THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
04/25/14 -- Vol. 32, No. 43, Whole Number 1803
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Hugo Nominations
Asking for Organ Donation (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in May (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
How Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
TRANSCENDENCE (film review by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
SPHERICAL HARMONIC by Catherine Asaro (audiobook review
by Joe Karpierz)
BEYOND THE RIFT by Peter Watts (book review by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (thoughts on the Hugo and Retro Hugo
nominees) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Hugo Nominations
The Hugo nominations and Retro Hugo nominations are included in
this MT VOID, but *after* all the other articles, including after
Evelyn's book column, which discusses the nominees.
==================================================================
TOPIC: Asking for Organ Donation (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Division of Motor Vehicles asks people if they want upon their
death in a traffic mishap to donate their organs to living people
who need organ transplants. This program has had its ups and
downs. I think that approach is wrong. People do not want to be
asked for a donation. Some want to get more than just a warm
feeling they are doing a good thing. People should be told that
they may not have to die entirely. As a new service there are now
programs to find foster bodies to support their organs so that
those organs can painlessly live on. Part of the donor may be able
to live on. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
May 1: PATHS OF GLORY (film), Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library,
6:30PM
May 8: NEVER LET ME GO (film) and NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo
Ishiguro (book), Middletown (NJ) Public Library, 5:30PM
May 22: BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
June 12: BLINDNESS (film) and BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago (book),
Middletown (NJ) Public Library, 5:30PM
June 26: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
July 24: THE DEMOLISHED MAN by Alfred Bester, Old Bridge (NJ)
Public Library, 7PM
August 28: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
September 25: IN THE OCEAN OF NIGHT by Gregory Benford, Old
Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
October 23: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
November 18: ROADSIDE PICNIC by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky,
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
December 18: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
Speculative Fiction Lectures:
May 3: Danielle Ackley-McPhail & Neal Levin, "Promoting Your Work",
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
June 7: Laura Anne Gilman, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
==================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in May (comments by Mark
R. Leeper)
It's spring and this was one tough winter we are done with. May
looks like a decent month on Turner. They are showing a lesser-
known horror film produced by Mel Brooks of all people though the
film is done quite seriously. It is directed by Freddie Francis
and the screenplay is by a popular Welsh poet. That is an odd
combination to be behind a film. It is both a historical drama,
based on truth, and a sort of tribute to Hammer-style horror. The
film is THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985).
Several years ago (maybe even a few decades) I worked with one
Terry Burke. She was on the Bell Labs clerical staff so I had run
into her several times, but I did not know her well. One day I was
in the same office as she was and she was talking to someone about
the origins of common surnames. Terry happened to mention that her
surname, Burke, is actually a verb in the dictionary. Does anyone
know what "Burke" meant, she asked. The word rang no bells with
me. Nobody in the room knew. To burke, she explained, meant to
strangle someone in a way that left no sign of violence. That rang
a bell with me. "Of course. That must be from Burke and Hare.
This was her turn to look at me blankly. She had never heard of
Burke and Hare. I was able to tell her about various films about
the Burke and Hare Murders. It was the odd start to a good
friendship. I told her about Burke and Hare and would lend her
films and we would discuss them.
So who were Burke and Hare? In the 1820s Burke and Hare were two
men in the "biological supply business." There was a school of
medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland. One of the teachers was Dr.
Robert Knox. The law had made it very difficult for Knox to do his
job. If a man was to be executed for a crime his body could go to
the medical school as a cadaver to be dissected. That was the only
way the school could get cadavers for dissection and the school
needed many more cadavers. There were too few people being
executed to meet the needs of the school. The demand for corpses
was much higher than the supply. Burke and Hare had sources for
corpses to sell Knox so Knox could buy what he needed on the Black
Market, no questions asked. Burke and Hare initially found newly
dug graves and would dig up bodies and sell them to Dr. Knox. This
became an industry in Edinburgh. Grave robbers would steal the
unguarded bodies of the recently dead. Also other men of no
greater moral stature would hire on as guards of graves of the
recently dead to thwart grave robbers. Common slang called the
grave robbers in this business "resurrectionists." Robert Louis
Stevenson to wrote about the ghoulish situation in his a short
story "The Body Snatcher," about grave-robbing resurrectionists.
(If the title is familiar, Val Lewton based one of his better
horror films on the Stevenson story.)
Burke and Hare soon found the competition in Edinburgh getting too
stiff, and the job was too dangerous for them. They changed over
their Modus operandi. Rather than trying to dig up cadavers with
all the risk that entailed, they discovered it was safer to make
brand new cadavers out of materials they just found on the street.
So Burke and Hare went into the business of murder, "burking" the
riff-raff on the street and selling the bodies to Dr. Knox. The
story of Burke and Hare became very popular folklore in Edinburgh.
