(1) BUM OF THE MONTH CLUB. The time is ripe for “The Official Pornokitsch Taxonomy of Villains”.
So we’ve been at this Villain of the Month thing for a while now — since August 2016, to be precise — and by this point we’ve accumulated an interesting roster of villains….
First up, we have the True Believer (the Operative, Dolores Umbridge). True Believers have a cause to which they are faithfully devoted. That’s not to say they lack other ambitions — wealth, for example, or glory — but those take a back seat to one all-important ideological goal. For the Operative, that goal is creating “a world without sin”. For Umbridge, it’s a fascist regime ruled by the Ministry of Magic. Villains who obsequiously serve a Dark Lord (e.g. Bellatrix Lestrange) or fight to preserve the existing order (e.g. Agent Smith) would also fall into this category. For me, the most interesting True Believers are those fighting for a cause the audience could nominally get behind (e.g. the aforementioned world without sin), but whose methods are beyond the pale….
(2) MISSING THE APOCALYPSE. “Yeah, why DON’T authors deal with climate change??? <rolleyes>,” wrote JJ after seeing Tobias Buckell, Daniel Abraham and some other sff authors on Twitter get a little peeved because Publishers Weekly touted an article by Siddhartha Deb in The Baffler that said only nonfiction writers seemed to be dealing with it.
Such are the absurdities of the fossil-fuel lifestyle we are locked into globally, folly piling upon folly, the latest among them the decision by the United States to pull out of a Paris Climate Agreement that itself is like a band-aid applied to an earthquake. (Its target is to limit the global rise in temperature to between 1.5 and 2 degrees centigrade but, since it comes into effect only in 2020, it is seen by many critics as putting such a target beyond reach.) Yet in spite of all the evidence of the destruction visited upon the world by our resource-heavy appetites, accompanied by a gnawing recognition that something is fundamentally wrong in our relationship with the Earth and in the way we live, and all the cumulative knowledge about climate change and the irreplicable characteristics of an era that some have named the Anthropocene, the end result is still a kind of imaginative fatigue.
This makes itself evident in the paucity of fiction devoted to the carbon economy, something the Brooklyn-based Indian writer Amitav Ghosh addresses in his marvelous recent book, The Great Derangement, writing, “When the subject of climate change occurs . . . it is almost always in relation to nonfiction; novels and short stories are very rarely to be glimpsed within this horizon.”
(3) FAUX POP CULTURE. The Book Smugglers reminds all that Yoon Ha Lee’s Raven Stratagem comes out next week with this guest post from the author, “You Were Watching What on TV, Cheris?”
One of the most entertaining things I’ve gotten to do in the background worldbuilding for the hexarchate is its popular culture. For example, in Ninefox Gambit, my heroine Cheris spends her free time watching crackalicious TV shows (“dramas”). In Raven Stratagem, one of the Kel recalls a classmate who used to read trashy adventures involving “dungeon-crawling” in the bowels of the campus. And it also reveals that Jedao’s mom used to like reading equally trashy sci-fi novels involving survivalists and tentacled monsters from outer space. Just because she’s a science fantasy character doesn’t mean she can’t like sci-fi, right?
(4) INDIGENOUS VOICES. Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Robin Parker have succeeded in creating the Emerging Indigenous Voices Awards, which is now hosted by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association. And the ILSA has announced the award judges. (No excerpt, because the news item is one big image file — not text!) ILSA has set a funding target of $150,000 to”make the award sustainable for many years to come.” As of this writing, the Indiegogo appeal has raised $109,298 (Canadian). [H/T to Earl Grey Editing.]
(5) TIPTREE FELLOWSHIP REPORTS. The two 2016 Tiptree Fellowship winners have reported on how their work has been facilitated by the fellowships. [H/T to Earl Grey Editing.]
First on Porpentine Charity Heartscape’s list:
Here’s what I’ve been up to since I got the Tiptree fellowship. I made Miniskirt World Network: Business Slut Online, a video/music hypertext about a femme vaporwave world where fashion is a basic computer peripheral. I wanted to evoke the contradictory tensions of feminine-coded clothing and the weird emotional textures that come with it.
