July books

Non-fiction: 3 (YTD 30)
The Complete Ice Age, by Brian M. Fagan
The Man Within My Head, by Pico Iyer
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, by Ian Mortimer

Fiction non-sf): 3 (YTD 19)
The Way By Swann's, by Marcel Proust
Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters
Maigret Loses His Temper, by Georges Simenon

Poetry: 3 (YTD 3)
The Æneid, by Virgil, translated by John Dryden
The Æneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
The Æneid Book VI, by Virgil, translated by Seamus Heaney

sf (non-Who): 15 (YTD 76)
Robot Visions, by Isaac Asimov
Discount Armageddon, by Seanan McGuire
Your Code Name is Jonah, by Edward Packard
Newry Bridge, or Ireland in 1887 (Anonymous)
The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden
Anno Mortis, by Rebecca Levene
“Slow Sculpture”, by Theodore Sturgeon
A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan
An Unkindness of Ghosts, by Rivers Solomon
Under the Pendulum Sun, by Jeannette Ng (extract)
Up Jim River, by Michael Flynn (did not finish)
Wounded Heart, by S.W. Baird
Aztec Century, by Christopher Evans
The Supernatural Enhancements, by Edgar Cantero
The Martian Inca, by Ian Watson

Doctor Who, etc: 3 (YTD 21)
Doctor Who Quiz Book of Dinosaurs, by Michael Holt
Wit, Wisdom and Timey-Wimey Stuff, by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
The Two Jasons, by Dave Stone

Comics: 4 (YTD 20)
Weapons of Mass Diplomacy, by Abel Lanzac and Christophe Blain
Aliénor, la Légende noire, tome 5, by Arnaud Delalande, Simona Mogavino and Carlos Gomez
Aliénor, la Légende noire, tome 6, by Arnaud Delalande, Simona Mogavino and Carlos Gomez
The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, by Bryan Talbot and Mary Talbot

~7,900 pages (YTD ~47,100)
11/31 (YTD 73/172) by non-male writers (Waters, McGuire, Arden, Levene, Brennan, Solomon, Ng, Baird, Mogavino x2, Talbot)
3/31 (YTD 21/172) by PoC (Iyer, Ng, Solomon)
2/31 (YTD 8/172) reread (The Way by Swann’s, “Slow Sculpture”)

Reading now
The Politics of Climate Change, by Anthony Giddens
High-Rise, by J. G. Ballard

Coming soon (perhaps):
The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Pioneers: Huawei Stories, ed. Tian Tao
Anno Dracula – Dracula Cha Cha Cha, by Kim Newman
Doctor Who: The Flood, by Gareth Roberts and Scott Gray
Welcome to Night Vale, by Joseph Fink
Byzantium, by Judith Herrin
Missile Gap, by Charles Stross
Rare Unsigned Copy, by Simon Petrie
“Ill Met in Lankhmar”, by Fritz Leiber
The Laertian Gamble, by Robert Sheckley
The Deer Hunter, by Eric Corner
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Vurt, by Jeff Noon
Krimson, by Marc Legendre
Dark Satanic Mills, by Marcus Sedgwick
Who I Am, by Peter Townshend
Putting Up Roots, by Charles Sheffield
Brewing Justice, by Daniel Jaffee
Comet in Moominland, by Tove Jansson
Nobody's Children, by Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum and Philip Purser-Hallard

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Slow Sculpture, by Theodore Sturgeon

Second paragraph of third section (depending how you count the sections):

Early sun gold-frosted the horizontal upper foliage of the old tree and brought its gnarled limbs into sharp re-lief, tough brown-gray creviced in velvet. Only the companion of a bonsai (there are owners of bonsai but they are a lesser breed) fully understands the relationship. There is an exclusive and individual treeness to the tree because it is a living thing and living things change—and there are definite ways in which the tree desires to change. A man sees the tree and in his mind makes certain extensions and extrapolations of what he sees and sets about making them happen. The tree in turn will do only what a tree can do, will resist to the death any attempt to do what it cannot do or to do in less time than it needs. The shaping of a bonsai is therefore always a com-promise and always a cooperation. A man cannot create bonsai, nor can a tree. It takes both and they must understand one another. It takes a long time to do that. One memorizes one’s bonsai, every twig, the angle of every crevice and needle and, lying awake at night or in a pause a thousand miles away, one recalls this or that line or mass, one makes one’s plans. With wire and water and light, with tilting and with the planting of water-robbing weeds or heavy, root-shading ground cover, one explains to the tree what one wants. And if the explanation is well enough made and there is great enough understanding the tree will respond and obey—almost.

Next in my sequence of joint Hugo and Nebula winners. When I first read this in 2000, I wrote:

The brilliant young scientist who is embittered because the world will not accept his work cures and falls in love with the girl who will help him learn once again what it is to be human. The rather magical tone of the story lifts it above the cliche – just.

If anything I liked it rather less on this reading. The protagonist is a wizard rather than a scientist, operating courageously without peer review or external funding. The love interest comes out of nowhere and exists only to be cured and fall in love with him. The tone is indeed well executed (see above), but strikes me as rather less special now than it did eighteen years ago. I guess it may be better written than most of the stories it was competing with; as far as I can remember I have read only one (see below) which I liked rather better.

This was the one and only year when all of the Hugo winners in the written categories also won Nebulas and vice versa. "Slow Sculpture" won the 1970 Nebula for Best Novelette, and the 1971 Hugo for Best Short Story; there was no 1971 Hugo for Best Novelette, and the 1970 Nebula for Best Short Story was No-Awarded (the first of only two No Awards in the history of the Nebulas; the only other occasion was the 1977 Nebula for Best Dramatic Presentation).