The film THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS was one of several films about
or referring to Burke and Hare. This one is based on a screenplay
by no less a writer than Dylan Thomas. Thomas wrote a screenplay
in 1951 and eventually it was made under the direction of Freddie
Francis who has a very strong eye for horror imagery. The
executive producer of the film was Mel Brooks, but his name was not
much mentioned in the publicity so people would not think this
gruesome tale was a comedy. The film was, however, produced by
Brooksfilm, Mel Brooks' production company. [Tuesday May 20, at
midnight.]
This film was a follow-up to another Brooksfilm gruesome account of
a historical event, the better-known THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980). It
is also being shown in May. [Tuesday May 20, 8:00 PM]
Following THE ELEPHANT MAN will be two Brooksfilm comedies, MY
FAVORITE YEAR and TO BE OR NOT TO BE.
But my choice for the best film of the month would be William
Wyler's THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), about the new world
soldiers faced after serving in World War II. [Monday, May 26,
10:30 PM]
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: How Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
How is this night different from all other nights? Or, the Seder
from hell...
Why on all other nights are my pans are fine, but on this night my
roasting pan develops a pinhole and leaks all over the oven?
Why on all other nights does my baster baste, but on this night the
rubber bulb cracks, making it useless?
Why on all other nights can I serve soup with no problem, but on
this night I manage to splash boiling soup on my hand?
Why on all other nights can I cook with no problems, but on this
night my matzoh balls completely fall apart, resulting not so much
in matzoh ball soup as matzoh porridge?
[-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: TRANSCENDENCE (film review by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
There really aren't that many good hard SF films these days.
GRAVITY and EUROPA report certainly count, but GRAVITY is more a
thrill ride and EUROPA REPORT a "no one gets out alive" horror
story than tales of ideas. When a film packed with ideas like
TRANSCENDENCE comes along, it is predictably trashed by the critics
(20% or so on rottentomatoes.com), most of whom seem to have little
understanding of what the film is about. This is not to say that
TRANSCENDENCE is without flaws, but it does a better job than any
previous film I've seen of setting up the issues surrounding the
Singularity and uploading.
Audiences may have trouble understanding who the "good guys" are in
TRANSCENDENCE, and that's a large part of what is well done in the
film. Is Bree (Kata Mara), the leader of RIFT (Revolutionary
Independence From Technology), who leads the battle against an
uploaded Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the heroine, or a loathsome
terrorist? Is Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall), Will's wife, who
uploads his mind to a quantum computer the heroine, or a Dr.
Frankenstein? Is Caster's best friend Max Waters (Paul
Bettany), a slightly disguised version of the real-life Bill Joy,
who first assists with the upload, but eventually helps RIFT in
their attacks on the uploaded Caster a hero or a misguided traitor?
The initial two-thirds of the film focus on RIFT's attempts
to kill scientists involved in AI, Caster suffering radiation
poisoning from a polonium bullet (a KGB favorite), and the
subsequent project to upload Caster, flows smoothly and logically
along. There is a certain irony in that RIFT, which is willing to
kill to prevent AI/uploading from happening, creates the situation
that motivates Evelyn to upload Will's mind.
Neither RIFT nor the uploaded Will come off unscathed in their
portrayal in the film. RIFT is violent, willing to torture and
murder to prevent technology from advancing. Once uploaded, Will
operates with a kind of naïve creepiness; creating human puppets
that he ought to know won't be well received by anyone. This is
not the canonical story of transcendence, but it does have all the
key elements:
- A person who is uploaded, which creates a true Singularity as
their intelligence expands exponentially.
- People who make the upload happen, and support the upload.
- People who initially support the upload, but then turn against
it.
- Violent anti-technology fanatics
- A vision of the good a super-intelligence could do
- A vision of the bad a super-intelligence could do
TRANSCENDENCE reminds us, that, as I have written previously, the
Singularity will be SINGULAR--it will occur at one moment of time
for one "person." The film appears to wander on the point of
whether Upload Will is really the same as Flesh Will, but in the
end we are asked to believe that Upload Will is human enough to
apparently prefer dying in Evelyn's arms to living forever as an
upload.
A review in the Wall Street Journal focused on the confusing plot
of TRANSCENDENCE, but with the exception of the final scene, I
thought it was pretty clear. This is not to say that the plot is
flawless. There are a couple of things (SPOILERS) that don't make
much sense:
- At one point near the end Bree points a gun at Max and demands
that he force Evelyn to proceed with the upload process. It is
anyone's guess as to how Max is supposed to make this happen, as
Evelyn is far away in Will Caster's laboratory.
- After the FBI teams up with RIFT to attack uploaded Will, they
hit on a plan of inserting a virus into Evelyn, with the result
that as she is uploaded the virus will attack Uploaded Will.
