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 The 145th Running of the Kentucky Derby will be May 4, 2019. by Kelli Estes. It is the story of Mei Lien, an American girl of The 144th Running of the Preakness Stakes will be May 18, 2019. Chinese descent in the early days of Chinese descent who lived at The 150th Running of the Belmont Stakes will be June 8, 2019, 14. a time when being such made her a target of mob violence and a modern young white woman named Inara. Their stories are told in alternating chapters. This is normally not something I like, because Printed on April 15, 2019 it requires real talent to carry it off. Estes is very good with descrip- Deadline is June 9, 2019 tion. More importantly she is talented at storytelling. From the first page I was drawn into the story. Reviewer’s Notes — Lisa I wonder if TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) has outlived its usefulness. Its ancestor was WAW With the Crew, the fund to bring Table of Contents famous Irish Fan Walter A. Willis to the United States for the 1952 Editorial...... 1 Worldcon, Chicon II. But this was for someone whose fame exceeded Reviewer’s Notes ...... 1 his purse. TAFF nearly sank with scandals, from the problem over Samanda “Doc”: The Rape of the Town of Lovell ...... 4 b Jeude’s campaign to the bizarre defalcation of Abi Frost. Yet it Derby News...... 7 seems to have recovered, structurally. Yet, from seeing fund-raising Eclipse News...... 6 descriptions, it seems to cost as much to raise the money for the next Free Expression at Tor.com ...... 9 candidate as to go. Health News ...... 6 It has created like funds, DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund, between Hugo Awards...... 11 the Americas and Australia-New Zealand) and GUFF (Get Up and The Joy of High Tech ...... 7 Over Fan Fund, between Europe and ANZAC), and others. Yet these Nebula Awards ...... 10 bridge a significant distance. Trans-Atlantic air fares are lower now. Solar Lottery ...... 2 My baby book has a page with check boxes for measles, mumps, Book Reviews chicken pox, and other diseases. It was considered normal for children to contract such illnesses. JTM Benford, Rewrite ...... 5 The legacy of deaf, sterile, crippled, even dead children was thought JTM Carr, Typewriter Killer...... 6 to be a fact of life. Just as polio was; I know two fans who suffered JTM Coniam, The Annotated Marx Brothers...... 6 polio, and were left less than whole as a result. JTM Lupus, An Extra Knot ...... 6 Now, it seems, the prevention against such diseases is considered JTM Turtledove, Through Darkest Europe ...... 5 worse than the diseases; it causes mental problems, or is against the will of God, or is an expensive and painful treatment for a problem that Random Jottings ...... 2 isn’t worth considering. Those who oppose immunizations have their own elaborate Letters ...... 14 community, with its own apparently authoritative studies. For all that Sue Burke, Lloyd Daub, Robert S. Kennedy, Timothy Lane, Lloyd the skeptic community focuses on those ignorant redigulous antivax- Penney, AL du Pisani, George W. Price, Joy V. Smith, Taras xers, there are far more progressive enlightened families who explain Wolansky about 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, Trivia: ...... 18 saying, “I feel so bod.” Art: Speaking of health, I appreciate all those who expressed concern Sheryl Birkhead ...... 11, 14, 19 over my ill-health. I am trying to do something about it, but it seems Paul Gadzikowski ...... 20 that one problem causes another, and the resolution requires solving Alexis A. Gilliland...... 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 17 everything at once. Trinlay Khadro ...... 2 Marc Schirmeister ...... 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18 — Joe Pascha is April 28, 2019. Page 2 April 2019 Alexiad

complete agreement upon Mr. RANDOM JOTTINGS OBITS Dick as a singularly satisfactory by Joe contributor. We regret to report the death of Janet O. Entering and leaving as he does by Jeppson Asimov on February 25, 2019. Born so many doors at once, Dick creates a August 6, 1926, she studied at Stanford and blurred impression of pleasant, small New York University Medical School, practic- literary gifts, coupled with a near- ing as a psychiatrist and psychoanalist and sighted canniness about the market — writing several papers on various relevant he writes the trivial, short, bland sort of topics. story that amuses without exciting, is She met Isaac Asimov in 1970 and they got instantly saleable and instantly forgetta- married November 30, 1973, remaining married ble. until his death in 1992. She wrote several chil- The surprise of a book like Solar dren’s novels under her own name and in Lottery from such an author is more collabration with her husband. than considerable. — Damon Knight, In Search of Wonder We regret to report the death of Vonda N. Buy my books. (All available on McIntyre on April 1, 2019 in Seattle. Born in Such a categorical statement, given the Amazon.com for quite reasonable prices, Louisville on August 2, 1948, she moved legacy of Dick’s writings, nowadays seems to except the Hugo-nominated Heinlein’s Chil- around the world in her childhood, eventually be absurd if not ignorant. Yet this is a contem- dren, which can be bought from NESFA for a earning a BS in biology from the University of porary reference to his first novel, so such reasonable price.) Washington. astonishment is quite plausible. — Advt. She became famous when she received the The Solar System is quite thoroughly set- Nebula Award in 1973 for her novelette “Of tled in the twenty-third century; all nine planets Valery Fydorovich Bykovsky (Валеìрий Mist, and Grass, and Sand”, which became part (there were nine planets in 1955, understand) Фёдорович Быкоìвский), call sign Ястреб of her Hugo and Nebula Award winning novel have inhabitants (or at least their satellites do), (“Hawk”) died on March 27, 2019. Born Dreamsnake (1978). though Earth is still the center of humanity. August 2, 1934, Bykovsky became a fighter And this vast domain is in the grip of omens pilot in the Soviet Air Force and entered the and portents, incidents foreboding some vast cosmonaut program in 1960. His first flight MONARCHICAL NEWS upheaval. was Vostok 5, June 14-19, 1963, which set a From the Solar System capital of Batavia record which still stands for solo orbital flight. On the day after the thirtieth day of the (er, that’s Jakarta) the Quizmaster holds sway He also flew on Soyuz 22 (September 15-23, fourth month of the thirty-first year of Heisei over this world-spanning dominion. And how 1976) and went to the Salyut 6 space station in (April 30, 2019), the Tennō will retire and be did this mighty monarch rise to his pedestal of 1978. He was a Hero of the Soviet Union. titled Daijō Tennō (“retired emperor), abbrevi- power? At the time of his death he was the Senior ated to Jōkō. The new Tennō will be his son Through a random-choice process. A Person in Space. The Senior Person in Space Naruhito. The new regnal era will be Reiwa, random-number generator, styled “the bottle”, is now Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova which term is taken from the eighth-century acts at unpredictable intervals to name one of (Валентиìна Владимì ировна Терешкоìва),call Nara era poetic anthology Man'yōshū. The the six billion inhabitants of the solar system as sign Чаìйка (“Seagull”), who flew on Vostok word is written with the two characters for Quizmaster. 6 on June 16-19, 1963. Valentina Vladimir- “good” and “harmony”, and means “beautiful Well, maybe not. The bottle picks an ovna was born March 6, 1937 in Maslenni- harmony”. individual based on his (or her) “p-card”, an kovo, Yaroslavl Oblast, RSFSR. She was May the Reiwa Emperor live ten thousand identifier issued at birth. Yet most people married to fellow cosmonaut Andrian years! don’t have p-cards, while most of those who do Grigoryvich Nikolayev [1929-2004]; they had have surrendered them to their employers as a one daughter, Elena Andriyanovna Nikolay- THE QUIZMASTER IN THE condition of their employment. Many have evna who is a doctor. Valentina Vladimirovna HIGH CASTLE even sold them, for a trifling sum. is a Hero of the Soviet Union and an officer of Commentary by Joseph T Major on How did this system come about? Well, the Order of Alexander Nevsky. SOLAR LOTTERY the miracle of automation, which brought about By Philip K. Dick a grandiose provision of manufactured goods, The RRS Sir David Attenborough has been (1955) which no one could buy since automation had moved from the dry dock for final fitting out. driven people out of work. After a dishearten- (This, you will remember, is the ship that was Philip K. Dick is that short-story ing period where these masses of unsaleable going to be named Boaty McBoatface until a writer who for the past five years or so goods were publicly destroyed, the makers grownup named Jo Johnson stepped in.) The has kept popping up all over—in one started holding random-choice giveaways. ship will head down to Antarctica this polar year, 1953, he published twenty-seven This evolved into a random-choice giveaway of summer. (The comparison with the ongoing stories—with a sort of unobtrusive and the greatest thing; rule. inability to build a new icebreaker for the chameleonlike competence. To quote (Given the organization of the work envir- Coast Guard can be noted.) Anthony Boucher: onment, this might well be called a “timo- By now he has appeared in cracy”, a government of the rich, since rich Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Richard Cole, almost every science fiction people would hold the p-cards of their employ- copilot of the first Tokyo Raider plane and of publication—and what’s more ees. The economic underpinnings of this seem General Doolittle, died in San Antonio, Texas, surprising, in each case with sto- less than well-established in reality, as eco- on April 9, 2019. Born September 7, 1915, ries exactly suited to the editorial nomics are so often handled in science fiction.) he served in the Army Air Force and Air tastes and needs of that particular As a reaction to the unpredictability and Force from 1940 to 1966. publication: the editors of Whiz- meaningless of life, most people have become He was the last of the Raiders. zing Star Patrol and of the obsessed with this occult view of human exist- Toujours au Danger Quaint Quality Quarterly are in ence. This is defined as “Minimax”, a phil- Alexiad April 2019 Page 3 sophy supposedly based on Theory of Games, Cartwright. It is covered the way Presidential the one he sold to Benteley. but which seems to be more nihilistic. nominatiing conventions used to be covered, Having done this, Cartwright explains that One of these omens is a fire that damages and in a certain predictive mode, the convention he is dealing with the basic hypocrisy and the main plant of the megacorporation Oiseau- turns out to have a preordained result. falsehood of society. Everything is fake and Lyre, causing layoffs. (Only one manufactur- Who is this nominated assassin Keith Pellig? posturing. Perhaps realizing the falsehood of ing plant for the entire company?) One of the This is where Benteley and Stevens come back the society can bring about a change. layoffs is a chemist named Ted Benteley. in. Keith Pellig — isn’t. He is an android Meanwhile, Pellig has taken off for Flame Benteley gathers his assets and his will, and drone, remote-controlled by distant operators. Disc — which actually exists. And John Pres- determines to do or die; to become a direct This is intended to defeat the powers of the ton’s body is in a ship orbiting it. Cartwright serf of the Quizmaster, a once-in-a-lifetime Quizmaster’s telepathic guards; as soon as they has dispatched a ship there, with a somewhat chance. get fixed on one plan of action, the controller ramshackle crew and vessel (you’d think the He makes his way into the Quizmaster’s changes. The identification with the body can Quizmaster could get a better setup), and they offices, where by some astonishing random be unnerving; Stevens says about a certain body are almst there. As the Prestonite ship reaches choice his offer is taken up. Except for one feature she possesses in virtual mode, that she Flame Disc, Pellig is destroyed; and they find little problem; he swears fealty to Reese Ver- “felt there was a snake in my slacks”, for exam- a recording by Preston expressing hope for rick, the Quizmaster. Except that Verrick isn’t ple. (Is he “fully functional”, like Commander further human progress to Flame Disc and the the Quizmaster any longer; a random event of Data?) stars beyond. the bottle has deposed him and chosen a new In spite of a hot affair with Eleanor Stevens Quizmaster. (who for a woman of nineteen seems to have The technician who worked on the bottle Who is this successor? slept around a lot) Benteley feels discontented. just happened to be picked by it to be Quiz- A century and a half before the events of After an eerie meeting with Pellig, he becomes master? And nobody suspects that anything is this story, an eccentric man named John even more concerned, and realizes his new wrong? Somehow this hardly sounds credible. Preston believed that there was a tenth planet, purpose in life; he is going to be inhabiting And in many ways the society has a fifties which he called “Flame Disc”. In this era of Pellig’s body when he performs the hit, and he air about it. SF is so often of its time, and one mysticism and cynicism, the belief in Flame will die from the shock of being “killed” by the can imagine Cartwright driving to a meeting of Disc became a movement, albeit a fringe security troops. the Prestonite Society, in a run-down building movement popular among the excluded clas- in a decaying part of town, in a car full of ses. It survived him, which is even more discarded junk, in 1955 as much as in 2203. amazing, and the current leader of the Preston- Quiz shows nevertheless were all the rage ites, Leon Cartwright, is a mild unassuming on Fifties TV. Until it turned out that they too man, a retiree who has taken up the Prestonite were rigged. Perhaps it’s a prediction. cause. The security service of the Quizmaster One historical point: Dick has one of the descends upon him. Security service? Yes, industrial complexes that control the world you see, a counterweight to the absolute economy be “Farben”. This is not quite as dominance of the Quizmaster has developed. egregious as in The Stars My Destination It is perfectly legal to assassinate the [Tiger! Tiger!] (1957) where Alfred Bester had Quizmaster. Therefore the Quizmaster has a a Farben family. well-armed and hyper-sensitive security force, IG Farben was a cartel set up in 1925 and along with telepaths. its full name was Interessen-Gemeinschaft Telepaths? Yes, there was a nuclear war, Farbenindustrie AG, “Dye Industry Syndicate, and in its aftermath a mutation for telepathy Inc.” The constituent chemical companies developed, the descendants of one man. They were spun off by the occupying powers after don’t seem very restrictive, either, since one the war and IG Farben exists because no one of Verrick’s chief underlings is Eleanor He defects to Cartwright. Who seems seems to be able to terminate the business, Stevens, a former telepath — to leave the particularly unconcerned by it all, and relocates, which had a bad name