sign in sign up
<<
Home , Allen Bellman, Allen Steele, AnimeFest, Anime North, A Case of Conscience, Brittney Karbowski

Volume 1, Issue 22 June 2011 2

Editorial: Well, that seemed like a fast month! Maybe it was that I was a week late with the zine last time around. Even still, y’all managed to load us down with some good letters of comment. The calendar is as packed as ever – summer’s a good season for cons in the South. I kicked off my summer last weekend with a trip up to Balticon (my first time there) and enjoyed myself immensely. As we’ve established that for the purposes of this zine, Baltimore is in the South, I’d say that was starting it off right. Balticon had a great mixture of young and old fans, which felt similar to . On the way home, Glug and I discovered that Waffle House now offers sausage gravy as a hash brown topping, which led to the realization that we can make Southern-style poutine out of Waffle House hash browns. Look for more on that next ish. I’m continuing my slog through the Hugo fiction, and this ish, we get through the short stories, novelettes, and of the novels, plus Glug gives us a look at the graphic stories. Finally, we’ll be closing out with another great article from Dr. Jeff! Enjoy, y’all.

Contents: Calendar of Events 3 Rebel Yells (Y’all) 11 Reviews: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 19 Hugo Short Stories 20 Hugo Novelettes 21 Hugo Graphic Stories (Christopher Hensley) 22 Memories of Fanex Past: 1996-2001 (Dr. Jeff Thompson) 25

Art Credits: Jose Sanchez – cover, page 25 Brad Foster – Renovation logo on page 7 Mike Moon – page 21 FenCon logo copyright the Future Society

Colophon: Editor & SFC President: Warren Buff [email protected] (919) 633-4993 8712 Wellsley Way Raleigh, NC 27613 USA All contents copyright their creators. Uncredited work is likely by the editor. This zine is free, either by direct email or www.efanzines.com. A letter of comment or other contribution will get you on my mailing list, as long as I remember to put you there. If I forget, bother me a second time, or however long it takes to add you. I haven’t been printing this one, which leaves me free to use as many pages as I wish, and do things like color. It also lets me use all the contributions I can muster, so fire away! 3

Calendar of Events:

June 3-5: ConCarolinas (Charlotte, North Carolina – Charlotte Hilton University Place. One of the fastest growing cons in the region, and hosts of last year’s DSC. Guests of Honor include: Harry Turtledove, John Billingsley, Bonita Frierdericy, Keela & Katkith, Jamie Chambers, Carla Ulbrich, and Justin Chung. Memberships are $40 at the door. www.concarolinas.org) HeroesCon (Charlotte, North Carolina – Charlotte Convention Center. Fan- friendly comics convention. I went once, early in my con-going days, though I haven’t been back since they’ve moved onto ConCarolinas’s traditional weekend. It also tells me I’ve been out of reading comics for a long time that I hardly recognize the names on their guest list anymore. The biggest names I recognize are and Bernie Wrightson, but the art for the others they’re highlighting looks fantastic, too. Yes, I need to hand in some geek street cred for that remark. $30 for the weekend, $15 for one day. www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/) Seishun-Con (Atlanta, Georgia – Doubletree Hotel Atlanta NW/Marietta. This appears to be a fan-based convention. I don’t see any guests listed, though I do see a call for panelists. Registration will be $30 at the door, or $20 for a day pass. http://seishun-con.com) HamaCon 2 (Huntsville, Alabama – Holiday Inn Downtown. These guys list a handful of guests, such as Brina Palencia and Chris Cason. They’re another , and look to have been founded about the same time as Seishun-Con. Hopefully, they’ll find a way to stagger their weekends, since they’re only two hours away from each other. Pre-registration is $25, with extra food events available. www.hama-con.com) OMGcon (Paducah, Kentucky – Julian Carroll Convention Center and Expo Center. Anime convention with guests including Robert & Emily DeJesus, Greg Ayres, Christopher Ayres, Tavisha, and Eric Stuart. Registration $40 at the door. www.omgcon.com) Bob Con (Winter Springs, Florida – Not much to tell yet, but this gaming event (Legends of the Shining Jewel) will hark back to the old days of Southern conventions, when they largely took place in someone’s home. Limited to 30 players, details forthcoming. http://warhorn.net/bobcon-2011/)

June 10-12: Sci Fi Summer Con (Atlanta, Georgia – Crowne Plaza Atlanta NW Perimeter. This looks like it’s either on the relaxacon end of things or really behind schedule. They’ve got some guests listed on their flier, but I don’t recognize any names, and without bios, it’s hard to tell who’d actually get your attention. The website is a disaster. Memberships are $35 at the door. http://sfscon.tripod.com) Rapier (Jacksonville, Florida – Jacksonville Clarion Hotel. Gaming convention that aims to provide a friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, their website appears giant-sized, but I gather that they’ve got a dual theme of Napoleonics and . Registration is $25 at the door. www.rapiercon.com) 4

A-Kon 22 (Dallas, Texas – Sheraton Dallas. Established anime convention. Plenty of voice actors, artists, comics folks, musicians, and writers on the guest list. Actually, the writers list would make for a pretty good SF con all by itself – Elizabeth Moon, Esther Friesner, Phil and Kaja Foglio, Lee Martindale, and then some. Registration is $62 at the door. http://a-kon.com) June 10-11: PariahCon (Lakeland, Florida – Imperial Swan Hotel & Suites. Small anime con, with some decent attention to computer gaming. Weekend passes $25. http://pariahcon.com) Robert E. Howard Days (Cross Plains, Texas – several locations. There’s only one motel in town, the 36 West, and it’s likely to fill up. See the website, which lists the location for each event on the schedule, and gives recommendations for nearby motels. Most are at the library or the museum. Saturday includes a large outdoor Barbarian Festival. Guests of Honor: Dennis McHaney and Damon Sasser. Pre-registration $15. http://www.rehupa.com/?p=2398)

June 17-19: Anime Mid-Atlantic 11 (Chesapeake, Virginia – Norfolk Marriott Chesapeake. Established anime convention serving the Tidewater. Guests include Todd Haberkorn, Chris Cason, Charles Dunbar, DJ Asu Rock, and Amy Howard Wilson. Registration is $50 at the door. www.animemidatlantic.com) 9 (Tampa, Florida – Tampa Convention Center. Florida’s largest anime con will this year be themed around monsters vs. hunters. Guests include author Max Brooks, voice actors Crispin Freeman and Katie Gray, and a decent slate of artists, cosplayers, and musicians. Weekend passes are $55. www.metroconventions.com) Comic & Anime Con (Knoxville, Tennessee – Holiday Inn Cedar Bluff. Guests include Rosearik Rikki Simons, Mellissa Cowen, Craig, and Dan Jolley. $5 per day. www.knoxvillecomicanimecon.com) Hypericon (Nashville, Tennessee – Holiday Inn Express Airport. Guests of Honor will be Glen Cook and Loren Damewood. Registration is $35. www.hypericononline.com) June 18: ConFederation Celebration (Atlanta, Georgia – See March ish for details.)

