Pixel Scroll 6/4/18 A Pixel Came Down To File770, It Was Lookin’ For A Scroll To Steal

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(1) FOLLOWING IN GODZILLA’S FOOTSTEPS. The Harvard Map Collection presents “Where Disaster Strikes: Modern Space and the Visualization of Destruction”.

Floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, bombings, droughts, and even alien invasions: disaster can take many forms. And, although disasters are always felt dramatically, a disaster’s form and location impacts who records its effects and what forms those records take. “Where Disaster Strikes” investigates the intertwined categories of modern space and disaster through the Harvard Map Collection’s maps of large destructive events from the London Fire to the present.

The map collection includes a Godzilla feature. Stacy Lambe figured out how many times stomped all the cities. Then Danielle Brown mapped them. (I can’t get the link to function here, but go to the Harvard Map Collection link and click “30” on the left sidebar, that worked for me.)

(2) FUTURE TENSE. “Safe Surrender” by Meg Elison, author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, is this month’s entry in the Future Tense series that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The series is offered through a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.

The laws are so old that they were written with fully human children in mind. Before first contact, two humans might make a fully Terran baby and still abandon it, because they didn’t have enough money or because one of their ancient tribal honor codes forbid them from breeding. It still happens, but nobody talks about it. Humans like to forget what they used to be. Now, safe surrender sites are known as places where hemis get dumped. Hemis like me.

It was published along with a response essay “Oppression of the Future in ‘Safe Surrender’ by tech policy lawyer Laura Moy.

As technology advances, will we use it to promote equity, or to serve and preserve systems of oppression? This question is central to Meg Elison’s “Safe Surrender,” which explores a future in which humans are in regular contact with extraterrestrials called Pinners, who exchange diplomats, trade goods, and even interbreed with Earthlings. In “Safe Surrender,” a grown-up human-Pinner hybrid (a “hemi”) struggles to find their identity and make sense of their origin—surrendered at birth by a mother who did not want or perhaps felt she could not care for or protect a hybrid infant.

In Elison’s not–totally foreign, not-so-distant future, the racial prejudices, inequities, and oppression that plague humankind today map easily onto extraterrestrials….

(3) POOHOGRAPHY. Who needs $200,000 when you can have this map? Atlas Obscura knows where you can find it: “For Sale: A Winsome Map Showing the Way to Pooh Corner”.

But all the adventures of a boy and his bear started here, alongside illustrations by the English artist E. H. Shepard. In its opening pages, a map shows the way around the Hundred Acre Wood, sometimes stylized as “100 Aker Wood.” There’s “Where the Woozle Wasnt” and the route to the North Pole. Now, for the first time in nearly 50 years, the original map is on sale at the British auctioneer Sotheby’s, along with four other illustrations. They are expected to fetch as much as $580,000 together when they go on sale at the auction house in July, the BBC reported.

It’s a lot of money for a map—but then, this isn’t any old map.

(4) MEXICANX. John Picacio introduces the next set of MexicanX Initiative guests who’ll be coming to Worldcon 76.

(5) MERRY MONTH OF MAY. Eric Wong sent along Rocket Stack Rank’s May ratings highlights.

  1. New Prolific Reviewer Added

Gary Tognetti @ 1000 Year Plan

  1. Most-Recommended Stories

Here are 15 stories (out of 72) recommended by at least 2 out of 4 prolific reviewers who post at the end of each month (GTognetti, JMcGregor, RSR, SFRevu). That’s 21% of 72 stories, while 56% (40 stories) got no recs from any of the 4 prolific reviewers.

Novellas (click for story & review links)

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells 1h:48m Tor Novella 05/08/18

Bubble and Squeak by David Gerrold & Ctein 1h:50m Asimov’s 05?06|18

Novelettes (click for story & review links)

The Thought That Counts by K.J. Parker 28m BCS 250
Crash Site by Brian Trent 29m F&SF 05?06|18
Inquisitive by Pip Coen2 25m F&SF 05?06|18
Fleeing Oslyge by Sally Gwylan 30m Clarkesworld 140
Angry Kings by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam 25m BCS 250
Argent and Sable by Matthew Hughes 47m F&SF 05?06|18
Hubpoint Of No Return by Christopher L. Bennett 41m Analog 05?06|18

Short Stories (click for story & review links)

