Vol. 18 No. 2 April 2019 ALEXIAD (!7+=3!G) $2.00 I recently read a very good book, titled The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes. It is Marc Schirmeister ...... 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 16, 18 the story of Mei Lien, an American girl of Chinese descent in the early days of Chinese descent who lived at a time when being such made her a target of mob violence and a Pascha is April 28, 2019. modern young white woman named Inara. Their stories are told in alternating chapters. This is normally not something I like, because it requires real talent to carry it off. Estes The 145th Running of the Kentucky Derby will be May 4, 2019. is very good with description. More importantly she is talented at storytelling. From the The 144th Running of the Preakness Stakes will be May 18, 2019. first page I was drawn into the story. The 150th Running of the Belmont Stakes will be June 8, 2019. — Lisa Printed on May 2, 2019 Table of Contents Deadline is June 9, 2019 Editorial...... 1 Reviewer’s Notes ...... 1 Reviewer’s Notes “Doc”: The Rape of the Town of Lovell ...... 3 I wonder if TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) has outlived its usefulness. Its ancestor was Derby News...... 6 WAW With the Crew, the fund to bring famous Irish Fan Walter A. Willis to the United States Eclipse News...... 6 for the 1952 Worldcon, Chicon II. But this was for someone whose fame exceeded his purse. Free Expression at Tor.com ...... 9 TAFF nearly sank with scandals, from the problem over Samanda b Jeude’s campaign to Health News ...... 6 the bizarre defalcation of Abi Frost. Yet it seems to have recovered, structurally. Yet, from Hugo Awards...... 10 seeing fund-raising descriptions, it seems to cost as much to raise the money for the next The Joy of High Tech ...... 7 candidate as to go. Nebula Awards ...... 9 It has created like funds, DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund, between the Americas and Solar Lottery ...... 2 Australia-New Zealand) and GUFF (Get Up and Over Fan Fund, between Europe and ANZAC), and others. Yet these bridge a significant distance. Trans-Atlantic air fares are Book Reviews lower now. JTM Benford, Rewrite ...... 5 My baby book has a page with check boxes for measles, mumps, chicken pox, and other JTM Carr, Typewriter Killer...... 5 diseases. It was considered normal for children to contract such illnesses. JTM Coniam, The Annotated Marx Brothers...... 6 The legacy of deaf, sterile, crippled, even dead children was thought to be a fact of life. JTM Lupus, An Extra Knot ...... 5 Just as polio was; I know two fans who suffered polio, and were left less than whole as a result. JTM Turtledove, Through Darkest Europe ...... 5 Now, it seems, the prevention against such diseases is considered worse than the diseases; it causes mental problems, or is against the will of God, or is an expensive and painful Random Jottings ...... 2 treatment for a problem that isn’t worth considering. Those who oppose immunizations have their own elaborate community, with its own Letters ...... 13 apparently authoritative studies. For all that the skeptic community focuses on those ignorant Sue Burke, Lloyd Daub, Robert S. Kennedy, Timothy Lane, Lloyd Penney, AL du Pisani, redigulous antivaxxers, there are far more progressive enlightened families who explain about George W. Price, Joy V. Smith, Taras Wolansky mercury and aluminium and more poisonous chemicals; who flaunt natural cures, herbs, crystals, and homeopathic treatments. Comments are by JTM or LTM They talk about the terrors of autism. I just remember my mother telling me how she had held me as I suffered mumps, three years old, saying, “I feel so bod.” Trivia: ...... 18 Speaking of health, I appreciate all those who expressed concern over my ill-health. I am Art: trying to do something about it, but it seems that one problem causes another, and the Sheryl Birkhead ...... 10, 14, 19 resolution requires solving everything at once. Paul Gadzikowski ...... 20 Alexis A. Gilliland...... 3, 4, 7, 9, 15, 17 — Joe Trinlay Khadro ...... 2 Page 2 April 2019 Alexiad

ship will head down to Antarctica this polar harmony”. of omens and portents, incidents foreboding RANDOM JOTTINGS summer. (The comparison with the ongoing May the Reiwa Emperor live ten thousand some vast upheaval. by Joe inability to build a new icebreaker for the years! From the Solar System capital of Batavia Coast Guard can be noted.) (er, that’s Jakarta) the Quizmaster holds sway THE QUIZMASTER IN THE over this world-spanning dominion. And how Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Richard Cole, HIGH CASTLE did this mighty monarch rise to his pedestal of copilot of the first Tokyo Raider plane and of Commentary by Joseph T Major on power? General Doolittle, died in San Antonio, Texas, SOLAR LOTTERY Through a random-choice process. A on April 9, 2019. Born September 7, 1915, By Philip K. Dick random-number generator, styled “the bottle”, he served in the Army Air Force and Air Force (1955) acts at unpredictable intervals to name one of from 1940 to 1966. the six billion inhabitants of the solar system He was the last of the Raiders. Philip K. Dick is that short-story as Quizmaster. Toujours au Danger writer who for the past five years or so Well, maybe not. The bottle picks an has kept popping up all over—in one individual based on his (or her) “p-card”, an year, 1953, he published twenty-seven identifier issued at birth. Yet most people OBITS stories—with a sort of unobtrusive and don’t have p-cards, while most of those who chameleonlike competence. To quote do have surrendered them to their employers Buy my books. (All available on We regret to report the death of Janet O. Anthony Boucher: as a condition of their employment. Many Amazon.com for quite reasonable prices, Jeppson Asimov on February 25, 2019. By now he has appeared in have even sold them, for a trifling sum. except the Hugo-nominated Heinlein’s Chil- Born August 6, 1926, she studied at Stanford almost every science fiction How did this system come about? Well, dren, which can be bought from NESFA for a and New York University Medical School, publication—and what’s more the miracle of automation, which brought reasonable price.) practicing as a psychiatrist and psychoanalist surprising, in each case with about a grandiose provision of manufactured — Advt. and writing several papers on various relevant stories exactly suited to the edi- goods, which no one could buy since automa- topics. torial tastes and needs of that tion had driven people out of work. After a Valery Fydorovich Bykovsky (Валеìрий She met Isaac Asimov in 1970 and they got particular publication: the edi- disheartening period where these masses of Фёдорович Быкоìвский), call sign Ястреб married November 30, 1973, remaining mar- tors of Whizzing Star Patrol and unsaleable goods were publicly destroyed, the (“Hawk”) died on March 27, 2019. Born ried until his death in 1992. She wrote several of the Quaint Quality Quarterly makers started holding random-choice give- August 2, 1934, Bykovsky became a fighter children’s novels under her own name and in are in complete agreement upon aways. This evolved into a random-choice pilot in the Soviet Air Force and entered the collabration with her husband. Mr. Dick as a singularly satis- giveaway of the greatest thing; rule. cosmonaut program in 1960. His first flight factory contributor. (Given the organization of the work envir- was Vostok 5, June 14-19, 1963, which set a We regret to report the death of Vonda N. Entering and leaving as he does by onment, this might well be called a “timo- record which still stands for solo orbital flight. McIntyre on April 1, 2019 in Seattle. Born so many doors at once, Dick creates a cracy”, a government of the rich, since rich He also flew on Soyuz 22 (September 15-23, in Louisville on August 2, 1948, she moved blurred impression of pleasant, small people would hold the p-cards of their employ- 1976) and went to the Salyut 6 space station in around the world in her childhood, eventually literary gifts, coupled with a near- ees. The economic underpinnings of this seem 1978. He was a Hero of the Soviet Union. earning a BS in biology from the University of sighted canniness about the market — less than well-established in reality, as eco- At the time of his death he was the Senior Washington. he writes the trivial, short, bland sort of nomics are so often handled in science fiction.) Person in Space. The Senior Person in Space She became famous when she received the story that amuses without exciting, is As a reaction to the unpredictability and is now Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova Nebula Award in 1973 for her novelette “Of instantly saleable and instantly forget- meaningless of life, most people have become (Валентиìна Владиìмировна Терешкоìва),call Mist, and Grass, and Sand”, which became table. obsessed with this occult view of human exist- sign Чаìйка (“Seagull”), who flew on Vostok 6 part of her Hugo and Nebula Award winning The surprise of a book like Solar ence. This is defined as “Minimax”, a phil- on June 16-19, 1963. Valentina Vladimirovna novel Dreamsnake (1978). Lottery from such an author is more sophy supposedly based on Theory of Games, was born March 6, 1937 in Maslennikovo, than considerable. but which seems to be more nihilistic. Yaroslavl Oblast, RSFSR. She was married to — Damon Knight, In Search of Wonder One of these omens is a fire that damages fellow cosmonaut Andrian Grigoryvich MONARCHICAL NEWS the main plant of the megacorporation Oiseau- Nikolayev [1929-2004]; they had one daugh- Such a categorical statement, given the Lyre, causing layoffs. (Only one manufactur- ter, Elena Andriyanovna Nikolayevna who is On the day after the thirtieth day of the legacy of Dick’s writings, nowadays seems to ing plant for the entire company?) One of the a doctor. Valentina Vladimirovna is a Hero of fourth month of the thirty-first year of Heisei be absurd if not ignorant. Yet this is a contem- layoffs is a chemist named Ted Benteley. the Soviet Union and an officer of the Order of (April 30, 2019), the Tennō will retire and be porary reference to his first novel, so such Benteley gathers his assets and his will, and Alexander Nevsky. titled Daijō Tennō (“retired emperor), abbrevi- astonishment is quite plausible. determines to do or die; to become a direct serf ated to Jōkō. The new Tennō will be his son The Solar System is quite thoroughly of the Quizmaster, a once-in-a-lifetime chance. The RRS Sir David Attenborough has been Naruhito. The new regnal era will be Reiwa, settled in the twenty-third century; all nine He makes his way into the Quizmaster’s moved from the dry dock for final fitting out. which term is taken from the eighth-century planets (there were nine planets in 1955, offices, where by some astonishing random (This, you will remember, is the ship that was Nara era poetic anthology Man'yōshū. The understand) have inhabitants (or at least their choice his offer is taken up. Except for one going to be named Boaty McBoatface until a word is written with the two characters for satellites do), though Earth is still the center of little problem; he swears fealty to Reese Ver- grownup named Jo Johnson stepped in.) The “good” and “harmony”, and means “beautiful humanity. And this vast domain is in the grip rick, the Quizmaster. Except that Verrick isn’t Alexiad April 2019 Page 3 the Quizmaster any longer; a random event of Who is this nominated assassin Keith Cartwright will give Verrick his p-card, and This book has a virtue that so many works, the bottle has deposed him and chosen a new Pellig? This is where Benteley and Stevens Verrick will become Quizmaster again. He before, then, and now, lack; its characters are Quizmaster. come back in. Keith Pellig — isn’t. He is an does — and then shoots Verrick dead. of the world they live in. So often a character Who is this successor? android drone, remote-controlled by distant Then he reveals his own plot. Before is a grating anachronism, or otherwise far out A century and a half before the events of operators. This is intended to defeat the pow- becoming leader of the Prestonite society, he of being part of the world; but the people here this story, an eccentric man named John Pres- ers of the Quizmaster’s telepathic guards; as was chief technician for the bottle. And he are of their world. ton believed that there was a tenth planet, soon as they get fixed on one plan of action, managed to bias it, bit by bit, until it would hit Even though all the women in the story are which he called “Flame Disc”. In this era of the controller changes. The identification with a list of p-cards. All of which he owned — topless. Knight wondered if this was a poke at mysticism and cynicism, the belief in Flame the body can be unnerving; Stevens says about and the next is the one he sold to Benteley. pulp-fiction prudery, where women wore tight Disc became a movement, albeit a fringe a certain body feature she possesses in virtual Having done this, Cartwright explains that and scanty clothing, but never quite exposed movement popular among the excluded clas- mode, that she “felt there was a snake in my he is dealing with the basic hypocrisy and themselves. This may explain why this work ses. It survived him, which is even more slacks”, for example. (Is he “fully functional”, falsehood of society. Everything is fake and hasn’t yet been made into a movie. amazing, and the current leader of the Preston- like Commander Data?) posturing. Perhaps realizing the falsehood of And, as Damon Knight pointed out, Dick ites, Leon Cartwright, is a mild unassuming In spite of a hot affair with Eleanor Stevens the society can bring about a change. laid out his society, and then accepted it. The man, a retiree who has taken up the Prestonite (who for a woman of nineteen seems to have Meanwhile, Pellig has taken off for Flame reader is not constantly reminded of the won- cause. slept around a lot) Benteley feels discontented. Disc — which actually exists. And John Pres- ders of the era, or its constant failings. There The security service of the Quizmaster After an eerie meeting with Pellig, he becomes ton’s body is in a ship orbiting it. Cartwright is no, “As you know, Bob, women used to descends upon him. Security service? Yes, even more concerned, and realizes his new has dispatched a ship there, with a somewhat wear clothing that covered their breasts, but you see, a counterweight to the absolute domi- purpose in life; he is going to be inhabiting ramshackle crew and vessel (you’d think the the advances in style and materials made this nance of the Quizmaster has developed. It is Pellig’s body when he performs the hit, and he Quizmaster could get a better setup), and they no longer necessary . . .” This is a story that is perfectly legal to assassinate the Quizmaster. will die from the shock of being “killed” by are almst there. As the Prestonite ship reaches of its society, one might well say a mundane Therefore the Quizmaster has a well-armed the security troops. Flame Disc, Pellig is destroyed; and they find novel of that world; perhaps a political thriller, and hyper-sensitive security force, along with a recording by Preston expressing hope for but nevertheless an ordinary work. That is an telepaths. further human progress to Flame Disc and the accomplishment that few SF works seem to Telepaths? Yes, there was a nuclear war, stars beyond. achieve. and in its aftermath a mutation for telepathy developed, the descendants of one man. They The technician who worked on the bottle JOHN STORY’S LOOKING-GLASS don’t seem very restrictive, either, since one of just happened to be picked by it to be Quiz- WAR Verrick’s chief underlings is Eleanor Stevens, master? And nobody suspects that anything is Commentary by Joseph T Major on a former telepath — to leave the guild or wrong? Somehow this hardly sounds credible. “DOC”: whatever it is called, she had to undergo treat- And in many ways the society has a fifties The Rape of the Town of Lovell ment to remove her telepathic ability. air about it. SF is so often of its time, and