September 1999
Greetings From the Penultimate Year of the 20th Century.
We (Clif and Margaret) attended ArmadilloCon and a jillion people
said we could send them the Info-Alert. Well, OK, not quite a jillion.
A small jillion, more like about 25 or so. But our little community
did get a nice boost, anyway. Thanks to everyone who put their email
address onto our yellow pad as well as those who signed up on the
internet.
Welcome aboard to Chuck Baker, Neal Barrett, Jr., Doris Beetem, Marty
Cole somewhere in Florida, Roxanne and Cat Conrad, Tim Corbett, Scott
Cupp, Brad and Cindy Foster, John Gibbon, Teresa Gregory, Bennie
Grezlik, Bev Hale, Elaine Hinman-Sweeney, Keith Hood, Jonathan A
Leistiko, Jason Middleton, Otter Morryn, Anna Nedeau, Carl Pearson,
Grayson Richardson, Chris Robeson, Leslle Shafer, Shirley Soto, Jean
Stantz, Dennis Virzi, Summer Warren, and Rondinella Williams.
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.
Suddenly ...
Houston Neo-Pro James Husum has had a story published in
Suddenly 99, edited by Jackie Pelham (published by Martin House
Press).
Congratulations James!
ArmadilloCon
Did we say that we went to ArmadilloCon? In some respects this
issue may read like an extended con report. Of course, there were
a few things that happened since last issue besides ArmadilloCon.
For instance, there was a NASFIC, and a Worldcon and, oh yeah,
Hugos.
1999 Hugo Awards Winners
This in from Sci-Fi Wire:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/print.cgi?1999-09/05/12.21.books
The 46th Annual Hugo Awards were announced Saturday, Sept. 4,
at the 57th World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne,
Australia.
The winners and categories are:
Best Novel
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (Bantam Spectra)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0553575384/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Novella
"Oceanic" by Greg Egan (Asimov's, Aug 1998)
http://www.asimovs.com/hugos/oceanic.html
Best Novelette
"Taklamakan" by Bruce Sterling (Asimov's, Oct/Nov 1998)
http://www.asimovs.com/hugos/taklamakan.html
Best Short Story
"The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick
(Asimov's, Feb 1998)
http://www.asimovs.com/hugos/pulse.html
Best Non-Fiction Book
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction
Conquered the World by Thomas M. Disch (The Free Press)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0684824051/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Dramatic Presentation
The Truman Show (Paramount)
http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?The+Truman+Show
Best Professional Editor
Gardner Dozois
Asimov's - http://www.asimovs.com/
Best Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton
http://www.novaspace.com/LTD/EGG/Bobbio.html
Best Semiprozine
Locus
http://www.locusmag.com/
Best Fanzine
Ansible
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible/Ansible.html
Best Fan Writer
Dave Langford
http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/index.html
Best Fan Artist
Ian Gunn
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dgunn1/ian.htm
John W. Campbell Award
Nalo Hopkinson
http://www.sff.net/people/nalo/
The Hugo Awards--named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, "The Father
of Magazine Science Fiction"--are presented annually by the
World Science Fiction Society. Both the nominees and winners
are chosen by a popular vote of the WSFS. The Hugo Awards are
also known by their more formal name, the Science Fiction
Achievement Awards.
Speaking of Gardner Dozois
Gardner is doing a series of online interviews with SF notables. You
can catch them realtime at http://www.scifi.com/chat/ or, if you
prefer, catch them after the fact at http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/ .
Coming up is Esther M. Friesner and George R.R. Martin on September
ArmadilloCon was unusual this year for not having Gardner Dozois in
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
New books announced from Roger McBride Allen, Piers Anthony,
September releases from Lois McMaster Bujold, Hal Clement, Peter
For more sf&f new book listings and more detail (updated monthly),
It's A Sign
Adventures in Crime and Space will host Joe R. Lansdale signing his
Speaking of Adventures in Crime and Space, their move is on hold for
Friends of Fandom President Bill Parker asked Willie Siros when
In a sense though, they are already open wherever the Internet
Adventures in Crime and Space - http://www.eden.com/~acs/
Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
Up next for Texas fans is HubCon III to be held Oct. 22-24 in
For a more complete listing see our monthly What's Happening list
Worldcon Ho (Ho Ho).
It's ConJose for the 2002 Worldcon, winning with 666 votes.
ConJose - http://www.sfsfc.org/worldcon/Index.htm
Meanwhile Back At the Ranch
While at ArmadilloCon, we ran into a representative sampling of the
Currently they are in the good-excuse-for-throwing-convention-parties
Technically, they are a Dallas/Fort Worth bid.
Worldcon Dallas - http://www.rubberrodeo.com/dallas2006/
Worldcon bids were not the only parties we ran into at ArmadilloCon.
They are considering having a writers' workshop and we encouraged
Consortium - http://www.horizongames.com/consortium/
Yet More ArmadilloCon
Like people, conventions slowly change over the years. This year's
For the first time, there were people in costume scattered throughout
Traditions remain, of course.
This is THE convention to listen to author's readings.
