Article-I.D.: ucbvax.7853
Posted: Thu Jul  1 17:40:07 1982
Received: Fri Jul  2 01:39:22 1982

>From JPM@Mit-Ai Thu Jul  1 16:46:08 1982

SF-LOVERS Digest        Wednesday, 30 Jun 1982     Volume 5 : Issue 75

Today's Topics:
           SF Books - Here's the Plot...What's the Title &
         Foundation IV & Ellison & News from LOCUS & HHGttG,
       SF Movies - Cat People & Conan the Barbarian & Firefox &
       ET: The Extra-Terrestrial & Revenge of the Jedi & Ford,
           SF Topics - Bad Scriptwriters,  SF TV - HHGttG,
                    Humor - Genderless Video Games
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 29 June 1982 1352-EDT (Tuesday)
From: Mark.Sherman at CMU-10A
Subject: What is title

I have a plot outline but not a title or author.  Can any body help
me?

    Man is evolving both forwards and backwards.  A couple has a baby
    born alive, but they are told it is dead.  The baby is one of the
    "backwards" and is placed on a reservation for Neanderthals.
    Father discovers that baby is alive, searches for and finds baby.
    Father leaves baby on reservation.  Doctor at reservation comments
    "thank god baby is not one of the other ones."

Maybe a short story.  Any clues?  Please send replies to
Sherman@CMU-10A.

------------------------------

Date: 29 Jun 1982 13:59:31-EDT
From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX
Subject: Foundation IV

   Working title: LIGHTNING ROD
   Pub. title:  FOUNDATION AT RISK
   According to Asimov (during a talk at MIT last April) Doubleday
will be releasing this in December. It's set something over 500 years
through the 1000-year interregnum, but (like most of the stories)
takes only a few months to happen (maybe less?). It will be a
substantial book, probably three times as large as the biggest
previous segment (the second half of SECOND FOUNDATION).

------------------------------

Date: 29 Jun 82 13:58-PDT
From: mclure at SRI-UNIX
Subject: Re: Foundation IV

Yeah. Locus says twice as big as any of the previous books. I think 
it's called FOUNDATION'S EDGE. I typed in a big excerpt about this 
from a recent LOCUS but Mcgrath hasn't gotten around to distributing
it.

------------------------------

Date: 30 Jun 1982 11:19:28-EDT
From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX
Subject: Re: Foundation IV

In response to your message of Tue Jun 29 17:55:56 1982:

   Asimov said FOUNDATION AT RISK, and since LOCUS is at the far edge
of the country from him I wouldn't be surprised if they were wrong. At
least LOCUS isn't a yellow journalist's delight like SCIENCE FICTION
CHRONICLE.

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jun 82 18:15-PDT
From: mclure at SRI-UNIX
Subject: July LOCUS extracts

Here are some extracts from the July LOCUS.

 FOUNDATION series sold to Del Rey:
 ----------------------------------

Ballantine/Del Rey has purchased paperback rights not only to Isaac
Asimov's new novel FOUNDATION's EDGE but also to the three earlier
books in the series.  FOUNDATION's EDGE was turned in to Doubleday
recently and will be published in October. Doubleday is billing it as
"the fourth book in the FOUNDATION trilogy". It is 140,000 words --
twice as long as each of the earlier books.  Penthouse and Omni will
both run extracts.

Judy-Lynn del Rey would not reveal the amount paid for the
"Foundation", package but she did not deny it was "very high". (There
was a paperback floor of half a million dollars on FOUNDATION'S EDGE,
according to Publisher's Weekly.) "It feels good to be the publisher
of Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke," she said.

The three original books will be republished as quickly as possible.

Isaac Asimov had the following comments about the series:

"When I first wrote them, I thought each story would appear in
Astounding then vanish forever except for the few fans that saved
their back issues.  Even after the FOUNDATION trilogy appeared in the
early fifties, my feeling was that it would sell a few thousand copies
and then vanish except for those few fans who would keep their copies.
According to Doubleday, the original books have sold over 5,000,000
copies... and [they] have paid me hundreds of thousands in royalties.

"Doubleday was so pleased with the manuscript when I turned it in that
they promptly set up another contract with a larger advance -- $65,000
--- for an unamed science fiction novel, but I'm trying to write the
third Lije Bailey book [sequel to THE CAVES OF STEEL and THE NAKED
SUN]. For thirty years I said I couldn't write another "Foundation"
book, but I managed it and even enjoyed it, so maybe I can even do the
third robot novel."

