(1) SIAM SINFONIETTA. Somtow Sucharitkul conducts at Carnegie Hall tonight! On Facebook, he posted a picture of his dressing room.
(2) SOCIETY PAGES. The Planetary Society has released the second installment of The Planetary Post with actor and Society board member Robert Picardo, their newsletter featuring the most notable space happenings.
For this issue, we took a trip to the set of the scientist-produced musical called “Boldly Go!” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.
(3) HOP ON POP. “William Shatner sued for $170 million by man claiming to be his long-lost son”
William Shatner is being sued for $170 million by a radio host who claims to be the “Star Trek” legend’s long-lost son.
Peter Sloan has boldly gone and filed legal paperwork in Florida demanding Shatner submit to a DNA test and cease claiming he isn’t his father.
Sloan, 59, claims his birth mother, late Canadian actress Kathy McNeil, had a brief affair with Captain Kirk in Toronto. She gave him up for adoption at 5 days old.
But Shatner, 85, denies Sloan is his son, and claims the local radio host is trying to unfairly live long and prosper from the connection.
(4) MEMORY NUMBER ONE. Madeleine E. Robins makes a riveting anecdote out of her earliest memory, in “My Mother Went Out for Lemons” at Book View Café.
As a small child my family lived in the top two floors (or more properly, the top floor and an attic) of a brownstone on 11th Street in New York City. Four years after this story we moved to another brownstone, also on 11th Street, where we lived in the bottom two floors. But that’s neither here nor there in terms of this memory.
My brother would have been about six months old–I know this because it was spring (and both my brother and I were December babies, but it wasn’t swelteringly hot the way that summer in New York City so often is). I would have been about two and a half. And my mother was making dinner and realized that she needed a lemon. Rather than waking the baby and packing us both into the stroller and going down to the corner to fetch a lemon, Mom made a different call: she sat me down on the couch, told me not to move, and went out to buy a lemon….
(5) ONE RULE TO BIND THEM ALL. Jeffe Kennedy warns against violating the One Rule, in “Romance Tropes for SFF Writers” at the SFWA Blog.
The romance in the book does not end happily. It does not end with even the promise of happiness. The heroine and the hero part ways with every indication that this will be a permanent separation.
Now, there is nothing wrong with this ending for a science fiction novel. However, for a book marketed as SFR, it’s a huge violation of reader trust. It’s an ending that makes romance readers throw the book against the wall. It’s a profound betrayal that destroys their trust in an author.
An argument that gets introduced in a lot of these conversations – always from non-romance readers – is that the HEA/HFN is not mandatory. That it’s okay for a story to end tragically. Romeo and Juliet gets trotted out. And sure, that’s true! But Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies! Sure, there’s a romance in it. You can even say the romance is the core of the story, but that doesn’t make it a romance. Why not?
Because it ends tragically, not happily.
(6) TRUST. R. S. Belcher says “Trust Your Editor” in a post at Magical Words.
Like I said, I was pissed. I had been doing this job of writing and getting paid for it for a long time, years. I paid bills, mine and my family’s bills, on my words, and I thought, after busting my hump on this piece that it was one of the best journalism pieces I had written.
The first chicken McNugget of “wisdom” I’ll throw out here, is whatever you write, if you expect to get paid for it, expect to deal with criticism…from all corners. You have to learn how to deal with that anger or it will eat you up like acid, or worse, it will influence how you write. It will affect how fearless you get in your writing, what you do, how you say it, and what you decide to not say. If you can’t handle that, pack it in, take up alpaca herding or something, ’cause you will be a bitter, miserable, and poor writer (in more ways than one).
So, I took a few days, because my deadline allowed me to, and did nothing in regards to the article. I did not email this editor and tell him exactly what I thought of his revisions, and where he could stuff them. I did not quit in a funk, or bad-mouth the guy and his publication in social media. In other words, I didn’t shoot my career in the face with a bazooka. I raged in private, I calmed the hell down, and I got back to work.
