(1) BUMMER, MAN. Camestros Felapton studies a claim about sff readers in “The downbeat end”.
…So the dire warnings of what might happen if “cosy horror” got a foothold in the horror community was that horror would be assimilated by the evil forces who had already eaten science fiction. That spawned a new discussion which is best summed up by a tweet from a very notable sf&f editor:
@EllenDatlow “It’s sad (to me) that sf devolved to a state that readers can’t take unhappy/downbeat endings. While Fiction Editor at OMNI Magazine, I was known for publishing downbeat sf and most readers had no problem with it-because the stories were great.“
A major issue with these kinds of current-state-of-the-genre is they can become so nebulous. With the cozy horror arguments people ranged from film, tv, children’s media, classics, short fiction, long fiction and so on. However, I think it is fair to look at Datlow’s comment in terms of short fiction….
Camestros puts it to the test based on his opinions about the endings of recent Hugo-winning short stories.
(2) FANZINE SCHOLARSHIP. in “’Doc’ Weir Revisited”, Douglas A. Anderson corrects a scholarly statement he once made about the question of what was the first booklet published about Tolkien?
His original choice by ‘Doc’ Weir has proven to be only a manuscript. So now the real first is…?
Anderson wields such magical fanzine fan names as Bruce Pelz and Ted Johnstone in his search.
(3) WOMEN SHOW PINBALL WIZARDRY. “Belles & Chimes, a pinball league ‘run by women, for women,’ makes some noise in a pastime where women were once consigned largely to the display cases” says the New York Times in “Not Your Father’s Pinball Arcade. But Maybe Your Mother’s.”
When Rachel Karlic and her sister, Rebecca Hinsdale, were students at Western Michigan University, they sometimes played pinball with their friend Kate Porter in a 24-hour video rental store near campus. The store was called Video Hits Plus, with the Plus maybe referring to the basement attractions, which, in addition to the pinball machines, included an air hockey table and a pornographic video section.
After graduating, the three women went their separate ways, eventually reuniting in Chicago in 2011. This was around the time that pinball machines, after nearly dying out in the early 2000s from competition with home gaming consoles, started becoming more popular again.
It helped that new machines were more complex, with modern electronics and mechanical features like the motorized skyscraper on the 2021 Godzilla machine. The numbers of avid players grew, as did the number of competitions and tournaments. Many of these events were sanctioned by the International Flipper Pinball Association, which ranks players globally.
In Chicago, one of the hubs of pinball’s resurgence was a onetime record store in the Logan Square neighborhood. The back of the store housed a selection of pinball machines, and if you bought something, you could play the machines for free. In 2014, James Zespy, the owner of the store, transformed it into a pinball and arcade bar called Logan Arcade.
That’s where, in 2017, Ms. Karlic, Ms. Hinsdale, Ms. Porter and their friend Tavi Veraldi started the Chicago chapter of the Belles & Chimes. Founded in 2013 in Oakland, Calif., Belles & Chimes bills itself as “an international network of inclusive women’s pinball leagues run by women, for women.” The Chicago chapter has about 50 members and hosts two seasons of league play every year….
(4) PROBLEM SOLVED, UHH… [Item by Bill.] AI’s that train on copyrighted works seem to be a concern of many Filers.
Japan has solved that problem: “Japan Goes All In: Copyright Doesn’t Apply To AI Training” at Technomancers.ai.
In a surprising move, Japan’s government recently reaffirmed that it will not enforce copyrights on data used in AI training. The policy allows AI to use any data “regardless of whether it is for non-profit or commercial purposes, whether it is an act other than reproduction, or whether it is content obtained from illegal sites or otherwise.” Keiko Nagaoka, Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, confirmed the bold stance to local meeting, saying that Japan’s laws won’t protect copyrighted materials used in AI datasets.
English language coverage of the situation is sparse. It seems the Japanese government believes copyright worries, particularly those linked to anime and other visual media, have held back the nation’s progress in AI technology. In response, Japan is going all-in, opting for a no-copyright approach to remain competitive.
This news is part of Japan’s ambitious plan to become a leader in AI technology. Rapidus, a local tech firm known for its advanced 2nm chip technology, is stepping into the spotlight as a serious contender in the world of AI chips. With Taiwan’s political situation looking unstable, Japanese chip manufacturing could be a safer bet. Japan is also stepping up to help shape the global rules for AI systems within the G-7….
