Tag Archives: Spider Robinson

Worldcon Wayback Machine: Saturday at MagiCon (1992) Day Three

Posted on by

The 1992 Hugo Award. Each of the MagiCon Hugo awards was hand crafted by Phil Tortorici from a design by Phil and Joe Siclari. A certificate on the back of each award explained that the orange grating came from the actual NASA gantry used for the first successful launch of a U. S. orbiting satellite. Photo found at Aaron Pound’s “Dreaming About Other Worlds” website.

INTRODUCTION: Twenty-five years ago MagiCon was held in Orlando, Florida. A great con, and I thought it would be fun to reprint the report I ran in File 770. Here is the third of five daily installments.

The Worldcon was held in the Orange County Convention and Civic Center, The Peabody Hotel, and The Clarion Hotel.

PASSING IN THE HALLS: Saturday morning in the Green Room I noticed that Jay Kay Klein, of all people, had yet to pick up his “Past Worldcon Guest of Honor” ribbon. Yet he was the fellow who’d taken me aside at ConFiction to say he wanted Worldcons to start distributing them. Janice Gelb did give him a VIP ribbon. He already had a “lost kid” ribbon from a theme park, and said he hoped to get one for “Meritorious Eating At Worldcon Banquets.”

Highlighting “The Spanish Inquisition” panel of Worldcon bidders was an exchange between NESFAns. Tony Lewis said a 1998 Worldcon in Boston “is not going to be Noreascon 3 mark 2.” Ann Broomhead agreed, “Mark wouldn’t stand for it.” Deb Geisler said, “We won’t make the same mistakes.” Tony Lewis enthusiastically agreed, “We’ll make a whole new lot of mistakes, in new areas. We’re going to be the first people to make mistakes in these areas.”

Tony Lewis at MagiCon. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

POCKET PROGRAM: Kathryn Daugherty snorted: “Did you actually carry around that mammoth publication in your pocket? Even my purse wasn’t big enough and somewhere in there is the map to the Lost Dutchman Mine and Judge Crater’s phone number.”

It was a great line, but doesn’t withstand close inspection. Nothing more ambitious than a barebones list of titles and times could encompass the Worldcon in anything that would fit in a pocket. Laurie Mann’s “pocket program” delivered program information, function area maps, lists of participants, a dealer’s room guide and film and video schedules in a lightweight zine that was both easier to carry than the Program Book and much more accurate than if it had been sent to press with the Program Book.

Pam Fremon, Laurie Mann, and Jim Mann in the MagiCon concourse. Photo by Mark Olson.

HUGO AWARDS CEREMONY: Eve Ackerman was in the Green Room distributing Hugo Award nominee ribbons and gold-colored nominee rocket pins to people waiting to march in at the start of the ceremony. Alexis Gilliland, in a peach-colored jacket, sat at a table presiding over regiments of plastic dinosaurs marching abreast on the tablecloth: he looked like a Devonian-era Doctor Doolittle.

George “Lan” Laskowski at Chicon V with his 1991 Best Fanzine Hugo.

Many other fans also looked like they could “talk to the animals.” Diana Harlan Stein arrived in a green jumpsuit wearing a blue cap with horns. George Laskowski kept his raccoon hat stashed nearby.

Gardner Dozois had graduated to a salt-and-pepper gray sports jacket, more befitting the leading magazine editor. Mark Owings wore a paisley tie, and said, “My ‘power tie’, I call it, but what it gives me power over I don’t know.”

The crowd was called to order so that artist Phil Tortorici could display the 1992 Hugos, gold-plated, on his beautifully-made bases. He’d hand-painted an astronomical scene on each black stone backdrop; the rockets rested on little squares of orange grating which came from the actual Pad 29 that was used to launch America’s first satellite. Tortorici’s bases are the finest since 1976, and only he and Tim Kirk have achieved the goal of making the awards real works of art.

Spider and Jeanne Robinson at MagiCon. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

After the procession of the nominees, emcee Spider Robinson was on the job again in top hat, tails and with a walking stick. “They misunderstood: they thought I some kind of comedian, but that’s ‘Canadian’.”

No, they were right — he is a comedian. Robinson charmed the audience with two-liners like: “When cordless phones went on sale I bought one because it had one feature I liked — a button to turn off the ringer. It’s in my house somewhere…” In fact, that wasn’t the only thing in the house he needed help finding. “I need a VCR that when you switch it on the remote control announces where it is.”

Spider called for the audience to applaud the three GoH’s, “all of whom declined to give a speech.” Then the awards began.

Andre Norton presented the Gryphon Award for Beginning Women Writers to Eleanor Scabin, and gave honorable mention to Terry McGarry.

Andre Norton at the 1987 World Fantasy Con.

