I am on vacation this week at Sandbridge Beach, Virginia, near Virginia Beach, not far from the battle of Yorktown mentioned in Nature's God. In one of those synchronicities that science fiction fans sometimes run into, we are staying on condo no. 334 (which is also the name of a Thomas M. Disch novel). When I met my wife, she told me she got her undergraduate degree at Clarion University, and I puzzled her by exclaiming, "Oh, Clarion is famous!"
On our way, we stopped to visit the Flight 93 memorial. The biographies of the passengers and crew are almost a miniature novel.
Speaking of being a science fiction fan, getting caught up on my reading is always a part of going on vacation for me, and I've been reading Jo Walton's history of the Hugo Award. It's not a perfect book, but it's a lot of fun for people who have read lots of science fiction. Arthur Hlavaty's numerous nominations for Best Fan Writer are mentioned, and Walton writes, "People could still nominate Arthur Hlavaty now. He's still a terrific fan writer. He has a wonderful way of putting things."
1 comment:
Jo has been a friend (online and occasionally in person) since before she was a published writer, and I have enjoyed a number of her novels (particularly Among Others). It feels good to be praised by someone who writes that well.
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