File 770 | Mike Glyers news of science fiction fandom

Time 2020-10-08 16:04:23

Web Name: File 770 | Mike Glyers news of science fiction fandom

WebSite: http://file770.com

ID:74887

Keywords:

Mike,Glyers,File,

Description:

SFE hubris moment again; we re free online so hope we can intrude this way . We ve just hit 75,000 titles listed with full context in Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Checklists. Also, we now provide Picture Gallery scans for more than 5,000 individual authors given entries (some have only one, Robert Silverberg has 166 and counting). Personally, have just finished writing solo entry number 7,000.Beth Meacham, executive editor at Tor/Tom Doherty Associates will retire at the end of the year. She joined Tor as editor-in-chief in 1984. President and publisher Fritz Foy writes, “We’re delighted that Beth will continue to edit a small number of projects for us on a consulting basis. But most of her list will be moving to other editors as she prepares for her retirement.”…Speculative fiction is, by definition, a global phenomenon, but the Anglophone science fiction and fantasy community has often sought to define its boundaries in ways that exclude much of the work being created in the rest of the world, even as it adds the World label into its own events and awards. At a time when it can feel like our own worlds are narrowing, we think its more important than ever to push back, to remind ourselves why we love genre in all its forms and to go beyond the narrow window of culture, language and geography that shapes most of the media we get to watch. Nerds on Tour will be running on Mondays from now until December, and we hope you enjoy everything we have in store.(4) FRANCHISE PLAYER. Cat Rambo’s new “Cat Chat” is a really fascinating Interview with Jennifer Brozek about Writing For Franchises. Brozek: “The final surprise that I had for franchises is sometimes the publisher doesn t actually know what they want. They want a story and they have sort of an idea in their head but they don t know how to communicate it to an author. They don t have universe bibles. They don t have… They just want fiction in that universe. ‘No, not like that!’ You know, it s kind of like ‘I don t know art but I know it when I see it.’”Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of the Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her BattleTech tie-in novel, The Nellus Academy Incident, won a Scribe Award. …Jennifer talks about writing for franchises, including Shadowrun and Valdemar, what has surprised her about the process, what worlds she hasn t written in but would like to, and which of her original worlds would make the best franchise, as well as what advice she d give to people working in it. Jennifer teaches Working in Other Worlds: Writing for Franchises with Jennifer Brozek, for the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. The next class will be Saturday, October 24, 2020, 1:00-3:00 PM Pacific Time.Dungeons Dragonsplayers will no longer have a negative ability score modifier when building a character of a certain race. Last week,Dungeons Dragonsofficially released updated erratafor a number of their sourcebooks and adventures. TheVolo s Guide to Monsterserrata was particularly important in that it removed the negative ability score modifiers for playable kobolds and orcs. While kobolds originally had a -2 modifier to their Strength score, and orcs had a -2 modifier to their Intelligence, the updated rules remove those modifiers entirely from the game. Additionally, the errata also removes the orc s Menacing trait with the Primal Intuition trait, which grants players proficiency in two of the following options Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival.The updated rules reflect previous comments by theDungeons Dragonsteam that promised better representation and a movement towards giving the player characters individualism as opposed to forcing them to fit within cultural stereotypes within the game s lore. While players can still choose to use the cultural generalities of D D s various campaign settings when creating a character, the updated rules allows for greater expression and also gives DMs more freedom to create their own worlds where the standard D D cultural stereotypes aren t present.Wednesday, Oct. 7Doctor Who: The Faceless OnesBBC America, 8pmNew Miniseries!This is the mostly missing eighth serial of the fourth season ofDoctor Who, which was broadcast in six weekly parts from April to May 1967, starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. Only two of the six episodes are held in the BBC film archives with snippets of footage and still images existing from the other four. Fortunately, off-air recordings of the soundtrack also still exist, making the animation of a complete serial possible once again, and that is what has been done here.The Faceless Onessees the TARDIS arrive on Earth at a runway at Gatwick Airport in England, where the Doctor and his companions encounter sinister identity-stealing aliens known as the Chameleons. The first three episodes of the serial air tonight, and the three concluding episodes air tomorrow night.What was the most difficult challenge you encountered in this project?AnnMarie Walsh:There are a number of challenges in creating an animated series of classicDoctor Who. For one, animation is a very different medium compared with live-action, and we play to its strengths to achieve the best way of telling the stories. Working with a low budget and a tight schedule will always require inventiveness, but we are animating to the original soundtracks from the 1960s. The fact that they are mono tracks—with the music, sound effects, and dialogue all in one single track—makes it very difficult to edit. It forces us to reorder our approach: Instead of recording the dialogue [from] the script, creating the music to the storyboards and animatics, and adding the sound effects at the end, we change the order of production and visualize the storyboards with the audio of the original recordings in mind as well as the original script.Being unable to separate the music and sound effects from the dialogue means we need to be very creative in our storytelling. We need to have something fitting happen for every sound effect, even if it would be easier to have that action timed differently, or to have a line said earlier. We also don’t get any alternative or retakes in the audio, which we normally have.1995 Twenty-five years ago, Pat Cadigan’sFoolswon the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the Best Science Fiction Novel. It was first published on HarperCollins UK, and it would be her second Clarke Award as she won forSynnersthree years previously.Foolsis currently available as a Gollancz SF Masterworks trade paper edition and as an ebook from the usual digital suspects for just three dollars.(CE)Born October 7, 1893 – Alice Dalgliesh.Taught 17 years at theHoraceMannSchool.Wrote three dozen children’s books. Editor of children’s books at Scribner’s 1934-1960; under her, books (including hers) won Newbery Honors, Caldecott Medals and Honors.Edited Heinlein’s “juveniles” fromRed PlanetthroughHave Spacesuit, Will Travel; his disagreements with her appear inGrumbles From the Graveand were added to herWikipediapage.(Died 1979) [JH]Born October 7, 1942 – Lee Gold, 78.Introduced to Van Vogt because shehad golden pipecleaners in her hairand someone thought Van should meet her. PublishedAlong Fantasy Way, the Guest of Honor book for Tom Digby at ConFrancisco the 51st Worldcon.Since 1975, Official Editor ofAlarums Excursions, anapadevoted to role-playing games; since 1988, also ofXenofilkia, afilkfanzine.Filk Hall of Fame.Evans-Freehafer Award (for service to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society). Hour-and-a-half 2019 interviewhere.[JH]Born October 7, 1947 – John Brosnan.Sixteen novels, half a dozen shorter stories; four nonfiction books about the cinema, Eaton Award forFuture Tense.Wrote most of the cinema entries in the 1979Encyclopedia of SF.The current (2018) Nicholls-Clute-Langford entry ends, “he gave readers a considerable amount of unfocused pleasure.”(Died 2005) [JH]Born October 7, 1947 Lightning Bear. Native American stuntman and stunt coordinator. He did stunt work on the classicTrekseries as well asStar Trek: The Motion Picture,The Wrath of Khan, andThe Search for Spock. He did not receive on-screen credit for any of these.Star Warsfans claim that he did stunt work on the three originalStar Warsfilms but Lucas Films says that there is no records that he did. (Died 2011.) (CE)Born October 7, 1950 Howard Chaykin, 70. Comic book artist and writer.His first major work was for DC Comics drawing “The Price of Pain” which was an adaptation of author Fritz Leiber s characters Fafhrd and the Gray MouserinSword of Sorcery#1. He would illustrate damn near everything else fromBatmanandThe Legion of Super-Heroesfor DC toHulkandIron-Manfor Marvel (to name but four series) but I think his best genre work was his ownAmerican Flagg! series which I’ve enjoyed several times. It’s available from the usual digital suspects. (CE)Born October 7, 1952 – Peter Peebles, 68.Fifty covers, a few interiors.Hereis the Aug 91SF Chronicle.Hereis the Apr 95Analog.HereisA Wizard in Midgard.HereisTaylor’s Ark.