From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom
THE MT VOID
06/26/26 -- Vol. 44, No. 52, Whole Number 2438
Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
Middletown (NJ) Public Library Science Fiction Discussion
Group
Picks for Turner Classic Movies in July (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Dangers of Micro-Gravity (video pointer
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Who Knew There Was an Australian Cockroach Kingpin?
(comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Guardian's Readers' Top 100 Novels of All Time
(comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Starbucks Follow-Up (comment by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Geoengineering Planetary Risks (pointer
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
AI Writing (letter of comment by Anonymous)
AI Writing, JEZEBEL, THE QUIET MAN, EDEN, SHROUD,
THE BAD SEED, and Mary Robinette Kowal's
"Lady Astronaut" Series (letter of comment
by Taras Wolansky)
This Week's Reading (THREE LAWS LETHAL) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Public Library Science Fiction Discussion
Group
July 2, 2026: THE POWER (1968) & novel by Frank M. Robinson
<
https://libbyapp.com/open/sample/elibrarynj/898177>
<
https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/PU/BB_1956_03.pdf>
===================================================================
TOPIC: Picks for Turner Classic Movies in July (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
I'm not necessarily recommending THE MUSIC MAN, just noticing that
the ending of the film (different from the stage play) makes it a
fantasy film.
On July 22, Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the anniversary of
the Apollo 11 moon landing with a "festival" of space films:
WEDNESDAY, July 22
6:00 AM Moon Zero Two (1969)
8:00 AM Things to Come (1936)
10:00 AM From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
12:00 PM Countdown (1967)
2:00 PM A Trip to the Moon (1902)
2:30 PM For All Mankind (1989)
4:00 PM 2010 (1984)
6:15 PM Forbidden Planet (1956)
I will also recommend UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, which I haven't
seen, but a Wim Wenders science film has to be worth watching,
even if it is [checks schedule] 4 hours, 48 minutes long. (This is
basically the director's cut; the IMDb lists it as 2 hours, 18
minutes, but that is the original, heavily cut American version.)
UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD (1991), Monday, July 13, 2:00 AM
There's also a fairly decent 1950s science fiction "festival"
running on July 13/14:
THURSDAY, July 16
8:00 PM The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
9:30 PM It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)
11:00 PM Them! (1954)
FRIDAY, July 17
12:45 AM The Black Scorpion (1957)
2:30 AM The Killer Shrews (1959)
3:45 AM The Wasp Woman (1959)
5:00 AM The Cyclops (1957)
Other films of interest:
WEDNESDAY, July 1
12:45 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
SUNDAY, July 5
8:00 PM Soylent Green (1973)
10:00 PM Escape From New York (1981)
MONDAY, July 6
11:30 AM The Music Man (1962)
11:45 PM The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
TUESDAY, July 7
5:30 AM Cabin in the Sky (1943)
WEDNESDAY, July 8
3:00 AM The Blood of Jesus (1941)
FRIDAY, July 10
4:15 AM Poltergeist (1982)
6:15 AM Sherlock Jr. (1924)
MONDAY, July 13
2:00 AM Until the End of the World (1991)
TUESDAY, July 14
2:30 AM Lisztomania (1975)
WEDNESDAY, July 15
2:00 PM House of Dark Shadows (1970)
4:00 PM Night of Dark Shadows (1971)
THURSDAY, July 16
8:00 PM The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
9:30 PM It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)
11:00 PM Them! (1954)
FRIDAY, July 17
12:45 AM The Black Scorpion (1957)
2:30 AM The Killer Shrews (1959)
3:45 AM The Wasp Woman (1959)
5:00 AM The Cyclops (1957)
8:00 PM American Pop (1981)
SUNDAY, July 19
6:15 AM Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
8:00 AM The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
MONDAY, July 20
4:30 PM Angels in the Outfield (1951)
TUESDAY, July 21
12:30 AM The Wiz (1978)
WEDNESDAY, July 22
3:45 AM Eraserhead (1977)
5:15 AM Return to Glennascaul (1953)
6:00 AM Moon Zero Two (1969)
8:00 AM Things to Come (1936)
10:00 AM From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
12:00 PM Countdown (1967)
2:00 PM A Trip to the Moon (1902)
2:30 PM For All Mankind (1989)
4:00 PM 2010 (1984)
6:15 PM Forbidden Planet (1956)
THURSDAY, July 23
8:00 PM The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
9:30 PM The Mummy (1959)
11:15 PM Curse of the Demon (1958)
FRIDAY, July 24
1:00 AM Cat People (1942)
2:15 AM The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
3:30 AM Isle of the Dead (1945)
4:45 AM Bedlam (1946)
SUNDAY, July 26
2:30 AM Logan's Run (1975)
4:30 AM World Without End (1956)
WEDNESDAY, July 29
10:15 PM Somewhere in Time (1980)
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Dangers of Micro-Gravity (video pointer by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
This 20-second video shows you one of the "dangers" of
micro-gravity:
<
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BFb9zMn3v/>
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Who Knew There Was an Australian Cockroach Kingpin?
(comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Associated Press reports:
Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects
in record bug bust
More than 100,000 live cockroaches illegal to keep in Australia
were confiscated from a single breeder in the country's
largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, officials said
Friday.
The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches,
worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May
from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South
Wales state, according to Australia's Department of Climate
Change, Energy, Environment and Water.
The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world's biggest
cockroaches, measuring 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) in
length. ... It's much bigger than the country's common Australian
cockroach, which measures between 0.9 and 1.4 inches (2.3 and 3.6
centimeters) long. ...
Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. that the larger exotic species were likely
being sold as a cost-effective reptile food because their large
size meant fewer insects were needed. Officials urged pet owners
to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead.
The full story at:
<
https://apnews.com/article/illegal-cockroaches-seized-australia- madagascar-hissing-dubia-e35889bf7910169f6bd091e34b35e029>
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Guardian's Readers' Top 100 Novels of All Time
(comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
In the 05/22/26 issue of the MT VOID, we ran an article on "The
Guardian's List of 100 Best Novels of All Time". The Guardian now
writes:
"After critics and authors picked their top 100 novels [The
Guardian] asked for your favourites. From Uruguay to the Isle of
Skye, more than 3,000 readers cast their votes. Here's your
list--topped by a new number 1"
Here are the SF/F novels (most of the numbers indicate ties at
that place):
93 Animal Farm
93 The Magus
80 Dune
80 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
80 The Name of the Rose
80 The Picture of Dorian Gray
80 The Plague
80 The Road
80 The Stand
75 Brave New World
70 Piranesi
70 The Dispossessed
57 Cloud Atlas
57 Never Let Me Go
46 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
46 Watership Down
41 The Handmaid's Tale
39 Frankenstein
31 The Master and Margarita
21 Slaughterhouse-Five
19 Gravity's Rainbow
14 Wuthering Heights
7 Nineteen Eighty-Four
1 The Lord of the Rings
There was no tie for first place, or indeed for the first seven
places.
The full list is at <
https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/jun/06/ readers-top-100-novels-of-all-time>
Reminder: here are the SF/F novels from the list generated by
reviewers:
98 The Road
93 Invisible Cities
89 The Left Hand of Darkness
86 The Turn of the Screw
76 Dracula
71 Kindred
66 The Master and Margarita
59 Never Let Me Go
54 Orlando
48 The Metamorphosis
36 The Handmaid's Tale
30 Frankenstein
27 The Trial
20 Wuthering Heights
16 Nineteen Eighty-Four
Clearly the readers have more respect for science fiction and
fantasy than the reviewers et al. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Starbucks Follow-Up (comment by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Starbucks closed early on June 22 for "mandatory history and
social sensitivity training" regarding the incident described in
the 06/12/26 issue of the MT VOID.
Since the problem was more than AI came up with the campaign and
no one in the advertising or executive areas seems to look at it
very hard, it doesn't seem like giving the local barista "history
and social sensitivity training" is going to avoid the problem.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Geoengineering Planetary Risks (pointer by Evelyn C. Leeper)
"'Termination shock': trust our expert warnings on
geoengineering's planetary risks"
"Do we really want to play dice with our planet?"
