(1) SHINY. What’s the latest at Young People Read Old SF? Curator James Davis Nicoll has assigned them Arthur C. Clarke’s “Superiority”.
I knew I would be offering my subjects a Clarke story at some point, not because he is an old favourite of mine, but because Clarke was name-checked in the Facebook post that inspired Young People Read Old SF.
nobody discovers a lifelong love of science fiction through Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein anymore, and directing newbies toward the work of those masters is a destructive thing, because the spark won’t happen.
But which Clarke? A White Hart anecdote? (No bar stories in this series … so far). A Meeting with Medusa? His creepy “A Walk in the Dark”? The puritanical “I Remember Babylon”? After considerable dithering, I selected 1951’s “Superiority,” because I thought pretty much everyone has had some worthy endeavour undermined by someone else’s desire to embrace a new shiny, whether it’s a committee member using email options they clearly have not mastered (1) or simply someone who discovers Windows 10 installing itself on their once useful computer. Or, in the case that inspired Clarke, the V2 rocket program that undermined the German war effort….
(2) THE QUESTION. The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog couldn’t be more right — “The Biggest Question in Sci-Fi & Fantasy: Series or Standalone?” Aidan Moher and Corrina Lawson take opposite sides in the debate.
… Aidan: Very interesting. I was definitely raised on series and trilogies as I first discovered science fiction and fantasy, and I totally agree that there’s something exciting and comforting for a young reader to know that there are more books just like the one she’s finished reading. As I’ve grown older, though, my tastes have changed quite a bit.
Honestly, I think that downfall you mention is a serious one for me. My time for reading is limited, even more so as I’ve grown older, established a career, and started a family, so I want to know that when I commit to a story, I’m guaranteed some measure of satisfaction by the time I finish it….
Corrina: It’s the time commitment for a stand-alone that gets to me. I have to take that extra time to get used to the style of the book. I’m more likely to enjoy something that is fast-paced in that case, like Chuck Wendig’s Invasive, which really reads more like a movie playing in my head….
(3) MACARTHUR FELLOWS. The 2016 MacArthur Fellows have been named, recipients of the “genius grants.”
The MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more
Here are some of the fellows who are involved in the arts:
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, New York, New York
Playwright using a range of theatrical genres in subversive, often unsettling works that engage frankly with the ways in which race, class, and history are negotiated in both private and public.
Josh Kun, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Cultural Historian exploring the ways in which the arts and popular culture are conduits to cross-cultural exchange and bringing diverse communities in Los Angeles together around heretofore unnoticed cultural commonalities.
Maggie Nelson, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California
Writer rendering pressing issues of our time into portraits of day-to-day experience in works of nonfiction marked by dynamic interplay between personal experience and critical theory.
Claudia Rankine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Poet crafting critical texts for understanding American culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century in inventive, ever-evolving forms of poetic expression.
Lauren Redniss, Parsons, The New School for Design, New York, New York
Artist and Writer fusing artwork, written text, and design in a unique approach to visual nonfiction that enriches the ways in which stories can be conveyed, experienced, and understood.
Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker, New York, New York
Long-Form Journalist bringing to light the stories of people usually invisible to mainstream reporting and providing new and compelling perspectives on even well-covered social justice issues.
Gene Luen Yang, San Jose, California
Graphic Novelist bringing diverse people and cultures to children’s and young adult literature and confirming comics’ place as an important creative and imaginative force within literature, art, and education.
(4) GENRE REALITY. Ann Leckie takes a swing at defining “Real Science Fiction” by looking at a negative definition.
It is notoriously difficult to define “science fiction” but a common attempt to do so–to wall off stuff that isn’t “really” science fiction from the proper stuff–is to assert that a real science fiction story wouldn’t survive the removal of the science fictiony bits, where, I don’t know, I guess “fake” science fiction is just Westerns with spaceships instead of horses or somesuch….
And I can’t help noticing how often this particular criterion is used to delegitimize stories as “real” science fiction that by any other measure would more than qualify. It’s not just that the critic doesn’t really like this work, no, sadly the story is just not “really” science fiction, because if you take away the robots and the spaceships and the cloning and the black holes and the aliens and the interstellar civilizations and the fact that it’s set way in the future, well, it’s still a story about people wanting something and struggling to get it. Not really science fiction, see?
