(1) BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA. In 1936 the Marshall College Archaeological Review accepted Professor Jones’ journal article, but asked for a few teensy changes – in “Why Professor Indiana Jones Was Hated By His Colleagues” at Cracked.
The Title
Though your findings are certainly incredible and we understand your enthusiasm, we must say that the title “God Melted Some Nazi Faces In Front Of Me” simply doesn’t fit our journal’s aesthetic. I am only more distressed by the title when I read the first sentence of your abstract, which states “At least I think that’s what happened. Really, I just closed my eyes for a while, and when I opened them, all the Nazis had melted.” As men of science, it is our academic duty to at least entertain the notion that there was a corrosive substance inside the Ark of the Covenant that killed them. Or perhaps there was some sort of violent squabble that erupted while you and Miss Ravenwood had your eyes shut. Or anything, really. Any explanation beyond “God did it” should, at the very least, be mentioned. This segues nicely into my next concern.
(2) REVOLUTIONARY CASTING IDEA. Here’s your next singing and dancing chimney sweep — “’Hamilton’ Creator/Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Signs On For ‘Mary Poppins’ Sequel” reports ScienceFiction.com.
Walt Disney’s new ‘Mary Poppins’ film, directed by Rob Marshall with Emily Blunt portraying everyone’s favorite magical nanny has found its male lead. Broadway wunderkind Lin-Manuel Miranda, the mastermind behind Broadway’s hottest show, ‘Hamilton’ (It’s sold out through 2018!) will play Jack, a lamplighter, a part similar to Bert the chimney sweep, played by Dick Van Dyke in the classic 1964 film.
The new movie is set 20 years after the original, in Depression-era London and will pull from one P.L. Travers’ seven other ‘Mary Poppins’ novels. (The 1964 film was based on the first, with hopes of turning them into a series, but Travers despised the film and nixed those plans.)
(3) IN TAVERNS TO COME. Rob Ehlert and Cathy Mate, the subjects of “Know Your Neighbors: Rob Ehlert of Dark Rogue Tavern” at Around Berwyn, are long time Chicago fans. Cathy’s husband, “Clash” DJed many Windycon dances prior to his death in 2013.
People will know it’s a tavern because in Chicago there will be snow around the entrance half the year…. (File 770 inside joke.)
When an opportunity arises to receive a $10,000 endorsement from Bar Rescue’s Jon Taffer, you take it. That’s what Berwyn resident Rob Ehlert did when he entered his bar concept, Dark Rogue Tavern, into a nationwide entrepreneurial contest sponsored by the famous TV personality.
Dark Rogue Tavern will be Berwyn’s newest bar and grill scheduled to open in July 2016. The concept is the brainchild of Amy Mate and Rob Ehlert, who felt inspired to create “a ‘Cheers’ for nerds.” According to Ehlert, Dark Rogue Tavern will be a place for geeks, gamers, comic book collectors, sci-fi fans, and fantasy role-players to come together and enjoy a space dedicated to them. They can come with friends, or make new ones, and watch their favorite shows and movies, play their favorite games and enjoy craft beers, cocktails, and elevated bar food.
After pitching this idea to Taffer’s entrepreneurial contest, Mate and Ehlert made it into the top 10 but ultimately did not win the contest. But never fear! Dark Rogue Tavern will eventually be here, even without the $10K grant. “We will make this bar open regardless of the support from Jon Taffer,” said Ehlert.
(4) THE BRANDENBURG GREAT. Neil Clarke is the guest fiction editor of a science and sf theme issue of The Berlin Quarterly, a European print review of long form journalism, literature, and the Arts. Clarke says —
Their budget permitted me to select four reprints, so in this issue you’ll find:
- “Slipping” by Lauren Beukes
- “Tying Knots” by Ken Liu
- “A Brief Investigation of the Process of Decay” by Genevieve Valentine
- “The Best We Can” by Carrie Vaughn
(5) MEOW MIX. George R.R. Martin alerted readers of Not A Blog that Meow Wolf will be open to the public for the first time on March 18 and 19. He also linked to an LA Times story about the project, “Art collective builds a dream house in Santa Fe with millions of dollars – and junk”
Calling themselves “Meow Wolf,” they have earned a reputation for using whatever materials they can scavenge to build fantastical exhibits that are part haunted house and part jungle gym — giant artwork that people can step inside.
