(1) On Veterans Day: “Ten Science-Fiction and Fantasy Authors Who Served in the US Armed Forces” from Suvudu.
9) Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Elizabeth Ann Scarborough was an Army nurse during the Vietnam war, an experience she has drawn upon in her fiction on occasion. She is the author of several series, including Acorna and Petaybee, but her modern fantasy novel The Healer’s War is perhaps the most autobiographical. Interviews with Scarborough aren’t easy to find online, but here’s one in which she mentions her nursing experience.
10) Gene Wolfe After serving in the Army during the Korean war, Gene Wolfe returned home and became an engineer. Writing was a hobby that he pursued in his off-hours, but his talent was apparent from the very beginning. He is the author of numerous books, but his The Books of the New Sun series revolutionized fantasy and is a classic of the Dying Earth genre. If you have a literary bucket list then this series belongs at the top. Wolfe spoke about the effect the war had on his fiction during an interview with MIT’s 12 Tomorrows: “It’s a real wake-up call. What military service does is rub off a lot of the pretense and self-deception from a person. You have to keep going, knowing that there are people over there who are trying to kill you. You’re right: they are.”
(2) N. K. Jemisin reacts to dropping the Lovecraft statuette from the World Fantasy Award in “Whew”.
That’s a sigh of relief. One less thing to feel conflicted about. One more thing I can celebrate freely, easily, and without reservation.
I’m talking about the World Fantasy Award, which will now no longer be represented by the head of H. P. Lovecraft. My feeling re the whole thing is a) ’bout time, and b) whew. Because while I have no idea if I’ll ever win a WFA myself — I’ve been nominated twice and that’s awesome — I have watched other anti-racist friends and fellow writers of color win the award. It’s impossible not to feel that visceral clench of empathy when they speak of the awkwardness of Lovecraft, of all people, as the representation of their honor. I’ve heard a number of winners talk about the ways they plan to hide or disguise or otherwise disrespect their own award so that they can reach a place of comfort with it. I’ve contemplated what I would do if I won, myself. (Was planning to put it on full display atop my cat’s litterbox.) I never show off my nomination pins, because I don’t feel like explaining when people ask, “Who’s that supposed to be?”
(3) Rocket Books is running a series of sf author trading cards. Here are the four most recent sf all-stars.
#SciFiSunday Check back every Sunday for a new Legend of #ScienceFiction. RocketUp! #fantasy #scifi #books 05 pic.twitter.com/sYuGLFKHzt
— RocketBooks (@RocketBooksInc) October 31, 2015
Due to overwhelming demand, we now present the following in the Legends of #ScienceFiction series. 01 pic.twitter.com/s647NY11mS
— RocketBooks (@RocketBooksInc) October 31, 2015
#SciFiSunday Check back every Sunday for a new Legend of #ScienceFiction. RocketUp! #fantasy #scifi #books 07 pic.twitter.com/U8JgWB1UPQ
— RocketBooks (@RocketBooksInc) November 7, 2015
#SciFiSunday Check back every Sunday for a new Legend of #ScienceFiction. RocketUp! #fantasy #scifi #books 02 pic.twitter.com/scRWgxd33s
— RocketBooks (@RocketBooksInc) November 11, 2015
(4) Entertainment Weekly had Harrison Ford recreate his classic pose as one of four new covers for their upcoming Star Wars special issue.
(5) Worldcon organizer Ben Yalow is quoted in the New York Times story “F.C.C. Sides With Hot Spots, and Hospitality Industry Feels a Chill”:
…Since many convention centers outsource functions like their network management, it can be harder for planners to haggle down the price of Internet access, but the arrangement spares the center from having to finance technological upgrades and might provide it with a commission as well….
“Basically, you’re looking at six figures or more to wire up the place, and every couple of years you’ll probably want to do another low six-figure upgrade,” said Ben Yalow, a recently retired information technology professional with experience setting up and configuring networks in hotels and convention centers….
Hospitality industry experts predicted that the F.C.C.’s recent actions would force event facilities to become more competitive in their pricing, so as not to lose out entirely on the Internet revenue stream….