Mia Sereno (Likhain) explains:
I cannot separate my being Filipino, of the Philippines, from my being a woman; they are inextricably intertwined. Thanks to the Tiptree Fellowship I was able to examine this intertwining more closely through my art. Life has not been easy this past year and between trying to keep my household afloat and taking care of my own health, I’ve had less time than I would have liked to work on my art series built around the concept of Filipinas as monsters, monstrosity reclaimed and embraced. Still, I’d like to share with you some work-in-progress pencils and concept sketches featuring both high fantasy settings and the supernatural as the second skin of our everyday.
(6) THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND. The Wombat Conservancy, Winery, and Writer’s Retreat — a hilarious conversation on Twitter.
I don't think I can Kickstart "buy me 200 acres of woods so I can just not do anything to it for years!"
— Kingfisher & Wombat (@UrsulaV) June 7, 2017
To reach the beginning, JJ advises, “You have to keep scrolling up until you get to the top (land for sale listings).”
(7) RARE POWER. ScreenRant tells you what they think is the “Wonder Woman Movie’s Most Important Scene”. But I will excerpt a less spoilery part of the article.
By now most superhero fans with an eye for gender representation will have noticed a discrepancy between males and females with superpowers in comic movies, fantasy, science fiction, etc., etc.. Where the men either immediately or eventually see their superpowers as a gift, and the testing and mastery of the powers as a thrilling ‘coming of age’ story (or montage), women face a different road ahead. Often, the surfacing of a latent or new superpower is treated as an illness: something to hide, remove, control, or at the very least suspect as a problem to be solved (no matter how cool those superpowers may be). For every ‘Professor X’ there is a Jean Grey, for every Flash there is a Killer Frost, for every super-fast Quicksilver, there is a mentally-traumatized Scarlet ‘Witch.’
It’s a gender difference that means men will typically exert power by hitting things, while women are given powers rendering them unpredictable, mentally unstable, or simply tied to forces from an ‘unknown, mystical, potentially harmful’ source. But with Wonder Woman, Diana’s discovery of her ability to punch straight through stone is treated as the world-altering, empowering, and thrilling gift the viewers would take it to be. After smashing her hand through the stone in a frantic fall, Diana deduces that she is stronger than any Amazon before her
(8) NEBULA SHOWCASE. Don’t forget the Nebula Awards Showcase 2017 edited by Julie Czerneda.
The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories of the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). This year’s editor, selected by SFWA’s anthology Committee (chaired by Mike Resnick), is Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer and editor Julie Czerneda. This year’s Nebula Award winners are Naomi Novik, Nnedi Okorafor, Sarah Pinsker, and Alyssa Wong, with Fran Wilde winning the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book. Also included in this volume are works by N. K. Jemisin and Ann Leckie.
(9) ON THE ROAD. I laughed.
They have a point @DashStarWars pic.twitter.com/jbx5roWcdG
— Bryan (@Kaelten) August 23, 2016
(10) TODAY IN HISTORY REDUX
- June 8, 1949 — George Orwell published his most significant book, 1984. (You may be pardoned for thinking there’s an echo around here.)
- June 8, 1984 — Ghostbusters is released in theaters across the United States.
(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- June 8, 1910 — John W. Campbell, Jr
(12) BRYANT MEMORIAL. George R.R. Martin tells about attending the memorial service for Ed Bryant in “Saying Farewell”.
Ed was a talented writer and a great workshopper, who mentored and encouraged many writers younger than himself and helped them on their way. He was one of my Wild Cards authors, creator of Sewer Jack and Wyungare. But most of all he was a sweet, kind man, with a warm smile and a gentle wit. Science fiction and fantasy will be poorer without him. Memorials like this are not for the deceased so much as they are for those left behind, I believe. It was good to get together with so many others who cared about Ed, and to share our memories of him, with laughter and love.
(13) TURNABOUT. Queen Idia’s Africa: Ten Short Stories by Cordelia Salter was released May 11.
Africa is rich and the West is poor. That’s the setting for Queen Idia’s Africa: Ten Short Stories by Cordelia Salter with a foreword by Zeinab Badawi.
This is a world where slavery and colonialism never happened and Africa is the rich global superpower.
The West is mired in poverty, politically unstable and relies on aid from Africa. Zeinab Badawi, Chair of the Royal African Society, points out in the foreword that the stories make us think what things could have been like if the boot had been on the other foot.