Article at <
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/19/ solar-geoengineering-risk-to-planet-earth>
===================================================================
TOPIC: AI Writing (letter of comment by Anonymous)
In response to Evelyn's comments on AI writing in the 06/19/26
issue of the MT VOID, an anonymous poster writes:
[Evelyn writes,] "An essay by Katy Waldman in the June 10, 2026,
issue of The New Yorker asks, "Did a Chatbot Write a Prize-Winning
Story? Does It Matter?" [-ecl]
Notes: I have never used what's currently being called "A.I.", I
haven't read the essay Evelyn is commenting on, and it's all my
opinion, even if the phrasing makes it sound like I'm stating
facts. [-anon]
[Evelyn writes,] "I personally love zeugma. Noel Coward used it
often. [-ecl]
Have Some Madeira, M'dear [-anon]
Evelyn responds:
I don't think that's zeugma. [-ecl]
Anonymous continues:
Waldman is making a common mistake of considering all uses of AI
to be the same (bad). Certainly, if I prompt "What is love?" what
comes out will be the kind of slop she's objecting to, and not, as
she said, my meaning.
But what if I write an essay on what love means to me? I can then
send it to a human editor asking for help in phrasing and word
choices, and then look at the suggestions and decide which to
keep, which to not, and which give me ideas that are better than
what I had originally written or what the editor said. Who would
claim that the final essay isn't my meaning? (If *you* would,
please explain it to me.)
Let's try again with an AI editor, with the same essay and the
same post-editor re-editing. Waldman's over-broad statement
suggests that this is now no longer "my meaning". I disagree.
Does using a scroll saw instead of a coping saw automatically make
the wood's shape less artistic? Ice sculptors often use chain
saws. The tool is not the artisan, and AI is just a tool. It can
be used subtly and well. Or it can be used like a chain saw to
carve a fine headboard, with predictably bad results.
See how professional writers do a better job of explaining this
than I do:
<
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/10/ how-to-think-about-ai-is-it-the-tool-or-are-you/>
[-anon]
===================================================================
TOPIC: AI Writing, JEZEBEL, THE QUIET MAN, EDEN, SHROUD, THE BAD
SEED, and Mary Robinette Kowal's "Lady Astronaut" Series (letter
of comment by Taras Wolansky)
In response to Evelyn's comments on AI writing in the 06/19/26
issue of the MT VOID, Taras Wolansky writes:
Every time I see somebody refer to AI-generated prose as "AI
slop", I tip my metaphorical hat to Fritz Leiber's prophetic
novel, THE SILVER EGGHEADS (1958). I think I prefer his term:
"word wooze". [-tw]
In response to Evelyn's comments on JEZEBEL in the 05/22/26 issue
of the MT VOID, Taras writes:
It's long been my understanding that JEZEBEL (1938) was Bette
Davis' consolation prize for losing the plum role of Scarlett
O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND.
Given how poorly even whites were educated in the Old South, the
dialect spoken by the black characters may not have been greatly
exaggerated. Indeed, as Percival Everett points out in JAMES, his
2024 retelling of HUCKLEBERRY FINN, it may even have served as
protective coloration: "I'm just a happy d***ie -- you don't want
to be lynching harmless little old me!"
THE QUIET MAN may have been made in 1952, but the movie is set in
Ireland in the 1920s. Presumably the little old lady who offers
Sean Thornton (John Wayne) a switch with which to beat his "pretty
lady" (Maureen O'Hara) would have been born in the 1860s.
Thornton, of course, spurns the switch, implying that a manly man
doesn't need to beat his wife to keep her in line. [-tw]
In response to Evelyn's comments on EDEN in the 05/22/26 issue of
the MT VOID, Taras writes:
Speaking of films set in the Twenties ... When I saw EDEN (2024),
I was late and missed the opening titles. It was only when I
watched the end credits that I realized Sydney Sweeney was in the
movie. Evidently she can play anything, from a sexpot to a shy
virgin, from a lesbian boxer to, here, an unrecognizable, dumpy
German hausfrau. [-tw]
In response to Joe Karpierz's book review of SHROUD in the
05/01/26 issue of the MT VOID, Taras writes:
Review of SHROUD by Adrian Tchaikovsky: "greedy corporate entities
who have one goal in mind, and that's to strip the planet of all
its resources ... They do not treat their employees well." (Hey,
this sounds like H. Beam Piper's LITTLE FUZZY, ca. 1962.) OK,
Tchaikovsky needs a villain, but how about a little subtlety. In
reality, corporations treat valuable employees well, because it
costs money to do otherwise. (That's still true even if the
"employees" are actually slaves, which is possibly what
Tchaikovsky intends here.)
