the 1950s; Humpty is thought to be one of the last of these, completed around 1960. They tended to receive rather small press runs (several thousand) when first issued in the mid-1980s. I remember seeing them in Dreamhaven Books (I lived in Minneapolis at the time). About 20 years ago I bought another of these scarce hardcovers, In Milton Lumky Territory, on eBay for $30; probably about as rare as this one, and perhaps worth more now. Of course, they’ve all since been published in paperback, by Tor among others. One was even published while Dick was alive, Confessions of a Crap Artist.
3) I was just doing history of horror and even in explicitly going looking for early vampire tales I never came across this! It would have been great to include when I was talking about them.
I’m currently reading The Dragon Waiting, by John M. Ford.
Cider and I have been working very hard. We’ve visited two of my doctors, and she impressed everyone at both offices. She has firmly put her paw down, and is enforcing a standard two walks a day in addition to what we have to do for errands and appointments. She’s very pleased and a little smug about the fact that both my PCP and my cardiologist explicitly endorse this prescription.
And I learned today that elevators are old hat, and hold no terrors for her. It’s obvious to her that little, windowless rooms that move are just another means of transportation. She’s the very first dog I haven’t had to teach about elevators.
(7) oh neat! the phaser rifle from tos
16 I thought we all bought them on release. All are great and, yes, they’re mostly dickian without the SF content, but with radio repair shops and black haired girls and small town life. Most of them were published by trade publishers in the UK and not only in small press editions (like Ziesing’s lovely Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike).
(9) In addition to the cast listed let’s not forget Piper Laurie as Carrie’s mom.
The Insidious Doctor Pix ElScroll?
Last Scroll of the Planet Fileton, Pix-El (the cousin Clarke doesn’t talk about).
The Abominable Dr. Files.
Lis, that’s great news. (Down autocorrect, I put s because I wanted an s.)
May your relationship continue as well as it sounds to have started.
(5) Once again, Cora Buhlert might persuade me to buy stuff. If there is a magazine publishing new sword and sorcery stories that gets praise from Cora Buhlert, I want to read it.
(11) It’s another day full of cool birthdays. Shout out to “Perpetuity Blues” by Neal Barrett, Jr. And to Eileen Wilks for being a pioneer in paranormal romance.
(12) I will have to listen to that. As a fan of pulp magazines, I’ve run across some Yellow Peril stories. It’s a fascinating thing to study. I wonder how much the concept influenced both pulp and comic book villains — and not just the Asian villains.
I was extremely impressed by Carrie-the-novel in school. The adults around me lifted their noses and speculated about what sorts of Freudian tragedy could turn a person into someone who enjoyed (disdainful sniff) pulp horror stories. But I knew a good story when I saw one, and the movie’s success left me feeling vindicated, and my teachers’ reliance on Freud crumbling into flat earther territory has left me even more vindicated.
I am on my way to Oakland to see Ween again. I just saw them 3x in Denver and 3x in Vegas. Slowly easing my way back to scary concepts like “airports,” “crowds” and “being in a building with lots of people” by using my favorite band as a carrot on a stick.
Re: (10) Martin Cruz Smith – I’ve read almost all of Smith’s works published under his own name, including his also-genre novels The Analog Bullet and Nightwing. I greatly enjoyed the two Romano Grey detective novels Cat mentions, but don’t recall Grey having any psychic powers (though he does exploit others’ beliefs in Gypsy-specific folklore). Can someone remind me where they crop up?
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