Month: October 2009

Remembering the Future: Why Science Fiction Matters

Posted on October 21, 2009 By Mark Tiedemann

Recently, I was asked to write a short piece about what science fiction means to me for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.Â I did and they published it the weekend of Archon 33, October 4th.Â Not that anything was wrong with what I wrote, but as this is a topic I think about on and off all the time, I came up with a somewhat different version and, in some respects, a better version, which I couldn’t get in on time.Â So here it is.
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We seldom realize what an amazing time we live in. Every time I see someone flip open a cell phone, I get a little thrill, and for a moment I feel the way I did at age 12, huddled in my room, reading Doc Smithâ€™s Lensmen novels with their instantaneous communications.…

Celebration 2009

Posted on October 19, 2009October 19, 2009 By Mark Tiedemann

Here’s a picture from our just past Celebration of the Book, at Stephens College, Columbia, MO, October 10th.Â Shown is our special guest, Margaret Sayers Peden, who lives in Columbia and is a Spanish language translator.Â If you are a fan of Isabelle Allende or Arturo Perez-Reverte, you may have read some of her work.Â She’s something of a phenom and we were pleased to present her with a special award honoring her literature contributions.Â Missouri First Lady Georgann Nixon presented it on our and the state’s behalf.Â It was all very emotional and wonderful.

Also pictured, to the right, is Tom Dillingham, estimable member of the board, designer and Atlas of the Celebration (having in many ways lifted it onto his own shoulders and held it up).Â …

Rude Behavior Redux

Posted on October 18, 2009October 18, 2009 By Mark Tiedemann

What follows is an old post from my original website, back in 2005.Â I’m reposting it because of a revisitation.Â Yesterday I had a knock on the door and there were a couple of people from some small church, spreading the good news.

Now, there is irony here, because I’ve just started reading Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.Â I didn’t read it when it first came out because it received so much attention and there was an enormous quantity of posturing, both pro and con, regarding it, that I decided to wait till the furor died down.Â Besides, it’s not like I needed convincing on this point.Â …

Events and Events

Posted on October 15, 2009 By Mark Tiedemann

Hard to believe it’s mid-October already.Â Last weekend I was in Columbia, MO, for the MCB annual Celebration.Â I’ve talked about this before—History and Fiction: Dueling Narratives—and all I’ll add here is that the programming for the day was marvelous.

Turnout was another matter.Â It wasn’t embarrassing low, to be sure, but it wasn’t up where I’d hoped it would be.Â We have a lot to learn about proper promotions.Â But it was generally successful enough that there is no question about next year, which will be—

MISSOURI GENRE.

I sort of grabbed the title out of the air at the last board meeting, just so we could all start thinking about it and working toward it, and to make sure everyone understood that we have a program (even though we don’t, exactly).Â …

Casting Call

Posted on October 8, 2009 By Mark Tiedemann

I’m feeling kind of antic this morning, so I thought I’d play a little fantasy game.Â Most writers, whether they admit it or not, indulge in a game of imagining who would play what part in films from their books.Â This comes almost second nature to me, since from an early age I started reading with a movie playing in my head and I would cast the parts.Â (My most successful casting job was Michener’s Hawaii—I got just about every part right but one, that of Rafer Hoxworth.)

So I thought I’d post my choices for casting in movies from some of my books.Â …

Blitzen

Posted on October 7, 2009April 14, 2024 By Mark Tiedemann

Another very old image. Found this, much to my surprise and pleasure, in a box through which I was searching for something else entirely.

This is Blitzen, my first dog. As a kid, my only dog. Blitzen was a shepherd-collie mix and we got him as a puppy and I adored this dog. We were very much a standard-issue boy and dog team. I used to sleep on the floor with my head on Blitzen’s chest. Blitzen was a great dog.

Well, we got Blitzen when we lived in our own house on Wyoming, which had a big backyard. My dad trained him—I was about five when we got him. …

On Time and Great Legs

Posted on October 6, 2009August 7, 2011 By Mark Tiedemann

I’m pretty lucky.Â No, I don’t believe in luck, unless it’s the ability to recognize the confluence of circumstances that result in specific outcomes, good or bad (hence bad luck), and thus act upon the result.Â Luck is a description of things which occur or accrue to one without (seemingly) doing anything to effect them.Â So, by that gauge, yeah, I’m pretty lucky.

For example, my companion.Â This coming spring will mark 30 years for us.Â Unbelievable.Â I lucked into this.Â But I recognized it, acted upon the recognition, and, with the exception of a few periods of absolute boneheadedness on my part, the normal stresses of a long-term relationship, and all that other stuff, these three decades have been wonderful.…