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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 03/19/93 -- Vol. 11, No. 38
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
03/31 STEEL BEACH by John Varley (Near-Future Uptopias--
Or Are They?)
03/31 Deadline for Hugo Nominations
04/21 ARISTOI by Walter Jon Williams
(If This--AI, Virtual Reality, Nanotech--Goes On)
05/12 THOMAS THE RHYMER by Ellen Kushner (Fantasy in a Modern Vein)
06/02 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
(Modern Stapledonian Fiction)
06/23 CONSIDER PHLEBAS by Iain Banks
(Space Opera with a Knife Twist)
07/14 SIGHT OF PROTEUS by Charles Sheffield (Human Metamorphosis)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 hocpb!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 quartet!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Since our last animation festival was popular, we've decided to
do it again, on Thursday, March 25 at 7 PM.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Short Stuff II
Cartoon Madness (1993)
"Mad Scientist" (1941)
The 21st Tournee of Animation (1990)
"Creature Comforts" (1990)
"To Be" (1991)
We will start with an Arts & Entertainment special on Max (and
Dave) Fleischer with narration by Leonard Maltin and several
complete Fleischer cartoons, including an early Betty Boop cartoon,
"Bingo's Initiation," and "Cinderella." We will follow this with
"Mad Scientist," one of Fleischer's famous Superman cartoons.
The second part of the evening will be dedicated to more recent
animation. First we have the 21st Tournee of Animation.
Periodically (but apparently not yearly) there is a collection of
the best animated films since the last Tournee. This compilation
is then put on a single film and released to art theaters. We have
seen the 19th, 20th, 22nd, and 23rd Tournees in the theaters, but
missed the 21st, so we have gotten the videotape of the best of the
21st and will be showing that. Since even we haven't seen it yet,
all we can tell you is that is has ten animated shorts from all
over the world, including one Academy Award nominee, and if it's up
to the standards of all the other Tournees, it should be enjoyable
indeed. We will wrap up the evening with "To Be" (a recent science
fiction short from the National Film Board of Canada) and "Creature
Comforts" (the 1991 Academy Award winner for "Animated Short
Subject"). [-ecl]
2. A reminder on discussion book availability:
_S_t_e_e_l _B_e_a_c_h by John Varley is available at the Old Bridge and
Monmouth County (Headquarters) libraries; the paperback is due out
in August from Ace. _A_r_i_s_t_o_i by Walter Jon Williams is available at
the Old Bridge library; the paperback is due out in September from
Tor. _T_h_o_m_a_s _t_h_e _R_h_y_m_e_r by Ellen Kushner is available at the
Monmouth County (Headquarters, Eastern, and Extension branches)
library; the paperback is out, but hard to find. _W_o_r_l_d _a_t _t_h_e _E_n_d
_o_f _T_i_m_e by Frederik Pohl is available at the Monmouth County
(Headquarters, Extension, and Eastern branches) and Old Bridge
libraries; it is available in paperback as well. _T_h_e _U_s_e _o_f
_W_e_a_p_o_n_s by Iain Banks is available at the Monmouth County
(Extension branch) library; it is available in paperback as well.
_S_i_g_h_t _o_f _P_r_o_t_e_u_s by Charles Sheffield is available at the Old
Bridge library; it is available in paperback as well. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzfs3!leeper
Boskone 30
(Part 1 of 3)
Con report by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper
Well, the drive was an hour longer going up this year,
due to the move from Springfield to Framingham, and three
hours longer coming back, because there was a snowstorm
added on as well. Still, having everything in one hotel _w_a_s
nice.
Two years ago, panelists registered in the regular
registration area and were given their panelist information
there. Last year we had to go to the Green Room to get our
panelist information, and this was in the other hotel, so
this was a trifle inconvenient. This year they returned to
handing out the panelist information at the regular
registration desk.
