.
[-mrl]
LOSING CONTROL (film review by Mark R. Leeper):
CAPSULE: LOSING CONTROL is an amiable, if uneven comedy, mixing
real science, scientific method, and the modern dating scene with a
little bit of sex (never shown). A Harvard science genius decides
to use scientific method to determine if she really wants to marry
her boyfriend of five years. Writer Valerie Weiss's script lets
down director Valerie Weiss with plot inconsistencies and an uneven
feel. The tone and pacing and even the characters are
inconsistent, but still writer/director Valerie Weiss gives the
film some wit, some humorous situations, and a refreshing dash of
real science. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
Since she was a little girl Samantha Bazarick (played by Miranda
Kent) has wanted to be a scientist. Sam has the smarts and the
attitude of a big talent. And she has a whole live plan written on
paper as a flow chart. Now she is going for her Ph.D. as a
biologist at Harvard. Once her current experiment succeeds she
will get her degree and will marry Ben (Reid Scott), her boy friend
of five years. But neither plan is working out. She is unable to
replicate a major discovery she made years ago. That was a
chemical that will destroy only male sperm and hence block male-
chromosome linked diseases while sparing female sperm. She had the
drug, dubbed Y-Kill, at one time, but is unable to reproduce it.
Also, she is unsure that her boyfriend is her ideal mate. She
wants to follow a scientific methodology to experiment with having
one-night-stands with other men so she can determine with empirical
proof whether or not Ben is really her best choice of husband.
For two acts the film is a romantic comedy and meets the aspiration
to be agreeable. Somewhat jarringly in the third act it turns into
a thriller with a villain and a plan more serious than just
romantic tactics. The humor is scattershot with some humorous
dialog, some of the humor is raunchy, and some action verges on
slapstick. There are character inconsistencies. Samantha's mother
early on is opposed to Samantha's interest in Ben. Without any
explanation in the script she changes sides and wants the marriage.
While Samantha seems likeable even if a little neurotic, the men
she dates are all wacky and off the wall and unbelievable
caricatures. I will not go into detail about how off the wall they
really are. That gets into some of the raunchy aspects of the
film. When Samantha goes dating, she wears a silly-looking hat
flashing electric lights in the shape of a Jewish star that her
mother convinced her to wear, but she seems oblivious as to how
stupid the hat looks. Speaking of electricity, for a film that is
showing respect for science, when Samantha needs a little bit of
electricity toward the end of the film, she gets it from a source
that make no sense scientifically. (If I am wrong about that,
somebody correct me.) The film is mostly light, so it is somewhat
surprising that it takes some unexpected jabs at the Chinese
government and at Chinese in educational programs in the United
States.
Director and writer Valerie Weiss actually is a biophysicist who
herself was a Ph.D. candidate from Harvard. The publicity says
that some of the plot was based on Weiss's own experiences.
Further this is the first film ever to be shot on Harvard's campus,
though with the exception of a few laboratory scenes and maybe one
or two exteriors, the film takes little advantage of its shooting
location.
Running the entire gamut from charming to (arguably) offensive, the
screenplay is a really mixed bag. I found myself coming away from
the film generally positive, but on consideration the script really
needed a few more drafts. I applaud the use of real science in
films but that and Miranda Kent's charm are still not enough to
overcome problems in the writing. I rate LOSNG CONTROL overall a
low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 5/10.
Film Credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1511425/
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/losing_control_2011/
[-mrl]
THE WALKING DEAD (Season 1) (television review by Nick Sauer):
THE WALKING DEAD is an original AMC series based on the long-
running comic book written by Robert Kirkmann and illustrated by
Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard that began in 2003. The series takes
place in the near future where a viral agent has gotten lose that
reanimates recently dead people. The first season covers the early
months of the zombie apocalypse as seen through the eyes of a
Georgia sheriff. THE WALKING DEAD stars Andrew Lincoln as sheriff
Rick Grimes and Jon Bernthal as deputy Shane Walsh.
The setting of THE WALKING DEAD is clearly derived from the horror
genre and, as a result, has probably turned a number of genre TV
fans away from the series. This is unfortunate as the first season
of the series is one of the strongest inaugural seasons of any
genre TV show I have ever seen. While I personally have not read
the comic, my wife has encouraged me to do so since she first
discovered it about a year into its run, and since then, I have
noticed a number of my friends are regular readers of the comic as
well.
