(1) THEY CAME FROM SPACE. Christie’s “Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites” auction will offer rare meteorites for bid between February 9-23. Wonderful photos at the link.
The weight of every known meteorite is less than the world’s annual output of gold, and this sale offers spectacular examples for every collector, available at estimates ranging from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The sale will offer 72 of the 75 lots at no reserve, with estimates starting at $250….
There are a dozen offerings of the Moon and the planet Mars and another dozen from some of the most famous museums in the world — as well as meteorites containing gems from outer space.
(2) WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT. In the first issue of the Space Force Journal, a professional journal for the new branch of DoD, Wendy Whitman Cobb tries to separate sf from the SF. “’It’s a Trap!’ The Pros and Mostly ‘Khans’ of Science Fiction’s Influence on the United States Space Force”.
As the United States Space Force has been debated and ultimately stood up, it has often been linked with various science fiction undertakings, most prominently, Star Trek. For the most part, the science fiction connections are not new in the history of space and can be beneficial. Yet being compared to science fiction also presents challenges for the Space Force. This article begins by analyzing both qualitative and quantitative evidence of a science fiction-Space Force link, and finds that this link has been prevalent over the past several years. The space domain is susceptible to science fiction-based influences because of the unknowns that remain with space-based operations. This is even more true with respect to the public’s view of the Space Force. Thus, the leaders of the Space Force are forced to address the cognitive dissonance between what the public expects and what the Space Force can actually achieve in the near- to mid-term. Space Force leaders should therefore focus on “de-science fictionalizing” to draw a distinction between imagined futures and strategic challenges of today….
(3) A COMPLEX STEW OF FEELS. Jeannette Ng shares a whole chain of thoughts set off by watching Wandavision. Thread starts here.
(4) WHY SPECULATIVE POETRY? SPECPO asks SFPA Grand Master – Linda D. Addison.
CA What inspires you to write poetry and why speculative poetry? (What themes do you explore or do they always change?)
LDA: I am a big daydreamer from when I was a young child and those daydreams were always speculative, things like cats with wings. I was totally into the early fables with animals that talked and walked. I’ve always wondered What if? in the realm of Speculative-ness. Although I write fiction too, poetry is my first voice. I hear poetry inside all the time.
Everything inspires me to write, my reactions to the world around me and inside me. I’m not sure I can look at my work and say what themes they explore, since I write organically, without a lot of planning, unless I’m writing to a theme for a project. I would say the themes change, depending on what touches my heart and soul. Perhaps this is a question better answered by my readers.
(5) HOW CAN YOU RESIST? Ann Leckie has something to share:
(6) A FANNISH CENTENNIAL. First Fandom Experience celebrates the hundredth anniversary tomorrow of the birth of John V. Baltadonis (1921-1998) in “JVB 100”. Lots of his early fanzine art, and work he did when he got really good later on. A leading Philadelphia fan who attended the claimed First Convention held in his hometown in 1936, and traveled to New York for the first Worldcon in 1939, Baltadonis was elected to the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 1998.
(7) SPIDER-MAN COLLECTOR HAS TO LET GO. Long article about the “Ultimate Spider-Man Collection to Be Sold Under Heart-Wrenching Circumstances” – profiling the rarities and the collector, who is dying from cancer and is selling to set up his wife and daughter after he’s gone.
…If you talk to Levine long enough, soon you realize it’s not necessarily the comics he treasures the most. Anyone with money can buy comics, he notes. It’s the weird stuff that he covets, like a collection of 1990s-era Fruit Roll-Ups boxes that he’s only seen go up for auction once or twice and finally snagged. There’s still one, featuring the villain the Rhino, that he doesn’t own, and it eats him up inside because he’s seen an advertisement for it and knows it exists. (“I’d pay $10,000 for it, because in 35 years I’ve never seen it [at auction],” says Levine.)
These are his holy grails.
