Tag Archives: Glasgow 2024

Team Journey Planet Celebrates Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures

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(L-R): James Bacon, Sara Felix, Chuck Serface, Allison Hartman Adams, Helena Nash, Regina Kanyu Wang, Alan Stewart, Arthur Liu, Vincent Docherty, Sarah Gulde. Not pictured: Dr. Yen Ooi, Michael Carroll, Ann Gry, Jean Martin, Chris Garcia, and Pádraig Ó Méalóid)

By Allison Hartman Adams: Team Journey Planet was out in full force during Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures. Co-Editors and Hugo Finalists participated in a wide variety of panels and activities, and still found time for dancing, socializing at the Fan Bar, and gallivanting around Scotland. 

Amid the hubbub, Journey Planet launched both a new Facebook page (facebook.com/TeamJourneyPlanet) and a new Instagram page (@teamjourneyplanet). 

For Journey Planet, the enduring theme of Glasgow 2024 was connection. 

Arthur Liu noted that, at a small gathering for Chinese and foreign fans, there was plenty of space for conversation and even “friendly yet heated debate.” “It was a most joyful experience, since people from different cultures were willing to share and listen equally, regardless of their social/fandom status,” Arthur said. 

Arthur Liu fan meetup. Arthur Liu in front, with back to camera.

Regina Kanyu Wang seconds Arthur’s thoughts, pointing out that “it is wonderful to meet old and new friends at the Glasgow Worldcon, both in person and virtually, from all over the world…I love how Glasgow runs the fannish convention with high inclusivity and professional attitude!”

At table: Regina Kanyu Wang, Emily Xuemi Jin, Gu Shi. On screen: Xueting C. Ni, Dr. Yen Goi

Chris Garcia had a lot to say, even from nearly 5,000 miles away. Chris was a regular presence on the Worldcon Discord channels, was on multiple panels, but was most excited about his famous Flintstones shirt. “I retired it,” Chris said, “so I sent it along with Journey Planeteer Chuck Serface to put in the Fanzine Lounge to be signed by any and all who might. And they did! The photos folks took made me exceptionally happy! A memory that will live in my closet forever…”

Chris Garcia’s Flintstones shirt with signatures.

Similarly, Dr. Yen Ooi was struck by the level of interconnectedness, even for the online-only participants. “I didn’t feel left out at all in any of the events,” Yen noted. “It was a bit surreal doing laundry and cleaning the flat between events. It is wonderful that we have the option of joining online now for something as big and exciting as WorldCon.

Logging in from Thailand, Ann Gry was delighted with how smoothly everything went, in particular the panelists’ breakout rooms and how well online-only participants could see the audience. “I feel very welcome and included at the con despite not being in Glasgow,” Ann said. “This year in particular, it was a breath of fresh air to share ideas about dystopias with Zamyatin’s “We” centennial and AI apocalypse scenarios (with Adrian Tchaikovsky!), figuring out engineering solutions to people’s problems and just having fun talking about food in anime.” In particular, Ann wanted to point out that the “programming team did a fantastic job picking panelists with a broad range of POVs,” and she hopes this hybrid structure remains a staple at future Worldcons. 

For Sara Felix, the highlight was “SO MUCH ART!” She was made most happy by “all the art created for the con and by members–art based around my art direction and personal art.” In addition to being a finalist for Best Fanzine, Sara was also a finalist for Best Fan Artist, a well-deserved honor. 

Sara Felix art display

Alan Stewart came equipped with exclusive “Australian SF Sci-Pi” ribbons for the whole Journey Planet team during our meet-up on Thursday, during which we held an impromptu planning session for upcoming issues. 

For Events Lead Vincent Docherty, the weekend was a blur, but he most enjoyed mc-ing the Symphony and Roger Sayer’s Interstellar Organ recital, moderating a panel on Morrow’s Isle with GoH Ken MacLeod, composer Gary Lloyd, and choreographer Bettina Carpi, and, of course, “the warm feeling of being part of the Hugo nominated Team Journey Planet!”

(L-R) Gary Lloyd, Bettina Carpi, Ken MacLeod, Vincent Docherty. Photo by Simon Bubb

This year, Sarah Gulde celebrated the 10th anniversary of her first Worldcon, and the experience was as wonderful as ever. “I loved seeing all the friends I haven’t seen since at least the 2021 Worldcon in DC, meeting new friends, and meeting authors I’d never met before but whose work I love!”

In front: Sarah Gulde.

Helena Nash noted a similar feeling. Because of the length of the con, Helena got a chance to “sit down for an hour or two with Allison [Hartman] to talk about Journey Planet, or Kat Clay about TTRPGs or Stuart Vandal about the minutiae of Marvel comics history.” Moreover, Helena pointed out an incredibly important piece of Glasgow 2024: “The egalitarian, approachable format of Worldcon meant I felt socially permitted to talk to talented creators, as opposed to, say, getting 10 seconds to say hello to a celebrity at a carefully controlled autographing session before being shuffled along by a minder.”

Allison Hartman, when she wasn’t trying to hack down Meta’s impenetrable walls, found time for chatting, meeting new friends, and participating in panels. “I’ve never felt more at home at a con than I have at Glasgow 2024. I felt listened to, seen, connected. I am so grateful to all the volunteers and organizers. They had a herculean task ahead of them, and they pulled it off beautifully.”

And of course, James Bacon had plenty to say. “Glasgow 2024 was a pretty spectacular and very successful Worldcon. As part of the Glasgow 2024 team, my pleasure comes from seeing the fruits of the labour, the happiness among fans, and delivery of all the good fun things. There was a lot of that. I was a Chairs advisor, and my note now is, “Well that was awesome!” (Read James’ full commentary below.)

One highlight we can all get behind is the arrival of the one-of-a-kind ultra-exclusive Wallace Award, courtesy of Helena Nash. While not a Hugo, we love it just the same. Thank you, Helena! 

The Wallace Award

While we were sad not to see 2023 Co-Editors Dr. Yen Ooi, Michael Carroll, Chris Garcia, or Pádraig Ó Méalóid, we were all able to connect with many Journey Planet contributors and friends, including Errick Nunnally, Brenda Noiseux (who also served a Hugo runner for the Awards ceremony), Craig Miller, John Coxon, Yvonne Rowse, Linda Wenzelburger, Pete Young, Alissa Wales, Meg Frank, Iain Clark, GoH Claire Brialey, Mark Plummer, Stuart Vandal, Olav Rokne, Amanda Wakaruk, Dr Meganne Christian, and of course Glasgow 2024 Chair Esther MacCallum Stewart, along with Marguerite Smith and Brian Nisbet. Everyone is hopeful for a Mega-Journey Planet Meet-Up at a future Worldcon. Please join us all on Facebook and Instagram, or reach out to us as journeyplanetsubmissions@gmail.com.

JAMES BACON’S THOUGHTS ON GLASGOW 2024: A WORLDCON FOR OUR FUTURES

By James Bacon: Glasgow 2024 was a pretty spectacular and very successful Worldcon. As part of the Glasgow 2024 team, my pleasure comes from seeing the fruits of the labour, the happiness among fans and delivery of all the good fun things. There was a lot of that. I was a Chairs advisor, and my note now is, “Well that was awesome!”

The weekend began early. I arrived on the Sunday before the con, but on Wednesday, an impromptu Journey Planet gathering occurred, as a group known as “Le F*ckers” (said with a fake French accent) gathered and drank in the Crowne Plaza bar. It was mostly JP people, but also other fans, and enjoying a drink was a nice start after a long day.

It feels like such a short time since Dublin 2019–and yet it is five years! It was good to reconnect so many people, and here were some lovely interactions about both Dublin and Journey Planet. There is a lot of love for the zine, and I was pleased that some recent issues really resonated with fans, who were keen to engage and chat about them.  

