(1) SUNSET ON DARKOVER. Deborah J. Ross told Facebook readers yesterday her novel Arilinn, released in November, concludes the Darkover series.

Farewell and Adelandeyo, Darkover

I fell in love with the Darkover series, created by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, when becoming a professional author was still my dream. I loved the world, the characters, and the insightful and compassionate treatment of themes. Many of my early short fiction sales were to the Darkover anthology series, which I eventually had the honor of continuing as editor, beginning with Stars of Darkover. Around 1999, Mrs. Bradley asked if I would consider collaborating with her on one or more Darkover novels. She passed away just as we began work on The Fall of Neskaya (DAW, 2000), which I completed. Since then, I have written eight more Darkover novels under the supervision of her Literary Works Trust. The final volume, Arilinn, was released in hardcover and ebook formats on November 12, 2024.

Darkover is one of the longest-running and best-loved series, straddling the border between science fiction, romance, and fantasy. For decades, it has touched the hearts and fired the imaginations of generations of fans. The earliest published stories date back over half a century to the publication of The Planet Savers in Amazing magazine, then the first version of The Sword of Aldones in 1962 and The Bloody Sun in 1964. You can find the list, both in order of publication and Darkover chronology, here.

For the last quarter-century, I have striven to tell the best stories I could, always staying true to the spirit of Darkover and its amazing people. Now the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust and I have agreed to bring the saga to a close with Arilinn, a heartfelt love letter and farewell to the series and its fans. I hope that if you have enjoyed my Darkover stories, you will check out my original work.

(2) MORE KUDOS. The Wild Robot won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score: “African American Film Critics Association 2024 Winners List” at Deadline. The winner for Best Picture, while not sff, is based on a book by a writer well-known to fans:

The African American Film Critics Association on Friday said that it has selected Orion Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios’ Nickel Boys as its Best Picture of 2024 to lead the 16th annual AAFCA Awards. Its writer-director RaMell Ross also won Best Director for his work adapting Colson Whitehead’s novel….

(3) COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD NOMINATIONS. The 2025 Costume Designers Guild Awards include two categories devoted to sff, below. (However, there are also works of genre interest in some of the other categories.)

Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film

• Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice; Colleen Atwood, CDG
• Borderlands; Daniel Orlandi, CDG
• Dune: Part Two; Jacqueline West, CDG
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Jenny Beavan, CDG
• Wicked; Paul Tazewell, CDG

Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television

• Agatha All Along; “If I Can’t Reach You/Let My Song Teach You”; Daniel Selon, CDG
• Dune: Prophecy; “The Hidden Hand”; Bojana Nikitovic
• Fallout; “The Target”; Amy Westcott, CDG
• House of the Dragon; “The Red Dragon and the Gold”; Caroline McCall
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; “Doomed to Die”; Luca Mosca, CDG & Katherine Burchill & Libby Dempster

(4) SALUTE TO FAMOUS AUSTRALIAN COMPOSER. “Doctor Who theme added to national sound archive” – The Register explains why.

The theme music to iconic British sci-fi TV show Doctor Who has been immortalized by Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive.

Wait? What? Why is music from the UK’s most substantial contribution to broadcast sci-fi worthy of inclusion in an Australian archive?

Because, as explained by the Archive (NFSA), it was written by an Aussie.

“While the theme for the long-running BBC series, with its otherworldly pulsing bassline, was recorded by English musician Delia Derbyshire, it was written by Australian composer Ron Grainer,” the NFSA explained, before going on to remind us all that the theme is thought to have been the first piece of electronic music used as a TV theme – and remains in use to this day, albeit modernized….

(5) JEOPARDY! ON FRIDAY THE 13TH. [Item by David Goldfarb.] Final Jeopardy in today’s episode had the category “Authors”. Here was the clue:

Following his unexpected death in 2001, he was referred to as the “Monty Python of science fiction”.

Challenger Carla Winston responded “Who is Terry Pratchett?” — but she crossed that out and scribbled in “Adams” underneath. A good choice! 

