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Volume 1, Issue 21 May 2011 2

Editorial: Well, this time, the lateness hasn’t been a result of being lazy, but of having too much to do at work. See, in addition to the tornadoes that hit NC (which weren’t quite as bad as the ones that hit Alabama), we’ve also had a rash of bad wind and hail storms. Working for an insurance company, that’s meant a lot needed to be done (hail creates more work for us than tornadoes, as it tends to create a high volume of smaller losses rather than a smaller number of total losses), and I found myself spending a couple of weeks in the mountains working on claims. Speaking of the weather, I’m happy to report that to the best of my knowledge, Southern fans are decent tornado dodgers, though I think I’ve heard of at least one roof getting hit. Stay safe out there, y’all. The calendar of events is nice and thick, which is fitting for the upcoming summer months. We’re still getting a regular stream of Rebel Yells, too, and there’s a tidbit in there about the historical Rebel Yell that I hope you’ll find interesting. After that, I’ve gotten back on the current-SF reading wagon, and I’ve got a short review of a Hugo nominee for you (and I hope to read them all, this year). Then, we’ve got a couple more sercon entries – I’ve persuaded Mitra Salehi to share a talk she gave on at a recent academic conference, and Dr. Jeff Thompson has a piece on the music from The Bride of Frankenstein . Add to that a more robust slate of art, and I’m pretty happy with this issue, even if it is a week late.

Contents: Calendar of Events (Warren Buff) – page 3 Rebel Yells (y’all) – page 11 Review: The Dervish House (Warren Buff) – page 14 Steam Shenanigans (Mitra Salehi) – page 16 Franz Waxman’s Music for The Bride of Frankenstein (Dr. Jeff) – page 21

Art Credits: Greg Rieves: Cover, page 10 Brad W. Foster: Page 12 Jose Sanchez: Page 23

Colophon: Editor & SFC President: Warren Buff [email protected] (919) 633-4993 8712 Wellsley Way Raleigh, NC 27613 USA All contents copyright their creators. This zine is free, either by direct email or www.efanzines.com . A letter of comment or other contribution will get you on my mailing list, as long as I remember to put you there. If I forget, bother me a second time, or however long it takes to add you. I haven’t been printing this one, which leaves me free to use as many pages as I wish, and do things like color. It also lets me use all the contributions I can muster, so fire away! 3

Calendar of Events:

May 13-15: Gaylaxicon (, Georgia – Holiday Inn Perimeter. Outlantacon is hosting this year’s edition of Gaylaxicon, the premier SF con for the queer audience. Expect to find their take on Family Feud, Project , a chocolate symposium, Gaylactic Jeopardy!, and the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Guest of Honor: Amber Bensen, Melissa Carter, Steve Scott, Don Schermerhorn & Wayne Hergenroder. Memberships are $60 at the door. www.outlantacon.org ) Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Fest (Chattanooga, Tennessee – Chattanooga Downtown Marriott Hotel. Around 30 tattoo booths, plus horror celebrities like Michael Berryman, Richard Brooker, Andrew Bryniarski, Brad Loree, Tiffany Shepis, and Stacey Dixon. $35 for the weekend, ten bucks less for each day you don’t care to go. www.fullmooninc.net/fr_nashvillefest.cfm ) Tiger Con (Memphis, Tennessee – University of Memphis campus. Student-run convention. Featuring Johnny Yong Bosch, ?Confusion?, and Per(sonic)fied. Free, but they request that you RSVP.) Starfleet Region 1 Summit (Pigeon Forge, TN – Mainstay Suites. Annual meeting of the Starfleet organization for Region 1. They’ll be having a duck race in the lazy river for charity. Adult registrations are $30. Banquet tickets are still available. http://sites.beyondweb.com/r1-summit/ ) Pulp Ark (Batesville, AR – Main Street. This is one of those events where the town is basically taken over for the weekend by pulp fans. Hard to explain much more than that. www.proseproductions.com/Press/pulpark.html ) May 14-15: NOLA Comic-Con (New Orleans, Louisiana –- Westin New Orleans Canal Place. . www.nolacomic.com ) WonderFest (Louisville, Kentucky – Crowne Plaza Hotel. Toy and model collecting convention with a focus on SF and a good selection of artists. Tickets are $30. www.wonderfest.com )

May 19-22: Nebula Awards Weekend (Washington, D.C. – Washington Hilton. Annual presentation of SFWA’s top awards, with workshops, panels, and great networking opportunities for SF professionals. The weekend alone is $50, the banquet dinner alone is $125, or the whole shebang for $150. www.sfwa.org/nebula-weekend )

May 20-22: Dice Head Siege (Chattanooga, Tennessee -- Chattanooga Choo Choo. Gaming with lots of tournaments and prizes. $25 membership, some tournaments extra. The extra, in such cases, is usually to cover the costs of material and/or prizes. www.diceheadseige.com ) Mobicon XIV (Mobile, Alabama – Ashbury Hotel & Suites. convention with all the trimmings. Guests of Honor include Robert Picardo and Weatherly B. Hardy. Registration is $40. www..org ) 4

Texicon (Fort Worth, Texas – Sheraton Hotel. Gaming convention that seems to have somehow snagged a name that’s so obvious it astounds me no one was using it yet. Registration is $40, with discounts available to gamemasters. http://texicon.net )

May 26-29: (Houston, Texas – Hilton Americas Houston. Great big guest list of film actors, artists, game designers, voice actors, etc. Looks like a pretty good assortment, too. Tickets are $35. www.comicpalooza.com ) May 27-30: Balticon 45 (Baltimore, Maryland – Marriott Hunt Valley. One of the South’s oldest conventions (I count ). Guests of Honor: Dr. Benjamin Bova, Vincent Di Fate, Bill & Brenda Sutton, Philippa Ballantine, Steve Geppi, Paolo Bacigalupi. Memberships are $62 at the door. www.balticon.org ) May 27-29: 14 (Raleigh, North Carolina – Raleigh Convention Center. Long-running in downtown Raleigh. Guests of Honor: Hiroaki Hirata, Todd Haberkorn, Cherami Leigh. Pre-reg $50 through May 8 th , $55 at the door. www.animazement.org ) Rocket City FurMeet 9 (Huntsville, Alabama – Embassy Suites Huntsville. Three days of furry fun in beautiful Huntsville. Guests of Honor: Kyoht, Scape the Goat, and a mystery GOH drawn from the paying members at opening ceremonies. $35 pre-registration, $40 at the door. www.rcfm.net ) Oasis 24 (Orlando, – Sheraton Downtown Orlando. Guests of Honor: David Drake, Tommy Castillo, and Carla Ulbrich. Membership $35 until 5/26, $40 at the door. http://oasfis.org/oasis/index.php ) TimeGate (Atlanta, Georgia – Holiday Inn Select Atlanta Perimeter. and Doctor Who convention. Featuring Mike Dopud and Sophie Aldred. Membership $40 through May 6 th , then $50 at the door. www.timegatecon.org ) NashCon (Franklin, Tennessee – Cool Springs Marriott. Historical miniatures wargamming. Their website bears a design I find strikingly familiar, though I think they haven’t made any modifications to the layout. Membership in the convention is $25. http://hmgs-midsouth.org/nashcon/ ) Florida Anime Experience (Kissimmee, Florida – Ramada Orlando Celebration. New anime convention in Florida. Also, it appears that Orlando is following the SF Bay Area’s three-cons-this-weekend trend. Guest of Honor: Steve Blum, who voiced Spike in Cowboy Bebop . Tickets are $31 until May 20th . www.floridaanime.com )

