This Way to Texas

More on Armadillocon

2008-08-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

I know some people reel out these long blog entries, but I really have other things to do in my life, and so I try to blog only so much per day.

My first panel was Saturday at 11 a.m. I left Mount Pleasant at 5:15 a.m. and made it in exactly five hours. I immediately ran into Maureen McHugh - who I had seen at the Nebulas in April - and Andrew Swann, who I had never met. He's from the Cleveland area and knows Maureen from when she lived up there. He's a real nice guy and a very accomplished author. I had them in stitches describing the crackpot plot of my high alternate history book, "Dance With Me, Henry."

Andrew joined me and Rhonda Eudaly at 11 a.m. for the "Stump the Panel" session which was lots of fun. It didn't have a big turnout, but those who came had a good time.

Soon afterwards I ran into Lawrence Person, who was chatting with Steve Utley. Steve had to introduce himself - although we have corresponded and talked a number of times, I had never met him and had no idea what he looked like. Bill Ledbetter came by, as well as Jayme Blaschke (Jayme and I had Steve sign our copies of 'Lone Star Universe') and we all visited for some time. Steve had some fascinating insights in what the Austin s-f community was like in the 1970s and 1980s.

By early afternoon checked into my hotel room and I took a break to recover from the long drive and the start of the con.

2b cont

Report from Armadillocon

2008-08-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'll probably be posting for the next few days about Armadillocon, but I did want to get this in right away:

Howard Waldrop was going to be a guest at the con, and continue his tradition of doing the closing reading. Of course, he is still recuperating at a VA hospital in Central Texas, and couldn't be there in person, but they figgered out a way he could participate.

Howard is in a VA Hospital in Temple, which is 60 miles north of Austin. I left the Con at 2:30 p.m. because I had a three hour drive to Dallas. My wife grew up in Dallas and I stayed overnight Sunday with my mother-in-law. I finished the drive to East Texas this afternoon.

One reason I wanted to leave the con early was to stop by and see Howard. When I got there Barb Denton, Alan Graham and Howard were set up in a lounge on the floor where he is staying. Apparently Brad Denton laid the plans for the "remote broadcast"

The reading back in Austin started at 4 p.m. and while Howard's pals back in Austin were reading "The Ugly Chickens" we all visited and had a nice time.

When they got close to the end, Brad called and Barb and Howard began to follow along, so Howard was able to jump in and finish up. Howard's spirits and wit remain strong, but he's still a little frail physically (or else he wouldn't be in the hospital). Since I'm a journalist I always carry a camera, and so I took digital pics for posterity of the event.

What impressed me was how, when he began reading,Howard sounded his old self. It was like he was back at the first Armadillocon. I guess that came through to the folks back in Austin, from all reports. After he finished, Howard just sat there for a while listening on the cell phone. Finally he said with a big smile, "they're still applauding".

Afterwards. Barb and Alan left and headed back to Austin. I had to use the facilities and then I said good-bye to Howard. I told him I would mail him a copy a photo taken when he was reading, and I asked him to write down his mailing address at the hospital. He handed me a couple of sheets of 8x11 paper folded in quarters. He wrote his address information on one side.

When I got back home and I opened my briefcase, I took out the folded papers. I was going to transcribe his address and throw the scrap paper away, but when I unfolded the paper I saw it was the pages of "The Ugly Chickens" that he had read from. I think I'll keep them.

The shudder I got when he started reading his story reminded me of the way I felt when I was a young man and saw the video of Buddy Holly playing "Peggy Sue" on the Ed Sullivan Show. Howard Waldrop is a true genius and a Texas original. It was a coincidence, but I feel very blessed to have been there when he did his reading.

Off to 'Dillocon

2008-08-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm ready to drive down to Austin for Armadillocon 30. It will take me 5-6 hours. Thank goodness the price of gas has been dropping lately.

Here is my schedule, by way of a last minute reminder:

Sa1100DZ Stump the Panel
Sat 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Eudaly, B. Foster, Graham*, Swann
Watch our panelists make up sf/f uses for common objects supplied by the audience.

Sa2000DW How to Sell a Story to Asimov's
Sat 8:00 PM-9:00 PM deWitt
Antonelli*, McHugh, Webb, S. Williams
What is the editor really looking for? What do others -- from a variety of viewpoints -- see in her choices, and how is the magazine evolving?

Su1000R Reading
Sun 10:00 AM-10:30 AM Robertson
Lou Antonelli

Su1100DZ No More Excuses: Making Writing a Part of Your Life
Sun 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Kenner, Richerson, Sarath*, M. Wells
Having trouble fitting writing into your life? We'll have tips, tactics, and boot camp-style exhortations to get you to stop making excuses and spend more time writing.

Asterisks indicate the moderator of the panels.

For my reading Sunday, I will be reading from the first chapter of the alternate history I just just completed, "Dance with me Henry". It's currently with an editor at Tor.

