25 If You’re Looking For That Pixel, It’s Over In That Scroll, Not This One

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Mike Glyer

(1) FOR WHOM CTHULHU TOLLS. Quotes from Lovecraft’s correspondence touching on Hemingway feature in Bobby Derie’s “Harsh Sentences: H. P. Lovecraft v. Ernest Hemingway” at Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein.

It is just possible that Ernest Hemingway knew the name H. P. Lovecraft. Though they moved in very different literary circles and Hemingway was not known to have ever picked up a copy of Weird Tales. Yet they both earned three-star ratings in Edward J. O’Brien’s The Best Short Stories of 1928, Hemingway for “Hills Like White Elephants,” Lovecraft for “The Color Out of Space.” They both made The Best Short Stories of 1929, too. For Hemingway, that was the likely the beginning and end of their association; there are no mentions of the master of the weird tale in Hemingway’s letters. It was easy, in the 1920s and 30s, to know nothing about Lovecraft.

For H. P. Lovecraft, missing Hemingway would have been much more difficult—nor did he….

…While vastly different in style, that both men shared an appreciation for some of the same authors and works, or at least recognized their importance, should not be surprising. They were only nine years apart in age, both white men raised in America, voracious readers who loved literature. One notable fantasy writer that they both appreciated was Lord Dunsany, who was a major influence on Lovecraft:

“Often a wonderful moon and the guy’s would have me read Lord Dunsany’s Wonder Tales out loud. He’s great.” —Ernest Hemingway to Grace Quinlan, 8 Aug 1920, LEH 1.237

(2) EFFORT TO STOP IMLS LAYOFFS. Plaintiffs move to prevent layoffs ordered for the Institute of Museum and Library Services: “In D.C.’s District Court, ALA Battles to Preserve IMLS” at Publishers Weekly.

At the first hearing in ALA v. Sonderling, held April 30 at the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees pushed for the court to put an immediate halt to the ongoing gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services before the majority of its staff is laid off this weekend.

The ALA and AFSCME hope to block the implementation of a White House executive order that has hollowed out the IMLS, reduced staffing to a minimum, and imposed delays and outright terminations on the agency’s statutory and discretionary grants. In a brief filed April 28, the organizations argued that the defendants, including IMLS acting director Keith Sonderling, have made “arbitrary” and “unconstitutional” changes at the agency. The defendants contend they must comply with the EO to fulfill “the President’s priorities.”…

(3) AI BS. T. R. Napper cuts loose on “the oft-repeated lies and the self-serving greed of an industry that, at its core, seeks to destroy art” in “It’s the People, Stupid (Human Art in a Company World)”.

The Will to Anthropomorphise

This dishonesty of the tech industry is particularly acute in the field of generative AI models, where obscurantist tech language tries mightily to anthropomorphise the machine. Where we are told, for example, that mistakes made by Large Language Models are ‘hallucinations’, or that chatbots can serve us as mentors, coaches, cheerleaders, counsellors, and even as romantic interests.

Let’s make this clear from the outset. A large language model has the same sentience as a toaster. It thinks about language about as much as a toaster does toast: that is, not at all. These are not coaches or counsellors, they are products. They are instruments of surveillance and data extraction for some of the most venal and amoral corporations on earth. The products don’t care about you, they don’t think about you. They don’t think about you because ‘they’ don’t exist as a consciousness.

When AI-driven search engines have a 60% error rate, they are not ‘hallucinating,’ they simply aren’t working. If you had a car that didn’t work 60% of the time, you’d take it back to the dealership…

(4) MEANWHILE, BACK AT AI MONETIZATION. The Verge tells how – with the estate’s permission — “The BBC deepfaked Agatha Christie to teach a writing course”.

BBC Studios is using AI to recreate the voice and likeness of late detective story author Agatha Christie for the purpose of featuring it in digital classes that teaches prospective writers “how to craft the perfect crime novel.” A real life actor, Vivien Keene, is standing in for Christie, with her appearance augmented by AI to resemble the author.

The new class, called Agatha Christie Writing, is available today on BBC Maestro, the company’s $10-per-month online course service that usually gives you access to content from living professionals teaching things like graphic design, bread making, time management, and more.

Deepfaked Agatha Christie’s teachings are “in Agatha’s very own words,” her great-grandson James Prichard said in a press release. It uses insights from the real Christie and is scripted by academics — so the actual content appears to be human-made and not generated from a model that’s been fed all of her work. BBC collaborated with Agatha Christie Estate and used restored audio recordings, licensed images, interviews, and her own writings to make this all happen….

(5) UNSPOILED PRAISE. Camestros Felapton tells us why “Andor Season 2 is really good [no spoilers]”.

…One of the things that I really like about this show that, if anything, is even stronger this season, is the way the Imperial bad guys are treated as fully realised complex characters BUT without any suggestion that somehow they are decent people who are just on the wrong side of things. We spend a lot of time with Imperial agent Dedra Meero of the Imperial Security Bureau and the uptight but emotionally fragile Syril Karn. They really are not nice people both as people and in terms of the powers that they serve but they are very definitely people, with complex lives and difficult emotions, trying to navigate their own lives….

(6) IN FOR A POUND. ER, FIFTEEN. The Guardian reports “New book prize to award aspiring writer £75,000 for first three pages of novel”. But it’s “pay to play”.

A new competition is offering £75,000 to an aspiring writer based on just three pages of their novel.

Actor Emma Roberts, Bridgerton author Julia Quinn and Booker-winning Life of Pi author Yann Martel are among the judges for The Next Big Story competition, run by online fiction writing school The Novelry.

Roberts, who co-founded the book club Belletrist, said: “There’s nothing more euphoric than being immersed in the world of a good book and to get lost in the words of a brilliant author. This is a groundbreaking new writing prize and I’m thrilled to be included on this panel of esteemed luminaries.”

Martel said: “We all need stories to make the world new, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s out there.”

Along with the cash prize, The Novelry will support the winner for a year to develop their idea into a full book….

… Entrants from the UK, US, Canada and Australia are invited to submit the first three pages of their novel via The Novelry’s website by 31 July. Each entry costs £15 and there is no limit on the number of entries each writer can submit. A shortlist selected by a team at The Novelry will be put to a public vote from 28 September. Guided by the public vote, the judging panel will pick a winner, to be announced on 12 October. The prize is funded by The Novelry….

(7) CASHING IN ON SUPERHEROES. “Superman gets a U.S. Coin—Batman and more coming soon” reports AIPT Comics. (See full information at the U.S. Mint’s “Comic Art Coin and Medal Program” webpage.)

The United States Mint (Mint) has announced it’s launching a coin series featuring Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products (WBDGCP). Designed by Mint Chief Engraver Joseph Menna, these are genuine American coins.

It’s said the coins are meant to celebrate the American values and heroic ideals that these characters represent.

The first hero getting the coin treatment is Superman, first revealed during a ceremonial strike event held at the Mint in Philadelphia.

The coins come in gold and silver. Check out the Superman coins below….

(8) ICG RIP 2025. The International Costumers Guild has posted the “Costuming Community Video Memorial 2025” — see the video on YouTube. Note: The photo listed as “William Rotsler” is actually Tim Powers. They do accurately list Rotsler’s year of death as 1997; they don’t say why he’s included.

This video premiered during the virtual Single Pattern and Future Fashion shows on April 12, 2025 when Costume-Con had been cancelled. Once again, we recognize people who may not have worn (m)any costumes and/or competed in masquerades, but still made some significant impact within the greater costuming community. If you know of a costumer or someone else who has either passed away recently or years earlier, please contact us at icg-archivist @ costume.org. The people remembered in this video are: John Stopa, William Rotsler, Jim Inkpen, John Trimble, Jim Davis, Tonya Adolfson (aka Tanglwyst de Holloway), Jay Smith and “Miki” Dennis.

(9) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”

By Paul Weimer: The original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”, starred Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike.

I saw pieces of it before I got to see the entire thing, of course, in the two-part Star Trek episode “The Menagerie” which has Spock recall the events of the episode. My opinion of “The Cage” was thus an incomplete opinion until I finally got to see the complete “The Cage” on TV on a TV special just before The Next Generation debuted.

It was a fascinating experience to see the entire pilot at last, without any Kirk or the rest of his era, and all of the missing material. I came to see how even more progressively radical for its time that the original pilot for Star Trek was. Mind you, I saw how Jeffrey Hunter ‘s Christopher Pike was really Jeffrey Sinclair before his time…a lead that was good, but not quite what audiences would want in the main. I could see the swing from Hunter to Shatner, Pike to Kirk. I could sadly see why having a female Number One in the early 1960’s was a non-starter, either.

The real poleaxe was Spock. The Spock of “The Cage” is a very different Spock than the Spock we see in every subsequent iteration. A smiling Spock, an emotional Spock, a Spock that is fundamentally less alien in many ways than the Spock we come to know and love. And of course one that is just a moderate officer on the Enterprise, not the first officer, not part of the Heroic Trio of Bones, Kirk and Spock. And no Heroic Trio as well. (Good old Jon Lormer as Dr. Theodore Haskins is no McCoy, but it’s clear that he’s the model for McCoy). And of course, once we have gotten to Strange New Worlds, the conception of what an Enterprise Bridge could be has changed.

So in the end, we will never know what might have resulted…but I strongly suspect Star Trek would not have survived as long as it did, if “The Cage” had gone forward and become the actual TV series. But again (c.f. Babylon 5 again), it was a prototype that made the real version possible, and magical.

(10) BELATED BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

April 30, 1938 — Larry Niven, 87.

By Paul Weimer: Larry Niven was one of the early SF authors I read, once I was out of my initial burst of Asimov and Clarke, in the early 1980’s. My brother had a couple of copies of various short story collections set in Known Space, as well as Ringworld. And so I was set for a while on Niven and his works. I loved some of the crafty puzzling aspects of some of his stories, the variety of aliens, and the exploration of consequences of technologies.

I kept following Niven’s work, and it was his collaboration with Pournelle (The Mote in God’s Eye) that got me into Pournelle’s work for a good long time. Similarly, his collaborations with Steven Barnes (Dream Park) got me into Barnes’ own work. Niven was a great facilitator of introducing me to authors, directly and indirectly. I first heard of Georgette Heyer through an anecdote that he relates in N-Space, for example.

Still, Niven has multiple worlds that enthralled me. Known Space. The novels of his Smoke Ring duology. The Magic Goes Away verse. Dream Park (until the last novels which retconned and changed the technology and ruined the concept for me). The Heorot verse. His contributions to Pournelle’s Future History.

The luster of Niven slowly faded, as his politics and mine diverged, perhaps on his part, and certainly in mine. It started in Fallen Angels, and his very anti-Environmental stance that, as cool as it was to have Glacier spushing out of Canada, started to turn me off. I think it was The Burning City, set in his Magic Goes Away verse, that finally had the politics overwhelm the storytelling, the writing, and the ideas, to their detriment for my own personal reading. I did try Bowl of Heaven (with Gregory Benford) a decade ago…but the magic had gone away, for me. Alas.

For all of my love of early Niven Known Space and the like, “Inconstant Moon” remains my favorite Niven story. It’s a love story at its heart, even as Niven kills most of the planet in the process.

(11) COMICS SECTION.

Carpe Diem complains about book size.
Dinosaur Comics predicts an unexpected source of future nostalgia.
Strange Brew should have known.
xkcd theorizes about Jupiter’s core.
Pearls Before Swine delivers a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of loaning a book to a friend.

(12) NEW FRAZETTA ART BOOK. Frazetta Girls is taking pre-orders on their website for a book of Frank’s drawings: “Frank Frazetta: Fine Lines Art Book”

It includes essays about Frazetta’s illustrations for the Canaveral Press, the Lord of the Rings portfolio, the Science Fiction Book Club, and others.

(13) COSTUME DESIGN. [Item by Andrew Porter.] Really fascinating costuming and clothing article. “Costume Secrets of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” at PBS.

In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, a character’s success is measured in silks, stitching, and the symbolism of a regal headpiece. In an interview with MASTERPIECE, costume designer Joanna Eatwell talks about dressing the Tudors from the inside out, channeling 16^th-century portraiture, and which actor most fully inhabits her meticulously crafted designs….

JOANNA EATWELL: … And in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, we were given the greatest gift ever. And that is Hans Holbein and his court paintings. …Holbein did primarily paint the court, because portraiture was incredibly expensive to have done. And he did a couple of pet portraits of Henry’s servants. And from those, we can get liveries, the King’s guards, we understand how they worked. But he paints fabrics. He’s extraordinary. And I think we’d be lost without him….

(14) WHAT’S MY LINE? At Entertainment Weekly, “Kit Harington recalls Bella Ramsey helping him with ‘Game of Thrones’ lines”.

Kit Harington and Bella Ramsey are reminiscing about working on Game of Thrones together — and recalling how one of them helped the other remember their lines.

In a recent conversation for Interview, Ramsay told Harington their earliest memories of playing Lyanna Mormont opposite his Jon Snow in season 6 of the HBO fantasy series.

“I don’t know whether you remember this, but I remember it quite vividly and have some remorse for it now, but during that scene I was mouthing your lines to you,” the Last of Us star said. “Now I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, how awful.’ But at the time it came from a very innocent place of being like, ‘Kit’s struggling with his line and I know it, so let me just mouth it to him.'”

Harington then shared his side of the story. “I do remember you helping me out and it being quite humiliating,” he recalled. “But yeah, thanks for that. I’ve probably chosen to forget it.”

Ramsey said they now regret the move. “You’re welcome. No, I think I need to forget it, because that’s so annoying,” they said. “Like, how annoying is that?”

Harington reassured his former costar: “It wasn’t at all. If anything I was like, ‘Oh god, I’ve got to up my game. I came here not really being comfortable enough with my lines, in the arrogance of however old I was, thinking I’m just opposite some child. And then that child actor is wiping me off the screen.’ Not that it’s a competition, but you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bit too comfortable in my Jon Snow-ness.'”…

(15) RESIDENT ALIEN SEASON 4 WILL BE SIMULCAST. “’Resident Alien Gets Season 4 Premiere Date & Trailer On USA & Syfy” reports Deadline.

Almost a year after Resident Alien moved from Syfy to NBCUniversal sibling USA Network with a suspenseful Season 4 renewal, a premiere date has been set for said Season 4 and, surprisingly, it involves both the sci-fi comedy-drama’ new and old homes.

The new season of Resident Alien will debut June 6 as a simulcast on USA and Syfy….

… As Deadline reported last spring, Resident Alien, facing cancellation at Syfy, moved to USA for a fourth season with a significant budget reduction. The USA/Syfy simulcast model was previously used for Chucky during its three-season run….

(16) A LITTLE LIKE A MYSTERY THEATRE 3000 MOMENT. “Almost 30 years later, Ben Affleck says his iconic Armageddon DVD commentary might be his best work: ‘It is an achievement I’m proud of’” at GamesRadar+.

Ben Affleck has no shortage of career highlights, from starring in modern classics like Pearl Harbor and Gone Girl and playing Batman in the DCEU to his directorial work in award-winning movies like Argo. His best work, however, might be his brutally honest Armageddon’s DVD commentary, according to Affleck himself.

“In retrospect, now, I feel like maybe my best work in my career is the commentary on this disc,” he said during a Criterion’s Closet Picks video after finding Michael Bay’s thriller on the shelf.”People approach me to talk about the commentary in this disc as much as they do movies that I’ve been in,” Affleck continued. “And it’s because I didn’t know any better than to be really honest. But I won’t spoil it for those of you who are interested. It is an achievement I’m proud of and didn’t intend to be as good as I now think it is.”

In the most famous part of his commentary, Affleck argued that it’s illogical to train oil drillers to be astronauts instead of the other way around. “How hard can it be? You just aim the drill at the ground and turn it on,” he commented back then, not afraid to mock his own film….

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

Pixel Scroll 4/7/25 That Sound? Either The Music Of The Spheres, Or Of An Infinity Of Pixels

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Mike Glyer

(1) HUGO VOTE TOTAL UPDATE. Today Hugo Administrator Nicholas Whyte issued a correction. The correct number of total Hugo Award nominating votes is 1,338.

(2) MURDERBOT PRODUCTION NEWS. Martha Wells is posting photos taken by Troyce on the Murderbot set at Bluesky. That’s in addition to the “First Look” photos in the following article which she warns is “spoilery”.

“’Murderbot’ Would Hate You—But That’s Why You’ll Love It” promises Vanity Fair.

