ALEXIAD (!7+=3!G) $2.00 Yesterday Morning I Picked up the Pants I Had Put Aside to Wear Earlier That Morning Lloyd Daub, Richard A

Vol. 20 No. 1 February 2021 ALEXIAD (!7+=3!G) $2.00 Yesterday morning I picked up the pants I had put aside to wear earlier that morning Lloyd Daub, Richard A. Dengrove, Nic Farey, Tom Feller, John Hertz, Robert S. Kennedy, and found myself staring at them, wondering how they would fit. I was not worried about Timothy Lane, Lloyd Penney, George W. Price, John Purcell, Darrell Schweitzer squeezing into them. That was most definitely not an issue. No, what worried me was Comments are by JTM or LTM whether or not they would stay up. I slid into them and decided that they would stay up. I reflected that ten years ago someone had told me there would come a day when I would Trivia: ...... 14 be wondering if my pants were too big I would have collapsed into helpless laughter and rolled about on the floor laughing. Art: Sheryl Birkhead ...... 6, 7 The other day I was outside at work when this big bird came flying towards me. For Alexis A. Gilliland...... 3, 10, 13 a few seconds I wondered if I were about to become an extra in a remake of Hitchcock’s Trinlay Khadro ...... 2 The Birds. Then the bird tucked its wings and went into the overhang. I let out the breath Marc Schirmeister ...... 4, 5, 8, 9 I had been holding, for this bird’s size I judged to be midway between crow and Canada goose. Its cry sounded something like “chee wit” (close as I can come.) I am pretty sure Printed on March 10, 2021 it was a bird of prey. I’ve looked on the net some and not found a precise match to my Deadline is April 1, 2021 impressions of the bird. It is quite possible I did find a match but not recognize the bird because I only had a few seconds to actually study the bird. Reviewer’s Notes This issue is dedicated to the memory of: Grant gave me a book titled All My Friends Are Dead. It seemed to appeal to something Michael J. Smith in his life. The title is not completely true, but so many of the people he knew, people we Dick Scobee knew, have died. Ronald E. McNair There is a decided lack of Howard Family Members, elves, and other long-lived sorts in Ellison Onizuka fandom, so this sort of thing is sadly inevitable. What is more bothersome is not that old fans Christa McAuliffe are dying, but that there are no new ones. At least not the new ones we know. Gregory Jarvis There is a certain attitude that is becoming prevalent among con-goers. The conrunners Judith Resnik of ConGlomeration held a meeting. They were getting to be old fans and tired. Could there — Lisa be any new people who would step in? It turned out that the answer was no. People enjoyed the convention but seemed to think Table of Contents they lacked the skills to run it. Editorial...... 1 And a different attitude is becoming evident, if not prevalent. A few years ago I read a Reviewer’s Notes ...... 1 plaint by a con-goer who was unhappy that WorldCon did not have his favorite activities. A Eclipse News...... 2 brief search on the WorldCon webpage will uncover a feaure called “volunteering”. I wonder Groundhog Day...... 2 why he never encountered that? Harem Fantasies ...... 2 This assumes that cons will survive the current lockdown. How to Get Censored by Rotten Tomatoes ...... 5 On the Remake of The Wizard of Oz...... 6 A fan complained that Baen’s Bar was promoting a toxic environment with advocacy of Ruined City ...... 4 violence. In response, Toni Weiskopf shut the board down. Then, DisCon III disinvited her Worldcon News...... 6 as Editor GoH. Book Reviews The older fans, whether liberal or conservative, have deplored this action; Guy Lillian and JTM Carr, The Paratime Wars...... 3 Darrell Schweitzer, for example. The younger praise it. JTM Haughton, Ancient Treasures...... 4 DisCon may be in trouble. Toni is trapped by cancel culture, which has become even more JTM Hollander, Political Pilgrims...... 3 virulent and destructive. How much will it drag down with it? JTM Thomas, 1910: War in the Pacific ...... 2 JTM Thomas, 1912: War for the White House ...... 2 As for getting on the list of “all my friends are dead”, my health problems continue. JTM Welky, A Wretched and Precarious Situation ...... 4 Nevertheless, they continue — health problems tend to terminate once you die. Random Jottings ...... 2 — Joe Letters ...... 7 Page 2 February 2021 Alexiad

James Edwin Gunn was born on July 12, 1923 eclipse was part of Saros 142, which began As you know, Bob, incels are fat pale neck- RANDOM JOTTINGS in Kansas City, Missouri. After writing plays, April 17, 1624 and will end June 5, 2904. bearded unemployed man-boys living in their by Joe newspaper articles, and radio scripts, he began mothers’ basements, who are perpetually writing SF in 1949, selling to Thrilling Wonder There will be two solar eclipses in 2021. aggrieved that hot models are not granted to Stories. His novel The Listeners (1972) was The first will be an annular eclipse, on June them on a regular basis. first runner-up for the John W. Campbell 10, 2021, visible in Ontario, Quebec, the It’s an example of the second-tier expan- Memorial Award (and is now obsolete, since Canadian Northern territories, Kalaallit Nunaat sion of publishing. These don’t go to the the Arecibo radio telescope is being demol- (Greenland), and the Far Eastern Province of major publishers, since they don’t feature ished). He also wrote about the field, having Russia. The path will also pass over the North Angrygirl Unlikelyname (hint: this is the published several scholarly works, one of Pole. Maximum annularity will be in Green- character, not the author) in a world without which, Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of land, and will last 3 minutes 51 seconds. The gender roles smashing another glass ceiling, or Science Fiction (1982) received the Best Non- eclipse is part of Saros 147, which began whatever. But they can be distributed on Fiction Book Hugo Award. In 2007 he was October 12, 1624 and will end February 24, demand, as it were. named a Grand Master by SFFWA. 3049. In a field where gay dinosaur romances can The second will be a total eclipse, on proliferate, it’s not surprising. December 4, 2021, visible in East Antarctica, MONARCHICAL NEWS from the Ronne Ice Shelf to Marie Byrd Land. GROUNDHOG DAY Buy my books. (All available on The path will be passing above the Pole and by Lisa Amazon.com for quite reasonable prices, The Romanian government tried to arrest thus will run from East to West, instead of except the Hugo-nominated Heinlein’s Paul Lambrino to serve a sentence for influ- from West to East as most eclipses do. The February 2 was Groundhog Day. Children, which can be bought directly from ence buying, money-laundering, and complic- maximum totality will be 1 minute 54 seconds, Punxsutawney Phil was dragged out of his lair George Price for a reasonable sum.) ity to abuse of office, but when the police visible at 76E 46' S 46E 12' W, on the Ronne early this morning. His handler’s name was showed up, his wife Lia said her husband was Ice Shelf. The eclipse is part of Saros 152, announced along with the claim he was Phil’s https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01BMIC4MU out of the country. Paul Lambrino is also which began on July 26, 1805 and will end on friend. Yeah, right, I thought and then I no- ?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070 known, particularly by himself, as Prince Paul August 20, 3049. ticed he was handling Phil without any protec- — Advt. of Romania. Unlike other pretenders (e.g. tive gloves. It is possible Phil is declawed and Michel Roger Lafosse, “Prince Michael of NASA Eclipse website: toothless but he makes no attempt to bite. He Robert M. Bryce, author of Cook & Peary: Albany” the spurious Stuart heir) Paul is https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html seems alert, not drugged. I saw no bindings on The Polar Controversy, Resolved (1997) was indeed descended from the family he claims his mouth. Without further evidence I have to doing additional research, and found a photo- heirdom from, the Romanian royal family. Other useful eclipse websites: conclude Phil is quite tame. copy of Cook’s lost journal for that period (or More precisely, from then Crown Prince Carol I spend a few minutes researching Ground- at least what Cook was saying was his jour- (later King Carol II) and his illegal morganatic http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse hog Day and learn the custom was imported nal). Bryce found hints that explained an wife Maria Johana “Zizi” Lambrino. Carol from Europe with one change. Badgers were unusual source for Cook’s attitudes: Voyages and Zizi had a son, Mircea Carol, who had http://www.eclipse.org.uk/ the meteorologists in Europe but they were not et aventures du capitaine Hatteras [The Ad- Paul, who has a son Carol Ferdinand. here so groundhogs became the meteorologists ventures of Captain Hatteras] (1864, 1866), a WISHFUL THINKING of early America. Voyage Extraordinaire by Jules Verne. Bryce Grand Duke Georgi of Russia chose to by Joe I find internet evidence that Phil is a tame started out by noticing how much Cook was celebrate his betrothal at the Ipatievskii Mon- zoo groundhog. That makes sense to me. He like Professor Liedenbrock of Voyage au astery at Kostroma, Russia, on January 24, A problem with Amazon’s suggestion only gets upset when there is sudden crowd centre de la Terre [Journey to the Center of 2021. The Ipatievskii Monastery was where algorithm is that it gets stuck. For example, I noise. Even then he does not try to hurt his the Earth] (1864, 1867) and went on from his ancestor Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was once got curious about a particular JFK ass- handler, just to try to escape. It is proclaimed there. living when he was proclaimed Tsar on March assination theory book, and for six months had that the groundhog prophesies six more weeks 14, 1613. (It seems to have no connection to dozens of them, all peddling contradictory of winter. It was a cold snowy day. http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic56-2-207.pdf the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, which was theories, clogging my feed. I check Phil’s accuracy rate. Low estimate demolished in 1977.) Now it’s “Harem fantasies”. The covers found — 39%. High — 47%. I think I will put Incidentally, The Adventures of Captain feature buxom, faerie, underdressed females. more faith in the big Canadian geese returning Hatteras is available from Amazon, in a mod- YOU’RE SO VAIN Within, the story seems to be (I look at the to the church area and the robins I have al- ern (i.e. correct) translation: by Joe previews, okay?) that a rough tough guy finds ready seen. himself inexplicably transported to a district of https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01096GBSE/ There was a solar eclipse on December 14, fantasyland inhabited by buxom, faerie, AFTER THE PIG WAR 2020. It was visible in Arucania Region, Los underdressed females who all passionately Review by Joseph T Major of OBITS Ríos Region, and Bío Bío Region of Chile and desire his embraces. After fighting ugly scaly 1910: WAR IN THE PACIFIC the Northern Patagonia Region of Argentina. monsters, he retires to a bed but not rest, until (2020: ISBN 979-8635433768; $15.95; James Gunn, the Senior Science Fiction The maximum totality was 130 seconds, visi- more ugly scaly monsters appear . . . 2020; Amazon Kindle Services: $2.99) and Writer, has died, on December 23, 2020. ble at 40E 18' S. 67E 54' W. in Argentina. The I suppose they are really pitched to incels. 1912: WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE Alexiad February 2021 Page 3

