@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 05/31/91 -- Vol. 9, No. 48 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 06/05 LZ: UBIK by Phillip K. Dick (Death and Hell) 06/26 LZ: ALTERNATE WORLDS by Robert Adams ("What If Things Were Different?") _D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C. 06/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA (phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday) 06/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA (phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. One of the cable stations runs a late-night program of bad movies and rock videos. Maybe they feel the rock videos are so obnoxious they need something even worse to show them with and to make them look better. Anyway, the films they show have titles such as _I _W_a_s _a _Z_o_m_b_i_e _f_o_r _t_h_e _F_B_I. That sort of film is a fraud in and of itself. It was made for the people who like _C_r_e_e_p_i_n_g _T_e_r_r_o_r and _P_l_a_n _9 _f_r_o_m _O_u_t_e_r _S_p_a_c_e. There is a market for incompetently made films and an audience of sick puppies who enjoy sitting around and laughing at the incompetence. One of the features of the human psyche is that even if you have done nothing of value in your life you can feel good by seeing how other people have tried to be creative and failed. But now _I _W_a_s _a _Z_o_m_b_i_e _f_o_r _t_h_e _F_B_I is intentionally incompetent, like _A_t_t_a_c_k _o_f _t_h_e _K_i_l_l_e_r _T_o_m_a_t_o_e_s. These are films of ersatz incompetence, made for a market that is anxious to find new thrills in incompetence. THE MT VOID Page 2 Anyway, it is rare that you would see anything on one of these programs that is of a deep nature, but I have to say one I saw really did change my world-view somewhat. They were running documentaries from the 1950s to smirk at. One was one you would see in school about how to behave on a date. But in the middle of all this frivolity they showed an instructional film for dairy farmers and they said, "Yes, cows make friends and have personal favorites just like people do." Big laugh from the audience, but not from me. I guess I had not given a whole lot of thought to bovine intelligence before this. Apparently cows and bulls and steers (isn't there a single word for these things? A doe or a buck is a female or male deer. A cow or a bull is a female or male what?) have an actual social structure. They don't break down their species into just "me," "my mother," and "the others," but look at each other as individuals. That Big Mac you are eating could be made up of somebody's best friend. I knew I should cut down on my red meat consumption for cholesterol, but somehow I never got around to it. I think this might have been what pushed me over the edge. At home I don't eat mammal and in restaurants I never order mammal. Way, way back I started with my own boycott of veal. I you still don't know how veal is raised, take it from me, you don't want to know. Just don't eat veal, or I might tell you. I think I might eat whale meat before I'd eat veal. But now all mammals are on the list. Actually, with the exception of penguins, I have little respect for either bird or fish intelligence, so if I want meat it will be from a bird or a fish. But even stranger is that I am starting to resent the beef industry in much the same way I guess I resent the tobacco industry. Not too long ago I took them to task for the slogan "Beef ... real food for real people." You lose your "realness" if you worry about eating somebody's friend or clogging your arteries. And their spokesperson is James Garner, who has already had one or more heart attacks. I notice they are trying to give beef a better face. My morning news program us sponsored by "The National Beef Council ... helping to show that beef has a place in modern diets." Then if you see their ads they say how healthy it is to have a two-ounce steak. Have you ever seen a two-ounce steak? You need tweezers and a razor blade to cut it. In those amounts apparently beef is okay. Actually, I think the National Beef Council is a lot like the Creation Science Institute. Both started with their conclusion and worked backwards to justify it. 2. The list of 1991 Hugo nominees is attached. Our factotum has again been nominated. Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 ...mtgzy!leeper Hugo Nominations 1991 Best Novel: _E_a_r_t_h by David Brin, Bantam Spectra _T_h_e _F_a_l_l _o_f _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n by Dan Simmons, Doubleday Foundation _Q_u_e_e_n _o_f _A_n_g_e_l_s by Greg Bear, Warner books _T_h_e _Q_u_i_e_t _P_o_o_l_s by Michael Kube-McDowell, Ace Books _T_h_e _V_o_r _G_a_m_e by Lois McMaster Bujold, Baen Books Best Novella: "Bones" by Pat Murphy, IASFM May 1990 "Bully!" by Mike Resnick, Axolotl Press "Fool to Believe" by Pat Cadigan, IASFM February 1990 "The Hemingway Hoax" by Joe Haldeman, IASFM April 1990 "A Short, Sharp Shock" by Kim Stanley Robinson, IASFM November 1990 Best Novelette: "A Braver Thing" by Charles Sheffield, IASFM February 1990 "The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk" by Dafydd ab Hugh, IASFM, August 1990 "The Manamouki" by Mike Resnick, IASFM July 1990 "Over the Long Haul" by Marthu Soukup, _A_m_a_z_i_n_g, March 1990 "Tower of Babylon" by Ted Chiang, _O_m_n_i November 1990 Best Short Story: "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, IASFM, August 1990 "Cibola" by Connie Willis, IASFM, December 1990 "Godspeed" by Charles Sheffield, _A_n_a_l_o_g July 1990 "The Utility Man" by Robert Reed, IASFM, November 1990 "VRM-547" by W. R. Thompson, _A_n_a_l_o_g, February 1990 Best Non-Fiction Book: _B_u_r_y _M_y _H_e_a_r_t _a_t _W._H. _S_m_i_t_h'_s by Brian W. Aldiss, Hodder & Staughton _H_o_l_l_y_w_o_o_d _G_o_t_h_i_c by David J. Skal, Norton _H_o_w _t_o _W_r_i_t_e _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _a_n_d _F_a_n_t_a_s_y by Orson Scott Card, Writer's Digest Books _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _i_n _t_h_e _R_e_a_l _W_o_r_l_d by Norman Spinrad, So. Illinois University Press _S_F_W_A _H_a_n_d_b_o_o_k by Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Smith, Writers Notebook Press Best Dramatic Presentation: _B_a_c_k _t_o _t_h_e _F_u_t_u_r_e _I_I_I, Universal Studios _E_d_w_a_r_d _S_c_i_s_s_o_r_h_a_n_d_s, 20th Century Fox _G_h_o_s_t, Paramount _T_o_t_a_l _R_e_c_a_l_l, Tristar/Columbia _W_i_t_c_h_e_s, Warner Brothers Hugo Nominations 1991 May 25, 1991 Page 2 Best Professional Artist: Thomas Canty David Cherry Bob Eggleton Don Maitz Michael Whelan Best Professional Editor: Ellen Datlow Gardner Dozois Edward L. Ferman Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stanley Schmidt Best Semiprozine: _I_n_t_e_r_z_o_n_e, Dan Pringle _L_o_c_u_s, Charles Brown _T_h_e _N_e_w _Y_o_r_k _R_e_v_i_e_w _o_f _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n, David G. Hartwell, Kathryn Kramer, Gordon van Gelder _Q_u_a_n_t_u_m (formerly _T_h_r_u_s_t) D. Douglas Fratz _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _C_h_r_o_n_i_c_l_e, Andrew I. Porter Best Fan Artist: Teddy Harvia Merle Insinga Peggy Ranson Stu Shiffman Diana Stein Best Fan Writer: Avedon Carol Mike Glyer Arthur Hlavaty David Langford Evelyn C. Leeper Teresa Nielsen Hayden Best Fanzine: _F_i_l_e _7_7_0, Mike Glyer _F_o_s_f_a_x, Moore and Timothy Lane _L_a_n'_s _L_a_n_t_e_r_n, George Laskowski _M_a_i_n_s_t_r_e_a_m, Jerry Kaufman and Suzanne Tompkins _M_i_m_o_s_a, Dick and Nicki Lynch John W. Campbell Award: Nancy A. Collins (SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK, TEMPTER) John Cramer (TWISTOR, several science fact articles in ANALOG) Scott Cupp ("Thirteen Days of Glory" and other horror stories in original anthologies, mostly Western) Julia Ecklar Michael Kandel (STRANGE INVASIONS, IN BETWEEN DRAGONS) (All are in their second year of eligibility)