The Drink Tank 352

The Gift of Old Machines - [email protected] Classics of Science Fiction by John Hertz We’ll discuss three classics at LoneStarCon 3, one discussion each. Come to as many as you like. You’ll be welcome to join in.

We’ll start with “A classic is a work that survives its own time. After the currents which might have sustained it have changed, it remains, and is seen to be worthwhile for itself.”

One author from Switzerland, three from the United States; one woman, three men; one outsider, three among us. Each story may be more interesting today than when first published. Have you read them? Have you re-read them?

Herman Hesse The Glass Bead Game (1943; sometimes called Magister Ludi)

The first and for fifty years the only Nobel Prize s-f novel, recently (July 2013) among “100 Greatest Novels Ever” in Entertainment Weekly, here is the author’s last and crowning work, one of the rare s-f masterpieces from outside our field, a satire, a story, a character study, poetic even in translation, we hope not prophetic, searchingly profound.

Henry Kuttner & Catherine Moore “Vintage Season” (1946)

Haunting, careful, penetrating, often anthologized, it’s been attributed mainly to Moore, but both said that after they married they wrote everything together; for this one they used the name Lawrence O’Donnell. Men, women, mavericks, martinets, all come under the lens, all right, all wrong, all tragic.

Jack Vance The Dying Earth (1950)

Translated into Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Russian, the author’s first novel — maybe; Mike Resnick said “If Kirinyaga is a novel, The Dying Earth is a novel” — may be his best known work. Robert Silverberg said “Its prose is measured, taut, controlled, mesmeric.” It may be science fiction.

Art from Mo Starkey Hesse’s Bead Game by John Hertz

The Glass Bead Game (1943; also published in English as Magister Ludi) is largely neglected among us. Yet it won its author Hermann Hesse a Nobel Prize; it is one of very few good s-f novels by an outside writer; indeed it is a masterpiece. In this book the glass bead game is what differs from our world. Some hundreds of years from now — Hesse does not say, though to a friend he wrote of imagining the year 2400 (T. Ziolkowski, The Novels of Hermann Hesse (1965), p. 308) — the world has re-organized. People grew tired of what they came to call the age of wars. Intellectual ability found a new place. The change was begun, or concentrated, by a toy, a wire frame on which glass beads could be strung in various colors and shapes. The beads were used to symbolize ideas — all kinds of ideas — an architectural design, a theme in a Gabrieli sonata, a line of verse. Over time there grew up a notation, the physical beads fell out of use, the game took on international proportions. The best players were celebrities; the least were precious schoolmasters. The book does not mention, but from hints Hesse surely knew, that similarly knowledge of the Confucian classics, and skill at a kind of essay-writing, were the backbone of China for two thousand years. By the time of the story a kind of order had formed, like our religious orders, its members renouncing material wealth, family, politics, to serve society by virtue of their training. A Master of Music, and a President of the Order, are important characters in the novel. The alternative book-title Magister Ludi, i.e. “master of the game” in Latin, is the name of the office held by the protagonist, in which capacity he among other things led public games with great ceremony. This particular Master of the Game, a man named Joseph Knecht, became a subject of legend. His work excelled, but his career ended strangely. Well after his death a biography was thought possible. It is compiled by another member of the order, writing for the general public. He summarizes the

art from Michele Wilson history of the game, tells what is known of Knecht’s life, adds with reluctant scholarship the legendary matter, and closes with some of Knecht’s student exercises and poetry. The Glass Bead Game is a model of s-f writing. Hesse’s subtlety never fails. All the big questions about elitism, practicality, creation, skepticism, the risk of panacea, the place of religion and the nature of allegiance, are handled by implication. Nor does he digress to explain technology. Why should he? The characters take it for granted. The book is first about them, how they strive and succeed and fail; second about their world, what shape it has as a result of its choices. In a virtuoso display Hesse disdains the technique of throwing us into the middle of things; he puts the explanatory matter in front, and fascinates us by using it to characterize the narrator. By the time the narrator is ready to start on Knecht’s childhood our suspicions are roused and the game is afoot. The narrator is sure, but not so smug or stupid as to make the book cheap. Women are largely off stage, while Hesse with little touches shows the consequences of that. The detail is telling throughout, and the language even in translation has admirable grace. The structure of the book is masterly. The student episode of Plinio Designori foreshadows the meeting of Designori and Knecht as adults, and then, the alarm having sounded, Knecht’s letter to the Board of Educators, where Knecht in all the power of his mind displays what he reproved Designori for. When we come to the closing matter we burn to know what signs Knecht gave in his youth. They are all there. We need not wonder what difference Knecht made; the presence and tone of the narrator at the beginning tell us. The end of Knecht’s life is as right as any tragedy. In sorrow and horror we were expecting it. By the miracle of genius this book is not mired in its time. Written in Switzerland, in the middle of Europe, in the middle of World War II, it is not about National Socialism — the one cut at Hitler is made so much in passing that we are jolted into recalling the year 1943 — or Communism, or the West and the East shaking each other awake. Its reception cannot be called silly to an audience who knows the history of Stranger in a Strange Land. Even today there are people who say they are founding the Province of Castalia or playing the glass bead game. In this his final work Hermann Hesse, if we may say so, surpasses Jane Austen and reaches the level of Jack Benny. Who can regret the cost? A substantially similar form of this note first appeared in Art Widner’s fanzine YHOS [short for “Your Humble Obedient Servant”].