The only other story on the final ballot for both Hugo and Nebula against "Slow Sculpture" was "Continued on Next Rock", by R.A. Lafferty. On the Hugo ballot for Best Short Story, and also on the No-Awarded Nebula ballot for Best Short Story, was "In the Queue", by Keith Laumer. The other nominated stories in the shortest fiction categories that year were:

Hugo for Best Short Story:

  • "Jean Duprès", by Gordon R. Dickson
  • "Brillo", by Ben Bova and Harlan Ellison

Nebula for Best Novelette:

  • "The Asian Shore", by Thomas M. Disch
  • "The Shaker Revival", by Gerald Jonas
  • "The Second Inquisition", by Joanna Russ
  • "Dear Aunt Annie", by Gordon Eklund

Nebula for Best Short Story (winner was No Award):

  • "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", by Gene Wolfe
  • "Entire and Perfect Chrysolite", by R. A. Lafferty
  • "By the Falls", by Harry Harrison
  • "The Creation of Bennie Good", by James Sallis
  • "A Dream at Noonday", by Gardner Dozois
  • "A Cold Dark Night with Snow", by Kate Wilhelm

The only two of these that I am sure I have read are "The Second Inquisition", by Joanna Russ, which is the narratively subversive final chapter of Alyx, and the early Gene Wolfe classic "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories". I liked both better than “Slow Sculpture”.

Next up, Fritz Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar", which won both that year's awards for Best Novella; and after that, Larry Niven’s Ringworld, which won both the year’s awards for Best Novel.

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Monday reading

Current
The Martian Inca, by Ian Watson
The Politics of Climate Change, by Anthony Giddens
High-Rise, by J. G. Ballard

Last books finished
The Æneid, by Virgil, translated by John Dryden
The Æneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
The Æneid Book VI, by Virgil, translated by Seamus Heaney
Wounded Heart, by S.W. Baird
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, by Ian Mortimer
Aliénor, la Légende noire, tome 5, by Arnaud Delalande, Simona Mogavino and Carlos Gomez
Aztec Century, by Christopher Evans
Aliénor, la Légende noire, tome 6, by Arnaud Delalande, Simona Mogavino and Carlos Gomez
The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, by Bryan Talbot and Mary Talbot
The Supernatural Enhancements, by Edgar Cantero

Next books
The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Nobody’s Children, by Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum and Philip Purser-Hallard

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Doctor Who at London Film and Comic Con

F and I went to London Film and Comic Con yesterday, despite some travel woes – our original accommodation plans for Saturday did not work out, and an appeal on Facebook brought a very welcome offer from A (who used to be on Livejournal) offering the use of her flat near Marylebone in her absence. So we arrived late-ish Saturday, ate, slept, and went by Uber to Kensington Olympia the next morning.

On the way we passed Grenfell Tower. A grim sight.

F spent most of his time gaming; I spent most of my time queuing for Doctor Who events. I had signed up for five different Doctors, unfortunately missing Tom Baker who was there on Friday only; at the last moment, both David Tennant and Peter Davison announced that they were coming, but I was in the midst of resolving my accommodation problems and unable to take advantage of their presence. (I met them both at the Hugo award ceremony in 2014, but only got a picture with one of them.) I did manage to take a picture of Peter Davison signing as I passed:

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I’m presenting the pictures I got in order of Whovian continuity, as it were. So in fact the last photograph I got taken, but the earliest in terms of Doctors, was the only one that also included a companion: behold Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford.

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Sylvester McCoy was absent due to filming commitments, but I had had pictures taken with him previously, both last year and in 2013. I had also had a picture with Paul McGann two years ago, but in for a penny, in for a pound:

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LFCC scored a huge coup by getting Christopher Eccleston to make an appearance – his first convention appearance at all, as far as I know. He attracted immense queues and in the morning, I actually found it easier to get into the Capaldi signing than the Eccleston one; in the afternoon, I had to plead a clash with my shoot with Paul McGann to get in reasonably early. However, it was really nice to see him obviously having a huge amount of fun. He as the only one of the Doctors who spotted his name on my T-shirt:

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Others in attendance caught Eccleston in friendly arm-wrestle with Matt Smith:

And actually embracing Peter Capaldi.

As mentioned above, I missed out on David Tennant – apparently tickets for his photo shoot sold out within an hour of their being announced – but was in full fanboy mode for Matt Smith, actually my first picture of the day.

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The people in front of me in the Capaldi queue were a couple with a small child aged maybe ten or twelve months (and a little brother or sister imminent). As soon as the child saw Capaldi’s face, she started howling in terror, and would not be reassured; Capaldi did his best to help, but in the end they had to settle for a picture with the Twelfth Doctor and a small unhappy person. So I had a very brief chat with him as I stepped up to the camera myself, informing him of my family connection to the show.

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I also went to his talk, at which he dropped the following jewels of insight which I recorded on Twitter:

(To expand a bit: he feels that his Doctor’s story is over, and the Doctor as such has moved on. Of course, people do change their minds sometimes.)

(His favourite biscuits, if forced to choose, are Blue Ribands, not well known outside Scotland.)

He also dealt very sensitively with an audience member who asked if the Doctor had been deliberately written as autistic. “It’s more that he’s not human himself, and has difficulty sometimes working out how to behave with human beings.” Another audience member credited Doctor Who, and the Twelfth Doctor especially, for pulling her out of suicidal depression. It was great fun, and I was sorry that when the family sitting next to us at lunchtime asked us when the Capaldi talk was, I had to tell them that they had already missed it.

So yeah, generally worth the (non-trivial) cost, but not fantastic information about the programme either before or during the event itself (though given my other problems on Saturday, I probably could not have signed up for Tennant or Davison). Thanks again to A in Marylebone for solving our accommodation difficulties. And now I am going to Norn Iron for the next three weeks.