A Green Moon Problem by Jane Lindskold 20m Lightspeed 96
Unstoppable by Gardner Dozois 19m F&SF 05?06|18
Blessings by Naomi Novik 07m Uncanny 22
Cold Blue Sky by JE Bates2 13m Apex 108
Godmeat by Martin Cahill 23m Lightspeed 96
While You Sleep, Computer Mice™ Earn Their Keep by Buzz Dixon 07m Analog 05?06|18

(Sometimes RHorton’s recs are included if Locus Magazine releases his latest column online by the end of the month. The recommendations from the 5 major awards and 4 major SF/F anthologies are typically available within 5 months after the calendar year and are shown in the 2018 YTD.)

  1. Most-Recommended Magazines

Every BCS and Lightspeed story got a recommendation from at least 1 out of 4 prolific reviewers. Every magazine got at least 1 story rec except Strange Horizons.

(All 11 magazines included in RSR Monthly & YTD ratings are covered by at least 3 of the 4 prolific monthly reviewers, except for Tor Novellas.)

  1. Stories by New Writers

Stories by 2019 Campbell Award-eligible writers, grouped by year of eligibility.

Year 1 Eligible: 5 stories, none recommended.

Year 2 Eligible: 6 stories, 3 recommended.

Coen, Pip Inquisitive 25m F&SF 05?06|18
Bates, JE Cold Blue Sky 13m Apex 108
Falowo, Dare Segun Ku’gbo 19m F&SF 05?06|18

The remaining 61 stories were written by authors whose first pro SF/F story was before 2017.

(6) BEING INVENTIVE. Doctor Strangemind’s Kim Huett says “Let’s consider how to add a little local colour to steampunk fiction with some interesting but failed nineteenth century inventions. Necessity might be the mother of invention but that doesn’t mean all her children are born equal.” — “With A Strange Device”.

Putting some steampunk junk in the trunk.

I’ve long been a fan of Jack Vance’s fiction for a number of reasons. One of these is the way he liked to throw quirky details into his stories. There were often no reason for these details as they weren’t designed to advance the plot (well okay, very occasionally yes they did but usually no they didn’t). Mostly Vance just liked to add a little local colour to the fictional landscapes his narrative was passing through. A little local colour, as actually exists in the real world, is something far too rare in science fiction of any era.

(7) SAURON’S DIGS. Olga Polomoshnova pieces together a description of “The tower of adamant” at Middle-Earth Reflections.

Barad-dûr was built in the Second Age when Sauron chose Mordor as his abode. He began the construction of the Dark Tower in c. 1000 SA and finished it in c. 1600 SA — the same year when the One Ring was forged in the fires of Orodruin. The foundations of Barad-dûr were thus strengthened with the power of the One Ring, so the tower was virtually indestructible by any force and could stand as long as the Ring lasted. After the War of the Last Alliance and the seven-year siege of Barad-dûr its foundations remained, though the tower itself was destroyed, and thus the Dark Tower rose again in the Third Age.

The appearance of Barad-dûr is left rather vague by Tolkien. Readers can catch only glimpses of the Dark Tower by means of visions or looks from afar, without many details provided. Those glimpses offer a very uncertain picture, as if just allowing a peek at the mighty tower: we look at it quickly and then withdraw our glance so that the never-sleeping watch of Sauron does not catch us at looking at his citadel longer than it is necessary.

The main impression that can be gathered from those fragmentary glimpses is that of hopelessness and terror: the Dark Tower is huge and impregnable. In this case less is more, and the lack of detailed descriptions does the trick, but one thing is certain: we are dealing with a very serious stronghold here.

(8) THE QUIET MAN. Jon Del Arroz hasn’t been tweeting for the last few days. Part of it is because he was officiating a wedding for a friend, but the main reason is that his Twitter account was frozen. JDA says I have to get the details from the response piece he has written for The Federalist….

(9) VON TIESENHAUSEN OBIT. WAFF-TV has the story: “‘Father of the Lunar Rover’ dies at 104”

Georg von Tiesenhausen, who is dubbed the “Father of the Lunar Rover,” has died at age 104.

Tiesenhausen was the last living rocket scientist who came to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip with Wernher von Braun at jump-start the U.S. space program.