… While the title might make the show sound like a hard-edged thriller, it’s more like a workplace comedy about hating what you’re good at. Skarsgård’s character is the unwitting straight man—or rather, straight…thing. (Though it looks like a man, Murderbot prefers the neutral pronoun because it is proud to be an object rather than a person.) It regards the small group of interplanetary scientists it must protect with the same enthusiasm as W.C. Fields babysitting a room full of toddlers. “It just doesn’t get humans at all,” Skarsgård says. “It’s not a deep hatred, it’s just zero amount of curiosity. It’s confused by humans and wants to get away from them.”…

… Murderbot’s devotion to a futuristic TV series called The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon also evokes real people on the spectrum, who can develop a phenomenon called hyperfixation. Murderbot studies the fictional melodrama for cues about how to behave in emotional situations. The show-within-a-show stars John Cho, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise, sporting outrageous hairstyles and costumes that make the stylings of A Flock of Seagulls look like business casual…

(3) SF TITLES PULLED FROM NAVAL ACADEMY LIBRARY. [Item by F. Brett Cox.] The Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy has removed 381 books in response to the current administration’s policies. The list includes What Are We Fighting For?, nonfiction by Joanna Russ, as well as the following works of contemporary science fiction and fantasy literature: Ryka Aoki, Light from Uncommon Stars; Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built; Mohsin Hamid, The Last White Man; Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland; Neon Yang, The Genesis of Misery. This has been reported in multiple outlets, including CNN, the NY Times, the AP, and CBS News. Link to full list: “250404-List of Removed Books from Nimitz Library.xlsx” at Defense.gov.

(4) THE YEAR IN LIBRARY BOOK CHALLENGES. “ALA Releases Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024” reports Publishers Weekly.

The American Library Association kicked off National Library Week 2025 with its annual report on the state of the nation’s libraries, including the top 10 most challenged books of 2024. All Boys Aren’t Blue, George M. Johnson’s YA memoir about growing up Black and queer, surpassed Maia Kobabe’s Gender-Queer, which had topped the list two years in a row, as the most challenged title of last year….

…[The] ALA stressed the new stakes, in a statement: “This year, as library funding is under attack, ALA encourages every library advocate to Show Up for Our Libraries by telling Congress to protect federal support for libraries.”

In its report, the ALA documented 821 attempts to censor materials and services at libraries, schools, and universities in 2024—a notable drop from the 1,247 attempts recorded in 2023. Moreover, the ALA 2,452 unique titles that were challenged or banned last year, marking a decrease from the record-breaking 4,240 titles targeted in 2023.

However, Caldwell-Stone noted that while the trend is a positive one, 2024 still marked “the third-highest number of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom since it began documenting library censorship in 1990.” She added that the data is just one part of the picture.

“Not reflected in these numbers are the relentless attacks on library workers, educators, and community members who stand up to the censors and defend the freedom to read,” Caldwell-Stone wrote. “These attacks are creating an environment of fear in which library workers are afraid to buy books or report censorship.”…

(5) R. E. BURKE PROFILE. British comics creator R. E. Burke is “working on a comic that will tell the story of what happened to her, and the women she shared 19 days with, based on the drawings, notes and official documents she managed to take out of the detention centre. Becky still doesn’t know why she was incarcerated for so long.” “’I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’” in the Guardian.

…Workaway warns users that they “will need the correct visa for any country that you visit”, and that it is the user’s responsibility to get one, but it doesn’t stipulate what the correct visa is for the kind of arrangements it facilitates in any given country. Becky had always travelled with a tourist visa in the past – including to the US in 2022 – without any problems. She checked that work visas were only required for paid work in Canada. She had had months to plan her trip, and would have applied for a work visa if it was necessary, she says.

But the Canadian officials told Becky they’d determined she needed a work visa. She could apply for one from the US and come back, they said. Two officers escorted her to the American side of the border. They talked to the US officials. Becky doesn’t know what was said.

After six hours of waiting – and watching dozens of people being refused entry to the US and made to return to Canada – Becky began to feel frightened. Then she was called into an interrogation room, and questioned about what she had been doing during her seven weeks in the US. Had she been paid? Was there a contract? Would she have lost her accommodation if she could no longer provide services? Becky answered no to everything. She was a tourist, she said.

An hour later, Becky was handed a transcript of her interview to sign. She was alone, with no legal advice. “It was really long, loads of pages.” As she flicked through it, she saw the officer had summarised everything she told him about what she had been doing in the US as just “work in exchange for accommodation”. “I remember thinking, I should ask him to edit that.” But the official was impatient and irritable, she says, and she was exhausted and dizzy – she hadn’t eaten all day. “I just thought, if I sign this, I’ll be free. And I didn’t want to stay there any longer.” So she signed.

Then she was told she had violated her tourist visa by working in the US. They took her fingerprints, seized her phone and bags, cut the laces off her trainers, frisked her, and put her in a cell. “I heard the door lock, and I instantly threw up.”

At 11pm, Becky was allowed to call her family. Her father asked what was going to happen next. “I looked at the officer and he said, ‘We’re going to take you to a facility where you’ll wait for your flight. You’ll be there one or two days – just while we get you on the next flight home.’”…

But of course, she wasn’t.

… On her first day in the facility, Becky asked for a scrap of paper and a pen, and began to draw the inmates on the table next to her. She was immediately inundated with portrait requests. A Mexican woman called Lopez, who had a photo of her children stored on one of the iPads, told Becky she would buy her some paper and colouring pencils from the commissary if Becky drew her kids. She soon became the dorm’s unofficial artist-in-residence, with women huddling around the dirty mirrors to make themselves look presentable before they sat for her. They would decorate their cells with Becky’s drawings, or send them to their families. Lopez declared herself Becky’s manager. “She kept saying, ‘Becky, you need to ask for stuff in exchange. Ask for popcorn.’ And I’d be like, ‘Lopez, I don’t need anything.’ I thought, I’m here briefly, you’re stuck here a long time. I’m not going to take your food away from you.”…

… Becky had arrived in the detention centre on a Thursday. She soon realised she would not be out of it before the end of the weekend. No one ever replied to the message she sent to Ice on the iPad; she found out the Ice officer assigned to her case had gone on annual leave. The following Monday, Paul contacted the Foreign Office in London, and the British consulate in San Francisco. “They were doing the diplomatic bit,” he tells me. “But, after seven days, I could see it wasn’t really working. My perception is the British consulate couldn’t get Ice people to respond to them. There was no end in sight.”

After Becky had been incarcerated for more than 10 days, Paul decided to go to the media…

(6) OLIVIER AWARDS 2025. The Guardian names the winners of the awards that celebrate London theatre: “Olivier awards 2025: Giant, Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof triumph”.

…The play Giant, which portrays children’s author Roald Dahl amid an outcry about his antisemitism, has triumphed at the Olivier awards on a star-studded night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

US star John Lithgow took home the best actor prize for his performance as Dahl, Elliot Levey won best supporting actor (for playing publisher Tom Maschler) and Mark Rosenblatt received the award for best new play.

Giant is Rosenblatt’s debut as a playwright and brought him a double victory at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards in March, where he won for most promising playwright and best new play. Giant ran last year at the Royal Court in London and will transfer to the West End later this month, with Lithgow and Levey resuming their roles.

Lithgow thanked the audience for “welcoming me to England” and said “it’s not always easy when you welcome an American into your midst”, highlighting that this moment was “more complicated than usual” for relations between the US and the UK….

(7) REMEMBERING THE INKLINGS. Brenton Dickieson revisits “The First Meeting of the Inklings, with George Sayer” at A Pilgrim in Narnia.

I wrote last week about all the literary groups that formed some of the greatest writers of the 20th century, and how L.M. Montgomery was alone. One of those was the Inklings, which made C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien into the writers that they were. Without the daring possibilities in Tolkien’s work and the intelligent conversation of the Inklings, Lewis may never have turned to popular fiction and cultural criticism. Without Lewis’ persistent support and criticism and the company of other mythopoeic writers, Tolkien may never have completed that grand project of turning his mythology into popular story, lyric, and epic. I don’t think that the Inklings were more important to English literature than the Paris Expats or the Bloomsbury Set or the Detection Club, but in terms of the development of fantasy literature, the Inklings created new worlds.

Dickieson quotes from George Sayer’s Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times (1988; 1994; 2005).

…I don’t know if Sayer ever attended an official Inklings event, but his description of how the Inklings emerged and what happened there is a great introduction both to this Oxford literary circle and to Sayer’s biography.

“For years no regular event delighted Jack more than the Thursday evening meetings of the little group of friends called the Inklings. His was the second group to use this name. Its predecessor was founded in about 1930 by a University College undergraduate named Tangye Lean. Members met in each other’s rooms to read aloud their poems and other work. There would be discussion, criticism, encouragement, and frivolity, all washed down with wine or beer. Lean’s group consisted mainly of students, but a few sympathetic dons were invited to join, including Tolkien and Jack, who may have been Lean’s tutor. Lean graduated in June 1933, and that autumn Jack first used the name the Inklings to describe the group that had already begun to meet in his rooms.

“It was always utterly informal. There were no rules, no officers, and certainly no agenda. To become a member, one had to be invited, usually by Jack. Nearly all members were his friends….

“…The ritual never varied. When most of the expected members had arrived (and maybe only three or four would come), Warren would brew a pot of strong tea, the smokers would light their pipes, and Jack would say, ‘Well, has nobody got anything to read us?’ …”

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Quark series (1978)

Forty-six years ago, a series called Quark aired as mid-season replacement on NBC. It surprised me that it only lasted eight episodes as I swear, I remember it lasting longer than that, then I often think that of series such as the Space Rangers which lasted six episodes and Nightmare Cafe which, oh guess, lasted six episodes as well. Surely, they lasted longer, didn’t they?

It was created by Buck Henry, co-creator along with Mel Brooks of Get Smart. It was co-produced by David Gerber who had been responsible for the series version of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (try not to hold that against him) and Mace Neufield who after being a talent agent for such acts as The Captain and Tennille and became responsible for The Omen as its producer. That film is effing scary.

(I tried rewatching Get Smart! a few years ago. Unlike The Man from U.N.C.L.E which held very splendidly when we watched it again, Get Smart! caused the Suck Fairy to visibly cringe when we watched it. I just thought it was bad, really bad.)

The cast was Richard Benjamin, Tim Thomerson Richard Kelton, Cyb and Tricia Barnstable, Conrad Janis, Alan Caillou and Bobby Porter. The Barnstable twins got a lot of press, mostly for the fact that they didn’t wear much by the standards of the day and really, really could not act. They previously appeared as the Doublemint Twins often with identical canines. I kid you not.

Interesting note: they still live in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky and are the hostesses of the annual Kentucky Derby Eve party which they founded in 1989. There were no Kentucky Derby parties before that as Tricia notes here, “It was astonishing that there really weren’t any celebrations at that time in Louisville,” Tricia says. “We started with about 500 people. We invited James Garner. Dixie Carter. Lots of stars. And they came!” The party which now draws thousands is a fundraiser for diabetes research as the maternal side has a history of that disease.

Ok, so how is the reception? Oh, you have to ask? Seriously? One reviewer summed it up this way: “Only lasting eight episodes, it is eight episodes too many. The idea of spoofing science fiction is a given and there are only a handful that get it right, but this is a spectacularly awful show.”

And another said succinctly that “A viewer seeking something a little different may find the series entertaining, but low expectations are a must.”

Doesn’t most television SF comedy require low expectations? Most I said, not all.

It has no rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It might be streaming on Crackle and Philo, two services that I’ve never heard of. It might not be. Telling what is there is almost impossible as the major streaming tracking services don’t bother such services.

Yes, there are full episodes on YouTube. As it is very much still under copyright, those are definitely bootleg, so not provide links to them as they will be removed. As the Board Chair in Robocop 2 said, “Gentlemen, behave yourselves!”

(9) COMICS SECTION.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal causes Batman to turn against math.
Alley Oop illustrates that parents are the same everywhere.
Birdbrains fancies an idyllic time.
Ink Pen illustrates a truly bad hair day.

(10) JMS’ NEXT SPIDER-MAN. This July, writer J. Michael Straczynski closes out his series of “unlikely duo one-shots” with Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister Sixteen, featuring art by Phil Noto. For more information, visit Marvel.com.

Over the last few months, prolific writer J. Michael Straczynski has been spotlighting unlikely character pairings in a series of action packed one-shots. These timeless and standalone stories have co-starred two Marvel icons of Straczynski’s choosing—either in unexpected team-ups or thrilling showdowns—from Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon to Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom. This July, Straczynski closes out the series with a collision course of heroes and villains from every corner of the Marvel Universe in SPIDER-MAN VS. THE SINISTER SIXTEEN #1.

…On what inspired the tale, Straczynski explained, “One of the most common tropes in the super hero world is that of the amount of destruction that comes when heroes and villains lock horns. We all accept that it just happens. This led to thinking: What if the owner of a popular restaurant has run it into the ground and needs the place to be destroyed for the insurance money, and invites a ton of heroes and villains to dine all at the same time in the hope that a fight breaks out? What if initially everyone tries to stay calm to enjoy the experience, but sooner or later, with that roster…the storm comes.”

(11) DIRE STRAITS. “’Game of Thrones’ Dire Wolves Return in De-Extinction Breakthrough” – The Hollywood Reporter mashes up science and show-biz insights.

Immortalized in Game of Thrones and on the crest of House Stark, the dire wolf is walking the Earth again and even howling after going extinct nearly 10,000 years ago.

As announced today by genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences, the long-extinct canine — or at least a very close approximation of it — has been successfully brought back to life. The process was accomplished via DNA extracted from two fossils as well as 20 edits of the genetic code of a gray wolf, the species’ closest living relative, according to research carried out by Colossal, sometimes known as the De-Extinction Company.

Colossal says it has whelped three dire wolves and — using CRISPR technology — decided to select fluffy white fur for their coats, based on its new analysis that the original species had snow-colored fur. (A previous study, published in Nature in 2021, found evidence that dire wolves were not closely related to gray wolves.)

The Colossal company has named its two new male dire wolves — a pair of six-month old adolescents — Romulus and Remus, after the mythological twin founders of Rome, who were said to have been raised by a wolf. And in an homage to Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen, it’s christened a female puppy Khaleesi.

The trio are now living in an enclosed preserve of more than 2,000 acres at an undisclosed location. They are expected to mature at 130 to 150 pounds — by contrast, a typical gray wolf clocks in at about 80 to 100 pounds.

“Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” says Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm in a statement. “It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”…

… Colossal reached out to [George R.R.] Martin after it started work on its dire wolf de-extinction project. Not only did he sign on as a Colossal Biosciences cultural adviser and investor, Martin also flew to meet Romulus and Remus at their private preserve (which Colossal says has been certified by the American Humane Society).

Says Martin, in a statement, “Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world, but in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem.”

While many fans of Game of Thrones likely think that dire wolves as fantasy beasts, they are in fact an actual animal that lived in the Americas and likely went extinct due to the disappearance of the large herbivores on which they preyed. At L.A.’s famed La Brea Tar Pits, fossil remains from more than 3,600 dire wolves have been discovered and the adjacent museum devotes an entire wall to displaying around 400 dire wolf skulls….

(12) FUSION IN SPAAAAACE, [Item by Mark Roth-Whitworth.] Actually, this makes *perfect* sense. In my novels, before we discover complete conversion, this is how we get around the solar system.

There will, of course, be idiots against it, I mean, let’s ignore the humongous fusion reactor in the middle of the solar system… “Nuclear-powered rocket concept could cut journey time to Mars in half” at CNN.

… With funding from the UK Space Agency, British startup Pulsar Fusion has unveiled Sunbird, a space rocket concept designed to meet spacecraft in orbit, attach to them, and carry them to their destination at breakneck speed using nuclear fusion.

“It’s very unnatural to do fusion on Earth,” says Richard Dinan, founder and CEO of Pulsar. “Fusion doesn’t want to work in an atmosphere. Space is a far more logical, sensible place to do fusion, because that’s where it wants to happen anyway.”

For now, Sunbird is in the very early stages of construction and it has exceptional engineering challenges to overcome, but Pulsar says it hopes to achieve fusion in orbit for the first time in 2027. If the rocket ever becomes operational, it could one day cut the journey time of a potential mission to Mars in half….

(13) CUDDLY KEN PASSED 30 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Kenny Everett, one of Britain’s all-time top two disc jockey’s, died 30 years ago this month. In addition to radio, he was known for The Kenny Everett TV Show: it was all in the best possible taste.. His humour was decidedly wacky and occasionally SF-adjacent if not, as with Captain Kremmen full-blown Sci-Fi. And so…

Front shields on. Krill tray in position. Booster one. Booster two. Booster three. My mission, to camply go where no hand has set foot, to explore new vistas, quash new monsters and make space a safe place for the human race… Yes, he’s so hunky… Muscles of steel, legs like a gazelle, thighs like tug boats, x-ray eyes, bionic blood, bulging biceps, a lock of tousled hair falling over a bronzed forehead, saviour of the Universe… Cue the music…

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

Pixel Scroll 3/23/25 Sometimes, Scrolls Just… Break, Their Pixels Spraying Everywhere, Like Beads In A Bottle, Just More Cluesome

Posted on March 23, 2025 by Mike Glyer

(1) COMIC CREATOR BURKE’S ICE ORDEAL. From downthetubes.net: “Comic Creator RE Burke: Her Visa Story”.

The family of comic creator RE Burke, aka Becky Burke, have issued a detailed statement about her recent detention nightmare in the United States, asking for it to be shared so that the many thousands who offered support after her family’s appeal for Becky’s return can see it.