(5) SCHEINMAN OBIT. How “The Day the Earth Stood Still” became the impetus for the creation of assembly-line robots. From a New York Times obituary.
Victor Scheinman [1942-2016], who overcame his boyhood nightmares about a science-fiction movie humanoid to build the first successful electrically powered, computer-controlled industrial robot, died on Tuesday in Petrolia, Calif. He was 73.
His brother, Dr. Richard Scheinman, said the cause was complications of heart disease. He said he had been driving his brother to visit Dr. Scheinman’s home in Northern California when he apparently had a heart attack. He lived in Woodside, near Palo Alto, Calif.
Mr. Scheinman was part of Stanford University’s mechanical engineering department when, in 1969, he developed a programmable six-jointed robot that was named the Stanford Arm.
It was adapted by manufacturers to become the leading robot in assembling and spot-welding products, ranging from fuel pumps and windshield wipers for automobiles to inkjet cartridges for printers. Its ability to perform repeatable functions continuously equaled or surpassed that of human workers.
(6) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
Born September 22, 1982 — Billie Piper. Order your Rose Tyler action figure now!
(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOYS
- September 22 – Bilbo
- September 22 — Frodo
(8) YOUR PATRONUS. “Now Pottermore Lets You Find Out Your Patronus (J.K. Rowling Got a Heron)” – io9 has the story.
The latest feature on Pottermore, the ever-expanding home of Harry Potter content, is a quiz designed by J.K. Rowling to tell you what your Patronus is.
In case you’d forgotten, a Patronus is a spell conjured by a happy memory and the incantation “Expecto patronum!” The Patronus takes the form of a silvery animal that protects against the soul-crushing depression caused by exposure to Dementors.
The test on Pottermore, like all Pottermore quizzes, is multiple choice. Only instead of answering a question, two or three words pop up and you have a short time to click one instinctively. No thoughts needed or wanted.
(9) KEN LIU TRANSLATIONS. Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction from editor/translator Ken Liu will be released November 1, 2016. Here’s more information plus the Table of Contents.
Award-winning translator and author Ken Liu presents a collection of short speculative fiction from China.
Some stories have won awards; some have been included in various ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies; some have been well reviewed by critics and readers; and some are simply Ken’s personal favorites. Many of the authors collected here (with the obvious exception of Liu Cixin) belong to the younger generation of ‘rising stars’.
In addition, three essays at the end of the book explore Chinese science fiction. Liu Cixin’s essay, The Worst of All Possible Universes and The Best of All Possible Earths, gives a historical overview of SF in China and situates his own rise to prominence as the premier Chinese author within that context. Chen Qiufan’s The Torn Generation gives the view of a younger generation of authors trying to come to terms with the tumultuous transformations around them. Finally, Xia Jia, who holds the first Ph.D. issued for the study of Chinese SF, asks What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?.
Full table of contents:
- Introduction: Chinese Science Fiction in Translation
Chen Qiufan
- The Year of the Rat
- The Fish of Lijiang
- The Flower of Shazui
Xia Jia
- A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight
- Tongtong’s Summer
- Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse (unpublished)
Ma Boyong
- The City of Silence
Hao Jingfang
- Invisible Planets
- Folding Beijing
Tang Fei
- Call Girl
Cheng Jingbo
- Grave of the Fireflies
Liu Cixin
- The Circle
- Taking Care of God
Essays
- The Worst of All Possible Universes and the Best of All Possible Earths: Three-Body and Chinese Science Fiction
- The Torn Generation: Chinese Science Fiction in a Culture in Transition
- What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?
(10) BANDERSNATCH. Diana Pavlac Glyer’s book about the Inklings, Bandersnatch, was released in January 2016. Here was one of the ads from last year encouraging people to pre-order….
[Thanks to Carl Slaughter, Darrah Chavey, Dawn Incognito, Andrew Porter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stores. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Bruce Arthurs.]
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My Patronus is a Nightjar. #NotQuiteFifth
Oh, this should be quite interesting… #StillNotFifth
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/317741/the-princess-diarist-by-carrie-fisher/
[sad forlorn ticky]
Sacrificial pre-fifth
(4) GENRE REALITY. – It’s not that complicated. No snow and taverns? Science Fiction.
You’re welcome.
(8) YOUR PATRONUS. – A *mole*?!
…I can see where that comes from.