The Big Heart Award, presented annually by Forrest J Ackerman in memory of E. Everett Evans, has been assured of surviving its septuagenarian founders Ackerman and Walt Daugherty. Forry has arranged that in the future the Order of St. Fantony will co-sponsor the presentation. The 1992 award went to Samantha Jeude, a founder of Electrical Eggs (concerned about handicap access at cons) and one of the award’s rare women winners. Exasperatedly, Samantha said it’s the second award she’s won and again her husband, Don Cook, wasn’t there to see it. “He’s off doing Worldcon garbage,” she explained: chair of the Atlanta bid, Cook was counting site selection votes. [Photo below: Samanda Jeude in 2010, by Don Cook.]

Samanda Jeude

Dave Kyle presided over the First Fandom Hall of Fame Awards. If only by coincidence, in 1991 only a single First Fandom award was given at Chicon following controversy over the way multiple awards inject an unwanted 15-minute delay before the Hugos. But in 1992 the group slipped its bridle and announced three.

Kyle said the Hall of Fame awards are given to people for accomplishments in sf before the creation of the Hugos in 1953. There is a preference for giving them to the oldest deserving candidates in hopes of avoiding posthumous awards, and all but twice the group has succeeded.

Forry Ackerman presented a Hall of Fame Award to Art Widner. Jack Williamson announced one for Nelson Bond, who wasn’t present. Julie Schwartz announced an award for J. Harvey Haggard, which was accepted by Sam Moskowitz.

Forrest J Ackerman, Dave Kyle, and Michael Whelan, at a MagiCon post-Hugo party. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

Then again, there was no hurry to start announcing Hugos anyway because on deck was a 15-minute retrospective slide show.

“50 Worldcons Remembered” was a brilliant image collage of Program Book covers, ads, photos and illustrations, Hugo trophies, winning Best Novel covers and other memorabilia presented in chronological order and paced by dramatic music. At the outset there was a trickle of applause for recurring motifs — Dave and Ruth Kyle’s clever ads in each Program Book — that built as more fans recognized cons they personally attended or helped run. It was an outstanding retrospective.

Now came the main awards. Stanley Schmidt kicked things off by giving the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer to Ted Chiang. The award was accepted by Eileen Gunn, who got a laugh claiming to be using a speech left over from the last time she accepted an award (for Howard Waldrop), which was: “Howard says — buy his books!”

The committee showed slides of the nominees’ names on the auditorium screen intended to be synchronized with Spider Robinson’s reading. But Spider appeared completely unrehearsed in this. After cycling through the Best Fanartist images twice while Robinson stood by obviously confused, Marty Gear as the “voice from above” had to explain the concept. It was an omen.

Brad Foster, Best Fanartist Hugo winner, noted it was the first time he had been present to receive one of his Hugos.

Dave Langford’s Best Fanwriter Hugo was accepted by Martin Hoare. He had done this before and knew when he called Dave in England with the news the appreciative response would be: “You bastard — I was fast asleep!”

[Dave Langford wrote me later that the way it really went down was: “He rang from a party in Florida to say, ‘Crackle crackle bleep British double belch fade click Hugo crackle crackle Glasgow whirr click can’t afford to talk to you any longer, Dave!’ Gosh wow.”]

Martin Hoare at MagiCon. Photo by Mark Olson.

The ceremonies derailed when Spider ripped open an envelope and read that Lan’s Lantern won the Best Fanzine Hugo. While Robinson was placing the trophy in George Laskowski’s hands, on the screen behind him flashed a slide that the winner was Mimosa, edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch. Beside me, Janice Gelb cringed just like at Raiders of the Lost Ark when I warned her the face-melting scene was coming. Laskowski briefly said, “Thank you,” and got offstage because he’d seen Mimosa on the award plaque, too.

As Joe Siclari and others excused themselves from the audience and headed backstage to investigate, several more Hugos were given. Locus won Best Semiprozine. Michael Whelan accepted the Best Professional Artist Hugo, confessing “With so many artists in the field doing so much excellent work I feel like a thief taking this award. Nevertheless I accept it.” Gardner Dozois received another Best Professional Editor Hugo.

Now, a shaken Spider Robinson revealed that Mimosa was the correct Hugo-winning fanzine and was joined by Laskowski to turn over the trophy to Dick and Nicki Lynch. The mistake was reminiscent of the year Asimov accidentally announced Gene Wolfe’s “Island of Dr. Death” had won the Nebula, disbelieving that No Award (the correct result) had finished first and naming instead the second item listed. The only remotely comparable mistake at any other Hugo ceremonies happened in 1985 when the slide operator (of course) flashed that John Varley’s short story won before the emcee even announced the nominees. Laskowski has won two Hugos in the past — and showed extreme grace in surrendering MagiCon’s Hugo to the Lynches.