I know readings for minor authors such as myself are usually poorly attended, especially opposite strong panels. so I plan a reward for whatever audience I draw:
I will give away an unopened 10-CD boxed set of the audio version of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union". It is a $39.95 value. I got it because it was sent to a newspaper as a revieiw copy. The newspaper didn't even open it, and I picked it up for essentially nothing at a newspaper conference. Whoever sits through my reading can have it. If we have more than one other person, we'll draw lots or something.

"Avatar" earns honorable mention

2008-08-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

I just got my copy of Gardner Dozois' annual anthology, "The Year's Best Science Fiction, 25th annual collection". I had to ask my local Hastings Bookstore to order it for me. I see that my story "Avatar", which was published by the e-zine Darker Matter in April 2007, made the honors list.

This is the ninth honorable mention I've had in five years. Other stories previously recognized are:

"Silence is Golden" - Revolution SF (2004)
"Circe in Vitro" - Astounding Tales (2005).
"The Rocket-Powered Cat" - RevolutionSF (2005).
"I Got You" - Bewildering Stories (2005).
"Pen Pal" - RevolutionSF (2005)
"A Rocket for the Republic" - Asimovs (2006)
"The Cast Iron Dybbuk" - Andromeda Spaceways In-Flight Magazine (2006)
"Dialogue" - RevolutionSF (2006)

I was shut out last year.

"Darker Matter" has since folded, but my story is still archived, if you'd like to read it: http://www.darkermatter.com/issue2/avatar.php

The Helix-Sanders Implosion

2008-08-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

I thought this kind of stuff only happened in congregational churches - you know, schisms, splits and new congregations founded over hurt feelings and unimportant disputes (if you go to an SBC church like I do, you've probably heard the joke about the missionary who's stranded on a desert island, with the punchline "Oh, that's the church I used to go to.")

In July, a writer posted a rejection on a blog letter from William Sanders at Helix which - in the course of explaining why the story was not being accepted - made some un-PC comments and at least one reference that was considered racist. Putting aside the fact that, while a brilliant writer, Sanders is about as cuddly as a two-striped skunk with distemper, I feel the rejected author was wrong to disseminate what was a private communication between and editor and an author, and furthermore, while so many people find Sanders' opinions obnoxious, he's entitled to them and his free speech and freedom of thought is to be respected and protected as anyone else's.

I've decided, for the sake of clarity, to repost here this informatin gleaned from a web site called Transcriptase, which seems to be the "schism" from the Helix site following the big blow-up. If you've been getting this megilla in dribs and drabs, pull the chair closer and read the sordid tale.

And it goes like this:

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We are Helix writers who believe in a speculative fiction community that welcomes all readers—inclusive of all races, genders, and marginalized people of all backgrounds.

In July 2008, Helix editor William Sanders stirred up controversy in the community with remarks that many found offensive. The blogosphere exploded with discussion.

As the controversy continued, several Helix writers asked to remove their work from the magazine and were met with unprofessional treatment. This upset all of us. We agreed that we would not stand by in silence.

Transcriptase hosts reprints of our stories and poems originally published at Helix. During the controversy, some of us removed our work from Helix; others left it up. There are valid reasons to make either choice, and we hope you’ll respect that we had difficult decisions to make. We offer our stories and poems at Transcriptase so that you can enjoy our work away from Helix, if you choose.

It’s difficult to summarize how we feel about the incident, since each of us feels differently. Our reactions range from disappointed to sad to angry.

Here is the summary of what happended:

The short summary: Helix editor William Sanders wrote a rejection letter using the term “sheet heads.” (The rejected story included Muslim characters and dealt with terrorism.) When confronted with this, he defended his word choice and criticized the writer for posting the rejection letter. Debate spread across many major internet forums. Several Helix writers asked to have their work removed from the Helix archives. Sanders did so, but put up a page saying the story was removed for “pantiwadulous” reasons. He told one writer that he only published her story because he wanted diversity and the story didn’t actually make sense. Then he said that any writer who doesn’t remove their story within the month will have to pay $40 to have it done later. Finally he declared that no more stories could be removed, period.

Transcriptase is a response to these actions. A longer summary follows.

The letter was originally posted in a journal, although the author later removed the letter. The full text of the letter is still available on a number of sites, but is reposted here for convenience:

No, I’m sorry but I can’t use this.

There’s much to like. I’m impressed by your knowledge of the Q’uran and Islamic traditions. (Having spent a couple of years in the Middle East, I know something about these things.) You did a good job of exploring the worm-brained mentality of those people - at the end we still don’t really understand it, but then no one from the civilized world ever can - and I was pleased to see that you didn’t engage in the typical error of trying to make this evil bastard sympathetic, or give him human qualities.

However, as I say, I can’t use it. Because Helix is a speculative fiction magazine, and this isn’t speculative fiction.

Oh, you’ve tacked on some near-future elements at the end, but the future stuff isn’t in any way necessary to the story; it isn’t even connected with it in any causal way. True, the narrator seems to be saying that it was this incident which caused him to take up the jihad, but he’s being mendacious (like all his kind, he’s incapable of honesty); he was headed in that direction from the start, and if it hadn’t been the encounter with the stripper it would have been something else.

