The Rondo Awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, honor the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.
Among top winners of the publicly-voted Rondo were Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune, voted Best Film, and What We Do in the Shadows, picked for a third year as Best Television Show.
And in a posthumous tribute, comedian and classic horror fan Gilbert Gottfried, who died last month, was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Almost 4,700 fans and pros voted online, in what has become the largest annual survey of classic horror fans and pros in history.
In addition to the winners named below, go to the Rondo Award site to see the runners-up and honorable mentions (generally, everything else that was nominated.)
This photo of Hatton in the 1946 film, House Of Horrors, is an inspiration for the distinctive bust given to winners.
BEST FILM OF 2021
DUNE, directed by Denis Villeneuve
BEST TV PRESENTATION
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Fx)
BEST BLU-RAY
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957; Criterion)
BEST BLU-RAY COLLECTION
KOLCHAK: THE NIGHTSTALKER: The Complete Series (Kino)
BEST RESTORATION
DOCTOR X (1932; Warner Bros)
BEST COMMENTARY
Tom Weaver (Incredible Shrinking Man)
BEST DVD EXTRAS
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957; Criterion), includes documentary on Jack Arnold, directed by Daniel Griffith, Arnold interview, remembrance by Richard Matheson’s son.
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
JAKOB’S WIFE, directed by Travis Stevens, starring Barbara Crampton
BEST SHORT FILM
THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN VENICE BEACH, directed by Ansel Faraj
BEST DOCUMENTARY
BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER, directed by Thomas Hamilton, written by Ron MacCloskey
BOOK OF THE YEAR
YOURS CRUELLY, ELVIRA: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, by Cassandra Peterson
BEST CLASSIC HORROR FICTION
(Fiction that uses classic horror icons as jumping off points)
DRACULA NEVER DIES: The Revenge of Bela Vorlock by Christopher R. Gauthier
BEST MAGAZINE (Classic)
SCARY MONSTERS
BEST MAGAZINE (modern)
FANGORIA
BEST ARTICLE
‘Child of Dark Shadows,’ by Kathryn Leigh Scott, FANGORIA #11
BEST INTERVIEW
Sam Irvin interviews Elvira (THE DARK SIDE #222)
BEST COLUMN
Scene Queen, by Barbara Crampton (FANGORIA)
BEST COVER
CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES #25 by Daniel Horne
BEST WEBSITE
BLOODY DISGUSTING
BEST PODCAST
GILBERT GOTTFRIED’S AMAZING COLOSSAL PODCAST
FAVORITE HORROR HOST OF 2021
SVENGOOLIE
BEST EVENT
A DARK SHADOWS CHRISTMAS CAROL, read by several members of the Dark Shadows cast
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OR COLLECTION
LUGOSI: THE RISE AND FALL OF HOLLYWOOD’S DRACULA by Koren Shadmi
INDIVIDUAL RONDO AWARDS
SPECIAL RECOGNITION for achievements that may have been overlooked or don’t fit into other categories
KIER-LA JANISSE — Like no other before her, horror scholar Kier-la Janisse in 2021 demonstrated that so-called “folk horror” goes far beyond the mythologies of Bigfoot and Loch Ness.In two seminal works, a weighty Blu-Ray collection of films called ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS, which she helped assemble, and an in-depth documentary she directed, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED, Janisse traces the deep roots of humanity’s natural fears — of forest beasts, of witches and sprites, and of all things supernatural, many hiding in plain sight. No Frankensteins are needed when owls are enough. In addition to her years of writings and her founding of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies 12 years ago, Janisse is deserving of Rondo’s ‘Special Recognition’ for advancing horror scholarship and understanding.
MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR Rondo’s highest honor: Who did the most in 2021 to advance the cause of classic horror scholarship, film preservation or genre creativity?
EVAN DAVIS — Whether known as Halloween Jack or Evan Davis, he is the energy behind the resurgence of The Monster Channel, which curates horror host shows 24/7 online, on Roku and wherever you can find it.
WRITER OF THE YEAR
FRANK DELLO STRITTO — In a series of fact-packed fictionalizations of the legends of the Wolf Man and kindred were-things, the Pacific Island brethren of King Kong, and now the might-have-been journeys of the Mummy — old and new — Dello Stritto breathes new life into the stories we thought we know so well.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
MARK MADDOX
FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR
NOUFAUX
THE MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME New inductees
JEAN-CLAUDE MICHEL — A French horror and film historian of long-standing, Jean-Claude Michel was the first foreign correspondent for Famous Monsters of Filmland, remaining with the magazine for many years.
LAURA WAGNER — Laura Wagner is not only ‘Classic Images’ magazine’s book reviewer; she has spent decades interviewing stars and almost-stars whom everyone has forgotten except for their fans.
BELA G. LUGOSI — There were times when Bela Lugosi’s son, Boris Karloff’s daughter, and Lon Chaney Jr.’s grandson would dine together in Hollywood. The trio of real ‘Monster Kids’ always caused a nervous buzz.
FRANK DIETZ — If the Baby Boomer generation of ‘Monster Kids’ — and that’s who most of us are — has a creative heart, it just may be artist, animator, actor, screenwriter, director, and monstrous party planner Frank Dietz. An artist at Disney studios, he taught young creatives the secrets of lines and shadows.
MAITLAND McDONAGH — Author, editor and cultural critic Maitland McDonagh was an influencer long before Tik-Tok. As early as 1991, McDonagh explored the world of Euro horror and giallo with her groundbreaking book, ‘Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento.’
MR. LOBO — For more than 21 years, Erik Lobo’s Cinema Insomnia has been a creative force in the horror host community, especially during the years when the format was close to disappearing. Now his always curated site, OSI74 (which stands for Outer Space International), houses dozens of hosts permanently online.
GILBERT GOTTFRIED — The no-holds-barred funnyman was not to everyone’s taste, but there was no doubt he knew his monsters. In bits onstage or on his Rondo Award-winning Amazing Colossal Podcast with Frank Santopadre, guests could range from Rick Baker and Sara Karloff to author David J. Skal and Adam West.
Online voting has begun for the 20th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. You’re invited to vote for your favorites in any or all 28 categories. Click the link for instructions and the complete ballot. The deadline to participate is midnight April 17.
(Don’t be shy about voting for Steve Vertlieb, a nominee in the Best Events of 2021 category for Talking Kong – “Expert Steve Vertlieb appears on Classic Movies with Ron McCloskey to discuss King Kong and gorillas in cinema.”)
And as a teaser, below are the Best Film and Best TV Presentation nominees.
BEST FILM OF 2021
Antlers
Candyman
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Free Guy
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Godzilla Vs Kong
Halloween Kills
Last Night In Soho
Malignant
Night House
Nightmare Alley
Old
A Quiet Place, Part Two
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Zach Snyder’s Justice League
BEST TV PRESENTATION
Chucky, Bravo. The deadly doll is back. ‘We’re gonna party like it’s 1999.’
Creepshow, Shudder. Episodes in the EC vein. ‘Naperville Ripper Still at Large’
Doctor Who, BBC America. The Thirteenth Doctor battles enemies old and new. ‘Don’t blink!’
Evil, CBS. Mysteries with a supernatural twist. ‘If one word is spoken within the monastery walls, the demon will be out.’
Fear Street, Netflix. Teenagers battle a town curse in three eras. ‘Would you say he was more Dawn of the Dead, or Night of the Living Dead?’