I did every single thing this editor had wanted me to do; when all was said and done, when all the ego, and emotional sturm und drang was over, it was a better piece, a better creation of my writing, my words. My editor was right, and he was damn good at his job. The moral of this story is trust your editor.
Now, I’m not saying trust every editor, I’m saying trust your editor.
(7) TWO DADS. The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman, on sale May 31. The Fireman by Joe Hill, on sale May 17. John King Tarpinian says, “Joe Hill gave Ray Bradbury credit for the title. Both books are dedicated to the authors’ newborn babies.”
(8) PATTY DUKE OBIT. Patty Duke passed away March 29 at the age of 69. Sean Astin paid tribute to his mother online:
Shortly after the news was made public that his famous mother Patty Duke had passed, Sean Astin took to social media to post a heartwarming tribute — and announce that he’s launching a mental health initiative in her honor.
“I love you mom,” he wrote alongside a photo of his mother holding him as a baby. The message also included the statement that the family released to announce the passing.
Along with image, Sean posted the words, “Her work endures,” along with a link to the Patty Duke Mental Health Project.
“My mother’s life touched tens of millions of people. Her ground breaking portrayal of iconic American legend Helen Keller, launched a career that would span six decades,” Sean wrote of the crowd-funded project. “First on broadway and then on the silver screen, Patty Duke’s characterization of the extraordinary development of the blind/deaf child brought global attention to the plight of people living with those challenges.
“The nature of this kind of illuminating and compassionate work become the sacred mission of her life,” he continued. “She became a voice for the voiceless, a reassuring presence for the scared, the intimidated and the lost. She was a healer of many souls and a champion for so many in need.”
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY.
- March 29, 1955 – Revenge of the Creature was seen for the first time. Clint Eastwood, uncredited, makes his first screen appearance in this movie as the goofy white coated lab assistant.
- March 29, 2004 – Shaun of the Dead premieres in London.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL.
- March 29, 1968 – Lucy Lawless of Xena fame.
(11) A LENS MAN LOOKS AT NARNIA. Vishwas R. Gaitonde has some thoughts about the worldwide popularity of Lewis’ Narnia stories. “With No Inkling of the Contents: Viewing Narnia Through a Hindu Lens” at The Mantle.
Recognizing Hindu Philosophy in Narnia
I began to wonder: what would Narnia be like if it were viewed through a Hindu lens? Perhaps part of the worldwide popularity of the Narnian saga lies in people from other cultures discovering a resonance of their own spiritual beliefs—meanings that Lewis never consciously intended. But then, works of imagination are open to interpretation. As I contemplated the Christian themes in Lewis’ work, I began to wonder: what would Narnia be like if it were viewed through a Hindu lens? Could a reader find such themes throughout Narnia?
…In viewing Narnia through a Hindu lens, I have largely drawn from the Hindu school of philosophy called Advaita Vedanta, which is arguably the most popular contemporary concept of Hinduism.
Atman, Brahman, and Maya: Hindus believe that the human soul (Atman) intuitively knows that existence within a physical body is not its true nature—that it is part of the Godhead, the Universal Spirit (Brahman). But in its body prison, the soul has forgotten its real identity. This ignorance (avidya) forms the human quandary and its accompanying sorrows….
Mythology awakens within us the desire for our true selfIn The Silver Chair, Prince Rilian has similarly forgotten who he is for years whilst bewitched by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. When liberated, Rilian regains full knowledge that he is the heir to the Narnian throne. He declares, “For now that I am myself, I can remember that enchanted life, though while I was enchanted, I could not remember my true self.” Similarly, in The Horse and His Boy, Shasta is clueless about his true identity, but he knows that he isn’t who he and others think he is (a slave or serf). His intuition sets him on a quest that ultimately reveals he is the lost heir of Archenland. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lord Rhoop is trapped on Dark Island where subconscious dreams come to life, where one is a prisoner of his or her own mind. In The Silver Chair, Jill Pole sees boulders and is fooled into thinking they may have given rise to the old wives’ tales of giants—until the boulders turn out to be actual giants. In The Last Battle, Puzzle the Donkey cloaked in a lion’s skin deceives others into thinking he is Aslan. And in Prince Caspian, Caspian longs for the old Narnia, just as the soul instinctively knows that there is a better place and a better experience (viz., Brahman, Spirit) than its current surroundings. Mythology awakens within us the desire for our true self—so just as Caspian clings to his myths, Hindus hang on to theirs.
