(1) FANX FLOUNDERS ON. How long will FanX’s Bryan Brandenburg’s “indefinite leave” be?
Brandenburg said Thursday he will not be involved in FanX operations for the rest of the year, but will attend the event in September with his family and will evaluate his role in the organization next year. https://t.co/0JILIbwDOh
— KSL (@KSLcom) May 25, 2018
FanX’s other leader, Dan Farr, now has added his own statement and apology.
… I, Dan Farr, apologize fully for any instances in which a participant has felt unsafe. We do not condone these behaviors, from anyone.
It is not our role or responsibility to judge any individual nor to disparage or use inflammatory language about any participant in our conference. It is our role to do all within our power to keep our participants safe. Our conversation with the author resulted in a mutual agreement that he will not be participating in our future events. With this agreement, we consider the matter resolved.
Additionally, my partner and cofounder, Bryan Brandenburg has made a personal and heartfelt apology for his remarks on social media that were insensitive about our attendees’ sexual harassment concerns.
However, continued postings in social media and the press have shown energy and anger to a level that Bryan has decided that his continued participation, for now, is a distraction from the goals we are striving to uphold.
Beginning immediately, Bryan Brandenburg is taking an executive leave that he hopes and believes will help to dispel the negative energy that is taking us away from our greater mission and goals. While he has not suggested a timeframe, this leave may not be permanent. We hope to see Bryan at our September event with his wife and new son.
As for Brandenburg stepping back from social media – well, he’s stepped back from where the public can see it, but he’s still busy posting – see the screencaps in this set of tweets.
https://twitter.com/asquaremelon/status/999661553728348160
https://twitter.com/asquaremelon/status/999661806812581893
Yesterday’s latest Salt Lake Tribune coverage quoted from one of the screencaps that showed Brandenburg justifying how FanX dealt with the Richard Evans harassment complaint:
The comments were later deleted, but not before screengrabs circulated on Twitter.
“We absolutely could not publicly ban [Evans],” Brandenburg wrote. “We had no proof. We would be sued for libel and defamation from Richard. Then it would get out that you would be banned and humiliated from FanX for kissing a guest on the cheek and touching her. We would be out of business. Nobody would care to read the details. We did not see it happen. It would be her word against his.”
Hale has questioned whether organizers attempted to talk to people who may have witnessed the interaction, and whether Brandenburg’s statement means that allegations won’t be looked into if they weren’t witnessed by FanX employees.
FanX’s new harassment policy promises that every report of harassment will be investigated.
Howard Tayler’s Twitter thread deconstructs the Brandenburg rationale, quoted in the Tribune. The thread starts here:
This bit from FanX co-owner Bryan Brandenburg is *incredibly* problematic. It says "if you want to sexually harass people at our convention, just take care that none of our employees are witnesses."
This is not a policy that keeps people safe. This is the opposite of that. https://t.co/JVqNOBnR4Q
— Howard Tayler (@howardtayler) May 24, 2018
And includes these comments:
The FanX approach:
1) deny that the hornets are a problem
2) okay maybe they're only a problem to you babies who are allergic
3) promise to do something right after the "allergic babies" comment makes the local paper
4) be afraid to actually do anything because hornets are scary— Howard Tayler (@howardtayler) May 24, 2018
(2) OH, THE NONHUMANITY! Here’s an admirable idea for a listicle: “The 12 Most Gratuitous Robot Deaths in Sci-Fi” at Tor.com.
Sometimes it feels like robots only exist to be abused, you know? We love them and the window they provide on the human condition, but science fiction is usually pretty mean to them overall. It loves to torment robots (and when we say “robots” we’re really talking about any form of android or A.I. or sentient toaster or what-have-you) with the constant threat of obsolescence or deactivation or destruction. And some of these deaths are just plain gratuitous, leaving us betrayed, bewildered, and otherwise bereaved.
Here are the worst of them….
(3) MORE POOH. Here’s is Disney’s Christopher Robin Official Trailer. In theaters August 3.
