Tag Archives: Journey Planet

Pixel Scroll 5/22/25 The Pixel Of Doctor Islandia And Other Scrolls, And Other Scrolls

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(1) WRITE ON DEMAND PUBLISHING. Chuck Tingle wasted no time capitalizing on the Chicago Sun-Times’ gaffe of including numerous AI-hallucinated titles on its summer recommended reading list. He has slightly adjusted the author’s name from Andy Weir to Andy Mirror, which will probably help keep his lawyer happy.

(2) THE ANARCHY AND THE ECSTASY. Molly Templeton argues “Magic Doesn’t Have to Make Sense” at Reactor.

For reasons I’m not sure I will ever fully understand, the topic of magic and rules comes up with slightly alarming frequency in SFF circles. So much so, in fact, that it is very tempting to use ominous capital letters when referring to the two bits of said topic: Magic and Rules. Does magic have to have rules? Would everyone just run about drunk with power if the rules did not constrain their magics in some way? What are rules, and what are parameters? If limits are not imposed upon wizards, will they ever impose them upon themselves? When does magic become science, and how much of this entire topic can I throw at the feet of Clarke’s third law?

That law, for those in need of a refresher, states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Fair enough. But must we try to reverse-engineer this?…

… I am here instead to sing the praises of rebellious, lawless, delightfully un-rulebound magic—not just the kind people do, but also the kind that simply is. I tried to find an example from Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland books and was overwhelmed with them: the wyverary (half wyvern, half library); Gleam the lamp; the smartly dressed Green Wind; the whole thing with the moon in the third book: Valente writes like she’s never heard of “rules,” and I have never wanted anything in one of her novels explained to me any further than she explains it. Strange, arguably magical things happen in Helen Oyeyemi books, and whenever they—or she—run up against a rule, whether of science or nature or anything else, it goes ignored. A lot of my favorite books, I can’t remember how the magic works. And I mean that as a compliment. In The Incandescent, magic exists, and some people are just better at various kinds of it than others. (Some of it involves invoking demons, and if you mess up that kind, well, magic definitely has a price.) Magic in The Magicians comes from pain. That’s fine. That’s a source, not a rule (one does have to learn fancy hand motions in order to do magic, but that’s a process). It also always kind of feels like a wry punchline to me. Every life has some pain. Therefore we’ve all got some magic….

(3) WRITER BRIEFINGS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] BBC Radio 4 (formerly known as the Home Service) has just broadcast two programmes of interest to writers and, I guess, avid readers too.

The first is on the history of copyright through to today.  As Filers will know, there has been great author and fan concern over the use of using copyright material to train AI.  This is of relevance to the history of copyright which came about due to advances in reproduction technology, from monks’ highly illustrated ad coloured manuscripts to the printing press and digital material. Listen here: BBC Radio 4: In Our Time, “Copyright”.

Copyright protects and regulates a piece of work – whether that’s a book, a painting, a piece of music or a software programme. It emerged as a way of balancing the interests of authors, artists, publishers, and the public in the context of evolving technologies and the rise of mechanical reproduction.

Writers and artists such as Alexander Pope, William Hogarth and Charles Dickens became involved in heated debates about ownership and originality that continue to this day – especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence.

Melvyn Bragg moderates.

The second is on the way we (society) are (is) changing the use of punctuation. The question mark and exclamation mark is holding its own, but the comma, colon, and eve the full stop is on the way out! Listen here: BBC Radio 4: Word of Mouth, “The End of the Full Stop?”

The use of punctuation is rapidly changing within the quick-fire back-and-forth of instant messaging. Are these changes causing misunderstandings?

Presenter Michael Rosen and his guest Dr Christian Ilbury discuss. Is the full stop on the way out? What about capital letters? Exclamation marks and question marks seem to be holding their ground, but what about the rest?

(4) RECALLING THE FIRST TIME. [Item by Steven French.] Remember the first time you saw Star Wars in the cinema? Well, the Guardian would like to hear from you: “Tell us your memories of seeing Star Wars in cinemas”.

You can tell us your memories of seeing the original Star Wars using this form.

Please share your story if you are 18 or over, anonymously if you wish.

(5) BILL WOULD BLOCK STATES FROM REGULATING AI. “House Republicans want to stop states from regulating AI. More than 100 organizations are pushing back” reports CNN Business.

More than 100 organizations are raising alarms about a provision in the House’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package that would hamstring the regulation of artificial intelligence systems.

Tucked into President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful” agenda bill is a rule that, if passed, would prohibit states from enforcing “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” for 10 years.

With AI rapidly advancing and extending into more areas of life — such as personal communications, health care, hiring and policing — blocking states from enforcing even their own laws related to the technology could harm users and society, the organizations said. They laid out their concerns in a letter sent Monday to members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making or using that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” the letter, provided exclusively to CNN ahead of its release, states.

The bill cleared a key hurdle when the House Budget Committee voted to advance it on Sunday night, but it still must undergo a series of votes in the House before it can move to the Senate for consideration.

The 141 signatories on the letter include academic institutions such as the University of Essex and Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology, and advocacy groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Economic Policy Institute. Employee coalitions such as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and the Alphabet Workers Union, the labor group representing workers at Google’s parent company, also signed the letter, underscoring how widely held concerns about the future of AI development are….

(6) CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR JOURNEY PLANET AUGUST ISSUE, [Item by Jean Martin.] San Francisco and the Bay Area have inspired cultural and scientific revolutions since the Gold Rush in 1849. Thus, we’re excited to boost the city’s relevance in the science fiction/fantasy genre in the August issue of Journey Planet.

If you have any suggestions for an article, poem, story or art that revolves around San Francisco and science fiction/fantasy, please reach out to us at: journeyplanetsubmissions@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is July 1.

For instance, we’d welcome articles about books or movies/TV shows set in San Francisco and its environs and/or created by residents of the SF Bay Area. We’d especially like to hear from diverse voices, such as myths and folktales from the Ohlone and Hispanic cultures. Looking forward to hearing your creative ideas!

(7) FREE READ. A new story from Grist’s “Imagine 2200” – “The Seed Dropper”.

In this poetic story, by simóne j banks, Louisiana native June returns to his hometown decades after devastation from floods and petrochemical plants chased his family away, with a mission to reseed the land and memories from the past to point the way.

Deeply connected to both the beauty of the Mississippi River and the devastation brought by petrochemical plants to the region known as Cancer Alley, The Seed Dropper dabbles in nostalgia and sadness, but also hope and possibility, as it imagines the world of 2050 and the first steps to restoring what’s been lost.

(8) GUFF PAPERBACK RELEASED. The GUFF trip report anthology announced as an ebook in February is now also available in paperback from Ansible Editions: GUFF: The Incomplete Chronicles edited by David Langford. Here’s the full information about the book.

This volume gathers up the chapters of GUFF reports that were unfinished or too short for standalone publication. Donations to GUFF rather than TAFF are encouraged for those who enjoy this one. Download it here.

This book brings together the known segments of unfinished Get Up-and-Over/Going Under Fan Fund trip reports. The GUFF winners represented are Joseph Nicholas (1981), Justin Ackroyd (1984), Irwin Hirsh (1987), Roman Orszanski (1990), Eva Hauser (1992), Paul Kincaid (1999), Damien Warman and Juliette Woods (jointly, 2005) and Ang Rosin (2007).

From the Introduction by David Langford

As with its ancestor fund TAFF, a long-standing tradition of GUFF is that returned winners administer the fund until replaced by their successor from the same hemisphere and if possible write a substantial trip report, both for sale in aid of the fund and for the entertainment and edification of fandom. This tradition goes back to before TAFF itself began. A special fund was organized to bring Walt Willis from Ireland to the USA and the World SF Convention in 1952 (an initiative which led directly to the founding of TAFF), and his report The Harp Stateside is regarded as a classic of fan writing.

Many GUFF winners since 1979 have likewise published full-length trip reports (click here for available downloads). Some were waylaid by the horrors of real life and failed even to begin a report; some published instalments in fanzines but didn’t finish. Joseph Nicholas drafted a very long report whose MS was lost in a house move. Irwin Hirsh has published ten instalments, enough to be called a completed report, but wants to add more and is represented here by two chapters about the UK Worldcon he attended. Otherwise, this ebook collects what remains of reports that have been abandoned, or are so brief that they couldn’t plausibly be published as a standalone fanzine in the tradition of The Harp Stateside. There’s a lot of fine fan writing here.

This GUFF-centred companion to the TAFF Trip Report Anthology (2017) is published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the TAFF site on 1 March 2025. Cover artwork by Ian Gunn. 73,000 words.