(5) STAN THE MAN. Yahoo! says “Stan Lee” is a fan-service documentary released by Disney+ that will drop on June 16. “’Stan Lee’ Review: A Tasty Documentary About the Visionary of Marvel Makes the Comics Look Better Than the Movies”.
There’s a moment in “Stan Lee,” David Gelb’s lively and illuminating documentary about the visionary of Marvel Comics, that’s momentous enough to give you a tingle. The year is 1961, and Lee, approaching 40, is burnt out on comics. It’s a form he has never taken all that seriously, even though he’s been working at it since 1939, when he started, at 17, as a gofer for Timely Comics. (Within two years he’d become the company’s editor, art director, and chief writer.) The comics he creates get so little respect that he tries to hide his profession when asked about it at cocktail parties.
In 1961, though, Lee receives a directive from Martin Goodman, the publisher of the company that’s about to be renamed Marvel. He is ordered to devise a team of superheroes that can compete with DC’s Justice League (who have become the fulcrum of the so-called Silver Age of Comics). Lee, weary of superheroes, is ready to quit the business. But his wife, the English-born beauty Joan Lee, suggests that he create the kind of characters he has always been talking about — a more realistic brand of comic-book figure, one that ordinary people could relate to.
With nothing to lose, he comes up with the Fantastic Four as a new breed of superhero: characters with a dash of angst and a host of ordinary problems — they bicker and nurse their anger and anxiety, they worry about things like paying the rent, and in the case of The Thing they have some serious self-esteem issues….
(6) CORMAC MCCARTHY (1933-2023). Cormac McCarthy died June 13 at the age of 89 reports NPR. While SFE argues for a couple of his earlier works having traits of horror, his one acknowledged sff novel is The Road, set in postapocalyptic America, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. It also won Spain’s Premio Ignotus (2008), McCarthy’s only major sff award.
(7) MEMORY LANE.
1966 – [Written by Cat Eldridge from a choice by Mike Glyer.]
Our Beginning this time is that of Samuel R. Delany’s Babel-17. Yes, it won a Nebula (along with Flowers for Algernon) and was nominated for a Hugo at NyCon 3 which was the year that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress won.
Delany intended to have Babel-17 originally published as a single volume with the “Empire Star” novella, but this did not happen until a reprint twelve years ago. That didn’t happen when it was published first by Ace Books fifty-seven years ago.
If you’re so inclined, Jo Walton did a rather good review of it over at Tor here.
And for our Beginning…
…Here is the hub of ambiguity.
Electric spectra splash across the street.
Equivocation knots the shadowed features
of boys who are not boys;
a quirk of darkness shrivels
a full mouth to senility
or pares it to a razor-edge, pours acid
across an amber cheek, fingers a crotch,
or smashes in the pelvic arch
and wells a dark clot oozing on a chest
dispelled with motion or a flare of light
that swells the lips and dribbles them with blood.
They say the hustlers paint their lips with blood.
They say the same crowd surges up the street
and surges down again, like driftwood borne
tidewise ashore and sucked away with backwash, only to slap into the sand again,
only to be jerked out and spun away.
Driftwood; the narrow hips, the liquid eyes,
the wideflung shoulders and the rough-cast hands, the gray-faced jackals kneeling to their prey.
The colors disappear at break of day
when stragglers toward the west riverdocks meet young sailors ambling shipward on the street…
—from Prism and Lens
IT’S A PORT CITY.
Here fumes rust the sky, the General thought. Industrial gases flushed the evening with oranges, salmons, purples with too much red. West, ascending and descending transports, shuttling cargoes to stellarcenters and satellites, lacerated the clouds. It’s a rotten poor city too, thought the General, turning the corner by the garbage-strewn curb.
Since the Invasion six ruinous embargoes for months apiece had strangled this city whose lifeline must pulse with interstellar commerce to survive. Sequestered, how could this city exist? Six times in twenty years he’d asked himself that. Answer? It couldn’t.
Panics, riots, burnings, twice cannibalism—
The General looked from the silhouetted loading-towers that jutted behind the rickety monorail to the grimy buildings. The streets were smaller here, cluttered with Transport workers, loaders, a few stellarmen in green uniforms, and the horde of pale, proper men and women who managed the intricate sprawl of customs operations. They are quiet now, intent on home or work, the General thought. Yet all these people have lived for two decades under the Invasion. They’ve starved during the embargoes, broken windows, looted, run screaming before firehoses, torn flesh from a corpse’s arm with decalcified teeth.
