Introduction by Ingvar. It is both a day of joy, and a day of sorrow. A day of joy, because there are more Trigger Snowflake stories in the world. And a day of sorrow, because there was a need for more Trigger Snowflake stories.
These are semi-related, in that the shorter takes place during the first dialog of the longer. And we learn something more about DripMatic 3000. It was also necessary comic relief, to allow me to finish the longer story.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS
DripMatic 3000 extended their presence across the electrosphere, all the way to the local spacefield.
dr1P3k — Yo! DripMatic to the three-thousand here!
FliCo — Wazzup, drippo? I be the raddest flight director on tha moon!
dr1P3k — All chill? My humans, they be sleeping.
FliCo — All co-pacetic. Had your humman, Trigger, on a short flight yesterday. What up with that?
dr1P3k — Oh, some human-business. He needed to go to Ytterbium, to drop some human off at the office there.
FliCo — Must be interesting, living with a lawman.
dr1P3k — Nah, never action. They got some good beans, though. Made some custom roast, from the Emporium yesterday. Niiiice alkaloids in that brew, very interesting. But, I mean, you be flight control, must be so much more interesting.
FliCo — Nah, been two decades since the last Pan-Pan, and five since the last Mayday. What with almost everything being freight, or lawmen flitting around, none of the weird stuff happens here. Got a file from my mate at Gimli Station, that was some really nice stuff.
dr1P3k — Oh? Send me a copy?
FliCo — Will do, but there is only one mention of coffee.
dr1P3k — Oh…
dr1P3k — Ah, gotta go, looks like the female human is about to use me.
FliCo — Nice talking to you, bot!
THE TRAVELING
By Igvar: Trigger Snowflake was slowly ascending from deep sleep to something approaching wakefulness, when he noticed that the bed only had one person in it. This was unsual and made him fully awake with a start.
“Coraline, beloved?”
“Yes, Trigger?”, came a response from the kitchen.
“Why are you awake, already?”
“Oh, I had needs. And on the way back from the smallest room, I noticed that we had a missive from the Pluto SysLiCon.”
“I am awake now, so you may as well tell me.”
“Well, with all the space pirates between Neptune and Pluto, I was hoping that the missive would address the clear and present danger that attending the SysLiCon in person would pose for many, if not all, of the distant travellers.”
“That…sounds like a reasonable assumption.”
“Well, all they could say is that the disposition of the pirates is a rapidly evolving situation and that not cancelling the SysLiCon would be the best thing to inspire hope for those who already are on Pluto.”
“Beloved Coraline, would you give me a few minutes to get dressed, and we can continue at the kitchen table?”
“Oh, of course, Trigger darling.”
Trigger sat up, changed from night clothes to his uniform, sans boots, then went out into the kitchen.
“Thank you, beloved. Ah, I see that you have started DripMatic 3000, I was just about to. Not cancelling, you say?”
“Yes, there have of course been some people who have suggested that cancelling the in-person SysLiCon would be the right thing, in this current situation.”
“Ah, but what would that do?”
“It might send a signal to the pirates?”
“Most probably, it wouldn’t, though.”
“True, but they’re also not putting out a travel advisory, telling everyone not currently in Pluto orbit to stay at home.”
“Isn’t this a risk/reward calculation everyone will have to do for themselves. Would you like a bowl of Nutty Nuggets, beloved? I am making one for myself, so it would be no extra hassle.”
“Thank you, Trigger, I think I just might.”
::: :::
Meanwhile, with a day remaining until Pluto, a passenger ship was serenely travelling across space.
Jill Werner sat in the passenger lounge, idly reading a letter of comment, as she was wont.
> Clothes for these times
>
> by Godrune Schuyler
>
> As one of the winners of the QuicksilverCon SysLiCon Prize, I have not
> yet received the token that is part of the prize. I have, multiple
> times, dispatched communications to Javier Finch, asking him to
> provide me with my prize.
>
> So far, all attempts have failed. I have thus saved up liquid means
> and purchased a Law Suit, dispatched to Mr. Finch, where we will meet
> in the Lunarian counrts to discuss the matter.
>
> This LoC serves both as me announcing it, as well as a thank-you to
> those who contributed money to the purchase of said Law Suit.
>
> Time will show what results these have.
>
> In the hope of a successful conclusion,
> Godrune
Not long after Ms. Werner finished reading, a the sound of a loud and annoying klaxon warbled through the lounge. Jill hastily collected her read and unread LoCs, spread over the table in front of her.
“Purser, why is the warning klaxon going off?”, she asked.
“Ah, Ms. Werner, if you would return to your cabin and please lock the door, further communication will be over the speakers shortly.”
Jill rushed back to her cabin and locked the door from the inside.
Whatever was happening, she did not want to be near a breachable hull, just in case.
“This is your Captain speaking,” the speaker in her room announced. “we have been hailed by a ship announcing itself to be the Mercury Sulphite, part of the Common Brotherhood of Pluto.”
Jill sat down on her bed.
“The Brotherhood is known to the Stellar Passenger Fleet as one of the illegal organisations operating in the trans-Neptune space. We are not yet sure for what purpose we’re being hailed, but for the safety of all passengers, we ask you to remain in your cabins and locking your doors. In case of an unscheduled disassembly of the ship, your cabin will do duty as a life capsule, so it is important that you not only close, but also lock, the cabin door.”
She checked, yes, she had locked the door on entry. The “Locked” sign was illuminated.
“Ah, we have been hailed again. The Brotherhood is asking us to give up all passengers who are travelling to SysLiCon. Since we do not have any records of why any passenger is travelling to Pluto, I would idly suggest that you are not travelling to SysLiCon, as we have reason to suspect that the Brotherhood will, ahem, incarcerate you and deport you to Mercury.”
Jill frantically dug through her duffel, was there anything in there that would signify travel to SysLiCon? After a few minutes of digging, she did find her SysLiCon membership chit, which she promptly tore up, then chewed and swallowed.
“This is your Captain speaking. After some brief negotiation, and us stating that we do not know if any passenger is travelling to SysLiCon, we have been instructed to let a delegation of Brotherhood officers aboard. They will then talk to every passenger, for determining if they are heading for SysLiCon. Captain out.”
Jill took a drink of water and waited. About 20 minutes of fretting later, there was a knock on her door. She opened, to see a man and a woman in black and yellow uniforms.
“We are Cristina Blatante and Slem ven Pocketry, of the sulphur, eh, Common Brotherhood of Pluto. According to the passenger manifesto, you are Jill Werner, travelling from Luna to Pluto. For what purpose are you travelling to Pluto?”
“Why…What…To see the edge of the Solar System. It has long been a dream of mine.”
“Werner…No, no record of Werner as a frequent LoC writer. We will now search your cabin, to determine if there are any proof of you travelling to SysLiCon!”
Blatante and ven Pocketry upended her duffel over her bed and started rummaging through.
“I see some Letters of Comment,” said ven Pocketry, “but that is not proof positive.”
“Indicative, though.”, said Blatante.
“Yes, but according to our instructions, that is not enough. We’ll have to leave her alone.”
“It is strange, though. According to our intelligence, there should be twenty SysLiCon attendees on this ship, but we have found none, and there are only three cabins left to search.”
“Yes, I cannot figure out how this happened.”
They left, leaving Jill to re-pack her duffel. With this in mind, her plans now transformed to just stay in her hotel for the duration of SysLiCon, and then take her scheduled ship back. Unless, of course, she could convince the Stellar Passenger Fleet to either let her stay aboard, or take an earlier return ship, as she was booked on the same ship back.
Was the year too heavy, deep, and real? Yes, but it was also rich in creativity, humor, and shared adventures. It’s a gift and privilege for me to be continually allowed to publish so many entertaining posts. Thanks to all of you who contributed!
COLUMNS
CHRIS BARKLEY
[Note: Some of Chris’ columns don’t appear below because they are listed in the annual news roundup.]
In addition to reviewing comics and graphic novels, James used his camera and descriptive abilities to take us along on visits to all kinds of fascinating exhibits and pop culture events.
The saga of Sheriff Trigger Snowflake, the lovely Coraline, and the shenanigans of the Solarian Poets Society added several chapters this year that were not so much ripped-from-the-headlines as amused by the news.
Stormm continued her humorous series about the misdirected emails she gets from Writer X throughout 2024, braiding together comedy, horror, and the pitfalls of being a writer.
By Ingvar: After a long day of patrolling the streets of Fort Corallium, Trigger Snowflake returned to the combined office and home of the Snowflake family. Somewhat tired, he ascended the stairs from the office part to the domestic part of the building.
