Four $4,000 scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities —
Virginia Heinlein Memorial Scholarship — Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
The Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship, Yoji Kondo Scholarship and Jerry Pournelle Scholarship — May be awarded to a candidate of any gender.
Applicant must plan to attend an accredited college that awards Bachelor of Science degrees as a full-time undergraduate student for the 2025 – 2026 academic year as a sophomore, junior, or senior.
The scholarships are open to residents of any country. The person’s major must be Engineering, Math, or Physical or Biological Sciences.
Applicants will need to submit a 500-1,000 word essay on one of several available topics:
A. How did Robert Heinlein influence your career choice? What Heinlein writings would you use to illustrate how he sparked your interest in science and technology? B. The expansion of social media has led to widespread placement of devices by which your movement and private conversations can be monitored. Social media has also accelerated the clustering of like-minded interests into largely non-interacting ‘tribes’—the so-called ‘metadata’ gathering. Can you find and comment on the Heinlein stories that predicted these phenomena? C. Robert Heinlein said “The Age of Science has not yet opened.” Evaluate this statement compared to your technical field. Do you expect to see this golden age in your lifetime? D. Heinlein is credited for inventing, or inspiring, many items we now take for granted, including waterbeds and cellphones. Using specific examples from his writings, share how his projections became realities in modern life. E. Heinlein has been criticized periodically for his depictions of female characters. Is this a fair criticism, or merely a reflection of how society has changed in seventy years? Discuss his depiction and treatment of females, using characters from at least two different novels as examples. F. Heinlein said, “Specialization is for Insects.” Specialists are, of course, necessary. However, many scientific breakthroughs have been the result of collaborative efforts. How might some knowledge of other disciplines benefit you in your chosen field?
Previous applicants, including winners, may enter again, but must write on a different topic than their previous entry.
Candidates cannot have previously been awarded a bachelor’s degree in any subject.
The deadline to apply is April 1. Full guidelines and the application form are on the Society’s website. The winners will be announced on July 7, 2024.
Moira Quirk and Jefferson Mays. Photos courtesy of the narrators.
(2) INTERNET ARCHIVE LOSS FINALIZED. Time has run out for the defendant to appeal Hachette Book Group v. Internet Archive to the Supreme Court. IA will also be reimbursing some of the plaintiff’s attorney fees and costs reports Publishing Perspectives in“Copyright: Publishers Cheer Conclusion of Internet Archive Suit”.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today (December 4) has announced a final resolution to the case Hachette Book Group v. Internet Archive—this because the Internet Archive declined to file a “cert petition” with the Supreme Court of the United States by a December 3 deadline.
The moment signifies a hard-won victory for publishing, and it comes at a propitious moment for the AAP team, key members of the staff of which are in Mexico. There, the AAP is a partner to CANIEM, the Mexican publishers’ organization, in producing for this week’s International Publishers’ Association (IPA) and thus providing more than 200 publishing-delegates with whom to share the news….
…As the AAP puts it today, “with this case concluded, publishers have achieved a decisive and broadly applicable victory for authors’ rights and digital markets, an outcome that was our foremost, principled objective.
“In addition, the Internet Archive is bound by a sweeping permanent injunction and must make a payment to AAP, which funded the action, the amount of which is confidential under the terms of a court-approved, negotiated consent judgment between plaintiffs and Internet Archive.
“We are, however, permitted to disclose that ‘AAP’s significant attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the action since 2020’ will be ‘substantially compensated.’”…
(3) HOW DARE THEY? The Heinlein Society got a little tetchy about challenges to its Heinlein-related content and set Facebook readers straight that their scope is practically unlimited.
It seems someone is always asking how one of our posts is Heinlein related. Actually, complaining because they don’t think it’s Heinlein related. Now seems a good time to clarify.
1. Anything relating to SF/F, books, libraries or reading is Heinlein related. I could even argue that Heinlein is the father of modern SF. He certainly legitimized it after WWII. When Heinlein started writing, SF was limited to the pulp magazines and was generally looked down upon. It certainly wasn’t considered literature. Heinlein changed that when he started selling stories to the slick magazines and had his juvenile novels published in hardcover. He was also the first SF writer to have a NY Times best seller with Stranger in a Strange Land.
2. Anything relating to Star Trek is Heinlein related. Heinlein enjoyed Star Trek. He gave his permission to air The Trouble With Tribbles when they realized how closely Tribbles resembled the Martian Flat Cats from The Rolling Stones. He had an original painting by Kelly Fries of LT Uhura / Nichelle Nichols hanging on the wall of his study. He went to Star Trek conventions to promote blood drives. (Also, see item 1)
3. Anything relating to space or space travel is Heinlein related. Heinlein wrote about space travel his entire career and deeply cared about the future of space travel. He wrote the screenplay for Destination Moon and acted as the technical advisor, the first realistic movie about a trip to the moon. Heinlein was a guest commentor with Arthur C. Clarke and Walter Cronkite during the first moon landing in 1969. After her husband’s death, Virginia Heinlein started the Heinlein Prize Trust to promote the commercialization of space.
4. Anything relating to science is Heinlein related. Heinlein graduated from the US Naval Academy as an engineer, but he always wanted to be an astronomer. He loved and promoted science in his books. He inspired a generation of youth to pursue science with his juvenile book series.
5. Anything relating to cats is Heinlein related. This one should be obvious, but Heinlein was a huge cat lover and included cats in many of his stories.
6. Anything relating to humor is Heinlein related. Heinlein was a great fan of humor in general as evidenced from the humor in his books. He was greatly influenced by Mark Twain.
I know that people will continue to complain. I suppose it’s just human nature…
(4) CALL FOR PEER REVIEWERS. The Journal of Tolkien Research, a peer-reviewed, open access, online-only journal devoted to Tolkien research is looking for peer reviewers to assist with reviewing and assessing peer-review submissions to the journal. The editor is looking for the following minimum qualifications:
Published at least 2 peer-reviewed articles related to Tolkien research
Adequate knowledge of past and current research related to Tolkien and his works
A master’s degree in any area (ABD or Ph.D. preferred)
Ability to review 9-12 articles per year
Ability to provide appropriate criticism, review, and suggestions for revision on a timely basis on all articles that you agree to peer review
Please send an email detailing your qualifications along with a CV (attachment or URL). Please send any questions to the founding and current editor of JTR: Dr. Brad Eden brad.l.eden@gmail.com
(5) SFF WRITER IS NERO BOOK AWARDS FINALIST. [Item by Steven French.] Novelists shortlisted for this year’s Nero awards in the U.K. include YA author Patrick Ness: “2024 Nero book awards shortlist announced to celebrate ‘extraordinary writing talent’” in the Guardian. “The awards are run by Caffè Nero, and launched after Costa Coffee abruptly ended its book prizes in June 2022. The prizes are aimed at pointing readers ‘of all ages and interests in the direction of the most outstanding books and writers of the year’”.
…Ness made the children’s fiction list for Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody, illustrated by Tim Miller. “Ness’s brio turns the school travails of a group of monitor lizards into a bonkers, yet convincing story about difference – and giant killer robots,” wrote reviewer Kitty Empire in the Observer….
…A total of 16 books were shortlisted across the four categories of fiction, debut fiction, nonfiction and children’s fiction. Winners of each category will be announced on 14 January 2025 and receive £5,000, and an overall winner of the Nero Gold prize will be revealed on 5 March and win an additional £30,000….
(6) LOSCON 51 GOHS. Next year’s Loscon guests of honor were announced at the end of last weekend’s convention.
(7) A TAKE ON RAY BRADBURY. For all those of us who are C.S. Lewis fans – by which I mean, me – here’s an interesting letter on offer from Heritage Auctions: “C. S. Lewis. Autograph letter signed”.
Responding to a request for a photograph, Lewis offers his opinions on Ray Bradbury:
“Dear M. Rutyearts / I enclose a photo; whether good or not I do not know, but it is the only one I can find. Bradbury is a writer of great distinction in my opinion. Is his style almost too delicate, too elusive, too nuancé for S[cience]. F[iction]. matter? In that respect I take him and me to be at opposite poles; he is a humbled disciple of Corot and Debussy, I an even humbler disciple of Titian and Beethoven. / With all good wishes, / Yours sincerely, C. S. Lewis.”