As the Batmobiles rumbled into Hall 4, I knew it would be an amazing Worldcon, and likewise when I saw the excitement for what must have been the best events proposition that any Worldcon has ever had, all under the leadership of Vincent Docherty. Craig Miller in LA, whom I hold in the highest regard, set the bar high. He is an amazing fan, and if anyone can challenge our Co-editor Vince, it is Craig. I spoke to Vincent afterwards, and I hope we can do an issue soon, on music all going well.  

I arranged a couple of “meet-ups” slotting them into a spreadsheet, and I was delighted that these occurred. I was frightfully busy at the convention, but ensuring these occurred was important. The first co-editors JP meet-up, after the impromptu “Le F*ckers”, was on Thursday in the vast Hall 4 with everything from a Batmobile to Free Books. I was delighted to speak with the amazing fan Arthur Liu, whom I had not met yet, and while not all co-editors were present, we still filled an entire table. New ideas sprung forth and it looks like our year got busier following the Thursday meetup. I was sad that all editors could not be there, but many were. Vincent was even busier than I was, for sure. 

Journey Planet has had 37 co-editors to date, with 84 issues completed, and hundreds of contributors. I would love to meet them all, and at some stage we may even have a Con JP. They all work so hard, but like friendships, they come in, are amazing, and drift away to other projects. So it was wonderful to meet with co-editors, sit down, discuss, and solidify these friendships (although maybe we could have done a better job alerting them all). It was also great to greet some co-editors who I do not speak to much at all these days, just because I am not seeing them at cons I go to, like John Coxon and Yvonne Rowse. I carved out time to have dinner post con with Linda Wenzelburger, but missed Pete Young (I shall write to him, though) and I watched on as some co-editors, such as Alissa Wales and Esther MacCallum Stewart worked so hard. I got to see Meg Frank briefly (their art is so amazing) and was delighted to spend a whole session with Iain Clark who is working on some covers for us. There were so many people! 

How friendships evolve in the fan community is interesting, and I am looking forward to Sarah Gulde and Chuck Serface joining us on an issue and writing about that. 

Of course, co-editor Claire Brialey was a GOH, and I saw her and Mark Plummer a number of times, but that was more on behalf of the con than the long friendship that we have, although there was an intersection or something there, which is pretty unique. 

I think I would like more time to welcome contributors next year in Seattle. If I go, I think I’ll look to my fellow co-editors to arrange some sort of workshop or panel about getting involved in writing and editing. There are so many young people and enthusiastic fans at Worldcon. I felt like I should have gone around to every one of them and given them business cards with ideas about how to volunteer to run conventions on their own terms and see if the enthusiasm could be harnessed for the future. I also felt like so many had something to say, and wished to share the conduit that is JP. 

While all this was going on though, our latest initiative, a Journey Planet Facebook and Instagram page, was being rolled out by Allison Hartman, with Sara Felix on graphics. Allison captured what co-editors were doing during the con. We had discussed a structured and planned approach, consistency rather than frequency–the long game. So far it looks amazing. 

We also had a meet up on Saturday evening. I am part of the Belfast Eastercon team, and had invited Team Journey Planet, and so we were joined by a number of contributors and supporters, as well as current and previous co-editors. Errick Nunally and Brenda Noiseux are always a delight to see. I enjoyed serving them all nice whiskeys and catching up.

Journey Planet meetup

I met Stuart Vandal, and that was superb. Stuart and I worked for an events company some 15 years ago, and it was a revelation to catch up. He is a freelance writer, but is really a Marvel Indexer, with over 100 indexes to his name, and often supports us with the comics aspects in our issues.

The Hugo Awards are really very special, but also can be overwhelming. We gathered beforehand and worked as a group. We previously did not always do this, which was a mistake. As a pack, a team, problems that crop up can get fixed immediately. While I had to go and accompany a surprise visitor, and was slightly late for the official Journey Planet photo, Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk were very understanding. We were joined by Dr Meganne Christian, Reserve Astronaut, Exploration Commercialisation Lead at the UK Space Agency, and Glasgow 2024 Special Guest, who was delightful. 

While we sadly lost the Hugo Award, we were together, which was nice. Helena Nash made the Wallace loser rocket (which I now covet) and that was fun. I was sad that Sara Felix and Iain Clark did not win a Hugo Award; being a finalist is such an amazing achievement and honour, and the Worldcon and its fans, do that so well. 

So much hard work goes into a Worldcon, and as we break up to pursue different projects and conventions, I will miss many aspects of being on the committee. There are so many good people with amazing plans. I am looking forward to seeing what Marguerite Smith and Brian Nisbet do with Dublin 2029. My thoughts now move on to thinking about enjoying future cons but working less on them. I saw less of Glasgow 2024 than I did of Dublin, which sounds bizarre, but I was more mobile. I walked 88 miles in 9 days.

We might try to make a concrete plan for meeting up–like Boskone, Eastercon in Belfast, and Worldcon in Seattle–as Chris might be at Boskone and Seattle. Sitting together and discussing ideas and welcoming new writers is always nice. Our ideas list for issues now stands well over 50 proposals, and next year is already filling up. I think the meet up could be expanded, especially if we can manage it at Seattle and LA, giving consistency. There is so much more to write about, another time though.

While many co-editors were not present, I was sad that Chris could not make it, but am hopeful that we will get to reconvene together. Perhaps it will be Seattle, perhaps somewhere else. I do not see enough of Chris, and while we talk a lot, meeting is always great, especially if I can take Chris for a meal. 

Overall, Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures was very, very good. 

Pixel Scroll 8/16/24 We Are The Pixel Makers And We Are The Scrollers Of Scrolls

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(1) THE FUTURE IS NOW. Seattle Worldcon 2025 is accepting applications to be on the program already, we learned via Hugo Book Club Blog. Full details here: “Panelists – Seattle Worldcon 2025”.

…All panelists and presenters at Seattle Worldcon 2025 must be members of the convention. Seattle Worldcon 2025 will review and choose panelists and presenters continuously starting in 2024 through early 2025. You can indicate an interest in appearing on program by filling out this form. After brief vetting, we will send interested individuals an invitation to appear on program with a thorough survey form….

(2) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Scott Edelman invites listeners to join Jenny Rowe (and James Tiptree, Jr.) at the Glasgow Worldcon bar in Episode 233 of the Eating the Fantastic podcast.

Jenny Rowe

I returned home from the Glasgow Worldcon less than 48 hours ago, and am still suffering from jet lag, but I’m not so groggy I can’t share with you what was my favorite item on the program there — Jenny Rowe’s one-woman show, Tiptree: No One Else’s Damn Secret But My Own. I loved her performance, and immediately reached out to see whether I could chat with her about channeling James Tiptree, Jr., and how she distilled the life of that brilliant writer into an hour-long arc. Luckily, we were able to connect in the Crown Plaza bar.

Rowe is an actor, improviser and writer who performs and teaches improv internationally. She wrote her solo show about James Tiptree, Jr./Alice Sheldon in 2018, was nominated for Best Female Performer at Buxton Fringe ’24, and continues to tour with the production. Her other performances include Read Not Dead (Shakespeare’s Globe) Clean by Sam Chittenden (Best Play Award, Brighton Fringe 2019), Mary Rose by J.M.Barrie (National Tour), and Somewhere in England by Mark Burgess.

A member of Impromptu Shakespeare and Brighton Fringe Comedy Award-winners, The Maydays, since 2006, she has guested on the iO Chicago mainstage with Whirled News Tonight and headlined at improv festivals across Europe. She also writes weird, dark short stories which occasionally get published in weird dark places: one is upcoming in the Map of Lost Places anthology from Apex Books in 2025.

We discussed the serendipitous way she learned James Tiptree, Jr. existed, the differing reactions to her one-woman show from SF vs. non-SF audiences, how she managed to nail Tiptree’s accent (some of which you’ll get to hear), why she ultimately decided not to begin or end the show with a gunshot, how she settled on the structure of her script (and why she decided to leave herself out of the story), the way inhabiting Tiptree affected her feelings about the controversy, why she’d have loved to meet Tiptree but not necessarily want to be her friend, the purpose of the play’s moment of audience participation, and much more.