Servant, Apple TV+. M. Night Shyamalan’s look at a family’s odd nanny. ‘She’s not the sweet child you think she is.’
Midnight Mass, Netflix. A priest shakes a village’s faith. ‘God still has a plan, and death isn’t part of it anymore.’
Rondo Awards administrator David Colton presided over the “19th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Virtual Behind the Mask Stay Away From Me Don’t Touch Ceremony!” on May 3.
The Rondo Awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, honor the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.
Colton says this year’s e-mail vote, conducted by the Classic Horror Film Board, a 25-year old online community, drew more than 6,000 ballots, a 27% increase from last year’s vote and the largest survey of classic horror fans and pros in history.
On Saturday, June 5 in Louisville, with Covid protocols in place, Colton will hold a two-years-in-one Rondo Awards Ceremony at WonderFest in Louisville.
Below is a photo of Hatton in the 1946 film, House Of Horrors, an inspiration for the distinctive bust given to winners.
BEST FILM OF 2020 Due to the pandemic, includes wide release, video-on-demand and streaming
THE INVISIBLE MAN, directed by Leigh Whannell (wide)
BEST TV PRESENTATION
THE MANDALORIAN, ‘The Rescue,’ 12.18.20, Disney+. Baby Yoda finds a master. ‘I’ll see you again. I promise.’
BEST DVD/BLU-RAY OF 2020
WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953; Criterion)
BEST DVD/BLU-RAY COLLECTION
FRIDAY THE 13TH DELUXE COLLECTION (Shout!) 12 movies and extras on 16 discs.
BEST RESTORATION OR UPGRADE
WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953; Criterion). Saucer wires gone; extensive visual and audio improvements throughout.
FAVORITE COMMENTATOR
Sam Irvin (Frankenstein: The True Story)
BEST DVD EXTRAS
DAWN OF THE DEAD SPECIAL EDITON (1978; Second Sight). Four feature length documentaries; new interviews.
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM OF 2020
SEEDS, directed by Skip Shea. A pagan cult takes hold in New England. See trailer here
BEST SHORT FILM
THE THOUSAND AND ONE LIVES OF DR. MABUSE, directed by Ansel Faraj (17:23 mins). Third installment of modern take on Mabuse. See film here.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
CURSED FILMS, five-part Shudder documentary on mishaps and deaths surrounding Exorcist, Omen, Poltergeist, Crow, Twilight Zone. See trailer here.
BOOK OF THE YEAR
RAY HARRYHAUSEN, Titan of Cinema, by Vanessa Harryhausen (National Galleries of Scotland, softcover, 208 pages, $37.50). Stories behind models and effects in a planned exhibition.
BEST HORROR ART BOOKS
ROD SERLING’S NIGHT GALLERY: THE ART OF DARKNESS, by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson (Creature Features, hardcover/softcover, 316 pages, $75/$95). Commentary and reproductions of every painting used in the series.
BEST MAGAZINE OF 2020
Scary Monsters
BEST ARTICLE
‘Black Horror; History on the Big Screen,’ by Ernie Rockelman, HORRORHOUND #84. Tracking black horror milestones.
BEST INTERVIEW
Bruce Campbell by Dr. Gangrene, Scary Presents Monster Memories (#116)
BEST COLUMN
Scene Queen, by Barbara Crampton, FANGORIA
BEST MAGAZINE COVER
[Tie]
Scary Monsters #118 (Glow in the Dark) by Scott Jackson
Classic Monsters of the Movies #21 by Daniel Horne
BLOBFEST: Virtual events included Best Theatre Runouts of the past, Blob screenings, Miss Blobfest contest, online vendors.
FAVORITE HORROR HOSTS OF 2020
Svengoolie (Me-TV)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS OR COLLECTIONS
BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA STARRING BELA LUGOSI, by El Garing, Kerry Gammill, Richard Starkings, Robert Napton (Legendary Comics hardcover). Authorized by the Lugosi estate, he stars in a retelling of the classic tale.
WRITER OF THE YEAR
Kelly Robinson
BEST ARTIST OF 2020
Mark Spears
BEST FAN ARTIST OF 2020 (The Linda Miller Award)
Noufaux – Adele Veness
MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR — Rondo’s highest honor: Who did the most in 2020 to advance the cause of classic horror scholarship, film preservation or genre creativity?
From UCLA, the magic-making Scott MacQueen, who cajoled, pushed and insisted on Mystery Of The Wax Museum and this year’s Doctor X
SPECIAL RECOGNITION — for achievements that may have been overlooked or don’t fit into other categories
George Feltenstein, the longtime Warner Bros. executive who not only pushed Wax and Doctor X but Curse Of Frankenstein and a lifetime of DVDs and restorations. He left WB last month.
Monsters Holding B—–S, a very unique Instagram Site based on monsters and their victims. It not only features thousands of stills and paprodies, but also is a lab for young aspiring artists. And maybe the name will change someday!
Dick Klemensen for his work not only on Little Shoppe but his recent min-documentaries on ‘The Men Who Made Hammer.’
Online voting has begun for the 19th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. You’re invited to vote for your favorites in any or all 28 categories. Click the link for instructions and the complete ballot. The deadline to participate is midnight April 25.
As a teaser, here are the Best Movie and Best Television Presentation nominees.
BEST FILM OF 2020
BLACK BOX, directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. (Amazon Prime)
COLOR OUT OF SPACE, directed by Richard Stanley (wide)
COME PLAY, directed by Jacob Chase (wide)
THE CRAFT: LEGACY, directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (VoD)
FREAKY, directed by Christopher Landon (wide)
GRETEL & HANSEL, directed by Osgood Perkins (wide)
HIS HOUSE, directed by Remi Weekes (Netflix)
THE INVISIBLE MAN, directed by Leigh Whannell (wide)
THE LODGE, directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (wide)
LOVE AND MONSTERS, directed by Michael Matthews (VoD)
MIDNIGHT SKY, directed by George Clooney (Netflix)
POSSESSOR, directed by Brandon Cronenberg (wide)
RELIC, directed by Natalie Erika James (wide)
THE RENTAL, directed by Dave Franco (wide; VoD)
SHE DIES TOMORROW, directed by Amy Seimetz (VoD)
SYNCHRONIC, directed by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead (wide)
TENET, directed by Christopher Nolan (wide)
UNDERWATER, directed by William Eubank (wide)
VAST OF NIGHT, directed by Matthew Patterson (wide; Amazon)
WONDER WOMAN 84, directed by Patty Jenkins (wide; HBOMax)
THE WRETCHED, directed by Brett and Drew T. Pierce (wide)
BEST TV PRESENTATION
BRAVE NEW WORLD, ‘Everybody Happy Now,’ 7.15.20, NBC Peacock. Rebellion grows against a genetic caste system. ‘If this place is so perfect, why is it upside down?’
CREEPSHOW, ‘Survival Type,’ 10.30.20, Shudder. Animated adaptation of Stephen King story. ‘How badly does the patient want to survive?’
DOCTOR WHO, ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati,’ 2.16.20, BBC America. The Thirteenth Doctor encounters Mary Shelley at Lake Geneva. ‘’Nobody mention Frankenstein. Nobody interfere.’
DRACULA, ‘The Rules of the Beast,’ 1.4.20, BBC/Netflix. At a convent, Sister Van Helsing confronts the Lord of the Undead. ‘Why does death always come as such a shock to mortals?’
HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, ‘The Great Good Place,’ 10.9.20, Netflix. Adaptation of Henry James’ Turning of the Screw. ‘You young people have no idea what you are letting yourselves in for.’
INTO THE DARK, ‘Good Boy,’ 6.12.20, Hulu. Woman finds her support dog offers no support at all. ‘He can tell when I get anxious.’
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, ‘Sundown,’ 8.16.20. HBO. Racism of 1950s South collides with creatures from another reality. ‘I’ve heard worse. I’ve been part of worse.’
THE MANDALORIAN, ‘The Rescue,’ 12.18.20, Disney+. Baby Yoda finds a master. ‘I’ll see you again. I promise.’
SUPERNATURAL, ‘Carry On,’ 11.19.20, The CW. After 15-years, the monster hunt comes to an end. ‘You knew it was going to end like this for me.’
THE TRUTH SEEKERS, ‘Shadow of the Moon,’ 10.30.20, Amazon. Racing an eclipse, the team finds one member is not what they seem. ‘Never send a human to do a super-being’s job.’
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, ‘The Who of You,’ 6.25.20, CBS All Access. A would-be bank robber eludes a cop by jumping from body to body. ‘Charge him with criminal hypnosis.’
THE WALKING DEAD, ‘Walk With Us,’ 3.15.20, AMC. Negan and Alpha have a reckoning. ‘It took you long enough.’
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, ‘Nouveau Theatre Des Vampires,’ 6.10.20, FX. A gala is really a trap for the Staten Island vampires. ‘He was getting more and more sad. I could smell it on him.’
By Steve Vertlieb: With the excitement this week regarding the announcement of this year’s marvelous crop of deserving new winners of the prestigious annual Rondo Awards, I’m happily reminded of my own encounter with the announcement and subsequent award ceremony just four years ago. Here I am being presented with the Rondo Hall of Fame Award for a precious lifetime of journalism and achievement by David Colton, former editor of USA Today, on Saturday evening, June 4th, 2016, in Louisville, Kentucky.
David Colton and Steve Vertlieb
The proudest moment of my seventy four years…winning the coveted “Rondo Hall Of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award” for more than half a century of genre writing and publishing in a variety of books, magazines, journals, tabloids, and on the worldwide “web” (with apologies to Spiderman).
I’d like to humbly offer my sincere best wishes and congratulations to those worthy souls and winners of this year’s assortment of Rondo Award winners, as well as my eternal gratitude to the thousands of writers, directors, composers, actors, and special effects technicians whose work in film bathed my dreams, and my own meager accomplishments these past five plus decades in their creative shadow.
My work remains merely a pale reflection of the love and admiration that they so generously inspired in me, and in the millions of fans around the world who continue to love and respect the art of motion pictures, as well as those wondrous souls who inhabit them.
To all of you, I can only offer my profound and enduring gratitude for being permitted to share the love, inspiration, and joyous wonder of films and music.
As Rondo Awards administrator David Colton puts it — “A monster in green hair and red lips dancing on the steps. A baby Yoda discovering the Force for the first time. A cool, cruel Dracula charming his soon-to-be dinner guests. And an unknown makeup woman of the 1950s helping to create a Creature for the ages. All these and more were honored today as the best of 2019 in the (Gasp!) 18th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.”
The Rondo Awards, named after Rondo Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, honor the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.
Colton says this year’s e-mail vote, conducted by the Classic Horror Film Board, a 25-year old online community, drew more than 4,700 ballots, the most ever.
Below is a photo of Hatton in the 1946 film, House Of Horrors, an inspiration for the distinctive bust given to winners.
BEST FILM OF 2019
Joker
BEST TV PRESENTATION
The Mandalorian
BEST BLU-RAY/DVD
Dracula (1979; Shout)
BEST COLLECTION
Godzilla: The Showa Era (15 films; Criterion)
BEST RESTORATION
The Black Cat (1934; Universal)
BEST DVD EXTRA
Twisted Tale: The Unmaking of Spookies by Michael Gingold and Glen Baisley (SPOOKIES; 1986; Vinegar Syndrome)
BEST COMMENTARY
Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Dr. Robert J. Kiss (Tarantula, Shout)
BEST PACKAGE OF DVD EXTRAS
Godzilla: The Showa Era (Criterion); Interviews include director Ishira Honda, unused footage.
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
House Of The Gorgon, directed by Joshua Kennedy, with Caroline Munro, Martine Beswicke, Veronica Carlson
BEST SHORT FILM
Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster Frankenstein directed by Daniel Gray Longino; starring David Harbour.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Horror Noire: A History Of Black Horror, directed by Xavier Burgin, based on a book by Robin R. Means Coleman
BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara
BEST MAGAZINE (Classic)
Scary Monsters
BEST MAGAZINE (modern)
Fangoria
BEST ARTICLE
Rise Of The Supermonsters/Monsters From The Closet, by Carly Maga and Matthew Hays, Rue Morgue #189
BEST INTERVIEW
Dark Shadows’ Kathryn Leigh Scott, interview by Rod Labbe, Scary Monsters #111
BEST COLUMN
“Scene Queen,” by Barbara Crampton (Fangoria)
BEST COVER
Scary Monsters #115 by Scott Jackson
BEST WEBSITE
Bloody Disgusting
BEST MULTI-MEDIA SITE
Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast
FAVORITE HORROR HOST OF 2019
Svengoolie
BEST CONVENTION
Monster Bash
TOP LIVE EVENT
Svengoolie 40th Anniversary Honored by City of Chicago
ACHIEVEMENT IN HORROR STUDIES
Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation
BEST COMIC BOOK
The Creeps (Warrant)
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
RONDO AWARD FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT
SCOTT GALLINGHOUSE
For decades, the few details known about Rondo Hatton have been a mixture of conjecture and legend. Enter Scott Gallinghouse, whose masterful biography of Hatton in the book The Brute Man uncovered a richer life than anyone imagined. Two marriages, a thriving career as a reporter, an athlete and a brave gamble on Hollywood after his features began to distort. Meticulously researched and superbly written, Gallinghouse’s work is an important part of the Rondo Hatton story.
MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR
JORDAN PEELE
Director and writer Jordan Peele has brought a new sensibility and terrific energy to the horror and fantasy field with his depictions of real people confronting unreal truths. His films US and GET OUT and his reboot of THE TWILIGHT ZONE only hint at his new horror concepts to come. For thoroughly shaking tired tropes, he is our Monster Kid of the Year.
WRITER OF THE YEAR
GREGORY WILLIAM MANK
Greg Mank was one of the first horror historians to delve deeply into the production and personalities behind the Universal horror films, and decades later he shows no sign of ending his search for new insights about the films we all love. His recent books and lectures on actors Colin Clive and Laird Cregar, along with his Blu-Ray commentaries make him an essential part of ever-changing film history.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
MARK MADDOX
Like the best of genre artists, Mark Maddox makes familiar images new again through color and depth, superb composition and eye-pleasing dynamics. His work in magazines is legendary but his entry into Blu-Ray covers and more shows an artist moving with the times, and with his audience.
FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR (The Linda Miller Award)
JERROD BROWN
Jerrod’s art is bold and grand, a mix of classic images and modern monsters. But last year his large-scale reproductions of Aurora monster model box art went on tour, wowing visitors with a mix of nostalgia and presentations that made childhoods new again.
