From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom
THE MT VOID
11/21/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 21, Whole Number 2407
Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
My Contact Information
Mini Reviews, Part 28 (THE BIG SLEEP (1945, 1946, 1978))
(film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE DOWNLOADED 2: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE
by Robert J. Sawyer (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
Codes of Conduct (and Internet Searches) (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Blue Origin (comments by Gregory Frederick)
Secondary Characters (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
QUEST FOR LOVE (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
This Week's Reading (EXPECT ME TOMORROW)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: My Contact Information
I have dropped my landline and people who want to call or text me
should use my cellphone number, which I am not going to put here
(since the MT VOID gets posted and archived all over the place,
and I don't want to get the quantity of junk calls my landline was
getting). If you want/need it and don't have it already, email me
for it. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 28 (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE BIG SLEEP (1946):
You can see the effects of the production code on this version--or
rather not see them. Carmen is fully dressed when Geiger is taking
his photos (which kind of defeats the purpose of the photos), and
there are no hypodermic needles lying around. (She doesn't show up
in Marlowe's bed either.) All references to homosexuality are
removed, and the pornographic book business is merely hinted at.
The older Sternwood daughter had not married Regan, leaving his
position in the story a bit vague.
There are actually two extant versions of this film. The original
cut (a.k.a. pre-release cut) (1945) was released in 1997. By the
time it was finished, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, also with Bogart and
Bacall, had been released and they were a dynamite hit, so the
studio decided to add more of Bacall (including the musical
number), which also meant some other scenes were cut to maintain a
reasonable running time for the era. In the process the scenes
with Mona Mars were deleted, but a new scene added with a
different actress because the first was unavailable, and some
scenes were overdubbed to account for changes elsewhere.
Released theatrically 31 August 1946.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038355/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1002352-big_sleep>
THE BIG SLEEP (1978):
This version is in general more accurate to the novel, except ...
Except that they moved the whole thing to London for some reason.
And then they made Marlowe and the Sternwoods all Americans living
in England anyway. What was the point of all that?
In this version Camilla (Carmen, but if she's American, why rename
her with a more British name?) is naked, and there is plenty of
drug paraphernalia lying around. Lundgren (Karl here, not Carol,
probably because Carol is now considered exclusively a woman's
name) is clearly in a gay relationship with Geiger, and the
pornographic book business is explicitly shown. (Rounding out the
name changes, Vivian is now Charlotte,) And the ending is changed.
But a lot more is preserved from the novel than in the earlier
version, and less was added.
Released theatrically 13 March 1978.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077234/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1002353-big_sleep>
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE DOWNLOADED 2: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE by Robert J. Sawyer
(copyright 2025, an Audible Original, 7 hours and 16 minutes,
ASIN: B0FNRXX13N, narrated by Brendan Fraser, Vanessa Sears, Lior
Maharjan, and Cerise Handspiker) (audio book review by Joe
Karpierz)
Robert J. Sawyer has been around a while. His first novel, GOLDEN
FLEECE, was published in 1990. In the intervening thirty five
years Sawyer has explored a wide range of subjects, such as
consciousness, the relationship between science and religion,
morality, genetics, quantum physics, psychology, parallel
universes, sentience in a computer (there's probably a better way
of saying that, but I digress), and a whole list of other things.
His 26th and latest book, THE DOWNLOADED 2: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE,
continues and adds on to the story begun in 2023's Audible
Original THE DOWNLOADED. We'll get to the narration in a bit, but
let's start with the story.
When last we left our protagonists--Letitia Garvey, leader of the
first group of humans that would explore interstellar space; and
Roscoe Koudoulian, ex-convict and now mayor of the town
of Waterloo-- there was a bit of a problem. An asteroid was on a
collision course with Earth. With the aid of the Martians,
Garvey's crew would still head on out to interstellar space,
and the townspeople of Waterloo would be relocated to Mars. All
well and good.