(12) JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS. Here’s how John Joseph Adams said it, in “NEWS: Hugo Award Nomination Deadline is March 31”:
If you like a thing, and you think it’s deserving of a Hugo Award, nominate it! If you’re not familiar with a thing, but you saw it on a suggested nominations list or something of the sort, either read/watch it, and then nominate it because you like it, or don’t nominate it because you didn’t like it. Point being, please don’t nominate stuff just because it’s on somebody’s list somewhere; only nominate things you personally think are deserving.
(13) DOGGED EFFORT. At Chaos Horizon, Brandon Kempner continues “Estimating the 2016 Hugo Nominations, Part 2”.
A pretty simple model and not terribly informative so far. What you’ll glean from this is that the Rabid Puppies are likely to deliver a large block of votes to the works on their list. When we combine this chart with the estimated chart from the Typical vote and the Sad Puppy vote, that’s when we’ll be in business.
The core question is whether or not this block will be larger than other voting groups. In more lightly voted categories like Best Related Work or categories where the vote is more dispersed like Best Short Story, 400 votes is likely enough to sweep all or most of the ballot. Think about Best Related Work: the highest non-Puppy pick last year managed only around 100 votes. The top non-Puppy short story only managed 76 votes last year. Even if you triple those this year, you’re still well under 400 votes. In a more popular category like Best Novel or Best Dramatic Work, I expect the impact to be substantial but not sweeping. Perhaps 3 out of 5? 2 out of 5?
(14) WHAT A WAG. The Good Dog News can be found in this Maximumble cartoon.
(15) SHOPPING ONLINE IN THE STONE AGE. Martin Morse Wooster advises, “The YouTube video ‘Internet Shopping–Database—1984’ is another installment of the 1984 ITV series Database, in which the manager of the Nottingham Building Society reveals ‘If we give away one of these’ (keyboards) ‘We won’t have to build any more branches!’
“The excitement of shopping and looking up your bank statements on your TV is palpable!”
[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, John King Tarpinian, and Will R. for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
As usual, you were’t listening:
when libraries used to put little stickers on the book spines, right under or above the cataloging number, that identified genre
The libraries I went to used ‘M’ (mysteries), ‘SF’, ‘R’ (romance) and ‘W’ (westerns). They might have had others, but I don’t remember. This was especially handy when it was a library where all the non-children’s fiction got shelved together.
(Sometimes they had different colors for the labels, too.)
Vasha on March 30, 2016 at 11:30 am said:
Undefined terms mean you get to decide. Do you personally think it was professional? Then it is professional.
Remember, we don’t define “science fiction and fantasy” either. Do you think it’s SF/F? Then it’s SF/F. If enough people agree with you, it makes the final ballot.
Think of the people eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards as a huge jury. Each of you gets to decide for yourself anything that doesn’t have a hard definition. The Administrator (like the judge in a legal proceeding) makes rulings of law that have firm definitions, like date of publication and length of work, but the members (like the jury in a trial) gets to decide everything else.
@RedWombat — I loathe MilSF myself, but I enjoyed Scalzi’s Redshirts and Lock-In very much, and neither were MilSF in even a very loose sense. Maybe you might like those, even if you don’t want to try the Old Man’s War stuff (which I’ve found not to my taste).
alexvdl: I don’t think it should affect anything you are doing, I was just interested to note that your comments are the reason I recognize the artist’s name.
SFF people care about categories too. Orson Scott Card told a story about how Analog rejected one of his stories because it sounded like fantasy, even though his characters were supposed to be psionic.
I wonder if it was one of his Worthing stories, because even though those had some science fiction furniture, I regarded them as fantasy when I read them.
I think it was: and the point wasn’t just about furniture (trees etc.) but that, within this story, the SFnal justification wasn’t visible (though other, connected, stories supplied it).
