@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society 12/19/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 25, Whole Number 2411
Table of Contents
Last week I asked:
What do Laos, Vietnam, Israel, Croatia, and possibly the United States have in common?
No one got it, so the hint is that it is geographical.
(So, no, the answer that they all have an "A" in them isn't it.)
Next week, the answer.
[-ecl]
Mini Reviews, Part 31 (film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper):
Two recent historical mini-series, one a documentary and one most definitely not:
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (2025): For THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, Ken Burns did not have the benefit of photographs, or films of people who lived through the Civil War and survived long enough to be filmed. So he had to rely on paintings, and on "recreations", but these recreations were very carefully filmed; most consist of legs marching or charging, or arms and hands firing muskets, rifles, and artillery. You never see the faces of the re-creators. This makes the whole series less engaging than THE CIVIL WAR. (And of course most of his other documentaries are set in more modern times.) He has historians that provide some faces and movement, but none are as charismatic as Shelby Foote or Barbara Fields or Ed Bearss.
It's interesting that they say who did the voices of the historical characters, but not which voices that each of them did. (Mark had more of an ear for this than I did, but even I can recognize Tom Hanks and Laura Linney.)
An example of the detail in it that you don't get in history class: the Battle of Bunker Hill had the highest British casualty rate (40%) in any single battle until the First Battle of the Somme in WWI.
Also, there was a lot more about Native Americans (though pre-independence, that term seems anachronistic), African-Americans (ditto), and women. Interestingly, Burns in the narration he wrote often uses the term "Indian", as in "Indian lands".
Of course, hearing about how the British government sending troops into Boston was a major factor in starting the war sounds distressingly contemporary, and is not something encouraging to hear these days.
Released streaming 16 November 2025; currently available on PBS.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35328184/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_american_revolution
DEATH BY LIGHTNING (2025): DEATH BY LIGHTNING is a Netflix dramatic mini-series about the campaign and (brief) presidency of James Garfield. Any expectations of the sort of accuracy one expects from, say, Ken Burns's THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, was quickly dashed, and while Garfield's character may have been reasonably close to accurate, Chester Arthur is seriously maligned, in many ways, but in specific portraying him as a drunken adulterer, and also as someone who kidnapped members of Garfield's Cabinet. (And his wife Nell was not, as is claimed, "a fairly vociferous Confederate sympathizer," nor did she die before his election.)
Also, Garfield and Arthur were not progressives. And I find the entire characterization of Guiteau questionable in terms of historical accuracy. The portrayal of facts of public record (such as his membership in the Oneida Community) are fairly accurate, but most, if not all, of the events that took place in private meetings and gatherings are probably those that have been described as "dramatized elements for entertainment purposes." In particular, the friendship portrayed between him and Arthur is a complete fiction.
It has been said, and this reinforces, that Heaven help any student who relies on historical films and mini-series for enough history to pass their history exams.
(And I know politicians use "salty language" in private, but the salty language in this (the MF-word, the CS-word, and the ever-popular F-word) were not in use until the twentieth century. I suppose one can argue that all the language in historical films is modernized to make the audience understand it better, but I find this incredibly over the top. Authentic nineteenth century swearing would make it so much more realistic.)
ObDisclaimer: I gave up early in the third of four episodes; it was just too annoying to watch.
Released streaming 06 November 2025; currently available on Netflix.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31121364/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/death_by_lightning
[-ecl]
RoboCop Statue Erected in Detroit (pointer to article):
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/robocop-statute-detroit
Article begins:
"RoboCop statue rises in Detroit: 'Big, beautiful, bronze piece of art'
A 15-year quest ends with a monument, drawing crowds and nostalgia as Detroit embraces its cult-film past
The statue looms and glints at more than 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds, looking out at the city with, how to put it ... a characteristically stern expression?
Despite its daunting appearance and history as a crimefighter of last resort, the giant new bronze figure of the movie character RoboCop is being seen as a symbol of hope, drawing fans and eliciting selfie mania since it began standing guard over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.
It has been 15 years in the making. Even in a snowstorm in the dark, people were driving by to see it, said Jim Toscano, co-owner of the Free Age film production company, where the statue now stands firmly bolted down near the sidewalk."
[Article has more information and also has a photo. -ecl]
Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks (pointer to article):
"The decision made this winter by ReaderLink to stop distributing mass market paperback books at the end of 2025 was the latest blow to a format that has seen its popularity decline for years."
ReaderLink is the largest distributor of mass market paperbacks. There are still a few others left: Ingram (independent bookstores, libraries), Baker & Taylor (libraries and schools), and Penguin Random House (their own imprint only; bookstores, online retailers). [-ecl]
Circumnavigating the Globe (letter of comment by J. T. Major):
In response to < A HREF=VOID1212.htm#globe>various comments on circumnavigating the globe in the 12/12/25 issue of the MT VOID, J. T. Major writes:
But Robin Knox-Johnston [was the first who] circumnavigated the globe non-stop. See his A WORLD OF MY OWN (1969) for the story. [-jtm]
Evelyn writes:
"Non-stop" is the key part of Joe's comment, in case you didn't catch that.
