Pixel Scroll 1/7/Year of the Goat *** (I’ll Never Be Your) Star Beast of Burden

(1) DECORATOR COLOR. A petition at Change.org to designate element 117 as “Octarine” — a name taken from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books has received over 5,500 signatures at this writing. (Via Steven H Silver and Ansible Links.)

This petition is to name element 117, recently confirmed by the International Union of Applied Chemistry, as ‘Octarine’, with the proposed symbol Oc (pronounced ‘ook’), in honour of the late Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series of books….

Octarine, in the Discworld books, is known as ‘the colour of magic’, which forms the title of Pratchett’s first ever Discworld book. According to Disc mythology, octarine is visible only to wizards and cats, and is generally described as a sort of greenish-yellow purple colour, which seems perfect for what will probably be the final halogen in the periodic table. Octarine is also a particularly pleasing choice because, not only would it honour a world-famous and much-loved author, but it also has an ‘ine’ ending, consistent with the other elements in period 17.

(2) NTA TIME. Voting for Britain’s National Television Awards is open. In the Drama category, David Tennant’s non-sf series Broadchurch is up against Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who, as well as Downton Abbey and Casualty.

Neither Peter Capaldi or Jenna Coleman is a finalist for best actor/actress, but Tennant is.

In New Drama, sf series Humans is a nominee. Game of Thrones is a nominee in the International category.

(3) WITCH WORLD. The Andre Norton Books site announced that the Estate has entered into a deal to turn the first two Witch World novels into a movie.

The following is a statement from The Producers as of 01/05/16.

The Producers of Andre Norton’s WITCH WORLD franchise are surprised, delighted and encouraged by the interest from Andre Norton fans. The Producers are happy to announce that they have developed a new Witch World script that they are very excited about, written by award-winning screenwriters Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Janissaries, Star Trek: Enterprise). This script forms the basis of the first movie in a new film trilogy based on the classic Witch World book series by Andre. The Producers’ primary goal in working closely with the Andre Norton Estate, is to ensure that the spirit of Andre Norton is retained in its full integrity within a new, contemporary vision of a classic epic story. The process towards creating a motion picture franchise is lengthy and, in keeping with the Producers’ desire to honor Andre’s creation properly, it will be some time before a release date is announced. Nevertheless, the Producers will keep fans updated on new developments. The Andre Norton Estate thanks Andre’s fans for their incredibly positive response and is in close consultation with the Producers to ensure that Witch World will come to the big screen soon.

(4) HOW WRITERS GET PAID, PART 57. “How novelists are monetizing their short fiction through Patreon” at Medium.

If this model becomes more widespread, then it could significantly alter the cost-benefit analysis that any author applies to writing short fiction. Kameron Hurley, a speculative fiction writer who has published five novels and won two Hugo awards, is constantly inundated with requests from her fans for new short stories. “There is no money in short fiction,” she told me in a phone interview. “You’ll spend 30 or 40 hours on a short story, and you’ll get paid $200. It’s just not worth your while. People would ask me, ‘Hey Kameron, why don’t you write more short fiction?’ Well, short stories were a nice way to get my name out there in the early 2000s, but then I realized I’m getting $200 for an incredible amount of work. I started doing a lot of copywriting work, and I charge $90 an hour for copywriting. If you look at the costs and benefits, you realize writing short stories doesn’t have any financial benefit and it doesn’t make sense.”

So when Hurley launched her Patreon page in 2015, she had one goal: “My bare minimum was $500,” she said. “If I could get that much for a story, and if I could resell it as a reprint or as an original to the short fiction markets, you’re starting to make something that resembles a fair wage.”

(5) KEEP YOUR FUNNY SCIDE UP. At Amazing Stories, David Kilman completes “Scide Splitters’” look at humorous stories eligible for the 1941 Retro Hugos with the third of three installments. He provides short reviews of 23 stories (beware spoilers!) and, at the end, lists what he feels are the top contenders for a Retro Hugo.

(6) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • January 7, 1934Flash Gordon debuts as a Sunday page. Alex Raymond is the initial writer and artist. Within the years that follow Don Moore will assist in the writing chores. Jim Keefe, who was the comic’s writer/artist for years, has a great blog post with lots of art.

(7) YESTERDAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY. Is File 770 in bad odor for overlooking Pepe Le Pew’s cartoon debut on January 6, 1945?