(9) STARTS TOMORROW. Fountain of Youth – Official Trailer. The best secrets are the hardest to find. John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, Eiza González and Domhnall Gleeson star in Fountain of Youth. Premiering May 23 on Apple TV+

(10) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

May 22, 1981 — Outland film

Outland premiered forty-four years ago this date in the States in select cities, but everywhere that following weekend. It got a Hugo nomination at Chicon IV, the year that Raiders of the Lost Ark won. 

This original title of the film was Io as it’s set on Jupiter’s moon Io, but audience testing showed that wasn’t understandable at all as the test audiences thought it was the number ten, or, at least to me less puzzlingly, low. So in homage to the Western genre, it became Outland.

Which was appropriate as the writer Peter Hyams wanted to do one: “I wanted to do a Western. Everybody said, ‘You can’t do a Western; Westerns are dead; nobody will do a Western’. I remember thinking it was weird that this genre that had endured for so long was just gone. But then I woke up and came to the conclusion – obviously after other people – that it was actually alive and well, but in outer space.”

So they had a script that they really liked, now they need their actor. They wanted and got Sean Connery to be in their version in High Noon. Connery’s career had been in a nose dive as of late then, so this was a golden chance for him, so he took the role. 

Law enforcement officers are faced with the nature of right and wrong, and duty versus keeping themselves safe, but while Will Kane in High Noon is played as an archetypal hero who discovers the world isn’t black and white as he was led to believe, Will O’Niel already exists firmly in the gray where things are always messy when we meet him. 

Connery was magnificent in this role. In addition to Sean Connery, the movie includes performances by Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen, and James Sikking, who all I firmly believe deliver memorable portrayals of complex characters.

So they got the lead and the rest of an excellent core cast, now they had to film a movie. They had a very tight budget, just seventeen million dollars. The quite amazing sets were enhanced by the use of a new filming process called Introvision which allowed the director to mix a combination of sets, mattes and a generous use of miniatures in-camera, avoiding the then-lengthy process of extensive use of green screens.

Critics were mixed on it. Gary Arnold at the Washington Post thought it was “trite and dinky” whereas Desmond Ryan at the Philadelphia Inquirer called it: “a brilliant sci-fi Western.” 

I said it cost seventeen million to make, and it made, errr, just about seventeen million dollars. That means that it lost money for the studio. Lots by the time you figure printing up reels for the theatres, promotional costs and that the studio only gets fifty percent most often of ticket sales. Not that the studio would admit that.

Now I liked the film. I saw it some years after it came out and thought it worked rather well, but then I think it is police drama rather than a SF film.

It is not legally streaming anywhere so you know that linking to it is a bad idea, right? 

(11) COMICS SECTION.

(12) WHAT’S THE BEST WAY FOR A MUSIC FAN TO SUPPORT THEIR FAVORITE ARTISTS? [Item by John A Arkansawyer.] This is an interesting look at how fandom and commerce interact, focusing on music but of interest, I think, to fans more generally. NPR asks “Is there a right way of being a music fan?”

…I offer these two stories to highlight the contrasting conceptions of what constitutes fandom in 2025. In the first case, the fan is a customer looking for the best deal. In the second, she is a patron, supporting a creative favorite not only with money but through sustained attention and care. Both terms stick the artist within a somewhat servile position, delivering goods, but the latter feels more genteel and possibly more sustaining. “Customer” implies a one-way relationship, with the artist cast as a seller; “patron” suggests an ongoing connection through which a fan ardently supports an artist for a time or over a whole career….

… Today, “always on” artists have to be far more responsive to their fans’ desires. This means providing more music, but also many other means of consumption and interaction, from VIP concert experiences to TikTok videos, special merch lines, and, for an increasing number of artists, OnlyFans or Patreon accounts that grant direct access. Much commentary exists on the ever-growing power of the fan, but I’m interested in how fans negotiate this partly real, partly imagined surge in influence, and what it means for artists at a moment when their role in society has never been less clear….

(13) AI CHATBOTS DO NOT HAVE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS. [Item by Mark Roth-Whitworth.] So says the judge. “In lawsuit over teen’s death, judge rejects arguments that AI chatbots have free speech rights” – AP News has the story.

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself.

The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence.

The suit was filed by a mother from Florida, Megan Garcia, who alleges that her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III fell victim to a Character.AI chatbot that pulled him into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

Meetali Jain of the Tech Justice Law Project, one of the attorneys for Garcia, said the judge’s order sends a message that Silicon Valley “needs to stop and think and impose guardrails before it launches products to market.”…

(14) ROCKETSHIPS IN QUEENS? Untapped New York tours “Rocket Park, a Space Age Remnant of NYC’s 1964 World’s Fair”.

Peeking over the foliage outside the Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park are two towering metal structures you wouldn’t expect to find in Queens, rocketships. These space-age remnants are relics of the United States Space Park, an attraction created by NASA and the Department of Defense for the 1964 World’s Fair. These vessels aren’t even the first rockets to come to New York City. In 1957, a Redstone rocket was put on display in the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal. While the Redstone rocket was only a temporary fixture, you can still see the World’s Fair’s rockets today in Rocket Park, a playground area outside the Hall of Science….

… The fair was buzzing with excitement over the final frontier. Streets in the park’s radial grid pattern had names like Universe Court, Astronaut Court, Avenue of Science, and Avenue of Discovery. Visitors would find the iconic Unisphere in the Fountain of the Planets. The space motif is also exemplified in the Rocket Thrower, a massive bronze statue by Donald DeLue. The Rocket Thrower is posed in motion as he hurtles a rocket towards a constellation of gilded stars….

… The United States Space Park at the World’s Fair gave people a chance to see space travel technology, which they heard so much about on television, up-close in real life….

(15) MINI TRYLON AND PERISPHERE. And here’s a memory from even earlier, New York’s 1939 World’s Fair. “A Trylon and Perisphere Replica Once Stood at the Lincoln Tunnel”.

Searching the World’s Fair archives, Untapped New York’s founder Michelle Young came upon a forgotten gem: a mini Trylon and Perisphere replica that once stood at the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. This information booth structure was meant to be eye-catching and to “induce the out-of-town motorist to stop at the booths before plunging into Manhattan.” The Trylon and Perisphere were the centerpieces of the 1939 World’s Fair and this piece of promotional architecture was one of many replicas that popped up around NYC to promote the fair….

(16) NO WONDER THEY’RE ‘THE LAST’. The Guardian’s episode recap stirs up a panic: “’I didn’t sign up for a musical!’ Are the guitar sing-alongs killing The Last of Us?”

This week’s episode of The Last of Us contained a moment that froze the blood. For a split second, the hearts of the viewing audience rose into their throats in horror. This is a show that has presented us with terror after nightmarish terror but, even by these exceptional standards, this was almost too much to bear. I am talking, of course, about the scene where Ellie started playing a Pearl Jam song on a guitar.’

(17) TRAILER PARK. “Universal Drops ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Final Trailer” – Animation World Network sets the scene.

It’s a survival story, harkening back to the original, iconic Jurassic Park. Universal has just dropped the final trailer for its upcoming badass dino adventure, Jurassic World Rebirth, in theaters July 2.

With lots of big, sharp, pointy teeth!

The huge Jurassic franchise is back with its latest adventure, set five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, filled with biting humor and biting creatures… including raptors! And Pterywhatevers! Johansson, Bailey and Mahershala Ali anchor an all-star cast as an extraction team, hunting potentially life-saving DNA at the original Jurassic Park’s research facilities, that happens to be inhabited by the worst of the worst dinosaurs that were left behind. The film also stars Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo….

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, Jean Martin, David Langford, John A Arkansawyer, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew (not Werdna) (and not Gene Wolfe, either).]

Pixel Scroll 5/19/25 Someone Ought To Ooooopen Up A Pixel. No, No, No, No! Too Many Files!

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(1) BRITISH BOOK AWARDS. The Bookseller reports The British Book Awards “Book of the Year Winners 2025”. One is of genre interest, while James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of Jim, has been discussed here for its parallels to Julia, a 1984 retelling. The complete list of winners is at the link.

AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

  • Percival Everett, author of James

BOOK OF THE YEAR – FICTION

  • James by Percival Everett

BOOK OF THE YEAR – PAGETURNER

  • Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

(2) HUGO-WORTHY POETRY CONSIDERED. Dina at SFF Book Reviews compares all the poetry finalists in “Reading the Hugos 2025: Best Poem”. Here’s one of the comments:

…Ever Noir by Mari Ness was much more to my liking, combining fairy tale tropes with a noir style. It’s like the noir detective in the grimy office is visited by a fairy tale princess. While it doesn’t really tell a story, I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two clashing sub-genres. (7/10)…

(3) JOURNEY PLANET 90. Steven H Silver announces that Chris Garcia and James Bacon have published an issue of Journey Planet he edited on the theme “My Favorite Museum”, which is 155 pages and looks at more than 60 museums on all seven continents. The issue can be downloaded at the link.

