Views from Medina Road

I got an email from Gregory Benford the other day, referring his new website(s), and commenting about the current state of the Hugo Awards and SF fandom in general as indicated by the fact four of the last five Hugo Awards for novel have gone... to fantasy novels.

I hadn't realized that. I haven't seen it pointed out anywhere. Four of five? That would be the fourth Harry Potter novel... then American Gods... then Paladin of Souls last year... and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell this year. The one SF winner during this period was Robert J. Sawyer's Hominids which, while a respectable enough book, hardly represents any kind of cutting edge SF.

I remember some hullabaloo over the Harry Potter nomination and win, but that was partly due to its being a YA novel, IIRC. I haven't seen anyone remark on this string of more recent fantasy wins, much less express any kind of consternation about it. Should SF partisans be concerned? What might their leading candidates be for next year..? Hmm...

But that doesn't mean -- my previous post doesn't mean -- that future features won't contain lists and statistics. Just that the next one won't. My very own background project (long-time readers will know what I mean) will include all sorts of statistics and lists and rankings and whatnot. Even if they're not entirely the point. Any year now.

I may or may not show up at LosCon, LA's annual local convention, this weekend; that it's held each year over Thanksgiving weekend, when many sociable people have family things to do instead, is the reason I've not attended in many many years. (The first time I did attend, way back in the '80s, I witnessed a memorable on-stage mutual roast between Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg.)

Now, I'm pre-baking a dish for tomorrow's feast. And listening to the new Philip Glass CD (Symph. #6). I'll download tonight's episode of Lost and watch it later. Today I received a big box of books from Amazon UK... my quarterly or so order, supported by website visitor orders via my online link... and will list received books in due time. Behind as always. Happy Thanksgiving.

Have seen some varied reaction around the web to the latest Locus Online feature, Gary Westfahl's essay about compiling quotations. I will say that I'm pretty sure the *next* feature, unlike his and the previous one, will contain no lists, no statistics.

I've become distracted in the past week or so by a background project, which is why I'm a bit late posting a couple Monitor pages. Hope to catch up this weekend.

A few days ago I created a 2006 subdirectory for the website -- in which to place the cover image of the January '06 issue of F&SF, for the magazines page posted earlier this week. And today I added the first 2006 event to the author events pages (for a reading by Rob Sawyer, who likes to plan ahead). Time flies. As someone who grew up in the '70s, this is the deep future.

It might seem suspiciously coincidental to have posted three announcements just today about 2006 writers workshops, but in fact all three e-mails/press releases arrived in the past week.

Magazine subscribers note that rates rise January 1st. Renew now. Or subscribe, for the first time!

Within the next couple days I will be posting Gary Westfahl's essay about the process of assembling his SF Quotations book. And in December I have planned reviews of King Kong and of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And maybe more.

Oh, and today's LA Times has an op-ed, Fiction into fact into fiction, about a forthcoming Lost tie-in novel, purportedly written by a Flight 815 passenger who did not survive, and which manuscript is found in the wreckage during an episode to be broadcast next Spring. The writer, David L. Ulin, book editor of the Times, is deeply cynical about this blurring of fact and fiction, citing Bradbury's interactive soap operas in Fahrenheit 451. Chill, I say; I think the idea's pretty cool.

I've come down with the flu bug that seems to be going around, which means that my past couple days have consisted mostly of sleeping interrupted by brief periods of wakefulness, during which I try to read or check email before growing sleepy again...

Re: my previous post, this recent John Scalzi post illustrates the point much more vividly than I did; you'd almost think I'd read his post (which I hadn't) or he'd read mine (which I doubt). What were those time-stamps again?

Via iTunes we here on Medina Road are now caught up completely with both Desperate Housewives and Lost. I have to admit DH isn't quite as compelling this season, in that there's no overarching plot to unify the various character threads, as there was with the mystery that drove season one. The emerging issue this season seems to be how long the Evil Pharmicist will keep getting away with things. And those closing narrations are getting a bit perfunctory. Lost, with last night's episode (that recapped the first 48 days of the survivors from the tail section, over on the other side of the island), maintains a considerable dramatic edge, even if revelations about the central mystery of the island and the 'Others' are increasingly scant. Was last night's 'Nathan' a clue (there was a suspicious Nathan in the first season, IIRC), or just a clever bit of misdirection?

