Well, Hell. RIP, Harlan Ellison (EDIT)

Writer Harlan Ellison Dead At 84

Susan Ellison has asked me to announce the passing of writer Harlan Ellison, in his sleep, earlier today. “For a brief time I was here, and for a brief time, I mattered.”—HE, 1934-2018. Arrangements for a celebration of his life are pending.

— Christine Valada (@mcvalada) June 28, 2018

Harlan Ellison Dead: Hollywood Reacts: “No One Quite Like Him” Stephen King Says | Deadline
Probably the truest thing King ever wrote...

 Harlan Ellison, one of science fiction’s most controversial authors, has died - The Verge
Ditto The Verge.

EDIT: Adding this link.  Goodbye To Harlan Ellison, 'America's Weird Uncle' : NPR Yes, its NPR. This one, I approve of.

I have no personal stories of Harlan Ellison. Never met him. Certainly never argued politics with him.

Things I remember hearing or reading, though...

I know he was Guest of Honor at a con thrown by the SF club at Eastern Michigan University before I joined, someone heard he would be in the general area visiting family, and got hold of his phone number, and called him in the middle of the night, when he was coherent enough to answer the hone and say "sure", but not coherent enough to say "No."

Or, famously, "Fuck you, pay me." (Typically, the GoH at a con gets their travel and room comped, but not even that always happens. I understand Heinlein always paid his own way. So far as I know, Ellison never actually demanded pay for a Con appearance, but I don't know.)

There was an essay where someone had referred to him  as a "gadfly"; ISTR that this was about the time I saw him referred to in a letter column in Analog magazine as "Harlan 'I Am All Mouth And Therefore I Scream' Ellison". Anyway, he refuted the "gadfly" claim, because gadflies are mere nuisances, not actually accomplishing anything.

There was a column in, ahem, a man's magazine IYKWIMAITYD in which he described his half-day of employment at Disney. Apparently, at lunch he was hanging with a bunch of other writers who had been brought in to "reimagine" Disney product, or something. He started in on "we should do Disney porn" and riffing on the roles of The Mouse, The Duck, The Big Stupid Dog, doing expert impressions of all their voices and really getting into it...

And Eisner was at the next table. So much for that job...

Ellison had beat out Larry Niven for a Hugo. later, Niven was sitting in the Author's Lounge, with some adult beverage in a brndy snifter, cooled with dry ice. So all the water is sublimating out in a cloud of steam. Ellison walks in, Niven holds the snifter out and says (slurs) "Harlan, ol' buddy, have a drink." Ellsion recoils and exclaims "Don't tell me this bastard doesn't hold a grudge!"

While I was attending the Defense Language Institute the first time, one of my classmates mentioned to me that "They've republished the collections of the TV criticism Harlan Ellison did for the LA Free Press." Yes, they had, The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat. I picked them up, and the articles I most remember are the ones he did on the "Junior Miss" pageant -- "Can you say 'child pornography'?" -- and the one about the time he appeared on one of the early Dating Game shows.

He claimed Barris had the tape burned, after he (Ellison) told the woman that they would spend their dream date down at the city dump, shooting rats with chrome plated 1911s...

I told Bill Quick that story, and he said "Harley's a commie, you know."

I said "Duh."

And, really, just re-reading TGT and TOGT, I have to wonder what Ellison thought of the state of political discourse today. He not only predicted AntiFa, Black Blok, the Occupy Movement, BLM, Maxine Waters, Peter Fonda, Cathy Griffin, the whole vile lot... He was calling for it!

I suppose it is possible that Harlan repented of these opinions, or his extreme statements of them, as he aged; he might have seen what he and his ilk had wrought and realized that maybe this would not work out so well after all...

Still, I look at his politics, and wonder if growing up Jewish in small-town Ohio was really so traumatic that calling for violence was a rational outcome. I dunno, I didn't grow up Jewish in small town Ohio.

So I while will try to remember the talent that was responsible for some of the most imaginative speculative fiction ever -- "'Repent, Harlequin', said the Ticktockman", "A Boy And His Dog", "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream", not to mention the Star Trek episode "City On The Edge of Forever" and his contributions to Babylon 5, and I will continue to admire one who relentlessly refused to cave in to mainstream thought and convention just because it was convenient.

Inboxing

Some things that have been gathering electronic dust in my inbox...

