(1) BRAITHWAITE RESTORES CLASSIC ARTWORK. Gracing the cover of Warp #93, the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association clubzine, is this superlative painting —
The Doctor and his Companion, by Claude Monet (oil on canvas, 1875), a painting dating from a most fertile phase of the renowned French Impressionist’s career, was recently discovered in the attic of a house in Argenteuil in which Monet lived in the 1870s. Little is known of the subjects depicted as the artist left no notes as to their identity or relationship to him. No particulars on the gentleman or lady are to be found, either, in the local historical records of the time and the odd structure beside which the gentleman is standing remains a puzzle. Civic records offer no indication that such a structure ever existed, as if this curious blue box simply appeared out of thin air, and then disappeared just as mysteriously. The title of the work gives us our only clue as to the two subjects, suggesting that the gentleman was, perhaps, a medical doctor travelling with a female relative, Fiancée, or mistress. MonSFFA’s own Keith Braithwaite worked on the restoration of the painting.
(2) BLUE PEOPLE BEWARE. Yahoo! Movies reports “’The Force Awakens’ Barreling Toward ‘Avatar’Record”.
The space opera sequel is moving up the all-time domestic box office charts at a record clip and now is poised to overtake those pointy eared blue aliens as the top grossing film in history. Avatar earned $760.5 million during its stateside run and Star Wars: The Force Awakens has generated $740.4 million domestically after picking up $88.3 million over New Year’s weekend. It should take the crown from Avatar early next week.
(3) AXANAR DECONSTRUCTED. (There’s that word again. I hope I know what it means…) John Seavey at Mightygodking has created a FAQ about the Paramount/CBS lawsuit against Axanar Productions:
Q: Then why are they being sued? Paramount allows lots of these things, don’t they?
A: Oh, yeah. “Star Trek Renegades”, “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men”, “Star Trek Continues”…basically, it seems like as long as nobody’s making any money, Paramount turns a blind eye to these fan films.
Q: But this one they wouldn’t? Why?
A: Well, there is the fact that, in an update on Axanar’s Indigogo campaign, they said, “EVERYTHING costs more when you are a professional production and not a fan film. All of this and more is explained, along with our budget of how we spent the money in the Axanar Annual Report.”
And in that latest annual budget report, they said, “First and foremost, it is important to remember that what started out as a glorified fan film is now a fully professional production. That means we do things like a studio would. And of course, that means things cost more. We don’t cut corners. We don’t ask people to work full time for no pay. And the results speak for themselves.”
And:
“Please note that we are a professional production and thus RUN like a professional production. That means our full time employees get paid. Not much honestly, but everyone has bills to pay and if you work full time for Axanar, you get paid.
Also, no other fan film has production insurance like we do. We pay $ 12,000 a year for that. Again, a professional production.”
Also, in their Indiegogo FAQ, they had this little gem:
“Q: What is Axanar Productions?
Axanar is not just an independent Star Trek film; it is the beginning of a whole new way that fans can get the content they want, by funding it themselves. Why dump hundreds or thousands of dollars a year on 400 cable channels, when what you really want is a few good sci-fi shows? Hollywood is changing. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other providers are redefining content delivery, and Axanar Productions/Ares Studios hopes to be part of that movement.”
Which kind of contradicts the “fan film” statement.
(4) WILL SMITH’S CHARACTER IS LATE. John King Tarpinian imagines the conversation went like this: “You want how much? Sorry but your character just died.” In a Yahoo! News interview, “Will Smith Says It Was Terrible When He Found Out His Independence Day Character Died”.
Will Smith found it unpleasant to learn that the fat lady had sung on Steven Hiller, the character he played in 1996’s Independence Day. “It was terrible when I found out my character died,” Smith told Yahoo.
Hiller’s death was revealed on a viral site for Independence Day: Resurgence. “While test piloting the ESD’s first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller,” the site’s timeline reads. “Hiller’s valor in the War of ’96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mothership lead directly to the enemy’s defeat. He is survived by his wife Jasmine and his son Dylan.” You can see an image of Hiller’s fiery death by clicking here.