one By Jack Olson While the Quizmaster is chosen by random can imagine Cartwright driving to a meeting of (2000, 2014) chance, there are elaborate procedures for the Prestonite Society, in a run-down building picking assassins. It seems hard to believe that in a decaying part of town, in a car full of . . . Raped women have been divorced only approved assassins would be permitted, discarded junk, in 1955 as much as in 2203. by their husbands — who couldn’t bear and it turns out they aren’t. Somehow a politi- Quiz shows nevertheless were all the rage to live with the awful knowledge, the cal system that grants validity and even en- on Fifties TV. Until it turned out that they too visions, the possibility that it wasn’t dorsement to the acts of someone, say, wishing were rigged. Perhaps it’s a prediction. really rape. There is the bone of it, the to impress an actress does not seem to be He defects to Cartwright. Who seems unspeakable mystery. Everybody has particularly stable. As a result of this, the particularly unconcerned by it all, and relo- One historical point: Dick has one of the heard the joke about the lawyer who turnover in Quizmasters is rapid; it is said at cates, with security, his niece Rita, and this industrial complexes that control the world used a quill and an ink bottle to get his one point that the average term in office of a defector, to the Moon. Along the way, he sells economy be “Farben”. This is not quite as client acquitted on a rape charge. He Quizmaster is two weeks. (This seems even Benteley a p-card. egregious as in The Stars My Destination told the jury there was no such thing as less stable.) Thus Verrick’s long term in office Pellig follows. A deadly confrontation [Tiger! Tiger!] (1957) where Alfred Bester had rape, and proved it by having a witness is remarkable. ensues, when Stevens, who has turned up, a Farben family. try to put the quill in the bottle — The purpose of power is power. Plots has attacks Rita Cartwright, only to be killed IG Farben was a cartel set up in 1925 and which he manipulated so deftly that the Verrick laid, inductions dangerous, by drunken herself when Pellig grabs her and steps its full name was Interessen-Gemeinschaft witness finally gave up. prophecies, libels and dreams, to regain his through an airlock. He can live in vacuum; Farbenindustrie AG, “Dye Industry Syndicate, That sounds like one of Cotton power. He sponsors a grand convention to she isn’t so lucky. Inc.” The constituent chemical companies Mather’s jokes, or the wisdom of nominate an assassin to take down Cartwright. Cartwright calls on legal counsel to resolve were spun off by the occupying powers after somebody very much like him — It is covered the way Presidential nominatiing the dispute, and Verrick comes to the Moon to the war and IG Farben exists because no one somebody who never had his arm bent conventions used to be covered, and in a settle the matter face-to-face. At first, Verrick seems to be able to terminate the business, up between his shoulder blades. Any certain predictive mode, the convention turns wants Benteley back, to kill him for violating which had a bad name because of its use of lawyer who says there’s no such thing out to have a preordained result. the terms of his servitude. They compromise; slave labor. as rape should be hauled out to a public Page 4 April 2019 Alexiad

place by three large perverts and offering. Some of his female patients ob- sides and boycotted their enemies. bly understand an accomplished person like buggered at high noon, with all his served that they could not visit the doctor for The trial was remarkably like the licence me.” clients watching. a minor case of sniffles without being offered hearing. Story took the stand and denied The PSI talked to others. The supporters — Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels: A a pelvic exam. Young women needing exams everything. When the jury finally came in, were vehement in their claims that this was a Strange and Terrible Saga for various school functions and the like, old there were fears of violence. Olson depicts a gross miscarriage of justice. But when he ladies needing a checkup, and those in be- strange reversal in Marilyn Story’s observa- looked up a former employee of Story’s from John Huntington Story lives in Lovell, tween, all found themselves on the table, legs tions. The accusers were not present in the before his move to Lovell, it turned out that his Wyoming. It is not surprising that he should up, the doctor making an examination. courtroom when the verdict was read. When behavior had been suggestive even then. do so, that being the location of his support Some of his patients began to suspect there she arrived, she was apparently certain that structure. The fact and details of his residence was something . . . off . . . about his procedure. they knew they had been shown up as liars. there are available on the Internet, for reasons His examinations seemed to take longer than Afterwards, she had a different that will become apparent. might be expected, and his instrument felt explanation. Story was found guilty on six Lovell, Wyoming is a dying town. It has a different. Or familiar, in another context. charges. His wife was then certain that the population of about twenty-four hundred, but Most of them were Saints. They were not accusers had been tipped off beforehand. its industries are failing. Beet processing is given to discussing such intimate activities. Story was sentenced to fifteen to twenty seasonal, the oil industry is subject to booms But as the years passed, some began to suspect years on the main charges, running consecu- and busts, and bentonite mining and process- that the doctor was Up To Something. tively. He did his time and as said, is living in ing are described by the Dave Barryesque And then it all came out . . . in the spring of Lovell — having to register as a sex offender. comment, “Bentonite builds better boogers.” 1984, Dr. Story was called up before the Wyo- Lovell is known as the Rose City. Doctor ming state medical board for a hearing. The W. W. Horsley of Lovell was a rose fancier, accusers testified, he defended himself. The and he publicized and promoted the Peace accusers were sure that the old-boy network Rose. His patients were given rose bushes and would kick in, the defense of a healer would There is someone more famous, or notori- he donated roses, particularly Peace Roses, to prevail. Then they were proven wrong; Story ous, who resembles this: fanciers all about the country. But there was a was stripped of his license to practice medi- canker in his career; he was too fond of boys, cine. I have tried to explore these and he ended his practice under supervision, to The Baptists rallied around him. Olsen questions by reconceiving Alger Hiss’s keep from assaulting more boys. tells the story from many viewpoints, everyone life as a series of looking-glass wars. Thus, when Dr. John H. Story came to significant involved — except Story. How- By that phrase I mean to suggest that Lovell in 1958, he was enthusiastically wel- ever, his wife’s version is expansive. She calls Hiss’s life was a series of critical epi- comed. He was an unexceptional, indeed upon God to save her martyred husband from sodes in which a secret portion of his some might say nerdy, sort of man, short, the persecution of his enemies, begging for life — the position concealed, as it unassuming, and devoted to medicine. He prayers of support and intercession, and appar- were, behind the looking glass — was quickly made connections, anchoring himself ently getting them. threatened with exposure. In each of in Lovell, becoming a leading figure in the The members of the congregation were these episodes Hiss sought to defend local Baptist church. equally pious. They issued pleas for interces- his secrets in a distinctive way. Under- This caused some difficulties. He was so sion for their fellow church member, being standing his distinctive response helps devoted, and his wife Marilyn even more so, made a martyr to a false god, in terms which us understand why he chose to be a that they clashed with the majority of the seem appropriate to someone asking for pray- Communist and a Soviet undercover population, who were Latter-Day Saints. Story ers for a cancer sufferer. Story’s brother agent. And understanding the response sought to evangelize his neighbors and seemed prepared an elaborate genealogy showing how also helps explain why he chose to to be baffled when they did not enthusiasti- all the accusers were related — ironically, fashion a lifelong narrative of inno- cally renounce their former ways. Even in his using the LDS genealogical records — as cence, in which he projected himself as own church there were difficulties, and he split Proofs of a Conspiracy. a victim and a scapegoat, all the while off from it to form a new congregation when On the other side, the accusers are pre- After his conviction, but before his sen- knowing that his narrative was false. he thought the pastor was deviating from the sented in their own words, and they seem tencing, Story was required to meet with a Finally, understanding Hiss’s approach One True Way. profoundly rustic. Saying “Gol” and “shoot” presentence investigator, who would determine to his several looking-glass wars helps However, in the medical practice he was instead of more explicit expletives, for exam- the potential for rehabilitation. The meeting make sense of the two largest puzzles quite efficient and full-service, offering every- ple, and more to the point being dreadfully shy did not begin well. When the PSI asked Story of his life. Why did he enlist his thing from minor surgery through general and even naïve about sexuality. his height, he said, “Six-five”. Then he cor- strongest supporters, and the most loyal practice to gynecology. Indeed, he was quite The suspension was overruled, but other rected it to the more plausible five feet five members of his family, in perpetuating enthusiastic about gynecology, having pur- matters were in play, and on Halloween, 1984, inches. his false claims, and how was he able chased a complex and elaborate table for Dr. Story was arrested for rape. The wave of The PSI did not form a particularly hopeful to transform his public image from that performing pelvic examinations. support intensified, and the social structure of impression of Story. His attitude seemed to of convicted traitor to that of someone Which he seemed to be quite active in the town began to fracture. People chose up be, “An ordinary guy like you couldn’t possi- who might have been one of the casual- Alexiad April 2019 Page 5

ties of Cold War excesses? belts, which means his encounter with a semi (2015)) and Mark Huffman (JFK in ’64 — G. Edward White, Alger Hiss’s Looking- on a wintry day is very fatal. (2018)) did. THE SHIP WHO SANG Glass Wars Except, he wakes up and is no longer an Review by Joseph T Major of aging decrepit professor, but a high-school THE MAN WITH THE IRON AN EXTRA KNOT: John Huntington Story’s looking-glass war student. He’s been thrown back in time. (And HEART A Different World War II was fought in a smaller venue, in a different hasn’t read “Time and Time Again” (Astound- Review by Joseph T Major of by Hugh Lupus cause. Nevertheless, he projected himself as a ing Science Fiction, April 1947).) THROUGH DARKEST EUROPE (Part One: 2019; Amazon Digital Services; victim and a scapegoat, even though his narra- Just wanting to continue to pretend to be by Harry Turtledove $3.99; tive was false. His strongest supporters, and his younger self, Charlie picks up his high (2019; Tor; Part Two: 2019; Amazon Digital Services; the loyal members of his family, perpetuated school career. Except, he writes an essay with ISBN 978-0765379988; $25.99; $3.99) his claims of innocence. In his looking-glass, his professorial sensibility. With one thing Macmillan (Kindle); $13.99) he could be a faithful unto death follower of and another, he ends up in Hollywood, where The “Extra Knot” results in a somewhat the true way of the Lord, a martyr to the mal- he sets about making all the movies he liked. It’s well to remember that The Man With different ramming incident involving HMS ice of the followers of a false god, yet also be (Instead of making a decent Riverworld or the Iron Heart (2008; reviewed in Alexiad V. Hood. Which is followed by a cascade of a rapist. even a Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen miniseries.) 7 #5) is a Swiftian fable; a story with the sides events changing the world. Such as, for exam- But then he runs into some people along reversed, as it were. Most of these are not as ple, the survival of the Basque Republic in There will be no VENONA decryption to the way. Such as the Benford brothers. (Not charming (such as, for example, White Lotus Northeast Spain, not overrun by the Nation- reveal the rapes. Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo making a movie of Ned Beach’s sub-Arctic (1965), John Hersey’s labored trope on the alists. will not roar into Lovell in the Red Shark and submarine adventure Cold Is the Sea (1978), history of slavery and its aftermath). There is in addition a certain fantasy fea- intimidate a confession out of Story, between either.) Or, more to the point, Giacomo de In this case, what has happened is that ture to the book, granting to the various ships binges of Quaaludes, amphetamines, mari- Senegault — Casanova! Christianty had become anti-science, and consciousness and awareness. Nicholas juana, mescaline, cocaine, ether, amyl nitrate, It seems that Charlie wasn’t the first of the Islam pro. Whether this can be credible is Monsarrat and Daniel V. Gallery (who wrote whiskey, and so on. John Story’s looking- time-loopers, and there is a secret society of another matter. However, by this ploy Turtle- a story about the ghosts of lost sailors seeking glass war will persist, for all that he is dis- them. Another member is one Robert A. Hein- dove can comment on the horrors of Islam redemption, taking the spirits of their ships out graced and demeaned. Apparently, he has lein, whom one hopes would have learned without being labled “Islamophobic”. to sea) might have appreciated that. The ships survived most of his accusers. from his previous life not to have married Investigators Khalid al-Zarzisi and Dawud mourn losses and steel themselves for battle, Jack Olsen died in 2002, never able to read Elinor Curry so he could get the Rhodes ibn Musa find themselves being sent to frag- loss, and sacrifice. Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars. John Story Scholarship and go to Oxford to confront C. S. mented and violent Italy to search out the Not to mention the joke of having a British still might; but would it avail anything? Lewis and overwhelm him with his staunch fanatic Aquinists. (The irony of the line rifleman in Spain named Dodd who was the irreligiousness. “Khalid couldn’t think of any Muslim emirate son and grandson of Rifle Brigade soldiers. C. TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES But there are also bad guys. The book has or sultanate where mobs rampaged through the S. Forester might have had something to say GO shifted to something like the “Circle of Ouro- streets murdering every Jew they could catch” (Death to the French (1932); American title Review by Joseph T Major of boros”, facing mysterious enemies. (Given has a strange perspective from the point of Rifleman Dodd) REWRITE: that all the names of the bad guys in The view of readers of Andrew Bostom’s The Lupus gives perspectives beyond those of Loops In the Timescape Number of the Beast (1978; G.189) are ana- Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism (2008; re- the ships; we have leaders making agonizing by Gregory Benford grams, sometimes very forced, of Heinlein and viewed in Alexiad V. 7 #4).) command decisions, soldiers in the front lines (2019; Saga Press; Virginia Heinlein, one wonders if the final Khalid and Dawud find themselves being facing the horror of war, even children being ISBN 978-1481487696; $27.99; great confrontation, in Typewriter In the Sky shot at up and down the length of the Italian heartbroken and honored. (Though I think Simon and Schuster (Kindle); $7.99) (Unknown, November-December 1940) mode, Peninsula. Did Aquinas in his reversed ex- Churchill would have had the Asturian Repub- would have been of all the characters with the pression decide that there were Christians who lic informed that “A source of high reliability In To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971), Sir author of their misfortunes, Heinlein himself.) loved death more than Muslims who loved indicates that German mobilization on your Richard F. Burton discovers the economy class This is the sort of shift seen in, for exam- life? However, Khalid finds an infidel lady borders is for offensive purposes.” Stalin was way of travelling the Riverworld. He takes the ple, Philip K. Dick’s Ubik (1969), which starts who wants to get away from it all. (Better not told something of the sort and he chose to “Suicide Express”, killing himself and being out as a pulpy war of the psionicists adventure tell Phyllis Chesler, or she will force her way reject this imperialist provocation.) revived at another place along the world river and then abruptly turns into an excursion on onto a Paratime Police transporter to knock The war progresses in ways both familiar of the planet. Sad to say, the discovery he life, the universe, and fate. some sense into the lady with a copy of An and unexpected, and ominous events are in makes after his last suicide turns out to be Unaware he is trapped in a Dick story, American Bride in Kabul.) sight when this is . . . To Be Continued. wrong, but the series never quite got coherent. Charlie decides to take the Suicide Express There are little flashes of humor. Khalid Maybe Farmer just should have put out the and reboot his life. Things get interesting then and Dawud encounter an Italian official named TIME AND TIME AGAIN original You Owe for the Flesh that got tangled . . . Dino Crocetti. (Did he have a Jewish partner Review by Joseph T Major of up in the Shasta Press affair. named Yosef bar-Dani’el?) TYPEWRITER KILLER: Professor Charlie Moment of George Benford has written once about the future This book is not without problems, but it is H. Beam Piper Washington University doesn’t know and informing the past, Timescape (1980). It was a striking analysis,done under the shield of by John F. Carr probably wouldn’t care about To Your Scat- reassuring that he did not endorse conspirac- fiction, of a current problem of destructive (2016; Pequod Press; tered Bodies Go. Or other things, like seat ism, as Bryce Zabel (Surrounded by Enemies fanaticism. Amazon Digital Services; $7.99) Page 6 April 2019 Alexiad

THE ANNOTATED MARX BROTHERS: began on October 10, 991 and will end on 4 a.m. Carr has had one bite at this topic, with his A Filmgoer’s Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure March 21, 2452. Friday I was taken down to another place H. Beam Piper: A Biography (2008; reviewed References and Sly Details The next solar eclipse will be December to have a stress test. I didn’t do the treadmill in Alexiad V. 7 #6). What’s the difference? by Matthew Coniam 26, an annular eclipse visible in Saudi Arabia, properly so they gave me a drug instead before This book is more focused on his writing (2015; McFarland & Company; Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, the Indian states of scanning my heart. Yes, I do have one. career. Evidently, Piper was a very self-criti- ISBN 978-0786497058; $27.99; Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the North- A doctor came in and told me that my teeth cal writer, and destroyed many works he found Amazon Digital Services; $9.99) ern, North Central, and Eastern Provinces of were decaying and he could smell the plaque. unsatisfactory. This seems to have been ad- Sri Lanka, West Sumatra, Riau, West This seemed odd to us since I had had my vantageous to his reputation but less so to his It is depressing to realize that the oldest Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, and East teeth cleaned two weeks before, and dentists finances. movie covered in this is ninety years old (The Kalimantan in Indonesia, Sarawak in Malay- like seeing decaying teeth since that means Coconuts (1929)). And there is another prob- sia, Singapore, Davao Occidental in the Phil- drilling, with better returns and less risk than lem consequent on this; there will be com- ippines, Guam, and Rota in the Northern wildcatting, and they hadn’t seen any. ments and references that were understandable Mariana Islands. The maximum eclipse will After an unsatisfactory dinner, my first then, but now are mysteries. be 3 minutes 40 seconds at 1E N 102E 18' E in meal in two days, I decided to go have a long Coniam has, therefore, set out to explain Riau Province, Indonesia. The eclipse is part sleep, beginning at seven. Whereupon the the background. Technology has changed, and of Saros 132, which began August 13, 1208 nurse came in and said I could go home. They now the reader can have this book open in the and will end September 25, 2470. pulled out the IV pick, I got dressed, and went Kindle app while watching the movie in the down to my car. Except I couldn’t find it. video player, and at the noted time, see what NASA Eclipse website: It turned out that there were two parking Groucho was really saying. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html structures and I had parked in the other one. He provides as well the often convoluted The security guy at the parking structure negotiations among the various members of Other useful eclipse websites: kindly drove me to my car, and I left. the film industry that led to the creation of I had to pay parking charges both times, each work. This augments the descriptions in http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse since I hadn’t been admitted to University, and Joe Adamson’s Groucho, Harpo, Chico and at Norton, in spite of the reassurance that my Sometimes Zeppo (1973). http://www.eclipse.org.uk/ discharge papers would suffice, I ended up In addition, Coiniam discusses a work going through an automatic exit gate which which I have not heretofore seen covered: The HEALTH ISSUES didn’t recognize those things. Incredible Jewel Robbery (1959), the half-hour by Joe I now wear support stockings, because (24 minutes) skit on General Electric Theater, apparently I now have heart failure and need to their final appearance together. He wonders On Thursday morning I took my blood get the fluid out of my legs. I’m sure a lot of what a Marx Brothers short subject series sugar level and it was 314. Eek! Eek! Eek! people will be happy to hear this. would have been like. (It would depend on the After dropping Lisa off at work I went to the So far the bill due is $$$, though I got One matter which was not stressed in the writers. Imagine Flywheel, Shyster, and Fly- hospital. Hospitals, as I went to University unerved when I looked it up on the medical first work but is so here is Piper’s attitude wheel two-reelers coming out every three Hospital first. The man ahead of me in the system web page and discovered the billing towards money. Originally, his writing in- months or so.) Emergency Room registration line was asked was for $$,$$$ — paid by the insurance. come was an addendum to his salary. When Some say that explaining a joke spoils it. if he had been a patient there before. I Subject to change without prior notice. the job was abolished, he continued to have the Not knowing the context of a joke spoils it thought, “I haven’t been a patient here before, same attitude, spending his payments and even more. As for example, when Coniam but I have been a patient at Norton Hospital.” DERBY NEWS royalties liberally as they came in, and then reprints not one but two different essays by So I went back to my car and drove to Norton. by Lisa having to endure periods of impoverishment. others explaining the references in “Lydia the My blood sugar had fallen to 186 by the One interesting point worth noting is a Tattooed Lady” (At the Circus 1939)). You time they got to me. But there were other The Derby is almost upon us. It is risky letter Piper wrote about a potential plot point can learn a lot from Lydia. problems and I was admitted. They put me in picking a horse before race day. The Derby is in a future episode of the Calvin Morrison one room, then moved me to another. “the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of story. The letter is dated July 1964, which YOU’RE SO VAIN They were using all their toys. I had a chance” as the late Dan Fogelberg sang. implies that he retained the feeling that life by Joe chest X-Ray, and then a CT scan where Ms. Horses are not machines. They are living would go on for longer than some think, Rotwang the tech didn’t have any problems. I creatures with personalities all their own. For a perspective on how marginal some There will be a solar eclipse on July 2, was taken back to my room where Lisa was Thunder Snow refused to run in the mud and authors’ lives could be, and how nevertheless visible on Oeno Island of Pitcairn Islands, in waiting, having arrived just as I was being gave spectators an unexpected rodeo perfor- they persisted, this is a striking reminder. Not Coquimbo Region and Atacama Region of removed. She had her Kindles so wasn’t mance in which he tried hard to buck his rider everyone is a Piper fan; but everyone who is Chile and San Juan, La Rioja, San Luis, completely at a loss. off. In the Breeder’s Cup General Quarters had would gain by having this book. Córdoba, Santa Fe, and Buenos Aires prov- With one thing and another I did not eat to be scratched because he refused to enter the inces of Argentina. The longest totality will be anything that day. I didn’t miss it. I turned the starting gate. The great Sunday Silence, A MARXIST LEXICON 4 minutes 33 seconds, at sea at 17E 24' S, 109E thermostat in the room up and went to sleep, though, was solidly into getting his black head Review by Joseph T Major of W. The eclipse is part of Saros 127, which without being awakened for a chest X-Ray at across the finish line first, whatever the track Alexiad April 2019 Page 7 conditions happened to be. But I will take the In the middle of the Nineteenth Century newspaper accounts reported the use of ger and resistant to moisture. Either can come risk of saying I like Roadster. There is a ten- several parts of the world were experiencing a mummy wrappings to make brown paper, but in a wide variety of colors. There is, of course, dency to try to paint the Derby as a rivalry paper shortage. This included the United study reveals them to most likely be satire; dark brown paper, but that is more likely to be between two top colts but it is seldom that States, where newspapers were a huge busi- darkly humorous commentaries on the stingi- used as packing material than to wrap meat. simple when the gate opens. My best handi- ness. Most paper at the time was made from ness of the factory owner. capping came in 1999 when more than half the processed rags. Newly produced cotton or That huge amounts of rags — including The early audio recording period is known colts actually belonged. I figured that when the linen could be made available for the produc- mummy linens — were imported from Egypt as the acoustical era. The mechanical energy gate opened there would be one of the biggest tion of paper, but that was expensive, and had during that period for the purpose of making imparted to the needle by the changes in the traffic jams in Derby history and that the to vie with cloth production. Most paper was paper has been widely verified. Also verified groove surface was conducted to the winner would probably come from the auxil- therefore made from rags. (There’s a term is that mummy wrappings tended to be diffi- diaphragm to produce the sound vibrations iary gate where there would be less risk of which is a cultural holdover. In modern par- cult to bleach white. Some newspapers actu- without amplification, so purely mechanical getting stuck in the traffic jam. I got the first lance, the percentage of rag content in paper is ally bragged that they had switched to paper records needed to spin quickly to provide the three finishers right, but thought the winner a measure of quality.) However, linen ages made (in what percentage is not stated) from necessary energy. Just not too quickly. The would be Menifee, not Charismatic. Sigh. well and there was a huge reservoir of ancient mummy linens. Since these surviving publica- fidelity of such a process depends on how well linen just being tossed away. tions are rare and valuable historic documents the variations in groove depth or width can The Joy of High Tech The ancient Egyptians made a lot of mum- and the paper in them likely a blend of old and excite the needle. Playing too quickly means by Rodford Edmiston mies. By some estimates there were half a new rags, tests to verify this will most likely the needle skips. Too slowly and the playback billion humans turned into mummies over never be performed. is too quiet. The playing time of a phonograph those four thousand plus years the practice was record depends on the available groove length widespread in northern Africa. There were so divided by the turntable speed. Total groove many, in fact, that they were actually a prob- length in turn depends on how closely the lem in some areas. The vast majority had been grooves are spaced, in addition to the record low-born people, and barely worth the effort of diameter. From about 1898 well into the Nine- unwrapping to see what treasures they might teen Fifties the ideal speed for music was have. Additionally, many thousands of mum- considered to be around 78 RPM. By 1908 mies had been looted in antiquity, and often most entertainment recordings played back at the wrappings were just tossed aside as worth- 78 - 80 RPM. Edison Diamond Disc Records less. (This calls to mind the bit from Sam always ran at 80 RPM. The standard of 78.26 Clemens, who in The Innocents Abroad had a RPM for electrically motorized turntables was locomotive engineer crying out “Damn these adopted by the industry in 1925. This speed plebeians, they don’t burn worth a cent — pass was suitable for most existing records, and was out a King!”) On top of all those former peo- easily achieved using a standard 3600-RPM Being the occasionally interesting ramblings of ple, many animals were also mummified, from motor and 46-tooth gear. a major-league technophile. cats to bulls. So, there was a huge resource for All this together meant that at the begin- paper making in the fine linen used in mummy ning of the 20th century discs played for about Cultural Holdovers wrappings. two minutes, the same as earlier cylinder As the story is told, a famously thrifty records. Because of this most popular record- There are many aspects of culture which paper mill owner decided to use mummy ings were limited to that duration. Soon the can be traced to a technical innovation or wrappings to make high-quality paper. How- larger 10-inch 78 RPM discs played for about limitation. This effect actually goes back tens ever, no matter what he did, the linen wouldn’t three minutes per side. The 12-inch disc, of thousands of years. (Think of all the sayings bleach white, remaining brown. He was forced introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the which depend on the physical characteristic of to market the resulting product as cheap paper, playing time to between three and four min- some material, such as “clear as glass” or “like fit only for a butcher to use in wrapping meat. utes. Even today, popular music is often lim- a lead bell.”) However, more modern exam- Eventually the wrappings caused a cholera ited to that interval, long after technology has ples are better documented, and many such outbreak and the practice stopped. Yet to this So, while there is no technical reason for moved beyond the format which caused that cultural impacts are still in effect and quite day the tradition of butchers using brown not using the linen from mummy wrappings to restriction. widespread. This exercise