Hotel
The Sheraton Tara was quite nice, and having everything
in one hotel a definite plus! There were a couple of panels
with people standing in back, but on the whole crowding was
not a problem. The move to Framingham does not seem to have
changed the size of Boskone any; it has been holding steady
at 900 or so for the past three years. The parties seemed
fairly empty, except for the party with the belly-dancer.
Dealers Room
Since there was only one hotel, there was only one
dealers room, but this had what might be called a "back
room" with some of the dealers, and this back room was
possibly less trafficked in than the main room. There were
about the same number of dealers as previous years, with
books predominating. I didn't see any Japanese videos, but
the rest of the assortment was similar to last year's as
well. As usual, I found a half-dozen books I couldn't find
anywhere else (though I hadn't checked the Science Fiction
Shop in New York yet), and a couple more I picked up on
impulse. There was a Border's Bookstore nearby, but car
problems, lack of time, and the feeling that there were
superstores near us at home kept us from getting there
(although I believe Willis and Yolen had an autograph
session there Friday afternoon).
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 2
Art Show
For the first time at a Boskone, I didn't get to the
Art Show. Okay, that's not _e_x_a_c_t_l_y true: I did stick my
head through the door at one point to see how Mark's origami
panel was going. It was packed and I left. But I never got
a chance to look at the art itself. I think it's because I
have been increasingly disappointed at the contents and so
never made the time. Then again, attending every Connie
Willis panel kept me pretty busy!
Programming
There were a few science panels, none of which I got
to. I guess the era of the "hard-science" Boskone is over.
Most of the science panels were computer-oriented. I think
the overall number of panels may be decreasing as well.
This is due to the lower attendance at Boskone--fewer
attendees mean fewer panel participants, as well as fewer
people in the audience. (Though Joe Haldeman was the Guest
of Honor, I never got to a panel of his. I mention this
because from the number of Connie Willis panels I attended,
you might think _s_h_e was the Guest of Honor. Actually, she
came to Boskone because it was on the way to Chicago, where
she was traveling for a Monday conference. How is Boston on
the way from Colorado to Chicago? Well, my guess is that by
flying round-trip to Boston with a stop-over in Chicago on
the way back, Willis could then have a Saturday night stay,
which for some reason makes airline tickets a _l_o_t cheaper,
enough cheaper in fact probably to cover the cost of the
hotel room for Boskone. Anyway, I was quite pleased about
this turn of events.)
The First Night
The Friday night Meet-the-VIPs party was held in the
same room as the film, and adjacent to the con suite. This
allowed the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra to set up their
equipment only once instead of having to move it from the
party to the film room as they did last year. At the party
I was approached by someone who asked if I would mind
signing some autographs. It turns out he thought I was
Connie Willis (shades of MagiCon!). Connie Willis is
several inches taller than I am, and her hair is red rather
than dark brown, but I guess from a black-and-white photo on
a book jacket, we look alike. Why doesn't anyone claim I
_w_r_i_t_e like Connie Willis?
The con suite offered free munchies as well as free
soft drinks this year (last year the drinks were free, but
the chips and such were not).
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 3
I couldn't spend all my time at the party, because Mark
had a film panel at 9 PM.
SF Movies and TV: The Year in Review
Friday, 9 PM
Daniel Kimmel (mod), Saul Jaffe, Mark R. Leeper, Jim Mann
I got to the panel late, but didn't seem to have missed
much. Kimmel was "moderating" the panel by listing every
science fiction, fantasy, and horror film he could think of
that was released in 1992, and only at the end of the list
asking for additions or additional comments. Even with his
long list (he works for _V_a_r_i_e_t_y), he omitted _G_r_a_n_d _T_o_u_r:
_D_i_s_a_s_t_e_r _i_n _T_i_m_e (based on C. L. Moore's "Vintage Season"),
_K_a_f_k_a, _R_u_n_e_s_t_o_n_e, _S_h_a_d_o_w_s _a_n_d _F_o_g, and _Z_e_n_t_r_o_p_a (known in
Europe as _E_u_r_o_p_a). Mann noted the availability of _G_o_d_z_i_l_l_a
_v_s. _B_i_o_l_l_a_n_t_e on videotape; I noted the videotape release of
the 1931 Spanish-language _D_r_a_c_u_l_a after many years of total
unavailability (the only complete print was in a vault in
Havana).