Elephant. I kid you not. I believe I have won all patronus battles from here on in. If I get attacked by dementors, my patronus will just sit on them. Death eaters? Patronus will just sit on them. Dragons, basilisks, giant arachnids, Voldemort – patronus will just sit on them. Also it’s Bart Simpson’s patronus:
Also the-number-that-shall-not-be-named
@Galen Bishop:
Oh, The Princess Diarist sounds fun! Thanks for the tip!
(8) I got a bay stallion. Hm. I knew I shoulda picked “glow” instead of “shine”.
4) To quote Potter Stewart with regard to science fiction, “I know it when I see it.
(2) THE QUESTION.
I’m just quietly going to break it to Corrina Lawson here that Invasive is actually a sequel to Wendig’s Zeroes.
Aspirational ::ticky::
(6) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY GIRL
It’s also Elizabeth Bear’s birthday. Happy birthday!
My patronus is an eagle. While it may not be the mightiest patronus, it can drop items such as turtles on peoples’ heads from way up high, when they least expect it.
Not morning. Not asleep. Something not right here.
My personal opinion is that science fiction is more enjoyable when the science tickles the plot rather than smothering it with a pillow.
Stories where the science gets more characterization than the characters are the worst.
I got an eagle, too. Which is cool.
@Galen Bishop: Oooh, thanks for the heads-up! On my Amazon list (b/c it’s $10 cheaper — does ANYONE buy from publisher’s web pages?).
My patronus is “another login? oh HELL no!” so I’m either a sloth or a housecat.
lurkertype: @Galen Bishop: Oooh, thanks for the heads-up! On my Amazon list (b/c it’s $10 cheaper — does ANYONE buy from publisher’s web pages?).
My thanks, too. My library’s got it on order, and now I am up front on the waitlist. It should be an interesting read.
I got a St Bernard patronus, which I am going to send to enthusiastically lick the ankles of Camestros’ elephant until it falls over.
So ready for Carrie Fisher’s next book! I got audiobooks of “Wishful Drinking” and “Shockaholic” which are both fantastic in content and narration. Actually can I have Carrie Fisher as my Patronus please?
Hmm, the tick didn’t even send a subscription confirmation. Just testing that again…
Nope.
I have no mails and I must scroll…
No subscription notification.
@lurkertype
Yeah, I’m not interested enough in my patronus to keep track of another password and give out my email again. I’ll just make up my own…I got an invisible dayglo purple and green striped giraffe with red ears and a yellow tail. When she flashes into visibility, she sticks out her electric blue tongue and temporarily blinds baddies and sets everyone else to giggling maniacally. So we run away from the dementors laughing so hard, there’s no possibility of depression…so there, Rowling!
Sadly forlorn ::tickbox::, Oh, wait! There’s my giraffe…Ha, Ha, Ha, Hee, hee, hee, hmmm… Some things are just too sad.
ETA: Well, maybe she helped a little, I DID get a subscription email.
Concerning subscription.. I read my blogs and feeds in BazQux
It is not free (but cheap, and free trial), and It does something which AFAIK is unique : it displays comments. And updates with new comments. (can be seen here)
Lots of options for usability and readability too. (and keyboard-friendly if you like it that way)
My only problem is that I can’t find a mobile feed reader supporting its comment-reading ability.
I got Chestnut Mare which left me with questions–like how you know it’s chestnut when it’s SILVER!–and also I’m not that fond of horses, so I took it again with a different email, got completely different questions…
And got Bay Stallion.
Filled with burning rage, I drew my own.
My petronas turns out to be a ragdoll cat.
(8) YOUR PATRONUS.
I got a shrew. And that is when I cancelled my account.
That is not fifth which can in ticky lie
But with strange pixels even scrolls may file.
DAY FOUR OF THE FILE770 GODSTALK TICKY CRISIS
When will our global nightmare end???
I can’t even get my verification email for Pottermore so I guess I’ll never know what my patronus is. Such a shame.
In the meantime I’ll keep myself happy by being really excited to read more Chinese sci-fi in November.
And reminding myself that One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun comes out on the 3rd, and really hoping that it has an ebook edition by the time it’s released.
I got a Black Swan, but in shimmery silver Patron-o-vision, it looks just like a regular white mute swan.
So why is it black? Am I somehow subconsciously Australian, mate?
