August 1999
Greetings From the Penultimate Year of the 20th Century.
Note that we said penultimate, not ultimate. There is no year zero.
The first century AD or first hundred years ended with the year 100.
And so the year 2000 is included in the first 20 hundred years
and the first year of the new Century is 2001 (cue Thus Spake
Zarathustra).
Not that we would want to discourage you from partying like it's
1999.
And, in fact, there is now some discussion of all (or at least many)
of the SF related groups in Houston getting together to throw one
heck of a party to ring in the Last, Best Days of the 20th Century.
Watch this space for details as they develop.
If your organization would like to be involved in this, please email
us at fof@www.clever.net and we will patch you through to Erika
Frensley, defacto ringleader of the discussion.
Gnu Blood
New members of our little community this time around are
Chris J. Thompson, Jim Harris, Robert Greenbaum and Earl
Cooley III. Chris and Robert are in Houston, Earl in Austin and
I'm not real sure where Jim is from. Chris somehow managed to
register without specifying either an Info-Alert in the email, or
a notice when a new Info-Alert is available. How did you do that,
Chris? The name Earl Cooley should sound familiar. At least a
half dozen of our links this time go to pages that bear his name.
Fasten your seatbelt and bring your browser window to a locked
upright position. And we are off.... As always, how far off you
have to determine for yourself.
The Incredible Shrinking Info Alert
You may have noticed that recent issues have gotten kind of big.
(The last issue is roughly 35 times as big as our first issue of the
Info-Alert back on March 1998.)
This is causing trouble with some people's mailbox and discouraging
others from perusing the issue to see what interests them.
The solution is as close as the next section below.
For the Forthcoming SF and Fantasy books we always hit a few highlights
and then provide a link to a standard page,
http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html , which has a wide list of
links to the relevant information. If we covered all the available
information, it would fill up the entire issue all by itself.
So from now on, we will be doing that with the space information and
maybe some additional places as well such as the larger chunks of humor
we will insert from time to time. The new page for the space related
information will always be http://www.clever.net/cam/spacenu.html .
With any luck, by applying this strategy as needed, we will be able to
size the Info-Alert back to reasonable dimensions without giving up
any of our coverage.
So don't worry if you see us shrinking a bit.
Just remember, like the Tardis, it's bigger on the inside than it is on
the outside.
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
August releases from Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Melanie Rawn,
Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, and Timothy Zahn.
Coming August 31, 1999
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card is reviewed in CNN Interactive
by Brad Morris who calls it entertaining, fast-paced science fiction
and predicts that it may win both the Hugo and Nebula, like its
acclaimed predecessor. John Clute considers it a close call finding
a lot to complain about while liking the writing and the story but
basically just having trouble with Card's philosophy. You would think
that Ender's game had left the history of the high-orbital Battle
School fairly tied down, but apparently Card manages to pull off a
few surprises and a new level of emotional impact.
Reviews at
http://www.cnn.com/books/reviews/9907/30/enders.shadow/index.html .
and at http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/excess.html .
Amazon.Com discounts it from $24.95 to $17.47
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=031286860X/fantasicfuturesbA
For more sf&f new book listings and more detail (updated monthly),
see http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
Return of the Dinotopians
Last issue, we mentioned that in connection with the ABC six-part
miniseries in May 2001 to be based on James Gurney's Dinotopia
Illustrated series, there is a new Dinotopia book, Dinotopia: First
Flight.
On Tuesday, October 19, 4:00-5:00 PM, James Gurney will sign
Dinotopia: First Flight (HarperCollins hardback) at Adventures in
Crime & Space, the Austin, Texas specialty SF and Mystery bookstore.
On Thursday, October 7, 5:30-6:00 PM Speculative Fiction Author, Joe
Lansdale will sign his mystery novel, Freezer Burn. And on Thursday,
September 9, 4:30-6:00 PM SF/F author Tad Williams will sign Otherland:
Mountain of Black Glass (DAW hardback). At the end of August,
Alice Borchardt will sign The Night of the Wolf, the Del Rey Dark
Fantasy.