June 3-5: ConCarolinas (Charlotte, North Carolina – Charlotte Hilton University Place. One of the fastest growing cons in the region, and hosts of last year’s DSC. Guests of Honor include: Harry Turtledove, John Billingsley, Bonita Frierdericy, Keela & Katkith, Jamie Chambers, Carla Ulbrich, and Justin Chung. Pre- registration is $35 through May 16 th , then $40 at the door. www.concarolinas.org ) 5

HeroesCon (Charlotte, North Carolina – Charlotte Convention Center. Fan- friendly comics convention. I went once, early in my con-going days, though I haven’t been back since they’ve moved onto ConCarolinas’s traditional weekend. It also tells me I’ve been out of reading comics for a long time that I hardly recognize the names on their guest list anymore. The biggest names I recognize are and Bernie Wrightson, but the art for the others they’re highlighting looks fantastic, too. Yes, I need to hand in some geek street cred for that remark. $30 for the weekend, $15 for one day. www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/ ) Seishun-Con (Atlanta, Georgia – Doubletree Hotel Atlanta NW/Marietta. This appears to be a fan-based anime convention. I don’t see any guests listed, though I do see a call for panelists. Pre-registration is $25, while registration will be $30 at the door, or $20 for a day pass. http://seishun-con.com ) HamaCon 2 (Huntsville, Alabama – Holiday Inn Downtown. These guys list a handful of guests, such as Brina Palencia and Chris Cason. They’re another anime convention, and look to have been founded about the same time as Seishun-Con. Hopefully, they’ll find a way to stagger their weekends, since they’re only two hours away from each other. Pre-registration is $25, with extra food events available. www.hama-con.com ) OMGcon (Paducah, Kentucky – Julian Carroll Convention Center and Expo Center. Anime convention with guests including Robert & Emily DeJesus, Greg Ayres, Christopher Ayres, Tavisha, and Eric Stuart. Pre-registration $35 through May 20 th , less for groups. www.omgcon.com ) Bob Con (Winter Springs, Florida – Not much to tell yet, but this gaming event (Legends of the Shining Jewel) will hark back to the old days of Southern conventions, when they largely took place in someone’s home. Limited to 30 players, details forthcoming. http://warhorn.net/bobcon-2011/ )

June 10-12: Sci Fi Summer Con (Atlanta, Georgia – Crowne Plaza Atlanta NW Perimeter. This looks like it’s either on the relaxacon end of things or really behind schedule. They’ve got some guests listed on their flier, but I don’t recognize any names, and without bios, it’s hard to tell who’d actually get your attention. The website is a disaster. Memberships $20 through May 20 th , $35 at the door. http://sfscon.tripod.com ) Rapier (Jacksonville, Florida – Jacksonville Clarion Hotel. Gaming convention that aims to provide a friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, their website appears giant-sized, but I gather that they’ve got a dual theme of Napoleonics and . Pre-registration is $20 through May 11 th , $25 at the door. www.rapiercon.com ) A-Kon 22 (Dallas, Texas – Sheraton Dallas. Established anime convention. Plenty of voice actors, artists, comics folks, musicians, and writers on the guest list. Actually, the writers list would make for a pretty good SF con all by itself – Elizabeth Moon, Esther Friesner, Phil and Kaja Foglio, Lee Martindale, and then some. Pre-registration is $50 until May 1 st . http://a-kon.com )

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June 10-11: PariahCon (Lakeland, Florida – Imperial Swan Hotel & Suites. Small anime con, with some decent attention to computer gaming. Weekend passes $25. http://pariahcon.com ) Robert E. Howard Days (Cross Plains, Texas – several locations. There’s only one motel in town, the 36 West, and it’s likely to fill up. See the website, which lists the location for each event on the schedule, and gives recommendations for nearby motels. Most are at the library or the museum. Saturday includes a large outdoor Barbarian Festival. Guests of Honor: Dennis McHaney and Damon Sasser. Pre-registration $15. http://www.rehupa.com/?p=2398 )

June 17-19: Anime Mid-Atlantic 11 (Chesapeake, Virginia – Norfolk Marriott Chesapeake. Established anime convention serving the Tidewater. Guests include Todd Haberkorn, Chris Cason, Charles Dunbar, DJ Asu Rock, and Amy Howard Wilson. Pre-registration is $40 through May 28 th . www.animemidatlantic.com ) 9 (Tampa, Florida – Tampa Convention Center. Florida’s largest anime con will this year be themed around monsters vs. hunters. Guests include author Max Brooks, voice actors Crispin Freeman and Katie Gray, and a decent slate of artists, cosplayers, and musicians. Weekend passes are $55. www.metroconventions.com ) Comic & Anime Con (Knoxville, Tennessee – Holiday Inn Cedar Bluff. Guests include Rosearik Rikki Simons, Mellissa Cowen, Jason Craig, and Dan Jolley. $5 per day. www.knoxvillecomicanimecon.com ) Hypericon (Nashville, Tennessee – Holiday Inn Express Airport. Guests of Honor will be Glen Cook and Loren Damewood. Registration is $35. www.hypericononline.com ) June 18: ConFederation Celebration (Atlanta, Georgia – See March ish for details.)

