Lambda Sci-Fi DC Area Gaylaxians (202) 232-3141 – Issue # 367 – October 2020 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.lambdascifi.org The LSF Book Discussion Group If you’re interested in lively dis- cussions of F&SF books (with an em- To our ConFAB Friends, phasis on elements of interest to the LGBT ConFABulous 2020 will be a community), we invite you to join the LSF one-day virtual convention on Saturday, Book Discussion Group. Each month, we October 10 (Noon to Midnight). conduct fascinating round-table discussi- The con will have some of the ons of works by significant F&SF authors. same features as our face-to-face con- Before the COVID-19 shut-down ventions, including a single track of panels orders, the LSF Book Discussion Group and plenty of opportunities to play board usually met on the 4th Thursday of every games, card games, and RPGs through month, starting at 7:00 PM, at Peter & virtual connections. Rob’s home: 1425 “S” St., NW – for Do you have an idea for panelists "Reading is the key directions or more details, call 202-483- or a panel topic that you'd like to organize? 6369. Now, book discussions are held Please send your ideas to John Till: that opens doors virtually (same “4th Thursday” schedule). [email protected] to many good The next book discussion will be held on Do you have an idea for an RPG October 22nd (via Zoom). session? Send John Till an idea about the things in life. Here are the details for the next game you’d like to run: the game system, several discussions: the time frame (we recommend 2-3 hours Reading shaped Oct. 22 – The Night Circus by Erin Mor- for online RPGs), and system require- my dreams, genstern (moderator: Zena). ments. We will work with you to make Dec. 3 (combined Nov/Dec discussion) – sure that players know what they may need and more reading The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Al- to play in your game. helped me make exis Hall (moderator: Carl). Do you have a board or card Jan. 28, 2021 – Circe by Madeline Miller game you'd like to run? Please let Burl my dreams (moderator: Konrad). Zorn, our gaming coordinator, know what Feb. 25, 2021 – The Glass Hotel by Emily you’d like to run, for how long, and any come true." St. John Mandel (moderator: Zena). system capabilities/requirements you need March 25, 2021 – Enter the Aardvark by to run the game on-line: - Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Jessica Anthony (mod: Konrad). [email protected] 1933 - 2020 << October 2020 LSF Meeting TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY > What’s Inside? Due to Coronavirus concerns, we plan to hold the October 11th LSF meeting virtually. Page 2: Life in the Clouds of Venus? Anyone who would like to participate can contact Rob for virtual meeting information Minutes of the September LSF Meeting. at [email protected] . Hope to “see” you there! Page 3: Diana Rigg (obituary). Page 4: Information About Lambda Sci- Fi: DC Area Gaylaxians & Con Calendar. Film News: Peter and Rob en- Life in the Clouds of Venus? Minutes of the joyed the new live-action Mulan; it has info passed along by Carl September LSF Meeting some genre elements - sorcery and an (from a Sept. 14th on-line article by taken by Scott imaginary Phoenix. There was much Seth Borenstein) discussion around the controversy over The meeting took place via Zoom, the filming location in the Chinese pro- due to the COVID-19 pandemic. vince where the Uighurs are being in- TV News: NetFlix will be adap- carcerated and “re-trained”. (For ano- ting The Three Body Problem into a series. ther look at contemporary or near- Lovecraft Country is getting very positive future China, Carl recommended Kim critical reviews. (Rob says that the African- Stanley Robinson’s Red Moon, most of American characters face bigger terrors which takes place in China rather than because they are Black in 1950s America on the Moon.) Everyone has enjoy- than they do from the Lovecraftian-themed ed the trailer for the new Dune movie, horrors.) Rob reported that Season 2 of starring Timothée Chalamet as Paul Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol are Atreides. (Karl believes that Jason Mo- fantastic. Dan is enjoying Ridley Scott’s moa isn’t too tall and big to play the Raised by Wolves: “Two androids are role of Duncan Idaho. Rob cannot Astronomers have identified a tasked with raising human children on a comment on the quality of the casting potential sign of life (possibly microbial) mysterious virgin planet, as the human until he sees the movie.) Rob enjoyed located high in the sulfuric acid-laden colony threatens to be torn apart by reli- Amazon Prime’s Velocipastor with its clouds of the planet Venus. gious differences.” There is