Not that the comedy of errors was over. Completely in shock, Dick Lynch reached the stage alone and gazed at the shadowy auditorium doors hoping to see his wife, Nicki, who had made a quick trip out of the room after the fanzine Hugo had been given. “I wish my wife could be here. What do I do?” Dick seemed even more lost without his spouse than did Samantha Jeude, which permanently endeared him to women who commented about it later.

Another couple of Hugos were given. A representative of James Cameron’s company accepted the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo on behalf of Terminator 2. Michael Whelan claimed another Hugo in the Best Original Artwork category for the cover of Joan Vinge’s The Summer Queen.

“The Summer Queen” by Michael Whelan.

When Spider Robinson paused to find his place our claque of fanzine fans sitting in the VIP seats noticed Nicki Lynch was back. “Bring back Nicki Lynch!” shouted Moshe Feder, and Janice Gelb. Some stood up to yell. My God, even Andy Porter stood up and shouted through cupped hands, “Bring up Nicki Lynch!” It was like a Bud Greenspan documentary, like the end of It’s a Wonderful Life. Spider agreed, “That’s an excellent idea,” and both editors of Mimosa finally had their proper moment together at the Hugo Awards.

Rich Lynch, “Lan” Laskowski, and Nicki Lynch after the MagiCon Hugo ceremony. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

When the Best Nonfiction Book Hugo went to The World of Charles Addams Spider tried to recover his humorous stride. “The award will be accepted by ‘Hand’….”  Yelled the audience, “That’s ‘Thing’!”

The main fiction Hugos came last. Best Short Story went to Geoffrey Landis’ “A Walk in the Sun.” Best Novelette was posthumously accepted for Isaac Asimov’s “Gold” by Janice Jeppson Asimov. Nancy Kress’ “Beggars in Spain” won Best Novella and Moshe Feder told us, “I voted for a winner — that never happens!”

Kress’ speech was both endearing and emotional. She recalled George R.R. Martin’s acceptance speech at the 1980 Hugos and how he described sitting in some even more ancient Hugo audience and receiving inspiration to strive to win his own. She admonished those in the back of the audience to listen to their heart, as she had, and “Go for it!” themselves.

Finally, Lois McMaster Bujold was rewarded once again with a Best Novel Hugo, for Barryar.

Nancy Kress and Lois McMaster Bujold at MagiCon. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

People surged out of the awards looking for Laskowski, the Lynches and Spider, to console, congratulate or cross-examine. Robinson spent the evening wearing the erroneous card, listing Lan’s Lantern, around his neck on a string to prove it wasn’t his fault. Reportedly, calligraphers had specially prepared cards with every nominee’s name and title. They were told to do all of them, since the actual winners were a secret — and somehow the wrong card got included in the award-winner envelopes delivered to Spider.

Hugo Award winners. l-r: Toastmaster Spider Robinson (tux), Hugo Award designer Phil Tortorici, Charles N. Brown, Janet Jeppson for Isaac Asimov, Gardner Dozois, unidentified accepter for James Cameron, Michael Whelan, Martin Hoare for Langford, Nicki & Dick Lynch. Seated: Geoffrey Landis, Nancy Kress, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Eileen Gunn for Ted Chiang. Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

1992 Hugo Winners

Best Novel

  • Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold [Analog Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct 1991; Baen, 1991]

Best Novella

  • “Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress [Asimov’s Apr 1991; Axolotl, 1991]

Best Novelette

  • “Gold” by Isaac Asimov [Analog Sep 1991]

Best Short Story

  • “A Walk in the Sun” by Geoffrey A. Landis [Asimov’s Oct 1991]

Best Related Non-Fiction Book

  • The World of Charles Addams by Charles Addams [Knopf, 1991]

Best Dramatic Presentation

  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) [Carolco/Lightstorm/Pacific Western] Directed by James Cameron; Written by James Cameron and William Wisher, Jr.

Best Professional Editor

  • Gardner Dozois

Best Professional Artist

  • Michael Whelan

Best Original Art Work

  • Cover (The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge) by Michael Whelan

Best Semiprozine

  • Locus ed. by Charles N. Brown

Best Fanzine

  • Mimosa ed. by Dick Lynch and Nicki Lynch

Best Fan Writer

  • Dave Langford

Best Fan Artist

  • Brad W. Foster

CONTINUES: Worldcon Wayback Machine Sunday at MagiCon (1992) Day Four

Oscar Gaffe Brings Back Memories of SF Award Blunders

Posted on by

Bonnie & Clyde’s 50th anniversary moment at the Oscars was overshadowed when Best Picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land instead of Moonlight, the correct winner.

Beatty told the audience that they had read the wrong envelope, saying that he saw that Emma Stone won for La La Land, who was actually the winner for best actress. Dunaway had read the winner before Beatty could stop her.