Adventures in Crime and Space - http://www.eden.com/~acs/
Joe R. Lansdale - http://www.joerlansdale.com/
Tad Williams - http://www.tadwilliams.com/tadwilliams/
Alice Borchardt
http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/promo/borchardt/interview.html
James Gurney - http://www.dinosaur.org/GURRic1.htm
New Magazine!!!
Artemis Magazine - Science and fiction for a space-faring society.
Issue 1 - Spring 200 is out. The cover art is by astronaut Alan Bean.
Table of Contents list contributors such as Jack Williamson, Fred
Lerner, Ron Collins and Linda J. Dunn, Jeffery D. Kooistra, Stanley
Schmidt, Joseph J. Lazzaro, and our own Marianne Dyson who rings
in with a Science fact article about the dozen astronauts who walked
on the moon. Edited by Ian Randal Strock and selling for $4.95 for
64 pages, you could do a lot worse. Published Quarterly.
Artemis Magazine is a spin-off from the Artemis Project a private
venture whose goal is to establish a permanent, self-supporting
community on the Moon. As a result, they seem to have about a
50-50 split between fiction and non-fiction, a slightly heavier
mix than you get in most SF zines. Since Strock has substantial
experience with both Analog and Asimov's, it's a good bet the
quality won't suffer while the money holds out.
Artemis Magazine http://www.lrcpubs.com/artemismagazine.html
Table of Contents - http://www.lrcpubs.com/artemismagazine/toc12000.html
Subscription Form
http://www.lunartraders.com/catalog/item.pl?item=ltlrcp0001
Artemis Project - http://www.asi.org/
Catherine Asaro Says Michael Burstein Better Looking Than Asimov
Catch the transcript of Gardner Dozois' e-chat with Hugo Nominees
Catherine Asaro, Michael Burstein and Allen Steele.
Transcript - http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/1999/HugoNominees2.html
Catherine Asaro - http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/
Michael Burstein - http://world.std.com/~mab/
Allen Steele - http://www.sfwa.org/members/steele/index.html
Fannish Deaths and Disasters
Ansible reports that George (Lan) Laskowski, long-time filk and
fanzine fan with two Best Fanzine Hugos (1986, 1991) for his
Lan's Lantern, died on July 19 after a prolonged battle against cancer.
He was 50.
Ansible - http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible/a145.html
Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
Ahoy! Do I spy something on the horizon? Is it a NEW science fiction
convention to be held on an annual basis in Houston?!! Can such a good
thing be true? Check out ConSortium (June 2000) on our What's
Happening page and see the email in FFFeedback!
Up next for local fans are Bubonicon 31, August 20-22 in the
Albuquerque, NM area; the 1999 NASFIC CornuCopia, August 26-29 in
Anaheim, CA, Aussiecon Three (1999 Worldcon), Sept.2-6, in Melbourne,
Australia, and ArmadilloCon 21, Sept. 10-12, in Austin, TX.
More on Bubonicon and ArmadilloCon just a little further down.
For a more complete listing see our monthly What's Happening list
at http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
Reading Groups:
Currently we are aware of two SF reading groups in the Texas, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico (TALON) area, (greater Texas as we like
to think of it :-) ) One of them is in Albuquerque, New Mexico and
the other is in Austin Texas.
The Albuquerque group meets at 7:30 PM on the third Monday of each month
in the cafe area of Borders Books & Music in Winrock Mall. Their July
book was a Jack McDevitt novel, with recent readings including Dust by
Charles Pellegrino and A King of Infinite Space by Allen Steele. Their
web page is maintained by Laura Mixon (Proxies and Greenwar).
Albuquerque SF Book Group - http://www.thuntek.net/~scg/l/abq-book.htm
Laura Mixon - http://www.thuntek.net/~scg/l/about.htm
Be sure and check out the bottom of her page where her "little secret"
is revealed.
The Fact SF Reading Group is reading the (NOT TO BE MISSED!!) Clouds
End by Sean Stewart. In September, they will be reading Secret Realms
by Tom Cool and The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells. Then in
October it will be The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg and
Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Early November will bring Newton's Cannon by
J. Gregory Keyes. Meetings are held every two weeks at Adventures in
Crime & Space bookstore in Austin, TX (609-A W. 6th St) at 7:00 PM.
