(1) SCHOEN LEAVES SFWA BOARD. Earlier this week Lawrence M. Schoen announced he was “Resigning from the SFWA Board of Directors”:
Effective as of 10am today, April 10th, 2019, I am resigning my position as a member of the SFWA Board of Directors.
We live in a world where appearance often carries more weight than intention. Recent controversies, and my perceived involvement in them, have increasingly made it difficult for me to effectively perform the responsibilities for which I’d been elected. Accordingly, it makes sense for me to step aside and allow someone else to continue the work.
Today’s decision notwithstanding, I remain committed to the ideals and goals of SFWA, perhaps best expressed by the statement the Board composed at last year’s Nebula Conference: “We are genre writers fostering a diverse professional community committed to inclusion, empowerment, and outreach.”
It has been my privilege to be of service to this organization and our community. I encourage you all to pay it forward.
Schoen’s statement does not specify what “recent controversies” he is perceived to be involved in. They may relate to Jonathan Brazee’s 20Booksto50K Nebula recommendation list. Schoen’s novelette “The Rule of Three” is one of the stories on the list that made the Nebula ballot. Brazee responded to criticism by apologizing for the list.
(2) NICHOLS ON SPACE COMMAND. Marc Zicree told fans, “Today’s shoot with Nichelle Nichols went great! Here’s a behind the scenes clip, with more to come.”
To help with the GoFundMe to pay for their efforts, click on “Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols Space Command Scene!”. At this writing they’ve raised $2,310 of their $15,000 goal.
(3) LUCAS’ FINGERPRINTS. IGN explains “How George Lucas Helped Finish Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”.
The new teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker features quite the surprise: as the trailer comes to a close, the screen cuts to black and our ears are filled with the cackling of Emperor Palpatine. It’s a laugh cold enough to send shivers down your spine and a character inclusion crazy enough to make your head spin. He met his electrifying end in Return of the Jedi, after all. IGN talked to director and co-writer JJ Abrams at Star Wars Celebration Chicago about how the iconic villain came to be a part of the film, and his answer included a meeting with the Maker himself, George Lucas.
“This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at, what is the bigger story? We had conversations amongst ourselves, we met with George Lucas before writing the script,” Abrams revealed. “These were things that were in real, not debate, but looking at the vastness of the story and trying to figure out, what is the way to conclude this? But it has to work on its own as a movie, it has to be its own thing, it has to be surprising and funny and you have to understand it.”
(4) COPING. Sarah Hughes, TV critic at The Guardian, tells how Game of Thrones helped her cope with her cancer diagnosis. “Game of Thrones, cancer and me…”
…Best of all, while I might not find out how Martin himself intends to finish his series (there are still two long-awaited books to come), I will almost certainly see the TV series of Game of Thrones return for its brutal, no doubt bloody and hopefully rewarding conclusion this month. As for Tottenham Hotspur winning the league in my lifetime, that remains too great a step for even the most benign of gods to arrange.
(5) CLFA VOTING BEGINS. At the Conservative-Libertarian Fiction Alliance “The 2019 Book of the Year ballot is now open!”
Ready to cast your vote for CLFA Book of the Year 2019? Go here to support your favorite!
(6) YAKFALL. We only thought we’d figured out the subject for Ursula Vernon’s next Hugo acceptance speech. Hilarious thread starts here.
Another great thread about their Tibetan explorations begins here.
(7) THE ESSENTIALS. Can a fannish kitchen be complete without a set of “Star Trek Klingon Alphabet Fridge Magnets”? ThinkGeek takes the “No” side of the debate.
- A fun way to teach anyone the basics of pIqaD (the Klingon alphabet)
- For use on magnetic surfaces, like your fridge or your ship’s hull
…This set contains the entire alphabet, with multiples for the more frequently used, plus a few apostrophes.
