(1) HIRING AN EDITOR. “New Writers Ask About Editors: How Can I Tell If an Editor Can Edit?” – Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff answers the question with some interesting advice at Book View Café. Some is positive. Then, there is a list of warning signs.
…I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Red Flags you might see waving during this process. For example:
- The “after” samples contain errors the editor induced or didn’t catch in their own “before” sample.
- The edits indicate the editor was manufacturing problems—choosing different words than are in the sample, without clarifying or enhancing meaning … possibly even making changes that take the meaning further away from the spirit of the selection.
- The editor goes significantly beyond what was asked and essentially reworks your prose. My late writing partner, Michael Reaves, referred to that behavior as “peeing on your story.” You cannot address it, however, with editor obedience classes….
(2) DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE FINALISTS. The finalists for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize were announced August 14. There is one work of genre interest, in the fiction category, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
Inspired by the Dayton Accords which ended the Bosnian War, the annual Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the first and only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States, honors writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace. Based on that criteria, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation is pleased to announce the following 2024 book award finalists in the categories of fiction and nonfiction. The winners will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and the first runners-up will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
The 2024 fiction finalists are:
- A History of Burning by Janika Oza (Grand Central Publishing)
- Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (Algonquin Books)
- Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Grove Atlantic)
- River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (Berkley)
- The Postcard by Anne Berest (Europa Editions)
- We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan (ECW Press)
The 2024 nonfiction finalists are:
- An Inconvenient Cop by Edwin Raymond with Jon Sternfeld (Viking)
- Built From the Fire by Victor Luckerson (Random House)
- All Else Failed by Dana Sachs (Bellevue Literary Press)
- Red Memory by Tania Branigan (W.W. Norton)
- The Talk by Darrin Bell (Henry Holt)
- Who Gets Believed? by Dina Nayeri (Catapult)
(3) HBO DENIES GRRM. “HBO boss dismisses Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin’s House of the Dragon concerns, says season 2 did ‘really, really well’” | GamesRadar+ according to GamesRadar+.
(4) SHELLING OUT. “Britain’s Guardian in Talks to Sell Observer Newspaper to Tortoise Media” according to Adweek’s “Morning Media Newsfeed.”
The owner of The Guardian confirmed that it is in talks to sell The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media. (BBC News)
Tortoise said negotiations include a commitment from it to invest more than £25 million ($33 million) over the next five years in the editorial and commercial renewal of the title. (Reuters)
Founded in 1791, The Observer was bought by Guardian Media Group in 1993. Since then, it has coexisted with The Guardian, which will remain a seven-day-per-week digital operation regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. (The Guardian)
(5) TARDIS ANTAGONIST. “’Doctor Who’: Archie Panjabi Cast As Villain In New Season” reports Deadline.
Emmy Award winner Archie Panjabi (Under the Bridge, Snowpiercer) will star as a villain in Season 2 of Doctor Who, sources tell Deadline. The BBC and Disney+ series is set to return in 2025.
Details regarding her character remain under wraps. BBC and Disney+ declined to comment for this story.
Panjabi joins Ncuti Gatwa, who currently stars as the titular Time Lord; Millie Gibson, who plays his companion Ruby Sunday; and Varada Sethu, who will serve as the fifteenth Doctor co-companion Belinda Chandra….
(6) VASTER THAN EMPIRES. “When Hodor Got His Penis Prosthetic on ‘Game of Thrones’: ‘Holy God, Look at the Size of It!’” at Vanity Fair. (Is this Game of Thrones prop going to auction sometime?)
Okay, Kristian, could you take your robe off now, please?”
Paul says this softly but matter-of-factly. Can I? It’s being presented as a choice, but he knows and I know that it isn’t a choice at all. Can I? I pause. Paul is the head makeup artist in our Raven unit. He looks at me with a sympathetic half smile. I know this is going to hurt, but it’s my job, he’s saying without saying anything. I have agreed to this, after all. David and Dan did run through this with me at the Fitzwilliam Hotel. Why the hell did I say yes? I think. But the nude scene has been signed and sealed: the scene where Hodor emerges from bathing pools completely naked for ten, maybe fifteen, seconds. I will be undressed for less time than it would take me to text a friend, yet it has played on my mind for weeks. Come on, Kristian, I think. Just get this over and done with….
…Next comes the hard part. Paul turns to fetch the prosthesis. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing it twice already, but its size has grown in my imagination in the intervening weeks, like a looming obelisk….
(7) JOHN CASSADAY (1971-2024). The New York Times has reported the death of comics artist John Cassaday, on September 9. “John Cassaday, Award-Winning Comic Book Artist, Dies at 52”.
John Cassaday, an award-winning comic book artist best known for his runs on Planetary, a series he helped create about a trio of adventurers investigating strange events, and Astonishing X-Men, on which his work offered readers a new entry point to a decades-old franchise, died on Sept. 9 in Manhattan. He was 52.
Tara A. Martinez, his partner, said he died of cardiac arrest in a hospital.
In a medium known for its often fantastical scenarios, Mr. Cassaday’s drawings conveyed a sense of realism. Nowhere was that more evident than in his work on Planetary, which he created with the writer Warren Ellis. His work on that series “rightfully put him on the map,” Mark Waid, a comic book editor and writer, wrote on Facebook…
(8) MEMORY LANE.
[Written by Cat Eldridge.]
Anniversary: The Addams Family series (1964)
There are series I refuse to rewatch lest the Suck Fairy with her steel toed boots stomps all over it. One is The Addams Family series, which premiered on ABC this evening fifty ago, is definitely one of them. I unreservedly loved that series so I won’t rewatch.