FACT SF Reading Group - http://www.eden.com/~acs/reading/index.html
Adventures in Crime & Space - http://www.crimeandspace.com/
FACT - http://www.fact.org/
Clouds End - http://www.redshift.com/~sstewart/ce.html
Secret Realms
http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/mia/t/o/tomcool/secret.htm
The Death of the Necromancer - http://www.charisat.com/death.htm
The Alien Years - http://www.sfsite.com/09b/year41.htm
Stardust - http://www.sfsite.com/02a/star50.htm
Speaking of Jack McDevitt, author of Moonfall, Ancient Shores, Time
Travelers Never Die (all Nebula nominees), and the upcoming Infinity
Beach, he is the Guest of Honor at Bubonicon 31 to be held August
20-22, 1999 at Howard Johnson East in Albuquerque.
Bubonicon 31 - http://members.aol.com/bubonicon/home.htm
Jack McDevitt - http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/
Jack McDevitt Bibliography - http://www.sfsite.com/lists/jmd.htm
Speaking of Sean Stewart, author of Clouds End, Resurrection Man,
Nobody's Son, Passion Play, The Night Watch, Mockingbird, and the
forthcoming Galveston, he is the Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon 21
September 10-12, 1999 at The Southpark Omni in Austin.
ArmadilloCon 21 - http://www.golem-computing.com/dillocon/
Sean Stewart - http://www.redshift.com/~sstewart/
Don't miss the chapter excerpts including the first chapter of
Galveston.
Science Fiction for Breakfast
The Saturday Morning Ritual Breakfast Group in Houston, a loosely
organized band of Science Fiction fans, writers, NASA types and
hungry people who like to talk, is branching out.
A sub group has recently attending Shakespeare in the Park at
Miller Outdoor Theatre and another is having an off-site ritual
breakfast in Clear Lake for the colorful Ballunar Liftoff near
the end of August.
On the other hand, the breakfast group may be one of the few SF
groups in Houston that has NOT recently had a pool party.
Normally the group meets every Saturday at the Buffet Express on
the northwest corner of Bellaire and Weslayan (4056 Bellaire).
Houston Ritual Breakfast - http://www.flash.net/~aajiv/
Where No URL Has Gone Before
Starbase Houston is leading the charge in the general movement of
Science Fiction Fandom to the Web. They have just moved into their
own domain name, to whit WWW.STARBASE.ORG (sic)
They moved to the new site fairly quickly, even if they didn't have
it up for their July Pool party.
Added Note - This is in error.
Starbase has the new domain of
STARBASEHOUSTON.ORG and the URL is http://www.starbasehouston.org/ .
See our update.
Speaking of Starbase, they are gathering to preview a demo of the
new Star Trek: The Next Generation Role-Playing game on August 29
at 1:30PM at Midnight Comics, all Earthbound Aliens invited.
Starbase Houston - http://www.starbase.org/
Tourist Till You Drop
Several Unlimited has a Galveston Moody Gardens excursion planned
for August 15, exploring the Rainforest Pyramid, Aquarium, and
Discovery Museum followed by an optional Galveston dinner.
Yep. Several Unlimited recently had a pool party too. Video
party too, but they always have video parties.
Several Unlimited - http://members.aol.com/erikaf/su/
To find out more about local and Texas organizations see our
listing at http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html .
Science Fiction on TV
According to Science Fiction News of the Week
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/news.html Alliance Atlantis
Communications and Zyntopo Teo are developing a one-hour TV series
based on Anne McCaffrey's best-selling Dragonriders of Pern novels.
The show will combine live action with computer-generated effects
and is slated to begin shooting in February 2000.
Fall season premieres beginning with Star Trek: Voyager, Wednesday
September 22 through X-Files, premiering October 31.
For more information and a more complete listing see our monthly
Science Fiction On TV at http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html .
Science Fiction in Film
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Movie is on again, this time
with Disney. Douglas Adams is moving from Islington to California,
but since he can't abide an artificially irrigated desert turned
into a vast parking lot, he'll be living 90 miles up the coast in
Santa Barbara. If you've always had a yen to say you've lived in
Douglas Adams' house, he is renting the five story renovated 1834
Islington house for 2,500 Pounds/Week.
