Dave Hutchinson interview

In August we caught up with Dave Hutchinson at Nine Worlds in London.

Are you enjoying the con so far?

I always enjoy Nine Worlds. It’s different to Eastercon of course. The emphasis isn’t quite so much on fiction – it’s more multimedia and general culture. Just saw a panel about villains, which was good … that was Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jeannette Ng, Anna Stephens and Mike Brooks.

Oh yeah, I saw that. That was good.

There was some conversation there about the Bond franchise, and the way the villains are frequently ‘othered,’ whether that’s a racialized other, or what-have-you. It struck me that it’s always been that way. Bond was always fighting the Russians, it was always the West versus the East. The Russians disappeared as the geopolitical other, although perhaps that dynamic has returned to some extent. But we are sort of looking for different ‘others.’

And meanwhile, there are increasingly plausible rumours about getting our first Black Bond.

Idris Elba? He’s a terrific actor. He’d be really good. One of the many reasons I hated Prometheus is that it totally wasted him.

I’ll watch anything that’s got him in it.

Y-y-yeah …

Haven’t seen Prometheus though! Maybe that’s …

You may want to draw the line with Prometheus. [Laughs]. It really is a terrible film.

What else do you plan to see at Nine Worlds? Continue reading “Dave Hutchinson interview” →

Dave in Chengdu

This July, our roving Membership Officer Dave Lally spent four days Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, participating in the Science Fiction Sharing Conference. Here are just a few snaps from the trip.

Vector Lally 1 Vector Lally 2 Vector Lally 3 Vector Lally 4 Vector Lally 5 Vector Lally 6

Chengdu has 15.5m inhabitants, and we have it on good authority that Dave spoke to every one of them and encouraged them to join the BSFA.

The first ever Asiacon is likely to be held in Chengdu in October 2019, and will probably be rolled in with Chengdu’s fifth International Science Fiction Conference. Watch this space!

The BSFA would also like to thank Science Fiction World for sponsoring Dave’s visit.

WorldGone

Reports, reflections, and other bits on WorldCon 75 last week:

WorldCon 75

By Jo Lindsay Walton

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It is Wednesday. I am in Helsinki. So is everybody else.

There are a few issues of Vector and FOCUS on the freebies table, courtesy of Dave Lally; but, of course, not for long.

I put in time in Messukeskus 209, the academic track. On Wednesday, Merja Polvinin introduces the Finnish Society for SFF Research (Finfar), its journal Fafnir, and the theme of the next five days. The theme is ‘estrangement.’

Speculative fiction isn’t about other worlds, it’s about this world! In speculative fiction, we encounter real, familiar things, only made strange! There is a kind of political value to such encounters. In the movie Elysium, we encounter something real and familiar (unjust access to healthcare), only that thing is made strange.

By making the world strange, we can unsettle the distinction between what is possible and what is not. By making the world strange, we can see the world for what it really is, including all its promise and possibility.

At least, that’s the idea. Over the five days, I am struck by how accommodating and flexible and familiar the concept of estrangement has become.

Continue reading “WorldCon 75” →

2015 BSFA Lecture

The 2015 BSFA Lecture at Dysprosium (the 2015 Eastercon) will be given by Dr Simon Trafford (Institute of Historical Research), and is entitled ‘“Runar munt þu finna”: why sing pop in dead languages?’ The lecture will be given at 5.30 pm on Saturday April 4th, in the Discovery room of the Park Inn, Heathrow. The lecture is open to any member of Dysprosium.

Simon Trafford is Lecturer in Medieval History and Research Training Officer at the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research. He specialises in the history and archaeology of the later Anglo-Saxon period in the north-east of England. He completed his undergraduate studies and his D.Phil. at the University of York, where his supervisor was Professor Edward James, who sf fans know as current Chair of the Science Fiction Foundation. Simon has a particular interest in the depiction of Vikings in popular culture. His talk for us develops this, with a special focus upon the use of dead ancient and medieval languages in pop and rock songs.

The BSFA Lecture is intended as a companion to the George Hay Lecture, which is presented at the Eastercon by the Science Fiction Foundation. Where the Hay Lecture invites scientists, the BSFA Lecture invites academics from the arts and humanities, because we recognise that science fiction fans aren’t only interested in science. The lecturers are given a remit to speak “on a subject that is likely to be of interest to science fiction fans” – i.e. on whatever they want! This is the eighth BSFA Lecture.

BSFA Lecture at Loncon 3

A special BSFA Lecture will be given at Loncon 3 by Dr Paula James (Open Unversity), entitled ‘Pygmalion’s Statue and her Synthetic Sisters: The Perfect Woman on Screen′. The lecture will be given at 20.00 on Saturday August 16th, the ExCel Centre, London Docklands. The lecture is open to any member of Loncon 3.

Paula James is a familiar face and voice to anyone who has studied the Open University’s Arts Foundation courses over the past fifteen years or so, or any of their courses in Classical Studies. Paula is Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies and Staff Tutor in Arts at the OU. She began her academic career after raising her family, and joined the Open University in the 1990s. She is an expert in Latin Literature, particularly the Metamorphoses of Ovid and Apuleius. She also writes on the reception of Latin texts in modern cinema. She has written an excellent introduction to Ancient Rome, Understand Roman Civilization, now in its second edition, and has jointly edited works on the imagery of Trade Union banners and the parrot in literature. Her most recent book is Ovid’s Myth of Pygmalion on Screen: In Pursuit of the Perfect Woman (2013), and it is from this work that her talk to us is derived.