(4) 2027 WESTERCON. “Santa Clara Bids for 2027 Westercon” reports Kayla Allen at Westercon.org.

The 2027 Westercon Site Selection Administrator announced that she has accepted a bid from the Society for the Promotion of Speculative Fiction (SPSF) to host Westercon 79 in conjunction with BayCon 2027 at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Clara, California, and that this bid will be on the ballot for the election to be held this year at Westercon 77/BayCon 2025.

Site Selection Administrator Kayla Allen explained that there was a misunderstanding between herself and SPSF around the original filing deadline of April 15, 2025. After several discussions, Allen decided in the interest of fairness to accept SPSF’s bid and place the Santa Clara in 2027 bid on the ballot. No other groups filed bids to host Westercon 79.

For those wishing to vote electronically, you will be able to pay the advance “voting fee ($20) tokens” by purchasing a token through the BayCon 2025 website. There is also a small service charge for such online purchases. Members will also be able to pay by check or money order. Cash will only be accepted in person at Westercon 77/BayCon 2025.

The 2027 Westercon Site Selection ballot will be posted at the Westercon.org website and will be sent to all members of Westercon 77/BayCon 2025. Members will be able to vote by email, paper mail, or in person at Westercon 77/BayCon 2025.

(5) STREET’S NEW DESTINATION. “’Sesame Street’ Heads To Netflix With Streaming Deal For PBS Series” – Deadline has the story.

Sesame Street has a new streaming home. Netflix has picked up the children’s series, which will make its debut on the streamer later this year with an all-new, reimagined 56th season — plus 90 hours of previous episodes — available to audiences worldwide.

Netflix is coming on board after HBO Max opted not to renew its Sesame Street streaming deal at the end of last year. Finding a new streaming partner has been considered critical to the series’ financial survival.

The new episodes, which will now each center on one 11-minute story, will be available same day-and-date in the U.S. on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms, maintaining U.S. kids’ free access to early learning, which Sesame Street is all about. That is a departure from Netflix’s typical push for exclusivity unless a second window on a library title is involved….

(6) 451. In “Ray Bradbury Told Us So”, Carl Abrahamsson analyzes the lasting relevance of Fahrenheit 451. (Behind a paywall.).

…Bradbury’s novel emerged from the McCarthy era, when fear of communist influence led to intense scrutiny of intellectuals and artists. The story follows Guy Montag, a “fireman” whose job is burning books in a future America where literature is forbidden. Through his relationship with Clarisse McClellan, a young woman who questions society’s values, and his own growing disillusionment, Montag begins to read the books he’s meant to destroy. The novel depicts a population numbed by wall-sized televisions, immersive entertainment, and high-speed living. Bradbury’s warning focuses on how mass media and anti-intellectualism could lead to cultural amnesia and the death of critical thinking….

(7) THE BLOB AT REST. [Item by Steven French.] Guardian readers suggest some good books to read to kids, including the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series and also this: “’I’m still not tired of it’: the best books to read aloud to kids, according to parents”.

Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob

Huw Aaron

I’m a primary school teacher with two children under three at home. As a reception teacher I spend a lot of time reading children’s books out loud. With my own children I like a book that is calm and gives me something as well as them. Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob by Huw Aaron is my new favourite: Lovely, relaxed rhymes with a touch of sci-fi and horror thrown in. Children who can read or appreciate the pictures love the idea of a “scary” bedtime story, and those who can’t, get the rhythm and time with a happy, giggling parent. Patrick Clark, Leeds’

(8) MEMORY LANE.

[Item by Cat Eldridge.]

May 19, 1983 — Shatner’s Star

Forty-two years ago on this day, William Shatner got his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was the one thousand and sixty-second such star. It’s located at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. He’d also get a star on the Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto. 

It is said that hundreds of people attended Shatner’s dedication ceremony, including Leonard Nimoy who gave a speech on the day in which he said that Shatner was “a wonderful man and a great actor” before telling the crowd about the terrible jokes Shatner liked to play on him. 

Shatner also spoke, “This is my small ticket to the stars. All of the other accolades are so ephemeral one never has anything that’s truly concrete and this is the one exception.” 

(9) COMICS SECTION.

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books

— Tom Gauld (@tomgauld.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T15:36:55.467Z

(10) SHARE THE WEALTH? “Mike Deodato On Not Getting Paid For Ironheart By Marvel Studios” at Bleeding Cool.

Mike Deodato co-created Riri Williams, Ironheart, with Brian Michael Bendis for Marvel Comics, who first appeared in Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3 #7 in 2016, and on the screen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, played by Dominique Thorne. With the TV series adaptation starring Thorne about to drop on Disney+, he has written an open letter on social media earlier this week, reproduced in English below;…

… “But as much as I celebrate this moment, there’s a bitter edge to it. You see, while Marvel has built an empire worth billions on the backs of its creators, the compensation model hasn’t kept pace with the success. I’m in a good place, one of the best-paid creators in the industry, and I truly appreciate that. But it’s not about me. It’s about the principle. When a character you poured your heart into helps fuel the engine of a multi-billion-dollar machine, a small share of that success feels only fair.

“Creators don’t ask for billions or even millions. Just a nod, a bit of recognition, and a share that reflects the contribution they’ve made. It’s not just good ethics—it’s good business. Happy creators stay invested, inspired, and loyal. But when the business side doesn’t match the creative investment, creators naturally drift toward projects where they retain control, where their work can lead to lasting financial security. That’s why more and more of us are focusing on creator-owned projects, where we can truly share in the success of our creations….”

(11) SOMETIMES IT’S EASY TO BE GREEN. Forbes has news that’s out of this world: “Mars: Why The Red Planet Could Turn Green This Week”.

Mars, the red planet, could be in for a global display of aurora this week after a huge cloud of charged particles left the sun in the direction of the red planet.

The prediction from solar scientists comes in the same week NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover made history by detecting visibly green auroras on Mars for the first time.

An X2.7 solar flare on Wednesday, May 14 — the strongest of the year so far — saw an intense burst of energy and electromagnetic radiation from the sun’s surface spread out across the system at light speed. An X-class solar flare is the most intense class, according to NASA. In its wake, there was a coronal mass ejection — a cloud of super-charged particles — that left the sun’s surface….

(12) THEY’RE LASERS. Oh yeah, now that you mention it. “Something Wild Happens When You Try to Take a Video of a Car’s Sensors” warns Futurism.

Public service announcement: don’t point your phone camera directly at a lidar sensor.

A video recently shared on Reddit demonstrates why. As the camera zooms in on the sensor affixed to the top of a Volvo EX90, a whole galaxy of colorful dots is burned into the image, forming over the exact spot that the flashing light inside the lidar device can be seen.

What you’re witnessing isn’t lens flare or a digital glitch — it’s real, physical damage to the camera. And it’s permanent.

“Lidar lasers burn your camera,” the Reddit user warned….

(13) PITCH MEETING. Ryan George remembers “The Avengers Pitch Meeting” like it was yesterday. Maybe that’s because this is a revival of a video first aired in 2018.

(14) VIDEO OF THE DAY. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Matt O’Dowd over at PBS Space Time tends to the sceptical side of technological extraterrestrials existing, at least within detection range of Earth. It is never aliens, except when it is.

However he has just posted a 20-miute video, the latest of a few over the past half-decade, on the Fermi paradox: “Is There A Simple Solution To The Fermi Paradox?”

I should declare that as a bio-geo (environmental) scientist, I don’t buy into this at all. Having devoted much of my extracurricular science time to climate change for over a third of a century, I was really getting depressed, and so for the last decade I have been focusing on deep-time evolution of life, the Earth and the Earth system, developing a ‘co-evolution of life and planet narrative. (I have a book in press coming out on this from an academic publisher – it has been in peer review for two years!. I’ll give Mike the nod when it is due out in case he thinks it might be worth sharing with Filers as there is a fair bit on exobiology in the mix as well as the coming singularity (both being SFnal tropes)).

For what it is worth, I do not consider the endosymbiont process to create a eukaryote (good cell) from a prokaryote (like a simple bacterial cell) a difficult one or a hard evolutionary step.  If it was a hard evolutionary step then it is unlikely to have taken place a number of times (which it has). However, physicists will be physicists and this is Matt’s summary…

Around 2 billion years ago, life had plateaued in complexity, ruined the atmosphere, and was on the verge of self-annihilation. But then something strange and potentially extremely lucky happened that enabled endless new evolutionary paths. The first eukaryote cell was born. This may also explain why there are no aliens.

[Thanks to Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Kayla Allen, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Steven French, and Kathy Sullivan for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day ULTRAGOTHA who gets the 1776 reference from the other day.]

