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Vol. 18 No. 5 October 2019 ALEXIAD (!7+=3!G) $2.00 September is international month at the library. My branch’s country this year Sheryl Birkhead...... 11, 17 is Spain, that land Hemingway loved, and so I have begun studying Spain. At Paul Gadzikowaski...... 18 World Market I discover only two things made in Spain, both costing more than Alexis A. Gilliland...... 7 I am willing to spend. Japan and India were easier in that regard but I got Trinlay Khadro...... 2 attached to the little Japanese rice bowl I bought for the display and selfishly kept Marc Schirmeister...... 5, 12, 13, 15, 16 it. Spain is the first country that I, according to my father’s grandfather, have ancestors from and so has a special interest to me. I am not preparing any The 94th Running of the Hambletonian (1st leg of theTrotting Triple Crown) was August differently than I prepared for Japan or India. Fortunately, I find a pretty little 3, 2019 at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Forbidden Trade pitcher and saucer set at a thrift store and pay the store a quite reasonable three won. bucks for it. It is a lucky find for me, because at Worldfest I find nothing from The 65th Running of the Yonkers Trot (2nd leg of the Trotting Triple Crown) was August Spain. 31, 2019 at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York. Gympanzee won. On September 11 I watched the documentaries of 9/11 and I remembered. Joe The 126th Running of the Kentucky Futurity (3rd leg of the Trotting Triple Crown) is calling me and telling me to turn on the TV and the images burned into my brain. October 6, 2019 at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky. Greenshoe won, while The knowing my country was now at war with a savage, ruthless enemy. Gympanzee started well but faded. — Lisa The 65th Running of the Cane Pace (1st leg of the Pacing Triple Crown) was August 3, 2019 at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Captain Crunch won. Table of Contents The 64th Running of the Messenger Stakes (2nd leg of the Pacing Triple Crown) was Editorial...... 1 August 31, 2019 at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York. American Mercury Reviewer’s Notes...... 1 won. The Disappearance of Amy Billig...... 2 The 74th Running of the Little Brown Jug (3rd leg of the Pacing Triple Crown) was Awards...... 9 September 19, 2019 at the Delaware County Fair in Delaware, Ohio. Southwind Ozzie Gender and the Hugo Awards...... 8 won, after coming in first in the first heat, while American Mercury, who came in Horse News...... 6 second in the second heat, came in third. Hugo Awards...... 8 Printed on November 17, 2019 The Joy of High Tech...... 7 Deadline is December 1, 2019 On Buying and Not Buying...... 7 Sidewise Awards...... 10 Reviewer’s Notes Spiders...... 6 Dates...... 10 One of the hardest things to do these days, it seems, is to get up a meeting. If you set it up Book Reviews far in advance, half the attendees have something come up so they can’t make it. Working on JTM West, Codeword Overlord...... 6 the fly, as it were, means that no one is available to begin with. JTM Crean O’Brien and Sheppard, Honouring Tom Crean...... 4 And I think this is happening to actual physical get-togethers. Local clubs are fading away. JTM Hill, Harry Seven...... 3 Fan-run cons are being pushed out by professionally run ones. (We saw this just the other day, JTM Klehr, The Millionaire Was a Soviet Mole...... 5 where Imaginarium here had a huge attendance in spite of a bad venue.) JTM Mendlesohn, The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein...... 3 But the professional ones have problems. While Dragon*Con seems to be the new venue JTM Preston, The Lost City of the Monkey God...... 4 of choice, what I see are stories of huge mobs being shuffled from one room to another, with JTM Rodgers, Usurper...... 4 no interaction. I have referred to this often enough, as the transition from participants to JTM Stanek, How to Kill Hitler...... 6 consumers. Con Reports Just as the growing experience of SF is superhero movies. In one sense that is a regression SB 77th Worldcon...... 8 to the old pulp ways, with slam-bang action instead of the sort of speculation that the notorious Random Jottings...... 2 editor Astounding Unperson strove for. Next is the latest academic trend, which will become Letters...... 11 passé when it gets outmobbed. Sue Burke, Lloyd Daub, John Hertz, Robert S. Kennedy, Timothy Lane, Lloyd Penney, AL Darrell Schweitzer has observed that we do not come again; there are no longer young du Pisani, George W. Price, John Purcell, Joy V. Smith, Taras Wolansky faneds. In comparatively recent times, you will recall, there were APAs for editors under Comments are by JTM or LTM twenty. These days it seems the entire field is passing away; once upon a time there was an Trivia:...... 17 APA for people on the FAPA waitlist, and it had a waitlist. Now FAPA clings to life. Art: — Joe Page 2 October 2019 Alexiad

didn’t mean it.” (WAGB-10), which is 44 years old. (2001) RANDOM JOTTINGS — Not from : A Fistful of Credits by Joe On October 4 the German icebreaker RV There are mamas at any Angel The Pursuit of the Pankera (NHOL Polarstern began its year-long drift in the gathering, large or small. They travel G.183), the new title of the original version of Arctic ice pack. The ship sailed from Tromsø as part of the troupe, like oxpeckers, The Number of the Beast (NHOL G.189), is accompanied by the Russian icebreaker fully understanding what's expected: having publication problems and the release Akademik Feodorov, through the Northeast they are available at any time, in any date has been pushed back to Spring/Summer Passage. The drift will begin at 83E North way, to any Angel, friend or favored 2020. There are editing problems with the 137E East, in the Lapatev Sea north of Siberia. guest — individually or otherwise. manuscript, due to the manner in which it has It is estimated that the ship will exit the pack They also understand that the minute been created (from a number of varying in September of 2020, in the Fram Strait be- they don't like the arrangement they drafts). tween Svalbard and Greenland. can leave. Most hang around for a few The ebook edition is tentatively priced at The expedition, known as MOSAiC months, then drift on to something else. $9.99, but there is a Kickstarter to fund pre- (Multidisciplianary drifting Observatory for A few have been around for years, but liminary costs and subscribers to that will be the Study of Arctic Climate), will have about this kind of dedication requires an able to buy the ebook for $7.00. 600 researchers from nineteen countries (pre- almost preterhuman tolerance for abuse sumably shuttling in and out) studying the and humiliation. Scott Christian Sava has rebooted The polar ice and the climate of the Arctic. It is led The term mama is all that remains Buy my books. (All available on Dreamland Chronicles, this time with hand- by the German Wegener Institute, named for of the original expression “Let's go Amazon.com for quite reasonable prices, drawn art. Book One of the original run was the propounder of continental drift, who died make somebody a mama,” which was except the Hugo-nominated Heinlein’s Chil- reviewed in Alexiad V. 6 #5. during an expedition to Greenland. later shortened to “Let's go make a dren, which can be bought from NESFA for a Not far away, Polar trekkers Børge Ous- mama.” Other fraternities have differ- reasonable price.) http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com land and Mike Horn have begun their own ways of saying it, but the meaning traverse of the Arctic Ocean, hoping to set a is the same — a girl who’s always https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01BMIC4MU Hugh Lupus continues his story of a diff- record for a winter traverse. They too hope to available. A widely quoted section of ?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070 erent World War II in An Extra Knot: Part III meet up with their support ship Pangaea in the the Lynch report says these girls are — Advt. (2019; $4.99) and An Extra Knot: Part IV Fram Strait, sometime around the New Year. called sheep, but I have never heard an (2019; $3.99). He continues to personalize the Angel use that word. It sounds like the Operation Flash: Episode 2: Hinges of war, with for example tales of the death of a We regret to report the death of Alexei creation of some police inspector with Fate, the sequel to Operation Flash: Episode salamander at Gibraltar. The style of many Arkhipovich Leonov on October 11, 2019 in intensely rural memories. 1: Knight’s Gambit Accepted: by Nitay Arbel short paragraphs may be a bit offputting, and Moscow. Born May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka, The mamas aren’t pretty, although (2019; reviewed in Alexiad V. 18 #3) is now they all seem stuck in Spain for now. West Siberian Krai, RSFSR, USSR, Leonov some of the newer and younger ones out (2019; One Music as Before Press; Ama- It is an imaginative and was commissioned in the Soviet Air Force in have a sort of demented beauty that zon Digital Services; $0.99). The situation in one that deviates from the all too common 1957. In 1960, he was chosen in the first erodes so fast that you have to see it Germany after the explosive death of Hitler trend of Victorious German Arms (by Gary group of cosmonauts, and in March of 1965 happen, over a period of months, to and several others, including Himmler, con- Gygax and Terry Stafford, 1973). For exam- flew in the Voskhod-2 mission, being the first feel any sense of tragedy. Once the tinues to be chaotic, with a conflict brewing ple the striking defense by the U.S. Marines person to carry out an extra-vehicular activity girls have developed the proper per- between the Widerstand and the Nazis. Mean- against a German coup de main . . . (“walk in space”). He then commanded the spective, it's easy to take them for while, the Allies are having their own differ- Soyuz-19, the Soviet mission of the Apollo- granted. One night in Sacramento the ences, over the decision to make peace or The RRS Sir David Attenborough was Soyuz Test Project. He retired at the rank of Angels ran out of beer money and pursue unconditional surrender. And there is christened by Katherine, Duchess of Cam- Major General. decided to auction off Mama Lorraine a mole in the Widerstand . . . bridge on September 26, 2019 at the Cammell Leonov was an accomplished artist, having in a bar. The top bid was twelve cents, Laird yards in Birkenhead, in the presence of done sketches of his fellow space travelers and the girl laughed along with the Apparently the German film-maker Werner her namesake, along with the Duke. The ship during the ASTP, and painted a number of others. On another occasion, Magoo Herzog, director and writer of Aguirre, the was laid down in October 2016 and launched other astronautical portraits. was packing Mama Beverly on a run to Wrath of God, is in the new Star Wars “west- in July 2018. Her assignment will be to pro- He was twice of the Soviet Union and Bakersfield when he ran out of gas. ern”, . Now if they could vide logistics support to the British Antarctic a commander of the Order of Saint Anna, “Do you know,” he recalls, “I couldn't have got Clint Eastwood: Survey and further their researches. second degree, among many other honors. He find a single gas-station attendant who The underwater remote piloted vehicles on was the last surviving Voskhod cosmonaut. would give me a free gallon of gas for “I don’t think it’s nice, you laugh- the Sir David Attenborough are named Boaty a go at her.” The public prints are full in’. You see, my bantha don’t like McBoatface, so the Internet poll got something LITTLE GIRL LOST of testimony by men who take pride in people laughing. He gets the crazy idea anyway. Commentary by Joseph T Major on having sold their talents dearly, but you’re laughin’ at him. Now if you Across the sea, the U.S. Coast Guard still WITHOUT A TRACE: people who understand that their only apologize, like I know you’re going to, can’t get a replacement for its only Antarctic The Disappearance of Amy Billig talent is not worth fifteen cents or a I might convince him that you really Ocean capable icebreaker USCGC Polar Star by Greg Aunapu and Susan Billig gallon of gas are not often quoted. Nor Alexiad October 2019 Page 3

do they usually leave diaries. It would among the bikers. case (covered in We Is Got Him by Carrie two. be interesting to hear, sometime, just If they had consulted Hunter S. Thompson, Hagen (2011; reviewed in Alexiad V. 10 #6)) The discussions of other works are en- exactly what it feels like to go up on they might have been better prepared. The of 1874. Charley was picked up by two lightening. Mendelsohn gives a detailed the auction block, willing to serve any bikers boasted vaguely of having found a strangers who offered to take him to buy description of the point at which she believes purpose, and get knocked down for young woman, offered leads, and generally firecrackers. Farnham’s Freehold (NHOL G.154) went twelve cents. wanted money and provided nothing. When the two kidnappers were killed in the wrong. Susan pursued leads for years, travelling course of a housebreaking, the one who lived We are seeing more insightful reviews and — Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels: A across the country, meeting people in remark- a few minutes said that Charley had been commentary of Heinlein’s work of late, taking Strange and Terrible (1966) ably unprepossessing venues. Nothing ever handed over to a couple. Like the Billigs, the off from the opening up of his archives and the came through. She met with young women Rosses spent the rest of their lives tracking discussion of his life. Whether this survives Amy Billig would have been 62 in January. who were in the same status, with depressing down false and unfounded leads. current trends is a matter for concern, since a The Boomer generation had many subcultures; but uninformative results. field that loses its past loses its . families parted from their old communities and And there were the hoaxes. Some of them Amy’s father Nathaniel died in 1993; set up in places where everyone was about the even went so far as to try to get money, and a Susan her mother died in 2004. The case is PADWAY REPEATED same age. They did not want their children to pair who went too far were arrested for it. still open and there are a number of websites Review by Joseph T Major of suffer as they had, in the Depression and the Under the stress, the Billigs