(5) ALL KNIGHT. Admiring Fred Kiesche’s Damon Knight quote in a comment here, Damien G. Walter tweeted —
https://twitter.com/damiengwalter/status/683681839463022592
(6) HE FIGURES. Camestros Felapton forays into toy design with his new “Hugo” brand “Stage Your Own Kerfuffle” figures….
(7) JEFFRO MOVES UP. Vox Day is delegating management of the Castalia House blog to “The new sheriff in town”, Jeffro Johnson:
As Castalia House has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to balance my responsibilities as Lead Editor and as the manager of this blog. Because Castalia House shoots for excellence across the board, I have decided that it is time to step back and hand over my responsibilities for this blog to someone else.
And who is better suited to take it over than one of the very best bloggers in science fiction and gaming? I am absolutely delighted to announce that the Castalia House blogger, author of the epic Chapter N series, and 2015 Hugo nominee for Best Fan Writer, Jeffro Johnson, has agreed to accept the position of Blog Editor at Castalia House.
(8) ARISTOTLE. That leaves Vox Day more time to orchestrate his winter offensive. His first target is File 770 commenter Lis Carey.
Even I occasionally forget how fragile these psychologically decrepit specimens are. Anyhow, it’s a good reminder to ALWAYS USE RHETORIC on them. They’re vulnerable to it; they can’t take it. That’s why they resort to it even when it doesn’t make sense in the context of a discussion, because they are trying to make you feel the emotional pain that they feel whenever they are criticized.
Day is developing a Goodreads author page, and Carey mentioned yesterday she had already seen early signs of activity:
Ah, this may explain a recent comment on one of my reviews of last year’s Hugo nominees–and means maybe I can expect more.
The particular comments were on her review of Castalia House’s Riding The Red Horse.
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY
- January 3, 1841 — Herman Melville ships out on the whaler Acushnet to the South Seas.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- Born January 3, 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, honored by Emily Asher-Perrin at Tor.com:
But of course, the world remembers Tolkien for changing the fantasy genre forever. By penning The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien set a framework for fantasy literature that countless authors have attempted to recapture over the years. The creation of Middle-earth, from its languages to its poetry to its rich cultural history and varied peoples, was an astounding feat of imagination that no one had managed before with such detail and ardent care.
(11) SEMIPROZINES. Camestros Felapton continues moving through the alphabet in his “Semiprozine Round-Up: Cs and Ds”.
Keeping on going in the Cs and Ds of semiprozines.
- The Cascadia Subduction Zone
- The Colored Lens
- Crossed Genres Magazine
- Daily Science Fiction
- The Dark Magazine
- Diabolical Plots
(12) PARTS NOT TAKEN. “Leonardo DiCaprio Reflects On Turning Down Anakin Skywalker And Two SuperHero Roles” at ScienceFiction.com:
And it’s a philosophy that has led to him turning down parts in some guaranteed smashes and lots of cha-ching. He recently revealed that he actually met with George Lucas, but ultimately passed on playing Anakin Skywalker in the ‘Star Wars’ prequels.
“I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that, yes. I just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point.”
Around this time, DiCaprio instead chose to make ‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’, the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
Still he must be kicking himself. The role instead went to Hayden Christiansen and look at how his career took… oh, ahem. Nevermind.
(13) REMEMBERING BAEN. While researching another post, I rediscovered David Drake’s 2006 tribute to the late Jim Baen, who had just recently passed. Shortly before Baen’s death the two were on the phone and Baen asked, “You seem to like me. Why?” The answer is rather touching.
And then I thought further and said that when I was sure my career was tanking–
“You thought that? When was that?”
In the mid ’90s, I explained, when Military SF was going down the tubes with the downsizing of the military. But when I was at my lowest point, which was very low, I thought, “I can write two books a year. And Jim will pay me $20K apiece for them–”
“I’d have paid a lot more than that!”
And I explained that this wasn’t about reality: this was me in the irrational depths of real depression. And even when I was most depressed and most irrational, I knew in my heart that Jim Baen would pay me enough to keep me alive, because he was that sort of person. He’d done that for Keith Laumer whom he disliked, because Laumer had been an author Jim looked for when he was starting to read SF.
I could not get so crazy and depressed that I didn’t trust Jim Baen to stand by me if I needed him. I don’t know a better statement than that to sum up what was important about Jim, as a man and as a friend.