June 24-26: Apollocon (Houston, Texas – DoubleTree Hotel Houston International Airport. Houston’s own SF convention takes advantage of the obvious space connection in its name. Guests of Honor: , Ann VanderMeer, B.E. Johnson, Jeanne Gomoll. Memberships are $35 for pre-reg, and $40 at the door. www..org) Contamination (St. Louis, Missouri – Holiday Inn Viking. Horror, sci-fi, music, and pop culture. Eric Roberts, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and David Dela Rocco will headline. Weekend passes $30. www.con- tamination.com) Texas Comicon (San Antonio, Texas – San Antonio Event Center. I like that they make a distinction between creators and celebrities in their guest list. The 5 creators include the likes of Allen Bellman (Guest of Honor – he worked on the original run in the 40s), Steve Engelhart, Dave Hooper, and . In addition to folks like , their celebrities list includes Herbie the Love Bug and the General Lee. Weekend tickets $30. www.texascomicon.com) Fal-con (El Paso, Texas – 2501 Mesa Ave (Google Maps thinks that’s Mesa St, and shows it as an address at UTEP). No details about guests, so this may be fan programming. Anime and gaming (Fal stands for ―fellow anime lovers‖). Pre- registration is $30 (they put ―tickets‖ in quotes – I think they find the concept of tickets to a con alien). www.fal-convention.com) Cape Comic Con (Cape Girardeau, Missouri – Osage Center. Guests include , William Katt, and Jeremy Haun. Plenty of gaming in addition to the comics. Three-day passes are $15. www.cape-con.com)

July 1-4: (Miami, Florida – Miami Airport Convention Center. Media-heavy big tent convention. Full 4-day passes are $50. www.floridasupercon.com) July 1-3: Delta H Con (Houston, Texas – University of Houston campus. Anime convention with Chris Patton and Robert Axelrod as guests. There is a page for registration, but I don’t see anything denoting whether it costs anything or not. http://www.detlahcon.com)

July 8-10: Shore Leave 33 (Baltimore, Maryland – Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn. Featuring guests Christopher Judge, Tricia Helfer, Eddie McClintock, John de Lancie, John Grunsfeld, Emilie Ullerup, Gary Lockwood, Sally Kellerman, and Cliff Simon. Fan-run media-centric convention that also boasts a good slate of authors and artists. Pre-reg rate is $80 through June 15th. www.shore-leave.com) Anime Blues Con (Memphis, Tennessee – Hilton Memphis. Anime convention with a decent sense of where it is. Guests include Josh Elder, The Man Power, Maile Flanagan, , Martheus Wade, and Kyle Hebert. www.animeblues.com) Anime Overload (Austin, Texas – North Austin Events Center. Anime convention featuring Brittney Karbowski, Carli Mosier, Christine Auten, and Jerry Jewell. Pre-registration $25 through June 4th, then $30 at the door. www.animeoverload.net) July 8-9: Omnicon (McAllen, Texas – McAllen Convention Center. Billed as a convention for video games, comics, music, and anime, its guests include Johnny Yong Bosch, Jason David Frank, and Eyeshine. Membership passes are $35. www.omnicononline.com) July 9-10: Ancient City Con 5 (Jacksonville, Florida – Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Guests include Pika Belle Chu, Don Perlin, Kevin A. Ransom, Linda 6

S. Cowden, T.S. Robinson, The Killer Robots, and Shawn Lightfood & the Brigade. Pre-registration is $25 until June 17th. www.ancientcitycon.com)

July 13-17: LeakyCon (Orlando, Florida – Royal Pacific Hotel. Harry Potter convention thrown by the staff of website The Leaky Cauldron, who use it to generate charitable contributions. It looks like many events are separately priced, including the already sold-out lit day. They’ve also arranged a special deal with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. In spite of that, their programming looks pretty fannish. You have to sign up for a website account to register for the con, so I leave it to the determined to find out what the price is. www.leakycon.com) July 15-17: LibertyCon 24 (East Ridge, Tennessee – Comfort Inn & Suites. This year’s guests of honor are S.M. Stirling, Theresa Mather, Stephanie Osborn, Julie Cochrane, and . LibertyCon is consistently one of the best cons around for both its top-notch programming and relaxing and engaging conversations in the lobby. Fierce competition abounds in both Hearts and Spades, though Spades has the larger following there. Memberships are $40 until June 25th, at which point they’ll go up to $50. www.libertycon.org) PersaCon (Huntsville, Alabama – Radisson Suite Hotel. Anime-centric convention appealing to the young geeks of Huntsville. Pre-registration is currently $30, with no indication of the cut-off date. www.persacon.com) July 15-16: 24 Hours of Potter (St. Louis, Missouri – Crowne Plaza Clayton. This 24 hour event will take its structure from a wizarding school year, with feasts, club events, classes, and broomstick sports. Registration is $25 through July 3rd, or $80 if you want to attend the feasts. Regular registration will be available at the door for $30. www.24hoursofpotter.com)

July 17-30: Shared Worlds (Spartanburg, South Carolina – Wofford College. Creative writing summer program, which looks geared towards high school students. Instructors include Jeremy L.C. Jones, Jeff Vandermeer, Christine Dinkins, Joseph Spivey, and Christopher Dinkins. Tuition is $2250, but financial aid is available. www.wofford.edu/sharedworlds/)

July 22-24: Kamikazecon IV (Houston, Texas – JW Marriott Hotel Houston. Anime convention featuring Christopher Ayres. Weekend passes are $35 through July 1st, then $40 thereafter. www.kamikazecon.com)

July 29-31: (Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Convention Center. Big darned anime convention. Guests include Chemistry, Tony Oliver, Lisa Ortiz, and Tom Wayland. Memberships are $65 through July 16th. www.otakon.com) 7

Megaplex (Kissimmee, Florida – Radisson Worldgate Resort. Furry convention with a theme, this year, of arcade classics. This year’s Guest of Honor is Chad Krueger. Pre-registration is $40, at the door will be $45. www.megaplexcon.org) July 29-August 1: Play On Con (Birmingham, Alabama – Birmingham Marriott. SF & gaming convention. Featured presenters include Voltaire, Anya Martin, Sean Patrick Fannon, IK the Troll, and Andrew Greenberg. Registration online is $40, and will be $45 at the door. www.playoncon.com)

August 5-7: Anime Festival Orlando 12 (Orlando, Florida – Wyndham Orlando Resort. Anime convention featuring Johnny Yong Bosch, Quinton Flynn, Jason David Frank, Reuben Langdon, Wendee Lee, Chris Patton, Dan Southworth, and John Swasey. Memberships $50 and can be purchased online through July 9th, or at the door – cash only at the door. www.animefestivalorlando.com) (San Antonio, Texas – Marriott Rivercenter Hotel. Anime convention featuring Guest of Honor Shinichi ―Nabeshin‖ Watanabe as well as several American voice actors and all the usual anime con fun. Pre-registration is $40 through July 15th, then $45 at the door. www.san-japan.org) Whedon Fest (Scottsville, Kentucky – Barefoot Republic campground. Charity gathering including workshops, screenings, costume contest, paintball, and other activities. $100 for the weekend, which includes bunk space and five meals – adult members are asked to volunteer for two hours to help things run. www.whedonitesunited.com)

August 12-14: Guns of August (Williamsburg, Virginia – Holiday Inn Patriot Center. Gaming convention focused primarily on miniatures, but also featuring board games and role-playing. Registration is $20 through August 1st, then $25 at the door. $5 discount for military, students, and gamemasters. www.odms- club.com/convention) Sukoshicon (Birmingham, Alabama – Howard Johnson. This appears to be part of a series of events around the Mid-South featuring a contest, AMVs, anime karaoke, and rock band. Membership is $14 through June 24th, then $20 thereafter. www.sukoshicon.com) August 13-14: M:TG Open Cup (Poplar Bluff, Missouri – http://warhorn.net/semo-mtg-open-cup/)

August 17-21: Renovation, the 69th (Reno, Nevada – Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Atlantis Hotel, Peppermill Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott. Hotel booking will open 8 AM PST, January 17th. Guests of Honor: Ellen Asher, Charles N. Brown (in memoriam), , Boris Vallejo. If you’ve never been to a 8