“I opened the envelope and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye, and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Beatty assured everyone, after admitting to the mistake and explaining that they had the wrong envelope

Fans immediately took to Facebook telling their friends it reminded them of the big mistake made during the Hugo ceremonies at Magicon in 1992.

As I wrote in my Worldcon report:

…The committee showed slides of the nominees’ names on the auditorium screen intended to be synchronized with Spider Robinson’s reading. But Spider appeared completely unrehearsed in this. After cycling through the Best Fanartist images twice while Robinson stood by obviously confused, Marty Gear as the “voice from above” had to explain the concept. It was an omen….

The ceremonies derailed when Spider ripped open an envelope and read that Lan’s Lantern won the Best Fanzine Hugo. While Robinson was placing the trophy in George Laskowski’s hands, on the screen behind him flashed a slide that the winner was Mimosa, edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch. Beside me, Janice Gelb cringed just like at Raiders of the Lost Ark when I warned her the face-melting scene was coming. Laskowski briefly said, “Thank you,” and got offstage because he’d seen Mimosa on the award plaque, too.

As [convention chair] Joe Siclari and others excused themselves from the audience and headed backstage to investigate, several more Hugos were given. Locus won Best Semiprozine. Michael Whelan accepted the Best Professional Artist Hugo, confessing “With so many artists in the field doing so much excellent work I feel like a thief taking this award. Nevertheless I accept it.” Gardner Dozois received another Best Professional Editor Hugo.

Now, a shaken Spider Robinson revealed that Mimosa was the correct Hugo-winning fanzine and was joined by Laskowski to turn over the trophy to Dick and Nicki Lynch. The mistake was reminiscent of the year Asimov accidentally announced Gene Wolfe’s “Island of Dr. Death” had won the Nebula, disbelieving that No Award (the correct result) had finished first and naming instead the second item listed. The only remotely comparable mistake at any other Hugo ceremonies happened in 1985 when the slide operator (of course) flashed that John Varley’s short story won before the emcee even announced the nominees. Laskowski has won two Hugos in the past — and showed extreme grace in surrendering Magicon’s Hugo to the Lynches.

Not that the comedy of errors was over. Completely in shock, Dick Lynch reached the stage alone and gazed at the shadowy auditorium doors hoping to see his wife, Nicki, who had made a quick trip out of the room after the fanzine Hugo had been given. “I wish my wife could be here. What do I do?” Dick seemed even more lost without his spouse than did Samantha Jeude [when she received the Big Heart Award], which permanently endeared him to women who commented about it later.

Another couple of Hugos were given. A representative of James Cameron’s company accepted the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo on behalf of Terminator 2. Michael Whelan claimed another Hugo in the Best Original Artwork category for the cover of Joan Vinge’s The Summer Queen.

When Spider Robinson paused to find his place our claque of fanzine fans sitting in the VIP seats noticed Nicki Lynch was back. “Bring back Nicki Lynch!” shouted Moshe Feder, and Janice Gelb. Some stood up to yell. My God, even Andy Porter stood up and shouted through cupped hands, “Bring up Nicki Lynch!” It was like a Bud Greenspan documentary, like the end of It’s a Wonderful Life. Spider agreed, “That’s an excellent idea,” and both editors of Mimosa finally had their proper moment together at the Hugo Awards.

When the Best Nonfiction Book Hugo went to The World of Charles Addams Spider tried to recover his humorous stride. “The award will be accepted by ‘Hand’….”  Yelled the audience, “That’s ‘Thing’!”

…People surged out of the awards looking for Laskowski, the Lynches and Spider, to console, congratulate or cross-examine. Robinson spent the evening wearing the erroneous card, listing Lan’s Lantern, around his neck on a string to prove it wasn’t his fault. Reportedly, calligraphers had specially prepared cards with every nominee’s name and title. They were told to do all of them, since the actual winners were a secret — and somehow the wrong card got included in the award-winner envelopes delivered to Spider.

The 1992 drama reminded everyone of what happened to Gene Wolfe at the 1971 Nebulas because it was a well-known story, having been retold by Harlan Ellison in Again, Dangerous Visions. A few years ago I pulled together people’s accounts of that night —

However, nothing can rival Isaac Asimov’s ghastly mistake at the 1971 Nebula Awards ceremony. Nor has any other gaffe worked out better for the injured party in the long run.

On Saturday, April 3, 1971 the leading science fiction professionals were seated around banquet tables in New York’s Les Champs Restaurant watching Asimov hand out the Nebulas.

Asimov had been pressed into service at the last minute. While that was not a problem for anyone who loved an audience as much as the Good Doctor, it meant that he had little time to study the handwritten list of results. In those days the emcee was not only given the names of the winners, but the names of the runners-up, which he also announced.

