(1) THE LEMONADE IS READY. Rachel Swirsky’s Patreon donors are enjoying the squozen fruits of victory.
I have released "If You Were a Butt, My Butt," which turned out to be a spy-hunting story on the Orient Express!
— Rachel Swirsky (@rachelswirsky) June 21, 2016
One of those donors tells me the story has two Chapter Fives.
(2) AXANAR TEASERS. Space.com ran an exclusive story, “Trailer for ‘Star Trek: Axanar’ Unveiled Amid Lawsuit”, about the filmmaker’s unexpected decision:
A second teaser trailer for a fan-made “Star Trek” movie was released this week, despite an ongoing lawsuit over the film.
The new teaser trailer for “Star Trek: Axanar” was released by the filmmakers yesterday (June 22). Called “Honor Through Victory,” the trailer shows Klingon ships flying through a planetary ring system and features an intense voice-over that sounds like a prebattle pep talk. This is the second of three teaser trailers set to be released this week. The first, titled “Stands United,” also appeared online yesterday. The “Honor Through Victory” teaser trailer was shared exclusively with Space.com.
(3) VINTAGE TV. Echo Ishii is tracking down antique sf shows in “SF Obscure: The wishlist Roundup” for Smart Girls Love Sci-Fi Romance.
Since it’s summer once again, it’s time to I hunt down the really obscure classics or try to sample B/C list shows and see how many episodes I can survive. This time around I decided to make a list of those shows which I have not seen, but added to my wishlist. Most are only on limited DVD runs. Based on cloudy memories jarred by the vast world of YouTube, I tracked down a stray episodes, or a set of clips, or an old commercial to remind me of their existence. Here are a select few.
The post discusses Mercy Point, Birds of Prey, Starhunter, and Space Rangers.
(4) JIM CARREY TURNS TO HORROR. Variety reports “Jim Carrey, Eli Roth Team on Horror Film ‘Aleister Arcane’”.
Jim Carrey will star in and executive produce while Eli Roth directs the long-in-development horror movie “Aleister Arcane” for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
“Aleister Aracane,” written by Steven Niles, was first published in 2004 by IDW Comics. Jon Croker will adapt for the screen.
Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce along with Michael Aguilar.
The story centers on a group of children who befriend a bitter old man ruined and shunned by their parents. After his death, only they have the power to thwart the curse he has laid upon their town.
(5) TODAY IN HISTORY
- June 23, 1976 – Logan’s Run (the movie) was released.
- June 23, 1989 — Tim Burton’s noir spin on the well-known story of the DC Comics hero Batman is released in theaters.
- June 23, 2016 – Today is National Pink Flamingo Day.
(6) FIRST PAST THE POST. Rachel Neumeier tells how she surprised herself in “Hugo Voting: at last, the novels”:
Okay, now, listen. I went in knowing, just *knowing* that I was either going to put Ancillary Mercy or Uprooted in the top spot, the other one second. I hadn’t read the other three nominees at the time. I was happy to try The Fifth Season, unhappy about being forced to try Seveneves, and okay if not enthusiastic with trying The Aeronaut’s Windlass.
That’s how I started out.
I have seldom been more surprised in my life as to find myself putting Seveneves in the top spot….
I guess I’d better read it after all. 😉
(7) PUPPY CHOW. Lisa Goldstein continues her reviews of Hugo nominated work with “Short Story: ‘If You Were an Award, My Love’”. About the review she promises: “It’s a bit intemperate.”
“If You Were an Award, My Love” is not so much a story as a group of schoolkids drawing dirty pictures in their textbooks and snickering.
(8) JUSTICE IS NOT BLIND. Joe Sherry continues his series at Nerds of a Feather with “Reading the Hugos: Short Story”, in which No Award does not finish last….
While I am clearly not blind to the controversy surrounding this year’s Hugo Awards (nor is The G, for that matter), I have mostly chosen to cover each category on the relative subjective merits of the nominated works. I understand that this is something that not everyone can or will choose to do, but it is the way that I have elected to engage with the Hugo Awards. While the result of the Hugo Awards short list is not significantly different in regards to the Rabid Puppies straight up dominating most of the categories / finalists with their slate, the difference is that this year they have selected to bulk nominate a group that includes more works that might have otherwise had a reasonable chance of making the ballot and also that meets my subjective definition of “quality”. That slate from the Rabid Puppies also includes a number of works that come across as little more than an extended middle finger to the people who care about the Hugo Awards. Feel free to argue with any or all of my opinions here.