@Aaron
I think that was it exactly.
Well, this blog post title just turned up in my RSS feed:
“Mishell Baker’s BORDERLINE is Pure Perfection”
Review from Sf Signal: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2016/03/mishell-bakers-borderline-pure-perfection/
I guess that answers the question of what to read after I finish my mystery.
@Eve:
Title/Author?
I’d recommend starting off with All the Birds in the Sky. (Unless you’re in the mood to be put through the psychological wringer—then Borderline’s a good choice.)
On to books!
Medusa’s Web by Tim Powers: Family members reunite in a decaying Hollywood mansion, where they use printed pictures of “spiders” (unexplained entities that exist at all times simultaneously) to travel through time. I thought it was an interesting premise, but was kind of “meh” on the execution. The writing didn’t grab me, the worldbuilding wasn’t as strong as I thought it needed to be, plot points frequently got neglected/shortchanged, and the “old Hollywood” vibe the author seemed to be going for in many sections didn’t really gel.
Snakewood by Adrian Selby: I could not finish this. It was just so bad. Tedious and unreadable. Any description I give of the plot will make it sound better than it is, so I won’t bother. I’ve heard that it evens out in later chapters (I’ve also heard that it doesn’t), but I won’t be able to judge that for myself, because the idea of picking this back up repels me, on a surprisingly visceral level.
Winterwood by Jacey Bedford: In an alternate England (around the year 1800) which enslaves a human-esque race called “Rowankind”, a young widowed (female) pirate captain visits her dying mother, who gives her a mysterious box which powerful people desperately want. Various and sundry adventures ensue. This started off well, then got stupider and stupider as the story progressed; the back half was, I thought, much worse than the first half. Interesting characterization becomes one-note, and the plot falls apart. I won’t be picking up the sequel.
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab: I actually enjoyed this a lot more than A Darker Shade of Magic (which I enjoyed, but didn’t really love). This one’s very much a middle book, and does not stand on its own, but the writing just grabbed me in a way that its predecessor did not. I’m now anticipating Book 3 much more than I did Book 2.
Um. Guys. I was addressing Greg Hullender. I remember of course that there was subdued grumbling from certain quarters at the time (though I don’t recall any bricks shat sideways). The point was that if Scalzi didn’t think for even one second about withdrawing, why would Chuck Tingle?
I’m pretty sure that nobody here reads minds. Whether or not Chuck Tingle would theoretically withdraw from consideration for a Hugo is a topic of infinite fascination only for someone who is trying to draw a false equivalency. (For the record: Envy of Angels is also on my Hugo ballot.)
In other news, related to romance, I’m going to put this right here:
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/
Go forth and be educated by people who actually know and extensively read within the romance genre. Read the reviews. Especially seek out the werehedgehog supernatural romance novel review.
Because Scalzi wasn’t being used to further the political aims of someone who is utterly opposed to him and his very existence (which “Day” is, assuming that “Tingle” is gay or bi as his book titles suggest), was nominated legitimately by fans voting their preference rather than sticking to a slate, had something to gain from the nomination and possible award (everyone knows “Tingle”‘s story will rank below No Award, and the likelihood of a financial boost for his stuff based on a Hugo nomination is almost zero), and in short was different in every important way from Tingle.
Besides “Smart Bitches”, my other go-to for romance reviews is Jackie Horne at Romance Novels for Feminists. She reviews far fewer books, mostly only ones she likes; I’ve always found her taste really good.
There are other feminist romance reviewers out there.
@Andrew Hickey
everyone knows “Tingle”‘s story will rank below No Award
Now now, let’s not judge a book by its cover. And its title. And the reviews we’ve already read. And the motivations of the Sooper genius slating it.
I’m sure it’s just fine.
@Vasha: Hmmm. That’s where the http://2015hugoart.tumblr.com/ put her, and I had not thought to check, but it looks like she had at least one commissioned piece in 2015 (in January, listed on her tumblr).
Do any Hugo experts know what happens if an artist gets votes in both categories?
