Posts Tagged ‘Jessica Reisman’

Steven Utley in a Coma

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

Jessica Reisman sent this out with permission to pass it on, so I’m putting it here:

Hi all,

I’m passing on this news somewhat piecemeal, but trying to let enough people know who I think would want to know. Please pass it on as you feel appropriate.

Steve was fairly recently diagnosed with stage four cancer and a lesion on his brain and it’s progressed quickly. I heard from Molly this morning that he’s fallen into a coma and the doctor estimates two days. His mother and brother and ex-wife Molly are there with him.

Very sorry to be the bearer of this news.

Jessica

Utley was one of the original Turkey City writers, along with Chad Oliver, Tom Reamy, Howard Waldrop, etc.

Between this and Jay Lake’s latest bout, it hasn’t been a good cancer year for SF writers…

Book Signing and Party for Three Messages and a Warning

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

I attended a signing at BookPeople for Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic, co-edited by Turkey City’s own Chris Brown (formerly Chris Nakashima-Brown, now renamed after a long and painful de-Japanization process).

The event was fairly well attended, with about 40-50 people showing up.

Two of the authors flew up for the event: Pepe Rojo of Tijuana:

And Bernardo Fernandez of Mexico City (who also works as a graphics artist and teacher, as well as a crime writer):

(I’m not sure if you can tell, but Bernardo’s shirt features a robot (or possibly an android) and an electric sheep.) I believe he mentioned that he was working on a graphic novel about William S. Burrough’s time in Mexico. I bet it ends with a bang.

I also found it interesting that both of their fathers were engineers.

In attendance were also many members of the Austin SF community, including a few that my pictures of weren’t completely awful:


Stina Leicht and Sara Felix.


Jessica Reisman, a few moments before the police arrested her for the Hollywood scriptwriter they found dead facedown in her pool.

On Saturday, there was a party at Chris Brown’s newly opened East Austin hipster-pad-cum-1970s-science-fiction-movie-set. Sadly, none of my photos of the house (taken at dusk) came out well. But I did get a few pics of the party attendees:


Don Webb, who co-edited one of the most influential Spanish-language anthologies of speculative fiction, for which he was paid $50 and three bottles of Tequila.


Stina and Jessica redux.

The rest of my pictures were various degrees of crappy. (Hopefully Jayme Blaschke, who was there with a bigger, better camera, will put some up.) Sadly, one picture that didn’t come out was that of Bernardo wearing a t-shirt depicting Mexico’s most famous science fiction character: Bender Bending Rodriguez.

Finally, no expects the Spanish Steampunk Zeppelin!

Pictures from the World Horror Convention in Austin, Friday, April 29, 2011: Part 2

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

The front of Kasey Lansdale’s head.

Stina Leicht, Mikal Trimm and Guest of Honor Joe Hill. This was right before Hill discussed that most important of philosophical question: If you have a cloth spiderman mask in your pocket (and really, who doesn’t?), and two guys rush into the store you’re in with shotguns, do you instantly put on the mask and start wailing on then? I pointed out that since this is Texas, and we’re all armed, the issue was probably less pressing here than in Maine.

Chris Roberson, Joe Hill and John Picacio doing some serious comic geeking.

Three women, six different hair colors.

Jessica Reisman.

Sanford Allen, showing Scott Cupp the ticket that doesn’t let him into Willie Wonka’s factory, but does let him on Captain Morgan’s ship.

Scott Cupp, and people I don’t know who seemed to be discussing adultery among TSR employees.

F. Paul Wilson in the center.

John Skipp, just before he went trekking off to a lost city in the jungles of Peru.

The art show reception. Even though this is Austin, in real life the room was not that shade of burnt orange.