Pixel Scroll 6/27/21 Credentials Of The Pneumo Gnomes

(1) HAVE YE SEEN THE MOVIE? The cetacean film star is hardly ready to retire: Phil Nichols discusses “Moby Dick at Sixty-Five!” at Bradburymedia.

Sixty-five years ago today – 27th June 1956 – John Huston’s film version of Moby Dick was released, with a screenplay co-written by Ray Bradbury. As regular readers of Bradburymedia will be aware, Ray’s experience of working on this film cast a very long shadow.

Bradbury became somewhat obsessive over Herman Melville’s story, and was driven to write his own prose version of Moby Dick in the form of Leviathan ’99, which was initially a radio play, then a stage play and opera, and eventually a novella….

Nichols follows with a roundup of links to his many posts about various connections between Bradbury and the making of Moby Dick.

(2) FANZINE IPA. [Item by Steven Johnson.] Not a fanzine called IPA, or an apa called IPA, but an limited release Pacific Northwest IPA called Fanzine IPA, from Fort George Brewery in Astoria and Great Notion Brewing of Portland, Oregon. Imagine my surprise when my brother pulled out two pint cans of Fanzine IPA, adorned with bizarre comic strip panels. Images of the cans are at the brewery website. (Click for larger images.)

In an ever hazier world, West Coast IPAs have nearly gone the way of the landline and fax machine. As the condensation slowly evaporates from the window of the indie punk bookstore, Fanzine IPA comes into focus – a crisp, clear, West Coast style collaborative presentation from Fort George Brewery and Grains of Wrath Brewery.  Fanzines are deeply rooted in the DIY ethos of the fiercely independent, small run, self-published, xeroxed and stapled testaments to the object of a true fan’s reverence. The Fanzine IPA can features the art of independent folk legend Michael Hurley, who himself is the subject of a Fanzine. A piney bitterness backs up the heavy hop additions, with grapefruit and other citrus notes. Mild sweetness from the malt bill lingers with a taste of orange juice.

(3) WARREN ELLIS COMEBACK QUASHED. The Mary Sue reports “Image Comics Reneges on Warren Ellis Comeback Series”.

One year ago, British comic book writer Warren Ellis (TransmetropolitanGlobal FrequencyRedwas accused by writer Katie West of coercion, manipulation, and sexually predatory behavior on Twitter. West’s tweet was immediately met with responses from dozens of women and non-binary individuals who shared similar experiences with Ellis, establishing what appeared to be a broad pattern of a giant in the comics industry abusing the power he held over fans and followers. Since then, victims of Ellis have formed So Many of Us, a group of over 60 people who accused Ellis of years of grooming and emotional manipulation.

Ellis issued an apology and largely withdrew from public life, but like most canceled men of the Me Too movement, he has resurfaced. News broke that Image Comics would be bringing Ellis back to finish his mid-2000s series Fell with artist Ben Templesmith. Templesmith made the announcement on his Patreon account, where he wrote of Ellis, “I’m glad he’s going to be doing some comics again. I don’t think anyone thought he’d bugger off and work in a shoe factory or anything, … He is after all, one of the most important comics writers of the past few decades. It means a lot to me to finish this thing, finally, so I couldn’t say no. I guess we’ll let the market speak as to how things go.”

Image Comics initially stood by the announcement, saying “Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith’s Image Comics series Fell will indeed return for its long awaited final story arc in graphic novel format. We will have more details to share about this very soon.”

But as public outrage grew, they backtracked and issued a new statement saying, “This week’s Fell announcement was neither planned, nor vetted, and was in fact, premature, … While finishing Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith’s Fell is something we’ve been looking forward to for years, Image Comics will not be working with Warren on anything further until he has made amends to the satisfaction of all involved.” I guess the market has spoken….

(4) GAME WRITER SUES FANS FOR LIBEL. Those of you who have been wondering where to apply all of your recently accumulated knowledge about California defamation lawsuits and the state’s anti-SLAPP provisions learned while following JDA’s case can apply it to a new California case.

The attorneys for video game writer Christoper Avellone filed a libel suit against two women for statements they made in social media about what happened at a Dragon Con, of a nature that can be deduced from the denial:

…These false statements are of or about Avellone and are libelous on their face…. The reader would reasonably understand the statements to be about Avellone and to mean that Avellone targeted young women, including women under the age of consent, by forcing them to become intoxicated for the purpose of engaging in non-consensual sexual contact….

