(1) INUNDATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE. Author of the Southern Reach novels Jeff VanderMeer says “Hurricane Helene: Storm Decision Fatigue Is Getting to Me” in an opinion piece for the New York Times (unlocked article).

As the tropical disturbance that became Hurricane Helene moved north toward Florida’s Gulf Coast on Tuesday, I had an argument with myself about evacuating from Tallahassee: If I ran from the storm, would I get caught up in it anyway? I was thinking of Charlize Theron’s character in the movie “Prometheus,” crushed by a spaceship that crashed while she ran in a straight line away from it.

Stricken by the thought of being trapped (or worse) in my house by falling trees, I decided to drive to Greenville, S.C., with my elderly cat, but not without extreme anxiety. Many Floridians like me who were not under mandatory evacuation orders remember Hurricane Michael in 2018 and other recent unpredictable, dangerous hurricanes. For us, decisions about whether to stay or leave and where to go have become more tortuous in ways that may be difficult to understand for those who don’t experience hurricanes regularly.

Many don’t have the resources to flee monstrous storms such as Helene. But for those who can evacuate, there is a sense of not being able to outrun them or that the destinations may become just as perilous. Every possibility feels both right and wrong and also like disaster deferred for only days — while dithering only shrinks the window for escape…

(2) A CROSS-GENRE TO BEAR. “Dean Koontz: On Writing Novels That Make Your Publisher Extremely Uneasy” at CrimeReads.

I am a bad boy. I have spread mustard on a sandwich as much as ten days after its use-by date. I have loitered where signs are posted that forbid loitering, not because I wanted to loiter; I was in a hurry to be elsewhere, but I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me where I couldn’t loiter. I have washed garments that I was commanded to “dry clean only.” Really, when it comes to obeying the rules, I am a dangerous nonconformist. This has also been true in my writing life, and while I’m not proud of it, I’m not ashamed, either.

When I began to write cross-genre novels with Strangers in the early 1980s, my publishers knew I was doing something unconventional, and they knew they didn’t like it, but at first, they couldn’t put a name to it or explain why such work made them uneasy.

Initially, I didn’t realize it was the manuscript of Strangers they found off-putting. I thought it must be something about me that repelled them. Something about my face? Everything about my face? Or could it be that I shouldn’t have eaten an anchovy and horseradish sandwich on garlic bread for breakfast that morning?

No. It was Strangers that made their eyes water and induced in them a shortness of breath equal to that of end-stage bacterial pneumonia. The novel was a thriller with a science-fiction premise, a love story, and a paranoid conspiracy tale, written as a mainstream novel, with a theme of transcendence. I was pressured to cut the 940-page manuscript to 450 pages and turn it into a flat-out sci-fi horror novel with a smaller cast and a theme of existential dread. I had considerable respect for the publisher, but I knew why I had done what I’d done, and I knew it wouldn’t work if half the text was cut….

(3) NYT ACKNOWLEDGES GAIMAN NEWS. Yesterday’s New York Times covered the sexual assault allegations made against Neil Gaiman and their effect on film and TV projects: “Production Linked to Neil Gaiman Is Halted Amid Sexual Assault Claims” (behind a paywall).

The production of a movie based on a book by the noted British author Neil Gaiman has been paused by Disney amid allegations that five women have made against him relating to conduct from 1986 to 2022, including one woman who said Mr. Gaiman groped her on a tour bus in 2013 and later paid her $60,000.

The women shared their allegations, which included claims of sexual assault, groping and kissing, on the podcast “Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman.” Mr. Gaiman, 63, has told the podcast he denies any wrongdoing.

The allegations played a role in pausing the production of “The Graveyard Book,” an adaptation of the eponymous young adult novel by Mr. Gaiman, according to a person at Disney. But the allegations were not the sole reason that the production, which was in development, was paused. Disney would not provide any additional reasons.

Another production related to Mr. Gaiman has been canceled for unspecified reasons. “Dead Boy Detectives,” a TV series based on a comic book by Mr. Gaiman, will not return for a second season, according to Netflix, which declined to share why the series would not return. There have been no changes to the Netflix series “The Sandman,” which is based on a separate comic book series by Mr. Gaiman.

Amazon would not say whether there would be any changes to “Good Omens,” a series based on a novel by Mr. Gaiman written in collaboration with Terry Pratchett.

The turmoil around the productions linked to the author has come amid the launch of the podcast, which in July and August released six episodes that detail the women’s accounts. The series has drawn widespread attention among fans, in literary circles and in the entertainment industry….

(4) MARI NESS ON GLASGOW 2024 ACCESSIBILITY.  “Glasgow 2024 – a Worldcon for our Futures – though perhaps not disabled futures” by Mari Ness at Blogging with Dragons.