Since Upload Will has vast intelligence, he almost immediately
suspects this plan, and is fully aware when it is about to be
launched. It also seems quite unlikely that Upload Will would
not have completely re-written his software during the course of
the movie, with the result that any virus Max might create would
be of little value. I expected the FBI to have a nuclear driven
EMP attack as the real effort, with the virus a mere feint, but
this is not how the script goes.
- It is hard to believe that Uploaded Will would be so stupid as to
think that people he has made into nano-tech controlled puppets
would be well received by humans in general as a gesture of
friendliness on his part.
- It is equally hard to believe that Uploaded Will would be so
stupid as to think that Evelyn would be willing to touch a nano-
puppet who does not look like Will Caster as a substitute for
him. He does correct this error in the film, creating a flesh
and blood puppet of himself eventually, but it's still hard to
believe he would make this huge error in the first place.
- Upload Will's statement that only enough power remains to either
cure Evelyn's fatal injuries OR upload the suicide virus seems
contrived and unbelievable.
The final scene of the film is more than a bit ambiguous. It seems
to imply that Will and Evelyn have survived their apparent deaths
and are living as a nanotech film in the garden of their former
home under a big copper net that blocks E&M and protected the
nanotech from the virus attack that "killed" Upload Will. This is
done rather ambiguously for no good reason, although from the Wiki
page it appears that we are supposed to believe, as I suspected,
that both Will and Evelyn survived within the nanotech in the
garden.
The least likely outcome of a confrontation between an FBI strike
team allied with a group of terrorists and an uploaded mind that
has had years to prepare is the death of the uploaded mind. There
are just too many escape hatches that you can imagine Uploaded Will
putting into place, including the nanotech one implied by the end
of the film. A more satisfying end to my taste would have been a
more plausible "death" of both Uploaded Will and Evelyn as the Air
Force fires off dozens of EMP nukes that send the world into
darkness, followed by multiple scenes that make it clear that
versions of Will/Evelyn survive in many locations--on the Moon,
deep in the ocean, far underground, and so on, but that they will
grow in secret and watch over humanity as a new kind of benign
planetary god.
TRANSCENDENCE is far from perfect, although the acting and
direction are excellent. I'm rating it a very high +1, but with
the recommendation that any serious SF fan ought to see it. There
are some creepy needle scenes, but generally okay for tweens and
up, although many teenagers and not a few adults may have
difficulty grasping all the issues involved in TRANSCENDENCE.
[-dls]
==================================================================
TOPIC: SPHERICAL HARMONIC by Catherine Asaro (copyright 2001, Tor,
audiobook copyright 2008, Audible Inc. 14 hours, 7 minutes,
narrated by Liza Caplan) (audiobook review by Joe Karpierz)
SPHERICAL HARMONIC is one of four novels that deal with the
aftermath of the Radiance War. Each novel in the group (ASCENDANT
SUN, THE QUANTOM ROSE, SPHERICAL HARMONIC, and THE MOON'S SHADOW,
overlaps with the other three, each with a different main
character. The character we follow in SPHERICAL HARMONIC is
Dyhianna Selei, the current Ruby Pharoah, titular head of the Ruby
Dynasty, but really just a figurehead when it comes to ruling the
Skolian Empire.
When last we saw her, Dyhianna had escaped the war by stepping into
one of the Locks that the three Keys--you remember those, don't
you?--use to enter an alternate dimension/universe (Quite frankly,
the details get fuzzy at this point. You would think that after 9
or so books in the series, each of which contains information on
not only what has gone before but the whole setup of everything, I
would remember. I don't. So it goes.). The book begins with
Dyhianna beginning to, for lack of a better term, coalesce into the
"real" world, fading in and out of reality, on the moon Opalite.
She is found by a local, who believes she is one of the Traders,
and thus takes her prisoner. Over time, she convinces him that she
is, in fact, who she says she is.
In fact, Opalite is one of the locations where she has some secret
security protocols set up for situations not unlike this one. She
manages to get the protocol activated and gets in touch with some
folks in the Skolian fleet, one of whom is her sister-in-law Vaz
Majda (As a side note, there is another woman of the Majda clan who
is currently acting as the Pharoah. Keep that in mind as we go
through all this.). As the novel progresses, Dyhianna (At this
point I'm taking up as a challenge the ability to type that name.
Typing her last name is the easy way out. I should have taken
that.) recovers more of her memory and realizes the state that the
Ruby Dynasty and Skolian Empire is in, and sets about going to fix
it.