Worldcon, you should try one. This one has the added bonus of not conflicting with the major Labor Day events so many of us go to, reducing your excuses. This is five days of , but more importantly, it’s a chance to meet fans from all over the world. It’s not uncommon for a group of friends at one of these to span three continents (or more – I’ve met fans from five at – South America and Antarctica, I’m looking at you). It’s also where fandom presents its annual Hugo Awards – members can nominate and vote, though you’d better hurry if you want to nominate. This will be my third Worldcon, and I’m already getting a bit excited about it. I hope to see all y’all there. Membership is $195 through July 17th, though there is a discounted rate of $100 available for fans 17-21. www.renovationsf.org) August 18-21: Game Fest South (Chattanooga, Tennessee – Chattanooga Choo Choo. Tabletop gaming, mostly boardgames. Memberships are $40, with discounts for couples and families. www.gamefestsouth.com) August 19-21: Mizu Con (Miami, Florida – Hyatt Regency Miami. Anime convention featuring Todd Haberkorn, Lisa Ortiz, Johnny Yong Bosch, and EyeShine. Passes are $30 through July 31st, though staying at the hotel two nights gets you a free badge. www.mizucon.com) Motaku (Kansas City, Missouri – Holiday Inn CoCo Key Water Resort. Anime convention featuring Spike Spencer, Leah Clark, Tiffany Grant, Cassandra Hodges, Sophie McNutt, and Samurai Dan. Contests will be held for art, AMVs, and cosplay. Pre-reg is $35 through July 31st, then $40 at the door. www.motaku.org) August 19-20: Onyx Con III (Atlanta, Georgia – Southwest Arts Center. This convention is focused on the cultural output of the African Diaspora, and looks like it’s got a strong sci-fi/comics bent. Guests include Mshindo Kuumba I, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, and N Steven Harris. Includes a writing contest in honor of the late Dwayne McDuffie. I can’t tell for sure if it costs anything or not – the website doesn’t seem to be loading images for me. www.onyxcon.com) August 20-21: Baltimore Comic-Con (Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore Convention Center. will be Guest of Honor. Ticket prices aren’t listed on the website, which claims that online ticketing will be available. http://baltimorecomiccon.com/)

August 26-28: ArmadilloCon 33 (Austin, Texas – Renaissance Hotel Austin. Guests of Honor will be , , , , Vincent Villafranca, Fred Duarte, Jr, and . This is a grand old science fiction con of the South with a reputation for bringing in tons of writers, editors, etc. Memberships are $40 through July 25th – day-of rates aren’t listed yet. www.fact.org/dillo) MechaCon (New Orleans, Louisiana – Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Anime convention featuring Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch, Samantha Inoue-Harte, Kyle Hebert, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Daran Norris. Pre-registration is 9

$40, memberships will be $50 at the door. They don’t say what the cut-off date is. www.mechacon.com)

September 2-5: Dragon*Con (Atlanta, Georgia – several hotels in downtown, though most have already sold out. The guest list is huge, and they’ve named Terry Brooks and Michael Whelan as Guests of Honor. The attendance at this will be in the tens of thousands. You will be surrounded everywhere you look by folks who share some interest in fandom. It’s a great four-day weekend, and always vibrant. Membership is $105 through June 15th, $120 thereafter. www.dragoncon.com) Mephit Furmeet (Memphis, Tennessee – www.mephitfurmeet.org) TCEP (Laurel, Maryland -- http://barkingmad.org/conventions/tcep18/) Anime Fest (Dallas, Texas – www..org)

September 9-11: Glitchcon (Bentonville, Arkansas – www.glitchcon.com)

September 16-18: Intervention (Rockville, Maryland – www.interventioncon.com) Con*Stellation XXX (Huntsville, Alabama – www.con- stellation.org/constell/index.html) Intercon Mid-Atlantic (Bethesda, Marylnad -- http://www.imalarp.com/)

September 23-25: FenCon VIII/DeepSouthCon 49 (Addison, Texas – Crowne Plaza North Dallas. Guests of Honor: Gail Carriger, Joe Bethancourt, , Vincent Di Fate, Les Johnson, Bradley Denton, and Lou Anders. DeepSouthCon finally comes to Texas! I’m thrilled to be returning to FenCon, as well, which I found to have the friendly atmosphere appropriate to a good Southern con. I also found that the panels tended to have actively interested audiences, the game room stayed busy, folks attended the filk concerts and circles, the art show had a great mix of stuff (including some Tolkien-inspired quilts!), the video room was actually attended, the consuite well-stocked, and the dealers room balanced. The hotel bar also carried a few local Texas beers, which I appreciated. For DSC, I’ll be in charge of the fanzine lounge, which seems like an entirely appropriate place for the SFC to set up shop. FenCon will be taking advantage of Gail Carriger’s attendance to have some fun with as well. All in all, I’m looking forward to this year’s DSC, and I hope to see many of you there. Membership is $35 through September 1st, with a special $45 rate which gets you a t-shirt or tote bag and first crack at the autograph line with the GoHs. A $15 rate is also available for fans 21 and under. www..org) 10

ScareFest (Lexington, Kentucky – www.scarefestcon.com)

September 29-October 2: Klingon Feast (Daytona Beach, Florida -- http://www.klingonfeast.com/Klingon_Feast_Florida.html) September 30-October 2: (Atlanta, Georgia – www.awa-con.com) 35 (St. Louis, Missouri – www.archonstl.org) GameCon V (Memphis, Tennessee – www.gameconmemphis.com)

October 7-9: Tsubasacon (Huntington, West Virginia – www.tsubasacon.org) CrisisCon (Huntsville, Alabama – www.crisis.epiccenternetworks.com) Fan Days (Plano, Texas – www.scifiexpo.com) Realms Con (Corpus Christi, Texas – www.reamlscon.com/joomla)

October 14-16: Capclave 11 (Gaithersburg, Maryland – www.capclave.org) Babelcon (Baton Rouge, Loiusiana – www.babelcon.info) Roundcon (Columbia, South Carolina – www.roundcon.com) Wincon (New Orleans, Louisiana – www.omgwincon.com)

October 21-23: Necronomicon (St. Petersburg, Florida – www.stonehill.org/necro.htm) EXPCon IV (St. Augustine, Florida – www.expcon.org) Geek Media Expo (Nashville, Tennessee – www.mtac.net/gmx) CharCon (Charleston, West Virginia – www.charcon.org)

October 28-30: HallowCon (Dalton, Georgia – www.hallowcon.com) Oni-con (Houston, Texas – www.oni-con.com) Vulcan Away Mission (Orlando, Florida – www.vulcanevents.com) October 29-November 5: C3 at Sea (Baltimore, Maryland -- http://theavatoy.site.aplus.net/id7.html)

June 15-17, 2012: DeepSouthCon 50 – Lunar Party (Huntsville, Alabama – venue TBA. This will be the first independent DSC in about a decade, and the Moon Princesses have put together quite a crew to run it. Guests of Honor will include Lois McMaster Bujold, Howard Tayler, Travis ―Doc‖ Taylor, Larry Montgomery, David Hulan, and Dr. Demento. Larry and David ran the very first two DSCs back in the 60s, and this will be a rare opportunity to get to meet them. I’ll have more information on this con in coming issues. Attending Memberships are currently $40, or $15 for pre-supporters. Supporting Memberships are $20. www.dsc50huntsville.com)

11

Rebel Yells: News and note from all over

First, we got a quick reply from Jeffrey Thompson:

Hello, Warren! I enjoyed your latest issue (#21) of the Update. I really liked all of the illustrations, especially Jose Sanchez's illo on page 34. Your review of The Dervish House makes me want to read the book. I thoroughly enjoyed Mitra Salehi's treatise on Steampunk literature and film, and I was interested to learn that Mitra's article began as an academic presentation. Once again, Warren, your e-zine has excellent synchronicity because my Bride of Frankenstein article was my presentation at the 2007 PCAS academic conference. PCAS is the Popular- Culture Association in the South (www.pcasacas.org), and its 2011 gathering will take place in New Orleans on October 6-7-8. One weekend earlier (October 1-2), I shall be one of the many guests at Nashville Comic-Con (www.comiccitytn.com) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Other guests will be Bill Byrge, Dr. Jonathan Lampley, Charles Edward Pogue, , Jacob Rougemont, and Bryan Smith. I hope that you had a happy birthday, and I thank you for your continued hard work on the Update and the Bulletin.

