Page 2 - Daniel Dern News Today

By Daniel Dern: Eric Mowbray Knight's best known character is probably Lassie (the canine), from his 1940 novel, Lassie Come-Home, which went on to begat the TV series (with a series of male dogs playing the titular female dog). I wouldn't have known that there had been a prior-to-TV book, nor the author's name, except

(1) LUKYANENKO NOT AT WORLDCON. There’s no sign of the Chengdu Worldcon’s Russian GoH Sergey Lukyanenko in social media coverage of the con. And the latest posts to his blog on his official website (devoted to anti-Israel remarks, and a report that his wife rescued a migrating woodcock in the backyard) suggest he’s at home.

(1) WHEN GRAVITY DOESN’T FAIL. “NASA Wants Ideas for How to Destroy the International Space Station”. Really. SYFY Wire explains why. …At present, Roscosmos has committed to continued use and maintenance of the station through 2028 while the other four agencies will remain through 2030. After that, unless there’s another extension, everyone will come home, and the station’s

The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown by Lawrence Block By Daniel Dern: As a fan of both Lawrence Block and Fredric Brown (their stories and books, that is), I was intrigued and ready-to-be-excited by an announcement back in August 2022, which I saw I-don’t-remember-where and then here in File770, in Item #2, about Block’s then-upcoming novel, The Burglar

(1) RIP MICHAEL TOMAN. South Pasadena librarian Michael Toman, who decided to become one of the rare people who pitch in every day with ideas for the Scroll, died earlier this week. How he will be missed! He was found dead at home on Saturday by a friend, writer William F. Wu, who checked after

(1) BRITISH LIBRARY “FANTASY” EXHIBITION. [Item by Steven French.] For those who might be in London between October 27 and February 25, the British Library is putting on an exhibition about “Fantasy: Realms of Imagination”. Set out on a legendary quest through the impossible worlds of fantasy. Let our landmark exhibition cast its spell as

(1) FANTASY MAGAZINE R.I.P. Fantasy Magazine editors Christie Yant and Arley Sorg announced today their October 2023 issue will be the last. This is the editorial we’ve been dreading having to write. We’ve been trying not to think about it too much, but we can’t put it off any longer. We relaunched Fantasy Magazine in November of

(1) SERGEY LUKYANENKO WILL BE WORKING ON THE RAILROAD. Starting tomorrow, Chengdu Worldcon GoH Sergey Lukyanenko will join a whistlestop tour of Russia "Book beacons of Russia. Reading August 2023". The TASS publicity release says: "Reading August" [is] a book expedition from Murmansk to Vladivostok, which will be held for the first time from August

(1) HUGO VOTER PACKET. Joe Yao of the Chengdu Worldcon committee fielded a question online about the packet. First, he pointed out that one is coming, as noted in this brief reference in a July 10 story on the Chengdu website: The Hugo Awards Subcommittee of the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon will also provide paper ballots

(1) WRITER LOSES EYE TO GUN VIOLENCE; FUNDRAISER STARTED. Sff author Jessie Kwak of Portland, OR was severely injured in a drive-by shooting last weekend while leaving the Mississippi Street Fair. "Author shot in eye near Mississippi Street Fair in Portland: 'My left eye exploded'" at KGW8. Jessie Kwak spent most of Saturday among hundreds