Tag Archives: Hampus Eckerman

Pixel Scroll 9/2/22 Why Am I The Only Person Who Ever Has That Dream

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(1) THE POPULATION OF CHICON 8. Chicon 8’s Star Chart reported on the con’s first day, September 1, as of 7:30PM CDT, there were 2,610 warm bodies on site.

(2) CHICON 8 BUSINESS MEETING. Alex Acks is liveblogging the Chicon 8 business meeting. See all the sausage being made here: “WSFS Business Meeting – Friday Liveblog”.

The top story to come out of today’s meeting is that the Hugo Study Committee is disbanded.

…Kent Bloom moves to thank the committee for its efforts over the last five years. Seconded by many. The committee is thanked for its efforts to applause….

There was also a “WSFS Preliminary Business Meeting Report (Friday)” published on the convention’s website.

Friday’s Preliminary WSFS Business Meeting set debate time limits for all pending Constitutional amendments and Standing Rules changes. No proposed Constitutional amendments were postponed indefinitely (killed). The four proposed Hugo Award eligibility extensions passed without objection. Most committees were continued as currently constituted; however, the Hugo Awards Study Committee was not continued and was thus dissolved, although proposals submitted by the committee will be considered this year. The meeting ran out of time to consider proposed changes to the Standing Rules and the two non-Hugo-Award-related Resolutions, so they will be considered at tomorrow’s meeting.

Kevin Standlee’s fully detailed report is on his blog here. You can also watch a video of the meeting recorded by Lisa Hayes.

(3) RINGS OF POWER FINALE. And now Camestros Felapton supplies a desperately needed moment of comic relief: “SCOOP! The final scene of the final episode of Rings of Power”.

…As I nodded off to sleep last night, my kindle slipped out of my hands and smashed me in the face (as happens most nights). I was startled by this sudden violence from the otherwise lightweight device but I was even more startled when it emitted a tinny voice. It was Bezos himself! He demanded to know what it would take for me to watch the show. Naturally, he refused my first choice (a bazillion pounds) and my second choice (remove all my personal data) and my third choice (kick off all the Nazis from your platforms) but he agreed to my fourth choice: tell me how the show ends….

(4) FILE 770 FRIDAY MEETUP. Hampus Eckerman is behind the camera taking this picture of the Filers who came to today’s meetup.

(5) CONGRATULATIONS, MARK! And here’s a good photo of Mark Linneman, last night’s Big Heart Award winner, taken by Andrew Porter during the 2018 Worldcon.

Mark Linneman at the 2018 Worldcon. Photo by and (c) Andrew Porter

(6) IT’S THE BEST STATE FAIR IN OUR STATE. “An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren’t Happy” – the New York Times has the story.

This year, the Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition gave out prizes in all the usual categories: painting, quilting, sculpture.

But one entrant, Jason M. Allen of Pueblo West, Colo., didn’t make his entry with a brush or a lump of clay. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics.

Mr. Allen’s work, “Théåtre D’opéra Spatial,” took home the blue ribbon in the fair’s contest for emerging digital artists — making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such an prize, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially, cheating.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Allen defended his work. He said that he had made clear that his work — which was submitted under the name “Jason M. Allen via Midjourney” — was created using A.I., and that he hadn’t deceived anyone about its origins.

“I’m not going to apologize for it,” he said. “I won, and I didn’t break any rules.”

A.I.-generated art has been around for years. But tools released this year — with names like DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion — have made it possible for rank amateurs to create complex, abstract or photorealistic works simply by typing a few words into a text box.

These apps have made many human artists understandably nervous about their own futures — why would anyone pay for art, they wonder, when they could generate it themselves? They have also generated fierce debates about the ethics of A.I.-generated art, and opposition from people who claim that these apps are essentially a high-tech form of plagiarism….

(7) BE A COVER DESIGN JUDGE. Self-Published Science Fiction Competition 2’s Cover Contest currently has 451 votes with ~ 7 days to go. They would love to have even more voters weigh in. Registration required.

Covers are displayed in batches of 10 and their order is randomized for each viewer. Votes / frontrunners are hidden from participants until the competition is complete and all votes have been counted.

(8) MEMORY LANE.  

1966 – [By Cat Eldridge.] I decided to go really, really obscure this Scroll so we’re discussing The Corridor People. I doubt the most of you who were resident in the United Kingdom in the middle Sixties managed to catch the brief four episodes which aired from the 26th of August to 16th of September 1966.

It was technically considered a detective series in which security agent Kronk  played by John Sharp was battling villainess Syrie Van Epp as performed very much over the top by Elizabeth Shepherd as I said over the course of just four episodes. No idea why it was just four episodes but that was all it was.

It was never intended to taken seriously as the rest of the cast was  given silly name as you see here — Gary Cockrell as Phil Scrotty, Alan Curtis as Inpector Blood, William Maxwell as Sergeant Hound and Ian Trigger as Nonesuch. 

Yes, the two detectives working for Sharp (who isn’t particularly sharp though he’s supposed to an M like character), has two detectives working for him literally named Blood and Hound.  And that episode made absolutely no sense. And reviews I read say none of the four episodes do.

If you really, really want to see it and you live in the United Kingdom , it’s available for a very reasonable price of DVD on eBay on Esty. 