“I think the long-term solution is going to be that convention centers and hotels drop their prices down to someplace reasonable,” Mr. Yalow said. “They’re not going to make money off this the way they used to.”
(6) “A member of Britain’s Parliament feuds with store over ‘Star Wars’ shoes”.
A member of Britain’s Parliament has been nicknamed “Shoebacca” after using House of Commons letterhead to complain about missing out on Star Wars shoes.
Angela Rayner, 35, a Labor party member who represents Ashton-under-Lyne, used notepaper with House of Commons letterhead to write a letter of complaint to the Irregular Choice shop after the store sold out of Dan Sullivan-designed Star Wars shoes that featured R2-D2 figures as the high heels.
(7) David Gerrold responded to the latest news about accessibility and harassment policies on Facebook. This excerpt is what he said about accessibility.
For the past two or three years, when I have been invited to conventions, I have requested that panels be made up of qualified individuals of all genders. While sometimes it happens that a panel ends up as all-male or all-female (as a function of subject matter), con programmers should make every effort to be inclusive.
In the future, I will be expanding that request to include ramps and other appropriate accessibility requirements for disabled participants. Larger conventions should consider having a sign-language interpreter for deaf attendees.
I have to make it a request, not a requirement — because some conventions might not have the resources. A convention survives on its attendance. Small cons can’t always afford these things. The rule of thumb is to spend the money where it will serve the most people….
A convention is supposed to be a gathering of the community, a place where we share our love of the genre and go home inspired. We don’t want our friends in fandom going home unhappy. The unwritten rule in fandom has always been that everybody is welcome, everybody is included — but it’s not enough to have that as an ideal, we have to demonstrate it by accessibility and inclusion.
(8) On Veterans Day, Cedar Sanderson recommended reading Tom Kratman’s columns for EveryJoe.com based on Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.
Here are the links to Kratman’s “Service Guarantees Citizenship (Part I)” and “Service Guarantees Citizenship (Part II)”.
We’ve been discussing the system put forth in naval officer and science fiction author Robert Heinlein’s book, Starship Troopers. For some background see last week’s column. For more background, read the book and spurn the wretched movie.
*****
So why are we – those of us who are in favor – even concerned with radically changing the system that has, and for the most part well enough, seen us through over two centuries? It’s simple: We think that system’s time has run, that we are not the people we were and that our ruling class is no longer worthy. Indeed, it’s not even trustworthy, let alone generally worthy. We observe that our political and economic fate has fallen into the hands of the denationalized rich, who frankly don’t care a fig for us. We see that where once we were an “ask what you can do for your country” people, we are increasingly indistinguishable from the worst third-world kleptocratic and nepotistic hellholes. We see the PC fascisti replacing us with unassimilable foreigners, often enough from cultures that are not just incompatible, but which actively hate us. We see that we are fracturing in ways that are arguably worse than anything we’ve ever seen before, worse even than before and during the Civil War. Yankees and Rebs used to, at least, mostly speak the same language. Our language today, as spoken by left and right from north and south, may sound the same but the words and concepts have changed meanings.
In short, we think that we either, in Brecht’s words, elect a new people, as our denationalized and corrupt rulers seem to be trying to do via immigration, or we fall hard – so hard we’ll never stand again.
(9) Adam-Troy Castro quizzed his Facebook readers:
Unanswered question, from a thread: what if the World Military Fiction Award were a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest? Would you consider a black novelist childish for questioning the appropriateness of that choice, or the award committee too PC for considering that maybe he had a point?
(10) Today In History
- November 11, 1982 — The space shuttle Columbia blasted off on the first commercial space mission.
(11) Today’s Birthday Boy
- Born November 11, 1922 — Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
(12) David Kilman at Amazing Stories devotes the November installment of Scide Splitters to “1941 Retro Hugo Eligible Novellas”.
Two of the three novellas I will be exploring today are ones that I read at an early age, albeit in modified form as they were incorporated into The Incomplete Enchanter. My reviews here, however, are of the stories as they appeared in their original form published in Unknown Fantasy Fiction. Even though all three were advertised as novels when first published, I have confirmed that all three are of novella length (17,500 to 40,000 words).