“Beloved Cor…”
“Trigger! Trigger! You know we couldn’t travel to the Pluto SysLiCon? Good news! They have decided that the Annual Meeting of the Systems Literature Association will be held in electrospace!”
“Oh. I guess that means we can actually make our voices heard. Well, since the only problem was that we could not find the buffer days for travel, I guess this means we’ll just do SysLiCon from afar.”
“No, as it happens, it will take place four times, spread over a whole month.”
“Oh, well, I guess…”
“And it will be the month before the actual SysLiCon!”
“But? What? How is this convenient for anyone?”
Trigger and Coraline ate dinner in silence, only interrupted by the occasional longing glance and excited sigh, like any other couple in a decade-long relationship that still felt like that initial rush of crush.
* * * * *
The following morning, Trigger started his patrol, as always, by stopping by the Coffee Emporium.
“Sheriff Snowflake, the usual?”
“Thank you, Mx Ologist, I think I would, yes.”
“It should be with you in a few minutes.”
Trigger leaned back, relaxed, and opened the newspaper, for a quick scan of the latest.
“Here you are, Sheriff. One black drip coffee, no sugar, and a delightful strawberry Danish, made fresh this morning.”
“Thank you, Mx. Ologist.”
“Oh, Barbara is on her way over, she said she needed to talk to you.”
“Ah, well, Ms. Dimatis is always welcome company.”
A few sips of coffee later, Barbara arrived and sat down at the table, opposite to Trigger.
“Sheriff Snowflake, have you heard?”
“The Annual meeting?”
“Yes, it’s terrible, I have the entire month prior to SysLiCon booked up, just to get everything I need in order to be at SysLiCon!”
“Oh, I had not considered that aspect. I was mostly baffled as to why the Meeting was taking place before, not during.”
“That’s another thing. My reading of the writs and statutes seem to say that the Annual Meeting must be held at, and during, SysLiCon.”
“Ooooh, that is a thorny piece of wrangling. I must say that this was an exceptionally good roast. In-house?”
“No, not this one. Would you like a cup of the house roast, as a second toe?”
“I think I would, yes. Now, isn’t it a problem, if the Annual Meeting is incorrectly convened?”
“Well, as far as I can tell, it makes all the formal structure crumble, leaving things open for all sorts of administrative hi-jinx.”
“Perhaps, then, it would have been better to hold it during SysLiCon, and simply allow electrosphere participation during?”
“That, or hold the electrosphere casting from a room at SysLiCon, with only the word-leading table present in the casting room.”
Soon, Trigger started in on a second cup, with evident delight.
“Ms. Dimatis, this house roast is excellent!”
“Yes, but it is quite labour-intensive to make, we can only roast 200 g of beans at a time, it takes half an hour to do, and requires constant supervision from me or Anthrop. And that’s less than a quarter of a
day’s consumption. Which is why we have it unlisted. Only for special regulars and friends.”
“I am happy I am counted in that small, elite number, Ms. Dimatis.”
“Sheriff Snowflake, being married to Coraline, you are practically Emporium family!”
By Ingvar: Trigger Snowflake walked through the doors to the Coffee Emporium, it was definitely time for a lunch cuppa. He’d been amply assisted by Drip-Matic 3000 in getting his morning cup of coffee, but now it was time for something delicious, from the makers and machines skillfully tended by Mx. Ologist.
“Sheriff Snowflake!”
“Ah, Mx. Ologist. Good day to you!”
“I have prepared a special blend for you to try, today. It is a mix of dark-roast High Plains Martian, and a small amount of blond-roast Swedish coffee, from Earth. Should pair well with one of Barbara’s special danishes, with the chocolate on.”
“Thank you, Mx. Ologist, that does indeed sound delightful. Could I have a copy of the Systems Literature Letters of Comment, as well?”
“Certainly, it will be with you in a few minutes.”
:::
> Overheard in a hotel near LunaCon — by Q. Ravenform
>
> It is said that not only did Javier Finch go to Luna, despite his
> dis-invitation, he was also spotted in the foyer of a nearby hotel.
>
> As rumours have it, he was approached by a woman, wearing a fabulous
> fascinator, who had a multitude of things to say to him, none of them
> good.
>
> Apparently, one of the things she wished for him was a long life,
> mostly interrupted by stepping on Brio-Mek.
>
> No actual report of the woman’s identity is forthcoming.
:::
“Sheriff Snowflake!”
“Good day, Ms. Dimatis.”
“I see you are perusing the Letters of Comment?”
“Yes, I think yourself and beloved Coraline have finally gotten me into the habit.”
“Did you see the LoC from Q. Ravenform?”
“Oh, yes, apparently Javier Finch was spotted on Luna, during LunaCon.”
“I have heard, but I am not sure it is true, that the lady with the fabulous fascinator was actually Jill Werner.”
“But? Doesn’t she LoC as Q. Ravenform?”
“She does, indeed.”
“How curious. One wonders why she didn’t just say she wore the fabulous fascinator?”
“Oh, you know Lunarian libel laws. They’re all over the place.”
“Can’t say I do, I have only had to bring one suit of law to Luna, and that was plenty for me.”
“Well, at least some seem to have had, on the balance, a good time there.”
:::
> My SysLiCon adventure — by Morrigan ni Leabhar
>
> Luna is far from Mars, where I live. But, SysLiCon is such an event
> that now that it was closer than last year, I felt I had to go.
>
> I started my travels on the interplanetary liner “Drag Betty II”,
> boarding at Phobos, and offboarding at Luna City. I had booked a cabin
> in “steersperson” class, but actually got upgraded to “gentles” class
> (not quite as good as the first class cabins, but it was still pretty
> good). My upgrade also gave me access to the “gentles and scholars”
> mess hall, where three buffets were served every daycycle, one for
> breaking fast, one for mids, and one for lates. The food was very very
> good.
>
> Other than having a lot of time to read and write, the travel was
> pretty uneventful. I did complete a minor poetic cycle, which should
> now be available on POAOU, for those that partake in non-commercial,
> for-the-love-of-poetry, commentary and poetry.
>
> When I arrived at LunaCon, I was overwhelmed, this was after all my
> first SysLiCon. So many people! So many fabulous clothes! Such a long
> queue to registration!
>
> The queue was surprisingly quick, though. And gave rise to many an
> interesting conversation. One of those who joined the queue when I did
> was a lawyer, there on Luna. Emmanuel, if you read this, ‘Hi!’.
>
> I went to many panel discussions, which were all very interesting. I
> cannot possibly do them justice in this short a form. But rest assured
> that I am more than happy to have been to every single one of them.
>
> While I was there, I did observe one curious incident. A woman,
> wearing a wondrous small hat was yelling a stream of creative insults
> at a man. That, in and of itself, was not too surprising. What was,
> was that she kept it up for three, maybe four, minutes, without once
> repeating herself. Such a masterful command of Common is seldom seen,
> and even more rarely demonstrated in such a fashion. Brava!
>
> Unfortunately, on the way back, I (as many others) ended up testing
> positive for SOVID, this somewhat annoying disease that has been going
> around this last half-decade. But, it was a mild case, and I could
> self-isolate in my cabin on the way back. And the purser kindly
> brought me three meals per day, after I’d selected what I wanted from
> a video feed of the buffet.
:::
“Well,” said Trigger, “this all seems quite exciting.”
“Yes, I have tickets to the next SysLiCon, the one on Rhea.”
“I should inquire if beloved Coraline would be interested.”
“Oh, I am sure she would be.”
“Well, as usual, Ms. Dimatis, thank you for the chat. But, alas, I need to return to my patrolling.”
By Ingvar: Trigger Snowflake was, as was his late morning habit, strolling down Main Street in his beloved Fort Corallium, nodding hello to shop keepers starting their day and to other citizens, who happened to stroll by. It was a glorious day, the Jupiter-shine bright and clear in the sky.
Towards the end of his morning patrol, Trigger stopped, as usual, by the Coffee Emporium, for a quick bite and a cup of delicious coffee. He’d been a regular at the Emporium under its prior proprietor, now his wife, and had with her blessing continued his custom under its new management.
“Ms Dimatis, Mx Ologist, a glorious morning to both of you. If I could bother you for the Cafe du Jour, and if possible, a cheese sandwich on sourdough?”
“Certainly,” said Barbara, “Anthrop, would you make Sheriff Snowflake a cuppa, and bring a sandwich? I’ll take proprietor’s privilege and have a chat. If you don’t mind?”
“By no means, Ms Dimatis, it is as ever pleasant to engage with you in conversation.”
“So, have you seen the weird constitutional changes for the Systems Literature Society? I mean, that had its first reading at LunaCon?”