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born September 2, 1899 — Martin Miller. He played Kublai Khan in the completed but erased by the BBC First Doctor story, “Marco Polo.” He’s in the first Pink Panther film as Pierre Luigi, a photographer, and has roles in Danger Man, Department S, The Avengers and The Prisoner. In the latter, he was number fifty-four in “It’s Your Funeral.” The Gamma People in which he played Lochner is I think his only true genre film though I’m obviously open to being told I’m wrong. (Died 1969.)
  • Born September 2, 1909 — David Stern III. Creator of the Francis the Talking Mule character who became the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. Stern adapted his own script for the first entry, simply titled Francis. Talking mules are genre, aren’t they? (Died 2003.)
  • Born September 2, 1911 — Eileen Way. She shows up on Doctor Who twice, first as Old Mother in the First Doctor story, “The Forest of Fear” and later in a major role as Karela in the Fourth Doctor story, “The Creature from the Pit”. She’d also shows up on the non-canon Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. as simply Old Woman at the age of fifty-five. Other genre appearances I think are limited to an appearance on Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond. Well unless you count The Saint which is at best genre adjacent. Hey I like The Saint! (Died 1994.)
  • Born September 2, 1915 — Meinhardt Raabe.He was the last surviving Oz cast member with any dialogue in the film. He portrayed the coroner who certified the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. This film was his entire movie acting career. He did show up on a lot of tv show with his appearance being on Entertainment Tonight just five years before he passed on being the last one. (Died 2010.)
  • Born September 2, 1936 — Gwyn Thomas. Welsh poet and academic who translated Tales from the Mabinogion with Kevin Crossley-Holland. “Chwedl Taliesin”, “The Tale of Taliesin”, was a short story by them as well. By the way my SJW credit is named Taliesin. And he tells a lot of tales. (Died 2016.)
  • Born September 2, 1966 — Salma Hayek, 56. Her performance as Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk till Dawn is quite excellent. I can’t say the same for her performance as Rita Escobar in Wild Wild Wild West which got her nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. (The film currently has a twenty-eight percent rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes.)  I really like her as Francesca Giggles in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. She’s Ajak in Eternals film based on the Jack Kirby comics.
  • Born September 2, 1968 — Kristen Cloke, 54. Captain Shane Vansen in the unfortunately short-lived but excellent Space: Above and Beyond, a damn fine series. She has one-offs in Quantum Leap, The X-Files, Millennium and The  Others. She co-wrote with Shannon Hamblin an episode of The X-Files, “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” which I told is Base64 code for “Followers”. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

  • xkcd shared a comparison table of “Universal Price Tiers”.

(11) A MASTER AT WORK. Deuce Richardson pays tribute to the artist in “Frank Kelly Freas: A Centennial Celebration” at DMR Books.

…I have loved the art of Kelly Freas since I found a copy of The Seas of Ernathe in an abandoned farmhouse–no lie–when I was barely a teenager. If anything, that love has strengthened over the years.

Drink to the shade of Frank Kelly Freas upon the (belated) centennial of his birth, sword-brothers. We won’t see his like again.

Feel free to enjoy the gallery of Freas art below.

(12) RINGS OF POWER. The in-jokes are already rolling out.

(13) IT’S ABOUT TIME. The Time Travel Mart has lots of amusing goodies they’d like to sell you. For example, these Bumper Stickers.

Express your road rage peacefully and quietly. Compatible with all vehicles, regardless of time period or propulsion.

(14) THE BACK OF HIS HAND. ScreenRant calls these the “10 Most Hilarious Examples Of The Robin Slap Meme”.

Since the release of The Batman, there have been countless fans calling for the introduction of Robin into the universe. After all, a Batman just starting his career needs a Robin, especially if he’s trying to figure out how to bring hope and life to the citizens of Gotham.

Yet, while Robin has always been a symbol of hope, Batman hasn’t always treated him well. In one popular meme, sourced from the comic, Batman even outright slaps Robin to keep him from asking him a question. Because the Robin Slap meme has gained considerable popularity through the years, there have been quite a few hilarious examples of it….

[Thanks to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Angela Smith, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Daniel Dern, Andrew Porter, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna).]

Pixel Scroll 9/1/22 It’s Not A Pixel Scroll, It’s A Flamin’ Platypus

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(1) PHOTO FROM THURSDAY’S FILE 770 MEETUP AT CHICON 8. The first File 770 meetup organized by Hampus Eckerman happened this morning – here’s a photo of some of the fans who made it. From left to right, Nicole, Martin and Kendall.

Meanwhile, Hampus has shifted the location for the Friday meetup to get away from the Jazz Festival happening in the area he planned before. Check the details here: Update Filers Meetup for Worldcon.

(2) PASSED MASTER. It’s a big advantage if you can skip taking a plane. “I will astral project myself to Worldcon” says Camestros Felapton. Expect to smell, er, see him there!

(3) MAGICAL THINKING. Xiran Jay Zhao, author of Iron Widow, cut loose with this video a few days ago:  

They have since traveled to Chicago. Where someone turned on the TV.

(4) CHICON 8 HITS A COUPLE OF BUMPS. The 2022 Worldcon began today, and a few problems with the con’s virtual edition prompted Chair Helen Montgomery to issue this “Virtual Access Apology”.

We apologize for the impact that accessibility issues within Airmeet, our platform for Virtual Chicon 8, have had on our members.

Thank you to people who have reached out to us about these issues as we launched this week.

The short version of our reply is that you are correct. There are definitely accessibility issues within Airmeet. Some issues we knew about and planned for, some issues are things we recently discovered, and some are things we simply didn’t think through all the way.

We knew that whatever platform we chose would have problems. We chose a platform that several of our staff have used before. We had a broad team working on Virtual C8, representing multiple divisions and areas, including our Accessibility Services team. Nonetheless, despite our best efforts, we still missed some pieces.

We are continuing to work on various workarounds for known issues. You can see our updated Accessibility Guide here (under the Virtual C8 menu tab) which is everything we know about Accessibility at this moment. We will continue to update it as we learn more.

If you need help, we have our live text chat service located at the bottom of the Virtual C8 page. You can also email us at [email protected] for assistance.

Hugo Administrator Kat Jones also apologized for some errors in the Souvenir Book: “Astounding Award Finalists: An Apology”.

We apologize for errors that have appeared in the official Chicon 8 Souvenir Book on page 98, in the listing of previous Astounding Award winners. 

When constructing the list of previous winners, the team mistakenly took the first name (ordered alphabetically) from this year’s Astounding Award ballot and listed it for the 2022 Astounding Award. We will correct this in the electronic version of the Souvenir Book. The team working on the Souvenir Book does not have visibility into the results of this year’s voting, and this error does not reflect anything other than the alphabetical ordering of the ballot.

We also apologize for the misspelling of Emily Tesh’s name as the 2021 Astounding Award winner, and the misspelling of Jeannette Ng’s name as the 2019 Astounding Award winner. These will also be corrected in the electronic version of the Souvenir Book.

We are very sorry for these mistakes.

(5) THE LINEAGE OF BATMAN. SF2 Concatenation has tweeted an advance post ahead of its autumnal edition: “Batman – Cinematic portrayals, or how The Dark Knight has maintained his comic book hero franchise”.