art from Michele Wilson I just got lucky. I have several old hard drives just layin’ around, gathering dust. I’ve been meanign to do the extraction, but the first pass didn’t work, and it turns out that one of my drives will no longer spin-up. These things happen. But one did, and it provided WONDERS! All the art from 2007 and earlier from artists like Selina Phanara (on the top, over there), and Robert Hole (Middle) and Kate Kelton (Bottom) and Genevieve, and DL Norton and Kurt Erichsen and Brad Foster and on and on and on. There was the Chris 4 TAFF artwork, so many pieces on so many things. And MUSIC! I have several favorites that I haven’t been able to listen to for ages. Things like the one man band that recorded all the music from Super Mario World, and the Haunted Mansion soundtrack, and The Kleptonics’ A Night at the Hiphopera, where they mash-up the works of Queen with various hip-hop and other musics! I drove back from Costume College listening to it along the way! And I did go to Costume College, with the Lovely & Talented Linda, and had a lovely time drinking and working on various things. I ran into John Hertz, thought I had a zine to give him, but it turned out that I only had the ones I’d been handing out at Westercon. Costume College is a gorgeous con, kinda like going to a Steampunk convention except with way more awesome people in costumes. It’s also the most highly female convention I’ve ever been to, probably along the lines or 80%. I’m hoping that I can get back to another in the near, though next year, we’re pretty much only doing three or four cons other than our trip to WorldCon/EuroCon (those will likely be BayCon, Costume- Con, and Westercon, and have I mentioned I’ll be Fan Guest of Honor there! You should check out http://westercon67.org/) and more than likely I’ll be cheap all year so I can afford to do three weeks or so around the British Isles! It’s been a bit rough working on the exhibits for LoneStarCon! I’m in charge of two, but was supposed to be helpign to write labels for the others, but alas, no one was able to get me objet lists and such within a reasonable amount of time. I think I’ve just had too much time at the museum that has long lead times that folks don’t aren’t used to working with. It happens, but still, they’re going to be some really fun exhibits! I really wanna see Fandom in 50 Objects! And, as always, I’ve been watching movies, this time for Cine- quest, and it’s been a lot of fun! I can’t wait to see what we pull out of all these submissions, as the level of quality I’ve been seeing this year is higher than ever. 5 Cons, our documentary project, continues unabated. We’re at the run-up to the 4th Con: WorldCon. It’s gonna be a series of exciting interviews and b-roll. We’ve just done the final WesterCon video (it’s up at 5consdocumentary.weebly.com) and it’s going to only get bigger! 2 more cons, and a series of wrap-up videos that’ll take bits from every one of the 5 Cons. Also, I am so glad One Life to Live is back! The Answers... Late, but here!

So, I forgot to put the answers to the puzzles in issue 347! And here they are now! Puzzle Answers! CLEAR [3] Blackout/All Munkkiniemi (Connie Willis, 2011) LIGHT [1] Lord of (Roger Zelazny, 1968) ÄMERICAN [1] Pukinmäki Gods (Neil Gaiman, 2002)

DEEP [4] A Fire Upon the Santahamina (Vernor Vinge, 1993) FIRE [2] Harry Potter and the Goblet of (J. K. Rowling, 2001) CASTLE [4] The Man in the High Katajanokka (Philip K. Dick, 1963) DARKNESS [4] The Left Hand of Tammisalo (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1970) DIÄMOND [3] The Meilahti Age (Neal Stephenson, 1996) RÄMA [2] Rendezvous with (Arthur C. Clarke, 1974) WINDUP [3] The Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi, 2010)