“We want everyone to know how grateful we are for their support, prayers and help in raising the profile. It is the reason she is home with us now, thank you,” they explain.

As we previously reported, comic creator RE Burke, aka Becky Burke, is home after her detention nightmare in the United States, detained by the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over two weeks for travelling with wrong visa. She is now back in the UK.

Becky, 28, was denied entry into Washington State after US immigration officials accused her of travelling on the wrong visa, her plight prompting a massive campaign to free her, which we reported here.

A GoFundMe campagn fund raised over £9000 to cover legal Becky’s costs. No more donations are being taken. Any surplus will be donated to charities in the Seattle area helping people in similar situations….

After 19 harrowing days in ICE detention due to a visa mix-up, our daughter Becky has finally returned home to the UK. Instead of allowing her to take an immediate flight back, Homeland Security detained her in handcuffs at a Tacoma, WA facility under harsh conditions. The current immigration crackdown and systemic delays exacerbated her ordeal, worsened by a shortage of immigration judges. Becky’s nightmare ended on March 18th, and she is now beginning to recover….

Did she overstay the 90 day limit on the ESTA tourist visa?

No. She had only been in the USA for 50 days when she had planned to travel by bus to Canada, she was planning to spend 2 months in Canada and then fly home to the UK.

Did she break the rules of the ESTA?

The ESTA is for tourists only. For work or study a specific visa is required. Becky did a lot of research before she went and what she had planned was classed as tourism. This was accepted when she entered the US on 7th January. It was also accepted in 2023 when she spent two weeks in San Francisco, with a host family. On the 26th February, US border officers suddenly decided staying with host families and joining in with household chores was now classed as work. Our US Immigration Lawyer said they got their definition of work wrong.

Was she given a chance to return to the UK at her own cost?

No, this was not offered at the border despite this being the usual protocol for tourists. ICE had the chance to offer this at any stage during her detention, her parents even had a flight home booked for her at one point, in the hope they would let her take it, but they didn’t.

Does she have a criminal record?

No. She also has many people who testify to her good character and her gentle soul.

Was she allowed to let family know when she was being deported?

No. One of the other detainees had to call us to say she had left. Even the British Consulate were not told that she had boarded the flight. We were only certain when she arrived at Heathrow.

Was she treated with ‘dignity and respect’ as written in ICE policy.

No. She was handcuffed when she was transferred from the border to the facility. When inside the facility ICE did not communicate where she was in the process, all her possessions were confiscated, lights were on 24/7 and there were four head counts each day during which they were forced stay on their bunk for at least an hour. When she was eventually transferred to Seattle airport to fly home she was taken in leg and waist chains and handcuffs, and was escorted to the plane.

We wish Becky and her family well after this ordeal….

(2) BEING ORWELL’S SON. [Item by Steven French.] On the 80th anniversary of 1984, the Guardian has an illuminating interview with Orwell’s son Richard Blair on his father’s attitude towards women, his antisemitism and his (Blair’s) mother: “George Orwell and me: Richard Blair on life with his extraordinary father”.

…Most memorable was the time Orwell misread the tide when they were out in the hazardous Gulf of Corryvreckan, home to one of the world’s biggest whirlpools. Their dinghy overturned and they almost drowned. Did that shock Orwell? “I think it gave him a hell of a shock, yes, absolutely.” Was his father as reckless with you as with himself? Blair smiles. “Well, health and safety didn’t really rear its ugly head in those days, did it? And yet we survived.”

There was one precaution Orwell did take. “He said I had to have a pair of decent, stout boots, because of the snakes. Jura has got a lot of adders. They’re not desperately poisonous, but he had a thing about snakes, probably because of his days in Burma.” Was he scared of them? “Yes, to a degree, but not scared enough that he wouldn’t stamp on them and kill them.” Orwell treated his son as a mini-adult, perhaps not surprisingly, as he had little experience of children and there were no other kids around….

(3) FRENCH BOOKSTORE RESISTANCE. “Mutiny brews in French bookshops over Hachette owner’s media grip” — the Guardian has the story.

A conservative Catholic billionaire and media owner is facing an independent bookshop rebellion in France over his influence in the publishing world.

Dozens of independent booksellers are trying to counter the growing influence of Vincent Bolloré, whose vast cultural empire includes television, radio, the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, and also, since 2023, the biggest book publishing and distribution conglomerate in France, Hachette Livre.

“Books matter,” said Thibaut Willems, owner of Le Pied à Terre independent bookshop in Paris’s 18th arrondissement and one of the booksellers taking a stand by limiting their orders of Hachette Livre books and placing them on lower shelves….

… As well as the moves by some booksellers, protest groups on the left have started a “bookmark rebellion”, where individuals hide bookmarks inside paperbacks in large commercial stores with messages such as “boycott Hachette”, detailing the scale of the Bolloré empire….

(4) ART DIRECTOR SWINGS AND MISSES. Michael Whelan analyzes an example of “When the Client Gets It Wrong”.

Preliminary concepts for THE DEMON OF SCATTERY

The Cover and What Could Have Been

ME: There’s one concept that stood out to me for The Demon of Scattery—one of my all-time favorite prelims—and I’ve always been curious how the AD passed on choosing it because the composition is so dynamic. It would have been a slam dunk of a cover.

MRW: I couldn’t agree more!

Back then I felt that it was on me to offer comps that would generate a good cover for a book, and if any of them didn’t make for a good painting that was my fault for not realizing the full potential of the original concept.

In retrospect, I often find myself asking a variation of the same question you posed: “Why on Earth did I submit any other options when THIS concept is so obviously the best of the bunch?”

The answer, of course, is that it wasn’t obvious to me at the time.

Also, as a cover artist I felt it incumbent on me to present a range of options, attempting to reflect what the publisher [and occasionally, even the author ????] wanted emphasized in the image. The editors called the shots more often than not, and being human, they often made regrettable decisions.

And on more occasions than I would like, the people who really called the shots were marketing idiots who thought THEY knew better than anyone else what the public would be looking for. Most of the banal or downright crappy covers one sees are the result of that aspect of the corporate bookselling machine.

While a few of the concepts submitted were strong, my favorite is pictured above—and not simply because it was the most polished of the lot. The composition is sinuous and alive with action.

There are so many subtle points of connection that bring eyes where they need to be. Placed off-center right, the warrior provides an easy entry point with the lines of his body directing attention to the serpent and the sorceress. The curve of the rocks forms a bowl, a solid foundation to leap into the image.

(5) NO AI. The Ursa Major Awards has posted a “Temporary notice regarding AI content”.

…We’ve been asked about our AI policies, which is the purpose of my message today!

Our current statement, although not final, is that AI/LLM generated content is not allowed. This includes art, text, and covers for things like books or music. The only exception is an event where an author has an AI generated image attributed to their work by their publisher without their permission. I’ve been told this does happen!

Regarding this year’s content, to the best of my awareness, none of the accepted entries break this rule. Should that not be the case, please do not hesitate to talk to me about it!

(6) ALIEN ROMANCE AND TEA. Clarion West will host “Steamy in Seattle 2025” on May 10. Tickets available here.

Meet authors Ann Aguirre and Elizabeth Stephens as they discuss the alien romance genre, science fiction and fantasy worlds, and what writing romance has taught them! Paranormal romance author Jasmine Silvera to moderate.

Join us at Seattle’s beautiful Nordic Museum for a traditional high tea, featuring a delightful selection of savory finger sandwiches, scones, salad, and delectable sweet treats catered by Lovely Night Catering — and a custom tea blend provided by Friday Afternoon Tea.

Time to pick out your favorite fascinators and elegant gowns to wear or get your fedora ready in preparation for this utterly romantic opportunity to support the literary arts!

This event is not just a fundraiser; it’s a celebration of emerging and underrepresented writers — particularly women in the field of speculative fiction. Steamy in Seattle raises money for our annual programs, sliding scale tuition, and scholarship programs.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cora Buhlert.]

March 23, 1904 — H. Beam Piper. (Died 1964.)

By Cora Buhlert: Content warning: Discussion of suicide

Considering how well regarded he was and still is as an author, we know surprisingly little about him. For example, we don’t know whether the H stands for Henry, Horace or Herbert. And while we know how he died, we don’t know exactly when or why.

H. Beam Piper never received a formal higher education, because he considered the college experience unpleasant, but instead educated himself in science, engineering and history. He worked as a laborer and later as a night watchman at the railroad yard in his hometown.

At some point, Piper began to write and in 1947 at age 43 he sold his first story “Time and Time Again” to John W. Campbell at Astounding Science Fiction. More stories followed, both for Astounding and other magazines. In 1961, finally, Piper published his first novel, the juvenile Four-Day-Planet. On the planet Fenris, a year is only four days long, but each of those days lasts four thousand hours with extreme temperatures. Giant whale-like creatures roam the seas of Fenris and are hunted for their valuable tallow wax, which makes for excellent radiation shielding. Protagonist Walt Boyd is a seventeen-year-old boy reporter, who gets entangled in a conflict between the whalers guild and the corrupt mayor of Fenris and some equally corrupt business people. Basically, this is Tintin and the Space Whalers with a bonus message about the importance of formal education, which is ironic considering Piper’s own life. I have read Four-Day-Planet and enjoyed it quite a bit as a fun science fiction adventure.

However, my introduction to Piper’s work was not Four-Day-Planet, but what is probably his best known work, the 1962 novel Little Fuzzy. I discovered the book as a teenager at Storm, the one bookshop in town with an extensive foreign language section. Most of that foreign language section actually consisted of dictionaries. There was also a table where one could peruse the huge Books-in-Print catalogues as well as a special order desk, where you could order any book listed in those giant catalogues. That special order desk was always busy with university students ordering otherwise unavailable textbooks and literature. Annoyingly, those students also kept staring at me, especially the male ones, and I was sure that they were judging my reading choices. Yes, I was quite dense.

The foreign language section at Storm also has two spinner racks with mass market paperbacks. The paperbacks in those spinner racks were almost entirely genre fiction. Romance, crime and mystery and of course science fiction, fantasy and horror. Whenever I was in the city center, I would stop at Storm (which still exists, though much diminished), head up to the foreign language section on the first floor and check out the spinner racks for anything that caught my eye, all the while dodging annoying male students staring at me. I discovered a lot of great authors and books in those spinner racks. And one day, I discovered Little Fuzzy, the 1980s Ace Books edition with the Michael Whelan cover of protagonist Jack Holloway surrounded by Fuzzies. The books caught my eye at once, because the Fuzzies were not only cute, but they looked just like the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi. Indeed, Little Fuzzy is widely considered to be the inspiration for the Ewoks and the parallels are quite obvious. The cover intrigued me enough that I plopped down my hard earned pocket money to buy the book. And English language mass market paperbacks were expensive in the 1980s due to the bad exchange rate and high import duties.

On the planet Zarathustra, prospector Jack Holloway discovers a furry alien creature he names Little Fuzzy. Little Fuzzy takes Jack to meet the rest of his tribe and Jack realizes that the Fuzzies are intelligent. This causes a problem for the mining company that has set up shop on Zarathustra to exploit the planet’s natural resources, because if the Fuzzies are declared an intelligent species, they and their habitat will be protected by law and the company will lose their mining rights. Being an unscrupulous company in a science fiction novel, they will of course do everything to prevent this, up to and including murder.

My teen self enjoyed Little Fuzzy a whole lot and it’s easy to see why. The plight of the furry aliens and their human protector against the big bad mining company is highly compelling. Though I never read any of the sequels, neither Piper’s own nor those by other authors, mostly because I didn’t know they existed.

One H. Beam Piper novel I did read, though several years later, was Space Viking, which was serialized in Analog from November 1962 to February 1963 and then appeared as a paperback in 1963. Once again, it was the cover – a glorious Michael Whelan cover with the titular space Vikings in front of a bright purple background – which attracted me along with, “Oh, it’s by H. Beam Piper. Cool. I liked Little Fuzzy.”

The protagonist of Space Viking is Lucas Trask, an aristocrat from the planet Gram. Trask is about to marry Lady Elaine, when a spurned former suitor of Elaine’s crashes the wedding and proceeds to gun down the wedding party (shades of the Red Wedding from A Song of Ice and Fire and the Moldavian wedding massacre from Dynasty, though Space Viking predates them both). Elaine is killed but Trask survives and vows revenge. He joins the Space Vikings, a group of space-faring raiders, to go after the killer, who has escaped aboard a stolen spaceship. In the process, Trask winds up establishing a little galactic empire of his own and also finds a new love. And yes, he gets his man, too, in the end.

I enjoyed Space Viking, though not nearly as much as Little Fuzzy. Part of the reason may simply be that I was older when I read Space Viking and more critical. The novel offered plenty of adventure and thrills, but also some irritating politics, including a very American view of emigration and colonization that is common, but also plain wrong. In fact, I remember wondering at the time, “Was Piper always like this and I just didn’t notice?”

Little Fuzzy, Four-Day-Planet and Space Viking are all part of a future history series called the Terro-Human Future History along with the 1963 novel The Cosmic Computer and several pieces of short fiction. The Terro-Human Future History chronicles the rise and fall and rebirth of a galactic civilization and was clearly influenced by the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

Piper also wrote the Paratime series, which chronicles the adventures of the Paratime Police who can move between timelines and alternate histories. The Paratime series consists of several pieces of short fiction and one novel, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, which was published in 1965 and would be Piper’s final novel.

This brings us to the sad part of this birthday note, namely Piper’s untimely death. It is widely known that Piper committed suicide, but both the reason and the exact date of his death are not known.

What is known is that Piper dated the last entry in his diary November 5, 1964. On November 8, his body was found. Piper had apparently shut off the power and water to his apartment, covered the walls and floors with tarp and shot himself with a handgun from his extensive collection. He left behind a note saying “I don’t like to leave messes when I go away, but if I could have cleaned up any of this mess, I wouldn’t be going away.”

What mess precisely Piper was referring to is not known. The most common explanation is that Piper had financial problems. He had just gone through a painful and costly divorce and his agent was not replying to his letters and calls – due to having died – so Piper assumed his writing career was over. Another explanation is that Piper wanted to prevent his ex-wife from collecting his life insurance payment, so he took his own life to make sure that the insurance company would not pay. Most likely, the reason for his death was a combination of these factors.

More than sixty years after Piper’s death, the legacy that remains is a remarkable body of work, much of which is not only still in print, but is still receiving sequels and prequels written by other authors to this day.

(8) COMICS SECTION.

Brewster Rockit witnesses duplication.
Carpe Diem analyzes planetary concerns.
Pearls Before Swine is there for the cancellation.
The Argyle Sweater adds a silly level of difficulty.

(9) AT THE SHOW. The boys were whoopin’ it up in the Malamute Saloon – er, the Glendale Civic Auditorium – during today’s LA Vintage Paperback Show. Photos by John King Tarpinian.

(10) DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO MILTON KEYNES? [Item by Steven French.] A sci-fi graphic novel from ten years ago is reissued and reviewed (by someone who seems to hold, sadly, some rather stereotypical attitudes towards the genre): “There’s No Time Like the Present by Paul B Rainey review – a funny, unpredictable and wild comic” in the Guardian.

People who enjoy science fiction love to imagine the future: time travel, spaceships, something wobbly with a green face. But what if those fans really had access to it – the future, I mean – courtesy of something very similar to the internet? This is the possibility Paul B Rainey floats in There’s No Time Like the Present, in which a crowd of misfits from Milton Keynes (once the future itself) are able, if not to visit Mars, then at least to watch episodes of Doctor Who that have not yet been screened.

Mordant and misanthropic in almost equal measure, Rainey’s book has three central characters, each one somewhat stuck, unable fully to escape their childhood. Barry, an obnoxious lazybones, still lives at home with his parents; he makes his living selling bootleg recordings of TV shows he has lifted from the “ultranet”, which provides entry to the future. Cliff, Barry’s friend, and a yoghurt-addicted woman called Kelly live together in her new house, but they’re not a couple; while he secretly pines for her, he’s only her tenant. In the evenings, they watch, with varying degrees of guilt, future episodes of their favourite series (Doctor Who in his case, Emmerdale in hers): tapes pressed on them by the grisly Barry….

(11) BRICKS GALORE. “Huge LEGO ‘Game of Thrones’ The Wall Has 200,000 Pieces – Is Very, Very Cool” according to Bell of Lost Souls.

The Wall is maybe the most iconic setting in Game of Thrones. Constructed by Bran the Builder in the Age of Heroes, it marks the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. Some three hundred miles long and several hundred feet high in most places, it is one of the wonders of the world. Of course, the wall is no normal wall; it is built of ice and carries potent magical protections.

Originally meant to keep the Others out of the Realms of Men, for most of its history, it instead kept the Wildlings of the North out of the Seven Kingdoms. The Wall is home to The Night’s Watch. This order of men sworn to defend the Wall and the Realms of Men has built a number of castles into the Wall. Along with the Red Keep, it is one of the major setting locations of the story.