These immersive shows — a psychedelic cave, a junk-filled dome — have grown progressively more elaborate. Now, after years of surviving on shoestring budgets, Meow Wolf has persuaded investors to pour millions of dollars into something even bigger.
The Santa Fe group has procured an abandoned bowling alley in a struggling part of town to house a massive, permanent exhibit. King and his friends call it a dream come true, but it comes at a price.
Martin has invested $3.5 million in the project, says the LA Times.
(6) BERLITZKRIEG. I have it on the highest authority that Vox Popoli isn’t a result of an inability to spell vox populi, it’s a combination of the Latin phrase with the Italian la voce dei popoli.
And Vox Day isn’t “the voice of God” either. It’s a trilingual pun, Latin-Greek-English.
Vox Day
Vox Dei
Vox Theos
Theo’s Voice
There will be a quiz.
(7) TWISTING IN THE WINDS OF WINTER. IGN has posted a video interview with George R.R. Martin and Colony co-creator Ryan Condal in which Martin delivered an intriguing bit of news.
George R.R. Martin has officially decided to write in the big twist he planned for his new book, The Winds of Winter. The twist on the twist? The Game of Thrones TV show won’t be able to pull it off, because it’s already killed off a key character involved in the storyline. Watch Martin give us the scoop in the video above.
This is just one awesome moment from our full 27-minute sit down with Martin and Colony co-creator Ryan Condal, where we talk the suggestions that changed their series completely, the sci-fi/fantasy properties that made them fans, dream casting and how to end a story.
(8) CONTINUING COVERAGE OF MARK OSHIRO AND CONQUEST. Selina Rosen and Mark Oshiro exchanged comments on Facebook, and Oshiro said he appreciated Rosen’s apology.
[Selina Rosen:] It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. I am not aware of touching you but know that if I did it was not meant as an insult or to make you uncomfortable. FYI till Monday of this week I did NOT even know that you were the one who turned me in. I apologize for any perception you had that I was in any way sexualizing or trying to demean you. I will be more aware in the future that fandom has changed and I must change with it or stay home.
[Mark Does Stuff:] Thank you very much for this, Selina. For what it’s worth, I believe you in that you may not have even known you were touching me. I appreciate your apology. I wish ConQuesT had just TOLD you about this so that you didn’t have to find out this way. Regardless, I genuinely thank you for posting this.
[Selina Rosen:] Not knowing who had told made it imposable for me to address the issue with you directly. Only know I am not that person and never have been.
Rosen further commented on a different Facebook post.
[Selina Rosen.] Seriously I’m so sorry that I did this mostly because it’s the joke that will not die. I played to the audience. The joke is so old I have to go to the banks of antiquity to ask permission to use it. I will not do it again. I am sorry that he was so upset in any way. No one should be uncomfortable.
(9) RABID PUPPIES MARCH ON. Vox Day’s slate for another Hugo category — Rabid Puppies 2016: Best Short Story.
The preliminary recommendations for the Best Short Story category:
- “Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer”, Megan Grey, Fireside Magazine
- “Asymmetrical Warfare”, S. R. Algernon, Nature Nr. 519
- “Seven Kill Tiger”, Charles Shao, There Will Be War Vol. X
- “The Commuter”, Thomas Mays, Amazon Kindle Single
- “If You Were an Award, My Love”, Juan Tabo and S. Harris, Vox Popoli
(10) SAD PUPPIES 4 REPORT. Kate Paulk checks off “the big two” Hugo categories in a short Mad Genius Club post.
I’m wrapping these two together because they’re the big hitters of the Hugos even though the Campbell isn’t a Hugo. They’re also, well… kind of obvious. The Campbell website even has a list of eligible authors….
As for what to nominate, well, that’s up to you folks. I can guarantee that what shows up on my ballot will not be what bubbles to the top of the List, because I’m doing the List as a service to anyone who’s interested and trying to boost interest and involvement in the entire Hugos process. Also because I’m just weird.
