(1) CALL ME KATSU. The Awl author Silvia Killingsworth declares “You Can’t Make Me Call It A Robopus”.
“The researchers built another octopus-inspired bot called ‘Poseidrone’ that tackled the more difficult challenge of swimming. A few different tactics were employed before engineers decided the best swimming mechanism was to give up control of Poseidrone’s arms altogether. The end result is a little kooky-looking (think a chicken flapping its wings underwater), but it gets the job done.”
Biomimicry, soft electronics and smart control mechanisms help these robots get a better grip on a complex world
(2) MINNEAPOLIS MARATHON. David Stever writes: “We have a Twin Cities radio station KTMY that has touted itself as ‘all thing entertainment’ for the past few years (they have a gossip alert every 30 minutes throughout the day), and one of their sponsors has put together a Game of Thrones listener contest with a neat twist. Folks have been putting their names in to participate in a 46-hour Games of Thrones watching party by four individuals which will be followed by a GoT trivia contest to thin out the survivors, so that from the four, a single winner will be given two tickets for a tour of Iceland put together by a travel agency/sponsor. If only it could have happened during Minicon weekend…
Click here for more information about The Nights Watch Marathon, a binge-fest of the HBO series presented by myTalk 107.1 starting April 19.
(3) KEEP REWATCHING THE SKIES. Hello Giggles found more candy in a Harry Potter movie — “This ‘Harry Potter’ professor got a new wand in the middle of the series and no one noticed”.
In the Harry Potter world, a wand is maybe the most important tool at a wizard’s disposal. In the real world, we obsess over each and every Harry Potter book and movie, searching for new tidbits we missed the first few hundred times around. Turns out, we’ve collectively missed one very big change involving a very big part of the wizarding world.
In Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Flitwick, played by Warwick Davis, underwent some major, major changes. His entire look changed (and, we have to say, for the better)….
“I have two different wands in Harry Potter,” Davis explained. “In the first two films, when I played the older looking Flitwick, I had quite an intricate wand that consisted of many different materials. It was wood and it had a kind of pearlescent handle and then a kind of brass tip, and the brass tip connected with your hand.” …
(4) LOOSE ENDS. At Entertainment Weekly, “Harry Potter actors reveal the questions they still have for J. K. Rowling”
LUNA LOVEGOOD
EVANNA LYNCH: I think the big blank is her mom. I’ve always wondered what she’s like. We’ve just been told her name is Pandora and that she died doing an experiment, and I just wonder, I really am curious what was her relationship with Luna? Because obviously she’s so close to her dad, and I find that there’s always one parent that you have more in common with or that you confide in more, and I wonder … was that her mom? Or just what kind of person she was.
(5) CAMPAIGNER. James H. Burns has a bulletin from the political front:
I was at an event yesterday with President Bill Clinton, a local Long Island rally to help get out the vote for his wife’s Presidential run, in New York’s April 19th primary… [Here’s a video.]
It occurred to me how much of the President’s speech had a futuristic ring. (By the way, whether you agree with Mr. Clinton’s politics or not, he remains a charismatic, compelling, and humorous orator.) He mentioned that much of his work with his foundation (which has had success around the world with healthcare, human rights and “green” initiatives) has reinforced to him the importance of using available technologies in creative ways.
“We can have environmental policies that actually grow the economy,” said Mr. Clinton, citing the success of solar energy programs in Iowa, and other endeavors.
As to the obstacles by some factions to the implementation of certain new programs, Clinton stated, “That’s nothing new… Rich people have always been greedy!”
It was under Clinton, of course, that the internet first flourished, which made another statement intriguing: “You can build all the walls you want around America; you can’t keep out social media.”
There was also one other idea that might strike particularly close to home, at least for those who remember a very famous William Shatner sketch (and this, from the most Kirk-like of our recent presidents):
“We have to take down the walls to participation,” said the President, referring to the continuing increasing costs of a college education, and student loans. “College debt is the only debt in America that you cannot refinance… A college education is a lifetime assset… Let’s make it like a mortgage…
“Then, everyone could move out of their parents’ house.”