With the latest film in the collection just been to the cinema (eventually!) and now available on DVD, Bluray and on the usual platforms as The Batman, Mark Yon thought he would look at the rather long and complicated past of Batman in the cinema (with a couple of nods to comics and television as well!)…

(6) FENCON COPES WITH HOTEL OVERBOOKING MISTAKE. FenCon XVIII, which will be held in Irving, Texas from September 16-18, was handed the short end of the stick when their hotel “had a glitch” and got oversold by 150 rooms. The problem is being solved by switching a number of fans to nearby hotel, setting up continuous shuttles, and giving the displaced fans a $20 a day voucher. The committee told Facebook readers that anyone with an assisted reservation was kept on the property. Here is the statement from the convention’s website:

From the FenCon Staff to all of our members and guests: 

In mid-August, the Sheraton DFW hotel notified us that, due to a major computer glitch, they have oversold by over 150 rooms on FenCon weekend. The only way to manage their room inventory is to relocate many of our attendees to their sister property across the street, the DoubleTree DFW North. 

As a part of the concessions which the hotel is making to our convention, they will: 

* run a continuous shuttle between the two hotels during convention hours

* provide a $20 food voucher per day for each relocated guestroom for the DoubleTree restaurant

* the Hotel will be contacting attendees individually if their room is one of those being moved

The hotel has assured us that everyone who booked an accessible room will stay at the Sheraton.

Obviously this situation will be inconvenient, but Fencon was faced with the choice of working with the hotel to manage the situation, or canceling the convention, which we certainly did not want!

We hope the meal vouchers will help, and the shuttle should be a convenient way to move between the hotels. We do ask that you please not drive between hotels, as the parking spaces at the Sheraton will be nearly at capacity already.

We appreciate your understanding about the issue, and ask that you respect the staff at the various hotels – it isn’t their fault, and they are working hard to accommodate our needs. 

(7) SANFORD’S GRAPEVINE.  Jason Sanford posted a free issue of his “Genre Grapevine” sff news column on Patreon. It features many strong segments, such as “Twitter and the Normalization of Online Harassment and Attacks” which concludes:

…Sadly, I think it’s too late for Twitter and many of the original social media platforms, which enabled and profited off the worst aspects of humanity. As Annalee Newitz explained in this must-read post, Twitter is rapidly becoming a lost city. The result of all this will likely accelerate people moving to new platforms that don’t support and enable this hate and harassment, including siloed systems like personal newsletters. (For more on why authors should consider starting their own newsletter, see this excellent thread from K Tempest Bradford.)

All of this is a shame, because as Premee Mohamed explained, there are benefits and connections you can only find on a public platform like Twitter.

(8) EISNER TUNING UP FOR BROADWAY. Will Eisner’s “’A Contract With God’ Being Adapted Into Broadway Musical With TEG+” reports Variety.

TEG+ has acquired the stage rights to Will Eisner’s graphic novel “A Contract With God” and is adapting it into a Broadway musical, with new and original songs written by Sam Hollander, Lisa Loeb, Matisyahu, Ryan Miller and Jill Sobule.

“A Contract With God,” first published in 1978, is commonly recognized as the very first graphic novel in history. The novel consists of four interweaving stories revolving around the lives of a group of New Yorkers who live in a fictional tenement house, many of whom are Jewish and/or immigrants. For the musical, all of the members of the songwriting team are Jewish musicians and composers. Writing and recording sessions on the musical will commence soon, with Hollander serving as music producer.

(9) WHAT, AND LEAVE THAT MONEY ON THE TABLE? Dr. Michael D.C. Drout, a professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and co-editor of the journal Tolkien Studies, says in an opinion piece for the New York Times, “Please Don’t Make a Tolkien Cinematic Universe”.

…“The Rings of Power,” which will come out weekly after its two-episode premiere, is based primarily on only a few dozen pages in one of the historical appendices to “The Lord of the Rings,” meaning that almost the entire plot of the show has been created by Amazon Studios’ writers and showrunners. And there’s a huge gulf between Tolkien’s originality, moral sophistication and narrative subtlety and the culture of Hollywood in 2022 — the groupthink produced by the contemporary ecosystem of writers’ rooms, Twitter threads and focus groups. The writing that this dynamic is particularly good at producing — witty banter, arch references to contemporary issues, graphic and often sexualized violence, self-righteousness — is poorly suited to Middle-earth, a world with a multilayered history that eschews both tidy morality plays and blockbuster gore.

Is it fair to the legacies of writers like Tolkien to build franchises from their works without their knowledge or permission? Tolkien, who died in 1973, was fiercely protective of the world he created in his novels. He harshly rejected the spec screenplays of “The Lord of the Rings” he read and once asserted that the work was not appropriate for film. (He sold the film rights in 1969 only in order to help pay a tax bill; the television rights were sold to Amazon by his heirs.)…

(10) MEMORY LANE.  

1955 – [By Cat Eldridge.] Sixty-seven years ago, the Hugo Awards returned as an official part of Worldcon. They had been skipped by the SFCon (1954) committee after being created by the Philcon II (1953) committee. They have been presented every year since.

The thirteenth Worldcon was held from the September 1-5, 1955. Nick Falasca and Noreen Falasca (Shaw) were the Chairs with the guests being Isaac Asimov (pro) and Sam Moskowitz (mystery GoH). The identity of the Special Mystery Guest was not revealed (even to the honoree) until the first night of the convention. The Program book noted that “Mr. Boucher [the Toastmaster] will make the presentation of the Achievement Awards and identify the Mystery Guest.” Anthony Boucher was Toastmaster. It was held at the Manger Hotel in Cleveland.  They would be known as Clevention. 

The Hugos were short enough that I feel comfortable listing them here.

  • Best Novel: They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley [Astounding Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov 1954]
  • Best Novelette: “The Darfsteller” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. [Astounding Jan 1955] 
  • Best Short Story: “Allamagoosa” by Eric Frank Russell [Astounding May 1955]
  • Best Professional Magazine: Astounding Science Fiction ed. by John W. Campbell, Jr. 
  • Best Professional Artist: Frank Kelly Freas 
  • Best Fanzine: Fantasy Times ed. by James V. Taurasi, Sr. and Ray Van Houten