(2020: ISBN 979-8674187066; $15.95; last war and the reunification, the American these while researching his paper on the Pig (And it also seems that except for “The 2020; Amazon Kindle Services: $2.99) political scene reconfigured itself into the War, meeting people who featured in the Wizard Trader War”, all the stories are re- By Jeff Thomas Union Party and the Constitutionalist Party, previous book. prints. It’s as bad as the Retief collections.) the former favoring a more powerful central Not that all is bad, as he meets a young Jeffrey A. Thomas is author of an essay on government and the latter more powerful states lady; love and marriage follow. And Thomas THE TOUGH GUIDE TO the Pig War of 1859, where the United States rights. Oh, and there is a Socialist Party. describes several other “little people” who FANTASYLAND so nearly challenged the might of the British Injected into this gilded situation is a new have happy lives . . . until the turmoil came. Review by Joseph T Major of Empire in a war for truth, justice, the Ameri- organization, the Rationalist Party. They favor Faced with a deadlock, the President takes POLITICAL PILGRIMS: can Way, and a Large Black Pig that was various scientific panaceas common in that era drastic steps, beginning by declaring martial Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good eating American potatoes. He was born in (including, big and horrid surprise, racism). law throughout the country, and then suspend- Society Cooperstown, New York, and went to Wash- We follow the campaign of their 1912 nomi- ing the 1916 elections. This doesn’t seem to by Paul Hollander ington State University. nee, a voluble and not quite coherent univer- work. (1981, 1982, 1990, 1998, 2017; By a curious coincidence, the narrator of sity professor become a state governor. (He is Transaction Publishers; 1912 was born in Cooperstown, went to opposed to women’s suffrage, and is domi- Volume Three, 1916: The War for America ISBN 1-56000-954-3; $52.95; Washington State University, and writes a nated by his wife; there may be a connection is in preparation. It should be interesting. Routledge (Kindle); $39.99) paper on the Pig War. Write what you know, here.) I guess. The economy has gone into a slump as a PARATIME FOR FLINGERS I’d gone to Nicaragua with the head But Thomas begins his story well after his result of the peace and the country has been Review by Joseph T Major of of the National Forum Foundation, Jim Point of Departure, though he explains it well humiliated. The resulting campaign is often THE PARATIME WARS Denton. Forum has been sponsoring enough. The Confederacy managed to survive violent. Particularly when the votes are count- by John F. Carr interns from newly de-communized the Civil War of the Rebellion Between the ed, and no one wins. The result is adjudicated (2020: Pequod Press; Eastern Europe, bringing them to the States. However, they quickly found that their in Congress, where after a prolonged deadlock, ISBN 978-0-937912-76-8; $34.00; United States so that they can see how independence just was not working out. The the Union Party candidate, who won the few- Pequod Press (Kindle); $7.99) democratic institutions work and can two Presidents, McClellan and Lee, met se- est states, is chosen as a compromise. Except learn to avoid making terrible mistakes cretly to work out a compromise that ended up the Rationalist Party won the House of This is a mixed bag of Paratime stories by like electing Jimmy Carter. Denton with the seceded states being readmitted. Representatives — and elects their presidental Carr. Some are very interesting, such as “The took two of these interns, Slawek Presumably slavery being abolished was part candidate as Speaker of the House. (Thomas Alexander Affair”, about a man who discovers Gorecki from Poland and Martin Weiss of the package. is aware that the Congress in 1912 was not that being a God is not quite as advantageous from Czechoslovakia, to Managua. In all this maneuvering, other matters have quite like the Congress today.) as expected. He gets a double-comeuppance. Jim and I thought the sandalistas were to be put to one side. Like, say buying the Some are interesting, such as “Sea of funny. Martin and Slawek did not. Russian Alaska Territory. And as 1910 be- Grass”, about how the nomads of what in our They were sickened and enraged that gins, the Japanese have bought the place; but time-line are the Great Plains react to the citizens of a free country would go the Reunited States, with a mind to the large developments of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. somewhere to promote dictatorship. number of American prospectors and their Knowing about the usefulness of horse ma- — P. J. O’Rourke, “Return of the Death of hangers-on there, think they should have had rauders against muskets, it isn’t a good ending. Communism” first refusal, even though they could have and Some are plain depressing, as with “The Congress didn’t bother to put up the money. Wizard Trader War”, where Hadron Dalla’s It is somewhat surprising that even in the Thomas tells a story of gross unprepared- brother (hence brother-in-law of Verkan Vall, latest edition Hollander only quotes P. J. ness; ships that have never exercised at sea, the featured character of the series) takes O’Rourke once. This work recounts how defective powder charges and not enough of intrigues to a very destructive end. In fact, the citizens of free countries went somewhere to them, admirals promoted because of their story almost seems to be a coda for the whole promote dictatorship and were fooled and political connections, and the like. Similarly, series. amazed. the poor damned infantry gets dragged through And some are just stuck with Carr’s out-of- Hollander describes all the ways in which the mire. The description of the campaign That bargain, and other typical Gilded Age character and background decisions of Great these political pilgrims were misled and bam- where an exhausted Japanese garrison occu- chicaneries, lead to the President and Vice- Kings’ War and its sequels. Carr introduced a boozled, from spurious “ordinary proletarians” pies one end of Prince of Wales Island, an President being impeached. Having achieved lot of dissonant elements and these double to artificial enterprises to lavish dinners. One exhausted American garrison occupies the the office he desired, the new President begins down on it. His career choice for Verkan Vall, strikingly pathetic case was a Finn who had other, and they starve and suffer in the mud a reorganization of America. This does not go in particular, seems to be a typology of traveled to the Soviet Union. Then he went while the First Nations people there just wish over well, and riots and other civil unrest Outtime Identification that a professional of back with a labor delegation, telling them that the strangers would go away and let them start ensue . . . authority just wouldn’t do. the food was better on the other side. Then he eating again is a curious amagalmation of the The narrator, that copy of the author, gives So this is very much a mixed bag of sto- was introduced to rotten cabbage soup. Attu campaign and the South Pacific campaign the reader a chance to see the decline and ries, and some might find them to be not quite Or the story of Dr. Anthony Daniels (“The- of another world’s war. turmoil in the country. The university itself what Piper would have wanted to do. It’s a odore Darymple”) who somehow got on a tour The next book, 1912, tells of the aftermath has riots between different political factions, problem of continuations by other hands in to North Korea. He went to a North Korean of this not very splendid little war. After the and others take place in the area. He sees general. department store and did something no one Page 4 February 2021 Alexiad else there did; he bought something. stolen (or saved from the Bolsheviks) by the determined size, to make storing and moving The expedition still owed money and most The narrative is a reiteration of how gener- German Army, only to disappear in the ruins them easier. They were color-coded, to indi- of the debt was paid off over the next few ations of political pilgrims went to one social- of Königsberg before it became Kaliningrad, cate the contents, and so that the Inuit, who did years. MacMillan kept on going back to the ist paradise after another, being misled each there have been many and vain searches for it. not read English, would know what was what. Arctic, most notoriously in 1925 with Eugene time in the exact same way. The methods Other hoards tell stories of warfare and The expedition ship set out for the frozen McDonald (the founder of Zenith) and Richard never varied; why experiment when the marks raiding in Britannia become Angel-land, as North on July 2, 1913. The ice was bad that E. Byrd. There was a little problem in that always fall for them? You get few Eugene people put saved coins and precious items year and they had to take too much time get- each of them thought he was in charge and as Lyonses. away and then could not retrieve them. ting to their base, due to among other things they were all Lieutenant-Commanders in the It might have been worthwhile to include So many of these treasures have been pried the first ship being damaged. Yet their expedi- U. S. Navy no one could pull rank. (See comparisons of political pilgrims to Nazi from their location, ripped from their context. tion hut at Etah was well-built and quite warm Dangerous Crossings: The First Modern Polar Germany and Fascist Italy. Those have been Others suffer from legal controversies, greedy — and indeed presented a hazard of carbon Expedition 1925 by John H. Bryant and Harold discredited, though, and the others weren’t at claims, and political strife. It degrades the monoxide poisoning. N, Cones (2000; reviewed in Alexiad V. 2 #2) the time. beauty and the value. That done, MacMillan settled in and began for this little lashup.) Deception is a welcoming trap. There are preparing for the journey to Crocker Land. MacMillan continued to conduct expedi- few enough like Lyons, O’Rourke, and LE DÉSERT DE GLACE Strangely enough, one of the Inuit on the tions and was eventually promoted to Rear- Daniels. This book is a reminder. Review by Joseph T Major of expedition was Ittukisuk, Dr. Cook’s compan- Admiral. He died in 1970, two years after A WRETCHED AND PRECARIOUS ion on his Arctic trip. Another was Minik Ralph Plaisted reached the North Pole, making INDIANA JONES AND THE SITUATION: Wallace, one of a group of Inuit who had been a link between the heroic age of polar explora- PROVENANCE PROBLEM In Search of the Last Arctic Frontier brought to New York. His father, Qisuk, had tion and the modern one. Review by Joseph T Major of by David Welky died and Theodore Krober, Ursula LeGuin’s ANCIENT TREASURES: (2016: W. W. Norton & Company; father, had staged an elaborate funeral — with PRETTY WOMAN The Discovery of Lost Hoards, Sunken ISBN 978-0393254419; $28.95; a dummy; the body was defleshed and put in Commentary by Joseph T Major on Ships, Buried Vaults, and Other Long-For- W. W. Norton (Kindle); $9.99) the museum’s collection. (He did something RUINED CITY gotten Artifacts