(10) PHIPPS OBIT. Actor William Phipps, who had a huge number of genre TV and movie roles on his resume, died June 1—The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

…He starred as a young poet, one of the five people on Earth to survive a nuclear explosion, in Five (1951), then fought martians in The War of the Worlds (1953) and Invaders From Mars (1953), a giant spider in Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) and the Abominable Snowman in The Snow Creature (1954).

Walt Disney himself heard Phipps’ audition tape and hired him to play Prince Charming opposite Ilene Woods in Cinderella (1950). The actor said he was paid about $100 for two hours’ work on an afternoon in January 1949….

(11) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • June 4, 1982 – Poltergeist premiered.
  • June 4, 1982 – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan debuted in theaters.

(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

  • Born June 4 — Angelina Jolie, actress in the Tombraider films and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

(13) COMICS SECTION.

  • Chip Hitchcock says Rhymes With Orange believes they could never remake Wizard of Oz quite the same way today.

(14) JIM HENSON. “The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited” is on display at LA’s Skirball Cultural Center from June 1-September 2.

Immerse yourself in the imaginative world of Jim Henson (1936–1990) and discover his groundbreaking approach to puppetry and transformative impact on contemporary culture.

Featuring more than 100 objects and twenty-five historic puppets—including Kermit the Frog, Rowlf, Ernie and Bert, Grover, and other popular favorites—The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited illuminates Henson’s unique contributions to the moving image. Along with a talented team of designers, performers, and writers, Henson created an unparalleled body of work that continues to delight and inspire people of all ages to create a kinder and gentler world.

Explore Henson’s enduringly popular productions—from The Muppet Show, the Muppet movies, and Sesame Street to Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth—through character sketches, storyboards, scripts, photographs, costumes, film and television clips, and behind-the-scenes footage. Then design your own puppet and try your hand at puppeteering in this highly interactive exhibition.

Highlights include:

  • Kermit the Frog puppet from 1978
  • Handwritten scripts from Henson’s first television series, Sam and Friends (1955–1961)
  • A clip from Henson’s Academy Award–nominated experimental short film Time Piece (1965)
  • Puppets from Sesame Street (1969– ), including Grover, Ernie and Bert, and Count von Count
  • Section on The Muppet Show (1976–1981), including puppets of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Scooter, as well as material from the Muppets’ transition to the big screen, such as set models and storyboards
  • Jen and Kira puppets from The Dark Crystal (1982)
  • Red Fraggle from Fraggle Rock (1983–1987), which celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary this year
  • Jareth’s and Sarah’s ballroom costumes from Labyrinth (1986)

(15) BEGONE, I HAVE NO POWER HERE. NPR reports “‘Sherlock’ Star Benedict Cumberbatch Saves Cyclist From Muggers” — no mystic powers needed.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays detective Sherlock Holmes in the television series Sherlock, foiled an attempted robbery by fighting off a gang of muggers in London. The attack occurred near his fictional character’s home on Baker Street.

(16) CONCAROLINAS. Yesterday’s Scroll reported the terms under which David Weber agreed to be a ConCarolinas special guest next year, his characterization of those who had issues with Ringo’s selection as a special guest, and the statement delivered by the ConCarolinas chair at closing ceremonies of this year’s con (wording negotiated with Weber).

There has been mixed reaction to the ConCarolinas statement.

So, apparently, ConCarolinas committee gave a closing statement where they doubled-down on being open to having special guests who are bigots, racists, sexists, etc claiming the onus is on the people these hate-mongers target to be willing to sit in a room with them as a sign of tolerance and mutual respect.

Listen, it’s not on me to be willing to tolerate someone who thinks I shouldn’t even be in the room or any group who supports bigotry, racism, misogyny, or hate speech.

Now, for those of you who gave ConCarolinas a pass this year and went anyway they’ve made where they stand abundantly clear. You either support that or you don’t – there’s no middle ground. Don’t think you can continue to support it and be my “friend”. Pick a side. You’re either with the people who support giving a platform to hate or you’re an ally of the marginalized people those bigots/racists/misogynists would like to see excluded from SFF and fandom. Don’t expect me to be ok with it.

My thanks to those allies who made a principled stand and withdrew from ConCarolinas, both guests and attendees. I appreciate your willingness to take a stand for what’s right and not try to parse your participation down to some justification for continuing to support people who CLEARLY want to be in a position to give a platform to people who would like nothing better than to target women and people of color.