(13) Litigation Comics from The Line it is Drawn #265 – “One Moment Later” on Famous Comic Book Covers at Comic Book Resources.
(14) Nerds of a Feather hosted a roundtable discussion on Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni Rising between Joe Sherry, Rob Bedford, Paul Weimer, Jonah Sutton-Morse and Fred Kiesche. Here’s a sample:
Joe Sherry: Two things stand out for me. One: How quickly Kurtz gets into the action of the story and how tight the timeline is here. Everything that happens is so immediate, but it feels appropriate with the political risk of Kelson being able to hold on to a crown he is barely prepared to accept because he is only about to hit his legal majority all the while he is about to face a challenge from an external threat with an internal agent. I’m not sure that stuff really gets old when it’s written so smoothly. Two: This may be colored by how I feel about some of the later novels, but what I like is the minutiae, the details of how things work behind the scenes – the Council sessions, the rituals of the church, the tidbits on Deryni history.
(15) Larry Correia, in “The 2015 Still Not a Real Writer Book Tour Recap” at Monster Hunter Nation, shows how to make the jump from Sad Puppy to Bestselling Underdog.
One stop was at Powell’s in Beaverton. It is a great store, and I had a great time with a good crowd. But I saw later on Twitter somebody had apparently seen me there, and taken to Twitter to talk about my pathetic showing, and how nobody was there at the lamest book signing ever, and hashtag something about how I was the saddest puppy of all.
That struck me as odd, since we had over forty people show up, which by most author’s reckonings is great, and we filled the signing area to the side. But then I realized what he’d probably seen (mistakenly thinking that a Puppy Kicker was honest and not just lying about me on Twitter, silly me). I’d gotten there almost an hour early, and had killed time just hanging out in the audience with the seven or eight people who’d shown up really early too. I figured that was what he’d seen, because by seven o’clock we had filled the chairs, and more people kept coming in the whole time. So being my usual diplomatic self, I responded and told him that the “big hand goes on the seven, doofus”. Luckily, some of the fans had taken pictures of the crowd too, and since you guys are so super helpful, you posted the photographic evidence to the dude.
Now, a smart person would say, whoops, my bad. But not a Puppy Kicker. They have that whole narrative about how anybody who disagrees with TRUFAN is irreparably damaging their career, so of course he doubled down. Oh no. He was there at 7:05! And he saw my 40! And that was still horrible garbage failure of suck, because that bookstore ROUTINELY gets 500(!) people at a book signing…
This of course came as a surprise to the people who work there, and my more famous author friends who sell ten times as many books as I do, who only got around 200 there. Basically, you can count the number of mega superstar authors who routinely get five hundred people at a book signing on your hands, and have fingers left over. Puppy kickers are harsh, man. I think the average book signing in America is like five to seven people.
But I don’t make the rules. Five hundred it is! Anything less is shameful garbage.
(16) Max Florschutz tells his own strategy for “Dealing with Detractors” at Unusual Things.
You ignore them.
For the most part. But seriously, this is usually the best solution. Because if you try to do battle with them, be they trolls or individuals/groups in power, you’re basically throwing gas on a flame. It’ll ignite, and sometimes that can catch you on fire as well. If nothing else, a detractor will try their hardest to make sure that if they’re going down, they’re going to take you with them, any way you can.
Now, some detractors can take things to the point where you need to confront them in some way or another. But you know what?
Let them ruin themselves.
You see, the thing about these detractors is that they’re toxic individuals to one degree or another. And one way or another, unless they change, they’ll end up poisoning whatever atmosphere they’re involved in. Eventually, people catch on. It might take years, but eventually, one way or another, time has a way of catching up with those who’ve made their hobby tearing down everyone else and eating away at their own pyramid. And as long as you haven’t let them catch you in their claws, they probably won’t take you with them when they fall. Ignore them, work with those critics and individuals who are concerned with making your work the best it can be, and detractors will remove themselves from the creative pool; exercising a form of social Darwinism.