Now if it could be shown that something in this incident showed him HOW the West could be overthrown, then perhaps the story would qualify as SF. That might have been interesting. As it is, though, no connection is shown and in fact we are never told just how this conquest - a highly improbable event, to say the least - came about.

There are some other problems with the story, but there’s no point in going into them, because they don’t really matter from my viewpoint. It’s not speculative fiction and I can’t use it in my magazine.

And I don’t think you’re going to sell it to any other genre magazine, for that reason - though you’d have a hard time anyway; most of the SF magazines are very leery of publishing anything that might offend the sheet heads. I think you might have a better chance with some non-genre publication. But I could be wrong.

Sorry.

William Sanders
Senior Editor
Helix

The initial posting of the letter prompted considerable debate in the blogosphere as to the ethics of posting a rejection letter, some of which can be seen in this thread at Making Light. In this thread, Lawrence Watt-Evans, another Helix editor, explained Sanders’ comments as follows (#3 in the thread):

Several people do seem to have misinterpreted it; the references in the letter to “those people” are indeed specifically directed at terrorists, not Muslims in general, since the story in question is about terrorists. I’m fairly sure the story’s author understood that; I certainly hope he did.

The only possible ethnic slur is the term “sheet heads.” Once again, that was intended to refer to radical Islam, rather than Muslims in general, but I acknowledge it may be an unfortunate choice of words.

To which Patrick Nielsen Hayden, senior editor with Tor Books (#10 in the thread), responded:

Lawrence, you know I like you, but no one with any sense buys the idea that when Sanders raved about “the worm-brained mentality of those people” and claimed that “most of the SF magazines are very leery of publishing anything that might offend the sheet heads”, he was making a careful distinction between “Muslims in general” and “terrorists.” Because, you know, nobody thinks that even William Sanders is crazy enough to assert that “most of the SF magazines” are afraid to publish anything that would offend terrorists. Obviously he meant Muslims in general. He knows it, everyone with any sense knows it, and you know it, and I don’t know why you’re retailing defenses of this obvious nonsense.

Say what you will about Nick Mamatas; try to brush him aside because he and Sanders dislike each other–I’m not close to either of them, and I don’t care about that. What I know is that Mamatas absolutely has the drop on Sanders’ claims that he was only referring to “terrorists.” As Mamatas points out, if this is true, what does it do to Sanders’ claim of familiarity with the people under discussion? Sanders can’t have it both ways; if his splenetic comments were meant to refer only to “terrorists,” then he was claiming to have spent his time in the Middle East hanging out with terrorists.

Tobias Buckell also provides a good analysis of why the letter is racist. He concludes:

If we don’t call this shit out, people will think it’s totally okay to do it, snickering on the down low in emails.

Meanwhile, Sanders’ email to Yoon Ha Lee, in response to her request to have her work removed, contained the following racist insult:

Certainly I would not want to continue to publish a story against the author’s wishes, especially a story like this one that never did make any sense and that I only accepted because I thought it might please those who admire your work, and also because (notorious bigot that I am) I was trying to get more work by non-Caucasian writers.

Ultimately several Helix authors asked to have their work removed. When the work was removed, it was replaced by a page stating “Story deleted at author’s pantiwadulous request.”

Subsequent to these requests, William Sanders said that writers would have to pay $40 to have their stories removed from the archive.

Why should you have to do all this extra work for nothing, just so some silly people can make a big grandstand play to impress their bloggy pals with the Correctness of their convictions?

I am hereby making a change to the aforestated offer. Effective as of now,
any Helix contributor who wants his/her work deleted from the archives will
have to pay for the privilege. Specifically, it’ll cost you forty bucks, payable
to Melanie.

Finally, William Sanders declares that no further Helix authors may remove their stories, period:

All right, that’s it. It’s been long enough; there’s been ample opportunity
for anyone else who felt soiled by the contact with Helix to step up and speak
up and pay up.

I don’t believe there are going to be any others (the imposition of cash charges
seems to have had a distinctly damping effect) but if there are, tough shit.
You had your chance and you didn’t take it.

Thus far, this is the end of the saga. More details can be found by Googling “Sanders letter Muslim” and similar strings.

#

To twist a phrase that comes out of Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Conundrum of the Workshops", "It's art, but it isn't pretty."

Republic of Texas boundary marker

2008-08-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever posted this before, but thinking about the third anniversary of the publication of "A Rocket for the Republic" got me thinking.

There is, in East Texas, on the border with Louisiana, the only international boundary marker within the borders of the continental 48 states. It was erected by the Republic of Texas in 1847 to mark its border with the U.S. There were wooden boundary markers erected all along the border with Arkansas and Louisiana, but there were two granite markers erected in crucial places where the boundary zagged as it went from following the Sabine River in Louisiana to following a straight line up to Arkansas.

One of those granite markers was on the banks of the Sabine and fell into the river years ago, but the other remains. This a view of the shaft as it is today. This view shows the side with the R.T. for the Republic of Texas on it; the other side has USA. A third side has longitude information.

The Armadillo lumbers into view

2008-07-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

The preliminary schedule for ArmadilloCon 30 has been posted on its website. Below are the links.