In the heartwarming live action adventure Disney’s “Christopher Robin,” the young boy who shared countless adventures with his band of lovable stuffed animals in the Hundred Acre Wood is now grown up and living in London but he has lost his way. Now it is up to his childhood friends to venture into our world and help Christopher Robin rediscover the joys of family life, the value of friendship and to appreciate the simple pleasures in life once again.
(4) NEWSLETTER SIGNUP INCENTIVE. Get to know seven authors and fill a shelf with science fiction and fantasy — The SFF Grand Newsletter Giveaway is a chance to win a dozen signed books. The seven writers in this international group range from debut to established, and from near-future thrillers to high fantasy — Aliette de Bodard, SL Huang, Beth Cato, Kate Heartfield, Jim C. Hines, Kate Elliott, and JY Yang.
Between May 25 and June 25, readers can enter the giveaway once for each author, for up to seven entries. For each author, entrants will have the choice of subscribing to that author’s newsletter to enter (signing up for the newsletter is not required to be entered in the giveaway). Existing subscribers to an author’s newsletter can simply choose the giveaway-only option to receive an entry for that author.
The contest is open worldwide. One winner (chosen at random) will receive signed, physical copies of all the books:
- The first three Tensorate novellas by JY Yang
- The complete Court of Fives trilogy by Kate Elliott if the winner has a U.S. address, or a choice of one of the following by Kate Elliott if the winner has a non-U.S. address: Court of Fives, Cold Magic, Black Wolves, or Spirit Gate
- Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
- Breath of Earth by Beth Cato
- Zero Sum Game by SL Huang and The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist (novelette) by SL Huang
- The Tea Master and the Detective and The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
- Armed in Her Fashion and Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield
Everyone who uses this page to sign up for ANY of our newsletters before June 25 will be entered into the giveaway! You can enter once for each author, for up to 7 entries. From among ALL entries we’ll draw ONE lucky winner — who will receive SIGNED BOOKS from every one of us! A chance to win a dozen or more signed books — a whole shelf of new SFF!
(5) WRITER V. CHARACTER. Ian Sales, in “His master’s voice”, defends his criticism of a Clarke Award finalist.
So, a couple of days ago I tweeted a short quote from the book I was reading, one of this year’s Clarke Award finalists, and remarked that I was surprised to find the position expressed in the quote in a genre novel published in 2017. Most people who saw my tweet were as dismayed as I was – although, to be fair, they saw only my quote.
Which changes things. Apparently.
The book in question is Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill, and the exact quote was “Gender is defined by genitalia”, which is spoken by the book’s narrator, Brittle, a robot, in a paragraph in which “she” admits that robots have no gender, it is not something “she” has ever thought about, but she henceforth chooses to define herself as female.
Two people I consider friends – very smart people both, and genre critics whose opinions I respect* – decided to insult my intelligence by questioning by understanding of how narrative works. Because the offending phrase – and it is offensive – was spoken by a character, they stated, that does not mean it reflects the author’s sensibilities. As another friend pointed out, I have myself written fiction featuring Nazis – and I have: ‘Wunderwaffe’ – but that obviously does not make me a Nazi. This is indeed true. Cargill has written a novel about robots, in which the first person narrator is a robot… but obviously he is not a robot himself. I never claimed this.
But the people arguing against my comment were themselves making the same assumption about me they were accusing myself of making against Cargill. Except, I think my position is backed up by the narrative.
…So yes, I do understand how narrative works. I also understand how writing works. And while I may not be as accomplished at writing as others… and I may place a higher value on narrative rigour than most people… I stand my original position:
Unless the narrative evidences a foundation for a sensibility or attitude, then it’s reasonable to assume it is a sensibility or attitude of the author that has leaked through into the narrative.