The Wall has now been rendered in stunning detail in LEGO. Done by the talented Anuradha Pehrson (you can find their Flickr here), this immersive build has over 200,000 pieces. It’s a truly massive build and includes several sections of The Wall and vignettes combined into one. The model takes up a full 5 ft x 5 ft square and is about 4.5 ft tall. Due to having several elements and scenes, it is not consistent on one scale….

(12) A WHIFF OF HOLINESS. Smithsonian Magazine says“Ancient Greek and Roman Statues Were Not Only Beautiful, but Also Smelled Nice, Too”.

In ancient Greece and Rome, statues not only looked beautiful—they smelled good, too.

That’s the conclusion of a new study published this month in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. Cecilie Brøns, who authored the study and works as an archaeologist and curator at the Glyptotek art museum in Copenhagen, finds that Greco-Roman statues were often perfumed with enticing scents like rose, olive oil and beeswax…

… While reading ancient Greco-Roman texts, Brøns noticed a handful of references to sweet-smelling statues. She was intrigued, so she decided to go looking for even more mentions of scented sculptures.

Brøns was surprised to find lots of evidence in texts by Cicero, Callimachus, Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder and Pausanias, among other writers. Several of these texts mentioned anointing statues of Greek and Roman deities—including one depicting Artemis, the Greek goddess of wild animals, in Sicily. Statues of rulers, such as Egypt’s Berenice II, were also perfumed, Brøns finds.

The statues were anointed in different ways. In some instances, they were covered in a mixture of waxes and oils through a process known as “ganosis.” In others, they were coated in olive oil as part of a process called “kosmesis,” which was meant to help protect the sculptures from the elements…

(13) DON’T LOOK UP. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] In this week’s Nature more on space junk… “Space debris is falling from the skies. We need to tackle this growing danger”.

At 3 p.m. on 30 December last year, residents of Mukuku village in Makueni county, Kenya, were startled by a loud crash. In the middle of a field lay a mysterious, smouldering metal ring, 2.5 metres across and weighing nearly 500 kilograms. Elsewhere, in western Uganda in May 2023, villagers reported seeing streaks of fire in the sky before debris rained down, scattering wreckage across a 40-kilometre-wide area. These were no ordinary meteorites — they were remnants of a defunct satellite and spent rocket stage, returning to Earth without warning.

These events are not isolated. Across the world, from Texas to Saudi Arabia, from Cape Town to the Amazon rainforest, objects launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) are now falling back to Earth. Some burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, but others — especially those made of titanium and heat-resistant space-age alloys — survive re-entry and slam into the ground, sometimes in populated areas. The problem is getting worse. With the rapid expansion of commercial space flight, thousands of satellites are being launched each year. Yet few owners have plans to remove them from orbit in a controlled way….

(14) WILL WE SURVIVE THE FUTURE? [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Look, the dinosaurs didn’t survive (and I have never really forgiven them for what they did to Raquel Welch) and I keep on telling people that the machines are taking over, but no-one ever listens… All of which begs the question as to whether we will survive the future…?

Well, over at PBS Eons they have been asking just that…

Just because our ancestors have made it through every major period of upheaval in the Earth’s history so far doesn’t mean that our survival through future changes is guaranteed. Humans have become a force of nature, but will we survive ourselves?

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

Pixel Scroll 11/3/24 Never Scroll In Against A Pixelian When Death Is On The Line

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(1) BOWERS MUSEUM FANTASY EXHIBITION. [Item by Matthew Sangster.] A touring version of the British Library’s Fantasy: Realms of Imagination (which was reviewed on File 770 last year) has now opened at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, CA. (It opened October 26 and runs to February 16, 2025). A small number of the more fragile manuscripts haven’t travelled, but there are a number of new inclusions, including original concept art from Labyrinth by Brian and Wendy Froude.

Sleeping Beauty (1968) © Royal Ballet and Opera. Tunic worn by Rudolf Nureyev as Prince Florimund in Act III of The Royal Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty (1968) © Royal Ballet and Opera

Let our landmark exhibition cast its spell as we explore the beautiful, uncanny and sometimes monstrous makings of fantasy. From epic visions to intricately envisaged details, Fantasy: Realms of Imagination celebrates some of the finest fantasy creators, reveals how their imagined lands, languages and creatures came into being, and delves into the traditions of a genre that has created some of the most passionate and enduring fandoms.

Journey from fairy tales and folklore to the fantastical worlds of Studio Ghibli. Venture into lands occupied by goblins and go down the rabbit hole. Explore the realms of the one ring and travel into the depths of Pan’s Labyrinth. And discover how the oldest forms of literature continue to inspire fantasy authors today.

Presented in partnership with the British Library, Bowers Museum invites visitors to discover 160 fantastical items that include costumes, historical manuscripts, rare first editions, drafts of iconic novels, scripts, maps, original artwork, film props, and immersive multimedia experiences.

Gather your fellow adventurers and step into the realms of fantasy as they have never been chronicled before. Who knows where your journey will lead…

(2) TREK MEMORABILIA. Julien’s “Bid Long & Prosper Auction” will take place November 11. Among all the Star Trek costumes, props, and documentation going under the hammer, this “William Shatner Captain James T. Kirk Hero Screen-Matched Communicator Prop” is expected to fetch one of the highest prices, in the six-figure range. (I assume the stopwatch is for scale, not to measure whether Kirk was fastest on the draw.)

(3) GODZILLA AT SEVENTY. LAist recalls “The little-known connection between LA and Japanese monster masterpiece, ‘Godzilla’” — which may or may not have been a good thing, but did mean I got to watch this version on local TV when I was a kid.

Today marks a very special day for a timeless Japanese icon.

On Nov. 3, 1954, the first Godzilla film was released in Japan. The monster flick, which many people saw as an allegory for the Atomic bomb, was a box office hit in the country, and would go on to become a global sensation.

But, “unbeknownst to many people, Godzilla’s international stardom actually began right here in Los Angeles,” said Steve Ryfle, who co-authored the book, Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa.

That’s because for five decades, according to Ryfle, pretty much the only way audiences in the U.S. and other parts of the Western world could see the film was through a highly altered version of the 1954 Japanese original.

And that re-edited version, titled Godzilla King of the Monsters! contained added scenes that were all shot in Los Angeles.

… The studio behind Godzilla — the renowned Toho Studios — was looking to expand into foreign markets, and set up a small export office in L.A.

One of the films they offered up for sale was the monster film, said Ryfle. The people who bought it were not your typical Hollywood execs….

What these American producers did to the original Japanese version was write in an entirely new character named Steve Martin, who is an American wire service reporter stationed in Japan, played by character actor Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame….

(4) EDEL RODRIGUEZ Q&A. Steven Heller interviews Edel Rodriguez about “Cuban Sci-Fi and Hope for the Future” at PRINT Magazine.

What exactly does this niche of fiction mean?
Some of these stories reflect on what is happening in Cuban culture and politics under the cover of science fiction. It gives writers a way to be social critics in an indirect manner. They can tell stories about corruption, migration, shortages and other social ills in a dystopian setting that is not directly tied to Cuba.

Are the books produced in Cuba for Cuban readers?
The books are written in Cuba by Cuban writers but have mostly been published in Spain. Some of them have been published in Cuba; it just depends on the nature of the writing. The books by the author Yoss are not printed on the island, though they do make their way back to readers there.

Are the writers dissidents?
I don’t think they are dissidents per se, but some have been looked at in a negative light by the establishment. This is why some of their books are often published overseas. I believe that the writer Agustín de Rojas was embraced by Cuban institutions while the writer Yoss was not.

What do you feel is a smart sci-fi scenario? And is there a Cuban narrative?
My favorite thing about these stories is seeing the references to Cuban culture, the conversation style and scenarios which mirror what is happening in the Cuban society. A Cuban narrative is when all goes to hell and the characters are desperately trying to right the ship, whether it be a boat, a country or a spaceship.

(5) FREE READ. Sunday Morning Transport starts the month with a free read: “Margeaux Poppins, Monster Hunter”. As the editor say –

Bringing out great short fiction each Sunday depends on the support of our readers. Our first story each month is free. We hope that you will subscribe to receive all our stories, and support the work of our authors. If you already subscribe — thank you!

(6) EVERYTHING ROMERO. You can explore the George A. Romero Archival Collection at Digital Pitt.

What’s online?

The online collection contains selections from the George A. Romero Archival Collection including behind the scenes and premiere photos from Night of the Living Dead, as well as posters spanning Romero’s filmography.

What’s in the entire collection?

The George A. Romero Archival Collection documents a creative history of Romero’s work spanning his entire career. It includes drafts and manuscripts for both his produced and unrealized projects, as well as production, publicity, and promotional materials related to his work. It is part of the horror studies collecting area within Archives & Special Collections.

(7) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Memory: Ngaio Marsh’s A Man Lay Dead (1934)

I truly love country house mysteries. I really do. And they are perfectly suited, the classic ones, for me to listen to, especially this time of year.

There’s A. E. Milne’s The Red House Murder and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. And now let’s talk about Ngaio Marsh and her country house mystery, A Man Lay Dead.

Ngaio Marsh was born in 1895 Christchurch, New Zealand where she lived until 1928, when she went to London with friends on whom he would base the Lamprey family in the Surfeit of Lampreys novel, her tenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn. But long before that, she would write A Man Lay Dead which as I said is a country house murder. It is the first novel of thirty-two to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published ninety years ago by Geoffrey Bles in London.

The plot concerns a murder committed during a game of murder mystery at a weekend party in a country house.

WE ARE GOING TO TELL A STORY HERE, SO GO AWAY UNLESS YOU WANT KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS NOVEL!

A small group of guests at Sir Hubert Handesley’s estate including a man about town, several of his nieces, an art expert, a gossip reporter, and pay attention as Marsh makes sure you notice him, a butler of Russian ancestry.

The murder mystery game in which one of the guests is of course chosen to be the murderer and someone to be murdered by him or her. At the time of the murderer’s choice, he tells the victim they’re dead.

At that point, the lights go out, a loud bell rings, and then everyone comes back to together for yet more drinks and to piece together who did it. It is all intended to be a good hearted diversion, except that the corpse is very, very real.

When the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse with a real dagger in the back. All seven suspects have solid alibis, so Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn has to figure out the whodunit. (Alleyn is conveniently investigating a murder connected to a stolen chalice in the area, but he’s called when this murder occurs at uncle’s estate.)

Will more murders happen? I’m not saying, but this a classic manor house mystery, so what do you think? Need I say?

NO MORE STORY SHALL BE TOLD, SO COME BACK NOW.

Marsh had being reading a short story by Christie or Sayers, she forgot which, and wondered if she could write a mystery novel set in the Murder Game which was popular at English weekend parties. So she bought some composition books and set down to write.

Marsh regretted this novel immensely once she’d refined her writing skills in years to come. Joanne Drayton noted in Ngaio Marsh: Her life in crime that she would “cringe at the thought of her first novel with its barely plausible story line, shallow characterization and confined setting”.

Despite her criticisms, the story does work decently, or at least I think it does. Who else has read it, and what are your opinions of it? I’d say a lot of the manor house mysteries of that period weren’t exactly literary masterpieces by any reasonable measure, but were they meant to be? I think not.

It would later be adapted for the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries series with the Angela North character here being replaced by Agatha Troy who appears in later novels as Alleyn’s romantic interest and eventual wife.

It, like almost everything Marsh did, is available from the usual suspects. The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries series is streaming on Amazon Prime.

The cover is that hardcover first by Geoffrey Bles.

(8) COMICS SECTION.

Breaking Cat News details how Tortimer the Roomba will save the world.
Strange Brew has a strange crossover.
Tom Gauld wasn’t blinded by science – but by lunch.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist pic.twitter.com/eXu2iDzizP
— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) November 3, 2024

(9) COMICS HISTORY UP FOR AUCTION. Christie’s will auction this month “Les Cousins Dalton” by Morris (1923-2001).

The Belgian cartoonist Morris (pen name of Maurice De Bevere) introduced his comic-book cowboy Lucky Luke in 1946. Les Cousins Dalton, an original strip in which our hero defeats four gunslingers at a single stroke after slurping a Coca-Cola, dates from 1958, when Morris was working with René Goscinny, co-creator of Asterix

(10) THE ODDS OF LIFE. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Dave Kipping over at the Cool Worlds channel has always been a bit of a sceptic regarding the possibility of life elsewhere, especially technological life. The reason why some biologists, like Jack Cohen and I, do think that life is fairly common and while intelligent life with technology may be rare, it is not that rare. However, Dave Kipping does have some mathematical arguments on his side (if you go down the Bayesian route — it’s a maths probability thing). However, work the past few years had pushed back evidence for first life to even earlier in the Earth’s life than before, and a recent paper extends the likely lifespan of our biosphere. So, Dave Kipping has had a re-think and is coming around to our way of thinking…

There’s been some new studies in the fields of palaeontology that have changed my mind about one of the most profound questions – does life start easily on Earth-like planets? Join me today to find out why…

(11) OVER THE GARDEN WALL 10TH ANNIVERSARY SHORT. [Item by N.] Over the Garden Wall, an animated fantasy miniseries that has become an autumnal staple for many, premiered 10 years ago today. In celebration, Cartoon Network has released a stop-motion short with help from Aardman Animations.

Concurrently, Inverse has published an interview with series creator Patrick McHale, who both looks back and looks forward: “10 Years Later, the Creepiest Cult Classic Just Got a Huge Upgrade”.

Here’s an official mirror on X.com which can be seen outside the US.

(12) AI BLIGHT OF THE DAY. [Item by Danny Sichel.] Generative AI is a blight, but sometimes it can make things like this – a music video for Game of Thrones in a Trailer Park. “A Song of Rednecks (Official Music Video)”.

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

Pixel Scroll 10/12/24 Now Is The Time For All Good Scrolls To Come To The Aid Of Their Pixels

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(1) GAME OF THRONES AUCTION, SECOND DAY. Westeros reports huge prices are being paid for props and costumes in “News – Day 2 of the Game of Thrones Auction Recap”.

…A few other notable pieces hit the six-figure mark throughout the day. Oberyn Martell’s trial by combat ensemble was next to break the mark, followed by what to me was probably the most surprising result among the big sellers: the Lannister “family litter” used in season 5. It’s beautifully crafted, but I had no idea it’d draw that much attention. After that, the last item we saw to reach $100,000 before we went to bed was the “Shame” bell, which I recall David Mandel of the The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast expected to do well….

…Eight more items ended up joining the list, all of them in the final third of the auction…

Two of those items are:

A “hero” Needle from season 6 cleared the bar at $131,250.
The new price leader then showed up eleven lots later, with the “hero” Longclaw from season 6 charging ahead to a whopping $400,000. The figure was so high that we checked the Heritage Auctions and the Propstore records of past sales; near as we can tell, this is now the most expensive prop sword auctioned by the two biggest auction houses focused on props and memorabilia. The previous holder of that record, according to our research, was a Glamdring from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which was actually a WETA replica for Sideshow Toys rather than an actual, screen-used one….

At the end of Day 2 the auction stood at $12.15 million in total sales.

Today’s Day 3 sales were topped by the $1.49M paid for the Touring Iron Throne:

Original touring Iron Throne, measuring approximately 65″ x 86″ x 63″ and weighing 310 lbs. Molded from the original screen-used throne, this replica is expertly crafted from plastic with a painted metallic finish and jewel embellishments to resemble the hilts of once-regal swords…. This Iron Throne was crafted exclusively for promotional events and tours, such as Comic-Con, Hollywood premieres, and the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition, which visited major cities worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, and Sydney….

(2) AIMING TO MAKE THEM A LITTLE LESS FREE. According to The Mary Sue: “Utah book banners now want to make Little Free Libraries susceptible to criminal charges”.

Utah book banners have now set their sights on Little Free Libraries, clamoring to make owners of these libraries susceptible to criminal charges.

As conservative parents, educators, and politicians spread the book-banning movement across the nation, Utah has quickly arisen as one of the most dystopian states when it comes to the right to read. The state recently passed a law that allows it to enact statewide book bans. Essentially, if a handful of schools find some kind of fault with a book, it can be banned in every single public and charter school in the state. The Utah Board of Education also suggested adding a stipulation to the law that would’ve required teachers to burn the books banned statewide. Meanwhile, the state’s conservative politicians and educators recently held a book-banning party to celebrate the archaic law and demand that authors “repent” for writing books….

… Conservatives were outraged when Democratic State Representative Sahara Hayes celebrated Banned Books Week by placing Utah’s banned books in Little Free Libraries around the state. A book-banning group on Facebook quickly shared a video of Hayes distributing the books. Member Brooke Stephens made a post stirring hysteria by claiming Hayes was putting “explicit books” in Little Free Libraries “where little kids have direct access to them.” In a separate post, Stephens insisted that book-banning laws should now apply to Little Free Library owners, stating, “Private property doesn’t mean you don’t need to follow the law.” She wants putting books in Little Free Libraries to be considered equivalent to distributing pornography or obscene material to children….

