(1) OVERCOMER. Robyn Bennis provides “A Debut Author’s Guide to Social Anxiety”.
….If, on the other hand, the above feels like a gross exaggeration of your social anxiety, then perhaps I do have a handful of weird old tips for you.
Perhaps the most important thing is to have someone on your side. I am extremely lucky to have talented and fearless people who want me to succeed, and it has helped immeasurably. Now, this may seem like a bit of a paradox. Social anxiety can make recruiting your friends not just a Herculean task, but a mild imposition on them, and therefore an impossible request. “How can I make such a request,” you say, “as worthless and unworthy as I am? My friend surely has better things to do—like staring into space or streaming the complete run of She’s the Sheriff. I can’t let them waste their time on me.”
To get over this, the first thing you have to do is acknowledge that your brain is lying to you. I mean, Suzanne Somers is great and all, but that show just doesn’t hold up. Good acting can only go so far in saving such a horrible premise.
Oh, and your brain is also lying about your worthlessness. You are worthy and deserving of the help of others. But seriously, who the hell thought that show was a good idea?
(2) THE BOVA ERA. Do my eyes deceive me, a kind word for Analog? Well, not about just any issue — James Davis Nicoll reviews the Special Women’s Issue from June 1977 in “Nothing Without a Woman or a Girl”. (So, perhaps Galactic Journey will say something kind about the magazine in another 14 years?)
I have excoriated Ben Bova’s fiction in the past, but I have nothing but admiration for his work as editor for Analog. While Disco-Era Analog might seem a bit stodgy to modern eyes, at the time Bova was a breath of fresh air. Rather than settle for being a second-rate Campbell, he did his best to be a first-rate Bova. He recruited new authors, many of whom differed (excitingly) from Analog’s Old Guard. He also bought more stories by women than did his predecessor1. While some old guard objected to Bova’s direction, enough readers enjoyed it to give him a remarkable six Best Editor Hugo Awards, as well as one nomination for the same category….
Eyes of Amber won the Hugo. The Screwfly Solution won a Nebula. Two major awards for stories from one issue is remarkable. Other stories, such as the Tellure, may not have won accolades but were memorable enough for me to remember as soon as I laid eye on them. All things considered, this was a pretty awesome read to be my third ever issue of Analog. It’s no surprise that Bova was nominated for a Hugo on the basis of his 1977 work.
(3) ON THE TABLE. E.D.E. Bell lists five vegan foods to try:
…In my mind, whenever someone asks what could be vegan about fantasy, it proves to me that they’ve never been a vegan reading fantasy. In addition to a lot of the violence and war in the genre (it’s usually a central component, even outside of grimdark), the best scenes feature someone riding their steed in a fine leather vest to grab a hock of ham. I’m not even sure I know what hocks are, but I have concluded they are key to the development of fantasy heroes. So, you know, my fiction is just focused a bit differently. In fact, I think that diversity and exploration is what fantasy is all about.
I’m not here to get into all of that, though. I’m here to talk about one of Cat’s and my favorite subjects: yummy food. Now, I’m not an authority on gourmet cuisine. Go to a vegan restaurant or check out many amazing online vegan chefs for that. (I’m particularly fond of Richa Hingle.) Hey, I’m not even a great cook. But I haven’t eaten meat in almost a quarter century, so I can definitely speak to “what we eat.” Don’t worry. This is just a quick blog to spark some ideas. But if you don’t mind eating plants, here are five simple foods you could give a spin….
(4) WHERE RIVERS AND FANS MEET. The 2018 Confluence will be held at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel from July 27-29, with Guest of Honor Catherynne M. Valente and special music guest S.J “Sooj” Tucker.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Confluence, although it is not the 30th Confluence (they had to skip 1999 and 2013).
(5) TOURISTS. Stormtroopers and other Imperial military personnel dropped in to see the sf exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of History today. (Photo by John King Tarpinian.)
(6) HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY
- Born June 2, 1920 — Bob Madle, one of only two surviving attendees of the very first Worldcon. It’s possible Bob is the oldest living SF fan.
(7) COMICS SECTION.
- Jack Lint doesn’t want you to miss Tom Gauld’s “Lesser-Known Literary Prizes”.
(8) PIONEER FILK. Rob Hansen has added what appears to be the earliest filking fanzine produced in the UK to his THEN fanhistory site: “Songs From Space (1957)”.