What would Africa do about swarms of illegal European migrants trying to get to Africa in search of a better life? How would Africa respond to droughts, famines and rebel warfare in North America? Could there have been apartheid the other way round?
(14) SHE, THE JURY. Naomi Alderman, whose sf novel The Power just won the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction, has been added to the jury for the The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.
Alderman will be one of five judges, chaired by award-winning writer and television presenter, palaeontologist and Royal Society Fellow, Richard Fortey. They are joined by: writer and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind, Claudia Hammond, Channel 4’s Topical Specialist Factual Commissioner, Shaminder Nahal and former Royal Society University Research Fellow, Sam Gilbert.
The Prize has worked with many eminent judges over its illustrious 30-year history, among them Ian McEwan, Sarah Waters, Terry Pratchett, David Attenborough, Tracy Chevalier and Michael Frayn.
The Prize celebrates outstanding popular science books from around the world and is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience. Over the decades, it has championed writers such as Stephen Hawking, Jared Diamond, Stephen Jay Gould and Bill Bryson.
Naomi Alderman commented: “It’s a terrible shame that arts and sciences are so often seen as mutually opposed, and that there’s so little understanding of what makes great work in ‘the other’ culture. So many of the most urgent problems that face us today can only be solved by thinking in an interdisciplinary way. That’s why I’m particularly thrilled to be a judge of this Prize, where we’ll be looking both for great science and excellent writing and storytelling. There’s no reason that a science book can’t be a bloody good read, and I can’t wait to get stuck in, and to discuss the best new science writing with the other judges.”
(15) ILLEGAL ESPIONAGE. In Section 31: Control, frequent Star Trek novelist David Mack takes on Starfleet’s secretive, rogue agency. Dr. Bashir, as he was in Deep Space Nine episodes involving Section 31, is the chief protagonist.
No law…no conscience…no mercy. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, and answering to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group pledged to defend the Federation at any cost.
The discovery of a two-hundred-year-old secret gives Doctor Julian Bashir his best chance yet to expose and destroy the illegal spy organization. But his foes won’t go down without a fight, and his mission to protect the Federation he loves just end up triggering its destruction.
Only one thing is for certain: this time, the price of victory will be paid with Bashir’s dearest blood.
(16) TOASTY. A “heat battery” in use in real world: “From hand-warmer to house-warmer for tech firm”.
It took a creative leap to take the idea further: could you scale up the phase change process so a hand-warmer became a house-warmer?
Several big corporations – over several decades – tried to make it happen but each time the research petered out.
Now an East Lothian company with fewer than 30 employees has succeeded.
The equipment Sunamp have developed at their base in Macmerry has already been installed in 650 Scottish homes, providing heat and hot water for about half the cost of gas.
(17) HAWKING MEDAL. Space.com reports “Neil deGrasse Tyson Becomes 1st American to Receive Stephen Hawking Medal”.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson received the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication Tuesday (June 6), becoming the first American scientist to earn the prestigious award.
Tyson, who refers to himself as “your personal astrophysicist,” is most known for his television series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” and podcast-turned-television-series “StarTalk.” He is the director for the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City, where Tuesday’s announcement was made.
The Stephen Hawking Medal is an annual award created in association with the Starmus Festival, an international gathering celebrating science and art that will take place in Trondheim, Norway, on June 18-23 this year. Medals are given to science communicators in three categories: writers, musicians and artists, and people in the film and entertainment industry. Hawking, a famous theoretical physicist and author of several best-selling books about the universe, handpicks the recipients himself. [The Most Famous Astronomers of All Time]
(18) WHEN MEN WERE MEN AND DINOS WERE FROGS. Looking for a Father’s Day present? How about this “ORIGINAL JURASSIC PARK Screenplay SPECIAL Copy”, asking price (reduced 30%!) now $2,450 on eBay.
[JURASSIC PARK – THE FILM]. CRICHTON, MICHAEL, DAVID KOEPP. Original Limited and Numbered Confidential Shooting Script for the Film ‘Jurassic Park’ by David Koep. Based on the Novel by Michael Crichton and on Adaptations by Michael Crichton and Malia Scotch Marmo. Los Angeles: Amblin Entertainment, 1992. Original limited and numbered copy of a 126 page shooting script with color rewrite pages for the film ‘Jurassic Park’ by David Koep, based on the novel by Michael Crichton and on adaptations by Michael Crichton and Malia Scotch Marmo. A special printed page at the beginning reads: “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – You are a part of a very limited distribution. This numbered copy of JURASSIC PARK has been assigned to you and is for your eyes only.” next to which “JP” and “64” are stamped in red and throughout the script. This copy belonged to the film’s safety coordinator
(19) MARKET OVERVIEW. David Steffen’s “SFWA Market Report for June” at the SFWA Blog includes these opening markets.