Schedule Grid: http://www.armadillocon.org/programming/grid.htm
Detailed Listing: http://www.armadillocon.org/programming/sched.htm

I attended the con in 2004 but otherwise have not been able to make it. This will be my first as a panelist.

I am pleased with my panels, which are as follows:

Stump the Panel Sat 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Eudaly, B. Foster, Graham*, Kitanidis, Swann
Watch our panelists make up sf/f uses for common objects supplied by the audience.

How to Sell a Story to Asimov's Sat 8:00 PM-9:00 PM deWitt
Antonelli*, McHugh, Webb, S. Williams
What is the editor really looking for? What do others -- from a variety of viewpoints -- see in her choices, and how is the magazine evolving?

No More Excuses: Making Writing a Part of Your Life Sun 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Broderick, J. Haldeman, Richerson, Sarath*, M. Wells
Having trouble fitting writing into your life? We'll have tips, tactics, and boot camp-style exhortations to get you to stop making excuses and spend more time writing.

As the asterisk indicates, I will be moderating the panel on how to sell a story to Asimov's.

My reading will be Sun 10:00 AM-10:30 AM Robertson

Wizards to Refocus Publishing Efforts

2008-07-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a news release I picked thanks to a lead from SF Signal:

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Wizards of the Coast has announced the decision to refocus publishing efforts on the company's two core brands -- Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. As part of this strategy, the Discoveries imprint will be discontinued after the end of the 2008 catalog year.

"There is still so much more to discover in the rich fantasy worlds of Magic and D&D," said Casey Reeter, VP of Marketing for Wizards of the Coast. "Refocusing our publishing resources allows us to tell those untold stories and expand the reach of our core brands."

Beginning in 2009, any novel or series that does not support these core brands will be removed from the publishing schedule. The 2008 publishing schedule will remain unchanged.

The Mirrorstone imprint will continue to produce books for Dungeons & Dragons such as the Practical Guide and Dragon Codex series as well as the Stone of Tymora trilogy—a new Forgotten Realms series for young adult readers that kicks off this fall. Other series under the imprint that do not directly support Magic or D&D will not continue in 2009.

"We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such a talented group of new authors," said Liz Schuh, Director of Publishing at Wizards of the Coast. "We wish them success in their future endeavors."

#

Back in February I was on a panel at ConDFW with J.M. McDermott, whose first novel, "Last Dragon", was the first trade paperback of the Discoveries imprint. He was also plumping the book at the con. He seemed really eager and pumped, I hope this isn't a severe setback for him.

Prometheus Awards Winners

2008-07-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Libertarian Futurist Society has released winners of this year's Prometheus Awards in advance of the planned awards ceremony at the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver next month.

For the first time in the history of the award, there is a tie this year for Best Novel. Winners and finalists are as follows:

NOVEL (tie)
The Gladiator, Harry Turtledove (Tor)
Ha'Penny, Jo Walton (Tor)
The Execution Channel, Ken MacLeod (Tor)
Fleet of Worlds, Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner (Tor)
Ragamuffin, Tobias S. Buckell (Tor)

HALL OF FAME
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
As Easy as A.B.C., Rudyard Kipling
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Once and Future King, T.H. White
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis

The Hall of Fame category includes works sometimes nominated year after year until they win; Burgess' novel was a finalist in the category in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2007.

The Prometheus Awards were established in 1979. Winners receive a plaque and a one-ounce gold coin.

Strange coincidence

2008-07-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

You know, last Saturday (July 20th) Turner Classic Movies showed "Soylent Green", which struck me as interesting since the announcement that Harry Harrison was being named SFWA grandmaster was made two days earlier.

Here is a vido of the original movie trailer from 1973:

Encounters with Harry

2008-07-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Harry Harrison was a guest at the first con I ever attended outside Texas, Philcon in 2003. That whole con was quite an experience for me - my learning curve then was very steep. I enjoyed his panels and learned a lot - although, after having lived in Texas 18 years, I found his clipped speech and fast pace, especially when he got excited, to be daunting to follow.

The following summer the wife and I drove up to Lawrence, Kansas, to attend the Campbell Conference. That year, 2004, was the last where the members of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame were inducted at the same time (the event has since moved to the sf museum in Seattle).

The living honorees were Brian Aldiss and Harry, We arrived in Lawrence just in time for the dinner, and as I rushed into the student center - worried that we were running late - I saw a pair of old timers in tuxes heading for the door from the opposite direction.

As I ran up, I realied they were Aldiss and Harrison, which floored me. In a clumsy attempt to be a gentleman, I grabbed the door to hold it open for Aldiss, who was first. But as I walked around him, I stepped on the back of his shoe and gave him a "flat tire". (My wife tried to make me feel better later by pointing out that Aldiss was wearing house shoes).

I don't think Aldiss was terribly happy, and I was so embarrassed I ducked both of them for the rest of the weekend.

I've been a panelist at at least two conventions over the past few years where Harrison he has also been a guest, and I've steered clear. I hope he doesn't remember me!