(3) WHAT OBAMA IS READING THIS SUMMER. There are a couple of genre books on “President Obama’s 2024 Summer Reading List, Reviewed” at Publishers Weekly.

James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, perhaps is only “genre” to the extent of being a literary experiment similar to Julia, the retelling of 1984. But Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time is nearer the genre bull’s-eye as it depends on time travel.

(4) COVID COUNT FROM GLASGOW 2024. Some people tested positive for Covid at the Worldcon, like business meeting secretary Alex Acks, and over a hundred have altogether, including author Pat Cadigan. Janet Ní Shúilleabháin picked up this number from a dedicated channel on the con’s Discord server. X.com thread starts here.

(5) HUH? A dumpster at New College of Florida, located in Sarasota, made the headlines: “Florida college throws away hundreds of books on gender and diversity” reports USA Today. But why is H.G. Wells in the pile?

…On Tuesday afternoon, a dumpster in the parking lot of the school’s Jane Bancroft Cook Library overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center….

…Some of the discarded books included, “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate,” “The War of the Worlds” and “When I Knew,” a collection of stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting when they knew they were gay….

(6) BILLIONS AND BILLIONS. “Audiobooks are doing better than ever. Just ask Harper Collins” suggests NPR.

Audiobooks are doing better than ever. Just ask Harper Collins. According to a recent earnings call, the publisher revealed audiobook sales exceeded e-books for the first time last quarter. But don’t call it a boom. NPR’s Andrew Limbong has more….

LIMBONG: A couple of those other waves include the rise of podcasting, getting people listening to audio content, and COVID, says Michele Cobb, the executive director of the Audio Publishers Association.

MICHELE COBB: Because people were looking for something that was entertaining, educational and did not involve looking at a screen.

LIMBONG: According to Cobb, the industry enjoyed consistent growth for more than a decade, bringing in $2 billion in revenue in 2023. The Audio Publishers Association did a survey earlier this summer to find out who exactly was listening to all these audiobooks.

COBB: When I started in the industry in, really, 2000, it was older people listening to cassettes. That’s what it was. In today’s world, it is people under 45 who are the majority of listeners, and they are bringing their kids into the fold….

(7) RECOGNIZING TIMES TO COME. Steven Heller explains why he was excited by Octavia Butler’s sff in “Octavia E. Butler’s Convictions on Predictions” at PRINT Magazine.

…In just a few thousand words, Butler responds to a student’s query, “Do you really believe that in the future we’re going to have the kind of trouble you write about in your books?” The question was referring to Butler’s warnings about, among other real time crises, increasing drug addiction, illiteracy, global warming and untold seeds of doomsday scenarios. “I didn’t make up the problems,” she noted, “all I did was look around at the problems we’re neglecting now and give them about 30 years to grow into full-fledged disasters.”…

(8) BUCKAROO BANZAI. “40 Years Ago, One Wild Sci-Fi Movie Became a Surprising Cult Classic” – Inverse remembers!

…For all of its quirkiness and brazen genre-busting, the singular nature of 1984’s Buckaroo Banzai is its most enduring feature. It’s not perfect, but as a go-to cult favorite of many artists, writers, and fans, revisiting Buckaroo Banzai 40 years after its release reveals a fantastically unique sci-fi film.

Buckaroo Banzai represents a kind of alternate universe of ‘80s pop culture. If Back to the Future hadn’t happened a year later, and if star Peter Weller hadn’t gone on to play RoboCop in 1987, it’s conceivable that Buckaroo Banzai would be the ultimate symbol of ‘80s kitch sci-fi. You’ve got quirky mad scientists, rocket cars, ‘80s blazers, and a rock band, all traits associated with Marty McFly’s far more famous adventure.

The movie’s circuitous story centers on a world-famous scientist and rock star named Buckaroo Banzai (Weller), who travels around with a group of misfits called the Hong Kong Cavaliers. Within the first 20 minutes, we see Buckaroo take a rocket car through a mountain and into another dimension, perform a last-minute life-saving surgery, and lead his band in a set while growing concerned about a suicidal woman in the audience, who seems to be the twin of his long-lost lover….

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born August 16, 1934 – Diana Wynne Jones. (Died 2011.)  Shall we look at the fiction of Diana Wynne Jones? Now I’m picking just my favorites here.

So what do you pick off the shelf first for reading by her? For me that’s Deep Secret, where the protagonist is Rupert Venables, overseer of the Multiverse, and who’s going to PhantasmaCon. Absolutely fun it is. And the sequel, The Merlin Conspiracy, is just as pleasing.

Diana Wynne Jones

If there’s essential reading for her by in terms of just plain being intrigued by the idea underlying the book, it’d be The Tough Guide to Fantasyland which is a playful look at the genre. A really playful look. 

Fire and Hemlock for her artful merging of the Scottish ballads Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer is amazing. Then there’s the setting here, a small private college. We’ve such a college not far away and her depiction feels spot on to that

I like Howl’s Castle, the best of the three novels in that series, and adore the animated film made off of it. 

Diana Wynne Jones. Photo by and (c) Andrew Porter

Let’s not overlook the exemplary short story collection she did of Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories with the great cover by Dan Craig. Yes, I bought it without opening the book solely because of it. Well and that it was by her. 

My final pick, and yes, I’m fully aware how much I’m overlooking in just giving my personal choices, is Archer’s Goon, a boy who finds out something about himself quite unexpected. a family with secrets. A creature who won’t leave their house. What’s not to be intrigued by? 

I’m very much looking forward to hearing your choices now. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) DOWN MEMORY LOIS LANE. Teri Hatcher answers a question about that ‘iconic’ shot, in the Guardian: “Teri Hatcher: ‘Would I beat you at pool? It depends on how much we are drinking’”.

What are your memories of the time the picture of you naked wrapped in a Superman cape was reportedly the most downloaded image on the internet? VerulamiumParkRanger

I broke the internet when we still had dial-up. I don’t credit myself with being so fabulous. I do remember the photoshoot, which was to promote the TV show. It took all day. I was wearing a white blouse and pencil skirt because Lois is a reporter from the Daily Planet, with the cape wrapped over. It wasn’t until the last take of the day that someone said: “Could we try the cape without the blouse?” I thought: “What does that imply? Why would Lois Lane be naked under the cape?” We only did it as a lark, but the result was evocative. Now I’m so much older, I still feel proud of it.

(12) FANHISTORIC DINING. Clifton’s Cafeteria, where LASFS once met in the Thirties, will celebrate its latest reopening this weekend says LAist. “Wanna sneak preview of Clifton’s reopening? You can this weekend (if you’re lucky)”.

The famed Clifton’s location (now Clifton’s Republic) is slated to reopen gradually over the next month, starting with a sneak peek of the famed tiki bar, aka Pacific Seas bar, this weekend.

How to get in: To score one of the very limited reservations, you’ll need to sign up for the mailing list via their website. If you’re too late, note that reservations for next weekend, Aug. 23 and 24, will be opening next week. You’ll get alerted via email when they’re live to book. First come, first served.

Backstory: Clifton’s opened in 1938 as a cafeteria space during the Depression on a bustling block on Broadway, offering an escapist adventure. Now rebranded as Clifton’s Republic, the six-story location is owned by Andrew Meieran, who hopes to restore it to its “fantastical wonderland” feeling of yesteryear.

(13) YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS ANYONE’S. “Amazon announces weird-ass cartoon anthology series set inside existing video games” at AV Club.

The video game adaptation renaissance has been going along steadily for long enough at this point that not even a flop like Borderlands—which both feels, and literally is, the product of a world from before the release of either crowd-pleasers like The Super Mario Bros. Movie,or critical darlings like The Last Of Us—is likely to slow it down. Which means that efforts to adapt video games to TV or film now have enough of a runway to get a little strange. Case in point: The reveal today that Prime Video is working with Deadpool director and Love, Death & Robots creator Tim Miller on an animated anthology series titled Secret Level, not based on a single game, but set in the worlds of multiple popular titles.