THE MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Robert Bloch, Jonathan Rigby, Kat Ellinger, Constantine Nasr, Greg Luce, George Chastain, The Ghoul (Ron Sweed) And Son Of Ghoul, David ‘The Rock’ Nelson
Online voting has
begun for the 18th Annual Rondo Hatton
Classic Horror Awards. You’re invited to vote for your favorites in any
or all 30 categories. Click the link for instructions and the complete ballot.
The deadline to participate is midnight March 29.
As a teaser, here are the Best Movie, Best Television Presentation, and Best Website finalists. Yes, Best Website – because guess who’s blog is smack dab in the middle of the list?
1)
BEST FILM OF 2019
AD
ASTRA
ANNA
AND THE APOCALYPSE
ANNABELLE
COMES HOME
AVENGERS:
ENDGAME
BLACK
CHRISTMAS
BRIGHTBURN
CHILD’S
PLAY
CRAWL
THE
DEAD DON’T DIE
DOCTOR
SLEEP
GLASS
GODZILLA:
KING OF THE MONSTERS
HAPPY
DEATH DAY 2U
IT:
CHAPTER TWO
JOKER
THE
LIGHTHOUSE
MIDSOMMAR
PARASITE
READY
OR NOT
SCARY
STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
SHAZAM!
SPIDER-MAN:
FAR FROM HOME
STAR
WARS: RISE OF SKYWALKER
US
ZOMBIELAND:
DOUBLE TAP
2)
BEST TV PRESENTATION
AMERICAN
HORROR STORY: 1984, ‘Camp Redwood,’ 9.18.19, FX. Season nine kicks off
with homages to the 80s. ‘This is the site of the greatest summer camp massacre
of all time.’
ARE
YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK, ‘Submitted for Approval,’ 10.11.19, Nickelodeon. A new
member joins the Midnight Society. ‘Nothing bad is gonna happen on this ride.
Just relax.’
BLACK
MIRROR, ‘Smithereens,’ 6.5.19, Netflix. An Uber driver has another destination
in mind. ‘Do you mind if I follow an alternate route?’
THE
CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, ‘An Exorcism in Greendale,’ 10.26.19, Netflix.
A demon inhabits Uncle Jesse. ‘Mephistopheles, save us from the dramatics of a
teenage witch.’
CREEPSHOW,
‘The Man in the Suitcase,’ 10/10/19, Shudder. An unexpected visitor has magical
powers. ‘An unfortunate condition causes me to produce gold when I am in pain.’
DOCTOR
WHO, ‘Resolution,’ 12.31.19, BBC. The 13th Doctor confronts the
Daleks. ‘Don’t take that with alcohol, you’ll grow an extra head.’
EVIL,
‘October 31,’ 10.24.19, CBS. Halloween and an exorcism are a deadly
combination. ‘Kindness is hypocrisy.’
INTO
THE DARK, ‘All That We Destroy,’ 5.3.19, Hulu. For Mother’s Day, an experiment
with clones and family. ‘How many times has he killed me?’
THE
MANDALORIAN, ‘Chapter Two: The Child,’ 11.15.19, DIsney+. Baby Yoda uses the
Force to save his protector. ‘May it survive and bring you a handsome reward.’
MARIANNE. ‘You
Left Her’ 9.13.19, Netflix. Friends return to an old school for a
ritual. ‘She’s a witch. I wrote these books to fight against her.’
NOS4A2,
‘The Gas Mask Man,’ 6.2.19, AMC. A sinister Christmas is coming at the school.
‘He’s hunting you.’
STAR
TREK DISCOVERY, ‘Such Sweet Sorrow’ 4.11.19, CBS Access. The saga of Captain
Pike ends where it began. ‘There’s a whole galaxy out there full of people who
will reach for you.’
STRANGER
THINGS 3: ‘The Battle of Starcourt,’ 7.4.19, Netflix. The Mind Flayer comes for
El. ‘The hurt is good. It means you’re out of that cave..’
SUPERNATURAL,
;Atomic Monsters,’ 11.7.19. Final season finds Sam and Dean on the road again.
‘You’ve got to stop calling yourself “The Meat Man”. It doesn’t mean what you
think it means.’
THE
TWILIGHT ZONE, ‘Replay,’ 4/1/19, CBS Access. A camcorder rewinds time on a
racist cop. ‘Only by embracing her past could she protect her son’s future.’
THE
WALKING DEAD, ‘We Are the End of the World,’ 10.13.19, AMC. The origins of
Alpha and Beta. ‘There is clarity in the chaos. Do you doubt me?’
WHAT
WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, ‘The Trial, 5.8.19, FX. Vampires stand accused by a
tribunal of their peers. ‘We might have floated the idea of murdering him, but
we didn’t do it. Did we??’
…This handsome, earnest, yet overstuffed and poorly paced film deviates frequently from the historical record. Most seriously, it ignores Tolkien’s devout Christian faith: there is no indication that he served Mass daily as a boy or ever even entered a Catholic church. His punch-ups with Wiseman and drunken night-time profanities are, in comparison, unimportant inventions.
But departures from reality are inevitable in dramatisations, and enumerating them can quickly devolve into captiousness. What’s more relevant is whether the artistic licence results in a successful story. One expects a biopic to sit somewhat loose to the facts, yet one hopes it will also hold the attention and make one care about the characters, however far from real life they may diverge.
A helpful comparison is Richard Attenborough’s Shadowlands, the story of CS Lewis’s late marriage. It’s worthless as an account of actual events, but works brilliantly as a movie: engaging, well-structured, powerful and poignant.
Here, with Lewis’s friend Tolkien, it’s a different story. Incidents come thick and fast, but are strangely uninvolving….
Ward is
the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to CS Lewis.
(2) A MODEST PROPOSAL. Daniel Dern is
making an offer –
Our dead tree edition of the Sunday New York Times this week (here in the year 2019 – April 28) included a special 12-page section, consisting of (a version of) Ted Chiang’s story, “Better Versions of You,” adapted from his story “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” from Chiang’s new (coming out May 7) collection Exhalation. Illustrations by Daehyun Kim/Moonassi.
According to social media, “The piece is PRINT ONLY.” (My brief searches don’t show otherwise; I’d been looking for it before I found this tweet.)
? There is going be a new Ted Chiang short story in this Sunday's @nytimes! ? It's from his forthcoming story collection, EXHALATION (5/8, @AAKnopf). The piece is PRINT ONLY, with gorgeous art by Daehyun Kim/Moonassi, so be sure to pick up a copy of the paper tomorrow (4/28).? pic.twitter.com/ltDOvMnmEi
Once we’re done reading the story, I don’t feel the need to keep it. So I’m happy to pass it along to the first Filer who asks for it, via a comment to this post. (We’ll sort out snail addresses, etc. off-list. If need be, I’ll ask OGH to be the email-address intermediary.)
Beyond possibly the minor cost of mailing it, I’m not asking any $ for it.
OTOH, I’m happy if the recipient will in turn, once it’s arrived, make a modest (say, $10-$25) donation to some sf/fan related fund/fundraiser or other Good Cause (of their choice, e.g., the Gahan Wilson GoFundMe, or some WorldCon-related fundraiser — your choice, I don’t need to know what/who, how much, or whether). But this is an optional follow-through.
(I don’t see Chiang listed in the current ReaderCon Guests list, so you’d be on your own for trying to get it autographed.)
Owner Alan Beatts, also the owner of Borderlands Books — which will remain open on Valencia Street at least for the next year — said that the decision to shutter the cafe was, by and large, voluntary. He attributed the move to a confluence of factors, including staff retention, slumping sales, and his personal desire to focus on the bookstore….
