Vol. 18 No. 1 February 2019 ALEXIAD (!7+=3!G) $2.00 NASA has made the official announcement. The Mars rover Printed on February 22, 2019 Opportunity is officially dead. When it landed on Mars it was Deadline is April 1, 2019 supposed to last six months. It stopped transmitting fifteen years later, killed by a dust storm. NASA hoped that when the storm Reviewer’s Notes passed it would be able to recharge its solar panels but it never transmitted again. When humans finally make it to Mars perhaps “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” we will find it and either make it work again or put it in a museum if the dust storm did not destroy it. The YA book Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao will not be coming — Lisa out. It seems that, based on comments by readers of advanced reader copies, the book presented an undesirable image of slavery. Table of Contents Given trends in YA fiction, it was probably another tale of Editorial...... 1 Actiongirl Unlikelyname struggling against a society designed to make Reviewer’s Notes ...... 1 teens angsty. This need not be the case, but sadly so often it isn’t. What is bothersome, though, is that Zhao was intimidated into Masquerade...... 3 withdrawing the book before publication because of bitter and vicious Them Bones...... 2 criticism on Twitter. Worldcon News...... 9 The argument is complex, influenced by such factors as Zhao’s cultural background and literary requirements. What is simple is that Book Reviews this is prior restraint censorship. And how easy it has been to whip up JTM West, Churchill’s Spy Files ...... 5 a mob! JTM Blum, In the Enemy’s House ...... 5 The YA Hugo Award (or whatever) may soon have nothing to be JTM Fagone, The Woman Who Smashed Codes ...... 6 given to. JTM Johnson/Bova, Rescue Mode ...... 4 JTM Larson, An Empire of Ice ...... 7 They say that SF is now the mainstream, and point to the most JTM Milton, Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare . . . 6 popular movies as proof thereof. But the popular movies are superhero JTM Nuttall, Heinlein In Reflection ...... 4 comic movies, most of which seem to involve massive destruction that JTM Trower/Hubbard, The Hammer and the Anvil ...... 4 never kills anyone. Now superheroes are connected; from Philip Wylie’s Gladiator (1930) to Sigel & Schuster (who might or might not Con Reports have read it). Perhaps there’s some inspiration for Captain America in LK Archon 42 ...... 8 there, too. LK ICON 43 ...... 8 But they seem to be putting out the sizzle and ignoring the steak. LK InConJunction 38...... 7 Even the films based on Philip K. Dick’s works seem more interested in action than in his view of the world as not as it seems. Will they Random Jottings ...... 2 ever do Ubik (1966), Time out of Joint (1958), or The World Jones Made (1954), much less Solar Lottery (1954)? But recall, John Carter Letters ...... 10 (2012) had all sorts of publicity problems (see John Carter and the Sue Burke, John Hertz, Timothy Lane, Lloyd Penney, AL du Pisani, Gods of Hollywood (2012; reviewed in Alexiad V. 12 #2) for more), George W. Price, John Purcell, Joy V. Smith, Dale Speirs, Taras and because it was based on a public-domain work, couldn’t get the Wolansky usual backup of action figures and the like. Consider why “Joe Bob Briggs” [John Bloom] liked B-movies. Comments are by JTM or LTM They may not be so well-made or well-acted, but they are the product of a single vision. An A-list movie has the producer, the director, the Trivia: ...... 16 stars, the financiers, the executive producer, the important outside groups . . . and so something intellectually bland and simple results. Art: What we would like to see and what the film industry does are so Sheryl Birkhead ...... 9 often so disjoint. Paul Gadzikowski ...... 16 Alexis A. Gilliland...... 3, 4, 7 — Joe Trinlay Khadro ...... 2 Page 2 February 2019 Alexiad

May 16-19. (Unfortunately for Heinlein, as you can see, RANDOM JOTTINGS Will he wear mirrorshades to the presenta- the original Greek of Revelation is ©ξακ σιοι ©ξ by Joe tion? κοντα ªξ [hexakosioi hexēkonta hex], “six hundred sixty six” spelled out in words, not put I tried to read a book titled In The Evil Day: in numerals which could be interpreted as Violence Comes to One Small Town by Rich- powers of numbers.) ard Adams Carey (2015; University Press of New England; ISBN 978-1-61168-715-6). I MONARCHICAL NEWS really did. After several chapters of describing what various people in the small New Hamp- There is of all things a movement in Russia, shire town of Colebrook did, I started wonder- the Double-Headed Eagle, which is floating the ing if “Richard Adams Carey” wasn’t a pseud- idea of making Vladimir Putin Tsar Vladimir, onym for David Weber. The part where he Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. described the operation of an ancient printing press that the local weekly newspaper used, for IT’S . . . Michael Palin, now Sir Michael example, is stylistically suggestive. However, Palin, KCMG, CBE, FRGS, in the New Year’s he didn’t get into describing in full detail the Honours. Sir Michael received a Companion- political opinons of the people involved, so ship of the Order of the British Empire in 2000 Buy my books. (All available on probably not. for service to television, and is being made a Amazon.com for quite reasonable prices, There is a tragic and bloody story buried in Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael except the Hugo-nominated Heinlein’s Chil- all this. Carl Drega, a local landowner, had and St. George for his work in expanding dren, which can be bought from NESFA for a dumped fill into a local river to restore his geographic knowledge with his many docu- reasonable price.) property or divert the river, depending on who mentaries and service as President of the Royal — Advt. you talked to. On August 19, 1997 he drove Geographical Society. into town and shot and killed two police offi- Let us hope the ceremony doesn’t end with Apparently, John Smith, the maker of cers, stole the police car of one, drove to the a huge foot stamping down. Wholock (the cleverly made meeting of Sher- newspaper and shot and killed a judge, then Also honoured was Philip Pullman, who lock and the Doctor; reviewed in Alexiad V. killed the newspaper publisher who was trying was knighted, and Christopher Nolan, script- 13 #1) is now a special effects technician on to take the gun away from him. writer, producer, and director of Dunkirk and Doctor Who. Well, that’s one way to make He fled, was run to ground, and was killed in the Dark Knight movies, who was made CBE your demo. a gunfight. Three other police were wounded in for his filmic work. the process. Wholock It doesn’t help that Carey describes Drega’s Monseigneur Prince Henri d’Orléans, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3bGYljQ5Uw&t=14s actions and mental state during the incident. Comte de Paris and Orleanist claimant to the Either he’s going too far making things up or is French throne, died in Paris on January 21, On December 6, Colin O’Brady finished a powerful telepath and needs to have a talk 2019. He had been preparing to go to the the crossing of the Antarctic continent, solo, with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry’s memorial Mass for Louis XVI, felt unwell and unassisted, and without a sail. This is getting Center for Inquiry (the Randi Million Dollar canceled, and then died. He was born near pretty picky (i.e. he stopped at the beginning Prize has been discontinued). Brussels on June 14, 1933 and became claim- of the Ross Ice Shelf, not the coast) but he had ant upon the death of his father in 1999. He a Tom Crean moment, finishing his journey Reports have been issued arguing that the was succeeded in the claim by his oldest sur- with a nonstop trek of 80 miles. newly discovered planet of Barnard’s Star could viving son, Jean, Duc de Vendôme. His Henry Worsley’s partner Louis Rudd support life. Oh no! The Medusae are coming, funeral was February 2 at the royal chapel in finished the crossing two days later. O’Brady and we haven’t done a thing to develop Dreux. and Rudd had to wait two more days to be AKKA!!! We’re doomed! The Orleanist claim stems from the descent picked up. (They had flown in on the same from King Louis-Philippe, King of the French plane and flew out on the same plane.) ωδε º σοφ α ¦στ ν: Ò §χων νο ν ψηφισ (1773-1850; r. 1830-1848). It is contested by τω τÎν •ριθµÎν το θηρ ου, •ριθµÎς γρ the Legitimist claim of Louis Alphonse de If you try to climb Mount Everest without •νθρ που ¦στ ν: καÂ Ò •ριθµÎς αÛτο Bourbon, Duc d’Anjou, the descendant of a permit, you can incur a ten-year ban from ©ξακ σιοι ©ξ κοντα ªξ. Alfonso XIII of Spain and of Francisco Franco ALL climbing in Nepal. This includes climb- [Here is wisdom. Let him that hath un- (who is still dead). ing Everest from the Chinese side, then going derstanding count the number of the down the Nepalese side. The permit costs beast: for it is the number of a man; and NOW HEAR THE WORD $11,000. (For the historically minded, that his number is Six hundred threescore Commentary by Joseph T Major of means Mallory would have to pay £192 and and six.] THEM BONES Hillary £412, adjusting for inflation and the by Howard Waldrop exchange rates.) Does this mean we now have Phoenix Pick is publishing the first versionof (1984) to say, “Because it is there and I have a spare The Number of the Beast, with the approval and two hundred quid.”? involvement of the Heinlein Trust. The title Waldrop is known for alternate history used will be Six-Six-Six and it will come out in stories that are more amusing than speculative: William Gibson, the leading figure of November 2019. This would appear to be the “Custer’s Last Jump” (1976), “Save a Place in cyberpunk, author of the Hugo and Nebula book referred to in the New Heinlein Opus List the Lifeboat for Me” (1976), “The Ugly Chick- winning novel Neuromancer (1984), has been as G.183, which is also referred to as The Galle- ens” (1980), and “Ike at the Mike” (1982) for named an Damon Knight Grand Master by ons of God and The Panki-Barsoom Number of example. SFWA, for “lifetime achievement in science the Beast. It is therefore a bit surprising that his AH fiction and/or fantasy.” The presentation will novel would be serious and insightful, not to be at the Nebula Awards Ceremony in Wood- http://www.phoenixpick.com mention worked out. But so it is. land Hills, California during the weekend of The narrative runs in three threads, but the Alexiad February 2019 Page 3 beginning point is an anomaly; a horse’s is going to bury her diary and the computer “Mundus decipit, Count,” they told skeleton found buried in a thirteenth-century records in a sealed box for future generations. him, “is the old pious motto of Poict- Mound People mound. As is obvious, this is The party will hold out to the last round and esme: it signifies that the affairs of this too late to be an indigenous horse and too then shoot themselves, the alternative being less world are a vain fleeting show, and that soon to be an imported one. pleasant. You can guess what happened after- terrestrial appearances are nowhere of The setting is an excavation site in Louisi- wards from the description of the burial mound. any particular importance.” ana, at a place with the suggestive name of Oh yes, there was the one officer who was a “Then your motto is green inexper- Suckatoncha Bayou. The archaeologists are Latter-Day Saint. He deserted, taking with him ience,” said Manuel, “and for me to not going to have any aid like finding a not only provisions but a set of maps showing bear it would be black ingratitude.” periodic table of the elements; they merely run the way to what would become New York state, So the writing had been changed in into problems. Like the horse’s head having and several brass plates. Er, right. accordance with his instruction, and it a bullet wound, complete with cartridge case now read Mundus vult decipi. found in the vicinity. The scout ends up communicating with the — Figures of Earth, James Branch Cabell On top of this, the site is in the Mississippi people who sent him. Not positively, and he River flood plain, and has to be excavated informs them he is going to throw grenades If any of his marks had put to the test the before it gets flooded out. Which gets harder back to the future to destroy the equipment. goose-feather Dom Manuel had modestly used when they discover a funerary mound, which Stargate Command never had such problems. to hint at his importance, he could have under- has the presumed honoree buried in the upper Back at the mounds, as the site floods, at the gone an interesting transformation; perhaps cut level, and below him a ring of beheaded last moment the archaeologists discover the box. into pieces and buried in various sites about the corpses, with their heads buried one level The computer disks (how 1980's) have deterio- city. down below. rated into uselessness, not that they would In 1983 Dr. W. Alan Canty of Detroit understand what they were anyway, but the (Grosse Pointe, technically) was a successful The second thread begins the explanation. diary has survived, albeit in need of careful and prominent man. He was a devoted, hard- There is a time-travel project going on, with restoration. working psychologist. He would see patients the expectation of trying to change history and at any hour of the day. He was supportive of keep humanity from being destroyed due to I have raised the point before about science his wife Jan’s desire to have a career of her plagues and nuclear war. Nobody there read fiction being more realistic than mundane own, and a loving son to his mother Gladys, “Aristotle and the Gun” (L. Sprague de Camp, fiction. The preferred example is the difference who affectionately called him by his childhood