(1) MAN INTO SPACE. Wake up The Traveler – the thing sf fans have dreamed about just happened! “[April 12, 1961] Stargrazing (The Flight of Vostok)” at Galactic Journey.
The jangling of the telephone broke my slumber far too early. Groggily, I paced to the handset, half concerned, half furious. I picked it up, but before I could say a word, I heard a frantic voice.
“Turn on your radio right now!”
I blinked. “Wha..” I managed.
“Really!” the voice urged. I still didn’t even know who was calling.
Nevertheless, I went to the little maroon Zenith on my dresser and turned the knob. The ‘phone was forgotten in my grip as I waited for the tubes to warm up. 10 seconds later, I heard the news.
It happened. A man had been shot into orbit. And it wasn’t one of ours.
(2) MAKING IT BETA. R. S. Belcher thanks “The League of Extraordinary Beta Readers” at Magical Words.
Stephen King says in On Writing, to write with the door closed and edit with the door open. I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. Your beta readers get first dibs when you open that door, they are your test audience. I have worked with different beta readers on different projects and over time, you find the folks that are going to help you the most with getting the very best out of your writing. A few tips I’d offer that have worked for me.
1) Punctuality: If it takes your beta reader as long to read and get your MS back to you as it took you to write it, they may not be the person you need. By the same token, if you get it back the same day you sent it off to them to read, chances are they skimmed it, so take their advice with a grain of salt.
2) Consistency: If three of your beta-readers all pick up on the same thing, LOOK AT IT and consider their advice. I’ve found that that trait is a flag for readers who I can count on to be giving me good, consistent feedback on trouble spots in the book.
3) Objectivity: If all a friend, family member, or loved one can give you as feedback is how awesome every word is, that is great for the poor writer’s ego but not much help to the professional writer. By the same token, if all you get is negative feedback, you may need to take that advice with a grain of salt too. Some beta readers are glass-half-full people and others are more glass-half-empty.
(3) STARTING LINES. Rachel Swirsky studies the first lines of her own stories, then others’.
“First lines Part I: Half a Dozen of My Recent Stories”.
I decided it might be interesting to look at some of the first lines of my stories. I’m grabbing a half-dozen first lines from some of my recent publications. I’m only looking at stories that are online, so if people want to see how the first line relates to the rest of the story, they can.
Tomorrow, I’ll look at a half-dozen from some of my favorite stories.If this proves interesting (to me or readers), I may do more another time.
“Love Is Never Still” in Uncanny Magazine
“Through every moment of carving, I want her as one wants a woman.”
I’m happy with this–which is useful because I essentially just finished it (six months ago). The story begins as a retelling of the myth of Galatea, a statue who is wished to life when her sculptor falls in love. For people who are versed in Greek mythology, this should evoke Galatea as a possibility — carving, want, woman.
“First Lines Part II: from Some of My Favorite Stories”
“The Evolution of Trickster Stories among the Dogs of North Park after the Change” by Kij Johson
“North Park is a backwater tucked into a loop of the Kaw River: pale dirt and baked grass, aging playground equipment, silver-leafed cottonwoods, underbrush, mosquitoes and gnats blackening the air at dusk.”
Obviously, this sentence is scene setting. Kij makes it beautiful with her specific details: “pale dirt,” “baked grass,” “aging playground equipment,” “silver-leafed cotton-woods,” “mosquitoes,” “gnats.” Almost all of the details evoke slow decay–“backwater,” “baked grass,” “aging.” Insects don’t gather in the air so much as dirty it–“blackening” the dusk. The evoked colors are washed out–pale, baked, silver–we can possibly also include the old metal and rust of the playground equipment. The silver-leafed cottonwoods are the exception here–the color is on the grey/black spectrum, yes, but the tree still sounds beautiful. This is decay, but not hopeless decay.