The story begins with a sheriff in a suburb of Atlanta named Rick
Grimes who is shot during a far-from-routine arrest. The injury he
suffers puts him into a coma in a nearby hospital. It is during
this period that the world effectively ends around him. Rick wakes
up in what could easily be misinterpreted as a nightmare. The
hospital is abandoned, destroyed and, has one room labeled "dead
inside" that is loaded with people that clearly are not, at least
by society's standard use of the word, dead.
We follow Rick's journey through this new world as he finds other
survivors, reunites with his family and a friend, and ultimately
heads to the CDC to learn if there is any answers to the nature of
the disease and/or whether there is any functional government left
at all. The fact that the destruction is caused by a "Night-of-
the-Living-Dead" style incident is to some extent almost secondary
to the overall story line as the focus of the series is really the
people and their attempts to adapt to the new world around them.
This, of course, leads to conflicts as some people are more quickly
able to accept the changes than others. There are also differences
of opinion about what the new social order should be.
The characters in the show are very well developed and are one of
the three main strengths of the first season. One character,
Merle, does come across as a bit of a stereotype but, I have met
enough people like him over the course of my life to say that I
can't totally dismiss him as one that easily. All of the
characters are very human with all suffering from their fair share
of flaws, including the lead character Rick himself. The actors
and actresses do an outstanding job of bringing these characters to
life.
The writing for the series is its second strength. As well as the
characters and acting, the story line of the six episodes is more
like one large story than six individual episodes. There is a
clear beginning middle and end to the tale with the final episode
serving as a metaphor for not only the collapse of society but for
what the future direction of humanity should be.
Finally, the production quality of the first season of THE WALKING
DEAD is outstanding. I hadn't initially planned to give the season
a second viewing before writing this review but, the prospect of
Blu-ray on 50-inch plasma proved to be too tempting. Having
watched it again, I would use the term cinematic to describe the
show. The first season is really almost a theatrical movie broken
into six parts as much as it is a conventional television series.
As far as weaknesses go, I can't really point to any obvious ones.
As mentioned previously, Merle's character being a bit of a
stereotype would be about only thing I noticed, but his character
really didn't have enough screen time for me to say for sure. This
show was an extremely well put together piece of television.
Given the overall combination of great writing, acting, and
exceptional production values the first season of THE WALKING DEAD
is must see television for any genre TV fan. [-ns]
WASTE LAND (film review by Evelyn C Leeper):
I just watched a movie that seemed very much like a lot of science
fiction these days. It is called WASTE LAND, and is about Brazil's
"state-of-the-art" recycling system, which has created thousands of
jobs in response to the growing problems of resource shortages and
lack of space for landfills. And it is actually very simple. The
garbage trucks just dump everything in the Jardim Gramacho
landfill, and thousands of pickers rummage through it, pulling out
recyclable and re-usable materials.
Okay, it is not state-of-the-art. But it is the state of the art
of the post-apocalyptic future--except that it is happening now.
The pickers have their own opinions of all this. They realize what
they are doing is necessary: if they did not pick the recyclables
out, there would not be enough be enough room for all the garbage.
Many of the pickers are not schooled, but this does not make them
uneducated. One was explaining the (practical) differences between
PET, PP, PVC, and other plastics (flinging a bottle on a pile, one
says, "If it sounds like that, it's PET"). Another describes
finding a copy of Machiavelli's THE PRINCE, drying it out behind
his refrigerator and then reading it and finding a lot of parallels
and examples in the modern world. A third set up himself in a
tableau of Marat in the bathtub after seeing a copy of the famous
painting. The artist that the documentary was supposedly about,
Vik Muniz, then made a large-scale collage of this tableau, using
trash as the medium, and sold a photograph of it at auction for
US$50,000, with the proceeds going to the pickers' association.
And then the pickers recycled all the materials from the collage.
In fact, he did several "collage portraits" in this way.
One more observation: the best place from which to see Rio de
Janeiro is standing right in front on the Christ the Redeemer
statue. Why? Because that is the only point in Rio de Janeiro
from which you do not have the Christ the Redeemer statue intruding
on the view. It is like what Margarete says Neils in Michael
Frayn's COPENHAGEN about twentieth century returning man to the
center of the universe: "So this man you've put at the center of
the universe--is it you or Heisenberg? ... Yes, but it makes a
difference. ... If it's Heisenberg at the center of the universe,
then the one bit of the universe that he can't see is Heisenberg.