A PDF copy of the complaint, which was filed June 16 with the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, can be read here.

D.M. Schmeyer, who identifies himself on Twitter as an attorney, has an extensive critique of the lawsuit in a thread that starts here. The following are a couple examples of his skeptical take on the suit.

(5) MEMORY LANE.

1982 – In 1982 at Chicon IV where Marta Randall was Toastmaster, C. J. Cherryh would win the Best Novel Hugo for Downbelow Station whichwas set in Cherryh’s Alliance–Union universe during the Company Wars period. It was published by Daw the previous year and originally had been called The Company War by the author. Other nominated works were The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe, The Many-Colored Land by Julian May and Little, Big by John Crowley. 

(6) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born June 27, 1909 — Billy Curtis. You’ll best remember him as the Small Copper-Skinned Ambassador in Trek’s “Journey to Babel” episode. His genre experienced goes all the way back to Wizard of Oz where he was a Munchkin, and later on he’s a mole-man in Superman and The Mole-Men, and later on a midget in The Incredible Shrinking Man. He had lots of one-offs, be it on Batman (twice there), BewitchedGilligan’s IslandPlanet of The Apes or Twilght Zone. (Died 1988.)
  • Born June 27, 1941 — James P. Hogan. A true anti-authoritarian hard SF writer in the years when that was a respectable thing to be. The group that gave out the Prometheus Award certainly thought so with fifteen nominations and two Awards for two novels, The Multiplex Man and Voyage from Yesteryear.  I’m sure that I’ve read at least a few of his novels, most likely Inherit the Stars and The Gentle Giants of Ganymede. A decent amount of his work is available at the usual suspects. (Died 2010.)
  • Born June 27, 1952 — Mary Rosenblum. SF writer who won the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel for The Drylands, her first novel. She later won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History Short Form for her story, “Sacrifice”. Water Rites and Horizons are the only ones available at the usual suspects. (Died 2018.)
  • Born June 27, 1959 — Stephen Dedman, 62. Australian author who’s the author of The Art of Arrow-Cutting, a most excellent novel. I really should read Shadows Bite, the sequel to it.  He’s the story editor of Borderlands, the tri-annual Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine published in Perth. Kindle has The Art of Arrow-Cutting and a few other titles.
  • Born June 27, 1966 — J. J. Abrams, 55. Let’s see… He directed and produced the rebooted Star TrekStar Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (he was a co-writer on the latter two), but I think I will single him out as the executive producer of the Fringe series. And he was an executive produced the Lost series as well. Did you know he was the executive producer of Person of Interest too? 
  • Born June 27, 1972 — Christian Kane, 49. You’ll certainly recognize him as he’s been around genre video fiction for a while first playing Lindsey McDonald on Angel before become Jacob Stone on The Librarians. And though Leverage ain’t genre, his role as Eliot Spencer there is definitely worth seeing. 
  • Born June 27, 1975 — Tobey Maguire, 46. Spider-Man in the Sam Raimi trilogy of the Spidey films. His first genre appearance was actually in The Revenge of the Red Baron which is one seriously weird film. Much more interesting is his role as David in Pleasantville, a film I love dearly. He produced The 5th Wave, a recent alien invasion film. 
  • Born June 27, 1987 — Ed Westwick, 34. British actor who has roles in the dystopian Children of MenS. Darko (a film I couldn’t begin to summarize), Freaks of Nature (a popcorn film if ever there was one), the “Roadside Bouquets” episode of the British series Afterlife (which I want to see) and The Crash (which may or may not be SF).

(7) COMICS SECTION.

  • Frank and Ernest would be debating about an Einstein quote if they had someone to take the other side.
  • Off the Mark show the problem with aliens who do look like something humans have seen before.
  • Bizarro drops a frosty gag in the middle of summer.

(8) WILL THIS WORK? “Relativity Space Reveals Fully 3D Printed Reusable Rocket” says Fabbaloo.

…How did Relativity Space achieve this? They built a proprietary metal 3D printing system they call “Stargate” that can, as most 3D printers can do, produce arbitrary objects. The company has used it to produce working Aeon 1 engines for their previous and much smaller rocket, the Terran 1.

The advantage here is that they are literally 3D printing the entire rocket with Stargate. The engines, the fuselage, plumbing and more. This approach allows them to bypass many complications during the build process and subsequent operation: there are far fewer parts to assemble, fewer joints to fail, fewer seams to leak, and so on. The parts are also designed using generative techniques to ensure they are lightweight as possible….