OPENING MARKETS
(20) NOT THAT ANYONE WOULD REMEMBER. Chris Chan continues his Orwellian remaking of recent fanhistory in “‘No Award’: The Hugo Awards, Sad Puppies, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature — Part Two: A Short History of the Sad Puppies at the Hugos” at Nerd HQ.
The results of the 2015 experiment were dramatic and explosive. The recommendations of the Sad Puppies (and also those put forward by the Rabid Puppies) dominated the 2015 Hugo Nominations. John C. Wright received five nominations in three categories (he initially was awarded a sixth slot, but one was revoked on a technicality). The Hugo nominee list changed over the coming weeks. Aside from the aforementioned instance, some nominees chose to decline their nomination (Hugo nominees have this option and can decline for any reason they like — some original nominees did not approve of the Sad or Rabid Puppies and did not wish to have any connection with them, and others objected that they believed that the voting process was being corrupted), and the slots were then filled by the runners-up. Incidentally, Correia’s Monster Hunter Nemesis received enough votes to qualify for a Best Novel nomination, but he turned down the nod to make the point that Sad Puppies was not being organized in order to receive honors for himself.
And yet that’s exactly why Correia started down this road — see the first post in 2013, “How to get Correia nominated for a Hugo. :)”, and the follow-up post that initiated the Sad Puppies theme, “How to get Correia nominated for a Hugo PART 2: A VERY SPECIAL MESSAGE”. There was really nothing noble about it, in the beginning or later.
(21) THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE. Jon Del Arroz, after studying the wildlife in its native habitat, offers his “Behavioral Observations In Science Fiction”.
There’s two groups, the old guard burnout mentality, and the new indie pulp revolution. There’s a bit of a line up along political lines, but not as much as you’d expect, and in fact, that’s used as an excuse a lot of the time to poo poo the new. This is the state of science fiction today. I’ve talked about it briefly before, but here’s a broader look at the experiences I’ve had after engaging with both.
Old Guard
You walk into social media, or a group, or a convention of what I called the “old guard”, they’e hesitant. They’re the type to complain that they’re introverts, having to recharge after social interactions (which is fine to be, but knowing that — why complain so often?). A new person is immediately greeted with a stand-offish attitude, like they have to vet you to make sure you’re “really one of them” or that you have to pay your dues to prove yourself somehow. They’re hyper-political. If you look at their social media posts, 70-90% of them are endless shrieking about politics they don’t like. They keep talking about how they’re too busy for anyone or anything — including the next generation of fans and writers. And this is all before they know that you’re on the “wrongthink” side of politics.
(22) WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM. The Coode Street Podcast will take a couple of breaks this year. The announcement provoked this hilarious exchange.
The Coode Street Podcast will be on hiatus from 1-31 August 2017 and from 15 November 2017 to 15 January 2018.
— Reeling from the year… (@JonathanStrahan) June 8, 2017
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
— Reeling from the year… (@JonathanStrahan) June 8, 2017
The legends of Coode Street will be passed down from generation to generation, and the void known as the hiatus will be mourned.
— Reeling from the year… (@JonathanStrahan) June 8, 2017
You are dead to me.
— Reeling from the year… (@JonathanStrahan) June 8, 2017
(23) ALTERNATE REALITY HUMOR. It might be too late for this to be funny — Loki Runs For President, a video from last November. (Was it funny then? It’s basically somebody talking a mile a minute over scans of a comic book.)
(24) APE CLIP. Two minutes of War for the Planet of the Apes about “Meeting Nova.”
She is the future. Meet Nova in the first clip from #WarForThePlanet and be the first to #WitnessTheEnd on Monday, June 19
[Thanks to JJ, Chip Hitchcock, John King Tarpinian, Earl Grey Editing, and Carl Slaughter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor the day Oneiros.]