 HARLAN ELLISON
 --------------

Harlan Ellison and his secretary, Marty Clark, escaped serious injury
when his car turned over and was demolished on the San Diego Freeway.
He was on his way to the airport and had to take evasive action to
escape running into someone ahead of him. The car, a 1967 Camaro with
170,000 miles on it, hit the divider at 60 mph, flipped over, and was
totally demolished. Ellison got out with a few bruises, pulled out his
secretary, then his typewriter, and went on to a speaking engagement
in Alaska.

 1982 LOCUS POLL RESULTS
 -----------------------

nom = awards nominated for (H = Hugo, N = Nebula), votes = number of
votes, 1sts = number of first place votes, points = total points based
on Carr point system: 1st = 8 pts, 2nd = 7 pts, etc. Thus, a first
place vote counted twice as much as a fifth place one, instead of five
times as much if we had used a five, four, three, two, one, system.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL    AUTHOR             nom votes 1sts points

1 THE MANY-COLORED LAND       Julian May          H,N  184   82   1253
2 WINDHAVEN                   George R.R. Martin       159   45   1010
3 DOWNBELOW STATION           C.J. Cherryh        H    139   48    916

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

1 THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR Gene Wolfe          H,N  343  199   2504
2 LITTLE, BIG                 John Crowley        H,N  198   84   1376
3 THE CHANGING LAND           Roger Zelazny            164   42   1049

BEST FIRST NOVEL

1 STARSHIP & HAIKU            Somtow Sucharitkul       149   77   1055
2 AT THE EYE OF THE OCEAN     Hilbert Schneck          129  871    955
3 RADIX                       A.A. Attanasio      N    130   76    947

BEST NOVELLA

1 "Blue Champagne"            John Varley         H    143   60    977
2 "The Saturn Game"           Poul Anderson       H,N  115   43    769
3 "In The Western Tradition"  Phyllis Eisenstein  H,N  114   38    765

BEST NOVELETTE

1 "Guardians"                 George R.R. Martin  H    129   52    886
2 "Unicorn Variation"         Roger Zelazny       H    125   53    855
3 "The THermals of August"    Edward Bryant       H,N   87   33    585

BEST SHORT STORY

1 "The Pusher"                John Varley         H,N  156   55   1051
2 "Serpent's Teeth"           Spider Robinson           54   26    551
3 "The Needle Men"            George R.R. Martin        81   21    524

BEST ANTHOLOGY

1 SHADOWS OF SANCTUARY        Robert Lynn Asprin, ed.  130   75    929
2 UNIVERSE 11                 Terry Carr, ed.          125   57    863
3 THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION    Terry Carr, ed.          109   47    745
   OF THE YEAR #10

BEST SINGLE AUTHOR COLLECTION

1 SANDKINGS                   George R.R. Martin       259   94   1754
2 GENE WOLFE'S BOOK OF DAYS   Gene Wolfe               135   45    881
3 SUNFALL                     C.J. Cherryh             131   46    867

BEST RELATED NON-FICTION BOOK

1 DANSE MACABRE               Stephen King        H    193  112   1405
2 ANATOMY OF WONDER           Neil Barron, ed.    H    125   69    843
3 THE ART OF LEO & DIANE      Byron Preiss, ed.   H     80   29    553
   DILLON

BEST ARTIST                           last year

1 Michael Whelan                          1       H    240  114   1717
2 Don Maitz                               2       H    138   65    949
3 Rowena Morrill                          6       H    114   34    761

BEST MAGAZINE/FANZINE

1 F&SF                                    1            421  250   3043
2 Locus                                   2       H    387  138   2653
3 IASFM                                   5            204   34   1244

BEST BOOK PUBLISHER

1 Pocket/Timescape                        3            417  238   3015
2 Ballantine/Del Rey                      1            307   80   2022
3 DAW                                     4            307   79   2004

------------------------------

Date: 27 Jun 1982 1612-PDT
From: Jim McGrath 
Subject: capsule reveiws

                        CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
                    By Chicago Sun-Times Reviewers
           (c) 1982 Chicago Sun-Times (Field News Service)

