(My) Optimism Returns (and) A GREAT Opporunity

I just got home from antique hunting.  I’d intended to do a bit of a round-up of things that have come my way in the past day or so but -

Sarah Palin just announced her resignation as Gov of “the Great State of Alaska”

Her brother is quoted as saying that she just “couldn’t afford to defend herself anymore”.

(If she weren’t such an idiot, there’d be no need to spend personal dollars on maintaining her image)

One of the FUX News pundits compared her to George Washington (he took a small, nearly defeated army and led it to victory when he crossed the Delaware)

OMG.  If you’ve never before seen the base root of the republican party - there it is right there.  (This same booby described our current situation as ’socialist Europe, where half the people work and half the people vote’.)

Track-covering started almost immediately.  More FUXed pundits described it as a brilliant political move and the opening of the 2012 Presidential campaign.

So who wants a President that will resign when they can “no longer afford to defend themselves”?

And everyone (at least on that channel) is praising the fact that she “spoke from the heart”.  Not too many brain cells there as is painfully apparent every time she opens her mouth.

If she and her political handlers actually think this is a good strategic move - thank goodness.  Obama is guaranteed a second term.

My optimism has returned.  Now maybe I can write some optimistic SF…

Can’t you just hear the campaign in 2012?  “When the going got tought - she ran away”  Maybe the dems ought to hire Monty Python NOW.

Vague mumblings about her plans are already being heard.  Among them is the fact that Palin is going to write a book.  (Pop-up?)

Here’s the great opportunity for any publisher willing to undertake it.  You all know as well as I do that Palin can’t write.  Which means that she’ll be hiring a ghostie.

If you want to publish the REAL best seller that comes out of this whole sorry mess, you’ll pony up the rights to buy the GHOST WRITER’S tale of how god-awful the experience of writing Palin’s book was…

Professional Reviewing (kinda, sorta)

A couple of weeks ago I signed up with the Pocket Books group over at Ning social network.  (Interestingly enough the group image - a copy of one of Pocket’s original SF anthologies - is what attracted me:  I have that book - a prized member of my 1st edition SF anthologies section of the collection) and I discovered Sarah Reidy and the “book blog tours” she is arranging amongst member reviewer-bloggers (revogger? blogiewer?).

Probably a week or so after expressing my interest in participating, I got a book in the mail, direct from the offices of Melissa Gramstad - Publicity Manager at Simon & Schuster.

It was addressed to The Crotchety Old Fan (the first such tangible mail I’ve ever received at that address!) which was prettynifty in and of itself.

I dashed off an email to Melissa saying ‘thanks’ and ‘ummm, to what do I owe the honor of receiving a book from S&S?’ - but I got no response.  I believe I inquired over at Ning as well and didn’t get an answer there either.

Today I called Melissa and she solved the mystery:  Sarah is working with Melissa and she added my name to their blogger/reviewer/people who should be sent books list.

Thus - a real-world example of the power of social networking.  Sarah went and did something really nice for me just because I happened to show up at her group.

The book I was sent is a compilation trade paperback, consisting of the first two novels of Thomas Greanias‘ Atlantis Legacy series.  The third in the series - The Atlantis Revelation - is due out this August, so we’re obviously engaging in a little promotional catch-up here.  I’m nearly done the first book - about which I will have a lot to say in the near future.

I also heard from Dave Truesdale at Tangent Online today.  Dave has solved his financial crises and the reissue of Tangent Online is back on track.  My first assignment will be an upcoming issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

I’m looking forward to that as well, as Tangent was a fanzine that had a pretty high profile back in the day and received multiple Hugo Award nominations for Best Fanzine.  It specializes in the review of short fiction (as found in the professional magazines, the semiprozines and selected anthologies).

An interesting development in light of my support for keeping the Hugo Award for semiprozine.

While Dave was no doubt moved by my (limited) attempts to help him out of his financial difficulties, I expect that my reviewing for Tangent remains provisional until he actually receives some copy from me - but I hope to acquit myself adequately and wield a heavy hand over the fate of short story writers everywhere with my new found influence make lots of new friends and provide food for thought for numerous erudite conversations at conventions.