(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born April 13, 1937 — Terry Carr. Lifelong fan and long after he turn pro, he continued to be active in fandom, hence was nominated five times for Hugos for Best Fanzine (1959–1961, 1967–1968), winning in 1959, was nominated three times for Best Fan Writer (1971–1973), winning in 1973, and was Fan Guest of Honor at ConFederation in 1986. He worked as an Editor, first at Ace where he edited The Left Hand of Darkness. After a fallout with Wollheim, he went freelance where he developed Universe and Best Science Fiction of the Year, the latter on a remarkable four publishers. He was nominated for Best Editor Hugo thirteen times and won twice. He wrote three novels, one with Ted White, and three collections of his stories in print. (Died 1987.)
- Born April 13, 1943 — Bill Pronzini, 76. Mystery writer whose Nameless Detective has one genre adventure in A Killing in Xanadu. Genre anthologist, often with Barry N Malzberg, were many and wide ranging, covering such things as Bug-Eyed Monsters (with Malzberg), Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural (with Greenberg and Malzberg) and Arbor House Necropolis. As Robert Hart Davis, he wrote “The Pillars of Salt Affair”, a Man from U.N.C.L.E. novella that ran in the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine.
- Born April 13, 1951 — Peter Davison, 68. The Fifth Doctor and one that I never came to be fond of. Just seemed too lightweight for the role. I thought he put more gravitas into the voice of Mole he did for The Wind in the Willows animated special Mole’s Christmas. For twenty years now, he has reprised his role as the Fifth Doctor in myriad Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish.
- Born April 13, 1954 — Michael Cassutt, 65. His notable genre TV work includes executive producing, producing or writing, or both, for Strange Luck, Seven Days, Outer Limits, Eerie, Indiana, and The Twilight Zone. He was also story editor for the Max Headroom series which I loved.
- Born April 13, 1959 — Brian Thomsen. Editor, writer and anthologist. He was founding editor of Warner Books’ Questar Science Fiction, and later served as managing fiction editor at TSR. He co-wrote the autobiography of Julius Schwartz. Strangely enough, I’ve actually read one of his anthologies, A Yuletide Universe, as I remember it from the cover art. (Died 2008.)
- Born April 13, 1950 — Ron Perlman, 69. Hellboy in a total of five films including three animated films (Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Hellboy: Blood and Iron and Redcap). He’s got a very long association with the genre as his very first film was Quest for Fire in which he was Amoukar. The Ice Pirates and being Zeno followed quickly Captain Soames in Sleepwalkers and Angel De La Guardia in Mexican horror film Cronos. Several years later, I see he’s Boltar in Prince Valiant, followed by a hard SF role as Johnher in Alien Resurrection and Reman Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis. And I should note he was in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as Gnarlack, a goblin gangster if I read the Cliff notes to that correctly. No, I’m not forgetting about his most amazing role of all, Vincent in Beauty and The Beast. At the time, I thought it was the most awesome practical makeup I’d ever seen. And the costume just made look him amazing.
- Born April 13, 1962 — Stephen Holland, 57. I’m a deep admirer of those who document our genre and this gentleman is no exception. In handful of works, he’s created an invaluable resource for those interested in SF published in paperback. British Science Fiction Paperbacks and Magazines, 1949-1956: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide and The Mushroom Jungle: A History of Postwar Paperback Publishing certainly look to be essential reading, and his Fantasy Fanzine Index: Volume 1 also sounds useful.
(9) WHAT A TANGLED WEB THEY WEAVE. Rebecca F. Kuang’s thread about the Game of Thrones tapestry starts here.
Through July 28 the public can “see Game of Thrones® immortalised in a giant, 77-metre long Bayeux style tapestry at the Ulster Museum.”
(10) THRONE CHOW. Delish says that in the UK, “TGI Friday’s Is Celebrating The Game Of Thrones Premiere With A Menu Inspired By The Series”.
In honor of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones—which premieres in just three days, people!!!—TGI Friday’s has released a limited-edition menu inspired by the series. However, vegetarians and vegans may want to steer clear of the “Dragon Slayer Feast.” It’s definitely a meat-heavy selection….
