Tag Archives: Tianwen Global Science Fiction Literature Prize

Pixel Scroll 10/22/24 Now We See The Scrollence Inherent In The Pixels

Posted on by
25

(1) BEAR NECESSITY. “Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office” reports the Guardian.

He has been one of the UK’s favourite and most prominent refugees for two-thirds of a century. Now Paddington Bear – official name Paddington Brown – has been granted a British passport.

The co-producer of the latest Paddington film said the Home Office had issued the specimen document to the fictional Peruvian-born character – listing for completeness the official observation that he is, in fact, a bear.

“We wrote to the Home Office asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these,” Rob Silva told Radio Times….

(2) TIANWEN AWARDS CEREMONY. Ersatz Culture reported the winners of the Tianwen Awards 2024 in a File 770 post today.

And last week the award’s official website promoted the forthcoming ceremony with an article that quoted many sf figures including Ben Yalow: “Nebulae are twinkling! More than 100 science fiction celebrities gathered in Chengdu, and the countdown to the release of the “Tianwen” results has begun”

…Ben Yalow , a senior American science fiction activist who served as co-chair of the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention, will come to Chengdu again as vice chairman of the “Tianwen” judging committee. This is the first time that Ben Yalow has served as a judge for the Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition. “Although the judging schedule is relatively tight, in addition to focusing on browsing, this process also brings me a lot of enjoyment.” He said, “The Tianwen Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition has set up a number of creative awards, hoping to further broaden the breadth of China’s science fiction field. At the same time, I also hope that this competition will allow more readers to understand and fall in love with science fiction-this is a literary genre that is very helpful for readers to think about the possibilities of the future. No matter how far technology goes, its charm will not disappear.”…

Ben Yalow on stage. Source: HELLO Chengdu’s Twitter”

(3) HIS LIFE IN COMICS. Scott Edelman has launched a new podcast, “Why Not Say What Happened?” in which he talks about his early experiences in comics and writing. The fourth episode just went live.

It’s time for another trip back to when teen me strode through the Marvel Bullpen like, well, a big teenager, as I share what I remember (and what I’ve forgotten) about writing the Avengers, what Marvel’s paying Assistant Editors these days vs. what I was paid in 1975, why Steve Gerber called me the most violent man on Earth, the way Conan caused me to write my first short story, the embarrassing cover letter I wrote at age 16 to accompany my first short story submission, how I unwittingly destroyed my comic book collection, what Dennis Etchison wrote in an acceptance letter which made me cry, and more.

(4) AS TOLD BY JIM BROADBENT. [Item by Steven French.] In 1976, Ken Campbell, who had a career-long involvement with science fiction (subsequently putting on the first stage version of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) decided to launch a theatrical production of The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, in the form of a nine hour cycle of five plays (the production eventually transferred from Liverpool to London’s National Theatre). Here Jim Broadbent, who’s appeared in everything from the Harry Potter series to Game of Thrones (and more!) described how Campbell’s play changed his life: “The play that changed my life: Jim Broadbent on Ken Campbell’s electrifying epic Illuminatus!” in the Guardian.

…The Illuminatus! Trilogy [by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson] is a sort of science fiction piece, drawing together an awful lot of the then current conspiracy theories. It’s a huge thing that spreads over lots of different stories and characters.

It was the hot summer of 76, and the play was going to start in Liverpool. There was a character in the books of Illuminatus! called Fission Chips. I think he was sort of based on James Bond, And so I went along and quoted from the book in my Sean Connery accent.

If you wanted to be in it, you could be. I mean I don’t think he turned anyone away….

(5) A ROOMBA WITH THEOLOGY. Muse from the Orb wants to know: “Are We Ready for a Robot Pope?”

Awhile ago, I made a Note in which I quipped about the dearth of robot pope stories these days. I included a panel from a comic I was reading — a looming robot crowned with the triregnum, draped in gem-encrusted robes. Reaction was positive, so I figured that I’d devote a post to the extended lore behind the Robot Pope….

…His official name is Sixtus the Seventh, and he’s the central focus of Robert Silverberg’s classic short story “Good News from the Vatican,” in which the Catholic Church elects its first — is this a spoiler? — robot pope. The story first appeared in Universe 1 (1971), an anthology commissioned by the influential Ace editor Terry Carr, and it won the Nebula Award that next year. In 1975, it was adapted into comics form in the magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, which I purchased at Worldcon and whence I got the photo. Silverberg has called “Good News” a “lighthearted little item,” and it’s a fun approach to classic questions of humanity, technology, and religion….

(6) REMEMBER: MONEY SHOULD FLOW TO THE CREATOR. [Item by Steve Green.] I know there’s a Writers Beware website, but maybe there needs to one for artists? This publication sounds somewhat sketchy, as Ron signals. A warning about “Narrative Magazine” by Ron Coleman at Colemantoons.

I’m writing to discuss Narrative Magazine. This magazine pays $50 for cartoons, but there is a catch all cartoonists should be aware of. They request a submissions fee to review your cartoons and they don’t guarantee that they will buy anything.  I understand this submission fee does include a subscription to their magazine, however. One cartoonist told me they had to pay a $20 submission fee but the magazine did buy a cartoon from them for $50.  To test how this worked I tried to submit a few cartoons to them and they were asking me for a $60 fee.  I didn’t go for it….

…In my 60 years of cartooning this is the first time I’ve ever come across a publisher requiring a submission fee to consider cartoons….

(7) BREVITY, ALWAYS BREVITY. Or something like that. The Hollywood Reporter announces a “New Shorter Version of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on Broadway”.

A revised, shortened version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will come to Broadway in November. 

The new version of the play clocks in at under three hours, including intermission, compared to the current running time of three-and-a-half hours. The new version will premiere on Broadway when new cast members take over and begin performances at Lyric Theatre on Nov. 12, 2024.

This marks the second time the play has been shortened while on Broadway. The original production, which opened on Broadway in April 2018, was shown in two parts which ran five hours and 15 minutes in total…. 

(8) IT’S FROM AN OLD FAMILIAR SCORE. Speaking of brevity, the amount of rollover Dune music to the sequel seems to have been too much. “Hans Zimmer’s ‘Dune 2’ Score Ruled Ineligible for Oscars”.

One of the year’s most anticipated and epic musical scores won’t be in the running for an Academy Award.

Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two,” directed by Denis Villeneuve, was met with critical acclaim when it hit theaters in March. Both critics and audiences lauded the film’s visuals, storytelling, and, most notably, the music score by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. However, Zimmer’s powerful and evocative score for the sci-fi epic is not eligible to be submitted for this year’s Oscars due to surpassing the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music; therefore, it cannot be nominated in the best original score category.

The Academy’s rule states: “In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Since Zimmer’s composition for “Dune: Part Two” incorporates substantial elements from his work on 2021’s “Dune,” it falls outside of the eligibility criteria….

… However, Zimmer’s work on “Dune 2” remains in contention to be recognized by other awards bodies, including the Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and even the Grammys….

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born October 22, 1938 — Derek Jacobi, 86. 

Derek Jacobi

Remember I’m not covering everything here, just what I find find interesting.

I first fondly remember Derek Jacobi from the Cadfael series where he played Brother Cadfael, the monk mystery solver. He had an edge to him that belied his supposed monkness. 

 It lasted for a much shorter period than I thought as the series only went thirteen episodes. There were twenty-one novels, not all of which were filmed, and there are many differences between the plots and characters in the novels. 

(Neat note here: Sean Pertwee was Sheriff Hugh Beringar in four episodes (not all).)

Much earlier and certainly less gentle was I, Claudius in which he played Claudius who was considered rather sane after Caligula, who didn’t survive assassination, and before Nero who succeeded him. He plays the role brilliantly over the twelve episodes and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. 

By no means a major character in it, but he is Probert, Sir William’s valet in Gosford Park. He, in his scenes, is spot on. And this film is of my favorite of the Manor House mysteries. 