because of its use of guild or whatever it is called, she had to un- with security, his niece Rita, and this defector, slave labor. dergo treatment to remove her telepathic to the Moon. Along the way, he sells Benteley ability. a p-card. This book has a virtue that so many works, While the Quizmaster is chosen by random Pellig follows. A deadly confrontation before, then, and now, lack; its characters are chance, there are elaborate procedures for ensues, when Stevens, who has turned up, of the world they live in. So often a character picking assassins. It seems hard to believe attacks Rita Cartwright, only to be killed herself is a grating anachronism, or otherwise far out that only approved assassins would be permit- when Pellig grabs her and steps through an of being part of the world; but the people here ted, and it turns out they aren’t. Somehow a airlock. He can live in vacuum; she isn’t so are of their world. political system that grants validity and even lucky. Even though all the women in the story are endorsement to the acts of someone, say, Cartwright calls on legal counsel to resolve topless. Knight wondered if this was a poke at wishing to impress an actress does not seem to the dispute, and Verrick comes to the Moon to pulp-fiction prudery, where women wore tight be particularly stable. As a result of this, the settle the matter face-to-face. At first, Verrick and scanty clothing, but never quite exposed turnover in Quizmasters is rapid; it is said at wants Benteley back, to kill him for violating themselves. This may explain why this work one point that the average term in office of a the terms of his servitude. They compromise; hasn’t yet been made into a movie. Quizmaster is two weeks. (This seems even Cartwright will give Verrick his p-card, and And, as Damon Knight pointed out, Dick less stable.) Thus Verrick’s long term in Verrick will become Quizmaster again. He laid out his society, and then accepted it. The office is remarkable. does — and then shoots Verrick dead. reader is not constantly reminded of the won- The purpose of power is power. Plots has Then he reveals his own plot. Before be- ders of the era, or its constant failings. There is Verrick laid, inductions dangerous, by coming leader of the Prestonite society, he was no, “As you know, Bob, women used to wear drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, to chief technician for the bottle. And he managed clothing that covered their breasts, but the ad- regain his power. He sponsors a grand con- to bias it, bit by bit, until it would hit a list of p- vances in style and materials made this no vention to nominate an assassin to take down cards. All of which he owned — and the next is longer necessary . . .” This is a story that is of Page 4 April 2019 Alexiad its society, one might well say a mundane some might say nerdy, sort of man, short, unas- in their own words, and they seem profoundly novel of that world; perhaps a political thriller, suming, and devoted to medicine. He quickly rustic. Saying “Gol” and “shoot” instead of but nevertheless an ordinary work. That is an made connections, anchoring himself in Lovell, more explicit expletives, for example, and accomplishment that few SF works seem to becoming a leading figure in the local Baptist more to the point being dreadfully shy and achieve. church. even naïve about sexuality. This caused some difficulties. He was so The suspension was overruled, but other JOHN STORY’S LOOKING-GLASS devoted, and his wife Marilyn even more so, matters were in play, and on Halloween, 1984, WAR that they clashed with the majority of the popu- Dr. Story was arrested for rape. The wave of Commentary by Joseph T Major on lation, who were Latter-Day Saints. Story support intensified, and the social structure of “DOC”: sought to evangelize his neighbors and seemed the town began to fracture. People chose up The Rape of the Town of Lovell to be baffled when they did not enthusiastically sides and boycotted their enemies. By Jack Olson renounce their former ways. Even in his own The trial was remarkably like the licence (2000, 2014) church there were difficulties, and he split off hearing. Story took the stand and denied from it to form a new congregation when he everything. When the jury finally came in, . . . Raped women have been divorced thought the pastor was deviating from the One there were fears of violence. Olson depicts a by their husbands — who couldn’t True Way. strange reversal in Marilyn Story’s observa- bear to live with the awful knowledge, However, in the medical practice he was tions. The accusers were not present in the the visions, the possibility that it was- quite efficient and full-service, offering every- courtroom when the verdict was read. When n’t really rape. There is the bone of it, thing from minor surgery through general prac- she arrived, she was apparently certain that the unspeakable mystery. Everybody tice to gynecology. Indeed, he was quite enthu- they knew they had been shown up as liars. has heard the joke about the lawyer siastic about gynecology, having purchased a Afterwards, she had a different explanation. who used a quill and an ink bottle to complex and elaborate table for performing Story was found guilty on six charges. His get his client acquitted on a rape pelvic examinations. wife was then certain that the accusers had charge. He told the jury there was no Which he seemed to be quite active in been tipped off beforehand. such thing as rape, and proved it by offering. Some of his female patients observed Story was sentenced to fifteen to twenty having a witness try to put the quill in that they could not visit the doctor for a minor years on the main charges, running consecu- the bottle — which he manipulated so case of sniffles without being offered a pelvic tively. He did his time and as said, is living in deftly that the witness finally gave up. exam. Young women needing exams for vari- Lovell — having to register as a sex offender. That sounds like one of Cotton ous school functions and the like, old ladies Mather’s jokes, or the wisdom of needing a checkup, and those in between, all somebody very much like him — found themselves on the table, legs up, the somebody who never had his arm bent doctor making an examination. up between his shoulder blades. Any Some of his patients began to suspect there lawyer who says there’s no such thing was something . . . off . . . about his procedure. as rape should be hauled out to a pub- His examinations seemed to take longer than lic place by three large perverts and might be expected, and his instrument felt buggered at high noon, with all his different. Or familiar, in another context. clients watching. Most of them were Saints. They were not — Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels: A given to discussing such intimate activities. But Strange and Terrible Saga as the years passed, some began to suspect that the doctor was Up To Something. John Huntington Story lives in Lovell, And then it all came out . . . in the spring of Wyoming. It is not surprising that he should 1984, Dr. Story was called up before the Wyo- do so, that being the location of his support ming state medical board for a hearing. The structure. The fact and details of his residence accusers testified, he defended himself. The there are available on the Internet, for reasons accusers were sure that the old-boy network that will become apparent. would kick in, the defense of a healer would Lovell, Wyoming is a dying town. It has prevail. Then they were proven wrong; Story a population of about twenty-four hundred, was stripped of his license to practice medicine. but its industries are failing. Beet processing The Baptists rallied around him. Olsen tells is seasonal, the oil industry is subject to the story from many viewpoints, everyone booms and busts, and bentonite mining and significant involved — except Story. However, processing are described by the Dave Barry- his wife’s version is expansive. She calls upon esque comment, “Bentonite builds better God to save her martyred husband from the boogers.” persecution of his enemies, begging for prayers After his conviction, but before his sentenc- Lovell is known as the Rose City. Doctor of support and intercession, and apparently ing, Story was required to meet with a presen- W. W. Horsley of Lovell was a rose fancier, getting them. tence investigator, who would determine the and he publicized and promoted the Peace The members of the congregation were potential for rehabilitation. The meeting did Rose. His patients were given rose bushes equally pious. They issued pleas for interces- not begin well. When the PSI asked Story his and he donated roses, particularly Peace sion for their fellow church member, being height, he said, “Six-five”. Then he corrected Roses, to fanciers all about the country. But made a martyr to a false god, in terms which it to the more plausible five feet five inches. there was a canker in his career; he was too seem appropriate to someone asking for prayers The PSI did not form a particularly hopeful fond of boys, and he ended his practice under for a cancer sufferer. Story’s brother prepared impression of Story. His attitude seemed to be, supervision, to keep from assaulting more an elaborate genealogy showing how all the “An ordinary guy like you couldn’t possibly boys. accusers were related — ironically, using the understand an accomplished person like me.” Thus, when Dr. John H. Story came to LDS genealogical records — as Proofs of a The PSI talked to others. The supporters Lovell in 1958, he was enthusiastically wel- Conspiracy. were vehement in their claims that this was a comed. He was an unexceptional, indeed On the other side, the accusers are presented gross miscarriage of justice. But when he Alexiad April 2019 Page 5 looked up a former employee of Story’s from reveal the rapes. Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo boros”, facing mysterious enemies. (Given that before his move to Lovell, it turned out that will not roar into Lovell in the Red Shark and all the names of the bad guys in The Number of his behavior had been suggestive even then. intimidate a confession out of Story, between the Beast (1978; G.189) are anagrams, some- binges of Quaaludes, amphetamines, marijuana, times very forced, of Heinlein and Virginia mescaline, cocaine, ether, amyl nitrate, whiskey, Heinlein, one wonders if the final great con- and so on. John Story’s looking-glass war will frontation, in Typewriter In the Sky (Unknown, persist, for all that he is disgraced and de- November-December 1940) mode, would have meaned. Apparently, he has survived most of been of all the characters with the author of his accusers. their misfortunes, Heinlein himself.) Jack Olsen died in 2002, never able to read This is the sort of shift seen in, for example, Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars. John Story Philip K. Dick’s Ubik (1969), which starts out still might; but would it avail anything? as a pulpy war of the psionicists adventure and then abruptly turns into an excursion on life, TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO the universe, and fate. Review by Joseph T Major of Unaware he is trapped in a Dick story, REWRITE: Charlie decides to take the Suicide Express and Loops In the Timescape reboot his life. Things get interesting then . . . There is someone more famous, or notori- by Gregory Benford ous, who resembles this: (2019; Saga Press; Benford has written once about the future ISBN 978-1481487696; $27.99; informing the past, Timescape (1980). It was I have tried to explore these Simon and Schuster (Kindle); $7.99) reassuring that he did not endorse conspirac- questions by reconceiving Alger Hiss’s ism, as Bryce Zabel (Surrounded by Enemies life as a series of looking-glass wars. In To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971), Sir (2015)) and Mark Huffman (JFK in ’64 (2018)) By that phrase I mean to suggest that Richard F. Burton discovers the economy class did. Hiss’s life was a series of critical epi- way of travelling the Riverworld. He takes the sodes in which a secret portion of his “Suicide Express”, killing himself and being THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART life — the position concealed, as it revived at another place along the world river of Review by Joseph T Major of were, behind the looking glass — was the planet. Sad to say, the discovery he makes THROUGH DARKEST EUROPE threatened with exposure. In each of after his last suicide turns out to be wrong, but by Harry Turtledove these episodes Hiss sought to defend the series never quite got coherent. Maybe (2019; Tor; his secrets in a distinctive way. Farmer just should have put out the original You ISBN 978-0765379988; $25.99; Understanding his distinctive response Owe for the Flesh that got tangled up in the Macmillan (Kindle); $13.99) helps us understand why he chose to Shasta Press affair. be a Communist and a Soviet under- Professor Charlie Moment of George Wash- It’s well to remember that The Man With cover agent. And understanding the ington University doesn’t know and probably the Iron Heart (2008; reviewed in Alexiad V. 7 response also helps explain why he wouldn’t care about To Your Scattered Bodies #5) is a Swiftian fable; a story with the sides chose to fashion a lifelong narrative of Go. Or other things, like seat belts, which reversed, as it were. Most of these are not as innocence, in which he projected him- means his encounter with a semi on a wintry charming (such as, for example, White Lotus self as a victim and a scapegoat, all the day is very fatal. (1965), John Hersey’s labored trope on the while knowing that his narrative was Except, he wakes up and is no longer an history of slavery and its aftermath). false. Finally, understanding Hiss’s aging decrepit professor, but a high-school In this case, what has happened is that approach to his several looking-glass student. He’s been thrown back in time. (And Christianty had become anti-science, and Islam wars helps make sense of the two larg- hasn’t read “Time and Time Again” (Astound- pro. Whether this can be credible is another est puzzles of his life. Why did he ing Science Fiction, April 1947).) matter. However, by this ploy Turtledove can enlist his strongest supporters, and the Just wanting to continue to pretend to be his comment on the horrors of Islam without being most loyal members of his family, in younger self, Charlie picks up his high school labled “Islamophobic”. perpetuating his false claims, and how career. Except, he writes an essay with his Investigators Khalid al-Zarzisi and Dawud was he able to transform his public professorial sensibility. With one thing and ibn Musa find themselves being sent to frag- image from that of convicted traitor to another, he ends up in Hollywood, where he sets mented and violent Italy to search out the that of someone who might have been about making all the movies he liked. (Instead fanatic Aquinists. (The irony of the line one of the casualties of Cold War ex- of making a decent Riverworld or even a Lord “Khalid couldn’t think of any Muslim emirate cesses? Kalvan of Otherwhen miniseries.) or sultanate where mobs rampaged through the — G. Edward White, Alger Hiss’s Looking- But then he runs into some people along the streets murdering every Jew they could catch” Glass Wars way. Such as the Benford brothers. (Not mak- has a strange perspective from the point of ing a movie of Ned Beach’s sub-Arctic subma- view of readers of Andrew Bostom’s The John Huntington Story’s looking-glass war rine adventure Cold Is the Sea (1978), either.) Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism (2008; re- was fought in a smaller venue, in a different Or, more to the point, Giacomo de Senegault — viewed in Alexiad V. 7 #4).) cause. Nevertheless, he projected himself as Casanova! Khalid and Dawud find themselves being a victim and a scapegoat, even though his It seems that Charlie wasn’t the first of the shot at up and down the length of the Italian narrative was false. His strongest supporters, time-loopers, and there is a secret society of Peninsula. Did Aquinas in his reversed expres- and the loyal members of his family, perpetu- them. Another member is one Robert A. Hein- sion decide that there were Christians who ated his claims of innocence. In his looking- lein, whom one hopes would have learned from loved death more than Muslims who loved glass, he could be a faithful unto death fol- his previous life not to have married Elinor life? However, Khalid finds an infidel lady lower of the true way of the Lord, a martyr to Curry so he could get the Rhodes Scholarship who wants to get away from it all. (Better not the malice of the followers of a false god, yet and go to Oxford to confront C. S. Lewis and tell Phyllis Chesler, or she will force her way also be a rapist. overwhelm him with his staunch irreligiousness. onto a Paratime Police transporter to knock But there are also bad guys. The book has some sense into the lady with a copy of An There will be no VENONA decryption to shifted to something like the “Circle of Ouro- American Bride in Kabul.) Page 6 April 2019 Alexiad