(6) MARY SHELLEY BIOPIC. NPR’s Mark Jenkins says “‘Mary Shelley’ Is Less Than The Sum Of Its Parts”
Given the familiarity of the material, the makers of Mary Shelley would have been smart to find a new approach. Philosophically, they sort of do, giving Mary more credit than usual for both her work and her choices.
Stylistically, though, the movie is all too typical of the 19th-century British literary/romantic drama. It presents London circa 1815 as misery for the poor, the young, the female, and the liberal-minded — and yet picturesque enough for a tourist brochure, suffused with dappled sun-, lamp- and candlelight and swathed in yearning music.
(7) BAIN OBIT. Meredith marks the passing of “John Bain, also known as TotalBiscuit, the Cynical Brit, who died yesterday after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer in 2015. He was a popular gaming YouTuber and started out by covering the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion before moving on to wider coverage, including a lot of indie games. He championed games on the PC and was always honest about his opinions of games, beginning in a time when that was far less common.”
John Peter Bain
July 8, 1984 – May 24, 2018 pic.twitter.com/XchUMNDYXC— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) May 24, 2018
(8) TODAY IN HISTORY
- May 25, 1953 — It Came From Outer Space appeared in theaters, a movie based on a story by Ray Bradbury.
- May 25, 1977 – Star Wars premiered.
- May 25, 1983 – Return of the Jedi opened in theaters.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY MUPPETEER
- Born May 25, 1944 – Frank Oz
(10) COMICS SECTION.
- Cat Eldridge says “I’ve had dozens of emails telling me about the organization and how it’s complying with GDPR.” And now Xkcd is getting in on the act.
(11) NATAL DAY. Steven H Silver celebrates: “Birthday Reviews: Vera Nazarian’s ‘Salmon in the Drain Pipe’” at Black Gate.
Nazarian was nominated for a WSFA Small Press Award for her short story “Port Custodial Blues” in 2007. The following year she received a nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story for “The Story of Love.” She also received a Nebula nomination in 2009 for her novella The Duke in His Castle. In addition to writing, Nazarian has worked as the editor and publisher of Norilana Books since the company’s founding in 2006.
(12) KNOWS ALL, HEARS ALL, TELLS ALL. The Guardian asks “Alexa, when did the Church of England become so tech-savvy?”
The Amazon assistant can now help you with your Anglican needs. Just don’t expect answers to the really big questions…
Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer was well ahead of its time when in 1549 it addressed “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be opened, all desires known, and no secrets hid” – but it would take nearly five centuries for the church to turn this vision into technology. For now there is a Church of England “skill” – a set of canned responses – on , Amazon’s virtual assistant which can give its answer to 30 religious questions. It doesn’t answer the interesting ones though. “Alexa, ask the Church of England how can I be saved?” produces a silence easily interpreted as baffled, and I don’t think this is because the Church of England long ago decided that I couldn’t be….
(13) SFF IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Here’s another list to pick apart, BBC Culture’s “The 100 stories that shaped the world”. Homer’s Odyssey is number 1.
Chip Hitchcock celebrates that “SFF cracked the top 5,” and he tentatively identifies the stories with these rankings as SFF: 3, 4, 15, 16, 44, 67?, 71, 72, 73? 83?
(14) THEY WERE THERE. “How ancient DNA is transforming our view of the past” the “pots not people” (cultural exchange) view is giving way to knowledge that there were huge population shifts, e.g. Stonehenge builders disappearing under flood of Beaker People.
…Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, studies of ancient DNA from our own species were highly contentious because of observations that skeletal remains were easily contaminated by the DNA of living people.
As such, there were always nagging doubts about whether a genetic sequence belonged to the long-dead individual being studied or to an archaeologist involved in excavating the remains, a museum curator who had handled them, or a visitor to the lab where they were being analysed.
However, crucial progress in overcoming these obstacles began in the late 90s with the effort to sequence DNA from Neanderthals, which was led by Professor Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
Pääbo’s group developed a set of protocols to prevent contamination slipping through, including having the same samples sequenced in two laboratories by different teams….