He was in The Golden Compass film as Magisterial Emissary which according to the film wiki “was a man from Lyra’s world who worked for the Magisterium. He talked to Pavel Rasek about Bolvangar and how it should be protected. He said that Marisa Coulter was going to demonstrate the intercision process on Lyra Belacqua. His dæmon was a black panther.” Now if you read the series and don’t recognize him that’s because they invented his character for the film. 

I just discovered he was in Tolkien, a biography of, well, you can guess who. He played as Joseph Wright, Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. Tolkien himself was played by Nicholas Hoult, with a younger one performed by Harry Gilby as he would been at eighteen, so presumably during the War. 

I’m going to finish off with his performance as Professor Yanna the Tenth Doctor’s “Utopia” episode. 

SPOILERS  FOLLOW. THERE’S A NICE CUP OF TEA IN THE TADRIS AS LONG YOU’RE POLITE TO HER. 

Derek Jacobi here plays the fifth version of the Master whom the Doctor will encounter on screen, and John Simm will the sixth of eight to be so far. This will be the first of three episodes that form a single story along with “The Sound of Drums” and “Last of the Time Lords”.

The episode serves to re-introduce the Master (John Simm), a Time Lord villain of the show’s original run who last appeared in the 1996 television movie Doctor Who.”

SPOLIERS ARE FINISHED. ENJOY THAT CUPOF TEA? SHE MAKES A GOOD ONE, DOESN’T SHE? 

Those are my choices. I’m sure yours might be different. 

P.S. Cadfael is available on BritBox;  I, Claudius is on Acorn; Gosford Park is available to rent on Amazon Prime, as is The Golden Compass; Tolkien’s on Hulu; the new Doctor Who is on Disney+.

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) STICK-TO-ITIVENESS. “At Comic Con, Emergency Tailors Keep Cosplayers in Character” – behind a New York Times paywall.

When cosplayers descend on New York Comic Con, they’re looking to meet their favorite creators and show off their outfits — but they often end up in need of costume triage. Armed with glue guns, zip ties, Popsicle sticks and safety pins, the Paladins of Cosplay come ready to fix wardrobe malfunctions — like a dangling shoulder pad, an imploding jetpack or any number of hazards that costumed fans face.

“I really love helping people,” said Law Asuncion, 46, who founded the Paladins in 2017. The group is named after the pilots of the robotic hero Voltron, and the term is also an olden-days word for champion. Asuncion and the repair team will be at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, home of New York Comic Con, through Sunday….

…The Paladins set up their first table in 2021, the year New York Comic Con returned to in-person attendance after going virtual in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At that show, they came to the aid of Boba Fett, the “Star Wars” bounty hunter. “He looked immaculate,” Asuncion said. But his jetpack, which was created using 3-D printing, was problematic, he recalled.

When someone in the crowd bumped into Boba Fett, the jetpack shattered. Boba Pfft. “We were able to Humpty Dumpty, piece it back together and locate areas where it needed additional structure and support,” Asuncion said. On average, about 500 cosplayers visit the group daily at the convention, he said, and the amount doubles on Saturday, the most popular day of the event….

(12) MORE LIKE FROM THE HEAD OF ZEUS. It’s hard to think of Miss Marple as a baby – which is just as well, since this article doesn’t mean it that way: “The Birth of Miss Marple—the Perpetual Spinster Detective at the Heart of Agatha Christie’s Works” at CrimeReads.

…However, by the time that Miss Marple made her debut in December 1927, Christie’s life had been turned upside down. In 1926, she had a breakdown following the death of her mother and [her husband] Archie’s decision to leave her for another woman. Both this breakdown and the subsequent well-publicised disappearance took some time to recover from, and yet these difficult events also coincided with the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a novel that has since taken pride of place as one of Christie’s masterpieces….

…Agatha Christie’s career was flourishing just as her life seemed to be falling apart. So it is notable that it was shortly after these events that she created a new character, whose entire raison d’être was to be a calm point in a stormy sea. Miss Jane Marple is an unmarried older lady who has spent most of her life in the small village of St Mary Mead, and her quiet observations of people and relationships give her great insight into character….

(13) IN YOUR EYE. [Item by Chris Barkley.] File Under “I Think We’ve Seen This Movie Already… NO Thanks!” “Sam Altman’s Worldcoin becomes World and shows new iris-scanning Orb to prove your humanity” at TeleCrunch.

Worldcoin, the Sam Altman co-founded “proof of personhood” crypto project that scans people’s eyeballs, announced on Thursday that it dropped the “coin” from its name and is now just “World.” The startup behind the World project, Tools for Humanity, also unveiled its next generation of iris-scanning “Orbs” and other tools at a live event in San Francisco….

…The World project is predicated on the idea that advanced AI systems — like the one Altman’s OpenAI is trying to build — will one day make it impossible to tell whether you are talking to a human online. Its solution is “human verification services” based around blockchain…

(14) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISNEY STUDIES CALL FOR NEW CO-EDITORS. “The International Journal of Disney Studies is looking for new co-editors! IJDS examines the Walt Disney Company, an international media conglomerate that impacts our global culture.” They will begin reviewing applications on December 1.

This international, peer-reviewed journal draws from a variety of academic and industrial lenses, perspectives, methods and fields, while providing a space for scholars to present new research, review current research and comment on wider Disney commodities. IJDS currently publishes two issues a year (with issues due to the publisher approximately in March and September) with a special issue every other year (for more information, see our webpage: https://www.intellectbooks.com/ijds). Join current co-editor Rebecca Rowe and the rest of our associate editor team to help IJDS keep moving forward!

Co-editor responsibilities include (and can take 2-10 hours a week):
● Timely and professional communication with contributors during different stages of the publishing process, including but not limited to legal document signing, editing and proofreading;
● Coordinating peer reviews for all submissions, including recruiting subject matter experts as peer reviewers;
● Recruitment and training of members of the editorial team and board;
● Preparing and implementing a style guide specific to the study of Disney across many disciplines and countries;
● Soliciting contributions (articles, book reviews, and commentaries) and special issues, including reaching out to organizations and/or specific authors;
● Relaying communication between the publisher (Intellect), the editorial team and board, and contributors;
● Delegating additional duties and responsibilities as necessary.
Financial compensation: co-editors split 10% of the royalty based on Intellect’s net receipts from sales of the journal.

We are recruiting two new co-editors who will serve for three years, with an option for renewal.

We are looking for:
● Ideally, one person from within our current editorial team or board who already knows how the journal works and one person currently unassociated with the journal who can bring new ideas and perspectives to the journal.
● We hope to hear from scholars from a variety of perspectives, positionalities, and backgrounds in order to reflect the global, multivocal engagement with the journal’s stated scope. We are especially looking to support leadership opportunities from historically institutionally marginalized scholars.
● People with a terminal graduate degree in their field (e.g., PhD, EdD, MLS, MBA, MFA, etc.), preferably with previous experience with journal management/editorship. We do not require that you be in a tenure-track position nor even directly involved with academia as long as you regularly engage with research.
● People who are:

○ Motivated, detail-oriented, and organized with experience with the moving parts of publication flows;

○ Strong and compassionate in their verbal and written communication skills in English (preferably in the professional context of editing for a peer-reviewed journal or academic book) and dealing with scholars, co-editors, and publishers;

○ Experienced with team management and working in collaborative settings across languages and time zones;

○ Effective at offering constructive (positive and helpful) feedback to writing projects and at suggesting informed workarounds or concrete alternatives during the revision process;

○ Knowledgeable about Disney (you don’t have to know everything, but a basic understanding helps in the editing process);

○ Practiced in interdisciplinary approaches to cinema and media studies, popular culture studies, and reception, including literacy and fan studies, along with awareness of globally situated scholarship and methodologies.