[JH]Born October 7, 1958 Rosalyn Landor, 62. She played Guinevere inArthur the King, and Helen Stoner in “The Speckled Band” of Jeremy Brett’sSherlock Holmes. She was the redheaded colleenBrenna Odell in the “Up the Long Ladder” episode ofNext Generationwhich was banned in The United Kingdom for some years as it made a passing reference to Ireland being united in the early twenty first century.(CE)Born October 7, 1963 Tammy Klein, 57. She’s getting a birthday write-up because of the most likely unauthorized Trek audioseries she’s involved in calledStar Trek: Henglaar, M.D.in which she’sSubcommander Noniabut she also been in some definitely really pulpy works such asLizard Man,Jurassic City,Awaken the Dead andZoombies. (CE)Born October 7, 1977 Meighan Desmond, 43. New Zealand resident who’s best remembered as Discord inHercules: The Legendary Journeys,Xena: Warrior Princessand evenYoung Hercules, a vastly underrated series. Post-acting career, she was the special effects runner onThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, special effects assist coordinator/runner onUnderworld: Rise of the Lycans, assistant art director onThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspianand construction office assistant onMulan. (CE)Born October 7, 1979 Aaron Ashmore, 41. He‘s known for being Jimmy Olsen onSmallvilleand Steve Jinks onWarehouse 13. He also is Johnny Jaqobis on Killjoys, a series I’ve yet to watch.He also had a recurring role asDylan Masters inXIII: The Serieswhich Ithinkis SFF. (CE)Born October 7, 1979 – Shadreck Chikoti, 41.Writes in English and Chichewa in and out of our field.His SF novelAzotus the Kingdomwon his second Peer Gynt Literary Prize. Director of Pan African Publishers, founder of the Story Club.See Geoff Ryman atStrange Horizonsabout and with himhere.[JH]Born October 7, 1992 – Stephanie Diaz, 28.Extractionand two sequels.Also edits.“Any combination of chocolate and peanut butter .Basically, it’s all books all the time in my world .wish I could go back to a year ago when we were in London on our way to Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye.”I haven’t learned if she drinks my favorite whisky,Talisker.[JH]Off The Mark shows why it might be hard for a zombie to wear a mask – or did that possibility ever cross your mind?(10) DIAMOND JUBILEE. In Pippi and the Moomins on Aeon, Richard W. Orange uses the 75th anniversary of the first books by Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson to discuss their achievements in children s literature.In February 1944, Russian bombs smashed the windows of Tove Jansson’s art studio in Helsinki. ‘I knocked slivers of glass out of the windows,’ the author wrote in her diary. She was so depressed, she had been unable to paint for a year, and despaired that war was ‘making us smaller. People don’t have the strength to be grand if a war goes on for a long time.’Some 250 miles away across the Baltic, another woman was documenting the same bombardment from the safety of her flat in Stockholm. ‘About 200 Russian planes had carried out a bombing raid on Helsinki,’ wrote Astrid Lindgren in her war scrapbook. ‘It’s awful to contemplate the fate of Finland.’Aside from a seven-year age difference, the two had much in common: both had cut their hair short in their late teens and early 20s, and worn trousers and neck ties – the style of radical women in the age of jazz. Both had a youthful fascination with philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche. Both were committed anti-Fascists….(11) WATCHING YOUR SIX. In “6 Books with Stina Leicht” at Nerds of a Feather, Paul Weimer poses the questions.2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?Maria Dahvana-Headley’sBeowulftranslation. No woman has ever had their translation of Beowulf published before. Translations are very much affected by the person that translates them. I understand this really affected the interpretation of the story. I’m so very looking forward to it.Based on Martin’sFire Blood,the series, which is set 300 years before the events ofGame of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.In the 10-episode first season, Considine will playKing Viserys Targaryen, chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy. But good men do not necessarily make for great kings….A 67-million-year-old dinosaur fossil known as “Stan” was the star of the show at Christie’s last night when it sold for $31,847,500 after a protracted bidding war between buyers on the phone in New York and London. Among the 46 lots in the20th Century Evening Sale, including standout works by Cy Twombly, Picasso, and Mark Rothko, the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, the last lot of the evening, caused the most excitement when it sold for nearly four times its high estimate of $8 million to James Hyslop, head of Christie’s Science Natural History Department. The sale beat the last record of $8.36 million set in 1997 for an equivalent T. Rex specimen.The Nobel Prize in chemistry went to two researchers Wednesday for a gene-editing tool that has revolutionized science by providing a way to alter DNA, the code of life — technology already being used to try to cure a host of diseases and raise better crops and livestock.Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States won for developing CRISPR-cas9, a very simple technique for cutting a gene at a specific spot, allowing scientists to operate on flaws that are the root cause of many diseases.“There is enormous power in this genetic tool,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry….(15) NOTHING. NEXT QUESTION? Co-hosting this week’s Essence of Wonder with Gadi Evron on Saturday, October10 will be Alan Lightman, discussing with philosophers Rebecca Goldstein and Edward Hall what separates science from the humanities. For example, what would it take to convince a scientist that a phenomenon was actually a miracle? Register here.In this discussion with philosopher and novelist Rebecca Goldstein, philosopher of science Edward Hall (Harvard), and physicist and novelist Alan Lightman (MIT), we will consider the question of the role of experiment in science and how that feature separates science from the humanities. We will also discussthe strong commitment of scientists to a completely lawful universe.This latterissue could be framed as a question:What wouldit take to convince a scientist that some phenomenon was a miracle — that is, could not beexplained, even in principle, to lie within the laws of nature?For most scientists, the answer is NOTHING. Yet surveys repeatedly show that 75% of the American public believes in miracles. Why this marked discrepancy between the beliefs of scientists and nonscientists?(16) TRUE GRIT. Andrew Porter took notes when a contestant stumbled over a Neil Gaiman item on tonight’s Jeopardy!Category: The Librarian Invasions.Answer: Lucien becomes chief librarian of the Dreaming in this Neil Gaiman comic Book series with a one-word title.Wrong question: What is Cryptonomicon? Correct question: What is Sandman. (17) EXCHANGE RATE. A 1.5 oz Harry Potter Chocolate Wand – for $10.99!! The weight you gain by eating it will be magically offset by the lightening of your wallet.[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Dann, JJ, Cat Eldridge, Michael Toman, John Hertz, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Soon Lee.]Houghton Mifflin Harcourtis ending its John Joseph Adams Books sff imprint after five years. Adams told Facebook followers:Sad news, friends: HMH has decided to discontinue John Joseph Adams Books. We ve still got several books forthcoming, and those will still be published, but nothing new beyond those, alas. Cheers to all of the authors who went on this ride with me, and to all who bought read.I should note that Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy is not connected to JJA Books in a technical sense, so the 2020 and 2021 volumes of that will still be published, and then we ll see. This doesn t impact whether or not THAT continues.And he added, “This also has no impact on Lightspeed or Nightmare [magazines] or the impending relaunch of Fantasy, or any of my anthologies.”By Daniel Dern: I m not sure this is, for the most part, so much a review of Robert Heinlein s The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes as opposed to a bunch of statements about it. Your space-time mileage may vary. Although since one goal is to help you decide whether or not you want to read the book, I guess that makes it a review.I grew up on the Heinlein juveniles, notably Have Space Suit, Will Travel, Citizen Of The Galaxy, The Star Beast and The Rolling Stones, and have read (or done my best to read) all Heinlein, including the essays, the alternate versions (more on this below), and including The Number Of The Beast. Some Heinlein, I still re-read; other, not so much.The Pursuit Of The Pankera is, according to the brief (half-page) Publisher s note from Shahid Mahmud, Heinlein s original, hitherto-unpublished novel whose first third he forked into his The Number Of The Beast. According to Mahmud s note, [this] new book is one hundred percent Heinlein. Other than regular editorial work was asked to provide fillers.' (Unlike, say, Variable