(6) PROPELLER BEANIES. Terence McArdle’s obituary for country singer Merle Haggard in the April 7 Washington Post tells how one mundane abused the quintessential faannish icon.
In 1957, [Haggard] was sentenced to five years in California’s San Quentin State Prison for car theft and burglary.
The burglary charge resulted from an inebriated attempt to pry open the back door of a restaurant in broad daylight. After his apprehension, Mr. Haggard simply walked out of the Bakersfield City Jail.
Having embarrassed the local police with his escape, he was captured at his brother’s house in Lamont, Calif., 25 miles away. Mr. Haggard recalled in his 1999 memoir, “Merle Haggard’s My House of Memories,” written with Tom Carter, that he had been spotted earlier that day in Bakersfield wearing a propeller beanie as a disguise.
(7) LINES FOR FELINES. Ebook Friendly compiles fun examples of the Twitter meme “What if book titles were rewritten for cats?”
#CatBooks
The Lord Of The Strings pic.twitter.com/xeTnDV8iKC— Lizzy Lou Who ?? (@_wintergirl93) April 7, 2016
(8) BAUERSFELD OBIT. American radio dramatist and voice actor Erik Bauersfeld died April 3. He was the voice of Admiral Ackbar (“It’s a trap!”) and Bib Fortuna in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
BoingBoing has assembled a tribute with YouTube clips and links.
(9) DRAGON AWARDS: MORE REACTIONS. Kate Paulk and Vox Day both wrote about the new awards today. They reacted — with approval, naturally, but without implying they were aware it would happen.
Vox Day react to the Dragon Awards announcement in “Making SF awards great again” at Vox Popoli.
Yes, indeed, I think the Hugo Awards might have just taken a few hits over the last decade or two. In any event, I’m sure the science fiction fandom community is every bit as delighted about people taking their advice and setting up a new and alternative award as they were about people taking John Scalzi’s advice to nominate and vote for the Hugo Awards….
I am registered to vote in the Dragon Awards and I would encourage you to do so as well. I’ll post my recommendations here the week after the Hugo shortlist is announced, in the event that any of you might happen to be curious about them.
Kate Paulk recommends the new awards as “Another Way To Help End Puppy-Related Sadness” at Mad Genius Club.
Apparently someone at DragonCon has decided the field needs a new set of awards because, well… this. I like their set of categories: they fit nicely with the way the field is evolving, with no fewer than four game categories – one for each major type of game. Talk about comparing like with like.
They also separated comic books and graphic novels, and they have a dedicated YA category. Is that not wholly awesome?
Things aren’t 100%, yet – there’s a bit of a copy-paste artifact in their Best Fantasy Novel info that made me giggle but still… It’s nice to see a recognition that Fantasy is not Science Fiction is not Horror is not…
Even more interesting, the Dragon Awards are a complete people’s choice award. Anyone can sign up and vote, and it costs nothing. I’m really looking forward to comparing what comes out of the Hugo process and what comes out of the Dragon process – particularly in terms of numbers of voters and the like (hopefully the Dragon folks will be nice and give us that information to play… ahem… run statistical analysis with.
Faithful File 770 reader Christopher M. Chupik registered a palpable hit with this comment:
Sad Puppies was in it’s death throes a few weeks ago, according to them, and yet we also managed to manipulate DragonCon into doing our bidding.
But how often do you find Damien G. Walter in agreement with, in this case, nearly everyone?
https://twitter.com/damiengwalter/status/718106388497620992
(10) HEROIC PENS. New merchandise in the virtual window at the iPenStore —
Cross celebrates three classic Marvel Super Heroes with the new Marvel Collection of pens from the Marvel Universe: Captain America, Spider-Man, and Iron Man. Available in the Classic Century II rollerball and the Tech 2 ballpoint pen/stylus.
(11) THE OLD IN-OUT IN-OUT. Burgers were on John Scalzi’s agenda today in Los Angeles.