Selection Process:
● While we will continue accepting applications until the positions are filled, we will begin reviewing applications 1 December. If you are interested, email the following materials (or any questions) to IJoDS@intellectbooks.com with the subject heading “IJoDS Co-Editor Application”:

○ 1-page single-spaced cover letter explaining what skills, knowledge, and experience you hope to bring to the editorial team

○ Curriculum Vitae or resume

● December: finalists will be notified and interviews will be scheduled for December/January with Rebecca, an associate editor, and a representative from the publisher
● Late January: decision will be communicated

(15) TOP SHOWRUNNER’S NEW PROJECT. “’God Of War’: Ronald D. Moore Boards Amazon Series As New Showrunner” reports Deadline.

With Ronald D. Moore back in the Sony Pictures TV Studios fold, the prolific creator/showrunner is taking on a high-profile IP for the studio. He has been tapped as writer, executive producer and showrunner of Sony TV and Amazon MGM Studios’ Prime Video series God Of War, based on PlayStation‘s hugely popular ancient mythology-themed video game.

Moore’s involvement with God Of War follows the recent exit of the project’s original creative team, showrunner/executive producer Rafe Judkins and exec producers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, who had been with the show since its inception two and a half years ago. As Deadline reported, they had completed multiple scripts prior to the changeover, which marks a shift in the creative direction of the series adaptation.

…Since its 2005 launch on the PlayStation 2, the God of War franchise from Sony’s Santa Monica Studio has spanned a total of seven games across four PlayStation consoles. At the center of the story is ex-Spartan warrior Kratos and his perilous journey to exact revenge on the Ares, the Greek God of War, after killing his loved ones under the deity’s influence. After becoming the ruthless God of War himself, Kratos finds himself constantly looking for a chance to change his fate…

(16) THIS SUCKS. Malwarebytes reports “Robot vacuum cleaners hacked to spy on, insult owners”.

Multiple robot vacuum cleaners in the US were hacked to yell obscenities and insults through the onboard speakers.

ABC news was able to confirm reports of this hack in robot vacuum cleaners of the type Ecovacs Deebot X2, which are manufactured in China. Ecovacs is considered the leading service robotics brand, and is a market leader in robot vacuums.

One of the victims, Minnesota lawyer Daniel Swenson, said he heard sound snippets that seemed similar to a voice coming from his vacuum cleaner. Through the Ecovacs app, he then saw someone not in his household accessing the live camera feed of the vacuum, as well as the remote control feature.

Thinking it was a glitch, he rebooted the vacuum cleaner and reset the password, just to be on the safe side. But that didn’t help for long. Almost instantly, the vacuum cleaner started to move again.

Only this time, the voice coming from the vacuum cleaner was loud and clear, and it was yelling racist obscenities at Swenson and his family. The voice sounded like a teenager according to Swenson.

Swenson said he turned off the vacuum and dumped it in the garage, never to be turned on again….

(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Ryan George takes us inside the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Pitch Meeting”. Whether we want to be there or not….

[Thanks to Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, N., Ersatz Culture, Scott Edelman, Steve Green, John A Arkansawyer, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, and SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jim Janney.]

China SF News Roundup 8/29/24 by Ersatz Culture

Posted on by
3

By Ersatz Culture:

(1) Glasgow con reports – 8 Light Minutes and Arthur Liu (part 1)

Publisher 8 Light Minutes Culture has put out a fairly long Chinese-language con report on WeChat/Weixin.  (There’s also a version on Weibo, but the content is truncated part-way through due to a login prompt.)  A lot of the content had previously been posted as individual posts on their Weibo account, but I think this report has some previously unseen material.  It focusses on the dealer area and the stand they had there.

8LM staff and friends. Top left image has Hugo finalists Yang Feng, Gu Shi and Emily X. Jin in the middle of the group; bottom right image is at the Science Fiction World and includes 2023 Hugo finalist Lu Ban on the right
Hélène Cruciani’s Pulps Puppets
8LM CEO Yang Feng with the special translated edition of Zero Gravity Newspaper; Wendy Aldiss signing; Doctor Who fridge magnets
With Liza Groen-Trombi; Nicholas Whyte, Geoff Landis; George R. R. Martin and Lezli Robyn; Adrian Tchaikovsky; Esther MacCallum-Stewart
A selection of the messages left in their signing book. More can be seen at the bottom of the linked con report; you have to scroll horizontally to see them all.

The report also notes that the English translation of Hai Ya’s “The Space-Time Painter”, last year’s Hugo Best Novelette, will be appearing in an upcoming Galaxy’s Edge anthology, which I don’t recall seeing previously reported.

Hugo finalist Arthur Liu previously wrote a 5-part report on the Chengdu Worldcon, and has just started documenting his attendance at Glasgow.  The first part (Chinese language) covers what he did prior to setting off for the UK, in particular his contributions as a volunteer on the Hugo team, to the In Memoriam list, and the Xanadu project to promote Chinese SF.  Disclaimer: I am briefly namechecked.

(2) Photos of the play staged at the Chengdu SF Museum on Tuesday

Further to the Chinese SF coverage posted last week, the “China Orbit (Spring)” play was staged at the Chengdu SF Museum on Tuesday 27th.  A selection of photos are below, but more can be seen in the following Weibo posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

(3) Tianwen opens up memberships to in-person attendees of the Chengdu Worldcon

Also following up earlier coverage the Tianwen Literature Contest published a Chinese-language announcement on Sunday 25th that memberships are available.  Via Google Translate (with minor manual edits):

1. The Secretariat of the Competition Jury invites in-person attendees of the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon (including single-day ticket members) to become “Tianwen” members.  You can become a member by providing attendance credentials, which include but are not limited to: member purchase receipts, member attendance nameplates, or attendance check-in photos.

2. Newly registered members who were not in-person attendees of the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon need to complete a questionnaire.  Fans who pass this can become “Tianwen” members.

I don’t know what the questionnaire entails – registration seems to involve providing a phone number to get a validation code via an SMS message, and my experience with other Chinese registration systems is that these often refuse to send a code to my UK phone number.

That Tianwen appears to have access to Chengdu Worldcon membership details isn’t perhaps quite the data privacy fail that it might appear at first glance.  The copyright message in the footer of the tianwensf.com website (which seems to have just been launched) indicates that the Chengdu Science Fiction Society is the entity behind the award – corroborated by the authorship of this latest announcement – and that organization was also the one responsible for the Chengdu Worldcon, so the membership details probably haven’t been passed onto a third party.

Right now, all that membership seems to give is the ability to nominate for a single award category, the best work translated into Chinese in the past decade.  (As far as I can tell, all the other award categories are determined by judging panels.)  Nominations close on September 19th.

Tianwen Event in Glasgow, Featuring Chengdu Co-Hugo Administrator Joe Yao

Posted on by
13
Joe Yao talks about Tianwen at the Radisson Red hotel

By Ersatz Culture: Red Star News — which is a division of Chengdu Business Daily, or perhaps the parent Chengdu Media Group organization — today (Tuesday, August 12 there) published an article about an event in Glasgow to promote the Tianwen program/award, previously covered in several items on File 770 since the Chengdu Worldcon.

Although the article is somewhat misleading about where the event took place, the text of a WeChat message forwarded to me the previous day indicates it took place on Monday morning at the Radisson Red hotel near to the SEC venue, but outside the actual convention area. I believe this is the same location where Dave McCarty had a notable encounter with a hat-wearing lady. Given that Dave has been seen in photos in the company of some of the people mentioned in this piece, and was front and centre at the original Tianwen launch at the Chengdu Worldcon, that may not be a complete coincidence.

Here are some extracts (via Google Translate, with some clean-up editing) from the article.  I’ve also included a couple of photos from an earlier Red Star News article from the 10th, which is more about the Glasgow Worldcon in general than Tianwen.

As one of the highlights of this year’s Worldcon, the first “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition Overseas Promotion Conference was held in Glasgow on the 12th. “Tianwen” is like a bright new star, not only illuminating the journey of Chinese science fiction literature to the world, but also attracting the enthusiastic attention of science fiction fans around the world.