The sentence also establishes the academic tone. This is the kind of sentence assembled by someone speaking authoritatively about a subject, not describing their sensory impressions of the world. The phrasing is formal and complex, and the use of the colon an even more significant marker.
(4) BEYOND LIMITS. John Carlton’s “Generation Ships”, an interesting critique of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora, focuses on the requirements for such a space mission. How many other stimulating observations might Carlton have made if he had read the book?
Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a book recently apparently to show that interstellar travel is impossible….
It’s not possible to travel between the stars and even if we could, the missions would all fail. Of course he also believes that utopia is possible as some sort of Socialist paradise. Now that’s a fantasy….
As an engineer, I think that Mr. Robinson is clearly wrong. Or at least, he doesn’t understand the basic rules for setting mission parameters and designing to meet those parameters. Mr. Robison’s vessel failed because he wanted it to fail. But to extend that to saying that ALL such proposals would fail is more than a little egotistical. And wrong, really wrong.
Now I haven’t as yet read the book. Reading Greg Benford’s review left me going WTF, WTF, WTF, are you kidding? If you are going to write a book on pioneering could you at least set it up so that the pioneers are at least a little realistic. A ship without a captain or seemingly a crew? No community structure? What was it, a commune in space? Of course something like that is going to fail. That’s what happens to fragile structure and the commune is the most fragile of all. Just look at all the failed examples in the 19th Century. So that’s fail #1….
(5) GALAKTIKA MAGAZINE. SFWA President Cat Rambo has been following A.G. Carpenter’s reports about the Hungarian magazine that published numerous stories in translation without paying the original authors. Rambo wrote a post at her blog about receiving “Answers to Some Galaktika Magazine Questions”.
In the process of talking to people, I dropped Istvan Burger [editor in chief of Galaktika] a mail because I had these questions:
- Would all writers be paid, preferably without their having to contact Galaktika?
- Would all translators be paid? (my understanding was that the same lack of payment has happened with them.)
- For any online stories, would authors be able to request that the story be taken down?
- Would a process be put in place to ensure this never happens again?
Here’s the reply:
Dear Cat, I’m writing on behalf of Istvan Burger, editor in chief of Galaktika.
We’d like to ask authors to contact us directly to agree on compensation methods. You can give my email address to the members. [email protected]
The short stories were published in a monthly magazine, which was sold for two months, so these prints are not available any more. So Authors don’t need to withdraw their works. As we wrote in our statement, there is no problem with novels, as all the rights of novels were paid by us in time.
Also let me emphasise again that all the translators were paid all the time!
You can quote my reply. Thank you for your help!
Best regards, Katalin Mund, Manager of Galaktika Magazine
(6) CARPENTER OPINES ON LATEST GALAKTIKA RESPONSE. Anna Grace Carpenter, who has been developing this story, commented on Burger’s answers to Rambo in “Galaktika Magazine: Legacy”.
Mr. Burger and Mr. Nemeth have offered vague explanations that are, quite frankly, not satisfactory given the number of years this theft has occurred. But whether it was ignorance or laziness or just the inclination that if they could get away with it, they would, something has to change drastically going forward.
I would really like to think that the offer to provide compensation for the authors whose work has been stolen indicates the problem has been resolved. Although requiring the individual authors be aware they’ve been stolen from and making them responsible for seeking payment does not seem a good faith step.
And there is the question that Cat Rambo raised regarding whether authors could or would be able to request their work withdrawn from Galaktika. She referenced a potential online edition (which is seems there is not one), but the response from Katalin Mund was as follows.
The short stories were published in a monthly magazine, which was sold for two months, so these prints are not available any more. So Authors don’t need to withdraw their works.
As I mentioned earlier, a comment from a Hungarian reader promptly revealed the misrepresentation of that statement.
They state it, but this is a flat-out lie. Nearly ALL back issues are available for ordering on the publisher’s webshop, http://galaktikabolt.hu/. I checked, and every issue from the year 2015 is available now. (The original article on mandiner.hu was about the magazine’s 2015 issues.) They’re not digital copies, the physical, paper-based issues are still sold.