But the field experienced a revolution with the emergence of so-called next-generation sequencing technology. When an organism dies, the DNA in its cells begins to break down – over time it splits into smaller and smaller chunks, as well as accumulating other forms of damage.
It also gets contaminated with vast amounts of microbial DNA from the wider environment. The new sequencing machines could be used to isolate the human genetic material from bacterial DNA and then stitch together the tiny fragments into a readable sequence….
(15) ROADBLOCK. Traffic came to a standstill when….
— Matthew Angelo (@MAngeloCreative) March 13, 2018
(16) SFWA GAME CHAT. The inaugural episode of SFWA Game Chat aired this week on YouTube, hosted by Cat Rambo with Monica Valentinelli.
Did you know that SFWA now admits science fiction and fantasy game writers? Cat Rambo introduces a new show that discusses sci-fi/fantasy game writing!
(17) GAMING PIONEER. The Great Big Story has released a piece on the woman behind the design of the early 80’s text-based computer/adventure game, The Hobbit. Veronika Megler fell out of contact with the company that developed the game and went for many years without knowing how successful it was and how many lives it touched: “The Hunt for ‘The Hobbit’s’ Missing Hero”.
The six and a half minute video is great and the story of how (now) Dr. Megler has seized upon the lasting power of the game to help address gender balance in computer science is affecting.
(18) NOT AGENT 86. Missed out on this shoephone revival:
T-Mobile’s Sidekick gets a remake! Inspired by the past but stepping boldly into the future, it has revolutionary AI, headphones that double as chargers, personalized GPS guidance by John Legere, and more!
(19) SECOND OPINION. NPR’s Justin Chang calls Solo “A High-Speed, Low-Energy Intergalactic Heist”:
It was a good sign when Alden Ehrenreich, the terrific young actor from “Tetro” and “Hail, Caesar!” was cast as Han and also when Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the merry comic daredevils behind “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street,” were hired to direct. But then Lord and Miller were fired last year due to apparently irreconcilable creative differences. And you could sense the iron will of Lucasfilm asserting itself. God forbid anyone should try to inject a little wit or personality into this surefire cash cow.
The directors were replaced by the much more risk-averse Ron Howard. And as a consequence, what might have once been a fresh and funny tour de force has devolved into bland, impersonal hackwork.
(20) CANTINA CHOW. Extra Crispy’s Tim Nelson was not impressed with the Solo/Denny’s promotional campaign, launched in April, that included trading cards and (not so) special menu items.
In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi Wan Kenobi warns Luke Skywalker that “you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” than Mos Eiseley, home to the cantina where viewers first meet smuggler and scoundrel Han Solo. It’s also a fitting way to describe any Denny’s located within stumbling distance of a bar after 11 p.m.
…With proceeds from trading card purchases going to help fund nonprofit organization No Kid Hungry, the whole thing seems inoffensive enough. But if some leaked information posted on a Star Wars forum is true, some of the Solo-themed menu items seem a bit silly.
There’s the “lightspeed slam,” a healthy dish that looks more like something from a depressed nutritionist’s Instagram than a meal fit for the Star Wars universe. While Denny’s earns some points for the inclusion of “Crystal Crunch Rocks” in a milkshake and a stack of pancakes, that looks to be the closest the menu gets to anything outside the universe of the diner chain’s typical fare.
As with past Star Wars-food tie-ins, one has to wonder what purpose putting ghost pepper sauce on a bacon cheeseburger and passing it off as something Han Solo might eat ultimately serves. Why not at least serve pancakes shaped like Chewbacca’s face?
(21) NO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS? Mad Genius Club’s Peter Grant made the point that “Writing books is not like frying shrimp”, inspired by the hilarious commercial linked below.
Trouble is, some new entrants into the book-writing and -publishing business think that their ambitions can be realized in a very similar fashion. Just set up everything, add pre-set ingredients according to some arcane recipe, strike a spark, and voila! It’s done!