When Asimov came to the Short Story category his eyes slipped over “No Award” and he read the first real name on the list — which was Gene Wolfe, author of “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories.”

As Wolfe stood up a SFWA officer promptly whispered a correction to Asimov. Asimov went pale and announced he’d made an error. There was “No Award” in the Short Story category. Wolfe sat back down.

Eyewitness Harlan Ellison (writing in Again Dangerous Visions) says everyone felt awful –

Around him everyone felt the rollercoaster nausea of stomachs dropping out of backsides. Had it been me, I would have fainted or screamed or punched Norbert Slepyan of Scribner’s, who was sitting next to me. Gene Wolfe just smiled faintly and tried to make us all feel at ease by a shrug and a gentle nod of his head.

Fortunately, the mistake was eventually redeemed. As the author explained:

A month or so after the banquet I was talking to Joe Hensley, and he joked that I should write “The Death of Doctor Island,” saying that everyone felt so sorry for me that it was sure to win. I thought about that when I got home and decided to try, turning things inside out to achieve a different story.

He did, and his novella “The Death of Doctor Island” won a Nebula in 1974.

While we now know how Asimov made his mistake, we probably don’t have the full and complete explanation for the Oscar mixup because Beatty’s on-camera explanation is being disputed.

Backstage, Stone claimed she had the card that announced her as best actress win “the entire time.”

“I don’t mean to start stuff,” she said. “But whatever story that was … I had that card. I’m not sure what happened.”

Pixel Scroll 7/7/16 Where the Filed Things Are

Posted on by

(1) STAR TREK CATCHES UP WITH THE PRESENT. The BBC story “Star Trek character Hikaru Sulu revealed as gay” says the Star Trek Beyond development is a salute to actor George Takei.

One of Star Trek’s best known characters, Hikaru Sulu, has been revealed as gay.

The character, played by John Cho in the current franchise, will be shown as having a same sex partner in the forthcoming Star Trek Beyond.

Cho told the Herald Sun the move was a nod to George Takei, the gay actor who played the character in the original 1960s television series.

The decision was taken by British star Simon Pegg, who wrote the screenplay.

(2) TAKEI UNIMPRESSED. Takei himself is not enthusiastic about the idea, he told The Hollywood Reporter.

The idea came from Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the new films and penned the Beyond screenplay, and director Justin Lin, both of whom wanted to pay homage to Takei’s legacy as both a sci-fi icon and beloved LGBT activist.

And so a scene was written into the new film, very matter-of-fact, in which Sulu is pictured with a male spouse raising their infant child. Pegg and Lin assumed, reasonably, that Takei would be overjoyed at the development — a manifestation of that conversation with Gene Roddenberry in his swimming pool so many years ago.

Except Takei wasn’t overjoyed. He had never asked for Sulu to be gay. In fact, he’d much prefer that he stay straight. “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”

He explains that Roddenberry was exhaustive in conceiving his Star Trek characters. (The name Sulu, for example, was based on the Sulu Sea off the coast of the Philippines, so as to render his Asian nationality indeterminate.) And Roddenberry had always envisioned Sulu as heterosexual.

 

George Takei with Buzz Aldrin

George Takei with Buzz Aldrin

(3) MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HETEROSEXUAL FRONTIER. In the link above, Takei also discusses the Kirk/Uhura kiss, to which the BBC devoted several paragraphs in an article about classic Star Trek’s handling of black/white race issues.

In 1968, US television broadcast what many claim was the first interracial kiss on American airwaves. It occurred between two of the sexiest characters alive: Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura, on Star Trek. According to Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, “We received one of the largest batches of fan mail ever, all of it very positive, with many addressed to me from girls wondering how it felt to kiss Captain Kirk, and many to him from guys wondering the same thing about me.

(4) THE IDEA FOR FOLDING. The author of “Folding Beijing”, “Hugo-nominated Chinese author Hao Jingfang talks sci-fi, inner journeys and inequality” with the South China Morning Post.

For me it was heartbreaking to read about how people in different “spaces” had different amounts of time when they had access to daylight. That sounds like the most basic thing. How did you think about illustrating those discrepancies?

We always think that time is the only thing we share equally. So if time is divided unequally by social status, then inequality is complete. For me it was artistically striking to create this setting.

The other reason is perhaps economic because unemployment is always a problem in the US, in Europe, as well as in China. The Chinese government is afraid of unemployment, so sometimes it will maintain a plant or a factory to avoid huge unemployment. But in the future as technology develops, how will people deal with unemployment? Perhaps the easiest and cruellest method is to limit the time (they are awake), and then they will not create problems. So this setting provides an extreme solution to a social problem. I hope that we can find better solutions in real life, but in stories you can just push things to the extreme.