You can also order up Dragon Fire Hot Wings and the Bucket of Beast Bones, which is a combo of ribs and Friday’s famed glazed wings. However, as far as we know, the GOT special is currently a U.K. exclusive. The meat-filled feast will kick off April 10.
(11) ALTERNATE ASTRONAUTS. Camestros Felapton continues working his way through the finalists: “Hugo Novels: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal”.
The Calculating Stars has a more grounded aesthetic than it’s predecessor, and aims to present a plausible alternative history where the space program is accelerated and is also a more international collaboration. In the centre of this effort is Dr Elma York who desperately wants to go into space but who must also navigate through the complexities of 1950s America.
It’s an engaging fictional autobiography of a remarkable person — the kind of multi-talented character that you find in accounts of America’s space program. Drive, talent, brains and luck conspire to put Elma in a spotlight but the attention that comes with it reveals Elma’s greatest weakness: social anxiety in crowds when she is the focus of attention. Ironically the press characterising her preemptively as ‘The Lady Astronaut’ complicates her attempts to actually become an astronaut.
(12) CREDIT WHERE DUE. Misty S. Boyer’s long Facebook post provides further detail about who contributed to the newsmaking black hole photo.
…The photo that everyone is looking at, the world famous black hole photo? It’s actually a composite photo. It was generated by an algorithm credited to Mareki Honma. Honma’s algorithm, based on MRI technology, is used to “stitch together” photos and fill in the missing pixels by analyzing the surrounding pixels.
But where did the photos come from that are composited into this photo?
The photos making up the composite were generated by 4 separate teams, led by Katie Bouman, Andrew Chael, Kazu Akiyama, Michael Johnson, and Jose L Gomez. Each team was given a copy of the black hole data and isolated from each other. Between the four of them, they used two techniques – an older, traditional one called CLEAN, and a newer one called RML – to generate an image.
The purpose of this division and isolation of teams was deliberately done to test the accuracy of the black hole data they were all using. If four isolated teams using different algorithms all got similar results, that would indicate that the data itself was accurate….
(13) POST MORTEM. What happened? “Beresheet spacecraft: ‘Technical glitch’ led to Moon crash”.
Preliminary data from the Beresheet spacecraft suggests a technical glitch in one of its components caused the lander to crash on the Moon.
The malfunction triggered a chain of events that eventually caused its main engine to switch off.
Despite a restart, this meant that the spacecraft was unable to slow down during the final stages of its descent.
(14) BIG STICK. “Internet Archive denies hosting ‘terrorist’ content”.
The Internet Archive has been hit with 550 “false” demands to remove “terrorist propaganda” from its servers in less than a week.
The demands came via the Europol net monitoring unit and gave the site only one hour to comply.
The Internet Archive said the demands wrongly accused it of hosting terror-related material.
The website said the requests set a poor precedent ahead of new European rules governing removal of content.
If the Archive does not comply with the notices, it risks its site getting added to lists which ISPs are required to block.
(15) BULL MARKET. Science reports “Beliefs in aliens, Atlantis are on the rise”. (Full text restricted to subscribers.)
Beliefs in “pseudoarchaeology”—ancient aliens, Atlantis, and other myths—are on the rise. In 2018 41% of Americans believed that aliens visited Earth in the ancient past, and 57% believed that Atlantis or other advanced ancient civilizations existed. These outlandish beliefs have been circulating for decades, and archaeologists are now mobilizing to counter them. They are taking to Twitter, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and newspapers to debunk false claims and explain real archaeological methods, and they plan to compare notes this week during a symposium at the Society for American Archaeology meeting.
(16) IT’S ALL JUST FUN AND GAMES UNTIL… Never forget that Quidditch is a field sport: “For Some Quidditch Players, The Magic Wears Off As Injury Risks Grow Clearer”.