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Mike Kennedy, Meredith, Chip Hitchcock, SL Huang, Cat Eldridge, Carl Slaughter, JJ, IanP, and Daniel Dern for some of these stories, Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Elisa.]
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(Walks 5 miles uphill through snow to connect to Marriott wifi)
First!
(Walks 5 miles uphill back)
(10) I don’t think I could construe that statement.
7) I’m geniniuely surprised that more people aren’t talking about John Bain/TB’s passing. He was a monolith in the streaming and critical gaming circles, and I always valued his opinions, even when I severely disagreed with them.
Seems like fandom and that circle of critical gaming culture have less overlap than I expected.
I knew his death was incoming, but it was like a blow when I jumped onto Twitter and heard the news. I’m gonna to miss the hell out of him.
(13) SFF IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
I would say 18 as well; anthropomorphic animals are definitely fantasy (the subtitle even says “A Fairy Story”).
13) I would certainly class the two Rushdie novels – Midnight’s Children (65) and The Satanic Verses (97) – as at least genre-adjacent.
3) The Family Guy guy already made this movie, and I didn’t go see that, either.
15) Here’s two people who aren’t going to collect $200.
16) Somehow, I keep expecting to see her sleeping on SF.
Yay! Title credit.
I am really glad I didn’t see the end of that exchange until after work today. In academia we seem to specialize in foolish consistencies especially during meetings. I would have sat there giggling and considering which of my colleagues were the incontinent hobgoblins.
ETA – wow ! Second fifth too. I am feeling foolishly accomplished today.
(21) Mythbusters did an episode based on this commercial.
@Jeremy Szal
I enjoy a little Stardew Valley or Life is Strange from time to time, have a steam account and all that, but a critical culture… Dunno.
Do they post pictures of cats sleeping on game packaging? That’s something I could get into.
13
I’ve read all or part of at least 32 of those, as well as other unlisted books by some of the authors named. I don’t think I’m particularly unusual….
1) So are these people taking PR lessons from JdA?
[click]
(13) I know fantasy as a genre wasn’t around in 16th century China but I’d give an honourable mention to Journey to the West (maybe better known in the UK and US as Monkey)
(1) So he’s not stepping aside, back, down or any other direction and will likely choose to end his leave of absence on Jan 1st having looked at his behaviour and seen nothing wrong.
Awake. Not morning.
Grrr.
Watch the Pooh trailer and you won’t need to see the movie, because the trailer looks to be the whole movie condensed into two minutes.
On a different note, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “critical gaming” before and have no idea what it is. is it like how the dog in Duck Hunt laughs at you when you miss shots?
Waiting with bated breath to learn why my immediately prior comment is awaiting moderation… No! I figured it out!
(13) SFF IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Without Little, Big, I can’t treat this list seriously. 😛
I’ve read maybe 13? It’s tough to be sure, since some were things I seem to recall studying in school, but I’m not sure if I really read them. I gave myself partial credit for a few things, no credit for others. I’m horrible when it comes to the classics (many of which hold zero interest for me).
[ETA: I did read a few surprising-to-people-who-know-me ones on my own, though, not as part of school, e.g., Wuthering Heights.]
Oh, and yes, #67 (The Little Prince) is SFF. In fact, I’d say the following are SFFish enough to count: 1, 3, 4, 6, 10 (aren’t there gods in the Iliad?), 14 (didn’t he have superhuman powers?), 15, 16, 18 (??? okay less sure here…), 39, 44, 50, 52, 67, 71, 72, not sure about 73, maybe 83. No doubt a few others that I missed or am unfamiliar with.