…Glasgow 2024, a Worldcon for our Futures, had this statement on their Accessibility page:

“The Accessibility Team is committed to providing an equitable experience for all disabled members of Worldcon. Support will be available for those with mobility needs, visual impairments, hearing loss or differences, and various types of neurodiversity. “

A message from the con chair added this:

“Considering access, inclusion and diversity as integral to Glasgow 2024 has created an environment where we think carefully about what Worldcon can become – a convention to represent all of our futures as well as a place where everyone can celebrate, and an event where we can take these realities joyfully forwards after it is over.”

This all sounded, if not entirely reassuring, at least hopeful. So I bought my tickets.

It was not, in fact, an equitable experience for all disabled members of Worldcon…

Ness then details more than a half dozen accessibility difficulties she faced at the convention. She raised these issues to the committee with this result:

…On August 12, 2024, my last day at Glasgow 2024, I filed an official complaint, in person, about the con’s multiple accessibility issues. I was assured that this complaint would be escalated to the appropriate people for a response.

As of today [September 22], I have not received a response.

(5) SHADOW BANNED. [Item by Steven French.] For Banned Books Week, Leeds Central Library has published a list of books that were ‘banned’ by the Library in 1975 and which were only available to the public on request (although the list was not itself made know to said public before an alternative newspaper published it!). It included not only the likes of Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal but one Brian Aldiss (his Booker Prize long-listed novel The Hand Reared Boy was deemed too racy for the good burghers of Leeds). “Banned Books in 1975 – The Secret Library” at Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog.

(6) MAKING MONEY WITH ROBOTECH. CBR.com looks at “Jim Lee’s Revival of an ’80s Mecha Sensation — Robotech!”

…As many fans are aware, the show that became known as Robotech in the West is actually an amalgam series of sorts. Screenwriter Carl Macek was hired to adapt the 1982 series Super Dimension Fortress Macross for daily American syndication. Still, the weekly series didn’t have the requisite 65 episodes required for a syndicated series. A decision was made to pair Macross with two shorter anime, 1984’s Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and 1983’s Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, to create an 85-episode series.

The disparate continuities would be explained as time jumps between episodes, but this didn’t make things easier regarding marketing and promotion. Complicating matters for the brand would be American model kit manufacturer Revell’s existing deal with the producers of Macross and a few other anime studios for a line of mecha scale-model kits imported from Japan. Revell called their two model lines Robotech Defenders and Robotech Changers. Revell even had a deal with DC Comics to promote Robotech Defenders as a limited series….

… While Robotech never reached the heights of Transformers‘ American popularity, the series had a devoted fan following. As other 1980s properties received comic book revamps in the early 2000s, it seemed inevitable that Robotech would join the fad. After bouncing around various indie publishers in the ’90s, the Robotech rights landed with Jim Lee’s WildStorm imprint circa 2002. As Harmony Gold creative director Tommy Yune bluntly stated in the first WildStorm release’s introductory text piece: “Everybody’s jumping on the ’80s bandwagon.” Harmony Gold viewed the reignited enthusiasm for ’80s properties as an opportunity to reboot Robotech, declaring the WildStorm series a new canon that superseded any preceding tie-in material….

(7) THE LATE DAVID GRAHAM. [Item by Steve Green.] Talking Pictures TV, the UK-based family-run cable channel which specializes in vintage television and movies, has posted an interview on its ‘Encore’ website with actor David Graham, who died September 20 at the age of 99. Graham featured in many of Gerry Anderson’s puppet series (he is best known for playing the chauffeur Parker in Thunderbirds) and also Doctor Who (voicing early Daleks and appearing on screen opposite both William Hartnell and Tom Baker). “Talking Thunderbirds: Voice Artist, David Graham”. Registration required.

In this Encore exclusive peak behind the curtain, we talk to the very talented David Graham, as he discusses his career, where the inspiration for Parker’s voice came from, being the voice of the Daleks, and other varieties of characters he’s voiced!

(8) VERSUS CLICKERS. “The Last of Us Season 2 Trailer: Joel, Ellie Return to Fight Clickers” – Variety sets the frame:

HBO released the first trailer for “The Last of Us” Season 2, featuring the return of Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, the two zombie apocalypse survivors from the hit video game adaptation.

The eight-time Emmy-winning series (with 24 total nominations) chronicles the story of Joel and Ellie as they navigate a world overrun with zombies infected with a parasitic fungus — not to mention the ruthless vigilantes, mercenaries and cannibals just as desperate to survive.

Here’s the official logline for Season 2: “After five years of peace following the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie’s collective past catches up to them, drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”…

(9) MAGGIE SMITH (1934-2024). Actress Maggie Smith, well-known to fans from Hook and Harry Potter, died September 27 at the age of 89. The AP News obituary says: “…Smith drily summarized her later roles as ‘a gallery of grotesques,’ including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: ‘Harry Potter is my pension.’”…

Read more about her memorable roles in Olivia Rutigliano’s “A Requiem for Maggie Smith” at CrimeReads.