Or so I thought until I changed my mind recently and did watch the first few episodes on Prime with a fair degree of angst and trepidation. It was, to my relief, still wonderful. So you can go back to that spooky place. Yes!
The Los Angeles Times in its obituary of David Levy explained how he came to create the series: “The idea for the series came to Levy when he was strolling with a friend down New York’s 5th Avenue and passed a display of Addams’ books. One, ‘Homebodies,’ showed the entire group of Addams characters in a family portrait on the cover. Levy was stopped in his tracks by the sight and told his friend: ‘There’s a hit series!’”
Now let’s talk about the characters here. Who wasn’t perfect? Be it John Astin as Gomez Addams or Carolyn Jones as his wife Morticia, they played their roles perfectly. And no, I’m certainly not forgetting Wednesday, their child. (Surely the name comes from the English folk poem, Wednesday’s child is full of woe), Uncle Fester or Thing. Not to mention Lurch played oh-so-well by Ted Cassidy.
It had pets, presaging to a great extent what Lio would have. Aristotle was Pugsley’s pet octopus and Fang was his pet jaguar. Addams Family had a lion called Kitty Kat, and they piranhas, Tristan and Isolde. Zelda was their vulture. Morticia had a very large carnivorous plant named Cleopatra and Wednesday has a pet tarantula by the name of Homer.
It didn’t last nearly as long as I thought did — just two seasons totaling sixty-four episodes shot in glorious black and white.
Halloween with the New Addams Family aired eleven years after the series went off the air with new characters added in. Seven years after the series was cancelled, the animated version of The Addams Family aired for sixteen episodes. It’s notable for a young Jodie Foster voicing Pugsley Addams. Only Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy returned in voice acting roles.
Gold Key Comics produced a comic book series in connection with the show, but it only lasted three issues.
I am not going to deal with the films here as that would take us down too long here. I’ll do those when the anniversary for the first film comes up.
It streams on Amazon. It has a perfect a hundred percent rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes. That’s right, a perfect score.
(9) COMICS SECTION.
- Eek! complains about super cheaters
- Frank and Ernest find a sale.
- Off the Mark commiserates.
- The Argyle Sweater has a concern about a name.
(10) LIKE THE EIGHTIES. [Item by Steven French.] The latest Guardian gaming newsletter includes a review of an anthology of 80s style games by little known games developer UFOSoft – “little known” because the company is actually fictional:“Pushing Buttons: UFO 50 is an anthology of pure nostalgia – and the games are good, too”, a column by the Guardian’s Keza McDonald. (The game’s website is here: UFO 50.)
I filed this issue of Pushing Buttons late, because I have become obsessed with a 1985 strategy game about armies of warring dinosaurs. It’s called Avianos, and it’s part of an anthology of 50 games made in the 1980s by a little-known but influential developer, UFO Soft.
One minor detail: UFO Soft is fictional. All the games in this collection were made by a small group of modern developers. This anthology, UFO 50 (out today), is at once a tribute to imaginary 1980s game history and real 1980s game history. It impeccably imitates the look, feel and experimental creativity of the era, without the technical limitations.
These games aren’t mini-games – they’re substantial. I’ve played one Metroid-styled space adventure for over an hour and I don’t think I’m anywhere near completing it. I did complete the dinosaur war game, and it took a whole morning. I’m stuck currently midway through a game about guiding a little chameleon through predator-ridden levels. …
(11) AN ORPHAN AGAIN. Variety reports “’Orphan Black: Echoes’ Canceled at AMC After One Season”.
…The series aired its one and only season at the basic cabler beginning in June in the United States. The season finale, which now serves as the series finale, aired on Aug. 25 The show aired on AMC, BBC America, and streamer AMC+.
Krysten Ritter starred in “Echoes,” which served as a followup to the hit BBC America series “Orphan Black.” The cast also included Keeley Hawes, Amanda Fix, Avan Jogia, Rya Kihlstedt, and James Hiroyuki Liao.
The official series description states that it “follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal. Ritter plays Lucy, a woman with an unimaginable origin story, trying to find her place in the world.”
(12) IS FUTURE SPACE STATION JEOPARDIZED? Futurism says “The Company NASA’s Hired to Build the Next Space Station Seems to Be in Big Trouble, Firing 100 Employees and Unable to Pay Bills”.
Axiom Space, the space company NASA picked to develop a private successor to the International Space Station, is in big trouble
As Forbes reports, the startup is struggling to pay the bills and has laid off at least a hundred employees, while cutting the pay of those who remain.
That leaves its plan to develop a module that can dock with the ISS before detaching to form its own space station on thin ice. And the clock is ticking, because the ISS is set to be retired by NASA in 2030, two years sooner than anticipated.
In other words, the company is quickly running out of time and is years behind schedule. As a result, Axiom Space was forced to “radically change the design” of the station, per Forbes.
However, according to Forbes‘ reporting, investors are balking at funding the development of a much smaller station that could end up being less commercially lucrative — and possibly even more expensive….
… To bring in some much-needed cash, Axiom Space started selling seats for trips to the ISS on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft….
(13) VIDEO OF THE DAY. “Netflix Debuts the First 4 Minutes of ‘Twilight of the Gods’” and Animation Magazine makes sure we don’t miss it.
The bloody battle between mortals and Norse gods is night, with Zack Snyder’s hotly anticipated adult animated series Twilight of the Gods premiering Thursday, September 19. Rousing the troops, Netflix today debuted the first four minutes of the show on TUDUM as part of its Geeked Week reveals…
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, and Teddy Harvia for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