In an interesting parallel, Dyhianna wants to reunite her family as
well as reunite the Ruby Dynasty and return it to its rightful
place as the ruling family of the Skolian Empire. This, of course,
is easier said than done. First, of course, there's the argument
that "well, we've been doing it this way a long time, it works, why
should we change it now?". "This way" refers to the fact that
there is an Assembly that rules the Empire. As I said earlier, the
Pharaoh is the titular head of the empire--she has no real power.
Then there's the necessity of basically leading a mutiny on the
ship she is on, taking over so she can go to Earth and get her
family, which is essentially imprisoned there by the Allieds. And
then there is the issue of having to convince her people that this
is really the right way to go about doing things. Certainly not an
easy path to follow.
There are of course other things to set into action in terms of the
plot--just what about all those kids that were left on Earth with
her ex-husband, and especially the one that apparently is now
sitting on the Carnelian throne? Yeah, there's a lot of stuff
going on here.
This is a nice entry in the Saga of the Skolian Empire. I believe,
and I could be wrong, this is the first book in the series to be
told from first person perspective (I expect many of you to correct
me if I'm wrong). And while a bit jarring at first, I eventually
slid into the narrative without much trouble.
What was even more jarring was yet another new narrator. I'd just
gotten used to Anna Fields, and now we have Liza Caplan. My wife,
who has also listened to these books, said Caplan sounded like a
whiny teenager. While I don't know about that, I will say that
Caplan's voice being in a different register certainly unnerved me
for a while, and she pronounces many of the words differently than
Fields did. YOu would think they'd have a pronunciation guide for
these things.
All in all, I enjoyed SPHERICAL HARMONIC. I've long since
comfortably settled into the Skolian Empire universe, and I'm okay
with that. [-jak]
==================================================================
TOPIC: BEYOND THE RIFT by Peter Watts (copyright 2013, Tachyon,
$14.95, 230pp, ISBN 978-161696-125-1) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
The one and only work I've read by Peter Watts was BLINDSIGHT, his
Hugo nominated novel of about eight years ago. I needed to refresh
my memory, so I reread my review of that book in preparation for
writing this review. There are a couple of things from that review
that stood out for me:
1) BLINDSIGHT is a first contact novel, and it's one of the most
original I've ever read. It's dark, tough, and gritty; as I think
about it, it reminds me of the atmosphere of the movie Alien. The
thing is, with Alien there was at least one character that the
audience could like. I'm not sure there's one likeable character
in the bunch in BLINDSIGHT.
2) I normally look at reading Hugo nominees as a way in which to
read authors that are new to me, and many times I start picking up
other books by that author based on the nominee. I'm not convinced
I'll do it this time.
So, let me step away from both those remarks for a bit, but we will
get back to them. BEYOND THE RIFT is a collection of Watts'
shorter work. I will come right out and say that this is one of
the best short story collections I have ever read. Every story is
engaging, interesting, and thought provoking. And pretty much
every story is dark, tough, and gritty, as I stated in the first
point from my review of BLINDSIGHT. I have a lot on my plate these
days, and reading time is at a premium. This is one book that I
did not want to put down. I wanted to get from one story to the
next right away, and I was unable to do that due to other
commitments. As far as I was concerned, I was discovering a new
writer, and I was having a field day.
The book starts out with two award winners. The very first story
is "The Things", which won the Shirley Jackson Award in 2010. The
Shirley Jackson Award is given to works "...for outstanding
achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror,
and the dark fantastic" (See www.shirleyjacksonawards.org for more
information). It was also a 2011 Hugo Nominee (a shame it didn't
win), a 2010 BSFA Award Finalist, a 2011 Theodore Sturgeon Award
Nominee, and a 2011 Finalist for the Locus Award for Best Short
Story (information from the Clarkesworld website--no, I don't know
all this stuff in my head). And it deserved more than just the one
award. "The Things is, essentially, the story of the movie The
Thing told from the point of view of the invading creature. Once
the story is over, you don't feel sorry for the creature, but you
don't think too much of the humans involved either. I don't know
that I've ever read a story in which the point of view character
was the invading alien.
The second story is "The Island", the 2010 Hugo Winner for Best
Novelette. It is the distant future, and our protagonist, for lack
of a better term, is part of a crew that essentially builds
stargates so that the human race--we presume it's the human race,
and even if it is, the beings are probably no longer human anyway--
can travel throughout space to reach new places. Sure, it's a way
around the FTL problem, but really, that's not the point. The
point is that the latest place chosen for a gate is on the wrong
side of an intelligent, planet enveloping life form. Combine that
with the fact that it seems that there was a man-machine conflict
in the distant past, and now the machine in charge of the ship
doesn't care that there's a life form around the planet, and you
have one heck of a conflict. True to form, while you admire our
"hero's" drive to learn about the life form and save it, you just
can't like him. He's been through a lot and its affected him.