(14) PEACE IN OUR TIME. In “The Stormbunnies and Crybullies”, John C. Wright devotes over 2,000 words to making his closing offer irresistible in that special way only he knows how.
But I am a forgiving man, jovial and magnanimous. I make the following peace offer: Go your way. Cease to interfere with me and my livelihood, do your work, cease to libel me and meddle with my affairs, withhold your tongue from venom and your works from wickedness, and we shall all get along famously.
Otherwise, it is against my self interest to seek peace with you. Peace is a two sided affair: both parties must agree. So far only Mr. Martin has even expressed a desire for it.
(15) WHAT KEEPS YOU FROM WRITING? Nandini Balial at Pacific Standard helps writers name their fears — “Gremlins and Satyrs of Rejection: A Taxonomy of Writers’ Foes”
THE SATYRS OF MOUNT OUTLET: Like its cousin Olympus, Mount Outlet stretches far beyond human sight into luxurious billowy clouds. The work its satyrs produce is sharp and daring. Vast networks of bloggers, freelancers, and even reporters churn out viral but self-aware listicles, personal essays that make me cry more than they should, and short stories so good I’m inclined to simply put my pen away. On Twitter, their satyrs (editors) trade barbs and witticisms with the speed of a Gatling gun. A poor peasant like me may approach the foot of the mountain, but my tattered, unworthy scrolls and I will soon turn around and head home.
(16) PUBLISHING STINKS. Kristen Lamb, in “The Ugly Truth of Publishing & How BEST to Support Writers”, says don’t bother reviewing her books on Goodreads, because that’s where the trolls are:
Tweet a picture of our book. Put it on Facebook. People in your network ARE noticing. Peer review and approval is paramount in the digital age. And don’t support your favorite author on Goodreads as a first choice (AMAZON reviews are better). The only people hanging out on Goodreads for the most part are other writers and book trolls.
Support us on your regular Facebook page or Instagram or Twitter. Because when you post a great new book you LOVED your regular friends see that. When they get stranded in an Urgent Care or an airport? What will they remember? THAT BOOK. They won’t be on Goodreads. Trust me.
(17) DISSONANCE. After reading Kristen Lamb’s discouraging words, I encountered M. L. Brennan calling for everyone to get up and dance because “Generation V earned out and what that means”. That’s not the next post I’d have expected to see, straight from leaving Lamb’s black-crepe-draped explanation of the publishing industry.
One thing to bear in mind, because it’s easy to lose sight of it when you look at that last paragraph — if I hadn’t received an advance, I wouldn’t have made more money on this book. I would still have earned $7615.78 on the series — except earning that first $7500 would have taken me two years, rather than being entirely in my pocket on the day that Generation V hit the bookstores. And that $7500 paid my mortgage, my electric bill, and other bills, which made it substantially easier for me to write. Without that advance, it would’ve taken me longer to write Iron Night, Tainted Blood, and even Dark Ascension, because I would’ve been having to hustle other work elsewhere and spend less time writing.
(18) NONE DARE CALL IT SF. Whether Joshua Adam Anderson styles himself an sf fan I couldn’t say (though he did take a course from Professor James Gunn), but his LA Review of Books article “Toward a New Fantastic: Stop Calling It Science Fiction” is a deep dive into the abyss of genre. His attempt to define (redefine?) science fiction is precisely what fans love.
LAST JULY, Pakistani science fiction writer Usman Malik published a clarion call for his home country. In it, he made the claim that “[e]ncouraging science fiction, fantasy, and horror readership has the potential to alleviate or fix many of Pakistan’s problems.” While it would be difficult to disagree with the idea that science fiction is a positive force in the world, many of Malik’s reasons for championing the genre are problematic. To begin with, Malik — along with just about everyone else — still, for some reason, calls “science fiction” science fiction. His essay actually contains a handful of reasons why we should stop calling it “science fiction,” and it also inadvertently addresses how and why we need to liberate ourselves from genre itself — and how “science fiction” can help us do just that.