At the very best, Mund and Galaktika are misrepresenting the situation regarding further sales of the pirated work. And this is key – they are selling that work.
(7) HEINLEIN SOCIETY SCHOLARSHIPS. The Heinlein Society is taking applications for three $1,000 scholarships for undergraduate students at accredited 4-year colleges and universities.
The “Virginia Heinlein Memorial Scholarship” is dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or physical sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry). The other two scholarships may be awarded to either a male or female, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Applicants will need to submit a 500-1,000 word essay on one of several available topics.
Those interested should fill out the Scholarship Application 2016 [PDF file] and print or email. The deadline to apply is May 15. Winners will be announced on July 7.
(8) KEN LIU. At B&N Sci-Fi Fantasy Blog, Ken Liu describes “5 Chinese Mythological Creatures That Need to Appear in More SF/F”. You know it’s a winner, because five!
Pixiu
Usually depicted as a sort of winged lion—but with the wings folded to the sides of the body—the pixiu is said to be one of the nine children of the loong. Like the loong, it has antlers on its head (the male pixiu has two antlers and the female just one).
As one of the most auspicious Chinese mythological creatures, statues of the pixiu once stood at ancient city and palace gates as guardians. These days, the pixiu is more often seen in the form of small jade pendants dangling from rear-view mirrors or worn as jewelry for good luck. In this evolution lies a rather interesting tale.
In the oldest Chinese sources, the pixiu is depicted as a ferocious beast. The legendary Yellow Emperor recruited the fiercest animals into a special unit of his army in the war against the Yan Emperor, and the pixiu made the cut along with bears and tigers and similar apex predators (another interpretation of this passage is that the beasts were the totems of the tribes who followed the Yellow Emperor). In classical texts, the pixiu is thus often used as a metaphor for a powerful army.
But folklore also speaks of the pixiu violating the decorum of the heavenly court by pooping on the floor. To punish the creature, the Jade Emperor sealed the pixiu’s anus so that it could only eat but never defecate. The pixiu is supposed to go around devouring evil spirits and demons and convert their essence into gold and treasure, which it must hold in its belly forever. This explains the pixiu’s reputation as a bringer of wealth.
I like to think of the pixiu as a precursor for the modern military-industrial complex.
(9) MAGAZINE TO SUSPEND PUBLISHING. Interfictions Online is going on hiatus after the November 2016 issue. The editors have posted this letter:
Dear Friends of Interfictions,
With your support, we have run a marvelous magazine for three years.
At this point, Interfictions needs to take a break to allow the Interstitial Arts Foundation to figure out how to best support us. Our archives will remain available and free, but as of December 2016, the magazine will be on indefinite hiatus.
We will be ending this round of the magazine with a fantastic fall issue in November 2016. We’re going to solicit material for it, so there won’t be an open submissions period. We promise it will thrill and inspire you!
Thank you for participating in this project as artists, writers, readers, and listeners.
Sincerely, The Editors
(10) AFTER YOU SELL THE SERIES. Women in Animation’s Professional Development program will present a panel on Tuesday, April 26 – “They Said Yes! Now What?”
A follow-up to last year’s highly successful panel, “Who Says Yes? And Why?”. This panel will cover what someone who has created or developed an animated series does once they get a positive response, the legal and business issues of the actual deal, and what you can expect after the studio or network says yes, including the development process from this point forward (What? You thought you were done developing it when you sold it?) and just how much you can expect to be involved with or in charge of the series.