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Two small Hugo reforms looking for co-sponsors

A couple of minor amendments to the rules that I’d like to put to this year’s WSFS business meeting, but I need at least one co-sponsor. I won’t be there myself, but I think that these are technical and uncontroversial, and encode existing best practice in order to remove ambiguity. Please let me know, in comments here or by other channels, if you are a Worldcon 76 member willing to add your name to the list of sponsors. The deadline is 2 August.

I had originally drafted the first of these to include clear guidance that votes with a blank first preference should be treated as invalid. To my surprise, some people who I have discussed this with pushed back, arguing that the lowest-numbered preference of a vote should be treated as the first preference, even if it’s not #1. To me, that is not what the rules say even as they are currently written, nor is it usual best practice for preferential vote counting. But if leaving out that point makes it easier to clarify the rest of the paragraph, I’ll make that sacrifice.

1) Title: Counting carefully

Proposed additions below – NB additions include several new paragraph breaks.

§6.4 Votes shall first be tallied by the voter’s first choices.

If no majority is then obtained, the candidate who places last in the initial tallying shall be eliminated and the ballots listing it as first choice shall be redistributed to remaining candidates on the basis of those ballots’ second choices.

This process shall be repeated, eliminating the lowest-placed candidate after each count and then transferring eliminated candidates’ ballots to their next available preference, until a majority-vote winner is obtained. If a preference below the first preference in the ballot has been left blank, no further preferences are counted for that ballot.

If two or more candidates are tied for elimination during this process, the candidate that received fewer first-place votes shall be eliminated.

If they are still tied, all the tied candidates shall be eliminated together.

Explanation:

The description of the preferential vote tallying process in §6.4 is incomplete, and potentially ambiguous. The proposed changes above are based on the standard counting rules procedures for a preferential vote election. There is therefore no change of procedure proposed, just clarification of existing best practice.

NB that standard counting rules for a preferential vote election allow for multiple eliminations, when there is no possibility of e.g. the second-last-placed candidate overtaking the third-last, even if they were to get all of the last-placed candidate’s votes. However the Hugo tallying rules explicitly allow for only one candidate at a time to be eliminated, except in the event of a tie for both final and first preference votes as per the last sentence of §6.4.

NB also that this amendment does not alter the treatment of votes which leave their #1 preference blank. In the drafter’s view, the rules are already pretty clear that such votes are not valid for that category.

2) Title: Counting Comics

Insert new text:

§3.8.10: In the Best Graphic Story category, in a case where various eligible elements of the same serial story have received nominations, the eligible element with the most nominations (“the most popular element”) shall be considered as a potential finalist, and all nominations for eligible elements of the story which either include the entirety of the most popular element or are themselves exclusively component parts of the most popular element shall be counted as nominations for the most popular element. This includes consideration of nominations for the serial story as a whole, whether or not the story as a whole is the most popular element. Nominations for parts of the serial story which are not (or not completely) overlapping with the most popular element shall be treated separately from the most popular element.

Nominations for different parts of a serial story by the same voter shall not be aggregated in any way.

Explanation:

In 2017, the Hugo Administrators faced considerable difficulty in deciding how to administer nominating votes for different elements of the same comic. (This was not the first time that the Hugos have had this problem.) In the end it was decided that the fairest approach for both voters and nominees was to identify the series element that had the most nominations, and to aggregate all nomination votes which included that element or a part of it.

This made a difference in determining the last place on the ballot. This concerned a particular comic which had been published both in twelve monthly issues and in two collected volumes. We had the following nominating votes to deal with:

  • 14 just for the title alone
  • 8 for Volumes 1 and 2 together
  • 2 for issues #1-12 collectively
  • 1 for issue #4 on its own
  • 47 for Volume 1, comprising issues #1-6
  • 8 for Volume 2, comprising issues #7-12

With 47 votes (more than half), Volume 1 was clearly the most popular element. All votes, except the votes for Volume 2, were therefore counted as nominating votes for Volume 1, for a total of 72. Clearly voters who voted for the series as a whole, for Volumes 1 and 2 together, or for a sequence of issues including those that went to make up Volume 1, wanted to see the material in Volume 1 on the final ballot. Equally clearly the voter who nominated issue #4 wanted to see the content of that issue, included in Volume 1, on the ballot.

On the other hand, the seventh place went to a webcomic which had received 54 nominations for the comic as a whole, and 7 votes for individual issues or sequences published in the qualifying year. Taken together, that wasn’t quite enough to qualify the comic as a whole for the final ballot. Had the separate elements of both comics been counted separately, the result would have been different.

We propose therefore that future Hugo administrators be given clear guidance on how to count nominating votes in this category. We do not propose any such change for other categories, where votes for split and joint candidates (for A, for B and for A+B as a single nomination) should continue to be counted separately.

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Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters

Second paragraph of third chapter:

I had used to wash the chamber-pots, at home. Now, seeing Margaret tip my piddle into her bucket, I was not sure I liked it. But I said, ‘Thank you, Margaret’—then wished I hadn’t; for she heard it and tossed her head, as if to say, Who did I think I was, thanking her?

Cor. I have come rather late to Sarah Waters – this was published in 2002 – but this was an amazing delve into the depths of Victorian London (and Surrey), with seedy plans of the lower and upper classes intersecting, and a deranged conspiracy dragging the two young women protagonists into collision with other people’s greed. There is some intense (but not at all explicit) lesbian sex; if anything the similar scene in Proust is more shocking. The shock factor here is the sheer nastiness of Victorian society and the desperation that drives everyone. A fantastic read.

