April 1, 2009
Maureen and I visited the Ponte Vedra, FL, Library last evening. I’d been invited to talk about The Devil’s Eye, but we roamed pretty far afield, getting into how gravity works and why science fiction can be such a turn-on and whether you‘d opt to have a child with an IQ half again as high as yours if you had the opportunity. We even talked about Frasier, which is probably my favorite TV show. Vic DiGenti, a writer who heads up the local Friends of the Library, was our host. The library is just outside Jacksonville, on one of the barrier islands, the kind of place where I always thought I’d like to retire.
Norman Spinrad’s book column in the April/May Asimov’s is a particularly poignant one. Ostensibly, it’s a review of Thoman Disch’s new book, The Word of God, (Tachyon). In reality it’s a summation of sorts, an attempt to make sense of the closing years of Disch’s life, and of his suicide on July 4, 2008. That Norman counted him among his friends, and was forced to watch from a distance as Disch went into a death spiral, is particularly painful. In addition, it becomes clear that one cannot hope to understand what happened without also grasping the state of science fiction publishing today.
Newly discovered old movies: Like pretty much everyone else, I’ve probably seen “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “Rio Grande” several times. Somehow, we’d missed “Fort Apache,“ the first film in the John Ford/John Wayne cavalry trilogy. We watched it Sunday. Magnificent.
Several copies of the Easton Press leatherbound edition of The Devil’s Eye arrived a week or so ago. The frontispiece by Carol Heyer captures the overall mood effectively, and presents the first attempt by anyone (I think) to show us what Chase Kolpath looks like.
Have been working on the copy edit of Time Travelers Never Die. The copy editors are Sara and Bob Schwager. Interesting coincidence: At one point, Adrian Shelbrook takes his father Michael, a lifelong Phillies fan, to Ebbets Field on October 3, 1950, to watch Dick Sisler hit his tenth inning three-run homer to give the Whiz Kids the pennant. Bob informs me he was present at the game, rooting for the Dodgers. It was, he adds, a heartbreaker.
Off to ICON on Long Island this weekend. Details for any who are interested at their website.