deteriorated. dedicated to tracing it. She is featured on the HARRY SEVEN war, and strove to give them idyllic lives. Susan’s husband Nathaniel had to give up his Charley Project (www.charleyproject.org) by D. A. Hill There were demons out there. Sometimes art gallery; they sold the house and moved into which discusses missing people. Amy had a (2017; CreateSpace; the flower children would encounter them and a smaller one, all the while afraid for Amy out brother, so there is a possibility of a DNA ISBN 978-1877756404; $16.99; the results would not be pretty. there. identification, one way or another. Edna 2017; Amazon Digital Services; $3.99) Amy was seventeen on that March day in And the calls began. Someone was calling Buchanan believed that Amy had died the day Coconut Grove, Florida. She was a fey sort; a them, mocking them with news of Amy. She she was kidnapped. There may have been Pete the cat was looking for a Door into vegetarian who wrote faerie poetry, a sweet was with bikers, she was in a harem, she was reasons for not approaching the Vidocq Soci- Summer that cold winter, but never found one. innocent girl who lived in a land of sweet in- coming home again . . . the calls were always ety (see Michael Capuzzo’s The Murder Room His slave Dan Davis, by way of contrast, nocence. There were terrible things out there from telephone booths, virtually untraceable. (2010; reviewed in Alexiad V. 9 #5) for their found a Door into the Past . . . with some in the world of 1974, but they were far away. Technology evolved and the calls now story), even though it seems to have been their startling surprises. Her father was a wounded veteran; her were from a cell phone. A cell phone owned sort of case. Susan Billig continued to search Harrison Seely thought that with a nice mother a devoted housekeeper. She had been by the U.S. Customs Office, which declined to until the end of her own life. house in Princeton he could settle down. But their miracle child, born after a long struggle reveal who had it. In the end, the man slipped there was a Door into, not summer, but cold with failed pregnancies. She was the sweet- up and was caught. His defense was that he For every mystery there is someone, damp wartime Britain, as he astoundingly ness and fulfillment of their lives. was doing it to get away from the stress of his somewhere, who knows the truth. found. It was a trusting world they lived in, she job at Customs, relieving his ill-feelings by Alicia Rowntree was appalled by this lived in. So trusting, in fact, that if she wanted stringing along the Billigs with false state- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27219555/amy-billig roughly dressed Yank who showed up on her a ride, she would hitchhike. She wanted to go ments and expressions of hope for Amy’s doorstep, but sought to instill in him proper have lunch with some friends. They never saw rescue, and lurid descriptions of her torments. HEINLEIN IN PROFESSION behaviour. Yet there was something appealing her, she never turned up. For some reason the justice system failed to Review by Joseph T Major of about him, she thought. There was a biker run going through Coco- see the therapeutic value of this, but he only THE PLEASANT PROFESSION OF In alternating stories, Hill tells of this nut Grove. Thompson describes a similar one got two years in prison. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN couple drawn together by destiny, and by fate. in California, and even given his predilection by Farah Mendlesohn For it seems that Harry is trying to shift the for the apocalyptic, it does not seem to be the “It is a capital mistake to theorize before (2019; Unbound; course of the war, which did not go at all well. most forgiving of environments for naïve and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist ISBN 978-1783526789; $32.95; There is a proper understanding of the innocent seventeen-year-old women. facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit 2019; Amazon Digital Services; $6.04) differences; selling tobacco at ten quid the By the time Amy had not come home for facts.” (“A Scandal in Bohemia”) While it was pound to get spending money up to more dinner, her parents had come to realize that not unreasonable to suspect bikers, the Billigs, Mendlesohn has undertaken a difficult serious matters. And Lady Alicia has some something had gone deeply wrong. They their supporters, and the police apparently task; she has analyzed the Heinlein body of very well placed connexions. (Hill does slip began a search; after about a week, the police concentrated on them to the exclusion of any work from a different perspective, and found up in having her dismissed so abruptly from became involved. There were community other theory. It is not unreasonable to question many worthy and insightful comments. For the Firm; having read the immense struggle functions, questionings of various people, and the belief that a woman, even one as innocent example, she is quite explicit about his en- they were at to push out Kim Philby, who was a stir began to grow. Edna Buchanan, the and trusting as Amy, would voluntarily go off lightening and uplifting portrayals of women. a lot more disposable (see Cold War Spy- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, de- with a biker. There are ones who mean well; She discusses Heinlein’s works in the master by “Nigel West” (2018, 2019) for that scribed the beginnings of this effort in The but a biker who styles himself an outlaw context of the era and of the constraints and little do), the dismissal seems rather abrupt. Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1987). would be less likely to be in that category. considerations of their writing. Some of her Connections make for interesting results, There was no clear evidence of anyone Yet there are those who give too much conclusions will be surprising, as when she as when Harry gives someone a drive through having seen Amy getting picked up. The trust. There is a parallel with the first notori- argues that in The Star Beast (NHOL G.124) contemporary New Jersey and New York. police and the Billigs began making enquiries ous kidnapping in America, the Charley Ross Betty is the smarter and more focused of the General Eisenhower was properly impressed. Page 4 October 2019 Alexiad

But he is “Harry Seven”. The time-line Augustus (for the sixth time) and Anicius a start. ley). Alexandria Shackleton was unavailable, shifts need to be done over and over again. Petronius Probus, the year MCLIX of the City. Henry Worsley had his own matters to tend to (Look out for a guy named “Richard Lee”, In the Christian calendar it is A.D. 406. Mar- Maximus bent down and then (see David Grann’s The White Darkness Harry, and don’t let him get in firing range of cus Severus Cortinus is with a patrol attacking straightened up, the sword resting in (2018; reviewed in Alexiad V. 17 #6) for more you.) And as Harry influences the British to a band of marauding Saxons. (Informatively, the crook of his arm. He raised his head on this), and they weren’t doing the Guinness clean up the Scheldt properly . . . if perhaps anachronistically, he muses on the and turned his eyes upwards to the sun. ad so getting Lord Mountevans wasn’t on the Whatever will Harry Eight have to do? history of Rome in Brittania, and on the de- He said, “What is the end of it all? table (and Sheppard confuses then-Lieutenant Maybe he should go over to Philadelphia and velopment of legionary equipment; it’s nice to Smoke and ashes, a handful of bones, Teddy Evans with P.O. Edgar Evans). They look up Lieutenant-Commander de Camp for know that someone was aware that the legion- and a legend. Perhaps not even a leg- decided to go with Aileen’s two sons Cian and some advice. ary of the fifth century was not armed like end.” Morgan. Lucius Vorenus.) He violates orders to save a They watched him go through the They had to be properly prepared, and did EMPERORS IN THE SNOW group of women who have been taken by the broken gate, heard his feet, heavy on training in Poland. A problem not encountered Review by Joseph T Major of Saxons, and gets called before the commander, the flint strewn path. “He is going to by the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition USURPER: Constantinus (in full, Flavius Claudius his temple in the woods,” said the tall was the proliferation of permits required. A Novel of the Fall of Rome Constantinus). man. “Listen.” They were fortunate this was a British colony by David Gray Rodgers And so begins the brief rule and campaigns There was a long silence, and then and not a third-world nation with dozens of (2017; Amazon Digital Services; $2.99) of the usurper Constantine III and his loyal a deep voice cried, “Mithras!” and the bureaucrats each of whom would need to wet son, Constans. (They both are in The Little cry echoed back across . And his beak from the bottomless funds of these The disturbances which took place Emperors and Eagle in the Snow.) after that the silence went on for ever. colonialist oppressors. in Britain in the year 406 are not de- Over the next few years, Constantine rises And then, in October of 2016, they were scribed in detail by any contemporary to the Purple, crosses into Gaul, and strived — Wallace Breem, Eagle in the Snow off. South Georgia has regulations set to historian; what is definitely known is against the inept rule of Honorius and the (1970) “Epilogue” preserve the wildlife, like most remote biomes. conveniently summarized in Oman’s machinations that brought down Stilicho. These had to be adhered to, but as the walkers England Before the Norman Conquest, Perhaps he believed that the Emperor did not IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF were going over ice, mostly, it wasn’t a prob- pp. 172, 173. Stilicho’s great victory make a man an officer just to obey orders, for GRANDDA lem. They made the usual tour of Gryvitken, over King Radagaisus is historical, and Corvus finds himself enrolled in Constantine’s Review by Joseph T Major of seeing the graves of Shackleton and Wild, and Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King personal bodyguard, his scholarii. For HONOURING TOM CREAN: learning that Henry Worsley would soon be of Ireland, was drowned off the Isle of Constantine is going to be proclaimed em- A Centenary Expedition with the Crean buried there too. Wight at about that time; the date can- peror. Family Then it was off to the landing site. The not be fixed with complete accuracy, The period is so inadequately documented by Bill Sheppard and Aileen Crean O’Brien original cave that the six guys off the James and I have made the two events coin- that Rogers need not follow the careers of the (2017; Antarctic Kerryman Publishing Co Caird used is small and hard to find, which cide to emphasize the fact that in 405 hapless Sempronius Felix (of The Little Em- Ltd, ISBN 978-1-83853-066-2; makes the original effort seem even more the Empire was in a flourishing condi- perors) or the doomed Maximus (of Eagle in 2019; Amazon Digital Services; $2.99) amazing. Then it was on to the site of Peggoty tion, victorious over all its enemies. the Snow). Constantine is proclaimed Augus- http://www.tomcrean.ie Camp, from which Shackleton, Crean, and Misled by the scale of Gibbon’s great tus and proceeds to consolidate his control of Worsley set off to traverse the island. history, we are accustomed to think of the five provinces of Britannia before heading As you know, Bob, Thomas Crean, late Not long after they began, disaster struck. the Fall of Rome as an age-long de- across the Channel. Royal Navy, British Antarctic Expedition Aileen fell and broke her leg, multiple breaks. cline; actually, the Western Empire The narrative is more focused on conflict (Discovery), British Antarctic Expedition She had to be taken back to the coast to be sent was destroyed in the seven years cov- than on political interaction, and the problems (Terra Nova), Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expe- to a ship, and fortunately HMS Clyde had a ered by this novel, and its destruction of warfare in a decrepit and decaying state are dition, was only here on a visit, and after his sick bay and a generous rescue policy. was as sudden and unexpected as the all too painful. Gaul is torn among the invad- supposed death he returned to the land of the (Clyde is the Antarctic patrol vessel and Falk- fall of the twentieth-century European ing barbarians, the armies obeying Honorius, Tuatha de Dannan, where he spoke to the Lady land Islands guardship.) Empires in Asia. and the armies of Constantine, so nothing goes of his noble and hazardous deeds in the cold When Aileen was in good hands, Bill and well for the invaders or for the inhabitants. places of the mundane world. the boys finished the trek. They took consider- — Alfred Duggan, The Little Emperors Finally, when all those have fallen, Marcus But being in mortal flesh, he left behind ably longer than Great-Grandda, Wuzzles, and (1951), “Historical Note” Severus returns to a desolate and abandoned childher. Who in turn had descendants, one of the Boss, but that was the record crossing of Britannia, resolving to try to save something. whom was Aileen Crean O’Brien, a virtual the island. And so the rescue was commemo- The Empire is, as always, under siege, with The burden is great but someone has to do it. hyphenation. These are modern days, and rated by descendants. Aileen recounts her barbarians crossing the borders to take land He has not been defeated, he still has both after the disintegration of her marriage, Aileen slow recovery from having had a leg smashed. and obliterate the inhabitants. They built walls hands, and he is a soldier, not a bureaucrat took up with Bill Sheppard. Such a legacy should be honored. to keep them out; but some struck by sea. And who burns people alive for changing their jobs. Having a family tradition is poorly honored so we begin this narrative with a junior officer Portraying the moral collapse of a polity, these days, but Aileen and Bill decided to do it MOSQUITIA of the Legions hunting down a group of raid- which engenders its political collapse, is a right proper. They would reenact Grandda’s Review by Joseph T Major of ers. terrible lesson for the reader. What to do traverse of South Georgia with the Boss and THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY It is the consulship of Flavius Arcadius about it is less easy, but doing what one can is Wuzzles (Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wors- GOD: Alexiad October 2019 Page 5