I did indeed have a happy birthday; thank you. I do hope you’re read The Dervish House – I found it to be well worth the read. I’m also amused to hear about the synchronicity between your article and Mitra’s. Hopefully, she’s also reading this month, and will get your appreciative comments.

Next, we heard from Joy V. Smith:

Warren,

Another issue already?! I loved the illos, especially the colorful cartoon cover art of the alien pursued by the farmer. What did he do? I enjoyed your editorial and the background on insurance claims. Oh, yes, complicated and too many this year... And thanks for the review of The Dervish House by Ian McDonald. Sounds intriguing.

Mitra Salehi's article on steampunk was certainly thorough; I liked the definition: "Steampunk music is 'something that looks back to the past to comment on the present while looking sideways at the future.'" And I enjoyed Dr. Thompson's article on Franz Waxman's music and the background on The Bride of Frankenstein's music and other movie themes.

Appreciatively, Joy V. Smith (From buying to selling to moving to remodeling) http://pagadan.blogspot.com/

12

I’m glad the increase in art is going over well (several of you have noted it – I’m just commenting on those comments here). I’ll see if I can’t maintain that standard this issue.

I was also glad to see an email from John Purcell:

Well, Warren, I do like the Update with more artwork. Then again, who wouldn't? Definitely a much needed improvement, one that I need to work for my fanzine. So, is there anything of note I can add to the SFCU? Why, yes, there is. To whit:

I spent roughly 14 years in the insurance industry - personal lines assistant underwriter for St. Paul Companies, then with BCBS of Minnesota - so I can definitely appreciate how busy you were as a result of the recent tornado outbreak that literally cut a vicious swath across the southern states. I am glad you and many other friends are fine and dandy, so any delay in the publication of a fanzine attributed to those storms...well, no problem. Take care of business first, that's what needs to be done. Good to see the zine again, though.

Lots of good cons listed, and hopefully Valerie and I will be at Apollocon in June for at least Saturday - a day trip sounds very doable for us - and also run over to Austin for Armadillocon in August. Don't know about that one, but Fencon VIII/DSC 49 in late September is a definite for us. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Speaking of cons, Aggiecon 42 over March 25-27 this year was a good one. It was the first convention art show that my wife had put her work in since one of the early Demicons (Des Moines, IA) back in 1990 or 1991. We were at both of those since we were living in Des Moines at the time and a bit active in the DMSFS (Des Moines Science Fiction Society). Good bunch of people there, too. Valerie did very well at this year's Aggiecon art show, I am happy to report. Of the 23 pieces she displayed, 12 sold! One of her bracelets even went to auction, which we were at for the last half hour Saturday night, and gaveled down at $25! Boy, was she surprised. We had a good time, and spent some time chatting with Pat Virzi and others promoting the Texas in 2013 worldcon bid, then in the Fencon party. Yes, it looks like this year's edition is going to be a good one. Val is getting more of her "wearable art" ready for their art show. Be there!

As for reading current Hugo nominated fiction, I haven't been doing it. Not even a supporting member, either, which I am sad to report. However, I did read Gene Wolf's current novel Home Fires (2011) and believe it is good enough to be nominated for next year's Best Novel Hugo. Highly recommended.

And I think that should do it for now. Looking forward to seeing you in Dallas, Warren. Don't forget to bring a deck of cards for the Hearts Tournament. I have get back to practicing again. All the best, John Purcell 13

The tornadoes just keep coming for the US this year, don’t they? North Carolina has managed to avoid getting another pounding, but even just yesterday we heard about a couple of nasty ones all the way up in . Strange days. Interesting to hear you’d also been an insurance professional for a while – I think I’ve come across several fans who were. I’m glad to hear you’re planning to be at DSC this year! I’m really looking forward to it. Congrats to Valerie on the art show success. Will we see any of her work at FenCon? Thanks for the recommendation – I’ll see if I can’t pick it up when I’m done with my Hugo reading.

We also got a LoC from Rich Dengrove, albeit on the previous issue:

Dear Warren,

I can’t keep up with your publishing schedule now. I am trying to LOC too many zines; and I’m LOCing myself out, as it were. Here are my comments on SFCU-20. First going to your calendar listings, I see Creation Twilight (April 15-17) in Arlington, VA. I wonder if it was in Crystal City like the Creation Con I attended almost thirty years ago. Next, I go on from this feather weight issue to Rebel Yells, your letter column, and your comment to me on the anarchist Bakunin. Spending my college years on the rat’s ass of the revolutionary fervor of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, I read about him in pop/learned tomes that literary/serious people published. One by Albert Camus, which talked about Bakunin, was not too bad – for its philosophy more than its history. He doesn’t mention Carême, but he mentions another anarchist colleague of Bakunin’s, Nechaev. He was even creepier. Bakunin just bombed your building; he left your mind alone. Anyway, things have changed. Where you learned about Bakunin was during game playing. So we know what has replaced the pop/learned tomes of my youth. We go from the letters and from our conversation on revolutionaries to the reports on StellarCon 35 and Megacon by Allegra the Chainmail Chick. It’s the sexiest con report I’ve ever read. And I say that honestly. I realize at my age I’m out of the running as far as making out goes. However, at StellarCon, the comment hook didn’t dredge up anything erotic, but something on wisdom. I liked the Delphic Oracle where each person on a panel adds a word to the oracle’s answer. It sounds as accurate as the Delphi Method of estimating populations. You take the average of several answers. Both techniques seem pulled out of a hat; only the Delphic Oracle is at least fun. Megacon was another thing entirely. My comment hook dredged up your comments on high heels. About those, I have some fatherly advice that all young people ignore: namely, those damn things are torture devices. Woman after woman has complained about them to me – including one wearing them. I conclude that if I were a woman, I would consider no man worth donning them for; at least if I was going to walk any distance. Anyway, from your appearance and con report, you’re sexy enough without them. 14

With that I will end my comments to Allegra, and to you Warren; and I hope to scale my massive correpondence and get #21 in the mail soon,

Yours, Rich Dengrove

Sometimes, I can’t keep up with my publishing schedule. I have no idea about the Creation Twilight thing – I’m pretty much giving up on listing those because I just can’t bring myself to read their terribly-assembled websites one more time. I’ve actually read a fair amount of Camus, though I didn’t read his remarks on Bakunin. It’s more a matter of chance that he turned up in a game I was playing – I did find him interesting enough to read up on further. I am, again, pleased to see how much appreciation there was for Allegra’s con reports. When I see her this weekend, I’ll ask if I can’t run some more.

Next, we received a press release via Tera Fulbright:

For Immediate Release – is 2011 Cornerstone Award Winner

THE SINGULARITY EFFECT ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST WINNER OF THE CORNERSTONE AWARD

Greensboro, NC (May 22, 2011).-The Singularity Effect is pleased to announce that the winner of its first ever award for excellence in Carolina Fandom is Jeff Smith. Jeff Smith is best known as the founder and organizer of the Mid-Atlantic Convention Expo (MACE).

