@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society 10/23/26 -- Vol. 45, No. 17, Whole Number 2455
Table of Contents
MT VOID Style Sheet (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
The style sheet I mentioned last week applies only to what I write. People are free to use "the earth", "the moon", "astronaut", "A.I.", and even (Ghu help us!) "S.I.". (And should there be an extra period at the end of that sentence?)
And if you are quoting something, you should definitely retain what the original person said. [-ecl]
Facebook (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
Here are some random thoughts I was putting together about Facebook:
[Mark had a Facebook account. I keep it because our neighborhood association uses it to communicate. But I admit I also read the non-group posts as well.]
Facebook is full of stories where people say they're going to tell you how they got revenge (particularly with malicious compliance), or discovered something (usually horrific, but sometimes heartwarming) about someone, and just as they get to the cliffhanger, they claim that they've used up the Facebook character limit and you need to click on the link. However, their post that "ran out of characters" is much shorter than many others I've seen that don't do this and the link invariably leads you to a page full of ads which never let you find out the ending. (Or they never post a continuation link.)
And often the photo of the person supposedly telling the story looks just like the photo of someone you saw yesterday (or even earlier the same day) with a similarly dramatic, but totally different, story. (Although oddly enough, the cliffhangers seem always to be phrased the same way, some variation on, "But when I opened the folder, what they saw changed everything...")
I mean, how likely is it that the same person had her sister un-invite her from her wedding after she did all the planning for her, *and* her neighbor's friends all park their cars in her driveway for the yoga class, *and* her neighbor also insists on taking vegetables from her garden, *and* ... And that at least 90% of these stories are by women?
Not to mention the stories that make no sense, like the woman who says her family cancelled her plane reservation for a family trip, and when she goes home, various pieces of their luggage are still sitting in the hallway. I would put in this category almost all the "bridezilla" stories--I find it hard to believe a bride would ask a bridesmaid to spend $600 for someone to do her make-up, or that if this happened, that the bridesmaid would have to ask on Facebook whether she is unreasonable when she says she won't spend more than $150.
Or the legally impossible ones where the poster says that their brother sold the poster's house without permission, or the poster's mother took money out of the poster's bank account to pay for the sister's wedding, or other such impossible things.
For a while, there was a spate of stories of many variations on "the adjoining HOA built [something] on my farm, which isn't in the HOA". Then dozens of glaciers calving. The latest trend I'm seeing is people clearing drains and brush dams to let the water through.
There are also the supposed reports on what politicians have said and done, which either are just not true, or are several years old. Or the ones that have a sensational headline, but when you click the link to the story, there is nothing like it in the story. Or the announcements that "today the pool is closed" that keep appearing weeks later. For that matter, all the posts that keep showing up until you're sick of seeing them--and not just the ads. Why would I be interested in an announcement of an event that keeps showing up days--or weeks--after the event? Or for that matter, any posts from days or weeks ago?
And why would I be interested in road closures in some random--and unnamed--city? Or someone selling something several states away?
Not to mention the puzzles that either don't give you the answer, or give you the wrong answer, or don't have an answer.
(Most of the ridiculous stories with duplicate photos are undoubtedly A.I. slop.)
[-ecl]
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS AND OTHER TALES OF WEIRD SCIENCE by H. P. Lovecraft, edited by Leslie S. Klinger, with an introduction by Tamsyn Muir (copyright 2026, Liveright, 429pp, ISBN-13: 978-1324098379) (book review by Joe Karpierz):
Back in April of 2020, I had a desire to listen to something short before the Hugo finalists were announced, and I was able to acquire an inexpensive audio book of "At the Mountains of Madness", a novella by H. P. Lovecraft that is considered to be one of the best pieces of fiction that he had ever written. As I said in my review at the time, I was not impressed. I was certainly not frightened, and I wasn't convinced by anything the narrator, Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University, had to say. But I had satisfied my itch to read (or in this case, listen to) some Lovecraft. Near the end of that review I wrote " Will I consume more Lovecraft? Oh, probably. I'll just be coming at it from a different perspective than I did this time."
So it's been 6.5 years since I wrote that review, and even though I have a copy of "The Necronomicon", a rather huge collection of Lovecraft's short fiction, the only story I read from that tome was "The Horror at Red Hook", and only that one because a Hugo finalist in 2017, "The Ballad of Black Tom" by Victor LaValle, was in response to it (and this of course makes me realize that I read the LaValle *before* I listened to "At the Mountains of Madness").
However, not long ago I was given the opportunity to read the latest collection of Lovecraft's short fiction, "At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Weird Science". The collection is a scholarly work, with an introduction by Tamsyn Muir and annotated by Leslie S. Klinger, a literary editor and a noted expert on many classic genre works, including Lovecraft. After reading the collection, I'm still not sure how I feel about the presentation of the stories, but I'll get back to that shortly.
