The September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! Page 1 of 49 Welcome to the September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! I still am in the process of recovering from the MidAmerican II ConCrud, but I am felling better than last week. As you get older, it’s a slow process to bounce back. But hey, it beats the hell out of the alternative. It has been so hot around the Big Nooga this summer, I have been pretty much house bound. But we got a break in the heat on Saturday and I got the lawn tractor out and cut the side and back yards. It really felt great to get a little bit of exercise but I will admit it tired me out. But the yard looks half way decent and I can start getting ready for Leaffagedeon that is coming this fall. In the past I have gone crazy bagging up the leaves and throwing them into the woods. But last year I tried a different tact. I waited until they all fell and dried out and started mulching them on the ground. I think I cut them up 4 or 5 times and with the lawn tractor and got them down to a nice powder. Would you believe, they help to fertilize the yard this year and the dirt in the back yard actually looked a little greener. ;^) Labor Day was pretty around Casa Bolgeo. Alexander the Grape came over and was spraying the yard to kill all of the different types of ivy we have growing wild. Everybody can understand trying to get rid of poison ivy, but we are trying to fight back the English Ivy. That stuff will climb up the trunk of a tree and eventually strangle and kill it. Even though it is not Kudzu, it is pretty bad in it’s own right and I have been fighting it for over 30 years to keep it out of my yard. Alex made enough to help fill up his gas tank and take his lady love, Kyla out for a date or two. So on that ”Working Note”, why don't y'all sit back and relax because here's the best in gossip, jokes and science for your reading pleasure! Uncle Timmy <G>~<O>~<S>~<S>~<I>~<P>~~~<S>~<T>~<A>~<R>~<T>~<S>~~~<H>~<E>~<R>~<E>~<!> THE CHOO CHOO IS CUTTING THEIR AVAILABLE HOTEL SPACE. BUT DON’T WORRY, WE HAVE A PLAN! From the LibertyCon Facebook Page Hey everyone, we hope that you have had a great summer and for those of you who are going to DragonCon this weekend -- find us, we will be there and ready to party! As you will undoubtedly see in the upcoming weeks, the Choo Choo has some big news. While they are keeping all of the function space as is, they have decided to turn Building 3 into apartments, which means that between Building 1 and the train cars there will only be about 130 room left as hotel space. "What does this mean for LibertyCon?", you ask... We do have some options, and are looking into things as we speak… or type… you know what we mean! The September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! Page 2 of 49 While we don’t have anything quite ready for prime time yet, the one thing that we ask is that if you have a hotel reservation, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CALL AND CANCEL OR CHANGE ANYTHING! Again, we can’t give you all of the specifics quite yet, but we need to keep those reservations as is for now. You will not lose anything, and it allows us to have better discussions with different venues when we show a sold out Choo Choo. Luckily, we have plenty of time to to ensure that LibertyCon XXX is still an amazingly kick- ass weekend, so don’t worry, and a LibertyCon membership is still a perfect Christmas present for those who haven’t gotten one yet!!!! WE ARE ALREADY IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING SURE THAT THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF ROOMS AVAILABLE FOR LIBERTYCON 30 AND THAT IT WILL BE EASY ACCESS TO GET TO THE CHOO CHOO. KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION BAT FANS FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH LIBERTYCON 30. UT <L>~<I>~<B>~<E>~<R>~<T>~<Y>~<C>~<O>~<N> CON*STELLATION T-SHIRT/POLO ORDER INFO IS UP From: “Mike Kennedy" [email protected] Date: August 30, 2016 at 10:22:40 PM CDT Order info for @Con_Stellation 34 T-Shirt/Polo added to main page; http://www.con-stellation.org/constell/wiki/index.php - art by David O. Miller Online payment is via PayPal, but you don’t have to have a PayPal account to use that service. RT: $45 rate for @Con_Stellation 34 extended to 17 Sept. Pay online (main page http://www.con- stellation.org/constell/wiki/index.php ) via PayPal (no acc’t req'd) or by mail. <L>~<I>~<B>~<E>~<R>~<T>~<Y>~<C>~<O>~<N> THE INAUGURAL DRAGON AWARDS HIGHLIGHT THE POPULIST SIDE OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY From: “Tim Bolgeo” [email protected] The awards appear to be an alternative to the Hugo Awards By Andrew Liptak, on September 4, 2016 08:27 pm