Photos from Worldcon Part 1 (The 2014 London Worldcon, That Is)

August 18th, 2015

So this year’s Worldcon is this week, and you’re posting photos from last year’s Worldcon?

Yep.

And didn’t you already post some of these photos?

Yep.

So why do it again?

Last year at Worldcon, I uploaded these photos in a big bunch to Facebook, then linked to the Facebook photos from this blog. However, Facebook, evidently hating the idea that people outside their walled garden of changing preferences and sunglasses spam might see said photos, keeps changing their URLs, thus breaking links to them. So the photos themselves disappeared from the old post. These I’m uploading directly to my blog.

Also, I didn’t blog all the images I meant to, so there will be some new ones in Part 2.

So without further adieu…

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Leigh Kennedy, who I had lunch and dinner with, along with Nick Austin, the Monday before the con. We have loads of common friends, but knew them at different times, so there was a lot of trading stories…

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In profile.

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Cory Doctorow, exhibiting his unique sense of style…

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…and with an actual top to his head.

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John J. Miller of Wild Cards fame, with Gail Gerstner-Miller.

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Kim Newman, in his usual natty, multilayered attire. Wear this in Texas in August and you’re asking for heatstroke.

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Jonathan Strahan and David Hartwell.

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Pat Murphy, all scarfed-up.

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Lavie Tidhar, who used to do reviews for me back in the Nova Express days.

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Ian Watson and Lavie Tidhar, signing books at the PS Publishing table in the dealer’s room. I asked Watson what the genesis of the Watson-Aldiss feud was. “I’ve gotten to the age when I’m not sure I remember it properly anymore…”

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Connie Willis.

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Liz Hand.

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And looking slightly less crazed.

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Ellen Datlow and Liz Hand fan themselves and look down upon the peasantry.

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Elle Datlow solo.

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Guest of honor John Clute.

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Adam Roberts.

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Geoff Ryman peers at me suspiciously.

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Gary K. Wolfe.

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Andy Duncan.

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Didn’t get all the names, but this is something like 75% of the Israeli SF publishing industry.

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Kim Stanley Robinson.

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John Gibbons.

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Michael Swanwick, Geoff Ryman, and Ellen Datlow.

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Michael Swanwick and Gordon Van Gelder, looking way too befuddled for the first day of the con.

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Lisa Tuttle, who I had lunch with, joined by…

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…George R. R. Martin.

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George R. R. Martin and the Spanish George R. R. Martin.

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Michael Swanwick and George R. R. Martin, enjoying fine dining in an atmosphere of unpretentious ambiance.

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Parris McBride Martin.

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Alastair Reynolds.

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Pat Cadigan.

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Pat Cadigan in green.

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Pat Cadigan with fan-drawn cyberpunk.

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Finally, Pat Cadigan with her spiffy Doc Martin boots.

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The elusive Richard Calder.

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Michael Swanwick showing off his outfit. “This shirt is bespoke! Bespoke, I tell you!”

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Finally, Michael Swanwick showing off the t-shirt for MidAmericon II, the 2016 Kansas City Worldcon he’s Guest of Honor at. (Pat Cadigan is Toastmistress.)

Library Addition: Kirk Hammett’s Too Much Horror Business

August 17th, 2015

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett is one of the world’s premiere collectors of horror movie posters and memorabilia (toys, games, masks, etc.). After reading about the Hammett collection in Heritage Auction’s Intelligent Collector magazine, I’d been interested in the book documenting it, so I picked one up from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale.

Hammett, Kirk. Too Much Horror Business. Abrams, 2012. First edition oversized hardback, a Fine- copy with wear at points, sans dust jacket, as issued. (Note: The wear on the front cover lettering is faux-wear, as you can tell from the same faux-wear on the title and half-title page.) Hammett has a truly amazing poster collection, possibly on par with that of Robert V. Borst (documented in Graven Images), whose range of collection included more science fiction and fantasy than Hammett. Bought for £12 marked down from £20.

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Here’s a video on the book and Hammett’s collection:

Shoegazer Sunday: School of Seven Bells’ “Windstorm”

August 16th, 2015

For your Sunday dose of Shoegaze, here’s “Windstorm,” a nice song from earlier in School of Seven Bells’ career.

Tianjin, China Blows Up Real Good

August 13th, 2015

In case you missed the video, a fuel depot in Tianjin, a port city in northern China at about the same latitude of Pyongyang, blew up Real Good yesterday:

Library Addition: Signed Edition of Horror: 100 Best Books

August 13th, 2015

This is another book I bought in the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale.

Jones, Stephen and Newman, Kim. Horror: 100 Best Books. Xanadu Publications, Ltd., 1988. First edition hardback, #214 of 300 numbered copies signed by both the editors and almost every living one of the 100 (!) contributors, including Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Harlan Ellison, Basil Copper, Karl Edward Wagner, Jack Williamson, etc. etc etc. (though not by Stephen King), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for £30 off Cold Tonnage, marked down from £50.

Horror 100 LTD

I tried to take pictures of the signatures on the endpapers, with varying results. Click to embiggen:

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I already had the trade edition, but the limited’s binding is quite different from the trade edition, as the picture below illustrates:

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(Ignore the grid lines, which are a scanner artifact.)

Library Addition: Bob Shaw’s The Palace of Eternity

August 11th, 2015

Cold Tonnage was having it’s annual 40% off sale (Andy Richards says he uses the sale to pay his taxes every year), so I picked up several books I’ll be listing over the next week or so.