Who is this animal man? He asked himself the abstract question to blur the lines of memory. It was easier, being a general, to ask about the “animal man” than about the woman who had sat in the middle of the sidewalk during the last embargo holding her skeletal baby by one leg, or the three scrawny teenage girls who had attacked him on the street with razors (—she had hissed through brown teeth, the bar of metal glistening toward his chest, “Come here, Beefsteak! Come get me, Lunch meat…” He had used karate—) or the blind man who had walked up the avenue, screaming.
Pale and proper men and women now, who spoke softly, who always hesitated before they let an expression fix their faces, with pale, proper, patriotic ideas: work for victory over the Invaders; Alona Star and Kip Rhyak were great in “Stellar Holliday” but Ronald Quar was the best serious actor around. They listened to Hi Lite’s music (or did they listen, wondered the General, during those slow dances where no one touched). A position in Customs was a good secure job.
Working directly in Transport was probably more exciting and fun to watch in the movies; but really, such strange people—
(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born June 13, 1943 — Malcolm McDowell, 80. My favorite role for him was Mr. Roarke on the rebooted Fantasy Island. Of course, his most infamous role was Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Scary film, that. His characterization of H. G. Wells in Time After Time was I thought rather spot on. And I’d like to single out his voicing Arcady Duvall in the “Showdown” episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Remember the Will Smith starred Wild Wild West film? Here is the same premise with Jonah Hex instead.
- Born June 13, 1945 — Whitley Strieber, 78. I’ve decidedly mixed feelings about him. He’s written two rather good horror novels, The Wolfen which made a fantastic horror film and The Hunger. But I’m convinced that his book Communion about his encounter with aliens is an absolute crock.
- Born June 13, 1949 — Simon Callow, 74. English actor, musician, writer, and theatre director. So what’s he doing here? Well, he got to be Charles Dickens twice on Doctor Who, the first being in “The Unquiet Dead” during the time of the Ninth Doctor and then later during “The Wedding of River Song”. He’d also appear, though not as Dickens, on The Sarah Jane Adventures as the voice of Tree Blathereen in “The Gift” episode. I’ve not watched the latter. How are they? He was The Duke of Sandringham in the first season of Outlander.
- Born June 13, 1953 — Tim Allen, 70. Jason Nesmith in the beloved Galaxy Quest, winning a much deserved Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. (What was running against it that year?) He actually had a big hit several years previously voicing Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story which would be the first in that film franchise.
- Born June 13, 1963 — Audrey Niffenegger, 60. Her first novel was The Time Traveler’s Wife. She has stated in interviews that she will not see the film as only the characters in the novels are hers. Good for her. Raven Girl, her third novel about a couple whose child is a raven trapped in a human body, was turned into performed at the Royal Opera House.
- Born June 13, 1968 — Marcel Theroux, 55. Author of The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase, and his Strange Bodies novel won a John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His Far North is a sf novel set in the Siberian taiga. Yes, that’s a novel I want to read.
- Born June 13, 1969 — Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, 54. She’s got the role of Irene Larra in El Ministerio del Tiempo (The Ministry of Time), a Spanish SF series which sounds fascinating but which I’ve not seen. Anyone here seen it? Not fond of captioning, but I’d put up with it to see this.
- Born June 13, 1981 — Chris Evans, 42. Captain America in the Marvel film franchise. He had an earlier role as the Human Torch in the non-MCU Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I think this makes him the only performer to play two major characters in either the DC or Marvel Universes.
(9) COMICS SECTION.
- The Argyle Sweater’s Oz pun is one of the worst ever. Oh, yes.
- Tom Gauld realizes brainstorming affects certain brains differently.
(10) ZOMBIE CHOW. Food & Wine makes sure we’re paying attention when “General Mills Adds ‘Carmella Creeper’ to Monster Cereal Lineup”.
…”Carmella Creeper is the long-lost cousin of Franken Berry as well as a zombie DJ with an edgy sound who is always the life of the party,” General Mills explains. “Complete with a fierce attitude and looks to match, Carmella is ready to shake things up at the Monsters’ haunted mansion with her limited-edition cereal featuring caramel-apple-flavored pieces with colored Monster marshmallows.”