When I leave here, it will take me an hour to travel 13 miles. I'm in no rush. pic.twitter.com/j2EQn63w91
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) April 7, 2016
(12) THESE ARE THE JOKES. Horrible Tolkien-themed pun in Dan Thompson’s Brevity cartoon today. (In other words, I laughed…)
(13) ICON JOINS ALIEN DAY CELEBRATION. Birth. Movies. Death. has the story. “Sigourney Weaver Will Help The Alamo Drafthouse Celebrate ALIEN DAY”.
ALIENS’ female leads take center stage with Sigourney Weaver joining NY screening and Jenette Goldstein & Carrie Henn leading LA talent to mark chest-bursting 4.26.16 date – plus exclusive new Mondo T-shirt and line of official merchandise…
While it may be true that in space no one can hear you scream, they will be heard loud and clear on April 26, 2016 as Alamo Drafthouse and Mondo join in on 20th Century Fox’s nationwide celebration of LV-426 / ALIEN DAY / 4.26.16 – a date paying tribute, of course to the desolate LV-426 featured in both films.
While the Alien Queen instantly became the stuff of nightmares, it is the three female leads who hold iconic status with fans everywhere. In response, Alamo Drafthouse and Mondo are pleased to announce that star Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winner Sigourney Weaver – Ellen Ripley herself – will be on hand for a screening of ALIENS at New York City’s Town Hall. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Jenette Goldstein – AKA the tough-as-nails Private Vasquez – and Carrie Henn – the indomitable Newt – will be in attendance for ALIENS at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel – just around the corner from where Alamo’s first LA location is now under construction. And last but not least, Alamo and Mondo will co-present a terrifying ALIEN + ALIENS double feature at Chicago’s beloved arthouse titan, The Music Box Theatre.
(14) IT’S NOT A WRAP YET. ScreenRant tells, “The Mummy Reboot Is Now Filming; Set Photos Feature Tom Cruise”.
Universal Pictures is now working on a reboot of The Mummy franchise in order to launch a rebooted version of Universal’s shared monster movie universe. Action veteran Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation), Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders) and Jake Johnson (New Girl) are starring in the film, with Alex Kurtzman (co-writer of Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness) in the director’s chair. The plot sees Cruise’s ex-Navy SEAL take on a Mummy that is being played by Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service).
Coming Soon has posted the first set photos of Cruise and Wallis – who, in the latter’s case, is playing an archaeologist – filming scenes in Oxford, England for The Mummy reboot. The pictures show a night shoot somewhere in the center of the famous university city. While these images don’t really give much away, what the photos do confirm is that the film is set in the present day (as previously reported), as we can tell by the contemporary clothing being worn by the pair – something that makes all the more sense, what with Cruise playing a former Navy SEAL….
The first photos of Tom Cruise on the set of The Mummy! https://t.co/jMoB75dIbo #TheMummy pic.twitter.com/vaPLiKYTVn
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) April 6, 2016
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, David Stever, Martin Morse Wooster, and Will R. for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Chris S.]
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Hampus Eckerman: When? At what Business Meeting? I would say that this is blatantly false. A part of rumor making. A myth. Instead, it is hard to grow as a convention when you move around every year with people administrating it.
I think that Mr Glyer or Mr Standlee can probably speak to this on a firsthand basis. My secondhand understanding is that it’s been a conscious choice of Worldcon members over the years to retain the small, intimate atmosphere rather than attempt to grow into a megacon.
And I’m perfectly happy with that. The only way you’d ever get me to something like San Diego Comic Con or Dragon*Con is if you dragged my corpse there as part of your cosplay.
@Jim
I don’t get it
Hampus Eckerman: Damian Walter doesn’t quite put his finger on what happened, however, he’s not entirely wrong either.
When people vote to hold Worldcon in North American cities like Reno, San Antonio, and Spokane, they implicitly choose to have a much smaller con than the ones in LA, Chicago and Boston. Much the same can be said for sending it to most cities outside North America, apart from London.
It winds up in smaller North American cities because local elements of the the Permanent Floating Worldcon Committee wanted to host the con, and either can’t get the right facilities (affordable, large enough) in Portland and Seattle, or the facilities (like in San Antonio) are attractive regardless of city size.
And moving the con to different places in the world is an essential part of fans’ vision for it. That generally means a smaller number of attendees than in North America, though not always.