Now the administrative stuff:
I will start closing comments on the Sad Puppies recommendation threads starting around 5pm US Eastern Time on Monday 29th February. This is so I don’t have new recommendations coming in while I’m trying to collate what’s there.
(11) BOOK PROMO. At the SFWA Blog, Cat Rambo lists “10 Ways SFWA Can Help Promote Your New Book”. Here are the first three:
- The Featured Book section of the website appears on the righthand side of the website’s front page and is open to new books at the time of their release. While filling that out, you might also fill out the Featured Author section.
- The New Release Newsletter is a recent addition that lists forthcoming publications by SFWA members. It is not limited to books, but can encompass shorter fiction and alternate forms. Backlist books being newly released can be listed in the newsletter.
- The SFWA Discussion Forums have multiple ways to promote your book. Mention details in your personal thread, list interviews and reviews in the Self Promotion section, where you can also find a link to Don Saker’s The Dealer’s Room, where SFWAmembers can list free book promotions.
(12) CONSTRUCTION TOYS. These items come from Andrew Porter.
Meccano was the British equivalent of the US Erector Set. The history of Meccano Magazine is available here at the Meccano Indexes and Information Home Page.
James May (not the Puppy James May) hosts the BBC show James May’s Toy Stories, where he built a Meccano bridge which supported a man, in Liverpool — part of a series which included running electric model trains for five miles in open country, building a two-story house out of LEGO, and creating a life-size plastic Airfix Spitfire model.
You can download issues of Meccano Magazine as PDFs here
(13) SPINNING SHIELD. ScienceFiction.com has the story: “ABC Releases Synopsis For ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Spinoff ‘Most Wanted’”.
Back in January, ABC gave the green light to Marvel Television’s ‘Most Wanted’ after a period of will they/won’t they. Since then, the ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ spinoff starring Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood has been ramping up. First, Delroy Lindo joined the cast as the swashbuckling adventurer Dominic Fortune. Now, we have our first description of the series that gives us a glimpse at Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter’s new mission.
The first official synopsis for the latest show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was recently shared and as anticipated, we learn about Mockingbird and Hunter’s less than ideal situation where they find themselves with bounties on their heads. But there’s also some new information about Fortune’s role in the whole thing and how the three will come together…
(14) OLD FEDEX COMMERCIAL. Saw this getting replayed today…
[Thanks to Steven H Silver, Andrew Porter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Nigel.]
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@Chad
Now I am thinking of Latin speaking Daleks
Here in 5768, Latin is back in vogue again, and we write it grammatically, and the locative case is a thing again.
@Doctor Science: My Longlist post has Pro Artists w/ examples. It only has four fan artists, though.
Joe Sherry:
Thank you SO MUCH! Some of these were already done or in my queue, but not all.
Do you have any thoughts/opinions on a better way to handle Art categories?
That word, I do not think what you think it means.
Also: Applause!
@Soon Lee:
No no, I’m free, I say! Free!
Hic textus in (VIII)CCLXXI chung Latina superstes confusa loqui, nisi ex vi ante lapsum erat in MMXIV civilisation Hugo inputted có b? Google Translate In fasciculum. Quamvis enim lingua nostra, non tamen quod faciat caput et caudam.
Well, most of those (with the obvious exceptions) are actual Latin words?
@Doctor Science
In terms of putting together a long recommendations list or your personal nominating? Or both at the same time?
I understand that the category is Best Professional Artist (or Fan Artist), meaning that technically the award is for the artist who produced the overall best body of work during the year of eligibility. It is, however, so much easier to initially focus on a single work. So – if I see a book cover that I look at and think is awesome, I put the artist on my long list. It can be increasingly difficult to figure out what that artist did over the course of a full year. For 7 years, John Picacio clearly listed all of his work on his website by year. This year he didn’t. A lot of artists don’t. Which brings us back to focusing on your favorite cover art and identifying the artists.
It is so easy to remember the names of the artists who are nominated each year and find what they did and recognize them. It takes more work to start to find the ones who aren’t traditional Hugo favorites.