This is, to put none too fine a point on it, weird. Game companies tend to be aggressively protective of their intellectual property, especially in this day and age—to the point that Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann is an incredibly active force in the creation of the Last Of Us show, overseeing its various tinkerings with oh-so-precious canon. The idea of handing off the brand to outsiders to craft a story set inside your video game universe, which will then sit alongside other games in a larger anthology title, just sounds incredibly strange to our ears. It doesn’t help that the titles reportedly being targeted are decidedly eclectic: Sony’s library of PlayStation titles makes a certain sense, as well as Amazon’s own New World online title. But Deadline also reports that Derek Yu’s Spelunky, a self-published, self-owned indie title, is supposedly in the mix. (It’s also easily the one of these we’re most interested in seeing, since Spelunky‘s beautifully cartoonish style is a great potential fit for an animated short.)…

(14) THE AXE HAS FALLEN. The Hollywood Reporter has learned “’My Lady Jane’ Canceled at Amazon After One Season”.

Like the real Jane Grey, the reign of My Lady Jane turned out to be a short one.

Amazon’s Prime Video has canceled the period drama, which combined romance and alternate-world fantasy. The cancellation comes about seven weeks after Prime Video released all eight episodes of the show’s first (and now only) season.

My Lady Jane, based on a novel by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows, is set in a 16th century England where humans co-exist with shape-shifters who can take the form of either people or animals. Jane Grey (Emily Bader) is an ordinary human, known as a Verity, who becomes sympathetic to the oppressed shape-shifters, known as Ethians — which will become a problem for the ruling class as Jane rises to power….

(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Ryan George takes us inside the “Deadpool & Wolverine Pitch Meeting”

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

Pixel Scroll 8/13/24 The Fifth-Million Pixel Fan

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(1) INDUSTRY TAKE ON WORLDCON. Publishers Weekly gave it thumbs up: “In Glasgow, Worldcon Worked to Put Controversy Behind It”.

In a spirited five-day celebration, held August 8–12 at the Scottish Events Campus in Glasgow, Scotland, crowds converged from all over the globe for the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, known as Worldcon. Show organizers said that more than 8,000 membership badges were purchased in total, with over 7,200 issued at the venue and upwards of 600 in attendance online.

On the convention floor and across a wealth of a wealth of panels, book signings, and creative showcases, the mood was buoyant, with old hands and first-timers alike connecting in bars, at events, and simply in passing. And the organization’s promise to “[consider] access, inclusion, and diversity as integral to Glasgow 2024,” found the perfect venue in the Scottish city, which was welcoming, accessible, and spacious.

…From an industry perspective, there was a scarcity of American publishers at this year’s Worldcon. Still, everyone in attendance seemed more focused on celebrating the current boom in the genre around the world.

“There’s never been a more exciting time to be a SFF publisher,” said Bethan Morgan, editorial director of Gollancz. Eleanor Teasdale, publisher at Angry Robot Books and Datura Books, remarked, “It’s been a joyous festival of genre, with so many international attendees too.”

This excitement was shared by Amanda Rutter, commissioning editor at Solaris Books. “I haven’t been to [a Worldcon] that felt so productive and positive since before the pandemic,” she said, adding, “The Glasgow team made it the most inclusive convention I have been to by far, given their commitment to accessibility needs and striving to ensure that every single participant felt as though they were represented.”

“The con felt very well organized,” said George Sandison, managing editor at Titan Books. “Like all effective project management, it looked like it was very simple to do and probably required Herculean efforts by numerous highly competent people!” Francesca T. Barbini, founder of Luna Press Publishing, agreed, praising the organizers for “being lots of help when we arrived. Overall, it’s been an amazing experience.”

The main takeaway from the event seemed to be about the importance of in-person connection to both the publishing industry and the greater SFF community. Cath Trechman, editor at large at Titan Books, noted, “I can say I found this year’s Worldcon to be a great place to meet authors and agents and chat about the current trends and the idiosyncrasies of publishing, surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd of genre fans and book lovers.”…

(2) GLASGOW 2024 BUSINESS MEETING VIDEOS. At the link is the YouTube playlist for the 2024 WSFS Business Meeting videos recorded by Lisa Hayes. Kevin Standlee finally found a workaround to overcome the bandwidth problem at his Glasgow hotel.

(3) REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY. [Item by Olav Rokne.] Intended as a happy, silly coda to this year’s Hugo season, Amanda and I present “How to Lose a Hugo,” which after four go-arounds we’re starting to have some experience at. (Though we can think of some folks who have lost far more often than we have.) “How To Lose A Hugo” at the Hugo Book Club Blog.

… When it comes to the Hugo Awards, it’s worth remembering that they are a community award that masquerades as a literary institution. These awards are nominated and voted on by a self-selected group that loosely organizes itself around a series of conventions. That means that how well someone is known and how they are seen within the community will inevitably affect whether or not their work is recognized by the community.

Social media is awash with accounts run by authors who rarely post anything other than promotional content aimed at selling their own books. It’s also worth letting people know who you are, what books you enjoy, and what your general vibe is.

Engaging with the community isn’t just about telling people how good you think your book or art is, it’s about listening and talking about the things that are important to them. Talk about politics, talk about art, talk about architecture, talk about music, and be authentic….

(4) BRISBANE 2028 WORLDCON BID MAY CHANGE DATE. To July?

(5) ROWLING, MUSK, LISTED IN CYBERBULLYING COMPLAINT. “J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk Named in Imane Khelif’s Cyberbullying Lawsuit” – Variety has details.

J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have both been named in a criminal complaint filed to French authorities over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” against Algerian boxer and newly crowned Olympic champion Imane Khelif.

Nabil Boudi, the Paris-based attorney of Khelif, confirmed to Variety that both figures were mentioned in the body of the complaint, posted to the anti-online hatred center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office on Friday.

The lawsuit was filed against X, which under French law means that it was filed against unknown persons. That “ensure[s] that the ‘prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people,” including those who may have written hateful messages under pseudonyms, said Boudi. The complaint nevertheless mentions famously controversial figures….

(6) TWO GREATS AGREE.

(7) DISCREET HORROR. [Item by Steven French.] Signs of the times: Nightmare on Elm Street gets downgraded from ‘18’ to ‘15’ while Paint Your Wagon is reclassified a ‘12’ from a PG for the ‘sex references’. “A Nightmare on Elm Street rating change defended by BBFC” reports the Guardian.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has defended its decision to change the certificate of horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street from an 18 to a 15, saying that its audience research showed “strong support for older content to be reclassified in line with modern standards”.

The classic 1980s horror, featuring the malevolent, razor-gloved Freddy Krueger who stalks and murders teenagers in their dreams, was given an 18 certificate on its first UK release in 1985, a designation confirmed on a subsequent cinema release in 2013 and a series of home entertainment releases. However, after a new application from its studio Warner Bros, the certificate was changed to a 15 on 1 August, ahead of a home entertainment reissue in September….

…The spokesperson added: “In the case of A Nightmare on Elm Street, although the film features various bloody moments, it is relatively discreet in terms of gore and stronger injury detail. The kills often leave more to the imagination than visceral detail, and largely occur within a fantasy context. Compared to more recent precedents for violence and horror [classified] at 18 – such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Imaculate or Saw X – the film is now containable at 15 and we reclassified it accordingly.”…

(8) ABOUT THAT BLACK HOLE. This looks irresistible. Omni Loop – Official Trailer. In theaters September 20.

OMNI LOOP follows Zoya Lowe (Parker), a quantum physicist who finds herself in a time loop, with a black hole growing in her chest and only a week to live. But what the doctors and her family don’t know is that she has already lived this week before; so many times, in fact, that she doesn’t even know how long it’s been. Until one day Zoya meets a gifted student named Paula (Edebiri). Together they team up to save her life – and to unlock the mysteries of time travel.

