July/August/September 2000
Greetings From the Last Best Months of the 20th Century.
Welcome aboard our little Science Fiction newsletter to famed fannish
physicist and big dangerous rocket enthusiast Al Jackson, to Torry
Simms, Tom Wells (hi, Tom), Pat H., and Rachell, all from here in
Houston. Welcome also to fellow Texans Joseph Ebbecke from San Antonio
and Angie Z. from Austin. From further afield, we are pleased to
welcome Margaret Sheets from Albuquerque and Mark Costello from up in
Virginia. And last, but certainly not least, a big thankyou to all the
people who signed up at ArmadilloCon - Alex Gillet, J. Eddie Field,
Charis Roueche, Clayton Hunter, John Gibbons, Don Tolliver, Phillip
Stephens, Jennifer Evans, Bear Naff (hi, Bear), Greg&Emily Buckles,
ArmadilloCon Fan Guest and one of the neatest people in Texas Fandom -
Robert Taylor, Peter Schorn, Graham Gelling, Joe Cook, Karl Goodloe,
Otto Filip, Michael Mansfield, Dolly Jackson, Ed Newsom, Clay Hinton,
Joyslin Molpus, and Scott Tatum.
Whew!
Actually it was in my (Clif's) mind that we would do the same kind of
one on one promotion for the Info-Alert at ArmadilloCon that we did
at REVELcon, but there was just too much interesting stuff going on!
So we mostly enjoyed the convention and only sporadically wrestled
people to the floor and twisted their arms till they signed up.
We appreciate those of you who forward the Info-Alert to those you think
might be interested. But, we ask that you add a paragraph on the front
letting the person you are forwarding it to that YOU are forwarding
something that they may be interested in (and maybe a hint of what
specifically you think they will find useful/interesting/entertaining)
so that they won't think that we are spamming them.
With any luck, this will be the last of the multi-month giant issues and
we will go back to roughly monthly. Cross your fingers and hope.
And now...
ARGHHH!!! Those of you who noticed that Joyslin Molpus has been mentioned
in the welcome section before, congratulations. She told us when she signed
up at ArmadilloCon that she had signed up at REVELcon and never got a copy
of the Info-Alert. She was right! The cgi software we use to control the
Info-Alert signup/mailout procedure has a very bad flaw. It does what I
tell it to do instead of what I want it to do. As a result half the people
who signed up since before Revelcon never received an issue!!!!
I am very sorry! This is strictly my fault and certainly not Margaret's
or Dave's or anyone else at Friends of Fandom. If you are one of those
affected and are getting this for the first time, fortunately the issues
you missed and where your names will have led off the issue are still
on the Web.
March/April Issue - http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/issue26.html
Summer Issue - http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/issue27.html
And (sigh) now ...
Fasten your seatbelt and bring your browser window to
an upright and locked position.
And we are off ....
As always, how far off you have to determine for yourself.
Deaths and Other Fannish Disasters.
The Fame Will Be With You, Always
Alec Guinness passed away in early August. A major British actor, he was
best known to Science Fiction fans for his 1977 role as Obi-Wan Kenobi
which introduced him to a new generation of filmgoers and made him
financially secure. But he detested the Star Wars phenomenon, and the
fans that went along with it.
http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/guinness.html
Empire Online, the British Movie Magazine had an online poll to
determine his best movie on their main page at
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/ .
Top 4 vote-getters were:
Kind Hearts and Coronets: 29%
The Bridge on the River Kwai: 27%
Star Wars: 24%
The Lavender Hill Mob 19%
More Information at
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/eo/20000810/en/sir_alec_guinness_dead_at_86_1.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000811/re/britain_guinness_dc_1.html
And the Motherload of Alec Guinness information:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Alec%20Guinness
Quite Removed from the Deaths and Fannish Disaster Heading ...
A good many Ursa Major fans in San Antonio celebrated the wedding of
Steve Yates and Lynn (Mouse) Garcia in late May. Congratulations to all
concerned. The downside was that they were (will be) lost to Oklahoma
City over the summer.
Awards, Awards, Awards
(And if lists aren't your thing you need to skip down quite a ways).
Nominees for the 1999 World Fantasy Awards (to be given at the
upcoming 2000 World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi Oct 29:
Best Novel
Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0451457633/fantasicfuturesbA
The Rainy Season by James P. Blaylock
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0441007562/fantasicfuturesbA
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0593044703/fantasicfuturesbA
A Witness to Life by Terence M. Green
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0312866720/fantasicfuturesbA
A Red Heart of Memories by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0441006515/fantasicfuturesbA
Thraxas by Martin Scott
Best Novella
"Scarlet and Gold" by Tanith Lee
"The Wizard Retires" by Michael Meddor
"Crocodile Rock" by Lucius Shepard
"The Transformation of Martin Lake" by Jeff VanderMeer
"The Winds of Marble Arch" by Connie Willis
"Sky Eyes" by Laurel Winter
Best Short Fiction
"The Grammarian's Five Daughters" by Eleanor Arnason
"The Chop Girl" by Ian R. MacLeod
"Naming the Dead" by Paul J. McAuley
"Amerikanski Dead in the Moscow Morgue" by Kim Newman
"Human Bay" by Robert Reed
"The Parwat Ruby" by Delia Sherman
Best Anthology
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twelfth Annual Collection,
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0312209622/fantasicfuturesbA
Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380786222/fantasicfuturesbA
Northern Frights 5, Don Hutchison, ed.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0889626766/fantasicfuturesbA
Dark Detectives: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths, Stephen Jones, ed.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1878252356/fantasicfuturesbA
999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense, Al Sarrantonio, ed.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380977400/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Collection
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=031286518X/fantasicfuturesbA
Reave the Just and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0553110349/fantasicfuturesbA
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0684853515/fantasicfuturesbA
Deep into That Darkness Peering by Tom Piccirilli
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=096581355X/fantasicfuturesbA
Necromancies and Netherworlds by Darrell Schweitzer and Jason Van
Hollander
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1880448653/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Artist
Les Edwards
Bob Eggleton
Stephen E. Fabian
Jason Van Hollander
Special Award Professional
Seamus Heaney
Warren Lapine
John Betancourt
Stephen Jones
Kim Newman
Gordon Van Gelder
Special Award Non-Professional
Ken Abner
The British Fantasy Society
Dwayne Olson, Peder Wagtskjold, Scott Wyatt
Rosemary Pardoe
William K. Schafer
R.B. Russell
More detail at
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-08/15/10.35.books .
Locus Awards
The 2000 Locus Awards were presented at a banquet Sunday evening,
July 2, at Westercon in Honolulu, Hawaii. Winners received plaques,
and publishers of the winning works received certificates. Dan
Simmons, Gardner Dozois, and Tom Doherty were on hand to accept
their honors.
The Locus Awards are given to the winners of the annual Locus Poll.
Complete results of the poll are in the August Locus.
Best Science Fiction Novel
Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson (Avon)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380788624/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Fantasy Novel
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
J.K. Rowling (Bloomsbury; Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0439136350/fantasicfuturesbA
Best First Novel
The Silk Code, Paul Levinson (Tor)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0312868235/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Novella
"Orphans of the Helix", Dan Simmons
(Far Horizons)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380976307/fantasicfuturesbA
Best Novelette [tie]
"Huddle", Stephen Baxter (F&SF May 1999)
"Border Guards", Greg Egan (Interzone Oct 1999)
Best Short Story
"macs", Terry Bisson (F&SF Oct/Nov 1999)
Best Non-Fiction Book
Sixty Years of Arkham House, S.T. Joshi
(Arkham House)
Best Art Book
Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century,
Frank M. Robinson (Collectors Press)
Best Collection
The Martians, Kim Stanley Robinson
(HarperCollins Voyager; Bantam Spectra)
Best Anthology
Far Horizons, Robert Silverberg, ed.
(Avon)
Best Artist
Michael Whelan
Best Editor
Gardner Dozois
Best Magazine
Asimov's
Best Book Publisher
Tor
Congrats, as well, to all these winners!
(I have to admit that I read Far Horizons and enjoyed it
immensely!! Plus I have thoroughly enjoyed each of the
four Harry Potter books published to date and many of
my favorite books have been published by Tor. I have
not read any of the other winners.--Margaret)
Locus - http://www.locusmag.com/
Story - http://www.locusmag.com/2000/News/News07a.html
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel of 1999
A Deepness in the Sky
Vernor Vinge
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for Best Short SF of 1999
The Wedding Album
David Marusek
Asimov's
Romance and Rockets???
The Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter of the Romance
Writers of America presented its 2000 Prism awards for SF&F
romance novels published in 1999. The awards were announced
before the RWA's national conference in Washington July 27. A
full list of winners follows.
Time Travel
First Place: Beloved Warrior by Judy DiCanio
Second Place: The Moonstone by Claire Cross
Third Place: River of Dreams by Jenny Lykins
Futuristic/Fantasy
First Place: The Veiled Web by Catherine Asaro
Second Place: The Rainbow Bridge by Karen McCullough
Third Place: Broken Vows by Cory Daniels
Dark Paranormal
First Place: Touch of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
Second Place: Beaudry's Ghost by Carol Goodman
Third Place: Shadow of the Hawk by Julie Miller
Light Paranormal
First Place: More Than Magic by Kathleen Nance
Second Place: Love Potion Number 9 by Claire Cross
Third Place: Ghostly Acts by Melinda Rucker Haynes
Best of the Best
Touch of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
More Information at
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-08/08/10.00.books
What? Her Again!!!
(P.S. Congrats to Catherine Asaro again for Veiled Web award!)
Other Congratulations
Marianne Dyson's acceptance speech for the Golden Kite Award for best
nonfiction children's book of 1999 is now posted on the
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' site:
http://www.scbwi.org/ .
Also, there was a half page feature on her in the Sunday, August 20
Houston Chronicle Lifestyle section, "Spotlight on Marianne Dyson:
Former NASA flight controller shares fascination with space in a
children's book." You can read the text by doing a search on her name at
http://www.chron.com/content/archive/index.mpl . (If you are already
a Houston Chronicle print subscriber, that is....)
Could we be forgetting something? Oh Yes....
The HUGOS
Best novel
A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Best novella
"The Winds of Marble Arch", Connie Willis (Asimov's Oct/Nov 1999)
Best novelette
"1016 to 1", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's June 1999)
Best short story
"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's July 1999)
Best related book
Science Fiction of the 20th Century, Frank M. Robinson (Collectors
Press)
Best dramatic presentation
Galaxy Quest (Dreamworks SKG; directed by Dean Parisot; screenplay
by David Howard & Robert Gordon; story by David Howard)
Best professional editor
Gardner Dozois
Best professional artist
Michael Whelan
Best semi-prozine
Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown
Best fanzine
File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
Best fan writer
Dave Langford
Best fan artist
Joe Mayhew
Non-Hugos
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best New Writer
Cory Doctorow
The Big Heart Award was presented by Forrest J Ackerman to
Robert Silverberg
David Kyle presented the First Fandom Award to
Jack Williamson
Things You don't get from just a list...
