Volume 28 Number 9 Issue 339 February 2016

OASFiS Event Horizon Vol 28 Issue 339, February 2016 Published Monthly by the Orlando Area Science Fiction Society (OASFiS). All rights reserved

by original Authors and Artists. Editor: Juan Sanmiguel, 1421 Pon Pon Court, Orlando, FL 32825. Subscriptions are $12.00 per year and entitle the

subscriber to membership in the Society. Attending Memberships are $25.00 per year. Extra memberships to family members are $6.00 per year

when only one newsletter is sent to the household. To subscribe or join OASFiS, send a check or money order to: OASFiS, PO Box 323 Goldenrod,

FL 32733-0323. To submit Articles, Artwork or Letters of Comment to the Event Horizon, send them to the Editor's address above or

sanmiguel@earthlink.net. For additional information, call our Voice Mail at (407) 823-8715. OASFiS is a state chartered not for profit corporation

whose goal is the promotion of Science Fiction in all its forms. All opinions expressed herein are solely those of the Author(s) and in no way represent

the opinions of the Society or its members as a whole.

Toracon

February 6

Sarasota School Art & Sciences

645 Central Ave

Sarasota, FL 34236

$7 at the door, $5 for students

Anime and gaming con

www.ssastoracon.net

Swampcon: Total Annihilation

February 13-14

Reitz Union at the University of Florida

Gainsville, FL

Free Admission

Guests: Bill Hatfield

More guest listed on website.

swampcon.org

The Infinity Toy and Comic Con

February 13

Holiday Inn

1724 N. Alafaya Trail

Orlando, FL 32726

$8 Admission

infinitytoyandcomicon.com/

Pensacon

February 19-21

Pensacola Bay Center

201 E Gregory Street

Pensacola, FL, 32502

Guests: Kevin J. Anderson

Amber Benson

Nancy Collins

Tony Isabella

And many others see wbsite

Weekend pass $80

http://www.pensacon.com

(Continued on page 3)

Birthdays

Pat Sims February 9

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR If you have not renewed your membership and wish to

do so, please contact us.

Checkout the Locus website for their recommended

reading list. It is a good guide if you are an award voter or just

looking for something new to read.

This year was a good year for Science Fiction at the

Oscars. Mad Max: Fury Road got 10 nominations, The Martian

got 7,, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and 2 for Ex Machina

and Inside Out.

Next month I hope to do a review and the Nebula final

ballot should be out.

Amelia Con

February 5-7

Days Inn & Suites

2707 Sadler Road,

Amelia Island, FL 32034

Guests: Patrick Seitz (voice actor)

Arlex Saviuk (comic artist)

Tramell “T-Ray” Isaac (video game artist)

More guest on website

$15 at the door

www.ameliacon.com

FlaMingoCon

February 6

Holy Trinity Parish Hall

211 Trinity Place

West Palm Beach, FL

Gaming convention

$10 at the door

flamingocon.org

February OASFiS Calendar

OASFiS Business Meeting Sunday, February 14, 1:30 PM, Orange Public Library (Downtown Orlando, 101 E. Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801,407-835-7325). Come join us as we discuss works of Best Works of 2015 Sci Fi Light To contact for more info: OASFiS Business Meeting 407-823-8715

Page two February 2016

OASFiS People

Steve Cole 407-275-5211 stevepcole@hotmail.com Susan Cole 407-275-5211 sacole@mindspring.com Arthur Dykeman 407-328-9565 adykeman@bellsouth.net Steve Grant 352 241 0670 stevegrant@embarqmail.com Mike Pilletere mike-sf@webbedfeet.com David Ratti 407-282-2468 dratti@eudoramail.com Juan Sanmiguel 407-823-8715 sanmiguel@earthlink.net Patricia Wheeler 407-832-1428 pwheeler11@cfl.rr.com Any of these people can give readers information about the club and its functions. To be included in the list call Juan.

Peggy is planning con swag.

Book Discussion

Patricia explained the plot and characters of The Man in the High

Castle. It is alternate world where Germany and Japan won

World War II and occupy the United States. Juan pointed out that

the novel did focus on the resistance that the show focuses on. It

was oddly plotted novel. Dick

Juan discussed the book and how it related to the Amazon Prime

show. He was surprised that it won the Hugo in 1963 beating

books by Arthur C. Clarke and Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Juan asked about agency. He felt that most of the characters have

more agency at end than they did at the beginning.

Peggy held a raffle for 4 calendars.

Next month we will meet at the Orange County Public Library

Meeting adjourned at 2:43PM.