There are little flashes of humor. Khalid career. Evidently, Piper was a very self-critical player, and at the noted time, see what Groucho and Dawud encounter an Italian official writer, and destroyed many works he found was really saying. named Dino Crocetti. (Did he have a Jewish unsatisfactory. This seems to have been advan- He provides as well the often convoluted partner named Yosef bar-Dani’el?) tageous to his reputation but less so to his negotiations among the various members of the This book is not without problems, but it is finances. film industry that led to the creation of each a striking analysis,done under the shield of work. This augments the descriptions in Joe fiction, of a current problem of destructive Adamson’s Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Some- fanaticism. times Zeppo (1973). In addition, Coiniam discusses a work THE SHIP WHO SANG which I have not heretofore seen covered: The Review by Joseph T Major of Incredible Jewel Robbery (1959), the half-hour AN EXTRA KNOT: (24 minutes) skit on General Electric Theater, A Different World War II their final appearance together. He wonders by Hugh Lupus what a Marx Brothers short subject series (Part One: 2019; Amazon Digital Services; would have been like. (It would depend on the $3.99; writers. Imagine Flywheel, Shyster, and Fly- Part Two: 2019; Amazon Digital Services; wheel two-reelers coming out every three $3.99) months or so.) Some say that explaining a joke spoils it. The “Extra Knot” results in a somewhat Not knowing the context of a joke spoils it different ramming incident involving HMS even more. As for example, when Coniam Hood. Which is followed by a cascade of reprints not one but two different essays by events changing the world. Such as, for others explaining the references in “Lydia the example, the survival of the Basque Republic Tattooed Lady” (At the Circus 1939)). You in Northeast Spain, not overrun by the Nation- can learn a lot from Lydia. alists. There is in addition a certain fantasy YOU’RE SO VAIN feature to the book, granting to the various by Joe ships consciousness and awareness. Nicholas One matter which was not stressed in the Monsarrat and Daniel V. Gallery (who wrote first work but is so here is Piper’s attitude There will be a solar eclipse on July 2, a story about the ghosts of lost sailors seeking towards money. Originally, his writing income visible on Oeno Island of Pitcairn Islands, in redemption, taking the spirits of their ships out was an addendum to his salary. When the job Coquimbo Region and Atacama Region of to sea) might have appreciated that. The ships was abolished, he continued to have the same Chile and San Juan, La Rioja, San Luis, Córdo- mourn losses and steel themselves for battle, attitude, spending his payments and royalties ba, Santa Fe, and Buenos Aires provinces of loss, and sacrifice. liberally as they came in, and then having to Argentina. The longest totality will be 4 min- Not to mention the joke of having a British endure periods of impoverishment. utes 33 seconds, at sea at 17E 24' S, 109E W. rifleman in Spain named Dodd who was the One interesting point worth noting is a letter The eclipse is part of Saros 127, which began son and grandson of Rifle Brigade soldiers. Piper wrote about a potential plot point in a on October 10, 991 and will end on March 21, C. S. Forester might have had something to future episode of the Calvin Morrison story. 2452. say (Death to the French (1932); American The letter is dated July 1964, which implies that The next solar eclipse will be December title Rifleman Dodd) he retained the feeling that life would go on for 26, an annular eclipse visible in Saudi Arabia, Lupus gives perspectives beyond those of longer than some think, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, the Indian states of the ships; we have leaders making agonizing For a perspective on how marginal some Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the North- command decisions, soldiers in the front lines authors’ lives could be, and how nevertheless ern, North Central, and Eastern Provinces of facing the horror of war, even children being they persisted, this is a striking reminder. Not Sri Lanka, West Sumatra, Riau, West Kaliman- heartbroken and honored. (Though I think everyone is a Piper fan; but everyone who is tan, North Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan in Churchill would have had the Asturian Repub- would gain by having this book. Indonesia, Sarawak in Malaysia, Singapore, lic informed that “A source of high reliability Davao Occidental in the Philippines, Guam, indicates that German mobilization on your A MARXIST LEXICON and Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands. The borders is for offensive purposes.” Stalin was Review by Joseph T Major of maximum eclipse will be 3 minutes 40 seconds told something of the sort and he chose to THE ANNOTATED MARX BROTHERS: at 1E N 102E 18' E in Riau Province, Indonesia. reject this imperialist provocation.) A Filmgoer’s Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure The eclipse is part of Saros 132, which began The war progresses in ways both familiar References and Sly Details August 13, 1208 and will end September 25, and unexpected, and ominous events are in by Matthew Coniam 2470. sight when this is . . . To Be Continued. (2015; McFarland & Company; ISBN 978-0786497058; $27.99; NASA Eclipse website: TIME AND TIME AGAIN Amazon Digital Services; $9.99) https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html Review by Joseph T Major of TYPEWRITER KILLER: It is depressing to realize that the oldest Other useful eclipse websites: H. Beam Piper movie covered in this is ninety years old (The by John F. Carr Coconuts (1929)). And there is another prob- http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse (2016; Pequod Press; lem consequent on this; there will be comments Amazon Digital Services; $7.99) and references that were understandable then, http://www.eclipse.org.uk/ but now are mysteries. Carr has had one bite at this topic, with his Coniam has, therefore, set out to explain the HEALTH ISSUES H. Beam Piper: A Biography (2008; reviewed background. Technology has changed, and now by Joe in Alexiad V. 7 #6). What’s the difference? the reader can have this book open in the Kindle This book is more focused on his writing app while watching the movie in the video On Thursday morning I took my blood Alexiad April 2019 Page 7 sugar level and it was 314. Eek! Eek! Eek! “the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance” several parts of the world were experiencing a After dropping Lisa off at work I went to the as the late Dan Fogelberg sang. Horses are not paper shortage. This included the United hospital. Hospitals, as I went to University machines. They are living creatures with per- States, where newspapers were a huge busi- Hospital first. The man ahead of me in the sonalities all their own. Thunder Snow refused ness. Most paper at the time was made from Emergency Room registration line was asked to run in the mud and gave spectators an unex- processed rags. Newly produced cotton or linen if he had been a patient there before. I pected rodeo performance in which he tried hard could be made available for the production of thought, “I haven’t been a patient here before, to buck his rider off. In the Breeder’s Cup paper, but that was expensive, and had to vie but I have been a patient at Norton Hospital.” General Quarters had to be scratched because he with cloth production. Most paper was there- So I went back to my car and drove to Norton. refused to enter the starting gate. The great fore made from rags. (There’s a term which is My blood sugar had fallen to 186 by the Sunday Silence, though, was solidly into getting a cultural holdover. In modern parlance, the time they got to me. But there were other his black head across the finish line first, what- percentage of rag content in paper is a measure problems and I was admitted. They put me in ever the track conditions happened to be. But I of quality.) However, linen ages well and there one room, then moved me to another. will take the risk of saying I like Roadster. was a huge reservoir of ancient linen just being They were using all their toys. I had a There is a tendency to try to paint the Derby as tossed away. chest X-Ray, and then a CT scan where Ms. a rivalry between two top colts but it is seldom The ancient Egyptians made a lot of mum- Rotwang the tech didn’t have any problems. that simple when the gate opens. My best handi- mies. By some estimates there were half a I was taken back to my room where Lisa was capping came in 1999 when more than half the billion humans turned into mummies over waiting, having arrived just as I was being colts actually belonged. I figured that when the those four thousand plus years the practice was removed. She had her Kindles so wasn’t gate opened there would be one of the biggest widespread in northern Africa. There were so completely at a loss. traffic jams in Derby history and that the winner many, in fact, that they were actually a problem With one thing and another I did not eat would probably come from the auxiliary gate in some areas. The vast majority had been low- anything that day. I didn’t miss it. I turned where there would be less risk of getting stuck -born people, and barely worth the effort of the thermostat in the room up and went to in the traffic jam. I got the first three finishers unwrapping to see what treasures they might sleep, without being awakened for a chest X- right, but thought the winner would be Menifee, have. Additionally, many thousands of mum- Ray at 4 a.m. not Charismatic. Sigh. mies had been looted in antiquity, and often the Friday I was taken down to another place wrappings were just tossed aside as worthless. to have a stress test. I didn’t do the treadmill The Joy of High Tech (This calls to mind the bit from Sam Clemens, properly so they gave me a drug instead be- by Rodford Edmiston who in The Innocents Abroad had a locomotive fore scanning my heart. Yes, I do have one. engineer crying out “Damn these plebeians, A doctor came in and told me that my they don’t burn worth a cent — pass out a teeth were decaying and he could smell the King!”) On top of all those former people, plaque. This seemed odd to us since I had had many animals were also mummified, from cats my teeth cleaned two weeks before, and to bulls. So, there was a huge resource for dentists like seeing decaying teeth since that paper making in the fine linen used in mummy means drilling, with better returns and less wrappings. risk than wildcatting, and they hadn’t seen As the story is told, a famously thrifty any. paper mill owner decided to use mummy After an unsatisfactory dinner, my first wrappings to make high-quality paper. How- meal in two days, I decided to go have a long ever, no matter what he did, the linen wouldn’t sleep, beginning at seven. Whereupon the bleach white, remaining brown. He was forced nurse came in and said I could go home. They to market the resulting product as cheap paper, pulled out the IV pick, I got dressed, and went fit only for a butcher to use in wrapping meat. down to my car. Except I couldn’t find it. Eventually the wrappings caused a cholera It turned out that there were two parking outbreak and the practice stopped. Yet to this structures and I had parked in the other one. Being the occasionally interesting ramblings of day the tradition of butchers using brown paper The security guy at the parking structure a major-league technophile. survives. kindly drove me to my car, and I left. Okay, cholera bacteria are unlikely to I had to pay parking charges both times, Cultural Holdovers survive even the ointments and unguents the since I hadn’t been admitted to University, wrappings were impregnated with, much less and at Norton, in spite of the reassurance that There are many aspects of culture which can remain viable for thousands of years. The paper my discharge papers would suffice, I ended up be traced to a technical innovation or limitation. mill most often identified with the practice of going through an automatic exit gate which This effect actually goes back tens of thousands using mummy wrappings did have a cholera didn’t recognize those things. of years. (Think of all the sayings which depend outbreak, but those were happening all over the I now wear support stockings, because on the physical characteristic of some material, “civilized” world at that time. Period newspa- apparently I now have heart failure and need such as “clear as glass” or “like a lead bell.”) per accounts reported the use of mummy wrap- to get the fluid out of my legs. I’m sure a lot However, more modern examples are better pings to make brown paper, but study reveals of people will be happy to hear this. documented, and many such cultural impacts them to most likely be satire; darkly humorous So far the bill due is $$$, though I got are still in effect and quite widespread. This commentaries on the stinginess of the factory unerved when I looked it up on the medical exercise will therefore be limited to a very few owner. system web page and discovered the billing relatively recent examples. Of course, some That huge amounts of rags — including was for $$,$$$ — paid by the insurance. associations are a product of misunderstanding, mummy linens — were imported from Egypt Subject to change without prior notice. or even outright fraud. Others are simply un- during that period for the purpose of making clear. paper has been widely verified. Also verified is DERBY NEWS Why is butcher