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@Andrew M – Hugo-related question: I’ve seen several people saying that the October Daye series picks up in quality with the third book. Is it necessary to read the second in order to understand/appreciate the third?
Not really, no. You might have a bit of trouble with a few missing elements of the narrative, but nothing critical happens.
@John A Arkansawyer, I was already freeking® enjoying the book when the freeking® skiffy angle (beyond the general interstellar milsf stuff) hit. I hadn’t read the freeking® blurb, so it was a complete surprise! Totally freeked® me out.
Niall Mc:
Ahh. Okay, I reach. Maybe it’s time to re-up my sub to PROOFREADERS WEAKLY.
Not sure anyone mentioned this already (Just came back from a holiday with patchy internet and good food), but Dark Helmets helmet is up for auction!!
Theresa May had to stand on a stage in Maidenhead with Lord Buckethead, Bobby Smith in an Elmo costume, and Howling ‘Laud’ Hope of the Monster Raving Loony party who dresses like Boss Hogg.
@Chip Hitchcock:
I liked the way George Pérez explained that in his run on the comic book in the late 1980s, in which he was very scrupulous about keeping to the Greek names of the mythological characters. (Including using Heracles rather than Hercules.) Though it wouldn’t work with the timeline of the movie.
In the Pérez run, Diana was actually named after Diana Trevor, Steve Trevor’s mother, who was one of the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during WWII and who managed to accidentally crash on Themyscira during a flight. Seeing the amazons being attacked by a monster coming out of the gate to the underworld on the island, she pulled out a gun and started shooting at it, distracting it long enough for the rest of the amazons to deal with it.
Diana Trevor eventually succumbed to her injuries, but left her gun on the island (which was later used to train Diana on how to deflect bullets) and the eagle-like logo on the front of Wonder Woman’s costume was in fact based on the WASP wings badge in her honour.
Pérez did a fair bit of work in trying to make a modern (well, 1980s) Wonder Woman reasonably self-consistent. And played her as an ambassador at least as much as a warrior.
BTW, if you’re in the US, the best ebook price for Embedded is at Kobo. I suspect Kobo is selling both US and UK? editions, and the cheaper Osprey edition @$2.99 is probably the UK edition. The Angry Robot edition is $5.49 at Kobo (with price match, $4.50), but $4.99 at Amazon & BN. I’m still trying to finish Too Like The Lightning, so it might be a while before I get around to reading this freeking® book.
There are 10 types of people: Those that read binary and those that dont.
(Yeah, an old one, but could not resist )
Even though half the issues don’t arrive because they typo your address?
@Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag
This is my third year, as well (what a coincidence!), and this year is much different for me than the past two, as well. Regarding your question, I vote based on how I feel right when I vote, then change the order of my votes whenever I happen to be at the voting page and feeling differently about the order than before. Then once voting is over, I try not to second guess myself. But like I said, I’m also very new at this.
Aside from the almost complete lack of premeditated piddle in this year’s offerings, another difference in this year’s reading is that there are works I don’t want to read – generally due to a combination of time constraints and the book not being my thing – that are still interesting and I’m happy to have read. This year’s selection feels more like a roundup of what’s going on in the field than the previous two. I am feeling a little over the re-imagined fairy tale thing, though (despite having voted for or nominated more than one re-imagined fairy tale in the past three years).
I iz heavy metal festival. Much headbanging. Wow! Now Ministry, next Scorpions. Will read scrolls when back. Happy pixeling!
@Andrew M
Not only is #2 not necessary, I’d actively encourage you to skip it. It rather soured me on the much better #3.
@Jack Lint
Lord Buckethead is my new hero.
Mike Glyer
Having half the issues go somewhere else would be a feature more than a bug. The bathroom reading pile is already formidable.
Peer
There is one type of person in the world: the other kind.
@P J Evans
Thanks for the pointer about the Barsoom series. As I’m more of a Kindle Kid, I checked there first. They had the entire series for US$0.99.
@Nigel
**chuckle** Thanks for that.
In my Hugo reading, I finished A Closed & Common Orbit. It is currently in second place to All the Birds in the Sky. The ending was a bit twee for me….among other things.
Now Obelisk Gate has me grinding my teeth. The writing is great. Just on storytelling alone, this ought to easily go in the first position. Thematically, there are a couple of issues that are continuations from the first book. But I’m far enough in that the holes I saw in The Fifth Season are being validated in Obelisk.