Among the other rarities: storyboards for James Cameron’s aborted Spider-Man movie; a never-sold, Spider-Man themed Camel Cigarette pack; and a letter Ditko wrote a fan in which the notoriously grumpy artist tells the recipient what he really thinks.
(8) HENRY OBIT. Actor Mike Henry died January 8 at the age of 84.
…He was cast as Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, in three films: Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), Tarzan and the Great River (1967), and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968).
His run as the jungle lord ended after being bitten by a chimpanzee while filming.
Henry segued into another franchise in 1977, playing Junior, the son of Jackie Gleason’s Sheriff Buford T. Justice, in Smokey and the Bandit. He reprised the role in the film’s 1981 and 1983 sequels.
Among Henry’s other film roles were appearances in Skyjacked (1972), Soylent Green (1973) and The Longest Yard (1974). His TV credits included roles on M*A*S*H, General Hospital and Fantasy Island….
(9) MEMORY LANE.
1981 — Thirty years ago at Denventon Two, Gordon R. Dickson had the ever so rare accomplishment of winning two Hugos at a single Con, first for the Best Novella for “Lost Dorsai” which been published in Destinies v2 #1 Feb/Mar 1980, second for Best Novelette for “The Cloak and the Staff” which had been published in Analog in August of 1980. Other than an earlier short story Hugo for “ Soldier, Ask Not”, these are the only Hugos that he won.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]
- Born February 6, 1850 – Elizabeth Champney. Three novels for us; a hundred all told, also shorter stories, essays, poems, travel. A Vassar woman; see here. From In the Sky-Garden, here is her husband James Champney’s title page; here is “A Ride on the Rocket-Star”. (Died 1922) [JH]
- Born February 6, 1922 — Patrick Macnee. He was best known as the secret agent John Steed in The Avengers, a role he reprised in the New Avengers. Avoid the putrid Avengers film which he is not in at peril of your soul. He made his genre debut as Young Jacob Marley in Scrooge. He then starred as Derek Longbow in Incense for the Damned (also released as Bloodsuckers, Freedom Seeker Incense for the Damned and Bloodsuckers, Freedom Seeker and Doctors Wear Scarlet). Next up is an uncredited role voicing Imperious Leader on the original Battlestar Galactica. He played Captain John Good R.N. in King Solomon’s Treasure based rather loosely on the H. Rider Haggard source material. What else? Let’s see… he shows up in The Howling as Dr. George Waggner, as Dr. stark in a film as alternative title is, I kid you not, Naked Space and Spaceship. It’s a parody apparently of Alien. Next up for him is another toff named Sir Wilfred in Waxwork and its sequel. Yes, he wears a suit rather nicely. At least being Professor Plocostomos in Lobster Man from Mars is an open farce. Yes, let me note that he had a voice only role in the absolutely awful remake of The Avengers as Invisible Jones, a Ministry Agent. I do hope they paid him well. His last film work was genre as well, The Low Budget Time Machine, in which he started as Dr. Bernard. (Died 2015.) (CE)
- Born February 6, 1924 — Sonya Dorman. Her best-known work of SF is “When I Was Miss Dow” which received an Otherwise retrospective award nomination. She also appeared in Dangerous Visions with the “Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird” story. Poem “Corruption of Metals” won a Rhysling Award. (Died 2005.) (CE)
- Born February 6, 1932 — Rip Torn. First genre work that comes to mind is of course RoboCop 3 and his Men in Black films. His first dip into our world comes as Dr. Nathan Bryce In The Man Who Fell to Earth. Yeah that film. Actually if you count Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he’s been a member of our community since his Twenties. He also shows up on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as well. (Died 2019.) (CE)
- Born February 6, 1947 – Eric Flint, age 74. Auto, oil, and steel worker, glassblower, longshoreman, machinist, meatpacker, truck driver, and trade-union activist, with a master’s degree in History from Univ. Cal. Los Angeles, he’s the publisher of Ring of Fire Press (first virtual RoFcon, 8-11 Oct 20) and the Grantville Gazette; fourscore novels, threescore shorter stories, many with co-authors; anthologies. He edited the 2002 editions of Garrett’s Lord Darcy stories and Laumer’s Retief stories; wrote an appreciation of Tom Kidd for the 2018 World Fantasy Convention. [JH]
