Pixel Scroll 4/1/21 I’ve Been Pixeled, Been Misfiled, When Will I Be Scrolled

(1) PLAY ALONG AT HOME. Eli Grober offers these “Opening Lines Rewritten for a Pandemic” in The New Yorker.

“A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeleine L’Engle

“It was a dark and stormy night, so we stayed inside, just like we’d done every night for the last year. In that way, it was a perfectly normal night.”

“A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But, mostly, it was the worst of times. In fact, not once had it felt like the best of times.”

Bill sent the link with a suggestion that Filers extend the list. Here’s his contribution —

“Double Star” by Robert A. Heinlein

If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he doesn’t need to wear a mask, he’s a spaceman.

(2) FREE BOOK FROM TAFF. Creative Random Harris is now available in multiple formats at the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund’s website, where they hope you’ll make a little donation to the fund if you please. Over 276,000 words.

Chuck Harris (1927-1999) was active in fandom in the 1950s as a founding editor of the legendary fanzine Hyphen (where he wrote the “Random” column), and returned to the fannish scene in 1984. His letters, full of hilarious, scabrous and generally irresponsible anecdotes, were re-edited as the “Creative Random History” column in many issues of Pulp (1984-1989) and distributed in his own round-robin compilations Quinsy (later just Q) and Charrisma; similar columns also appeared in other fanzines.

For this ebook, Rob Hansen and David Langford have assembled a huge mass of Chuck’s articles and correspondence (some never before published). There is an introductory appreciation written in 1989 by his lifelong friend Walt Willis, a historical foreword by Rob Hansen, and various notes and explications by David Langford.

Cover photo of Sue and Chuck Harris in 1989 (as special guests of Corflu 6) by Geri Sullivan.

(3) RED AND OTHER COLORS PLANET. View the California Art Club’s online exhibit “Mars: An Artistic Mission”. Features work by Julie Bell, James Gurney, William Stout, Boris Vallejo and many others.

Art and science have been intertwined since the dawn of civilization. Science, and in particular space exploration, has allowed us to transcend our bodily limitations on Earth, magnifying our creativity in the process, as we are propelled into the cosmos. With Mars: An Artistic Mission, which celebrates the landing of the Mars Perseverance Rover on the Red Planet, we honor the marriage of art and science.

As you venture through these virtual galleries, you will find dazzling Mars-scapes, snapshots of rovers in operation, and ethereal portraits of life beyond our Earthly barrier.

We hope this exhibition leaves you saying “Mission Accomplished.”

(4) ANOTHER SPIN AROUND THE BLOCK. “Surprise! A Second The Suicide Squad Trailer Has Dropped”Yahoo! leads the way:

Trailers have a fun way of changing the context of what you’re looking at. It’s truly an experiment in the Kuleshov effect, but with more music. We’re barely a week out from the bombastic, humor-fueled, classic-rock-ified first trailer for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which introduced us to our new favorite son, King Shark. Now, Gunn has shared a second trailer that premiered in cinemas with Godzilla vs. Kong. It’s got a completely different feel, even though it uses a lot of the same shots, moments, and lines. If we saw this one first, we might think we were getting an action drama. Maybe it’s both!

(5) MIDCOURSE MANUVERS. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction revealed forthcoming changes to hosting and sponsorship in the “Shape of Things to Come”.

October 2021 will see the tenth anniversary of the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, which since 2011 has been hosted by Orion and linked to the Gollancz SF Gateway ebook operation. Orion/Gollancz have now decided not to renew the contract on 1 October 2021, and we are parting amicably.

The principal Encyclopedia editors John Clute and David Langford plan to move sf-encyclopedia.com to their own web server and continue as seamlessly as possible with very much the same “look and feel”, with access exactly the same as now, though soon perhaps with a new sponsor and certainly with a few improvements that the current platform does not allow. Keep watching the skies!

John Clute’s version of the announcement ends:

…The first changes to be made, several of which David has already pre-coded, will be technically “cosmetic”, but should make the site easier to navigate. Nothing is ever signed until it’s signed, and nothing is ever certain till it bores you silly: but the reference to new sponsors is not blowing in the wind.

(6) IRISH NATCON WILL BE ONLINE. Octocon, the National Irish SF Convention, is going virtual again in 2021.

This is absolutely not an April fool’s joke.

The committee weighed up the pros and cons, and we want everyone to be able to attend our next in person convention.