(9) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born August 13, 1953 — The War of The Worlds film (1953)

It’s 1953, it’s New York City, it’s August, a hot summer night, a perfect evening for an alien invasion to begin, and so we have The War of The Worlds premiere there. Based off, of course the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, it was produced for the screen by George Pal. 

The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon. This is part of his legal name, Alfred Edgar Barre Lyndon, and it is obviously taken from the title character of Thackeray’s novel. This and Conquest of Space were his only SF screenplays.

It was directed by Brian Haskin, just one of many films where he teamed with George Pal, another one being Conquest of Space which our screenwriter here also was on.

It starred Gene Barry who six years later would be Bat Masterson, and Anne Richards, who would be in the Dragnet film that led to the series as Officer Grace Downey. (She does not reprise the character in the series.) Bless her, she’s still with us at age ninety-five. Barry passed on five years ago. 

Paramount rather pointedly said there’d be a romantic subplot in which our scientist have a love interest, hence the casting of Richards here.

The story itself is moved to Southern California in to my surprise, it was set in, emphasis was, an actual real place. Linda Rose was formerly in San Diego County, but is now in Riverside County. It’s a ghost town as it was a failed development scheme from the 1880s, one of many from that time. Fascinating as Spock would say.

The special effects were, shall I say, inordinately expensive. Paramount budgeted two million and wouldn’t budge, not a dollar over that amount would be further given, so stock footage of World War Two battles had to do for the global Mars invasion.  Even so the film just broke even — two million in production costs, two million in box office receipts in an era when studios generally own the cinemas. 

What did critics think of it? The best summation I think come from Variety at the time: “War of the Worlds is a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel.” It was at the time, after all, only fourteen years since the latter broadcast. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) LATEST AND GREATEST. Lisa Tuttle, in “The best recent science fiction and fantasy – reviews roundup” for the Guardian, covers Extremophile by Ian Green; Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan; Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova; The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey; and Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts.

(12) TAKE A WHIFF. [Item by Steven French.] I love the smell of Minecraft in the morning! “Want to smell like the Ender Dragon? We test the Lush Minecraft range” in the Guardian.

Last spring, one of my favourite brand tie-ins of 2023 saw high-street cosmetics chain Lush team up with Nintendo to create a range of products based around Super Mario. It was a riot of brightly coloured shower gels and super-sweet fragrances, including a divine Princess Peach body spray that I’m still using because screw gender-based perfume norms.

Now, Lush has released a new video game range celebrating 15 years of Minecraft. There are 12 items in the collection, including easily the most literal bath bomb Lush has ever made – a TNT block – as well as Grass and Lava blocks, a Creeper head shower bomb and a Diamond Pickaxe bubble bar, which is genuinely quite hefty despite its diminutive size.

The collection is apparently the result of a year-long collaboration with the game’s developer Mojang, and it’s been a popular project for the company’s employees. Lush concepts creative director Melody Morton is a regular player – and she’s not the only one. “We have many Minecraft players within the business, so there was lots of reference and resource to pull on when it came to products, creative and messaging,” says Kalem Brinkworth, the creative lead on the Lush collaborations team….

(13) BONESTELL ON THE BLOCK. Christie’s will run its “Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection” online auction from August 23-September 12.

Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection is devoted to how the future, especially interplanetary travel, was imagined by artists and other thinkers during the 20th century. These include Chesley Bonestell, Robert McCall, R.C. Swanson, George Gibbs, and Fred Freeman, among many others. The artworks in this auction, along with their publication in popular magazines, inspired a generation of explorers, scientists, and aerospace engineers. 

Paul Allen was among the most significant collectors of works by Chesley Bonestell, widely acknowledged as the “father of space art.” Bonestell’s Saturn as Seen from Titan, first published in 1949, has been called by the Smithsonian “the painting that launched a thousand careers.” A version of that painting, circa 1952, is available in the sale, along with several works published as illustrations for the famous “Man Will Conquer Space Soon!” series of articles, published in Collier’s Magazine in the early 1950s. 

(14) MET AT READERCON. The Nerd Count Podcast, hosted by Mercurio D. Rivera and Matthew Kressel, brings episode 4 “Live From Readercon”.

In our fourth episode, we come you you LIVE from Readercon, the “conference on imaginative literature,” held this past July in Quincy, Massachusetts. We had the pleasure of interviewing the following guests: Jeffrey Ford, A.T. Greenblatt, A.C. Wise, Scott H. Andrews, Mike Allen, A.T. Sayre, Julie C. Day, C.S.E. Cooney, William Alexander, John Wiswell, Rob Cameron, and Sophia Babai. We talk about Readercons past, what makes Readercon a truly special convention — particularly its welcoming and friendly vibe — and we talk with each guest about their recent and upcoming creative works. This was a blast to record, and we had so much fun talking to all these diverse and talented folks!

(15) SPLISH, SPLASH. “Mars water: Liquid water reservoirs found under Martian crust” reports BBC.

Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water on Mars – deep in the rocky outer crust of the planet.

The findings come from a new analysis of data from Nasa’s Mars Insight Lander, which touched down on the planet back in 2018.

The lander carried a seismometer, which recorded four years’ of vibrations – Mars quakes – from deep inside the Red Planet.

Analysing those quakes – and exactly how the planet moves – revealed “seismic signals” of liquid water.

While there is water frozen at the Martian poles and evidence of vapour in the atmosphere, this is the first time liquid water has been found on the planet.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Insight’s scientific mission ended in December 2022, after the lander sat quietly listening to “the pulse of Mars” for four years.

In that time, the probe recorded more than 1,319 quakes….

(16) LEGOS BY THE THOUSANDS. Bell of Lost Souls is thrilled that “Huge LEGO Star Trek ‘Deep Space Nine’ Model Has Over 75,000 Pieces”.

…Adrian Drake built the famous space station from the frame up using more than 75,000 pieces. It’s 6 feet tall and eight feet in diameter and is heavy enough that it needs some extra supports. The whole build took over two years.

It’s a truly impressive and gigantic build. Drake displayed it at Brickworld Chicago, where he gave a tour to Beyond the Brick. Check out how he built the LEGO Deep Space Nine and all of the cool details….

[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Olav Rokne, N., Kevin Standlee, Anne Marble, 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 Andrew (not Werdna).]

Report of Glasgow 2024 Third Main Business Meeting on Monday

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File 770, with the help of Kate Secor and Gray Anderson, has compiled a box score of agenda items handled at the Third Main Business Meeting on Monday at Glasgow 2024.

(Click the following links for a summary of

The items cross-reference the Glasgow 2024 Business Meeting Agenda (7/30/24 version). The text of proposals and supporting arguments can be found there. 

TL;DR BOX SCORE OF AGENDA ITEMS ADDRESSED AT MONDAY BUSINESS MEETING

Committee of Investigation elected – to carry out the work in the following resolution passed at the First Main Business Meeting where two agenda items were considered in Executive Session:

Resolved, That a committee of seven be elected by ballot to investigate the Hugo Award Administrator for Chengdu Worldcon, the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo Subcommittee, and the chairs of Chengdu Worldcon for allegations regarding their conduct and the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards.

Further resolved, That items D.11 and D.12 on this years Business Meeting agenda be referred to said committee.

Further resolved, That the committee has the power to fill vacancies by appointment.

The members elected to the Committee are:

  • Warren Buff (chair)
  • Chris Barkley
  • Todd Dashoff
  • Chris Garcia
  • Farah Mendelsohn 
  • Randall Shepherd
  • Nicholas Whyte

The “Location Committee” to which agenda item F.13 “Location, Location, Location” has been referred (a.k.a. the “F.13 Committee”) was appointed.