…She began her career as a stage actress, with her earliest breakout role as Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier in Othello at the National Theater in 1962. When she reprised the role in the 1965 film adaptation, she was nominated for her first Academy Award. She would go on to be nominated for six, winning for two.

Maggie Smith was not in many crime movies. But she was often the most memorable part of the ones that she was in: Dora Charleston in Murder by Death, Miss Bowers in Death on the Nile, and Constance, Dowager Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park. And we cannot forget her turn as the stern, intolerant, but ultimately-supportive Mother Superior of St. Katherine’s in Sister Act. She could whip that steeliness into provincial villainy just as easily as stony protectiveness or begrudging kindness. She had that twinkle in her eye, an overwhelming wittiness, and a knack for nuance that was so razor sharp that she could be flip and solemn at the same time, an affective style that would become her trademark.

Since the announcement of Smith’s passing, earlier today, I have watched an outpouring of tributes and trivia about her: an endless, adoring parade of praise and respect. Maggie Smith was one of those actors who openness to many different kinds of roles kept reinventing her for younger and younger generations. By the time she appeared as the no-nonsense Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, my generation had already seen her as the elderly Wendy in Hook, Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden, and many others….

(10) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Anniversary: “The Enterprise Incident” (1968)

“The Enterprise Incident” I believe was truly one of the classic episodes of the Star Trek series. Airing fifty-six years ago on NBC on this date, it was scripted by D.C. Fontana, one of eleven episodes that she would write including “Catspaw” that I dearly love, and directed by John Meredyth Lucas as the second episode of the third and final season.

If you’ve forgotten, the story is that Kirk violated the neutral zone. The Romulans have a new bit of technology called a “cloaking device” (just go with the idea please). Kirk pretends to be crazy, then pretends to be a Romulan to get to it. Meanwhile, Spock pretends to be in love. But is he pretending? Who knows. It’s fun to watch, isn’t it? 

D. C. Fontana says she based her script very loosely upon the Pueblo incident but I’ll be damned I can see this. It’s a Cold War espionage thriller at heart and most excellently played out. You did note the Romulnan commander never gets named? Later novels including Vulcan’s Heart by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz gave her the name of Liviana Charvanek. 

Speaking of Vulcans, Fontana deliberately kept the romance between her and Spock low key to the finger games they did. And then there’s Roddenberry’s idea, never done, Spock “raining kisses” on the bare shoulders of the Romulan commander. Oh awful.

Season three had no budget, I repeat, no budget for frills, so this episode suffered several times from that. Kirk was supposed to have surgery done on him after dying but that got deep sixed, and McCoy was supposed to accompany him back to the Romulan ship but my, oh my ears are expensive, aren’t they? 

Fontana would co-write with Derek Chester a sequel: Star Trek: Year Four—The Enterprise Experiment, a graphic novel published by IDW Publishing in 2008.

Critics then and now love it.

It’s airing on Paramount + as is about everything else in the Trek universe. 

(11) COMICS SECTION.

• Bliss can’t risk the distraction
• Breaking Cat News is part of the fandom (and even gets the salute correct).
• Eek! runs into the standard fix question.
• Carpe Diem has misorders.
• Macanudo objects to a wishful tradition.
• Tom Gauld finds out a lovely-sounding idea is overrated.

An autumn cartoon that feels appropriate in London today… pic.twitter.com/CbVTmD4blA

— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) September 27, 2024

(12) IT’S ALL TRUE, I SWEAR BY MY TATTOO. NPR research reveals “More than 15 markers claim aliens and UFOs have visited Earth”. One of them is in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The full citation is here: “Pascagoula UFO 1973 Historical Marker”. A full-size photo of the marker is here.

…“It was the evening of October 11, 1973 when two local shipyard workers went fishing,” the marker says, at the edge of the Pascagoula River.

The sign says Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker spotted a football-shaped craft, which took them aboard.

“Inside the craft, Hickson was examined by a robotic eye, then both men were deposited back on the river bank and the space ship shot away,” the marker says. Stamped at the bottom is the seal of the city of Pascagoula and the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society….

There’s no way to really know what happened that night in 1973, when the men waded headfirst into one of humanity’s greatest mysteries: Are we alone?

But the marker is now one of at least 15 that say, without hesitation, that aliens have come to visit Earth.

They join more than 180,000 other historical markers dotting the country’s landscape, and NPR found they wouldn’t be the first to claim something that may, or may not, be true.

There’s a marker in Massachusetts that claims the town was once home to a real, live wizard. New York has a marker about a ghost that plays the fiddle on a bridge in the moonlight….

(13) SUPER DUBIOUS. Ryan George decides “Invisibility is a Sketchy Superpower”.

[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Steven Green, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, and Teddy Harvia for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Bill.]