Our convention family includes people from outside Ireland as well as all over the 32 counties.

Last year’s Virtual convention went so well, we are exploring bringing you all even more panels, readings, workshops, interviews, and fun activities.

(7) AWKWARD. Wil Wheaton asked Facebook readers to find him a copy of an anecdote he had published. When he happened to find his own copy he shared it with his Facebook followers. (Also at his blog.) Here’s the setup:

I first met William Shatner on the set of Star Trek V back in 1988. I was 16, and had been working on TNG for two years at the time….

For weeks, I tried to get up the nerve to introduce myself. When I would walk from the stage to my dressing room or school room, I would do it slowly, looking at their stage door, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mister Spock, or Doctor McCoy, or even the legendary Captain Kirk. The few times they did appear, though, I could never find the courage to approach them.

This went on for about six weeks.

…Why was I so intimidated? I was a 16 year-old geek, with a chance to meet The Big Three from Star Trek. You do the math.

One afternoon, while I was sitting outside stage 9 talking with Mandy, my costumer, they opened the huge stage door across the way, and I could see right into the set of Star Trek V. It was a large area, like a cargo bay, filled with extras and equipment. It was quite different from our set, but it was unmistakably The Enterprise. Standing in the middle of it all was William Shatner. He held a script open like it was a holy text. The way he gestured with his hands, I could tell that he was setting up a shot and discussing it with the camera crew.

I waited for the familiar rush of nerves, but it didn’t come. Seeing him as a director and not as Captain Kirk put me at ease. I knew that this was my moment. If I didn’t walk over and introduce myself right then, I would never do it….

(8) MEMORY LANE.

  • 1981 — Forty years ago, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York premiered. (That was how it was shown on-screen.)  Starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, this film was written by John Carpenter and Nick Castle. It was directed by John  Carpenter, and produced by  Larry Franco and Debra Hill. Supporting cast was  Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, and Harry Dean Stanton. The film received generally positive reviews with Russell in particular finding favor with the critics; it did very well at the box office earning far more than it cost to produce; and audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give it an excellent seventy seven percent rating. 

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and John Hertz.]