Free for WiA members. $15 for non-members. Panelists include Jennifer Dodge (SVP, Development, Nickelodeon Preschool), Cort Lane (SVP, Animation & Family Entertainment, Marvel Televsion), Annette van Duren (agent), Donna Ebbs (producer, former exec at The Hub and Disney), and Craig Miller (writer-producer)
(11) STORY OF YOUR LIFE. A Paramount movie based on Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life” is expected to open in the fall of 2016. Amy Adams will play the linguist Dr. Louise Banks, Jeremy Renner will play the theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly, and Forest Whitaker plays a military figure (Colonel Weber). An extended segment of the film was screened at CinemaCon, a trade show for theater owners.
io9 has the news:
A linguist and a theoretical physicist are the stars of the latest movie from the director of Sicario and the upcoming Blade Runner 2. The movie is Story Of Your Life, based on the short story by Ted Chiang, and this Amy Adams/Jeremy Renner movie looks awesome.
Paramount Pictures screened an extended look at the film as part of CinemaCon, a trade show in which movie studios show their upcoming films to theater owners. Paramount showcased Ninja Turtles 2, Ben Hur, Jack Reacher 2 and plenty of other upcoming releases (not including Star Trek Beyond, for some reason.) But the highlight was Story Of Your Life, which has no release date yet but is expected to open this fall.
(12) VOLCANIC ENDINGS. Leah Schnelbach, writing at length about “Preparing Myself for Death with Joe Versus the Volcano” at Tor.com, implicitly argues that this Tom Hanks movie is worth the fine-toothed-comb study she gives it.
At the dawn of the ’90s, a film was released that was so quirky, so weird, and so darkly philosophical that people who turned up expecting a typical romantic comedy were left confused and dismayed. That film was Joe Versus the Volcano, and it is a near-masterpiece of cinema.
There are a number of ways one could approach Joe Versus the Volcano. You could look at it in terms of writer and director John Patrick Shanley’s career, or Tom Hanks’. You could analyze the film’s recurring duck and lightning imagery. You could look at it as a self-help text, or apply Campbell’s Hero Arc to it. I’m going to try to look at it a little differently. JVtV is actually an examination of morality, death, and more particularly the preparation for death that most people in the West do their best to avoid. The film celebrates and then subverts movie clichés to create a pointed commentary on what people value, and what they choose to ignore. Plus it’s also really funny!
The plot of JVtV is simple: sad sack learns he has a terminal illness. Sad sack is wasting away, broke and depressed on Staten Island, when an eccentric billionaire offers him a chance to jump into a volcano. Caught between a lonely demise in an Outer Borough and a noble (if lava-y) death, sad sack chooses the volcano. (Wouldn’t you?) Along the way he encounters three women: his coworker DeDe, and the billionaire’s two daughters, Angelica and Patricia. All three are played by Meg Ryan. The closer he gets to the volcano the more wackiness ensues, and the film culminates on the island of Waponi-Wu, where the Big Wu bubbles with lava and destiny. Will he jump? Will he chicken out? Will love conquer all? The trailer outlines the entire plot of the film, so that the only surprise awaiting theatergoers was…well, the film’s soul, which is nowhere to be seen here…
(13) HOW MANY STICKY QUARTERS IS THAT? A Frank R. Paul cover from the collection of Dr. Stuart David Schiff is currently up for auction. The owner of “Where Eternity Ends”, a pulp magazine cover from the June 1939 issue of Science Fiction, is looking for an opening bid of $6,000.
Here’s how the piece looked when published. The original art can be seen at the auction link.
(14) YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. The Hugo results are in!
I would like to announce that I've won all the Hugo Awards in every category this year. There will be no ceremony. Everyone can relax.
— Renay? (@renay) April 12, 2016
(15) VIRGIN AMERICA HUMOR. Jeb Kinnison writes, “Friend Steve Freitag works as a gate agent at Virgin and often comes up with fun comments on the status sign. Since they’re being bought by Alaska and probably won’t be free to have such fun soon, he put up a selection of the best…”
Here’s a sample – click to see the full gallery.
(16) THE ART OF THE DICE. David Malki (Wondermark) posted a new batch of Roll-a-Sketch artwork.
I just got back from the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, and here are a few favorites of the many Roll-a-Sketch drawings I made for folks there!