of the sort with Ishi’s body later; nice family (American title: Kindling) by Brian Haughton On June 24, 1906, Robert E. Peary stood legacy there.) by “Nevil Shute” [Nevil Shute Norway] (2013; Weiser; upon the shores of Cape Colgate on Ellesmere MacMillan set forth over the ice to Elles- (1938) ISBN 978-1-601463-2494; $16.99; Island. He looked north and beheld a rugged mere Island, and crossed it to get to Cape RWW New Page Books; $11.99) shore off the coast (or so he said later) and Colgate, from which Peary had seen Crocker christened it “Crocker Land”. In Verne’s Land. As he progressed, the expedition mem- At one point in their excavation of The Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras bers and Inuit turned back for one reason or Treasure of the Great Reef (1964), Arthur C. [The Adventures of Captain Hatteras] the another. Having reached the cape, he set out Clarke ruefully observed that they might have captain and the survivors of his expeditionary across the ice. had to return the Mogul rupees to the sea floor. shipwreck and mutiny struggle north across At least they got back alive. Crocker Land And yet that was one of the more settled land there, until they reach the North Pole, always seemed to be just over the horizon. hoards, compared to what is described here. which is in the caldera of an active volcano. After a while MacMillan began to get the Haughton tells the complicated stories of Hatteras wanted to go volcano-diving. Peary sneaking suspicion that maybe there wasn’t famous buried treasures. There was a great would have wanted to go back south. any Crocker Land. deal of deceit, greed, hypocrisy, and lying With the looming war, the departure of the As for that other qualifier, one of the expe- involved, not to mention often dreadful legal Endurance on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic dition members, Fitzhugh Green, had been considerations. Every claimaint wanted a Expedition, and the crushing of the Karluk on sent off to break a new trail. His Inuk compan- piece of the action, the Canadian Arctic Expedition, the Crocker ion, Piugaattoq (“Pewahto” in earlier accounts; Some of the stories recounted here are Land Expedition had its troubles. Two of trying to tell who’s who is often difficult since disillusioning. One of the lesser problems Peary’s polar companions, George Borup and different explorers would render Inuit names with Heinrich Schliemann was that “Priam’s Donald B. MacMillan, had resolved to go different ways), who had realized that the Treasure” may have been three separate sets of north and find Crocker Land. Raising money island was a mirage, had a difference of opin- items which he claimed were one. And yet for such an expedition was a problem, since ion with Green. Green had shot him in the when he had his wife pose wearing them it was the coffers of the Peary Arctic Club’s patrons back. clear what a masterwork they were. were not available. Did they know something After that journey things seemed to go Others had even worse fates. The story of the expeditioneers didn’t? downhill. The expedition broke up, with Pretty Woman (1990) is about Edward the Amber Room, for example, which has been Worse yet, Borup went out in a small boat several members going south, while Mac- Lewis (Richard Gere), a distressed-assets the topic of many History Channel stories, all and drowned. Nevertheless, MacMillan perse- Millan remaining at Etah. Finally, in the specialist. He purchases defunct (or nearly so) about pursuing obscure claims in an attempt to vered. summer of 1918, fresh off the sinking of the companies and breaks them up, selling the find this granted and looted spectacle of deco- It can be noted that the loading of stores for Karluk and rescue of the crew, his and Peary’s useful parts. As the story begins, his personal ration. After being given by Friedrich Wil- the expedition was remarkably innovative. polar companion Robert Bartlett came and got life has come apart, as both his wife and his helm I to Peter the Great (for tall soldiers) and The stores were placed in crates of a pre- him. mistress have left him. You don’t think? Alexiad February 2021 Page 5

His latest asset is a closed-down shipyard. tells him about the sad history of Sharples. returns to Sharples, and work begins. Other HOW TO GET CENSORED BY But before he can finalize the deal, he decides Henry gets back in touch with his firm. He orders come in and then . . . ROTTEN TOMATOES on a whim to get some relief. Said relief is a makes some donations to the hospital, and A disgruntled former employee gets her by Taras Wolansky $200/night streetwalker, Vivian Ward (Julia pays for his surgical treatment. But he also revenge for having been fired for incompe- Roberts). She gets curious and asks him what has something bigger in mind. And he ends up tence by going to the police. Henry is arrested Earlier this month, I submitted a couple of he does for a living. He can’t explain it! This buying the Barlow’s yard for £5500 — a and indicted. It’s a fair cop, and he resigns brief movie reviews in the “audience reviews” leads to a reconsideration for him and good pittance. himself to going to prison. This takes some section of RottenTomatoes, the entertainment fortune for her . . . But now that he owns the place, he has to arrangement and he discusses how to put his site. Henry Warren, of the merchant bank of do something with it. Finding workers is a disgrace to the best for the company. One of the reviews was posted, the other Warren Sons and Mortimer, is too respectable problem. The discussion of the issues having The prison seems curiously pacific by rejected without comment. See if you can to kerb-crawl for a £5 streetwalker. But he too to do with finding staff is a significant part of modern standards. There are no gangs, guess which is which. is facing a disintegrating marriage. His wife is the story, even though it may seem too intri- shankings, tattoos, etc., and he does not have seeing a Saudi prince. This might not be the cate and dull. The idea is to show how the to become someone’s bitch. Indeed, the prison 1. Ammonite (2020), starring Kate Wins- best choice for her, but it is humiliating for collapse of the firm debilitated the town. sentence seems almost monastic; Henry learns let and Saoirse Ronan. (This concerns him. Having hired workers, he needs to find the art of reading slowly for deep meaning. a — probably imaginary — affair be- Henry has finished a stupendous burst of business. He’s already issued a prospectus He gives advice to his deputy at the shipyard, tween pioneering 19th Century paleon- business, making deals all over Europe. With claiming he has work, but he has to fulfill it. and is occasionally visited by Alice. tologist Mary Anning and the wife of this work and his personal life, he decides a This involves traveling to the grubby land of Then his sentence is abruptly ended. He geologist Sir Roderick Murchison.) massive change is in order. So he closes down Laevatia, where he already has commercial takes the train north to Sharples. The town has the house, lays off the staff, and asks his connections. They have oil and are in need of changed; the shops are reopened, people are * [out of 5] chauffeur to drive him north, so he can go for tankers, but there are other suppliers. looking healthier. But then he notices some- a long walk and try to sort out his life. This involves the good old Third World thing in particular. There is a bronze plaque at If Mary Anning had a T-shirt, it would Problems ensue. The chauffeur is the only business of bribery. This is a dilemma even the station. A plaque with a picture of him, read, “I helped create a scientific revolu- person who knows where Henry is, which today, where at every corner there is a bureau- and the inscription, “He gave us work.” tion that upended thousands of years of makes things inconvenient when he is killed in crat wanting to wet his beak; yet businessmen As he looks at it, a couple of children fall beliefs about the creation of life on Earth, a collision. And then Henry get peritonitis and are prosecuted back home for bribery. Henry into an argument about whether that man is the and all I got was this lousy movie!” collapses. is no better (or worse) than others. man on the plaque, and somewhat befuddled, Even on its own terms — that is, most- The doctor he is taken to saves his life, One person he searches for is a “good-time Henry confirms the claim. ly disregarding Anning’s scientific contri- which is remarkable in those pre-antibiotic girl” who can lead him to the person he needs The news spreads almost instantenously. butions— the film is dismal and slow days. And as Henry lies in the hospital ward to make connections. She is neither a sordid Shopkeepers close up shop, workers abandon moving. Indeed, my companion tells me I recovering he notices two or three things. The greedy whore nor a hooker with a heart of their projects, and everyone else it seems runs dozed off (something I never do in the- ward is overcrowded. And the death rate is gold; just a sad unfortunate woman who is out into the street to see their hero. Finally, as aters) and had the good fortune to miss at substantial. trying to make a living and has but one skill. Alice stands in her office, dazed and confused, least some of the pointless sex scenes. This can be explained easily enough. The another worker asks her if she wants to go see I hope they used body doubles, instead people there in Sharples have been living on her man. She joins the throng. of humiliating the actresses to no purpose. the dole — government assistance payments It never fails to astonish me, how often for the unemployed. Financially, and physic- Norway based his description of the effort male directors conclude that their films ally, they have no reserves. required to get the shipyard up and functioning absolutely require attractive women to take As Henry recovers, he begins to tour the on the efforts required to build the dirigible off their clothes! town. All the little shops are closed; no one R100. (There was a private-enterprise one, the has any money to buy anything. And so is the R100, and a government-built one, the R101. 2. A Promising Young Woman (2020), star- chief industry of the town, Barlow’s shipyard. While the R100 worked well, the R101 crash- ring Carey Mulligan. (It makes one think of the similar scene in ed due to structural defects and the British Atlas Shrugged.) gave up on dirigibles.) * [out of 5] It was a flourishing firm once. (In a run- Norway would return to this theme in A ning gag, several people proudly inform Henry Town Like Alice (1950). Write what you Poorly directed (by a first-timer), sadly that seven destroyers built in the Barlow yard know; he had moved to Australia by then, and predictable wish-fulfillment revenge fan- fought at Jutland.) But the owners took all the observed the place. (Then he did On the tasy. money out of the firm, and didn’t accumulate Beach (1957), but that’s another story.) A woman pretends to be drunk in bars, any cash. When the Depression hit, the com- Henry makes a great sacrifice to save the so sexual predators can take her home, and pany, like the people there, had no reserves. ruined city, giving up his reputation for it. she can then upbraid them for sexually He gets some help, Alice McMahon, the (One can’t imagine Dagny Taggart going to molesting her. Astonishingly, this does not almoner of the hospital. They had thought he prison to restart a town in decline.) Amaz- result in her being beaten up, raped, or was a charity case (he’d lost his wallet with all (This seems like Vivian.) ingly, he is recognized and admired for this. killed by, say, the third such date. his money) and the lady wants to help. She With the Laevatian order to hand, Henry Be wary: whenever the RT summary Page 6 February 2021 Alexiad