Source: Instapundit.
Story: Global eavesdroppers: In World War II, dozens of radio operators in Scituate dialed into enemy conversations worldwide - News - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI
In case you ever wondered how a US Army unit that never left the Continental United States could win a Presidential Unit Citation for the battle of the Atlantic, this related story gives a clue, although only part of one. (I thought I'd posted this one before, but I guess not...)

Source: Dunno.
Story: Why Science Fiction Pioneer Hugo Gernsback Matters 131 Years Later | Inverse
Could be more fact-heavy, and the author is pretty clearly in the CHORF camp of the Sad Puppies controversy (if you don't understand, congratulations!), but, while I'm not sure Hugo Gernsback invented Science Fiction As We Know It, he sure laid the groundwork.

Bit of a change-up in this article from The Atlantic: How JSOC Became a Manhunting Machine, From Panama to Iraq - The Atlantic

Speaking of which, Insty pulls a few related pieces fom the archives: Instapundit » Blog Archive » AS WE FIGHT THE WAR ON TERROR DOMESTICALLY AGAIN, A FEW RELEVANT PIECES FROM OVER A DECADE AGO…

Sometimes coming back is pretty much the point:  A ‘monumental’ rescue: Coast Guardsman swims a mile in choppy seas to save four fishermen, one at a time - The Washington Post

A further change of pace: How to reclaim your privacy in Windows 10, piece by piece | PCWorld (Beware auto-play!)

Finally!

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is finally available on Kindle!

John Carr is up to 6 or 7 sequels, by the way. More at Hostigos.com : The home of H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan saga

Question Of The Day?

Why aren't more works of Roger Zelazny available as ebooks?

Amazon's Roger Zelazny Author Page lists 124 titles*, of which a grand total of eight are available for Kindle.

Some of which, typically, are reviewed as "horrible OCR travesties." and one of which is the novelization of Damnation Alley, predating the cinematic travesty, but Zelazny said he preferred the short story.

And none of which are Amber novels, or Creatures of Light And Darkness,  or Lord of Light, or Shadowjack, or A Rose for Ecclesiastes, or...

Well, I guess we'd better get hitting the "I Want To Read This on Kindle!" button.





*Many redundant, as is common on these, with multiple editions of the same title being offered by some used book seller.

TV Show Review Commentary

Mrs. Drang has been watching this show Defiance on the SiFiFoFum Channel since it started.

I don't know why.

Exactly no one on the show is likeable.

One thing it's accomplished, is I am now of the opinon that, when aliens show up in orbit, we should blast them out of the sky immediately.

In fact, we shouldn't even wait for them to make orbit.

RIP, Leonard Nimoy

Random thoughts

Remember: The guy who said "A more elegant weapon for a more civilized era" was impressed by Imperial Stormtrooper precision.
— Drang (@DWDrang) September 6, 2014

RIP Joe Bethancourt

Product Placement

Pretty sure it wasn't deliberate, actually, but, still...

As I posted to Facespace

So I'm sitting here watching Serenity on TV and they come to the part where they go to Miranda and see the recording about how The Pax (G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate) was effective on 99% of all people, but incidentally turned the other 1% into Reivers.

Right then they cut to commercial for some medication, and I half expected the obligatory "side effects" warning at the end to include "May lead to a loss of interest in any activity at all. In extremely rare cases may lead to aggressive behavior, possibly including unspeakable acts such as self-mutilation, cannibalism, and rape.  Seek Blue Hands Group help if you find yourself wearing your victims skins."

Well, whaddaya know?

A search on Amazon for "libertarian science fiction" returns some interesting results.  L. Neil Smith and J. Neal Schulman (what is it with Neil/Neals?)m of course, a refrigerator magnet of Heinlein in midshipman uniform, the complete F. Paul Wilson (again with the initial initials!) LaNague Federation stories (staring with "Lipidleggin'")...  C.M. Kornbluth and A.E. Van Vogt.  (Met Van Vogt, way back when I was a Neo in fandom.  At the time, the thought of a Canadian writing books based on the premise that THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE was not particularly ironic...)
Vin Suprynowicz is there.
Lots of what seems to be self-published stuff, speaking of which, DO NOT buy Carl Bussjaeger's books from Amazon, they're pirated editions.
Anthony Pacheco is there.  So is a lot of NOT science fiction...
...A lot of which seems intended to bash libertarianism.
Or Ayn Rand, specifically.