Astounding Science Fiction, February 1958) beween Neanderthal by John Darnton (1996) nickname of “Buster”, for all that he would evidently. and Almost Adam by Petru Popescu (1996) on turn fifty soon. Their plan is to send a man back to the the one hand and Ancient of Days by Michael Perhaps most noteworthy was his work on thirties to scout out the country, then send a Bishop (1985) and Orphan of Creation (1998, autism. His theory was that one cause was team to introduce the right kind of technology, 2000, 2010) by Roger MacBride Allan on the repressed anger towards parents, and his solu- and bring about a more suitable result to the other. In the first books, the “mundane” ones, tion was to lead the patient through violent path of history. The scout finds himself in a the discovered prehumans are left alone. It psychodramas. His Project Indianwood sought pre-Columbian America; he had been afraid seems to take off from the standards of thriller to lead the children through this, to work out he would materialize in a B-25, which would fiction, where the wonder had to be shut off their pain, and he recounted his successes in his explode to their mutual assured destruction. from further reality, as in The Moon Pool (1919) book Theraupetic Peers: The Story of Project The Native Americans are initially hostile, and the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). In the Indianwood (1976). but by being willing to learn, instead of being “science fiction” ones, the discovery of the John Carl Fry, also of Detroit, was none of the Great White God with powers and abilities prehumans makes a difference in society. these things. He had been in and out of prison far beyond those of mortal men (as far as they The “difference” that the reading of the several times. He was devoid of any working know), he becomes accepted. It helps that he diary will make is not specified, though it is skills or even desires. He had departed his doesn’t make any social gaffes (cf. “The Man clear that there will be one. Waldrop lets the family rather abruptly the last time they had Who Came Early” (Poul Anderson, F&SF, reader imagine what will happen next. been together, after his brother had been found June 1956) or “Eutopia” (Poul Anderson, shot in the head under questionable circum- Dangerous Visions, 1967)). Fortunately, one FIGURES OF EARTH stances. His nickname of “Lucky” seems to of the locals speaks Greek and fortuitously he Commentary by Joseph T Major of have come from the sort of experiences which does too. It’s not our time-line and maybe the MASQUERADE lead to a dog with three legs, one eye, half an scout should keep an eye out for the Paratime by Lowell Cauffiel ear, and mange being called “Lucky”. Police. (1988) He did have one asset. Perhaps literally. Only, it turns out that not all the Native “Pimp” does not quite describe Fry’s status, Americans are simple people living in har- since he did not have bling, a piece, and fine mony with the environment (something about clothes. He had something else to spend the human sacrifice does not appeal to him), and money on. He had one asset. the scout is forced to use his superior equip- Dawn Marie Spens had been a good girl ment to turn the tide. gone bad, to evoke a cliché. She had started going around with dubious compions, and The third thread deals with the main party. taking drugs. When she got the chance, she They are in yet another pre-Columbian Amer- fled to Detroit, there to become a sex worker. ica, and the Native Americans gradually turn Which rather dignifies her status as a cheap hostile. While the initial chapters are the whore in a bad district. And her money went diary of an expedition member, the narrative to Lucky, who had a use for it. ends up shifting to a mere troop count, with an Then Dawn found a customer who was occasional note on how they are negatively generous. Profoundly generous. He paid $250 impacting the indigenes. for Dawn’s bail of $200 when she was picked The final chapter has the diarist explaining “What means this Greek?” Dom up on a prostitution charge, except she had their plans. They will be overrun soon, so she Manuel had asked. already got out. Page 4 February 2019 Alexiad

His gifts continued and expanded. He Jan Canty changed her name, remarried, and sufficiently that it does not break apart entering bought Dawn a nice coat, a fancy color TV, remained silent on the matter for thirty years. orbit. One of the astronauts has cancer and his and other desirable things, all of which had a Lucky Fry died of hepatitis in prison. And safe return may be impossible. Back on Earth rather brief tenure at their residence. incredibly, Dawn Spens gave up prostitution there is the disturbing issue of continuing or Cauffiel estimates that by 1984 Dawn and and drugs, got married, and settled down to an not; unpleasant trends, so to speak. And then Lucky were spending $1000 a day on drugs. ordinary life. there was the case of the astronaut’s wife and At one point Lucky had $1200 stolen from his Mundus vult decipi. “The world wishes to child who were squashed by a truck. The trousers, having taken them off to get an be deceived.” W. Alan Canty deceived himself problems aren’t just mechanical, so to speak. injection in his buttocks. He laughed it off. into believing that he was a great autism coun- As the Mars One approaches the red planet, (As an example, when Raoul Duke and Dr. selor and that Dawn Spens was a good girl at the astronauts have to make a crucial decision. Gonzo went to Las Vegas (Fear and Loathing heart who just needed one last bit of cash to get The resolution has that certain Frau im Mond in Las Vegas (1971)), they spent $300 on away from her pimp. Lucky Fry believed that touch about it. drugs and liquor. That was for the two of Dawn’s customer would pay for their dope Johnson and Bova have recounted a begin- them for four days, and they had some left forever. And Dawn . . . it’s hard to say. ning, a promise of wonders to come. Two vets over. That was the equivalent of $770 in Reading this leaves one with an ugly per- of writing about the real space program and 1984.) spective about drugs. They seemed to absorb doing it speculate about what might happen Dawn, meanwhile, was treated for an everything about Fry; he would do anything for next. As Clarke said, “The truth, as always, abcess in her thigh; one that might have another fix and anything he got went to it. His will be far stranger.” spread into a vein, and thence to her heart, addiction took over his life, which admittedly killing her. After treatment for the infection, had never been much to begin with. LIKE BROTHER, LIKE BROTHER she refused wound treatment. The open What would he do if drugs were legalized, Review by Joseph T Major of wound made it easier to inject drugs. and reduced in price? From his behavior, likely THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL: A minor point might be Lucky’s tendency take even more, until it killed him. 1944-1963 . . . A Story of What Might Have towards defilement. One of his tattoos was of Been . . . Tweety from the Warner Brother cartoons, LIEUT. GULLAVAR JONES: HIS by David Trower & Jeremy Hubbard and often his explanation for where money VACATION (2018; Amazon Digital Services; $2.99) had gone was “Tweety wanted a drink.” Review by Joseph T Major of In 1985 the customer visited both of them. RESCUE MODE There were words, and Lucky hit him in the by Les Johnson and Ben Bova back of the head with a baseball bat, killing (2014; Baen Books; him. This was inconvenient. They cut up the ISBN 978-1476736471; $25.00; body and left the parts buried in various places Baen (Kindle); $5.38) around Michigan. This did not work well, and they were soon arrested. Lieut. Gullavar Jones: His Vacation (1905) For the murder of Dr. W. Alan Canty. He is considered an unacknowledged predecessor to had used a pseudonym while soliciting sex. A Princess of Mars (1917). A disconsolate Then the world of Dr. Canty came apart. American naval officer, stuck behind a backlog He had been borrowing heavily from his of higher-ranks, is walking down a street in mother. He had sold various valuables from New York City when he nearly gets hit by a his house, including a very good coin collec- man falling from the sky. He ends up getting a tion. At the time of his death he was over- carpet that was with the fellow, and upon ex- drawn at the bank. pressing some despair at the prospects of pro- All to give to Dawn, paying their drug motion, is engulfed in it, and by the time he gets The idea was interesting: What if Joseph P, habit. free, he is on Mars. (He had wished he were “in Kennedy, Jr. wasn’t blown up over the English After a brief psychological problem, Canty Mars”, which one would think would be fatal.) Channel, but had survived the war and gone on had begun seeing a counselor himself. He had After various intriguing and romantic encoun- to fulfill his father’s political dreams? He was finally opened up; he realized that the whole ters, he is returned to Earth (where, presumably, not quite the man his brother would be, having relationship was a sham and they were using he is investigated for being Absent Without for example gone to Spain to observe on the him to pay for their drug habits. He was Leave). He did not science the shit out of things Nationalist side. There would be a lot of going to leave Dawn . . . after one final con- while he was there, much less grow potatoes. potential in such a career. frontation. In 2035, the somewhat-prosaically named Add to this what the authors do have hap- Then there came the final shock. Project Mars One mission is launched with a multina- pening, a rather painful experience in a German Indianwood was a total sham. The book had tional crew of eight. Problems arise both on the prisoner of war camp, and there is promise for been published by a vanity press. There were ship and back on Earth. In accordance with the an interesting additional conflict, though one no patients; only monitors who read the vio- “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” rule, costcutters in hopes not as bad as in William Peter Grasso’s lent stories as Dr. Canty listened. (They were Congress have called the entire concept of the Unpunished (2011; reviewed in Alexiad V. 11 all young women; there’s something peculiar mission into question, and stand ready to termi- #3), with its dirty political story of murder and about this.) nate the program at the slightest misstep. Such manipulation. It’s surprising that this hadn’t come out as, for example, the meteoroid that hits the However, they don’t do anything with this. before; parents of autistic children were spaceship and cripples it. Add to this a conflict Instead, JPK finds himself in charge during the desperate for anything that would be of help. between the commander and his number one, Cuban Missile Crisis, faced with the sort of This may explain the credulity of antivaccina- who thinks himself more qualified for the mis- problem that was fortunately averted in our tion people, explaining autism as the result of sion, and there’s problems in space. (At least time-line. A promising idea, but mishandled. a reaction to immunizations. the personal relationships work out fairly well Fry was convicted and got a jail term; and there’s no issues with one astronaut having MIRROR, MIRROR fortunately for him, Michigan did not and still an affair with another one’s wife.) Review by Joseph T Major of does not have the death penalty. Dawn got The conflict proceeds on several levels. In HEINLEIN IN REFLECTION: probation. space, there is the problem of repairing the ship Robert A. Heinlein in the 21st Century Alexiad February 2019 Page 5

by Christopher G. Nuttall three men waited and trembled. This book is troller. Later on, he was the back channel to (2019; Amazon Digital Services; $1.00) the story of the two Americans who had been the Soviet government during the Cuban Mis- responsible for the event that would take place sile Crisis, and in 2003 brought out The Man This is a brief set of essays on most of that night, and yet regretted it. Behind the Rosenbergs, which one would think Heinlein’s books. (There were some he just In 1944, at the requisitioned girls’ school of would have been a sufficient persuader. (Even couldn’t bring himself to read.) The com- Arlington Hall, near Arlington Cemetery and the confession of Morton Sobell, the Rosen- ments are a combination of personal reflection not far from the new Pentagon, an officer began bergs’ co-conspirator, in 2018 doesn’t seem to and historical study. pondering treachery towards an ally. Or, some have done that for some people.) Nuttall examines the consistent themes might say, treachery of an ally. Lamphere was disillusioned by his failure. that exist in Heinlein’s books, the foremost There had been rumors of a separate peace He left the FBI and went to work at the Veter- being his absolute detestation of slavery. This between the Nazis and the Soviet Union. (To ans Administration. Gardner was dismayed at in turn leads to a defense of Heinlein against get an idea of what that might be like, read what he had facilitated, but continued to toil in accusations of racism. He also discusses Robert Conroy’s Himmler’s War (2011; re- silence until his retirement. various other issues, such as his portrayal of viewed in Alexiad V. 10 #6).) By way of prepa- There are still people who doubt the reli- women, in which he finds both positives and ration, Meredith Gardner began to attack Soviet ability of the decryptions. Some even think negatives. cryptosystems. they were forged. But then, there are people After discussing the books, Nuttall has The war ended without Soviet treachery. who think the world is an elaborate hoax. commentary on the running themes, and the Nevertheless, he persisted, and soon found an portrayals of various