  • Born April 1, 1875 Edgar Wallace. Creator of King Kong, he also wrote SF including Planetoid 127, one of the first parallel Earth stories, and The Green Rust, a bioterrorism novel which was made into a silent film called The Green Terror. Critics as diverse as Orwell, Sayers and Penzler have expressed their rather vehement distaste for him.  Kindle has an impressive number of works available. (Died 1932.) (CE)
  • Born April 1, 1911 – Augusta Braxton Baker.  First black to get a Master’s degree in librarianship from Albany Teacher’s College, admitted only under pressure from Eleanor Roosevelt whose husband F.D. Roosevelt was then Governor of New York.  First black librarian in an administrative position at the NY Public Library.  President of Amer. Lib’y Ass’n Children’s Services Division.  Chaired the Newbery and Caldecott Medals committee.  First Storyteller-in-Residence at an American university (Univ. S. Carolina).  Two anthologies for us, The Talking Tree and The Golden Lynx.  (Died 1998) [JH] 
  • Born April 1, 1918 – Frank Borth.  Twoscore interiors for us; also comics e.g. There Oughta Be A Law! 1970-1983 succeeding Harry Shorten, “Draw Along with FB” in Treasure Chest 1963-1972.  Here is an illustration for “As Chemist to Chemist” in the Nov-Dec 78 Asimov’s.   Here is Zelazny’s  “Last Defender of Camelot”  (Died 2009) [JH]
  • Born April 1, 1926 Anne McCaffrey. I read both the original trilogy and what’s called the Harper Hall trilogy oh so many years ago. Enjoyed them immensely but haven’t revisted them so I don’t know what the Suck Fairy would make of them. And I confess that I had no idea she’d written so much other genre fiction! (Died 2011.) (CE) 
  • Born April 1, 1942 Samuel R. Delany, 79. There’s no short list of recommended works for him as everything he’s done is brilliant. That said I think I’d start off suggesting a reading first of Babel- 17 (one of his four Nebula winners) and Dhalgren followed by the Return to Nevèrÿon series. I’m reasonably sure that his only Hugo-winning fiction was in the Short Story category at Heicon (1970) for “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones” as published in New Worlds, December 1968. He won another Hugo for Best Nonfiction Book with The Motion of Light In Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village 1957-1965 at Noreascon Three (1989). (CE) 
  • Born April 1, 1950 – Randy Bathurst.  Active in the Detroit area during the 1970s, particularly with fanart.  Fan Guest of Honor at Marcon XI.  Here he is in the Masquerade costume competition at Torcon II the 31st Worldcon (hello,Tim Kirk).  He’s in the first issue of File 770;see here (PDF; scroll down to p. 8).  See his Ten of Cups in Bruce Pelz’ Fantasy Showcase Tarot Deck here (PDF of the deck starts with BP’s introduction, then Cups).  Here is Our Gracious Hosts report of his death.  (Died 2009) [JH]
  • Born April 1, 1953 Barry Sonnenfeld, 68. Director of The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values  (both of which I really like), and the Men in Black trilogy (well one out of three ain’t bad). He also executive produced Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events which I’ve not seen, and did the same for Men in Black: International, the recent continuation of that franchise. (CE)
  • Born April 1, 1960 Michael Praed, 61. Robin of Loxley on Robin of Sherwood which no doubt is one of the finest genre series ever done of a fantasy nature. He also played Phileas Fogg on The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, an amazing series that never got released on DVD. It has spawned a lively fanfic following since it was cancelled with names such as Spicy Airship Stories. (CE) 
  • Born April 1, 1963 James Robinson, 58. Writer, both comics and film. Some of his best known comics are the series centered on the Justice Society of America, in particular the Starman character he co-created with Tony Harris. His Starman series is without doubt some of the finest work ever done in the comics field. His screenwriting is a mixed bag. Remember The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Well that’s him. He’s much, much better on the animated Son of Batman film. (CE) 
  • Born April 1, 1966 – Janette Rallison, age 55.  A dozen novels, one novelette for us (some under another name); a score of other novels and books of shorter stories. Has read My Double Life (memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt), BabbittA Tale of Two Cities, two by Jane Austen, The Brothers KaramazovThe 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.  “If your teacher asks you to identify symbolism in my books, you have my permission to tell him/her that I didn’t put any in.”  Website.  [JH]
  • Born Aril 1, 1974 – Diane Awerbuck, age 47.  Two novels for us (with Alex Latimer, as Frank Owen), a score of shorter stories.  Outside our field, Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, Short Story Day Africa prize.  Geoff Ryman’s interview with her for Strange Horizons (and excerpt from AR’s Home Remedieshere.  [JH]
  • Born April 1, 1991 – Kat Zhang, age 30.  Four novels for us.  Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year.  First book sold at age 19.  Outside our field, in The Emperor’s Riddle a Chinese-American girl and her brother visiting China tangle with legends of the Chian-wen Emperor (Ming Dynasty; disappeared 1402). [JH]

(10) A FAN’S HOUSE. This post from Porch.com advises you how to “Turn Any Space at Home into Your Favorite Fandom”. It exists to drive business to home improvement professionals, however, its commercial orientation didn’t keep me from enjoying the article — maybe you will, too.

First, assess your space.

When it comes to Fandom decor, you can draw inspiration from your favorite films, books, video games, or any other cultural sources that strike your fancy. You can transform a nook beneath your stairs into Harry Potter’s hidden chamber or your bedroom into Maleficent’s boudoir of enchantment. The key is to choose a theme that resonates with your interests so that it will delight you each time you visit the space. 

Of course, before you head out to shop for a Lego Death Star for your Star Wars-themed room or a life-size Pikachu for your Pokemon personal den, you’ll need to assess your space carefully. Keep its measurements handy so that you don’t have to estimate sizing considerations while you’re shopping for items like draperies, carpets, furnishings, and decorative items. Be sure you note the dimensions of windows, walls, and the floor.

(11) NOT LIKE OLD TIMES. Diamond Bay Radio did a podcast on time and space in Russian speculative fiction of the 1920s. In this interview, Mlex spoke with Reed Johnson, of Bowdoin College, about the life and works of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, and his time travel story, “Memories of the Future”.

“Half eaten away by rust, its letters said: WHOLESALE SUPPLIERS OF UTOPIA SINCE… The year had been obliterated by time.”

(12) RAMPING UP TO THE VIRTUAL EASTERCON. Episode 28 of the Octothorpe podcast is now available: “Literally the Best Thing You’ve Ever Said About Me”.

