Honeymoon 2: "Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."

Jenny: Oh, I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat and an awful lot of running to do.

The Doctor’s Daughter, Doctor Who

In my opinion, there’s a certain cachet in being able to watch Doctor Who in England, but sadly the premier of the new season takes place one day after we get back to Canada from our honeymoon.  However, it’s not all bad - I somehow doubt that any of the Airbnb’s (or regular BnB’s, for that matter) will have 65 inch HD televisions.

- Sid

P.S. The second trailer for the new season is out, and based on that cursory overview it all seems to fit into the standard format as per The Doctor’s Daughter:  planet saving, civilization rescuing, creature defeating and an awful lot of running, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you’re expecting new show runner Chris Chibnall to break the mold. Commenting on the new season, he said:

It’s not a reboot it’s just that great, unique thing which is built into Doctor Who: a fresh start happens every few years. This is no different to when Tom Baker changed to Peter Davison, or when the show went from black and white to colour, with Patrick Troughton handing over to Jon Pertwee. The show has a history of renewal, while also staying faithful to what it is.

It’s the amazing thing about Doctor Who is this fresh start every few years which brings a whole new jolt of energy to the show. And hopefully encourages the next generation of audiences to try the show, while also reminding existing audiences why they love it.

Casting a new actor also brings in new opportunities to think about where the show is, think about where the world is, think about where you might want the stories to go. I hope we’ve got a fresh set of stories that are engaged with, and resonate with, the world we live in now.

It's a busy time for the show, with a new showrunner and a new Doctor, and the first episode, written by Mr. Chibnall, will be under a lot of scrutiny as the frontrunner for the new season.  Will it manage to successfully combine tradition and innovation?  As always, time will tell…

Honeymoon 1: London Calling*

It's been just over a month since our wedding, and Karli and I are at last heading out on our honeymoon: we leave today for six days in London (with a day trip to Paris), an overnight stay in York, a quick Ryanair puddlejumper flight from Leeds to Dublin, followed by a four-day coach tour of Southern Ireland and then back to Dublin for the last three days of our trip. 

We're very excited and eager for the trip:  we've both been to London before, although it's been a while for Karli, but Ireland is unknown territory for me, so I'm quite looking forward to our time there. Really, though, it's all going to be a little more special this time because we're going to be there together.

In addition to just wandering hand in hand beside the Thames in the autumn rain, we do have some definite plans for our time in the capital of the Commonwealth.  We'll be there for my birthday, which we'll commemorate with a trip to the Tower of London and a visit to London's geek shopping paradise, the Forbidden Planet megastore.  We also have tickets for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour, which will take us out of the city to suburban Watford for a visit to Diagon Alley and the Great Hall, among other locations. (Platform 9 3/4 can be found at King's Cross Station in London, if you're curious.)

 

But first, we need to finish packing and get ready to head out to the airport for our afternoon flight. Poor Jaq the Cat can sense that something's going on, and he's been roaming around meowing apprehensively while we stack up clothing, iPad chargers and toiletries.  Sorry, little fellow - we'd love to take you with us, but I don't think you'd enjoy it quite as much as we're expecting to.

- Sid

* I've never really looked at the lyrics to the Clash song before this - it's an astonishing list of apocalyptic disasters:

The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin' thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river

"The stars are ours."

"We creators are the engineers of possibility. And as this genre finally - however grudgingly - acknowledges that the dreams of the marginalized matter, and that ALL of us have a future, so will go the world. Soon, I hope."

N.K. Jemisin, 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel acceptance speech

At the 76th Annual Worldcon on August 19th, the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel was presented to author N. K. Jemisin for Stone Sky, the third novel in her Broken Earth series, and the third novel in the series to win the Best Novel Hugo.  This makes her the only person to win the Best Novel Hugo three years in a row, and the only person to win for every book in a trilogy.

Her triumphant acceptance speech recognizes the barriers that she has had to overcome in order to stand at the podium. Unfortunately, not everyone has felt that she deserves to be recognized in this fashion. She has been insulted, harassed and dismissed, which makes her victory all the more laudable.

Her treatment reflects a larger problem in the science fiction community, which has been caught up in an unhappy conflict for the last few years.  It is a conflict which in all ways defies and denies the fundamental truths of the genre. 

The dispute is based on the contention of some writers and fans that too much of the science fiction being recognized with awards is receiving that recognition solely because of the race, sexuality or political convictions* of its creators rather than the quality of the writing**.  In the short-sighted view of these reactionaries, divided into the Sad and Rabid Puppies***, winners such as Jemisin are only winners because of liberal politics.

To protest this perceived inequity, for the past few years the Rabid Puppies has been attempting (with some degree of success) to subvert or ruin the Hugo Awards by gaming the voting process so as to load the list of nominees with their choices, some of which are deliberate jokes rather than valid nominees.

The rest of the Worldcon membership has rallied in opposition to this unfortunate strategy, and Jemisin's third victory is a milestone that marks their ongoing success. 

However, I'm puzzled and disappointed by the position taken by the Puppies in all their incarnations.  For me, one of the core lessons that science fiction has taught me is acceptance of diversity.

Over the years, I've read books where the hero was a six foot long alien centipede who was afraid of heights, books where Martians eat the bodies of their dead as a sign of respect and love, and books where an artificial intelligence the size of planets displays its penmanship by sending greeting cards.

As such, the question of race or sex is almost a joke - if you can empathize with an alien insect's acrophobia, how can stories with gay characters or people of colour be a challenge in terms of acceptance?

Similarly, it doesn't matter to me if the work is created by authors of colour, gay authors, gay authors of colour, or gay authors of colour who worship Satan, worship God, deny God, or believe in Bigfoot - it's all irrelevant other than as minor biographical information, like being from Seattle or having two cats.

The thing that does matter to me is that I share a wider view of the universe with these authors, something which is far more important to me than the colour of anyone's skin or the nature of their sexuality.  That wider view makes us members of the same family, a family that I am proud to belong to.

I discussed this whole situation with my wife Karli, and she made an observation about the Puppies that perfectly summarized the problem:  "They're afraid of the future."

What a sad, sad state of mind for a group of science fiction fans and authors.

- Sid

* Or d), all of the above.

** I haven't had the pleasure of reading any of Ms. Jemisin's work (although I certainly plan to) so in lieu of personal experience I looked at her resume, which turned out to be both extensive and impressive.  It's obvious that she has won her multiple awards by honing her craft, by working really really hard, and by being a talented writer - or, as she puts it, "Because I worked my ass off."

*** This innocuous sounding name comes from Sad Puppies founder Larry Correia, who said that the omission of his work from the Hugo ballots "made puppies sad".