(17) Mike McMahan has written an ST:TNG parody, Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season.
The official parody guide to the unaired eighth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, based on the popular @TNG_S8 Twitter account from creator Mike McMahan!In the basement of the Star Trek archives, behind shelves of U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D models, bags of wigs, and bins of plastic phasers, sits a dusty cardboard box. Inside is a pile of VHS tapes that contain never-before-seen episodes and behind-the-scenes footage for something truly amazing. The world thinks there are only seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but there’s one more. A secret season.
The @TNG_S8 book is out next week! @pleaseprint wrote the funny funny! I drew the pretty pretty! You'll love it! pic.twitter.com/mkLNC3xq0c
— Jason Ho (@jasonhohoho) October 6, 2015
(18) Marvel’s Jessica Jones – Official Trailer #2, coming on Netflix. Suvudu gives a detailed rundown.
[Thanks to Ryan H., JJ, Daniel Dern, The G., and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Anna Nimmhaus.]
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Re: Rev. Bob and others
Although it may be both wise and kind to avoid the expression “call a spade a spade” in modern American society, its origins have absolutely nothing to do with racial slang and everything to do with digging implements. To quote Wikipedia (out of laziness):
Just the Grimnoir Chronicles (Hard Magic, Spellbound, and Warbound) because Warbound was a Hugo nominee last year. I thought they were airport books; competently written & enjoyable enough for what they were but not the sort of thing I would nominate for the Hugo awards.
I use ellipses, parables, hyperbole and circular arguments – basically ALL the conic sections…
Have this internet that I can’t use because it’s 1707 and we haven’t gotten to electricity yet.
Soon Lee –
I’m on the flip side, I’ve read all the MHI books but none of the Grimnoir Chronicles yet. They’re goofy fun books equivalent of B-movies, and as someone who loves B-movies I don’t mean that as a slight. He does action scenes real well in terms of making it clear what’s going on even when anime-level action is breaking loose. I’ve read other books where I wish the author had as good of a sense about action scenes as Correia. I’ve got Son of the Black Sword out from the library at the moment and look forward to reading it.
His blog writing and Puppy nonsense makes me wonder how he ever manages to write books with his head crammed into such a narrow dark area though.
I learned many years ago not to judge a book by its author.
When I was a kid, I was at a party at Poul Anderson’s house, and another author, whose name I won’t mention, since it’s not really relevant, was spouting such a hateful line of tripe that conservative Poul, moderate-liberal Randall Garrett (Lord Darcy), and my very liberal step-father, Dave Thewlis, all found themselves aligned, arguing against him. Seeing those three on the same side of a political debate nearly blew my tiny mind. This unnamed author’s views were really horrid, but I never ever found a hint of anything like that in any of his works, and, while the man himself still totally creeps me out, I seriously love his books! (Which is why I’m determinedly not mentioning his name.)
So, while I haven’t read anything by LC yet, I’m not going to judge them until I do, despite what I might think of his personal behavior (which, unfortunately, is more more public than that of the author I didn’t name above).
xtifr:
How ’bout some (reasonably vague) expansion on what kind of horrid views the author in question was espousing, that could bring together such a diverse coalition?
Xtifr: I agree with Lord Melvin — what was so mind-boggling that all those chaps would be on the same side? Not political. Maybe a violation of human decency?
@LordMelvin: it was nearly forty years ago, and I was barely pubescent; I honestly don’t remember. But it’s not really relevant. What’s relevant is that even though I found this man’s views appalling, I couldn’t find a hint of them in his works, so I decided to ignore what I knew (and have mercifully managed to forget) about the man, and enjoy his excellent writing.
(And since he’s never, to the best of my knowledge, gone public with his political views, I’m not inclined to out them even if I were able.)
I’ve always thought that Larry’s description of the thing that gives everyone in the Grimnoir series their superpowers was a lot like the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Someday I’d like to ask him about that (unless someone else already has, and the answer is well known, just not to me).
I will add about this unnamed author, though: not as bad as Vox Day. I don’t think Poul would have allowed Day in his house. Poul may have been conservative, but he had no tolerance for racism or sexism, at least by the standards of his day.