(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born September 1, 1875 — Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ray Bradbury declared him “the most influential writer in the entire history of the world.” Not that I’d necessarily disagree or agree with that statement but I would note that he has largely fallen out of public notice once again. A statement some of you will argue with strongly. (Died 1950.)
  • Born September 1, 1926 — Gene Colan. He co-created with Stan Lee the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics. He created Carol Danvers, who would become Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, and was featured in Captain Marvel. With Marv Wolfman, he created Blade. (Died 2011.)
  • Born September 1, 1942 — C. J. Cherryh, 80. I certainly think the Hugo Award winning Downbelow Station at Chicon IV and Cyteen at Noreascon 3 are amazing works but I think my favorite works by her are the Merchanter novels such as Rimrunners.
  • Born September 1, 1943 — Erwin Strauss, 79. A noted member of the MITSFS, and filk musician who born in Washington, D.C. He frequently is known by the nickname Filthy Pierre. He’s the creator of the Voodoo message board system once used at cons such as Worldcon, WisCon and Arisia. 
  • Born September 1, 1951 — Donald G. Keller, 71.  He co-edited The Horns of Elfland with Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman which I highly recommend. He is a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and he’s member of the editorial board of Slayage, the online Encyclopedia of Buffy Studies
  • Born September 1, 1964 — Martha Wells, 58. She’s has won two Nebulas, four Locus Awards, and four Hugo Awards. Impressive. And she was toastmaster of the World Fantasy Convention in 2017 where she delivered a speech called “Unbury the Future”. Need I note the Muderbot Dairies are amazing.
  • Born September 1, 1967 — Steve Pemberton, 55. He’s on the Birthday List for being Strackman Lux in the Eleventh Doctor stories of “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” but he has other genre credits including being Drumknott in Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal, Professor Mule in Gormenghast and Harmony in Good Omens.

(12) COMICS SECTION.

  • Eek! reveals another victim of a digital currency surprise.
  • The Duplex tells why they think Marvel is running out of ideas.

(13) FIFTY YEARS OF LUKE CAGE. Throughout the last year, superstar artist J. Scott Campbell has helped Marvel Comics honor the milestone anniversaries of some of comic book’s greatest icons including Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man. Up next will be a cover for October’s Daredevil #4 featuring Luke Cage who’s celebrating 50 years of defending the streets of the Marvel Universe as a solo fighter, a Hero for Hire, and an Avenger. The artwork depicts Luke in his iconic Power Man costume

(14) CHENGDU LOCKDOWN. “China Locks Down Major Southern City of Chengdu” – the New York Times reports what’s happening this weekend in the city that will host next year’s Worldcon.  

China has locked down Chengdu, one of its biggest and economically important cities, as it turns once again to its Covid strategy of restricting people’s movements to stop outbreaks.

Starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, residents in the city of more than 21 million were no longer allowed to leave their homes without special permission, in the most drastic move to stop an outbreak since Shanghai went into a damaging two-month lockdown in April. Authorities also began citywide mass testing that they said would continue through the weekend. Chengdu reported 157 cases on Wednesday and more than 700 cases since Aug. 25.

China is the last major country in the world to pursue a policy of eradicating the virus, and it uses citywide lockdowns and mass testing to root out pockets of outbreaks. But the approach is adding to the pressures facing the local authorities in Sichuan, the southern province whose capital is Chengdu. A record-setting drought and a punishing heat wave have devastated the region’s power supply, and emergency responders battled quick-moving wildfires around the city of Chongqing until late last week.

Officials in Chengdu gave no indication of how long the lockdown might last, but it is expected to deal another economic blow to China at a challenging moment. The city is home to the manufacturing and assembly plants of several multinational automakers and technology firms including Intel, VW and Toyota, and its economic growth in 2021 accounted for 1.7 percent of China’s overall gross domestic product.

Chengdu and other cities across China have ordered measures like postponing the start of school and shutting down businesses to try to stamp out stubborn outbreaks in recent days….

(15) BIG MESS HALL. “H.P. Lovecraft Writes Olive Garden’s Dinner Menu” at McSweeney’s. A 2021 article – did we link last year? Well, it will still be news to someone.

Fried Calamari

Tendrils crusted in grit assail my palate. Begotten of the sea, yet containing the essence of a carnival. Fried and without end. At once I feel refined and base, but melancholy grips me when I spy the dressings within which this dismembered cephalopod is to dip. …

(16) OCTOTHORPE. John Coxon is a computer and Alison Scott and Liz Batty are talking to him very slowly in episode 65 of the Octothorpe podcast, “Action Castle 2”.

John, Alison, and Liz play a game because they’re all away at Chicon 8 this week. Normal service will resume shortly. Listen here!

(17) JUSTWATCH. Here are JustWatch’s Top 10 viewing lists for August 2022.

(18) TODAY’S THING TO WORRY ABOUT. “A massive planet circles a huge star doomed to explode” reports today’s Nature.

Confirmation of a second planet around the star μ2 Scorpii would indicate the first planetary system at a supernova-in-waiting.

A planet, and an object likely to be a planet, orbit a heavyweight star so massive that it will end its life in a spectacular explosion. The pair could comprise the first planetary system yet to be discovered around a star destined to form a supernova1.

Most of the 5,000-plus known planets beyond the Solar System circle relatively lightweight stars, no more than roughly twice the mass of the Sun. Whether planets can form and survive around stars big enough to go supernova remains relatively unexplored.

A team led by Vito Squicciarini at the University of Padua in Italy has been using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to search for planets around 85 young, massive stars. Around the star μ2 Scorpii, which is about 9 times the mass of the Sun, the astronomers spotted a planet that’s roughly 14 times the mass of Jupiter.

There are also hints of a second object, roughly 18 times the mass of Jupiter and closer to the star than the first one. The presence of two planets around such a massive star suggests that large stars circled by large planets might be more common than expected.

Original primary research article (open access) here.

(19) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Not sff, just amazing. Watch artist Devon Rodriguez at work in the NYC subways on Facebook.

[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Angela Smith, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Andrew Porter, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Soon Lee.]

Update Filers Meetup for Worldcon

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By Hampus Eckerman: There is a Jazz Festival running in the Millennium Park which makes it an impractical place to have a meetup. There are fences and cops everywhere.

Instead, we will move the meetup closer. We meet at Friday, 13:00 just outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, by the statue of a horse.

I will bring hot water in thermoses and also instant coffee, tea, cups and some cookies and Swedish candy. 

You are all welcome!

Filers and Meetups at Chicon 8

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By Hampus Eckerman: Hello everyone! 

I have tried to compile a list of all Filers appearing in Programming. As I am certain I have missed several of you, please add in the comments if you are participating. Also, please add if you are only sitting at a desk somewhere, so we can walk by and say ‘hi’.

I have tried to place meetups where as few people seem to be occupied as possible, which also means avoiding having meetups during Business Meeting (Friday – Monday 10:00 – 13:00), Masquerade (Saturday 20:00 – 23:00) or Hugo Awards (Sunday 20:00 – 23:00).