The Cornerstone Award is an annual honor presented by a group of fans from the Carolinas dedicated to acknowledging other fans' contributions. To be eligible for the award, the fan must have been involved in promoting/helping fandom in the Carolinas (North and/or South) in some way for at least fifteen years. It is awarded to someone who is considered a pillar of fandom yet has not been honored in any other way.

The award is named after a brick that was saved during the demolition of a High Point, NC hotel that hosted multiple conventions over a number of years.

On its decision to honor Jeff Smith as the first recipient of the Cornerstone Award, the Singularity Effect recognizes that over the last twenty years, Jeff Smith has been responsible for taking StellarCon off of UNCG's campus, starting MACE - which is celebrating its fifteenth year, and running a number of other conventions including Roc of Ages and BabTrek.

―Jeff Smith is a dedicated convention runner, whose greatest strengths are his understanding of what the fans want in a convention, and his ability to "think outside of the box" to deliver a product that meets the fans requirements,‖ said James Fulbright. 15

Game designer and owner of Hero Games, Steven S. Long said, ―Jeff is that rare breed of fan who spends a lot of his time making sure that -other- fans enjoy themselves and get the most out of their hobby. He runs great conventions where he bends over backwards to make sure things go smoothly and everyone has a great time, and I hope he's able to keep doing that for many years to come.‖

About MACE, Erik Mona, former editor of Dragon Magazine, said, ―That old cliché about Southern Hospitality exists for a reason.‖

The Cornerstone Award will be presented to Jeff Smith at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC during the weekend of June 3-5, 2011.

The Singularity Effect for the 2011 award consists of Everette Beach, Paul Cory, James Fulbright, Tera Fulbright, Laura Haywood-Cory, Bill Mann, Ron McClung and Stephanie McClung. For additional information about the Cornerstone Award, the Singularity Effect, as well as eligibility and the nomination process, please us at the address or email below.

Contact:

Tera Fulbright The Singularity Effect 5701 Running Ridge Rd Greensboro, NC 27407 [email protected]

It’s good to see Jeff Smith get the sort of recognition he deserves for his years of service to fandom in the Carolinas.

Again, I ask, what zine would be complete without a Lloyd Penney LoC?

1706-24 Eva Rd. Etobicoke, ON CANADA M9C 2B2

May 27, 2011

Dear Warren:

Thank you for SFC Update Vol. 1, Issue 21. I notice we talk about work a lot…I am coming to the end with my current assignment, gotta find something else, no prospects are appearing right now, and writing locs helps take my mind off things. Artwork like that little green varmint being chased also helps.

16

Intentional floods from the Mississippi have covered and ruined a lot of land…we’ve had the same thing here, with the floods of the Red River in Manitoba, plus floods in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Convention list…this weekend is the third or fourth biggest anime convention on the continent, , being held a short distance away from our home. About 17000 people are expected, and we have a Saturday-only membership each. That say is the 28th, tomorrow, and that day is our 28th wedding anniversary. We’re not anime fans, but AN has tried their best to provide non- anime programming to not only attract a non-anime-fan audience, but also show those non-anime interests to their core audience, and try to farm out interested fans to the other local conventions. Anime North is planning an attendance cap next year, so they’d be happy to have the local cons take some of their attendance away.

My letter…the Canadian National Steampunk Exhibition took place the end of April just northeast of , and it was a massive success. Four hundred attendees is pretty good for any first-time-out convention, and there were tons of photos taken of all the various displays and costumes. The web is full of pictures of these. I hope for a repeat of this level of success next year! Toronto isn’t cold all year… our nearly-naked costumers keep their vital parts covered, and the hotels are warm. And, with the winters we do get, we’re a tough bunch, donchaknow…

Excellent steampunk essay by Mitra Salehi! And, good for her on referencing Mike Perschon. We got to meet Mike at the CNSE, his first trip to Toronto. Steampunk does something us SF fans need…provide us, once we’ve situated ourselves in Victorian times, with a sense of wonder as to what the amazing future will provide. There’s a select few who have chosen steampunk as a lifestyle, but for most of us with bills to pay and obligations to meet, it’s an interesting idea, and the perfect opportunity for a little costuming.

It’s Friday, and our membership with Anime North is tomorrow only, so we’d better get ourselves ready. Have yourself a great weekend, and see you with the next issue. Yours, Lloyd Penney.

Good luck on the job hunt. I’m glad to hear that AN has such a good relationship with other local cons – much better than what Raleigh has with AZ. Here’s to continued success for the Canadian National Steampunk Exhibition. Hope y’all had a great time at AN!

And now, another press release, via Corie Ralston:

Press Release #33 SPECULATIVE LITERATURE FOUNDATION PO Box 1693 Dubuque, IA 52004-1693 17

[email protected] - http://www.speculativeliterature.org/

For Immediate Release: June 1, 2011

SPECULATIVE LITERATURE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES OLDER WRITERS GRANT WINNER

The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce that its eighth annual Older Writers Grant is to be awarded to Shauna Roberts. The $750 grant is intended to assist writers who are fifty years of age or older at the time of the grant application, and who are just starting to work at a professional level.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Roberts grew up in nearby Beavercreek. From childhood, she dreamed of writing fiction, but that dream took a back seat to her nonfiction writing career and other activities when her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and died soon after. With a keener sense of her own mortality, Roberts joined the New Orleans chapter of the Romance Writers of America and a critique group. There, she began squeezing in time between magazine articles to write short stories and work on a novel.

In 2009, Roberts attended the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop. Just a couple of years later, she was accepted as an associate member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America .

Recurring themes in her novels and short stories include loss, prejudice and tolerance, and social issues such as class, sex, and religion. Roberts also enjoys reworking old ballads and folk tales. A former Katrina refugee, Roberts has recently written several short stories set during the aftermath and failure of the federal levees in New Orleans. ―Bosphorus Dreams,‖ which was Roberts’ entry for the Older Writers Grant, will be the first of those stories to be published. Slated to appear in the anthology, A Quiet Shelter There, it is scheduled for publication in fall of 2011 by Hadley Rille Books. The anthology is edited by Gerri Leen and will benefit an animal shelter.

Grant Administrator Malon Edwards said of Roberts’ entry, ―Bosphorus Dreams‖: ―Judith is an emotionally-fragile woman in the beginning of the story, but through curt and witty dialogue with cats and a gradual bolstering of her confidence, she gains emotional strength. By the end of the story, she’s more than just a grieving woman who has fled New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina for Istanbul. She’s a woman who has saved a city.‖

Honorable Mentions for the Older Writers Grant go to Marcelle Dubé, Anne Pillsworth, Ada Milenkovic Brown, F.J. Bergmann, and Lou Antonelli for their intriguing and entertaining submissions, which made the selection of the winner a competitive but enjoyable process.

18

------The Speculative Literature Foundation is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interests of readers, writers, editors and publishers in the speculative literature community.

"Speculative literature" is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard and soft science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to magical realism to modern mythmaking–any literature containing a fabulist or speculative element.

More information about the Speculative Literature Foundation is available from its web site (http://www.speculativeliterature.org/) or by writing to [email protected].

WAHF: Steve Francis, reminding me that I had forgotten to attach the zine to my email; Tom Feller; Tim Bolgeo, also reminding me about the attachment; a further note from Joy V. Smith letting us know that PariahCon had heard about us listing them.