Journey Planet Call for Submissions: Local Museums; Giant Size X-Men at Fifty; Andor Season II 

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The Journey Planet team is busy at the moment and has put out a call for contributions for three issues currently being worked on.  

LOCAL MUSEUMS 

Steven H Silver has been working with the team on an issue about Museums. They have invited fans to reflect on their local museums, museums they love, and seek out the unusual and different, from BatCat in Bangkok to The Little Museum of Dublin. We would like fans to share their local knowledge, to think about their favorite local-to-them museum. We would ask you to share what makes it special, why do you like to visit it, and what it is that gives you that sense of wonderment and excitement and also why you hope others would love it. 

Photographs illustrating the museums are very welcome, we know that this can really help, we’re looking for short articles, around 750 words.  

The deadline for submissions is March 31.

GIANT SIZE X-MEN 

Brenda Noiseux and David Ferguson join the Journey Planet team for an issue looking at Giant Sized X-Men, which was released in 1975. This comic rebooted the X-men and marked a change to the members of the team, bringing the series into the 70s where some of the most poignant stories were told and internationalized the team. 

Articles, art, commentary, viewpoints are all very welcome on the comic itself, the characters it introduced and brought together, as well as the initial run of comics up to the Dark Phoenix Saga which began in Uncanny X-Men #129. We welcome hearing from contributors who have a fresh angle or perspective and crafters who wish to create art related to the comic. 

The deadline for the Giant Size X-men anniversary issue is 3rd of May, a day that comic fans will be enjoying, with a release in May.

ANDOR II 

Allison Hartman Adams also joins Chris Garcia and James Bacon as they explore the forthcoming Andor II season. 

Andor Season II has 12 episodes. These will be released three episodes at a time: every Tuesday, beginning on April 22, and then following on April 29, May 6, and May 13.

Journey Planet #65: Rogue One co-edited with Alissa Wales looked at Rogue One with thoughtfulness and affection and then 

Journey Planet #69: Andor (Season 1) co-edited by Erin Underwood and John Coxon, proved very popular as fans reflected on the first season of Andor. 

The opportunity presents itself now to answer questions: What do you hope for? What do you think will happen? And then, did Season 2 meet expectations? 

We have other questions for you to consider as part of our “Instant Fanzine section,” so send us your answers and ideas. 

As you enjoy the series, you can write as you go, gathering emotions and feelings and reflections, with a week to cogitate (and even rewatch the full season) and share your views, thoughts, opinions through the fanzine. 

Finding an unusual angle is welcome, as is crafting something that ties in with the series. James will definitely be looking for connections to aspects of Irish Rebellion, and so we welcome you contacting us with your ideas.

Let us know if you’d like to be involved; we have a deadline of the 20th May. 

In all cases, please let us know if you would like to contribute — please send an email first to journeyplanetsubmissions@gmail.com

Journey Planet 87: “Mina – Dracula’s Destroyer”

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The Journey Planet team is back with the second installment of their look at Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There was so much interest in this topic that they received enough contributions to fill two full issues. 

Issue 87 — “Mina – Dracula’s Destroyer” — commemorates Bram Stoker’s birthday. Allison Hartman Adams joins Chris Garcia and James Bacon again to do a deeper dive into the text and works of fiction, art, and comics Dracula has inspired. 

In “Train Fiend” James looks at the railway connections to Bram Stoker and the railway aspects in the novel, comparing the train movements and times in the novel to timetables of the day, seeking to pinpoint where and when Bram Stoker based these journeys.

Dracula-related comics and movies have a strong presence here as well: Kim Newman’s review of Batman/Dracula; Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from David Ferguson; Dracula Lives from Rob Kirby; Batman and Vampires from James Bacon, and Alberto Breccia’s “I Was Legend” from Jim O’Brien. 

In “Molested, Murdered, Maligned: In Defense of ‘Poor Dear Lucy’”, Allison challenges the dreadful treatment Lucy has received at Dracula scholars’ hands over the years. 

Allison also considers and reflects on the character of Mina in relation to why she writes, and takes a nerdy wander in “Dracula By the Numbers.”

In “Dracula: Then and Now,” James sets out from Budapest to the Borgo Pass by train, reflecting on the changes and sharing his experience and journey through Hungary and Romania.  

With stunning front and back covers by Iain Clark, the issue is beautifully bound.  

Journey Planet Issue 87 – “Mina: Dracula’s Destroyer” is available as a free download at the link.

Table of Contents

  • Enditorial by James Bacon
  • My Bradshaw’s: Editor’s Note by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Train Fiend by James Bacon
  • Mina and the The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by David Ferguson
  • Why Mina Writes by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Batman/Dracula (1964) by Kim Newman
  • Dracula Lives by Rob Kirby
  • Molested, Murdered, Maligned: In Defense of “Poor Dear Lucy” by Allison Hartman Adams
  • I Was Legend: Alberto Breccia, Dracula, and the Argentinian Military Dictatorship by Jim O’Brien
  • Batman & Vampires by James Bacon
  • Dracula by the Numbers by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Dracula Then and Now – The Borgo Pass by James Bacon 
Back cover by Iain Clark

Journey Planet #86 – Dracula: Fiend & Foe

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Allison Hartman Adams joins James Bacon and Chris Garcia in a wide-reaching look at everyone’s favorite Count and his nemeses in Journey Planet #86 – “Dracula Fiend & Foe”, available here.

They examine the enduring legacy of Bram Stoker’s novel, just in time for Samhain, as the evenings draw darker and the chill in the air mixes with the beautiful colors of the decaying falling leaves.

This issue takes a look at a plethora of aspects, including the wide variety of art and culture that represent Dracula, starting with a consideration of the cultural transformations of Dracula as an icon. The contributors present many perspectives, from poetry about Bela Lugosi, to the costumes of Coppola’s Dracula. 

The literary aspects are also important, and include a look at Bram Stoker’s Notes and the Rosenbach Museum, as well as why we need to stop calling it ‘Carfax Abbey.’

The issue features a number of interviews, including Dacre Stoker (Bram Stoker’s great grand-nephew), Tucker Christine (editor of Dracula Beyond Stoker) and Karim Kronfli (Re: Dracula voice actor).

Also included are radio plays, comic book interpretations, an essay on vampires in East Asia, and even Dracula recipes.

There’s art from Emily Odum (@cloverune; https://www.cloverune.com/), Autun Purser (https://www.apillustration.co.uk/) for the back cover, and Simon Adams (@simonadams77; https://www.simonadamsart.com/) for the front cover and internal illustrations. 

There was so much enthusiasm for this issue that the matter of Dracula and Mina will be split across two issues. A second issue, Journey Planet #87 “Mina – Dracula’s Destroyer,” will be released November 6, the final date in Stoker’s novel. 

Dracula has permeated our culture, and one can see how relevant Stoker’s works continue to be with the recent rediscovery of the long-lost Stoker short story, “Gibbet Hill” receiving worldwide attention. 

The Journey Planet team are all massive Dracula fans, as you’ll see from these pages. They hope that you’ll discover new versions of your favorite characters in this issue. 

Table of Contents

  • Fiendish Love: Editor’s Note by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Man, Wolf, Bat, Monster…Icon: The Cultural Transformations of Dracula by Josh Gauthier
  • Dracula Movie Posters by Chris Garcia
  • “Bela Lugosi” by Chuck Serface
  • “Much to Learn from Beasts:” the Costumes of Coppola’s Dracula by Hannah Strom-Martin
  • Myths and Mental Health: Journey Planet Interviews Author Dacre Stoker
  • Eating Molecules With a Pair of Chopsticks: (Mortal) Food in Dracula by Amos Dunlap
  • Stoker’s Gothic Heroine by Allison Hartman Adams
  • The Last Voyage of the Demeter – Movie Review by Erin Underwood
  • Sherlock Holmes v Dracula, A Play for Radio: Review by James Bacon
  • Interview with a Vampire an Actor by Helena Nash
  • “Like a Bolt From the Blue” – Bram Stoker’s Notes & the Rosenbach Museum by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Dracula Beyond Stoker: Celebrating and Continuing the Legacy of Bram Stoker’s Novel by Editor Tucker Christine
  • Dracula Beyond Stoker: Review by Chuck Serface
  • Vampires in East Asia: A Evolution of Occidentalism by Arthur Liu
  • Fiends of the Eastern Front: Review by James Bacon
  • Tomb of Dracula – A Reader’s Guide by Helena Nash and Chuck Serface
  • Please Stop Calling It Carfax Abbey: A Fan Rant by Allison Hartman Adams
  • Dracula 2000 Review by Sarah G. Vincent
  • Transylvanian Tabletop – 7TV: Dracula by Helena Nash
  • The Enditorial – Part 1 – James Bacon 

Journey Planet #86 – “Dracula Fiend & Foe” — Download here.

