SFL Archives Vol 16a readthrough update 01

 100% completion, 151 bookmarks

-1991 is the year when both the Robert Jordan WHEEL OF TIME books and Stephen R. Donaldson's GAP CYCLE series start being discussed in the SFL Archives.

Pop culture mentions: EXXON VALDEZ, Calstate Central Cyber system(BBS?), MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, the 1991 Gulf War/DESERT STORM 1, CNN's nonstop coverage of DESERT STORM 1, USA TODAY, JET JAGUAR, INFOCOM SOFTWARE, VMS 3.5 documentation, STAR WARS Expanded Universe, Zoetrope Studios, Ultima 5, Church of the Sub-Genius, Borders bookstores

Movies & TV series mentioned: DANCES WITH WOLVES, AKIRA, SOLARIS 1972, ICE PIRATES, DRAGON WARRIOR, ROBOCOP 2, HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, NEVER ENDING STORY PT2, FREE-JACK, GODZILLA VS MEGALON, EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS, THE LITTLE MERMAID, ROLLERBALL, THE TRANSFORMERS, THE SEVENTH SIGN, THE PEOPLE, YOUNG INDIANA JONES, THE THIRD EYE, FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, KNIGHT RIDER 2000, THELMA & LOUISE, MORTAL THOUGHTS, SWITCH.

-SF&F books mentioned: ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER DUNGEON, GOLDEN FLEECE, JACOBS LADDER, EXPEDITION TO DARWIN FOUR, GAP INTO CONFLICT: THE REAL STORY,  BETWEEN DRAGONS, BY THE SWORD, THE SILVER BRANCH, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, MY PRETTY PONY, FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS, DOOMSMAN, PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLLANDER, DYDEE TOWN WORLD, CHUNG KUO BOOK 1, SEERESS OF KELL, THE RUBY KNIGHT/DIAMOND THRONE, TOM BROWNS SCHOOLDAYS, PYRAMIDS, EQUAL RITES, REAPER MAN, THE DESTINY MAKERS, ECCE AND OLD EARTH, THEIR MASTERS WAR, ARMAGEDDON CRAZY, C.O.R.P.S.E., WHIPPING STAR, FRANK HERBERTS EYE, TH GREEN BRAIN, FLAG FULL OF STARS, MOONWISE, MONDAY BEGINS ON SATURDAY, WAR: 1974, RING OF CHARON, TALES OF TAORMIN, HARD TO BE A GOD, FOOL ON THE HILL, HEIR TO EMPIRE, THE PORTABLE PHONOGRAPH, SOLO COMBAT, CHERNOBYL SYNDROME, PULLING THROUGH, CHILD OF ALL AGES, NECROM, VOR, LOVES THROBBING BOB, BEYOND APOLLO, BECOMING ALIEN, BEING ALIEN, HIGHWAYS IN HIDING.

-SFL Death notices: John Bellairs, Joyce Ballou Gregorian.

-Lots of very specific requests for sub-genres of SF&F such as:

>anti-religious SF&F

>religious SF&F 

>enhanced IQ fiction

>Isaac Asimov stories about aliens

>SF about the Net(Internet)

>native non-English SF

>SF maps of planets

>gender swapping stories across movies, books, tv series

> transformation/body changing stories across movies, books, tv series

>cats in SF&F stories

>evolved humans

-Discussion of Robert Anton Wilson's co-authored ILLUMINATUS! series and the follow-up Historical Illuminati Chronicles

-Fans of Katherine Kurtz's DERYNI series going overboard and creating "Michaeline" lay orders inside SCA gatherings/outside of SCA gatherings.

-Discussion of Michael Moorcock & his ETERNAL CHAMPION stories, with SFLer's attempting to make series specific timelines.

-The Peter Cushing DOCTOR WHO tv movies, and how they differed/matched up to the tv-series version.

-News of a movie novelization of A PRINCESS OF MARS being in the works/SFLer's wondering when it come out.