Harry Harrison named Grand Master by SFWA

2008-07-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here's new out of the SFWA from last Thursday, July 17:

Harry Harrison, creator of The Stainless Steel Rat and author of the novel that inspired the movie Soylent Green, will be honored as the next Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America during the 2009 Nebula Award Weekend® in Los Angeles, Calif.

Harrison’s selection was announced by SFWA President Russell Davis after consulting with the Board of Directors and participating past presidents. The Nebula Awards Weekend will be held April 24-26 in Los Angeles, Calif., with the awards presentation banquet to be held on the UCLA campus to tie in with the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Past SFWA President and Grand Master (2004) Robert Silverberg will be presenting.

“There are few moments in life that can be taken out and savored in memory. One happened today,” Harrison said. “A phone call from our President Russell Davis with the startling news that I was to be the 2009 Grand Master nearly led to the collapse of a stout writer!

“It’s still soaking in,” he said. “But may I express my fervent thanks to all involved for this signal honor.”
Already an established illustrator and freelance non-fiction writer, Harrison published his first science fiction story, "Rock Diver," in the August 1951 issue of Worlds Beyond. From that point he went on to produce more than 62 novels, eight short fiction collections, six non-fiction books and countless short stories. He also found the time to edit 35 anthologies over the span of his career.

His active involvement in the science fiction community throughout the 1950s led to his becoming a charter member of SFWA.
“Why, I can recall with a tear in one rheumy eye, when SFWA was a just a wild idea put forward by Damon Knight,” Harrison said. “A few of us nodded and agreed with him and thus, with great hope and no money, this organization was born. I won’t dwell on the fact that this was over 50 years ago…

“Enough! Let’s look to the future not the past as we go from strength to strength and march—banners flapping—into the SF future,” he said.

Harrison was born in 1925 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, an experience that made a strong negative impression on him and inspired his satirical Bill, the Galactic Hero novel series. A regular contributor to the legendary John W. Campbell's Astounding, Harrison’s work often reflected his interest in environmental issues and non-violent resolutions to conflict. His best-known creations are The Stainless Steel Rat and Make Room! Make Room! on which the film Soylent Green was based. His more recent works include best-selling alternate world trilogies West of Eden and Stars and Stripes Forever!
Harrison is the 26th writer recognized by SFWA as a Grand Master. He joins Robert A. Heinlein (1974), Jack Williamson (1975), Clifford D. Simak (1976), L. Sprague de Camp (1978), Fritz Leiber (1981), Andre Norton (1983), Arthur C. Clarke (1985), Isaac Asimov (1986), Alfred Bester (1987), Ray Bradbury (1988), Lester del Rey (1990), Frederik Pohl (1992), Damon Knight (1994), A. E. van Vogt (1995), Jack Vance (1996), Poul Anderson (1997), Hal Clement (1998), Brian Aldiss (1999), Philip Jose Farmer (2000), Ursula K. Le Guin (2003), Robert Silverberg (2004), Anne McCaffrey (2005), Harlan Ellison (2006), James Gunn (2007) and Michael Moorcock (2008).

Until 2002 the title was simply "Grand Master." In 2002 it was renamed in honor of SFWA's founder, Damon Knight, who died that year.

More details about the Nebula Awards Weekend are available at http://www.nebulaawards.com/

Excellent effort

2008-07-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

There are many people much more fanatical about Star Trek than me, but I gotta admit, this little video is a gem, and an excellent mix-up. Grazie to the folks at SF Signal for steering me to it. Enjoy!

"New Frontier"

2008-07-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've always kinda liked this video from the '80s,and I thought of it again in light of the fact I just finshed my first book, which ends in 1962 in the wake of the Cuban Rocket Crisis (it's alternate history, obviously). Enjoy the vibe:

Davis names new committee

2008-07-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

SFWA President Russell Davis made the following announcement on his livejournal page July 11:

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As part of our ongoing effort to streamline member services and make SFWA a more functional and flexible organization, I'm pleased to announce the creation of the new Ombudsman Committee, to be chaired by Lee Martindale.

The purpose of the Ombudsman Committee is to ensure, promote and facilitate communication of the will of the membership of SFWA to its Board of Directors. Because SFWA is a membership organization, it is incumbent upon the Board of Directors to be informed and responsive to the opinions, needs and concerns of the members.

As the membership has grown and available technology has increased the number of channels by which members directly address the Board, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain that responsibility. Unfocused discussion in multiple venues, low "signal-to-noise" ratio in the content, and the volume of input by a few members overshadowing the input of most has proven detrimental to effective communication of members' opinions and concerns. The Ombudsman Committee is tasked with simplifying and focusing the process as a dedicated channel for member to Board communications.

To this end, the committee will serve as point of contact for individual members having questions, opinions, concerns, and issues they wish brought to the Board’s attention, especially on matters of corporate governance, policies and procedures, and membership services. Further, the committee will facilitate Board awareness of the “sense of the membership” through the use of focused discussions and solicitation of member opinion, the results of which will be summarized and reported to the Board.

A newsgroup has been established at sff.private.sfwa.ombudsman-committee to facilitate this process.