For that matter, in the context of the original article, Reinhold Andreas Messner made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen. He was also the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds, and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. [-Wikipedia]
Pronouns (letters of comment by Hal Heydt, Steve Coltrin, Paul Dormer, Gary McGath, and an anonymous poster):
In response to Evelyn's comments on first-person pronouns when one party is deceased in the 12/12/25 issue of the MT VOID, Hal Heydt writes:
I suspect this problem may be common where there was a very long association between two people and one of them has died. Particularly with a long-married couple. I have similar issues with respect to Dorothy. And why not? We were married for 51 years, which is still effectively 2/3 of my life. [-hh]
Evelyn writes:
Just about my numbers: married 52 years, am now 75. (Not counting the four years we were together in college, during which we spent all our time together.) [-ecl]
In response to Evelyn's comments on third-person pronouns, Steve Coltrin writes:
Similar to the would-be English Academy members who disparage the passive voice while demonstrating by clear example that they have no idea what it is--and often using it themselves. [-sc]
Paul Dormer writes:
Incidentally, I was taught at school back in the Sixties this was perfectly okay when referring to a person of an unknown gender. I think Ben Yagoda in his Not-one-off Britishisms blog call this epicene pronouns and they are much more common in British English. [-pd]
And the anonymous poster responds:
I don't know where I read this, but James Redekop (whoever that is) said, "And before anyone complains about singular 'they', just remember: it's older than singular 'you'." [-?]
Paul replies:
Good point!
The earliest citation for singular they in the OED is 15th century, I recall. [-pd]
Gary McGath writes:
I sometimes use "they" when referring to an indefinite individual. However, I don't think a person should declare oneself a committee.
In the dystopia of Ayn Rand's ANTHEM, plural pronouns are used exclusively, and using a first person singular pronoun is a capital crime. Most people don't know such pronouns ever existed. [-gmg]
Hal adds:
In Graydon Saunders's "Commonweal" series, "they"/"them" is used for persons who are not intimate partners. [-hh]
Evelyn responds:
This reminds me of THE DISPOSSESSED by Ursula K. LeGuin, where first person singular possessive pronouns are anathema. As I wrote (in the MTVOID of 02/25/2022):
LeGuin writes, "The singular forms of the possessive pronoun were used mostly for emphasis; idiom avoided them. Little children might say 'my mother,' but very soon they learned to say 'the mother.' Instead of 'my hand hurts,' it was 'the hand hurts me,' and so on; to say 'this one is mine and that's yours' in Pravic [the artificial language constructed for Anarres], one said , 'I use this one and you use that.'"
But why would little children say 'my mother' unless they hear not just one person, but everyone around them saying it? And for that matter, why would Pravic--an invented language--even have the words "my", "mine", and so on?
There are many uses of "his" in sections told from the main (Anarresti) character's point of view. The ones in narrative can be passed over, but there are also ones in dialogue, e.g., "He was in terrible pain, mostly from his hands." At one point he says something is "in my head", though at another he says, "The head is heavy." He also refers to "my teacher".
It's true that some of these are after he has been on Urras a while: "He was accustomed to the constant use of the possessive pronoun by now, and spoke it without self-consciousness."
Still, "I will do my own work for a while now!" seems an incredibly propertarian assertion for a lifelong Odonian.
One problem is that the "possessive" pronoun does not always express possession. Another is that they can express possession in a non-propertarian sense. For example, "my house" expresses possession in a propertarian sense. "My age" does not express possession. And "my head" expresses possession, but in a non-propertarian sense. [-ecl]
[Further discussion of third person pronouns and ambiguity may be found in rec.arts.sf.fandom. I will note that first person plural pronouns also have an ambiguity problem, namely, whether they include the listener or not. -ecl]
Declaration of Independence Quotation (letter of comment by an anonymous poster):
In response to the quotation from the Declaration of Independence in the 12/12/25 issue of the MT VOID, an anonymous poster adds:
"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. ... He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither ..."
Evelyn responds:
I have no idea how I could have missed something so apt! [-ecl]
This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
I will once again give you my recommended Christmas reading list, with one addition:
The ISFDb can help you find these. ("Helium" can be found at https://dr1.com/forums/threads/he-is-everywhere.101959/).
You'll notice none of Connie Willis's Christmas stories are here. They are a bit too syrupy for the anthology I am putting together in my mind. You can find these in A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS (an expanded edition of MIRACLE AND OTHER CHRISTMAS STORIES), which I reviewed in the 12/24/21 issue of the MT VOID. See my review of THE BEST OF FREDERIK POHL in the 09/04/09 issue of the MT VOID for more comments on some of these stories. Or find these (and all my on-line reviews) at http://leepers.us/evelyn/reviews.htm. [-ecl]
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Quote of the Week:
The European talks of progress because by the aid
of a few scientific discoveries he has established
a society which has mistaken comfort for civilization.
--Dean Inge
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