(2020 note: The answer is:  Roughly 21 years later under in 2012 the title JOHN CARTER)  

-SFLer Gregory R Weiss sees extreme similarities in certain aspects of ULTIMA 5 and Stephen Donaldson's CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT.

-QUANTUM LEAP the tv-series discussion. SFLer's either loathe the premise/actors entirely or horny post about the situations Sam Beckett gets put into every new episode that allow Scott Bakula to sing/dance/show off his body.

-The first mention of people visiting HP Lovecraft's gravesite in Providence RI, and leaving offerings to him on the gravestone.

-The time when there was "a plethora of "chimpanzee stories" in various SF mags including one story containing human/chimp sex." 

-Gene Roddenberry's various attempts to get non-STAR TREK SF&F series going.

(2020 note: Lots of the plot elements and names would be recycled. GENESIS 2, Dylan Hunt, the Pax, etc.)

-Douglas Adams being iconic and various things about HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, DIRK GENTLY, movie adaptation, failed computer games, etc.

-Trivia about what the "third button" in the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Vipers actually did.

-A few SFLers try mapping STAR WARS 1:1 onto ARTHURIAN MYTHOS, but are already combining Arthurian Mythos roles by the 2nd sentence.

-First SFL mention of the Arkady & Boris Strugatski 1964 book HARD TO BE A GOD.

(2020 note: This book got adapted into a movie twice and a cRPG/RTS game series.) 

-A Paramount Studios grass-roots survey asking what STAR TREK 6 should contain: A new cast? The TOS series recast? A TNG movie?

-Two years after DOCTOR WHO was unofficially canceled, Doctor Who fandom starts to demand answers, and blame everyone tangentially involved with the Doctor Who series except for John Nathan-Turner.

-Discussion of Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD books covering things like PYRAMIDS being a parody of TOM BROWNS SCHOOLDAYS, etc

-Timothy Zahn's HEIR TO EMPIRE formally makes the STAR WARS Expanded Universe series official canon.

(2020 note: The Star Wars EU stories would bounce in and out of canonity depending on how George Lucas felt every day. As per December 2020, a bunch of Star Wars EU stories are now canon again thanks to the season 2 of THE MANDALORIAN)

-More Harlan Ellison discussion. Ellison's behavior when asked to sign copies of DOOMSMAN, the long delayed Last Dangerous Visions collection, why older Harlan Ellison books are out of print, etc

-Who should be blamed for poor quality/terrible voice-acting dubs when Japanese Anime gets exported to Europe/Americas/Africa/etc: The original producers, the regional importer, or the fanbase for continuing to buy poorly translated anime?  

-The final book in David Eddings MALLOREON series comes out, and going by the reaction, 70% of the SFL had almost everything figured out. Then SFLer's started to mention how much a carbon copy Eddings new fantasy was.

-The blink and miss it "Avoid Orion Meetings" visual Easter-Egg in ROBOCOP 2.

-Editors misprinting Isaac Asimov's name early in his career leading to the various homages to "ASENION, a quasi religious philosopher" in Asimov's later books.

-More Philip K Dick discussion: Was PKD a misandrist? How mentally troubled was PKD? PKD's obsession with the Dark Haired Girl archetype. PKD's depiction of women being more driven than the lead male characters in 95% of PKD's stories. Plus PKD's literary agent returns to show what PKD novels are getting re-released.

-SCI FI channel pre-launch status update: Badly needs subscribers, might go bankrupt fast once officially launched in 1991.

-STAR WARS discussion becomes a major thing again. A few people working on their Literature PhD try making the case that Stars Wars maps 1:1 onto Arthurian legend, but are stacking combinations of Arthurian characters onto Star Wars characters by the 3 sentence of their thesis.

-SFLer Laurie Mann shows how bad author conduct/bad fan conduct during SF&F conventions gets ignored or actively covered up. Convention organizer do a combination of the "I see nothing. I hear nothing. I know NOTHING!" Corporal Schultz from the HOGANS HEROES tv-show behavior while engaging in white-washing away terrible author & fan behavior at conventions for $$$$/attendence rea$on$. 