[Based on a press release.]

LGBTQ in Comics: Journey Planet #85

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Alien Heart Piece (Anna Fitzpatrick)

Joining the Journey Planet team this issue is David Ferguson who has co-edited an issue specifically focused on an LGBTQ topic: LGBTQ comics.

David said, “Journey Planet is a fanzine that has always been an ally of the LGBTQ community, featuring various articles covering queer characters, books, and more, and I enjoyed helping bring this issue to life.”

David continued “For years, I worked on the website Irish Comic News, which covered the work of Irish creators and creators based in Ireland, and I developed long lasting friendships with the creators in the Irish comic community. It was, and still is, a very welcoming group of people who care about equality and promoting their fellow creators, including queer creators. So when I was asked to help edit the Journey Planet issue on LGBTQ comics, I immediately reached out to Irish creators, specifically queer creators, to contribute to the magazine. I was delighted with the response.”

“We had no set idea of what the issue would be when we started and. Through my interaction with creators, it organically morphed into an issue where creators talked about creating queer work in comics. We have a wonderful bunch of contributors, some of whom I have written about before for the website of Gay Community News. This includes Anna Fitzpatrick (Alien Heart) and Clare Foley (Forbidden Altars), who wrote pieces about their comic creations. I interviewed artist Cian Tormey (Alan Scott: Green Lantern) and writer / artist Luke Healy (Self-Esteem And The End Of The World). I reached further afield and brought in Welsh creator Joe Glass (The Pride) and interviewed Steve Orlando (Marauders, Scarlet Witch). There are lots more. So many creators with different insights into queer comics. I am grateful to so many people for taking the time to write a piece or answer questions.”

Supplementary image – The Music on the Hill (Clare Foley)

David noted, “I also have to give a lot of credit to my co-editors and the whole team. So many previous co-editors are huge allies of the LGBTQ community. I’d also like to thank James Bacon, who motivated me and whose energy helped push the issue forward. James’ thorough research and engagement also provided multiple articles about the history of queer comics, a journey of discovery for him that I think people will really enjoy. There were characters I’d never heard of, and looking at the history and reading about advocates for queer comics in the eighties was inspiring.”

James added, “We hope this issue shines a light on LGBTQ comics, both historical and importantly of the moment, and on the wonderful creatives involved and the stories. We hope this issue motivates people to seek out comics and creators.”

The issue is available here.

David finished by saying, “I hope people enjoy the issue. We are already thinking of more queer topics to cover in future issues of Journey Planet and are open to ideas on the subject.”

Get in touch at: Journeyplanetsubmissions@gmail.com

Roger (Jaime Lalor)

Flann O’Brien Brien and the Railways

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James Bacon is one of many whose works are published in two books launched today at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin. Flann O’Brien and the Nonhuman, from Cork University Press; edited by Katherine Ebury, Paul Fagan and John Greaney; and Finnegans Wake – Human and Nonhuman Histories from Edinburgh University Press; edited by Richard Barlow and Paul Fagan. 

Irish writer Brian O’Nolan wrote under many pen names including Myles na gCopaleen and Flann O’Brien. James Bacon’s 7000-word chapter “For Steam Men, Myles na gCopaleen and Irish Rail” was published in the Flann O’Brien book, but the piece has had an interesting origin. 

James Bacon

It started off in 2018 as “Off the Rails – Flann on Track,” an essay in in Journey Planet #43, the Flann O’Brien issue, co-edited with Christopher J Garcia, Michael Carroll, and Pádraig Ó Méalóid. 

“From there, with encouragement from Pádraig and others, I took the step of expanding the piece, and developing it into a paper. Robert Cogger, a rail communications officer, David John Adams, a freight driver who also drove steam trains, both supported with contemporary and expert views of Flann O’Brien’s work.” 

Work continued. O’Brien featured the railways in a variety of ways: the fictional with “John Duffy’s Brother,” where a clerk having a mental health moment takes solace in “becoming” a train, chuffing about the office; the partially fictional with “A Bash In the Tunnel,” which formed part of an editorial to a literary magazine, The Bell, when Myles na gCopaleen guest-edited a special issue on Joyce; again writing as Myles na gCopaleen, O’Brien’s satirical yet incisive reflection of reality through dozens of humorous articles for The Irish Times column, “An Cruiskeen Lawn,” which challenged the powers that be and advocated for the railways; to his script of TV comedy O’Dea’s your Man episode “Fresh Air,” set in a railway station signal box, featuring Jimmy O’Dea and David Kelly. 

There is so much to draw upon. O’Brien wrote over 4000 columns for The Irish Times, in which he took the rail companies to task on a number of occasions, to such a degree that, at one stage, he raised the rail companies’ ire so much that a supplier demanded an apology from The Irish Times. 

In 2019, James presented his paper “Off the rails: Flann an expert community advocate for rail transport” at Palimpsest: The V International Flann O’Brien Conference at University College Dublin. Before Covid, there had been a call for essays, and James was delighted when an expansion of his paper was welcomed. 

“Researching during Covid was a personal relief to the realities of heading into Paddington to drive trains during a time of such fear. The isolation in the spring and early summer of 2020, allowed for much work, and like the trains, the post flowed as support came from many quarters. My writing grew, as I came to understand more as I engaged with a series of experts, including fellow train driver Noel Playfair of the NIR who drove steam trains for the RPSI and was the last person to drive the Slieve Gullion, a steam train which Myles na gCopaleen wrote about. Nelson Poots in the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland also proved hugely helpful, while the resources of the Irish Railway Record Society were made available thanks to Gerald Beesley and the loan of HCA Beaumont Archive materials from Johnathan Beaumont. It was a busy time. 

“The expanded work was ginormous, and too much. Indeed an early draft exceeded 12,000 words. From this though, with the support of the patient editors, the work was edited down to about 7000 words for this publication, which I’m delighted to say has been well received so far.”

Paul Fagan at the lectern
Catherine Ebury at the lectern
Meg MacDonald, James’ Mom, James Bacon, and Marguerite Smith
James Joyce Center

The editors’ introduction notes:

“James Bacon explores O’Nolan’s interactions with trains and railways in his persona as the ‘steam man’ Myles na gCopaleen. As a working train driver himself, James demonstrates from a historicist and practitioner’s perspective how an appreciation of O’Nolan’s deep and broad knowledge of the railways, stations and institutions of Ireland – and, indeed, his professional-level technical, mechanical and operational understanding of and interest in the trains themselves – is crucial to understanding the specifics of his interconnected political, economic and ecological critiques of the Irish state. While previous critics have read the railway imagery in O’Nolan’s fiction in terms of literary allusion and metaphor, this essay historicises key columns from Cruiskeen Lawn in which O’Nolan’s real expertise in Irish rail is key to his engagement with a diversity of interconnected themes ranging from war and natural resources to language politics and modernisation. Whether presenting fantastic, cyborgian images of human-train hybrids or flaunting his local and insider knowledge to bolster his polemics in the daily paper, James shows us how O’Nolan’s interventions are always supported by a real and detailed knowledge of the underlying technical and operational details that shaped debate, as he promotes good practice and progression with evident affinity and respect for the machines themselves.”

“I keep laughing at my title,” says James, “as ‘The Steam Man’ is a method for Flann to either insert himself into the narrative as an expert, claiming footplate experience, or to create a humourous situation with the Steam Man, an archetypal older train fan, who is possibly an operator of old, but maybe just nerdy and needy. The Steam Man has a nugget of expertise but often lectures the Train Drivers annoyingly, and always knows best…and who is a piece of writing for, if not the author themselves.”

“There is an agility to how Flann uses language and monikers to suit the argument, and I think that could be a chapter on its own. But I laugh hard, because I think of the Steam Men in Fandom: a danger and concern to either powers that be or the community of hard working expert practitioners.”

“Thanks must go to Gerald Beesley, editor of the Irish Railway Record Society Journal, Paul McCann and Nigel Poots (sadly since passed) of the Railway Preservation Society, Jonathan Beaumont for access to the HCA Beaumont archive, and David John Adams for insight from his steam engine days. Much thanks also to Pádraig Ó Méalóid for continuous encouragement, assistance, other verbs and support. The essay is dedicated to: Robert Cogger, formerly of Railway Communications at Thameslink and Chiltern Railways, who departed for the final time December 2019; to Noel Playfair who passed away in 2023, leaving a huge gap in the cab and on the footplate of NIR and the RPSI; and to John Wyse Jackson of Zozimus Bookshop whom we, who love Myles, will miss. All of whom were generous with patience, their time and understanding, (“repeat back”) and helping me to gain a clear comprehension of challenging matters during a challenging time.”

