Back from GalaxyFest

Left Colorado Springs this morning and arrived back in East Texas this afternoon. Enjoyed spending the weekend at GakaxyFest. Overall, a positive experience. This was the view from my room at the Antlers Hilton of Pike's P:eak.

DDOS and a MESS and SASS

Reposted from my Facebook page from Wednesday night:


The web site for the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) has been down most of the day because of a cyber-attack. The interruption apparently commenced at 10 a.m. and the site has been up and down all day The attack is called a DDOS, which I had to look up. The best explanation I read said "DDOS, short for Distributed Denial of Service, is a type of DOS attack where multiple compromised systems -- which are usually infected with a Trojan -- are used to target a single system causing a Denial of Service (DoS) attack."

The SFWA is in the process of having its annual election, and there has been some real viciousness in its forums. An officer stepped in a couple of days ago to moderate the forums, and things quieted down considerably - and then this attack happened.

Most people would assume the two things are related. I really don't know, or care. After I launched my campaign for vice president last year, and saw the way I was attacked, I stopped campaigning and helped organize a new writers group (although I remain a member of the SFWA).

SASS (Society for the Advancement of Speculative Storytelling) fills in the middle ground between people who are fans and readers, and hard-boiled pros who make (or want to make) their living as writers. It's a nice for someone like me, who has a day job.

One thing I'm proud of is SASS - which has its own Facebook page - takes a lesson from fraternal groups (such as the Masons) and specifically prohibits internal discussions of religion or politics. That way people of all faiths and political backgrounds have a neutral common ground where they can learn and encourage each other in writing and appreciating speculative storytelling.

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I shared the post with all the interim officers of SASS. Dario's comment on his own page is worthy of repeating:


Dario Ciriello: Lou, I was honoured to be invited last summer to be interim Chairman of the new SASS until (now imminent) board elections, when I will step down, and I accepted the post precisely *because* SASS expressly disavows political or religious agendas and prohibits members from doing so under its auspices. As I've frequently stated, I abhor intolerance, incivility, and proselytizing of every kind.

Even as an atheist with some ultra-liberal leanings I'm frankly amazed that everyone that happens to hail from Texas or who has strong religious views--as many of my own good friends do--is vilified by certain people in the SFF community, as was the case in this recent Tweet (names omitted, publicly searchable): "...too bad SASS never got off the ground--it'd be a great resource for identifying the racist a-holes in SFF."

Wow, sounds like someone's creating an enemies list, doesn't it? This sort of thing has disgusted me since my first Worldcon, when I saw Larry Niven booed and hissed by half the audience on a panel for simply making a rather mild joke. Intolerance, rudeness, and ad hominems disgust me whether from the far right or far left. A plague on ALL their houses.

Well, I think it's great that SASS *is* getting off the ground. A neutral, safe forum for fans, readers, and new, non-pro writers is both needed and doesn't threaten any existing organizations. Power to you, Lou.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, "Why can't we all get along?"

"Babylon Confidential"

With the GalaxyFest convention in Colorado Springs coming up this weekend, I am reading Claudia Christian's autobiography "Babylon Confidential". I was offered a review copy a few weeks ago, and with Christian being the celebrity guest, I saw the opportunity to interview her a part of a book review.

Last night I read two-thirds of the book, settled in an armchair in the living under a floor lamp that I basically bought just for when I read. It's a very interesting book, very well-written, and I've enjoyed it so far. I'm sure I can polish off the rest of it before I leave for Colorado Springs.

The convention gave me a schedule this past weekend, but I had to send it back with a request for some modifications. I'm working Friday and then flying out of Texarkana; I will be arriving in Colorado Springs too late to participate in anything Friday. The first stab at a schedule had me on two panels Friday night. I brought  that problem to the convention's attention and made some suggestions for my participation based on panels I read for Saturday and Sunday.

Cons like this are run by fan volunteers, bless their little geeky hearts, and I could never get mad when someone is working so hard for something they love and for no pay.

The con did get back to me and said they will work on it. Once I have a final schedule, I will be able to set a time to sit down and interview Ms. Christian. I'm sure the interview and review will make a good story for a weekend entertainment page.

"Uncle Gumball Saves the World"

Over at the Planetary Stories web site, Shelby Vick has published in the February issue of his ezine "Pulp Spirit" the collaboration between myself and Ed Morris, "Uncle Gumball Saves the World". This is the fifth time Ed and I have thoroughly collaborated on a story (He's given me author's credit on a story named "Eva" that was published years ago in Neometropolis, but really I only did the outline, he had to write it because something intervened in my life.

"Uncle Gumball" originated with me, but this is a true collaboration. Ed's help was especially vital because of my unfamiliarity with "wired" culture. I think it the story comes off well, and I am somewhat surprised it took as long as it did to find a home (six and a half years).

As you might suppose, "Chimp Latin" is the Maguffin that initially led to the idea, but the story took on a life of its own, especially as we developed the background of the retired children's show host.

Of course, anyone who grew up in the Dallas area will recall Mr. Peppermint. This is one of those stories that takes off from a fictitious/alternate history contemporary of a real character.

And here is a link:

Two cons coming up

This is my last weekend in a while when I will be in town; I am traveling next weekend to Colorado Springs to the GalaxyFest convention, and the weekend after that is ConDFW in Dallas. This particular ConDFW will mark the tenth anniversary of my first visit. ConDFW in 2003 was the first s-f convention I ever attended; I didn't know s-f conventions even existed before then.

I went years as an s-f reader without knowing there was an s-f fandom; I suppose because I didn't know any  fans (since I moved to Texas in 1985) and never ran across any. There aren't many in journalism. The only reason I learned about ConDFW in 2003 was because someone sent a news release out, and it crossed my desk at the newspaper where I worked then. In fact, I attended on a press pass.

I was flabbergasted by all the information I picked up from panels, and at the very last panel I learned from Jayme Blaschke about Revolution SF. I asked him if I could send him a story. When he published "Silvern" that June, this was his intro:

"New writer Lou Antonelli isn't really a new writer at all. A longtime newspaper editor and reporter with multiple awards from Texas Press Association in editorial, column, and feature writing, Antonelli has recently turned his hand to science fiction with impressive results, as evidenced by the following story."

The story is still archived on-line. It had a nice piece of art, too, which I've included here (The Maguffin is a silver dollar.)

My second story published in, "Silence is Golden", was published in August 2003 and was the first story of mine to receive a Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois' annual anthology. I sold Gardner "A Rocket for the Republic" the following spring/

I think I've been able to attend at least some portion of ConDFW ever since.

This will be the first time I've attended GalaxyFest. I wanted to go last year, but health and other plans intervened ( in general, I don't like to attend cons only a week apart, it's a physical strain). They asked me again this year, and this time I was able to swing it.

I'm looking forward to getting the panel schedules for both cons soon.

I'm honored to accept an invite to be a guest speaker at the DFW Writers Conference to be held May 4-5 at the Hurst Conference Center. The invite said they are eager to showcase Texas writers, and would really like to feature a short-fiction specialist this year, as well as someone who could speak with authority on science fiction. See you there!

Update on "Raygun Chronicles"

Well, after one week the Raygun Chronicles kickstarter campaign is 15 percent of the way towards its goal of $8,000. It's averaged $200 a day - not shabby.

I didn't have time to post anything last week because of the crush of a deadline at the newspaper of an annual special section. It was an extra 24 tabloid pages published in the weekend paper. Glad that is out of the way. Like everyone else, some times are busier on the job than others.