It happened in a split second, and Vanessa Barker doesn’t remember any of it. She doesn’t remember dropping to the field, nor does she remember how she got hit.
When she came to, she was sitting on the sidelines with an EMT, being evaluated for what turned out to be her first concussion. Over the next two years, she’d suffer another two more while out on the field — hardly what she expected when she decided to start playing quidditch.
…”If I ever have any others, I’ll have to stop playing,” she said.
(17) PLAYING A TATTOO. For the next four weeks you can listen online to BBC4’s production of “Ray Bradbury – The Illustrated Man”, dramatized by Brian Sibley.
A young traveller encounters a vagrant on the road, who claims that his tattoos come to life after dark and tell the future. Starring Iain Glen and Elaine Claxton.
(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “The Black Hole: Based on Stephen Hawking’s Reith Lecture” on YouTube is an animation done for BBC Radio4 of an excerpt of a Stephen hawking lecture where Hawking says it’s not hopeless if you fall into a black hole.
[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Cora Buhlert, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mike Kennedy, John King Tarpinian, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day cmm.]
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“Been Pixeled and Scrolled for so long it’s not true
But when has a File ever bargained for you?”
Clickity
(12) Loved Boyer’s post. I actually had an anonymous troll pop by my blog to complain about the Bouman meme I posted. If they come back I’ll hit them with Boyer’s piece. I was discussing it with some friends the other night as we were watching Google’s results changing from stories emphasizing Bourman, or belittling her for “accidentally” stumbling onto fame, and then suddenly all the top stories were about trolls.
“The Pixel who has no Scrolls
Once had as many as we…”
It’s approaching midnight here so that means my next round of antibiotics via my PICC starts up very shortly. Unfortunately it appears that the current cocktail mix is wearng off in effectiveness.
Terry Carr also edited Neuromancer–another genre-shaking novel. And on a more personal note, he chose my aunt’s first story for one of his Best of the Year collections, which was a nice boost to her career.
(3) Gah. Well, I suppose some input from George Lucas might not be too harmful, as long as they don’t let him anywhere near a script! I still haven’t been able to bring myself to watch all of the Lucas-penned SW movies. But I’ve really been enjoying the Disney ones.
Born April 13, 1937 — Terry Carr
With kind permission and encouragement from Carol Carr, Terry’s 1986 fanwriting collection Fandom Harvest will soon be added to the free ebooks page on the TAFF site.
(13) So, back to the beginning for Beresheet?
(Hey, a few readers will get it. Not that I’m intending to make light of the grave loss to SpaceIL’s scientists, who have my sympathies.)
(13) POST MORTEM
While the crash landing was certainly a disappointment, the mission as a whole is pretty darn remarkable. I think the team knew, going in, the the odds of getting everything exactly right — when something like “does the landing sequence work” is pretty impossible to actually fully test in advance — were iffy at best.
I actually really appreciated that, even during the broadcast itself, they were qualifying themselves — always saying “if the landing is successful”; explaining in advance that the landing couldn’t be fully tested.
They definitely knew the odds. I kind of hope Israelis and space-fans in general appreciate that trial and error is part of the engineering process (and, that bringing down the expense of missions is a major way to make trial-and-error way more effective!).
That being said, immediately following the crash there was a huge spate of memes and jokes. Everything from “Will the next on be called Shemot?” (the original Hebrew for the book of Exodus, as “Beresheet” is the book of Genesis), to “You know, this wouldn’t have happened on Linux!” “SHUT UP, PAVEL”.
Some of it was very very funny, but I definitely feel bad for the engineers and team who saw their work being turned so swiftly into a punchline…
We live in a weird timeline.
[gimme gimme just one more click]
So, I’ve read the first two Laundry files books, and have the next two out from the library.
Can any Stross fans let me know where they think the series hits its stride? The first two were fun, so far, but I kind of feel like I’m pushing myself to read them. I can definitely see why they are enjoyable, but it may not be my cup of tea.