(9) FEELING COLD. Not that Kate Paulk liked any of these Hugo nominees, but in her pass through the Best Semiprozine category she delivered the least condemnation to Sci Phi Journal:
Sci Phi Journal edited by Jason Rennie – Sci Phi was the only finalist with any content that drew me in, and honestly, not all of it. I could have done without the philosophical questions at the end of each fiction piece, although that is the journal’s signature, so I guess it’s required. I’d rather ponder the questions the stories in questions raised without the explicit pointers – although I will say they weren’t as heavy-handed as they could have been, and they did highlight the issues quite well. I’m just fussy, I guess.
(10) AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL GRAPHIC NOVEL. Paul Dini signs at Vromans Bookstore in Pasadena on Friday, June 24 at 7:00.
This is a Batman story like no other the harrowing and eloquent autobiographical tale of writer Paul Dini’s courageous struggle to overcome a desperate situation.
The Caped Crusader has been the all-abiding icon of justice and authority for generations. But in this surprising original graphic novel, we see Batman in a new light as the savior who helps a discouraged man recover from a brutal attack that left him unable to face the world. In the 1990s, legendary writer Paul Dini had a flourishing career writing the hugely popular “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Tiny Toon Adventures.” Walking home one evening, he was jumped and viciously beaten within an inch of his life. His recovery process was arduous, hampered by the imagined antics of the villains he was writing for television including the Joker, Harley Quinn and the Penguin. But despite how bleak his circumstances were, or perhaps because of it, Dini also always imagined the Batman at his side, chivvying him along during his darkest moments. A gripping graphic memoir of one writer’s traumatic experience and his deep connection with his creative material, Dark Night: A True Batman Story is an original graphic novel that will resonate profoundly with fans. Art by the incredible and talented Eduardo Risso…
(11) WORLD FANTASY AWARD WINNER. Jesse Hudson reviews Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria at Speculiction.
If it isn’t obvious, A Stranger in Olondria is one of those novels where the road beneath the feet only reveals itself after the reader has taken the step—what the foot lands so rich and engaging as to compel the next step. The novel a journey of discovery, there are elements of Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle as much as Ursula Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan. A coming of age via a very personal quest, Samatar unleashes all her skill as a storyteller in relating Jevick’s tale.
But the novel’s heart is nicely summed up by Amel El-Mohtar: it is about the human “vulnerability to language and literature, and the simultaneous experience of power and surrender inherent in the acts of writing and reading.”
[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day LunarG.]
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::ticky::
One, Two! One, Two!
And through and through
The vorpal blade went
Tickybox
::three is the magic number::
::godstalk::
Going Fourth into this thread!
Accidental fifth?
Oh, also Readercon is coming up Real Soon Now and if you’re in the Boston area you should consider coming. If only for the GOH slate – Tim Powers and Cat Valente (!). If you’re a nitty-gritty fan who likes crunch deep thinking panels, or a fan who wants to turn pro, there’s a lot here for you. It’s the sort of con you leave smarter than when you came in.
There will be plenty of livetweeting I’m sure.
“If You Were an Award, My Love” as fan fiction? Oh, I like the concept.
Fifth?…dangit.
(6) FIRST PAST THE POST. Rachel Neumeier tells how she surprised herself in “Hugo Voting: at last, the novels”
My Hugo reviews (posting soon) put Seveneves at the top of the choices, too. I have some questions about why humanity would set up a space habitat like this instead of making a run for solid ground on Mars, but the novel is definitely an outstanding effort.
(6) I cannot take any opinion seriously that calls the characters in Seveneves “well drawn”.
(3) I’ve got the entire 13-episode season of Birds of Prey on DVD, and I just scored the complete and only season of Total Recall: 2070. (Don’t ask what I paid for it.) I picked up the complete Adventures of Brisco County Jr. at, of all places, Walmart.
As far as a really obscure SF series goes, I’m surprised the article didn’t include V.R. 5…
double fifth stalk
Just zooming through to say that I am completely blown away by Rachel Caine’s _Ink and Bone_ (first in Great Library series–premise of world is that the Great Library at Alexandria was never destroyed and what happened after–the present of the novel is 2025, and it’s downright dystopian but with the hints that the main characters of the novel will be trying to work to change it). Thank goodness the next one (_Paper and Fire_ ) comes out soon (July 5).
Shatter the scourge of Klingon aggression like a wave?
Axanar: To boldly mix metaphors that no one has mixed before!
I remember watching the premier and perhaps a few subsequent episodes. My first reaction was “Sector General” has been made into a bad tv series.