I tried to bring out the nuances of all these arguments in Sowing Dragon’s Teeth, a long post I wrote in 2009 to address the Worldcon/Dragon Con comparison, and better identify the business and cultural limits on Worldcon’s size.
Well you managed to induce DragonCon into doing the thing that everyone with a love of the Hugos had been saying you should do for the past three years. I wish you joy of it, especially if that means you’re preapared to stop pissing in the pool.
Participation rates are not the thing that are going to give the Dragon Awards their value, it’s a sense that they can be relied on to point to great works. If the ‘best’ novel is Somewitter and the ‘best’ MilSF is some Islamophobic screed by Tank Marmot then they likely be a weird little sideshow like the Prometheus awards, or other expressly political gongs.
(9) “Even more interesting, the Dragon Awards are a complete people’s choice award. ”
It almost sounds like Paulk have never ever heard of Goodreads’ awards.
As for my own reaction: I wish the administrators good luck.
(12) I think this one from a few days ago is funnier.
@ Mike Glyer,
I enjoyed Bryson’s Shakespeare very much; it’s an excellent short survey. As you probably know, Shakespeare’s life is far better documented than those of many other playwrights of his day. (I should mention that I know a lot of the scholars that Bryson quotes, and would be happy to suggest further reading!)
Mike: I’m reading your post (which is very nice, especially the comments), and I find more or less the opposite to having decided not to grow. I find a lot of people discussing ideas on how to grow.
If there is something that seems to have been decided it is to continue to move every year and to keep the democratic nature of site bidding. Which might affect the possibility of growth, but is something else.
Oh, and I note this quote:
Would still be a good thing.
I tend to agree with OGH though. The thing that really prevents the Wordcon from growing is the steadfast decision to keep the Worldcon as a travelling show. If it were to abandon that part of it’s tradition, settle down in New York, talk to the sites that host NYCC or equivalent mediaCons then it could be much bigger. But it would no longer be the thing that the WorldCon attenders have grown used to.
Also, invite lot of derision from shiftless Europeans like thee and me about a “world” event being a US fixture. Insert baseball references (yes, I know why the World Series is so called, but most people think it just unthinking American cultural imperialism) .
snopes says the World Series is so called because of unthinking American cultural imperialism 🙂
I had completely bought into the New York World story…
11)
I still miss In N Out. (I lived in Orange County for about a year)
Re:Puppies and the DragonCon Award.
I don’t wish the tsuris of some of the antics of the Puppies on the organizers of DragonCon or their award. I don’t think the Puppies encouraged Dragon Con to make this award but now that its there, they will of course take advantage of its existence. I think it was Lois who made a point in another thread that she wished the Puppies well in concentrating on it rather than the Hugos.
But really, in this day and age, why WOULD the Puppies not try and have an impact on both?
@Paul Weimer; yes, your last. Build up the award they favor and (try) to knock down the one they don’t.
In regards to that, I expect it won’t be long before we see things like: “X wins Hugo for best novel, has N-z in sales, while Y wins the DC for best novel and has N+z sales: clearly the DC award chooses better works” (false conclusion but in line with the “sales and copies equals best” thinking we’ve come to love).
I’m not going to preach on the DC award here, other than to say that clearly the puppy cabal has secretly seized the reigns of power (for at LEAST the past 10 years!!!) and this award announcement confirms the fact that they’ve been controlling the entire science fiction field from behind the scenes, for probably even longer. They’re the reason that more Baen books haven’t appeared on the Locus poll, the reason we don’t have more good, clean, male-oriented action scifi winning major awards; they’re the reason that SF has become all other and POC and feminist oriented AND they’re the reason why “If you were a dinosaur…” became such a big thing. Want to know how PNH & TNH have become so influential? – Puppies! Why does Scalzi keep winning all of the Hugos? Puppies! Why does Damien G keep writing for the Guardian? Puppies!
I mean, it’s pretty clear that the ONLY reason they were able to game the Hugo awards so successfully was because they are secretly in charge of everything. It’s the only scenario that makes sense of everything.
Makes no sense but – puppies. If they can do it, so can I.
