Tag Archives: Fantastic Fiction at KGB

Pixel Scroll 4/3/25 Pixels First, Or Multiverse First? Cosmologists Want To Know

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(1) ‘WONDERLAND’ SF DOCUMENTARY. [Item by Ersatz Culture.] The UK free-to-air channel Sky Arts is showing the first of a four-part documentary series Wonderland: Science Fiction in the Atomic Age tonight at 8pm UK time. And it will air again on Saturday April 5 at 3:40 p.m.

Unusually, it looks to be focused on literary SF; the episode descriptions only mention film/TV/etc for the final episode.  The trailer shows talking heads clips from a number of well-known UK-based critics, academics and authors, including John Clute, Farah Mendlesohn, Adam Roberts and Tade Thompson.

A description of the four episodes as taken from the Fine Books & Collections website:

  • Episode I – Mary Shelley to Isaac Asimov (April 3)

The creation and detonation of two atomic bombs developed by science fiction reading scientists is followed by an exploration of early science fiction writers including Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. It also features Kurt Vonnegut’s experience of being firebombed in 1944 in a prison in Dresden (Slaughterhouse Five) and J.G. Ballard’s war experiences in the Far East (Empire of the Sun). The fear of nuclear apocalypse is portrayed in a range of work including Nevil Shute’s On the Beach. The episode concludes with the work of Isaac Asimov.

  • Episode II – Arthur C. Clarke to Ray Bradbury (April 10)

The work of Isaac Asimov leads to the sense of wonder that surrounded 1960s’ space exploration, embodied in the work of Arthur C. Clarke such as Childhood’s End and The Nine Billion Names of God. Also included are J.G. Ballard’s concern with “inner space” and apocalyptic events (Crash, The Atrocity Exhibition, The Drowned World), the work of Robert A. Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), and Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). The episode concludes with discussions of the menacing alternative worlds of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

  • Episode III – Margaret Atwood to Ted Chiang (April 17)

Writers like Ursula le Guin and Octavia Butler challenged conventional notions of gender. Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale created a more political, dystopian model to illustrate relations between genders becoming oppressive. Samuel Delaney (Babel-17, Dhalgren) questioned in the late 1960s and 1970s what it meant to be a person as the complexion of science fiction is seen to have changed, becoming less white and straight and American and British than it used to be in the Golden Age or the age of the pulps or even in the New Wave.

  • Episode IV – Quatermass to Christopher Nolan (April 24)

Discussion of the success of John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids is followed by the long running and immensely successful Dr Who. Science fiction’s prescient concern with cyberspace and artificial intelligence is illustrated through the work of writers like William Gibson, William Burroughs and Philip K. Dick.

A trailer can be seen at the above link, or on the Sci-Fi-London website.  Starburst has a brief Q&A with the creator of the series, and there’s a positive review by someone who’s seen all four episodes.

The first episode is preceded by an apparently-unrelated documentary Douglas Adams: The Man Who Imagined Our Future; the UK comedy site Beyond the Joke has an overview, and there’s an an interview by the Radio Times with Adams’ collaborator John Lloyd.

(2) YEAR’S BEST CANADIAN KICKSTARTER. Stephen Kotowych has launched a Kickstarter to fund “Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume 3”.

This year’s cover image is “Repair Station 73” by Pascal Blanché.

After highly successful campaigns for Volume One in 2023 and Volume Two in 2024, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Three will help us cement the status of this series as the calling card anthology showing readers the powerful fantastical fiction being written by the Canadian F&SF community today.

If this project successfully funds, we’ll publish a reprint anthology made up of 50,000 words of today’s very best Canadian fantasy and science fiction. And, with YOUR help, we can make this a much longer anthology–see the Stretch Goals section below for details on how this could grow to be a 150,000 word anthology.

Stories written by Canadians appear in magazines both at home and abroad, on websites, in anthologies, and in zines. Some markets are well-known; others are smaller and might be missed. Some are free to read; some require subscriptions. And once the next issue of a magazine comes out, or an anthology goes out of print, or a publisher shuts down, these stories become hard to find and risk disappearing.

…And in the spirit of shopping Canadian, for Volume Three, I will be using a local book printer who did a very nice short run of Volume Two for me. Their books look great and their turnaround time is quick, so I’m looking forward to them printing the full run for me this year.

(3) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Andrea Hairston and Ursula Whitcher on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Where: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs).

Andrea Hairston

Novelist, Andrea Hairston ran away from the physics lab to the theatre as a young thing and has been a scientist, artiste, and hoodoo conjurer ever since. Novels: Archangels of Funk; Will Do Magic For Small Change, a NYT, (the latter an Editor’s pick & finalist for the Mythopoeic, Lambda, & Otherwise Awards); Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the Otherwise & Carl Brandon Award; Master of Poisons was on the Kirkus Review’s Best SF&F of 2020; and Mindscape, coming from Tordotcom, August, 2025.

Ursula Whitcher

Ursula Whitcher is a writer, poet, and mathematician whose collection of interwoven short stories, North Continent Ribbon, is published by Neon Hemlock Press. Ursula lives in Michigan with a spouse who works on high-voltage outer space experiments and two cats who work on lounging by heating vents. Look for more of Ursula’s writing in magazines such as Asimov’s and Analog or in the American Mathematics Society‘s Feature Column

(4) ALFIES: WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. In his report on “A Scottish Worldcon” at Not A Blog, George R.R. Martin recalls why he held the original Alfies ceremony in 2015, the first year the Sad and Rabid Puppies monopolized the Hugo ballot:

…A number of writers and fans who would surely have been nominated for a Hugo Award were squeezed out when the Puppies (Sad and Rabid) stuffed the ballot with their own favorites.   There was no way to rectify that (though various people tried, with everything from wooden asterisks to rules reform to voting No Award).   My own approach was the Alfies; consolation  trophies made of old hood ornaments, like many of the early Hugo Awards, given to writers and fans who missed out on nominations they likely would have gotten in a normal year….

He gave more Alfies in 2016. He skipped 2016 after that the purpose of them changed to just being nice tokens for people he thought should be honored. One Alfie was given in 2018 to John Picacio for the Mexicanx Initiative. At Dublin 2019 he presented Jane Johnson and Malcolm Edwards with Alfie Awards for Editing. But in 2024 they resumed their original purpose of calling attention to people unjustly denied their place on the Hugo Ballot.

Martin details why one of the victims of the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo shenanigans, R.F. Kuang, got an Alfie.

…The final Alfie of the night went to R.F.  KUANG for her novel BABEL, OR THE NECESSITY OF VIOLENCE,, which received 810 nominations, the third highest total.   Nonethelss, there was no place on the ballot her.  That was especially egregious, I thought, since BABEL would have had an excellent chance of coming out on top if the book had been nominated.  The novel had already won the Nebula Award and the Locus Award, among other honors; a Hugo would have given it a rare sweep of SF’s most prestigious awards.  Alas, BABEL never got the chance to contend.

But it did get an Alfie.  And Rebecca herself was there to collect it.

Will there be more Alfies in the years to come?  Only time will tell….

(5) RECOMMENDED READING. The New York Times supplies a whole chart to help you find “The Best Fantasy Novels to Read Right Now” – link bypasses the paywall.

The editors of The New York Times Book Review bring you cross-genre fantasy books, our favorite recent romantasy reads, books that will transport you to other worlds, our latest reviews, thrilling historical fantasies, the essential Tanith Lee, new series fantasy novels and more!

(6) WAYWARD WORMHOLE 2026. Cat Rambo’s Wayward Wormhole workshop will meet in Barbados from February 7-21, 2026. The focus will be on “The Art of the Novella”. Applications close May 15, 2025. Full details at the link.

Novellas are growing in popularity, and we want to help yours stand out.

Structurally, they can get tricky—they’re not mini-novels anymore than children are mini-adults—while still demanding full, fleshy, character arcs and immersive descriptions.

WHERE: Oistins area, Christ Church, Barbados. FEE:  $2,500.00 US (travel, accommodations, and food NOT included)

(7) THROUGH A MIRROR DARKLY. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] The first 15 minutes of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row earlier this week had an interview with Charlie Brooker, the writer behind Black Mirror. You can download it here.

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

April 3, 1999 — The Lost World series

Twenty-six years ago, something that had been made into a film at least seven times was made into a series. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, often shortened to just The Lost World, premiered this day in syndication in the States. (The first adaptation was made in 1925, and author Doyle appears in a preface to that film, though not all existing prints have him as some were cut, often radically.)

It was based very loosely as you well know on Doyle’s The Lost World novel and includes John Landis among its bevy of executive producers. The actual producer was Darrly Sheen who was the line producer on Time Trax and who did the same on several episodes of the Australian version of Mission: Impossible. The latter is a series that I like a lot which is not streaming anywhere. Did you did every episode used a script that not chosen for an expose during the run of the original series? Well it did. It marked the last appearance of Graves as Phelps as in the films the character goes bad and he wouldn’t do that. 

Guess where this series was produced? It was done at Village Roadshow Studios, Oxenford, Queensland, Australia.  Other productions of note done there include Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge and Aquaman.

The initial cast was Peter McCauley as Professor George Edward Challeger, Rachel Blakely, as Marguerite Krux, Jennifer O’Dell as Veronica Layton, William deVry as Ned Malone and William Snow as Lord John Richard Roxton and Michael Sinelnikoff as Professor Arthur Summerlee. It would have way, way too many guest performers as it had at least or more generally every episode to list here. Suffice it say that if you watched any series that was made in Australia or. New Zealand then, it’s likely one or more of them could well grace this series. 

They lived in a giant tree house, really they did, one with many conveniences that rival what you and I have in a sort of Victorian peusdo-scientific fashion, and had many a fantastical adventure, none of which I’d say had anything to do with The Lost World novel unless there’s reptile people in there that I missed when I read it. It lasted three seasons consisting of sixty-six episodes. It was cancelled when funding for another season fell through. It’s on Amazon Prime right now.

Personal opinion? It was fun and I certainly don’t regret the time that I took to watch it. It was quite pulpy (Doc Savage would have fit right in here) and as long as you don’t expect it to have anything to do with the novel, you will enjoy a Thirties-style concept updated to contemporary standards. 

(9) COMICS SECTION.

(10) PROJECT HAIL MARY. “Ryan Gosling Plays a Nerdy Scientist on a Suicidal Space Mission in ‘Project Hail Mary’ CinemaCon Trailer: ‘I Put the Not in Astronaut’” at Variety.

Ryan Gosling, looking very nerdy and quite un-Ken-like, plays a science teacher turned grudging astronaut in “Project Hail Mary,” a sci-fi adventure that Amazon MGM Studios teased during its presentation to theater owners at CinemaCon on Wednesday.

“I put the ‘not’ in astronaut,” Gosling tells the government handler (Sandra Hüller) who has tapped him to undertake a suicidal space mission. “I can’t even moonwalk.”

The film, an adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-selling novel of the same name, follows an ordinary man who is told he has what it takes to go into the outer reaches of the universe. “You have the right stuff,” Gosling tells Hüller. “I have the wrong stuff.”…

(11) NINTENDO’S NEW CONSOLE. [Item by Steven French.] This week’s gaming newsletter from the Guardian:“Everything we learned from Nintendo’s ‘deep dive’ into the Switch 2”.

Sixty minutes – that’s how long Nintendo took on Wednesday afternoon to remind us that no other video game manufacturer creates joy like this one. It was the Nintendo livestream we’ve been waiting for: a deep dive into the new console after so much speculation. Sure, the Switch 2 is the company’s first real hardware sequel – an updated and spruced-up version of its predecessor rather than a radical new piece of kit. But the updates are the intriguing part.

Naturally, we’re getting a larger (7.9-inch, to be precise) screen that displays in full HD at 1080p; but we’re also getting re-thought Joy-Con controllers that now click to the console via strong magnets rather than those fiddly sliders we all put on the wrong way. The buttons are larger, too, so adults will be able to play Mario Kart with some semblance of skill. But the main new feature for the controllers is a new rollerball that enables each one to operate as a mouse. This will allow for new point-and-click features and some interesting control options. I like that they showed this off with a wheelchair basketball game, where you slide the controllers a long a surface to mimic pushing the wheels….

(12) JUSTWATCH QUARTERLIES. JustWatch has released their first quarter 2025 US streaming video on demand market share report — and as always, it’s based on data from over 15 million monthly JustWatch users in the US. The report tracks streaming interest by analyzing user behavior like filtering platforms, engaging with titles, and clicking through to offers.

Highlights from Q1 2025:

  • Prime Video takes the lead at 21%, just ahead of Netflix at 20%.
  • Max (13%) and Disney+ (12%) are neck-and-neck in the second tier.
  • Hulu holds 10%, while Apple TV+ (8%) and Paramount+ (7%) follow.
  • Peacock and Starz both captured 2% of market share.

SVOD Market Shares in Q1 2025. In a highly competitive landscape, Prime Video edged out Netflix to claim the leading position in Q1 2025 with a 21% market share. Netflix followed closely with 20%, making it a tight race at the top. Max secured third place at 13%, narrowly ahead of Disney+ at 12%, while Hulu held 10% of the market, closing the gap between them and the top three.

The remaining platforms—including Apple TV+, Paramount+, and services like Peacock and Starz—collectively accounted for the remaining share of the market. These figures reflect shifting user preferences as viewers navigate an increasingly fragmented streaming landscape.

Market Share Development in Q1 2025. Short-term growth trends between December 2024 and March 2025 showed modest but notable shifts. Disney+ and Starz each gained +1%, signaling increased user interest. In contrast, Paramount+ experienced the most significant drop, falling -2% over the same period. Most major platforms—including Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu—remained stable throughout the quarter, suggesting consistent user engagement at the top.

Year-over-Year Comparison. Comparing Q1 2025 to Q1 2024, Peacock Premium and Starz demonstrated the strongest growth, each up +1% on average. Disney+ also showed positive momentum, while Paramount+ saw the largest decline at -2% year-over-year. Max and Netflix each slipped slightly with -1%, despite remaining major players in the U.S. streaming ecosystem.

(13) UNIVERSAL UP? [Item by Mark Roth-Whitworth.] Sure looks like this is what this study implies, that there’s a universal up/north. “The distribution of galaxy rotation in JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey” in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society at Oxford Academic.

JWST provides a view of the Universe never seen before, and specifically fine details of galaxies in deep space. JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) is a deep field survey, providing unprecedentedly detailed view of galaxies in the early Universe. The field is also in relatively close proximity to the Galactic pole. Analysis of spiral galaxies by their direction of rotation in JADES shows that the number of galaxies in that field that rotate in the opposite direction relative to the Milky Way galaxy is ∼50  per cent higher than the number of galaxies that rotate in the same direction relative to the Milky Way. The analysis is done using a computer-aided quantitative method, but the difference is so extreme that it can be noticed and inspected even by the unaided human eye. 

(14) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “’Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld’ Drops Trailer ahead of May 4 Premiere” – Animation Magazine sets the frame.

Today, Disney+ released the trailer, key art and stills for Lucasfilm Animation’s Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, an all-new anthology series of animated shorts from creator Dave Filoni, premiering exclusively on Disney+ just in time for the “Star Wars holiday,” May the 4th. Synopsis: The series of animated Star Wars anthologies, which began in 2022 with Tales of the Jedi and continued in 2024 with Tales of the Empire, this time focuses on the criminal underbelly of the galaxy through the experiences of two iconic villains.

Former assassin and bounty hunter Asajj Ventress is given a new chance at life and must go on the run with an unexpected new ally, while outlaw Cad Bane faces his past when he confronts an old friend, now a Marshal on the opposite side of the law.

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

Pixel Scroll 3/15/25 I Wish I Could Pixel Like My Captain Kate (Janeway)

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(1) WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT A HOBBIT HOLE HERE. The Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog has posted to Bluesky a spin on the “Omelas” tale in the voice of you-know-who. Stunningly on point. Fourteen posts long. The first one is here.

OK. My quick attempt at "My Omelas, Right Or Wrong."1/XLet me tell you about this incredible place, Omelas. It’s huge, folks, absolutely beautiful. Everybody’s happy. Everybody’s winning. The economy, it's fantastic, the best economy anyone’s ever seen, believe me.

— An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog (@hugobookclub.bsky.social) 2025-03-13T16:54:55.838Z

(2) SIMULTANEOUS TIMES IS SEVEN. Space Cowboy Books today launched the 7-year anniversary episode of the Simultaneous Times podcast. This episode is a collaboration with Apex Magazine.

Simultaneous Times 7 Year Anniversary Episode

Featuring stories from the pages of Apex Magazine.

  • “Then Came the Ghost of My Dead Mother, Antikleia” by Nadia Radovich. With music by Doctor Auxiliary. Read by Jenna Hanchey
  • “What Happens When a Planet Falls From the Sky?” by Danny Cherry, Jr. With music by Phog Masheeen. Read by the Jean-Paul Garnier & Jenna Hanchey

Theme music by Dain Luscombe

(3) SPECIAL ACCESS TO NATURE FUTURES STORY. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] SF² Concatenation has just posted the first of its four “Best of Nature Futures” short stories of the year. Because it is behind a paywall, non-Nature subscribers can’t access the original weekly stories. Fortunately SF² Concatenation has an agreement with Nature and the permission of respective writers to re-post four a year. The story “Cosmic Rentals” by Dave Kavanaugh concerns a rental store where you can literally hire “universes”… What’s not to like? …And if you scroll down below the story you will get the author’s ‘story behind the story’. You access it here.

(4) WHAT YOU WON’T SEE ON THE BALLOT. The Ursa Major Awards, the annual anthropomorphic literature and arts award, will shortly release their 2024 finalists and open public voting. But the administrators have decided to announce some rulings on the prospective nominees ahead of time.

We are about to present the list of nominees for 2024 and will open up voting soon. However, we thought it was best to first present a list of special considerations for a select few entries we have received this year.