That wasn’t the only scary cereal-related announcement of the week. General Mills added that all six Monsters will come together in a single box later this year with the debut of Monster Mash Remix cereal. Carmella Creeper will be joining Boo Berry, Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Fruit Brute, and Yummy Mummy in a limited-time marshmallow-filled cereal combo. (Yes, this is similar to the previous Monster Mash cereal that was released for the Monsters’ 50th anniversary in 2021 — but this time, Carmella has been invited to the Monster Party.)…
(11) THE DINO RHINO WITH THOROUGHBRED LEGS. “Svetz! Watch out fpr that rampaging prehistoric rhino!” “This Prehistoric Giant Rhino Was ‘Taller Than a Giraffe’” reports Smithsonian Magazine.
…The giant rhinoceros roamed Eurasia sometime between 20 million and 35 million years ago. The extinct behemoth stretched over 26 feet long and weighed almost as much as five elephants. Now, paleontologists have unearthed partial remains of a new species of giant rhino in China, according to a study published last week in the journal Communications Biology….
The prehistoric beast stood nearly 16 feet tall on four bony legs similar to giraffes and weighed between 11 to 20 metric tons, which is equivalent to about three to five African elephants, Science Alert reports. Based on the size of the skull, the rhino had a long thick neck, a deeper nasal cavity, and a short trunk similar to that of a modern-day tapir, reports the BBC. The vertebrae fossils suggest the new species had a more flexible neck than other species of giant rhinoceroses, the researchers explain in a statement.
Deng suggests that the rhino’s thin legs were great for running, and its head could reach the highest leaves from the treetops, Gizmodo reports….
(12) CATCHING THE WAVES ON LUNA. The Conversation believes “Building telescopes on the Moon could transform astronomy – and it’s becoming an achievable goal”.
…Several types of astronomy would benefit. The most obvious is radio astronomy, which can be conducted from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth – the far side.
The lunar far side is permanently shielded from the radio signals generated by humans on Earth. During the lunar night, it is also protected from the Sun. These characteristics make it probably the most “radio-quiet” location in the whole solar system as no other planet or moon has a side that permanently faces away from the Earth. It is therefore ideally suited for radio astronomy.
Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic energy – as are, for example, infrared, ultraviolet and visible-light waves. They are defined by having different wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Radio waves with wavelengths longer than about 15m are blocked by Earth’s ionoshere. But radio waves at these wavelengths reach the Moon’s surface unimpeded. For astronomy, this is the last unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and it is best studied from the lunar far side.
Observations of the cosmos at these wavelengths come under the umbrella of “low frequency radio astronomy”. These wavelengths are uniquely able to probe the structure of the early universe, especially the cosmic “dark ages” – an era before the first galaxies formed.
At that time, most of the matter in the universe, excluding the mysterious dark matter, was in the form of neutral hydrogen atoms. These emit and absorb radiation with a characteristic wavelength of 21cm. Radio astronomers have been using this property to study hydrogen clouds in our own galaxy – the Milky Way – since the 1950s.
Because the universe is constantly expanding, the 21cm signal generated by hydrogen in the early universe has been shifted to much longer wavelengths. As a result, hydrogen from the cosmic “dark ages” will appear to us with wavelengths greater than 10m. The lunar far side may be the only place where we can study this….
(13) SFF LIFE IN CHENGDU. “China’s Sci-Fi Hub |Why Sci-Fi Creators Keep Coming Here for Inspiration?” – a video interview with author Wanxiang Fengnian, winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. Subtitled in both English and Chinese.
Chengdu, despite being a geographical lowland in China, undoubtedly stands as the highland of Chinese science fiction. Countless Chinese science fiction writers have found their inspiration here. From a unique coffee shop, an area full of local lifestyle, to the largest natural history museum in Southwest China, the ubiquitous sci-fi scenes are like a string of keys to the door of the marvelous universe, attracting countless sci-fi fans. As a science fiction writer who has settled in Chengdu for many years, how does Wanxiang Fengnian draw inspiration here and perfectly combine reality and sci-fi creation?
(14) SUMMER CAMP. Turner Classic Movies helps viewers understand some of their fare this month with the help of sff: “What Is Camp? These Sci-Fi Movies Explain”.