Reviews:

To give myself a fair scale for ranking the Hugo nominees for Best Novel before I've read them all, I'm going to rank the 8 nominees of the previous decade that I've actually read. My rating for a given book will be where I would slot it, if it were added to this hypothetical ballot. I don't believe any of these works ranks below No Award, so it takes the ninth slot. A rating of 10, therefore, would indicate that a book is utterly unworthy of a Hugo, whereas a 1 would mean I would give it a rocket even against extraordinarily stiff competition – three of them got rockets of their own, after all. Keep in mind, then, that I really liked all eight of these books. This doesn’t, however, correspond to the actual weight I gave them at the time. I voted Julian Comstock above The City & The City, for instance. A rousing good adventure story is enough to get my vote over No Award, but a book that makes me think and feel as well will get higher marks.

The Power Ballot (1) Anathem by (2) by (3) The City & The City by China Miéville (4) The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (5) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by (6) Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by (7) Old Man's War by (8) The Last Colony by John Scalzi (9) No Award

19

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin 408 pages, around two weeks casual time to read Rank on the Power Ballot: 3

Jemisin has managed to tell a complete fantasy story within a single volume. While The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not a tale with a cast of dozens, it does concern the fates of gods and empires, and in that regard, at least, is epic. And when it is over, it ends. I know that this and my previous review show off my prejudice against doorstopper fantasy, but I won't shy away from that. Nor will I allow this to become a rant about the problems with dozen-plus-volume fantasy series. Instead, I will heap praise upon Jemisin for writing such a thoroughly engaging first-person narrative. Jemisin's voice was immediately distinct from my own experience, yet also drew me in. Rather than being put off by the contrast between my own background and that of Yeine Darr, I found that these differences were played deftly so as to draw me in to the world Jemisin had built. The actions of gods thousands of years ago had consequences stretching down to the present, and yet the world had gone through distinct changes in the intervening millennia. Because the world had continued to evolve, it felt natural when major changes took place again. The gods had personalities in keeping with their essential natures, and consistently acted according to these. The religious and political structures of the world were shown to be both beautiful and terrible, utterly vicious and the bringers of peace. And perhaps the most appealing aspect for me was the magic. In this world, magic is largely tied to the language of the gods. The gods can sometimes do magic without speaking, but it is their language which holds power, not a mortal one. Mortals cannot handle the spoken form of the gods' language, and thus can only master its written form. This reminds me thoroughly of some of Alan Moore's thoughts on magic and the written word which I've come across second hand, and I find the association fruitful. Overall, this is a well-built and engaging world. Mere world-building does not make a great novel, even with an engaging narrator. Thankfully, Jemisin has also brought a thorough understanding of plot to the table. This story both draws in the reader and encourages the suspension 20 of disbelief. It manages to balance love, rivalry, mystery, intrigue, and revenge, letting the counter-weighting of these things propel its plot. The only part which seemed at all jarring was a device where what sounded like internal thoughts was written in the form of a dialogue. Discovering the meaning of this, though, was critical to understanding the direction the plot was taking, and I can forgive the initial awkwardness for the powerful foreshadowing the realization created. When it comes down to it, this is what I like to see fantasy do – present an intricate world, set up grandiose conflicts within it, and propel me along the discovery of their resolution, all preferably within a single volume. While I can tell already this won't be getting my highest vote on the ballot, it will be getting a strong recommendation to my fantasy-reading friends, and I will applaud heartily if Jemisin takes the rocket. This is a first-class work of fantasy.

Hugo Short Fiction Round-Up Part 1: Short Story

―Amaryllis‖ by Carrie Vaughn This is a proper science fiction story in the Campbellian mode, though not in a Campbellian style. There is a system of world population and resource control made understandable by indirect reference, along with hints of a backstory that needn’t be told for the story to work. While that is there, the story is ultimately one of the family dynamics of a community of outsiders. The final line is more an act of telling than showing, and could perhaps have been improved, but it still succeeds in delivering the proper emotional conclusion to the piece. Overall a good story that I wouldn’t be hurt to see win.

―For Want of a Nail‖ by This is a good AI story, involving an AI who serves as the institutional memory of a family aboard a generation ship. The characters are robust, especially the AI, Cordelia. The thrust of the story comes from the idea of overwriting the governing laws of an AI’s behavior and changing their priority, which has a classically Asimovian feel to it (though the story itself, of course, couldn’t happen in Asimov’s Robots universe). Overall, a potent story about the nature of memory which I would be happy to see win.

―Ponies‖ by This story is moving, but that’s by virtue of being disturbing, and I’m not sure I liked it. It does what it sets out to do very well, and it’s got an eerie parallel with Taral Wayne’s article (in The Drink Tank #276) about how My Little Pony is fundamentally about social dominance among little girls. It’s a good horror story, but ultimately, it’s more allegorical than stfnal, and that’s not what I’d prefer to see winning the Hugo.

―The Things‖ by Peter Watts This is a clever retelling of ―The Thing‖, attempting to play the story through the consciousness of the original’s monster. It’s clunky, though – the story reads very slowly, and in the early sections is perhaps too clever for any 21 emotional affect. The climax manages to play beautifully, but is somewhat spoiled by a final line that removes what sympathy we could have had with the narrator. The stfnal legwork is there, and the story does get the reader thinking, but fails to raise the passions. As good as the core idea is, this doesn’t strike me as Hugo-caliber execution.

Warren’s Short Story Ballot: 1. ―For Want of a Nail‖ 2. ―Amaryllis‖ 3. ―Ponies‖ 4. No Award 5. ―The Things‖

Part 2: Novelette ―Eight Miles‖ by Sean McMullen This is a strong story of the 19th Century, and could perhaps be considered the tale of a divergence- point for a steampunk . Not seeing the consequences play out, though, it remains the story of exploration leading to a fruitful first contact, with a good double-cross overlaid. The ending leaves plenty of room to wonder at possible consequences, but concludes the themes and plot well without becoming pat. It plays well with the sort of knowledge that a scientist of its time would have, and its first-person narrative form allows us not to quite need an explanation of the workings of the wondrous technologies of advanced beings. Overall, it’s the sort of smart science fiction that I’d be happy to see get the Hugo.

―The Emperor of Mars‖ by Allen Steele This story is a tribute to two things that are awesome: the classic fantastic Mars fiction and Emperor Norton. The plot centers around an employee of a Mars colony who enters a deep depression after learning of the deaths of his family back home on Earth, and the delusions he constructs for himself after finding the Visions of Mars DVD aboard the Phoenix probe. While the plot takes elements of Emperor Norton’s famous reign in , it avoids being merely a strict retelling and concludes with the Emperor’s final gift to his ―subjects‖. I would be satisfied with a story like this winning the Hugo.

―The Jaguar House, in Shadow‖ by Aliette de Bodard This is a very interesting story marred by the combination its nonlinearity and brevity. With more exposition, the strangeness of the high-tech Aztec setting and its knightly orders could have been given some grounding. The reader is left 22 wondering about too many unresolved questions with the world to deal with the nonlinear narrative, which is unfortunate, because the conflict is interesting and the characters are well-developed. There’s just been some truly fascinating world-building done here and with the scaffolding removed, its origin is a nagging mystery. A Hugo for this would require the voters forgiving this one fault in favor of the strong characterizations, and I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to do that. (Note: I found out from the version on the Asimov’s website that this is a recurring universe with the author. All the same, I found the lack of background off-putting, to the point that I wasn’t even sure whether to read this as alternate history or .)

―Plus or Minus‖ by James Patrick Kelly Here we find science fiction in the classic mold. This story owes a lot to ―The Cold Equations‖, but gives its crew better options, though they don’t explore all of them, nor all the ones that can be imagined from the text as presented. Its plot is dictated by human reactions to science and technology, though most of the characters are under-developed (though I hardly expect otherwise in fiction of this length). Overall, I was pleased with this story, and enjoyed how its ending was properly foreshadowed. I would be happy to see this go home with a rocket.