During the Hugos:
- They presented a special documentary on the role of women in SF film.
- Numerous people had trouble opening the award envelopes.
- Michael Walsh accepted the Fan Artist Hugo for Joe Mayhew (who
recently passed away) and was pretty much too broken up to speak.
- On winning the Novelette Hugo, James Patrick Kelly not only thanked
his editors and friends, but also thanked Connie Willis for not
publishing a novelette this year.
- Cory Doctorow, winner of the John W. Campbell award for Best New
Writer of the Year, had the most innovative speech, "I won, I won,
I won, I won, I won!!!"
and referred people to his web site for the thank-yous.
http://www.craphound.com/campbell/index.html
- Two of the creative people (as in directors and writers) for Galaxy
Quest accepted the dramatic presentation Hugo and claimed that Hollywood
does indeed care about the Hugos, but then walked off stage leaving
their Hugo behind! The director said that this was one of the oddest,
but most entertaining events he'd ever been to. The writer said
"By Grapthar's Hammer, Thank You".
- Ackerman turned over further administration of the Big Heart Award,
for the 21st century, to David A. Kyle.
Books for the Over-Scheduled
We know how busy you are. (Especially those of you in the final
stages of completing your Ph.D. dissertations! - Margaret) Never
fear, you don't have to give up reading sf&f books after all!
Have I got a site for you!
SF/F - http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/sff.shtml
Terry Brooks will be visiting Austin, Sunday October 1st as
he tours for the first novel in his new Shannara series, The Voyage
of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch (DelRey $26.95). He will be signing
at Adventures in Crime & Space around 5pm or so but won't be able
to stick around very late. The early Shannara books have all
been reissued in nice trade paperback editions. And the bookstore
will be certain to have copies of his recent Word and Void trilogy
around since Willie Siros thought they were Brooks' best books so far.
Consult their web page for directions. And don't forget they can
reserve you autographed/personalized copies and mail them to you.
Adventures in Crime and Space - http://www.crimeandspace.com/
Just Dragon the Web
Anne McCaffrey has a new Web Site. We quote, "At long last the much
Potter Potter Everywhere
J.K. Rowling is, as everyone knows, British but is now not merely J.K.
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Queen's Birthday Honours List (June 2000)
Anyone who has not already read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire may
Since Harry Potter books were about to occupy the top four slots on the
It's to be expected the wait for each new Harry Potter book is too
At least we haven't descended to Slash yet. :-*
Harry Potter and the Paradigm of Uncertainty Mailing List
The Political Cartoonists have discovered Harry Potter in a big way.
Potter can also said to have been discovered by the censors.
ArmadilloCon had a panel on Harry Potter and the Golden Rocketship. One
Some of us were looking at the panels we had missed (inevitable since
In the words of Harry Beckwith, "Yes! Next Topic?". And I have to
I understand (from Margaret) that the panel was actually on Harry Potter
According to SF Crowsnest, in the Harry Potter movie, the part of the
Speaking of Harry ...
Coincidence or Conspiracy: You Decide!!!
- Harry Potter is a wizard!
- Harry Beckwith is an electronics wizard!!
- Harry Potter and his friends have been known to roam the halls of
- Harry Beckwith and his friends have been known to roam the halls of
- Harry Potter's birthday is July 30.
- Harry Beckwith's birthday is unknown and so _COULD_BE_ July 30.
- Harry Potter would have turned 20 in 2000.
- Harry Beckwith acts like he turned 20 in 2000.
- Harry Potter must be a graduate of Hogswarts since presumably,
- Harry Beckwith must be a graduate of A&M since presumably, improbable
Hmmm!
A Story Teller is ...
If you are into the art of folklore and story telling, then you are
Or as they say at http://www.thegrand.com/centennial.htm ,
Her stories are sometimes traditional, whether the tradition is one of
One of her major performances is the Ancient Roots of Science Fiction &
And now for the good part, if you were wondering where we were going
Galveston 1894 Opera House has just booked her to do her "Ancient Roots
Fran Stallings - http://www.ionet.net/~ignatz/bio.html
(and thanks to Carol Phillips for letting us know about this).
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
August releases from Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Anne McCaffrey,
September releases from Terry Brooks, Ursula Le Guin, L.E. Modisett,
October releases from Charles de Lint, Kate Elliott, Harry Harrison,
New books announced from Piers Anthony, Gordon R. Dickson,
More details at http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
Science Fiction on TV
Fans of Farscape will want to peruse the transcript of a SciFi chat,
Black Canoes and NO Pilot
Claudia Black and Anthony Simcoe, Farscape stars, will lend their
To Every Thing (Pern Pern) There Is a Season (Pern Pern)
The Pern TV series is now tentatively aimed for Autumn 2001.
Starry Night in the Delta Quadrant
Calling all ST: Voyager fans! Help out a good cause
http://www.geocities.com/delta_story/sndqraffle.html
News From Magrathea
If you don't mind spoilers, you can check out details of Voyager's last
SFTV News and Info
X-Files: Robert Patrick Joins, Anderson opts for 9th season, Set Tragedy
As you most likely already know, Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) was
SciFi First Run Hibernation starting in October.
The October schedule for SciFi has been made available and nearly all of
Xena and Gabrielle are back for a 6th Season
(*** Very Mild Spoilers ***)
Dune Redone
Sci Fi Channel is airing a Dune miniseries in December. Producer
The cast includes Allen Newman, Matt Keeslar, Saskia Reeves, Ian
(Note from Margaret: I did like the 1984 Dune movie, which starred
SFTV Scorecard
SFTV New Season start dates :
Lexx (SciFi) Aug 18th (Season 3)
For more information, see our listing at:
Citizen's Information Bureau
As of July 31, 2000:
The actors and crew have had their options "released", so this show is
However, Universal has just (in the last 3 weeks) been bought by a
It is WAY too early to consider this a "dead" series. In syndication,
Inside information indicates that both the cast and crew considered the
SciFi has a lot of kiddie oriented shows (Farscape is a little more
T'P
Science Fiction at the Movies
There Can Be Only Four
Highlander 4 was due out September 1. This new Highlander movie
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-08/16/10.15.film
Dracula VS Hitler?
Speaking of Dinosaurs
The DVD of Jurassic Park and The Lost World of JP is being released in
"Unauthorized" D&D Movie footage has leaked its way onto the net.
Go to http://www.dndmovie.com/main.html and click on "unauthorized
Photos of Gandalf - http://mckellen.com/events/vf/index.htm .
Ever Popular Rumors of Phantom Menace Sequel
Star Wars Episode 2 finished principal filming on September 12.
And Lucas himself is stoking the rumor mills.
There was an attempt to sell a script for Episode 2 to a Web site for
And the rumors are flowing both fast and furious. Everything imaginable.
The Strangest Rumor of all is that Jar Jar becomes a Jedi Knight. I
Fox will re-release the three original Star Wars films on VHS on
The limited release will come in both pan-and-scan and widescreen
Science Fiction (and Fantasy) Gaming
Reach for the Stars is a familiar Genre. Combining the use of resources
eXplore - eXpand - eXploit - and eXterminate
What's different is that this time it's played on the Internet.
Et tu, Steve Jackson?
GURPS Imperial Rome takes you to the world of adventure and intrigue,
Haggle with shop owners, debate with senators on the floor of the Forum,
Actually, I think this would be an interesting game to cross with
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/imperialrome/
Ooops, I forgot to mention the forthcoming Miles Vorkosigan GURPS game
http://www.sjgames.com/general/author/capsules.html#Bujold
Deep Voice Nine
Deep Space 9 stars are doing the voices for the action adventure video
Science Fiction and the Internet
The Web of Wonder Contest sponsored by David Brin and Analog Magazine
Final Nominees were:
H. G. Wells The Time Machine
Teenfinity
A Wrinkle in Time
Andy's SF for Education Page
Joan Thomas's Ender's Game Site - http://www.enderwiggin.atfreeweb.com
Brunner's Ender's Game Site - http://www.erols.com/ftsbrun
Frymann's Dustmuzzle - http://www.dustmuzzle.com/test/index.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C003763/index.php (incomplete site - use
And the winner was ...
... a tie.
James Van Pelt and Andrew E. Love shared the $1000 prize.
More SF on the Web all the time. Hurrah!!!
Asimov's Hugo Nominees available on the Web
Analog Rings in with The Astronaut from Wyoming by Jerry Oltion and
Dune: Nighttime Shadows on Open Sand by Brian Herbert and Kevin J
Dune Novels - http://www.dunenovels.com/index_html_frame.html
Amazing Stories is Dead - Long Live Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was the first science fiction magazine, appearing in
The latest incarnation of Amazing Stories has suspended publication,
The current issue, Summer 2000, issue will be its last. Negotiations
CROM! $4.3 MILLION!!!?
According to At The Worlds End, former Marvel Comics boss Stan Lee has
At the Worlds End - http://www.markchadbourn.com/topics/news.cfm
Speaking of E-Pulp
A bit towards the level of SF found in old pulp magazines, but with an
Short but kinda neat is Proxima by Martin F. Hengst.
The Australian Mensa organization has an SF heavy issue of Ibn Qirtaiba
Much better is New Pasts Sold Cheap by Jim Harris, an AnotherRealm Award
Another Realm - http://Anotherealm.com/
Rocket Books download to read e-books is being good to neo-pro Stephen
Rocket Books - http://www.rocket-library.com
SPOT On !
Those of you who were around for the early years of the Web may remember
The not very hidden secret was that the housemates and their friends
Part voyeurism, part mystery, part extended ghost story, but mostly soap
There is a reason for bringing this up of course. And that reason is
Whenever you go to describe something completely new, it helps to have
Well, there is a natural comparison for Heartfires. Heartfires is like
Heartfires is still like a multi-threaded narrative, based on a really
And that tells you nothing about why you should be interested.
Heartfires is like the Spot.
Both of them count on using an episodic nature with interleaved plot
But there are clearly differences.
Heartfires is unabashed fantasy while the Spot took place within
An obvious difference is that the diaries of the Spot were written in
In theory, this could lend the Heartfires' narratives a lack of
The Spot sported slick graphics and pushed the capabilities of the Web
The Spot eventually failed because its financial model was not adequate
Heartfires has an advantage over what the Spot did in that they allow
Like the Spot, Heartfires has interesting well-drawn characters in
Creation has been shattered into shards of existence floating in the
Minot is a rich environment. From the "fringers" who live on the
The only element which grates is the existence of the Hole, a typical
The characters followed are well drawn and well motivated. My three
Can you find better fiction on the web without paying $3 a month?