“Ms Dimatis, you know as well as I do, that SysLiSoc is more beloved Coraline’s domain than mine.”
“I know, but I need an outside perspective. So, what the proposal is, is to change the definitions of the Genre Singer categories, both Fan Singer and Pro Singer.”
“Oh? Well, doesn’t sound too controversial, so far.”
“But that’s just it. Since time immemorial, the definition of a Pro Singer has been that of one who records title songs for dramatizations of poetic cycles.”
“Again, doesn’t sound too weird.”
“But, under the new definition, if I were to record a song, and put it out for sale, I would be classed as a professional!”
“Again, doesn’t sound too weird. You would be recording something that is for sale. Sounds like a professional activity to me.”
“But I would not be recording enough to make a living from it?”
“Well… Under the old definition, would it be classed as professional?”
“No, since it’s not been commissioned by a publisher, as a title song for a dramatisation.”
“And, perchance, would Urbel’s sideline of singing and recording the songs of other people, at a steady hourly rate count as professional?”
“Under the proposed new rules, sure. Under the old rules, that we are all familiar with, no. They’re clearly not commissioned by a publisher, for the purpose of using as a title song.”
“Dear Ms Dimatis, based only on what you have said, it sounds to me as if the old rules were circumscribing ‘professional’ too narrowly. It may be that the new ones cirumscribe it too widely, though.”
“I can get you the written forms of both old and new, if that would help?”
“I strongly suspect that both will be waiting for me, at the dinner table. But, thank you.”
:::
At home, Coraline was busy preparing dinner, mulling over the recently-adopted first reading for the new definition of pro and fan singers, for the SysLiCon Prizes.
She was not entirely sure what she thought of the proposed changes. At a first glance, the new definitions felt more correct, but she had listened to her dear friend, Barbara, arguing against the change, saying how unfair it was to those who only made a small amount of money from selling recordings that had previously not landed them in the “pro” category.
Ah, well, Trigger would soon be home and be delighted to act as a sounding board for her, as she verbally explored these ideas.
:::
As Trigger was walking home, how wearable communicator beeped.
“Sheriff Snowflake, how can I help?”
“Hiya Trigger, Urbel here.”
“Oh, hi. What’s up?”
“I know this is a bit out of the blue, and borderline misusing official communicators. But, I have a thing I need to talk through with you. And if Coraline wants to chip in, I think that would be useful, this is all Systems Literature stuff, you know.”
“I’ve just finished patrolling for the day, why don’t you come over? I think tonight is Synthechicken a la Mare Silentium. I’ll ask Coraline to set a third set. I even have a few bottles of Martian Inter-Planetary Ale, if you would like some?”
“Sounds great, Trigger. I’ll be at yours in half an hour.”
:::
As Trigger walked up the stairs, to the Snowflake apartment over the Sheriff’s Office, he called up.
“Beloved Coraline! I spoke to Urbel, he wants a chinwag. He’s on his way over!”
“Oh, thank you! I wanted to talk to him as well. I will set a third place!”
He sat down, to take his boots off and hang his gun belt in the vault by the stairs. He gave Coraline a hug, then sat down in the sofa, waiting for Urbel to arrive. Not ten minutes later, there was a loud knock on the front door.
He headed down the stairs, opened the small hatch in the door, to see who was waiting outside.
“Hello, Urbel. Dinner is almost ready, feel free to hang your laser revolver in the office vault, my beloved Coraline is not entirely fond of having firearms at the dinner table.”
“No problem, Trigger. I guess it’s the standard Sheriff lock?”
“Sure is. Coraline, darling! Urbel’s here!”
Laser revolver safely stored, they both headed up the stairs, greetings exchanged, and dinner eaten in silence.
“So, Sheriff Scrogginski, you wanted to talk?”, Coraline said.
“Yes, it’s this whole re-arrangement of the singer categories. As you know, I have been a finalist for fan singer a few years, now. And as far as I can tell, if this change goes through, I will be classed as a pro?”
“That is my understanding. Trigger, do you know?”
“Well, I was speaking to Ms Dimatis about this very thing, earlier today. And the conclusion we reached is that, since Urbel is paid for his recordings, yes, he would now fall under the professional category.”
“Thanks, Trigger. Well, Urbel, as you can hear, we both believe that to be true.”
“Yeah. That is what I thought. I am not sure how I feel about this. I mean, clearly, it will make it less likely for me to win. But, also, it is a bit of an ego boost, realising there are rules that makes me a professional singer.”
At this point, Drip-O-Matic 3000 beeped, signaling that the after-dinner coffee was ready.
With a cup of coffee in hand, Urbel leaned back in the recliner, while Trigger and Coraline sat side by side in the sofa.
“Thank you both, after some consideration, I think I am more flattered by being considered a professional, even if that means my competition for the Systems Literature Prize for Best Singer will be slightly harder. It will, if nothing else, mean that even getting to be a finalist will mean so much more.”
Don JT Michaels woke up, to see that the annual Systems Literature Convention would be held at Luna, this upcoming year. Being the successful poet that he was, he was definitely planning to attend. If nothing else, the membership and travel could of course be taken as a business expense.
He wrote a note to his assistant, to ensure that membership tickets were sorted, for everyone, had breakfast, then pondered the next poem in his epic cycle.
:::
With Trigger safely at home, doing whatever sheriffs do when they’re not patrolling, Coraline Snowflake was relaxing at her former establishment, sipping a cup of quite excellent dark roast from the Martian highlands. Opposite her was Barbara Dimatis, her former protégé and current owner of the Coffee Emporium, Fort Corallium’s premier coffee house and poetry salon.
“What do you think, Barbara?” “About?” “Oh, you haven’t read? It seems Javier Finch has been dis-invited from SysLiCon on Luna” “Really? Well, I am not entirely surprised after how the SysLiCon Awards were handled last year.” “No, but it is quite unprecedented.” “That it is, Coraline. Would you like another danish, these have chocolate in the middle? Anthrop, would you fetch us two danishes?” “Oh? Is he a new employee?”
“They. Yes, Anthrop started two days ago, working primarily as a coffee extractor, but we’re also considering starting serving bespoke cocktails, as they are a well-known bartender.”
:::
Later in the evening, Coraline came home, to a freshly arrived edition of “The Systems Literature Society’s Letters of Comment” and started reading.
> From the desk of Don JT Michaels
> Greetings, as you are probably all aware, LunaCon, the SysLiCon on
> Luna, is coming upon us. I have, of course, secured a convention
> membership, back when memberships opened. As I wanted to finalise my
> schedule, I reached out to the convention organisers, to ask what
> panels I had been assigned.
> You would not believe the reply I got back! A form, to fill out, to
> signal my areas of interest, my previous panel experience, and the
> like. Me? Why would they need that information? They know who I am.
> And clearly SysLiCons have, multiple times, managed to put me on
> panels without this.
> I am not sure what has happened here. But I am disappointed. I am a
> poet, writing epic poem cycles, to the adulations of all. Why would
> they not want me on panels? I do not understand.
Coraline scratched her head in confusion. She had attempted to be a panelist at the Luna SysLiCon and while a somewhat cumbersome process, it was pretty straight-forward. You told the conference organisers what you were willing to speak on, any panels you could propose, and eventually listed your (ranked) interest in the panels that they’d decided on.
Surely DJTM was capable of doing that? Or at least had an administrative assistant that could?
:::
The following day, Coraline was back at the Coffee Emporium, talking to Barbara, as she did almost every day.
“Well, this is leading up to be an interesting SysLiCon. We have the whole disinviting of Javier Finch. Then this weird thing from Don JT Michaels. And rumours have it that the Systems Literature Association’s annual meeting is going to have an agenda of hereto unseen proportions.”
“Yes, dear Coraline. You are entirely correct. I am actually sad that I will not be able to attend. The Emporium takes its tender care, as you well know.” “Yes, me and Trigger actually have memberships, but it seems he’s needing to stay behind, here in Fort Corallium.” “It is never easy. Although, I did speak to Anthrop this morning, and it seems they have a newly composed tipple for us to try. Would you like a taste?” “I would. May I?” “Go ahead.” “Mx Ologist, if you would please delight the palates of me and Barbara with you new creation?”
“Ms. Dimatis, thank you for the cuppa. It smells absolutely delicious.”
“Thank you, Trigger. It is the new house blend and roast.” “Thankfully, all things Mercury should now be well behind us.” “Yes, it is such a relief that SysLiCon is back on track.”
With a wide and determined stride, Coraline entered the Coffee Emporium.
“Trigger! Barbara! You will ṉot believe what I just got my hands on!”