This came simultaneously to the top of my piles of unread books by women, unread non-genre fiction, and unread books acquired this year. The next in all three sequences is The Little Stranger by the same author. Can’t wait.

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Anno Mortis, by Rebecca Levene

Second paragraph of third chapter:

He could see nothing, one hand over his eyes to protect them from the razor-sharp jaws of the beetles, and he hit the far wall with an impact that jarred from his elbows to his backbone. His fingers scrabbled, desperately searching for a door that wasn’t there. Splinters of wood lodged painfully beneath his nails and he realised with a sick shock that he was making exactly the same sound the beetles had made inside the crate. Mindless creatures fighting to escape.

A delightful romp of zombies taking over Rome and bringing about the end of the reign of Caligula, with only a plucky young British barbarian woman, a slave and a debauched pratrician to prevent them Taking Over The World. Zombies not so much my thing, but I have an affection for Roman history and enjoyed this.

Shamefully, this was the sf book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves. Next on that pile is Rare Unsigned Copy: tales of Rocketry, Ineptitude and Giant Mutant Vegetables, by Simon Petrie.

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The Doctor Who Quiz Book of Dinosaurs, by Michael Holt

Second paragraph of third chapter:

'A croc wrestler? Never!' snorted the Doctor in disbelief.

A rather odd little book from 1982, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, woefully characterised and going on an exciting educational journey to learn about extinct animals and early humans. (Why Nyssa should have any interest in some other planet's prehistory or paleontology is not addressed.) The dinosaurs of the title occupy only the first eight pages of ninety or so. The author also wrote one of the less impressive of the 1985/6 game books. There are illustrations by Rowan Barnes-Murphy.

She has gone on to better things.

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The Way by Swann’s, by Marcel Proust

Second paragraph of third chapter:

En dehors de la jeune femme du docteur, ils étaient réduits presque uniquement cette année-là (bien que Mme Verdurin fût elle-même vertueuse et d'une respectable famille bourgeoise excessivement riche et entièrement obscure avec laquelle elle avait peu à peu cessé volontairement toute relation) à une personne presque du demi-monde, Mme de Crécy, que Mme Verdurin appelait par son petit nom, Odette, et déclarait être «un amour» et à la tante du pianiste, laquelle devait avoir tiré le cordon; personnes ignorantes du monde et à la naïveté de qui il avait été si facile de faire accroire que la princesse de Sagan et la duchesse de Guermantes étaient obligées de payer des malheureux pour avoir du monde à leurs dîners, que si on leur avait offert de les faire inviter chez ces deux grandes dames, l'ancienne concierge et la cocotte eussent dédaigneusement refusé. Apart from the doctor's young wife, they were reduced almost exclusively that season (for all that Mme. Verdurin herself was a thoroughly 'good' woman, and came of a respectable middle-class family, excessively rich and wholly undistinguished, with which she had gradually and of her own accord severed all connection) to a young woman almost of a 'certain class,' a Mme. de Crécy, whom Mme. Verdurin called by her Christian name, Odette, and pronounced a 'love,' and to the pianist's aunt, who looked as though she had, at one period, 'answered the bell': ladies quite ignorant of the world, who in their social simplicity were so easily led to believe that the Princesse de Sagan and the Duchesse de Guermantes were obliged to pay large sums of money to other poor wretches, in order to have anyone at their dinner-parties, that if somebody had offered to procure them an invitation to the house of either of those great dames, the old doorkeeper and the woman of 'easy virtue' would have contemptuously declined.

I first read À la recherche du temps perdu back in 2007/08, and promised myself that I would reread it in about ten years. Ten years have passed, and here I am. What's changed for me in the meantime is that I've read a lot more of the modernist writers, and so I'm a bit more aware of the literary context of the time. I think I enjoyed even more the subtle description of the narrator's slow awakening to emotional and social maturity, and maybe being a bit older I felt a bit more sympathy for Swann in the middle section. Apart from that, I find it a difficult book to write about; so much to digest, in such profoundly described detail.

The second longest sentence in the whole of À la recherche du temps perdu is in the first chapter, on the fifth and sixth pages of the text. It is:

Mais j'avais revu tantôt l'une, tantôt l'autre, des chambres que j'avais habitées dans ma vie, et je finissais par me les rappeler toutes dans les longues rêveries qui suivaient mon réveil; chambres d'hiver où quand on est couché, on se blottit la tête dans un nid qu'on se tresse avec les choses les plus disparates: un coin de l'oreiller, le haut des couvertures, un bout de châle, le bord du lit, et un numéro des Débats roses, qu'on finit par cimenter ensemble selon la technique des oiseaux en s'y appuyant indéfiniment; où, par un temps glacial le plaisir qu'on goûte est de se sentir séparé du dehors (comme l'hirondelle de mer qui a son nid au fond d'un souterrain dans la chaleur de la terre), et où, le feu étant entretenu toute la nuit dans la cheminée, on dort dans un grand manteau d'air chaud et fumeux, traversé des lueurs des tisons qui se rallument, sorte d'impalpable alcôve, de chaude caverne creusée au sein de la chambre même, zone ardente et mobile en ses contours thermiques, aérée de souffles qui nous rafraîchissent la figure et viennent des angles, des parties voisines de la fenêtre ou éloignées du foyer et qui se sont refroidies;—chambres d'été où l'on aime être uni à la nuit tiède, où le clair de lune appuyé aux volets entr'ouverts, jette jusqu'au pied du lit son échelle enchantée, où on dort presque en plein air, comme la mésange balancée par la brise à la pointe d'un rayon—; parfois la chambre Louis XVI, si gaie que même le premier soir je n'y avais pas été trop malheureux et où les colonnettes qui soutenaient légèrement le plafond s'écartaient avec tant de grâce pour montrer et réserver la place du lit; parfois au contraire celle, petite et si élevée de plafond, creusée en forme de pyramide dans la hauteur de deux étages et partiellement revêtue d'acajou, où dès la première seconde j'avais été intoxiqué moralement par l'odeur inconnue du vétiver, convaincu de l'hostilité des rideaux violets et de l'insolente indifférence de la pendule qui jacassait tout haut comme si je n'eusse pas été là;—où une étrange et impitoyable glace à pieds quadrangulaires, barrant obliquement un des angles de la pièce, se creusait à vif dans la douce plénitude de mon champ visuel accoutumé un emplacement qui n'y était pas prévu;—où ma pensée, s'efforçant pendant des heures de se disloquer, de s'étirer en hauteur pour prendre exactement la forme de la chambre et arriver à remplir jusqu'en haut son gigantesque entonnoir, avait souffert bien de dures nuits, tandis que j'étais étendu dans mon lit, les yeux levés, l'oreille anxieuse, la narine rétive, le cœur battant: jusqu'à ce que l'habitude eût changé la couleur des rideaux, fait taire la pendule, enseigné la pitié à la glace oblique et cruelle, dissimulé, sinon chassé complètement, l'odeur du vétiver et notablement diminué la hauteur apparente du plafond. But I had seen first one and then another of the rooms in which I had slept during my life, and in the end I would revisit them all in the long course of my waking dream: rooms in winter, where on going to bed I would at once bury my head in a nest, built up out of the most diverse materials, the corner of my pillow, the top of my blankets, a piece of a shawl, the edge of my bed, and a copy of an evening paper, all of which things I would contrive, with the infinite patience of birds building their nests, to cement into one whole; rooms where, in a keen frost, I would feel the satisfaction of being shut in from the outer world (like the sea-swallow which builds at the end of a dark tunnel and is kept warm by the surrounding earth), and where, the fire keeping in all night, I would sleep wrapped up, as it were, in a great cloak of snug and savoury air, shot with the glow of the logs which would break out again in flame: in a sort of alcove without walls, a cave of warmth dug out of the heart of the room itself, a zone of heat whose boundaries were constantly shifting and altering in temperature as gusts of air ran across them to strike freshly upon my face, from the corners of the room, or from parts near the window or far from the fireplace which had therefore remained cold—or rooms in summer, where I would delight to feel myself a part of the warm evening, where the moonlight striking upon the half-opened shutters would throw down to the foot of my bed its enchanted ladder; where I would fall asleep, as it might be in the open air, like a titmouse which the breeze keeps poised in the focus of a sunbeam—or sometimes the Louis XVI room, so cheerful that I could never feel really unhappy, even on my first night in it: that room where the slender columns which lightly supported its ceiling would part, ever so gracefully, to indicate where the bed was and to keep it separate; sometimes again that little room with the high ceiling, hollowed in the form of a pyramid out of two separate storeys, and partly walled with mahogany, in which from the first moment my mind was drugged by the unfamiliar scent of flowering grasses, convinced of the hostility of the violet curtains and of the insolent indifference of a clock that chattered on at the top of its voice as though I were not there; while a strange and pitiless mirror with square feet, which stood across one corner of the room, cleared for itself a site I had not looked to find tenanted in the quiet surroundings of my normal field of vision: that room in which my mind, forcing itself for hours on end to leave its moorings, to elongate itself upwards so as to take on the exact shape of the room, and to reach to the summit of that monstrous funnel, had passed so many anxious nights while my body lay stretched out in bed, my eyes staring upwards, my ears straining, my nostrils sniffing uneasily, and my heart beating; until custom had changed the colour of the curtains, made the clock keep quiet, brought an expression of pity to the cruel, slanting face of the glass, disguised or even completely dispelled the scent of flowering grasses, and distinctly reduced the apparent loftiness of the ceiling.

That's 485 words in French, 599 in English. Phew!

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Monday reading

Current
The Æneid, by Virgil (translations by John Dryden and Robert Fagles, plus Seamus Heaney’s translation of Book VI)
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, by Ian Mortimer
Aztec Century, by Christopher Evans
Wounded Heart, by S.W. Baird

Last books finished
Maigret Loses His Temper, by Georges Simenon
Up Jim River, by Michael Flynn (Did not finish)

Next books
Aliénor, la Légende noire, tome 5, by Arnaud Delalande, Simona Mogavino and Carlos Gomez
The Supernatural Enhancements, by Edgar Cantero

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Two ancient churches in Burgundy

As previously mentioned, we spent last weekend at my sister's in Burgundy. She is based near a small village called Lys whose main square has not changed much in 100 years (the first of these two pictures is dated 1913 by Wikipedia)

412ADEAA-FDC4-4085-9474-1CC6A02BAC4B.jpeg
AA92B25F-1758-4354-8D8B-808117AA1081.jpeg
Lys has an ancient church of Notre Dame, dating probably from the early 12th century. It's not all that striking except that it obviously looks Old.
Inside it, however, modern researchers have revealed some striking if primitive murals over the altar.
With the wonderful aid of image enhancement, you can see that it's Christ in judgement, with the four evangelists below him

Near the door this figure, who looks a little more recent (though not much), is strolling into the church.
About 4km away is the village of Chapaize, which has an even older church, dating from the early 11th century and dedicated to the soldier-saint St Martin. It is recorded that it was built by the talented Italian polymath William of Volpiano, and you can see the Italian influence in the bell-tower.
Fewer interior decorations, just a sense of calm amid the huge columns.
Some of the internal art is more recent than the 11th century. Though not much more recent.
Going back outside to the tower, on the north side there is a human figure carved onto the pillar between the second set of windows.