Kimmel then had Jaffe list all the television released
in 1992. Since Jaffe is working on a book about science
fiction television, he had a very complete list, but I think
most people started tuning out during the long list of
Saturday morning cartoon shows. Mann recommended "The Inner
Light" as the best of _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t _G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n; I
recommended American Playhouse's "Fool's Fire" (based on
Edgar Allan Poe's "Hopfrog").
Nosferatu
Friday, 10 PM
The only part of the film program I got to was
_N_o_s_f_e_r_a_t_u. I think _R_o_b_o_t _J_o_x was also shown on film; there
was a video program as well. _N_o_s_f_e_r_a_t_u was shown with live
accompaniment by the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra. They had
solved the problems of set-up and reel changes that plagued
last year's film, but the music didn't always suit the
movie. Mark and I particularly agreed that a klezmer-disco
version of "Summertime" from _P_o_r_g_y _a_n_d _B_e_s_s was probably not
what Murnau had in mind when he made the film.
Parties
I dropped by the "Boston in 1998" party to find out
what was going on. The Sheraton Boston had signed a
contract with the American Political Science Association for
Labor Day weekend, 1998, but the Hynes Convention Center was
still interested in having Noreascon. The issue seems to be
whether enough hotel rooms in the immediate area can be
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 4
found to sustain the convention. My feeling was that the
committee members thought there could be, and that the bid
would proceed without the Sheraton. Bidding against Boston
are Baltimore and Niagara Falls. I went to the Baltimore
party Saturday night and was heartily _u_n_i_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d. Based on
the people there I spoke to, a Baltimore convention shows
every sign that it would be just as poorly run as the last
Baltimore convention. I could be wrong, but unless they
concentrate more on the content and less on offering rum
drinks, they will not be getting my vote.
Saturday Morning
We were going to go out for breakfast, but our car
wouldn't start. The battery cranked, but the engine just
wouldn't catch. Eventually we gave up and ate in the hotel
dining room. We figured we could go out for dinner, since
friends would be arriving with another car, but it turned
out that they were afraid to give up their parking space.
(There were more parking spaces behind the hotel, but this
was not obvious.)
History in SF
Saturday, 11 AM
Michael F. Flynn, Mark Keller, Connie Willis
The panelists started by saying they would be talking
about setting stories in the past or using the past in
science fiction. Alternate histories were of course
mentioned but on the whole the panelists dealt with other
uses of history in science fiction. (Keller did point out
the alternate histories have a firm academic background, at
least in economics, where "counter-factuals" are a standard
tool.)
One popular use of history is to provide a ready-made
background for a future or alien society, or as Mark Keller
described it, "Look it up instead of make it up." The
Turkish Ottoman Empire, for example, was the basis of the
society in Frank Herbert's _D_u_n_e (and subsequent books).
This has the advantage of being realistic and consistent (at
least as much as history itself ever is), but can also be a
bit obvious and strained to the reader.
Another approach is to break some historical law. For
example, stories with faster-than-light travel break a
physical law. Larry Niven's _P_r_o_t_e_c_t_o_r breaks a biological
law. Stories can also break historical laws, although
clearly there is far more disagreement on what constitutes a
historical law. One person gave as an example that a story
could break "Marxist law"; Keller suggested that L. Neil
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 5
Smith's alternate histories assume a universe in which
libertarianism works. This latter sounded more like a
desire to stir up controversy than anything else, since
Flynn has won the Prometheus Award from the Libertarians two
years in a row. But Flynn did not rise to the bait (offered
twice in the hour). The question of exactly what
constitutes a historical law brought up the book _C_y_c_l_e_s, _t_h_e
_S_c_i_e_n_c_e _o_f _P_r_e_d_i_c_t_i_o_n by Edward R. Dewey and Edwin F. Dakin,
which in 1947 predicted the economic cycles that we seem to
be living through: a big recession in the early 1980s,
another smaller one in the early 1990s, an upturn in January
1993, and a big upturn in 2006. (This is supposedly still
in print from the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, 1964,
255pp, $15.)