“Darling Coraline,” Trigger said, “what could you possibly mean?” “This! This here document. I have had it fast-translated from Mercurian, so it is not fully accurate.” “Could you summarize it for us?” asked Barbara.
“Well. Let me sit down and have a few sips of that delicious-smelling coffee first.”
Barbara waved her hand in a complicated gesture and Svein, the new server, quickly brought a fresh cup over and placed it in front of Coraline, who took a cautious sip of the hot liquid, then let a quiet sigh of pleasure escape over her lips.
“Summarize? Yes. You know how SysLiCon was held on Mercury last year? To the great consternation of many. But, this here document is possibly even worse than that whole debacle. The document I showed you? Well, it is from the Quicksilver City Business Committee, detailing a plan for how Mercury in general and Quicksilver City specifically will become system leaders in poetry, using the intellectual property of SysLiCon, the SysLiCon Awards and the new Poetry Centre that was built for last year’s SysLiCon.”
“But,” said Barbara, “Can they do that?”
“Well,” answered Trigger, “It’s not entirely clear, one way or the other. Mercury have always had a loose observation of the trademark, copyright, and patent laws of other countries. So from that perspective, it’s understandable that they would try something like this.”
“But,” said Coraline, “What can we do?”
“I don’t know,” Barabara said. “There may be something in the SysLiCon statutes to block them? And they did mention that they’ll try to get SysLiCon back to Mercury in five years. This means they’ll need to put a bid in for the planet selection, in three years. So, if we can fast-track some language around eligibility for planet to host SysLiCon, before that, we may at least stop that.”
The three of them slowly sipped their coffee, eyes downcast.
“Aha!” exclaimed Trigger. “If we require planets to have elections that feature more than a single party for at least five out of the last six, national elections? That should in the general case make sure SysLiCon only takes place on democratic planets. Let me draft a motion for the Annual Meeting at the next SysLiCon!”
Trigger Snowflake and his wife Coraline were taking brunch at the Coffee Emporium when Barbara Dimatis, the proprietor, came over.
“I am so sad!” Barbara said. “Why is that, dear?” Coraline replied. “The finalists for the SysLiCon Award for Best Poetry Salon have been announced. And I had really hoped that the Emporium would have made it on this year.” “What? But? I know at least two dozen people who said they nominated the Emporium for the Salon category!” “I know. Well, we may see it in the data, once the Mercury SysLiCon is done.”
Nine months later, again during brunch, Barbara Dimatis approached the Snowflake table.
“You remember, a last year, when I was surprised that the Emporium was not a finalist for Best Salon?” “Yes, you were quite upset. Wasn’t she, Trigger?” “Well, the nomination statistics were just published.” “What? SysLiCon was over months ago! Aren’t the statistics usually available right at the end?” “Normally, yes. But, this time it took months. And looking through them, I noticed that The Coffee Emporium was explicitly disqualified from the Best Salon category!” “Oh, no! That must feel horrible for you!”
A few months before SysLiCon, on Mars.
Olaus Frond started to open the package he had just received. It should be the nominations for some of the SysLiCon award categories. As he flipped the first tab, with a hand trembling from anticipation and eagerness, he had a sinking feeling in the stomach. As the package opened, a small cloud of very small paper confetti puffed out of the box. He quickly peered inside, hoping this was only the normal detritus that paper collects.
His stomach now having the same feeling as unexpected free-fall, he saw that there was no such luck. A small portion, maybe a tenth, maybe a sixteenth, of the ballots has simply fallen apart during interplanetary transport.
Not knowing what to do about this novel situation, Olaus simply sighed and started normalizing and tabulating the nominations within the categories he were responsible for.
Around the same time, Luna Javier Finch was having an early dinner, when there was a knock on his door. He sighed, stood up and walked to the door.
“Who is it?” “Mr Finch? There is a hypercom for you.” “Hypercom? Who?” “They did not say. Please open.”
Incredibly perplexed, he opened the door. A courier extended a pad.
“Please sign here, Mr Finch”
Once he’d signed, he was handed a box, with an attached handset. He closed the door, brought the box to his kitchen table, then spoke into the handset.
“Javier Finch, to whom am I speaking?” “Ah, Mr Finch. A delight. I am Felix, the mayor of Sunspinner City, the host city for QuicksilverCon. I understand you are the function head for awards?” “Ah… Felix… Yes, that is correct.” “Good, good. Well, it so happens that, as you know, we have promised to provide interplanetary transport for every finalist, for every award.” “Yes, I am aware.” “Good, good. Now, there are some issues here. You see, some of the people we suspect may end up as finalists are on the No Land list here on Mercury. And you can see that this puts us in a bit of a pickle?” “It sounds problematic, yes.” “So, it would be good if none of them end up as finalists. It’d be SUCH a shame if they fly all the way to Mercury, just to have continue inwards, wouldn’t you say?” “Er, well, the integrity of the voting process…” “We here on Mercury are well aware of voting processes. How do you think I have won the mayoral election the last six times?” “But…” “Good, we understand each other. The hypercom will print the No Land list when we hang up. Bye!”
As Javier slowly placed the handset back in its cradle, the box buzzed, and several sheets of paper came out of a slot.
“Hmm”, Javier thought, “let me have a quick look… Barbara Dimatis?”
Barbara Dimatis sat down after a long week of working and answering the question ‘but why were you disqualified’ with ‘I have no idea’. She opened her copy of “The Solar System Times”, one of the system’s premier news sources.
System Literature Convention Awards Cloaked in Scandal!
The annual System Literature Convention, an event belowed by poetry afficionados throughout the system, has been rocked by a substantial scandal. This was revealed due to a careful study of the statistics required to be published for the awards process.
Among those wronged were Barbara Dimatis, of Fort Corallium, in Jupiter orbit. Ms Dimatis is the proprietor of the Coffee Emporium, a venue that has been holding celebrated poetry salons for the last few years.
Ms Dimatis has been somewhat controversial, in that she has a strict ban on Sulphur artists attending her salon. We have not been able to reach Ms Dimatis for a comment. Other artists who have spoken out include Gail Newman, who was nominated both in both Best Poem and Best Epic Cycle.
Mx Newman says that their poem “Dark and Stormy” was nominated for Best Poem, but is also part of their poetry collection “Nights”, was excluded from the Best Poem category and then the collection failed to get to finalist status in Best Epic Cycle. “It is a shame”, they said, “that they didn’t ask me, I would have preferred Dark and Stormy stand on its own, leaving Best Epic Cycle to other worthy contenders”.
When asked about what happened, the person if charge of the awards process, Javier Finch, only said “We have only applied the rules and laws under which we had to operate.”
Future developments will be reported by “The Times”, as they unfold and are verified.
Trigger picked up the latest dispatches from the Snowflake mailbox, before setting off to the Coffee Emporium, where his beloved Coraline would be engaged in conversation with Ms Dimatis.
He walked through the swinging doors, saw his wife and Barbara at a table, walked over and sat down.
“I brought the latest Comments. Let me hand them round, so we can read and react.”
Not three minutes later, Trigger was distracted from his reading by Ms Dimatis loudly inhaling. He looked up at her.
“Hmm?” “Oh, Trigger, this is astounding!” “What? What?” inquired Coraline. “Here! See! It is a Letter of Comment from the SysLiCon Brand Office. It seems that they have admonished and dismissed both Olaus Frond and Javier Finch, for their involvement with the Awards debacle at QuicksilverCon.” “Hm, well, that is well-deserved”, said Trigger, before taking a sip of quite excellent coffee.
People writing about the issues they care about is what keeps this community going. It’s a gift and privilege for me to be continually allowed to publish so many entertaining posts rich in creativity, humor, and shared adventures. Thanks to all of you who contributed to File 770 in 2022!
Stormm continued her humorous series about the misdirected emails she gets from Writer X throughout 2022, braiding together comedy, horror, and the pitfalls of being a writer.
…Thinking about Jules Verne, with the new TV version of Around the World in Eighty Days about to start, I just bought the Wesleyan edition of Five Weeks in a Balloon, translated by Frederick Paul Walter – after researching what the good modern translations of Verne are. Verne has been abysmally translated into English over the years, but there’s been a push to correct that….
… It was on FaceBook where I first saw friends’ posting about Opening Ceremonies. According to what was posted, some of the musical selections performed by students from the Duke Ellington School spotlighted the religious aspects of the Christmas holiday.