Lobby lurking remained popular. It got us our first glimpse of
>From the book jacket - "Have your ever dreamed you could fly? Well,
The Ursa Major Brown Bag Book Auction was fun as always but was
At their auction, you know generically what you are bidding on, but
I don't know whether the large drop in attendance was caused by a
A new "tradition" this year was the ArmadilloCon Writer's Workshop
I would like to find whoever was in charge of scheduling and beat
It's more or less customary to schedule things with an eye towards
But take Sunday 1:00PM for egregious example.
At most cons, by Sunday afternoon the con is pretty much over and
But, next door, we have a Writer to Agent to Editor panel where
Margaret attended the Inventing Aliens panel while I hit the Good
The following hour featured a panel to warm the hearts of any of us
Instead we went to the packed, standing-room-only, panel on Nanotech
Notable moments included Bruce Sterling's statement of Drexler's Law:
Any sufficiently bogus science will inevitable be used to paper over
Drexler, the nano-pioneer, feels that funding for nano-tech may be
As invariably happens, important things have been occurring while I
As an aside, Bruce has not only picked up enough science(s) and
But then maybe enough digits in your book advances will do that for
But to veer back onto topic, the number one thing wrong with
Yet More More ArmadilloCon
On the back of the program book was a welcome flyer:
"In Your Future, I See ...
They list the Guest of Honor as Catherine Asaro - gee, where have we
Oddly enough, I (Clif) was talking to Cat Conrad at the convention
Cat was asking me what happened to Robert Taylor based on the
Initially, Cat had one of those temporary mental blocks on Robert's
Next year, if all of us told Robert how much we would really really
We mentioned the Writer's Workshop at next year's ArmadilloCon but
ArmadilloCon 22 - http://www.fact.org/dillo/
Science Fiction on TV
Fall season premieres beginning with Star Trek: Voyager, Wednesday
A lot of sf shows have ended their initial run and will now be entering
"Old Shows in New Places
Several genre shows are moving into syndication or stripped
(5 days a week) repeats this month. Check your local listings
for specifics for those shows in syndication. Some other shows
are turning up on cable for repeat runs in the next month or two.
Here's what's starting up that I know about:
Star Trek: Voyager - Starting mid-September
3rd Rock From the Sun - Starting Sept 13th in most markets
Viper - Airing sporadically weekdays on USA network starting
Sept 15th at 2 am
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - USA Network Sundays at 11 am
starting Oct 3rd
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Sci-Fi Channel starting
Oct 4th (Mon-Fri)
The Outer Limits - Starting on the Sci-Fi Channel in October
(Sun, Mondays)
The Sentinel - Starting on the Sci-Fi Channel in October
(Tuesdays)
Tales From The Crypt - Starting on the Sci-Fi Channel in
October (Mon-Thu)"
According to Science Fiction News of the Week, Next Gen actress
UPN has ordered 13 episodes of Film Roman's animated SF comedy
Fireworks Entertainment Inc.'s new show, Relic Hunter, about a female
For more information and a more complete listing see our monthly
Science Fiction at the Movies
The Warner Bros. film Red Planet began principal photography on
The Horror of Who
Jeremy Bolt, one of the producers of Paul Anderson's upcoming
Bolt said "There won't be as much gore as in Event Horizon, but we
He scares me.
In the meantime, the BBC is reported to be in talks with Impact
Cast of the Rings
Ethan Hawke will play the role of Faramir, the younger brother of
Science Fiction Humor
This month's offering is in the Star Wars Line:
Science Fiction Gaming
The big news is that Wizards of the Coast, home of Magic: the card
Wizards of the Coast has a FAQ up. One of those reassuring nothing-is-
Words of denial on both sides to the contrary, featuring words like
Science Fiction Clubs & Organizations
FACT will have a table at the Texas Book Festival
FACT - Texas Book Festival
If you will be coming up, stop and say hello to Karen Meschke,
If your group has an opportunity (such as the above) to publicize
Red Face Department - Last issue I (Clif) reported that Erika Frensley
The effort is being spearheaded by Dee Beetem, Several Unlimited's
Sorry, Dee.
My only excuse was that I was reading a newsletter edited by Erika and
At ArmadilloCon, Dee approached secret masters of the Saturday morning
Dee is still wanting to touch bases with the other groups in Houston.
Keep watch here for more information as we get closer.
Several Unlimited - http://members.aol.com/erikaf/su/
For more information, and an EXPANDED listing of Houston and/or
http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html
Science Fiction on the Internet
The value of reviews depends both on the quality of the reviewer and
The Internet is a master lode of one-shot uncorrelatable reviews.