@5: I would have said that a robot presented as not having paid attention to that aspect of humanity is quite sufficient “evidenc[ing] of a foundation”. A counter to this would be the robot being exposed to a lot of people (a sufficiently small sample might not contain any disproofs) and not learning better, but the essay doesn’t discuss what happens later.
re @13: I was being conservative — I’ve heard arguments both ways about Rushdie with nothing clear about his intent, and Animal Farm leans so far into fable that one almost has to think Aesop is genre as well. (YMMV — excepting “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, I don’t know where I’d put (not appearing) The Wind in the Willows.) I’ve seen a play of Journey to the West and suspect it was considered mimetic rather than fantastic, but I know effectively nothing about that period in China — is including it but excluding Homer plausible? I’d leave out not only those but also 1001 and Gilgamesh; I guess I’m a splitter. (I argued that Menotti should have gotten a genre obit based on Globolinks and Amahl, but I’d get a lot of pushback on the latter despite it being less than a century old.) The Invisible Man cited is not the Wells; I’ve read it and assert that it is mimetic (ugly, but not fantastic). I’ve read 22 of these (counting two of the plays that I’ve seen performed, but not counting dramatizations of a handful of novels (since staging required massive cutting) or DNFs. A few of these I think I should get to, but I wonder how many can be read without the mindsets of their periods.
@15: cute.
@21: I wanna know what the commercial is for!
“However, continued postings in social media and the press have shown energy and anger to a level that Bryan has decided that his continued participation, for now, is a distraction from the goals we are striving to uphold.”
I.e. “we don’t believe we did anything wrong and consider the reactions unjustified and extremist.”
Things they did wrong:
1) waiting months before acting on a highly public harassment complaint
2) making the report of the complaint public without the victim’s consent
3) in a press interview, denigrating the victim’s complaint as silly and extreme and doing nothing about it even though the harasser admitted to the action
4) equating non-consensual touching with consensual touching and assuring women attendees that complaints would be mostly ignored
5) being sexist and dismissive towards bestselling authors expressing concerns about the con’s harassment policy and how it would be implemented
6) doxxing one of those authors, lying about what she said and trashing her online, and lying that those authors were calling for a boycott
7) trying to make the mess the authors’ responsibility by asking them to be on a panel to fix things rather than looking at getting a professional dealing with harassment issues
8) claimed their hands were legally tied from dealing with harassment except on a very limited basis, which is legally completely incorrect
9) continuing to trash the author who was doxxed in a semi-private chat online because they don’t understand how the Internet works
It was Farr’s remarks in the press that originally concerned Hale and other participants, and given his behavior, he should step down too. Because this isn’t going to blow over so that they can get back to their “goals.” Women want safe work spaces and safe entertainment spaces where they are treated like equal human beings, not party favors for jerkboys who are patted on the head by convention runners. It may be terribly annoying to convention runners but then maybe they shouldn’t be running conventions if they can’t stop harassing women themselves.
I truly hope that this Brandenburg guy eventually realizes that his words and actions are harming and limiting his daughters’ futures, not just upsetting a “lady” author. That them being grabbed and “hugged” by strange men who think it’s their right is not the actual world he wants and which he thinks should be no big deal. But I’m not holding my breath.
@Chip Hitchcock: Gak, I was confused about Invisible Man. ::BLUSH:: Thanks for pointing out it’s not the Wells one. I’m going to go hide now.
(7) It’s worth noting that Totalbiscuit was also an early supporter of Gamergate, parroting much of the false narrative that its promulgators created around it.
(1) If Brandenburg want to dispel negative energy, he could begin by ceasing to create it. Just a thought.
@Ray Radlein
ewwwwww
And that probably means no cats sleeping on game packaging.
Now I’m sad.
Having wonderful time at Baycon, wish you were here but waited till I got home for the night because I couldn’t walk uphill for the wi-fi.
Met up with Charon and Heather; we may be eating some pretty neato-sounding Indian food tomorrow at dinner. Dramatic reading of Chuck Tingle works on Sunday night.
(1) So… no lessons learned, no fucks given, the menz should feel free to continue groping and harassing as long as nobody’s looking.
A comic artist friend of mine in his regular mailing list email this week made sure to tell everyone that he’s noped out this year — and he lives in a suburb of SLC. But he’s, y’know, a thoughtful person and an *actual* nice guy. He teaches his children of both genders (so far they’ve identified as the standard cis-two) not to do or put up with that sort of behavior.
