Author Archives: The Babylon Lurker

Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (2)

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This was only my second Scifi convention, the first one being a Star Trek convention in Fresno,California about 15 years ago.

Thursday night :

Already on Thursday evening at the pre-registration there was convention activity. The organisers were quite happy that I offered to make some photos at the con, so they are receiving a CD with photos for every day of the con.

A nice talk with frequent convention goer – and volunteer – Wilf from the UK was already a good start for me. A quite knowledgeable fellow with a solid scientific angle as well.

Friday :

Panel with Guests of Honour. Anne McCaffrey arrived a little late and, when asked, insisted on going up the stairs to the stage (in spite of the handicap) – hats off. A few words from the guests of honour. Harry Harrison is a veteran guest of con’s and has quite a few stories to tell.
Anne McCaffrey, too is very experienced in conventions and could tell of her first con’s where she had good advice from (then) experienced writers, and expressed her advice to new writers : in short , if you want to write , make youself sit down and write … every day.

Scientific lecture on Solar eruptions. This has had my interest for a long time, being a licensed radio amateur. For me the content was not new, but a condensed version of what I already knew. Only difference was – this came from a scientist’s point of view.

There were lots of other presentations during the day , but these stand out for me. A lot of time went with meeting other fans and discussing science fiction, science and fantasy .

A little fun thing is a photo I made : Anne McCaffrey is also involved in the “Writers of th Future”, a quarterly competition, where the winners get their stories published in collections. One moment a Star Wars Stormtrooper in full gear was “standing guard” right behind the famous author, link to the picture .

more to come …

Jan from Denmark

Impressions from Eurocon 2007 (1)

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I have been attending the Eurocon 2007 in Copenhagen this year , and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The con had just over 400 registrered members , and some people just came and registrered on the spot, so possibly about 700 – 1000 people in total attended.

For me the main reason was the visit by Anne McCaffrey, who appeared on a panel discussion, at an interview, for a book signing and finally a reading by the author herself.

I took quite some photos at the con and will post a few of them when they are ready.

Other Guests of Honour were Stephen Baxter and Zoran Zivkovic and the artist David A. Hardy. Harry Harrison was there as well.

Several lines of presentations, readings and also scientific lectures were in the program.

I enjoyed lots of talks with other fans en between , but after 3 days of 10-24 (or more) con activity I am rather tired and will continue my “Impressions” in the coming days.

“The Demolished Man” by Alfred Bester

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Back online after a few days (travel and a visit to a friend)

On a long trip by car I listened to Alfred Bester’s novel “The Demolished Man”.

The story depicts a society where the police has telepathic detectives (“esper”s) solving crimes – or even act to prevent crimes.

The “Esper’s Guild” divides telepaths into firsts , seconds and thirds according to the strength of the telepaths.

Ben Reich, who is very critical of the Esper’s Guild, decides to eliminate a financial competitor and attempts to escape the telepathic detectives by hiring another telepath to block his thoughts.
After many twists and turns the prosecutor (a computer) dismisses tha case because of insufficient evidence.
In the end he is, after all punished by the Esper’s Guild (in spite of the aquittal) , and has his mind wiped and reprogrammed – a process called “Demolition”

The story has some nice twists and turns , and a surprising “inner journey” which I like.

The story was published in 1953 and exhibits some of the predudices opf the time, eg relating to women’s “place” in society , but if you can see through that´, the story works on its own premise , though seems a bit dated in our day and age. Also – Venus is depicted as a habitable world , something which is now known to be incorrect.

In any case I enjoyed the story, notwithstanding those weaknesses

Also – in the Series “Babylon 5” JMS (J.M. Straczynski) pays hommage to the story by naming his villain telepath (“Psi-Cop”) Alfred Bester.

I would rate the story 7/10.

Wikipedia entry for “The Demolished Man”

Second Hugo Award (2007) for Doctor Who

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Last year the Doctor Who series received a Hugo Award for the double episode “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances” . The award was for the best short dramatic presentation (less than 90 minutes).
The episodes were written by Steven Moffat, and are among my favorites from the new Doctor Who series.

They have done it again …

This year’s Hugo award for the best short dramatic presentation was awarded the Doctor Who episode “The Girl in the Fireplace” – also writen by Steven Moffat – and also one of my personal favorites.

The same TV series receiving Hugo awards for two years in a row is quite rare – the last time I know of was when the “Babylon 5” series did that in the 90’s.

It will be interesting to see if The Doctor can make it to a third consecutive award….

You can find the complete list of Hugo winners 2007 here

Eurocon 2007

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The European Convention on Science Fiction and Fantasy takes place in Copenhagen on 21 – 23 September.

For me the most interesting guest of Honour is Anne McCaffrey. The “Dragonriders of Pern” series is one of my favorite SciFi book series, well written and with an interesting plot.
The first book of the series ,”Dragonflight” was published in 1968 , and since then a steady flow of sequels (and prequels) have come out.

You can find out more at their website Eurocon 2007

If I can find the time (and an Internet connection) I might make a few posts during the days of the Eurocon

Stephen King in defense of Harry Potter

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Stephen King has nice article about the Harry Potter books here where he critisizes the critics reviews of the latest book of being made on a very hasty reading of the book in order to be first to publish a review.

The hasty reviewers , according to King, do not get the full benefit of the book by such a fast reading. I tend to agree.

Further he talks about the appeal of the books to children and adults alike, and stresses the develpoment of the main characters from children into young adults as an advantage of the books , the young audience grew up with the characters. Good point.

Finally he noted the magic of the books that keeps the children interested in reading, clearly showing that the (paper) book is certainly not dead, even in this age of electronic media.

Read the article and decide yourself.

Babylon Podcast – “The Lost Tales”

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The Babylon Podcast is having a Party in the month of August.

Due to the release of the first direct-to-DVD “Babylon 5 – The Lost Tales” (TLT) the whole month is dedicated to TLT. Starting on 8. August there was an interview with Bruce Boxleitner who played President Sheridan in the second episode of the DVD.

Following later will be interviews with Tracy Scoggins who played Colonel Lochley in the first episode – and Peter Woodward as the technomage Galen in the second episode.

Who knows – maybe we will get more insider interviews from the TLT cast and crew.

**No Spoilers** Harry Potter 7 short review

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***NO Spoilers*** Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , the finale of the story of the young wizard growing up.

The final year , not at Hogwarts but in a perilous adventure for Harry, Ron and Hermione – and everybody they know. Harry turns 17, and the protection, of his home, against the Dark Lord Voldemort is over.

The trio attempts to fulfill the task set out by Professor Dumbledore, and they have to do everything on their own.

The story is well written and has some very nice twists and turns, and shows the courage and resourcefulness of everybody, as they must solve the riddles they are left with.

There has been a lot of rumors/spoilers around, and I have avoided them until now.Finally, now I can go to the forums etc and discuss the story.

I would rate the book 4/5