Let me provide some context. 

SFLer Laurie Mann was heavily associated with the NEFSA fandom organization, and was the co-head of the 1988 BOSKONE(BOSKONE 25) management committee. tldr summary: Laurie Mann was deeply involved in SF&F convention management at all levels, especially the regional yearly BOSKONE convention.

Back in 1985 Isaac Asimov wrote an memorial essay for the outgoing head editor (Shawna McCarthy) at his self-titled magazine(Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine). This memorial essay was published in/written for the BOSKONE 22 year book. Shawna McCarthy had worked at IASFM as an associate executive editor for a few years under the 1st female head editor IASFM employed. Asimov's BOSKONE 22 memorial-essay about Shawna McCarthy's time at IASFM was filled with sexual harassment start to finish, bottom to top.

BOSKONE people & Isaac Asimov fanatics never mention that Asimov written BOSKONE 22 essay for the same reasons that Robert Heinlein fanatics never seem to mention Heinlein's I SHALL FEAR NO EVIL or Edgar Allen Poe scholars never publicly discuss the orangutan in THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE.

-First mention of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 in the SFL Archives.

 -The 1990 version of matter transportation chat goes unique places: how many copies/matter transportations can be made before irreversible cellular degradation takes place? And a really unique take about matter transportation equaling time travel.

-"Slow Glass" story discussion crops up in the SFL Archives again 11 years after the "slow glass" concept was originally discussed back in SFL Archives Vol 01

SFL Archives Vol 12a readthrough update 02

 39% completion, 40 bookmarks

-Evelyn C. Leeper posts an exhaustive POV-review of attending BOSKONE 24. Buried in this POV-review was that going forward Boskone 25 & all future Boskone conventions will be massively cutting down on the big media presentations Boskone conventions are known for in favor of emphasizing the literature, art, and fan elements of "normal SF&F conventions".

 Does the organization running Boskone have the obligation to keep the big media presentations that made earlier Boskone conventions such must-attend events?  Vs "what would smaller less professionally run conventions do given the same circumstances" discussion.

A few attendees/big media organizers of earlier Boskone conventions respond to the E. Leeper review Boskone 24 saying Boskone built up a rep doing big media presentations/many people attended Boskone solely to watch the slate of movies & tv-series that Boskone conventions air on-site.

Responses on this trickle in through at least mid-March 1987. Regardless of their stance on downsizing Boskone, or preferring professionally run conventions vs 100% volunteer conventions, everyone agrees that aa future Boskone PR releases/pre-ticket sales for BOSKONE 25 better mention the deemphasizing on big media presentations OR ELSE...fans will riot (worse than they already do partying at previous Boskone's).

-More than a few 1987 SFL Digests devoted strictly to the DERYNI series by Katherine Kurtz shows that Ursula Le Guin's underhanded attempt to gank a competitor had little long-term impact.

-SFLer's correct people who conflate the ALAN QUATERMAIN fantasy adventures & the QUATERMASS SF serials are about the same person, but just renamed for International markets. They are not.

(2020 note: I admit to being one of the people who conflated the two series (damn that almost identical name), then the SFL Archives let me know I was being an idiot.)

-Terminology discussion over SF vs SCI-FI vs SKIFFY fandom terms intensifies with multiple SFL Digests dedicated to hashing over meanings and intent and dismissive reactions fueling more splintering of SF fendom. Plus I learn a new new terms like SER-FEN, SER-CONS (Serious fans/Conventions). Some STAR TREK fans prefer being referred to as Trekkies or Trekkers or Trekists,etc. 

(2020 note: All of this terminology discussion is very passionate and has remained a running topic of discussion ever since 1987 started, and I do not see terminology discussion dying away anytime soon).

-SFLer's have an evil-genius idea of creating SF Literature course assignments dedicated to comparing Cordwainer Smith's NORSTRILIA to Frank Herbert's DUNE. 