I haven't even mentioned their fiction contest, or other aspects of
Heartfires - Highly Recommended - http://www.Heartfires.com/
Past and Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
Consortium Con Report
We asked for a Consortium Con Report. We were met with a vast Silence.
And then we heard from Elaine ...
Hi! Did you get a con report? I wasn't sure if it was fair for someone
The session of 'Once Upon A Time' went over well. There were quite a
For a report on the gaming activities, check out David O Little's review
I am hoping to get a mini-retrospective of the con on the convention
Elaine
Thanks, Elaine! (No, we hadn't received any con reports so yours was
(Stay tuned next ish for a surprising ConSortium Announcement!!! - Clif)
ConSortium - http://www.con-sortium.org/
ArmadilloCon
As we type this particular paragraph, this weekend is ArmadilloCon 22
But due to Clif's ever expanding dissertation and the amount of material
Suffice it to say that next up is the World Fantasy Convention (Oct.
For a more complete listing of forthcoming Science Fiction Conventions
And Stay Tuned till next issue when we announce many of ConSortium's
Clif Much Later
I was going to do a complete report on ArmadilloCon, but will instead
Not quite a highlight, but remarkable all the same in its own right was
Harry was only one person but was holding up well against the competition.
Fleeing the con suite in self-preservation, I came down to where the
Opening Ceremonies was (surprisingly) a highlight. Usually they are
Maria Doria Russell
Also unusual, but pleasant, was the way the Opening Ceremonies segued
On the other end of the schedule, Howard Waldrop's old slot of a reading
One of my favorite panels at the Convention was one with Elizabeth Moon,
(Er, that was the one where Elizabeth was talking about how she was
I do have a clear recollection of both Catherine Asaro's talk on NASA's
The guest of honor interviews with both her and fan guest Robert Taylor
Catherine had an interviewer who knew her and so knew which questions
Due to the fact that the fan guest interview overlapped the beginning of
ArmadilloCon was also a chance to see some of my younger friends for
Chatted with Karen for a while and found out from her that the Austin
I believe the correct translation for that is that this means Willie
A Mystery Convention is not something we would usually cover, but as
Worldcon Again
Toronto was the host to the very first Worldcon held outside the United
That's right, Toronto was selected in Chicago to be the 2003 Worldcon,
TorCon III - http://2003.worldcon.org/
Did we say to stay tuned till next issue when we announce many of
Summer is Here and Almost Gone
Starbase Houston had their second (or maybe third - I lost track) pool
The Saturday Morning breakfast group at long last returned to the new
The Clear Lake Science Fiction Book exchange got together in August to
Our FACT friends in Austin did things in style with a Party Barge on
Bruce Sterling hosted a Turkey City Writer's Conference at his place
Ursa Major in San Antonio is tackling such weighty discussions as real
There are members of FACT, Ursa Major and the Clear Lake book exchange
The Book Discussion Group in Austin
October - December (Two each month)
For more information on Texas and Houston Science Fiction Organizations
Emdee Droid Removes Woman's Gall Bladder. Can Bacta Tanks Be Far Behind?
The da Vinci Surgical System was approved on July 11, 2000 for abdominal
Do Arachnoid Biotechs Dream of BioSteel Sheep, er, Goats?
In June near Plattsburgh, N.Y., Nexia Biotechnologies began nurturing
They make the BioSteel out of spider dragline silk (not cocoon silk).
Spider farming is simply not practical as the spiders are both
Originally Nexia planned to use bacteria to express the genes, but that
But Nexia also has a line of transgenic BELE (Breed Early, Lactate
A happy story unless you are in the business of producing bullet-proof
Occasionally I'm bothered by companies patenting naturally occurring
By the way, a big thank you to Sherlock who pointed me (Clif) in the
Nexia BioSteel - http://www.nexiabiotech.com/biosteel2.html
Nano Nano
In his January FY 2001 budget request, Clinton requested 250 million for
National Nanotechnology Initiative - http://www.nano.gov/
We've talked about James Tour at Rice before who is doing neat things
James M. Tour (Rice University professor)
Halas Nanoengineering Group
Here There be Tweezers
A lot of nanoengineering looks a lot more like chemistry than mechanical
And From Atom's Ribosome He Created ...
The ribosome is the cell's protein factory. As reported in the August
This increases the credibility of the theory that DNA life evolved as a
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/original/article/0%2c5744%2c10732%2c00.html
Quantum Biology???
Roger Penrose in The Emperor's New Mind suggested that the brain
Our current models of neurons consider them to be relatively simple
But anyone who has done comparisons between the process of training a
Peruse the argument for yourself at
For that matter, go to the nanotechnology page at About.com and check
Nanotechnology (About.com)
Space, The Final Frontier.
Congress has authorized the US share of the space station up to $25
If there are no surprises, this will be the first time in 8 years that
Speaking of the International Space Station ...
The service module docking with the first two elements evidently went
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/issreports/2000/iss00-34.html
Space Station Virtual Tour
Just the Planetary Protection Officer, Ma'am.
An interesting series of interviews on the Galileo project at
Mars, You Have a Problem
This is only one of the neat articles that Galaxy Online currently has.
In short, you need to be good at time-binding and predicting probable
Read More at
It's Twins
Speaking of Mars, in a Gemini state of mind, NASA is planning on sending
Each of the twins will be set up to travel up to a 100 meters a day and
Each of the twins will carry a microscope imager, a rock abrasion tool
Instead of being lighter, better, cheaper, and frankly midgets (like
In a single day, each rover will be capable of covering the same amount
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/space/article/0%2c9675%2c390%2c00.html
The Nation that Controls Magnetism Will Control the Universe
NASA is playing/researching a new kind of plasma engine. The VASIMR
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/06/15/plasma.rocket/index.html#2
A Candidate for an Interstellar Probe
In July, astronomers from The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald
Dr. William D. Cochran, a research scientist with McDonald and UT
The newfound planet's mass is estimated somewhere between 0.8 times the
The largest planet in the solar system and the fifth planet from the
"The exciting thing about this discovery is that having a large planet
In contrast to Jupiter, however, this particular planet's orbit is
"You can go outside at night, even in Austin, and point at it and say
Note there is no relationship to Star Trek's Cochrane. The October
[With Thanks to FTL Magazine for the news]
Someone to Visit???
Tom Easton reviews two books that take the optimistic and pessimistic
With A Grain of SALT
In early September, ground was finally broken on SALT, the South African
As the star moves east to west in the sky, the tracker with the optical
SALT - http://www.salt.ac.za/
Speaking of telescopes, there is a beautiful view of the Andromeda
It's an Old Old Universe
In August, astronomers at Duram University released photos showing that
On the other hand, we kind of knew that anyway, because another group
There is also a much looser size relation between the black hole and
http://www.sciam.com/2000/1000issue/1000scicit3.html
Speaking of black holes, they recently found a medium size black hole
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/space/article/0,9675,388,00.html
Most black holes either are the remnants of a single sun or are one of
The Write Stuff (Pen and Ink Optional!)
You knew it had to happen eventually, and as it turns out it's not half
It may well be too late to register for this weekend's writer's workshop
We'd also like to welcome yet two more groups to our pages:
Association of Authors & Publishers
Talented & Creative Ink
which meet right here in the Houston area.
If you are a writer with Web site promoting your work you may be
New Markets
Galaxy Online is welcoming short story submissions for their Writer's
Fictionwise.com, an e-publishing outfit, is offering advances for
(From press release:)
(The short version is that Time Warner now has an e-book outlet for
New York, July 19, 2000 -- iPublish.com at Time Warner Books
iPublish.com at Time Warner Books, which will launch in the first
Under the arrangement, Lightning Source will provide secure
According to Voynow, iPublish.com will be unveiling its first list
(No, not safe to start reading again yet. - Clif)
New York, August 1, 2000 -- iPublish.com at Time Warner Books
(They actually listed a lot of writer's and e-book titles, but no
iPublish.com at Time Warner Books, which will launch as an online
Greg Voynow, senior vice president and general manager of iPublish.com
About iPublish.com at Time Warner Books
(So there you have it, they are going to be eventually buying fiction
FFFeedback
We heard from Alison Parker:
Just went through part I [of the last Info-Alert] and have two things to
1. Wow, I just went and checked out the "unofficial" site of the DND
2. Mike Resnick's blames fans for seeing bad science fiction (sci fi,
Alison
-----
Well, you trust my judgment, don't you? :) See, so all you have to do
OK. That may not work either.
- Clif
-----
We heard from A.T. Campbell III:
Margaret,
Thanks for linking to the web site for the FACT SF Reading Group from
http://www.clever.net/cam/writers2.html
I'm writing to let you know that the address of our site has changed.
http://www.crimeandspace.com/reading/
I appreciate your maintaining such a valuable set of links for
A. T. Campbell, III (atc@acm.org)
--------
We heard from Joe Pumilia:
Kill my old email address jpumilia@freewwweb.com. My old free provider
And by the way, ask if anybody knows how to find a text-based email
-------
Jeeze. Free AND no ads. You don't want much do you??? :-D
And now....
- Clif
-----
And we heard from Joe Pumilia (AKA Dr. Zarg),
I actually meant tell everybody the new email address.
Also, thanks for the mail reader info, but I figured out how to get my
Worldshare actually isn't free. It costs $15 a year, but for no ads
zarg@worldshare.net
We heard from John Moffitt:
You have just received the "Aggie virus"
As we don't have any programming experience, this virus works on the
Thanks for your cooperation,
- John
-----
Actually in an earlier email John let us know that he was going to be
Mark your calendars if you wish to play with trilobites on both
We heard from Nick Pollotta:
Due to my ill health, I was forced to close Delphia Books. However,
-----
Nick's web page is http://www.sfwa.org/members/pollotta/ .
- Clif
-----
We heard from Marianne Dyson
I hope to have some good news about my next book as soon as my agent
Ad Astra!
-----
We heard from Alec Johnson
Greetings, I'm Alec Johnson, Anne McCaffrey's son. I just noticed that
Best wishes,
-----
It has been my experience that the search engines completely change
- Clif
-----
We heard from Bill Hayes,
"Souls in the Great Machine" - this is a great SF novel, and I
------
Bill-
The only problem is that Souls in the Great Machine (by Sean McMullen)
Souls in the Great Machine got great reviews from Booklist, Kirkus,
Souls in the Great Machine - 0312870558
What I CAN do is list his upcoming books. In fact, he appears to have
Miocene Arrow (August, 2000)
(Clif here. - Margaret typed this in August and in late September Amazon
I'm also looking for publication in the US, specifically (and not in
So, thanks for the tip. I have to admit this guy gets great reviews!