Lee Martindale has been a member of SFWA for ten years and for most of them has been involved with organizational structure and operation. She served three years on the Election Committee, six years as Chair of the Bylaws Committee, and is currently in her fourth year sitting the Mediation Desk of the Grievance Committee. Her pre-fiction-writing professional background includes project and technical management in corporate settings, contract negotiation and mediation, human rights activism, and magazine publishing and editing. Her fiction writing and editing credits can be found on her website, http://www.HarpHaven.net.

I'm looking forward to working with Lee and excited about having this committee in place for the entire membership.

New position

2008-07-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

SFWA President Russell Davis made the following announcement on his blog this past Saturday:

As part of our ongoing effort to streamline member services and make SFWA a more functional and flexible organization, I'm pleased to announce that Steven H. Silver (shown) has been appointed as the SFWA Events Coordinator.

Steven H. Silver has several years of con-running experience, including working as programming chair for Chicon 2000 (WorldCon), and has chaired two Windycons and the first Midwest Construction, a con devoted to con-running. In 2004, Steven served as the liaison from Noreascon IV to SFWA and the following year he helped run the 2005 Nebula Award Weekend in Chicago.

Steven has served on the Nebula Award jury four times, twice on the short fiction jury and twice on the novel jury, including a current stint as the chair of the novel jury.

Steven founded the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and has been nominated for the Hugo Award nine times, eight times as Best Fan Writer and once for Best Fanzine. He has sold two short stories, and runs ISFiC Press.

In addition to ensuring that SFWA Events such as the Nebula Award Weekend and the SFWA Suite at WorldCon operate in a successful manner, Steven will also be helping to establish a SFWA-presence at other conventions and ensuring that future administrations have all the records necessary to continue building these events successfully. I'm really thrilled to have him on board and am looking forward to working with him in the coming months.

Disch dies

2008-07-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

From the SFWA:

SF author, critic, and poet Thomas M. Disch, born 1940, died July 4, 2008, of suicide in his New York City apartment. Ellen Datlow reports that Disch had been depressed for several years, especially by the death of long-time partner Charles Naylor, and worries of eviction from his rent-controlled apartment.

Disch was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and published first story "The Double-Timer" in 1962. Notable early stories included "Descending" (1964), "Come to Venus Melancholy" (1965), "The Roaches" (1965), "Casablanca" (1967), and "The Asian Shore" (1970). First novel The Genocides (1965) was followed by two others before publication of classic Camp Concentration (1968), about an inmate in a US concentration camp who's treated with experimental drugs. 334 (1974, a Nebula finalist) was a set of linked stories set in a New York city apartment complex, while On Wings of Song (1980, a Hugo and Nebula finalist and John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner), was a near-future satire about a device enabling talented singers to transcend their bodies. Disch also wrote TV series adaptation The Prisoner (1967). Story collections included Fun with Your New Head (1970), Getting Into Death (1975), Fundamental Disch (1980), and The Man Who Had No Idea (1982), which included notable stories "Getting Into Death" (1974), "The Man Who Had No Idea" (1978, Hugo nominee), and "Understanding Human Behavior" (1982, Nebula nominee).

Novella The Brave Little Toaster, first published in F&SF in 1980 and later issued in book form, won the Locus, Seiun, and British SF Association awards, and was adapted into a 1987 animated film. Disch published sequel The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars in 1988. Disch wrote two plays, Ben Hur (1989) and The Cardinal Detoxes (1990), as well as 1986 interactive software adventure Amnesia.

After 1980 collaboration Neighboring Lives with Charles Naylor, he wrote a quartet of contemporary horror novels: The Businessman: A Tale of Terror (1984), The M.D.: A Horror Story (1991, a Bram Stoker Award finalist), The Priest: A Gothic Romance (1994), and The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft (1999).

Disch was an acerbic, demanding SF critic, famous for defining science fiction as a branch of children's literature (in "The Embarrassments of Science Fiction", Science Fiction at Large, Peter Nicholls, ed., 1976) . His The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, subtitled "How Science Fiction Conquered the World", won Hugo and Locus awards as nonfiction book of the year. Essay collection On SF was published 2005.

He wrote poetry, bylined "Tom Disch" -- his long poem "On Science Fiction" won the Rhysling Award in 1981 -- with several collections included Yes, Let's: New and Selected Poems (1989) and A Child's Garden of Grammar (1997), and edited several notable anthologies, from The Ruins of Earth (1971), Bad Moon Rising (1973), The New Improved Sun (1975), and two with Charles Naylor, New Constellations (1976) and Strangeness (1977).

Disch had recently been writing more actively, with three books scheduled for publication within a year: novella The Voyage of the Proteus, published last December; short novel The Word of God, published this month by Tachyon Publications; and collection The Wall of America due from Tachyon in October.

The 1993 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction wrote "Because of his intellectual audacity, the chillingly distanced mannerism of his narrative art, the austerity of the pleasures he affords, and the fine cruelty of his wit, [Disch] has been perhaps the most respected, least trusted, most envied and least read of all modern first-rank sf writers."