Kinda, sorta - because I still, obviously, am not receiving a paycheck for foisting my personal opinions on the public - but I have managed to reduce my book buying expenses to near zero.  On the other hand, somewhere over my left shoulder I can hear Ellison shouting “pay the writer!!”

Ok Harlan.  Say that after I’ve reviewed something by YOU.

Late Night Final

I just checked the site’s traffic on my server and I’m now doing an average of 50K uniques per month (average of 1600 per day).  Pretty good growth for a year.

Just figured I’d stick that in there ’cause everyone keeps either telling me or implying that touting the good stuff yourself is what the new socialness-stuff is all about.

I’m reminded of Groucho’s famous quote about not wanting to be a member of any club that would have him as a member…

Which brings me to:

YET MORE SYMPTOMS OF THE CONTINUING  DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

As a non-fiction writer, budding fiction writer and some-time editor of - fanzines, professional non-fiction mags, hoary old semiprozines and friends stuff (no Joe, this is NOT directed at you…) I am fully cognizant of the fact that there are a lot of people who get paid to write - who can’t.

Sometimes it’s idiot-savante syndrome: the ideas are great, the characterizations are intriguing, the plot MOVES but the genius creator can’t be bothered with grammar, spelling, tense or keeping continuity straight.

That’s ok. That’s what (capable) editors are for.

Idiot-savantes are few and far between. Sturgeon’s Law being immutable, the inevitable conclusion is that 90% of BAD ‘professional’ writers are - Just. Plain. Bad.

That’s ok. That’s what capable editors are supposed to be for.

So where are they?

I have two books sitting on my desk - one the product of a budding small-niche-press and the other the product of a polished, long-lived and venerable name that can be found along publisher’s row in NYC (if there is still such a place).

Both, to be blunt about it, suck.

The small press offering probably suffers from a failure to recognize that copyeditors get paid for a reason.  I can forgive the editors selection of stories - but not the glaringly bad copy, nor the flat layout - nor even the introduction that goes nowhere and sets no tone for the collection.

I can do so because everyone has to start somewhere and, while practice may hurt the ears or eyes, it can eventually yeild (near) perfect.

I can’t, however, make the same excuses for the big-name publisher’s offering.

The faults are not as easily rectified as performing a bit of copyediting or of requesting a sample copy before printing the full run.  The faults are much more serious and probably have two homes:  the desk of the acquisitions editor and the desk of whichever editor was given the thankless task of shepherding this beast into print.

As the Amazon reviews (yes, I’m dipping low) reveal, it is painfully obvious that the author is not “writing what he knows”.  If it is obvious to Amazon reviewers that the author has not a clue about science, the military, the church or just about any topic visited - it SHOULD have been obvious to the editor.

Should have been.

As should the GLARINGLY incorrect statements of fact.  When you put a real-world map into your book, it might be a good idea to get your geographical statements correct - especially when it is painfully obvious to anyone who LOOKS at the map that you’re talking out of your ass.

I’ve not even begun to mention the physical actions that are physically impossible, the characters that are - obvious caricatures of well-known pulp icons; perform actions or make statements that a contradictory one sentence later; have impossible careers; do things that anyone (even my Yorkshire Terrier) would dismiss as ridiculous.

I can think of two passingly acceptable reasons as to how and why this book ever made it to market that at least partially absolve the editor: for some conspiratorial reason there was pressure from the top to get the book out (damning picture? payola?) or - the Peter Principal as applied to editors.

Every other possibility forces me to the conclusion that this thing got published BECAUSE NO ONE SAW ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT.

Did I mention that it’s a NYTimes Best Seller? Yeah.

Maybe the big publishing houses are hiring exactly the kind of editors they need…

More Tales of the Strangely Bizarre

After paying a visit to the SF Hall of Fame website and perusing the list of inductees, I have discovered a strange and interesting, while still bizarre, factoid.

There are, as of yesterday’s ceremony, 57 inductees into the Hall of Fame; virtually every era of genredom and every discipline within it are now represented. And now it can be revealed that if you are connected enough to the science fiction discipline to be inducted into the hall of fame and if you DO NOT HAVE facial hair, there is a pretty good chance - nearly 50% - that you are deceased.

