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3193 lines
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Copyright 1994, Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine
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| C Y B E R S P A C E |
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| V A N G U A R D |
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| News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Universe |
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| cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu Cyberspace Vanguard@1:157/564 |
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| PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH 44125 USA |
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| TJ Goldstein, Editor Sarah Alexander, Administrator |
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| tlg4@po.cwru.edu aa746@po.cwru.edu |
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Volume 2 March 31, 1994 Issue 2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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--!1!-- Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (and a few deranged readers ...)
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--!2!-- Travelling the Cyber-Highway with William Gibson
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--!3!-- Stephanie Beacham: Dr. Westphalen's Cure For SEAQUEST'S Ills
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--!4!-- Getting Blown Up for Fun and Profit: The Indiana Jones Epic
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Stunt Spectacular
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--!5!-- Mind Uploading: Downloading Your Brain to a Machine
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--!6!-- The Business Side of Conventions: Building a Better Hotel
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Relationship
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--!7!-- Reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper/Mini-Reviews
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--!8!-- The Infamous Reply Cards and What You Said
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--!9!-- SF Calendar: What's Coming Up in the Near Future
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--!10!-- Shoelaces of Truth: The News, The Whole News, and Nothing but the
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News
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--!11!-- Spoilers Ahoy! (And season 3 of the TWILIGHT ZONE Episode Guide)
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--!12!-- Contests and Awards
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--!13!-- Conventions and Readings
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--!14!-- Publications, Lists and the like
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--!15!-- Administrivia
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REPOSTING information: CYBERSPACE VANGUARD may be reposted IN ITS ENTIRETY
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anywhere and everywhere without further permission, but we would appreciate
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knowing where it's going so we can keep track. We would also like you to
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post the reply card along with the issue. All rights revert to the
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authors upon publication, however, so we insist on being contacted for
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permission to repost individual articles. News items may be reposted
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without further permission, but must include our contact information.
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CYBERSPACE VANGUARD: News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy
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Universe is registered with the United States Copyright Office.
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--!1!-- Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (and a few deranged readers ...)
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There's been some sort of merging of realities lately, but except for
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a small part of the back of my mind, I haven't really noticed. Oh,
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intellectually I knew that the net was becoming more and more prevalent in
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The Real World, but still I took refuge in my little corner of
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cyber-reality, secure in the knowledge that while they would find us
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someday, that someday wasn't here yet.
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It's here.
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It started with a trickle, a not even noticed increase in subscription
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requests. A couple every few days. Then, all of a sudden, there was an
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explosion, a constant stream sometimes as high as 10 in one day. And
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that's without having a new issue out. Now, I like this little project,
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but I was beginning to suspect that there was something going on I didn't
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know about, especially as the number of subscribers edged over 1000. I was
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right.
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First I got a request mentioning that the person had seen us listed in
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ONLINE ACCESS. I was surprised to find out that this was an actual paper
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magazine and not an electronic listing, which I was used to. Then I was
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told we were listed in NETGUIDE and was shocked to find, in my local
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bookstore, that this was a real live BOOK that had us listed. (True, we
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were under "Cyberpunk" and not "Science Fiction," but hey, I was too
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surprised to complain.) By the time I got several messages mentioning our
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listing in THE INTERNET DIRECTORY (which I also didn't know about) I was
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merely pleasantly surprised.
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So perhaps it's only fitting that this issue, as we marvel at the
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merging of physical space with cyberspace, we hear from the man who
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invented the term, WILLIAM GIBSON, who's Sprawl novels have become, in some
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sense, a standard for everything else to follow. Gibson is probably one of
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the few people in history to be the acknowledged father of a movement that
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isn't believed to exist by the people supposedly in it.
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We're also going to hear from STEPHANIE BEACHAM, who plays Dr.
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Westphalen on SEAQUEST. For years people have been talking about the lack
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of strong women role models in science fiction, and she's got some thoughts
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on the matter.
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And speaking of the real world, I've been thinking about a con that
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goes on near here. This year events will include panels and workshops, art
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show and auction, masquerade and dance, 90 table dealer's room, filking,
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and gaming. Most cons have that. But this one will also be host to free
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laser shoot 'em up games courtesy of Q-ZAR, computer gaming, a psychic
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fair, virtual reality demo, SETI tour, two 24-hour video rooms,
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Japanimation, "Channel 12", the in-house 24-hour "B" Movie channel and
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babysitting. So how did they manage to convince a hotel to let them do all
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that? Steve Schwartz, chairman of Marcon 29 and its hotel liason for many
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years, took some time to explain how to develop a good relationship between
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your convention and the hotel you hold it in. (Marcon, BTW, is being held
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May 13-15 this year. For more details, see the convention listings
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section.)
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We've also got the beginnings of some new sections, with the second of
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our (hopefully) regular science pieces -- this one on "mind uploading", or
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transferring your mind, intact, to a computer -- and the addition of "mini-
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reviews" to allow us to give you more reviews. (As with the rest of the
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magazine, both of these sections are open to anyone. If you're interested
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in doing mini-reviews or any other type of article, let us know!)
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So, having said that, let's get to some reader comments:
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"Keep up the same good work. No criticism of the present contents tho'
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of course a lot of the spoilers are irrelevant for me (and other non-US
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subscribers) cause we don't get the shows here - or are several seasons
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behind but this is not something you can do anything about as besides I
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imagine most of your subscribers are from the us. I am quite impressed
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by the WIDE range of topics that are covered in the issues from ghosts
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to biosphere and more. This catholic taste is, I think, a strength of
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the zine. Perhaps one thing that could be added is the occasional
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prose/poem. I'm sure there's plenty of budding writers out there - one
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only has to look at the *.creative groups to see that! While the idea
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of the zine does seem to be "news and views and humour" I would think a
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bit of "more serious" fiction would enhance things. I have seen such
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format elsewhere & it does come across quite good. And before you
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suggest it ..."Damnit I'm a chemist, not an author!" :) Alas to my
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regret I can't help out there. :)"
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---- David Powell
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[From the editor: Interesting perspective on the spoilers. I know that
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many of the serious fans here especially enjoy getting despriptions of
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shows that haven't aired here yet because it gives us a feeling of being
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clued in depite our not having seen the actual show.
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As for fiction ... (sighs heavily from lack of sleep) ... it's a topic
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that's been brought up before. There are just two problems: First, this
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thing is so large already that it would either have to be VERY short
|
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fiction or it would have to wait until the time that we are up to speed
|
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with enough help to go monthly again. The second problem is that ye olde
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editor barely has enough time to put this thing together in the first
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place. Help in screening submissions would definitely be required before
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it could even be considered. HOWEVER: If there's enough interest in the
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idea, I promise to attempt to find the help and make it work. This
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magazine belongs to the readers, too. So if you'd like to see perhaps a
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story per issue, let us know. Also let us know if you don't have any
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interest in the idea. (We've also been tossing around the suggestion of a
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fiction contest, but again, only if people really want it.) ---- TJ]
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--------
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WORLD WATCH:
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Since we have nudged over 1000 in direct subscribers, we thought we'd
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update the list of countries that are receiving CV. We know we've got
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readers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, Ireland,
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Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Greece, Poland,
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Germany, Russia, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Malta,
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Austrailia, New Zealand, Argentina, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
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and Slovenia just via Internet. If you're reading this from another
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country, please let us know, either by electronic or regular mail. We know
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there are more out there.
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--------
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On a personal note: I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Debra and
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Matt Hisle on the birth of their son Timothy Lincoln on March 11, 1994.
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Debra has been with us since the very beginning, and we are thrilled to
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share her joy with all of you.
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---- Tj Goldstein, Editor
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--!2!-- Travelling the Cyber-Highway with William Gibson
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by Marisa Golini
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William Gibson was the science fiction success story of the early
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'80s, first with his stylish short fiction (much of it published in OMNI)
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and then with his first novel NEUROMANCER, which won both the Hugo and
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Nebula awards for best novel of 1983. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace"
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-- referring to the world within computer communication -- and foresaw
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Virtual Reality and Information Networks years before they became the hot
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technologies of today. His vision of the future is a Bladerunner-esque
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hard-edged world where information is the most valuable currency. However,
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he'll tell you he doesn't write about the future, he writes about the
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present with the "volume turned up." Along with Rudy Rucker, Bruce
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Sterling, Lewis Shiner, and Pat Cadigan, Gibson was dubbed the leader of
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the "Cyberpunks", a label that stuck despite the fact that almost everyone
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it was applied to promptly rejected it. Gibson looked on much of this
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brouhaha with amusement. He followed up NEUROMANCER with COUNT ZERO, a
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novel set in the same future but not a direct sequel, and with BURNING
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CHROME, a collection of short stories that put him in the spotlight. MONA
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LISA OVERDRIVE completed the loosely-connected three-book series often
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referred to as the "Cyberspace trilogy" or the "Sprawl novels." Gibson
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also recently rattled the snooty art-lit world with AGRIPPA (A BOOK OF THE
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DEAD), an expensive limited-edition book on computer-disc, booby-trapped to
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disintegrate when read.
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Gibson was born in Wytheville, Virgina. He now lives in Vancouver with
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his wife Deborah and kids Claire, 10, and Graeme, 15. His latest book is
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VIRTUAL LIGHT.
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********
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It's just a typical day in the newsroom of a Rock radio station in
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Canada's capital. I've just finished doing my morning news run, and my
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colleague is going through some advance copy hardcovers we periodically
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receive for possible interviews. Knowing I enjoy S.F., he says, "Got a new
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Science Fiction book in. Interested in interviewing the author?."
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"Maybe," I says. "Who is it?"
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"Some guy named Bill Gibson. Is he important?"
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I look up a little dumbfounded. My collegue is not into S.F. at all
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so maybe I heard wrong. "William Gibson?, " I ask.
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"Yeah, that's right," he says.
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I shrieked.
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Taking that as an affirmative to his original question, he phoned up
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the lit. agent and we booked the interview.
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A few weeks later, Gibson ambled into the station ... about 45 minutes
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late due his terribly crunched interview schedule, but I figured I had him
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now and everyone else could wait ... so we settled in for a little chat. I
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really didn't know what to expect from Gibson. In truth, I was afraid I'd
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be faced with some intellectual elitist. How wrong I was. I found Gibson
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witty, charming, laid-back, easy to talk with, and full of interesting
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anecdotes -- all recounted with that delightful Virginian drawl. Of
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course, he probably thought I was not your average interviewer -- what with
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my black garb, Docs, Bajoran earring and clutching a hard copy of AGRIPPA.
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All in all, it made for a rather atypical, but certainly enjoyable
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interview....
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***********
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MG: So what's up with this Cyberpunk revival?
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WG: Revival?
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MG: O.K. Re-emergence. Haven't you noticed? It's been around for at
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least 10 years, at least since NEUROMANCER ... but as of late, TIME
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magazine does a cover story, local newspapers publish articles. All of a
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sudden, it's something completely new ...
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WG: That's a good point. I think 10 years ago it was a literary term you
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used in pop culture analysis. So initially you could say "these six guys
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are writing cyberpunk science fiction" ... and then it sorta became "see
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that video, that's very cyberpunk" and then it got to the point you'd hear,
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"man, those trousers ... those are way cyberpunk" ....So it became one of
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the colourations of 80's pop culture. But I think the reason it's coming
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out now is becuz the meaning has changed. So now if you did a dictionary
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definition of cyberpunk, definition #1 would be something like "bohemia
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with computers" or "the underground with computers". It's the first time
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the underground has *had* computers. I mean the 60's would've been really
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different if all us hippies had had desktop publishing!
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MG: Techno rebels!
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WB: Yeah. I think we may be headed for something like that, but it's
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gonna happen in the early 21st century. People will probably look back
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from the mid-21st century at what we call cyberpunk, and see it sorta like
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the precursor phenomenon to whatever it is they're going through.
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MG: So you don't think [cyberpunk's re-emergence] has anything to do with
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just more people using computers and therefore finding out about that
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"scene"?
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WG: Well, there's that too. But I don't think we're gonna see anything
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too drastic happen culturally around computers until the user-interface
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evolves to the point where it's easy to use. I mean, the reason it's kinda
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sexy and far-out when you say "hey, I do a lot of e-mail" or "hey, I hang
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out on the Internet" -- the reason that has a kinda elite buzz to it is
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that the learning curve is still too steep.
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MG: Since this is a rock station, I have to ask you ... What do you think
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of these groups and artists such as U2, Donny Fagen and Billy Idol who say
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that *you* have inspired their latest works? Becuz, I know as far as U2
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goes ... their Zoo TV tour was like something out of the dark and squishy
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parts of your brain!
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WG: Yeah! I was really happy with that! I met them (U2) during both
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their stops in Vancouver. How I came to their attention was the men who
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designed the "Steel Wheels" set for the Rolling Stones were working totally
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from my early fiction, and sold the "Steel Wheels" design to the Stones by
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giving the Stones my books and saying "read this, this is what we're gonna
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do." I didn't know that at the time or I would've gone to see the show.
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Anyhow, the same company did "Zoo TV" and this time told me about it.
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Actually, one of the plans -- it didn't work out 'cuz I couldn't convince
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my literary agents to let them go ahead and do it -- but Bono suggested
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they should run the one of my novels on one of those electric light-bulb
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ticker tape screens...just run the text through during the course of the
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concert.
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MG: That would've been great!
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WG: Yeah ... anyway I've hung out with them and there has been some
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exchange of ideas. We've been trying to figure out some way we can work
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together on something.
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With Donald Fagen ... after having so heavily larded my first novel
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with Steely Dan references, I was really delighted to find that he actually
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read them, and thought it was cool! Early Steely Dan tunes have always
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been huge favorites of mine.
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Now, we come down to Billy Idol ...
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MG: Oh-oh ... and he's getting flamed on the .net ...
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WG: Oh god I just don't know! I mean before I heard the album, I was
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dodging the issue by saying "hey, don't worry about that ... the thing you
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really want to worry about is Pat Benetar's album is called `Gravity's
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Rainbow.'" That's much, much stranger. Why does Pat Benetar's new album
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have the title of Thomas Pynchon's great underground classic? That's
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really weird. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW is arguably a much more famous and
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important book than "Neuromancer" ... at least Billy Idol didn't call his
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album "Neuromancer". I mean, what's next? Are we gonna have "Ulysses" by
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Bel Biv Devoe? (in psuedo-rap) `Yo Joyce! Man, the things he does with
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language, it tore us up!' (big laughs) I don't know, it's a strange trend.
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Anyway, now I've heard the album ... and I just don't get what he's on
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about. I don't see the connection. A London journalist told me when Billy
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did his "Cyberpunk" press junket over there, he made it a condition of
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getting an interview with him, that every journalist had to have read
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"Neuromancer" ... Anyway, they all did but when they met with Billy, the
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first thing that became really apparent was that Billy *hadn't* read it.
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So they called him on it, and he said he didn't need to ... he just
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absorbed it through a kinda osmosis. I don't know. I had lunch with Billy
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years ago in Hollywood and we were talking about the possiblilty of his
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acting in a film that someone was trying to make based on some piece of
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fiction of mine, and I thought he was a very likeable guy. He had a sense
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of humour about what he was doing that is not apparent in the product he
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puts out. If I run into him again, we can have a good laugh about what
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he's doing now!
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If you wanna hear a group that, to my mind, really does embody what
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I'm doing ... there's a West German band called Plan B. They sound like
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early Elvis Costello turned into rap music ... I've got them in heavy
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rotation!
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MG: Let's talk VIRTUAL LIGHT ... it's a different vision than your earlier
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novels ... some people have said it's less bleak, more fun, and more
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accessible. Would you agree?
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WG: Wellll, I think it's less bleak if you read it in a certain way. It's
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a comic novel. The intention is comic. But comic doesn't rule out bleak.
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In the sense that Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" was a pretty funny movie -- but
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*very* bleak. I think the take on that is how you interpret the term "happ
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ending." So if you think, O.K., he gets the girl, the bad guys get the
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shaft -BUT- what have they bought into to get this to happen? You can read
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it both ways.
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MG: Yeah I guess so. I also think it's really cool that one of your
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protagonists is a bicycle messenger, and I like the whole idea of
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information -- even in the hi-tech age -- still having to be carried around
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by hand for security reasons.
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WG: Well, you can't fax a plane ticket!
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MG: It seems like it would keep you grounded ... that you still have to
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rely on the "pony express" so to speak.
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WG: Yeah. Like the creepy guy from the Medellin cartel who gets his
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throat cut ... he's another kind of bicycle messenger. He's flying around
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in a Concorde and staying in luxury hotels, but his job is to physically
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carry this piece of information. Chevette's there because bicycle
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messengers, particularly in San Fransisco, are a really hot sub-culture.
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They've become a source for a lot of creative people. Lotta people, like
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designers, are watching what bicycle messengers are wearing. And they have
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their own bands ... here's places where messengers hang [out], and there's
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messenger fanzines! I got everything I know about being a bike messenger
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from "Mercury Rising" which is a fanzine put out by the San Francisco Bike
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Messengers Association. There's this terrific coffeehouse near the Haight
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called The Horseshoe where messengers hang and young people with lots of
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tattoos and multiple piercing go there too ... and it's the only coffee
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house I've ever seen where they've got laptop computers super-glued to
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the tables. Each computer has it's own e-mail address so you can go in,
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log on and do your stuff. So these kids come in off the streets with bones
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through their noses, their bodies covered in heavy Samoan blackwork, and
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looking like extras out of the back streets of Bladerunner, and they sit
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down and they do their e-mail! The underground in San Francisco has
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mutated into a really astonishing thing. And people haven't taken San
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Francisco seriously as a source for alternative culture for a long time,
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but I think they're gonna come back with a vengeance ... Just don't wear
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any flowers in your hair!
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MG: Obviously setting the novel so near in the future didn't restrict you
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in any way ... the problem being with predicting things 10 years from now,
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some of the beginnings of those changes have to be happening right now.
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WG: Actually one of the things that actually delayed the completion of the
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novel was that I had to wait for the Soviet Union to formally collapse. I
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didn't quite realize at the time what I was waiting for ... But really, the
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world of VIRTUAL LIGHT is just "now" with the volume cranked up. It
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doesn't really say in the book that it's 2005...I think you can work out
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exactly when it is cuz you figure out when Rydell was born, etc. But in
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the proposal that I sent to the publisher's, I mentioned 2005, and they put
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it in the flap copy which I wasn't entirely happy with, but I've sorta
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gotten into it now becuz people come in and say "hey that can't possibly
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happen now ... things can't change that much in 10 years", and I say "yeah,
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that's what they said in Yugoslavia."
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(laughs)
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No really, a lot can happen in 10 years ... particularly as you near
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the end of the century and the millenium. We're gonna see a lot of pretty
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wacky religious stuff come down, unfortunately. I mean, we've already seen
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it. That stuff in Waco weirded me out a little more than it did most
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people because I'd already written in that Sublett, the Texan from the
|
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video cult, was from Waco.
|
|
The other thing I got really lucky with was Tommy Lee Jones. [In the
|
|
novel, Sublett tells Rydell that he reminds him of Tommy Lee Jones]
|
|
|
|
MG: That's right. He's really hot right now!
|
|
|
|
WG: Yeah, cuz when I put that in, I did it just cuz I *love* Tommy Lee
|
|
Jones, but there weren't that many people who knew who he was.
|
|
|
|
MG: Now [becuz of THE FUGITIVE] everybody knows who he is! How the hell
|
|
do you do that?! (laughs)
|
|
|
|
WG: Oh I dunno ... just prescient I guess.(laughs)
|
|
|
|
MG: But, a lot of the things you write about, at least to me, seem
|
|
perfectly plausible ... sometimes you really creep me out when I read this
|
|
stuff!
|
|
|
|
WG: Well, you know it's funny, sometimes when I go to do interviews with
|
|
the press, an older interviewer will be both horrified and depressed by the
|
|
book. One woman in Toronto said to me after the interview, "But is there
|
|
nothing you can tell me to give me hope?" (laughs) That's one response ...
|
|
but then I saw some people being interviewed while standing in line for my
|
|
book signing in Montreal and one guy said, "I can't wait to live in the
|
|
world he's describing! I wanna live in a Willam Gibson novel!" But he was
|
|
maybe 20, so there's very different responses.
|
|
|
|
MG: Would *you* like to live in a William Gibson novel?
|
|
|
|
WG: Well, not particularly ... but I'd like to go there for a vacation!
|
|
[At this point, the lit. agent was waving a watch at me thru the glass. I
|
|
smiled and squeezed in a few more bits and pieces]
|
|
|
|
MG: I guess we're running out of time, and there's so much more I wanted
|
|
to ask you including WILD PALMS ... and JOHNNY MNEMONIC -- is that still a
|
|
go? Tell me that's still a go ...
|
|
|
|
WG: Well, it's not *not* a go. That's about as good as it gets. I've
|
|
seen some beautiful amazing sketches for the set designs. If it happens,
|
|
the production will be based in Toronto -- probably shoot the interiors
|
|
there -- and the exteriors may be shot in some kind of industrial ruin in
|
|
Hamilton. They'll dress up this old steel mill to look like a sort of
|
|
anarchist community hung under a bridge made of dozens of gutted Greyhound
|
|
buses.
|
|
|
|
MG: So they could start filming within the year?
|
|
|
|
WG: Yeah, if they're gonna pull it off at all, they'll have to start
|
|
shooting in late November. It's got a chance to go, but my experiences in
|
|
Hollywood have been so depressing with things falling apart that I don't
|
|
like to say it's happening.
|
|
|
|
MG: I understand, and I just want to mention that I read your ALIENS 3
|
|
script and I loved it. It was so much better than the dreg we ended up
|
|
with.
|
|
|
|
WG: Thank you. [My version] would've cost about 170-million dollars to
|
|
film, so that was part of the problem ... a few thousand full-sized aliens
|
|
on screen is asking for a bit much I guess!
|
|
|
|
[At this point I handed him my copy of VIRTUAL LIGHT *and* a hard copy of
|
|
AGRIPPA to sign...we had a good laugh over that.]
|
|
|
|
WG: Hey, where did you find it [AGRIPPA]?
|
|
|
|
MG: It's still on the Internet...just ask and you shall receive!
|
|
|
|
WG: Really? What I've sorta come to realize after the fact, is *that*
|
|
was the whole point. Like, how else could you guarantee that a 2000-word
|
|
poem would remain on the Internet forever? I *built* my daddy a monument
|
|
in cyberspace! I think that's cool!
|
|
|
|
MG: It's very cool.
|
|
|
|
WG: I recently got an edited 70-page version of what happened [what was
|
|
posted] on the Internet after Agrippa came out. It was very weird ... all
|
|
these messages started appearing from "W. Gibson"-- but they weren't from
|
|
me -- they were kinda manifesting with no return address. And everyone was
|
|
saying I was mad -- but I *wasn't*! Now I kinda know what it feels like to
|
|
*be* a UFO! (laughs)
|
|
|
|
MG: Well, thanks a lot for chatting with me today. I really enjoyed this.
|
|
|
|
WG: I enjoyed it too. Thanks very much.
|
|
********
|
|
William Gibson was interviewed at 54 Rock Radio in Ottawa, Ontario Canada
|
|
on Sept. 16, 1993.
|
|
|
|
[Editor's note: JOHNNY MNEMONIC is currently filming. See Movie News for
|
|
more details.]