This science fiction literary competition originates from Chengdu and is open to the world. It has nine permanent award categories with a total prize fund of over one million yuan [approximately $140k USD]…

Back in October 2023, the 81st Worldcon was successfully concluded at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum. The afterglow of this science fiction feast is still there, and the “gravitational wave” effect is forming. The emergence of the “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition is one of the “results”…

Renowned science fiction writer [and 2024 Hugo finalist] Han Song once said in an interview with Red Star News that the special significance of the first “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition is that it is an award jointly initiated by the Chengdu Municipal Government and the China Writers Association.

On August 9, the “Tianwen Delegation” from Chengdu arrived in Glasgow. The 82nd World Science Fiction Convention had just opened…

The Tianwen Delegation, or perhaps a part thereof. They include Chengdu co-Hugo Administrator Joe Yao/Yao Chi (leftmost), 2023 and 2024 Hugo finalist Yang Feng (middle in light-brown coat), first editor of Science Fiction World Tan Kai (wearing baseball cap) and 2024 Hugo finalist He Xi (rightmost)

At the promotion meeting of the “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition on August 12th… Wang Yating [aka Tina Wang/Wong], a nominee for this year’s Hugo Award and the host of the science fiction video program “Hugo X Interview” [aka Discover X], shared her imagination of science fiction literature while reviewing the course and achievements of Chinese science fiction in the past decade with Chinese science fiction writers such as He Xi, Qi Yue [‘July’], and Gu Shi; former editor-in-chief of “Science Fiction World” Tan Kai; Eight Light Minutes Culture CEO Yang Feng, and other industry insiders…

The table at the promotion meeting.  From left to right: Yang Feng, Tan Kai, He Xi, author Qi Yue (‘July’)

The “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition has nine permanent award categories with a total prize fund of over one million yuan.  There are 6 literary categories:

    • Best science fiction novel,
    • Best science fiction novella,
    • Best science fiction short story, 
    • Best science fiction film and television script
    • Best science fiction game script
    • Best science fiction comic work

and 3 institutional and individual categories:

    • Best science fiction literature institution
    • Best new science fiction writer
    • Best youth science fiction writer

[Note that on one of the pop up banners, the middle triad are instead described as “Industry awards”.  Note also that the banners display the logo of the Chengdu Science Fiction Society (CSFC), the body that was responsible for organizing the Chengdu Worldcon.]

He Xi and Qi Yue in front of a Tianwen informational banner

…author Qi Yue [‘July’] said that “Tianwen” is a brand new voice for the science fiction community and a welcome thing for science fiction writers. In addition, film and television practitioners can also pay attention to works they are interested in through this award, “finding a clear thread for marketization and commercialization, so that this circle can form a positive cycle.”

For Chinese and foreign science fiction fans, the “Tianwen” Science Fiction Literature Competition is more like a bridge, allowing creators and fans from different countries and regions to share their works, views and creativity. Yang Feng, founder of Chengdu company Eight Light Minutes and editor-in-chief of the Chinese version of “Galaxy Edge”, believes that the overseas expansion of the “Tianwen” competition will help build a network of global science fiction communities. “Through online and offline exchange activities, it will promote international cooperation in SF creation and industry, enhance the international influence of Chinese SF and contribute important forces to the prosperity and development of global SF culture” [she said].

Neil Clarke, editor-in-chief of Clarkesworld, believes that promoting excellent science fiction works around the world is very valuable… [He said] “Science fiction always brings surprises to people. I saw the beginning of these surprises from “Tianwen”. I believe that more surprises will be discovered through “Tianwen” in the future.”

Neil Clarke being interviewed at Glasgow 2024.

Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf, chair of the European Science Fiction Association, hopes that more works from non-English speaking countries will become known to more people through Tianwen in the future…  Representatives of the 2025 Seattle Worldcon said that Tianwen is a supplement to world SF literature [and she said that] “Through Tianwen, people in the worldwide community around the world can broaden their horizons and learn more about excellent non-English language SF works.”

Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf being interviewed by Joe Yao at Glasgow 2024.

It is worth mentioning that “Tianwen” will also be present at the Seattle Worldcon next year… At this 2024 Worldcon, the “Tianwen Delegation” also held a party, inviting writers, publishing organizations and senior SF fans to share the fun. The Chinese science fiction exhibits and the diverse “theme booths” became highlights of the event.

The “Tianwen Delegation” party mentioned in the final paragraph above appears to be the same thing as the “Chengdu Thank You Party”, seen on the banner behind Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf, and also promoted by Dave McCarty from his Facebook account.  I can’t say I was checking that closely, but I don’t recall seeing any photos from that party whilst I was trawling Weibo and Xiaohongshu for posts of interest.  I wonder if anyone reading this attended that party, or perhaps only a select elite were considered senior enough to hobnob with Dave and co?

For anyone wondering where the money for all of this is coming from, an earlier Red Star News article – which was briefly mentioned in a late July Scroll – stated that:

This dream-filled goal is inseparable from the joint efforts of various science fiction-related industries. Mu Tao, Chairman of Chengdu Media Group [the parent of Chengdu Business Daily] and Vice Chairman of the Competition Organizing Committee, signed relevant cooperation agreements on the “Tianwen” Science Fiction Literature Competition with Air China, Sichuan Energy Investment AsiaInfo, and Three-Body Universe at the press conference.

And as a reminder, that article also noted that the committee for the Tianwen award would include “relevant members of the World Science Fiction Association Mark Protection Committee”.  At present it seems that we can only speculate on the identity of these MPC members (or possibly just member singular).

Note: for an alternative perspective on this news, SF Lightyear put out a Chinese-language Weibo post just as I was starting this write-up earlier today.

Pixel Scroll 7/28/24 If You Come To A Scroll In The Road, Click On It

Posted on by
17

(1) CONFICTION FINAL FAREWELL PARTY. The 1990 Worldcon will host a bash at Glasgow 2024.

(2) TIANWEN RESURFACES. [Item by Ersatz Culture.] From the Red Star News on July 26: 面向全球发出邀请：首届“天问”华语科幻文学大赛在蓉举办新闻发布会. Google Translate: “Invitation to the world: The first ‘Tianwen’ Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition held a press conference in Chengdu”. [Via SF Lightyear.]

Relevant bit via Google Translate, my emphasis:

The first “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition is chaired by Wang Meng, a famous contemporary Chinese writer, scholar, former Minister of Culture, and winner of the national honorary title of “People’s Artist”. At the same time, the competition has established a review committee with Alai, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, as chairman, Su Tong, member of the presidium of the China Writers Association, Liu Cixin, director of the Science Fiction Literature Committee of the China Writers Association, and relevant members of the World Science Fiction Association Brand Protection Committee as vice chairmen, who are fully responsible for the selection of entries.

I don’t know whether “relevant members” (plural) could just as easily be “relevant member” (singular), given Chinese (and Japanese) don’t generally make distinction.

(3) CAN’T PHONE HOME. “A Smartphone Can’t Help You Now: How Horror Movies Solve Their Cell Problem” in the New York Times. (Paywalled, unfortuntately.)

A cellphone lies in a rustic Airbnb, smashed by an intruder. Then, when another is procured, a faulty connection interrupts a call to 911.

A navigation map on a smartphone glitches as a driver plunges deep into the woods.

Criminals on a kidnapping job are ordered to surrender their phones “to be completely certain that you can’t be tracked.”

An exasperated partyer in rural Ontario wonders aloud to a member in his group, “How long is it going to take for you to realize there’s no reception out here?”

These are some of the ways that recent horror movies have gotten around what is at this point an age-old problem: the cellphone. In working order, they can render predicaments more solvable and certain situations easier to escape — potentially. Before the late ’90s, there was little need to make such a show of connectivity failure. Lines would go down or get cut, sure, but isolation in the age before mass cellphone usage was easier to come by and therefore easier to believe onscreen. Back then, the tropes didn’t have to trope so hard.

