The Reluctant Famulus Introduction: A True Grisly Tale

I know the following lier find and the new, to has nothing to do with me, one, I had a slightly either Science Fiction or SF different view of Calhoun fandom but it might be of County. I would never have some small interest to a few suspected such a thing readers and another remind- could ever happen there but er—as if anyone needs a then when I think back to reminder—of what kind of the piece I did in a previous a world we live in and the issue of TRF about some evil humans do. lynchings in Calhoun Coun- If I remember correctly, ty I shouldn't have been sur- in the past I've mentioned prised. having been born in Alabama, Specifically, I was Now, if those who were actually reading this born in my Grandfather and Grandmother's house haven't impatiently skipped ahead, here is the in the country near Piedmont, in Calhoun County, item, a brief news article. where my parents were living at the time. Over “Viola Hyatt told them she killed and mutilat- the years since my wife and I retired, we've taken ed two brothers living on her father's farm, then trips to Calhoun County, partly for sentimental rea- hauled the bodies up to 50 miles away before sons but mostly for genealogical research. Sadly, dumping them. the house in which I was born is no longer there. The plump, 30-year-old resident of White It was demolished a few years ago. I did, however Plains, Ala., a small community in northeast Cal- manage to take a photo of the house on one of our houn county, was questioned for about six hours earliest trips when we visited my father's older Thursday night before began to tell the story, offi- brother and his wife and they took us on a short cers added. sightseeing trip which included showing us my Waller L. Allen, chief investigator for the grandparent's house. and one they said once was State Department of Public Safely, said two war- my great-grandfather and great-grandmother's. rants were issued charging Miss Hyatt with mur- From what I've seen of Calhoun County it's a nice der. Sheriff Roy Snead of Calhoun County said it place and probably typical of such areas all over will be up to a grand jury to fix the degree of mur- the country. Visiting there has brought back some der. fond memories of visiting my grandmother Floyd Mann, state public safety director, said Sadler. four things contributed to the motive in the brutal By now, if any of you are still reading this, slayings three weeks ago. you're probably wondering where this is leading. He listed them as physical abuse to her by the To something possibly interesting—I hope. A men, physical abuse to her father, ”drinking good while back I was randomly searching the habits“ of the men which irritated the family, and Internet for unusual items which might be of inter- argument over the use of a car. est, to me at least, and came across something that Authorities identified the victims as Emmett really fit the bill. I downloaded a copy, read it Harper, 48, and Lee Harper, 55. through, and then put it away and nearly forgot it. Both lived in a box-type house trailer near the Until, this time, I deliberately went searching unpainted frame farm house where Miss Hyatt again with the item I'd saved in mind. I got a hit, lived with her elderly father and stepmother, Mr. which, for once wasn't one of a billion (or whatev- and Mrs. H. D. Hyatt. er) closely related hits. After having reread the ear The bodies were found June 28 and 29 in rural 1 areas near Gadsden, Ala. Their faces were blasted doned house in Gadsden on June 28, 1959. A sec- beyond recognition by a shotgun charge and their ond torso was found 10 miles away in adjoining arms, and legs were hacked off and missing. St. Clair County, the following day. Word quickly The first body was found in Etowah County spread about the grisly discoveries, and officers beside an abandoned shack just off U.S. 11. The frantically searched for clues that would lead them second was found the next day some 10 miles fur- to a killer. While following up on every promising ther south along the highway. It too was dumped lead they came across, they were no closer to beside an empty house. uncovering the truth behind the bodies. It began to Police said one body was 38 miles from the look like a killer would go free. Finally, after two Hyatt house and the other house.” End news arti- weeks had passed, officers got the break they'd cle. been waiting for. It's interesting to note that, oddly, when I Acting on an anonymous tip, Alabama State Googled “Axe murderess Viola Hyatt”, the only Troopers Harry Sims and Herman Chapman trav- news article that came up was the one above. It's eled to the Rabbittown residence of Lee and also interesting that the newspaper was The Morn- Emmett Harper. Lee Harper's coworkers at Bynum ing Herald in Harry Warner, Jr.'s revealed he had not shown up for hometown of Hagerstown, MD work and expressed concern over his [“Sister Tells Of Slaying 2 Broth- whereabouts. ers,” syndicated (AP), The Morning The Harpers lived in a makeshift Herald (Hagerstown, Md.), Jul. 18, trailer on the land of Martin Hyatt of 1959, p. 1] White Plains. Hyatt and his daughter I also searched America's Newspa- Viola, 30years-old at the time, lived pers without finding any news arti- in a house near the trailer. Officers cles but I did locate two obituaries, questioned them about the missing one in the Anniston Star and one in men and were told the two had gone The Jacksonville News, both are Cal- to visit relatives in Dozier. Investiga- houn County newspapers. Both obitu- tions revealed this to be untrue, and aries were published in June 2000 officers became suspicious of the pair. and had brief details of Viola Hyatt's On Friday, July 17, investigators took crime which pretty much repeat the preceding the Hyatts to the police station for questioning. news story. Considering how lengthy this introduc- Finally, around 2 a.m., Viola Hyatt confessed to tion has become I've reprinted only the latter obitu- the gruesome slayings. ary which has a bit more information Hyatt told investigators she shot the men in the The Jacksonville News, (AL) Wednesday, face with a double barreled shotgun as they stood June 21, 2000 in the doorway of their home. According to her Deceased Name: Viola Hyatt: Convicted confession, she then dismembered the bodies with murderer dies quietly a double bladed ax. Hyatt placed the body parts in One of Calhoun County's most infamous resi- her car and drove through three different counties, dents died recently. Convicted ax murderer Viola tossing them out the window as she went. Hyatt was laid to rest in a private ceremony last Hyatt told investigators she killed the men Friday. Oddly enough, for a woman whose life because they sexually abused her, abused her elder- raised quite a stir around these parts in the late ly father and argued over her use of Harper's car. 50's, Hyatt's passing was rather unceremonious. In Following her confession, Hyatt took officers fact, her family has been extremely tightlipped con- back over the trail of her crime spree. She pointed cerning her death. Hyatt's cause of death, as well out where she had tossed body parts, helping inves- as her actual time and date of death, have tigators recover more parts. remained a mystery, as her family refuses to com- Hyatt spent five months at Bryce Hospital ment. inTuscaloosa, while doctors evaluated her mental According to reports, a human torso, clad only state. In the end, she was determined sane and com- in undershorts, was discovered next to an aban petent and ordered to stand trial for the murders. 2 Hyatt pleaded guilty to the crimes, but served only to ask for his permission. Even though this is a rel- 10 years of a life sentence. atively small and minor publication I'd rather not She lived the remainder of her life in Jack- risk getting into trouble about publishing it with- sonville, spurning all requests for interviews. Hang- out proper permission. Besides, it's six-pages long ing out at the senior recreation center, Hyatt and weighing in at almost 4,000 words and some- became the center's top Scrabble player. It was- thing few will feel like reading. I Googled Elton claimed she was unbeatable. Camp and found a couple of sites with his writings While questions arose in her later years con- which includes his piece on Viola Hyatt, titled The cerning her actual guilt or innocence of the crime, Scattering. For anyone who might be tempted or if Hyatt took the answer to those questions to the anyone feels brave enough—or foolish grave with her, dying without much talk of the enough—they can read it at either of the follow- crime following her release from the state peniten- ing: Elton Camp at Writers-Network (http://www. tiary. writers-network.com/ members/ EltonCamp) and Viola Hyatt Copyright, 2000, The Jacksonville on Scribd.com. He may even have a page on Face- News, Consolidated Publishing Co. All Rights book, along with almost everyone else on Earth. Reserved. Apparently he has been a busy little beaver over There is, however, a much longer account, one the years. which is partly fictional because, as the author of It turns out that what Viola Hyatt did wasn't an it, Elton Camp, wrote, “ I changed the names of the isolated act. There was of course the story of victims since I'm unsure if they have living descen- Lizzie Borden who may or may not have been an dants and don't want to embarrass anyone. axe murderess. But there are accounts of axe mur- Why he felt he needed to do that I'm not sure deresses all over the country. Even so, learning since a true account appeared in at least one news- about such a horrific thing happening in my birth paper but possibly more because, as the bracketed county 13 years after I was born was slightly unset- item notes, the news item was ”syndicated (AP) “. tling. Why it should be, I have no idea. It makes Also, the author wrote, ”. . . but several portions me wonder, though, if my parents and my siblings are fabricated and only speculation on my part. . . and I on one of our yearly, I think, family trips to “ Which portions were fabricated is anyone's visit his widowed mother and were there in 1959. guess. A fairly large amount, I suspect. It's too bad my parents are gone and my memory I included the news article because it was brief is lousy and I found it interesting in an unpleasant way but That's it for the ghastly and grisly old news. more because, from around 1832 on, many of my On to other less ghastly and bloody matters. I hope Sadler ancestors lived in and around White Plains no one has any bad dreams after having read about though later generations moved a bit farther north. Viola Hyatt. Just make sure all windows are shut There is also, if the following quote is at all accu- tight the doors are all locked, your cell phone is rate and not fictional or speculation, a sort of tenu- on and close by and be wary if someone comes ous link to my family. The author of the longer, knocking on your door. Have a pleasant good partly fictional account wrote: ”Miss Hyatt told night. authorities that she discarded two arms on Sadler Mountain near Piedmont, Alabama although they were never located“ As I noted in one of the issues of TRF a good while back, there is an actual Sadler Mountain in Calhoun County, Alabama and, according to a cousin of mine who lives near the mountain, was- named after our grandfather Will Sadler, which I had already suspected. I was temped to include the account I found earlier but I don't know if it has a copyright or not and I'm not sure how to get in touch with its author 3 Rat Stew Ruminations on Oak Island and Cable TV Reality Shows by Gene Stewart