  • Tammy Coxen (chair)
  • Don Eastlake
  • Ann Marie Rudolph
  • Olav Rokne
  • Ingvar Mattson
  • Kevin Black
  • Alan Fleming
  • One member from a potentially affected country to be appointed later

NEW CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS – SECTION F OF THE AGENDA

“Passed” means the proposed amendment received first passage and will be presented for ratification to the 2025 Business meeting. “Failed” means it was defeated when voted on by the meeting.

F.10.A Make the Change — Proposed Section 1.9 Membership of the Software Advisory Committee. — Sent to a committee to be chaired by Chris Rose who shall select its members

F.11 Hugo Administration and Site Selection Monitoring — PASSED

F.14 Popular Ratification — referred to the Business Meeting Process committee

F.15 Meetings, Meetings, Everywhere — referred to the Business Meeting Process committee with an additional requirement that Kate Secor be added to said committee (with consent given)

F.16 When We Censure You, We Mean It — FAILED

F.17 Editorial Alignment — PASSED

F.18 Cleaning up the Art Categories — PASSED

F.19 No More Retros — PASSED

F.20 Save the Retro Hugos — FAILED

RESOLUTION RECONSIDERED

D.4 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Gojira – 1.0 a.k.a. Godzilla Minus One — The extended eligibility voted for Godzilla Minus One at the Preliminary Business Meeting was reconsidered and voted down. Its eligibility is not extended

CONCLUSION.

  • Chair Jesi Lipp extended thanks to everyone who helped make the meeting happen, especially those who had to step up when COVID caught up to us.
  • Motion to thank the chair for exception service met with a standing ovation
  • Meeting adjourned sine die in honor of Deb Geisler.

ADDITIONAL NOTES. The official videos will be available from the convention on replay and eventually somewhere more permanent.

Lisa Hayes’ videos are available now on Kevin Standlee’s YouTube channel. These may not be complete but should be soon.

Pixel Scroll 8/12/24 I Came Upon A Scroll Of God, He Was Pixeling Down The Road

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(1) BEST NOVEL WINNER TESH INTERVIEWED. [Item by Nickpheas.] Front Row, the main BBC Radio 4 arts show includes an overview of the recent Hugo controversies and an interview with Emily Tesh following her Best Novel win: “BBC Radio 4 – Front Row, Emily Tesh and the Hugo Awards”.

This year’s WorldCon – the World Science Fiction Convention – took place in Glasgow and pop culture critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports on the international gathering where the winners of the Hugo Awards 2024 were announced last night.

Emily Tesh on winning the Best Novel prize at this year’s Hugo Awards with her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory.

(2) SPREAD THE WORD. Maybe fans should have been told this was DNQ – then by now everybody would know it.

(3) BEAUTY SHOTS. Richard Man has received his 2023 Hugo Award trophy and has posted a gallery of beautiful photos of it on Facebook. They include close-ups of the based and its artistic panda sculpture. Here’s the first in the series.

(4) GLASGOW 2024 PHOTO TEAM. And you can see the Worldcon in all its glory in this gallery of “Worldcon Photos” at Flickr.

(5) LOST IN TRANSLATION. Glasgow 2024 apologized for problems at last night’s Hugo ceremony with onscreen cards in rendering Chinese names. One commenter thinks the apology underplays the extent of them.

(6) WEE, SLEEKIT, COWRIN, TIM’ROUS BEASTIE. Cora Buhlert, who is headed home at this hour, shared a “Brief Worldcon Update – and a Fannish Poem”. The title of the poem is “The Phantom of the Armadillo”. You might be able to guess what it’s about from the first two lines. See the rest at the link.

There’s a spectre haunting Glasgow,
a spectre by the name of Dave…

(7) DARKLIT PRESS. Publishers Weekly has compiled the available information about the meltdown in “A Grim Fate Befalls Horror Publisher DarkLit Press”.

A metaphorical bloodbath has occurred at Canada-based independent horror publisher DarkLit Press, with authors clawing back rights, publicly splitting with the company, and claiming royalties have gone unpaid. A year ago, DarkLit was announcing new imprints and developing its audio offerings, but its website and social media accounts have gone black, and the company is not listed in the Canadian Business Registry….

(8) CAMERON Q&A. “James Cameron Interview: Avatar 3, Alien: Romulus, Terminator Zero” in The Hollywood Reporter.

There has been a lot of conversation in the last few years about UAPs [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] along with USOs — Underwater Submerged Objects — which you brought to the pop culture forefront with The Abyss. You’ve spent so much time on and in the ocean. Have you ever seen anything that you cannot explain?

I’ve seen some geological formations that were intriguing that I really wanted to understand better that I don’t think have been well observed before. I’ve photographed new species — things that were not immediately identifiable. But I’ve never seen anything that couldn’t be explained in the sense of some extraterrestrial phenomenon. Now, “belief” is a principle that I don’t have. I don’t believe things. I admit the possibility of things because the universe is infinite and obviously much stranger than we think, and much more complex than we think — that’s what makes science so appealing. But I don’t make broad statements like, “Well, I believe there must be extraterrestrial life; the universe is so big.” Yeah, it’s really big — and getting here would be a really, really big problem if there is even life out there, and if that life is intelligent. How are they crossing light years of space? I studied physics before I became a lit major, and people have no concept of the magnitude of that problem from a physics standpoint. I have a pretty good grasp of where physics was in 1972 — which basically is laughable at this point — but I keep up.

(9) MY ALIBI. There we go – Xiran Jay Zhao and George R.R. Martin are each other’s alibis for not turning in their next book.

(10) NOW WITH ADDED DRAGONS. Erin Underwood Presents brings viewers a“House of the Dragon, Season 2 Review – Here’s why it’s actually a good season”. (Did you have doubts?)

House of the Dragon, George RR Martin’s A Game of Throne’s prequel, enters its second season with the Targaryen’s internal succession war at its peak — and it’s tearing the Seven Kingdoms apart. Plus, there are so many DRAGONS. Check out my new review of season 2.

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Lis Carey.]

Born August 12, 1931 – William Goldman. (Died 2018.)

By Lis Carey: William Goldman was a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He won two Academy Awards in writing categories—Best Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and Best Adapted Screenplay for All the President’s Men (1976).

But the work for which we best know and love him is The Princess Bride, both novel and film.

William Goldman. Photo by Bernard Gotfryd

The Princess Bride is, As You Know, Bob, the film adaptation of William Goldman’s “good parts version” of S. Morgenstern’s long political satire, The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The “Good Parts” Version.

Except, of course, S. Morgenstern never existed, and Goldman only wrote the “good parts,” including “footnotes” referencing fictional bits of the politics, etc., of the kingdoms of Florin and Guilder, and the frame story of a grandfather reading the story to his grandson. The adaptation for the film was, fortunately, written by Goldman himself, and is remarkably true to the novel. A grandfather reads to his grandson the “good parts version” of Princess Buttercup; her true love Westley; Buttercup’s evil betrothed, Prince Humperdinck; and of course the giant Fezzik, Inigo Montoya, Vizzini the Sicilian, and assorted other people of questionable character.

Altogether, it’s a lovely package of wit, humor, fantasy, adventure and romance. With positive critical reception but only modestly successful at the box office, it has become a cult classic. Lines from the movie are happily quoted by fans who have seen it, and those who never have, because it’s just so darned quotable and engaging.

“Inconceivable!”

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

“Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” (Solid advice, that one.)

It’s a pure delight, and has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. You can watch it on Disney+, if so inclined.

(12) COMICS SECTION.

(13) PAGING THROUGH THE SF HALL OF FAME. David Agranoff’s new Postcards from a Dying World podcast episode is about “SF Hall of Fame #7 The Weapons Shop by AE Van Vogt”.

In 1970 Avon Books published a landmark anthology “Science Fiction Hall of Fame” featuring 16 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time in the late 60s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of different guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.

In this episode, I am joined by two experts on Philip K Dick. Wait a second I thought this episode was about AE Van Vogt. It is.. but the Canadian Golden Age author was a massive influence on PKD, so I was interested in introducing two Dickheads to Van Vogt. So joining me is the Total Dickhead blogger – Professor David Gill and author/publisher/editor Keith Giles of Quior Books.