June 24-26: Apollocon (Houston, Texas – DoubleTree Hotel Houston International Airport. Houston’s own SF convention takes advantage of the obvious space connection in its name. Guests of Honor: Martha Wells, Ann VanderMeer, B.E. Johnson, Jeanne Gomoll. Memberships are $35 for pre-reg, and $40 at the door. www..org ) Contamination (St. Louis, Missouri – Holiday Inn Viking. Horror, sci-fi, music, and pop culture. Eric Roberts, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and David Dela Rocco will headline. Weekend passes $30. www.con- tamination.com ) Texas Comicon (San Antonio, Texas – San Antonio Event Center. I like that they make a distinction between creators and celebrities in their guest list. The creators include the likes of Allen Bellman (Guest of Honor – he worked on the original Captain America run in the 40s), Steve Engelhart, Dave Hooper, and Chris Roberson. In addition to folks like Brent Spiner, their celebrities list includes Herbie the Love Bug and the General Lee. Weekend tickets $30. www.texascomicon.com ) 7

Fal-con (El Paso, Texas – 2501 Mesa Ave (Google Maps thinks that’s Mesa St, and shows it as an address at UTEP). No details about guests, so this may be fan programming. Anime and gaming (Fal stands for “fellow anime lovers”). Pre- registration is $30 (they put “tickets” in quotes – I think they find the concept of tickets to a con alien). www.fal-convention.com ) Cape Comic Con (Cape Girardeau, Missouri – Osage Center. Guests include Billy Tucci, William Katt, and Jeremy Haun. Plenty of gaming in addition to the comics. Three-day passes are $15. www.cape-con.com )

July 1-4: (Miami, Florida – Miami Airport Convention Center. Media-heavy big tent convention. Full 4-day passes are $47.50 until June 2 nd . www.floridasupercon.com ) July 1-3: Delta H Con (Houston, Texas – University of Houston campus. Anime convention with Chris Patton and Robert Axelrod as guests. There is a page for registration, but I don’t see anything denoting whether it costs anything or not. http://www.detlahcon.com )

July 8-10: Shore Leave 33 (Baltimore, Maryland – Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn. Featuring guests Christopher Judge, Tricia Helfer, Eddie McClintock, John de Lancie, John Grunsfeld, Emilie Ullerup, Gary Lockwood, Sally Kellerman, and Cliff Simon. Fan-run media-centric convention that also boasts a good slate of authors and artists. Pre-reg rate is $80 through June 15 th . www.shore-leave.com ) Anime Blues Con (Memphis, Tennessee – Hilton Memphis. Anime convention with a decent sense of where it is. Guests include Josh Elder, The Man Power, Maile Flanagan, , Martheus Wade, and Kyle Hebert. www.animeblues.com ) July 8-9: Omnicon (McAllen, Texas – McAllen Convention Center. Billed as a convention for video games, comics, music, and anime, its guests include Johnny Yong Bosch, Jason David Frank, and Eyeshine. Membership passes are $35 through June 1 st . www.omnicononline.com ) July 9-10: Ancient City Con 5 (Jacksonville, Florida – Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Guests include Pika Belle Chu, Don Perlin, Kevin A. Ransom, Linda S. Cowden, T.S. Robinson, The Killer Robots, and Shawn Lightfood & the Brigade. Pre-registration is $25 until June 17 th . www.ancientcitycon.com )

July 13-17: LeakyCon (Orlando, Florida – Royal Pacific Hotel. Harry Potter convention thrown by the staff of website The Leaky Cauldron, who use it to generate charitable contributions. It looks like many events are separately priced, including the already sold-out lit day. They’ve also arranged a special deal with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. In spite of that, their programming looks pretty fannish. You have to sign up for a website account to 8 register for the con, so I leave it to the determined to find out what the price is. www.leakycon.com ) July 15-16: 24 Hours of Potter (St. Louis, Missouri – Crowne Plaza Clayton. This 24 hour event will take its structure from a wizarding school year, with feasts, club events, classes, and broomstick sports. Registration is $25 through July 3 rd , or $80 if you want to attend the feasts. Regular registration will be available at the door for $30. www.24hoursofpotter.com ) July 15-17: LibertyCon 24 (East Ridge, Tennessee – Comfort Inn & Suites. This year’s guests of honor are S.M. Stirling, Theresa Mather, Stephanie Osborn, Julie Cochrane, and Allen Steele. LibertyCon is consistently one of the best cons around for both its top-notch programming and relaxing and engaging conversations in the lobby. Fierce competition abounds in both Hearts and Spades, though Spades has the larger following there. Memberships are $40 until June 25 th , at which point they’ll go up to $50. www.libertycon.org ) PersaCon (Huntsville, Alabama – Radisson Suite Hotel. Anime-centric convention appealing to the young geeks of Huntsville. Pre-registration is currently $30, with no indication of the cut-off date. www.persacon.com )

July 17-30: Shared Worlds (Spartanburg, South Carolina – Wofford College. Creative writing summer program, which looks geared towards high school students. Instructors include Jeremy L.C. Jones, Jeff Vandermeer, Christine Dinkins, Joseph Spivey, and Christopher Dinkins. Tuition is $2250, but financial aid is available. www.wofford.edu/sharedworlds/ )

July 29-31: (Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Convention Center. Big darned anime convention. Guests include Chemistry, Tony Oliver, Lisa Ortiz, and Tom Wayland. Memberships are $65 through July 16 th . www.otakon.com ) Megaplex (Kissimmee, Florida – Radisson Worldgate Resort. Furry convention with a theme, this year, of arcade classics. This year’s Guest of Honor is Chad Krueger. Pre-registration is $40, at the door will be $45. www.megaplexcon.org ) July 29-August 1: Play On Con (Birmingham, Alabama – Birmingham Marriott. SF & gaming convention. Featured presenters include Voltaire, Anya Martin, Sean Patrick Fannon, IK the Troll, and Andrew Greenberg. Registration online is $40, and will be $45 at the door. www.playoncon.com )

August 5-7: Anime Festival Orlando 12 (Orlando, Florida – www.animefestivalorlando.com ) (San Antonio, Texas – www.san-japan.org ) Whedon Fest (Scottsville, Kentucky – www.whedonitesunited.com )

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August 12-14: Guns of August (Williamsburg, Virginia – www.odms-club.com/convention ) Sukoshicon (Birmingham, Alabama – www.sukoshicon.com ) August 13-14: M:TG Open Cup (Poplar Bluff, Missouri – http://warhorn.net/semo-mtg- open-cup/ )