... So it's no good asking him why he came to Copenhagen in 1941;
he doesn't know." [-ecl]
DOWNTOWN EXPRESS (film review by Mark R. Leeper):
CAPSULE: Sasha Resnick, a Russian immigrant and a violinist with a
great talent, is soon to have a recital and is fast tracked for a
career in classical music. A small developing rock band for their
musical fascinates him sound and for their lead singer Ramona.
Sasha is convinced that he wants to be in the band and to romance
Ramona. The film stars two virtuoso musical performers, one in
rock and one in classical music. The plot is minor, but the music
is a major--perhaps the major--attraction. Rating: high +1 (-4 to
+4) or 6/10
DOWNTOWN EXPRESS has a very simple story. It is almost more just a
situation depicted on film. Once the narrative gets going it gets
its trajectory in the first act. It continues on that track in the
middle act and completes its flight in the last act landing just
where it was aimed at the beginning. The point of the film is not
to create much in the way of dramatic tension. It is to show us
some moderately well drawn characters and to accompany these images
with excellent music, some classical, some popular rock, and
eventually some that is a melding of both musical forms.
Sasha Resnick (played by Philippe Quint) is a Russian Jewish
immigrant with a huge talent for the violin. His father, Vadim
Resnick (Michael Cumpsty), is doing everything within his power to
channel Sasha into a career as a super-star classical musician.
Sasha cooperates albeit resenting his lack of personal freedom.
Attending the Juilliard School in Manhattan, he is preparing for a
recital that should announce his prodigious talent to the world.
Professionally he plays only great (Slavic) classical music. He
plays it at home, at school, in the subways where he makes a small
living playing music with his father and with his cousin as street
musicians, in old age homes, and in restaurants.
But Sasha has broader interest in harmony than his father has. He
likes to walk the streets of Manhattan to listen to the many kinds
of music that can be heard on the streets of the city. He knows
there is more to music than just the concert-hall-quality classical
variety. Sasha hears the sound of a small rock band, Downtown
Express, and its lead singer Ramona (Nellie McKay). He becomes
obsessed with both. Leading a double life, he prepares for his
recital but follows the band and Ramona. At first both reject his
persistence. But Sasha remains determined.
The story leaves many loose ends that are never tied up about
whether Sasha will be able to stay in the United States and what
will his future be in general. What matters to director Dave
Grubin and scriptwriter Kathleen Cahill, is whether he can make the
transition from classical to rock.
Philippe Quint and Nellie McKay, playing performers trying to
establish themselves as respectively a great classical violinist
and a great popular singer, are in fact already well-established in
those fields. As a violinist Quint has been nominated four times
for a Grammy Award and has played to admiring audiences. Nellie
McKay is a popular performer having released five critically
acclaimed albums and done two shows. When DOWNTOWN EXPRESS opens
in New York City at The Quad on April 20, 2012, Quint will have
just released a new album of his performances and McCay will have
just completed a show "Silent Spring--It's Not Nice to Fool Mother
Nature." It adds to the believability that they both can perform
on camera in fields in which they are already recognized virtuosos.
The story is a familiar one. Will Sasha let his father determine
his career or will he decide himself what to do with his talent?
The music itself is the best reason to see the film. I rate
DOWNTOWN EXPRESS a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10. The film
opens in New York City on April 20, 2012 at The Quad.
Film Credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798143/
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/downtown_express_2011/
[-mrl]
CITY OF FORTUNE: HOW VENICE RULED THE SEAS by Roger Crowley (book review by Greg Frederick):
This is a review of the book titled CITY OF FORTUNE: HOW VENICE
RULED THE SEAS from the author Roger Crowley. CITY OF FORTUNE is
his third history book covering the interaction of Christian Europe
with the Ottoman Turks and the world of Islam in the period of time
from the late Middle Ages into the Renaissance. I also read and
would recommend his two earlier books EMPIRES OF THE SEA: THE SIEGE
OF MALTA, THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO, AND THE CONTEST FOR THE CENTER OF
THE WORLD and 1453: THE HOLY WAR FOR CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE CLASH
OF ISLAM AND THE WEST. All of these books help us to better
understand our world of today by understanding the interplay of
these cultures over hundreds of years.
