The Drink Tank 265

8/8/2019 The Drink Tank 265

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The Drink Tank 265

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Editorial

by James Bacon

I love Worldcon’s. I loved them from afar a lot of the time, and in thelast couple of years have been lucky enough to get along to them. I will be at

Reno, and as is my want, I have volunteered to help.I am helping to run the Fan Programme and also the ComicProgramme and mentoring new people who are running the youthprogramme aspects. It’s fun and I have a good boss.

I sometimes wonder, do the fans who see me, or decide to passmoney over to a convention I am involved with, realise that I also have thisFanzine hobby, and if Fans who read and respond with letters, come along tocons I run or more likely help with. I expect they do, or some do and somedon’t.

So, I wanted to join these two aspects of my hobby within thecommunity together, and by looking forward to Reno, and back at HUGO

contenders from this year, I think I can do that with Chris.I hope that some personal reections and considerations about what is ahead will excite you as it does me. I also hope that, with the holiday season upon us, our writers who look back at this year, also give you pausefor thought, and that you may have time to prime yourself, for when it comesto Vote in the Hugo’s. A Hugo and Worldcon primer.

I also was pleased to have Jim Mann give us a piece about ScienceFiction. I often worry (for no reason obviously) about what the key peoplerunning Worldcons read and like. I do not mind the conrunners who enjoy the conrunning side, and perhaps do not read or watch as much SF as they would like, but continue to enjoy the hobby of conrunning, BUT, I do expect

that people who want to run programme, know and enjoy Science Fiction,and tapping into what such a senior person likes, is fascinating to me. Also I am very excited about being at a convention where Tim

Powers is the GOH. Now, Chris and I will want to look at the other GOH’sin a later issue, but we were super lucky to have some articles about Tim forthis issue.

As always, a big thank you to ALL the contributors, I do hopesomething here makes you think, or read, or especially write. Are we wrong about the comics, or books or covers or stories or lms that have beenmentioned – what did we miss – what is plainly a mistake a travesty.

Also, we welcome hearing what YOU want to do and see in Reno.

Finally, a merry Christmas to you all, I have just celebrated Chunkhahere in London, but the festive season is just that, and I hope you enjoy it.



Editorial

by Chris Garcia

Reno. I love Reno, not only because it’s gotall the gambling and cheap buffets that a guy likeme enjoys, but because it’s a beautiful part of the world, set in Sierra mountains with lovely water

and so much goodness.And then there’s WorldCon. Y’all know

how I feel about WorldCon. It’s like home, ahome that travels around the world. Reno with a WorldCon will be amazing.

And that’s what led to this issue. We’ve set this issue up into two sections:

the rst being articles about Reno and the WorldCon and the people who will be running them. The biggest section is a look at 2010 which we hope will inform your Hugo and other award

nominating. We’re really lucky to have some greatfolks writing for us, including Guy Lillian, who Idon’t think has ever appeared in The Drink Tank before. Plus, Jon Vaughn (whose short lms arereally good!) and several other folks debuting,including Lynda Rucker, who is just a delight!

What am I doing at Reno? I’ll be running The Fan Lounge. It’ll be a good time and I’m working on some great events, including what will hopefully be a great reading of Pros reading the writing of Fans and vice-versa. I think that

would be a great project. It’s always good to dosomething new. I’m also excited about Art Night,and I’m hoping we can do a community art projectin the Lounge, perhaps with the results being auctioned off for the Fan Funds or perhaps scanit and use it as a cover for something. We’re alsothinking about Music night, and there’s a specialRandy Smith evening planned since he’s got a very special birthday to think about and we’re excited tohave him around!

The most important thing to me about

the Lounge is that it’s a place where folks can goand be. I love have a sort of soft space where you

ballot again so that I can attend the pre-Hugosparty! That’s always great fun and it’s just about theonly time I get to see folks like Bob Eggleton andMike Resnick. It’s always good to hang around withthose folks. The price of admission is a nomination,and that’s always the hard part, isn’t it?

And, of course, this is only the beginning. There are plans afoot for another Hugo for Best

Novel issue, and I’m hoping we can do one forBest DramPres. What would it be without theHandicapping the Hugos issue? I’m planning ondoing that a bit differently this year, so there’s that.Plus there’ll be a lot of talk just about Reno leading up to the con. This is the year of the West CoastCon, so we’ll have all sorts of coverage!

So, this issue I’d like to dedicate to thememory of len Moffatt. We lost another legendof First Fandom, one of the founders of Mystery fandom and a former TAFF winner. I always

enjoyed chatting with him at LosCon and willmiss him when I’m back next year. He and Junehad shirts made out of the same fabric as the oldEmpire Strikes Back sheets I had as a kid. That wasjust about perfect for a shirt. Every year, we loseanother few members of First Fandom, anothertouchstone to those days when WorldCons wouldt into a single hotel, fanzines were the tap-and-trade of Fandom and everybody wrote letters. I feeltruly blessed that I got to chat with so many of theold-timers over the years, even if only briey. I just

wish I’d gotten to meet Harry Warner. Or Morojo.Or Bill Rotsler. Or Claude Degler. Well, maybe notDegler...

And, of course, I want to say thank you toeveryone out there who has been so helpful overthe six years that I’ve been doing The Drink Tank. There’s been, and will continue to be, something of a slow-down, but if James and I can keep doing issues like this one, I hope you won’t mind toomuch!

can sit, chat, perhaps read a little, maybe work on a project, perhaps bust out a game of Jenga. You know, all those things that us fans do. We’vealso got a great set-up planned for the place, and we’re going to be close to the bar! What’s betterthan that?

Plus, for me, a WorldCon is all about thepeople. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some

great people. It’ spretty much only at WorldConthat I get to hang with James Bacon, WarrenBuff, Tim Miller, Chris Barkley, Guy Lillian,Steven H Silver and so on, plus M, SaBean, Jay and probaboy Judith are planning on coming, soit’ll be something of a family reunion!

And there’s always the Hugos.I love them, have been fortunate enough

to get nominated the last four years and amhoping that something I did ends up on the



What I’m Going to Do on my

Summer Vacation

by Helen Montgomery

“So Helen, will you write an article for usabout what you’re looking forward to aboutRenovation?”

Easy enough assignment, right? That’s what I thought, until I started to sit down andlist all the things I am looking forward to aboutRenovation as well as visiting the city of Reno. Then I realized that my challenge was going to be

eliminating enough items that my article wouldn’ttake up the entire issue!I’ve culled it down to two sections – what

am I looking forward to about coming to Reno,a brand new city for me, and what am I looking forward to about Renovation, the Worldcon. So without further ado, and in no particular order…my top ve things I’m going to do in and aroundReno!

Lake Tahoe – I can’t wait to zip out of the

city and go spend a day (or two, or three) at Lake Tahoe. The photos of it are amazing, and I’m surethe reality will be even better. Voted the mostpopular destination in the United States, a visithere is a must. A stop in Crystal Bay, where youcan hop (literally!) the state line from Californiato Nevada – always a fun party trick! Relaxing on the beaches of Incline Village, splashing inthe crystal clear water along the shore. If I havethe time, taking a few days to drive all the way

around, stopping at all the various towns on both

the north and south sides of the lake, maybe evena dip further south into Yosemite. Exploring oneor two of the many hiking trails in the Sierras andaround Lake Tahoe (I just have to nd the easy ones!) Now I just need to decide if this will be thepre- or post-convention side trip…

Cars! As a Detroit native and a child of a

“Big 3” family, I was completely geeked out to seehow many cool car-related things there are in Reno.I’m seriously considering coming into Reno a few days early so I can attend “Hot August Nights” – theReno classic car festival held August 9-14, 2011 inReno-Sparks ( www.hotaugustnights.net ). WhetherI do or don’t make that, I denitely plan to spendsome time at the National Automobile Museum( www.automuseum.org

) in downtown Reno. Thecool looking “Quirky Rides” masterpiece exhibit will still be showing in August 2011, along with

former theater major’s heart. ( www.laketahoeshak espeare.com )

Spa! Both of Renovation’s main hotels,the Atlantis and the Peppermill, have world-classspas. I’ll be visiting both, no question about it.I envision myself dashing back and forth every other day to try some new relaxing and delicious

item on the spa menus. The “Cleopatra Milk and Honey Cocoon” at the Atlantis Spa? TheRosemary Vichy Scrub at the Spa Toscana at thePeppermill? The Bali Paradise Rasul Ceremony atthe Atlantis Spa? Relaxing in the Caldarium at Spa Toscana? Oh yeah, baby. I’m so there!I’m going to count trips to Carson City and Virginia City as one item on the list. BecauseI can’t pick just one. Two towns that represent“ooooh – shiny!” with their histories of gold andsilver mining. What girl can resist? Virginia City

the 1907 Thomas Flyerthat won the New York to Paris automobile racein 1908, Elvis Presley’s1973 Cadillac El DoradoCustom Coupe, and a listof historic cars in theirpermanent collection that

is jaw-droppingly fabulous! Vroom! Vroom!The Lake Tahoe

Shakespeare Festival – Oh.My. God. Any ShakespeareFestival that has you sitting in a natural amphitheatreon a beach chair or blanket,toes in the sand, a gourmetmeal, all with Lake Tahoe

as the backdrop for thestage is a total win in this

http://www.hotaugustnights.net/

http://www.automuseum.org/

http://www.laketahoeshakespeare.com/




http://www.automuseum.org/

http://www.hotaugustnights.net/



( www.virginiacity-nv.com

) is a national historiclandmark, was once home to Mark Twain, andhas a bluegrass music festival every August. It’s areal taste of the Old West, complete with saloons!Carson City ( www.visitcarsoncity.com ) has theKit Carson Trail, and is also home to the NevadaState Railroad Museum (I know some of you

Drink Tank readers and writers are big train fans,so this one’s for you! I’ll probably be over at the Automobile Museum while y’all go here…) All this plus Worldcon? Squee!

And what a Worldcon it’s going to be…. We all know the type of things that are coming,but here I’m going to focus on some of thesmaller, perhaps more innovative things that Renois doing that I’m excited to see. Again, in noparticular order -

The Art Project. Art is such a huge partof science ction and fantasy. I don’t know aboutyou, but I don’t have enough wall space to display all of the SF / F art that I own. Renovation iscreating a tremendous amount of programming to celebrate the visual arts. As always there willbe a world class art show and art auction. Somegreat exhibits, including one featuring our ArtistGuest of Honor, Boris Vallejo. The winners

of the Chesley Awards will be announced andhonored at the annual ceremony. What’s going to be really, really cool though is that on Day Two of the con there will be Art Night, featuring live demonstrations and interactive workshops,opportunities to meet and greet the artists, and somuch more!

The Academic Program. True confessionstime. If I could, I would be a perpetual student,forever working on degrees in various subjects. I

think one of the coolest things about Worldcon

is the academic program, offering a venue forstudents and academics to present professionalpapers about science ction and fantasy literatureand art and fandom and science, this year allfocused on the overall Renovation theme of “New Frontiers”. Not only do we have a call out forpapers, but we’re also looking at doing a student

poster session! It seriously makes my inner nerdjump up and down with glee!

The Film Festival. As part of the Art Project, Renovation is going to have anIndependent / Fan Film Festival. Short lms,short feature lms, and trailers, all from thescience ction, fantasy, horror, and comicsgenres. Yes, watching the Hugo nominated lmsis cool, but having the opportunity to see shortlms that aren’t available elsewhere is going to beamazing! It’s a project near and dear to my heart,as we’ve had similar lm fests at my local Chicagoconvention for several years, and I know how awesome the submissions can be. Be sure to circlethe lm festival events on your pocket programgrid!

The Fan Program. Yes, a Worldcon isabout celebrating science ction and fantasy and related speculative ction and art and all of

that. But really it’s an opportunity for our AnnualFannish Family Reunion. Worldcon is all aboutus – the fans! We have a rich and varied fannishculture, and the fan program at Renovation aimsto explore all the different facets, and perhapsintroduce you to an aspect of fannish culture thatyou had not explored before. We’ll be looking athow we as fans connect and communicate – fromfanzines to social media to conventions. How dothose conventions happen, and how can new fans

be involved? What awards out there honor the

work that fans do in terms of fan writing and fanart? What’s a fanzine lounge? What are fans inother countries, or even in other regions of theUnited States doing? I am unbelievably excitedabout this aspect of the Renovation, as thesetopics are all about my favorite parts of being infandom!

The Hugo Awards. Okay, I know I saidI was going to focus on the less known, smaller,more innovative things Renovation is going tobe doing. But how can I not mention the Hugo Awards Ceremony? Other than the parties, it is my absolute favorite thing to go see at the Worldcon.I love looking at the exhibits of past Hugos, andgetting to see the current Hugo Award unveiledat the ceremony is always a “Sensawondah”moment for me. (I’m kind of hoping that sinceI’m Chairman’s staff at Renovation, maybe I’llget a sneak peek this year! But maybe that wouldspoil the moment. Oh, I can’t decide what I want!) Watching the ceremony and feeling thesense of anticipation as each award is introducedand the nominees are listed, and then seeing how excited and happy the winners are, and how happy everyone watching is for them. Truly, the Hugo Awards are the highlight of any Worldcon for

me!