―That Leviathan, Whom Thou Has Made‖ by Eric James Stone Here we see another story of early contact with an alien species, and one that owes much to ’s A Case of Conscience. The central questions of religious truth are left deliberately unresolved while the story is presented from the point of view of a believer. There is rather fantastic technology involved, as well as intelligent beings of plasma living inside the Sun, but the technology, while unexplained, is merely a means to facilitate contact between humanity and a species so awesome it might conceivably claim divinity. Unlike in Blish’s novel, the contact is generally positive, though the conflict in it drives the story. Overall, I think this is the sort of story which deserves to win a Hugo.

Warren’s Novelette Ballot: 1. ―That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made‖ 2. ―Plus or Minus‖ 3. ―The Emperor of Mars‖ 4. ―Eight Miles‖ 5. ―The Jaguar House, in Shadow‖

HUGO BEST GRAPHIC STORY NOMINEES Christopher Hensley

Let me start of by explaining a bit about the methodology I used to rank the Hugo nominees for the category of Best Graphic Story. For those nominees which are a singular story (Grandville: Mon Amore and Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel) it is a simple criteria: How does that single story stack up? For the other nominees, my ranking is based on the titular story only. That might seem petty, 23 but the category is Best Graphic Story, and the other stories in the collection must be treated separately, since they are also valid nominees. This is in keeping with the other Hugo fiction categories, and necessary if the Best Graphic Story category is to be a serious literary award. That being said, I do give my notes on the other stories in the collections in each review because they are of interest, and there are some important points to be made by them.

1. The Unwritten: Inside Man , Peter Gross

Let me start out by stating that this one was close. Both this nominee and Grandville: Mon Amore are beautifully crafted tragedies.

So why did I rank Inside Man as number one? Inside Man beats out Mon Amore because it is a beautifully crafted tragedy. It manages to be a very human story without sacrificing its identity as lit-fantasy. While ostensibly about Tommy surviving, and ultimately breaking out of prison there is no denying it is character driven. It also manages to make better use of the graphic form to advance the story. The way onomatopoeia is blended into the action at the story’s climax is masterful, heightening the dramatic sense of urgency and tying the piece together. In story media is also interspersed throughout, in this chapter as websites, in a way that doesn’t bog down the action and conveys a world that exists outside of the protagonists.

The other two stories in the volume are Jud Süss and Eliza Mae Hertford’s Willowbank Tales. Jud gives us our first solid look at the other world where stories live. It sets the protagonist up against a psychic horror created by Goebbels’s propaganda machine. This forces our hero to confront some of his own issues for the first time. I also suspect it sets up a series of high concept monsters of the week. Willowbank is a dark little fairy tale about furry animals. This is the kind of (as of now) unconnected story, that is really about stories, that make literary fantasy. It certainly leaves a reader with goose bumps. In some collections it would be the stand out, but next to the other two pieces in this volume it is kind of forgettable.

2. Grandville: Mon Amore

I was a little hesitant to read this at first. I suspect too much time on the internet has soured me to anything with anthropomorphic animals on the cover. Boy was I mistaken. Granville: Mon Amore is an engrossing detective yarn that deals with the character’s trying to escape, and ultimately coming to terms with, the sins of their past. The romances and intrigues stand beside those in any noir classic and the art does a good job of establishing setting and drama. On the whole, it is a damned fine detective story. Ultimately though, that is all it is, which is why I had to give the edge to Inside Man.

24

3. Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel Howard Taylor, Travis Walton

Wow, what can I say about Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel? Howard Taylor once again proves that he can masterfully craft a narrative. The tales of the separate jobs the crew takes while their ship, Touch and Go, is undergoing repair are brought together in a single narrative that furthers the overall plot of the series. That is not to mention that the separate tales themselves tie in to the series as a whole. It is one of the best written science adventure tales I have read in a while, with a good mix of adventure and comedy.

4. No Award

Putting this one here hurts me. I love Fables and Girl Genius, but this year’s nominees aren’t complete stories. If you’ve made it this far you’ve already read my rant about the importance of the Best Graphic Story being a story, so I’ll spare you any extra raving.

5. Fables: Witches , Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, David Lepham, Jim Fern, Andrew Peppy, Craig Hamilton

Fables: Witches continues the current story arc, dealing with the fallout of Geppetto joining the community and the build up towards the confrontation with the Dark. My problem here is not the quality of the work. I love the plot involving Baba Yaga and Bufkin the Flying Monkey. Unfortunately, it is the only part to have any resolution. While there are plenty of moments where the antagonist broods around and discusses his dark goals, or other members of the cast get to show how high their bad-ass quotient is there is no real climax or resolution. The only exception is the already mentioned subplot about the monkey but it is framed by the main action of Witches, not defining of it.

Out To the Ball Game/The Little Murder is another matter. If this had been nominated it would have been battling Inside Man and Mon Amore for my top pick. It is a wonderful tale that deals with the main themes of the series. With his great victory achieved, the Frog Prince is forced to deal with the hard task of actually running his newly formed kingdom without sacrificing his own virtues.

6. Girl Genius 10: Agatha Heterodyne & the Guardian Muse Phil & Kaja Foglio

We already know why we love Girl Genius. All of those things are as true in Agatha Heterodyne & the Guardian Muse as they are in the rest of the series. The tenth installment of Girl Genius comes in last because it suffers from a serious case of middle book syndrome. Some new complications get added to the main plot, there is some danger thrown in, but nothing gets resolved and if you aren’t familiar with the series you’ll have no idea what’s going on. There is 25 nothing bad about Guardian Muse, it just doesn’t meet the minimum requirement of being a full story.

Memories of Fanexes Past: 1996-2001 Jeff Thompson

Year after year in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Susan and Gary Svehla, of Midnight Marquee and Mad About Movies magazine and Midnight Marquee Press, hosted one of the finest horror/sci-fi conventions in the United States. For years, several of my pen pals had raved to me about a Baltimore convention called Fanex, so I attended the con for the first time in 1996. I had such a great time meeting fellow fans, speaking with the celebrity guests, watching their movies, shopping in the dealers’ rooms, and participating in panel discussions that the next year, I brought my university colleague Jonathan Lampley with me. Jonathan became a Fanex regular, along with me, and several times thereafter, Jonathan and I visited the grave of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore a day or two before Fanex began. Fanex 10 (26-28 July 1996) was the tenth-anniversary convention and the year that Robert Wise was one of the guests. The great director graciously autographed a half-dozen of my LP record covers of the soundtracks of some of his films. I thanked Wise for directing some of the greatest movies ever made, including The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music, and The Haunting. Other guests in 1996 were Forrest J Ackerman, Kathleen Crowley, Dolores Fuller, Linda Harrison, and Ann Robinson. Fuller screened some obscure Ed Wood footage that she had re-edited into a short Western film. Director Bob Tinnell showed his superb, nostalgic movie Frankenstein and Me (a.k.a. Mohave Frankenstein), which I loved as much as Matinee, Lady in the White, and The Sandlot. Also at Fanex ’96, I participated in fan panels about science-fiction movies and TV shows of the 1950s. The theme of Fanex 11 (20-22 June 1997) was ―Hammer Has Risen from the Grave 2,‖ and almost 15 years later, I still proudly wear my two Fanex 11 shirts with their pictures of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee on the backs. This year’s thrilling Hammer convention (a follow-up to 1994’s all-Hammer year) welcomed Veronica Carlson, Freddie Francis, Val Guest, Caroline Munro, Jimmy Sangster, and other Hammer personnel to Fanex. I was especially delighted to meet Francis and Sangster just as much for their many non-Hammer projects as for their Hammer output. Two special memories that I have of Fanex 11 are having my picture made while standing between Sangster and Francis and making friends with Veronica Carlson. I saw Veronica again later that year at Dracula 97: A Centennial Celebration in Los Angeles, as well as at subsequent Fanexes. My favorite memory of Fanex ’97 is the so-called ―Drive-In (Well, Actually, Sit-In) Theatre,‖ where other fans and I sat in lawn chairs and watched a 16mm print of The Revenge of Frankenstein outdoors on a big screen set up on the tennis courts of the Hunt Valley Inn. 26