(8) BESTSELLING ROOKIE. Seth Breidbart’s “Ludicrous fact of the year (non-politics division)”: John Sandford is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

(9) MANETTI RECOMMENDED. Sue Granquist has Goth Chick News Reviews: The Box Jumper by Stoker Award Winner Lisa Mannetti, a lively entry at Black Gate.

‘Magic’ is the operative word for this moody novella. The magic of Harry Houdini serves as an overriding backdrop here, but another kind of magic permeates these pages — the magic of fine writing. Don’t expect the usual linear plot, because there is no direct narrative. Vivid dreams, surreal images, hypnotic memories, all serve to flesh out an unsettling tale that sweeps us into a new fictional dimension. — William F. Nolan, author of Logan’s Run

If those words from one of my favorite authors weren’t reason enough for me to immediately seek out The Box Jumper, then the prospect of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle together again in the golden age of 1920’s séances would certainly have done the trick.

I am surprised I didn’t hurt myself in the dash.

In her latest, engagingly disturbing novella, Bram Stoker Award Winner Lisa Mannetti transports us to the post-WW I-era where Spiritualism was one of the fastest growing religions, and tricksters knew no bounds when it came to roping in the willing, the gullible and the curious.

(10) PAT HARRINGTON OBIT. Best known as One Day at a Time’s lecherous Schneider, Pat Harrington, Jr., who died January 6, also had some genre roles.

He appeared in three episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (once as his stand-up comedy character, faux Italian immigrant Guido Panzini), and in episodes of Captain Nice, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Invisible Man, and The Ray Bradbury TV Theatre. He was in demand as a voice actor on Saturday morning cartoons like Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Aquaman.

He also played the narrator in the last production of Ray Bradbury’s stage play Falling Upward. Harrington was 86.

(11) SHANNARA. MTV has already aired four episodes of The Shannara Chronicles, based on the fantasy novels by Terry Brooks. I’m a wee bit behind in posting the trailer….

Coming to MTV in January 2016, ‘The Shannara Chronicles’ is a new TV series based on the best-selling fantasy novels by Terry Brooks. Set thousands of years after the destruction of our civilization, the story follows an Elven Princess, Amberle, a half-human half-elf, Wil, and a human, Eretria, as they embark on a quest to stop a Demon army from destroying the Four Lands. ‘The Shannara Chronicles’ stars Poppy Drayton, Austin Butler, Ivana Baquero, Manu Bennett and John Rhys-Davies. The series is executive produced by Jon Favreau, Al Gough, Miles Millar, Dan Farah, Jonathan Liebesman and author Terry Brooks.

 

(12) BUT THIS IS NEWS. NBC has ordered a pilot for Powerless, the first comedy from DC Entertainment according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The single-camera entry is set in the DC Comics universe that’s full of superheroes, villains and people just like us. It’s described as an office comedy about the exceedingly average employees at an insurance company and their quest to find their own power. Like all DC fare, it hails from Warner Bros. Television and will be written by Ben Queen (A to Z), with Michael Patrick Jann set to exec produce and direct the pilot.

As described by File 770 last October, the focus of the series is on the ordinary, “power-less” folk working at the insurance company who often envy the men and women outside their window who make headlines with their supernatural powers.

(13) SUMMER GLAU. Another Firefly reunion is in the works on Castle.

Summer Glau has signed on to guest-star opposite her onetime Serenity captain Nathan Fillion in a spring episode of the ABC drama, TVLine has learned exclusively.

(14) EXPISCATE! With a little imagination, the linked news video of LA trash bins being swept down the street by El Nino rainstorm looks like an invading robot army.

[Thanks to Will R., James H. Burns, Steven H Silver, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

104 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 1/7/Year of the Goat *** (I’ll Never Be Your) Star Beast of Burden

  1. Personally, I’m hoping that the element the Japanese institute gets to name ends up being Godzillium.

    Point I brought up on Seth’s FB where he mentioned Sandford as a Campbell eligible author; if his, and Ctein’s, only sf work is Saturn Run (it appears there may be a Sandford solo short bit that’d put him into second year of eligibility), would it be the case that the two of them are each only eligible individually or they’re eligible as a unit, since that’d be the only eligible writing? While the Campbell is for writer, not work, if the only eligible work is all collaboration by the same N writers, it’d seem to me you could make a case for the writing unit being what’s eligible.

  2. @Tom

    Pretty sure the way that would be handled is that all of the contributing authors would be eligible as individuals. Although if that’s the only work that makes them eligible, good luck to the voters trying to figure out who to prefer on the ballot.