(3) ANNOUNCING WISCONLINE 2025. The WisCon committee today announced plans to hold WisCONline 2025 – a virtual con with no in-person component.

The WisCon Convention Committee is pleased to announce that we will be having an online convention in 2025!

What will WisCONline 2025 look like?

In addition to being fully online with no in person presence, we are currently looking at changes to WisCon to make it more sustainable for our volunteers. This means WisCon may appear to “shrink”, but if we offer less (for example, fewer panels), it’s because our focus is on quality and maintaining WisCon’s values.

While we can’t give exact details this early, more than ever, the capacity WisCon has to do the things we all love will depend on having volunteers step up. We’re committed to avoiding the past burnout we’ve seen come from volunteers taking on too many roles.

When is it?

It will take place Memorial Day weekend as always! (May 23-26, 2025, with some programming possible Thursday evening and Tuesday morning.)

Why online only?

Unfortunately we weren’t able to recruit key volunteers in time to make an in-person con viable. We’re excited, however, to use this opportunity to explore what we can do to engage and reach our community in ways we can’t usually….

(4) EN ROUTE. “Where do you get your ideas” is one of the cliché questions asked of sff writers. Samantha Harvey, author of Orbital and Booker Prize finalist, tells the Guardian about the origins of her novel: “’I was on the way to a funeral when the idea came to me’: 2024’s Booker-shortlisted authors on the moment inspiration struck”.

‘Many novels, I think, have multiple possible origin stories. With Orbital, was it the astronaut/cosmonaut quotes I used to collect in my teens (Alexei Leonov: “The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone”)? Was it my time spent working in an astronomy museum? Was it a conversation with my partner in the kitchen one day, in which he said I should write a play set on the ISS and I said, “Rubbish idea, can’t do microgravity on the stage”? (I owe him my thanks all the same.) Was it time spent looking at images of the Earth from orbit, the feeling I got when I looked at those images? Undoubtedly all of those things and many more.’

(5) NOT ONLY OF GENRE INTEREST. Nathan Ballingrud tells CrimeReads he’s not enlisted in the war. “Pitting Literary Fiction Against Genre Fiction Is Intrinsically Silly”.

There’s a war on.

This war has been raging for generations. Each side has its warriors, its partisans, its propagandists. Most of the time the fighting is minimal, confined to minor skirmishes in the pages of small magazines or in the backwaters of social media. But from time to time an article will be published in a popular magazine or someone famous will say something scathing, and the fires will burn hot again for a while.

I’m talking, of course, about the war over the values of Genre versus Literary Fiction, the most boring and stupid of all wars.

We hit the ground stumbling over its intrinsic silliness: Can genre not be literary? Isn’t “literary fiction” itself a kind of genre? What does “literary” mean when I say it? What does it mean when you say it? Once we get past these problems of definitions, we must weather the exchange of the same dull arguments: endless variations of “genre fiction lacks psychological depth and polished prose” and “literary fiction is only about old white college professors having affairs.”

It’s all such a headache. And yet the subject – the argument – fascinates a lot of people, enough that in over half the interviews I’ve done, I’m asked about genre and where I think I place in it. I dread the question and try to evade it as much as I can. I usually say something like, “I don’t like to think about genre. Genres make fences, and I don’t like to write feeling like I’m fenced in.”…

(6) SEEKING PASADENA (CA) GHOSTS. Tickets are available for the Haunted Pasadena Walking Tour on October 18-19 and 25-26. The trailer is clever.

Walk Through One of LA’s Most Haunted Cities: Pasadena

As the sun goes down over the buildings and theaters of Old Town Pasadena, things seem a little bit more terrifying. Pasadena is known for its Rose Bowl, historic buildings, and its majestic Tournament of Roses parade. But underneath it all are tales of untimely death, disease, the occult, and the paranormal. A Victorian Hotel, which is now apartments, whose guests never checked out and a phantom stage manager amongst many more. Ghostly tales adorn this 2-hour long tour through the streets and alleyways of the historic district. Join us as we now embark onto our newest ghost tour in Los Angeles County. Wear comfortable shoes as we explore the darker part of Pasadena.

(7) FRAN SKENE MEMORIAL PAGE. As previously reported, Vancouver fan Fran Skene died June 17. There’s now a memorial page where memories and condolences can be left: “Frances Skene Obituary – Port Coquitlam, BC”.

… Fran was a cheerful, witty, and involved volunteer and participant in many groups up until her death and will be missed by the many friends and acquaintances in her writing, amateur press (AWA), science fiction, puppetry, Callanish, women’s camp (PWCA), and other groups. Many still have fond memories of her Canadian Unity Fan Fund turkey readings, where volunteers read, acted out, and illustrated the worst passages from science fiction until paid to stop, please. (No, really, please; here’s another five dollars.)

Fran worked very hard on her craft, especially her storytelling—both written and oral—and her poetry and stories can be found in several publications….

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Anniversary: Star Trek: the Animated Series (An appreciation) (Last day of its run, October 12, 1974, fifty years go)

No, Star Trek: the Animated Series didn’t debut on this date but it ended its brief run today.

Spock: Consider. Chuft Captain has been attacked by an herbivorous pacifist, an eater of leaves and roots, one who traditionally does not fight. And the ultimate insult, I left him alive. Chuft Captain’s honor is at stake. He must seek personal revenge before he can call for help.

Sulu: That gives us some time. You did plan it that way?

Spock: Of course.

Star Trek: the Animated Series’ “The Slaver Weapon”

We all know that Star Trek: the Animated Series followed the first series and debuted on September 8, 1973. It would end that run a mere twenty-two episodes later on October 12, 1974.

Did I like the series? I think that two aspects of it were done really, really well. The voice cast was stellar, with almost all of the original cast save Walter Koenig voicing their characters. It is said, but this is only rumor, originally Filmation was only going to pay for three actors, that being Shatner, Nimoy, and Doohan.

Nimoy however said that he wouldn’t take part unless the rest of the original cast was included. However the studio stuck to its guns as to how many it would budget for and Walter Koenig was dropped because of what he wanted. However Nimoy did get him some writing gigs for the show.

The other was the stories. Being animated gave them a wider artistic frame to work with than the original show had and they used that to their creative benefit. An example of this was Niven merging his Known Space story, “The Soft Weapon” into the Trek universe. It was wonderful and it was great to see the Kzin visualized.

(Everything here was novelized by Alan Dean Foster. He first adapted three episodes per book, but later editions saw the half-hour scripts expanded into full, novel-length stories.)

I think the animation was at best weak. It looked flat, one dimensional. The characters as if they really weren’t quite there. I’ve never been a fan of Filmation.

I just rewatched that episode on Paramount +. The print is stellar and the voices are great. The animation was, as I thought it was, less than great. Watching characters move is painful to say the least as they don’t walk so as much glide across the screen.

So I’d love to see these stories redone with present animation.

(9) COMICS SECTION.

Off the Mark depicts a vampiric allergy sufferer.
Reality Check shows how zombies celebrate the season.
The Argyle Sweater has monstrous product placement.

(10) NEWS FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Well over 40% of the 1,260 who responded to Glasgow 2024’s “consultative vote” were supportive of proposed Hugo Independent Film categories but that was not enough to get it across the line, and in any case, it was only a ‘consultative’ survey. But independent SF film lovers, don’t worry, here is some good news.

Pinewood Studios, which is one of Britain’s major studios — for example James Bond waved his Walther there (that’s not a euphemism ) for four of his films, also Deadpool and some past, SFnal TV series: UFO and Space: 1999 were shot there — is now offering facilities for low-budget independent film makers. “Pinewood studios announce new indie film hub for budget films” at BBC News.

… Independent film makers will be able to use sound stages, the large soundproof warehouses where films are shot, as well as production offices and workshop space on the site in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.

Camera hire, drone photography and post production will also be among the services available when the hub opens next summer.

The launch comes as the government’s Independent Film Tax Credit was passed into law….

(11) NEXT, STROON. [Item by Rob Thornton.] And we take the first steps toward Norstrilia: “Montana man sentenced to prison for cloning giant sheep and breeding it” at Fox8.

An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S. to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the earth….

(12) THE SOURCE OF THE END OF THE WORLD THAT WASN’T. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] So, with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have lived though a decidedly SFnal time and mercifully most of us have got through it, though we must not forget the millions that did not. One of the remaining mysteries is how did it all begin?

Here there are two main competing theories: a Wuhan virus research lab escape, or live wildlife being sold at the nearby Wuhan meat market. China’s government has not helped matters by – being true to past form – withholding information about aspects of the research lab, so with an absence of information feeding fake news.

However, a new genomic analysis from the Wuhan, China animal market lends weight to that being the source of the 2019 CoVID pandemic. The study establishes the presence of animals and the virus at the market, although it does not confirm whether the former were infected with the latter. The European and US based researchers argue that the viral diversity present in the market suggests it was the site of the pandemic’s emergence. In particular, they say that the presence of two early SARS-CoV-2 lineages – A and B – in the market suggests that the virus twice moved from animals to people. Raccoon dogs (N. procyonoides), hoary bamboo rat (R. pruinosus), and masked palm civet (P. larvata) are likely source species. Stalls on the mid-west side of the market’s western block seem to be the source. See the figure below.

The primary research is Crits-Christoph, A. et al. (2024) “Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the CoVID-19 pandemic”. Cell, vol. 187, 5468–5482.

(13) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Ryan George takes us inside the “Joker: Folie À Deux Pitch Meeting”. Beware spoilers!

“Hey, how about we just burn millions of dollars?”

“That’s a very Joker thing to do. Love it! You mean do it in the movie, right? Right…?”

[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 Daniel Dern.]

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

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(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.

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

(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.

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.)

(9) COMICS SECTION.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal depicts the horror side of becoming a real live boy.
Brewster Rockit reveals the invasion of the unseen.
Eek! finds something that really works.
Frazz discusses the evolution of a word.
Lio has a crossover.
The Argyle Sweater has doubts about therapy.
Bliss says who’s really to blame.

(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 10/7/24 Hello Dothraki, My Old Friend

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(1) SUSANNA CLARKE ON NATIONAL BBC RADIO. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] BBC Radio 4’s Book Club devoted its programme this Sunday to Susanna Clarke’s 2020 novel Piranesi. It was short-listed for the Hugo, Nebula, Kitschies, BSFA, World Fantasy, Dragon Awards, and won the Woman’s Book Prize. It also won Hungary’s Zsoldos Péter – ‘Best Translated Novel’.

Its plot concerns Piranesi, whose house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls, an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house – a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known…

Over four million copies have been sold worldwide. Currently, Oregon animation studio is adapting it for the big screen.

Susanna was interviewed in front of an audience who then got to ask questions.

Susanna Clarke won the Women’s Prize for Fiction with her novel Piranesi. She joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to answer their questions about this intriguing, tantalising novel.

You can download the .mp3 here: BBC Radio 4 – Bookclub, Susanna Clarke: Piranesi.

(2) ASHEVILLE: A REPORT FROM A FAN. [Item by Michael J. Walsh.] The author, Steven Vaughan-Nichols, was a member of the Washington SF Association, then years ago he moved to Asheville. “I’m a tech pro – but when a hurricane hit my mountain home, the disconnection shocked me” in ZDNET.

…We didn’t know this information then because our power had failed, the internet was down, and our phones were out. A few hours later, our water stopped, and a week later, most of these services were still out. (Cellular reception is better in some areas but still not what it was.)

Completely disconnected

After the first day, it began to sink in just how disconnected we were — not just from the world but also from friends only half a mile away. It’s horrible when you start to realize how bad things are in your community and can’t reach people to see if they’re OK.

I’d expected my power and internet to be off — an ERC Broadband 100 gigabit per second fiber backbone cable was down in my front yard. However, I didn’t expect to lose my Verizon cellular service. More fool me.

While most cellular towers were still up, 70% of western NC’s cell phone towers and equipment were out of service because their fiber connections had been cut. We had no fiber, no net, no phone, and no connection to anyone beyond our neighborhood.

Life is different without connections. I stay in touch with my friends, co-workers, and family through email, Slack, social networks, and, in a pinch, phone calls and texts. However, all of these communication methods were out. That also meant my loved ones, friends, and colleagues couldn’t reach me to ensure I was okay….

(3) HWA’S FUTURE. Mary SanGiovanni has published a wide-ranging discussion of her aspirations for the Horror Writers Association: “On the HWA” at A Writer’s Life.

So… I’d like to talk about writing organizations and the Horror Writers Association (HWA), from one professional writer to another, and to our industry at large. I have been plucking the strings of this particular harp for many years, and I think I may have, in the past, come across as critical, but that’s because I want to be proud of the HWA and see it do well. I have served as a Trustee, so I understand the inner workings to some extent. I am an Active member, and have been, on and off, for almost two decades. I see all that the organization could be and I can’t — I just can’t – give up on it without trying once more to generate some discussion about how to utilize the HWA to strengthen our position in the publishing world.

The following is what I would like the HWA or any other writing organization that I am a member of to be,- in a perfect world — or maybe just a fantasy world. If the HWA would like to use any of these ideas, please do so with my blessing and enthusiastic support. Also, please see the disclaimers which follow, as I imagine they will address any number of complaints people may have with the following essay….

Here’s an excerpt:

MISSION/FOCUS

Some years ago, the HWA opened the doors of its membership to Associate members, which, at the time, included editors, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, etc. Now, I absolutely think that it is crucial for writers (and for the organization as a representative of those writers) to work with people in other facets of the publishing industry. I believe the HWA should be able to facilitate such relationships through networking opportunities, introductions, directories, etc.

That being said, I also think that a writing organization should never lose sight of its primary goal, which is to protect the rights of and foster opportunities for writers. There are times (e.g. contracts) when the best interests of writers and the best interests of, say, publishers, may be at odds. It is important to have a steadfast supporter of writers to guide the business transactions and best practices whenever possible. That is harder to do if the writing organization’s loyalties are split between two factions. Maybe some rule or by-law (or general practice which governs decisions and official actions of the board) should generally reflect or default to writers’ interests. Perhaps the organization can find ways to work out compromises that all might be satisfied with, but writers’ interests should come first.

Also, I believe that a professional writing organization should foster an environment of professionalism — should insist on it, actually, at least in the spaces where the organization holds some dominion. Many of us think of our industry as a community or even a family of sorts, where business and pleasure in a sense often mix. Of course they do. We’re colleagues and co-workers, but also close and cherished friends, even lovers and spouses. There are people in this business I would take a bullet for. Of course we care about each other. BUT…

This is first and foremost an industry, a business. We need to treat it like one, and we need an organization, if called upon, to shepherd that professionalism. We need it to make wise and shrewd business decisions concerning the well-being of the membership. We need it to arbitrate in business matters, to support efforts of writers to demand fair treatment, equal pay (or hell, payment at all), and help navigate contractual snares, and to examine ways in which it can promote fairness and equality in the professional arena for all writers….

(4) DOWN TO THE WEAR BARS. LAist warns those planning a Halloween-tribute visit to this shrubbery that it is out of order: “PSA: The ‘Halloween’ hedge in South Pasadena is under maintenance”.

Every October, scores of people flock to a classic California Craftsman in South Pasadena to pay tribute to the horror flick, Halloween.

Just like the mask-wearing Michael Myers did in that exact location, visitors would peer out from the behind the hedge in maximum creepy fashion.

The stance requires one foot to be firmly on the lawn adjacent to the hedge. Day in, day out — it has amounted to quite a bit of wear and tear.

“We’ve always had an issue with our grass in general, so it’s not just that one area, but obviously because people do stand in that section…,” said Esther Park, who lives in the South Pasadena house with her family….

… The process of reseeding and fertilizing the entire front lawn is likely to take the next few months, estimated Park.

To alert those seeking photo ops, Park’s husband first put out plant labels asking folks to not step in the section, but recently had to upgrade to planting orange flags around it.

“I don’t know how much people really pay attention to that,” she said…

Here is the relevant clip from the 1978 movie: “The Hedge Scene”.

(5) JOSHI FELLOWSHIP TAKING APPLICATIONS. [Item by Michael J. Lowrey.] The John Hay Library at Brown University invites applications for its 2025 S. T. Joshi Endowed Research Fellowship in H. P. Lovecraft. The Fellowship is provided for research relating to H.P. Lovecraft, his associates, and literary heirs. The application deadline is January 17th, 2025.

The Hay Library is home to the largest collection of H. P. Lovecraft materials in the world, and also holds the archives of Clark Ashton Smith, Karl Edward Wagner, Manly Wade Wellman, Analog magazine, Caitlín Kiernan, and others. The Joshi Fellowship, established by The Aeroflex Foundation and Hippocampus Press, is intended to promote scholarly research using the world-renowned resources on H. P. Lovecraft, science fiction, and horror at the John Hay Library (projects do not need to relate to Lovecraft). The Fellowship provides a monthly stipend of $2,500 for up to two months of research at the library. The fellowship is open to students, faculty, librarians, artists, and independent scholars. Applications are encouraged for projects that make use of material not already available digitally through the Brown digital repository.

For more information and to apply, please visit https://library.brown.edu/joshi/.