Check out his HHG to Islington.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=001848970247369&rtmo=rh9SE9tX&atmo=6666666J&pg=/et/99/7/31/tphit31.html
The Force is Strong, But the Fear is Stronger - Maybe
Star Wars opened in 2,970 locations during its first weekend and took in
an average of $21,822 per screen, a new industry record. It also set a
record when it earned $5.5 million on the first Monday following its
weekend debut. The second record still stands, barely, but the first
was an excessively short lived record.
The Blair Witch Project opened in a third of the theaters earned an
average of $25,885 per screen making $28.5 million during its first
weekend. The following Monday it earned $5.4 million, just behind
the Phantom Empire, but with still only a third the screens. On
Friday August 6, it opened in an additional 1,000 screens.
The Blair Witch Project (which has next to nothing to do with witches,
by the way) was shot for $100,000. It was sold to Artisan Entertainment
outright for what must have seemed an incredible $1.1 million, a 1000%
return on investment. But now it looks like the film makers were
suckered as the Blair Witch Project looks fairly certain to make well
over $100 million just in the U.S., a mind boggling 10000% return for
Artisan Entertainment. And now the $1.1 million looks incredibly small.
What will the film makers do now? Will they sue? Will they sulk?
Heck no! This is America! They are busy planning to cash in on the
sequel!
According to Science Fiction Weekly at
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/news.html Daniel Myrick and Eduardo
Sanchez are considering four ideas for a second Blair project, including
two possible prequels. One potential story prequel would explore the
ancient legend of the Blair Witch whose only contribution to the current
story is the title, while another would recount the tale of the 1940s
serial killer mentioned in the film. One of the sequel ideas would
follow the adventures of people who venture into the woods in search
of the three missing filmmakers from the current movie. They refuse
to discuss the fourth possible scenario, saying only that it is an
idea that is really "out there."
Uh, Right!
Various exit polls reveal some strange results. The film obviously
creates a strong sense of verisimilitude making it easy to suspend
disbelief. The polls show a surprising large minority of people
who continue to believe or want to believe that maybe the film is
either true or based on a true story in spite of the evidence of
the credits. At the same time, the audience members who "couldn't
wait" to see the film gave it just a C rating (frequently for not
being scary enough) and those who just accompanied them gave it an F.
At the same time, this is obviously a "word of mouth" movie, so
clearly someone likes it.
One of our local TV channels felt moved to interview and broadcast a
devout something or other who had very extensive criticism of the movie
and its occult themes, when it was patently obvious the person had not
seen the movie or even heard much about it, as, on the face of it, the
movie was innocent of every charge made, except having the word 'witch'
in the title. Then I later heard (in person) a 'pagan' of some variety
bad-mouthing the movie as propagating the stereotypes about witches.
It just goes to show that one's belief system has little to do with
opening one's mouth when one hasn't a clue. (Of course, _I've_ never
gone off the deep end (except for a time or three) - Clif).
Whose Doctor Who?
According to Notes From the Underground, the Several Unlimited
newsletter, the BBC has announced that there WILL be a new Dr.
Who movie, but they will not say just who will be playing the
part of the new Doctor. It probably won't be the previous actor
in the role, Paul McGann though.
This led us a bit deeper onto the web where the situation gets somewhat
confusing as apparently there are several entities who might possess the
rights to make a Dr. Who movie.
Aside from the BBC, Chaos Films may have the rights to make a movie
using the rights Milton Subotsky acquired in the sixties. Doctor Who
historian Jean-Marc Lofficier reported on rec.arts.drwho that he has
confirmed as fact that Director Paul Anderson has "the right, and
intends, to 'shop around' Doctor Who as a feature film in Hollywood."
Then, gumming up the works, there is a ongoing lawsuit over the aborted
early-Nineties Doctor Who feature film, political infighting at the BBC,
etc.