Many books, and possibly even most serious SF, will have a whole group
If it were just possible to do a search to find out what the author of a
It would be increased again if there were some kind of minimal
Similarly there is a database on the web of reviews which have appeared
What is clearly needed is a clearinghouse where people can leave
If you see the value of this you should check out
A Professional Sidenote
[Margaret, again: As a professional, working reference librarian,
The first thing we librarians respect is a reputable source of reviews,
It might be of interest to see what fellow fans have said about a
Techno-Fix Forever
As a self declared champion of Techno-Fix, I (Clif) responded to Bruce
How serious I was, I refuse to say, but in the latest Scientific
See Infamy and Honor at the Atomic Cafe
Much to my surprise, I find that Scientific American is putting what
This is a trend worth encouraging. Nature is nowhere near as
Space The Final Frontier
Invasion of the Satellite Swarm
NASA announced the latest New Millennium Program mission, the
Nanosat Constellation - http://www.clever.net/cam/space/techno.html
Future multi-satellite mission possibilities are atmospheric probes
The Space Technology 3 project will launch two satellites in an orbit
It doesn't help much with the light gathering, but it works wonders
Now we will be doing the same thing in space to create a huge virtual
Maybe someday we will have two matched Hubble-class scopes in orbit
The Congressional Menace
In early September, the annual effort to kill the International Space
The House, however, made massive cuts to the NASA budget. The
Attack of the Tropical Hurricane Floyd
The Space Shuttles survived a different kind of threat, a hurricane
We are too cheap to have the aircraft available that would have been
Fortunately Hurricane Floyd stayed 103 miles offshore from the
Floyd did result in some additional delay to the Hubble Space Telescope
Floyd had no effect on ground testing of the International Space
Speaking of the Hubble, click on the image at the bottom of
Attack of the Giant Polar Iceberg (or the Titanic Had It Easy)
Back in 1992, the tail end of Thwaites glacier broke off to form a
The Naval Ice Center keeps track of floating chunks of ice that might
Losing a chunk of ice that big is enough to make them nervous, so
Enter the QuikScat satellite and its SeaWinds radar instrument with
On its first pass over the Antarctic, it discovered B10A heading
The National Ice Center immediately issued an iceberg navigation
In warmer water, B10A is supposed to break up completely in the next
For more details see Satellites and Weather
Mars Awaits
Course corrections have been made for both the Mars Polar Lander
NEWS FLASH - MARS CLIMATE ORBITER IS BELIEVED TO HAVE CRASHED INTO
Mars Climate Orbiter was supposed to study the weather and climate
ArmadilloCon Report Continued
Margaret and I had wanted to attend the Cassini panel, but had a
However, at ArmadilloCon, Paul Thompson, who once worked on the
He was extraordinarily enlightening on a number of subjects.
Jupiter is a big place, and while one sample is better than we had
His best guess was that the radiation difficulties that Galileo
Finally he explained why the Galileo project is coming to an end.
The spacecraft has not run out of science it can do. Nor has it run
The equipment we use on Earth to communicate with Galileo has a
So that's it.
For now it's on to Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system,
To follow the last best results from the Galileo project keep your
The latest space related information can be found from our Space News
The Write Stuff (Pen and Ink Optional!)
The previously mentioned Good Books on Writing panel at Armadillo
For me, repeat Nebula finalist K.D. Wentworth settled that question
She related how, when she began, that she knew that her writing would
So she began by reading all the books on writing she could get her hands
"When you read the same things" she maintains, "said enough different
I would have reservations, since in anything there is a gap between
She was also in an unusual situation in the amount of time spent
She was looking for a part time job for the summer (she teaches) and
Although all of the panelists were selling writers, it seems that each
And Speaking of Writer's Workshops
Ursa Major will be having their annual Writer's Workshop February
That is, the workshop focuses on constructive criticism and tries
Also, writers will want to circle March 16-19, 2000 on their
See also our Houston and/or Texas Writers Groups for more writer's
FFFeedback
>From Marianne Dyson-
Dear Friends and Family -
You can order my first children's book, Space Station Science, online
Please feel free to add a link to my page if you're so inclined. If you
Here is my URL:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Campus/5999/
Please forward this message to others who might be interested in a
Marianne Dyson, Author, Space Station Science (Scholastic, 1999)
-----------
>From Linda Brevell
Hello, Clif and Margaret:
It was good to receive your latest mailing list. Thanks, too, for giving
As you perhaps may have noticed if you looked at the site itself, we
Artists, writers/reviewers and Web tech experts are encouraged to
Pete Jamison is not the only one from your area to submit articles.
Enjoyed reading about the most recent goings-on in our galaxy and more
(What a strange plural that is, "goings-on"....but seems to me the old
I gather your Web newsletter is not replacing the famous Purple
Of course, come to think of it, nothing could replace that, nor would it
If you guys ever want to contribute a review of new software or Web
Linda
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Linda,
With the old Houston Science Fiction Society meeting maybe once a year,
Who knows, maybe someday we will serve multi-media presentations of all
- Clif
> From LRobi
HI, I have a question? What day will Xena and Hercules be on. I live
Please answer me, thank u!
-----------
Hello, yourself!
Thanks a lot for emailing me! I had not realized (before your email)
Kevin Sorbo (who plays Hercules) is leaving the show, though,
Xena apparently is doing well in the ratings so I'm hopeful that
Anyway, thank to your question I did some investigating and
Science Fiction on TV - Fall 1999 Schedule
Again, thanks for helping me make this page better!
-- Margaret
>From Elaine Hinman-Sweeney
Hello!
Thank you for the Info-Alert! There's a lot of good information in
I will be at Armadillo - see you there!