Promoted

2008-07-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

SFWA President Russell Davis has announced that Texas' own Jayme Blaschke has a new post:

"As part of our efforts to streamline member services and make SFWA a more functional and flexible organization, I'm pleased to announce that Jayme Lynn Blaschke has been appointed as the Communications & Marketing Director.

"Jayme has been a member of SFWA since 1997, and his work has appeared in a variety of anthologies and other publications. He has a B.A. in Journalism with a minor in Speech Communication from Texas A&M, and has held a range of reporting and editorial positions with newspapers and magazines, and has extensive public and media relations experience.

"As many of you know, Jayme has been the chair of the Publicity Committee and also volunteered as the SFWA WebRing master. A major portion of his new responsibilities will be ensuring that SFWA gets better and more marketing and publicity opportunities, as well as helping us develop ways to communicate and share information with and from the members (about their projects) more effectively than we have in the past.

I'm really excited to be working with him, and think he has some excellent plans to put SFWA on a faster, more reliable communications, marketing and public relations footing."

"The Ones to Watch" redux

2008-07-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

The second annual installment of "The Ones to Watch" has been posted in the July issue of the Internet Review of Science Fiction. It's been mixed year for the original quintet. Pat Rothfuss hit pay dirt as his debut novel went gangbusters. On the other hand, Shawn Scarber dropped out of sight, and so the original group has been trimmed down to four.

Here is the intro:

"The Ones to Watch, Part II - And Then There Were Only Four
by Dotar Sojat

"In April 2007 IROSF started a bold experiment—to conduct an ongoing cycle of interviews with a group of tenacious, Janey-on-the-Brink writers. These five have had various levels of success and have various definitions of success.

"Time is relentless and while we started with five, we're down to only four now. Shawn Scarber's whereabouts remain unknown as of the publication of this second round of interviews. Emails are bounced back. Livejournal account—gone! Personal web page—Page Not Found! With any luck he didn't end up dead in a ditch somewhere in the pitiless state of Texas.

"It's time to check in with our four remaining writers and see where they are 12 months later. Time to see if they are crowing about success, or eating crow, and with Shawn's leaving the game, to reflect on the difficulties of the long-haul of trying to "make it" as a writer:"

Read the hole shebang at www.irosf.com

"Journey to the Center of the Earth"

2008-06-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

Turner Classic Movies showed the 1959 version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" on Sunday afternoon. The wife and I watched it. She had never seen it, I haven't seen it in many years. We both enjoyed it. I remember when I was a little kid, how impressed I was by the ruins of Atlantis, the "slurpasaurs", and the evil Count Saknusson. And that evil oboe theme when the lizard monster appears at the end!

"One degree is not a large distance..."

2008-06-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Charlie Jade has about as much of a cyberpunk feel about it as possible, especially the first episode - lots of halogen back-lighting and short circuits arcing in the background (when you're in his world, the Alphaverse).

Now, if you like Steampunk, there is a neat little series that came out of Australia in 2005, "The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello". Here's a video:

Very stylish, the voicework is excellent, and the animation, in that Indonesian shadow puppet style, really seems to work.

Fiction Liberation Front

2008-06-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Austin-based author Lew Shiner's web site, the Fiction Liberation Front, has expended it range into book-length works, and he's offering for free his novel, "Black & White". I think the Fiction Liberation Front deserves a little plug, and I want to quote a little bit of what Mr. Lew says on its home page.

"Short fiction endures because it provides a way of introducing writers to new readers, and because there are stories that need to be told at that length.

"For all these reasons I've decided to open myself to this uncertain future. Starting now, I plan to make all my short fiction and articles available on the web, both in HTML for easy browsing and in typeset PDFs for those who might want to print them. The process of conversion will take a while, but I hope to get to everything eventually, including a number of previously unpublished pieces and even some unsold screenplays.

"I'll also be adding new short fiction, music reviews, and articles from time to time, though I won't guarantee that I won't also publish short pieces elsewhere. I'm launching the site with three previously unpublished stories ("Straws," "Fear Itself," and "Golfing Vietnam") plus a major story from 2004 ("Perfidia") that's had only limited circulation."

The web address is:

http://www.lewisshiner.com/liberation/index.htm

Canadian author Margaret Atwood awarded prestigious Spanish literary prize

2008-06-25T12:54:00.001-07:00

Margaret Atwood seems to be one of those authors, like the lake Kurt Vonnegut, who fall between the two stools of genre fiction and so-called “mainstream” literature (whatever the heck that is). In her case, of course, the genre stool she is slipping off of all the time is s-f. She’s written some outstanding s-f works, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Oryx and Crake” coming quickly to mind, but over the years she been quoted making some very ambivalent statements about the genre. Something about “talking space squids” comes to mind.
Interestingly enough, I found this news first in Spanish via the Associated Press. I am the editor of a daily newspaper that uses the AP, and we publish a weekly Spanish-language edition. While working on the edition today, I found the story on the Spanish-language version of the AP news wire (and used it, too). But of course I went to the web site for the Prince of Asturias awards to get their news release, which I have published below.