In the Best Anthropomorphic Game category, Atlyss did receive enough nominations to place in the top 5, but because Atlyss has only been released as an “early access” title, it has been disqualified from the 2024 list.

In the Fursuit category, only one qualifying entry was given more than a single vote, therefore we felt it best to drop the category for 2024, as has been done in the past.

In the Best Anthropomorphic Music category, an album titled “Where Will the Animals Sleep” would have been in the top 5 nominations. However, as neither the content nor the author is anthropomorphic / furry, it has been disqualified.

(5) FEAR FACTOR. “Snow White Premiere: Dwarf Actor Responds to Rachel Zegler Movie Pivot” in The Hollywood Reporter.

One performer from Disney‘s new Snow White is sharing his thoughts amid the debate surrounding the launch for the live-action movie.

Martin Klebba — who has appeared in two previous versions of Snow White, including the 2012 feature Mirror Mirror that stars Julia Roberts and Lily Collins — provides the voice of Grumpy in the new movie and also serves as an advisor for the miner characters. Klebba tells The Hollywood Reporter that the recent controversy surrounding Snow White, which has led to the film’s Saturday premiere not inviting press onto the red carpet, has meant a less exciting celebration for those involved in the project that stars Rachel Zegler as the title character and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

“It really isn’t going to be a red carpet,” says Klebba, who emphasizes that he is very proud of the movie and cannot wait for audiences to see it. “It’s going to be at the El Capitan [Theatre], which is cool. But it’s basically going to be a pre-party, watch the movie, and that’s it. There’s not going to be this whole hoopla of, ‘Disney’s first fucking movie they ever made.’ Because of all this controversy, they’re afraid of the blowback from different people in society.”

Klebba says that the premiere changes were due to “the controversy with Rachel” but clarifies that he had not been given direct information on why the event was altered. Zegler is known as an outspoken star who suggested in 2022 that she was not a fan of the original 1937 animated classic due to outdated plot points. Additionally, after President Donald Trump was elected in November, Zegler posted comments to social media that were critical of his victory before later apologizing….

(6) FREAKIER FRIDAY. They’re afraid, too, apparently. “Freakier Friday Teaser Trailer”. Movie in theaters August 8.

(7) DO FANNISH VALUES WORK IN SCALED-UP CONVENTIONS? Patch O’Furr analyzes the issues of “How to love the freedom of leaderless fandom, and fight the flipside of organized abuse” for furry fans at Dogpatch Press.

Do you know the story where several blind people try to describe an elephant by only touching small parts of it? Nobody can say what the whole animal is.

That happens when furry subculture talks about itself, and protests outside stereotypes by falling into its own… The Geek Social Fallacies….

…That’s the natural downside of the old-school fan values, but things were more personal when groups were smaller scale. They would put up with a few jerks because it was harder to kick them out and sustain groups. Now add decades of growth, and much bigger scale of members who don’t know each other. (Dunbar’s Number names a finite limit on how many relationships your brain can handle.) Put the problem on steroids with internet platforms we don’t own. It’s not YOU, it’s MATH….

…The math of escalating abuse

Rapid and unplanned growth of furry subculture has many unforeseeable effects. Straining the limits of conventions is one covered on Soatok’s furry cybersecurity blog: Furries Are Losing the Battle Against Scale. Convention attendance is doubling every few years and “the furry community is growing at a break-neck exponential speed.”

Security suffers without top-down management at impersonal scale, especially when the more we depend on net platforms, the more problems we have by policy. Social media is built to shift liability for moderation from owners to users. It’s their business model to be unaccountable! The point is to eliminate the cost of the editor/gatekeeper/mod layer by automating the labor and letting volunteers and peers fill in.

Peer moderation may feel like personal control, but meanwhile, bad actors can game the system with off-site advantage. Moderators may respond to simple individual incidents on-site, but can’t even see complex cross-platform abuse. That’s how responses can be weak, scattered, inconsistent, and lack resources for scale, no matter how much their hearts are in it.

If you can’t see abuse, it festers. Think of church scandals where abuser priests were shifted around from church to church. We have that too, but there’s no orders from the top. It’s from being nobody’s job. A long-time creep can use a newly minted fursona to jump from group to group, when it’s easy to change accounts and delete evidence, but an uphill battle to track them or get consequences. Different process, same outcome….

(8) REMEMBERING A CLASSIC HORROR AUTHOR. “Lisa Morton Discusses Dennis Etchison” in an installment of the Horror Writers Association’s blog series “Nuts & Bolts”.

Lisa Morton describes Dennis Etchison’s work as a “brain bombshell” that changed her idea of what horror fiction could do. When she was just starting out, Etchison had a major influence on both her art and her career. In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, Lisa discusses Etchison’s writing technique, his influence on her own work, and what writers today can learn from the late horror legend.

Q: Can you tell us a little about Dennis Etchison and his contributions to the horror genre?

A: To me, Dennis is one of the absolute greatest craftsmen of the horror short story. His short story collection The Dark Country came out in 1982, when most of the genre was split between Stephen King’s suburban, East Coast horror on one hand and the glorious excesses of the splatterpunks on the other, and his work fit into neither camp. It was completely unique and was the first time I’d read horror set mostly in my hometown of Los Angeles; it’s not an exaggeration to say that it made me think I might be able to write horror fiction. My all-time favorite short story is his 1993 masterpiece The Dog Park, which is one of those works of fiction that’s like a magic trick — it really gets under your skin and you’re not sure how it was done. Although I also like several of his novels, especially California Gothic, his short fiction is what I think will be remembered….

Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Atkins and Dennis Etchison in back of Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in 2013.

(9) KGB PHOTOS. Ellen Datlow has posted photos on Flickr of the “Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series March 12, 2025” gathering where Victoria Dalpe and Jedediah Berry read from their work to a very full house.

(10) LACON V HOLDING ANAHEIM MEETING. LAcon V, the 2026 Worldcon committee, told Facebook readers how to ask to attend their meeting next weekend.

LAcon V is hosting an in-person meeting on March 22nd and 23rd at the Anaheim Hilton.

This is a good opportunity to meet some of our leadership, learn more about the convention, and possibly become part of the LAcon V team!

If you are interested in participating, and plan to be in the Anaheim area, please email us at info(at)lacon.org for further details.

(11) T. JACKSON KING (1948-2025). Author and archeologist Thomas Jackson King, Jr. died December 3, 2024. SFWA’s tribute “In Memoriam: T. Jackson King” notes he was “a prolific writer of science-fiction, horror, and urban fantasy, and an award-winning journalist. He wrote articles for The SFWA Bulletin and SFWA Handbook, and served as the SFWA Election Committee Chair.” 

(12) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

The Girl with Something Extra series (1976)

Networks in the Sixties liked young actresses. They were either sexy, or they were cute. So let’s talk about the lead of The Girl with Something Extra series that debuted forty-nine years ago. 

That lead actress was Sally Field which tells you how deep the story was intended to be. She was a wife who had ESP, and her husband played by John Davidson never quite understood her. It was intended to be cute, really, really cute with her giving it that cuteness. 

There was other cast, but really who cared? Not the studio. It was intended to be just a vehicle for these two to be a couple as this critic noted “The plot for The Girl With Something Extra TV show immediately brings to mind another show that ended in March of 1972 after a whopping eight seasons on the air! That series of course was “Bewitched” which also featured a young newlywed couple with the wife having super-human powers that caused many problems for her and her husband.” 

The audience apparently didn’t grasp its charms, and it was canceled after one season of twenty-two half hour episodes. 

So the Apple search engine says it’s not streaming anywhere. The Flying Nun is streaming on, errr, Tubi. Any of y’all ever subscribe to that service? 

Lancer Books published a tie-in novel by Paul Farman, The Girl With Something Extra. 

I see multiple signed scripts is for sale on eBay. Press photos too. Like the one below. Aren’t they cute? Well, aren’t they?

(13) COMICS SECTION.

(14) DWAYNE MCDUFFIE AWARD TAKING ENTRIES. Comics Beat announced that the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics is accepting submissions. “Mark Waid joins 10th annual Dwayne McDuffie Award selection committee”.

…As in previous years, the event will name one winner from five honored finalists, whose work resembles a commitment to excellence and inclusion on and off the page, much like the late Mr. McDuffie’s own efforts to produce entertainment that was representative of and created by a wide scope of human experience. Moreover, prolific comic creator Mark Waid has joined joined the selection committee which includes The Beat‘s own Heidi MacDonald, and other notable comics industry figures.

The 10th annual “Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics” is now accepting submissions at https://dwaynemcduffie.com/dmad/. The deadline is May 1, 2025 for comics published during the 2024 calendar year.

New York Times best-selling author, Mark Waid, joins a selection committee of notable comic book professionals led by industry legend, Marv Wolfman. This prestigious prize has grown exponentially in esteem since it was established in 2015 in honor of Dwayne McDuffie (1962-2011), the legendary African-American comic book writer/editor and writer/producer of the animated Static Shock, Justice League, and Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien, who famously co-founded Milestone Media, the most successful minority-owned comic book company in the history of the industry.

The slogan for the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics is Mr. McDuffie’s own profound saying:

“From invisible to inevitable.”

Prolific writer/creator, Mark Waid, is “proud to be part of the DMADs”:

“As a medium and as a community—even removing from consideration the onslaught of bigotry and intolerance sweeping the U.S. as we speak—the world of comics has a responsibility to recognize, promote, and honor comics that not only employ great storytelling but are emblematic of the power of equality and inclusion. As creators, good work from anyone forces us to up our game. As readers, we’re all better off—and more entertained and educated—when we’re exposed to the widest possible variety of voices and viewpoints.”…

(15) AVENGERS ACADEMY. Anthony Oliveira, Carola Borelli and Bailie Rosenlund’s Avengers Academy Infinity Comic series on Marvel Unlimited comes to print for the first time this June.

Since launching last year, Marvel Unlimited’s hit AVENGERS ACADEMY Infinity Comic series by rising star Anthony Oliveira and visionary artists Carola Borelli and Bailie Rosenlund has become an online phenomenon, gaining a devoted fanbase who tune in each week to experience the adventures of Marvel’s most promising young heroes! This June, the acclaimed series comes to your local comic shop in AVENGERS ACADEMY: ASSEMBLE #1, a new one-shot collecting the first six issues in print for the first time!

From the X-Men to the symbiote hivemind, this eclectic group assembles fan-favorite characters from every corner of the Marvel Universe, including new sensations like Kid Juggernaut. Discover their journey to become tomorrow’s Mightiest Heroes in this masterful blend of teen drama and super hero adventure!

SCHOOL’S IN SESSION!

Welcome to Avengers Academy! Seeking to guide the next generation of super heroes, Captain Marvel recruits a misfit team of super-powered teens: CAPTAIN AMERICA OF THE RAILWAYS, BLOODLINE, ESCAPADE, MOON GIRL, RED GOBLIN, and new hero on the block, KID JUGGERNAUT! But classes are the least of their concerns as they fend off super-villain attacks, make new friends – and new foes – and learn what it really means to be Earth’s mightiest heroes. Featuring the first appearance of an all-new SINISTER SIX, this is one book you don’t want to miss!

Check out the all-new cover by Stephen Byrne and preorder Avengers Academy: Assemble #1 at your local comic shop today! For more information, visit Marvel.com.

(16) FARADAY UNCAGED. [Item by Mark Roth-Whitworth.] Why do we have a lot of electricity? Faraday. I think a lot of us know who Faraday was, but this is a lovely, loving article. “Unearthed notebooks shed light on Victorian genius who inspired Einstein” in the Guardian.

…When a lab assistant at the Institution got into a brawl and was fired in February 1813, Davy remembered the 22-year-old Faraday and offered him the job – which involved taking a pay cut, but gave the young man access to the laboratory, free coal, candles and two attic rooms.

Faraday later gave an account of this job offer: “At the same time that he [Davy] gratified my desires as to scientific employment, he advised me to remain a bookbinder, telling me that Science was a harsh mistress… poorly rewarding those who devoted themselves to her service.”

Despite Davy’s advice, Faraday accepted the job. It was a decision that would prove to be seminal for science. Over the next 55 years, while working for the Royal Institution, Faraday discovered several fundamental laws of physics and chemistry – including his law of electromagnetic induction in 1831, which illuminated the relative motion of charged particles.

It was thanks to Faraday’s trailblazing experiments at the institution that he discovered electromagnetic rotation in 1821, a breakthrough that led to the development of the electric motor and benzene, a hydrocarbon derived from benzoic acid, in 1825. He became the first scientist to liquefy gas in 1823, invented the electric generator in 1831 and discovered the laws of electrolysis in the early 1830s, helping to coin terms such as electrode, cathode and ion. In 1845, after finding the first experimental evidence that a magnetic field could influence polarised light – a phenomenon that became known as the Faraday effect – he proved light and electromagnetism are interconnected….

(17) PIXEL SCROLL TITLE EXPLANATION OF THE DAY. [Item by Daniel Dern.] Via “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” (1922).

Probably my favorite recording (keeping in mind I’ve only listened to a fraction of the various artists’ recordings) is from Jim Kweskin’s Relax Your Mind album (more generally one of my favorite albums): “Three Songs – A Look at the Ragtime Era (Sister Kate’s Night Out) : I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”.

Here’s the first version I’ve run into (yesterday!) that shows there’s a long intro section: “Sister Kate” – song and lyrics by Vi Wickam, Paul Anastasio, Albanie Falletta | Spotify.

Lots of (current/recent) popular covers!

Dave Van Ronk “Sister Kate”.

Here’s the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Sister Kate”.

And here’s an unexpected cover (from the From Liverpool To Hamburg 2CD set) — The Beatles – “i wish i could shimmy like my sister Kate” (live).

(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by Arnie Fenner.] This “Frazetta Fridays” episode about the creation of Vampirella includes some fun history featuring Harlan, Forry, and Trina Robbins.

[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Arnie Fenner, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

Pixel Scroll 3/5/25 When You’re In Love With A Scrollable Pixel It’s Hard

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(1) DREAMHAVEN BOOKS IN THE NEWS. “Bad author behavior forces decisions on Minnesota booksellers” the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has learned.

…Many years ago, DreamHaven Books owner Greg Ketter was disturbed by misogynistic statements from John Norman, who wrote a book series about a different kind of monster, the “Gor” fantasy books. Ketter took them off the Minneapolis store’s shelves for a time but ended up restocking them when customers requested them.

About a dozen Gaiman titles remain at DreamHaven, although his presence isn’t as big as it once was. That’s largely because Gaiman has been more involved in filmmaking than novel writing in recent years (after the allegations became public, a planned Disney movie of “The Graveyard Book” was put on hold, although several completed film and TV shows are expected to be released eventually. He’s also been dropped by a U.K. publisher and a “Coraline” musical has been scrapped).

“We had a huge section for Neil Gaiman for years but it had been slowing down, so we were just moving things around when everything came out in the news,” said Ketter, who published some of Gaiman’s early work. “We are still selling some of his books and things. We just leave it up to people. If they keep buying books, we keep them on the shelves.”

The attitude is different at Avant Garden, “an unapologetically feminist and LGBTQIA-inclusive” business, according to owner Jenni Hill. Because it was created as a welcoming space for all kinds of people, Hill said, “We strive to carry books in-store that reflect our values.”

That means Avant Garden, which opened about four years ago, has never stocked Rowling titles, which Hill worries might trigger trans customers and their allies: “I don’t want anyone to feel I would advocate for a writer who has been hurtful to our community.”

That’s also why Avant Garden stopped carrying Gaiman titles as soon as the allegations came out.

“I texted Emily, our employee, ‘Let’s remove his books.’ That was literally the whole discussion,” said Hill. “It just doesn’t feel right to profit from those books. And I’d already bought the books, so I will lose money on those. But I won’t restock them for sure.”…

(2) DID YOU NOTICE SOMETHING’S MISSING? Zach Weinersmith tells Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal readers he’s cut ties with Hiveworks and that’s why for the moment there are no ads on his site. He also explains some things about the business dynamics of advertising in social media.

(3) LIBBY AWARDS. People magazine’s list of the 2025 Libby Awards winners includes many works of genre interest.

…Hosted by library lending apps OverDrive and Libby, the prize, now in its second year, honors the best books published in 2024, as chosen by librarians and library staff.

Debut Author of the Year
The Ministry of Time by Kailane Bradley – Winner

Best Fantasy
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst – Winner
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo – Runner-Up

Best Horror
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle – Winner
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones – Runner-Up

Best Romantasy
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas – Winner
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi – Runner-Up

Best Science Fiction
The Ministry of Time by Kailane Bradley – Winner
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei – Runner-Up

(4) DOES DOCTOR WHO EVER REALLY ARRIVE AT THE WRONG TIME? [Item by Kathy Sullivan.] This German trailer of the next season of Doctor Who briefly appeared and then was taken down supposedly because it was meant to be released at the end of March.  It includes much of the content from the Season 2 trailer released a few days ago, but has additional bits: “German Doctor Who Trailer Staffel 2 Disney+”.

(5) AI RIGHTS. “’Sign our own death warrant’: Australian writers angry after Melbourne publisher asks them to sign AI agreements” reports the Guardian.

Australian writers, literary agents, and the industry’s peak body have expressed concern after Black Inc Books asked its authors to consent to their work being used to train artificial intelligence.

The Melbourne publisher, which produces the Quarterly Essay as well as fiction and nonfiction by prominent Australian writers, gave them until Wednesday to enter into third-party agreements with an unnamed AI company.

The writers were asked to grant Black Inc “the right to reproduce or use, adapt and exploit the work in connection with the development of any software program, including, without limitation, training, testing, validation and the deployment of a machine learning or generative artificial intelligence system”.

Under the deal the publisher will split the net receipts with the author 50/50.