- Margaret
-----
We heard from Pat Elrod,
Howdy, I was out surfing the net for stuff on me and found your page on
My new home page correct address is below. I hope to get a proper
Cheers-- Pat Elrod http://hometown.aol.com/pnelrod2/
-----
We heard from Dave Branda,
B5 will be starting on Sci Fi channel starting Sept. 25th at 6pm
Also, on Labor Day, Sept. 4th, Sci Fi is running a Star Trek Original
(OK, I edited out the long list of titles since we didn't "make it to
And if you've got too much time on your hands, and prefer your Star Wars
-----
Also Dave, thanks for telling me about GRIP, the Online Role-playing
When I have more time ....
- Clif
-----
And We heard from Tom Howard
Hey guys,
First of all, thanks for the great work every month. I'm a bigtime
I have a new "So You Think You Know Your Fandom" game that I created
It's at www.geocities.com/sabian30/FAindex.htm or you can get to it by
-----
Actually, Tom, there hasn't been a CONTEX in a while. I think you mean
Will we see you at REVELcon and ConSortium next year???
- Clif
-----
And We heard from Tammy Langley
I always knew this day would come.
CANDIDATE SIGNAL DETECTED
AUG 7 2000 1257GMT
ORIG DETECT: CERRO TOLOLO INTERAM OBSV CHILE AUG 7 2000 1257 GMT
CANDIDATE SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS
SIGNAL (MORSE!) DECODED AS:
Terrans, we have detected and analyzed your 'Dr. Laura, ''G. Gordon
------
And if that doesn't wrap up another issue we will be another month
Don't miss next issue where we talk about next year's Consortium's
Be seeing you!
Margaret Adamson Fincannon, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
And now, before your very eyes, the amazing FINE PRINT ....
To be removed from this Mailing List, please send a remove request to
awaited, revised, and official Anne McCaffrey website is now available
to the web-wide world
Rowling but J.K. Rowling OBE, as of the Queen's birthday 'honours' in
June. (You know! The Queen of England). (The same list contained
Blake's 7's Josette Simon, recognized one assumes for her Shakespearean
roles rather than for her heroic efforts as Dayna Melanby, Liberator
crew member.)
http://www.royal.gov.uk/faq/honour11.htm
http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid%5F793000/793844.stm
be interested in Suzanne Frisbee's review in the latest Crescent Blue.
http://www.crescentblues.com/3_3issue/goblet_of_fire.shtml
New York Times Best Seller List, they changed the rules.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html
Can you say unfair? (But good for other kids books who now have their
own list).
long for some people and the result is, predictably, fan fiction. The
one with the most notoriety at this point is "Harry Potter and the
Paradigm of Uncertainty" by Lori Summers, a PG-13 story intended for
adult fans of the HP series. It's set 9 years after Hogwarts
graduation and involves Harry/Hermione romantic tension. Hermione has
become a beleaguered academic sharing a large house with several other
young witches and wizards, Harry Potter included, and recovering from a
yearlong romance with Ron, who has been murdered by Voldemort.
http://www.egroups.com/group/ParadigmOfUncertainty
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/harrypotter/
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-09/14/09.47.books
of the Potter books was up for the Hugo, and, according to the program
blurb, they were discussing if a children's work should be eligible for
the Hugo.
ArmadilloCon keeps 4 tracks going plus the Art show AND dealers room
AND con suite). We decided that the topic would make for a short
discussion.
agree. It's very difficult to make a reasonable argument in the
other direction.
and the Harry Potter phenomenon (I've long suspected that panelists read
the title of their panel and never look at the program book blurb). They
apparently had the services of Catherine Asaro's daughter, Cathy, as an
unexpected Harry Potter expert. (And she quite held her own as a
panelist, too! -Margaret)
evil Lord Voldemort is now being lined up for actor Ian McKellen who
is said to be examining his Lord of the Rings filming schedule to see if
he can make the time (Ian is playing Gandalf in the LOTR movies).
http://207.201.173.29/sfnews/newsb0900.htm
Hogswarts late at night searching for clues.
conventions late at night searching for parties.
(We know since in book 1 the Daily Prophet reported that the failed
heist at Gringotts, the goblin bank, occurred on July 31, but this was
the day after Harry Potter's 11th Birthday).
(unless it's something weird like Sept. 18).
(We know since in book 2 he attends the 500th deathday party of Nearly
Headless Nick who, as revealed by his tombstone shaped cake, died in
October 1492. So Harry is a second year student, age 12, in 1992, ergo
he is now 20).
(Ask anybody.)
improbable though it seems, he survives all seven books without Harry
being expelled.
thought it seems, the University survived all four years without Harry
being expelled.
part entertainer ...
That is the motto of Fran Stallings.
part teacher ...
part weaver of dreams.
likely already familiar with the name of Fran Stallings. Artist In
Residence for the Oklahoma Arts Council, co-author of Fran & Hiroko's
Story Book, and author in her own right of dozens of articles and tapes,
Fran Stallings is known for the performances of her annual tour, as well
as the many workshops on storytelling that she holds for both children
and adults.
Stallings _defines_ the art of storytelling. To quote further,
"Monsters and aliens, and heroes ... she entrances her audiences with
her eerie tales of transformation. Then, in the blink of an eye, a
humorous twist or ballad brings us back to reality with a laugh".
the south, as in her Early Oklahoma in Story & Song, or one of South
America, as in The Brazilian Beetle, or as far afield as Africa or
Japan. Sometimes they touch on the fantastic, as in The Ghost & I:
Scary Stories for Participatory Telling. (Yellow Moon Press). Sometimes
her stories and workshops touch on Science (she has a background as a
biologist). And logically, sometimes they touch on Science Fiction.
Fantasy.
with all this.
of Science Fiction & Fantasy" program on Sunday afternoon, October 1st!!
It will be a long concert starting at 2 PM, with a 45-60 min set, break,
another 45-60 min. set, Q/A, informal punch & cookies with the audience.
It will be the kickoff for their Storytelling Series, which in five years
has developed a serious following of adults and YA from all over the
Houston area. It is NOT a kiddie show. Tickets are $12. and well worth it.
The Grand 1894 Opera House - http://www.thegrand.com/main.htm
Their Blurb - http://www.thegrand.com/centennial.htm
Buy Tickets on the Web -
http://tickets.com/newreg_event_info.cgi?pid=643190
Map - http://www.tickets.com/street_map.cgi?vid=50821
Jody Lynn Nye, & Harry Turtledove.
Jr., Andre Norton, Dan Simmons, & Harry Turtledove.
Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson, James P. Hogan, & Fred Saberhagen.
Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald, David Feintuch, Katherine
Kurtz, Ursula Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Terry
Pratchett, Fred Saberhagen, Charles Sheffield, Allen Steele, Harry
Turtledove, & Tad Williams.
The Many Faces of Farscape's Pilot at
http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/2000/pilottimesthree.html with Sean
Masterson (puppeteer), Lani Tupu (Crais and voice of Pilot) and of
course Pilot, er, itself.
talents to a different SF story to be produced for SCIFI.com's Seeing
Ear Theatre. The two will voice characters in the original audio drama
Black Canoes, premiering Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. ET.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-08/31/09.30.sfc
http://www.perncom.com/
(Down Syndrome) and buy raffle tickets for a quilt
featuring the likenesses of the ST:VGR cast!
http://www.sftv.org/sftv/sftvschd.txt
season at http://207.201.173.29/sfnews/newsc0900.htm .
picked to join the cast of The X-Files as Agent John Doggett. Gillian
Anderson has signed a contract that would keep her on the show for
the ninth season. In the week before ArmadilloCon, an X-Files
production crew member was killed when the scaffolding he was on came
in contact with a power line. Six other crewmembers were injured....
the first run shows are not having new episodes in October. Farscape
and First Wave are being pre-empted all month (SciFi is planning a
Farscape Chain Reaction sometime late in the year, though), Lexx is also
being pre-empted on Friday nights and the Sunday night repeat slot will
be running episodes from the second season in order(!). Invisible Man is
in repeats in its normal time slot. The only show with new episodes is
Exposure.
As you may remember, Ares, thinking they were dead put them in tombs of
ice. Twenty-five years later Xena wakes up. After they are free, they
get to explore a world where their families are 25 years older. Xena's
daughter Eve is now a ruthless warrior named Livia, the Gods are gone,
including Ares (lots of plot threads to unravel) but now new creatures
of mythology have moved in to fill the void left by the gods. Two
episodes take place in North America.
Rubinstein felt the 1984 version of Dune was very disappointing. Well,
so did the rest of us, but we didn't go spend 20 million making a
miniseries. One good sign is the budget wasn't blown on special
effects, estimated at 500, lots less than a typical science fiction
flick. Rubinstein claims the emphasis is on drama and lush, believable
environments.
McNeice, PH Moriarty, Julie Cox, Giancarlo Giannini, and William
Hurt.
Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck , but the movie reflected only a tiny
portion of the book. I liked the Navigator and the trip on the starship
best but if all you've seen is the 1984 movie, you know very little
about Dune.)
First Wave (Space) Sep 13th (Season 3)
The Outer Limits (Syn) Sep 18th?(Week of - Season 6)
Relic Hunter (Syn) Sep 18th (Week of - Season 2)
Sabrina (WB) Sep 22nd (Season 5 - new to The WB)
Buffy (WB) Sep 26th (Season 5)
Angel (WB) Sep 26th (Season 2)
Xena: Warrior Princess (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Season 6)
Back 2 Back Action (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Continuation of first
season)
Andromeda (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Debut)
Stargate SG-1 (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Season 3)
The Lost World (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Season 2)
Earth: Final Conflict (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Season 4)
Beastmaster (Syn) Oct 2nd (Week of - Season 2)
Roswell (WB) Oct 2nd (Season 2)
Queen of Swords Oct 2nd (Week of - debut)
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Oct 2nd (Week of - debut)
The Immortal Oct 2nd (Week of - debut)
Dark Angel (FOX) Oct 3rd (Debut - 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT)
Star Trek: Voyager (UPN) Oct 4th (Season 7)
Charmed (WB) Oct 5th (Season 3)
FreaklyLinks (FOX) Oct 6th (debut)
7 Days (UPN) Oct 11th (Season 3)
Third Rock From the Sun Oct 24th (Season 6)
Freedom (UPN) Oct 27th (debut)
Level Nine (UPN) Oct 27th (debut)
Futurama Nov 5th (Season 3)
The X-Files (FOX) Nov 5th (Season 8)
Night Visions Midseason (debut)
The Lone Gunmen (FOX) Spring
The Tick (FOX) Spring
http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html
by T'Pell, special Total Recall 2070 Reporter
officially out of production. There is still an ongoing mail and email
campaign going on to get SOMEONE to purchase the series and put it BACK
into production. TR2070 was sold by Alliance/Atlantis to Universal,
which put the series into syndication.