PS: my family was hit with a major medical horror the other day and I suspect that this is what has colored my comments recently. We’re dealing with things as best we can at the moment, fingers-crossed. (Details repressed for the obvious reasons of respecting privacy.)
heh. I like this conspiracy theory. The puppies have been secretly supporting the things they claim to hate, in order to be able to attack it and come out looking like world saviors in the end. VERY Machiavellian.
Go ahead: ask Patrick if he’s been getting marching orders from Beale. Of COURSE he’ll deny it!
PROOF!
@JJ: Yes, and it’s not like it’s a secret Klein tries to conceal. 🙂 I was just blanking on the name while writing that comment and didn’t want to break my flow to go look it up.
I addressed Worldcon, growth and traveling in a recent editorial. There are ways to mitigate the impact of constantly moving the con. One such way would be to allow/create “satellite” worldcons; another would be to host “NASFiCs” elsewhere in the world when the con is in NA; but I think the most effective and least impactful on the traditional ways of doing things would be to engage more deeply with the various technologies that are available that can spread the con’s reach. (A theater, for example, that broadcasts the award ceremony, where several hundred fans could get together for a mini-con. Perhaps even include entry as part of a supporting membership.)
5) Clinton also said some very… interesting… things about the Black LIves Matter movement, that I don’t thinka re going to help his wife’s campaign.
9) If Teddy thinks that he’ll be able to influence the DragonCon awards, that’s a new level even for his ego.
I have yet to see anyone who thinks that “DragonCon having awards” is a bad idea. I also have yet to see anyone show how the DragonCon awards will affect the Hugos anymore that the Locus Awards, the Nebulas, the Gemmell, or Goodreads.
13) Alamo Drafthouse is good stuff.
What I’ve been reading…
Borderline by Mishell Baker: Interesting present day fantasy with the lead character being a double amputee. I’ll probably write a review of it, but I enjoyed it, and I continue to be amused that as I get deeper into fandom, I recognize much more of the names in the Author’s notes.
Rogue Lawyer by Grisham: It always amazes me how Grisham (or whoever is writing for Grisham) manages to make an incredibly gripping story, with about as few details as possible. I knocked out Rogue Lawyer in it’s entirety, along with the prequel short, yesterday. Good stuff.
There Will Always be a Max by Mike Underwood: Great short. Very much captures the feeling of both Desert Post Apoc and the Genrenauts series. Great read.
@Alex. RE: “There will Always be a Max”
Yep, read that this morning, myself, agree completely
(7) LINES FOR FELINES
A Whisker in Time?
Furrball in the Sky?
Siamese Troopers?
Neuromanxer?
A note to Huntsville / North Alabama filers, Joe Haldmen and Vandana Singh will be part of a panel discussion at UAH tonight. Sorry for the last minute notice – only just saw the announcement this morning.
+1 for “Neuromanxer.”
Roll Tide.
@Ray:
It’s okay. Some humor is just pitched for an elite.
steve davidson, best wishes for dealing with medical awfulness in your family. Hope the outcomes are the best possible.
JJ asked:
D*C exists in a kind of grey area of fannish cred. It’s a for-profit con, and provides a living for one or more people. (How comfortable a living has been subject to some dispute; see the D*C category on this very blog for the gory details on Ed Kramer’s lawsuits claiming he was being denied a fair cut of the action.) OTOH, it’s structured in a way that’s much closer to a volunteer-run con than your typical for-profit fan event, and it’s got strong ties to the core of sf fandom. Many accomplished volunteer con-runners have done a stint on its staff. It even hosted the 1995 NASFiC.
If your main metric is profit, then it’s fair to lump D*C with most comic cons (but not the San Diego Comic Con, which is still a nonprofit). If it isn’t, then… it’s complicated.
Some humor is just pitched for an elite.
Phwoarr! Bet you don’t get many of those to an inch!
On the “what are you reading” front, I’m still working my way through Kate Elliott’s Black Wolves (having had a 3-week hiatus because work overtime killed my treadmill reading time), but this week’s Friday Review Blog on my LJ is a recent Podcastle story, “The Husband Stitch”.