So there you have it. All the things I’mplanning to do on my 2011 Summer Vacationto Renovation, the 69th World Science FictionConvention in Reno, Nevada, USA. What are you

planning to do on your summer vacation?

Helen Montgomery is Co-Chair of the Boston

Christmas WorldCon Bid for 2020. She’s also

Awesome Beyond Belief!

http://www.virginiacity-nv.com/

http://www.visitcarsoncity.com/

http://www.visitcarsoncity.com/

http://www.virginiacity-nv.com/



Getting Involved In Art @Renovation

by Anne Gray

In 2007, Brian and I attended Smofconin Boston. At a round-robin discussion of how

to recruit people, I explained my no-nonsensedirect approach. “I’ll just go up to someone wholooks a little bored and say something like, ‘how would you like to haul around heavy objects for anhour?’” Across the circle from me, a woman’s headsnapped up with an expression of recognition anddelight. “That sounds like something I would say!”she declared. That was my introduction to Patty Wells.

When I found out Patty and others I likedand respected had put together a Worldcon bid,

I was instantly interested in getting involved. Butfor a long time I was sans portfolio. At the rstReno in 2011 group meeting at Anticipation, wheneveryone gave their title or role, I said I was waiting to nd out what Patty decided to do with me. Latein the Fall of 2009 she came up with something and dropped me an email. Patty’s vision was foreach night of Renovation to feature a particularcreative aspect of SF fandom - Music, Art,Costumes, and Literature, with the Music Nightfeaturing a big concert and other music events,

Art Night featuring the Chesley Awards and other visual arts, then the Masquerade for costuming,and the Hugo Awards, which recognize many things but primarily literature, paired with otherprogramming on each event’s night. She asked meto help make Art Night a reality.

In order to do this, I was to link up withColin Harris, a British fan I did not know whohad been providing many ideas for Art Nightand Art Programming in general, I was told.Conveniently, Brian and I won TAFF, so I was

going to be able to meet with Colin in personat Eastercon and hear about all his ideas. At that

for two extended, high-energy discussions thatrevealed an agenda that was broader than artnight and even reached beyond the program,though it was eventually decided this effort wouldbe organizationally located in the programming division. The idea was simple, the goalextremely attractive: we were going to revitalizethe involvement of the SF art community in Worldcon, and we were going to do outreach withartists to nd out exactly what they would want usto do at Renovation to draw them to it and makeit a rewarding experience. Simple, right? But big. To assist with this project, Colin was recruiting a braintrust. The earliest members of that trust, who helped inject excitement as well as directioninto the project, were artist John Picacio, Pyr artdirector and editor Lou Anders, and Jannie Shea,former Secretary of The Association of ScienceFiction & Fantasy Artists (ASFA), who has beeninvolved in running the Chesley awards for years.

The message we got was that three key things are important to artists for them to beinterested and able to attend conventions (notnecessarily in this order):

SalesProfessional ContactsComradery By sales we mean not just sales at the

convention, but the opportunity to connect withfans and collectors and facilitate sales throughtheir web sites or other shows as well, and to sell work to Art Directors. By Professional Contactstherefore we mean not just collectors and otherartists but also Art Directors themselves --like authors would like to meet with editors atconventions, so artists would like to meet withpeople who might hire them for future projects.In the book industry, and in comics, yes, butalso for concept work and images for lms andgames, for instance. And as for Comradery, wellhey, artists also --fancy that-- want to meet eachother (and other SF creative types) and hang out! We are hoping to produce an event that providesand facilitates all of these opportunities while alsooffering a great experience for those who admireand enjoy art but do not create it or participate inthe industry.

Through a series of skype phone calls,long email, presentations and other documents,

point my view of what I wasto do for Art Night resembledbeing a stage manager for aperformance -- I was to becomefamiliar with what events wereplanned, and who was doing them, make sure the tech wasall lined up, and sufcient crew,

then call the cues the night of and orchestrate a successfulexecution of the plan. When Iactually met with Colin, I foundout The Plan, which was stillunder development, was muchlarger than just a night of Art atthe convention.

Colin and I sat down



I started to feel like I understood what Colin hadin mind, and we also touched base with the headsof the various Renovation divisions that will becollaborating to make it so. Honestly, we’re still working on expressing to others working on theconvention what-all we’d like to do, and we’re stillguring out what’s actually going to be possible. A lot is going to depend on who we convince to

come and participate. (Interested? Write to us [email protected] [sorry, I just had to stick that in] .) A number of our plans, such as a print andonline Artist Showcase of artists in the art show,spun off of ideas gleaned from IlluXCon, anenergetic young SF Illustrator’s convention thatjust nished its third year. Colin had attendedIlluXCon and was thrilled with the congenialatmosphere, amazing conglomeration of artists,and opportunities for those artists to interact withfans in the context of their own art. If we can

bring just a fraction of that energy to Renovationit will be awesome.

In the middle of the ramping up process,I took a break to give birth to Brian’s and my rstchild, Rosalind (“Rosie”), and adjust to being a

up being born on August 18, 2010, exactly oneyear before Art Night is scheduled to occur in2011. She’ll have a pretty big birthday party, I tellyou. I have high hopes that it’ll be great.

Recently, Colin has asked me to take overheading the project, and with a little trepidationI have agreed. I say trepidation because I’m stilladjusting to managing a baby; it sometimes seems

such a huge challenge to get other things done, andthere are so many things we want to do for this conand so little time! But on the ip side I also havea lot of enthusiasm for the project. I’m an art fanand have been the “gardener” of a slow-growing SF artist wiki (http://www.sfartistwatch.com) fora few years now. I have friends who have gotteninvolved in the Maker community and I feel likethere’s currently a surge of interest in creating things -- paintings, comics, costumes, props,jewelry, gadgets, games, videos, lm, puppets,

quilts, ceramics, etc., and I’d like to both tap intoand feed into that surge.

The braintrust has reminded those of usputting together the program to keep in mindcrossover programming options. As Lou so aptly

put it, “People always think the only thing they can ask artists about is paint, but there is a reasonthe artists in our industry work in our industry , andthat’s the same love of SF&F that brings the restof us in.” Art has always been an important partof SF; we aim to make our SF artists feel like anappreciated and included part of SF fandom atnext year’s worldcon. And we are hoping future

Worldcons will build on whatever momentum weare able to start in that direction. Online sales andeconomic downturns have made straight sales atconvention Art Shows insufcient cause alonefor artists to attend them. Conventions need totake a broader approach to integrate art into theconvention landscape. Art @ Renovation will beour attempt to do that.

Anne Gray, along with her husband Brian, are

the current TAFF Administrators for North

America. She’s also all sorts of Awesome.

mom. While I was busiest withthat, Colin took the helm of theproject we had come to call Art @Renovation and made sure we got astart to our web presence, http://www.reno vationsf.org/art.php,and an article in Progress Report3 that outlined some of what wehope to do, as well as mention of it in the artist mailing that wentout to announce the release of the Art Show rules and entry forms onthe website. In the meantime ourbraintrust expanded to include BobEggleton, local Reno artist RichardHescox, and fan artists Frank andBrianna Wu.

Interestingly, Rosie ended

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.renovationsf.org%2Fart.php&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGPqCsaA6KOutI4otY-Z_DLuQWBxA





















Tim Powers: Big Fish in aSmall Pond

by Peter Harrow

Tim Powers is one of the originators of the term steampunk and is considered a majorsteampunk author but is Tim Powers work Steampunk? Is he a steampunk author at all? These are questions I have heard on a number of occasions from a number of people.

The novels The Anubis Gates, The StressOf Her Regard and On Stranger Tides are labelledas Tim Powers Steampunk novels although all threenovels are set in the historical period immediately before the Victorian era and involve magic ratherthan technology, both elements which a lot of people consider to be essential to the steampunk sub-genre.

Indeed it can be argued that the FaultLines book Expiration Date set in a relatively contemporary setting appears at rst glance tohave more Steampunk elements, than these novelsinvolving as it does eminent Victorians Houdiniand Edison as well as superscience bordering upon (and intermingling) with magic.

So is The Anubis Gates Tim Powers mostrenowned novel actually steampunk?. Well yesand no. The story starts off as a conventionalScience ction premise, time travel, with theprotagonist Doyle travelling back to 1810 to track the (ctional) poet Ashbless.

The story then seeks to apply knownhistorical fact and real people such as Lord Byronin a historical novel context comparable to, say Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey books, with Doyle being an observer of that part of history. However, thestory then mutates into a battle between magicians,a standard trope of fantasy, with Doyle caught inthe middle.

The story ends with Doyle, (spoiler) having

become Ashbless, facing the end of Ashbless’known life in Victorian England at the point of asword. Instead of dying Doyle/Ashbless kills hismagical homunculous duplicate instead leaving ‘his’ murdered self in the correct place and correcttime as recorded by (ctional) history and moveson to a new life in California.

This nal sequence of The Anubis Gates isthe only part of the novel which is set in VictorianEngland, the default steampunk setting and eventhen it is merely a linking device between two

novels by Powers and Blaylock featuring Ashblessas a character. The only superscience in it is in thecontemporary science ction element at the startof the book. The magic though is very appropriateto the character of the setting.

So is The Anubis Gates Steampunk? Itisn’t if you take the rather narrow view of the sub-genre established in William Gibson’s and Bruce

Sterling’s The Difference Engine which is oftencited as the epitome of steampunk, which is setin an alternate Victorian era extrapolating fromrealisable technology which actually existed in thatperiod.

The world did not change drastically when Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837 nor did itchange drastically upon her death in 1901. There is no sharp division in the character of the Victorian period from that of the subsequentEdwardian period, such sharp division only

arose from the changes to society wrought by theFirst World War. The character of 1810 London would have been remarkably similar to that of theLondon of 1837.

However the world of The DifferenceEngine has no truck with either magic or itscipher, superscience (taking into account Clarke’sLaw) which are a large part of later signicant and widely accepted steampunk novels, such asChristopher Priest’s the Prestige, China Meiville’sPerdido Street Station and Stephen Hunt’s

Jackelian Book’s.As a consequence these later steampunk

books are capable of engaging a greater sense of wonder in their execution, but remain true to their‘Victorian’ setting. The Victorians were obsessed with magic and mysticism as much as they were with science and pseudoscience and often tried tomarry the two together. Egyptology, phrenology,mesmerism, seances are all examples of the neline trod at the time between putative magic andscience.

All of these later steampunk books havea Victorian feel to character to their setting,



although only The Prestige is set partly in that period, but all featuremagic and/or superscience which is appropriate within that setting and not arbitrarily grafted on.

Steampunk can therefore go beyond a strictly Victoriansetting to consider instead a near, faux or pseudo Victorian characterto its setting, and as well as extrapolated realizable Victorian leveltechnologies, the inclusion of magic or superscience as an extension to

or complement to such technologies. On this basis The Anubis Gates, The Stress of Her Regard and On Stranger Tides ARE steampunk.

Using this argument the other principal novels of Tim Powerscan be shown to be denitely are NOT steampunk. The Drawing of The Dark does have a historical setting, but it is the much earlier 15thCentury, not even remotely Victorian in character.

The Fault lines books themselves, Expiration Date,Earthquake Weather and the aforementioned Last Call have an urbancontemporary setting, and though there are steampunk elements inthe technology/magic/superscience of Expiration Date, with forexample Edison’s spirit telephone, the character of the setting is

quite different to the ‘steampunk’ books.Three Days To Nowhere and Declare are historical, but late

20th century, although they also have the familiar elements of magic/superscience of the preceding novels, but again lack a setting with a‘Victorian’ character to be steampunk.

Dinner at Deviants Place and The Skies Discrowned arescience ction, post apocalyptic and action adventure respectively, butthey sit well apart from Tim’s other major novels, as they are neithersecret histories nor demonstrably steampunk on the above basis.

Tim Powers is an author of Steampunk novels, and has helpeddene the sub-genre, but this output comprises only part of his

literary legacy and not necessarily the major or most signicant partof his output.

The Drawing of the Dark, Declare and Last Call all have claimsof being more signicant in the genre of fantasy than any of Tim’ssteampunk novels are in that genre, but the sheer size of the genremeans even these acheivements will look minor when set alongsideeverything else within the fantasy genre. In steampunk however TimPowers is a big sh in a small pond, which is why he is consideredto be so much a steampunk author rather than a fantasy author. Its amatter of perspective, not denition.

Peter Harrow is one amazing chap.