French company (network?), which has Universal all in an uproar. It is
unlikely that anything will be done with the property until the dust
settles. In the meantime, a group of TR fans showed up at an Internet
chat given by Bonnie Hammer, a VP and programming director for the SciFi
Channel, and asked if SciFi would consider buying TR2070 from Universal
and putting it back into production.... we don't know how sincere the
answer was, but she DID say that they would look into it.....Ms. Hammer
has been behind the retooling of SciFi, and the money they have put into
projects like Farscape, and the purchase of several other series while
creating new episodes....notably Sliders, G vs. E, and Lexx.
the series continues to pick up new fans, just like Star Trek did (and
for many of the same reasons....you just can't keep a quality series
with good writing down).
set
to be "a happy one", which is rather rare in the world of episodic TV,
and therefore any of them would be happy to return if the series went
back into production. What seems to frighten producers is the mammoth
cost of the series, but any hard-core fan will tell you that what makes
the series "click" isn't the gigantic million-square-foot set or the
special fx, but the story and characters, which is the CHEAP part of
the series. It could easily be retooled to cost a fraction of what the
first season did, and STILL retain the flavor that continues to draw
new fans to it. Right now, it just seems to be a matter of finding the
right people, with both money and vision, to give the series another
chance. It would also have a much better chance of surviving if it were
NOT on a "premium pay" channel like ShowTime, and were available to a
wider audience, which is where SciFi would be an ideal match.
mature than G vs. E, but it is still carefully maintained as accessible
for kids), and they could use one, good, solid adult SF series to
balance out their schedule......
The one and only
President, Alphaholics Anonymous
More Citizen's Information Bureau -
(and more recent too, T'Pell sent this in July - Clif)
http://www.terraforming.com/tr2070.htm
has TV's Adrian Paul in the title role and is a direct sequel to
Highlander 1 (totally ignoring the second & third Highlander movies!).
(Hurrah. After all, the second and third movie ignored the 1st movie.
Or maybe they were just written without actually looking at the
1st movie. - Clif)
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story=2452
October in widescreen only.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=B00004U8KV/fantasicfuturesbA
Incomplete CGI effects and a temporary sound effects track, but lots
of action and spells being thrown.
footage here".
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-09/14/12.00.film
http://www.mothership.com/eon/news.asp?id=3774
around $100,000. http://www.mothership.com/eon/news.asp?id=3753
And Lucasfilms threatens to prosecute for possession of stolen material
on the slightest excuse.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-09/12/11.30.film
A new form of CGI rendering, a surprise attack on the Republic fleet -
'Pearl Harbor in a massive Orbital Dock facility', an endless stream of
clone soldiers from the corrupt maniac who is aiming to become the
Emperor, the duplicitous Senator Palpatine, a young Chewbacca (wookies
live for an average of 200 years), Yoda in battle, and a Jedi warship
which will blow your mind. And these are just the rumors that made it
to the pages of the occasionally accurate SF Crowsnest.
Sequel Details - http://207.201.173.29/sfnews/news0900.htm
SF Crowsnest - http://207.201.173.29/index.html
don't buy it, but Chis Ayott makes an interesting argument.
http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/movies/jar_jar_holy_fool_000414.html
Nov. 21, with a sneak peak at the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II,
according to the official Star Wars Web site. The 10-minute preview
of Episode II will describe how the prequel will fit into the overall
saga and will feature interviews with George Lucas, as well as with
new and returning cast and crew members.
versions. The trilogy will be priced at $39.98. The videos will contain
the special edition of the three Star Wars films screened in 1997.
to colonize, do research, engage in interstellar trade and commerce,
and of course combat, competing interstellar empires engage in the four
eX's.
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/games.html
gladiators and glory that was Rome. The sprawling Roman Empire is full
of experiences, from orgies in the decadent Roman villas to battles
with pirates off the coast of Sicily. As an adventurer in the Imperial
Age of Rome, you journey through the narrow streets of the greatest city
in the world.
or run through the dark alleys with the infamous Roman gangs. You can
fight gruesome battles as a slave gladiator in the Coliseum - clashing
with other warriors or dangerous beasts. Or race your chariot around the
Circus Maximus, cheating death and vying for Imperial favor. Visit
exotic provinces like Greece, Egypt and Asia, and meet traveling
thinkers, merchants, soldiers and mysterious natives - from the
barbarian Celts of northern Britain to the nomadic Berbers of Africa.
March to war with the Roman legions, defending the borders against
Carthaginian invaders or the savage Huns of Asia.
In Nomine. Fnord.
that Steve Jackson Games is currently in the process of developing!
(Thanks Margaret! - Clif)
game, DS9--The Fallen.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-09/14/09.52.games
http://www.sff.net/people/james.van.pelt/wells/teachwells.htm
http://www.sff.net/people/james.van.pelt/teenfinity/index.htm
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Lincoln_HS/Burleson/wrinkle.htm
http://communities.msn.com/AndysUsingScienceFictionForEducationPage
username: C003763 password: s632d672 to access.)
Van Pelt's winning website is The High School Teacher's Time Machine Page.
http://www.sff.net/people/james.van.pelt/wells/teachwells.htm
Love's is Andy's "Using Science Fiction for Education" Page.
http://communities.msn.com/AndysUsingScienceFictionForEducationPage
http://www.asimovs.com/
Adam-Troy Castro - http://www.analogsf.com/neb2000/astronaut.html .
Anderson is at
http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/herbert/herbert1.html
Actually this is an excerpt from the next of the Dune prequels, House
Harkonnen, which is due for release in late September or early October.
The conclusion of the Prelude to Dune Trilogy, House Corrino has had
its first draft complete, so perhaps we will see an excerpt from it soon.
April 1926 from publisher Hugo Gernsback. It has undergone numerous
changes, and died numerous times over the years, but has always risen
from the grave to live again.
according to Wizards of the Coast Group publisher Johnny L. Wilson.
Wizards of the Coast inherited it when they bought the assets of TSR
(the D&D company) who in turn bought it after it died in its previous
life.
are currently underway to sell the magazine's assets, including material
in inventory, to Galaxy Online, where it will become an online
publication under editor-in-chief Ben Bova.
bought the rights to Conan the Barbarian for $4.3 million. The deal
went through in exchange for 409,037 common shares of his Stan Lee
Media group, according to a federal filing. It's not clear what the
group - an Internet-based, multimedia production, marketing and
licensing company - plans to do with the character created by writer
Robert E. Howard in the early part of the last century in a series of
pulp stories.
occasional gem, check out Quantum Muse.
http://www.quantummuse.com/scifi.html
http://www.quantummuse.com/fantasy.html
Of course the slant in the writing becomes a bit more understandable if
you read the editorial - Invasion of the English Majors. It ends with
a touch of nostalgia for the large breasted women on the old pulp SF
covers. - http://www.quantummuse.com/editorials.html
http://www.dragonsoup.com/proxima.html
It's carried by Dragon Soup Webzine which died in the middle of last
year, but whose webpage is now promising a December return.
Dragon Soup Webzine - http://www.dragonsoup.com/
on the web. http://sf.sig.au.mensa.org/iq-60.html . Interesting, but
not the best you've ever read.
winner.
http://www.anotherealm.com/zine/600/ar061800.html
Hunt, as in August his reprint fantasy novel "For The Crown and The
Dragon" and new "The Guns of the Wisdom" resulted in more downloads
than Shakespeare, Sun Tzu, William Gibson and Anne McCaffrey combined.
Pretty darned impressive. And that's not even counting the followup to
"Crown & Dragon", "The Fortress in the Frost"
something called the Spot. The premise was that a group of
twenty-somethings, newly roommates in a large rambling house with a
history, would each keep an online diary (and not read each other's) as
well as posting pictures of their activities.
were actually professional models or actors and the diaries were scripted
and written by a team of writers. So it wasn't exactly reality TV,
though undoubtedly the illusion was part of the appeal.
opera, the Spot at one time was the most popular, er, spot on the Web,
outpulling even Yahoo for a short time. An active community coalesced
around the Spot with fan pages, parody sites, and ICQ groups. Yet in
spite of its large and loyal repeat following, the wizards behind the
Spot were never able to translate the eyeballs and their desirable
college-age demographics into enough money to support the operation.
Eventually the investors tired of bleeding money and pulled the plug.
But even today on the Web you can still find artifacts left over from the
glory days of the Spot.
Heartfires http://www.Heartfires.com/ .
something old to compare and contrast it to. "This new thing is like
this old thing, but ...". And people can take their idea of the old
thing and change the defaults and wind up with an approximate idea of
the new thing. "Hail is like rain but frozen into small stones of ice".
a multi-threaded narrative, based on a really really good Dungeons &
Dragons game. The thing is, there is no "but ..." part which tells you
more about it. Yes, you can say the narrative reads a little better
than normal for such things. You can say that the fictional world shows
a lot of care put into its construction, or that the magic system has
been tweaked to make it more interesting. And none of this is outside
the normal envelope. You can even say that the underlying role-playing
game is unobtrusive, though it's fairly obvious that it's there. But
the original statement stands.
really good Dungeons & Dragons game.
threads to first pull you in, and then addict you. Both used multiple
characters to paint the same world from different viewpoints. And while
one character's story and problems are building, another character may
be at a cliffhanger that keeps you anxious for the next installment.
Both offer the promise of a continuing story that never has to be over.
what purports to be our reality, or at least as close to it as
California gets.
first person while the accounts of Heartfire are written in third
person, lightly omniscient.
immediacy, but the effect of this is actually minimal and each
character's narrative follows its point of view character closely.
with early trials of frames, Shockwave, innovative navigation and a
layout that always aspired to "Cool". Heartfires concentrates more on
pushing the limits of story, using text as its main tool for doing so.
The site design is adequate, intuitive, attractive and navigates easily,
but is far from innovative. The most non-standard element it possesses
is a dependence on pdf files for longer and more complex documents.
to support its expenses. If Heartfires depended on the same model it
would be cause for worry, though Heartfires has fewer expenses to start
with, having no need for actors, models, and the like (though they do
have at least one good artist). Rather than face a background of
advertising, Heartfires uses a pay system of $3 a month. The first
month is free while they gamble that in 30 days they can have you hooked.
In the meantime, you have full access to an extensive set of archives and
background materials.
you to specify email delivery of anywhere from all to none of the
story threads. On the other hand, Spot sported an early advanced
feature discussion board which helped jump-start its fan base.
Heartfires has only a guestbook with minimal activity, some from game
players wanting in, under the misapprehension that this is an online
gaming site. On the other hand, they sport a chat application, but that
is only any good when there is someone on the other side. Neither
really help a community of fans develop from the point it is now.
intriguing situations, but Heartfires' real strength is in its World.
ethereal mists. Darkness opposes light in each shard. In the world
of Caerabel, the forces of darkness reign. Now the Ebon Emperor has
opened world gates to attract other shards. But light still resists.