Star, which Spider Robinson wrote based on Heinlein s outline and notes.)Number, according to Alan Brown s “Long-Lost Treasure” article on Tor.com, first appeared in portions serialized in OMNI magazine in 1978 under the editorial direction of Ben Bova .The book version of Heinlein’s novel was published in 1980. Now, we have the option (I m not sure if it qualified as an opportunity ) to read what Heinlein wrote originally.The forking occurs in both books in Chapter 18, right after the characters specially equipped car, the Gay Deceiver, makes its first jump to a parallel universe, according to the Publisher s Note (which appears also, with a slightly different first paragraph, in the new hardcover of Number, according to Amazon’s view.Pankera is not being promoted as an alternative version of Number, but rather, together they are identified/promoted as two parallel novels about parallel universes. Arguably, that s geometrically incorrect, the two books don t parallel so much as fork (although they do semi-unfork a few times).The divergence in texts is flagged by a small marker. In the hardcover of Pankera (via my library), it s on page 152.At Boskone 57, there was a free chapter sales promo, which began either at that point, or at the next chapter, which is like half a dozen pages later.Based on the free chapter sampler of Pankera (I don t remember whether it started at the demarc, or at the start of the next chapter) that I got at Boskone 57 back in February 2020 (just before Almost Everything Shut Down), I was sufficiently unenthused that I planned to not library-get the book when it became available.Then, mid-late summer, seeing that the book was now available, and Things Being Different, I added it to my library reserve request list, and, a month or so later, with inter-library loan transit back in action, my place in line came up.Most of the text and plot of Pankera goes in different directions and routes from Number, although the chapters/sections involving Oz and Charles Dodgson seem largely the same in both (and, not owning a copy of Number to check against, I m not going to worry about it. It feels like I can recall some minor differences, no big deal). On the other hand, the Lensmen sections are significantly different. (See Sourdough s review for deets.)Pankera does NOT go places where Number did; in particular, (SEMI-SPOILER ALERT), it doesn t go into the LazarusLongiverse. Other than our not getting to see Gay Deceiver and Dora schmooze (to which Lazarus Long apologizes to our protagonists, with something like I m sorry, my spaceship is corrupting your spaceship. ), given where Heinlein took this in Number, I consider this not-going-there a Good Thing. If you read Number and haven t blanked that portion out from your memory, you know what I m talking about, nuff not said.On the more general subject of Heinlein lost versions longer versions he wrote which he cut down for publication I have mixed feelings, based on the ones I own/have read (thanks largely to Baen Books). The longer version of Red Planet had a lot of interesting stuff in it, and, IIRC, more depth. The longer version of The Puppet Masters felt weaker, in writing punch. Podkayne mostly, IIRC, Heinlein s original ending, and, in my paperback, with sundry essays and other bonus stuff, was interesting and made sense. Stranger In A Strange Land did not feel improved by the restored text throughout. (Did I miss any? That s all I can recall.) But Pankera is in a different category, or at least is presented as such.I found (particularly in rereading) many parts of Number annoying enough to skim/skip, particularly where our four protagonists take turns mindgaming the others, also where a few characters spend way too much time doing what Nero Wolfe (who does not appear in either Number or Pankera) might generously characterize as a stunt. By comparison, in Pankera, nobody got quite on my nerves as much, nor did any of the plot bits.OTOH, Pankera often has more characters deciding and explaining housekeeping/packing type details, beyond what I felt we needed. But easy to skim past.Number does more with the dingus in terms of Gay Deceiver (which I liked) than Pankera.Beyond that, Sourdough Jackson s review pretty much hits the mixed bag of goods and bads better than I can. I do agree with their analysis and opinions of the ending, and the overall plot driver.One nitpick: While I m not going to go back and re-skim to confirm, it feels like Pankera is used primarily as a singular, with Panki being the plural, which makes the book title misleading. (Also, it feels like the terms doesn t occur in the text until about 40-50 pages after what they refer is introduced. If I had an e-version, I ll text-search to verify. Meanwhile: Tsk.)Assuming you re enough of a Heinlein fan to be potentially interested and have read enough later-Heinlein to know what you may be in for I neither recommend you read Pankera nor avoid it. I don t feel it s annoying enough to warn you away nor compelling enough to urge you to read it.I don t regret having read it; I m not looking to get my time back. But I m glad I did it as a library borrow. Back it goes! You ve been advised!Like I said, I don t think this is a review so much as a verbose ACHTUNG! DER LOOKENSPEEPERS sign.Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund administrators Johan Anglemark, Geri Sullivan and Mike Lowrey say “After much thought and consideration, [we] have come to the conclusion that we need to postpone the 2021 TAFF race due to the coronavirus pandemic.”The TAFF race for 2021 was intended to go East to West, from Europe to DisCon III. They will now wait until 2022, and instead have a race from Europe to Chicon 8, the 80th Worldcon.The general expectation of expert epidemiologists is that the pandemic will continue to rage well into 2021. For example, the British government has announced that they expect severe restrictions, including the bans on public events, to be in place for another half year. We think that DisCon III likely will be one of the first large conventions after the pandemic has been successfully beaten back or we have learnt how to live with it. Our concern is with having a TAFF race in the midst of the pandemic, without any physical conventions to attend. It would be much more difficult to enthuse people and get them to vote and to donate.Postponing the race reduces the uncertainty for the eventual westbound TAFF delegate, and it greatly increases the probability that Michael Lowrey — this year s TAFF winner — will get to take his postponed trip first.“We don t want to increase the inventory of TAFF delegates waiting to travel,” say the administrators. “And it s not just TAFF and Mike Lowrey. Fandom has two more fan fund delegates waiting to take their trips: Alison Scott (GUFF) and Erin Underwood (DUFF). We think there will be a lot more excitement for another race once we start having in-person conventions again.”Don Blyly, owner ofUncle Hugo’sand Uncle Edgar’s bookstores, which wereburned by vandals on May 30while protests were happening elsewhere in Minneapolis, has sent another update to his subscribers. His son Sam Blyly-Strauss posted the full text to their GoFundMe campaign, which has now raised $175,858. Here are the highlights.Blyly has decided not to rebuild at his old location because a new building would push his insurance and property tax bills higher than he can afford.…The old building was masonry construction, and I had a lower cost of insurance because of that.  The new building would have been wooden frame construction, so my cost of insurance would have gone up.  …And replacing the old building with a new building would have pushed the property tax bill from around $20,000 per year up to at least $45,000 per year, and it was very difficult even before covid-19 to cover the $20,000 per year property tax bill. …I decided to put a rebuild at the old location onto the back burner and talk to the dentist next door, who wanted to expand his dental clinic onto my lot.  I figured that the cash from the sale of the lot, plus the insurance money, would allow me to buy a decent older building in a better location, hopefully with off-street parking.   The city issued a permit and work began. Then a building inspector changed the requirements. Now progress has stalled while Blyly, the dentist, and a hired civil engineer negotiate with the city.…The demolition contractor had filed plans for what we wanted to do on the lot–finish knocking down the walls, haul away the debris, clean out the basement but leave the foot-thick concrete walls in place, perforate the old basement floor in spots so that rain water could escape, and leave the concrete slabs for Uncle Edgar’s and the back room in place.  The city looked over the plans and issued a permit based on our plans. …The demo guys told me that they would finish filling the basement with dirt before taking down the Uncle Hugo’s wall, and they expected the entire job to be done sometime on Friday, September 25. I went back over to the site Thursday morning and the heavy equipment was still there but no workers were there.  I went back Friday morning, and again there were no workers.  I went onto the site and found a red “Stop Work” order from the same inspector who had approved our original plan and issued the permit.  