Any followup to the FOX 1996 TV movie and its US video release is held
up by the fact that FOX still retains the right to repeat the broadcast
one more time and a FOX spokesperson indicated that this would not happen
until "nearer to the year 2000" (when the movie takes place, specifically
on new years 2000 so that may be a good bet).
Meanwhile, for July, the BBC's Comic Relief made a twenty minute video
consisting of four Dr. Who episodes: Curse of the Fatal Death, played
for laughs with Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, BlackAdder) as the Doctor,
Julia Sawalha (Absolutely Fabulous) as his companion Emma, and Jonathan
Pryce (Tomorrow Never Dies) as the Master, as well as the Daleks.
Broadcast in July and to be sold in September in the UK, but not America
(its available in QuickTime format over the web though at
ftp://nitro9.earth.uni.edu/pub/doctor/video/mov/ ).
If the facts are somewhat confusing, the rumors are even more so. The
next
Doctor may be Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Fifth Element,
Lost In Space), Robert Carlyle, Michael Sheard, Paul McGann, Linus
Roache (Shot Through The Heart, Priest, The Wings Of The Dove), or
a black American actor "of some significance" (Will Smith?).
To follow the story keep an eye on:
Dr. Who News - http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/whonews.html
Tomorrow's World Plus: Dr. Who
http://www.twplus.beeb.com/html/doctorwho/news/index.html
Science Fiction on the Web
Sacrificed on the Info-Alter
Last Issue we recommended everyone go to http://www.fandata.com/ and
register themselves and their organizations with Fandom Directory.
Taking my own advice, Clif Davis and Info-Alert were entered into the
database where Friends of Fandom already had an entry. On August 1,
there was an email confirming that we made the Web page. Just before
starting this issue, I checked back to see what the listing looked like.
Clifton Davis was there with the essential information. Carefully
perusing the I's failed to turn up data for the Info-Alert. The aha
moment came when I realized that the entry for an Internet publication
called the Info-Alter carried our Web page and email address. It could
be worse. At least all the letters are there. I guess we will find out
just how good their information update capability is.
If you thought, "Why don't they just change their name to the
Info-Alter?" give yourself one demerit! (Admittedly it could lead to a
neat logo, but ...)
Fandom and the Web
As part of the movement of Science Fiction Fandom to the Web, The
Florida Association for Nucleation And Conventions (F. A. N. A. C.),
Inc., a artifact of the 50th World Science Fiction Convention,
MagiCon, (in the same sense that FACT is an artifact of the Austin
NASFIC) is putting together a massive fan history.
The Fanac Fan History Project has an absolute wealth of reading
material. Zines, Con Reports, Fan Photos. The scope of their site
is simply incredible. Go to http://fanac.org/index.html and click
on the left on fanzines. Then click on any of the four main links.
Plan to spend a while.
Ezines
Other Dimensions: a science fiction and fantasy resource
At http://www.otherdimension.com/ you will find a black background with
an enigmatic picture in soft grey. Are you looking at a monster, a space
scene, an underwater scene, an organic machine??? The effect is subtle
and slightly disturbing. The teaser text is small, but stands out
across the dark background.
"Science fiction, fantasy, horror or speculative fiction, call it what
you will, but they are all creations of the mind sprung from dreams of
the heart.
There are those who say such dreaming is escapist and ignores reality.
On the contrary, it is only through the world of make-believe that our
reality is truly able to evolve and expand.
Truth to tell, I found their news a bit light, most of their reviews
like Mind-bending Virtual Reality new! - Simulations, self-aware
computers and Holodecks. (other thoughts) were particularly empty of
real content.
But by all the fannish ghods, is it well presented!
This is a pretty site. It navigates well; the layout is extraordinarily
attractive for a web publication. There is a minimum of art, but it is
effectively used and it too looks very nice.
And I have to say they had one of the more perceptive Star Wars reviews
that I've read (translation - I agreed with it). Their free trials for
science fiction magazines offers you free issues of real print mainline
SF publications (I have no idea what the catch is, perhaps there isn't
one).
They manage a seamless tie-in to other peoples material: Amazon.com's
Summer reads,and Conviction, the Multimedia Fantasy placed on the web
by MediaNoval using text, graphics, music, audio and even video, across
the Internet.