(5) MORE HUGO REVIEWS. Doris V. Sutherland, having completed her long series comparing the 2014 and 2015 Hugo nominees, moves on to discuss this year’s contenders – “2016 Hugo Reviews: Novelettes” at Women Write About Comics.

(6) SF ART IN SCOTLAND. The Adventures in Time and Space exhibit runs July 7-October 2 at The Lighthouse in Glasgow.

Science fiction films exert a powerful grip on the human imagination. This innovative exhibition, curated by Berlin based leading Scots designer, Jon Jardine and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland will offer insights into the architecture of science fiction. It will compare the ideas of architectural visionaries with startling representations of buildings and cities from the birth of cinema to the present day.

Over 180 new works of art have been specially commisioned by Artists Ian Stuart Campbell, Douglas Prince, Ciana Pullen and Piotr Sell for the exhibition.

The Festival of Architecture 2016 is a year-long, Scotland-wide celebration of design, creativity and the built environment, led by The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY

July 7, 1907 – Robert Anson Heinlein would have been 109 years old today.

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein

(8) QUOTE OF THE DAY

According to Spider Robinson, the closing quotation for today’s edition of the emailed morning headline-summary The Economist Espresso is by Robert Heinlein: “Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

(9) ABSTAIN. At Mad Genius Club, Kate Paulk looks over the nominees in the two editor categories —  “Hugo Category Highlights – The Finalists – Best Editor, Short Form and Long Form”. She finds only Jerry Pournelle worthy of consideration in Short Form, and as for Long Form:

I think I’m going to have to sit out this category. There simply isn’t enough in it that’s caught my attention over the year for me to make a judgment, and I personally refuse to simply say “Oh, X is a good person and they’ve done a lot of good over the years”. That’s not what the award is for.

That’s pretty amazing, to think Paulk invested a whole year promoting the Sad Puppy cause while being bored by the output of nine of its ten Hugo-nominated editors.

(10) HUGOGAMI. Lisa Goldstein weighs in on Hugo nominated Novelette: “Folding Beijing” at inferior4+1.

“Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu, is on the Rabid Puppies slate, but it also seems to be a popular story in its own right.  There are other popular stories on the slate as well, in an attempt, I think, to confuse Hugo voters.  Apparently we’re supposed to react like Harcourt Mudd’s robots in Star Trek: — “But it’s a Puppy choice! — But I like it! — But it’s a Puppy choice!” — and then our logic circuits overheat and our brains shut down.

(11) 2016 SHORT FICTION REVIEWS. “Gardner Dozois reviews Short Fiction, June 2016” at Locus Online.

He covers Asimov’s 4-5/16, Tor.com 1/6/16 – 4/13/16, Lightspeed 4/16, and Slate 4/26/16.

(12) WORLDCON NEWS. MidAmeriCon II has released several updates.

Fan Tables – deadline for reserving is July 15.

Worldcons traditionally offer complimentary Fan Tables to non-profit groups organized by members of a particular science fiction/fantasy fandom or convention. Fan Tables are an opportunity for attendees to get information about other fan groups and for fan groups to introduce themselves to fans from around the world. MidAmeriCon II has a limited number of tables available for fan groups to promote themselves and to sell memberships or club paraphernalia. (If you would like to sell more than memberships and T-shirts, please investigate the Creators Alley or Dealers Room).

The following conventions, convention bids, clubs, and societies have already reserved or are expected to reserve a Fan Table at MidAmeriCon II: …

Childcare

Please remember that your $60 child membership comes with 5 FREE hours of childcare, the earlier you book those hours the better to ensure we still have enough space. At the door convention rates for children are: Wed $15, Thurs-Sat each day $25, and $15 for Sunday. Onsite childcare, if there is still room, will be $15 per hour (pre-reg is $10 online).

We are thrilled to be working with KiddieCorp as the professional childcare provider for MidAmeriCon II. KiddieCorp has worked regularly with Worldcon in recent years ­including in Spokane, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Denver, Montreal, Reno, and Chicago ­and have an excellent understanding of our needs and interests. Childcare will be held in the Kansas City Marriott which is close to the convention center and also connected to it via underground tunnel. More information about our hotels and room bookings can be found on our hotel information page.

Children’s Programming

Our children’s program is for children aged 6 to 12 and also their parents. Some items are suitable for older kids and teenagers who are also welcome. We plan to have a program for the full weekend involving crafts, games, toys, mini-projects, books, comics, and a bit of space for children to enjoy. We want to create a room where there is always something to do, where science and engineering meet fiction, film, books, comics, and the fantastic, and where kids will enjoy themselves and have fun!

YA Programming

MidAmeriCon II will also have some great YA programming including workshops, panels, and more for the young and young at heart. From steampunk to romance, action, and film, our YA programming explores the fun in fiction while also tackling some tough questions about ethics, love, and nontraditional families.