Presented here is what appears to be the earliest filking fanzine published in the UK, which is dated August 1957. It was published by Eric Bentcliffe, reworked lyrics were by Sandy Sandfield, and artwork by Eddie Jones.
The final song, Space Club Drag, is inspired by The Space Club, a clubroom for London fandom that Helen Winick had tried to establish around the turn of the year.
(9) OPENING IN JUNE. Parade’s Lambeth Hochwald, in “Incredibles 2: The 10 Most Incredible Reasons We Love the Parr Family”, interviews the cast and writer/director Brad Bird, who says that the two Incredibles films “major in family and minor in superheroes.”
The most incredible family of superheroes is back. The Parrs, the lovable, fearless family of five we first met in 2004 in The Incredibles, will return for another animated adventure when Disney-Pixar’s Incredibles 2 arrives in theaters June 15.
And although 14 years have passed, it’s like the clock has barely ticked at all: The new movie picks up seconds after the first one ended, with the same cast of characters. Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter) hurtles back into superhero work, while her husband, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), remains behind as a stay-at-home dad with the couple’s three kids, teenage Violet (Sarah Vowell), adolescent Dash (newcomer Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack.
(10) CONCAROLINAS. David Weber told his Facebook followers the terms under which he agreed to be a ConCarolinas special guest next year.
I have been in contact with Jada at ConCarolinas by Messenger, and she tells me that they will be making a live announcement at closing ceremonies, with the video to be on their Facebook group, which will make clear that going forward they will be inviting guests they feel are genre-related and that as a convention which has never taken a political stance they will not tolerate being told that guests must lean one way or another or that guests are uninvitable because of their political stances. They will expect anyone who attends to be able to be in a room with another person who disagrees with him/her and be civil to one another. They will also not be beholden to bullies or trolls and will not disinvite guests after such attacks. They will also mention what happened to John, and state that the mutual decision for him not to attend was wrong and that they apologize to John for the hurt and the frustration that was caused by their decision and for the fact that their initial statement did not make it clear that HE was the one being harassed and bullied by vile, unfounded allegations (which went so far as to drag his wife into the fire) and threats to harass him at the con which would have turned a regional con into a battleground. On that basis, I have agreed to attend the con as a special guest next year.
Weber also says the convention will give him a contract about his appearance.
Weber wrote at length about his expectations yesterday, concluding —
People, the object is to fix the problem, not to pile on (from either side) and not for anybody to issue masochistic mea culpas. But there is a point at which grown-ups have to begin the “fix the problem” conversation by acknowledging that they screwed up and publicly apologizing to the object of their screwing up. To be blunt, ConCarolinas owes John Ringo a public apology for not making clear who was the victim and strongly condemning the hatemongers who attacked him AS HATEMONGERS.
Coming from Weber, that is perhaps not a surprising characterization of those who had issues with Ringo’s selection as a special guest.
The ConCarolinas chair delivered the statement she negotiated with Weber this afternoon at closing ceremonies – here is the video.
Weber’s reaction to the video is:
At the moment, I am VERY satisfied. I’m sure that some people are going to wish that there’d been more self-flagellation and public contrition, but she was reading a prepared statement that she wanted to be sure got every point covered. Under the circumstances, I think this is a positive admission of the mistakes that were made, an apology to John, a proper characterization of the vileness of the allegations thundered against him, and a very decent starting point to move forward. And speaking as someone who’s had to eat a little crow in public himself upon occasion, I know how hard it is — especially coming back after the fact — to apologize in a case like this.
(11) FAN OVERBOARD. Honor Harrington fandom has been experiencing some rough sailing. Longtime volunteer Tom Coonradt announced his retirement as the Senior Master Chief Petty Officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy due to a conflict with leadership.
…It is with a very heavy heart that I say this.
It is my opinion that John Roberts is the worst possible fit for a first space lord this, or any, Organization could have.
Since before John Roberts became first space lord he has treated me with disdain, condescension, and disrespect. And I know I am not the only one. Culminating with a public outburst at a respected member of this organization at Manticon.
