WindyCon, Building a Military SF Library, and Freehold

Next weekend I will be attending the WindyCon 35 science-fiction convention in Chicago. The event’s theme is military science fiction, and Baen Books’ John Ringo is the guest of honor, along with author Eric Flint, Star Trek’s and Babylon 5’s Walter Koenig, and artist David Mattingly.



I’m a Cold War veteran, and I spent most of my hitch in the Strategic Air Command’s 22nd Heavy Bomber Wing. And like most veterans, I learned pretty quickly that the old adage that advises “Don’t volunteer for anything!” is essential unless you want to subject yourself to dreadful humiliation or great risk. So, when I logged on the WindyCon site to make some suggestions for panel discussion topics, I had no idea that I was, in fact, volunteering to be a panel member. But that’s what happened, and I’ll be participating in the panel about Building a Military SF Library - What are the great books of military SF? What does any aspiring military SF writer need to have in a reference collection? Panelists tell you.

The session is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m., Nov. 15, in Ballroom C (C6, to be exact). While it’s a totally unexpected privilege for me, and my first time to be on a convention panel, I’m very honored and happy that Roland J. Green, the author of some of my all-time favorite military science-fiction series (Starcruiser Shenandoah, The Peacekeepers) will also be a panel participant.

On Friday evening I don’t want to miss the panel discussion titled Liberal Military SF: Does It Exist? - Can a writer be a liberal and a military SF writer? Is there something in military SF that requires a conservative outlook? Not counting the revolutionaries, are there any good portrayals of liberals in the genre?

Somehow I’m not surprised that Michael “Mad Mike” Z. Williamson will be a panelist on that one. Mad Mike almost got me in trouble in 2005 while I was living in Armenia. I was enjoying myself in an Internet café in the capitol city of Yerevan and, thanks to the Baen Free Library, I came across Williamson’s first novel, Freehold. To be generous I will just say that I didn’t like it much. The libertarian paradise it portrayed was as unbelievable to me as any Soviet propaganda about a future world of “pure communism”. But that’s not what almost got me into an unpleasant situation. The adult content in Freehold did. In fact, I think Williamson went way, way beyond erotica and crossed the line into pornography with his detailed descriptions of lesbian and group sex acts by the novel’s characters.

And, in Armenia, possessing, reading, and downloading pornography can get you into big, big trouble. Trouble like the interior of an old Soviet prison cell. And, quite frankly, I didn’t expect content like that when I started reading the story. Baen’s other online stories contain nothing like what I saw in Williamson’s book.

Lucky for me, the Internet café proprietors and their up-stream service providers didn’t detect the lewd text and, yes, they do monitor and sometimes block adult content in Armenia and in many of the other post-Soviet Republics. No militsia thugs wearing big CCCP service caps appeared to beat me up, extort money, or haul me to KGB headquarters. But it did put me off of reading any more of Williamson’s books. I’ve seen his comments that say “It was my first novel. I’ve learned a lot since then,” but, on his own website, his response to the subject of the controversial sexual content in Freehold is pretty flip.

I got a bad feeling, too, about such sexually explicit content being available on Baen’s online library with no warning, no disclaimer, no parental advisory, and, as a parent, that gives me the creeps.

Earlier this year, at Dayton’s Marcon sf convention, I told Baen publisher Toni Weisskopf about my experience in Armenia and my concerns. She urged me to give Mad Mike another try, to read some of his later work, but first impressions are lasting ones. And I have too many good books from other authors on my to-read list, thank you all the same.

Until next time, D’os Vadanya,

VIKTOR KUPRIN

Marcon, William H. Keith, and now on DVD: The Invaders - Season 1

The Marcon SF convention in Columbus, Ohio, was great fun last weekend, though everyone was saddened by the unexpected death of author guest-of-honor Robert Asprin just before the event. Though I was not a reader of his work, I join everyone who mourn his passing. A lesser disappointment for my six-year-old son was the lack of a swimming pool at the downtown Hyatt hotel, but otherwise it was an excellent con.

William H. Keith - Author and Artist

The highlight of the convention for me was getting to meet author and artist William H. Keith Jr., whose work I have followed more years than I care to admit. Bill has had over 80 books published, plus short stories, role-playing games, source books, and lots of fantastic SF art for the Traveller SF role-playing game. Along with his late brother, Andrew Keith, Bill was responsible for much of the "look" of Traveller, and his spacecraft designs are some of my favorites. I was very happy to see some dazzling prints of Bill's graphics at the Marcon art show, and I managed to come home with a great piece by Bill depicting a "Retro Launch" rocket boosting into space. Fact is, I'm in the middle of reading Bill's latest military SF novel, Star Strike, done under the penname of Ian Douglas. His military techno-thrillers (Silent Service; Seals, The Warrior Breed) are done under the H. Jay Riker moniker. Bill is scheduled to appear at Pittsburgh's Confluence con, July 25-27, and if the planetary orbits line up just right, I may make it there, too.

The Invaders - Season 1

The Invaders, alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them. For him, it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.

That was how each episode of the 1967-68 SF-horror series The Invaders started, and I'm very happy to report that the first season of that classic Quinn-Martin production was released on DVD this week. Dominic Frontiere's eerie soundtrack still gives me chills. He also scored the original opening and closing themes for The Outer Limits, another sixties SF-horror classic. The Invaders featured ruthless aliens (disguised as humans), great hardware (flying saucers, disintegrator pistols, and the "cerebral hemorrhage" disc weapon), suspenseful stories, and fine actors. I remember watching the episode where guest star Michael Rennie, from The Day The Earth Stood Still, played the role of an important alien leader, a real touch of class by the program's casting director. And though subtle compared to modern standards, I remember many scenes involving the disguised aliens that were very frightening. David Vincent might notice the tell-tale imperfect pinky finger of an alien-in-disguise, the eerie alien theme music would play, and the expressionless alien would make eye contact with Vincent, look directly into the camera. Scenes like that scared the bejeezus out of me more than once when I was a kid, I shamelessly admit. Roy Thinnes, the show's star, was often panned by the critics, but I was always impressed by his serious-as-hell, on-the-edge performance as one man unintentionally made aware of a covert invasion by cold, murderous aliens. Bravo to Paramount for releasing The Invaders on DVD. It's certainly one of the best American SF television series made in the sixties.

D'os Vadanya,

Viktor Kuprin

Technorati tags: science fiction, sci-fi, sf, novels, Traveller, tv, The Invaders, Roy Thinnes, Marcon, William H. Keith,

2008 Science-Fiction Conventions

The dogwood and redbud trees are in bloom here in Indiana, and spring weather at long last has arrived. And so it's time for me to plan some trips to science-fiction conventions. Last year I made it to DucKon, Context, and Conglomeration, and had a good time at all of them. I missed this year's Conglomeration due to family activities, but I hope to make it to Marcon and WindyCon for the first time, as well as DucKon 17 and Context 21.

One convention that I intentionally boycott is Indianapolis' InConjunction. Some years ago my young daughter and I witnessed some very embarassing and UN-family friendly activities being performed in plain view, in public, during major events at that convention. The people running the convention were fully aware of what was going but did nothing. So I won't go back, even though my daughter is grown now, no longer "in tow" as they say at the cons.

Here are some links to the con sites. I hope to see you there!

VIKTOR KUPRIN

Technorati tags: sci-fi, science fiction, conventions, con, cons, Marcon, DucKon, Context 21, WindyCon, InConjunction