March/April 2002 Hoben Aickman • K. v. Bailev • Cherith Baldrv • J.G. Ballard £2.50 lain M. Banks • Carol Berg • Elizabeth Billinger • Paul Billinger • Colin Bird • Lvnne Bispham • Claire Brialev Mollv Brown • Tanva Brown • TimBunon • Andrew M. Butler Octavia E. Bouer • John Carpenter • Jonathan Carroll Stuan caner • John cassadav • Marc Chabon • B. A. Chepaitis .• C.J. Cherrvh •Oiiil :] ;b'1 l'i'Jfllllil• Anhur C. Clarke John Clute • Chris Columbus • Storm Constantine • Wes craven • John Crowlev • Kara Dalkev • Garv s. Daikin • Mark Danielowski • Avram Davidson • Laura Depuv • Greg Egan warren Ellis • lain Emslev • Karen Jov Fowler • Alan Fraser Stephen Frv • Neil Gaiman • Marv Gentle • Amitav Ghosh Mollv Gloss • Mark Greener • Colin Greenland • Jon Counenav Grimwood • Peter F. Hamilton • M. John Harrison Keith Hanman • Leslev Hatch • Tracev Hickman • Chris Hill Pennv Hill • Russell Hoban • Robin Hobb • Hoben Holdstock Nalo Hopkinson • Ted Hughes • Peter Jackson • Steve Jenerv • Gwvneth Jones • llovd Kaufman • Gov Gavriel Kav Katherine Kerr • I. Gregorv Keves • Paul KidbV • Paul Kincaid atrice Kindl • Dave Langford • Miller Lau • Mitch Le Blanc Ursula Le Guin • Ang Lee • Vikki Lee • Jonathan Lethem • Ken Macleod • John Marco • George R. R. Manin • Paul McAulev Geraldine McCaughrean • Ian McDonald • Patricia A. McKilliP • John Meanev • Farah Mendlesohn • China Mieville • Michael Moorcock • Alan Moore • Pat Murphy Kim Newman • John Newsinger • Jeff Noon • Colin Odell Oliver Postgate • Tim Powers • Terrv Pratchett • Philip Pullman • Philip Reeves • Alastair Revnolds • Philip Ridlev Adam Robens • Keith Roberts • James Robinson • Justina Robson • Hoben Rodriguez • Jon Ronson • Rudv Rucker Jessica RVdill • Andv sawver • Andrew Seaman • Sharon Shinn • Anthonv Skene • John Sladek • Maureen Kincaid Speller • Stephen Spielberg • Michael swanwick • Brvan Talbot • Kathv Tavlor • Sheri s. Tepper • sue Thomason • Eric 222 Van Lustbader • Jon Wallace • Jill Paton Walsh • Freda The Critical Warrington • Margaret Weis • Garv Wilkinson • Liz Williams Journal of Connie Willis • Chris Wooding • Jane Yolen • David Zindell the BSFA March/April 2002 • Vector 222 The View from the Creative Writing Class and I turned to Tolkien for inspiration, improvising a story for them. There’s been a dragon terrifying the countryside, carrying off sheep, cows, dwarves, indiscriminately, and finally enough is So, that was 2001, and I’m amazed by how many people are enough. The newly crowned king of the dwarves (who some have tempting fate by saying – like they have on previous occasions – claimed is not legitimate) declares war on the people of that this year will be better. (Pause to turn round three times Laketown, for harbouring a dragon in the caves above the town. widdershins and spit, to avoid jinxing it.) Meanwhile the lead time Wave after wave of dwarves go in with axes and canon and those of Vector from copy deadline to release obscured an intriguing devices used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail to fling cows shift. In the interview with Michael Cobley I wrote that Tolkien (trabuché?) and which they keep on recreating in so-called was “rather suffering from a backlash at the moment from inside history documentaries. There are cynics who would argue that and outside the genre (whilst obviously copies of the books are the dwarves were only after the gold – when in fact all they want everywhere ready for the films)”. To some extent that’s still true – to do is to restore a decent government (read: pro-dwarf) to the snootier critics have said that The Lord of the Rings was just Laketown. Flushed with success, the dwarves look for other escapism, or doesn’t have anything to say about the real world. towns to attack, and everyone quietly forgets that the dragon But I’ve been amazed by the way in which the film has been hasn’t been seen for a few months. embraced by the sf and fantasy community. But there’s still that One thing I forgot to do is to direct them to Stephen Baxter’s old canard, it’s not real life, is it? Omegatropic, published last year by the BSFA, which includes Meanwhile I’ve been teaching creative writing, which was the some of Steve’s musings on how to write. The book has been result I had to pay for trying to make myself indispensable when I nominated for the BSFA Award for Non-Fiction, a new trophy in was only working part time. I’ve not actually written anything our roster of awards, and I can thoroughly recommend it. creatively – beyond the odd finely tuned minute or conference Remember: vote early, vote often. paper proposal – for more years than I care to recall, but I was relieved to see that the brain can still invent things and think on Omegatropic is available from BSFA, 1 Long Row Close, Everdon, its (my?) feet. For