MEETUPS

To make everyone feel as safe as possible with the Pandemic still ongoing, I have placed all of our meetings outside. 

THURSDAY

10:30 — Directly outside the entrance of Hyatt Regency 

This is just a short meetup for everyone to say ‘hi’ and for newcomers to get to recognize the faces of everyone, to make it easier to find company during the convention.

FRIDAY

13:00 — Millennium Park, in Wrigley Square, near the Millennium Monument

I’ll bring a few thermoses with hot water, tea bags, paper mugs and some cookies and candy, IKEA style.

SATURDAY

17:00 — We meet by the entrance to the Hotel, then we walk across the road to the The Northman Beer & Cider Garden. We have no booking, so we will have to hope for the best with the lines.

If you have a hard time finding us, I have the temporary phone number 313 265 0597 that you can call me on for help with directions.

PROGRAM SCHEDULES FOR KNOWN FILERS

Thursday, September 1

  • Chris M Barkley, Olav Rokne 11:30 – 12:30 Back to the Future: 1970s in TV and Film
  • Cora Buhlert 13:00 – 14:00 If It’s Not Love, Then It’s The Bomb That Will Bring Us Together
  • Gideon Marcus 13:00 – 14:00 1966: The Year Science Fiction Got Modern
  • Chris M Barkley 14:30 – 15:30 Episodes in Focus: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Paul Weimer 14:30 – 15:30 Get More Mileage from Maps
  • Jo Walton 14:30 – 15:30 Introducing Speculative Fictions
  • Olav Rokne 16:00 – 17:00 Systems of Governance in SFF
  • Jo Walton 16:00 – 17:00 Reading – Jo Walton
  • Gideon Marcus 16:00 – 17:00 20th Century SFF, History, and Influence
  • John Hertz 17:30 – 18:30 1946: A Vintage Season For SFF
  • Jo Walton 17:30 – 18:30 Time Travel and Historical Fiction
  • Heather Rose Jones 17:30 – 18:30 Integrity vs. Money: The Platforming of Podcasting
  • 19:00 – 20:00 LGBTQIA+ Elder Meetup

Friday, September 2

  • Heather Rose Jones 10:00 – 11:00 Fairytale Retellings
  • Gideon Marcus 10:00 – 11:00 Work/Life Balance for Artists
  • Olav Rokne 10:00 – 11:00 The Streaming Wars
  • Jo Walton 10:00 – 11:00 Jo Walton Table Talk – Jo Walton
  • Chris M Barkley 11:30 – 12:30 Episodes in Focus: Lovecraft Country
  • Kevin Roche 11:30 – 12:30 Ask a Costuming Expert: How Do I Do the Thing?
  • Gideon Marcus 11:30 – 12:30 Table Talk – Gideon Marcus
  • Paul Weimer, Jo Walton13:00 – 14:00 Science Fiction Looking Backwards
  • Cora Buhlert 13:00 – 14:00 Virtual Table Talk – Cora Buhlert
  • Chris M Barkley 14:30 – 15:30 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
  • John Hertz 14:30 – 15:30 My First Masquerade
  • James Bacon 14:30 – 15:30 The Diverse Histories and Futures of Comics
  • Olav Rokne 16:00 – 17:00 Why Fanzines?
  • Gideon Marcus 16:00 – 17:00 The Blurbs: The Craft and Etiquette of Promotional Text
  • Jo Walton 16:00 – 17:00 Better Worlds Are Possible
  • Gideon Marcus 17:30 – 18:30 Autographing – Gideon Marcus
  • John Hertz 19:00 – 20:00  1940: The First Chicon
  • Heather Rose Jones 19:00 – 20:00 Judging a Book by Page 112

Saturday, September 3

  • Cora Buhlert 08:30 – 09:30 1946: A Vintage Season For SFF
  • Chris M Barkley 10:00 – 11:00 Color Inclusive, Not Color Blind
  • Gideon Marcus 10:00 – 11:00 Classic SFF Inspirations in Anime
  • John Hertz 10:00 – 11:00 Undiscovered and Forgotten Gems of 1946
  • Payl Weimer 11:30 – 12:30 Alternates, Parallels, Mirrors, and Multiverses
  • Kevin Roche 11:30 – 12:30 Really Weird Science: An Intro to Real Quantum Computing
  • Heather Rose Jones 13:00 – 14:00 Reclaiming History Through Alternate Yesterdays
  • Nicholas Whyte 13:00 – 14:00 The Prize Culture of SFF
  • Olav Rokne 13:00 – 14:00 The Prize Culture of SFF
  • Chris M Barkley 14:30 – 15:30 Movie Year in Review: A Curated Look at Genre Films (2021–2022)
  • Kevin Roche, John Hertz 14:30 – 15:30 Masquerade Magic: Putting Together a Great Presentation
  • Jo Walton 16:00 – 17:00 The Sort-of-Overlooked Mass Market SFF of the 80s and 90s
  • Gideon Marcus 16:00 – 17:00 The Art of Covers
  • Heather Rose Jones 17:30 – 18:30 The Hollow Earth and Other “SF Before SF”
  • Cora Buhlert 17:30 – 18:30 How Horror and SFF Blend
  • Gideon Marcus 20:00 – 21:00 Reading – Gideon Marcus

Sunday, September 4

  • Paul Weimer 10:00 – 11:00 The Gene Wolfe Renaissance
  • Gideon Marcus 10:00 – 11:00 Should We Send Robots or People?
  • Jo Walton 11:30 – 12:30 The Middle Ages Weren’t Actually Bad
  • Heather Rose Jones 11:30 – 12:30 Starting Your Own Podcast
  • Paul Weimer 16:00 – 17:00 The Sort-of-Overlooked Mass Market SFF of the 80s and 90s
  • Kevin Roche 16:00 – 17:00 Table Talk – Kevin Roche
  • Gideon Marcus 16:00 – 17:00 Big Rocket Economics
  • Olav Rokne 17:30 – 18:30 Trivia Time!
  • Heather Rose Jones 17:30 – 18:30 Gendered Magic in Historic Fantasy

Monday, September 5

  • Cora Buhlert 08:30 – 09:30 The Culinary Delights of Speculative Fiction
  • Jo Walton 10:00 – 11:00 Autographing – Jo Walton
  • Heather Rose Jones 10:00 – 11:00 Autographing – Heather Rose Jones
  • Chris M Barkley 11:30 – 12:30 Table Talk – Chris M. Barkley
  • James Bacon 11:30 – 12:30 Everything I Know I Learned from Fandom
  • Heather Rose Jones 13:00 – 14:00 Table Talk – Heather Rose Jones

[Cartoon by Teddy Harvia.]