A True Story and everyone doused themselves with DEET useful to the Soviets, having been notorious as by Douglas Preston on a regular basis to keep off insects. (Fore- a creator of various front enterprises that never (2017; Grand Central Publishing; shadowing: it didn’t entirely work.) Almost as quite worked as advertised. ISBN 978-1455540006; $28.00; soon as they arrived, they encountered an Then, he became a double agent for the 2017; Hachette Book Group; $9.99) enormous fer-de-lance, and others later on. It FBI and worked in that field for a few more had to be snakes. years, finally writing a memoir, My Ten Years The first Nero Wolfe novel, Fer-de-Lance Once they got there, however, there was as a Counter-Spy (1959). Presumably it was (1934), had to do with a golf club that was indeed an ancient city. The explorers found edited by someone who knew Standard Eng- rigged to fire a poison dart into the golfer carvings and the remains of what seem to have lish spelling. when he hit a ball. Wolfe might well read The been buildings with great plazas. This was an This shows how desperate the State Secur- Lost City of the Monkey God and even notice entire civilization, not Maya — and it disap- ity was for agents once the initial influx of the connection. The fer-de-lance of Mosquitia peared around 1500. Why? ideological agents dried up. Boris Morros was in Honduras is Bothrops atrox, and it is a Preston discusses in detail the immunologi- no Julius Rosenberg or Alger Hiss. supremely poisonous and aggressive snake. cal problem. It seems that while Columbus’s Neither did he get dragged into the muck It’s not the only hazard of that region. first voyage was healthy, the second, which known as McCarthyism. A man Tailgunner Among the insects, including mosquitos, there was more of a colonizing effort, contained a Joe did accuse of being an agent of the Soviet are various types of fire ants, including ones number of people who had various illnesses. Union was David Karr, a writer and investi- that swarm in trees and fall down on you if Particularly smallpox, and Preston spares no gator for the notorious Washington investiga- you incautiously grab the wrong vine. And effort at describing the symptoms. tive columnist Drew Pearson. Karr admitted chiggers, gnats, and the like. The indigenous population suffered over to having been interested in Communism in Not surprisingly, malaria is endemic there, 90% death rates. At this level, a civilization the forties, but not any longer. also dengue fever. But the most horrific ail- will disintegrate, as the means of carrying on HOW TO SUCCEED IN From there, he went on to being a business ment to be encountered in Mosquitia is the fundamentals of it cease to exist. WITHOUT REALLY executive, managing the affairs of the crucial leishmaniasis, also known as “white leprosy”. It should be noted that someone was bound SPYING defense industry Fairbanks-Whitney. Or You don’t want to know about its symptoms, to bring over disease, anyway. How the Norse Review by Joseph T Major of perhaps mismanaging it; he was removed from believe me. colonizers didn’t is an interesting question. THE MILLIONAIRE WAS A SOVIET his presidency after several years of poor And of course the locals include a dispro- And disease struck back. Preston and MOLE: profits. All the same, it was alleged that How portionate number of drug cartel people, who several other members of the group contracted The Twisted Life of David Karr to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying shoot first and don’t bother asking questions. leishmaniasis, and his description of the treat- by Harvey Klehr (book 1952, play 1961, movie 1967), the tale At this rate, the sensible person will won- ment is equally harrowing. (2019; Encounter Books; of a window-washer who made himself CEO, der why go there at all. But non-sensible Beyond that was the social context. Not ISBN 978-1641770422; $25.99; was based on his career. people went, such as Theodore Morde, re- the ancestral one, the modern one. Unusually 2019; Amazon Digital Services; $12.82) Nothing amiss, he reinvented himself searcher who later would meet with Franz von for such an expedition, they didn’t have to pay again, becoming a representative of various Papen regarding an overthrow of the Nazi bribes and get a wilderness of permits; the new “This El Jannings,” said Mr. Mor- other commercial enterprises, including in the government. While Morde was really looking president of Honduras was on their side, and ros, “at foist I could not finding. Ve end the 1980 Summer Olympics. You know, for gold (that’s always a good excuse), he such obstacles vanished. (And the drug people sand out G-mans. No good. Ve chack- the one that got boycotted over the invasion of claimed he was searching for the fabulous lost left them alone, too.) ing opp through incomm texis, susshel Afghanistan? White City of ancient Mesoamerica. However, the specialists on the area who security codds, but ve cannot find. One Along the way he became a publicity agent Preston was historian for an expedition to weren’t involved had the power of the Internet day valks into my uffus a men, turns for a time, and got embroiled with an interest- find the White City. In this case, they had to complain. Not surprisingly, the expedition out to be El Jannings. He is a ing set of people. He was represented by something a little more reliable to go on: was condemned on every level. adwenturous type, not like I’m, spirit- Louis Nizer and faced Roy Cohn in court. airborne lidar. The security and availability of Then too, there was the prospect of pot zel type. It is fonny to sit leesten to El One of his business partners (who got out the lidar equipment were stringent, and having hunting. Looters would be willing to get leish- Jannings tukk.” before getting sucked dry) was Thomas it in a shabby plane may have been an attempt maniasis in order to loot the site, and the Hon- Lanphier, the man who shot down Yamamoto at keeping it from drawing notice. The scans duran government stationed troops there — — H. Allen Smith, Low Man on a Totem Pole Isoroku. turned up some interesting-looking sites. who got leishmaniasis. (1941) And then he died in 1979, just too soon to Getting there was more than half the fun. Lost civilizations have been a mainstay of see the end of his plans. His estate was some- The expedition had to be directed by retired pulp fiction and its descendants. The fate of The various incarnations of the Soviet State what disheveled, as he had five children, four SAS men, and the list of precautions against this lost city is an indicator of how optimistic Security apparatus had an agent in the Holly- ex-wives, and an outdated will. Far too much unfriendly animals was unnerving. Traveling such tales were. Without written records, all wood movie industry, one who could provide of the money went for legal expenses. through the jungle was an effort. The explor- that is left is often imposing, certainly impres- cover for other agents. His code name was And then, and then . . . it turned out that ers had to have their machetes marked with sive ruins; the signs of a people who died in FROST. after having been denounced by McCarthy as yellow tape to help warn them of each others’ silence. His name was Boris Morros, the man who a Soviet agent, he became a Soviet agent! It’s presence, lest they slash people instead of told H. Allen Smith how he sand out G-mans not clear that he could have passed information plants. Their hammocks had to be enclosed to find El Jannings. He was also about as to the KGB (or GRU). John Walker he wasn’t. Page 6 October 2019 Alexiad

But he was an agent of influence, though how nvolved. IVAN/TRICYCLE (Dusko Popov) task. He lists all the times when Hitler was money as they choose. Still, drizzle and all, I much actual influence he had was another continued his high living in unrationed Lisbon, close to getting killed, the moral ambiguities will take my day over theirs. It is quite possi- matter. A shady businessman, always wheel- passing on his news from the exiled Yugoslav involved in killing him, and the practical ble, however, that the slot machine players ing and dealing, may not be the best or most government. ARABEL/GARBO (Juan Pujol obstacles to the matter. From the homeless think it is crazy to be out in the drizzle watch- reliable source out there. But you go with Garcia) with his well-placed set of notional guy in the dosshouse in Vienna down to the ing horses circle around a track instead of what you can get. agents sent along hints and inductions, Greatest Military Leader of All Times in the being warm and dry in front of a slot machine. Karr comes across as another one of the (mis)leading the Germans on. Wolf’s Lair, he gives details on where and And perhaps they are right. lousy businessmen who had KGB ties, up Other lesser agents had their moments. when and how. there with Armand Hammer and Robert Not to mention the original Blofeld, OSTRO Elleander Morning of her eponymous book Death at the Bookdrop Maxwell. Indeed, he claimed that at one point (Paul Fidrmuc), who was the target of some (by Jerry Yulsman (1984)) obviously hadn’t by Lisa he had saved Hammer’s life. Perhaps the concern lest he guess right. read this book, since she went to Vienna when KGB felt that bourgeois exploiters were natu- The Germans were riven by strategic Hitler was in Munich. (She was also very Last week I went out to get the bookdrop rally like that. disputes, whether to have the counterattack clumsy, as she got arrested and executed for and there was a flash of black and red as It seems almost beneath the skills of such force near the beach, ready to intervene, or the murder.) Gero von Rengsdorf (of Nitay something scuttled back out of sight. I tilted a renowned and informed scholar as Klehr to well in reserve, to be sent to the most desper- Arbel’s Operation Flash (2019; reviewed in the bin up for a better look. The mysterious write about such an insignificant figure. The ate part of the front. And whether to defend at Alexiad V. 18 #3 & V. 18 #5)) seems to have something is a black spider with an odd red histories of influence and espionage are rid- the Pas de Calais, which had abundant ports done so as indicated by his choice of a trigger mark on its body. Unsure of its species I dled with such; Karr is perhaps useful as an and was closest to the enemy, or other, more instead of a time fuze. sought pictures of black widow spiders on the exemplar of failure. distant venues. And then, there is the Glöder problem net. My heart sank at what I found, for this It is noteworthy that the Germans never (Making History by Stephen Fry (2014)) of spider is a perfect match for those pictures. THE LISBON CANNON suspected any of their sources. Granted, there some super competent successor, a matter And this deadly little creature has chosen to Review by Joseph T Major of may have been incentive to overstate the considered in our time-line by the planners for build her web right where I have to put my CODEWORD OVERLORD: Allied strength but their lack of concern is in Operation FOXLEY. It should be noted that foot to push the bin back into its place. I know Axis Espionage and the D-Day Landings keeping with the lower status given to intell- the BBC panel which reviewed the matter she is innocent of intent to harm me and that by “Nigel West” [Rupert Allason] igence officers in the military command concluded that no Glöder was forthcoming she has no idea that by doing so she has made (2019; The History Press; structure. (see the documentary Killing Hitler (2003; re- it inevitable that I have to kill her. I am not ISBN 978-0750989930; $32.95; The effort was a significant viewed in Alexiad V. 8 #3). about to risk a bite to capture and relocate her. 2019; Amazon Digital Services; $15.99) contribution to the success of Allied victory. Reading this book would make one think Nor do I dare put myself at risk to do it hu- This overview of its creation and reception we live in a very low-probability time line, manely. “Lisbon Cubed” by “William Tenn” [Philip will contribute to the understanding of the war given the inhuman luck with which the Führer When my shift is over I get a bottle of Klass] (Galaxy, October 1958) is about a clash as a whole. escaped death time and again. It is a reminder spray soap and head out to the bookdrop, of spies in a convenient neutral venue. Alien of the evil that man can do. hoping that something has warned her of spies, in disguise, fighting their war in the GUIDE FOR THE WIDERSTAND danger and sent her to a safer place. It has not. neutral haven of Earth. Yet none invents a spy Review by Joseph T Major of HORSE NEWS She is still where I cannot coexist with her. I ring. None bets $50,000 at a casino. None of HOW TO KILL HITLER: by Lisa harden my heart and began spraying her with the spies is smuggled off Earth to be punished A Guide for Time Ttravelers the soap that will suffocate her. She made a for currency manipulation. by Andrew Stanek The Saddlebred World Championship was break for the mall and I chased her, my heart Just as neither Operation MINCEMEAT http://eepurl.com/bhTc9H held at the state fair here in Louisville. World pounding with fear that she will escape and get nor Operation FORTITUDE required sending Champion Five Gaited was Boucheron. into the mall. She reverses direction and runs an actual living person into the Germans’ I have found a cartoon set in Berlin, on that in my direction. I kept spraying her with the hands to break under interrogation and reveal epochal night of 30. Januar 1933. An officer Last Sunday Joe and I head to Lexington to soap and finally she stops running. Her little the landing plans for the invasion of Sardinia is briefing the SS sentry outside the bedroom see the Futurity. It is a gray drizzly day but body convulses with her struggle to breathe or those of Patton’s First Army Group. Thus of the Führer und Kanzler, explaining how even so we still get to see the fastest filly but finally she is still. I lean against the book- Pohl’s and Kornbluth’s semi-posthumous fling important it is that Hitler gets enough rest. trotter and a magnificent colt named Green- drop and fight the urge to throw up. It was “The Quaker Cannon” (Analog, August 1961) The sentry has mixed feelings; he is enthusias- shoe win the Futurity. Our admission to the self-defense but still I have killed something was a little off. tic about the new age for Germany but there track is free and I wonder at this even as I that had no intention of harming me and which This book explains not only what happened are some problems — at that point a portal enjoy it. It