I promise to nominate Tingle to The Obscure Brian Z Award for Best Hijacked Author.
Do any Hugo experts know what happens if an artist gets votes in both categories?
Enough votes for shortlisting? Then they are shortlisted in both categories. (Once it was not so, but it was deliberately changed.)
After reading that werehedgehog review, I’m now contemplating attempting a were-giant sloth paranormal romance story. First, because sloths are adorable(even when giant), and second, because they’re much closer in size to a human than a hedgehog, but giant hedgehogs would be terrifying. There must be a market for it, right?
@Emma The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter – it really sucked me in, which unfortunately House of shattered wings did not. There’s a sequel out now too, but set in London.
Okay, not sure I’m up for a psychological wringer at the moment, thanks for the heads up! So maybe Charlie Jane Anders instead. Though you’ve reminded me that I also have the Schwab on the TBR mountain….
One, I think one writer here already has a public simply demanding an Amish Werewolf romance novel… But weresloths would be fun.
More generally, we all survived Certain Parties attempts to Make Sci-fi Great Again before; we will do it again.
Isabel Cooper: I’ve never read Love Story, myself, because it seems like total shit (“Love means never having to say you’re sorry”…ew.) but I guess it could be tragic-romance total shit.
I caught the movie on TV many, many years ago. It was tolerable because of the main actors, but the story was very sappy. A couple of years later, I ran across the book in the library and read it.
Think of it as “a Nicholas Sparks novel not written by Nicholas Sparks”.
In other words, yes, total shit.
@Kimberly:
I’m holding out for Wooed By the Werehuman, myself. Under the light of the full moon, the blind date she thought was an ordinary man transforms into a human being before her very eyes! Awed by his sinewy thews, she offers no resistance as the fearsome man-beast whisks her away to his mysterious lair…
Hey, back here in 525, pulling that transformation trick in the local alehouse is generally good for a few copper pieces. At least a free pint or two.
I’d definitely read either an Amish Werewolf romance or one featuring giant weresloths.
Envy of Angels is on my ballot too. I think humor is hard to do well.
@Mike Glyer – To get people all wound up.
He knows what he’s doing.
Eh. One of those things is true.
RedWombat: Well, this particular reader claims that mystery that breaks the contract is literary, not mystery.
I’m the same way. Anne Charnock’s publisher did not do her any favors by putting
The girl composes a painting of her mother and inadvertently sparks an enduring mystery…
Stories untold. Secrets uncovered. But maybe some mysteries should remain shrouded.
on the back cover of “Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind”. I was very pissed off by the time I’d gotten to the end and discovered that there was not only no solution to the mystery — there was no mystery.
This made me less appreciative of the book than I otherwise might have been.
@Rev Bob: I’m now picturing some very weird Zootopia fanfiction, where a werehuman would in fact be quite a thing. I don’t want to read or write it, but I’m predicting it will exist at some point in the next year.
@RedWombat
I really like Scalzi as a blogger. His books I’m less enamored of. Somehow the writing style usually just doesn’t click. All that said, my favorite of his hardly gets mentioned but might be worth checking out. No Mil in sight that I can recall.
http://www.amazon.com/Agent-Stars-John-Scalzi/dp/0765357003/
Werespringa?
@Mike Glyer, First ONE FAN, and then THE WORLD! *evil laugh*
@Emma, I can’t back your rec of All the Birds because I found it pretty disjointed (my review is on the blog) but I absolutely LOVED A Gathering of Shadows.
@Brian Z, it was also a much different situation where… uh… people weren’t trying to game the Hugos. Andrew Hickey says it pretty clearly.
@KimberlyK, Myke Cole reviewed that story http://www.worldbuilders.org/stretch-goals/2014-stretch-goals/myke-cole-reviews-hedging-his-bets
I read it to the wife while we were dating, because we found it shortly after we got her a hedgehog. It was funny bad. But mostly bad.