John Roberts refuses to communicate with me in writing, he says because he communicates poorly in writing. My concern is that there is ZERO accountability there. There is no recording of a spoken conversation that can keep a first space lord honest. He has out rightly and in writing (ironically) refused to discuss anything with me at all in writing, even if it is a simple message of “I want to talk to you about this topic, when can I call you?” I had on the phone, only a few short weeks ago, given him several possible solutions to our communication issue. When I thought we had reached a compromise, the only thing he sent me, ironically enough, is the new policy on how to replace the SMCPON. One he refused to discuss further with me after I gave my impressions.
He has no ability to be flexible, and in fact will refuse to listen or even acknowledge any advice, idea or criticism that he doesn’t agree with….
The group’s website defines The First Space Lord as the Senior Executive Vice President of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc.
The full text of Coonradt’s statement can be found attached to a comment on this post.
(12) DEPT. OF HARD TO KEEP SFF AHEAD OF REALITY. At TechCrunch “‘Upgrade’ director Leigh Whannell talks low-budget worldbuilding”.
TechCrunch: It’s interesting that it came from your imagination, because in some ways it feels very prescient. We had our own robotics event a couple of weeks ago and one of the big moments onstage was someone in a wheelchair who was able to take a few steps thanks to an exoskeleton.
Whannell: So the exoskeleton that helps people with paralysis walk and move, this movie is the internalized version of that, where it goes one step further and there’s nothing exterior. It’s a chip.
It has been interesting to watch the world catch up to my script. Because when I wrote the first draft of this script, automated cars and smart kitchens were still science fiction. And in the ensuing years, they’ve become ubiquitous. I mean, my wife’s car parks itself and talks to her. And my daughter thinks it’s perfectly normal to have a voice talking to her in the kitchen, and she asks it to play songs and it does. So in a way I feel like I’m living in the world of the movie I wrote all those years ago.
(13) PARVUS IS OPEN. Colin Coyle of Parvus Press says they are open for novel and novella submissions until July 15. See details on the publisher’s website under Submissions.
Coyle also notes that their Kickstarter for If This Goes On edited by Cat Rambo has raised $6,074 of its $10,000 goal in the first four days.
(14) DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIOUS HINTS. Here’s your first clue:
I don't want to drop any mysterious hints building up anticipation or anything, but I -might- be talking with @seananmcguire about teaching a class for the Rambo Academy in coming months that is going to be supercool.https://t.co/F9tAFLRtrU
— Cat Rambo (@Catrambo) May 30, 2018
(15) HEARTS OF TABAT. Marion Deeds reviews Cat Rambo’s Hearts of Tabat at Fantasy Literature.
…On the surface, Hearts of Tabat might be a slightly satirical comedy-of-manners, but the Beasts are growing restless and rebellious, and something (or someone) is trying to siphon away the magic that protects the land. When, abruptly, Bella Kanto is accused of sorcery and exiled, it is clear something is very wrong.
Rambo’s world is beautifully described, complex and plausible. Good people are complicated, and aren’t always good. Sebastiano works daily with the Beasts, seeing their natures, yet spouts standard bigoted lines about how they can’t be accorded the same rights as humans. Adelina’s infatuation with Eloquence causes her to ignore her own better judgment. Eloquence himself is charming and seductive, but we see a different side of him at home with his sisters.
A large part of the Tabat society is religion. The Trade Gods and the Moon Temples, with their different belief systems, are depicted convincingly. The effects of poverty are not romanticized. Frankly, Obedience has it so bad at home that when she is abducted along with a magic student I can only think that’s going to be a step up for her….
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, Carl Slaughter, Cat Rambo, Jack Lint, Rich Lynch, Colin Coyle, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories, Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Ingvar.]
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@12, I’m still waiting for my flying car. (That’s a lie; I think flying cars are a terrible idea, given the drivers-with-cell-phones I see on my daily commute.)
Edit: First!
I wonder if the GOH after Weber will also lack the ability to empathize with people who might have reasons to object to someone with a history of bad behavior being the face of the con. It would seem Jade has a theme going.
A scroll! A scroll! My fandom for a scroll!
c4c
/Godstalk
(3) On the table.
I have never read a fantasy novel that has included ham hocks. Also, I can’t take seriously any list of “vegan foods to try” that doesn’t include mujadara.
11) A Pity. I know someone deep into that fandom, a righteous guy he is. Pity there are such troubles in that sector of galactic space.
14) That would be super cool. Cat really works well with creators to make those classes happen and work, as I can attest from experience.