Meredith
Alas, I watch very little TV, which somewhat stymies my grasp of the zeitgeist; the only recollections I have of the Professionals is that people argued about which one was better looking, and the extreme improbability of a government department authorising the enthusiastic use of firearms.
What I do recall is the wave of blaxploitation movies, though that’s perhaps a slightly different issue…
robinreid: A few years later, I paired NS with Haldeman’s Forever War when I got to teach a sf course at the University ot Seattle (was hired as part time instructor after I finished my dissertation and before I moved to Texas). They hadn’t had anybody would could do an sf course for quite a while, and it was a fantastic opportunity for me. (My clearest memory of the course alas was a young man demanding, indignantly, on the course evaluation: “What do women have to do with sf anyhow?” especially with regard to THAT BOOK which clearly truly wasn’t sf despite you know winning the Nebula!).
I’m sorry, but I totally got lost here. Who or what is “NS”?
@JJ: Just a guess, but I’d suspect that “NS” refers to Scarborough’s Nothing Sacred. Although it was The Healer’s War rather than Nothing Sacred that won the Nebula, so I’m a little lost too.
Argh. Sorry. Yes I meant to saybinpaired Healer’s War with Forever War. Brain fart!
I’m happy to say he led a long and happy life, and died of a massive heart attack he probably didn’t even notice at eighty plus, while sitting down to rest after a morning of playing with his beloved grandson on the seaside.
@Stevie
Well, even if you’d been watching it you wouldn’t have seen that episode – I think it was only shown in more recent reruns here, although it was shown abroad at the time. Bit too controversial (it was one of the main characters that was using the word, you see – although he’s “cured” by the end). At any rate, the slang term in question made it to Britain quite some time ago. 🙂
Indeed — in 1957, Colin McInnes published a novel called City of Spades about the black population of London (this novel is an example of a white writer trying to write on behalf of racial understanding and reconciliation in a manner that now comes off as cringeworthy, and I don’t just mean the title).
Which black population of London was he talking about? The sizeable black population of London that had been there since the fifteenth century? Or the earlier ones who came over with the Romans? Queen Philippa?
Mostly recent Caribbean immigrants. But yeah…
Anyone who would get upset over that is an ignorant idiot that is safe to ignore, much like the idiots stirring these “controversies”
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/3-racist-incidents-that-werent-actually-racist/
(I linked for #2 and #3, never heard of #1.)
@Darren Garrison–
Sorry, no. “Spade” used in reference to people rather than garden implements has an extensive history of meaning the N-word. No way to clean up that particular usage. Whereas the instances cited in the Cracked.com piece, at least #2 and #3_ really are instances of mistaking words that sound similar but have substantially different meanings.
@Darren:
It depends… it actually is a good idea to avoid words that accidentally wind up sounding racist just by coincidence, like “niggardly”. English has more than enough vocabulary and can afford to lose a few words. No point in getting paranoid searching for possible far-fetched sources of offence, but if a person of color says a particular word strikes them unpleasantly, fine, there are alternatives.
I think the “call a spade a spade really means” thesis is a little more complicated than that. It’s interesting that “this goes back to the Classics,” yes. But there’s a one-sided assumption built into the claim that anyone who gets upset at it is an idiot who should be ignored, and it’s an unwarranted one. It only takes a minute’s thought to see it.
The assumption is that the only people who would mistake the meaning of the phrase are the people who find it offensive – i.e. mostly black people – and that everyone using the phrase must know and intend the Classical meaning. But there’s no basis for this assumption at all. It’s entirely reasonable to think that some people using the phrase think it refers to race, or playing cards (my own assumption for many years). If everyone really knew and attended to the meaning of the phrases they used, nobody would ever say “tough road to hoe.” But people say that all the time now.
In this specific case, the phrase “call a spade a spade” makes enormous sense as a racist’s injunction, since if you’re a racist you see yourself as a bold truth-teller puncturing “politically correct” myths. The odds that some people using the idiom intend the racial meaning approaches 1. At this point, the ungenerous person might think the real “idiot that is safe to ignore” would be anybody blind to the social context in which words are used when they are used. But I don’t think calling people idiots like that is productive.