Elaine
-----------
Elaine,
When we talked at the con, I believe you were the one who mentioned a
Was it you that said something about it, or am I hallucinating the
- Clif
[Note from Margaret. She did mention something like this when we both
-----------
>From Grayson Richardson
Hi, I met you in the con suite at Armadillo Con, and I mentioned
-------------
Grrrray,
I appreciate the email (I particularly liked the phrase "a new star
I'll be using the information and link you sent to update our
Much thanks,
We Also Heard From:
Christopher Baillis who let us know that The Australian Costumers' Guild
B.A. Chepaitis who let us know about her Ace SF cyberpunk suspense
N. Pollotta informing us about the New SF/Humor "Bureau 13" RPG
If you received this Info Alert as a sample and would be interested
Be seeing you!
Margaret A. Fincannon, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
And now for the fine print (fnord)....
To be removed from this Mailing List, please send a remove request to
= = = = = = = =
28 @ 8 PM CST (Houston Time), Stanley Schmidt, Analog; Gardner
Dozois, Asimov's (gee, he gets to answer his own questions
Gordon Van Gelder, Fantasy & Science Fiction; and Scott Edelman,
Science Fiction Age all on October 12 @ 8PM CST and also Jane
Yolen October 26 @ 9:00 PM CST.
attendance. There was still a collection of editors (Shawna McCarthy,
James Frenkel, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, among others) and scores of
writers there. A number of writers had just had something new come
out, and Sean Stewart has the novel Galveston coming out in March
2000, but no one seem to mention anything new coming up in the next
few months. And speaking of that ...
Arthur C. Clarke, Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven,
Fred Saberhagen, R.A. Salvatore, Melissa Scott, Dan Simmons, and
Michael A. Stackpole.
David, Kim Stanley Robinson, Judith Tarr, Harry Turtledove, and
Tad Williams.
see http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
new mystery novel Freezer Burn (Warner hbk) on Thursday, October
14, 3:00-5:00 PM. Then on Tuesday, October 19, 4:00-5:00 PM
James Gurney will sign Dinotopia: First Flight (HarperCollins hbk).
Saturday, December 4, Elizabeth Moon will sign Change of Command
(Baen hbk) and Lois McMaster Bujold will sign A Civil Campaign
(Baen hbk).
now. As of ArmadilloCon, they were still looking at potential
locations for the new store.
he was opening a branch in Houston. Willie replied that he got
asked that question a lot. "When are you going to open a store
in Houston", "When are you going to open a store in Dallas?",
"When are you going to open a store in San Antonio?".
reaches. Willie said they will be doing a re-design on their Web
page, and hopefully this will make ordering SF through them
via the Internet even easier.
Joe R. Lansdale - http://www.joerlansdale.com/
Elizabeth Moon - http://www.sff.net/people/Elizabeth.Moon/
Lois McMaster Bujold - http://www.herald.co.uk/~dendarii/
Lubbock, Texas.
at http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
(Would we make that up? Well maybe, but check
http://www.sfsfc.org/worldcon/Balloting.htm if you are of a
suspicious nature). Fans being fans, the Roswell not-officially-
a-joke-bid got 120 votes and there were 2 votes for San Francisco,
1 for No Dams (huh?), 3 for Minneapolis in '73, 1 for Rottnest
Island, and 3 for None of the Above.
Dallas colony of ex-Cephids (as in ex-members of the Texas A&M
sf club Cephid Variable, who put on AggieCon each year, for those
who are new to Texas sf groups - see
http://wwwmsc.tamu.edu/MSC/CepheidVariable/aggiecon/ ) who
are partying in support of a Dallas Worldcon Bid in the first quarter
of the 21 Century (2006 at the earliest).
stage, but for people who want to get in on the ground floor they are
offering $20 presupporting and $100 convertible memberships. Jason
Middleton and Shirley Soto are co-chairing the bid and they list
Teresa Patterson as an advisor.
"Why settle for one city, when you can have two?"
We followed a hat bearing a Consortium flyer back to a party put on by
the nice folks who plan put on the first Consortium in Houston this
next June. For this next summer, they have guests that include
Elizabeth Moon and Walter John Williams. Margaret asked a bunch of
questions so she could update the information on the What's Happening
list and we exchanged emails.
them to talk to Judith Ward, the contact person for Ursa Major's
writer's workshop in San Antonio in mid-February 2000. Cross your
fingers and hope, and maybe they'll be able to talk Judith and Lynn
into coming in to Houston for Consortium. Judith was zooming around
ArmadilloCon in her fancy new electronic wheelchair, but we didn't
really get time for an extended conversation.
What's Happening - http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html
Ursa Major Science Fiction Literary Association's Writers' Workshop
info - chilimomma@aol.com
convention had a slightly different feel than previous years, while
still being "the" Texas literary convention.
the convention. There were slightly fewer gaming panels and more
actual gaming (the area where the con suite used to be in past years
was packed solid with gamers everytime I stuck my head in .