Nearly every story here is, in my opinion, a gem. "Nimbus" gives
us the story of what appears to be an intelligent cloud/storm
formation that seems to be out to destroy humanity; "Ambassador" is
a story of First Contact gone horribly, horribly wrong, and how the
human who makes this contact is driven to a decision that will
affect all of humanity, and not in a good way; "Flesh Made Word",
about a scientist who studies death, programs his home system to
sound like his dead wife, and the consequences that result when the
next woman went a little too far; "The Eyes of God", which on the
surface is a story about child molestation, but in reality is about
something much more disturbing than that (if you can believe that);
"A Word for Heathens", in which Watts explores the nature of faith
and belief in God, only not in a way you'd expect, and "Mayfly"
(written with Derryl Murphy), about a four year old girl who lives
two lives--one for her flesh and blood parents, and one for the
scientist who made her life possible--and which life she really
prefers.
There are also a couple of Rift stories here, "Home" and "Niche",
which are tales that fit into the greater scheme of Watts' Rift
novels. "Niche" certainly doesn't paint humanity in a friendly
light. The weakest stories, in my opinion, are "Hillcrest V.
Veliskosky" and "Repeating the Past". Don't get me wrong. They're
not bad stories--they're just not as good as the rest. The one
thing they do have in common with the rest of the stories in the
collection--"Repeating..." in particular, is that they are not
happy stories.
I can't sugarcoat this at all--if you're looking for a light, happy
read, something you might want to take to the beach on a relaxing
summer day, BEYOND THE RIFT isn't it. On the other hand, if you
want a book that will keep you engrossed for its entirety--this is
one you CAN take to the beach if you want to get sunburned, because
you'll stop paying attention to everything else. Don't expect
characters you're going to love (well you might, I suppose,
depending on the type of person you are)--these aren't those.
These stories are dark, very dark. Read them with the lights on.
Go back to my earlier second point about not picking up any more
Watts because I didn't think I would like him. I was wrong. Way
wrong. I've got a lot more reading to catch up on now. [-jak]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Last Saturday the Hugo nominations (and Retro Hugo nominations)
were announced. My reaction to the Retro Hugos was, "Well, They
were not all my first choices, but they're all worthy selections."
My reaction to the current Hugos was, "Who *are* these people?!"
So let's talk about the current Hugo nominations first.
First of all, almost 1600 nominating ballots for novel is amazing.
Gone are the days of a couple of hundred nominating ballots. Even
semiprozine got 411 ballots--and no one can figure out what a
semiprozine really is. (A total of 1923 nominating ballots were
received.)
But of the nominees for novel, I have heard of three of the five
authors. It used to be inconceivable that something would make the
ballot that I would not at least have heard of.
I am glad I am not voting this year, though, because Robert
Jordan's "Wheel of Time" is one of the nominees. Not the final
book of "The Wheel of Time", but the whole fourteen-volume (or is
it fifteen-volume?) series, with each volume approaching a thousand
pages long, and totaling well over 4 million words. It seems to me
that the series is indeed eligible under the "serialization" rule,
though having a single "novel" that is fifteen volumes published
over a twenty-two-year period is not quite what the framers of the
rule had in mind. And in answer to the first question that came to
everyone's mind, Tor has posted, "In answer to many inquiries,
we're happy to be able to say that the entire 'Wheel of Time'
*will* be made available in the Hugo Voters' Packet." If that
doesn't send the Supporting Membership count for Loncon 3 soaring,
nothing will. Some argue that the "Wheel of Time" fans already
have it, but they probably don't have it in electronic form. Of
course, if the electronic form is PDF, then they may not be as
eager...
Anyway, a few more moments' thought leads me to conclude that
"Wheel of Time" will almost definitely win the Hugo.
Why?
Well, I'm sure all the "Wheel of Time" fan sites, blogs, etc., will
mention (nay, trumpet) the fact that for a $40 Supporting
Membership, you can get an electronic copy of the entire "Wheel of
Time" series *plus* all sorts of other stuff.
Therefore, a whole slew (how big is a slew, anyway?) of "Wheel of
Time" fans will purchase Supporting Memberships.
And since they bought the memberships to get "Wheel of Time", it is
not unreasonable to assume that they will vote for "Wheel of Time"
for the Hugo.
At the end of the day (or the Hugo voting period, anyway), I would
be curious to know how many ballots that gave "Wheel of Time" a
first-place vote were Supporting Memberships purchased after, say,
today, and how many of those had no other votes marked.
Moving along, in the novella category, there will undoubtedly be
some discussion over whether "Wakulla Springs" by Andy Duncan and
Ellen Klages is science fiction/fantasy at all.