JONATHAN [1] Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke, 2005) FOUNDATION [6] Pitäjänmäki’s Edge (Isaac Asimov, 1983)

MIRROR [1] Dance (Lois McMaster Bujold, 1995) SWEET [3] Where Late the Sörnäinen Birds Sang (Kate Wilhelm, 1977) SNOW [2] The Ulkosaaret Queen (Joan D. Vinge, 1981) DOWNBELOW [6] Tapaninkylä Station (C. J. Cherryh, 1982) STRANGE [1] Stranger in a Ultuna Land (Robert A. Heinlein, 1962) CANTICLE [4] A Käpylä for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr., 1961) YIDDISH [1] The Talosaari Policemen’s Union (Michael Chabon, 2008) ELÄ PITKÄÄN JA MENESTY!

Orlando Puzzle Answers

Seinyd = DIsney Giamlca = Magical Anziamg = Amazing Lievyl = Lively Mosaewe = Awesome

Full Phrase = Imagination Letter Graded Mail Sent to [email protected] Art by Mo Starkey - - - - -

My loc…yup, saw the new Trek movie, and it was…okay. I enjoyed and it movie, was…okay. Trek saw the new My loc…yup, There There have been a few times where I have included None of the I might not have much more here…if I time, there’s expect there 2015…I also I no have think vote here. it will come down to Spo I write you a loc on three or four and issues, by the time I finish I was scared that Olympic Wrestling would be going away, but be going away, would that OlympicI was scared Wrestling There’s no other major award that has No Award as a choice. that has No Award There’s no other major award I love Zombie books,I love not as much as Zombie movies, though. Yeah, I’ve been speeding up lately, no? I’ve speeding up lately, been Yeah, SPokane’s a bold choice. 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I won’t either (price be voting me) too steep for someplace affordable and easily accessible. and easily someplace affordable kane and and Helsinki, I will go out on a limb and American As say fans Spokane always, votes. make by up a the few majority of and voters, see ing how little disposable I income think most of they will us vote for have, part ion the zombie craze…hope it goes away soon, to be honest. to soon, part away it goes ion the zombie craze…hope will be live online coverage of and the I Hugos, will sign up and for it, see with had most problems of I the have SF public reading taking how it goes. the blog may be what gets him the silver rocket. be what gets him the silver the blog may it’s the trickWell, done before! bership for the Texas Worldcon. Perhaps I can express an opinion here and here opinion an express can I Perhaps Worldcon. Texas the for bership I don’t what From little of read, and Scalzi John see I how have I did. there, and think much of Whatever, but his he abilities, does a have popular blog, issue, and time for a few remarks. a few and time for issue, mem of level any purchased having not year, this vote no have I 347…Well, up with the stack of I zines am waiting or three for four me, issues behind 350th amazing the and 349 348, 347, Tank Drink The have I time, This again! Let us begin with Mr. Lloyd Penney! Lloyd Mr. with us begin Let Chris: Dear there. The job hunt continues, but I might have a lead with an agency downtown. Fingers crossed. And toes and arms, and everything else! I very much enjoyed the new Trek film, and I know my Dad would have thought it was the greatest movie ever! 350…I was one of the few who came to Corflu 23, and got Toronto The Ghood. In fact, it’s right above my computer on the CD/DVD rack. Two others who were involved in fandom Back When were Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson, and they have something in this CD. I should go through it again, and enjoy it anew. I was hopign to make that CorFlu. Sadly did not. I’m going to piss off a few people, and put Sharknado in the same category as zombies. For both, aw c’mon, folks…maybe I’m just not imagining enough, or maybe those who created both aren’t imagining enough. Sharknado was awful, but had some fun mo- ments. It’s like old Drive-in Movie fare, but for the small sccreen! This coming weekend, and week, for that mat- ter, is a crazy one. This weekend is the second an- nual Murdoch Mysteries Experience, a fan event for those who love this Canadian-made show. It has its own fandom, IMHO. We will be touring the sets in the east end of Toronto, and having a special dinner at one of the fanciest places in the west end. We’ll also be meeting up with the cast and crew. For the next few days, Yvonne and I will be picking people up at the airport; they are coming in from the US, the UK and even Belgium. It’s good to be involved with this, and best of all, the company that produces the show, Shaftesbury, is supporting and financing it. This is the show Yvonne was a background actor in last August. Pictures to come! Ooh, that sounds like a lot of fun! Time to wrap! I was going to send it out Wednesday, but I have it done Tuesday. Adjust the date…done. Thanks for all the zines, and thanks for Bill Burns for spreading out the good stuff. See