Then came the cell, and movies like “House on Haunted Hill” (1999) and “Jeepers Creepers” (2001) featured characters realizing they were holding useless plastic flip-bricks as their situations grew hairy. (In the former, the possessed house kills the signal before any of its inhabitants; in the latter, young adult siblings bicker over a low battery notification after witnessing what turns out to be a winged demon.) With smartphones, there was even more to neutralize, like GPS maps and internet searches. Movies taking pains to explain away cellphones were so prevalent that by 2009, I could collect more than 40 clips for a supercut exploring this development in the previous decade or so….

At least you can watch the supercut free on YouTube:

(4) STOLEN VALOR – AND MONEY. Nature says, “Hijacked journals are still a threat — here’s what publishers can do about them”.

Late last year, Liverpool University Press (LUP), a UK-based publisher, received a concerning e-mail. A prospective author had contacted the editors asking how much it would cost to publish an article in one of its journals, the International Development Planning Review (IDPR).

This raised suspicions among the editors, because the IDPR doesn’t charge any publication fees. The message also contained a link to the IDPR’s website — but the URL was incorrect. When the editors clicked it, they discovered a counterfeit website with the journal’s branding and an e-mail address that they’d never seen before. The journal had been hijacked.

Hijacked journals are a form of cybercrime in which a malicious third party creates a cloned website to impersonate a legitimate publication. The forgery replicates the original journal’s important details, from its title to its archive and international standard serial number, a code that identifies the publication. The purpose of a hijacking is to generate money quickly by charging illegitimate article-processing fees to unsuspecting researchers. Although the hijackers often publish papers that have been submitted to the fraudulent site, these works are not peer-reviewed nor considered legitimate.

A blogpost in April presented the challenges that LUP faced as a result of the hijacking, including the burden placed on its small editorial team. The intention, according to Clare Hooper, director of journals publishing at LUP, is to alert researchers to the “growing problem of copycat journal websites”….

(5) WRITER BEWARE. Victoria Strauss offers advice about “Evaluating Publishing Contracts: Six Ways You May Be Sabotaging Yourself” at Writer Beware. The intro and first of six bullet points are excerpted below:

These issues are as relevant now as they were years ago, if not more so. I hear all the time from writers who’ve been offered seriously problematic contracts and are using various rationalizations to convince themselves (sometimes at the publisher’s urging) that bad language or bad terms are not actually so bad, or are unlikely ever to apply. For example, I recently evaluated a contract with multiple questionable terms, including net profit royalties and a life-of-copyright grant without adequate provision for termination and rights reversion; the writer shared my concerns with the publisher, which responded with a long explanation for why none of it was actually a problem. The writer chose to sign the contract.

Here are my suggestions for changing some potentially damaging ways of thinking.

Don’t assume that every single word of your contract won’t apply to you at some point. You may think “Oh, that will never happen” (for instance, the publisher’s right to refuse to publish your manuscript if it thinks that changes in the market may reduce your sales, or its right to terminate the contract if it believes you’ve violated a non-disparagement clause). Or the publisher may tell you “We never actually do that” or, more cagily, “We’ve never actually done that” (for example, edit at will without consulting you, or impose the termination fee that’s the price of getting out of the contract early). But if your contract says it can happen, it may well happen…and if it does happen, can you live with it? That’s the question you need to ask yourself when evaluating a contract….

(6) FREE READ. To encourage subscriptions, Sunday Morning Transport has posted “Artists and Fools”.

For July’s fourth, free, story, Paolo Bacigalupi brings us a tale from the world of his new fantasy novel, Navola. We hope you enjoy meeting Pico the artist as much as we have! 

(7) ROBERT BLOCH OFFICIAL WEBSITE UPDATE. Two essay contributions from Bloch historian/bibliographer, Randall D. Larson, have been added to the Robert Bloch Official Website’s “By Others” page.

(8) GENRE LODGINGS. This 2022 article from Travel & Leisure lets you visit “9 Magical ‘Harry Potter’-themed Airbnbs Around the World” – photos at the link. One of them is:

The Common Room: British Columbia, Canada

Are you a full-fledged Gryffindor? Come stay in The Common Room, modeled after the Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts. The home comes with all the amenities one would need for an ideal getaway, including a kitchen, lofted bed, and Wi-Fi, but it also has the added perk of looking just like the movie set, with framed photos of Snape, a magic broom, and of course, plenty of Harry Potter DVDs for a night in. Book it now starting at $148/night.

(9) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

1944 – The Canterville Ghost.

Eighty years ago, The Canterville Ghost premiered. It was somewhat loosely on the 1887 short story by Oscar Wilde of the same name as published in two parts in The Court and Society Review, a British literary magazine only published between 1885 and 1888. That wasn’t unusual as a lot of those literary and not so literary magazines failed after a few months, and not an insignificant number lasted just a single issue. 

I should note before we go any further that I stopped counting when I found at least nine films had been made of this tale, and at least two series. I’ll only mention one of these, a film in the Nineties with a certain naturally-bald Starship Captain, yes Patrick Stewart, given long flowing hair and a beard as the ghost. So how could I resist showing you him in that role?

The first version is a film very much of its time. The plot had Charles Laughton as a ghost doomed to haunt an English castle, and Robert Young as his distant American relative called upon to perform an act of bravery to redeem him. No one would get hurt in the story, no surprise at all. 

Yes, there is redhead here as well in the winsome form of the six-year-old Margaret O’Brien who was born Angela Maxine O’Brien. O’Brien is of half-Irish and half-Spanish ancestry. She was one of the most popular child stars in cinema history and would be honored with a Juvenile Academy Award as an outstanding child actress the year this film came out. 

I was looking for a particularly cute photo of her with Simon and I think that I indeed found in it in this one of her sitting on the stairs with him off to the right also sitting. What do you think? Am I right? 

Here she plays the Lady Jessica de Canterville, Robert Young is Cuffy Williams and Charles Laughton is the ghostly Sir Simon de Canterville. 

The motion picture was shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios with outdoor shots filming done at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, California. Busch Gardens was the almost forty acres of gardens owned by Adolphus Busch. The Hollywood film industry would use the gardens in many films shot in the Thirties onward such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and Gone With the Wind.

It was directed by Jules Dassin with additional directing by Norman Z. McLeod who went uncredited, The only film I know I’ve seen by Dassin is Night and the City, a stellar British noir work.  Now the screenplay was by Edwin Blum who went on to script Stalag 17, an entirely grimmer affair. It was produced by Arthur Fields, just one of three films that he did. 

No idea how it did as I can find no box office or production costs for it. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

(11) DEADPOOL DIES? No sooner does his movie make a mint than Marvel Comics announces Deadpool’s daughter, Ellie, will take over as Deadpool following Wade’s death this October in Deadpool #7!

 Deadpool is dead—long live Deadpool! It was previously revealed that Wade Wilson will meet his end at the hands of new super villain Death Grip this October in DEADPOOL #6. Following this shocking turn of events, his daughter, Ellie Camacho, will step up as the all-new Deadpool starting in November’s DEADPOOL #7! Just revealed at the Diamond Retailer Lunch at San Diego Comic-Con, Ellie’s new role is the latest twist in what’s been writer Cody Ziglar’s roller coaster of a run. To welcome the new Merc with a Mouth, Ziglar will be joined by guest artist Andrea Di Vito and co-writer Alexis Quasarano in her Marvel Comics debut.

Wade has fallen, and his daughter Ellie has taken up the mantle! Taskmaster continues her mercenary training, but what she really wants is vengeance. And to get that, she’ll need Princess’ help. For more information, visit Marvel.com.

DEADPOOL #7

Written by CODY ZIGLAR & ALEXIS QUASARANO. Art by ANDREA DI VITO.

Cover by TAURIN CLARKE

Variant Cover by MARK BAGLEY

(12) SPOILER, MAYBE? About a Deadpool & Wolverine cameo. “Blake Lively Recalls Meeting Ryan Reynolds on Set of ‘Green Lantern’”. No excerpt. Because spoiler, maybe.

(13) IT IS HIS DOOM. The Hollywood Reporter picks up more news at San Diego Comic-Com: “Robert Downey Jr. Back as Doctor Doom for Two ‘Avengers’ Movies”.