(19) PLANNING BEGINS: Paul Johnson’s early word is that the event to honor his father, the late George Clayton Johnson, might be in February at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Will R., Paul Weimer, Brian Z., and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]
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Nope, it is absolutely fair. I don’t have any real proof either. I was at a local Meetup just before Christmas when the Hugos came up and one of the people there was a shop owner. He mentioned that he’d gotten a printout of a round up (that sounded a lot like Jim C. Hines) which had the various homophobic parts highlighted and a request to not stock the authors responsible and he was going to do it. I was down in Seekers this week and the guy at the cash mentioned hearing the same thing from another store owner.
I actually had a followup post asking if anyone else in the area had heard anything about it, but I think it gotten eaten. The gay community in Toronto is large and very active, so this wouldn’t surprise me if it’s happening, but I don’t have any more information.
I don’t blame the artists for the terrible covers. Well, mostly.
There are so many ways a cover can go wrong, and lots of people involved in the process.
I think I saw a drift store in Tokyo a few years ago. I didn’t go in, though; the owner was moving pretty fast and looked furious about something.
Come to think of it, he reminded me a little of Vin Diesel.
Have people decided what drift stores are yet? Very rarel I come across a bookstore which basically has drifts of books all over the place, but they are increasingly unusual.
First Pratchett? Feet of Clay. Loved it then went back and read all of the Discworld books in order of publication date. Still like Rincewind’s adventures.
Wow, it turns out that Foss was far more prolific than I thought and I have lot of books with covers by him.
I find myself tunelessly humming let’s drift again, like we did last summer, and hoping it doesn’t happen.
ETA
Admittedly, this may be because I got sidetracked into squids in space…
And with a wave of my magic wand I make all comments disappear like so: [woosh!]
And then reappear again! [!hsoow]
My husband and I are watching Phineas and Ferb, and nowadays whenever VD comes here and posts I hear him with the voice of Dr. Doofenschmirtz. I fully expect him to someday say, “Curse you, Perry the Platypus!”
And I’d like to add my voice to all those others supporting Lis Carey.
I use a terrible and completely irrelevant cover of Suzy McKee Charnas’ Walk to the End of the World to teach my students about Orientalist imagery and Islamophobia in popular culture. I bought the book for the horrible cover and was astonished to discover groundbreaking feminism inside!
I said “Meh” to Pratchett after reading “Colour of Magic,” “Mort,” and “Good Omens.” However, I am now reading the Tiffany Aching books as bedtime stories for my kids (7 and 10), and they are thoroughly enjoying them. Last night, my daughter laughed so hard she fell off the sofa. Modesty forces me to admit that it is probably the quality of Pratchett’s prose, not Daddy’s best fake Glaswegian Nac Mac Feegle accent that did the trick.
@NickP: I remember literally shivering at Miss Tick’s board. “I can teach you a lesson you won’t forget in a hurry.” So good.
Just to add another vote for Small Gods, not just my favourite Pratchett but one of my favourite books.
@John Seavey,
Between the bouts of hysterical laughter last night, I got choked up while reading the scene in which Tiffany and Miss Level were helping the old man who couldn’t remember that his son and daughter were both dead. Miss Level’s explanation of how to live in community and the way that altruism works was also excellent–may need to see if I can slide it into a Sunday School lesson.
Re: Pratchett–My high school English/Latin teacher gave me a copy of Jingo. I’ve enjoyed Pratchett ever since even if there are a number I need to read.
Hogfather is perhaps my favorite since the central idea that values are created by no less valuable because of it* is something I think is very important.
Re: Axanar–Thanks John for coming into the comments and pointing it out. It was a really good, very persuasive summary of what is going on. It wasn’t something I was following too much since I haven’t seen The Original Series (though I’ve seen all the others). I think I may have to fix that.
*N.B. I haven’t read it in years so may be totally wrong. This happens to me sometimes.
@guthrie
You recognize them by the green neon lighting installed at the bottom of the bookshelves, and the aftermarket covers on the books (installed so you can read them faster). Unfortunately, the permeating smell of burnt rubber tends to drive me out pretty quickly every time I visit one.
Drift stores are those shores that sell sculptures made from beach glass and drift wood.
Or maybe Dreft laundry detergent.
This is a drift store:
Book shop on a boat
Drift stores are where you buy things that have inexplicably drifted here from other universes. Sadly the stores themselves also have a tendency to drift so they’re rarely in the same place twice.
