VECTOR 274 — WINTER 2013/14 VVectorector The critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association David Hebblethwaite on Alternate Worlds Joanne Hall Interviews Andy Bigwood Bibliography: Law in Science Fiction No. 274 Winter 2013/14 £4.00 page 1 VECTOR 274 — WINTER 2013/14 Vector 274 The critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association ARTICLES Torque Control Vector Editorial by Shana Worthen ......................... 3 http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com Letters to the Editor .................................... 4 Features, Editorial Shana Worthen Doctor by Doctor: Dr. Philip Boyce and Letters: 127 Forest Road, Loughton, and Dr. Mark Piper in Star Trek... Essex IG10 1EF, UK by Victor Grech ............................................ 6 [email protected] Book Reviews: Martin Lewis So Long, And Thanks for all the Visch [email protected] Douglas Adams and Doctor Snuggles Production: Alex Bardy by Jacob Edwards ....................................... 10 [email protected] Fishing for Time: Alternate Worlds in Nina Allan’s The Silver Wind and David British Science Fiction Association Ltd Vann’s Legend of a Suicide The BSFA was founded in 1958 and is a non-profitmaking organisation entirely staffed by unpaid volunteers. Registered in England. Limited by David Hebblethwaite ............................. 14 by guarantee. Bibliography: Law in Science Fiction BSFA Website www.bsfa.co.uk by Stephen Krueger .................................... 17 Company No. 921500 Registered address: 61 Ivycroft Road, Warton, Tamworth, Stark Adventuring: Leigh Brackett’s Staffordshire B79 0JJ Tales of Eric John Stark President Stephen Baxter by Mike Barrett ............................................ 20 Vice President Jon Courtenay Grimwood Joanne Hall interviews Andy Bigwood Chair Donna Scott by Joanne Hall .............................................. 24 [email protected] Treasurer Martin Potts 61 Ivy Croft Road, Warton, RECURRENT Nr. Tamworth B79 0JJ [email protected] Resonances: Stephen Baxter ................... 27 Foundation Favourites: Andy Sawyer ... 30 Membership Services Martin Potts (see above) Kincaid in Short: Paul Kincaid ................. 33 MEMBERSHIP FEES THE BSFA REVIEW UK £29 per annum (Unwaged: £20 pa) Life Membership £500 Inside The BSFA Review ........................ 36 Outside UK £40 Joint/Family Membership Add £2 to the above prices Editorial by Martin Lewis........................ 37 In this issue, Karen Burnham goes Across Cheques (Pounds Sterling only) should be made payable to ‘BSFA Ltd’ and sent to Martin Potts at the address above, or join via the BSFA the Event Horizons, Maureen Kincaid website at www.bsfa.co.uk Speller visits Savage City, and Gwyneth Jones provides some Ancillary Justice... FOCUS: THE BSFA MAGAZINE FOR WRITERS Design Editor: Alex Bardy [email protected] BSFA AWARDS Published by the BSFA Ltd © 2013 ….. ISSN 05050448 Administrator: Farah Mendlesohn [email protected] All opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors and not BSFA Ltd except where expressly stated. Copyright of ORBITER WRITING GROUPS individual articles remains with the author. Online: Terry Jackman [email protected] page 2 VECTOR 274 — WINTER 2013/14 Torque Control n its way, this is an issue about professions. Medical At long last, we've started our promised series of doctors. Screenwriters. Novelists. Lawyers. interviews with our cover artists. Joanne Hall inter- I Adventurers. Artists. How professions portray, and viewed Andy Bigwood, who offers lots of advice and are portrayed in, science fictional works. How to make yearns for gold leaf. His favourite artist is one of the sev- some sorts of living in a science fictional world. en Guests of Honour at the 2014 Worldcon, Loncon 3, which will be held at the ExCel Centre in London's Dock- It's also an issue which focuses predominantly on lands. I hope most of you will be able to attend it. works from the middle half of the twentieth century. Stephen Krueger's bibliography of law and sf goes back As announced at the AGM, this is the last issue of to 1929 (with the nineteenth-century providing a brief Vector I'm editing. I'm delighted that Glyn Morgan will bit of context). Stephen Baxter tells us about science fic- be taking over as features editor of Vector, beginning tional voyages to Proxima, beginning in the 30s. Leigh with the next issue, and am looking forward to where Brackett's Eric John Stark works were published in the he takes the BSFA's critical magazine. 