August 17-21: Renovation, the 69 th (Reno, Nevada – Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Atlantis Hotel, Peppermill Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott. Hotel booking will open 8 AM PST, January 17 th . Guests of Honor: Ellen Asher, Charles N. Brown (in memoriam), , Boris Vallejo. If you’ve never been to a Worldcon, you should try one. This one has the added bonus of not conflicting with the major Labor Day events so many of us go to, reducing your excuses. This is five days of science fiction, but more importantly, it’s a chance to meet fans from all over the world. It’s not uncommon for a group of friends at one of these to span three continents (or more – I’ve met fans from five at – South America and Antarctica, I’m looking at you). It’s also where presents its annual Hugo Awards – members can nominate and vote, though you’d better hurry if you want to nominate. This will be my third Worldcon, and I’m already getting a bit excited about it. I hope to see all y’all there. Membership is $195 through July 17 th , though there is a discounted rate of $100 available for fans 17-21. www.renovationsf.org ) August 18-21: Game Fest South (Chattanooga, Tennessee – www.gamefestsouth.com ) August 19-21: Mizu Con (Miami, Florida – www.mizucon.com ) Motaku (Kansas City, Missouri – www.motaku.org ) August 19-20: Onyx Con III (Atlanta, Georgia – www.onyxcon.com )

August 26-28: Armadillo Con (Austin, Texas – www.fact.org/dillo ) MechaCon (New Orleans, Louisiana – www.mechacon.com )

September 2-5: Dragon*Con (Atlanta, Georgia – several hotels in downtown, though most have already sold out. The guest list is huge, and they’ve named Terry Brooks and Michael Whelan as Guests of Honor. [Thanks, Regina! –ed.] The attendance at this will be in the tens of thousands. You will be surrounded everywhere you look by folks who share some interest in fandom. It’s a great four-day weekend, and always vibrant. Membership is $90 through May 13 th . www.dragoncon.com ) Mephit Furmeet (Memphis, Tennessee – www.mephitfurmeet.org )

September 16-18: Intervention (Rockville, Maryland – www.interventioncon.com ) 10

Con*Stellation XXX (Huntsville, Alabama – www.con- stellation.org/constell/index.html )

September 23-25: FenCon VIII/DeepSouthCon 49 (Addison, Texas – Crowne Plaza North Dallas. Guests of Honor: , Joe Bethancourt, Steven H Silver, Vincent Di Fate, Les Johnson, Bradley Denton, and Lou Anders. DeepSouthCon finally comes to Texas! I’m thrilled to be returning to FenCon, as well, which I found to have the friendly atmosphere appropriate to a good Southern con. I also found that the panels tended to have actively interested audiences, the game room stayed busy, folks attended the filk concerts and circles, the art show had a great mix of stuff (including some Tolkien-inspired quilts!), the video room was actually attended, the consuite well-stocked, and the dealers room balanced. The hotel bar also carried a few local Texas beers, which I appreciated. For DSC, I’ll be in charge of the fanzine lounge, which seems like an entirely appropriate place for the SFC to set up shop. FenCon will be taking advantage of Gail Carriger’s attendance to have some fun with steampunk as well. All in all, I’m looking forward to this year’s DSC, and I hope to see many of you there. Membership is $30 through June 1 st , with a special $45 rate which gets you a t-shirt or tote bag and first crack at the autograph line with the GoHs. A $15 rate is also available for fans 21 and under. www.fencon.org ) ScareFest (Lexington, Kentucky – www.scarefestcon.com )

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September 30-October 2: (Atlanta, Georgia – www.awa-con.com ) 35 (St. Louis, Missouri – www.archonstl.org ) GameCon V (Memphis, Tennessee – www.gameconmemphis.com )

June 15-17, 2012: DeepSouthCon 50 – Lunar Party (Huntsville, Alabama – venue TBA. This will be the first independent DSC in about a decade, and the Moon Princesses have put together quite a crew to run it. Guests of Honor will include Lois McMaster Bujold, Howard Tayler, Travis “Doc” Taylor, Larry Montgomery, David Hulan, and Dr. Demento. Larry and David ran the very first two DSCs back in the 60s, and this will be a rare opportunity to get to meet them. I’ll have more information on this con in coming issues. Attending Memberships are currently $40, or $15 for pre-supporters. Supporting Memberships are $20. www.dsc50huntsville.com )

Rebel Yells: News and note from all over

Tom Feller had a brief note for us this time:

Thanks for the e-zine. My only comment is that Anita and I attended the 2008 Westercon in Las Vegas and saw several people we knew and who knew us, because we've attended many Worldcons.

Tom

Thanks, Tom. I suppose getting more of us going to Worldcons would help with that connection more than anything.

Brad Foster checked in as well:

Greetings Warren ~

Checked out the new issue today. Hope the move goes well for you. I trust the change in address will apply only to your physical address, and not to emails? (That's the beauty of emails, can follow you anywhere- as long as the server doesn't crash!)

That fillo worked nicely to relate to the logo. Attached is a new one. Playing around with that interlocking lines stuff I like to do, but this time it turned into an actual thing. Well, at least 'I' thought it did!

Looking forward to more con reports from Allegra-Chainmail Chick. Sometimes convention reports can be a bit, shall we say, "dry". But there is such excitement in how she writes it up, it makes you want to go yourself. Got to get her to a 12

Worldcon, or the big San Diego Comicon. (Well, heck, she'd probably explode from the excitement of that last one!)

Back to the drawing board.

Brad

Brad W Foster PO Box 165246, Irving, TX 75016 [email protected] m

As you say, the email address remains the same. This is actually the fourth one I’ve had – the freebies I chose in high school and college, and the university account. I eventually wanted one that was just my name and wouldn’t go away, and I’ve loved Gmail’s functionality. I’ve gone ahead and included this illo here with your loc – I’m going to try to include more this issue. I doubt SDCC would make Allegra explode (she’s survived Dragon*Con, after all), but I would like to see what she thought of a Worldcon. I’ll hopefully be able to get more conreports from her to share with y’all.

J. Andrew World caught up to me at RavenCon and sent me down the trail of a rather interesting historical curiosity: a reconstruction of the sound of the Rebel Yell, based on the two extant recordings of Confederate veterans. Here’s a YouTube video from History Publishing Company, Palisades, New York, on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssLMroT2euQ&feature=related

Eerie.

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Joy V. Smith dropped us a brief note:

Warren,

Intriguing cover art, and what a fantastic diversity of cons! I enjoyed everyone's LOCs, but I loved The Chainmail chick's con reports! They were a lot of fun!! I'd love to see more con reports from her.

Appreciatively, Joy V. Smith My other blog (media tidbits and more) http://pagadan.livejournal.com/

Glad to hear you enjoyed last ish, Joy! Hope this one goes over well, too.

