(1) POSSIBLY AMONG THE BEST SF BOOKS AND FILMS OF 2024? [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] SF² Concatenation has just posted its annual team poll as to the possibly best SF books and films of 2024 (well some of SF² Concatenation team members liked them).  This is an annual bit of fun and is not to be taken too seriously.  Having said that, its past January team picks have seen some go on to be short-listed, and even win, some major SF Awards (scroll down the page to see these). 

You can see the selections here (and if on social media Facebook alert at BSFA here).

(2) AI GETS AN F. Jason Sanford’s article “AI and the Enshittification of Life, or My Year Wading Through the Slop of Generative Artificial Intelligence” is an open read on his Patreon.

…If 2023 was the year the companies behind generative AI conned the world into believing “artificial intelligence” had learned to be creative – spoiler: there’s no intelligence in generative AI, and the creativity behind so-called machine learning is merely algorithms trained on the stolen work of writers and artists – then 2024 is the year when the companies and people behind generative AI showed the world how quickly these programs could engulf the internet with near-total enshittification. Examples of said enshittification ranged from Google’s search engine telling people to put glue on pizza to large numbers of AI-generated images being used as propaganda in the recent US presidential election….

(3) ON THE FRONT. Literary Hub asked 54 designers to share their favorite covers of the year, and has posted a gallery of the 167 covers on their lists: “The 167 Best Book Covers of 2024”. At the top are the covers from The Southern Reach series.

(4) CLARKE AWARD WINNER ON QUIZ SHOW. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Last night’s Christmas University Challenge BBC2 30th Dec, saw Queens College Cambridge vs Emmanuel College Cambridge.

On the Queens team was SF author and Clarke Award winner Richard Morgan of Altered Carbon fame among much else.

The Queens team members seemed to equally contribute to their collective score. Richard helped early on getting the 2nd starter question for 10 points right.  He also demonstrated a knowledge of the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

His team, Queens, won 175 to 95.

Whole episode (half hour) here: “University Challenge Christmas 2024 E06 Emmanuel, Cambridge v Queens, Cambridge”.

(5) THE MARVEL OF JIMMY CARTER. “Jimmy Carter’s Life, in 17 Objects” from the New York Times. (Behind a paywall.)

10. The Energy President

Mr. Carter made energy policy one of his top concerns. His presidency arrived after several years of oil shortages and price spikes that had roiled the economy.

He established the Department of Energy, which was also responsible for managing the nuclear weapons stockpile, and famously installed 32 solar panels on the West Wing of the White House to promote renewable sources. To his disappointment, Ronald Reagan had them removed. (The National Park Service quietly added new panels for secondary buildings on White House grounds in 2002, and the Obama administration revived solar power on the main structure in 2014.)

The Carter family got the Marvel Comics treatment by the artist John Tartaglione to encourage — along with Captain America — energy conservation. This illustration, signed by Stan Lee, Marvel’s publisher, is on display at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta.

(6) SELDOM IS HEARD. SYFY Wire contends “The Twilight Zone’s Most Iconic Catchphrase Was Barely Ever Said”. But the Wire thinks that phrase was “Submitted for your approval”. I always thought it was, “Case in point”. Or you might even think it’s something else.

The beloved sci-fi anthology The Twilight Zone (airing regularly on SYFY) is full of iconic quotes — like “It’s not fair… there was time now,” “Wish it into the cornfield,” and “It’s a cookbook!” — but the one that’s most associated with the classic show has to be from creator Rod Serling: “Submitted for your approval.”

When you picture Serling, appearing before the camera to introduce whatever twist-filled tale The Twilight Zone has in store, you can hear him saying that phrase. If you’re trying to do an impression of Serling, it’s almost mandatory that you say, “Submitted for your approval.”

But would it surprise you to learn that Serling only says that catchphrase three times across all of The Twilight Zone’s 156 episodes?

(7) BARB GILLIGAN PASSES AWAY. SF fan Barb Gilligan died December 28. Hope Kiefer announced the news on Facebook.