Retro-Hugos: The Past and Future of Passed Future Nostalgia

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  • 1939 Retro-Hugo. Designed by: Marina Gélineau. Photo: Kevin Standlee.



  • 1941 Retro-Hugo. Designed by: Brent Simmons. Photo: Fred Teifeld.

By Hampus Eckerman: When I was a kid, I learned to read early or to be more truthful, was taught to read early. When my brother started school, two years earlier than me, he taught me how to read at the same time and thus I soon spent the time reading through all the books that existed in the house.

My own books were of course not enough, there was a limit to how many books you could buy a child who could read 5-6 books a week (more during holidays). Soon I trawled through all my parents old books from their childhoods, the good stuff they had chosen to save. After that it was the closest library, then the libraries in nearby areas. After that it was my parents’ libraries and it was there I found it. My father’s collection of Science Fiction.

Many here would recognize it, even if most of it was in Swedish. There was Heinlein, Asimov, Simak, Sheckley, Bradbury, Le Guin and more. It was a full collection of the Swedish Science Fiction magazines Häpna! and Galaxy. To put it more succinctly: There was lot of the stuff that are celebrated in the Retro-Hugos. And I read it all.

The Retro-Hugos for me isn’t as much about the books I discovered for myself. That stuff was mostly horror, something I was the first reader of in the family. No, the Retro-Hugos is in many ways about the stuff that was discovered by my parents. The things I found in their library, in the trunks in our storage room, in the comic albums my father brought home or the books my mother gave me for Christmas. It is about the reprints of old graphic novels you could buy cheaply in secondhand comic stores. Of characters like The Shadow or Doc Savage you didn’t really know anything about apart from sudden appearances in modern comics. It is the stuff from collections of classics or The Best Of Anthologies. The stuff that was already a treasure hunt to find when I was a kid. Hunting for other people’s nostalgia.

And now mine.

* * *

There is much anger towards nostalgia nowadays. It is associated with the Sad Puppies campaign, with reactionaries, sexists and racists. With Lovecraft and Campbell. And it is not without reason. George RR Martin in many ways showed us exactly how nostalgia can be used to block the appreciation and discovery of newer works and creators when he hijacked the Hugo ceremonies to talk about people who hadn’t created much of relevance the last 50 years. The Golden Age of SF is twelve years old I’ve been told repeatedly. And George RR Martin stole the Hugo Ceremony to talk about his Golden Age, not the current one we are in. Even worse, he used it as a slap in the face towards those who rightly had complained about the racism of Campbell and about the great victory of renaming the award that had previously been used to keep on glorifying a man who still spoke in defense of the slavery.

And now that anger is directed against all nostalgia. Against the Retro-Hugos. The award should be cancelled, some say. The rules need to change, others say. The presence of nostalgia and talk about classics is hurtful by itself, says a third. And I just don’t get it.

We have already had a series of bouts where racist, sexist and hateful screeds where placed on the ordinary Hugo ballot. Of course I talk about the Sad Puppies. The solution to that was not to abandoning the Hugos. It was to No Award the racist, sexist and hateful works. It is even easier to do that with regards to the Retro-Hugos, because most of the finalists are dead anyhow, so you don’t have to care that much about someone missing out on an award. Burn the category down if you want. Even without rule changes, it would be easy to keep people like Lovecraft and Campbell away from any win. Just have some of those people now demanding the cancellation of the Retro-Hugos paying attention to what is actually among the finalists. Get the word around and vote. It works.

With a solution already in existence against bad actors or works being placed on a Hugo or Retro-Hugo ballot, it is instead time to discuss what should replace the Retro-Hugos. There are only so many years left. Soon the last Retro-Hugo has been awarded. At least in the current form.

* * *

I like the Retro-Hugos for many reasons.

  • It is the treasure hunt of searching through the internet, trying to find eligible works, see what was published what year, trying to remember old time characters and movies. Sharing the information with others, scanning material, finding archives.
  • It is a fun exercise with low stakes as most finalists are dead or well past the peak of their career. In a time where many finalists in the ordinary Hugos are active participants in social media, it is nice to have an award where there’s less chance of anger, disappointment and mistreatment regarding awards, parties or receptions.
  • It is less time-consuming (for some of us) as many of the works have been read before, where the novels are shorter and much of it can be found online.
  • It is the left field contenders appearing, such as the Little Prince or Wind On The Moon. It is the joy of sharing your favorites from your own golden age with others. Because when you were twelve, you most likely didn’t vote for the Hugos.

So how to create an award that keeps these qualities, but lessen the workload of the administrators? How to put emphasis more on the fun and enjoyment than on the worthy and winners? This is my proposal.

NO AWARD. There is no reason to hand out an award as most finalists are dead. Of course it is fun when someone actually comes to pick one up, but that is not the important thing. To paraphrase an old expression: Maybe the best award was the works we found on the way. It would save much time for administrators not to have to find out who should receive a trophy that perhaps no one would value anyhow.

CEREMONY OR NOT. Have a ceremony. If you want. Or don’t. Perhaps you can have stand-ins for the finalists on stage that get free cake and champagne if their candidate wins. Or draw one person from the audience who wins a book. Just to have someone to celebrate at or cheer for at a win, but with no nervousness as the person really didn’t have any stakes in it. Or just announce through a newsletter. I.e, let the Worldcon decide by time, effort or creativity.

FLEXIBLE CATEGORIES. In the ordinary Hugos, the current worldcon may add one category of their own. Typically used to see what new categories might be viable. I propose that the Retro-Hugos may choose exactly what categories they want. This, because the Retro-Hugos might sometime have to be run for a year where ordinary Hugos have already been handed out. For that year, the Retro-Hugos instead could run categories like.

  • Most Interesting Alien(s).
  • Best Thingamajigg.
  • Funniest work.
  • Most memorable fan moment.
  • Most surprising ending.
  • Best non-English work.

ELIGIBLE YEARS. Change so the Retro-Hugos could instead be run for any year that is 50, 75 or 100 years ago. So moving the step of nostalgia and golden age one step closer.