Today's mystery is why a book came in the mail packaged as a free enrollment bonus from a book club that I didn't enroll in... a book that I already bought and read a year ago, so even if I had enrolled in that club and forgotten about it, I wouldn't have selected that book as my freebie. Hmm.

There's considerable consternation in the SF blogosphere and among members of a newsgroup I subscribe to about the demise of Sci Fiction. The aspect that fascinates me is what happens to defunct websites. Ellen's earlier sites Event Horizon and Omni Online eventually vanished; what will happen to her section of SciFi.com? Presumably the corporate entity that runs the cable TV channel will be around a while, so at least the domain will be around a while, but still.

Some have pointed out the existence of internet archival sites, e.g. the Wayback Machine. I've found old content of Locus Online there occasionally, but some people report that the coverage is spotty and the site difficult to use.

I can't help but think of the consequences of various apocalyptic scenarios, the plague, the war, the collapse of the biosphere, leaving us all huddled in pre-industrial hovels. In such cases moldering paper magazines and books might still be found. But the electronic infrastructure will have vanished into the aether. I suppose in such cases, that will be the least of our worries.

We finished watching (via DVD rentals from Netflix) the first season of Desperate Housewives last night, and I have to say, it's several kinds of brilliant. It's far, far from the prototypical TV sitcom (which I read a while back described as unpleasant people saying sarcastic things to each other -- as in, e.g., the Emmy winner, Everybody Loves Raymond), and as much drama as comedy. In particular, it's an almost David Lynchian expose behind an apparently perfect upper-class suburban street, involving the mystery behind a suicide that occurs in the first moments of the first episode, and which is not fully explained until the last episode of the season, in such a way that clearly benefits from the writers having planned the story arc in advance... as opposed to making it up as they went along, stretching it out as the ratings permitted. (Which isn't to say they haven't planted the seeds of some intriguing developments; I'm especially interested to see what happens to the Evil Pharmacist.) The writing is sharp, the plot surprises frequent but not arbitrary, the acting first-rate. The closing montages of most episodes, narrated by the suicidee of the first episode, in a manner both ironic and compassionate, are at turns philosophical and heart-wrenching. TV was never like this when I was growing up.

Entreaties to Norton have gone unreplied.

Terrible news about SciFiction, though perhaps not totally surprising, since the site was always (presumably) a non-profit-earning prestige corner of the cable channel's online presence. Still, a shock.

Next round of books -- notable small press items seen at World Fantasy Con.

I've spent most of this evening trying, again unsuccessfully, to install an update to my Norton Antivirus software; I first tried a week and a half ago, on the weekend before World Fantasy Con, and ended up then submitting a support request to Norton. Now that my Antivirus software has expired, I tried again this evening to install the update, per the response from Norton; again it didn't work, the install program hanging, the removal program provided by Norton apparently ineffectual. As of this moment I have no antivirus software installed on this computer at all; I'm living dangerously.

I mention this, despite my promise a while back not to whine in this blog about computer problems, only as an explanation for the 100+ emails still in my inbox, and the tardiness of the next 'new books' page. Everything is in work, time, and mundane constraints, permitting.

I forgot to mention the other day that the day I left Los Angeles, there were copies of George R.R. Martin's A FEAST FOR CROWS in a bookshop in Terminal 7 at LAX... five days before the official lay-down date of Tuesday, November 8th (i.e. the date before which booksellers, including Amazon, are not supposed to sell the book). I suspect the reason is simply that airport bookshops are not as careful about these things as are the large chains, and/or that the diligence with which publishers chase down such infractions varies from case to case...

Today I had breakfast with Mark Budz and Marina Fitch in the hotel coffee shop, then perused the dealers room one last time before its closing later in the afternoon. I had a nice chat with Carol Emshwiller, and also met Michael Blumlein (a person I'd never even seen a photo of), Lois Tilton, and Brandon Sanderson. And I bought a couple last books. Doors to the banquet hall opened at 12:30 and people slowly drifted in, found seats, and settled. I sat between Gary Wolfe and Amelia Beamer at a table just behind the HarperCollins table. The food was marginal -- dry chicken or dry pork, covered in either case by a gluey cherry sauce.