(14) COMIC-CON PROGRAM BOOK IS FREE DOWNLOAD. [Item by Bill.] The San Diego Comic-Con’s program book is released as a PDF.  It contains much of SF interest.  Find it here.

(15) DISNEY LEGENDS AT D23. The star-power was turned up bright this past weekend at the D23 Expo in Anaheim.

Jamie Lee Curtis has always been legendary, but now it’s official: she was named a Disney Legend on Sunday during the D23 Expo.

Lindsay Lohan took the stage to queue up a montage of Curtis’ most memorable roles, telling the crowd, “I have been able to have the pleasure of working with Jamie Lee Curtis. And the magic of Jamie Lee Curtis is that she is timeless. Every character she plays is different, and she always brings something unique to the role. And I feel so blessed to have Jamie as a friend in my life, and I feel lucky to work with a woman that I admire so much.”

Jodie Foster surprised the crowd after Lohan’s introduction to further lionize Curtis, saying, “There are many things that my bestie Jamie and I have in common,” recalling their upbringing as young women in Hollywood.

“Here are many of the absolutely freaky things that you may not know about her: You probably don’t know she eats dinner at 3 or 4, and is asleep by 7:30. She gets up at 3 a.m., she saves the world and she online shops a little bit,” Foster continued.

“She is so thoughtful and so generous, such a supportive and kind cheerleader, that it just makes me want to punch her,” Foster said with a laugh. “Is that wrong?” Foster then presented Curtis with her own embroidered pair of Mickey Mouse ears….

…After a montage of Harrison’s most iconic work, Ford took the stage to an enthusiastic standing ovation. Referencing one of his most iconic “Star Wars” moments, he told the crowd, “I love you, too” (a more direct version of Han Solo’s famous response, “I know.”)

He continued, “I love the life you’ve given me. I love the people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Nobody does anything in this business for long. We work in collaboration, no matter what who we are and what we’re doing.”

Ford called himself an “assistant storyteller,” adding, “The stories are for you, about you, about us,” Ford said as he choked back tears. “To be able to work in that area is a privilege.”….

Angela Bassett was recognized for three decades of work with Disney, including her role in Touchstone’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” narration of National Geographic’s The Flood and the Disney+ docuseries “The Imagineering Story,” and, most recently, her Oscar-nominated performance as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”…

…“Titanic” director James Cameron was also among the honorees, recognized for his work on the “Avatar” film franchise, for which he’s currently in post-production for the third entry, with a planned fourth and fifth in pre-production. He’s also behind several documentaries made in partnership with National Geographic, including the Emmy-winning “Secrets of the Whales” and Emmy-nominated “Secrets of the Elephants.” He also executive produced the OceanXplorers series, due in fall 2024 from National Geographic….

…Ripa began her career as an actor on the soap opera “All My Children” and the sitcom “Hope & Faith.” She’s best known for her work on morning television as the co-host of ABC’s “Live,” which she’s appeared on since 2001….

…Bassett, Cameron and Ripa were joined by fellow Disney Legend honorees Jamie Lee Curtis, James L. Brooks, Harrison Ford, Frank Oz, John Williams, Miley Cyrus, costume designer Colleen Atwood, Disney Parks cast member Martha Blanding, the late Marvel comic artist Steve Ditko, animator Mark Henn, and imagineer Joe Rohde….

(16) FREAKIER FRIDAY. And once D23 is over, everybody goes back to work. “‘Freaky Friday 2’ Title Revealed as ‘Freakier Friday,’ Brings Back Lindsay Lohan’s Rock Band Pink Slip And Loads of Cameos” – Variety has the story.

…“It feels like no time has passed,” Curtis told the ecstatic crowd.

Lohan revealed the two had stayed in touch over the years and said, “We’re very close.” To which Curtis replied, “It feels like we’re picking up where we left off.”

And with that, the trailer for Nisha Ganatra’s “Freaky Friday 2,” starring Curtis and Lohan was revealed…

(17) PRIDE OF DISNEY. A trailer has dropped for Mufasa: The Lion King – in theaters December 20.

Exploring the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, “Mufasa: The Lion King” enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.

(18) IS CONSCIOUSNESS DOWN TO QUANTUM EFFECTS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Physicist Matt O’Dowd over at PBS Space Time takes a look at Nobel laureate Roger Penrose’s idea that the brain might enable consciousness through quantum effects: the brain might be a quantum computer, his rationalization being known as orchestrated objective reduction. Basically, we think – outside the box –  like quantum and not analogue computers.

Now, the arguments against this are that physicists currently entangle atoms in vacuums at very, very cold temperatures: conversely, brains are warm and wet. (We biologists like things warm and wet.) Subsequently, in the mid-1990s, an anaesthetist, Stuart Hameroff, suggested microtubules found in brain cells might have the macromolecule, the tubulin protein, Penrose was looking for as many anaesthetics work by impairing microtubule function.

The latest news is that a paper has been published showing that molecules in microtubules exhibit superradience and superradience (as you all know well?) is a phenomena arising out of quantum entanglement.

Now, just because a molecule exhibits supperradience by itself is not proof that the molecule can behave in an entangled quantum way, however it is at the very least corroborating evidence and so we can file this in the ‘interesting’ drawer.

Also, don’t be quick to rule out the ‘warm and wet’ problem just because physicists find it difficult.  In biology we think that photosynthesis (how plants harness sunlight’s energy) likely relies on quantum effects: it is possible that quantum coherence and electron tunneling are involved in photosynthesis. Quantum_biology is a thing.

Finally, let’s think of the SF implications of all of this. Given the number of microtubules in the brain and given the number of calculations quantum computers can do, then to get General Artificial Intelligence (that’s 2001 HAL level of A.I.) we would need a very, very large quantum computer and that seems a very long way off and is certainly not something we can do with conventional, analogue computers.  If this is so, then it may mean our getting a powerful A.I. capable of conscious, independent thought is unlikely…  This, some may say, could be good news. I keep on telling people that the machines are taking over.  But nobody ever listens…

That’s everything in a nutshell. Matt O’Dowd explains it with a little more detail (and fortunately with no heavy mathematical equations). You can see the 19-minute video here.

Nobel laureate Roger Penrose is widely held to be one of the most brilliant living physicists for his wide-ranging work from black holes to cosmology. And then there’s his idea about how consciousness is caused by quantum processes. Most scientists have dismissed this as a cute eccentricity – a guy like Roger gets to have at least one crazy theory without being demoted from the supersmartypants club. The most common argument for this dismissal is that quantum effects can’t survive long enough in an environment as warm and chaotic as the brain. Well, a new study has revealed that Penrose’s prime candidate molecule for this quantum activity does indeed exhibit large scale quantum activity. So was Penrose right after all? Are you a quantum entity?

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

Report of Glasgow 2024 Second Main Business Meeting on Sunday

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File 770, with the help of Gray Anderson, has compiled a box score of agenda items handled at the Second Main Business Meeting on Sunday at Glasgow 2024.

(Click the following links for a summary of Friday’s 2024 Worldcon Preliminary Business Meeting, or Saturday’s First Main Business Meeting.)

The items cross-reference the Glasgow 2024 Business Meeting Agenda (7/30/24 version). The text of proposals and supporting arguments can be found there.  

TL;DR BOX SCORE OF AGENDA ITEMS ADDRESSED AT SUNDAY BUSINESS MEETING

SITE SELECTION — Congratulations to LA Con V, seated for 2026.

NEW CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS – SECTION F OF THE AGENDA

“Passed” means the proposed amendment received first passage and will be presented for ratification to the 2025 Business meeting. “Failed” means it was defeated when voted on by the meeting. Note: Items F.1 – F.4 had been set aside with “no action taken” at the Saturday session.