says “timely” and “provocative”, this sheer madness. actually means “heavy-handed prop- 2021 aganda”. See more of Wade’s criticism at: DisCon III Washington, D.C. Correct! RottenTomatoes posted the first https://www.scpr.org/programs/filmweek/ August 25-29, 2021 review but not the second. http://discon3.org/ I got the impression that somebody at RT http://digigods.ign.libsynpro.com/ was protecting the anti-male fantasy, APYM, And now it looks like the Washington from negative reviews as, for a long time, Marriott Wardman park, the main convention there were no negative audience reviews at all. WORLDCON BIDS hotel, may be closed. They are doing a poll to Confronting evildoers on their home turf, choose between a virtual con in August and a like the heroine of APYM, is considered very 2023 physical one in December. dangerous even for trained policewomen with Chengdu heavily armed backup seconds away. That’s August, 2023 why I call the film a fantasy. I just hope no http://www.worldconinchina.com/index-e.html naïve young woman, raised on a steady diet of tiny actresses taking down hulking stuntmen, Memphis, Tennessee ever tries to emulate the film’s protagonist. August 23-27, 2023 Ammonite, by contrast, is unlikely to get https://www.memphis23.org/ anyone killed. However, as a bio flick, it is in its own way a crime, too. New Orleans It skips over all the drama of how a (On hiatus) little-educated young woman made herself notable in the scientific world, choosing in- 2024 stead to go straight to her declining years. Glasgow Not to mention that it turns Sir Roderick August 8-12, 2014 Murchison, the man who delineated the Devo- http://glasgow2024.org/ nian, Silurian, and Permian periods (which still stand today) into little more than a cuckolded 2025 2022 husband; and his wife, a geologist in her own Seattle Chicon 8 right, into a bored hausfrau in search of diver- Mid-August 2025 Chicago sion. September 1-5, 2022 Brisbane, Australia http://www.chicon.org ON THE PROPSED REMAKE OF Mid-August 2025 THE WIZARD OF OZ https://australia2025.com/ by Wade Major 2026 It’s hard to fathom the level of cultural Jeddah, Saudi Arabia detachment and artistic arrogance required to https://jeddicon.com/ even consider a remake of The Wizard of Oz. The year 1939 is widely acknowledged as the Los Angeles single most legendary year in movie history, with Oz undeniably the most legendary of Nice, France them all. Even Gone with the Wind, which August 12-16, 2026 swept that year’s Oscars and remains the most http://nice2023.com/en/home/ popular movie of all time in terms of tickets sold, hasn’t stood the test of time in terms of Orlando perennial popularity. Nearly a century’s worth Early to Mid-August 2026 of children, however, have grown up with The Wizard of Oz and grown to treasure it so much that they share it with their children. That’s the 2027 kind of high bar that inspires awe and rever- Tel Aviv ence. The blinkered belief that there’s some- August 2027 thing there to be improved upon is like thinking you can improve on the Mona Lisa. It’s WORLDCON Alexiad February 2021 Page 7

call it), My companions on the left are very back in Lovell. striking the readers in the right place. Letters, we get letters careless about extending tolerance to folks on In your review of “The Hildebrand Rarity,” the right. You reproved so mildly. Tim died on January 15, 2020. there is an example one of the James Bond We will miss him. women being assertive. Off the cuff, I remem- From: Timothy Lane December 12, 2020 —JTM ber these assertive Bond women: Pussy Galore [email protected] who attacked from the air, and fighting Turkish From: Nic Farey December 18, 2020 women. The important thing is that they are “The Hildebrand Rarity” was never used [email protected] beautiful. It’s not a surprise: in general, given for the title or plot of a Bond movie, but in beauty, both submissive women and assertive Licence to Kill the chief ally of the villain is Thanks as always Joe — very much en- women can be sexy. Milton Krest, who runs a research institute and joyed your James Bond commentary (as I In your of review of Salamis, the novel did boat both named WaveKrest. His fate is differ- always do). I wish Taras Wolansky had spent not have technology progress by leaps and ent from the original Krest’s, but similarly more words on Away (which I agreed with him bounds in Ancient Greece. If it did, that would grisly. on) than The Queen’s Gambit (which I did- be Greekpunk, right? I guess the closest you Note that Krest is portrayed as a typical n’t)... would get to it would be Conan Doyle’s Mara- Hun even though he was a German-American. Good arrers! cot Deep. However, Plato’s Atlantis might be Fleming wasn’t very forgiving, perhaps be- considered the Greekpunk of its time. From: John Hertz December 1, 2020 cause a girlfriend during the war (a dispatch Nic reported he had an attack 236 S. Coronado St., No. 409, Los rider) was killed by a bomb. of cellulitis. I hope he gets a No, it’s a historical swashbuck- Angeles, CA 90057 “Quantum of Solace” is the least Bondian thorough treatment for it. My ler, similar to L. Sprague de Bond story. Amis called it a “Maughmish first attack was bad . . . particu- Camp’s The Bronze God of Rhodes Why should you be surprised Animal Farm anecdote” and it’s just the Jamaican governor larly when the wound treatment (1961; reviewed in Alexiad V. 13 and That Hideous Strength weren’t on the telling Bond about the woman he was next to at specialist said he was glad vari- #6), for which Turtledove wrote Retro-Hugo ballot? We don’t nominate. Things a dinner party, and the psychological theory he cose veins weren’t involved, be- an introduction. that don’t get nominated don’t get on. had developed from her case. cause he would have had to oper- What would surprise me — and it would be I take it Salamis is a new book. It’s been a ate, and he wasn’t sure I would In Rod Edmiston’s “The Joy of High a pleasant surprise — would be seeing Forced while since the last one I recall. survive the surgery. Tech,” he talks about zeppelins, in particular, Perspectives, Glorious, Starborn and Godsons —JTM and also other lighter than air craft. I remember on the Hugo ballot. Yes it is. a period of time when zeppelins were not only From: Richard A. Dengrove Dec. 22, 2020 cool but the transport of the future. I remember All right, does anyone else have I don’t remember the religious aspects of 2651 Arlington Drive, #302, Alexan- Philip José Farmer making a woman the cap- any Hugo recommendations? Tevis’s novel The Queen’s Gambit. There’s dria, VA 22306-3626 USA tain of a zeppelin in the future. From what Rod —JTM the usual link to alcohol and drugs. In this [email protected] says, with modern technology, the zeppelin case, the girl was raised in an orphanage where might make a come back of sorts. In niches. He It’s a bitter example of “Those who know, they used a lot of tranquilizers, to which she This zine is in response to Alexiad Decem- says it would be more fuel efficient for some don’t speak; those who speak, don’t know.” became addicted. ber, 2020. purposes; and since its makers will avoid Speaking of which, it was sad that when I’d George W. Price’s proposal for Wuhan To Lisa. My wife likes animals too. Unfor- aluminum, safe. carefully written Jerry Pournelle could sip a fever relief is an interesting idea. The Behe- tunately, circumstances mean she can’t travel After the reviews, we get the “Letters,” I Nuclear Fizz in the Insurgent manner you moth certainly owes relief to those whose as much as she used to. However, she likes think I’ll first reply to your reply to my letter. changed it to “slip”. incomes it takes. I note those imposing the feeding the birds and discerning their calls. Yup, no bucks, no Buck Rogers. Until there’s Extensive searches, I’m reliably informed, shutdowns never risk their own incomes in any Also, she likes feeding squirrels. They are money to be made in outer space. Or patriotism have yet to find anyone who actually wrote way. Others have noticed, and someone started pickier than the birds. Not as picky now as in for patriotism’s sake. “My parents, Ayn Rand and God” except to a petition at change.org to make politicians the Summer, though. `Now I will reply to Tom Feller’s letter. I say someone else had who shouldn’t have. devote half their salaries to relieving their In Reviewer’s Notes, you complain about think George Price is an idealist. It’s not practi- Maybe that isn’t sad. victims. Sounds reasonable to me. the vicissitudes of publishing. I gather, for new cal to save enough of our income to support our I so far haven’t remembered who suppos- I did read Practice to Deceive by Ann Rule. writers, agents have gone out like high button current life style for a year. In fact, some peo- edly moved from the U.S. to Canada, then died I notice the woman who incited the murder is shoes. These days, don’t authors start out in ple are living from pay check to pay check. But of alcohol-related cirrhosis, because he’d seen probably out of prison now. smaller presses, if not small presses? And when George is a idealist, and there is something a sign “Drink Canada Dry”. their works prove relatively successful, they get good about that. It takes courage these days not That is going to happen. Re- sold to major publishers. I remember checking to back one politician or another but to back January 29, 2021 member, John Huntington Story the bios on books and finding that to be the ideals. To travel the road untrammeled. the serial rapist of “Doc”: The case. For instance, Tom Clancy started out in a Next also, I will reply to John Purcell. Thanks for a a good appreciation and for Rape of the Town of Lovell (2000, smaller press. I believe it was the U.S. Naval Maybe Her Royal Highness Princess Delphine sending it to File 770. Tim well earned his 2014; reviewed in Alexiad V. 18 Institute. Yes. van Saksen-Coburg/de Saxe-Coburg could be seven times a Hugo finalist )as we are now to #2) is not only still alive, he is Ultimately, of course, it’s all a matter of known as ‘Saxy.’ That would certainly fit on a Page 8 February 2021 Alexiad player’s jersey. ourselves to some Chinese food for Christmas, name a couple. As always, we are at the age lately, but I may have to use consignment Next still, I will reply to George Price. and the leftovers are sustaining us. Some where the big names we grew up with are shops at some point to move the merchandise Another reason the Nazis didn’t build an A- end-of-year comments… departing. along. Still, there are events coming up in 2021 bomb is because a coterie of reactionary physi- It’s great to be able to see wildlife here and Putting money away to live for a year we have tables at, and we hope we can get cists rose to power with the Nazis. Most advo- there. It’s a reminder that we haven’t killed without a job is just unrealistic. The price of more sold in order to eventually liquidate all of cates of relativity and quantum mechanics were everything around us. There are a lot of foxes just about everything has gone up far faster our merchandise. We are looking towards the purged because these physicists considered around here, plus a few coyotes we have to be than our salaries, no matter what we do for a end of our little business, and it’s been great them ‘Jewish science.’ They even threatened wary of. Otherwise, there’s deer, cranes, crows, living, and while such an idea is good, it just fun, and a good business lesson. Heisenberg. Only in the mid-‘40s, after Himm- so many birds and small mammals. I gather it can’t be done any more, even if you are thrifty Christmas is but a fond memory now, and ler heard the allies were building an atomic is worth the time to befriend a murder of to the point of being cheap. After our flu shots, 2021 will have to be a better year than 2020, bomb, were these troglodytes stripped of their crows…if you can provide them with food they we are looking forward to our COVID-19 but I hope it won’t take that declaration as a power.. like, they will try to repay you with shiny rocks vaccines. We are still in a lockdown, and will challenge. See you next year in the next issue, Next, in addition, I will reply to Darrell or pieces of metal or even coins. be for another four weeks, so restaurant dining I hope. Schweitzer. None of the Hugos have to meet is still a no-no. We treated ourselves to Chinese any criteria at all, much less literary quality. We were driving to church the food on Christmas Day, and we did the pick-up From: Tom Feller December 30, 2020 They’re what the crowd likes. The idea is I other day and had to brake when ourselves. [email protected] don’t know anything about science fiction but four deer ran across the road in I know what I like. front of us . . . in a suburban Our restrictions opened up a Thanks for e-mailing the zine. Next furthermore, I will reply to Timothy neighborhood. little before Christmas. We had Small, fan-run conventions were already an Lane. So you get those telephone calls too. breakfast at IHOP and dinner at endangered species before the pandemic, so I Originally, I believed calls that said I owed The year 2020 is the Year of the Cancella- Denny’s. The Denny’s was chilly. fear that not many are going to survive it. I someone something or someone owed me tions. Basically, we haven’t done anything —JTM agree that the big for-profit media cons will something. Not for quite a while. Now, if I since St. Patrick’s Day here. There’s nothing return. Anita and I can have a good time at don’t recognize a caller or phone number, I let happening because of the pandemic. I hope them, because we have different expectations them leave a voice message. Also, I believe there will be a fan-run event here and there, a than we did for the ones like Kubla-Khan and nothing by strangers over the phone. Forget convention would be nice, but we will have to Rivercon. I don’t get upset if a con does not about claims about my warranties and the meet with each other in order to keep our have what I want, I just don’t attend it and condition of my computer community going. Pro-run cons aren’t there for spend my money elsewhere. Next onward, I will reply to Taras Wolan- that, although it’s great if it happens. Maybe in I had been a dues-paying member of N3F sky. He answered me with the word, “Groan!” the future, only fan-run relaxicons will be many years ago and came back when Robert The very reaction I wished to elicit. Of course, around to keep the interest and community Jennings was editor of Tightbeam. I thought the lesson of the Illiad, in addition to other alive. It might not be what we want, but it may that since he was kind enough to publish my lessons, has been beware of gifts bearing be sufficient to keep our local communities book reviews that I should financially support Greeks. going. the organization. Finally, I will reply to AL du Pisani’s letter. Publishers are leaving the field or consoli- I still try to read as many of the Hugo For once, it wasn’t just the South African dating, so as usual, I am late to the party, or a Award finalists as I can before the voting government. A lot of nations sponsored lock late bloomer. Yet, I am pleased. For the last deadline and found several works worthy of downs, discouraged large crowds and stopped two years now, I have had the chance to edit consideration. My reviews for this last year travel because of Covid-19. Did such precau- magazines (Amazing Stories) and books can be found in Tightbeam issues 311 and 312. tions save lives? I suspect they did. Was it (Amazing Selects, plus other books), and now, The only categories in which I agreed with the overkill? That’s a matter of opinion. One thing those books are starting to arrive in the book other voters were short story and young adult I will agree with him about: these precautions stores, or through books-on-demand through novel (technically not a Hugo). In response to have certainly been a pain in the drain. Amazon. For Christmas this year, Yvonne got Darrell Schweitzer, the difference between I guess that’s it. me copies of Ambient Conditions by Sharon Dramatic Presentation Long-Form and Lee & Steve Miller, and Lamia’s Children by Short-Form is that the former is for works From: Lloyd Penney December 26, 2020 Shirley Meier, and I had a hand in the editorial longer than 90 minutes and the latter for those 1706-24 Eva Road, Etobicoke, ON aspects of both. I knew my name would appear that are less. (I’m not sure what would happen M9C 2B2 CANADA somewhere in the Lee & Miller, but didn’t if a film or television show clocked in at ex- [email protected] know it would appear in the Meier book. Yay! actly 90 minutes.) http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/ There’s also a book coming up shortly in which I’m not aware of any film or television I will be listed as an associate editor. I can’t adaptations of The Man in the Iron Mask that Many thanks for Alexiad 114, and we hope wait for more. are faithful to the novel except for the basic your Christmas was memorable. Ours was The RIP file looks horrible yet again… premise. Of course, the book is such a downer small, but just right. We both got some good after the passing of Bova and Lupoff, we My thanks to Rich Dengrove on his good that the changes are made to give it a happy gifts, and just what we wanted. We did treat mourn Jeremy Bulloch and James Gunn, just to words. I have sold a couple of pairs of earrings ending. Alexiad February 2021 Page 9

I don’t consider Diana Rigg’s death to have research institutions sharing information as mation, well researched and well written. Thanks for another Alexiad. been tragic, although I do wish she was still quickly and reliably as possible has been Bravo, Rod! The radio broadcast of that disas- Random Jottings: with us. She had a long and productive life. weaponized — as usual — by humans. Given trous crash is one of the most iconic and paro- “It now appears that one James Dutton has We should all be so lucky. half a chance, people will weaponize anything. died moments in broadcast history. My favorite written and is trying to sell Rudbek of Rudbek, Humanity’s ability to screw things up is phe- version of it was Les Nesman’s broadcast of a sequel to Citizen of the Galaxy (NHOL For her, yes. She had a long nomenal, and that is the “normal” we have to the Turkey Drop “WKRP in Cincinnati” that G.134). Whatever will the Heinlein Estate and happy life. But it’s another recognize in order to challenge and change. was originally broadcast on October 30, 1978. say?” The first thing I did after making a good part of our youth gone. Like the If we don’t, I honestly cannot see the hu- What a brilliant parody. start on my Lensman sequels was to look up WorkingDaze cartoon where Roy man race surviving past the middle of this I think George W. Price is over-reacting to the Doc Smith estate information. I haven’t wishes he could have married her century. what Joe Biden’s presidency would be like, contacted the estate, since I am not sure I will and Kathy (his wife) says she especially his comments that he is “a weak ever want to publish. But certainly I would add wished she could have been her, character whom they [the DNC] can domi- whatever notice they require in the files. so it’s all right. nate,” and also that Biden would actively Hopefully a copyright notice is all they would —JTM pursue the Green New Deal policies. Well, I want (. disagree on both points because Biden is an Lisa notes another Pearl Harbor Day anni- From: John Purcell January 4, 2021 old-school centrist Democrat, who will chip versary. I have no family personal connection, 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, away at things through small steps in order to but as I write it’s anniversary 76 for the Battle TX 77845 USA appease all factions within the two major of the Bulge. [email protected] political parties. I don’t see Biden as a radical: All my studies in History cannot make me he is too “politically correct” to turn off any complacent about the passage of time — the Good morning, Joseph. I hope this day major players in government. However, the events of this battle discussed in something finds you and Lisa well. In the spirit of “getting probability of Kamala Harris becoming presi- over there on my bookshelf are a human life- things done before serious things need to be dent is high, mainly given Biden’s age and time ago. Realizing this makes me ponder done,” here is a brief letter of comment on your what the pressures of the presidency can do to anew the events of my lifetime. And remember latest issue. a person. It is a very demanding position, and all the students I had in class at the college for Yes, I certainly agree that calendar year I honestly see Biden as a one-term transitional whom ten years before was ancient history, and 2020 was “a year of cancellations.” Now the president, should he survive a full term. These of no interest, much less anything further back. question is predicting when things will begin to next four years are crucial. What all American Being aware of the value of History has to be re-open so that conventions and such can return That was a pretty bleak paragraph. Feel free citizens should do is keep on voicing their taught, just like culture and morality. America on a regular basis. to disagree with me; I know many of your concerns to their federal and state has failed at all three. This is definitely a good question, and I devoted readers will. Then again, I encourage congresspersons as an attempt at curtailing all Speaking of time keeping on turning, turn- have serious doubts about anything resembling them to work their wonders of persuasive of this furious partisan gamesmanship that only ing, turning, into the future, I am told that life before the pandemic returning to what argument to get me out of this existential funk. serves to divide Americans than unite them. someone checking your ID for being old could be called “normal.” In this modern, Now on to a couple other items of note in this Oh, by the way, I do not trust any politi- enough to drink now only needs to see that whackadoodle, “now what?” world, there is no issue. cian. Democrat, Republican, Green, Bull- your birth year starts with ‘1.’ Anyone 1999 or “normal.” If anything, normal is now the The obituaries of Richard Lupoff and Ben moose, Independent, or whatever: none of them earlier qualifies. SIGH. whackadoodle “now what?” world. Personally, Bova are sad, of course, and of the two I only can be trusted and all need to be closely moni- Returning to the estate-copyright subject of I blame the advent of social media for this. It had met Bova at numerous conventions over tored and constantly questioned by the people. above, I note that David Gerrold has had his has always been the provenance of Those In the years. Both were good writers, although Technically, we are their employers. When lower court victory in a copyright infringement Charge to shape and change things to whatever Bova was quite prolific; I have over a dozen individuals are elected to public office in this lawsuit overturned. He has for now lost the they want in order to persuade us common books of his in my collection. country, they allegedly become public servants, case. folks to do their bidding, but social media has, Joe, your commentary on “The Hildebrand meaning they serve the public — the public Via Reason Magazine’s Volokh Conspiracy in my mind, accelerated and simplified this Rarity” is interesting reading. Now I want to does not serve them. Methinks that’s the key https://reason.com/volokh/ “The Ninth Circuit process. Couple that with the decline of educa- find that story and read it. Where did you find element that has been forgotten over the years. decides the copyright case of Oh, the Places tional objectives and standards in American this? I am sure it can be purchased/downloaded There. That oughta get people nattering You’ll Boldly Go! in favor of Dr. Seuss: “The public schools that have resulted in young from some internet source or other, but I am furiously at me and liven up your already creators thought their Star Trek primer would people not knowing how to be skeptical and curious as to your source. excellent letter column. Have at it, gang. Or be ‘pretty well protected by parody,’ but ac- use critical thinking skills, and you have dis- just ignore me. I’m used to that: I offer thirty- knowledged that ‘people in black robes’ may covered the recipe for creating a mindless blob It is in the collection For Your -one years of marriage as proof. disagree. Indeed, we do.” willing to believe your every word, no matter Eyes Only (1960), which is avail- The entire opinion is here: how whackadoodle the message is. We live in able at bookstores and on Amazon. From: Lloyd Daub January 11, 2021 a completely insane world, and if you want to —JTM 6535 W. English Meadows Drive D205, https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinion blame something for it, my guess is the culprit Greenfield, WI 53220-3995 USA s/2020/12/18/19-55348.pdf is communication technology. What started out Rodford Edmiston’s Hindenburg examina- [email protected] in the 1960s as a means of universities and tion is also very interesting. Fascinating infor- Gerrold and his collaborators had been sued Page 10 February 2021 Alexiad for both copyright and trademark infringement. meticulous work in copying Seuss’ artwork so SF also has a criminal law case ongoing, in Magazine editors have a bit more freedom. The Circuit court found only copyright in- closely as he had. Hence Gerrold also lost on China. It has been learned that Lin Qi, whose You can get away with anything in ten pages. fringement. ‘Amount used,’ since while not every image company had newly announced the production So if you have a weird and difficult story that I taught a brief introduction to copyright was copied, so much of certain ones were of Netflix’s Three-Body Problem, has been some readers may not like, what you do is law as part of my information literacy class, as copied that there was scarcely a way to tell the killed by poison. I learned about this at Breit- make sure the issue is front-loaded with some- a warning to my students about using images two apart. Although the ears on a certain bart: thing you are sure will be popular, then slip the they found online in their homework or other character helped. Examples of the original and more experimental stuff in somewhere deep in activities. This meant that the opinion’s review ‘transformed’ art are given. See the opinion https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3dswwk4 the issue. This is not a new technique. You can of the law on the Four Factors of Fair Use, and link. see Farnsworth Wright doing it with Weird Gerrold’s actions in light of them, were famil- The whole case allows for mirth, although The chief suspect is another executive of Tales in the 1930s. If he had a particularly odd iar ground for me. I doubt Gerrold is laughing. Here’s the boffo Yoozoo Group. or terribly literary story by Clark Ashton opening: “McKEOWN, Circuit Judge: In Dr. Other sources include Variety: Smith, he would make sure there was a Seuss’s classic book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! https://preview.tinyurl.com/y4d2q5xz Brundage nude on the cover, the issue led off (AKA Go!), the narrator counsels the protago- Pop Culture: with a Conan or a Jules de Grandin story, and nist on a path of exploration and discovery. https://preview.tinyurl.com/yygjz4oz there was an installment of a trashy serial. But The book closes with this note of caution: and International Business Times: what you can’t do as readily is let the strange ‘I’m sorry to say so https://preview.tinyurl.com/y225o6r2 and possibly difficult item run to novella length But, sadly it’s true The Chinese press remains silent. where it dominates the issue. That Bang-ups And Hang-ups Me too. In a web-based cancel culture, A book editor can’t do that. The entire Can happen to you.’ anything you once said can also be used against project stands or falls on one work. So it has to If he were alive today, Dr. Seuss might you. Ask Hong Kongers. be something that will sell, or else the publisher have gone on to say that “mash-ups can happen Wishing everyone the happiest 2021 possi- may be looking for a new editor before long. to you.” ble. Alas, after this, the judge fails to get into The academic field has become the spirit of Seuss and remain clever and amus- We’ve had one loss already. immensely politicized. There are ing. The brevity of his pastiche of Seuss in- —JTM d e a d l y a r g u m e n t s o v e r stead highlights how careful someone must be “marginalized” groups. So they in imitating his source without permission. From: Darrell Schweitzer January 21, 2021 see what they want to. The pub- Copyright is one of the few legal areas 6644 Rutland Street, Philadelphia, PA lisher who does military SF is one where the burden of proof is on the defendant. 19149-2128 firm, run in the old-fashioned way. Or rather, on the work in question. Courts are [email protected] And if there’s nothing else to buy guided by precedent to place the disputed work . . . on trial against each of the Four Factors. The I can assure you that book editors in our work must pass all four tests. Opinions in field – at least the ones who last long in their I would like to see your opinion these cases tend to review all four even when jobs – do not just publish literary novels like of Sarah Hoyt’s blog posting of it’s clear the work fails at one. It can happen the ones they liked in college. The editor’s job February 9, where she claims that that the work in question need only be fixed as is not so much to acquire a book that he or she the publishers don’t know what is to one of the factors. In practice, this lends likes, but to acquire one which can be pub- selling: itself to settlements once the final decision is lished profitably. If you’re right then a lot of https://accordingtohoyt.com/2021/02/09/corrupted-markets/ made in acquitting or convicting the work. The college kids a generation ago were into endless —JTM Seuss estate learned of the book via publicity fantasy series, military SF series, and dystopias for a fundraising effort in 2016. The estate sent for the younger set. I don’t think so. From: Robert S. Kennedy Jan. 23, 2021 cease-and-desist orders that were rejected, and I don’t see the major publishers taking a lot The Terraces of Boise, 5301 East Warm Gerrold’s claim of being a Parody was so filed a lawsuit. Initially, the estate lost, but of risks. If the “diversity” books have an audi- Springs Ave., Apt. B306, Boise, ID rejected. The book is ruled to be an imitation appealed. ence, they will sell. If not, not. There will be a 83716-6205 of Seuss, not a mockery. His ‘Purpose for The Circuit court notes the book has yet to Darwinian selection in the marketplace in the [email protected] using’ claims failed because he intended to come into print. Which no doubt explains why end. It may indeed be that these books are profit from Seuss’ original as repurposed in his I have never heard of it. I rather hope things opening up the field to a new audience that Thank for Vol. 19 No. 6 (December 2020, own work. Gerrold was not intending to be can now be worked out between the parties as previously felt excluded and thus did not buy Whole Number 114). educational or do a review of the original. they return to District court. I’d be SF. Or not. We shall see. My guess is that N.K. Wearing a face mask protects other people Being a book that imitated another book caused a customer. Jemisin, for example, sells and publishers are from the wearer with a minor protection for the his ‘Nature of the Work’ claim to fail. Any looking for other books to pitch the same wearer being infected from others. So a refusal claim to ‘Transforming’ the original into some- It’s a pity. If they had just audience. Awards are pretty much irrelevant to to wear a face mask means that the person does thing new failed because, as the court noted, asked beforehand . . . this process. They can be bloc-voted. But the not give a shit about others. the graphic novel’s artist bragged about his sales numbers are real. I am scheduled to have my first Virus shot Alexiad February 2021 Page 11 on February 1. There have not been any prob- From: George W. Price Jan. 24, 2021 “Joy of High Tech” history of big airships, 12446-0698 USA lems with employees here as a result of the 4418 N. Monitor Avenue, Chicago, IL principally the German Zeppelins, culminating [email protected] shot. It is the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 60630-3333 USA with the Hindenburg and its destruction in Vaccine. [email protected] 1937. Thanks for Alexiad December 2020. In the early 1930s the U.S. Navy had sev- Darrell Schweitzer’s LoC was so substan- Elizabeth Garrott had an at- December Alexiad: eral big airships, mainly for scouting. The tial, you could have edited it into an article. tack of COVID. At last report The Capitol Hill Follies — Well, so much Macon and Akron each carried a few small On second thought, however, he expresses she was recovering. She is in a for any notion that the Right has very much of fighter planes. The Curtiss F9C was a biplane some opinions that may not be politically care facility. Grant has tested a moral edge over the Left. (like other fighters of the time). These were correct. So for his sake maybe it’s better to positive and was in isolation, but To be sure, the insurrection did demonstrate carried in a bay in the belly of the airship. Each keep it a little on the down low. did not develop the disease. the truth of one fundamental tenet of conserva- plane had a hook on top of the upper wing that I have boxes of books to read next to my tism: that human nature is basically flawed engaged a mechanism nicknamed “the flying bed, to which I keep adding. I figured it was I watched the movie Dick Tracy (1990) a (“original sin” in religious terms) and needs to trapeze,” This lowered the plane out of the about time