How do you talk about a gloriously written piece of prose that doesn’t work for you as the genre it’s presented in, and isn’t to your taste in terms of content? (Not going to answer here–check out the review.) I can understand the editorial temptation to accept things that are masterful literary works even when very marginally within the theoretical genre space. But I felt a little strung-along.
Hey everyone,
I’m a week behind and not catching up so I thought I’d start with the current scroll and (I hope) catch up later.
Re Dragon Awards – I wish them well. Will check back in 20 years and see if they have a knack for spotting books that last. The Hugos were a small award when they started too. Am confused that fantasy and MilSF are one category.
Just finished the latest Patricia Briggs book Fire Touched. Man, I wish she wrote faster. I enjoy her books so much.
Currently reading Lovecraft Country. At 10% in, it’s fantastic. Having a hard time dealing with the casual racism that the protagonist has to put up with so it’s slow going. I was afraid to read the book because I have issues with characters being trapped but so far am enjoying it. May have to read something for comfort in the middle.
Current audiobook, The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez. Thank you whichever Filer recommended this book. Our protagonist of the title is a robot designed for mass destruction who achieved sentience and works as a cab driver before events compel him into detecting stuff. It’s an absolutely compelling viewpoint character and an interesting world. Don’t know at this point if the mystery will hold up at 50% in, but it’s amazing!
Books read: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Bujold My main reaction to this is, this book is wish fulfillment. In past books, Bujold has mentioned how social change in Barrayar happens slowly is happening slowly, with resistance – but here she seems to have just run out of patience and declared, okay the desired perfect society has been achieved. It didn’t seem realistic.
Also, this book highlighted something I hadn’t noticed before – why is Barrayar missing a democratic movement? How is it possible to have so much social change without a questioning of the political system?
It seems to me that Worldcon hasn’t made a decision not to grow; it has made a decision (or series of decisions) to preserve and emphasize other things.
It’s like saying someone has “made a decision not to become a millionaire,” when their actual decisions were things like spending time with their partner and children, working at a job they liked, getting enough sleep, watching lots of movies, and going on hiking trips. If you asked someone “would you like to do all the things you’re doing now, and be paid three as much?” they’d probably say “yes.” That doesn’t mean they’d say “yes” to “would you like to give up your hobbies, have almost no time with your family, and be paid three times as much?”
It’s easy to say “wouldn’t you like to be making a lot more money?” or “wouldn’t you like to have more time for the things you enjoy?” and ignore the trade-offs.
If you’re planning a party, you can have time for intimate conversations with all the guests. You can invite everyone you know and encourage them to bring other people who they think you’ll like. You can’t have both those parties in the same place, on the same day.
@bookworm1398
Re: Democracy and Barrayar: Lack of models for Democracy, maybe? Not to mention its relatively close to the bloody years of the Cetagandan occupation and the various conflicts around the throne.
Even with entrepreneurs like Mark, there is still a very neo-techno-feudal to the economics, as well.
“Barrayar needs a Bourgeoisie”
The complacency and acquiescence of the Barrayaran populace to a system of aristocratic privilege is downright ruritanian. Miles’ abuse of his power at the end of A Civil Campaign nearly ruined the whole series for me, definitely reduced my overall enjoyment of subsequent books and makes me look askance at the antics of what are essentially feudal elites. I now much prefer her fantasies.
@DMS: Ooo, thanks for the heads up! I’ve got to figure out if I can make it there tonight.
This sort of thing makes revolutionary popular unrest more rather than less likely.
If Worldcon had a full time paid staff, it could grow. But it wouldn’t be Worldcon.
Also, just because SDCC is a non-profit doesn’t mean people aren’t making a ton of money off it.
Also, don’t knock the Prometheus awards – they’ve had a bunch of authors I like nominated/winning over the years (mainly the Scottish Socialist Wing of SF, but there you go).
I’ve long viewed Dragoncon as the near perfect example of how to commercialize traditional conventions.
I’ve also long viewed it as a path one should not go down.