Also, I’m always looking for new titles written by women so I just bought BORDERLINE. Whee
@Kimberly:
Actually, the werehuman bit comes from something I’ve done at game demos. I regularly introduce new players to Munchkin, a card game that pokes fun of fantasy RPGs. As such, it has Race cards – Elf, Orc, Dwarf, and the like – as well as a Half-Breed card that lets you be a half-something. Since your default race is Human, playing Half-Breed with Elf technically makes you a half-Elf half-Human.
One of the more common mistakes in the original (or the later horror-themed Munchkin Bites!, with Vampire and Werewolf and Mummy Race cards) is to play Half-Breed “bare,” with no Race card. Rather than highlight the error in a critical way, I have fun with it. “That’s right, my mother was a human and my father was… a human! Behold the dreaded were-human! Watch as I assume my fearsome half-human, half-human battle form before your very eyes!”
And so forth. Ringmaster-voice, flexing, and posing are usually involved, laughter ensues, and people get to remember the rule with a good memory of a lame joke at my own expense, instead of a bad memory of the mistake.
(If you think that’s bad, ask me about the time I pulled 1/3-Breed and ended up as a Dwarf, Orc, and Halfling. Beware the Dorkling!)
ETA, @TYP:
There springa. There castle. Why are we talking this way? 😉
In What’s Up, Doc?, Barbra Streisand’s character repeats the Love Story tagline, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” and Ryan O’Neal’s character responds, “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.”
Mark: The Hugo ballot announcement is to be April 26th per this MidAmericon tweet. Whatever will we do for three and a bit weeks?
I’m going to try to force myself to take care of a few things I’ve been putting off (ugh), and then dive into 2016 reading. Books I’ve already put on the TBR list:
Arkwright, by Allen Steele
Babylon’s Ashes, by James S.A. Corey
The Bands of Mourning, by Brandon Sanderson
Children of Earth and Sky, by Guy Gavriel Kay
City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome, by Serge Brussolo
Dreaming Death, by J. Kathleen Cheney
The Immortals, by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Infomocracy, by Malka Older
Kingfisher, by Patricia A. McKillip
League of Dragons, by Naomi Novik
Lies, Damned Lies, and History, by Jodi Taylor
The Red Rising series, by Pierce Brown
The Nightmare Stacks, by Charles Stross
Occupy Me, by Tricia Sullivan
Quantum Night, by Robert J. Sawyer
The Sudden Appearance of Hope, by Claire North
This Census-Taker, by China Mieville
Those Below, by Daniel Polansky
Time Siege, by Wesley Chu
Transgalactic, by James E. Gunn
Version Control, by Dexter Palmer
The newest mental masturbation post by Chaos Horizon is out, and it’s a mess.
They seem to be confusing the difference between nominators and voters, and between past nominating history numbers vs voting history numbers.
I think that they have good intentions with what they’re trying to do — but I also think that the lack of accuracy and rigor in their starting presumptions ends up making it all of very little worth or meaning.
DINSDALE????
(That comment led me to try thinking about Spiny Norman erotica. Then I tried desperately not thinking about Spiny Norman erotica. I tell you, it’s not easy living inside my head sometimes.)
@Paul: I’m digging all the love for Galavant in this installment. It really is ridiculously fun, and since it ran only 18 22-minute episodes (we can wish for more, but I don’t dare get my hopes up), you can binge easily.
That Supergirl/Flash crossover was the BEST. They are both adorable, and them each thinking the other was cool, and all their scenes together. I hope he breaks dimensions again. It’s nice to see superheroes who act heroic and occasionally have fun with their powers. ENOUGH with the grimdark, already. Plus, the cheerfulness of “Supergirl” makes the “oh shit” moments really mean something. When a villain does stuff (like the long-awaited plan at the end of the ep, after all the cute fun stuff), it’s like whoa. SG the show doesn’t go grimdark with violence or have all the characters moping around about their pain all the time. Plus, a woman over 50 (!) has a major role and all the best quips.
I might try “Flash” if this is the sort of thing they usually do. I didn’t watch it b/c I’d tried to watch “Arrow” and all the manpain, usually in the rain, put me off.
Prediction: “Chuck Tingle” isn’t actually gay and/or will be THRILLED to accept the nomination/finalistness.