And of course, Lloyd Penney sent us another substantial LOC:

1706-24 Eva Rd. Etobicoke, ON CANADA M9C 2B2

April 18, 2011

Dear Warren:

Many thanks for SFC Update Vol. 1 No. 20. I will try my best to make this quick, and get it out asap.

We may have the equivalent of The Chainmail Chick here. Liana K has been on nation-wide television here and there, and she is now heavily involved in local fandom, going to every show there is, showing off an assortment of costumes that generally cover, to various degrees. I’m a diplomat, aren’t I? Liana is one of the three chairs of the big steampunk convention that’s coming up here in less than a couple of weeks. It’s on the same time as World Horror, but I don’t think there’ll be much overlap.

Another great convention list…I think Yvonne and I have decided we’re definitely going to Reno for the Worldcon, so we will see you there. Rich Dengrove’s letter…yes, I was worried that you’d burn out quick, being as busy as you’ve been with the SFC and other activities. I have avoided that fate for more than 30 years by taking inventory of our activities, and then make a hard decision. Deciding to hang it up after 30 years of conrunning wasn’t a hard decision, though… it’s a great present to give ourselves. We always get to talk and party with the people there, but lately, we’re feeling our years and feeling like Mom and Dad at the young kids’ convention, so retirement sounded good, and 30 years is a nice, round number.

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Hello to Allegra! We’ve got some nearly naked costumers up here, too. Fortunately for us, they look pretty good nearly naked. The rest of us should keep our clothes on for a variety of reasons we can guess at.

Short but sweet. I know a lot of people at cons like that…but in this case, I refer to the letter of comment I am now attempting to finish off. Thank you for another issue, and see you again with the next!

Yours, Lloyd Penney.

Hope the steampunk con and World Horror have both gone well. This issue is a little late because April was a bad month for weather in NC, and I got assigned to work on some of the claims up in the mountains. It was nice to get away from things down here, and gave me some nice reading time. Congrats on your 30 years, and I hope you can get some relaxation time at cons for a while! I can imagine that Toronto’s a fair bit colder for the nearly-naked costumers than the South.

And finally, we heard from new (to us, at least) artist Greg Rieves, whose work graces our cover and interiors this ish:

Hello,

My name is Greg Rieves I met you at last years Con Carolinas in Charlotte and inquired about your fan magazine SOUTHERN FANDOM CONFEDERATION UPDATE. I am a cartoonist/artist and I wanted to send some art work your way. Enclosed is a color illustration and some black and white cartoons that you may use if you wish. I enjoy reading your magazine at Efanzines.com along with many other fan publications.

Thank you for your time and I hope like my artwork,

Greg

Thanks, Greg! I’m always open to running work by more artists, and I’m finally taking the time to actually include more than one artist per issue these days. It’s one of those things I kept meaning to do….

WAHF: Regina Kirby, with info on Dragon*Con; Dr. Jeff Thompson, with another article (see below); Toni Weisskopf.

Review:

To give myself a fair scale for ranking the Hugo nominees for Best Novel before I've read them all, I'm going to rank the 8 nominees of the previous decade that I've actually read. My rating for a given book will be where I would slot it, if it 15

were added to this hypothetical ballot. I don't believe any of these works ranks below No Award, so it takes the ninth slot. A rating of 10, therefore, would indicate that a book is utterly unworthy of a Hugo, whereas a 1 would mean I would give it a rocket even against extraordinarily stiff competition – three of them got rockets of their own, after all. Keep in mind, then, that I really liked all eight of these books. This doesn’t, however, correspond to the actual weight I gave them at the time. I voted Julian Comstock above The City & The City , for instance. A rousing good adventure story is enough to get my vote over No Award, but a book that makes me think and feel as well will get higher marks.

The Power Ballot (1) Anathem by (2) American Gods by Neil Gaiman (3) The City & The City by China Miéville (4) The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (5) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (6) Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson (7) Old Man's War by John Scalzi (8) The Last Colony by John Scalzi (9) No Award

The Dervish House by Ian McDonald 358 pages, seven evenings to read. Rank on the Power Ballot: 2

Ian McDonald has done something here that modern fantasy writers should take note of: he has written a complex story with half a dozen point-of- view characters, using a rich level of detail and long chapters covering fairly compact spans of time, with a grand setting that experiences sweeping changes, introducing multiple power systems with discrete rules previously unfamiliar to the reader – and he has done so in under 400 pages. Oh, and he did it with an awareness of these characters' class, gender, religion, and ethnicity, none of which he shoved in the reader's face.

The story hinged on new technologies with the ability to change the world, but it was moved all the while by its characters. This was a story about an old man who has carried a broken heart for 47 years. This was a story about a boy with a disability who refused to let it stifle his intelligence. This was a story about the ethics and ambition of a commodities broker at the height of his power. This was a story about his wife, who wants him to see that she can be a dealer, too, and the beautiful patterns she sees in the world. This was a story about the religious awakening and redemption of a callous young man. This was a story about a girl 16 from the country who wants very badly to succeed in the city, and the family crisis that gives her an opening to do so.

This is what science fiction does so well, and Ian McDonald has done it very well. Read it. Read it now.

Steam Shenanigans By Mitra Salehi

[Note from the author: Please include the note that this was a presentation paper, necessarily (painfully) truncated for time - there are major things left out or to be added - what who considers the major definitive steampunk to be, all the citations, etc. I really owe my theoretical frame to Rose, most of what I'm doing is expanding her idea across artistic media, so there are lots of things that are her ideas but not marked as such. The more ambitious project that this came out of was an attempt to look at SteamPunk crafting as physicalizing "semiotic ghosts", a concept jacked explicitly from Gibson's "Gernsback Continuum" (though that was about of another era - I didn't know at the time that "retrofuturism" had already been articulated and was casting about for what I was on to).]