All told, I won't be coming back to Other Dimensions very often, but I
also have to admire what they've done. It's worth a look for the
Science Fiction Fan exploring the Web, just to get a taste of the way
things could be.
Not Primarily Science Fiction, But ...
New Media Review is, as the name would suggest, a review of the new
digital media (with an emphasis on commercial products). Linda
Brevelle, the Executive Editor, is an old days Houston science
fiction fan turned Californian and has picked up several Houston
and Austin SF fans as regular or semi-regular columnists.
The July issue, for example, has Pete Jamison, a ritual breakfast
member, and infamous (Klingon Stoppers) ex-member of Starbase and
nominal member of the Houston Science Fiction Society, writing
"Off To See The 'Wizard': Using Norton 2000 In A Cross-platform
Environment", in which he details his experience of using Norton
2000 along with SoftWindows, the Windows emulator, on his Power
Macintosh. http://nmreview.com/reviews/n2000/index.htm .
Speaking of Wizards, the computer artists among us will be happy to
learn that creating art with your computer need not require the
complexity of professional programs like PhotoShop. Ray Tuley's
article, "WizardPad: The Virtual (and Natural) Art Studio",
spotlights the graphics tablet known as WizardPad bundled with
the easy-to-use software, Dabbler.
http://nmreview.com/reviews/wizardpad/index.htm
Games are not neglected.
In the latest issue, new columnist Ken Baker reviews Star Wars Episode
1: Racer http://nmreview.com/reviews/racer/index.htm .
They review soundcards and joysticks and above all software, but the Net
and DVD is not exempt. They have an ongoing tribute to Kubric (on DVD),
this time taking a look at the film classic, Paths of Glory
http://nmreview.com/reviews/DVDs/pathsglory/index.htm . Also published
in the same section: Critic Ray Tuley analyzes the early Kubrick film
Killer's Kiss http://nmreview.com/reviews/DVDs/killerskiss/index.htm .
The Cumulative Review list at http://nmreview.com/reviews/index.htm is a
valuable resource, but they don't look to be stopping anytime soon.
In future editions of the New Media Review, Linda promises Andy Cobley's
DVD review of the Alien series, an introduction to the Caldera and Red
Hat versions of Linux, Part 2 of Ken Baker's look at Microsoft Office
2000, an experience installing Creative Lab's PC-DVD, the Encore
PC-DVD6X with Dxr3 MPEG decoder, an evaluation of ScriptWerx, the
formatting software for screenwriters, an introduction to streaming
media, Windows CE software, a survey of the best of shareware, computer
book reviews, a look at home networking software from Intel, and much
more. Phew!
New Media Review - http://nmreview.com/index.html
August Issue - http://nmreview.com/home.htm
Space, the Final Frontier
Multiplying Moons of Uranus
Two more moons were found circling Uranus so that totals 20 in all and
put it in the lead for most moons, pretty significant when you consider
its competing with Jupiter and the previous leader, Saturn. Pretty
significant too for the Canadian Astronomers using the Hawaii telescope
to discover the unusual moons.
http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/Science/19990729/UMOONN.html
Was Chicken Little Right?
Last time we talked about the Tunguska incident, a collision of
some sort. We have earthquake scales that tell us how bad an
earthquake is. Now there is a scale to tell us how much to worry
about a potential asteroid or comet impact. They may call it the
Torino Scale but it's the Chicken Little scale to me.
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/torino/index.html
Also you may want to check out the Spaceguard Survey, the first
step in identifying and tracking potentially threatening objects that
could hit us and wipe out vast chucks of real estate..
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
Speaking of asteroids, they have discovered Asteroid 1998 KY26,
about the diameter of a baseball diamond, a lumpy, water-rich
sphere rotating so swiftly that its day ends almost soon as it begins.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/99/98ky26.html
Revolutionary Rocket Fuel (And a Hell of a Drink)
NASA researchers have succeeded in suspending tiny chunks of
solid hydrogen in liquid helium to make an explosive fuel that
would multiply the power of rockets by a factor of three or more.