    I would find such a situation kind of ironically amusing – as it happens, I’m in my second year of eligibility for the Campbell, based on a single short story that got published in early 2014. I don’t seriously expect to come within shouting distance of the ballot, but at least it was solo work, which seems to be the norm for newbies. Having a qualifying work be both a fairly substantial novel and a collaboration with another new author is one of those edge cases that can’t happen very often.

  3. Brightglance

    I hope you have a great birthday on Sunday; I’m posting now lest I forget. I’m told that my iPad has all sorts of wonderful ways to remind me, but sadly I’m useless with them…

  4. Petréa Mitchel:

    “All right, here’s my list of sf anime from the past year that Hugo voters should check out! It’s in reverse chronological order on account of the ones from the first half of the year already having gotten a recommendation post.”

    Kagewani looks very interesting!

  5. Was Schneider really “lecherous?” That’s now how I recall the character. Admittedly it’s been decades since I watched an episode of One Day at a Time.

  6. John Rhys Davies… he’s been around for decades; the earliest thing I know him from was the Adam Faith series Budgie (he played Laughing Spam Fritter [don’t ask]), but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find something earlier still.

    He’s always struck me as very much one of those professional actor types – give him a role, any role (Laughing Spam Fritter, Richard the Lionheart, Caligula’s guard commander Macro – he’s done all three), and he will do the very best he can with it. I approve of John Rhys Davies. This makes absolutely no difference to him or anybody else, but I approve of him anyway.

  7. Book described by JJ sounds like Frostworld and Dreamfire by John Morressy. Sorry for second post, but I apparently managed to misspell my e-mail

  8. @Tom Galloway:
    Personally, I’m hoping that the element the Japanese institute gets to name ends up being Godzillium.

    I would think Gojirium would be more likely….

  9. @Petréa

    As much as I loved School Live!, if I were going to choose an anime from this year it would be Death Parade. It was consistently brilliant all the way through, in episode plots, arc plots, character interactions, and animations. Plus with a kick-ass open and close to cap it off(although my vote for the most completely out there OP goes to Subete ga F ni Naru. I loved it every time, but wow, it was misleading).

    I felt Charlotte went off the rails jura gvzr geniry jnf vagebqhprq. V qvqa’g yvxr gur erjevgr bs gur gvzryvar naq gb gryy gur gehgu, nsgre jngpuvat Fgrvaf;Tngr V qbhog nal ‘zhygvcyr gvzr whzc gb svk guvatf’ frdhrapr vf rire tbvat gb fgnpx hc(V unq gur fnzr ceboyrz jvgu Rqtr bs Gbzbeebj).

  10. Hampus Eckerman said:

    Kagewani looks very interesting!

    It is very interesting! And terribly underexposed even within the hardcore anime fan community because nearly all the high-profile reviewers ignore the short-episode series entirely.

  11. Is Crunchyroll the only way to watch Kagewani? I would prefer to buy it in some way. Not fond of having to become a member of stuff.

  12. Tintinaus said:

    nsgre jngpuvat Fgrvaf;Tngr V qbhog nal ‘zhygvcyr gvzr whzc gb svk guvatf’ frdhrapr vf rire tbvat gb fgnpx hc

    I’m with you there.

  13. Hampus Eckerman asked:

    Is Crunchyroll the only way to watch Kagewani?

    AFAIK, Crunchyroll is the only site to have licensed it. But you should be able to watch for free, just there will be ads.

  14. (12) BUT THIS IS NEWS. NBC has ordered a pilot for Powerless, the first comedy from DC Entertainment according to The Hollywood Reporter.
    […]

    As described by File 770 last October, the focus of the series is on the ordinary, “power-less” folk working at the insurance company who often envy the men and women outside their window who make headlines with their supernatural powers.

    Trying to beat Marvel’s planned Damage Control show to the screen?

  15. A few notes on the Shannara Chronicles:

    As noted, the Visual Effects look great. They have incorporated the post downfall of technology landscape which was not an element of the books originally but brought into the series later on. So there’s lots of shots of skyscrapers and things like the Seattle Needle since the series is set in the Pacific Northwest.

    The adult actors are all well cast and John Rhys-Davies and Manu Bennett definitely have some genre cred. The three main youngsters may take some time to grow on me, although Wil’s running commentary with Allanon did add some humor to it. Being done for MTV, I was expecting the kids to be more like what you’d expect from an MTV show, but it is something that will take some getting used to. It does bring to mind when Ron Moore was adapting Pern for The WB and how when the script came back to him with a dialogue polish and they all sounded like Buffy characters, Ron killed the show before filming the pilot.