I went home to contact the demo people to find out what was going on.  While I had been at the site, the demo company had sent an e-mail explaining that the inspector had decided that he now wanted all the basement walls removed and the concrete slabs removed. Removing the basement wall would require the removal of the dirt that had been dumped and compacted into the basement hole.  Taking down the basement wall that holds up the sidewalk would cause in the dirt under the sidewalk to fall into the basement, which would result in the sidewalk sliding into the basement, and probably take out the major internet cable that was just installed under the sidewalk about a year before, with me being responsible for the cost of repairing the cable and replacing the sidewalk.  The city has now agreed to allow the basement wall that holds up the sidewalk to remain in place, but is still insisting on all the other changes to our original, approved plan.  The dentist and I have had several meetings on how to get the city to go along with what we both want and he has hired a civil engineer to argue with the city, but at this point there is still no progress.One bonus is that Blyly’s safe has been recovered from the debris. But it will be awhile til that’s any real benefit.Late in the afternoon on Thursday, September 17 the demo guys dug the safe out of the debris in Uncle Hugo’s basement, and water started dripping out of it.    They pointed out that safe salespeople like to brag about how fireproof their safes are, but never talk about the fact that they are not waterproof.  The next morning they broke it open while I was there to observe.  After 3.5 months of being hit by fire hoses multiple times and many rain storms, not much had survived.  None of the legal papers had survived.  None of the checks waiting to be deposited had survived.  The cash had survived, but the currency was dripping wet, slimy, mildewed, and stuck together.  I took it home, started carefully peeling the bills apart and spreading them on sheets of cardboard to dry out, and after 24 hours of drying gathered it up and put out a new batch of bills to dry.  After 3 days it was all dry and I took it to the bank to try to deposit it.  The bank refused to accept it and told me that I would have to deal with the U.S. government on my own to try to convert it to usable money and provided me with a (wrong) internet address for instructions on how to do this.  I managed to find the correct website and discovered that I had to mail the cash with explanation of how it got so messed up and lots of other information to a P.O. Box in Washington, D.C., registered, return receipt required, insured, to make a claim.    In normal times, it takes the government between 6 months and 36 months to process a claim, but these are not normal times with so many government workers working from home.  Perhaps I’ll get something back from the government before old age gets me.People have encouraged Blyly to shift to another city. Whatever else he decides, he’s determined to stay in the metro area.The behavior of the city does not make me want to re-open in Minneapolis, especially since so many people have told me how much friendlier St. Paul is to businesses than Minneapolis and that property taxes are lower there.    I’ve started looking harder for a new location on the western side of St. Paul or in Richfield instead of in south Minneapolis.  But I’ve had people suggesting other places to relocate.  One person wants me to relocate to Oklahoma City (where the cost of housing seems to be about 1/3 the cost in Minneapolis) and another person wants me to relocate to Northfield.  I’m not interested in moving myself or the Uncles out of the metro area.I’ve been doing a lot of media interviews since the fire. A few weeks ago Fox News from New York City contacted me to say they were sending in a team to interview various business owners who had been impacted by the riots and they wanted to interview me.  They were coming to town on the first day of debris removal at the Uncles, so the interview was filmed with a crane piling up a 15 foot tall pile of burned books in the middle of Uncle Edgar’s.  It quickly became clear that they were trying to get me to say pro “law and order” things that could be used to benefit Trump.  Instead I kept saying things like “neither political party has a monopoly on incompetence” and drawing a distinction between arresting people who are breaking the law and using storm trooper tactics on peaceful protesters. They used almost none of my interview.    About a week ago a reporter for a  Japanese network (which he said was the Japanese equivalent to the BBC) called, confirmed that the bookstore had been burned in the riot, and then started asking me about Black Lives Matter.  I failed to see how having a burnt bookstore made me an expert on Black Lives Matter, but I talked to him for awhile.  When he wanted to fly in a television crew to interview me about Black Lives Matter, I declined.(1) POWERFUL CANON. Amy Tenebrink shares the impact that stories by a leading sff author had on her: Personal Canons: Nnedi Okorafor .…Onyesonwu is one of those angry, defiant, adventurous heroines of my heart. But Who Fears Death isn’t just a story of a warrior girl; it’s the story of all warrior girls. Who Fears Death is, itself, angry, defiant, and adventurous. It rips apart the fabric of our quotidian world and shows us, more clearly for all its speculation, what is wrong with us but what could be right with us. This is speculative fiction at its best: incisive, unflinching, uncompromising. Untethered from what’s “real” in a way that can show us what is, in fact, actually real—and what could be real if only we reached for the stars.In Who Fears Death, Nnedi put a heroine of my heart into a book of my heart. Who Fears Death showed me, in a moment, what speculative literature can be: not just a series of quest-wanderings, of dragon-slayings, of evil mage-vanquishings, but an inspirational, aspirational blueprint for me and my place in the world. Who Fears Death is itself a sword, a magic wand, a spell that can change everything.(2) ALPHA OF THE OMEGA. The award administrators Sci-Fest L.A.andLight Bringer Project have announced that the Tomorrow Prize and The Roswell Award will now reside under an umbrella competition name, the Omega Sci-Fi Awards. Here’s the new logo.(3) MEMBERS OF THE JURY. James Davis Nicoll introduces the Young People Read Old SFF panel to “The Pleiades” by Otis Kidwell Burger.The Pleiades is impressive enough readers would no doubt run out to acquire her other works. Unfortunately, Rediscovery’s biographical entry on her reveals that her SF career was quite short1. At least, I assume younger readers would react as positively as I did. How did my Young People actually feel?(4) QUESTIONS ABOUT THE POLICY. [Item by Cora Buhlert.] Non-binary writer Akwaeke Emezi, whose works are at least borderline SFF, has declared that they will no longer submit their novels to Women s Prize for Fiction (where they were a finalist last year), after being asked to provide proof of their legal gender: Akwaeke Emezi shuns Women s prize over request for details of sex as defined by law' in The Guardian.… Emezi said that when Faber got in touch with the Women’s prize about submitting The Death of Vivek Oji, they were informed: “The information we would require from you regards Akwaeke Emezi’s sex as defined by law.”“Forget about me – I don’t want this prize – but anyone who uses this kind of language does not fuck with trans women either, so when they say it’s for women, they mean cis women,” wrote Emezi. “And yes, this does mean that them longlisting [Freshwater] was transphobic. It’s fine for me not to be eligible because I’m not a woman! But you not about to be out here on some ‘sex as defined by law’ like that’s not a weapon used against trans women.”The Women’s prize was established in response to the Booker failing to shortlist a single female writer in 1991. Following Emezi’s nomination in 2019, the organisers of the £30,000 award said it was working on a policy “around gender fluid, transgender and transgender non-binary writers”.Responding to Emezi’s comments, the prize organisers said that their terms and conditions for entry equated the word “woman” with “a cis woman, a transgender woman or anyone who is legally defined as a woman or of the female sex”.(5) O’DELL KICKSTARTER.[Item by Cora Buhlert.] Here is a Kickstarter of interest: Claire O Dell is looking for funding to republish her River of Souls trilogy, which came out in 2010 from Tor, when she was still writing as Beth Bernobich: The River of Souls Trilogy, Second Edition With 26 days left, $566 of the $2,500 goal has been raised.I m Claire O’Dell, author of the Lammy Award-winning Janet Watson Chronicles, the River of Souls trilogy, and the Mage and Empire books.Back in 2007, writing as Beth Bernobich, I landed my very first book deal—a three-book contract with Tor Books for my novel Passion Play and two sequels, aka, the River of Souls trilogy.  