(9) GET JEMISIN’S GREEN LANTERN. (Item by Daniel Dern.) N K Jemisin’s “Far Sector” Green Lantern twelve-issue miniseries from DC Comics is done, and it’s excellent. (Note, Sojourner “Jo” Mullein , Jemisin’s Green Lantern, has just shown up in one of the regular Green Lantern titles.)

Want to get/read it? As always, with comics, there’s a range of ways, depending on where your slider is between Sooner and Frugaler (also paper vs. pixels):

For sale as paper comics. From your local comic shop, or via distant/online sellers. List price $3.99 each, so x12 for the whole run.

In digital form, via ComiXology.com (the engine behind DC and Marvel’s digital sites; owned by Amazon, FYI.)  Hmmm, issues 1-9 are currently on sale from $3.99 each down to $0.99, with 10-12 still $3.99 each, so cheaper than buying the paper comics (assuming they’re still available at list price) — Far Sector (2019-) Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

Digitally, via DC’s digital streaming site/service DC Universe Infinite — $7.99/month or $74.99/year; free 1-week trial

Good deal for the patient and moderately frugal — like Marvel, new issues don’t get posted here until (at leaat) 6 months after print release date.

So far, the first 9 issues of Far Sector are up here. Wait 3 months, they’ll all be up.

Collected into a book ( = has ISBN, for sale in stores, libraries can/will buy it): Far Sector (9781779512055): Jemisin, N.K., Campbell, Jamal: Books. Not available until October 2021, trade paperback, list $29.99

At that point, for the patient and ultra-frugal, also, a) your library (or library network) can order it for you, b) the digital version will likely be available via Hoopla (hoopladigital.com).

Here’s some review links

(10) A MODERN STONE AGE FAMILY HOME. “Settlement reached in Flintstone House case” – the San Jose Mercury-News says the city and the owner of a house in Hillsborough, California modeled after the Flintstones have finally resolved their litigation.

A menagerie of prehistoric animals now stands guard at the famous Flintstone House, Tuesday, March 13, 2017, in Hillsborough, Calif. Three dinosaurs, a giraffe and a mastadon were added by Florence Fang, the home’s new owner. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

After a years-long legal battle, the quirky, colorful prehistoric decor dotting the so-called Flintstone House will be allowed to stay.

According to the Palo Alto Daily Post, Florence Fang and the town of Hillsborough recently settled a 2019 lawsuit stemming from allegations that Fang had failed to get approval to add dinosaurs and a large sign reading “Yabba Dabba Doo,” among other things, to the yard surrounding her whimsical orange and purple home, which is very visible from Interstate 280.

The settlement agreement reportedly says Hillsborough will pay Fang, a retired media mogul whose family used to own the San Francisco Examiner, $125,000 to cover costs associated with the lawsuit and approve permits for the changes made to the home. Fang, who is in her mid-80s, will drop her claims. She has said the city had stymied her initial attempts to get permits, and she suggested that she was discriminated against for being Asian….

(11) MARATHON MAN. Author Miles Cameron has mixed his thoroughly modern career with ancient avocations —

After the longest undergraduate degree on record (1980-87), I joined the United States Navy, where I served as an intelligence officer and as a backseater in S-3 Vikings in the First Gulf War, and then on the ground in Somalia, and elsewhere. After a dozen years of service, I became a full time writer in 2000. I live in Toronto (that’s Ontario, in Canada) with my wife Sarah and our daughter Beatrice, currently age fourteen. I’m a full time novelist, and it is the best job in the world.

I am also a dedicated reenactor; it is like a job, except that in addition to work, you must pay to participate. You can follow some of my recreated projects on the Agora. We are always recruiting, so if you’d like to try the ancient world or the medieval world, follow the link to contact us. Come on. You know you want to.

Below, that’s us, at Marathon in Greece in 2011.

Cameron’s new SF novel Artifact Space was release this month:

Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships.

With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume – and value – of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species.

It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space.

All it took, to make her way onto the crew of the Greatship Athens was thousands of hours in simulators, dedication, and pawning or selling every scrap of her old life in order to forge a new one. But though she’s made her way onboard with faked papers, leaving her old life – and scandals – behind isn’t so easy.

She may have just combined all the dangers of her former life, with all the perils of the new . . .

(12) EEL CHOW CALL. “When an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a Moray” is the New York Times’ lyrical headline.

Moray eels can hunt on land, and footage from a recent study highlights how they accomplish this feat with a sneaky second set of jaws.