As a follow-up on Too Like the Lightning, while it had quite an offputting lecture aspect, I checked out Ms. Palmer’s blog and found a couple of her more scholarly entries to be quite engaging.
Regards,
Dann
erg….the box….it was the tick box!
The originators, as I recall, used both Greek and Roman names as they saw fit – referencing Athena, Aphrodite and Zeus but also Minerva, Mars and Hercules. So they wouldn’t have cared about consistency, just about what sounded good to them and was likely to play well in stories aimed at children.
@Dann — Out of curiosity, which John Carter collection did you get? I think most of the ones on Amazon US are limited to the first five or seven novels; I assume the later ones are still under copyright. At one point I did get a collection that included all 11 Barsoom novels (and it’s still happily residing on my Kindle), but the store page is defunct so I’m guessing it was of … dubious provenance.
(And I’m still upset that the Disney omnibi that came out at the same time as the movie were broken — it looks like when they were assembling them, they removed anything labeled “Foreword” or “Prologue” from the text, so you lost half of the framing stories.
(And I’m also still kind of upset that the Burroughs estate hasn’t released good, editorially sound editions of pretty much his entire catalog, for which I’d happily pay; and at least that way the money wouldn’t all be going to the Gutenberg miners.)
There are three types of people: those who can count, and those who can’t.
@Joe H
I bought this collection of the first seven books.
After your question, I went back and found this collection that includes the first seven books, and the Tarzan series, and a bunch more. But it does not have all eleven Barsoom books. Only $1.99!
A modest advisory. Both links are for the Amazon “Smile” program. Purchases of any eligible products result in a donation to your selected charity. My charity is the VFW National Home for Children.
I think I’ve hawked this before, but it’s a worthwhile venture.
Regards,
Dann
@Dann — Thanks! That second collection is actually tempting — I already have all of the Barsoom & Tarzan in other collections, but that looks like a good way to get a bunch of Burroughs’ other, non-series works.
(Although I’d still rather that the Burroughs estate put out good, authorized editions. And ditto Zelazny, as long as I’m dreaming.)
There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary, those who don’t, and those who realise that the joke is in base 3.
(further iterations are left as an exercise for the reader)
What if the Cars movies are really just sequels to Roger Zelazny’s “Devil Car” short story?
Sorry. They’ve been running a lot of ads for Cars 3.
There are too typos of people: poeple and peopel
@Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag
Did anyone else see this: https://www.someecards.com/news/women/mansplaining-scientist/ ?
About 1:05:30 into the panel, the moderator starts to talk over the only female scientist on the panel, and an audience member shouts “Let her speak please!” and gets massive applause from the audience. It’s a case of “mainsplaining” that the moderator didn’t even seem to be aware of. If you go back a little further, he starts out by explaining her theories to the audience instead of asking her to explain them, which, frankly, really sucks.
The response of the female scientist, Veronika Hubeny:
You may be amazed to hear it, but during this panel session I genuinely did not feel affronted or discriminated by the moderator’s behavior.
(But she did commend the woman who stood up for her.)
@steve davidson: Trufax. The Old Guard were/are just as likely to do some amateur stuff for fun as their writing. I saw Stephen King at Worldcon once, not on any panels or with an entourage — he was just hanging out with the Mrs. being a fan. I’ve got a Star Wars zine that has a good story by Diane Duane, written after she’d already had several published novels. (BTW it’s good to hear from you)
@Andrew M: Nope, just read a plot summary of #2 so you know who the characters are (most of them pop up later) and proceed.
@Laura Tegan: You have to go with your gut. The one that really speaks to you on a subconscious level. Like that word association test where you say the first reply that pops into your head. So in your case, I’m thinking that’d be “Ghostbusters”.
I saw the mansplaining too. Eeesh.
@Cat Rambo: You seem to be doing a good job. Getting stuff online ASAP is so necessary these days that it ought to be reflexive.
Lord Buckethead has a lot of good ideas that would actually improve Britain. Adapted and expanded, they’d be good for the US too. Any link to the onstage photo, Niall?
Throws horns at Hampus.
@Niall McAuley
There were only four options on my ballot, I mean what’s the point of all these elections if there’s not at least one comedy candidate. I nearly wrote “the guy dressed as a fish finger” on mine.