Roll-a-Sketch, as longtime readers know, is something I do at conventions and other appearances: folks can roll some dice to select random words from a list, and then I have the task of combining those words into a creature! …
LEGO + HIPSTER + CTHULHU + EGG:
[Thanks to Jeb Kinnison, John King Tarpinian, Rob Thornton, and Will R. for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]
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:ticky:::
Second
Third fifthed? Oh gods, you tricked me into reading that engineering critique of Aurora, and then I looked at the comments. MADNESS!
(4) BEYOND LIMITS. Man, that John Carlton excerpt is really compelling me not to click through. Partly because the introductory clause “As an engineer” can be pretty reliably translated as “I am about to mistake my own pomposity for objective fact.” (Not saying being an engineer means someone will do this. But using “As an engineer” as a preamble often heralds it.)
Fifth?
Second fifth!
Nicely timed, snowcrash.
Re Aurora: I have no doubt that Stan had his thumbs on the scale for certain aspects of his set-up, but then the long tradition of celebratory accounts of human colonization of space have happily had the thumbs of their gripping hands on their set-up scales as well. The value in Aurora lies less in the specifics of Stan’s engineering and more in the willingness to argue against the more toxic aspects of the space colonization fantasy.
The topic of starting lines was also discussed in the most recent edition of Dinosaur Comics. The solution proposed in the comic, while perhaps a bit drastic, would certainly lend itself to more SFFnal storytelling. 😀
::godstalk::
second fifth……*holds breath*
AND YAY new gravatar kicks in.
I saw the PowerPuff yourself on FB the other day, and could not resist — but didn’t realize until I saw Bonnie McDaniels’ (hope I’m remembering correct name) here on File770 that I realized yes, I could haz PowerPuff Gravatar!
…but now they’re content to read trolls on their File?
[ticky]
Regarding #4 (on Aurora), I find myself very confused by this criticism, because IIRC, the ship actually succeeds in its original mission and in fact does quite a bit more than it was designed to do. So, yeah, it might help to read the book… unless it’s just a handy excuse to bag on commies, in which case the book is kinda beside the point, anyway.
(ETA: I liked Aurora quite a lot.)
(4) This was the equivalent to one of those “X reacts to X reacting to {youtube video}” videos. If you are going to weigh in on a book, have the decency to read it.
Lord knows I found Aurora to be a bad book, but I can say this as I slogged through every page of shitty characters, bad dialog, flimsy plot, and contrived ending. The only things that I can take from Carlton’s “review” is that he fancies himself an engineer and needed an excuse to tell the Web about it.
(11) STORY OF YOUR LIFE.
Pretty much my favourite Ted Chiang story. I am…not hopeful, but maybe cautiously optimistic? that the movie will be good.
(8) I think the fox spirit is reasonably well-represented in fantasy, though usually authors are working from the Japanese model.
I know the Hitler videos are a bit overdone, but there is now one where he finds out he’s not on the SJW list and I found it mildly amusing.
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/720031381917536256
Stalin!
(4)
While I have little patience for KSR’s new “if man had been meant to fly, he’d have wings” bent, this reminds me of why I used to like KSR’s fiction: it didn’t have to fin a way to make space stories turn into extended discussions of the Second Amendment.
Though I suppose recent revived interest in space and advances in the development of the technologies involved means that there’d be a renewed market in claiming the intellectual superiority of saying it’s all doomed.
Dawn Incognito: (11) STORY OF YOUR LIFE. Pretty much my favourite Ted Chiang story. I am…not hopeful, but maybe cautiously optimistic? that the movie will be good.
I had no idea they were making this movie, but I am looking forward to it and hoping that they’ve done it justice. They are obviously going to have to add a lot of content to the existing short story to make it movie-length; I hope that they do a good job of it.
Truly, I think we are in a Golden Age for SFF movies and TV shows, with studios and networks willing to produce properties they would not have touched a decade ago. I hope that this age lasts a very long time.