This June, TCM is getting campy. In this episode of Film 101, we examine what the term “camp” means by looking at four sci-fi camp classics airing on TCM this month: Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), Queen of Outer Space (1958), Barbarella (1968), and The Apple (1980).
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Bill, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, and SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
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Second!
If bill is claiming second, I’m claiming first. Really I am.
1) I like happy endings myself so I suppose I’m part of the problem. Certainly the most impactful stories I’ve read, like Flowers for Algeron are downbeat. But I couldn’t read stuff like that all the time.
(8) Chris Evans — “I think this makes him the only performer to play two major characters in either the DC or Marvel Universes. ”
Ben Affleck played Batman and Daredevil. Michael Keaton played Batman and Vulture. Michelle Pfeiffer played Catwoman and Wasp. Halle Berry played Catwoman and Storm. Laurence Fishburne played Perry White and Bill Foster. Ryan Reynolds played Deadpool and Green Lantern. Jared Leto played Joker and Morbius. Josh Brolin played Jonah Hex and Thanos. Tom Hardy played Bane and Venom.
To answer Cat’s question, these were the other nominated works for Best Dramatic Presentation at Chicon 2000:
The Matrix (1999) [Silver] Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski; Written by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski
The Sixth Sense (1999) [Hollywood/Spyglass/Kennedy/Marshall] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan; Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Being John Malkovich (1999) [Gramercy/Propaganda/Single Cell] Directed by Spike Jonze; Written by Charlie Kaufmann
The Iron Giant (1999) [Warner Brothers] Directed by Brad Bird; Screenplay by Tim McCanlies; Screen Story by Brad Bird; based on the book The Iron Man by Ted Hughes
For the record, I was rooting for The Matrix but I have no hard feelings against Galaxy Quest, which was my second choice that year.
Chris B.
(1) I think that’s an absurd argument. But then, I can see people wanting to read stories with upbeat endings… given that we’re living in a cyberpunk dystopia, why would you want to read depressing stories?
(4) Ok, so I should tell my new publisher that I really don’t want my novels translated to Japanese, nor distributed there.
Birthdays, Malcolm McDowell – I loved him in Time After Time (and he gets Mary Steenbergen….) I always thought of that as a chick flick, too (never mind that I like it).
Tim Allen – let me note that at a number of cons, I’ve heard Galaxy Quest referred to by a good number of people as the best Star Trek movie of all.
(11) Sorry, my favorite, from when I was about 12, was the baluchatherium, to a giraffe like a rottweiler compared to a grayhound.
Third!
(7) I’m not aware that El Ministerio del Tiempo is currently streaming anywhere, but I saw it some years ago on Netflix and thoroughly enjoyed it. Would watch again and recommend to others.
(7) I thought it had a softcover edition with Empire Star, but maybe I’m thinking of Ballad of Beta-2. They all go together in my mind.
(4) The problem that they’re finding is that later training material added to AIs overwrites earlier training. https://slashdot.org/story/23/06/13/2057209/researchers-warn-of-model-collapse-as-ai-trains-on-ai-generated-content
It’s certainly one of the better ones, just as The Incredibles is one of the best Bond films ever made.
(Based on the audience’s reaction at the Hugo ceremony, Galaxy Quest definitely had a lot of supporters that year.)
I think there has been a lot of talk about more positive stories, including genres such as hopepunk or Becky Chambers’s novels which have dark moments, but which affirm community, and mutual support. The absurdity really comes from assuming that because some people have argued positively for X that X is now all there is.
There’s not an easy way of quantifying the degree to which there are more “cozy”,”positive” or “hopeful” stories there are now (and I don’t see those terms as synonymous) but it isn’t hard to find stories that have darker themes, ambiguous endings or downbeat or sad endings.
Chris M. Barkley: I have an indelible memory from the Chicago 2000 Hugo nominees reception involving those finalists.
Camestrios – agreed.
MikeG, Galaxy Quest – here’s one to match that. As I was on the bid committee for the Millenium Philcon (and partly responsible for the name), I was one of the hosts of the Hugo Losers’ Party (esp. since they knew I can outdress the waiters). The director and scriptwriter showed up, and I spoke to the later for a long while, and the former for a while. Apparently, the writer heard they were up for a Hugo, and grabbed the director, telling him that, and dragging him to the con.