Challenger Ram Murali tried ‘Who is Isaac Asimov?” which, of course, was not correct.

Returning champion Ashley Chan said “Who is Frank Herbert?” which feels like a desperation move; Herbert certainly wasn’t known for comedy. But she made only a small wager, and since Carla had not doubled up, she kept the lead she had had going into the final.

(6) LOST TO WAR. Publishers Weekly assesses the damage in “War Leaves Scars on Lebanese Publishing”.

On November 27, 2024, a fragile ceasefire took effect in Lebanon following two months of intense Israeli bombardment mostly in southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburb. Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah’s party headquarters is located, is composed of multiple neighborhoods with varied social, economic, and urban histories, and is also home to numerous warehouses, printers, and bookbinders on which the Lebanese book industry relies.

On the evening of October 20, Mohamed Hadi, of Dar al Rafidain publishing house, saw one of his five branches destroyed. The second floor of the building in Dahiyeh housed his bookstore and publishing house offices where management, editing, layout, accounting, and marketing were centralized. “We must rebuild all our work and archives, and our employees are scattered throughout Lebanon without homes,” Mohamed Hadi said.

A few weeks earlier, on September 28, Jihad Baydoun of Dar al Kotob al Ilmiyah, saw his 7,500-square-meter (80,729.3 sq-ft.) warehouse spanning two underground floors destroyed by an airstrike. The warehouse lies buried under four collapsed buildings. Of his 7,500 titles, Jihad Baydoun lost stock of 1,500 titles in all — or an estimated 2,520,000 bound books….

(7) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

December 13, 1985 — Clue

On this date thirty-nine years ago, Clue premiered. It was directed by Jonathan Lynn from his screenplay. The story was based off the Clue game created in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt, which is called Cluedo or Murder at Tudor Close in Britain.

It was produced by Debra Hill, best known for producing various works of John Carpenter.  

It had a stellar cast of Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull. Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp and Eileen Brennan.  

Tim Curry played The Butler. And what a role what was for him. Possibly his best role.  Though his Cardinal Richelieu in The Four Musketeers is magnificent as well. 

Speaking of endings, if for no other reason to watch it, a fourth ending of it was filmed but exists only in the vaults of Paramount.  So, it says the documentary recreates the fourth ending through animation and narration from the Clue storybook. I’ve not seen it yet but definitely want to see how they did this. I can say this much without giving anything away — let me quote director Lynn in a Dark Horizons interview: “It wasn’t funny enough, it wasn’t surprising enough. It ended the film on an anti-climax. So I just took it out. Three was enough.”

The mansion which was supposed to in Connecticut never existed. It, like so many such places, exists only in the imagination. It was stitched together out of exterior shots and film stages as it is documented lovingly here. 

Critics did not like it, with both Siskel and Ebert harshly dissing it. They particularly hated the three alternative endings. No idea why, I myself am fond of them. 

It didn’t break even at the Box Office despite costing only fifteen million to make, losing a half million dollars. 

It was novelized as Clue The Novel, written by Michael McDowell who would write the Beettlejuice screenplay which was nominated for a Hugo at Noreascon 3. And yes it has all four endings. I’d love to heard a full cast audiobook version! 

It however has a stellar rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes of eighty-six percent. Clue is currently airing on Paramount+. You can purchase it at Amazon and iTunes for six dollars right now. 

I think an excellent film to watch any time of year. 

We will not speak of the rumors that a new version is the works. No we won’t. Even The Butler won’t. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• Eek! tries jobhunting.
• Frank and Ernest attempts the fast track.
• Loose Parts visits a medical specialist.
• Rubes cross-examines a giant.
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal introduces a robotic bestseller.

(9) A PLAY STATION AT THE AIRPORT. “Gaming meets travel: JFK Terminal 8 debuts Gameway lounge in time for holiday travelers” – QNS spotlights the opening.

Holiday travel just leveled up at JFK Airport.

Travelers passing through John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 8 can now enjoy a cutting-edge gaming experience starting on Monday, Dec. 16, as Gameway opens its first New York location.