An excellent question for the in-story political dynamics. In terms of reader dynamics, we’re led not to question it because Bujold successfully leads us to identify strongly with characters at the pinnacle of the current power structure, and to present them as preternaturally honorable and competent. It’s the aspect of her books that has always seriously bothered me. (I mentioned this some time about in terms of “being seduced into identifying with monsters”.)
@NickPheas
I don’t hear much about the Prometheus awards for good or ill. I don’t hear many people praising their choices for being incredible works, but I don’t hear many people criticizing their choices either. It seems an award that is best described by, “Well, if you like that sort of thing, it’s probably good to follow.” Does my impression match up with yours?
I think Walter has bought into the narrative that at one time WorldCon did represent all fans (enthusiasts), and since now clearly it doesn’t, this is a failure. Which as I understand it is not true; a lot more than 750 people read science fiction in 1953. Also, film and TV were not as big as they are now, but they existed; comics were already big; WorldCon has always been just one part of the spectrum of fannishness.
I would like to reiterate the point I made yesterday about DragonCon’s awards, because I think it’s important to a sense of perspective we will have when we look back in the future (apologies to those of you who are already there…).
These awards do not need to settle into a final form in their first year (or five). Indeed, I suspect they probably won’t, and that different formats will probably aim for different goals.
I don’t hear much about the Prometheus awards for good or ill. I don’t hear many people praising their choices for being incredible works, but I don’t hear many people criticizing their choices either.
The Prometheus Awards are an award with an announced purpose, but that purpose is so broad that in practice it frequently isn’t really distinguishable from a generic award for science fiction.
Lee Whiteside on April 7, 2016 at 9:50 pm said:
Weird. @TheHugoAwards has about 12.5K followers. Which was why it was very embarrassing a few weeks after Spokane when I tweeted out something intended to be from @KevinStandlee (about 400 followers at the time) but instead went out from @TheHugoAwards. I’d not used my mobile phone to tweet anything since Worldcon and it was still logged into @TheHugoAwards.
Aaron on April 7, 2016 at 9:28 pm said:
In particular, I don’t see any way to grow Worldcon much larger than its current attendance as long as we keep holding it in a different city every year with a different organizing committee. The convention currently known as Dragon*Con didn’t start as big as it is. It took years to grow, and it stayed in the same city. ComicCon International started out as a small comics show in the basement of a San Diego hotel as I recall. Neither convention moved significantly, and moving around loses people. Heck, BayCon lost a lot of its members when it moved less than five miles from one hotel to another.
There are people who as far as I can tell think that because it’s called the World Science Fiction Convention, it must be the largest SF/F pop-culture genre entertainment event in the world, or else it is lying about the name. Heck, the largest such event isn’t even in the USA and doesn’t have English as its attendees’ primary language.
Hampus Eckerman on April 8, 2016 at 12:03 am said:
Precisely. I suppose one could say that WSFS’s members have collectively decided that Worldcon is not going to grow much bigger than it currently is by maintaining its current massively-decentralized governance and site selection structure. And because the members of WSFS own Worldcon, that’s their right, and only they can change it. Freedom of association and all that, you know.
You could grow Worldcon to Dragon*Con size. Permanently anchor it in Anaheim. Put it in charge of San Diego’s management. (They are a successful non-profit corporation, remember?) Remove the management of WSFS from the members. Stop letting the members make policy (including setting the rules for the Hugo Awards). In fact, abandon the concept of “WSFS” entirely, and just hand the remaining service marks over to SDCC. Basically convert WonderCon to Worldcon and you’d have it. But how much of a “World” con is it if it doesn’t move around? What kind of a “World” con is it if only Americans can easily attend it? We already get static because Worldcon is held in the USA more often than not (but far less often than it once was).
Worldcon is a success on its own terms, organized as an event that suits the people who decide where to hold it and who will run it. It is not a commercial function designed to extract ticket money from people seeking a pre-packaged pop-culture entertainment experience. Why is that so hard for so many people to understand?
JJ on April 8, 2016 at 12:30 am said:
The last time I attended San Diego was when it was “only” 30K attendees, which someone described as “small and intimate.” And I’ve definitely heard people who tell me they’ll never attend Worldcon again because 5000 people is much too large. Any event more than 100 people is too much for them. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Size isn’t everything.