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND, a Prometheus Still, the genius of design, the effort, and the Production, is shown on A&E TV Networks, cur- expense sunken into making Oak Island, most of rently on History Channel. 13 episodes as of 23 which seeming to have been transformed bottom December 2014. up, means it is at least rational to think it was done EXPEDITION UNKOWN with Josh Gates, for a legitimately important reason. Coconut husk appears on The Travel Channel. was brought by the ton from the tropics in order to create huge under-beach sponges to absorb and Oak Island and its money pit, to be specific the hold sea water to feed elaborate booby traps that 10-X shaft Dan Blankenship and his father Dave flood the shaft if certain depths are reached, for sank, may be about to give up its secrets. 10-X is example. It was a tremendous, globe-spanning pro- 235 feet deep, flooded with seawater, and halfway ject. down narrows from 8 feet to 27 inches. At the bot- Who had the wherewithal? Knights Templar tom is a chamber and on one side of it, a tunnel are often cited, as are pirates, as are governments. entrance. The tunnel aims at the money pit, so it Ben Franklin looked into the Oak Island Mystery, may be a good approach to what ever the money as did Edgar Allan Poe, Franklin Delano Roo- pit holds. sevelt, and many other famous figures. It was dis- The 27 inch hole is at 181 feet. It’s eerie and covered off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, in dangerous diving yet divers, a husband and wife 1795 when lights led 18-year-old Daniel McGinnis team, were sent down. The 27 inch hole leads and his friends to explore the island and find a pit from 181 feet to 235 feet and there may be a four with a block and tackle set up over it. They dug foot thick layer of debris covering the smaller and found levels, and the modern tales of Oak hole. How much debris has fallen into it? Is there Island treasure, or money pit, as the ironic term blockage? now has it, were born. The water is so murky, visibility at four feet Obviously someone knew about it before apart is zero even with lights. Getting wedged or McGinnis saw lights, and had begun looking. The tangled is almost certain. more people looked, the more they found. Evi- Why not use a robot or probe? This is terrify- dence that much of the island was artificial and ing even to watch in a canned TV show. part of an elaborate, brilliant system of booby Turns out they did use a sonar imaging probe traps and false leads was uncovered steadily over and found the chamber and tunnel entrance. Now the years. There was even a stone carved in it’s a matter of figuring out what more to do to ciphers found, and Edgar Allan Poe’s tale, “The gain better, safer access. A second dive, intending Gold Bug”, is based on accounts of Oak Island he to go down the 27 inch hole, which proved clear of had read. debris, was called off due to the risks. Now A&E’s History Channel on cable is pro- There is no craziness like the religion scam but ducing THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND. It fol- treasure lust must be close. lows the efforts of two brothers, Rick and Marty When all is said and done, nothing found, if Lagina, to explore the island, much of which they anything, will fulfill hopes and satisfy dreams. It have bought. They have been fascinated by the sto- may be interesting, even of historical importance. ry since reading about it in a 1965 issue of READ- It could be mere treasure. Could be nothing much, ER’S DIGEST. just worker debris. Like the tombs in Egypt’s Val- They have, so far, managed to find several ley of the Kings, this placemat long since have indicative if not valuable artifacts such as coins been looted. Could be an elaboratem, cruel ruse or and worked wood, and have, as of the end of the hoax, a diversion from the real site. second, current season, sonar mapped the chamber 4 at the bottom of 10-X. Dave and Dan Blankenship, this benefits everyone from the disinterested who (the father Dave Blankenship is now 91 years old), want only a moment’s diversion to the serious are part of the show and thrilled their work is scholars who might gain access to unaired video or being carried on. other research material they could never otherwise Whether this ends up one of those shows that have acquired. Figuring out our world might be a teases and never delivers, or perhaps with luck good thing, unless one’s goal is simply to wait out makes an important or compelling discovery, one’s time as comfortably as possible, and how remains to be seen. In either case, one must shallow is that? applaud their efforts. Further, it is good that TV Oak Island was a work of art. As architecture, producers are willing to underwrite or partly fund engineering, and landscaping, it was far ahead of expeditions, investigations, and excavations to pur- its time. Although its pristine state has long since sue various mysteries science cannot get funding been destroyed, and its elaborate systems partially for. It makes for diverting TV and can pay off. demolished, by digs, it stands to this day as a testa- As an example, Travel Channel is now show- ment to an unknown project and unknown design- ing the new show by Josh Gates, EXPEDITION ers, managers, and workers. We see it now in a UNKNOWN, follow up to his SyFy Channel show kind of ruined state, yet it has not revealed its DESTINATION TRUTH. Gates has a degree in secrets. Amazingly it has withstood all onslaughts archaeology and a penchant for adventure. He also for over 200 years, both high tech and low. How has a degree in drama and makes for an entertain- old it is remains unknown. What it is remains ing, witty, and engaging TV presenter. He narrates unknown. his own adventures in the form of a verbal journal. One thinks wistfully that it could be proof Earth is artificial, as the hatch in LOST proved for In the debut of EXPEDITION UNKNOWN, those stranded survivors. Uh oh. That would be he searched for Amelia Earhart by going to the chilling indeed. South Pacific and investigating various stories that have surfaced over the years. He found bones under a house where 20 year ago an 18-year-old boy found a box with a skull and bones in, thought to be Fred Noonan and Amelia Earhart. Those van- ished into a local museum and ended up probably given to a doctor’s assistant or relative. Gates decided he’d do some SCUBA diving to test the notion her plane went down in water. He first used side-scan sonar to local wrecks, then dived on them, discovering both a Japanese Zero, upside down, and a US Navy PBY-5 Catalina with three crew still in it. Neither plane had ever been found or marked before, so now historians can add them to the list of identified wrecks and deal with the remains. No, Gates did not find Amelia Earhart. He did find two significant wrecks and helped clear up more of the foggy history of WWII in the South Pacific. This is to the good. It demonstrates these shows, edited and constructed after-the-fact as they be, are capable of funding genuine explo- rations and discoveries. The Oak Island mystery continues, as do many others. If TV’s insatiable appetite for material helps prompt more exploring and investigation, 5 Apropos of Nothing Adam Medenwald

I am despondent. For the first time in three years I have just spent an engaging and companionable weekend at a con with dear, close friends I have known and loved for decades. And I am despondent. Despondent because of the false lens through which life is viewed. That is, no matter how old you get you always view yourself as in your twenties. The other was a foodies group. These are That maxim was intoned by a well known people who like to feast. Out of twenty of fan. In true Reluctant Famulus tradition he them only two were over-weight! will be granted near anonymity and simply be Now those people have a right to view called Dave. You'll know why in a moment. As for all those fan-friends: Most I've known since they were in their twenties. But now comes the revelation that I've been view- ing them as tho' they were still twenty. They're not. They're now approaching sixty and they are fat, flabby, and pear-shaped, on canes and walkers. And they're all younger than me! How did fandom ever end up this way? Are we so sedentary that the only exercise we get is turning pages or tapping the remote control? Compare those to a couple of so-called mundane groups I've met recently. The music society sported some forty souls for a small concert, most are older than the fans and practically all were in better condition. 6 themselves as still in their twenties. As for Dave, he was an acti-fan, writer, fan-ed, apa contributor and con goer. Active An Unexpected Benefit with a mouse pad but unfortunately not with an pilates pad. He later amended his by The Editor maxim to “You always view yourself as in One of the few good results of my computer your twenties, until you get hit by the old age crash was that in replacing some of the programs truck.” which had been lost, I got an upgraded version of Not that Dave was ever hit by the old age the publishing software I was using. The newer truck. version has a feature the earlier one lacked. Much Instead he threw himself under it, by not to my surprise, I discovered that now when I import a text file, the software underlines in red all doing what the doctors said and in fact doing the words it judges to be incorrectly spelled. That the exact opposite. When the effects of now makes it much easier for me to proofread the sedentary life-style aided and abetted by alco- copy by simply looking for words underlined in hol and nicotine finally forced him into hospi- red. There is one minor factor, however, in that tal, his doctor took one look and swore at many of the words that are underlined are mostly him! words that aren’t in the built-in spelling dictio- nary. As long as I’m led to the actual misspelled Within two years Dave was dead. words I don’t much care. I can still run through “Ahhh, but he lived his life his way” was text faster and???very much hope?catch the all the the spurious balm that friends repeated like a actual typos. But then few things are 100% fool- perverse mantra. proof. Us humans for certain Maybe the missed If he'd abused or overfed a dog would typo count will be only 80 or 90 instead of two or you have said “Ahhh, but he loved that dog three hundred. (At least that seems to me how many are missed.) his way”? If he'd driven a good car into the ground would you have said “Ahhh, but he drove it his way”? But when somebody ruins their body and their life it's “Ahhh, but he lived his life his way.” Fat, flabby, and pear-shaped, on canes and walkers. What is fandom doing to itself?