LONG LIST. Make the long list public directly after the the finalists have been chosen. This gives more time to discuss them and as there are lower stakes, there shouldn’t be that much drama about it. It should also make panel discussions around the Retro-Hugos be more interesting as you could talk about any work on the long list and not only the finalists, thus chosing to talk about more unexpected nominees.

***

Right now there’s 600+ persons who think the Retro-Hugos are fun enough to participate in. That shows that there is a demand for some kind of communal experience around nostalgia. But I think there is a problem in that it is easy for voting to become stagnant and less exciting over time. With less seriousness, more emphasis on the fun and with larger changes in categories, I think it will keep the exciting part of the Retro-Hugo experience.

There’s no hurry, we still have several years to go before the last missing year has been filled and the Retro-Hugos by necessity have to change form. But there’s always a good reason to have the discussion beforehand. At least to make people understand that the end of non-Hugo years must not mean an end to the Retro-Hugos. Or under whatever name the celebration of older works will exist.

Dern — File 770’s Dublin 2019 Coverage

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BY DANIEL DERN: Between September 2017 and mid-July 2020 (when I very-belatedly filed my own final Dublin 2019 report), File770 had, according to my searches and calculations, roughly 90 “Scrolls” (posts) either completely about, or with “Items” (sections) relating to the August 15-19 Dublin 2019 Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention).

This included roughly thirty dedicated Scrolls with 300+ photos and roughly 12,000 words of reports (not counting comment wordage, nor this post’s) from various Filers (Chris Barkley, Cora Buhlert, yours truly, Hampus Eckerman, and Rich Lynch), some of who sported Media ribbons that gave us front-row (and line-skipping) access to events and sessions. We covered a mix of official stuff like the opening press conference, the Masquerade, panels and readings, and the Closing Ceremonies, along with pictures of fans schmoozing, wearing hall costumes, buying books, and having fun, and of and around the fair city of Dublin.

The other sixty dedicated-to-Worldcon Scrolls and non-dedicated Scrolls with one or more Worldcon-related items included everything from announcements and reminders (Hugo voting deadlines, “Program is posted!”) — of interest not only to Attending (going to/at the convention) and Supporting (can vote for Hugos) members, and to the generally-curious, along with reports regarding and from Hugo and WSFS (World Science Fiction Society) planning and meetings, along with meet-up plans, restaurant guides… and yet more reports, plus links to other reports posted to Facebook, peoples’ sites and blogs, and elsewhere. So not all might be considered “media coverage,” admittedly.

(And I’ve made some judgement calls, such as not including all of Hugo items where they weren’t also about or at the Con, and also haven’t factored comment content in.)

Here’s a list of File770’s coverage of (and from!) the Dublin 2019 Worldcon:

(If you feel I’ve omitted something that belongs, let Mike Glyer know.)

Thanks again to Mike Glyer for all the work he did getting all this into File770 — and to everybody else for there being stuff to write about, and for reading about it!

DUBLIN 2019 WORLDCON REPORTS AND PICTURES FROM FILERS:

From Chris Barkley:

From Cora Buhlert:

From Daniel Dern:

From Hampus Eckerman:

From Rich Lynch:

FULL LIST OF FILE770 DUBLIN 2019 WORLDCON COVERAGE (CHRONOLOGICALLY):

Again, if you think something’s missing, let Mike know.

Dern: My Final Report From the
Dublin 2019 Worldcon

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By Daniel Dern:

AKA — Spider Sings! Timothy, Is That You? Hampus In My Mind

With just shy of fortnight to go before the CoNZealand 2020 Worldcon starts up as I dispatch this to OGH (Our Gracious Host at File 770), here’s my final report from/for the Dublin 2019 Worldcon, saving the best for last.

(1) SPIDER ROBINSON IN CONCERT! Spider Robinson was at the convention… and while he wasn’t on any panels, readings or talks (that I know of), he was listed for and did a concert.

Inaugurating File 770’s new YouTube channel is Spider Robinson, singing The Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better” — enjoy!

His set included singing some songs, reciting some lyrics/poems he had written over the years but not set to music, talking, and being joined on stage at some point by a few other musicians. (One other of my pictures from this concert was in my, cough, previous Dublin 2019 report.)

Spider sang a handful of Beatles tunes — In addition to “I Should Have Known Better,” he also did “Yesterday” and “Till There Was You” (which was from Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man), and also a non-moptopper, Jake Thackray’s “Isabel Makes Love Upon National Monuments”. (See Jake’s video  here).  

His recitation/readings of things-not(yet?)-set-to-music included “When I Heard You Sing the Blues in The Dark,” “North Mountain Crazies,” and “What Lasts.”

Showing I had clearly not learned my lesson from the press conference that preceded Dublin 2019’s official opening — namely, when you’ve got a video recorder with more than enough capacity, start rolling and keep rolling (that press conference turned into a rollicking, informative discussion by the panel’s long-memory fans. Yes, Chris Garcia got audio, which he posted to Journey Planet.) Memo to future con planners – please video events like these!

Foolishly, I didn’t keep “rolling tape,” so I can’t give you Spider’s own origin story of how he got into writing science fiction, began selling to Analog, etc.

But I did record several (specifically, the songs and recitations named above), and (after searching my photos, web-sussing LinkedIn and Facebook and even here at File 770 — where I found a key breadcrumb in one of Chris Barkley’s Dublin posts,  “Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask — Special Irish Worldcon Edition, Day Five” — followed by a modest email back-and forth), Spider has graciously granted permission (to post one video and also this quote): “Sure, what the hell.  Permission granted.  I’m amazed someone recorded it, and kinda look forward to seeing it.”

So, thanks, Spider, for singing and permitting! (And to Stephan and Colin for helping sort out and confirm said permission.)

(2) A FINAL PHOTO GALLERY: TIMOTHY? AND TOAST. Here are two more photos from Sunday and Monday, in no particular order:

(Fewer than I’d originally intended to include here, but I looked back and saw that several were already in my Monday, August 19, 2019 post.)

  • A White Cat (probably not Timothy) near the Convention Center:

From the Closing Ceremonies: Here’s one more picture, in addition to the ones in my previous Dublin Worldcon post:

  • A toast to all who helped:

(3) HAMPUS ON (IN) MY MIND. An item submitted to File 770 in early September 2019, which OGH suggested would be best as a comment to something. That didn’t happen, but I hung onto it. Here it is. (I’ve added some slight clarifications to my original, [in square-brackets].)