(12) CoE: “We… don’t really talk so much about the saving… erm, we’re English and are required to look mildly embarrassed about religion.” I mean, they were all terribly confused last weekend with the Episcopal (which is CoE with an American accent) bishop actually mentioning love at a wedding and doing something other than droning.
(13) The new translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson is the first one I’ve been able to get through, and I read it in 3 days. Turns out it’s really exciting! Neat stuff happens, cool worldbuilding, interesting characters. I don’t know how many times I bounced off different translations, but this one was compulsively readable. Feel free to skip the overly long intro, though — it’s kinda dull. Jump right in with the magical creatures and lands.
(21) and @J-Grizz: love this ad. Mythbusters did it just b/c it was so viral; they knew and the audience knew it doesn’t work that way.
@Ray R: I knew I’d heard the name but all the associations I had with it was bad. One of those instant responses. So, condolences to his family and friends, but can we get some serious thoughtful game analysis that doesn’t fit into the paradigm of “badly socialized young white man”? (Gah, so young… how sad… that ain’t right)
Fed the grumpy credentials who were annoyed about being left ALL DAY, now off to bed.
20) Word on the street is Extra Crispy got it backwards: Fan Doubtful ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Can Live Up To Denny’s Blaster Fire Burger.
@Ray Radlein
Yes, he did, and I kept my distance from his work since then, but given that he was part of it in the role of useful idiot rather than co-harasser and it was such a small part of his career, I didn’t want to dedicate a sentence to it in a three-sentence mini-obituary. He was wrong, but he’s dead and he died young, and he did other things that were more important.
@Iphinome & Lurkertype
Well, even in the “young white British men living in America” category Jim Sterling occupies much the same critical niche as TotalBiscuit did, but without being duped by Gamergate.
Not sure if he has any cats, though.
7) Bain was a vocal high-profile GamerGate supporter who orchestrated and encouraged harassment of journalists – particularly women – by his fans. He may have had many good qualities in his private life, but the wider world is better for his absence.
12) “Alexa, how can I be saved?”
“You can be saved only through Grace.” (beat) “Would you like to access Grace’s live webcam feed?”
@Meredith
I’m a simple person with simple tastes. I like red wine, stories about Murderbot and pictures of cats sleeping on things.
On a pixel bound for market
There’s a scroll with a mournful file
High above it there’s a spacehip
shooting phasers through the sky
How the martians are fighting
They fight with all their might
Fight and laugh the whole day through
And half the summers night.
Brunner Brunner Brunner
Brunner Brunner Brunner, Brun
Brunner Brunner Brunner
Brunner Brunner Brunner, Brun
Iphinome: I’m a simple person with simple tastes. I like red wine, stories about Murderbot and pictures of cats sleeping on things.
I wish to subscribe to your newsletter, your Wine of the Month Club, your Cat of the Month Club, and your Murdering AI of the Month Club.
I once picked up a second-hand copy of Grimes, Rushdie’s first novel. It was like James Joyce does SF. Badly.
The Expanse is saved!
And since I really need to work right now, Im procrastinating further with something for the fans of speedmetal (and/Or Jeff VanderMeer)
Writing, what spores?
You told me too late
What’s that cough and wheeze
Lighthouse?
You’re shitting me
A second surveyor is what I need
Laughing in a windstorm
Glowing everyhere now
Going all the stairs down
Forward my mail, twenty feet underground
Annhiliation, Annhiliation
Annhiliation, Annhiliation
Crawler, say why not?
Not just me, waiting to rot
Painful, yeah I know
It couldn’t be easy when I had to go
I’m yanking on the keeper and
I can’t seem to get him loose
Pulling all the stops
He never changed
Staying in the Glimmer
Annhiliation, Annhiliation
Annhiliation, Annhiliation
Annhiliate the right
Annhiliate the wrong
Annhiliate the weak
Annhiliate the strong
Annhiliate your feelings
Annhiliate, too late
Annhiliate the hope
Annhiliate, Annhiliate
(1) Double facepalm all the way. At this rate, I won’t be a bit surprised if the FanX wankers surface in China by the end of the month.