FIRST EDITION, third printing, with copyright notice in three lines and no imprints on copyright page. “Here… begins the detective story, with ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ ‘Mystery of Marie Roget,’ and primus inter pares, the character of the amateur detective who triumphs over the blundering police, in ‘The Purloined Letter.’ The earlier Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque… contains a larger number of the Poe tales of horror, which are still the artistic standard for that school, but this volume adds ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ ‘The Descent into the Maelstrom,’ and ‘The Gold Bug'” (Grolier).
(8) GUMBY. The Los Angeles Breakfast Club presents “Restoring Gumby with Mauricio Alvarado” on December 11. (From 7:00 a.m.– 9:00 a.m. at 3201 Riverside Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027).
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: In preparation for Gumby’s 70th next year, official Gumby licensee, Mauricio Alvarado is working on preserving and screening the work of Art Clokey. Mauricio is currently scanning and restoring the original film prints in 4K, so a new generation can meet Gumby. Join the LA Breakfast Club on December 11th to learn about the history of Gumby and see some of Mauricio’s newly restored clips — exhibited publicly for the first time!
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Mauricio Alvarado is owner of Rockin Pins and manager of the official Gumby social media channels. Thanks to the support of the new owners of ‘Gumby’, Mauricio has been actively screening and sharing the work of Art Clokey to new and old audiences across the country. Mauricio is also the co-founder of Fleischertoons, a project dedicated to locating, scanning, and distributing lost or unknown cartoons by legendary animator and filmmaker Max Fleischer.
(9) FREE READ. Sunday Morning Transport’s first story each month is free. They hope that you will subscribe to receive all the stories, and support the work of their authors. Start off December with “And You and I” by Jenna Hanchey.
(10) DEGREE OF SEPARATION? [Item by N.] “When Your Hero Is A Monster” by The Leftist Cooks is an hour-long video essay using Neil Gaiman as a framework to examine the dissonance in separating the artist from the art, tied with larger discussions of fandom and parasocial relationships.
(11) HEAR ‘ORBITAL’. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Orbital, Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize winning novel, has been serialized on BBC Radio 4 as book of the week. No, according to her, it is not ‘science fiction’ but ‘space realism’. Nonetheless, it is cracking hard SF…
Across 24 hours on the International Space Station, six astronauts from different nations contemplate the Earth, as continents and oceans pass beneath them. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of one astronaut’s mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from Earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without Earth? What is Earth without humanity?
I already discussed how important Back to the Future II was to my SFF education a couple of weeks back. But before Back to the Future II, was the original Back to the Future. I was younger, then, by four years, and not yet immersing myself as much into fandom. So I do recall a Starlog article about the movie, but it would take the sequel and the discussions of same to really get me excited for the franchise outside of the movie itself.
But this was 1985 and I was able to go to movies on my own at last, and so a time travel movie was tailor-made for my tastes. Sure, I didn’t quite get the music or the joke about Marvin Barry, but I knew what I liked. And I liked this. I could see Marty as a slightly older brother, cool, trying his best in a dysfunctional family (boy did that hit) and then trying desperately to save his own future even as problematic as it is.
I didn’t quite realize then what the movie was doing, by giving us a slice of the 1950’s, it was recapitulating things like Happy Days. Hill Valley circa 1955 is a paean to a time and place that has fixated itself strongly in the American Imagination. As Grease was an image of that time for an earlier generation, as was Happy Days, Hill Valley’s Back to the Future is a vision of a very much idealized time. Now, I can see the weaknesses and the problems of that idealized time but it is winningly described and shown here. And given that Marty’s original timeline present isn’t all that great…in a sense Marty going back to the 1950’s is him going to a happier and simpler time for him (if not that he has to save his own existence).
Is it any wonder that McFly not only manages to save his future…but to *improve* upon it?
But for all of the time travel shenanigans and the culture of the 1950’s as compared to the 1980’s, where this movie sings is in its cast. From Michael J. Fox in the Marty McFly role, to Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and especially Thomas Wilson as Biff make this movie what it is, and is a great deal of why it was such an out of nowhere success. (that, and of course, DeLoreans are cool). It actually grew in box office success, and held off strong competitors for weeks. The movie was, and remains, a phenomenon.
…I can shake the shackles of gender, race and class and slip into skins different to my own. It’s a reclamation of power, though not everyone agrees. There’s always debate about the authenticity of historical TV dramas and films. Look at the uproar that greeted Ridley Scott daring to “lob a few sharks” into the Colosseum in Gladiator II, and the mixed Black female actor Caroline Henderson playing a leader in Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla. As a mixed Black female re-enactor in a sea of men with beards, I’m not always fully authentic myself either. It’s a struggle to squeeze my afro hair beneath a coif, wimple or helmet, unless I tame the fuzzy strands into tiny plaits first. The costumes are not always made for people like me. But the groups I’m part of encourage me to explore a range of roles. We are 21st-century organisations based on modern values….
(14) COMPANIONS, VILLAINS, AND OTHERS. Valerie Estelle Frankel has put together Women in Doctor Who (McFarland):
Over the past half-century Doctor Who has defined science fiction television. The women in the series—from orphans and heroic mothers to seductresses and clever teachers—flourish in their roles yet rarely surmount them. Some companions rescue the Doctor and charm viewers with their technical brilliance, while others only scream for rescue. The villainesses dazzle with their cruelty, from the Rani to Cassandra and Missy. Covering all of the series—classic and new—along with Class, K9, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, novels, comics and Big Finish Audio adventures, this book examines the women archetypes in Doctor Who.
(15) SCREENTIME. JustWatch has shared its Top 10 streamers for November 2024.
Earth is an ocean world, with water covering about 71% of its surface. Venus, our closest planetary neighbor, is sometimes called Earth’s twin based on their similar size and rocky composition. While its surface is baked and barren today, might Venus once also have been covered by oceans?
The answer is no, according to new research that inferred the water content of the planet’s interior – a key indicator for whether or not Venus once had oceans – based on the chemical composition of its atmosphere. The researchers concluded that the planet currently has a substantially dry interior that is consistent with the idea that Venus was left desiccated after the epoch early in its history when its surface was comprised of molten rock – magma – and thereafter has had a parched surface…
Interestingly, in it they said that SF got space travel wrong and that private companies would never go to space because it was too expensive hence the provenance of Governments only…
Now, Star Trek was familiar then (1979) and the authors would know of William Shatner… but never guess he would get to space courtesy of a private company.
Just had to share that musing….
[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, N., Robin Anne Reid, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day StephenfromOttawa.]
Virginia & Robert HeinleinDr. Yoji KondoDr. Jerry Pournelle
The Heinlein Society celebrated Robert A. Heinlein’s 117th birthday today by announcing the winners of its 2024 Scholarship competition. The $4,000 scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
Gabriel Black – Gabriel is our Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship recipient. He is majoring in Biochemistry at Western Washington University with a minor in Astronomy and will start his junior year in the fall. He also works in the undergraduate chemistry research lab at the school and plans to pursue a PhD in Astrobiology. He is a member of the National Honors Society and served as treasurer of his local chapter while tutoring elementary and middle school students.
DR. YOJI KONDO SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Elizabeth Bradshaw – Elizabeth is this year’s Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship winner. In the fall she will begin her junior year at Purdue University, majoring in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. She earned a Girl Scout Gold Award by authoring the book “Your Place in Space: A Career Guide for Girls” based on interviews she did with women working in Aerospace. She donated the books to local schools and libraries. She attended Space Camp in middle school and hopes to make her way back to Mission Control after completing her degree.
VIRGINIA HEINLEIN SCHOLARSHIP
Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
Maya Krolik – Maya wins this year’s Virginia “Ginny” Heinlein Scholarship. In the upcoming academic year she will be a sophomore at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, majoring in Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making. In middle school she competed on her school’s Science Olympiad Team and in high school served as team captain and programming lead for the First Tech Challenge competition. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers and is currently performing research on creating new chemical molecules using AI.
DR. JERRY POURNELLE SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Luxanna Sands – Luxanna is the winner of the Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship for this year. She begins her junior year at William Jewell College in the fall, majoring in Physics. She plans to also study Aerospace Engineering as part of her college’s dual program and to pursue her master’s after completing her bachelor’s degree. She performs community service through food drives at her local church. She has stated that “Physics isn’t just what I study, it’s my life”.