(6) HWA ANNOUNCES COMPLAINT RESOLVED. HWA’s Volunteer Coordinator Lila Denning published this statement about the resolution of complaints brought by Cynthia Pelayo and Clash Books.

In my official capacity as HWA Volunteer Coordinator, I was asked to share this information:

In response to official complaints filed by author member, Cynthia Pelayo, and publisher member, Clash Books, the HWA engaged its formal Anti-Harassment Policy and met with both parties. The HWA Board is pleased to report, that the complaint has been settled and both parties are in agreement with plans to go forward. While any terms are private between the two parties and the HWA, there are a few statements that, at the request of both parties involved, the HWA agreed to share with the larger HWA membership to eliminate confusion and/or speculation in the public sphere.

Clash would like to truly apologize for sharing untrue personal information about Pelayo, her family and representatives, while Pelayo would also like to publicly apologize for tagging authors and parties who had nothing to do with the situation on social media. Otherwise, all parties want to be clear that they are going to be at StokerCon in June 2025 and have no problem being in the same places in a professional setting. The parties involved appreciate their privacy in this matter and are ready to move on.

Finally, Pelayo, Clash Books, and the HWA Board would like to remind all members that the HWA is here to support their members. There is a formal process to deal with harassment. All parties want to encourage others in the HWA community to bring their concerns to the Board rather than taking their issues to social media.

The HWA Anti-Harassment Policy can be found here.

(7) JOKER FLINGS BOMB. NO ONE INJURED. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] Joker 2 has laid an egg at the box office, but no heads will roll. The Hollywood Reporter believes it knows why. “’Joker: Folie à Deux’ – Who Is to Blame for the DC Disaster?”

… But over the Oct. 4-6 weekend, everyone at Warners, including the executive duo, were left reeling as Folie à Deux collapsed in its box office debut with a $37.8 million domestic opening after becoming the first comic book movie in history to receive a D CinemaScore. Phillips, according to one source, spent the weekend in seclusion on a ranch property he owns.

Domestically, Folie à Deux opened well behind DC’s 2023 The Flash ($55 million) and Marvel Studios’ The Marvels’ ($46.1 million), both of which were major bombs. It also came in behind Sony’s relatively inexpensive Morbius ($39 million).

“It is complete audience rejection,” says one source close to the film.

Overseas, Folie à Deux came in at an estimated $81 million, in line with expectations but still notably behind the first film.

While it is not the lowest North American opening for a pic based on a DC character, Joker: Folie à Deux is major stumble. Yet numerous sources tell THR that there’s no studio head in Hollywood — save perhaps for Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman — who would have turned down making a sequel to a film that was both a commercial and critical hit. To boot, Abdy and De Luca were under orders by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to fill a bare cupboard after the studio’s Project Popcorn disaster, which alienated talent by sending its entire 2021 slate day-and-date to streaming service Max. Zaslav also is keen to exploit the company’s IP more fully.

“It is a collective failure, but it was right to make this movie,” says one top veteran producer and financier, who points out that Phillips is a brilliant directorwho has made Warners billions between the first Joker and The Hangover movies.

Still, observers wonder how De Luca and Abdy could have presided over a film that veered so far off course from what audiences wanted or expected.

One answer, perhaps: Phillips was given an extraordinary level of autonomy and final cut. There was no test screening, though insiders say this was a mutual decision between the filmmaker and Warners in order to preserve spoilers. That decision does stretch credulity, as the film does not have a particularly spoiler-heavy plot, and even spoilerific movies like Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Engdame had multiple test screenings…

(8) ROBERT J. COOVER (1932-2024). Author Robert J. Coover died October 5 at the age of 92. Honestly, to me, his most interesting book was The Universal Baseball Association, J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (1968) about a fantasy baseball league, however, the Associated Press didn’t even mention it in their obituary:

…His notable works included “The Babysitter,” in which a night out for the parents multiplies into a funhouse of alternative realities; “You Must Remember This,” an X-rated imagining of the leads in “Casablanca,” and the novel “Huck Out West,” in which Coover continued the adventures of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

“A lesson I learned from reading (Thomas Pynchon’s) ‘V’ has stuck with me all my life: All my work is basically comic,” he told the Boston Globe in 2014. “That’s the only thing I have ever written. Even though they’re not always viewed as such, the books are all meant as comic works.”…

The New York Times admired those books and some others, including The Public Burning.

…Political myths came into Mr. Coover’s cross hairs in “The Public Burning” (1977), a novel that reimagined the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the married couple who were convicted of conspiring to steal atomic bomb secrets for the Soviets and executed in 1953.

The novel featured the Rosenbergs and other historical figures, like Richard M. Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover, as well as two mythic characters, Uncle Sam and the Phantom, who represented the overheated rhetoric of Cold War antagonism.

…Mr. Coover was an aggressive purveyor of puns and other willfully playful devices (he once named a detective Philip M. Noir), a tendency that some critics found both energizing and exhausting….

(9) COMICS SECTION.

Carpe Diem claims it’s all in the timing.
Rubes has another take on that asteriod.
Spectickles announces a landing.
Crankshaft says Bradbury predicted our future.
Tom Gauld knows some people can’t stand winning.

My latest @newscientist cartoon pic.twitter.com/8nHuTUJTEr
— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld) October 7, 2024

(10) ‘ARCS’ BOARD GAME REVIEW. [Item by N.] A little late, but it seems that there was a delay on retail sales because of the East Coast port strike. Now that the strike is concluded, expect copies to show up at your local tabletop game store over the course of this month. “Arcs, from Leder Games, turns a folk card game into a space opera” at Polygon.

…Arcs: Conflict and Collapse in the Reach is yet another radical attempt at tabletop innovation. The end result, available at retail beginning Oct. 1, is a unique approach to single-session strategy wargaming that evokes classics like Risk and Twilight Imperium. But when paired with a massive day-one expansion, Arcs morphs into a mind-blowing three-session campaign game with evolving rules and curious in-fiction discoveries. It’s completely over the top in all the best ways, and there’s nothing yet released quite like it….

(11) IT’S NOT PRINCE ALBERT IN THESE CANS. “Thunderbirds: Berkshire unseen film cans found in garden shed” – BBC has the story.

Film cans containing unseen footage of the Thunderbirds TV show have been found in a garden shed.

A family found the cans – light-tight containers used to enclose film – in a Buckinghamshire shed belonging to their father, who was an editor on the show and died recently.

Stephen La Rivière, from Century 21 Films which received the 22 old cans, said they mainly contained Thunderbirds material from the 1960s, including an alternative version of an episode that was never broadcast.

It is hoped the footage – filmed on the Slough Trading Estate in Berkshire – can be shown to the public as part of the series’ 60th anniversary next year….

(12) CAROL ANN FORD WANTS BACK IN. “Original Doctor Who star ponders ’emotional’ return” she tells the BBC.

… Carole Ann Ford, from Ilford, played Susan, granddaughter of the Doctor played by William Hartnell when the BBC show started in 1963. The character has been frequently mentioned in the recent series with Ncuti Gatwa.

During an appearance at Luton Comic Con, the actress said she wanted to return although she admitted it “would be very emotional.. very emotional”.

“I don’t know if I could survive the excitement actually, it would be intense beyond all intensity,” she said.

Carole Ann Ford, far right, says a return to Doctor Who will be emotional 60 years on

The 84-year-old is the last member of the original cast following the death of William Russell in June.

She said: “It’s not just returning, it would bring back all the memories of William Russell and Jackie and Bill [William Hartnell] and various other people who aren’t with us anymore.

“I might be a little bit overcome and start blubbing.

“I keep being reminded I’m the last one standing and it’s not something I’m happy to hear.”…

… Last year the character returned to screens in a newly colourised version of the 1963 episode, The Daleks, which was broadcast on BBC Four to mark the show’s 60th anniversary.

The actress encouraged fans to be vocal in their support of her return if there was any chance of her returning.

In an interview on BBC Three Counties Radio, she hinted that she had had “one or two” conversations about returning in the past.

“I’ve had many conversations about going back, maybe not with the right people, I don’t know,” she added.

When it was suggested her character could be recast, she joked: “They better not, I’d burn the studio down.”…

(13) PUMPKIN SPICE MIL-SF. Military.com says these are “The 10 Best Military Horror Movies for the Halloween Spooky Season”.

It’s difficult to make a decent military horror movie. If we want the audience to be scared, the good guys need to be scared, too — but the scariest things about life in the U.S. military are black mold in the barracks and jet fuel in the drinking water. Frightening? Yes, absolutely, but not in a Hollywood “scream queen” kind of way.

Still, a good military horror movie isn’t impossible. The stakes just need to be a bit higher, the monsters a bit bigger and the heroes a bit harder. And the terror most often isn’t from the supernatural: The biggest bogeyman for the military in horror movies is usually the government, just like in real life….

1. “Aliens” (1986)

“Alien” is probably the greatest sci-fi horror movie ever made, so it only stands to reason that a sequel that employs space Marines to fight the aliens is going to make for the best military horror movie ever. Indeed, “Aliens” has everything the original has: a scary monster (the Xenomorphs), a great hero (Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley) and a lot of people to shockingly kill off one by one. It’s even scarier because the audience knows exactly that, aside from the threat of getting ripped in half, what makes “Aliens” so frightening is being hunted and overrun by a swarming enemy — an enemy you know is going to impregnate you orally and stick you to a wall for the baby to exit via your chest. It doesn’t get much better (or worse, depending on who you ask) than that….

(14) TALL WALL. “Huge LEGO ‘Game of Thrones’ The Wall Has 200,000 Pieces – Is Very, Very Cool” reports the Bell of Lost Souls.

The Wall is maybe the most iconic setting in Game of Thrones. Constructed by Bran the Builder in the Age of Heroes, it marks the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. Some three hundred miles long and several hundred feet high in most places, it is one of the wonders of the world. Of course, the wall is no normal wall; it is built of ice and carries potent magical protections.

Originally meant to keep the Others out of the Realms of Men, for most of its history, it instead kept the Wildlings of the North out of the Seven Kingdoms. The Wall is home to The Night’s Watch. This order of men sworn to defend the Wall and the Realms of Men has built a number of castles into the Wall. Along with the Red Keep, it is one of the major setting locations of the story.

The Wall has now been rendered in stunning detail in LEGO. Done by the talented Anuradha Pehrson (you can find their Flickr here), this immersive build has over 200,000 pieces. It’s a truly massive build and includes several sections of The Wall and vignettes combined into one. The model takes up a full 5 ft x 5 ft square and is about 4.5 ft tall. Due to having several elements and scenes, it is not consistent on one scale.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, N., Michael J. Walsh, Michael J. Lowrey, 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 9/19/24 They’re Altogether Scrolly, The Pixel Family

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(1) SEAT OF POWER. Maybe you sat in this and had your photo taken at a convention? It’s on offer from Heritage Auctions; the bidding is currently up to $23,000.

Touring Iron Throne from Game of Thrones (HBO® Original 2011-2019). Original touring Iron Throne, measuring approximately 65″ x 86″ x 63″ and weighing 310 lbs. Molded from the original screen-used throne, this replica is expertly crafted from plastic with a painted metallic finish and jewel embellishments to resemble the hilts of once-regal swords. As George R. R. Martin wrote, “The Iron Throne is the throne of the conqueror, made from the swords of defeated enemies, a symbol of conquest.” Arguably one of the most coveted seats in pop culture, this seat of power is only rivaled by Captain Kirk’s command chair from Star Trek. The Iron Throne is also the most coveted item in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic, and the catalyst for the entire history of conquering, being conquered, and wanting to conquer in the titular “game of thrones.” This Iron Throne was crafted exclusively for promotional events and tours, such as Comic-Con, Hollywood premieres, and the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition, which visited major cities worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, and Sydney. The exhibit featured iconic costumes, props, and set pieces from the series, allowing fans to immerse themselves in the world of Westeros. Over 1.5 million fans attended the tour, with lines often stretching for blocks as attendees eagerly awaited their turn to sit on the throne and take part in one of the biggest television and pop culture experiences of the 21st century. …The throne exhibits display age and wear with minor scuffing along its painted finish. Due to excessive weight and/or size of this lot, special shipping arrangements and additional charges for crating will apply. Comes with a COA from Heritage Auctions.

(2) TUNES FOR NOSFERATU. “’Silents Synced’ raises the dead with ‘Nosferatu X Radiohead’” in the LA Times behind a paywall.

The count with a penchant for sucking blood, like all the good horror villains who have followed in his footsteps, refuses to stay dead.

“Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror,” F.W. Murnau’s celebrated silent-era vampire film, has been given new life for the 21st century: It’s returning to theaters this fall with its orchestral classical score replaced by Radiohead’s dense and moody albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac.” Few people have actually heard the original Hans Erdmann score since much of it was lost; later shows either built off what remained or created new orchestral scores.

The original movie, an unauthorized 1922 “Dracula” adaptation now in the public domain, has inspired filmmakers for more than a century, including Werner Herzog’s 1979 “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” E. Elias Merhige’s 2000 “Shadow of the Vampire” with Willem Dafoe and Robert Eggers’ upcoming “Nosferatu.”

The revamped version, dubbed “Nosferatu X Radiohead,” marks the debut of “Silents Synced,” a series that marries classic silent films with alternative rock. “Nosferatu” will be followed by Buster Keaton’s “Sherlock Jr.” to the tunes of REM’s “Monster” and “New Adventures in Hi Fi”; other films will feature the music of Pearl Jam, They Might Be Giants, the Pixies and Amon Tobin. (The Buster Keaton film will be preceded by a Charlie Chaplin short backed by music from Girls Against Boys.)

“Silents Synced” has its world premiere Saturday at the American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz Theatre. “Nosferatu” also will be shown at the Gardena Cinema Sept. 25 and twice more in October. The series rolls out nationally in 200 theaters on Oct. 4.

(3) ‘TIS THE SEASON. Horror Vibes Coffee of Los Angeles “specializes in serving handcrafted specialty beverages inspired by iconic horror cinema and horror culture!” Even if you can’t make it there to sample the drinks, the website’s product descriptions are pretty entertaining.

According to the FAQ these drinks are in highest demand: “The Candyman, Scissorhands and Nightmare on Maple St are the most popular! They can be made either iced or hot.”

Right now they have an array of Halloween-themed drinks, and art to match, such as:

(4) BULGACON 2024. [Item by Dr. Valentin D. Ivanov.] The speculative fiction and futurism club Ivan Efremov is organizing Bulgacon 2024 – the annual meeting of speculative fiction fans in Bulgaria on the holiday weekend of September 21 to 23. This is the 25^th edition of the festival, which takes place every year at a different location. This year it will be held in Sofia at the National House of Science and Technology, at 108 G.S. Rakovski Street. The event will also be dedicated to the 50th anniversary of both the House of Culture Sredets and the Ivan Efremov club itself.

The British writers Ian McDonald and Farah Mendlesohn will be the official guests on-site.

The program of the festival is extremely varied and includes presentations of new Bulgarian speculative fiction books, lectures, meetings with authors, exhibitions, meetings among fan clubs, a quiz and many more interesting activities. Part of them will be conducted in English and the online events will be open to all interested (see links below).

Among the highlights are the panels on the future of YA literature in Bulgaria and about the legacy of Lyubomir Nikolov, a prominent fantasy writer and translator who left us earlier this year. The program will introduce the speculative genre development in India, Israel, Latin America and East Asia. The writer Harry Turtledove will hold an online session on alternative history with emphasis on Bulgarian alternatives.

The artist Veronika Prezhdarova will present her performance “Manifesto of Fake Art”. Ian McDonald and Farah Mendlesohn will lead several discussions dedicated to the speculative genre around the world, on the prognostic and social power of speculative fiction.

Winners of speculative short story and poetry contests will be announced. The theme of the contests was “Dreamers” with a sub-theme “Fantastic Sofia”.

The event will start at noon on September 21 and it is organized with the support of Sofia Municipality.

Further information about Bulgacon 2024, including the program, is available here:Bulgacon 2024 and on Facebook. The information about on-line events and how to see them will appear soon there.

(5) MEDICAL UPDATE. Barry Malzberg “took a spill and broke his collarbone and is now hospitalized. He is due for surgery, but all is not grim,” Paul DiFilippo told friends today. “Compassionate fellow author Nancy Kress took it upon herself to reach out.”

Nancy Kress reported:

I just spoke to Barry, after Erika [one of Barry’s daughters] said it was okay. His surgery was postponed from yesterday till today, about an hour from now. He sounded very strong and we talked about a lot of different things. He said it was okay to tell Michael Cassutt that he is in the hospital. In fact, Barry said “Tell everybody!” I can’t say he sounded cheerful exactly because after all he is Barry but he did sound better than I had feared.

(6) EXTENDED WHONIVERSE. “Doctor Who: Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor Is ‘Most Wanted’ at Big Finish” according to Bleeding Cool.