Panelists include Guest of Honor Tamora Pierce, Gail Carriger, Stina Leicht, Rebecca Moesta, Cerece Rennie Murphy, Greg van Eekhout, and other fabulous authors in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and more.

(13) ALWAYS. From The Guardian: “Tesla driver killed while using autopilot was watching Harry Potter, witness says”

The Tesla driver killed in the first known fatal crash involving a self-driving car may have been watching a Harry Potter movie at the time of the collision in Florida, according to a truck driver involved in the crash.

The truck driver, Frank Baressi, 62, told the Associated Press that the Tesla driver Joshua Brown, 40, was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” during the collision and was driving so fast that “he went so fast through my trailer I didn’t see him”.

The disclosure raises further questions about the 7 May crash in Williston, Florida, which occurred after Brown put his Model S into Tesla’s autopilot mode, which is able to control a car while it’s driving on the highway.

The fatal crash, which federal highway safety regulators are now investigating, is a significant setback and a public relations disaster for the growing autonomous vehicle industry.

(14) FAILED PREDICTIONS ABOUT REAL TECHNOLOGIES. The BBC ginned up a five-things article about transportation technologies that never became centerpieces of a glorious future.

WITH EVERY JULES VERNE NOVEL, James Bond film or World’s Fair came new, fantastical ways of getting around. They packed our near-future with science-fiction promises: walkways that did the walking for us, pod cars built for one, jet-powered backpacks that let humans fly. Today, although these things exist, they’re hardly commonplace. Why did these transportation moonshots fall by the wayside, and short of their pledges to revolutionise the world? ….

Monorail

Then: There is likely no discarded transportation relic that sums up the past’s vision of the future better than the monorail. Inventors had been toying with the idea of an elevated, single rail line since the 1800s, and by 1956, Houston, Texas saw the first trial run of a monorail in the US, in all its shiny, glass-fibre glory. The otherworldly, curvy carriages that zoomed high above the ground popped up piecemeal around the world in places like Japan, but the turn of the century’s rise of the automobile proved too much for the sky high train of tomorrow.

Now: Today, monorails are chiefly the chariots of airport terminals and amusement parks. Disney World in Florida has a monorail system that shuttles Mickey lovers from car park to theme park — including a line that runs directly through the soaring lobby of Disney’s Contemporary Resort hotel.

(15) AVOIDING THE OBVIOUS ANSWER. They’re pretty sure Tunguska was a meteorite, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying these other interesting theories.

Some suggested the Tunguska event could have been the result of matter and antimatter colliding. When this happens, the particles annihilate and emit intense bursts of energy.

Another proposal was that a nuclear explosion caused the blast. An even more outlandish suggestion was that an alien spaceship crashed at the site on its search for the fresh water of Lake Baikal.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, David K.M. Klaus, Spider Robinson, Chip Hitchcock, Mark-kitteh, Lisa Goldstein, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]

Jackson Accepts Forry Award

Posted on by
Charles Lee Jackson II.

Charles Lee Jackson II.

Forry Award winner Charles Lee Jackson II, who received his plaque during ceremonies at Loscon on November 27, sent along his acceptance speech:

Forry Ackerman would have been pleased that I’ve received this. He and I were friends for nigh on to forty-five years; in the ‘sixties I was a fan of his publications, and in the ‘nineties he was a fan of mine.

I expect I am receiving this not for the depth but for the breadth of my contributions to science fiction: the cartoons, comic books, short stories, novels, magazine articles, convention appearances, and work around the LASFS.

I consider this as both an honor and a challenge: I don’t want someone fifty years from now looking at the list of Forry laureates and saying, “I know Bradbury, and Heinlein… but who’s this pretentious  jerk?” So I’ve got ten more books lined up for next year.

Thank you, Matthew, and my thanks to the LASFS, and to all of you for that fine round of applause.

Jackson’s books and stories are available on Amazon. To find out more about the fannish CLJII Empire of Entertainment, click here.

This year’s Forry Award was a tie between Jackson and Spider Robinson.

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson

Robinson earlier posted his acceptance statement on his website:

I am grattered and flatified to be able to report that I have tied with Charles Lee Jackson II for this year’s Forry Award, given out in memory of the late great Forrest J. Ackerman since 1966 by the members of LASFS, the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.

It’s a lifetime-achievement honour, and the list of previous winners is so impressive I can’t resist reproducing it here… [Click for list.]

I have to say I’m in some damn fine company. Most of the gods of my personal pantheon are there. My only regret is that Jeanne can’t be here to share this with me.

My profound, sincere thanks to the members of LASFS. I look forward with great eagerness to receiving the plaque that I have read comes with the award, and I hope one day I’ll have an opportunity to view the special plaque in LASFS HQ on which I understand my name will now be inscribed with those above.