Of those inductees posessing facial hair in the official laser-engraved-on-glass likenesses, 11 out of 21 living inductees are still living with facial hair.

Let’s put that a different way: 36 of the 57 inductees (63% or nearly one third) are deceased.

Which is another way of saying - BEWARE BEING INDUCTED (if you’re in the SF biz).

Of those 36 deceased inductees, 26 have no facial hair - an astounding 72%.  Seems like you want to be anything other than a bald-faced deceased person being inducted into the SF Hall of Fame.

Taking a look at the flipside: 21 inductees are still with us - and the MAJORITY have facial hair!  Looks like living, bare-faced potential inductees might want to think about growing a ’stache - you’ll increase your chances of still being alive when you get honored by nearly 5%!

The data make it pretty clear:  if you are a deceased bare-faced inductee, the best way to change your status is to grow some hair on your face…

Foggy Boston

Karen and I took a long-planned trip to George’s Island, one of the chain of Boston Harbour Islands, and the home of Fort Warren, a civil war era harbor defense fort.

(We both like forts for some reason and try to get to as many as we can.)

We took plenty of pictures, but the most awesome images were found upon our return to the ferry launch in the middle of Boston:  a major fog rolled in while we were traipsing around the fort and reminded us both of foggy horror flicks that feature the end of the world -

A few days before this trip, I did up a batch of my (locally) world famous spaghetti in vodka sauce (sausage, mushrooms, ground beef, green pepper, sauteed onions, etc., etc.) and managed to take a picture of the aftermath -

guess who does the dishes?

one trick I use is to add a healthy dose of parmesan cheese to the sauce while it is cooking…

More images from George’s Island later.  But now:

The NWSFS site reports that yesterday Frank R. Paul, Michael Whelan, Edward L Ferman and Connie Willis were inducted into the SF Hall of Fame.  Frank Wu attended and has promised me some kind of insider information on the fete, so when he gets back and settled, I hope to provide a bit of detail on the ceremony.

~~~

Dave Truesdale (Tangent Online) sent along a note stating that he’s selling off some of his personal collection to help make ends meet.  If anyone is a Leigh Brackett fan, now’s your chance to pick up some interesting collectibles for a song:  up for sale are two signed paperbacks - The Best of Planet Stories and The Halfling and Other Stories “in good condition” and each are going for $40.00

According to Darrel Schweitzer, Dave conducted the very last interviews with Leigh Brackett and Edmund Hamilton at the time the books were signed (the interviews appeared in Tangent.)

If you are interested in purchasing these pieces of SF history, email Dave

~~~

Stephen Hunt (crowsnest) mentioned this from SFScope on Facebook.

Hmmm.  But what data are the graphs based on?

If I had more time today, I’d do my own - AND provide the background data.

~~~

CrystalWizard - the reviews editor for SFReader.com (whom I owe a few reviews) sent me along an announcement that the magazine is taking subscriptions:

3 print issues, $25.00 - save $5.00 off the retail price of $30.00 for 3 issues bought separately

4 print issues, $30.00 - save $10.00 off the retail price of $40.00 for 4 issues bought separately

5 print issues, $35.00 - save $15.00 off the retail price of $50.00 for 5 issues bought separately

6 print issues, $40.00 - save $20.00 off the retail price of $60.00 for 6 issues bought separately

You can email CrystalWizard here

They’re also doing ad swaps and you can inquire at the same email address.

~~~

John - I want my TIDBITS!

Touring Day

Administrivia:  I’ve added two folks to the blog roll - Steven Hart, an old college chum who seems to be doing pretty well for himself (working on getting books 2 & 3 pubbed) and Anne Wilkes, who is an author of seemingly humorous SF (I say seemingly because I’ve not yet read any but others are saying she is funny) who came to my attention via the Pocket Books group on Ning.  So check them out!

Dave Truesdale writes to tell me that he had a “good week” and is now less than $200 short on his quest to get back on his feet and continue forward with Tangent Online.  If you would like to contribute to the effort, please email him HERE.

Looks like I’ll be receiving at least one, if not both, of the Haikasoru initial releases for review.

READERCON fast approaches!

Currently reading The Atlantis Legacy, sent to yours truly by Simon and Schuster:  there’s a third book in the series set for release in August.