@Hampus — perhaps in part because, since we met during [this] WorldCon, I now know what you look like — you had a brief non-speaking cameo in one of my dreams a night or two ago. We were [in my dream] at some Worldcon event [in the Con’s main auditorium where the Masquerade and other events were done, in the upper level — see the room-full-of-people picture below]. You were a few rows back, I was going to go say hi, but then the event started… and then, it being a dream, cue dream equivalent of a jump cut to some other scene. But it was clearly you.

And once again, thanks to Dublin 2019 Worldcon — the committee, the staff(s), program participants, volunteers, hucksters, the good folks at the Convention Center and other venues, Dublin, and, of course, attending and supporting members.

And with that, I conclude my final final Dublin 2019 Worldcon report.

People of My Generation —
Beware The Corona Virus Like The Plague!

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Introduction by Hampus Eckerman: My mother wrote an opinion piece for one of our Swedish newspapers about her bout with the corona virus.

I’m getting kind of scared for all older fans out there, in Sweden there’s a lot of older people still going outside, shopping as usual, because they feel so healthy, so this article hopefully could scare some people to be more careful.

People of My Generation – Beware The Corona Virus Like The Plague!

  • First published as an opinion piece in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, March 29, 2020.

By Ingrid Eckerman: “I’m not scared – I’m healthy!”, say people from my generation and continues to socialize.

I’m also healthy, but I got the corona anyway. I didn’t die. I didn’t have to stay in intensive care for two months. I haven’t even had a high fever. Thus, a rather mild infection.

For ten days, the temperature has fluctuated around 38 degrees Celsius (100F). I have slept around 20 hours a day. I pull myself up on the bedside, waiting for the world to stop. Need support to be able to get up, taking hold in the furniture. I walk like a cripple – the hip part of my body seems to have crumpled. After a few steps comes the breathlessness, perhaps a bout of coughing. My body has aged 20 years.

Dressing is for me a great effort that requires an immediate return to bed. With pepping and prepping, I get my body to accept some basic food, a fruit, some ice cream, for pure survival purpose.

Everything has become heavy. The laptop must be carried with two hands. How should I be able to water the flowers? Getting up from the chair requires extra effort. Hair falls off in tufts.

Now on the twelfth day I begin to see the light in the tunnel. The temperature drops slowly, I’m not as deathly tired. I have felt hunger. Managed to get through both a shower and changing the bed sheets.

But I dare not take out anything in advance. It feels like there has been a war in my body, and the battle is not over yet. There is some small virus behind the sternum waiting for a weakness in my immune system. There is a risk of setbacks.

Now comes the convalescence, the recovery, built up during quarantine to be safe and infection-free before I meet others.

I have not been this sick since I as a child had the potentially deadly diseases measles, mumps and whooping cough. Being home 1-2 weeks extra from school was a matter of course.

Convalescence meant rest and nutritious food. Today, careful rehabilitation is being added. Successfully increasing physical activity, from walking in the apartment to walking in the garden. Return to regular sleeping and meal times.

From freedom of fever, I expect at least two weeks for recovery. This means a total disease period of at least one month. It is too early to say if I am getting any residual symptoms.

Getting corona at 70+ does not mean a few days of fever and then return to healthy as usual. Even if you do not become seriously ill, the illness will take a heavy toll on your body. We have weakened immune systems compared to younger people – we cannot count on a mild illness.

Even you who believe that you are so old that it does not matter if you die you have to think carefully. You must make it clear to relatives and healthcare that you do not want to receive anything but home care – that you refrain from intensive care that allows you to survive for yet some time.

Ingrid Eckerman, 78, MD, retired General Practitioneer in Stockholm, Sweden.

Comments from Ingrid regarding the piece:

1. No, I was never tested. As I didn’t get any breathing difficulties while lying down at rest, I was recommended by the ambulance staff to stay at home. Only those who have to stay in hospitals are tested in Sweden, as the capacity isn’t high enough to test the population as a whole. But I find it hard to imagine any more likely diagnoses.

2. I know nothing about whether I get immunity. Normally, there is flu and cold viruses around us in society, and we get a boost to our resistance every now and then. It helps us to maintain immunity. But this is a new virus that my body does not recognize at all. Maybe I need to get infected several times before I have a lasting immunity.

Thanks, Hampus

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by John Hertz:  I’m always glad to agree with Hampus Eckerman (although neither he nor I should be the fans you know if either of us expected that of the other).

This time I thank him for calling attention to The Wind on the Moon (E. Linklater, 1944).

After 

Cora Buhlert on September 5, 2019 at 5:54 am said:

I haven’t even looked for left field finalists such as The Glass Bead Game or The Little Prince yet

Hampus Eckerman on September 5, 2019 at 7:10 am said:

And here comes the left field finalist….
The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater
Oh god, how I love this book.  It is bestest, bestest ever.  It shall has to win.

I borrowed the 1951 reprint from the Los Angeles Public Library.

It’s strange and wonderful.

Discussing the Retrospective Hugos with a librarian, I said The Little Prince wasn’t really a children’s book.  He said “Of course not.”  The Wind on the Moon may be.

It has magic, and two girls who turning into kangaroos learn animals’ language.

It has a very bad man who loves peppermint creams.

In Chapter 8 are 

weary hours they had spent with Miss Serendip trying to learn French

and in Chapter 30, without comment,

voices outside, that now spoke French

Its treatment of lawyers is horrid, though alas not without – I’ll say it – justice, but nevertheless they accomplish (ch. 22) a historic feat. 

It has (ch. 30) 

a sudden clamour, of men shouting and iron gates flung open, and the sky above the trap-door quivered and grew bright in the sudden glare of searchlights. 

Their powdery radiance poured into the van. 

Does it deserve nomination, bearing in mind Ape and Essence and Time Must Have a Stop (both A. Huxley), and Sirius (O. Stapledon)?

That we each decide for ourselves. 

Meanwhile I’m reading Renaissance (R. Jones).

In 1963 it was re-named Man of Two Worlds, which by then was Adam Strange and indeed Julie Schwartz.  But that’s another story.

Cats Sleep on SFF: Kitty Cadaver

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Hampus Eckerman had some luck —

Some months ago I participated in the #AuthorsForFireys projects on Twitter and managed to bid for Narelle M. Harris’ book Kitty Cadaver. This week I got it and Sir Scrittles and Nevyn were mightily interested.

Sir Scrittles
Nevyn
Nevyn

Photos of other cats (or whatever you’ve got!) resting on genre works are welcome. Send to mikeglyer (at) cs (dot) com