- Born February 6, 1948 — Larry Todd, 73. Writer and cartoonist, best known for the decidedly adult Dr. Atomic strips that originally appeared in the underground newspaper The Sunday Paper and his other work in underground comics, often with a SF bent. In our circles, Galaxy Science Fiction, Amazing Science Fiction and Imagination were three of his venues. He also did some writing for If. He also did, and it’s really weird art, the cover art and interior illustrations for Harlan Ellison’s Chocolate Alphabet. (CE)
- Born February 6, 1950 – Michele Lundgren, age 71. Known to us as the wife of Detroit graphic artist Carl Lundgren (four Chesleys including Artistic Achievement), she has been doing artwork of her own as a photographer; two books, The Photographic Eye and Side Streets. [JH]
- Born February 6, 1958 – Marc Schirmeister, age 63. To borrow a line from Robert Silverberg about someone else, we’re all unique here but some of us are more unique than others. Schirm has quietly – no – unobtrusively – no – well, idiosyncratically drawn Schirmish creatures for Alexiad, Amra, Asimov’s, Banana Wings, Chunga, Fantasy Book, File 770, Flag, New Toy, the Noreascon 4 Program Book (62nd Worldcon), Riverside Quarterly, Vanamonde. Artist Guest of Honor at Westercon 63. Rotsler Award. Did the Five of Wands for Bruce Pelz’ Fantasy Showcase Tarot Deck – all the images and BP’s introduction here (PDF). [JH]
- Born February 6, 1959 – Curt Phillips, age 62. Corflu 50 Fan Fund delegate to Corflu 26 (fanziners’ convention; corflu = mimeograph correction fluid). TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) delegate to Loncon 3 the 72nd Worldcon; report here. Interviewed Alexis Gilliland for SF Review. Co-ordinated celebrations of Bob Madle’s 100th birthday. Often seen in Banana Wings, Chunga, File 770, Flag, Raucous Caucus – the usual suspects. [JH]
- Born February 6, 1974 — Rajan Khanna, 47. To quote his website, he’s “an author, reviewer, podcaster, musician, and narrator.” His three novels are from Pyr Books, all set in a fantastic universe of airships and steampunk, are Falling Sky, Rising Tide and Raining Fire. The audiobooks are first rate. (CE)
- Born February 6, 1977 — Karin Tidbeck, 44. Their first work in English, Jagannath, a short story collection, made the shortlist for the Otherwise Award and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award. The short story “Augusta Prima”, originally written by her in Swedish, was translated into English by them which won them a Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award in the Short Form category. Their next novel The Memory Theater is forthcoming this month. (CE)
- Born February 6, 1990 – Isamu Fukui, age 31. (Personal name first, U.S. style.) Three novels, the first written when he was 15, much made of it and him; the others a prequel and a sequel. See here. [JH]
(11) COMICS SECTION.
- What do we call this, a Bayeaux Tapestry for Star Trek?
(12) A VALENTINE MINE BE. GeekTyrant points out the availability of Star Wars-themed pop-up Valentines. Yoda and Darth are options.
(13) SUPPORT LITERACY. The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers’ fundraising anthology Turning the Tied goes on sale March 13. All proceeds go to the World Literacy Foundation.
Like so many others, we at the IAMTW watched—horrified, heartbroken, and furious—as the tumultuous events transpired in the Spring and Summer of 2020 in the U.S.. The IAMTW added its voice of support to those fighting for better conditions, for justice, and for more equal opportunities for everyone. We didn’t want to just speak up, however. We wanted to actually do something, no matter how small, to contribute to a solution. To that end…writers write. What could be more perfect than doing what we love to do, to help others and give readers something they’ll enjoy? While the social upheaval in the U.S. provided the impetus for this anthology, we realize that marginalization and prejudice are a worldwide problem. One of the best means of combating the disparities is education. Therefore all the proceeds from this book will go to the World Literacy Foundation (https://worldliteracyfoundation.org/) which promotes literacy worldwide with a focus on helping those who are underprivileged.