It is with profound sadness that I bring you the news of the death Barb Gilligan She and our friend Pat H started on an adventure cruise in the Sea of Cortez, but after a few fun days, Barb became ill. Her condition worsened, and the ship turned around to take her to a medical facility. From there she was airlifted to a larger hospital in San Jose del Cabo. Her condition continued to worsen, she was intubated, and never recovered. She was taken off life support on Saturday, December 28th. Her brother-in-law flew in and joined Pat to be there with Barb at the end.

Pat was a rock through all of this, working tirelessly to help and advocate for her friend in a country where she didn’t speak the language.

Barb was kind, adventurous, and always had a twinkle in her eye. She is survived by her dog Lily, and siblings, Cathy, Janice, David and James, and many friends.

(8) ANGUS MACINNES (1947-2024). Actor Angus MacInnes, whose active screen career included roles in many genre productions, died December 23 at the age of 77.

…He made his first on-screen appearance in 1975’s Rollerball.

His most notable role was in director George Lucas’ 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which saw him play Gold Leader/Jon “Dutch” Vander. He later reprised his role in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, directed by Gareth Edwards.

“For Angus, the fans of Star Wars held a special place in his heart. He loved meeting you at conventions, hearing your stories, and sharing in your passion for the saga,” the family added in their statement. “He was continually humbled, delighted, and honored by the admiration and passion of the fans and convention community.”

MacInnes’ other acting credits included Space: 1999 (1977), Atlantic City (1980), Outland (1981), The Littlest Hobo (1980-81), Witness (1985), Half Moon Street (1986), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Sleepers (1991), Roughnecks (1994), Judge Dredd (1995), Space Island One (1998), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Formula 51 (2001), Hellboy (2004), The Black Dahlia (2006), Vikings (2013) and Captain Phillips (2013).

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Paul Weimer.]

Born December 31, 1949 – Ellen Datlow, 75.

By Paul Weimer: Ellen Datlow is an Empress of short fiction editing.

Although I didn’t pay attention to it at the time, I’ve been reading fiction edited by Datlow for most of my science fiction reading life.  That is to say, Omni Magazine. Datlow was the Omni Magazine (and later Omni Online) fiction editor. So the stories I enjoyed in those early halcyon days of short fiction reading were under her editorial hand — Omni was the first SF magazine I read and for a while was the only one before I transitioned into magazines like Asimov’s and Analog. So some of my early favorite SF stories, like “The Infinite Plane” by Paul Nahin, were thanks to her editorial direction. But young me didn’t even think of looking up editors in those halcyon days.

After her stint in Omni, and more famously, Datlow’s short fiction editing transitioned to a goodly number of anthologies.  And this, friends, is where Datlow as a name came to my reading attention. Her editorial work on many volumes of books like The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Best Horror of the Year and others have been staples of my reading for years. Datlow has also won a number of Hugo and World Fantasy awards for her short fiction and for some of her one-off anthologies, such as the fantastic The Green Man.

Datlow also co-hosts the speculative fiction reading series held on the second Wednesday of every month at the KGB Bar in Manhattan. 

Happy birthday, Ellen!

(10) COMICS SECTION.

• Carpe Diem justifies a space suit alteration.
• Rubes knows thieves.

(11) STAY TUNED. Variety says there’s plenty for fans to anticipate next year: “The Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2025: New and Returning Series”. We’ve clipped the items of genre interest discussed in the articles to make this list:

• “Andor,” the second season of which will premiere on Disney+ on April 22
• the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” on Netflix
• The streamer will also drop “Squid Game,” [and] Season 2 of “Wednesday,” 
• Among the undated offerings from HBO and Max are Seasons 2 of “The Last of Us,”
• the latest “Game of Thrones” offshoot, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” and the “It” prequel series “Welcome to Derry” (which we’re already scared of based on a sneak peak!).
• Over on Hulu, the sixth and final season of the Emmy-winning “The Handmaid’s Tale” will premiere sometime in the spring, and will reveal what June (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) can do now that they’ve joined forces to take down Gilead.
• Amazon’s Prime Video service…Season 2 of “Gen V,” the brilliant spinoff of “The Boys”
• Last but not least, we come to FX. …Noah Hawley’s “Alien: Earth,” which was first announced in December 2020, will at last be unveiled, and will likely be one of the biggest shows of the year.