The Heinlein Society made a major change to their scholarship program this year – incoming freshmen are no longer eligible. As a result, the number of applications received dropped from 744 last year to 235 this year. There were 40 international applicants, including 4 who had multiple citizenship. There were applicants from 28 different countries, from Angola to Vietnam.
There were eleven finalists this year. The other seven are:
Four $4,000 scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities —
Virginia Heinlein Memorial Scholarship — Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
The Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship, Yoji Kondo Scholarship and Jerry Pournelle Scholarship — May be awarded to a candidate of any gender.
There is one important change from last year — they are no longer accepting incoming freshmen for the scholarships. Applicants must be entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year.
The scholarships are open to residents of any country. The person’s major must be Engineering, Math, or Physical or Biological Sciences. Applicants will need to submit a 500-1,000 word essay on one of several available topics:
A. How did Robert Heinlein influence your career choice? What Heinlein writings would you use to illustrate how he sparked your interest in science and technology? B. The expansion of social media has led to widespread placement of devices by which your movement and private conversations can be monitored. Social media has also accelerated the clustering of like-minded interests into largely non-interacting ‘tribes’—the so-called ‘metadata’ gathering. Can you find and comment on the Heinlein stories that predicted these phenomena? C. Robert Heinlein said “The Age of Science has not yet opened.” Evaluate this statement compared to your technical field. Do you expect to see this golden age in your lifetime? D. Heinlein is credited for inventing, or inspiring, many items we now take for granted, including waterbeds and cellphones. Using specific examples from his writings, share how his projections became realities in modern life. E. Heinlein has been criticized periodically for his depictions of female characters. Is this a fair criticism, or merely a reflection of how society has changed in seventy years? Discuss his depiction and treatment of females, using characters from at least two different novels as examples. F. Heinlein said, “Specialization is for Insects.” Specialists are, of course, necessary. However, many scientific breakthroughs have been the result of collabrative efforts. How might some knowledge of other disciplines benefit you in your chosen field?
The deadline to apply is April 1. Full guidelines and the application form are on the Society’s website. The winners will be announced on July 7, 2024.
Previous applicants, including winners, may enter again, but must write on a different topic than their previous entry.
Michael Chabon and other decorated writers of books and screenplays sued Meta on Tuesday in California federal court in a lawsuit accusing the company of copyright infringement for harvesting mass quantities of books across the web, which were then used to produce infringing works that allegedly violate their copyrights. OpenAI was sued on Sept. 8 in an identical class action alleging the firms “benefit commercially and profit handsomely from their unauthorized and illegal” collection of the authors’ books. They seek a court order that would require the companies to destroy AI systems that were trained on copyright-protected works.
…As evidence that AI systems were fed authors’ books, the suit points to ChatGPT generating summaries and in-depth analyses of the themes in the novels when prompted. It says that’s “only possible if the underlying GPT model was trained using” their works.
“If ChatGPT is prompted to generate a writing in the style of a certain author, GPT would generate content based on patterns and connections it learned from analysis of that author’s work within its training dataset,” states the complaint, which largely borrows from the suit filed by [Paul] Tremblay.
And because the large language models can’t operate without the information extracted from the copyright-protected material, the answers that ChatGPT produces are “themselves infringing derivative works,” the lawsuit against Meta says….
(2) CHENGDU PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS. File 770 asked Chengdu Worldcon committee member Joe Yao for a list of the people who have been added as Worldcon guests since the recent offer of help went out. No names were provided, however, Yao made this statement:
We kept inviting guests from both China and abroad, and now we have about 500 guests confirmed to come. They will attend some key events including the opening ceremony, Hugo ceremony and the closing ceremony, and they will also participate in programs as either guests or speakers. My team is working closely with the overseas team on programs and we have drafted a mastersheet of the programs. It will be confirmed and released soon.
(3) BARRIERS TO TRAVEL. Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki commented on Facebook about the challenges of getting a visa.
Nigerian passport & visa issues. Recently found out the Italian visa app has more requirements than US. Then I thought maybe China’s. Someone just told me that’s harder than the US’s. Germany might not give you visa even on their chancellor’s request. Is there any one that’s easy (possible) for a Nigerian?
When I was in the US, anytime Africans saw I was on a b1-b2 visa they used to be shocked out of their skulls. Like you find someone with the complete infinity gauntlet and stones. So for all these to be harder, Lol.
It’s really something to be a Nigerian that isn’t chained down and utterly grounded. Meanwhile what it took to get my US visa & the price I had to and still pay for it gifted me PTSD and damage I might never be able to afford treatment for. But hey, na me wan dream. Lol
(4) NASFIC MINUTES AVAILABLE. [Item by Kevin Standlee.] The minutes of the NASFiC WSFS Business Meeting at Pemmi-Con are now published on the WSFS Rules page here. (Scroll down to “MINUTES of the 2023 WSFS Business Meeting of the 15th NASFiC”.)
(5) ABRAHAM AND FRANCK Q&A. Award-winning sci-fi writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck talk with Meghna Chakrabarti about the world they created in The Expanse and what they’re working on next. “’The Expanse’ authors on ‘the importance of complicating people’” at WBUR.
As expected, the Internet Archive this week submitted its appeal in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the closely watched copyright case involving the scanning and digital lending of library books.
In a brief notice filed with the court, IA lawyers are seeking review by the Second Circuit court of appeals in New York of the “August 11, 2023 Judgment and Permanent Injunction; the March 24, 2023 Opinion and Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and Denying Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment; and from any and all orders, rulings, findings, and/or conclusions adverse to Defendant Internet Archive.”
The notice of appeal comes right at the 30-day deadline—a month to the day after judge John G. Koeltl approved and entered a negotiated consent judgment in the case which declared the IA’s scanning and lending program to be copyright infringement, as well as a permanent injunction that, among its provisions, bars the IA from lending unauthorized scans of the plaintiffs’ in-copyright, commercially available books that are available in digital editions.
“As we stated when the decision was handed down in March, we believe the lower court made errors in facts and law, so we are fighting on in the face of great challenges,” reads a statement announcing the appeal on the Internet Archive website. “We know this won’t be easy, but it’s a necessary fight if we want library collections to survive in the digital age.”…
(7) GARETH EDWARDS VIRTUAL CONVERSATION. MIT Technology Review will hold an online event “Humanity and AI: A conversation with the director of ‘The Creator’” at LinkedIn on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. Appears that LinkedIn registration is required.
As many today try to imagine the future of our world with artificial intelligence, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor of AI, Melissa Heikkilä, speaks with Gareth Edwards, director of the upcoming sci-fi epic “The Creator,” about the current state of AI and the pitfalls and possibilities ahead as this technology marches toward sentience. The film, releasing September 29th and starring John David Washington and Gemma Chan, imagines a futuristic world where humans and AI are at war and fundamentally explores humanity’s relationship with AI, what it means to be human, and what it means to be alive.
The Board of the Society voted [September 11] for its new leadership & Executive Committee effective immediately:
President & Chairman: Ken Walters
Vice President: Walt Boyes
Treasurer: Geo Rule
Secretary: Betsey Wilcox
Congratulations to all of them!
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born September 12, 1897 — Walter B. Gibson. Writer and professional magician who’s best known for his work creating and being the first and main writer of the pulp character The Shadow with The Living Shadow published by Street & Smith Publications in 1933 being the first one. Using the pen-name Maxwell Grant, he wrote 285 of the 325 Shadow stories published by Street & Smith in The Shadow magazine of the Thirties and Forties. He also wrote a Batman prose story which appeared in Detective Comics #500 and was drawn by Thomas Yeates. (Died 1985.)
Born September 12, 1921 — Stanisław Lem. He’s best known for Solaris, which has been made into a film three times. The latest film made off a work of his is the 2018 His Master’s Voice (Glos Pana In Polish). The usual suspects have generous collections of his translated into English works at quite reasonable prices. (Died 2006.)
Born September 12, 1940 — John Clute, 83. Critic, one of the founders of Interzone (which I avidly read) and co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (with Peter Nicholls) and of the Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Grant) as well as writing the Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction. All of these publications won Hugo Awards for Best Non-Fiction. And I’d be remiss not to single out for praise The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror which is simply a superb work.
Born September 12, 1942 — Charles L. Grant. A writer who said he was best at what he called “dark fantasy” and “quiet horror”. Nightmare Seasons, a collection of novellas, won a World Fantasy Award, while the “A Crowd of Shadows” short garnered a Nebula as did “A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn’s Eye” novella. “Temperature Days on Hawthorne Street” story would become the Tales from the Darkside episode “The Milkman Cometh”. Both iBooks and Kindle have decent but not outstanding selections of his works including a few works of Oxrun Station, his core horror series. (Died 2006.)