@RedWombat: Try the short stories “Judge Sn Goes Golfing”, “How I Proposed to My Wife”, “An Election”, plus novels “Redshirts”, “Lock In”, and “Agent to the Stars”, absolutely none of which are even close to MilSF and all but “Lock In” are comedy. I think “An Election” would make you laugh.
@Kimberly K: Write quick! I’m surprised there aren’t were-sloth romances already! (Although, maybe he’s just as lazy in dude form and spends all his time sleeping.)
@Brian Z
For Scalzi, it seems to have all been a joke, but for gay people, persecution has been a life-and-death matter for a long time. In that context, it’s not about the awards at all. It’s about allowing yourself to be used as a tool by the enemy–an enemy that makes little secret that it wants you dead.
Tingle might not be a real person at all, or might be a straight person. But there’s at least a fair chance that whoever controls the pseudonym will be sympathetic, and whoever it is will certainly have no desire to be nominated just to be humiliated.
But is “Chuck Tingle” even going to know how “he” has been used by the forces of reactionary homophobia? Tingle may not know about the Kerpupple and the Rabids, or even about the Hugos. And there’s no good way to tell “him”.
So first, there’s does he know; second, does he care; third, does he care enough?
@lurkertype
You lack imagination. 🙂
@ Rev Bob
Not romance, but Alma Alexander’s Random invokes a similar premise. Certain lines of Weres, rather than having a specific animal form dictated by heritage, “imprint” on the species they’re in the presence of the first time the Change occurs. This led the protagonist’s mother to end up as a were-chicken IIRC. The protagonist herself undergoes her first Change in the presence of her brother. So every full moon, she turns into a boy. (Alas, the transgender implications of the motif fall a trifle on the gender-essentialist side, which I considered a flaw.) The book is the first volume in a YA trilogy.
As I’ve been putting some stories into the new Hugo recs wiki, I thought I’d mention some here:
Love Is Never Still by Rachel Swirsky
I think this is indescribable, but as I ought to try: it’s got intertwining Greek myths and legends all on the themes of love, and it’s written beautifully, because Swirsky. I strongly suspect it’ll be a marmite story as the structure consistently zigs when you expect it to zag.
Foxfire, Foxfire, by Yoon Ha Lee
I really liked the world and the setup, with a shapechanging fox trying to become human by killing one last person, who happens to be piloting a magical mecha so it all goes a bit sideways. I’m not 100% convinced that the story fully worked, but I still enjoyed the whole effect.
Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass, by Jeremiah Tolbert
Louisa has been down her rabbit hole to Narnia/Oz/Wonderland or wherever, and come back again. Now everyone else is heading into their private fantasy worlds, and their inhabitants are invading our world. This is really rather fun, and very meta.
Sparks Fly by Rich Larson
A boy suffers from excessive electromagnetism, which means he tends to short out electronics if he gets emotional. He wants to go on a date. Hijinks ensue. Perhaps not really anything special, but a fun read.
@Heather Rose Jones:
Sounds a lot like Ranma 1/2, only gender-reversed and with a different mechanism:
(I probably should have been super-clear that those are all 2016 stories, not some sort of insanely last-minute 2015 recs)
This has made my entire day.
Final Hugo reading ongoing:
Downstairs: Natasha Puilley -The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.
Decent so far, good enough for me to think yes I can (And did) put her on my Campbell ballot, even though I’m not finished the book. (I would not generally do this for the Hugo for Best Novel because it judges the novel as a whole, but I feel the Campbell is based enough on potential and general output) Also pretty much far enough to decide that good read or no, it’s not good *enough* to worry about the fact that i won’t finish it before nominations close tomorrow.
Upstairs: Becky Chambers – The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.
So far this is the better of the two books despite its episodic nature, and I’m quite enjoying the various episodes. (I’m also farther along and so have more to judge by). Otherwise, the comments above apply in very much the same way for the same reasons; Campbell yes (With a more solid lock on it), Best novel no.