“It’s more of a full circle than you realize,” Starlin says. “I got the assignment to draw Invincible Iron Man #55-56 because the regular penciller on it, George Tuska, had to go in for some elective surgery. So I did the first issue, which I plotted out with Mike Friedrich, and then the second one I worked with this writer Steve Gerber. We did a funny Iron Man issue, and Stan Lee hated it so much he fired both of us.”
(6) HELP WANTED. Westercon
bid chair Kevin Standlee posted the Tonopah [in 2021] Committee List. And they’re hoping to
add more workers.
The Tonopah Westercon committee is a standing committee of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. answerable to the corporation’s Board of Directors. Our organizing committee consists of the following people, with others helping on an ad hoc basis.
Chair: Kevin Standlee (Co-chair, 2002 Worldcon, San José CA) Assistant to Chair/Hospitality Lead : Lisa Hayes Treasurer: Bruce Farr (Chair, Westercon 45 (1992), Phoenix AZ) Facilities: Mike Willmoth (Chair, Westercon 62 (2009), Tempe AZ) Website Planning: Cheryl Morgan Travel Coordinator: Sandra Childress
Other Committee Members Without Portfolio: David W. Clark (Chair, 1993 Worldcon, San Francisco CA) Lisa Detusch Harrigan (Chair, Westercon 40 (1987), Oakland CA) Kevin Roche (Co-Chair, Westercon 66 (2013), Sacramento CA and Chair, 2018 Worldcon, San José CA) Andy Trembley (Co-Chair, Westercon 66 (2013), Sacramento CA)
(7) IT’S HISTORY. “And she’s
not only merely dead, she’s really most
sincerely dead.” At Gizmodo/io9,
last Thursday’s Morning Spoilers
column drops the news that “At Least One of the Game of
Thrones Spinoff Series Is Truly Dead” and the creator is
done, at least for now, at HBO. Tidbits for a dozen or so shows are shared in
the column.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Cogman confirmed that his time with the franchise is over for now—because the spinoff series he was attached to is officially scrubbed…
(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled
by Cat Eldridge.]
Born April 30, 1926 — Cloris Leachman, 93. I’ve got grist in the genre in Young Frankenstein as Frau Blücher. (Strange film.) she does her obligatory mouse role when she voices Euterpe in The Mouse and His Child. Next up is being The Lord’s Secretary in The Muppet Movie. (Always a fun time.) Hmmm… she’s Millie Crown in Shadow Play, a horror film that I don’t plan on seeing. Not my cup of tea. Lots of voice work from there out and I will only note her as Mrs. Tensedge in The Iron Giant, a great film indeed. She in the live action and I assume disgusting Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse as Ms. Fielder.
Born April 30, 1934 — Baird Searles. Best- known for his long running review columns in Asimov’s, Amazing Stories and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. For a time, he managed a genre bookstore in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the Science Fiction Shop, which is no longer in business. With Brian Thomsen, he edited Halflings, Hobbits, Warrows & Weefolk: A Collection of Tales of Heroes Short in Stature, and among other publication that he wrote was the Cliff Notes on Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. (Died 1993.)
Born April 30, 1938 — Larry Niven, 81. One of my favourites author to read, be Ringworld, The Mote in God’s Eye with Jerry Pournelle, or the the Rainbow Mars stories, there’s always good reading there. What’s your favourite Niven story?
Born April 30, 1968 — Adam Stemple, 51. Son of Jane Yolen. One-time vocalist of Boiled in Lead. With Yolen, he’s written the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fairy Tales, Pay the Piper and Troll Bridge which are worth reading, plus the Seelie Wars trilogy which I’ve not read. He’s also written two Singer of Souls urban fantasies which I remember as engaging.
Born April 30, 1973 — Naomi Novik, 46. She wrote the Temeraire series which runs nine novels so far. Her first book, His Majesty’s Dragon, won the Compton Crook Award for best first novel in the science fiction and fantasy category. She most deservedly won the Nebula Award for Best Novel for Uprooted which is a most excellent read. I’ve not yet her Spinning Silver, so opinions are welcome.
Born April 30, 1982 — Kirsten Dunst, 37. Her first genre role was as Claudio in Interview with the Vampire. Later genre roles include Judy Shepherd in Jumanji, voicing Christy Fimple in Small Soldiers, voicing Becky Thatcher in The Animated Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man franchise, voicing Kaena in Kaena: The Prophecy, and showing up on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Hedrilin in the “Dark Page” episode. She would have been nine years old in that episode!
Born April 30, 1985 — Gal Gadot, 34. Wonder Woman, of course, in the DC film universe. Other genre work, well, other than voicing Shank on Ralph Breaks the Internet, there really isn’t any. She did play Linnet Ridgeway Doyle in the Kenneth Branagh of Murder on the Orient Express which is quite lovely but hardly genre…
An overnight fire ripped through a forest in England that provided the setting for the Winnie the Pooh children’s stories.
The blaze at Ashdown Forest, in East Sussex, started at around 9.30 p.m. on Sunday and affected an area of more than 35 acres, according to the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.
Six fire crews were on the scene as flames fed on dry undergrowth in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, who lived in nearby Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, drew inspiration from Ashdown Forest to write the popular series of children’s books in the 1920s….
Moving Picture (MPC) company’s Richard Stammers, the Overall VFX Supervisor for the Walt Disney film Dumbo, tells BBC Click how the digital effects for the movie were put together.
(14) CELEBRATING THE RONDO
WINNERS. Steve Vertlieb sends his regards:
I want to take a moment this morning to wish hearty congratulations to all of this year’s most worthy Rondo Award winners. As always, the nominated films, television shows, writers, and artists were strong and worthy contenders, and each winner was deservedly voted the absolute best in his or her field of endeavor. In particular, however, I’d like to pay respect and homage to Veronica Carlson, Caroline Munro, and Martine Beswick whose long overdue recognition by The Rondo Hall of Fame was enthusiastically welcomed, and for my lifelong friend and brother, Wes Shank, whose loss late last Summer shattered us all, and whose entry last night into “The Monster Kid Hall of Fame” was a most fitting tribute to a beloved friend and fan. My personal remembrance of Wes was posted on File 770. Congratulations once again to all of this year’s most deserving Rondo Award winners.
A cat lover and space fan is about to make history by launching the remains of a cat named Pikachu into orbit around the Earth.
“Pikachu will have a final send-off like no cat has ever had before,” Steve Munt, Pikachu’s owner, wrote on a GoFundMe page dedicated to raising funds for Pikachu’s space memorial. Thanks to a company called Celestis — which also offers memorial spaceflights for humans — the orange tabby’s cremated remains will hitch a ride to space as a small secondary payload on a satellite launch sometime in the next 18 months, Munt told Space.com.
(16) MICE IN
SPACE. These mice, however, made it to orbit while still alive. Ben
Guarino in “Up
in space, mice found a new way to play” in the Washington Post, says a paper in Scientific Reports discusses what happened to mice that spent a
month in the International Space Station on the NASA Rodent Habitat.
After more than a week in space, young mice began to psrint and glide, as though they were zooming inside invisible hamster wheels. The scientists called this circling behavior, which they hadn’t seen before, ‘racetracking.’ Within a few days, other mice joined the fray. As a group, they ran laps around the habitats, reaching speeds of about a mile an hour. It’s strange to watch.