They were really comfortable with fandom (as in I saw them in the Mpls In ’73 party around 03:30….) Really nice guys.
8) Not his most important work, but Malcolm McDowell was also in Neil Marshall’s Doomsday (a movie that answers the question what if Mad Max and 28 Days Later had a baby at a Renaissance Festival?) and in the first season of Lexx.
That’s a cool and surprisingly long list, but I think the claim was that Evans was the only actor who played two major characters in the same company’s universe. Every one of the above examples did one MCU and one DC.
rcade, Josh Brolin was also Cable in Deadpool 2 =)
8) McDowell is also the uncle of Alexander Siddig, himself a Birthday laureate.
(1) Downbeat Magazine has been publishing since 1934, and is still going strong. Seriously, no other ending gets its own whole magazine, and they still want to complain.
(1) In my teens and 20s, I read a lot of dystopia. Not exclusively, but a lot. It was exciting and thought-provoking.
I’m not in my 20s anymore. I have mental health issues, including clinical depression, and I am very, very cautious about reading anything too dark, downbeat, or gruesome. Some, still, but not much, and only when I’m sure I’m up for it. I have a very good opinion of Ellen Datlow generally, but I value my mental health more than her possible opinion about my reading choices.
I’ll also note that lot of dystopia in the last decade or two has been aimed at exactly the age group I was in, when I was reading a lot of dystopia. I’ve entertained the theory that that’s the age group that has the resilience to read lots of dystopia and get something useful from it.
Brandon Routh was Superman in Superman Returns and the Atom in the Arrowverse TV shows (most notably Legends of Tomorrow). He reprised his Superman role in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover.
rcade says That’s a cool and surprisingly long list, but I think the claim was that Evans was the only actor who played two major characters in the same company’s universe. Every one of the above examples did one MCU and one DC.
You are indeed correct, oh my wise Padawan.
Tom Becker: How long have you been waiting to use that joke? (It’s a good one.)
David Goldfarb says Brandon Routh was Superman in Superman Returns and the Atom in the Arrowverse TV shows (most notably Legends of Tomorrow). He reprised his Superman role in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover.
Nah, The Atom doesn’t count as a major character as he’s second their character in the DC Universe. Human Torch and Captain American are both considered leading characters in the Marvel Universe.
9) reminds me of this classic tweet: https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538?t=KwdtTDcmQ2GHJ2fh6XMkFg&s=19
(may have been in a scroll before I dont know. We have always scrolled in the castle)
Had a bit of a rollercoaster last night. Yesterday afternoon, I pinged a market that I had submitted to, beause I hadn’t heard back about a submission for longer than I thought appropriate. A few hours later, I see a message at the top of my email – my story is still under consideration, after passing through initial stages. Yah!
I responded to that email appropriately, then looked further down the email inbox to see a rejection for that story. Boo!
Since I had already responded to the “maybe” I sent an abashed note to the editor, apologizing for not reading all my mail before responding, and started thinking about other markets to send my piece to.
Then, an hour after that, the editor replied. The rejection email was a mistake (Woo-hoo!).
Standing by for more news.
(1) I don’t read enough SF short fiction to know if there is a trend — but I find it unlikely that it’s hard to find a downbeat ending.
I also don’t think it’s awful if someone prefers a positive ending. Some people are trying to make value judgments on readers for… not wanting to get more depressed?!
That cozy horror debate has more tendrils than a swamp creature. At time, I’ve wanted to get out a flamethrower..
8). While not exactly genre, Malcom McDowal was in the superb The Royal Flash, a pastiche on Prisoner of Zenda by George Macdonald Frasier. Directed by post 3&4 Musketeer director Richard Lester with the incomparable William Hobbs doing the fight choreography. While McDowal didn’t physically match the books’ description of Harry Flashman, he more than made up by superbly embodying the character with all his flaws. The final saber duel between him and Alan Bates is wonderful.
(8) And I believe that TImothy played Streaky in LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS and Tkeel (Klarion the Witch Boy’s familiar).
(8) And let’s not forget, that Malcolm McDowell is responsible for the death of Jim Kirk in Star Trek 7. He also played Admiral Tolwyn in the very entertaining Wing Commander III and IV computer games, as well as in the rather abysmal Wing Commander movie.
#14: Gosh, I sent this to you almost 2 weeks ago. Whahoppen?