But I digress. CITY OF FORTUNE essentially looks into the rise of
the Venetian Empire and with it the rise of Venetian wealth from
A.D. 1000 until A.D. 1500. After A.D. 1500 the Ottoman Turks
dominated the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and most of the trading in
that region. Also, by A.D. 1500 trading in spices and other goods
from the East where being controlled by the Portuguese. By this
time, the Portuguese discovered a new trade route to India by
navigating around Africa. Venice is a small grouping of islands in
a sheltered lagoon on the Eastern side of Italy near the Adriatic
Sea. They had very little land for farming so they instead turned
their attention to fishing and trading across the Mediterranean
Sea. They became very good business men and women. They and a few
other North Italian cities like Genoa and Pisa were the first
European trading states to forge ahead in trade in an efficient and
increasing modern way. Venetian merchants created handbooks to
guide their people thru all facets of Eastern Mediterranean trade.
The Venetians used war, bartering, gifts, and diplomacy to
accomplish their goals with the Turks, the Mongols and the Sultans
of Egypt. All of the countries of Europe had to deal with the
Venetians if they needed their troops transported across the
Mediterranean to engage in a crusade for example or to purchase
Eastern goods.
The Venetians had the largest naval fleet in the late Middle Ages.
The Venetians looked at all deals with the eyes of accountants to
determine the cost of any venture and to estimate the return of
investment for any action on their part. And they expected prompt
payment for any service they provided as modern businesses do
today. Long before Henry Ford, they even produced ships in an
almost assembly line fashion when needed. In the 1400s they had
major preassembled parts of ships sitting in warehouses and when
required, craftsmen would assemble the subassemblies and then float
the partially completed ship hull down a canal and men on the sides
of the canal would throw sails, ropes, rigging and other materials
into the ship and the men onboard would complete the assembly
process.
As their domination of trade in spices and other Eastern goods
increased so did their wealth. They became experts in obtaining
profit thru trade. But as stated before eventually they lost this
dominance to the Turks and the Portuguese.
It's another good history book from Roger Crowley. [-gf]
Last Issue (comment by Mike Glyer, extracted from FILE 770):
In FILE 770, Mike Glyer wrote:
Mark Leeper led off issue #1695 of the MT VOID with this stunning
announcement:
"I am very sorry to say that after publishing the MT VOID since
1978, almost all of that time as a weekly notice, this will be our
last issue. We have enjoyed writing the VOID over the years. Thank
you for all the quality readership.
"As I say, this will be our last issue and will remain so for a
week. On April 6 our next issue will become our last issue and the
April 13 issue will become next issue. And so forth. That's the way
it works.
"Hey, did you notice that April has a Friday the 13th as well
as an April Fools Day?"
You bastards, I fell for this! Until the second paragraph, anyway.
I wasn't deceived by Locus Online's April 1 announcement that
Margaret Atwood started a new SF magazine, or another site's fake
report that all the Clarke Award judges resigned. Yet, for some
reason I was perfectly ready to believe another long-lived fanzine
had bit the dust. Bleepity bleep! [-mg]
THE END OF ETERNITY (letter of comment by Evelyn C. Leeper):
In response to John Hertz's comments on THE END OF ETERNITY in the
04/06/12 issue of the MT VOID, Evelyn says:
John mentioned his comments on THE END OF ETERNITY (Asimov, 1955)
at
http://www.collectingsf.com/hertz/end_of_eternity.html. In
that, John says that THE END OF ETERNITY has been translated into
Russian (1966), Hebrew (1979), Finnish (1987), and Spanish (2004).