The two panels on which I spoke at Fanex 11 were extra-special to me, for they dealt with some of my favorite subjects. One was ―Bastard Children of Psycho,‖ all about the good and bad film imitations of Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller. I had corresponded with Bob Bloch for the last four years of his life, and Psycho is one of my favorite movies. One of the three bathrooms in my house in Nashville is a Psycho bathroom. The other panel was ―The Night Stalker 25th Anniversary Panel.‖ I am a lifelong devotee of Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and the many other productions of producer- director Dan Curtis. I wrote my 2006-2007 doctoral dissertation about Curtis’s 17 horror productions (including Burnt Offerings), and I reshaped that dissertation into a Rondo Award-nominated 2009 book about Curtis. This is what Fanex was all about: convening with other like-minded fan-friends and having lively discussions—sometimes, late into the night!—about the literature, television, and cinema that we had loved and studied for our whole lives. The guest list of Fanex 12 (10-12 July 1998) included Kevin McCarthy, Peggy Moran, Lori Nelson, Mala Powers, and Dee Wallace Stone. I enjoyed meeting McCarthy and telling him that I had seen his outstanding one-man show Give ‘em Hell, Harry! (by Samuel Gallu) in Nashville in 1981 at the same time that I was watching him on NBC-TV’s Flamingo Road. The Fanex ’98 panels in which I participated were ―Beyond Ballyhoo‖—from William Castle to Matinee— and the ―Dangerous Dames‖ of horror, film noir, sci-fi, and television. In 1999, Fanex moved to Arlington, Virginia (outside Washington DC), and metamorphosed into Monster Rally ’99 (August 6-8), an epic gathering rivaling the 1993 Famous Monsters of Filmland convention, which had been held at the very same hotel. I enjoyed returning to that place and reconnecting with my Fanex friends and several friends and stars from Famous Monsters ’93, meeting many other stars for the first time, and speaking on five Fanex panels (three of which I moderated). Who wasn’t at this year’s convention?! Almost everyone from A (Forry Ackerman) to Z (Robert Z’Dar of Maniac Cop) was there! A very few of the attendees were Jane Adams, Veronica Carlson, , Coleen Gray, Ray Harryhausen, Ed Kemmer, , Ingrid Pitt, Rex Reason, Michael Ripper, Yutte Stensgaard, Elena Verdugo—and Christopher Lee. The star who had played Dracula, Fu Manchu, and Rasputin graciously chatted with fans and autographed his Midnight Marquee Press biography Tall, Dark, and Gruesome. During his long, fascinating question-and-answer session (co- hosted by Tom Johnson and Mark Miller), Lee reminisced about Hammer, Amicus, The Man with the Golden Gun, Jinnah, Saturday Night Live, his service in World War II, and much more. He spent a full 20 minutes speaking, quite emotionally, about his famous friendship with his frequent co-star Peter Cushing, who had died five years earlier. As excited as I was over meeting Christopher Lee, I was just as thrilled to meet Nightmare Alley star Coleen Gray, whom I had watched on NBC-TV’s Days of Our Lives in the late 1960s. I surprised the actress and her husband Fritz with a VHS videotape of some of her rare Days of Our Lives episodes. Every year since 1999, I have received Fritz and Coleen’s Christmastime newsletter, and I enjoy keeping up with their world travels, their musical pursuits, and their prison ministries. I also was delighted, along with several other fans, to eat breakfast 27 with Mr. and Mrs. Ray Harryhausen, whom I first had met in 1993. This year, I spoke on fan panels about science-fiction movies, horror cinema, ―Movies That Are Better Than the Books That Inspired Them‖ (e.g. Somewhere in Time, Touch of Evil, Planet of the Apes, The Hot Spot, et al.), horror heroines and villainesses, and ―Movies That Should Be Remade‖ (e.g. I Am Legend, The Other, The Killer Inside Me, the Dr. Phibes movies, et al.). Classic Film Fest 2000, held July 28-30, again in Arlington, Virginia, was a worthy successor to Monster Rally ’99. A few of the many celebrity guests were Samuel Z. Arkoff, Veronica Carlson, Roger Corman, Ib Melchior, Yvonne Monlaur, Paul Naschy, Margaret O’Brien—and Janet Leigh. I had met Janet Leigh 16 years earlier, at her book-signing in Nashville in 1984, and I was overjoyed to meet her again. She signed a picture, ―To Jeff and his Psycho bathroom—Janet Leigh!‖ Adding to the Psycho theme of Classic Film Fest 2000 was the presence of both Patricia Hitchcock, daughter of the director, and Dorothy Herrmann, daughter of the great Psycho and Vertigo composer Bernard Herrmann. Dorothy Herrmann revealed that her father’s personal favorite of his film scores was his music for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. The daughters of Herrmann and Hitchcock signed a half-dozen of their fathers’ soundtrack LP covers for me. I also had the chance, along with several other fans, to eat breakfast with Betsy Jones-Moreland and to get to know her. The Last Woman on Earth star admitted that her favorite movies were the Godfather films. ―I could watch those movies all day long!‖ she declared. This year, I participated in panel discussions about Alfred Hitchcock, fandom, film noir, ―Horrific Scenes in Non-Horror Films,‖ and ―Overrated and Underrated Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films—1890s-1990s.‖ The latter was the basis for a collaborative article that was published in Midnight Marquee #65/66 in 2002. After two years in Arlington, Fanex 15 (6-8 July 2001) returned to Baltimore and the Hunt Valley Inn, the location of the 1997 and 1998 gatherings. Some of this year’s guests of honor were Forry Ackerman, Curtis Harrington, Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Paul Picerni, and Barbara Shelley. One of the highlights of the convention was Paul Picerni’s exuberant Q&A, in which he quite naturally broke into laughter, tears, and song at regular intervals as he regaled the fans with lively stories about Vincent Price and House of Wax, as well as The Untouchables, Gunsmoke, Batman, and more. The panel discussions in which I participated in 2001 were about Hollywood epics, film music, and romantic movies. After 2001, my schedule did not permit me to attend the last few Fanexes. By that time, my classroom and committee responsibilities at Tennessee State University (where I have taught English since 1985) had increased, and I was heavily involved with the yearly PCAS academic conference. PCAS is the Popular-Culture Association in the South, and I have attended its conference every year (except one) since 2000. A good topic for a presentation at PCAS would be the history of Fanex and its promotion of ―participatory culture‖ (i.e. fandom). Sue and Gary Svehla should be very proud of the outstanding, exciting, and stimulating conventions that they helmed, year after year, and I am deeply honored to have attended and participated in six of them. My Fanex memories 28 are some of the happiest memories of my life as a fan of great genre movies and tele-vision. F.I.A.W.O.L. (Fandom Is A Way Of Life)!

Dr. Jeff Thompson is the Rondo Award-nominated author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006 (McFarland, 2009) and House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (Westview, 2010). He has written about Dark Shadows for Syracuse University Press, Hermes Press, Gryphon Press, and other publishers. He teaches English at Tennessee State University and Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film in Nashville.