Bradbury and Pohl with the Red Planet. Photo by Terry Pace.
Frederik Pohl and Ray Bradbury met for the first time at the 1939 Worldcon when they were both teenagers. The last time they saw each other was at the 2008 Eaton Conference, as Pohl wrote in his Bradbury obituary —
I saw Ray last a couple of years ago, when he and I were joint guests for the science-fiction program at UC-Riverside. He was feisty as ever, rather startlingly denouncing current science fiction as trash or worse — though it turned out that what he meant to be denouncing wasn’t print science fiction, but only the current crop of sf films. I would have liked to go into that in more detail, and to ask if he included the film Avatar. But time didn’t permit, and now I never can.
Fred Pohl, Larry Niven and Ray Bradbury at the 2008 Eaton Conference. Photo by Terry Pace.
Professor Philip Nichols giving his lecture on the script writing styles of Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison
By John King Tarpinian: Every two years UC Riverside hosts the Eaton Science Fiction Conference. I’ve had attended in past years when they gave their Lifetime Achievement Awards to Ray Bradbury (2008) and Frederik Pohl (2009).
Conferences over the four days would start at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m., running in six rooms at once. If one can get Sci-Fi overload this would have been the place to be. A list of topics: “Gods, Monsters in Science Fiction Television,” “Queering the Genre,” “Octavia E. Butler,” “Superhero Controversies in Comics and Television,” and so on and so forth. Larry Niven and David Brin are among the writers in attendance. For a more detailed list of the event meander over to: http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards are going to Ursula K. Le Guin (2012), Ray Harryhausen (2013) and Stan Lee (2013). They will be honored at the Saturday evening banquet.
On Friday I took a day trip to hear a lecture by a friend of mine, Phil Nichols, a UK Professor from the University of Wolverhampton. Phil lectured, along with Julian Hoxter & Michael Joseph Klein who gave papers on scripts in Science Fiction. Phil specifically talked about the diverse script writing styles of Ray Bradbury & Harlan Ellison. Ray’s scriptwriting was honed by writing Moby Dick for John Huston but his first official script was for It Came from Outer Space. Harlan’s style was developed in the early 60s with is TV writing from the Alfred Hitchcock Hour through Star Trek and a script for Masters of Science Fiction.
As in books, Ray used metaphors for camera direction (sample scripts were shown on the screen), what today is called a spec-script. Ray’s scripts would allow for more input for the director. Harlan, on the other hand, would number each scene and have very specific directions as to shooting the scene. Harlan would go as far as to specify if a scene was an interior or exterior show.
I was not consulted when they selected the dates for the conference so after having lunch with my friend that was it for the day. She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was off on a photo safari in Death Valley and guess who had to get home to walk the dogs? Maybe the best end to a good day was getting a souvenir LASFS bookmark.
The 2013 Eaton Science Fiction Conference will be held April 11-14, 2013 at the Riverside Marriott Hotel in California, co- sponsored by UC Riverside and the Science Fiction Research Association.
“Science Fiction Media” is the conference theme.
There will be an Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 13 where J. Lloyd Eaton Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to author Ursula K. Le Guin, producer and special effects creator Ray Harryhausen, and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee.
Past winners of the J. Lloyd Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Fiction are Ray Bradbury (2008), Frederik Pohl (2009), Samuel R. Delany (2010) and Harlan Ellison (2011).
People have the option to register for one day or the entire conference program. Registration Rates: Students $95; Early-Bird Registration $150, (ending February 1, 2013); General Registration $170; Single-day registration $95.
“Science Fiction Media” will be the 2013 conference theme, chosen to reflect the “increasingly diverse forms of expression of science fiction.”
“The past several decades have witnessed an explosion in science fiction texts across the media landscape, from film and TV to comics and digital games,” said Dr. Melissa Conway, a conference co-organizer.
Scholarly papers presented at the conference will explore science fiction as a multimedia phenomenon, whether focusing on popular mass media, such as Hollywood blockbusters, or on niche and subcultural forms of expression, such as multiplayer Internet games based on genres such as fantasy and science fiction and the production of fan-made music videos that pair scenes from TV shows and movies with a particular piece of music. Information about submissions is available here.
A science-fiction writing competition for full-time undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the UC system will offer a first prize of $500 and a second prize of $250. See details at eatonconference.ucr.edu .
When the three-day Eaton Conference begins today, February 11, in Riverside, California it will go on without one of its signature moments. Harlan Ellison had been scheduled to appear in person to receive the 2011 J. Lloyd Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Fiction. However, on February 9 Harlan posted an apology on his website because he was physically unable to attend:
I apologize to everyone expecting to see me at the Eaton Conference this weekend. I have been bedridden for two days, and I have no energy. I called and cancelled this morning. It was my intention to man-up for the presentation of the award, but now Steve Barber has been gracious enough to accept for me. It is an honor and I am pleased to have been chosen alongside Chip Delany. But both of us has aged, and neither of us will be there in more than devoted spirit. I am unwell, do not wish to repeat the deathtalk that preceded the Madcon, am tired, very tired…and I am, well, simply, sorry not to have been able to accomodate those who wanted to see me.
Harlan’s presence will still be felt, in an alternate way, when the Ellison documentary Dreams with Sharp Teethscreens at UC Riverside’s Culver Center on Saturday, February 12 at 7 p.m.
The Speculative Literature Foundation has pledged $250 annually to help fund the SF&F Translation Awards. The awards recognize the work of those who translate science fiction and fantasy into English and promote the fiction of non English-speaking authors.
The current plan is for the award to be given for the first time to work published in 2010. The presentation is expected to be at the Eaton Conference. There are two award categories, long form (40,000 words and above) and short form. The winning translator and author will both receive a trophy and cash prize.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards are administered by the Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF & F Translation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization whose directors are Gary K. Wolfe, Kevin Standlee, Melissa Conway, Rob Latham and Cheryl Morgan.