….And morays climbing out of water came as no surprise to some observers. Lana Sinapayen, an artificial life researcher who grew up in the Caribbean island of Martinique, said local fishermen often caught morays by placing squids on the shore and waiting for the eels to arrive. “You only need a solid stick to take your pick,” she wrote in an email. Dr. Sinapayen was not involved in the research but wanted to emphasize that many local people have long known that morays can hunt on land.

[Thanks to JJ, Michael Toman, John King Tarpinian, Hampus Eckerman, Jennifer Hawthorne, Daniel Dern, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

54 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 6/27/21 Credentials Of The Pneumo Gnomes

  1. 2) Fanzine IPA is very good (but then, most beers from Fort George and Great Notion are pretty good). Even better is the artwork on the can!

    6) Speaking of Christian Kane, the revival of Leverage (Leverage Redemption) starts streaming on IMDB TV (a free web-based service) on July 9th!

  2. A propos of James P. Hogan’s “Inherit the Stars”, which begins with modern-day astronauts finding a human corpse on the moon in a space suit not of modern earth manufacture-. Back in the ’70s, not long after I read the novel, I saw a story in one of those supermarket tabloids that said that a human corpse had been found on the moon (with [obviously retouched] photo]. So I bought a copy and sent it to Hogan, with a note: “How did you know?” (The tabloid’s story was pure fiction, of course.) He was amused. Speaking of SF predictions, I can’t help but wonder how, in about 1960, Heinlein foresaw the election to high political office 20 years later a man of limited intellect whose wife was into astrology–as in “Stranger in a Strange Land”.

  3. (11) Miles Cameron has mixed his thoroughly modern career with ancient avocations — “After the longest undergraduate degree on record (1980-87), I…

    I scoff! (1973-82 was my own elapsed time.)

  4. (4) Legal twitter has opinions concurring with D M Schmeyer. Especially on filing this in California.

  5. @gottacook: I don’t suppose either of you had a frozen uncle funding you, like the protagonist of Doorways in the Sand?

  6. 5) Downbelow Station is still my favorite SF novel, bar none. And I love that cover.

  7. @gottacook: Pikers! I started my freshman year in late 1971, and got my baccalaureate magna cum laude in December of….

    2004!

  8. clackity clack
    don’t click back

    (6) It’s Julia Duffy’s birthday (b. 1951) While probably best known as Stephanie on Newhart, she was also Princess Ariel in Wizard and Warriors and her first movie was Battle Beyond the Stars.

    Also Matthew Lewis (b. 1989) who was Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. Last scene competing with James Herriot for the affections of Helen Alderson on the latest version of All Creatures Great and Small.

  9. (5) What a good year for the novel – I’ve read all of those, and several of them were foundations of series I enjoyed thoroughly.

  10. Andrew (not Werdna) says What a good year for the novel – I’ve read all of those, and several of them were foundations of series I enjoyed thoroughly.

    Indeed it was. So have you read anything by Marta Randall, the Toastermaster that year? Usually when I’m putting together this feature I at least recognise the Toastmaster but she didn’t ring even the faintest of bells.

    Now listening to Alasdair Reynolds’ Absolution Gap

  11. I’ve read and enjoyed Marta Randall’s Islands, which is sometimes available very cheaply in Kindle edition as part of Open Road Media’s periodic sales. It is definitely a very 70s novel–sex, drugs, dancing, etc.–but it also has some interesting things to say about disability and societal construction of and reaction to it.

    James Davis Nicoll has a bunch of Marta Randall reviews up at https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/reviews/contributor/22658, including Islands and some others I haven’t read.

  12. (9) This is a fantastic take on the idea of the Green Lantern corp. The GL in the story, Jo, has an experimental ring that charges up differently than normal GL rings. And the society she’s been thrown into is both very familiar and extremely alien. I usually don’t like DC’s outer space comics, but this one has been fascinating from the start – both in story and artwork. Well worth a peek if you like comics or interesting commentaries on society told through an alien culture.

  13. (6) Pleasantville was indeed excellent. Nice creepy use of Don Knotts, too.

  14. Joe H: I bought second rights to the David Mattingly cover for “Downbelow Station,” and ran it on the December, 1988 issue of my SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE.

    I recall years ago some Italian company tried to trademark the word “fanzine” for footwear. Don’t know if they succeeded.