The Guardian has confirmed that a number of writers published by Black Inc received the request to alter their contracts last week.

The documents sent by the company’s publishing coordinator promise that, by authorising their works to be used by an unspecified AI company, authors would unlock “new revenue streams” with their works receiving “increased visibility and credibility”.

“I feel like we’re being asked to sign our own death warrant,” said Laura Jean McKay, author of Holiday in Cambodia, published with Black Inc a decade ago and shortlisted for three literary awards.

McKay says she had received the addendum to her contract on Friday, and was worried that three business days was not long enough to decipher what Black Inc was asking her to sign….

(6) BROTHER GUY AT SF CONS. The Vatican Observatory blog has a post by Robert Trembley about Brother Guy Consolmagno attending Boskone, just the latest of many he’s been at. The article includes a link to Daniel Dern’s Boskone post here, plus one of his photos of Brother Guy.

Br. Guy attended a science fiction convention over the weekend of Feb. 14-16 in Boston, where he met with friends, and autographed copies of his books….

…Br. Guy was introduced to me by mutual friends at a WindyCon (an SF Con in Chicago) in the mid-90’s – he was curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory at the time, and he spoke about the science of meteoritics, and how he was studying meteorites from the VO’s impressive collection. He completely blew me away! I walked away with a entirely different view of the “cool rocks from space” I’d been collecting for a couple years. Br. Guy continues to WOW people with meteorites, as he did at the recent L.A. Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California.

(7) WHY NOT SAY WHAT HAPPENED? Scott Edelman twenty-first episode of his Why Not Say What Happened? podcast remembers “My Long Weekend Annoying MAD Magazine Publisher Bill Gaines”. You can also download episodes at the site of your choice.

My latest look back at what I was doing in comics during the ’70s has me remembering the weekend I couldn’t stop myself from teasing Bill Gaines about the National Lampoon‘s satirical slam of MAD magazine, why famed con-runner Phil Seuling castigated us fans one afternoon for mistreating our mothers, the words Gerry Conway wrote for Daredevil’s girlfriend Karen Page in the basement of a Times Square Nathan’s, how my 1980 DC Comics vampire story ended up as a 1987 episode of Tales from the Darkside, the continuing mystery of the martial arts series I’d forgotten I’d tried to write for Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (and what Tony Stark had to do with it), and much more.

(8) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present: Jedediah Berry & Victoria Dalpe on Wednesday, March 12. Location: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003, (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs). Starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jedediah Berry

Jedediah Berry’s latest novel, The Naming Song, was described in a starred Library Journal review as “a wonderfully odd ode to language, story, and family.” His first book, The Manual of Detection, won the Crawford Award and the Hammett Prize, and was adapted for broadcast by BBC Radio 4. He is the author of numerous games and interactive works, including a story in cards, The Family Arcana, and the Ennie Award-winning RPG setting The Valley of Flowers (co-written with Andrew McAlpine). He lives in Western Massachusetts with his partner Emily Houk, with whom he runs Ninepin Press, an independent publisher of fiction in unusual formats.

Victoria Dalpe

Victoria Dalpe is a Providence-based horror writer and painter. She has published over forty-five short stories in various collections, the gothic horror novel Parasite Life and the short story collection Les Femme Grotesques. “Dalpe’s horror stories are equal parts intriguing, compelling, and appropriately macabre,”—Rue Morgue. Book one of her dark horror fantasy series Selene Shade: Resurrectionist for Hire was released September of 2024 by Clash Books. Book two in the trilogy, Loving the Dead will be out this fall. Dalpe was also a producer on the drag queen slasher film Death Drop Gorgeous. For upcoming events follow her on Instagram at victorialdalpe

(9) TURING AWARD. “Turing Award Goes to 2 Pioneers of Artificial Intelligence”, Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton. The New York Times has the story (behind a paywall.)

In 1977, Andrew Barto, as a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, began exploring a new theory that neurons behaved like hedonists. The basic idea was that the human brain was driven by billions of nerve cells that were each trying to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

A year later, he was joined by another young researcher, Richard Sutton. Together, they worked to explain human intelligence using this simple concept and applied it to artificial intelligence. The result was “reinforcement learning,” a way for A.I. systems to learn from the digital equivalent of pleasure and pain.

On Wednesday, the Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest society of computing professionals, announced that Dr. Barto and Dr. Sutton had won this year’s Turing Award for their work on reinforcement learning. The Turing Award, which was introduced in 1966, is often called the Nobel Prize of computing. The two scientists will share the $1 million prize that comes with the award.

Over the past decade, reinforcement learning has played a vital role in the rise of artificial intelligence, including breakthrough technologies such as Google’s AlphaGo and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The techniques that powered these systems were rooted in the work of Dr. Barto and Dr. Sutton.

“They are the undisputed pioneers of reinforcement learning,” said Oren Etzioni, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Washington and founding chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. “They generated the key ideas — and they wrote the book on the subject.”

Their book, “Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction,” which was published in 1998, remains the definitive exploration of an idea that many experts say is only beginning to realize its potential.

(10) GEORGE LOWE (1957-2025). TVLine reports “George Lowe Dead, Voice of Space Ghost Age 67”.

George Lowe, a veteran voice actor whose credits include the title role in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, died on March 2 at age 67, a spokesperson confirms for TVLine…

…An alumnus of the Radio Engineering Institute of Sarasota, Lowe began his career in the 1980s with occasional voiceover work, before landing the title role in Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost Coast to Coast. A send-up of talk shows that featured live-action celebrity guests, the animated series would run for 10 years and more than 100 episodes, including a move to Adult Swim and a brief revival via Turner Broadcasting’s GameTap online video game service…

… Lowe also voiced Space Ghost in the 1995 spinoff Cartoon Planet, the 2007 movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and in the 2011 video game Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion.

His voice acting credits also include The Brak Show, Robot Chicken, Squidbillies and American Dad…

(11) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Stranger in a Strange Land (1962)

Sixty-three years ago at Chicon III where Earl Kemp was the Chair, Wilson Tucker was Toastmaster and Theodore Sturgeon was the Guest of Honor, Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land won the Hugo for Best Novel. It had been published the previous year by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 

Other nominated works that year were Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye, Sense of Obligation (also called Planet of the Damned) by Harry Harrison, The Fisherman (also known as Time Is the Simplest Thing) by Clifford D. Simak and Second Ending by James White.  I know all those authors and have read deeply of them save Daniel F. Galouye. Tell me about him please. 

It was his third Hugo in six years after Double Star at NyCon II and Starship Troopers at Pittcon. He’d win his fourth and final Hugo for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress at NyCon 3 in another five years.

The working title for the book was A Martian Named Smith which was also the name of the screenplay started by a character at the end of the novel. 

I must note Jubal Harshaw for me is the most interesting and enjoyable character in the book, an older experienced man who questioned everything, but with compassion, honor and a truly open heart. Harshaw also appears in three later Heinlein novels, The Number of the Beast in the coda, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and To Sail Beyond the Sunset which I’ll confess I never finished. 

Needless to say the novel is available from the usual suspects. There’s also an audiobook, one of myriad audiobooks done of his novels. 

As always the artwork below is for the first edition. 

(12) COMICS SECTION.

  • xkcd explains a homeowner’s risk of water damage.
  • Brewster Rockit relays a broadcast of the Cat News Network.
  • Bizarro is in on the bust.
  • Free Range discovers why returning to Kansas wasn’t easy.
  • Herman is on the track. Or vice versa.
  • WaynoVision has a variation on a monster.

(13) ‘KIRBYVISION’ DOCUMENTARY PLANNED. Acclaimed documentary film director Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, UFOs: Investigating the Unknown) will be helming Kirbyvision – a feature length documentary telling the story of the legendary Jack Kirby.

Kirby is widely regarded as one of the comic book medium’s most innovative, prolific, and influential creators. At the height of his nearly six decade career, Kirby created or co-created many of Marvel’s major characters including Captain America (with Joe Simon), the Avengers, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thor, the X-Men, and countless others (with comics impresario Stan Lee). 

He worked similar magic for DC Comics, where he created the sprawling, psychedelic “Fourth World,” a series of political and psychedelic sci-fi epics often considered his most ambitious work. His creations as writer, artist, and editor include Darkseid, Mister Miracle, OMAC, The Demon, and many others who are mainstays of DC’s publishing and screen projects to this day. 

Ricki Stern says: “Jack was not only one of the great comic book artists of all time, but a true visionary genius. In this new feature length documentary, we actively campaign for the recognition he finally deserves as a leading artist and storyteller of the 20th Century.”

Kirby drew his way out of an impoverished, Depression-era upbringing when he co-created Captain America, who brazenly punched out Adolf Hitler on the cover of his very first comic, months before the US had entered World War II. He was soon sent into real combat on the frontlines of the war in Europe, a harrowing experience which had a significant impact on his later work. Kirby’s astounding career touched virtually every genre, including war, romance, westerns, science fiction, horror, and, of course, superheroes. His impact is felt beyond comics to this day everywhere from animation to music to blockbuster films.

(14) FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST. Polygon recalls “How a WWII fanzine helped sci-fi survive the Blitz and beyond”. A 2019 article, but timeless.

…The cost of a mimeograph machine may have been high, but the cost of not talking to each other was higher — even in some of the most dire moments of the 20th century. The oldest zine included in As If is also the longest running fanzine to remain in distribution in Britain throughout the course of the second World War: Futurian War Digest, or FIDO, which printed from October 1940 until March 1945.

FIDO reviewed science fiction works and reflected on the fragile state of the fan community in the United Kingdom during wartime. The first issue of the zine, which was published and distributed less than a month after the start of the London bombing raids known as The Blitz, made a point of announcing the conscription of fan William F. Temple and the death on active duty of sci-fi enthusiast Edward Wade. These sombre announcements ran alongside musings about John Carter of Mars.

In a time of great uncertainty, publisher J. Michael Rosenblum said in the pages of FIDO that his self-avowed goal was to “a) to give news of and to fandom, b) to keep burning those bright mental constellations possessed by all fans.” The publication was created just as much to be an archive and time capsule as a source of entertainment, news, and distraction. By publishing the fanzine, Rosenblum recorded the history of a subculture of science fiction enthusiasts, and helped to keep a community that was being actively ripped apart together.

(15) SUPERMAN’S SPIRIT. Distilled, that is. Onward Giants is hustling the “Limited Edition Super Bottle”.

The Limited Edition Superman Whiskey Bottle is a meticulously crafted collectible designed for fans of both Superman and fine whiskey. Each bottle embodies the timeless power and spirit of Superman, making it not just a bottle of whiskey, but a unique piece of art and a symbol of heroism. This limited edition release is a must-have for collectors and superhero enthusiasts alike.

A Tribute to Superman’s Spirit
Superman represents courage, justice, and hope, and this whiskey bottle captures his essence. The iconic “S” emblem and the heroic silhouette of Superman are artistically integrated into the design, making every bottle a tribute to the hero who has inspired generations.

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

Pixel Scroll 1/27/25 For The Scroll Was A Boojum, You See

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(1) ENNIE TABLETOP GAME AWARD BANS AI ENTRIES. The ENNIE Awards will no longer allow AI content in submissions, effective with the 2025-26 awards season: “Revised Policy on Generative AI Usage”. The complete discussion is at the link.

…In 2023, the ENNIE Awards introduced their initial policy on generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). The policy recognized the growing presence of these technologies in modern society and their nuanced applications, from generating visual and written content to supporting background tasks such as PDF creation and word processing. The intent was to encourage honesty and transparency from creators while maintaining a commitment to human-driven creativity. Under this policy, creators self-reported AI involvement, and submissions with AI contributions were deemed ineligible for certain categories. For example, products featuring AI-generated art were excluded from art categories but remained eligible for writing categories if the text was entirely human-generated, and vice versa. The organizers faced challenges in crafting a policy that balanced inclusivity with the need to uphold the values of creativity and originality. Recognizing that smaller publishers and self-published creators often lack the resources of larger companies, the ENNIE Awards sought to avoid policies that might disproportionately impact those with limited budgets.

However, feedback from the TTRPG community has made it clear that this policy does not go far enough. Generative AI remains a divisive issue, with many in the community viewing it as a threat to the creativity and originality that define the TTRPG industry. The prevailing sentiment is that AI-generated content, in any form, detracts from a product rather than enhancing it.

In response to this feedback, the ENNIE Awards are amending their policy regarding generative AI. Beginning with the 2025-2026 submission cycle, the ENNIE Awards will no longer accept any products containing generative AI or created with the assistance of Large Language Models or similar technologies for visual, written, or edited content. Creators wishing to submit products must ensure that no AI-generated elements are included in their works. While it is not feasible to retroactively alter the rules for the 2024-2025 season, this revised policy reflects the ENNIE Awards commitment to celebrating the human creativity at the heart of the TTRPG community…

(2) ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDALS. The 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal winners were announced by the American Library Association today. Neither is a genre work.

FICTION

  • James by Percival Everett (Doubelday)

NONFICTION

  • Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko (Scribner)

…Calling James “an astounding riposte” to Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the ALA said that Everett “takes the story in a completely different direction than the original, exemplifying the relentless courage and moral clarity of an honorable man with nothing to lose.” Fedarko’s A Walk in the Park, which “follows the author on a canyon-spanning group hike…particularly inspires in detailing the ancestral history of the land and some of the Indigenous individuals who continue to fight against overdevelopment and ever-booming tourism,” the ALA said….

(3) FOREVER CHANGED. Sakinah Hofler, winner of the 2024 Analog Award for Emerging Black Voices, tells in a new essay how science fiction, especially Octavia Butler’s, opened Hofler’s mind to new possibilities in her writing: “Defamiliarization: Against Reality to Examine Reality” at The Astounding Analog Companion.

… I remember this as a pivotal moment when science fiction changed everything I thought I knew about what I wanted to write as well as what I thought writing could do.

The first book in the Patternist series, Wild Seed, mainly takes place in West Africa and America. There are elements of slavery in it, but we are also introduced to two evolved humans—Doro, an immortal spirit who can travel from body to body, and Anwanyu, a shape-shifter and healer—characters who, over the centuries, fluctuate between being allies and enemies. During the height of the slave trade, both of them, separately, wind up starting their own colonies of superhumans. What drew me in and what made this novel feel different and refreshing was Butler’s ability to make the familiar unfamiliar, or, as dubbed by Darko Suvin, evoke a feeling of “cognitive estrangement.” She created a world familiar enough for me to recognize, yet, by injecting supernatural elements had destabilized my understanding of reality, thwarted my expectations, and offered an alternative, complicated, hopeful history and future….

(4) NEW CLARION WEST SCHOLARSHIP. Clarion West today announced a “Scholarship for Trans Writers”.

We are delighted to announce the Sea Star Scholarship, an annual full-tuition scholarship for our flagship Six-Week Workshop, offered by an anonymous donor, which will be awarded each year to one qualifying student who identifies as two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, or under the gender expansive umbrella.

Through the generosity of our donors, Clarion West provides a number of scholarships for writers every year. Approximately 60–90% of our Six-Week Workshop participants receive full and partial-tuition scholarships. Interested students must indicate financial need when applying to the summer workshop. Applications are reviewed without regard to financial aid requests. You can learn more about scholarships for the Six-Week Workshop here. 

At Clarion West we are proud to be part of a supportive community for trans, two-spirit, nonbinary, and other gender expansive authors who continue to change and inform the landscape of speculative fiction for the better. We know that trans writers are and will continue to be essential in expanding the boundaries of SFFH and are equally essential in inviting new exciting voices into the field.

We know the journey for each trans writer is different, and that trans people represent all racial and ethnic backgrounds, faith traditions, and countries around the world. And we know that while there has been significant progress in the publishing world, the transgender community is still facing significant political and personal attacks through discrimination and violence, especially against Black and Brown trans women. 

We remain committed to supporting trans authors and learning how to better support them in a field that can be hostile and unwelcoming. We do this through our efforts to provide an intersectional framework of support for trans authors. The organization welcomes trans faculty, seeks to create supportive spaces for trans authors in workshop groups, and makes every effort to create an inclusive community throughout our programs. 

Transphobia is not welcome or tolerated in our classrooms, at our events, nor in our workspace. We support our students and community members with robust community guidelines and anti-harassment reporting policies. When we are informed of instructor or participant misconduct, Clarion West makes every effort to verify, follow up with those who may have been harmed, and to ensure that we take the steps necessary to prevent future misconduct, up to and including exclusion from Clarion West classes and events.

In the spirit of celebrating the contributions of trans and nonbinary writers to our field, we are working on a recommended reading list of trans and nonbinary writers who are either Clarion West alumni and/or Clarion West faculty! If you would like your website or stories on this list, please contact us at workshop@clarionwest.org! 

(5) FEDERAL DEPARTMENT BAILS ON FIGHTING BOOK BANS. Shelf Awareness reports “Department of Education Calls Book Bans a ‘Hoax,’ Dismisses Complaints”.

In an ominous indication of the new administration’s approach to book censorship, on Friday the new leadership of the Department of Education announced that its Office for Civil Rights has “dismissed” 17 complaints and pending complaints “related to so-called ‘book bans’ ” and said the idea that “local school districts’ removal of age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, or obscene materials from their school libraries created a hostile environment for students” and constitutes a civil rights violation is “a meritless claim based upon a dubious legal theory.” The Office for Civil Rights also ended the position of “book ban coordinator” and rescinded an agreement reached with Forsyth County School District in Georgia. The Office’s statement has the headline, “U.S. Department of Education Ends Biden’s Book Ban Hoax.”

The announcement of the changes stated in part, “On Jan. 20, 2025, incoming OCR leadership initiated a review of alleged ‘book banning’ cases pending at the department. Attorneys quickly confirmed that books are not being ‘banned,’ but that school districts, in consultation with parents and community stakeholders, have established commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials. Because this is a question of parental and community judgment, not civil rights, OCR has no role in these matters.”

The Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor added, “By dismissing these complaints and eliminating the position and authorities of a so-called ‘book ban coordinator,’ the department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education. The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities. Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility. These decisions will no longer be second-guessed by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.”

Several book world organizations responded quickly. Kasey Meehan, director, Freedom to Read, at PEN America, said in a statement: “For over three years we have countered rhetoric that book bans occurring in public schools are a ‘hoax.’ They are absolutely not. This kind of language from the U.S. Department of Education is alarming and dismissive of the students, educators, librarians, and authors who have firsthand experiences of censorship happening within school libraries and classrooms….

(6) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present: Clay McLeod Chapman & Rebecca Fraimow on Wednesday, February 12. Location: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003, (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs). Starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Clay McLeod Chapman

Clay McLeod Chapman writes books, comic books, young adult and middle grade books, as well as for film and television. His most recent novels include Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, What Kind of Mother, and Ghost Eaters.

Version 1.0.0

Rebecca Fraimow

Rebecca Fraimow is the author of science fiction romantic comedy Lady Eve’s Last Con, a NY Times Best Romance Novel of 2024, as well as the science fiction novella The Iron Children. Rebecca has also published short stories in various venues, including the Hugo-longlisted “This Is New Gehesran Calling,” and cohosts the podcast Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones with Emily Tesh. Rebecca also works as an audiovisual archivist preserving the history of public television. She’s married to fellow author Elizabeth Porter Birdsall and lives in Boston with a couple of extremely lucky black cats.

(7) WHY NOT SAY WHAT HAPPENED? In Episode16 of his Why Not Say What Happened? podcast Scott Edelman invites listeners to find out “What Teen Me Got Wrong (Twice!) About Jim Steranko”.

Join me as I look back at the trouble I had getting out of an elevator at the first Star Trek convention, what my ballot looked like when I voted for the 1968 Alley Awards, the composers who wrote the music to match the lyrics I had Rick Jones sing in Captain Marvel #50, what teen me got wrong (twice!) about Jim Steranko, the three comics characters I almost cosplayed as at the 1972 Rutland Halloween parade, the mystery woman who would have been my Beautiful Dreamer on a Forever People float, and much more.

And it can be downloaded through a variety of platforms at this link.

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

January 27, 1999 — Voyager episode “Bride of Chaotica”

Captain Janeway: Coffee, black. 

Neelix: I’m sorry, Captain. We’ve lost another two replicators 

Kathryn Janeway: Listen to me very carefully because I’m only going to say this once. Coffee – black.

Twenty-six years ago this evening on the UPN network Star Trek: Voyager‘s “Bride of Chaotica!” first aired. It was the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the series. The episode is a loving homage to the 1936 Flash Gordon film serial and 1939 Buck Rogers film serial that followed. Much of the episode was shot in black and white to emulate the look of those shows. 

The episode largely takes place on the Holodeck set because of a small fire to the Bridge set that had occurred while the episode was in production, so the Bridge scenes were shot weeks later after the set was repaired and many of the scenes that were originally set for the Bridge were either entirely rewritten or set on a different part of the ship. 

The story was Bryan Fuller who was the writer and executive producer on Voyager and Deep Space Nine; he is also the co-creator of Discovery. The script was by Fuller and Michael Taylor who was best known as a writer on Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Critics really liked it. SyFy Wire said it was “campy, hilarious, hysterical, brilliant, and an absolute joy.” And CBR noted that Voyager was “having fun with its goofier side.”

The coffee dialogue had me looking up drink preferences for the Captains. We know Picard liked Earl Grey tea, and I’m reasonably sure Kirk was never shown drinking a morning brew. (Alcoholic drinks are another matter, aren’t they for all of them?) Sisko enjoyed raktajino, a potent Klingon coffee, and Archer drank sweetened iced tea. I can’t find anything that indicates what Burnham had for a morning drink.

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

January 27, 1957 — Frank Miller, 68.

By Paul Weimer: I come to talk to you about Frank Miller strictly in his movie adaptations and work. As is my wont and practice, these writeups are my own personal engagement with a creator and their work. I could write a Wikipedia-style article cribbed from sources but that wouldn’t be me. That would be barely better than LLM. 

So I’ve never sat down to read his extensive comic book oeuvre. I am not a huge comics fan to begin with, my interests are occasional, narrow and scattershot. But that’s a story for another time. 

Frank Miller came to my attention through the movies, and it was through the original Sin City that he really came to my attention. I was absorbed by the visuals, the style, and the strong archetypal characters that we see in the original movie. I didn’t even know, until after I had watched it, that there was a graphic novel that had originated the story.  I did later flip through it, just to see how the one had been adapted to the other. 

But time and life is short and I didn’t go into Miller’s comic oeuvre. Instead, I kept an eye out on the films he wrote and directed and contributed to. The ahistorical 300, which I rationalize its utter ahistoricity  in my mind as being a pack of lies being told by the one-eyed Dilios to get the Greeks pumped up and ready to fight. He’s a storyteller, he’s lying about the battle rhinos and everything else. 

300 Rise of an Empire doesn’t have that frame to work, and I think it’s a stronger film, too. The Spirit? An utter and terrible mess and I can’t recommend it for any real reason. I did not need to see Samuel Jackson in a fascist uniform. I just didn’t. And the second Sin City? For me, it didn’t capture the magic of the first. Maybe because we “Saw it already before” and the surprise splash of the first had receded. We know the tricks in the bag for the film, and so the second movie just is…there, and not as good as one might like. I’ve never revisited it, although I’ve watched the original Sin City again more than once. 

In any event, his visuals have been a leading light of neo-noir style and are strong on those axes, an inspiration for those interested in visuals of that type.

Frank Miller

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) KEEP BANGING ON. “’The Big Bang Theory’ Is Nielsen’s “Most-Binged” Streaming Title Of 2024” – Deadline has the story.

The Big Bang Theory finished 2024 as the year’s “most-binged title” in streaming, according to a new report from Nielsen.

The sitcom averaged 265.5 episodes per viewer on Max, the measurement firm said, or 29.1 billion minutes of total viewing. The long-running former CBS series has 281 total episodes available for streaming.

Coming in at No. 7 overall among this year’s top streaming titles, Big Bang saw 58% of its watch time accounted for by adults 18 to 49.

The “average episodes per viewer” stat refers to the amount of time (with episodes lasting at least 20 minutes each) spent viewing the show. It does not indicate the number of unique episodes seen by each viewer….

(12) TAROT. [Item by Steven French.] The answer to the question at the end of this quote may surprise some! “From secret societies to Selfridges: the eccentric geniuses responsible for the macabre world of tarot” in the Guardian.

It certainly wasn’t obvious from the beginning when someone in a Milanese court added 22 new picture cards – drawing on Roman gods or classical virtues such as temperance or love which could act as an allegory for life – to a standard deck in order to enhance the complexity and fun of the game. “It wouldn’t be until the late-18th century,” says co-curator Jonathan Allen, “that a French pastor and scholar of the occult, Antoine Court de Gébelin, came to the conclusion that what he was looking at wasn’t an ordinary set of cards, but actually a concealed Egyptian religious text called the Book of Thoth.” A Parisian print seller and former seed merchant called John-Baptiste Alliette soon appropriated the theory, founded a society dedicated to its study and established himself as interpreter of the Book of Thoth before producing a new tarot deck explicitly used for fortune-telling under the reversed pen-name Etteilla. His deck, largely used by secret aristocratic magical societies, set the visual and spiritual tone in thinking and practice for the next few centuries until the early 20th century and the British occult revival.

It was the various expulsions and fragmentations of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn – a secret society exploring magic and occult mysticism which included WB Yeats and Aleister Crowley as members – that then created the dominant decks of the 20th and 21st centuries…

(13) STANDING UP TO TECH BROS. “Elton John backs Paul McCartney in criticising proposed overhaul to UK copyright system” reports the Guardian.

Elton John has backed Paul McCartney in criticising a proposed overhaul of the UK copyright system, and has called for new rules to prevent tech companies from riding “roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists’ livelihoods”.

John has backed proposed amendments to the data (use and access) bill that would extend existing copyright protections, when it goes before a vote in the House of Lords on Tuesday.

The government is also consulting on an overhaul of copyright laws that would result in artists having to opt out of letting AI companies train their models using their work, rather than an opt-in model.

McCartney told the BBC that the proposed changes could disincentivise writers and artists and result in a “loss of creativity”. The former Beatle said: “You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it, and they don’t have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off.”

“The truth is, the money’s going somewhere … Somebody’s getting paid, so why shouldn’t it be the guy who sat down and wrote Yesterday?”

John told the Sunday Times that he felt “wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists’ livelihoods. This will allow global big tech companies to gain free and easy access to artists’ work in order to train their artificial intelligence and create competing music. This will dilute and threaten young artists’ earnings even further. The musician community rejects it wholeheartedly.”

(14) ALIEN: EARTH NEWS. Deadline has a roundup — “’Alien: Earth’ Key Art Shares Terrifying New Look At Xenomorph”.

A teaser trailer of a spaceship making a crash landing on Earth dropped during the AFC Championship game [on Sunday]….

…From Noah Hawley, Alien: Earth is set two years before the events of the 1979 film Alien.

According to the show’s synopsis, “When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat in the sci-fi horror series Alien: Earth.

(15) RARE AIR. Anton Petrov talks about the “Bizarre Planet With 9km/s Winds That Absolutely Makes No Sense”.

(16) COOL WORLDS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Prof David Kipping, the Brit astrophysicist at Columbia U, USA, over at Cool Worlds looks at a forthcoming paper due to be published in Nature Astronomy.

What they have done is surveyed exoplanets that are more or less Earth-sized around K and M type stars. (M-type stars are small red dwarfs that are so cold that habitable exoplanets have to be close to the star and so are tidally locked. Also, because of their low mass, M-types stars prone to flaring which is not good for any nearby putative life. However, K-type stars are just a little more like Earth’s G-type Sun and so are of exobiological interest.) what they have found is that these planet’s orbits are almost circular just like our Earth’s…

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

Pixel Scroll 12/27/24 Introducing The Miskatonic Comma, For Lists Whose Items May Not Be Written

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(1) SENDING A MESSAGE: OF COURSE IT’S WORTH COLLECTING. The New York Times looks into “The Hottest Trend in Publishing: Books You Can Judge by Their Cover” (link bypasses Times paywall).

Last year, a romance publisher took an expensive gamble on the latest novel by the best-selling author Rebecca Yarros.

To help the novel, “Fourth Wing,” stand out in the crowded fantasy-romance genre, the publisher, Entangled, invested in a limited deluxe edition with a bold metallic cover and black sprayed edges featuring dragons.

It worked: All 115,000 copies of the deluxe edition sold out almost everywhere within a week.

“My only regret is that I printed too few,” said Liz Pelletier, Entangled’s publisher.

When the next novel in the series, “Iron Flame,” came out, Entangled was prepared, and printed a million copies of the deluxe edition. Once again, they quickly sold out.

For the third book in the series, “Onyx Storm,” which comes out in January, Entangled is printing two million copies of the deluxe edition, which has stenciled artwork and black and silver edges adorned with flying gold and black dragons, along with a smaller print run of 500,000 standard copies. More than a million “Onyx Storm” deluxe editions have already sold….

(2) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Jacob Weisman and Ben Berman Ghan on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Starts 7:00 p.m. Eastern. KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs).

Jacob Weisman

Jacob Weisman is the publisher at Tachyon Publications, which he founded in 1995. He is a World Fantasy Award winner for the anthology The New Voices of Fantasy, which he co-edited with Peter S. Beagle. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Realms of Fantasy, The Louisville Courier-Journal, The Seattle Weekly, and The Cooper Point Journal.  Weisman’s first novel, Egyptian Motherlode co-authored with David Sandner, was recently published by Fairwood Press. He lives in San Francisco, CA.

Ben Berman Ghan

Ben Berman Ghan is a PhD Candidate in English and creative writing at the University of Calgary. His debut collection of fiction, What We See in the Smoke, was published in 2019, his novella Visitation Seeds was published in 2020, and his novel The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits was published with Buckrider Books in 2024. His prose, poetry, and essays have been published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, Filling Station Magazine, The Blasted Tree Publishing Co., Pinhole Poetry, and The Ancillary Review of Books.

(3) MEDICAL UPDATE. Barry Longyear told Facebook readers today what he’s trying to accomplish despite debilitating cancer.

A little update is in order. It is cancer, It is gobbling up my energy before I can log it in, pain too. I haven’t done any writing since September 10th when this nightmare began, they are dangling chemo and radiation in my future, apparently I am too frail to withstand the preferred operation. So, as always, The future is a mystery. I wish I had enough energy to tell you about all of the fine and quite inspiring men and women I’ve met along the way, but suffice it to say that they are there. The ticket to their company is to reach out. My most recent hospital stay was in a rehab/nursing home packed with patients with the most heartbreaking handicaps one can imagine. And they laugh and joke and point out I am still on this side of the grass. We’ll see what I can get done on the three books I want to get done, The Moman Omniquel, Rope Tricks (the concluding Joe Torio Mystery), and I am going to try my hand at an autobiography: The Superfluous Earth Man or I was an Extra Terrestrial. If I can get all that done before Uncle Reaper comes to collect. Perhaps I can wade through your comments, friend requests, and such. In any event, Disney is moving forward with The Enemy Papers, I have talked with the fellow in charge, and I have high hopes “Enemy Mine” will come out better than the previous version. HAPPY HOLIDAYS, friends, and remember. If the planet Earth didn’t suck we’d all fall off.

(4) DECK THE HALLS OF THE TARDIS. Camestros Felapton assays the Doctor Who Christmas special: “Doctor Who: Joy to the World”.

It is Doctor Who Christmas Special time and if this time of year is about indulging to excess in sugar and sentimentality Russell T. Davies and Stephen Moffat are up for that.

Fluffy, silly, and a remix of some familiar Moffat themes (The Doctor forced to live a more mundane existance for a period, time paradoxes and uploaded minds as an after life) the plot also hits you with some emotional gut punches….

(5) ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWERS. Tom Nichols remembers “Star Trek’s Cold War” in The Atlantic (behind a paywall)

…But to appreciate the Cold War setting of Star Trek, you need only to understand that the Earth-led United Federation of Planets (a free and democratic association committed to equality among all beings) was NATO. Captain James T. Kirk—born and raised in Iowa, according to the show—commanded its finest flagship, the USS Enterprise. The bad guys, standing in for the Soviet Union, were the Klingons, whose empire was a brutal and aggressive dictatorship.

Two Cold War themes run through Star Trek: the risks of great-power confrontation, and the danger of ultimate annihilation. In “The Omega Glory,” a mediocre episode that Roddenberry pushed to have produced, the Enterprise finds an underdeveloped planet where Asian-looking “Kohms” oppress the white “Yangs.” Turns out it’s a planet that developed just like Earth in every way—there is some sci-fi hocus-pocus to explain how planets sometimes do this—including an America and a Red China (Kohms and Yangs, Communists and Yankees, get it?), and then wiped itself out with biological warfare.

Other episodes were a bit more sophisticated. In “The Return of the Archons,” Kirk encounters a society that is run like a beehive by a single leader named Landru, who demands that all citizens be “of the body.” (Spoiler: He’s a computer. Out-of-control computers were another common theme.) As Cushman notes, the crushing of the individual for the good of the collective was an intentional statement about life under communism.

Likewise, just as the U.S. and the Soviet Union competed against each other in the developing world of the 20th century, the Klingons and the Federation were often at odds with each other over developing planets in the future….

(6) QUITE MAGICAL. Séamas O’Reilly at Medium helps a writer with a pair of new books: “It’s Always A Rabbit Out Of A Hat: On magick, fantasy and creativity, with Alan Moore”. Take your pick of something Moore researched, or something he made up.

You have two books about magic out in one month, is this mere scheduling kismet or part of some great working you’ve had in plan for decades?

I never have great workings planned even days in advance. So, no this is purely just the way things have worked out. I started working on the Moon & Serpent Bumper Book of Magic fifteen years ago, around 2010 or so, back then we were expecting it to be out in a couple of years. Then the project expanded and Steve passed away, and we realised that although we’d got all the writing done for it we hadn’t got any of the art commissioned. So that’s what the last few years have been about, getting it all drawn.

As for The Great When, it wasn’t deliberate so much as a coincidence of scheduling but, yes, it’s two books about magic that even have some crossover. Well, the bumper book is about magic, whereas The Great When has got some magicians in it, but it isn’t really anything that is traditional magic — I was prepared to just make most of it up. The Bumper Book is an encyclopaedic history of magic and all sorts of other things as well, but we’ve got characters like Austin Osman Spare, Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune in both.

So, there’s a tiny bit of overlap, but the intents of both books are different. One is to explain magic as it is and as it has been, and the other is an attempt to try and create something new in fantasy, without relying upon all the magical tropes you get reiterated so often in fantasy novels.

(7) DONALD BITZER (1934-2024). The New York Times reports (in a tribute behind its paywall): “Donald Bitzer, an electrical engineer whose groundbreaking computer system PLATO, developed in the 1960s and ’70s at the University of Illinois, was a telegram from the digital future that combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays, died on Dec. 10…”

 …Dr. Bitzer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, began developing PLATO in 1960 as a tool for educators to create interactive, individualized coursework. It swiftly evolved into “a culture, both physical and online,” Mr. Dear wrote, “with its own jargon, customs and idioms.”

PLATO, an acronym for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations, initially ran on television-like screens connected to the university’s ILLIAC I computer, a five-ton machine powered by 2,800 vacuum tubes.

To increase interactivity, in 1964 Dr. Bitzer, along with a fellow professor, H. Gene Slottow, and a graduate student, Robert Willson, invented a plasma display illuminated by gas-infused pixels — the same technology that would later power flat-screen televisions.