@ Emma – I’m no sure I’d go as far as “drawn” to describe the characters in Seveneves…
(6) Spoileriffic comment on The Fifth Season:
Va ergebfcrpg, gung fprar jurer Rffha xvyyf gur gbjafcrbcyr naq qrfgeblf gur gbja vf n ovt pyhr gb ubj bebtrarf ner genvarq naq hfrq. Gurl’er abg fbyqvref, gurl’er jrncbaf. Ure ubeevsvp ernpgvba gb gur nggnpx jnf nyzbfg nhgbzngvp, naq vvep rira gura fur fgbccrq urefrys sebz hfvat nyy gur raretl fur’q qenja va gur qrfgehpgvir jnl fur jnf genvarq.
Dang, loved that book. Need to read me more Jemisin.
Clicky.
Emma: (6) I cannot take any opinion seriously that calls the characters in Seveneves “well drawn”.
Yeah, I’ve loved other Stephenson novels, and I wanted very much to love Seveneves — but between the poor characterization, the gaping plot problems, and the relentless infodumping, I just couldn’t.
It’s going above The Aeronaut’s Windlass on my ballot, because it at least fails while daring greatly, but it still fails. 😐
Any trigger warnings for Seveneves? One of the few things I still need to read to finish off my Hugo voting. I’ve had a couple things trigger my PTSD over the last couple weeks and am trying to avoiding books with of my major issues: abuse, suicide, torture, fridging, loads of graphic violence…
I upoloaded The Fifth Season to my ipod to listen to it, but then I read the reviews on Goodreads. It sounds relentlessly grim and depressing. IOW, not something I care to read. Is there any humor, any glimmer of hope in the story? Are the characters people I can care about? The reviews suggest they are unlikable.
You Oughtta Be in Pixels.
Is there any humor, any glimmer of hope in the story?
Yes – part of what drives the plot is the love the central character has for her children. It isn’t a nice society, though. (There are signs of things like Omelas.)
Welp. Brexit it is I see.
Time to buy some pounds once the City starts panicking!
The characters are quite well drawn I thought – just not shaded or coloured in or made to look three-dimensional.
Camestros Felapton: The characters are quite well drawn I thought – just not shaded or coloured in or made to look three-dimensional.
*snort*
Yes, it jolted me at the time (early in the book) but it increasingly made sense. I don’t fault Neumeier for not continuing (that’s the reader’s prerogative) but I think she missed out.
Today’s Meredith Moment:
The first book in Katherine Kurtz’ Deryni / Heirs of Camber series is on sale for FREE today, but it looks as though only for 2-3 hours more. (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google, Apple).
I found I very deeply cared about several characters including Essun. However, it is not a happy book but it is not a book wallowing in self-pity either. Better described as an angry book rather than a sad book.
Suicide, cannibalism, painful deaths, starvation and of course, end of the world stuff (so many many people dying) but mainly ‘off screen’ so to speak. Substantially fewer issues than The Fifth Season though.
Walter Jon Williams’ Voice of the Whirlwind is on sale for 99 cents. Description and links to all the usual sources in this post at the author’s blog.
I remember reading this when it was new and being very entertained. Fun cyberpunky action stuff (naturally – it was the late 80s). I don’t think I’ve read it since but I have never seen any evidence that the Suck Fairy knows where WJW lives.
I upoloaded The Fifth Season to my ipod to listen to it, but then I read the reviews on Goodreads. It sounds relentlessly grim and depressing.
Checking at Goodreads and Amazon, it looks like there are wide swings of opinion. Most reviews are glowing. It’s probably best to give it a try and form your own opinion.
@Ita:
Humour? Hope? Not as much. The book begins with a man choosing to end the world, and the rest of the book fleshes out that choice. I’m not sure how likeable the characters are, but I did care about them. I could sympathize/empathize even when I disliked or disagreed with them.
YMMV, of course. Many many unpleasant things happen in the story and it is a pretty bleak world.
Ita: The characters and their developing relationships were one of the pluses of The Fifth Season to me. If there’s any hope, though, the author is holding it back for a later volume…
(9) FEELING COLD
Paulk claims she found the other nominees besides SciPhi “indistinguishable”, which frankly makes me croggle. I can see a colourable argument that Strange Horizons and Uncanny tread similar ground, but she can’t see a difference between their style of content and Daily SF and Beyond Ceaseless Skies?
(6) FIRST PAST THE POST
I’ve been putting off reading Seveneves, because I tend to either love or ugh Stephenson books and the reviews keep suggesting this will fall on my ugh side, but this gives me some hope.
Mark: I can see a colourable argument that Strange Horizons and Uncanny tread similar ground, but [Paulk] can’t see a difference between their style of content and Daily SF and Beyond Ceaseless Skies?