  • Bryan Thomas Schmidt

  • Rabid Sparkle Badger

https://twitter.com/Nicki_F/status/1003624661907886080

  • Stabby Carpenter

  • Nick Mamatas

  • Stephanie Souders

  • Keffy

So, the director of Con Carolinas has made a choice of who is welcome, and who is not. This is now a convention openly antagonistic to the health, comfort, and safety of anyone who is not straight, cis, male, white, and conservative.

Two important wins vs. the antisocial injustice crusaders in SFF.

  1. ConCarolinas, with prompting from DavidWeber, has declared themselves politically neutral.
  2. DragonCon fired the head of its fantasy lit track, who was apparently trying to impose a political litmus test.
  • Shaun Duke

https://twitter.com/shaunduke/status/1003778775727919105

  • Ari Marmell

https://twitter.com/mouseferatu/status/1003806154584182785

  • Declan Finn

ConCarolinas is beginning to see the first groundswell of criticism for the position Jada took at final ceremonies yesterday. I expect it to get pretty ugly, because she and the concom are now officially recidivists. I would request that anyone who supports the con’s efforts — and fandom in general’s effort — to . . . diminish the scope for the ex post facto dis-invitation of guests to speak up in support of the con’s position, but lets not take this any farther into Mutually Assured Destruction territory than we have to. I know the temptation will be to lob H bombs back in response to the fission warheads coming in in condemnation of the con’s position. I understand that, because I’ve got a temper, too. But if we want to minimize the bigots and the fanatics on both sides of the divide, then we can’t be fanatics ourselves. Determined, unyielding, and unwilling to put up with or yield to cyber bullying — all of those things, damned straight. But if we’re going to be the grown-ups in the room, then let’s BE grown-ups. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t approve of banning anyone for anything short of criminal acts or DEMONSTRATED personal harassment of an innocent bystander who didn’t lob the first grenade in any exchange between them. Don’t care whether they are on the right, and they’ve been screaming about John’s withdrawal from ConCarolinas and Larry’s banning from Origins, or if they are on the left, and they are now screaming about ConCarolinas’ response to the arguments voiced by people on the right. Everyone has a right to his or her own opinion and to attend or not to attend any convention because of guest lists or for any other reason(s) that seem(s) good to them. They also have a right to voice and explain those opinions. I’d just really prefer for us to do it as civilly as possible. It is at least remotely possible we could shame the hate merchants (of whatever political persuasion), but I’m not looking for any miracles here. What I would like to accomplish, however, is to APPEAR as the reasonable parties by BEING the reasonable parties so that those who have not already drawn their own lines in the sand can form their own opinions and reach their own conclusions about who is truly in favor of diversity and inclusiveness and who isn’t.

(17) IN THE FRAME. Gary Tognetti reviews “The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts” at The 1000 Year Plan.

Watts falls within the lineage of classic hard SF writers who can make far-future science magic seem tangible, but his true gift lies in how personable he makes it feel. Heavy themes like alienation, the value of existence, and the nature of consciousness are woven into the brisk narrative with humor and pathos. Watts may be too smart to let a big idea pass by without picking it to pieces, but above all, “The Freeze-Frame Revolution” is fun to read.

(18) WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG. Frederik Pohl’s IF magazine floats The Traveler’s boat at Galactic Journey: “[June 4, 1963] Booked passage (July 1963 IF)”

Down to the Worlds of Men, by Alexei Panshin

14-year old Mia Havero is part of a society of human space-dwellers, resident of one of the eight galaxy-trotting Ships that represent the remains of Earth’s high technology. She and 29 other young teens are dropped on a primitive colony as part of a rite of passage. There is always an element of danger to this month-long ordeal, but this episode has a new wrinkle: the planet’s people are fully aware (and resentful) of the Ships, and they plan to fight back. Can Mia survive her coming of age and stop an insurrection?

Panshin hits it right out of the park with his first story, capturing the voice of a young almost-woman and laying out a rich world and an exciting adventure. Finally, I’ve got something I can recommend to the Young Traveler. Four stars, verging on five.

(19) THEME SONG. Wil Wheaton declares “This Is Brilliant”.