"Steampunk": Even if you don't recognize the term, you've probably experienced it. The 1999 summer blockbuster Wild, Wild West , for example, starred Will Smith and Kevin Kline opposite Kenneth Branagh’s steam-powered wheelchair and enormous mechanical spider. That movie was based on the 1965 proto-steampunk television series The Wild, Wild West, which was itself full of steam train adventures and relentless gadgeteering. Other Hollywood films with notable Steampunk elements from the last decade or so include Sherlock Holmes (2009); Van Helsing (2004), Jonah Hex (2010) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, by and Kevin O’Neill. Steampunk is a retrofuturistic genre with its roots in the of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and has enjoyed increasing international attention since its 1987 naming by K.W. Jeter, the author of Steampunk novels, and Infernal Devices . Despite its origins as a literary fiction genre, there are now identifiable works of Steampunk sculpture and design, film, music, roleplaying games, videogames, costume construction, costumed performance, and even new self-identified communities and events. How, then, can we conceptualize “Steampunk” as a cohesive genre? Academic work on Steampunk is in its very early phases; while the genre is not new it had not attracted the attention of the academy until its recent explosion in general popularity. Such useful articles as are available are concentrated in the journals Neo-Victorian Studies , , and Verniana . Though not an academic journal, discussion among subculture participants in SteamPunk Magazine has added much to the intellectual discussion since 2006. Academic analysis of Steampunk has focused primarily on its literary facet, often in the analysis of one of its seminal texts, such as Willam 17

Gibson and ’s . However, Steampunk's proliferation across different media calls for a more flexible conceptualization of genre, a way to think about Steampunk as Steampunk across modes of expression. Barbara Fuchs presents a useful way of looking at genre in her work Romance . Instead of looking at “romance” as a settled body of literature fixed in time, it can be seen as a strategy, a set of concerns and themes that can be resituated in each particular historical occurrence, such as medieval romance, renaissance romance, or even gothic romance. Borrowing Fuchs’ approach and applying it laterally rather than chronologically, I look at Steampunk as a strategy, with common elements and themes that can make a work recognizably Steampunk regardless of creative medium. This way, a costume, a piece of music, or a film can all be meaningfully called Steampunk, without losing their particularities as distinct forms of art. There are a great many potential identifiers of Steampunk. Mike Perschon, Grant MacEwan University’s Professor of Literature and blogger at “The Steampunk Scholar”; proposes “technofantasy, retrofuturism and neo- Victorianism.” I am not attempting to present a comprehensive definition of “the Steampunk strategy”, but to explore one aspect - Steampunk’s particular relationship to history expressed across artforms. I am particularly indebted to two pieces of existing literature. In “Extraordinary Pasts: Steampunk as a Mode of Historical Representation," Margaret Rose articulates Steampunk as a term that combines two major elements: ““steam”, evokes specifically the nineteenth century and a focus on technology, past and present; “punk” evokes an irreverent attitude toward history and...an iconoclastic concern with the origins and conventions of [science fiction]”. It is this focus on technology and playful impiety towards carefully studied histories, Rose concludes, that really separates Steampunk from more nostalgic traditions, such as the gaslight romance. To move beyond Rose’s focus on the literal written word, I supplement her work with Rebecca Onion’s insights on the Steampunk relationship to technology articulated in her article, “Reclaiming the Machine: An Introductory Look at Steampunk in Everyday Practice." I have organized this presentation as an illustrated introduction to the way that Steampunk “Punks History”. Steampunk art’s playful relationship to history is one of the genre’s major identifiable topoi – commonplace elements and themes – and one of its most important for our purposes, as a discussion of public memory. Steampunk’s concern with history is not limited to Victoriana as costuming and backdrop, nor is it simple nostalgia. As Rose put it, “steampunk is a fiction that places a premium on minutely accurate historical detail, within flamboyantly wronged imagined pasts, in order to explore the ways in which the conventional historical sensibility sometimes gets it wrong” These “wronged” pasts can include alternate histories (usually in which there is a technology-related hinge-point or point of divergence from real history, at which point the fiction picks up), fantasy settings with little correspondence to Earth’s 18 history, or futures extrapolated from a technologically anachronistic Victorian past. Engagement with Victorian culture and tropes is what is important , rather than adherence to a strict historical period or physical location. Steampunk narratives have been set on Mars, for example, or in an alternate historical timeline, as in comic by Phil and Kaja Foglio, “in which the Industrial Revolution escalated into a full-on war”. War Machine , a strategy game, integrates many elements of Steampunk despite an overtly non-Earth fantasy setting. This mixture of Victorian tropes and historical detail with fantasy and anachronism does not, and Rose makes this point emphatically – indicate a disregard for or denial of the reality and importance of history, but instead a way to “explore the intersections and limitations of the various textual ways in which we access it.” How we make sense of historical fact, organize it and receive it in narrative forms is what is in question. If the historical artifacts strewn about the narrative (or about the costume) are verifiably real, but they do not fit in with a received historical picture, we must pay closer attention to narrative-making in both history and fiction, and in that moment, says Rose, lies a big part of Steampunk’s subversive potential. In these works, loving attention is paid to historical details, while the “Great Men” (and women) of history are featured both prominently and irreverently – in Paul DiFilippo’s short story “Victoria”, constant nods are made to period figures, international political and military events, and common dress practices, while a young Queen Victoria runs away to be temporarily replaced on the throne by a prurient salamander-human hybrid who happened to bear a resemblance to the missing monarch. Queen Victoria also appeared as a single-celled organism in short story “Petrolpunk.” Abraham Lincoln, another genre favorite, appears as either a zombie or robot, in roleplaying game setting DeadLands and Robert Reed’s short story “American Cheetah”, respectively. To further explore our senses of the historical, Rose points out the ways in which Steampunk literature uses signals of pastness – archaic diction and constant references to anachronistic facts, and social and technological forms, such as the penny dreadful, music hall, or steam train, and then complicates or even upends these signals with juxtaposed fantasy or stylized anachronism, an almost Brechtian move in which the viewer must acknowledge their own disrupted expectations of the boundaries between history, fiction, realism, and representation. This is also in play in Steampunk performance, music, crafting and costume, all of which often share venues or even directly overlap in the same performance. Steampunk performance art often takes visual vocabulary from the carnival sideshow, and has cross-pollinated with the growing neo-vaudeville and burlesque revivals, such as Cabaret Decadance and Tragic Tantrum Cabaret. Costumers play with 19th century visual signals of gender and class, such as corsets, full skirts, parasols, and top hats. By pairing these signals with anachronistic elements taken from gothic or rave fashion vocabularies, ostentatiously unreal technological props or prosthetics, or displays of body that would have been inappropriate to the gendered and classed signals in the rest of the outfit, Steampunk costumers interrupt a straight reading of what that 19 costume would historically signify about the wearer. Steampunk craftspeople seek to make apparent and material the workings of consumer technology that modern science and design have made microscopic and invisible, hidden within an inaccessible “black box”. By creating pieces of technology and art in the visual vocabulary of 19th century industrial technology, Steampunk craftspeople deconstruct and reconstruct, both literally and mentally, objects both functional and sculptural, that if read “straight” as 19th century reproductions would do blatantly anachronistic or fantastical things. Brass, wood and leather cases that contain working computers, for example, refitted old iron stoves that hide working electric ranges, or even prosthetic or prop pieces that imply cybernetics or ray guns. In music, elements of arrangement or instrumentation such as accordion waltzes can signal pastness, as can sung storytelling forms– ballads, cautionary tales, etc. Lyrical handling of Steampunk concerns (such as anachronistic technology) is often, for example, put into a ballad form while juxtaposed with modern instrumentation or diction, such as in “Victorian Gentlemens Boasting Song” by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing). The name of London-based band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing is an excellent example of the hidden historical jokes common in Steampunk. Their name is a reference to graffiti found at the site of one of London’s famous Jack the Ripper murders, as may be the name of their label, “Leather Apron”, another object found at the scene of the crime. Their lyrics often explicitly spoof Victorian society or Steampunk itself, such as in their song “Goggles”, in which they play on a common Steampunk fashion accessory to sing the praises of technologically adept women. In Steampunk, production and performance are often heavily integrated, blurring the lines between not only performer s and craftspeople, but between performers and audiences. Professional acts run the gamut from mostly musical groups like Abney Park that perform as costumed personas, to the League of S.T.E.A.M (a “steampunk ghostbusters”-esque theater group who produce their own YouTube distributed adventure videos, as well as live theater performances), and the crews of Airships Isabella and Neo-Dulcimer (who do everything from performance to crafting, Steampunk education to visual art). Not only do bands perform in costume, often on modified or self-built instruments, but costumed attendees (costumers and artists themselves) are common at Steampunk gatherings, conventions and musical events. As Emmett Davenport writes of one such event, North Carolina’s own Clockwork Ball, “It's part dance party, part costume ball, part theatre, part concert, part dance lesson, part photo shoot and I suppose there's a smidgen of role playing in there.” Costumed event attendees, using clothing and props that are often home-made or at least individually assembled, often complete with developed personas, blur the line between fashion, crafting, and performance. Progress narratives, both technological and cultural, come under fire in Steampunk narratives of many kinds. The technological optimism often expressed in Steampunk work is tempered with an awareness of the potentially negative consequences of “progress”, the dangerous connections between the drives for technological and social improvement and “the drive for power or mastery over the world” – the gentleman tinkerer is often dangerously close to 20