John Coxon is communicating, Alison Scott’s head is spinning, and Liz Batty is a programme operator. We discuss all the things about Eastercon that we’re excited about (which takes a while!) and then discuss future Eastercons, briefly talk about staying Seder in the apocalypse, and then talk about breakfast.

(13) HANDMAID’S TALE. In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 trailer, June Osborne becomes Public Enemy No. 1 says Yahoo!

June Osborne wants justice and it looks like the country of Gilead is prepping for an all-out war. Hulu has released the first full trailer for the fourth season of the popular Emmy-winning series, and the wait to learn more is coming to an end with the show’s return on April 28.

(14) GENTLEMEN, BE SEATED (TWICE). David Grigg and Perry Middlemiss look at Australian literature, ranging from a book about bushrangers written in serial form in 1882 to modern science fiction in Episode 49 of Two Chairs Talking.

(15) WHEN THE HUGOS ARE DEAD, WILL YOU BE INVITED TO THE FUNERAL? Here’s someone who thinks that’s only minutes away – Richard Paolinelli – who’s such a lazy ass his post runs under a photo copied from File 770. (*) “The Sad Demise Of The Hugos And The Nebulas” [Internet Archive link].

…Instead, they embarked on the “Wokian Way”, disregarded great works, and embraced lesser material based on the creators’ sex and race rather than on the quality of the works themselves. Any creator deemed unworthy, 99.9% white males oddly enough, was run out of each organization and their works blacklisted from consideration. Predictably, with each passing year the Hugos and the Nebulas have become less popular, as shown by the declining number in participating voters.

The Dragon Awards, open to all who enjoy SF/F around the world and free to participate in – unlike the Hugos and Nebulas – are thriving….

Of course they’re thriving — because the Dragons are moving toward the mainstream – John Scalzi’s The Last Emperox won in 2020 – something the Sad Puppies who monopolized the awards in their first year tried to ignore: “Reaction to 2020 Dragon Awards Winners”.

(*) It’s Fran Wilde’s photo from Twitter, but bears the file name the image was given in the media library here.

(16) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Mind Matters introduces DUST’s short film “The Big Nothing”:

When the captain of an isolated mining station near Saturn is murdered, Detective Lennox is sent to investigate the three remaining crew members. Centered around a series of interrogations and flashback, Lennox discovers that everyone has a motive to kill. With otherworldly threats approaching and the killer amongst them, will everybody make it off the station?

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Mike Kennedy, Mlex, Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, James Bacon, David Langford, Martin Morse Wooster, Michael Toman, Bill, John Hertz, and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]

91 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 4/1/21 I’ve Been Pixeled, Been Misfiled, When Will I Be Scrolled

  1. Ok I’ll admit that I’ve not read it. And I’m intrigued that it’s on Baen Books. I take it that it’s not a typical book by them?

    Well, there’s a bit of a complicated story there, honestly. Short version is, the series was not originally published by Baen — Hodgell has had extraordinarily bad luck with her publishers going bankrupt on her and vanishing, and the series was published by at least two previous outfits before Baen picked it up and reprinted the earlier books as well as publishing the new ones.

    That being said, I’m not sure what you consider a “typical” Baen book (they have published a lot of great stuff over the years — Lois McMaster Bujold, Katherine Blake, many others. I’ve read more than a few Baen books that I thought were top-notch, frankly.) I know, though, that Baen has a developed something of a reputation for certain preferences and/or issues, but this series is neither MilSF, right-wing, nor published with noticeable proofreading errors, if those were any of your concerns. If you meant “not great cover art”, though, well, yes, that’s been a problem.

    Godstalk is the first book of an epic fantasy series which Hodgell has been writing since the early 80s. Godstalk itself has some aspects of homage to Lieber’s Lankhmar books, although the rest of the series has moved well beyond that at this point. The series as a whole is one of my personal favorites, and in my opinion deserves far more recognition than it has.

  2. Randy Bathurst also designed and sculpted the awards for the 1970s run of the Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards. They consisted of a Bheer Can standing atop a mimeo set on a wood base with a plaque attached, showing the category and winner. The Bheer Can wore a tiny propeller beanie and held in one hand, what else but a tiny beer can.

  3. Delany’s Motion is one of the few books I’ve read more than once. Far and away my fave Delany book. I also recommend Heavenly Breakfast. Fave fiction is We, in Some strange Power’s Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line.

    It will always be a shame we won’t get a chance to read Voyage, Orestes.