I Included the bit about “kind and wise” very very deliberately. Etymology is not God.
It is kind and wise to assume that someone using the expression “call a spade a spade” does not intend it in a racial sense. It is also kind and wise to avoid using the expression in contexts where it is likely to be interpreted in a racial sense. This isn’t hard.
I have no intention of dumbing down my vocabulary just because some of my words might offend the ignorant. I’m reminded of a quote by kindly old Harlin Ellison–“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”
I don’t care if the ignorant are wrongfully offended by my words, I only care about the opinions of those who bother to educate themselves.
BTW, hope none of you ever mention Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance”, because we all know what a “spook” is, don’t we?
Fellow filers, I give you one of the greatest parody videos ever created:
I would try to refrain from using the idiom in question to refer to a person, I think, but if used for something else I don’t think I’d raise an eyebrow at it.
Slightly tangential, but it can be annoying when the language and discourse of not-USA nations is policed by USA-standards just because it’s on the internet and USA people might see it (especially when to conform to USA standards would require distorting things in ways that would be locally confusing, inappropriate, or even offensive), but that’s a bit different from the specifics of this conversation.
(To use an examply unlikely to be contentious:) It was more funny than anything, but once there was a drama in the Harry Potter fandom because an American (or possibly more than one? I don’t remember) got dreadfully upset that people were referring to Dean Thomas as black and insisted he should be referred to as African-American.
And vice-versa. I’m sure Brits have quite a different mental image of a “fanny pack” than Americans, for example.
@Darren Garrison: You seem confident that if you just say the same thing over and over again, a little more disdainfully each time, something will happen. The source of this confidence seems obscure to me.
Meanwhile, I’m intrigued that the root of “ignorant” is the same as “ignore.” I would certainly agree there are things we shouldn’t ignore.
@Meredith
A possibly apocryphal example, I’ve heard it said that after the British 400m relay team won gold in the 1991 World Championship an American reporter was interviewing Kriss Akabusi resulting in the following:
“So, Kriss, what does this mean to you as an African-American?”
“I’m not American, I’m British”
“Yes, but as a British African-American …”
“I’m not African. I’m not American. I’m British.”
From what I remember of Kriss that does sound plausible.
There have been more than one example (like this one, but also in major newspapers) of Nelson Mandela being described as “the first African-American president of South Africa”.
Darren: I’ve long held that my #1 priority is to accurately communicate what I intend to my intended audience. Because of this, one of the things I aim for is avoiding often-misunderstood terms (styles, etc.) in favor of ones I have reason to expect my audience will get. I don’t find that this costs me anything in sophistication and other literary merits, and I do find that it saves me a ton of irritation and time wasted in clarifications and such. It seems to me to follow naturally from respect for myself and my audience.
I used to run a guild in World of Warcraft (I sort of still do but the changes to raids an expansion or so back were killer on us and we’re strictly super casual now – no running required), on the European servers. Due to most of our members not being from the UK most of them also, naturally, didn’t speak English as a first language. While they were almost all very fluent (we had a couple of Russians whose English was quite poor, but their English was still better than everyone else’s Russian) they also often didn’t quite have the vocabulary, grammar, or grasp of colloquialism that most of our UK members had and so when Official Guild Documents were released they were deliberately written to be accessible to the European majority (and to three of our UK people who were still mid-teens at the time), because otherwise what would be the point? I don’t need to show off my vocabulary all the time. I wouldn’t call that dumbing down, but I would call it writing for my audience.
Re: fanny pack
It doesn’t quite work the same way the other way around, because it’s a lot more difficult to remain ignorant of USAmerican culture from the outside. (Insert rant about cultural imperialism here.) That being said, fanny pack is an endless source of amusement for all Brits who come across the term. Mind you, bum bag is pretty funny all by itself.
There have also been reports of auto-replace software leading to the statement that a business was “in the African-American.” Similarly, an Indonesian newspaper had an article about rapper 50 Cent, and some well-meaning person or program converted his handle into the local currency.