  15. (7) I liked the Bizarro cartoon but it made me wonder if young people think that charcoal is the same thing as coal. A proper snowman would have pieces of coal for his eyes, not charcoal briquettes.

    Yes! Yes! I know. It was uphill both ways and I have an onion tied to my belt.

  16. Andrew I. Porter says I recall years ago some Italian company tried to trademark the word “fanzine” for footwear. Don’t know if they succeeded.

    Checking the federal patents and trademarks database shows that this was a rumor only as no one ever filed for a trademark on it.

  17. 5) Geez, what a year 1981 was! Downbelow Station is a fine novel that I should re-read sometime, and The Many-Colored Land was also well-done. But Claw of the Conciliator is part of arguably the finest work of F/SF in my lifetime and Little, Big is simply one of the best novels I have ever read, period.

  18. Jack Dominey says Geez, what a year 1981 was! Downbelow Station is a fine novel that I should re-read sometime, and The Many-Colored Land was also well-done. But Claw of the Conciliator is part of arguably the finest work of F/SF in my lifetime and Little, Big is simply one of the best novels I have ever read, period.

    GrapicAudio has adapted Downbelow Station as a full cast audio drama which should really be an interesting drama. It’s on my to be listened to list.

  19. 3)

    I guess the market has spoken….

    Well no it hasn’t. It was prevented from speaking by preventing work from being offered for the public’s/market’s consideration.

    But that’s kind of the point of cancel culture, isn’t it? See also Isabel Fall, etc.

    11) Miles Cameron’s “Traitor Son Chronicles” series was very good. The first book is The Red Knight. I’d call it “best series” level work, FWIW.

    Regards,
    Dann
    What do you despise? By this are you truly known. – Frank Herbert

  20. @dann665

    But that’s kind of the point of cancel culture, isn’t it? See also Isabel Fall, etc.

    Conservatives really don’t have any grounds to criticize the left for “cancel culture” given that they do the exact same thing when given a chance. What were the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies about but crowding out other nominees with their own self-entitled junk? That’s cancel culture to me.

  21. @dann665

    “But that’s kind of the point of not supporting sexual predators isn’t it?”

    FTFY

  22. James P. Hogan

    Wow. So bittersweet. I absolutely loved his Two Faces of Tomorrow. It’s probably in my top ten SF novels of all time.

    But (there is always a but)

    I found out about his Holocaust denialism amongst other issues and I haven’t looked at his work in 25+ years.

  23. More conservative cancel culture: the Dixie Chicks, and before that Jane Fonda. Not for being sexual predators, but for expressing unpopular opinions.

  24. Marta Randall’s the Sword of Winter was pressed on me by a librarian friend as the first fantasy she’d read in a long while where the kid acted like a kid. It also seemed a good story, IMHO.

    I learned in the years since that it was in fact a case where the editor pushed her into MASSIVE changes for what they thought the market wanted (cutting its length by half, inserting extra magic, changing the ending), and that hacking, combined with the merely okay sales drove her out of writing for ages.

    She’s now released the story as she wanted to tell it the story she wanted to tell as 2 books, starting with Mapping Winter. I haven’t read the new version but it’s on my buy list.

  25. 2) fanzine IPA. The comics on the left are from “Shrimpy and Paul” by Marc Bell. It’s seriously one of the weirdest things I’ve ever read. Can’t identify the wolf comic on the right. Neither are fanzine publications,though.

  26. @Lenora Rose
    So far it only seems to be available for Kindle (either part or both together).

  27. @Jim Janney

    Not much of a conservative cancel culture there as both The Chicks and the traitorous Jane Fonda had successful careers after their cultural (The Chicks) and legal (Fonda) missteps.

    The point is that the market had a chance to speak in both instances.

    In this case, the market will never get a chance to speak.

    @Rob Thorton

    Conservatives really don’t have any grounds to criticize the left for “cancel culture” given that they do the exact same thing when given a chance.

    You are right. Everyone is ready to “cancel” anyone they don’t like. It’s a shame.

    It’s easier to refrain from that behavior and to talk others out of it when people of all persuasions are actively working to minimize that very human dynamic.

    What were the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies about but crowding out other nominees with their own self-entitled junk? That’s cancel culture to me.

    I disagree with your framing relative to the SP. [The RP are another breed that I avoid whenever possible.]

    The SP were responding to a prior cultural shift that crowded out the SP’s general style/content preferences. I wouldn’t use the nominated works as an accurate barometer for what the rest of fandom thinks is good.