Shaw, Bob. The Palace of Eternity. Gollancz, 1970. First hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with one small spot to page block edge and bumping to bottom points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with with small dust blemish to spine near Gollancz “SF” logo, a few tiny dust spots elsewhere, and a slight bumping at bottom tips. Inscribed by the author: “To Brian,/with best wishes/Bob Shaw.” Currey (1979), page 431. Pringle SF 100, 61. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 4-391. Bought for £120, marked down from £200.

Palace of Eternity

Restaurant Review: Hill’s Cafe

August 10th, 2015

Hill’s Cafe
700 S Congress Ave (Austin, 78745)
(512) 851-9300

Eaten at: July 25, 2015

Restroom Rating: 1.5 (Guys, when one soap dispenser is broken, and the other is off the wall and lying on the sinktop, your men’s room needs attention….)

Hill’s is one of those “Austin institutions” that has been around forever. We’ve eaten there before, and always thought they had good hamburgers and chicken fried steak.

Since Armadillocon was over in the Omni Southpark this year, and since Hill’s Cafe is evidently under new management, we decided to give them a revisit. This time around we had…hamburgers and chicken-fried steak. And I thought my chicken-fried steak was very tasty indeed, probably top 5 in Austin tasty, and I heard no complaints from the hamburger contingent. I also thought the onion rings were pretty good. (You’ll have to check with Dwight on the BBQ.)

They were out of banana pudding, and offered us some complimentary banana bread pudding instead. While I appreciate the gesture, the bread pudding just wasn’t very good, so you should probably avoid that.

Our waiter was pretty attentive, and pretty much kept up with our refills and other requests.

Overall the meal was more than satisfactory, offering up well-executed renditions of classic hearty Texas fare in filing portions at a fair price. Which makes me wonder why the place was half-deserted when we ate there.

Hill’s is never going to be a favorite with the “3 small pieces of seared fish artfully arranged with sculpted garnishes on a drizzle glazed plate for $30” crowd. But if you’re looking for good down home Texas food, Hill’s Cafe amply fits the bill.

“You look like Freddy Kruger face-f*cked a topographical map of Utah”

August 6th, 2015

And now I pretty much have to see Deadpool

Deadpool: The movie that touches you in totally inappropriate ways…”

Library Addition: Signed Harlan Ellison Cassette Tape Pack

August 5th, 2015

Sometimes you stumble across something not really on your collecting radar, but if it’s cheap enough, you go “What the hell?”

Ellison, Harlan. A Boy & His Dog & “Repent, Harlequin” said the Ticktockman. Warner Audio Publishing, no date (but 1985). Presumed first edition, a pair of cassette tapes of Ellison reading his two stories, a Fine- copy with small cracks to the clear cassette tape case plastic, in blister pack. Signed by Ellison on the back of the front cover insert. Bought for $2 off eBay.

Ellison Cassette Front

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(Not having a cassette tape player it wouldn’t be a pain to hook up, I’m just assuming it still has Ellison’s stories on it, and it hasn’t been taped over with a copy of, say, Frampton Comes Alive…)

Of Top 25 Films on IMDB, Most Involve Crime

August 4th, 2015

Glancing through the top 25 films in the the IMDB Top 250 list, it occurred to me that most involved crime as the central subject, and a few more peripherally:

  1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (Yes: Central characters are mostly convicted felons in prison.)
  2. The Godfather (1972) (Yes, obviously.)
  3. The Godfather: Part II (1974) (Yes, ditto.)
  4. The Dark Knight (2008) (Yes. What is it Batman dedicated his life to fighting?)
  5. Pulp Fiction (1994) (Yes. Criminals and their associates drive all the action.)
  6. Schindler’s List (1993) (No. Genocide is sort of a separate topic from crime…)
  7. 12 Angry Men (1957) (Yes. Inside jury deliberations in a murder case.)
  8. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) (Yes. Three criminals drive the plot. Then again, crime tends to be a central feature in almost all Westerns…)
  9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (No. Lots of killing, but not crime-related per se.)
  10. Fight Club (1999) (Marginal. Protagonist runs a ring of illegal fight clubs, then an international revolutionary organization.))
  11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (No. See above.)
  12. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (No. Despite the presence of a smuggler as a central character.)
  13. Forrest Gump (1994) (No.)
  14. Inception (2010) (Yes. Central plot involves a criminal gang carrying off a sort of reverse heist.)
  15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) (Marginal. Protagonist is a criminal who gets himself transferred to the loony bin because he thinks it will be easier than doing time in the joint.)
  16. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (No. See above.)
  17. Goodfellas (1990) (Yes. Obviously.)
  18. The Matrix (1999) (No. Though the protagonist starts out as a hacker in trouble with the authorities.)
  19. Star Wars (1977) (No. Though again, an illegal smuggler is a central figure.)
  20. Seven Samurai (1954) (Marginal. The entire plot is driven by a village’s desire to protect themselves from criminal marauders.)
  21. City of God (2002) (Yes. Features the rise of a ruthless crime lord as one of the central plots.)
  22. Se7en (1995) (Yes. Tracking a serial killer.)
  23. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (Yes. Tracking a serial killer with the assistance of another.)
  24. The Usual Suspects (1995) (Yes. All about a gang of criminals and the machinations of a crime lord.)
  25. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (Marginal, given Potter’s opportunistic theft.)

That’s 15 of the top 25 films which involve crime as either a primary or secondary feature.

Surely crime dramas offer plenty of conflict, but so do war movies, but none of them (save the SF/F entries, and Schindler’s List) make the list, nor do any sports films. (Perpetual favorite Casablanca, which would qualify as a war film, comes in at 30, while Saving Private Ryan comes in at 31.)

Anyone care to speculate on why crime dominates the top of the list?