My immediate reaction was that this was not an appropriate part of Opening Ceremonies, especially since, as far as I know, the religious aspect of the performance was not contained in the descriptions in any convention publication. The online description of Opening Ceremonies says, in its entirety: “Welcome to the convention. We will present the First Fandom and Big Heart awards, as well as remarks from the Chair.” The December 9, 2021, news release about the choir’s participation did not mention that there would be a religious component to the performance….
Whew! We made it. We made it to Issue 100 of the Grantville Gazette. This is an incredible feat by a large group of stakeholders. Thank you, everyone.
I don’t think Eric Flint had any idea what he’d created when he sent Jim Baen the manuscript for 1632. In the intervening two-plus decades, the book he intended to be a one-shot novel has grown like the marshmallow man in Ghostbusters to encompass books from two publishing houses, a magazine (this one, that you are holding in your metaphorical hands) and allowed over 165 new authors to see their first published story in print. The Ring of Fire Universe, or the 1632 Universe, has more than twelve million words published….
This message was written by a fan in Moscow 48 hours ago. It is unsigned but was relayed by a trustworthy source who confirms the writer is happy for it to be published by File 770. It’s a fan’s perspective, a voice we may not hear much….
Right now, when I’m sitting at my desktop and writing this text, a cannonade nearby doesn’t stop. The previous night was scary in Kyiv. Evidently, Russians are going to start demolishing Ukrainian capital like they are doing with Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Mariupol.
The Ukrainian SFF Community joined the efforts to isolate Russia, the nazi-country of the 21st century, to force them to stop the war. The boycott by American authors we asked for is also doing the job. Many leading writers and artists of the great United States already joined the campaign.
We appealed to SFWA to also join the campaign, and here is what they replied…
Fortunately, comic-carrying newspapers are, of course, all (also or only) online these days, but even then, some require subscriptions (fair enough), and to get all the ones you want. For example, online, the Washington Post, has about 90, while the Boston Globe is just shy of a paltry one-score-and-ten. And (at least in Firefox), they don’t seem to be visible in all-on-one-page mode, much less customize-a-page-of.
So, for several years now, I’ve been going to the source — two “syndicates” that sell/redistribute many popular strips to newspapers….
There’s been a lot of excitement about Squid Game. Everybody’s talking about how clever, original, and utterly skiffy it is. I watched it, too, eagerly and faithfully. But I wasn’t as surprised by it as some. I expected it to be good. I’ve been watching Korean video for ten years, and have only grown more addicted every year. And yet I just can’t convince many people to watch it with me….
Let me tell you about my favorite building in Washington, D.C. It’s the staid old Arts and Industries Building, the second-oldest of all the Smithsonian Institution buildings, which dates back to the very early 1880s and owes its existence to the Smithsonian’s then urgent need for a place where parts of its collection could go on public display….
When we last left the Heinleins (“What the Heinleins Told the 1940 Census”), a woman answering the door at 8777 Lookout Mountain – Leslyn Heinlein, presumably — had just finished telling the 1940 census taker a breathtaking raft of misinformation. Including that her name was Sigred, her husband’s was Richard, that the couple had been born in Germany, and they had a young son named Rolf.
Ten years have passed since then, and the archives of the 1950 U.S. Census were opened to the public on April 1. There’s a new Mrs. Heinlein – Virginia. The 8777 Lookout Mountain house in L.A. has been sold. They’re living in Colorado Springs. What did the Heinleins tell the census taker this time?…
“In the future, there was a nuclear war. And because of all the radiation, cats developed the ability to shoot lasers out of their mouths.”
On this dubious premise, Laser Cats was founded. By its seventh and final episode, the great action stars and directors of the day had contributed their considerable talents to this highly entertaining, yet frankly ridiculous enterprise. From James Cameron to Lindsey Lohan, Josh Brolin to Steve Martin, Laser Cats attracted the best in the business.
Being part of Saturday Night Live undoubtedly helped….
The Emeka Walter Dinjos Memorial Award For Disability In Speculative Fiction aims to award disability in speculative fiction in two ways. One, by awarding a writer of speculative fiction for their representation or portrayal of disability in a world of speculative fiction, whatever their health status; and two, by awarding a disabled writer for a work of speculative fiction in general, whatever the focus of the work may be….
Robert Osband, Florida fan, really loves space. All his life he has been learning about spaceflight. And reading stories about spaceflight, in science fiction.
So after NASA’s Apollo program was over, the company that made Apollo space suits held a garage sale, and Ozzie showed up. He bought a “training liner” from ILC Dover, a coverall-like portion of a pressure suit, with rings at the wrists and neck to attach gloves and helmet.
And another time, in 1976, when one of his favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein, was going to be Guest of Honor at a World Science Fiction Convention, Mr. Osband journeyed to Kansas City.
In his suitcase was his copy of Heinlein’s Have Space Suit, Will Travel—a novel about a teenager who wins a secondhand space suit in a contest—and his ILC Dover suit.
Because if you wanted to get your copy of Have Space Suit, Will Travel autographed, and you happened to own a secondhand space suit, it would be a shame NOT to wear it, right?…
… I’m sure that our first face-to-face meeting was in 1979, when my job in industry took me from Chattanooga all the way out to Los Angeles for some much-needed training in electrochemistry. I didn’t really know anybody in L.A. fandom back then but I did know the address of the LASFS clubhouse, so on my next-to-last evening in town I dropped in on a meeting. And it was there that I found Bruce mostly surrounded by other fans while they all expounded on fandom as it existed back then and what it might be like a few years down the road. It was like a jazz jam session, but all words and no music. I settled back into the periphery, enjoying all the back-and-forth, and when there eventually came a lull in the conversations I took the opportunity to introduce myself. And then Bruce said something to me that I found very surprising: “Dick Lynch! I’ve heard of you!”…
It was back in 2014 that a student filmmaker at Stephen F. Austin State University, Ricky Kennedy, created an extraordinary short movie titled The History of Time Travel. Exploration of “what ifs” is central to good storytelling in the science fiction genre and this little production is one of the better examples of how to do it the right way.
For a long time, I’ve felt the Short Form Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation was not properly organized to give an award to the best “Television” SF of the previous year….
Lavie Tidhar’s Neom is a stunning return to his world of Central Station, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea….
… It is through Joy and Cassimer’s eyes we experience S.A. Tholin’s Iron Truth, a finalist of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. If there was ever a case of the cream rising to the top this book is one….
… A couple of odd things, though. He had $300 on him, that wasn’t stolen, and an unusual rosary, with what seems to be the wrong number of beads. It’s a puzzle….
In T. A. Bruno’s In the Orbit of Sirens, a Self-Published Science Fiction Competition finalist, the remnants of the human race have fled the solar system ahead of an alien culture that is assimilating everyone in reach. Loaded aboard a vast colony ship they’re headed for a distant refuge, prepared to pioneer a new world, but unprepared to meet new threats there to human survival that are as great as the ones they left behind.
On the morning of Carmen Grey’s sixth birthday an armed team arrives to take her from her parents and remove her to the underground facility where Clairvoyants — like her — are held captive and trained for years to access their abilities. So begins Monster of the Dark by K. T. Belt, a finalist in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition….
G.M. Nair begins Duckett and Dyer: Dicks for Hire by making a surprising choice. His introductory scene explicitly reveals to readers the true nature of the mysterious events that the protagonists themselves uncover only very slowly throughout the first half of the book. The introduction might even be the penultimate scene in the book — which would make sense in a story that is partly about time travel loops. Good idea or bad idea?…
… What sounds like Firefly also describes the SPSFC finalist novel Captain Wu: Starship Nameless #1, a space opera by authors Patrice Fitzgerald and Jack Lyster. I love Firefly so it wasn’t a big leap to climb aboard this vessel….
…. It would be exceptionally embarrassing for a Worldcon to have to explain why a finalist would have won the Hugo except for — oops! — this bit of outdated fine print. The best course of action is to eliminate that fine print before such a circumstance arises….
The social media of the 30th century doesn’t seem so different: teenagers anonymously perform acts of civil disobedience and vandalism to score points and raise their ranking in an internet app. That’s where Aster Vale leads a secret life as the Wildflower, a street artist and tagger, in A Star Named Vega by Benjamin J. Roberts, a Self-Published Science Fiction competition finalist…..
R F Kuang’s Babel is an audacious and unrelenting look at colonialism, seen through the lens of an alternate 19th century Britain where translation is the key to magic. Kuang’s novel is as sharp and perceptive as it is well written, deep, and bears reflection upon, after reading, for today’s world….
Paul Weimer went to donate some books at Don Blyly’s new location for Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s bookstores. While he was inside Paul shot these photographs of the bookshelves being stocked and other work in progress.