I recently added a few book lists to my Amazon Listmainias.  All of my lists start out as “COF Recommends” and each is devoted to a Classic SF author’s works (drawn from my piece on the Top 150 Classic SF Authors - which list actually has 155 authors on it, I cheated a bit).  Most are individual author lists from the Top 150, but the most recent one includes SF comedies that some of you might not be familiar with.

If you want to check it out, you can visit it here

~~~

Today, Karen and I will be taking a day trip to George’s Island in Mass.  George’s Island is part of the Boston Harbour National Park group of islands which includes Bumpkin, Grape, Deer, Spectacle and other islands, each variously devoted to this and that - camping, bird sancuary, shipwrecks, Fort Warren & etc.

More than likely we’ll only get to George’s island this time around (the one with Ft. Warren on it) - but we’re keeping our eyes open for a future camping trip.

One nice thing about New England - there’s almost always something to go and do for little or no expense that - if you’re a history and/or nature enthusiast - will be interesting and worth investigating.  We had loads of fun in Florida visting the state park nature trails (who knew fungus could be so interesting?  Well, Piers Anthony for one.  Wasn’t it Omnivore that was a treatise on saprophytes?)

We’ll be taking multiple cameras and I’m pretty sure I’ll be writinig up our experiences here…

Viz Media’s HAIKASORU Imprint Releases Its First Titles

Looks like Masumi has been busy: Evelyn sent along email word that the Japanese Import imprint Haikasoru has gotten two titles out the door - All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (great name!) and The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa (ok name, great title!)

Reading the author’s names kind of reminds me of walking through a mega car lot - but I’m sure that we’ll all get used to it with time (after all, what the heck kind of a name is Asimov?).

Sad to say, I really don’t know much about either author - but I am looking forward to the learning experience.  We’re finally beginning to get some cross-cultural flow back in the opposite direction (I’m strongly tempted to liken the current situation to digestive processes - something along the lines of suggesting that we’ve been shitting on the entire world up till now and the world has decided that now we need to eat - but that might be a bit too strong. Some neocons are still lurking about and they might accuse me of denigrating Amurika…)

I’ll take it on faith for now that Viz/Haikasoru have chosen a few seasoned and interesting authors for their roll-out.

Here’s some eye candy - the covers of the first two:

I have to say the packaging looks pretty nice too - anime sensibilities, touch of the East, but still recognizably SF/fantasy oriented.

Haikasoru is trying an interesting experiment - translating great and popular Japanese SF into English.  What with all the complaints about the genre losing its way or stifled by punchbowl turds or whatnot, it can’t do anything but help to have our minds polluted by a different viewpoint - and given the stereotypical Japanese penchant for downsizing things, efficiency and technical prowess, well - it IS science fiction.  It can’t help but be good.

Here’s the official press release from VIZ Media:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW VIZ MEDIA SCIENCE FICTION IMPRINT HAIKASORU RELEASES DEBUT TITLES
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL AND
THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME

Innovative New Publisher Of Japanese Science Fiction Offers First Two Inaugural Titles This July

San Francisco, CA, June 26, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announces the debut later this month of the first two titles from its new Haikasoru imprint. ALL YOU NEED IS KILL and THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME will both be released nationwide on July 21st.

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL was called, “science fiction for the adrenaline junkie,” by bestselling author John Scalzi (author of Old Man’s War) “while THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME presents a time travel adventure through ancient Japan, the Second World War, and the 26th Century.” These two novels represent flagship titles for Haikasoru, the first imprint in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Cover illustration by Yoshitoshi Abe
Price: $13.99 U.S. / CAN $16.00
When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he finally sees something different, something out of place—a female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji’s escape or his final death?

THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME by Issui Ogawa
Cover illustration by Bukichi Nadeara
Price: $13.99 U.S. / CAN $16.00
Sixty-two years after human life on earth was annihilated by rampaging aliens, the enigmatic cyborg Messenger O is sent back in time with the mission to unite the humanity of past eras—during World War II and in ancient Japan, even back at the dawn of humanity—in order to defeat the alien invasion before it begins. But amidst a future shredded by war, love also waits for O. Will O save humanity only to doom himself? THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME was nominated for the prestigious Seiun Award, the leading award for Japanese science fiction, the winners of which are selected each year by members of the Japanese National Science Fiction Convention.