Born September 12, 1952 — Kathryn Anne Ptacek, 71. Widow of Charles L. Grant. She has won two Stoker Awards. If you’re into horror. Her Gila! novel is a classic of that genre, and No Birds Sings is an excellent collection of her short stories. Both are available from the usual suspects. She is the editor and publisher of the writers-market magazine The Gila Queen’s Guide to Markets.
Born September 12, 1952 — Neil Peart. Drummer and primary lyricist for the prog-rock, power-trio band Rush. Neil incorporated science fiction and fantasy elements into many of Rush’s songs. An early example is “By-Tor and the Snow Dog” from the Album “Fly By Night”. The entire first side of the 2112 album (back when albums had sides) was the 2112 suite telling the dystopian story of a man living in a society where individualism and creativity are outlawed. Neil is a genre author having co-written The Clockwork Angels series with Kevin J. Anderson. (Died of glioblastoma, 2020.) (Dann Todd)
Born September 12, 1965 — Robert T. Jeschonek, 58. Writer for my purposes of both genre and mysteries. He’s written short fiction set in the Trek universe. He’s also written fiction set in the Battletech, Captain Midnight, Deathlands, Doctor Who, Starbarian Saga and Tannhauser universes. We really need a concordance to all these media universes. Really we do.
(10) COMICS SECTION.
Candorvilleis where an author claims to focus on the positive. But does he?
(11) WESTERCON 75 ANNOUNCEMENT. Arlene Busby, chair of the cancelled Westercon 75, announced today that all membership refunds have been issued. Also, the transfers have been completed for all those members who requested that their membership monies be transfer to Loscon 49.
Similarly, refunds have been issued to all Dealers who requested them. And transfers have been completed for Dealers who requested their fees be transferred to Loscon 49.
Busby adds, “We thank everyone for their support and patience in getting all these transactions processed. If you have any questions please contact me at westercon75chair1@gmail.com.”
(12) TREK THEME PERFORMED IN CHINA. From the Beijing Star Trek Day event mentioned in the September 9 Scroll comes this a video of the Michael Giacchino Star Trek theme performed on traditional Chinese instruments – see it on Weibo
Beginning with the 2025 awards, which opens for submissions in spring 2024, the Pulitzer Prize board has changed the eligibility requirements for the books, drama and music awards to include “US citizens, permanent residents of the United States,” and authors for whom “the United States has been their longtime primary home.” Previously, only US citizens were eligible for the awards, with the exception of authors of history books, who could be of any nationality if their book was about US history. “For the sake of consistency,” the prize board said, history books must be written by US authors according to the new guidelines.
Books still must be “originally published in English in the United States.”
…Following an August petition on the literary sites Literary Hub and Undocupoets to reconsider the U.S. citizenship requirements for the arts prizes, the Pulitzer board addressed the issue….
…The intricately made starfighter brought millions of people along for the ride as a group of plucky Rebel pilots assaulted the Death Star. Now the Star Wars scale model is being sold at auction, with bids starting at $400,000.
The “Red Leader” (Red One) X-wing Starfighter from 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope is “the pinnacle of Star Wars artifacts to ever reach the market,” says Heritage Auctions, which is handling the sale as part of a trove of science fiction props, miniatures and memorabilia.
The X-wing tops the auction list, but it’s far, far from alone: It was found in the expansive collection of Greg Jein, an expert craftsman who was as skilled at bringing futuristic stories to life as he was devoted to preserving the models and props used to bring strange new worlds to TV and film.
…More than 550 items from Jein’s collection are now heading to auction, from Nichelle Nichols’ iconic knee-high boots and red tunic as Lt. Uhura to Leonard Nimoy’s pointy ears as Spock. A hairpiece for William Shatner’s Captain Kirk and Lt. Sulu’s golden tunic are also up for sale….
(15) IN THE SPIRIT OF PHILIP K. DICK. A discussion with 81st Worldcon Chair He Xi and multidisciplinary sci-fi artist Yin Guang, “HUGO X: 2”, a Chengdu Worldcon Talkshow, closes with the jolly speculation that carbon-based life will be the scaffolding for silicon-based life – artificial intelligence – and when that building is built, “you’ll be torn down.”
[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Kevin Standlee, Ersatz Culture, Daniel Dern, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z.]
Virginia & Robert HeinleinDr. Yoji KondoDr. Jerry Pournelle
The Heinlein Society celebrated Robert A. Heinlein’s 116th birthday today by announcing the winners of its 2023 Scholarship competition. The $4,000 scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities.
VIRGINIA HEINLEIN SCHOLARSHIP
Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
Nine Reed-Mera – Nine is this year’s Virginia “Ginny” Heinlein Scholarship recipient. She has a double major of Biological Sciences and Written Arts, entering her Senior year at Bard College. Nine began college at age 16 and has maintained a 4.0 GPA. She has received numerous scholastic awards, including a Nation Silver Medal. She was awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to study extremophiles.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
Rhiannon Red Bird – Rhiannon is the winner of this year’s Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship. In the fall she will begin her senior year at California Polytechnic State University – Humbolt. She is majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology with a Chemistry Minor. After completing her undergraduate degree, Rhiannon hopes to spend time in a research lab and eventually pursue a postgraduate degree in Veterinary or Human Medicine.
DR. YOJI KONDO SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Kenji Sakaie – Kenji is the Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship winner. He is an incoming Freshman at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Kenji is interested in working in the aerospace or naval architecture industries, working toward a goal of providing safe, affordable and sustainable housing through the prefabricated building industry.
DR. JERRY POURNELLE SCHOLARSHIP
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Victoria Woods – Victoria wins this year’s Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship. In the upcoming academic year she will be a Sophomore at Trinity College Dublin, majoring in Geography and Geoscience. Last summer, Victoria interned studying the detection limits of hyperspectral sensors and is doing ongoing research in gamma ray spectrometry. She is active in her college’s Environmental Society and International Students Club.
The Heinlein Society received 744 applications this year, up from 567 in 2022. The number of international applicants increased to 84, including 15 who had multiple citizenship. The international applicants hailed from 28 different countries across the globe.
In addition to the winners, the names of six top finalists were announced:
The Heinlein Society has opened its twelfth annual scholarship essay contest for the 2023-2024 academic year. Four $4,000 scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities —
Virginia Heinlein Memorial Scholarship — Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
The Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship, Yoji Kondo Scholarship and Jerry Pournelle Scholarship — May be awarded to a candidate of any gender.
The scholarships are open to residents of any country. The person’s major must be Engineering, Math, or Physical or Biological Sciences. Applicants will need to submit a 500-1,000 word essay on one of several available topics:
How Robert Heinlein influenced your career choice. What Heinlein writings would you use to illustrate how he sparked your interest in science and technology?
Biologist J.B.S. Haldane once wrote “I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.” Find, discuss, and comment on one episode in your STEM field in the past 50 years that you find surprising.
Robert Heinlein said “The Age of Science has not yet opened.” Evaluate this statement compared to your technical field. Do you expect to see this golden age in your lifetime?
What are the structural, procedural, and operational limitations of computer simulations of which a practitioner or user must be acutely aware? Discuss with respect to your career field.
How might advances in your chosen field of study affect how people live 50 years from now? What changes, good and bad, might society see?
The deadline to apply is April 1. Full guidelines and the application form are on the Society’s website. Winners will be announced on July 7, 2023.
Previous scholarship winners who will still be attending college in the 2023-2024 academic year as undergraduates are eligible to apply again, but they must choose a different essay topic than previously.
It’s notable that in the Best Fan Writing and Publication category it was R. Graeme Cameron competing against himself, winning for Polar Borealis, while his Canadian SF&F book and magazine reviews in Amazing Stories (online) finished second.
(2) CONFUSION IS STILL WITH US. [Item by John Winkelman.] Con Chair Cylithria Dubois has posted an update about ConFusion 2022 and 2023. To sum up: Despite hardships and obstacles, COVID-related and otherwise, ConFusion 2022 ended in the black, financially, and there will be a ConFusion 2023, about which details will be announced soon. “2022 Rising ConFusion Final Report & Handoff to The Legend of ConFusion”.