@Nancy Sauer: My understanding is that a “hock” of ham, as the author puts it, is an old Anglo-Saxon measurement based on how much meat one hawk could carry.
Okay, who wants a nice telepresence rig?
If I decide to unload some signed David Weber books on Ebay, any suggestions for a charity to donate some of the proceeds to?
That filk fanzine seems like a neat bit of fan history, and kudos to Rob Hansen for posting it. I wonder if the songs in it would still work as filk?
Klick.
I guess I wasn’t going to ConCarolinas anyway.
Still not sure how people deciding not to attend was a danger to Ringo.
Too bad about Weber lacking empathy. Sadly, he’s hardly unique.
(10) Has Weber even shown nasty behavior at cons or on social media? I’m not familiar with his work, but is he so concerned about what happened to Ringo happening to him simple because he is (I’m assuming) conservative?
(10) COCAROLINAS. “. . . they will not tolerate being told that guests must lean one way or another or that guests are uninvitable because of their political stances.”
Strawman. Oh and look, again with the unsupported mention of supposed threats to harass Ringo (ooh, it’s changed from threats to him to merely threats to harass him!). I don’t buy anything Jada’s selling. Regardless, I hope Weber has fun at the con. The grandstanding by him & Jada is a bit silly, though.
BTW @Mike Glyer, I’m glad you picked up that comic link from @Jack Lint! 🙂 I love it, but then, Gauld’s generally great.
(10) CONCAROLINAS. David Weber: threats to harass him at the con which would have turned a regional con into a battleground.
Yeah, Mr. Weber, can you point me to where these threats were documented? Because thus far, none of Ringo’s supporters have been able to do so. And no, “not showing up to a con” does not qualify as “harrassment”.
Also, nice try, claiming that “being told that guests must treat other guests and attendees with respect, and that guests are uninvitable if they harass other guests and attendees” is the same thing as “being told that guests must lean one way or another or that guests are uninvitable because of their political stances”.
I see what you did there, Mr. Weber, and I have lost all respect I had for you as a conservative writer who (I thought) actually behaved liked a decent human being. 😐
(8) @Martin Wooster: From what I can tell, they seem to mostly fall into sea shanties moved into space. I know some filkers who were focused on that style even relatively recently. To me they feel rather dated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned up in open circles.
(10) From everything I’ve heard (not much), David Weber has always been a popular and considerate GoH. I believe his reaction here is much because he considers John Ringo a friend, leading him to blindness as to why some would have trouble with Ringo’s presence.
(11) Sounds like a seriously nasty situation.
@ Lee Whitside:
Well, this is thematically unrelated to tensions in the sf/f community, but the charity I volunteer for, Cat Adoption Team (C.A.T.) would certainly welcome and appreciate a donation. And an upside is, even if the sales of the books raises a tiny amount, we’d still benefit from a tiny donation, because we are a tiny organization! 🙂 And every penny donated to this organization benefits the kitties directly (most of it goes to pay vet bills). And since it’s a registered 501(c)3 charity, a donation is tax deductible.
CAT’s donation page:
http://catadoptionteam.net/how-to-help/
I currently have 6 fosters. Here’s a FB post with photos of the 4 who are new in the house:
https://www.facebook.com/laura.resnick.3/posts/10211335474443363
(2) I think I bought that one too as a young’un. It had girls in!
(3) Seitan is actually pretty good. Doesn’t taste beany like tofu, nor have other… ill effects that soy has on many people. Soy often tastes like motor oil to me, but seitan tastes like whatever it’s in. Makes great mock poultry, it has a nice chewy structure.
I’ve never read about ham hocks in fantasy either, but I suppose GRRM has described them in an elaborate sauce at some time. Most fantasy has deer or cows, and the occasional stolen chicken or fishing. And, of course, as Diana Wynne-Jones pointed out, Stew. It’s always Stew, which might be vegan, plus there’s bread.
Meat was important for status in medieval Europe, so any fantasy based on that is going to have the manly knightly hero chowing down on roast beast — veggies were for peasants. Except when added to Stew. Which is a good thing to do with ham hocks.
(4) That sounds like it’ll be good.
(7) I like this a lot. Husband and I both LOL.
(9) I wanna see this and hope it’s good. I never thought it needed a sequel, but if it’s even half as good as the first, okay. No capes!