So, yes, some of those mistakes are clueless–like IanP’s description of the interview with the Black British athlete–but computers give us whole new ways to make such errors. There might well be a subroutine in there that changes “first black $noun” to “first African-American $noun” without case-by-case human intervention.
(Back here in 107, Africa is where the grain comes from, but nobody is sure what the big deal is about “presidents”.)
FANTASY MOVIE BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one is the best fantasy movie?
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Troll Hunter (2010)
King Kong (1933)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Pleasantville (1998)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Hellboy (2004)
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
The Chronicles of Narnia – Series (2005 – 2010)
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
Green Rider, Kristen Britain
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Troll Hunter (2010)
Tough call, but voting against the classic here.
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Not vote for Ghibli?! (though am still pretending the Earthsea movie doesn’t exist).
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
Avoiding the obvious comment.
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
First I was going to go for the more pure fun, but paused. A little drama is nice too
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
Hated the end of NS but it was perfect till then. The Narnia films lacked heart imo.
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasy film?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
Green Rider, Kristen Britain
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I’d like to pre-order some forehead cloths please – it’s gonna be ncessary.
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Pleasantville (1998)
Ouch. Seriously? Ouuuuch.
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
Because Queen.
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Other Mother was creepy as all hell.
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Hellboy (2004)
Fisher King (1991)
Because Ron Perlman.
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
Because it would have been *awesome*
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
King Kong (1933)
Narrow win for the classic
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
So unfair. Both deserve to progress
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
FANTASY MOVIE BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one is the best fantasy movie?
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. WILLING THIEVES
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Troll Hunter (2010)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
Ouch!
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells
I hadn’t heard of the second one
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Frozen
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Pleasantville (1998)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
God Stalk
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
Green Rider, Kristen Britain
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I thought this was going to be more painful than it was. Then again, I may look at these votes again tomorrow and wonder what I was thinking.
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
King Kong (1933)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Abstain
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
Incidentally, Kratman is pretty much the worst choice in the world for writing on Veteran’s Day. See his article here, in which he argues that if our soldiers don’t lighten their loads (you know, by ditching their first aid kits and body armor and etc) that we will cease to exist as a nation. For some reason, people who actually served in Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t seem too keen on his thoughts. He appears to have decided this is because they’re cowards (note the plain implication that troops like their body armor because it slows them down and prevents them from catching up to their enemies).
Definitely a man I’d recommend reading on the day we’re supposed to be honoring our veterans.
I’m going to assume that coting protocol is the usual – pick one, tie or abstain.
FANTASY MOVIE BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one is the best fantasy movie?
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
Wow! Those dice are eeeeevil. As fun and great as Harry was, the Seal is iconic, ground-breaking, and had a huge impact that echoes to this day. It’ll be interesting to see how the voting goes. It wouldn’t break my heart if Harry won, but I would be disappointed.
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
I’ve never seen the Thief and don’t feel strongly enough about Edward to vote blind.
Abstain
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Troll Hunter (2010)
King Kong (1933)
I *do* feel strongly enough about the giant gorilla to vote for it, even though I haven’t seen the Troll.
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Pleasantville (1998)
Abstain
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
Tie Can’t choose between Sean Connery and Dick Van Dyke for some reason, weird. Notice the ’68 and ’86 juxtaposition. Coincidence? You decide.
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
I never saw Coraline, but heard a ton about it. I thought Roger was brilliant. Another cruel match-up engineered by the dice. I can’t choose because I don’t have enough info.
Abstain
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Hellboy (2004)
Fisher King (1991)
Abstain Never watched either film.
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
The Chronicles of Narnia – Series (2005 – 2010)
Neverending Story (1984)
Abstain Seen neither.
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
This is NOT FAIR!!!! Hampus, I don’t think we can be friends anymore!!! How could you put the best two against each other in the first round! GAHHHHHHH. If done well, both of these could be visually stunning with fascinating plots and characters. This is like choosing between two of my own children. I’m literally flipping a coin, and…
The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
PS: If voting a tie is allowed, that would be my first choice.