OASFiS Meeting 1/10/2016

Officers: Tom Reed, Peggy Stubblefield, Juan Sanmiguel

Members: Arthur Dykeman, Patricia Wheeler

Juan mentioned that The Matrix will be playing at the Enzian.

Juan is willing to book a table at the Enzian for anyone who

wants one.

Did some discussion on future book discussions. Juan will do a

best of 2015 presentation. Peggy suggested some A. Lee

Martinez titles. Helen and Troy: Epic Road Trip will be the

book for March.

Agent Carter will coming out next week. Arthur outlined the DC

program Legends of Tomorrow.

Patricia said Star Wars: The Force Awaken was a remake of the

first film. She also said that on genetics that Ben Solo could not

be related to Leia and Han. Juan, Peggy, and Juan the film was

OK.

We discussed picnic dates. March 6 the planned date with March

13, March 20 as alternates.

Convention Stuff

Juan invited the guests. And other participants

Due to problems at World Fantasy Con other cons are declaring

a disability policy. Juan will look at other cons policies.

Disability policy.

We discussed recruiting through YA, gaming, and cosplaying.

Need to announce for volunteers. On the website and Facebook.

Peggy and Michael can work on the website for volunteer

recruiting.

Tom showed the art for the con and con T-Shirt.

Award News

Philip K. Dick Award Nominees

(source Locus website)

Edge of Dark, Brenda Cooper (Pyr)

After the Saucers Landed, Douglas Lain (Night

Shade)

(R)evolution, PJ Manney (47North)

Apex, Ramez Naam (Angry Robot)

Windswept, Adam Rakunas (Angry Robot)

Archangel Marguerite Reed (Arche)

The award is presented annually to a distinguished work of

science fiction originally published in paperback form in the

Page three February 2016

United States.

The winner and any special citations will be announced on

Friday, March 25, 2016 at Norwescon 39 at the DoubleTree by

Hilton Seattle Airport, SeaTac, Washington.

Awards Speculative Fiction nominees

(source Wikipedia entry)

Best Picture

Mad Max: Fury Road – Doug Mitchell and George

Miller

The Martian – Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael

Schaefer, and Mark Huffam

Best Director

George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Actor

Matt Damon – The Martian as Mark Watney

Best Original Screenplay

Ex Machina – Alex Garland

Inside Out – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, and

Ronnie del Carmen

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Martian – Drew Goddard from The Martian by

Andy Weir

Best Animated Film

Anomalisa – Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, and Rosa

Tran

Boy & the World – Alê Abreu

Inside Out – Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Shaun the Sheep Movie – Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

When Marnie Was There – Hiromasa Yonebayashi and

Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story – Pato Escala Pierart and Gabriel Osorio Vargas

Prologue – Imogen Sutton and Richard Williams

Sanjay's Super Team – Nicole Paradis Grindle and Sanjay

Patel

We Can't Live Without Cosmos – Konstantin Bronzit

World of Tomorrow – Don Hertzfeldt

Best Original Score

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams

Best Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road – Mark A. Mangini and David White

The Martian – Oliver Tarney

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Matthew Wood and

David Acord

(Continued from page 2) Best Sound Mixing

Mad Max: Fury Road – Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, and

Ben Osmo

The Martian – Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, and Mac Ruth

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Andy Nelson,

Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson

Best Production Design

Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson

The Martian – Celia Bobak and Arthur Max

Best Cinematography

Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Mad Max: Fury Road – Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega,

and Damian Martin

Best Costume Design

Cinderella – Sandy Powell

Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

Best Film Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Maryann Brandon and

Mary Jo Markey

Best Visual Effects

Ex Machina – Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett,

Paul Norris, and Andrew Whitehurst

Mad Max: Fury Road – Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Andy

Williams, and Tom Wood

The Martian – Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence, Richard

Stammers, and Steven Warner

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Chris Corbould, Roger

Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, and Neal Scanlan

SyFy Bartow

February 21

Main Street

Bartow, FL

Guests: Chuck Dixon

A SF themed street fair

Free

http://mainstreetbartowfl.com/syfy-saturday-2016-2/

(Continued from page 1)

Page four February 2016

Letters of Comment

1706-24 Eva Rd.

Etobicoke, ON

CANADA M9C 2B2

January 7, 2016

Dear OASFiSians:

I seem to be catching up all the time. I have here issues 337 and

338 of the Event Horizon, and so, the letter starts…NOW!