Supposedly the oldest such column-statue in the West, it has been watching over Chapaize for almost a thousand years.
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Hugo Awards 2018: How (Some) Bloggers Are Voting

For most of the last few years I've done a survey of bloggers' votes for the four traditional Hugo written fiction categories: see 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2011. This has only rarely been an accurate guide to the winners – 2016 was the only year when the consensus of bloggers that I found actually reflected the vote, whereas in 2011 I missed in all four categories. So this is little more than a way-the-wind-is-blowing exercise. But it may still be of interest.

I'm sorry if I omitted your blog post. I did my best to be comprehensive using Google and DuckDuckGo, but they doesn't get everywhere and they will miss things. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your preferences, or more importantly if I used the wrong handle for you. Please let me know and I will correct it.

Short Stories

Twenty-two different bloggers here, with a couple of clear front-runners. Going from bottom to top:

1 vote for “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand,” by Fran Wilde
Embrodski

1.83 votes for “Carnival Nine,” by Caroline M. Yoachim
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
½ Camestros Felapton
Trish Matson

2 votes for Nebula-winning “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse
Psocoptera
Travis

3.5 votes for “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon
Bruncvik
½ Camestros Felapton
Charon Dunn
Nicholas Whyte

6.33 votes for Locus-winning “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata
Andrea Blythe
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
Bonnie McDaniel
Doris V. Sutherland
Joe Sherry
Peter J. Enyeart
Rich Horton

8.33 votes for “Fandom for Robots,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Adrienne Joy
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
Andrew Leon Hudson
Crankybookwyrm
Grimlock
James Reid
Mark Ciocco
Sue Burke
Tsana Dolichva

Novelettes

Seventeen bloggers here, with a wide spread of preferences and several expressing considerable difficulty in making up their minds. My own vote is for the clear front-runner. Others are not that far behind.

0.33 votes for “Children of Thorns, Children of Water,” by Aliette de Bodard
⅓ Bruncvik

1.25 votes for “Extracurricular Activities,” by Yoon Ha Lee
Rich Horton
¼ Tsana Dolichva

2.42 votes for “The Secret Life of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
Bonnie McDaniel
⅓ Bruncvik
½ Embrodski
¼ Tsana Dolichva

2.75 votes for “Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time,” by K.M. Szpara
Doris Sutherland
½ Embrodski
Psocoptera
¼ Tsana Dolichva

3.58 votes for “A Series of Steaks,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
Charon Dunn
Peter J. Enyeart
Sue Burke
¼ Tsana Dolichva

6.67 votes for “Wind Will Rove,” by Sarah Pinsker
Adrienne Joy
Andrea Blythe
⅓ Andrea Elisabeth Kovarschik
⅓ Bruncvik
Crankybookwyrm
Joe Sherry
James Reid
Nicholas Whyte

Novellas

Fifteen bloggers here, with votes almost evenly split between two finalists, only one of the other four getting a single top preference. Again, my own vote is with the front-runner.

0 votes for Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor
0 votes for Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire
0 votes for River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey

1 vote for The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang
Joe Sherry

6.5 votes for Locus- and Nebula-winning All Systems Red, by Martha Wells
½ Adrienne Joy
Bonnie McDaniel
Camestros Felapton
Chris Battey
Crankybookwyrm
Trish Matson
Tsana Dolichva

7.5 votes for "And Then There Were (N-One)", by Sarah Pinsker
½ Adrienne Joy
Charon Dunn
David Steffen
James Reid
Peter J. Enyeart
Rich Horton
Nicholas Whyte
Psocoptera

Novels

Only eleven votes to report here – intriguingly, more than half of them are for a single finalist, and each of the other five gets one each, by far the clearest concentration of support in any of the categories.

1 vote for Locus-winning The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi
Charon Dunn

1 vote for New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Rich Horton

1 vote for Provenance, by Ann Leckie
Nicholas Whyte

1 vote for Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee
Alex Marianyi

1 vote for Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty
Chris Battey

6 votes for Locus- and Nebula-winning The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin
Adrienne Joy
Bonnie McDaniel
The Incomparable podcast
Joe Sherry
Peter J. Enyeart
Psocoptera

I found a certain amount of discussion of the other 2018 Hugo categories as well, but for now I'm looking only at these four. I have found no discussion (other than my own) of the Retro-Hugos.

If I have the energy, I'll do an update to this post in early August.

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Putting the stars to flight

I am reading the Aeneid at the moment, in two translations – Dryden (1697) and Fagles (2006). It’s more fun than I expected, and a full write-up will come in due course.

I was startled to come across a familiar phrase in an unfamiliar context, towards the end of Book III. Vergil’s description of dawn,

Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis

is translated by Dryden as

“And now the rising morn with rosy light
Adorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight;

and by Fagles as

The dawn was a red glow now, putting stars to flight

I found this a vivid reminder of the opening stanza of Edward Fitzgerald’s 1859 translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
        Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
        The Sultán's Turret in a Noose of Light.

(FitzGerald's note: 'Flinging a Stone into the Cup was the Signal for "To Horse!" in the Desert')

Going back to Virgil, I found the image again in Book V, near the beginning:

Postero cum primo stellas oriente fugarat
clara dies

for which Fagles repeats the same phrase as before

And next,
once day broke in the East and put the stars to flight,

but Dryden varies it a bit

Now, when the following morn had chas’d away
The flying stars, and light restor’d the day,

Now, there are only a few ways one can translate "stella" and "fugare", so it's not terribly surprising that Dryden and Fagles came up with similar phrases. But what about Fitzgerald and Khayyám? Admittedly it's not quite the same image – Virgil has Dawn chasing away the stars, where Fitzgerald adds the stone flung into a bowl. But it would be awfully attractive to draw a link between Virgil and the 11th century Persian poet.