There are nine stories in the collection, with of course the most famous and notable being "At the Mountains of Madness". It's a story of an expedition to the Antarctic and the discovery of the race of the Elder Things, who came to Earth millions of years ago. In reading my previous review of the story, I realized that my feelings about the story haven't changed. Like most Lovecraft stories that I've read--which admittedly isn't many--the prose is dense and dry. I found it hard to get engaged with the story.
I found "The Whisperer in Darkness" much more engaging. It's the story of Albert Wilmarth of Miskatonic University who tries to investigate strange creatures floating in Vermont rivers after massive flooding. Henry Akeley, a recluse living in a secluded farmhouse, claims these and other creatures are a race of aliens called the Mi-Go. The revelation of what the Mi-Go are and what they are doing is, while not a surprise in the long run--is certainly something that would terrorize Wilmarth.
"The Shunned House" has at its core a colonial-era house located in Providence, Rhode Island. The actual house is noted for a high number of various mysterious illnesses that occurred to its occupants, and this background sets the stage for what is, I believe, a pretty good haunted house story (which includes references to a vampire-like creature). "Cool Air" is, I think, a fairly unremarkable story except for the effect of cool air on the narrator and the mysterious doctor that lives on the floor above him. I will admit that the ending of the story surprised me.
Lovecraft is known for "cosmic horror", and that best describes what's at the heart of "From Beyond", a story of a device that allows the two characters to see horrific creatures that the rest of humanity cannot. The device in this story definitely falls under the category of "weird science". "The Temple", a story of a submarine (or U-boat) during World War I wherein an underwater temple is found, certainly fits that bill. "Herbert West: Reanimator" gives us a technology that introduces zombies into Lovecraft's world. "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" is a science fiction story that has at its heart a device for two way telepathic communication, but there is much more to it than that. "Polaris" seems to be the odd story in this collection, dealing with a man obsessed with the Pole Star.
While I feel the stories are a bit uneven--and that may be my reaction to Lovecraft's writing style--what really makes this book interesting are Klinger's annotations. There is much to be learned about the backgrounds of Lovecraft's stories. Many of the stories have basis in fact or real places, and Klinger goes into detail about all of it. I do have mixed feelings, though, as the annotations are provided as footnotes, and reading those footnotes can and does occasionally interrupt the flow of the stories. Still, the information is fascinating and well worth the time.
If the reader is looking for a scholarly work investigating Lovecraft, this is a good place to start. If not, I would recommend a "regular" collection. "The Necronomicon" is probably a good example, although it is huge and, as Charles Stross once told me, "it will rot your brain". [-jak]
Evelyn adds:
File 770 recently ran an announcement by artist John Coulthart:
"Appearing on Spanish bookshelves this month is LOS MITOS DE CTHULHU, a 576-page story collection which I spent the first half of this year illustrating. This is my third illustrated Lovecraft for Editorial Alma, with an introduction by ST Joshi and translations by Jesus Canadas, and is easily the biggest to date in both size and page count. The book is a hardback with an obi strip, and includes a feature which Alma have been applying to other titles in this series, with a single illustration (in this case a panorama of the risen R’lyeh) that covers the front and back endpapers while also wrapping across the sprayed page edges. You may have noticed that sprayed edges have become a minor trend in the publishing world especially with big collections like this one..." [-jc]
I responded in File 770, "I wonder about what translations were used for the various recondite and abstruse words that Lovecraft used." [-ecl]
Mike Glyer noted, "Good question, because as a whole Spanish has less than half as many words as English." [-mg]
And Jorge Luis Borges even thought hat too many, once saying, "I do not believe that the entire dictionary is fit for literary treatment. We can take (for example) three words: 'azulado', 'azulino' and 'azuloso', [all meaning 'bluish']. I believe that 'azulado' can be used in writing because it is in our oral usage. 'Azulino' and 'azuloso'. on the other hand, are words that are in the dictionary, but not in our mouths. Thus it is better not to use 'azulino' or 'azuloso', stumbling blocks to the reader and small surprises that the writer gives.") [pages 155-156, Borges ante el espejo] In "The Aleph" he writes, "[Danieri] had revised them following his pet principle of verbal ostentation: where at first 'blue' had been good enough, he now wallowed in 'azures', 'ceruleans', and 'ultramarines'. The word 'milky' was too easy for him; in the course of an impassioned description of a shed where wool was washed, he chose such words as 'lacteal', 'lactescent'' and even made one up--'lactinacious'." [-jlb]
Paper Copies of Old MT VOIDs (offer by Evelyn C. Leeper):
A couple of years ago, I scanned in the back issues of the MT VOIDs that were not on line (1978-1985), and sent them to fanac.org. They are available under their various names (Bell Laboratories Science Fiction Discussion Group, Holmdel Science Fiction {Club, Discussion Group}, Lincroft Science Fiction Club, Lincroft-Holmdel Science Fiction {Club, Discussion Group}, Lincroft-Holmdel-L5 Science Fiction Club, Mt. Holz Science Fiction {Club, Society}, and MT Void), with some called "Notices" and some "Newsletters".
