SSFF CCOOMMMMEENNTTAARRYY 110044 November 2020 140 pages ENJOY LIFE WITH FRANZ KAFKA It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet. The Zürau Aphorisms, 193 CONTRIBUTORS: Michael Bishop Jenny Blackford William Breiding Jennifer Bryce Cy Chauvin Robert Day Paul di Filippo Henry Gasko Bruce Gillespie Edwina Harvey Robert Lichtman LynC Murray MacLachlan Denny Marshall Ian Mond Guy Salvidge Tim Train Michelle Worthington Cover: Denny Marshall: ‘Voyager’.. S F Commentary 104 November 2020 140 pages SF COMMENTARY No. 104, November 2020, is edited and published by Bruce Gillespie, 5 Howard Street, Greensborough, VIC 3088, Australia. Phone: 61-3-9435 7786. DISTRIBUTION: Either portrait (print equivalent) or landscape .PDF file from eFanzines.com: http://efanzines.com/SFC/index.html or from my email address: [email protected]. FRONT COVER: Denny Marshall: ‘Voyager’. BACK COVER: Denny Marshall: ‘Recharge’. PHOTOGRAPHS: LynC (p. 6); Susan Batho (pp. 35, 36); Lawrie Brown (p. 34); Robert Day (pp. 40, 41, 43, 43, 44); William Breiding (pp. 52, 53, 59, 62, 66); Jenny Blackford (pp. 87, 88, 90); Ed McCabe (p. 103). ILLUSTRATIONS: Denny Marshall (pp. 1, 7, 9, 49, 141). Contents 6 I MUST BE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS 5 BRUCE GILLESPIE 6 LYNC 5 ENJOY LIFE WITH FRANZ KAFKA TRIBUTE TO PHIL WARE 8 NO HURRAHS FOR HOLLYWOOD 2 10 MUSIC (LOCKDOWN PLEASURE 1) TEACHING IN A BOYS’ TECHNICAL SCHOOL 1968–1970 11 BOOKS (LOCKDOWN PLEASURE 2): THE DENNIS CALLEGARI COLUMN 76 ROBERT LICHTMAN 17 CANON SHOTS COMING OF AGE IN THE SIXTIES 26 TRAIN SONG 79 GUY SALVIDGE SUPERNOVA MEMORIES 32 TWO WORLD CONVENTIONS: 2019 AND 2020 83 POEMS PERSONAL 32 EDWINA HARVEY 83 MICHAEL BISHOP DUBLIN 2019: REPORT 1 JAMIE’S HAIR 36 ROBERT DAY 85 JENNY BLACKFORD FANTASTIC VOYAGE: DUBLIN 2019: REPORT 2 85 MEEPS 46 EDWINA HARVEY 86 MONSTER–MOLLUSC CHALK AND CHEESE: CONNEWZEALAND, 88 QUANTUM STRING THE FIRST VIRTUAL WORLDCON 89 OUR LADY OF THE WINTER SQUASH 89 SWEET INTERTIDAL FLESH 50 INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS: 90 THE MATRIX LIFE STORIES 91 MOTHER EARTH 91 DOWN IN WINDY HOLLOW 50 WILLIAM BREIDING 92 TIM TRAIN THE SKELETONS OF WINTER 92 SUPERMAN 73 JENNIFER BRYCE 3 93 YT YS AN EPYSTLE 115 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY: 50TH ANNIVERSARY 118 GUY SALVIDGE 94 CRITICANTO IN MAGIC HANDS 122 HENRY GASKO 94 PAUL DI FILIPPO ANYTHING-THE-AUTHOR-NEEDS-FOR-THE- 94 SENSUAL ADVENTURES WITH OLD PLOT MAGIC HERESIES 124 MURRAY MacLACHLAN 97 WELLS V THE MARTIANS, CONTINUED THREE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 100 DELANY, ROBINSON: NOMINEES MEMOIRS OF DISTINCTIVE LIVES 129 IAN MOND 106 WHEN THE WORLD IS RUNNING DOWN THINKING OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY 108 BUDRYS’S DISTINCTIVE VOICE 139 MICHELLE WORTHINGTON 112 CY CHAUVIN TAKING COURAGE IN 112 BENFORD’S BERLIN PROJECT A DANGEROUS AUSTRALIA 4 Enjoy life with Franz Kafka Franz Kafka said it best in 1931: Because of a return of the covid-19 virus in June in the greater Melbourne area, we’ve had to stick to our houses, except for one It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your hour’s exercise per day. We’ve had to wear masks whenever table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even leaving the house. Nobody has been allowed to visit another’s wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself house, except for that ‘special other’ person. Almost all retail shops to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it have been closed since July, apart from shops selling food. will writhe at your feet (The Zürau Aphorisms, 1931). Hairdressers have been closed, whereas they were allowed to open during the first lockdown from March to May. You might hate me for saying it, but I seem to be one of the few people I know who has been enjoying lockdown. Two friends have All these restrictions are nuisances, but they have brought the told me that lockdown makes no difference to their way of living. daily rate of covid-19 infection down from 793 on one memorable Another friend, although ‘isolated’, has written 150 letters to day a month ago to an average of about 10 a day. For Elaine and friends and family since February. Many other people seem to be me, the restrictions have given us certain freedoms. We don’t feel dismasted by the concept of lockdown and isolation. obliged to go out to dinner in restaurants that serve indifferent food at prices we can’t afford. I don’t feel obliged to drink the