Alas, I don't think the link is there. This excellent site looks into the original of each of the Rubáiyát, and here Quatrain 1 is examined. The original text , transliteration, and translation by Edward Heron-Allen who first published the Calcutta manuscript is as follows:

خورشید کمند صبح بر بام افگند
کیخسرو روز مهره در جام افگند
می خور که منادیِ سحرگه‌خیزان
آوازهٔ اشرابوا در ایّام افگند
    khorshid kamand-e sobh bar baam afgand
keykhosrow-e ruz mohre dar jaam afgand
mey khor ke monaadi-ye sahargahkhizaan
aavaaze-ye eshrabu dar ayyaam afgand
The Sun casts the noose of morning upon the roofs,
Kai Khosrú of the day, he throws a stone into the bowl:
"Drink wine!" for the Herald of the Dawn, rising up,
Hurls into the days the cry of "Drink ye!"

(The first, second and fourth lines all end with افگند which is the third person past tense of افگندن, to throw.)

A number of other translations are available here.

Whinfield, 1883
The sun doth smite the roofs with Orient ray
And, Khosrau like, his wine-red sheen display;
Arise, and drink! the herald of the dawn
Uplifts his voice, and cries, "Oh, drink to-day!"
Payne, 1898
The sun on the light the lasso of morn hath cast;
The monarch of day the wine in the hom hath cast:
Up, drink, for the crier of dawn, arising from sleep,
His call on the air for the day newborn hath cast.
Thompson, 1906
The Sun flings morning's noose o'er dome and tower,
Day's king Khosrau, wine in the bowl doth pour;
Drink! For the rising Herald of the Morn
Greeting the days proclaims the dawning hour
.

It seems pretty clear that Fitzgerald's translation is rather free, and in fact uses only the first two lines of the original Persian. There is also some debate about whether it is a stone or wine that is put into the bowl – I'm with Fitzgerald and Heron-Allen, it seems to me much more likely to be a stone as a good-morning signal.

Alas, it also seems pretty clear that the stars are Fitzgerald's and not Khayyám's. Indeed, on reflection I think that the stars are a direct lift from Virgil via Dryden by Fitzgerald, rather than from Virgil by Khayyám. A bit of a shame, but I'm satisfied to have tracked it down.

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The 2018 John W. Campbell Award finalists

Based on the works included with the Hugo Voter Packet.

6) Rivers Solomon, having read their novel: An Unkindness of Ghosts. Second paragraph of third chapter:

She returned there now, desperate for the sanctuary of her private garden and laboratory. She spun the handwheel and opened the hatch, eyes closed reverently. Pungent florals scented the air.

Really surprised by how much other people loved this book. I thought the world-building was completely implausible, a generation starship where a corrupt hereditary oligarchy rules an enslaved underclass, but there are only two medical experts, one of whom is routinely brutalised by the security forces. I could see what the author was allegorising (the antebellum American South), but the political structure didn’t work for me, and I also didn’t really understand the means or motivation of the protagonist.

5) Jeannette Ng, having read the extract from her novel Under the Pendulum Sun. Second paragraph of third chapter:

The rich scent of hare and juniper stew drew my attention back to the meal itself, reminding me how hungry I was. It was still steaming and the copper jug that held it was almost scalding to touch. A heap of breaded asparagus fenced in lightly charred mushrooms. Half a loaf of crusty bread sat in a basket. I sniffed at a small jug to discover it was full of blood, presumably hare, to go with the stew. Usually, though, it was stirred in before serving rather than after.

An interesting parallel history – what if Victorians had discovered a gateway to a fairyland, and sent missionaries? First few chapters are an interesting setup, though it seems a bit narrow in scope – how come only English missionaries are interested in exploring? Loses points for consistently misquoting John 1:1.

4) Sarah Kuhn, having read her novel Heroine Complex. Second paragraph of third chapter:

Yes, fine, I’ll admit it: My first thought upon entering the gym was not very assistant-y.

San Francisco in the near future after a demonic incursion has inflicted super powers on many of the younger human denizens. Light stuff about the girl-buddy relationship between two of them, and their entourage. Light stuff with sequels.

3) Katherine Arden, having read her novel The Bear and the Nightingale. Second paragraph of third chapter:

The wind dropped at dawn. In the silence, Marina breathed out once, gently, and died.

A good, detailed, serious retelling of the Russian folktale Морозко, with a certain amount of throat-clearing before we get to the good bits, which are good.

2) Rebecca Roanhorse, having read her short story “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” also on the final ballot.

1) Vina Jie-Min Prasad, having read her short story “Fandom for Robots,” and novelette “A Series of Steaks,” on the final ballots in both cases (see my votes here and here).

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist


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The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Series

Last year I had read at least one book in all but one of the series on the final ballot in this category. This year all but one of them were completely new to me. In three of those five cases I decided to just read the first volume, for another I picked the volume with the highest rating on Goodreads and LibraryThing, and for the fifth the author kindly provided a sampler for Hugo voters.

To repeat what I said last year, I actually opposed the Best Series award in principle, and supported trying it out for the 2017 Hugos last year in the hope that its flaws might become apparent more quickly. I was against it for two reasons. First, I feel it’s important that each year’s Hugo Awards represent the best in the genre of the previous year. (Of course this gets a bit blurry with the individual achievement Hugos where there’s sometimes a tendency to reward lifetime achievement rather than last year’s record, but I’m talking about the ideal here). With the Best Series final ballot this year, we are being asked to judge between series that started in 2005 (Bujold), 2010 (Sanderson), 2011 (Wells), 2012 (McGuire), 2013 (Brennan) and 2014 (Bennett). I don’t think it’s really comparing like with like, and we’re certainly not comparing 2017 with 2017.