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!3!-- Stephanie Beacham: Dr. Westphalen's Cure For SEAQUEST'S Ills
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
by Tasha Jesse Michaels
|
|
|
|
Stephanie Beacham went a long way around before landing in her current
|
|
role as Dr. Kristin Westphalen on SEAQUEST. Born and raised in
|
|
Hertfordshire, England, she has run the gamut from the Royal Shakespeare
|
|
Company and the National Theatre (with Sir Ian McKellen) to theater in Los
|
|
Angeles opposite Charlton Heston to films with Marlon Brando and Michael
|
|
Crawford to American television. Once she got there she played Sable Colby
|
|
on DYNASTY and THE COLBYS, then moved on the SISTER KATE, through various
|
|
othe projects, and finally as Luke Perry's absentee mother on BEVERLY HILLS
|
|
90210 before ending up playing the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Science
|
|
Officer of the largest submarine in the world.
|
|
So why does she have such a hard time accepting a woman calling her up
|
|
to interview her for a science fiction magazine? Oh, it's not that she
|
|
wasn't nice about it -- far from it. She's the epitome of grace, and quite
|
|
possibly one of the nicest, most "real" people in Hollywood. She just had
|
|
one question for me as I explained the concept of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD to
|
|
her: "Now don't you think that's more boys' toys?"
|
|
Boy's toys?
|
|
"You know," she continues as I try to explain, "I dragged Ted -- you
|
|
know, Ted Raimi [who plays Lt. J.G. Tim O'Neill on the show] -- I dragged
|
|
Ted today, in the lunch hour, to my game, which is dolls' houses. I
|
|
completely blew his brains out. He couldn't believe why people would do
|
|
these things. That's what I think of as 'girls.' I don't think of 'girls'
|
|
as science fiction people. I always meet men who are interested in science
|
|
fiction, not women."
|
|
But why would that be? For a moment she becomes introspective, soft.
|
|
"I am not absolutely certain unless it goes along with an extended version
|
|
of the knight in shining armor and the brave warrior and those
|
|
stereotypes."
|
|
Of course, most people in fandom know that there are plenty of women
|
|
involved. In fact, for some fandoms, such as QUANTUM LEAP, BEAUTY AND THE
|
|
BEAST and HIGHLANDER, they seem to outnumber the men. "Yes. But that's
|
|
because it's got more of the female archetypal stuff in it, which has to do
|
|
with the fair maiden. I mean HIGHLANDER is 'hero' in the sense of WATCHING
|
|
the knight in shining armor. So it doesn't surprise me."
|
|
She pauses for a moment before making her point. "You give a little
|
|
girl a stick and a piece of cloth and it will become a baby wrappped up.
|
|
You give a little boy a stick and a piece of cloth and it becomes a gun,
|
|
and a flag ... Do you see what I mean? We forget all our conditioning, our
|
|
basic, basic instincts. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST doesn't surprise me at all.
|
|
I don't think of that as science ficton, I think of that as fairy tale."
|
|
She is definitely more drawn toward the fairy tale-type things.
|
|
"Hardware just bores the life out of me. People interest me totally.
|
|
Hardware, software, whatever sort of ware it is, I find it completely ...
|
|
cold. Without interest."
|
|
Strange words from an actor in such a technological role. "I don't
|
|
know if you've noticed it, but the science side I'm fascinated by because
|
|
it's just so interesting to have a part that opens a whole new door to you.
|
|
I mean, I've had to learn on my toes. Qualified women interest me too.
|
|
But actually, she's got quite a lot of humanity about her.
|
|
Enough that she seems almost like a mother for the rest of the crew?
|
|
"She is. She's the ship's doctor, and I've often wished for more
|
|
confidences from the cew. Can you imagine if you're really stuck in this
|
|
situation, away from home and family, how many times you would think you
|
|
have a tummy ache and you really did have a tummy ache but what you really
|
|
had was a sort of missing ... I think that a lot of the humanity has been
|
|
missing from the show, and I think we're finding it rather late in the
|
|
season. I hope we will be given the opportunity to explore the people in a
|
|
greater depth. I do hope we go to a second season and can do that."
|
|
SEAQUEST was originally considered a guaranteed hit, but initial
|
|
ratings began to drop off as many fans because disenchanted with it.
|
|
Rumors circulated that Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, busy with his
|
|
triumphant SCHINDLER'S LIST, returned to find himself among the
|
|
disappointed. Staff changes were made, but the reports of mass firings
|
|
were untrue. "Oh, there've been SO many changes but we still don't have a
|
|
single girl on board, a single woman on board. I'm not talking about on
|
|
board the ship. We don't have a single writer-producer who's a woman, and
|
|
I really say that not even vaguely from a feminist standpoint, just from a
|
|
female perspective standpoint, which I think also then reflects viewers. I
|
|
mean, that LOIS AND CLARK business, apart from the fact that it's got Tracy
|
|
Scoggins on it who's my best friend, is just plain silly as far as I'm
|
|
concerned. BUT, it's got romance, and the female audience, and we do push
|
|
the button, likes a bit of romance."
|
|
Ah, romance. The topic that got the single largest number of reader
|
|
questions. Ms Beacham had the same question: "Well I'd like to know what
|
|
Westphalen and Bridger are up to. I wish they'd get on with it a bit."
|
|
So do many viewers, so are they going to? "Well, we're beginning.
|
|
But I think it's too little and too late, really as far as this season is
|
|
concerned, although last week's episode [with William Shatner] had a good
|
|
step forward. You know, sometimes when you work alongside someone you
|
|
hardly notice them then you suddenly realize that somebody else fancies
|
|
them and you look and you say 'Oh, my goodness me. They are a bit, aren't
|
|
they?' And that's what happens to Roy [Scheider]'s character last week
|
|
when somebody else wasy paying heavy interest to me. He suddenly thought
|
|
'Oh I feel a bit possessive about this one.' And I thought THAT'S the way
|
|
to go. So I think it's sometimes DOES work like that.
|
|
"The very last episode of this season will have a bit of that in it.
|
|
But I think we should have got on with it earlier."
|
|
But does that have anything to do with the lack of female writers, the
|
|
difference between "boys' toys" and "girls' toys"? "Yes I think it does,
|
|
because I think our priorities are different. Women like relationships."
|
|
But if they succeeded in putting relationships into the show, wouldn't
|
|
that put off part of the audience? "Without a doubt. You would be okay in
|
|
that the environment is the biggest sub in the world. But why should I
|
|
care if the whole lot die or not? I'm only going to care if the whole lot
|
|
die or not if I care who's in it. If you don't concentrate on your cast,
|
|
if you don't concentrate on relationships between the cast ... I hate to do
|
|
the old STAR TREK comparison, but you've always known who they are. You
|
|
know it? So you can care." But the show has an exceptionally large cast,
|
|
and "that could be considered a problem."
|
|
Among that large cast, the character of Dr. Westphalen is being held
|
|
up as an example of a strong, competant woman -- a rarity in science
|
|
fiction. "Yes, and I'm delighted. It's the one reasons I wanted the part.
|
|
I really thought OK, so I've been one of THE most stunning examples of the
|
|
selfish eighties, with Sable on THE COLBYS and DYNASTY. And I'm
|
|
particularly delighted to have worn so much coordinated jewelry. Fabulous.
|
|
But who do I want my daughters to be? I don't want my daughters to be a
|
|
woman who depends on a man. A woman who works alongside a man, of course!
|
|
A woman who appreciates all human beings, and I want them to be
|
|
independant, certainly."
|
|
But there are three sides to every story. What do her daughters, too
|
|
young to thing about that sort of thing, think of Wesphalen? "They're so
|
|
pleased that I'm not a b*tch. I think they see this as being nearer to
|
|
mommy." On the other hand ... "I think they think I've thrown the baby
|
|
out with the bathwater as far as looks are concerned, that I don't need to
|
|
look quite as dull as I do, but they're delighted that I'm playing someone
|
|
who cares about humanity because they feel that's much closer to who I am.
|
|
Although I have to say that Westphalen is much cleverer than I am. She can
|
|
throw out chemical analyses of things that I couldn't begin to. I'm not
|
|
saying that I was a bright science student at school. I wasn't."
|
|
Of course, she probably couldn't act as well. The thought amuses her.
|
|
"Yes, this is probably true. But it's hard to act technical stuff. You
|
|
get away with it, but you don't act it. You can only REact to emotional
|
|
situations or caring situations where there's some feeling involved. This
|
|
is why I do think that humanity is what the show was GOING to be about, but
|
|
somehow has missed the boat on. I DO hope that we have time and audience
|
|
to literally warm things up."
|
|
|
|
Much thanks to KGARRISO@UA1VM.UA.EDU, and karmann@cwis.unomaha.edu for
|
|
submitting questions, and a couple of specific answers:
|
|
1) to David.A.Markham@Dartmouth.EDU: She seems to be at least a
|
|
casual science fiction fan, being familiar with various shows and having
|
|
some definite feelings about DR. WHO.
|
|
2) to cs_e266@kingston.ac.uk: She enjoyed her stint on ST:TNG (Ship
|
|
in a Bottle) immensely. "It was just SO much fun."
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!4!-- Getting Blown Up for Fun and Profit: The Indiana Jones Epic
|
|
Stunt Spectacular
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
His name is Indiana Jones. He travels the world, looking for
|
|
adventure, for treasure, for archaeological clues to history. What he
|
|
generally finds, however, is trouble. Being shot at, getting into fist
|
|
fights, even coming close to being blown up, are business as usual for him.
|
|
But still, he gets to do it in exotic locales and pretty much always
|
|
makes it out in one piece, pushing the action from crisis into adventure.
|
|
And everyone wants adventure, right?
|
|
Down in Florida there's a place where you can get close to the
|
|
adventure, feeling the heat of the explosions and hearing the bullets whiz
|
|
overhead, and if you're really lucky you can even fake the punches.
|
|
That's right, FAKE the punches. The place is the Indiana Jones Epic
|
|
Stunt Spectacular, part of Disney/MGM studios in Walt Disney World, and
|
|
"extras" are chosen from the audience to participate in some of the simpler
|
|
stunts.
|
|
Two people who perform the dangerous stunts, such as running from a
|
|
400 pound boulder or an exploding fuel truck, are Todd Warren, who plays
|
|
the Indiana Jones role, and Michelle Waitman, who plays the Marion
|
|
Ravenwood role.
|
|
Todd has been performing the role of "Harrison Ford's stunt double"
|
|
for about a year and a half. He's an athlete, and went through college on
|
|
a full ride athletic scholarship. Michelle's role involves a bit more in
|
|
the way of tumbling, which suits her fine. A gymnast since the age of
|
|
eight, she thought she was auditioning for a simple tumbling role. "I was
|
|
really surprised to find out I was auditioning for the girl!" She's been
|
|
performing the role for four years.
|
|
You will probably notice by this point that neither one of them is a
|
|
professional stuntperson, though their official occupation is "stunt
|
|
performer." Both have been extensively trained. Michelle was trained by
|
|
Glen Randall Jr., who was the stunt coordinator for the Indiana Jones
|
|
movies.
|
|
Despite that fact that there is an "Indiana Jones" store right outside
|
|
-- no whips, for safety reasons, and not an accurate leather jacket in
|
|
sight -- this show is no cheap ripoff.
|
|
The stage, which includes several different sets, some sectioned to be
|
|
moved out of the way, was designed with "a large amount of cooperation"
|
|
from Lucasfilm, which of course owns the rights to the Indiana Jones
|
|
character, and looks quite authentic.
|
|
Included in the show is a recreation of the Nazi plane scene from
|
|
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, complete with the ... attitude adjustment to the
|
|
German mechanic. Both the plane and the fuel truck are in fact replicas of
|
|
those used in the films, and as such cause their own problems. Since the
|
|
stage includes such accurate sets, film crews, such as those working in
|
|
Terry "Hulk" Hogan's new show, THUNDER IN PARADISE, often film there, and
|
|
restrictions are placed on what and where they can shoot.
|
|
Those aren't the only restrictions placed on other crews. Even if
|
|
they bring their own stunt coordinators, other productions can't perform a
|
|
single stunt unless it passes the rigorous requirements in place to protect
|
|
the actors.
|
|
The requirements are by no means formalities. Every stunt must pass a
|
|
triple check. The first check is the Operations and Control Center, or
|
|
OCC. Next it must be approved by the stage manager, Tim Maimone. Besides
|
|
making sure that the stunt itself is safe and everything is working
|
|
properly, there are other things to consider. For instance, today the
|
|
German mechanic was not hit by the plane. Instead, Michelle and Todd had
|
|
to adjust their routine, with him falling out of the way and her shooting
|
|
the German from the cockpit of the plane. Why? Tim decided that there was
|
|
too much wind, and the smoke would not completely conceal the actor as he
|
|
dropped through a hole in the stage floor. Because of this responsibility,
|
|
it takes a minimum of 3 months to train a new stage manager. Finally, if
|
|
the actor feels uncomfortable with a stunt, he or she can call it off
|
|
without having to justify him or herself.
|
|
Even with all the caution, however, accidents happen. Things are
|
|
carefully planned, but they are still dangerous stunts. Trucks are blown
|
|
up and flipped over, actors swing on poles 40 feet in the air, fall
|
|
off buildings ... it's an insurance agent's nightmare. Michelle says that
|
|
the usual injuries are ankles and knees. Usually the audience doesn't even
|
|
know what has happened. Michelle has had her nose broken, "and nobody down
|
|
there even realized it." On the rare occasion that there is a more serious
|
|
injury, the show has been brought to a halt, and if another cast member
|
|
could be dressed and ready, the show has been continued when the injured
|
|
party had been removed.
|
|
Despite the occasional injury, after more than four years, Michelle
|
|
says she's not frightened of anything in the show.
|
|
Todd feels that if anything, "it's an adrenaline rush when it looks
|
|
like something might be going a little bit wrong or if something doesn't
|
|
look exactly familiar."
|
|
During the busy season, the stage hosts as many as 12 performances per
|
|
day. It would be impossible for Todd and Michelle to do all those
|
|
performances themselves. In fact, there are three "casts," each with two
|
|
Indy/Marion teams, who play the "Director of Photography" and "Casting
|
|
Director" respectively, when they are not performing the stunts. This
|
|
allows them to limit themselves, never doing the stunts more than four
|
|
times in one day, and even that is a strain. Altogether, the casts
|
|
coordinate the actions of 6 different performers.
|
|
Often children write back after they have seen the show. One boy,
|
|
Johnny Kenny, was so earnest about his desire to be a stunt person after
|
|
seeing the show that he was invited back and given a grand tour of the
|
|
stage and sets. Everyone involved feels that it is "a rewarding
|
|
experience," and when the show is over, dozens of children inevitably
|
|
approach the stage for an autograph from "Indy." So is there any pressure
|
|
in playing such a cultural icon? Todd says "I always stress the fact that
|
|
I'm playing Harrison Ford's stunt double, rather than the character
|
|
himself." Nevertheless, many of the younger children fail to grasp the
|
|
difference.
|
|
Michelle doesn't have as much of a problem. "They really don't care
|
|
about the girl." She laughs. "Seriously, though, it's quite an honor for
|
|
me."
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!5!-- Mind Uploading: Downloading Your Brain to a Machine
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
by J. Strout
|
|
|
|
Introduction
|
|
|
|
Progress in both neuroscience and computer technology has been
|
|
advancing rapidly within the last century. Researchers are currently
|
|
working on building machines which imitate the functions of the human
|
|
brain. At the same time, computers continue to grow exponentially in
|
|
storage and processing capacity. These parallel developments suggest that
|
|
it may someday be possible to reconstruct a complete human brain. Such a
|
|
reconstruction, if done accurately, would possess all the memories,
|
|
feeling, and dispositions as the original.
|
|
The potential process of copying a brain into a functional
|
|
reconstruction is called "mind uploading" (or just "uploading" when the
|
|
context is clear), because the subject's mind is perceived to be
|
|
transferred into a new machine, just as software is transferred to a new
|
|
machine when uploaded to an archive site. The possibility is exciting
|
|
because it offers an indefinite lifespan, and great flexibility for
|
|
adapting to other environments or purposes not foreseen by evolution.
|
|
However, a number of serious issues must be addressed if uploading is to be
|
|
taken seriously.
|
|
|
|
Overview of neuroscience
|
|
|
|
The information-processing capabilities of the brain (and the rest of
|
|
the nervous system) arise from an intricate network of specialized cells
|
|
called neurons. Neurons have long branches (axons and dendrites)
|
|
connecting them together. The sites of the connections are called
|
|
synapses, where the electrical signal of one cell is converted to a
|
|
chemical signal which reaches the other cell. In general, the operation of
|
|
a neuron is relatively straightforward. The various input signals from
|
|
other cells change the neuron's electrical potential, either raising it or
|
|
lowering it depending on the type of synapse and chemical messenger used.
|
|
When the neuron's potential reaches a certain limit, it fires an electrical
|
|
output signal, which propagates down its axon to all the other cells to
|
|
which it connects. While the operation of a single neuron is fairly
|
|
mundane, amazing tasks can be accomplished by networks of such cells, as
|
|
has been amply demonstrated by researchers in artificial neural networks.
|
|
Of course, this brief description does not do justice to the great
|
|
complexity and variety of neurons and supporting structures of the brain,
|
|
but it captures the essence of neural function. What makes one neural
|
|
network different from another is the pattern of connections. Indeed, much
|
|
of the current research in artificial neural networks attempts to devise
|
|
ways of setting the connections though training. Other researchers use
|
|
fixed connections based on the morphology of networks found in simple
|
|
animals. Our own brain patterns are a combination of genetics, experience,
|
|
and possibly chance. Through experience, connections are established,
|
|
destroyed, or changed in strength. The pattern of connections in the brain
|
|
is believed to store all of your memories, skills, hopes, and fears, as
|
|
well as the innate circuitry which (for example) enables you to convert
|
|
visual input into a three-dimensional representation of your environment.
|
|
Mind uploading will depend critically on duplicating the connections among
|
|
neurons in the brain.
|
|
Another factor to consider is the role of extracellular influences in
|
|
the brain. In addition to cell-specific signals, some neurons release
|
|
chemicals diffusely into the extracellular fluid, which affect the
|
|
operation of neurons in the area. This includes hormones from the body as
|
|
well, which can have pronounced behavioral effects. Hormones are also
|
|
thought to be vital to emotions such as fear, anger, or joy. While
|
|
probably not critical to the operation of the brain, diffuse chemical
|
|
influences will have to be simulated accurately if the uploading process is
|
|
to retain the full effect of being human.
|
|
Finally, some notion of the size and number of neural structures is
|
|
needed to estimate how much processing capacity will be needed to store or
|
|
simulate the nervous system. Table 1 presents some very broad estimates;
|
|
take these numbers as orders of magnitude rather than specifics (which are
|
|
still unknown for many of these levels).