"Explosion is an understatement," principal investigator Palaszewski
said. "This could potentially be quite dangerous."
http://www.space.com/news/planetarymissions/hydrogen_helium.html
They estimate 10 years before this is ready for prime time, but it
may carry us through till we have fusion. On the downside, it makes
a good bomb.
Galileo Fried But Survives
The Galileo spacecraft survived an unexpected whopper dose of
radiation triggering four spacecraft faults, but all of them were
handled correctly by onboard software so there was only a
minimal loss of data.
http://www.clever.net/cam/galileo1.html
It wasn't clear whether Io or Jupiter was responsible.
Lunar Prospector Impacts Moon - but no plume to analyze for
water ... Yet.
http://lunar-apps.arc.nasa.gov/project/
The Cassini Approach
On August 18 (August 17 Pacific time at 8:28 p.m. PDT), Cassini
flies by Earth on it way to Saturn via Jupiter.
http://www.clever.net/cam/cassini1.html
Weather From Space
The North Pacific Ocean continues to run hot and cold, with
abnormally low sea levels and cool waters in the northeastern
Pacific contrasting with unusually high sea levels and warm waters
in the northwestern Pacific.
New imagery from the TOPEX/Poseidon orbiting satellite is
available and SeaWinds, NASA's newly launched ocean-viewing
radar instrument, has measured high winds of more than 50 knots
in Typhoon Olga and winds of over 90 miles per hour in
Hurricane Dora.
See Earth From Space - http://www.clever.net/cam/space/earth.html
Martian Weather Report at http://www.clever.net/cam/mars1.html .
Bon Appetit
Astronomers using the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and
Astrophysics (ASCA), a Japanese -U.S. X-ray satellite launched
in 1993, have discovered a black hole eating an accretion disk
of superheated iron gas being pulled into the black hole at over
6 million mph (10 million kph). This black hole in galaxy NGC
3516 is the first time anyone has reported seeing evidence of
matter falling into a black hole.
http://www.space.com/science/astronomy/blackhole_816.html
For the latest on various, ongoing missions see our monthly
Space News Update at http://www.clever.net/cam/spacenu.html
The Writer's Block
Manuscripts and Art Submissions for Artemis Magazine (See
New Magazine above) go to:
Ian Randal Strock, Editor
1380 East 17 Street, Suite 201
Brooklyn, NY 11230-6011 USA
Artemis Magazine does not accept electronic submissions.
Artemis Magazine welcomes freelance submissions, but cannot be
responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or materials. All such
submissions and correspondence must include SASE for response
and/or return of materials. Send SASE for writers' guidelines.
This may not be all that helpful, but check out
http://world.std.com/~mab/copyright.html anyway.
Selling to the Godfather: How to join the Analog MAFIA
by Michael A. Burstein.
SFWA Says ... No Confusion!
The domain names SFWA.COM and SFWA.NET do not belong
to, and are not associated with, Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers of America, Inc. Web pages at SFWA.COM and
SFWA.NET are not Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America pages, and email coming from SFWA.COM and
SFWA.NET does not come from Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers of America.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America owns the address
SFWA.ORG.
Note the ORG at the end. None genuine without this mark.
See also our Houston and/or Texas Writers Groups for more
writer's links at http://www.clever.net/cam/writers.html
FFFeedback
We heard from Steve Deyo:
Hello, I'm still fairly new to Houston but due to work schedule do
*not* know hardly anyone in town yet. I'm a writer, among other
things, who'd like to know if anyone would care to meet for coffee
in the morning (Montrose, Greenway or environs), lunch during the
day (my work is currently at Compaq but may soon switch to
Greenway), happy hour or just correspond about life in Houston.
Please write me at my work address steve.deyo@compaq.com
before Sept. 1 if you'd like to help a Houston newby feel more
at home. Thanks.
---
Anyone who works or lives in the area that would like to drop
Steve a Line?
And from Catherine Asaro:
Hi! Thanks for putting in the link to my story, "Aurora in Four
Voices." A number of people have asked me for that, so I
figured there were more who were looking for it.
I enjoy your FOF magazine!