    Cat People - An imaginative, erotic fantasy-horror film that takes
itself just seriously enough to work, and has just enough fun to be 
entertaining. Nastassia Kinski and Malcolm McDowell play the 
descendants of a race of created by black leopards mating with humans.
With John Heard, Annette O'Toole and Ruby Dee; Paul Schrader directed.
Rated R. 3 1/2 stars.
    Conan the Barbarian - Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the mythical
hero battling the evil Doom (James Earl Jones - and it is disturbing
to see that fine black actor pitted against a proto-Nordic avenger).  
Schwarzenegger and his co-star, lovely Sandahl Bergman, bring humor 
and a certain quiet slyness to a movie that is a triumph of production
design, set decoration, special effects and makeup. It's a perfect
fantasy for the alienated pre-adolescent. With Max von Sydow.  Rated
R. 3 stars.
    E.T., The Extra-terrestrial in his Adventure on Earth - E.T., a 
wonderful little creature from outer space, is left behind in an 
American suburb when its spaceship gets frightened away. After several
close encounters with a search party, it is discovered by a little
boy, and thus begins a story of friendship and love. This Steven
Spielberg production is filled with innocence, hope and good cheer.
It's also wickedly funny and exciting, and is a triumph of special
effects. With Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Robert 
MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore. Rated PG. 4 stars.
    Firefox - Clint Eastwood's mission in this slick, muscular
thriller is to infiltrate the Soviet Union and steal the Firefox, a
top-secret Russian warplane. The movie combines espionage with science
fiction and works like the well-crafted machine it's about. With
Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke, Ronald Lacey, Kenneth
Colley, Stefan Schnabel. Rated R. 3 1/2 stars.

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jun 82 16:48-PDT
From: mclure at SRI-UNIX
Subject: Firefox

The TV commercials make it appear like a royal ripoff of the Star Wars
Death Star chase scenes. They even appear to have a trench.

------------------------------

Date: 26 Jun 1982 at 2233-CDT
From: ables at UTEXAS-11 (King Ables)
Subject: Star Wars VI

Harrison Ford was interviewed on a local talk show here in Austin 
yesterday. He talked mostly about "Bladerunner," but he did mention
that he had been finished with his part of "The Revenge of the Jedi" a
couple of weeks ago. Interesting, either they are right on or ahead of
schedule on filming with the actors or he has a small part (which
considering he could have been frozen for most of the movie, is
possible).  He also said his next project would be the sequel to
Raiders starting sometime next year.

-ka

------------------------------

Date: 14 Jun 1982 12:53:29-EDT
From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX
Subject: Re: bad scriptwriters

   I was under the impression that Alan Dean Foster was responsible 
only for novelizations, not for shooting scripts---and some of the
stuff that he's written independently is tolerable.
   Glen Larson, on the other hand, is the other side of the Red Shift
coin.

------------------------------

Date: 29 Jun 82 16:22:08-EDT (Tue)
From: Will Martin (DRXAL-FD) 
Subject: HHGTTG News

Pulled this off USENET for your delectation and enlightenment...

        From unc!mcnc!duke!decvax!utzoo!utcsstat!geoff
        Mon Jun 7 02:32:47 1982
        Subject: Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy news (net.humour) 
        Newsgroups: net.misc


>From the July Starlog:

 MORE ``HITCH-HIKER'S'' ON THE WAY
 
 ---------------------------------

During his recent publicity tour to promote the U.S. release of
Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Crown Publishers), Douglas
Adams stopped to chat and tell STARLOG what the future holds for fans
of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Althougn (sic) fans have
hoped that someone would import the six-part BBC-TV series, Adams
announced that ABC-TV will be re-making the series with an American
cast.  ``All things going well,'' Adams reported, ``it should start
going out in the fall.  I met the guy who's directing it, and as far
as it's possible to tell, I thought he seemed to be very, very much in
tune with it-actually more in tune with it than the TV director we had
in England.  There are a lot of good people involved.  The guy who's
doing the design is Ron Cobb who did the famous bar scene in Star
Wars.  He's a cartoonist as well, so he'll have a sense of humor.  I
hadn't heard of him before, but everyone in the business says, `Oh,
great!  Terrific! You're onto a winner there.' ''

Adams is currently finishing off the third Hitch-Hiker's book,
entitled Life, the Universe and Everything, which will be released
first in England this August.

``Probably the next major thing I'd work on will be a 
non-science-fiction humorous book, but in the meantime, I'm doing one 
or two other bits and pieces.  Curiously enough, I'm going to go and
do a magazine feature on the Coral Reefs in the Red Sea for The
Observer and the Royal Wildlife Fund, which I'm looking forward to
doing.  I'm also probably going to be doing a serious reference book
with John Lloyd, the producer of Not the 9 O'Clock News.''

------------------------------

Date: 29 June 1982 18:07-EDT
From: James M. Turner 
Subject: Genderless punsters (after I find my trusty knife...)

At LMI, we are seriously considering a PacMan to be written for the 
Lisp Machine. It will, of course, be written in PacLisp.

                                        James

------------------------------

End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************