It looks like Big Finish is doing its part to get us that Jodie Whittaker/Jo Martin team-up we’ve been hoping for. Earlier today, the audio drama production powerhouse announced that the Fugitive Doctor (Martin) would be returning in January 2025 for The Fugitive Doctor: Most Wanted. Over the course of three exciting audio adventures, Martin’s Doctor will go one-on-one with ruthless bounty hunters, a mythical Russian witch, and even the Daleks (Nicholas Briggs, of course). Meanwhile, our Doctor is doing all of this while trying to stay one step ahead of Time Lord agent Cosmo (Alice Krige, best known for her role as the Borg Queen in the “Star Trek” universe). “Doing these audios has been super fun! There wasn’t enough time in the TV episodes to see all the different sides of the Fugitive Doctor. She’s gung-ho, but there’s a softer side to her. With these episodes, the listeners will hear her vulnerability, her kindness, and her loyalties. She’s a lone wolf, and that can’t be easy,” Martin shared about what listeners will learn about the Fugitive Doctor…

(7) ANYTHING BUT SUE. Or maybe this name. “Child Named Loki Skywalker Faces Passport Issues Due to Disney Copyright” – Mens Journal explains.

Unique names have become more common in recent years, from Elon Musk naming his child a combination of numbers and letters to parents taking inspiration from shows like Game of Thrones for their children’s monikers. Of course, this can present a bevy of issues when dealing with legal documentation.

One British couple learned about some of these obstacles the hard way. Their son was born on May 4, 2017 on the annual Star Wars Day, so the Star Wars fans knew they had to name him something special. They opted for the unique name of Loki Skywalker Mowbray.

The family planned to go on vacation to the Dominican Republic next month, but when they tried to get Loki Skywalker’s passport in order, the U.K. Home Office—similar to the U.S. State Department—informed them that they cannot process the application as “Skywalker” is a trademarked name by Disney. As such, they would have to get permission from the entertainment conglomerate in order to get a passport.

“We were not aware that this could be a potential issue,” father Christian Mowbray told Suffolk News. “We understand that Loki’s middle name is copyrighted, but we have no intention of using it for personal gain.”…

(8) TODAY IN HISTORY.

Michael Chabon’s third novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is published on September 19, 2000. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year.

Among Chabon’s other credits are The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, a 2007 detective novel; Telegraph Avenue, a 2012 novel; and Moonglow, a 2016 novel. He has also written screenplays and several collections of short stories.

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born September 19, 1922 — Damon Knight. (Died 2002.)

By Paul Weimer. What can I say about the man the SFWA Grand Master Award is named for? Member of the Futurians of New York city, for openers, there where the Deep Magic was written, one might say.

One can talk about his extensive genre criticism, a model and a role model for genre critics in the field ever since. In Search of Wonder, his first collection of essays, collects the essays that earned Knight a Hugo in 1956 for “Best Book Reviewer” (Fan Writer as a category would not exist until over a decade later). Creating Short Fiction, although perhaps dated today, was a book about the craft of writing short fiction. He was an editor of the twelve series of Orbit anthologies, which published original stories from people ranging from LeGuin and Russ to Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, and Norman Spinrad (whose story, “The Big Flash” which won him a Hugo award for Best Novelette)

Or one can talk about this extensive body of fiction. While he wrote a fair sheaf of novels, his short fiction is where he excelled. And honestly, in this day and age, it’s the easiest and best way to get into his work (as noted above, Short Stories was his thing) He wrote in an era of twist and zinger endings that really pack a punch, sometimes with a sledgehammer and sometimes with a scalpel. The Devil getting outfoxed in “The Last Word”. “Not with a Bang” features a really nasty protagonist, possibly the last man on a devastated Earth, who is undone by his would-be wife’s prudishness.

And oh yes, people outside the genre might not know of his work in criticism or the fact that his name is on the Grand Master Award, or just about any of his extensive short fiction…except for one more story to mention. It’s a story everyone knows. Enough rebroadcasts of The Twilight Zone have ensured that, and so will six more words, as Knight came up with the definitive twist ending for the series (no surprise given the above) but this story is the gold standard:

“To serve man…it’s a cookbook!”

(10) COMICS SECTION.

Close to Home sets a new record.
Off the Mark hears from the other side of obsession.
Brewster Rockit and FurBabies arrrrh! celebrating “Talk Like A Pirate Day”.

(11) PRO TIP. Kurt Busiek shared this pointer today:

Remember, when designing an ensemble cast or team, you want a variety of body shapes and fashion sensibilities. Ideally, each character should be immediately recognizable even in silhouette.
— Kurt Busiek (@kurtbusiek.bsky.social) 2024-09-19T02:16:39.883Z

(12) JOHN CASSADAY, R.I.P. Daniel Dern sent along links to more obituary notices about comics artist John Cassaday, who recently died.

Wikipedia (which reflects his having passed away.)
Comicbook.com
Nerdist
New York Times
Gizmodo
Artdaily

(13) YUCKTASTIC. GamesRadar+ warns “Venom 3 is the latest movie to unveil its popcorn bucket, and I don’t know how much more I can take of this trend”.

…Yes, this trend is still happening. Venom 3 is the latest upcoming movie to throw its hat in the ongoing inappropriate popcorn bucket race, and its design is truly disturbing. Really. I’ll never look at a symbiote the same way again.

Although it has not yet been officially unveiled, the bucket was leaked online by Detective Wing and later shared by Discussing Film on Twitter which has since attracted some rather concerning comments. The bucket in question features Venom’s head with the Symbiote’s mouth wide open – presumably where fans will be able to reach in and grab their popcorn. See the post below.

With the summer movie slate done and dusted we thought we were safe from the trend, but it looks like it has rolled onto spooky season too as just recently, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice dropped its take on the trend: a striped Sandworm bucket. Although this one seemed to be taking the trend back to the good old days when buckets were cute and on theme, Terrifier 3 later upped the ante, previewing a bloody bucket in the shape of Art the Clown’s head. Gross….

First look at the ‘VENOM: THE LAST DANCE’ popcorn bucket. pic.twitter.com/YuZkZcEa54
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 18, 2024

(14) BIG DOINGS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] This week’s Nature cover story, “Jumbo Jets”, is of jets from super-massive black holes that affect the very structure of the universe’s cosmic web…

Powerful jets of radiation and particles generated by supermassive black holes can affect the distribution of matter and magnetism in the cosmic web — the large-scale structure of the Universe. In this week’s issue, Martijn Oei and colleagues report the discovery of the largest known jet structure originating from a black hole. Identified from radio images, the jets in the structure extend for about 7 megaparsecs (23 million light years), putting it on a truly cosmological scale. Named Porphyrion by the researchers, the structure is captured on the cover in an artist’s impression that shows Porphyrion emerging from a filament of the cosmic web and shooting its jets into the surrounding voids.

(15) PLUG AND PLAY. [Item by Steven French.] Interesting piece on the need for ethical issues to be thoroughly explored when it comes to ‘Brain-Computer Interfaces’: “Ethical challenges in translating brain–computer interfaces” in Nature (behind a paywall).

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to revolutionize treatment for individuals with severe disabilities. As these technologies transition from the laboratory to real-world applications, they pose unique ethical challenges that necessitate careful consideration.

(16) TESTIMONY ABOUT TITAN SUBMERSIBLE AT COAST GUARD PANEL. “Titan submersible’s scientific director says the sub malfunctioned just prior to the Titanic dive” – AP News has the story.

The scientific director for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage testified Thursday that the sub had malfunctioned just prior to the fatal dive.

Appearing before a U.S. Coast Guard panel, Steven Ross told the board about a platform issue the experimental submersible experienced in June 2023, just days before it imploded on its way to the Titanic site. The malfunction caused passengers onboard the submersible to “tumble about,” and it took an hour to get them out of the water.

The submersible pilot, OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, crashed into bulkheading during the malfunction, Ross said. No one was injured in the incident, Ross said, though he described it as uncomfortable.

“One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap,” Ross said, adding that he did not know if a safety assessment of the Titan or an inspection of its hull was performed after the incident.

An investigatory panel has listened to three days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission. Rush was among five people who died when the submersible imploded en route to the site of the Titanic wreck in June 2023….

(17) THE LONG WAY HOME. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] New research indicates that there was European contact with the Americas…

During the 15th century, the European countries of Spain and Portugal began sending ships on expeditions to find new trade routes to Asia. An accidental outcome of this search was that explorer Christopher Columbus encountered land in the Western Hemisphere in 1492. He landed in the Caribbean islands. So most ‘modern’ European contact with South America was after that date. However new research published online as a pre-print in Nature — “Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience” — reveals an earlier contact the long way round.

Sequencing the genomes from the remains of 15 Easter Island (Rapanui) individuals that were radiocarbon dated to 1670–1950, and comparing these with those from S. America they found genes in common. Looking at the slight differences in these genes — genes change over time — they estimate that the Easter Islanders encountered S. Americans in S. America around 1250–1430. This was before Columbus. (Click for larger image.)

Genetic path from Europe to Americas the long way round via the Pacific wet bit.

(18) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Ryan George shows us the “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Pitch Meeting”.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Dr. Valentin D. Ivanov, Daniel Dern, Paul Weimer, 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 Jon “(snap snap)” Meltzer.]

Pixel Scroll 9/18/24 Mission of Anti-Gravity

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(1) HIRING AN EDITOR. “New Writers Ask About Editors: How Can I Tell If an Editor Can Edit?” – Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff answers the question with some interesting advice at Book View Café. Some is positive. Then, there is a list of warning signs.

…I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Red Flags you might see waving during this process. For example:

The “after” samples contain errors the editor induced or didn’t catch in their own “before” sample.
The edits indicate the editor was manufacturing problems—choosing different words than are in the sample, without clarifying or enhancing meaning … possibly even making changes that take the meaning further away from the spirit of the selection.
The editor goes significantly beyond what was asked and essentially reworks your prose. My late writing partner, Michael Reaves, referred to that behavior as “peeing on your story.” You cannot address it, however, with editor obedience classes….

(2) DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE FINALISTS. The finalists for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize were announced August 14. There is one work of genre interest, in the fiction category, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

Inspired by the Dayton Accords which ended the Bosnian War, the annual Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the first and only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States, honors writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace. Based on that criteria, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation is pleased to announce the following 2024 book award finalists in the categories of fiction and nonfiction. The winners will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and the first runners-up will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

The 2024 fiction finalists are:

A History of Burning by Janika Oza (Grand Central Publishing)
Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (Algonquin Books)
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Grove Atlantic)
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (Berkley)
The Postcard by Anne Berest (Europa Editions)
We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan (ECW Press)

The 2024 nonfiction finalists are:

An Inconvenient Cop by Edwin Raymond with Jon Sternfeld (Viking)
Built From the Fire by Victor Luckerson (Random House)
All Else Failed by Dana Sachs (Bellevue Literary Press)
Red Memory by Tania Branigan (W.W. Norton)
The Talk by Darrin Bell (Henry Holt)
Who Gets Believed? by Dina Nayeri (Catapult)

(3) HBO DENIES GRRM. “HBO boss dismisses Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin’s House of the Dragon concerns, says season 2 did ‘really, really well’” | GamesRadar+ according to GamesRadar+.

HBO boss Casey Bloys has rejected the notion that viewers were split over their reaction to House of the Dragon season 2.

When asked by Deadline whether House of the Dragon has a shot at next year’s Emmys after – in the outlet’s words – the fanbase were “divided” over the most recent season, Bloys replied, “I’m not sure the fans were divided by season 2.”After the interviewer then made reference to George R.R. Martin’s recent deleted blog entry (which criticized certain aspects of the recent season), Bloys seemingly joked, “Yes, maybe one fan was. But no, the show did really, really well. I expect that will be in competition.”…

(4) SHELLING OUT. “Britain’s Guardian in Talks to Sell Observer Newspaper to Tortoise Media” according to Adweek’s “Morning Media Newsfeed.”

The owner of The Guardian confirmed that it is in talks to sell The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media. (BBC News)

Tortoise said negotiations include a commitment from it to invest more than £25 million ($33 million) over the next five years in the editorial and commercial renewal of the title. (Reuters)

Founded in 1791, The Observer was bought by Guardian Media Group in 1993. Since then, it has coexisted with The Guardian, which will remain a seven-day-per-week digital operation regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. (The Guardian)

(5) TARDIS ANTAGONIST. “’Doctor Who’: Archie Panjabi Cast As Villain In New Season” reports Deadline.

Emmy Award winner Archie Panjabi (Under the Bridge, Snowpiercer) will star as a villain in Season 2 of Doctor Who, sources tell Deadline. The BBC and Disney+ series is set to return in 2025.

Details regarding her character remain under wraps. BBC and Disney+ declined to comment for this story.

Panjabi joins Ncuti Gatwa, who currently stars as the titular Time Lord; Millie Gibson, who plays his companion Ruby Sunday; and Varada Sethu, who will serve as the fifteenth Doctor co-companion Belinda Chandra….

(6) VASTER THAN EMPIRES. “When Hodor Got His Penis Prosthetic on ‘Game of Thrones’: ‘Holy God, Look at the Size of It!’” at Vanity Fair. (Is this Game of Thrones prop going to auction sometime?)

Okay, Kristian, could you take your robe off now, please?”

Paul says this softly but matter-of-factly. Can I? It’s being presented as a choice, but he knows and I know that it isn’t a choice at all. Can I? I pause. Paul is the head makeup artist in our Raven unit. He looks at me with a sympathetic half smile. I know this is going to hurt, but it’s my job, he’s saying without saying anything. I have agreed to this, after all. David and Dan did run through this with me at the Fitzwilliam Hotel. Why the hell did I say yes? I think. But the nude scene has been signed and sealed: the scene where Hodor emerges from bathing pools completely naked for ten, maybe fifteen, seconds. I will be undressed for less time than it would take me to text a friend, yet it has played on my mind for weeks. Come on, Kristian, I think. Just get this over and done with….

…Next comes the hard part. Paul turns to fetch the prosthesis. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing it twice already, but its size has grown in my imagination in the intervening weeks, like a looming obelisk….

(7) JOHN CASSADAY (1971-2024). The New York Times has reported the death of comics artist John Cassaday, on September 9. “John Cassaday, Award-Winning Comic Book Artist, Dies at 52”.

John Cassaday, an award-winning comic book artist best known for his runs on Planetary, a series he helped create about a trio of adventurers investigating strange events, and Astonishing X-Men, on which his work offered readers a new entry point to a decades-old franchise, died on Sept. 9 in Manhattan. He was 52.

Tara A. Martinez, his partner, said he died of cardiac arrest in a hospital.

In a medium known for its often fantastical scenarios, Mr. Cassaday’s drawings conveyed a sense of realism. Nowhere was that more evident than in his work on Planetary, which he created with the writer Warren Ellis. His work on that series “rightfully put him on the map,” Mark Waid, a comic book editor and writer, wrote on Facebook…

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Anniversary: The Addams Family series (1964)

There are series I refuse to rewatch lest the Suck Fairy with her steel toed boots stomps all over it. One is The Addams Family series, which premiered on ABC this evening fifty ago, is definitely one of them. I unreservedly loved that series so I won’t rewatch.

Or so I thought until I changed my mind recently and did watch the first few episodes on Prime with a fair degree of angst and trepidation. It was, to my relief, still wonderful. So you can go back to that spooky place. Yes!

The Los Angeles Times in its obituary of David Levy explained how he came to create the series: “The idea for the series came to Levy when he was strolling with a friend down New York’s 5th Avenue and passed a display of Addams’ books. One, ‘Homebodies,’ showed the entire group of Addams characters in a family portrait on the cover. Levy was stopped in his tracks by the sight and told his friend: ‘There’s a hit series!’”

Now let’s talk about the characters here. Who wasn’t perfect? Be it John Astin as Gomez Addams or Carolyn Jones as his wife Morticia, they played their roles perfectly. And no, I’m certainly not forgetting Wednesday, their child. (Surely the name comes from the English folk poem, Wednesday’s child is full of woe), Uncle Fester or Thing. Not to mention Lurch played oh-so-well by Ted Cassidy.

It had pets, presaging to a great extent what Lio would have. Aristotle was Pugsley’s pet octopus and Fang was his pet jaguar. Addams Family had a lion called Kitty Kat, and they piranhas, Tristan and Isolde. Zelda was their vulture. Morticia had a very large carnivorous plant named Cleopatra and Wednesday has a pet tarantula by the name of Homer.

It didn’t last nearly as long as I thought did — just two seasons totaling sixty-four episodes shot in glorious black and white.

Halloween with the New Addams Family aired eleven years after the series went off the air with new characters added in. Seven years after the series was cancelled, the animated version of The Addams Family aired for sixteen episodes. It’s notable for a young Jodie Foster voicing Pugsley Addams. Only Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy returned in voice acting roles.

Gold Key Comics produced a comic book series in connection with the show, but it only lasted three issues.

I am not going to deal with the films here as that would take us down too long here. I’ll do those when the anniversary for the first film comes up.

It streams on Amazon. It has a perfect a hundred percent rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes. That’s right, a perfect score.

(9) COMICS SECTION.