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
Green Rider, Kristen Britain
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Had this been going up against Prisoner of Azkaban alone, it would have been a closer contest. But since half of the Harry Potter movies are terrible and they completely misunderstood the ending, there’s really no question for me here.
2. WILLING THIEVES
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Had it been going up against the silent version of Thief of Baghdad, closer contest.
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Abstain. Haven’t seen Troll Hunter.
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Pleasantville deserved to go further than the first round, but Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies of all time.
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
I guess. It was the more memorable of the two, anyway.
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Would have been a closer contest if the movie version of Coraline didn’t add a completely unnecessary character for irritating reasons.
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
It’s the much better movie of the two.
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
The Chronicles of Narnia – Series (2005 – 2010)
The Narnia movies weren’t great. They were still better than the appalling abomination that was the gutted, lame film version of the Neverending Story.
BONUS BRACKET
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
And on preview, I will follow Iphinome’s lead, and in place of my abstention in pairing 3, I will throw in a vote for:
Frozen
Roses are Red
Elsa wears blue
All of my Internets
are belong to you.
FANTASY MOVIE BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one is the best fantasy movie?
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. WILLING THIEVES
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
King Kong (1933)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Pleasantville (1998)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Hellboy (2004)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
Neverending Story (1984)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells
(especially because we have the CGI to make the Raksura come to life)
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
(tough: but Monette’s first series is dark and rich and wonderful)
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
Because Tekumel
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
King Kong (1933)
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Fisher King (1991)
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
The Chronicles of Narnia – Series (2005 – 2010)
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
FANTASY MOVIE BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
My movie watching is a lot more erratic than my reading…
1. CHEATING DEATH NEEDS A MOTHERS LOVE
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Harry Potter – Series (2001 – 2011)
Seventh Seal (which I’ve never seen completely) for the trope generation, and you konw, good direction and acting and stuff
There are individual Harry Potter movies that might have made the cut, but the series as a whole? Meh.
2. WILLING THIEVES
The Thief of Baghdad (1940)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Never seen more than snippets (sorry) of either PASS
3. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HANDLING OF GIANT CREATURES
Troll Hunter (2010)
King Kong (1933)
Haven’t seen Troll Hunter PASS
4. THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Spirited Away (2001)
Pleasantville (1998)
Pleasantville is nicely done and has some interesting ideas and images, but Spirited Away has sensawunda(TM) out the wazoo. Miyazaki for the win
5. CANDY FLUTE FOR THE CHILDREN, SKIN FLUTE FOR CANDY
Highlander (1986)
Chitty Chitty bang Bang (1968)
Highlander
6. THE OTHER MOTHER NEEDS MORE DIP
Coraline (2009)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Coraline adaptation betrayed the original with a boy to do the rescuing.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit WINS with a few rounds of The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
7. YOU MAY HAVE A BAD DAY, BUT DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE
Hellboy (2004)
Fisher King (1991)
Haven’t seen Fisher King PASS
8. CHILDREN WITH FLUFFY FRIENDS
The Chronicles of Narnia – Series (2005 – 2010)
Neverending Story (1984)
PASS
BONUS BRACKET – FIRST HEAT
Which one would make the better fantasyfilm?
Special rules: Vote even if haven’t read both contestants. Winner with fewer votes than two will be removed from bracket.
1. BEWARE SUPERSTITOUS HUMANS
The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
Godstalk, (because Jim Henson is dead, and Miyazaki shut down his studio , and I’m not sure even he could do a good job of Cloud Roads)
2. MAGIC AND EVIL DARK FORCES
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman
Green Rider, Kristen Britain
Books of Magic
3. WIZARDS VS DRAGONS
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley
The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, Sarah Monette
Doctrine of the Labyrinths, by the BBC
4. WORLDBUILDING OR WORLDBELIEVING
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Man of Gold, M.A.R. Barker
Good Omens, and make sure they play up the slapstick
nanowrimo 28338 words in 13 days. I need to stick some plot-pitons out ahead of the line of advance: I’m caught up to the existing ones and the next big milepost is too far away, and too big to need writing down