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------
|
|
Structure Scale Number
|
|
--------- ----- ------
|
|
synapses .001 mm 10^15
|
|
neurons .1 mm 10^12
|
|
circuits 1 mm 10^9
|
|
maps 1 cm 10^3
|
|
systems 10 cm 10
|
|
CNS 1 m 1
|
|
|
|
Table 1. Approximate size and number of structures
|
|
in the nervous system (CNS, Central Nervous System).
|
|
----------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Uploading procedures
|
|
|
|
The most plausible uploading procedure requires, somewhat regrettably,
|
|
destroying the brain very thoroughly. The technique, reconstruction from
|
|
serial sections, involves slicing the brain into extremely thin sheets, to
|
|
be scanned and reassembled as data in a computer. The process has been
|
|
used on a much smaller scale for years, to determine the morphology of
|
|
synapses and local circuits. The technology needed for uploading is far
|
|
more advanced, but essentially the same in theory. I will attempt to
|
|
illustrate the proposed procedure with a plausible scenario.
|
|
A hospital patient is pronounced metabolically dead -- that is, his
|
|
heart and lungs have stopped and do not respond to resuscitation. The
|
|
patient is kept on artificial life support while the cryonic equipment is
|
|
prepared. Then, surgeons carefully perfuse the patient's body with
|
|
fixating agents, remove the head, and freeze it solid. This part of the
|
|
procedure is similar to that currently in use by cryonics organizations,
|
|
but the goal here is not long-term storage -- rather, it is merely to
|
|
forestall decay and keep the brain structures rigid for the scanning
|
|
process.
|
|
When the head has been thoroughly frozen, it is placed in an uploading
|
|
machine. This machine automates what would otherwise be arduous or
|
|
impossible. Starting at one side of the head, slices (less than .001 mm
|
|
thick) are shaved off one by one. With each slice, the exposed cellular
|
|
structures are scanned by high-resolution instruments (e.g., electron
|
|
microscopes). Relevant neural structures are identified and recorded by
|
|
the computer (a nontrivial but tractable task). Although most of the
|
|
volumes of information in each slice can be discarded or simplified, the
|
|
database from a single patient would still immense by today's standards.
|
|
When the patient's brain has been entirely scanned, the data is loaded
|
|
into an artificial brain and body. The peripheral nervous system is
|
|
assumed to be relatively standard, so that the patient's peripheral
|
|
circuitry can be replaced with "generic" peripheral circuitry with little
|
|
inconvenience. As soon as the artificial brain has been configured with
|
|
the patient's brain patterns, the upload is activated. The patient, after
|
|
overcoming some initial disorientation, leaves the hospital feeling young
|
|
again.
|
|
This scenario is not as outrageous as it may seem at first glance.
|
|
There are two theoretical hurdles. First, and most serious, it will be
|
|
necessary to determine the exact type of each synapse so that the effect of
|
|
one cell on another can be duplicated. This may not be recoverable from
|
|
morphology alone -- it may be necessary to detect certain classes of
|
|
chemicals in both the sending and receiving parts of the synapse. Thus
|
|
microscopy may have to be combined with other techniques (e.g.,
|
|
spectroscopy) to obtain all the relevant information. The second hurdle is
|
|
simply processing capacity -- the brain is enormous when examined at such a
|
|
tiny scale, and today's technology is dwarfed by the demands of the task.
|
|
It is easier to imagine handling the data of, say, a nematode, which has
|
|
only a hundred or so neurons; indeed, such a small network could be easily
|
|
simulated by many of today's computers. For an insect, the technology
|
|
needed would be a bit more advanced, and for a mouse, far greater -- but
|
|
still much less than that needed for a human. But computing capacity has
|
|
been growing in an accelerating manner, and what is possible on a small
|
|
scale will soon be possible on a larger scale as well. (Note that because
|
|
neurons act only on information that is available locally to them, the
|
|
difficulty of simulation is only linearly proportional to the number of
|
|
neurons. This means that uploading will not suffer from the exponential
|
|
scaling of some other classes of problems.) Moreover, it is assumed that
|
|
the simulation task will not be done by a general-purpose computer, but
|
|
with specialized hardware designed for the job.
|
|
|
|
Nature of artificial brains & bodies
|
|
|
|
When considering the prospect of an artificial body, many people
|
|
picture the clumsy mechanical character C-3P0 from the film STAR WARS.
|
|
While early bodies may indeed be crude (C-3P0 would be a technological
|
|
marvel by today's standards), the social and economic pressure for more
|
|
natural, human bodies would surely be strong enough to inspire rapid
|
|
innovation. Within a few decades, it seems likely that artificial bodies
|
|
will be casually indistinguishable from natural ones. This will probably
|
|
involve technologies currently beyond speculation, but it may still be
|
|
helpful to highlight some of the current research which may prove useful
|
|
for uploading in the future.
|
|
For muscles, currently popular techniques -- hydraulics, pneumatics,
|
|
and motors -- seem inadequate. Muscles are needed which can contract very
|
|
quickly and strongly but still with fine precision, and if they can also
|
|
mimic the structure of human muscle, so much the better. Researchers
|
|
working with so-called "smart polymers" seem on the right track; these
|
|
polymers can expand and contract to a variety of stimuli, including the
|
|
application of an electric current. Bundles of polymer fibers,
|
|
appropriately connected to artificial neurons, may be attached to an
|
|
artificial skeleton in the manner of natural muscles. This would give the
|
|
upload smooth, natural movement and a familiar body structure. Smart
|
|
polymers even seem suited to such versatile and important muscles as the
|
|
tongue.
|
|
Among the senses, vision may be considered the most important, but not
|
|
the most difficult. The anatomy of the eye and functioning of the retina
|
|
are fairly well understood, and attempts at duplicating it are already
|
|
making progress. Hearing is likewise fairly straightforward. Touch, on
|
|
the other hand, is vitally important and least explored in current
|
|
research. The artificial skin will need dense receptors for pressure,
|
|
temperature, and pain. Internal senses (e.g., of limb position) will work
|
|
in a similar manner. Finally, taste and smell will be highly demanded,
|
|
though it might be argued that uploading could be a success without them.
|
|
Taste and smell will probably depend on smart polymers as much as the
|
|
muscles.
|
|
The artificial brain may be quite unlike the artificial computers of
|
|
today; the circuitry will probably need to be three-dimensional to
|
|
accommodate the rich pattern of interconnections. Progress has recently
|
|
been made in growing three-dimensional semiconductor "dendritic trees,"
|
|
which the researchers suggest may be useful for constructing neural
|
|
networks. More exotic possibilities include the optical computer, which
|
|
enjoys the advantage of connections crossing without interference, and the
|
|
quantum computer, with elements so small that quantum mechanics plays a
|
|
role in their operation. Whatever technology is used, the artificial brain
|
|
will be extremely complex, but probably also compact, durable, and
|
|
efficient.
|
|
|
|
Conclusion
|
|
|
|
When space travel was merely science fiction, the idea was opposed by
|
|
some very thoughtful writers, who pointed out that travel in space would
|
|
never be possible since there is nothing to push against. The concept of
|
|
uploading faces a similar situation now -- as a strange new idea in its
|
|
infancy, it is sometimes opposed by well-meaning thinkers who work from a
|
|
misunderstanding of the brain. At this point, there appear to be no
|
|
genuine theoretical problems with uploading; the difficulties are merely
|
|
technological, and as such, will be overcome if the current pace of
|
|
progress continues. Uploading technology will have profound effects on
|
|
humanity and society, and the complex issues which will arise should be
|
|
explored soon -- for within a century or two, uploading may be upon us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Further Reading
|
|
---------------
|
|
THE COMPUTATIONAL BRAIN. P. Churchland and T. Sejnowski. The MIT Press,
|
|
1992.
|
|
NEUROBIOLOGY. G. Shepherd. Oxford University Press, 1988.
|
|
PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING. D. Rumelhart et al. The MIT Press, 1986.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!6!-- The Business Side of Conventions: Building a Better Hotel
|
|
Relationship
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
by Steve Schwartz
|
|
|
|
Getting (and especially keeping) a hotel that is right for your
|
|
convention is very important, particularly when you want to ask them to
|
|
allow you to do something they normally wouldn't let you get away with.
|
|
There are things you can do to build rapport with your hotel's convention
|
|
sales, catering, or convention services staff, and most of them aren't
|
|
difficult.
|
|
Opening negotiations will set the tone for your entire duration there,
|
|
so getting off on the right foot is important. Many people go into their
|
|
first meeting with the idea that they will try to get away with as much as
|
|
possible to save money. I reccommend that you stay entirely above board
|
|
with every aspect of your dealings, however, as they will eventually find
|
|
out the truth, and then you are doomed to failure. Sneaking in extra food
|
|
and/or beverages or alcohol to avoid corkage fees or high costs is not a
|
|
way to build trust with your hotel. The usual fear is that the hotel won't
|
|
understand the foibles and quirks of our attendees, so discussions about
|
|
people wandering the halls at three in the morning, weird costumes, or
|
|
impromptu late night filks are avoided. An example of full disclosure
|
|
avoidance is with our relaxacon called NECROCON. One hotel never fully
|
|
realized what a "convention" was, and exactly how weird things could get.
|
|
After the convention, they decided that we must all be in league with the
|
|
devil, and refused to have us back ever again. If we had explained exactly
|
|
what to expect, we would most likely have been OK.
|
|
Always be certain to find out before it is too late what the hotel
|
|
expects. If they are only used to business conventions, they need to be
|
|
educated; but if they have had Shriners in before, everything will probably
|
|
be all right. If they have restrictions about weapons (stage or
|
|
otherwise), pets, costumes, alcohol, etc., be certain to make your
|
|
attendees aware of them before they arrive. Ferrets, swords, rayguns, and
|
|
semi-nude bodies are very fannish; but particularly bad if the hotel
|
|
doesn't approve. From a noise viewpoint, you want to be certain the hotel
|
|
blocks your rooms together so as not to bother "mundanes." If your
|
|
convention has room parties, make certain that all parties involved know on
|
|
what floor they should be held. I maintain that if the hotel understands
|
|
what to expect up front, they will agree to most reasonable requests. For
|
|
example, with our science fiction and fantasy convention, MARCON, the Hyatt
|
|
Regency places no restrictions on weapons, or costumes, as long as they
|
|
remain in our convention areas. The trade-off is to ask our attendess to
|
|
cover up their bodies, and their weapons, in the "public" areas of the
|
|
hotel such as the lobby, elevators, restaurants, etc. It is important that
|
|
we abide by their rules, so we instruct our operations/security people to
|
|
handle any problems, before the hotel even becomes aware of them. I can't
|
|
stress enough how important these simple words are. Marcon has moved up to
|
|
the largest hotel in the Columbus, Ohio area, and will be taking over the
|
|
entire space available there starting with Marcon 30 in May 1995. We would
|
|
not be where we are now if we had ignored any of these points.
|
|
To make your life simpler, you will want to set up a "corporate
|
|
account" with your hotel. They will want some sort of credit information,
|
|
which shouldn't be too difficult to produce. After you set up your
|
|
account, it will be much easier to arrange guest rooms, food functions,
|
|
alcohol purchases, etc. Otherwise, you will need to pay as you go, ar at
|
|
best pay up by the last day of your event. The corporate account number
|
|
will also make you seem more professional to your guests, especially at
|
|
check-in and Guest of Honor meal functions.
|
|
In most states, hotels cannot restrict what you are allowed to do
|
|
(within state laws) in the privacy of your rightfully rented hotel room(s).
|
|
Most hotels will, however, have "in-house" rules regarding "official"
|
|
function spaces that are difficult to get around. For example, many of
|
|
them will want to charge you corkage for beverages, or cater your food
|
|
functions themselves. You must get them to let you bring in some basics
|
|
(i.e. dry snacks, nuts, soda, etc.). With Marcon, we started out getting
|
|
approval to bring in some "donated" snacks and beverages. Each year the
|
|
list expanded and we were able to get more items to bring in, until they
|
|
eventually lifted all non-alcoholic restrictions. We now have our consuite
|
|
in what used to be a hotel restaurant/lounge, and all with the Hyatt's
|
|
blessing. A hotel will most likely never allow you to bring in your own
|
|
alcohol for your consuite, due to legal restricitons and liabiligy issues.
|
|
We end up buying our beer and wine directly from the hotel. However, we've
|
|
been able to get the price lowered to an affordable figure by explaining
|
|
that we don't have a corporate expense account (i.e. begging and
|
|
grovelling). Sometimes offering them a food function, such as a banquest
|
|
at your guest of honor speeches, will justify having them lower your hotel
|
|
food and beverage bill.
|
|
There are many other things to consider that will make your convention
|
|
affordable. One is to have the hotel adjust your convention room rate up a
|
|
dollar or two, and use that as a credit toward your hotel bull. With
|
|
enough attendees, this could be a sizable amount. Another important aspect
|
|
of keeping costs down is selling room nights for your hotel. All hotels
|
|
have a scale by which you can get free or significantly lowered function
|
|
space or consuite room nights based on the number of attendees who buy
|
|
rooms there. Most use the ratio of one free hotel room night for every
|
|
fifty you sell to your attendees. These are free rooms you can use for
|
|
guests or small functions. You might also get the hotel to give you free
|
|
suite nights by offering them two or three of your comlementary room nights
|
|
in exchange. For additional space your hotel will want to charge you based
|
|
on the square footage of the function space you need for your events. A
|
|
part, or even all this function space should be complementary. The
|
|
percentage of the hotel's function space you get free will likely be based
|
|
on a ratio of the hotel rooms you sell compared to the hotel's capacity.
|
|
Be certain to get this scale placed into the contract, so everyone
|
|
understand the rules. For these reasons, the most important thing for your
|
|
convention's continuted existance is to sell hotel rooms for your host
|
|
hotel. Always be certain to ask attendees to be loyal to your hotel, and
|
|
mention your convention to get the preset "con rate". Stress to the hotel
|
|
that you are doing everything in you power to help them. In most cases
|
|
they will even give you stacks of pre-printed envelopes to send to your
|
|
attendees with your progress report(s). Then "at con", follow up by asking
|
|
the hotel for a list of all names of in-house guests during your stay. You
|
|
can check this list against your membership list to be certain of getting
|
|
full credit on your bill. Methods such as these help your con budget go a
|
|
little further. In actuality you are spreading part of the cost to each of
|
|
your con attendees without having it hurt as much as a higher membership
|
|
rate.
|
|
Two or three months out from your convention you will want to meet
|
|
with your representative. Make room layouts for any function spaces so
|
|
they will know in advance where you want tables, chairs, podiums, water
|
|
setups, trash containers, etc.. Work out a schedule for picking up trash
|
|
and filling water setups you can both live with. This is especially
|
|
important for the more complex events and room change-overs. Staff will
|
|
want a resonable time to change room layouts, usually 1.5 to 2 hours
|
|
minimum. Also stress which setups are the most critical, or must be set up
|
|
before other things happen. That way the hotel can bring in extra staff
|
|
and schedule them wisely. Consider that the spaces you need most will be
|
|
for the dealer's room and art show, which take additional setup before
|
|
being ready to open. The hotel will appreciate all of your efforts when it
|
|
comes time to setup your function spaces. There will ALWAYS be some
|
|
problems, but if you prepare properly you will certainly minimize them.
|
|
Finally, remember to be very nice to the important people you deal
|
|
with at your hotel. I try to be certain that they get to meet any guests
|
|
in which they have an interest, and offer other perks like con T-shirs, or
|
|
"excess" consuite provender. We encourage any hotel personnel to come in
|
|
and observe what we do. Operations is instructed to allow anyone with
|
|
their hotel ID badge in. This way they can see we are a legitimate
|
|
organization. We also schedule a meesting between the key staff member
|
|
both organizations the night before the con starts. Seeing faces and
|
|
ironing out last-minute problems is easier then than it is during the
|
|
hectic hours that start your event. Lastly, we schedule a meeting after
|
|
the con, so problems that cropped up at the con can be dealt with while
|
|
facts are still fresh in everyone's minds. Then thank you letters and
|
|
small gifts to key hotel staff members complete the process. Believe me,
|
|
it is worth the trouble if you want to keep your hotel happy with you.
|
|
Rumors of bad dealings and hotels throwing conventions from our
|
|
special interest group out do not help things. By following these general
|
|
rules, more hotels will see the benefits of holding a reasonably profitable
|
|
and mostly trouble-free event. The more wide-spread the belief becomes,
|
|
the easier it will be on all of us. Above all else, please realize that it
|
|
doesn't hurt to ask for something from the hotel; you might even get it.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!7!-- Reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper/Mini-Reviews
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
GREEN MARS by Kim Stanley Robinson
|
|
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-37335-8, 1994, 535pp, US$12.95.
|
|
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
|
|
Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper
|
|
|
|
This is the second book of Robinson's "Mars" trilogy. The first was
|
|
last year's Hugo-nominated RED MARS, and the series will be finished with
|
|
the upcoming BLUE MARS. (I should mention again that while Robinson's
|
|
novella "Green Mars" appears to take place in the same future history as
|
|
this series, it is not a part of this novel.)
|
|
GREEN MARS, it must be said, suffers from the same flaws and
|
|
difficulties as most middle-of-a-trilogy novels. It does not start at the
|
|
beginning, nor does it go through to the end. While RED MARS can be read
|
|
as a stand-alone novel, GREEN MARS cannot. You must know what happened in
|
|
RED MARS for GREEN MARS to make any sense or have any meaning. (I would
|
|
really have appreciated a brief glossary of major characters and political
|
|
groups -- my memory of the details of RED MARS has faded over the
|
|
intervening year.)
|
|
There is also (to my tastes) far too much technical discussion of
|
|
terraforming and areology, particularly in the first half of the book. For
|
|
example, on page 148 Robinson writes: "The surface of the glacier appeared
|
|
to be extremely broken, as the literature had suggested -- mixed with
|
|
regolith during the flooding, and shot through with trapped carbonation
|
|
bubbles. Rocks and boulders caught on the surface had melted the ice
|
|
underneath them and then it had refrozen around them, in a daily cycle that
|
|
had left them all about two-thirds submerged. All the seracs, standing
|
|
above the surface of the glacier like titanic dolmens, were on close
|
|
inspection found to be deeply pitted." (By the way, a regolith is a layer
|
|
of loose rock material resting on bedrock, a serac is a large mass of ice
|
|
broken off the main body of a glacier and remaining behind in a crevasse
|
|
after glacial movement or melting, and a dolmen is a prehistoric megalithic
|
|
[large stone] structure consisting of two or more upright stones with a
|
|
capstone, typically forming a chamber (which doesn't actually sound like
|
|
what the seracs would look like, but what the heck). All definitions
|
|
courtesy of the AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY.) I could be wrong, but I
|
|
also think that the discussions on pages 175 through 187 and elsewhere of
|
|
the poisonousness effects of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are confusing
|
|
it with carbon monoxide. While inhaling large amounts of carbon dioxide
|
|
can cause death by suffocation, it is not poisonous in the usual sense of
|
|
the word, and it is not clear to me that in an atmosphere with a certain
|
|
percentage of oxygen it matters whether the remainder is nitrogen or carbon
|
|
dioxide, at least as far as human respiration goes. (Though the
|
|
atmospheric pressure would be important -- consider the possible
|
|
side-effects of nitrogen to deep-sea divers.)
|
|
This may all seem terrible technical and nit-picky, but the book lends
|
|
itself to that so well that is should be somewhat expected.
|
|
It is only in the second half of GREEN MARS that Robinson returns in
|
|
force to the political and historical aspects of the series. While one may
|
|
argue that the key event that triggers the "phase change" of GREEN MARS's
|
|
final chapter is totally arbitrary, there's no denying that historical
|
|
triggers often are. Still, I have to reserve final judgement on GREEN MARS
|
|
until BLUE MARS concludes the series, and then see if GREEN MARS serves its
|
|
purpose in the overall picture. That is the only way to view this book and
|
|
much as I want to see Kim Stanley Robinson finally get a Hugo, it makes no
|
|
sense to look at this as a possibility. (I mention this because this had a
|
|
British edition in 1993, and hence would be eligible for the Hugo awards
|
|
for last year, to be given at Conadian this September. I note this just to
|
|
clarify its eligibility for anyone who does want to nominate it.)
|
|
|
|
Title: Green Mars Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
|
|
City: New York Date: March 15, 1994
|
|
Publisher: Bantam Spectra Pages: 535pp
|
|
Comments: hardback, US$22.95/trade paperback, US$12.95
|
|
Order Info: ISBN 0-553-09640-0/ISBN 0-553-37335-8
|
|
Series: Mars Volume: 2
|
|
|
|
..............................
|
|
|
|
EMPIRE'S END by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch
|
|
Del Rey Science Fiction, ISBN 0-345-37696-X
|
|
|
|
EMPIRE'S END is the eighth and final Sten adventure. If you have not read
|
|
any of the previous adventures, especially the immediately preceding novel
|
|
(VORTEX), you will probably not appreciate this book -- though I would
|
|
suggest trying the first novel of the series, STEN. If you have been
|
|
following the series and enjoying it, this book is definitely consistent
|
|
with what has come before and you will not be disappointed. We have all
|
|
the standard stuff -- narrow escapes, space battles, willy guns, and
|
|
infiltration that you expect packaged up in a moving tale that even has a
|
|
message -- what more could you ask. But Bunch and Cole should probably
|
|
write a cookbook soon and get it out of their system. -- David Gibbs
|
|
|
|
THE SUN THE MOON AND THE STARS by Steven Brust
|
|
Ace Fantasy, ISBN 0-441-79099-2
|
|
|
|
If you only like to read fantasy (or sf) you should probably avoid THE SUN
|
|
THE MOON AND THE STARS as, despite the labelling, this book is definitely
|
|
not fantasy. It tells the story of a group of young "starving" artists who
|
|
have setup a studio together, focusing especially on the protaganist, Greg
|
|
Kovacs and his thoughts while attempting the largest canvas he has yet to
|
|
attempt, interleaved with a traditional Hungarian folk tale that Greg is
|
|
relating to his friends, and some discussion on the question of "what is
|
|
art?". This book is well written, and well told, all in all an excellent
|
|
work of fiction, it just isn't fantasy. -- David Gibbs
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!8!-- The Infamous Reply Cards and What You Said
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
by Linda E. Smit
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the latest team just beginning their experiment in Biosphere
|
|
living, the answers we received to our last response card question are
|
|
interesting. Only eighteen responses were returned, but they all seem to
|
|
be carefully considered answers. While nine readers said "no," six said
|
|
"yes." Two people said "no and yes" and one said he just wasn't sure of an
|
|
answer.
|
|
The responses really fell into three categories. There were
|
|
unequivocal yesses, unequivocal nos, and several "depends." I felt like I
|
|
was playing a game of Scruples(TM) with all the variations on why people
|
|
would/would not go, according to the situation.
|
|
The major reason for not participating in a Biosphere-like project was
|
|
time taken away from family or a relationship. One respondent said he'd go
|
|
if his wife could go as well. Another said his children are too young for
|
|
him to leave them for such an extended period of time.
|
|
Yet, some of the people unwilling to do Biosphere said they WOULD
|
|
participate in a trip to Mars or live on a space station. Several folks
|
|
said they could understand the importance of learning how to live in a
|
|
closed system in order to colonize other planets--they'd just rather wait
|
|
until there was something more to get out of the experience.
|
|
And one of the "yes" responses emphasized the difference between
|
|
Biosphere and a space project:
|
|
|
|
"It would certainly be a challenging and 'interesting' time
|
|
(whether or not 'interesting' would fulfill the idea of that
|
|
ancient Chinese curse. :)) Since however, we are talking about
|
|
a hypothetical biosphere 3 (or greater), I would see the question
|
|
are referring to two types, another earth-based biosphere project
|
|
or a 'real' space based biosphere. I think that the scientific
|
|
value of an earth based biosphere has been well & truely
|
|
established so the challenge & the scientific value would not be
|
|
as great. Not that I wouldn't consider the offer, but I wouldn't
|
|
'leap' at it (needless to say, I would probably say yes.) On
|
|
the other hand, if the project would be in space (either in 'deep
|
|
space' or on a planet/moon/etc then I would literally kill to
|
|
get in. The challenge and the scientific value would go without
|
|
saying, and besides, I would do almost anything to get into
|
|
space. :) So where do I sign up?"
|
|
|
|
And I asked the same question. Where do I sign up? The yes responses
|
|
recognized the difficulties encountered by people in a closed system, but
|
|
decided that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
|
|
|
|
"I would take the opportunity because it would be a great
|
|
chance to learn about yourself and how to deal with others.
|
|
Living in such a closed environment would be very challenging
|
|
and getting along with the inevitable cliques that would ensue
|
|
would be a learning experience. I doubt such an effort would
|
|
always be enjoyable but it would be an unique experience."
|
|
|
|
And I feel the same. I think living in a closed environment, whether
|
|
it be Biosphere, a space station, or a spaceship would be an incredible
|
|
learning experience. For a writer, it would be an experiment in patience
|
|
and veracity. It would be an adventure that would not only teach you about
|
|
other people, but also about yourself--things you might not ever learn
|
|
otherwise.
|
|
|
|
(If you new Biosphere folks are reading this--good luck to you!)