The Gameway Ultra lounge, part of a $125 million investment in Terminal 8 by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and American Airlines, is designed to elevate the airport experience.

The new modern space will feature luxury console and PC gaming stations alongside the RetroZone® bar, where travelers can relax with craft beers and classic video games….

… The Gameway Ultra lounge will offer nine individual gaming stations, each equipped with a PlayStation or Xbox console, a 43″ 4K TV, premium gaming headphones, charging ports, and luggage space. The lounge also includes eight high-performance gaming PCs paired with Corbeau gaming chairs and high-speed internet.

Open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., 365 days a year, the lounge ensures travelers can enjoy its amenities regardless of their schedules. Operating hours may adjust slightly during seasonal holidays or based on flight times. Pricing starts at $17.99 for up to 30 minutes of play, $27.99 for up to an hour, and $45.99 for unlimited sessions. A 10% military discount is also available….

(10) THE WRITER’S OBJECTIVE. To me this sounded spot on.

Seems there are a bunch of writers who think differently.

(11) REVERSE THE CHARGES. “Fortnite Players Get Millions in Refunds for Unwanted Purchases” – the New York Times has the story. (Behind a paywall.)

Fortnite players who were charged for unwanted purchases in the game where cartoony characters battle on a virtual island are starting to receive what could be $245 million in refunds from Epic Games for what the federal government called manipulative online practices.

Denver Wills, a 20-year-old college student near Anniston, Ala., who has been playing Fortnite since middle school, said that a friend had received $350 and that he hoped to get a similar amount. It would help him cover the costs of building a new computer.

“Any money’s good money at this point,” said Wills, who is waiting for his check in the mail.

Fortnite’s in-game currency, V-Bucks, can be spent on cosmetics, weapons and outfits — known as skins — that enable players to make their avatars look like celebrities and fictional characters. To appear as John Wick, a player must spend about $19; the rapper Juice WRLD, who died in 2019, is about $14. When it is not on sale, a bundle of Spider-Man outfits and paraphernalia costs almost $50….

Epic agreed in December 2022 to a $520 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that sent a strong signal that federal officials were taking a more assertive stance toward regulating the tech industry. Customers could ultimately receive $245 million for what the agency called Epic’s use of “dark patterns” to trick millions of players into unwanted purchases. Another $275 million will settle accusations that the studio violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

… Wills said that his claims form, which he filed in September 2023, asked him how many V-Bucks he had mistakenly spent in the game. “I went through my Fortnite locker and picked out the stuff I had bought on accident,” he said.

Wills said that he continued to play Fortnite after the accusations against Epic emerged, but that he was pleased it was compensating players.

“It’s pretty obvious,” he said, “that there were probably children spending their parents’ debit cards and credit cards on skins in the game because it was so easy to do that.”…

(12) DRY VENUS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Venus has probably been dry, both inside and on its surface, for all of its history according to a new research paper…

The planet has no water now, making it inhospitable to life, but is at a distance from the Sun that might allow liquid water to exist on its surface. One theory holds that Venus once had watery oceans, but that these desiccated early in the planet’s history, leaving a dry, uninhabitable world.

To investigate this scenario, Tereza Constantinou at the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues used the amounts and proportions of gases such as water and carbon dioxide in Venus’s atmosphere to model the composition of gases that trickle out of the planet’s interior during volcanic eruptions, ultimately replenishing the atmosphere. The results suggest that Venus’s interior contains relatively little hydrogen and therefore little water. The authors also found that the molten rock that erupts from Venus is much drier than the lava from similar eruptions on Earth.

If early Venus had water, it was probably in the form of steam floating above a fiery surface — not life-friendly oceans, the scientists conclude.

Primary research paper: “A dry Venusian interior constrained by atmospheric chemistry” in Nature.

And the astronomers have a half hour discussion about the work here: “Was Ancient Venus Wet or Dry?”

[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Jim Janney, David Goldfarb, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day OGH.]