is not long before I discover what is could not help being a threat. during that real-life deception, but who was through time opens up. The intruder paralyzes probably the reason for this. The track has Saturday morning I discover that a mostly responsible. The opening may be a slog, as the officer but the sentry is able to shoot him. installed slot machines in a dimly lit area. The white or very clear gray spider with some dark Allason lists the German wireless intercept Then he says, “IT’S THESE CONSTANT machines raise my hackles. I cannot help markings has built a web in our back passage- units and their processing of the Allied mes- ATTEMPTS ON HIS LIFE BY TIME TRAV- finding them repulsive and wondering if it is way. I find a spider guidebook at Main Library sages they intercepted, along with the Allied ELERS!! I MEAN, YOU KIND OF HAVE really good for mental health to sit in this dim and look through it. I had hoped our new communications (and deceptive communica- TO WONDER!!” lighting and focus on mere machines. I remind tenant was some variety of garden spider but tions) units. Stanek has produced a work which ex- myself that I am no psychiatrist and that the the closest match I find to her are spitting Then the people we all know and love got plains the opportunities and difficulties of this people do have a right to spend their time and spiders. To my relief they are not dangerous to Alexiad October 2019 Page 7 humans. That does not change the fact that she production in many areas, wasting valuable progress. is blocking my path to the backyard I am resources on things which didn't need to be Living things can also change the environ- clearing out a little at a time. The problem that good. The Germans had a gas mask con- ment, often in ways which aren't obvious until resolved itself. I went to her website last night tainer for foot soldiers which was made of something causes the living things to change. and she was gone. I am of two minds at this. corrugated sheet steel, with a complicated For thousands of years, bison were the She was in the way and would have been so fastener. The US used a canvas bag with dominant large mammal over much of North for the rest of the summer because I could not simple snaps. The engines for German military America. (In a bit of local history, this ex- have made myself kill her. She was, though, an aircraft were exquisitely machined in places plains why there’s a road (and distillery) interesting creature new to me and even had a where that wasn't needed for performance, yet named Buffalo Trace near where I live in subtle beauty quite unlike my favorites, the they ran on 80 Octane gasoline. (On the other Frankfort, Kentucky.) Because of what the striking black and gold argiopes. hand, while each V2 rocket took about the bison ate, how they traveled, what seeds stuck same amount of materials and manufacturing to their coats or were left in their droppings, work as a medium bomber, by that time in the they determined what grew. Not just the BUYING AND NOT BUYING war the Germans usually weren't getting the plants, either. The predators, the scavengers, by Lisa bombers back from flights over Britain, either, the entire ecology of much of North America Being the occasionally interesting ramblings of and the planes were taking vital aircrew with was shaped by the vast herds of bison. Last payday I failed to hold to my princi- a major-league technophile. them.) The bison themselves only achieved domi- ples. I passed by the display of Dollar Tree Part of the problem of finding a baseline is nance after their predecessors — which in- washcloths and could not resist one, even Setting a Baseline that a situation may be constantly changing. cluded great herbivores such as massive though they were made in China and I really (During WWII rapid improvements in technol- ground sloths and woolly mammoths and did not need more washcloths. They have been Any competent engineer (or navigator, for ogy even rendered some baselines obsolete. predators such as smilodon fatalis — died out. the little luxury I miss most. I did enjoy unfurl- that matter) will tell you, in order to know Once you have radar, you don’t need to keep With the bison effectively gone (though they ing them in water. I liked also finding new where you're going you need to know where building improved audio aircraft detectors. No have made minor comebacks in some areas) ones and my old favorites of Wonder Woman, you've been. That is, you need a frame of matter how much larger those giant concrete the environment of the western US changed Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. They are reference. reflectors are now vs then, radar renders them dramatically. also a neat texture for washcloths. If you're trying to measure the effect some- all obsolete.) Even the way a situation changes One of those minor comebacks of bison is Twice at the Hopkinsville Walmart I have thing has, you are just guessing if you don't may change. This is especially true with regard in Yellowstone National Park. Reintroducing passed on Breyer models because they come know what the situation was beforehand. Some to natural phenomena. One of the greatest bison to Yellowstone caused systemwide from China. The first time I went home with a of the greatest blunders in history (not just in revolutions in the human understanding of the changes in the environment, without humans beach towel featuring an anchor and which science, either) resulted from people assuming universe was accepting the depth of time, doing anything else. New plants are growing, reminded me of my father. The second time I that what they observed after taking some closely followed by how that amount of time new animals thriving. The region is slowly went home with a pizza eating shark beach action was an improvement, or any change at expands what may happen. Mountains rise and returning to the way it was before Europeans towel also from India but which did not remind all. Because they hadn't bothered to confirm wear away. Continents split, with oceans found it. Whether that return is what some me of my father. This being September, what the situation was before making the filling the gap; then they crash together, individual human wants is irrelevant. The first though, the season of beach towels has passed change. squeezing the water out, including downwards. national park was created to preserve — and in except perhaps at thrift stores and Amazon. I As one example, during the Second World Even on the scale of human lifetimes, a single many ways restore — what used to be there. am somewhat leery of Amazon since I cannot War Germany kept increasing their output of flood can change the course of a river, shifting Adding bison (and wolves) is helping fulfill see the country of origin as I can at Walmart. aircraft, tanks and other implements of war. landmarks. Wars have been fought because that purpose. In August Joe and I went to the State Fair. Considering their early successes with what one party thought the old marker was here and Sometimes it is safe to ignore data of more It was very hot that day and so we stayed they were building at the start of the War, for another thought it was there. than a certain age. In fact, you might have to inside as much as possible. We looked over the most of that period they should have been The Colorado River Compact of 1922 — a ignore it, if changes in circumstances render it exhibits. I acquired several inkpens for my constantly increasing their conquests! How- legal agreement on how to divvy up the water irrelevant. inkpen collection and we had our yearly ice ever, Great Britain increased their output even in that area — was based on rainfall and river A large part of determining what your cream. I looked at some horse models but they more, and that was a shade of what the US was level measurements which turned out to have baseline is comes from determining when it is. were all Chinese. I instead bought some hand- doing, which pales in comparison to what the been made during one of the two wettest 100 I used to do trendline analysis of highway made Ugandan spoons for my silverware Russians were building! Once their opponents year periods in the past 1200 years. Over most traffic for a living. We knew to generally collection. They are wood, not stainless steel got on a war production footing, the Germans of the past several decades the law allocated ignore traffic count and composition data from but they are pretty and sold by a local busi- were vastly outproduced, in spite of constantly more water than was in the river! Reservoirs in before the late Sixties. The development of the ness. improving their own production. The German most places fluctuate from year to year, with Interstate Highway System had so altered command looked at how much they were heavy rainfall years making up for drought travel in the United States that the earlier The Joy of High Tech producing and the increases there, and simply years. However, in most of the Colorado River information was not only useless, but includ- by Rodford Edmiston didn’t understood just how much more than watershed, reservoirs have been going down ing it could distort the modern results. Add in that the Allies were putting out. almost steadily in recent decades. Add global the more local consequences of malls opening, It didn't help that the Germans often fo- warming and the changes it is bringing to local drive-in theaters closing and bypasses being cused on an unnecessarily high quality of rainfall and snowfall and you have a disaster in constructed around towns, and finding a base- Page 8 October 2019 Alexiad line for traffic becomes very complicated, nominees and winners without charging sex attend the Opening Ceremony/1944 Retro additions and changes due to crowds or popu- indeed. discrimination. Hugos, Masquerade, or Cere- lar demand. We never forgot for a moment the So, the next time someone declares victory Problem is, as far as I can tell, most SF is mony. (During the Closing Ceremony, I was delight of attending an Irish Worldcon and or success, try to find out the context. They still written by men. And I’ve encountered standing in line at the airport). I wanted to get being wished a hearty fáilte (welcome) at may actually be going backwards. feminists online who say they will nominate a wristband for the Hugo Awards, but the every turn. The convention newsletter, The and vote only for women until some point of queue was enormous and located outside, next Salmon of Knowledge, often included bits of GENDER AND THE HUGO social justice is reached. to the CCD, during a cold, windy rainstorm, so local lore, such as the legendary origin of the AWARDS I abandoned that attempt. (In fairness to the Giant’s Causeway. Good food and refresh- by Taras Wolansky * There is nothing to indicate that Nicoll’s organizers, I’m not sure where else the queue ments were available at reasonable prices posting has been closed to comment — could have been located. All available space throughout the CCD. I had been away from Tor.com for a while. except that no comments at all have been inside the building was in use.) Like many people, I watched the Hugos in Recently I tried posting a comment — and got posted since September 12th. Other than that, the convention was splen- the overflow viewing area, the Second Stage, disappeared again. did: well-organized and always on time. with the ceremony live-streamed on a large The comment was in response to a Septem- 2019 Worldcon Events started at 9 a.m. with accessible yoga screen. The room had tables and a bar and a ber 10th* article by the hitherto reliable James Con report by Sue Burke and a “stroll with the stars” morning walk, and rapt audience, so it wasn’t so bad. The cere- Davis Nicoll, “Gender and the Hugo Awards, ended in the wee hours at Martin Hoare’s Bar mony, with charming and enthusiastic present- by the Numbers”. Nicoll deploys statistics, Future should be held in a – known as Martin’s, named for the volunteer ers, was marred only by a captioning apparently trying to prove that Hugo Award Tardis. Popular events could be put on a time who was to be Fan Bar Manager but who died system that we quickly learned to ignore after nominations have always discriminated against loop so anyone could attend even if they a few weeks before the convention. it turned Ada Palmer’s references to Lord of one sex or another, women for most of its conflicted with other programming. More Guests of Honour were Prof. Jocelyn Bell the Rings and to “bored with history and men in recent years. importantly, every room for panels, ceremo- Burnell, academic; Ginjer Buchanan, editor; the rings” and “cream of thrones” during her I caught a pretty fair copy of my comments nies, readings, or other events could be bigger Mary and Bill Burns, fans; Diane Duane, introduction to the Campbell Award winner. before they evaporated. Here they are: on the inside than the outside so everyone author; Steve Jackson, game designer; and Ian Of course there was a word or two by the would fit in. McDonald, author. They made themselves evening’s recipients that ignited controversy, In this kind of discussion, the problem At the 77th Worldcon, held August 15 to available in interviews, panels, kaffeeklatches, but that’s a feature of the Hugos, not a bug, usually lies in choosing the wrong baseline. 