The awards ceremony was spirited and efficient. Toastmaster Peter Straub gave a genial introduction that included tantalizing hints about the kind of secret knowledge possessed by people of increasing fame, with examples serving to illustrate how far down Straub is in the fame chain. The other guests of honor -- Graham Joyce, Bob Weinberg, Terry Windling, Kinuko Y. Craft, and April Derleth & Walter Derleth for Arkham House -- made brief statements that varied in polish and tone but which were all sincere expressions of thanks and appreciation for the convention's invitation and the community's support.

Then came the announcements of the awards themselves, notable first in that only two of the winners were not present, and remarkable second for comprising a set of acceptance speeches of almost uniform eloquence, some short and some long, but none veering into incoherence or rambling asides. Of them the highlights were surely John Picacio's impassioned and moving tribute first to the other artists nominated in his category and then to his parents, who were present and stood up for applause, and at the very end Tom Doherty's generous reflection on the people who helped at various steps of a long career that has led to Tor Books.

The photo session went quickly and smoothly, except that I discovered when I returned to my room that only a single photo of those I'd taken was usable, apparently due to a flash malfunction or missetting. (A cute pic of Susanna Clarke holding her award with Colin Greenland's cap perched on top was too blurry to post.) After the photos I hung around to attend the Judges' Panel, with Jeffrey Ford, Kate Elliott, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tim Lebbon, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson debriefing the process that led to their decisions. Key points: there was no controversy, no e-violence this year; no feuds or resignations. They saw over 300 books total, and there were only about 75 reader ballots in the first round that determined two finalists in each category (which is why John Douglas always urges members to join next year's con and nominate!). Ford created a ranking scheme that combined preferences from each judge into a single combined list in each category to determine both the shortlist and winner, though along the way discussion among the judges caused some of them to reconsider works they'd previously dismissed. And in the 'special' categories, while they made a point of confirming that candidates had eligible work in the award year, they also took into consideration the quality of their long-term work.

After that I trekked back to my hotel to post the winners and salvage what I could from my digital photos, and while I was at it post a few 'blinks' from the day's email.

Then back to the con hotel, where I joined a group in the bar that included Ellen Datlow, Chris Lotts, Ted Chiang, and Paolo Bacigalupi (whom I'd not previously met). Dinner groups were reportedly forming in the lobby to trek to one eating destination or another, but since we missed the early group we ordered a snack and had another drink and chatted. Finally an enormous group gathered in the lobby (the five of us; Walter and Hal and Graham and Jay; Kelly and Gavin; John P and Chris R and Lou A; Mark and Martha, and another dozen at least) and headed out into the chilly evening, along mostly deserted streets and around the capital to a pub called the Great Dane, where tables were reserved for us downstairs. We ordered various shades of ale and pub food, burgers, fish and chips, brats and mash, etc., and at my table compared impressions of Lost, of Battlestar Galactica, of Alias and Doctor Who. Then back out into the night, to the hotel, the group dispersing quickly... some to the dead dog parties; I to my hotel, to update the 'future history' pages on the site (and add one more bit of awards news), and write this blog entry. End of convention... tomorrow morning I drive to O'Hare and then fly home.

I attended two panels today, the first about the 'Art of Review and Criticism', with Paula Guran lobbing a series of questions to panelists Gary K. Wolfe, Russell Letson, Michael Levy, and William Gagliani: what can a writer do to get a fair review? (Not a lot, but don't be a jerk.) What's the state of the art of reviewing? (There are a lot more reviews than criticism; a lot of online stuff is awful, but so was a lot of mimeo'd fanzine stuff.) Cheryl Morgan joined the panel to describe her current experience writing reviews (she's getting more PDF files now instead of ARCs), and the group went on to discuss how reviews in different venues differ (those in PW [some written by Paula and Michael] are short, anonymous, and designed for the general reader; those in Locus assume a familiarity with the genre). It's not true, said Gary, that Locus has a policy against running negative reviews; it's that reviewers are allowed to select what to cover, and often choose not to bother to finish reading a book they don't like. Cheryl disagreed with this approach, citing Dave Langford's expertise in writing effective negative reviews, and she claimed that in her case she makes a point of finishing every book she reads.