337…Looks like you will all be quite busy for 2016. Wish there

was a way to get to Florida for something SFnal. If we can scrape

together the cash, we might go down to Florida for the Harry

Potter park, maybe in 2017. I gather that Terry Brooks’

Shannarra books have been turned into a mini-series, but reaction

is poor. There will be a mini-series some time this month, I think,

based on Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy, and I think that will

be better. Harry Potter for hipsters…

The Magicians was more than that. It was college students

who have great power and how to deal with them. I did a review

of the first book here in the Event Horizon.

The photos are always great, and given my own interests, I

especially appreciate any steampunk costumes. >From now, I

believe, I will be at Worldcon only in spirit. We will be travelling

to go places before we are financially unable to do so.

Ah, Juan, you did what I did some years ago. I posed with a

Hugo award, too. Wasn’t mine of course, it was Chris Garcia’s in

Reno, but still, it is nice to hold one.

For the last couple of years I made a tradition to photograph

myself with the Hugo. It easy since I have been covering the

Hugos for a website . This year I also worked the Hugos

338 arrived just yesterday…that is an amazing con list. You can

attend cons just about every weekend, and never leave the state.

SW7 is now the biggest movie, box office wise, of all time.

My letter…thank you, I hope we are nominated again next year,

but it seems less and less likely. I think we will keep trying,

though.

I think we will be going to see Star Wars Episode 7 this

weekend, even if we have seen far too many spoilers. Already,

I’ve heard somne rumours about Episode 8, and Episode 9 is

going have to wind this who saga up…unless Episodes 10, 11

and 12 are ordered…take care all, and see you with the next one.

With Disney owning Star Wars we may never see the of end Star

Wars. There will also be side stories movie about Han Solo, Obi

Wan Kenobi, and Boba Fett.

Yours, Lloyd Penney.

David Hartwell

I had heard of David Hartwell for years via Locus arti-

cles. I first remembered seeing him at AussieCon 3, the 1999

Worldcon. I was watching a door for the Dead Dog party and I

recognized Hartwell, I told my fellow door guard that we should

let Hartwell in because he was an important editor. Hartwell was

surprised I said that.

I would see Hartwell at various panels at Worldcon.

With Connie Willis, Hartwell discussed Philip K. Dick, whom he

knew. There Hartwell talked about the time he visited Dick and

Dick told Hatwell about the novel he was working on, The

Transmigration of Timothy Archer if I recall correctly. Hart-

well also participated in the Joanna Russ Memorial panel at

Renovention, the 2011 Worldcon. He was close to Russ and

talked about the time they went to a Joyce Carol Oates reading.

He gave great insights to these important writers.

A few years ago, the International Conference for the

Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) moved from South Florida to Orlan-

do. As a volunteer, I worked for David Hartwell, who ran the

ICFA bookroom. It was a fun assignment.

David was easy to work with. On the setup days, we

would go to the out for lunch. During those lunches, we talked

about the field. It was just like talking to any other fan.

He treated everyone with respect and kindness. He was

the definition of professional.

In 2009, he was a Worldcon Guest of Honor. Below was

a summation of his Guest of Honor Interview that was part of my

con report for that year.

My last communication with him was an email. An an-

gry writer wanted people to email David and let him know that it

was mistake to take the bust of H.P. Lovecraft off the World Fan-

tasy Award. I thought it was a good idea to remove the contro-

versial writer from the trophy. I emailed David and told him that

he and the committee made the right call. I was surprised that he

thanked me for the email.

Losing David right after David Bowie and Alan Rick-

man was devastating. I am glad I got work with and know David.

———————-

The editor guest of honor was in the spotlight with Paul

Kincaid in Conversation with David Hartwell. Kincaid asked

what Hartwell read at 13. Hartwell read the Best of anthologies.

Hartwell got into science fiction accidentally. He was a big read-

er in the 5th grade and came across the Tom Swift books. Hart-

well liked the basic concept of the books despite the bad writing

and political incorrectness. After Hartwell had finished all the

Tom Swift books, he asked the librarian if there were more books

like this. The librarian gave him a note to give him permission to

the adult section of the library. Hartwell found science fiction

anthologies that blown his mind. The story notes in the antholo-

(Continued on page 5)

Page five February 2016

a new review magazine. The poetry magazine became The New

York Review of Science Fiction. It debuted in 1988 and made

completely on Apple Macintoshes. The magazine broke even for

22 years. Hartwell encourages and trains new reviewers. The

reviews avoid traditional academic forms and are open discus-

sions. Hartwell would like to publish memoirs on science fiction.