becoming the mad scientist, and both are often depicted in Steampunk art (Rose 329) The anachronistic development of robot and computer technologies as analog, mechanical machines in the 19th century is a common feature of both modern Steampunk literature and its 19th century source material (Onion), but these technologies are never played straight, or put to their historical uses; zeppelins are home to airship pirates, Charles Babbage’s historically proposed “difference engine” was not only built but rivaled modern computers, and in DiFilippo’s “Victoria”, the very first nuclear-steam hybrid train explodes, killing the inventor’s parents and most of a town, and further nuclear experimentation is abandoned. ’s critical play on history can also be used to question the inevitability of imperialism and hegemony. What would the world look like if the Turkish experiments with submarine technology during the Crimean War had been successful? What would one wear in an anachronistically technological 19th century China? If the Babbage engine changed the course of history, how would Native American groups adapt? Two notable web presences that discuss the possibilities of Steampunk beyond “the West” are bloggers “Ay- leen the Peacemaker”, with her blog community Beyond Victoriana, and Miss Kagashi, on her blog Multiculturalism for Steampunk. As Ay-leen puts it, “The nineteenth century was a time of intellectual achievement, innovation, and geopolitical expansion. At the same time, that greatness came at the expense of slavery, oppression, social inequality, and racism... So when speaking about steampunk from non-Eurocentric settings, difficult issues about race, class, marginalized histories, and cultural appropriation will be addressed.” Both bloggers publish costume and technological histories intentionally chosen from non-Western historical moments they feel are underrepresented, as well as pieces of Steampunk art that they feel creatively engage with these dialogues. The juxtaposition of historical detail with fantasy to create an open critical space is also notable in the Steampunk handling of gender. Criticisms of the gender politics of The Difference Engine abound, but Rose found a range of potentially empowering female characters in the short-story anthology Extraordinary Engines . Steampunk costuming is rife with corsets and their centuries of accumulated, conflicting textual baggage, but almost never go untroubled - bustles and corsets are often paired with adventuring gear, with rayguns as often as parasols. The proliferation of Copelia-esque stories, in which a genius of questionable morals creates a doll-like “daughter” he keeps locked away, might imply a straight rehash of the romantic objectification of women, as in Abney Park’s “Herr Drosselmeyer’s Doll” and Death of the Cog’s “The Inventor’s Daughter”, but the (perhaps ironically named) Clockwork Dolls write and perform subversively anachronistic ballads, women’s laments and story songs for arguably feminist ends. Their song “Maiden Voyage”, for example, couples the technological achievement of flight with a woman’s independence, while strident proprietress Anne Fernale takes center stage in “No Guns Allowed in My Bar.” 21

It should be noted, Steampunks’ analytical fascination with history extends to their own – self-reported histories many aspects of the genre itself are common on Steampunk websites, and critique and debate thereof can be...spirited. The presence of active Steampunk communities on the internet, including the Brass Goggles forum and the troublesomely named The Steampunk Empire, provide a forum for debate and self-reflection, as well as for the dissemination of tips, historical articles and resources, how-to’s and insider genre histories. Jokes and censure help define the boundaries of Steampunk practice, including “what not to wear” articles about over-done costuming tropes. Particular ridicule is reserved for those who blindly follow the aesthetics of Steampunk in a way that demonstrates a lack of understanding of its underlying critiques, i.e. you just pasted a bunch of gears on a tophat. Even as I present this paper, my work is becoming a small foreshadowing of what will doubtless be a more complete (and much better illustrated) overview of Steampunk in its many manifestations – The Steampunk Bible , by Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers. In a recent interview, author and artist S.J. (who, even in her own biography, does not explain her initials), notes that, “These steampunks work within their own cultural heritages to rewrite and explore their histories in an imaginative way without diminishing the seriousness of the issues they raise.” – S.J. Chambers, interview. By presenting these ideas in an inviting space of play, Chambers suggests, they may be more positively and widely received. As the Sepiachord crew note - like Steampunk literature and film, Steampunk music is “something that looks back to the past to comment on the present while looking sideways at the future.” By entering into this imaginative space, Steampunk authors and artists can explore the rich tropes of the 19th century world while simultaneously complicating the legacies with which they are engaging.