As these things go, however, all was not to be well and good for
very long. While searching for a missing child just hours before
departure to Mars, tragedy struck Roscoe, resulting in him
having to be uploaded. And that's where things go awry. Back in
their cryogenic silos, both groups of people (those going on the
interstellar voyage and those going to Mars) encounter
digital duplicates of themselves, which because of the nature of
the quantum computers that house the consciousnesses are a danger
to all those uploaded individuals. So, it's a race to not only
determine a solution for dealing with the duplicates, but to
implement that solution as well.
Anyone who has read any number of Sawyer's novels knows that
there's always more than one plot thread in his novels, and it's
always more involved and thought-provoking than what appears to
be the main storyline. THE DOWNLOADED 2 is no different, and this
is where the subtitle GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE comes in. To be fair,
the digital duplicates are the ghosts in the machine,
but the relationships between the originals and ghosts is what
gives this novel its meat and heft. While I don't want to give
away anything about the interactions between the characters and
their duplicates (and while that doesn't quite cover the all the
situations, I'll just leave it that way) I think it's probably no
great surprise that the most interesting and involved story
involves Roscoe.
As with his other novels, Sawyer does not disappoint when it comes
to scientific and technical accuracy, morality, character
relationships, and inclusivity. The transgender character from the
THE DOWNLOADED, Valentina, plays a prominent role in the story,
and I expect and hope that will continue if there is a DOWNLOADED
3 (which I also hope will happen because the story is not
quite finished yet. This novel is also about family and its
importance, no matter who that family is and how they manifest
themself (there, that ought to pique your interest). Not only
isthe book well written, it is tightly plotted with no waste or
padding. All of which is to say that THE DOWNLOADED 2: GHOSTS IN
THE MACHINE is yet another terrific entry in Sawyer's catalogue.
He continues to turn out excellent books that play with your
emotions and make you think about the implications of everything
you've read.
THE DOWNLOADED 2: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE is, like its predecessor
(although I might point out there was a print edition of that book
published, as there will be of this one), an Audible
Original, and to my delight the cast from the first book returned
for this one. That means Brendan Fraser is back as Roscoe, and
Vanessa Sears is back as Letitia. Not only does that
provide continuity from one book to the next, it allows us to hear
their excellent narration (as well as other actors') all over
again. The full cast audio narration of this book is
outstanding, and I hope that if there is a DOWNLOADED 3 the cast
will return.
This is a fantastic book all the way around. If I have a gripe, is
that it's too short (which means, of course, that I'm potentially
contradicting what I said earlier about no waste or padding). One
way or another, this novel is well worth your time, from both
story and narration standpoints. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Codes of Conduct (and Internet Searches) (comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)
I asked Duck.ai, "What was the first World Science Fiction
Convention to have an official code of conduct?" and it gave me a
bunch of information about the first World Science Fiction
Convention in 1939, and completely ignored the part about a code
of conduct.
But asking it, "When did World Science Fiction Conventions start
having an official code of conduct?" did give me better
information, but it still interpreted this as science fiction
conventions throughout the world.
"When did Worldcon start having an official code of conduct?"
actually got me an answer. Or rather two answers. The first block
of text said, "Worldcon began implementing an official code of
conduct in 2015", while if you asked for more, it said, "Worldcon,
the World Science Fiction Convention, began implementing an
official Code of Conduct in 2011."
Google's AI did better, giving me a precise answer to the first
question. Of course, it differed from what Duck.ai told me (Google
said 2017, Duck said 2015). And one of the following links turned
up this from the 1955 Worldcon:
"The Convention Committee reserves the right to revoke the
membership and its attendant privileges of any person or persons
who conduct themselves in such a way as to reflect unfavorably or
to bring discredit to the Convention."
That is arguably the first Code of Conduct found, though not
labeled as such. For what it's worth, Duck.ai is in one sense more
correct: the 2015 Worldcon did have a Code of Conduct, so the 2017
Worldcon was not the first. I cannot find one for the 2011
Worldcon.