“SF, manga and anime fans will definitely enjoy these debut titles from Haikasoru,” says Masumi Washington, Editor-in-Chief of Haikasoru at VIZ Media. “These novels present science fiction that is engaging, imaginative and exotic and we’re very excited to offer a whole new genre of Japanese literature to readers in the U.S.”

Haikasoru is scheduled to publish twelve books a year and launches in the summer of 2009 with four titles: THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME by Issui Ogawa, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, ZOO by Otsuichi, and USURPER OF THE SUN by Housuke Nojiri.

For more information on Haikasoru please visit the dedicated website at www.haikasoru.com

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), is one of the most comprehensive and innovative companies in the field of manga (graphic novel) publishing, animation and entertainment licensing of Japanese content. Owned by three of Japan’s largest creators and licensors of manga and animation, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is a leader in the publishing and distribution of Japanese manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa and is a global ex-Asia licensor of Japanese manga and animation. The company offers an integrated product line including magazines such as SHONEN JUMP and SHOJO BEAT, graphic novels, and DVDs, and develops, markets, licenses, and distributes animated entertainment for audiences and consumers of all ages. Contact VIZ Media at 295 Bay Street, San Francisco, CA 94133; Phone (415) 546-7073; Fax (415) 546-7086; and web site at www.VIZ.com.

Layouts & Lay Outs

SFSignal let’s us know that Paizo’s Planet Stories is/has undergone some changes, both in frequency and in format.  You can read the interplay here

Which prompts me to ask (following a statement):  I’ve not been happy with the layouts and formatting I’ve seen on e-zines, phone apps, or even in print.

I always thought that the whole purpose of multiple columns of text within a publication manifested as a way to increase the word count per page.  (It presumably eliminates widows and spaces at the end of a line - the more columns, the greater the density of words…)

Some attention was paid to reading comfort, but in general I’m familiar with the two or three column magazine, the multi-column newspaper and the single column book.

I looked at a story on the wife’s I-phone:  one column with maybe 20 words on the page (who the hell can read like that?)

And I’m very familiar with a bunch of former print publications (paintball related) that have gone digital and have chosen to reproduce the print magazine page on screen with a page-flipper program.  Simply AWFUL.

I’ve tried experimenting with a magazine-style layout for the screen. The best I’ve gotten is two columns.  Most pubs I’ve looked at are single column squished into about a third to a half of the display area (why?)

So the question is:  what should a magazine online look like? Should it try to replicate print, or should it try to create the potentially longest scrolling experience known to man?

Send me links to examples you’ve found that ‘do it’ for you or write in in the comments and tell me what you think an on-line magazine ought to look like.

LAY OUT

As in cash.

David A. Truesdale recently announced the resurrection of TANGENT ONLINE, a former print review zine that covered short fiction in the magazines and anthologies that has won several Hugos.

I inquired after a review spot on the new incarnation, only to be informed by David that, due to unforseen financial difficulties, he is unable to continue the project at this time.

I don’t know exactly how much he needs but if folks are interested in supporting the return of Tangent Online, you might want to get in touch with David (EMAIL) and see how you can help out.

Dave may lose his internet connection, so if you can’t get in touch with him, let me know.

I suspect that Bill Ward may have some things to say as well (he writes for Tangent).

WOW - Michael Jackson is Gone

Thousands may be dead in Iran and who knows what the fate of the protest is at this point, but Michael Jackson’s passing stopped the world.

I was never a huge fan and have to admit I made my fair share of disparaging MJ remarks (sorry - he was a freak AND perhaps the greatest pop star of all time).

The first song of his that really sticks is Ben - the theme song to a rat-horror movie (you couldn’t get away from that song the summer the movie was released).

And of course there’s always Thriller (you couldn’t get away from that one either).

Interestingly enough, another one of our great losses, Forrest Ackerman, did a cameo  in Thriller -

The two of them kind of encompass an era - not an academically defined one, but a definable one nonetheless, something like the pre-digital entertainment era.

The older you get, the fewer cultural icons you’re left with, and it hardly matters whether you liked them or hated them, appreciated their contributions or thought it was tripe.  They created the background of your life, the reliable paradigms that never shifted.   Now that paradigm is fading, not shifting.  The background begins to disappear, the holes growing larger each and every day.

But now we’re in the digital era and you can watch all of that old crap any time you want.  I guess you can call that progress in a way. Those icons may not be alive anymore, but they’re still around and will be forever. Like those zombies in Thriller.

Hmmm, Got Too Many Grab Bags Around Here -

time to consolidate…