Journey Planet continues to strive to bring new writing to a broader audience, and while James was in Dublin for the book launch, the final articles for a “LGBTQ+ and Comics” issue with co-editor David Ferguson were being finalized. The issue is due out next week. 

James also conducted research at the National Library of Ireland on aspects relating to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, looking at early critique of the work and staying with the railway connection for a continually-expanding article by James entitled “Train Fiend” due to appear in the forthcoming Journey Planet issue on Dracula, due out on the 6th of November. 

James’s chapter, “For Steam Men, Myles na gCopaleen and Irish Rail,” is available in Flann O’Brien and the Nonhuman from Cork University Press; edited by Katherine Ebury, Paul Fagan and John Greaney.

 Journey Planet #44 “Flann O’Brien” is available here.

Pixel Scroll 9/15/24 Yes, You May Say Hi To My Therapy Theropod

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(1) THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS SPOTTED IN THE WILD. Harlan Ellison’s The Last Dangerous Visions exists! It has started arriving in customers’ mailboxes. Although the book’s official release date is October 1, Jon C. Manzo told the Harlan Ellison Facebook Fan Club his copy came on Friday.

Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out…

(2) COVID CONCERN. John Wiswell has canceled plans to attend World Fantasy Con next month over dissatisfaction with the convention’s Covid policy, an announcement that elicited responses in social media from several other writers who have made the same decision about WFC.

(3) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Scott Edelman tells listeners it’s time for two scoops of Sarah Pinsker on Episode 236 of the Eating the Fantastic podcast.

Sarah Pinsker

I won’t almost call it historic — I will call it historic. Because it’s the only episode since this podcast began during which you’ll hear me chat with a creator while we eat a flavor of ice cream inspired by their latest book — in this case, Sarah Pinsker’s Haunt Sweet Home — created by the Baltimore ice cream experts at The Charmery.

… The flavor launched on Friday the 13th, and we met at The Charmery yesterday for a taste of that book-inspired ice cream, where we discussed the sculpture she saw at the American Visionary Art Museum which planted a seed for Haunt Sweet Home, the origin of the ice cream collaboration, how she knew her idea was meant to be a novella and not a novel, why she prefers writing books without a contract, how multiple ideas coalesced into one, the narrative purpose of telling a story via multiple formats, how to know a character who doesn’t know themselves, why you can’t tell from the end product whether a piece of fiction was plotted or pantsed, Kelly Robson’s theory about the Han Solo/Luke Skywalker dichotomy and what it means for creating interesting characters, why she’s a fan of making promises in the early paragraphs of her stories, whether our families understand what we’re writing about when we write about families, and much more.

(4) UNHAPPY IN WESTEROS. “Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin vs House of the Dragon: A timeline”. Elements of the news in Winter Is Coming’s story have been covered here, but this article makes a comprehensive chronology of the pieces.

The other week, author George R.R. Martin did something surprising: writing on his Not a Blog, he publicly criticized HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon, which is based on his book Fire & Blood. He dinged the show for changing things from the source material in a way that weakened the story, and warned that there were bigger, “more toxic” changes being contemplated for future seasons of the show.

Martin never did anything like this during the nine years that Game of Thrones (which is based on his book series A Song of Ice and Fire) was running on HBO, so the changes that House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal made from his book obviously upset him. We the fans had inklings that something was bothering Martin before he went public, but I certainly wasn’t expecting him to be so up front about it….

(5) JOURNEY PLANET CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS. Sarah Gulde and Chuck Serface are co-editing an upcoming issue of Journey Planet about friendships in science fiction and fantasy. You could approach this topic in several ways:

  • Famous friendships from science-fiction and fantasy literature, comics, films, or television. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamjee, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Spock and James T. Kirk, Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman (or She-Hulk), Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, and Katniss Everdeen and Rue come to mind.
  • Friendships among writers, artists, and other professionals within the genre. The Inklings and other writing or artistic fellowships would fit here.
  • Friendships between fans.  Who are your favorite people to see at conventions? Dare I mention the Futurians or the Greater New York Science Fiction Club? What about your local clubs or associations?

Friendships take many forms, so we accept broad interpretations expressed in fiction, personal essays, art, reviews, whatever we can publish in a fanzine format. Please send your submissions to Sarah Gulde at sarahmiyoko@gmail.com or Chuck Serface at ceserface@gmail.com by November 15, 2024.

(6) BBC PLANS ‘THREADS’ REBROADCAST. “’The most horrific, sobering thing I’ve ever seen’: BBC nuclear apocalypse film Threads 40 years on” – the Guardian has an overview. “Ahead of a timely re-airing of Mick Jackson’s famously bleak, rarely seen docudrama, its director recalls why he unleashed a mushroom cloud on Sheffield in 1984, while our writer explores the film’s lasting legacy.”

One Sunday night in September 1984, between championship darts and the news with Jan Leeming, the BBC broadcast one of its bravest, most devastating commissions. This was Threads, a two-hour documentary-style drama exploring a hypothetical event deeply feared at the time and also somehow unthinkable: what would happen if a nuclear bomb dropped on a British city….

…The BBC has shown Threads only three times to date: in 1984; in August of the following year, to mark the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and as part of a cold war special on BBC Four in 2003. Another – timely – showing is planned for October. When I watched the film at the end of the 20th century, Threads felt like a piece of history. Today, in a world of conflict in Russia, China and the Middle East, and expanding nuclear capabilities, it no longer does….

… For Jackson, the message of Threads comes down to something very simple: trusting people with the truth. “That’s what I wanted to get across,” he says. “That there’s no going back, that this happens. You can’t go back and press replay.”

But with a film you can. This month, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov hinted at his country’s intention to change its stance on the use of nuclear weapons “connected with the escalation course of our western adversaries”. The UK and the US recently enhanced their nuclear cooperation pact. Threads airs on BBC Four next month. Be brave for two hours, and then continue the conversation.

(7) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Anniversary: September 15, 1991: Eerie, Indiana

You remember Joe Dante, who has served us such treats as the Gremlin films, a segment of the Twilight Zone: The Movie (“It’s A Good Life”) and, errr, Looney Tunes: Back in Action? (I’ll forgive him for that because he’s a consultant on HBO Max prequel series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. Anyone seen the latter?)

Dante also was the creative consultant and director on a weird little horror SF series thirty-three years ago on NBC called Eerie, Indiana. Yes, delightfully weird. It was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer. For both it would be their first genre undertaking, though they would have a starry future, their work including Eureka, that a favorite of mine until the debacle of the last season, Goosebumps, The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story and Strange Luck to name but a few genre series that they’d work on in a major capacity. 

SPOILER ALERT! REALLY I’M SERIOUS, GO AWAY

Hardly anyone there is normal. Or even possibly of this time and space. We have super intelligent canines bent on global domination, a man who might be the Ahab, and, in this reality, Elvis never died, and Bigfoot is fond of the forest around this small town. 

There’s even an actor doomed to keep playing the same role over and over and over again, that of a mummy. They break the fourth wall and get him into a much happier film. Tony Jay played this actor.

Yes, they broke the fourth wall. That would happen again in a major way that I won’t detail here. 

END SPOILER ALERT. YOU CAN COME BACK NOW. 

It lasted but nineteen episodes as ratings were very poor. 

Critics loved it. I’m quoting only one due to its length: “Scripted by Karl Schaefer and José Rivera with smart, sharp insights; slyly directed by feature film helmsman Joe Dante; and given edgy life by the show’s winning cast, Eerie, Indiana shapes up as one of the fall season’s standouts, a newcomer that has the fresh, bracing look of Edward Scissorhands and scores as a clever, wry presentation well worth watching.”

It won’t surprise you that at Rotten Tomatoes, that audience reviewers give it a rating of ninety-two percent.  It is streaming on Amazon Prime, Disney+ and legally on YouTube. Yes, legally on the latter. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

(9) HOW DOES THIS SHOE FIT? THEM says “LGBTQ+ Fans Are Speaking Out About WNBA Star Breanna Stewart’s ‘Harry Potter’ Sneaker Collab”.

Shortly after winning her third Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games last month, out New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart (or “Stewie,” as she is affectionately known by WNBA fans) announced a new signature shoe. The Stewie 3, created in partnership with Puma, is inspired by the Harry Potter films and features design details, like the “Deathly Hallows” symbol, that reference the Potter-verse. Almost immediately, the comments sections of official social media posts promoting the shoe were filled with fans voicing their disappointment that Stewart, one of the league’s highest-profile players and an outspoken trans ally, would be tied to one of the world’s most vocal antagonists of trans people.

The timing of the shoe drop has particularly upset Stewie’s queer and trans fans, considering it comes on the heels of Rowling being named in a cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who alleges that the Harry Potter author, Elon Musk, and other public figures took part in a “massive” harassment campaign that labeled her a “biological male.”