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!9!-- SF Calendar: What's Coming Up in the Near Future
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
Upcoming BOOKS
|
|
....................
|
|
[We'd like to also feature books from some of the smaller publishers. If
|
|
you have a favorite small publisher you think we should know about, please
|
|
feel free to send us the address, or even just the name and city. We'll
|
|
find it.]
|
|
|
|
------------
|
|
March 1994:
|
|
|
|
Ace: THE SURE DEATH OF A MOUSE - Dan Crawford
|
|
Baen: MIRROR DANCE - Lois McMaster Bujold
|
|
WILD CARDS: MARKED CARDS - (edited by) George R.R. Martin
|
|
Bantam: INDIANA JONES AND THE WHITE WITCH - Martin Caidin
|
|
Spectra THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT SINGS THE BLUES - Harry Harrison
|
|
UNIVERSE 3 - (edited by) Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber
|
|
GOLDEN TRILLIUM - Andre Norton
|
|
THE ROBOTS OF DAWN - Isaac Asimov
|
|
THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE STARS - Kirby Green
|
|
GREEN MARS - Kim Stanley Robinson
|
|
RHINEGOLD - Stephan Grundy
|
|
DAW: TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER (Part 1) - Tad Williams
|
|
SERPENT WALTZ - Jo Clayton
|
|
OUTWORLD CATS - Jack Lovejoy
|
|
Del Rey: OUT OF THIS WORLD (First book, THREE WORLDS trilogy) -
|
|
Lawrence Watt-Evans
|
|
A GUIDE TO THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE, SECOND EDITION, REVISED &
|
|
EXPANDED - Bill Slavicsek
|
|
THE TALISMANS OF SHANNARA (Fourth book, THE HERITAGE OF SHANNARA)
|
|
- Terry Brooks
|
|
THE PRINCE OF ILL-LUCK - Susan Dexter
|
|
FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE (Sequel, A SMALL COLONIAL WAR) - Robert
|
|
Frezza
|
|
Knopf: DIAMOND MASK (Second book, THE GALACTIC MILIEU trilogy) - Julian
|
|
May
|
|
Roc: DEADLY QUICKSILVER LIES - Glen Cook
|
|
Tor: SACRED GROUND - Mercedes Lackey
|
|
THE MAGIC ENGINEER - L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
|
|
A COLLEGE OF MAGICKS - Caroline Stevermer
|
|
------------
|
|
April 1994:
|
|
|
|
Baen: THE WATCHMEN - Ben Bova
|
|
THE SHIP WHO WON - Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye
|
|
HONOR HARRINGTON #3: THE SHORT VICTORIOUS WAR - David Weber
|
|
Bantam: THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS LEIA - Dave Wolverton
|
|
DAW: THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER - Mickey Zucker Reichert
|
|
Del Rey: THE LIVING GOD - Dave Duncan
|
|
STRANGER AT THE WEDDING - Barbara Hambly
|
|
CRASHLANDER - Larry Niven
|
|
A WHISPER OF TIME - Paula E. Downing
|
|
DEL REY DISCOVERY: THE HELDAN - Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore
|
|
MacMillan/Atheneum: WOLF-SPEAKER - Tamora Pierce
|
|
Viking: THE FOREST HOUSE (sequel, THE MISTS OF AVALON) - Marion Zimmer
|
|
Bradley
|
|
Tor: FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER (sequel, THE PHEONIX GUARDS) - Steven Brust
|
|
THE DUBIOUS HILLS - Pamela Dean
|
|
------------
|
|
May 1994:
|
|
|
|
Del Rey: THE TANGLE BOX - Terry Brooks
|
|
THE ZENTRAEDI REBELLION - Jack McKinney (Robotech #18)
|
|
CAT SCRATCH FEVER - Tara K. Harper
|
|
THE STRICKEN FIELD (Third Book of A HANDFUL OF MEN) - Dave Duncan
|
|
CHAINS OF DARKNESS, CHAINS OF LIGHT - Michelle Sagara
|
|
Harcourt Brace: TOWING JEHOVAH - James Morrow
|
|
Roc: THE OAK ABOVE THE KINGS - Patricia Kennealy
|
|
Tor: THE FURIES - Suzy McKee Charnas
|
|
SUMMER KING, WINTER FOOL - Lisa Goldstein
|
|
DEMON MOON - Jack Williamson
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
Upcoming MOVIES
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
This is not really the "Upcoming Movies" list that Bryan D. Jones
|
|
(bdj@engr.uark.edu) puts out over Usenet every week or so. It's actually a
|
|
pared down version that he was kind enough to let us print. We thank him
|
|
and remind you that if you have any updates or corrections, please send
|
|
them on to him.
|
|
All dates are US wide release dates. -Bryan D. Jones (bdj@engr.uark.edu)
|
|
|
|
Mar 30: Thumbelina, Into the Mouth of Madness
|
|
May 6: Prison Colony
|
|
13 May: Troll in Central Park
|
|
27 May: The Flintstones
|
|
Spring: Blankman, Cartooned, The Muppet Treasure Island, Thumbelina
|
|
17 Jun: Clear and Present Danger, The Lion King (Animated)
|
|
Jun 24: Wolf, Lion King
|
|
July 1: True Lies
|
|
Jul 15: Exit to Eden
|
|
July : Angels in the Outfield
|
|
05 Aug: Time Cop
|
|
August: Tall Tale
|
|
Summer: Aliens vs. Predator: The Hunt, Clear and Present Danger, The
|
|
Flintstones, Getting Even With Dad,
|
|
Autumn: Pagemaster, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Interview with The Vampire
|
|
Nov 4: Frankenstein
|
|
Decemb: Godzilla (American), Spiderman, Batman III, Star Trek VII
|
|
Winter: With Honors
|
|
1994 : Ed Wood, The Lawnmowerman 2, The Mask, Tremors II
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!10!-- Shoelaces of Truth: The News, The Whole News, and Nothing but the
|
|
News
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
[Dedicated to Mark Twain's principle that "A lie can travel halfway around
|
|
the world while the truth puts on its shoes."]
|
|
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
BABYLON 5 NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
by David Strauss
|
|
|
|
The first season of BABYLON 5 has begun, and viewers all over the
|
|
country have buckled in for what's sure to be an entertaining ride. The
|
|
first few episodes of the first season were designed as a slow introduction
|
|
to the projected five year story arc, but as the season moves on, we'll be
|
|
seeing the overall arc become more prominant in individual episodes.
|
|
Ratings for B5 have exceeded Warner Brother's anticipations. The show
|
|
has ranked each week in the top 20 syndicated shows, with higher ratings
|
|
than TIME TRAX and KUNG FU: TLC. The decision on whether BABYLON 5 gets
|
|
picked up for a second season will be made in late-April. If you like what
|
|
you see, be sure to contact your local station that carries B5 and let them
|
|
know you'd like it to continue.
|
|
The big news on alt.tv.babylon-5 lately has been discussion over the
|
|
creation of a Babylon-5 rec group, entitled rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon-5.
|
|
Voting completed March 18, and the results will probably be known between
|
|
the time this column was written and the new issue was released.
|
|
Filming for the first season of B5 completes on March 23. Several
|
|
episodes still have major post-production work required, especially the
|
|
ones with long CGI sequences. New episodes will probably be run during
|
|
April and May, with a summer of mainly reruns, so that the final run of new
|
|
episodes will be shown during the November sweeps, including the season
|
|
finale, "Chrysalis."
|
|
Several veteran actors will appear later in the season, including JUNE
|
|
LOCKHART and THEODORE BIKEL. (For a list of other actors who will be
|
|
appearing in the first season, see the issue 2:1 of CV.) Also look for a
|
|
soundtrack album by CHRISTOPHER FRANKE, possibly as early as this summer.
|
|
If you'd like to learn more about the BABYLON 5 universe, a recent
|
|
cover story in the magazine CINEFANTASTIQUE would be required reading,
|
|
although it does contain some spoilers about the first season. (The guide
|
|
to first season episodes is also severely outdated. The spoilers included
|
|
in this issue of CV are far more current.) The best net.source for
|
|
BABYLONJ5 information is the FTP site at ftp.hyperion.com, or its faster
|
|
echo at ftp.uml.edu. Included there are various text files with background
|
|
information, episode guides, synopses, and even early drafts of a fan-
|
|
produced tech manual. For the more historically minded, there's files on
|
|
the history of ancient Babylonia, which the show's creator, J. MICHAEL
|
|
STRACZYNSKI, has mentioned as giving hints to the direction of the B5 story
|
|
arc.
|
|
On a personal note, your author is proud to say he became one of the
|
|
first members of the B5 fan community to have a character named after him
|
|
in a BABYLON 5 episode. Just watch "The Parliament of Dreams" and listen
|
|
for a reference to the (unseen) waiter at the Fresh Air restaurant. That's
|
|
me. ;)
|
|
....................
|
|
And a note from BABYLON 5 creator Joe Straczynski:
|
|
|
|
If I can put a word out onto the electronic web ... usually, in the
|
|
network shows, a series runs its course, and at the end of the season, the
|
|
network decides whether or not to renew. Because of the schedule of PTEN,
|
|
the decision to renew or not comes in April/May.
|
|
While the ratings are good -- mention of the B5 ratings got a headline
|
|
in today's "Hollywood Reporter" along with ST -- there's a new wrinkle in
|
|
the situation. The new Paramount Network. They're making deals with
|
|
stations as fast as they can, snatching up the independent stations and
|
|
trying to secure the few remaining available timeslots (which with the glut
|
|
of programs now are continually growing smaller in number). So for a
|
|
station, it's a choice between two or more shows that might rate equally
|
|
fine, but there's outside pressure.
|
|
Point being this (and anyone who wants to upload this entire message
|
|
to other nets, feel free): if -- IF -- you genuinely enjoy the show, and
|
|
would like to see it renewed, this would be a very good time to drop your
|
|
local TV station a letter indicating this. The stations have a direct
|
|
input as to whether or not shows are renewed. It certainly couldn't hurt.
|
|
|
|
jms
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
HIGHLANDER NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
by Debbie Douglass
|
|
|
|
I am happy to report that main unit filming for "HIGHLANDER III: THE
|
|
MAGICIAN" was completed in Montreal in February. Location work is now
|
|
proceeding in Japan, Australia, and Scotland. Sorry, no release date
|
|
information is available at this time. One minor correction to the cast
|
|
listed in the last issue: The female lead will be DEBORAH UNGER.
|
|
Well, it looks like CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT will finally realize his dream
|
|
of breaking-in to Hollywood studio films. Despite his international box
|
|
office draw (HIGHLANDER II, KNIGHT MOVES and FORTRESS collectively earned
|
|
$150 million overseas in contrast to the disappointing performance of a
|
|
total of $30 million in the U.S.) he will temporarily abandon his normally
|
|
high fee to work for Universal Studios in the film KIRINA (aka CORINA or
|
|
KORINA) in April. LAMBERT will be working for scale plus 10%. JOHN
|
|
LAWTON, who wrote "Pretty Woman," will be directing this tale of an
|
|
American in Japan pursued by assassins. Lambert fans shouldn't worry
|
|
though. H has already committed to doing FORTRESS II for 20th Century Fox
|
|
for fee befitting a superstar. FORTRESS II is expected to start production
|
|
late this year in Australia. Even though I have enjoyed all of his previous
|
|
films, I hope that maybe one of these days we'll see our favorite actor in
|
|
a film using his lovely native accent again.
|
|
Attention Diet Pepsi fans: MEILANI PAUL, one of the Uh-Huh girls (and
|
|
wife of Highlander star ADRIAN PAUL) will have a guest role in "Counterfeit
|
|
Part I", the first of the two part season finale for Highlander: The
|
|
Series.
|
|
HIGHLANDER: THE ANIMATED SERIES was announced at the New York Toy
|
|
Fair last month scheduled to premiere in September '94. Previously released
|
|
information describes the scenario for the series set far in the future,
|
|
following a Holocaust, where much of civilization has crumbled. None of the
|
|
current characters from film or TV will be featured. Accompanying the
|
|
announcement was a display of an animated hero with ponytail, leather
|
|
boots, blue tights, padded shoulders, spiked shield, broadsword, and puffed
|
|
sleeves posed in front of Gothic-style ruins. Shall we get in line for our
|
|
action figures now? ;-)
|
|
Please help us ensure that Highlander is picked up for a third season.
|
|
Write Keith Samples, C/O Rysher TPE, 3400 Riverside, Burbank CA 91505 with
|
|
comments about what *you* like about Highlander. Also write your local
|
|
station to encourage them to keep Highlander on their schedule.
|
|
|
|
[For more information about all things Highlander read the Highlander
|
|
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions and answers (including the Episode Guide)).
|
|
It is posted to the USENET newsgroups rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.sf.movies,
|
|
and alt.cult-movies once a month. If you don't have access to USENET, then
|
|
send an e-mail message to Debbie_Douglass@DL5000.bc.edu. Include 'Send HL
|
|
FAQ' in the Subject line and your request will be handled automatically.]
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
STAR TREK NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
by TJ Goldstein
|
|
|
|
As ST:TNG draws to a close, old favories are returning. "Genesis"
|
|
will see the return of Barclay (DWIGHT SCHULTZ), the second to last episode
|
|
will include Ensign Ro (MICHELLE FORBES) despite past denials -- and
|
|
Patrick Stewart will direct that episode -- and "Journey's End" will see
|
|
the return of Wesley Crusher (WIL WHEATON), The Traveler (ERIC MENYUK), and
|
|
several of the more minor characters, such as Jack Crusher and Admiral
|
|
Necheyev.
|
|
"Journey's End" will feature the forced relocation of an American
|
|
Indian group from the planet they have settled. This is significant
|
|
because one of the characters mentioned for ST:VOYAGER is a member of this
|
|
group.
|
|
As for movie plans, according to convention reports, the TNG movie,
|
|
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS will see appearances from only three of the original
|
|
cast members, WILLIAM SHATNER, JAMES DOOHAN, and WALTER KOENIG. They will
|
|
appear in only about 20 minutes of the fim. LEONARD NIMOY has refused to
|
|
appear in the film because he doesn't like the script, but there is no word
|
|
on whether the ohter TOS cast members are absent from the film by their
|
|
choice or the studio's. The film will go into production at the start of
|
|
April, immediately after STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION finishes filming.
|
|
And in related news, Disney's "Action Friday" series of cartoons will
|
|
reportedly include GARGOYLES, featuring the voices of JONATHAN FRAKES and
|
|
MARINA SIRTIS, according to TV GUIDE.
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
OTHER TV NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
FROM THE EDITOR: It's letter writing season in the science fiction
|
|
universe, as shows battle to keep themselves on the air. General hints for
|
|
conducting a letter writing campaign were carried in Volume 1, Issue 2 of
|
|
CV, but we thought we'd add two more:
|
|
First, write to and call your local stations, especially if the show
|
|
is in syndication. A syndicated show's fate is determined by how many
|
|
stations buy the right to air it.
|
|
Second, write to your newspapers. That right, newspapers. A
|
|
television columnist for a major newspaper was mentioning to ye olde editor
|
|
that she had to turn down an interview with one of the stars of an sf show
|
|
for the simple reason that they weren't getting any letters about it. So
|
|
look for the television columnist in your local or national newspaper,
|
|
think of a question relating to whatever show it is you're trying to save,
|
|
and send it in. You'll give the columnist an excuse to give it some press.
|
|
|
|
Contrary to rumors, SEAQUEST has not been cancelled, nor has the decision
|
|
as to whether to carry the show next year been made, at least as of
|
|
March 24, 1994. Cast and crew are still hoping and expecting to be renewed
|
|
for next year, according to spokesman Vic Heutschy.
|
|
|
|
ROBOCOP has hit the small screen in syndication -- and not cheaply, either.
|
|
Skyvision Entertainment bought the rights from Orion and decided to take
|
|
him back to his roots, spending $36.5 million (yes, thirty six and a half
|
|
MILLION dollars) on the production. Robocop creators EDWARD NEUMEIER and
|
|
MICHAEL MINER wrote the premiere and set the tone for the show. Instead of
|
|
the ultra-violent Robocop that has lately been seen on the big screen, this
|
|
is a Robocop struggling to regain his humanity. Added to the universe is
|
|
Gadget, a twelve year old orphan adopted by the Sargeant, Diana, who is
|
|
"the ghost in the machine" -- a woman who was murdered so her brain could
|
|
run the huge computer network that controls the city, and Commander Cash,
|
|
and animated mascot for Omni Consumer Products (OCP) who will appear in
|
|
each episode to extol the virtues of consumerism and advertise the
|
|
wonderful things OCP brings the citizens of Detroit. The show stars
|
|
RICHARD EDEN ad Robocop, YVETTE NIPAR as Officer Lisa Madigan, BLU MANKUMA
|
|
as Sgt. Stan Parks, SARAH CAMPBELL as Gadget, ANDREA ROTH as Diana Powers,
|
|
and DAVID GARDNER as the Chairman of OCP.
|
|
|
|
According to USA today, DEAN CAIN will be starring in an action thriller
|
|
his father, CHRISTOPHER CAIN (YOUNG GUNS) is directing. USA TODAY also
|
|
carries an interview with L&C producer DEBORAH JOY LEVINE on which she
|
|
reportedly say that the "vibes for renewal are good." There had been a
|
|
letter to the editor of a comics magazine claiming that the show had
|
|
already been cancelled, but this is absolutely not true. (Letter writing
|
|
wouldn't hurt, though, of course.)
|
|
|
|
PHYLLIS COATES and JAMES EARL JONES will be appearing in the two-part
|
|
season finale of LOIS AND CLARK. Coates, who played Lois in the original
|
|
SUPERMAN television series, will be playing Lois's mother.
|
|
|
|
Frustrated by the abrupt end of ALIEN NATION? Relief is in sight. Fox is
|
|
making ALIEN NATION: DARK HORIZON, a two hour television movie that will
|
|
re-tell the story of the last episode, solve it, and take up a plot where
|
|
those who enslaved the Newcomers in the first place return to re-take their
|
|
slaves -- and the human race. The original television cast will return.
|
|
It will air later this year.
|
|
|
|
Another round of QUANTUM LEAP videos are due out, but the fate of future
|
|
releases depends on pre-orders. That's right, whether or not other videos
|
|
will be released reportedly depends on how many people ask for this batch
|
|
before they actually arrive in the stores. In fact, in order to count,
|
|
they need to be pre-ordered before April 6. The episodes that will be
|
|
arriving April 20 are "The Leap Home (parts one and two)", "Jimmy", "Shock
|
|
Theater", and "Dreams". DEBORAH PRATT reportedly told guests at Quantum-
|
|
Con that "Dreams" will have never-before-seen footage.
|
|
|
|
In other QL news, stymied in efforts to get radio stations to play SCOTT
|
|
BAKULA'S version of "Somewhere in the Night," Crescendo Records is taking
|
|
advide and repackaging the single with less QL oriented artwork.
|
|
Apparently adult contemporary stations, which normally would play it, were
|
|
put off by the heavy QL emphasis.
|
|
|
|
Fox has bought 65 episodes of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN for Saturday morning
|
|
cartoons and 20 more episodes of X-MEN. Genesis Entertainment is making an
|
|
hour-long cartoon which for the first year will feature Iron Man and the
|
|
Fantastic Four, which will supposedly be closer to the original comics.
|
|
|
|
STEVEN SPIELBERG is attempting to obtain the rights to DR. WHO in order to
|
|
produce an American version of the show. Nothing is definite and a new
|
|
Doctor has not been chosen, even though some rather large names have been
|
|
bandied about.
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
MOVIE NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
WILLIAM GIBSON's JOHNNY MNEUMONIC will finally be making it to the big
|
|
screen. Based on the short story of the same name, KEANU REEVES will play
|
|
Johnny, a man with stolen Yakuza information stored in his brain trying not
|
|
to get killed by DOLPH LUNDGREN. Probably because of her place in the
|
|
sprawl novels, the character of Molly Millions could not be used, and has
|
|
been replaced by Jane, played by DINA MEYER. She's basically the same
|
|
character, however, as "we've stuck very close to the original story, and
|
|
Mr. Gibson is VERY involved with the project. He's written the screenplay
|
|
himself," says unit publicist Wendi Laski. She couldn't quote a budget
|
|
figure but says that "the sets look spectacular." The film is being
|
|
directed by ROBERT LONGO, and ICE-T will play Dog. Tri-Star will
|
|
distribute it in the U.S., and MDP in the rest of the world.
|
|
|
|
In other news from the brain-implant front, the low budget film CYBERTEENS
|
|
IN LOVE is the first recipient of Canada's "Next Wave" competition. The
|
|
film, which stars JUSTINE PRIESTLY and MARTIN CUMMINS, is the first project
|
|
to use Sony's new Digital Betacam format, which allows it to be output in
|
|
either 35 mm film format or in a 4x3 aspect for television. It's directed
|
|
by BRETT DOWLER for Shadowface Productions in accosciation with British
|
|
Columbia Film and The National Film Board - Pacific Centre.
|
|
|
|
If you've got a copy of the laserdisk of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, hold onto
|
|
it. Disney animators reportedly had a little fun, figuring that nobody
|
|
would catch on if they played with a frame or two. Rumored to be available
|
|
to those with a laserdisk and freeze-frame: a full frontal nude shot of
|
|
Jessica Rabbit, an explicit sexual encounter, and, of all things, Disney
|
|
chief MICHAEL EISNER'S home phone number. Known to be present are three
|
|
frames where Jessica's dress is flying and her underwear is missing.
|
|
According to newspaper reports, 100,000 copies of the disk were originally
|
|
pressed, and Disney, which says that since the film was technically put out
|
|
by subsidiary Touchstone it was not subject to Disney's rigorous standards,
|
|
will probably not re-press the film without the offending frames.
|
|
|
|
LOU BUNIN, best known for his 1951 classic ALICE IN WONDERLAND, which
|
|
pioneered film puppeteering techniques, died February 17 of a stroke.
|
|
|
|
KURT RUSSELL and JAYE DAVIDSON will be starring in STARGATE. Filmed in
|
|
Yuma, it's a high budget film about Marines "warped" into a futuristic
|
|
desert planet. From Carolco.
|
|
|
|
Faced with a proposed law requiring ratings for video games, the industry
|
|
promised to institute a voluntary rating system that would label the sex
|
|
and violence content of games going to marked after November 1 and
|
|
"submitted by publishers in a timely fashion," Jack Heistand, chairman of
|
|
the industry group charged with coming up with the new ratings system said
|
|
in newspaper reports. Congress is not prepared to drop the bill, however,
|
|
until the system is firmly in place.
|
|
|
|
JOHN CANDY (SPACEBALLS, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, 1941) died March 4 of a
|
|
heart attack. He was nearing the end of filming WAGONS EAST with RICHARD
|
|
LEWIS in Mexico. He was 43 years old.
|
|
|
|
JON PETERS, producer of BATMAN and creator of Polygram Pictures, is heading
|
|
back to Warner Bros. after a stint as co-chairman and producer at Sony
|
|
Pictures.
|
|
|
|
Loch Ness researchers, far from being happy with the famous 1934 photo of a
|
|
sea serpent poking its head out of the water, were actually relieved this
|
|
month to find out that the whole thing was in fact a fake cooked up by a
|
|
self-styled big game hunter hired to find the monster after the first
|
|
sighting in 1933. According to newspaper reports, one of the last living
|
|
co-conspirators confided in researchers from his deathbed that it was
|
|
actually a model serpent's head on a toy submarine. Apparently the photo
|
|
contradicted other research into Nessie, so researchers are glad to find
|
|
out it's a fake. In early March the Inverness Tourist Board announced that
|
|
early April would see the beginning of tourist trips beneath the surface of
|
|
Loch Ness for those who wanted to look for the monster. According Reuters,
|
|
they will ride six at a time for $105(US) in a specially adapted research
|
|
sub.
|
|
|
|
There is talk of a fourth RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK film, but there's just
|
|
one problem. Although HARRISON FORD has said in interviews that he would
|
|
be willing for the right script, director STEVEN SPIELBERG has been riding
|
|
the wave of seriousness generated by his magnum opus, SCHINDLER'S LIST, and
|
|
has said that he couldn't go back to easy films right now. In fact, he
|
|
only got to do the film at all by promising to make JURASSIC PARK first in
|
|
case just such a thing happened. Spielberg told Reuter that "I can't make
|
|
a musical or a western or a sequence to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. I just
|
|
could not do this now." He plans to "take a year off and think about my
|
|
life and my career."
|
|
|
|
TriStar is reportedly making a film out of the original FOUNDATION TRILOGY
|
|
by ISAAC ASIMOV. Directed by JEAN-JAQUES ANNAUD (QUEST FOR FIRE), it is
|
|
due out either in late 1995 or summer of 1996. If it does well they plan
|
|
to make fims out of the other books.
|
|
|
|
Some upcoming horror films: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART III, CANDYMAN
|
|
II, HELLRAISER IV, and another NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, reportedly dealing
|
|
with time periods between other films.
|
|
|
|
According to the Helper's Network Hotline, Spelling Entertainment is
|
|
looking into the possibility of a movie based on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
|
|
Fans are urged to send their support of such a venture to Spelling
|
|
Entertainment, attention: Marcia Basichis, Senior Vice President of
|
|
Development, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. The phone number
|
|
for the Helper's Network Hotline is 513-961-3317.
|
|
|
|
Those who have bemoaned the absense of a Robin to the cinematic version of
|
|
BATMAN may or may not be happy with BATMAN III. There's going to be a
|
|
Robin, all right, and open casting calls are being held around the country
|
|
looking for him. But BURT WARD he won't be. Director JOEL SCHUMACHER is
|
|
reportedly looking for someone a bit tougher. Avenues they are exploring
|
|
besides the usual include reccommendatons from gang liasons and parole
|
|
officers.