(17) HEDGEHOGGING THE ROAD. Sonic The Hedgehog is fast enough to create a blue shift.
He’s a whole new speed of hero. Watch the new trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog, in theatres this November
[Thanks
Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Chip Hitchcock,
Mike Kennedy, Daniel Dern, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these
stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Hampus
Eckerman and/or Daniel Dern. It’s complicated.]
The awards are named after Rondo
Hatton, an obscure B-movie villain of the 1940s, and “honor the best in classic
horror research, creativity and film preservation.” This year’s e-mail vote,
conducted by the Classic Horror Film Board, a 23-year old online community, drew
responses from a record 4,510 fans and pros around the world.
First-time
director Ari Aster’s Hereditary, an
unsettling look at a family haunted from within was voted Best Film of 2018.
Reflecting
the impact of streaming services, The
Haunting of Hill House, a Netflix adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s 1959
novel, was voted Best TV Presentation; and in a new category Best Fantasy or
Action Film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
beat two other Marvel epics, Avengers:
Infinity War and Black Panther as
the best of 2018.
Don Glut’s film Tales
of Frankenstein won the Best Independent Film category, an
anthology-style film, inspired by the old Hammer Horror films from the 1950s.
Ed Green has a part in the final chapter. It’s also the last film Len Wein
acted in and is dedicated to his memory.
Svengoolie
was again voted Favorite Horror Host, but his large vote total was challenged
this time by Joe Bob Briggs, Lamia, Queen of the Dark and Elvira, among others.
Other
winners included Bloody Disgusting, a
two-time winner as Best Website (where File
770 was also a nominee).
The
return of Texas exploitation film personality Joe Bob Briggs, who brought his
“Drive-In” redneck movie critic character back to Shudder TV, another example
of the resurgence in horror enthusiasm, was named Monster Kid of the Year.
This
year’s Monster Kid Hall of Fame inductees include the late horror collector and
historian Wes Shank (remembered in
this post by Steve Vertlieb);
one of the genre’s founding horror historians, Lucy Chase Williams;
Cleveland horror hosts Big Chuck and Lil’ John; Ron Adams, creator
of the long-running Monster Bash
convention and magazine; Ricou Browning, who swam as the original Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954;
and three of Hammer’s original glamour heroines, Caroline Munro,
Martine Beswick and Veronica Carlson, all still active on the convention
circuit and in films.
The
annual Rondo Awards Ceremony will be held Saturday, June 1 at the Wonderfest
Convention in Louisville.
ANDREA
SUBISSATI: In addition to editing RUE
MORGUE magazine, Andrea contributes smart and timely essays, singular
interviews and sharp reporting on the sometimes forbidden sides of horror
and dread.
ARTIST OF
THE YEAR
MARK
MADDOX: Mark Maddox’ eye-catching covers
and dramatic use of color and shading has become the look of monsters in the 21st Century.
Mark is a multiple Rondo winner whose work appears on numerous magazines each
year.
LINDA MILLER AWARD FOR FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR (In
memory of the late Linda Miller)
ERIC
PUCKETT: The art of Eric Puckett is
bright and scary, capturing a monstrous world where deadly clowns and villains
lurk behind garish masks. A mainstay at conventions and exhibits, Eric’s work
is soaked with humor and danger.
MONSTER KID
OF THE YEAR
JOE
BOB BRIGGS: A smooth-talking Texan who made the most
deranged drive-in films somehow respectable, Joe Bob Briggs returned with both
car speakers blasting in 2018, heading up a new show on the Shudder streaming
service. In a world of safely digitized horror hosting, Joe Bob reminds us that
love of the films and old-fashioned showmanship always must come first. Welcome
back Joe Bob!
THE MONSTER
KID HALL OF FAME
WES
SHANK: Yes, the late Wes Shank really did have The
Blob, and that was just the start. Wes was a master collector of monster and
science fiction memorabilia as well as a comforting and continuing presence at
conventions and educational events. Gone too soon, his enthusiasm and knowledge
will be missed but never forgotten.
LUCY
CHASE WILLIAMS: The second wave of horror fandom
was still young in 1995 when Lucy Chase Williams released THE COMPLETE FILMS OF
VINCENT PRICE, still the definitive look at the master of horror’s cinema
output. Along the way she survived the ordeals of unwanted sexual harassment
in fandom, and bravely came forward, no matter the personal cost. A true hero
of fandom.
BIG
CHUCK AND LIL’ JOHN: Cleveland has always been a
magnet for horror hosts, and two of the most enduring are Charles “Big Chuck”
Schodowski and “Lil’ John” Rinaldi. Starting in 1966 with the original
Ghoulardi, Schadowski worked for many years with Bob “Hoollihan” Wells and
later Rinaldi. Featuring sketches, movies and more, Chuck and John are now a
part of horror hosting legend.
RICOU
BROWNING: The Creature from the Black
Lagoon is more popular today than ever, thanks in large part to the underwater
swimming and elegant menace of Ricou Browning. Portraying the lovesick
prehistoric beastie was just the beginning for Browning, who helped create Flipper
and decades of film and TV work and has been a friendly and accessible presence
at conventions,
RON
ADAMS: Much of what we take for granted in the world of horror would
not exist without the clear and monstrous vision of Ron Adams, one of the
genre’s original impresarios. Whether his groundbreaking Monster Bash
conventions, his ability to combine family-friendly weekends with wonderfully
obscure guests, his mail order catalog or his retro Monster Bash magazine, Ron
Adams is always on the forefro0nt of the hobby and what it stands for.
MARTINE
BESWICK, VERONICA CARLSON and CAROLINE MUNRO: It’s easy to throw
around terms like scream queens and Hammer glamour, but most horror film
actresses were far more. Witness these three wondrous inductees — Martine Beswick,
Veronica Carlson and Caroline Munro – all active during the Golden Age of
Hammer but still active today. Whether signing autographs at conventions around
the globe or offering memories of working with horror and fantasy greats, these
three icons remind us of why their films will always endure.
(1) HELP IS ON THE WAY. Jimmy Kimmel Live plugs the “Game of Thrones Hotline for Confused
Fans.”
There is a lot going on in “Game of Thrones,” and it can be difficult to keep track of what’s what and who’s who. But fortunately help is on the way. Cast members Sophie Turner, Lena Headey, John Bradley, Joe Dempsie, Maisie Williams, Kristian Nairn, Iwan Rheon & Liam Cunningham host a new hotline to assist their confused fans.
(2) RONDO SETS RECORD. Never
mind the Dragon Awards – voting just closed in the “17th Annual Rondo
Hatton Classic Horror Awards” and would you like to guess how many
participants they had? The administrator says —
The final votes are still be tallied, but close to 4,500 people voted this year, a new record.
The results will be posted soon, once the vote is finalized and visual material is prepared for the release.
…So in this light, in the context of authors who actively avoid a novel of theirs being described as ‘science fiction’, and given the latest instance of Ian McEwan distancing himself from said label, I’d like to humbly offer a way in which one can tell if it’s an SF novel or not. “Whether a novel is science fiction—or not—depends on who the author is and who reviews it”.
As an advertising professional who has spent almost 20 years in the marketing business and who knows a thing or three about positioning and target audiences, this is perhaps the best description that I think we can arrive at. But where does this leave the reader?