Rising ConFusion 2022 took place January 21st – 23rd of 2022. December & January were peak times for the DELTA variant of the COVID-19 pandemic. As DELTA took hold, times looked very grim due to the pandemic, and on January 7th, 2022, I made a public plea to our community, alerting you of the dire financial straits ConFusion Convention faced due to lower attendance, higher costs, and lack of income from the postponed 2021 event.
The day I made that plea, I was also packing to travel via car from my home in Kansas City, MO., to my Home in Bay City, MI. I posted that, went to bed, got up and drove the 14 hour journey. By the time I arrived in Michigan, I was gob-smacked at the community outpouring of support. Y’all have no idea how utterly stunned silent I truly was. (Lithie, Silent? Whoa)…
In Quick Summary Form:
-The amount of income made by Rising ConFusion 2022 was $17,848.48. -The amount of Donation Income made from your generosity was $13,705.09. -Combined those total: $31,553.57! -Our total expenses (see note below) came to -$19,234.81. -The amount of money leftover was: +$12,318.76
In Short; Yes, you saved Rising ConFusion and there will be another ConFusion in 2023!…
Worldcon chose not to sponsor a blood drive this year. For the convenience of those expecting to Pay It Forward by donating blood The Heinlein Society and Virgin Hotels, a block away from the Hyatt, will have a blood drive on Sunday. Schedule your appointment early as the drive is open to the public before Worldcon starts. More information will be available as well as a free book with a cool bookmark at The Heinlein Society Fan Table at Worldcon.
(4) WHERE IT BEGAN. Robert Charles Wilson told Facebook readers about a personal artifact he rediscovered.
I’ve spent the last few days putting my book collection in order, and yesterday I came across this, the first sf magazine I ever purchased: the March 1964 issue of F&SF, from a little shop in the town of Port Credit, Ontario.
J.G. Ballard, Kit Reed, Oscar Wilde, Avram Davidson’s haunting little story “Sacheverell”—pretty heady stuff for a precocious ten-year-old. But what had the greatest impact, looking backward from 2022, was Robert Bloch’s article “The Conventional Approach”—a pocket history of science fiction fandom. I was already nursing an ambition to write, specifically to write sf, and here was what looked like an invitation to a subculture of like-minded enthusiasts and maybe even a roadmap to a career.
A few more years would pass before I attended a convention or sold a piece of fiction to a professional market, but that little digest-magazine article had pretty profound consequences for me. What I eventually found by way of that subculture was, yes, a career, including a Hugo Award for my novel Spin, but also enduring friendships, two marriages and one long-term relationship, visits to Europe and Asia I would probably not otherwise have undertaken, and a more colourful and varied life than my 10-year-old self could have reasonably imagined.
All that, bought for 40 cents on a wintry Saturday in rural Ontario. Your money went further in those days, I guess.
Salman Rushdie, the acclaimed author who was stabbed repeatedly at a public appearance in New York state on Friday, 33 years after Iran’s then-supreme leader called for him to be killed, is off a ventilator and his health is improving, his agent and a son said on Sunday.
“He’s off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun,” his agent, Andrew Wylie, wrote in an email to Reuters. “It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction.”…
Police are investigating a threat against JK Rowling that was made after she posted her reaction on social media to the attack on Salman Rushdie.
Rowling tweeted on Friday: “Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be OK.”
A Twitter user under the name Meer Asif Asiz replied: “Don’t worry you are next.”
Rowling shared screenshots of the threat and thanked everyone who had sent supportive messages. “Police are involved (were already involved on other threats),” she wrote.
…King, who is himself active on Twitter, also spoke to the Sunday Times about the role social media has played amid the current political and cultural climate.
“It’s a poison pill. I mean, I think it’s wonderful, for instance, that in the wake of George Floyd’s death, his murder by police, that you could muster via social media protests in cities across America and around the world,” he noted. “But on the other hand, it’s social media that has magnified the idea that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. And there’s millions of people who believe that, and there are millions of people who believe that the COVID vaccinations are terrible things. Some of the things are good, some are not so good, and some are downright evil.”…
(7) THE BOOKEND. Rich Horton’s last 50’s Hugo post is “Hugo Nomination Recommendations, 1960”. (I don’t have to explain why 1960 is the last year in this series about the 50’s, I’m sure.)
… This was the height of the Cold War, and the height of fears of Nuclear War, and that is emphasized by the popular success of out and out “End of the World due to Nuclear War” books like Level 7; Alas, Babylon; A Canticle for Leibowitz; and On The Beach, all published in this time frame. For that matter, Providence Island is about a lost race resisting the use of their island for nuclear tests, and The Manchurian Candidate is surely a Cold War novel to the max!…
(8) FAN MAIL. Connie Willis writes in praise of “Favorite Author – Mary Stewart” on Facebook.
I just finished re-reading AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND and was reminded all over again what a wonderful writer Mary Stewart was. Many science-fiction fans will be familiar with her because of her trilogy about Merlin and King Arthur–THE CRYSTAL CAVE, THE HOLLOW HILLS, and THE LAST ENCHANTMENT–but when those books came out, I was already a long time admirer who’d discovered her through, of all things, Hayley Mills.
I was a huge Hayley Mills fan in high school and college and saw all her movies. I also was an inveterate reader of movie credits (this was how I found new books to read–and still do) and thus discovered Eleanor Porter’s POLLYANNA, Jules Verne’s IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS–and Mary Stewart’s THE MOONSPINNERS. I promptly ran to the library to check out the book.
…I said her novels had been the foundation for the modern romantic mystery genre, but that’s not really true. Even though they’ve been compared to Daphne DuMaurier’s and Jane Austen’s books, nobody else before or since has been able to do the sort of thing she did. What is true is that she “built the bridge between classic literature and modern popular fiction. She did it first, and she did it best.” And if you’ve never read her, you’re in for a treat….
The opening story in Liars in Hell is by Janet and Chris Morris, and it’s called Seven Degrees of Lying. Under Lord Byron’s protection for a night, Percy Shelley is abducted and drowned. Honor bound, Byron sets out to find and rescue him, dragging Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, the Inklings, Satan, Lord Walsingham, and J, the mysterious Bible writer, into the first skirmish of the Liars War. Even Byron’s dog, Boatswain, gets in on the act.
…So come visit Hell and enjoy the company of our heroes and villains. There’s plenty of action, drama and gallows humor to go around. But bring your own pitchfork. It’s better to have it and not need it, than it is to need it and not have it. You never know when it might come in handy.
(10) MEMORY LANE.
2009 – [By Cat Eldridge.] I like pulp films and the Sherlock Holmes films that Robert Downey Jr. did, Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, certainly are pulp. Expensively produced ones as I will note in a bit.
Both films were directed by Guy Ritchie and were produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey, and Dan Lin. Susan is the wife of Robert. They have their own production company, Team Downey.
The story for the first one was by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson. Eigram’s only other story was the The Man from U.N.C.L.E film, though he was the executive producer for the Potter films; Johnson genre wise only did three episodes of The Frankenstein Chronicles.
The second film’s screenplay was written by Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney, a married couple whose entire genre output otherwise is scripting together Next Generation’s “The Outrageous Okona” and Star Trek: Enterprise’s “Fortunate Son” episodes.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively. I really think that they do a great job but, I suspect very deeply, like the video Poirots from yesterday, that is very much a matter of personal taste. I like their takes on the characters a lot. No, Downey is not the Holmes in the stories.
They were expensive to produce, ninety million and the sequel added thirty-five onto its cost. The first was shot at in part at Freemasons’ Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral. The former was where the Suchet Poirot shot part of its Murder on the Orient Express. For the second film, principal photography moved for two days to Strasbourg, France. Shooting took place on, around, and inside Strasbourg Cathedral as that in stood for the German city where it was supposed to be set.
They made money, oh did they make money, roughly a half billon apiece.
Roger Ebert I think in reviewing the first nails it perfectly and I’m going to quote only him from the multitude of critics. Here’s his entire first paragraph of his Sherlock Holmes review: “The less I thought about Sherlock Holmes, the more I liked ‘Sherlock Holmes.’ Yet another classic hero has been fed into the f/x mill, emerging as a modern superman. Guy Ritchie’s film is filled with sensational sights, over-the-top characters and a desperate struggle atop Tower Bridge, which is still under construction. It’s likely to be enjoyed by today’s action fans. But block bookings are not likely from the Baker Street Irregulars.”
Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give both films scores of seventy-seven percent which is a most excellent rating.
They are available on HBO Max and Netflix.
There may or may not be a third film next year. The film company has announced such for Christmas but I hold little stock in that as the film hadn’t started production yet.
(11) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born August 14, 1910 — Herta Herzog. At the Radio Project, she was part of the team of that conducted the groundbreaking research on Orson Welles’ 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds in the study The Invasion from Mars. The Radio Research Project was founded in 1937 as a social research project and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to look into the effects of mass media on society. (Died 2010.)
Born August 14, 1932 — Lee Hoffman. In the early Fifties, she edited and published the Quandry fanzine. At the same time, she began publication of Science-Fiction Five-Yearly which appeared regularly until ‘til 2006. It won a Hugo at Nippon 2007 which she shared with Geri Sullivan and Randy Byers. It was awarded after her death. She wrote four novels and a handful of short fiction, none of which are in the usual suspects. (Died 2007.)
Born August 14, 1940 — Alexei Panshin, 82. He has written multiple critical works along with several novels, including the Nebula Award-winning Rite of Passage and the Hugo Award-winning study of SF, The World Beyond the Hill which he co-wrote with his wife, Cory Panshin. He also wrote the first serious study of Heinlein, Heinlein in Dimension: A Critical Analysis.
Born August 14, 1950 — Gary Larson, 72. Setting aside a long and delightful career in creating the weird for us, ISFDB lists a SF link that deserve noting. In the March 1991 Warp as published by the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, he had a cartoon “The crew of the Starship Enterprise encounters the floating head of Zsa Zsa Gabor”.
Born August 14, 1951 — Carl Lumbly, 71. I first encountered him voicing the Martian Manhunter on the Justice League series and he later played M’yrnn J’onzz, the father of the Martian Manhunter on the first Supergirl series. His first major genre role was in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension as John Parker, and he later had a number of voice roles in such films as Justice League: Doom and Justice League: Gods and Monsters. He of course was the lead in the short lived M.A.N.T.I.S. as Miles Hawkins.
Born August 14, 1956 — Joan Slonczewski, 66. Their novel A Door into Ocean won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. They won a second John W. Campbell Memorial Award for their Highest Frontier novel. They were nominated for an Otherwise Award for The Children Star novel.
Born August 14, 1965 — Brannon Braga, 57. Writer, producer and creator for the Next Gen, Voyager, Enterprise, as well as on the Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact films. He has written more episodes in the Trek franchise than anyone else with one hundred nine to date. He was responsible for the Next Gen series finale “All Good Things…” which won him a Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo (1995), along with Ronald D. Moore.
Born August 14, 1966 — Halle Berry, 56. Her first role genre was not as I thought Miss Stone in The Flintstones but a minor role in a forgotten SF series called They Came from Outer Space. This was followed by being Storm in the X- Men franchise and Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson in Die Another Day, the twentieth Bond film. She then shows up as Catwoman. She has myriad roles in Cloud Atlas. And she is Molly Woods in Exant, a Paramount + series that originally ran on CBS. Both seasons are streaming there now.
…“This book has transformed my life,” Robinson said. “I’m doing nothing but talking about Ministry for the Future for the last year and a half, almost two years now. It’s also terrifying. It shows to me that people are feeling a desperate need for a story like this. They’re grabbing onto this book like a piece of driftwood, and they’re drowning at the open ocean.”…
Laidman: In your opening chapter, 20 million people die in an Indian heat wave and power failure, with several thousand of them poached to death in a lake as they try to escape the heat. Will it take this kind of climate horror to jolt the world into action?
Robinson: No. When I was at COP 26, Jordanian diplomat Zeid Ra’ad Hussein, who had read Ministry, was talking about the power of stories. He said, “You don’t need to be in a plane crash to know that it would be bad to be in a plane crash.” Every year since I wrote the book — I wrote it maybe three years ago — it’s as if attention to the climate change crisis has more than doubled. It’s almost exponential.
We’re not at the point of solutions, but at every COP meeting the sense that, “Oh my gosh, we are headed into a plane crash” is intensified. We’re not doing enough. We’re not paying the poor countries enough. Rich countries are breaking promises made at earlier COPs. Disillusionment with that process is getting so intense that I fear for the COP process itself. I’ve been comparing it to the League of Nations. The League of Nations was a great idea that failed. And then we got the 1930s and World War II. The 2015 Paris Agreement was an awesome thing, like something that I would write that people would call utopian. But it happened in the real world.
Now, with Russia and the brutal Ukraine war, things are so messed up that the COP process and the Paris Agreement could turn into the League of Nations. I’m frightened for that. It’s not a done deal.
Before we get started, let me define “best” for you real fast. In this context, best does not secretly mean my favorite science fiction that I’m calling best because I’m the one writing the article. The best science fiction books of all time — at least the ones on this list — are the ones that remain highly rated, are incredibly popular, or have made some sort of mark on the science fiction genre or its various sub-genres, even mainstream culture as a whole. There are also only 20 books on this list, meaning it is not conclusive, as I am one person. I will inevitably miss a book that you think belongs on this list. So many science fiction falls into the definition of “best” that I’m using.
Because that’s what science fiction is meant to do: push the envelope, show what things could be if we continue down the path we’re on, and make you question what’s possible….
(15) KHAW SHORT FICTION. Sunday Morning Transport has a story and an offer.
This week’s Sunday Morning Transport story, “We Can Make Death Work,” by Cassandra Khaw is ready for subscribers to read, and if you’re not a subscriber, you can get a taste toohttps://t.co/Kj61kkm0bk
(16) BREAKFAST IN A GALAXY A LONG TIME AGO. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] Who thought this was a good idea? The Mandalorian NEVER waffles! “The Mandalorian Galactic Homestyle Frozen Waffles”. (However, Martin confesses he bought these today.)
Start your adventure with a delicious breakfast including Eggo® The Mandalorian Galactic Homestyle Waffles. It’s our classic Eggo® taste featuring the Mandalorian & Grogu™ from the hit Star Wars™ series. Collect all Mandalorian cards, only available across three different hero pack designs while supplies last. It’s the quick and delicious breakfast that families across the whole galaxy love.
(17) DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] Inverse writer Jon O’Brien takes a, let’s say nostalgic, look at Stay Tuned—a 30 year old movie the columnist believes deserved a better reception than it got. Starring John Ritter (Three’s Company) and Pam Dawber (Mork and Mindy), the movie’s plot includes strong flavors of the metafictional tropes so utterly infused in the recent & much better received WandaVision. “30 years ago, a sci-fi flop beat Marvel to its smartest story idea”.
…In 1992, Stay Tuned was accused of failing to say anything substantial in its send-up of America’s TV addiction. But decades on, the film serves as a forewarning of the dark route TV went down. The prank show genre, for example, has gone to such extremes as staging fake ISIS abductions and simulating plane crashes. The macabre spoof “Autopsies of the Rich and Famous” pretty much become a depressing reality.
Alongside ads for warped products such as The Silencer of the Lambs (muzzles for annoying youngsters) and Yogi Beer (alcohol for kids), and an end-credits sequence that zips through teasers for “Beverly Hills, 90666,” “The Golden Ghouls,” and “I Love Lucifer,” these brief side gags only appear via the Knables’ new-fangled TV set. But most of Stay Tuned’s lampoons play out in full screen, with Roy and Helen front and center after the new satellite dish zaps the bickering pair into Hellavision….
(18) A LUCRATIVE REJECTION. Neil Gaiman reveals he first pitched Sandman to George R.R. Martin for a Wild Cards series and Martin turned him down in this video with Gaiman and Martin that dropped last week: “Why Neil Gaiman Has George R.R. Martin to Thank for The Sandman”.
SYFY WIRE has an exclusive first look at the all-new clip for the six-episode event series set to debut at Peacock on Aug. 25, and it’s safe to say that Bill’s not backing down from some of the biggest CGI-realized effects ever to bring a science documentary to life. How big are we talking? Like, positively supervolcanic — as in Yellowstone Caldera exploding, mushroom cloud-forming, town-engulfing big.
Bill and his trademark neckwear are in serious jeopardy in the new clip, which finds him flooring it out of a Rocky Mountain hamlet in a frighteningly futile attempt to outrace a superheated, 500 mph pyroclastic flow. Can Bill and his little electric car make it? Well…stick around to the end: It’s definitely Bill Nye like you’ve never seen him.