(12) A FINE YOUNG SON. “Son returns mom’s 72-year overdue book to New York Public Library” – Gothamist has the details.

A week before Christmas, a man returned a copy of Igor Stravinsky’s 1936 autobiography to a clerk at The New York Public Library’s 455 5th Ave. location.

The clerk immediately contacted the branch’s director.

“They called and said, ‘hey, are you able to come down?’” said Billy Parrott, director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library.

The book was 72 years overdue, making it the most overdue book Parrott has ever heard of being returned to the branch.

“We routinely get stuff [returned], all the time, from the ‘80s or the ‘90s but rarely stuff from mid-century,” said Parrott, who loves learning the stories behind such superlatively overdue items….

… It was April 4, 1952. The book was due back two weeks later.

On Feb. 9, 1953, the tardy patron was mailed a formal notice, signed by the NYPL’s private investigator Herbert Bouscher (who later became head of its microfilm services, according to an obituary), requesting she return the book to the branch she borrowed it from and pay the fine of 1 cent per day plus a handling charge, which together came to $3.25.

Although she went on to work for a time at an NYPL location in the Bronx, she never did return the book, or pay the fine, said Parrott.

NYPL abolished late fees in Oct. 2021….

(13) WHO CAN REPLACE A MAN? “Future of space: Could robots really replace human astronauts?” BBC takes up an evergreen question.

…Some scientists question whether human astronauts are going to be needed at all.

“Robots are developing fast, and the case for sending humans is getting weaker all the time,” says Lord Martin Rees, the UK’s Astronomer Royal. “I don’t think any taxpayer’s money should be used to send humans into space.”

He also points to the risk to humans.

“The only case for sending humans [there] is as an adventure, an experience for wealthy people, and that should be funded privately,” he argues.

Andrew Coates, a physicist from University College London, agrees. “For serious space exploration, I much prefer robotics,” he says. “[They] go much further and do more things.”

They are also cheaper than humans, he argues. “And as AI progresses, the robots can be cleverer and cleverer.”

But what does that mean for future generations of budding astronauts – and surely there are certain functions that humans can do in space but which robots, however advanced, never could?…

… In her 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel Orbital, author Samantha Harvey puts it more lyrically: “A robot has no need for hydration, nutrients, excretion, sleep… It wants and asks for nothing.”…

(14) OOPS. “Space rock donated by Nasa to Ireland lay in basement three years before being destroyed in fire” reports Yahoo!

A lunar rock collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on humanity’s first trip to the Moon in 1969 was accidentally destroyed in a fire after spending three years in an Irish basement, it has emerged.

The rock was collected on Nasa’s Apollo 11 mission and gifted to Eamon de Valera, the Irish president at the time, in 1970.

Previously confidential documents from the Dublin National Archives reveal the historic item was left in bureaucratic limbo for three years, with civil servants unable to decide where it should be displayed….

… “This piece of Moon rock had lain in the basement for three-and-a-half years due to indecision as to where it might best be displayed,” a memo from 1984 seen by the PA news agency reads.

“It was decided to give the Moon rock to Dunsink when it became known that a second gift was to be made by the US government, and it was thought that some embarrassment would be caused if the first piece was not already on display.”

The lunar rock completed a 236,000-mile trip back to Earth on Apollo 11, only to spend three years in a dark room before being consumed by flames and accidentally disposed of with the rubble. “The first piece was destroyed during a fire at Dunsink on October 3, 1977,” documents confirmed.

The second piece of Moon rock, from Apollo 17, was gifted by the US in 1973, accompanied by a special plaque featuring the Irish tricolour.

(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Here are the special effects that explain “How They Made Hagrid Big” in the Harry Potter movies.

[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Paul Weimer, 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 Peer.]