Finally the day came when she took me down to the drift store. It’s there on the corner between the chipper and the place that sells bath bombs. I’d been in it a few times before to drop off my old stamp collection and a goldfish I’d grown tired of, and to see if anything caught my fancy. The smell was peculiar to say the least.
‘Had enough of him, then?’ said the woman behind the counter. I think they’re all volunteers there, retired pensioners or housewives whose children have started school. Men or boys would seem out of place for some reason.
‘Yes,’ she said, and made as if to say something more, but stopped and shrugged and walked out. She glanced back once but her eyes slid over me to briefly study a pile of jigsaws and games.
‘Sitting or standing, dearie?’ said the woman, kindly.
‘Sitting,’ I said. My legs get sore from standing too long. Another point against me, I know, along with my moody silences and inability to dry the dishes properly. Also, I get snappy when I’m asked questions while watching television.
She sat me down at the end of a row of people, men and women, all silent and still. Their eyes were open, but they barely moved, studying the floor or the ceiling or the pile of jigsaws and games. Beside me was a woman, the same age as me. She wore a dressing gown with pyjamas underneath, and her hair was a mess. Beside her was a man in a dirty tracksuit and a rugby shirt that bulged and stretched. Further along the line, the people got older and dustier and shabbier, until the very end, where they were almost completely hidden by layers and layers of cobwebs.
I wondered how much they’d gotten for that stamp collection. I’d loved that stamp collection, until one day I realised I hadn’t looked at it for months. Or for Jaws. Jaws was my goldfish. I’d stare at him going round and round and round, and then I just didn’t look at him at all any more.
I sighed, and sat and looked at the door, and waited for her to come back. Or for someone else to come in and decide they’d settle for me at that price. After that, everything seemed to drift.
@ Nigel: Well done, sir.
Re:book covers.
Maybe it’s years of being an out geek, but I don’t worry about the covers of books I am seen reading. It’s also why I try not to judge a book by its cover but don’t always succeed: I missed out on enjoying Bujold’s Vorkosigan series for years despite friend’s effusive praise because of the combination of the author’s name, the Baen covers, and “Vorkosigan”, a name which was offputting to me. I have since learnt differently.
Pratchett: I started reading him with the first Discworld books & greatly enjoyed the sword’n’sorcery parody (the British sense of humour being something I grew up), so I kept reading. I also sought out and enjoyed his non-Discworld books, Strata, Dark Side of the Sun, the Bromeliad. But it was watching him evolve as a writer that made me a big fan. “Pyramids” would be a good first Discworld as it’s a stand-alone. Other good entrypoints are (as mentioned above) “Wyrd Sisters”, and “Guards! Guards!”, all three of which were published around the time he was getting into his stride as a writer.
While Pratchett is a writer I’ve liked from the beginning & my love for his stories has deepened with time, in contrast, I bounced off Iain M. Banks the first time and it was on my second go a few years later that I was caught. I think that during that first try, I was looking for a different kind of book, and my tastes hadn’t reached the right maturity that I could appreciate him; around this time I thought the early Pratchett was the bee’s knees.
I didn’t mind reading early Pratchett after having been exposed to his more mature work (First book was Good Omens, first Discworld was Small Gods and second Men At Arms, both of which I still consider good entry points – even better than Wyrd Sisters or Guards Guards, though more aggravating for those who want to read the books in order as much as possible). The Colour of Magic was ok, and the Light Fantastic had one pun that made me laugh out loud. But Equal Rites made me return it to the used book store. (Actually, technically, I was supposed to be trading my hardcover for a paperback from the bookseller’s son, but when that never happened, I… didn’t care. Besides, I think my mom has a copy.)
The only other Pratchett I ever sent back from whence it came was Strata, so, yeah. It had some ideas and you could see where they might have worked later.
@ Shao Ping:
This is indeed a pretty good summary of the key conversation between Death and Susan. That remains one of my favourite Pratchett scenes to date – which means ever unless Shepherd’s Crown has just such a shining moment, and nobody has said so yet. The rest of the book is merely in the top 10 somewhere.