A later panel was about "The Reader: Foundation of Fantasy", which despite its complementary theme had a relatively light attendance. Ann VanderMeer posed a series of prepared questions and quotes (from Sartre, Delany, Scholes) to panelists Jay Lake, Mary Rosenblum, Hal Duncan, Matt Cheney, and (Tor editor) Liz Gorinsky. How important is the reader? If a story is never read, is it still a work of art? If a reader gets it wrong, whose fault is it? Hal Duncan, in thick Glaswegian accent, answered aggressively: the story is all-important, not the writer and not the reader. Jay Lake was more practical; Matt Cheney good-naturedly theoretical, undermining the questions by focusing on definitions (what is a work of art?). Does it take skill to read properly? Duncan cited Mervyn Peake's as books that taught him how to read them; similarly Cheney cited Absalom, Absalom. What does the writer owe the reader? To make the story work as well as it possibly can; or, said Gorinsky, it's not about what anyone owes, it's about trust. What should a perfect reader bring to a book? Tolerance; a love of words; curiosity.

In between the panels I circuited the dealers room, chatting with C.E. Petit, meeting Carrie Vaughn, catching up with John O'Neill (who thinks I should be more aggressive about promoting myself on Locus Online). And bought some books, and took notes on others. Then there was a Scotch Tasting Party thrown by the good folks at Borderlands Books in San Francisco; I sipped Balvenie, noshed crackers and smoked salmon, and chatted with Amelia and Gary and Jonathan and Justin. Then downstairs to meet Diana Gill and Charles Brown for drinks, to chat about publishing industry gossip, what we've read lately, what's coming up.

Yesterday's nice weather gave way to overcast today and then chilly rain. I hooked up with Jennifer Hall and Cheryl Morgan for dinner down the street at casual Italian place, and returned to the con hotel as the evening's artists' reception began. Taking more time than I did yesterday, and perhaps because some of the artwork hadn't been put up yesterday when I went through the room, I saw more interesting stuff than I noted then -- by Terri Windling, Kinuko Y. Craft, Mael Nohara, Caniglia, Randy Broecker, Alan Servoss, Charles Vess, Hicaru Tanaka, Paul Bielaczyc. Then I ducked in and out of a couple more panels (still going at 9 and 10 in the evening) and cycled among the several 6th floor parties and huddling spots in the lobby and bar for a while, before heading back a little earlier than usual to my room, via a con-provided taxi voucher.

Tomorrow is the banquet and the World Fantasy Awards, and given the distance back to my hotel (especially if it's raining) I'm not sure how quickly I'll be posting the results on Locus Online. Cheryl Morgan, however, plans to post the winners to her blog from the room as they're announced...

I flew into Chicago yesterday and drove a rental car to Madison, escaping the tangle of outbound city traffic for the periodic tolls and occasional lane closures of the open road. After only one or two missed turns I found my way to my hotel, checked in, and had a late dinner in the hotel cafe... One of the penalties of making late arrangements is that I'm not at the convention hotel, the Concourse, but at the Doubletree, a few blocks away. (It's not a fancy hotel, but it does excel in two ways-- first, I can open the window, and second, the wifi is free and immediate. I turned on my laptop and poof it was there, no fuss.)

It was this morning before I was able to register over at the con hotel. As a non-pre-registrant, I was given a blank badge and directed to a table of colored pens and decals for the opportunity to complete it myself. I was tempted to write 'Greg Egan' on my badge and walk around the con to see what reaction I got. But I didn't.

First thing this morning was the more-or-less-annual Locus Foundation meeting, this year attended by Charles Brown, Jonathan Strahan, Gary Wolfe, Peter Straub, and me, as well as Liza Groen Trombi, who in short order was nominated to be a board member in replacement of Jennifer Hall, who has of course left the magazine. One of the themes of this year's meeting was succession planning, and I had to admit that, as the administrator of Locus Online, I have absolutely no succession plan in place at all. I get hit by the proverbial bus, and Locus Online instantly becomes a static site. (Actually, Bill Contento has access to the site, since he routinely updates his Locus Index pages, but I don't believe anyone in the Locus Magazines offices knows how to access or update the site.) I agreed to create what in my day-job we call a 'desk instruction', a list of steps for how to go about updating the site, at least the homepage. (Full details about how to run all the databases that underlie the site would require considerably more documentation, but I suppose I should do that too, sometime.)