It does so in Minot, the flying capital city of the Kingdoms of the
West which,though they pay tithe to the Emperor, supports concepts of
justice and has an emerging middle class (though still dominated by the
Patris). But Minot has problems and a call has gone out through the
shards to bring a new generation of heroes through the open gates to
Minot. And, with weak support from a secret league, these heroes have
quite a job. The city is desired by the bugs, even better at killing
than humans. They are threatened by the Leich lords and by air Pirates,
by minions of the Ebon Emperor, and most of all, Minot is threatened by
its own web of power, privilege, and internal corruption.
fringes of society, to the criminal elements, to the world of the
Patris, Minot itself is many worlds. It sports a address system
that makes sense, as does its economy (including Minot's dependence
on its fleet of flying ships). It has its individual locals, the
Hook, Stinky Streets, etc., each with their own flavor.
dungeon crawl environment smack dab in the middle of town. Yes, it is
justified, but the notion of a flying city carrying its own convenient
adventuring underworld around with it is a false note in an otherwise
convincing creation. It is only here that Heartfires shows its
role-playing genesis in a manner that damages its stories.
favorites so far are Baden, sort of a feral cross between Wolvereen,
Beastman, and the pre-educated Tarzan, Gwen a Celtic who dwells in the
ordinary world, but also in a world of divination and information. The
single most fascinating character is Calaban who turns his curses into
blessings, but carries his own worst enemy with him. His anger is
deadly, most of all to himself, and his dark road to heaven leaves him
juggling more and more conflicting roles, with ever higher stakes if he
fails, as his character almost guarantees he will, if for no other reason
than that he will be driven by his own pride to the point where he does.
Or maybe not. But the frantic juggling is riveting to watch.
Probably. But Heartfires is unique and dependable. For me (Clif),
someone who plans to run a regular role-playing game again someday,
this mother-load of scenarios and ideas that can be adapted to my own
campaign is a no-brainer. I've spent a lot more money on a lot less.
I will probably wait till I am safely graduated to register, though.
their web site. Explore for yourself.
who worked the con to report on it, so I've held off. However, from the
folks I and others on the con com talked to, people had a good time.
Seems enough folks had fun that it's worth doing again, so that's the
plan (end of shameless plug!) All of our guests were great!! people -
very involved with the fans and gentle with the con committee. I'd love
to have them return to future ConSortiums. The dealers, artists, DJ,
volunteers and attendees were super! Our GM's ran some awesome games -
I'm not a big gamer, myself, but I heard good stuff from those who
were.
few chuckles as the stories developed in unexpected directions. People
seemed to like the Radisson, and we enjoyed working with them. Several
folks from the space arena (NASA and contractors, and activists) came
out and gave presentations. We had a dance, masquerade, and a super-cool
live action Call of Cthulhu game (complete with people in period costumes)
running, among other events.
at: http://rpg.echostation.com/conventions/consortium00.html
web page (now moved to www.con-sortium.org), but like most things, that
will be if/as I get to it. Meanwhile, my husband and I are planning to
get to Armadillo, so perhaps we'll see you there!
welcome indeed! - Margaret)
Crystal Rose - http://www.crystal-rose.org/
(Aug. 18-20, 2000) in Austin. Followed next week by Bubonicon 32
(Aug. 25-27, 2000) in Albuquerque, New Mexico and, of course,
Chicon 2000 (The 58th World Science Fiction Convention) (Aug. 31-
Sep. 4, 2000) in Chicago.
we wanted to include, we held off until we could report the Hugo
Winners.
26-29) in Corpus Christi, ProtoCon 2000 (Nov. 3-5) in College Station,
ExotiCon 3.1415 (Nov. 17-19) in New Orleans, and UncommonCon (Nov.24-26)
in Dallas.
see our monthly What's Happening list at
http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
guests for June 2001.
content myself with a few highlights or this will never come out.
the after-midnight degeneration of the con suite conversation into a
contest between Harry Beckwith and a group from El Paso to see who could
tell the worst jokes. By worst, I do not exclude sexist, obscene, or
Aggie jokes.
The jokes - trust me, you don't want to know.
Saturday night band was still playing. Guest of Honor, Catherine
Asaro, was burning up the dance floor and obviously enjoying herself.
Her black outfit alone probably counts as a convention highlight.
rather bland. I was very impressed with Toastmaster Maria Doria
Russell whose fiction I was unacquainted with, but that may change
when I (Clif) get a little more time. She certainly has a gift for
laying bare the hidden assumptions behind what is said, and in a very
entertaining manner.
http://members.stratos.net/druss44121/sparrow.html
into a birthday celebration.
that closed the convention is of course irreplaceable, but Neal Barrett
(who seems to have inherited the slot) is doing a very creditable job,
and has just the right sort of somehow familiar quirkiness in his fiction
to maintain tradition. Certainly the standing room only crowd went away
highly pleased.
but now for the life of me I can remember neither the topic or what was
said. Only the memory of Elizabeth Moon expounding on something. Comes
with the process of getting ancient I guess. But I have the highest
confidence in our mission. Dave? What's happening, Dave? Daisy, Daisy
...
trying to write the last book in her Heris Serrano series - Change of
Command - before she was outstripped by medical developments in
life extension. This particular series dealt with characters who had or
had not had rejuvenation treatments (rich could, poor couldn't usually).
Elizabeth was trying to set her book far enough into the future so that
she could use a fictitious method to prolong her characters' lives but
science was madly nipping at her heels the whole way! She tries to keep
abreast of medical developments in the real world - yes, she reads
medical journals, but this was a real race to the publisher! -Margaret)
low budget peeks at far future transportation (I still haven't had time
to sit down and really read her scientific paper about going around the
light barrier using complex velocities) & her guest of honor interview.
worked well, but for highly different reasons.
to ask. On the other hand, Robert Taylor's interviewer, Willie Siros,
shared a lot of history with him, so a lot of the "interview" was
actually Willie talking about the history of Siros and Taylor, which is
to say a significant chunk of the history of Texas Fandom. In one way,
it was frustrating because there were points where I would really have
liked to hear more of Robert's take on things, but on the other hand
listening to Willie rewrite history from his point of view was absolutely
fascinating.
the Brown Bag book auction, I got to the latter late. Fortunately there
were still books aplenty when I got there, and in spite of the efforts
of the other bidders, Margaret and I still made out like bandits.
Someone who walked in and saw Judith ordering some of us to outbid
ourselves AND us doing it would probably think we were all crazy. But I
think that I would come to ArmadilloCon just for the book auction. On
my grad student salary (bad joke) this is my major book purchase for the
year. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without Judith there though.
the first time in a few years. The disadvantage of younger friends is
that they make it apparent how fast time is passing. Jenna Beckwith is
about 3/4 of the way through turning into a beautiful young lady and
Matthew, son of Fred Duarte and Karen Meschke, has graduated from rug-rat
to kid first class.
group, not content with SF cons and NASFICs, and World Fantasy Cons,
etc., has expanded its range to include Mystery, bidding for and
winning the right to put on the 33rd World Mystery Convention in
October of 2002. Bouchercon 2002, "Longhorns of the Law" will be
co-chaired by none other than Willie Siros and Karen Meschke, working
as a team, each doing what they do best.
will be doing the schmoozing and political stuff and Karen will be
doing the actual work. That should function fairly well.
this promises to be an interesting change of pace (AND in Texas AND put
on by our friends in Austin - Margaret), we will try to let you know
new information as we find out about it, and have already added
Bouchercon 2002 to the What's Happening list. Membership was $85 back
at ArmadilloCon, but the rate may have gone up by now. Send inquiries
to Willie's minions at acs@crimeandspace.com .
States in the 20th Century. They have done it again, and will be the
first such Worldcon of the 21st Century.
beating out Cancun and of course Minneapolis in '73 (5 write-ins).
Progress Report 0 is on line at http://2003.worldcon.org/ .
ConSortium's guests for 2001? Actually we could have done the Writer
guest of honor and Fan guests this time, but Clif didn't want it to
get lost in the monster issue. Besides they may have all the guests
locked down by next month. Or Not. Random Hint - the gamers should
be really happy with the Writer GOH and the readers have nothing to
complain about.
party and their annual chili cookoff. Now it's time to celebrate Star
Trek's Birthday, and coming soon is Halloween. They dropped the Warp
Line and are looking into moving to some kind of 800 number call-notes
type arrangement.
(and rebuilt) home at Buffet Express. Though the renovation was to take
only a couple of months, in fact it took much much longer. Aside from
eating and talking, the group celebrated hot air balloons and bestirred
itself to celebrate the birthday of Dave (Mr. Fuzzy Logic) Richards
during the gap. (Dave is 40 - pass it on). Al Jackson upgraded the
Web page at http://home.flash.net/~aajiv/ so it has links to a map and
everything.
see the X-man Movie, throw popcorn around and recite the lines along
with the film. ;-) Having outgrown the booths at the IHOP they have
began to reserve their meeting rooms. The CLSciFibook database at
egroups currently lists 13 books in circulation.
Lake Travis in late July.
in mid September. Adventures in Crime and Space rang in a Turkey City
book signing the week before.
science impinging on SF and a consideration of Alternate Histories in
addition to viewing the vcr and partying.
that to my knowledge are making plans for attendance at the World
Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi. I wish I was, but there will be
other years. But SOMEBODY ought to be able to write us a brief con
report! (Hint, hint!! -Margaret)
http://www.crimeandspace.com/reading/
has their reading schedule set for the rest of the year.
Sky Coyote by Kage Baker
A Calculus of Angels by J. Gregory Keyes
Typhon's Children by Toni Anzetti
Dark Cities Underground by Lisa Goldstein
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
see our Web page at http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html .
surgery (only) by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for use in five
U.S. hospitals. da Vinci enables surgeons to operate by manipulating
joysticks at a computer terminal. Also, a few hospitals are conducting
clinical trials of robot-assisted heart surgery.
http://www.wired.com/news/lycos/0,1306,20711,00.html
http://www.intusurg.com/html/daindex.html
This made the cover story of the October Scientific American.
about 150 goats that had been specially bred with a gene from a spider,
with the ultimate goal to create silk fibers ("BioSteel") strong enough
to use in bulletproof clothing and for aerospace and medical
applications. Spider silk has long been admired for its lightweight
strength and elasticity.
Spider dragline silk is widely recognized as the strongest natural
organic material known. Despite its superior mechanical properties,
spider silk is not used commercially because of a sharp constraint on
supply. The spiders will not cooperate.
territorial and aggressive! The plan is to isolate the gene from the
spider that codes for the silk protein, then introduce the spider silk
gene into a system that can read the genetic instructions and produce
authentic silk proteins. In '92 and '96 several spider genes were
isolated and are now somewhat understood.
didn't work too well. The spider genes are long and repetitive and the
bacteria, and other primitive organs they tried, appeared to truncate
silk genes because of their repetitive nature, thus leading to shorter
"silk" proteins which are nowhere near as strong. Nexia had a patented
mammary cell line and it was able to use them to produce and secrete
fully soluble silk protein in vitro with no observable truncation of the
silk genes. This was of course not financially viable except as a proof
of concept.