Passion Play came out in October 2010, and to my absolute delight it won the RT Reviewers Choice Award for Best Epic Fantasy. Queen s Hunt and Allegiance followed in 2012 and 2013, with great reviews, and a prequel novel, A Jewel Bright Sea, appeared last year from Kensington Books.Now that I have the rights back to the trilogy, I’d like to re-release them with new covers that better match the story and the characters. (Not to mention fixing a few continuity errors that crept in along the way.) Pledges from this campaign will pay for custom cover art and rewards.(6) FOUNDATION. At WIRED, “The Geeks Guide to the Galaxy” interviews several creators to support the claim that ‘Foundation’ Has One of the Best Sci-Fi Concepts Ever .John Kessel on psychohistory:“I studied physics as an undergrad, and basically what [Asimov] is doing is taking classical thermodynamics and applying it to human behavior. In thermodynamics, you can’t predict what one atom is going to do, but if you have several billion atoms in a contained box, you can predict—very precisely—if you raise the temperature, exactly what the effect on pressure is going to be, things like that. He’s basically saying if you have enough human beings—you have 100 million worlds, all inhabited by human beings—that psychohistory can predict the mass behavior of human beings, without being able to predict any individual human being’s behavior. That’s a cool idea.”(7) WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH? [Item by Cora Buhlert.] The Guardian has run several articles and opinion pieces about how the postponement of Dune and that James Bond movie will affect British cinemas and may kill them off altogether. A lot of anger, which is partly understandable, because movie theatres are open again at reduced capacity in the UK and much of the rest of Europe, but have nothing to show, because all of the big Hollywood movies are being held back. Here are four views of the situation.He’s best known for sweeping in at the last minute to save the day – but James Bond’s latest act could be the death knell for many British cinemas.The announcement that the release of No Time to Die, the 25th film featuring the secret agent, would be delayed again has left cinemas facing financial obliteration because of the absence of other forthcoming blockbuster films.Our movie industry was just about keeping its morale steady. It was enforcing perfectly workable rules on sanitising and physical distancing and not subject to those closures taking theatre and live entertainment to the cliff edge. The pilot light of big-screen cinema culture was flickering. But it was still alight.But this is a serious blow. If it is really true that Cineworld will close 128 cinemas, putting 5,500 jobs at risk (and it is not simply a scare-story negotiating ploy leaked to the press alongside the company’s official letter to the culture secretary Oliver Dowden demanding action) then this is potentially devastating. …For an understanding of how we got here, look at the fates of two films that did get released during the pandemic. Following a tense summer in which Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Disney’s live-action Mulan remake competed against the coronavirus in a game of grandmother’s footsteps, both films were finally released using opposing strategies.“Warner Bros did a brave thing bringing out Tenet [in cinemas] at that very fraught time,” says Naman Ramachandran, international correspondent at Variety magazine. “It sent a positive message to the exhibition sector as a whole.” Disney, on the other hand, launched Mulan on its streaming service Disney+, where it came with a premium price tag (£19.99/$29.99) in addition to subscription fees. Cinemas screened it only in territories where Disney+ is not available. “My opinion is that Disney should’ve released Mulan in cinemas also,” says Ramachandran. “There was a demand for it and it would’ve kept the theatrical chains happy.” As it stands, no one is: not the exhibitors who lost out on an event movie, nor Disney, who won’t be thrilled if the mediocre streaming audience estimates are correct.Mulan’s defection and Tenet’s under-performance in the US (it still hasn’t opened in the lucrative New York and Los Angeles markets, where cinemas remain closed) have had a devastating effect on other big releases.…After six weeks of global release, Tenet has grossed more than £235m worldwide – a number that means different things to different analysts. For a latter-day Nolan film, it’s borderline disastrous: far short of the £405m grossed by his last film, Dunkirk, which itself was a modest performer compared to the £830m racked up by The Dark Knight Rises. With a production budget around £154m, it’s fair to say these are not the receipts of Nolan’s or Warner Bros executives’ dreams. Others would argue that they’re not half bad for a film released in the midst of a global pandemic in which the filmgoing public has been actively discouraged from communal indoor activity – a metric for which there is no precedent to set the bar. Globally, it’s the third-highest grosser of the year, behind Chinese epic The Eight Hundred and January’s Bad Boys for Life, which already feels like a relic from another era.All in all, things could be worse for Tenet – except for the fact that, by just about anyone’s yardstick, things haven’t been nearly good enough….Twenty five years ago this year at Intersection, the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form went to Star Trek: The Next Generation’s two-part series finale, “All Good Things “.  (It beat out The Mask, Interview with the Vampire, Stargate and Star Trek: Generations.) It was directed by Winrich Kolbe from a script written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. The title is derived from the expression “All good things must come to an end”, a phrase used by Q during the story itself. It generally considered one of the series best episodes with the card scene singled out as one of the series’s best. 10/6 Mad Hatter Day. The original picture of the Mad Hatter by John Tenniel in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll depicts him wearing a hat, bearing the note “In This Style 10/6”. Although we know this is really an order from the time the picture was drawn to mean a hat in that style cost 10 shillings and sixpence, we take this as inspiration to act in the style of the Mad Hatter on 10/6 (In the UK this would point to the tenth of June, but as the day was founded in America it is the 6th of October).Born October 6, 1895 – Caroline Gordon.  Guggenheim Fellowship.  O. Henry Award.  Honorary D.Litt. degrees from Bethany College (West Virginia), St. Mary’s College (Indiana).  The Glory of Hera for us, her last novel; ten others; short-story collections; non-fiction.  (Died 1981) [JH]Born October 6, 1928 – Frank Dietz.  Co-founder of the Lunarians; chaired the first 15 Lunacons; Fan Guest of Honor at Lunacon 50.  Fanzine Luna (and Luna’).  Recorded many SF cons on wire and tape, unfortunately most now seems lost.  File 770 appreciation by Andrew Porter here.  (Died 2013) [JH]Born October 6, 1942 – Arthur Hlavaty, 78.  A dozen times Best Fanwriter Hugo finalist.  No doubt inspired by the C.M. Kornbluth story “MS. Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie” – maybe the only circumstance in which no doubt could be applied to him – he called a fanzine The Diagonal Relationship, later The Dillinger Relic, then Derogatory Reference; not seen since 2002, but in Fanzineland that’s neither complete nor conclusive: No. 33 of his Nice Distinctions just appeared after three years.  Fan Guest of Honor at Empricon 3, MidSouthCon 2, Westercon 42, Minicon 37; Detcon the 11th NASFiC (North America SF Con, since 1975 held when the Worldcon is overseas).  If Sarcasm is in anger, satire is with love, he is as so often with him both.  [JH]Born October 6, 1942 Britt Ekland, 78. She starred in The Wicker Man* as Willow MacGregor, and appeared as a Bond girl, Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun. She was also Queen Nyleptha in King Solomon s Treasure based off the H. Rider Haggard novels. *There is only one Wicker Man film as far as I’m concerned. (CE)Born October 6, 1946 John C. Tibbetts, 74. Film critic, historian, author. He’s written such articles as “The Illustrating Man: The Screenplays of Ray Bradbury” and “Time on His Hands: The Fantasy Fiction of Jack Finney”. One of his two books is The Gothic Imagination: Conversations on Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction in the Media, the other being The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub. (CE) Born October 6, 1950 David Brin, 70. Author of several series including Existence (which I do not recognize), the Postman novel and the Uplift series of which The Uplift War won the Best Novel Hugo at Nolacon II and is most excellent. I’ll admit that the book he could-wrote with Leah Wilson, King Kong Is Back! An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape, tickles me for its title. So who’s read his newest novel, The Ancient Ones? (CE)Born October 6, 1953 – Roseanne Hawke, Ph.D., 67.  Wolfchild, 11th Century story set in the lost land of Lyonesse (RD was awarded Bard of Cornwall in 2006).  Daughter of Nomads, Mughal empire.  Chandani and the Ghost of the Forest, Himalayan mountains.  Memoir, Riding the Wind.  “I started a romantic novel when I was 17 but I burnt it .  working for ten years in the Middle East and Pakistan I started writing seriously.”  