After that meeting, I toured the dealer room -- a bit cramped, but packed with book dealers -- and the art show -- some nice Picacios and Dringenbergs, but otherwise not a lot that grabbed my attention -- then headed back to my hotel, to drop off the books from the freebie bag that I wanted to keep and check on e-mail. A notice about the death of Michael Coney demanded immediate attention, so I posted that announcement on the website, and while I was at it, posted the 'new magazines' page I'd all but finished on Tuesday before I left. For that I missed the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror panel back at the con hotel, so by the time I got back there, I had a sandwich in the hotel bar and then ducked in and out of other panels.

The most interesting panel was 'Fantasy in Unexpected Places', i.e. fringe fantasy, with moderator Jeff VanderMeer and panelists Patrick O'Leary, Graham Joyce, Matthew Cheney, and Kelly Link... Carol Emshwiller showed up late, and though charming, didn't have much to contribute. Jeff V posed a series of well planned questions -- first, what is the 'center' of fantasy?; what makes your work at the 'edge'?; what do you look for as a reader?; is your work a *reaction* to the center?; and so on -- which brought substantive responses from the panelists (answers: Tolkien and descendants unto Rowling are the 'center'; what they look for is the strange, the mood, the unique worldview; the ambition is to react against the standards, to try to do better, to disobey the rules), as well as the standard litany of recommendations of books they've liked (by Saramago, Lanagan, Millet, Bender, Butler, Krohn).

Later at the invitation of Jeff VanderMeer I joined a group of about 15 for a walking tour of downtown Madison led by Forrest Aguirre, who lives here and has apparently done such tours numerous times before (since the annual WisCons are held at the very same hotel). We circled the capitol building, explored the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace Convention Center (though only from landside; we didn't see the lakeside view shown on the linked site), then walked past State Street's shops and cafes to the University, where from the student union we looked out at Madison's other big lake, Mendola. Along the way I actually met Matt Cheney for the first time, and chatted with the Australian contingent behind next year's Conflux. And we all had dinner at a State St cafe that serves Mediterranean, Italian, and Mexican food, as well as burgers and salads... but was quite good, and cheap.

Then it was back to the con hotel for the Friday evening autograph sessions, with dozens of writers (perhaps over a hundred) sitting at tables ready to sign books, many of them trying to look pleasant while sitting relatively unnoticed next to the huge lines formed for the likes of Gene Wolfe and Charles de Lint. At 10 p.m. the parties started, all conveniently located on the 6th floor. Tor's party; the con suite; an Indie Press party; a Fedogan & Bremer party. All quickly packed and noisy, but among them well-stocked, with enough cold-cuts and cheese and candy and cake to subsist on if one hadn't actually had dinner, not to mention sodas and beer and wine and even a Highland Park single malt in the con suite (!). I chatted with Russell and Cezarija, Jenni, Ted C and John JA and John P and Paula G and Cheryl M, and met Dora G and Lou A and Chris R and no doubt others whose names have already slipped my mind. By about midnight I decided to make the hike back to my hotel, post the IHG winners (not a big chore since their site has the list itself!), and write this blog entry. (If I don't do it tonight, I never will.)

The new November issue of Locus Magazine has arrived, and I find myself boldfaced in the Milestones section of the People & Publishing column for something I didn't actually do, other than exist near a recent newsworthy event, i.e. the wildfires of just over a month ago that burned in the hills to the west of me. Actually the item features Laura Brodian Freas, who apparently lives even closer to those hills, and who (like me!) had fire ash settle on the streets and plants and cars. (Though living nearby, I've never met Laura Brodian, who hosts a local classical music radio program, or the late Kelly Freas, though I did see them once, several years ago, at a local restaurant...)

New Books posted today, with more piling up; five review copies arrived today, including four from Robert J. Sawyer Books in Canada, with several nominally November books already seen in stores and deferred until next post. I'm keeping up, mostly, though I fear to think what would happen if I actively solicited new books from publishers. Which I don't.

Interesting: Blogger now requires members to key in the letters displayed in a graphic before letting you post. Have they been having problems with spammers, or robots..?