I’ve recently re-read both The Centenal Cycle and the Wayfarers Series, and planning a full October Daye re-read after this. Then I’ll decide about which of the next series’ to read after that.
Beth: So, I’ve read the first two Laundry files books, and have the next two out from the library. Can any Stross fans let me know where they think the series hits its stride?
I think I had warmed up to it by then (but I had also read all of the associated short fiction).
I would say read one or two more novels, and if you’re not really into it by then, you’re not likely to be. I’m not big on horror or Lovecraft, but I’ve been pretty impressed by the author’s ability to interest and entertain me. I did, however, feel that this last novel (the 9th) got into “second verse, same as the first” territory. If I feel the same way on the 10th novel, I’ll probably let it go after that, but if the next one works for me, I’ll keep going.
(17) That would be BBC Radio 4. BBC4 is a tv channel.
9) That looks amazing
@beth I think Fuller Memorandum and Apocalypse Codex, you’ve gotten to the end of the first arc. After that, Stross tries a whole bunch of new things. Vampires! Superheroes! Case Nightmare Green! I didn’t feel Labyrinth Index was a repeat, precisely, but it felt familiar. in some ways.
Born April 13, 1960 — Ron Perlman, 69.
1950.
@Beth
I’d say something similar to JJ and Paul. IMO The Fuller Memorandum was where it stopped being a knockabout set of pastiches* and showed where the more serious side of the series was really going. If you don’t like what you see in that book then I doubt you’re going to click with it.
(* not that the series stops doing pastiches or references, but the first two books always struck me as going for tone over content)
Thank you, JJ, Paul, and Mark for your input! That is very helpful! I have The Fuller Memorandum and The Apocalypse Codex next to read, and I expect to finish them before they are due back at the library. From there I can decide if I want to continue reading the series.
Do you think these four books are enough to judge for the award? I’m thinking yes, but the other series are either shorter or books I have re-read regularly.
Also, thank you to OGH for this space, where I can ask questions like this! Very much appreciated!
Beth, yes, I would say that 4 books is sufficient. You might want to follow The Fuller Memorandum (#3) with The Annihilation Score (#6) if you can get it from your library — that one features a different main character, can be understood without #4 and #5, I think, and will really give you a wider feel for the series.
Honestly, I think 2 books is sufficient if a series is not working for you (although some series, like October Daye, get much stronger after the first two, which is why reading a 3rd is not a bad idea). I No Awarded a couple of the Series finalists last year, having given them both hundreds of pages before deciding that they weren’t for me. One wasn’t anything close to complete, and the other I didn’t really feel was up to Hugo calibre.
(8) Bill Prozini’s Gun in Cherk books are delightful https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/bill-pronzini/son-of-gun-in-cheek.htm
(8) I bought Terry Carr’s Best of the Year anthologies every year as soon as they came out. The stories were always well selected but the books were important to me for more than just the stories. Charlie Brown’s Year in SF essays in those books were my first introduction to fandom, conventions and the Hugo awards. I think Terry Carr, and Charlie Brown, should be credited for helping many of us find our way into fandom.
Xtifr on April 13, 2019 at 11:33 pm said:
Terry Carr also edited Neuromancer–another genre-shaking novel.
According to Gibson he commissioned it:
“Terry Carr commissioned a first novel, for his second Ace SF Specials series, shortly after the Denver worldcon, 1981. Some of my fellow Ace Specials first-timers were Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael Swanwick, and Howard Waldrop. I don’t remember whether Terry asked me in 1981 or early in 1982, but I do remember that I had a year in which to get it done, and managed to be six months late. So that would mean that I probably wrote the bulk of it in 1982/83. I can’t remember how long it took to be published, from submission of the completed manuscript, but it probably seemed like several decades. ” https://web.archive.org/web/20061230140902/http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2003_09_01_archive.asp#1062520986072822474
Looking at the the authors he published in the 1st and 3rd Ace SF Specials – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Science_Fiction_Specials – series … well, it’s pretty mind boggling.