When we worked on Next Generation, Brent Spiner and I would sit at our consoles on the bridge, and make up lyrics to our show’s theme song. I vaguely recall coming up with some pretty funny and clever stuff, but nothing that held together as perfectly as this, from the weirdos over at meh.com:

 

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Joey Eschrich, Cat Eldridge, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, mlex, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, Top Elf, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Lanodantheon.]

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180 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 6/4/18 A Pixel Came Down To File770, It Was Lookin’ For A Scroll To Steal”

  2. (10) Prince Charming is gone. Good night sweet prince/and Files of Pixels Scroll thee to thy rest.

  3. David Weber: What I would like to accomplish, however, is to APPEAR as the reasonable parties by BEING the reasonable parties

    I’m sorry, Mr. Weber, but you, Mr. Ringo, and Jada Diaz have already failed miserably at that, so it’s not going to do much good for you to start pretending to be reasonable now. 🙄

  4. 1
    I saw someone in a store this morning with a “Godzilla World Tour” shirt and a list of cities, all marked “DESTROYED”.

  6. Since threads often evolve (or devolve depending on how you view it) into book recommendations how about a Pride month recommendation thread for LGBTQ authors/themes/characters to celebrate the month?

    Like Space Opera! Which is also going to be a movie that somehow will make the bold attempt to translate the glitterpocalypse onto film.

  7. David Weber is sadly confused.

    I seem to have missed some news about Dragoncon. Anyone have either a capsule summary or a link?

  8. Wil Wheaton was right: the guys who wrote the “words” to the TNG theme WERE funny.,

  9. DEMONSTRATED personal harassment of an innocent bystander who didn’t lob the first grenade in any exchange between them

    Hard not to take this as Weber indicating that he’s fine with Ringo sexually harassing audience members so long as it’s to put uppity women in their place. I hope I’m misunderstanding. Filers have always spoken well of him.

  10. Lis Carey: Re Dragon Con. There are a couple posts up (JDA wrote one). I haven’t been able to find any authentication from the Dragon Con committee, or the person involved, to corroborate the narrative. So I haven’t written the story here.

  11. 8) The Federalist eh? It appears that JdA’s move to get himself entrenched into the Wingnut Welfare system is working splendidly.

  12. (1) FOLLOWING IN GODZILLA’S FOOTSTEPS. The Faroe Islands?! Oh, Godzilla!

    (16) CONCAROLINAS. No idea what Alex Jeffries is on about; a quick Google gets me nothing, but (shrug) Googling obscure SFF supposed recent events can be tough.

    Unrelated: Wow, the Dragon Awards are a in the big graphic carousel on their home page. They do exist. 😛

    (19) THEME SONG. Very cute! 🙂

    /DoubleSecondFifth!

  13. Am I the only one to mistake the new(ish) “Save my name…” checkbox for the real (notify of comments) checkbox?

    /GodStalk!

  14. David Weber: What I would like to accomplish, however, is to APPEAR as the reasonable parties by BEING the reasonable parties

    The more I read of his FB postings and comments on the topic today the less reasonable and like a grownup he APPEARED. Reasonable is researching something NOT simply sticking up for a friend. Recognizing how a friend bragging about harassing women MIGHT be a problem and helping your friend stop being a dick – that’s reasonable and grownup. Enabling a friend to continue being a dick? That’s tribalism.

  16. Hmm, this thread is jinxed for me. Trying again after confirming & unsubscribing via the WordPress UI. ;-(

  17. Enjoyed the song lyrics, definitely clever… but not the singing, alas. This is my snobbery, though, and they were on key at least.

    Matt Y: You could do worse than to start with our own Heather Rose Jones’ books, beginning with Daughter of Mystery.

    Someone else here recently recommended the webcomics by Erin Ptah – Lief and Thorn and But I’m a Cat Person ? Definitely those – though neither is finished, so expect frustration and sorrow when you slam suddenly into the end of a current storyline an hour or two after bedtime. Not that I would know a thing about that.

    (Both explore consent issues up to and including those who, due to their circumstance or innate nature, can be seen as entirely unable to consent. She’s clearly thought through a lot of the implications, and isn’t handling them gratuitously or casually, but I can see points where others would appreciate the warning, especially in something that can look and be quite fluffy.)

  18. Lis Carey on June 4, 2018 at 8:19 pm said:

    I seem to have missed some news about Dragoncon. Anyone have either a capsule summary or a link?