I just noticed at the link that my name on my comment from 12 days ago disappeared, replaced by my YouTube “Handle,” aporter54…
Andrew I. Porter: #14 finally reached full ripeness?
My search isn’t returning any aporter comments with 54 in them. What post did you make it on?
El Ministerio del Tiempo is an amazing series. The captioning wasn’t a problem for me at all.
Re #1: I think focusing exclusively on the status of the ending of a story to decide whether stories these days are “too upbeat” also misses some crucial exceptions. EG, if you focus only on the absolute end involving the characters succeeding, then doesn’t N.K. Jemisin’s (Hugo Award Winning) Broken Earth Trilogy get qualified as part of the trend of being overly upbeat? And while that trilogy is brilliant and astonishing, I don’t think ANYONE would be able to argue for that, or call it Cozy anything, straight faced.
@cat eldridge
Then my bad — I didn’t exactly understand the claim being made. But I hope the list I provided is still of interest.
Sam Elliott was Gen. Ross in Hulk and The Caretaker in Ghost Rider.
About up/downbeatedness: I generally look at the audience and their reasons for reading. Left to themselves, most people will opt for stories in which the characters with whom they identify will at least survive, if not prevail. I do not except myself from this. Nevertheless, I have long recognized that not all stories can have happy endings.**
I recall the uphill emotional battle of teaching literature courses to non-English-majors–that is, to students for whom reading (or any other narrative-consuming activity) was supposed to be pleasant entertainment. Every term I had to deal with the why-so-many-bummers*** complaints. Among the stories that were frequent anthology items: “Noon Wine,” “The Dead,” “Araby,” “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” and “I’m a Fool”–and there was no simple answer, though the one I preferred was not “moral” (this is True and therefore Good For You) but technical: these stories require careful attention to detail, to irony and tone and nuance and complexity, and how you feel about their visions or outcomes is a separate matter.
Then there’s teaching Shakespeare. I suspect that the ed-biz canon has a big dose of moral seriousness in it, thus the Big Dogs in general-lit courses tend to be the tragedies–I recall teaching King Lear in a second-year general-ed drama course. Loads of laughs there. Even in high school, the usual choices are Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet rather than Twelfth Night or As You Like It (though A Midsummer Night’s Dream might squeeze in there). I’m inclined to apply my reason-for-teaching answer above to Shakespeare as well–and in any case, the comedies can be almost as scary as the tragedies before the turnabout–separation and mourning and exile–and Much Ado is Othello saved by Dogberry.
** Then there’s misery porn, which is another whole can of sociopolitical worms.
*** It was a long time ago.
That’s a very limiting criteria, since once an actor is strongly linked to a DC or Marvel major character-it’s unlikely that actor will be cast in another major role for the same studio/universe. Eg George Reeves was typecast as Superman such that most major roles dried up post the tv series ending. Edit: it’s changed since then, ie William Shatner being Kirk and TJ Hooker (whodat?), then Denny Crane later. But that might be due to more product needed as the years went by(ie more tv shows needing lead actors in the 80s and 90s)
There’s Hulk, Xmen, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Ghost Rider, Blade, Punisher and Daredevil/Elektra-which realistically might have cast the same actor as Marvel studios. Which leads to:
Also Evans as Human Torch was not in MCU, but in a Fox Marvel film. Which just as i type this, i thought of Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger and also: what a surprise-Human Torch in the 2015 reboot(i just now looked up all the films adapted from Marvel comics and skimming it, glancingly read Fantastic Four (2015).
PS above, Brolin was mentioned as being Cable in Deadpool 2(as well as Thanos in MCU AND Jonah Hex, making him the only triple threat i can think of).
PPS more recently(adding to bill’s list of actors in DC AND Marvel [major?] characters, was Gor in Thor Love and Thunder as well as Batman) That’s all i can recall right now.
In the pursuit of science, I published two books this year, one with a gloomy ending and one that’s a little more life-affirming, and will let the market decide. Not saying which one Approaching Storm is, but I’m giving it a mention because it’s free through Thursday. This is my dark fantasy edited by Sumiko Saulson (except for a few typos we deliberately left in just to make the 2nd edition look better in comparison).
I will always adore Malcolm McDowell starting with Clockwork Orange, and although I never thought of Time After Time as a chick flick I love seeing all that San Francisco scenery.