(My other favourite scene but not favourite book is the climax of Jingo, but unlike Death and Susan’s conversation, that’s a spearpoint scene, where you need the spear-shaft support of the rest of the book to really feel it. Death and Susan’s discussion needs a lot less context.)
My least favourite Pratchetts in order:
Equal Rites (unless a reread significantly improves it)
Strata
The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
The Unadulterated Cat
The Bromeliad
Raising Steam
Carpe Jugulum
Maskerade
…and somewhere around the Light Fantastic you reach the point of “Not yet the work of a mature author, but still entertaining”. Except Raising Steam… let’s say the flaws are not the flaws of a new writer.
(I like the WItches and actually like Agnes/Perdita but it feels like they had a stretch where Pratchett didn’t know what to do with them)
Darn it. I cited the correct section of the SFWA bylaws (4.III.c.i) but cut-and pasted the equivalent in the previous section. The correct quote is:
The conclusion stands, however, for the same reasons as before: even if VD is a member of the (old) SFWA, that corporation no longer exists, and therefore the question of his membership in it is moot.
IANAL, but I suspect that if VD ever wants to try his chances in court, the case will be dismissed on any of a number of grounds. Besides the likely lack of success on the merits, it’s difficult (not impossible) to sue a dissolved corporation.
His only other alternative is political rather than legal: convince enough members of the current corporation to vote in a Board sympathetic to VD and to modify its bylaws to suit him. The chances of this happening seem slim to me, because it requires mustering majorities and super-majorities, not just aggrieved minorities.
@Lis Carey add me to people offering support.
@Nigel well done
[IAMSPARTACUS!]I also offer my emotional and intellectual support to Lis Carey[/IAMSPARTACUS!]
Good Mythical-Lord, can that Confederacy of Self-Aggrandizing/Self-Pitying Dunces please, please, please get over their collective selves?
I want to thank the person or people on this list who recommended Lois McMaster Bujold. I am in the middle of the third book in the Chalion series. They are well-written with great characters and individual world-building. I like her habit of setting up an expectation that she is going someplace formulaic and then blowing that expectation to smithereens. She’s not playing with fantasy tropes though, just going someplace different.
I also want to thank whomever recommended Savage Continent, about post-WWII Europe. I’m only about a third of the way thought it as I have to read it in small doses. Much will be familiar to those who have read about the period but the author does a fine job of putting things together in context and making it all seem new. If you’re not familiar with this period, this book will be a real eye-opener. Just don’t read it when you’re depressed.
I keep thinking of a drift store as something like a food truck. Around here, at local events, there’s actually one truck that sells clothes. One for books wouldn’t be too farfetched: isn’t that what Scholastic already does at schools?
Let me add a belated support to Lis Carey. She reads all that stuff so I can decide if it’s worth my time.
So, I’m not the only one getting massive Ignatius Reilly vibes off of this bunch.
@James David Nicoll
I remember that, and recall “Books Not To Bring To Your Episcopalian Boy’s School, Lest They Fall Out Of Your Backpack Together”:
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock
In New York City, there are street vendors who sell used books on tables or blankets, and they might be a kind of drift store.
The presence of so many book vendors is at least partly due to a legal quirk: a state court ruled that while in general, the city can license vendors and limit their numbers,
selling books and magazines is protected by the First Amendment.
ObSF: Chip Delany’s partner is a man he met while the partner was homeless and selling books in this fashion, and they first met because Delany was looking at his books. There’s a graphic novel about their romance, with text by Delany.
Thanks to those that answered my question about the ‘blacklist’ referred to earlier.
@Lis Carey — best of luck weathering the storm, and may it be (from the Puppy perspective) an anticlimactic drizzle instead.
For what it’s worth, your reviews (and the reviews of others) inspired me to actually read far more of the slated works than I otherwise would have. I started out as a firm, angry member of the “NO AWARD THEM ALL” camp (although “them all” in my mind didn’t necessarily apply to those on the slates who weren’t really part of the movement — the Kary English types) .
Rick K on January 4, 2016 at 12:14 pm said:
Woo Hoo! {dances around happily} I’m so happy you like them.
Don’t forget the novella that came out last year “Penric’s Demon”. I think it’s electronic-only at this point.