Thinking back over my own career, corporations always treated me
well; public employers, not so much. [-tw]
In response to Evelyn's list of films on Turner Classic Movies in
the 04/24/26 issue of the MT VOID, Taras writes:
I see THE BAD SEED (1956) was playing on TCM last month: I
remember little of the plot, but I'll never forget the "piano
recital"! I had the privilege of seeing the "bad seed" herself,
Patty McCormack, on the stage a few years ago, here in upstate New
York. She was costarring with Dan Lauria in his play, JUST ANOTHER
DAY, as two elderly people in a sanitarium gradually remembering
that they are husband and wife. [-tw]
In response to the list of Hugo finalists, Tara writes:
I was disappointed that Mary Robinette Kowal's "Lady Astronaut"
was defenestrated from the Hugo Best Series nominees because of
"fewer than 240,000 new words since last appearance on the
ballot". Do you know the reasoning behind this strange rule? [-tw]
Evelyn responds:
I suspect it was to prevent essentially the same series appearing
on the Hugo ballot in multiple years, i.e., by appearing on
ballot, having a single new short story appear, and then appearing
again. 240,000 words does seem like a high bar, though; that would
be the equivalent of three 300-page books. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THREE LAWS LETHAL by David Walton (Pyr, ISBN 978-1-633888-560-8)
is on the whole very topical, being about the morality of
self-driving cars, the opaqueness of government policies as
implemented in software, and the sentience/consciousness of AIs.
It was even on the Wall Street Journal's list of "The Best Science
Fiction of 2019."
In it, Asimov's Laws are discussed, along with the "The Three Laws
of Warfighting AIs" that one of Walton's main characters
postulates:
1) An AI may not injure a friendly human being, or, through
inaction, cause a friendly human being to come to harm.
2) An AI must efficiently neutralize enemy humans and machines,
except as it may conflict with the First Law.
3) An AI must accept the definitions of enemy and friend as given
by its commanding officer.
I definitely recommend this book.
But one part is oddly dated.
In 2019, the biography following the text says, "Since [Walton]
doesn't have any time to write, he created a simulated world with
AIs and trained them to write his books for him. The AIs have
produced some great stories, including THE GENIUS PLAGUE, winner
of the Campbell Award; TERMINAL MIND, sinner of the Philip K. Dick
Award; and the internationally bestselling quantum duology
SUPERPOSITION and SUPERSYMMETRY. Ever sine they wrote THREE LAWS
LETHAL, however, he's been afraid they may be trying to tell him
something..."
I doubt any author today would write, even jokingly, that AIs
wrote their books, especially since many awards are now requiring
that candidates affirm that they have not used AI to create their
works. (See last week's book column for a longer discussion of
this.)
What exactly this means is not clear. Obviously, telling the AI
"write a 100,000-word novel about a time traveler in medieval
Iceland" is forbidden. But what about asking an AI, "What are the
main problems a time traveler in medieval Iceland encounter?" And
even the strictest would probably allow asking for translations of
English sentences into Icelandic.
Actually, make that two parts. The "Campbell Award" (more
completely, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science
Fiction Novel) that Walton won for his 2018 novel THE GENIUS
PLAGUE was the penultimate one; it was announced in 2020 that the
award would not be given that year and the name would be changed
in light of what the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICION calls "the
associational baggage brought by Campbell's name", but no further
news has been forthcoming. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Live TV died in the late 1950s, electronic bulletin
boards came along in the mid-1980s, meaning there was
about a 25-year gap when it was difficult to put your
foot in your mouth and have people all across the
country know about it.
--Mark R. Leeper
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