will therefore be paper survives. make paper, if this happened the scraps of Interestingly, the common usage of play- limited to a very few relatively recent exam- Okay, cholera bacteria are unlikely to mummy cloth were probably just tossed in as back speed (such as “seventy-eight”) to distin- ples. Of course, some associations are a prod- survive even the ointments and unguents the another source of rag, and were a minor com- guish between types of discs didn’t become uct of misunderstanding, or even outright wrappings were impregnated with, much less ponent. As to why butcher paper is brown, widespread until until after WWII. Before that fraud. Others are simply unclear. remain viable for thousands of years. The most of it is actually white or ruddy. Not they were generally called “records” regardless Why is butcher paper brown? According to paper mill most often identified with the prac- brown. The general type of paper is more of speed. a popular myth, mummy wrappings. (Note: tice of using mummy wrappings did have a generally known as kraft paper, and has a wide Early records were made from various Take the following with a large grain of salt... cholera outbreak, but those were happening all range of uses. Butcher paper is essentially materials. Each formulation vied for a balance and maybe a bite of steak.) over the “civilized” world at that time. Period kraft paper treated to make it food safe, stron- between cost, how closely the grooves could Page 8 April 2019 Alexiad be placed, fidelity and durability. Shellack- half minutes of music or voice. als, including iron and steel. It is nontoxic and censored for violating the terms of use. based compounds were popular from around Over and over, the manufacturers focused resistant to corrosion. All this makes it very What did they get heated about, and 1895 until the requirements of WWII caused a on a format to produce a length of playback useful in food preservation. Since its the tin what did they write? general switch to vinyl. After that vinyl be- which was already familiar to consumers from people see, around the world they call such came the standard for nearly all records. The decades of previous formats. Yes, LP records coated metal containers “tins” or “tin cans” When I wrote that, I was still under the shellack-based records were actually compos- were used for longer compositions, including even though the large majority of material in illusion that Tor.com suppresses only com- ite structures. They were typically composed entire symphonies. However, radio airplay and the can is steel. Similarly, tin-plated steel ments that are abusive or intemperate in char- of about one-third shellac and two-thirds records for popular music continued to force whistles are often called “tin whistles.” Copper acter. I no longer believe that; but you be the mineral filler (which was usually finely pulver- artists to fit an old — and largely obsolete — cooking or serving vessels — pots, pans, judge. ized slate or limestone) with cotton fibers to format. Hence the plaintive Billy Joel lyric “If plates, goblets, etc. — are sometimes tinplated, Emily Asher-Perrin’s February 5th post- add tensile strength. Carbon black was added you’re gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit. since copper exposed to acidic food may form ing,”How to Handle the Baron Harkonnen in a for color and a very small amount of a lubri- So they cut it down to 3:05.” toxic compounds. Today, steel or even alumi- Modern Dune Adaptation” concerns the prob- cant was usually included to ease release from The topic of recording formats is quite num cans cans with polymer coatings and no lem (?) that the chief villain of Frank Herbert’s the presses on which the records were made. complicated, and enormously varied. This tin may still be called “tins.” This term is famous novel is both obese and “queer” Vinyl records — as with the later CDs on more overview barely scratches the surface. sometimes even used for entirely polymer (Asher-Perrin’s term). As one might expect, modern vinyl presses — could be produced on Tin was the aluminum of the Nineteenth containers. most of the discussion concerned the latter the same machines. The biggest problems with Century. Now, the elemental metal had been Tin’s ductility led in the late 19th century issue. shellack records were weight and brittleness. used for thousands of years. Among other to the production of tin foil. Aluminum foil It seemed to me that the portrayal of a Once technology moved to electronic historic applications it is a component of was introduced in 1926, but did not widely villainous homosexual might have been prob- amplification records could be slowed. How- bronze. The pure metal can take a high polish replace tin foil until after World War II. How- lematic at one time, that is, when there were so ever, the 78 RPM standard held for a long time and is resistant to corrosion. Compounds with ever, due to both being thin sheets of shiny few depictions of homosexuals in SF. Today, even after this. This was partly because that tin have a very wide variety of use. While the material some people continue even today to however, there are many positive gay charac- meant the platters could still be played in areas metal itself is non-toxic, some tin compounds refer to the new product by the name of the old ters everywhere so, I suggested, if it ever with no electricity, but largely due to industrial are deadly poisons. Tin is easy to refine, and one. Tin foil is stiffer than aluminum foil. It mattered, it doesn’t any more. and social inertia. The LP format played at 33 the pure metal is ductile, easily formed in also tends to give some foods a slight tin taste. I clicked the submit button, and my com- 1/3rd revolutions per minute. This allowed many ways. In fact, its main flaw is that it does Both characteristics helped aluminum foil to ment sank into the swamp, never to be seen greater fidelity and storage density, since they not deal well with extreme (in terrestrial envi- replace tin foil. again. Especially because, not expecting to be had electronic amplification of the mechanical ronmental terms) cold, slowly turning to pow- Because of its corrosion resistance, avail- censored, I hadn’t saved a copy of it. signal. der, a process which is called “tin pest.” Sup- ability, low cost, low toxicity, and malleabil- So I tried again, making a special effort to The use of both vinyl and the 33 1/3rd posedly, this hampered Napoleon’s invasion of ity, tin foil was even used as a filling for tooth be extra tactful: RPM format were pioneered in 1931 by RCA, Russia, when his army’s new tin uniform cavities prior to the 20th Century. in 30cm discs with 10 minutes of sound per buttons began to deteriorate. However, this Harking back to a preceding part of this There is no reason to demand that side. There were other long-play formats transformation is prevented by small amounts document, the first audio recordings were every individual work be balanced, any introduced during the same period. However, of antimony, bismuth, copper, lead, silver, or made on tin foil wrapped around backing more than we demand that every indi- due largely to the Great Depression these gold. These are actually normally present in cylinders. vidual scene in every work be records were soon discontinued. Both vinyl commercial grades of tin, so only very pure tin There are many more examples of how balanced. and the extended play format would return is actually affected by this. technology affects culture, and vice versa. This The character of Baron Harkonnen later, on larger records. (There is conflicting Why were those buttons made of tin? (If short exploration of the topic barely scratches was problematic in the 1960s because information that Bell Labs developed the 33 they were...) Tin is easily stamped into intri- the surface. What examples can you think of? there were so few positive gay charac- 1/3rd RPM and 16" format before this because cate shapes, resistant to corrosion and not very ters around. (Setting aside, for the it allowed a simple gearing which worked with expensive. These characteristics lent them- This material is Copyright 2019 Rodford E. moment, the complex question of film projectors and matched one record side to selves well to the growing use of multiple Smith. Anyone wishing to reprint it may con- whether he actually is a gay character run the same length as one reel of film. Yet industrial processes. tact the author for permission at in the first place.) Today, there are another source claimed it was introduced by One of the more interesting modern uses of [email protected] thousands, rendering moot the question Columbia in 1948. Having more than one tin is in glass manufacture. Glass is floated of whether this one portrayal might company declare that “We invented it first!” is across a pool of molten tin to product smooth, ON (NOT) POSTING AT TOR.COM miseducate impressionable young not uncommon. Apparently one claim is for plate glass, in what is known as the Pilkington by Taras Wolasky minds. motion picture application, another for con- Process. It’s melting point, surface tension, sumer application, and the last for the adoption lack of reaction with glass (and at most react- Was I naïve? Here’s a comment in my Loc This time, I saved a copy before I hit the of Microgroove technology, which led to the ing to the tank materials just to form a thin to the December issue of Alexiad: submit button, and my comment burned down, actual Long Play or LP format.) layer of plating) and low toxicity make tin fell over, and then sank into the swamp. The 45 RPM record came on the market in ideal for this. I post a bit at Tor.com, and I am At some point, I had noticed there were a 1948 — by RCA — on vinyl or polystyrene. The first known use of tinplating for food often amazed when comments, on lot of missing sequence numbers among the The speed was chosen due to patent licenses. containers was in 1812, in London, England. some innocuous topic like “what are comments; for example, comment #66 is The size, again, was to create up to four and a Tin bonds well with several container materi- the good Robin Hood movies”, are immediately followed by #72. In fact, be- Alexiad April 2019 Page 9 tween #1 and #117, 42 comments — or 36% couple of other series, and added a postscript, UK) Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) — are missing and presumed censored. Like addressed to the poster who had brought up the Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; “The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker most people, I’m sure I assumed there must be accusation against MZB: Macmillan) (Lightspeed 1/18) a lot of anti-gay trolling going on. I no longer Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publish- believe that. In any case, after two attempts to I tried to respond to your comment, ing) Game Writing leave a comment, I gave up. but it didn’t make it through. Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse Not long afterward, I had another encoun- (Saga) Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Charlie ter with the censors. This time, my comment was posted, to- Brooker (House of Tomorrow & Net- In response to James Davis Nicoll’s Febru- gether with the postscript. It was immediately Novella flix) ary 20th posting, “Move Over, Westeros: Six followed by a note from Tor, to the effect that The Road to Canterbury, Kate Heartfield SFF Series That Would Rule the TV Land- the moderators “aim to keep the discussion Fire Ant, Jonathan P. Brazee (Semper Fi) (Choice of Games) scape”, dozens of people had suggested addi- civil, constructive, on topic and relevant to the The Black God’s Drums, P. Djèlí Clark God of War, Matt Sophos, Richard tional series that might be suitable for televi- original article”; and, like Lucy holding the (Tor.com Publishing) Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog, sion adaptation. I made a couple of sugges- football for Charlie Brown, inviting me to try The Tea Master and the Detective, Orion Walker, and Adam Dolin (Santa tions of my own, including this one: again. Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean) Monica Studio/Sony/Interactive Enter- I seriously thought about rewording my Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield tainment) As far as I can tell (though it’s hard comment to pass the censors, but I hadn’t had (Tor.com Publishing) Rent-A-Vice, Natalia Theodoridou to believe), so far no one has any luck with that the other time, so once Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, (Choice of Games) mentioned Marion Zimmer Bradley’s again I threw in the towel. Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing) The Martian Job, M. Darusha Wehm sprawling “Darkover” series, more than Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Choice of Games) forty books and counting. NEBULA AWARD NEWS (Tor.com Publishing) The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding This comment was posted, and got a swift Novelette Dramatic Presentation response, to the effect that the reason no one had mentioned “Darkover” was that no one The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”, wanted to promote the work of a child mo- Bolander (Tor.com Publishing) Written by: Megan Amram lester. As it happens, I had completely “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confec- Black Panther, Written by: Ryan Coogler forgotten about the posthumous accusation, tions”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com and Joe Robert Cole published a few years ago. I responded as 7/11/18) A Quiet Place, Screenplay by: John follows: “An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Krasinski, Bryan Woods and Scott Agent of Utopia) Beck Sorry to hear it. I guess I’m not up “The Substance of My Lives, the Acci- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, to date on my sci-fi scandals and accu- dents of Our Births”, José Pablo Screenplay by: Phil Lord and Rodney sations. Iriarte (Lightspeed 1/18) Rothman “The Rule of Three”, Lawrence M. Dirty Computer, Written by: Janelle Actually, now that I think back, I had heard Schoen (Future Science Fiction Di- Monáe and Chuck Lightning something about this when the chief accuser gest 12/18) Sorry to Bother You, Written by: Boots was nominated for a Hugo. But that was the “Messenger”, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and Riley year a band of bizarre right-wing trolls had R.R. Virdi (Expanding Universe, taken over the nominations, so perhaps I paid Volume 4) The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding less attention than I should have. Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy To what extent do accusations of personal Short Story Book misconduct invalidate an author or creator’s work? I’m not sure. Woody Allen is still “Interview for the End of the World”, Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi making movies, I note. But then, he’s still Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan) alive to defend himself — and, I see here, he’s Stars) Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani suing Amazon for not releasing the movie he 2018 Nebula Award Finalists “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents) just did for them. Teeth of George Washington”, A Light in the Dark, A.K. DuBoff (BDL) Whatever the case, as we’ve seen above, Novel Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18) Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Ran- there are approximately a gazillion nifty series “Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast dom House) out there, without baggage . . . at least, no The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Area Clear) Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + baggage we know about! Kowal (Tor) “And Yet”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Bray) This comment was silently suppressed, The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voy- 3-4/18) Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate though I saved a copy before I submitted it. ager US; Harper Voyager UK) “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical and Sword, Henry Lien (Henry Holt) A few days later, I commented about a Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Page 10 April 2019 Alexiad