(10) Whoosh. Point over head, usual conservative inversion of victim and predator, “facts” not in evidence, strawmen everywhere. I do hope ConCarolinas will enjoy completely becoming LackOfEmpathyCon, with a side of “groping is freeze peach!”
(11) Just living up to the creator’s standards, I guess? (see 10) It’s a shame; our local guys seem cool.
(12) I want a self-driving car AND an exoskeleton, and I want ’em last year.
@Lee Whiteside: Something supporting women’s rights, I’d say: Planned Parenthood, maybe Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which says they pay for lawyers for women who’ve suffered sexual harassment (I don’t know if they’ve started). Maybe a decent local candidate who’s running this fall?
@Laura Resnick: I could never foster. I’d just end up a crazy cat lady at the first go.
(10) ? I really don’t get it. If Concarolinas really wants John Ringo as a guest then they should have John Ringo as a guest and accept that means some people won’t go to the con. They seem to be wanting to have it both ways now: disinvite Ringo and claim it was terrible that he wasn’t a part of the con.
@Lee Whiteside: I like Lurkertype’s suggestions as appropriate to the issue at hand, and worthy causes. Other than that, follow your heart and donate to a charity that you believe is doing something meaningful to you? (Coincidentally, for me, that would in fact be heart research)
@Cam: It’s Schrodinger’s Ringo.
10: Why do I get the impression that Webber uncritically accepted a rant from his buddy Ringo as the truth and didn’t bother to check anything beyond that?
8: In response to a link to ‘Songs In Space’ posted elsewhere, Jim Linwood provided one to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s song ‘Space Girl’, which I’d never encountered before. Apart from the weird pronunciation of ‘Martian’ as ‘Marty-un’ this is pretty good:
(11) “They will expect anyone who attends to be able to be in a room with another person who disagrees with him/her[them/eir] and be civil to one another. They will also not be beholden to bullies or trolls …”
I hope Weber’s wishes are fulfilled in every particular, though the results might surprise him.
(1) I like Bennis very much, though the books are bit bloody for me …
I have this from a friend I trust, but no documentary support. Mike, if you feel this is too much hearsay feel free to delete. I am told that when he was GoH at an Eastercon (Brirish national convention) he flopped into the green room and started explaining to people how all taxation was theft and socialised medicine was murder. Since we rather like having free at the point of use healthcare in the UK, this went down like a lead balloon.
Oooooh, a title credit!
A combination of “busy” and “meh” meant that I forgot to download the voter’s packet over the weekend, but I shall strive to do so later today.
When the ConCarolinas business started, I thought it sounded like the sort of thing that schisms concomms. I’d guess the schism is complete, and we know which side retained control of the con. I wish them joy of it.
oops, wrong number – I was phoning (10), not (11).
Sorry …
Rail: When the ConCarolinas business started, I thought it sounded like the sort of thing that schisms concomms. I’d guess the schism is complete, and we know which side retained control of the con.
I don’t think that there was ever any schism.
I think what happened was that the concom / con chair decided to invite the GoH knowing that she was wildly popular, without bothering to acquaint themselves with who she is as a person and who her most ardent fans are, and that their choice of GoH was not really consistent with the con’s long-developed personality.
This is speculation on my part: It may be that they noticed that they were getting a lot of new attendees sign up, but not near as many of the usual attendees. They might have asked some of the usual attendees why they weren’t planning to attend. They might have been told that their GoH had little or no appeal for some of the long-time attendees. They might have decided that they needed to add some Special Guests of a different flavor as a way to get those long-time attendees to come.
What I think is pretty certain is this: not knowing how many of the attendees and panelists and artists were attending specifically because of the GoH and that a known harasser and misogynist would not sit well with those people, they decided to make Ringo a Special Guest.
At this point they were hoist on their own petard: if they stood by the choice of Ringo, they were going to lose a lot of attendees and panelists and artists — more probably than they could afford to lose at this late date, and still have a viable program track and dealer’s room for the con. So they chose to cut Ringo loose to salvage this year’s con, while vowing that future GoHs would be well-vetted to insure that the attendees drawn to the con by those GoHs would be copacetic with the convention’s long-established personality.
I don’t think that there was any schism. There were just poorly-informed choices, and subsequent attempts at damage control.