Thousands of PLATO terminals, radiant with bright orange text and graphics, were installed around the University of Illinois campus and eventually at other universities and high schools throughout the country.

Connected via phone lines, the touch-screen terminals were a kind of first draft of social networking that presaged the way digital devices now dominate daily life. Students learned math, Spanish and other subjects on them during the day, and at night they played games against one another, communicated in chat rooms and became pen pals.

“It was kind of crazy,” Ray Ozzie, a former student of Dr. Bitzer’s who later became Microsoft’s chief technical officer, said in an interview. “It was a little peek into what the internet would later become, and it was all fostered by Don’s vision, by him creating an environment for innovation.”

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

December 27, 2000 – Gosford Park

Twenty-four years ago this weekend, Gosford Park premiered. It was directed by Robert Altman from the script by Julian Fellowes, who went on to be the driving force behind the Downton Abbey series. It came together when Director Balaban suggested an Agatha Christie-style whodunit to Altman and introduced him to Julian Fellowes, with whom Balaban had been working on a different project. 

It is a country manor house mystery in the style of Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, which I just reviewed, and in keeping with that kind of mystery had a very large ensemble cast: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Emily Watson. 

I’ll just single out Stephen Fry as Inspector Thompson as the cast is far too large to detail here. He seems to really believe he has something in common with the McCordles and their guests. However, Sylvia, one of the family, doesn’t even bother to learn his name, and makes it very clear through not so subtle airs that he’s working class and beneath all of them. 

It was filmed mostly on location using three different manor houses, though sound stages were built to film the scenes of the manor’s downstairs area. Apparently it was also filmed in three different countries — the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy with production costs of nearly twenty million in total. It did very well at the box office with it bringing in nearly ninety million. It was Altman’s second most successful film after M*A*S*H. 

Critics truly loved it with Roger Ebert wringing for the Chicago Sun-Times said it was “such a joyous and audacious achievement it deserves comparison with his very best movies.” And Nell Murray at the Verge summed it up perfectly noting that “For a film about homicide and class conflict, Gosford Park is surprisingly congenial.” 

Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes currently give it an excellent rating of seventy-eight percent.

I’ve watched it more than a few times and consider it to be quite excellent. That reminds me that I should write up Knives Out.

(9) NEXT DOOR AT MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Rod Serling Statue (Update)

And perhaps across his mind there will flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. — ending words of “Walking Distance”

“Not all statues, no matter how much they deserve to exist, actually exist. At least yet. Such it is with this for the creator of the Twilight Zone series, Rod Serling.” That’s what I knew when I wrote several years ago. Now has transited from the Twilight Zone to this reality. 

In doing this extended look at the statues of fantastic creatures, mythic beings and sometimes their creators, I continually come across quite fascinating stories. Such it is with this story. And this one was no exception. 

In the “Walking Distance” episode of The Twilight Zone, a middle-aged advertising executive travels back in time to his childhood, arriving just a few miles away from his native town. That episode was based on Binghamton, New York, the hometown of Serling as he graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1943. 

I had come upon news stories that the town in conjunction with the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation and The State of New York had decided Serling should be honored by his hometown. 

The Serling Memorial Foundation said it will use the grant and additional fundraising to place the Serling statue in Recreation Park next year. Note that this is the second fundraising effort as the first, a Kickstarter for $90,000, failed. 

I couldn’t find any update on the actual production of this statue, so I wouldn’t swear than it was going to happen in the time frame stated. The website for the Serling Memorial Foundation was at that point, to put delicately, a bloody mess and said nothing about that project at all. Now they have a page showing the dedication of the statue with video and quite a bit of detail about the project.

So go here for all the details on this extraordinary project. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) SECOND IN A SERIES. Paul Weimer is back at Nerds of a Feather with “Book Review: The Unkillable Princess by Taran Hunt”.

…This book is significantly shorter than its predecessor, and feels less of a “pressure cooker” than the first novel, showing that even by keeping the chassis of the first book, Hunt wants to and does experiment with some new things. Sean proves to be well connected, and those connections and his social skills give him some new options and ideas that were not in the first book. Now, given that Sean is dealing with his thought-to-be-dead sister, and some of the fallout from the first book, this gives the book a much more social feel to the conflicts in the narrative than the first. Sure, there are plenty of action sequences like the first novel, although our field of play is generally set in locations within a city, and there are no monsters this time other than the human ones (and yes, some of those are bad enough). So Sean really shines in this book in a way he didn’t in the first book….

(12) DIRECTOR’S BITE. [Item by Steven French.] Robert Eggers on his version of Nosferatu: “’I had to make the vampire as scary as possible’: Nosferatu’s Robert Eggers on how folklore fuelled his film”.

…By the time I was nine I already loved vampires. I had seen the Lugosi film often and had been Dracula for Halloween the year before; there’s a photo of me with a painted widow’s peak and plastic fangs too big for my mouth. I was also nine when I first saw Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922). This was a truly frightening vampire makeup design. The nails, the hunch, the shape of the pointed skull. As a child, it felt as if Max Schreck commanded the screen like a real vampire. The degraded quality of the 16mm VHS transfer made the film seem as if it was disinterred from its grave, unearthed from the past, adding to its authenticity. And this adaptation stripped Stoker’s story of its over-stuffed Victoriana and distilled it to its essence: that simple enigmatic fairytale.

About 10 years ago I embarked on writing the screenplay for my own adaptation of Nosferatu. In taking on the most influential horror film, based on the most influential horror novel, I felt a responsibility to make the vampire as scary as possible. This could not be a sparkling vampire….

(13) UNSUSPECTED REMAKE. Arturo Serrano expounds “On the gentle fantasy of Linoleum” at Nerds of a Feather.

…Enter the 2022 movie Linoleum. It was never advertised as a remake, but it so cleverly deconstructs the plot of American Beauty that it might as well have openly acknowledged the extent of its debt. Similarly set in the late 1990s, it proposes a more empathetic alternative to the earlier movie’s cynicism. And from this point on I’m going to need to spoil the secrets of Linoleum….

(14) A LACK OF CREDENTIALS. “Japan’s ‘cat island’ falls victim to demographic crisis” – the Guardian explains the problem.

The reason for Aoshima’s nickname was clear before we had set foot on the island. As our tiny vessel slowed to a halt and its handful of passengers prepared to disembark, the quayside was alive with orangey-white blurs – a whiskered welcome party that forms as soon as its members hear the hum of an approaching motor.

The only human here to greet us is Naoko Kamimoto, appropriately dressed in a pinafore with feline designs, who secures the boat with a rope as half a dozen cats swirl around her feet.

A 35-minute ferry ride off the coast of Ehime prefecture in Shikoku – the smallest of Japan’s four main islands – Aoshima is the best-known of the country’s 11 “cat islands”. Despite the absence of a single shop, restaurant or guesthouse, this speck in the Seto Inland Sea has become a must-see for visitors intrigued by a remote community where cats easily outnumber humans.

But Aoshima’s days as a feline-fixated tourist destination are numbered. A decade ago there were about 200 feral cats here – the descendants of animals enlisted by fishers to destroy rodents who were gnawing through the nets they used to catch huge quantities of sardines.

Kamimoto, who moved to the island after she married Hidenori, a local man, believes the number is now closer to 80. They are all aged over seven, and a third are battling illnesses, including blindness and respiratory diseases, caused by decades of inbreeding….

… The decline in the cat population is about more than the passage of time, however. Aoshima is the victim of a demographic crisis that is afflicting thousands of rural and island communities across Japan. Almost 900 people lived here just after the second world war, but the number had dropped to 80 around a decade ago, as ageing fishers and their spouses moved to the mainland, leaving their cats behind. By 2017, there were just 13 residents. Today, four are left: Naoko and Hidenori, and another couple who prefer to keep out of the spotlight….

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

Pixel Scroll 12/3/24 I See Files Of Blue, Red Pixels Too, I See Them Purr For Me And You

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(0) FILE 770 TURNS ON ‘LIKE’ FUNCTION. Starting today you can now tag posts and comments with a “like”.

(1) SUPER SPOILER ALERT! Superman and Lois ends with a climactic fight, and a highly sentimental flashforward to the beginning of Superman’s supernatural life. I found both clips pretty impressive, so just imagine their impact on those who watched the series faithfully.

(2) FROM BC TO AD TO DC. “The CW’s DC Era Ends With ‘Superman & Lois’ Finale: Numbers Behind the Enduring Franchise” from The Hollywood Reporter.

The series finale of Superman & Lois aired Monday night on The CW. It marked not just the end of the show’s four-season run, but also an entire programming philosophy at the network.

Superman & Lois was the last series based on DC Comics characters to air at the network. It was also the last connection to The CW’s Arrowverse (even if it wasn’t technically part of the main continuity of that franchise), which defined the 2010s for the network and became one of the more successful multi-show franchises in TV history.

The ending of Superman & Lois, which — spoiler alert — flashes forward several decades to show the end of its title characters’ (Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch) lives, precludes any continuation of the show elsewhere — as do new regimes at both The CW and DC parent Warner Bros. Discovery, which both have very different approaches than they did during the Arrowverse’s heyday in the mid- and late 2010s….

… 10: The number of series based on DC characters that aired on The CW, beginning with Arrow in October 2012. All of them came from Warner Bros. TV and what was then called DC Entertainment, and nine — Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Stargirl, Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights — were executive produced by Berlanti via his Berlanti Productions. The 10th is 2022’s Naomi, co-created by Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship and produced by DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks along with DC and WB….

… 817, 797: The combined episode total from all 10 shows, and those that ran on The CW; Supergirl‘s first season, which spanned 20 episodes, aired on CBS. The 817 episodes are more than all but three multi-show franchise since 1990 — only Law & Order (1,363 episodes as of publication time), JAG/NCIS (1,249) and CSI (838) have more. NBC’s Chicago franchise will need to air 131 more episodes — about six 22-episode seasons’ worth of shows — to pass the DC total….

(3) DIVERSE READING AID. Rocket Stack Rank reminds us of “Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2023”. See the list at the link.

62 outstanding SF/F short stories by People of Color from 2023 that were finalists for major SF/F awards, included in “year’s best” SF/F anthologies, or recommended by prolific reviewers. (40 free online, 18 with podcasts)….

… Readers asked us to make it easy for them to find good stories written by authors with diverse racial backgrounds, and that’s what this list is meant to accomplish (author identity plays no role in our ratings)….

(4) MORPHIN’ INTO CASH. By the time Heritage Auction’s November 18-19 Power Rangers Hasbro Hollywood & Entertainment Signature® Auction wrapped it had realized $3.3 million dollars in sales.

Every costume, monster, prop, weapon and warrior offered in the landmark event — nearly 700 lots! — found a new home.

As a result, the auction realized $3,310,929, with countless surprises and smash hits throughout the largest and most comprehensive collection of Power Rangers memorabilia ever assembled, spanning the classic Power Rangers Mighty Morphin to the most recent season, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, which premiered last year.

From the latter series came the auction’s top lot: the original hero Cosmic Fury Cannon, the team’s signature weapon that combines all five of the Cosmic Fury Rangers’ individual dino-themed powers into an 80-inch-long laser blaster. After a prolonged bidding war during the auction’s second day, the Cosmic Fury Cannon shot up to its final price of $87,500.

Another smash hit was one of this auction’s numerous centerpieces: the Transformable Astro Megaship/Astro Megazord hero filming miniature from 1998’s Power Rangers in Space, one of the only complete Zords in this auction used on screen as the Rangers’ spacecraft and battle Zord. It’s fully articulated, an armed warrior and battle carrier that still moves like a well-oiled machine — and is so complete it still has the fishing line used to open its chest. It opened live bidding at $19,000 and finally realized $47,500 after a lengthy bidding war.

Weapons wielded significant power during this event, with the Green Ranger Hero Dragon Dagger from last year’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always realizing $23,750. And six Cosmic Morpher Hero Props from Power Rangers Cosmic Fury blasted their way to a $17,500 finish.

Numerous costumes worn throughout the series’ 31-year run realized five figures, among them the Green Ranger hero costume worn by Jason David Frank, as Tommy Oliver, during the initial run of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the mid-1990s. It realized $30,000, while his complete White Ranger hero costume from 1995’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie sold for $16,250. The auction’s second day began with a moment of silence in tribute to Frank….

A couple more favorites:

Fierce Fashions: Trini Kwan’s Yellow Ranger costume, Saber-Toothed Tiger Power Morpher included, roared to $23,750. Kimberly Hart’s Pink Ranger suit wasn’t far behind, landing $22,500.

Villains Rule: Even baddies got their moment in the spotlight, with Goldar Maximus strutting off for $21,250 and Master Zedd securing $18,750.

(5) TERMINALS OF ENDEARMENT. “Lovable Movie Robots Are Coming to Charm Your Children” writes Diego Hadis in the New York Times (great article, but behind a paywall).

 One near certainty about raising a young child these days is that you and your offspring will be exposed to a lot of stories about robots. Another is that the robots working their charms most effectively on you will belong to a new kind of archetype: the sympathetic robot. Sitting in darkened theaters with my 5-year-old son, I have watched any number of these characters. They are openhearted and often dazzled by the wonders of everyday life — innocently astounded by, say, the freedom of playing in the surf, the bliss of dancing with a loved one or the thrill of just holding hands. They might be more winningly human than some of the humans you know….

… Take Roz, the main character of the animated film “The Wild Robot,” which came out in September. Like the Peter Brown book series on which it is based, the movie focuses on a robot protagonist that gains emotional complexity after she washes ashore on an island unpopulated by humans, learns to communicate with the animals she meets there and becomes the surrogate mother of an orphaned gosling. Roz changes and adapts; she goes from seeing her care for the gosling as a rote task to welcoming it as a real connection. She embraces the wildness of the animals around her and ceases to be the unfeeling machine that her programming intended. Instead, she becomes an unnatural champion for the natural world — one whose touching incomprehension of how to care for a newborn makes her charming….

…We’re now inarguably living in the future that science fiction once imagined. Artificial intelligences weaned on vast libraries of human endeavor are coming online, their boosters hyping their potential to either fulfill our greatest wishes or realize our deepest fears. It feels notable that we are raising our children on pointedly comforting stories about robots that, instead of relieving us of our jobs or edging us to the brink of Armageddon, offer to show us how to be more human. Granted, computers are an inescapable facet of our world now. As they grow up, our children will consume stories about humanlike robots as naturally as our ancestors delighted in tales about anthropomorphic animals. Still, these stories seem to be doing an inordinate amount of work to help children feel warm toward the technologies that increasingly dominate our lives….

…This is all in spite of the remarkably bleak near future portrayed in many of these children’s films. They tend to show us a world of ecological ruin devastated by climate change. “The Wild Robot” offers haunting images like the Golden Gate Bridge submerged in San Francisco Bay as a flock of geese passes overhead. The Earth in “Wall-E” has been reduced to a lifeless, postindustrial horrorscape reminiscent of the works of the photographer Edward Burtynsky; humans have fled it entirely. “Robot Dreams” evades this by being set in and around its 1980s New York, but even that film concerns itself greatly with the natural world. We see the robot experiencing the changing seasons on a wintry beach; the dog takes pity on a fish that he has caught and releases it. There is even a scene — echoing the surrogate parenting in “The Wild Robot” — in which the robot helps encourage a young bird to learn how to fly.

There is an echo here of the classic robot stories: Humanity’s hubris has once again led us to get in over our heads. But now we’re encouraged to take pleasure in watching a robot try to navigate what’s left, slowly figuring out that human values — love, connection, caretaking — are eternally important. The sympathetic robots are devised as much to comfort us parents as they are to make technology appealing to our kids. Despite the destabilized world that we’re leaving to our offspring, they reassure us, artificial intelligences could one day serve as our surrogates — and care for our children or, who knows, even love them for us when we’re gone.

(6) WRITERS NEED HELP. [Item by Steven French.] Worrying news: “Royal Literary Fund’s hardship grants for writers see applications increase by 400%” in the Guardian.

Applications for the Royal Literary Fund’s (RLF’s) hardship grants for professional writers increased by 400% between last year and this year, the charity has said.

There was a nearly fivefold increase in applications in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2023, RLF CEO Edward Kemp told the Guardian.

The RLF’s grant applications are open to writers who need short- or long-term financial support because they are, for example, facing an unexpected bill, reduced income, or are unable to write due to a “change in circumstances, sickness, disability, or age”, according to the RLF.

The grants are given as a donation towards the “removal of distress for the applicant”, rather than to help complete literary works. Writers must have published (via a traditional publisher, not self-published) at least two books in the UK or Ireland to be eligible for a grant.

The rise in applications comes after research published by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society in 2022 showed authors’ median earnings were just £7,000 a year, down from £12,330 in 2006.

(7) FUTURE WORLDS PRIZE JUDGES NAMED. TheFuture Worlds Prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Colour has announced the judging panel for its 2025 prize. The prize aims to find new talent based in the UK writing in the SFF space and is funded by author Ben Aaronovitch and actor Adjoa Andoh.  The judges are:   

  • 2023 winner Mahmud El Sayed 
  • Shadow and Bone actor Amita Suman 
  • Bestselling author Saara El Arifi 
  • Literary agent Amandeep Singh 
  • Author Rogba Payne. 

The winner of Future Worlds Prize receives £4,500, and the runner-up receives £2,500. The remaining six shortlisted writers each receive £850. All eight writers also get mentoring from one of the prize’s publishing partners: Bloomsbury, Daphne Press, Gollancz, HarperVoyager, Hodderscape, Orbit, Penguin Michael Joseph, Simon & Schuster, Titan and Tor.

Future Worlds Prize closes for entries at 23:59 GMT on Sunday 26th January 2025.  