    Editor Navah Wolfe did a pretty fun live tweet of the pilot on Wednesday night that might be good to link to. @navahw

  16. Time Salvager by Wesley Chu and Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell both have smallish discounts on Amazon UK at the moment – both Hugo-eligible, both have had positive mentions by Filers.

  17. @Lis Carey

    Urgh, that seems like a pretty massive procedural fail.

    @Joe H.

    Wasn’t there something odd going on with Norton’s estate that only recently got sorted out? I thought that was why the availability was so bad for so much of her work. I assume that they’re still playing catch-up. (I’m waiting on the series she co-wrote with Mercedes Lackey to get to ebook release, because shapeshifting dragons.)

    @Kyra

    In honor of City-Of-Blades-Getting-Released Day (what, you didn’t know that was a holiday?)

    I didn’t know that was today! *kermitflail*

    @Petréa Mitchell

    All right, here’s my list of sf anime from the past year that Hugo voters should check out!

    Thank you!

    @Jon F. Zeigler

    Is any of your work readable somewhere accessible yet?

  18. I would favor “Octarine” for element 117 more if 117 were the 8th halogen element, rather than only the 6th.

  19. Was Schneider really “lecherous?” That’s now how I recall the character. Admittedly it’s been decades since I watched an episode of One Day at a Time.

    He would talk about his various dates with a strong implication that he was intent on sex, waggle his eyebrows suggestively and hit on Ms. Romano a lot. I think “lecherous” is a fair description, but he wasn’t threateningly so, just persistently sex-focused.

  20. @Kurt: Sounds fair then. We actually watched ODAAT weekly most of the years it was on, but…that was awhile ago. I forgot that aspect of Schneider’s character. IIRC, he and Ann Romano find twue wuv at the end, right?

  21. @Meredith — I’d be very happy if that (Norton estate kerfuffle being resolved) were the case.

    I’m also happy to see Amber appearing in eBook, although I’d be happier if it wasn’t one full-price volume every two months. And here’s hoping for more of Zelazny’s back catalog as well.

  22. IIRC, he and Ann Romano find twue wuv at the end, right?

    I have no idea. I got annoyed by the way they’d have a joke, and then everyone would pose for the laugh track, and then they’d go on, so despite my teenage appreciation of Valerie Bertinelli, I gave up on the show.

    Either that, or I went to college, didn’t have a TV (and had lots of other things to do) and gave up on the show. But the posing thing annoyed me anyway.

    [But checking Wikipedia, it seems the answer is no: Ann moves to London at the end of the series, Schneider to Florida.]

  23. @Meredith

    Aside from all the work I did for the tabletop game business, my one pro-published story (so far) is in the rather obscure collection Tales of Zo from Uncanny Books. Should be available as an ebook from Amazon.

  24. [But checking Wikipedia, it seems the answer is no: Ann moves to London at the end of the series, Schneider to Florida.]

    Plus, by then, Ann has married a character played by Howard Hesseman.

  25. @Joe H.:

    I’m also happy to see Amber appearing in eBook, although I’d be happier if it wasn’t one full-price volume every two months.

    Well, at least it’s only five books.

    ::crosses arms. narrows gaze.::

  26. Jim Henley on January 8, 2016 at 6:30 pm said:

    Well, at least it’s only five books.

    ::crosses arms. narrows gaze.::

    Far be it from me to argue.

    Also, I’m glad they never made a sequel to Highlander.

  27. Glad Ann and Schneider never hooked up. It was the expected thing – my mom certainly figured it would happen – but it would’ve been a lazy continuation.

  28. @Tintinaus

    I am not too fond of Charlotte. I think it suffers from the same problem as Angel Beats! ,which I liked better. Jun Maeda just can not write short. He comes up with stories that would take 26 or more episodes to tell and he is completely incapable of cutting it down. So you end up with almost random stuff happening for 9 or 10 episodes and then you get an ending that needs 20 episodes of backstory to work.

  29. I was going to comment that the Japanese have their own names for the elements that don’t follow the Western scheme, but a bit of poking at Google translate indicates that they have followed the Western names for the trans-uranics. So all I can add is that gojirium would be pronounced gojiryumu, in case you ever have the opportunity to bring it up in conversation.

  30. @Kyra: Oh! (sees the comment that it’s a U.K. holiday) Crud, the City of Blades holiday’s not today in my region. I’ve never liked these “off by just a few weeks” things. 😉 Well, this gives me time to figure out if I’m going to get the full-price DRM’d ebook or the print book (to go with the sale-priced ebook I bought). . . .