… This dazzling collection of uplifting and curious tales will take you through the centuries and from the depths of the ocean to the stars. You’ll discover well-known, beloved characters in new settings and circumstances.
Penned by some of the finest writers working in tie-in fiction today.Sherlock Holmes, John Carter of Mars, Hopalong Cassidy, Mulan, Dracula, Mina Harker, the Three Musketeers, Cyrano de Bergerac, Baron Munchausen, and Frankenstein’s Creature are a scattering of the literary souls that populate these pages. And cats. There are more than a few cats.
(14) BRADBURY’S SOMETHING WICKED. A 2019 ScreenRant listicle claims these are “10 Hidden Details You Didn’t Know About Something Wicked This Way Comes”. Maybe 7 of them were, like this one:
4. Mr. Dark Appears In Another Bradbury Work
Mr. Dark is not only the ringmaster of the carnival but a member of the freakshow as well. His oddity? He is the Illustrated Man, The tattoos over his body shift, change, and alter. This is an impressive visual effect, but it’s also familiar to anyone exposed to Bradbury’s books.
Ray Bradbury’s short story collection, The Illustrated Man, is connected through an encounter with the titular Illustrated Man, whose ever-changing tattoos tell the stories in the book. The character is an aimless wanderer who tells the protagonist he was once a member of a carnival freakshow. Sounding familiar? Perhaps this was the true fate of Mr. Dark after the carnivals destruction? Who knows…
(15) WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? Futurism.com collates reports that “Scientists Are Weaving Human Brain Cells Into Microchips”. Dann sent the link with a note, “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be inspired or terrified by these kinds of stories.”
Brain Jack
It’s not unusual for artificial intelligence developers to take inspiration from the human brain when designing their algorithms or the circuitry they run on, but now a project is taking that biological inspiration a step further.
Scientists from England’s Aston University are physically integrating human brain stem cells into AI microchips, according to a university press release. The goal, the scientists say, is to push the boundaries of what AI can do by borrowing some of the human brain’s processing capabilities.
Neural Boost
The project, dubbed Neu-ChiP, sounds like the beginning of a sci-fi B movie where all-powerful AI runs amok. Typically, projects like this in the field of neuromorphic or brain-inspired computing focus on making AI algorithms more efficient, but Neu-ChiP aims to make them more powerful, too.
“Our aim is to harness the unrivaled computing power of the human brain to dramatically increase the ability of computers to help us solve complex problems,” Aston University mathematician David Saad said in the release. “We believe this project has the potential to break through current limitations of processing power and energy consumption to bring about a paradigm shift in machine learning technology.”
(16) QUICKEST TURNAROUND. “SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites on record-setting used rocket, nails landing”.
SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites to orbit this morning (Feb. 4) on a mission that notched a booster-reusability milestone for the company.
A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with the 60 broadband spacecraft lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 1:19 a.m. EST (0619 GMT).
Approximately nine minutes later, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, landing smoothly on one of SpaceX’s drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean. The massive ship, “Of Course I Still Love You,” is one of two SpaceX vessels that catch falling boosters and return them to port.
It was the fifth launch for this Falcon 9 first stage, which last flew just 27 days ago — the quickest turnaround between missions for any SpaceX booster….
(17) WORLD OF TOMORROW. Next week’s Kickstarter might be a way to get a copy into your hands.
(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] “Superman Returns/The Science of Superman” on YouTube is a documentary that I believe was originally a bonus feature on the Superman Returns DVD that looks at whether Superman’s powers are scientifically plausible. For example: if Superman has heat vision, what’s the heat source? Does his X-ray vision deal in any way with how X-rays actually act in the real world? And, a question that entertained our parents when they were kids: if he’s invulnerable, how does he get a haircut?