7 KENTUCKIANA: THE STRANGE SAGA OF SOUTH UNION SHAKER VIL- LAGE Although Shaker Village at Pleas- Its land was well situated for the ant Hill is now the best known of Alfred Byrd community to prosper. The swift- Kentucky’s Shaker ly flowing Gaspar colonies, it was nei- powered mills and ther the first nor other heavy equip- the last of them. ment for the Shak- The distinction of ers, avid embrac- being that goes to ers of progress in its sister colony, many of its forms; South Union, and the fields, if which took a differ- drab by Pleasant ent path from Pleas- Hill's standards (at ant Hill’s. South least, so do appear- Union's path may ances seem to a seem to us more long-term resident promising than of the Bluegrass), Pleasant Hill's was, were fertile. The but came to the same end as, if not a worse one main road between Bowling Green and Russel- than, Pleasant Hill's. Today, both places are just lville joined the main road between Lexington and memorials of what they were. Nashville. In time, the powerful Louisville & The saga of South Union began in 1807 on the Nashville (L&N) Railroad came through Shaker banks of the Gaspar River. This flows through the lands. At South Union, the Shakers got their fine Pennyrile, a generally flat part of south-central furniture, brooms, preserves, and seeds readily to Kentucky named after the pennyroyal plant, which market. the locals pronounce as Pennyrile and spell as they South Union grew swiftly to a maximum of 325 pronounce it. Have I mentioned how stubborn Ken- persons who built over 225 structures on over tuckians are? The Pennyrile had attracted to itself 6,000 acres. Like Pleasant Hill, South Union settlers like those of the Bluegrass: at first con- answered to a pair of elders and a pair of eldresses. cerned with mere survival, but, once that had been Like Pleasant Hill, South Union observed the Shak- achieved, with matters of mind and spirit. In any er distinctives of belief in Mother Ann Lee as the event, in 1807, the Gaspar's banks were hosting a Second Coming of the Christ, of continuing revela- religious revival that would spread to the Blue- tion, of work as worship, of sacred dance, of com- grass as the Cane Ridge Revival and give rise to munalism, and of celibacy. Like Pleasant Hill, Pleasant Hill. South Union prospered from the sale of items of Yes, but its story has already been told. Back to simplicity, practicality, and ineffable elegance. South Union, which came into being when Shaker Early on, however, South Union, the southern- missionaries crashed the Gaspar River Revival and most of the Shaker colonies and the most distant made converts who bought land along the river on of them from Mother Colony in New Lebanon, the main road between Bowling Green and Russel- New York, diverged from Pleasant Hill both in lville. There, they founded the Gaspar Society of style and in substance. Near communities that United Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. were outposts of the Deep South (Bowling Green Perhaps not surprisingly, even the United Believ- and Russellville would host the capital and the con- ers found it convenient to call their community stitutional convention, respectively, of the tran- South Union. sient and irregular Confederate state of Ken 8 tucky), South Union took Hill, men and women on an air of Southern ele- entered dwellings through gance. Fried food separate doors, men and drenched with gravy women entered Centre graced South Union's House though its one tables, much to the cha- front door. Granted that, grin of visitors from the indoors, a common corri- staid North. The furniture dor led to separate stair- built at South Union, too, cases for the sexes, one fit in with what one might still goggles at the idea of see in an antebellum Shakers of different sexes Southern mansion. using the same door. As As for the Shakers’ liv- time went by, the hetero- ing quarters… doxy of a common front Let’s start with the Min- door was joined by elec- istry Shop, where the tric lights, indoor plumb- elders and the eldresses ing, steam heat, and lived, and from which phonographs… they ran South Union. This kept up Shaker separa- Sorry, I had to use an inhaler just now. I hope tion of sexes: the eldresses came in through the that I’ve prepared you for South Union’s most out- shop’s front door and lived and worked on the rageous innovation: Shaker Tavern. Yes, in 1869, shop’s second floor; the elders came in through the at a nearby stop on the L & N (a worldly outfit if shop’s rear door and lived and worked on the there ever was one), the Shakers put up a colonnad- shop’s first floor. The floor, however, was a ed porch, a parquet floor, ornate staircases, and oth- cheery chrome yellow; and, when the telephone er architectural flourishes that would have fit right became available, the elders and the eldresses in in New Orleans’s French Quarter. In fairness to installed it in the Ministry Shop so that they could the Shakers, they didn’t run the tavern themselves; call the kitchen in the Trustees’ Office to have instead, they leased it to a worldly proprietor who meals sent over. paid the Shakers $100 a month — real money Shaker food delivered to your door! How back then ?for his house of Mammon. One shud- decadent would that be! I can just envision a horse- ders to think what he may have served there. drawn carriage pulling up in the parking lot of The tavern was an attempt by South Union to Anna's and my apartment building, and a frock- solve a problem that it shared with Pleasant Hill: coated delivery man handing us country ham with prosperity's fading. For both Pleasant Hill and rolls and sides of corn pudding, green beans, new South Union, one can set a common date for the potatoes… start of their decline: September 1862. In that Oops, I'm supposed to be writing actual histo- momentous month, Confederate armies let by ry, not alternative history, or fantasy, as the case Edmund Kirby Smith and Braxton Bragg invaded may be. The bright colors in the Ministry Shop the Bluegrass State. One can't get away from the and in the other Shaker dwellings at South Union Civil War, can one? may have helped the Shakers endure the communi- (In its Upper Deep South environment, South ty’s surroundings. Unlike Pleasant Hill, which lies Union had suffered more prewar repression for its among rolling landscape by a scenic gorge, South liberal attitudes towards slavery and free blacks Union lies on land flat from horizon to horizon. It than Pleasant Hill had. In particular, whereas Pleas- took determination and talent for the Shakers at ant Hill had been free to integrate free blacks into South Union to find the only place in Kentucky its dwellings, South Union was forced by local that looks like Nebraska. authorities to segregate its free black members into Decadence reared its ugly head also in Centre a separate dwelling. Jim Crow was no new thing House, the first and foremost of four communal when it came to be.) dwellings at South Union. Whereas, at Pleasant Although South Union didn't have to serve as 9 an army hospital (the line can turn out a nearest major battle- broom as good as a field, at Munfordville, Shaker could, who was over forty miles would pay premium away), it did have to prices for hand serve as a cafeteria. made? The more than 50,000 As numbers meals that it handed and ability to com- out first to Bragg's pete declined at units and then to units South Union, it gave of the pursuing Union up producing many army led by Don Car- needed items for los Buell strained the itself and began to community's budget. order them from the Items that the armies, or “foraging” soldiers, requi- world through the Sears & Roebuck and Mont- sitioned, pilfered, or outright looted strained it fur- gomery-Ward catalogs. (It seems to me that those ther. “What's mine is mine, and what's yours is outfits failed to survive their own encounters with mine” was more often than not the Civil War's rule the future in the shape of WalMart and Amazon, when men in uniform (or out of it) were coming but I digress.) The convenience and quality of mail- through. order goods was a mixed blessing to the Shakers, Even when the Confederates had left the Com as money was flowing out of, not into, their com- monwealth, South Union went on suffering from munity. Still, as one who's given Amazon far more the war. The place was raided by guerrillas who than I can afford to have given, I sympathize with made much of Kentucky a wilderness; and the the Shakers. Home Guard and the Union Army, which were Still, if Amazon had been around, the Shak- supposed to be protecting the Shakers, ers could have sold on it… “requisitioned” their stores and their livestock. The Shakers at South Union strove gamely to Fence posts vanished into campfires, and free keep their community going into the Twentieth meals remained a required courtesy even as crops Century. Even when only fifteen of them were rat- were trampled or carried off for military use. What tling around in private rooms (another ghastly inno- was a poor Shaker to do? vation for the Shakers) in the Once the war ended, South 26,000 square foot mansion of Union suffered from twin ills Centre House, they were remod- that afflicted all of the other eling the place and putting up Shaker colonies: lack of new barns. The place was ready recruits and inability to com- for a new influx of converts… pete in a changing market. This didn't take place. More Even though South Union inno- than one hundred years of a vated to make its lifestyle more visionary social experiment attractive to the world, the Shak- came to an end. Sadly, in con- ers there still couldn't sell life trast with Pleasant Hill, which in a celibate community to their faded gracefully as its last mem- ever more materialistic neigh- bers sold their place to a respect- bors. The growth of material- ed colonel for a life tenancy in ism stemmed from the growth it, South Union ended badly. of mass production, which With advice and consent from largely wiped out the cottage Mother Colony in New industries that had made the Lebanon, New York, the tenants Shakers well known and of South Union chose to raise wealthy. When an assembly money for their resettlement in 10 the world through a series of dwellings and most of the other auctions. Shaker buildings had stood. To Three times, citizens of open new land for farming, he the world, driving to South burned down (except for one Union in their newfangled barn useful where it stood) all jalopies, swarmed over the of the village's wooden struc- once peaceful and dignified tures, including the Meeting Shaker settlement. The first House, where sacred dance had auction, held in May 1920, taken place. Of this, South sold off items that the Shak- Union's heart, only a bare foun- ers in residence were no dation is left today. longer using, and raised Farmer Bond desecrated $4,000 to give new hope to the Shaker cemetery, where a fading community. some 450 Shakers had been “Why,” the Shakers asked, buried under either limestone or “should our belongings get unique iron “lollipop” head- eaten by rats in an attic stones. He had his hands grind when they can do others the limestone headstones into good?” Practical to the end, powder, which he used as fertil- the Shakers were ?for mystics, that is. izer on his fields. As for the “lollipop” headstones, The second auction, held on April 8, 1922, Farmer Bond had his hands plow these under. after the last remaining Shakers had left for the They were shattered. Today, only scattered, most- world, sold off furniture and personal belongings. ly illegible fragments of them remain. The Shaker furniture would find use in the world, Not until decades later did the Friends of but would largely never return to South Union. South Union Shaker Village start to acquire the Only a handful of pieces remain there to tell of us place and restore what is left of it as a memorial of the masterpieces that South Union's artisans turned the way of life that once flourished there. The con- out. servancy runs two separate sites that memorialize The last auction, held on September 26, 1922, South Union: the Shaker Village around Centre brought over 4,000 citizens of the world to South House, and Shaker Tavern, two miles away at the Union. There, as they milled like ants, they bought L&N Railroad crossing. up land, buildings, livestock, and farm equipment. At Shaker Village, just off of U. S. 68 west Even though most of these items went for a song, of Bowling Green (oddly, both of Kentucky's Shak- the proceeds of the last two auctions brought a er villages are on U. S. 68), you can stop at the vis- respectable livelihood to the ex-Shakers of South itor's center, a farmhouse built by one of the farm- Union and needed cash to New Lebanon? ers who came to own the land, to pay your $8.00 At a terrible cost to South Union. Unlike the (Anna and I got a special half-price rate when we worldly owners of Pleasant Hill, who generally visited the village, as the conservancy was prepar- treated the place gently, South Union's new own- ing it for a Christmas show) and watch a film on ers wiped out nearly all trace of the Shakers there. the rise and fall of South Union. After the film, So thorough were the new owners in their repur- you can take a self-guided tour of the six historic posing of the land that, today, only ten of the origi- buildings open to the public. nally more than 225 Shaker buildings remain, Of these, the high points are the Ministry including only one of the original four dwelling Shop, where South Union's elders and eldresses houses. One of these, it is true, was taken off by a lived well by their time's standards, and the impos- tornado, but two others were torn down for brick ing bulk of Centre House, which holds what's left recycled in new houses in nearby towns. of the Shaker belongings from the community's The worst destruction of South Union came at heyday ? not a lot, as I've told you, but enough to the hands of a farmer named Oscar Bond, who give you a sense of how well the Shakers lived, took over the central 75-acre plot where the and how differently these Shakers lived from their 11 brothers and sisters elsewhere. Perhaps because of Union, but what's left is being saved. the South Union Shakers' relative worldliness, In a further effort to raise funds to preserve their Centre House is less imposing and more and develop South Union, its conservancy rents homelike than Center House at Pleasant Hill is. out parts of it for weddings. It's an irony of history You can also visit the Well Shed, the Smoke that both Pleasant Hill and South Union, whose and Milk House, the Steam House, and the Grain Shakers forbade marriage, are now popular venues Barn. These are interesting in terms of how things for the start of wedded life. (Anna and I thought of were done in the Nineteenth Century, but are only Pleasant Hill for our own wedding, but gave up on sidelights to a trip to South Union. You can also the site when we envisioned our friends and family look at the bare foundation of the Meeting House driving there through the tortuous depths of the and imagine South Union's Shakers dancing out Kentucky River Gorge.) If only the Shakers of their sins there. The foundation gives you a sense South Union had embraced one more innovation, of how much is missing. their community and its buildings might still stand. So do the extensive photographic exhibits in