Marianne Dyson's new book Space Station Science: Life in Free Fall.
now you can fly while you dream". Or look at the Amazon.com blurb.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0590058894/fantasicfuturesbA
But if you are ordering it, consider going through Marianne's site
(see Feedback below).
way under-attended this year. As a result, I shamelessly picked up
some incredible bargains for pennies on the dollar. As the auction
continued, more people drifted in, such as Several Unlimited's
president, Dee Beetem, and the extreme bargains dried up, but still
remained in reach of my student budget from time to time.
not specifically. At the end, Margaret helped me sort through,
eliminating the books we didn't want or already had and donating them
back (to be sold again at their next Brown Bag Auction) but for my
approximately $20 I walked out with three large heaping sacks of books,
some of them hardback. (Now if I only had time to read them). I
understand that Ursa Major made the minimum they felt they absolutely
needed to make from the auction, but not by much I'm betting.
shift in who was attending ArmadilloCon or the shift in auction time
slots, or what. I'm torn between hoping they do better next year and
hoping for a repeat of such bargains. But not for too many years, or
I'm afraid they won't do it anymore.
with seven different writers acting as teachers and coordinators. At
the end of the workshop, ArmadilloCon and its many writers' panels
thrown in for free!! (While tradition in Science Fiction Fandom
normally means that something is being done for the third time, in
this case it means that they are doing it again next year, so start
cranking out those manuscripts).
them brutally over the head with a rolled up program book.
minimizing conflict, given the likely audience.
things are just winding down. But here we have Inventing Aliens which
is a panel that should appeal to anyone who is breaking into the SF
field, particularly since it has panel members who have done an expert
job at this very thing, such as Hal Clement.
panelists with all three hats are discussing how the publishing
process really works. And, if that's not conflict enough, next door
we have a panel where writers discuss Good Books on Writing. And, just
to put the icing on the cake, all this is happening opposite the
reading by Guest of Honor, Sean Stewart. ARRRRGH!!!!!!
Books on Writing panel, but not without a lot of regret.
SF techno-geeks, Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursters by people who knew
what they were talking about.
and Clarke's Law. I stood and stole a chair from another panel room
so that Margaret could sit. It was worth the stand.
bad science fiction plots.
adversely influenced by the kooks and bogosity the field has a
tendency to collect, at least in part as a result of Science Fiction.
For some reason science fiction writers have just not been willing to
follow Drexler's dictates in how they portray nano-technology.
wasn't paying attention, so you will probably hear me mention
nano-tech from time to time in the coming months. (There was an
email waiting for me when I got back announcing a seminar on
chemically produced machines, for instance.).
philosophy along the way to be profound, along with cryptography and
hacker culture and God knows what else, I note he has also acquired
a keen understanding of the way in which capitalism really works.
you.
ArmadilloCon was ... it was way too short.
ArmadilloCon 22!
August 18-20, 2000."
heard THAT name before - with Editor Guest Betsy Mitchell, Artist
Guest, Adam Lebowitz (Special Effects Wizard for Babylon 5 and Star
Trek: Voyager), Toastmaster Mary Doria Russell (John Campbell Award
winner) and as Fan Guest of Honor, the most universally loved and
respected man in Texas Fandom and someone that most of us have truly
missed, Robert Taylor.
without having read the flyer past the name Catherine Asaro.
misapprehension he was a member of Houston Fandom (understandable
since Robert was attending Houston conventions about the same time
period Cat was).
name and so was describing him to me. I think it's safe to say that
most of us in Houston fandom have a rough edge or two, and for the
life of me I just couldn't recognize the paragon of virtue that Cat
was describing. But all was clear once he recalled the name. So we
went looking for Fred Duarte to find out how Robert was doing and he
pointed out Robert's name in the Fan Guest of Honor slot.
like to see him back in active fandom it might not do any good, but,
you know, it couldn't hurt.
they are also sponsoring a science fiction and fantasy writing contest
open to young adults, age 18 and under.
What's Happening List - http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html
September 22 through X-Files, premiering November 7. Note that
there are some new shows listed for the first time, such as the Science
Fiction Channel's new offerings Farscape and First Wave (both of
which first premiered last March 1999).
syndication. That is they will be "stripped" and run Monday-Friday
(rather than once per week as before). Thanks to the Magrathea/SFTV
Page at http://tv.acmecity.com/scifi/4/sftv/sftvschd for the following:
Marina Sirtis will reprise her Counselor Deanna Troi role in an
upcoming episode of Star Trek: Voyager to be titled Pathfinder
and is tentatively scheduled to air on Wednesday, Dec. 1, on UPN.
series Doomsday, which stars the voice of radio "shock jock" Howard
Stern. The show centers around members of the Bradley family as
they travel by RV across a post-apocalyptic America in search of
traditional family values and a new home. The cataclysm has left
50-foot-tall mutant hillbillies and other dangers. The only branch
of the US government to survive is the IRS. (It figures).
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/news.html
version of Indiana Jones will go into syndication the week of Sept. 20.
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/screen.html
Science Fiction On TV at http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html .
Aug. 30, according to a company press release. Red Planet follows
a team of American astronauts on the first manned expedition to Mars.
Earth has become a dying planet, and establishing a Martian colony
is humanity's last best hope for survival. During the mission the
astronauts, each a specialist in a different field, struggle to
overcome the differences of their personalities, backgrounds and
ideologies while forced to depend on one another for survival.