19 in Dublin, Ireland, space became the big and literary beers. Featured artists were Afua and it seems to have accomplished something. Let’s say we find that the Xenolinguistics issue, as it has at some previous Worldcons. Richardson, Jim Fitzpatrick, Maeve Clancy, For me, one of the many high moments of faculty at Proxima U is 5% Andorians, when The convention was sold out at about 5,800 and Sana Takeda. Special guests were artist the convention came on Saturday evening at Andorians make up 15% of the population of people, which was a few more than the Con- Dr. Eleanor Wheeler, scientist Dr. Norah the Bright Club Ireland, a stand-up comedy Proxima b. Proof of discrimination in hiring? vention Centre Dublin (CCD) could handle. To Patten, and astronaut Dr. Jeanette Epps. show. Steve Cross made an excessively deep Not if only 5% of xenolinguistics Ph.D.’s accommodate that, the Spencer Hotel hosted The city of Dublin made visitors welcome textual reading of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to are Andorians. If there is any discrimination, children’s programming. The Odeon Point with a good selection of hotels and other the Galaxy to determine the exact date that the then it’s upstream from Proxima U. Square, a movie theater and unfinished com- accommodations, convenient trams and buses, Earth is destroyed by the Vogons. (Listen to a Of course, the real explanation may simply mercial space almost a kilometer from the museums, sightseeing, restaurants, and bars. version of it here on the BBC: be that Vulcans are particularly interested in CCD, hosted the Art Show, book launches, Like many people from overseas, I came early (and good at) xenolinguistics, and if they are acoustic concerts, craft workshops, art pro- to tour the city and country, which was as https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p05w5bkx) overrepresented, then other species must jects, displays, autographs, some panels, and green and beautiful as I’d been told. necessarily be underrepresented. the academic program. However, crowds at During the Worldcon, thousands of tempt- ’s Saturday night “Dance To apply this to the current case: in those Point Square were bigger than that space could ing events vied for attention. I was drawn to Across the Decades” turned one of the CCD days of yore when relatively few women were handle, too. panels, talks, readings, a couple of concerts, a halls into a three-hour writhing, rhythmic nominated for or won the Hugo Award, a) Convention volunteers and venue staff did medieval combat demonstration, a stand-up celebration of fannish ecstacy. It may become women wrote relatively few the best they could for crowd control and comedy show, and a dance; I wandered legend. Its stomping, sweaty crowd no doubt stories, and b) the stories they wrote tended to remained cheerful and efficient, but for me and through the Art Show and Dealer’s area, pe- broke at least three distinct safety regulations, be or science . (Women many others, it meant I attended less than I rused displays and fan tables, attended parties, but the CCD staff wisely turned a blind eye. SF writers with scientific or engineering back- wished. I would pick an event I really wanted and spent a lot of time meeting friends from grounds were still very rare.) While Tanith to go to and get in line at least a half-hour in around the world. I could have also attended RETRO-HUGO WINNERS Lee and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne advance. Afterwards, I’d find the queue to the podcast recordings, plays, films, and worships, Courtesy of File 770 McCaffrey produced much memorable work, next favored event but forego any program- gone on a treasure hunt, run through the park, they mostly chose to work away from what ming in the intervening hour. and joined in role-playing or board games: in Best Novel was then considered the core of the field. Despite the inconvenience, the snaking the game room, 460 board games were loaned (Compare it to the way that westerns and queues became good places to meet new for play during the convention, and Unstable Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. comedies rarely win the Oscar.) people. Unicorns was most popular. (Unknown Worlds, April 1943) Similarly, if male writers had mysteriously The Auditorium held only 2,000, so events Convention organizers deserve praise for stopped writing SF in the last few years, we there required wristbands to get in, and we had the volume, quality, and variety of program- Best Novella could easily explain the shortage of male to line up in the afternoon to get them. I didn’t ming, including some deftly made last-minute Alexiad October 2019 Page 9

The Little Prince, by Antoine de The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Michael Damian Thomas, managing Best or Fantasy Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock) Kowal (Tor) editor Michi Trota, podcast producers Novel Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky, Best Novelette Best Novella Disabled People Destroy Science Fic- Uncompromising Honor by Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells tion Special Issue editors-in-chief Elsa “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis (Tor.com Publishing) Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisi- Best Alternate History Novel Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) en (Astounding Science-Fiction, February Best Novelette Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling 1943) “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try “Best Fanzine” Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N SF and Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Best Media Tie-In Novel Best Short Story Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) Renay & Susan Thrawn: Alliances by “King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Best Short Story Best Fancast Rocket”), by (Famous “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Our Opinions Are Correct, hosted by Best Horror Novel Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943) Compendium of Portal ,” Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane An- by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, ders Little Darlings by Melanie Golding Best Graphic Story February 2018) “Best Fan Writer” Best Comic Book Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Woman- Best Series Foz Meadows hood, written by William Moulton Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC & Stoughton / Harper Voyager) “Best Fan Artist” Comics) Likhain (Mia Sereno) Best Graphic Novel “Best Related Work” Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form Archive of Our Own, a project of the Or- Best Art Book X-Men: Grand Design – Second Genesis ganization for Transformative Works The Books of : The Complete by Ed Piskor Heaven Can Wait, written by Samson Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Char- Raphaelson, directed by Ernst Lubitsch Best Graphic Story les Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series (20th Century Fox) Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by (Saga Press /Gollancz) Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Im- Good Omens, Amazon Prime Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form age Comics) John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, written Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form by Curt Siodmak, directed by Roy Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Eastasia is at war with Oceania. : Endgame by Anthony Russo, William Neill (Universal Pictures) screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Eastasia has always been at war with Joe Russo Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Oceania. Best Professional Editor, Short Form Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Con- (Sony) Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book sole Game John W. Campbell Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar Best Professional Artist The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Children’s Books) Games Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed Virgil Finlay by Morgan Sackett (NBC) DRAGON AWARD WINNERS Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Courtesy of File 770 Game Best Fanzine Best Professional Editor, Short Form Gardner Dozois Best Science Fiction Novel : Wizards Unite by , Le Zombie, editor Wilson “Bob” Tucker WB Games San Francisco Best Professional Editor, Long Form A Star-Wheeled Sky by Brad R. Torgersen Best Fan Writer Navah Wolfe Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal) Game Forrest J Ackerman Best Professional Artist Charles Vess House of Assassins by Betrayal Legacy by Games HUGO WINNERS Courtesy of File 770 Best Semiprozine Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures Uncanny Magazine, publishers / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game Best Novel editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard Page 10 October 2019 Alexiad

Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep August 2-6, 2023 Slipcase Set by Inc. http://worldconinfrance.org/en/ OTHER AWARDS New Orleans (On hiatus) EUGIE FOSTER AWARD 2024 “When We Were Starless” by Simone Glasgow Heller (Clarkesworld) August 8-12, 2014 http://glasgow2024.org/ THE HANK REINHARDT AWARD 2025 Seattle Edward Decree Mid-August 2025 THE JULIE AWARD Perth, Australia (On hiatus) George Perez WORLDCON SIDEWISE AWARDS Courtesy of Amazing Stories 2020 https://amazingstories.com/2019/10/134755/ ConNZealand Wellington, New Zealand Short Form July 29-August 2, 2020 Oscar (Xiu) Ramirez and Emmanuel http://ConNZealand.nz/ Valtierra, Codex Valtierra 2021 Long Form DisCon III Mary Robinette Kowal, The Calculating Washington, D.C. Stars, Tor August 25-29, 2021 http://discon3.org/ Special Achievement Sidewise Award Eric Flint For his ongoing encouragement of the NASFiC genre of alternate history through his support of the community and writers 2020 developed around his 1632 series. Columbus, Ohio August 20-23, 2020 WORLDCON BIDS http://columbus2020nasfic.org 2022 Chicago Mid-August — Labor Day Weekend https://chicagoworldconbid.org/ 2023 Chengdu August, 2023 http://www.worldconinchina.com/index-e.html Memphis, Tennessee August 23-27, 2023 https://www.memphis23.org/ Nice, France Alexiad October 2019 Page 11

the Trotting and Pacing Triple Crowns are at can get hold of a copy (Stirling’s Black Cham- year, and I pointed out that the nursing home is Letters, we get letters the same track on the same day, and likewise ber). Amazing. now my permanent residence and the house the second leg? That seems weird. I wouldn’t Taral’s colloquy with Joseph on the subject I’m officially registered at isn’t even ours have thought the same track would have trot- of SF/F today is one I can understand. There’s anymore.) ting and pacing races, especially on the same probably a reason most of my SF reading is I don’t think there were any actual white day. alternate history of one sort or another. That’s slaves in America, but for a long time there basically the fictional equivalent of reading were indentured servants. In addition, I will Both trotters and pacers are history (which I also still read). note that the similarity of “Slav” and “slave” is Standardbreds and race on the hardly an accident. same tracks, just in different races But now, alternate history I have a few comments on George W. for each. Pacers tend to be faster books are winning the Hugo, or Price’s discussion of the Dred Scott case. so it is not considered fair for whatever they’re going to call it First, the militia at that time meant all white them to compete with the slower after the next protest. There males of suitable age. Different states had trotters. was always The Man In the High different levels of organization. In the slave — LTM Castle (1963) but nowadays you’ve states, militia could be called out in the event got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell of a slave revolt, but that was rather rare. I have undoubtedly read the Ann Rule book (2005), The Yiddish Policemen’s I will also note that a book I read on the From: Timothy Lane August 17, 2019 already, but it doesn’t sound familiar. I have Union (2008), and now The Calcu- right to vote many years ago mentioned that, at [email protected] to disagree slightly with the implication of the lating Stars. the founding, voting restrictions were primarily conclusion of the article: they deserved a lot based on property. As a result, a few women It’s interesting, and may be deliberate, that worse than life in a penitentiary. Way back when, I accumulated a scattering and free blacks were wealthy enough to qual- your discussion of theories was I saw Destination Moon some months back of contemporary coins I got hold of (probably ify, and were able to vote in a few states. As sent shortly after the death of , on TCM. It turns out that George Pal was a mostly when we were in Greece) from various property requirements were eliminated, women which has generated a few of its own. Given good friend of cartoonist Walter Lantz, so countries. Most probably would now be con- and blacks were formally excluded even in the phenomenally abysmal watch he received, when they explain their plans to the potential sidered collectible rather than legal tender, those states that had previously allowed them. it’s at least possible that someone made sure investors, it’s in the form of a Woody Wood- though not worth much. I have no idea what That’s an interesting solution to vaccina- that he would find it easy to commit suicide. pecker cartoon. has happened to them, or to my complete tion resistance, though it might be hard to link After all, there really are conspiracies. Captain Ahab was a monomaniac about collection of state quarters. any particular unvaccinated person as a source Cousin Abe was killed by one organized by getting the White Whale, but he wasn’t the sort There’s an interesting tidbit about Philip of infection. John Wilkes Booth, and a conspiracy of Puerto to turn pirate. When the Parsee told him that II’s brief consortship to Bloody Mary Tudor. I think 300,000 black slaves actually taken Rican nationalists tried to get Harry Truman. “hemp only can kill thee”, he thought that At one point he advised the English to build up by Europeans as opposed to bought from black James Earl Ray’s escape after assassinating could only refer to hanging, and he would their navy. I’m sure he later regretted that slavers such as the Dahomey could be true. It Martin Luther King was, at the least, very never do anything to earn that. advice. should be remembered that more slaves went suspicious. I wonder what Maxwell Knight thought of I hope Joy Smith already realizes it, but to Brazil than to the West Indies, and more to Technically, the change in who holds the the hanging of William Joyce as a radio traitor Joseph’s anecdote about the Australian voter the West Indies to North America. Not to Bismarck title isn’t exactly monarchical news. on the grounds that he started making Nazi (Mawson) in Antarctica was fictional, applying mention the slaves the Boers held until Britain The Iron Chancellor was never a monarch, propaganda broadcasts before formally expatri- current law to a century-old historical example. freed them. I doubt all of those were bought though he arguably played a larger role in ating himself. This was probably inevitable, (The Mawon-Mertz story is an epic of Antarc- from other tribes. running Prussia and then Imperial Germany but I think a better alternative was to make him tic exploration. You can look it up on than William I did, and certainly more than the remain a German after the war. (As I recall, wikipedia, or ask Joseph — he loves to dis- From: Joy V. Smith August 20, 2019 moribund Frederick III. Would you also report something similar happens with Kim Philby in course on such stories!) 8925 Selph Road, Lakeland, FL 33810- on whatever heirs there might be to Richelieu, Forsyth’s The Fourth Protocol.) 0341 USA Mazarin, and (especially) Colbert? I remember Grant explaining the plot of the Mawson’s Will: The Greatest [email protected] Skylark series and the way the villainous race Polar Survival Story Ever Written http://www.joyvsmith.com/ The last Duc de Richelieu, Ma- (the Fenachrone) kept getting wiped out, and by Lennard Bickel (1977, 2000). rie Odet Jean Armand de la Chap- then recovering. (Something similar would be — JTM Thanks for all the reviews; it saves me a lot elle de Saint-Jean de Jumilhac, done with the villains in the Lensman series as of time! Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve died in 1952. Mazarin had nieces well.) Perhaps Rod Smith has the right expla- I agree emphatically with John Purcell’s thought about the Skylark of Space series — who married into various noble nation, that he carried the series further than he take on How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I not in my library now; I wouldn’t mind reading families. Colbert’s elder son was originally intended. Grant noted similarly that can’t imagine anything ever replacing the the first one at least again. Thanks to Rodford the Marquis de Seignelay, French after a certain point, each Lensman book could original with the narration by Boris Karloff. Edmiston for the background. Minister of the navy; his younger have ended the series. Elizabeth once got me a Grinch figure, which Lisa, it sounds like you had a good time at son was Archbishop of Rouen. Well, the Dragon Awards do include one was left with nearly everything else we had in the Breyer fest. (Btw, I have a friend with a book I’ve read (Weber’s Uncompromising our now-sold house. (They just recently got fantastic collection of Breyer horses, which So let me get this straight. The first legs of Honor) and one I probably will read if/when I my application for an absentee ballot for this she’s been collecting for years!) Page 12 October 2019 Alexiad