My take on it is that she read about as much of those Hugo nominees as she did of Ancillary Justice — i.e., a percentage closely approaching zero.
The alternative is that she’s such a poor reader that she’s not able to distinguish the difference and the quality in anything she reads, which is…
… okay, I’ll buy that as a
possibleprobable explanation, too.Thanks for the mention!
@Bonnie McDaniel: VR5…I actually had that in my notes and left it off. David Mccallum. And Total Recall 2070 I covered in an earlier post.
Timothy the Talking Cat for PM!
Honestly don’t think it could be any worse…
Oh, Brexit… Britain is both literally and figuratively poorer following this.
@snowcrash: I’m betting a few people made a lot of money shorting the £ last night. If only all my money wasn’t in £…. my bet might be worth something.
Edit
@IanP: Hey, can the North come and hang out with Scotland when you vote to leave the UK?
I have a Scottish great-grandmother. Do you think that’s enough to qualify me for citizenship? Because I don’t think the rump state of Independent England is going to be a very nice place to live….
RE: Brexit. Oy vey.
RE: Fifth Season. I concur with many above. Not a happy book, and if I was in one of my down depressive cycles, definitely not the book I should be personally reading. Fortunately I read it when I was on an even keel and so was able to absorb the book’s bleak tone (Starting WITH the apocalypse, and not getting happier from there) with equanimity.
@Oneiros
Actually looks like London and Scotland (and NI) were the main Remain voters. Strange bedfellows…
The problem for IndyRef2 remains the currency. Keep the pound now it’s sinking faster than Teddy’s armchair military credentials? Set up our own with the oil price still bumping along the bottom?
All a bit of a mess really.
@Mark,
if you call it propaganda, it makes perfect sense
@Steve Wright
We’ve always followed the Great-Granny rule for the football team, how’re your ball control skills?
Unfortunately this has allowed Trump to wrap himself in tartan in the past too.
On Brexit: Trump. Nationalism (or whatever you want to call fascism-lite) & etc., together seem to strongly indicate that the end of the old world order is going to be a long, drawn out, violent and expensive affair rather than a slow, silent withering.
Looked at another way: We’re working off the Brunner future history playbook and not the RAH one.
Brexit’s effects on world markets has already hurt my family deeply, as it will, I fear, anyone on a fixed income who has a large portion of their savings in the markets.
I haven’t read Voice of the Whirlwind in a long time. I was actually rather underwhelmed with it when I first read it—but only in comparison to Williams’ other works. Williams at his worst is still entertaining, and at his best, he’s amazing.
I may also have been a bit overdosed on cyberpunk at the time, which may have affected my views. I really should give it another shot.
@IanP: Yeah, I’m stunned that a region that clearly depends on non-British companies for a not-insignificant % of its jobs would vote leave in such numbers.
Nevermind that, far from taking away from the NHS etc, the EU actually helps prop it up with people drafted in from other EU countries, while Tory axes chop it all to bits.
Well done guys, for making sure the Tories have even less regulation when they want to dismantle all the good things about Britain.
I’m going back to Thailand.
Me, I’m still for a Swexit. Have been since when we entered. Haven’t been more happy with EU since it dragged us into the Afghanistan war, thus breaking our record 200 years of peace.
Regarding Hugo reading I need to load the packet on my Kindle very soon–I’ll be doing some cross-country driving and hopefully can get some reading in when it’s not my shift to drive.
Regarding Paulk, well she’s a Puppy; she favors the Puppy finalist; film at 11. It was just a question of how she would rationalize it, and by now she’s just phoning it in.
Regarding Brexit, oh damn. I was really hoping…
She’s been phoning it in for months now, at least that’s been my impression ever since SPIV got off to a lacklustre start.
@Camestros Felapton Suicide, cannibalism, painful deaths, starvation and of course, end of the world stuff (so many many people dying) but mainly ‘off screen’ so to speak. Substantially fewer issues than The Fifth Season though.
Thanks, I’ll skip it for now. Hopefully I’ll be in better shape in a few weeks.
The Fifth Season was a difficult read for me. Jemisin is a brilliant writer but her books are brutal. I keep saying I’m not going to read anymore but find myself pulled in by friends reviews and discussions. I know what to expect when I’m reading her books and make sure I’m in a good place with self-care built-in.
I love The Fifth Season, but it is brutal. I’ve been telling people that, in that sense, I compare it to books like Beloved. If they can handle that or similar books, they should be okay reading it. If not, they might want to pass it by or wait until they feel they can read it. It is very much a fictionalized slave narrative, and as such does contain brutality.