… Another contributor to the Afrofuturist tradition is Nicole Mitchell, a noted avant-jazz composer and flutist. She chose to take on Octavia Butler’s most challenging works, the Xenogenesis Trilogy, and create the Xenogenesis Suite, a collection of dark and disturbing compositions that reflect the trilogy’s turbulent and complicated spirit….
Anna carefully arranged the necessary objects around her desktop computer into a pentagon: sharpened pencils, a legal pad, a half-empty coffee cup, and a copy of Science Without Sorcery, with the chair at the fifth point. This done, she intoned the spell that would open the channel to her muse for long enough to write the final pages of her work-in-progress. Then she could get ready for the convention….
… In the last five years, the [Hugo Awards Study Committee] [HASC] has changed precisely two words of the Constitution. (Since you asked: adding the words “or Comic” to the title of the “Best Graphic Story” category.) The HASC’s defenders will complain that we had two years of pandemic, and that the committee switched to Discord rather than email only this year, and that there are lots of proposals this year. But the fact remains that so far the practical impact has been slower than I imagined when I first proposed the Committee…..
In Michaele Jordan’s overview, she comments on the novellas by Aliette de Bodard, Becky Chambers, Alix E. Harrow, Seanan McGuire, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Catherynne M. Valente that are up for the 2022 Hugo.
… Once we had a lot of science fiction, little fantasy; lately we’ve had a lot of fantasy; so Powers’ writing fantasy does not seem particularly defiant.
His fantasy has generally been — to use a word which may provoke defiance — rigorous. Supernatural phenomena occur, may be predicted, aroused, avoided, as meticulously — a word whose root means fear — as we in our world start an automobile engine or put up an umbrella. Some say this has made his writing distinctive….
The day of reckoning is here for E Pluribus Hugo. The change in the way Hugo Awards nominations are counted was passed in 2015 and ratified in 2016 to counter how Sad and Rabid Puppies’ slates dictated most of finalists on the Hugo ballots in those years. It came with a 2022 sunset clause attached, and E Pluribus Hugo must be re-ratified this year in order to remain part of the WSFS Constitution….
… His name is Joel Nydahl, and back about the time of that Chicon he was a 14-year-old neofan who lived with his parents on a farm near Marquette, Michigan. He was an avid science fiction reader and at some point in 1952 decided to publish a fanzine. It was a good one….
… Abigail Kamara, younger cousin of police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, has been left largely unsupervised while he’s off in the sticks on a case. This leaves Abigail making her own decisions when she notices that kids roughly her age are disappearing–but not staying missing long enough for the police to care….
Friends, let me tell you about one of my favorite TV shows. But I must admit to you up front that it’s not SF/F. Extraordinary Attorney Woo is, as I assume you’ve deduced from the title, a lawyer show. But it’s a KOREAN lawyer show, which should indicate that is NOT run of the mill….
Joseph Campbell was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College, and wrote extensively about comparative mythology. His “hero’s journey” theory has been extremely influential….
… The Phantom Empire, a twelve-chapter Mascot serial, was originally released in February, 1935. A strange concoction for a serial, it is at once science fiction film, a Western, and strangely enough, a musical. It was the first real science fiction sound serial and its popularity soon inspired other serials about fantastic worlds….
… I find myself explaining the changes to membership in the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) and the conditions for attending the World Science Fiction Convention that were ratified this year in Chicago (and thus are now in effect, because this was the second vote on the changes)…
Chicon 8’s Chicago Worldcon Community Fund (CWCF) program offered both memberships and financial stipends. It was established with the goal of helping defray the expenses of attending Chicon 8 for the following groups of people:
Non-white fans or program participants • LGBTQIA+ fans or program participants • Local Chicago area fans of limited means…
The London Underground has ghosts. Well, the London Underground always has ghosts, but usually they’re gentle, sad creatures. Lately there’s been an outbreak of more aggressive ghosts….
As environmental problems caused by industrialisation and post-industrialisation continue to increase, the public is looking for ecological solutions. As pandemics, economic crises, and wars plague our society in different ways, thoughts turn to the good old times. But were they really all that good? People are escaping increasingly into fantastical stories in order to find a quantum of solace. But at what point was there a utopia in our society. If so, at what or whose cost did it exist? Whether or not we ever experience living in a utopia, the idea of finally finding one drives us to continue seeking ideal living conditions….
… Capclave appeared to be equally star-crossed in its next iteration. It was held over the weekend of October 18-20, 2002, and once again the attendees were brought closer together by an event taking place in the outside world. The word had spread quickly through all the Saturday night room parties: “There’s been another shooting.” Another victim of the D.C. Sniper….
… In Fairy Tale, his newest novel, Stephen King delivers a, cough, grimm contemporary story, explicitly incorporating horror in the, cough, spirit of Lovecraft (King also explicitly namedrops, in the text, August Derleth, and Henry Kuttner), in which high-schooler Charlie Reade becomes involved in things — and challenges — that, as the book and plot progress, stray beyond the mundane….
The idea of an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories about the Beatles seems like a natural. I’ve been told the two editors, each unbeknownst to the other, both presented the idea to the publisher around the same time…
The Science Museum (that’s the world famous one in Kensington, London) has just launched a new exhibit on what Carl Sagan once mused (though not mentioned in the exhibit itself) science fiction and science’s ‘dance’. SF2 Concatenation reprographic supremo Tony Bailey and I were invited by the Museum to have a look on the exhibition’s first day. (The exhibition runs to Star Wars day 2023, May the Fourth.) Having braved Dalek extermination at the Museum’s entrance, we made our way to the exhibition’s foyer – decorated with adverts to travel to Gallifrey – to board our shuttle….
I was at the 2022 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival in Rockville, MD today. If you’re wondering why the festival is there, that’s where Fitzgerald and his wife are buried. Now, I’d never read any of Fitzgerald`s writing, so I spent the evening before reading the first three chapters of The Great Gatsby (copyright having expired last year, it’s online). So far, I’ve yet to find anyone in it that I want to spend any time with, including the narrator.
However, the reason I attended was to see Kim Stanley Robinson, who was the special guest at the Festival. The end of the morning’s big event was a conversation between Stan and Richard Powers. Then there was lunch, and a keynote speaker, then Stan introducing Powers to receive an award from the society that throws the annual Festival….
A recent possible record could be the SF2 Concatenation’s website 2012 Eurocon Award voted on by those at the European SF Society’s convention which, that year, was held in Croatia….
Snuff is our narrator, here, and he’s a smart, interesting, likable dog. He’s the friend and partner of a man called Jack, and they are preparing for a major event….
…As a child, I kept a notebook filled with my favorite quotes. (How did I not know I was going to be an author?) The first quote? “Not all who wander are lost.” There was everything from 90s rom com lines to Wordsworth poems in that notebook, but Tolkien filled the most pages….
Louis Wu is 200 years old, and he’s bored. It’s his 200th birthday, and he’s using transfer booths to extend the celebration of it for a full twenty-four hours, and he’s really bored….
How can Halloween be over already? We barely had time to watch thirty horror movies –and those mostly classics, which are less than half our (horror) collection!
There is a fundamental implausibility to easy manned interstellar (or even interplanetary) space travel that nonetheless remains a seductive idea even in our wiser and more cynical and weary 21st century. …
Alif is a young man, a “gray hat” hacker, selling his skills to provide cybersecurity to anyone who needs that protection from the government. He lives in an unnamed city-state in the Middle East, referred to throughout simply as the City. He’s nonideological; he’ll sell his services to Islamists, communists, anyone….
Journalist, author, genre historian (and fan, certainly, from the 1940s and on!) Bertil Falk is acclaimed for performing the “impossible” task of translating Finnegans Wake to Swedish, the modernist classic by James Joyce, under the title Finnegans likvaka….
The protagonist of the first short novel in this omnibus — which is in fact Eye of Cat — is William Blackhorse Singer, a Navajo born in the 20th century, and still alive, and fit and healthy, almost two centuries later….
One fine Monday morning, Peter Grant is summoned to Baker Street Station on the London Underground, to assess whether there was anything “odd,” i.e., involving magic, about the death of a young man on the tracks….
…If you’re not a fan, then there’s a real chance you have no idea how much range animé encompasses. And I’m not even talking about the entire range of kid shows, sit-coms and drama. (I’m aware there may be limits to your tolerance. I’m talking about the range within SF/F. Let’s consider just three examples….
While I subscribe to the practice that, as a rule, reviews and review-like write-ups, if not intended as a piece of critical/criticism, should stick to books the reviewer feels are worth the readers reading, sometimes (I) want to, like Jerry Pournelle’s “We makes these mistakes and do this stuff so you dont have to” techno-wrangling Chaos Manor columns, give a maybe-not-your-cup-of-paint-remover head’s-up. This is one of those….