Willis suggested the only thing we can do to predict
the future was to try to "extrapolate the future from the
past." Her upcoming novella for Bantam, "Uncharted
Territory," does that in its story of a meeting between an
advanced culture and a primitive one. (I will say more
about that below when I talk about the reading.)
This led to some comments on "PC" ("political
correctness") which Willis says is trying to correct the
mistakes of the past without taking into account Murphy's
Law. Murphy's Law figures into this in two ways: first,
many of the mistakes were the result of Murphy's Law, and
second, all our attempts to correct things will also be
plagued by Murphy's Law.
Willis also pointed out that coincidence happens in
history. (Stephen Jay Gould's whole theory of evolutionary
biology is built up from contingencies.) Alternate
histories try to avoid coincidence because that technique
has fallen into disrepute, but the fact remains that truth
is stranger than fiction. A reasonable middle road to take
is to use coincidence in your set-up but not in your
resolution. Any coincidence later in your story needs to
have been set up ahead of time. (For example, the
coincidental meeting of two friends can trigger old feelings
that set the plot into motion, but the hero better not be
saved from the gallows by the last-minute appearance of a
here-to-fore unmentioned twin brother.)
Keller described Fernand Braudel's "Theory of History,"
in which there are three modes: long stretch, oscillating or
fluctuating, and progressive. (These will sound familiar to
anyone who has read Maureen F. McHugh's _C_h_i_n_a _M_o_u_n_t_a_i_n
_Z_h_a_n_g.) Braudel was an economic historian, and looked
primarily at economic trends. All economical/historical
trends theoretically fit into one of these modes. For
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 6
example, "standard of living" is generally considered to be
progressive, while "skirt lengths" is oscillating. Long
stretch, I assume, is a reference to historical inertia--it
takes a long time to effect substantial changes.
As usual, Josephine Tey's _D_a_u_g_h_t_e_r _o_f _T_i_m_e (Macmillen,
1988, $4.95) was mentioned as a good book demonstrating how
to research history. Panelists agreed that it was necessary
to read primary sources, not just what historians say about
them, and this was connected to the "tempocentrism" Willis
felt was evidenced by many historians.
Using history in one's stories is not without its
pitfalls, however. Willis related that at a discussion of
her novel _L_i_n_c_o_l_n'_s _D_r_e_a_m_s one of the attendees asked how
much of the Civil War material Willis had made up (none of
it, it turns out). When pressed, the attendee said, "Well,
for example, who's this Grant character?" The panelists
(and the audience) agreed, I think, that one must operate
within the (ever-shrinking) realm of popular knowledge, but
there is still much disagreement on the boundaries of that
realm. One audience member, for example, seemed shocked
that a reader of Dan Simmons's _H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n didn't recognize the
name of a saint mentioned in passing early on as actually
being the cleric who was involved in the Piltdown Hoax and
who set forth a theological explanation of evolution
involving multiple, parallel lineages, all moving towards a
state of more spirit and less matter. (This is Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, whose evolutionary theories are put
forward to _T_h_e _P_h_e_n_o_m_e_n_o_n _o_f _M_a_n [Harper Collins, 1975,
$12], and who is discussed at great length in Stephen Jay
Gould's _H_e_n'_s _T_e_e_t_h _a_n_d _H_o_r_s_e'_s _T_o_e_s [Norton, 1983, 413pp,
$6.95].) In a society in which people don't recognize the
name of Grant in connection with the Civil War, this seems
an overly optimistic expectation of your readership's
knowledge.