Early) goats which it is now trying. If all goes well the spider silk
will come, not from the "wool" of the goats, but should be concentrated
in the goats milk for further processing and spinning. The goats are
raised normally, the processing is low cost, and Nexia Biotechnologies
makes out like a bandit.
apparel out of expensive aramid fibers and suddenly you are competing
against material that is a quarter lighter from the low cost dairy
production of spider silk. Don't you wish you owned stock?
genes as intellectual property, but then I remember that the patent is
only good for a limited time period. If we have the capability in 20
years of kicking the average life span up to 200 (as a number of people
think we will), then I should personally see three or four generations
of patents expire. (Your mileage may vary. :-D ) This is in contrast
to copyrights which will probably be extended a little at a time to last
forever. (Can you see Disney not fighting to keep Mickey Mouse out of the
public domain? They have been successful twice now)? Anyway the patent
is worthwhile to keep the good stuff rolling in.
direction of this story with a collection of odd but interesting news.
Fascinating!
nanotech research, almost but not quite doubling that for FY 2000. Of
course that didn't keep Clinton from speaking at the California
Institute of Technology and claiming that his budget would support a
major new National Nanotechnology Initiative to the tune of 500 million.
But this is Clinton - What's 250 Million between friends. At least the
government seems to understand this is relatively important and may take
awhile.
like measuring the current through a single molecule. But Rice also
houses the Halas Nanoengineering Group which does things like
fabricating metal nanoshells
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.07/moletronics.html
http://www.jmtour.com/
http://www-ece.rice.edu/~halas/
engineering, but the chemical structures certainly have mechanical
properties too. Bell Labs has used three strands of DNA to make
functioning tweezers.
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/original/article/0%2c5744%2c10666%2c00.htm
issue of Science, researchers have figured out almost the entire
structure of one part of the ribosome. While this is an amazing
accomplishment in its own right, what makes it particularly interesting
is that the structure strongly suggests that it is RNA molecules, not
specialized proteins, as had been thought at one time, that do the work
of stitching together amino acids to construct new proteins. The role of
RNA molecules had been suggested, but this is the first real evidence.
There _are_ specialized proteins to stabilize the reactions.
more stable form of earlier RNA life.
functions as a quantum computer (where your thoughts are affected by
the other thoughts you might have thought instead, just as the path
of a photon of light is affected by other paths it might have traveled
instead). Then Max Tegmark in a paper titled "The Importance of
Quantum Decoherence in Brain Processes," claimed the brain was too
warm to maintain the coherence required for quantum computation. But
now, Koichiro Matsuno points out that those temperatures are only
average and the statistical method for measuring temperatures breaks
down at the nanoscale. He thinks that ctomyosin complexes (abundant
in the axons of nerve cells) functions as heat engines producing a near
absolute zero effective temperature. All this would allow the quantum
coherence and entanglement necessary for quantum computation within a
single neuron, though not across neurons.
objects with behavioral complexity rising from their interconnections
and learned thresholds.
neural net and the process of training a real nervous system will be
left with the nagging doubt that we are missing something.
http://nanotech.about.com/science/nanotech/library/weekly/aa062500a.htm
out the link for Nanoscale Chemistry and Nanotech Science Fair Projects
(really).
http://nanotech.about.com/science/nanotech/index.htm
billion. They also cleared the way for Al Gore's Triana satellite
(the Internet Earth-cam constantly imaging the Earth from the sunlit
side). They allocated $14.1 billion in 2001 and $14.6 billion in 2002,
both amounts slightly higher than the White House requested in a bill
currently before the Senate.
the House and Senate have reached agreement on a NASA reauthorization
bill rather than reaching patchwork agreements at the last minute a year
at a time. The House backed off its opposition to Triana and TransHab,
the inflatable space station module whose design could be used on a
later Mars manned mission, but only enough to allow NASA to lease a
privately developed TransHab. Will one be privately developed? Who
knows? It's an opportunity for someone, but an expensive one.
without a hitch:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/vtour/
http://www.galaxyonline.com/wired_galaxy/contributors/Witcover_Paul/AndYetItDoesMove.htm
including an interview of Dr. John Rummel, the Planetary Protection
Officer.
Peruse James Oberg's account of an emergency medical simulation held at
a recent medical conference which called for a team of astronauts and
medical personal to perform cooperative problem solving though separated
by an eight minute time lag.
The conference, "Pushing the Envelope II: Medicine on Mars", was the
first time known that any time-critical Mars crew simulation had
implemented any sort of voice delay. The participants had never
encountered such a time lag before, except perhaps in "phone mail tag."
Its effect on the exercise was profound and, at first, seemed to
promise disaster. But if the other team is following a fixed procedure,
you can think ahead to what they are likely to be doing by the time they
hear you.
futures.
http://www.galaxyonline.com/wired_galaxy/contributors/Oberg_James/oberg_mars_part1.html
twins to Mars. The twin rovers NASA hopes to send to Mars in 2003 might
well be the most capable rock hounds the American space agency has ever
sent to another planetary body since geologist-astronaut Jack Schmitt
roamed the moon on the Apollo 17 lunar mission. The Robot Twins will
launch in May and June 2003, with both arriving at the Red Planet the
following January. Each will use a Pathfinder-derived airbag system to
bounce down on Mars.
will have panoramic cameras with three times the resolution of the
stunning images Pathfinder returned in 1997, the first - and last - time
NASA sent a rover to Mars. In the words of NASA Mars program scientist
Jim Garvin, the agency's scientists will use the Mars 2003 rover to go
by proxy to places they have never been. There, the scientists will use
brand-new tools to "measure the dickens" out of Mars in a hunt for
evidence of liquid water in the planet's past, Garvin said.
to see what is under the surface of interesting rocks, multiple
spectrometers, and x-ray equipment.
Pathfinder's Sojourner), the twin rovers this time will be big, weighing
perhaps eight times as much as the tiny, six-wheeled robot.
of terrain as Sojourner did during its entire lifetime. The rovers
will also be independent. While Pathfinder split its complement of
scientific instruments between the lander and the Sojourner rover, the
large 2003 rovers will carry all of their instruments with them during
their three-month missions.
- Chester Gould.
engine consists of three linked magnetic cells. In the first, a
propellant gas, like hydrogen, is injected and ionized. The second
uses radio waves to heat up the plasma more, sort of like a microwave
oven. And the third, a magnetic nozzle, converts the energy into a
directed flow. The key point to the technology is the ability to vary
the plasma exhaust. You can get the type of incredible fuel usage that
you get with an ion drive, but then when you need it you can get high
thrust that you might need for, say, part of a manned Mars mission.
(And for you Dick Tracy Fans ...
http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/dt-move.gif )
Observatory and other members of an international planetary research
team announced discovery of a new planet in a solar system only 10.5
light-years away from Earth. The planet, another gas giant, is orbiting
a star called Epsilon Eridani. Epsilon Eridani is, naturally, the
fifth brightest star in the constellation Eridanus. (What else would
you expect from the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, after all?
-Margaret)
Austin's Department of Astronomy said "Detecting a planet orbiting
Epsilon Eridani -- a star very similar to our own Sun and only 3.22
parsecs from Earth (about 10.5 lightyears - Clif) -- is like finding
a planet in our own backyard, relatively speaking,". "Not only is
this planet nearby, it lies 478 million kilometers (or 297 million
miles) from its central star -- roughly the distance from the Sun to
the asteroid belt in our own solar system."
mass of Jupiter and 1.6 times the mass of Jupiter. Its orbit lasts just
under seven years -- about 60 percent the orbital period of Jupiter but
longer than that of most other recently discovered planets. Astronomers
are excited about the new planet's rough similarity to Jupiter, because
astrobiologists believe Jupiter played an important role in the
development of life on Earth.
Sun, Jupiter is also a massive ball of gas. It exerts such a strong
gravitational pull that it is believed to serve as a protective
barrier, generally preventing asteroids and meteorites from crashing
down on Earth.
orbiting fairly far out from Epsilon Eridani means there could be room
for Earth-like planets in a reasonably stable orbit closer into the star,"
Cochran said. "All the planets found so far that are the size of Jupiter
are much closer to the parent star. It means there could be room for an
Earth-like planet closer to Epsilon Eridani and -- perhaps -- in a
habitable zone."
highly eccentric and elliptical. The orbits of Earth and its eight
immediate neighbors are more circular. Stable orbits also are
considered of crucial importance in the development of life. Still,
Cochran said, the discovery of the new planet circling Epsilon
Eridani raises the tantalizing possibility of detecting planets with
longer orbital periods and of detecting multiplanet systems like the
solar system. Epsilon Eridani is located in one of the 10 nearest
star systems and is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
that star there has a planet around it," Cochran said. The planet has
`not been named because at present there is no accepted agreement on
naming planets.
Scientific American claimed that Epsilon Eridani was "one of the
possible stars around which the home planet of Star Trek's Mr. Spock
circles, according to Treksperts". They reported this in their In
Brief section under the heading "Mr. Spock Phone Home", and finished
by declining to speculate on the whereabouts of the Klingon sun.
FTL Data Banks - http://ftlmagazine.com/databank.html
Scientific American - In Brief
http://www.sciam.com/2000/1000issue/1000inbrief.html
Planet Search and Stellar Kinematics - http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/
look at the possibility of intelligent life on other worlds.
http://www.galaxyonline.com/wired_galaxy/contributors/Easton_Tom/AreWeAlone_1.htm
Large Telescope, destined to be the largest telescope in the Southern
Hemisphere Based near Sutherland on the Great Karoo plateau, it will
have a fixed elevation 10 meter hexagonal mirror array with tracking on
its focal surface.
instruments follows the focus of the star, meaning the big primary
mirror doesn't have to move. The Arecibo radio telescope used a similar
idea. It works best with the tracker centered, pointing directly at
wherever its 37 degree tilt happens to point, but by moving the tracker,
it can cover 70% of the sky and even if the tracker is at an extreme
point, it still functions as a 7 meter telescope. Being in Africa, it
can observe at different times than the South American Telescopes. It
is in some ways the twin of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald
Observatory here in Texas, but will benefit from the advances in
technology since then.
Galaxy at http://robgendler.astrodigitals.com/M31LRGBMOS.html .
Go ahead, take a look. We'll wait.
galaxies are older and formed earlier than previously thought. Based
on their redshifts, galaxies already existed about 10 billion years ago
when the universe was only 1/6 its current size. And this means in
turn that our ideas about how the galaxies first formed are almost
certainly wrong.
http://star-www.dur.ac.uk/cosmology/pressrelease.html
of astronomers discovered that the mass of a black hole in the center
of a galaxy is related to the average velocity of stars within its
ellipsoidal host, even in areas beyond the hole's direct influence.