topics. He has a very amazing stroke of luck; the duplication of one- REPORTS FROM THE CIRCUS nuanced discussion of the presentation of time pads that led to the decryption effort that Review by Joseph T Major of these ideas, and points out the conditions was called BRIDE then and VENONA now. CHURCHILL’S SPY FILES: under which he had to operate. That is, Code names began to emerge from the MI5's Top-Secret Wartime Reports Nuttall examines Heinlein in his time, not by jumbles of letters. There was ALES, who after by “Nigel West” [Rupert Allason] the standards of other eras. Things change as the Potsdam Conference had gone on to Mos- (2018; The History Press; time passes, and today’s viewpoints may be cow. There was MLAD, who seemed to be a ISBN 978-0750985499; $32.95; seen as being just as bad by future eras. good source in ENORMOZ. Overseas there Amazon Digital Services; $9.99) He is not afraid to label a book as less than was STANLEY, who seemed to be getting perfect. One has but to look at his perspective people into nice messes. What did Churchill see then? on Time Enough for Love (1973; NHOL And there was LIBERAL, whose wife As a inquisitive, piercing sort he was curi- G.171), which echoes Jo Walton’s comment ETHEL did not work because of health. But ous about what the Security Service, also that if the book had been broken up into its who was LIBERAL? known as MI5, and affectionately nicknamed separate stories and they had been published Enter the Gang Busters, hunting criminals in “The Circus”, was doing to foil German agents separately, Heinlein would have swept the peace and war. More precisely, William Lam- in the country, and control those they con- Hugos. Still, he finds that “The Tale of the phere, a senior FBI Agent, who unlike his boss trolled. After long prodding, Sir David Petrie, Adopted Daughter” is one of the most tragic presumably would not discount a decrypted the Director-General of the Security Service, and most profound of the parts. message because he didn’t like the courier’s decided to give the Prime Minister a monthly I would question his judgment on Pod- lifestyle. memorandum with such reports. kayne of Mars (1962, 1963. 1990; NHOL The G-Men began to search. LIBERAL had This book contains those reports, the depic- G.147); for all that Podkayne is the title char- meetings with agents at certain times, including tion of what Churchill was told about spies. acter and narrator, her brother Clark is the one called KALIBR. The pieces came together. Just by itself, it illuminates that part of the war; protagonist. He is the one who is changed by KALIBR was a machinist at the Manhattan we can now read what they were doing then, the events of the novel. (And he apparently Project named David Greenglass. His sister was without knowing what would come next. never found an affordable copy of Heinlein’s Ethel — then Greenglass, now Rosenberg. But beyond that, West gives context. He Children. Sigh.) Now that they had a suspect, the FBI could explains who was doing things and what, more The day I got this was the day of the move in. They made their case, called the than the sparse contents of the reports could do, announcement of the release of Six-Six-Six Rosenbergs in for a few questions, then arrested and with the perspective of time. It helps that (2019; NHOL G.183). It’s a worthwhile lead- them. he knew personally Dusko Popov (TRICY- in and an introduction to RAH for the lament- Blum does not go into the controversy, then CLE) and was the man who found Juan Pujol ably uninformed Millenial fen. and up to now. (Try The Rosenberg File (1984, Garcia (GARBO) in Venezuela. (Incidentally, 1997) by Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton.) It the reports make Popov to be a most effective CSI: ARLINGTON HALL might be interesting to read his opinion of doublecross agent, even after the FBI fumbled Review by Joseph T Major of Robert Coover’s The Public Burning (1977) (or, the Tricycle Memorandum.) There are tales of IN THE ENEMY’S HOUSE: for that matter, Radosh’s). the colorful safeblower turned spy, Eddie The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Instead, he focuses on the crisis of con- Chapman (ZIGZAG). Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian science that Gardner and Lamphere suffered. As well, less famous and less self-promo- Spies They had seen the VENONA decrypts; they ting doublecross agents feature. There is Wulf by Howard Blum knew that far from the Rosenbergs being the Schmidt, alias Harry Williamson (TATE) who (2018; HarperCollins Publishers; “thieves of the secret of the atom bomb”, they was so cooperative he registered to vote, as a ISBN 978-0525538484; $29.99; were only directors of one effort, and there were Tory. He got disallowed which was a pity, as Harper (Kindle); $13.49) many more there. And, Ethel “did not work”; they needed the votes. she was the mother of two children. Lamphere Month by month we see how MI5 foiled the A jumble of letters; they are deci- recommended this to his boss, and J. Edgar German plots and played them for fools. It phered. A secret trial and sentence of Hoover agreed, passing on a memorandum to makes one think of how their descendants death. the presiding judge, Irving Kaufman. Who played the KGB station in London, once their — The American Black Chamber, Herbert O. nevertheless remained unconvinced. On June agent Oleg Gordievsky got into a high position Yardley 19, 1953, the Rosenbergs were executed. in the KGB residency there. The third concerned man mentioned above Small things like this can lead to a greater As sunset approached on June 19, 1953, was Aleksandr Feliksov, the Rosenbergs’ con- understanding of great things. The British did Page 6 February 2019 Alexiad not need to dispatch a misinformed staff countryside and bought a nice house with the While his wife decrypted messages for the officer to be taken prisoner of war and be money given them by Bacon, it is presumed that Navy (which had taken over the Coast Guard) interrogated by the Gestapo in order to mis- there was no effort to provide them with extra apparently William got into an adventure out lead the Germans about the landings in Europe money for the extra effort required. of, well, Captain Midnight, fighting Nazi (cf. “The Quaker Cannon” by Cyril Kornbluth And seriously, Elizebeth found out that there infiltration into South America. This shows (Analog, August 1961).) They controlled the were so many varions in the typeface that there how efficient the government was, sending a German sources of information in Britain. could not have been a consistent A-font and B- code breaker to do a counterintelligence This book tells us what they were doing. font in the typesetting. It doesn’t seem there agent’s job. was such a message. Elizebeth had had a big, hairy, male man THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS But she was missing human interaction, until placed over her in the Navy decyphering ser- Review by Joseph T Major of she went looking and found a geneticist working vice. She stepped away from the business. THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES: for Fabyan’s organization, studying plants. This Meanwhile, William had started having feel- A True Story of Love, Spies, and the was significant. ings about the cherem by Rabbi Gershom ben Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted Wolfe Friedman was born in Bessarabia. In Judah about reading other people’s private mail America’s Enemies 1892 his family got tired of being persecuted (who did he think he was, Stimson?). Or by Jason Fagone and relocated to the United States, where Wolfe something like that; he became depressed, had (2017; Dey Street Books; became William Frederick Friedman. While shock treatment, got worse again, and eventu- ISBN 978-0062430489; $27.99; having a certain interest in codes, thanks to ally died. HarperCollins (Kindle); $11.49) “The Gold-Bug”, he studied genetics, and ended He is buried in Arlington Cemetery, and his Let me not to the marriage of true mindes up at Fabyan’s institute, where he met a fellow tombstone carries a message in the Baconian Admit impediments, Loue is not loue decipherer. cipher, his initials hidden in a phrase done with Which alters when it alteration findes, There were problems. Fabyan did not want regular and sans-serif letters: Or bends with the remouer to remoue. to lose two key personnel. And the elder Fried- O no! it is an euer-fixed marke mans were horrified that their Wolfchik should KNOWL/EDGE I/S POWER That looks on tempe¥s and is neuer ¬aken; marry a shiksa! babaa/aabab/aabab It is the ¥ar to euery wand’ring barke, Then there came the War to End All Wars. W / F / F Whoƒe worths unknown, although his higth be There was a shortage of decryption personnel, taken. so William F. Friedman became an officer. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2631/william-f_-friedman Loue’s not Times fool, though roƒie lips and cheeks There was another guy doing this, and naturally Within his bending ƒickle’s compaƒs come; they became rivals. Elizebeth continued to cherish his memory Loue alters not with his breefe houres and weekes, When peace was declared, William went to until she herself died. Her ashes are spread on But bears it out euen to the edge of doome. work for the War Department, while Elizebeth his grave. If this be error and upon me proued, went to work for the Coast Guard. Her job was I neuer writ, nor no man euer loued. decrypting smugglers’ messages. A lot of them KEINE ENGLANDSPIEL were monoalphabetic substitutions, which Review by Joseph T Major of — Francis Bacon, Sonnet 116 means that Captain Midnight would have been CHURCHILL’S MINISTRY OF in trouble if Mrs. Friedman was put on his case. UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE: Or so “Colonel” George Fabyan, the (The Code-o-Graph of the Captain Midnight The Mavericks who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat employer of the subject of this work, would radio show is a monoalphabetic substitution by Giles Milton have had us all believe. And it all began when device. We all have to start somewhere.) (2017; Pivador; he went to the Newberry Library in Chicago Then the other guy got fired; something ISBN 978-1250119025; $28.00; and hired, out of the blue, a meek little librar- about not reading other gentlemens’ mail. And Macmillan (Kindle); $9.95) ian who had been trying to find a place for so William F. Friedman became heir to the herself. Her name was Elizebeth Smith. (Her archives of the Black Chamber — and angry This is a vividly-told story of the operations parents had wanted her not to be “Eliza”.) when the former proprietor spilled the beans! of the Special Operations Executive, the British Elizebeth went out to the Rivenbank Insti- Nothing amiss, he set about directing the secret agency which waged asymmetric war- tute, a place where all sorts of things were recreation of the Japanese diplomatic cipher fare against the Axis powers. It focuses on the researched. It was all paid for out of Fabyan’s machines, first their RED machine and then the often eccentric personalities who were drawn pocket. And one of the bees in his bonnet was PURPLE machine. As a result of this last, when into this effort, telling a story of organizing the that those plaies were written by the learned Secretary of State Cordell Hull declared: unorganizable for a systematic effort. and worldly-wise Sir Francis Bacon, not Shak- As such, it is lively, readable, and entertain- spur the illiterate grain-merchant of Stratford. I must say that in all my conversa- ing. It would serve as a good introduction to And Bacon had left a clue. It seemed that tions with you during the last nine the history and means of such irregular war- he had devised a way of sending messages months I have never uttered one word of fare. “omnia per omnia”. One might set up a text, untruth. This is borne out absolutely by There is much lacking in the book. For but have letters of two fonts in it. The letters the record. In all my 50 years of public example, although much is made of the many in one font would be 0, the other would be 1; service I have never seen a document men and women trained in all sorts of irregular, and 00000 would be “a”, 00001 would be “b”, that was more crowded with infamous asymmetric, and ungentlemanly (unladylike) and so on. The guy had discovered binary and falsehoods and distortions — infamous warfare, there are comparatively few stories of didn’t know it. Fabyan decided that the First falsehoods and distortions on a scale so action, and much detail given to organization. Folio of Bacon had the secret message huge that I never imagined until today Even when an action is described, the focus proving his authorship in it, and set Elizebeth that any Government on this planet was is often off. For example, from reading the Smith and others to pick out the two fonts and capable of uttering them. description here of Operation CHARIOT, the read the messages. raid on St. Nazaire, one would think it was an Even the typesetting of the First Folio has . . . he had had time to work up a stinging re- entirely SOE operation, when in fact only three been extensively studied, and theorists iden- sponse, since he had read the Japanese Fourteen SOE operatives participated. tify no fewer than five compositors who set up Point Message before the Japanese emissaries More tellingly, the book focuses on suc- the type. Since none of them retired to the had! (They had a lousy typist.) cess. There is nothing whatsoever about the Alexiad February 2019 Page 7