    I’ve only seen Puppy-accounts and they suffer from the usual issues of 1. being unclear about what has occurred 2. confusing facts and speculation 3. invective aimed at a named individual deemed guilty of crimes-against-the-right. In addition, a relevant Facebook post is no longer available.

  19. Fen should consider being nice to each other. I realize that ‘nice’ is a radical idea. In particular, fen are encouraged not to spread their fan-feuds to wargaming fandom, which historically has mostly avoided this sort of feud, though in a sense my suggestion comes too late. I am reminded of the college wargaming society I was in, which included the southern civil war historical reconstructionist, the fellow who cheered the Nazi side in board games, the fellow reading from one of his favorite political leaders, Mao Tse-Tsung, the young lady whose feminist protest included a Yule Brynner haircut, at least one AF ROTC sort…and we were all civil to each other. SF fen can do this, too.

  20. @Lenora Rose: Someone else may also have rec’d them, but I did rec “Lief & Thorn” and “But I’m a Cat Person”! 😀 I’m glad to see someone else here reads them. I back Ptah on Patreon. I always grin when I see the URL for “But I’m a Cat Person,” since “bicatperson” translates for me into “bi cat person” (though of course the “bi” is just short for “but I’m”). [ETA: And I’m not exactly a cat person.]

    While we’re rec’ing GLBT webcomics, I recommend Alex Woolfson’s superhero webcomic “The Young Protectors”; Woolfson is my only other Patreon backee.

    I also rec “O Human Star” (SF) and “Love Not Found” (SF-romance).

    These five are some of my favorites; some of my other faves are not SFF, not GLBT, or neither SFF nor GLBT, so in the spirit of GLBT SFF, I’ll stop there.

  21. George Phillies: I am reminded of the college wargaming society I was in… and we were all civil to each other. SF fen can do this, too.

    Yes, for decades women, POC, and LGBTQ people just kept their mouths shut and put up with all sorts of racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and hateful behavior, and I am sure that people perceived that as a “civil” response.

    Thankfully, times have changed, and minorities in fandom don’t just have to shut up and accept that behavior any more.

  23. LGBT SF rec of the moment: I am most of the way through Sam J. Miller’s Blackfish City and enjoying it a great deal. The pacing could use work in places, but the fascinating worldbuilding more than makes up for that.

  24. George Phillies on June 4, 2018 at 9:30 pm said:

    Fen should consider being nice to each other.

    Excellent idea.
    Now that is easier said than done but here is what I propose: always try to be at least marginally more civil than the person you are talking to.

    So, for example, if somebody is busy making excuses for somebody who wants you dead, you might just politely tell them to shut up. Sure telling somebody to shut up isn’t particularly civil but it is a LOT more civil than proposing murder.

  25. Double what JJ said.

    The first “not a Worldcon” had one group keeping the other group out so NO we’ve NEVER been a happy civil all get along family. Fandom has always been about privileging certain people over others for opinions as well as who one is. Being civil to each other if white cis male while too many of those men harassed, insulted, harassed, assaulted, and actively excluded POC, women, and LGBT+ is NOT the same as being welcome and safe to all.

    I’m so sick and tired of cis white men rewriting history and treating the rest of us like our lived experiences don’t count.

  26. (1) I’m with Kendall: why the Faroes?!

    (10) That was a heck of a day. In a really good summer for movies. We saw TWoK b/c we’d seen “Poltergeist” in a sneak a few days earlier. I spent a whole lot of time in theaters that summer.

    (16) Much fail. So losers. Wow.

    No decency or logic at all, pure tribal behavior. Although that’s an insult to tribes, methinks. Have fun at BigotCon, straight white boys! Sorry considering other people as human is too tough for you, enjoy your reactionary sausage fest. We promise not to bother your safe space with anything like new ideas or futurity… ya know, the main point of science fiction as a genre.

    (19) Possibly less brilliant to those of us who didn’t co-star on the show, Wil.

    LGBT fantasy recs: Why not YA finalist “In Other Lands”? Also Melissa Scott’s “Point of…” series, and the continuing stooory of “Tremontaine”/Swordspoint/etc. by Delia Sherman and pals. And KJ Charles. And Heather.