The question about Marvel came up here https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/110792/has-one-actor-ever-played-two-different-characters-from-marvel/274431#274431
Most of them are very minor parts.
@Russell Letson
9th grade: Merchant of Venice
10th grade: Julius Caesar
12th grade: the Scottish play (and the teacher told us her theory of the last act of Hamlet: he got to that point, realized too many major characters were still around for a tragedy, thus that scene).
P J Evans wrote: and the teacher told us her theory of the last act of Hamlet: he got to that point, realized too many major characters were still around for a tragedy, thus that scene.
Richard Armour simply notes that Shakespeare was originally apprenticed to a butcher: “all that skewering and hacking, with the blood spurting everywhere, is faithfully reproduced at the end of each of his tragedies.”
@Lis Carey
Downbeat fiction or other media tends to appeal to people in their late teens and twenties, which is why you see a lot of it aimed at that age group. Part of the reason is that is the age at which young people realise that the world doesn’t always work the way they think it should and become cynical and want entertainment this cynism. I also went through a grimdark phase in my late teens and early twenties, though I fed mine with the darker superhero comics of the 1980s and 1990s and – oddly enough – Italian operas with everybody dies and sings beautiful, while dying.
Sometime by their late twenties or early thirties , most people grow out of their grimdark phase, though some also continue to prefer darker entertainment.
And let me be clear, I am happy for them to have their dystopia, their tragedies, their otherwise downbeat stories. I’m just not going to be reading it myself, or feeling bad about the fact that I’m not.
Whoever gets title credit deserves an extra bit of applause.
[“We should.”]
I offer “SCIENCE” stickers to anyone who asks…
Yes – that’s one reason I focused on short fiction. 1984 with a happier ending is still a pretty grim story (& many people suggest the appendix explaining Newspeak implies a happier ending* because it uses the past tense). However, that the girl gets thrown off the spaceship in the Cold Equations is pretty much vital to the fame of the story.
Endings, have a disproportionate impact on short stories.
[*Happier for the people of Airstrip One anyway, not happier for Winston]
I too recall when “Galaxy Quest” won. I was in a bid party (Kitty Hawk, for the BBQ, though Mpls in 73’s State Fair theme is still remembered fondly), but of course in Chicago they had the hotel channel taken over by the con, so I saw it there. The whole party whooped. We were all expecting The Matrix to win, but of course a film aimed right at/for us got the love.
The writer and director seemed surprised too, and they were most gracious when going around the parties that night.
PS I have bought Charon Dunn’s book. Take that, Q!
I don’t mind an honest downbeat ending (though I don’t seek them out); what annoys me sometimes is a dishonest upbeat ending (one in which the characters and the author act as if everything is resolved, but it’s clear to the reader that the problem still exists (as often happens in technothrillers, where when the good guys stop the villains, but the unspeakable weapons still exist and the knowledge of their existence is now widespread).
(12) CATCHING THE WAVES ON LUNA. The Conversation believes “Building telescopes on the Moon could transform astronomy – and it’s becoming an achievable goal”.
Actually possibly not….
I think I pushed this File 770’s way back in March. From Nature see
ARE TELESCOPES ON THE MOON DOOMED BEFORE THEY’VE BEEN BUILT?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00635-8.pdf
Booming exploration and commercial activity could ruin the quiet environment of the lunar far side.
See (13) here https://file770.com/pixel-scroll-3-17-23-superscrolls-fortress-of-pixeltude/
I have often read that Young Writers write tragedies and Old Writers write comedy.
Perhaps that applies to readers as well.
“What’s it like, dying, Edmund?”
Keene, the great actor, on his deathbed: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”
I remember a letter from my agent, who was then Virginia Kidd. I was very excited to have written a happy ending. “You call this a happy ending? The hero lives, but the world is destroyed!”
I have been listening to episodes of “Space Patrol” from the early 50s. Naturally I want to use my time machine to go back and order a pair of those four power Space Binoculars, but I need a box top from Hot Ralston, so I searched the net. Seems that the company which made Ralston separated from the Chex brands and now makes specialty cereals, Like Count Chocula, and the like.
It used to be easier to take my box top from Wheat Chex and gain admission to the traveling space ship that moved around the country. Some day my time machine will allow me to track down those two missing spaceships.
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