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Now as far as the accusation that Dragon*Con members don’t read books: that’s overstated. And because the event is so large, even if the percentage of SF/F book readers is small, the absolute number is still large. I’ve heard it speculated that there’s a Worldcon-sized group of SF/F book readers buried inside a massive comics/media/pop-culture festival there. I’ve never attended, so I don’t know.
Hampus Eckerman on April 8, 2016 at 2:17 am said:
This year, I hope. I anticipate those sites to start looking more like TheHugoAward.org sometime before the next Worldcon. Getting it done has been like pulling teeth. No, toenails. WSFS made an organizational error about ten years ago that made it almost impossible to get the site updated or replaced. We’re trying to get it done now. I’d rather not discuss the details, though; they’re too painful.
steve davidson on April 8, 2016 at 4:51 am said:
The latter “Continental Conventions” idea has been repeatedly floated. This would be a better idea if there were fan groups on those other continents interested in hosting it. A story I was told about Worldcon site selection by Ben Yalow: WSFS changed the rotation rules to require Worldcon to be held outside of North America every other year. The reason nobody remembers this is that at the first Worldcon held outside of North America after this rule change, the members voted to change the rule back to what it remained substantially until the current “No Zone” system. The European fans were very much in favor of the change. They didn’t want to be asked to hold Worldcon every other year.
Although the Detroit NASFiC was lots of fun, I’m leaning increasingly to the camp of saying it’s no longer necessary, and that WSFS would be better served in abandoning the service mark and stop holding the convention. If someone actually wants to take it over, go ahead, but I’m not sure they would even bother. What surprises me is that nobody has ever tried to create AmeriCon: The United States National Science Fiction Convention.
(There was an “AmeriCon” for a while in the SF Bay Area, but it was a local comic show.)
I just bought Graydon Saunder’s new “Commonwealth” book from the Kobo store. It looks like it’ll be a direct sequel to A Succession of Bad Days, and I got sucked into reading the first page at work, before I broke loose…
Really looking forward to this.
I think you mean Scroll Tide.
War Pixel.
And this post nearly exhausts my knowledge of sports.
Bonnie,
Thanks for the recommendation of “Traveling with the Alien”.
@Standback (on the new Dragon*Con awards)
Maybe not. The Hugos have a long tradition that is strongly opposed to campaigning for nominations. The new awards have a blank slate. Perhaps something that will distinguish them is that they will encourage campaigning. It would make them a different kind of award, but I think that’s a good thing. I doubt it would end up being a more prestigious award, but who knows?
Anyway, if campaigning is encouraged, then there’s nothing wrong with what Beale is doing.
@DMS
How ’bout them slates?
I think I’d be a little more suspicious. Libertarians are are weird and alien concept in European politics, generally with tinges of “Well, yes, you could be free to murder people, or free to die in a gutter from a treatable disease, but it’s not a freedom I want.” The Prometheus Award is trying to promote some kind of ideology, but I don’t really understand what, and I don’t see how Ken McLeod or Charlie Stross fit into that political space. perhaps the PA doesn’t either.
I’ve heard it speculated that there’s a Worldcon-sized group of SF/F book readers buried inside a massive comics/media/pop-culture festival [at Dragon Con]. I’ve never attended, so I don’t know.
It’s likely a similar order of magnitude to Worldcon. Over Dragon Con’s four days last year, I had somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people come to our science track programming, and that was with a single room that held 100 people plus occasional forays into larger ballrooms for marquee events. Given that there are five tracks dedicated to written media, I’d believe that it draws 5,000 or more fans of written SF/F.
Kevin, all good, accurate points.
The only argument I’d make in re natcons & that whole concept including the NASFiC is, things on the tech side (and cultural side) have changed mightily since and it might be worth taking another look.
PS: as I think Kevin knows, all of my ruminations, speculations and blue-skying regarding Worldcon have always been predicated on the concepts of “preserving the tradition” while “adding” where appropriate.
Hail to the scrolling pixel!
“He scrolls when he wants. He scrolls when wants! That Mike Glyer. He scrolls when wants.”