Tim Powers – An Honoured Guest

by Peter Harrow

As Co-Chair of LX (the 2009 Eastercon) the absolute high light wasmeeting Tim Powers. I had read The Anubis Gates, Earthquake Weather andExpiration Date as a student, and independent to this I had a burgeoning

interest in Steampunk, a sub-genre to which Tim is an elder statesman, so when James (Bacon) suggested Tim as a Guest of Honour I jumped at it.Tim was a rst rate Guest of Honour, from the “oooh!” of pleasure

we got announcing him at Contemplation, he was clearly an author fans wanted to meet. At the Con he contributed mightily to a large number of panels, and in the bar at the hotel was gracious, approachable and good fun.

Running a Con means you don’t really get to enjoy it, you don’t alwaysget to go to the items you want to or spend as much time with the people you want to, I bumped into Tim on a number of occasions whilst either or bothof us were rushing on to other things, but of the limited time I had with Timat LX, and a couple of episodes stand out in my memory.

The rst was on the principle Steampunk Panel, a GoH Headliner,featuring Tim, myself as moderator, the steampunk academic Venetta Uyefrom the Manchester Metropolitan University, and the writers Kim Lakin-Smith and Toby (Space Captain Smith) Frost.

The panel was on the appeal of steampunk, and Tim related the tale of his new car and the jump start on a frosty day. All the jump start accomplished was to fry the computer on the car and render it completely useless. There wasnothing to be done but to yank the amortised hardware out and send out fora replacement.

For Tim this was a revelation, he had previously been able to x any carhe had previously owned with his own hands, but now never would, frustrated

by a anonymous ‘black box’, he didn’t understand, couldn’t x and whoseabsence rendered the car unusable, which gave no apparent improvement inperformance over his earlier cars.

For him the appeal of steampunk was for a technology one could seephysically working, understandable on a gross physical scale, and the knowledgethat with the manual and the right tools a capable man (or woman) could xit if it broke down. I fully agreed with this view, and at this point I was able toillustrate Tim’s tale by holding up my skeleton pocket watch and showing off the intricate workings, visible and understandable, to counterpoint the tale of the car.

I have subsequently heard this point repeated almost verbatim in the

steampunk community ‘a technology one can see working’, and I believe Timmade the earliest, clearest statement of it. This goes much deeper than the



mere appreciation of the aesthetic of steampunk.The second episode was towards the end of the Con

where I nally got to have an informal chat with Tim. I wassitting with him and John Berlyne, and had the chance to geta couple of books signed, (including a copy of John Berlyne’sbook Powers Secret Histories A Bibliography which was justly nominated for a World Fantasy Award) and I got to chatting about the First UK Steampunk Convention, The Asylum which

I was helping to organise that following September. Whilst doing this Tim did a lovely little sketch, a self-portrait of himself as asteampunk on the yleaf of John’s book.

The ease and grace with which Tim executed his littleillustration was nothing short of impressive. I work in sculptureand I am always deeply envious of someone who can casually do this type of portraiture. To be able to write AND draw tothat standard, well it just isn’t fair. Tim pulls it off though by being a thoroughly nice chap.

Sometime at this point I joked about ‘Pirates of theCaribbean’ ripping of “On Stranger Tides” which I had just

read, however Tim was silent on this point and I thought nothing of it, it was a minor aside. The subsequent announcement of the tie up some months later, made me remember this, if it waspending even then, Tim was the soul of discretion.

My last view of Tim was striding across thehotel reception off to explore Bronte Country. He wasunselfconsciously waving goodbye with the compass anddrinkers system cane he had been presented with the previousday at the Closing Ceremony by myself and the Committee.I waved my goodbyes but this was struck by the fact that this was a man intensely comfortable with both the meme and the

paraphernalia of steampunk, thanking all and sundry despitefour days in a very, very crowded hotel in Bradford.

So that is the Tim Powers I met, teller of tales, artist,steampunk and gentleman. A genuine pleasure to know and arst rate Guest of Honour, he was our honoured guest, andnow he is to be Renovation’s Guest of Honour. I well deservedtriumph for Mr Tim Powers.

Peter Harrow was Co-Chair of the Eastercon LX2009



Ten Short Science FictionWorks

Jim Mann

Before I launch into my list of ten shortSF works, I want to say what this list is and whatit isn’t. These are ten short SF works that had amarked inuence on my SF reading, that are onesI remember very strongly, and are ones I go back to from time to time. They are not necessarily my favorite ten stories (though there’d be a lotof overlap with that list), nor are they they storiesthat I consider the ten best SF short works (acouple of the works here might make that list, butmanywould not).

I also limited myself to one work perauthor. In some cases, the work is representativeof the author’s work, and I could have pickedanother just as easily. For example, I thought quitea bit about which of about ve or six CordwainerSmith stories I’d include on the list, and I couldjust as easily have chosen “Mother Hittun’s LuttulKittons,” “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell,” “TheGame of Rat and Dragon,” “Along Alpha RalphaBoulevard,” or others.

Finally, if I had to do this again in a month,I’m sure one or two of the stories would change.

Anyway, in no particular order, here is my list.

“The Dead Lady of Clown Town” byCordwainer Smith

Smith’s writing is like no other’s, and I rstencountered his works when Del Rey books

released Norstrilia

andThe Best of Cordwainer Smith

in the mid-1970s. When I attended my rst SF

club meeting in 1975, I had a copy of Norstrilia in my pocket and discovered that the local SFclub included several big Cordwainer Smith fans.Smith’s blending of SF and myth and history, hisunique way of telling stories (often telling you upfront “you already know this story,” giving it a feelof real history and real legend), were memorable,and had a strong impact on my reading thereafter.

“The Dead Lady of Clown Town” is, among other things, Smith’s version of the story of Joanor Arc, but full of the rich background of hisInstrumentality series.

“Baby Is Three” by Theodore Sturgeon

I’d read a few other Ted Sturgeon stories before“Baby Is Three” (“Microcosmic God” comes tomind). But “Baby Is Three” was a revelation:an SF story where characterization was at theforefront. The story’s emotional impact also madeit stand out. Sturgeon starts with this characters,

and then builds his story around them, rather thanthe reverse, which was so common with SF writersof the time.

“A Work of Art” by James Blish

Blish’s “A Work of Art,” like Sturgeon’s “Baby Is Three,” made a strong impression on me because itshowed me yet another kind of science ction. I’dread other Blish -- his great Cities in Flight seriesas well as several of his classic short works -- but

this was different. Richard Strauss is revived inthe future (sort of) to create a new musical work. The story not only explores the characters butlooks into the question of what art is and how itfunctions.

“Desertion” by Clifford Simak

Several works I mention above made an impacton me because of their strangeness, which insome ways also can be expressed as a sense of wonder. Simak’s best works combine a pastoral

landscape with middle American characters, but with an element of strange thrown in. In City , thisstrange is very profound: stories told by the futurecivilization of dogs, the ants creating some strange,incomprehensible civilization of their own, andhumanity gone off into space. “Desertion” isperhaps the most memorable of the City stories,in which a man and his dog are transformed tolive on the surface of Jupiter (only Simak wouldinclude the dog). It’s a good companion piece toread alongside Poul Anderson’s “Call Me Joe” and

James Blish’s “Bridge.”

“The Dragon Masters” by Jack Vance

The rst book I got from the SF Book Club wasThe Hugo Winners . I read through it and enjoyedstory after story, but the one that really hit mehardest -- perhaps because it was so very differentfrom the stories around it -- was Jack Vance’s“The Dragon Masters.” Vance’s colorful use of language, his characters and their speech patterns,his incredible backgrounds and cultures, the way he took things that one one level felt like fantasy but were also SF, were unique. Since then, I’veread almost all of Jack Vance, and he’s written anumber of things that were even better than “TheDragon Masters” (including several great short works), but this is where it all started for me.



“Who Goes There” byJohn W. Campbell

Much of the SF that I readin the sixties and seventiesinvolved wide-open vistasand big landscapes. “WhoGoes There,” in comparison,

is claustrophobic: a smallgroup of men, in a closed-in Antarctic habitat, trying to outwit a shape-changing alien. It’s intense and scary,and still holds up very well.

“The Proud Robot” byHenry Kuttner

“The Proud Robot” was

perhaps my rst experience with humorous SF, something Kuttner (often with C.L.Moore) was a master of. In

“Fire Watch” by Connie Willis

Many short stories combine SF with history, butfew have done it with quite the impact of Connie Willis’s best works in this area. “Fire Watch,” thestory of a time traveller during the London blitz,is a great example of this type of SF.

“All Your Zombies” by Robert Heinlein

When I rst started reading SF, Robert Heinlein’sfuture history stories were very important tome. They were an attempt to do a near futurechronology, with good stories and attention todetail. But I didn’t pick a future history story forthis list, in part because it’s hard to pick just one,but mostly because “All You Zombies” is one of the most memorable of all time travel stories. It’scertainly the most memorable story based around

a massive paradox, and it’s a fun puzzle to watchunroll.

What Just Missed theList

Picking the last few on thelist was really hard. I satin my library, staring at theshelves, and thinking of short works that had an impact on

me. A few just missed thecut: William Tenn’s “Child’sPlay” (Kornbluth’s “TheLittle Black Bag” is a classic,but Tenn did it rst, and did itjust as well), Clarke’s “RescueParty,” Bear’s “Blood Music,”Martin’s “Sandkings,” Kuttnerand Moore’s “VintageSeason.” If it were just a bitshorter (a novella rather than

a short novel, by Hugo rules),The Big Time by Fritz Leiber would have made the list. Igave serious thought to all.

fact, this is one of several other Kuttner storiesthat I considered (“The Twonky” and “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” were others).

“Neutron Star” by Larry Niven

One of my favorite types of SF is the new spaceopera, especially by the writers who effectively

combine hard SF with space opera. Modern writers such as Alastair Reynolds, Vernor Vinge,and Stephen Baxter are great examples of this. But from the mid-sixties and through theseventies, when I was rst experiencing SF of thistype, Larry Niven was leading the way. Niven wasat his best at this time, producing a series of greatshort works and several memorable novels. Icould have chosen almost any of the stories inthe Neutron Star collection for this list, but the titlestory makes a ne selection.

Who’s Missing

As I look back on the list, I notice that I didn’tinclude works by several of my very favorite writers of short ction. In many cases, this isbecause, while I value the body of their work quitea bit, no single work sticks out to me in quite the

same way as the ones above do. Prime examplesof this are Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, PhilDick, Fritz Leiber, James Patrick Kelly, MichaelSwanwick, and a few others. Some of my otherfavorite writers -- Tim Powers, Ursula LeGuin, Vernor Vinge, Iain Banks, Alastair Reynolds -- areones I mostly think of at novel length (thoughmost have also written some very good shortstories).

Jim Mann is a SMoF and all-around Awesome

guy!



Women Writing Horror in 2010

by Lynda E. Rucker

There’s a notion out there—one I alwaysnaively imagine has been dispelled until it rearsup and bites me again—that women don’t writehorror, and don’t like reading horror ction.

It’s true that women horror writers are less visible—in part because the genres in which many have found success, particularly those of urbanfantasy, paranormal romance, and YA ction,are off the radar of many male horror fans, oraren’t considered a part of the genre at all. Itdoesn’t help that the horror genre itself, in itsnovel-length form, remains pretty much dead inthe water, at least as far as mainstream publishing goes. But plenty of dark ction is still appearing each year, albeit under different guises, and plenty

of it is written by women. What follows aresome horror/dark fantasy novel and short ctionrecommendations by women writers that readersof science ction might enjoy as well, despite thisbeing the wrong genre for Hugo recs.

First off, I’ll confess I don’t readparanormal romance or urban fantasy myself, andalmost no YA. I’m not making a value judgmentabout any of those subgenres or their writers orreaders; this is just my own personal taste. My horror preferences run along two veins—the old-

fashioned ghost story or supernatural tale, and the very dark and brutal. If there must be vampiresand werewolves (and I’d rather not, please), they should rip out people’s throats, not go to bed withthem. Or solve crimes. Or whatever. (Nor shouldthey do those things in addition to ripping outpeople’s throats.) I tend to like my horror ctionrooted in gritty realism and tweaked just enoughto let the supernatural darkness leak in, versus thatset in more fantastical version of our world. My other caveat is that I don’t think horror is a genre

that generally works best in the novel form. It can work brilliantly, and I could happily reel off a list

of ten or twenty excellent novels that are rmly rooted in the genre, but the sustained atmosphereI like in a horror novel is difcult to pull off.