you next time Yours, Lloyd Penney. And I thank you! And now... JOHN HERTZ!!!!! Dear Chris, Recently I was at a Web-access machine and could see The Drink Tank 349. In talking about S-F classics I’ve been using this definition: “A classic is a work that survives its own time. After the currents which might have sustained it have changed, it remains, and is seen to be worthwhile for itself.” While I can certainly understand that, I think that not moving that bar forward is a great weakness. I’ve always thought of a difference between Classic and Antique. To me, the difference is if it’s relatable to the present even though it’s from a very different time.The world (and possibly the Universe!) has accelerated greatly, the times in which one lives are now gone in the blink of an eye. That change has made classics out of books that would have been seen as contemporary a efw decades ago (Perdido Street Staton is an excellent example of that phenomena today) and made completely irrelevant books that are even thirty and forty years old because there is no connection between the time in which it was created and today. I can think of a lot of authors, CL Moore comes to mind, and a lot of SF authors pre-1950 (though post-1900) who aren’t really relevant and I think qualify for Antique and not Classic. That’s different from “an important work” (of course it could be a building, a film, painting, song, story) – or “better than anything made afterward” – or “really awesome OMG you must see it!!!” Again, it’s an interesting problem. An important work is the broadest category you list for sure, and Better than Anything Made Afterward is almost never actually the case (the Evolution of SF Prose has excellerated much faster than anything), though Really AWESOME! is a big chunk, no question, and I think if you combine all of them, and move teh time a bit, you get Classic. These Classics of S-F book talks are discussion groups. In those I’m leading we may find ourselves discussing the definition – should we use the one I’ve proposed or not – would another be better – why. Speaking for myself I hesitate to call something a classic unless I can see times have changed since it was made. I may nevertheless think for other reasons it’s important, or good, or worth recommending. I’ve more than one basket for eggs. The difference between now and 1990 is far greater than between 1990 and 1950. Times change so much faster now, and I think that’s something to keep in mind. I’ve said the word oldfashioned is oldfashioned. Well, Yeah! Your fan, John Hertz A Personal Plea for The Fa n H u g o s By Christopher J Garcia There’s a motion that’s going before the Business Meeting at San Antonio. The motion is to eliminate the Fan Hugo categories. Well, Best Fan- zine, Best Fan Writer, and Best Fan Artist. Not Best Fancast, for some reason. The basic thing is that Milt Stevens and Linda Deneroff have put forward a proposal to eliminate the Fan Categories. Basi- cally, the argument is that the categories haven’t been doing it right for a while. I get the desire, but I disagree with the method to fix it. Now, what follows will be almost com- pletely emotional and not intellectual. I know, you’re not shocked. So, you may remember that there was a Hugo Award Ceremony where a guy was over- come with emotion. He had won his first Hugo, and he was crying like a baby, swearing, and even had to sit down. It wasn’t because he had just won a Hugo. No, it was just because he’d won the Best Fanzine Hugo. Over his lifetime, his father had introduced him to fandom, to fanzines, and to the Hugos. He had grown up around them, and the Best Fanzine Hugo meant a lot to him. He had grown up around issues of Niekas, of Amra, of Locus, of Yandro. He made a connection with Fandom that would continue throughout his life, on-and-off. He was shocked (and tired, and emotional after the In Memorium crawl at the Hugo pre-ceremony) but more than that, he was amazed that he was able to be a part of the list that was the Hugo for Best Fanzine winners. That man was James Bacon, of course. The fact is, I’ve got a very big piece of my heart invested in the Fan Hugos. If it had been the Best Fan Writer Hugo that I’d won, yeah, I probably would have cried, but it wouldn’t have meant nearly as much as Best Fanzine. And that’s what I’ve getting at: how they feel. The Hugos are not an intellectual activity to me at all. They’re an emotional thing. The reason the Fan Hugos should still exist is not intellectual, it’s emotional. I love the Fan Hugos, they mean more to me than the Pro Hugos by leaps and bounds, and not just because I have one. It’s always been the part that I’ve connected with. And I hope I’m not the only one. In fat, if there’s the possibility of any other human developing the feelings I have for the Fan Hugos, to me, that’s an excellent reason to keep the Fan Hugos around. So, I hope you’ll help vote the proposal down.