Snapshots 42: The Answer

Here are 8 developments of interest to fans.

(1) Within the Society for Creative Anachronism there is a group intrigued by historical fencing:

One of the goals that I have for my own rapier fencing is to be able, while I am fighting, to “think” within the historical system that I am using (my guess is that this is not the same as thinking like a historical fencer – they were probably thinking: “I don’t want to die…I don’t want to die…She’s not worth it…She’s not worth it…”).

A good article, though while reading the discussion of historical systems of fencing I was disillusioned by the realization that Andre-Louis Moreau (aka Scaramouche) wasn’t the genius behind the chessplayer’s thinking-moves-ahead approach to swordfighting after all.

(2) If Jeff at filling my mind with geh had been in the audience of Gene Wolfe’s 1985 Worldcon guest of honor speech, he would know how to  describe himself in a single word instead of taking this entire paragraph:

As for Cherie Priest, I’ve been a fan for a while, but I’m not entirely sure how that started since I haven’t read a single book of hers (and yet own them all). I suppose that up until now, I’ve been a fan of the idea of Cherie Priest and her writing moreso than a fan of the actuality.

Yes, Jeff is a fakefan.

(3) Famous Monsters is back in print, following its revival online. Ray Bradbury is prominently featured in the new magazine as the subject of an interview and the contributor of a never-before-published short story. Naturally, Famous Monsters also celebrates the life of its legendary former editor Forrest J Ackerman in a special memorial.

(4) iPad owners — want your display to look like it belongs to Captain Picard? The technology is available:

The LCARS Internet Media Reader gives you a Star Trek The Next Generation style interface (with sounds) that allows you to search and read blogs and RSS news feeds, watch VIMEO videos, browse Flickr pictures, and listen to podcasts. It also allows you to read, but not post to Twitter.

(5) The Crotchety Old Fan warns that when it comes to the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo the Emperor is walking sans culottes:

If we really, really, really and truly want to encourage experimentation, novelty, creativity and expand the boundaries of our genre(s), we owe it to ourselves to vote for works that reflect those desires. Let’s reward the edgy, the chancy, the new; choose a Dramatic Presentation – Long Form OTHER than Star Trek or Avatar. You’ve got three other choices.

I’ll not go on and on but rather will end with this: the category the movies are listed under is BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – LONG FORM, not BEST BRANDING AND MARKETING VEHICLE.

(6) Kari Byron, co-host of Discovery Channel’s MythBusters and her husband Paul Urich became first-time parents last year. Kari recently told Pregnancy magazine that life on set had become a whole new learning experience:

“I have weird little worries like how loud does a gunshot have to be for the baby to hear it,” the 34-year-old laughed.

(7) The British Library Online Gallery has images and printed text from the earliest version of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground —  the original, handwritten and illustrated by Charles Dodgson for Alice Liddell. It’s different from the text most of us are familiar with, for when Dodgson was encouraged to publish the story he rewrote the text and took out private family references.

(8) A special edition coffee table book will be published to commemorate the first 25 years of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future.

Ray Bradbury, A.E. Van Vogt and Jack Williamson at the first Writers of the Future dinner in 1985.

[Thanks for these links goes to David Klaus, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, James Hay and BoingBoing.]