(4) in loyal adherence to the puppy tradition, Carlton reviews a book he hasn’t read.
So his idea of a good time is apparently for thousands of people to spend generations upon generations of their lives cooped up in a space ship, on a trip carefully planned to avoid going anywhere in particular.
Fourth fifth!
I shall now go read the scroll.
Well, fourth fifth plus one. Darn you, microtherion!
Previously in these scrolls, mgrasso and someone else I can’t find wrote about Kingfisher by Patricia McKillip and wanted to discuss it. I just wrote a post, in which I could barely begin to talk about all the myths and symbols in that novel, and would be happy to continue the discussion either at my blog or here.
Chris S: I watched it earlier because it’s my duty to browse these things. It has two problems, at least on my screen — you can see the original movie captions playing at the same time, and they’re more interesting than the satirical ones…
Chris S: I know the Hitler videos are a bit overdone, but there is now one where he finds out he’s not on the SJW list and I found it mildly amusing.
OMG, that is PRICELESS.
(I didn’t have a double-caption problem on my screen.)
@Mike – you’re the editor in these parts and therefore in charge 🙂
(no double captions here)
“Hitler Finds Out He’s Not on SJW List”
OH MY GOD
*dies*
The 5 Chinese mythological creatures mentioned all seem pretty bland. They need something more like the critter called the Penanggalan or Krasue and several other local names. (Lots of artwork comes up on google images for both terms. Let’s see those become the next hot trend in paranormal romance novels!)
Heck, on a typical Thai family picnic you are liable to run into 5 more interesting creatures.
ETA: Better not be a non-Asian writing these stories, because otherwise it will be (scary html tag) cultural appropriation (/scary html tag).
Aurora: I still tend to lean far more towards the position of KSR (and Charles Stross) than I do to the views of those who think that they can engineer their way out of all problems with magical future tech. (Just one issue that comes to mind, a study from a couple of years back saying a generation ship will need a minimum viable population of around 40,000.)
4. Aurora was an extremely tedious book, but it did bring up some ideas about the problems with space travel that I hadn’t previously come across. So I liked that, the more potential problems we can think of now, the more we can do to ensure the actual generation ship is successful.
Beats me. Before I wrote my comment I used your link to open the video just to be sure it was still happening.
BTW, I kinda expected to see it scrolled today, but Hawking wants to build a Starwisp.
Hitler was hit or miss but when I hit one particular spot, I LOLled.
I’m always glad to see others note depths in Joe Versus The Volcano. It is a movie with tremendous goofiness. But it’s also got the rest, and has been a sustaining presence for me in times when darned little seemed to offer any sustenance. It’s good to have in mind when grieving and suffering.
As a youth, I didn’t really notice how many of the most fervent advocates of Our Glorious And Vitally Necessary Destiny Among The Stars regarded the actual human beings of our time with hatred, contempt, and fear. Now I’ve lived through opportunities to see what happens when massive resources come into the hands of people who regard most of humanity with hatred, contempt, and fear, and the results are not such as to make me expect success at their grand goals. Particularly not the ones who show that they don’t grasp the notion that opportunity cost is a real thing even for stuff they want to do, that population dynamics and the psychology of stress are real, and so forth and so on.
Too much talk of Our Glorious &c starts off with assumptions about how we just can’t make Earth be a sustainably good, safe place. I’ve learned to be very, very wary of There Is No Alternative thinking wherever I find it, and to wonder if it actually makes sense to envision doing better trying to invent a biosphere and society from scratch.
@Bruce Baugh:
Yes, and the AI stans too. Just reading one of the Stross threads a minute ago reminds me of it, how quickly referring to people as “meat” slides from whimsical to withering.
@Robinareid
Love your new Gravatar.