Centre House. The Shakers of South Union embraced photography along with other technolog- ical innovations and left a thorough record of their way of life. Through their photographic record, you can glimpse a place of harmony and grace set amid the Pen- nryrile's wide plains. The Shakers' way of life lives on, too, in Shaker Tavern, which the conservancy runs as a bed and breakfast. With proceeds from this, as well as pro- ceeds from Shaker Vil- lage and its extensive gift shop in Centre House's basement, the conservancy hopes to reopen Shaker Store at the L&N stop and per- haps buy two other Shaker structures still in private hands. Not much is left of South 12 The Wall is Strong And that each day is like a year

Eric Barraclough

The Wall of Years To thwart this, Jer- Andrew M. Stephenson lan Nilssen is given the Futura Publications Ltd., task of seek and assassi- 1979 nate by being sent back to the Ninth Century. There are some books that never attain the Dressed in period praise or readership they deserve. One such is clothes with his time- Andrew M. Stephenson's 1979 novel, The Wall of travel device disguised Years. as a belt and blade. It's plot can be simplified down to: Time-trav- Almost immedi- el has become an instrument of war. It is used ately the blade is stolen (not to change history) but to transform locations and the further Nilssen into their future state (or possibly into a parallel is geographically from future)... the blade the more time “They hurried across the bridge, feeling the speeds up for him. danger signs of another Change. The crawling sen- Day and night sation on Nilssen's skin attained a maximum, a become one, the sun becomes an arch in the sky, burning itch that he knew full well could not be waters become solid. alleviated by scratching; from behind them there Stephenson's description of Nilssen walking was a soft 'plop'; and when he looked back he saw across a lake in this landscape is one of the most that the old iron bridge they had just crossed now evocative ever presented in a time-travel story. lay in the river, its back broken and creepers Probably second only to the original Time smothering it: no one could have used it for years. Machine where H. G. Wells' words conjure up the It was but another example of the non-causality end of the world (that piece of Wells' text is so that was at work in the world” well written that it can be presented as free verse, Unfortunately not all the system's glitches as Chris Priest has pointed out). have been rectified and the weapon has become None of which explains why The Wall of akin to the creatures released from Pandora's box, Years did not succeed. devastating area after area, changing the landscape To be blunt, it was because Stephenson into a wasteland or worse, while problems and expected the readership to understand and remem- time-paradoxes multiply. ber his terms for time travel instead of taking them A small segment of humanity has escaped by as the usual SF window-dressing. building domed cities and outposts on an inhos- Stephenson deftly lays out those terms pitable future Earth where they attempt to iron out amongst the dialogue in the early chapters. Those time-travels' glitches. should be remembered. Window-dressing they are It doesn't help that the most forward thinking not and if not understood then some of the novel's time-travel scientist may also be a sociopath. developments will appear incongruous and incoher- It certainly does not help that the man who ent for Stephenson not only engages the reader's started the whole catastrophe, Eric Halvey, has intellect, he challenges it too. journeyed back to the time of King Alfred to try Many readers (especially speed-readers) prob- and establish a nice little niche for himself because ably took these developments as deus ex machina if he succeeds he will also cause a series of history or sloppy writing or maybe even deleterious edit- changes that will doom any chance of humanity's ing. survival. Today's readers who wish to explore Stephen 13 son's paradoxes can find a copy of The Wall of tologist, a co-author of a paper about the discovery Years easily enough on Amazon.co.UK and Ama- said in a written statement. ” Aegirocassis is a tru- zon.com. The British edition (Futura Publications ly remarkable looking creature. We are excited to Ltd/Orbit Books) is the better choice. This is not a discover that it shows features that have not been patriotic bias but an aesthetic preference combined observed in older Cambrian anomalocaridids. Not with sentimentality. The cover art is by Brian one but two sets of swimming flaps along the Lewis, who illustrated several SF works and paint- trunk, representing a stage in the evolution of the ed covers for New Worlds Science Fiction Maga- two-branched limb, characteristic of modern zine. This cover was the last he completed before arthropods such as shrimps. his untimely death. The creature isn’t as scary as it looks. In spite of Unbelievably, the book itself can be pur- its size and fearsome looks, Aegirocassis chased for as little 1 cent on Amazon.com (altho' benmoulae probably wasn't the crea- with postage and packaging it becomes $4.00). tures of your nightmares. (Unless you’re prone to That is an unmitigated insult to Andrew M. bizarre and vividly frightening dreams.) Stephenson but an outstanding bargain for a SF Dr. Peter Van Roy, a paleontologist at Ghent Uni- reader. versity in Belgium, lead author of the paper, told Reuters, ” Given the huge size of Aegirocassis and its very alien appearance, I assume most people would probably be terrified if they’d encounter it  while swimming. However, contrary to almost all anomalocaridids which were active predators, out A Strange Ancient Critter animal would have been a very peaceful guy. Editor here. Pardon my ignorance but I wonder how they could determine its gender from a fossil.

The paper was published online in the journal Nature on March 11, 2015.

If Gayle Perry can write about new ancient earthlings, so can I, though it won’t concern dinosaurs. Well preserved fossils recently unearthed in southeastern Morocco were identified as the remains of an unbelievable sea creature which a body about seven feet long and was once the largest animal on Earth at the time. The fossils are estimated to go back 480 million years to the Palaeozoic Era. They reveal that Aegirocassis ben- moulac was an anomalocaridid, an extinct kind of arhtropod?which is a group of species that includes crustaceans, arachnids, and insects. It’s a weird looking creature. The creature had a long head, a segmented body, gills on its back and a very unusual set of fins. Dr. Derek Briggs, a Yale University paleon- 14 The Crotchety Critic By Michaele Jordan The Just City by Jo Walton

Last year, you may or may not recall, I slightly better book. declined to review several books on the grounds But Anne Leckie was a newcomer and Mr. that they were Hugo or Nebula nominees, so you Stross already had a couple of Hugo's. AND Mr. probably did not need further input from me. For Stross had also been nominated for his novella similar reasons, I nearly decided not to review The Equoid. So the fans gave Ms. Leckie the Hugo for Just City by Jo Walton (a Tor Book, 2014) Best Novel, and Mr. Stross the Hugo for Best because I fully expected it to be a Nebula nomi- Novella—even though Equoid was nothing spe- nee. (I certainly nominated it!) But I was wrong. cial. (Funny, how often that happens.) The Nebula nom- I'm not saying Ancillary Justice wouldn't have inee list just came out, and The Just City was not won if Equoid hadn't been around to soak up fan on it. I very much doubt it will be a Hugo nominee guilt, but it would have been a closer race. Like either. It's way too literary for a Hugo. (Unless, of the year that Game of Thrones took the Hugo for course, I'm wrong again.) best Short Dramatic Form, as an apology to I am not turning up my nose at the Hugo's. I George R. R. Martin for not giving him the Hugo have heard all the criticisms. They are selected by for Best Novel. a limited popular vote, the limiting factor often Even among the most scrupulous, many fans being money, as only members of the convention do not actually read all nominees, some of which can vote, and the membership can be expensive, can be expensive or hard to find if the publishers even when its only a supporting membership. do not provide them, and some of which may be There are ways around this, as witness the hard- sequels to works that the voter didn't care for. core true-fans who somehow manage to attend There are even cases where the nominated work is every WorldCon, (and a host of lesser cons) appar- brilliant, but doesn't start well, causing a rushed ently on no money at all. But mostly it's a popular reader to discard it too soon. vote taken among the most prosperous fans. For instance, in my highly elitist opinion, the A popular vote always faces issues. Devoted 2009 Hugo should have gone to Anathem by Neal fans of any author or work can and do form voting Stephenson, a brilliant book featuring one of the blocks. Even without blocks, fans often vote for most thought provoking hard science premises I've authors they know personally and like, without ever seen. But it was the only novel nominated bothering to read any of the other nominees. that year that was not provided gratis to the voters, (Sometimes without even reading the work they and it started slowly. Even I knew it would never are voting for!). This enables a determined nomi- win, regardless of its merits. nee to 'buy' votes by working the con circuit and Having said all that, I reiterate, I am not gen- hosting parties. Emotions skew the vote in other uinely criticizing the Hugo's. In the end, all awards ways. It's a truism among con committees that if a in any field are suspect, and every system for nominee dies, they'll get the Hugo posthumously. deciding them can be gamed. Nonetheless, humans People will vote for an author that they feel love awards. Summarizing, quantifying and repre- should have won previously or elsewhere, even senting—the award process in a nutshell—are criti- though the work in question doesn't really deserve cal elements of how we think. However flawed the it. Case in point: Last year, Anne Leckie's Ancil- system, the Hugo awards have brought attention to lary Justice took the Hugo. Nothing wrong with many worthy books, and I have never regretted that; it was an excellent book. It was up against my commitment to reading all (or most) of the Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross, which was nominees every year. also an excellent book—some might even argue, a So why do I say that The Just City will not be 15 nominated? It's got time travel and Greek gods, so in The Republic. it's certainly SF/F. It's not too obscure to get In case you have not read The Republic, allow noticed; Jo Walton took the Hugo in 2012 with me to point out that even Plato never seriously con- Among Others (a lovely book) so she has a follow- sidered founding this city. It was a thought experi- ing and a rep. But. . . It doesn't have much story. ment, like a memory palace—a mental structure I'm sure you all remember from middle school designed to clarify conceptions of virtue by sym- the primary elements of fiction: plot, character, set- bolically 'embodying' them in an imaginary system ting and theme. What happens to whom, where of social practices. It was not even Plato's thought and why. Theoretically, every literary work con- experiment, and there is still ongoing debate as to tains all four to some degree, although frequently how accurately he conveyed Socrates' views. Plus, one is emphasized, while the others may be down- of course, Plato lived nearly two and a half millen- played. SF/F tends to focus on plot. nia ago. Opinions as to what constitutes justice The other elements are not excluded. Setting is have shifted considerably since then, as several of frequently critical; I can name dozens—maybe the more modern characters in The Just City were hundreds—of novels that evoke astonishing new keenly aware. worlds. Many readers (myself included) require Much of the book consists of a variety of char- strong characters, and could not follow SF/F, if it acters, most of them well-meaning but all of them did not provide them. We've even seen some flawed, arguing stubbornly about what is or isn't strong thematic works. Kim Stanley Robinson is a right. Some of them employ Socratic dialogue passionate environmental advocate, as his works while others fall back on canonical references, reflect. But the settings remain the place where the rigidity and ego. All of them fail to recognize the story happens. The characters have to take and human implications underlying the abstract princi- respond to action. ples. Ms. Walton very cleverly shapes these The Just City is a thematic novel. It's not that debates to highlight the enormous mental blind the story is weak, so much as that the story is unim- spots from which all the characters suffer. portant. The story isn't what the book is about. The The bulk of the dialogue circles the heartfelt story is about justice: what is justice, as opposed issue of slavery, presented in two forms, neither of to what is perceived as justice. Is justice possible, them strictly equivalent to the American version, and if so, is it entirely desirable? Does it still have but neither truly divorced from it either, value if flawed? All of this is viewed through the because—of course—slavery is still slavery. prism of Plato's Republic (which the reader need Again, I hear you yawning. Oh, boy, a bunch not have read, but might find helpful). of people sitting around arguing. Not so, I protest. Sounds horrific, doesn't it? Not so. The narra- The debates have consequences. Things do hap- tive is deceptively light and charming. It opens pen. It's just that the things that happen are smaller with the Greek god Apollo, sitting on the ground than you might expect, and are tailored to heighten staring at a laurel tree, utterly bewildered that the or illuminate the debate, rather than vice versa. I beautiful Daphne could have chosen to turn into a strongly feel that enough happens to keep the intel- tree rather than let him rape her. Why on earth ligent reader engaged. The ending, in particular, is would she do that? It was just a game, right? He sharp and sudden and completely unexpected, and chased. She ran. Eventually he would catch her yet, after a moment's thought, obvious and and they would do it. She wasn't a sworn virgin or inevitable. Still, there is no denying that if you a worshiper of Artemis, somebody whose chastity hate philosophy you will find this book dull. he would have known to respect. So why didn't she go along? Apollo is so stunned that he consults his half sister, the goddess Athena, who ropes him into helping her launch her new experiment. She is planning to extract hundreds of devotees from dozens of different times and places and invite them to found the famous city that Plato described 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Letters of Comment