40s and 50s. The original Star Trek pilot, addressed by Thank you to all the many people who have written Victor Grech, debuted in the 60s, as did Sign of the Lab- articles and columns for the magazine during my three rys, the subject of Andy Sawyer's Foundation Favourites years as features editor, to the BSFA committee for their column. Doctor Snuggles was aired in the 70s, the same support, and in particular to the rest of the current Vector decade in which “Songs of War”, discussed by Paul Kin- production team, Martin Lewis, editor of the BSFA Re- caid, was published. That was also the decade in which view, and Alex Bardy, whose work on layout is why this Andy Bigwood started his career as an artist. magazine looks as good as it does. It's been a pleasure (Specifically, 3:10 pm on a Saturday in 1977.) working with you. David Hebblethwaite, in his first article for Vector, Although it's my last issue, it's the first for which I've explores alternate worlds and unreliable narrators by received a letter of comment to print! Ian Massey has putting into conversation Nina Allan's The Silver Wind written a thought-provoking letter which has generated with David Vann's Legend of a Suicide. Meanwhile, Jacob quite a bit of discussion amongst BSFA committee mem- Edwards takes on some of Douglas Adams' less well- bers, as we think through just who all our audiences are known work, the collaboratively-written screenplays for and the degree to which we are catering to them. Terry two episodes of an animated series for children, Doctor Jackman and Tom Hunter have more to say in reply. Snuggles. Although he ultimately concludes that there is nothing uniquely Adams-esque about the episodes, he Finally, there's the BSFA Review, full of good books explores a number of topics of whimsy and theme com- to consider adding to your to-read pile, and, for those mon to both Adams and the series overall, including the you've already read, analyses to reflect on further. character of Woogie, the tea-drinking camel. As always, your letters of comment are encouraged. Victor Grech's study of the portrayal of medical doc- We're always glad to hear from our readers, whether tors in early Star Trek has had me thinking about doctors you'd like to comment on an article, or volunteer to write as humans. A quick straw poll confirmed that most of for us. You can reach Vector at [email protected]. them in popular sf television shows were human. Is it a But it'll now be up to Glyn to respond. case of “Physician, (know how to) heal thyself”? Or a re- luctance to see alien creatures as having a good bedside manner for humans? Futurama is one exception, Star Shana Worthen Trek: Voyager's computer-powered hologram another. Features Editor Stephen Krueger's bibliography of law and sf stories is the start of a conversation; it's a collection of novels and stories which turn on a point of law, and are all technology fiction. (My term, not his.) Meanwhile Eric Cover art by Andy Bigwood John Stark, Leigh Brackett's recurrent character, is more from The Sixty: Arts of Andy Bigwood prone to taking the law into his own hands in order to published by Immanion Press defend the oppressed and free the subjugated of our solar system, and (in later novels) other galaxies. Mike Barrett argues for seeking out Brackett's work; not only has it aged well, but it's exciting stuff. page 3 VECTOR 274 — WINTER 2013/14 Letters to the Editor “What precisely are the BSFA’s intended audiences, and how well does it cater to each of them?” This is the question posed by Ian Massey, and one which the BSFA committee has spent time pondering in recent weeks. In the coming months, we'd like to hear from you, the members of the BSFA, as to what your answers are to the question of the BSFA's audiences. In the meanwhile, here is the letter which started the ball rolling, and a few initial thoughts on the subject from current committee members. — Shana Worthen Dear Vector, was time-specific and could be found easily and earlier elsewhere, I have to admit that I Recently, I have begun to question whether hadn't realised that its on-line incarnation I am the correct audience for the BSFA. In had also failed. terms of magazines, I tend to read them from cover to cover, even if the articles One of the responses to my original post, aren't within my scope of interest. For ex- made on the BSFA's Facebook page suggest- ample, if I read SFX, I will read articles on ed that I might get more out of the BSFA if I Horror films, despite never watching that participated more and suggested that I vis- genre. However, while recently reading Vec- ited the forums. I have just had a look tor 264 (I told you I was behind...) I found (although, as I replied, I tend to try to use that I couldn't finish Lara Buckerton's arti- FB as a one-stop-shop for discussions and cle on warfare. I did read the whole of Felix information about my other interests, Danczak's essay on TS Eliott and Iain M mainly because if I start getting involved in Banks, but it meant little to me.