Even if so, I prefer a Bunyip.
On the second fifth day hopefully, funnier that way.
“When I was a little girl
I asked my mother
what should I be,
Should I be pixel, should I be scroll, and here’s what my mother said to me…”
Damn. Out of inspiration…
The opposite of The MacArthur Fellowship, this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.
But do you patronize bunny rabbits?
THE QUESTION
I have a problem in that I have too many series partially read. I usually get tempted by book 1 of a series being on sale, so I buy it and enjoy it, then don’t get round to reading the subsequent volumes very quickly as I’m distracted by shiny new series possibilities – there are so many available just a click away on the Kindle store.
Patronize bunny rabbits? Was Harvey or Bugs involved?
My patronus has always been That Guy.
Pixels are strange,
When you’re a stranger
Items look wicked
When they’ve been scrolled
Tickybox Lite™! All the fun of confirming a subscription without all the hassle of being subscribed to anything. Now how much would you pay? Don’t answer yet, because you also get to edit your post without having it show up three times in everybody’s email!
@RedWombat, before I clicked the link I figured your self-appointed Patronus would be some kind of feral hog.
What you came up with is better than that.
Which is why you’re the writer and artist, and I’m a physicist and an engineer.
I got a Buzzard.
I got a rock.
I never forgave Pottermore after I got sorted into Slytherin. Twice.
Okay, first Robert Whitaker Sirignano makes me think of Heathers, now you make me think of The Lost Boys? What’s next, a filk of Everybody Knows to make me think of Pump Up the Volume? A filk of Dream a Little Dream to make me think of Dream a Little Dream?
(Hey, forget about the best TV theme songs, how about this?)
I wonder if there’s a market for a Patronus improvement service?
:: sneaks up on Hampus’s shrew, quickly attaches a bicycle pump, inflates it to the size of a wolverine ::
:: contemplates results ::
… Maybe not.
Back to the way I used to manage the Comics Curmudgeon, back in the day (Muffaroo): update a link in my favorites bar with the URL of the most recent comment. Can’t do multiple threads unless I put up more links, so my participation here will be a bit shallow for a while.
Awards from the fans can be quite astronomic,
But pixels are a scroll’s best friend.
Awards can be grand, but not half so atomic
As an author’s chat
Or photos of your kitty cat.
Fans grow grim as memories dim,
And we all gafiate in the end;
But ask the philos’phers
And they’ll pick the phosphors
Pixels are a scroll’s best friend!
I, uh, only meant to write the first couplet. Sorry.
Kip W <wild applause!>
I got Chestnut Mare which left me with questions–like how you know it’s chestnut when it’s SILVER!
You can know if it will be your friend for life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cINH9yob4
Also, apparently the Byrds patronus is a floating German woman.
Oh, what the hell.
There may come a time when a fan needs a spoiler
But pixels are a scroll’s best friend.
There may come a time when some poor ink-stained toiler
Gets a plug or two—
But pixels, please, or nuts to you!
In the night, things snap and bite
And the twistiest paths don’t unbend.
Fans sick of life’s tricks ‘ll come home to the pixel:
Pixels are a scroll’s best friend!
No edit window. I wanted to change the penult to “…come home to a pixel…, because, well, because.
So, offtopic request:
My infant nephew’s first birthday is next week. He lives well over a thousand miles away; I’ve never met him, I barely know my brother-in-law and don’t know his wife at all to speak of; we’re not on such terms that I can ask them for gift ideas. Infant has a 9-year-old sister; I’ve had some success with giving her books. (Apparently, I’m the “book aunt”.)
So. What do people suggest I get for a one-year-old’s birthday? I have to be able to order it from Amazon for shipping to them. Anything in the $30-60 range would be good. I could probably stretch that limit higher if the gift idea is amazing… They’re not particular SFNAL people so far as I can tell so it need not be a genre-adjacent suggestion.
<edit to add> I’m asking here because I know no infants. I’ve never known infants, other than a few belonging to friends, fifteen years ago. I know nothing about infants. I’m utterly clueless. HELP.
Bah and other words. Everyone knows the most important, most unforgettable song from Top Gun was Playing with the Boys.
@Kip W: Bravo!
@ Cassy B:
From my very limited experience, clothes are often really appreciated because the young ones are growing so quickly that the parents have to keep on buying new clothes to keep up.