My vote for the Nebula Award effect. The fable-like telling feels too distant, Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor short stories and the story seems familiar. There are no new Rey / Macmillan) Sisters, and the Prince Who Was by Sue Burke stories, true, but perhaps a more detailed, Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander close-up telling could have revealed new (Saga) (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August I’ve read all the short stories nominated for contours of yearning within an old idea. 2018) this year’s Nebula Awards, presented by the Nope: “Going Dark” by Richard Fox Best Novella “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Amer- (Backblast Area Clear) A military commander Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” ica. The awards, which include novels, novel- must turn off a humanoid robot that was badly Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, las, novelettes, game writing, dramatic presen- injured in the line of duty. Up to that moment, (Tor.com publishing) February 2018) tation (television, movies, etc.), and young the commander has shown the emotional Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan adult books, will be presented May 18 in Los response of a turnip, yet he suddenly sinks into McGuire (Tor.com publishing) Best Series Angeles. bathos. This story got on the ballot through the Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi I’m sorry to say I loved only two of them. not-a-slate 20BooksTo50K® slate. It has some Okorafor (Tor.com publishing) The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older As a member, I must vote for one (ranked merit, but it’s not ready for prime time and is The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí (Tor) voting is for the Hugos, not the Nebulas), and not one of the year’s five best short stories. It Clark (Tor.com publishing) The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross here’s my vote: shouldn’t be on the ballot. Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, (most recently Tor/Orbit) “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Nope: “Interview for the End of the by Kelly Robson (Tor.com publishing) Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix World” by Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the The Tea Master and the Detective, by (Solaris) E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) My heart was in my Stars) An asteroid is about to destroy the Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press The October Daye Series, by Seanan throat, hoping the witch librarian would help Earth, and a rich man with a rocket must pick / JABberwocky Literary Agency) McGuire (most recently DAW) the troubled boy find the book he needed to the three thousand people who will escape The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bo- escape his life, and the boy would accept the death and perpetuate humanity. This is a cliché Best Novelette dard (most recently Subterranean magic that the book had to offer him. I read within a cliché, and poorly told at that. The Press) this slowly, knowing it was a short story and story is another on the not-a-slate “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder would end soon, trying to give myself more 20BooksTo50K® slate, and it doesn’t deserve Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and & Stoughton / Harper Voyager) time to enjoy it. Magic, indeed. to be on the ballot. Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) My opinions of the other stories, ranked in “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confec- Best Related Work order of preference: HUGO AWARD FINALISTS tions,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 Second place: “The Secret Lives of the Courtesy of Dublin 2019 and File 770.com July 2018) Archive of Our Own, a project of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” by “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Organization for Transformative Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18) The Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September Works story encompasses nine short biographies of 2018) Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac the slaves whose teeth came to be part of Wash- The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron ington’s dentures. (True story: Washington had Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing) Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Sci- dentures made of human teeth.) Since they “The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by ence Fiction, by Alec Nevala-Lee form an alternate history of a world in which Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, (Dey Street Books) there are various kinds of magic, I kept expect- November-December 2018) The Hobbit Duology (documentary in ing the consequences of this magic to change “When We Were Starless,” by Simone three parts), written and edited by the sweep of history, but they did not. Still, Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October Lindsay Ellis and Angelina Meehan well worth reading. 2018) (YouTube) Third place: “And Yet” by A. T. Green- An Informal History of the Hugos: A blatt (Uncanny 3–4/18) A visit to a haunted Best Short Story Personal Look Back at the Hugo house led to disaster for a boy. Now an adult, Awards, 1953-2000, by Jo Walton he returns. The house is still haunted, but he “The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Tor) might be able to beat its time-space mutations. (Lightspeed, January 2018) www.mexicanxinitiative.com: The The real story is the protagonist’s personal Best Novel “The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Mexicanx Initiative Experience at history of his unhappy family, shortcomings, Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher Worldcon 76 (Julia Rios, Libia and childhood disasters. This is done well, yet The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette ( U n c a n n y M a g a z i n e 2 5 , Brenda, Pablo Defendini, John Picacio) it feels familiar, resembling quite a few other Kowal (Tor) November-December 2018) Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on literary short stories I’ve read. Perhaps un- Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Writing, by Ursula K. Le Guin with happy families can be alike, too. Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Teeth of George Washington,” by P. David Naimon (Tin House Books) Fourth place: “The Court Magician” by Harper Voyager) Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, Febru- Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18) A boy discov- Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris) ary 2018) Best Graphic Story ers the cost of magic, and he learns that good Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente “STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Maga- intentions do not overrule cold cause and (Saga) zine, October 2018) Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Alexiad April 2019 Page 11

Sami Kivelä, colours by Jason Wordie, Gillian Redfearn Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla and The G Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary letters by Jim Campbell (BOOM! Stu- Navah Wolfe Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur Fantastic Art, ed. John Fleskes (Flesk dios) Rocket Stack Rank, editors Greg Hullen- Publications) Black Panther: Long Live the King, writ- Best Professional Artist der and Eric Wong Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – The ten by Nnedi Okorafor and Aaron Art of the Movie, by Ramin Zahed Covington, art by André Lima Araújo, Galen Dara Best Fancast (Titan Books) Mario Del Pennino and Tana Ford Jaime Jones Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, ed. (Marvel) Victo Ngai Be the Serpent, presented by Alexandra Catherine McIlwaine (Bodleian Li- Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by John Picacio Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer brary) Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Im- Yuko Shimizu Mace age Comics) Charles Vess The Coode Street Podcast, presented by John W. Campbell Award for Best New On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden (First Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe Writer Second) Best Semiprozine Fangirl Happy Hour, hosted by Ana Paper Girls, Volume 4, written by Brian Grilo and Renay Williams Katherine Arden (2nd year of eligibility) K. Vaughan, art by Cliff Chiang, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief Galactic Suburbia, hosted by Alisa S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibil- colours by Matt Wilson, letters by and publisher Scott H. Andrews Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and ity) Jared K. Fletcher (Image Comics) Fireside Magazine, edited by Julia Rios, Tansy Rayner Roberts, produced by R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility) Saga, Volume 9, written by Brian K. m a n a g i n g e d i t o r E l s a Andrew Finch Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility) Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Sjunneson-Henry, social coordinator Our Opinions Are Correct, hosted by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2nd year of eligi- Comics) Meg Frank, special features editor Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane An- bility) Tanya DePass, founding editor Brian ders Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility) Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form White, publisher and art director Pablo The Skiffy and Fanty Show, produced by Defendini Jen Zink and Shaun Duke, hosted by Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Annihilation FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative the Skiffy and Fanty Crew Book Avengers: Infinity War Fiction, executive editors Troy L. Black Panther Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders, editors Best Fan Writer The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton (Free- A Quiet Place L.D. Lewis, Brandon O’Brien, Kaleb form / Gollancz) Sorry to Bother You Russell, Danny Lore, and Brent Lam- Foz Meadows Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse bert James Davis Nicoll Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Shimmer, publisher Beth Wodzinski, se- Charles Payseur Children’s Books) Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form nior editor E. Catherine Tobler Elsa Sjunneson-Henry The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black (Little, Strange Horizons, edited by Jane Alasdair Stuart Brown / Hot Key Books) The Expanse: “Abaddon’s Gate,” Crowley, Kate Dollarhyde, Vanessa Bogi Takács Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Doctor Who: “Demons of the Punjab,” Rose Phin, Vajra Chandrasekera, Bray) Dirty Computer Romie Stott, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Best Fan Artist The Invasion, by Peadar O’Guilin (David The Good Place: “Janet(s),” and the Strange Horizons Staff Fickling Books / Scholastic) The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy,” Uncanny Magazine, publish- Sara Felix Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman Doctor Who: “Rosa,” ers/editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas Grace P. Fong (Random House / Penguin Teen) and Michael Damian Thomas, manag- Meg Frank Best Professional Editor, Short Form ing editor Michi Trota, podcast produc- Ariela Housman Congratulations to Christopher J. Garcia, ers Erika Ensign and Steven Likhain (Mia Sereno) Alec Nevala-Lee, and James Davis Nicoll Neil Clarke Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy Spring Schoenhuth on their nominations. Chris, if Journey Planet Gardner Dozois Science Fiction Special Issue wins again, can we have another Hugo- Lee Harris editors-in-chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry Best Art Book nomination-worthy happy dance? Alec is up Julia Rios and Dominik Parisien against Jo Walton, and I think it’s going to be Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian The Books of Earthsea: The Complete a titanic struggle. Fortunately there are no Thomas Best Fanzine Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Char- Chicks Dig books up for consideration this E. Catherine Tobler les Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin year. And as for Nicoll, has anyone ever heard Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Mar- (Saga Press /Gollancz) of ANY of the other nominees for Best Fan Best Professional Editor, Long Form cus, editor Janice Marcus Daydreamer’s Journey: The Art of Julie Writer? Journey Planet, edited by Team Journey Dillon, by Julie Dillon (self-published) Sheila E. Gilbert Planet Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Anne Lesley Groell Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Visual History, by Michael Witwer, Beth Meacham Renay & Susan Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Sam Wit- Diana Pho nerds of a feather, flock together, editors wer (Ten Speed Press) Page 12 April 2019 Alexiad

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Garth, by Steve Dowling (Daily Mirror) (Myrtle Douglas) Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock) Plastic Man #1: The Game of Death, by YHOS, editor Art Widner The Magic Bed-Knob; or, How to Become Jack Cole (Vital Publications) Le Zombie, editor Wilson “Bob” Tucker a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, by Mary Le Secret de la Licorne [The Secret of the Norton (Hyperion Press) Unicorn], by Hergé (Le Soir) Best Fan Writer “We Print the Truth,” by Anthony Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Woman- Boucher (Astounding Science-Fiction, hood, written by William Moulton Forrest J. Ackerman December 1943) Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Morojo (Myrtle Douglas) Comics) Jack Speer Best Novelette Wilson “Bob” Tucker Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form Art Widner “Citadel of Lost Ships,” by Leigh Brack- Donald A. Wollheim ett (Planet Stories, March 1943) Batman “The Halfling,” by Leigh Brackett (Aston- Cabin in the Sky I asked H. P. L. (or his assistant Leeman ishing Stories, February 1943) A Guy Named Joe Kessler) what he thought about his nomina- “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis Heaven Can Wait tion. He said he was beyond such things, but Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) Münchhausen please send money because he needs sugar. (Astounding Science-Fiction, February Phantom of the Opera 1943) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxx0Tfgfxkk “The Proud Robot,” by Lewis Padgett Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (Henry Kuttner) (Astounding With Heinlein and Asimov out of the Science-Fiction, February 1943) The Ape Man game, we are seeing Kuttner & Moore, van “Symbiotica,” by Eric Frank Russell (As- Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman Vogt, and other formerly neglected candidates. RETRO-HUGO AWARD FINALISTS tounding Science-Fiction, October Der Fuehrer’s Face Even Tintin. And Donald Duck vs. Bugs Courtesy of Dublin 2019 and File 770.com 1943) I Walked With a Zombie Bunny! “Thieves’ House,” by Fritz Leiber, Jr The Seventh Victim Best Novel (Unknown Worlds, February 1943) Super-Rabbit WORLDCON BIDS Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Un- Best Short Story Best Professional Editor, Short Form 2021 known Worlds, April 1943) Washington, D.C. Earth’s Last Citadel, by C.L. Moore and “Death Sentence,” by Isaac Asimov (As- John W. Campbell http://dcin2021.org/ Henry Kuttner (Argosy, April 1943) tounding Science Fiction, November Oscar J. Friend Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber, Jr. 1943) Mary Gnaedinger 2022 (Astounding Science-Fiction, MayJuly “Doorway into Time,” by C.L. Moore Dorothy McIlwraith Chicago 1943) (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Septem- Raymond A. Palmer https://chicagoworldconbid.org/ Das Glasperlenspiel [The Glass Bead ber 1943) Donald A. Wollheim Game], by Hermann Hesse (Fretz & “Exile,” by Edmond Hamilton (Super 2023 Wasmuth) Science Stories, May 1943) Best Professional Artist Chengdu Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis (John Lane, “King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for The Bodley Head) Rocket”), by Ray Bradbury (Famous Hannes Bok Nice, France The Weapon Makers, by A.E. van Vogt Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943) Margaret Brundage http://worldconinfrance.org/en/ (Astounding Science-Fiction, Febru- “Q.U.R.,” by H.H. Holmes (Anthony Virgil Finlay ary-April 1943) Boucher) (Astounding Science-Fiction, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry New Orleans March 1943) J. Allen St. John Best Novella “Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper,” by William Timmins 2024 Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, July 1943) United Kingdom “Attitude,” by Hal Clement (Astounding Best Fanzine http://www.ukin2024.org/ Science-Fiction, September 1943) Best Graphic Story “Clash by Night,” by Lawrence O’Don- Fantasy News, editor William S. Sykora 2025 nell (Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore) Buck Rogers: Martians Invade Jupiter, Futurian War Digest, editor J. Michael Seattle (Astounding Science-Fiction, March by Philip Nowlan and Dick Calkins Rosenblum Perth, Australia 1943) (National Newspaper Service) The Phantagraph, editor Donald A. “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Flash Gordon: Fiery Desert of Mongo, by Wollheim NASFiC BIDS Kadath” by H.P. Lovecraft, (Beyond Alex Raymond (King Features Syndi- Voice of the Imagi-Nation, editors Jack 2020 the Wall of Sleep, Arkham House) cate) Erman (Forrest J Ackerman) & Morojo Columbus, Ohio Alexiad April 2019 Page 13