Add to that Estonian--we picked up a copy (titled IGAVIKU LOPP) in
Tallinn in 1994. [-ecl]
Quicksand and TEEN A GO GO (letter of comment by John Purcell):
John Purcell writes:
It has been a relatively long time since I've commented on MT VOID,
and there are a couple items of interest in your latest online
posting. [-jp]
In response to Mark's comments on quicksand in the 04/06/12 issue
of the MT VOID, John writes:
First off, thank you for setting my mind at ease about quicksand
and the different varieties thereof. Quite frankly, I never
considered that there was a difference between "wet" and "dry"
quicksand. Like most people, my knowledge of this substance came
from Hollywood, and we all know how well they distort facts for
effect. Oh, well. Still, this was interesting, and I thank you for
this educational tidbit. Thankfully, there aren't many areas in
this part of Texas where quicksand occurs. Like you noted, wet mud
is much more dangerous, and when it rains here, that is definitely
a major problem. [-jp]
And in response to Mark's review of TEEN A GO GO in the 04/06/12
issue of the MT VOID, John writes:
The other item of note was your review of TEEN A GO GO. Like you, I
also lived through that era, even participated in a neighborhood
garage band--not in Fort Worth, Texas, but about a thousand miles
north in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It was a great time to be a
teenager: the music was brash, experimental, rough, and simply fun.
We weren't into alcohol or drugs - just like the film noted--but
definitely got into the high of playing music and sounding like A
Band. Yeah, we also had that "four person" format: rhythm, bass,
lead guitars and a drummer. Some of the songs we played were
"Stepping Stone", "Kicks", lots of Beatles and Stones songs, but my
garage band--geez, I forget our name, it's been so long--
specialized in the Kinks. Great stuff. We were learning to not only
play our instruments and listening to each other to tighten up our
sound, but--more importantly--learning to develop our own voice
during a time (the 1960's) when an individual's voice was seen as a
right that needed to be heard. [-jp]
Hugo Award Nominations (and comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
Best Novel
Among Others, Jo Walton
A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin
Deadline, Mira Grant
Embassytown, China Miéville
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
Best Novella
Countdown, Mira Grant (Orbit)
"The Ice Owl", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF)
"Kiss Me Twice", Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov's)
"The Man Who Bridged the Mist", Kij Johnson (Asimov's)
"The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary", Ken Liu
(Panverse 3)
Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)
Best Novelette
"The Copenhagen Interpretation", Paul Cornell (Asimov's)
"Fields of Gold", Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
"Ray of Light", Brad R. Torgersen (Analog)
"Six Months, Three Days", Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
"What We Found", Geoff Ryman (F&SF)
Best Short Story
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", E. Lily Yu
(Clarkesworld)
"The Homecoming", Mike Resnick (Asimov's)
"Movement", Nancy Fulda (Asimov's)
"The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu (F&SF)
"Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City:
Prologue", John Scalzi (Tor.com)
Best Related Work
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, edited by
John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls,
and Graham Sleight
Jar Jar Binks Must Die...and other Observations about Science
Fiction Movies, Daniel M. Kimmel
The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of
Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists,
and Strange Literature, Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers
Wicked Girls (CD), Seanan McGuire
Writing Excuses, Season 6 (podcast series), Brandon Sanderson,
Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal,
and Jordan Sanderson
Best Graphic Story
Digger, by Ursula Vernon
Fables Vol 15: Rose Red, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham
Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys To The Kingdom, written by Joe Hill,
illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez
Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, written and
illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton
The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan, created by Mike Carey
and Peter Gross, written by Mike Carey, illustrated
by Peter Gross
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Captain America: The First Avenger
Game of Thrones (Season 1)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Source Code
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife"
"The Drink Tank's Hugo Acceptance Speech"
Doctor Who, "The Girl Who Waited"
Doctor Who, "A Good Man Goes to War"
Community, "Remedial Chaos Theory"
Best Semiprozine
Apex Magazine
Interzone
Lightspeed
Locus
New York Review of Science Fiction
Best Fanzine
Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
The Drink Tank, edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia,
et al.
SF Signal, edited by John DeNardo
Best Fancast
The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and
Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch
(producer)
SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz (presenters),
Patrick Hester (producer)
SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell,
Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith
Best Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders
Liz Gorinsky
Anne Lesley Groell
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Betsy Wollheim
Best Editor, Short Form
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams
Best Professional Artist
Dan dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Michael Komarck
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Best Fan Artist
Randall Munroe
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne
Best Fan Writer
James Bacon
Claire Brialey
Christopher J. Garcia
Jim C. Hines
Steven H Silver
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Mur Lafferty
Stina Leicht
Karen Lord
Brad R. Torgersen
E. Lily Yu
1,101 valid nominating ballots were received.