-A 1987 SFLer is tired of computers in the DOCTOR WHO series always being bad, and wonders if it is a legacy of the tv-show being created at the peak of Cold War nuclear war fears, or if computers are a easy punching target.

-One of the weirder characters in the 1st THIEVES WORLD shared fantasy world anthology novel gets discussed by 1987 SFLer's. The many implication factors and weirdness of Lythande the cross-dressing Blue Mage, created by Marion Zimmer Bradley. SFLer's keep comparing Lythande to Red Sonja, and the many creepy implications in the backstory  Roy Thomas created for Red Sonja.

-Stovington Preparatory Academy being one of the more obscure cross-references linking late 1970's - 1980's Stephen King stories together. (2020 note: this would qualify as a good JEOPARDY final question.)  

-The first appearance of government coverups of UFO's conspiracy theories in the SFL Archives. 

(2020 note: I expected more of a reaction than what happened. Instead it was just two people parachuting into the SF-LOVERS mailing list trying to drum up interest and then bailing out when no-one globally responded to them.)

-Tanith Lee has been consistently recommended to fantasy genre fans ever since SFL Vol 01, I just never got around to mentioning her work before until some SFLer described one of her series "the flat earth series" . 

-Discussion of what is the worse Robert Heinlein story ever written. SFLer's respond with replies going across the entire gamut of Robert Heinlein's writing career.

(2020 note: Charles Stross, John Scalzi, and John Ringo, who have all written/rewritten Heinlein stories would disagree with everyone posting on this subject.)

-Death notice for Richard Sapir, co-creator of the THE DESTROYER series pulp martial arts-men's adventure novellas.

-BUSSARD RAMJETS maybe being impossible in real life, as per a  3rd hand report about a Usenet person named Gary Allen checking R.W. Bussard's original paper on the subject and finding errors in it.

-SFLer's discuss the final book in the GANDALARA CYCLE written by Randall Garrett and his wife.  (2020 note: The Gandalara Cycle was a serviceable total-ripoff of the BARSOOM/JOHN CARTER stories, however the final book shit the bed hard. Having it take place in the distant past, and the Mediterranean Sea reveal was bad, even before it went with the "we will climb out of the Mediterranean basin over generations and evolve into future homo-sapiens" ending. 

-LOOKING BACKWARD by Edward Bellamy, a 1888 futuristic utopian SF/fantasy book about what a transported through time main character discovers in the far future.  

-First mention of Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD series in the SFL Archives, with the SFLer really enjoying EQUAL RITES, and noting that Fantasy addicts will probably enjoy the (parodic content in) COLOUR OF MAGIC & LIGHT FANTASTIC.

 -A article from the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper about the in-production movie SPACEBALLS, with a description of how a certain scene is being shot and a brief interview with Mel Brooks about Spaceballs. 

-KNIGHT LIFE by Peter David, a reimagining of the Arthurian Mythos taking place in the 1980's, with all the expected Arthurian Mythos betrayals/drama/etc.  

-The HORSECLAN series is brought up by SFLer Bruce. Says that the Horseclan series is readable fun SF, but then mentions tackiness levels similar to GOR, before going on to mention the flashback within a flashback within a flashback with a flashback the author uses to pad out the word count of sequels.

-Roger Zelazny fans note the DAMNATION ALLEY movie adaptation as being why Zelazny stopped selling the movie rights to his work. 

-A rare mention of German language SF&F. Wolfgang Hohlbein and their DER STEIN DER MACHT series. 

-Dean Koontz used to be known for writing SF stories, 1986-1987 marks Koontz's shift into suspense-horror stories.

 -Review of a new DISNEYLAND park ride called STAR TOURS, which takes guests on a STAR WARS tour to the planet Endor. (2020 note: The review contains things that are mostly of interest to amusement Park ride fans, and amateur Disney Kingdom historians.)

-A director, production company, and a few actors are signed up for an movie adaptation of George RR Martin's NIGHTFLYERS novella.