  27. (16) Goddammit, David…

    LGBT webcomic recs:

    Questionable Content currently has, off the top of my head, one male character whose mother was a pro domme and who is currently dating a trans woman, a female character (one of his former love interests) who’s just fallen for a female tea-sniffing ex-military robot and has had trouble admitting the attraction, a cheerfully perverse male AI, and several other characters who fall somewhere on the QUILTBAG and/or kink spectra.

    Menage à 3 and its siblings continue to entertain, ten years running. I was heartily amused, after having privately described it as an R-rated Three’s Company with more sex and queer representation, to hear that the creator describes it much the same way. There’s something about the classic Archie art style that really works with the content.

    See also Dangerously Chloe, involving some of the Ma3 talent pool (but in a different ‘verse) – that one’s been dealing with a demonic sex change plot for a while now, with a neat conflict between what the boy’s mind approves of, the urges that come with becoming an almost-succubus, and the duty he feels toward the actual succubus who’s been putting herself in mortal (?) peril by refusing to feed off of (and thereby kill) him.

  28. I’ll second Swordspoint as having delectable amounts of men making kissy face. Also swordfighting which is a nice bonus.

    Chuck Wendig’s Miriam Black books feature a bisexual protagonist but you have to get a couple books in before you discover she also dates women and er. The books do take the smart-assed urban fantasy to the extreme with a foul-mouthed not-a-very-good-person main character. I’d say read the sample of the first book and what you see there is what you’re gonna get for 5 books.

    Ingray in Provenience dates other women.

    If you like Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, she has a couple peices of related short-fiction Romancing the Inventor (Lesbian) and Romancing the Werewolf (gay), both focusing more on romance than the steampunk aspects and both being only okay reads.

    And *shifty eyes* there is always more Kirk/Spock fanfic to read.

    Posting from 2018 where people are so anti-LGBT that they can’t even buy cake. Would someone please send a time-pod?

  29. I know it’s just a typo (autocorrecto?), but “gleefully sexually harassing other panelists – BY HIS OWN OMISSION” opens up a whole world of speculation.

  30. @ Rev. Bob:

    Questionable Content> is one of my “binge-read last week’s, once a week” list. I guess reading it daily would work, too, but I find that it woks better for me in a slightly more batched format. If nothing else, I only get “aw, nothing new” once a week,m instead of daily.

    There’s also a female AI with a… thing… for bread. I guess that falls under the aegis of QUILTBAG, though.

  31. This recent Wondermark is a delight re: arguing Whether a $MEDIA is Good.

    Highly recommended, and I suspect I’ll be linking to it frequently (and probably most of those times as a reminder to myself….)

  32. [16] Charlotte’s been treated abominably by the Dragoncon organisers. I’ll ask her if she’s willing to have her statement that was on her track’s facebook page shared here.

  33. Meredith Moment and Month: Lev A.C. Rosen’s Depth, a noir mystery set in a partially-sunken NYC, is 99¢ at the moment. On the Star Trek front, the seven novels about Picard’s time commanding the Stargazer are 99¢ each all month long.

    And now for something completely different. Fans of Sarah Gailey may want to skip to about the thirteen-minute mark in the video below, which is the last half of the most recent episode of John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight,” for a PSA on a very important subject. (The whole video is worth seeing in a general “people in the US need to know this is going on” sense, but the PSA is specifically relevant here.) NSFW due to language.

  34. Rev. Bob: Lev A.C. Rosen’s Depth, a noir mystery set in a partially-sunken NYC, is 99¢ at the moment.

    It’s been almost 3 years since I read it, but I remember that I really enjoyed this book; I thought it was very well done. (checks) I gave it 4 stars.

  35. Seconding the recommendations of Lurkertype for In Other Lands (my favorite book of last year, actually) and the entire Swordspoint/Riverside series of books. Sooo good.

    As for ConCarolinas, welp, there are enough Cons these days that at least a few of them were bound to be stupid.

  36. Re Questionable Content
    Also, the creator recently got so annoyed with people giving him adverse feedback about ‘too many gay relationships’ etc that he declared it canon that all characters are bi.

  37. 3) Too rich for my blood…but what a map!

    8) Someone who had reported JDA for harassment shared that with me.