Englandspiel, Operation NORTH POLE [Fall everything is sold for a dollar. The cheap price about it. All the same, we rearranged some NORDPOL], the German turning of the entire is a great help in running a household but also stuff in the front room to reduce the risk of SOE network in the Netherlands. There is leads to buying things I should not. Perhaps I similar falls in the future. substantial material on this, not only the main am being too hard on myself. Minimalism is On Saturday we headed back to the hotel operator’s memoirs (London ruft Nordpol ; new to me and perhaps it is something I will and dropped in at the con suite to grab some das erfolgreiche Funkspiel der deutschen have to ease into a little bit at a time. Right now, breakfast. Then we headed over to the dealers’ militarischen Abwehr (1951) [London Calling though, I’m a complete failure at this. room and got our tables opened for business. North Pole (1953)] by Hermann J. Giskes) but — Lisa Once we were ready to go, I did some walking the voice crying in the wilderness of the ci- around and met an old dealers’ room neighbor pher expert who determined that Something InConJunction XXXVIII from MidAmericon II, the 2015 Worldcon. We Was Wrong (Between Silk and Cyanide Con report by Leigh Kimmel visited for a few minutes, but the doors were (1998) by Leo Marks). about to open, so I had to cut it short and hurry So, read it with caution. InConJunction is an old-school science back to our shop. fiction convention that’s held every year in Sales continued to be slow, although this is Indianapolis, and is one of the Midwest’s a small convention, so we have to adjust our longest-running science fiction conventions. expectations accordingly. However, I was This year it was held over the weekend of July beginning to have some serious second 6-8, 2018 at the Indianapolis Marriott East, thoughts about whether to continue to buy the which is just down the road from us. We’re so 10x30 setup, as opposed to the 10x20 space close we could actually walk to it, if only the we’d been using in previous years. We simply neighborhood were walkable. weren’t seeing the increased level of sales to Because of the extreme heat, and because justify the additional space. we wanted to have the van in a good position to On the other hand, our emoji masks were load in, we went over to the hotel right after selling quite well for us. In fact, we were lunch on Thursday. We sat around waiting, and running low enough that I decided we really I did a little more writing. needed to buy a lot more of them if we were Then we got word that the dealers’ room going to have enough for our August conven- EX ANTARCTICA SCIENTICA was open for load-in, so we hurried in to find tions. Review by Joseph T Major of our booths and start hauling everything in. As After the dealers’ room closed for the AN EMPIRE OF ICE: would be our luck, it started raining right about evening, we went over to sit at the Royal Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of time we were loading stuff in, which meant Manticorian Navy table for two hours. Since it Antarctic Science having to wrestle with tarps to protect our was so late in the evening, we didn’t get much by Edward J. Larson merchandise, especially the books. We did get traffic, so I spent a good bit of the time work- (2011; Yale University Press; everything in reasonably quickly, and then we ing on my writing. ISBN 978-0300154085; $40.00; started setting up our structures. However, with Afterward we headed home and I made our Amazon Digital Services; $11.99) the larger setup we were doing, we had more to actual supper. Then I went up to the storage put together, so we weren’t anywhere near unit to retrieve some merchandise, and I put in “I’m gonna have to science the shit ready when they shooed us out for the night. an order for those emoji masks. out of this.” Then we headed over to the con suite to see On Sunday we headed back to the hotel for — Mark Watney what might be available. After munching a little, our last day of the convention, wanting to make we headed back home, where I did a couple of it a strong finish. Since the dealers’ room did- One thing that Larson demonstrates here writing challenges on LiveJournal before turn- n’t open until an hour later, we were able to may surprise people. For all his harum-sca- ing in for the night. take a little more time having breakfast in the rum ways, Ernest Shackleton had more scien- On Friday we had to get up early to get back con suite, and could actually enjoy the food tfic research done than Robert Scott did. to the hotel and finish setting up as soon as the and visit with friends. Larson describes the often-glossed-over dealers’ room doors opened. At least this year Then we got our tables uncovered and scientific research programs of the Scott and we didn’t forget a whole bunch of stuff, but we ready for sales. I did a little looking around Shackleton expeditions. It was a great white managed to have some other problems because before we actually opened, visiting with the void and there were all sorts of questions to be we were hurrying so hard. However, we did other dealers and comparing notes on sales. answered. (Running into the buried city “At manage to get everything set up in time, al- When the doors did open, sales remained the Mountains of Madness” was not on the though we didn’t have any time left over to look obstinately slow, cementing my decision to go agenda.) around the dealers’ room. back to the smaller space for the next year and The scientific researches were conducted When the doors opened and the general be more selective in what merchandise to in a variety of fields. Naturally meterology membership started flowing in, we did get some bring. was a prime one, but there was also geogra- sales. However, traffic was relatively slow, In the afternoon we started packing the phy, zoology, cartography, geology, and enough that I had some time to get some reading figurines so we’d be ready to haul things out as vulcanology (the bases being at the foot of done on my phone while I was waiting between soon as the big rollup door opened. However, Mount Erebus was a particular inspiration for customers. Still, Fridays are always slow. with the extreme heat and so much unsold this). Each topic is covered in its own chap- After the dealers’ room closed for the eve- merchandise, I ended up having a lot of trouble ter, which makes the book not exactly linear. ning, we headed over to the con suite to get keeping up the pace of load out, and it seemed some munchies. Then we headed back home for like we were taking forever. We finally man- One of my New Year’s resolutions was a real supper. We had a scary moment when a aged to get some help, which did speed up the not to buy anything I did not need. I kept it slip and fall accident came very close to being a process enough that we were able to get done perhaps two days before being tempted be- "call 911" accident. in time to catch a little of the dead dog party in yond my ability to resist by a piece of Oriental However, the family member was able to get the con suite. pottery in a thrift store. About all I have been back up on his feet with some assistance and Then we drove the van back home, know- able to do is resist the temptation to buy wash- didn’t seem to have done himself any serious ing I was going to have a bunch of stuff to cloths from the Dollar Tree, a store where harm, so we decided not to worry overmuch unload into the storage unit. Because we hadn’t Page 8 February 2019 Alexiad sold all that much, we decided not to celebrate was at a premium in such a small setup. We real supper with nourishing food. Then we by going out to eat. Instead, I fixed a supper even got finished before the dealers’ room turned in for the night, knowing we needed to for us, and then sat down with the ledger to do opened for business and had a little time to look be alert and rested for the drive back to Dad’s the bookwork for the con. around, a welcome change from the frantic place. scramble we have at so many conventions. On Monday we carried our belongings back ICON 43 However, business was pretty slow, not out to the van and got checked out of the hotel. Con Report by Leigh Kimmel surprising at a relatively small convention. In We’d acquired some empty boxes from another fact, it seemed that the convention was smaller t-shirt vendor, and they were proving difficult ICON is a long-running old-school science than I’d been lead to believe by some people I’d to get to fit. However, we squeezed all of them fiction convention based in Cedar Rapids, talked to previously. Either it had shrunk since in, although one of them was a persistent Iowa. For the past several years it’s been the that year, or they’d grossly misjudged the num- nuisance all the way home, wanting to tip same weekend as Archon, which is a much ber of people in attendance. forward into our laps. larger show, so it wasn’t possible to do both of There wasn’t much in the way of parties, so We also had a frightening moment when them. However, this year Archon had to move we just headed back to our hotel room to have we first put in a CD and got an error message. a week later, which made it possible to do supper. Then I tried to do some writing, but I Evidently the CD player had condensation in it both. literally fell asleep sitting up. So we decided to and the lens was fogged up, because as we This year’s ICON was held over the week- go ahead and turn in for the night. drove and warmed up everything, it finally end of October 5-7, 2018 at the Marriott in On Saturday we got up and had the hotel’s decided to play properly again. Cedar Rapids. This is a larger hotel several complimentary breakfast. Then we headed back We got to Dad’s place in good time and I exits north of Zazza’s, the hotel where it was over to the main hotel and got second breakfast carried stuff in. Since we were going to stay held both times we went previously, over a in the con suite before heading down to the with him until time to head off for Archon, I decade ago. dealers’ room to open our tables. We had a little could take my time about getting laundry done, Because of the distance, we’d been plan- time to look around before the doors opened. as well as spending some time just visiting. ning to stay at my dad’s place on the way over However, sales remained stubbornly slow all to Cedar Rapids. However, we’d forgotten day long. I had to take a break in the middle of Archon 42 that we weren’t going to go over to the con on it to go upstairs to the con suite and set up my Con Report by Leigh Kimmel Wednesday, mostly because it had a relatively computer in order to buy into two conventions late load-in time on Thursday, and it isn’t that for the first part of 2019. It was a good thing I Archon is the long-running science fiction far from the Bloomington-Normal area to did, because one convention’s dealers’ room convention in the St. Louis area. Over the years Cedar Rapids. So we ended up going over on filled in twenty minutes, and the other in a it has adapted to the changing times by adding Tuesday (in some pretty heavy rain), then matter of hours. If we’d tried to wait until after more media and gaming tracks to its program- staying at my dad’s place on Wednesday, just the Icon dealers’ room closed, we would’ve ming, such that it has been able to thrive and visiting. It did mean I had more time for doing ended up shut out of them. even grow as many old-school science fiction laundry, and I could go with Dad to do errands When the dealers’ room did close, we head- conventions are shrinking and closing their in Bloomington on Wednesday afternoon, not ed upstairs to the con suite, where we had doors for good. to mention having some time to spend with supper and did some munching while waiting This year Archon was held over the week- my dad, who’s still adjusting to being a wid- for the parties to start. I pulled out my novella end of October 12-14, 2018 at the Gateway ower after fifty-two years of marriage. and tried to get a little writing done, since I Convention Center and the Doubletree Hotel in On Thursday morning we carried our wasn’t sure we’d have any writing time when Collinsville, Illinois, which is one of the metro personal stuff back out to the van and hit the we got back to our hotel. east suburbs of St. Louis. You can still see the road. We made pretty good time to Cedar The parties were fairly decent. I got to talk Gateway Arch from the bluff line, looking Rapids and checked into our hotel with time to to some people at the Anime Iowa party, and to across the Mississippi River. spare. I even did a little writing on a novella get an idea of when they’d be opening their This year we were doing Archon as the while we were waiting to go over to the main vendor application form. We also went to some second weekend of a double-header, after Icon hotel and load in. personal parties and got to meet some of the in Cedar Rapids. Because it didn’t make sense We’d expected to have to wait before we local fans and talk about Iowa fannish history. for us to drive all the way back to Indianapolis, could load, but we got right into the dealers’ By the time we’d visited all the parties, we were only to turn around and come back the next room. We were even able to switch to a loca- ready to just go back to our hotel and turn in for day, we’d stayed Tuesday and Wednesday at tion that gave us greater flexibility. the night. my dad’s place in the Bloomington-Normal On the other hand, the logistics of load-in On Sunday we got up and had the hotel’s area. were somewhat difficult, with some doors that complimentary breakfast. Then we headed over On Thursday we put our personal belong- had to be struggled with. As a result, it took us to the main hotel to get the pancakes in the con ings back in the van and headed down to a fair amount of time to get everything in, in suite. After we’d had a few, we headed down to Collinsville. We actually made pretty good spite of having much less merchandise than the dealers’ room to get our tables open. time, even with an extended stop in Litchfield we