Website here.  [JH]Born October 6, 1955 Donna White, 65. Academic who has written several works worth your knowing about — Dancing with Dragons: Ursula K. LeGuin and the Critics and Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom. She’s also the author of the dense but worth reading A Century of Welsh Myth in Children s Literature. (CE) Born October 6, 1955 Ellen Kushner, 65. If you’ve not read it, do so now as her sprawling Riverside seriesis amazing. I’m reasonably sure that I’ve read all of it. And during the the High Holy Days, do be sure to read The Golden Dreydl as it’s quite wonderful. As it’s Autumn and this being when I read it, I’d be remiss not to recommend her Thomas the Rhymer novel which won both the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award. (CE) Born October 6, 1962 – John Knoll, 58.  Chief Creative Officer at Industrial Light Magic.  Creating the Worlds of “Star Wars”; covers for The Art of “Star Trek” (with M. Uesugi), Inside “Star Trek”.  Scientific Engineering Award given him and his brother Thomas for creating Adobe Photoshop.  Cameo appearance as a pilot in The Phantom Menace.  More in his Wikipedia entry.  [JH]Born October 6, 1978 – Anna Elliott, 42.  Three Tristan Isolde books; four about Jane Austen characters, two about Sherlock Holmes, a few more.  Among her favorites by other authors, Life With Father, Wodehouse’s books about Bertie Wooster, Sayers’ books about Lord Peter Wimsey.  “What do you like to do when you’re not writing?”  “Mostly think about writing.”  [JH]Born October 6, 1986 Olivia Jo Thirlby, 34. She is best known for her roles as Natalie in Russian SF film The Darkest Hour and as Judge Cassandra Anderson in the excellent Dredd. And she was Holly in the supernatural thriller Above the Shadows. (CE)  Frank and Ernest have a convincing applicant for the mission to Mars.A great actor whose name I am not supposed to mention here narrates much of the new Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor (out October 9). In 2007, her character tells a wedding party a chilling, sad story of 1987 (and years previous) England, when a spooky estate’s resident ghosts tangled fitfully with living people, all caught in the grip of personal loss. This American actor tries her noble best to maneuver a Northern English accent, though it gets a bit wobbly as her narration scrapes the ceiling of profundity but never quite breaks through. The voiceover, with its heavy writing and uneven if committed delivery, is pretty neatly representative of the whole of Bly Manor, which aims for something scary and sweeping but is too often hampered by messy adornment. Bly Manor is the second series in the Haunting franchise that began with 2018’s Hill House, an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel led by horror auteur Mike Flanagan.After more than a month of scrubs and delays, SpaceX broke the Space Coast s launch drought early Tuesday when a Falcon 9 rocket boosted 60 Starlink internet satellites from Kennedy Space Center.The 7:29 a.m. liftoff from pad 39A signaled the end of what was commonly referred to as Scrubtober, a long series of mission delays that actually began in September due to hardware issues and inclement weather. Tuesday s Starlink mission, for example, had been scrubbed four times…(14) FINDING THE GEMS. The Virtual Memories Show devotes Episode 399 to editor Sheila Williams .With her new fantastic short story anthology, Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends (MIT Press), editor Sheila Williams brings together a panoply of voices to explore how technology and scientific advances have on the deepest human relationships. We talk about Sheila’s nearly 40 years editing science fiction stories at Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, how she manages to balance new and diverse voices with a foundation of SF’s history, how she copes with receiving ~800 stories a month (while only being able to buy 5-6), and technology’s greater role in day-to-day life and what that means for writers’ and readers’ imagination and expectations. We also get into her author freakouts (like going blank when she met Samuel R. Delany many years ago), how her philosophy background helps her as an editor, missing cons and festivals, the challenge of editing an author in translation (in this case Xia Jia), and more. Give it a listen! And go read Entanglements![Thanks to Cora Buhlert, JJ, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, John Hertz, James Davis Nicoll, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Bill.]The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded, one half to Roger Penrose, University of Oxford, UK “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity,” and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany and University of California, Berkeley, USA and Andrea Ghez, University of California, Los Angeles, USA “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”Roger Penrose showed that the general theory of relativity leads to the formation of black holes. Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez discovered that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbits of stars at the centre of our galaxy. A supermassive black hole is the only currently known explanation.Roger Penrose used ingenious mathematical methods in his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein did not himself believe that black holes really exist, these super-heavyweight monsters that capture everything that enters them. Nothing can escape, not even light.In January 1965, ten years after Einstein’s death, Roger Penrose proved that black holes really can form and described them in detail; at their heart, black holes hide a singularity in which all the known laws of nature cease. His groundbreaking article is still regarded as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein.Penrose has in the past lectured at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination.Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez each lead a group of astronomers that, since the early 1990s, has focused on a region called Sagittarius A* at the centre of our galaxy. The orbits of the brightest stars closest to the middle of the Milky Way have been mapped with increasing precision. The measurements of these two groups agree, with both finding an extremely heavy, invisible object that pulls on the jumble of stars, causing them to rush around at dizzying speeds. Around four million solar masses are packed together in a region no larger than our solar system.Using the world’s largest telescopes, Genzel and Ghez developed methods to see through the huge clouds of interstellar gas and dust to the centre of the Milky Way. Stretching the limits of technology, they refined new techniques to compensate for distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, building unique instruments and committing themselves to long-term research. Their pioneering work has given us the most convincing evidence yet of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.“The discoveries of this year’s Laureates have broken new ground in the study of compact and supermassive objects. But these exotic objects still pose many questions that beg for answers and motivate future research. Not only questions about their inner structure, but also questions about how to test our theory of gravity under the extreme conditions in the immediate vicinity of a black hole”, says David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.The MacArthur Fellowships, also known as “Genius Grants,” are worth $625,000, paid in quarterly installments over five years.Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.N. K. Jemisin is a speculative fiction writer exploring deeply human questions about structural racism, environmental crises, and familial relationships while immersing readers in intricately imagined, fantastical worlds. The societies she constructs are populated by protagonists who push against the conventions of earlier-era science fiction and epic fantasy, which often feature male-dominated casts of characters and draw heavily from the legends of medieval Europe. Her multi-volume sagas counterbalance the monumental themes of oppression and exploitation with attentiveness to the more intimate inner workings of families and communities and the range of emotions—from love to rage, resentment to empathy—that they inspire….Jacqueline Woodson is a writer redefining children’s and young adult literature in works that reflect the complexity and diversity of the world we live in while stretching young readers’ intellectual abilities and capacity for empathy. In nearly thirty publications that span picture books, young adult novels, and poetry, Woodson crafts stories about Black children, teenagers, and families that evoke the hopefulness and power of human connection even as they tackle difficult issues such as the history of slavery and segregation, incarceration, interracial relationships, social class, gender, and sexual identity….Photos of your felines (or whatever you’ve got!) resting on genre works are welcome. Send to mikeglyer (at) cs (dot) comNote: The opening sentences have been presented in an image file to work around WordPress failure to properly display special characters.BEFORE SARAH ADLERmoved to Maryland last week, she used library cards from her Washington, DC, home and neighboring counties in Virginia and Maryland to read books online. The Libby app, a slick and easy-to-use service from the company OverDrive, gave her access to millions of titles. When she moved, she picked up another card, and access to another library’s e-collection, as well as a larger consortium that the library belongs to. She does almost all of her reading on her phone, through the app, catching a page or two between working on her novels and caring for her 2-year-old. With her husband also at home, she’s been reading more books, mostly historical romance and literature, during the pandemic. In 2020, she estimates, she’s read 150 books.Adler buys books “rarely,” she says, “which I feel bad about. As someone who hopes to be published one day, I feel bad not giving money to authors.”Borrowers like Adler are driving publishers crazy. After the pandemic closed many libraries’ physical branches this spring, checkouts of ebooks are up 52 percent from the same period last year, according to OverDrive, which partners with 50,000 libraries worldwide. Hoopla, another service that connects libraries to publishers, says 439 library systems in the US and Canada have joined since March, boosting its membership by 20 percent….