~~~

Now I know why some folks like to do link lists:  there’s just so much damned interesting stuff out there!  I could spend all day doing nothing but (I think that’s called a ‘time suck’ or something…)

~~~

I’ve also discovered that - at least here - “top posts of the month” (or of all time) DO increase blog traffic.

Interesting dynamic going on with the blog and Adsense revenue (I make enough to pay for hosting, registration and a bit left over:  let’s say enough to keep me believing that I can earn more).

Here it is.  On a consistent basis, my revenue is UP when traffic is DOWN, and vice-versa.

So please stop coming here.  LOL.

I certainly don’t get it and I don’t have enough data to figure things out like whatever could be causing the trend.

I do know that ‘new audiences’ are a spur.  At least in that regard I seem to have stumbled on a good decision when formulating the blog:  a central theme (classic SF and being a fogey about it) while loose enough to branch out to anything and everything.  I’ve caught the attention of Franklin Pierce fans, antique truck fans, snowplow fans (!), all kinds of SF people, movie people and, most recently, gaming people (not to mention old time radio people and not a few nutjobs).

~~~

READERCON is coming up rapidly and I am REALLY looking forward to attending.  I like having ’something to do’ when at a con (rather than just attending) and getting photos for the Cordwainer Smith website of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award presentation is certainly something to do.

I’ll be wearing a COF t-shirt (tag for blatant commercialism) - which are now available in the Zazzle store -

and drinking coffee out of my COF coffee mug -

(note the continuation of the stylish ‘blue’ theme).  What - you thought I’d have whiskey in there?  Nope.  Haven’t had that stuff in there at least since Mike Brotherton got surprised.)

and there will be a large BLUE COF mini-poster (a large mini?) taped to the top of my laptop, inviting anyone who sees it to stop on by while I post and/or twitter (tho some of the twittering may be verbal, depending upon circumstances).

I will be there for Friday - not sure about any of the other days - and I invite anyone who is attending to please look me up.