So that’s my reading quirks and prejudicesout of the way. And having just stated I likemy dark ction rooted rmly in reality, my rstrecommendation ies right in the face of that.Gemma Files’s A Book of Tongues is set in a world

where sorcerers and demons walk the AmericanOld West and Mayan and Aztec gods are real. Ex-Confederate soldiers, outlaws, and lovers Ash Rook and Chess Pargeter are under scrutiny by AllanPinkerton himself (yes, of that Pinkerton Agency), who’s sent Agent Ed Morrow undercover todiscover the truth of Rook’s power—for Rook has

survived his own hanging and transformed fromdevout preacher to hex , or magician, using the words of his former holy book to weave horricand devastating spells. But the bloodthirsty Mayangoddess Ixchel wants Rook as well as a means torestoring her own power. Tongues is a brutal novel,suffused with violence, sex, and wildly imaginativeimagery; in fact, it’s so gruesomely visual I kept

thinking this would make a great comic , only that wouldmean losing Files’s dense, gorgeous, evocativeprose, which I suspect may put some readers off but will be what others (myself included) like bestabout it. One warning: this is the rst of a series,and ends on a cliffhanger, so if that sort of thing makes you want to throw a book across the room,

by Jennis Dark http://jennisdark.deviantart.com/



you may want to hold off ‘til ChiZine Publicationsreleases the sequel, at least.

My other novel-length recommendationhails from the opposite end of the spectrum,Helen Grant’s YA murder mystery The Glass Demon.It’s not a supernatural novel, but this dark book isrich with Gothic elements and atmosphere—afamily full of secrets and resentments, living amid

the ruins of a German castle, headed by a fatherreckless to solve a medieval mystery about a lostseries of stained glass windows at all costs; all whoseek them are said to be haunted and eventually killed by the demon Bonschariant, and indeed, themounting bodies, all found dead amid shattered,bloody glass seem to support the legend. Grant was in fact partly inspired to write the novel afterreading a short story by the great 19 th century ghost story writer and medieval scholar M.R. James, “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.”

Lin, the seventeen-year-old narrator, confessesherself near the end that she’s told “a tale whichsounded as though it had come straight out of Grimm’s,” and she’s right. Like all my favoritedark ction, the action of the novel is tangled upin its psychological underpinnings, in this case anexamination of the very real failings of parentstoward their children and the unspeakable andirreparable wounds that families can inict onone another—and that only they are capable of inicting precisely because they are family. This

builds slowly and subtly—which I love—to ahorrifying climax. As I said above, I don’t readmuch YA, but I picked this up after Grant’sprevious novel came strongly recommended froma couple of people whose tastes run similar tomine, and I wasn’t disappointed. US readers notethat this is only out in the UK at the moment;you’ll have to wait till next year or order it fromoverseas. (Grant’s debut novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, was released this year in the US.)

Contrary, in my opinion, to the novelscene, a lot of terric short ction is published

each year in the eld of dark fantasy/horror—asanyone can see from perusing the year’s best

volumes by Stephen Jones, Ellen Datlow, andPaula Guran—but much of the best is publishedin small press collections and anthologies, theprice of which can add up quickly. So those of us acionados not in possession of a fortune areleft to make our purchases very selectively, dreamof a lottery win that lets us buy all the expensivebooks we want, and wait for the aforementionedanthologists to pass on a sample of the best stuff.I also think the consistently strongest horrorction is coming out of Britain, which adds an

extra level of expense and difculty for readers onmy side of the pond.

Black Static is the best of the horrormagazines and can be consistently counted onto publish a wide variety of ction by women writers. My favorite this year was probably SarahSingleton’s “Death by Water,” a beautifully written, low-key tale of a bereaved husband ona seemingly endless quest to nd a medium whocan help him contact his dead wife. In their ashction contest The Campaign for Real Fear, aneffort in part to encourage ction from women

and other less-represented populations in thegenre, Maura McHugh and Christopher Fowlerelicited a number of strong contributions fromnew or lesser-known writers as well as some moreestablished ones. This was particularly revelatory for me because I don’t normally like ash ction very much. I especially enjoyed Australian horror writer Kaaron Warren’s “The Rude Little Girl,”

“Shades of Blue” by Catherine MacLeod, and“Sanctuary” by Katherine Hughes.

There’s been a lot of promising-sounding short ction by women writers I haven’t gotten toyet this year. Allyson Bird won the British Fantasy Award last year for her debut collection of horrorstories, Bull Riding for Girls, and Dark Regions Pressreleased her second collection Wine and RankPoison earlier this year. Canadian Michael Kelly hasjust published the rst of a planned yearly journalShadows and Tall Trees , and I’m anxious to read the

rst published prose by Sandra Kasturi. Back toBritain, David Longhorn’s magazine Supernatural Tales reliably includes strong ction by women inits table of contents and is always worth a look. The anthology Haunted Legends , edited by EllenDatlow and Nick Mamatas, has a great lineup as well (and actually more women writers than menincluded—imagine!).

The collection I’m most excited about isn’tactually new ction. In September Ash-Tree Pressreleased the rst volume of a planned series of thecomplete short supernatural works of Lisa Tuttle.Stranger in the House reprints the ction from 1972to 1985, which includes the stories from her now hard-to-nd collection A Nest of Nightmares —acollection I read as a teenager that was very inuential for me. Tuttle writes with that blend of realism and the supernatural that I like best.

There’s not much left of the year, butbefore the end of 2010, the graphic novel Roisin Dubh is due to debut, scripted by Maura McHugh

(who collaborated with Rob Curley on the story), with lettering by Stephen Daly, and published by

http://rustyfur.deviantart.com/gallery/

?q=horror+eggs#/d2jebwa



Atomic Diner Comics out of Dublin. It’s set in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Ireland and tells the story of an 18-year-old woman who’sseeking vengeance against the neamh -mairbh—a sort of walking dead, I think—that killed her parents. The preview pages look fantastic.

Finally, here are a couple of links dealing with short horrorction by women in 2010. The women contributors to Never Again ,the Allyson Bird and Joel Lane edited anthology in support of theSophie Lancaster Foundation were recently interviewed over at

Fangirltastic (formerly Pretty Scary), a site that focuses on women in horror literature and lm: http://www.fangirltastic.com/content/never-again-anthology . And over at TTA Press, Peter Tennantlooked at the distribution of women among a number of 2010horror anthologies: http://ttapress.com/942/women-in-horror-anthologies/0/5/. This is a really useful breakdown for anyoneseeking more horror ction by women from the past year.

I’m interested in seeing what people will recommend for theactual Hugo, and what will make the nal nominations. And what amI looking forward to in Reno? I’ve never been to a Worldcon before!I don’t know quite what to expect but I’m sure it will be chaotic andoverwhelming and wonderful. I always thought a Worldcon wouldbe too big and intimidating for me—I have only ever been to cons with attendances under 1000, which seemed about the right size forme—and as a horror girl rst and foremost, I never made attending a Worldcon a priority. But I just started going back to cons again thisyear after several years off, and now I feel like making up for losttime. I am looking forward to seeing Tim Powers as a guest, becauseI like his ction a lot and he’s always a good guest at cons. But really,I’m excited about everything—the writers and the fans and the oldfriends and the new friends and the great conversations and thepanels and the parties and the drink and the late nights and the notsleeping and, of course, the books (oh yes, always the books). Seeyou there?

Lynda E. Rucker writes Awesome Horror, and her story‘The Moon Will Look Strange’ in Black Sta�c is one of my faves for the year.

byIris http://mei-angelz.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=horror#/d1s9hjz

http://www.fangirltastic.com/content/never-again-anthology



http://ttapress.com/942/women-in-horror-anthologies/0/5/








Top the graphic novels you

may have missed in 2010

By Rob Curley

Each year sees the graphic novel marketgetting bigger and bigger with a constant ow of new trades hitting the shelves of comic stores andbook stores alike. It can be hard to keep track of every new release and easy to miss a few gems thatmay slip through the thunderous paper fall, intothe constantly owing river of new releases.

So that’s where this article comes in. The following books are my own personalrecommendations of the top ten trades you may have missed during 2010.

Hellblazer IndiaWriter Peter MilliganArtist Giuseppe Camuncoli

Hellblazer is by far Vertigo’s longestrunning series and with good reason. Over theyears John Constantine has been lucky enough tobe in the company of some of comics best talentfrom Alan Moore, who created the cynical oldmage, to Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Mike Carey,Paul Jenkins but to name a few. Unfortunately by the time Denise Mina came around the title wasbecoming a bit stale and in desperate need of anew identity. Which it now has in the guise of Peter Milligan one of Britain’s best but not wellknown writers.In his rst storyline Milligan sets Constantine onthe run after he is wanted for a murder he didn’tcommit. A quick trip to India leads to all sortsof trouble for our beloved rogue as he tries toresurrect an old ame nding instead a trail of very beautiful but very dead young women. Culturesclash as Constantine falls for the Bollywood dream

but like all celluloid dreams the reality may not beas stable as the fantasy. Milligan is well know forhis crazy scripts and artist Camuncoli’s style really adds fuel to the re here giving us one of the bestConstantine stories in years.

Marvels Project

Written by Ed Brubaker Art by Steve Epting

At rst glance the Marvels Project may seem like just another retelling of old stories butonce you look beneath the cover and let the action

unfold you quickly become aware that this is anentire reshaping of the Marvel universe. Brubakeruses characters that most readers would know littleabout and possibly care about even less, but being such a skilled craftsman he manages to make uscare. The narrator of the story is Dr. ThomasCalloway, the original Angel who was inspired todon his costume after seeing the original Human

Torch in action. Aware of his place in the largerscheme of things, Calloway takes a back seat in thehero arena and watches a new age of hero dawnon America in the form of Captain America,Namor and the aforementioned Human Torch. Although to the reader both he and other lesserknown characters like the Ferret and John Steeleare just as important as the big hitters and thisis what separates this book from other similaraffairs like Marvels and Kingdom Come giving usa more rounded look at the Marvel universe. Steve

Epting is on art duties, his style suited to both theshadow and the light giving every panel a realisticfeel which few artists can achieve and creating a world which feels as real as the one we inhabitourselves.

WilsonBy Daniel Clowes

This is Daniel Clowes’ [ Ghost World ]

rst non serialized straight to trade novel and ispossibly his best work to date. Wilson is a deeply lonely man whose life comes crashing downaround him when his father dies. After somedeep soul searching he sets out on a journey tond his ex-wife in the hope of bringing themback together only to discover he has a teenagedaughter that he knew noting about. The girl wasborn just after his marriage ended and was givenup for adoption by her mother. Believing he canreconnect them as a family albeit forcibly, Wilson

brings all three together only to nd some thingsare possibly better left as they are. Clowes has a



a life of revenge and blood lust. Luckily for ourhero a new father gure enters his life in the formof Tonto, a native American with strong views of his own and determined to keep his new partneron the straight and narrow. The story unfolds at aslow pace giving the reader a sense of how timemoved in the wild west before technology took ahold of our every waking hour. Over the next three

collections the Ranger and Tonto eventually track down his father’s murderer, their nal showdownin the upcoming issue 25 will either be the making or the downfall of arguably America’s rst andgreatest hero.

Green Hornet Year OneWritten by Matt Wagner Art by Aaron Campbell

As the man behind this golden age versionof the Green Hornet, Matt Wagner shares at leastone thing in common with his jade clad hero, bothmen have been greatly overlooked in the comicsmedium for far to long. Wagner’s complete runon Sandman Mystery Theater still stands as oneof the best graphic novel series in the history of comic publishing and the Green Hornet has beenconned to the memory of those who rememberthe almost good TV show most famous for BruceLee’s role as the Hornet’s side kick Kato.

In this particular collection Wagner showsus just how good he is at creating a believable world of pulp heroes and villains. Set in 1930’sChicago, Year One explores the origins of boththe Green Hornet and Kato and how two menfrom very different backgrounds came to ghtside by side against a criminal underworld that notonly controls the city’s lowlifes but who hold sway over its very protectors from the lowly beat cop tothe very highly placed politicians. Helping createthis world is artist Aaron Campbell [Sherlock

Holmes] whose style is perfectly suited to theHornet’s exploits into the belly of the shadowy

and fascination in equal measure and this readstarts off no different as we are introduced to ourantihero. Waiting on a kill that just won’t turn up,his thoughts turn to how he got into the killing game and why he feels no remorse for what hedoes “Even God himself I wouldn’t listen to. Not with his record.” Money is his only motive anddeath doesn’t come cheap. Only after he botches a

job and nds himself on the run does he begin torealize just how alone he is. Childhood memoriesstart to ll his waking moments and a sense of regret begins to unfold. This is a story about thehuman condition and the ease at which death cancome to us all but more importantly about how hard the act of day to day living can be. The art issupplied by Luc Jacamon and lends a heavy senseof reality to the book in the traditional Frenchstyle. My only surprise about this graphic novel isthat it still hasn’t been turned into a movie or TV

show.

Lone Ranger vol 1 -3Written by Brett Matthews,Art director by John CassadayInterior art by Sergio Cariello

The Lone Ranger is one of thosecharacters that most people are familiar with but chances are don’t have a single issue

of this run in their collection. Which, knowing how brilliant and innovative this title has been isa damn shame. Taking us back to the character’sorigin, writer Brett Matthews and artist SergioCariello add a depth and richness that has arguably been missing from the Ranger’s world up untilthis point. In the rst chapter, John’s father andbrother are killed and he is left for dead afterthey are ambushed out on patrol with a routinesearch. Left without a family John’s life could goeither way, his fathers moralistic and fair teaching

form a strong part of his character but seeing himmurdered in cold blood could easily lead him to

knack for creating sad but beautiful situations,his characters always feel like outsiders in a worldthat rarely acknowledges them but would be very empty without them. His work is always thoughtprovoking and this new addition is no exception.