Scientists including University of California (Irvine) physicist Michael Dennin and Chapman University biologist Frank Frisch explain the scientifc howlers. For example, remember in Superman: The Movie when Lois Lane falls off a skyscraper and Superman flies up to catch her? Dennin notes that Lois is falling at terminal velocity and if caught by a super-fast Superman Lois’s body would have 1000 times the impact than if Superman had stayed on the ground and caught her. Even more implausible is the scene where Superman turns back time because, unfortunately, no one has found a way to reverse time.
I thought this was worth an hour.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, JJ, Bill, Mike Kennedy, N., Dann, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, John Hertz, Martin Morse Wooster, and Michael Toman for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Paul Weimer.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
First!
Good evening, fellow Filers! Paul and Lis, you’re on the chocolate list now.
First!
(10) Rip Torn as Bob Diamond in Defending Your Life should not be neglected. That is all.
NOT FIRST but scroll title!
Played with the web app myself
https://twitter.com/PrinceJvstin/status/1358063170221391873.
and yay, chocolate!
2) I mean, she’s definitely not wrong about the cognitive dissonance. The question is whether there’s any practical way to accomplish most of this stuff– honestly it’s probably way too soon for there to be an actual Space Force as a separate entity; there’s not even proper interplanetary travel yet, and we had ships and airplanes well before we had a navy or air force. The only picture anyone has of what a Space Force might do is science fiction; there’s never been any meaningful space-based military engagements.
(2) I’ve heard that it does collect space-connected stuff that used to be scattered, which people involved think is a Good Thing.
P J Evans says I’ve heard that it does collect space-connected stuff that used to be scattered, which people involved think is a Good Thing.
It really was just another idiotic publicity stunt done by the Trump administration as the Air Force was more that capable at handling what was transferred to this group. No, it wasn’t a Good Thing. I’m hope the Biden administration abolishes it and folds the functions back into the organisations that they came from.
(5) applause
2) My MAIN beef is the name, “Space Force.” The name SUCKS. The previous name of an adjecent agency, the United States Space Command not only sounds more respectable, they also already have an serviceable existing insignia (which you can easily google) that doesn’t rip off Starfleet’s symbol. AND don’t get me started about the idiots who insisted on this stupid name in the first place…
16) Say what you will about Elon Musk, he’s built a hell of a space company. Five launches for one booster and nailed the landing for every single one.
(5) Leckie is on a roll.
5) Rick Rolled on Pixel Scroll !
You’re only as scrolled as you feel
It all goes around,
Around and around,
Around and around and orbits you
Meredith moment: The Works of Clifford D. Simak Volume Four is on sale today for $3.99 today. It consists of The Goblin Reservation which I quite like, Time Is The Simplest Thing which is quite excellent and The Big Front Yard and Other Stories which I don’t recognise but ISFDB shows is largely novelettes from the Forties.
(5) You spin me right ’round, Breqi
Right ’round like Radchaai, Breqi
Never gonna file you up
Never gonna scroll you down
Never gonna pixel round and desert you
(just to take things to their logical conclusion)
(10) Eric Flint – let’s not forget he edited (with co-editor Guy Gordon) the James H. Schmitz reissues of 2000 and after.
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction gets good review from Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/dfcacff9-9613-4b5e-a94b-4ea7f01bba9b
” The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, a free online resource that went live last week, should come with a warning — it is a delightful black hole that will suck in word nerds and SF geeks alike.
…
After a happy week spent exploring the HDSF website, I stepped in for a brief five minutes this morning to look up the origin of “alien” and tumbled into a parallel universe, bouncing from “Big Dumb Object” to “biopunk”, “contragravity” to “cyborg”, all the way to “wormhole”, “xenology” and “zap gun”. It is now the afternoon and I am inexplicably late on my deadline.”
FYI, Karin Tidbeck’s pronouns are they/them.
Andrew Liptak: Thank you, corrected now.