ETA @Lurkertype, wasn’t there some guy with a wellie boot on his head standing for President in the US?
I don’t know if it’s still true, but at one time the Monster Raving Loony Party had had more of its manifesto pledges enacted than any of the major parties had managed. Such terrible ideas as lowering the voting age to 18…
Lord Buckethead’s idea of having a voting cutoff at 80 is good too. Maybe they could vote in local things that will affect only a few years, but not things that will affect the country for decades after they’re dead (like old farts who voted for Brexit or Trump) (yes I know this will be me eventually — I’m good with it). Maybe allow the 16 year olds limited voting rights as well. Kind of like how we do driver’s licenses for young and old.
No, no… There are two types of people in the word: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data and
kathodus said:
lurkertype said:
My husband said, “You’re going to have a hard time with this, aren’t you?” when we finished Stranger Things. “I’m glad I’m not the one voting.”
I have a feeling I’ll be struggling with this until the day voting closes. I wish I could get it across to some of the people who aren’t going to win just how much I wish all of them could win. But then, nobody promised this Hugo voting thing would be easy.
I’m just glad that I’m struggling now because there are so many good pieces to pick from, and not because I’m forcing myself to read puppy poop in the hopes that something might be tolerable. It’s quite a far cry from the past two years.
those who make up their own punchlines.
I got my Barsoom anthologies from SFBC. I’m pretty sure they were all authorized, and I’m also pretty sure they included all the books. I’m much less sure if they’re still on offer–haven’t been a member for at least a decade. (It was always one of those mixed-blessing things: they had great deals on interesting stuff, but unless you stayed on top of it, you’d end up getting crap you didn’t want.)
@CatRambo I never said that. I would appreciate a retraction and an apology for the name calling of “egregiously stupid” when you skimmed my words and misquoted me.
ETA @Lurkertype, wasn’t there some guy with a wellie boot on his head standing for President in the US?
That would be Vermin Supreme.
Jon Del Arroz: I would appreciate a retraction and an apology
Does this mean we’ll be seeing retractions and apologies for all the lies and misquotes you’ve done here, on Twitter, and on on your blog over the last couple of months?
You’d better get started. This is going to take you a while.
I never said that. I would appreciate a retraction and an apology for the name calling of “egregiously stupid” when you skimmed my words and misquoted me.
Alternatively, you could admit you were the guy who wrote this about the “Old Guard”, claiming this is what they thought:
And then go whine elsewhere. Frankly, your act is a real tired and tedious one.
@JJ I only tell the truth. I’m sorry you don’t like it. I also don’t personally attack folk I’ve never met or talked to, and try not to personally attack people at all. It’s hard when I get treated like this by people like Cat, who I’m taught to respect, and you, who I also don’t know, but I try to follow Christ in that the best I can regardless. Fortunately He forgives when I fail.
@Aaron. I’m not whining? And I was elsewhere, literally on MY site, just posting on my blog about a difference i saw in people, and that this new group coming up is refreshing and optimistic. I don’t like when someone just calls me names though, especially someone in authority like Ms. Rambo. Not nice!
Bill: The response of the female scientist, Veronika Hubeny: “You may be amazed to hear it, but during this panel session I genuinely did not feel affronted or discriminated by the moderator’s behavior.”
It probably did not seem any different to her from any other panel she’s been on. If she’d spent her career getting outraged by this sort of behavior, she’d have no psychological resources left to spend on her work.
This is the sort of “background noise” most women deal with all their lives.
Jon Del Arroz: I only tell the truth.
Do you really want to go there? Because I can tell you what happened to the last guy who pulled this shit on me here, more than once, and it didn’t end well for him, either.
Just because you think Christ forgives you for being an habitual liar, it doesn’t make your lying okay.
I’m not whining?
Both of your posts in this comment thread have literally been nothing but whining.
And I was elsewhere, literally on MY site, just posting on my blog about a difference i saw in people, and that this new group coming up is refreshing and optimistic.
You literally wrote what she said you wrote. It doesn’t matter where you wrote it. Your claim that “I didn’t write that” is a lie. Your claim to JJ that you “only tell the truth” is a lie. Stop lying and stop whining.
I don’t like when someone just calls me names though, especially someone in authority like Ms. Rambo.