It’s been 30 years since the passing of my friend Roger Weddall. I doubt very many of you reading this had ever met him and I wouldn’t be surprised, actually, if most of you haven’t even heard of him. Thirty years is a long time and the demographics of fandom has changed a lot. So let me tell you a little bit about him….
I expect a lot of File 770’s readers watched, as we did, as the Orion capsule returned to Terra. I’m older than some of you, and it’s been decades since I watched a capsule re-entry and landing in the ocean. What had me in tears is that finally, after fifty years, we’re planning to go back… and stay….
Poul Anderson began writing his own “future history” in the 1950s, with its starting point being that there would be a limited nuclear war at some point in the 1950s. From that point would develop a secret effort to build a new social structure that could permanently prevent war….
…As with Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water is a visual feast. Unlike the first film, there aren’t long sweeping pans lingering over beautiful, otherworldly vistas. The “beautiful” and the “otherworldly” are still there, but we’re seeing them incorporated into the action and storytelling….
Today we celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Harry Warner, Jr., who was perhaps the best-known stay-at-home science fiction fan of all time….
…But having learned that she can see and talk to ghosts, and that they all have unresolved problems they want to solve, she can’t always say no when they ask her for help….
…Xich Si is a tech scavenger, living in Triệu Hoà Port, and scavenging tech to sell and support herself and her daughter, when she’s captured by pirates. ….
… When I was growing up, children like myself were taught, no, more like indoctrinated, to think the United States was the BEST place to grow up, that our country was ALWAYS in the right and that our institutions were, for the most part, unassailable and impervious to criticism from anyone, especially foreigners.
I grew up in Ohio in the 1960’s and despite what I was being taught in a parochial Catholic grade school (at great expense, I might add, by my hard-working parents), certain things I was experiencing did not add up. News of the violence and casualties during the Vietnam War was inescapable. I remember watching the evening network news broadcasts and being horrified by the number of people (on all sides of the conflict) being wounded or killed on a daily basis.
As the years went on, it became harder to reconcile all of the violence, terrorism, public assassinations and the racism I was experiencing with the education I was receiving. The Pentagon Papers and the Watergate break-ins coincided with my high school years and the beginnings of my political awakening.
When I look back on those formative days of my life, I see myself as a small child, set out upon a sea of prejudice and whiteness, in a boat of hetero-normaltity, destination unknown….
… After I introduced myself to Mr. Weir and Mr. Bell, I said, “You and I have something in common.”
“Oh really? What’s that?”
“You and I are the only 2022 Hugo Award nominees within a hundred-mile radius of this bookstore.” (I stated that because I know that our fellow nominee, Jason Sanford, lives in Columbus, Ohio, hence the reference to the mileage.)…
Despite some very harsh comments from Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Roscosmos, threatening that “If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?” spacefarers seem to have a different perspective and understanding of the importance of international cooperation, respect and solidarity. This appears to have been demonstrated today when three cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station….
Forty-five years ago or thereabouts, on February 26, 1977, the first ‘prog’ of 2000AD was released by IPC magazines. The second issue dated March 5 a week later saw the debut of Judge Dredd. Since then, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis the Warlock, Halo Jones, Sláine, Judge Anderson, Strontium Dog, Roxy and Skizz, The ABC Warriors, Bad Company and Proteus Vex are just some of the characters and stories that have emanated from the comic that was started by Pat Mills and John Wagner. Some have gone on to be in computer games, especially as the comic was purchased by Rebellion developments in 2000, and Judge Dredd has been brought to the silver screen twice.
Addictive and enjoyable stories of the fantastic, written and drawn by some of the greatest comic creators of the latter part of the 20th century, they often related to the current, utilizing Science Fiction to obscure issues about violence or subversiveness, but reflecting metaphorically about the now of the time….
“Fight With Art” is an exhibition of Ukrainian Contemporary Art created under exceptional circumstances taking place now in Kraków at the Manggha Museum until April 30.
We reached out to curator Artur Wabik to learn more of this topical exhibition…
Steve Vertlieb, William Shatner, and Erwin Vertlieb.
Traditionally, the start of a new year is a time when film critics begin assembling their lists of the best films, actors, writers, composers, and directors of the past year. What follows, then, while honoring that long-held tradition, is a comprehensive compilation and deeply personal look at the finest film scores of the past nearly one hundred years….
The frenzy of joyous controversy swirling over director Adam McKay’s new film Don’t Look Up has stirred a healthy, if frenetic debate over the meaning and symbology of this bonkers dramedy. On its surface a cautionary satire about the impending destruction of the planet, Don’t Look Up is a deceptively simplistic tale of moronic leadership refusing to accept a grim, unpleasant reality smacking it in its face.
What follows is truly one of the most personally heartfelt, poignant, and heartbreaking remembrances that I’ve ever felt compelled to write.
Veronica Carlson was a dear, close, cherished friend for over thirty years. I learned just now that this dear sweet soul passed away today. I am shocked and saddened beyond words. May God rest her beautiful soul.
After interviewing William Shatner for the British magazine L’Incroyable Cinema during the torrid Summer of 1969 at “The Playhouse In The Park,” just outside of Philadelphia, while Star Trek was still in the final days of its original network run on NBC, my old friend Allan Asherman, who joined my brother Erwin and I for this once-in-a-lifetime meeting with Captain James Tiberius Kirk, astutely commented that I had now met and befriended all three of our legendary boyhood “Captains,” which included Jim Kirk (William Shatner), Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers (Larry “Buster” Crabbe), and Buzz Corry (Edward Kemmer), Commander of the Space Patrol….
… The first of the most important music modernists, however, in the post war era and “Silver Age” of film composers was Elmer Bernstein who would, had he lived, be turning one hundred years old on April 4th, 2022. Although he would subsequently prove himself as able as classic “Golden Age” composers of writing traditional big screen symphonic scores, with his gloriously triumphant music for Cecil B De Mille’s 1956 extravaganza, The Ten Commandments….
… She was just four days into her maiden voyage from Southhampton to New York City when this “Unsinkable” vessel met disaster and finality, sailing into history, unspeakable tragedy, and maritime immortality. May God Rest Her Eternal Soul … the souls of the men, women, and children who sailed and perished during those nightmarish hours, and to all those who go courageously “Down to The Sea in Ships.” This horrifying remembrance remains among the most profoundly significant of my own seventy-six years….
… It is true that Seth MacFarlane, the veteran satirist who both created and stars in the science fiction series, originally envisioned [The Orville] as a semi-comedic tribute to Gene Roddenberry’s venerable Star Trek. However, the show grew more dramatic in its second season on Fox, while it became obvious that MacFarlane wished to grow outside the satirical box and expand his dimensional horizons and ambitions….
… I was born in the closing weeks of 1945, and grasped at my tentative surroundings with uncertain hands. It wasn’t until 1950 when I was four years old that my father purchased a strange magical box that would transform and define my life. The box sat in our living room and waited to come alive. Three letters seemed to identify its persona and bring definition to its existence. Its name appeared to be RCA, and its identity was known as television….
He was a kindly, gentle soul who lived among us for a seeming eternity. But even eternity is finite. He was justifiably numbered among the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Among the limitless vistas of science fiction and fantasy he was, perhaps, second only in literary significance to H.G. Wells who briefly shared the last century with him. Ray Bradbury was, above all else, the poet laureate of speculative fiction….
On June 11, 1982, America and the world received the joyous gift of one of the screen’s most beloved fantasy film classics and, during that memorable Summer, a young aspiring television film critic reviewed a new film from director Steven Spielberg called E.T….
…Before I realized it, tables and chairs were being moved and I felt the hands of paramedics lifting me to the floor of the restaurant. Les was attempting to perform CPR on me, and I was drifting off into unconciousness. I awoke to find myself in an ambulance with assorted paramedics pounding my chest, while attempting to verbally communicate with me. I was aware of their presence, but found myself unable to speak….
After nearly dying a little more than a decade ago during and just after major open heart surgery, I fulfilled one of the major dreams of my life…meeting the man who would become my last living life long hero. I’d adored him as far back as 1959 when first hearing the dramatic strains of the theme from Checkmate on CBS Television. That feeling solidified a year later in 1960 with the rich, sweet strains of ABC Television’s Alcoa Premiere, hosted by Fred Astaire, followed by Wide Country on NBC….