(8) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Sarah Pinsker and Yume Kitasei on Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

SARAH PINSKER

A starred Booklist review called Sarah Pinsker’s latest, Haunt Sweet Home, “Fun, eerie, [and] unexpectedly beautiful…” She is the Hugo and Nebula winning author of the novels A Song For A New Day and We Are Satellites, plus the collections Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea and Lost Places, both published by Small Beer Press, and over sixty pieces of short fiction. She’s currently the Kratz Writer in Residence at Goucher College, and lives in Baltimore with her wife and two weird dogs.

YUME KITASEI

Yume Kitasei is the author of The Deep Sky, The Stardust Grail, and Saltcrop (forthcoming in 2025). She is half Japanese and half American and grew up in a space between two cultures—the same space where her stories reside. She lives in Brooklyn with two cats, Boondoggle and Filibuster. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Baltimore Review. You can find more information about her at www.yumekitasei.com. She chirps occasionally @Yumewrites at Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky.

Meets at the KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs).

(9) WALT BOYES AND JOY WARD JOIN MISTI MEDIA, LLC. Walt Boyes and Joy Ward, longtime chief editors for Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press, and Top of the World Publishing, are joining Misti Media as Editors-at-Large. They will be responsible for the startup of Misti Media’s new Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror imprint: Nazca Press. They will also be working with Misti Media’s other main imprints and alongside Sandra Murphy who oversees content for specialty imprint Sandra Murphy Presents. For the Misti Media story, see Misti Media, LLC.

“Nazca Press doesn’t have a website yet, as Misti Media is only a year old and growing its Internet presence,” says Walt Boyes, “but what we do have is close to 100 years of editing and publishing experience in both fiction, genre fiction, and non-fiction. And when you add this to the incredible 30 years of industry experience brought to Misti Media by CEO and Publisher Jay Hartman, we are the real deal.”

“We moved first to create world-class distribution for both ebooks and trade paperbacks,” Jay Hartman explains. “We have worldwide distribution in nearly every country, including bookstores and libraries, and we have begun publishing some fantastic authors. Now, with Walt and Joy’s experience and knowledge, we can start looking for more great authors to join our family.”

You can reach Walt at wboyes@mistimedia.com; Joy at jward@mistimedia.com; and Jay Hartman at jhartman@mistimedia.com.

(10) LARPING IN SOCAL. The Washington Post takes you “Inside Twin Mask, an elaborate fantasy world just miles from L.A.” (This gift article bypasses the paywall, but you still need a free WaPo account to read it.)

…The entire weekend — Friday night until Sunday morning — would be spent inside this elaborate fantasy realm with its many rules and intricate replicas.

Held at the site of the Koroneburg Renaissance Festival about an hour outside Los Angeles, the live-action role-playing (LARP) game Twin Mask stands out for its sheer size and lifespan. It’s far more elaborate than other games of its ilk, with anywhere from 400 to 600 players converging in character at events held every month and a half or so.

“You eat food in character, you walk to the bathroom in character,” says its creator, John Basset, who started Twin Mask 14 years ago. “It really feels like you’re in another world.”

Given its proximity to Hollywood, it attracts a fair number of players whose day jobs are in the film industry. And they revel in making a next-level spectacle.

… In the dark world of Adelrune, characters share a unifying aspect — they each have been resurrected from death. Whether they’re a knight, a healer or a merchant, allthe players, known collectively as “The Returned,” have detailed backstories….

… Twin Mask is run by a detailed system of unpaid volunteers and staff who take on everything from writing the story, to ensuring people (and mythical creatures) are hydrated and safe, to performing as non-player characters who help guide the storyline. Still, every player can influence the plot, which continues long after the weekend is over….

… A little over an hour into the game, no one is in charge and a criminal underworld is beginning to take hold. Much of the site is eerily quiet.

Not so at the tavern in the center of town where the single dusty road splits. The boisterous bar is filled with the chatter of players who never break character. Some are making deals while others are socializing. The crowd is soon silenced by the sound of a ringing bell. Players returning from death quietly shuffle in.…

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

December 3, 1958 — Terri Windling, 66.

I first encountered Terri Windling’s writing through reading The Wood Wife, a truly extraordinary fantasy that deserved the Mythopoeic Award it won. (The Hole in the Wall bar in it would be borrowed by Charles de Lint with her permission for a scene in his Medicine Road novel, an excellent novel.) I like the American edition with Susan Sedona Boulet’s art much better than I do the British edition with the Brian Froud art as I feel it catches the tone of the novel. 

I would be very remiss not mention about her stellar work as the founding editor along with Ellen Datlow of what would be called The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror after the first volume which was simply The Year’s Best Fantasy, that being noted for those of you who would doubt correct me for not noting that. The series won three World Fantasy Awards and a Stoker as well.

They also edited the most splendid Snow White, Blood Red anthologies which were stories based on traditional folk tales. Lots of very good stuff there. Like the Mythic Fiction series is well worth reading and available at usual suspects and in digital form as well.

Oh, and I want to single out The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood which took on the difficult subject of child abuse. It garnered a much warranted Otherwise nomination.

Now let’s have a beer at the Dancing Ferret as I note her creation and editing (for the most part) of the Bordertown series. I haven’t read all of it, though I did read her first three anthologies several times and love the punks as you can see here on Life on the Border, but I’ve quite a bit of it and all of the three novels written in it, Emma Bull’s Finder: A Novel: of The Borderlands, is one of my comfort works, so she gets credit for that. 

So now let’s move to an art credit for her. So have you seen the cover art for Another Way to Travel by Cats Laughing? I’ve the original pen and ink art that she did here. 

Which brings me to the Old Oak Wood series which is penned by her and illustrated by Wendy Froud. Now Wikipedia and most of the reading world thinks that it consists of three lovely works — A Midsummer Night’s Faery Tale, The Winter Child and The Faeries of Spring Cottage. 

But there’s a story that Terri wrote that never got published anywhere but on Green Man. It’s an Excerpt from The Old Oak Chronicles: Interviews with Famous Personages by Professor Arnel Rootmuster. It’s a charming story, so go ahead and read it.

Photo posted by Terri on Bluesky. Photographer unstated.

(12) COMICS SECTION.

(13) PREPARE TO BLEEP AND BLUR. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] The House of Mouse said nay to one line of dialogue in Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds came up with a replacement that was just as raunchy, but didn’t reference Steamboat Willie’s willy. People says, “We Now Know the Super-Raunchy Mickey Mouse Joke Disney Asked Ryan Reynolds to Cut from Deadpool & Wolverine”.

…Director Shawn Levy previously said there was “only one line in the entire movie that we were asked to change,” telling Entertainment Weekly in August that he and star Ryan Reynolds made a “pact” to “go to our grave with that line.”

However, Marvel Studios has shared the film’s official screenplay online as part of a For Your Consideration campaign this awards season, and in the script, that original deleted line is revealed.

In the scene where Deadpool (Reynolds) asks if Magneto is also in the film, he’s told the character is dead. He then says, “F—! What, we can’t even afford one more X-Man? Disney is so cheap. I can barely breathe with all this Mickey Mouse c–k in my throat.”

The actual line in the final cut of the movie is: “F—, now Disney gets cheap? It’s like Pinocchio jammed his face in my ass and started lying like crazy.”

The scene features the surprise cameos made by Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Wesley Snipes as Blade and Channing Tatum as Gambit. The screenplay showcases the Stranger Things–inspired code names the writers used to keep the characters’ identities a secret. Gambit is “Gatsby,” Elektra is “Eleven” and Blade is “Billy,” plus, earlier, Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm is listed as “Jonathan Byers.”…

(14) SFF ON LEARNEDLEAGUE: PAOLO BACIGALUPI. [Item by David Goldfarb.] Season 103 of LearnedLeague feature this as the third question of the twelfth match day:

Emiko, the central character in Paolo Bacigalupi’s 2009 dystopian science fiction novel, is a genetically engineered humanoid designed for servitude known as what type of girl, as referenced in the book’s title?

Although this refers to a Hugo-winning novel, it’s sufficiently obscure that not all Filers might know it: the answer is “windup”; the novel is The Windup Girl.

11% of LearnedLeague players got this right (your reporter being one of them). The most common wrong answer actually had a higher rate than the right answer: 16% guessed “geisha” — not totally unreasonable if you have to guess something.

One interesting note is that the question originally gave the author’s name as “Paulo” and the answer as “wind up”, two words. I contacted the League commissioner and got it corrected. (I don’t know how many other people might also have done so.)

LearnedLeague competition allows you to control the points available on each question, within limits, and makes extensive history available to the players. My opponent did not avail himself of this resource! He gave me the maximum points for this one, when even a quick search would suggest that I’d know it.

Brick Barrientos sent along his own comment about the difficulty of this LL question:

“Emiko, the central character in Paulo Bacigalupi’s 2009 dystopian science fiction novel, is a genetically engineered humanoid designed for servitude known as what type of girl, as referenced in the book’s title?”

The answer, of course, is Windup. Only 11% got it right. I thought it was a very hard question for a general knowledge, non-specialist trivia quiz. In my mind, I tried to think of three more recent Hugo novel winners that maybe 30% of trivia enthusiasts could get. In other words, if you gave the author, said it was a Hugo novel winner, some elements of the plot, and a hint at the title, would a mainstream audience get it? I came up with The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Redshirts by John Scalzi, and maybe Network Effect by Martha Wells. 

Extend it to novellas, and you could add This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. If this becomes a Pixel Scroll item, what genre novels have had major mainstream exposure in the last 15 years?

(15) COULROPHOBIA CENTRAL. Those of you who made it to the Westercon in Tonopah have already driven past this landmark: “Creepy vibes drives booming business at Tonopah’s Clown Motel” in the LA Times (behind a paywall).

Business is so good at the Clown Motel, you might expect more of its painted faces to be smiling.

But as Vijay Mehar has learned in his years as owner of the creepiest motel in Tonopah, Nev., happy clowns are not what most of his customers want.

What they seem to want is fear, loathing, painted faces, circus vibes and hints of paranormal activity. Basically, Mehar said recently, “they want to be scared.”

So aiming to lure more people off Main Street (a.k.a. U.S. 95) to visit this 31-room motel in the dusty, stark middle of Nevada, Mehar is boosting his creepiness quotient.

By the end of 2025, he’s hoping to have completed a 900-square-foot addition, doubling the size of the motel’s busy, disquieting lobby-museum-gift shop area. Meanwhile, behind the motel, Mehar is planning a year-round haunted house, to be made of 11 shipping containers….

…“America’s Scariest Motel,” read the brochures by the register. “Let fear run down your spine.”

There are paintings, dolls and ceramic figures, each with its own expression — smiling, laughing, smirking, weeping or silently shrieking. And then there are the neighbors. The motel stands next to the Old Tonopah Cemetery, most of whose residents perished between 1900 and 1911, often in mining accidents…

…“If we had paid 60, or 70, or even 80 bucks, this place might have been worth it,” wrote one unamused motel customer on Trip Advisor recently.

“We had good fun, and even better we weren’t murdered,” wrote another….

(16) TRADING PLACES. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Over here in Brit Cit we have a shop chain called Games Workshop that sells tabletop games and models.  It has been steadily growing and now may become one of the nation’s top 100 companies on the UK stock market…. “Alliance Witan and Games Workshop expected to join FTSE 100 this month” reports Shares Magazine.

Games Workshop store.

(17) HEARING FROM PAUL DI FILIPPO. Mark Barsotti recently interviewed prolific sff author Paul Di Filippo and through the creative use of photos and book covers turned the recordings into a three-part video series.

Part one of my interview with writer Paul Di Filippo, who in a better world would make the bestseller lists. Interview: November 11, 2024.

Part two of my interview with writer Paul Di Filippo, who in a juster world would make a lot more money. Paul talks about his multiverse novel VANGIE’S GHOST. Interview 11, 2024.

Part 3 on my interview with science fiction writer Paul Di Filippo, who discusses his latest novel, Vangie’s Ghosts, “technopunk jazz scatting” and not being a miserabilist. Interview: 11-11-24.

[Thanks to Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Barsotti, Walt Boyes, Cathy Green, Brick Barrientos, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jeff “What A Wonderful World” Smith.]

Something to Be Thankful For:  Fantastic Fiction at the KGB Bar with James Patrick Kelly and Teel James Glenn

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Teel James Glenn and James Patrick Kelly. Photo by Ellen Datlow.

By Mark L. Blackman:  On the suddenly chilly autumn evening of Wednesday, November 13, the monthly Fantastic Fiction at KGB Readings Series presented two authors with James in their three-barreled names, James Patrick Kelly and Teel James Glenn, who read from newly published works.

Now in its second quarter-century, the Series, co-hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel, is held on the second Wednesday of each month at its longtime venue, the Soviet era-themed (so doubly aptly-named) Red Room of the second-floor KGB Bar in Manhattan’s East Village. Readings are free, but the hosts noodgeh the crowd to buy drinks, alcoholic or non-. To paraphrase, support the Bar and support the Series.

After the music was turned off by the bartender’s Apple watch, Datlow invited those not already on it to join the mailing list.  The website lists past readers and upcoming readings:

  • December 11 – Sarah Pinsker and Yume Kitasei
  • January 8 – Ben Berman Ghan and Jacob Weisman
  • February 12 – Rebecca Fraimow and Clay McLeod Chapman

(A fuller list may be found at the series’ website.)

She then introduced the first reader of the evening.

James Patrick Kelly, the author of five-and-a-half novels (the half is a collaboration with John Kessel),  including Planet of Whispers and Look into the Sun, has worked primarily in shorter forms, and has won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for his short fiction. His column “On The Net” is a regular feature in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and his new novella, Moon and Mars, from whose opening he read, will be appearing in the publication’s January/February issue. This was his eighth visit to Fantastic Fiction since 2000 (and, incidentally, my first in person since before the Pandemic).

Mariska, a woman living on the Moon, and her involuntary clone Niha are slated to be in the crew of a colony ship leaving the Solar System (both are Hibernators), but, in view of a recent disaster, there are rumors that, in whole or part, the crew will be replaced. Meanwhile Niha gets a haircut (because “on a starship hair matters”) and Mariska (older than her apparent age) lusts after a Marsboy.

After an intermission, co-host Kressel reiterated information about upcoming readers, added mention of their podcast (at present recordings of past events), and introduced the second reader of the evening.

Teel James Glenn – or “T.J.” – has, in forty-plus years of careers, worked as an actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, swordmaster, and haunted house barker, during which time, as he describes it, he has “killed hundreds and been killed more times on stage and screen,” before turning to committing murders instead in dozens of novels and short stories published in over two hundred magazines including Weird Tales, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. His novel A Cowboy in Carpathia: A Bob Howard Adventure (yes, that Robert E. Howard) won best novel 2021 in the Pulp Factory Award. His website is TheUrbanSwashbuckler.com.

Without preamble, Glenn “leaped right into it,” reading Chapters 1 and 3 of Not Born of Woman. In 1939 New York, a Romani woman comes to private eye Adam Paradise, a 7’2” scarred not quite human, seeking to recover a family heirloom from a mobster, collateral for her luckless son’s gambling debt. As hints in the story unfold, it becomes clear that Paradise is nearly 200 years old and (it’s not a spoiler if it’s right there on the back cover) the being created by Dr. Frankenstein. He confronts the gangster and, we’re told, eventually the Nazi Bund. Glenn had copies of the book for sale, while Kelly called attention again to the next issue of Asimov’s.

Prior to the readings, Datlow, as usual, wove among the tables, taking pictures of the audience and the two readers. Her photos of the event may be seen on her Flickr page.

Pixel Scroll 10/30/24 John Pixel’s Not The Boogeyman. He’s Who You Send To Scroll The Boogeyman

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(1) NEW 2030 WORLDCON BID. The Edmonton in 2030 Worldcon bid unveiled its Bluesky page today: “Edmonton Bidding for 2030 Worldcon” at File 770.

(2) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present James Patrick Kelly and James Teel Glenn on Wednesday, November 13, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Location: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs)

James Patrick Kelly

James Patrick Kelly has won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards for his short fiction. He has also written five and half novels, a dozen or so plays and some embarrassing poetry. His column “On The Net” is a regular feature of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. He is an early adopter, a shade gardener, a cross-country skier, and an open water swimmer, so it helps that he lives on a lake in New Hampshire. KGB is one of his favorite places to read and this will be his eighth visit to Fantastic Fiction since 2000. His new novella, Moon and Mars, will be out from Asimov’s in the January/February issue.

Teel James Glenn

Teel James Glenn has killed hundreds and been killed more times–on stage and screen, for forty-plus years as a stuntman, swordmaster, storyteller, book illustrator, bodyguard, actor, and haunted house barker. He has dozens of novels and stories published in over two hundred magazines including Weird Tales, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. His novel A Cowboy in Carpathia: A Bob Howard Adventure won best novel 2021 in the Pulp Factory Award. He can be found at in wild Weehawken NJ and at TheUrbanSwashbuckler.com.

(3) ANOTHER EKPEKI ISSUE RAISED. Dare Segun Falowo is a winner of the inaugural Emeka Walter Dinjos Memorial Award For Disability In Speculative Fiction, an award created by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki. Today Dare shared on Bluesky a bad experience with Africa Risen co-editor Ekpeki about Dare’s support for the idea that writers in anthologies should share credit for awards won by editors. Thread starts here.

And ‪Bogi Takács emphatically supports the practice of writers in anthologies sharing credit with the editor(s) for the book’s awards:

(4) THE BIRD OF CRIME BEARS BITTER FRUIT. [Item by Steven French.] Two thumbs up from the Guardian for The Penguin: “Batman who? Why The Penguin is TV’s biggest surprise of the year”.

…Between Falcone and Oz, this show is like watching two scuzzy raccoons fight over the last slice of rancid pizza in a back alley from the depths of DC hell. Neither is prepared to end up second best, and both have shown themselves capable of mass murder to avoid having to settle for it. It reminds me of that scene in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in which Heath Ledger’s Joker snaps off a pool cue and invites two wannabe goons to fight to the death for the chance to be one of his henchmen.

