Praise for Pirates
F&SF author Chris Willrich emailed me the other day to let me know that he enjoyed The Pirate Issue:
I read the Shimmer Pirate Issue over the holidays and really enjoyed it. My favorite story was Cambias’ "Barbary Shore," but I liked them all. It was especially fun to read all the "classic" pirate stories as a set. Though it left me wanting to stay away from the water!
Also, he pointed out that the Santa Clara County library system has six copies of Wastelands in inventory, which he knows, because he works as a librarian there.
Technician 5th Class
In a comment on my LJ feed, someone was asking what my grandfather’s specialty was. He was a Technician 5th Class, with a specialty listed as "Truck Driver (Heavy) (245)." He did that for 55 months of his service; prior to that, he’s listed as having 2 months as a Private doing "Basic Tng Ord. (521)." I’m not clear if that’s just standard basic training or what; I assume the "Ord." refers to Ordnance.
Here’s the description of his "Truck Driver, Heavy" work listed on his discharge paper:
Was a truck driver for the 359th Ordnance Company overseas. Hauled ammunition, supplies, equipment, and military personnel. Drove in all kinds of weather over all kinds of terrain. Drove at night and in blackout areas. Made minor repairs on the truck to keep it in good condition at all times.
He was discharged on Dec. 14, 1945
On the back of the form, he has a civilian occupation listed: "Plumbers Helper (7-32.812)":
Worked on steam and water pipes. Reamed, cut, bent, and threaded pipe. Cut and drilled holes in walls and floors for pipes to be fitted in. Heater lead to make the connections in the plumbing tight. Used hand and machine tools. Worked for Robert Burwick, Trenton, New Jersey for 18 months.
I wonder if there’s any way to research what sort of specific activities my grandfather was involved in during the war–places he was deployed to, actions he was engaged in, etc. He told me once he was at Guadalcanal, but I don’t know any more than that, other than he said the Army sent him "all over."
From Joe to Eleanor (Revised)
John DeNardo from SF Signal very kindly took the photo of my grandfather I posted last night and photoshopped it to clean up the image. The results:
This is astonishing to me. Photoshop truly is a wizard’s tool. Wait, actually, he used Paint Shop Pro ("a poor man’s Photoshop," he says)–so even more astonishing!
"Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita" by James D. Macdonald and Debra Doyle
James D. Macdonald, whose story written in collaboration with his wife Debra Doyle, "Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita," appears in the February 2008 issue of F&SF, said in an interview that the story is about a scholar in search of a rare book. "With overtones of paranoia and undertones of unresolved sexual tension," he said. "It’s also an origin story for one of the non-protagonists but major supporting characters in [our novel] Land of Mist and Snow."
The origin of the story, Macdonald said, comes from a line in Land of Mist and Snow, in which one of the characters, Captain William R. Sharps, USN, says, in a letter to Commodore Vanderbilt: "I found the lost ur-text of the Grey Book (in the wine cellar of a fortress in Carpatho-Ruthenia — an amusing story, worth telling over brandy and cigars, but not germane to my present communication), and bent my energies toward transcribing and translating those portions which had been purged from the younger MSS."
But the reader never does hear that "amusing story" in the course of the novel, Macdonald said. "In fact, I had no idea when writing the novel what the story was that he had to tell. But that line sat in the back of my mind and the story asked to be told."
From the Photo Archive
My cousin Ida-Pearl sent me some old photos of my grandparents, mostly of my grandfather from his years in the Army. At my grandfather’s funeral, we’d talked about scanning and sharing the photos we had so that everyone in the family could have access to them. Receiving her contributions today inspired me to go scan some of the ones I had up in the attic. I’ve uploaded my aunt’s photos along with the ones from my archives that I’ve scanned so far into this Flickr photoset.
There’s lots of nice pictures there, but the one above is far and away my favorite. It’s clear that someone–in this case, my grandmother–loved this photo. And it’s clear why.
Isn’t it magnificent?
More Wastelands in the Wild
John DeNardo of SF Signal spies copies of Wastelands:
Year’s Best Science Fiction, Vol. 25
Gardner Dozois has posted the contents of his forthcoming Year’s Best Science Fiction volume, the 25th annual, which reprints the best of 2007:
- FINISTERRA, David Moles
- LIGHTING OUT, Ken MacLeod
- THE OCEAN IS A SNOWFLAKE, FOUR BILLION MILES AWAY, John Barnes
- SAVING TIAMAAT, Gweyneth Jones
- OF LATE I DREAMT OF VENUS, James Van Pelt
- VERTHANDI’S RING, Ian McDonald
- SEA CHANGE, Una McCormack
- THE SKY IS LARGE AND THE EARTH IS SMALL, Chris Roberson
- GLORY, Greg Egan
- AGAINST THE CURRENT, Robert Silverberg
- ALIEN ARCHEOLOGY, Neal Asher
- THE MERCHANT AND THE ALCHEMIST’S GATE, Ted Chiang
- BEYOND THE WALL, Justin Stanchfield
- KIOSK, Bruce Sterling
- LAST CONTACT, Stephen Baxter
- THE SLEDGE-MAKER’S DAUGHTER, Alastair Reynolds
- SANJEEV AND ROBOTWALLAH, Ian McDonald
- THE SKYSAILOR’S TALE, Michael Swanwick
- OF LOVE AND OTHER MONSTERS, Vandana Singh
- STEVE FEVER, Greg Egan
- HELLFIRE AT TWILIGHT, Kage Baker
- THE IMMORTALS OF ATLANTIS, Brian Stableford
- NOTHING PERSONAL, Pat Cadigan
- TIDELINE, Elizabeth Bear
- THE ACCORD, Keith Brooke
- LAWS OF SURVIVAL, Nancy Kress
- THE MISTS OF TIME, Tom Purdom
- CRATERS, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- THE PROPHET OF FLORES, Ted Kosmatka
- STRAY, Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert
- ROXIE, Robert Reed
- DARK HEAVEN, Gregory Benford
I’ve bolded the titles that appeared first in F&SF.
links for 2008-01-12
Free Fiction: F&SF’s Preliminary Nebula Ballot Nominees
The Preliminary Nebula ballot is out. Members of SFWA will now vote on those stories, and the top five (or more if there are ties) will end up on the final ballot. But you don’t have to be a SFWA member to take advantage of the free fiction now posted on F&SF’s website. All of our stories that made the preliminary ballot are now available online, for a limited time.
Novellas
- "Kiosk" by Bruce Sterling
- "The Helper and His Hero" by Matthew Hughes
- "Memorare" by Gene Wolfe
- "Stars Seen Through Stone" by Lucius Shepard
Novelets
Short Stories
Check the SFWA.org Nebula page as well, for more free fiction from other sources.