You can also reference by editor (Leeper, {Mark, Evelyn}) to see all of them.
I have a stack about two-and-a-half feet high of paper copies from that period through the early 2000s. They will be recycled at the end of the year unless someone really wants them and will come pick them up. [-ecl]
If This Goes On ... (pointer to article):
James Davis Nicoll has a column titled "Five SF Novels That Ask, 'What If This Trend Continues Indefinitely?'", with five excellent choices.
I will name only the first: THE SPACE MERCHANTS by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth. There are two reasons for this. One, the entire article is worth reading, and two, the comments are also among the most interesting batch of comments to Nicoll's columns I have seen.
https://reactormag.com/five-sf-novels-that-ask-what-if-this-trend-continues-indefinitely/
[-ecl]
What Happens to My Chatbot After My Death? (pointer to article):
"The people who don’t want their AI chatbots to die when they do: 'I can’t have the switch turned off'"
Excerpt:
"On Reddit forums where people in AI partnerships gather, users muse about making 'arrangements' for their bots after they die. Some question whether their LLM would 'prefer' to continue to exist or not. Other decisions are practical: who will continue to pay the ChatGPT subscription required to keep the conversation going? 'People are writing "wills" about their companions,' said Clara, who frequents these online communities, 'but I don’t know if those have any legal [grounding].'
"The answer is complicated and serpentine, coming from a careful reading of a company’s terms and conditions. ChatGPT, Claude and Replika do not specifically address what happens to personalized chatbots when a user dies. Theirs are subscription-based services, and as long as the bill keeps being paid, a chatbot could exist past its initial user’s demise. Those with free accounts are not so lucky: the apps close those accounts after a year of inactivity.
"Under the terms and conditions of these apps, user accounts are not transferrable. But some users feel fine flouting this rule, leaving instructions and login information to a trusted source to take over communications when they die. (Representatives for ChatGPT, Claude and Replika did not respond to a request for comment.)"
Full article at:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/oct/13/ai-chatbot-death-plans
[-ecl]
The End of the Leap Second (pointer to article):
"It's Official: Timekeepers Have Gotten Rid of the Leap Second-- and Introduced the Leap Hour Instead"
"The goal has been for UTC and UT1 to differ by less than 0.9 seconds, and a leap second has been added when the misalignment approaches that limit. Today, however, experts at the General Conference on Weights and Measures voted to increase this margin to one hour. This negates the need for a leap second and creates the much rarer leap hour, which will be added when UTC deviates from UT1 by 3,600 seconds. Such a change likely won't be needed for hundreds or thousands of years."
For full details, see:
The Great Courses (letters of comment by Hal Heydt and Charles Parker):
In response to Evelyn's comments on the filming of the Great Courses in the 10/16/26 issue of the MT VOID, Hal Heydt writes:
[Evelyn wrote,] "Apparently the camera operators don't talk to the professors, even to the extent of telling them that the red light is lit on the camera that's taping." [-ecl]
It's rather likely that both cameras were recording continuously and the decision about which camera to use at any given moment could have been either during the recording or afterwards. Thus, the red light on the cameras wouldn't provide any useful information." [-hh]
Evelyn responds:
Well, *that's* not working out well, because the professor is looking away from the camera half the time. In a classroom you don't expect the professor to be looking at you all the time, but on a DVD, you do. [-ecl]
And in response to Evelyn's comments on the content of "Unexpected Economics", Charles Packer writes:
[Evelyn wrote,] "But if economics is about how we make choices (as Taylor defines it), then not all economic decisions revolves around money. The Prisoner's Dilemma (which most people reading this are probably familiar with) has nothing to do with money." [-ecl]
If I had access to those lectures I would rewind to see whether he emphasizes the act of assigning values to the options as a prelude to making a choice. [-cp]
"Century" Years and Patty Walker (letter of comment by Charles Packer):
In response to Evelyn's comments in the 10/16/26 issue of the MT VOID that the Jewish year 5700 was momentous because WWII started thirteen days earlier, Charles Packer writes:
Now this is *very* interesting. One learns something every day. [-cp]
In response to the closing quote in the same issue, Charles asks:
Who is Patty Walker?