I enjoyed the con reports too and thanks to Steve Francis had had qualms published fan fiction. already had an attempt to redo Taral Wayne for the movie reviews: Aquaman, about both the Dublin and the the Boondoggle, now we’ve got the Mary Poppins Returns, and Early Man. Saves New Zealand Worldcons. The My loc… Indeed, why are the things that Futurians all over again. me more time. (I usually google movies that I Dublin one, he said, didn’t have a taste good so bad for you? If we could get —JTM come across on TV, which saves me time — large enough facility, and reports Brussels sprouts to taste like chocolate, we’d and mental anguish.) agree with that. He wondered if have it made. But, we are of the age where we John Purcell’s letter…I do hope the fan New Zealand fandom had enough must watch our weight and food intake, and I funds can be better run in the future, and that Mary Poppins has a bag which people to properly run a World- will admit that everything fits much better everyone can participate. I can report that is bigger inside than outside and con. now. Our trip to England was spectacular, and CUFF has sprung to life again, with Fran she takes crazy adventures with one benefit that came from it is that my insom- Skene being this year’s CUFF delegate at adoring companions. She is a The loccol… I love cats, but I’d take a nia is for the most part gone. Yvonne’s assign- CanCon in Ottawa, which I believe is also the Time Lord. (Just wait until she puppy, too. They are so social and potentially ment with her former employer has only four annual Canvention this year. regenerates into Fran Fine of The affectionate, and for some people I know, that weeks left in it, to her relief, and I will be Sue Burke, my flip phone is just that, my Nanny.) is more than they deserve. I often think dogs going in for a second interview with an adver- phone. I also have a Samsung tablet that may — JTM are more than we all deserve, but I am glad tising agency next week. When Yvonne finally need replacing soon. Together, they are my they are there, for they are usually our uncon- retires, I hope to be bringing in some income, smartphone. At least, when one fails, or is More info and reviews in the LOCs. Thank ditional friends, and they will love you when just in time. The event in Ottawa replaced, I am not entirely out of the loop, or you all! (I would like to read the Murderbot no one else wants you. was tremendous fun, but was a one-off gala inconvenienced. Al du Pisani… Yvonne is sequel: “Artificial Condition.” Should put it on event. retired by now, and I am about five years my Amazon wish list.) Nancy Kress has a story you My lack of optimism on fan funds stems away. I know that as the most expensive city in would probably like. I can’t from some of the response we got about CUFF Canada, I know that once we are both retired From: Lloyd Penney August 23, 2019 remember its title but it’s in the (we raised about Can$1000 for the fund while with limited income, we simply won’t be able 1706-24 Eva Road, Etobicoke, ON collection titled The Best of Nancy not really touching any of the money already in to afford to live in Toronto any more. We can M9C 2B2 CANADA Kress, along with a good story it), and the reaction I got when making inqui- barely do it now. We’ve never been able to [email protected] about Anne Boleyn. ries about our own TAFF candidacy. I think afford to buy a house, and rents are becoming http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/ — LTM the fan funds have their purpose, and they help insane. SFFSA continues to put out wonderful to spread smiling faces around the world, but issues of Probe, and they continue to send I realize that the August 1 deadline for You are right about the fan Hugo nomi- I think we were not considered optimal candi- them to me. I hope I am not a financial burden Alexiad 105 blew right past me, and I also now nees…by the looks of it, changes in the award dates for TAFF, given we rarely if ever drink. on the club. have issue 106. As usual for me, these days, it definitions now means that we no longer That shouldn’t be a reason, but… There we are. Sorry that I missed that is time to catch up and so here is a loc on both qualify to win those awards. Same goes for the 106… I have many of the central fannish August deadline, but I won’t miss the October issues. , too. I guess we do what we do texts as either hardcovers or e-files, and I hope one. Thank you for these two issues, and I 105… It is difficult to not buy Chinese for the sake of doing it, and keeping busy. that they will remain available as e-texts, long wish us all improved health as the birthdays because it truly is everywhere. China is giving after publishing paper books becomes a curios- pile up. Take care. Canada a hard time because we detained a ity. Huawei executive per our agreement with the The locol…I am glad that Taral is noticing From: Robert S. Kennedy Sept. 17, 2019 US. It is making life difficult, but not impossi- how many letters I write, but I must be the 5301 East Warm Springs Avenue, Apt. ble. I do not accuse John Scalzi of anything, only one who gets all the fanzines I do receive. B306, Boise, ID 83716-6205 USA but the Fan Auroras awards here are now I can report that I wrote a total of 185 locs in [email protected] usually won by people who are either pros 2018, and so far this year, I have written 90, doing nonpro stuff, or friends of the pros. As a which means I am still falling behind. I still My thanks for Vol. 18 No. 4 (June 2019, result, fans don’t really participate any more, have a pile of locs to write on the zines I have, Whole Number 106). which kinda seals the deal. but these days, time seldom allows. When the Thank you for your book reviews, espe- Well, with what’s happened…Washington cool weather returns, perhaps I can catch up. cially TRIUMPHANT: The Genesis Fleet by did get its Worldcon, and Discon III will take Taral and I are both proof that when the inter- “Jack Campbell” (John G. Hemry) and AGENT place in 2021. The idea of a Chinese Worldcon est wanes, and it has done for many of us, we M: The Lives and Spies of M15's Maxwell in 2023 is causing some discussion, especially find something else that also has a fandom Knight by Henry Hemming. I’ll try and obtain with the current US/China trade war, and the within it. We need the interaction with others. them from the library. fact that China is holding two Canadian busi- (Taral’s graphic… 11 Hugo nominations and The convention reports by Leigh Kimmel nessmen in exchange for the Huawei executive one Aurora nomination. Mine is quite oppo- are enjoyed. being held for the US in Vancouver. The site…1 Hugo nomination and 18 Aurora nomi- The continuing movie reviews by Taral Dublin Worldcon is recently done, and next is It’s not just that. With two nations. At least I won that twice.) Wayne are very much appreciated. It would be Wellington, New Zealand. I guess we can keep superb books on the history of nice if he could have a review or reviews of track of where Worldcon is going, even if we the field to consider, the “Best Fannish history is replaying, some movies that he really liked. can’t go. Related Work” was a website that the second time as farce. We’ve George W. Price: Thank you for your Alexiad October 2019 Page 13 response to my question regarding the new The cycle continues. www.corflu.org, If any Alexiad readers wish to himself, and it just has to be true “because mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot. Your note about the inter-relatedness of join us, we look forward to seeing you there. nothing else makes sense.” Sue Burke: So you’re 64 years old, but Queen Elizabeth II and Boris Johnson — who That should do it for today. I have some A deeper question is why so many people you don’t feel old. That’s good. I’m 86 and might not be prime minister much longer, one online grading to do today, so I had best get on are so eager to believe these concoctions. I sometimes I feel old, but not always. I hardly can hope — is something that is very common with it. suppose part of it is a desire to be one-up on remember 64. Anyway, you’re just a young- to ruling classes in Europe, or anywhere in the In the meantime, thank you for the re- other people: “I know something you don’t ster. There are people here in the CCRC world, for that matter. It happens in America, minder email to write before the deadline hits. know.” where I live who consider me a youngster. too: witness the Kennedy, Roosevelt, Harrison, I bruise so easily. However, I strongly suspect that a more and Bush clans, or the families that inhabit the compelling reason is that to certain people the From: John Purcell September 22, 2019 top 5% income earners. They love to keep it, existence of conspiracies is actually comfort- 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, even it means marrying cousins. Just the ing, because it helps make sense of the world. TX 77845 thought of that makes my stomach hurt. It terrifies them to think that world-shaking [email protected] events like Kennedy’s can have The only case I can think of trivial causes. They just can’t believe that a Good morning, Joe and Lisa. I hope the fall there was that Franklin and Elea- worthless sack of shit like Oswald could, all by season is treating you well now that it has nor Roosevelt were fifth cousins. himself, bring down the leader of the Free arrived. Here deep in the heart of Eleanor was Teddy’s niece by his World. There just has to be more to it than that. SouthCentralEastern Texas this has happened alcoholic brother Elliott. That Secret Masters are running things only in name: summer weather essentially lasts — JTM behind the scenes — even though the masters until Thanksgiving weekend, and resumes are wicked — is far less scary than having to around Easter. There is never a real “winter” Some very interesting books reviewed in believe that no one at all is in charge. That here. this issue. The one titled Agent M I am likely would leave the conspiraphile staring into the going to check out of our local public library abyss. And that is horrifying. We had nasty heat until just a — if it’s on the shelves, that is — which is few days ago. Overnight we went reopening tomorrow morning (Sept. 23rd). * * * * * from running air conditioner to Even before their extensive 16 month running heaters. remodeling/expansion began, the Larry J. — LTM Ringer Library had a good selection of Jack Campbell books. In fact, the SF section there Weather related news: Valerie and I are has always been extensive, so I am very much From: George W. Price September 25, 2019 fine here. Tropical Storm Imelda has pum- looking forward to going in to renew my 4418 N. Monitor Avenue, Chicago, IL meled the far southeast region of Texas, from library card next week and spend some serious 60630-3333 USA the Houston metro area and over into Louisi- browsing time while there. They have enlarged [email protected] ana. The heaviest hit area is around Beaumont, their holdings and shelving areas a lot. which may never dry out: in some locations A nice selection of con reports this issue August Alexiad: over three feet has fallen this past week. The makes me realize that I need to write up Joe’s “Reviewer’s Notes” discusses con- flooding around Houston and the lowlands ArmadilloCon 41, which Valerie and I at- spiracy theories, and how they are usually over to Louisiana is extensive. Fortunately tended at the beginning of August. We had a framed in a way that makes them impossible to Imelda has now pretty much petered out, but good time there, meeting and chatting with refute. Indeed so. Arguing with conspiraphiles the damage is done. I hope all of our friends in assorted writers and artists (Joe Lansdale, John is useless. that area are safe. Picacio, Sarah Felix, William Ledbetter, etc.), As I think I’ve said before, when someone Ah, I see you and I have yet another thing and fan friends such as John Gibbons, Mat- offers a , I like to test its in common: dunning phone calls and junk mail thew Tepper (he was there promoting the likelihood by asking him two rather obvious selling Medicare insurance and extended auto upcoming LosCon he is chairing this year), questions: warranties. Recognizing them for what they Charles Tolliver, and many others. It was a are — a waste of time, paper, and money — I pleasant weekend, and we look forward to (1) If this is such a deep secret, how don’t bother answering phone calls that display returning next year. did he find out about it? as “unknown caller” and promptly delete those Speaking of conventions, as you probably (2) For this conspiracy to work, how Rodford Edmiston’s “Joy of High Tech” messages, and the paper waste of not only know, I am chairing Corflu 37, the fanzine many people would have to be in discusses the used by Doc those ads coming in through the snail mail but fan’s convention, which will be held here in on it, and is this a small enough Smith in his “Skylark” stories. also the auto warranty mail all gets shredded College Station, Texas at the Hilton Hotel and number to be trusted to keep the Alas, on occasion Doc also got the real and dumped into the recycling container. It is Convention Center over the March 13-15, secret? science wrong. entirely possible that what we shred might 2020 weekend. The membership list is grow- I particularly remember several scenes in eventually end up back in our mailbox as ing, and information regarding memberships It often turns out that the conspiracy was the Lensman series in which frigid-blooded reconstituted extended auto warranty mail. and room reservations, etc., is easily found at not leaked to him — no, he figured it out by Nadreck visits humans in their natural environ- Page 14 October 2019 Alexiad ment, which to him is extremely hot. Most “300,000” as a generous upper bound to the governments take a look at its projects. Killarney, but he had the prescience to land in notably, when Nadreck and other uncertainty. a soft, deep mud puddle.) (Also flight back frigid-blooded Lensmen attend Kinnison’s If the current push for “reparations” gets https://www.boringcompany.com/projects home was cancelled, which resulted in return- wedding, their “fiercely-laboring refrigerators serious, should we demand that part of the ing home a day late after an overnight layover chilled the atmosphere for yards around” reparations be paid by the descendants of those If not Musk, someone else — in London’s Heathrow.) WWII buffs may (Second Stage Lensmen, Chapter 23). African kings who actually captured and sold note the long record of thrilling recall that Killarney was home to Monsignor Well, no, that could not happen. Refrigera- the slaves? space ventures (Pournelle and Hugh O’Flaherty, the “Scarlet Pimpernel of the tors transfer heat from the inside to the outside, Heinlein were both charmed by Vatican.” They’re rather proud of that – in fact, so all that refrigerated armor would be heating Slavery existed since ages OTRAG) that never got anywhere. the Killarney Brewing Co. makes a Scarlet the air for yards around, not chilling it. As a agone, among almost every people. I’ve mentioned the Artemis Pro- Pimpernel IPA to celebrate his “altruism and chemical engineer, Doc certainly knew that, so Unless you are a woke Twitter ject before, not to mention Ro- courage.” this just has to be counted as a lapse. mobster, for whom slavery is tary Rocket. We also visited the castle of Lord Dunsany unique to Faschist AmeriKKKa. — JTM (that is, Edward Plunkett, the fantasy writer) * * * * * — JTM and were welcomed by the current Lady Dun- RE: Agent M — it should surprise no one sany. I learned that several generations earlier, Timothy Lane mentions Poul Anderson’s From: Lloyd Daub September 29, 2019 that the kind of person who engages in the spy the family begat Saint Oliver Plunkett, an stories, saying, “He insisted that the barbarian 6535 W. English Meadows Drive business has no business being trusted by archbishop executed in 1681, framed by the Krankheit (I think that’s the spelling) had D205, Greenfield, WI 53220-3995 anyone. I am reminded of a Georgette Heyer . I got to hold two of his relics (am nothing to do with news anchor Walter.” USA novel, where the gentleman of Bonnie Prince I more blessed now?), and to inspect some of I checked the original story (“The Barbar- [email protected] Charlie’s era has a portfolio of documents to Dunsany’s manuscripts. ian,” F&SF, May 1956), and it is “Cronkheit” be hauled out at need. He only needed one to — which is even closer to the famous news Thank you for keeping me on the mailing ‘scape whipping, and so the rest of the file was And you didn’t go to the South anchor. But in 1955 when Anderson must have list. Sometimes I don’t have time to do justice stored away. He should, of course, have turn- Pole Inn? written the story, Walter Cronkite had only just to an issue, and other times I am stumped for ed over everything. Or destroyed everything. started his career at CBS. He hosted “You Are anything to say that others won’t say better. But he’s not like you and me. He’s like MI5, http://www.southpoleinn.com/ There” 1953-1957, and didn’t become the top RE: the true crime stories. Richard Pryor the CIA, or the FBI. For all the information news anchor until 1962. So the similarity of has it right. I take another opportunity to point that gets turned over to the PM, there’s always When Joe asked if anyone had heard of the names was probably just wild coincidence. For out that the real purpose of prison is neither something held back. Best Fan Writer Hugo nominees, I thought it what it’s worth, “Krankheit” is German for punishment nor rehabilitation (although either Arriving soon: A Republic, If You Can was a rhetorical question. Foz Meadows, who “sickness.” happening on the side is fine with me). The Keep It, by Neil Gorsuch won, has a high profile and a well-read blog. purpose is to protect society from predators, Arriving someday: Interference: a novel These days, writers often follow each other’s In his notes on the story in whether they are violent or not. (Semiosis Duology) by Sue Burke; The blogs and communicate with each other The Best of Poul Anderson (1976), I came to this conclusion too late to try it Andromeda Evolution by Michael Crichton; through comments; blogging platforms (and Anderson said that was the origin out on one of political science professors, who The Best of Jerry Pournelle by Jerry Pournelle. Twitter) encourage that. Fan writers also often of the name, and praised Walter was trying to get us to debate the topic of At this point, these and yours truly are the write for other sites that are essentially online for his Apollo coverage. sentencing repeat offenders to longer terms. only SF authors I am reading. My apologies to magazines. The times, they are a-changin. He was arguing that each crime was its own all the hundreds of others. I am a print-reader, Much communication now comes to us on * * * * * offense, and did not deserve more punishment not an e-reader. screens rather than paper. than it had the first time. Leland McLemore Health and good days to all. I notice that Lisa’s comments are now in a was a very fair man—he wasn’t concerned In other words, there’s been a larger and much more readable type face. with winning or losing, only in getting us to From: Sue Burke September 30, 2019 paradigm shift and we are no lon- Thank you for the change. think about our views and examine them for 5415 N. Sheridan Road, Apt. 1711, ger relevant. flaws. But the class debate was only punish- Chicago, IL 60640-1971 — JTM * * * * * ment or rehabilitation. I strongly doubt either [email protected] of the perps in the examples here would have sueburke.site In fact, I received a sales report for my Taras Wolansky takes exception to my benefitted from either and changed their ways. semiosispax.com novel Semiosis. Fully half the sales were e- figure of 300,000 as an upper limit for the But protecting us from them makes perfect books, one-fourth were audiobooks, and only number of black Africans captured by Euro- sense, I think. Thanks for the latest issue. I enjoyed it a a fourth were hardcover and paperback sales. pean and American slave raiders. He puts it Re: Musk and companies: Anyone think- lot, including tales of ancient gold coins and As I’ve been hand-selling the novel, I’ve met closer to zero percent: “the white slave traders ing that the failure of Tesla means SpaceX is a thrift shop finds. a few people who had read the e-book or heard barely got off their ships, much less invaded fraudulent fund-raiser (I think that’s the point My Worldcon report is elsewhere in this the audiobook and now wanted the signed the interior, and merely waited for the black being suggested in the Destination Moon issue, editor willing, and I’d add to it that my paper book as sort of a souvenir. Young’uns – kings of the Slave Coast to bring the slaves to segment) needs to also consider his Boring husband and I had a lot of fun the week before what will they think of next? them.” Well, Taras is very likely right. I did company. Hyperloop or not, the company is the con touring southwest Ireland. (Except for On another subject, does anyone know who not remember an exact figure, and guessed at succeeding in getting public money to have the part where he was thrown off a horse is the literary executor of Susan Allés Blom? I Alexiad October 2019 Page 15 know someone who has the manuscript of her girls, and mine had no intramural teams until To close on a cheery note, I’d like to a hundred years would add a certain piquancy! second Inca novel, in case there’s a publishing Title IX was passed, and then it had a team for retweet a tweet from Angry Robot Books that Review of Henry Hemming’s Agent M: interest. track and field, and that was all. now has my imagination churning: “We obvi- “His agents had discovered and identified For the record, I’m relieved to say I’m not Girls weren’t admitted to the Milwaukee ously love a good Space Opera, but we’d love Melita Norwood, the atom-bomb spy at the related to Alderman Ed Burke of Chicago (I Trade and Technical High School; electrician to hear from any budding authors currently heart of the British effort—yet nothing was did a little checking to make sure). I was wasn’t a career I could prepare for. Newspaper working on a Space Dancehall, Space Dubstep, done about it!” I thought Norwood was re- surprised by George W. Price’s assertion that job listings were “Help Wanted: Men” and Space Flamenco, or Space Boogie-Woogie.” vealed by the Mitrokhin Archive, ca. 2000. Chicago’s zoning laws might exist only to fuel “Help Wanted: Women.” Women’s applica- Space Flamenco! That would be fun. How much earlier was this? corruption, while Houston has done fine with- tions weren’t accepted for jobs deemed unsuit- out zoning. I used to live in Texas. The state able: long hours, dangerous, unpleasant, spe- From: Taras Wolansky October 1, 2019 This was in the thirties. and its municipalities are notoriously corrupt, cialties reserved for men, or involving too Post Office Box 698, Kerhonkson, NY Knight had got an infiltrator to and politicians have found lots of ways to offer much responsibility – although some women 12446-0698 USA work as the CPGB Chairman’s sec- quid pro quo about real estate without zoning. were (and still are) eager for those jobs. [email protected] retary, and she found Norwood’s What the lack of zoning has accomplished is Women were allowed in the military only in name on a list of those who would deprive Houston of tools to deal proactively limited numbers and as support staff or nurses. Thanks for number 106, August 2019. do spy work. He reported it, and with sprawl and flooding, which are becoming Speaking of nurses, because women could Joe: We were discussing the proposed the senior man at MI5 decided it onerous problems. be paid less, some jobs became pink-collar Worldcon in China offline. wasn’t worth following up. George also offers a compromise on vacci- ghettoes, and to this day nurses remain under- The rationale, if it even deserves the dig- nations: parents can sue if an unvaccinated paid despite difficult jobs that require exten- nity of that designation, seems to be that if we Of course, she got away without even a child causes an illness. The problem is finding sive education and training, and long hours. pretend China is not a fascist dictatorship, it slap on the wrist. But I think about the and proving the infectious culprit. A person Women aspired to be doctors, but until the will magically become a liberal democracy. Rosenbergs and feel a little better. Spying for can start shedding the measles virus four days mid-1970s, medical schools and professional It’s like when the international community Stalin was a very safe job (aside from the risk before the rash appears. If that person passes organizations could limit or ban women as gave Russia the Olympics. Treat Russia like a of being purged and killed by your own side) through a room, the viruses shed into the air students or members. member in good standing, and it will behave but it was not totally safe. can infect someone else who enters that room I could go on. like one. And it even seemed to work — brief- Leigh Kimmel (Windy City con report): for up to two hours later. Symptoms of the The past was a different country. It had ly. Until the Games were over, that is, and “On Sunday we woke up to an unseasonably illness won’t show up for the newly infected Forbidden Zones. Russia went back to its old habit of invading late snowstorm hamstering away.” I love that person for a week or two. By then, how can its neighbors. expression, but what does it mean? you figure out whom to sue? As the legal Thinking about the Sochi Olympics re- Rodford Edmiston (NASFiC con report): axiom goes, you have no right without a rem- minds me of what else they featured: Russia I was in the same hotel you were. I’d come edy – that is, if you could sue someone to cheating on a massive scale. down in the elevator and, for all practical remedy your harm but you can’t identify the Now, imagine opening up the final Hugo purposes, I was already in the convention defendant, you don’t have an effective right to ballot for the Chinese Worldcon, and discover- center. Sweeet! sue. ing that all the nominees are works published Timothy Lane: “When the British begin Taras Wolansky asks what legal privileges in China. (This could happen even without closing down the slave trade, the King of men had that I didn’t have when I was growing Chinese government involvement.) Dahomey… [pointed] out if he didn’t sell up. I’m glad to answer. And what about guests and attendees who prisoners of war as slaves he would have to kill When I started high school in 1970, in have criticized China in the past? Will they them.” I recall reading an account of a mass some states women couldn’t serve on juries. even be allowed to attend, or will they have human sacrifice. Apparently this was the fate Men could get a credit card or start a business mysterious problems with their visas? of enemy captives who weren’t sold as slaves. without their wife’s permission, but a wife needed her husband’s permission. Most Ivy Would it be safe for such peo- That was called a Grand Cus- League universities didn’t admit women. ple to set foot in China? tom. Since it was indigenous, in- Women could get fired for becoming pregnant, —LTM stead of imposed by outsiders, it and in some states, single women couldn’t get was apparently an acceptable birth control pills. Although women were safer Anyway, I friended both of the rival bids, form of behavior. drivers, they paid more than men for auto Nice (France), and Memphis (Tennessee), so — JTM insurance. Women could legally be paid less, you can guess my opinion. and some published pay schedules openly Apparently World SF frowns upon nega- Robert S. Kennedy: Interbreeding between listed different rates for men and women for tive campaigning, so the rival bids are not Neanderthals and modern humans, migrating the same job. Female flight attendants were allowed to point out obvious facts; for exam- from northeast Africa, probably didn’t occur fired at age 32 or if they got married or put on ple, that China is a fascist dictatorship that on a “massive scale”. The populations in- weight and stopped looking sexy. Women dissects political prisoners for their organs. volved were tiny; it’s just that all modern weren’t allowed to run in the Boston Mara- Admittedly, setting a Worldcon in just the Europeans and Asians are descended from thon. Schools didn’t have to offer sports for kind of dystopia SF has been writing about for them. Page 16 October 2019 Alexiad