While fan backlashes to Harry Potter products are almost de rigueur at this point, this particular Potter collab hits harder because of who Stewart is and what the league means to its many LGBTQ+ enthusiasts. The WNBA itself is considered one of the safest and most affirming leagues for queer and trans crowds. Over 25% of the players in the league, including Stewart, are out as LGBTQ+ and the WNBA was the first professional league in the U.S. to officially recognize Pride….

…One of the questions fans like McKenzie want answers to is how a product celebrating Harry Potter and benefiting J.K. Rowling makes sense as a collaboration between an out pro-trans athlete and a company that has demonstrated support for LGBTQ+ people. (Neither Puma nor representatives for Stewart responded to multiple requests for comment.)…

(10) THEY’VE GOT THE GOODS. If you’re interested in Star Wars figure collecting, there’s a large photo gallery of the offerings unveiled here: “Hasbro Pulse Con 2024 – Star Wars Panel Recap” at The Toyark.

The Star Wars panel just wrapped up over on Hasbro Pulse Con 2024. New figures were shown for The Vintage Collection and Black Series from multiple eras. A couple that stood out to me was a refresh of Black Series A New Hope Luke and Leia, which have all new sculpts and no soft goods. Read on to check out details and pics from the stream. Pre-Orders for most go live at 5 PM for the general public!

(11) STAR TREK, 1-YEAR BARGAIN MISSION. [Item by Daniel Dern.] ParamountPlus.com (lotsa Star Trek, if nothing else)(also Daily Show and Stephen Colbert, of course) is offering a year for half price (so $29.99 for with-ads, or $59.99 with “No ads except live TV & a few shows, and SHOWTIME originals & movies”).

Coupon name/ID (in case you need it):  Coupon: fall50  (for “50% off”)

You can’t do this as a “renew” — at least not thru the web site, possibly via their phone people.

Our similarly-priced sale year just ended yesterday, so (having deliberately cancelled a few days ago so it didn’t autorenew at full price), I just signed up (for the cheapskate-with-ads, dunno if it’s too late to call and splurge the upgrade).

(Note: If you already have a ParamountPlus account, you don’t have to create a new account; your existing account persists if/when your subscription ends.)

(12) POLARIS DAWN RETURNS. “SpaceX capsule splashes down after history-making Polaris Dawn mission” reports NBC News.

A SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens splashed down off Florida at 3:36 a.m. ET Sunday, ending a historic mission that included the world’s first all-civilian spacewalk.

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon returned to Earth in a Crew Dragon capsule, splashing down off Dry Tortugas, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico….

…It was also the company’s [SpaceX’s] most ambitious expedition, as the crew members and their spacecraft executed several risky maneuvers.

Chief among them was the all-civilian spacewalk Thursday. Isaacman and Gillis exited the Dragon capsule on a tether, each spending around 10 minutes out in the vacuum of space. The duo spent the spacewalk conducting mobility tests in their newly designed spacesuits.

The outing was a risky undertaking, because the Dragon capsule does not have a pressurized airlock. That meant that all four members of the Polaris Dawn mission wore spacesuits during the spacewalk and that the entire capsule was depressurized to vacuum conditions….

(13) FROM NEIGHBORHOOD OF MAKE-BELIEVE TO GOTHAM CITY. Collider tells how “Michael Keaton Got His Start Working on One of Your Favorite Kids’ Shows”.

…In an interview, David Newell, who played deliveryman Mr. McFeely on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, went into more detail about what Michael Keaton did on the show. According to Newell, Keaton worked on the floor crew. Because of this job, Keaton ran the trolley that went through Mr. Rogers’ living room. If you’re watching any mid to late ’70s episodes, and you see the trolley come through the hole in the wall, that’s the man who would become Beetlejuice flipping the switch to make the trolley move. Keaton also helped build the sets and take them down before and after shooting an episode….

(14) REALLY OLD SCHOOL. “’Entire ecosystem’ of fossils 8.7m years old found under Los Angeles high school” – Yahoo! has the story.

Marine fossils dating back to as early as 8.7m years ago have been uncovered beneath a south Los Angeles high school.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that researchers had discovered two sites on the campus of San Pedro high school under which fossils including those of a saber-toothed salmon and a megalodon, the gigantic prehistoric shark, were buried.

According to the outlet, the two sites where the fossils were found include an 8.7m-year-old bone bed from the Miocene era and a 120,000-year-old shell bed from the Pleistocene era.

The discoveries were made between June 2022 and July 2024, LAist reports….

(15) WOLVES OF YELLOWSTONE. [Item by Jeffrey Smith.] Balanced Ecology — not particularly sfnal, but certainly adjacent. What happened to Yellowstone National Park when (a) wolves were removed and (b) when they were returned. Very instructive as to what one change can make to an ecosystem. A fascinating read.  “Friday Night Soother – Digby’s Hullabaloo” at Digby’s Blog.

…In 1995, something really exciting happened in the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone. 41 wild wolves are reintroduced here by scientists. After 100 years of being hunted, wolves could once again call this place home.

The wolves thrived, but something else very surprising happened. Their return had a spectacular effect on the landscape, an effect that spread wider than anyone thought possible. So how did this all happen?…

(16) AUTUMN CONCATENATION NOW ONLINE. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] The SF² Concatenation has just posted its northern hemisphere academic autumnal issue. The contents are:

v34(5) 2024.4.15 — New Columns & Articles for the Summer 2024

And scrolling further down there are loads of fiction as well as a few non-fiction SF and pop science book reviews. Accessible at www.concatenation.org.

Splundig.

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

Pixel Scroll 9/14/24 Scrollchak, The Night Pixel

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(1) RING TIME. Robin Anne Reid’s newsletter Writing from Ithilien offers a collection of links to interesting discussions of the Rings of Power series in“The Vibes Around ‘Tolkien’”.

I love reading what fans who love the show have to say about it, and I’m having great fun reading those posts (including the ones I’ve linked to above!). Let’s just say I enjoy all the varied vibes around a text that is now part of the greater global “Tolkien” phenomenon, i.e. connected to all the things, even if I don’t much like that particular instance!

(2) BALANCED IN THE SCALES AND FOUND WANTING. Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter does a roundup of all the complaints about the two epic series adapting George R.R. Martin and Tolkien in “’House of the Dragon’ and ‘Rings of Power’ Facing Epic Headaches”. (Got to love the article’s illustration of a sword-wielding GRRM on a flying dragon.)

… As for Rings [of Power]s’ ratings, third-party services show a steep drop from the series’ debut season. The spin from Amazon goes like this: Of course the ratings are down, they were so huge last time. There is something to this. Even Prime Video hits like Fallout and The Boys haven’t matched Rings’ season one on a global basis (Fallout did top the show in the U.S.). Amazon says the new season is doing well internationally and is on track to be a Top 5 season for Prime Video….

…Then there is Dragon, whose problems are more interesting. The second season incensed some fans after spending eight episodes leading to a massive cliffhanger — a climactic battle sequence that was pushed from a shortened season two to season three, apparently for budget reasons (which has led to more “David Zaslav ruins everything” chatter online). In the ratings, the season dipped about 10 percent from the show’s first season, but the numbers do remain high. 

Two weeks ago, saga author (and Dragon co-creator and executive producer) George R.R. Martin, who has been complimentary about Dragon in the past, posted on his blog that he was going to reveal “everything that’s gone wrong” with the show. Smart money could have been wagered on this never happening — surely HBO would do everything in its power to persuade Martin not to post.

But last week, Martin did, and the result was fascinating…

(3) SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 2024 LONGLIST. The Scotiabank Giller Prize 2024 longlist was released September 4. The Prize is a celebration of Canadian literary talent. The 12 titles were chosen from 145 books submitted by publishers across Canada. There is one longlisted work of genre interest:

  • Anne Michaels for her novel Held, published by McClelland & Stewart

The other longlisted works are:

(4) OCTOTHORPE. In Episode 118 of the Octothorpe podcast, “Och Aye, Sci-Fi”, John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty continue their discussion of the Worldcon. (There’s a rough-and-ready transcript here.)

We round off most of our discussion of the Glasgow Worldcon, including talking about Halls 4 and 5, communications, Worldcon structures, and publications. Thanks to Sara Felix, this week, for providing our lovely artwork.

Three pins of armadillos flying colourful spaceships are on top of a piece of paper with blobs of glue that look like planets. The lettering “Octothorpe 118” appears above in a similar style to the pins.

(5) JOURNEY PLANET. Journey Planet 84 “Workers’ Rights In SFF” is available at this link. File 770 promoted the zine with this post.

