round robin subscription with interesting information this just came to lighti

[gavintonks]

I am subscribed to a sci fi fantasy round robin discussion group and this came to light which I thought would be interesting to share

I don't think I've seen this mentioned on the list, by the way:

Locus Photo and Ephemera Archive Project by Liza Trombi — Kickstarter

"What we want to do: Our goal is to fund the preservation of a
historic and irreplaceable collection of materials covering the
science fiction, fantasy, and horror fields, including author and
convention photos, correspondence, and other ephemera, accumulated by
Charles N. Brown and Locus magazine over the past 60 years. Help us
stabilize the archive, digitize the photos and letters, and make
available to fans, writers, scholars, and resarchers the almost 40,000
of pieces of SF/F history we have in this collection."

"With $25,000 we could digitize and begin editing Locus' vast store of
microcassette author interviews, while doing our best to store the
tapes long-term. The media these interviews are stored on is highly
volatile so they won't last forever."

At the time of writing they've collected $21,555. A substantial part
of that will go to rewards, paying Kickstarter et cetera, but
hopefully they'll be able to archive, digitize and make available a
lot of material with what's left.

//Johan Jönsson
--
Wikipediabloggen Ӽ En blogg om Wikipedia
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[gavintonks]

one of the new threads about naming our genre


Indeed, "spec-fic" (which has actually been uttered a fair amount, as noted by Stacie Hanes) has some of the same problems as "sci-fi"...not as cutesy (should mystery fiction be "my-fi"? Contemporary-mimetic fiction "contempo-mi-fi"? Or "con-mi-fi"? Historical fiction "hi-fi" as well?), but with the same unfortunate implications of belittlement (a stain on the body of fiction), even when used positively as shorthand for "speculative fiction," which Heinlein suggested but Judith Merril picked up and ran with. Of course, "spec-fic" hasn't been picked up and applied, as "skiffy" has, both in derision and/or celebration (depending on mood and degree of appreciation for the infra-dig), by "outsiders" who hoped to suggest that the entirety of sf or SF (the latter including all the fantastic) was to be defined by the shoddiest attempts to capture its essence, that the fiction of Thomas Disch or Ursula Le Guin or Hal Clement (or drama on the par with Ingmar Bergman's SHAME) was on a
par with GODZILLA VS. MEGALON or, actually even worse, MONSTER-A-GO-GO or the television series SMALL WONDER. Because Forrest Ackerman, who came up with "sci-fi," went on to revel at least as enthusiastically in the latter as the former, at very least professionally, and the Peter Prescotts of the world took their cues from that.

And, of course, now the folks who might or might not know they're being ghettoized in both directions as "slipstream" (that useless term) are increasingly, after Atwood (who was after Ellison and others in the early '70s), clutching a variation of the Merril version of "speculative fiction" to themselves and their work, in hopes of not being labeled the stain on the body of literature that is sigh-fie, or perhaps the miasma in the common atmosphere that, like wi-fi, entirely too many cod as well as some very good aspects and contributions of sf have become.

As for the lisping/stops problem of "sf"...well, I just tend to Say "science fiction" when I mean sf, "speculative fiction" or "fantasticated fiction" when I mean SF (so as not to necessarily mix in excellent fiction generally by employment of simply the phrase "fantastic fiction"...FANTASTIC magazine fiction, and which one?, can add a layer if you're not careful)...and try never to say "see-fee" except when referring to the cable channel that just loves its sharktopus (while the film arm of parent Universal is apparently suing the producers of such monuments. presumably commissioned by Syphilis Channel, for the channel for infringing on their schlock's copyrights...ah, the mysteries of the megacomglomerate).

Todd Mason
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[Ravana]

Hmm… this does not belong in the "Research" section (the purpose of which is to provide supporting real-world information for use in writing). On the other hand, I'm not sure where it does belong, so I'm reluctant to move it… doesn't seem to fit any of our categories, which would leave "Chit-Chat"–which doesn't really seem appropriate either. Possibly "Notice Board," since it is a solicitation. I'm open to suggestions.…

(Btw, according to the site, they've got their money now. Though I'm sure they could always use more.)

-

Uhm… was your second post supposed to be connected to the first? Seems like it's a response to something else.…

 

[gavintonks]

Yes the people are mostly university people and lectures college people doing research so the post change and new stuff comes up al the time with some interesting to and fro about various topics and research into genre authors and topics which can be very interesting