Eek! complains about super cheaters
Frank and Ernest find a sale.
Off the Mark commiserates.
The Argyle Sweater has a concern about a name.

(10) LIKE THE EIGHTIES. [Item by Steven French.] The latest Guardian gaming newsletter includes a review of an anthology of 80s style games by little known games developer UFOSoft – “little known” because the company is actually fictional:“Pushing Buttons: UFO 50 is an anthology of pure nostalgia – and the games are good, too”, a column by the Guardian’s Keza McDonald. (The game’s website is here: UFO 50.)

I filed this issue of Pushing Buttons late, because I have become obsessed with a 1985 strategy game about armies of warring dinosaurs. It’s called Avianos, and it’s part of an anthology of 50 games made in the 1980s by a little-known but influential developer, UFO Soft.

One minor detail: UFO Soft is fictional. All the games in this collection were made by a small group of modern developers. This anthology, UFO 50 (out today), is at once a tribute to imaginary 1980s game history and real 1980s game history. It impeccably imitates the look, feel and experimental creativity of the era, without the technical limitations.

These games aren’t mini-games – they’re substantial. I’ve played one Metroid-styled space adventure for over an hour and I don’t think I’m anywhere near completing it. I did complete the dinosaur war game, and it took a whole morning. I’m stuck currently midway through a game about guiding a little chameleon through predator-ridden levels. …

(11) AN ORPHAN AGAIN. Variety reports “’Orphan Black: Echoes’ Canceled at AMC After One Season”.

…The series aired its one and only season at the basic cabler beginning in June in the United States. The season finale, which now serves as the series finale, aired on Aug. 25 The show aired on AMC, BBC America, and streamer AMC+.

Krysten Ritter starred in “Echoes,” which served as a followup to the hit BBC America series “Orphan Black.” The cast also included Keeley Hawes, Amanda Fix, Avan Jogia, Rya Kihlstedt, and James Hiroyuki Liao.

The official series description states that it “follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal. Ritter plays Lucy, a woman with an unimaginable origin story, trying to find her place in the world.”

(12) IS FUTURE SPACE STATION JEOPARDIZED? Futurism says “The Company NASA’s Hired to Build the Next Space Station Seems to Be in Big Trouble, Firing 100 Employees and Unable to Pay Bills”.

Axiom Space, the space company NASA picked to develop a private successor to the International Space Station, is in big trouble

As Forbes reports, the startup is struggling to pay the bills and has laid off at least a hundred employees, while cutting the pay of those who remain.

That leaves its plan to develop a module that can dock with the ISS before detaching to form its own space station on thin ice. And the clock is ticking, because the ISS is set to be retired by NASA in 2030, two years sooner than anticipated.

In other words, the company is quickly running out of time and is years behind schedule. As a result, Axiom Space was forced to “radically change the design” of the station, per Forbes.

However, according to Forbes‘ reporting, investors are balking at funding the development of a much smaller station that could end up being less commercially lucrative — and possibly even more expensive….

… To bring in some much-needed cash, Axiom Space started selling seats for trips to the ISS on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft….

(13) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “Netflix Debuts the First 4 Minutes of ‘Twilight of the Gods’” and Animation Magazine makes sure we don’t miss it.

The bloody battle between mortals and Norse gods is night, with Zack Snyder’s hotly anticipated adult animated series Twilight of the Gods premiering Thursday, September 19. Rousing the troops, Netflix today debuted the first four minutes of the show on TUDUM as part of its Geeked Week reveals…

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

Pixel Scroll 9/11/24 I’ve Clicked To Scroll It Stealthily In Narnia

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Mike Glyer

(0) File 770 was crashed most of the afternoon. Customer Service said high bot traffic is to blame. That may be fixed now. Let me quote Alan Arkin to whoever is sending these bots my way: “Argo fuck yourself!”

(1) LIFE IN PANDEMIC TIMES. “Station Eleven 10th anniversary: Emily St. John Mandel on what she’d change” at Slate. “Emily St. John Mandel on her eerily prescient sci-fi classic—and what she’d change about it now.”

You’re in a unique position in that you wrote a pandemic book in 2014, then had the TV adaptation come out in 2021. You experienced people’s responses to art about pandemics before COVID, during COVID, and now. I’m curious what the differences may have been.

I remember absorbing a lot of comments online to the effect of How did you predict this? Which I absolutely did not. There was always going to be another pandemic. What was interesting to see was the differences in the way between how I imagined a pandemic would be and how it actually is. In the Station Eleven pandemic, the mortality rate is insane. It’s like 99 percent or something. I didn’t have to go that far. It turns out society gets extremely disrupted extremely quickly, with vastly lower numbers than that.

Something I hadn’t anticipated was the in-between state of pandemics. For all my research into pandemics, I’d kind of thought of a pandemic as a binary state. You’re either in a pandemic or you’re not in a pandemic. But I remain fascinated by the month of February 2020 in New York City—we knew it was coming, but we didn’t believe it. It’s this uneasy territory wherein it’s very hard to make informed, reasonable decisions around risk management when you’re kind of in a pandemic and kind of not. We’re kind of there again now. Obviously, it’s much better than it was, but I do a lot of events where typically people will be unmasked at this point, but often there are a few people in the audience wearing a mask, and that is absolutely rational, and also being unmasked is rational at this point. That was something I just didn’t expect.

One thing that doesn’t ring true to me about the book anymore isn’t necessarily something I got wrong, but just the way our country has changed. When I wrote the book, I wrote a scene where all these flights are diverted to the nearest airport and everybody gets off the plane. They go to a television monitor tuned to CNN or something, and the announcer is talking about this new pandemic and everybody believes what the announcer is saying, which—I swear to God, that was plausible in 2011. At this point, absolutely not. I can’t even imagine that happening.

(2) NATIONAL BOOK AWARD. Two of the five National Book Award longlists were announced yesterday reports Publishers Weekly, for Translated Literature and Young People’s Literature. The shortlists come out October 1. The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony in New York City on November 20.

The works of genre interest in the 10-book longlists are named below.

Translated Literature

The Book Censor’s Library by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain (Restless)
Woodworm by Layla Martínez, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott (Two Lines)
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Scribner)

Young People’s Literature

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)

(4) WILL GAIMAN STEP BACK FROM GOOD OMENS? According to Deadline: “’Good Omens’: Neil Gaiman Offers To Step Back From Season 3”.

Neil Gaiman is understood to have offered to step back from the third and final season of Prime Video‘s fantasy drama Good Omens.

Deadline revealed on Monday that pre-production had paused on the BBC Studios-produced show in the wake of allegations made by four women against Gaiman, which he denies. This came after Disney’s planned feature adaptation of Gaiman’s 2008 YA title The Graveyard Book also was put on pause.

Now, we understand that Gaiman has made an offer to Amazon and producers to take a back seat on the latest season so that it can continue amid crisis talks over the Terry Pratchett adaptation’s future. Deadline understands Gaiman’s offer is not an admission of wrongdoing following a podcast from Tortoise Media that chronicled accounts of two women, with whom he was in consensual relationships, who accused him of sexual assault. Another two have since come forward. Gaiman’s position is that he denies the allegations and is said to be disturbed by them. His rep did not respond to a request for comment….

(5) WOT’S THAT? TV Guide says “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Has an Accent Problem”.

Tom Bombadil made his The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debut this week, played by character actor Rory Kinnear in a voluminous beard and wig. Known for his role in The Fellowship of the Ring (notably cut from the Peter Jackson movie), Bombadil is enigmatic yet silly; a mythic figure who hints at ancient wisdom while living out his days as a jovial, eccentric hermit. And like his harfoot neighbors, Rory Kinnear’s version speaks with a strong regional accent, playing into a recurring problem throughout the show.

Tolkien’s linguistic worldbuilding is famously sophisticated, and The Rings of Power puts a lot of work into its use of constructed languages like Quenya. Unfortunately its English-language choices are nowhere near as thoughtful, embracing clumsy stereotypes from around the British Isles. The most uncomfortable example is the nomadic harfoot community in Season 1; they’re the only characters who speak with Irish accents.

Writing in The Irish Times, critic Ed Powers described these “twee and guileless” harfoots as “a race of simpleton proto-hobbits, rosy of cheek, slathered in muck, wearing twigs in their hair and speaking in stage-Irish accents that make the cast of Wild Mountain Thyme sound like Daniel Day-Lewis.” He made the convincing argument that they reflect offensive images of Irish culture as “pre-industrial and childlike.” Unfortunately the show’s accent problems don’t stop there.

Overseen by American showrunners, the accent choices in The Rings of Power are deeply rooted in unexamined classism and regional stereotypes.….

(6) SUZANNE PALMER FUNDRAISER. “Fundraiser for Suzanne Palmer by Meguey Baker : Changing Suzanne’s Story: Emergency Funds for a Writer” at GoFundMe.

Let me tell you about Suzanne. She’s a writer, a world-builder, and a dear friend of mine over the past three decades. We need art to live. We need stories and storytellers. We need Suzanne. It’s easy to think that artists just make art, but they also have lives, and bills, and accidents that are terrible, or hilarious, or both, depending on the telling.

So when she told me the story about her kid stepping through the ceiling, plaster raining down on their sister’s bedroom below, it was with the smile of a writer who sees the humor in the misadventure. I knew it would become a family legend. But when she told me about being crushingly tight on funds due to payment for her work being months late, I knew that was no laughing matter.

I’m asking us all to step up….

(7) ANALYZING CONCORD’S FAILURE. [Item by Steven French.] Here’s the latest gaming news from the Guardian: “Sony’s big-budget hero shooter Concord failed spectacularly – here’s where it went wrong”.

As is now traditional, right after I’d filed last week’s Pushing Buttons, huge gaming news broke: Sony was pulling its hero shooter Concord from sale just two weeks after launch – because nobody was playing it. Everyone who bought it on PlayStation 5 and PC was refunded, and the future of the game is now unclear.

This is a brutal sequence of events. Sony bought the makers of Concord, Firewalk Studios, in 2023. Concord had been in development for eight years, and it was an expensive game, with bespoke cinematics and a long-term plan that would have cost $100m or more to develop. In its two weeks on the market, it sold fewer than 25,000 copies, according to estimates. This is a shocker, even compared with the year’s other bad news for developers and studios.

Much has been written about why Concord flopped so spectacularly. As Keith Stuart pointed out in his review of the game, it launched into a crowded genre, the hero shooter, in which many players already have their preferred game (Overwatch, Valorant or Apex Legends, to name three). Sony’s marketing of the game also seemed to fail, in that almost nobody knew about Concord before it arrived. (I barely knew about it, and it’s my job to know these things.) Criticisms, too, were levelled at its characters and design: it was generic and didn’t have any particularly interesting gameplay ideas.

The failure of Concord is also symbolic of the existential-level problems in modern game development: they are so expensive to create, and they take so long that a game can miss its moment years before it is released. All this makes publishers risk-averse, but if you’re simply trying to recreate what’s popular, it’ll be out of date by the time it’s finished….

(8) DID DISNEY MUFF THE MOFF? “Lucasfilm Sued for Recreating Grand Moff Tarkin Actor Peter Cushing’s Image in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” at IGN.

Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm is being sued over its recreation of Grand Moff Tarkin actor Peter Cushing’s image in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

As reported by The Times, a friend of Cushing has alleged Disney did not have permission to recreate the actor’s image with special effects for Rogue One. Disney tried and failed to have the case dismissed for a second time on September 9, 2024.

The plaintiff Kevin Francis is suing Lucasfilm through his film company Tyburn Film Productions and also brought claims against Rogue One producer Lunak Heavy Industries, the late executors of Cushing’s estate, and Cushing’s agency Associated International Management.

Francis claimed he must give authorization for any recreation of Cushing’s image following an agreement made between him and the actor in 1993, one year before his death at age 81.

Lucasfilm claimed it didn’t think it needed permission to recreate Cushing’s image due to his original contract for Star Wars (the 1977 film which became Star Wars: Episode 4 – A New Hope) and the nature of the special effects. It also paid around $37,000 to Cushing’s estate after being contacted by his agent about the recreation.

On September 9, deputy High court judge Tom Mitcheson dismissed the appeal, stating the case should go to trial. “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out,” he added. “In an area of developing law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries might lie in the absence of a full factual enquiry.”

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Lis Carey.]

Born September 11, 1952 – Sharon Lee.

By Lis Carey: She is best known as one half of the writing team of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, creators of the popular and very enjoyable Liaden Universe series of novels and stories. Her solo works include two Maine-based mysteries, a fantasy series set in the fictional Maine town of Archer’s Beach, and several dozen short stories, both sf and fantasy.

It may interest some to know that her “day jobs” over the years have included (in addition to a lot of secretarial work) advertising copy writer, call-in talk host, nightside news copy editor, freelance reporter, photographer, book reviewer, and deliverer of tractor trailers.

Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, she met fellow beginning new writer Steve Miller. They married in 1980, around the time Sharon made her first professional sale, “A Matter of Ceremony,” to Amazing Stories.

In 1988, Sharon and Steve moved to Winslow, Maine, and lived there until 2018, when they moved “into town,” to Waterville, on the other side of the Kennebec River. Throughout their writing lives, they’d been carefully supervised by a succession of cats, and this remains true for Sharon. She currently has three Maine Coon cats, including veteran editorial cats Trooper and Firefly, and the new apprentice, Rook.

Sharon is working on the next Liaden book, Diviner’s Bow. She makes no guarantees on how long she will continue writing the series, but will continue to credit Steve as co-author on any new Liaden works she writes. She’s adamant that Liaden would not exist without both her and Steve, and that he is still an integral part of continuing to tell stories in that setting. Because of that, new Liaden stories will continue to bear both names.

(10) COMICS SECTION.

Reality Check reminds us what all that glitters is not.
The Argyle Sweater knows you haven’t seen any of these.
Candorville can’t relax with TV.
The Far Side shows us another guy who doesn’t ask for directions.

(11) KISSES FROM SPACE. [Item by lance oszko.] Orbital Author Reading gives new meaning to Book Launch. “Kisses from Space”. “Kisses from Space – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital”.

Polaris Dawn Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon invites you to embark on a celestial journey as she reads Kisses from Space, a children’s book published by Random House. Inspired by the resilient spirit of the young patients at St. Jude, Anna’s heartwarming tale comes to life by bridging the gap between the cosmos and our earthly hearts. These courageous children, in turn, have lent their creativity to the book by crafting artwork inspired by its whimsical illustrations. As you immerse yourself in the magic of Kisses From Space, know that every page turned contributes to a noble cause: supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

(12) WESTEROS: EVERYTHING MUST GO. Heritage Auctions is running “HBO® Original Game of Thrones The Auction”, an huge event offering over 2,000 costumes, weapons, props, and set decorations, from October 10-12. For example:

…Among the essential pieces in this auction, my favorite is Oathkeeper, a Valyrian steel sword. Although initially forged for Jaime Lannister (through Tywin Lannister) from Eddard Stark’s legendary sword “Ice,” it was later gifted to Brienne by Jaime with the poignant directive, “It was reforged from Ned Stark’s sword. You’ll use it to defend Ned Stark’s daughter.” Oathkeeper thus became a symbol of Brienne’s journey from an underestimated sole female heir, whose worth was once seen as limited to marriage, to her rise as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard….

(13) DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO BABYLON-I-AY? Live Science celebrates a “Babylonian Map of the World: The oldest known map of the ancient world”.

…This tablet, which depicts how Babylonians perceived the world thousands of years ago, is peppered with details that offer insight into an earlier time. For example, the ancient world is shown as a singular disc, which is encircled by a ring of water called the Bitter River. At the world’s center sits the Euphrates River and the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon. Labels written in cuneiform, an ancient text, note each location on the map, according to The British Museum. …

(14) CHINA’S MARS PLANS. “China aims for historic Mars mission ‘around 2028’ as it vies for space power” reports CNN.

China’s historic attempt to bring samples from Mars to Earth could launch as soon as 2028, two years earlier than previously stated, according to a senior mission official.

The country’s Tianwen-3 mission would carry out two launches “around 2028” to retrieve the Martian samples, chief mission designer Liu Jizhong said at a deep-space exploration event in eastern China’s Anhui province last week.

The projected mission launch is more ambitious than a 2030 target announced by space officials earlier this year, though the timeline has fluctuated in recent years. A 2028 target appears to return to a launch plan described in 2022 by a senior scientist involved with the Tianwen program – a mission profile that would see samples returned to Earth by 2031.

The latest remarks follow China’s landmark success retrieving the first samples from the far side of the moon in June.

It also comes as an effort by NASA and the European Space Agency to retrieve Mars samples remains under assessment amid concerns over budget, complexity and risk. The US space agency, which first landed on Mars decades ago, said it is evaluating faster and more affordable plans to allow for a speedier result than one that would have returned samples in 2040….

(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Once upon a time on Letterman: “James Earl Jones presents things that only sound cool when he says them.”

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, lance oszko, Lise Andreasen, Andrew (not Werdna), SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

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Tag Archives: Game of Thrones

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