    Adding other good works to the discussion about what represents “the best” is not canceling anything or anyone. Books and authors that don’t make the shortlist still exist and have sales/careers.

    Regards,
    Dann
    I am the American Dream. I am the epitome of what the American Dream basically said. It said you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That’s exactly what I’ve done. – Whoopi Goldberg

  28. @Dann665–

    Not much of a conservative cancel culture there as both The Chicks and the traitorous Jane Fonda had successful careers after their cultural (The Chicks) and legal (Fonda) missteps.

    Cool.

    We can pretend it didn’t take the Chicks years to recover from radio stations refusing to play their records and other fallout from their salvaging by the right for having dared to simply utter critical words about GWB.

    Now explain away the canceling of Colin Kaepernick. Or, heck, Liz Cheney.

    The point is that the market had a chance to speak in both instances.

    In this case, the market will never get a chance to speak.

    The publisher concluded that the work wasn’t going to sell to its intended market. That used to be called private industry being focused on its main objective–making a profit, by paying attention to, oh, what’s that term, oh yeah! The market!

    The SP were responding to a prior cultural shift that crowded out the SP’s general style/content preferences. I wouldn’t use the nominated works as an accurate barometer for what the rest of fandom thinks is good.

    Adding other good works to the discussion about what represents “the best” is not canceling anything or anyone. Books and authors that don’t make the shortlist still exist and have sales/careers.

    Too bad the Puppies didn’t add other good works to the discussion. Instead, they gamed mostly complete and utter crap onto the ballot, and howled in outrage when it didn’t win. When even filling entire categories with inferior work didn’t get them the shiny trophies and marketing cred they had decided they were entitled to.

    I read the Puppy-nominated works, Dann. The very best of it wasn’t better than okay, and their cherished favorites were simply awful. That 2015 slate was vandalism, not an attempt to broaden the discussion.

  29. While I am A Woman(TM) and therefore arguably never The Market(TM) as far as mainstream american comics are concerned, Ben Templesmith is my literal favourite comic book artist (however miffed I am with him at present), Warren Ellis was one of my favourite comic book writers (he’s since been downgraded to “writer of some comics I really liked”), and I own every single issue of Fell that has so far been published. Bought them at the time, you see, on account of the above. I was really disappointed when it went on hiatus and stayed there.

    And I wasn’t going to so much as longingly touch the covers of a single issue, let alone buy them, because Warren Ellis hasn’t done the work.

    So this bit of the market, on paper an absolute guaranteed sale, was already planning to opt out.

  30. @Lis Carey

    Liz Cheney is still a member of Congress. Not canceled.

    Colin Kaepernick…sorry but he is his own worst enemy. Had tryouts that he missed but then held events elsewhere the same day. He prioritized off-field style over on-field substance. And he earned tens of millions of dollars doing it.

    The publisher concluded that the work wasn’t going to sell to its intended market. That used to be called private industry being focused on its main objective–making a profit, by paying attention to, oh, what’s that term, oh yeah! The market!

    No. A handful of loud voices made them uncomfortable and they caved.

    Also…pick one. If the NFL teams decided that they couldn’t sell as many tickets/merchandise with Kaepernick on their team, then isn’t that just the market as well?

    If radio stations decided that playing The Chicks would sell to their advertisers/listeners, then isn’t that the market as well?

    Too bad the Puppies didn’t add other good works to the discussion.

    I agree.

    With the exception of Tom Kratman’s story, the primarily puppy-related works from 2015 weren’t exactly top-shelf material.

    So again, I wouldn’t use those nominees as an accurate measure of what broader fandom thinks is worthwhile genre literature.

    @Meredith

    I have no complaint about your purchasing decisions. Everyone gets to make that choice for themselves. There are things I won’t buy as well.

    I think it’s a problem when the book/album/movie doesn’t get into the market precisely because some unelected and unaccountable mob howls for blood that results in contracts being canceled and things not being made.

    And yes, you are The MarketTM or at least a piece of it. More and more so these days and that is a good thingTM.

    Regards,
    Dann
    My random tagline generator.

  31. @ Dann 665

    So again, I wouldn’t use those nominees as an accurate measure of what broader fandom thinks is worthwhile genre literature.

    I think it did demonstrate that the Puppies were more interested in using cancel culture to “own the libs” than nominating quality literature. And good luck finding Hugo-level fiction from the Puppies.

  32. With the exception of Tom Kratman’s story, the primarily puppy-related works from 2015 weren’t exactly top-shelf material.