Doctor Who feature film, told the British magazine SFX that the
movie hopes to introduce a new generation of fans to the good
doctor. Although Bolt said the movie will appeal to hardcore Who
fanatics, the filmmakers are going to make the Doctor more
contemporary by giving the film an edgier feel, along the lines of
Anderson's SF horror-fest Event Horizon.
do want to scare people."
Pictures, and the people behind films such as the Blair Witch Project,
and an announcement is predicted in the UK for November, when the
BBC has scheduled a night of Dr Who to mark the anniversary of its
inception in 1963. A BBC person said that the present plans were
for a very English script that was witty and suspenseful, with no
obvious love interest. Maybe they will get a decent script editor -
someone of the order of the late Terry Nation or Douglas Adams, who
will understand both the Doctor and SF.
Boromir, in Peter Jackson's upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/news.html
Star Wars: The Missing Scene -
http://www.clever.net/cam/humor/starwars.html
game, home of Dungeons and Dragons, home of a reasonably sized
publishing empire of books and magazines including Amazing Stories,
the first science fiction magazine in the world, has been purchased
by Hasbro, owners of Playskool, Kenner, Tonka, Milton Bradley, and
Parker Brothers among others.
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=has&script=410&layout=6&item_id=50707
changing-till-it-changes documents.
http://www.wizards.com/news/hasbrofaq.asp
growth opportunities and strategic synergies, it seems obvious that
a lot of Hasbro's interest in Wizards of the Coast arises from the
lucrative Poke'man license.
(http://www.austin360.com/entertainment/books/features/bookfest/),
November 6-7, 1999, on the Texas Capitol grounds, southside. If
any nonprofit Texas groups want to send flyers about your Texas
group or convention, send them to:
P.O. Box 27277
Austin, TX 78755
FACT representative. Note: only flyers - no merchandise can be
sold at these tables.
other Texas groups, do email us and let us know! :)
fof@www.clever.net
was spearheading the party to welcome in the 2000's. That is not
correct.
President and head party person (whose email we printed last time).
I was still hearing her voice even though the title specified a report
from the president.
breakfast group about having their usual Breakfast at the Party Site.
Several Unlimited is putting up front money for the space, but how
elaborate things get is heavily dependant on how many groups get
involved.
FACT - http://www.fact.org/
Texas Science Fiction Organizations, (this month we welcome the
following new, or returning, listings to our page: S.T.A.R.S.-Austin,
Anime Club at UT Austin, Austin Board Game Group, HAGIS,
Star Trek: San Antonio, U.S.S. Bexar NC-71718 (Starfleet), San
Antonio Animation Society, and Nero: Austin-San Antonio) see
the extent to which the reviewer is a known quantity. A mediocre
review by someone whose tastes you can correlate with your own may be
far more valuable than a brilliant analysis by someone whose foibles
are unknown.
of reviews on the pages of Amazon.com. While the collection as a whole
may be useful to obtain a gestalt feel, the individual reviews are
uncorrelated in the extreme.
particular review thought of other books, the value of Amazon's review
collection would be increased enormously.
selection on the quality of the reviews. Unfortunately, there is not,
and Amazon protects the privacy of the reviewer. (Note from Margaret:
Amazon.com DOES include reviews from both Kirkus and Booklist, as well
as in-house reviews and material provided by the book's publisher. One
Amazon.com entry even included a review from Analog.) (Note from Clif:
Amazon.com SOMETIMES includes reviews from Kirkus and/or Booklist.
Perhaps we have just looked up different books, but as a reference
librarian Margaret uses Amazon.com's web pages far more than I do.)
in newsgroups to which I didn't even save the URL because the reviews are
effectively useless (and in at least one case contained an unannounced
major spoiler).
reviews of a certain minimum quality to be posted, with other reviews
by the same reviewer accessible.
Ed's Internet Book Review - http://www.edsbookreview.com/scifi/
You might even contact Dr. Bell about leaving your own reviews.
book reviews are my business.
such as the above-mentioned Kirkus and Booklist, plus Publishers
Weekly, Library Journal, etc. Precisely because the reviewers can be
depended upon for standards of quality and unbiased opinions. And
you can see what various reviewers have said about various books over
time as the reviews are normally done by staff of these publications.
particular book but librarians cannot afford to base tight-budget
buying decisions upon such amateur reviews. - Margaret]
Sterling's new technocultural art movement, Viridian, with the
suggestion that we rent a deserted chunk of Siberia from the Soviets
and use clean nukes to blow enough dust into the air to bring the
temperature down to whatever we want (Controlled Nuclear Winter).
American, I note that Edward Teller, father of the atomic bomb, and
colleagues have submitted a paper to Nature that suggests dispersing
sulfur dioxide or other submicron particles in the stratosphere to
block sunlight and thus halt global warming--a cheaper option, he
claims, than cutting back on carbon dioxide emissions.
http://www.sciam.com/1999/1099issue/1099profile.html
Viridian - http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/viridian.html
seems to be their entire current issue online at
http://www.sciam.com/currentissue.html .
generous, but they do post numerous articles to their web site,
such as the recent "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it" which
deals with the problem of how to recognize life if we do find it,
particularly as the question relates to 'nanobacteria fossils' in
the Mars meteorite, though it takes a broad enough view to wonder
if the universe itself is alive.
http://helix.nature.com/nsu/990923/990923-10.html .
Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer mission. These are three
satellites serving as a test for future missions that will be
conducted by a swarm (or as NASA prefers, a constellation)
of the little 44 pound satellites.
of other planets and a 100 satellite constellation to monitor Earth's
response to solar activity. One of the more interesting
multi-satellite missions however is an actual planned mission for
2005 that only involves two satellites.
around the sun to do interferometry experiments. Here on Earth we
have been able to use widely separated telescopes whose distance is
precisely known to use computers to reconstruct a single large virtual
telescope. Given two parts of the large virtual telescope the
computer can fill in for the rest. (Yeah, I know I'm simplifying,
but work with me).
for the resolution.
telescope to look outwards to the Milky Way galaxy and beyond.
http://www.clever.net/cam/space/scopes.html
at opposite ends of the Solar system.
Station in the House of Representatives failed.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990908/pl/congress_spending_4.html
International Space Station - http://www.clever.net/cam/maf.html#41
Senate Appropriations Committee, on the other hand passed a bill that
would give NASA the full $13.6 billion Clinton requested. This might
be a good time to inform your Congress-critters that space has a
constituency.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990916/pl/congress_spending_11.html
whose wind speed exceeded the maximum winds that the space shuttle
buildings were designed to withstand by a healthy (or unhealthy)
percentage.
needed to fly the shuttles (ALL FOUR!!) to safety. But I guess we
would have had the money to replace the shuttles. Or not.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990915/us/hurricane_floyd_nasa_10.html
Kennedy Space Center and came ashore in North Carolina instead,
so the damage to the Space Center was minor.
repair mission and a 11-day radar mapping mission.
http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/091799d.htm
Station components and the Zvezda service module may actually launch
from the Cosmodrome in November.
http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/iss99035.htm
http://www.clever.net/cam/space/galactic.html .
huge iceberg bigger than some states we could name. By 1995 enough
had melted that it broke in two. The bigger chunk, Iceberg B10A, is
still the size of Rhode Island.
interfere with shipping, but in the dark, cloudy Antarctic winter they,
uh, lost it earlier this year.
they sent a ship to start the search in the last known position but
they were completely unable to find it.
its all-weather and day-night observational capabilities.
northeast between Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South
America and the Antarctic Peninsula, smack dab in the middle of the
Drake's Passage shipping lanes.
warning to the Argentine government, thus averting any Titanic II.
three months spawning a whole slew of dangerous children for the
friendly eye in the sky to keep track of.
http://www.clever.net/cam/space/sats.html
and the Mars Climate Orbiter (which arrives at Mars on September 23).
MARS DUE TO A NAVIGATION ERROR TAKING IT 50 MILES CLOSER TO THE
RED PLANET THAN PLANNED. - http://clever.net/cam/mars2.html
of Mars and act as a communications relay for the Mars Polar Lander
when that spacecraft arrives at the red planet on December 3.
Mars Missions - http://www.clever.net/cam/mars1.html
scheduling conflict.
Galileo project as a sequence integration controller for JPL, spoke
on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter.
Apparently the reason that the atmospheric probe returned no sign of
water vapor is that the probe just happened to come down in the middle
of an updraft of (comparatively) hot air that, roughly speaking, held
as much water vapor as you would expect in the wind coming off the
Sahara Desert.
before, it just doesn't mean that there is no water vapor (as the
lightning argues otherwise).
suffered recently were caused by Io. (Not that Galileo was
prevented from getting some great shots of Callisto in the closest
ever view of that Jovian moon - less than 670 miles).
out of fuel. Nor power. Its software has taken hits from radiation
and kept on ticking, so its computer is in fine shape. The
communications antenna never deployed properly, but that has only
slowed down the playback of data. The reliable little spacecraft does
not even have a Y2K problem. You are getting warm though.
massive Y2K problem and there is no money in the budget to fix it.
with fly-bys through the Io Plasma Torus (and enough radiation to kill
a human) in October and then again in November (the second over the
volcano Pillan Patera and possibly right through its active sulfurous
plume)! - http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast16sep99_1.htm
browser set on http://www.clever.net/cam/space/galileo.html .
Update page at http://www.clever.net/cam/spacenu.html .
Con was interesting, both from the way that the recommendations of
the panelists coincided and diverged. I won't be getting into
the actual books recommended here, as I will be using their
recommendations as the core of a web page on the subject real soon
now, but what I thought particularly interesting was whether it
was even possible to learn the craft of writing from books.
once and for all.
never survive being ripped to shreds by a writer's workshop. She would
have been so traumatized that she would never have written a word
again.
on.
ways, eventually some of it gets through".
knowing things and being able to use that knowledge effectively, but
I noticed that one of the books she mentioned was described as having
a large number of writing exercises specifically designed to enhance
specific skills.
writing.
her husband, who was worried about the tax consequences, told her to
write during the summer. "You won't make any money that way". Her
latest novel is Black/on/Black from Baen books. (I guess she showed
him).
of them still get something from reading good books on writing.
