The Ways of Authors are Mysterious

As I mentioned before, Lynn Johnston explained that Liz's failure to visit her grandfather was due to Johnston's time management issues:

You're absolutely right. Elizabeth should have gone to visit her grandfather when she picked April up from his apartment. Trouble is...I have a limited time left here and every strip, now, is a statement that leads to the August 30th conclusion!! If I had sent her to visit gramps, it would have required perhaps 3 strips total to resolve interaction between them: the wedding, her work, his health, the dress and so on. Everything has a repercussion. - I have less than 30 seconds a day to lead you through the labyrinth of these characters' lives. So. I hoped you would suppose she did visit and was just unable to see him at this time! I was wrong. It was an omission! I'm grateful for those who read between the lines and know that there is something going on in everyone's life, and I can't show it all!

This makes her decision to spend twelve strips of her precious limited supply for reruns an interesting one.

The Ways of Authors are Mysterious

As I mentioned before, Lynn Johnston explained that Liz's failure to visit her grandfather was due to Johnston's time management issues:

You're absolutely right. Elizabeth should have gone to visit her grandfather when she picked April up from his apartment. Trouble is...I have a limited time left here and every strip, now, is a statement that leads to the August 30th conclusion!! If I had sent her to visit gramps, it would have required perhaps 3 strips total to resolve interaction between them: the wedding, her work, his health, the dress and so on. Everything has a repercussion. - I have less than 30 seconds a day to lead you through the labyrinth of these characters' lives. So. I hoped you would suppose she did visit and was just unable to see him at this time! I was wrong. It was an omission! I'm grateful for those who read between the lines and know that there is something going on in everyone's life, and I can't show it all!

This makes her decision to spend twelve strips of her precious limited supply for reruns an interesting one.

The Ways of Authors are Mysterious

As I mentioned before, Lynn Johnston explained that Liz's failure to visit her grandfather was due to Johnston's time management issues:

You're absolutely right. Elizabeth should have gone to visit her grandfather when she picked April up from his apartment. Trouble is...I have a limited time left here and every strip, now, is a statement that leads to the August 30th conclusion!! If I had sent her to visit gramps, it would have required perhaps 3 strips total to resolve interaction between them: the wedding, her work, his health, the dress and so on. Everything has a repercussion. - I have less than 30 seconds a day to lead you through the labyrinth of these characters' lives. So. I hoped you would suppose she did visit and was just unable to see him at this time! I was wrong. It was an omission! I'm grateful for those who read between the lines and know that there is something going on in everyone's life, and I can't show it all!

This makes her decision to spend twelve strips of her precious limited supply for reruns an interesting one.

Because LJ always needs another badly thought-out poll

I like to know which editor(s) is(are) responsible for the books that I read. I know a lot of people don't care one way or the other and the Best Editor Hugo suggests to me that there's split between people that read the magazines, whose editors can be well known to the readers, and people who just read books, whose editors are often not even mentioned on the copyright page. I therefore wonder if keeping track of editors is habit I picked up as a teenager while reading the magazines.

Do I need to define "personal golden age"?


[Poll #1219185]

Because LJ always needs another badly thought-out poll

I like to know which editor(s) is(are) responsible for the books that I read. I know a lot of people don't care one way or the other and the Best Editor Hugo suggests to me that there's split between people that read the magazines, whose editors can be well known to the readers, and people who just read books, whose editors are often not even mentioned on the copyright page. I therefore wonder if keeping track of editors is habit I picked up as a teenager while reading the magazines.

Do I need to define "personal golden age"?


[Poll #1219185]

Because LJ always needs another badly thought-out poll

I like to know which editor(s) is(are) responsible for the books that I read. I know a lot of people don't care one way or the other and the Best Editor Hugo suggests to me that there's split between people that read the magazines, whose editors can be well known to the readers, and people who just read books, whose editors are often not even mentioned on the copyright page. I therefore wonder if keeping track of editors is habit I picked up as a teenager while reading the magazines.

Do I need to define "personal golden age"?


[Poll #1219185]

Mildly amused

I saw what I think was episode two of season of Eureka last night, the one with the pocket force field. What amused me about that episode is that a very similar force field featured in the very first scene that I ever wrote for FASS way back in 1980 and that the solution the people on the outside of the bubble hit on to deal with the people on the inside also featured a nuclear device for very similar reasons: if you can see and hear the people inside, a big enough bomb will kill them.

I am compelled to point out that General Dynamics must have at least one portable laser of prodigious power output kicking around and that they could have just had the trapped man hold the force field unit at arm's length so that the sharp shooting cop could zap it.