    12) Recently saw WANTED (Netflix thought I might like it). Uh, yeah, I did not…

    16 RE: Concarolinas. I’ve never been tempted to go, and now definitely would not go.

    LGBT fiction. Gail Carriger was asking for recs lately (and this was before the odious Cake decision).
    I offered up The Lost Sun by KD Edwards is coming out soon, and I liked it. Atlanteans on what was Nantucket Island in a urban fantasy, high magic and intrigue, and a LGBT protagonist. Comes out in a couple of weeks.

  38. @George Phillies: So, how many of the rest of the club lost games to the gurl because they were paying more attention to her boobs than to the game?

  39. Seconding/thirding/fourthing the recommendation for Swordspoint. I’ll add Lynn Flewelling’s Nightstalker books (beginning with Luck in the Shadows) and also her Tamir Triad (beginning with The Bone Doll’s Twin).

  40. …, the young lady whose feminist protest included a Yule Brynner haircut

    INCONCIEVABLE! How you must have suffered, you poor dear.

  42. Other genre interest, if one likes video games.

    Life is Strange is hella gay and while not currently on sale but does often drop into the sub $10 rnage often. Genre interest: Fantastical elements, time travel

    The prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm, also hella gay. Genre Interest: Not as much as the first game but Chloe is a Bladerunner fangirl with a crush on Pris.

    Analoge: A Hate Story and the sequel Hate Plus both contain a fair amount of gay content and let you play as a lesbian if you choose that route. Genre interest: Far future space story/visual novels

  43. I’ll second Swordspoint as having delectable amounts of men making kissy face. Also swordfighting which is a nice bonus.

    How much is “delectable”? I have a low tolerance for kissy face, gay, straight or other. Swordspoint was on my “read someday” list, but if it’s all kissy face I’m voting it off the mountain. (I am totally in for sword fighting, though.)

  44. Delectable is enough to make me grin and not enough to annoy me, hence completely subjective. There’s uh, you can get the sample chapters from amazon. Might be too much kissy-face for you.

    Hopefully some others will chime in?

    And where’s my time-pod? Do you people not like me or something? Set it for Jun 5, 2018 Gregorian, do not use the Cthulhulian calander and aim for Lake Michigan. I’ll watch for the splash.

  45. @Nancy Sauer

    It’s been a long time since I read Swordspoint but I don’t remember THAT much kissy face. I preferred The Privilege of the Sword myself ( same series, works as a standalone). It might work as a Tremontaine entry point. Different viewpoint character (from the next generation) and less sexual content of any kind. I read them out of of order and it’s actually the first I read in the series.

  46. My memory of Swordspoint is that there are a number of instances of kissy-face, but none of them are described in great detail.

    Very old-school, but the Titan, Wizard, and Demon series by John Varley includes both a bisexual protagonist and a space colony of lesbian witches. Mind you, I haven’t reread to see where the Suck Fairy has been, and I’m sure she has paid a visit…

  47. Just finished ” The Female Man” by Joanna Russ. Anyone who thinks books nowadays have too much politics should read this to recalibrate their expectations. About halfway through I lost track of what was happening in the story and decided it didn’t matter, its all about the political commentary anyway.
    Overall, reading this book was encouraging. Clearly, there has been progress since the 60s even if equality has not been achieved.

  48. LGBTQ SF: Burning Bright by Melissa Scott is a great SF thriller whose characters just happen to be bi or gay. From my impression (cis white male here), this book takes rainbow sexuality as a given. There is sex but it doesn’t feel like a romance. I recommend the book highly.

  49. @Iphinome
    And *shifty eyes* there is always more
    Among other combinations, some of which get into threesomes (and poly isn’t ruled out). Some of the fanfic is quite good.

  50. Nancy Sauer on June 5, 2018 at 5:21 am said:

    How much is “delectable”? I have a low tolerance for kissy face, gay, straight or other. Swordspoint was on my “read someday” list, but if it’s all kissy face I’m voting it off the mountain. (I am totally in for sword fighting, though.)

    Much less than K. J. Charles’s m/m fantasy books; but more than Heather Rose Jones’s f/f Alpennia books. KJ’s books are very hot. I have to skim those bits (totally worth it for the writing. Wow.) Heather’s books are very low heat. (I don’t have to skim anything and so get to read all the WOW writing.) Added bonus, Heather’s first book, Daughter of Mystery, is full of swords.

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