George W. Price: Abraham Lincoln, Review of the Mary Poppins sequel: I ing in Johannesburg, and was not originally Ironically enough, no other city in South among others, blasted Chief Justice Roger thought it was inappropriate for Mary Poppins planned to be so tall. Apparently the builders Africa contains any of the rest of Africa’s Taney for simply getting the facts wrong in the to engage in a sexually suggestive vaudeville got enough interest that they extended the tallest buildings. And the planned tallest build- Dred Scott decision. He apparently didn’t act, especially with her child charges in the building. ing in Kenya, does not currently have any know that the rights of free black citizens to audience. I suspect children would not have Of the ten tallest buildings in Africa, four building activity. If the building is ever com- own property and to vote had been recognized been admitted to a show like that at the time. are in Johannesburg. I know about the Carlton plete as planned, it will be significantly higher in northern states from the beginning. But I guess our media are so sexualized today Centre and Ponte, and suspect the last of the than any of the buildings in Johannesburg. Come to think of it, it’s likely that people that none of the filmmakers noticed anything buildings is the Hillbrow Tower. All of these In the mean while it is just politics as usual. with African ancestry had been voting all off. They even edited in shots of the children were built in the 1970’s. Each of them in some Eskom is still a black hole sucking up money, along even in the South, in places like New being especially delighted by the risqué humor. way or another a pale shadow of what they and the unions are still not interested in any Orleans. were designed to be. remedial action which will cost jobs. Looks Sue Burke: I enjoyed hearing you read at From: AL du Pisani July 31, 2019 The Hillbrow Tower is a TV and Radio like the country will have to collapse before Worldcon. 945 Grand Prix Street, Weltevreden- transmission tower. At one stage it had a they will take things seriously – and maybe not The late William F. Buckley used to talk park 1709, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH restaurant on one of the top floors, where you even then – people can be wilfully blind if they about “the zoo section of the dictionary”. AFRICA could look out over the city. Terrorism threats really want. And we have a lot of wilfully Many queer and timorous beasties live there. [email protected] closed that down in the late 1970’s, and it have blind people out there, not all of them politi- (I think I’m misquoting Robert Burns.) never re-opened. cians or in union leadership. Lisa spoke about her sense of place, and The Ponte was a mixed residential and For some reason I find Pam Uphoff’s Wine the strange places that sometimes work them- commercial building. As far as I know it was of the Gods and The Directorate series fasci- selves into our imagination as maybe a second also a victim of the terrorism threats in the late nating – have to read the books as soon as I get home, even though it is nothing like your own 1970s and 1980s – I read that one management hold of them, and I am willing to reread some – From reading I found a kinship with Arthur company tried their best, but it was designed favourites after a very short time. Upfield’s Outback Australia, even though he before security became paramount, and had too Otherwise I am keeping my head down, as was chronicling a place that was becoming lost many entrances. A colleague of mine had a flat I continue to live and work in South Africa. in time. And with Tony Hillerman’s Navaho there years ago, when he was a student. And he I hope you will always find a readable book Rez. Both of them alien to me, yet with a call said that you could see the faded elegance in when you need one. of familiarity. the flats. Wish I know why. Sometimes I wonder if And the Carlton Centre is in the middle of Thank you for your concern. they will still call to me, if I read them now. the Johannesburg CBD, and businesses have “Finding” is the problem. There The one book I have read of Rebecca fled from there. used to be a dearth of SF out Roanhorse’s had something of that kinship, The new building, the Leonardo, is built in there; now there is a plethora, even though it is taking place in my least loved Sandton, the new hot location for businesses – and between the lack of filtering SF setting – The overpopulated, poverty except for those like my firm who have gone and the proliferation of agendas stricken hellhole. (With an environmental even further North, towards Midrand. there is the problem of finding disaster, to boot.) Yet the setting is drawing me something to one’s tastes. Some- back, and I will probably end up reading some times I have to write them my- more by her. self. — JTM Angrygirl Unlikelyname needs a setting designed to make teens The way it seems to be sorting out is the angsty. From: John Hertz October 10, 2019 Hugo Awards mostly for women authors, and 236 S. Coronado St., N. 409 Los An- the Dragon Awards mostly for men. That’s if It has been a very mild Winter in Johannes- geles, CA 90057 USA China doesn’t simply run off with the Hugo burg – with maybe a week of real cold. Even Awards, as I speculate elsewhere. then it rarely went below freezing – In fact, I Perhaps you are the Newer Christy Min- Taral Wayne (review of Aquaman): “what averaged one less blanket on my bed than strels. was the Justice League doing during all this? usual, maybe even two. So it was never quite The Royal Manticoran Navy, mentioned by Were Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as cold as it have been in previous Winters. I Leigh Kimmel in connection with Inconjunc- having a poker night while the undersea world am just hoping that the rains will start soon. tion XXXIX, were a big help at Spikecon. attacked the surface world?” The DCU as well We have had a day of rain in late August, but Alas, I left them out of my con report, which as the MCU filmmakers like to have their cake the rain season is supposed to start about 10 the electronic may see at and eat it, too. In one film, the fate of the October. world depends on a single superhero and the From my desk at work I can look towards http://file770.com/spikeconspoonfuls/ others don’t seem to exist. In the next film the South and see the tallest building in Africa. they’re all working together. Mostly completed. It is the fourth tallest build- (and others may .have on paper from me for Alexiad October 2019 Page 17 the asking). Thanks to Rodford Edmiston for from attending. his photos; they would have been more useful if labeled. Nor was that all. About the fan-category Hugos, I keep saying the outstanding difficulty is that we We are prepared to maintain the don’t nominate. The ballot is then dominated same principles, and to use, if neces- by choices of people who do. I’ve looked at sary, the same language here..., the evil this year’s numbers. They are the same. I’ve of slavery.... is a blot on our national been published in fanzines about this — Ba- character. nana Wings; what better could you ask? — for six years that I recall. Samuel Tyler’s Memoir of Roger Brooke Taney (1872) ends its report of the Gruber The plaint is that the blogger case, “Upon such grounds did Mr. Taney rest hints that a Hugo nomination ... before a slave-holding jury and before would be nice, and her followers slave-holding judges” (p. 131). proceed to do so. — JTM Even George Price misstates the Dred Scott WAHF: decision. Justice Taney (pronounced as if Martin Morse Wooster, with various spelled “tawny”) never “asserted” that “free items of interest. blacks should never become citizens”. He was Patrick McCray, with thanks. not saying what he wanted. He was analyzing what the law required. He had freed his own slaves. Years before being placed on the Su- preme Court he had spoken against slavery. I like, mostly, V. Hopkins, Dred Scott’s SEEN ON THE WAY Case (rev. 1967). Hopkins says he means to by Lisa treat the case sine ira et odio (Latin, “without anger or hatred”), and does, in 200 pages. This We were heading down Bardstown Road is short. By the time the case came to the when I saw a hilarious sign. It read: Supreme Court there were many complica- tions. Much more has been written, before and since. Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya. In 1819 Taney defended a Methodist minister There is a yardsale on Rufer Avenue with (Taney himself was a Catholic) who at a great cheap stuff. camp-meeting in Maryland attended by three Prepare to buy! thousand of whom four hundred were blacks; the minister had condemned slavery, was indicted for inciting rebellion. Taney, pointing I spent the next few minutes laughing in to the freedom of speech, got an acquittal: but appreciation. That was as good as my two he said more. favorite TV commercials. In the first a family is standing in front of a vacation machine with Mr. Gruber is a minister of the various choices. They choose St. Petersburg Methodist Episcopal Church.... No and materialize to snow and buildings with slaveholder is allowed to be a minister strange spires. One of the kids remarks that he of that church. Their preachers are doesn’t think they’re in Kansas anymore. accustomed ... to speak of the injustice The second commercial is Flo from and oppressions of slavery..., if any Progressive. She has traveled back in time to slave-holder believed it dangerous [for] 1460 England. A woman sitting on a throne his slaves to learn that all slavery is condemns her to standard treatment of the time unjust and oppressive, and persuaded for witches. himself that they would not, of them- Sadly neither commercial ever got aired selves, be able to make that discovery, enough for me to tire of them. it was in his power to prevent them Page 18 October 2019 Alexiad

Mutiny and counter-mutiny flourish among WALT DISNEY PRESENTS the abandoned expedition, separated from any STAR WARS starship and in a desperate trek through hazard- ous forests, empty deserts, and ruined cities to Star Wars: Aguirre, the Wrath of the Force reach a ship that is rumored to have landed. Directed and written by Werner Herzog Under the strain and pressure of the expedition, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2585410/ Aguirre becomes slowly mad, ranting and declaring that Palpatine is betraying the Sith, In this thrilling new tale set in the Star randomly killing men for being turncoats. His Wars Universe, Herzog tells a tale of the dark daughter Yenna (Nicole Kidman) is his help- days of the . Grand Moff less puppet, having come on the expedition as Aguirre (James Franco) is dispatched by Em- Chief Scientist and found herself trapped. peror Palpatine to explore the dangerous and Ambushes take many of the party, and in a mysterious Manaus Sector, with an aim of climactic grisly scene, Aguirre kills his daugh- discovering a new source of kyber crystals. ter, crying as he does, “You will not be the Their ship breaks down on the planet child of a failure!” Cynsky, a wretched hellhole of scum and In the terrifying finale, with all the other villany. Stranded and beleaguered, the ill- members of the expedition dead, Aguirre equipped expedition disintegrates into hellish stands on the deck of a wrecked spaceship, squalor and chaos. surrounded by Ewoks. He declares, “I, the Isolated and becoming increasingly with- Wrath of the Force, will marry my own drawn, Grand Moff Aguirre begins enforcing daughter, and with her I will found the purest discipline with ruthless and unpredictable dynasty the Galaxy has ever seen. Together, cruelty. In an ultimate act of rebellion, the we shall rule this entire sector. We shall en- unstable Aguirre proclaims his dim-witted dure. I am the Wrath of the Force . . . who else sparkly underling Ferdinand (Robert Pattinson) is with me?” Emperor and declares war upon Palpatine and Herzog has taken the Star Wars saga in a all his Sith. new and darker course. Five stars, four avoca- dos, and two thumbs up. Alexiad October 2019 Page 19

Co-Editors: Lisa & Joseph Major Co-Publishers: Joseph & Lisa Major Writers, Staff: Major, Joseph, Major, Lisa This is issue Whole Number One Hun- dred and Seven (107). Art: What we are mainly looking for is small fillos. Your fillo will probably be scann- ed in and may be reused, unless you object to its reuse. Contributions: This is not a fictionzine. It is intended to be our fanzine, so be interesting. Material in Alexiad is copyright © 2019. All rights reserved. Upon publication, all rights revert to the original contributor, but we reserve the right to use any item more than once, unless otherwise specified by the con- tributor. All letters sent to Alexiad become the property of the publishers. Any material by the editors is available to other fanzines if they provide proper credit and send a copy. Available for The Usual (letter of com- ment, trade, contribution). Sample issue available upon request. Back issues $1; sub- scription $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