In my version, the field could be turned off and on again so the people inside waited until the nuke was emplaced next to their bubble and then turned the field off long enough to drag the nuke inside, where they disarmed it according to Roberts' Rules of Order as implimented by the Federation of Students (Or rather, based on the one FoS vote I attended, which had an innovative approach to vote counting). Once the nuke was disarmed, the military called in an ICBM strike that accidently landed in Buffalo instead. The Eye Witness News people were nice enough to record a short news clip for us to use in the show ("It's 11 O'Clock! Do you know where your children were?").

I remember one night during coin toss portion of the debate about how to disarm the Bomb, the coin took a bad bounce and flew out through the "force field" (which was represented by a red spotlight) and into the audience. Brad Templeton came up with a great save to explain that but annoyingly I no longer remember what his improvised line was.

Mildly amused

I saw what I think was episode two of season of Eureka last night, the one with the pocket force field. What amused me about that episode is that a very similar force field featured in the very first scene that I ever wrote for FASS way back in 1980 and that the solution the people on the outside of the bubble hit on to deal with the people on the inside also featured a nuclear device for very similar reasons: if you can see and hear the people inside, a big enough bomb will kill them.

I am compelled to point out that General Dynamics must have at least one portable laser of prodigious power output kicking around and that they could have just had the trapped man hold the force field unit at arm's length so that the sharp shooting cop could zap it.

In my version, the field could be turned off and on again so the people inside waited until the nuke was emplaced next to their bubble and then turned the field off long enough to drag the nuke inside, where they disarmed it according to Roberts' Rules of Order as implimented by the Federation of Students (Or rather, based on the one FoS vote I attended, which had an innovative approach to vote counting). Once the nuke was disarmed, the military called in an ICBM strike that accidently landed in Buffalo instead. The Eye Witness News people were nice enough to record a short news clip for us to use in the show ("It's 11 O'Clock! Do you know where your children were?").

I remember one night during coin toss portion of the debate about how to disarm the Bomb, the coin took a bad bounce and flew out through the "force field" (which was represented by a red spotlight) and into the audience. Brad Templeton came up with a great save to explain that but annoyingly I no longer remember what his improvised line was.

Mildly amused

I saw what I think was episode two of season of Eureka last night, the one with the pocket force field. What amused me about that episode is that a very similar force field featured in the very first scene that I ever wrote for FASS way back in 1980 and that the solution the people on the outside of the bubble hit on to deal with the people on the inside also featured a nuclear device for very similar reasons: if you can see and hear the people inside, a big enough bomb will kill them.

I am compelled to point out that General Dynamics must have at least one portable laser of prodigious power output kicking around and that they could have just had the trapped man hold the force field unit at arm's length so that the sharp shooting cop could zap it.

In my version, the field could be turned off and on again so the people inside waited until the nuke was emplaced next to their bubble and then turned the field off long enough to drag the nuke inside, where they disarmed it according to Roberts' Rules of Order as implimented by the Federation of Students (Or rather, based on the one FoS vote I attended, which had an innovative approach to vote counting). Once the nuke was disarmed, the military called in an ICBM strike that accidently landed in Buffalo instead. The Eye Witness News people were nice enough to record a short news clip for us to use in the show ("It's 11 O'Clock! Do you know where your children were?").

I remember one night during coin toss portion of the debate about how to disarm the Bomb, the coin took a bad bounce and flew out through the "force field" (which was represented by a red spotlight) and into the audience. Brad Templeton came up with a great save to explain that but annoyingly I no longer remember what his improvised line was.

FASS's 50th

Is coming up. Are there any plans for a celebration?

FASS's 50th

Is coming up. Are there any plans for a celebration?

FASS's 50th

Is coming up. Are there any plans for a celebration?

Question for those more informed than I

What year would you say MilSF became a recognizable subgenre?

Although there were books we'd now classify as MilSF all along, I don't think it gelled (in the sense of attracting half-talented imitators) until after Hammer's Slammers. In fact, the start date might be even later, possibly much later.

What say you folks?

Question for those more informed than I

What year would you say MilSF became a recognizable subgenre?

Although there were books we'd now classify as MilSF all along, I don't think it gelled (in the sense of attracting half-talented imitators) until after Hammer's Slammers. In fact, the start date might be even later, possibly much later.

What say you folks?

Question for those more informed than I

What year would you say MilSF became a recognizable subgenre?

Although there were books we'd now classify as MilSF all along, I don't think it gelled (in the sense of attracting half-talented imitators) until after Hammer's Slammers. In fact, the start date might be even later, possibly much later.

What say you folks?