The blurb for the YouTube trailer says this is what the series is about:
Synopsis: The End is Nye sends Bill Nye into the most epic global disasters imaginable – both natural and unnatural – and then demystifies them using science to show how we can survive, mitigate, and even prevent them. Each stand-alone episode takes a hell-bent dive into the mystery and terror of one specific threat. Every catastrophe is abundant with thrills, but also offers hope and a way forward —a scientific blueprint for surviving anything that comes our way. The series is hosted and executive produced by Emmy Award winner and renowned science educator, engineer, author, and inventor Bill Nye. Each episode also features a brief cameo by longtime science advocate and series EP Seth MacFarlane.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Rich Horton, Daniel Dern, Clifford Samuels, John Winkelman, Dennis Howard, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Chris Barkley, and Michael Toman for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day JeffWarner returns, because he isn’t donne yet.]
Virginia & Robert HeinleinDr. Yoji KondoDr. Jerry Pournelle
The Heinlein Society celebrated Robert A. Heinlein’s 115th birthday today by announcing the winners of its 2022 Scholarship competition. Expanded to four this year, the $4,000 scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities.
Virginia Heinlein Scholarship
Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
Sera McCarty
Sera is the winner of this year’s Virginia “Ginny” Heinlein Scholarship. She will be attending the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor as a freshman. Her major is Biomedical Engineering. Her experience with her own gymnastic injuries – and later coaching – helped steer her toward a career helping others overcome their physical limitations.
Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.
JiIlian SouIvie
Jillian is the first winner of the Robert A Heinlein Scholarship. She is majoring in Biology and will attend the University of Arizona as a freshman in the fall. Jillian has always wanted to work in a medical field and help other. In recent years she has focused especially on the surgical field, particularly pediatrics and trauma.
Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Anna Mei Moulene
Anna is the recipient of Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship. She will be a senior at Bard College in the upcoming academic year, majoring in Chemistry. She began baking at a very young age, which helped pique her interest in Chemistry initially. After graduating next year, she plans to get a postgraduate degree and hopes to work in a research lab verifying drug safety and efficacy.
Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship
Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.
Oliver Tan
Oliver is the Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship recipient. He will be a freshman in the fall,majoring in Mathematics with a special interest in areas like computational complexity, number theory,and combinatorics. His biggest achievement in the subject is the discovery of the shortest known supersequence. His result has been featured in The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.
The Heinlein Society commented that they were “astonished” to receive even more applications than the previous year — setting a new record of 567, including a record 53 international applicants. The international applicants are from 29 countries.
In addition to the winners, the names of six top finalists were announced:
(1) MARCHING WITH SHERMAN. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] I listened to this podcast Leonard and Jessie Maltin did with songwriter Richard Sherman, which they did in 2016 but recently reposted because Richard Sherman turned 92. Maltin on Movies: “Revisiting Richard Sherman”.
Leonard Maltin knows a lot about all aspects of cinema but what he really knows a great deal about is the history of animation and Disney films. Much of this podcast is devoted to the idea that Walt Disney really was as nice as he presented himself on Sunday nights on “The Wonderful World of Disney.” Sherman says Disney liked being called “Walt” and if he liked an idea said, “That’ll work!” He also said that P.L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins novels, was as fiercely protective of her intellectual property as portrayed in Saving Mr. Banks, and he has 16 hours of tapes with Travers to prove it. She insisted the tapes be made as a record of her conversations.
Most of the conversation here is about Mary Poppins, which earned Sherman and his brother Robert Sherman two Oscars. He only briefly mentions Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, which had songs by Sherman and his brother and was in effect the James Bond people trying to do a Disney musical. He does mention that he was working on an album containing songs for two unmade fantasy films: Sir Puss-N-Boots and The 13 Clocks, based on the James Thurber novel. These songs were released in 2016 by castalbums.org.
Fun fact: Voice actor Paul Winchell not only voiced Tigger, but also invented an artificial heart valve.
We’re beyond excited for part 2 of Stranger Thingsseason 4. To get into the spirit, Team Delish traveled to the new Stranger Things: TheExperience in Brooklyn. With locations in New York, San Francisco, and London, the hour-long immersive adventure transports visitors straight to Hawkins, Indiana.
As much as we loved fighting Demogorgons with Eleven and the gang, our favorite part was obviously the food! Once you finish the experience, you enter Mix-Tape, an ’80s-themed area with some of the show’s iconic locations. Guests can play vintage arcade games, sit in the Byers’ living room, and snack on the character’s favorite treats.
… If you need a drink to wash everything down, head to the Upside Bar for some cocktails inspired by the show. Our favorite is the Demogorgon, which Agbuya describes as “smoky-sweet version of an Old Fashioned with a twist.” The drink is made with bourbon, maple syrup, and Angostura Bitters, but the main attraction is when the bartender uses a flavor blaster gun to blow a giant bubble. Then you puncture it with a stroopwafel and it releases citrus-scented smoke over the drink.
(3) MEDALIST. At The Heinlein Society blog (where “Right click is disabled!”) you can read a “Balticon 56 Report” that’s focused on personally presenting David Gerrold with his Heinlein Award.
(4) AFTER-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. Bill sends along a clipping of something by Robert A. Heinlein’s second wife, Leslyn. This was after she had divorced Robert and remarried, but refers to the place they had lived on Lookout Mountain Ave. It’s from the July 1956 issue of Ladies Home Journal.
(5) THE SMITHSONIAN RECOMMENDS OCTAVIA BUTLER.[Item by Darrah Chavey.] In the June issue of the Smithsonian, in the column “Ask Smithsonian”, a reader asked “Who is a science fiction writer you hold in high esteem?” Their answer:
Octavia Butler was an Afrofuturist author who was born in 1947 and died in 2006. In her “Patternist” novels, published during the 1970s and ’80s, she foresaw many aspects of our current era–climate change, pandemics, ethical questions about genetic engineering, struggles for racial justice–yet she struck a chord of hopefulness, especially for Black and women readers, her body of work, which is featured in Smithsonian’s current FUTURES exhibit, grapples deeply with what it means to be human and inspires us to build a more equitable future, no matter what obstacles lie in the way.”
Even when your job is to dream up the interplanetary adventures of a Norse god, you might still want to run off and play pirates.
So during the weeks he was editing “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the Marvel movie that opens on July 8, Taika Waititi, its director and co-writer, would occasionally take weekends off for a different journey.
He would get outfitted in a flowing gray wig, matching facial hair and temporary tattoos, and don deliciously fetishistic leather gear to portray Blackbeard, the swashbuckling, loin-kindling buccaneer of the HBO Max comedy series “Our Flag Means Death.”
This is admittedly not a bad way to spend your spare time, though Waititi did occasionally fret over the trade-offs. As he explained recently, “Sometimes you’re pissed off at life and you’re like, ‘Why did I say yes to everything? I don’t have a social life — I’m just working.’ But then the thing comes out, you see where the hard work goes and it’s really worth it.”
Waititi is also editing “Next Goal Wins,” a soccer comedy-drama that he co-wrote and directed for Searchlight. He’s writing a new “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm, a “Time Bandits” series for Apple TV+. He’s preparing two Roald Dahl projects for Netflix and adapting a graphic novel by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius for a feature film.
Let me tell you, YA really shines in this category of book beauty. While many adult hardcovers had wonderful color combinations, I was looking for them to have a design under the dust jacket that stood out. The science fiction and fantasy section did a bit better with their designs under the dust jacket, but proportionally, did not hold a candle to the sheer number of books in YA with interesting reveals. I wanted to cast a broad net and hoped to reel in a fine set of books across genres. These are the final 15 books.
Three main categories drew my eye when it came to the design under the dust jacket. First, we have the embossed stamp design, where designers created a clever design pressed into the hardcover and perhaps added some foil to enhance the contrast. Next, we have the flat graphic design, where the cover has some kind of drawn, painted, or printed image that lays flat on an almost silky cover underneath the dust jacket. Finally, we have a small but visually impressive group, the repeating print design, with a pattern that creates a textile-like pattern.
One example is the cover of this novel by the redoubtable T. Kingfisher.
When you wait long enough for someone to save you and no one comes, you learn how to save yourself. Marra, the third-born daughter, has seen the way the prince abuses her older sisters and is determined to kill him, once and for all. A series of legendary companions help her perform the three tasks that will free everyone from a prince too cruel to live. The golden embossed skeleton creature pops against the vibrant green cover, daring you to read the first page.