to start taking some books out — few weeks ago. It was quite enjoyable. And be kept tightly constrained by law and custom. airship for mid-air launching. When a fighter and what should I find but Darrell’s The there was the two-way wrist radio. Chester Hence the emphasis on “law and order.” returned it matched speeds with the airship, Threshold of Forever: Essays and Reviews, Gould was way ahead of his time. That’s in contrast to the leftist view that hooked onto the trapeze, and was drawn up into which I bought from Darrell at Balticon in To continue on Neanderthals, I highly humanity is basically good but our impulses are the belly hangar bay. 2017 (according to Darrell’s inscription). recommend the book Kindred: Neanderthal distorted by bad institutions, which therefore The Navy’s big rigid airships were all gone Great stuff! I had intended just to dip into it, Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg should be demolished and rebuilt from the before World War II broke out. However, the but ended up reading the whole thing. About Sykes (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020). Not only is ground up. This never works, of course, be- Navy extensively used smaller non-rigid which more later, when I respond to Darrell’s the author a wonderful writer, she is also some- cause the new society is being built with the blimps during the war, primarily for aforementioned LoC. thing of a poet and has a great sense of humor. same flawed timber as the old one. The usual anti-submarine patrol. They were very well Joe (“Six Degrees of Cleopatra”): “Is As to the percentage of Neanderthal; DNA one result is chaos and tyranny. suited for that because they could fly slowly, there some rule that the Serpent of the Nile has might have, she indicates that it’s between 1.8 hover, and stay on station a long time. to be played by a good Jewish girl?” I guess it and 2.6 per cent (p.324). Since 23andMe says * * * * * I learned about the “Macon fighter” from makes sense that they would go for Mediterra- mine is 2.8 per cent and I know of someone Lisa’s “In Memory of Digger,” about a model airplane kit catalogs when I was about nean types; but was another dark beauty, who says she has something like 3.0 per cent or Doberman she used to know, reminded me of twelve. I never did build a model F9C, and I Claudette Colbert (Cleopatra, 1934), Jewish? close to it that has me a bit confused. In photos the urban legend of “the choking Doberman.” gave up model building entirely when I started of bones there is one of girl with a Neanderthal Many years ago — around 1985 — I saw a high school in 1944. Her mother was Jeanne Marie mother and Denisovan father. Perhaps there newspaper article on urban legends. One exam- Loew Colbert. Hm. are people alive today who have DNA from ple was about a man who lived alone with his * * * * * Incidently, her Theda Bara both. I do not have the ability to write a review Doberman. One day he came home and noticed Richard Dengrove notes my fear that the number is 2, her Elizabeth Taylor of the book that does it justice. If anyone is that the front door was open and the furniture huge deficits the federal government has been number is 2, and her Gal Gadot interested it would be nice. knocked around — obviously someone had running will cause inflation that will undercut number is 3. While I’m on the subject, there is a small broken in. Then he found the Doberman on the our savings. He wonders why it hasn’t already book out on the Denisovans: The Denisovans: floor choking and near death. He rushed the happened. I too have wondered about that. My Commentary on “The Hildebrand Rar- The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans dog to a veterinarian, who quickly discovered guess is that a lot of that newly-created money ity” by Ian Fleming: Curiously, the story you Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic that what was stuck in its throat was a man’s has been salted away as savings. I have seen describe resembles last year’s time travel Era (Charles River Editors, 08 January 2021). severed hand! The Doberman was saved, but reports that the savings rate has risen sharply, spectacular, Tenet. I haven’t read it as yet. the maimed burglar was never found. The presumably because with the lockdowns cur- In that film, the wealthy yachtsman who “The Joy of High Tech” by Rodford Edmis- article made clear that this dramatic tale had tailing economic activity and forcing people to abuses his beautiful wife is a Russian ton on why the Hindenburg burned was quite never really happened. stay home, there isn’t all that much being gangster/oligarch (a horribly miscast Kenneth interesting. A few days after reading this, I was in the produced that they want to spend the money Branagh). The stakes are a bit higher than in John Purcell: You indicate that t we might lunchroom at work. I was approached by an- on. If so, then when the economy opens up Fleming’s story, however: the action hero be back on the Moon in five years and Mars in other employee whom I knew only very casu- again we may see a burst of price and wage actually risks the destruction of the Earth (or the mid 2030's. Since I am 87, there’s a good ally — we did not work together. And he told inflation. Or maybe not — economics is not an maybe the Universe) to save the woman’s life. probability that I sadly will not be here to see me that story of the choking Doberman. Only exact science. The character of the hero (a watchable John either. he told it as something that had really happened David Washington) is too little developed to Richard A. Dengrove: My comment about to a friend of his. I manfully kept my mouth Or perhaps they buy stuff on- explain why he would take such a risk. Perhaps aliens being humanoid, breathing the same air, shut and did not call him out. But I made a line. We see Amazon Prime vans we should just lay it down to a Hollywood and speaking standard American English was mental note to never trust anything he might all the time. movie convention, that heroes do things like meant to be funny. At least the last is neces- tell me. —JTM that (and always succeed, of course). sary or we would not understand what’s going Review of Agent Sonia by Ben Macintyre: on. * * * * * From: Taras Wolansky January 29, 2021 When I read about espionage in the UK in the Here’s an addendum to Rodford Edmiston’s Post Office Box 698, Kerhonkson, NY 1950s, the Soviet spies always seem to get Page 12 February 2021 Alexiad away. Were there any that the British actually least one online dictionary immediately modi- movie, because I found it distasteful, was that had a fishing permit, which resulted in the local managed to catch — and hold on to? It seems fied its definition of the phrase to mark it as a at the end Wayne spanks (wife? ex-wife?) post office putting out chairs outside with like the US did a much better job of that; per- pejorative, according to the current IngSoc Maureen O’Hara on her admittedly details of which permits was available, and haps due to J. Edgar Hoover? Party line. well-bloomered behind. what it each would cost – I was amused when However, my female companion was not I walked past and saw what was going on. That Klaus Fuchs. Morris & Lona “Every record has been offended. Maureen O’Hara’s character was not was the day before heavier restrictions was Cohen. Ex-Sir Anthony Blunt. destroyed or falsified, every book a representative of womankind, but someone passed. John Cairncross. rewritten, every picture has been who had behaved badly and deserved worse They also closed down religious gatherings, repainted, every statue and than she got. except for funerals, and that with heavy restric- Richard A. Dengrove: Dumas’ The Man street building has been renamed, In the same way, the woman in Garrett’s tions. A friend of my stepfather died (of brain in the Iron Mask, long as it is, is actually an every date has been altered. And story does not represent all women. In fact, cancer) during the big days. He was beloved, excerpt from the much longer The Vicomte de the process is continuing day by she is a homicidal psychopath who murders and the funeral had a main service which 50 Bragelonne, which forms the last volume of the day and minute by minute. His- two women and expects to exploit a peculiarity people could attend, an overflow location “Musketeers” trilogy. At the end, only one of tory has stopped. Nothing exists of the law to get away scot-free. So when she linked by camera, where another 50 people the four still lives. except an endless present in gets her well-deserved comeuppance, it be- could attend, and then they streamed it to the The reason the Moon landing was the end which the Party is always right.” comes a “biter bit” story, familiar enough to people who could not make it. of manned space exploration was the Outer This was not meant to be readers that it did not engender a great deal of The government clamped down hard on Space Treaty signed by Lyndon Johnson, guidelines. comment. funerals, since the funerary traditions for some which made it impossible for space traveling — JTM The inspiration might have been John South African have resulted in spreader events. nations to claim territory outside the Earth’s Campbell noting that human “queen bees” This did mean that for the entire holiday atmosphere. Otherwise, there would have been Darrell Schweitzer: “An award-win mere- wouldn’t much like living like real queen bees. there were no in person church services – and a claiming race, resulting in American and ly tells us something about who the author is.” Or a takeoff on the shipwrecked “Adam and the normal holiday Christmas service is an Russian and EU and UN bases all over the I have the same attitude toward author blurbs Eve” scenario: Poul Anderson wrote a story outdoor service with 10 000 attendees. Solar System by now. on books. I figure it’s the author’s friends, or about a male ship’s officer who is stranded There was a lot less people on holiday – I recall that the design of the Vorlons in writers who owe the editor or publisher a favor. with four beautiful women. The canniest of the and more cancelled their reservations once the Babylon 5 was based on a particular air fresh- Now, a blurb from a published review is an- women figures out it’s a scam: they’ve landed beaches was closed. ener spray. other matter. in an uninhabited area on an already-colonized To a large extent my family kept to our- There are some excellent non-human aliens The retro Hugos for dramatic presentation world. selves – my mother had a hip replacement in an early black-and-white episode of the 60s are indeed applying minute-counts, which were The article on the early classic, “The Revolt operation early in December, and we tried not TV series, Lost in Space. This was before the originally intended to distinguish TV episodes of the Pedestrians” by David H. Keller, made to get exposed to Wuhan Pneumonia, hoping series deteriorated into farce, possibly seeking from motion pictures in the current Hugo me wonder if there had not been a bowdlerized not to infect her. It seems to have worked, as to imitate the wild popularity of the Batman categories. But, as you point out, applying version. Because I remember the story, but not she is still fine. My brother and his family did series. these numbers to movies made in the 1940s the vampiric scene you describe. test positive for Wuhan Pneumonia over a George W. Price: Given that they had leads to absurd