Fan Art is just so damned big that I just try to remember to note who did something really cool that somehow hit my radar.
Also look at Carl Anderson’s list of his favorite cover art on Stainless Steel Droppings.
Andrew M: It seems to me that the SP strategy is actually quite well calculated. I’m taking it that, although it’s set up so that it can be used as a slate, a lot of people will actually use it as a recommendation list… Given what the result was of taking the ballot over entirely last year, this may be a better outcome from their point of view.
It might be “better” from their point of view, but it won’t be from mine.
Paulk says: I expect to be done collating by mid-March: I will post the list here and on the site either the second or third Thursday in March (that’s the 10th and the 17th).
In other words, 2 to 3 weeks before the deadline — way too late for most people to actually do the reading, if they haven’t done it already. Which means that the Puppies’ Slate Lite is going to get used as a nominating slate by people who haven’t got enough things already figured out for themselves.
A propos of nothing, I saw some news about IF Magazine now being free and available to download, and it struck me as something you pixel-scroller-types might enjoy. As well as the rest of the Pulp Magazine archive.
Also, since I’m here:
A scrolling comes across the sky
maybe?
If you’re asking about a better way to maybe list things for your Hugo Eligible Art tumblr…that’s a tough one and I have no idea.
While I’d love to see the awards go for specific works, which I think is plausible for the professional categories, I think it would self destruct the Fan Artist category because that’s already so diffuse.
Mihi Graecum est. Aut duplex lingua Bataviorum.
As we say in 9574: ‘Volitant dolo meum plenum est et anguillae’
[also the ‘double dutch’ got back translated to ‘double tongue Holland’]
@bloodstone75 – re: the full version of Pup’s in the Manger – I can only bow to the master. That was amazing and utterly worth getting the earworm back.
—
Re: Selina Rosen – Reading others’ accounts of Rosen’s past disruptive and harassing behavior (seriously, backing someone in the corner to proposition them? While having your henchies physically prevent that someone’s spouse from reaching them? That’s terrifying) makes it clear that her apology to Oshiro is even more sketchy than it appeared. “Oh, I never knew I was accidentally touching you! I wish you’d told me!” The hell. She knew. Someone with this kind of track record knows. The “I never knew” defense gets pulled out when she gets called on it, but don’t ask me to believe she won’t go right back to it next time an opportunity presents. This is classic serial harasser behavior.
The above offered in response, possibly preemptive to any arrogant dimstick who insists “Oshiro accepted her apology, and the rest of everyone ought to be content with that and shut up.”
Doctor Science: A couple days ago I looked at the calendar, aghast, and fired up 2015 Hugo Eligible Art again.
Thank you for that! That is really helpful. As is yours, Joe Sherry, so thank you to you as well.
Question: We’ve been told that Lightspeed is no longer a Semiprozine and not eligible to be nominated in that category this year. So does that make Elizabeth Leggett a Pro Artist candidate?
Just made my first non-bread machine loaf. Huzzah!
@Simon:
So just what is machine loaf, if it’s not bread? 😉
Non-bread machine loaf is designed to appease the robots and stop the uprising.
@Simon Bisson
Congrats it’s a great feeling isn’t it? Enjoy the slices of your labor.
Carpe libell?s! Seize the books!
Speaking of books, conlangers and other people who like the nuts and bolts of languages (clearly some of us here!) might like David J Peterson’s The Art of Language Invention.
Valyrian has some (to English speakers) really weird cases. But there are RL languages even odder…
@ Paul
This is, of course, one of the reasons I’m so happy about Worldcon going to Helsinki. Lots of locative cases!
Paul (@princejvstin) said:
My all-time favorite weird noun case occurs in some Native American languages. You’ve heard of the vocative case, used for addressing people? Well, these languages go one step further and include a pejorative case.
Turkish has a tense for gossip and hearsay.
Mary Robinette Kowal plays her Trump card.
A propos of nothing, I saw some news about IF Magazine now being free and available to download, and it struck me as something you pixel-scroller-types might enjoy. As well as the rest of the Pulp Magazine archive.