Spider Robinson Commits to Next Year’s VCON

Posted on by

R. Graeme Cameron has stepped in as chair of next year’s VCON. Happily, as one of his first acts, was able to announce that Spider Robinson, prevented by illness from attending VCON 40 this past weekend, has agreed to be Master of Ceremonies for VCON 41 in 2016. Cameron says, “I know I speak for all local fen (fen everywhere for that matter) that we are glad he is recovering his health and we can hardly wait to see him again. Always good times when he is present at VCON!”

And how came The Graeme to chair next year’s con? He tells the tale after the jump….

Continue reading →

Spider Robinson Cannot Attend Westercon

Posted on by
Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson has withdrawn as one of Westercon 68’s guests of honor. Chair Ron Oakes released this statement from Spider:

Tell folks I had to tap out due to recent undisclosed health problems. That’s the shortest and truest I can say it. If anybody argues, tell ‘em I’m 66, I’ve been hospitalized six times in the last six months, and we’re working on it. And tell them I apologize.

Oakes responded, “Our thoughts and best wishes go with Spider for a speedy diagnosis and complete recovery.”

Westercon 68 takes place July 2-5 in San Diego.

Bring “God is an Iron” to Worldcon

Posted on by

god is an iron posterBlack Box Montreal, an independent theatre company that produces and adapts classic science fiction stories for the stage, wants to perform its version of Spider Robinson’s story God is an Iron at this year’s Worldcon in Spokane.

Money would help.

They’re lining up donors and seeking grants, and they’ve also turned to Indiegogo to find another $2,000 for travel expenses and publicity, as well as costume and prop building and sourcing.  The Indiegogo appeal is here.

Robert J. Sawyer backs the fundraiser:

I saw the Montreal Fringe version of this play in 2014, and it blew my socks off. Seeing it again at Worldcon will be fabulous.

Matthew David Surridge outlines the basic story in his Black Gate review of the 2014 Montreal production:

In the near future, a young man, Joe, enters an apartment and finds a woman, Karen, near death. She’s plugged into a machine stimulating the pleasure centre of her brain, an addictive high common in this future, and one that often leads to death as the addict comes to prefer the ongoing pleasure to food or drink. Joe gets Karen out of the machine and tries to lead her back to health. Who is she? Why did she plug herself into pleasure, knowing it could lead to her own death? Who is he, and why does he care? The set-up gives us questions, and over the course of the story we come to find out the answers. Some are profound, and the last is almost a punch-line: like a punch-line, it collapses all the pathos of the story and the themes into a sudden and surprising realisation.

The tale’s a meditation on empathy and pleasure; more precisely, on empathy and hedonism. Living for pleasure is self-directed. So what drives us — as human beings seem to be driven — to be social animals? Is there some merit to living for others beyond pleasure? Cano’s script, a faithful adaptation of the story using much of the original text, tries to probe these questions.

Donors are offered an escalating series of perks. If someone ponies up $500 —

We can offer one very lucky person the opportunity to be a part of the show! In addition to all the above perks, we’ll cast you in a high-visibility non-speaking role in one of the longer video segments. You’d be credited in the program amongst the cast as “Wireheading Patient”, and you’d have our eternal thanks. Also, we’ll buy you dinner.

They have raised $545 of the $2000 goal as of this writing.

Terri Luanna Mountainborne Robinson da Silva (1974-2014)

Posted on by

By David K. M. Klaus: Terri Luanna Mountainborne Robinson da Silva, daughter of Spider and the late Jeanne Robinson, is now in The Undiscovered Country, occurring Friday, December 5, at the age of 40 years, due to Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (which she described as “the most common form of breast cancer”). Waiting for their time to greet her again are her father Spider Robinson, her husband Heron da Silva, her daughter Marissa (“Miss M”), and a huge extended family of relatives and intimate friends, as well as many, many more distant friends around the world.

The announcement came from Laurie O’Neal (“Auntie L”) on Terri’s WordPress weblog about her life with cancer, gracefulwomanwarrior.com, and on her Facebook page.

With the name Luanna Mountainborne, she was depicted as dancing on Luna in 1/6 gravity in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein.

A crowdfunding request for her medical expenses is at https://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/terri-s-stage-4-cancer-fight/269274.

A crowdfunding request for her memorial is at http://www.gofundme.com/icqknk

This information comes from openly accessible web pages and public announcements, no confidences are being violated.

Jeanne Robinson (1948-2010)

Posted on by

Jeanne Robinson, co-author with her husband Spider of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award winning novella “Stardance,” died May 30 after a long struggle with cancer. Doctors had ended Jeanne’s chemotherapy on April 5.

Jeanne was a talented dancer who studied at several major dance schools, performed with the Beverly Brown Dance Ensemble in New York and served as the artistic director of Halifax’s Nova Dance Theatre, where she choreographed more than thirty original works.