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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)