The Killer vol 1-3Written by MatzArt by Luc Jacamon

Originally published in France over tenyears ago but new to this side of the comic pond,the Killer is one of those rare books that catches

you by total surprise. We are all familiar with thestory of the cool sociopath who instills both fear



underworld. Aaron’s pencil work is a nice mixtureof clean lines and just the right amount of shading giving us the desired pulp affect you would expectfrom a period piece like Year One.

Captain America: PatriotWritten by KARL KESELPencils & Cover by MITCH

BREITWEISER

Set during WW2 on American home soilCaptain America the Patriot is concerned withjournalist Jeff Mace who, unable to ght in the waris inspired by the original Cap and dons his owncostume to ght small time hoods on the streetsof New York only to nd himself becoming thedarling of the very media institute he works for.His crime ghting career takes off when he joinsforces with the Liberty Legion and clamps down

on any Nazi activity taking place on the homeground.

As time moves on and the war nally comes to an end, Jeff nds himself once againghting side by side with some of his fellow heroes, this time as part of The All-WinnersSquad. During their rst mission Jeff comesacross the dead body of Captain America then,convinced by government agents to become thethird Captain America Jeff nds new challengesahead, challenges he’s not sure he can live up to.

If you love your heroes with a touch of retro thisbook is most denitely for you.

Criminal vol 5Writer Ed Brubaker Artist Sean Phillips

For anyone who has been following Brubaker and Phillips’ run on the Criminal seriesthe inclusion here of volume 5 will come as no

surprise as we are once again brought into the worldof Tracey Lawless, a war hero turned vigilante

when he avenges the death of hisbrother. Unfortunately for Tracey that debt doesn’t end there. Hisbrother’s previous employer, andone the the city’s most viciouscriminals, Sebastian Hyde intendsto cash in on Tracey’s obligationand sees his military background

as an opportunity not to bemissed when he takes him on as ahit man.

What seems like a perfectmatch begins to quickly fall apart when both men’s differences riseto the surface. Tracey may havekilled in the past but for whathe saw as good reason whilethe only reason Hyde needs aremoney and power, two things

Tracey has little interest in.is a lie and he may, like Pinnochio not be a realboy after all. Carey has a great knowledge of the world of fantasy and literature alike and in thisongoing series he shows just how well informedhe is while at the same time having enormousfun with the world he has created. Unwritten haseverything you could want from a fantasy story and a whole lot more to boot and Mike Carey’srecord speaks for itself, Lucifer, Hellblazer andCrossing Midnight are some of the best written

books on the stands today.

And there we have it, ten books whichall helped make my 2010 just that little bit morespecial.

Robert Curley is a driving force behindIrish comics. Robert and Maura McHugwrote Róisín Dubh, coming soon!

Both Brubaker and Phillips have become one of the best combos in the business proving time andtime again that there is room in this industry formore than just tights and superpowers.

Almost Silentby JasonPublished by Fantagraphics

Almost Silent is a collection of fourpreviously released Jason books but if you haven’tread his work before this is the perfect jumping on point. If you are familiar with Jason you willknow that he has a habit of using dog, bird, wolf and cat people as his main protagonists, all of which make his stories even more compelling.From the Frankenstein skit story of “You cantget there from here.” to the almost silent “Tellme something.” Jason concerns himself with theage old human condition of love. His work has a

real beauty to it and will add warmth to any cold winter’s evening. Highly recommended.

The Unwritten -OngoingWriter Mike CareyArtist Peter Gross

For those of you whoeither like or dislike Harry Potter this comic is for you.Unwritten manages to create

a fantasy world liken to JK Rowling’s but then places it ina more realistic setting wherethe comics protagonist existson two levels, one as a ctionalcharacter from a series of novels written by his father, and two asthe comics lead role trying tomake sense of the “real” worldas it is turned upside down by the revelation that his whole life



A Thoroughly Polite Dust-Up: AConversation on the Best Novels of 2010

The Players

Chris Garcia – Fan Writer and Editor. Favoriteauthors: Stephen Baxter, Christa Faust, China

Mieville, Kurt VonnegutJay Crasdan – Publisher and Proof-Reader.Favorite Authors: Jack Chalker, Phillip K. Dick, Walter Mosley, Cheri Priest

SaBean MoreL – Dance Instructor. Favorite Authors: Cheri Priest, Jodi Picoult, MichaelChabon, Jonathan Franzen

M Crasdan – Heiress and Writer. Favorite Authors: Christine Adamo, Lora Leigh, KimNewman, Carol Emshwiller

Elsa Lund – Film Student and Rockabilly Model.Favorite Authors: James Joyce, Stieg Larsson,Dianne Emley, Iain M. Banks

Rick Blair – Personal Trainer. Favorite Authors:Steig Larsson, China Mieville, H.P. Lovecraft,Selena Kitt

This is an aggregation of a series of emails, chats and live conversations sent back andforth between the lot of us when I foolishly asked:so, what do you think will be the Hugo ballot in Reno? Istarted by sending a list of 7 titles I liked, and they commented on them. M and Jay then sent a seriesof lists of other novels that should be considered. After a lunch with Rick and Elsa, a few books wereadded to the list. I then only went through onesthat folks said would be on their Hugo ballots. Ithen sent everything around for another roundand a number of comments were made... mostly on how much my taste in literature sucked.

I’ve collected all the responses into a per-book format.

The Dervish House by Ian McDonaldChris – I haven’t read it yet, but I hear great thingsand McDonald has seldom gone wrong, especially with Brasyl.

SaBean – I didn’t read it. Probably won’t.

Rick – I like McDonald, but haven’t read it.

Elsa – As soon as Rick is done with it, I’ll take it.

Jay – This is so much better than River of Gods.He’s built a world that vibrates. Maybe it’s because we went to Turkey last month, but it hit me in thegut. It walked a ne line, feeling almost like a DanBrown novel for a bit, then it turned and just kept

going. The economic and political realities that thestory plays with feel logical and real, something that easily could have gone wrong for a lesser writer. The fact that you haven’t read it Chris justproves that you really are an under-read goon.

M – I didn’t love it, but it was far from the worsething that Jay’s passed down to me. I’ve never readany McDonald, but I might try some now.

The Dream of Perpetual Motion by DexterClarence Palmer Jay – Not interested.M – I’ll probably read it soon. I’ve heard somefolks say that they really enjoyed it.

Chris – I’ll read it down the line. I don’t think a TPB’s out yet, and I can’t afford hardcover.

Elsa – LOVE. This is the best book of the year.

Got it for my birthday, read it twice so far. There’sa little bit of everything in it: Willy Wonka, The Tempest, The Wizard of Oz, Jules Verne. It’s allin there. I’d have thought you’d have read it long ago, Chris.

Rick – Read a sample chapter and knew that she’dlove it. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but I will.

SaBean – Fucking steampunk. Other than CheriPriest, it’s all shit.

Blackout by Connie WillisChris – Not too much of a Connie Willis novelfan, though I love some of her short pieces andshe’s a hoot and a half to be around.

M – Connie Willis is one of the few science ctionauthors who can write time travel and not makeme want to vomit. I loved Doomsday Book, andthis was even better. World War II seems almostsexy with time travelers in it. Polly is the best

character I’ve ever read.



SaBean – Connie who?

Jay – A very good novel, though not one of herbest. In fact, it’s been a few years since she wroteanything I’d put up there with her best. Maybeshe’s slipping.

Elsa – Don’t read Willis.

Rick – I’ve only read a couple of things from

Connie, but this was really good. Chris, you’rea historian, you should love this. It’s all aboutHistorians as time travelers and that should beenough for you.

Clementine by Cheri PriestM – Cheri’s fucking awesome. I liked Boneshaker alot better, but Clementine was pretty good.

SaBean – Not enough zombies.

M – Very true, SaBean.

Jay – Zombies are lame. Airships rule.

Chris – Agreed. More airships.

M – Airships are the shit.

SaBean – You all suck.

Elsa – Haven’t read it.

Rick – Didn’t much like it, but it certainly made alot of money for Cherie. I had trouble nding acopy of it. Sold out just about everywhere.

Behemoth by Scott WesterfeltChris – Leviathan was great, and the sequel picksup right where the rst book left off. Too muchgreatness in the second book, especially since thecharacters got much more of a chance to shine inhere. The action was better, the storytelling wasawesome and the political play was better handled.I still say this same story would be better played asan adult novel than as YA.

SaBean – Fucking steampunk! Jay – Get over it. Westerfelt is just as good a writer

as Cheri Priest. Behemoth is better than eitherBoneshaker or Dreadnought.

M – Didn’t read it.

SaBean – Don’t bother, M.

Elsa – I love the Uglies books, but Behemoth wasn’t very good. Maybe I should have readLeviathan rst. Just too much ‘Oh, how I love

him, but I can never have him’ emo stuff going on.

Rick – In the middle of it right now. It’s pretty good.

SaBean – I mean seriously, why the fuck is thisstuff so popular?

Chris – Because it’s good writing and the storiesare actually fun instead of the pseudo-intellectualgarbage that seems so popular with so many writers in genre these days.

The Orange Eats Creeps by GraceKrilanovich Jay – Haven’t read it.

Rick – Never heard of it.

M – SaBean forced it on me. This shit needs to bebanned. Yeah, there’s sex and violence and yet itstill made me want to throw it across the room. It’sthis kind of shit that Chris is always complaining

about.SaBean – This was what I thought like when I wasin high school. You were there, M, you should getit. It’s just like us back then.

Chris – I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard nothing butgood things about Krilanovich. She’s from SantaCruz, you know.

Rick – Never heard of her.

Elsa – I think I saw it at Borders.

SaBean – It’s the book I’d want to write. It’s literary zombie death metal. I know Chris will hate it. He

only likes shitty novels like Twilight.

Chris – I can not deny that.

Blameless by Gail CarrigerElsa – Love Gail Carriger. Love, love, love her.She’s hilarious and the Parasol Protectorate booksare the best things in the world. It makes me wanna be frisky-naughty. I want to be the lling ina Lord Maccon/Alexia sandwich.

Rick – That sounds freakin’ hot.

Chris – Yes… yes it does.

Rick – What number is that on the menu?

M – I’m this close to writing Carriger fan c.



There’s a lot of hot waiting to happen.

SaBean – Fucking steampunk.

Chris – I thought it was far-and-away the bestof the series. It was so much more fun thanChangeless and Souless. Gail managed to giveus something pretty amazing with Blameless,especially when you consider that it’s the middle

book of the series. Jay – I don’t read romance.

Chris – It’s not straight romance. I mean thedifference between Steamed and Blameless ishuge. It’s got plot movement down, deals withcharacters right and is just damn entertaining. Also,Gail doesn’t have the climactic action off-screen toprovide space for another lame sex scene.

New Model Army by Adam Roberts

Chris – I really liked Yellow Blue Tibia, and I’vegot Salt, but I haven’t had time for New Model Army.

Jay – Roberts rules. This is the book of the year, without question. It follows the line of evolutionfrom Facebook to militarization. It’s the kind of story that I’d have expected from anarchist ‘zinection from the 90s, only written by someone who actually understands that you can be literary at the same time as being thought provoking. It’sintellectual SF.

M – Not anarchist at all. It’s the perfect exampleof how technological democratization is just asbarring as any traditional governmental control. Iprobably need to read it again.

SaBean – Yellow Blue Tibia was fucking great. I’mreading NMA as soon as I’m done with Salt.

Rick – This is an English thing, isn’t it?

Elsa – I’ve never heard of it. Is it good?

Trade of Queens by Charles Stross

oks are really good. I’m re-reading them all rightnow.Rick – Stross scores easy with this one. I’ve readeverything he’s ever written and this is the best of his stuff. I thought it wouldn’t be possible to top The Clan Corporate, but he managed.

Chris – Haven’t read any of them.M – Me neither.

Jay – Good, though I might have to reread it again.I think it’s as good as The Clan Corporate, which Ithink is my favorite Stross.

SaBean – Stross is good, but I haven’t read it.

Dreadnought by Cherie PriestM – Not the best book of the year, but still goodenough that I wasn’t pissed that I paid full price. There were zombies, which is good.SaBean - Not enough zombies, but it was stillchoice. I read it again last week. I know Chrisloved it because of all the trains. Somehow, whenshe writes steampunk, it isn’t fucking lame.

Jay – Crackin’ good stuff. Better than Boneshaker,and probably anything else she’s written. Betterthan Fathom, which I thought would always beher best. Mercy might be the best character in the‘gotta have a female protag’ game.