Congratulations to MT VOID subscribers and contributors Mike Glyer,
Dan Kimmel, and Steven Silver!
Note that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire are the same person. This
means (as someone on a mailing list noted), that there seems to be
a plethora of multiple nominations:
- Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant: Novel, Novella, Related Work,
Fancast
- James Bacon: DPSF, Fanzine (twice), Fan Writer
- Chris Garcia: DPSF, Fanzine (twice), Fan Writer
- Catherynne Valente: Novella, Semiprozine, Fancast
- E. Lily Yu: Short Story, Campbell
- Brad Torgersen: Novelette, Campbell
- Paul Cornell: Novelette, Fancast
- George R. R. Martin: Novel, DPLF
- Mary Robinette Kowal: Novella, Related Work
- Howard Taylor: Related Work, Graphic Story
- Claire Brialey: Fanzine, Fan Writer
- John DeNardo: Fanzine, Fancast
- Jonathan Strahan: Fancast, Editor-Short Fiction
- John Joseph Adams: Semiprozine, Editor-Short Fiction
While Fanzine/Fan Writer and fiction/Campbell are fairly common
pairings, some of the others are not. This may also be due in part
to adding fancasts, since that provides even more opportunity for
overlap in fannish categories than the fanzine/fan writer
categories did.
Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant (her pen name) and James Bacon & Chris
Garcia both (all) tie Bob Eggleton (1996--related work, pro artist,
and two in the one-time category of "Individual Artwork"), Mike
Resnick (1995--three fiction plus one editor), and Michael Swanwick
(2003--all fiction) for most Hugo nominations in a single year
(four).
For those tracking such things, the 21 fiction nominations were
11 female and 10 male. It has been suggested that this is the
first time any fiction category has included five women, and no
white males. All of this is probably due to the changing
demographic, not just of the people writing science fiction, but of
the people voting. In 2001 and 2002, just 495 people sent in
nominating ballots each year. By 2010, that was up to 864 people.
In 2011, it was 1006 people, and in 2012, 1101 people.
There are several reasons for this increase. One, there is now the
ability to nominate on-line, making it easier. Two, the nominating
pool has been expanded to include members of the previous Worldcon
and members of the subsequent Worldcon who have joined it by the
same deadline as for the current Worldcon.
Three (and possibly the biggest factor), there is the distribution
of "Hugo packets" to all those eligible to vote. (This includes
supporting members of the current Worldcon, but not those who are
supporting members of only the previous or future Worldcon.) These
packets include all (or almost all) the fiction nominated, as well
as samples of the non-fiction, art, fan work, etc., all in
electronic form. When a supporting membership that costs $50 gets
you all five (or more in case of ties) Hugo-nominated novels, it
starts to look like a pretty good deal.
So the net result is that a lot of people who previously were not
involved in nominating, and who are not necessarily going to go to
the Worldcon are nominating (and voting). This demographic is
probably younger than the old pool of voters (going to Worldcons
costs money and time). It is also more global because of the
inclusion of the past and future Worldcons (meaning that far more
often non-United States members are included). [-ecl]
This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
EXPEDITION TO EARTH by Arthur C. Clarke (ISBN 978-1-857-23918-8)
was this month's book discussion choice. It is not easy to pick
classic books for our library's discussions. Theoretically, the
book should be available to people from the library system, but
since they have culled the vast majority of their older science
fiction, we have some difficulty. In this case, they had no copies
of EXPEDITION TO EARTH, which was published in 1953, but they did
have eleven copies of Clarke's COLLECTED STORIES, which contains
all the stories in EXPEDITION TO EARTH.
"Second Dawn" (1951) is an interesting idea, though the inclusion
of the menace seems egregious.
"'If I Forget Thee, O Earth...'" (1951) is the first of the two
stories in this book that refer to Babylon, and Clarke has written
at least one more ("I Remember Babylon").
"Breaking Strain" (a.k.a. "Thirty Seconds--Thirty Days") (1949)
sets up a classic situation: two people in a spaceship thirty days
from their destination when something goes wrong and they are left
with only enough oxygen to last both of them twenty days. Even if
this is the first science fiction story like this, it has been done
many times before (usually with water, sometimes with food). But
my problem is not the plot, it is the writing. I do not normally
notice point-of-view issues, but in this case they were jarring.