Secondly, as a conscientious Hugo voter I have generally tried to read every work on the final ballot every year I’ve had a vote. That’s clearly completely impossible with Best Series. The options are to cast a vote based on only partial knowledge of the finalists you don’t know as well, or to leave them off your ballot. I don’t find either option satisfactory, but I don’t think any other approach is realistic if we have a Best Series award.

I do query how long the Best Series category will be sustainable. No winner can be eligible again; no finalist can be eligible again until another two volumes with 250,000 words have been produced. My feeling is that the well of plausible nominees may run dry rather quickly.

However, we are where we are, and these are my votes for this year.

6. InCryptid, by Seanan McGuire: I read the first volume, Discount Armageddon. Second paragraph of third chapter:

“Remember, Very,” Dad used to say when I whined about the goggles, “if your opponent has night vision and you’ve never bothered to learn the local landmarks by anything but sight, you’re going to be in a bit of a pickle when it’s time to avoid getting disemboweled.”

I felt this was really Buffy reheated for New York, and as soon as the tall handsome antagonist hove into view I could see how it was going to end.

5. The Books of the Raksura, by Martha Wells: I read the short story volume Stories of the Raksura: The Dead City + The Dark Earth Below, which had the highest ratings on Goodreads and LibraryThing. Second paragraph of third story (Trading Lesson):

Moon would have been fine with this, or at most only a little impatient and annoyed, if Chime hadn’t come up to the queens’ level to tell them how exciting it all was.

The protagonists of the stories are non-human, which made it more difficult for me to get into, and the stories were a bit disjointed from each other. However, I’ll come back to this series at some point.

4. The Memoirs of Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan: I read the first volume, A Natural History of Dragons. Second paragraph of third chapter:

My collections of oddments from the natural world went away, tipped out onto the ground of the small wood behind our house. The cards I had written up to label various items were burned, with great (not to say melodramatic) ceremony. No more would I bring home anything dirtier than the occasional flower picked from the gardens.

Young gentlewoman in vaguely Victorian world goes off to become an explorer to find out more about dragons, challenging convention as she does. Nicely worked out world with linguistic variety and politics and economics. Not so totally convinced by the emotional dynamics of the protagonist.

3. The Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson: I read the Introduction to the Stormlight Archive for Hugo Voters, kindly provided by the author as part of the Hugo voter packet. Second paragraph of third chapter:

For a moment, Kaladin couldn’t feel anything but that coldness. He was pressed against the side of the barrack by the extended blast of water. Rocks and bits of branch crashed against the stone around him; he was already too numb to tell how many slashed or beat against his skin.

As a voter, I very much appreciated the time and effort that Sanderson made to compile a sort of “greatest hits” anthology of individual chapters of the three huge books that comprise the Stormlight Archive. It’s well-written, dramatic stuff, and I will come to the books themselves sooner rather than later.

2. The Divine Cities, by Robert Jackson Bennett: I read the first volume, City of Stairs. Second paragraph of third chapter:

But, Shara notes as she enters, the university plumbing is nothing short of immaculate. As with most buildings, only pieces of it can be seen: connections to water mains, sprinklers in the ceiling, along with the usual taps and sinks. But what she sees is fairly advanced.

I was aware of this novel having been one of the original Puppy victims, kept off the 2015 ballot by slating. I thoroughly enjoyed it, a great bit of political and emotional world-building, with special ops and ancient magic mingling in a dark and uncontrollable combination. Looking forward to the rest of these.

1. The World of the Five Gods, by Lois McMaster Bujold. I have read all of these, and reviewed Penric’s Fox here. Can Bujold make it two years in a row? She has my vote anyway.

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist


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Newry Bridge, or Ireland in 1887

Second paragraph of third chapter:

”But the Ulster men, father, didn’t they fall out with the others?”

Available for free at the UCD archive, this is an anonymous near-future Awful Warning, written in 1885, of the inevitable consequences if Irish Home Rule were to be passed by Westminster and implemented. Over the course of 72 pages, the evil Irish nationalists seize control of the judiciary, fiscal system and security forces, gallant Ulster resists despite getting no help from London, and in a climactic battle in The Glen in Newry (now a residential street, then a gentleman’s estate) the forces of Nationalism are licked and the Home Rule government collapses, a grateful people welcoming the return of firm government from London.

Several points of interest here. In real life, The Glen in Newry belonged to Henry Barcroft, whose son Joseph (later Sir Joseph) married Mary Agnetta “Minnie” Ball, the daughter of my favourite Victorian astronomer, Sir Robert Ball. It makes me wonder if Robert Ball himself, vehemently anti-Home Rule, might have been the author of the pamphlet. However, I don’t think the timing works out; Joseph and Minnie were born in 1872 and 1875 respectively, and married in 1903, so it’s not obvious that their parents would have known each other in 1885.

I was also interested by the Home Rulers’ fictional playbook for seizing control, and wondered what real-world examples the author had in mind of autonomous governments throwing off the shackles of the metropolitan power. Perhaps the independence of the Spanish colonies in the early 19th century, or the growing autonomy of the Balkan states? It is a more sophisticated picture than I had expected.

Finally, the scenes of troops arriving from both sides by rail at a key nodal point to participate in a battle of sniping across a well-covered slope were well realised, and again I wondered what model was in the author’s mind. It is reminiscent of some of the American Civil War engagements, in that the location of the railway lines is such an important factor in the mobility of the forces. There may be European examples that I’m unaware of, perhaps from the Franco-Prussian war.

There were a number of books and pamphlets set in a fictional future Home Rule Ireland (see herehere and here); this is one of the more literate ones.