@Michael J Walsh: Looking at the the authors he published in the 1st and 3rd Ace SF Specials series … well, it’s pretty mind boggling.
Yeah, it’s pretty much impossible to overstate how much impact Carr had on SF in his too-short life.
Just finished reading my second Christopher Priest novel, The Adjacent. I’d previously read The Gradual. Both novels have a similar feel to them, and seem technically similar in that in both the writing is quite deadpan and lacking in verbal pyrotechnics, the pace is slow (there were times when I didn’t feel particularly engaged, to be honest), yet by the end they come with a very significant emotional punch. I was moved close to tears with this last one. They both share being motivated by a physics idea but using that as a motor for human relationships, and by being happy to leave much unsaid and unexplained. It’s quite unlike ant other writer I’ve read. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Meredith Moment: Malka Older’s “Null State” is $2.99 at Kobo. (They also have “Hidden Figures” at a good price.)
@Cat Eldridge
I’ve been sick all week with bronchitis, which hardly compares to what you have of course, but from one sick person to another, I hope you feel better or at least get some good news soon!
@Cliff: That’s an excellent description of Priest’s work from the last couple of decades. I would add that he also does something else that’s unique in my experience: he tells you right in the opening sentence how the novel is going to work, and then somehow keeps you from seeing it until you reach the end.
His early novels are much more overtly SF, and although I know he doesn’t consider it one of his major novels any longer, I think The Inverted World from 1974 permanently altered the shape of my brain.
I enjoyed Ron Perlman’s credits cameo in Pacific Rim. I think you could do a Hannibal Chau movie that would be a lot of fun.
Oh hold on: Click Pixel. Click Scroll. Pixel Scroll. Wow, that’s weird.
JJ: “although some series, like October Daye, get much stronger after the first two,”
Or Discworld; the first two are wildly different from all the ones that come after. I wouldn’t start anyone out on Triplanetary or First Lensman, either. And you can start a lively discussion by bringing up Bujold or Brust reading orders.
Ads… in… Spa-a-ace! Some company claims it will put Pepsi ads into the night sky where anybody looking up is forced to see them. Isn’t this what nukes are for, to prevent and punish this sort of thing?
Let’s hope it’s a hoax, or poor reporting, or a grotesque typographical error. I found this at a post entitled BOYCOTT PEPSI over at PZ Myers’ Pharyngula blog (where the similarity to a Frederic Brown story has been pointed out… not that I’d have caught that one, mind you).
(Incidentally, Mike, the page I come in at has a text blurb that says you’re the winner of a 2018 Hugo, and the art below it says 2008. In many cases, I’d suspect an error of some kind, but here that just means you won ’em both, right? If not more.) I considered looking it up, but that’s compound torture on my machine when it’s backing up to another drive or to the cloud.
ps: It’s always, always backing up to something. Every minute of the day.
If the thread doesn’t mention the title of the Brown story, I’ll provide it here: “Pi in the Sky”
Didn’t Virgil Samms experience sky adverts (for cough drops, I think) in one of the early Lensman books?
She’s scrollin’ her pixels while they’re dragging the lake
@Kip: I would say insufficiently skeptical reporting of something that hasn’t been thought through. The article repeats a bunch of promotional claims and never asks how such a thing could possibly work, given that (per the earlier article they link to) the satellites in question would be at an altitude of at least 250 miles. They said they verified that a similar device was “visible” but I’m guessing that means “visible as a dot of light.”
@Eli
I remember seeing Echo 1 (actually 1A) in August 1960 – it was at a much higher altitude, but was visible as a moving point of light.
@P J: Well yeah, that’s what I’m saying. How are you going to make a Pepsi ad out of that, even if (as the StartRocket person says) there’s a “cluster” of them? There is some hand-waving about “Mylar sails”, but from that distance I can’t imagine how it could create “enormous advertisements … like artificial constellations.”