… But the surging popularity of library ebooks also has heightened longstanding tensions between publishers, who fear that digital borrowing eats into their sales, and public librarians, who are trying to serve their communities during a once-in-a-generation crisis….It seems the spice won’t flow until next year, as Warner Bros. and Legendary are movingDenis Villeneueve‘sDuneoff its December release date and will unveil the epic sci-fi movie on Oct. 1, 2021, Collider has exclusively learned.(3) WORLD FANTASY CON PR#3 AVAILABLE. The virtual World Fantasy Convention (October 29-November 1) has released its third Progress Report [PDF file].In it you will find an update on the program and schedule a description of our online and mobile platform information about the convention time zone pre-convention sessions by some awesome instructors, available to all attendees exciting news about the free books available to all participating members a beautiful piece of artwork by our Artist Guest of Honor, David A. Cherry(4) FANS ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM. [Item by Rich Lynch.] Nicki noticed,on theGoodMorningAmericabroadcast,that their medical advisor, Dr. James Phillips, appears to be aStarWarstrufan. On his wall bookshelf behind him were Princess Leia and Han Solo bookends, between which were variousStarWarsbooks and DVDs.Andto the left of the bookshelf was a framed photo of Chewbacca. Walter Reed attending physician calls out Trump s irresponsibility Dr. James Phillips, attending physician at Walter Reed hospital, talks to @GMA about the potential threat the president’s motorcade ride while diagnosed with COVID-19 posed to the people who were in his car. pic.twitter.com/wNph9mXwDl Good Morning America (@GMA) October 5, 2020(5) NEW FREE GUY TRAILER. Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds’ video game movie is still due to open December 11.In Twentieth Century Studios’ epic adventure-comedy “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late.… I do not expect everyone to be aware of the many differences between Latin American people, the contrasting cultures and literatures of each country. I do not bother trying to convince anyone that it would be highly unlikely for Argentines (like myself) to make much of the words “magical realism” when thinking about our own contribution to letters. But I have no qualms in declaring that this label isn’t in any way useful to explainallof the fiction produced south of Texas, as so many have tried to do, forcing the most disparate authors into this pigeonhole. And to raise the ante even more, I’d happily die on the hill which declares that magical realism doesn’t even saythat muchabout the region’s fertile literary production, beyond what it might say about a handful of authors, mostly around the Boom of the ’60s, plus their disciples.[2]In other words, the Latin American titles that would be shelved under the category of magical realism —without resistance from producers, critics, or well-informed readers —would represent a rather limited sample, if we consider contemporary and historical examples, regardless of originality and literary quality.[3]But we are talking about a very powerful Force (uppercase intended).The “magical realist imperative,” critic Sylvia Molloy calls it, understanding that this is a label but also a demand:the demand that Latin American literature fit the label. This sounds circular, like the Chicken or Egg Paradox, and paradoxes are confusing. To make it simpler, for simple it is, it all boils down to:“If it comes from Latin America, it has to be magical realism, in some way, even if it looks like something completely different.” Needless to say, this results in terrible reductions. It has “wreaked havoc,”as Jorge Volpi puts it without much exaggeration, for it has “erased, with a single [stroke], all of Latin America’s previous explorations […] and it became a choke-chain for those writers who didn’t show any interest in magic.”The theme for our first issue is The Bonds That Unite Us:Constellations are the product of human imagination, giving meaning to the patterns we see in the sky. From these scintillating dots lighting up the night, we’ve created stories about heroes, legends, and mythological creatures.Wecreated those bonds, andwegive them meaning.Each culture that has looked up at the sky with wonder has its own interpretation ofthese connections, and now we want to hear yours.What are the bonds that unite our cultures and languages around the world? How are these bonds formed, and what upholds them? How can they be broken and forged again? What unites an alien civilization to humankind? What ties the dragon to the unicorn and prevents it from making a meal out of her?Sometimes these bonds are ones of blood. (Vampire tastes may vary.) Sometimesthey’re shaped by shows of courage and strength, and the common struggles we face. These bondscan topple walls and bringdown civilizations, and sometimes they’re the foundation for something new.The theme is open to interpretation, as long as the stories fit under the speculative fiction umbrella.October 10, 1962 – The first James Bond movie premiered.October 10, 2007 The Seeker: The Dark Is Risingpremiered. It’s based rather loosely onthe second book inSusan Cooper’sThe Dark Is Risingseries. (Cooper has a World Fantasy Award forLife Achievement.) It was directed by David L. Cunningham and produced by Marc Platt from a screenplay by John Hodge. It starred Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston, Frances Conroy and Ian McShane. The Jim Henson Company owned the original film option on the series but never exercised it. Critics generally didn’t like it though they really loved Christopher Eccleston s performance. Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes currently give it a thirty three percent rating.Born October 5, 1882 – Robert Goddard, Ph.D.  Built the first liquid-fueled rocket, a vital development.  Worked out the math himself.  Two hundred patents.  Had little public support; ridiculed.  Decades later NASA Goddard Space Flight Center named for him; Int’l Aerospace Hall of Fame; Int’l Space Hall of Fame.  (Died 1945) [JH]Born October 5, 1889 – Robert Jones.  A hundred covers, almost as many interiors.  Here is the Oct 46 Amazing.  Here is the Apr 50 Fantastic.  Here is the Jul 53 Other Worlds.  Here is the May 54 Universe.  (Died 1969) [JH]Born October 5, 1897 – George Salter.  Thirty covers for us, hundreds more outside our field; distinctive with us, pioneering with others.  Here is the Fall 50 F SF.  Here is The Trial.  Here is Atlas Shrugged.  Here is Brighton Rock.  Here is Absalom, Absalom!  See this Website.  (Died 1967) [JH]Born October 5, 1923 – Tetsu Yano.  First Japanese SF author to visit the U.S.  Three hundred fifty translations, Heinlein, Herbert, Pohl.  His own novella “Legend of the Paper Spaceship” often translated (English 1983), anthologized.  Big Heart, our highest service award.  (Died 2004) [JH]Born October 5, 1949 Peter Ackroyd, 71. His best known genre work is likely Hawksmoor which tells the tale of a London architect building a church and a contemporary detective investigating horrific murderers involving that church. Highly recommended. The House of Doctor Dee is genre fiction as is The Limehouse Golem and The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.  I thought Hawksmoor had been turned into a film it has not but he has a credit for The Limehouse Golem which is his sole film work to date. (CE) Born October 5, 1950 Jeff Conaway. Babylon 5 has seen a lot of actors die young and he was one of them. He played Zack Allan, a security officer promoted to Chief of Security upon the resignation of Michael Garibaldi. Other genre roles including being in Pete s Dragon as Willie Gogan, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark as Travis, Alien Intruder as Borman and the Wizards and Warriors series as Prince Erik Greystone. (Died 2011.) (CE) Born October 5, 1952 Clive Barker, 68. Horror writer, series include the Hellraiser and the Book of Art which is not to overlook The Abarat Quintet which is quite superb. Though not recent, The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction published some twenty years ago contains more than seventy excerpts from novels and plays and four full-length short stories. His Imaginer series collects his decidedly strange and often disturbing art.  