@Nigel, I have a collection of dusty internets, of which you may have half.
@ULTRAGOTHA
Penric’s Demon is great! If you want more encouragement, check out my review of it.
http://www.rocketstackrank.com/2015/10/penrics-demon-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold.html
Kevin Standlee: The problem with your analysis “if VD is a member of the (old) SFWA, that corporation no longer exists” is that it fails to ask “How were other life members treated upon reincorporation?”
All the other Life Memberships were ported over without further ado.
The SFWA Membership Requirements entry for Life Members reads —
I checked, and no additional dues assessment was paid by Life Members after SFWA reincorporated in California so they could maintain the status they formerly held in the Massachusetts corporation.
So if a judge agreed with VD about the rest, one would expect a court to rule that VD’s Life Membership is equitably entitled to the same treatment as other Life Memberships.
Mike Glyer, SFWA shall honor the onetime dues assessment that Life Members, at the time of reincorporation, made to the organization. SFWA shall keep those Life Members in good standing with the rights of their respective classes (Active, Associate, and Affiliate) during their lifetime.
I am by no means a lawyer, and I’m certainly not Standlee… but I think the key words here are “in good standing”. Can someone whose membership has been revoked by the board be considered “in good standing”?
Nigel: bravo
From the Silver Lining Department, a new definition:
Ultraviolet prose: text so ornate & flowery it is beyond the ability of mere mortals to read it. (cf purple prose)
Credit to wtfpancakes.
Nigel, that was fabulous! Thank you.
Cassy B: There are two issues. Was VD’s membership properly revoked under the Massachusetts corporate law and the applicable rules of SFWA? If a court says yes, then that’s the end of it. If a court says no, then we come to Kevin’s argument, and Kevin’s “he wasn’t invited to join the reincorporated SFWA” argument should fail because neither were the other Life Members, they were just carried over.
It’s a pity those who inherited his legacy have been so busy lately pissing it down the drain.
Mike
You raise an interesting point, and I should stress that my own expertise in things like contracts lies primarily in the law of England and Wales; Scotland has a radically different legal structure, though in taxation matters there is one body of law binding on all of the countries in the UK.*
There is, of course, a very large supply of caselaw telling us how to construe language in statute and elsewhere, it being a highly profitable field for lawyers, but the guidance of the Courts more or less boils down to telling us to use the natural meaning of the words unless there is a statute which says otherwise.
And looking at the passage you cite it seems to me to be about money; it’s there to prevent the new corporation from charging a new lot of fees from people who have already paid fees to the old corporation. I can’t see any ambiguity in the drafting which would lead a Court to decide that there is a further purpose which can be derived from those words; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I appreciate that I do tend to analyse things in terms of money, but in this case it is about money.
*And thus there are no Double Taxation Agreements between England and other countries; it is the UK which enters into such treaties.
ETA
Mike
I’ve looked at your comment to Cassy B but it doesn’t change my view of what the clause is about. My vulgar preoccupation with money, no doubt.
Harlan Ellison used “ultraviolet” favourably in his praise for Clark Ashton Smith in the 80s. Definitely sounds like a compliment to me.
I love ornate prose but I’ve never read Wright’s books so can’t say if he can pull it off (or can’t, like most people are saying).
Basically the passage I quoted amounts to history. It’s not part of SFWA’s bylaws, it’s in a separate set of rules administering memberships. And so far as I can tell from the SFWA website, there is no longer provision for buying a Life Membership. (Unless that’s tucked away somewhere else.) It may be that the passage’s only purpose is to (as you say) keep them from charging any more dues to Life Members grandfathered in from the Massachusetts corporation.
Re: Pratchett – Started with the first Discworld novels, picked up at a used bookstore, and retain a fondness for Rincewind. I was about to type that the Guards sub-series are my favorites – that was certainly true for a long time – but I think my current top 3 are all semi-standalones. I must confess that I was never able to get into the witches sub-series. Not sure what it is about them.
Rev Bob, you’re a bad man, but you invoke Vin Diesel, so I forgive you much.
Nigel, that was lovely.
Speaking of Bujold, The Curse of Chalion is on sale at Amazon right now for $1.99.
Thanks guys; glad you liked it.