Cassy B:
I’m waiting for my flying car, but I’m not waiting for everone else’s flying car. (An amphibious car might be an alternative, considering the time I’ve spent waiting for ferries this weekend.)
I’m also waiting for instant beer. Instant hot chocolate is good, instant cold beer would be so much better. Really, scientists, what’s taking so long? That’s the science fictional future I want to see.
***
@nickpheas: That sounds tonedeaf rather than nasty. While weird ideas about public health care are, well, weird, it’s a political opinion and voicing them is a far cry from harassment.
***
I’m just finishing up A Natural History of Dragons, and it’s been a very pleasant discovery. I vaguely recall seeing the book floating on the Brazilian river and thought “that sounds fun, but my TBR pile is too large already”, so I say a big “thank you” to the nominators and to Tor for edging it into the pile anyway.
What Jada keeps ignoring is that the complaints about Ringo were not threats from strangers on the internet. They were complaints by other guests about John Ringo’s boorish behavior towards them at past conventions. As for the politics angle, I think we are being dishonest to deny it entirely. Whether people should be treated with respect, whether they should be free of violence, shouldn’t be a contentious political issue. But it is.
10: well, a number of years ago (Bush II era) at a “Military in SF” panel at an east coast con, the panel discussion turned into a long rant by Weber on the subject of the war (Afghanistan), the lack of patriotism on the part of those opposed to it and wove in Viet Nam, treason and a bunch of other related things that I personally found to be insulting (particularly the fact that it was apparently not possible to be intelligent AND hold the position of supporting troops while also being against administration policy), but more so, I was shocked to witness such a blatant political hijack of the panel; I’d been to panels that went off the rails; descended into a personal fight between two members…but never before had I seen something like this at a con. Weber railed and everyone else sat there in silence. He was obviously emotionally invested in the issues.
Having not attended conventions in quite some time (paintball gafiation), I had no idea if this had become the norm, and so didn’t feel I was in any position to object.
I stopped reading the Harrington series after that, wrote a bit about it on my old blog and have not attended any panels with him present on it since.
I guess if I had been at ConCarolinas, I’d have had to leave following the PA announcement at closing ceremonies….
@JJ: Probably. I was thinking about what I know of the political landscape of the area. There have been a lot of groups of various flavors splitting apart in the past year.
Plus, I was raised Southern Baptist. I expect schisms.
I don’t think ConCarolinas needs to worry about guests and attendees being incompatible with their chosen personality in the future.
10) Looks like ConCarolinas wants to become LibertyCon Mark II. In that case, I wish them luck, though I also feel sorry for Southern fans since most of the Southern cons (LibertyCon, ConCarolinas, the con where the previous Ringo incident happened, even DragonCon’s literature track) seem to be puppy/Baen cons.
Also my desire to ever read anything by David Weber (who has been on my “I should maybe give him a try” list for a long time now) has just dropped to close to zero.
@Johan P: Depends on whether the green room could be considered a captive audience. I wouldn’t like feeling like I couldn’t get away from that sort of lecture/rant.
Before we move to ‘other’ Mr. Weber, it’s worth considering he’s simply ignorant of the facts. Granted, in this information age, he really ought to do some research before wading in to a controversy and making charged statements. Still it’s worth remembering Marion Zimmerman Bradley had defenders before the the facts of her abuse became more widely known; and Heinlein briefly supported a member of the Manson family before becoming better acquainted with the the facts of her case. While ill intention is possible, ill informed seems most likely.
@Cora: Most Southern coms aren’t. Thats part of why we are seeing these more aggressive reactions.
@Cora: We dropped him some time ago. The politics just got to be too obvious.
@Stoic Cynic: This conversation looks more like information gathering than othering at this stage. You know, what we wish Weber had done?
@steve davidson
Whatever book it was where everyone who wasn’t an ardent monarchist in Manticore politics jobbed together to take over and then they all proved completely corrupt and ludicrously inept (the socialist was actually a slaver, etc) was the point I started just skipping pages to get to the space combat. His strawmen were always laughably obvious but at least he’d been good at keeping the pace fast and entertaining. But the second he started writing in depth about politics, a topic he clearly has zero experience in other than what he’s read in the Libertarian press, the entire narrative collapses like a bad joke. You’re not missing anything.
nickpheas on June 4, 2018 at 2:39 am said:
Even if this is completely true, it is at worst boorish behavior. Lots of otherwise perfectly acceptable guests and panelists exhibit boorish behavior in the green room. In and of itself I’d not cite that as a reason to not invite someone as a guest to a convention.