Tidbeck’s SF novel Amatka is amazing.
@Dave Hook: How can you forget something that never happened? Never never never, no no no, it didn’t happen, no. (Puts fingers in ears)
(Seen on a random social media posting): All of the military services have annual balls. So now we can look forward to the Space Balls! 🙂
I had the very strange experience of watching a much younger friend react to “Never Gonna Give You Up” playing on the car radio, tuned at the time to a satellite ’80s station. My friend’s reaction was, more or less, “…Really?” Because she had never experienced that song unironically, as a bog-standard pop tune released like any other bog-standard pop tune. To her, it had never not been a meme and a joke and, well, a Rick Roll. Even the radio was Rick Rolling us! Where would it end?
Whereas I continue to be confused as to how the concept of a Rick Roll came about in the first place. I mean, why that song? Why not Sweet Caroline or Putting on the Ritz or Take On Me? Why any song in particular? The internet is weird. shakes fist at clouds
Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little: Whereas I continue to be confused as to how the concept of a Rick Roll came about in the first place. I mean, why that song? Why not Sweet Caroline or Putting on the Ritz or Take On Me? Why any song in particular?
Wikipedia has an origin story for it, for whatever that’s worth.
Good song choices. I vote for Putting On the Ritz.
@Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little
Yes, I never quite understood why it was that song, a bogstandard and not particularly remarkable 1980s pop song from the Stock, Aiteken and Waterman music factory, rather than any other. The video is fairly dull by 1980s standards, too. None of the beautiful weirdness to be found in some other music videos of the era.
@JJ, @Cora Buhlert – So, it sounds from that Wikipedia page that, basically, somebody did it, for reasons that made sense at the time, and it went viral. That’s our era in a nutshell, really.
@Jeffrey Jones – I move we call it a Ritzroll. And that it utilize the 80s Taco hit version. Because that video is such a creepy classic.
@Nicole:
“Dressed up like a Heinlein Starship Trooper
Flyin’ ships through a Belt named for Kuiper
Super duper”
@Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little: seconded, although I’ve never seen that version.
@Andrew: applause
I got the song stuck in my head and it infiltrated the nonsense which, in accordance with the XKCD rule correlating inanity with proximity to small furry animals, I often find myself sing-songing at the household rabbit. “If you bunn and you don’t bunn where to bunn to why don’t you bunn where treats are yum? ’cause you are a bunn!”
“Bunn” has become the word for “Smurf” in our house. I blame the bunny.
@Jeffrey Jones: Behold. I think the singer is a vampire. Or possibly Tim Curry in disguise.
(There appears also to be an “uncensored” version. I have not yet dared click it.)
Glad you liked it.
Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little: There appears also to be an “uncensored” version. I have not yet dared click it.
Good choice. The uncensored version includes a couple of tuxedoed extras in blackface who chime in on the “super duper” choruses. 😐
Oh, that’s disappointing. I’m honestly surprised it got cut from the commonly played version, since we’re talking mid-80s, but glad it did.
Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little: Oh, that’s disappointing. I’m honestly surprised it got cut from the commonly played version, since we’re talking mid-80s, but glad it did.
When I hunted it down and watched it just now, my reaction was, “Oh, yeah, I remember that, and it was cringeworthy at the time” — so obviously the original version did get airtime on MTV and/or VH1 back in the day, before someone finally saw sense.
I’ve net met Rick Astley but the parallel universe where we knew each other is very close to this one.
I’m ashamed to say that if I did see the original, I hadn’t yet learned to cringe at blackface, being not only 6 or 7 years old but also growing up in a very white suburb of New Orleans where my parents’ idea of anti-racist education was “only tell n-word jokes when she’s not around to hear them.”
But also it may have aired during the period when Mom banned me from MTV because of how terrified I got over Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Which tells you something about the 6- or 7-year-old that I was.
In this live version, the singer looks even more like a vampire. And no cringeworthy blackface, just the ZDF TV ballet, 1983 edition.