12, 2000, starting 9 AM. As Judith Ward pointed out at a recent
ArmadilloCon 21 panel, Ursa Major's workshop is no "Clarion".
By all accounts, Clarion is an intense experience with a certain
ruthless element involved that Ursa Major's shorter workshop avoids.
to help wannabe writers improve their work taking a positive
approach. Apparently they have a fairly good track record with
this approach, in terms of published Workshop stories.
calendars for the Houston Writers Conference
(http://www.houstonwrites.com/conference.html) which bills itself
as "the Southwest's major Spring multi-genre literary event".
links at http://www.clever.net/cam/writers.html
through my new web site. If you go to Barnes and Noble through my site,
I get a commission. This will partially make up for the lower royalty I
get from these discounted sales. The web site also has information
about me, links to some of my affiliations (such as BAWL, Mars Society,
NSS, and SFWA), my recent and upcoming publications (Compressed Air,
Analog, Mindseye), my schedule of conventions and appearances, and
how to contact me for school and author visits. The index page is
pretty basic, but the links work, and there is a photo of me and a
copy of my book jacket.
do, let me know, and maybe I'll add a "friends" page.
space book aimed at 9 to 14 year-olds. Thanks for taking a look.
New Media Review a plug. (Of course, Pete, being one of the Houston
tribe, deserves special mention, too! ;) I told Ray he was mentioned,
and he was delighted)
do have a spacey theme. I would appreciate any thoughts from you or
your friends on how we might continue to use the idea of exploration
as we explore the world of digital technology, distinguishing the
"stellar performers from space debris" (and who hasn't ended up with
a hard drive loaded with such stuff?) ....
submit articles, art, reviews, tech advice, and feedback.
Joe Pumilia used to write a column for us called "Signal 2 Noiz".
Would be great to revive that one (info about latest digital info...
I certainly receive enough press releases to fill out more than one
column).
locally in Houston.
gang in Houston always was a strange plural, which must explain my
participation).
Obscenity, [Houston Science Fiction Society newsletter] or what is it
called these days?
want to.
sites (such as best space sites, best sf sites, etc.), drop me a line.
I can probably obtain most commercial software/shareware you would
want to review, and I am always on the lookout for well-written
articles about the digital/Internet scene. Naturally, I am partial to
sf fans and their interests, as long as they are relevant to what we
are trying to do here.
Linda Brevelle, Executive Editor
brevelle@nmreview.com
NEW MEDIA REVIEW
1730 Purdue Avenue - #3
West Los Angeles, CA 90025-4289
(310) 966-9280 f: (707) 929-8639
http://nmreview.com/index.html
-----------
not too many Purple Obscenity Newsletters come out nowadays. It would
be neat to archive all the old HSFS material on the Web, including
Joe Pumilia's infamous scrap-book. But that would eat a ton of memory.
the old club movies, such as Turn Off and 1901 a South American Oddity.
-----------
in Houston and have no idea what day it's going to be this upcoming
season.
that both Hercules & Xena had changed nights! Both shows will be on
Friday this Fall (and not on Thursdays, as in previous seasons).
At least, this is what I presume because this week's episodes are
on Friday. You can watch Hercules and Xena in Houston on
Channel 39, KHWB (the WB station here).
so there are only a few more new episodes. The series' last show
will be aired before Thanksgiving!
it will continue. Lucy Lawless (who plays Xena) is having a baby
(with her husband) and so I suspect that Xena is going to look
pregnant in some of the episodes at some point. (Although with
some shows, the actress has been pregnant and the character
not pregnant but we're really talking baggy clothes here!)
updated my page!
http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html
(At least, more accurate!!)
-----------
there.
:)
Houston readers group who would trade books off and when enough people
had read a book it would be discussed. I am not clear whether this is
something that was planned or something that is already taking place.
entire thing?
talked with her but I didn't think that the group had gotten underway
yet.]
there was a new space propulsion system that was recently
invented, and I told you I would send you the link. Here is an
article that I downloaded from somewhere but it contains the link
to the website that has all the technical specs for the new technology.
Seems pretty cool, and thought you might be interested.
drive that might make a Vorlon break down weeping tears of pride").
Rockets and Space Drives page at
http://www.clever.net/cam/space/drives.html .
- Clif
is putting on Costume-Con 20: The 20th International Costume Convention
in Melbourne, Australia during February 15-18, 2002.
http://www.vicnet.net.au/~costume/ stilskin@netspace.net.au
series featuring Jaguar Addams, an empath who rehabs criminals on Prison
Planetoid Three by making them face their deepest fears. Midway between
SF and horror. - http://www.chepaitis.com
novels from Delphia Books. Sample Chapters, Cover Art, etc.
"Delphia Books - Publishers of quality SF/Humor since...oh, last
Thursday". - http://members.aol.com/delphiainc/page/index.htm
-----------
And that pretty much wraps things up for this issue. Send any email
comments or suggestions regarding fannish activities/events in the
greater Houston area (or within the greater Texas area) or regarding
this Info Alert to fof@www.clever.net .
in receiving future editions directly, email clifton@cs.uh.edu
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 .
Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@www.clever.net
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