4) BEYOND LIMITS. John Carlton
Don’t review books you haven’t read. You will trip up and look foolish. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do a good review without reading the book,
5) GALAKTIKA MAGAZINE. SFWA President Cat Rambo
6) CARPENTER OPINES ON LATEST GALAKTIKA RESPONSE
What a mess. Good to see a number of good people staying on top of it and trying to inform authors.
8) KEN LIU. “5 Chinese Mythological Creatures That Need to Appear in More SF/F”
I liked these. In the article he also mentioned the name of a book for learning more about mythological creatures and China. I found what looks like a good translation with illustrations on Amazon. It’s expensive so it’s on my gift wishlist. Might make a cool gift for my sister and I can borrow it if I do any writing needing fun or scary Chinese mythological creatures. Or read it on one of my month long visits “home”.
9) MAGAZINE TO SUSPEND PUBLISHING. Interfictions Online
Sad. I forget to read but enjoy when I remember. They are an interesting group.
I’m far less familiar with the mythology of China, but for good books on the mythological / folkloric creatures of Japan, you should consider Yokai Attack! and Yurei Attack! by Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda (no relation to the little green guy.) These are done “tongue in cheek” style, as if it was a manual for DnD type creatures with their stats and weaknesses and such, but they have good information. (Actually, it looks like you can see half the damn book Yokai Attack on Google images.)
(8) KEN LIU
His #4, the shapechanging fox, features in a recent story Foxfire, Foxfire by Yoon Ha Lee. (It’s a Korean version though; I don’t know how that differs from the Chinese version)
I’d heard of the Pixiu as well, but the others were new to me.
@Bruce Baugh
Too much talk of Our Glorious &c starts off with assumptions about how we just can’t make Earth be a sustainably good, safe place. I’ve learned to be very, very wary of There Is No Alternative thinking wherever I find it, and to wonder if it actually makes sense to envision doing better trying to invent a biosphere and society from scratch.
Yes I always find that somewhat remarkable. I guess it’s the ‘escape and start over with a blank slate’ idea that is appealing to people. The trouble with that is if you don’t fix the problems you want to escape from, you tend to bring them with you.
Re: Joe vs the Volcano, I love that movie and dearly wish there’d be a larger re-examination of that film. It still carries a stigma, like it’s the biggest black spot on Tom Hanks career. It’s far better imo than almost every movie he made prior, except for Big and maybe The ‘Burbs(also underrated, again imo).
Having read your excerpt of John Carlton’s reaction to Greg Benford’s review of Kim Stanley Robinson’s book, I am confident that he is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
The Downfall videos got old very fast (the movie itself is great! go see it!) but that was brilliant
Korean foxes are apparently more likely to be evil, while the Chinese and Japanese ones vary more from story to story. For instance, Pu Songling’s Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio, dating from the 18th century, includes a lot of stories where fox spirits are the love interests, and a lot where they’re monsters.
Not even remotely close to the depths of “Bosom Buddies“…
@James Moar
Interesting, thank you.
“Now I haven’t as yet read the book”
Read the book and I will read your critique of same.
Re JVTV: I have a soft spot for the film. And the luggage in that film is awesome. Not quite Discworld awesome, but close enough.
14) That’s generous of the Cabal.
IN other interesting Hugo news, apparently the votes have been tabulated, and nomination emails have started to go out, and just like the nomination system, the nomination system also appears to be causing issues. I feel like that sorta thing would be better handled at a non- automated level, but I have never had to administer an award to…
Is this known because not all the Rabid Puppies nominees have been emailed yet?
@Rob,
I just pay attention to Justin (@jdiddyesq). He is most definitely… not a puppy.
@Mark
Thanks for posting this! I loved the story, and a peek at a mythology I’m unfamiliar with.
Ah, he also says:
So I suspect that it could be the latter.
Hmm, Justin seems to be saying he’s just been asking around in general terms, which could mean anything up to and including that notifications are late or that people are keeping appropriately quiet.
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant puppy.” From “Petamorphosis.” (Apologies if it’s been done and I missed it.)