usual But surely the removal of ordinary-world distractions can be a gift? glass of beer with a restaurant meal. Beer is something I try to Now is the time, surely, to write that novel or short story, research avoid these days, not only because most beers are uninteresting and write that PhD thesis, write those letters, paint that picture, after the first glass but because beer puts on weight. We try not produce that podcast or video, or develop a musical project. Or, to buy food filled with fat and sugar, so I’ve managed to lose 10 in my case, publish fanzines. ‘The world will present itself to you kg (20 lb) during the first lockdown. (But have lost no more.) for its unmasking.’ I’ve been able to save money during lockdown. Gone are the trips Or maybe not. 5 Phil Ware: A tribute from LynC [Thanks very much, LynC, for allowing SFC to reprint this tribute to Phil Ware from Ethel the Aardvark 205, October 2020, edited by LynC for the Melbourne Science Fiction Club.] Phillip Lindsay Ware: Born 19 March 1958, Died 6 September 2020 after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Mandy Herriot and their son Johnathan Herriot-Ware. After a troubled and somewhat nomadic childhood, Phil made the decision to stay with his mother from whence he could receive stability and an education. Having the brilliant mind that he did, he then went on to Melbourne University where he honoured in Mathematics. It was at Melbourne University, through the Melbourne University Science Fiction Association (MUSFA) that I first met him in the mid ’70s. These days what happened next would be called harassment; but confronted with Phil Ware, 1991. someone so full of pain I had to reach out. In those days he had (Photo: LynC.) the most glorious mane of hair tied back in a ponytail (it was the ’70s), and every time I went past I would reach out and gently tug it. It was some years before he told me that he had behind ‘Discrete Mathematics’. Through me, he discovered he been torn between annoyance and gratitude at the human touch had a bent for computing and then went on to far outstrip anyone which was why he had never reacted. But by then we were else I knew, going from learning on the job in the public service friends. Not only were we friends but, at that stage he was rapidly to lecturing in that most arcane of areas — Cyber Security. allowing another to invade his heart, and he was soon to marry Mandy Herriot. Between them they were there when I really He was still lecturing when he fell ill, and indeed up until the last needed a friend to lean on. couple of weeks of his life. Phil was also a Friend who could discuss esoteric and intellectual A true friend; a brilliant mind. I can’t believe he is gone. things such as the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, or the concepts 6 to the city and Carlton, trips during which inevitably I spend money I don’t have on goods I don’t need. Since February, I’ve had only one financially ruinous day visiting Play Video in central Melbourne. (That’s the shop with all the glittering imported Blu-rays.) Dave at Readings in Carlton has been sending out parcels to Greens-borough after I’m sent in my orders, but I’ve been saved from Browsing Splurge Syndrome. I’ve been offered only one freelance indexing job during the last 12 months, so my financial situation would have been disastrous without lockdown restrictions. All this assumes, of course, that Elaine and I can avoid the virus itself. So we stay at home. This sounds as if I have little sympathy for those who are suffering deprivation during various forms of lockdown throughout the world. Not so. I can visualise all the situations in which I would be very much worse off. Not having Elaine and the cats would be the worst. Even in countries where restrictions on movement are much less severe than in Melbourne, Australia, most of you are sitting at home. You are venturing out in order to buy food and essentials, or waiting for deliveries. You’re probably not sleeping very well, even if you’re allowed an hour or two a day for exercise away from the house. You’re probably not going for long walks if you live in inner suburbs or in tenement-style buildings. You’re either living alone with little hope of visiting family or friends, or you are living in a house inhabited by far too many people: parents trying to work from home on their computer, kids using their devices to do home schooling, babies squawling, and the dogs, cats, and other pets hurtling around underfoot.