Robert Downey Jr. is set to return to the film franchise as classic Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom for the newly titled Avengers: Doomsday, due out in May 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars, bowing in May 2027. Kevin Feige also officially confirmed the Russo bros. will direct these next two Avengers films.

Downey became one of the biggest movie stars in the world after launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008’s Iron Man. His work helped propel the MCU to become the highest grossing film franchise of all time — and he was handsomely rewarded, earning $50 million paydays in the process. Downey retired from the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, in which his character died saving the universe. It’s been a challenge for Marvel to find a protagonist to replace the large hole left by Downey, giving Saturday’s announcement all the more meaning.

“New mask, same task,” Downey told the audience from the stage.

Downey was revealed in an almost religious ceremony as about two dozen olive-robed men with metal, Doctor Doom-like masks walked on stage, joining Feige and the Russo Bros. “If we’re going to bring Victor Von Doom to the screen — he is one of the more complex characters in all of comics … this is potentially one of the more entertaining characters in all of fiction,” said Joe Russo. “If we’re going to do this … then we are going to need the greatest actor in the world.”…

(14) PEACEMAKER RELOADED. “’Wynonna Earp Vengeance’ Reunion Movie Trailer, Streaming Soon on Tubi” – TVLine supplies the introduction:

A frightful phone call and a deadly threat lures Peacemaker’s wielder back to Purgatory in the full trailer for Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, the 90-minute reunion special coming “soon” to Tubi.

(15) HMS SURPRISE. While in town for Comic-Con, Naomi Novik visited the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

(16) CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS, MINIONUS. “Minions get into the Olympic spirit during Opening Ceremony” from NBC Sports. The video can only be viewed on YouTube – bastards!

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

Decoding the Tianwen Project

Posted on by

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is posted anonymously to protect the author’s identity, as the author is part of the Chinese diaspora who occasionally travels to China.]

On the heels of the Chengdu 2023 Worldcon Hugo Controversy (“Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors”; The Guardian), some sharp eyes noticed an announcement that happened immediately after the Chengdu 2023 Worldcon, to the effect that China was kicking off its Tianwen project, “Unveiling China’s Diverse Science Fiction to the World” (NewsDirectory3). There is a lot to unpack in this announcement. I am writing this to hopefully provide some guidance on how to “read these tea leaves”, as understanding the Tianwen project might also shed some additional light on the Hugo Awards issue and the Chengdu Worldcon in general.

First off, what is “Tianwen”? The phrase means “Questions for Heaven”, and is also the title of a set of poems consisting of 182 questions about the nature of mythology that was written during the Warring States period more than 2000 years ago.

The news article reads:

More than 2,000 years ago, the great Chinese poet Qu Yuan asked the sky: There are nine heavens, [but] who arranged the nine heavens? That is the sigh [sic] of a thousand years of the Chinese people following the mysteries of the universe. Today, such questions still exist, and people use Science Fiction to describe imaginary answers.

Particularly in the last couple of decades, China has been promoting and encouraging nationalistic attitudes in its citizens. The narrative that “China is strong” is emphasized as a counter to the “hundred years of shame”, a phrase used by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to describe the hundred or so years starting in the 1840s with the Opium Wars until “glory was restored to the Middle Kingdom by the CPC” in the 1940s (conveniently ignoring the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine, etc.). The goal has been to simultaneously de-legitimize the previous two ruling regimes, the Qing dynasty and the Republican government, while promoting the narrative that the CPC not only lifted China out of poverty and has grown the nation into the second largest economy in the world, but that China is also powerful on the world stage. To the Party, the CPC and China are synonymous, and the survival of the CPC is the survival of the nation. To roughly adapt a couple of phrases from a different imperialist context: “L’État, c’est nous“ and “Sans nous, le déluge” – The Nation is us” and “Without us, disaster”.

In the book The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, Richard McGregor wrote: “The Party treats History as an issue of political management in which the preservation of the Party’s prestige and power is paramount”. The CPC’s pervasive narrative is that China’s long and glorious history is unmatched by all other countries. While China was actually ruled by successive dynasties and at times fragmented into smaller kingdoms and even occasionally under foreign control, a direct link to ancient times symbolically solidifies the implication that the CPC has acquired the historical “Mandate of Heaven”, the divine right to rule the Middle Kingdom. “Tianwen” is thus an overt connection with a glorious historical past.

For some context regarding the CPC and the ancient idea of ruling by Mandate of Heaven, see this article from the official China CPC news op-ed: 中国共产党的文化天命–理论-人民网 (People.com). You can use Google Translate to read it. In particular, the opening paragraph:

The so-called “mandate of destiny” refers to the irresistible historical inevitability. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation depends to a certain extent on the rejuvenation of Chinese culture, and the great mission of reviving Chinese culture is undoubtedly undertaken by the Communist Party of China.

With that in mind, let’s continue with the article about the Tianwen announcement:

The significance of their joint release from the “Consensus” lies in the coherence of the “Consensus”. Various industries will gather consensus to build the cornerstone of the science fiction industry, and fans and users from all over the world will gather consensus that “the science fiction industry is vast and limitless.” Eventually, the science fiction industry will release momentum. and really explodes with mighty power.

I don’t know whether it’s just the nature of translating Chinese press pieces, but this article repeats certain themes a lot, and the above is a summary and a repeat of previous themes.

Two main points here are that China wants to use the Tianwen project to unify the Science Fiction industry, placing everything from publishing, awards, movies, games, and other IP under one umbrella — which I’m sure, will also eventually incorporate even the actual space exploration industry in some way. Second, not only is the focus on China itself, but the goal is stated for the Science Fiction industry to “explode[s] with mighty power [onto the world]”.

The tone of this sounds familiar. One only has to look at the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a Chinese global infrastructure development strategy, to see the parallels. With “One Belt, One Road”, China basically loans money and resources to developing countries to develop their infrastructure, which in theory would increase the global GDP. Unfortunately, there are downsides to this strategy, as it has caused environmental damage to local systems, and often also puts these nations heavily in debt to China, sometimes necessitating neocolonial-style concessions to China. The economic impact and geo-political implications of this policy are currently the subject of many academic and political debates. Nevertheless, with over 130 countries participating, China is able to exert its power far beyond its borders.

Within its borders, one has to understand that the CPC’s primary motivation is to maintain its iron grip rule on the country. There is often little official regulation, but many unspoken rules; “you can say whatever you want”, and even a company or corporation “can do anything it wants”, right up until it conflicts with the CPC’s interests. China’s famous Great Firewall and its censors do not sleep.

A citizen’s “social credit number” impacts everything, from being able to put your children in good schools to being allowed to buy a high speed train ticket. Additionally, a powerful weapon in squashing any type of dissent is the liberal use by local authorities of the deliberately ambiguously-worded law against “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. This law has been broadly applied to things like fights in public, insults to people, sex between people of the same gender, and even as a censorship tool, for example against activists who archived censored internet materials regarding COVID-19 during the early days of the pandemic. 

On the flip side, China’s government knows it has to keep the populace content, and providing entertainment is a part of the time-honored strategy of “Bread and Circuses”, as the policy was called in ancient Rome. Once the rise in popularity of anything (e.g.: Science Fiction) has attracted the notice of the Chinese State, the State considers only two options: should it be suppressed, or should it be exploited? In that role, the push for greater consumption of Science Fiction from books, movies, and video games makes a lot of sense. Production of those media, especially in movies, TV, games and AI, will drive technological development, which also serves China’s goal to achieve dominance in the global technology economy.

Of course Science Fiction promotes speculative thinking and imagination, as even the China news piece acknowledges. Does that mean that China would be open to its citizens thinking about different scenarios of government and society? Not at all; it’s well known that China exercises strict censorship on published works and online activity – “Redacted Fantasy: China’s Dystopian Censorship of Online Fiction – Lacuna Magazine” at Justice. In addition, alternate histories, especially about modern times, and time travel stories which touch on certain subjects, are strictly forbidden. There is no explicit list of forbidden subjects, but it is clear that the censors’ mandate is to ensure that the CPC exists and continues to exist as the protector and inheritor of 5000 years of Chinese culture. Any fictional piece involving time travel that might postulate even an event that would have prevented the CPC from inheriting the Middle Kingdom is thus obviously not allowed.