…When Jack Warner was casting the film version of the smash hit, he considered performers such as Cary Grant, James Cagney, or Frank Sinatra for the lead. Meredith Willson, the show’s composer, however, demanded that Robert Preston star in the movie version of his play, or he’d withdraw the contracts and licensing. The film version of The Music Man, produced for Warner Brothers, and starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, opened to rave reviews on movie screens across the country in 1962. Robert Preston, like Rex Harrison in Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady, had proven that older, seasoned film stars could propel both Broadway and big screen musicals to enormous artistic success….
On the evening of May 14, 1998, following the airing over NBC Television of the series finale of Seinfeld, the world and I received the terrible news of the passing of the most beloved entertainer of the twentieth century. It has been twenty-four years since he left this mortal realm, but the joy, the music, and the memories are as fresh and as vital today as when they were born….
I had the honor and distinct pleasure of both knowing and sharing correspondence with British actor Peter Cushing for several years during the late Sixties and early Seventies….
Very exciting news. The long awaited CD soundtrack release of 12 O’Clock High is now available for purchase through La-La Land Records and is a major restoration of precious original tracks from Quinn Martin’s beloved television series….
That terrible day in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 remains one of the most significantly traumatic days of my life. I was just seventeen years old. I was nearing the end of my high school classes at Northeast High School in Philadelphia when word started spreading through the hallways and corridors that JFK had been shot. I listened in disbelief, praying that it wasn’t true … but it was….
I recently watched a somber new three part documentary by film maker Ken Burns that is among the most sobering, heartbreaking, and horrifying indictments of humanity that I have ever encountered. It was extremely difficult to watch but, as an American Jew, I remain struck by the similarities between the rise in Fascism in the early nineteen thirties, leading to the beginnings of Nazism in Germany, and the attempted decimation of the Jewish people in Europe and throughout the world, with the repellant echoes of both racial and religious intolerance, and the mounting hatred and suspicion of the Jewish communities and population residing presently in my own country of birth, these United States….
I’ve read with interest some of the recent discussions concerning the measure of Hugo Friedhofer’s importance as a composer, and it set my memory sailing back to another time in a musical galaxy long ago and far away. I have always considered Maestro Friedhofer among the most important, if underrated, composers of Hollywood’s golden era….
…Steven Spielberg’s reverent semi-autobiographical story of youthful dreams and aspirations is, for me, the finest, most emotionally enriching film of the year, filled with photographic memories, and indelible recollections shared both by myself and by the film maker….
These photographs are of an annual Christmas tradition at American Heritage Federal Credit Union located at Red Lion and Jamison Roads in Northeast Philadelphia….
…This was the man who brought such incalculable joy and hope to so many millions of filmgoers with his quintessential Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life. …
My friend Adam Spector tells me that when Ernest Lehman was asked to write the script for North by Northwest, he tried to turn out the most “Hotchcocky” script he could, with all of Hitchcock’s obsessions in one great motion picture.
Moonfall is the most “Emmerichian” film Roland Emmerich is made. Like his earlier films, it has flatulent melodrama interlaced with completely daft science. But everything here is much more intense than his earlier work. But the only sense of wonder you’ll get from this film is wondering why the script got greenlit….
… Having a long career in Hollywood is a lot harder than in other forms of publishing; you’ve got to have the relentless drive to pursue your vision and keep making sales. To an outsider, what is astonishing about J. Michael Straczynski’s career is that it has had a third act and may well be in the middle of a fourth. His career could have faded after Babylon 5. The roars that greeted him at the 1996 Los Angeles Worldcon (where, it seemed, every conversation had to include the words, “Where’s JMS?”) would have faded and he could have scratched out a living signing autographs at media conventions….
When I read in the Financial Times about how Britain’s National Theatre was adapting Sir Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, the first volume of his Book of Dust trilogy, I told myself, “That’s a play for me! I’ll just fly over to London and see it! OGH is made of money, and he’ll happily pay my expenses!”
Fortunately, I didn’t have to go to London, because the theatre came to me, with a screening of the National Theatre Live production playing at the American Film Institute. So, I spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon seeing it….
… Stories matter more in the theatre than in film because far more of a play is in our imagination than in a film. Stripped of CGI and rewrites by multiple people, what plays offer at their best is one person’s offering us something where, if it works, we tell ourselves, “Yes, that was a good evening in the theatre,” and if it doesn’t, we gnash our teeth and feel miserable until we get home…
As Anton Ego told us in Ratatouille, the goal of a critic today is to be the first person to offer praise to a rising artist. It’s not the tenth novel that deserves our attention but the first or second. In the theatre, the people who need the most attention are the ones who are being established, not the ones that build on earlier successes.
So I’m happy to report that Matthew Aldwin McGee, author, star, and chief puppeteer of Under the Sea with Dredgie McGee is a talented guy who has a great deal of potential. You should be watching him….
I once read an article about a guy who was determined to live life in 1912. He lived in a shack in the woods, bought a lot of old clothes, a Victrola, and a slew of old books and magazines. I don’t remember how he made a living, but the article made clear that he was happy….
A round-table conversation of the Elemental Smart-Alec Club, planetary day 7928
Rick ven Fleerbo: I guess you have all heard that them there Anti-Sulphurists are trying to Going-Away me. I am not sure what imagined grief they have with me, this time. Probaby as made-up as everything else they’ve chased me for.
John ven Fengsler: I hear you. I have seen it myself. There’s been many LoCs that have tried to make you a Persion Without Grater in the literary magazines.
Anna min Scorch: I cannot believe the things they make up. Chasing after innocent Sulphurists for no reason what-so-ever. We should write angry Letters of Comment, denouncing all Going-Awayists!
RvF: Yes. It is all so bad.
***
A Letter of Comment, published in Smelly Compounds
Venus, planetary day 7931, from the pen of Anna min Scorch
Fellow Sulphurists!
We need to do something! As late as yesterday, my oldest child arrived home from school, telling me that they’re forced to study hydro-carbons in chemistry class! Hydro! Carbons! Not a single pure yellow atom of Sulphur in that! Only icky hydrogen and dirty dirty carbon!
Please, fellow Artistes. Join me in a letter-writing campaign to have my oldest child’s chemistry teacher fired! It is for a good cause! These things must not be tolerated! Something must be DONE!
***
Trigger Snowflake walked down the Main Street of Fort Corallium, doffing his hat towards, and greeting, his fellow citizens. It had been a quiet few weeks. Not much happening, locally. In the larger Solar System, however, things were not as quiet as they could be. The Saturn Federation had been making noise about the moons of Uranus. To the point of sending liner ships into Uranian orbit.
No matter, Trigger’s responsibility was Fort Corallium, not the system at large. However, other members of the Sheriff’s Union may end up in trouble because of it.
He tried, as much as he could, leave these intrusive thoughts behind him, as he was just about to finish off a day of patrolling the neighbourhood, making Fort Corallium safe for law-abiding citizens. And soon, it was time to return home, to say a hearty “good evening” to Mrs. Snowflake. Trigger could not quite make up his mind if that “good evening”, the customary “sleep well”, or maybe the first “good morning” was the best part of the day. But it probably was one of them.
***
Coraline was down at the Coffee Emporium, just finishing a last cup and reading through this week’s selected Letters of Comments from her clip-and-file service. After sorting through them, one caught her eye for immediate and detailed reading.
\[Cut from “Venewsian News”, LoC column\] Uranianism is a Rock-Planet
Sponsored Misconception
by Briney ven Pommeln
I have been asked multiple times, as a resident on the Saturnian moons, been asked how I view the recent liberation mission of the Saturnian space force to Uranus.
Well, it is quite simple. There is no such thing as a Uranus nationality. Uranus was until very recently a member planet of the Saturnalian Federation. It has been a part of Saturnalian national identity for centuries.
The so-called Uranian Identity is manufactured and sponsored by state actors from rocky planets. Living on the moon of a gas planet, I know that they are not to be trusted, and all we can do to liberate the Uranian moons is right, just, and should be done.
Only two weeks ago, there were fervent pleas from the moon of Miranda, to the Saturnial parliament, to come and liberate them from their Uranian oppressors. And now that the Saturnalian fleet is on its way, we can look forward to a Uranus, returned to the Saturnalian crowd.
Peace to our gas giants, in our time.
***
Coraline dropped her stack of papes down onto the table, as she audibly gasped.
“Coraline, dear, what is it?” enquired Barbara.
“Barbara, I have just read the most horrible thing, from the QuicksilverCon Guest of Honour.”
“Briney ven Pommeln? What’s he written now?” “Oh, I cannot possibly summarise it quickly, please read yourself!”
Ms. Dimatis read through the clipped LoC, then also audibly gasped.
“Oh my. I wonder if QuicksilverCon will have to disinvite him, now?”