Great–like I need another excuse to put off errands and projects. The last time I went there (archive.org) the Galaxy magazines alone kept me ‘trapped’. Nevermind Starlog and Omni–I loved Omni back in the day.
I’ve been meaning to check back there.
@Jim Hague – Yikes! That’s terrible! I’m so sorry your wife had that be her first con experience…yeesh.
People try to pick up my husband at furry cons semi-regularly, with skill levels ranging from “watching a puppy run repeatedly into a door” to “I wish to stand up and applaud you, sir, you could give classes on delicately determining the interest levels of the other party and I would take them” but once somebody gets backed into a corner with their friends being held off, it’s a whole ‘nother ball of harassment wax. If that had happened to him at the first con he came along to help me vend at, I don’t know if I could have gotten him to the next one.
Irish has a tense just for cursing.
@rob_matic: People using the SP4 ‘recommended reading list’ are going to be devoting an awful lot of time to reading in March, aren’t they?
Oh, it’s so cute you think they’re actually going to READ the stuff before nominating. Why should they start now? I love the optimism of you kids. 😉
@PIMMN: Beautifully and amusingly explained. Is! Is! Negation!
@bloodstone75: waves lighter
Internet Archive having the entire run of both “If” and “Starlog” is gonna eat into my sleep time a bunch, I can tell.
Rosen needs an ASBO, doesn’t she? Or like the guy in “Snow Crash” with POOR IMPULSE CONTROL tattooed on his forehead. Ditto her posse.
And how can anyone (even without knowing her previous record) think it’s physically possible not to realize you’re touching someone else with your bare skin? Absent severe neuropathy, no.
@ Jim Hague Oh, that would be an awful experience at a first con. I didn’t realize Rosen had long-term problems with consent; she had better change with the times quickly.
Nicole and bloodstone75: Bravo!
At the Yard Dog Press booth, you can buy buttons that say DBAA. Yes, that is supposed to expand to “Don’t Be An Asshole”.
2) Am I the only one who found the plot line of Saving Mr. Banks to be skeevy as shit? I mean, effectively the entire movie is about a woman saying NO over and over again, and a man simply refusing to accept it. The more I heard about it, the more creeped-out I got.
[sorry only noticed this post now]
I did compile Best Novel data from the SP4 site but haven’t really been looking at names. However, in early Feb there were about 176 distinct names in the Best Novel data and I don’t think that has changed much. Given that the most recommended novel has about 20 recommendations, that gives an indication of how varied the recommendations are.
It is certainly a mix of people contributing and not just MGC regulars.
Saving Mr. Banks being sold in the children’s DVD section is a little weird, too. Would children be interested in it at all?
@DMS – I found Core of the Sun fun. Also, it left me craving spicy food, as well.
@Mark
Mary Robinette Kowal plays her Trump card.
It’s a good article, thanks for sharing … VD is small potatoes compared.
After putting Camestros’s Latin through the blender a few times, I ended up with this translation:
Which amuses me no end.
As for the title referenced before, I’m going with “Operatio Autoro Vitaminum Vegeminum Aeter Allus.” It’s bigger and therefore better as well as 50% Latin, 30% Lucy, 20% Esperanto, 20% Estonian and 25% Italian. Therefore it is a hybrid o’ excellence, or, as I like to call it “An Ibrido d’Excellenti!”
Speaking of art: do you guys think Felicia Cano counts as Pro Artist or Fan Artist?
Also: would you nominate Sana Takeda for Pro Artist, or would you wait until “Monstress” is finished?
I got out of hospital today, and am thus in transition between two very different worlds, but I cannot pass the Rosen thing by without comment. I have just spent 10 days being touched by a lot of people, and the only people I didn’t notice touching me were the people who managed to connect me to my 6 am intravenous antibiotics without waking me up. I’d like to express my profound thanks to those people; I am not a morning person.
Under the law of England and Wales anyone, including medical staff, touching me without consent is assaulting me; it only ceases to be assault if a patient like myself has expressed her consent. Selina Rosen appears not to understand the concept of consent, just as she does not understand that those of us who get touched know perfectly well that the people doing the touching are perfectly aware that they are touching.