take to the big anime and comics conven- We did get some sales, but business re- to shop at Walmart and then eat in their park- tions. It didn’t help that I had to work around mained painfully slow. After lunch I started ing lot rather than on the road. some crates of merchandise that would only packing the fairies, and we still weren’t ready to This year we’d been able to get a room with be taken to Archon the following week. load out at closing. It seemed to take forever to a jetted tub at the Day’s Inn. We’d hoped that Even so, we did manage to set up a fair get everything out and into the van. However, it it might help my husband’s legs, since that amount of our sales structures before we were didn’t help that we were getting rain — not hotel doesn’t have a hot tub. However, that chased out for the night. We drove back over anything heavy, but just enough to need to keep room was on the second floor, so we had to to our hotel and relaxed for a little while everything trapped. I also had to work around deal with going up and down an elevator, but before turning in for the night. some significant problems related to merchan- the room was nice enough overall that it did On Friday we got up in time to have the dise for Archon that was in our way. make up for the hassle. hotel’s complimentary breakfast. Then we After we got done, we headed back up to the Then we went over to the convention center headed back to the main hotel and finished con suite for the dead dog party and did a little to pick up our badges. While we were waiting, setting up. I even had time to take a bunch of munching. Then we returned to our hotel room, I was reading a book and suddenly got a whole empty boxes back out to the van, since space where I got a little writing done as we had our scene for one of my novels. I had to franticly Alexiad February 2019 Page 9 search for some suitable paper in my purse, usually aren’t really to our taste, being too late WORLDCON BIDS but I got it scribbled out on a little scrap of for someone who needs to do business the next what looked like list paper. day, and really more focused on alcohol than 2021 When we got back to the room, we took either of us are comfortable with. Washington, D.C. turns using the jetted tub. Then I tried to do On Sunday we got up early to eat breakfast, http://dcin2021.org/ some work on images with GIMP. I was able then gathered our things and get them out to the to crop out a decent publicity photo from one van so we could check out. Because all our local 2022 of the pictures my brother had taken of me at helpers were commuting from their homes, we Chicago Twin Lakes Park, but when I moved to trying didn’t have to wake anybody up or make sure https://chicagoworldconbid.org/ to fix a cover, the whole program went hay- they had all their possessions out, which did wire. Apparently I need to download an up- simplify matters. 2023 dated version, something I’d prefer to do at Then we went to the convention center and Chengdu home, on a network I trust. So I gave up and got our tables open in hope of a strong finish. we turned in for the evening. We also had some time to walk around and look Nice, France On Friday we got up early and ate the at the various other vendors’ tables. There were http://worldconinfrance.org/en/ hotel’s complimentary breakfast. Then we several that had remained empty throughout the headed over to the convention center to get weekend. In one case a long-time dealer had New Orleans ready to load in. I got a bunch of merchandise passed away suddenly, and it was too soon to out, trying to gain access to our cart, but my disturb the family with questions of how to 2024 husband secured a flatbed cart first. I used it to dispose of his tables, so they were left to stand United Kingdom carry everything in. I had a little hassle when empty. However, I never did hear why the other http://www.ukin2024.org/ I took some of our mats in, discovered that we dealer did not claim their tables. didn’t need them because there were enough Then the doors opened and we started sell- 2025 of the convention’s mats, and then had some- ing in earnest. We were pretty busy the whole Seattle one think we were trying to make off with the time, although a lot of the merchandise was the Perth, Australia convention’s mats. stuff we were agenting for a friend. However, I Because of the rain and the lack of help, did get several substantial book orders, which NASFiC BIDS we were way behind on setting up. Usually probably helped pull our back stock down Archon is one of the cons where we set up further. 2020 with time to spare, but this year we were After lunch I started packing the fairies, Columbus, Ohio scrambling to get ready when the doors open- since we’d seen little or no interest in them. ed. It probably didn’t help that we were also However, we were still getting book sales, so WORLDCON covering an additional table, agenting for a I’d periodically have to stop and mark stuff off friend who discovered he needed to attend a the booklist, then dig out second copies or 2020 family get-together in New Hampshire that overflow to keep our front stock looking nice. ConNZealand weekend, after he’d already bought his tables Because I never had time to consolidate from Wellington, New Zealand for the convention. the beginning, I had no idea how much we had July 29-August 2, 2020 However, we did get some decent sales emptied, only that we had some substantial http://ConNZealand.nz/ once we got to a reasonably settled point. We gaps. even were able to go over to the art show and Finally the dealers’ room closed and it was get some food at the artists’ reception. This time to start hauling stuff out. I took the first NASFiC year they were doing a cash bar, so even the load of books out while everyone was still pop cost money, but the food was still decent. packing, but after that I had them just haul stuff 2019 After the reception, we headed back to our out and pile it up beside the van, where I could Layton, Utah hotel and had supper. Then I did a little writ- sort through it. As a result, we were able to get July 4-7, 2019 ing before we turned in for the night. on the road surprisingly early. https://www.spikecon.org/ On Saturday we got up early for the ho- The trip was tiring, but we arrived safely at tel’s complimentary breakfast. Then we head- my dad’s place. I carried stuff in and fixed ed over to the convention center to get our supper. Then I went through our ledger and tables open for business. We put up signs and added things up, discovering that we were going replenished our displays from back stock. I to be writing a Very Large Check to our friend, also started tightening the secondary paper- and our own sales were rather thin. I don’t know backs to see how many we’d sold, and took if taking care of his sales meant we scanted our some boxes out to the van. own, or if sales actually were down, but we Then we settled in to sell. I was at the figured we could give it at least one more year. books and t-shirts, and was happily surprised On Monday we carried our personal belong- to get several large book purchases. As a ings back out and said good-bye to Dad. Then result, I got two trays of back stock empty, we hit the road home. The drive wasn’t that and part of a third. This was one of the most hard, but it was very tiring. By the time we substantial book sales events we’d had in stopped at the Brownsburg branch of our bank ages, even if it wasn’t quite like the old days to make the deposit, I was fighting off drowsi- when we’d empty four or five trays of paper- ness. backs at Archon. We went straight to the free community After the dealers’ room closed for the meal before going home. I was still very glad to evening, we headed back to our room to get pull into the driveway and shut down. I carried supper. Then I did some work on my writing in our personal belongings, then did some book- while my husband played games. Although work. Archon has a fair number of parties, they Page 10 February 2019 Alexiad

December 14, 2018 direction, so they would always be facing into Letters, we get letters the prevailing winds. 1,500 km of treeless I enjoyed the reviews, especially the review exposure could match anything the southern of Astounding and THE four writers and the continent could provide. From: Joy V. Smith December 9, 2018 background; and I want to read Dave Barry’s 8925 Selph Road, Lakeland, FL review of Fifty Shades of Gray, aka Fifty Do you have the 300 Club in 33810-0341 USA $hade$ of Gray.* Thanks to Rodford Smith for Calgary? [email protected] his impressive article on physics and rockets; — JTM http://www.joyvsmith.com/ and I loved the UFO tech support cartoon. Thanks to Sue Burke for her Windycon review I liked the reference to “How David Weber I enjoyed the reviews, including Taral I always enjoy the LOCs too, with more Orders A Pizza”, and downloaded a copy. Wayne’s review of the movie Early Man. information, including learning about The Laugh, I thought I’d die. Too true, and should (Amazing that he persevered.) The only book Hollow Earth and more info on the caste sys- be required reading for wanna-be military SF I had read among the reviews was The Sister tem. And there’s a lot of cultural appropriation or cyberpunk writers. Infodumps have always Paradox, which I really enjoyed. Still lots of that we can’t even remember ‘cause it’s ours been a problem in SF, but there is a difference alternate histories and real histories, I see. now... between explaining the background of new And Happy Birthday, Joe! worlds and just padding out the word count. But the fact remains that for the first Calgary had its version of a yellow-vest time in twenty-two years we are with- * Okaay, I took the time to track it down and protest a few days ago. No rioting or burning. out an animal. It would be easy read it. Good review. Badly written book, The movement is quite popular here because enough to get another one. I don’t which, btw, I haven’t read ‘cause I was we are the petroleum capital of Canada. The want another cat. I want Mr. Chunk never tempted after reading other reviews. protestors are not ragbag layabouts or students and I can’t have him back. but well-dressed petro-executives and construc- — Lisa I tremble, to think, of what, tion trades who really do wear yellow vests in might happen, were Barry, to read, their jobs. They are against the carbon tax, for Lisa, I know. After I had to put Xena to and review, the Gor books. the pipelines, and against Prime Minister Justin sleep, my sister began sending me photos of — JTM Trudeau’s failure to withstand the new trade dogs at the local SPCA, and I said: I don’t deal with Trump. He’s been a lousy PM be- want another dog. I want Xena! And then I From: Dale Speirs December 16, 2018 cause he doesn’t know how to negotiate with saw a photo — still not interested, but Bliz- [email protected] tough people. He’s another Neville Chamber- zard — the name — popped into my mind. lain, waving a document in the air and declar- Anyway, I ended up going to look at her and You started off lamenting the changes in SF ing we have peace in our time. vacillated — we didn’t bond up front — and conventions. As you surmised, it is possible to I ended up taking her home... have specialized sub-genres. Calgary has its From: Timothy Lane December 22, 2018 Comic Expo (60,000 attending) and Otafest [email protected] I am burned out. I just can’t (anime festival, 8,000 paid), but it also has a face the thought of having to put successful readercon When Words Collide I haven’t seen Forsyth’s The Fox, but it another one down in a few years. (capped at 750 plus fan volunteers). sounds good, and he certainly has written a lot Too, I am selfishly enjoying trav- I don’t agree that big-tent conventions are or of very interesting stories. But I did see After eling without worrying about were particularly good at cross-fertilizing the Fox, which has many interesting scenes how an animal is faring. Funny, sub-genres. Back in the 1970s, few Trekkies Perhaps the best is near the end, when they isn’t it, that the animal I took to bothered with small conventions such as the SF show what little camera footage they have for oblige friends should have been Worldcon, which today often isn’t even the their fake film — and a movie critic rushes one of my favorites? It was not biggest convention in town that weekend. forward in the courtroom to praise it most the passionate bond I had with When Calgary still had its general SF conven- extravagantly. my first cat, Elfling, but Mr. tion Con-Version, the Trekkies went to their Chunk was a good friend and the panel tracks and those of us that had read a book Do you have a feeling it was a one who reminded me most of went to ours. commentary about the state of the Doberman I shared my life The modern cosplayers that go to the big film criticism? with when I was a young woman comic cons aren’t SF readers who defected. and who spoiled me for lesser They never were and never will be interested in Rod Edmiston has a nice discussion of a dogs. So Mr. Chunk has now Asimov or what Forry Ackerman did in 1939. space beanstalk. I wonder what he thinks of spoiled me for lesser cats. Both The Calgary Stampede rodeo has 1.2 million Forstchen’s Pillar to the Sky. He faces a prob- he and the Doberman had a paid attendance over ten days, but I feel safe in lem Clarke didn’t need (or maybe didn’t want) quick intelligence. Having saying that genuine cowhands such as myself to face, terrorism. But it remains a major Mr.Chunk was a bit like having are outnumbered by townies more interested in engineering effort. the Doberman back, except that the midway or the funny dog show. Windycon certainly had a most impressive it did not fall to me to have to When Words Collide always sells out two guest list, though that was also the case the one end the