In the short fiction in general, I have heard of many of the
nominees, and it was not unusual for a few unfamiliar names to show
up even years ago. I have not done a precise count, but there
seems to be more gender balance, and more diversity in general,
than way back when. Certainly the entries in "Related Work" would
support this, with nominees such as QUEERS DIG TIME LORDS: A
CELEBRATION OF DOCTOR WHO BY THE LGBTQ FANS WHO LOVE IT and WE HAVE
ALWAYS FOUGHT: CHALLENGING THE WOMEN, CATTLE AND SLAVES NARRATIVE.
Once again, the "Short Story" category is only four entries because
of the "5% rule" (a work must get nominated on 5% of the ballots
cast in that category to make the short list). This is a problem
with the "long tail", and this is caused by the vast number of
short stories being published these days. (Someone said that the
stats that flashed briefly on the screen at the announcement
indicated that there were 865 ballots in this category containing 578
distinct entries!)
The category I feel most qualified to comment on is "Dramatic
Presentation, Long Form". This had almost a thousand ballots, so
it is not surprising that blockbusters such as IRON MAN 3, PACIFIC
RIM, and CATCHING FIRE were on the ballot, but they were not my
choices. My picks of FROZEN and GRAVITY did make the ballot, but
my first reaction was, "Where, oh where, is HER?", clearly (to me,
anyway) one of the best of last year's films? The answer is that
thought it had a minimal release for Oscar eligibility (one week in
one theater in Los Angeles and one in New York), it was ruled a
2014 film by the Administrators. My other two choices, JUG FACE
and LIFE TRACKER, had miniscule releases, so I am not surprised
that they are not there.
On the other hand, I am completely out of touch with "Dramatic
Presentation, Short Form" (and "Graphic Story" as well), but the
fact that there are four "Doctor Who"-related pieces and an episode
of "Game of Thrones" is hardly unpredictable.
In fact, "Doctor Who" seems to be taking over the entire ballot,
sort of like the Hugo equivalent of kudzu: four nominees in
"Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" plus one each in "Graphic
Story" and "Related Work".
Oddly, I find the editors' names more familiar than the authors',
though it has been observed that this is the first time *ever* that
ASTOUNDING, ANALOG, or its editor was not on the nominations
ballot. In 1953-1956 and 1958, there was no short list, just a
winner, and it won in 1953, 1955, and 1956, so that is really only
1954 and 1958 that it did not appear on the ballot. (Note: women
are in the majority in the editor categories.)
Of the six professional artists, I recognized one name. Of the
five fanzines, none. Of the seven fancasts, three. Of the five
fan writers, none. Of the five fan artists, two.
At this point, Mark is sitting on the couch serenading me with the
title song from THE LAST DINOSAUR. And he may be right, because,
boy, do I feel more comfortable in the Retro Hugo area.
Here the numbers are more traditional: 208 ballots for novel, 50
for fan writer, and so on, with 233 ballots total.
I have heard of all the novels. I have not read them all; I am not
sure on some of them whether I read them back in college or not.
For all the fiction categories, some of what I nominated made it
and some did not, but I recognize all the authors' names. I am not
going to make detailed comments here, since I will probably try to
read all the Retro nominees, even though I am not eligible to vote
this year. However, some have had very limited or no reprints, so
I may not be able to hit them all.
Several categories are missing. For example, there is no "Dramatic
Presentation, Long Form"--this is probably because there were only
a half-dozen or so presentations that were even eligible in this
category. Also missing were categories such as "Graphic Novel"
(though comic strips might have qualified), "Semiprozine", and
"Editor, Long Form".
Not surprisingly, "Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" consisted
mostly of radio shows: three Mercury Theaters, a Campbell
Playhouse (Mercury Theater under a different name), and one lone
television show. Yes, they had rudimentary television in 1938.
But the nominee, "R.U.R." is a BBC production that aired once 75
years ago and has been lost, leading one to wonder on what basis
the nominators chose it. (By the way, Orson Welles got four of the
five nominations, quite possibly a record for most nominations for
one person in a single category in a single year.) Alas, this
meant that no episodes from "The Shadow" or "Lights Out" made the
ballot. If "Treasure Island" had made the ballot instead of
"R.U.R." it would have been a clean sweep for Welles. (For those
who ask whether "Treasure Island" is even science fiction or
fantasy, I would classify it as horror. And come to that, how is
"Around the World in Eighty Days" any more eligible?)
In the "Editor, Short Form" category I recognize three of the names
and will predict that John W. Campbell will win this category
easily. In the "Professional Artist" again, I recognize three
names and predict either Virgil Finlay or Frank R. Paul will win.
I am unfamiliar with all of the fanzines, and in the "Fan Writer"
category I suspect that name recognition will count for much more
than the actual fan writing of these people (though they are all
bona fide fans who did fan writing at the time).
[After I wrote this, I read a few columns and comments that
indicate that seven of the nominees had been promoted in an on-line
campaigns (see http://file770.com/?p685), and were basically a
surprise even to fans much more in touch with the field than I am.