Clarke writes about twenty pages from Grant's point-of-view, then
suddenly throws in two paragraphs that are either omniscient
narrator or McNeil's point-of-view, then jumps back to Grant. At
the end, there are a couple more changes of point-of-view that are
not as problematic, because they occur during scene changes as
well. But the earlier one is just jarring.
"History Lesson" (1949) is a story that today's young readers will
probably make no sense of, because the "punch-line" ending relies
on a knowledge of sixty-year-old pop culture.
"Superiority" (1951) seems oddly prescient of the war in Vietnam,
in the sense that all the advanced technology seemed to cause as
many problems as it solved. But there are also some lines that
remind one of how much has changed since 1951, such as, "The
Analyzer contained just short of a million vacuum tubes..."
In the preface to later editions, Clarke claims "Superiority" was
inspired by the V2 program, but the fact that the Chief of the
Research Staff was named Norden led at least one group member to
suggest that the Norden bomb sight was at least a partial
inspiration.
"Exile of the Eons" (1950) is a "deep time" story, with most of it
taking place in the far future, part "between the fall of the
Ninety-seventh Dynasty and the rise of the Fifth Galactic Empire"
and part even further in the future, when there is no life--plant
or animal--left on Earth. As such Clarke follows in the footsteps
of H. G. Wells's THE TIME MACHINE and presages his own AGAINST THE
FALL OF NIGHT (1953), later re-written as THE CITY AND THE STARS
(in 1956). (This was apparently retitled as "Nemesis", and then
retitled it back in future editions. Also, editions after 1998
seem to have had a preface added to them.)
Not surprisingly, "Hide and Seek" (1949) first appeared in
ASTOUNDING (now ANALOG). At one time, I think I liked this sort of
"physics-problem-with lots-of-equations" thing, but nowadays I am
looking for more in a story.
Whatever possessed Clarke to retitle "Encounter in the Dawn" (1953)
as "Expedition to Earth"? With its original title, it is clear
that the last line (heck, the last word) was supposed to pack a
punch. After the retitling, we *know* the ending even before we
get there. (Of course, these days this sort of story is pretty
obvious early on, but in 1953 it was probably still fresh.)
Adding to the confusion is that "History Lesson", another story in
this collection, was also at one point titled "Expedition to
Earth", and the two stories are totally unrelated. The older
Ballantine editions indicate that "Expedition to Earth" was
originally titled as "Encounter in the Dawn". Later editions no
longer mention this, but do say that "History Lesson" was also
alternatively titled "Expedition to Earth"!
"Loophole" (1946) is yet another "Earthmen are so clever" story,
which theme was already old when it was written.
I could not figure out what the point of "Inheritance" (1948) is.
One person thought it was reminiscent of THE TWELVE MONKEYS.
As the inspiration for 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, "The Sentinel" (1951)
has had enough said about it that I cannot think of anything to
add. But as evidence that bad proof-reading is nothing new, the
page headings on it spell it "Sentinal". (Some future editions
correct this; others have Clarke's name as a page header instead of
the story title.)
THE SILENT CASE: THE REAL WORLD OF IMAGINARY SPIES by David
Stafford (ISBN 978-0-8203-1343-6) was written in 1991 for a
primarily British audience, so it concentrates on British spy
fiction (though it does cover some American, and even some Russian,
works). In the introduction, Stafford says, "With the real world
of espionage--like the Cold War itself--apparently on its deathbed,
voices have been inevitably heard suggesting that the spy novel is
doomed. For without the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, and
without the daily tensions of outwitting the secret police in
Warsaw, or Prague, or some seedy provincial Communist city, what
are our fictional secret agents going to do in the future?" This
was not Stafford's view--he responds that there were spies before
the Cold War, and there will continue to be a need for them. (He
could begin the book by talking about what may be the first
espionage story in literature: the two spies sent by Joshua into
Jericho (as told in the second chapter of Joshua).
Stafford focuses on the changing attitudes toward espionage through
the last century, the parallel changes in espionage during that
time, and the connections of espionage fiction authors to actual
spying. At times it seems not much more than a listing of books
by specific authors, but there is enough discussion of the major
authors to make this worthwhile for espionage fiction fans. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Quote of the Week:
Never had any mathematical conversations with anybody,
because there was nobody else in my field.
--Alonzo Church
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