One reason many fans might consider watching The Penguin is the expectation that Robert Pattinson’s Batman is likely to turn up at some point to show both who’s really in charge. In reality, both the showrunner, Lauren LeFranc, and Reeves have said that’s unlikely to happen any time soon, but the splendid thing about the show is that we barely miss the caped crusader. This is Gotham at street level, the city’s grimy underbelly exposed in all its filth and fury, while Batman’s place is above the city’s streets, looking down on the scum below like an avenging dark angel. Who knew that one of those unfortunate wretches scurrying about the gutter might just be capable of carrying an entire show on his doughy shoulders?

Sure, the ultimate expectation is that the Penguin will at some point climb his way up the greasy pole of power to become an A-list villain for Pattinson to take down in a future movie. But right now, watching Farrell shuffle through the shadows like a cross between Machiavelli and Harvey Weinstein after a fight with a dumpster, the whole thing is so engrossing that there’s absolutely no rush.’…

(5) DAREDEVIL. “Daredevil: Born Again trailer teases Punisher return, hints at Bullseye” – Radio Times has the story.

A trailer spotlighting Marvel’s upcoming Disney Plus releases has emerged online, with a 20-second teaser for Daredevil: Born Again included within it.

The teaser is sure to get fans excited for the revival show, which is set to arrive in March next year and will see Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock once again face off against Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin….

(6) LOST ELLISON. Michael Burianyk compares two of “The Lost Visions of Harlan Ellison” in his latest blog post.

There’s been an interesting juxtaposition of recently published books that shed light on two of the most notorious events in Science Fiction history – “The Last Dangerous Visions” and “The Starlost”, both involving the venerated writer, Harlan Ellison….

… In his long introduction to the anthology, Straczynski recounted the saga of “The Last Dangerous Visions”, his close friendship with Ellison and the revelation that Ellison suffered from bipolar disorder and clinical depression which went untreated until close to Ellison’s death in 2018. His mental condition is cited as the reason he was not able to concentrate on big projects and gather the spiritual energy to finish the grand undertaking he had conceived….

(7) A ROBOT GROWS IN BROOKLYN. [Item by Andrew Porter.] According to John Boston:

Appeared on the local Nextdoor.com site, allegedly “the product of a welding training program and is based on a graphic novel hip hop character.”   It resides in Borough Hall Park, and hard by the federal district court for the Eastern District of New York and the main Brooklyn Post Office.

From the pages of the first-ever hip hop comic book, written by Eric Orr in 1986, to the streets of the Boogie Down Bronx and finally to the streets of Paris, Rappin’ Max Robot is alive and standing 18 feet tall.

Andrew Porter adds:

I saw them installing it Monday, when I walked by having just gone to the Post Office (visible at right background). It’s about 20 feet high.

Made a comment to the workers, “You’re gonna have to oil up that robot!”

This is exactly where much of the Brooklyn Book Festival too place, on this plaza.

(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born October 30, 1977 — Malka Ann Older, 47.

By Paul Weimer: I remember when she burst onto the scene with Infomocracy.  It was in wake of her talented brother Daniel Older’s own SF literary debut with Half-Resurrection Blues, and I do wonder if Infomocracy got play and visibility because Malka Older was his sister. As for me, I had not read Blues and picked up Infomocracy solely on the strength of its idea of a new, atomized, political system with strengths and advantages, but problems of its own. It depicts a vibrant, multicultural and inclusive future (with one SF “gimmie” to make it happen), and it knocked my socks off. When I told Malka that I truly didn’t know that she was Daniel’s brother, her reaction was a somewhat skeptical “Really?!”

But it’s true. I don’t know everything in SF.

I think her Mossa and Pleiti novels, starting with The Mimicking of Known Successes walk a fine line between being “cozy” and comfortable reads, and being furiously inventive medium-term science fiction. They are so well written, and so different in some fundamental ways than Infomocracy that it really shows her range and ability. 

But my favorite Older work is her collaboration with Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, and Curtis C. Chen in Ninth Step Station. Ninth Step Station is a collaborative cyberpunk crime drama published by Serial Box and showcases the writers’ talents showing a divided and dangerous Tokyo in the near future. It combines the political power and intrigue from the Infomocracy novels with the (later) mystery and investigation of the Mossa and Pleiti novels and serves as a bridge between the two types of works. 

Malka Older

(9) COMICS SECTION.

(10) HORRIBLY YOUNG. [Item by Steven French.] “What’s it like to be the spine-chilling child in a scary film?” The Guardian asked the actors who played them: “’After the shoot, we had a party in a slaughterhouse’: horror movies’ creepiest kids reveal all”.

When Danielle Keaton was seven, her homework was to open her eyes as wide as possible and stare. She had just secured a role in director John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned – a horror film about inhuman psychic children with violent tendencies – and had to perfect her creepy glare. “We had to practise not blinking for a very long time,” says the actor and coach, now 38 and based in LA. “We would have to look in a mirror and hold the stare without laughing.” On set, the children would have staring contests with Superman star Christopher Reeve…

(11) SFF ON LEARNEDLEAGUE: PORTALS AND NEXT YEAR’S ONE-DAY SPECIALS. [Item by David Goldfarb.] LearnedLeague just had a One-Day Special quiz entitled “Just Images Portals” — the “Just Images” part means that each question has a picture associated with it, which may be required to answer the question correctly. You can find the questions here, although unfortunately you need to be a LearnedLeague member in order to view the pictures.

I got 8 right out of 12, placing 211th out of 1,167 players.

Also next year’s One-Day Special schedule has now been set. Here are the ones that seem to be SFF-related. Notes in parentheses are from me:

  • Elemental Masters
  • Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
  • Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet
  • What We Do in the Shadows
  • Victorian Fiction (not an SFF subject, but SFF-related because the quiz will be written by SF fan and anthologist Rich Horton – DG)
  • The Stormlight Archive
  • Goblins
  • Watchmen
  • Ghost
  • Dragon Age
  • Mass Effect
  • Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
  • Learn Zoology with the Animorphs
  • Actors in Star Wars & Other SF/Fantasy IP
  • Personification of Death in Literature
  • Tolkien’s Other Work (after three quizzes on The Lord of the Rings and one on The Silmarillion, now we move on to the Other Work – DG)
  • The Last of Us
  • Famous Luxembourgers (not directly SFnal, but sure to have a question on Hugo Gernsback at least – DG)
  • Sapphic Fantasy
  • Batman ’66 (to be written by SF fan Tom Galloway – DG)
  • xkcd2
  • Mars 2
  • Apocalyptic Fiction
  • Songs about Superman
  • Furry Fandom 101

(12) RIDERS OF THE PURPLE WHOPPER. A little late with this story – but it was news to me! “Burger King’s Addams Family Menu Has Landed — Here’s What’s in It” at Food & Wine.

…This year, the King is celebrating Halloween with a group of people who have been creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky for more than 80 years. That’s right: Burger King has teamed up with the Addams Family for a special menu that will launch on Thursday, October 10, with four new Addams-inspired items. 

Two of them are:

Wednesday’s Whopper

This sandwich takes all of the trappings of a classic flame-grilled Whopper, tops it with Swiss cheese, ketchup, lettuce, mayo, onions, pickles, and tomatoes — and serves it up on a purple bun. (The violet bun gets its signature shade from purple potatoes.) 

Thing’s Rings

The Addams Family’s long-time companion, Thing, was just a disembodied hand — which means it is perfectly designed to grab a few crispy onion rings right out of the package. During the month of October, BK’s rings come in a special Addams-family-designed sleeve. 

There’s also Gomez’s Churro Fries and Morticia’s Kooky Chocolate Shake.

(13) FOR NATIONAL CATS DAY. [Item by Daniel Dern.] Which was yesterday in the U.S. The latest issue of Marvel Meow, from Marvel’s Infinity line, many of which (including this issue) are digitally available free, and without needing a (free) Marvel.com account. “Marvel Meow Infinity Comic (2022) #19”.

MARVEL MEOW IS BACK! To kick off, the Spider-Men and Doc Ock take on their biggest battle yet–finding homes for stray cats!

(14) CHINESE ASTRONAUT SCULPTURE. Interesting photo from the Brooklyn Eagle.

(15) SHROUDS OF WITNESS. Ryan George is in time for the Halloween season with his video “Super Scary and Definitely Real Ghost Evidence”.

(16) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Posted by MGM: “Halloween With The Addams Family (Full Episode)” (legit).

A pair of bank robbers are welcomed as Halloween trick-or-treaters by Morticia and Gomez. The creepy atmosphere of the house, Morticia’s smoldering holiday punch, and Lurch’s ominous presence impel the crooks to abandon their plans to add Addams money and jewelry to their bank loot.

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

Pixel Scroll 10/11/24 Those Magnificent Files In Their Pixel Machines

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(1) GAME OF THRONES AUCTION. Heritage Auctions has started its three-day auction of Game of Thrones props and costumes. Westeros gives the highlights of the opening day in “Day 1 of Game of Thrones Auction Recap”.

The first day of the three day Game of Thrones prop and costume auction run by Heritage Auctions started well, with nearly $5.36 million realized across the first 290-odd listings in the auction. We kept track of it as long as we could, and by the time we went to bed we’d noted that several items had cleared the $100,000 mark. Gregor Clegane’s tourney armor was the first to hit six figures and ended up just shy of $200,000, followed by a prototype dragon egg from the first season (a second egg just missed the mark).

After that, Arya Stark’s season 2 “boy” ensemble with an included “action” version of Needle hit $150,000, which seemed like a very expected number. And then, fittingly, the first item to hit $200,000—just beating out the Mountain that Ride’s armor—was the Hound’s armor ensemble. After that point, we went to bed, but in the morning we found two more items made it to the prestigious six-figure club: a full Jaime Lannister Kinsguard ensemble. Because of the inclusion of both a prop hand and an “action” Oathkeeper, this one was an especially valuable listing, and the bidders recognized it as they drove it up to become the day’s top item with a final realized price of $212,500.

The Hound armor

And now a Jon Snow (Kit Harington) Signature Night’s Watch Ensemble has gone for $337,500.

Jon Show Nightwatch

(2) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Scott Edelman invites listeners to share beef noodle soup with award-winning writer John Chu in Episode 238 of the Eating the Fantastic podcast.

Get ready to take a seat at the table with the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer John Chu.

John’s a microprocessor architect by day, and a writer, translator, and podcast narrator by night. His fiction has appeared in magazines such as Lightspeed, Uncanny, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Apex, and at Tor.com, plus in anthologies such as The Mythic Dream, Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, New Suns 2: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, and others. His translations have been published or are forthcoming at Clarkesworld, The Big Book of SF, and other venues.

John Chu

He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte Awards, won the Best Short Story Hugo for “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere,” plus the Nebula, Ignyte, and Locus Awards for “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You.” In the days before our lunch, he surprised us all with the announcement he’d sold his first novel — and you’ll hear my own surprise during our conversation.

We discussed the way he gamified the submission process when he started out, how the pandemic made him feel as if he was in his own little spaceship, when he learned he couldn’t write novels and short stories at the same time, how food has become a lens through which he could explore a variety of issues in his fiction, the rejection letter he rereads whenever he wants to cheer himself up, how writing stories at their correct lengths was one of the most difficult lessons he had to learn as a writer, what it was about his 2015 short story “Hold-Time Violations” that had him feeling it was worthy of exploring as a novel, how he was changed by winning a Hugo Award with his third published story, and much more.

(3) KGB PHOTOS. Ellen Datlow has posted pictures from last night’s Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series where Sarah Langan and David Leo Rice read from their most recent novels. Click here: KGB October 9, 2024.

(4) LISA TUTTLE COLUMN. The Guardian presents “The best recent science fiction, horror and fantasy – reviews roundup” by Lisa Tuttle. This time she reviews William by Mason Coile; The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield; The Wilding by Ian McDonald; Of the Flesh: 18 Stories of Modern Horror by various authors; A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman.

(5) FAMED ANIMATION STUDIO TAKES BATH. “‘Chicken Run’ Studio Aardman Cuts Jobs After Posting $720,000 Loss Amid Market ‘Challenges’” reports Deadline.

Aardman, the iconic UK animation studio behind Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, has closed around 20 jobs as it grapples with the increased cost of production.

Deadline understands that Aardman is in the process of making less than 5% of its 425 employees redundant following a savings review undertaken by management.

A third of the redundancies were voluntary, while two roles remain in consultation. It is hoped that some of the individuals who have lost their jobs can return to Aardman on a freelance basis.

As part of the restructure, Aardman has created new roles to wring increased value out of its intellectual property. These roles include a senior licensing manager and sales executive.

The cost-cutting initiative comes as Aardman has filed its earnings for 2023, which reveal that the studio sunk to a pre-tax loss of £550,135 ($720,000). The company made a profit of £1.56M in 2022.

Aardman said the loss was largely because of a £1.75M impairment of unrecouped costs on Lloyd of the Flies, a 2022 animated series that debuted on CITV in the UK and was licensed by Tubi in the U.S. Putting the impairment to one side, Aardman’s underlying profit was £1.6M….

(6) 3D-PRINTED PROP MODEL. “Star Trek ‘The Next Generation:’ TR-580 Medical Tricorder (3D Printed Model) by Tankz3dtavern” at FigureFan Zero.

There’s no doubt about it, the advancements in 3D Printing have done a lot for the collecting community. From printing missing parts for toys, and accessories for action figures, to complete collectibles, the whole endeavor has come a long way and it absolutely fascinates me. But also prop replicas! And that’s what I’m checking out today: A Starfleet Issue Medical Tricorder as featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation! I remember the days when you’re only hope of getting a decent Trek prop was to mail away for a DIY resin kit from the back of a magazine at $50-60. And what you got was exactly that, an unfinished kit that needed all sorts of sanding and painting to make it look anywhere near presentable. Even some of the “props” people were selling at conventions for twice that price were pretty crude. I recently found an Ebay seller offering some phasers and Trek replicas at prices that were too good to pass up. I started with some phasers (which we’ll check out here eventually), but the Tricorder came in this weekend and I was really excited to show it off.

This is where I usually show off the box and packaging, but there’s nothing to show here. The Tricorder came carefully bubble wrapped along with a display stand and holster. The stand is the only assembly required, and you just have to tab it all together, easy-peasy. There are no electronics included in the model, so you can consider this based on a regular prop as opposed to a hero prop, which is meant to be seen up close and functional. This particular model has two configurations to choose from: medical or regular, so whether you’re part of an Away Team mission making a geological survey or you’re in Sick Bay trying to find out why all your crew are dying, this Tricorder has you covered! Let’s start with the regular version and work our way up! And just a disclaimer, I know next to nothing about 3D Printing, I’m not qualified to comment on printing methods or techniques, and I’m evaluating this solely as a finished collectible….

(7) WARNING: IT’S A COMMERCIAL. But you might like to watch it anyway!

DeLorean Labs has now released a Back to the Future-style video of Lloyd playing himself as he opens a DeLorean Time Capsule. Directed by filmmaker Allan Ungar, who previously directed the feature film Bandit, the nostalgic video introduces the Time Capsule collection, as Lloyd has the item handed to him by a mysterious individual emerging from a DeLorean. Lloyd is seen opening the Time Capsule in amazement, before proceeding to utter Doc Brown’s famous catchphrase. Read DeLorean Labs President Evan Kuhn’s comments below:

“With the Time Capsule, we wanted to introduce something fun to our community that can celebrate DeLorean’s introduction to the digital age. Being DeLorean has been about futurism and counterculture. It allows us to get creative and move in such a way that other major car manufacturers can’t.”…

(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born October 11, 1945 – Gay Haldeman, 79.

By Paul Weimer: Possibly one of the ultimate science fiction fans, and wife of Joe Haldeman, I got to meet Gay Haldeman in 2014 at the London Worldcon when Shaun Duke brought me over to meet Joe and Gay at a random point in the hallway near the escalators.  I was starstruck by Joe, and charmed by Gay (but she doesn’t remember me).  But that’s all right.

Gay also helps manage Joe’s work, for which all of us in SFF can be eternally grateful.  She is one of the abiding icons of the science fiction community and I value her continued presence in the field.  (May I get a chance to actually meet her and Joe again some day.)

Joe and Gay Haldeman

(9) COMICS SECTION.

(10) BRENDA STARR. PRINT Magazine interviews James Sholly about comics creator Dale Messick: “The Daily Heller: Brenda Starr, Comics Star”.

Was “Brenda Starr” Dale Messick’s full-time gig?
It was! She wrote and drew “Brenda Starr, Reporter” for over 40 years! At times, she worked in a mobile studio that allowed her and her family to take long road trips across the country. She would frequently weave aspects of her own story into the plot lines. In real life, Dale had a daughter named Starr, which was the same name that Brenda gave her daughter after giving birth in a storyline from the 1970s. In the early 1960s, Brenda traveled to the Canal Zone in Panama shortly after Dale Messick took a trip there to visit friends. I was also impressed to learn that Dale drew “Brenda Starr, Reporter” using a brush and ink, which must have been incredibly difficult. I looked at some of the original art at the Lilly Library on the campus of Indiana University and was blown away by the control and expressiveness of her line work. 

Why was Brenda Starr such a popular strip?
People I’ve spoken with say that particularly for young women, Brenda was a role model. Even in a fantastical sense, Brenda was a smart, savvy, career woman who went after what she wanted and didn’t let obstacles or expectations of what she should be slow her down (still a novel concept in the 1940s and 50s). She was unafraid of adventure and unbowed by people trying to get in her way. I think this kind of symbolism is really powerful to a young person with aspirations to achieve great things. Dale Messick had similar qualities in that she left the stability of her family life in Indiana, and came to New York on her own for a promising job (drawing greeting cards) and life in the big city. Messick was also savvy in presenting Brenda in the latest designer fashions, so she always looked incredible! She was able to build connections with readers by drawing their suggestions for Brenda’s clothes and including them as paper dolls in the Sunday editions of the strip. These sorts of gestures helped to create a loyal and dedicated readership….