Doberman’s life. months before the convention. Reading for fun time we went, when Elizabeth and I were Fan — LTM isn’t declining, just not as colourful as wearing Guests of Honor 20 years ago. They’ve moved costumes, hence the lack of media attention. since then. But they obviously still deliver a Thanks again to Sue Burke for her con The WWC dealer bourse is strictly books and good experience, which is what counts. review. I haven’t been to one lately so I en- very successful. It’s nice that Advent’s books will be avail- joyed the feel of being there. Re: LOCs: I Antarctica journeys seem rather dated. I’d able. I had a nearly complete collection, but liked the reference to Red Green; I’d forgotten like to see those brave explorers walk across the most of those were left behind in the house him and the show. Fun. And congrats to Sue flatlands of the Canadian prairies along the when it was sold (along with so much else I Burke on the publishing of a sequel to Semio- Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg to wish we could have keep, if we could find a sis. (I saw that on Facebook too.) Calgary in late January. And specifically in that place to keep them in a hotel room). Joseph’s Alexiad February 2019 Page 11 book is one of the few I brought out, of tions are dying through not being able to afford Scintillation. Let’s hope that it isn’t invite-only course. to operate without demanding huge membership as well. I don’t think my mother ever taught, but prices. Everyone wants it all, and only the big her sister and mother both were teachers, the pro cons can afford to bring in hordes of actors When the big STAR TREK prob- latter an English teacher. and cosplayers. I could tell you so much about lem was afflicting Worldcon, back I would agree with George Price that Torcon 3… The people who ran it had no con- in the seventies, MidAmeriCon [I] suitable hyphenation would help the appear- ventions-running experience, and got rid of ran a little story in its progress ance of a document, especially one with as those few who did, like me and Yvonne. They report titled “How the GRINCH many (and thus narrower) columns as Alexiad. also had no experience with fandom as you and Stole Worldcon”. It seemed bids Back when we did FOSFAX, our program I know it, most of them being wannabe pros. by Lost In Space [Right!!!] ori- (WordStar) handled it fairly well, but some- Our bidding process was so positive, and the ented committes were winning times it placed soft hyphens inconveniently. result so negative. It is the main reason there alternate years. When a fannish Cultural appropriation is one of the biggest will (probably) never be a Worldcon bid from Worldcon won, the “Spacies” held inanities of the politically correct left. How Canada again. a countercon the same weekend. many people even know the cultural origin of Then one of their con publications every item or concept they use? Under Saul The programming was a mess. I printed something libelous, the Alinksky’s precept in Rules for Radicals that ran into Darrell Schweitzer when I fannish Worldcon sued and won — one should force one’s opponents to live up to was going to a panel he was on. I and since the con wasn’t incorpor- their own rules, multiculturalists should have was walking to the hotel, where ated, the entire membership was to avoid cultural appropriation of any aspect the program I had said his panel financially responsible, including of European science — including synthetic was, and he was going to the con- the production company (which fabrics and even cotton if it’s been ginned, vention center, where the infor- had bought a con membership). modern antibiotics and vaccination (except for mation he had said his panel was. With the settlement, the commit- smallpox if one uses variolation), modern His was right. Mike Resnick’s con tee for the fannish Worldcon transportation and communication . . . report described the confused (GRand Island, Nebraska time he had on programming and CHonvention, hence “GRINCH”) I usually see this in context had as a refrain, “I just love the switched to invitation-only World- with all the things that BDS sup- Torcon 3 Program Committee.” cons. porters would have to do without if they were consistent. I think what we’ve enjoyed, conventions Rod Edmiston’s essay on the Joy of High — JTM with lots to see and do, and friends to meet with, Tech sounds a little hollow…I admire high is had their time in the sun, as have we. And tech as well, but I’d like to think that it has A little over a year ago, I was prescribed now that we have reached that age we have, we been hijacked by big business as a means to opioids for the pain from bandaging my leg miss these cons. Our interests change, too. After increase profits. It looks like soon, I might not wounds. I was hesitant to take them, but the our 30 years each on the con committee, we be able to get on the bus or do my banking nurse assured me that if I only used them for shifted our efforts to Harry Potter, steampunk unless I have a $1k smartphone and a Twitter actual pain control. I actually had to use and steampunk vending, and to be honest, no account, and I have neither. We all have too larger doses, but in the end I had no trouble regrets there. It’s allowed us to be busy like we many plastic cards with magstrips, but there is dropping them when I no longer had the pain were before, for a different audience. We value an effort to ditch the cards for the expensive (the legs still need bandaging, but are a lot our friends, and our newer interests have al- phone. More and more such tech, for all the better than they were last year). They’re still lowed us to make new friends with some newer good it can do, is more exclusive than inclu- available if I need them, but I haven’t used fans, including the steampunks, plus the as- sive. them in months. sorted fellow dealers we meet at conventions My loc… It’s not rainy today, but the and other events. temperatures are Arctic in nature, around -13C, From: Lloyd Penney January 11, 2019 I am on Facebook, as it is the social media or about 9F. I am going out later on my rarely- 1706-24 Eva Road, Etobicoke, ON platform that offers text and visual communica- worn heavy winter coat. As soon as I turn 60, M9C 2B2 CANADA tions that is closest to my own experiences as a I start getting a financial supplement from the [email protected] journalist. I find Twitter good only if you have federal government to make up for Yvonne http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/ a regular message to get out to the masses, and retiring and getting less money on her pension. extremely ephemeral. I knew very little of the I could have used that for the past year, but 60 I have finally gotten to Alexiad 102. It’s San Juan convention, and the fact that Puerto is an arbitrary age, I guess. Yvonne’s assign- Friday, and it’s very cold outside, and I have Rico is still in tatters made this convention a ment at the racetrack to the north of us expires decided to write all day, and get caught up a poor choice for the times. It doesn’t affect you, at the end of this month, and she is looking for little. I always say that. hm? I suspect it does, and you probably miss it something else. She has agencies looking for Your Reviewer’s Notes say a lot to me as much as I do. I already feel a little old and her, and they are confident, but they are also today. The SF market is bigger than ever, as forgotten, and I think I have found a new arena quite silent right now. I was indeed one of the you say, for just about anyone can get an where I can feel at least somewhat useful and proofreaders/copy editors on issue 2 of the new e-book printed, and the paper publishers are appreciated. Amazing Stories, and on issue 3 as well. I hope losing their relevance. With that, it’s another to continue this with issue 4 and any other reason why I don’t recognize most of the Nowadays it seems you have to issues Ira Nayman would like me to work on. authors. Add the fact lack of money, and for have a Twitter account and a John Purcell’s letter…I know of at least a me, time, and I have largely left SF behind. I LinkedIn account in order to get a few fanzine fans who do not see anything have some unread books on the shelf, but with job. electronic as a real fanzine, and therefore, will changes in interest, they remain unread. The not read them, let along respond to them. I see main reason? I can’t keep up with the genre, I have never met Jo Walton, but I gather she this as hurting, not helping, so I respond to and I have let it go as it barrels on without me. was busy with a small invite-only con called (nearly) all the zines I get. I hate the big, pro-run conventions. Costs The Farthing Party, and is now trying to get a have risen to the point where fan-run conven- Kickstarter going to start a new con called I miss Murray Moore. Page 12 February 2019 Alexiad

— JTM Taras Wolansky comments on my brief watching indeed. history of the caste system in India, and adds While I’m at it, I’ll mention a problem with Halfway through this, I started to get a dull some detail about color distinctions within black print-book sales: It is no longer practical to headache, so I will say I enjoyed the rest of American society. He says that Anne Wortham mail books to Canada and other foreign coun- the locol, but will offer no comments. I don’t had to retake an exam at Howard University tries. The old “bookpost” surface mail rate has care to start any arguments, anyway. Anyway, because the light-skinned administrators didn’t vanished. Now it is all airmail, and it costs time to go, and see if I can solve problems I believe that a dark-skinned student could have about $25 to mail a book to Canada and else- am starting to have with this computer. Take aced it the first time without cheating. where outside the U.S. So Advent now offers care, and see you next issue. When I was a small child my mother taught “postage included” prices only for U.S. orders. piano at a social settlement house on the edge of You want a print book sent anywhere else, you From: George W. Price January 24, 2019 Chicago’s black ghetto. Most of her students will probably do better to order through a local 4418 N. Monitor Avenue, Chicago, IL were black children from poor families. She bookstore that may be able to have books from 60630-3333 USA also had some white students. On occasion she U.S. publishers sent to a U.S. forwarder who [email protected] visited the parents of her pupils, sometimes with can combine books from many publishers into me in tow. I noticed that both black and white bulk freight shipments. E-books avoid this December Alexiad: women had curling irons — the blacks took the problem, since they can be downloaded over My letter in this issue complained at curl out of their hair and the whites put curl into the Internet in disregard of national borders. length about the lack of hyphenation in their hair. This struck me as pointless — why Alexiad. So I was both surprised and delighted couldn’t they both be satisfied with what they And that’s one reason trading to see that this issue is hyphenated. Now that’s had? As I grew older, of course, I learned the for Canadian and overseas fan- wish fulfillment to the max! I hope that future social significance of race and color, and that zines has just about come to an issues will continue the practice. woolly (“nappy”) hair was a mark of social end. I am curious to know, did you get a new inferiority even among blacks. —JTM word-processing program, or did you find a The adoption of the “afro” hair style was a way to make the old one hyphenate? long overdue rejection of this social stigma. From: John Purcell January 26, 2019 Like many defiant reactions, it was overdone — [email protected] The latter. blacks in Africa rarely wear afros, preferring to trim their woolly hair short. But on the whole, it Good afternoon, Joe and Lisa. I hope this I did notice one place where the hyphen- was a healthy reaction. missive finds the two of you well and warm. ation apparently failed, in “The Joy of High Thanks to growing up in the Upper Midwest, I Tech”: * * * * * have always been one to watch the weather, especially during the winter months, because “Buckminsterfullerene” presumably In reply to a query from James Nicoll, Joe storms of any kind can spring up very quickly. did not get hyphenated because the says, “ReAnimus Press has acquired Advent Thus I hope the recent massive winter storm word is not in the program’s dictionary Publishers and is issuing its entire output in that blanketed the eastern half of the country and you did not choose to insert the electronic format. In chronological order of did not affect you folks. I well remember five discretionary hyphens needed. publication, which means that Heinlein’s Chil- blizzards from my years living in Minnesota dren is at the bottom of the list. Keep watch- and Iowa. Not fun at all. * * * * * ing.” Anyway. In response to Joe’s comment Let me expand on that. Two years ago that “nobody cool answers emails anymore, it’s Since my desire for hyphenation has been Advent gave up its status as a Subchapter S all on Twitter,” while I do have a Twitter so gratifyingly granted, I will press my luck corporation and became a sole proprietorship, account, I don’t use it that often at all. If any- and ask for another change in Alexiad’s typog- with myself as the sole proprietor. I bought out thing, maybe once a week. Quite frankly, I raphy: Please, please, please, find a more the other owners, including founder Earl Kemp. don’t see the big deal about it, and have seri- readable font for Lisa’s inserted comments. I ReAnimus hasn’t actually acquired Advent; ously considered closing that account. For my find those teeny weeny lower-case characters what I gave them was the right to call Advent an needs, Facebook and emails (I do