From: Robert Kennedy 1779 believe vote fraud is Ciprian Avenue a problem (you know Camarillo, California who you are) I recom- 930102451 mend Dirty Little (805) 987-2164 Secrets: The Persis- [email protected] tence of Corruption in January 25, 2015 American Politicsby Lar- ry J. Sabato and Glenn Dear Tom, R. Simpson and Steal- ing Elections: How Vot- Thank you for 4 101 and er Fraud Threatens Our #102. I apologize for not Democracy by John responding sooner. Both issues Fund. Both books I were misplaced. If you could have area number of see the inside of my house years old (there may be you would understand. updated editions). But, #101—The cover by Steve nothing much has Stiles is outstanding. That was one of my favorite changed and is probably even worse. There is noth- TV programs. All the articles were excellent as ing wrong with having to prove that one is eligible usual. But, I especially enjoyed “Quantrill and the to vote and a Voter ID is reasonable. Lawrence Massacre Part F by Alfred D. Byrd, and ”On the Suspension of Disbelief' by Richard [[No need to apologize. I misplace things all the Lynch. Also, How Many Adults Does It Take? by time too and become aggravated with myself when Sheryl Birkhead was, as usual, interesting. I don't I can't find whatever I'm looking Pr. My know anyone else who has so many problems. library/publishing office looks like a disaster zone In the letters section Joe Major makes the fol- after a major tornado went through. I admit I lowing comment: “Ben Franklin was also the wasn't a regular viewer of Futurama because I British Secret Service's Agent 72.” You respond don't watch a lot of* TV but I am aware of what with: “So old Ben was a double agent? Makes it's about.11 Quantrill and his followers certainly Sense. I think he was a cunning, calculating and had a bad reputation; according to what I've read, maybe somewhat devious man as well as a very he and they deserved it. Sometimes it's di - ff,cult smart one.” I have the book Code Number to suspend disbelief when watching much of the 72—Ben Franklin: Patriot or Spy by Cecil B. Cur- stuff on TV.11 Yes, Sheryl seems to have more rey (Prentice Hall, Inc., 1972). The basic premise problems than anyone else I know or have met. It's is the Franklin played both sides so that he would a miracle how she copes with it all. She certainly come out on top regardless of who won. doesn't deserve all that misery and woe.11 #102-1 just found it and have only time to do a Franklin was a remarkable intelligent man and a bit of scanning. I enjoyed “Quantrill and the well respected one, a genius if there ever was.11 Lawrence Massacre Part IT' by Alfred D. Byrd Voter fraud may be a problem but is it as bad as and also his: ”Kentucky Scandal: The Life and some people claim? Over the years I've learned Death of William Goebel: Part Two“. Then there's that people can be hyperbolic about almost every- ”New Ancient Earthlings“ by Gayle Perry with the thing. I'm frequently reminded of that when I read wonderful color pictures. That article just blew me the news online. I won't dispute your comment away. For those of you who do not about voter ID, considering its controversial 23 nature. I'm sorry, now, that I mentioned it. Then Bad as most TV is, you really should watch Futu- there's the matter of the fairly recent gerrymander- rama at least I always get a kick out of it. I like it ing.. I don't want to become involved in that better than The Simpsons, which is often too silly. issue.]] I have now finished scanning the 1941-1967 SF newszine Fantasy Times/Science Fiction Times. Some issues that I was missing from the Frank Dietz From: Cuyler Warnell Brooks Jr collection were supplied by Sam McDonald. The entire 4817 Dean Lane Lilburn Georgia 30047 set runs over 4 GB, so I have gotten an 8 GB flash January 29, 201 drive to put it on. If you get down to Stone Mountain by all means Dear Tom, give me a call and come by! Indeed, while SF Fandom is about as close to a cult Thanks for the Reluctant Famulus 103! Glad to as I am likely to get, not all cults were harmful. Robert hear you got past the PC problems. Funny Brad Foster Lichtman has described being a member of The Fami- cover. The back cover must have offered the ultimate ly that created a commune called The Farm. propellor beanie, though with a lousy propellor that looks more like a whirlygig! Even the target customers [[I'm really glad I got past the PC problems in must have been puzzled by the idea of the “sound” of spite ofthe cost. It could have been far worse.// “whizzing through space”. I wonder what the date on Yeah. Brad's oddball, sometimes bizarre, imagina- this ad was. tion is something I very much enjoy and appreci- We not only have the current political loonies, but ate. I chanced upon that ad while browsing online the debris left by the ones of the past -I was just read- ing that the constitution of the state of Kentucky speci- for unusual items. The instant I saw it I knew it fies that every county have an elected Jailor—even if was a perfect complement to Brads front cover.// that county has no jail. The city of Owenton has a jail but it's more a his- The latest antique SF that I enjoyed is not online as torical building and, as far as I can tell, used for far as I can tell—Robert Bloch's ”A Way if Life“, other purposes. That's where I go to pay our prop- where US society collapses and the fans take over. On erty taxes. With Owenton being the county seat of the Yahoo-group ”fictionmags“ we were just discussing Owen County, I imagine there is a newer jail some- the famous story by Arthur C. Clarke -History Les- where but I have no desire to learn where. Ken- son” (aka “Expedition to Earth”), where aliens visit tucky's an odd state—pardon me, commonwealth long after Man and his works are gone, and find (in a in some ways. The state's also cursed with two of vault marked by a nuclear-powered beacon) the last the worst politicians in the U.S. congress. Sadly, human artifact, a reel of movie film. I had imagined the fool voters keep reelecting the elder of the that this was also the story where there were toilet two.// I've got to get Robert Bloch's story. He was bowls and Coke bottles that survived (because there on my mailing list until he passed away. I met him were no many of them), but I waswrong. Those are in only once, briefly, when I handed him a copy of some other story. TRF just before the start of a panel he was on. Writing fiction is an art that—like any art—could not persist if there were not people who enjoyed read- Even so, I miss him and his occasional postcards ing fiction. Fiction precedes literacy I think—didn't all of comment. I wish I had been able to see him cultures have “storytellers”? The traveling bards of pre- more than the one time. I think I might have read literate Europe recited in rhythm and rhyme and to History Lesson but I'll have to look it up to see for music. The content was probably more myths and leg- certain.// I think you're correct: fiction writing is ends than original fiction but to the audience this would an art. I intend to continue reading and enjoying have made little difference. We enjoy fiction because it fiction for a long as I can. Storytelling goes inspires new ideas that would not arise in our daily way,way back to when our predecessors first creat- lives. ed language and used it to entertain one another Interesting about Mike Nichols and “Midnight Spe- at night around a campfire. At least that's what cial”. If it's available in the Atlanta area I have not some people claim. It's too bad that fiction writing heard about it. I do sometimes listen to the 2-hour of any kind is consid-ered more a commodity and “Hour of Slack” and “Slacktime Fun house” from the Church of the SubGenius at midnight on Saturday on a way for publishers to make lots and lots (they WREK-FM. hope) of money.// From what little I've seen of the 24 Simpsons I'm love it. It is early Twi- sure I'd prefer light for insecure Futurama. //I'm poseures. hoping some- Glad John Purcell how, some day and a few others to get to Stone enjoyed my remarks on Mountain and 'show, don't tell'. It's also Chickamau- interesting to note that I ga and Mission- am currently doing ary Ridge. My rewrites of a novel for 2ndg reat-grand- an editor who adheres to father Sadler was, according to his military pen- many such dicta. Drives me crazy but so far she's sion applications, in the battle there on the Confed- asked for edits I would ask of others, so it's look- erate side, of course. I'll keep your suggestion in ing promising. mind. My wife isn't interested in the Civil War as I These remarks were taken from the com- am even though her great-grandfather also served ments and sentences that prompted me to make in that war. Being from Michigan, he was on the notes in the TRF pages. It's a good issue I'll absorb Union side.]] in due time. Be soon & write well. From: Gene Stewart 1710 Dianne Ave. [[Brad is indeed a master and I'm in awe of his cre- Bellevue, NE 68005 ativity. I feel the same about Steve Stiles, Kurt 29 Jan '15 c. e. Erichsen and Sheryl Birkhead's. And the covers by Hi, Tom, A. B Kynock.// The main purposes of 'my questions were to see how many responses I would get, how A few random remarks were prompted by the large a range of reasons and to see if I could get excellent new issue. people to thinking. I felt sure there Would be many Great cover; Foster's a master. good and sensible reasons. Dang! I thought I had To answer the question of why we read and corrected that typo. Methinks thou art correct and write as posed in your editorial, I do it figure thin- the word should have been “denigrate ”. There's hgs out. Never for money, always for meaning.I've another one I missed in your column in 103: “pit ”. nothing to say that's any more or less important I believe it should have been “put ”. I really need than anyone else and I don't consider entertaining to read some of the works of Chandler and Ham- anyone when I write. I read and write to help fig- mett just to see what they're like. I read some ure out life, the universe, and everything, to cite Spillaine a long time ago, out of curiosity. Thank- Adams. Michaele Jordan continues her bad habit fully, I have no recollection of what the titles were. of reviewing books she is unequipped to grasp or I still prefer Lord Peter Wimsey, Sherlock Holmes, appreciate. Her final paragraph is only self-rein- Father Brown, Nero Wolfe and Hercule Poirot. forcing escapist fantasy. My typo “. . . acting out a Having admitted that I expect to hear some harsh scent. made me smile . Should've added then words about my choices of fictional detectives. “To blame the dog for it . . .” each is own, said the old lady as she kissed her Dave Rowe meant 'denigrate' when he wrote cow. `disseminate', methinks. He Says Hammett was Chandler's literary From: Kim Neidigh. 1/30/15 twin. It's quite the opposite: Hammett was terse and precise, impeccable; Chandler was wordy and Dear Tom, poetic, sloppy. As for Chandler detesting the low-grade hard- Only a fraction of fiction writers make any boiled macho sub-literacy of the Spillaine types, money through their writing and only an even hooray. That stuff is for thugs to read. Misognysts tinier fraction make enough to live on. The situa 25 tion is even worse for poets. Star Line considers I write to itself a professional poetry market but it only pays Amuse my friends, $3 a poem. Sometimes, I've received as high as Especially $10. or $15 for a single poem. Still, not a way to The ladies. get rich. Of course, you can publish your own book and cross your fingers. If it's money you And question three is ”Why do some writers want, your best bet is probably e-publishing. Per- just give their work away free?“ It is worse than sonally, I write for the small glory of seeing my that! Some of us fanzine fans spend serious money words in print and receiving occasional compli- to print and mail out our work. ments. The only thing I know about the word Of all the gods, ”professional is that the definition is constantly I love but one: being changed so as to exclude me. (SFWA The sweet, the healing, doesn't even accept poetry as meeting membership Great God Fun! requirements.) Do you really want to know where the future Your fan, Ray ”The Rhymer“ Nelson. is taking us? Then sit back, relax, and enjoy a dou- ble feature of Soylent Green and Rollerball! Yours, Kim [[Good grief! I guess I’ll have to learn how to count.I feel much the same as you in regard to [[I've known for several decades, maybe 45 years what we seek in reading fiction. I too feel being or so, that the majority of writers make little mon- myself is such a bore. Fame and fortune are all ey for their writing with only a small fraction mak- well and good, I suppose thought those goals can ing a good living from it. That's why many veteran become a dangerous obsession. Both have been professional writers give the advice to aspiring known to fade away and the former soon forgot- writers, “Don't quit your day job. ” The competi- ten. Your comment on question three certainly tion to become a paid writer has been and is near- applies to me when it comes to TRF. Making mon- ly insurmountable and will only become worse ey from one's writing is nice—if' one is able to. now that e-publishing exists. Even so, that doesn't But then any income from writing would have to mean hopeful people have to quit writing.]] be reported to the IRS, providing the writer is hon- est enough to report it. Besides, our retirement incomes are sufficient for our needs. I'd be almost From Ray Nelson as satisfied if, people read what I write I sf, and January 31, 2915 maybe, in some small way, enjoy oy and appreci- ate my scribblings.]] You ask more or less three questions. Number one is “What do we, the readers, expect from fic- tion? Speaking for myself, I seek to live, however briefly, in someone else's skin, and in fantasy someone else's universe. Being just myself is such a bore. Second question is ”Why does only a rela- tively small number of people write fiction, espe- cially fantasy fiction?“ No, it is not for fame and fortune, at least in my case. If that was what I was after, I certainly wouldn't write for fanzines. I wrote a filler verse about that.