    BTW, three of your just-ordered books are on my list to get and one’s a possibility; then on your not-yet-gotten-2015 list, I have two (one read!) and another on my list. May I borrow your speed reading powers, please??? 😉

  31. Short U.S. ebook deal break, ‘cuz why not, since the U.K. folks are probably all busy getting City of Blades! 😉 Hmm, the following are all book ones in their respective series. I’m most tempted by the Sykes:

    $1.99 for The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes. Tempting, though I’ve yet to read his first trilogy in the same world. Orbit = DRM, but hey, only $1.99!

    $2.99 for The Unremembered (majorly revised & includes bonus short story) by Peter Orullian. Very unusual that they relaunched it as they did. Tor = DRM-free.

    $2.99 for The Stolen by Bishop O’Connell. I know less about this one. Harper Voyager = DRM.

  32. On One Day at a Time, Pat Harrington was also Mark Hamill’s uncle. Luckily, stormtroopers didn’t show up and kill off the entire apartment building looking for him and some droids he stole.*

    * On ODAAT, Hamill’s character had a problem kleptomania.

  33. So I’m going to do something I rarely do: defend the Shannara series.

    As fantasy, it’s derivative, and that’s even before Brooks turned into his revenue engine. As horror, though, Elfstones is reasonably talented. The Reaper is a good, rarely seen inexorable pursuer, atmosphere is dark.

    The Heritage series also has a nice creepy vibe, and the way the Shadowean work is properly terrifying, paranoia-inducing horror. Atmospheric horror in a medieval-ish setting. Quite honestly, ditching the whole idea of Elves would have made for a stronger and more original series.

  34. @NelC: in the event that the element gets called Gojirium, absolutely nothing will stop me bringing that up in conversation constantly. And what’s more, anyone that knows me even just a little bit won’t be at all surprised.

  35. It really ought to be Gundamium or Gundarium (depending on if you’re more of a fan of Wing or UC)

  36. One of my problems with Edge of Tomorrow, compared to the novel on which it was based is that in the novel, when gurl svanyyl tbg vg evtug naq xvyyrq gur nyvra ragvgl pnhfvat gur gvzr eriregf, gvzr whfg jura sbejneq, vafgrnq bs eriregvat onpx gb gur ortvaavat bs gur fgbel.

  37. Bruce A: One of my problems with Edge of Tomorrow, compared to the novel on which it was based is that in the novel,when they finally got it right and killed the alien entity causing the time reverts, time just when forward, instead of reverting back to the beginning of the story.

    Um, no, it didn’t. Jura Znwbe Pntr vf xvyyrq juvyr xvyyvat gur Bzrtn, gur “oybbq” bs gur Nycun ur’q whfg xvyyrq frrcrq vagb uvf obql, naq ur jbxr hc ntnva, gjb qnlf onpx va gvzr – va gur uryvpbcgre ba uvf jnl gb uvf nffvtarq zrrgvat jvgu Trareny Oevtunz.

    Rkprcg gung va guvf arj gvzryvar, gur rarzl unq nyernql zlfgrevbhfyl pbyyncfrq, fb uvf zrrgvat jvgu Oevtunz, uvf fhofrdhrag neerfg nf n qrfregre, naq uvf orvat ohfgrq qbja gb Cevingr unq arire bppheerq. Jura ur tbrf gb frr Ftg Znwbe Evgn Iengnfxv, ur vf fgvyy n Znwbe.

  38. Or maybe I misunderstood what you’re saying, and in the novel, time does not revert. In which case, I would ask “why didn’t it?”

  39. @JJ: Not sure if you meant to, but FYI you left Bruce A’s ROT-13’d text un-ROT’d in your reply. If you meant to (not everyone thinks the same stuff needs ROT’ing), ignore me.

    (I haven’t seen the movie, but at this point, it’s no big deal to me. Just a heads up.)

  40. Kendall: Not sure if you meant to, but FYI you left Bruce A’s ROT-13’d text un-ROT’d in your reply.

    Gah, my apologies for that. At least I don’t think it was too spoilery — but my apologies to anyone who may feel that it was.

  41. The mention of the Year of the Sheep-or-is-it-Goat-or-maybe-it-should-be-Ram gives me a chance to link to one of my favorite videos, in which the park rangers of Banff National Park attempt to dispel the confusion between sheep and goats: “GOat Sheep GOat”.

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