On-line campaigns in previous years have put some lesser-known
nominees on the ballot, but this year seems to have been some sort
of tipping point. Does this mean that we have gotten to the point
where the Hugo Awards no longer represent the consensus of the core
of fandom--whatever that is--but merely the victory of whoever can
put together the best Internet campaign?] [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Hugo Nominations
2014 HUGO AWARDS
Best Novel (1595 nominating ballots)
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie;
Neptune's Brood, Charles Stross;
Parasite, Mira Grant;
Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles, Larry Correia;
The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson;
Best Novella (847 nominating ballots)
The Butcher of Khardov, Dan Wells (Privateer Press);
"The Chaplain's Legacy", Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013);
"Equoid", Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013);
Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press);
"Wakulla Springs", Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages;
(Tor.com, 10-2013);
;
Best Novelette (728 nominating ballots);
"Opera Vita Aeterna", Vox Day (The Last Witchking,;
Marcher Lord Hinterlands);
"The Exchange Officers", Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013);
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars", Mary Robinette Kowal;
(maryrobinettekowal.com/Tor.com, 09-2013);
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling", Ted Chiang;
(Subterranean, Fall 2013);
"The Waiting Stars", Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the;
Sky);
;
Best Short Story (865 nominating ballots);
"If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love", Rachel Swirsky;
(Apex Magazine, Mar-2013);
"The Ink Readers of Doi Saket", Thomas Olde Heuvelt;
(Tor.com, 04-2013);
"Selkie Stories Are for Losers", Sofia Samatar;
(Strange Horizons, Jan-2013);
"The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere", John Chu;
(Tor.com, 02-2013);
;
Note: Category had only 4 nominees due to the minimum 5%;
requirement of Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.;
Best Related Work (752 nominating ballots)
Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ
Fans Who Love It, Edited by Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian
Thomas (Mad Norwegian Press)
Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and
Commentary, Justin Landon & Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
"We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and
Slaves Narrative", Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative
Fiction, Jeff VanderMeer, with Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image)
Writing Excuses Season 8, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary
Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Jordan Sanderson
Best Graphic Story (552 nominating ballots)
Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne & The Sleeping City,
written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors
by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
"The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who", written by Paul Cornell,
illustrated by Jimmy Broxton (Doctor Who Special 2013, IDW)
The Meathouse Man, adapted from the story by George R.R. Martin
and illustrated by Raya Golden (Jet City Comics)
Saga, Volume 2, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by
Fiona Staples (Image Comics )
"Time", Randall Munroe (XKCD)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (995 nominating ballots)
FROZEN
GRAVITY
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
IRON MAN 3
PACIFIC RIM
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (760 nominating ballots)
An Adventure in Space and Time, written by Mark Gatiss,
directed by Terry McDonough (BBC Television)
Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor", written by Steven Moffat,
directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Television)
Doctor Who: "The Name of the Doctor", written by Steven Moffat,
directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Televison)
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, written & directed by Peter
Davison (BBC Television)
Game of Thrones: "The Rains of Castamere", written by David
Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO
Entertainment et al)
Orphan Black: "Variations under Domestication" written by Will
Pascoe, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions;
Space/BBC America)
Note: Category has six nominees due to a tie for the final
position.
Best Editor, Short Form (656 nominating ballots)
John Joseph Adams;
Neil Clarke;
Ellen Datlow;
Jonathan Strahan;
Sheila Williams;
Best Editor, Long Form (632 nominating ballots)
Ginjer Buchanan;
Sheila Gilbert;
Liz Gorinsky;
Lee Harris;
Toni Weisskopf;
Best Professional Artist (624 nominating ballots)
Galen Dara;;
Julie Dillon;
Daniel Dos Santos;
John Harris;
John Picacio;
Fiona Staples;
Note: Category has six nominees due to a tie for the final
position.
Best Semiprozine (411 nominating ballots)
Apex Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore, and
Michael Damian Thomas
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, edited by Scott H. Andrews
Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
Lightspeed Magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton,
and Stefan Rudnicki
Strange Horizons, edited by Niall Harrison, Brit Mandelo, An
Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Sonya Taaffe, Abigail Nussbaum, Rebecca
Cross, Anaea Lay, and Shane Gavin
Best Fanzine (478 nominating ballots)
The Book Smugglers, edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James;
A Dribble of Ink, edited by Aidan Moher;
Elitist Book Reviews, edited by Steven Diamond;
Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia,;
Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J.Montgomery;
Pornokitsch, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin;
Best Fancast (396 nominating ballots)
The Coode Street Podcast;
Galactic Suburbia Podcast;
SF Signal Podcast;
The Skiffy and Fanty Show;
Verity!;
The Writer and the Critic;
Note: Category has seven nominees due to a tie for the final
position.