Then maybe you shouldn’t write egregiously stupid things. And you should stop lying and stop whining.
@JJ What’s your problem? I literally do not know you. You are swearing at me. You don’t know me or anything about me. I tell the truth 100%. Calm down for real. “It did not end well” I mean threatening? We’re adults dude.
@Aaron Dude read my blog and stop bsing man. Again, I don’t know you, what’s your problem? lol
I don’t call you guys names and act like this to you. Stop it already. It’s really old, I forget who said that, but whoever did is right — but it’s not my problem. Let’s have fun and enjoy science fiction together.
@Jenora Feuer: fascinating! TFTI.
@Kurt Busiek: that does not surprise me — cf the ~recent case where a comic vendor was charged with conveying porn to minors because “all comics are for kids.”
I’ve finished Cold Welcome; the second half picks up quite satisfactorily, although I think the timeline is implausibly stretched and the ending, while it wraps up most current threads, makes clear we’re starting a whole new set of adventures.
JJ said:
That’s what I was thinking. I’ve had people tell me I was being mansplained to and, after I thought about it, I realized that was indeed what had happened. But I’m so used to it I don’t notice it when it happens to me. Most of the time. Does a fish notice the water it swims in?
John Hertz reminded me in 2014 I posted an obituary here about another real-life WASP, Eleanor Gunderson, known by a mutual friend of ours. Gunderson followed Babylon 5 and did sff artwork. She was 91 when she passed away.
Jon Del Arroz: What’s your problem? I literally do not know you. You are swearing at me. You don’t know me or anything about me. I tell the truth 100%. Calm down for real. “It did not end well” I mean threatening? We’re adults dude.
My problem with you is that you are not only a habitual liar, you continue to deny and lie when called out on your lying. I don’t need to know you to be able to read your words and see the falsehoods — and after doing so, I certainly don’t want to know you any better.
You don’t know me, so you don’t know that I am quite calm; I merely have a low tolerance level for bullshit. I don’t “threaten”. I merely deliver facts. If you consider having the facts served up about you to be “threatening”, then that certainly says something about who you are as a person, doesn’t it?
You claim to be an adult. I haven’t seen any evidence yet to support that. You also claim to be a Christian. I haven’t seen any evidence which supports that, either. Repeatedly harassing people and lying, as you do, is certainly not a Christian behavior (or at least it’s not supposed to be).
Dude read my blog and stop bsing man.
I did read your blog. Heck, I even quoted from it in a comment your responded to. The quote was the exact words where you said the thing that Cat said you said, and which you claimed had been misquoted.
You said something stupid. You were called on it. You lied about saying it. You whined. You lied again about telling the truth. Now you’re whining again.
I don’t call you guys names and act like this to you.
No, you just lie and then demand apologies when you get caught.
I forget who said that, but whoever did is right — but it’s not my problem.
You could start by not saying egregiously stupid things and then pretending you didn’t say things that you did in fact say. Ever since you came onto the radar of people here, you’ve done nothing but act like a jackass and lie a lot. Stop doing that and you might get a warmer welcome. On the other hand, you’ve done a pretty good job of burning a lot of bridges, so that may not work out so well for you at this late date.
Let’s have fun and enjoy science fiction together.
I have minimum standards for who I “have fun” with. Among those standards are “people who aren’t habitual liars”. You’ve failed to rise to the level of “not a habitual liar”. So, no.
There are two types of Pixels: Those who file, those who scroll and those who tick the box… three types of pixel!
Another possible handwave for Wonder Woman (not one I’ve ever actually seen used) is that she is named for the goddess Dione, but in the outside world uses the more familiar Diana.
Wonder Woman was created in 1940, and was consciously and deliberately aimed at kids.
Jon Del Arroz: You accuse JJ of swearing at you, when I scan their comment, I see literally NO swearing. This is the most minor instance of you saying a person said a thing to you that they did not, but it’s extremely typical already.
What JJ did to the last person who tried to say they hadn’t said “X” was dig up every single instance where they had said “X” over a period of months, and every case where they tried previously to claim they hadn’t, and all the responses that pointed either of these out, and quoted ALL OF THEM. They’re not joking when they say you are literally being “Threatened” with fact-checking. Since you don’t know this history, I can see how you might have read “It didn’t end well” as more threatening than that, but now you know.