Oddly enough, a "sponsoring link" showed up at the bottom of the page for one of Washington's Representatives, Cathy McMorris Rogers.  Less dodly, another one was for The Libertarian Futurist Society.

I want serial# "Oh, John Ringo, no!"

AR15 Stripped Lower Receiver
Apologies to anyone who doesn't get the layered inside jokes there.

They're also the ones making this one: AR15 Stripped Lower Receiver

EDITS:  Had to delete the photo, it was borkking the page and I couldn't figure out how to edit the code before my morning coffee.  Also added link to the "PEWPEWPEW" edition.

Earworm 12/22/2013

Once again, for no discernible reason.

In college we used to hang out at the Fiddler's Green Pub and listen to Marty Burke* sing rebel songs, and whaling songs, and...  Well, whatever he felt like, but it suited us. Too bad Marty never cut an album "for sale", but somewhere I have some cassettes that were recorded live...


*The short bio at the link says Marty "knew Gordy Dickson and has been a GOH at many conventions over the years, as well as a Dorsai fan."  So, there we were,us and The Stilyagi Air Corps, and Marty says "Oh, look, another Science Fiction Author" and we yelled "Which one, Marty", cause we weren't attending meetings, and he says "Gordy" and I run back to the dorm to get my copy of "Naked To The Stars"...  Marty was the Guest of Honor at the very first FilkCon.

The Desecration of Smaug

Mrs. Drang and I went to see the second Hobbit movie Friday night.  I was going to write up the experience, but Daddy Bear saved me the trouble.



A note on the title of the post:  It's a device.  Despite having written a few term papers on The Lord Of The Rings for English classes in High School, I do not consider myself a die-hard Tolkein fan.  I quite enjoy reading Harvard Lampoon's Bored Of The Rings, and laugh at people who consider it or the "Secret Diary" websites that came out after the original LOTR movies to be some sort of heresy.

This would tempt me to buy Tactical Tupperware

ENDO: Kydex Star Wars Han Solo Blaster Glock Holster

Alas, a one off, and the maker says it was hard enough to do he doesn't see doing any more.

So you can shoot before the other guy can draw first!

Being auctioned off at EBay, raising money for the MARSOC Foundation.


Seems like one could make it as an outer cover for a standard kydex thigh rig, though.  Again, that would tempt me to get a thigh drop holster.

h/t Unc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAH!

I have no doubt that Robert A. Heinlein had more to do with the man I grew up to become than any other non-blood relation.

The Heinlein Society
The Heinlein Biography
The Heinlein Archives
And, for "Heinlein's Kids" with money than I, the Virginia Edition of RAH's works includes all his works, including unpublished fiction and non-fiction, letters, and screenplays. 
Yes, that's screenplayS, plural...

Earworm, 04/02/13

Egad

H.R.748 - To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or as civilian service in a Federal, State, or local government program or with a community-based agency or community-based entity, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to provide for the registration of women under the Military Selective Service Act, and for other purposes. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Sponsor:	Rep. Rangel, Charles B. [D-NY-13] (Introduced 02/15/2013)
Cosponsors:	0
Latest Action:	02/15/2013 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

In Memorium

Virginia Heinlein, April 22, 1916-January 18, 2003.

Flattops Er, Motherships in space!

In fact, the Korean word for "aircraft carrier" translates more-or-less to "mother ship", which is apt.

Link at Instapundit led me to Transterrestrial Musings - Aircraft Carriers In Space, which led me to Aircraft Carriers in Spac at Foreign Policy, of all places.

I always considered the space battles depicted in Babylon 5 to be pretty good; I liked the way that Tron Sheridan would call for a firing solution on the bad guy ship. I had--still have--problems with the physics of "space fighters", but read the comments in the article at Transterrestrial Musings above:  It wasn't shown, but some thought went into "How would this work for real?"

Realistically, of course, the way you'd launch space fighters from a space ship would be...  Well, maybe ask back in a decade or three.  B5's USS Macon-esque pivoting launch rack--were I a writer for the show I would have had to work a reference to "Trapeze three in launch bay 4 is down for maintenance" into at least one show--seems more likely than a runway in vacuum, which would need either some sort of force field, or an elaborate Viper-size airlock system.

I also liked the "breeching pods" used for boarding operations.  (Could have done without the Ruger Mini 14-armed Narn auxiliaries, though...)

Captain Tightpants -- Prepper!

Who knew?