Chris – The zombies were perfectly used. They were present, they weren’t over-used, which wasmy main problem in Boneshaker, and the way the story unfolded made so much sense. I think Cheri’s got a good handle on how to play character

and plot off one another.Elsa – Liked it, but Boneshaker was better.

Rick – Still haven’t read it.

Chris – You loved Boneshaker, so you should getright on this one.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by SethGrahame-SmithSaBean – Another stupid mash-up.

M – I liked it. It wasn’t anything I’d read again, butit was fun.

Rick – What I hated about it was exactly how tiredthe entire history/genre thing has become. Pride,Prejudice & Zombies was pretty cool, but this wasjust lame.

Jay – Good, fun, but I don’t really like Vampirebooks.

Chris – Loved it. One of the best reads of the year.I made it through in a weekend, which is rare. It was impossible to put down, and the best part had



to be the way that the history was dealt with. Lotsof research mingled with even more imagination

to give us this one. I was blown away even thoughI don’t really love the rest of the mash-up novelsthat are out there.

SaBean – You like the shittiest books, Chris.

M – So true.

Elsa – Haven’t read it, but I hear they’re making amovie of it. If they get John Carpenter to direct it,I’ll watch it.

The Quantum Thief by Hannu RajaniemiChris – What?Rick – Never heard of it.

Elsa – Isn’t he a goalie for the Flyers?

M – Never heard of it.

SaBean – Meh.

Jay – This book is nuts! It’s Mars, it’s a prisonstory, it’s full of game theory and neo-scientictransgressions. I completely fell in love with thisbook from the rst paragraph.

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

Rick – So good. I read it in a day, without stopping.Hell, Elsa and I had a ght because I wouldn’t getoff the couch because I dug it so hard. The whole western-meets-sci--meets-fantasy thing just

worked my shit.Elsa – I feel bad about yelling at him now. WhenI nished it, I totally got why he didn’t want tostop.

M – Haven’t read it.

SaBean – Me neither.

Jay – I hate westerns, but this was pretty good. I’venever read any other Gilman, but this showed very nuanced character build and a plot that rolls along without pause.

Chris – This is one of the best steampunk novelsof the year, and probably the best. It’s the ultimateanswer to everything Cat Valente and CharlesStross complained about in their blogs. It’semotional, adventurous, smart, perfectly balancedand better than just about anything this year.

Kraken by China Mieville

Elsa – I read it last weekend and it was so good. I

don’t like a lot of Melville.

M – Collingwood is dope. She’s exactly the kind of girl I wish I could bed down.

SaBean – Ditto.

Chris – Same here, though I’m pretty sure she’sbased on M from High School.

Jay – I’m pretty sure you already have, dear.

Rick – Better than The City & The City, not asimpressive as Perdido Street Station, but still anawesome book.

Jay – Really good, at times exceptional, but by theend, I was just beyond exhausted. It went a few steps too far down a road that seemed a little bit well-trodden

Chris – I loved it, my favorite book that came outthis year. The characters were so very cool, andChina plays beautifully with the worlds he builds. This is dark and has some really fun moments.He builds brilliant worlds and this one is full of characters that I really like. Plus, the Curator is thehero! How could that suck.

SaBean – Half-good, half-shit. China’s done goodstuff, this isn’t as good as The Scar or Perdido, butstill fun

The Ballots

Elsa – The Dream of Perpetual Motion, Kraken, The Half-Made World, Blameless

Rick – The Half Made World, Trade of Queens,Blackout, Kraken

M – New Model Army, Blackout, Blameless,Kraken

SaBean – The Orange Eat Creeps, Dreadnought

Jay – New Model Army, The Quantum Thief, TheDervish House, Behemoth, Dreadnought

Chris – Kraken, The Half-Made World,Dreadnought, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,

Behemoth



“AMBROSIA FOR THE MIND”:

2010’S BEST FANZINES

Guy Lillian

Let’s see, how do I put it: I see – or atleast try to see – every generally available fanzine

devoted to science ction published in English. That’s the(admittedly convoluted) mantra of what I call my “zinezine”, or fanzine about other fanzines, The Zine Dump. You can see it on eFanzines.com or inyour mailbox if, like me, you’re a paper slut.

But whether in print or in pixel, I do try to see as much of the fan-written material aboutscience ction and its fandom as I can, and it’squite a lot. In fact, it’s so much of a lot that Ican’t fulll my promise and name my ve favoritefanzines of 2010. So I’ll name ve of my top six

– how’s that?There are two ways of making such alisting, and I’ll do both. First, I’ll name the ve – or ve of the six – ongoing titles that I most enjoy nding in my mail. Then I’ll take a shot at themore challenging task of denoting the ve – of six – individual publications which most wowed methis past year. Let’s start with the ongoing titles.My top 5 of 6, in alphabetical order:

1. Alexiad , edited by Joe and Lisa Major

2. Argentus , edited by Steven Silver

3. Askance , edited by John Purcell4. Banana Wings, edited by Mark Plummer

and Claire Brialey

5. Vanamonde , edited by John Hertz

The factors that combine to make a zine afavorite are the same for me as for anyone, I guess.Is it attractive – is it interesting – is it accessible – is it consistent -- and if I know the editor, ishe or she a good person or a monster from Hell? All of the above qualify for strong afrmatives to

the rst four questions, and those I know well are

Equine-o-phile Lisa often writes about horse-racing, frequent contributor Johnny Carruthers

has a penchant for reviewing candy (I’m serious). Joe’s witty but well-informed writing is a delightto read, a judgment that many share, to judge by Alexiad ’s extensive and involved letter column. You can almost always judge a good genzine by itslettercol.

I hinted at another standard for genzinequality above: a strong editorial presence. Argentus and Askance certainly have that. Steve Silver isprobably the best theme man in fanzines, by whichI mean he tries to give each issue of Argentus aunifying subject – for instance, he recently devotedan issue to great movie comedians. He also prodshis contributors’ imaginations by including analternate fannish history section in most issues.Example, he requested reports on the 1973Minneapolis worldcon, a famous con-that-never- was. Purcell’s pleasant Texas personality ndsreection in his pleasant publication, which Inote because of the extraordinary beauty of itsartwork – one of the most beautiful out there.Like many fanzine editors, or “fan-eds,” as wefanzine cognoscenti call them, he has a usual

I’ve gleaned from Plokta and other Brit fanzinesis the importance its fandom gives to the genre as

a social entity – a community. BW celebrates thatcommunity in quite a different way than Plokta , forinstance, did – but its focus is no less exact. Noother zine so zeroes in on fannish mores, fannishhistory, fannish perspective, with such quality of production, writing, and editing. That a podcast , which isn’t even written communication and istherefore not truly a fanzine, was allowed to usurpthe Hugo Award which should have been BW ’s in2010 is a shame on fandom.

I also must mention Banana Wings’ inuence on other fan editors – cf. the excellentnew journal from Australia’s Roman Orszlanskiand Beverley Hope, Straw & Silk. Roman andBeverley editorially admitted that their zine wouldn’t even exist without BW ’s example. (By the way, Beverley’s statement on the importanceof fanzines as a unique, and uniquely personal,method of communication among like-mindedsouls is quoted in my 26 th Zine Dump – and isreason enough beyond reasons of ego for me toencourage you to take a look at it.)

Fifth among my six favorite on-going

terric people. None seem torank as ends.

The rst fourpublications on my list are genzines , which means that they offer a number of articles ona number of subjects, and withthe exception of Alexiad those

articles are generally writtenby a number of writers. JoeMajor provides the major(hahaha) input to Alexiad himself: multitudinous reviewsof books of interest, oftentouching on arctic and antarcticexploration and the First World War, special interests of Joe’s.

stable of contributors who givehis publication a welcomeconsistency over time. Askance and Argentus are excellentgenzines – with kindly editors who have forgiven me formixing them up in the 2010NASFiC program book!

Banana Wings is the soleBritish entry in my top ve(of six), and maybe – maybe,I say – that contributes to thequalities that separate it fromthe pack. I’ve never visitedthe U.K. – we hope to go in2012, when fares drop after theOlympics – but the impression



to those articles devoted, specically, to women’ssafety at SF conventions. Here are several storiesfrom young ladies of being stalked, groped orjust made uncomfortable by criminal, pushy orsimply socially inept guys at various fan events. They make for immensely sad reading, and suchblunt, brave writing is rare in fandom; denitely unpleasant, but also extraordinarily valuable andnecessary.

3. File 770:157 is the best recent issueof Mike Glyer’s “yearbook” of fannish newsand culture, the most honored fanzine in Hugohistory (at least since Locus became a semiprozine).Central to this edition is the epic 2009 worldconreport by Montreal’s Fan Guest of Honor, Taral Wayne. By turns awed, embittered, informative,befuddled, it is an incredible document – with“Interesting!” thoughts on that year’s Hugos, only a tad less infuriating than 2010’s. There’s alsoa collection of reports on Ray Bradbury’s 89th birthday soiree , a remembrance by Dian Crayneof the occasion in 1965 when a bullet red intothe LASFS clubhouse passed within inches of her

head, John Hertz’ extensive report on Westercon,and touching obits of Charlie Brown, Wrai Ballard,Ben Indick, Donald Grant and others. Closing this issue is Glyer’s “Sowing Dragon’s Teeth”, astrong reply to Mike Resnick’s comments on thedecline of worldcon. Should mention the BradFoster illos and the Brianna Wu cover – especially clever this time.

4. Trap Door No. 26, another all-too-rare issue of Robert Lichtman’s exceptional zine,one I’ve admired and tried to emulate since Igot into genzine fandom. Nostalgia for days andfriendships past rules in this ne publication.Noting the coincidence of a 26th issue published26 years after the zine’s founding, Robertreminiscences about the days of its genesis andhis earlier association with Paul Williams andother Haight-era heavies. (Paul’s PKDS Newsletter was a revelation.) Continuing with nostalgia for

those noble days is Gordon Eklund with “TheGreat Gaa of 1967” and Dave Langford withhis “South Wales Alphabet”, Ron Bennett’srambling tale of book-dealing from Singapore and William Breiding’s evocative story of his valuablefriendship with a hiking enthusiast. Everything inthis zine celebrates times and people past. Eventhe lettercol title – “The Ether Still Vibrates” – hasa nostalgic tone. Well, let it be: Trap Door may long for a past long gone but with ne writing,consistent editing, and good production values

it’s near the top of the fanzine pyramid in thehere&now.

5. My Back Pages #s 1 and 2 arecollections from Rich Lynch, one of my bestfriends in science ction and one of the great faneditors. Rich won something like 6 Hugos forediting (with Nicki) Mimosa , but he hasn’t beenmuch noted for his fan writing. More the fools we, because these collections – many trip reports,some reviews and musings (on ball parks, mostly)

– are really entertaining, and the accompanying photos of the Cape of Good Hope, the Sydney

titles is John Hertz’ one-sheet Vanamonde , a weekly publication for Los Angeles’ club amateur pressassociation, Apa-L. Because it is so brief, sofrequent, and so individual – no one else writesfor it – Vanamonde is an almost perfect reectionof its editor. If you know John, Hugo nomineeand winner of the Down Under Fan Fund, you’llknow this means V is a rational, erudite, eloquent

(lots of haiku ), frightfully intelligent and foreverfriendly publication. Even those of us who aren’tmembers of Apa-L, and who don’t see Vanamonde till a year after its initial release (which is whenHertz sends it out) appreciate it and its editor – always a favorite.

Now, what about the ve best individual zines I’ve seen in the past twelvemonth? This issimultaneously a more difcult proposition andan easier task, because although the volume of written fanac that comes before me is enormous,

the outstanding stuff is obvious.

1. SF Commentary 80. Bruce Gillespie’s40th anniversary celebration as a fan editor, agorgeous and professional-looking zine devotedto the works of Philip K. Dick and Bob Tucker.Bruce notes that more than 40 years has passedsince he began SFC , which means he startedfanzining the same year I did – only with far betterzines! SFC sees science ction as literature and asa community of like souls; Bruce’s awesome zine

reects an awesome fannish career. I rejoice thatit and its brilliant cover artist won Ditmars from Australian SF fandom in 2010, and only hopeHugo voters discover it. Awesome – it’d top thislist in any year.

2. Journey Planet 6, edited by JamesBacon, Claire Brialey, and Chris Garcia, allsplendid fan writers who have made a mark withother zines “Some of this issue,” writes co-editorBacon, “does not require immediate email oronline response; it requires thoughtfulness and

then calm and measured comments.” He refers



Opera House and suchlike are amazing. Best piecehere recounts the Lynchi’s rst Hugo victory, atMagicon, where a glitch caused the wrong winnerto be announced. Nicki had left the auditorium,

and Rich didn’t know what to do in her absence. I was among those leading the chants of “That way,

Rich!” to get him to the stage and“We want Nicki!” to get her out laterfor her own “Thanks, guys!” Oneof SF’s great moments, and two of SF’s great people.