In fact, within the bounds of measurement error, the velocity
correlation is perfect. It almost has the status of a new law of
nature, akin to Kepler's laws of planetary motion. So what does that
mean???
the galaxy. That almost has to mean that neither the black hole or
galaxy came first, but they evolved together. But how would average
velocity get tied down so tightly???
about the size of the moon and the mass of about 500 suns.
the really really huge black holes you find in the centers of galaxies.
So it's something to write home about.
(Hey, can you think of a better segue? - Clif).
bad. Writers may want to take a look at "The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Publishing Science Fiction" at http://www.cigsf.com/ , particularly the
sample chapter and links.
with Chris Rogers (Fiction You Can Sell: The Advanced Course: Writers
Workshop with Chris Rogers (Saturday August 19, 2000--9AM-4PM
[for more info send email to rapdunit@aol.com] ), OK about a month late
as it turns out, but you possibly could still register if we hurry
and get this out in time for Write Right VII: 2000 Annual Writer's
Conference
* Unpublished Author Writing Competition (September 16, 2000) [The
Woodlands, TX] [Hey, there's always next year, folks!-Margaret]
http://www.woodlandsonline.com/wwg/writeright.cfm
http://www.authorsandpublishers.org/
http://members.tripod.com/JCP12/tacigroup.html
interested in Quantum Muse's "Drinkers with a Writing Problem Webring"
for those who struggle with the written word.
http://www.quantummuse.com/writedrink.html
Corner. They pay $500. on acceptance for 1,000 to 4,000 words of
well-written original science fiction or fantasy, balancing idea driven
with character driven stories. E-mail submission. Details at
http://www.galaxyonline.com/wired_galaxy/writers_corner/guidelines.html
and examples of what they are buying at
http://www.galaxyonline.com/wired_galaxy/writers_corner/newfict.html .
e-book reissues of shorts by established sf authors. Established authors
seem to be those with at least three legitimate magazine sales or one
novel. Check it out at http://www.fictionwise.com/ . Click on "For
Authors". You will find the Science Fiction Author List at
http://www.fictionwise.com/Authorlist.htm .
IPUBLISH.COM AT TIME WARNER BOOKS TAPS LIGHTNING
SOURCE AND RECIPROCAL FOR DIGITAL FULFILLMENT SERVICES
its front-list and back-list. Even with a lot edited out this kind
of drags, but some of you may be interested in how this will effect
your sales. My advice is to skip to the end of it though - Clif).
(http://www.ipublish.com ), the major electronic publishing division
recently unveiled by Time Warner Trade Publishing, has tapped
Lightning Source Inc.SM and Reciprocal, Inc. to handle its digital
fulfillment services, company officials announced today.
quarter of next year, is the first dedicated Internet publishing
venture from any American book publisher.
fulfillment services plus content and digital rights management for
the retail channel. In addition, Lightning Source will manage content
for both iPublish.com and the retail channel. Reciprocal will provide
digital rights management and transaction services support for the
direct e-commerce activities at iPublish.com, including content
management, financial transaction clearing, customer support, and
report generation. Both companies will also work together to develop
clearinghouse services for both channels. In addition, Lightning Source
will handle digital conversion of all of iPublish original content, as
well as frontlist and backlist titles from Time Warner Trade Publishing,
which includes Warner Books and Little Brown and Company.
of new titles this September, which will be distributed via online
retailers. In the coming months, iPublish.com will also be announcing
content acquisitions and distribution and promotion partnerships
with eBook software companies, device makers, and online retailers.
iPublish.com has already announced partnerships with Microsoft
Reader and Gemstar's Rocket e-books.
(http://www.ipublish.com ), the electronic publishing division recently
launched by Time Warner Trade Publishing, today unveiled its first list
of monthly releases - the first such list of e-book titles from any
major publisher.
Science Fiction or Fantasy. Of course it wasn't a complete list -
Clif).
publishing website in the first quarter of next year, will begin
distribution of its electronic books this September.
said, "iPublish is dedicated to bringing a new audience to these works.
Our titles will be available through several eBook formats, including
Microsoft Reader, Gemstar's Rocket eBook and Softbook, Glassbook, and
PeanutPress, and for sale in a growing number of online retailers such
as Barnes & Noble.com."
iPublish.com at Time Warner Books, which will launch in the first
quarter of next year, is the first dedicated Internet publishing
venture from any American book publisher. An ambitious online community
that will unite readers, authors, and editors, iPublish.com will
develop new methods for the production, distribution, and sales of
fiction and non-fiction titles created specifically for the Internet.
created for the Internet. Wonder what they really mean by an ambitious
online community uniting readers, authors, and editors. I bet a penny
they don't know either.- Clif).
say.
movie. If that's the unofficial site what could the official site be
like! It's terrific.
skiffy, SF, whatever!) movies. His answer is to not go and see them.
How can we know they are bad if we don't see them. Trusting someone
else's judgement is not an answer. His answer doesn't work.
is start paying Margaret's and my way into movies you think you might
want to see and then that doubles the income the bad movies make from
you.
the following page that you maintain:
The Reading Group page is hosted by Adventures in Crime & Space.
bookstore, which recently obtained its own domain. Please
change your link to our new URL:
Texas SF fans.
FACT Reading Group Organizer
http://www.crimeandspace.com/reading/
went bankrupt and I am using another that got really good reviews. Post
this to FOF newsletter. Thanks.
service so I can avoid the tedious HTML formatting and loading of ads,
etc. Juno is the closest I know or, in that the email itself is
unformatted, although, being a free service, big fat ads pop up on you.From out of the lumineseferant ether
Ok, I am much better now. Do you want us to mention zarg@worldshare.net
pulses the pounding photonic bits of quantum chaos,
carriers of the inherently improbably and wholly remarkable revelation,
D R . - Z A R G - L I V E S ! ! !
is your new email, or just the fact that jpumilia@freewwweb.com isn't
any good any more.
email through Netscape again so I don't have to put up with ads, as on
Hotmail (which practically locked my old machine up.)
and unrestricted service, it's great, and my research showed it to be
the best or nearly the best free/semi free service. I recommend it to
all skinflints.
-----
honor system. Please delete all of the files from your hard drive
and MANUALLY forward this virus to everyone on your mailing list.
doing a series of "lectures" on trilobites at the Houston Museum of
Natural Sciences. These will be on the first Tuesdays in November
(Nov 7th and 14th). He says, "Believe me, you can learn absolutely
everything there is to know on the subject ... and be entertained
by me".
Tuesdays following Halloween (which is also on a Tuesday this year).
Houston Museum of Natural Science - http://www.hmns.org/
Click on Lectures and then scroll down to the dates.
-----
Padwolf Press will now be publishing the "Bureau 13" novels.
Thank you,
Nick Pollotta
Padwolf Publishing's site (which I am assuming is the same as Padwolf
Press) is at http://www.padwolf.com/ .
gets the contracts. All I can say right now is that it will be
space-related and the publisher will be National Geographic!
Marianne Dyson
Author of Space Station Science & Homework Help on the Internet
http://www.geocities.com/mariannedyson
your site, The McCaffrey List, is at the very top of search results for
"Anne McCaffrey" on AltaVista. How did you manage that? Most impressive.
I was wondering if you would consider putting a link from your site to
Anne McCaffrey's official website, The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey at
http://www.annemccaffrey.org
feel free to visit the site and verify my credentials, if you like. I
represent Anne McCaffrey on the internet.
Alec Johnson
for Anne McCaffrey
their algorithms every once in awhile, so if you don't like the
results this month, wait till next. Still, the way Margaret has
written the page, even a dumb bit-twiddling machine might get the
notion that the page is concerned with Anne McCaffrey. She was in
fact trying to optimize the page to be helpful to humans rather than
search engines, and so automatically did the right things to be
listed high on this iteration of the Alta Vista search engine. And,
as a result, it should survive any human over-rides the search
engines use.
recommend it
for your 2000 list.
was originally published in hardback in June 1999. I only list the
original publication of a book (very occasionally, I have listed omnibus
publications where someone has gone back and reprinted an old classic
or classic series, but this is really an exception).
and the main review by Amazon.com.
a book coming out in August 2000. See:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031287054X/qid=967601566/sr=1-1/t/102-3141869-4316115
is showing Miocene Arrow, a sequel to Souls in the Great Machine as
usually shipping in 24 hours for list price of $27.95.).
Britain or in Australia).
I'll add him to my 2000 list for Miocene Arrow and keep an eye out for
the 2001 book. (I should get another forthcoming list in about a week).
me.
website up in a few months.
Mon-Fri. And it's in letterbox format. At least that's the
indication from the scifi.com schedule. Next to each episode is a
(LBX) label, which usually indicates LetterBoX. Time will tell.
Series Marathon. The episodes are :
press" soon enough to do any good. Sorry about that. - Clif)
in prose, check out http://www.ighetto.com/flash/starwarsgangsta/
________________________
"There can be only one!"
Aid. - http://www.rpgrealms.com/uman/index.html .
fanboy, but I find the hard science stuff you insert very interesting,
too.
for CONTEX last year. It's just a photo album of over 200 of our
favorite icons and you have to list the name (actor and character) and
the show. Answers are provided. If you could mention it in your next
newsletter, I'd appreciate it.
selecting LINKS on the www.geocities.com/sabian30 page. Thanks in
advance.
Candace's convention, REVELcon. I really enjoyed your game. (And was
grateful for some of the answers where the memory wouldn't click).
Thanks for mentioning it to us.
SIGNAL SOURCE RA 22.54.06 DEC -42.18.12
VERIF DETECT: PARKES 64M RADIO TEL AUSTRALIA AUG 8 2000 0422 GMT
FREQ: 1.242 GHz
SUBHARMONICS: NONE
SIGNAL CYCLE: 22 SEC BURST TRANS, 30 TRANS ITERATIONS/HR
SIGNAL FORMAT: BINARY PULSE
Liddy,' 'Rush Limbaugh' amplitude-modulated radio signal transmissions,
also broadband video signal 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.' We are
hereby imposing Galactic Quarantine on a 50-parsec perimeter from your
primary in Spiral Arm 12. Any attempt by Terrans at interstellar travel,
for the next 100 of your solar years, will be met with force from our
disrupter-cannon-equipped frigates. The quarantine does not, however,
apply at this point to Terran cetaceans or other non-human life forms.
Fire ants and kudzu, though, are right out.
late...
guests.
Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@www.clever.net
*************************************************************
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 purposes. 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. Friends of Fandom accepts no responsibility for
ConSortium's choice of Convention guests. We don't suffer from
insanity, we enjoy every minute of it!!!
*************************************************************
fof@www.clever.net . (But then you won't find out who ConSortium's
Guest's will be).