belong to a painful to read, even with strong reading “imprint” of ReAnimus and to issue Advent’s couple fannish listservs, and even there I don’t glasses and a magnifying glass. I assume you titles as e-books. In return, ReAnimus set up comment that often) are good enough to stay in want a font distinctive from Joe’s. How about and maintains the website (adventpub.com) contact with my friends in fandom or family. Arial, or even Arial Bold? advertising both e-books and print books, with Your recollections about Forrest J Acker- payment via PayPal. The e-book orders go to man at the Worldcons in Philadelphia (2001) * * * * * ReAnimus, and the print book orders come to and Toronto (2003) are sad commentary not me for fulfillment. about Forry’s aging and physical demise, but Joe’s review of works by John Lennard I get all the money from print orders, and also about the fading away of fandom’s old discusses books of excessive length. He cites ReAnimus gets all the e-book payments. Impor- guard. If I recall correctly, only Robert Madle David Weber’s new Uncompromising Honor, tantly, it is up to ReAnimus to pay the authors is the last remaining member of the first at 961 pages. This may be conflated with for e-book sales. ReAnimus is obliged to cut its Worldcon of 1939. Yes, it is true that the some other book, as my copy of Weber’s opus own deals with authors, because Advent’s literary science fiction fandom thee and me are has only 773 pages (which is still quite long contracts do not cover e-books, having been a part of is shrinking, it is offset by the rapid enough). Or was Joe’s copy a Large Print drawn up before e-books were invented. growth of media science fiction fandom. This edition? (I’m pretty sure the paperback won’t As to the order of e-book publication, I am is not, unfortunately, an even trade-off, but I be out for another year.) a bit puzzled. ReAnimus has never discussed am not surprised that the central focus of what that with me, but I note that they have brought is now “science fiction fandom” is no longer That’s the equivalent page- out an e-book of the Third Edition of Damon literary based: it’s not even just media — film count for the Kindle edition. Knight’s In Search of Wonder, published in and television franchises galore based on 1996, but have not yet issued earlier works such American comic books, and their offshoots — * * * * * as The Universes of E. E. Smith (1966), Galaxy but social media fandom. There is definitely a Magazine (1986), and PITFCS (1992). So, keep major sea-change in the composition of fans Alexiad February 2019 Page 13 and their conventions, which I see as inevita- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He traveling overseas, you can’t ship clothing ble. I am grateful, though, that there are still spent the last two and a half years working on it, ahead of you by the postal service or UPS.) many fanzine and fannish convention fans still remotely via internet (he had to upgrade to a Never-worn surplus clothing originates in rambling about, and a lot of these are friends new computer to do his data-crunching home- manufacturer overruns, unsold goods, and of mine. This is good, in my book. But I don’t work), with a lot of labor and stress. On the day unusable items. You may have noticed that want to needlessly worry about nor bemoan he turned in his final project, I could tell by the champion sports teams don tee-shirts immedi- the slow heat death of fandom. The way I look way he walked that he felt happy and relieved. ately after the game proclaiming their victory. at it, fandom is changing, and like I said, it is At age 57 (he’s younger than me), when he Those shirts are pre-made, and the loser’s shirts to be expected. was lining up for the College of Engineering get shunted off to the overseas surplus market. graduation convocation ceremony in December, So the next time you see a crowd shot from I don’t think Mel Korshak has he was directed to the faculty line, and he had to some far corner of the world, perhaps you’ll died, so that would make it two insist that he was a mere student. Now, although spot a tee-shirt that says: “Dodgers 2018 World survivors. But you’re right, there he’s satisfied by his current job, he’s looking for Series Champs!” has been a shift in the types of work as a computer scientist. And he’s finally Thank you, Lloyd Daub, for your good people who go to cons. relaxing. wishes. We celebrated the end of graduate school by John Hertz, yes, I saw all the displays and It is interesting that you noted 2001 as the seeing an uplifting comic stageplay at a neigh- exhibits at Worldcon 76, and learned a great tipping point. I immediately noted that borhood theater, A Klingon Christmas Carol, in deal from them. I also came away wishing Millenium Philcon ended a couple weeks which a cowardly miser named Squja’ reforms we’d kept my father’s slide rule. before 9/11, and that major event changed and becomes a generous warrior. The play is everybody’s viewpoint in many different delivered in tlhIngan Hol (the Klingon lan- Bill Breuer used a slide rule as ways. Perhaps aging fans are simply becom- guage) with supertitles in English, which some- a prop in some of his per- ing more jaded and grumpy as they grow how made it even funnier. The actors earned formances. older. I know I have, even though I try not to spontaneous applause for the stage fights: act that way. Even so, this is all something to Klingons apparently believe that fighting is a “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” consider. It will be interesting to see what fun way to celebrate holidays. After the curtain Lisa, your mom’s words may help me lose a some of Alexiad’s devoted readers and loc- call, the cast posed with the audience, everyone little weight, too. I’ve pretty much given up writers have to say about your comments. cheering, as timHom (Tiny Tim) declared at the sugar (the coffee-hour snacks after church are end of the play, “klhIngan maH!” (We are too tempting for total abstention) and I’ve We went to Washington after Klingons!). noticed how much sweeter fruit tastes, too. the con, and by the Tuesday af- I hope your Christmas was as merry. My Taras Wolansky asks if Mexican writers ter I was at work when the news husband’s mother gave us a bottle of her favor- would use a form of Spanish that would resem- came down. The last traces of a ite whiskey. She must be planning to visit. ble what Cervantes used. Good question. Yes, peacetime era; how quickly things I’ll be attending Capricon 39, one of Chi- they do, the same way that Americans use the changed. cago’s big conventions, from February 15 to 17. same language as Shakespeare, who was a —JTM With his new-found freedom, my husband will contemporary of Cervantes – except that Span- also be there. And we’re going to Dublin as our ish has changed less over time than English Alec Nevala-Lee’s book about Astounding summer vacation, and perhaps we’ll sample a has. It’s true, Spanish varies from country to (which you reviewed on pages 3 and 4) bit of Ireland’s charm before the Worldcon country, just as English varies between Britain, sounds interesting, and I am definitely inter- begins. the United States, India, and Australia. We can esting in acquiring a copy. This does appeal to As for the 2020 Worldcon, there are now still understand each other, despite differences the fan-historian in me. And this nonstop flights to Auckland, New Zealand, from in accents and bits of vocabulary, because the fan-historical bent is tweaked some more by Chicago. They take 16 hours. That alone gives same basic grammar underlies all English Sue Burke’s concise report on WindyCon 45. me pause. varieties. Good heavens, but that makes me feel old! Joe mentions that the view through his Taras also asks about the pharmaceutical The last WindyCon I attended was still in the cataract was yellowish. I notice that too, since corporation that created the opioid crisis in the single digits: the eighth one, which places it at the right eye’s cataract is more developed, United States. It’s Purdue Pharma. More than something like 1981. Dang, but that feels like although my left eye is also a little off-color. In half the states, among other plaintiffs, are suing a lifetime ago. Oh, what am I saying? It WAS addition, I notice a haze around lights at night, it, and many lawsuits should come to trial this a lifetime ago! as if every night were a little foggy. I still don’t year. That does it. I am stopping now before I need surgery, but it’s good to know that it You may recall that I’ve been translating get more despondent. Sadly, that’s going to usually goes well. the Spanish medieval novel Amadis of Gaul a happen again in a few hours when today’s chapter a week for many years. I’ve finished! mail brings more advertisements and come- I used to see sparkles in head- You can see the results here: ons to buy Supplemental Medicare Insurance, lights on cars coming the other or the next issue of AARP magazine. *sigh* way. Now I don’t. https://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/ What can one do? George W. Price mentions seeing a lot of Joy V. Smith asks about the essay “If I From: Sue Burke January 30, 2019 Western clothing around the world. There’s a Were a Plant.” She can find it here: 5620 N. Winthrop Ave. #1R, Chicago, reason for that: Western clothing is inexpensive, IL 60660-4422, USA especially in developing countries, because they https://semiosispax.com/2017/08/19/if-i-were-a-plant/ [email protected] get a lot of second-hand and surplus stock. mount-oregano.livejournal.com Clothing, new and used, is a big business. What As for how much per hour I’m earning sueburke.site you see at, say, the local Goodwill is only a from my first novel, Taras, I’d prefer not to do semiosispax.com fraction of the used clothing collected in the the math. I’d probably earn more per hour United States. Much of it is sent overseas for wandering through shopping malls and picking My husband, Jerry Finn, now has a mas- resale, and the market creates enough value to up lost change from the floor. ter’s degree in computer science from the be tightly regulated. (This is why, if you’re Page 14 February 2019 Alexiad

I got royalties yesterday in tianity, the result will not be some blissful state George W. Price: “Nearly everywhere, all the whopping amount of $7.38. of enlightened secularism, but merely a more those ‘quaint native costumes’ have vanished — JTM militant and more intolerant religion which will in favor of Western dress.” As I understand it, react violently if they try to treat it the way they much of the clothing we give to charity ends up From: Taras Wolansky December 1, 2018 did Christianity. (If Mormons started engaging sold, pretty cheaply, in the Third World. Post Office Box 698, Kerhonkson, NY in terrorism, liberals would suddenly discover Lloyd Daub: I’ve toyed with the notion of 12446-0698 USA how bigoted and wrong it is to make fun of The an anthology of stories examining the implica- [email protected] Book of Mormon!) In fact, this is already hap- tions of Hitler dying at various points in his pening, if you remember the story of the fatwa career. One particularly amusing notion oc- Thanks for Alexiad 12/18. placed on Terrence McNally for writing a play curred to me after I read an article about how a Review of Alec Nevala Lee’s Astounding: about a gay Jesus. particular German general could have stopped “At first one thinks that maybe there should Something your review does not mention is Hitler coming to power. In our history, of have been material on A.E. van Vogt.” Ac- whether Houellebeq discusses how women react course, he stayed within the law — but if he cording to Lee, when I heard him speak at a to the Islamization of France. You sometimes had acted, later generations might have consid- convention, which authors to concentrate on, hear this yarn about how people “voluntarily” ered Uncle Adolf a “martyr for democracy”, and put in the subtitle, was mostly a commer- converted from Christianity to Islam in the like Allende or Mossadegh. (Paul de Man: cial decision by his publisher. Thus, van Vogt Middle East or North Africa. Where women are “The term ‘Jews’ is merely Hitler’s metaphor and De Camp were out, and Asimov and concerned, they are stretching the term “volun- for capitalism ...”) Hubbard were in. tary” well past the breaking point. Review of Jo Walton’s Hugo Award If it was Kurt von history (1953-2000): I, too, disliked François has no emotional en- Hammerstein-Equord, he gets a Neuromancer, and had stopped reading it gagement with women, for all his se c o n d b i t e in J o seph halfway through. I think I went back to it and sexualized thoughts. The principal Wurtembaugh’s A Prophet With- finished it after it won the award, but I can’t female character, one of his one- out Honor (2017; reviewed in really remember what it was about. term mistresses, flees to Israel Alexiad V 16 #5). Or you could “Heinlein demanded that he receive the when the Muslims take over. buy my book A Man and a Plane. [Hugo] award” for Stranger in a Strange Land. Given that the book was a mainstream Rodford Edmiston: Terrific essay on “Get- It’s also plausible that, absent the mirage of bestseller, and a Hugo would tend to associate ting High” (altitude, that is). a German alliance, the Japanese government it with the skiffy ghetto, I’m not sure this rings Charles Sheffield published his space eleva- would have behaved more circumspectly. true. A more plausible version of the story tor book, The Web Between the Worlds, the “Stalin did not need the spies on the Los would be that Heinlein refused to show up if same year (1979) as Arthur C. Clarke’s The Alamos project to get the Bomb”. The Soviets he didn’t know in advance he was the winner. Fountains of Paradise. I think I preferred Shef- would eventually have built an atomic bomb field’s book. (unless we stopped them), but Stalin would As I recall, Earl Kemp said The 1983 anime, Super Dimension Century probably have been dead by then. Thus, no that. Earl? Orguss, opens within an aerospace battle around Korean War. a space elevator. The Japanese media have Joe (comments to John Hertz): Are recom- No doubt, Jo Walton’s next book will always been more aware of English-language mendations for Best Fanzine published/posted chronicle the decline and fall of the Hugo SF than Hollywood has been. Orguss, of anywhere? Award. course, reminds us that natural hazards are only Sue Burke (Windycon 45 review): “I met the beginning of what a space elevator will have a 30-year-old woman who had been coming to But she would have to cover to deal with. Windycon her whole life: her parents met her own book. Tim Lane: “Maybe I should play my mp3 there, they brought her as an infant, and she image of Fantasia sometime soon.