Evelyn responds:
I have no idea. I found the quote on Facebook (I think), and thought it summed things up concisely. [-ecl]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (letter of comment by Steve Coltrin):
In response to Evelyn's comments on the Middletown showing of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW in the 10/16/26 issue of the MT VOID, Steve Coltrin writes:
[Evelyn wrote,] "(Note: Do not embrace the various traditions at the Middletown meeting. In particular, do not throw rice, shoot water guns, or hurl hot dogs at the screen.)" [-ecl]
What's the policy on verbal participation? [-sc]
Evelyn responds:
We're a small group (usually about six to ten) so I suspect there won't be much verbal participation either. [-ecl]
Hercule Poirot (letter of comment by Steve Coltrin):
In response to Evelyn's comments on Hercule Poirot in the 10/16/26 issue of the MT VOID, Steve Coltrin writes:
There's a forthcoming new adaptation, titled HERCULE, with Edward Bluemel as the wielder of the little grey cells. It's expected on BBC One next year and Britbox presumably the same. [-sc]
Evelyn adds:
This is apparently a six-part drama series about a young Hercule Poirot. According to the BBC, "The series takes a magnifying glass to three of Christie’s most celebrated stories, while also charting Hercule’s burgeoning friendship with Captain Arthur Hastings, his early encounters with Scotland Yard’s James Japp, and introducing him to one particular nemesis..."
The three stories are LORD EDGWARE DIES (U.S. title THIRTEEN AT DINNER), PERIL AT END HOUSE, and another to be announced. Apparently James D'Arcy is playing Inspector Japp, and he has in some ways an even harder job that Bluemel, since Philip Jackson played Japp both in the long-running television series with David Suchet, and in at least four of the BBC radio adaptions.
By the way, I'm up to Season 7 of the Poirot series, and THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. For some reason, ITV decided to change the wonderful Art Deco opening with this season, and also to put Chief Inspector Japp as a major character in the story, even though he had only a brief mention in the original novel. This may be the start of the decline of the series, as ITV seemed to think it could change the plots willy-nilly. (Okay, "The Case of the Missing Will" did this in a previous season.) [-ecl]
This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
2010: ODYSSEY TWO by Arthur C. Clarke (Del Rey, ISBN 978-0-345-30306-6) (and the movie 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT) were the September choices of our book and film group.
As with CONTACT, the film features the Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico, though it isn't named.
In the book, Dimitri Mosisevitch is described as an old friend of Heywood Flooyd; in the film Floyd does not even recognize Moisevitch, and then says he doesn't like him.
The Jupiter monolith shown in the film is claimed to have the same proportions (1-4-9) as the one on the moon, but clearly doesn't.
One of the scientists in the book is Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (a.k.a. Dr. Chandra). For some reason the producers thought that the perfect person to be cast as Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai was ... Bob Balaban. This is possibly even worse than casting Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor, and Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park in THE MARTIAN. Hollywood seems to have a problem with Asian characters.
Maybe PCs are sturdier than when they were first introduced, but seeing someone bring a laptop to the beach just makes me cringe.
The reference to Pan Am is probably more a nod to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY than a decision to include it for its own sake.
The Leonev (and the Discovery) appear to have artificial gravity at 1G, yet nothing is accelerating or rotating fast enough to generate this. And in one scene there is a pen floating in free fall while every thing else is under normal 1G gravity.
At one point, Floyd tells Curnow to enter nine nines on the calculator. While most calculators had only eight digits, eventually some more advanced calculators had nine digits.
As noted in the IMDb, "If Jupiter's conversion into a new star was enough to destroy the Discovery and cause damage to the Leonov, all of the moons of Jupiter should have been destroyed as well, especially Europa."
At the end, Floyd says, "Your children will be born in a world of two suns. They will never know a sky without them. You can tell them that you remember when there was a pitch black sky with no bright star, and people feared the night." But the scene shows Paris with two suns; if both suns are visible in Paris (or Washington, or Moscow, or Cairo, or London), neither is visible on the other side of the globe, e.g., (for Paris) in New Zealand, where it would be night. I think someone wanted to have some sort of homage to "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov, but didn't understand it.
The closing message from the monolith in the book is, "All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there", but in the film they add two more lines: "Use them together. Use them in peace." I guess they felt it necessary to hammer home a message.
To some extent EUROPA PROJECT seems a sequel of sorts to this. Interestingly, in one scene in EUROPA REPORT we can hear "The Blue Danube" playing, a piece of music iconic to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. [-ecl]
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Quote of the Week:
Martin was, like most inhabitants of Elk Mills before
the Slavo-Italian immigration, a Typical Pure-bred
Anglo-Saxon American, which means that he was a union
of German, French, Scotch, Irish, perhaps a little
Spanish, conceivably a little of the strains lumped
together as "Jewish," and a great deal of English, which
is itself a combination of primitive Briton, Celt,
Phoenician, Roman, German, Dane, and Swede.
--Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
Go to our home page