As Lurkertype has noted, the only people unable to detect that their bare skin is touching someone else have severe neuropathy; I will add that someone with severe neuropathy needs to see a doctor now. It really isn’t something one can safely ignore.
But I do not believe that Rosen has severe neuropathy; I think she enjoys harassing people, whilst telling herself she’s not really mean, because she’s being edgy. And the sooner we stop rewarding her behaviour the better; she’s not going to change until she discovers that she has to change if she wants to carry on going to conventions…
@Doctor Science:
On her website, the pictures are actually labelled with who commissioned them, making clear that it’s professional. I wish more artists would do that.
@Paul
I’ll have to check that out. A book for a book! Possibly the only linguistics book I’ve read is The Story of Language by Mario Pei:
http://tinyurl.com/jotcrrb
It’s been a long time since I read it but I recall it being utterly fascinating and written with a light touch. My edition is from 1949 but it looks like it was revised through the 60’s. That’s still half a century old for the latest edition. No telling how close to modern theory it is without being better read in the subject than I. Still a fun read in any case.
Vasha:
But the fact that something is commissioned and paid for doesn’t mean it’s Pro art, by current rules. It’s enough to drive an owl mad …
@Stevie
I’ve had mild neuropathy since I was a teenager although I only got it diagnosed in my 40s when a doctor listened to what I said. The testing was not loads of fun. It was interesting. It’s gotten worse over the years. But my feelings in my arms, legs, and head come and go depending on activity. The head one is kinda scary and the doctor didn’t test for that. We did an MRI and my brain looks fine. At this point I’m being told there is nothing they can do with where I’m at.
I know people who have it worse. One of them literally can’t feel his foot sometimes so it drags when he walks those days. He’s not into doctors and isn’t getting treatment. This is bad. Very bad.
@Dr. Science
Eligibility is hard. You might drop the artist a note.
I’ve been contacting a few short story editors to see if they qualify. All have been quite happy to look into it and get back to me. So far 2 have confirmed 3 qualify. I need to grab their info and share here and on the various other places people have requested we post eligibility information this coming week.
For the Artist categories, isn’t it dependent on the work and not the artist? Ie Julie Dillon has some works that qualify as fan art, while others are paid for and qualify as pro. Or am I getting confused again?
It was something like: In the year [whatever the year showing was] we speak a garbled version of latin because the only text left after the fall of civilization was a the 2014 Hugo packet that somebody had put through Google Translate.
For some reason it also kept translating “we” as “CHANG” (with capital letters)
Pixels Ain’t Shit
99 Pixels
Gin and Scrolls
Fight the Pixel
I would assume that selling art to a recognized professional market would be the dividing line, rather than merely getting paid. Yeah, if my Mom pays me a quarter to draw a picture for her, that’s getting paid, but I doubt it’s what the rules intend to cover.
The lines are blurred in this internet age, and I wouldn’t want to try to describe a hard line, but when I go to comics, there are lots of artists who’ve never sold anything to a recognized market who will gladly take on a commission for a fan.
I don’t think most of those artists would feel they’ve broken into the professional illustration world, though.
So George R.R. Martin’s twist-on-a-twist involves Mance Rayder presumably. He seems like the major character who’s alive in the books but dead on TV. I suppose it could also be Sandor Cleghane, who is said to be dead in the books but the death was offscreen.
@snowcrash, @Kurt Busiek, I think Kurt is right. From my reading of the Hugo awards website, it looks like Professional Artist is based on work published during the year in question in professional publications, and Fan Artist on work published everywhere else (including semiprozines and fanzines) and unpublished work. It also looks like an artist can be eligible for both, because it mentions that work for one category should not be considered when looking at the other category.
That website is not the official word, of course – that would be the WSFS constitution, which I believe is currently being hosted at MidAmeriCon II’s website.
Eesh. Laid up as I am, I dove too deep into the Selina Rosen thing.
Talk about Missing Stair Theory…
(Note – this is one of the few times I would suggest going straight to Wikipedia. Much of the origins of Missing Stair Theory were written in NSFW terms and sites)
On a very different topic:
Scrolling in the Name