On the computer: Lois McMaster Bujold – Penric’s Demon / Iona Sharma – Quarter Days
Unlike the novels above, I want to finish both of these by tomorrow, as they are contenders for the open novella slots. (Penric’s Demon I’m far enough it’s doable tonight) I also want to read a couple of other shorts (I think novelettes) tomorrow if I can, but I have to be realistic. Also, what someone else said above – I still want it to not be a CHORE to read these last few I’m refusing to stress if I fail to read em.
It was nice, today, going through the library to pick out books that look interesting without reference to whether or not they’re 2015 picks. So I could grab the first 3 Astro City collections (On the shelf were 2, 3, 9, 12 and 1, that I know of, as I stopped looking once I found 1.), the fourth and fifth books of Saga, Glamour in Glass and the Tropic of Serpents. (I also already have Dragonbreath #4 and The Shepherd’s Crown as reward reading, so they’re first.)
I guess the graphic novel kick I was on hasn’t exactly stopped after all.
@robinareid:
Spine stickers–when they let me out of the Children’s section (ran out of books at 5) into the “High School Section,” the SF spine sticker in Lincoln, NE, was the rocket-plus-atom: Spine Stickers
Discovered Andre Norton there (Star Rangers was my favorite book for the next few years, though I was confused by the neologism “astrogator” and thought that it must be some sort of space gator) and read Alan Nourse next (by stickers and alphabetical order). Heinlein and Asimov were repped only by their juveniles, so when I wanted to read Foundation, for example, I had to get my mom to check it out from the “Adult” section.
Re genre: Robin has it 100% correct–the literary concept of genre/genre studies does not congrue with publishing or, in some cases, reader concept or expectations. Hence, once can speak of text like those mentioned (Wuthering Heights or The Scarlet Letter) as being in the “romance” genre but not the “Romance” genre. (Ha! My spell-check tells me that “congrue,” which I have used much of my life, is now “obsolete”–“I grow old . . . I grow old . . .”)
Re “What to do now?” Re-read the books I’m teaching in Modern SF this fall, of course. (Syllabus due soon, alas!) But DESK COPIES! Bonus!
@Steve Wright:
That comment led me to try thinking about Spiny Norman erotica. Then I tried desperately not thinking about Spiny Norman erotica.
Please send me your book and subscribe me to your newsletter, Part II.
(I know the usual File770 problem is your wallet emptying out and your TBR pile growing, but I’m over here shouting, “Take my money!” at a bunch of books that don’t exist.)
Re. The Flash: yes, it’s much more cheerful and brightly colored and adorkable than Arrow. Much closer in tone to Supergirl. There is indeed a reason they went with that particular crossover, I’m pretty sure. (And yeah, I thought it was great.)
For whatever reason, the Flash’s Central City doesn’t seem to attract the type of corrupt politicians, mobsters, ninjas, and mobster-ninjas that love the Arrow’s Starling City. On the other hand, it seems to be a major science center that mad scientists love to flock to. Probably has a better university or something. 🙂
—
Re. Scalzi and MilSF: A lot of his stuff is not MilSF. Not even all of the OMW novels. The second one seemed more like a spy thriller, and Zoe’s Tale was a coming-of-age novel set against the background of interstellar war. And Lock In, Agent to the Stars, Redshirts, Fuzzy Nation, and my personal favorite, The Android’s Dream, aren’t even close to MilSF.
I liked “Lock In” a lot more than “Redshirts”. They are quite different books, and I am not very interested in Star Trek or similar tv shows.
Same here, StephenFromOttawa. I wasn’t much fond of “Android’s Dream” either, actually, so perhaps it’s something about his brand of humor, where I’m concerned…?
I totally need to introduce you to my husband.
::cough::
Also: there is a market for everything. Dinosaur erotica didn’t happen because nobody bought it, which is how we even have parody dinosaur erotica in the first place. In a possibly unintended side-effect, I have come to the conclusion that if Taken By the Tyrannosaurus can locate its target audience, so can my Steamfantasy Alternate Universe With A Skosh of Lovecraftian Sprinkles On Top Buddy Not Quite Cops novel.