results. Maybe we should look upon the story as a period that started two days before Christmas driven away so many of their best nuclear As I mentioned above, I read The Threshold parody of the proletarian revolution narratives and lasted until after I came back – so I only physicists, I have to wonder how much the of Forever. It was a lot of fun, especially for common during Keller’s reading life. saw them once, a week before Christmas. My Nazis could have progressed toward an atomic those of us nostalgic about science fiction and nieces were devastated – they had decorated bomb, even had their effort not been disorga- fantasy written before we were born. We are From: AL du Pisani January 31, 2021 their house in preparation for a Christmas get nized and half-hearted. both of the generation that was lucky to come 945 Grand Prix Street, Weltevredenpark together on Christmas Eve, and that had to be With the sexual misbehavior card unable to into SF when publishers were reprinting older 1709, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AF- cancelled. Luckily they had very mild cases – pass the laugh test, I figured the Democrats work like mad. It was a terrible time to be a RICA I got tired of hearing about all the people I did would play the race card — i.e., a racism writer, but a good time to be a reader. [email protected] not really know who died of the Wuhan Pneu- accusation sans evidence — against Judge Reading your article on whether Randall monia. Amy Barrett. Of course, that’s before I knew Garrett’s “The Queen Bee” is “the most sexist My government did not manage to ruin my I did not understand how much the previous she had adopted two black children. Even that science fiction story ever published”, my first holiday, but they tried hard. year had taken from me until I had rested. And didn’t stop them entirely: a radical academic thought was, it’s perfect for my imaginary They started by closing the beaches. This I needed to leave my house, be in the presence accused her of colonizing her children, or anthology of politically incorrect science did not affect me as much as it could have, of my family, and rest a lot. something like that. fiction. since it was both a cooler and wetter time than I managed to do some leisurely reading. There was a creepily Orwellian moment But on second thought it’s not offensive normal, and I had developed an aversion to And then I had to come back. This year when that daft Senator from Hawaii accused enough. It reminded me of when I watched the sunburn due to too much sunburn as a boy. So started off slowly, and my initial plans got Judge Barrett of using what the Senator de- John Wayne Western, McClintock, with a it was not as bad as it could have been. This did scrambled. Stuff that I had to do got postponed scribed as a pejorative term about gays: “sex- female companion. This was one of the forget- mean that I did not walk on the beach, and – luckily only three weeks. But I did leave me ual preference”. As that had never been con- table potboilers Wayne made after he outlived rarely walked on the walking route next to the in a bit of Limbo, as it is something that I have sidered a pejorative term before, this baffled the great directors he used to work with. In- beach, as that got crowded. to complete before I can carry on with the rest the Judge and the other Senators. However, at deed, the only thing I remember about the You could legally walk on the beach if you of my year. Alexiad February 2021 Page 13

The government extended the heavy lock- are. And then the tourist would come back two down regulations. Among other things schools weeks later, after exposure to the black guys in WAHF: will only open towards mid February. The their native environments, and these tourists Martin Morse Wooster, with various interesting thing for me watching the January would be raving in extremely racist language items of interest. announcement, was how vexed and unhappy about how utterly useless and terrible the local Trinlay Khadro, with a nice letter and the government is becoming with ordinary population are. The joke is Two weeks from origami citizens who just do not want to do as they are zero to racist. Marty Cantor, Jerry Kaufman, Kathy told. There was a trace of petulance in our Palmer-Lister, Lee Muncy, George glorious President’s voice when he announced Phillies, R-Laurraine Tutihasi with the latest restrictions. thanks. Couple that with how the government Gary & Cora Flispart, Guy & Rosy screwed up procurement of vaccines, and how Lillian with Christmas cards. many stories are coming to light about govern- R. Graeme Cameron, Bruce Gillespie, ment waste. One was how the Army spent Tammi Harris, Arthur Hlavaty, Debra R200 million buying medicines of dubious Hussey, Robert Kennedy, Tim Lane, effectiveness from Cuba, and then had to throw Chuck Lipsig, Grant McCormick, away a lot of the medicines unused because James D. Nicoll, John Purcell, Steven H they forgot to close the cool room door, where Silver, Richard H. E. Smith, Rod they were storing the medicines. Smith, Garth Spencer, Lacy Thomas, R-Laurraine Tutihasi, Christopher You’re lucky. Up in Wisconsin a Weuve, B. J. Willinger, Joel Zakem pharmacist threw away 500 doses And to some extent that that is understand- with birthday greetings of COVID vaccine. Worse yet, able – Once you have become used to certain David Shea — with a letter that promptly he’s a flat-earther. antics, it is handled as these people being these disappeared. Sorry. —JTM people. I had in interesting experience at a church basaar one day – I saw somebody weird I do not know how much of the huge propa- looking perusing some items, and wondered ganda about how overwhelmed hospitals are, what he was doing there. Then I saw him with are to try and cover up government misman- one of the band members, and he fell into the agement. For instance, there is a story that pigeon hole of friend of ..., one of the arty government hospitals ran low on oxygen, three crowd. Thereafter I could safely ignore him, as months after they were warned that oxygen he was in a predictable category. levels are low and should be urgently replen- I hope to contact you soon, and that at some ished. stage that will be in person once again. Even A couple of other things: I was taught in the though I do not expect it to happen anytime late seventies to write the time in the format soon. 10h00, with the h standing for the local time- Good luck. May you always find something zone. In the late eighties I did my military interesting in your life. service, and there I learned the military way: 10B00, with the capital letter denoting the time zone – B for 2 hours east of UCT ( which uses the Z designation). I recently watched some videos covering the battle of Rorke’s Drift. Once again one of the features was lack of cultural understanding. The British soldiers were very unhappy with the Zulus mutilating the corpses of the dead. The Zulu were slitting the bellies of the dead, so that their spirits could leave, and not be tied to the place they have fallen as haunts. I have been told a story, that white people in places like Kenya, who are very derisive of the abilities of the local black population, are often confronted by tourists, quite often from Scandinavia, and told off on how racist they Page 14 February 2021 Alexiad

The sporting editors had also given me Fear and Loathing in Mos Eisley: three hundred credits in cash, most of which Co-Editors: Lisa & Joseph Major A Savage Journey to the Heart was already spent on extremely dangerous Co-Publishers: Joseph & Lisa Major of the Galactic Dream drugs. The cargo hold of the ship looked like a Writers, Staff: Major, Joseph, Major, Lisa mobile clone trooper narcotics lab. We had two We were three parsecs out of Naboo on the bags of bentlam, seventy-five pellets of glitter- This is issue Whole Number One Hun- edge of the Kessel Run when the drugs began stim, five sheets of high-powered slo-mo, a salt dred and Fifteen (115). to take hold. I remember saying something like shaker half full of soma, and a whole galaxy of “I feel a bit lightheaded, maybe you should multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, Art: What we are mainly looking for is pilot . . .” And suddenly space was full of what laughers . . . and also a quart of moloko plus, a small fillos. Your fillo will probably be scann- looked like large alien space bats, all swooping quart of scumble, a case of Bor’Kaan, a pint of ed in and may be reused, unless you object to and pulsing and flying around the ship. And a raw knives, and two dozen thionite tabs. its reuse. voice was screaming, “What are these god- All this had been rounded up the night damned animals!?” before, in a frenzy of high-speed driving all Contributions: This is not a fictionzine. It Then it was quiet again. My attorney had over Naboo — we picked up everything we is intended to be our fanzine, so be interesting. taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his could get our hands on. Not that we needed all chest, to facilitate the tanning process. “What that for the trip, but once you get locked into a Material in Alexiad is copyright © 2021. the hell are you yelling about?” he muttered, serious drug collection, the tendency is to push All rights reserved. Upon publication, all staring up at the sunlamp with his eyes closed it as far as you can. rights revert to the original contributor, but we and covered with wraparound Jakkunian sun- The only thing that really worried me was reserve the right to use any item more than glasses. “Never mind,” I said. “It’s your turn to the thionite. There is nothing in the galaxy once, unless otherwise specified by the contrib- pilot.” I hit the autopilot switch and began to more helpless and irresponsible and depraved utor. All letters sent to Alexiad become the unstrap. No point mentioning those bats, I than a man in the depths of a thionite binge. property of the publishers. Any material by the thought. The poor bastard will see them soon And I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff editors is available to other fanzines if they enough. pretty soon. Probably at the next space station. provide proper credit and send a copy. We still had more than a dozen parsecs to We had sampled almost everything else, and go. They would be tough parsecs. Very soon, I now — yes, it was time for a long dose of Available for The Usual (letter of comment, knew, we would both be completely twisted. thionite. And then do the next dozen parsecs in trade, contribution). Sample issue available But there was no going back, and no time to a horrible, slobbering sort of spastic stupor. upon request. Back issues $1; subscription rest. We would have to ride it out. Press regis- The only way to keep alert on thionite is to do $10/year. Alexiad is also available by email in tration for the fabulous Mint 400 pod race was up a lot of knives — not all at once, but Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. already underway, and we had to get there by steadily, just enough to maintain the focus. four to claim our sound-proof suite. A fashion- able sporting magazine in Coruscant had taken — Not by Dr. Raoul Duke ALEXIAD care of the reservations . . . and I was, after all, c/o Lisa & Joseph Major a professional journalist; so I had an obligation to cover the story, for good or ill. 1409 Christy Avenue Louisville, KY 40204-2040 USA [email protected] http://efanzines.com/Alexiad/index.htm