Oh, also I looked again at the part about how they tested one of their devices and determined it was visible. They used a balloon to lift it into the stratosphere— i.e. less than 40 miles high. That is literally the only evidence they’ve provided that they can do anything. So I’m pretty sure this is a case of “press release in search of gullible investors.”
Greg Hullender says I’ve been sick all week with bronchitis, which hardly compares to what you have of course, but from one sick person to another, I hope you feel better or at least get some good news soon!
Well I do hope you’re feeling better. My condition is infinitely more complicated than yours so I’m expected you’ll heal up faster than I will. My latest complication is that the tendons above the damaged elbow will likely need surgery to repair the damage done from the infection.
@Cat
Oh, ow, ow ow. That really doesn’t sound like fun.
P J Evans says Oh, ow, ow ow. That really doesn’t sound like fun.
It likely won’t be. I’m told that the infection basically eats away at the tendons so the the damaged material has to be removed so that the remaining material doesn’t count to deteriorate.
Yikes. Wishing you the speediest possible treatment and recovery.
@Cat Eldridge: and I thought I had it bad with not-tennis elbow. (No surgery recommended — not even a cortisone injection — but I keep wondering if I’m going to overdo.) Here’s hoping they get it done with the least possible amount of tsuris.
Chip Hitchcock says and I thought I had it bad with not-tennis elbow. (No surgery recommended — not even a cortisone injection — but I keep wondering if I’m going to overdo.) Here’s hoping they get it done with the least possible amount of tsuris.
Considering the first round involved taking debriding bone, nothing would surprise me from here out. Tsuris is a Yiddish word I’d not encountered before. Nice addition to the vocabulary!
I tried to sign up for the injections once but it turns out that if the whole thing and all its cousins are inflamed injections are a waste of time (too targeted/localised), so in the end I got packed off back home with a tube of anti-inflammatory gel and instructions to go to town. Which, to be fair, more or less worked (the relevant tendons are about half the width they used to be!) — apart from royally pissing off my finger joints with all the rubbing, which would be less of an issue if it wasn’t an ongoing treatment due to the cause of inflammation being essentially unsolvable. Still, I’ll take some angry fingers over surgery to debride bone..! Best of luck, Cat. I’ll keep my fingers (carefully) crossed that it goes as well as possible from now on.
Meredith says Best of luck, Cat. I’ll keep my fingers (carefully) crossed that it goes as well as possible from now on.
One hopes so. I actually use lidocaine gel on both my hands and the left side of my head due to intense itching caused by neuropathy from the brain injury. It’s an odd condition as it’s not always there and it’s just *suddenly* there.
@Kip Williams, according to OGH’s wikipedia article, Mike has eleven Hugos:
Cassy B.: according to OGH’s wikipedia article, Mike has eleven Hugos:
Looks as though it hasn’t been updated for the 2018 Fanzine Hugo.
Cassy B. on April 14, 2019 at 7:18 pm said:
Huh. Maybe JDA can win a special award somewhere for keeping the MAGA in magazine?
He’d like that, too, you betcha.
@Kip Williams, according to OGH’s wikipedia article, Mike has eleven Hugos…
Thanks, Cassy B., for backing me up on that. I mean, that’s what I said, pretty much (1 + 1 = 11, as any fule kno).
@PhilRM – thanks! Yeah, I recently heard that said about his opening sentences. It was obvious in retrospect with The Gradual. Less so, I thought, with The Adjacent.
I mostly know of The Inverted World because of a nasty review that Martin Amis did of it. I’ve googled and googled, but can no longer find it. Many years later Priest returned the favour with a review of Amis’s Lionel Asbo.
Kip, but since JJ pointed out that it’s actually twelve (Wikipedia didn’t mention 2018), the math gets harder. Let’s see. 1+1=11. 11=(1+1). 1*1 (2). 12. There. That works…. <grin>
@ Cassy B.: Well, 11 is but a short dozen and 12 is a dozen, so I see nothing wrong in your counting.