Having industrial companies consolidate and work directly with government agencies allows the government greater control of this burgeoning industry. It’s far easier to have corporations toe the Party line, and have companies control and influence their own assets, rather than the government having to address them individually. A greater uniform image presented to the outside world also makes censorship and subtle messaging easier. So, this push for industry control makes perfect sense to the CPC. In fact, the fewer individual companies and the larger the companies, the better it is for the CPC, as directives can be more easily passed down through the hierarchical chain of command.

If one manages to catch videos of the Chengdu 2023 Worldcon Opening, Closing, and Hugo ceremonies, and other photos and videos taken during the convention, they clearly have a high professional corporate production value, and we can expect similar glitz and blitz from the Tianwen project. At a meta level, industry-controlled conventions and awards are counter to the fandom ideal of “For Fans and By Fans”. Only time will tell how well the non-China world and its fans may accept this initiative.

Finally, regarding the Hugo controversy itself: one fact to keep in mind is that the CPC takes “saving face” (the cultural art of preserving one’s image and avoiding situations that may cause embarrassment or loss of respect) to another level. The fallout within China is yet to be seen. There may be genuine Chinese fans who might be unjustly punished, and even more scrutiny on the Chinese diaspora.

In a 2019 New York Times interview, Ken Liu, a multi-Hugo winning author for both his own work and his translation of Cixin Liu’s seminal book The Three-Body Problem, said this:

“The political climate inside China has shifted drastically from when I first started doing this,” Liu says. “It’s gotten much harder for me to talk about the work of Chinese authors without putting them in an awkward position or causing them trouble.” Liu usually travels to China at least once a year to network and meet new writers, and has attended the Chinese Nebula and Galaxy Awards, the country’s most well-known science-fiction prizes. But this year he was denied a long-term visa, without explanation, prompting him to cancel his planned trip.

In the site selection vote at the DC Worldcon in 2021 where Chengdu won its bid to host the 2023 Worldcon, a number of people campaigned against the bid, citing China’s problematic record of human rights violations and censorship. These voices were countered by others promoting an idealized vision of hosting the Worldcon in an Asian country for only the second time in history and opening the door to a greater exchange of Science Fiction between Chinese fans and the rest of the fandom, and even by accusations that those opposing the bid were largely motivated by racism.

While it is true that the representation of minorities within US and European fandom is still insufficient, the Chengdu Worldcon appears to have been a failed experiment. It might have begun as a dream of sharing and spreading international fandom, but moving forward, at least within China, Science Fiction will no longer be just a genre driven by fandom, but a medium to be heavily exploited by, and at the whim of, the State.

Pixel Scroll 1/28/24 Intergalactic Antiques Road Show

Posted on by

(1) GALAXY QUEST FUNKOS. Slashfilm rejoices: “Cool Stuff: By Grabthar’s Hammer, Galaxy Quest Funko POPs Have Arrived!”

… Funko has revealed three new POP vinyl figures of Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, Sir Alexander (Alan Rickman) as Dr. Lazarus, and Fred Kwan (Tony Shalhoub) as Tech Sergeant Chen. They’re all given the classic look from the original “Galaxy Quest” TV series, though they’re not intended to be the classic versions of their characters. If they were, Tim Allen’s hair mold would probably look more retro. However, they did depict Fred Kwan with that semi-squinted expression in his eyes, which only really happened when he was fully in character on the show. Personally, I’d like to have a series of “Galaxy Quest” Funko POPs with them looking disheveled, such as Sir Alexander with hair poking out of his torn alien headpiece.

What’s a little disappointing is the lack of the rest of the original crew, with no figures for Gwen DiMarco (Sigourney Weaver) as Lt. Tawny Madison and Tommy Webber (Daryl Mitchell) as Laredo in sight. Seems like quite an oversight to exclude both the woman and the Black cast members from the movie/series, especially since the packaging for the other figures indicates that there are two other “Galaxy Quest” Funko POPs on the way…

(2) AFTER ACTION REPORT PART II. {By Steven French.] [Part I was in a previous Scroll.] It wouldn’t be a fantasy exhibition in Leeds without *some* mention of JRR! Leeds Central Library’s Fantasy: Realms of Imagination included a couple of displays with Tolkien-related material including one with a photo of his and Edith’s house in West Park, out on the edge of the city, as well as two of his poems that were published in the university student magazine The Gryphon. One, ‘Iumonna Gold Galdre Bewunden’ not only features a dragon on its hoard but also makes mention of a ring (!). The other, ‘Light as Leaf on Lindentree’ , from 1925, eventually became the Song of Beren and Lúthien which Strider recited to the hobbits on Weathertop. 

(3) AFTER ACTION REPORT PART III. [By Steven French.] And finally (honest!), no fantasy exhibition would be complete without a dragon or two and Fantasy: Realms of Imagination at Leeds Central Library had its fair share, including this fine example:

Plus an egg or two:

But my favourite was this little fellow, made by the Bermantofts Pottery of east Leeds:

(Bermantofts Pottery also made the ox-blood faïence (glazed terracotta tiles) for the facades of such London Underground stations as Covent Garden and Russell Square)

Even the reading room, with its magnificent ceiling, took part in the spot-the-dragon competition (can you see it?!):

Fun for kids of all ages!

(4) ABOUT THOSE SMOFCON VIDEOS. Ersatz Culture advanced this “Modest Proposal” about the Chengdu panels at SMOFcon:

He’s also posted this at Mastodon, where Cheryl Morgan gave a response that can be read at the link.

(5) TIANWEN. The “Tianwen” project was announced in Chengdu last October with the cooperation of representatives of several professional writers groups and Hugo Award Administrator Dave McCarty. This puff piece encompasses what we know so far: “Tianwen: Unveiling China’s Diverse Science Fiction to the World” at News Directory 3. While the publicity seeks to associate a new literature prize with the Hugo brand, it does not appear to claim a formal connection to the WSFS award.

The announcement and unveiling of the “Tianwen” project at the first Industrial Development Summit of the World Science Fiction Conference is set to revolutionize the Chinese science fiction scene. This global project, launched by the Chinese Authors Association and the Organizing Committee of the World Science Fiction Conference, aims to discover new talents, support science fiction works, and promote the integrated development of the industry.

The project was unveiled by Alai, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, Hiroshi Osawa, Chairman of the Japan Science Fiction Writers Association, and Dave McCarty, head of the Hugo Award Selection Committee. Alai expressed his hope that “Qu Yuan’s romanticism and idealism will be better publicized in ‘Tianwen’”, while Osawa emphasized the impact of the project on shaping the future generation.

The “Tianwen” plan includes the establishment of the Tianwen Global Science Fiction Literature Prize, which will be awarded annually from 2024. This prize aims to encourage new and young writers, focusing on their innovative literary works and expression of new cultural fields. It will serve as an important supplement to the prestigious Hugo Awards and contribute to the diversity of the Hugo culture.

Additionally, the “Tianwen” project will host various activities to promote the integrated development of the global science fiction industry. These include sub-forums, award ceremonies, promotion conferences, creation salons, exhibitions, and industry roadshows.

Liang Xiaolan, the chairman of the World Science Fiction Conference Chengdu 2023, emphasized that “Tianwen” is not only an award and program, but also a platform for the industrial development of national science fiction culture. This initiative aims to elevate Chinese science fiction to a global level and promote exchange and collaboration between China and foreign countries.

With the inclusion of Chinese works in the selection process of the Hugo Awards for the first time, “Tianwen” will play a crucial role in showcasing Chinese science fiction to a wider audience. Dave McCarty views “Tianwen” as a valuable platform for international science fiction exchange, leading the way for the global science fiction industry….