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
WRITTEN SF NEWS FROM ANSIBLE
|
|
....................
|
|
by Dave Langford
|
|
|
|
The following news is from Dave Langford's newsletter ANSIBLE and is
|
|
reprinted with permission. ANSIBLE is now available electronically from
|
|
ansible@cix.compulink.co.uk. For more info on the paper version, write to
|
|
Dave Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5AU. Fax 0734
|
|
669914.
|
|
|
|
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Does your small-press magazine review horror
|
|
books or movies? Just watch it. PAUL BARNETT explains: "In mid-February
|
|
John Gullidge, editor of SAMHAIN, was stitched up in the WESTERN MORNING
|
|
NEWS and EXETER EXPRESS & ECHO in the wake of the seizure elsewhere in the
|
|
country of whole stacks of video nasties; according to these papers,
|
|
SAMHAIN was little more than a trading ground for such stuff and the police
|
|
were about to swoop. The E&E also made a jolly link-by-proximity (as a
|
|
tag-on piece) between John's activities and the Jamie Bulger memorial
|
|
service, with a good plug about how the judge had said it was all caused by
|
|
CHILD'S PLAY 3 -- but nothing, of course, about the police refutation of
|
|
that claim.
|
|
In fact SAMHAIN rarely even mentions video nasties (as opposed to
|
|
legit horror movies) except in passing, and enjoys excellent relations with
|
|
the trading standards people, who feel that John's conduct of the magazine
|
|
is -- so far as their interests are concerned -- exemplary. The E&E knew
|
|
this but didn't bother to mention it; the WMN did not know it because
|
|
they'd omitted to do any in-depth research such as ringing John up (a
|
|
failing which they pathetically described as "no one was available for
|
|
comment"). With the true instinct for integrity in journalism, neither
|
|
paper deigned to print a letter from him correcting these and other errors
|
|
of fact; and John doesn't feel he can either sue or go to the Press
|
|
Complaints Commission because some of his other activities rely on
|
|
reasonable relations with these formerly sycophantic slime-buckets.
|
|
The net result is that as far as the local population is concerned,
|
|
there is a Monster in our Midst. John is getting ill treatment in the
|
|
streets to the extent that he goes out as little as possible; several
|
|
parents have withdrawn their kids from the Woodcraft Folk group of which he
|
|
is playleader, and he's been summoned to an extraordinary meeting to be
|
|
confronted by them; etc. The whole thing makes me see red. Grrr!"
|
|
The above was faxed to both papers for comment. None as yet.
|
|
|
|
CECELIA HOLLAND has finally read William James's SUNFALL trilogy, noted
|
|
here last year as bearing a Curious Resemblance to her 1969 historical
|
|
novel UNTIL THE SUN FALLS. Ms Holland seems to agree, in an incandescent
|
|
letter which we may publish after she's taken legal advice. Latest rumour:
|
|
devotees of her mediaeval novels THE EARL (in UK, A HAMMER FOR PRINCES) and
|
|
GREAT MARIA may also find happy memories in the pages of SUNFALL.
|
|
|
|
JOHN HOLM, Harry Harrison's collaborator on THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS, is
|
|
(unsecretly) Tom Shippey. His minor billing may not reflect his share of
|
|
the novel: one pundit reckons it's "90% Shippey." Yet the US Tor edition
|
|
omits "Holm" entirely....
|
|
|
|
JACK KIRBY died on 6 Feb. ROB HANSEN writes: "Born Jacob Kurtzberg, Kirby
|
|
was one of the true giants of the US comics industry. Starting in 1935 with
|
|
newspaper strips, he developed a repertoire of techniques that by the time
|
|
of his Marvel Comics work in the 1960s had given his artwork unparalleled
|
|
power and dynamics. For better or worse, Kirby established the visual
|
|
grammar of superhero storytelling; his influence was immense. He created
|
|
CAPTAIN AMERICA with JOE SIMON in 1941, but will be most widely remembered
|
|
for his ground-breaking 1960s work on FANTASTIC FOUR, THOR, INCREDIBLE
|
|
HULK, X-MEN, etc."
|
|
|
|
TERRY PRATCHETT, in an astonishing reversal of expectations, won the BCA
|
|
Fantasy & SF Author of the Year Award (latest addition to the commercially
|
|
oriented British Book Awards).
|
|
|
|
CARL SAGAN disliked Apple's use of "Carl Sagan" as internal nickname for a
|
|
planned computer. Insider sources now add that he chiefly objected to the
|
|
company of sister projects named Tesla, Piltdown Man and Cold Fusion. Thus
|
|
the machine briefly became the BHA, for "Butt-Head Astronomer" ... only to
|
|
be renamed, in short order, the LAW: "Lawyers Are Wimps".
|
|
|
|
HELEN SHARMAN, Astro-OBE, will present the Arthur C.Clarke Award on 20
|
|
April: Kennedy Room, Irish Centre, Murray St, Camden. 6pm for 7:30. MC:
|
|
Geoff Ryman. More data: David V.Barrett.
|
|
|
|
BRUCE STERLING heard from a Brit who got a job in telecomms after reciting
|
|
large chunks of THE HACKER CRACKDOWN at his interview: "Suggested
|
|
promotional line for the sf audience of the 90s: 'Read Bruce Sterling and
|
|
actually get a job'."
|
|
|
|
THE DEAD PAST: Almost remembered US fan Tom Perry has a squib on HEINLEIN
|
|
in Damon Knight's MONAD #3 which may outrage the easily outraged. Tracking
|
|
down the 30's political activity which RAH kept so dark, Tom finds it was
|
|
(by US standards) left-wing: erstwhile socialist Upton Sinclair's "End
|
|
Poverty In California" platform. The "moderate Democrat" story told to and
|
|
published by Jerry Pournelle seems untrue in numerous details. Tom wonders
|
|
if RAH suppressed this innocuous-seeming data in fear of Nixon and McCarthy
|
|
(whose investigations he ironically "saw little wrong with"), since EPIC
|
|
links could be taken as evidence of "un-American activities". Was this why
|
|
Heinlein was touchy until death about his 1941 Worldcon speech, threatening
|
|
legal action in 1973 when the text -- arguably in the public domain -- was
|
|
reprinted through the well-meaning efforts of FORREST J ACKERMAN? Its
|
|
second paragraph approvingly mentions Sinclair-as-politician, you see....
|
|
|
|
TOO GOOD TO CHECK. "A fan of HITCH-HIKER was in a bar with a friend who
|
|
worked in a nut house. The fan happened to use one of the HHG tag-lines
|
|
("Here, put this fish in your ear" or something) and the shrink jumped up
|
|
saying, "WHAT?!" Seems they had a guy locked up who would only respond to
|
|
questions with HHG bits; since a lot of psychos have languages all their
|
|
own, and no-one who'd dealt with this guy knew HHG, they were going nuts
|
|
themselves trying to decipher him." [NR] Just needed a fish in the ear,
|
|
really.
|
|
|
|
AMAZING STORIES suspended publication after appearing since 1926; current
|
|
owners TSR may have it redesigned. [_SFC_]
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
OTHER WRITTEN SF
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
The new generation of STAR WARS fans (ie, anybody who's not old enough to
|
|
have seen it in the theaters originally) will finally get to read the
|
|
original spin-off novel, SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE, by ALAN DEAN FOSTER,
|
|
when it's released this month by Del Rey. KEVIN ANDERSON'S book STAR WARS:
|
|
JEDI SEARCH debuted in the top ten, and the week of March 9th it was number
|
|
two on the PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY list. Anderson, who keeps up with the
|
|
Fidonet SW echo, took some time to thank net.fans for their support.
|
|
|
|
Del Rey has also contracted with bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, best
|
|
known for the Forgotten Realms Dark Elf novels THE STARLESS NIGHT and THE
|
|
LEGACY, for three fantasy novels, beginning the the summer of 1996.
|
|
|
|
ORSON SCOTT CARD has finally finished the Homecoming Saga. THE SHIPS OF
|
|
EARTH, the third book, is out this month, EARTHFALL, the fourth, is due out
|
|
in January 1995, and the fifth will be out the following May. Having done
|
|
that and turned it in to Tor, according to Tor editor Patrick Nielsen
|
|
Hayden he will now work on the fourth Alvin novel.
|
|
|
|
ROBERT ANTON WILSON, author of more than 20 books including the
|
|
SCHRODINGER'S CAT trilogy and THE ILLUMINATUS! trilogy (with ROBERT SHEA),
|
|
died February 21 of an apparent heart attack. He was 63.
|
|
|
|
DIANE DUANE will be writing a SPIDER-MAN novel for Byron Preiss Visual
|
|
Communications. Due out in spring of 1995, it will NOT be a novelization
|
|
of the upcoming Spidey film.
|
|
|
|
NESFA 1993 Hugo Recommendations
|
|
For a second year, the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) is
|
|
maintaining a list of Good Stuff to read. Any NESFA member who reads
|
|
something that they would like to recommend to others to be considered for
|
|
a Hugo nomination can add it to the list. We will publish it from time to
|
|
time in Instant Message and on the nets. (Feel free to reproduce it
|
|
provided you reproduce it intact!) It's neither definitive nor complete,
|
|
but it contains the stories, novels and non-fiction works that a bunch of
|
|
well-read fans feel may be worthy of a Hugo nomination.
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Novel**
|
|
Ring of Swords / Eleanor Arnason / Tor / gf
|
|
Forward the Foundation / Isaac Asimov / Doubleday / arl, rk
|
|
Against a Dark background / Iain M. Banks / Orbit, Bantam
|
|
Spectra / ca
|
|
Moving Mars / Greg Bear / Tor / mlo, gf
|
|
Glory Season / David Brin / Bantam Spectra / arl
|
|
Agyar / Steven Brust / Tor / ec, ks
|
|
The Door into Sunset (UK, '92) / Diane Duane / Tor / ec, ks
|
|
Growing Up Weightless / John M. Ford / Bantam Spectra /
|
|
cjh, gf, ks
|
|
The Thread That Binds the Bones / Nina Kiriki Hoffman /
|
|
AvoNova / po, gf, ks
|
|
Nimbus / Alexander Jablokov / AvoNova / ec
|
|
Beggars in Spain / Nancy Kress / AvoNova / gf, ca
|
|
Red Dust / Paul J. McAuley / Gollancz / ca
|
|
Green Mars / Kim Stanley Robinson / Harper Collins UK /
|
|
daa, ca, mlo, gf
|
|
Lord of the Two Lands / Judith Tarr / Tor / ec, mlo, pal
|
|
Virtual Girl / Amy Thomson / Ace / sls, gf, ks
|
|
The Destiny Makers / George Turner / Morrow/AvoNova / ec
|
|
The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump / Harry Turtledove / Baen / by
|
|
The Well-Favored Man / Elizabeth Willey / Tor / mlo, po
|
|
The Harvest / Robert Charles Wilson / Bantam / ca, gf, daa
|
|
Nightside the Long Sun / Gene Wolfe / Tor / gf, ec, mlo
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Novella**
|
|
The Beauty Addict / Ray Aldridge / Full Spectrum 4 / gf
|
|
The Night We Buried Road Dog / Jack Cady / F&SF, Jan / ca, gf
|
|
Mephisto in Onyx / Harlan Ellison / Omni, Oct / sls, gf
|
|
Dancing on Air / Nancy Kress / Asimov's, Jul / arl, gf
|
|
Einstein's Dreams / Alan Lightman / Pantheon / el
|
|
Into the Miranda Rift / G. David Nordley / ASF, Jul /
|
|
arl, tp, ca, gf, pal, daa, mlo
|
|
Deus X / Norman Spinrad / Bantam / el
|
|
Down in the Bottomlands / Harry Turtledove / ASF, Jan / arl
|
|
Wall, Stone, Craft / Walter Jon Williams / F&SF Oct-Nov /
|
|
arl, ks, gf
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Novelette**
|
|
The Shadow Knows / Terry Bisson / Asimov's Sept / arl, gf
|
|
Tourist Attraction / Juleen Brantingham / Amazing, Aug / arl
|
|
Men of Good Will / J. R. Dunn / Amazing, Mar / ca, mlo
|
|
A History of the Antipodes / Phillip C. Jennings / Amazing, Mar /
|
|
ca
|
|
The Franchise / John Kessel / Asimov's, Aug / gf
|
|
Sunshine, Genius and Rust / Jeffery D. Kooistra / ASF, May / arl
|
|
Beneath the Stars of Winter / Geoffrey Landis / Asimov's, Jan /
|
|
gf, ca
|
|
Because Thou Lovest the Burning Ground / Michael Kube-McDowell /
|
|
Alternate Warriors - Resnick / Tor / arl
|
|
Papa / Ian R. MacLeod / Asimov's, Oct / ca
|
|
The Dakna / Jamil Nasir / Asimov's, Sept / arl, ca
|
|
Sister Alice / Robert Reed / Asimov's, Nov / ca
|
|
The Arrival of Truth / Kristine Kathryn Rusch /
|
|
Alternate Warriors - Resnick / Tor / arl, gf
|
|
Georgia on My Mind / Charles Sheffield / ASF, Jan / gf, ca
|
|
Suicidal Tendencies / Dave Smeds / Full Spectrum 4 / gf
|
|
Deep Eddy / Bruce Sterling / Asimov's, Aug 93 / gf
|
|
The Ape That Ate the Universe / Ian Stewart / ASF, Jul / tp, gf
|
|
In Dreams / Andrew Weiner / Asimov's mid-Dec 93 / arl
|
|
Death on the Nile / Connie Willis / Asimov's, Mar 93 / gf
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Short story**
|
|
Everything that Rises Must Converge / Michael Armstrong /
|
|
Asimov's, Feb / gf, ca
|
|
Afterschool Special / Paul DiFilippo / Amazing, Jun / ca
|
|
Campbell's World / Paul DiFilippo / Amazing, Sept /
|
|
ca, arl, mlo, gf
|
|
Promised Lives / Julia Ecklar / F&SF, Sept / el
|
|
Steam / John Griesemer / Asimov's May / ca
|
|
Touching Fire / Nicola Griffith / Interzone 70, April / arl
|
|
The Battle of Long Island / Nancy Kress / Omni, Feb/Mar /
|
|
ca, gf, mlo
|
|
Hugh Merrow / Jonathan Lethem / F&SF Oct-Nov / arl
|
|
The Passage of the Light / Barry N. Malzberg / SF Age, Nov / arl
|
|
The Color of Sunfire / Larry Niven / Bridging the Galaxies / kevs
|
|
Procrustes / Larry Niven / Bridging the Galaxies / kevs
|
|
Blind / Robert Reed / Asimov's, May / arl, gf
|
|
Mwalimu in the Squared Circle / Mike Resnick / Asimov's Mar 93 /
|
|
Alt. Warriors / arl, gf
|
|
The Light at the End of the Day / Carrie Richerson / F&SF Oct-Nov /
|
|
arl
|
|
The Story So Far / Martha Soukup / Full Spectrum 4 / gf, ca
|
|
Sacred Cow / Bruce Sterling / Omni, Jan / gf
|
|
The Murderer / Lawrence Watt-Evans / Asimov's, Apr / el
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Non Fiction**
|
|
Once Around the Bloch / Robert Bloch / Tor / ca, ks
|
|
The John W. Campbell Letters, Vol II: Asimov & Van Vogt /
|
|
Perry A. Chapdelaine, Sr. / AC Projects / mlo
|
|
PITFCS: Proceedings of the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies /
|
|
Theodore Cogswell / Advent / ca, mlo
|
|
Adventures in Unhistory / Avram Davidson / Owlswick / gf, mlo
|
|
Encyclopedia of SF / Clute & Nicholls / St. Martin's / mlo, gf, pal
|
|
Morgoth's Ring / Christopher Tolkien / Houghton Mifflin / mlo
|
|
The Art of Michael Whelan / Michael Whelan / Bantam / gf
|
|
Time Machines / P. J. Nahin / American Inst. of Physics Press /
|
|
mlo
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Dramatic Presentation**
|
|
5-Minute Retrospective of SF / Connie Willis / Nebula banquet / el
|
|
Groundhog Day / / / gf
|
|
Jurassic Park / / / ca, jam, sls, pf
|
|
Oedipus Rex / / PBS / el
|
|
Saltimbanco / Cirque de Soleil / / ca, daa
|
|
Timescape / / ST:TNG 6/19/93 / ca
|
|
Vampyr: A Soap Opera / / A&E / el
|
|
Nightmare Before Christmas / Tim Burton / Disney / sls, kp,
|
|
cmcd, pf, ca, daa
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Original Artwork**
|
|
Agyar / Jim Burns / Cover of Steven Brust's novel (Tor) / ca
|
|
The Consort / Jim Burns / Cover of Asimov's, Apr 93 / ca
|
|
Lord of the Two Lands / David Cherry / Cover of Judith Tarr's
|
|
novel (Tor) / ca, mlo
|
|
Orcaurora / Bob Eggleton / / sls, ged, sls
|
|
Space Fantasy Stamps / Stephen Hickman / / el, kevs
|
|
Chimera / Peter Peebles / Mary Rosenblum's novel (Del Rey) / ca
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
**Campbell award **
|
|
Maggie Flinn
|
|
Holly Lisle
|
|
Carrie Richerson
|
|
Amy Thompson
|
|
Elisabeth Willey / mlo
|
|
|
|
Key to nominators:
|
|
ca: Claire Anderson, daa: Dave Anderson, ec: Elisabeth Carey, ged: Gay
|
|
Ellen Dennett, gf: George Flynn, pf: Pam Fremon, mh: Mark Hertel, rk: Rick
|
|
Katze, el: Evelyn Leeper, pal: Paula Leiberman, arl: Tony Lewis, jam: Jim
|
|
Mann, lm: Laurie Mann, cmcd: Craig McDonough, mlo: Mark Olson, po:
|
|
Priscilla Olson, kp: Kelly Persons, sls: Sharon Sbarsky, ks: Kurt Siegel;
|
|
kevs: Kevin Standlee, by: Ben Yalow
|
|
....................
|
|
|
|
SF IN FRENCH AND FRENCH SF NEWS
|
|
....................
|
|
by Jean-Louis Trudel
|
|
|
|
The Winter SF season saw a batch of new and interesting books come on
|
|
the market. In Canada, the new Sextant imprint of Quebec/Amerique was
|
|
launched with the publication of Elisabeth Vonarburg's alternate history
|
|
novel LES VOYAGEURS MALGRE EUX (The Reluctant Travellers) and of Joel
|
|
Champetier's horror novel LA MEMOIRE DU LAC (The Memory of the Lake).
|
|
Both novels have Quebec settings, and Champetier's novel is reportedly
|
|
doing well in the stores. Novels by Jean-Pierre April and Francine
|
|
Pelletier are expected to appear under the same imprint, perhaps by the
|
|
end of the year.
|
|
Canada's francophone SF authors continue to find an outlet in young
|
|
adult fiction. Last Fall, in addition to Stanley Pean, there was Michel
|
|
Belil who ventured into the field with a fiction collection called LA
|
|
GROTTE DE TOUBOUCTOM (The Cave of Toubouctom). This Spring, Jean-Louis
|
|
Trudelis turning out his first young adult novel, ALLER SIMPLE POUR
|
|
SAGUENAL(One Way Ticket to Saguenal), for the Editions Paulines of
|
|
Montreal, which is also releasing a fantasy novel at the same time, by
|
|
young veteran JoelChampetier: LE SECRET DES SYLVANEAUX (The Secret of the
|
|
Sylvans).
|
|
On the magazine scene in Canada, SOLARIS 108 offered up interviews
|
|
ofQuebec author Jean Dion and of French illustrator and artist Jean-
|
|
YvesKervevan, whose beautifully gruesome art graced the issue's cover.
|
|
Therewere three stories: "La derniere orbite" (The Last Orbit) by new
|
|
authorPierre Dion, "Contamination" by Jean-Louis Trudel, and "Les
|
|
yeuxtroubles" (Misty Eyes) by Claude Bolduc. Dion's short story, about
|
|
anincident involving a space station, the Space Shuttle, and the Russians,
|
|
would not have been out of place in an American SF magazine like ANALOG.