So there’s what I can tellyou, my favorite on-going titles andfavorite individual publications of

2010. No doubt this article burstslike a hand grenade onto a hostof hurt fan editors, who send metheir zines faithfully in exchange forChallenger and The Zine Dump – and who hoped, as who would not, thatI would mention theirs among thebest. First, let’s not forget the grandaxiom of the Eye of the Beholder.You may nd qualities in a zine that Ido not. Second, remember that I’ve

named ve favorites … of my topsix . Perhaps your zine is that sixthfavorite I failed to mention here,but which I treasure upon receiptas if it were ambrosia for the mind . Infact, there’s no “perhaps” about it.Consider it so.

Of course, you can contactme about The Zine Dump orChallenger at [email protected] – or just check on eFanzines.com.

Guy Lillian is a great American. Heneeds himself a Hugo.

ADDRESSES:

Here’s contact info for the zines mentionedabove:

Alexiad / Joe & Lisa Major, 1409 Christy Avenue, Louisville KY 40204-2040 / [email protected]

Argentus / Steven Silver, 707 Spaling Lane, Deereld IL 60015-3969 / http:// www.sfsite.com/~silverag/argentus.html. / oneFanzines.com

Askance / John Purcell, 3744 MarieleneCircle, College Station TX 77845 / j_ [email protected] / on eFanzines.com

Banana Wings / Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer, 59 Shirley Road, Croydon, Surrey CR07ES, U.K. / [email protected]

File 770 / Mike Glyer, 705 Valley View Ave.,Monrovia CA 91016 / [email protected]

Journey Planet / James Bacon, Claire Brialey,Chris Garcia, eds., see Banana Wings / [email protected]

My Back Pages / Rich Lynch, P.O. Box 3120,

Gaithersburg MD 20885

SF Commentary / Bruce Gillespie, 5 HowardStreet, Greensborough VIC 3088, Australia / oneFanzines; hardcopy by arrangement

Trap Door / Robert Lichtman, 11037 Broadway Terrace, Oakland CA 94611 / [email protected]

Vanamonde / John Hertz, 236 S. Coronado St.No. 409, L.A. CA 90057

http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/argentus.html













Movies to watch over thefestive season by JohnVaughan

Ahhh Christmas, the most wonderfultime of the year, a time of gift giving , of family reunions, of good food, good drink and good

cheer…..but if you are normal than it’s usually a time of family arguments over long forgotten wrongs, Of gift giving that always ends withsomeone saying “ No it’s lovely .. you do still havethe receipt though don’t you?”, of burnt turkey and way , wayyyy too much to drink! So take abreak from all that Christmas joy and pull up achair, throw another mince pie on the re andstoke it well for when the big man comes downthe chimney as we take a quick look back at someof the best and the worst of the last year of genre

cinema.

full of people screaming “It’s behind you!” andpointing at something behind him!) A reportedfourteen month delay for constant reshoots couldnot save this lm from being a disaster. Verdict: Bad Hollywood, bad! See the mess you’vemade! No! ….No! You do that again you gooutside!

SOLOMON KANE : February saw the arrivalof Solomon Kane, an adaptation of Robert EHoward’s other great pulp hero, a lm riddled with contradictions in Historical accuracy, (at thestart of the lm we see a modern union Jack , aag that didn’t exist for another 200 years? Yeteveryone speaks with an accurate west country accent except for Max Von Sydow who playsSolomon’s dad…hang on they got Max VonSydow to play a west country squire?? What thehell??....” ) Yet somehow it hangs together thanks

to the conviction of lead actor James Purefoys

days as seen through the eyes of the towns sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his Wife, the townsdoctor (Radha Mitchell) as they try to survivedespite both the efforts of the infected townsfolk and a terried military desperate to prevent theinfection spreading. VERDICT: A rare creature in Hollywood, aremake better than the original.

LEGION: Oh my sweet ……I don’t know whoshould be more offended by this, people of any religious belief or people who love lm? TheStory of the Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) ashe comes to Earth to save the Unborn Messiahfrom the wrath of God who has decided todestroy mankind .( So if God was going to destroy Mankind , why send a messiah in the rst place?)you know you’re in trouble in the rst ve minutes when Michael blows a perfectly cut Crucix shaped

hole in a door using a grenade launcher???!?!? Ontop of that add the talented Charles S Dutton who plays a one armed Vietnam vet whose only role is to crack jokes that end with the line “Hey ,I need a hand here!” and you’ll be praying for thislm to end. Verdict: A sin it was even made.

CLASH OF THE TITANS 3D: Its uninspiredtagline “Titans will clash!” tells you all you needto know. And as for Sam Worthington, His

performance is so wooden in this needless remakeyou’ll think he’s just another cgi special effect.Sadly a box ofce hit, this lm signals the Idioticthinking of Hollywood executives at the momentthat 3D can somehow replace story. Verdict: You know there’s something wrong whenthere is a cameo for Bubo the annoying mechanicalowl from the original and the audience audibly sighs in fond nostalgia…that’s right the lm is sobad people wish they could have the mechanicalowl back.

THE WOLFMAN:Doomed from the moment when it’s original directorleft with three weeks togo before shooting…fromstart to nish this is a mess. Poor casting choices(Benicio Del Toro as theson of an English Lord,

that’s …an… English…Lord! Anthony Hopkinsin one of the least subtleperformances I have yet tosee!) can only be matched with some of the mostbizarre movie logic ever ( Legs fall off people for noreason, Anthony Sher playsa doctor totally oblivious tothe fact there’s a Werewolf

behind him in a room

performance. Verdict: Yes it’s pure pulpbut you know what? It’sentertaining and fun which was what the best pulp wasall about.

THE CRAZIES: When it wasannounced that the Crazies was to be remade and by

Breck Eisner (director of the unbelievably averageSahara) there were howlsof protest from RomeroFans that he was tampering with a classic….but thosefans forgot one thing…theoriginal ….it’s not very good!.Instead Eisner bought us atense little thriller about thedestruction of the town of

Ogden Marsh over three



KICK ASS: Very nearly the lm of the year forme, Matthew Vaughn took Mark Millars bittersweet story of a young kid who decides to be acostumed hero in this world and turned it into oneof the best superhero lms ever…. On every levelthis lm works. Stand out characters however areHit Girl and Big Daddy, Cage’s decision to play Big Daddy as Adam West was a moment of Lunatic

Genius. VERDICT: Who hasn’t when they were a kid wished they were a superhero…..this lm shows what happens if you try to live out that dream withsurprisingly violent consequences.

IRON MAN 2: This really should have been titled“More of the same 2” as it has a plot outline virtually identical to the rst one….yet this isfar more enjoyable than the rst Iron Man, withsharper dialog, larger action sequences and really

over the top performances from Downey Jnr as Tony Stark/ Iron Man, a brilliant Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer and another “Subtle” performancefrom Mickey Rourke and a Parakeet. VERDICT: No it’s not Shakespeare but it is afun way to spend a few hours and if you get thesoundtrack you’ll never get the Disneyesque Stark Expo tune out of your head …it’s infectious!

PREDATORS: When I was a kid in the Eighties, everyone had mix tapes, poor copies of albums

you copied off the radio or off friends who couldafford the album but the songs would be in adifferent order because you would pick the songsyou liked and this is exactly what Predators is, yourfavourite moments from Predator in a differentorder but still a poor copy….Adrien Brody playsRoyce , a mercenary transported to an Alien World with other killers from around the world to be prey for the predators (Handily all the Killers speak perfect English) but here’s the big twist…there aretwo kinds of predators…that’s it! What follows is

a checklist of scenes with even a rehash of thenal ght scene from the original where Brody

smears himself in Mud…..add in a scene stealing Laurence Fishbourne in a cameo where you cansee he was just counting the moment until he gothis paycheque and you’ll ask yourself why did they bother? VERDICT: Fastfood cinema….it’s not bad and itpasses the time but two hours after seeing it you’ll want another movie.

RESIDENT EVIL 3D: Mila Jonovich grunts andgroans her way through another Resident Evil, There is actually some lovely use of 3D in thedepth of eld shots but they forgot the story…but hey it’s Resident Evil . They always forget thestory. VERDICT: Clever use of 3D doesn’t excuse thefact it’s utter rubbish, what’s depressing is thatResident Evil is now one of the most successfullm franchises of the past twenty years…so there

will be a sequel…..why does that feel more like athreat than a promise?

SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD: Oh dearone of the misres of the year, it should havebeen a hit, Most critics loved it , lm makers who knew the source material though it wasa perfect adaptation so why did it fail and failso spectacularly? Perhaps it was Michael Cerasperformance as Scott which was the same as allof his other performances, perhaps director Edgar

Wright captured too perfectly the world of Scottleaving the rest of the audience out of the Jokeor maybe the audience just didn’t want to see thestory of two self obsessed people in their midtwenties in the shape of Scott and Ramona wholet’s face it aren’t very likeable. VERDICT: Scott Pilgrim vs the world will becomethe example to lm makers and producers of whathappens when you stay too loyal to the strip youbase your lm on.I suspect it could become a cult favourite…but so’s

Howard the Duck and that’s not a good thing.

And now we look at the best and the worst.

The Best

INCEPTION: What else can be said about thislm, grossing close to a $ 1 Billion dollars, it wasa signal that it is possible to make intelligent andexciting science ction cinema that the audience

will enjoy without sacricing plot to 3D orSpectacular explosions.The dream within a dream adventures of Cobb

(Leonardo Di Caprio) and his team of specialistssurvive multiple viewings….you know it’s a hit when South Park can write a satire of the plot



safely knowing the audience will understand the gag! VERDICT: Film of the Year, it’s success can be summed up by the reactionof audience I was sitting amongst. When the nal shot cuts to black, as onethe entire audience gasped in realization at the endings meaning…exactly what Cinema at its best is meant to do!

And the worst, and this year there were two…yes two vying for the honour!First the runner up….

JONAH HEX: When your producer is Akiva Goldsman (Writer of Batmanand Robin) you should know you’re in trouble! Everything that is wrong with the lm can be summed up by a series of events that occurred during production . Star Josh Brolin asked for a rewrite and the original writing team walked out, follow that with a new Director (who had never directeda major live action motion picture) who was then replaced during editing,a replacement director who actually added new characters and story during

reshoots and reportedly le� a half hour of story on the cung room oor just

so they could get a rang that allowed 12 year olds to see the lm.

VERDICT: A scene where the president oers to make Hex Sheri of America

(There’s even a badge that actually says “Sheri of America”?!?!?) shows howlile the lmmakers understood the character…..as for audience reacon …it

can be summed up by the fact only one cinema in a sixty mile radius of where I

live showed the movie…and pulled it a�er three days from lack of interest.

So there you go, a brief and personal look back at some of the lms

that appeared on our cinema screens this year …not a bad year but not a

great one either. The good news is we have a whole new year of cinema to

look forward to, with Tron in the cinemas as you read this and Thor , Captain

America, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Cowboys and Aliens all to

come , yes 2011 looks certainly like being…….what was that? Why it sounded

like sleigh bells and Jolly laughter coming from the roof…wait here, I’ll get mygun!

John Vaughan is a short movie maker from Co. Cork inIreland.



Best Dramatic Presentation:The Short of Itby Chris Garcia

Yeah, movies get all the play. It’s thefeatures which are the ones that people talk aboutand while we’ve seen the Best DramPresShort

getting more and more acceptance, it’s still not what the DramPresLong is. Sadly, the Short Formalso fails to recognize stuff that’s not Televisiontoo, but this year, I’m dedicating at least some of my ballot to those lms.

Let’s start with TV, because TV’s gottencrazy good, right?

episode of the series to me. Then there’s the nal episode. The End

was great. I have listened to folks who said that it was confusing, that it answered nothing and thatit was just at dull. They are wrong. This was alyrical episode that went metaphysical and endedthe series on a note of powerful emotion. The way things played out was perfect, right downto the last shot of Jack dying, the last moment

being his eye closing echoing the rst ever shotof the series of his eye opening, plus Jack dying not alone, completing the theme of the series.It’s a wonderful episode, one of the truly greatmoments in the history of US SF television.

One of the best situation comedies in agesis called Community. Created by Dan Harmon,Community focuses on a Spanish study groupat Greendale Community College. The cast isfantastic, featuring Joel McHale, best known for hishosting of The Soup, Alison Brie, who also plays

Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, and the legendary Chevy Chase, formerly of The Chevy Chase Show.

This is a great show and the 2010 Halloweenepisode is one of the best Halloween episodes of all-time. The group is at the Halloween party where Army Surplus Taco Meat leads to an outbreak of zombie-ism, leading to the group having to deal with surviving locked in a library with them. It wasa hilarious episode full of references to everything from Dawn of the Dead to Aliens. The hilariousthing was the fact that the soundtrack was entirely

ABBA and the Dean’s voice memos to himself. You would not believe how powerful ABBA is when used as a power anthem.

