Tag Archives: Guy H. Lillian III

Keeping a Weather Eye

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I told Guy Lillian III via e-mail this morning that I can hardly imagine another one of these hundred-year-storms is homing in on New Orleans. I read news reports all the time about how much work needs to be done to put the place back together after Katrina, and now this. What a nightmare. The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday morning:

The storm had downgraded slightly overnight from its Category 4 status, with winds in excess of 156, but forecasters expected the tempest to strengthen as it approached the mainland. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin had earlier described Gustav as “the storm of the century,” packing far stronger winds and storm surges than even Hurricane Katrina, which raked across New Orleans three years ago, causing 1,800 deaths and vast flooding and destruction.

Guy and Rosy live in Shreveport, almost 300 miles from New Orleans, far enough inland that they expect to be shielded from the ferocious winds of this latest hurricane:

Once this bastard makes landfall it will probably dump a goodly bit of the Gulf of Mexico onto our area as it plows through. Shreveport has one virtue: it’s well inland, in the NW corner of Louisiana. We might get some street flooding but wind damage? Very doubtful.

As for fans in the New Orleans area, Guy has heard:

John Guidry is going to Atlanta to stay with family.Justin and Annie Winston are, so far, staying put. Justin will stay at home no matter what, just as he did during Katrina. Haven’t heard about anyone else.

Challenger #28 Online

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Guy H. Lillian III has posted a new issue of Challenger, his Hugo-nominated fanzine. It’s a tremendous zine, with outstanding articles by Resnick, Benford, Toni Weisskopf, James Bacon, and Joseph Green.

My contribution is “Flashman at Klendathu.” Guy invited me to pay tribute to George Macdonald Fraser, author of the popular series of Flashman historical novels, who had recently passed away. As a fan’s imagination is prone to do, mine wandered from the stack of books Fraser had actually written to the novels we now would never see – such as the oft-hinted adventure that would explain how Flashman ended up fighting on both sides of the American Civil War. I knew I’d miss Fraser’s sharp wit and his gift for deflating pretensions about the glory of war. The free association set in motion by those thoughts at last made me wonder what Starship Troopers would have taught about military life if it had been Flashman telling the story instead of Johnny Rico. “Flashman at Klendathu” fills in that blank. (And the Charlie Williams illo is perfect!)

A final word: The Challenger website has announced a contest for the best-designed favicon, the little image that appears next to the URL address line in your web browser (if the site has one loaded.) Entries should be sent to [email protected] by the deadline, which somewhat arbitrarily is before “The next issue of Challzine — or December 31, 2008 — whichever comes first.” Entries will be displayed in the next issue and voted upon by the readers.