F.1 Missing In Action – PASSED

F.2 The Way We Were — PASSED

F.3 Required License Agreement — PASSED

F.4 MPC Procedures — PASSED

F.12 Site Selection by the Worldcon Community — FAILED

F.13 Location, Location, Location — referred to bespoke committee (the “F.13 Committee”)

BUSINESS PASSED ON – SECTION E OF THE AGENDA

“Ratified” means it was voted into effect and following the end of Glasgow 2024 will be part of the WSFS Constitution (unless another effective date is specified). “Failed” means it was defeated when voted on by the meeting and will not become part of the Consitution.

E.1 Marks Authorization — RATIFIED

E.2 Business Meeting Contingencies — RATIFIED

E.3 Consistent Change — RATIFIED

E.4 Convention Time Bracket — RATIFIED

E.5 Bid Committee Contactability — RATIFIED

E.6 Ballot Completeness — RATIFIED

E.7 Independent Films — FAILED

E.8 Eligibility Criteria for Non-English Work — RATIFIED

E.9 Best Fancast Not Paying Compensation — FAILED

E.10 Language Requirement — FAILED

E.11 Convention Generalization — RATIFIED

E.12 Establishment of ASFiC — FAILED

MARK PROTECTION COMMITTEE

  • Don Eastlake, Linda Deneroff, Olav Rokne elected to MPC

The Sunday session ended with plans to pick up Monday tomorrow with items F.10.A and F.14 – F.20

[Thanks to Gray Anderson for the story.]

Pixel Scroll 8/11/24 A Pixel Wearing A Really Great Scroll Walks Into A Hotel Lobby

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(0) I don’t know how much regular Scroll stuff I will have time to put together, so I am going to link to the large number of news posts I wrote today.

(1) HUGO AWARDS. The 2024 Hugo Award winners got their rockets today. And immediately after the ceremony the Hugo Administrator released an accounting of all administrative decisions made, as well as the traditional report of voting statistics.

The below report gives an account of the decisions made by the 2024 Hugo Subcommittee about the administration of the 2024 Hugo, Lodestar and Astounding Awards, consistent with the commitment to transparency made by Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures in February 2024. It is a public document….

…The most decisive contest was for Best Game or Interactive Experience, where the winner got 47.0% of nominating votes and 42.7% of final ballot first preferences, winning on the fourth count of a possible six…

(2) SATURDAY BUSINESS MEETING. With a huge assist from Kevin Standlee, File 770 was able to provide a scorecard of action at the Saturday session of the Worldcon Business Meeting: “Report of Glasgow 2024 First Main Business Meeting on Saturday”.

(3) 2026 WORLDCON SITE SELECTION RESULTS. The unopposed bid for Anaheim, California won. The results were made official at the start of Sunday’s session of the Business Meeting. “LAcon V Wins 2026 Site Selection Vote”. (Detailed voting statistics are here). Congratulations to the 2026 guests of honor!

(4) AURORA AWARDS. The Canadian SF&F Association held their online Aurora Awards ceremony today: “2024 Aurora Awards”.

(5) SPLATTERPUNK AWARDS. At KillerCon in Austin, TX last night, Brian Keene and Wrath James White presented the “2024 Splatterpunk Awards” for works of extreme horror.

(6) WORLD FANTASY AWARD NOMINEES. The 2024 World Fantasy Awards Ballot and Life Achievement Awards were announced today.

(7) THE ALFIES. George R.R. Marin revived the award this year for four of those disqualified from the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon Hugo ballot: “What’s It All About: Alfies”. Xiran Jay Zhao and R.F. Kuang picked theirs up in person. Locus Online says Paul Weimer and Sandman are also winners, though they weren’t at Martin’s banquet.

Zionius greeted the news with a grievance.

My impression is that in the past Alfies have only been given to people who are present at the ceremony. In 2015, the first time, I was asked if I’d be attending. I didn’t make it. And though I was eligible, I didn’t get one later either. Didn’t bother me then or now. We will have to wait and see if Weimer and Gaiman, who were not at the banquet get their Alfies.

(8) ROTSLER AWARD FAN ART HONOREES. Thanks to Elizabeth Klein-Lebbink we have a set of photos of the “Rotsler Award Display at Glasgow 2024”.

(9) JANET MORRIS (1946-2024). Author Janet Morris died August 10 her husband Chris has announced on Facebook.

Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than forty novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Her debut novel, written as Janet E. Morris, was High Couch of Silistra, the first in a quartet of character-driven novels with a female protagonist. The Silistra quartet had over four million copies in print when the fourth volume, The Carnelian Throne was published.

Morris has contributed to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves’ World, and to other series Merovingen Nights, War World, and The Fleet.

She has written or co-written numerous works in the Heroes in Hell series with Chris Morris, C.J. Cherryh, David Drake, and Andrew P. Weston.  

Morris has also written historical and other novels, such as I, the Sun (1983), a detailed biographical novel about the Hittite King Suppiluliuma I.

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) GLASGOW 2024 MASQUERADE PHOTOS. Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne have uploaded their Masquerade photos to the Worldcon Flickr page. “Masquerade 2024 | Flickr”.

Olav says: “There were 30 contestants and we managed to get photos of all of them, which was no small task. Due to the set-up of the green room and Masquerade venue, all the posed photographs had to be completed between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., so we had to average one contestant every three minutes, and managed it. (By comparison, it took us more than three hours to get through every masquerade entry at the convention in Washington D.C.)”

(12) MARK PROTECTION COMMITTEE. Olav Rokne was elected to the Worldcon’s Mark Protection Committee at the Sunday Business Meeting.

(13) GLASGOW 2024 ART SHOW AWARDS. The award winners from the Glasgow 2024 Art Show were announced today:

  • Best in Show: Jim Burns with “In the Belly of the Ship”
  • Best Original: Fred Gambini with “Breel and the Dismantler”
  • Best Digital: Maurizio Manzieri with “Mulberry and Owl”
  • Best Textile: Sarah Haddock with “Aquatic Intellect”
  • Best 3D: Didier Cottier with “Le Sereurier”
  • Best Junior: Erin Sibson with “Octopus in Space”
  • Best Fantasy: Margaret Walty with “Dragonwood”.
  • The Robbie Bourget & John Harold’s Choice: Tom Nanson with “Sword of the Angel”
  • Best Fangorn: Fangorn! with “Waiting”.

The Art Show judges were John Davis, Kim Saxon, Robbie Bourget and John Harold.

[Thanks to Ersatz Culture, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Steven French for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jon “Everything But A Child of God” Meltzer.]

2024 Hugo Award Winners

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The 2024 Hugo Award winners were announced in person at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon today. Almost 700 also viewed the ceremony on the YouTube livestream.

Full voting statistics for both the nominating and final ballots can be found on the Glasgow 2024 website.

BEST NOVEL

  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)

BEST NOVELLA

  • Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK) 

BEST NOVELETTE  

  • “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023) 

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023) 

BEST SERIES  

  • Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC  

  • Saga, Vol. 11 written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

BEST RELATED WORK  

  • A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press; Particular Books)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM  

  • Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Paramount Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

  • The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, directed by Peter Hoar (Naughty Dog / Sony Pictures)

BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK

  • Baldur’s Gate 3, produced by Larian Studios

BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM

  • Neil Clarke

BEST EDITOR LONG FORM

  • Ruoxi Chen

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

  • Rovina Cai

BEST SEMIPROZINE

  • Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective 

BEST FANZINE

  • Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla. 

BEST FANCAST  

  • Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty 

BEST FAN WRITER

  • Paul Weimer

BEST FAN ARTIST

  • Laya Rose

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YA BOOK

  • To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)

ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Dell Magazines)

  • Xiran Jay Zhao

The committee reports 3,813 final ballots (3,808 electronic and 5 paper) were received and counted from the members of Glasgow 2024. As previously announced, they disqualified 377 of these which were not cast by natural persons. The remaining 3,436 (3,431 electronic, 5 paper) votes were counted.

It is a great hat. (T. Kingfisher)