The Righteous write, To save the souls, Of sinners bound, For Hades. 26 ”Imitation is the sin-cerest From: Taral Wayne form of flattery“ really true? 2/1/2015 I guess some people just can't seem to leave well enough I read The Final Solution alone and instead leave a big some, years ago, and finished mess behind. And why pick it feeling as though some on Sherlock Holmes to imi- parts of the Sherlockian saga tate?]] no longer fit together as well as they used to, which may be From: Al Byrd February 3, a good thing. I have little to 2015 add to Michaele Jordan's Dear Tom, review of the book except that I was surprised that the Thank you for TRF # reviewer over- 103. Again, an issue was looked the one detail that filled with fascinating articles I thought most disturbing. The Old Man is horri- that provoke discussion. fied by the belief he might loose his mind! He has In my youth, when Arthur C. Clarke was my had past episodes where suddenly the world favorite author, I read A Fall of Moondust many a around him would cease to have meaning—a tree time. That book was rather light in tone and in sub- is just a tree, a footprint just a footprint, and a door stance beside such cosmic classics of his as Child- that isn't fully closed is just a door that isn't full hood's End and Against the Fall of Night, but was closed—they no longer speak to him in the secret charming nonetheless. I don't know whether it had language of deduction and inference. Throughout enough real story to make a movie. Earthlight, in the book, The Old Man moves in terror that the my opinion, would have made a better movie than next thing he sees may be as empty of meaning as A Fall of Moondust would have. An intelligently Sarah Palin's head—indeed, I believe one incident made movie on a space war. Hollywood might occurs during the read. have gone in a wholly different direction. The reviewer didn't mention Gentlemen of the It stunned me to learn that The Time Traders, Road, another novel (serialized) by Michael another of my favorite books from my youth, is Chabon with Jewish subjects. In fact, an entire now available for free on line. Classical literature semi-mythical Jewish kingdom in the Near East at no cost—can such a wonder truly be? among the `Stans during the Middle Ages. It was a Oh, yes, there used to be something called a real place, but little is known about it. The novel is library ... rather reminiscent of a Hope-Crosby Road movie, Gene Stewart's review of the hard-bitten I thought, with a touch of Robert E. Howard's Japanese crime novels reveals how what's on the Conan. Charbon's original working title had been surface genre fiction can tell much deeper stories. ”Jews With Swords“. I got a sense of this from Red Harvest, but it sounds as if the Japanese novels have taken this [[That's what becomes of writers who try to emu- further. late the works of other writers—in this case Arthur Eric Barraclough's review of Singing from the Conan Doyle. It seems as if they feel that they can Floor opened a window into a whole world that improve on the original but many times they don't some of us have never gotten to see—a world as quite manage it. I doubt if*they actually succeed. rich and varied as fandom. There certainly seems to be a lot of authors out As Michaele Jordan's review of The Final Solu- there writing their own versions of Sherlock tion points out, pastiches of Sherlock Holmes can Holmes. Of course imitation is much easier than be hit or miss. I've mainly found them the latter. creating a writer's own original detective. Is it lazi- It's easy enough to get the sound of another writ- ness on their parts or the mistaken belief that they er's voice, if it's distinctive enough, but getting the are somehow honoring Holmes? Is that old saying, actual voice is rare. If you're going to use the char 27 acter without the voice, you might as well develop nice. Well there still are something called libraries your own character. but now some offer e-books in addition to or in Gayle Perry has brought us more dinosaurs! place of physical printed books.// Regarding you They're endlessly fascinating and become more so comments about Holmes pastiches being hit or all of the time. I keep hoping for evidence of a rap- miss and ”. . . mainly the latter“, I agree. I don't tor civilization, but I may just have to tell that sto- feel any enthusiasm to read any of the multitude of ry myself ... Holmes stories by other writers. Wait. I take that My thanks to Jerry Kaufman and John Purcell back. I did read one that was, more or less, a Sher- for their comments on my articles in #102. Follow- lock Holmes novel. It was The Shadow of Reichen- ing up on my articles on Governor Goebel, I can bach Falls by John R. King. While it did feature now report that I've at last been to the old state Holmes it was mash-up of sorts because it capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, where he died. On involved William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki, the previous trips along Broadway, I'd foolishly Ghost Finder with Professor Moriarty thrown in thought that the capitol was a church building. Cer- for good measure. It was all right, I guess, not tainly, it looks too small to have been the center of great but not a big disappointment. I may have to the controversy that enveloped it. read it again, just out of curiosity. Then there was In any case, I've now stood where the not-yet The SevenPer-Cent Solution and The West End governor was shot. From there, I can say that the- Horror. I also concur with your final sentence in fatal shot might have come equally well from any paragraph 7.// It's amazing how many kinds of of the windows on the upper floor of the capitol dinosaurs there were, many more than I had annex, off to the right. Actually, equally poorly is expected. When I was probably around 10 or 12 better put. It looks to me as if a gunman would years old or thereabouts I'd have probably been in have had to lean far out of any of those windows heaven seeing all those dinosaurs. My interest in and fire across his body to the right to have made them dwindled over the years in favor of other the shot. Only if the gunman were left-handed things.// I don't know if ”Alternative history is clas- could the shot have been doable. (All right, if the sified as science fiction, isn't it?“ I suppose it gunman had leaned out of window backwards, he could be. To me, personally, it's more in the realm or she could have fired across body right handed.) of fantasy but I'm willing to give it more thought.]] It looks to me as if a shot from the annex's roof would be more plausible than the shot that has From: Brad foster 2/4/2015 been alleged. I haven't, however, seen anyone else mention the roof in their speculations. Sadly, the Greetings Tom tree in which the fatal shot lodged is gone, making New issue arrived this week. Color on the cov- line of sight determinations mere estimates these er of my copy was a wee bit paler than the artowrk days. should be, but still looks fine, and I've come to I hope to send you in a couple of days a one- realize how hard it is to match color when printing off piece on South Union, along with pictures by in zines, after years of just doing the simple black Anna; then I plan to start the speculative piece on ink lines. Hope people get a grin out of my Space Southern victory in the Civil War. Alternative his- Santa! tory is classified as science fiction, isn't it? Got a mess of new fillos to send your way this Thank you again for TRF # 103. time (I think there are five, will attach them before Best wishes, sending), various sizes and types. As usual, hope Al you can give these a home! [[Arthur C. Clarke was among my favorite writers. Your comments on your reading choices had I can't recall now if I ever read Earthlight but I me wondering about my own ”have read“ list, and may have ages ago. Depending on the publi- how much of that was even sf this past year. Did a cation date and whether or not a story or novel's look-see, actually figured both those marked as sf copyright was extended, many works are in the or fantasy would count for this, and find that, out public domain and are available free though some of 68 books last year, about 20 of them fill the bill. sites not too subtly hint that a donation would be (Might be able to add two or three more, as lots of 28 the ”fiction“ that I Great new toon read also often has from Teddy at the some kind of fantasy end of the locs. I or weird element, miss the days when though they avoid mar- there were clever keting them in that Harvia toons in just way.) Not too bad. about every fanzine Since, to save bucks that came my way. and maximize my So will treasure the book-buying, I'm most- few new ones that ly a buyer of used books, so the newest sf on that show up these days, one by one. list is Mieville's Embassytown from 2011, and the Finally, back cover, I'd never seen that particu- oldest looks to be Dick's Ubik from 1969. lar style of “Space Pilot Helmet” before! All I On your question there, ”What do we expect could think of after reading the tagline at the top from the fiction we read ... why do we read fic- was “In space, no one can hear you whiz!” tion?“ Well, for me, it depends on what that partic- stay happy–Brad ular work of fiction is promising to deliver. At its Brad W Foster - PO Box 165246 - Irving, TX most basic, SF and fantasy have always been the 75016 place I got to see new ideas, new conjectures, [email protected] things I may not have thought of myself. I also hope to be entertained with both interesting story, [[Yes, it's really difficult and frustrating trying to and, if very lucky, by good writing skills of the get colors to come out right no matter what I try. I author. Indeed, fiction in general, for me, is inter- have that same problem with much of Sheryl's col- esting to read things I'd not thought of before. New or fillos. Fortunately, on the digital PDF version I ideas. It's all about new ideas—or sometimes, with post on eFanzines, the colors look close to what a good writer, old ideas, looked at in a new way. you intended Further, regarding your cover: Oh Plus funny stuff, yeah, humor is good, too! readers liked it.// The fillos have indeed found a I went on-line to see what the cover for home as you will have seen.// There's nothing “Singing From The Floor” looked like, after Eric's wrong with having a mix of genres to read; 20 or opening comments in his article on it. I thought it so out of 68 isn't bad. I read SF, fantasy, biogra- was an interesting design, not sure why he felt it phies, mysteries, historicals, the American Civil needed to even be commented on. Oh well... War, the American Revolution, and Mark Twain, By the way, loved the three fillos to go with of course. There's nothing wrong with buying used this article by Tracy Mintzer. Hope you will con- books. In the past I bough many used books when tinue to get contributions from her (or him? Just my family budget was tight, with four growing chil- realized, can't assume just from the first name one dren to raise. You list some good reasons for read- way or the other). Okay, hope that they will contin- ing and that's what I was looking for from TRF ue to contribute for more issues to come! readers who took the time to respond to those ques- I've read, and highly enjoyed, four Michael tions. I wish a few more had at least listed some of Chabon novels so far, and have The Final Solution their reasons. Ah well ... // Your mention of the cov- on the list to seek out. Michaele's review er for “Singing” reminds me that I should have here, possibly because I am not the Holmes included a cover.// Well that's up to Tracey “fan” spoken of, though I have enjoyed so much of Mintzer.// I haven't read any of the Chabon books that material, actually makes the book sound even for the reason I mentioned earlier on in the loc- more interesting for me! col.