It is up to the individual reader to decide whether he/she/they would rather go by convenient labels than follow interests or read what he/she/they would like to. As a reader – and not just of SF – I am in agreement with the author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks, the writer David Mitchell who says that genre snobbery is a bizarre act of self-mutilation because, “It’s convenient to have a science fiction and fantasy section, it’s convenient to have a mainstream literary fiction section, but these should only be guides, they shouldn’t be demarcated territories where one type of reader belongs and another type of reader does not belong…What a shame. All those great books that you’re cutting yourself off from.”
(4) WEIMER DOUBLE-HEADER. Paul
Weimer told Facebook readers:
If you thought “Self, I want to hear @PrinceJvstin on a podcast”, today is YOUR day.
Hello, Rangers! We’re back with everyone’s favorite Space Nancy Drew in Komarr! This time Stina, Paul, and Trish sit around the campfire to talk about women’s agency, budding relationships, whether or not Miles is “dad” material, how good intentions can go horribly, horribly wrong, the politics of isolationism, and more!
(5) KNOWING CAMPBELL. Stanley
Schmidt’s guest editorial for Analog“John and
Me” takes off from the “The Astounding John W. Campbell, Jr.” panel at
last year’s Worldcon moderated by Alec Nevala-Lee. Schmidt’s views of Campbell’s
work are very different than those of fellow panelist Robert Silverberg, and he
says in closing —
…As for what kind of editing John was doing in his last years, my experience indicates that he was still doing the kinds of things he was famous for, and still doing them very well. It’s unfortunate that some of his personal idiosyncrasies drove away some of his best writers, but that’s a separate question from the quality of his work. Maybe I was fortunate that I didn’t know him personally before I started writing for him, or I might have found it harder, too—though I hope I wouldn’t have let my disagreements with him, even on big issues, make me reject him entirely as a person. I did disagree with his editorials more often in those years than I had earlier, but as far as I knew he was just doing the professional argument-baiting he had always done. Even if I had known that he really held beliefs that I found highly objectionable, I doubt that I would have found that adequate reason to sever all contact with him and his work. A lot of people hold misguided beliefs, but my experience, I think, is a good example of how it’s possible to work productively with somebody, and respect some of his qualities, even while sharply disagreeing with some of his views. Maybe that’s a lesson that a whole lot of people need to relearn about now.
(6) SLF READINGS. The Speculative
Literature Foundation’s Deep Dish Reading Series in Chicago resumes on May 9.
Come join us on May 9th at @volumesbooks for our next Deep Dish reading series.
— Speculative Literature Foundation (@speclit) April 20, 2019
(7) DOC WEIR AWARD. The Doc Weir Award is voted on by attendees at the Eastercon and is presented to a fan who has worked hard behind the scenes at conventions or in fandom and deserves recognition. As Fandom.com explains —
The award consists of a silver cup (which must be returned the following year) and a certificate (if someone remembers to create one!)
The cup is engraved with the names of the previous winners, and in fine fannish tradition, it is up to each year’s winner to have their own name engraved at their own cost!
Jamie Scott is the
2019 winner.
Satellite Conventions offers its congratulations to Jamie Scott, winner of the 2019 Doc Weir award! Well done and thoroughly deserved! pic.twitter.com/0NI7e3ihSm
I’m Eneasz Brodski. I produce the Methods of Rationality podcast. It began as me, in my bedroom, with a lot of enthusiasm and a handheld mic after a few hours of research. As of this writing it’s been 6.5 years since I started. I’ve spent over 10,000 hours working on this podcast, I’ve produced over ninety hours of audio fiction spread across 185 episodes, totaling almost 4.5 million downloads. I’ve been a finalist for the Parsec Awards three times. I’ve never done professional audio work, but I have some idea of how to get an amateur podcast going.
…News of Wolfe’s passing spread on the internet on Monday morning, as the first images of the fire at Notre-Dame also started circulating. Many Wolfe fans were struck by the coincidence. “Gene Wolfe is dead and Notre-Dame is engulfed in flames,” the writer Michael Swanwick tweeted. “This is the Devil’s own day.” Swanwick’s grief is understandable. Yet Wolfe himself might offer more consoling counsel. Death and life, his work often showed, are not so much opposites but partners, with the passing of the old being the precondition for the birth of the new. Cathedrals can burn but they can also be rebuilt, and in fact all cathedrals are in a constant state of maintenance and repair….
(11) MARTIN BÖTTCHER OBIT. German film composer Martin Böttcher
(1927–2019) died April 19. Cora Buhlert pays tribute — “In Memoriam Martin Böttcher”.
…But Böttcher’s most famous film score would be the one he composed for Horst Wendlandt’s other series, the Winnetou movies of the 1960s, based on Karl May’s adventure novels. Ironically, Martin Böttcher himself had never read a single Winnetou novel, which must make him one of the very few Germans of his generation who did not read Karl May. When someone asked him why he didn’t read the novels, Böttcher answered, “I’ve seen every single Winnetou movie dozens of times. I know how the story goes. I don’t need to read it.”
Born April 22, 1916 — Virginia Heinlein. Editor of Grumbles from the Grave. Also allowed Tramp Royale to be published after her husband’s death. And for some reason allowed longer versions of previously published works Stranger in a Strange Land, The Puppet Masters, and Red Planet to be published. Anyone read these? Used bookstores here frequently had copies of Stranger in a Strange Land so buyers didn’t hold on to it… (Died 2003.)
Born April 22, 1934 — Sheldon Jaffery. Bibliographer who was a fan of Weird Tales, Arkham House books, pulps, and pretty much anything in that area. Among his publications are Collector’s Index to Weird Tales (co-written with Fred Cook), Future and Fantastic Worlds: A Bibliographical Retrospective of DAW Books (1972-1987) and Horrors and Unpleasantries: A Bibliographical History and Collector’s Price Guide to Arkham House. He also edited three anthologies which Bowling Green Press printed, to wit Sensuous Science Fiction from the Weird and Spicy Pulps, Selected Tales of Grim and Grue from the Horror Pulps and The Weirds: A Facsimile Selection of Fiction From the Era of the Shudder Pulps. (Died 2003.)
Born April 22, 1937 — Jack Nicholson, 82. I think my favorite role for him in a genre film was as Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick. Other genre roles include Jack Torrance in The Shining, Wilbur Force in The Little Shop of Horrors, Rexford Bedlo in The Raven, Andre Duvalier in The Terror, (previous three films are Roger Corman productions), Will Randall in Wolf, President James Dale / Art Land in Mars Attacks! and Jack Napier aka The Joker in Tim Burton’s The Batman. I watched the last one, was not impressed.
Born April 22, 1946 — John Waters, 73. Yes, he did horror films, lots of them. Shall we list them? There’s Multiple Maniacs, Suburban Gothic, Excision, Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat and Seed of Chucky. The latter described as a “supernatural black comedy horror film” on Wiki. He also narrates Of Dolls and Murder, a documentary film about a collection of dollhouse crime scenes created in the Forties and society’s collective fascination with death.
Born April 22, 1950 — Robert Elswit, 69. Cinematographer. An early short film he worked on was a 1982 TV adaptation of the Ray Bradbury short story “All Summer in a Day.” He began his career as a visual effects camera operator working on films like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Empire Strikes Back, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He worked on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
Born April 22, 1959 — Brian Taves, 60. Author of The Jules Verne Encyclopedia and Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen. He also wrote Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography. Mundy is the author of the Jimgrim / Ramsden stories, a fantasy series.