    That story was shittier than several other puppy-promoted works in 2015, but even the best of the slated works from 2015 was “mediocre at best”. Most, including Marmot’s offering, were simply miserably bad.

  33. @Dann

    Colin Kaepernick…sorry but he is his own worst enemy. Had tryouts that he missed but then held events elsewhere the same day. He prioritized off-field style over on-field substance. And he earned tens of millions of dollars doing it.

    All of which is absolutely besides the point that you’re ignoring – that his football career WAS absolutely cancelled by the right wing over an issue of free speech they did not like, not over sexual assault accusations.

  34. @Dann655–

    Liz Cheney is still a member of Congress. Not canceled.

    Liz Cheney was the third-ranking Republican in the House, and now she’s not in leadership at all, voted out by the Republicans because they didn’t like her telling the truth about the 1/6/21 insurrection. They didn’t expel her from Congress because they don’t have the votes to expel her; they’re the minority, and it takes a 2/3 majority to expel a member.

    So, your theory is that the Republicans haven’t canceled Liz Cheney because they haven’t done something they manifestly don’t have the power to do.

    Colin Kaepernick…sorry but he is his own worst enemy. Had tryouts that he missed but then held events elsewhere the same day. He prioritized off-field style over on-field substance. And he earned tens of millions of dollars doing it.

    After being dropped for the amazingly “disrespectful” behavior of kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, he prioritized continuing to campaign against police brutality over working on maybe getting back on the field with, probably, a condition of not campaigning against police brutality.

    And yes, Nike decided hopping on the Kaepernick/anti-police brutality bandwagon was good business, and both Nike and Kaepernick made an awful lot of money. Aren’t conservatives supposed to be happy about profitable business decisions?

    And, note, it was political speech that prompted the canceling in both cases. Neither Liz Cheney nor Colin Kaepernick have been accused of sexual assault.

    With the exception of Tom Kratman’s story, the primarily puppy-related works from 2015 weren’t exactly top-shelf material.

    So again, I wouldn’t use those nominees as an accurate measure of what broader fandom thinks is worthwhile genre literature.

    But you did, in fact, try to use the 2015 Puppy activities–which included nominating those particular stories, including Tank Marmot’s, which in fact was one of the worst, as trying to broaden the discussion to include “other good works.”

    Either the Puppies were engaged in malicious vandalism, or they really do think that trash is THE BEST. Neither is a good look.

    And remember, these are the obnoxious jerks who tried to tell me and many other Hugo voters that we really didn’t like what we were voting for. A few of them even tried to harass to switch my Goodreads rating of one Puppy nominee from two stars to one, because I obviously had sneaky, dishonest motives, and was only giving it that second star to pretend I was being “fair.”

    So, no, Dann, the Puppies have nothing to add to the discussion. I review honestly, and I don’t change my reviews or ratings to satisfy the delusions of malicious idiots.

  35. I would define sucess in a nomination that people are likly to pick up another work of the nominee. In this case the puppys had zero success 2015. Sucess for a puppynominy was more a reader reading the name and not reacting hell no.
    We could talk about conservative writers beeing overlooked, but than we should talk about good works and please no one who is as far right as Beale (because for him I don’t think it is posible to ignore his views because they are part of the text). The puppys have hurt conservatives writers more than helped them.
    Isabel Fell should not have gotten that much of a shitstorm, I agree with Dann here.
    Ellis is complicated. He is a good writer and there probably is a market here on the other hand, actions have consequences. I don’t think all the people who work with Imaga would have been okay if Ellis gets printed there. It could loose Image more money than Fell gives them.

  36. Dann665: With the exception of Tom Kratman’s story, the primarily puppy-related works from 2015 weren’t exactly top-shelf material.

    This is true. Kratman’s story wasn’t even middle-shelf, it was definitely bottom-shelf.

    Or basement storage.

  37. It is manifestly impossible to be truly inclusive to all. If in the name of inclusivity one refrains from exercising any sort of authority over who is allowed to participate, the bigots and the bullies will be the ones who decide who isn’t welcome.

    If, again in the name of inclusivity and, I dunno, “protesting cancel culture,” you make a known sexual predator welcome at your convention, your company, your social group, your publishing house… there are a lot of people you will make feel unsafe, unwelcome, their concerns not addressed.

    See also the cons explicitly disinviting Gygax!TSR. You can’t make a space that’s equally welcoming to transphobes as to trans people. You can either decide which group is welcome and which is not, or you can hold to your “neutral” stance with effects that will be anything but.