WORLDCON 2020 ConNZealand Wellington, New Zealand July 29-August 2, 2020 http://ConNZealand.nz/ NASFiC 2019 Layton, Utah July 4-7, 2019 https://www.spikecon.org/ Page 14 April 2019 Alexiad

From: Timothy Lane March 9, 2019 Foundation. spoil the pets of others, and be a happy aunt Letters, we get letters [email protected] and uncle. From: Lloyd Penney March 18, 2019 My loc…this past weekend was the rela- I just noticed the Greek version of the title, 1706-24 Eva Road, Etobicoke, ON tively large Toronto ComiCon, held downtown which ends with a capital sigma rather than a M9C 2B2 CANADA at the convention centre. We didn’t go, but delta. That would be Alexias, not Alexiad. [email protected] friends on Facebook indicate that for every one http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/ of them who did go, there was another who You were there when the man could have gone, but didn’t bother. Indeed, said it should be Αλεξιας Thank you for Alexiad WN 103. Let’s see Torcon 3 has good and bad memories, and I “Alexias”. what we can say about the issue at hand, and still hear about good and bad experiences from — JTM still make the deadline. Thanks for the time it. Good in plan, poor in execution. Those who warning, by the way; sometimes, I lose felt they were competent pushed out those who It’s nice to see Leigh Kimmel’s con re- complete track of time. really were competent, and those left refused ports, especially for one I used to attend when Opportunity is dead, but Curiosity still rolls outside help, and they failed miserably. With that was physically possible. Missing on, in more ways than one. May we always be one or two exceptions, they all gafiated, I From: Joy V. Smith February 26, 2019 InConJunction (and Conglomeration) are so curious, and may we advance ourselves so think, in embarrassment. 8925 Selph Road, Lakeland, FL 33810- among my greatest regrets. It would be nice if that we can indeed put at least one of these 0341 USA she could report on some of the programm- rovers into a museum. In this day, when we I think I mentioned Garth [email protected] ings. InCon has plenty of evening program- seem more willing to kill the people we don’t Spencer’s story about the Van- http://www.joyvsmith.com/ ming worth seeing. I’m a bit confused about like rather than do anything remotely construc- couver fans who went to World- her exact timing for her western trip. Were tive, the science fiction we love seems more con and thought, hey, they could Thanks for the reviews; I confess there are she and Larry away 2 full weeks? fictional than ever. I sincerely hope I am do something as big too. Things very few alternate history books that I want to Elizabeth and I last attended a Worldcon in wrong. happened, few of them good. read. And thanks to Leigh Kimmel for the con 2001, but I don’t think the 9/11/01 attacks had And then comes the potential viciousness — JTM reports. anything to do with it. For one thing, after that of social media. I see the benefits of it, and Lisa, We recently had to put Bree, our year I could hardly afford to go, and more community can be constructed on it (even if it Update . . . Yvonne’s assignment at the black and white Manx, to sleep (cancer); she recently we both became physically incapable is faint compared to the true community we local racetrack came to an end, and now she is was only two years old — a baby! Now with of attending. I doubt we’re the only elderly can build when we actually work together, working a shortshort-term assignment with a only one dog and one cat, the house seems fans with those problems. live), yet I’ve been torn apart online by those medical tech firm downtown. I have actually incredibly empty. So another kitten — or two It would indeed be interesting to figure out who don’t truly read what I’ve written, and I been able to find some at-home work with a — or a puppy (we never got another dog after the different effects of Hitler’s death at differ- do try to be careful on what I might write. Christian organization in Mississauga, plus we had to put Brynn to sleep — and Blizzard ent times. If he had died after Munich but Some just seem determined to misunderstand some registration work and voicework coming missed him for a long time — and she needs before he invaded Poland, some form of me, or have their own agenda to follow, and up, so my luck seems to be changing. Maybe company because Pemberley, our tortoiseshell Grossdeutschland might still exist today, since they don’t care who they run down. it’s just the fact winter is almost done. We (3 years old) bullies her. Oh, yes, it is easier to his likely successor (Goering) saw nothing head off to England in about 2½ months, and travel without thinking about pets. We have a personally to gain by war. Since European And now, one of those who after that, Yvonne plans to stay retired. Hmm, friend, btw, who has to crate one of her dogs peace would have made it easier for Britain drove Amelie Zhao into pulling we’ll see what happens . . . when going out for a while, so you can’t be and America to concentrate their navies in the her book before publication has Time to go, just about filling the page. gone long then either. (Life is sometimes Pacific theater of Japan went to war, even the pulled his, as a result of a similar Take care, stay healthy, and let’s hope for complicated, or we would have gotten another Japanese Army (which largely made the deci- Twitter pile-on. warm weather and better luck for all of us. pet sooner, but we’ve been thinking about it sions, especially after their commander be- for a long time . . .) came the Prime Minister in late 1941) might An old-school science fiction conven- From: Robert S. Kennedy March 20, 2019 have chosen peace. (Without the war in Eu- tion…there’s a turn of phrase I never thought 5301 East Warm Springs Avenue, Apt When I lived alone, I could set rope, the US might have been less inclined to I’d hear, and yet, these days, it’s true. The big B306, Boise, ID 83716-6205 USA out a self-feeder and a self- press them.) pro-run con is ascendant, and the fan-run con [email protected] waterer for Sulla, but if I was In that case, the 3-way struggle for China is dying. Participation is down, and passive gone for very long he apparently would have been very interesting. A nice consumption is up. In July, we will be attend- My thanks for Vol. 18 No. 1 (February moped and quit drinking. Grant historical novel about that might be rather ing our own local old-school con, Ad Astra. 2019, Whole Number103). looked after the cats when he interesting. Mao vs. Chiang vs. Hirohito . . . The letter column…Yvonne and I both In your review and commentary of Them was with us. who knows? love dogs and cats, and other pets, too, but Bones by Howard Waldrop you make a short — JTM Regarding The Mule, I will note that Han we’ve never had one of our own. We always reference to Neanderthals. Given that those of Pritcher was converted by the Mule in the figured that our lifestyle wouldn’t be fair to the us of European ancestry have Neanderthal I enjoyed all the LOCs too, and thanks to original story, and in fact in the next story animal, and our place is the least kid-proof DNA (mine is 2.8%) I found that interesting. Sue Burke for the link to “If I Were a Plant”. (after the Mule had established his empire) he we’ve ever seen, so we can imagine what a For anyone who is interested I highly recom- commanded the first search for the Second dog or cat might do to it. We are happy to mend a book that I recently purchased and Alexiad April 2019 Page 15 read: The Neanderthals Rediscovered — How D205, Greenfield, WI 53220-3995 Back to work here. Next up are more can afford whatever they please, it’s rarely Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story by USA revisions in my terraREforming haibun for anything but Western dress. (The Saudi rulers Dimitra Papagianni & Michael Morse (Thames [email protected] Teri Santitoro and Scifaikuest. Fourteen are the major exceptions.) African dashikis and & Hudson, 2015). months from publication, but she wants the oriental robes are rarely seen. Thank you again for another Alexiad. text locked down so she knows how much As for cheapness due to mass production, Like Lisa, let me lead off with a lament for space I take up. That’s because I keep telling might the causation be the other way around? the Mars Opportunity rover. I had the good her that a guy like me takes up a lot of space. Western clothing is mass produced (largely in fortune to encounter a link to the blogger It’s all my own fault. Third World countries) because that is what Stuart Atkinson and thus follow him via my sells best everywhere. Dashikis and burnooses RSS feed-reader as he ‘walked’ along with From: George W. Price March 28, 2019 could be just as easily mass produced if they Oppy across the Mars surface. 4418 N. Monitor Avenue, Chicago, IL were in high demand. It was quite an accomplishment making the 60630-3333 USA So I think I will stick with my original rover, getting her there and keeping her going [email protected] suggestion that Western dress has swept the all this time [just for example, I believe she world because (in addition to its practicality in was on her third human ‘driver,’ perhaps February Alexiad: a mechanized world) people everywhere more]. Atkinson was there all the way, and his I questioned the discrepancy between Joe’s follow Western fashion in admiring emulation archive is worth exploring: count of 961 pages for David Weber’s Uncom- of the West (and the U.S. in particular) as the promising Honor and the 773 pages in my most economically advanced society. We’re Your review of Heinlein in Reflection by https://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com copy. He replied that 961 is “the equivalent the richest, so they copy us. Christopher G. Nuttall was interesting. I have page count for the Kindle edition.” Now that To be sure, I do not expect to see a fad for read a large number of Nuttall’s novels and S ince there are many un- had not occurred to me. I’ve never used wearing too-long red neckties. Emulation has given the volume of his output thought the processed/unenhanced images still in the JPL e-books, and didn’t even know they have an its limits, thank God. name might be a cover for several authors. files, he promises we aren’t done seeing what “equivalent page count.” I assumed they have However, I have been told that it is really him Oppy saw. But when is unknowable at pres- no fixed page divisions, since pagination is * * * * * with incredible output. Anyway, your com- ent. His life goes on, as likewise the careers of meaningless when the amount of text on the ment that “Nuttall examines Heinlein in his the rover team. screen at one time varies depending on what Taras also says he wishes he had kept his time, not by the standards of other eras” caught Of course, for someone like me, the vistas font size is chosen. Can you say how this page father’s slide rule. I still have two slide rules my eye. I have long said that people have to beyond Martian horizons only go just so far. equivalent is calculated? Do they just assume and a book of logarithm tables from my under- be judged by the time in which they lived, not I want new tasty critters. Or new civilizations. a standard number of characters per page? Or graduate days circa 1950. And that reminds me by the standards of today. A couple of exam- But it all made StuartA happy, and I enjoyed what? of a lewd joke from that time, a joke made ples are the attacks on Washington and Jeffer- his prose as well as his enhanced imagery. obsolete by the invention of pocket calculators. son for owning slaves. They both believed Reviewer’s Notes — you obliquely make They say: First a bit of background for younger slavery was wrong. But to free their slaves a point that could be emphasized about the The estimated length is cal- readers: Logarithms (abbreviated as “logs”) would have impoverished them. Slavery was comicbook movies now in vogue. They in- culated using the number of are mathematical functions that can be used to horrible and we are still paying the price. And volve a tremendous amount of physical de- page turns on a Kindle, using multiply and divide multi-digit numbers rela- slavery still exists in some parts of our world. struction that gets ignored. Looking at what settings to closely represent a tively quickly, and with more precision than a America did after 9-11, it is nonsensical that physical book. slide rule allows. Considering that one of the more isn’t done to rid the planet of super- — JTM It is said that a joke that has to be ex- causes of Amelie Zhao’s being villains. Why leave it to an angsty spidery plained isn’t funny. So take it as a historical targeted was that she said that hero or super-woke heroine? Especially when * * * * * curiosity: slavery existed in other places we can’t even keep the same actors deployed than the United States, I think a until the mission is accomplished? We need To my observation that Western clothing Q.: What is the difference between how an proper reminder is in order. the draft, and ‘for the duration.’ appears to have conquered the world, Sue engineer and a mathematician solve the Burke suggests that it’s because mass produc- problem of being constipated? That’s about it. Everything is fine here. In some of the early comic- tion makes it cheap, and also vast amounts of A.: The engineer works it out with a slide Next week my niece and I are going to see book movies they included a scene cast-off Western clothing go to Third-World rule, while the mathematician works it SHEN YUN. Yes, Boise, Idaho is part of the where the super-villain showed countries as charitable donations. Taras out with logs. United States. J how impotent the conventional Wolansky makes the same point about dona- forces were. (I believe there is a tions. * * * * * Shen Yun will get to Louisville scene in Superman (1978) where Um, well, maybe. That could account for on May 1. General Zod blows away a number poor people dressing Western, instead of going I’ve been observing Chicago politics for — JTM of army tanks by breathing on in rags or breechclouts. It certainly does not seventy-odd years (some of them very odd them.) explain why Xi Jinping and his ministers indeed). I thought I had seen it all, but in the From: Lloyd Daub March 27, 2019 — JTM always appear in dark business suits with recent aldermanic election the Machine show- 6535 W. English Meadows Drive neckties. Among the rich and powerful who ed us something brand new. Page 16 April 2019 Alexiad