|
|
My own story focused on aliens defeated by humans and dealing with human
|
|
tampering with their reproductive system. Bolduc's story was his best so
|
|
far, a suspenseful tale of terror about a man's possession by another.
|
|
The latest issue of IMAGINE..., numbered 66, included stories by
|
|
Frenchand Canadian authors. The best was by Harold Cote, who crafts in
|
|
"M8v"(not a stellar classification, but a planetary designation) a
|
|
quiteclassical SF story, with a mystery that has to be solved rationally.
|
|
On the other hand, Claude Bolduc's "Rouge" (Red) is a rather banal vampire
|
|
story and Thierry Di Rollo's "Le Grand-Mainate" (The Great Mynah) seems
|
|
somewhat pointless, as the tale of two ill-fated explorers meanders to
|
|
itsend. Quite cleverer is Jean-Pierre Guillet's "Dodo!" (Sleep!), a
|
|
gadgetstory with a soft horror twist ending. In the same issue,
|
|
DanielleTremblay's serial "Pas de paradis sans... l'enfer" (No Paradise
|
|
without... Hell) continues with a second episode devoted to a young man's
|
|
initiationinto a New Age version of Starfleet Academy...
|
|
In France, the most prestigious imprints which still include novels
|
|
byFrench authors are put out by Denoel. Last October, it re-issued
|
|
anotherclassic SF book, ODYSSEE SOUS CONTROLE (Odyssey Under Control)
|
|
byStefan Wul. In November, it published Serge Brussolo's new MANGE-
|
|
MONDE(World-Eater) and TERRITOIRES DE L'INQUIETUDE 7 (Lands of Anxiety7),
|
|
an anthology of fantastic/fantasy edited by Alain Doremieux and gathering
|
|
stories by American and French authors. The French contributorswere Jean-
|
|
Pierre Andrevon, Richard Canal, Jean-Claude Dunyach, andRaymond Milesi, all
|
|
well-known names in French SF.
|
|
Finally, in January, Denoel put out one French SF novel, LES
|
|
PERSPECTIVES DU MENSONGE (The Perspectives of Mendacity) by newcomer Yves
|
|
Ramonet, and one French fantasy novel, LA MORT PEUT DANSER (Death Can
|
|
Dance) by veteran Jean-Marc Ligny. The difference in experience shows.
|
|
Ramonet's novel wanted to set a hectic, helter-skelter pace through
|
|
variousrealities, but winds up being chaotic and boring. Ligny's novel,
|
|
inspired by the alternative musical group DEAD CAN DANCE, is modern
|
|
fantasy, shifting between the story of Forgaill in twelfth-century Ireland
|
|
in the time of the Norman invasion and the story of a group called DEATH
|
|
CAN DANCE in twentieth-century Ireland. It's entrancing, it's the best
|
|
novel I've read from Ligny, and it's one of the best French fantasy novels
|
|
I've read. It has the warmth and the personability of the works by Charles
|
|
de Lint and Emma Bull, but it also has the maturity of the greats like
|
|
Robert Holdstock and John Crowley.
|
|
The other major French SF line is the Fleuve Noir Anticipation. One
|
|
recent novel there is ARAGO, by Laurent Genefort. Despite some inventive
|
|
flashes, it's essentially a vacuous and gratuitously violent quest story,
|
|
set on a colony planet of Earth.
|
|
French SF novels from J'ai Lu are rarer, but L'HISTRION (The Buffoon)
|
|
by Ayerdhal ranks as their principal effort of the last months of 1993.
|
|
Finally, in Switzerland, the House of Elsewhere, a museum of
|
|
sciencefiction and fantasy, is presenting its "Alien & Heidi" exhibit of
|
|
SwissSF art until April 24. On May 1st, it will launch its
|
|
"Parapsychologie"exhibit on ESP in SF, which is scheduled to last until
|
|
October 23.The House of Elsewhere, better known as the Maison d'Ailleurs,
|
|
is located in the Swiss town of Yverdon-les-Bains, North of Lausanne.
|
|
............
|
|
Japan Report
|
|
............
|
|
by David Milner
|
|
|
|
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA recently completed its run in Japanese
|
|
theaters. The film was very successful, but it did not do quite as well as
|
|
last year's GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA.
|
|
The twenty-first Godzilla film is scheduled to be released in Japan in
|
|
December. It tentatively is going to pit Godzilla against both an updated
|
|
version of Mogera, the giant robot that appears in THE MYSTERIANS, and
|
|
"space Godzilla," a monster somehow created from the remains of the one
|
|
brought to life by the combining of cells from Godzilla, a woman and a rose
|
|
in GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE. The baby Godzilla introduced in GODZILLA VS.
|
|
MECHAGODZILLA also will be in the film.
|
|
Toho's special effects crew recently completed work on MONSTER PLANET
|
|
- GODZILLA, a 3D ride featuring Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan that is
|
|
scheduled to open at the Sanrio Puroland amusement park located just
|
|
outside of Tokyo in the middle of March.
|
|
A concert featuring music written by Akira Ifukube for a number of the
|
|
Godzilla films was held near Osaka on November 23rd. The orchestra was
|
|
conducted not by Ifukube, but instead by Masaru Sato, who scored GODZILLA
|
|
RAIDS AGAIN, GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, SON OF GODZILLA and several
|
|
other monster films. A CD will be released in Japan sometime during the
|
|
summer.
|
|
Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, the two people who wrote the script for
|
|
Walt Disney's ALADDIN, have completed the script for TriStar's upcoming
|
|
Godzilla film. The film reportedly will be directed by Alex Cox, whose
|
|
credits include REPO MAN, SID & NANCY, STRAIGHT TO HELL and WALKER.
|
|
Shooting is scheduled to get underway in May.
|
|
Toho has announced that it will release LEGEND OF JAPAN, a film
|
|
loosely based on the 1959 epic JAPAN BIRTH, in Japan in July. Previews for
|
|
the film featuring a few shots of the Yamata no orochi (hydra of Yamata)
|
|
have already begun running in Japanese theaters.
|
|
It has also been announced that GIANT MONSTER DECISIVE AIR BATTLE
|
|
GAMERA will be released in Japan in March or April of 1995. It is going to
|
|
pit Gamera against Gaos, the giant vampire bat seen in both GAMERA VS. GAOS
|
|
and GAMERA VS. GUIRON.
|
|
Due out within the next few months are new Godzilla games for the
|
|
Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Turbo Duo and Gameboy. All three
|
|
feature Godzilla battling a number of other monsters. Also in the works for
|
|
the SNES is a game called MILO VS. GODZILLA.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!11!-- Spoilers Ahoy! (And season 3 of the TWILIGHT ZONE Episode Guide)
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
BABYLON 5: (Listed in production order, as of 931218.)
|
|
|
|
Week Of Prod # Title
|
|
-----------------------------------------------
|
|
3/21/94 103R Midnight on the Firing Line
|
|
3/28/94 102R The Soul Hunter
|
|
4/04/94 104R Born To The Purple
|
|
4/11/94 101R Infection
|
|
4/18/94 113 Deathwalker
|
|
4/25/94 105 Believers
|
|
5/02/94 111 Survivors
|
|
|
|
113. Deathwalker - Written by LARRY DITILLIO. Directed by BRUCE
|
|
SETH GREEN. A woman is using human guinea pigs to create a
|
|
formula for achieving immortality. Focuses strongly on the
|
|
politics of B5 and back-room deals between not only the Big
|
|
Five governments but also the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.
|
|
Guest starring SARAH DOUGLAS and ROBIN CURTIS.
|
|
|
|
105. Believers - Written by DAVID GERROLD. Directed by RICHARD
|
|
COMPTON. Dr. Franklin asks Sinclair to intermediate with an
|
|
alien family who, because of their religious beliefs, refuses
|
|
to allow surgery that would save their dying child.
|
|
Introduction of a new recurring character, Dr. Maya Hernandez
|
|
(SILVANA GALLARDO). Guest starring JONATHON KAPLAN, TRICIA
|
|
O'NEIL, and STEPHEN LEE.
|
|
|
|
111. Survivors - Written by MARC SCOTT ZICREE. Directed by JIM
|
|
JOHNSTON. Garibaldi's past catches up to him, with some
|
|
fairly disastrous consequences that will linger long after the
|
|
episode is finished. He's blamed by some for an accident
|
|
aboard B5, which leads to hitting the bottle again after a
|
|
prolonged abstinence. Originally titled "A Knife in the
|
|
Shadows."
|
|
|
|
109. Grail - Written by CHRISTY MARX. Directed by RICHARD COMPTON.
|
|
A traveller played by DAVID WARNER comes to B5, seeking the
|
|
Holy Grail. This episode will feature a substantive on-camera
|
|
role for a CGI alien and includes a CGI sequence that shows
|
|
how ships get from the interior of the main docking bay down
|
|
to the customs and loading bays. Also guest starring WILLIAM
|
|
SANDERSON and TOM BOOKER.
|
|
|
|
112. Chrysalis - Written by JMS. Directed by JANET GREEK. First
|
|
Season finale, shot twelth due to the extensive post-
|
|
production work required. This episode will feature a major
|
|
turn that will have lasting effects on all the characters, and
|
|
possibly change the entire direction of the series.
|
|
|
|
114. By Any Means Necessary - Written by KATHRYN DRENNAN. Directed
|
|
by JIM JOHNSTON. About the inner workings of B5, the
|
|
blue-collar types who keep the whole place operational, and
|
|
what happens when that falls apart. Londo interferes in an
|
|
important Narn religious observation which leads to another
|
|
confrontation between him and G'Kar. Guest starring JOHN
|
|
SNYDER and KATY BOYER. Originally titled "Backlash."
|
|
|
|
115. Legacies - Written by D.C. FONTANA. Directed by BRUCE SETH
|
|
GREEN. A girl entering puberty begins to exhibit telepathic
|
|
abilities, and the crew must decide whether to turn her over
|
|
to the Psi Corps. The only first season script so far that
|
|
was developed outside the B5 offices. Guest starring JOHN
|
|
VICKERY.
|
|
|
|
116. Signs and Portents - Written by JMS. Directed by JANET GREEK.
|
|
B5 has to confront the threat of pirates on the frontier. A
|
|
combat-heavy show, with large amounts of CGI, including a
|
|
sequence with three squadrons of ships engaged in a fast-paced
|
|
battle that goes on for most of an act and a half. Guest
|
|
starring GERRIT GRAHAM. Originally titled "Raiding Party."
|
|
|
|
118. Babylon Squared - Written by JMS. Directed by JIM JOHNSTON.
|
|
We learn what happened to Babylon 4, but in the process there
|
|
are more questions asked then answered. We also get to see
|
|
the Minbari Great Hall and the chambers of the Grey Council.
|
|
|
|
119. TKO - Written by LARRY DITILLIO. Directed by JOHN FLYNN. A
|
|
Rabbi (THEODORE BIKEL) helps Ivanova come to terms with her
|
|
father's death. Also guest starring GREG MCKINNEY.
|
|
|
|
All information is from Joe Straczynski, on the GEnie Science Fiction
|
|
RoundTable, or the Usenet newsgroup alt.tv.babylon-5.
|
|
|
|
ROBOCOP: THE SERIES
|
|
|
|
3/14/94 Robocop: The Future of
|
|
Law Enforcement (two
|
|
hour opener)
|
|
3/21/94 Prime Suspect
|
|
3/28/94 Trouble in Delta City
|
|
4/04/94 Officer Missing
|
|
4/11/94 What Money Can't Buy
|
|
|
|
SEAQUEST DSV
|
|
3/13/94 Treasures of the Mind
|
|
3/20/94 The Last Lap at Luxury
|
|
3/27/94 Brothers and Sisters
|
|
4/17/94 Photon Bullet
|
|
|
|
"Treasure of the Mind" -- Tony and Oscar nominee Topol (FIDDLER ON THE
|
|
ROOF) guest stars as Dr. Hassan, a scientist helping Bridger and Dr.
|
|
Westphalen study an extraordinary find by the seaQuest: the sunken library
|
|
of Alexandria, which teams from greedy nations hope to plunder for its
|
|
priceless, ancient artifacts. Meanwhile, the UEO places a group of mind
|
|
readers on board to search out a highly placed leak aboard the seaQuest.
|
|
|
|
"The Last Lap at Luxury" -- When UEO Secretary General Andre Dre calls the
|
|
firs United Earth/Oceans Organization summit in two years, the room where
|
|
guest speaker Lucas and confederation leaders convene mysteriously breaks
|
|
away from an underwater resort. Admiral Noyce and Captain Bridger search
|
|
for clues to the strange disappearance and unravel a plot to change the way
|
|
the UEO does business.
|
|
|
|
"Brothers and Sisters" -- Bridger and Lucas work to coax a group of
|
|
abandoned children to safety aboard the seaQuest when the crumbling
|
|
munitions facility they live in is threatened by an underwater typhoon.
|
|
Skeptical of the seaQuest's efforts, the children's leader, Zach, takes
|
|
Ford hostage and refuses to leave the munitions outpost.
|
|
|
|
"Photon Bullet" -- Lucas is in his element when Martin Clemens summons him
|
|
to the Pacific Ocean's Node Three, a high-tech information and
|
|
communications hub operated by a group of teen-aged whiz kids. But when
|
|
the hackers want him to crack the World Bank's computer codes so that they
|
|
can re-direct funds to humanitarian causes, Lucas wrestles with the
|
|
temptation to accept the ultimate hacker's challenge.
|
|
|
|
TIME TRAX
|
|
3/14/94 31 The Cure
|
|
3/21/94 22R Mysterious Man
|
|
3/28/94 21R Framed
|
|
4/04/94 18R Beautiful Songbird
|
|
4/11/94 19R Photo Finish
|
|
4/18/94 30 Perfect Pair
|
|
4/25/94 36 Catch Me If You Can
|
|
|
|
To Be Scheduled:
|
|
32 Almost Human
|
|
|
|
31. "The Cure" -- Darien races to stop Dr. Sahmbi, who's doing a booming
|
|
business "curing" wealthy cancer victims with lethal doses of TXP, which
|
|
offers temporary relief before poisoning the unsuspecting patients.
|
|
|
|
30. "Perfect Pair" -- Darien is reunited with his reckless former partner
|
|
Mace Warfield, an unpredictable cop sent back to track down a corrupt
|
|
former police commander who has escaped to the past.
|
|
|
|
36. "Catch Me If You Can" -- Darien joins forces with a small town woman
|
|
sheriff (guest star Nacy Everhard) to track down an old adversary from the
|
|
future who is using a weapon he stole from Darien to mount a bank-robbing
|
|
spree.
|
|
|
|
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
|
|
|
|
3/19/94 271 Genesis
|
|
3/26/94 272 Journey's End
|
|
4/02/94 261R Force of Nature
|
|
4/09/94 262R Inheritance
|
|
4/16/94 263R Parallels
|
|
4/23/94 273 First Born
|
|
4/30/94 274 Bloodlines
|
|
...
|
|
5/21/94 277/278 All Good Things
|
|
(Two-hour finale)
|
|
|
|
"Genesis" -- Data and Picard return to the Enterprise to find that the
|
|
entire crew is de-evoloving into prehistoric creatures.
|
|
|
|
"Journey's End" -- The Traveler returns, as does Wesley Crusher, who
|
|
considers open rebellion when the Enterprise is forced to relocate a group
|
|
of American Indians from the planet they have settled.
|
|
|
|
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
|
|
3/19/94 438 Profit and Loss
|
|
3/26/94 439 Blood Oath
|
|
4/2/94 426R Melora
|
|
4/9/94 427R Rules of Aquisition
|
|
4/16/94 428 Necessary Evil
|
|
4/23/94 440 The Maquis Part I
|
|
4/30/94 441 The Maquis Part II
|
|
|
|
"Profit and Loss" -- Quark will risk anything to win back an old flame.
|
|
There's just one problem: she's a Cardassian on the run.
|
|
|
|
"Blood Oath" -- Dax, bound by a blood oath with three Klingons, risks her
|
|
future -- and her life.
|
|
|
|
HIGHLANDER: THE SERIES
|
|
|
|
3/7/94 93217 Warmonger
|
|
3/14/94 93206(R) The Zone
|
|
3/21/94 93207(R) Return of Amanda
|
|
3/28/94 93210(R) Epitaph For Tommy
|
|
4/4/94 93212(R) Under Color of
|
|
Authority
|
|
4/11/94 93211(R) The Fighter
|
|
4/18/94 93213(R) Bless The Child
|
|
4/25/94 93218 Pharaoh's Daughter
|
|
5/2/94 93219 Legacy
|
|
5/9/94 93220 Prodigal Son
|
|
5/16/94 93221 Counterfeit Part 1
|
|
5/23/94 93222 Counterfeit Part 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Pharoh's Daughter" -- Nefertiri was Cleopatra's handmaid, buried 2000
|
|
years ago with her mistress. Now revived, she pursues a vendetta against
|
|
the Immortal Marcus Constantine, who was her lover and her enemy.
|
|
|
|
"Legacy" -- Amanda's mentor Rebecca is killed, and Amanda is determined to
|
|
avenge the death, even though it means going up against formidable Immortal
|
|
Luther, and very possibly losing her head.
|
|
|
|
"Counterfeit" -- In the second of the two part season finale, Alexandra
|
|
Vandernoot (who played Tessa) makes a very special appeareance.
|
|
|
|
PRISONERS OF GRAVITY
|
|
|
|
3/9/94 Fairy Tales
|
|
3/16/94 Vampires
|
|
3/30/94 Aliens
|
|
4/6/94 Sexism and Feminism
|
|
4/13/94 Comic Book Layout
|
|
4/20/94 The Brain and
|
|
Artificial
|
|
Intelligence
|
|
|
|
X-FILES
|
|
|
|
3/18/94 118R Miracle Man
|
|
2/15/94 112R Fire
|
|
4/1/94 119R Shapes
|
|
4/8/94 113R Beyond The Sea
|
|
4/15/94 120 Darkness Falls
|
|
|
|
"Miracle Man" -- When several inform and crippled people mysteriously die
|
|
after being tended to by a young faith healer, Mulder and Scully fly to
|
|
Tennessee to investigate his ministry. Have the young man's miraculous
|
|
healing abilities turned from good to evil? Or is he a charlatan with a
|
|
murderous bent?
|
|
|
|
"Fire" -- When several of Britain's top politicians die suddenly in
|
|
mysterious fires, high level scurity is called for to protect the prime
|
|
minister who is thought to be the next target. Mulder's old Oxford flame,
|
|
now a Scotland Yard detective, enlists his and Scully's help to look after
|
|
the minister and his family while they are on vacation in the U.S. Mulder
|
|
must confront his own fear of fire when they uncover that fact that the
|
|
assassin posessed startling pyrotechnic abilities.
|
|
|
|
"Shapes" -- Mulder and Scully travel to a small Montana town to investigate
|
|
the shooting death of a young Native Indian man. the rangers who killed
|
|
the Indian insist they were shooting at a wild animal which Mulder believes
|
|
to be a Manitou -- an evil spirit that can change a man's body into that of
|
|
an animal.
|
|
|
|
"Beyond the Sea" -- After two North Carolina students are kidnapped by a
|
|
serial killer, Scully and Mulder seek the aid of a convicted killer
|
|
awaiting execution who claims his psychic powers can help them rescue the
|
|
teenagers before they are killed. When the convict's clues establish
|
|
several key facts about the identity and whereabouts of the killer, Scully
|
|
must weigh her own skepticism of psychic abilities against the startling
|
|
accuracy of the information.
|
|
|
|
SCI-FI CHANNEL MARCH MOVIE SCHEULE
|
|
|
|
We don't have anywhere near enough room to print the entire Sci-fi channel
|
|
schedule, but here's a list of the first day each movie will be shown in
|
|
the month of March.
|
|
|
|
3/05/94 DESTINATION INNER SPACE, TRANSFORMATIONS (NEW), BEYOND THE RISING
|
|
MOON, PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR
|
|
3/06/94 THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, SPIDERMAN: THE DEADLY DUST, THE INCREDIBLE
|
|
HULK RETURNS, TRIAL OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK, DEATH OF THE
|
|
INCREDIBLE
|
|
HULK
|
|
3/12/94 STOWAWAY TO THE MOON, THE BAMBOO SAUCER, THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED
|
|
AMERICA, DEEP RED, THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED AMERICA
|
|
3/13/94 KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE
|
|
3/19/94 THE LAND UNKNOWN, THIS ISLAND EARTH. KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, THE
|
|
BLACK CAT (1990)
|
|
3/20/94 OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK, WORLD OF DRACULA
|
|
3/21/94 DR. CYCLOPS
|
|
3/22/94 DR. RENAULT'S SECRET
|
|
3/23/94 DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS
|
|
3/24/94 DR. COOK'S GARDEN
|
|
3/25/94 THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK
|
|
3/26/94 TENNIS COURT (NEW), MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND, PIN, THE BLUE
|
|
MONKEY, MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND
|
|
3/27/94 KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, KING KONG ESCAPES
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Editor's note: The TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE GUIDE is reprinted with
|
|
permission from the author. It has not been edited except to serialise it
|
|
and condense it space-wise. All text is intact. The original is available
|
|
by FTP from gandalf.rutgers.edu.]
|
|
|
|
[This file is from the Sf-Lovers Archives at Rutgers University. It is
|
|
provided as part of a free service in connection with distribution of
|
|
Sf-Lovers Digest. This file is currently maintained by the moderator of
|
|
the Digest. It may be freely copied or redistributed in whole or in part
|
|
as long as this notice remains intact. If you would like to know more
|
|
about Sf-Lovers Digest, send mail to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.]
|
|
|
|
===========================
|
|
TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE GUIDE
|
|
===========================
|
|
Revision of 9/82
|
|
===========================
|
|
Saul Jaffe
|
|
Lauren Weinstein (vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX)
|
|
Lauren's rating system
|
|
* ugh. pretty bad.
|
|
** has merit.
|
|
*** good, solid show.
|
|
**** particularly good.
|
|
***** superlative.
|
|
|
|
[Season One was carried in Issue 1:6. Season Two was in 2:1.]
|
|
|
|
THIRD SEASON 1961-1962
|
|
|
|
TWO ***
|
|
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
|
|
Cast: Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, Sharon Lucas
|
|
In this contemporary Adam and Eve story, the two lone, frightened survivors
|
|
of a nuclear holocaust must start the world afresh.