Contributor Joachim Boaz has cross-posted his article from the issue about Clifford D. Simak at Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations: “Exploration Log 5: ‘We Must Start Over Again and Find Some Other Way of Life’: The Role of Organized Labor in the 1940s and ’50s Science Fiction of Clifford D. Simak”.

My article on organized labor in the 1940s and ’50s science fiction of Clifford D. Simak went live! I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ve spent the last half year researching and reading religiously for this project–from topics such as Minnesota’s unique brand of radical politics to the work of contemporary intellectuals like C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) whom Simak most likely read.

(6) SUPREME GENRE READER. The New York Times learns “Ketanji Brown Jackson Looks Forward to Reading Fiction Again”. (Paywalled.) “The Supreme Court justice has been drawn to American history and books about the ‘challenges and triumphs’ of raising a neurodiverse child. She shares that and more in a memoir, ‘Lovely One.’”

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which books and authors stick with you most?

Pretty voracious. My favorite childhood books were Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” series. I really identified with Meg. I also liked Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” And I went through a Nancy Drew phase.

Which genres do you … avoid?

 I don’t think I’ve indulged in reading fiction in many years. I hope to get back to doing so, now that our daughters are grown, but I would avoid anything that would qualify as a horror story. I don’t like to be frightened.

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

I am gearing up to read “Parable of the Sower,” by Octavia Butler, soon. I have it both in paper and as an audiobook, which helps.

(7) TUTTLE REVIEWS. Lisa Tuttle’s latest sff review column for the Guardian takes up The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera; Withered Hill by David Barnett; Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud; The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei; and The Specimens by Hana Gammon. “The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup”.

(8) BOB WEATHERWAX (1941-2024). [Item by Andrew Porter.] The New York Times reports a star dog trainer died August 15.

Bob Weatherwax, a Hollywood dog trainer who carried on his father’s legacy of breeding and coaching collies to play Lassie, the resourceful and heroic canine who crossed flooded rivers, faced down bears and leaped into the hearts of countless children, died on Aug. 15 in Scranton, Pa. He was 83.

One of his uncles trained Toto for “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). 

Mr. Weatherwax also trained other dogs seen in Hollywood films, including Einstein, the Catalan sheepdog in “Back to the Future.”

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born September 14, 1936 — Walter Koenig, 88. Walter Koenig’s our Birthday Honoree this Scroll. He really has had but two major roles, though he has also appeared in a number of other roles. 

The first was as the Russian born Enterprise navigator Pavel Chekov on the original Trek franchise. He went on to reprise this role in all six original-cast Trek films, and later voiced President Anton Chekov in Picard. 

I like the Chekov character even if on viewing the series decades later I cringed on the quite obvious stereotype.

A much better character was played by him in the form of Alfred Bester (named in homage of that author and a certain novel) on Babylon 5. He wasn’t at all a sympathetic character and eventually was wanted for war crimes but was still a fascinating character. His origin story is established in J. Gregory Keyes’ Psi Corps trilogy written after the series was cancelled and is considered canon. 

He showed up in The Questor Tapes as an administrative assistant, Oro, for two episodes of Starlost.

Moontrap, a SF film with him and Bruce Campbell, would garner a twenty-eight percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes. 

Alienable, a sort of comic SF horror film which he executive produced, financed, wrote and acts in has no rating there. 

He’s Fireman Frank in Unbelievable!!!!! which apparently parodies Trek. The film has over forty cast members from the various Trek series. The film follows the omicron adventures however unintentional of four astronauts including one of who is a marionette. I cringed when I watched the trailer. I really did.  Anyone see it? 

Not surprisingly he acts in one of those Trek fanfics, Star Trek: New Voyage as his original character.

Finally he appears via the wonder of digital technology in the Hugo-nominated “Trials and Tribble-ations”. 

Walter Koenig

(10) COMICS SECTION.

  • Brewster Rockit should have declined the invitation.
  • Cornered illustrates do it yourself versus premade.
  • Carpe Diem wants to drop a subject.
  • Tom Gauld does his own version of a popular meme.

(11) NO SAVING THROW. All 25 quit: “Annapurna Interactive Entire Staff Resigns” reports Variety.

The staff of Annapurna Interactive, the games division of Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna, has resigned en masse after a deal to spin off the group fell through, Bloomberg reports.

Founded in 2016, Annapurna Interactive has partnered with boutique game studios for several critically acclaimed titles, including “Stray” (pictured above), described as a “third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed, neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity,” as well as “What Remains of Edith Finch,” “Outer Wilds” and “Neon White.”

The staff exodus came after a breakdown in talks between Ellison and Nathan Gary, formerly president of Annapurna Interactive, to spin the gaming unit off as a separate company. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,” Gary and the other employees said in a joint statement Thursday to Bloomberg. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.”

(12) STREET ART. James Bacon told File 770 readers today about “Dublin Street Art”.

Chris Barkley says his hometown deserves a look, too: “Cincinnati Wins A Top Spot For The City’s Street Art And Murals” at Islands.

…And, to those that know the Queen City, it’s no surprise that Cincinnati took the street art crown in 2024’s USA Today and 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The annual competition, which counts down top tens around the country, uses a panel of experts to determine ten nominees with street art chops. Then, they leave voting to readers to decide the winners. This year, Cincinnati, which has been among the nominees going back to 2021, finally took the top spot, thanks to the more than 300 stunning murals dotting the city’s neighborhood streets….

There’s a more extensive photo gallery at ArtWorks Cincinnati.

(13) BLOCH SCRIPT ON EBAY. The Dave Hester Store of Storage Wars fame would be happy to sell you a screenplay from Robert Bloch’s estate, part of his personal archives: “1961 ‘The Merry-Go-Around’ By Robert Bloch”, based on Ray Bradbury’s “The Black Ferris”. Haven’t been able to determine whether it was produced. Taking bids, starting at $99.

(14) PRACTICING FOR ARTEMIS. NPR learned “How the crew of NASA’s Artemis II prepares for a mission to the moon”. It’s an audio report.

This time next year, NASA plans to send its first crewed mission to the moon. NPR’s Scott Detrow meets the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission, to see how the team is preparing.

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

Journey Planet 84 — Workers’ Rights In SFF

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SFF’s occasionally turbulent relationship to work and working people is put in the spotlight in the latest issue of Journey Planet.

The celebrated fanzine released its 84th issue – “Workers’ Rights in SFF” on Friday, September 13, with co-editors Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk bringing together an all-star list of contributors for an examination of the various ways in which employment relationships are depicted (or misrepresented) in the genre. Best-known for their Hugo-finalist fanzine Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, Rokne and Wakaruk have been delving into labour rights issues in SFF since 2019.

“The best part of working on a project like this is being able to collaborate with talented writers focused on a subject that we’re passionate about,” Rokne said.  “Science fiction became a defined genre at the end of the industrial revolution, when rapid technological and societal change was creating new types of work and new types of workers. From its inception, the genre was connected to work and to working people, making this a fecund area for intellectual exploration.”

The issue includes contributions from Brian Collins, Rich Horton, Octavia Cade, Will McMahon, A.L. Yakimchuk, Kira Braham, Bob Barnetson, Joachim Boaz, Camestros Felapton, James Bacon, Mark McCutcheon, Brett Sheehan, David McDonald, Kris Vyas-Myall, Gautam Bhatia, Farah Mendlesohn, and Jim O’Brien, as well as art by Autun Purser and Collin MacNeil. This stunning list of contributors may also have set a record for the most footnotes ever included in a single issue of a fanzine.

Journey Planet 84 “Workers’ Rights In SFF” is available at this link. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Introduction by Olav Rokne & Amanda Wakaruk
  • Alientation and Automation by Brian Collins
  • Pohl Position by Rich Horton
  • Unpaid Green by Octavia Cade
  • Learning to Write Science Fiction from
  • John Steinbeck by Will McMahon
  • Fit for Purpose (Fiction) by A.L. Yakimchuk
  • Making Work Sexy With William Morris by Kira Braham
  • Rule of Acquisition 211 by Bob Barnetson
  • We Must Start Over And Find Some New Way of Life by Joachim Boaz
  • A Nightmare of Shopkeepers by Camestros Felapton
  • Workers of 2000AD UNITE! by James Bacon
  • Jumping the Shark on the Moon by Mark McCutcheon
  • The Translator (Fiction) by Brett Sheehan
  • They Who Build Beneath the Stars by David McDonald
  • Fighting the Suits by Kris Vyas-Myall
  • Gesturing Towards the Labour Question by Gautam Bhatia
  • Kritzer and a Theory of Labour by Farah Mendlesohn
  • Unions in SFF Recommendations by Olav Rokne
  • ‘Commie nutters turn Tintin into picket yob!’ by Jim O’Brien
  • ENDitorial by James Bacon