(If you don’t like me or the blog, buy a shirt and impersonate me - leave a bad impression, lol)

~~~

A couple of days ago I wrote a very bad piece about Jetse DeVrie’s polemic on optimistic near future SF (an exercise in demonstrating what he is NOT looking for with his new SHINE anthology).  I did a bad job of writing, a good job of displaying how easy it is to demonstrate bad reasoning and generally shat all over the bed.

It was also proof positive that I am not afraid to piss off people who I might be trying to sell stories to.  And a practical demonstration of the fact that you can keep a steady hand, even while shooting yourself in the foot.

I dithered over it during the evening following the posting (sans internet) and determined to remove it - but too late, Jetse had already replied in the positively negative (or negatively positive - I guess viewpoint is all in this case) so rather than removing it I allowed Jetse’s comment through and then emailed him, asking his preference(s) regarding removing both or leaving both on the site.

While waiting for a response I wrote an edit, explaining the above and apologized for having gone off half-cocked.  Then the response arrived and Jetse’s preference was to put the whole sorry thing behind us (he admitted to making the same mistake I did - writing early in the morning and being rushed), so I honored that request and removed the post.

But, you know, the Internet SEES ALL and yesterday the post (or lack of it) was a featured one on the FAIL Twitter feed.

I honestly didn’t take Jetse’s response negatively.  I know he was being a bit sarcastic and a tad dismissive - but that’s a fair response when defending a position that you’ve spent some time working at.  I took it as a well-meaning defense from a classy guy who isn’t afraid to take a position and defend it.  Even against idiotic ramblings.

Well, anyway.  I promised to read the piece more thoroughly and respond more thoughtfully, and with that in mind I ran across excerpts from this interview with Robert Charles Wilson in Locus, and this one in particular:

“People have a set of default futures in their heads now, which is odd. Back in the ’80s, a group of college students was asked, ‘How do you see the world in 40 years?’, and the answers were really pessimistic — they tended toward nuclear wastelands patrolled by killer robots, that sort of thing. Then they were asked, ‘Where do you see yourself in 40 years?’ and the answers tended toward ‘Well, I’ll be ready for retirement.’ So there’s a cognitive disconnect, but I think it’s because our culture is now pervaded with these default notions of the future derived from science fiction.

“Sometimes I think the purpose of modern science fiction should be to challenge those notions, not to further indulge them. One of the things I wanted to do in Julian Comstock was to write a post-apocalypse novel that (a) wasn’t about survival and (b) was a kind of dystopia that wasn’t just an Evil Empire run by the worst human beings — a dystopia more like European monarchies or aristocratic institutions, where there are cracks in the wall; an oppressive set of governmental bodies, but at the same time a lively popular culture. In other words, I wanted something with contradictions built into it. I was tired of dystopias that were triumphant Evil and oppressed Good. Real life isn’t like that.”

(There’s also an email interview with Wilson on IO9)

This almost touches on my core philosophy regarding SF and optimism.  At it’s heart, ALL science fiction is optimistic - regardless of the plot or setting.  It presumes that there is some kind of future - good, bad, indifferent or incomprehensible - and I take that as a positive.

Maybe it’s a Cold-War mentality but I always figured that if there were survivors after the big one  (and I happened to be one of them) most of the world’s books (however many survived) belonged to ME!  There’d be plenty of unspoiled canned goods left to get by on, I know how to start a fire and if you can’t build a shelter out of the rubble of NYC, well then, it’s the radiation pits for you.  Now, if I can just find a damned can-opener…(yes, you can open a can with a pair of pliers and doing so beats hunting for mutant deer all to hell).

I WILL be reading Jetse’s piece much more carefully today.

~~~

And now, a new feature on COF - Classic Hugo Award Winners, as featured on my Zazzle-enabled t-shirt of the same exact name.

A while back I decided that the Hugo Awards, Worldcon, WSFS, et al, needed a bit more attention, so I put together a t-shirt design commemorating all of the winners of the Hugo Award from its inception through 1984 (25 years old being the definition of classic) and then made arrangements to license the use of the Hugo Award rocket design and the Hugo Award name, from WSFS.

Permission and fees were arranged (a portion of all sales go to WSFS:  if there are sufficient sales, an additional portion of each sale will go towards TAFF or DUFF or other suitable fannish fund) and I figured that I’d use the proceeds to attend Worldcon.

NOW - with Anticipation only a few short months away, I must begin to buttonhole people.

Here is the text of the design:

Now see, the way this works is:  if YOU are actually listed up there, you are OBLIGATED to buy one of these shirts. With the front design that says “I’m On The Back!”

If I had the money, I’d buy everyone on the list who can still use clothing a shirt  and send it to them, but then again, if I had the money I’d already be going to Anticipation.

(Note also that the way Zazzle works, you don’t have to purchase the design on the shirt displayed - you can find less expensive or more expensive ones.)

If you are a relative, the partner of or a fan of someone listed on the shirt, you’re also obligated to buy one.

Sadly, the first name mentioned is Forrest J Ackerman’s, and 4E is no longer with us.  But I know that lot’s of folks who love 4SJ ARE still around - so why not remind everyone that he was the first recipient of the #1 Fan Personality Award?

Fortunately, the next name down IS still with us - Brian W. Aldiss.  Hothouse, Barefoot in the Head, Frankenstein Unbound, The Billion Year Spree - where would we all be without such works (or his editorial contributions as well)?  Certainly not as far along nor as well-informed as we are now.

Poul Anderson also, sadly, no longer needs a shirt either.  The High Crusade remains one of my favorite all-time stories, Flandry one of my all time favorite characters.  But I’m sure there are other fans of his works that would like honor his contributions.

~~~

That’s it for now.  I’ll be featuring a couple of award winners every day between now and Anticipation - unless you all want me to stop.  In which case - BUY a shirt.