Speaking of Community, they also dida pair of shorts called Starburns El Starprince. These were supposed videos made by the character Abed of a minor character who has star-shapedsideburns and is called, wait for it… Starburns. These features are hilariously off-the-wall.

Speaking of Off-The-Wall, there wasan SNL performance that I think should be

considered. Ke$ha is wild, a party-girl who is alot of fun and is beloved by tweens, teens and the

The TV event of the year was the nal seasonof Lost, and thereare two episodes thatI think are magical. The rst was called Across the Sea. This

was the episode thatexplained the Islandand Jacob and why stuff stays alive andhow it all started. It’spretty impressive,especially with Alison Janney asthe Mother who was protecting theisland. This was the

heart of the story and it was the best



Pop Culture obsessed. Ke$ha chose a sci- themefor her performance, which was nutty. You cansee it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sTfeOfQkoEs. It’s freakin’ weird, andperhaps it’s so surreal that we should give it aHugo!

Then there’s Doctor Who. It’s apowerhouse when it comes to BestDramPresShort.For my money, it’s The Eleventh Hour as theone that should get the nom. I loved it, thoughtit was among my faves of the entire series. It’sfunny, I mean Fishsticks and Custard!, and it wasmemorable. There’s also The Time of Angels andFlesh and Stone as a double feature, both featuring River Song (the delectable Alex Kingston) and The Weeping Angels. It’s a good set. My personalfave was Vincent and The Doctor. How could yougo wrong with Vincent Van Gogh? There’s also The End of Time, the nal part airing on January 1st, 2010, but the rst part was on Christmas 2009.I think, if I’m reading the rules right, that wouldmake it eligible for Reno.

South Park has hadsome great SF and Fantasy episodes, like anything with Lemmywinks, andone of the best is therecent episode calledInsheeption. This is a take-off on Inception (which

will not doubt win BestDramatic Presentationunless Tron: Legacy iseven cooler than I totally expect it to be) and it’sfreakin’ hilarious. Thebest part was actually theopening which parodiesHoarders. I was laughing when I nally saw it after Tim ‘The Maniac’ Miller

said that he was thinking about starting a campaign

V is one of the best series I’ve ever seen,and they remade it for 2010! The Pilot is likely theone that’d get nommed. I think it’s pretty good,but the best parts are later in the series, though nosingle episode is as powerful as the opening salvo.I love Monica Baccaran, but really the amazingly hot Elizabeth Mitchell is the best part of it.

Now, all that TV would make you think that

was the only good stuff out there, but there wereseveral short lms that deserve consideration. Let’sstart with a really short short. It’s called DelmerBuilds A Machine. You can watch it at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKGvKPPX4xU and it’s less than 3 minutes. I think you’ll see why Ilove it so much.

There’s a French lm, also very short andpowerful called Tout Ma Vie. It stars CaterinaMurino, an Italian actress best-known for herrole in Casino Royale. She’s amazingly hot and the

short is very strong. You can see a teaser at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLRtoWdUhdQ.It’s really good and I wish that the entire short wasavailable on-line.

to get it on the ballot. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror has

been far too over-looked. Someof the best science ction andfantasy comedy of the lasttwenty years has come from TheSimpsons Treehouse of Horros. This year was Tweenlight, atake-off on Twilight which

made me laugh and laugh hard.It was great stuff.

The Walking Dead isa fantastic show, perhaps thethird best-written show on US TV (After Mad Men and Psych)and the episode TS19 is thebest of all the episodes with theexcellent ashback. I would notexpect it to get a nomination,instead expecting the Pilot

episode to pull it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTfeOfQkoEs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKGvKPPX4xU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLRtoWdUhdQ










Art in the year 2010

by James Bacon

Anne Gray posed some interesting questions on her LiveJournal, about what folksthought about art, and artists, and it made methink a little about how I view book covers, as

ostensibly the outlet for science ctional artists.I associate artists that I consider to befavourites, with works I also consider to befavourites. This may be biased of course, but Ido know a bad cover in my mind, and there arestyles of covers – the person on a ships bridge, thegroup of people on a tank, that although I may enjoy the work, are not mages that turn me on.

I really like the space ship in outer spacelook, of which the artists, John Berkey, JohnHarris and Vincent Di Fate are practitioners of,

each differently, but in a similar vein. The nig space image.It is no coincidence that my favourite

writer, James White, who had many books and amassive variety of covers, happens to have someof my favourite books with covers by these threegentlemen. Di Fate did the artwork on The Silent Stars go By, perhaps the nest piece of sciencection to come out of Ireland, challenged in my mind only by Desolation Rd and The WoodenSpaceships. Di Fate’s wonderful grasp of what

a Hospital Station could look like, is perfectly captured in his cover of The White Papers , fromNESFA Press. Unfortunately I have not been ableto nd any works from this year by Di Fate that Ireally liked, he did do a cover of Analog this yearthough.

The late John Berkey, had a knack of capturing the ne curvatures of streamlined, yetrealistic spaceships, and in his covers for Whites work, he did three. I particularly love Mind Changer ,also my favourite White novel of his later TOR

years. Here Hospital Station is a massive white vessel, with hints of glassed wards, and space,

and even with the obvious red cross, the imageportrays a non aggressive type ship. Again, for me,totally different in realisation than Di Fate, buttotally conceivable. Interestingly, Berkey has had apiece of art used, this year, which graced the covera Jonathan Strahan edited ‘Best of’, an interior of a hanger with perhaps some type of pursuit ship, acold war polished aluminium open mouthed feel, with an exterior view, giving that vast and alsoaction glimpse.

English artist John Harris, is another White visualiser, and I have loved his covers for

a long time now. He did covers for the likes of Star Healer , in the 80’s for Orbit, and more recently he did covers for teh Tor Anthologies, yes, Ibought them, and I think Begining Operations, Alien Emergencies and General Practice , three very differentportrayals, are superb. Harris portrays space ina more mysterious light, gasses, perhaps clouds,perhaps venting, adding to his vision of space

vessels, and he always manages to incorporatea sense of movement to his art, which I ndappealing. I expect many fans will know Harrisfrom his John Scalzi covers, which in my mindcreates a seamless connection between two greatSF writers, or two who I rate and this year hediod the cover for ECHO by Jack McDevitt. Notof this year, but worth mentioning is that Harrishas done the odd Star Wars book cover, and they always catch my eye.

I frequently nd that my desire to posses

or own a piece of art, is an important indicator to what I like. With the above three artists, the costof an original is so much, for instance the £2,500cost of an original Harris, is just so beyond meto be not funny, but that yearn and desire to seethese artworks in the real world is something I canfeel. I also feel and think about these guys artwork,they make me ponder the vastness of space andthe technological advances they portray and Ilove how they must pay attention to what they areillustrating. I have not seen enough of these guys

work, to be honest. The concept of woning such apiece is so beyond me, yet there are ways aroundthis I have found.

As a Christmas present, I will be able toafford the rough Sketch John Harris did for a White cover, a reasonable £80, a steal even, andproof that the working man, can indeed afford,good and great art. This is a preliminary piece, andin pencil but embodies the nal work, and is of course an original. Now that’s a great price.

This year I purchased a print by Chris

Moore, his Gollancz cover for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep at the Eastercon art auction and



got it at a very good price. Chris has a distinctivestyle, using digital media quite a bit to create cleanand perfect lines and he has done everything fromForever War , to one of my favourites, the 2009release of The Man in the High Castle . I love thispiece esepcially, as its very obvious, what he hasdone, to the Statue of Liberty, and also there isa subtle message within this clean picture thatimmediately informs the reader that Americais different, a war has been lost. I may nd thecourage to write to him, and see if I can get aprint, but I do not know him, yet have seen himand Jim Burns talk, and they are good sorts forsure. Actually Jim Burns is a really nice fellow, Ifound him very pleasant, I expect Moore will be as

nice.I have always liked covers that appeal, but

I suppose it is an insecurity that I am too low brow to interpret or appreciate artwork accurately thathas always seen me veer away from engaging. Ihave realised, and this was born when myself andMary Burns did a tour of an art show together,she being a GOH, and it being a discussion

tour, that actually the enthusiasm I have forcomic art and science ction books, and my takeand understanding of these, which I am pretty condent about, is mirrored in my love of goodSF art, and I know what I like and I can explainthis adequately.

Although I have not been able to divorcegood art cover from good and favoured book.

Chris Moore may be known to peoplethis year, with his cover for The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajenaimi, although I am not that keen on

it, as opposed to my favourite by him this year, thecover for Terminal World by Al Reynolds, which isin my to be read pile.

I am noticing a trend, a lot of these coversare also emanating from Gollancz. They seemto be a good publisher for covers, as do Tor, forme at least. This is especially so regarding theGollancz masterworks series, which seemed tocreate a fantastic outlet for new artwork, althoughthey also go in for ‘Design’ covers, which in my opinion they have not been so good at.

I like covers that are designed and justabout grasp the different between Art and Design. Although to be honest there is a massive designelement to many pieces or art. But for me designcan be really good, for instance, who could argue with the classic Alan Lane and Edward Young broad bands of the original penguins the work that Jan Tschichold then went on to do and theMarbour Grid.

Yet I frequently nd that a lot of recentcovers ‘by design’ lack something, obviously there

is a failing by the designer, whether it be the design versions of Dune, Forever War, The Man in the

High Castle or the Gollancz Space Opera series,it just doesn’t come near what I want from acover. I expect they sell, and other folks nd themdesirable and of interest, but if I want a coverdesigned I want Jamie Keenan, who took thephoto that adorns the cover of the 2001 PenguinModern Classic version of The Man in the HighCastle to do the design, I want class design work,

of a high calibre, to match the great art work of our nest artists, and I fear that this is not alwaysso.

Keenan’s cover for instance, is clever butit’s not being too clever, or too abstract, its pointedand directly linked to the book and its colourfuland represents in a proper way what the reader



might nd, therein. Also this year I bought a piece by Dominic

Harmon, I really like Dominic, he is not only a neartist, but affable and pleasant. He had a numberof prints, very high quality ones, on canvas done,and I purchased a Clive Barker cover that he did.I love his work on Naomi Noviks books, and alsoreally liked his cover to Ian Whates’ The Noise

Within , which is a book I also enjoyed. This purchase was a gift for my friendStef Lancaster, a huge Clive Barker fan, but alsolike myself someone who likes Dominic’s work. The prints were again a good price, not at all tooexpensive for what it was and I enjoyed chatting with him, at length. I was especially interested inhow he manages to make computer work look likean oil. I was taken in, and am sure that it is just ashard to manipulate on a screen as it is on canvas,to that sort of level.

Another person I spoke to as I boughttheir artwork was Les Edwards, who along withhis wife Val, are a wonderful couple, very wellknown in UK fan circles. Les had done someinterior art for a World Horror Con collection, andI was admiring some of his preliminary sketches, when I found a massive piece of work, in pencil,by him of Shadows in the Mist by Brian Moreland. It was a must have, and again, at a fantastic two digitprice – I think Les, who is a massive fan himself,is thoughtful with his pricing and the prelims were

a keen and dare I say generous price.Les also publishes art under the Edward Miller,but two covers I really enjoyed this year werehis Pelican Cay a David Case collection edited by Steve Jones and the cover to Dragongirl , by ToddMcCaffery.

Close to home, I think that Ares Express and Dervish House both written by Ian McDonaldand with Stephan Martiniere covers are really very beautiful, Martiniere is a brilliant artist, althoughunlike most of the others so far mentioned, an

enigma to me so far. I admit that the subject

matter are also of interest, as well as the books,again my personal bias.

David Hardy, and I didn’t buy any of hisartwork this year, but I did come by a superbpainting of a V2 that appeared in a book aboutRockets by him is a favourite, I am afraid my favourite piece by him is not from this year, but Iinclude it anyway, as it is an incredible image from

SF&F October 2009.Finally two covers from this year that bothblew me away, were that of Yukikaze , by ChoheiKambayashi by artist Shoji Hasegawa. This is a wonderful novel, based on a anime series fromearlier this decade, and the cover is just stunning,its also a wrap around, so one doesn’t realise theextent of the detail to the futuristic ghter jet,that adorns it. I am also very taken by Sparthillustration of Gardens of the Sun by Paul MaAuley

James’ Favourite and Bestest Covers of 2010

John Berkey - Best SF and F 2010 Vol 4. Ed Jonathan Strahan.

Chris Moore - Terminal World by Al Reynolds(Gollancz)

John Harris - Echo by Jack McDevitt

Les Edwards – Dragongirl by Todd McCaffery

Dominic Harman – Tongues of Serpents by Naoimi Novik

Stephen Martiniere – Ares Express and TheDervish House both by Ian McDonald

Shoji Hasegawa – Yukikaze by ChoheiKambayashi

Sparth – Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley

Les Edwards Pelican Cay & Other Disquieting Tales Acollection by David Case and Stephen Jones (ed.)

Dominic Harman – The Noise Within by Ian Whates.

James Bacon is the best guy you couldever hope to edit a zine with.

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