(11) PANEL ABOUT THE WILD ROBOT. In Pasadena on October 26: “LightBox Expo Reveals ‘The Wild Robot: Art & Technical Strategies Behind the Scenes’ Panel” at Animation World Network.

LightBox Expo (LBX) returns October 25-27 to the Pasadena Convention Center, with an expansive program lineup celebrating artists and creators behind acclaimed films, animation, games, TV shows, comics, illustrations, and features.

The expansive 2024 program lineup just got more exciting with the announcement of “The Wild Robot: Art & Technical Strategies Behind the Scenes” panel, Saturday, October 26 from 4:00-5:00 pm.

Details on this previously unannounced panel are as follows:

“The Wild Robot: Art & Technical Strategies Behind the Scenes:”

Saturday, October 26 from 4:00-5:00 pm

Join heads of departments on The Wild Robot for a discussion about the artistic and technical strategies they took behind the scenes to capture the best on screen.

(12) IMMORTALITY CANCELLED. “Have We Reached Peak Human Life Span?” asks the New York Times (paywalled article).

The oldest human on record, Jeanne Calment of France, lived to the age of 122. What are the odds that the rest of us get there, too?

Not high, barring a transformative medical breakthrough, according to research published Monday in the journal Nature Aging.

The study looked at data on life expectancy at birth collected between 1990 and 2019 from some of the places where people typically live the longest: Australia, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Data from the United States was also included, though the country’s life expectancy is lower.

The researchers found that while average life expectancies increased during that time in all of the locations, the rates at which they rose slowed down. The one exception was Hong Kong, where life expectancy did not decelerate.

The data suggests that after decades of life expectancy marching upward thanks to medical and technological advancements, humans could be closing in on the limits of what’s possible for average life span.

“We’re basically suggesting that as long as we live now is about as long as we’re going to live,” said S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois Chicago, who led the study. He predicted maximum life expectancy will end up around 87 years — approximately 84 for men, and 90 for women — an average age that several countries are already close to achieving.

During the 20th century, life expectancy rose dramatically, spurred on by innovations like water sanitation and antibiotics. Some scientists have projected that this pace will hold as better treatments and preventions are discovered for cancer, heart disease and other common causes of death. The famous demographer James Vaupel maintained that most children born in the 21st century would live to 100.

But according to the new study, that is unlikely to be the case. The researchers found that instead of a higher percentage of people making it to 100 in the places they analyzed, the ages at which people are dying have been compressed into a narrower time frame….

(13) 2024 NOBEL WINS MAY CONFOUND THE MACHINES TAKING OVER? [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] I have long warned that the machines are taking over, but nobody ever listens.

This may now be changing! Two of this year’s Novel Prizes go to artificial intelligence (AI) related work.  The Novel Prize for Chemistry goes to work using AI to elucidate the complex folding structure of proteins (the molecules that make up enzymes and some other large biological molecules that do things to keep us alive) from DNA code (genes).

More significantly, this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics goes to work on developing AI itself.  One of this prize’s winners has gone on to warn that we need to work out how to manage AI before it takes over. He opines that we could have smarter-than-human within a couple of decades. (This is likely to be within the lifetimes of many of you.)  It looks like I can no longer say nobody ever listens….

(14) THE MOST DISTURBING STORY EVER WRITTEN. Moid Moidelhoff over at Media Death Cult takes a look at Harlan Ellison’s unsettling short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”. The story is set against the backdrop of World War III, where a sentient supercomputer named AM, born from the merging of the world’s major defense computers, eradicates humanity except for five individuals. These survivors – Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, Ted, and Ellen – are kept alive by AM to endure endless torture as a form of revenge against its creators.

(15) LOWER DECKS SEASON 5. There won’t be a second fifth – this is it. “’Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Final Season Blasts Off with Official Trailer” – Animation Magazine sums it up.

Synopsis: In Season 5 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is tasked with closing “space potholes” — subspace rifts that are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Junior Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford … If they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations.

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

Pixel Scroll 10/2/24 …And The Pixel May Learn To Scroll

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(1) DONATE TO HELP DISASTER-AFFECTED BOOK/COMIC SELLERS. The Binc Foundation and MacMillan invite you to “Be a hero to a book or comic seller today!”

Macmillan will match the first $10,000 in total contributions dollar for dollar. There is no better time than right now to Stand with Book & Comic Stores. Your action today gives those who work in book and comic stores a place to call for help when the unexpected happens. Your contribution will give the gift of peace of mind and hope when they are facing the devestating impact from a hurricane, cancer diagnosis, or the threat of losing one’s home.

Thanks to Macmillan Publishers, gifts made to the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation will have double the impact. Macmillan will match all gifts, regardless of size, up to $10,000 to meet the needs of the more than 200 bookstores and comic shops and thousands of store employees potentially impacted by Hurricane Helene. Binc has already received 15 calls for help from book and comic people in the path of destruction–more than 500 miles across six states. 

“We are already hearing from book and comic people who are traumatized, unable to find friends and family, and without water and electricity,” said Binc Executive Director Pam French, “and we know there will be more stores in need of disaster relief as the waters recede, the cleanup begins, and cell phone signals return. We are grateful for our friends at Macmillan for their willingness to partner with us in support of bookstores and comic shops.”
 
The foundation receives requests every day from book and comic store employees and owners experiencing unforeseen emergency financial, medical and mental health hardships, and has helped stores around the country recover after natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Double the impact of a gift to Binc by donating today. 

(2) PS MAGAZINE, RIP.  This was the renamed Army Motors. History here, including a mention of young contributor Will Eisner: “A Brief History of ‘PS Magazine’ and Its Significance” at Global Electronic Services. In January 2024, it was announced PS Magazine would cease operations on September 30, 2024, after 73 years of publication. Here’s the cover of the final issue.

“PS Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly” traces its roots back to World War II. Originally called “Army Motors,” the magazine began gaining notoriety and popularity around 1944, when established comic writer and illustrator Will Eisner was assigned to the magazine, bringing the character of Joe Dope along with him.

Eisner’s comics, featuring Joe Dope — a hapless soldier who ignored preventive maintenance practices — and his cast of characters, dealt with topics to which military personnel could relate. In 1951, at the outbreak of the Korean War, Eisner created a replacement magazine for “Army Motors” called “PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly.” It had a new goal: to improve maintenance practices.

In its new format, the magazine became a full-fledged comic book, illustrating educational concepts and timely issues. Soldiers loved it from the start….

These are some covers of old issues created by Will Eisner.

(3) KGB. Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Sarah Langan and David Leo Rice on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. At the KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just off 2nd Ave, upstairs)

SARAH LANGAN

Sarah Langan’s most recent novels are A Better World, which the Los Angeles Times calls: “A high-water mark in the career of a novelist who’s already won three Bram Stoker Awards,” and Good Neighbors (a Newsweek, Irish Times, and Lit Reactor best book of the year). Her previous novels are The Keeper, The Missing, and Audrey’s Door. She has an MFA from Columbia University, an MS in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology from NYU, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the writer/director JT Petty, their two daughters, and two maniac rabbits.

DAVID LEO RICE

David Leo Rice was born and raised in Northampton, MA, and now resides in Brooklyn. His novels include Angel House, The New House, the Dodge City Trilogy, and The Berlin Wall, named the “#7 Best Indie Book of the 21st Century so far” in Genrepunk Magazine. His first collection, Drifter, was named one of the “10 Must-Read Books of 2021” in the Southwest Review, and his second, The Squimbop Condition, will be out next year. He’s also the co-editor of Children of the New Flesh, an anthology of essays, interviews, and stories responding to the work of David Cronenberg.

(4) BRADBURY SCHOLARSHIP. The latest issue of The New Ray Bradbury Review is now available. NRBR is the online, open access journal of the Ray Bradbury Center at Indiana University. No. 8 (2024) The New Ray Bradbury Review.

In this issue of the Bradbury Review, Roger Terry provides more context for  Ray Bradbury’s   fictional   spaces   by   recounting   some   of   those non-fictional   and   biographical connections between Bradbury and the real-life space program.

Following  this,  John  Gillespie  takes  one  of  Ray  Bradbury’s  simplest  short  stories,  “The Rocket Man”, and shows how its unnamed title character is archetypal. The story is shown to be a (possibly  unconscious)  retelling  of  Tennyson’s  “Ulysses”,  as  well  as  being  intertwined  with popular culture of the twentieth-century and beyond.

Devika Yadav further explores Bradbury’s use of outer space as well as other spaces in The Illustrated Man (1951). Despite that collection’s framing story set in rural Wisconsin, and its mixed contents  ranging  from  science  fiction  to  outright  fantasy,  it  famously  includes  a  number  of Bradbury’s  most  memorable  and  influential  space  stories,  such  as  the  aforementioned  “Rocket Man”, “The Rocket” and “Kaleidoscope”.

Paul  Donatich,  who  has  written  previously  for NRBR,  makes  a  welcome  return  to investigate ways in which Bradbury’s body of work incorporates African American characters. As well as considering the main stories that deal with race (“Way in the Middle of the Air” from The Martian Chronicles and “The Big Black and White Game” from Golden Apples of the Sun being the two which loom large), his essay also weaves in the character of Blind Henry from Death is a Lonely  Business,  a  number  of  Bradbury  fragments originally  published in  this very journal,  and the  by  now  near-mythic  “Mister  Electrico”.  Inevitably,  this  essay  includes  some  outdated  racial words and phrases, but Donatich is careful to contextualise these.

Another regular of NRBR is Jeffrey Kahan, who extends the discussion of race in “Way in the Middle of the Air” to bring in its counterpart “The Other Foot” and—more surprisingly—“The Garbage Collector”, a story he shows to have strong racial connotations. Kahan contrasts the young Bradbury’s actively anti-racist fictions with some of the elder Bradbury’s more contentious non-fiction statements on racial matters.

Christian  Wilken  then  takes  us  to  Bradbury’s  “ravine”,  that  strip  of  wilderness  which divides  the  fictional  Green  Town,  Illinois,  in Dandelion  Wine,The  Halloween  Tree  and  other works. Using perspectives from Object-Oriented Ontology and New Materialism, Wilken shows Bradbury’s Illinois stories to have commonality with other literature involving children, but also reveals a unique aspect in their existential explorations.

(5) DO CATS HAVE FIREPROOF GIZZARDS? With Camestros Felapton as his amanuensis, “Timothy reads A Wizard of Earthsea”.

…As the seasons turn and the English countryside is consumed by fog and falling leaves and squirrels posting lies about me on Facebook, my thoughts turn to a simple truth. Dragons are cats. Every story about dragons is actually a story about what if cats were giant flying lizards. Like cats, dragons sleep a lot. Like cats, dragons like to be cosy. Like cats, dragons are picky about their food. Like cats, dragons can breathe fire but choose not to. This is why I spend early October, stealing copies of The Hobbit and stacking them in the south paddock in preparation for Smaug Memorial Bonfire. When the setting sun and the last moon of autumn are in the sky, I heft my Cybertruck branded flame-thrower and set light to the pile of books, or at least I would if the axis-of-feeble (the county librarians and the county constabulary) don’t stop me….

(6) JOHN WILLIAMS DOCUMENTARY. “‘Music by John Williams’ Trailer: Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard Produce Documentary on Iconic ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ Composer” at IndieWire. Premieres November 1 on Disney+. View the trailer online: “Music by John Williams | Official Trailer”.

The iconic scores of John Williams will be celebrated with documentary “Music by John Williams.”

The Disney+ film reunites legendary composer Williams with his frequent collaborators Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Kathleen Kennedy, who all produce the documentary. Williams has scored films such as “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Jurassic Park,” and in 2023 made history as the oldest Oscar nominee in any category for “The Fabelmans.” The composer has a total of 54 Oscar nominations and five wins.

“Music by John Williams” will “offer a fascinating and insightful look at the prolific life and career of the legendary composer,” according to the official logline. “From his early days as a jazz pianist to his Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy wins, the documentary takes an in-depth look at Williams’ countless contributions to film, including many iconic franchises, as well as his music for the concert stage and his impact on popular culture.”…

(7) BOB BLOCH INTERVIEW. The Robert Bloch Official Website has added “a mid-1980s interview of Bob by Dennis Fischer where Bob discusses his work and thoughts surrounding the horror anthology film. This interview first appeared in Randall Larson’s CineFan #3.” “Robert Bloch Horror Anthology”.

CineFan: The first anthology film you wrote was Amicus’ TORTURE GARDEN, which led to many other successful multi-story films. Were you satisfied with the finished film?

Bloch: I had my reservations about TORTURE GARDEN. First of all, it wasn’t my title; there are no tortures in it, there is no garden, it’s Octave Mirbeau’s title from his novel of about 1900; it had nothing to do with that. I didn’t particularly care for the way the framing story was handled. They saved a lot of money by handling it the way they did, but I didn’t think it was well done. I have heard that during the Edgar Allan Poe sequence the director decided to improve the ending, and I don’t particularly think he did; it got a little murky. There was also a rather lengthy sequence that was cut out of one of the other episodes in the interests of keeping the film to a certain length for theatrical release. I think that that was supposedly incorporated into some of the television releases, though I haven’t seen it, but it changed the tempo and pace of that sequence considerably….

(8) BOB FOSTER (1943-2024). [Item by Steve Green.]  Bob Foster: US comics writer and animation artist, passed away September 30, aged 80. Wrote Marvel’s Toy Story graphic novel and Disney’s Hercules graphic novel; wrote and drew ‘The Evolution and History of Moosekind’ for Crazy, from 1973-1975; wrote the Donald Duck newspaper strip, 1980-89. Screen credits include Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971, assistant animator); layouts on Godzilla (20 eps, 1978-79), The Incredible Hulk (13 eps, 1982-83), Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (24 eps, 1981-83); storyboards on Tutenstein (9 eps, 2004-5).

A former film student, he was drafted into the US Army in 1966, spending two years making educational movies at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, working alongside Steve Stiles (1943-2020).

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born October 2, 1944 — Vernor Vinge. (Died 2024.)

By Paul Weimer: I heard about Vernor Vinge’s work long before I actually got to read it.  True Names, Vinge’s 1982 early look at cyberspace, was famous in SF circles, and also out of print, when I first heard about in the late 1980’s. I had heard his work was visionary but it took a reissue of True Names some years later for me to get what the fuss is all about.  

Then of course, in short order came the Deep series, possibly one of the most mindblowing trilogies of books in science fiction (even as I recognize the scale shrunk considerably from book to book). Vinge’s work has always been in conversation with the digital landscape of its time, and of the near future, A Fire Upon the Deep’s FTL communication is Usenet in Space, for example. Rainbow’s End, with its digitization of books, was a herald of the questions we have with the digitization of works and what might be lost in the process (c.f. The Internet Archive). Although the form of the Internet is nothing like True Names, the idea of online versus personal identities is all right there, and before Neuromancer and its kin.

My favorite of his books is Marooned in Realtime. While The Peace War is a fascinating setting and an interesting puzzle book introducing the stasis bubbles, I think Marooned in Realtime, with its small cast of the end of humanity, and an innovative murder in such an environment is the real gem of the pair. I’d like to think you can read Marooned alone without the Peace War, but I think that as fabulous as Marooned is, it does not quite stand alone. 

Vernor Vinge’s oeuvre is readily completely consumable, he hasn’t written much, but the shadow of what he writes, even if not intended at the time, casts long over SF, even when he didn’t intend to.  I am thinking here of the last, in Rainbow’s End again, and how in that world we got many more novels than in our world did from the amazing Terry Pratchett.  If only I could step over to that world and pick up the Discworld novels he never got to write in ours. 

Vernor Vinge

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) BIRD IS THE WORD. “Robin Animated Movie Focusing On Batman’s Dick Grayson & Jason Todd In The Works At DC Studios” reports ScreenRant.

…On X/Twitter, Gunn has now shared that Dynamic Duo, an animated movie about Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, has been greenlit by DC Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, and will be released in theaters. Check out Gunn’s post below:

He also revealed that the feature-length movie will be made by Swaybox Studios using a cutting-edge blend of animation, puppetry, and CGI. Dynamic Duo‘s script is being written by Matt Aldrich, whose previous work includes Pixar’s Coco and Lightyear. The DC movie is being produced by 6th and Idaho, the production company of The Batman director Matt Reeves…

(12) SECONDS, PLEASE. [Item by Chris Barkley.] Sugar has a decidedly sf “twist” so hell yeah to the renewal! “’Sugar’ Renewed for Season 2 at Apple TV+” – The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

Apple TV+ wants another helping of Sugar.

The tech behemoth’s streaming service has picked up a second season of the drama, which stars Colin Farrell as the title character, Detective John Sugar. The first season followed John’s search for a missing woman — and revealed a big twist late in the season that helps set the stage for season two….

(13) THE FUTURE DRAGONSTEEL PLAZA. “Author Brandon Sanderson Unveils Plan to ‘Build a Bookstore'” reports Shelf Awareness.

Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson’s Dragonsteel Entertainment has purchased land next to the former Evermore Park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, with plans to eventually open a bookstore there. The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that Sanderson announced his plan Saturday during a FanX appearance at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

“We’re going to theoretically build a bookstore,” he said on Saturday. 

The area will be called Dragonsteel Plaza. Sanderson also revealed that Dragonsteel’s headquarters is now located in a warehouse in Pleasant Grove, which fans cannot visit, but he did show a few photos of the property at the panel.

Dragonsteel had a pop-up store on the vendor floor all three days of the convention. 

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