  4. Lord of the Rings probably as the book I’ve read most often. If we count audiobook listens then it’s the Hobbit by a factor of fifty, because I use it as an insomnia cure. No, it’s not the most boring book I know, it’s the one I know best and if I’m drifting in and out of sleep, stops me thinking I’m not sleeping at all and stessing over it, I know that I last remember Gandalf objecting to “Good morning” and now it’s the Trolls, which means I’ve been asleep for over an hour.

  5. Octocon: Pubs in Ireland have been closed for over a year. Can you imagine Ireland without pubs? The mood here is so dreary that nobody expects any kind of normalcy anytime soon, so no wonder Octocon is staying virtual. (But at least soon we’ll be able to travel 20 km from home, instead 5 km. Good times are coming.)

    Hugos: I’ve been dutifully nominating and voting in the Hugos since 2014. To date, not a single nomination of mine made it to the final ballot. The best I achieved in voting was for a short story I picked as a winner to place second; usually my voting ballot is close to a mirror opposite of the final results. I simply have different tastes than the majority of other Worldcon members. Still, thanks to my participation I’m getting exposed to new authors whom I’d never discover otherwise, because the local bookstores don’t carry their books. That’s rewarding enough for me.

  6. @Cat Eldridge,

    I read “Godstalk” because of File770. It is a terrific book (and series). And very much not like the MilSF Baen is nowadays most well-known for.

    My most re-read is “Lord of the Rings”. It’s a formative work, and one I first read when I was 14(?). “Dune” is also in that category.

  7. 1) “The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed, being careful to maintain a distance of at least six feet.”

  8. Most frequent rereads: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Dune, Feet of Clay, Look to Windward, Excession, … and then of course there are the fantasy novels I’ve taught: The Earthsea Quartet, The Scar, Going Postal, The Wee Free Men, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, a lot of Howard’s Conan stories …

    Also, Nina wins the rewrite contest.

  9. Soon Lee says My most re-read is “Lord of the Rings”. It’s a formative work, and one I first read when I was 14(?). “Dune” is also in that category.

    Dune I’ve read-read at least a half dozen times plus listened to the fantastic BBC audio production three or four times. Lord of The Rings annoys me because I truly loved the bookend novels but really, really don’t like The Two Towers.

  10. @Nina,
    APPLAUSE

    @Rob,

    Two books of more recent vintage I have been re-reading:
    “The Goblin Emperor” Katherine Addison (kindness has been on my mind)
    “A Civil Campaign” Lois McMaster Bujold (you really need to have read the previous books in the series to properly appreciate this. For me, very much a spearpoint book.)

  11. I’m pretty sure that Desolation Called Peace is going to go into my reread sequence, if only because I want to read the continuing missions of Kirk and Spock, er, I mean Nine Hibiscus and Twenty Cicada–and I suspect we’re not getting any more of those particular characters (or their prequel adventures).

  12. Gosh, I honestly have no idea what my most-reread books are. My tastes have changed over the years, and so has the list of books I’m most likely to reread. In my early teens, it was easy–Tolkien was hands-down winner. But I haven’t actually read any Tolkien since I was old enough to drink!

    By my late twenties, it was probably Stand on Zanzibar, but I’ve only read that a couple of times in the last couple of decades, so it’s probably fallen off the list.

    My most-reread authors would probably be those who are both prolific and typically light-and-frothy, like Pratchett and Wodehouse. But they also have a lot of books, so I’m not sure any individual work makes the cut.

    Some possible contenders include Merchanter’s Luck by Cherryh (which, being older, probably narrowly beats the Chanur books) and Angel Station by Walter Jon Williams, which is a comfort read for reasons I’m not sure about. But there are a bunch of others, and I really couldn’t say for sure.

    I will say that over the last few years, the thing I’ve probably reread the most is All Systems Red, but it’s much too recent to make my life-long list…yet.

    @Paul King: Oh yes, Empire Star is definitely one of my favorites by Delany! I guess the main reason I didn’t mention it is that it’s a novella, and I was thinking about novels. (Also, some people may have trouble taking a story seriously when the protagonist is named “Comet Jo”–even though it’s clear, even in-universe, that it’s meant humorously and somewhat ironically.)