BSFA/SFF Mini-Convention and AGMs

Tomorrow is the BSFA/SFF Mini-Convention and AGMs with Guests of Honour Marek Kukula and Aliette de Bodard.

The venue is the Royal Astronomical Society at Burlington House on Piccadilly in Central London, halfway between Piccadilly Circus and Green Park stations. It’s the first door on the left once you’ve entered the courtyard.

Hopefully many of you will be able to be there.

Here’s the schedule:

10:00 am Welcome (SFF)
10:05 am Marek Kukula Talk
10:55 – 11:05 Break
11:05 am Aliette de Bodard interview with Edward James
12 pm – 12:45 SFF AGM
12:45 pm – 1: 45 pm Lunch
1:45 pm – 2:30 pm BSFA AGM
2:30 pm – Astronomy Q&A with Marek Kukula
3:25 – 3:35 – Break
3:35 pm – SF & Colonialism panel with Aliette de Bodard, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Lavie Tidhar, and Sophia McDougall (moderator)
4:30 Concluding Remarks (BSFA)

Food and Drink – with the exception of water – is not allowed on site. There are many nearby cafés, drink and snack shops, restaurants and pubs.

The designated pub for the day is the King’s Head, located approximately behind the Royal Astronomical Society, at 10 Stafford Street, W1S 4RX.

BSFA and SFF Mini-Convention and AGM 2012

The Science Fiction Foundation and the British Science Fiction Association invite you to attend their Mini-Convention and Annual General Meetings

Saturday, 9 June 2012
10-4:30 pm

with Guests of Honour Aliette de Bodard and Marek Kukula

Location: The Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, on Piccadilly, in London. W1J 0BQ. Halfway between Piccadilly Circus and Green Park stations, on the north side of the street.

Cost: Free!

AGMs: The SFF AGM will take place at noon, the BSFA AGM at 1:45 pm.

Vector, Blind Submissions, and Gender Balance

A slew of commentary, mostly thought-provoking, has come out of Paul Cornell’s declaration yesterday that he would, as a panelist at a convention, actively work towards achieving gender parity on panels he’s on, even if it required taking himself off of the panel. It’s a lovely gesture, but there are all sorts of complications in the details of implementing it and what it requires of women participating in genre.

One of these complications is that, on average, women are less likely to volunteer to be put on panels in the first place.

I can’t speak to panel volunteers, but I can speak to those who volunteer for Vector. The majority of articles which appear in Vector are commissioned. That means that I ask for them, or, more specifically, talk people into writing them.

A minority of the articles are blind submissions, already-written articles which are sent to Vector on the chance that it’s a suitable home for them. It often is. Vector isn’t that high profile, so it doesn’t receive all that many blind submissions – perhaps eight or so last year.

Every last blind submission I have received – and even, in addition to those, all the articles proposed, unwritten, without prior contact – were all sent or proposed by men.

This was my first year editing the magazine, so I can’t say if this is a necessarily a longer-term trend. I can say that this is consistent with what’s been reported by larger convention organizers, that men are more likely to put themselves forward, rather than waiting for an invitation.

Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate the blind submissions just as much as I appreciate all the people, regardless of gender, who have been willing to write for Vector by request. They all go into making the magazine’s features what they are. And some particular men may be in need of active recruitment, just as some particular women readily volunteer.

Part of the challenge of those working to improve the gender balance of participants, regardless of medium, can be in needing to be more pro-active in recruiting women, and the limited evidence of the blind submissions I’ve received is consistent with that tendency.

BSFA/SFF Mini-Convention and AGMs

The Science Fiction Foundation and the British Science Fiction Association will hold their joint Mini-Convention and Annual General Meetings on Saturday, 4th June 2011. This event is FREE to attend.

The SFF’s guest is Mike Ashley. He has written many books including most recently Out of This World, the book accompanying the current British Library Exhibition. Other notable works include Gateways to Forever (Liverpool University Press, 2007) and The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction (Robinson Publishing, 2002). He was awarded the Pilgrim Award in 2002 by the Science Fiction Research Association for his lifetime achievement in science fiction research.

The BSFA’s Guest is Tricia Sullivan. Tricia’s novel Lightborn was shortlisted for both the 2011 Clarke Award and the 2010 BSFA Award, and among many other nominations and awards she won the Clarke Award in 1999 with Dreaming in Smoke. We will be discussing her book Maul here on Torque Control later this month.

9:30am – Doors open
10:00 – Welcome
10:05 – Women writers, science fiction and Britain in 2011- panel, with Niall Harrison, Tricia Sullivan, Pat Cadigan, Shana Worthen (moderator)
11:00 – Mike Ashley – interview with Edward James
12:00 noon – BSFA AGM
1:30pm – SFF AGM
2:00 -Tricia Sullivan – interview with Tom Hunter
3:00 -The State of SF publishing – panel, with Mike Ashley, Simon Spanton, Jenni Hill, and Ian Whates (moderator)
4:00 – Conclusion

Location: The Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, on Piccadilly, in London W1J 0BQ. Between Piccadilly Circus and Green Park Underground stations. (Note that the relevant section of the Victoria line will NOT be running that day.)

There are no facilities for serving food at the venue. The gathering place for those not wishing to attend all the individual events of the day is the King’s Head, 10 Stafford Street, London, W1S 4RX, phone 020 7493 0337