All of which indicates that phraseology is important, but getting
the correct answer can only be approached asymtotically.
And that Codes of Conduct expand to fill the space available. The
1955 Worldcon Code of Conduct is 37 words. Philcon 2025's Code of
Conduct is 873 words. LACon's is 1573 words. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Blue Origin (comments by Gregory Frederick)
Blue Origin's latest rocket could get us to the Moon before China.
Blue Origin had a very successful launch of their New Glenn
rocket. It is a very large rocket; larger than SpaceX's Falcon 9
rocket, and it is reusable. It could launch a Blue Origin lunar
lander to orbit the Moon for NASA's Orion space ship to rendezvous
with at the Moon while it orbits the Moon. The lander would be
boarded by NASA astronauts who would then land on the Moon with
it. See details at:
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyi1V4oMDHc>
[-gf]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Secondary Characters (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
In response to Evelyn's comments on secondary characters being
more interesting than the main characters in the 11/14/25 issue of
the MT VOID, Gary McGath writes:
The main characters listed here [Kirk, Solo, Sheridan, Delenn,
Londo] are all leaders. That gives them fewer options than their
subordinates. Leaders can turn rebel (Sheridan certainly does),
but more often the leader gives stability to the story while the
others can play more against the norm.
However, I would dispute Londo's being less interesting than Vir.
[-gmg]
===================================================================
TOPIC: QUEST FOR LOVE (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
In response to Evelyn's comments on QUEST FOR LOVE in the 11/14/25
issue of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
I first came across the Wyndham story in the BBC anthology series
OUT OF THE UNKNOWN in 1969. There was also a BBC version in 2006.
There was one interesting change to the original story in QUEST
FOR LOVE. In the story, it turns out that Ottilie was actually the
daughter of a racing driver killed before the war and her mother
married another man whilst pregnant and therefore Ottilie had the
surname of the husband, and the pregnancy out of wedlock was not
known. Similarly, in the first BBC version, the father was an RAF
pilot killed in the war, again a new husband. In the film, Ottilie
survived an air raid as a new born and was assumed to be the child
of another family that was wiped out. No suggestion of
illegitimacy. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I am catching up on Christopher Priest's works, which is trickier
than it sounds. Most of his later works were published only in
Great Britain, or only in small press editions, or both. And
reviews of his work were not featured in a lot of mainstream
publications, nor did he show up on podcasts and such, promoting
his latest book. So basically one had to remember to keep checking
the ISFDb to see if he had a new book since you last checked, and
then you had to find it. These days that is not necessarily
difficult, but often the books, or the shipping, or both, are
expensive. I have the same issues with works by Jeffrey E.
Barlough, and Baoshu. And the problem with the latter is that a
lot of what he writes is short fiction in hard-to-find periodicals
or anthologies. But I digress.
EXPECT ME TOMORROW by Christopher Priest (Gollancz, ISBN
978-11-4732-3514-4) was published in 2023, and is part of that
subgenre sometimes called (for better or worse) "cli-fi"--"climate
fiction", or science fiction set in the future during or after
serious climatic disruption. For some reason, prehistoric fiction
set in an Ice Age, or space fiction set on a harsh planet (I'm
looking at you, SPACE PRISON), isn't included.
But EXPECT ME TOMORROW is more than that. It has four threads that
take place during the 1850s, the 1870s, the 1890s, and the 2050s.
These threads interweave in ways that, I must warn you, are not
entirely explained. And one of the threads is almost straight
history except for its connection to one of the other threads.
(Priest also did multiple threads in time in other novels, notably
THE PRESTIGE.)
The climate part reminded me of Robert Frost's poem, "Fire and
Ice":
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
I doubt Priest was inspired by this, since in any case science
seems (or seemed) to support his characters' beliefs and actions.
Of course I recommend this, because I recommend all of Priest's
work. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Don't worry about things that you have no control over,
because you have no control over them. Don't worry
about things that you have control over, because you
have control over them.
--Mickey Rivers
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