  13. Anything I’ve reread recently is probably in my frequent reread list, because I sort of have a cycle. That said, I’ve come to the realization that, although I do not generally enjoy watching horror films, one of my comfort reread cycles is horror books. Not just Our Wombat’s simultaneously creepy and adorable The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places (the latter of which is where my rereading is at right now), but also Robert Jackson Bennet’s American Elsewhere. And I think the Southern Reach trilogy will be my next reread (OMG do you know he’s writing A FOURTH BOOK?!?!?! wibble)

    I think it’s just that I prefer to make the horror images in my own head while enjoying the language of a text medium, than have images of another’s making imprinted on my eyeballs. I will probably never forgive whoever got me watching the Millenium marathon over Y2K New Year’s Night – the sequence with the plague! Argh! Why doesn’t brain bleach exist?!

    And speaking of A Memory Called Empire,

    1) “During a pandemic, these things are ceaseless: case number charts and social distancing.”

  14. You can’t have it because it’s sold out but Subterranean Press collected the first four Murderbot novels plus an original short story, “Home: Habitat Range Niche Territory” into The Murderbot Dairies. It was available in two editions, costly ($150) and more costly ($375).

  15. So I came down through the wood to the bank of Yann and found, as had been prophesied, after seven days of quarantine and a negative virus test, the ship Bird of the River about to loose her cable.

  16. As it happens, I’ve been reading Jo Walton’s collection of essays on re-reading (What Makes This Book So Great) and marvelling at how much–and how apparently fast–she re-reads. Which set me to reflecting. During my teaching/academic career, I frequently revisited books I was teaching or that I was writing about, but I didn’t re-read much for pleasure. (And I made a point of teaching and writing about books I love, which allowed multiple readings of Faulkner, Vance, Farmer, and Heinlein.) Shakespeare is the champ, but seeing productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Hamlet or Othello isn’t quite the same thing as a re-read–more like going to the opera or listening to Bach.

    When I have re-read for pleasure, it has usually been years after a previous reading–Lord of the Rings a few months back (third time–second was for a grad-school seminar c. 1967), and long before that Kenneth Roberts’ Oliver Wiswell and The Stars My Destination. My memory for what I’ve read used to be very good, so it was generally more interesting to go on to new books, especially new work by favorite writers.

    I suspect that when actual retirement kicks in (as distinct from mere geriatric underemployment) and I have no more deadlines, I will re-read the 20 Aubrey-Maturin novels, all of Reginald Hill and George MacDonald Fraser, and all of Robert Graves’ historical novels. But they will still have to compete with the nearly 200 unread books piled up on the dresser. I will almost certainly die with that task unfinished.

  17. Russell Letson says I suspect that when actual retirement kicks in (as distinct from mere geriatric underemployment) and I have no more deadlines, I will re-read the 20 Aubrey-Maturin novels, all of Reginald Hill and George MacDonald Fraser, and all of Robert Graves’ historical novels. But they will still have to compete with the nearly 200 unread books piled up on the dresser. I will almost certainly die with that task unfinished.

    I’d argue that epub To Be Read Someday piles are quite a bit worse as they take up no physical space. Today alone I added four more novels and two short stories to my To Be Read Someday pile as the buck ninety nine deals are hard to pass up though not all of them were that cheap by far as I bought Bear’s Machine as well. Plus I’ve got three audiobooks automatically downloading this month including the first in a new Simon Green series, The Best Thing You Can Steal, in a few days.

  18. As with Paul King, I have more new books waiting to be read these days and less time to actually read, so a lot less re-reading these days. I’m pretty sure my most re-read book is The Lord of the Rings, although the Lensman series is probably up there too.

  19. Ok, I’m curious. What’s are the novels that you’ve re-read the most?

    I find travelling extremely stressful so I load up my iPod with my comfort reads: Pratchett’s Guard series, Martha Wells’ Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, the first 4 Vorkosigan (my fave), Robert Jackson Bennett’s Divine Cities trilogy. I’ve listened to them at least 3 times.

  20. My lifetime re-read the most is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, but that’s non-genre so LOTR would be the SFF novel(s) I’ve read the most, closely followed by almost Bujold’s entire oeuvre.

    But I think what I do more than anything is when I read something I like I re-read it several times over the next few months. So, in that regard, Murderbot novellas are first and Goblin Emperor is probably a close second. As someone said upthread, kindness winning out has been on my mind recently.

    Side note: got my vaccination yesterday!

  21. Most read SF/F books: For SF, almost certainly THE STARS MY DESTINATION, about five times. For fantasy, Leiber’s first several Fafhrd & Mouser books, about three times each.