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The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has been bestowed with the prestigious 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters. The decision was announced by the Jury in Oviedo Wednesday, June 25.
The leading figure in Canadian literature and one of the most outstanding voices of contemporary fiction, Margaret Atwood offers in her novels a politically committed, critical view of the world and contemporary society, while revealing extraordinary sensitivity in her copious poetical oeuvre, a genre which she cultivates with great skill.
This candidature was proposed by Rogelio Blanco, Director General for Books, Archives and Libraries at the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
Considered one of the most outstanding novelists and poets on the contemporary scene, Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada). A book lover since very young, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Victoria College, University of Toronto, and then went on to pursue postgraduate studies at Radcliff College, Cambridge (Massachusetts) and at the University of Harvard. She has lectured in English Literature at a number of Canadian universities, including the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Sir George Williams University in Montreal and York University in Toronto. A full-time writer since 1972, she has chaired the Writers? Union of Canada (1981-1982) and the Canadian chapter of the International PEN Club for Writers (1984-1986).
A truly prolific author, she obtained international recognition with the publication of her novel The Edible Woman (1969), which was followed by Surfacing (1972), Lady Oracle (1976), Life Before Man (1980), Cat?s Eye (1988) and The Robber Bride (1993). The plot of her novels frequently focuses on the figure of women, their maturity and changes in sexual roles.
She is also a consummate poet. Her poetry (a genre in which she started writing at the age of nineteen) incorporates mythological, cultural, literary and pictorial references, as in Double Persephone (1961), The Circle Game (1964) and Procedures for Underground (1970). In You are Happy (1974) and Two-Headed Poems (1978), she revealed her interest in social literature: in the former she explores women?s oppression and in the latter, the latent conflict existing in Canada between two cultures and two languages. These concerns were to newly emerge in True Stories (1981), Interlunar (1984) and Morning in the Burned House (1995).
Some of her novels have also been adapted for the cinema and the theatre, such as The Edible Woman (1969), The Handmaid?s Tale (1985) (also staged as an opera), Alias Grace (1996) and The Blind Assassin (2000). Her latest works include the novel Oryx and Crake (2003), the collection of short stories The Tent (2006), and the book of poetry The Door (2007). Ms. Atwood´s work has been published in more than thirty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian.
Winner of the 2000 Booker Prize, the highest award for literature in the English language, she has also received the Canadian Governor General?s Literary Award (1966 and 1986), the Canadian Booksellers Association Award (1977, 1989 and 1996), the Toronto Book Award (1977 and 1989), the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1986), the Welsh Arts Council International Writer?s Prize (UK, 1982), the Arthur C. Clarke Award (UK, 1987), the Canadian Authors? Association Novel of the Year (1993), the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence (UK, 1994), the Giller Prize (Canada, 1996), the Premio Mondello (Italy, 1997), the London Literature Award (1999) and the Crime Writers? Association Dashiell Hammett Award (USA, 2001). She has received honorary doctorates from several universities, such as Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds, Toronto and Montreal, is Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Literature, as well as a Companion of the Order of Canada. She has likewise been awarded the Order of Ontario and the Norwegian Order of Literary Merit and is a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
For her part, Atwood issued the following statement in Toronto today:
"I am thrilled and honoured to have been awarded this highly important prize. The Prince of Asturias Awards are not only a great tribute to literature, the humanities, and the sciences, but also to the universal project of building a sane, human society".

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One last thought: As an author who writes “mainstream” literature who doesn’t shy away from dipping her toe into s-f when it suits her, does that make Atwood one of the Children of a (Doris) Lessing God?

And the winners are...

2008-06-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

The winners of the 2008 Locus Awards have been announced.

SF NOVEL: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
FANTASY NOVEL: Making Money by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)
YOUNG ADULT BOOK: Un Lun Dun by China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
FIRST NOVEL: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Morrow; Gollancz)
NOVELLA: "After the Siege" by Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix Jan 2007)
NOVELETTE: "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman (Wizards)
SHORT STORY: "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Apr/May 2007)
COLLECTION: The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories by Connie Willis (Subterranean)
ANTHOLOGY: The New Space Opera by Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan (Editors) (Eos)
NON-FICTION: Breakfast in the Ruins by Barry N. Malzberg (Baen)
ART BOOK: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Lothian 2006; Scholastic)
EDITOR: Ellen Datlow
MAGAZINE: F&SF
PUBLISHER: Tor
ARTIST: Charles Vess

In case you missed it...

2008-06-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

There was an AFI (American Film Institute) TV special last week (Tuesday, June 17) on the Top Ten movies in the ten most common film genres. This was one of those cases where the public logged in and voted their choices off a list of nominations. The winners in science fiction were:

1 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV- A NEW HOPE (1977)
3 E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL (1982)
4 CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
5 DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (1951)
6 BLADE RUNNER (1982)
7 ALIEN (1979)
8 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
9 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
10 BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

A number of these winners were foregone conclusions; with the possible exception of the Gangster category (where the Godfather topped the list) the top choice of "2001" was one of the easiest to predict.

The film that should have been on the list? "Forbidden Planet".