|
|
LW: Golly, we got the other half of "Bewitched", Elizabeth Montgomery
|
|
(Samantha) herself. Strange how so many people from TZ episodes went
|
|
on to work together in the late 60's. Or maybe not so strange when you
|
|
consider the relationships built up with MGM and other studios over
|
|
this period.
|
|
|
|
THE ARRIVAL ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Boris Segal
|
|
Cast: Harold J. Stone, Bing Russell, Robert Karnes, Noah Keen, Jim Boles,
|
|
Robert Brubaker, Fredd Wayne
|
|
The aviation administration is completely baffled by the appearance of a
|
|
mysterious empty airliner - until an examiner poses the unlikely but
|
|
apparently sound theory that the craft is imaginary.
|
|
|
|
THE SHELTER ****
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Lamount Johnson
|
|
Cast: Larry Gates, Peggy Stewart, Michael Burne, Jack Albertson, Jo Helton,
|
|
Joseph Bernard, Moria Turner, Sandy Kenyon, Mary Gregory, John McLiam
|
|
When a possible nuclear attack is announced, several suburban friends and
|
|
neighbors are reduced to selfish, vicious animals in a struggle over one
|
|
family's bomb shelter.
|
|
LW: A strong cast (including Jack Albertson) lend power to this dramatic
|
|
story of emotions and fears running wild during a yellow alert.
|
|
|
|
THE PASSERBY **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Eliot Silverstein
|
|
Cast: Joanne Linville, James Gregory, Rex Holman, David Garcia, Warren
|
|
Kammering, Austin Green
|
|
A company of Civil War soldiers who believe they are marching home from
|
|
battle soon come to realize that they are actually dead.
|
|
|
|
A GAME OF POOL ****
|
|
Writer: George Clayton Johnson Director: A. E. Houghton
|
|
Cast: Jonathan Winters, Jack Klugman
|
|
A young pool player finds himself playing against a long-dead master pool
|
|
shark. The stakes: his life.
|
|
LW: A good one. Klugman and Winters are the only actors onstage at any
|
|
time
|
|
during this powerful and well acted episode.
|
|
|
|
THE MIRROR **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Don Medford
|
|
Cast: Peter Falk, Tony Carbone, Richard Karlan, Arthur Batanides, Rodolfo
|
|
Hoyos, Will Kuluva, Vladimir Sokoloff, Val Ruffino
|
|
In the state offices of an overthrown government, a revolutionary leader
|
|
uses a mirror reported to possess strange powers - it can show the viewer
|
|
the face of the person who will kill him.
|
|
LW: An interesting role for Faulk. The segment is really not terribly
|
|
good.
|
|
The country is obviously a thinly obscured representation of Castro's
|
|
Cuba.
|
|
|
|
THE GRAVE ***
|
|
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
|
|
Cast: Lee Marvin, James Best, Strother Martin, Ellen Willrad, Lee VanCleef,
|
|
William Challee, Stafford Repp, Larry Johns, Richard Geary
|
|
When a gunman scornfully defiles an outlaw's grave, he sees the man's dying
|
|
threats come true.
|
|
LW: Not a bad cast for a TZ! Not a terribly good story, but well done
|
|
nevertheless.
|
|
|
|
ITS A GOOD LIFE ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Jim Sheldon
|
|
Cast: Billy Mumy, John Larch, Cloris Leachman, Tom Hatcher, Alice Frost,
|
|
Don
|
|
Keefer, Jeanne Bates, Lenore Kingston, Casey Adams
|
|
A rural community is held terrorized by the unearthly powers of a young
|
|
boy.
|
|
Based on a short story by Jerome Bixby.
|
|
LW: Billy Mumy and (a relatively young) Cloris Leachman playing on TZ. Will
|
|
wonders never cease? This is an interesting episode, particularly since
|
|
Serling had to spend the first five minutes setting up the basic premise
|
|
of the story by using a U.S. map and individually introducing us to the
|
|
main characters! If you have ever read the classic story of the same
|
|
name by Bixby, you will know why this was necessary.
|
|
|
|
DEATHS-HEAD REVISITED **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Don Medford
|
|
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Oscar Beregi, Chuck Fox, Karen Verne, Robert
|
|
Boone, Ben Wright
|
|
A visit to a concentration camp at Dachau forces a former Nazi to confront
|
|
the horrifying ghosts of his ghastly wartime crimes.
|
|
LW: A well-meaning episode, but rather poor in overall quality.
|
|
|
|
THE MIDNIGHT SUN ****
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Anton Leader
|
|
Cast: Lois Nettleton, Betty Garde, Jason Wingreen, Juney Ellis, Ned Glass,
|
|
Robert J. Stevenson, John McLiam, Tom Reese, William Keene
|
|
The Earth is being slowly drawn into the sun, causing drought, devastating
|
|
heat waves - and panic. This episode features an outstanding musical score
|
|
by Van Cleave.
|
|
LW: A fine episode.
|
|
|
|
STILL VALLEY ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Jim Sheldon
|
|
Cast: Gary Merrill, Ben Cooper, Vaughn Taylor, Addison Myers, Mark
|
|
Tapscott,
|
|
Jack Mann
|
|
A strange book presents the Confederate Army with a difficult choice: they
|
|
can win the Civil War - but they must make a pact with the Devil. Based on
|
|
a short story by Manley Wade Wellman.
|
|
|
|
THE JUNGLE **
|
|
Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: William Claxton
|
|
Cast: John Dehner, Emily McLaughlin, Walter Brooks, Hugh Sanders, Howard
|
|
Wright, Donald Foster, Jay Overholts, Jay Adler
|
|
A contractor who has violated certain African lands must deal with the fury
|
|
of the African tribal wizard, even back home in the United States.
|
|
|
|
ONCE UPON A TIME ****
|
|
Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Norman Z. McLeod
|
|
Cast: Buster Keaton, Stanley Adams, Gil Lamb, James Flavin, Michael Ross,
|
|
Milton Parsons, George E. Stone, Warren Parker
|
|
A janitor in the late 1800s finds himself in the next century when he
|
|
innocently fiddles with his inventor-employer's contraption.
|
|
LW: Boy, is THIS a strange one! Note the presence of Buster Keaton as the
|
|
main character in the cast. The whole beginning and ending segments of
|
|
the show (whenever we are in 1880) are done as a SILENT FILM! We get
|
|
the usual slightly sped up effect, piano music, and dialog cards. When
|
|
we go into the future (or rather, OUR present), we suddenly go from
|
|
silent mode to regular sound, regular speed photography! This is one of
|
|
the class of Twilight Zone comedies, and is a very good one indeed.
|
|
|
|
FIVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN EXIT ****
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: William Windom, Murray Matheson, Susan Harrison, Kelton Garwood,
|
|
Clark
|
|
Allen, Mona Houghton, Carol Hill
|
|
Five people trying to escape from some sort of large cylindrical container
|
|
have no memory of who they are or how they came to be there. One is a
|
|
soldier, one a clown, one a dancer, and one a bagpiper. At least I think
|
|
there was a bagpiper. Hmm. There was also one other character (total must
|
|
equal five for the title to work!) Based on a short story by Marvin Petal.
|
|
LW: A good cast, and what has to be about the simplest set ever used in a
|
|
TZ, or almost any other television show for that matter.
|
|
|
|
A QUALITY OF MERCY **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Buzz Kulik
|
|
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Albert Salmi, Rayford Barnes, Ralph Votrian, Leonard
|
|
Nimoy, Dale Ishimoto, Jerry Fujikawa, Michael Pataki
|
|
A soldier gets a fresh, frightening perspective on his militaristic ways
|
|
when he suddenly experiences a war situation from the enemy's point of
|
|
view.
|
|
LW: The only notable element of this episode is Leonard Nimoy in a
|
|
relatively minor role.
|
|
|
|
NOTHING IN THE DARK ***
|
|
Writer: George Clayton Johnson Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Robert Redford, R. G. Armstrong
|
|
A frightened old woman who has sealed herself off from the world to avoid
|
|
confronting death, admits a wounded policeman and soon learns that she may
|
|
have made a big mistake.
|
|
|
|
ONE MORE PALLBEARER ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: Joseph Wiseman, Trevor Bardette, Gage Clark, Katherine Squire, Josip
|
|
Elic, Robert Snyder, Ray Galvin
|
|
A rich man schemes to wreak revenge on three people who humiliated him at
|
|
various points in his life. How? By staging a fake nuclear war, just for
|
|
their benefit.
|
|
|
|
DEAD MAN'S SHOES **
|
|
Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: Montgomery Pittman
|
|
Cast: Warren Stevens, Harry Swoger, Ben Wright, Joan Marshall, Eugene
|
|
Borden, Richard Devon, Florence Marly, Ron Haggerthy, Joe Mell
|
|
When a derelict dons the shoes of a dead gangster, he finds himself
|
|
following the course of the dead man's life.
|
|
LW: Not very good really, but it has a couple of fair moments.
|
|
|
|
SHOWDOWN WITH RANCE McGREW ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: C. Nyby
|
|
Cast: Larry Blyden, William McLean, Troy Melton, Jay Overholts, Robert J.
|
|
Stevenson, Robert Cornwaithe, Arch Johnson, Robert Kline, Hal K. Dawson
|
|
An obnoxious cowboy star gets his comeuppance whan he suddenly finds himself
|
|
confronting one of the outlaws who has been poorly presented in his
|
|
television show.
|
|
LW: Tongue-in-cheek. Fairly humorous.
|
|
|
|
THE HUNT ***
|
|
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr. Director: Harold Schuster
|
|
Cast: Arthur Hunnicutt, Jeanette Nolan, Titus Moede, Orville Sherman,
|
|
Charles Seel, Robert Foulk, Dexter DuPont
|
|
When a hunter and his dog are killed while stalking their prey, they go to
|
|
the Gates of Heaven, where they must deal with St. Peter. Or IS it really
|
|
St. Peter?
|
|
|
|
KICK THE CAN *
|
|
Writer: George Clayton Johnson Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: Ernest Treux, Russell Collins, Hank Patterson, Earle Hodgins, Burt
|
|
Mustin, Gregory McCabe, Marjorie Bennett, Lenore Shanewise, Anne O'Neal,
|
|
John Marley, Barry Treux, Eve McVeagh, Marc Stevens
|
|
A children's game somehow offers rejuvenative powers to an old man.
|
|
LW: Blech. Sopping sentimentality again. A number of these crept into the
|
|
series.
|
|
|
|
A PIANO IN THE HOUSE **
|
|
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr. Director: David Greene
|
|
Cast: Barry Morse, Joan Jackett, Don Durant, Phil Coolidge, Cyril Delevanti,
|
|
Muriel Landers
|
|
The right tune played on a mysterious player piano will reveal the
|
|
listener's true nature.
|
|
LW: Note the presence of Barry Morse (later of "Space: 1999" among other
|
|
shows).
|
|
|
|
TO SERVE MAN *****
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Richard Bare
|
|
Cast: Richard Kiel, Hardie Albright, Robert Tafur, Lomax Study, Theodore
|
|
Marcuse, Susan Cummings, Nelson Olmstead, Lloyd Bochner
|
|
When aliens come to Earth bearing promises of a utopian existence, the
|
|
military's suspicions and skepticism eventually prove justified. But too
|
|
late. The alien "Canamits" were executed by make-up artist William Tuttle.
|
|
Based on a short story by Damon Knight.
|
|
LW: This is a "super-classic". Probably the most popular TZ episode of all
|
|
time, and one of my personal top favorites as well. EXCELLENT.
|
|
|
|
THE LAST RITES OF JEFF MYRTLEBANK **
|
|
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
|
|
Cast: James Best, Ralph Moody, Ezelle Pouley, Vickie Barnes, Sherry
|
|
Jackson,
|
|
Helen Wallace, Lance Fuller, Bill Fawcett, Edgar Buchanan, Mabel
|
|
Forrest, Dub Taylor, Jon Lormer, Pat Hector
|
|
Because a young man has seemingly awakened from the dead, the superstitious
|
|
townspeople assume he is possessed by the Devil.
|
|
|
|
THE FUGITIVE **
|
|
Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: Richard L. Bare
|
|
Cast: J. Pat O'Malley, Susan Gordon, Nancy Kulp, Wesley Lau, Paul Tripp,
|
|
Stephen Talbot, Johnny Eiman, Russ Bender
|
|
A magical old gentleman uses his powers to help a sick little girl, thus
|
|
risking being returned to his home planet if agents of his planet locate
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
LITTLE GIRL LOST *****
|
|
Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Paul Stewart
|
|
Cast: Sarah Marshall, Robert Sampson, Charles Aidman, Tracy Stratford
|
|
A couple can hear their daughter's desperate cries, yet she is nowhere to be
|
|
found - she's fallen through an invisible "hole" in her wall, and is lost in
|
|
the fourth dimension.
|
|
LW: Another classic. Another excellent episode.
|
|
|
|
PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN ***
|
|
Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: John Brahm
|
|
Cast: Richard Long, Frank Silvera, Shirley Ballard, Julie Van Zandt, Betty
|
|
Harford, Ed Glover, Michael Kelp, Joe Higgins, John Newton
|
|
A man's day gets off to a bizarre start when he awakens to discover that no
|
|
one knows who he is.
|
|
LW: Richard Long also starred in several other TZ's over the years.
|
|
|
|
THE GIFT **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Allen Parker
|
|
Cast: Geoffrey Horne, Nico Minardos, Cliff Osmond, Edmund Vargas, Carmen
|
|
D'Antonio, Paul Mazursky, Vladimir Sokoloff, Vito Scotti, Henry Corden
|
|
A group of Mexican villagers are convinced that a downed flyer is, in fact,
|
|
an extraterrestrial.
|
|
|
|
THE LITTLE PEOPLE ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Bill Claxton
|
|
Cast: Joe Maross, Claude Akins, Michael Ford
|
|
Everything is relative, as a space traveler soon learns when he proceeds to
|
|
lord his size over the tiny folk who inhabit a planetoid.
|
|
|
|
FOUR O'CLOCK **
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: Theodore Bikel, Phyllis Love, Linden Chiles, Moyna MacGill
|
|
Based on a short story by Price Day.
|
|
Theodore Bikel is cast as demented Oliver Crangle, a man dedicated to the
|
|
expulsion of evil... at all costs. His plan: reduce all the evil people in
|
|
the world to 2 feet tall, at 4 o'clock.
|
|
|
|
THE TRADE-INS ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Elliot Silverstein
|
|
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Noah Keen, Alma Platt, Ted Marcuse, Edson Stroll,
|
|
Terrene De Marney, Billy Vincent, Mary McMahon, David Armstrong
|
|
Youth isn't all it's cracked up to be, as an old man learns when a mind and
|
|
personality transplant gives him a lonely new life in a young new body.
|
|
LW: Actually, he doesn't get the body until near the end of the show. The
|
|
primary focus of the episode is that he and his wife only have enough
|
|
money for ONE of them to be transplanted. A good show.
|
|
|
|
HOCUS POCUS AND FRISBY ****
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Lamont Johnson
|
|
Cast: Andy Devine, Milton Selzer, Howard McNear, Dabbs Greer, Clem Bevans,
|
|
Larry Breitman, Peter Brocco
|
|
The town windbag so impresses a visiting group of aliens (who are
|
|
masquerading as humans) with his tall tale stories that they attempt to take
|
|
him back to their planet for study as a prime Earth specimen. Based on a
|
|
short story by Frederic Louis Fox.
|
|
LW: Crusty-voiced Andy is perfect in his role. Very humorous.
|
|
|
|
THE DUMMY ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Abner Bibberman
|
|
Cast: Cliff Robertson, Frank Sutton, George Murdock, John Harmon, Sandra
|
|
Warner, Ralph Manza, Rudy Dolan, Bethelynn Grey
|
|
A cut-rate ventriloquist starts believing that his dummy actually has a mind
|
|
- and a will - of its own. Based on a story by Leon Polk.
|
|
|
|
THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD *
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Ellis Miller
|
|
Cast: Donald Pleasance, Liam Sullivan, Phillippa Bevans, Kevin O'Neal,
|
|
Jimmy
|
|
Baird, Kevin Jones, Tom Lowell, Russ Horton, Buddy Hart, Darryl Richard,
|
|
James Browning, Bob Biheller, Dennis Kerlee, Pat Close
|
|
A popular teacher faces the prospect of a life without purpose when he is
|
|
asked to retire from his post.
|
|
LW: Very little socially redeeming value to this one.
|
|
|
|
YOUNG MAN'S FANCY **
|
|
Writer: Richard Matheson Director: John Brahm
|
|
Cast: Phyllis Thaxter, Alex Nicol, Wallace Rooney, Ricky Kelman, Helen
|
|
Brown
|
|
A young man yearns so desperately for the days of his youth that the past
|
|
does, in fact, reappear.
|
|
LW: In fact, he becomes a little boy again, and goes back to his mother
|
|
(deserting his fiance). There is a scene in the episode where the
|
|
fiance sees the elements of the man's youth, right up to his mother,
|
|
start to appear around them.
|
|
|
|
I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC *
|
|
Writer: Ray Bradbury Director: James Sheldon
|
|
Cast: Josephine Hutchinson, David White, June Vincent, Vaughn Taylor,
|
|
Charles Herbert, Dana Dillaway, Paul Nesbitt, Susan Crane, Veronica
|
|
Cartwright, Judy Morton
|
|
A girl comes to understand that a grandmother can be a tender, thoughtful,
|
|
caring, loving woman. Even if she is a robot.
|
|
LW: To all the Bradbury fans out there, I'm sorry, but this episode is
|
|
TERRIBLE. Probably one of the five worst TZ's ever made. Is dripping
|
|
in
|
|
sentimentality, has rather poor acting, and is generally a lose.
|
|
|
|
CAVENDER IS COMING ***
|
|
Writer: Rod Serling Director: Chris Nyby
|
|
Cast: Carol Burnett, Jesse White, Howard Smith, William O'Connell, Pitt
|
|
Herbert, John Fielder, Stanley Jones, Frank Behrens, Albert Carrier, Roy
|
|
Sickner, Norma Shattuc, Rory O'Brien, Sandra Gould, Adrienne Marden,
|
|
Jack Younger, Danny Kulick, Donna Douglas, Maurice Dallimore, Barbara
|
|
Morrison
|
|
In this pilot for a never-launched series, a klutzy guardian angel's
|
|
attempts to make a bumbling woman happy don't work out quite as expected.
|
|
LW: If it weren't for the presence of Carol Burnett and Jesse White, I
|
|
would
|
|
only give this TWO stars. Another guardian angel plot. Obviously, it
|
|
was a comedy. Carol tries hard despite a horrid script. Jesse White has
|
|
played many character roles, but perhaps is best known as the lonely
|
|
Maytag repairman! The basic plot is VERY similar to the "Mr. Bemis"
|
|
episode above. By the way, this episode had one very unusual aspect, it
|
|
was the only TZ with a LAUGHTRACK!
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!12!-- Contests and Awards
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Genre television nominees for Feb. 27th's American Society of
|
|
Cinematographers Awards, given out February 27, 1994
|
|
One episode of a regular series: David Tattersall, THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES
|
|
CHRONICLES, "Istanbul"
|
|
Movie of the Week or Pilot: Kenneth Zunder, seaQuest DSV, Pilot, Thomas
|
|
Del Ruth, ASC, X-FILES, Pilot
|
|
One Episode of a mini-series: Phedon Papamicheal, "Wild Palms, The
|
|
Floating World" (part 2)
|
|
|
|
STEVEN SPIELBERG won the Director's Guild of America award for his work on
|
|
SCHINDLER'S LIST. The DGA award winner almost always wins the Oscar, but
|
|
there are a few exceptions, and in 1985 Spielberg was one of them, but that
|
|
year his film, THE COLOR PURPLE, hadn't even been nominated for the Oscar.
|
|
|
|
Genre and related winnerS of the People's Choice awards, given out March 8,
|
|
1994:
|
|
Motion Picture: JURASSIC PARK
|
|
Actress In A Comedy Motion Picture: Whoopi Goldberg
|
|
|
|
Genre and related winners of the 44th annual American Cinema Editors
|
|
Awards,
|
|
given out March 13, 1994.
|
|
Motion Picture: Michael Kahn, SCHINDLER'S LIST Amblin/Universal Studios
|
|
Episode from a television series (half hour): Stephen Lovejoy, TALES FROM
|
|
THE CRYPT: People Who Live In Brass Hearses, Tales from the Crpyt
|
|
Productions/Home Box Office
|
|
|
|
Winner of the Writer's Guild of America award for Best Adapted Screenplay:
|
|
SCHINDLER'S LIST, Steven Zaillian.
|
|
|
|
ALADDIN was the winner of four Grammy awards March 1, 1994: Song of the
|
|
Year, Best Musical Album for Children, Best Instrumental Composition
|
|
Written for a Motion Picture or Television, and Best Song Written
|
|
Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television.
|
|
|
|
And finally ... genre and related nominees for the 66th annual Academy
|
|
Awards, given out March 21. Winners annotated with.
|
|
Best Picture: SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE FUGITIVE
|
|
Best Actor: Liam Neeson, SCINDLER'S LIST
|
|
Best Supporting Actor: Ralph Fiennes, SCHINDLER'S LIST; Tommy Lee Jones,
|
|
THE FUGITIVE
|
|
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, SCHINDLER'S LIST
|
|
Best Adapted Screenplay: SCHINDLER'S LIST, Steven Zaillian
|
|
Best Foreign-language Film: BELLE EPOQUE (Spain), FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
|
|
(Hong Kong), HEDD WYN (United Kingdom), THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA
|
|
(Vietnam), THE WEDDING BANQUET (Taiwan)
|
|
Best Original Score: THE FUGITIVE, James Newton Howard; SCHINDLER'S LIST,
|
|
John Williams
|
|
Best Film Editing: THE FUGITIVE, Dennis Virkler, David Finfer, Dean
|
|
Goodhill, Don Brochu, Richard Nord and Dov Hoenig; SCHINDLER'S LIST,
|
|
Michael Kahn
|
|
Best Art Direction: ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, Ken Adam and Marvin March;
|
|
SCHINDLER'S LIST, Allan Starski and Ewa Braun.
|
|
Best Cinematography: THE FUGITIVE, Michael Chapman; SCHINDLER'S LIST,
|
|
Janusz
|
|
Kaminski
|
|
Best Costume Design: SCHINDLER'S LIST, Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard
|
|
Best Makeup: SCHINDLER'S LIST, Christina Smith, Matthew Mungle and Judith
|
|
A.
|
|
Cory
|
|
Best Animated short film: BLINDSCAPE, THE MIGHTY RIVER, SMALL TALK, THE
|
|
VILLIAGE, THE WRONG TROUSERS
|
|
Best Sound: THE FUGITIVE, Donald O. Mitchell, Michael Herbick, Frank A.