In the 13th Ward — a Machine stronghold situation was not handled properly. Or for that shut down to be repaired to full working condi- — a 19-year-old college student named David matter, because substations burned down. tion. Krupa decided to run against the incumbent, In the end, it was the midnight to four And it is coming to light that Eskom who had been expected to run unopposed. block which caused me the most trouble – as I caused a previous instance of loadshedding. So To get on the ballot, a candidate must now need to sleep with a CPAP machine to that they could enter into coal purchasing submit nominating petitions signed by a cer- assist my breathing. With no power, I slept agreements with people who would not have tain number of registered voters, the number really badly. (To think that a year ago I did not got the contracts if normal tendering regula- being a specified small fraction of the total know what was really wrong, I just slept badly tions had been followed. number of voters in the ward. For the 13th and started to fall asleep at work.) In the end, At least I found out about Vanadium redox Ward it had to be 473. I had to get myself a very expensive, but batteries as a result of all this – It looks as if Krupa submitted 1,729 signatures. (Candi- proper, solution that would hopefully last a Eskom is interested in getting a lot of them dates submit far more than the required mini- night or two. into the grid, which would smooth out the mum, because part of the game in Chicago is A friend of mine is convinced that this instability caused by adding lots of wind and to invalidate as many as possible of the opposi- round of loadshedding was blackmail – Eskom solar generating capacity. And since we pro- tion’s nominating signatures, on whatever had asked for something like a 25% increase in duce Vanadium, it may become a lot cheaper pretexts can be found, such as a signature the price of electricity, every year, for the next than the alternatives. varying in the least bit from how it appears in five years, and had been rebuffed. And al- All of this is happening shortly before the voter records.) though the government had announced a next general election, which also include the This time it was different. The Machine’s bailout for Eskom, they are financially not provincial layer. A total of 45 parties are workers — nobody seems to know exactly capable of servicing their existing debt, and contesting the election – I think I know who who — gave the Board of Election Commis- need to borrow more money to carry on opera- ten of them are – Most of them are minor sioners sworn affidavits from 2,796 ward tions. single issue parties, with no or very little hope residents revoking their signatures on Krupa’s The official excuse was that because the of getting a single MP elected. (For instance, petitions. electricity supply from Mozambique (Cahora the party aimed at security guards.) Doing the arithmetic, 2,796 less 1,729 Bassa dam) was knocked out by cyclone Idia The big three are the ANC, DA and EFF, means that at least 1,067 more people revoked From: AL du Pisani March 31, 2019 (1.1 GW), they had a shortfall of 4 GW, which and they are expected to pull a good 90% of all signatures than had given signatures in the first 945 Grand Prix Street, Weltevreden- could only be fixed by loadshedding. South the votes. However, a lot of voters are dissatis- place. Since the revocation affidavits were park 1709, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH Africa has on paper a generating capacity of fied with them. I, for instance know that I want notarized, falsifying them was flat-out perjury. AFRICA 47 GW, and a usage that peaked at 27 GW. to vote against two of them, and at this mo- (Only 187 of the revocations were of signa- [email protected] During the March 2019 loadshedding, Eskom ment do not want to vote for the remaining big tures actually on Krupa’s petitions.) could only supply 21 GW. party. (All three of them have leadership Well! Political columnist John Kass of the I did not celebrate Earth Hour, but then I And what happened to the two giant coal issues, governance issues, and I have difficulty Chicago Tribune found out about this merry never do – I appreciate electricity too much. fired power stations, Medupi and Kusile, that in seeing much of a difference in their eco- prank and wrote several juicy columns expos- Grew up at times and places where I had to go was going to solve all our problems? Well, the nomic policies, except on how quickly we go ing it. The revocation affidavits then somehow without electricity on a lot of holidays. And power stations was going to be expensive from full Communism.) went away, and Mr. Krupa was put on the recently the South African government have the very start, with a planned cost per MW The problem I have is that most of the rest ballot. made me appreciate electricity more – we had generated about three times the industry aver- of the parties have given me no indication that And how did the election turn out? Oh, the Son of the Return of Loadshedding – this age. And then Eskom did not do proper project they will be any better, except maybe for the Krupa got creamed, of course, 85% to 15%. time it is personal. management. And the Unions went on strike newly formed South African Capitalist Party And don’t hold your breath until anybody gets every now and again for more money. And the (ZACP). (Not the SACP, which is the Commu- prosecuted for all those perjured affidavits. With me it’s insulin. The ANC made out like bandits from their involve- nists.) The Machine still rules! cheap motels have refrigerators ment with the procurement of supplies (Ac- in the rooms. The high class ones cording to one report, a ROI of 5000%). And Now you know what the AWB That reminds me of some of . . . you have to pay extra. the Guptas got involved and acquired a bit of was leaving to go back to 1864. the elections in Liberia where the money, maybe a billion or two. And Eskom At least Richmond did not have story I heard was that the Our beloved electricity supply monopoly, had to transform their staff to fully reflect the loadshedding, though that was losing candidate got more votes Eskom, unexpectedly had to re-institute population composition of South Africa (I.e. because they didn’t have electric- than there were people in the loadshedding, and it was very bad for a week white managers, supervisory personnel and ity. country. – Being without electricity for at least one four workers got fired, and people with the right — JTM hour block every day for a week, including colour or gender or political or victim status, In the mean time I try to keep my head weekends. Some days you have two blocks got hired.) down, and carry on. Life at work is currently when the electricity was off. This exclude the So in the end both Medupi and Kusile are OK, and I may actually start work on stuff times that there were additional power outages, way over budget, years late, and the parts which have been promised to be here real soon quite often because of electricity supply equip- commissioned are not working properly. Some now for the past two years. ment failing because the power on, power off of the existing generation units will have to be I have recently read Nigel West’s Chur- Alexiad April 2019 Page 17 chill’s Spy Files – with particular attention to too often. I am finding that at times I am abbreviated. Although my husband and I pens too often on social media. I’m convinced the Southern Africa incidents. It was interest- unable to communicate, as the understanding attended Capricon, there will be no con report. that the nature of social media both enables ing in may ways, one of which was that I had I have of a lot of things are not shared, and I I will send my comments on the Nebula and encourages bullying because nothing in shortly before reading the book attended a have found that I have to keep my mouth shut Award short story nominees, but that’s the their architecture allows anyone or anything to lecture on some aspects of spying in WW2 in about more and more, as I am not interested in only category I’ve had time to read in its control or prevent mob behavior. In fact, a lack Southern Africa that covered the incidents fighting with people who have been part of my entirety. of controls means greater profits for the corpo- from a different angle – mostly concentrating support structure for years. In addition to Capricon, I also attended rations owning those media. So mobs of all on the role of the Ossewa Brandwag. (One I wish all of you well. Hoping that the next C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment sorts attack targets of all sorts – QAnon is translation of it would the ox wagon sentinels book you read will be enjoyable. Expo, one of those commercial cons attended attacking Sebastian Gorka right now. (I do feel – an Afrikaner paramilitary organization who by about 80,000 people. Capricon was at- schadenfreude.) These mobs can cause finan- did not like the British, and looked to the From: Sue Burke March 31, 2019 tended by fewer than 1,000. Both are genu- cial harm and physical danger, and nothing can Germans.) 5415 N. Sheridan Road, Apt. 1711, inely fun, but here’s what I think is the key protect you if you draw their ire for any real or (By the way, did you know that the OSS Chicago IL 60640-1971 difference: You go to C2E2 (and its imagined reason. had an office in Pretoria during WW2? I did [email protected] professionally-run ilk) with your friends. You We have a problem. The YA Twitterati or not, and still do not know what they did here.) mount-oregano.livejournal.com go to Capricon (and similar fan-run cons) to the New Zealand mass murderer are merely sueburke.site make friends. Not for nothing does Windycon, symptoms, like inflamed lymph nodes in a Probably monitoring affairs in semiosispax.com a similar convention, describe itself as “a bubonic plague victim. And we have no antibi- Portuguese East Africa (Mozam- family.” Capricon was a three-day-long con- otics. bique). Malcolm Muggeridge First of all, good wishes to our fearless versation. C2E2 was a spectacle. (I went worked for MI6 in Delagoa, er editor, Joe, for various health problems and because the Tor publicity department told me I had to delete a picture of Lourenço Marques, that is Maputo solutions. to speak at couple of panels, then took me and myself on Facebook because then. The OSS also had an office my fellow panelists out for pizza and beer. I someone started spewing child- in Lhasa, for example; it is men- Which continue. See above. will work for food and booze.) molestation accusations. I know tioned in The Way Back (2010; too much about that sort of reviewed in Alexiad V. 12 #1). Note the new address. My husband and I thing. — JTM have moved. We now live in that iconic kind of Chicago edifice: a high-rise. Specifically, Meanwhile, on a lighter note, Taras Like most talks of the kind, it assumed an we’ve rented an apartment in the Park Tower Wolansky asked what the fight was about implicit connection between the OB and the Condominium, 55 stories, 728 units, and about regarding autonomous cars at Windycon 45. National Party, while never explicitly stating 1500 residents. We’re only four blocks away Mostly it was about safety, independence, that there was such a connection. And that is from our old place in the Edgewater neighbor- surveillance, and reliability, as well as practi- because Dr DF Malan, while leader of the hood at the north end of Lincoln Park. Our old cality. Thank you to Joy V. Smith for the National Party, made clear that you could apartment was on the ground floor, stuffed congratulations. George W. Price, yes, the loss either be a member of the NP or the OB, but between two other buildings and a train em- of bookpost has done a lot of harm to book not both. It was only once the OB had been bankment. sales because mail is no longer an affordable disbanded that prominent ex-OB members My houseplants love the sunshine in their international option. Lloyd Penney, I agree, (such as John Vorster and Oswald Pirow) was new home because the exterior walls are all too many tasks are being assigned to phones, able to run for parliament as NP members. glass, so it’s basically a vertical greenhouse and phones are far from affordable for all, and (And achieve high office, later.) adapted to human habitation. We’re on the are not exactly intuitive to use. For some reason Robey Leibrandt seems to (cheaper) west side and a (cheaper) lower have a hold on the imagination of the Left in floor, the 17th, but the views are still splendid. I have been getting those South Africa. All of the talks, movies and We can see Osterman Beach at Lake Mich- “We’ve been trying to contact you writings about him that I encountered was igan from the bedroom I use as an office. From regarding your extended automo- done by people opposed to him and his pur- the bedroom we use as a bedroom, we can see As I’ve said again and again, it bile warranty” calls on my cell pose – Or to put it differently, I have not come the right field lights of Wrigley Field, 2.2 indicates a transition from par- phone. Too many people have just across any person writing about Robey miles/3.5 kilometers down Sheridan Road, as ticipant to consumer. quit answering their telephones. Leibrandt that wrote about him from a position well as the Willis Tower and other buildings in This puts a decided crimp in my of admiring what he planned. the Loop. Off to the west on the horizon, we Joe opened the last issue speaking of a YA efforts at reaching out to find I am mostly fine – just financially less can see airplanes ascending and descending disaster on Twitter. Since then it’s grown members of my family. stable than previously – all due to people who from O’Hare Airport. (Chicago is very flat.) worse: Kosoko Jackson, one of the leaders of —JTM did not do their work properly. But I should be However, for a bit of humbling perspec- the charge against Amelie Wen Zhao’s book, OK in the not too distant future. tive, we’re not as far off the ground as the had his own young adult novel attacked on From: Taras Wolansky April 1, 2019 I still enjoy the meetings of the local SF topmost leaves of the average sequoia tree. Twitter, and he had to withdraw it. I’m trying Post Office Box 698, Kerhonkson, NY people – Just that we have known each other Because we’ve spent the month of March hard not to feel schadenfreude. 12446-0698 USA for long enough to have heard the war stories packing and unpacking, this letter will be But this kind of destructive pile-on hap- [email protected] Page 18 April 2019 Alexiad