“ Censored met her husband there.” Fandom as space Review of two books by John Lennard: or uncensored? colony: if you can’t get new recruits, grow As I recall, Dave Barry’s point about Fifty “Ellison reportedly got royalty reports your own. Shades of Grey was that women will forgive showing that the two works [in an Ace Double] “My wrinkled, misshapen rocket would all faults in a man who owns his own helicop- had different sales.” Possibly legit, if the book have crashed at takeoff.“ Imagine the remarks ter. (Feminist: “That isn’t funny!“) was ordered by mail. a man would have gotten, and consider your- “On the other hand, the dragons and fire “I checked the wikipedia entry on the Indian self lucky! lizards [in Anne McCaffrey] almost outdo the caste system.” Wikipedia cannot be entirely “To my surprise, things took a loud, con- treecats [in David Weber].” Nothing can trusted on matters of controversy. Some years tentious turn even before the [autonomous cars] outdo the treecats in David Weber. (“The ago, I looked up the entry for then-California panel started.” I post a bit at Tor.com, and I horror. The horror.”) Senator Barbara Boxer. I knew her colleagues, am often amazed when comments, on some even in her own party, thought her very difficult innocuous topic like “what are the good Robin I have been tempted to write to work with; but there was no hint of this in the Hood movies”, are censored for violating the a Space Viking story about a raid entry. (In her last election, the hitherto support- terms of use. What did they get heated about, on a planet defended by Honor ive San Francisco Chronicle refused to endorse and what did they write? Harrington. The Space Viking her again because she got so little done.) When What did the autonomous car enthusi- opening challenge is responded to I looked at the discussion page, I discovered that asts/critics fight about? Was it socialists who by an information request for a page-sitting troll, either a fan or for pay, see the hand of Big Oil behind everything, 10,000 words on each political removed any negative information posted there. versus libertarians who fear Big Traffic Cop? faction on the Space Viking ships. I later read about a similar troll who page- Sue Burke: “I’d have been happy to sign sits Hillary Clinton’s entry. From the samples your book even if it was damaged.” You could Review of Michel Houellebeq’s novel, of his work given, his method is to imbed nega- have got even by misspelling my name, which Submission: I like to make the point to fellow tive information into very long and convoluted is what usually happens when I let authors atheists that “you can’t beat something with sentences which are almost impossible to de- inscribe books to me! These days, I just ask nothing”. If they successfully destroy Chris- code. them to put down space-time coordinates, Alexiad February 2019 Page 15 usually the convention and the year. Anyway, up in hospital, with among other things a small Fanac.org site. the only justification for autographs I can see stroke. I cheer the development of Buckminsterful- is, it makes the survival of the book a little Coming back has been an interesting experi- lerenes including the name. Also if his more likely, after I’m gone. ence, easing into things slowly at first, but tensegrity engineering helps us get into Space, Lisa (comments to Sue Burke): Feet ... already the next major project is raising it’s that would be swell. A new tale, Buck and the Mallomars ... feet ... Mallomars ... I’m think- heads, since there is going to be multiple actions Beanstalk. ing, I’m thinking! on our side before the implementation. I ended up reflecting a bit about drone I have to wonder about that. Go see Grant (who lost half a footage, which is one of those things that were The first concept for the Dymaxi- lower leg to diabetes) and think a novelty five years ago, and is becoming ubiq- on Home did not have a bathtub. about that. uitous today. So much so that it is often seen as The bathtub that is fitted is only — JTM just another angle, nothing special. comfortable for someone Fuller’s Are these Mallomars worth I wonder what the next bit of The Future height (or shorter). The Dymaxi- ending up in a wheelchair? will be that just slides into normality? on Car didn’t handle sharp turns — LTM I caught up a bit on my reading over the very well. holidays. And am still finding how much the — JTM Looking forward to another hundred stuff I can get and read today are unknown to issues. the people that share at least some of my read- Thanks to Sue Burke for quoting “You ing tastes. Lots more to read, lots less to talk don’t go to a play by Shakespeare to find out From: AL du Pisani February 3, 2019 about. how it ends.” Nabokov said you never appre- 945 Grand Prix Street, Weltevreden- ciate a good book until you read it at least a park 1709, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH Get your hands on a copy of second time. Then you get the joy (which as AFRICA Heinlein In Reflection, and then Alexis Gilliland shows us, comes in many [email protected] show it to the others, so that they forms) of watching the author at work. may learn. Another Nabokov warning is “Minor read- There are some times when I remember — JTM ers like to recognize their own ideas in a pleas- that I live in The Future. There are other times ing disguise.” We could heed that better. when a new capability sneaks up on you, until I still hope for some shared SF culture, but A tide of passivity has come in. Some, I you suddenly realize that you are making think the gate price these days is too high. fear, is from Electronicland. In theory it should everyday use of this new functionality, which empower. In practice, I can’t help seeing, its did not exist, really, five years ago. From: John Hertz January 29, 2019 net effect (no pun intended) can evidently be In the first case, there is the Hopper that 236 S. Coronado St., N. 409 Los An- disabling. I haven’t been good enough with SpaceX is building in Texas – A stainless steel geles, CA 90057 USA this warning. Partly It’s dangerous finding prototype for an honest to God Spaceship, that fault, to an addict, with his drug. Partly it’s will go to the Moon and Mars. Where the bulk Happy New Year. hard getting “That’s conceptually flawed” past of it is being built by a water tower construc- This year the TAFF slate is unusually I wanna I wanna. Partly ecology is hard. But tion company – If you build a steel water tank strong. No DUFF. Please donate and vote. one doesn’t blame the audience. Anyhow, the capable of holding 100 tons of water, surely In the Retro-Hugos, I’ve been recommend- fannish thing is to find what’s worth doing and you can build a mobile tank for liquid Oxygen ing Hesse’s Glass Bead Game for Best Novel. find a way to do it. and Methane? The electronic may see an 800-word note by me P.S. Are you the New New Christy Min- And it all blew up during my vacation, via File770.com, right-hand column below strels? when I had significantly less bandwidth avail- “meta”. able to follow the news. Way back in 1994, Shorter (how I miss Elliot) we have a wealth when I first got onto the Internet at the office, of choices. I hoped to find a one stop news service where For novelette, Gallagher-Galloway robot WAHF: I could read all about what was happening. stories and by the same authors i.e. Moore & Martin Morse Wooster, with various Usenet was not it, although I learned a lot, and Kuttner “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”. They items of interest. there were concepts discussed at the time each said that after they’d married, everything Steve Fahnenstalk, Patrick McCray which have still not been tried. I only found they published under any name was by both of with thanks. something like what I was looking for in the them. I dunno about “The Little Prince”. It was Gary & Cora Flispart, Alexis A. last couple of years, at NASASpeceFlight. a Classic of S-F we discussed at Detcon (11th Gilliland & Lee Gilliland, Marc I had a really good holiday – Took a break NASFiC). There we noticed that as many Schirmeister, with Christmas cards. from almost everything. Hung about with the people appeared as he had days of water. If Chris Barkley, Sue Burke, R. Graeme rest of my family – For the first time in about they’re all hallucinations, is it s-f? Cameron, Johnny Carruthers, Carol four years all of my mother’s children and Among short-story candidates is Boucher’s Clarke, Jeff Daiell, Steve Fahnestock, grandchildren were located at the same place “Q.U.R.” Paul Gadzikowski, Mike Glyer, Tammi for a significant amount of time. I even met For Pro Artist, I recommend Alex Raymond. Harris, John G. Hemry, Dara Korra’ti, some step family I have not had physical Flash Gordon was superb and deserves our Eric Lindsay, Howie Modell, Andrew contact with in 32 years. applause. C. Murdoch, John Purcell, Mike I managed to rest and recuperate, and Let’s be sure to nominate in the fan categor- Resnick, Steven H. Silver, Joy V. needed it – See, in the two weeks before the ies. Harry Warner’s indespensible All Our Smith, Rod Smith, Garth Spencer, R- Summer holidays started, at work we imple- Yesterdays (rev. 2004) treats of the time. The Laurraine Tutihasi, Olexander mented a major project in which we replaced electronic may see scans (and scads) of original Vasylkivsky, Joel Zakem with birthday one of our major systems. It went very well, material at wishes. considering. Most of it due to our manager, who planned and met and rehearsed it with us https://fanac.org/fanzines/Retro_Hugos1943/html two times before going live. Unfortunately, he is not yet back from holiday, since he ended a good occasion for getting to know the Page 16 February 2019 Alexiad

Agent Lan Pritcher (Michael Pena) [the THE MULE character’s name was presumably changed to Co-Editors: Lisa & Joseph Major https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7959026/ avoid Star Wars intellectual property clashes] is Co-Publishers: Joseph & Lisa Major dispatched to investigate this extraordinary Writers, Staff: Major, Joseph, Major, Lisa The Mule (2018) is the latest entry in the event. Taking as cover a young couple who popular Foundation movie saga. Producer pose as Encyclopedia Galactica salespersons, This is issue Whole Number One Hun- Peter Jackson, who brought out the two Foun- Toran and Bayta Darell (Bradley Cooper and dred and Three (103). dation movies (2014, 2016) and the epic of Dianne Weist), he infiltrates the Mule’s empire intrigue Dead Hand (2017) stepped aside as seeking the whys and wherefores of this unseen Art: What we are mainly looking for is director for this installment of the franchise. yet powerful conqueror. small fillos. Your fillo will probably be scann- The movie was directed by Clint East- Eastwood’s skillful direction and deep ed in and may be reused, unless you object to wood, who also stars as Magnifico Giganticus, characterization highlights the deep-seated irony its reuse. the title character. The beginning is slow- of the next section. As Pritcher and his associ- paced, with the Mule enduring his humiliation ates travel through the shattered Galactic Em- Contributions: This is not a fictionzine. It in his degraded job in the entertainment indus- pire, they note that this conqueror, the Mule, is is intended to be our fanzine, so be interesting. try. The scene where he discovers his power omnipresent and never seen. They are thor- to reshape people’s minds is shocking, and his oughly deceived by Magnifico Giganticus, their Material in Alexiad is copyright © 2019. decision to see about getting back at his op- new associate, who continues his sham attitude All rights reserved. Upon publication, all pressors a terrifying prelude. of humility and even subservience as behind the rights revert to the original contributor, but we Then he fades into the background, as the scenes he undertakes the subversion of these reserve the right to use any item more than scene shifts to the Foundation planet of Ter- realms and managing his new conquests. once, unless otherwise specified by the contrib- minus. Terminus Mayor Indbur III (Lawrence The journey follows the spread of the utor. All letters sent to Alexiad become the Fishburne), having ridden the defeat of the Mule’s rule and the derangement of the Seldon property of the publishers. Any material by the Empire’s Admiral Bel Riose (James Purefoy) Plan. As the reality of the situation becomes editors is available to other fanzines if they to primacy (as recounted in Dead Hand), is apparent, Lan, Bayta, and Toran each struggle provide proper credit and send a copy. settled in his authority when the news of the with their observations . . . and are finally Available for The Usual (letter of comment, rise of the Mule becomes public. confronted with the shocking truth. trade, contribution). Sample issue available 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