They are not many science fiction biographies or memoirs. Kin-

caid asked Hartwell how he reads so much short fiction to pre-

pare for the Year’s Best anthology. Hartwell says he reads the

first few paragraphs in the magazine and anthology stories. The

Year’s Best represents the genre’s boundaries. Writers need to

know the genre’s boundaries so they can break them. An audi-

ence member asked what writers Hartwell recommends. He men-

tioned Alastair Reynolds, Daryl Gregory, Peter Watts, Naomi

Kritzer, and Dominic Green. Someone mentioned a book series

with classic novels with a new introduction. In this series, Joe

Haldeman introducing Robert Heinlein’s Double Star and Nor-

man Spinrad introducing a Philip K. Dick book were examples of

this series. Hartwell always wanted to reprint those intros for a

book. Right now, he is busy with his family. Hartwell believes an

editor can influence the field. He does not think he has entirely

failed in his attempts.

gies got him into science fiction reading. Those books also men-

tioned the magazines the stories came from. Hartwell started

buying the magazines. After reading the magazines, Hartwell

thought it would be cool to be a science fiction editor. Hartwell

joined the SF Book Club when it started and the local bookstore

owner recommended him science fiction paperbacks to read.

Hartwell would win a prize in college for his book collection.

The first adult science fiction novels he read were Childhood’s

End and More Than Human. He got sensitive to style. Hartwell

also joined the Ballantine’s paperback book of the month club

and order books from magazine ads. As a teen, he read a book a

day. Kincaid asked if the golden age of science fiction is 13.

Many have accredited Hartwell with this quote. Hartwell said a

fan came up with the quote. Hartwell could not remember who

originally said it but it stuck with him after he used it in the intro-

duction of an anthology he edited. Hartwell went to Columbia for

his doctorate in comparative medieval literature. He wanted to a

doctorate in science fiction but there were no college programs

for that. The times were lean then. Hartwell had to get by on a

dollar a day. Many professors at Columbia read science fiction.

One his professors told Hartwell that he had talent and he should

forget the doctorate. Hartwell wanted to finish it and liked the

topic. As a fan, Hartwell learned a lot about publishing and peo-

ple told him to go into publishing. Hartwell did a lot reviews for

fanzines in the 1960s. Paul Williams was a fanzine fan who start-

ed the music magazine Crawdaddy. Hartwell did science fiction

reviews for Crawdaddy. Williams believed science fiction and

music go together. Williams, whose mother was in publishing,

gave Hartwell the idea to do a science fiction anthology. Hart-

well reviewed Michael Moorcock’s The Final Programme. This

was the only American review the book received and one of the

few serious reviews. Moorcock was grateful and invited Hartwell

to dinner. Hartwell also reviewed Jerry Pournelle’s first novel,

King David’s Spaceship. Hartwell compared Pournelle’s work

to Poul Anderson. Pournelle was grateful for that review. Hart-

well feels one has to put themselves in the way of luck. Hartwell

read science fiction with careful attention. He has been lucky to

be an editor. Management has fired him several times. Some

accused Hartwell of wasting money while working at Timescape.

While at Timescape he developed the modern Star Trek novel.

Hartwell sold his first anthology, Dark Descent, in 1986. Hart-

well felt anthologies should have structure and form. Dark De-

scent focused on horror themes. In the 1980s, horror novels

were rare. Horror writers had to work on writing in longer forms.

Dark Descent demonstrated horror categories. Science fiction

is a generous umbrella for the oddball works in literature. Hart-

well edited The World Treasury of Science Fiction. The book

had many foreign science fiction stories. It was a success and

reviewed by John Updike for the New Yorker. In Eastern Eu-

rope, Science Fiction was subversive. Some in the east thought

Science Fiction was finished after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Soviet/Russia science fiction is very optimistic about technology.

Hartwell discussed the influence Haruki Murakami has had on

Japanese science fiction and his fondness for genre literature.

Kincaid asked about The New Y ork Review of Science Fiction,

the semiprozine that Hartwell edits. Hartwell had done reviews

for Locus and did some teaching. He edited a poetry magazine

which did not do well (most of the subscribers were libraries). At

that time he discussed with Samuel R. Deleany the idea of doing

(Continued from page 4)

Page six February 2016

erful enough to stop a blaster bolt. Despite his injuries, he is able

to hold off Rey. He feels an inner conflict that is driving him

mad. He has to kill his father in order to assure himself that he is

committed to the Dark Side of the Force.