|
|
Montano and Scott D. Smith; JURASSIC PARK, Gary Summers, Gary
|
|
Rydstrom,
|
|
Shawn Murphy and Ron Judkins; SCHINDLER'S LIST, Andy Nelson, Steve
|
|
Pederson, Scott Millan and Ron Judkins
|
|
Sound effects editing: THE FUGITIVE, John Leveque and Bruce Stambler;
|
|
JURASSIC PARK, Gary Rydstrom and Richard Hymns
|
|
Visual effects: JURASSIC PARK, Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett and
|
|
Michael Lantieri; THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, Pete Kozachik, Eric
|
|
Leighton, Ariel Velasco Shaw and Gordon Baker
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!13!-- Conventions and Readings
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Submit convention listings to xx133@cleveland.freenet.edu in the format:
|
|
|
|
CON NAME: Month, day, year; Hotel or Convention Center; City, State,
|
|
Country; GUESTS; Cost until deadline, Cost after deadline (please specify
|
|
currency); Full address for information; Telephone (if applicable); e-mail
|
|
address (if any)
|
|
|
|
Convention listings are provided as a public service. Cyberspace Vanguard
|
|
is not affiliated with any of these conventions and takes no responsibility
|
|
for anything to do with it.
|
|
|
|
................
|
|
|
|
LUNACON '94: March 18-20, 1994; Rye Brook, NY, USA; Rye Town Hilton
|
|
(914/939-6300); VONDA McINTYRE, JAMES WARHOLA, WALTER R. COLE, DEAN
|
|
FRIEDMAN, WALTER & LOUISE SIMONSON, PETER GRUBBS; $40 at the door, children
|
|
discounts; LUNACON '94, P.O. Box 3566, New York, NY 10008-3566, USA; ; Lee
|
|
Thalblum: @CompuServe 76477,3613, @GEnie L.Thalblum, @America OnLine
|
|
LeeT15, or Robert Rosenberg: @CompuServ 73766,267, @GEnie HAL9001.
|
|
|
|
NORWESCON 17: March 31 - April 3, 1994; Seattle, WA, USA; Red Lion Hotel;
|
|
KATHERINE KURTZ, SCOTT McMILLAN, PEGGY RAE PAVLAT, JANNA SILVERSTEIN; ; ;
|
|
206/248-2010; bartroff@u.washington.edu.
|
|
|
|
1994 BRITISH EASTERCON, SOU'WESTER IN LIVERPOOL: April 1, 1994; Liverpool,
|
|
England; Adelphi Hotel; DIANE DUANE, NEIL GAIMAN, BARBARA HAMBLY, PETER
|
|
MORWOOD, THOG THE MIGHTY; #27 (Postal memberships must be received by March
|
|
14, 1994); Chris Bell, 3 West Shrubbery, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6SZ;
|
|
ansible@cix.compulink.co.uk.
|
|
|
|
SOU'WESTER (EASTERCON): April 1-4, 1994; ; Liverpool, UK; #27, No postal
|
|
membershps after 14 March 1994; ; 3 West Shrubbery, Redland, Bristol, BS6
|
|
6SZ, UK.
|
|
|
|
CRACKERCON 3: April 8-10, 1994; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Florida Community
|
|
College at Jacksonville - Kent Campus; TED STETSON, CHERYL MANDUS, CHARLES
|
|
FOUNTENAY, GARY ROEN, JACK HALDERMAN, VINCE COURTNEY, RON WALOTSKY, REMBERT
|
|
PARKER, KEN & BETH MICHERONEY, plus more; $20; CrackerCon3, P.O. Box 835,
|
|
Jacksonville, Florida 32239-8356 USA; recommened hotel - Holiday Inn Orange
|
|
Park (904/264-9513); kmeyers@nyx10.cs.du.edu.
|
|
|
|
I-CON XIII: April 15-17, 1994; Long Island, New York, USA; State University
|
|
of New York at Stony Brook's campus; HARLAN ELLISON, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, PETER
|
|
DAVID, E. GARY GYGAX, GREGORY BENFORD, GEORGE TAKEI, MICHAEL O'HARE, J.
|
|
MICHAEL STRAZINSKI, RON MOORE, LOLITA FAJO, PETER DAVID, BOB ROZAKIS, DON
|
|
HECK, DAN SLOTT, RAY LAGO, GLENN GREENBURG, JORDAN RASKIN, ARNE STARR, MIKE
|
|
LING, RICK BRYANT, FRANK TERAN, BRIAN CIRULNICK, MIKEY DAIR, ROB MILES,
|
|
NEIL NADELMAN, STEPHEN PEARL, MICHAEL PINTO, RICHARD UYEYAMA, and more; 3-
|
|
day passes until 3/31: Adult - $25, Student (w/ID) - $13, Child - $8, at
|
|
the door: Adult - $28, Student (w/ID) - $15, Child - $10, cheaper one-day
|
|
passes available as well as Family passes; ; 516/632-6045.
|
|
|
|
TECHNICON 11: April 15-17, 1994; Blacksburg, VA, USA; ELLEN GUON, TOM
|
|
MONAGHAN; Technicon 11, c/o VTSFFC, P.O. Box 256, Blacksburg, VA 24063-0256
|
|
USA; (703) 951-3282; Technicon@VTCC1.cc.vt.edu
|
|
|
|
MARCON 29, The Midwest's Permiere Science-fiction and Fantasy Convention:
|
|
May 13-15, 1994; Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Greater Columbus Convention
|
|
Center; Columbus, OH, USA; BORIS VALLEJO, PHILIP JOSE-FARMER, BARBARA
|
|
HAMBLY, BARRY B. LONGYEAR, FORREST J ACKERMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, WHITE WOLF
|
|
GAMES; babysitting available; PO Box 211101, Columbus, OH 43221 USA; (614)
|
|
451-3154; 70004.1457@compuserve.com
|
|
|
|
MEXICON 6; May 20-22, 1994; Hertford Park Hotel; Stevenage; #9.50; 121
|
|
Cape Hill, Smethwick, Warley, West Midlands, B66 4SH.
|
|
|
|
EUROCON: May 26-29, 1994; Timisoara, Romania; IAIN BANKS, JOHN BRUNNER,
|
|
HERBERT FRANCKE, JOE HALDEMAN, STANISLAW LEM, FREDRICK POHL, FRANZ
|
|
ROTTENSTEINER, NORMAN SPINRAD; $20(US) until 12/31/93, $35(US) until
|
|
2/15/93, $45 until 3/31/83, supporting/attending for East Europeans $5(US);
|
|
Sigma Club, Post Office 3, Box 49, 5600 Piatra Neamt, Romania; 40-96-136
|
|
731, 40-96-144 416, fax: 40-96-119 434
|
|
|
|
THE ALTERNATE PRESS EXPO (APE) 1994: June 4, 1994; San Jose, CA, USA;
|
|
Parkside Hall; DAVE SIM (Cerebus), JEFF SMITH (Bone), JEE LeVINE (No Hope),
|
|
SCOTT SAAVEDRA (Dr. Radium), TERI S. WOOD (Wandering Star), ADRIAN TOMINE
|
|
(Optic Nerve), NINA PALEY, KEITH KNIGHT, ALDIN BAROZA (Tales from the
|
|
Heart); $4; ; Slave Labor Graphics, 1-800-866-8929.
|
|
|
|
SCIENCE FICTION DAYS-NEW 1994: July 2-3, 1994; ; Duesseldorf, Germany; DM
|
|
30 (until December 31, 1993), afterwards, DM 35; KATHERINE KURTZ
|
|
(DERYNI-CYCLE), GEORGE ALEC EFFINGER; Accomodation in hotel and youth
|
|
hostel; Stefanie Pulla, pulla@engelscs.uni-duesseldorf.de, or
|
|
pulla@mx.cs.uni-duesseldorf.de; (Theme: Ecology in Science Fiction &
|
|
Fantasy).
|
|
|
|
Science Fiction Research Association Annual Meeting; July 7-10, 1994;
|
|
Woodfield Hilton and Towers; Arlington Heights, IL; SHERRI S. TEPPER;
|
|
OCTAVIA BUTLER, ALEX & PHYLLIS EISENSTEIN, PHILIP JOSE FARMER, JIM GUNN,
|
|
FRED POHL, JOAN SLONCZEWSKI, JOAN VINGE, JACK WILLIAMSON, GENE WOLFE;
|
|
$115(US); Elizabeth Anne Hull, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL
|
|
60067 or Beverly Friend, Oakton Community College Des Plaines, IL 60016;
|
|
708-635-1987; friend@oakton.edu; [CALL FOR PROPSAL OF PAPERS AND SESSIONS
|
|
(Deadline March 1) to Hull - send 2 copies. Conference Wn paper proposal
|
|
possibilities: with special emphasis on papers dealing with the attending
|
|
authors]
|
|
|
|
SHORE LEAVE 16 (Fan Run Star Trek Convention): July 8-10, 1994; Hunt Vally,
|
|
MD, USA; Hunt Valley Mariott Inn; TERRY FARRELL, TONY TODD, PETER DAVID,
|
|
HOWARD WEINSTEIN, BOB GREENBERGER, ARNE STARR, BOB PINAHA, more Trek guests
|
|
TBA; $40 for adults, youth and children discounts, plus extra charges for
|
|
numerous workshops; Shore Leave 16, P.O. Box 6809, Towson, MD 21285-6809;
|
|
410/825-3017 or 301/735-3957; heyer@stsci.edu.
|
|
|
|
CAPTION 94; July 9, 1994; Oxford, England; Oxford Union Society; HUNT
|
|
EMERSON, PETE LOVEDAY; advance: #10 (unwaged discount #6), #12 at the door;
|
|
Caption94, 25 Hart Street, Oxford, OX2 6BN. Note: there will be a charity
|
|
auction benefitting the London Cartoon Centre at this con. Contributions
|
|
of artwork would be appreciated. If interested, contact 0865 512293.
|
|
|
|
WISHCON III: July 29-31, 94; King Alfred's Coll, Winchester; #23; 12
|
|
Crowsbury Close, Emsworth, Hants, PO10 7TS, 0243 376596.
|
|
|
|
ARMADILLOCON 16: October 7-9, 1994; Austin, TX, USA; Red Lion Hotel
|
|
(512/323-5466); ELIZABETH MOON, DAVID CHERRY, GORDON VAN GELDER, GREGORY
|
|
BENFORD, BRADLEY DENTON, GUY GAVRIEL KAY; $20 until 3/31/94, $25 until
|
|
9/26/94, and more at the door; ArmadilloCon 16, P.O. Box 9612, Austin,
|
|
Texas 78766-9612, USA; 512/339-0673 before 10 p.m. CST, or leave a message
|
|
at 512/453-7446 anytime; cracker@indial1.io.com.
|
|
|
|
WHO'S 7 (DR/BLAKE EVENT): October 29-10, 1994; Wueens Hotel; Crystal
|
|
Palace, London, UK; VARIOUS GUESTS; #30 (pounds sterling) until the end of
|
|
'93; 131 Norman Rd, Leytonstone, London, E11 4RJ
|
|
|
|
BIG "E" CON (Fan Run Star Trek Charity Convention): October 28-30, 1994;
|
|
Norfolk, VA, USA; Omni Waterside Hotel at Norfolk (804/622-6664); MAJEL
|
|
BARRETT-RODDENBERRY, BILL CAMPBELL, ROBERT O'REILLY, SONIA HILLIOS, DAN
|
|
MADSEN, CAPT. RICHARD NAUGHTON, US NAVY ATLANTIC FLEET BAND, GRUMMAN
|
|
AEROSPACE FLIGHT SIMULATOR, more Trek guests TBA; $40 for adults, youth and
|
|
children discounts, plus extra charges for numerous workshops; Trek Rec
|
|
Deck Inc., P.O. Box 10658, Towson, MD 21285-0658; 410/825-3017 or 301/735-
|
|
3957; heyer@stsci.edu.
|
|
|
|
NECROCON 9; January 6-8, 1995; Harley Hotel; Columbus, OH, USA; Dead Guest
|
|
of Honor is H.P. LOVECRAFT; PO Box 211101, Columbus, OH 43221 USA; (614)
|
|
451-3154, 70004.1457@compuserve.com
|
|
..................................
|
|
|
|
Fantasy, SF, and Horror CALENDAR 3/17/94 (Reprinted with permission)
|
|
|
|
Please send listing information to me, the compiler: eliz@ai.mit.edu.
|
|
Include Who, What, When, Where, and Telephone Number. Repost this
|
|
anywhere, but include this header. Thanks to all contributors!
|
|
-- Elizabeth Willey
|
|
|
|
30 March 1994/ / /ROBERT DEVEREAUX and SEAN MOORE read at The Little
|
|
Bookshop of Horrors, 10380 Ralston Road, Arvada, Colorado. 19:30.
|
|
303-425-1975.
|
|
|
|
30 March 1994/ / /KIM STANLEY ROBINSON reads at The Other Change of
|
|
Hobbit, 2020 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California. 19:00.
|
|
510-848-0413.
|
|
|
|
8 April 1994/ / /KIM STANLEY ROBINSON signs at Dangerous Visions,
|
|
13563 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, California. 18:00-20:00.
|
|
818-986-6963.
|
|
|
|
9 April 1994/ / /KIM STANLEY ROBINSON signs at Book Carnival, 348
|
|
South Tustin Avenue, Orange, California. 11:00-12:30. No phone
|
|
given.
|
|
|
|
9 April 1994/ / /JOSEPHA SHERMAN and SUSAN SHWARZ sign at Doubleday
|
|
Bookstore, Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, New York City. Call for
|
|
time. 212-397-0550.
|
|
|
|
10 April 1994/ / /OCTAVIA BUTLER reads at The Other Change of Hobbit,
|
|
2020 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California. 14:00. 510-848-0413.
|
|
|
|
14 April 1994/ / /ELLEN DATLOW signs at Dangerous Visions,
|
|
13563 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, California. 18:00-20:00.
|
|
818-986-6963.
|
|
|
|
15 April 1994/ / /JOSEPHA SHERMAN reads and signs at Borders
|
|
Bookstore, 5151 Sunrise Highway, Bohemia, New York. 19:00-20:00.
|
|
516-244-7496
|
|
|
|
20 April 1994/ / /LUCY TAYLOR reads at The Little Bookshop
|
|
of Horrors, 10380 Ralston Road, Arvada, Colorado. 19:30.
|
|
303-425-1975.
|
|
|
|
18 May 1994/ / /EDWARD BRYANT reads at The Little Bookshop
|
|
of Horrors, 10380 Ralston Road, Arvada, Colorado. 19:30.
|
|
303-425-1975.
|
|
|
|
15 June 1994/ / /NANCY HOLDER reads at The Little Bookshop
|
|
of Horrors, 10380 Ralston Road, Arvada, Colorado. 19:30.
|
|
303-425-1975.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!14!-- Publications, Lists and the Like
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
InterText is a network-only bi-monthly fiction magazine. It publishes all
|
|
kinds of material, ranging from mainstream stories to fantasy to horror to
|
|
science fiction to humor. InterText has been publishing since early 1991,
|
|
and reaches thousands of readers, including readers on all six populated
|
|
continents. InterText publishes in both ASCII (plain text) and PostScript
|
|
(laser printer) formats. For more information on subscribing on submitting
|
|
stories, mail jsnell@ocf.berkeley.edu.
|
|
|
|
Illuminated Manuscripts Press is proud to announce two new fanzines
|
|
currently looking for submissions:
|
|
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE GALAZY RANGERS is seeking art, fiction
|
|
and non-fiction about this popular syndicated animated series from 1986. A
|
|
writers guide can be obtained by either sending a 6x9 SASE to: Tara
|
|
O'Shea, SRC 244 UNM, Albuquerque, NM 87131 or emailing me at
|
|
tara@hydra.unm.edu. Submission guidelines and other information can also
|
|
be obtained via snail mail or email. The zine so far contains a rpg
|
|
suppliment, several short stories, Mark I of the Galaxy Rangers Drinking
|
|
Game, and a complete copy of the Guide, including pictures of each of the
|
|
rangers. Submission deadline is set for May 1. Price of the finished zine
|
|
has yet to be determined.
|
|
FOREVER, a zine about immortality, is seeking FOREVER KNIGHT,
|
|
HIGHLANDER, and original immortal fiction. For submission guidelines
|
|
and/or more info, please send a SASE to Tara O'Shea, SRC 244 UNM,
|
|
Albuquerque, NM 87131 or send an email request to johanna@hydra.unm.edu.
|
|
Contents so far included a FOREVER KNIGHT/HIGHLANDER crossover, "Til Time
|
|
and Times Are Done," a Highlander story, "We'll Always Have Paris," and
|
|
several Forever Knight tales from Valerie Meachum, Tanya Beaty, and Tara
|
|
O'Shea. We're sorry, but FOREVER is not accepting poetry at this time.
|
|
Submission deadline is tentatively May 1. Price of the finished zine has
|
|
yet to be determined.
|
|
|
|
There is a new mailing list dealing with fantasy costuming. To join send
|
|
mail to majordomo@lunch.asd.sgi.com with subscribe f-costume-digest or
|
|
subscribe f-costume for the direct mail version. For contact with a human
|
|
being send mail to f-costume-owner@lunch.asd.sgi.com.
|
|
|
|
To join a listserve dedicated to the discussion of LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW
|
|
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, send mail to listserv@trearn.bitnet with the
|
|
message SUB LOISCLA <your name here> in it.
|
|
|
|
TRAX CENTRAL, a communications base and club for TIME TRAX fans. The
|
|
newletter, TEMPORT, to feature studio updates/photos and fan letters of
|
|
comment. SASE for publication date and rates to: TRAX CENTRAL, 13924
|
|
Jefferson Circle, Omaha, NE 68137."
|
|
|
|
OMPHALOS is forthcoming quarterly speculative fiction review zine. We will
|
|
be publishing reviews of both books and magazines and are always interested
|
|
in contributions. Guildelines are available. The first issue should be out
|
|
in the third week of April with the other issues coming out during the
|
|
third weeks of July, October, and January. It will be available in four
|
|
formats: ASCII, PostScript, HTML (via www), and paper. The first three are
|
|
free; the fourth is tentatively $12/year. Contact: jrrl@cs.cmu.edu or John
|
|
Leavitt, 5715 Ellsworth Ave. D-2, Pittsburgh, PA 15232.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
--!15!-- Administrivia
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Crew Manifest:
|
|
|
|
PAT BERRY (Copy editor) is a 34-year-old freelance technical writer and
|
|
self-described "computer geek" living in Cary, North Carolina. He has two
|
|
children, saw STAR WARS over 30 times during its theatrical run, and annoys
|
|
his friends by quoting lengthy passages of Dave Barry's writings from
|
|
memory.
|
|
|
|
DEBBIE DOUGLASS (HIGHLANDER news) is the list owner of HIGHLA-L, an
|
|
electronic mailing list discussing HIGHLANDER."
|
|
|
|
TJ GOLDSTEIN is the editor of this monstrosity and is probably responsible
|
|
for any typos that made it into this version. TJ is beginning to think
|
|
that professional help might not be such a bad idea after all, and not just
|
|
for the magazine.
|
|
|
|
ESTHER JENKINS (Convention listings) is a bored, single, 27-year-old femme.
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|
She's over-qualified for most every job she applies for with her two BS
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degrees (one in Applied Math from Georgia Tech and one in Industiral
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Engineering Technology from Southern Tech). Originally from Germany, she
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moved to the States in 1973 and has been living in Georgia ever since.
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Esther got introduced to science fiction and cons by an ex-boyfriend many
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years ago, and is an avid reader (and collector) of books of all kinds and
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comics. Right now she is working as a temp while looking for a
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manufacturing job and has lots of free time on her hands to compile this
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little column for Cyberspace Vanguard.
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EVELYN LEEPER (Book Reviews) is best known for her lengthy convention
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reports, but also writes book reviews and general commentary on science
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fiction, and publishes the clubzine for the science fiction club at AT&T
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that she and her husband Mark founded fifteen years ago. Her work appears
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in fanzines such as LAN'S LANTERN, PHLOGISTON, and SF-LOVERS DIGEST and
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on Usenet. Her 1992 output included four dozen book reviews, two
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convention reports, and two travelogues, and totaled 110,000 words.
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Evelyn and Mark live in New Jersey, with 18,000 books, several hundred
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videotapes, and no extra space. They are currently recovering from a
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three-week trip to India.
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DAVID MILNER (Japan news) is a big Japanese monster movie fan who has
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written for a number of different publications, such as CULT MOVIES AND
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VIDEO, MARKALITE and THE KAIJU REVIEW.
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LINDA E. SMIT (Reply cards) lives in Athens, GA, surrounded by Bulldog
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fans, Braves fans, and a healthy enclave of scifi and fantasy fandom. Her
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real job is in library acquisitions, and she works her tail off in
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community theatre. Guess which one she prefers to do.
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DAVID STRAUSS (BABYLON 5 news) is a second year law student at the
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University of Virginia Law School. He's also a displaced New Yorker,
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diehard New York Islander fan, and administrator of the Islanders Internet
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Mailing List. By this time next year he hopes to be finished begging for a
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job.
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JOSEPH J. STROUT will be receiving his degree in Psychology from Miami
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University in May of 1994, when he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in cognitive
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neuroscience at another university. His current research focuses on
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computational models of the human visual system. Other research interests
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include neural models of attention, working memory, and visual imagery.
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In his spare time, Strout serves as a programmer/analyst at a manufacturing
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company and does occasional consulting.
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JEAN-LOUIS TRUDEL (French news) is a Canadian SF writer. He is the author
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of one novel, serialized in the magazine IMAGINE... (1985-1987), and of
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several short stories in French, one of which was translated and published
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in the English-Canadian anthology TESSERACTS3. In English, he is the
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author of two short stories, which appeared in the English-Canadian
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anthologies ARK OF ICE and TESSERACTS4, both in 1992. He has written
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literary criticism for
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THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION.
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CAROL LEON-YUN WANG (Correspondent/reporter) is a recently defended Masters
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student in Computer Graphics Animation who has replaced thesis deadlines
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with conference submission deadlines. She is on a slow westward migration
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that started in Regina, SK and is currently stalled out in Calgary, AB.
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She is a voracious reader of genre books and comics, and completely
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nocturnal. She still likes Capt. Kirk better than Picard, even though
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William Shatner was a lousy actor and a truly atrocious director.
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--
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CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE Editor: TJ Goldstein, tlg4@po.CWRU.Edu
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News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe
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Send submission, question, and comments to
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xx133@cleveland.Freenet.Edu or cn577@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
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