Franz Waxman’s Music for The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Jeff Thompson

Much of the success of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) as a horror/fantasy film is because of its rich, memorable music score that enlivens and interprets the film’s scenes. One of the reasons for Dracula and Frankenstein ’s stagy feel is those 1931 films’ almost total lack of music. In The Bride of Frankenstein, Franz Waxman’s brilliant score, along with still-effective special effects and then-state-of-the-art sound effects, elevates the film to a product that contemporary audiences regard as a complete, real Hollywood movie. The Bride of Frankenstein is the complete package: action, sets, costumes, scares, laughs, sound effects, special effects—and plenty of music. Franz Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann in Konigshutte, Germany (now Chorzow, Poland), on Christmas Eve of 1906. Beginning in 1923, the young pianist studied at music conservatories in Dresden and Berlin and was the piano player for a jazz band called the Weintraub Synkopaters. Waxman left Germany 22 for France in 1934; soon thereafter, he came to the United States where Waxman met director James Whale at a Hollywood Christmas party in December of 1934. Having liked Waxman’s music for Fritz Lang’s Liliom, Whale invited the composer to score Whale’s upcoming Bride movie, which would begin filming on 2 January 1935. Franz Waxman went on to compose music for more than 150 films, including The Invisible Ray, The Devil-Doll, A Christmas Carol, The Philadelphia Story, To Have and Have Not, Sorry Wrong Number, Stalag 17, Mister Roberts, Peyton Place, and Return to Peyton Place. Waxman scored four of Alfred Hitchcock’s films—Rebecca, Suspicion, The Paradine Case, and Rear Window —and the composer won two consecutive Academy Awards for his music for Sunset Boulevard (1950) and A Place in the Sun (1951). Like the stunning female creature who lives on-screen for only five minutes but who has become one of the foremost Universal monster-movie icons, Franz Waxman’s score for The Bride of Frankenstein transcends this one movie and has enjoyed exposure and recognition far beyond its point of origin. The Bride music score—especially the unforgettable five-note “Monster Theme” and the misterioso “Pretorius Theme”—was reused in numerous Western films, some B-movies, and the Flash Gordon movie serials. The very best film music can lend color, emotion, nuance, and subtext to whatever film with which it is paired. Franz Waxman’s Peyton Place theme song may have made him the most money—and his Oscar-winning music for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun may have granted him the most prestige—but Waxman’s rousing, scary, playful, clever music for The Bride of Frankenstein has bestowed upon him immortality among Universal monster-movie fans, Flash Gordon fans, baby- boomer viewers of TV’s Shock Theater and Creature Feature, and today’s cable- TV watchers and DVD consumers. According to film-music historian Richard Bush, “Certainly, Waxman’s score [for Bride ] provided a sophistication that was simply out of the ordinary and unrivaled in its time by the majority of film scores.” Indeed, Max Steiner, with his brilliant scores for King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game, The Son of Kong, and She, and Franz Waxman, with his dazzling music for The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Ray, The Devil-Doll, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (the Spencer Tracy version), seemed to “invent” effective, intrinsic music for horror/fantasy/adventure movies. About Waxman’s Bride score, Bush adds, “It should be noted that Waxman employed whole-tone scales for the majority of the cues in Bride. Whole-tone scales, unlike traditional diatonic scales [e.g. do re mi fa so la ti do], have only six notes to the octave with each interval in the scale composed of a whole tone. Whole-tone scales were cultivated by and usually associated with the music of Claude Debussy and are characterized by a “restless” feeling. The technique was often used in film music to provide a supernatural atmosphere.” Waxman evokes the style of Debussy in the scene in which the Frankenstein monster (Boris Karloff) wanders through a peaceful countryside and encounters a shepherdess. As the idyllic scene takes a dark turn, the music segues to a march variation of the “Monster Theme” and then to an agitato “Chase Theme” as the villagers pursue the creature, capture him, and truss him up. This scene has been compared both to 1930s-era lynchings and to the 23

Crucifixion of Christ. Franz Waxman probably infused his personal experience into the emotional music accompanying the monster’s capture and mistreatment, for the event that prompted him to leave Germany in 1934 was that the 27-year- old Waxman was beaten up on a Berlin street by a gang of anti-Semitic hoodlums. Virtually every character in Bride has his or her own theme song or leit-motif which recurs, in different keys, instrumentations, and treatments, throughout the score. The thrilling main-title music introduces the monster’s theme, Dr. Pretorius’s theme, the female creature’s theme (a weird blend of romance and horror), and even Elizabeth’s “A Strange Apparition” theme which returns at the moment that an hysterical Elizabeth predicts the appearance of Dr. Pretorius. The leit-motif theme song of , Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron in the film’s prologue is a quaint minuet, played first by a string quartet and later in the scene by celesta, harp, bassoon, clarinet, and muted trumpet. Even the servant Minnie (Una O’Connor), the comic relief of the film, has her own theme which is played by various woodwinds as Minnie unknowingly helps the monster up out of the fiery pit. In the homunculi scene, Waxman deftly interpolates Felix Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song” when Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) displays the miniature ballerina. The mad doctor even identifies the piece of music to Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive). Later, Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” punctuates a poignant moment near the end of one of the film’s most memorable scenes: the monster’s bittersweet encounter with a compassionate blind man (O.P. Heggie). This is a sequence that is mercilessly spoofed in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein, a film which draws upon key elements in Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein for its satire. 24

Waxman’s breathtaking “Creation” music is a musical tour de force combining the misterioso theme, the agitato theme, the exotic “Bride Theme,” and an insistent tympanum suggesting a heartbeat. (Years later, Waxman complained that the deafening sound effects in the creation scene obscured much of his music!) Finally, when the female creature comes to life and Dr. Pretorius campily (and ambiguously) christens her “the bride of Frankenstein,” Waxman gamely joins in the fun by cueing wedding bells. Waxman has left no bizarre stone unturned—and neither has the film itself. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) can be considered a fantasy (in my opinion, merely the hysterical, delirious fever-dream/hallucination of Henry Frankenstein, who was in an incoherent fog at the conclusion of Frankenstein ), a horror movie, a campy comedy, a pre-feminist statement about gender issues, a political statement about race and sexuality, or—best of all—one of the most fondly remembered movie memories from one’s childhood and a universally recognized and embraced staple of popular culture.

Dr. Jeff Thompson teaches English at Tennessee State University and Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film in Nashville. He is the Rondo Award- nominated author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006 (McFarland, 2009) and House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Westview, 2010). He collects film music on LP and CD, as well as Dark Shadows memorabilia, autographed books and pictures, monster models, comic books, and other popular-culture artifacts.