(8) MEMORY LANE.
1956 – [By Cat Eldridge.]“Presumably I’m the condemned man and obviously you’re the hearty breakfast.” —from Diamonds are Forever
Let’s us talk about Fleming’s Diamonds are Forever novel whose first part was published in the Daily Express on April 12, 1956 and heralded by an article by Ian Fleming on how he wrote the novel and that readers were invited to “meet James Bond, secret agent, meet M, his boss, and get ready to meet the girl you won’t forget”. It was the first novel that the Daily Express did but hardly the last as they would go to do all of them.
Fleming wrote the story at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, inspired by a Sunday Times article on diamond smuggling.
The book was first published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on March 26, 1956. It was the fourth novel featuring Bond.
The Daily Express publication was in abridged firm, and interestingly, they followed it, by adapting into as a graphic comic series.
As you all know, it would be adapted into the seventh Bond film which was the last Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as Bond. Both the novel and the film were considered to be very good. That is not that all British critics loved it as Julian Symons of The Times Literary Supplement thought it was the “weakest book so far”. On the other hand, Raymond Chandler, yes that writer, said for the Sunday Times said “Mr. Fleming writes a journalistic style, neat, clean, spare and never pretentious”.
It has, like all Bond novels, been in-print ever since it was first published.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born July 3, 1898 — E. Hoffmann Price. He’s most readily remembered as being a Weird Tales writer, one of a group that included Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. He did a few collaborations, one of which was with H. P. Lovecraft, “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”. Another work, “The Infidel’s Daughter”, a satire on the Ku Klux Klan, angered many Southern readers. (Died 1988.)
Born July 3, 1926 — William Rotsler. An artist, cartoonist, pornographer and SF author. Well that is his bio. Rotsler was a many time Hugo Award winner for Best Fan Artist and one-time Nebula Award nominee. He also won a Retro Hugo for Best Fan Artist for 1946 and was runner-up for 1951. He is responsible for giving Uhura her first name. He wrote “Rotsler’s Rules for Costuming”. (Died 1997.)
Born July 3, 1927 — Tim O’Connor. He was Dr. Elias Huer in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century for much of its run. (I really, really liked that series.) Other genre appearances were on The Six Million Dollar Man, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Wonder Woman, Knight Rider,Next Gen and The Burning Zone. (Died 2018.)
Born July 3, 1927 — Ken Russell. Film director whose Altered States based off of Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay is certainly his best remembered film. Though let’s not overlook The Lair of the White Worm which he did off Bram Stoker’s novel, or The Devils, based at least in part off The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley. (Died 2011.)
Born July 3, 1937 — Tom Stoppard, 85. Playwright of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil (with Terry Gilliam) and Shakespeare in Love (with Marc Norman). He’s uncredited but openly acknowledged by Spielberg for his work on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Born July 3, 1943 — Kurtwood Smith, 79. Clarence Boddicker in Robocop which was nominated for a Hugo atNolacon II, Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and voiced Kanjar Ro in the most excellent Green Lantern: First Flight. He’s got series appearances on Blue Thunder, The Terrible Thunderlizards (no, I’ve no idea what it is), The X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Men in Black: The Series which I got wrote up, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, Justice League, Batman Beyond, Green Lantern, Beware the Batman, Agent Carter and Star Trek: Lower Decks. His last genre role is Dr. Joseph Wanless on the Netflix remake of Firestarter.
(10) COMICS SECTION.
Junk Drawer shows that when it comes to alien abduction, many are called but few are chosen.
Bizarro shows an exasperated jury foreman who can’t deliver a verdict.
(11) BACK IN THE USSR. From the Sidewise Award-winning author of the acclaimed Clash of Eagles trilogy comes an alternate 1979 where the US and the Soviets have permanent Moon bases, orbiting space stations, and crewed spy satellites supported by frequent rocket launches. Hot Moon: Apollo Rising Book One by Alan Smale will be released July 26.
Apollo 32, commanded by career astronaut Vivian Carter, docks at NASA’s Columbia space station en route to its main mission: exploring the volcanic Marius Hills region of the Moon. Vivian is caught in the crossfire as four Soviet Soyuz craft appear without warning to assault the orbiting station. In an unplanned and desperate move, Vivian spacewalks through hard vacuum back to her Lunar Module and crew and escapes right before the station falls into Soviet hands.
Their original mission scrubbed, Vivian and her crew are redirected to land at Hadley Base, a NASA scientific outpost with a crew of eighteen. But soon Hadley, too, will come under Soviet attack, forcing its unarmed astronauts to daring acts of ingenuity and improvisation.
With multiple viewpoints, shifting from American to Soviet perspective, from occupied space station to American Moon base under siege, to a covert and blistering US Air Force military response, Hot Moon tells the gripping story of a war in space that very nearly might have been.
Larry Niven says, “I loved it. Great ‘hard’ science fiction with convincing space battles.” Robert J. Sawyer declared, “Alan Smale is one of the brightest stars in the hard-SF firmament, and Hot Moon is his best novel yet. Enjoy!”
Alan Smale writes alternate and twisted history, and hard SF. His novella of a Roman invasion of ancient America, A Clash of Eagles, won the Sidewise Award. Alan grew up in Yorkshire, England, and earned degrees in Physics and Astrophysics from Oxford University. By day he performs astronomical research into black holes and neutron stars at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with over a hundred published academic papers; by night he sings bass with high-energy vocal band The Chromatics.
…The sci-fi-fantasy thriller, which takes place after the collapse of the earth’s eco-system and centers on a 13-year-old girl caring for her paralyzed father, who must use her wits and bio-hacking abilities to fight for survival and the possibility of a future, has proved a popular item for sales agent Anton. They have announced distribution deals in the U.S. (IFC Films), UK (Signature Entertainment), Germany (Koch Media), Italy (Leone Film) and Japan (Klockworx). IFC plans to release the film in U.S. theaters and VOD on Sept. 30….
The live-action scenes were shot in natural locations, mainly around Vilnius. Finding the fairytale forest that they wanted took nearly a year. But shooting outdoors came with its own set of problems. Samper confesses that one of the most challenging elements of the shoot was the spring weather in Lithuania. He says, “One day we had snow, storm, rain, hail and finally sunshine in the same shooting day.”…
A Florida man who said he applied for a security job at Walt Disney World in Florida wanted to impress his would-be bosses.
So, to highlight what he said was the company’s lax oversight, the man, David Proudfoot, donned the gray T-shirt, beige pants and Disney name tag worn by employees of a Disney resort, the Swan Reserve, and removed an R2-D2 “Star Wars” droid as well as an unidentified game machine, the authorities said.
R2-D2 might have been the droid he was looking for, but Mr. Proudfoot’s test of Disney’s security backfired: He was charged with grand theft and obstruction by false information, according to an arrest report dated May 31.
Mr. Proudfoot, 44, of Kissimmee, Fla., admitted to investigators that he moved the droid, which was valued up to $10,000, and the game machine, Deputy Christopher Wrzesien of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wrote in the report.
Deputy Wrzesien wrote that Mr. Proudfoot had “temporarily moved” the droid from the third floor of the hotel to an unknown location. As for the game machine, Mr. Proudfoot told deputies that he had no intention of moving it off the property, according to the report.
He told investigators “he had an application for Walt Disney World Security pending and was moving the items to show weaknesses in the security of the resorts in the hope of securing a better-paying job at WDW,” the report said….
Resident Alien fans don’t have long to wait for the return of the science fiction comedy-drama series. Season two kicked off on Syfy in January and ran for eight episodes before going on hiatus. The remaining eight installments of the season will begin airing on August 10th.
Based on the Dark Horse comics, the Resident Alien series stars Alan Tudyk, Sara Tomko, Corey Reynolds, Elizabeth Bowen, Alice Wetterlund, Levi Fiehler, and Judah Prehn. The story follows an alien (Tudyk) who has come to Earth with a mission to kill humans, but he finds life on this planet is more than he planned.
(15) CURIOSITY. BBC knows you can’t resist watching video of the “World’s smallest cat”.
A rusty spotted cat, the world’s smallest cat, explores his forest home in Sri Lanka, but his natural curiosity is destined to get him into a spot of trouble.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Bill, Darrah Chavey, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