// Re: stalagtite and stalactite. As a rule, the Sheryl's creation of “Sadler-ites” and “Famulus- clue is “clings tight” (from the ceiling), stalactite; ites” in her loc had me wondering: which is the stalagmite, growing from the cave floor up.// Ted- one that hangs down from the ceiling of caves, and dy is probably a very busy man with more impor- which is the one that grows upwards from the tant commitments.// As far as I can recall, I've nev- floor? er seen any style of space helmet advertised]] 29 appropriate or accurate.// Regarding the helmet: From: Dave Rowe what else would you expect from a 10 year old? At 8288 W Shelby State Road 44 F Franklin IN46131- that age such things as quality, good taste and 9211 durability don't enter his mind.// There is some 2015-Feb-7 Dear Tom, truth to your fourth paragraph but there are bound Brad's winsome [whimsical? Ed.] cover was a to be objections.// No, no. I was thinking more of great start to your fanzine. His choice of subdued fiction in general and was including SF, fantasy, primary colors and a subtle use of wash worked so horror, etc. When I asked those questions I was well and again showed what a brilliant artist/car- hoping to receive a variety of reasons for both oonist he is. reading and writing. The reason you cited is cer- The bacover of the “Space Pilot Helmet“ ad tainly an unusual one and might be shared by oth- was embarrassingly funny. Embarrassing for the er people.// Gilbert K Chesterton was correct thought that as kids we might have wanted one. about that. But to many people the past before they Why read fiction (other than SF) you ask? Sim- were born is unknown territory in spite of history ply because it's fun and entertaining but also courses in school.]] because it takes the reader to situations and envi- ronments he would otherwise never encounter. From: Milt Stevens February 9, 2015 And when it's well written with a social con- science it can highlight wrongs that the public Dear Tom, might well ignore otherwise. For instance if Harri- In Reluctant Famulus #103, you mention the et Beecher Stowe had written a factual history of Gutenberg Project. In theory, I like the idea of hav- the slave trade would so many people have read it ing as many books as possible in generally avail- as read Uncle Tom's Cabin? Certainly not. Same able and fairly permanent form. Of course, the goes for segregation and Harper Lee's To Kill A pure mass of books is likely to overwhelm most Mockingbird. U.S. diplomatic corp. arrogance and people. Quite a few people can be overwhelmed Burdick & Lederer's The Ugly American, etc., etc., by a single volume. Recently the question was reversed to why This may be the last age in which people col- write fiction? When an acquaintance said he wrote lect paper books. When you can go to your note- SF but simply wrote it for his own enjoyment and book and read a copy of anything published within never submitted it for publication or even let the last couple of centuries, why go to all the trou- friends read it. ble and expense of collecting. On the other hand, As for TRF being backward looking, G. K. it's the desire to collect that makes the idea of hav- Chesterton once wrote words to the effect that we ing all the books in the world available sound like all live in the past because the future has yet to a good one. come and the present is too fleeting. I've only gone to Gutenberg once. For curiosi- And if you want to check up on the Internation- ty, I looked up A. Merritt, who is an entirely out of al Space Station, it's as close as your computer. print author as far as I know. The Moon Pool was www.nasa.gov is a good start. the only Merritt volume at Gutenberg. As of 1950, Eric mentioned Vera Johnson's ”campaign Merritt was still thought of as one of the top fanta- song“ for Britain's 1979 Worldcon bid. Even if oth- sy writer. Merritt faded while Lovecraft and er bids had campaign songs Vera's is possibly Howard still have followings. unique because it was broadcast on national radio Why stories? I know some Protestant groups (BBC Radio Two's Both Sides Now program) and condemn all fiction as falsehood. They seem to for- then rebroadcast as part of Wally Whyton's Folk get that Christ told parables, and they didn't have Show on the BBC World Service so it's probably to be literally true. Art is distilled reality. It gives the only worldcon song to be broadcast world- us a heavier jolt of what we get out of reality in wide. general. Does art give meaning to life? No. Long Thanks for some really good reads. ago, the Buddhists discovered that meaning-was being hit in the head with a fish. That's meaning [[”Winsome“? I think whimsical would be more all right. 30 I can imagine how stories like distilled whiskey/whisky? got started. Something went An absurd question. Here I bump in the night. A little thought things that went bump human asked, ”What's that?“ in the night were monsters or Parents never like to admit a demons of some kind But ” . . . lack of omniscience. Which is gods screwing. “// By now you why the little human grew up will likely have learned that believing that the things that go Terry Pratchett passed away bump in the night are the gods March 12, his death largely screwing. It is best not to inter- connected with early stage rupt the gods when they are alzheimer's. He will be screwing. missed.// Archetypes are better In Witches Abroad, Terry than stereotypes. I think.]] Pratchett says that stories are eternal and never care what characters they use. From: Lloyd Penney 1706-24 They are like river channels that get deeper with Eva Rd. every retelling of the story. In colleges, they call Etobicoke, ON those things archetypes. CANADA M9C 2132 February 12, 2015 Yours truly, Milt Stevens Dear Tom: 6325 Keystone St. Simi Valley, CA 93063 Thank you for yet another issue of The Reluc- [email protected] tant Famulus, issue 103. I am getting an early start on this; I've been frantically writing as many locs [[”Quite a few people can be overwhelmed by a as I can since the beginning of the year. single volume. “ Isn't that the truth. I feel sorry for Human insanity, or at least, illogical behavior, those poor people. In certain ways digital books cannot be underestimated. The very thin veneer of are to some extent vulnerable to loss too. By who civility and calmness on each person is reflected knows when in the future, will what we're now by the even thinner veneer of civilization on our reading on desktops, laptops, net-books, tablets, society. I would like to think better of us. I wish I and pads will be readable by the technology of could. However, the good people among us don't make that future time. That is, unless the news, only the bad ones. And, we see the bad ones some sort of universal way is found now to make through the magnifying lens of social media, so it is them readable on whatever technology exists in blown up past its proper proportion. the future. Physical books, on the other hand, The Crazy Years ... Spider Robinson had a regular column for a while in the pages of The Globe and Mail except for fire and or/ flood. if properly preserved newspaper here, and he wrote about the events of the should be readable even centuries from now. day, calling that time The Crazy Years. If there hadn't Unless, of course, languages of the future have been such sorrow in his life, he could easily write more changed drastically from what they are now. Lan- columns about the current state of politics, especially guages do change and some have even the insanities of ultra-conservative right-wing politi- become extinct.//1 also went looking for Merritt's cians. books on Project Gutenberg and was disappointed I've been looking into the idea of a portable exter- that The Moon Pool was the only one. Project nal hard drive myself. These days, a 2Tb drive seems Gutenberg seems to add books in a very haphaz- to be the norm. Give it a few years, and we will be talk- ard manner or depending on which way the wind ing about petabytes, which is the next level up. 640k is blows. Or something. I've found some Robert Sil- enough for anyone, says Bill. verberg stories on Project Gutenberg and he's still As readers, we expect the authors to take us on living.// Well in a way those Protestants are cor- imaginary trips into compelling fantasy, yet do so in a believable fashion. I am finding that as we become rect. Most fiction is about people and events that more and more electronic in everyday life, physical don't exist. ”distilled reality“. Is that anything books are less important to many people, and 31 authors are finding that writing books is no longer a must be thousands of novelists out there vying to way to make decent money. I know of a few who are become published.// I think I may have heard of moving into script writing and screenwriting, and oth- Jim Butcher. He'd be another writer whose works ers who are moving into the administrative area of pub- I'd be unlikely to read.// That's good news that you lishing. Many of us feel the need to be productive, and both are still fully employed. May you continue to just need to find out what being productive means to be so through the rest of this year and many them. I write lots of letters, but have found that I can more.]] make simple jewelry, and I am having some fun with that, too. I see so many references to Jim Butcher these days. From R. Speer 2/16/2015 I tried reading his work, and failed miserably. He has announced he will be starting a new steampunk series Why do we read fiction? Why do people write it? I of novels, so perhaps I might get into that, but no tend to agree with Ed Abbey: ”It is my belief that the promises. writer, the free-lance author, should be and must be a Here we are about six weeks into the New Year, critic of the society in which he lives.“ I used to read and we are still fully employed. Not bad at all! We are lots of Heinemann African Writers Series novels, preparing for a couple of events we're going to in April, including many books written in English at the height and we can afford them and a little more. Life is slowly of decolonization by the angry western-educated getting back to normal. African intelligentsia, which I liked for that rea- Time to wrap it up and get it to you; I've run out of son—they were consumed with contempt for the zinc and brain cells to respond. Take care, stay warm society which produced them. I am vaguely aware (it is horribly cold just about everywhere), and see you that there was at one time a fair bit of social or pro- next time. letarian type social crit- Yours, Lloyd Penney. icism fiction in the U.S. but it has never sound- ed very appealing to me. The African books have [[I don't know how many fanzines you're loccing- exoticism on their side too. This cultural tourism but I'm sure it kept you really busy. You set an awe- aspect of the reading finally put me off of the stuff some goal for yourself.// Insanity, illogical behav- for good, along with the general dreariness of too- ior, concentrated stupidity call it what you heavy social criticism. will—should never be underestimated and can't World building seems like a more productive, ever be overestimated. There's another facet of if indirect, approach to describing a society and humans, their fervent use of hyperbole and sensa- prescribing changes than angry screeds. That's tionalism, especially in the news, politics and why I like SF, and that's what I want from fiction: sports. We humans take exaggeration to the sly social criticism and entertainment in equal mea- extreme. It would help if the news would strive for sures. a reasonable and, ifpossible, rational approach. Ryan Speer Blacksburg, VA ”Just the facts, ma'am. “// So Canada has ”ultra- conservative right-wing politicians“ too. I fear [[I asked that question out of curiosity, to see what many other nations suffer from the same affliction sorts of responses I would receive. I was certain as the U S. and Canada.