The scene on the catwalk is intense. For a moment, one

believes it is possibly that Han maybe able to turn Kylo Ren back

to Light Side. When Kylo Ren kills his father, he commits to

Dark Side. Turning back is more difficult but not impossible. Can

Kylo Ren redeem himself like his grandfather Anakin?

Some say The Force Awakens copies too much from A

New Hope, but that film copied from other films too. Disney the

current owner of the saga decided to play it safe on its first Star

Wars film. There are rumors that the next film in the saga will

be more daring.

My only disappointment in the film is not seeing Leia

welding a lightsaber. In the old Expanded Universe novels, Leia

fought as a Jedi with Luke. Abrams and the writers explained

their reasons for this, but one hopes a future production team

reconsiders and we see Leia dueling like her brother and father.

It was great how the old cast with blended with the new.

Han and Chewie were fighting the good fight. Leia held the mor-

al center as the leader of the Resistance. R2D2 and C3PO broke

the tension.

There is more Star Wars in the future. There will be

films focusing on the main story or Saga films. There will be

films focusing on specific characters like Han Solo, Obi Wan

Kenobi, and Boba Fett. Star Wars has returned more powerful

than ever and has been nominated for 5 Oscars. I hope that this

will allow artists to practice their craft on one of the best canvas-

es ever.

The Force is with us.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

SPOLIER ALERT

Last Christmas was good to Science Fiction and Fantasy

fans. The SyFy Channel debuted a mini-series based on Arthur

C. Clarke’s classic novel Childhood’s End. That same week The

Expanse, a television series based on a novel series by James

S.A. Corey, came out the same week on the SyFy Channel. The

SyFy Channel also previewed The Magicians, a television show

based on a trilogy by Lev Grossman, at the same time. The big

present was the return of Star Wars to the big screen.

Star Wars is special. It is a genre of its own. The saga

presents the classic Hero’s Journey, but using the furniture of

space opera to tell its story.

What we ask from Star Wars is action, adventure, inter-

nal conflict, and romance. The originally trilogy was a conflict

between a totalitarian government and freedom fighting rebels

that reflected Cold War conflicts. The prequels showed how a

democracy could fail and become a totalitarian regime. Some

saw this happening to the US because of its participation in Mid-

dle Eastern wars. The Force Awakens has the remnants of the

Empire, the First Order trying to take over sectors of space much

like what ISIS is doing in Iraq and Syria.

The story begins with fighter pilot Poe Dameron getting

information on Luke Skywalker’s location. First Order forces

capture Dameron, but he sent the information away on his astro-

mech droid BB-8. A metal scavenger Rey finds BB-8 and looks

after him. She meets Finn, a former Stormtrooper who escaped

with Poe Dameron. Kylo Ren, a knight of Ren, pursues them to

acquire the droid. With Dameron lost, can Finn and Rey get BB-

8 to the Resistance? Along their journey, they meet some famil-

iar faces while the First Order prepares a new super weapon.

This is the beginning of new saga. The film introduces

new characters who will drive this current trilogy: Dameron,

Finn, and Rey. They will learn from their predecessors and carve

out their own destiny.

Poe Dameron is the most established of the three. He is

a confident and able fighter pilot. Dameron is a good leader and

can keep cool during intense situations. He demostrates this

when co-ordinates the fighter assault on the Starkiller and when

his interrogated by Kylo Ren.

Finn makes a moral choice. He starts out as a cog in the

First Order’s war machine. Finn sees the cruelty and ruthlessness

of First Order, up close. Finn decides to escape and find some-

thing new. Finn overcomes his fear of First Order when he realiz-

es Rey is in danger. Though Finn is not Force sensitive, he fights

with a light saber since that all he has to fight with. He willingly

goes into danger for his friends and figures out how deactivate

the Starkiller shield.

Rey is a resourceful loner. Rey wants to stay on Jakku

since she believes her family will one day find her. The Force

vision she has scares Rey from embracing her true self. Rey only

accepts her destiny to defend Finn from Kylo Ren.

The duel between Rey and Kylo Ren is very dynamic.

At first Ren is controlling the duel. When Kylo tells Rey, he can

teach the ways of the Force, she realizes what to do. Rey rejects

her fear and is able fully embrace the Force, and starts driving

the duel and is able to push Ren back.

Kylo Ren is a formidable if unstable villain. He is pow-

Page seven February 2016

RIP

David Bowie

Alan Rickman

OASFiS

PO Box 323

Goldenrod, FL 32733-0323

Joe Fan

123 Sesame Street

Orlando, FL 32805