There has been a multitude of comic books, both by him and by others based on his his ideas.  My personal fav work by him is the Weaveworld novel. (CE) Born October 5, 1959 Rich Horton, 61. Editor of three anthology series — Fantasy: Best of The Year and Science Fiction: Best of The Year both no longer being published, and The Year s Best Science Fiction Fantasy which is ongoing since 2009. He has been a reviewer for Locus for over a decade. (CE)Born October 5, 1967 Jenna Russell, 53. She appeared as the Floor Manager in the Ninth Doctor stories “Bad Wolf” and “The Parting of the Ways”. She sang the Red Dwarf theme song,the recording that has been used for all of the show s series over the last thirty years. She also plays the Baker’s Wife in the film version of Into The Woods. In the 1998 London revival production of it, she played Cinderella. (CE) Born October 5, 1974 Colin Meloy, 46. He’s best known as the frontman of the The Decemberists, a band that makes use of folklore quite a bit,  but he has also written the neat and charmingly weird children’s  fantasy Wildwood trilogy which is illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. (CE)Born October 5, 1971 – Paul Weimer, 49.  (Name rhymes with “dreamer”) Writer, roleplayer, podcaster, photographer, often seen here.  The Skiffy and Fanty Show since 2013.  Hundreds of reviews and articles for SF Signal 2011-2015.  Tor Website reviews.  DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund) delegate; trip report What I Did on My Summer Vacation. [JH]Born October 5, 1979 – Grace Krilanovich, 41.  The Orange Eats Creeps an Amazon Book of the Year.  MacDowell Colony Fellow.  In 2010 a Nat’l Book Fdn “5 Under 35” honoree.  An interview here. [JH](11) MARVEL’S 616 TRAILER. Yahoo! News took a look at Marvel s 616 at PaleyFest Fall TV Previews 2020 . All episodes available for streaming November 20 on Disney+.Topics include: exploring how Marvel and the outside world have influenced one another; the series eight episodes as discrete films with different styles and visions; the Marvel Spotlight program, which helps to craft plays for high school students, as seen in Brie s episode; highlighting Japanese Spider-Man, the 1970s kids TV series that reinterpreted the webslinger for Japanese audiences; tracking down information and interviewees for the extremely niche show, never before seen in the West; the 616 title, which refers to the many realities within the Marvel multiverse; and creating space for comic book newcomers and veterans alike to see themselves reflected in the stories.…When researchers dug the paper up this week — it was published about a year ago, but attracted little attention until now — they expressed consternation about both the contents of the paper and how it ended up in what appears to be a vaguely credible scientific journal. The bylines on the paper do appear to correspond to actual researchers at a variety of European universities. But its claims, about a black hole formed by something “like DNA,” are hilariously tabloid-esque.… The most likely explanation,according to Cambridge University mathematician Sarah Rasmussen, is that the authors purposely submitted a ridiculous paper in order to expose “predatory journals” that purport to be normal, peer-reviewed publications, but in reality apply little scrutiny to material that they publish, often in order to collect publication fees.Access to orbit around Earth was once limited to a handful of space agencies around the globe. With the proliferation of spacefaring technologies and cost-efficient craft,low-Earth orbit(LEO)—the sliver of space extending to 1,200 miles above our planet—is now an increasingly populous mix of private and public interests. Today, LEO is brimming with government craft, commercial programs, university undertakings, venture capital funding, and more.On Thursday, IBM announced two open-source projects in an effort to democratize access to space technologies and help track the debris field orbiting overhead. We spoke with Naeem Altaf, IBM Distinguished Engineer and CTO of space tech, to learn more about these programs.… To assist, IBM has created the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) project, operated in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, which leverages two models to monitor space debris. The physics-based SSA model incorporatesCowell s formulationto model perturbation space debris orbit caused by the Earth. A second model uses machine learning to predict errors in orbit predictions using XGBoost gradient-boosted regression trees, per the IBM release. With USSTRATCOM data acting as the ground truth, the machine learning model is trained using the physical model s orbit predictions to predict errors in the physics model.How much can just one feather reveal—especially if that feather is a fossil that drifted to the ground sometime during the Jurassic era?Archaeopteryxis the earliest known bird that is thought to have looked mostly birdlike with some dinosaurian features. When a fossilized feather was first unearthed near Berlin 159 years ago, it sparked a debate over whether it was really molted by the extinct Archaeopteryx or some yet-unknownfeathered dinosaurspecies. Now that a team of paleontologists from the University of South Florida have analyzed the feather, its attributes have shown thatit is more likely to have come from an Archaeopteryxthan any other creature.(15) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians:The Lightning Thief on ScreenRant, Ryan George explains that even though the Percy Jackson movie has scenes in a magic school called Camp Halfblood, the film has absolutely nothing to do with the Harry Potter series.[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, JJ, Martin Morse Wooster, N., Daniel Dern, Michael Toman, John Hertz, Mike Kennedy, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jeff Smith.] Archives October 2020(26) September 2020(101) August 2020(123) July 2020(125) June 2020(114) May 2020(104) April 2020(103) March 2020(112) February 2020(108) January 2020(113) December 2019(98) November 2019(91) October 2019(87) September 2019(94) August 2019(140) July 2019(113) June 2019(108) May 2019(113) April 2019(115) March 2019(103) February 2019(104) January 2019(99) December 2018(82) November 2018(97) October 2018(109) September 2018(100) August 2018(93) July 2018(115) June 2018(107) May 2018(121) April 2018(111) March 2018(125) February 2018(150) January 2018(135) December 2017(93) November 2017(109) October 2017(118) September 2017(106) August 2017(133) July 2017(139) June 2017(130) May 2017(126) April 2017(132) March 2017(111) February 2017(96) January 2017(106) December 2016(112) November 2016(120) October 2016(132) September 2016(106) August 2016(25) July 2016(137) June 2016(110) May 2016(123) April 2016(114) March 2016(123) February 2016(109) January 2016(113) December 2015(125) November 2015(118) October 2015(135) September 2015(138) August 2015(129) July 2015(147) June 2015(145) May 2015(157) April 2015(141) March 2015(139) February 2015(110) January 2015(105) December 2014(96) November 2014(112) October 2014(126) September 2014(95) August 2014(102) July 2014(115) June 2014(115) May 2014(133) April 2014(89) March 2014(80) February 2014(77) January 2014(83) December 2013(71) November 2013(91) October 2013(82) September 2013(83) August 2013(99) July 2013(107) June 2013(107) May 2013(105) April 2013(94) March 2013(104) February 2013(68) January 2013(54) December 2012(58) November 2012(62) October 2012(71) September 2012(79) August 2012(73) July 2012(65) June 2012(78) May 2012(70) April 2012(57) March 2012(66) February 2012(60) January 2012(69) December 2011(59) November 2011(48) October 2011(70) September 2011(60) August 2011(52) July 2011(58) June 2011(56) May 2011(41) April 2011(49) March 2011(42) February 2011(58) January 2011(48) December 2010(43) November 2010(40) October 2010(49) September 2010(41) August 2010(31) July 2010(21) June 2010(43) May 2010(48) April 2010(50) March 2010(81) February 2010(55) January 2010(51) December 2009(84) November 2009(55) October 2009(79) September 2009(66) August 2009(57) July 2009(56) June 2009(42) May 2009(52) April 2009(63) March 2009(65) February 2009(38) January 2009(67) December 2008(53) November 2008(43) October 2008(73) September 2008(66) August 2008(98) July 2008(106) June 2008(54) May 2008(52) April 2008(50) March 2008(32) February 2008(29) January 2008(17) October 2007(1) September 2007(1) April 2007(1) December 2006(1) May 2006(1) March 2006(2) February 2006(1) September 2005(1) August 2005(1) May 2005(1) April 2005(5) March 2005(3) January 2005(1) December 2004(4) October 2004(4) September 2004(4)

TAGS:Mike Glyers File 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Hot Websites