---
And both Margaret and I enjoyed meeting and talking to you at
the Space Development Conference. We look forward to placing
links to your Nebula/Hugo quality stories many many years into
the future and also hope that you will be enlivening many of the SF
cons that we attend from now on.
>From Jim Harris:
You list our site http://scifan.com/fiction/ on your Texas writer's
page, and you or Clif wrote some very nice words about our site
in your June newsletter.
Just wanted to say thanks. I put a mention about you and your
sites down towards the bottom of the page, plus included your
Texas writer's page in the links section.
Your words were very encouraging to me, and so I'll try to keep
this page maintained.
I also subscribed to your very informative newsletter.
Thanks again...
Jim
>From Jeff Johnson
Dear Book Lover:
1stBooks has something special for you, and it's totally free,
with no obligation of any kind.
You are among the thousands of readers from all over the world
who have received previous announcements about electronic books
that can be downloaded from 1stBooks directly to your computer.
As you may recall, we already offer hundreds of classic titles,
available to download free of charge. In addition, our catalog
includes more than 1,500 eBooks by contemporary authors, at
25% to 50% below softcover prices.
[For more information see: http://www.1stbooks.com/book21.htm
Yours for better reading,
Jeff Johnson
The 1stBooks Library
>From Elaine Hinman-Sweeney
Margaret,
I was referred to your page by AT Campbell at FACT. I'm very
happy to find other SF fans in Houston!!
I wanted to let you know about a science fiction convention to be
held in Houston June 9 - 11 of 2000. We are hoping to make
ConSortium an annual event. The web page is at :
http://www.horizongames.com/consortium
Is it possible to get listed on your Con page?
(Yes, Elaine. It is not only possible but already added and thanks!!!
- Margaret)
Does FoF have local meetings or activities? Please let me know.
(Stay tuned for next possible local activity (see New Year's Eve party
email from Several Unlimited President Dee Beetem, below). - Margaret)
Thank you!
Elaine Hinman-Sweeney
And last, but never least, we heard from Several Unlimited President,
Dee Beetem:
To: All Houston-area fan clubs:
Several Unlimited would like to know if any other clubs would like to
help us throw a Millennium Party this New Year's Eve. This is the
dawning of the third age, we have to do something to commemorate it!
Assuming we get other groups to share labor and costs, we'd like to rent
a couple of hospitality suites (maybe in the Courtyard Marriott) and
perhaps a function room on New Year's Eve, party till the wee hours
(including as many typical fannish activities as we have the energy
to support), then continue with a New Year's Day brunch and open house.
(If it's just us, the planning will be much less elaborate, of course.)
Hopefully, many fans would stay at the hotel on Friday night rather
than brave the New Year's Eve drunks.
If we want to throw a party like that, now is the time to plan and make
reservations. So, what do the other clubs think?
---
And that pretty much brings us full circle for this issue. Send any
email comments or suggestions regarding fannish activities/events in the
greater Houston area (or within Texas) or regarding this Info Alert to
fof@www.clever.net . If you received this Info Alert as a sample and
would be interested in receiving future editions directly, email
clifton@friendsoffandom.rr.nu or click on "sign up" on any of our Web
pages as listed above and register. Alternately you can register directly
on http://www.clever.net/cam/register.html .
Be seeing you!
Margaret A. Fincannon, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@www.clever.net
And now all the fine print you can eat ....
****************************************************************
The Friends of Fandom Information Alert is an official publication of
Friends of Fandom, distributed in electronic and print form in
furtherance of its tax exempt purpose. The information contained
therein reflects that believed to be true and accurate by its editors.
However, we make no guarantees. All opinions expressed are those of the
individual contributors and may not necessarily reflect either the
official position of Friends of Fandom or the opinions of the editors,
nor the officers or board of directors of Friends of Fandom. Friends of
Fandom is a nonprofit, literary, scientific, and educational 501(c)(3)
corporation committed to encouraging and facilitating interest and
activities pertaining to science fiction, fantasy, and science fact in
its various forms. 'Of course, it's not science fiction, because science
fiction is set in the future and this film is set a long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away....' - Liam Neeson in Woman's Hour
*****************************************************************
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If you've read this far, you should look at our August Update.