Doxacon

I went to Doxacon, a Christian science fiction and fantasy convention. It was on Saturday, Feb. 8th, in Woodinville, a suburb of Seattle. Its name comes from the fact it was founded by an Eastern Orthodox priest.

Scenery outside

The attendance was somewhat over fifty, compared to a normal six thousand for Norwescon or thousands more for Worldcon.

One of the volunteers running things was Megan.

The day started with a worship service, the Daily Morning Prayer service of the Anglican/Episcopal Church.

Then, while people were getting coffee or tea or finding their seats, a tall woman with long dark hair simply stood at her table. She wore a black sheath with a couple of gold chains at her waist. She didn’t seem to be looking for anyone, so that was puzzling.

She turned out to be SK Ehra, an author and the first speaker. So she had been standing like that to get a feel for the audience. She gave a lengthy, detailed lecture on science fiction, fantasy, and horror. She granted that these can be forms of escapism. But they are a way of going beyond the material universe to grasp truths that we know exist. She used illustrations from a number of books to show such fiction can ask us hard questions about ourselves.

She gave a defense of horror I had never heard before. When horror is done right, it reflects different mental states. If I remember correctly, a person haunted by a ghost may be having guilt for past sins. (Or it could be bad memories. I apologize if I got that wrong.)

Afterwards, I went up to her and said that was the best lecture I had ever heard on the subject, and I had been to many Norwescons and Worldcons. Her lecture was so good because she emphasized the fallen nature of the world.

The Writers Panel was composed of Reece Friesen, Tasha Kennedy, Suzanne Hayek, Aaron Ryan, Rosamund Hodge, and Kevin King. Sorry, I didn’t think to get a group picture. You might look up their books and see what you think.

There were a number of other sessions, some similar to a regular con, some very different. I’m glad I went and experienced something different.

Norwescon III—Supplemental

As usual, Norwescon featured some Roman Legionnaires:

 

They just can’t help but get in fights.

I did not take many pictures this year of people in their costumes. I did in 2022, and took me an immense time to crop and post them all. So with apologies to people who put so much effort into their cosplay, here are a few examples.

This couple just looked too good to ignore.

And we had an impressive swordswoman.

To my delight, Captain Kangaroo made a surprise appearance.

 

 

And what do we think? With the blonde hair, is she half Human, half Vulcan?

Here is Torrey Stenmark in her competition costume. To see her floor costume, click here.

She seems to be a female Han Solo. Agree? Disagree?

So with a blaster in the holster and a light saber held high.

Kirstie Alley Passed Away

Kirstie Alley passed away at the age of 71. She was best known for her long-running role in Cheers. But her breakout role was in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

 

photo by Alan Light

She played Lieutenant Saavik, a Vulcan. Kirstie Alley said she had practiced arching one eyebrow for years, which she was convinced help her land the part.

Saavik was unusual in that she showed a good amount of emotion for a Vulcan, even shedding a tear at a funeral. This was later explained in the books that she was only half Vulcan. Since this was never mentioned in the films, that information is not considered canonical.

(Yes, the terms canonical and non-canonical come from how Bible scholars refer to the books of the Bible as canon—coming from a Hebrew word for a measuring rod—and other ancient religious texts as not canon. In Star Trek, the TV shows and movies are canon, while the books are not. Are we clear?)

So Kirstie Alley will be remembered for a number of roles she played, but many fans will chiefly remember her for the unique spin she brought to a Star Trek character.

 

Nichelle Nichols Passed Away

Nichelle Nichols, who was the original Uhura in Star Trek, passed away. You can read all about her at various sites, but I’ll try to put a unique spin on my comments. The Uhura who was played by Nichelle Nichols was African, not African-American. This could be seen from her easy facility with Swahili and the décor of her quarters. It could be argued that she might have been an aficionado of African culture, but the original series was obviously trying to impress on us that she was from Africa.

The Uhura in the new movies, played by Zoe Saldana, is obviously African-American. She acts like a typical young woman raised in America. Except for her name, she could have been a Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, etc. character, and there would have been no difference.

The Uhura in the new series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, played by Celia Rose Gooding, is definitely African, not African-American. How do I know? Watch the series.

public domain

And just to put my own self-serving spin on things, I had a short story published in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Vol. 5 some years ago. How could this be? Was it time travel?

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Star Trek: Voyager—Animated!

What do you mean, you don’t remember the animated version of Star Trek: Voyager? Here is a snippet.

Doesn’t that bring back memories?

Star Trek: The Next Generation—Animated!

What do you mean, you don’t remember the animated version of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Here is a snippet.

 

Doesn’t that bring back memories?

Book Purge / Star Trek

So it was time to pack up some books that I either won’t need anymore or decided weren’t that interesting. Holding the box in front of the used bookstore, I was surprised by a sign that stated they were now buying books by appointment. Still standing there in front of the windows, I called the number on the sign. They weren’t taking any appointments at the moment since they were all booked up for August. Later I made an appointment for September.

Notice I put the Star Trek Encyclopedia prominently on top. Am I not interested in Star Trek anymore? No. It’s just that such printed reference guides for the shows and movies are obsolete. The online guides are more complete because they can be constantly updated.

Anyway, we are supposedly getting a new series, called Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This might be good for your truly, since a long time ago Star Trek had a series of contests for amateur writers to submit short stories. I finally had a story accepted in the fifth year of the contest. And what was that series of books called? Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. People may get confused and buy the books (hopefully the fifth one), thinking they are related to the new series.

Not my fault.

Copyright

It may surprise readers (and wannabe writers) that legally, writers do not sell stories. That’s how it’s described in everyday terms, such as selling a story to a magazine or selling a novel to a publisher. But in legal terms, what writers sell is copyright.

This can become extremely complicated. See my post on speakers at Norwescon on how publishers try to get the rights to audiobooks. They will also try to get the rights to movie versions, graphic book versions, action figures, t-shirts, etc. This all has to be negotiated. But it underlines the fact that what the writer sells is copyright to the story. In some contracts, the rights revert to the writer if sales of the novel fall below a certain point. And there are nightmare stories of a publisher going bankrupt, and writers have no clear path to recovering their copyright.

On the lighter side, the old Star Trek did some black and white publicity photos. They never copyrighted them. They are public domain.

Don’t know who this is? Watch an old show.

Star Trek Bohemian Rhapsody

No, you cannot go until you see the bottom of this post.

The movie Bohemian Rhapsody is out. But you haven’t truly experienced it until you hear it in the original William Shatner:

Scaramouch! Scaramouche!

Which brings me to my own Star Trek credit. My short story “Yeoman Figgs” was published in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds V some years ago. This is a real Star Trek publication, not some fanfic.

You can read the start if you manage to look inside at p. 33. But if you like what you see, please buy a copy at Amazon or Barnes &Noble.

Trek vs. Galactica

I didn’t watch the new Star Trek on Sunday. The SyFy channel very cleverly ran a Battlestar Galactica marathon over the weekend, and I was recording a stellar episode when the new Trek was playing.

To show you how important this sort of thing is, here’s a picture of yours truly standing near the actual prop that was used as Apollo’s viper throughout the series:

Notice the realistic detail, including the NO STEP on the wing.

To be fair, here I am in front of the actual chair Captain Kirk sat in during the original Star Trek:

Yes, it took me a few takes to get the chair and my head lined up, and my eyebrow just right. Can you blame me?