http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/4/12794666/dragon-award-dragoncon-david-weber-terry-pratchett The September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! Page 3 of 49 This year’s inaugural Dragon Awards were handed out today at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. The winners show a remarkable contrast to the recipients of this year’s Hugo Award winners, one of the major awards in science fiction and fantasy literature. The Dragon Awards were instituted earlier this year in conjunction with the convention's 30th anniversary. The award is designed to be a "true reflection of the works that are genuinely most beloved by the core audience," the larger fan world, rather than the core literary circles that help choose the Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards. The Dragon Awards opened nominations and voting to the general public. NOMINATIONS FOR THE DRAGON AWARDS WERE OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC One of the nominated authors, Larry Correia, noted on his blog that "this award isn’t for a small clique to take turns telling each other how brilliant they are. This award is for all of fandom to celebrate what they think is great." The nominees certainly encompass a wide range of works, from critically acclaimed authors such as Ann Leckie and N.K. Jemisin to enormously popular ones such as Jim Butcher and Correia. The awards have been hailed by a pair of groups calling themselves the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies, some of whose members vocally identify themselves with the alt-right movement. These groups have sought to put a small, select slate of works on the Hugo Award shortlists in the last couple of years by taking advantage of the Hugo Award's voting process. This year, their groups of nominees were largely voted down in favor of non- slated works. The September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! Page 4 of 49 In contrast to this year's Hugo Awards, winners of the top categories were predominantly won by authors associated with the Puppies movements, such as Correia, John C. Wright, and Nick Cole. The Dragon Awards appears to have become an alternative for these movements to seek recognition. However, without having direct access to the breakdown of voters for each award, it's hard to tell exactly how these movements influenced this particular vote. The results do seem to show that they have had an influence on the eventual slate of winners. Here are the winners of the 2016 Dragon Awards (winners in CAPS & Italics): Best Science Fiction Novel * SOMEWHITHER: A TALE OF THE UNWITHERING REALM, JOHN C. WRIGHT (CASTALIA HOUSE) * The Life Engineered, J-F. Dubeau (Sword & Laser) * Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen) * Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit) * Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller (Far Future Enterprises) * Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit) Best Fantasy Novel * SON OF THE BLACK SWORD, LARRY CORREIA (BAEN) * Asteroid Made of Dragons, G. Derek Adams (Sword & Laser) * Blood Hound, James Osiris Baldwin (Gift Horse Productions) * The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher (Roc) * Changeling’s Island, Dave Freer (Baen) * The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit) * Grave Measures, R.R. Virdi (Self-published) Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel * THE SHEPHERD’S CROWN, TERRY PRATCHETT (HARPER) * Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo (Holt) * Changeling’s Island, Dave Freer (Baen) * Steeplejack, A.J. Hartley (Tor Teen) * Trix and the Faerie Queen, Alethea Kontis (Self-published) * Carry On, Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin’s Griffin) * Calamity, Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte) * Updraft, by Fran Wilde (Tor) Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel * HELL’S FOUNDATIONS QUIVER, DAVID WEBER (TOR) * Blood in the Water, Taylor Anderson (Roc) * Chains of Command, Marko Kloos (47North) * Wrath of an Angry God, Gibson Michaels (Arc Flash) * Allies and Enemies: Fallen, Amy J. Murphy (Self-published) * The End of All Things, John Scalzi (Tor) * The Price of Valor, Django Wexler (Roc) The September 7th, 2016 Edition of THE REVENGE HUMP DAY! Page 5 of 49 Best Alternate History Novel * LEAGUE OF DRAGONS, NAOMI NOVIK (DEL REY) * Germanica, Robert Conroy (Baen) * 1635: A Parcel of Rogues, Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis (Baen) * 1636: The Cardinal Virtues, Eric Flint & Walter H. Hunt (Baen) * Deadlands: Ghostwalkers, Jonathan Maberry (Tor) * Bombs Away: The Hot War, Harry Turtledove (Del Rey) Best Apocalyptic Novel * CTRL ALT REVOLT!, NICK COLE (CASTALIA HOUSE) * Chasing Freedom, Marina Fontaine (Self-published) * Dark Age, Felix O.