twelve weeks I taught or left them to write sf Daventry, Northants, NN11 3BE, £20 for hardback, £8 for and fantasy, and the result is a pile of stories that somehow I have paperback, postage free to members. For more details see to grade. www.bsfa.co.uk. One of the more popular sessions was rewriting old stories, by Andrew M. Butler, spring 2002 materials of all creativity are located’. A major story arc of the Letters to Vector series so far consists of Promethea giving Sophie Bangs, her latest human incarnation, a guided tour of her cosmic inheritance. Matrix supremo Gary Wilkinson’s article an Alan Moore has Some readers apparently do find the book a bit too rich, too generated a couple of letters: much a vehicle for its author’s ideas about magic and creativity, though there’s no shortage of stories in it, all as dramatically and From Colin Greenland, via email: vividly plotted and subplotted as you’d expect from Alan Moore. ‘Close to Midnight’ (V220) was a fascinating article, full of sound The baseline reality is a highly technologically-advanced parallel observations and apposite quotations. A worthwhile reminder of world, for one thing, where New York is congratulating itself on a great book and a perfect introduction for anyone who hasn’t the election of its first multiple-personalitied mayor. Then again, read it. There’s more, much more, about the career of Alan Moore if what you really prize in the postmodern serial funny-book is and especially the eternally lamented Big Numbers in the technical virtuosity, the pages of Promethea bulge with enough wonderful Alec: How to be an artist, written, drawn and published formal innovation and technical elaboration to make it clear that by one of Moore’s principal collaborators, Eddie Campbell (not an all the recursive counterpoint of Watchmen was just Moore Australian, by the way, only married to one). warming up. I have to say, though, that in his fascination with Watchmen All that and he plays left wing for Burnley F.C. too. There must Gary Wilkinson does seem to be in danger of underestimating the be something in this magic lark. Northampton Nightingale’s latest outpourings. Tom Strong, Greyshirt, Jack B. Quick et al. may not be to everyone’s taste; and Cheryl Morgan responds to the comments Gary made on the we may disagree about Top Ten and The League of Extraordinary award-winning status of Watchmen, something I’ve heard Gentlemen, which I’d say are, in their different ways, simply argued about for the last deacde-and-a-half: glorious. Still, not even to mention Promethea is a serious oversight, especially in a piece subtitled ‘The Magic of Alan From Cheryl Morgan, WSFS Secretary, ConJosé, via email: Moore’. If you’re interested in Moore’s genius in general and his In his excellent article on Alan Moore Gary Wilkinson comments: ideas on magic in particular, Promethea is the place you need to “Watchmen [was] the first graphic novel to win a Hugo (in the look. ‘Other Forms’ category, although its subsequent omission from While she is a proper, conventional superheroine, a sort of lists of Hugos calls the award’s status into question).” latter-day Wonder Woman who flies around doing superheroic The Watchmen award is listed on the World Science Fiction deeds, fighting crime and rescuing people from monsters, Society’s web site (http://www.worldcon.org/hy.html) which is Promethea is also and all-importantly a personification of the the most authoritative source there is. It is also listed on human imagination, in all its ‘holy splendour’. That’s the source of AwardWeb (http://www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb/), the most her powers. Along with her various other avatars she’s a denizen, comprehensive listing of SF awards, and in the Hugo lists on my a divinity, of the Immateria, the realm of the imagination: in the own web site (http://www.emcit.com/hugo_otherfic.shtml). So universe according to Alan Moore, a plane of existence every bit far so good. as real as the mundane physical world; and one quite close, It is true, however, that Watchmen’s award was omitted from perhaps, to the ‘ideaverse’ that Gary describes, ‘where the raw the list in the program book for this year’s Worldcon, The Millennium Philcon. This is probably a typographical error, or a 3 Vector 222 • March/April 2002 result of copying the list from a previous year’s program book American crime writer Patricia Cornwell (most well-known for that contained a typographical error. At the MilPhil Business her Kay Scarpetta novels) has ‘ripped-up’ a painting by the Meeting WSFS established a committee (of which I am a member) Victorian artist Walter Sickert searching for clues in an attempt to investigate irregularities in the Hugo lists. I am confident that to nail him as her suspect for Jack the Ripper.