Born April 22, 1966 — Jeffrey Dean Morgan,53. He’s best known for his roles as Dr. Edward Marcase in The Burning Zone, John Winchester on Supernatural, the Comedian in Watchmen, Negan on The Walking Dead and Harvey Russell in Rampage. He also played Jeb Turnbull in Jonah Hex. And was Thomas Wayne in Batman v. Superman though he was uncredited for it.
Born April 22, 1984 — Michelle Ryan, 35. She appeared as the evil sorceress Nimueh in Merlin, and as Lady Christina de Souza in the Doctor Who episode “Planet of the Dead” in the era of the Tenth Doctor. She was also in the comedy film Cockneys vs Zombies as Katy,and played Elanor in Andron. And yes, they rebooted the Bionic Woman series in which she played the lead character Jaime Sommers. It lasted nine episodes. Points to who remembers the original actress without looking her up.
There’s at least one inexpensive TV-bundling service: Philo TV. At $16 a month for three simultaneous streams of 45 popular channels, it’s a steal. But, if you can live with commercials, there are at least 10 good free streaming services to try.
The series is produced by award-winning South Africa based studio, Triggerfish Animation, and London based kids and family entertainment specialist, CAKE.
Mama K’s Team 4 tells a story of four teenage girls living in a futuristic version of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city. The girls are recruited by an ex-secret agent to save the world.
Designed by Cameroonian artist Malcolm Wope, the animation drew inspiration for the visuals from retro 90s hip hop girl groups, Netflix said in a statement announcing the deal….
(15) BY THE BOOK. Steve J. Wright has completed his Hugo Novel finalist reviews.
(17) NAVIGATING BY THE PUPPY CONSTELLATION. Lou Antonelli has launched a semiprozine for original sff, Sirius Science Fiction, which offers $25 for each original story upon publication.
WHO WE ARE
Sirius Science Fiction is an on-line web site dedicated to publishing original speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, alternate history and horror. We like stories with a sense of wonder and excitement.
In a time when mainstream speculative fiction has been overrun by political correctness and identity politics, we offer a venue free of pretension and ideological litmus tests.
Sirius Science Fiction publishes one original short story a week, plus occasional reprints. Original stories are posted every Friday.
(18) SPOILER WARNING. Well,
beware if you’re a fluent Rot-13 speaker. Here’s the surprise ending to “Beyond
the Bounds of Genius: Chapter 8” of Timothy the Talking Cat’s
autobiography:
Fbba jr fnj gur Juvgr Pyvssf bs Qbire be ng yrnfg gung’f jung jr nffhzrq gurl jrer ohg rirelobql ryfr jnf fubhgvat “VPR ORET!” Orsber lbh pbhyq fubhg “zna gur yvsr obngf” gur fuvc jnf fvaxvat naq Pryvar Qvba jnf fvatvat naq rirelguvat jnf orpbzvat irel pbashfvat.
(19) YAKETY-YAK. Here’s
some art by an Ursula Vernon admirer:
Cartoon: Ursula's Yak reading the Sunday funnies. Been thinking of this good boy all day 🙂 Drawing him is my reward for a day well spent 🙂 Hope folks enjoy. pic.twitter.com/Q4gSWciUWc
On a bright Sunday afternoon in early March, the Tamir River in the steppes of Mongola becomes a bowling alley. Two dozen Mongolian herdsmen have gathered to play musun shagai, known as “ice shooting.” Right now, the ice on the river is perfect. Clear and smooth. The players are cheerful and focused.
Their goal? To send a small copper puck called a zakh down a 93-yard stretch of ice and knock over several cow ankle bones, painted red, none bigger than a golf ball, at the other end. Extra points for hitting the biggest target, made of cow skin.
Together, the targets form a line of tiny red dots that are difficult to see, let alone hit. When that happens, players know because the spectators raise a boisterous cheer.
…This competition, originally scheduled for mid-March, was bumped up by two weeks. “The river was already melting,” Gurvantamir said.
In the fictional world of Marvel’s Black Panther, the Afro-futurist utopia of Wakanda has a secret, almost magical resource: a metal called vibranium. Its mythic ability to store energy elevated vibranium to a central role in the fictional nation’s culture and the metal became part of Wakandan technology, fashion and ceremony.
Of course vibranium isn’t real. But one metal has held a similarly mythic role for over 2,000 years in many cultures across the African continent: iron.
African blacksmiths have been crafting agricultural tools, musical instruments, weapons and symbols of power and prestige out of the raw material for ages. “Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths,” a new exhibit at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. showcases Africa’s rich history of ironworking through 225 tools, weapons and adornments from over 100 ethnic groups across Africa.
SpaceX has confirmed that its Crew Dragon capsule suffered an “anomaly” during routine engine tests in Florida.
A US Air Force spokesperson told local press the incident, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, had been contained and no-one had been injured.
An unmanned Crew Dragon successfully flew for the first time last month.
This latest incident, however, could delay plans to launch a manned mission to the International Space Station later this year.
Not since the end of the Space Shuttle programme in 2011 has the US been able to send its own astronauts into orbit. It has had to rely instead on Russia and its Soyuz spacecraft.
(23) A ‘STAN LEE’ MOMENT.
Daniel Dern asks:
Wanna get caught up on the Avengers: Endgame related comics… or just overload your eyeballs and brain in general?
Try a month of the Marvel Unlimited streaming comic service for $4.99 (normall $9.99/month, jumps to that if you don’t cancel). ~ 25,000 digitized Marvel comics (ranging from from-the-beginning-of-time through at-least-six-months-old).
Best on, sigh, a tablet that can view a comic full size, like the non-cheap iPad Pro 12.9. (which is why I bought one a year or so ago).
Even before the lushly designed curtain rises on Taylor Mac’s Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, which opens Sunday night on Broadway (at the Booth Theatre, to Aug. 4), the fluids start shooting forth.
A woman appears and begins to spurt blood from her slashed neck. The blood flies out sporadically, and this looks a little precarious if you are in the front two rows. The woman, inevitably raspy of voice given her injury, muses on the nature of sequels and revenge.
Then the curtain rises on one of the great stage designs of this Broadway season. The sight of hundreds of human bodies immediately confronts the audience….
In this banqueting hall turned charnel house, there is the prosaically named Gary (Nathan Lane), a former clown now turned laborer, here to do some tidying up of bodies before the inauguration of a new leader the next day. “Bit more of them than I was expecting,” he says of the bodies. His voice is Cockney. Lane—orbiting in his brilliant way from shy to showman, naughty schoolboy to moral fulcrum—at first seems like a mischief-maker, bored on the job and up for fun.
The fourth wall stays permeable throughout; the actors stare out at us, puzzled at our applause….
(25) DERAILERS. ScreenRant shares “10 Superhero Deleted Scenes That Could
Have Changed Everything.”
Deleted scenes in movies are fun to watch but they are even more fun to watch when they are from superhero films. Instead of arguing over which Universe you enjoy more, DC or Marvel, sit back and watch these deleted scenes and let us know what you think in the comments below. Let’s take a look at Screen Rant’s video, ten Superhero Deleted Scenes That Could Have Changed Everything. And we have the plot holes from some of your favorite movies including the X-Men series, Marvel’s Iron Man, the Hugh Jackman film Logan, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice plus many more.
[Thanks to
JJ, Cat Eldridge, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, John King Tarpinian, World
Weary, Daniel Dern, Mike Kennedy, Daniel Dern, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew
Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing
editor of the day Rob Thornton.]