Someone in the audience said he was writing an
alternate history in which a woman was elected president
sometime earlier this century by 95% of the voters, the
Electoral College having been dissolved. This led panelists
to point out that the key to a believable alternate history
is having only one change, and dumping the Electoral College
_a_n_d electing a woman was one change too many. Also noted
was that 95% of the voters never agree on _a_n_y_t_h_i_n_g and if
the writer wanted to indicate a landslide, he should look at
old election results to get some idea of what constitutes a
landslide.
Willis said the biggest problem with using history in
science fiction is that many people have what she called
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 7
"tempocentrism" (or "now-ism"). Historians are _n_o_t
unbiased. In her research for _D_o_o_m_s_d_a_y _B_o_o_k she found many
historians who talked about how the reason the plague killed
so many was that the people of that time were dirty,
ignorant, etc. But Willis notes that even today, if
diagnosed and treated with the best our medical science has
to offer, the plague has a 50% mortality rate. She also
objected to the characterization of people of the 14th
Century as being unfeeling and unaffected by deaths the way
we are, because they were used to it. Willis quoted a man
from Vienna in 1347 who wrote, "This day have I buried my
wife and five children in one grave. No tears. It is the
end of the world." Historians also say things like, "The
plague was of a purgative rather than a disastrous nature,"
which indicates (to me, anyway) that they are being just as
callous as they accuse the 14th Century people as being.
(She talks about this at greater length in her interview in
the July 1992 issue of _L_o_c_u_s.)
This led to a brief discussions of plagues and diseases
in history. Rene Dubos's _T_h_e _M_i_r_a_g_e _o_f _H_e_a_l_t_h: _U_t_o_p_i_a_s,
_P_r_o_g_r_e_s_s, & _B_i_o_l_o_g_i_c_a_l _C_h_a_n_g_e (Rutgers University Press,
1987, 236pp, $13) was cited as a source which discussed the
deaths in the Western Hemisphere from disease during the
first half of the 16th Century. In 1520, there were
estimated to be 25,000,000 people in Mexico; a generation
later there were only 2,500,000. The Spaniards did not
_i_n_t_e_n_d to kill 90% of the population; this happened because
of diseases they unwittingly carried (and to which they
were, on the whole, immune). One audience member seemed to
want to hold on to the idea that the Europeans did this
deliberately and suggested that they put the smallpox
carriers on the ships to send the disease over them, but as
someone else pointed out, "You do _n_o_t want disease carriers
on the same ship as you!" (Diseases worked against the
Europeans in some places as well. There is a Gambian stamp
honoring the mosquito as being the primary reason that
Europeans were unable to colonize that country for so many
years.)
Successful diseases adapt to keep the host alive
longer, so that they can live longer. "That's why AIDS is
such a wonderful disease," said Willis, though quickly
clarifying that she meant in terms of its survival
characteristics rather than a good thing for humans. One
thing I noticed at this panel is that _e_v_e_r_y_o_n_e seems to
mis-use the word "decimate": it means to kill off one-tenth,
_n_o_t to leave only a tenth.
In summary, the message seemed to me that people in the
past weren't that different from us (said Keller), but they
Boskone 30 March 11, 1993 Page 8
were not like us (added Willis). Someone mentioned _T_h_e _B_i_g
_S_k_y by Alfred B. Guthrie, Jr. (Bantam, 1984, $4.95), which
captures the mind-set of a 19th Century trapper, but makes
him so alien the modern reader can't relate to him. Willis
says that the problem is that "we live in a self-centered
age" and think that our beliefs are of necessity more
correct than those of the past. She talked about the recent
attempts to change church language into something more
inclusive of women, and cited a change to a hymn by
St. Francis which eventually drove her to leave the choir
because, as she put it, "To set ourselves above St. Francis
is a great act of hubris and foolishness." Willis in
general decried the current trend toward politically
correctness which seems to treat everyone from the past as
villains because they didn't agree with us. As Keller said,
we may disagree with them, but "they were sincere" (i.e.,
they didn't do what they did to be evil, but because they
believed it was right).
(End of Part 1)