paper brown? According to that mummy wrappings tended to be difficult by Lisa a popular myth, mummy wrappings. (Note: to bleach white. Some newspapers actually Take the following with a large grain of salt... bragged that they had switched to paper made The Derby is almost upon us. It is risky and maybe a bite of steak.) (in what percentage is not stated) from mummy picking a horse before race day. The Derby is In the middle of the Nineteenth Century linens. Since these surviving publications are Page 8 April 2019 Alexiad rare and valuable historic documents and the 78 - 80 RPM. Edison Diamond Disc Records which worked with film projectors and paper in them likely a blend of old and new always ran at 80 RPM. The standard of 78.26 matched one record side to run the same length rags, tests to verify this will most likely never RPM for electrically motorized turntables was as one reel of film. Yet another source claimed be performed. adopted by the industry in 1925. This speed was it was introduced by Columbia in 1948. Having So, while there is no technical reason for suitable for most existing records, and was more than one company declare that “We not using the linen from mummy wrappings to easily achieved using a standard 3600-RPM invented it first!” is not uncommon. Appar- make paper, if this happened the scraps of motor and 46-tooth gear. ently one claim is for motion picture applica- mummy cloth were probably just tossed in as All this together meant that at the beginning tion, another for consumer application, and the another source of rag, and were a minor com- of the 20th century discs played for about two last for the adoption of Microgroove technol- ponent. As to why butcher paper is brown, minutes, the same as earlier cylinder records. ogy, which led to the actual Long Play or LP most of it is actually white or ruddy. Not Because of this most popular recordings were format.) brown. The general type of paper is more limited to that duration. Soon the larger 10-inch The 45 RPM record came on the market in generally known as kraft paper, and has a 78 RPM discs played for about three minutes 1948 — by RCA — on vinyl or polystyrene. wide range of uses. Butcher paper is essen- per side. The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor The speed was chosen due to patent licenses. tially kraft paper treated to make it food safe, in 1903, increased the playing time to between The size, again, was to create up to four and a stronger and resistant to moisture. Either can three and four minutes. Even today, popular half minutes of music or voice. come in a wide variety of colors. There is, of music is often limited to that interval, long after Over and over, the manufacturers focused course, dark brown paper, but that is more technology has moved beyond the format which on a format to produce a length of playback likely to be used as packing material than to caused that restriction. which was already familiar to consumers from wrap meat. Interestingly, the common usage of playback decades of previous formats. Yes, LP records speed (such as “seventy-eight”) to distinguish were used for longer compositions, including between types of discs didn’t become wide- entire symphonies. However, radio airplay and spread until until after WWII. Before that they records for popular music continued to force were generally called “records” regardless of artists to fit an old — and largely obsolete — speed. format. Hence the plaintive Billy Joel lyric “If Early records were made from various you’re gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit. materials. Each formulation vied for a balance So they cut it down to 3:05.” between cost, how closely the grooves could be The topic of recording formats is quite placed, fidelity and durability. Shellack-based complicated, and enormously varied. This compounds were popular from around 1895 overview barely scratches the surface. until the requirements of WWII caused a gen- Tin was the aluminum of the Nineteenth eral switch to vinyl. After that vinyl became the Century. Now, the elemental metal had been standard for nearly all records. The shellack- used for thousands of years. Among other -based records were actually composite struc- historic applications it is a component of tures. They were typically composed of about bronze. The pure metal can take a high polish one-third shellac and two-thirds mineral filler and is resistant to corrosion. Compounds with (which was usually finely pulverized slate or tin have a very wide variety of use. While the limestone) with cotton fibers to add tensile metal itself is non-toxic, some tin compounds strength. Carbon black was added for color and are deadly poisons. Tin is easy to refine, and a very small amount of a lubricant was usually the pure metal is ductile, easily formed in many included to ease release from the presses on ways. In fact, its main flaw is that it does not which the records were made. Vinyl records — deal well with extreme (in terrestrial environ- as with the later CDs on more modern vinyl mental terms) cold, slowly turning to powder, presses — could be produced on the same a process which is called “tin pest.” Suppos- machines. The biggest problems with shellack edly, this hampered Napoleon’s invasion of records were weight and brittleness. Russia, when his army’s new tin uniform Once technology moved to electronic ampli- buttons began to deteriorate. However, this The early audio recording period is known fication records could be slowed. However, the transformation is prevented by small amounts as the acoustical era. The mechanical energy 78 RPM standard held for a long time even after of antimony, bismuth, copper, lead, silver, or imparted to the needle by the changes in the this. This was partly because that meant the gold. These are actually normally present in groove surface was conducted to the dia- platters could still be played in areas with no commercial grades of tin, so only very pure tin phragm to produce the sound vibrations with- electricity, but largely due to industrial and is actually affected by this. out amplification, so purely mechanical re- social inertia. The LP format played at 33 1/3rd Why were those buttons made of tin? (If cords needed to spin quickly to provide the revolutions per minute. This allowed greater they were...) Tin is easily stamped into intricate necessary energy. Just not too quickly. The fidelity and storage density, since they had shapes, resistant to corrosion and not very fidelity of such a process depends on how well electronic amplification of the mechanical expensive. These characteristics lent them- the variations in groove depth or width can signal. selves well to the growing use of multiple excite the needle. Playing too quickly means The use of both vinyl and the 33 1/3rd RPM industrial processes. the needle skips. Too slowly and the playback format were pioneered in 1931 by RCA, in One of the more interesting modern uses of is too quiet. The playing time of a phonograph 30cm discs with 10 minutes of sound per side. tin is in glass manufacture. Glass is floated record depends on the available groove length There were other long-play formats introduced across a pool of molten tin to product smooth, divided by the turntable speed. Total groove during the same period. However, due largely to plate glass, in what is known as the Pilkington length in turn depends on how closely the the Great Depression these records were soon Process. It’s melting point, surface tension, grooves are spaced, in addition to the record discontinued. Both vinyl and the extended play lack of reaction with glass (and at most react- diameter. From about 1898 well into the format would return later, on larger records. ing to the tank materials just to form a thin Nineteen Fifties the ideal speed for music was (There is conflicting information that Bell Labs layer of plating) and low toxicity make tin ideal considered to be around 78 RPM. By 1908 developed the 33 1/3rd RPM and 16" format for this. most entertainment recordings played back at before this because it allowed a simple gearing The first known use of tinplating for food Alexiad April 2019 Page 9 containers was in 1812, in London, England. ing,”How to Handle the Baron Harkonnen in a impressionable young minds. Tin bonds well with several container materi- Modern Dune Adaptation” concerns the prob- als, including iron and steel. It is nontoxic and lem (?) that the chief villain of Frank Herbert’s This time, I saved a copy before I hit the resistant to corrosion. All this makes it very famous novel is both obese and “queer” submit button, and my comment burned down, useful in food preservation. Since its the tin (Asher-Perrin’s term). As one might expect, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. people see, around the world they call such most of the discussion concerned the latter At some point, I had noticed there were a coated metal containers “tins” or “tin cans” issue. lot of missing sequence numbers among the even though the large majority of material in It seemed to me that the portrayal of a vil- comments; for example, comment #66 is im- the can is steel. Similarly, tin-plated steel lainous homosexual might have been problem- mediately followed by #72. In fact, between whistles are often called “tin whistles.” Cop- atic at one time, that is, when there were so few #1 and #117, 42 comments — or 36% — are per cooking or serving vessels — pots, pans, depictions of homosexuals in SF. Today, how- missing and presumed censored. Like most plates, goblets, etc. — are sometimes tinplat- ever, there are many positive gay characters people, I’m sure I assumed there must be a lot ed, since copper exposed to acidic food may everywhere so, I suggested, if it ever mattered, of anti-gay trolling going on. I no longer form toxic compounds. Today, steel or even it doesn’t any more. believe that. In any case, after two attempts to aluminum cans cans with polymer coatings leave a comment, I gave up. and no tin may still be called “tins.” This term Not long afterward, I had another encounter is sometimes even used for entirely polymer with the censors. containers. In response to James Davis Nicoll’s Febru- Tin’s ductility led in the late 19th century ary 20th posting, “Move Over, Westeros: Six to the production of tin foil. Aluminum foil SFF Series That Would Rule the TV Land- was introduced in 1926, but did not widely scape”, dozens of people had suggested addi- replace tin foil until after World War II. How- tional series that might be suitable for televi- ever, due to both being thin sheets of shiny sion adaptation. I made a couple of sugges- material some people continue even today to tions of my own, including this one: refer to the new product by the name of the old one. Tin foil is stiffer than aluminum foil. As far as I can tell (though it’s hard It also tends to give some foods a slight tin to believe), so far no one has mentioned taste. Both characteristics helped aluminum Marion Zimmer Bradley’s sprawling foil to replace tin foil. “Darkover” series, more than forty Because of its corrosion resistance, avail- books and counting. ability, low cost, low toxicity, and malleabil- ity, tin foil was even used as a filling for tooth This comment was posted, and got a swift cavities prior to the 20th Century. response, to the effect that the reason no one Harking back to a preceding part of this had mentioned “Darkover” was that no one document, the first audio recordings were wanted to promote the work of a child mo- made on tin foil wrapped around backing lester. As it happens, I had completely cylinders. forgotten about the posthumous accusation, There are many more examples of how published a few years ago. I responded as technology affects culture, and vice versa. follows: This short exploration of the topic barely scratches the surface. What examples can you Sorry to hear it. I guess I’m not up think of? to date on my sci-fi scandals and accu- sations. This material is Copyright 2019 Rodford E. Smith. Anyone wishing to reprint it may Actually, now that I think back, I had heard contact the author for permission at something about this when the chief accuser [email protected] was nominated for a Hugo. But that was the year a band of bizarre right-wing trolls had ON (NOT) POSTING AT TOR.COM I clicked the submit button, and my com- taken over the nominations, so perhaps I paid by Taras Wolasky ment sank into the swamp, never to be seen less attention than I should have. again. Especially because, not expecting to be To what extent do accusations of personal Was I naïve? Here’s a comment in my censored, I hadn’t saved a copy of it. misconduct invalidate an author or creator’s Loc to the December issue of Alexiad: So I tried again, making a special effort to work? I’m not sure. Woody Allen is still be extra tactful: making movies, I note. But then, he’s still I post a bit at Tor.com, and I am alive to defend himself — and, I see here, he’s often amazed when comments, on There is no reason to demand that suing Amazon for not releasing the movie he some innocuous topic like “what are every individual work be balanced, any just did for them. the good Robin Hood movies”, are more than we demand that every individ- Whatever the case, as we’ve seen above, censored for violating the terms of use. ual scene in every work be balanced. there are approximately a gazillion nifty series What did they get heated about, and The character of Baron Harkonnen out there, without baggage . . . at least, no what did they write? was problematic in the 1960s because baggage we know about! there were so few positive gay charac- This comment was silently suppressed, When I wrote that, I was still under the ters around. (Setting aside, for the mo- though I saved a copy before I submitted it. illusion that Tor.com suppresses only com- ment, the complex question of whether A few days later, I commented about a ments that are abusive or intemperate in char- he actually is a gay character in the first couple of other series, and added a postscript, acter. I no longer believe that; but you be the place.) Today, there are thousands, addressed to the poster who had brought up the judge. rendering moot the question of whether accusation against MZB: Emily Asher-Perrin’s February 5th post- this one portrayal might miseducate Page 10 April 2019 Alexiad