(6) LESS PAIN, MORE GAIN. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] The Directors Guild of America–the most prominent Hollywood Guild that did not strike last year—has now gotten a bump in several contract areas to more closely match their sibling guilds. You know, the siblings who did walk the picket lines. “DGA, the Guild That Didn’t Strike, Gets Improved Contract Terms” in Variety.

The Directors Guild of America, the Hollywood union that did not strike last year, told members Thursday that it has won additional gains, including a viewership bonus for streaming shows.

DGA members will get a 50% residual bump for work on the most-watched shows on streaming platforms, matching the terms won by the Writers Guild of America.

The DGA also got increases in several other areas, including a .5% increase in pension and health contributions in both the second and third year of the contract.

The DGA agreed to a three-year deal with the major studios on June 3, about a month into the WGA strike. At the time, DGA negotiators did not seek a viewership-based bonus, instead choosing to focus on a 21% increase in streaming residuals to account for the growth in foreign subscribers.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was not obligated to reopen the terms of that deal, which was ratified by 87% of the members. But by doing so, and matching the streaming residual terms obtained by the WGA, the AMPTP helps DGA leadership make the case to its members that they were not disadvantaged by refusing to strike….

(7) BACK TO THE MOON. Maya St. Clair praises Samantha Harvey’s novel in “ORBITAL Review: the stars look very different today” at News from the Orb.

…When literary authors cross over into science fiction, they often do so as enlightened homesteaders, equipped with notions of the field’s backwardness and confidence that their own innovative ideas will reform the backwaters of tropey sci-fi for the better. (Remember when Ian McEwan — in A. D. 2019 — told sci-fi writers that they’d better start “actually looking at the human dilemmas” that would arise with high-level AI?)

Samantha Harvey falls into a different camp, in that she’s not attempting what we might consider “science fiction” — not exactly. I initially found Orbital (2022) because it was displayed the sci-fi section of my library; however, Harvey has described it as “space realism”: a rendering of life in space as humans currently experience it. Orbital takes place in the near future, on an international space station (the ISS in all but name), wherein six astronauts live and work, sheltered from the black void by its narrow walls. Their daily tasks are structured and mundane, and nothing happens in the novel (spacewalks, toilet repairs, floating dinners served in bags) that hasn’t happened in real life. No speculative elements, except a new manned mission to the moon, are introduced.

That being said, sci-fi fans would do themselves a disservice in skipping Orbital. Although it has no aliens or new technology, it’s one of the most inventive and immersive novels I’ve read in a long time.

(8) A HIGH WIRE ACT. That’s what Paul Weimer says readers are witnessing in his review of the final volume of a trilogy by Kevin Hearne, A Curse of Krakens: “Seven Kennings Trilogy and the Power of Story” at Nerds of a Feather.

…Right at the start, we find that this novel, and this trilogy is about the telling of story. A bard with the power of a Kenning, in particular the magical ability to project his voice, begins to tell the war-weary city of the war that they themselves are suffering privation under.  We are in medias res of the Giant’s War, and the bard, we soon learn, has been sent to tell the story of the Giants War and prepare the populace for what is to come next.

But it’s not a simple linear narrative. This is not a simple recitation of facts. The bard has collected and (with his flawless memory) organized a raft of stories from, ultimately, twenty or so points of view. This sounds absolutely unwieldy and unsustainable and it is a high wire act that Hearne works at through the books. Hearne manages it by telling the stories of these characters through the bard in a narratively interesting and engaging order, which is not a straight up order by dates. And by having the bard tell the stories, we can use present day events in Pelemyn itself as a breather and a buffer from the stories he tells. 

What’s more, this ambitious three volume out of order narrative drives plot right up to the “present”…

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born January 28, 1981 — Elijah Wood, 43. In Elijah Wood, we’ve an actor that I always enjoy watching. Best known here and in the greater film community for being Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, he has a much more extensive film career.

Elijah Wood in 2011. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

He makes his debut in a blink and you’ll miss it performance as Video Game Boy #2 in Back to the Future Part II; he next has a significant genre role as Nat Cooper in Forever Young, the screenplay being written by J. J. Abram from his story named “The Rest of Daniel”. 

He next shows up as the young Mike Marshall (primary version) in Radio Flyer with Tom Hanks playing, uncredited the older version and the film narrator.  Fantastic film that. 

Then he’s Huck in, well, The Adventures of Huck Finn. Haven’t seen it, but the usual suspects at Rotten Tomatoes who did see this Disney Production did like it and gave it a seventy-three rating.  I know it’s not genre, but I like the story. A lot. 

Elijah Wood in 2019. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Next is SF in Deep Impact where he plays, let me see my notes, Leo Biederman, a teenage astronomer who discovers the Wolf–Biederman comet . Oh look they cast a teenager as a teenager!

Now we have an adult role for him in one of my favorite films — he’s Patrick Wertz in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Good role, wonderfully executed by him. 

Can we skip Sin City pretty please? Yes, I know, and do forgive me here.

He’s got a minor role in, depending in how you frame it, the reboot or new version or remake of The Toxic Avenger. I personally see no reason for such a perfectly trashy film to be made again, do you?

To quote Porky Pig, that’s it folks. 

(10) COMICS SECTION.

  • Frazz has a question about lunch.
  • Candorville shares an interesting collection of filk lullabies.
  • Tom Gauld has more about the life of books.

(11) GRAND PRIX. “Graphic novelist Posy Simmonds wins prestigious French comics award” reports the Guardian.

The graphic novelist Posy Simmonds has won the Grand Prix at France’s Angoulême International Comics festival – the first time a British artist and author has been awarded the world’s most prestigious prize for lifetime achievement in comics.

Simmonds’s satirical observations on modern British society, interweaving detailed illustration with long literary texts, are held to have redefined the graphic novel genre.

She said of the award: “I was gobsmacked – époustouflée, as you would say in French … It’s extraordinary because if you’re writing or drawing, you work in a room on your own, and it’s then very extraordinary when the book, or your work, or you are given a lot of exposure.”…

(12) FREE READ. Sunday Morning Transport has another free story – “The Empty Throne” by Benjamin C. Kinney – to encourage new subscribers.

For the final free-to-read story of January, Benjamin C. Kinney takes us to 19th century Budapest, where a young woman wrestles with her father’s angels. Note: Should you be inclined towards tremendous footnotes, the author has linked one at the end of the story for you to peruse.

(13) SQUISHMALLOWS. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] This Entertainment Weekly article recommends these as Valentine’s Day gifts. Hmpf. Perhaps for one’s young nephew, or niece, but it might be just a little bit ick (or EW) to give an adult love interest a squishy pillow-shaped plush styled after an underage tween/teen. “Harry Potter Squishmallows are available at Amazon just in time for Valentine’s Day”.

… Your wish has been granted with no wand-waving needed, as Harry Potter Squishmallows now exist. The lovable main character has been reimagined into a poofy, cozy plush toy that will delight any HP fan come Valentine’s Day. The Gryffindor legend has his glasses, Hogwarts house robe, and trademark lightning bolt scar all in an ultra-huggable material. 

If you’re interested in snapping up the OG trio, Ron Weasley is also available, and Hermione Granger can be preordered now, too, with the official launch date set for February 13….

(14) THUNDERBOLT FANTASY. A new episode of the Anime Explorations Podcast is up today, where they discuss the second season of the Taiwanese Wuxia Puppet series Thunderbolt Fantasy, with special guest Tom Merritt of the Daily Tech News Show and Sword & Laser Podcast. “Anime Explorations Podcast: Episode 16: Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2”.

(15) BASKETBALL MOANS. I don’t know. Maybe you can figure it out: “Tyra Banks Nets, Furries Clip Goes Viral” at Buzzfeed.

…The clip that began picking up steam was Tyra on the Jumbotron, covering her eyes with her hands as the two furries leaned over her to caress one another….

[Thanks to SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Mike Kennedy, Daniel Dern, Lis Carey, Kathy Sullivan, Alexander Case, 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 Daniel Dern.]