No other comments just now, so I’m off to bemoan my lack of artistic abilities. Otherwise, I’d be busily creating an illo of a tabby sleeping on Murderbot as the focus of a wine label. (It’d have to be a bloodwine recipe, I expect.)
1) FanX – What boggles my mind is that Brandenburg somehow thought that providing context for the anonymous sexist quote made him look any better (even if he had managed to block out her email). His continued cluelessness is pretty amazing too.
3) Pooh – I’m going to have to wait until this is available for streaming so I can be a blubbering sentimental mess in the privacy of my own home. I still have my childhood Pooh bear which looks just about as well-loved as this one.
5) Robot gender – Okay, I’m only going by what’s quoted here…the robot seems to actually be coming to the realization that gender is NOT defined by genitalia. That’s what she originally understood before thinking about it. But now she sees that she’s female without genitalia. And she’s now consciously choosing to define herself that way.
Woo hoo! Amazon has picked up the Expanse!
To accommodate doctrinal differences, it should also offer the location of the nearest The Works bookshop.
In a file on the web there scrolled a pixel.
You might want to give Christopher Logue’s translation of the Iliad (“War Music”) a try. If you wanted a taste, you could start with the first part he published back in the 80’s (books 16-19) to see if it’s the kind of thing you’d like.
It ain’t boring.
That would be a work of ART.
Not actually a Murderbot or a wine label, but the idea reminded me of this:
http://www.croteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/TalosCat.jpg
@Laura:
Looks like a pretty lethal Murderbot to me, but where’s the cat? 😉
13) I’ve read 46 in their entirety and significant portions of an additional six (e.g. Aesop’s Fables, The Canterbury Tales) Of those I’ve read, I’d count the following as SFF:
1 (The Odyssey), 3 (Frankenstein), 4 (Nineteen Eighty-Four), 8 (Hamlet), 10 (The Iliad), 11 (Beloved), 12 (The Divine Comedy), 14 (Gilgamesh), 15 (Harry Potter), 16 (The Handmaid’s Tale), 22 (Journey to the West), 30 (Candide), 44 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), 51 (The Oresteia), 52 (Cinderella), 67 (The Little Prince), 71 (Dracula), 72 (The Left Hand of Darkness), 73 (A Christmas Carol), 80 (Metamorphoses), 83 (Orlando), 96 (The Raven)
Honorable mentions for The Canterbury Tales and One Thousand and One Nights; the framing narrative is mimetic fiction, but some of the short stories inside the frame are SFF.
I don’t count Aesop’s Fables, Animal Farm, or Wuthering Heights as SFF, though some do.
So now Faleena “Cocky” Hopkins is suing people for attempting to overturn her trademark.
She and JDA should get together and make lots of terrible babies.
(4) Thanks for the signal-boost!
Enjoying the mini-Filer meetup at BayCon that consists of hanging out with Lurkertype and Charon. Is anyone else attending? Due to the conjunction of the event with a major hotel renovation, let’s just say that many things are “interesting”. I don’t know that the completely bollocked WiFi situation is related to the renovation, but I seem to recall that there was at least some coverage in previous years. I’m participating in a fb book group discussion for Daughter of Mystery in between programming and am finally enjoying the benefits of being able to tether my laptop to my phone.
@Darren:
Methinks Ms. Hopkins should take Mr. Solo’s advice to the young Skywalker lad to heart: “Don’t get cocky, kid.” As it stands, this lawsuit is truly a dick move.
Meredith Moment:
The Two of Them by Joanna Russ is on sale at The Usual Suspects for $1.99.
Ooo, thanks! Robert. Sort of Meredith Moment–also found “Picnic on Paradise” on amazon for $2.51!