I tried to respond to your comment, Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Riley but it didn’t make it through. Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing) Artificial Condition, Martha Wells The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding This time, my comment was posted, to- (Tor.com Publishing) Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy gether with the postscript. It was immediately Book followed by a note from Tor, to the effect that Novelette the moderators “aim to keep the discussion Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi civil, constructive, on topic and relevant to the The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan) original article”; and, like Lucy holding the Bolander (Tor.com Publishing) Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani football for Charlie Brown, inviting me to try “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confec- Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents) again. tions”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 7/11/18) A Light in the Dark, A.K. DuBoff (BDL) I seriously thought about rewording my “An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Ran- comment to pass the censors, but I hadn’t had Agent of Utopia) dom House) any luck with that the other time, so once “The Substance of My Lives, the Acci- Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + again I threw in the towel. dents of Our Births”, José Pablo Iriarte Bray) (Lightspeed 1/18) Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate NEBULA AWARD NEWS “The Rule of Three”, Lawrence M. Schoen and Sword, Henry Lien (Henry Holt) (Future Science Fiction Digest 12/18) “Messenger”, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and My vote for the Nebula Award R.R. Virdi (Expanding Universe, Vol- short stories ume 4) by Sue Burke Short Story I’ve read all the short stories nominated for this year’s Nebula Awards, presented by the “Interview for the End of the World”, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Amer- Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Stars) ica. The awards, which include novels, novel- “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro las, novelettes, game writing, dramatic presen- Teeth of George Washington”, tation (television, movies, etc.), and young Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18) adult books, will be presented May 18 in Los “Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast Angeles. Area Clear) I’m sorry to say I loved only two of them. “And Yet”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny As a member, I must vote for one (ranked 3-4/18) voting is for the Hugos, not the Nebulas), and “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical here’s my vote: Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. “The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) My heart was in my (Lightspeed 1/18) throat, hoping the witch librarian would help the troubled boy find the book he needed to Game Writing escape his life, and the boy would accept the magic that the book had to offer him. I read Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Charlie this slowly, knowing it was a short story and 2018 Nebula Award Finalists Brooker (House of Tomorrow & Netflix) would end soon, trying to give myself more The Road to Canterbury, Kate Heartfield time to enjoy it. Magic, indeed. Novel (Choice of Games) My opinions of the other stories, ranked in God of War, Matt Sophos, Richard order of preference: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog, Orion Second place: “The Secret Lives of the Nine Kowal (Tor) Walker, and Adam Dolin (Santa Monica Negro Teeth of George Washington” by The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Studio/Sony/Interactive Entertainment) Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18) The Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK) Rent-A-Vice, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice story encompasses nine short biographies of Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit of Games) the slaves whose teeth came to be part of Wash- UK) The Martian Job, M. Darusha Wehm ington’s dentures. (True story: Washington had Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; (Choice of Games) dentures made of human teeth.) Since they Macmillan) form an alternate history of a world in which Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publish- The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding there are various kinds of magic, I kept expect- ing) Dramatic Presentation ing the consequences of this magic to change Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse the sweep of history, but they did not. Still, (Saga) The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”, well worth reading. Written by: Megan Amram Third place: “And Yet” by A. T. Green- Novella Black Panther, Written by: Ryan Coogler blatt (Uncanny 3–4/18) A visit to a haunted and Joe Robert Cole house led to disaster for a boy. Now an adult, Fire Ant, Jonathan P. Brazee (Semper Fi) A Quiet Place, Screenplay by: John he returns. The house is still haunted, but he The Black God’s Drums, P. Djèlí Clark Krasinski, Bryan Woods and Scott Beck might be able to beat its time-space mutations. (Tor.com Publishing) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Screen- The real story is the protagonist’s personal The Tea Master and the Detective, play by: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman history of his unhappy family, shortcomings, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean) Dirty Computer, Written by: Janelle Monáe and childhood disasters. This is done well, yet Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield and Chuck Lightning it feels familiar, resembling quite a few other (Tor.com Publishing) Sorry to Bother You, Written by: Boots literary short stories I’ve read. Perhaps un- Alexiad April 2019 Page 11 happy families can be alike, too. (Tor.com publishing) Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder Fourth place: “The Court Magician” by Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan & Stoughton / Harper Voyager) Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18) A boy dis- McGuire (Tor.com publishing) covers the cost of magic, and he learns that Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Best Related Work good intentions do not overrule cold cause and Okorafor (Tor.com publishing) effect. The fable-like telling feels too distant, The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark Archive of Our Own, a project of the and the story seems familiar. There are no (Tor.com publishing) Organization for Transformative Works new stories, true, but perhaps a more detailed, Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac close-up telling could have revealed new Kelly Robson (Tor.com publishing) Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron contours of yearning within an old idea. The Tea Master and the Detective, by Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Sci- Nope: “Going Dark” by Richard Fox Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / ence Fiction, by Alec Nevala-Lee (Dey (Backblast Area Clear) A military commander JABberwocky Literary Agency) Street Books) must turn off a humanoid robot that was badly The Hobbit Duology (documentary in three injured in the line of duty. Up to that moment, Best Novelette parts), written and edited by Lindsay the commander has shown the emotional Ellis and Angelina Meehan (YouTube) response of a turnip, yet he suddenly sinks “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try An Informal History of the Hugos: A into bathos. This story got on the ballot Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Personal Look Back at the Hugo through the not-a-slate 20BooksTo50K® Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) Awards, 1953-2000, by Jo Walton slate. It has some merit, but it’s not ready for “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confec- (Tor) prime time and is not one of the year’s five tions,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 www.mexicanxinitiative.com: The best short stories. It shouldn’t be on the ballot. July 2018) Mexicanx Initiative Experience at Nope: “Interview for the End of the “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Worldcon 76 (Julia Rios, Libia Brenda, World” by Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September Pablo Defendini, John Picacio) Stars) An asteroid is about to destroy the 2018) Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Earth, and a rich man with a rocket must pick The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Writing, by Ursula K. Le Guin with the three thousand people who will escape Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing) David Naimon (Tin House Books) death and perpetuate humanity. This is a “The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by cliché within a cliché, and poorly told at that. Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, Best Graphic Story The story is another on the not-a-slate November-December 2018) 20BooksTo50K® slate, and it doesn’t deserve “When We Were Starless,” by Simone Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, art by to be on the ballot. Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October Sami Kivelä, colours by Jason Wordie, 2018) letters by Jim Campbell (BOOM! Stu- HUGO AWARD FINALISTS dios) Courtesy of Dublin 2019 and File 770.com Best Short Story Black Panther: Long Live the King, writ- ten by Nnedi Okorafor and Aaron “The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker Covington, art by André Lima Araújo, (Lightspeed, January 2018) Mario Del Pennino and Tana Ford “The Rose MacGregor Drinking and (Marvel) Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by ( U n c a n n y M a g a z i n e 2 5 , Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Im- November-December 2018) age Comics) “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden (First Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Second) Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, Febru- Paper Girls, Volume 4, written by Brian K. ary 2018) Vaughan, art by Cliff Chiang, colours “STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Maga- by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. zine, October 2018) Fletcher (Image Comics) “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Saga, Volume 9, written by Brian K. Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander Comics) Best Novel (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018) Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Kowal (Tor) Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Annihilation Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, Febru- Avengers: Infinity War Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / ary 2018) Black Panther Harper Voyager) A Quiet Place Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris) Best Series Sorry to Bother You Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Saga) The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older (Tor) Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Rey / Macmillan) (most recently Tor/Orbit) Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee The Expanse: “Abaddon’s Gate,” (Saga) (Solaris) Doctor Who: “Demons of the Punjab,” The October Daye Series, by Seanan Dirty Computer Best Novella McGuire (most recently DAW) The Good Place: “Janet(s),” The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bo- The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy,” Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells dard (most recently Subterranean Press) Doctor Who: “Rosa,” Page 12 April 2019 Alexiad

Best Professional Editor, Short Form Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Writer Renay & Susan Neil Clarke nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Katherine Arden (2nd year of eligibility) Gardner Dozois Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla and The G S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibil- Lee Harris Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur ity) Julia Rios Rocket Stack Rank, editors Greg Hullender R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility) Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian and Eric Wong Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility) Thomas Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2nd year of eligi- E. Catherine Tobler Best Fancast bility) Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility) Best Professional Editor, Long Form Be the Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book Sheila E. Gilbert Mace Anne Lesley Groell The Coode Street Podcast, presented by The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton (Free- Beth Meacham Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe form / Gollancz) Diana Pho Fangirl Happy Hour, hosted by Ana Grilo Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Gillian Redfearn and Renay Williams Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Chil- Navah Wolfe Galactic Suburbia, hosted by Alisa dren’s Books) Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black (Little, Best Professional Artist Tansy Rayner Roberts, produced by Brown / Hot Key Books) Andrew Finch Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Galen Dara Our Opinions Are Correct, hosted by Bray) Jaime Jones Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane An- The Invasion, by Peadar O’Guilin (David Victo Ngai ders Fickling Books / Scholastic) John Picacio The Skiffy and Fanty Show, produced by Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman Yuko Shimizu Jen Zink and Shaun Duke, hosted by the (Random House / Penguin Teen) Charles Vess Skiffy and Fanty Crew Congratulations to Christopher J. Garcia, Best Semiprozine Best Fan Writer Alec Nevala-Lee, and James Davis Nicoll on their nominations. Chris, if Journey Planet Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief Foz Meadows wins again, can we have another Hugo- and publisher Scott H. Andrews James Davis Nicoll nomination-worthy happy dance? Alec is up Fireside Magazine, edited by Julia Rios, Charles Payseur against Jo Walton, and I think it’s going to be m a n a g i n g e d i t o r E l s a Elsa Sjunneson-Henry a titanic struggle. Fortunately there are no Sjunneson-Henry, social coordinator Alasdair Stuart Chicks Dig books up for consideration this Meg Frank, special features editor Bogi Takács year. And as for Nicoll, has anyone ever heard Tanya DePass, founding editor Brian of ANY of the other nominees for Best Fan White, publisher and art director Pablo Best Fan Artist Writer? Defendini FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Sara Felix Fiction, executive editors Troy L. Grace P. Fong Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders, editors Meg Frank L.D. Lewis, Brandon O’Brien, Kaleb Ariela Housman Russell, Danny Lore, and Brent Lam- Likhain (Mia Sereno) bert Spring Schoenhuth Shimmer, publisher Beth Wodzinski, senior editor E. Catherine Tobler Best Art Book Strange Horizons, edited by Jane Crowley, Kate Dollarhyde, Vanessa The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Rose Phin, Vajra Chandrasekera, Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Char- Romie Stott, Maureen Kincaid Speller, les Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin and the Strange Horizons Staff (Saga Press /Gollancz) Uncanny Magazine, publish- Daydreamer’s Journey: The Art of Julie ers/editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas Dillon, by Julie Dillon (self-published) and Michael Damian Thomas, manag- Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A ing editor Michi Trota, podcast pro- Visual History, by Michael Witwer, ducers Erika Ensign and Steven Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Sam Wit- Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy wer (Ten Speed Press) Science Fiction Special Issue Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary editors-in-chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry Fantastic Art, ed. John Fleskes (Flesk and Dominik Parisien Publications) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – The Best Fanzine Art of the Movie, by Ramin Zahed (Ti- RETRO-HUGO AWARD FINALISTS tan Books) Courtesy of Dublin 2019 and File 770.com Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Mar- Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, ed. cus, editor Janice Marcus Catherine McIlwaine (Bodleian Library) Best Novel Journey Planet, edited by Team Journey Planet John W. Campbell Award for Best New Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Un- Alexiad April 2019 Page 13