    For literature in general, as a young teen I fixated on THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, read at least a dozen times. Literally read that particular book to falling apart. Been over fifty years since my last re-read, though. (I have an ebook copy of it, bought about a year ago, but in the TBR pile with hundreds of other titles.)

  22. You see, I had this space suit.
        How it happened was this way:
        “Dad,” I said, “I want to go to the Moon.”

    He dropped his book, got up from his chair, and said “That’s one place the virus hasn’t reached. Get your Mom, son, we’re all going!”

  23. How it happened was this way:

    Up until now I never noticed the structure of that second sentence. Rewards await the careful reader.

  24. Most re-read for me has got to be LOTR – somewhere between 5-8 times. I’m no longer sure. Other than that it’s In Search Of Lost Time, which is only 2-3 goes around, with an extra iteration for the first volume, which is my favorite. I don’t read much at the same moment, and if I did I’d prefer to read something new. But if it had to be a re-read, I have no doubt that In Search Of Lost Time would be the most rewarding.

  25. There are a lot of books I’ve reread two or three times. More than that? I’ve read Ann Leckie’s Ancillary trilogy four times now, and it’s comparatively recent. Heinlein’s Double Star — the Kindle copy twice in the past few years, and the old hardcover I acquired in the Seventies at least twice. Larry Niven’s Neutron Star short story collection probably once a decade, which has to add up by now…

  26. The short stories I’ve read the most are probably FAITH OF OUR FATHERS, DAY MILLION (which is very short, though) and FLIGHT TO FOREVER

  27. Paul Weimer: In short fiction — I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reread Lois McMaster Bujold’s “The Borders of Infinity.”

  28. Mike Glyer days There are a lot of books I’ve reread two or three times. More than that? I’ve read Ann Leckie’s Ancillary trilogy four times now, and it’s comparatively recent. Heinlein’s Double Star — the Kindle copy twice in the past few years, and the old hardcover I acquired in the Seventies at least twice. Larry Niven’s Neutron Star short story collection probably once a decade, which has to add up by now…

    If I’m counting short fiction, then Niven’s short fiction would be the ones that I’ve re-read the most. I love such tales as “All the Myriad Ways” and “For a Foggy Night”, not to mention all of The Draco’s Tavern stories. And I’ve certainly re-read Tales from The White Hart quite a few times as well.

  29. Michael J. Walsh: You’re going to have to point them out. I don’t see them.

  30. Mike,

    Here you go.

    “Paul King on April 2, 2021 at 12:16 am said:

    (9) My Delaney reading has been a bit different from others, and I’d offer as supplemental suggestions Empire Star as an early read, and working through the Nevèryon series”

    And:

    Cliff on April 2, 2021 at 5:07 am said:

    9) Re Delaney, I went from his short in Dangerous Visions (possibly Again?) to Babel-17 and then to Dhalgren, which I didn’t bother finishing.

  31. I assumed you were talking about the Scroll. Since you didn’t address anyone else in your comment. Now I understand.

  32. Michael J. Walsh: Here you go

    Dude, your life is in a sad, sad state when you feel compelled to spend your time and energy complaining about the spelling of other commenters.

  33. Second with OGH on rereading Niven short story collections: Suck Fairy seems to have joined the Puppeteers in fleeing the galaxy.

    (Now entering “Delany” into spellcheck…)

  34. JeffWarner: I indulged my curiosity and ran a search on all 329K+ comments for “Delaney”. It’s been misspelled that way here in 144 comments. However! Almost half of those times occurred within a quote commenting on another Filer’s misspelling. The first time Michael J. Walsh did it was in 2015. Delany, correctly spelled, has appeared in 565 comments. That doesn’t actually seem like a very good percentage when I think about it.

  35. I’m just going to mention Joseph H. Delaney – I’m quite fond of his stories (he was very big in Analog in the early 1980s)

  36. Dude, unless you’re meticulous, autocorrect is gonna skew your Delanies.

    (I had to retype four words in the above sentence. Chill, babe.)

  37. Easton Press, the publisher of leather bound special editions, did one of Delany’s “Babel-17”.

    “The author is credited as “Samuel R. Delaney” on the spine, the title page, and throughout the entirety of Goldman’s introduction. The copyright is correctly spelled, as well as the running header.” http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?3444

  38. It’s a pretty natural mistake. Delaney is a far more common surname. There are more people named John Delaney alone with Wikipedia pages than all the people with the last name Delany! 🙂

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