Thanks for Alexiad #103. John Hertz: I consider being surprised by The news was not good. The President had Joe: “The popular movies are superhero a book or a movie or TV show a rare privilege. Fear and Loathing in Dallas been killed by the sniper, whose smirky face I comic movies, most of which seem to involve For example, I was fortunate enough to see recognized instantly. For some reason they massive destruction that never kills anyone.“ Masaki Kobayashi’s Hara Kiri (1962) without . . . the rain had struggled to wash away the were exulting about how quickly he had been For better or worse, this Comics-Codeish knowing what it was about, so I could be as miasma of prejudice and bigotry perpetrated captured, thanks to the intervention of a pass- approach no longer seems to be the rule. In stunned by developments as the characters in by the fat swine, bloated on their oil money, erby. Batman v Superman (2016), for example, the story. The oddball superhero movie, and the degenerate descendants of the cow- I took six Miltowns in an effort to become Bruce Wayne is out for vengeance for the Hancock, starring Will Smith, is another film boys who did their bidding. The President was a man in a gray flannel suit and drifted off into deaths of his employees in a battle between by which I was delighted to be surprised. going to thrust his head into these great grind- sleep . . . Superman and his nemesis, General Zod (in In prose, Richelle Mead’s “Vampire Acad- ers of jaws in a hope of reviving the fortunes the previous Superman movie). emy“ hexalogy pulls off some great surprises. of his policy. . . . there is nothing more depraved than a man And in the latest Avengers movie, almost In one case in particular she plants a clue as The National Observer had sent me down in the throes of an ether binge. That was what everybody dies — though most of them will of apparently nothing more than an unimportant to this pesthole in order to report on the visit. I had to do in order to endure the pains of course be brought back in the next Avengers bit of character detail; then, four books later, a Fortified by some uppers and half a bottle of being made to testifly. movie, opening shortly. door swings open, the characters’ jaws drop, Jim Beam, I was standing on the curb in this Once I had spoken my piece I could sit in and so do the readers’. dinky island of green surrounded by melting the courtroom and do my reporting first-hand Oh, the embarrassment! asphalt which they fancied was a park when it but as a witness I could not be there until then. happened. I had written up the previous days’ testimony, I can understand why Michael Palin and Three shots rang out, and in the tumult I stoking my fires with alternate binges of co- Christopher Nolan would receive honors from raced across the street to the site of their ori- caine and uppers, based on the reports. the British government, but why Philip Pull- gin. There had been a rifle visible in the Then I was called. I said to myself, “Re- man? For undermining the Anglican Church? window of the building and I presumed it was member, be quiet, be calm, say nothing, speak Sue Burke: “Spanish has changed less just another redneck saying “hey looka this!” only when spoken to: name, recall of events, over time than English has.“ Does anybody A slimy little man was coming out the door nothing else, ignore this terrible drug, pretend have any idea why? when I came up to it, and I thought I could it’s not happening . . .” I’ve had a soft spot for Amadis of Gaul, make out a whiff of gunpowder. I drew my There is no way to explain the terror I felt ever since I learned it was Don Quixote’s .357, stuck it up his nostril, and said, “Not so when I finally began to testify: “My name is . favorite novel. fast!” . . ah, Raoul Duke, yes . . .” You may not make any money off them, Instantly we were surrounded by large As the prosecutor’s face melted and turned but every book you write is another message in menacing thugs in official blue uniforms with into that of a lizard with great grisly fangs and a bottle to the future. badges, and I was handcuffed and taken away. a flicking tongue I recounted the story of why About six that evening my lawyer Dr. I had been there that day. Eventually the I just published another novel. Gonzo came down, forcing his 300-pound inquisition came to an end. body through the narrow corridors of the jail Then the defense attorney, who had some- Tim Lane: Glad your legs are feeling a which were redolent with the stench of fear how acquired the face of a bloated pig, asked little bit better. from Negroes taken into the cells to be beaten a few absurdities about how I had managed to “Cultural appropriation” is just a scam to with clubs. “You’re free to go,” he said. read minds, was I a bourgeois, and what was undermine artistic freedom. If I buy a jacket As Chekov said, “If in the At the front desk the spiteful little clerk my relationship to a man named Ruby who just like yours, that’s imitation, not appropria- first act you have hung a phaser handed me back all my possessions, even the had been arrested for brandishing a gun in a tion. If I steal your jacket, now that is appro- on the wall, then in the following revolver, which they had thoughtfully un- Dallas police station. priation. one it should be fired.” loaded, and then said, “Dr. Duke, they’ll take The floor opened up and revealed a shaft to George W. Price: “Blacks in Africa rarely — JTM you out the back door.” hell and I walked around it on edge, taking a wear afros”. In a couple of recent movies and His face seemed to be melting, turning into seat in the press section. The court then ad- TV shows, I’ve noticed that an Afro is treated the visage of a lizard, as he issued this threat- journed for lunch. as a sign of nerdiness, like a pocket protector. ening ukase. No doubt the police would Over the next few days a procession of fat So perhaps it’s going out of style here as well. WAHF: shoot me while I was trying to escape, or fascist police types testified to various inci- Back when I used to watch Grey’s Anat- Martin Morse Wooster, with various something of the sort. Dr. Gonzo said, dents. They showed someone’s grotesque omy, there was a funny scene in which the items of interest. “What’s the matter?” home movie of the shooting, with blood spat- main character, who is white, is out with her Steve Fahnestalk and Patrick McCray, “The press is packed ten-deep out front.” tering everywhere as if from some EC comic adopted African baby, and another white with thanks. Lynched by the newspapers or shot by of the early fifties when they were good. woman keeps staring at them. She starts to Marc Schirmeister, whose poctscard was the police, now that was a choice. We al- The prosecution rested and I hoped I could make a scene about racism, until a black col- hideously maimed by the Postal Service. lowed ourselves to be escorted out back, go back to Colorado, but for some reason they league explains to her that what that woman I’m sorry about the whole thing, Schirm. where we were stuffed into the back seat of presented a defense. The accused had sat was staring at is the baby’s hair, which her a police car and taken at high speed to a through all the testimomy smirking and I white mother is horribly mismanaging. motel. wished I could have brought my .357 in and Alexiad April 2019 Page 19 finished the job . . . Drooling from the bouts of Thorazine they shit Lee giving the high-sign, and saying he needed to exist, they repeated how everyone was vindicated. I started looking into sniper . . . his defense had been simple but brilliant, else was guilty. rifles better than that piece of Italian trash he all the evidence was forged or lies. I would Finally, Lee himself spoke on his behalf. had had . . . have to ask and find out what he was taking He ran through the litany of how he had been and where he got it. framed. The judge slapped him down every — Not by Hunter S. Thompson This was followed by the testimony of the time he tried to speak on behalf of Commu- inhabitants of a mental institution who had nism. It was interesting watching the mallet escaped somehow. They saw an army of pop up from beneath the judge’s wig and gunmen and I wondered how I had escaped boink Lee on the head. I appreciate all the concern about my being shot. The prosecution repeated its case in brief. health. I keep on getting reminded about how The next batch of lunatics accused every- They left, their scales chittering as they went my mother died. This is not reassuring. one except the men’s room at Freddy’s Bar & through the door, and Dr. Gonzo gave me a Grill. Most of those people couldn’t plan their couple of peyote buttons to get me through to way out of a paper bag. I did make some notes dinner. about the hot drugs the spies were using so I In the morning the jury foreman announced could try some. the verdict. He was really a giant stork and his The jury was out about three-quarters of an long beak shook at Lee as he sentenced him to hour. After the guilty verdict, I managed to a burning. I imagined him being strapped to a ask one about how hot and unpleasant it must rack, being basted with barbecue sauce by two have been in the jury room. It turned out that giant Mexicans who were turning the rack over most of the delay was the lineup for the john. a mesquite fire, but it turned out they meant he After writing my day’s report I found a bar would be executed in the electric chair. that sold raw tequila and had a bottle, with I went back to my hotel room, finished off cocaine around the rim of the glass instead of the bottle of Cuevas, popped a couple of up- salt. Once the big ugly scary beast got out pers, and began writing . . . from under the bed so I could shoot it, things were all right and I drifted off to sleep. . . . Over the next few years I tried to forget However we had to all go back the next this. The television wouldn't let me, and I week for a sentencing hearing. For some often had to peg a few shots in the direction of reason an old west lynching was off the table, some drug-crazed madman who had a new which was a pity as it would have made big theory about "what really happened". money, replacing a soap opera. But that sort They were dragging out the appeals, spend- of off-hand justice was apparently reserved for ing thousands of their own dollars on promot- Negroes. ing their theories, which money would have Dr. Gonzo predicted the man would get the paid for good drugs. Often I would see a death penalty and life without parole. When I report of one that was highlighted by small pointed out the contradiction there he said, chittering things pouring out of the screen and “It’s the legal system. What do you expect?” trying to eat me. I had to buy a lot of televi- After a truly spectacular amphetamine sions. binge we fought our way through the giant They were warming up for the tenth anni- eye-eating plants that had sprung up around versary when it happened. Those great am- the courthouse and bullied our way into seats bling greaseballs in Washignton who covered behind the defendant, so close I could smell their inhumanity in black robes issued a legal the cheap oil they used on his hair. . . . diktat. I wondered what they were taking, and fortified myself with two blotter papers before . . . the testimony on that little worm Lee’s reading the decision. behalf had been divided. His wife had cried, The demon that rose up out of the paper in bouts of broken English and shaky Russian, went away once I ran it over with the car, and that she couldn’t raise her children alone. His I managed to make some sense of the thing. mother, who seemed to have been released Apparently all death sentences were unconsti- from the pigsty, said that her dear boy couldn’t tutional. How they would raise the dead from possibly have done that. Those animal tran- prison cemeteries was another matter, and I quilizers can do strange things. had some cocaine while thinking about this. The asylum inmates took the stand next. The next morning's news showed that little Page 20 April 2019 Alexiad

Who constitutes the highest circles of this The American who has never known PROOFS OF A CONSPIRACY conspiracy? About that we cannot be sure. We defeat in war, does not expect to be again sold Co-Editors: Lisa & Joseph Major are convinced that Alexander Hamilton, who down the river. He does not want that kind of Co-Publishers: Joseph & Lisa Major After the Constitutional Convention was steadfastly serves the interests of nations other betrayal. He has had betrayal enough. He has Writers, Staff: Major, Joseph, Major, Lisa called in May of 1787, many people were than his own, must be high on the roster. never failed to fight for his liberties since concerned. The Polish activist J. L. Neil Neil, General Washington? He is their captive. I Josiah Winslow rode out against the This is issue Whole Number One Hun- herald of the Revolution, came out with a have wondered, as have you, why he did not Naragansett in 1675to put himself at the head dred and Four (104). pamphlet criticizing the effort which was dispense with so great a liability as Hamilton of a band of colonists unversed in war. He is Art: What we are mainly looking for is distributed through the streets of Philadelphia to his own and his party’s interests. It is now fighting tonight, fighting gloriously in a war on small fillos. Your fillo will probably be scann- . . . clear to me. In the relationship of master and a distant American frontier made inglorious by ed in and may be reused, unless you object to Proofs of a Conspiracy, by “Cato” man, did you ever hear of man firing master? the men he can no longer trust at the head of its reuse. Washington is a satisfactory front. He is only our affairs. Contributions: This is not a fictionzine. It How can we account for our present situa- dimly aware of what is going on. The America that I know, and that the is intended to be our fanzine, so be interesting. tion unless we believe that men high in this I do not believe that General Washington is Continental Congressmen know, this vast and Material in Alexiad is copyright © 2019. Government are concerting to deliver us to a conscious party to the great conspiracy, teeming and beautiful land, this hopeful soci- All rights reserved. Upon publication, all disaster? This must be the product of a great although it is being conducted in his name. I ety where the poor share the table of the rich rights revert to the original contributor, but we conspiracy, a conspiracy on a scale so im- believe that if General Washington had the as never before in history, where men of all reserve the right to use any item more than mense as to dwarf any previous such venture ability to associate good Americans around colors, of all faiths, are brothers as never once, unless otherwise specified by the con- in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy him, be would have behaved as a good Ameri- before in history, where great deeds have been tributor. All letters sent to Alexiad become the so black that, when it is finally exposed, its can in this most dire of all our crises. The time done and great deeds are yet to do, that Amer- property of the publishers. Any material by principals shall be forever deserving of the has come to halt this tepid, milk-and-water ica deserves to be led not to humiliation or the editors is available to other fanzines if they maledictions of all honest men. acquiescence which a discredited defeat, but to victory. provide proper credit and send a copy. What is the objective of this great conspir- administration, ruled by disloyalty, sends The Continental Congress of the United Available for The Usual (letter of com- acy? I think it is clear from what has occurred down to us. The American may belong to an States in Congress Assembled is the people’s ment, trade, contribution). Sample issue and is now occurring: to diminish the United old culture, he may be beset by enemies here last hope, a free and open forum of the peo- available upon request. Back issues $1; sub- States in world affairs, to weaken us militarily, and abroad, he may be distracted by the many ple’s representatives. The people, no longer scription $10/year. Alexiad is also available to confuse our spirit with talk of surrender in words of counsel that assail him by day and trusting their executive, turn to us, asking that by email in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. the Indian Territories and to impair our will to night, but he is nobody’s fool. The time has we reassert the confederational prerogative of resist evil. To what end? To the end that we come for us to realize that the people who sent the Congress to declare the policy for the shall be contained, frustrated and finally: fall us here expect more than time-serving from us. United States. ALEXIAD victim to English intrigue from within and c/o Lisa & Joseph Major English military might from without. Is that farfetched? There have been many examples in 1409 Christy Avenue history of rich and powerful states which have Louisville, KY 40204-2040 USA been corrupted from within, enfeebled and deceived until they were unable to resist ag- [email protected] gression. . . . http:/efanzines.com/Alexiad/index.htm