3) I don’t recall ever seeing all that many ham hocks show up in fantasy either, although I do at least know what hocks are. Honestly, though, it’s not the food that would be the hardest thing to replace in a fantasy setting, as far as I can tell. It’s the other animal products, like the leather, the tools and other products made from bone, the requirement for animal labour, etc. The same way missing plastics would be the hardest thing about a post-petroleum society that hadn’t found an equally versatile replacement (goodbye modern medicine).
@lurkertype: Seitan doesn’t taste beany because it’s not made from beans. 🙂 I much prefer it to the tofu and tempeh. (I still haven’t tried TVP, though, so I can’t compare it–my gf hates it so we don’t ever cook it, and frankly I loathe tempeh.) Even though it’s already essentially a bread product it’s really good breaded and then fried. Or even just fried. It’s actually soooo good when you can get it crispy. One of our local places does it crispy on top, soft on the bottom, with a mild plum sauce on a bed of baked taro. You can do a lot with it.
I’m not vegan, but my girlfriend is, so I do a loooooot of vegan cooking. Most of the time you can completely avoid tofu, tempeh, seitan, TVP, even the nutritional yeast. I feel like it’s the over-reliance on these things in a lot of vegan cooking that makes it seem like a difficult cuisine. Grains, nuts & legumes, vegetables. Start there and you’ll have no problems. Looking at the ingredients for what they are instead of what you can do to make them seem more like something an omnivore would eat is the simplest way to make delicious and filling vegan meals, imo (and let’s face it, most pre-packaged “fake meat” or “fake cheese” products are disgusting–fake cheese in particular; daiya is in the running for worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth). The collection of tofu/seitain/TVP/tempeh/nutritional yeast foods is probably the smallest part of our diet, and it’s not unusual for us to go weeks without eating any of it. (I eat probably 85% vegan meals because it’s a pain to cook for more than one diet type.)
10. I was disappointed to read this. I had reasons to want to attend ConCarolinas next year (they’ll be hosting Deep South Con), now I have reasons not to attend.
@Rail. I too was raised Southern Baptist and I well remember the schisms that occurred just in our church. One reason I’m now United Methodist!
@Dex: well, I must admit to some prior bias against the stories: I was a bit “miffed” by Baen’s promotional “Horatio Hornblower of Space” accolade for Honor, when it had already been reserved for A. Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes character (who they also publish, mores the pity) and my read of the first novel (Basilisk Station) seemed to confirm some initial reports/reviews that Honor was Grimes in drag (something Grimes would no doubt engage in if he thought it expedient to the moment), though Weber seems to have left a lot of that behind as he developed the Honor character in her own right.
I find that my unwillingness to continue to engage with a writer whose non-fiction polemics, rants, musings and proclamations I disagree with are at least somewhat in direct correlation with my experience with them personally. My ending the Harrington reads has more to do with the behavior displayed than it does with the political position displayed.
I’d bother to explain that it IS possible to discuss opposing viewpoints without resorting to insults, dog whistles, sealions, vague deniabilities, deliberately out of context quotes, outright distortion of facts, inflammatory language and all the rest, but it’s mostly choir here and the other side seems to have developed selective deafness, so largely futile.
Meredith Moment:
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss is part of Amazon US’s Daily Deal for $1.99 today.
I think some people are putting the cart before the horse. From what I hear Weber was approached cap in hand by the concom to get them out of the hole they were in. They were in a position were there was not going to be a con next year if something was not done. And the real problem was the appearance of letting outsiders run the con,surprisingly which cut across party lines. That is why the ending speech was set up the way it was.
Speaking of Roast Beast (someone used the words way, way upthread), I can’t help wondering where that comes from. With the example of Max the Dog before us, I get the impression that most of the animals around Whoville are sentient, maybe even sapient (or is it the other way round?), and even killing a Beast for its meat seems darn near cannibalism. The Whos and the Grinch look a bit beastly themselves.
Then again, it’s Dr. Seuss, and the radishes probably have opinions as well, and you have to eat something, after all.
Old Pixel’s File of Practical Scrolls