known Worlds, April 1943) Boucher) (Astounding Science-Fiction, YHOS, editor Art Widner Earth’s Last Citadel, by C.L. Moore and March 1943) Le Zombie, editor Wilson “Bob” Tucker Henry Kuttner (Argosy, April 1943) “Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper,” by Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber, Jr. Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, July 1943) Best Fan Writer (Astounding Science-Fiction, MayJuly 1943) Best Graphic Story Forrest J. Ackerman Das Glasperlenspiel [The Glass Bead Morojo (Myrtle Douglas) Game], by Hermann Hesse (Fretz & Buck Rogers: Martians Invade Jupiter, by Jack Speer Wasmuth) Philip Nowlan and Dick Calkins (Na- Wilson “Bob” Tucker Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis (John Lane, tional Newspaper Service) Art Widner The Bodley Head) Flash Gordon: Fiery Desert of Mongo, by Donald A. Wollheim The Weapon Makers, by A.E. van Vogt Alex Raymond (King Features Syndi- (Astounding Science-Fiction, Febru- cate) I asked H. P. L. (or his assistant Leeman ary-April 1943) Garth, by Steve Dowling (Daily Mirror) Kessler) what he thought about his nomination. Plastic Man #1: The Game of Death, by He said he was beyond such things, but please Best Novella Jack Cole (Vital Publications) send money because he needs sugar. Le Secret de la Licorne [The Secret of the “Attitude,” by Hal Clement (Astounding Unicorn], by Hergé (Le Soir) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxx0Tfgfxkk Science-Fiction, September 1943) Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Woman- “Clash by Night,” by Lawrence O’Don- hood, written by William Moulton Mar- With Heinlein and Asimov out of the game, nell (Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore) sden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Comics) we are seeing Kuttner & Moore, van Vogt, and (Astounding Science-Fiction, March other formerly neglected candidates. Even 1943) Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form Tintin. And Donald Duck vs. Bugs Bunny! “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” by H.P. Lovecraft, (Beyond Batman WORLDCON BIDS the Wall of Sleep, Arkham House) Cabin in the Sky The Little Prince, by Antoine de A Guy Named Joe 2021 Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock) Heaven Can Wait Washington, D.C. The Magic Bed-Knob; or, How to Be- Münchhausen http://dcin2021.org/ come a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, Phantom of the Opera by Mary Norton (Hyperion Press) 2022 “We Print the Truth,” by Anthony Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Chicago Boucher (Astounding Science-Fiction, https://chicagoworldconbid.org/ December 1943) The Ape Man Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 2023 Best Novelette Der Fuehrer’s Face Chengdu I Walked With a Zombie “Citadel of Lost Ships,” by Leigh Brack- The Seventh Victim Nice, France ett (Planet Stories, March 1943) Super-Rabbit http://worldconinfrance.org/en/ “The Halfling,” by Leigh Brackett (As- tonishing Stories, February 1943) Best Professional Editor, Short Form New Orleans “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) John W. Campbell 2024 (Astounding Science-Fiction, February Oscar J. Friend United Kingdom 1943) Mary Gnaedinger http://www.ukin2024.org/ “The Proud Robot,” by Lewis Padgett Dorothy McIlwraith (Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Raymond A. Palmer 2025 Science-Fiction, February 1943) Donald A. Wollheim Seattle “Symbiotica,” by Eric Frank Russell Perth, Australia (Astounding Science-Fiction, October Best Professional Artist 1943) NASFiC BIDS “Thieves’ House,” by Fritz Leiber, Jr Hannes Bok 2020 (Unknown Worlds, February 1943) Margaret Brundage Columbus, Ohio Virgil Finlay Best Short Story Antoine de Saint-Exupéry WORLDCON J. Allen St. John “Death Sentence,” by Isaac Asimov (As- William Timmins 2020 tounding Science Fiction, November ConNZealand 1943) Best Fanzine Wellington, New Zealand “Doorway into Time,” by C.L. Moore July 29-August 2, 2020 (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Septem- Fantasy News, editor William S. Sykora http://ConNZealand.nz/ ber 1943) Futurian War Digest, editor J. Michael “Exile,” by Edmond Hamilton (Super Rosenblum NASFiC Science Stories, May 1943) The Phantagraph, editor Donald A. 2019 “King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Wollheim Layton, Utah Rocket”), by Ray Bradbury (Famous Voice of the Imagi-Nation, editors Jack July 4-7, 2019 Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943) Erman (Forrest J Ackerman) & Morojo https://www.spikecon.org/ “Q.U.R.,” by H.H. Holmes (Anthony (Myrtle Douglas) Page 14 April 2019 Alexiad

ports, especially for one I used to attend when I’ve been torn apart online by those who don’t Letters, we get letters that was physically possible. Missing truly read what I’ve written, and I do try to be InConJunction (and Conglomeration) are among careful on what I might write. Some just seem my greatest regrets. It would be nice if she determined to misunderstand me, or have their could report on some of the programmings. own agenda to follow, and they don’t care who InCon has plenty of evening programming they run down. worth seeing. I’m a bit confused about her exact timing for her western trip. Were she and And now, one of those who Larry away 2 full weeks? drove Amelie Zhao into pulling her Elizabeth and I last attended a Worldcon in book before publication has pulled 2001, but I don’t think the 9/11/01 attacks had his, as a result of a similar Twit- anything to do with it. For one thing, after that ter pile-on. year I could hardly afford to go, and more recently we both became physically incapable An old-school science fiction conven- of attending. I doubt we’re the only elderly fans tion…there’s a turn of phrase I never thought From: Joy V. Smith February 26, 2019 with those problems. I’d hear, and yet, these days, it’s true. The big 8925 Selph Road, Lakeland, FL It would indeed be interesting to figure out pro-run con is ascendant, and the fan-run con is 33810-0341 USA the different effects of Hitler’s death at different dying. Participation is down, and passive [email protected] times. If he had died after Munich but before he consumption is up. In July, we will be attend- http://www.joyvsmith.com/ invaded Poland, some form of Grossdeutschland ing our own local old-school con, Ad Astra. might still exist today, since his likely successor The letter column…Yvonne and I both love Thanks for the reviews; I confess there are (Goering) saw nothing personally to gain by dogs and cats, and other pets, too, but we’ve very few alternate history books that I want to war. Since European peace would have made it never had one of our own. We always figured read. And thanks to Leigh Kimmel for the con easier for Britain and America to concentrate that our lifestyle wouldn’t be fair to the animal, reports. their navies in the Pacific theater of Japan went and our place is the least kid-proof we’ve ever Lisa, We recently had to put Bree, our to war, even the Japanese Army (which largely seen, so we can imagine what a dog or cat black and white Manx, to sleep (cancer); she made the decisions, especially after their com- might do to it. We are happy to spoil the pets of was only two years old — a baby! Now with mander became the Prime Minister in late 1941) others, and be a happy aunt and uncle. only one dog and one cat, the house seems might have chosen peace. (Without the war in My loc…this past weekend was the rela- incredibly empty. So another kitten — or two Europe, the US might have been less inclined to tively large Toronto ComiCon, held downtown — or a puppy (we never got another dog after press them.) at the convention centre. We didn’t go, but we had to put Brynn to sleep — and Blizzard In that case, the 3-way struggle for China friends on Facebook indicate that for every one missed him for a long time — and she needs would have been very interesting. A nice his- of them who did go, there was another who company because Pemberley, our tortoiseshell torical novel about that might be rather interest- could have gone, but didn’t bother. Indeed, (3 years old) bullies her. Oh, yes, it is easier to ing. Mao vs. Chiang vs. Hirohito . . . who Torcon 3 has good and bad memories, and I travel without thinking about pets. We have a knows? still hear about good and bad experiences from friend, btw, who has to crate one of her dogs Regarding The Mule, I will note that Han it. Good in plan, poor in execution. Those who when going out for a while, so you can’t be Pritcher was converted by the Mule in the felt they were competent pushed out those who gone long then either. (Life is sometimes original story, and in fact in the next story (after really were competent, and those left refused complicated, or we would have gotten another the Mule had established his empire) he com- outside help, and they failed miserably. With pet sooner, but we’ve been thinking about it manded the first search for the Second Founda- one or two exceptions, they all gafiated, I for a long time . . .) tion. think, in embarrassment. When I lived alone, I could From: Lloyd Penney March 18, 2019 I think I mentioned Garth set out a self-feeder and a self- 1706-24 Eva Road, Etobicoke, ON M9C Spencer’s story about the Vancou- waterer for Sulla, but if I was 2B2 CANADA ver fans who went to Worldcon gone for very long he apparently [email protected] and thought, hey, they could do moped and quit drinking. Grant http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/ something as big too. Things hap- looked after the cats when he pened, few of them good. was with us. Thank you for Alexiad WN 103. Let’s see — JTM — JTM what we can say about the issue at hand, and still make the deadline. Thanks for the time Update . . . Yvonne’s assignment at the I enjoyed all the LOCs too, and thanks to warning, by the way; sometimes, I lose local racetrack came to an end, and now she is Sue Burke for the link to “If I Were a Plant”. complete track of time. working a shortshort-term assignment with a Opportunity is dead, but Curiosity still rolls medical tech firm downtown. I have actually From: Timothy Lane March 9, 2019 on, in more ways than one. May we always be been able to find some at-home work with a [email protected] so curious, and may we advance ourselves so Christian organization in Mississauga, plus that we can indeed put at least one of these some registration work and voicework coming I just noticed the Greek version of the title, rovers into a museum. In this day, when we up, so my luck seems to be changing. Maybe which ends with a capital sigma rather than a seem more willing to kill the people we don’t it’s just the fact winter is almost done. We head delta. That would be Alexias, not Alexiad. like rather than do anything remotely construc- off to England in about 2½ months, and after tive, the science fiction we love seems more that, Yvonne plans to stay retired. Hmm, we’ll You were there when the man fictional than ever. I sincerely hope I am wrong. see what happens . . . said it should be Αλεξιας And then comes the potential viciousness of Time to go, just about filling the page. Take “Alexias”. social media. I see the benefits of it, and com- care, stay healthy, and let’s hope for warm — JTM munity can be constructed on it (even if it is weather and better luck for all of us. faint compared to the true community we can It’s nice to see Leigh Kimmel’s con re- build when we actually work together, live), yet From: Robert S. Kennedy March 20, 2019 Alexiad April 2019 Page 15

5301 East Warm Springs Avenue, Apt 6535 W. English Meadows Drive D205, February Alexiad: B306, Boise, ID 83716-6205 USA Greenfield, WI 53220-3995 USA I questioned the discrepancy between Joe’s [email protected] [email protected] count of 961 pages for David Weber’s Uncom- promising Honor and the 773 pages in my My thanks for Vol. 18 No. 1 (February Thank you again for another Alexiad. copy. He replied that 961 is “the equivalent 2019, Whole Number103). Like Lisa, let me lead off with a lament for page count for the Kindle edition.” Now that In your review and commentary of Them the Mars Opportunity rover. I had the good had not occurred to me. I’ve never used Bones by Howard Waldrop you make a short fortune to encounter a link to the blogger Stuart e-books, and didn’t even know they have an reference to Neanderthals. Given that those of Atkinson and thus follow him via my RSS “equivalent page count.” I assumed they have us of European ancestry have Neanderthal feed-reader as he ‘walked’ along with Oppy no fixed page divisions, since pagination is DNA (mine is 2.8%) I found that interesting. across the Mars surface. meaningless when the amount of text on the For anyone who is interested I highly recom- It was quite an accomplishment making the screen at one time varies depending on what mend a book that I recently purchased and rover, getting her there and keeping her going font size is chosen. Can you say how this page read: The Neanderthals Rediscovered — How all this time [just for example, I believe she was equivalent is calculated? Do they just assume Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story by on her third human ‘driver,’ perhaps more]. a standard number of characters per page? Or Dimitra Papagianni & Michael Morse Atkinson was there all the way, and his archive what? (Thames & Hudson, 2015). is worth exploring: They say: https://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com The estimated length is cal- culated using the number of S i n c e t h e r e a r e ma n y u n - page turns on a Kindle, using processed/unenhanced images still in the JPL settings to closely represent a files, he promises we aren’t done seeing what physical book. Oppy saw. But when is unknowable at present. — JTM His life goes on, as likewise the careers of the rover team. * * * * * Of course, for someone like me, the vistas beyond Martian horizons only go just so far. I To my observation that Western clothing want new tasty critters. Or new civilizations. appears to have conquered the world, Sue But it all made StuartA happy, and I enjoyed his Burke suggests that it’s because mass produc- prose as well as his enhanced imagery. tion makes it cheap, and also vast amounts of Your review of Heinlein in Reflection by Reviewer’s Notes — you obliquely make a cast-off Western clothing go to Third-World Christopher G. Nuttall was interesting. I have point that could be emphasized about the comic- countries as charitable donations. Taras read a large number of Nuttall’s novels and book movies now in vogue. They involve a Wolansky makes the same point about dona- given the volume of his output thought the tremendous amount of physical destruction that tions. name might be a cover for several authors. gets ignored. Looking at what America did Um, well, maybe. That could account for However, I have been told that it is really him after 9-11, it is nonsensical that more isn’t done poor people dressing Western, instead of going with incredible output. Anyway, your com- to rid the planet of supervillains. Why leave it in rags or breechclouts. It certainly does not ment that “Nuttall examines Heinlein in his to an angsty spidery hero or super-woke hero- explain why Xi Jinping and his ministers time, not by the standards of other eras” ine? Especially when we can’t even keep the always appear in dark business suits with caught my eye. I have long said that people same actors deployed until the mission is ac- neckties. Among the rich and powerful who have to be judged by the time in which they complished? We need the draft, and ‘for the can afford whatever they please, it’s rarely lived, not by the standards of today. A couple duration.’ anything but Western dress. (The Saudi rulers of examples are the attacks on Washington are the major exceptions.) African dashikis and and Jefferson for owning slaves. They both In some of the early comic- oriental robes are rarely seen. believed slavery was wrong. But to free their book movies they included a scene As for cheapness due to mass production, slaves would have impoverished them. Slav- where the super-villain showed how might the causation be the other way around? ery was horrible and we are still paying the impotent the conventional forces Western clothing is mass produced (largely in price. And slavery still exists in some parts of were. (I believe there is a scene in Third World countries) because that is what our world. Superman (1978) where General sells best everywhere. Dashikis and burnooses Zod blows away a number of army could be just as easily mass produced if they Considering that one of the tanks by breathing on them.) were in high demand. causes of Amelie Zhao’s being — JTM So I think I will stick with my original targeted was that she said that suggestion that Western dress has swept the slavery existed in other places Back to work here. Next up are more revi- world because (in addition to its practicality in than the United States, I think a sions in my terraREforming haibun for Teri a mechanized world) people everywhere follow proper reminder is in order. Santitoro and Scifaikuest. Fourteen months Western fashion in admiring emulation of the from publication, but she wants the text locked West (and the U.S. in particular) as the most That’s about it. Everything is fine here. down so she knows how much space I take up. economically advanced society. We’re the Next week my niece and I are going to see That’s because I keep telling her that a guy like richest, so they copy us. SHEN YUN. Yes, Boise, Idaho is part of the me takes up a lot of space. It’s all my own To be sure, I do not expect to see a fad for United States. J fault. wearing too-long red neckties. Emulation has its limits, thank God. Shen Yun will get to Louisville From: George W. Price March 28, 2019 on May 1. 4418 N. Monitor Avenue, Chicago, IL * * * * * — JTM 60630-3333 USA [email protected] Taras also says he wishes he had kept his From: Lloyd Daub March 27, 2019 father’s slide rule. I still have two slide rules Page 16 April 2019 Alexiad and a book of logarithm tables from my un- And don’t hold your breath until anybody gets matter, because substations burned down. dergraduate days circa 1950. And that reminds prosecuted for all those perjured affidavits. The In the end, it was the midnight to four block me of a lewd joke from that time, a joke made Machine still rules! which caused me the most trouble – as I now obsolete by the invention of pocket calcula- need to sleep with a CPAP machine to assist tors. That reminds me of some of the my breathing. With no power, I slept really First a bit of background for younger elections in Liberia where the badly. (To think that a year ago I did not know readers: Logarithms (abbreviated as “logs”) story I heard was that the what was really wrong, I just slept badly and are mathematical functions that can be used to losing candidate got more votes started to fall asleep at work.) In the end, I had multiply and divide multi-digit numbers than there were people in the to get myself a very expensive, but proper, relatively quickly, and with more precision country. solution that would hopefully last a night or than a slide rule allows. — JTM two. It is said that a joke that has to be ex- A friend of mine is convinced that this plained isn’t funny. So take it as a historical round of loadshedding was blackmail – Eskom curiosity: had asked for something like a 25% increase in the price of electricity, every year, for the next Q.: What is the difference between how an five years, and had been rebuffed. And al- engineer and a mathematician solve though the government had announced a bail- the problem of being constipated? out for Eskom, they are financially not capable A.: The engineer works it out with a slide of servicing their existing debt, and need to rule, while the mathematician works it borrow more money to carry on operations. out with logs. The official excuse was that because the electricity supply from Mozambique (Cahora * * * * * Bassa dam) was knocked out by cyclone Idia (1.1 GW), they had a shortfall of 4 GW, which I’ve been observing Chicago politics for could only be fixed by loadshedding. South seventy-odd years (some of them very odd Africa has on paper a generating capacity of 47 indeed). I thought I had seen it all, but in the GW, and a usage that peaked at 27 GW. Dur- recent aldermanic election the Machine show- ing the March 2019 loadshedding, Eskom ed us something brand new. could only supply 21 GW. In the 13th Ward — a Machine stronghold And what happened to the two giant coal — a 19-year-old college student named David fired power stations, Medupi and Kusile, that Krupa decided to run against the incumbent, was going to solve all our problems? Well, the who had been expected to run unopposed. power stations was going to be expensive from To get on the ballot, a candidate must the very start, with a planned cost per MW submit nominating petitions signed by a cer- generated about three times the industry aver- tain number of registered voters, the number age. And then Eskom did not do proper project being a specified small fraction of the total management. And the Unions went on strike number of voters in the ward. For the 13th every now and again for more money. And the Ward it had to be 473. From: AL du Pisani March 31, 2019 ANC made out like bandits from their involve- Krupa submitted 1,729 signatures. (Candi- 945 Grand Prix Street, Weltevredenpark ment with the procurement of supplies (Ac- dates submit far more than the required mini- 1709, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA cording to one report, a ROI of 5000%). And mum, because part of the game in Chicago is [email protected] the Guptas got involved and acquired a bit of to invalidate as many as possible of the opposi- money, maybe a billion or two. And Eskom tion’s nominating signatures, on whatever I did not celebrate Earth Hour, but then I had to transform their staff to fully reflect the pretexts can be found, such as a signature never do – I appreciate electricity too much. population composition of South Africa (I.e. varying in the least bit from how it appears in Grew up at times and places where I had to go white managers, supervisory personnel and voter records.) without electricity on a lot of holidays. And workers got fired, and people with the right This time it was different. The Machine’s recently the South African government have colour or gender or political or victim status, workers — nobody seems to know exactly made me appreciate electricity more – we had got hired.) who — gave the Board of Election Commis- the Son of the Return of Loadshedding – this So in the end both Medupi and Kusile are sioners sworn affidavits from 2,796 ward time it is personal. way over budget, years late, and the parts residents revoking their signatures on Krupa’s commissioned are not working properly. Some petitions. With me it’s insulin. The cheap of the existing generation units will have to be Doing the arithmetic, 2,796 less 1,729 motels have refrigerators in the shut down to be repaired to full working condi- means that at least 1,067 more people revoked rooms. The high class ones . . . you tion. signatures than had given signatures in the have to pay extra. And it is coming to light that Eskom caused first place. Since the revocation affidavits a previous instance of loadshedding. So that were notarized, falsifying them was flat-out Our beloved electricity supply monopoly, they could enter into coal purchasing agree- perjury. (Only 187 of the revocations were of Eskom, unexpectedly had to re-institute ments with people who would not have got the signatures actually on Krupa’s petitions.) loadshedding, and it was very bad for a week – contracts if normal tendering regulations had Well! Political columnist John Kass of the Being without electricity for at least one four been followed. Chicago Tribune found out about this merry hour block every day for a week, including At least I found out about Vanadium redox prank and wrote several juicy columns expos- weekends. Some days you have two blocks batteries as a result of all this – It looks as if ing it. The revocation affidavits then somehow when the electricity was off. This exclude the Eskom is interested in getting a lot of them into went away, and Mr. Krupa was put on the times that there were additional power outages, the grid, which would smooth out the instabil- ballot. quite often because of electricity supply equip- ity caused by adding lots of wind and solar And how did the election turn out? Oh, ment failing because the power on, power off generating capacity. And since we produce Krupa got creamed, of course, 85% to 15%. situation was not handled properly. Or for that Vanadium, it may become a lot cheaper than Alexiad April 2019 Page 17 the alternatives. Like most talks of the kind, it assumed an We can see Osterman Beach at Lake Michi- All of this is happening shortly before the implicit connection between the OB and the gan from the bedroom I use as an office. From next general election, which also include the National Party, while never explicitly stating the bedroom we use as a bedroom, we can see provincial layer. A total of 45 parties are that there was such a connection. And that is the right field lights of Wrigley Field, 2.2 contesting the election – I think I know who because Dr DF Malan, while leader of the miles/3.5 kilometers down Sheridan Road, as ten of them are – Most of them are minor National Party, made clear that you could either well as the Willis Tower and other buildings in single issue parties, with no or very little hope be a member of the NP or the OB, but not both. the Loop. Off to the west on the horizon, we of getting a single MP elected. (For instance, It was only once the OB had been disbanded can see airplanes ascending and descending the party aimed at security guards.) that prominent ex-OB members (such as John from O’Hare Airport. (Chicago is very flat.) The big three are the ANC, DA and EFF, Vorster and Oswald Pirow) was able to run for However, for a bit of humbling perspective, and they are expected to pull a good 90% of parliament as NP members. (And achieve high we’re not as far off the ground as the topmost all the votes. However, a lot of voters are office, later.) leaves of the average sequoia tree. dissatisfied with them. I, for instance know For some reason Robey Leibrandt seems to Because we’ve spent the month of March that I want to vote against two of them, and at have a hold on the imagination of the Left in packing and unpacking, this letter will be this moment do not want to vote for the re- South Africa. All of the talks, movies and abbreviated. Although my husband and I at- maining big party. (All three of them have writings about him that I encountered was done tended Capricon, there will be no con report. I leadership issues, governance issues, and I by people opposed to him and his purpose – Or will send my comments on the Nebula Award have difficulty in seeing much of a difference to put it differently, I have not come across any short story nominees, but that’s the only cate- in their economic policies, except on how person writing about Robey Leibrandt that gory I’ve had time to read in its entirety. quickly we go full Communism.) wrote about him from a position of admiring In addition to Capricon, I also attended The problem I have is that most of the rest what he planned. C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment of the parties have given me no indication that I am mostly fine – just financially less stable Expo, one of those commercial cons attended they will be any better, except maybe for the than previously – all due to people who did not by about 80,000 people. Capricon was attended newly formed South African Capitalist Party do their work properly. But I should be OK in by fewer than 1,000. Both are genuinely fun, (ZACP). (Not the SACP, which is the Com- the not too distant future. but here’s what I think is the key difference: munists.) I still enjoy the meetings of the local SF You go to C2E2 (and its professionally-run ilk) people – Just that we have known each other for with your friends. You go to Capricon (and Now you know what the AWB long enough to have heard the war stories too similar fan-run cons) to make friends. Not for was leaving to go back to 1864. often. I am finding that at times I am unable to nothing does Windycon, a similar convention, At least Richmond did not have communicate, as the understanding I have of a describe itself as “a family.” Capricon was a loadshedding, though that was lot of things are not shared, and I have found three-day-long conversation. C2E2 was a because they didn’t have elec- that I have to keep my mouth shut about more spectacle. (I went because the Tor publicity tricity. and more, as I am not interested in fighting with department told me to speak at couple of pan- people who have been part of my support struc- els, then took me and my fellow panelists out In the mean time I try to keep my head ture for years. for pizza and beer. I will work for food and down, and carry on. Life at work is currently I wish all of you well. Hoping that the next booze.) OK, and I may actually start work on stuff book you read will be enjoyable. which have been promised to be here real soon now for the past two years. From: Sue Burke March 31, 2019 I have recently read Nigel West’s Chur- 5415 N. Sheridan Road, Apt. 1711, chill’s Spy Files – with particular attention to Chicago IL 60640-1971 the Southern Africa incidents. It was interest- [email protected] ing in may ways, one of which was that I had mount-oregano.livejournal.com shortly before reading the book attended a sueburke.site lecture on some aspects of spying in WW2 in semiosispax.com Southern Africa that covered the incidents from a different angle – mostly concentrating First of all, good wishes to our fearless on the role of the Ossewa Brandwag. (One editor, Joe, for various health problems and translation of it would the ox wagon sentinels solutions. – an Afrikaner paramilitary organization who did not like the British, and looked to the Which continue. See above. Germans.) (By the way, did you know that the OSS Note the new address. My husband and I had an office in Pretoria during WW2? I did have moved. We now live in that