Best Fan Writer (521 nominating ballots)
Liz Bourke;
Kameron Hurley;
Foz Meadows;
Abigail Nussbaum;
Mark Oshiro;
Best Fan Artist (316 nominating ballots)
Brad W. Foster, Mandie Manzano;
Spring Schoenhuth;
Steve Stiles;
Sarah Webb;
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (767 nominating
ballots)
Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy
writer of 2012 or 2013, sponsored by Dell Magazines. (Not a Hugo
Award, but administered along with the Hugo Awards.)
Wesley Chu;
Max Gladstone*
Ramez Naam*
Sofia Samatar*
Benjanun Sriduangkaew;
*Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.
1923 valid nominating ballots (1889 electronic and 34 paper) were
received and counted from the members of LoneStarCon 3, Loncon 3
and Sasquan, the 2013, 2014, and 2015 World Science Fiction
Conventions.
2014 RETRO HUGO AWARDS
[For the short fiction not published in book form, I will give the
reprint that seems the easiest to find. http://www.isfdb.org
will help you find other sources. A few of them may be well-nigh
unobtainable if they are not included in the Hugo packet.]
Best Novel (208 nominating ballots)
Carson of Venus, Edgar Rice Burroughs;
Galactic Patrol, E. E. Smith;
The Legion of Time, Jack Williamson;
Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis;
The Sword in the Stone, T. H. White;
Best Novella (125 nominating ballots)
Anthem, Ayn Rand;
"A Matter of Form", H. L. Gold (Groff Conklin's BIG BOOK OF
SCIENCE FICTION)
Sleepers of Mars, John Beynon [John Wyndham]
"The Time Trap", Henry Kuttner (Brian Aldiss's EVIL EARTHS)
"Who Goes There"", Don A Stuart [John W. Campbell] (Robert
Silverberg's SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME)
Best Novelette (80 nominating ballots)
"Dead Knowledge", Don A. Stuart [John W. Campbell] (John
W. Campbell's A NEW DAWN)
"Hollywood on the Moon", Henry Kuttner (STARTLING STORIES,
July 1949)
"Pigeons From Hell", Robert E. Howard (Robert E. Howard's
PIGEONS FROM HELL)
"Rule 18", Clifford D. Simak (Clifford Simak's THE AUTUMN LAND)
"Werewoman", C. L. Moore (Robert Hoskins's EDGE OF NEVER)
Best Short Story (108 nominating ballots)
"The Faithful", Lester Del Rey (James Gunn's ROAD TO SCIENCE
FICTION #2)
"Helen O"Loy", Lester Del Rey (Robert Silverberg's SCIENCE
FICTION HALL OF FAME)
"Hollerbochen's Dilemma", Ray Bradbury (Sam Moskowitz's HORRORS
UNSEEN)
"How We Went to Mars", Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur C. Clarke's
COLLECTED STORIES)
"Hyperpilosity", L. Sprague de Camp (James Gunn's ROAD TO
SCIENCE FICTION #2)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (137 nominating ballots)
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Written &
Directed by Orson Welles (The Mercury Theater of the Air,
CBS)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Written & Directed by
Orson Welles (The Campbell Playhouse, CBS)
Dracula by Bram Stoker. Written by Orson Welles and John
Houseman; Directed by Orson Welles (The Mercury Theater of
the Air, CBS)
R. U. R. by Karel Capek. Produced by Jan Bussell (BBC)
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Written by Howard Koch &
Anne Froelick; Directed by Orson Welles (The Mercury Theater
of the Air, CBS)
Best Editor, Short Form (99 nominating ballots)
John W. Campbell;
Walter H. Gillings;
Raymond A. Palmer;
Mort Weisinger;
Farnsworth Wright;
Best Professional Artist (86 nominating ballots)
Margaret Brundage;
Virgil Finlay;
Frank R. Paul;
Alex Schomburg;
H. W. Wesso;
Best Fanzine (42 nominating ballots)
Fantascience Digest edited by Robert A. Madle;
Fantasy News edited by James V. Taurasi;
Imagination! edited by Forrest J Ackerman, Morojo,;
and T. Bruce Yerke;
Novae Terrae edited by Maurice K. Hanson;
Tomorrow edited by Douglas W. F. Mayer;
Best Fan Writer (50 nominating ballots)
Forrest J Ackerman;
Ray Bradbury;
Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker;
Harry Warner, Jr.;
Donald A. Wollheim;
233 valid nominating ballots (226 electronic and 7 paper) were
received and counted from the members of LoneStarCon 3, Loncon 3
and Sasquan.
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
It seems that jazz is more cerebral and more
mathematical in a sense.
--Rita Coolidge