mediocre sup- cheesy plot elements and special Two telescopes (Hawaii and port for the animated “Star Trek” series effects. The release of Wonder Woman Chile) have spotted the chemical signa- Lower Decks; Rob described it “hit or 1984 has been pushed back to ture of phosphine in the thick Venusian miss”. The second season of The Boys has December 2020; Mandalorian Season clouds. Phosphine is a noxious gas that begun. Peter has been watching Away, the 2 is still slated for the Fall 2020. (on Earth) is only associated with life. NextFlix personal relationships drama ser- Other News: RIP actor Chad- This was reported in a study in the journal ies, starring Hillary Swank as the lead wick Boseman; fans have suggested Nature Astronomy co-authored by David astronaut; Dan likes the Rashomon-like that the character of Shuri continue the Clements (an astrophysicist at the Im- effect that was used in the first epi- role of Black Panther. RIP Diana Rigg perial College of London) and Sara Sea- sode. Wayne likes Dark, NetFlix’s German of The Avengers and Game of Thrones! ger (an MIT planetary scientist). time-travel series; it tells the tale of four Some doubt was expressed that Awe- A major method used by as- estranged families who unravel a sinister someCon will be actually held as a tronomers to search for life on extra-solar time travel conspiracy. The final season of face-to-face convention in December planets is to look for “biosignatures” Archer premieres this Wednesday. Wayne 2020. Rob reminded everyone that The (chemical signatures that can only be watched NetFlix’s Wandering Earth, which Devourers (by Indra Das) will be the made by biological processes). Three as- did not work for him – it’s based upon the subject of the September LSF book dis- tronomers in Hawaii decided to look for book by Cixin Liu – on the other hand, Peter cussion (to be held via Zoom). biosignatures on Venus – they searched enjoyed it. for phosphine (three hydrogen atoms and a phosphorous atom). On Earth, there are only two ways that phosphine can be formed – one is an industrial process HAPPY (such as when the gas was produced for chemical warfare during WWI); and the other is biological (possibly as a waste HALLOWEEN, product). David Clements notes that phosphine is found in “ooze at the bottom of ponds, the guts of some creatures like LSF!! badgers, and perhaps most unpleasantly associated with piles of penguin guano.” According to Sara Seager, researchers “exhaustively went through every possibility and ruled all of them out: volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere… Not a single process we looked at could The faces of Halloween 2020? (continued on page 3) Life in the Clouds of Venus? Diana Rigg continued from page 2 1938 – 2020 produce phosphine in high enough quan- tities to explain our team’s findings.” British stage and screen actress But how can life exist on such an Diana Rigg – Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth inhospitable planet as Venus, where sur- Rigg, Dame Commander of the Order of face temperatures are around 800 degrees the British Empire – passed away at the th Fahrenheit (425 degrees Celsius) and there age of 82 on September 10 . is no water? Seager and Clements theorize Diana Rigg was born in Don- Tracy Bond, the only wife of James Bond that life can exist about 30 miles above the caster, Yorkshire, England. When she (with George Lazenby, in his only appear- surface in the thick carbon-dioxide cloud was two months old, her family moved ance as Agent 007). Other F&SF roles deck, where the temperature is “about from Yorkshire to Bikaner, Rajasthan, In- included: Sonya Winter in The Assas- room temperature or slightly warmer”. dia, where her father was employed as a sination Bureau (1969, based on a Jack This cloud layer contains droplets mostly railway executive for the Bikaner State London story); Edwina Lionheart in The- composed of highly acidic sulfuric acid Railway. Diana lived in India until she atre of Blood (1973, with Vincent Price); and tiny amounts of water. The phosphine was eight years old and spoke Hindi as her Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper could be produced by some kind of mi- second language. She was later sent back (1981); and Snow White’s evil stepmoth- crobes (probably single-celled) living in to England to attend a boarding school – er in the Cannon Movie Tales adaptation those sulfuric acid droplets, living their which she hated. She was trained as an of Snow White (1987). entire lives in the 10-mile-deep clouds. actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic In 2013, Rigg appeared as the Several outside experts – also Art (1955 – 1957); her classmates inclu- villainous Mrs.