iconic kind of not, and still do not know what they did here.) Chicago edifice: a high-rise. Specifically, we’ve rented an apartment in the Park Tower Condo- Probably monitoring affairs in minium, 55 stories, 728 units, and about 1500 As I’ve said again and again, it Portuguese East Africa (Mozam- residents. We’re only four blocks away from indicates a transition from partic- bique). Malcolm Muggeridge our old place in the Edgewater neighborhood at ipant to consumer. worked for MI6 in Delagoa, er the north end of Lincoln Park. Our old apart- Lourenço Marques, that is Mapu- ment was on the ground floor, stuffed between Joe opened the last issue speaking of a YA to then. The OSS also had an two other buildings and a train embankment. disaster on Twitter. Since then it’s grown office in Lhasa, for example; it is My houseplants love the sunshine in their worse: Kosoko Jackson, one of the leaders of mentioned in The Way Back new home because the exterior walls are all the charge against Amelie Wen Zhao’s book, (2010; reviewed in Alexiad V. 12 glass, so it’s basically a vertical greenhouse had his own young adult novel attacked on #1). adapted to human habitation. We’re on the Twitter, and he had to withdraw it. I’m trying — JTM (cheaper) west side and a (cheaper) lower floor, hard not to feel schadenfreude. the 17th, but the views are still splendid. But this kind of destructive pile-on happens Page 18 April 2019 Alexiad too often on social media. I’m convinced that And in the latest Avengers movie, almost the nature of social media both enables and everybody dies — though most of them will of WAHF: encourages bullying because nothing in their course be brought back in the next Avengers Martin Morse Wooster, with various architecture allows anyone or anything to movie, opening shortly. items of interest. control or prevent mob behavior. In fact, a Steve Fahnestalk and Patrick McCray, lack of controls means greater profits for the Oh, the embarrassment! with thanks. corporations owning those media. So mobs of Marc Schirmeister, whose poctscard was all sorts attack targets of all sorts – QAnon is I can understand why Michael Palin and hideously maimed by the Postal Service. attacking Sebastian Gorka right now. (I do Christopher Nolan would receive honors from I’m sorry about the whole thing, Schirm. feel schadenfreude.) These mobs can cause the British government, but why Philip Pull- financial harm and physical danger, and noth- man? For undermining the Anglican Church? ing can protect you if you draw their ire for Sue Burke: “Spanish has changed less over any real or imagined reason. time than English has.“ Does anybody have any We have a problem. The YA Twitterati or idea why? the New Zealand mass murderer are merely I’ve had a soft spot for Amadis of Gaul, ever symptoms, like inflamed lymph nodes in a since I learned it was Don Quixote’s favorite bubonic plague victim. And we have no anti- novel. biotics. You may not make any money off them, but every book you write is another message in a I had to delete a picture of bottle to the future. myself on Facebook because someone started spewing child- I just published another novel. molestation accusations. I know too much about that sort of Tim Lane: Glad your legs are feeling a little thing. bit better. “Cultural appropriation” is just a scam to Meanwhile, on a lighter note, Taras undermine artistic freedom. If I buy a jacket Wolansky asked what the fight was about just like yours, that’s imitation, not appropria- regarding autonomous cars at Windycon 45. tion. If I steal your jacket, now that is appropria- Mostly it was about safety, independence, tion. surveillance, and reliability, as well as practi- George W. Price: “Blacks in Africa rarely cality. Thank you to Joy V. Smith for the wear afros”. In a couple of recent movies and congratulations. George W. Price, yes, the loss TV shows, I’ve noticed that an Afro is treated as of bookpost has done a lot of harm to book a sign of nerdiness, like a pocket protector. So sales because mail is no longer an affordable perhaps it’s going out of style here as well. international option. Lloyd Penney, I agree, Back when I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy, too many tasks are being assigned to phones, there was a funny scene in which the main Fear and Loathing in Dallas and phones are far from affordable for all, and character, who is white, is out with her adopted are not exactly intuitive to use. African baby, and another white woman keeps . . . the rain had struggled to wash away the staring at them. She starts to make a scene miasma of prejudice and bigotry perpetrated by I have been getting those about racism, until a black colleague explains to the fat swine, bloated on their oil money, and “We’ve been trying to contact her that what that woman was staring at is the the degenerate descendants of the cowboys you regarding your extended baby’s hair, which her white mother is horribly who did their bidding. The President was automobile warranty” calls on my mismanaging. going to thrust his head into these great grind- cell phone. Too many people have John Hertz: I consider being surprised by a ers of jaws in a hope of reviving the fortunes of just quit answering their tele- book or a movie or TV show a rare privilege. his policy. phones. This puts a decided For example, I was fortunate enough to see The National Observer had sent me down crimp in my efforts at reaching Masaki Kobayashi’s Hara Kiri (1962) without to this pesthole in order to report on the visit. out to find members of my fam- knowing what it was about, so I could be as Fortified by some uppers and half a bottle of ily. stunned by developments as the characters in Jim Beam, I was standing on the curb in this —JTM the story. The oddball superhero movie, Han- dinky island of green surrounded by melting cock, starring Will Smith, is another film by asphalt which they fancied was a park when it From: Taras Wolansky April 1, 2019 which I was delighted to be surprised. happened. Post Office Box 698, Kerhonkson, NY In prose, Richelle Mead’s “Vampire Acad- Three shots rang out, and in the tumult I 12446-0698 USA emy“ hexalogy pulls off some great surprises. In raced across the street to the site of their origin. [email protected] one case in particular she plants a clue as appar- There had been a rifle visible in the window of ently nothing more than an unimportant bit of the building and I presumed it was just another Thanks for Alexiad #103. character detail; then, four books later, a door redneck saying “hey looka this!” Joe: “The popular movies are superhero swings open, the characters’ jaws drop, and so A slimy little man was coming out the door comic movies, most of which seem to involve do the readers’. when I came up to it, and I thought I could massive destruction that never kills anyone.“ make out a whiff of gunpowder. I drew my For better or worse, this Comics-Codeish As Chekov said, “If in the first .357, stuck it up his nostril, and said, “Not so approach no longer seems to be the rule. In act you have hung a phaser on the fast!” Batman v Superman (2016), for example, wall, then in the following one it Instantly we were surrounded by large Bruce Wayne is out for vengeance for the should be fired.” menacing thugs in official blue uniforms with deaths of his employees in a battle between — JTM badges, and I was handcuffed and taken away. Superman and his nemesis, General Zod (in About six that evening my lawyer Dr. the previous Superman movie). Gonzo came down, forcing his 300-pound Alexiad April 2019 Page 19 body through the narrow corridors of the jail home movie of the shooting, with blood spatter- time he tried to speak on behalf of Commu- which were redolent with the stench of fear ing everywhere as if from some EC comic of the nism. It was interesting watching the mallet from Negroes taken into the cells to be beaten early fifties when they were good. pop up from beneath the judge’s wig and boink with clubs. “You’re free to go,” he said. The prosecution rested and I hoped I could Lee on the head. At the front desk the spiteful little clerk go back to Colorado, but for some reason they The prosecution repeated its case in brief. handed me back all my possessions, even the presented a defense. The accused had sat They left, their scales chittering as they went revolver, which they had thoughtfully un- through all the testimomy smirking and I wished through the door, and Dr. Gonzo gave me a loaded, and then said, “Dr. Duke, they’ll take I could have brought my .357 in and finished couple of peyote buttons to get me through to you out the back door.” the job . . . dinner. His face seemed to be melting, turning into In the morning the jury foreman announced the visage of a lizard, as he issued this threat- . . . his defense had been simple but brilliant, all the verdict. He was really a giant stork and his ening ukase. No doubt the police would shoot the evidence was forged or lies. I would have to long beak shook at Lee as he sentenced him to me while I was trying to escape, or something ask and find out what he was taking and where a burning. I imagined him being strapped to a of the sort. Dr. Gonzo said, “What’s the mat- he got it. rack, being basted with barbecue sauce by two ter?” This was followed by the testimony of the giant Mexicans who were turning the rack over “The press is packed ten-deep out front.” inhabitants of a mental institution who had a mesquite fire, but it turned out they meant he Lynched by the newspapers or shot by the escaped somehow. They saw an army of gun- would be executed in the electric chair. police, now that was a choice. We allowed men and I wondered how I had escaped being I went back to my hotel room, finished off ourselves to be escorted out back, where we shot. the bottle of Cuevas, popped a couple of up- were stuffed into the back seat of a police car The next batch of lunatics accused everyone pers, and began writing . . . and taken at high speed to a motel. except the men’s room at Freddy’s Bar & Grill. The news was not good. The President Most of those people couldn’t plan their way . . . Over the next few years I tried to forget had been killed by the sniper, whose smirky out of a paper bag. I did make some notes about this. The television wouldn't let me, and I face I recognized instantly. For some reason the hot drugs the spies were using so I could try often had to peg a few shots in the direction of they were exulting about how quickly he had some. some drug-crazed madman who had a new been captured, thanks to the intervention of a The jury was out about three-quarters of an theory about "what really happened". passerby. hour. After the guilty verdict, I managed to ask They were dragging out the appeals, spend- I took six Miltowns in an effort to become one about how hot and unpleasant it must have ing thousands of their own dollars on promot- a man in a gray flannel suit and drifted off into been in the jury room. It turned out that most of ing their theories, which money would have sleep . . . the delay was the lineup for the john. paid for good drugs. Often I would see a report After writing my day’s report I found a bar of one that was highlighted by small chittering . . . there is nothing more depraved than a man that sold raw tequila and had a bottle, with things pouring out of the screen and trying to in the throes of an ether binge. That was what cocaine around the rim of the glass instead of eat me. I had to buy a lot of televisions. I had to do in order to endure the pains of salt. Once the big ugly scary beast got out from They were warming up for the tenth anni- being made to testifly. under the bed so I could shoot it, things were all versary when it happened. Those great am- Once I had spoken my piece I could sit in right and I drifted off to sleep. bling greaseballs in Washignton who covered the courtroom and do my reporting first-hand However we had to all go back the next their inhumanity in black robes issued a legal but as a witness I could not be there until then. week for a sentencing hearing. For some reason diktat. I wondered what they were taking, and I had written up the previous days’ testimony, an old west lynching was off the table, which fortified myself with two blotter papers before stoking my fires with alternate binges of was a pity as it would have made big money, reading the decision. cocaine and uppers, based on the reports. replacing a soap opera. But that sort of off-hand The demon that rose up out of the paper Then I was called. I said to myself, “Re- justice was apparently reserved for Negroes. went away once I ran it over with the car, and member, be quiet, be calm, say nothing, speak Dr. Gonzo predicted the man would get the I managed to make some sense of the thing. only when spoken to: name, recall of events, death penalty and life without parole. When I Apparently all death sentences were unconsti- nothing else, ignore this terrible drug, pretend pointed out the contradiction there he said, “It’s tutional. How they would raise the dead from it’s not happening . . .” the legal system. What do you expect?” prison cemeteries was another matter, and I had There is no way to explain the terror I felt After a truly spectacular amphetamine binge some cocaine while thinking about this. when I finally began to testify: “My name is . we fought our way through the giant eye-eating The next morning's news showed that little . . ah, Raoul Duke, yes . . .” plants that had sprung up around the courthouse shit Lee giving the high-sign, and saying he As the prosecutor’s face melted and turned and bullied our way into seats behind the defen- was vindicated. I started looking into sniper into that of a lizard with great grisly fangs and dant, so close I could smell the cheap oil they rifles better than that piece of Italian trash he a flicking tongue I recounted the story of why used on his hair. . . . had had . . . I had been there that day. Eventually the inquisition came to an end. . . . the testimony on that little worm Lee’s — Not by Hunter S. Thompson Then the defense attorney, who had some- behalf had been divided. His wife had cried, in how acquired the face of a bloated pig, asked bouts of broken English and shaky Russian, that a few absurdities about how I had managed to she couldn’t raise her children alone. His moth- read minds, was I a bourgeois, and what was er, who seemed to have been released from the I appreciate all the concern about my my relationship to a man named Ruby who pigsty, said that her dear boy couldn’t possibly health. I keep on getting reminded about how had been arrested for brandishing a gun in a have done that. Those animal tranquilizers can my mother died. This is not reassuring. Dallas police station. do strange things. The floor opened up and revealed a shaft The asylum inmates took the stand next. to hell and I walked around it on edge, taking Drooling from the bouts of Thorazine they a seat in the press section. The court then needed to exist, they repeated how everyone adjourned for lunch. else was guilty. Over the next few days a procession of fat Finally, Lee himself spoke on his behalf. He fascist police types testified to various inci- ran through the litany of how he had been dents. They showed someone’s grotesque framed. The judge slapped him down every Page 20 April 2019 Alexiad

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