// I've been storing a lot of there would be many reasons, some contradicting information and photos on my I TB drive, includ- others. As the saying goes, ”to each his own “. ing most of the TRF stuff, and there is still 863 GB We're drawn to the kinds of fiction with which we of memory available. I'm glad I didn't go for a feel most comfortable or can in some way relate 2TB drive. I suspect I'd never live long enough to to. Certainly criticism of any society is a valid rea- fill even a 1 petabyte drive. I think I read some- son for writing fiction. But that isn't the only one, where that there's the possibility of a drive capaci- nor should it be. Angry screeds and polemics can ty greater than petabytes but I forgot what the num- quickly become offputting and counter productive ber is called The mind boggles at the thought of as well as tedious and tiresome. I don't know much higher storage capacities and ones on small- about the ”Should be and must be a critic. “ That er physical drives.// Considering the competition seems rather dictatorial to me. All we readers look in the publishing industry it's not surprising many at fiction in slightly different ways although there writers can't make ”. . . decent money. . . “. There is some overlap among us. But no one person 32 should feel en- To be hon- titled to deter- est, before I mine for writers read your edito- what and how rial, I ego- they should scanned the let- write. That's too ter column, and much like confor- found my letter mity and attempt- and your con- ed coercion. No fused response doubt you or and attempt to someone else understand my may disagree remark about with me. I can't help that and they're welcome to the tablet Suzle bought. My use of ”Best regard“ their opinion. As noted elsewhere in the letters col- was actually a joke—at your expense, I fear. Look umn fiction is an art. In that case, it should be back to issue #102, page 3, the last paragraph of wide ranging and varied as the other arts. It seems your editorial on that page, to which I was respond- to me that painting has been used in a criticising ing. The sentence reads, ”I bought it online and political way. Picasso 's Guernica is one exam- through amazon.com and it happened to Best ple, if I recall correctly and I suspect there have regards on sale at the time.“ Somehow your soft- been others.]] ware replaced the word ”be“ with ”Best regards.“ When I first read this, it took me a little while to From: Jerry kaufman figure out what you were trying to say. Now that I 2-22-2015 look at my own inclusion of ”Best regards,“ I see it's not really parallel as I would not have used When each issue first emerges from its enve- ”be“there ”was“ already does the job. lope, I look at the covers—that seems obvious. I Just to be even-handed, I'll point out that in loved the front cover, and ”read“ it as an updated Dave Rowe's letter this issue, he uses a word that Santa Claus, because of the driver's costume colors does not fit what he's trying to say, in his critique and facial decor--on the other hand, there's no of Raymond Chandler's comment on Arthur Conan room for gifts in that vehicle. What would you call Doyle and other mystery writers. Dave says, ”He it? A roadster, maybe? It's fun to imagine myself then went on to cynically disseminate the English driving it. detective writers ... for their lack of realism and The back cover advertisement is either an knowledge . . .“ ”Disseminate“ means ”to spread“ extremely clever hoax or an amazing silly toy I (as in ”to disseminate knowledge“), and I have yet might have enjoyed when I was ten, if I'd ever to guess exactly what ”d“ word Dave was aiming seen the ad or the actual toy hat. I've just looked it for. (I am assuming that you copied his letter up through the magic of Google, and it's a real whole, without doing any editing on it my apolo- deal, although the actual item is not quite as cool gies to Dave if it's not the word he originally as in the illustration. It's made with real, brightly chose.) colored, plastic. The photos I found were of one I want to pass along a big thanks to Eric Barra- that sold for $169 in 2007. Thanks for bringing it clough for acquainting us with Singing from the to us. Floor. I love British Isles traditional music, and Yes, the space program proceeds so slowly it have seen both the Watersons and Water- seems to be in a coma. It's not what we dreamed of son/Carthy in concert. So many of the names Eric when we were ten (see previous paragraph). But mentions are familiar to me. I wasn't familiar with with billionaires getting involved in private space the expression that gives the book its title; howev- vehicles, history now seems to follow a little of er, I think Eric drops a clue or two that it's the kind Heinlein's speculations about private industry and of music event where not only is there a featured its role. (Assuming I remember Heinlein's books performer, but people in the audience also get to correctly.) sing—or perhaps the kind of pub evening where 33 no one is “featured” and everyone gets to sing increased the odds Mars could once have “from the floor,” that is, wherever they happen to been habitable by some sort of life be standing or sitting in the pub. (I have seen a An analysis of chemical signatures in short film called “A Health to the Barley Mow,” shot in 1952 but looking much older, which is the Martian atmosphere, indicates that about such an evening.) somewhere around 4.2 billion years ago a I may continue this letter in a later email, as I body of water larger than the Arctic Ocean recall there being a number of other comment covered almost one-fifth of the planet's sur- hooks, especially in the letter column. But we're face. The ocean likely contained an estimat- going out soon to do a few errands and see Bird- man before we watch the Oscar ceremony later. ed 5 million cubic miles with a maximum (We do enjoy those award shows despite the fact depth of one mile. that usually we've seen few of the nominees.) John Bridges, a Leicester University Yours, planetary scientist who works on NASA's Jerry Kaufman Curiosity rover mission, told The Guardian. “A decade ago, the story about water on [[Maybe Brad’s Santa’s sleigh had a compartment like Dr. Who’s Tardis, larger on the inside than on Mars was an occasional flood of rocky the outside.11 The letter was exactly as Dave debris every 100m years that then switched wrote it. The wrong word would have been correct- off again. We now know it's more continu- ed if I hadn’t had other more important, things on ous. There were long-standing bodies of my mind than an incorrect word, and it hadn’t water: lakes, deltas and perhaps even seas. slipped my mind. Regarding what word Dave actu- ally meant: Gene Stewart beat you to it in his loc. It seems to me that we have excellent evi- The word should have been denigrate. Whether dence that Mars was once habitable, though you believe me or not, that’s the word I would whether it was ever inhabited is not clear.” have substituted if I had remembered to go back Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space and make the correction. I apologize for not being Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland ana- perfect, sometimes forgetting things and making lyzed observa-tions of the atmosphere mistakes. Additionally, I still haven't been able to figure out how those words got where they did. I above Mars' north and south poles made admit to being mortified that I didn’t make those over the course of six years by the Euro- corrections but I also realize there’s no sense in pean Southern Observatory's Very Large me resorting to hyperbole and making more of the Telescope in northern Chile and the W.M. matter than is necessary. I imagine you had a Keck Observatory and NASA Infrared Tele- good laugh over that. Now I’m seriously consider- ing hiring a chimpanzee to do the proofreading. scope Facility in Hawaii. Then we’ll see what results from that.]] They compared the atmospheric concen- trations of normal water (H20) to heavy Water, water everywhere water (HDO), in which one hydrogen atom Editor is replaced with an atom of the isotope deu- Scientists have known there was once terium. They discovered the concentration water on Mars. They just didn’t know exact- of deuterium over the polar ice caps is now ly how much. Recent new research esti- much higher than is seen in Earth's oceans. mates that Mars was far wetter than scien- The finding suggests ancient Mars must tists thought. It appears that actually large have lost an ocean's-worth of normal water. portions of the Martian surface were flood- The normal water would have evaporated ed by a vast ocean. If so, it might have into space; the heavy water would have 34 been trapped in the plane's water cycle. The field yields aurorae, so does Ganymede's. scientists estimate the total volume of water The aurorae rock back and forth when they on the planet was once roughly 6.5 times interact with any nearby magnetic field, greater than the amount of water found in which includes that of Jupiter.If the aurorae the polar ice caps today. feel the effects of Jupiter's magnetic field, Michael Mumma, a senior scientist at they should also feel the effects of a sub- Goddard and a co-author of a paper describ- surface salty ocean's magnetic field too, if ing the research, said in a written state- one exists. New Scientist reported that the ment. “With Mars losing that much water, researchers watched Ganymede with the the planet was very likely wet for a longer Hubble telescope for seven hours to track period of time than was previously thought, the aurorae's rocking movements. suggesting it might have been habitinable It's assumed that If the aurorae are affect- for longer,” ed by Jupiter's magnetic field alone, they [From a paper published March 5 online by the should be rocking six degrees. The Journal SCIENCE] researchers found that the aurorae are rock- Ganymede, our solar system's largest ing only two degrees. “Exactly like predict- moon may be hiding a secret, a subter- ed when there is an ocean present,” ranean saltwater ocean. NASA's Hubble Joachim Saur told CBS News. “So this Space Telescope has spotted signs of a confirms the existence of an ocean and huge ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter's simultaneously rules out the absence of an moon Ganymede. How large is it? The ocean.” ocean is thought to have more water than The researchers estimate that the ocean all the bodies of water on Earth's surface. is 60 miles deep, 10 times deeper than According to the Associated Press, Jim Earth's oceans and buried about 95 miles Green, director of planetary science at under Ganymede's icy crust. NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., John Grunsfeld, associate administrator said during a press conference, “The solar of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at system is now looking like a pretty soggy NASA headquarters, said in a written state- place.“ ment, “This discovery marks a significant It has been believed water exists on oth- milestone, In its 25 years in orbit, Hubble er moons in our solar system, including has made many scientific discoveries in our Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon own solar system. A deep ocean under the Enceladus as well as our own moon. icy crust of Ganymede opens up further Since the 1970s, scientists suspected exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth.“ Ganymede also had an ocean. Recently, a This new research was published online March 12, team of researchers led by Joachim Saur, a 2015 in the Journal of Geophysical Research. professor of geophysics at the University of Cologne in Germany took a close look at glowing ribbons of hot gas on the moon, called aurorae to find clues. It seems that Ganymede is the only moon in our solar system with its own mag- netic field. And, just as Earth's magnetic 35