    What people like Dann665 are deriding as “Cancel culture” might otherwise be described as “deliberately and consciously choosing whom to include and whom to exclude, in recognition that otherwise that decision will be made for you, perhaps not in ways you would have preferred.”

  38. Hookay….so aside from just “not liking” Big Boys Don’t Cry, can anyone provide specifics for their position? The story is at least moderately pro-feminist and potentially pro-trans (the protagonist is an AI that adopts a female persona despite the lack of any gender confirming genitalia). It also lays out the significant personality alteration that is common in any successful military training regimen (i.e. boot camp). And it is anti-war in that the civilians and senior military are revealed to be fomenting conflict for personal financial gain which justifies the protagonist’s final actions.

    It might even be considered somewhat anti-corporate in that our protagonist begins fighting in support of an entire platoon but has her unit “downsized” until she is the only one left fighting.

    IMO, it was a work that was worthy of the nomination regardless of the gamesmanship in play in 2015. I don’t much to offer about the rest of the noms, but this one particular story was worthy of being a finalist.

    Regards,
    Dann
    This Tagline is OFF TOPIC! (as if the rest of the message wasn’t)

  39. So your argument is that people should want to make it a finalist because you can point to some message-y elements that might be in it?

    What I want from finalists is excellent storytelling. A few of the slated stories were competent. That doesn’t make them award-worthy.

  40. @Mike,

    I don’t think that thematic elements should garner awards. I’m reading that people thought it was utter trash despise it possessing thematic elements that should, at least, made them feel welcome in the story even if the larger story ultimately didn’t work for them.

    I’d buy someone saying that it wasn’t worthy of the nomination. I understand the people who put it below Noah because of the slating in the nomination process.
    We all make choices and I’m sure there are folks that adore the things that I put below Noah. I very rarely loath something that I put below Noah.

    I find the heat aimed at this story to be a bit disproportionate and was looking for justification for it.

    @Camestros

    Thanks for the link.

    Some of her criticisms are worth consideration. Some of her proposed changes would alter the story to be something else; and not necessarily something better.

    e.g. the tank turret flipping like frying pans out of the hands of a titanic juggler. I used to juggle. That description tells me exactly how the turret was moving. It wasn’t some sort of laconic rotation. It was motion caused by a massive acceleration that results in angular velocity that was at least a couple of orders of magnitude greater than the turret ever experienced during normal operations. Something that big simply isn’t supposed to move that fast. Something big made it move that way and something big is going to happen when it gets stopped. His use of language effectively described that condition.

    Also, some of her corrections of the villains were not needed. I’ve met those people. Both the unimaginative mid-grade managers that blithely dismiss any contradicting data and leaders/politicians that only care enough about the grunts getting the job done to the point where it lines the pockets of those same leaders/politicians.

    Some of her criticisms were fair. Some undermine the story that is being told.

    As MilSF goes, this was pretty good, IMO. It nails the individual mindset, the impact of training, and the importance of camaraderie.

    Regards,
    Dann
    I suppose if you misspell “sorcerer”, it’s a sorcerror? – LK Lohan

  41. @Dann665–No, the story isn’t “pro-feminist,” moderately or otherwise.

    From my review:

    On another, a rebellion is caused by a woman governor who is clearly what the Puppies call an SJW: she’s sure the only reason she hasn’t had all the advancement she wants is because there’s a wicked conspiracy to hold women back. When she takes up her new assignment as governor of a planet inhabited by people who settled there to peaceably practice their own religion, she causes totally unnecessary trouble and touches off a rebellion by deciding that it’s a bad thing the women are kept in seclusion and required to cover their faces. Obviously, only an SJW fanatic feminazi could possibly hold such views!

    To be clear, if it isn’t to you, considering it A Bad Thing that the women are held in seclusion and required to cover their faces is a normal thing for people to think, who don’t regard women as in inferior, and/or A Source of Evil in society. The woman governor, like all the villains in the story, is nothing but a very stupid sort of cartoon. Which is one of the other flaws I commented on. This is not a story that belonged on the ballot at all.

    You can read my review here. Don’t worry; it’s short.

  42. I just don’t think I’d make my hill to die on defending a story by the guy who came here and literally threatened people with physical harm and got himself banned so hard we all spent years calling him Tank Marmot to evade the auto-mod.

    Even if the story wasn’t so mediocre I barely remember it.

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