Arthur D. Hlavaty

Another good one gone

2017-01-10T10:43:49Z

Peter Weston (1944-2017)

Thanx to File 770

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Pounded in the butt by sf purists

2016-05-03T08:43:02Z

In defense of Chuck Tingle

Thanx to browngirl

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One of us

2015-02-26T11:09:01Z

Gregory Benford remembers fellow physicist Sidney Coleman.

Thanx to File 770

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Bird thou never wert

2015-02-15T10:53:32Z

Congrats to Moshe Feder for winning the Skylark Award

Thanx to File 770

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Tomorrow, the Universe

2015-02-11T10:38:32Z

Fanfic at The New Yorker

Why does our beloved genre and its epiphenomena keep breaking through into the mainstream? IMO, because we have so many cool toys, and writers have near-zero resistance to them. The privileging of the mainstream was a social construct built around a distribution channel, and Main Street’s been in bad shape for a while now, but there’s nothing theoretical about a case of the plot bunnies. Ask any writer who’s had one. The only way to get rid of a plot bunny, even a disreputably fannish one, is to write it.

Thanx to Making Light.

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Not giving up

2014-12-31T16:35:22Z

Kameron Hurley had a good year.

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Richly deserved

2014-12-02T11:16:15Z

Sue Mason wins the Rotsler Award for fan art.

Thanx to File 770

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Century

2014-11-24T11:53:02Z

Wilson Tucker at 100

Thanx to File 770

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Before the Internet

2014-09-28T09:44:04Z

Science fiction fanzines before the future got broken

Thanx to File 770

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Zines

2014-08-01T23:46:10Z

The latest Nice Distinctions and The Island of Dr. Gernsback are posted at the excellent efanzines.

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Folknik

2013-12-16T21:31:57Z

There's a new movie about Dave Van Ronk. Back in the day, his tribe (folk music) and what would become mine (fanzine fandom) overlapped. The late Lee Hoffman, a beloved figure in both, remembered.

Thanx to Avedon's Sideshow.

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Hall of Fame

2013-09-04T10:50:20Z

Earl Kemp, who put together the important and fascinating Who Killed Science Fiction? in the 60s and in more recent years did the delightful online zine eI, has been voted to the First Fandom Hall of Fame. Richly deserved.

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Reading

2013-06-07T17:27:59Z

Chris Kluwe is One of Us.

Thanx to Michael J. Walsh on Facebook

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Boy meets girl at Midamericon

2013-04-28T10:09:27Z

Bonding over Dhalgren

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Richard E. Geis (1927-2013)

2013-03-01T21:04:10Z

I discovered fanzine fandom in the early '70s, and one of the first fan writers I noticed was Dick Geis. He wrote well, including about his sexual practices, desires, and hangups, and he had a rare talent for stirring up controversy and fannish war, which he may have enjoyed as much as sex. One thing that encouraged my own fanwriting career was the awareness of what he was getting away with. When I did a zine, he was most encouraging, though he said I was too nice and should be stirring up more trouble. A lot of other people appreciated him (Wikipedia list of his fannish accomplishments).

ETA: Andy Porter remembers.

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Another good one gone

2013-02-27T12:09:41Z

Jan Howard Finder (1939–2013)

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Not surprised, but very happy

2012-09-03T09:21:56Z

Among Others won the Hugo

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Good news

2012-08-06T10:17:55Z

Readercon has done the right thing. Thank you, rosefox et al.

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Fannish

2012-07-27T20:35:04Z

Michael Dirda's Readercon report

Thanx to fringefaan

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Nice Distinctions #23

2012-07-24T19:07:51Z

My latest zine is available in print and online, and at that excellent site
http://efanzines.com

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con

2012-07-13T13:07:36Z

Off to Readercon

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Looking at looking at sf

2012-06-05T10:28:21Z

Jon Carroll and Maureen Kincaid Speller consider the New Yorker special issue.

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That's what I want: recognition

2012-05-31T15:36:19Z

The world was supposed to end on December 22, 1985. It wasn't announced beforehand, but that was the date of something my tribe expected would end or at least change everything if it ever happened: The New York Times Book Review did an intelligent, respectful full-page review of the latest Robert Heinlein novel (The Cat Who Walks through Walls).

They didn't even lead up to it gradually. We thought they might start by hiring a condescending little prick to sprinkle judicious praise on a few of the more assimilated examples, but no. (Dave Itzkoff didn't come along until years later.) And the world didn't end. In fact, the apocalyptic review didn't seem to change much of anything, but I no longer would be surprised by "mainstream" acceptance.

So I'm a bit blasé about The New Yorker's Science Fiction issue, but I like it. So that's how Colson Whitehead got to be like that (specifically writing The Intuitionist, which I love). I guess the big surprise was finding out that China Miéville survived starting out with Alfred Bester's Golem 100 (the cruelest Bester parody, as Slapstick is the cruelest Vonnegut parody). Miéville noted the "disrespect for text" and kinda liked it. I figured it came from not being able to do it anymore; before Viagra, there was a lot more disrespect for sex. (I hasten to add for those who don't know him that China Miéville does not write like someone with disrespect for text.)

I also noted one of my least favorite things about The New Yorker: the difficulty of finding article amidst the advertising pages. Tom Wolfe's famous attack on the zine was vicious, one-sided, and gratuitously personal, but he was not entirely mistaken when he said that the text is a gray background intended not to be too distracting from the important part.

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In case you didn't know

2012-05-31T10:40:19Z

Paul Krugman Is a Hard-Core Science Fiction Fan

Thanx to Making Light.

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Nice Distinctions 22

2012-01-18T19:41:05Z

New zine available in print like our ancestors used, or e-mailed in text or pdf form. I recommend the latter as it has an excellent Brad Foster cover.

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