Starship Fonzie Transcript - 11/30/2024
Greetings, all my fellow Milwookies, homo-sapiens, and all other sentient lifeforms of the Planet Earth. This is Starship Fonzie, the official podcast of the Milwaukee Science Fiction and Fantasy League. I’m your host, Eric J. Hildeman, and we’re going to let you know what’s going on in the SFF world generally, and in Milwaukee particular.
This podcast is being pre-recorded live from the planet Walloch 9 where the sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit are plotting to seize power withing the Imperium.
Actually, it’s coming to you from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or as it’s better known, the world’s beer garden.
Welcome to the episode #45 of Starship Fonzie! We’re in episode #12 in our fourth year of existence. There’s a lot to go over, so let’s get under. Way, that is.
It’s been too long since our last episode. A lot has happened, not the least of which was the travesty which was the presidential election. Those of us that love future dystopias within science fiction are all just a little bit more nervous now, because it looks like such a dystopia is about to get underway. We’re in a post-democracy America now. It’s officially an oligarchy. And we have to hope that Donald Trump is too incompetent and self-absorbed to completely destroy everything. Or, we can hope for a different science-fiction themed ending and wait for the Technological Singularity to come and save us.
Either way, it really does look like Octavia Butler’s landmark novel, “Parable of the Sower” may just be upon us.
The Milwaukee Falcon project is on hold pretty much as a direct result. I don’t expect things in America to get really bad for a couple years at least, but really we don’t know what to expect with our government right now. Anything disruptive could happen. And we simply can’t forge a new convention when something tumultuous could happen at any moment.
Now, we’re not giving up! One way or another Milwaukee will get a fan-run sci-fi con underway. But for now, we all need to focus on keeping things together as much as possible.
So, yeah, part of why this podcast hasn’t done much recently was just, you know, taking some time to process. But also, there really wasn’t much going on in the way of science fiction news. For, like, a whole month, it was just super quiet. Until, suddenly, around the end of October, a big news story broke! So let’s just dive right into that, shall we?
No recent SF news story is more interesting than the recent development having to do with a certain science fiction writer whom many of us have defended in the recent past, the Nigerian author Ochenogovwe Donald Ekpeki. A woman named Erin Cairns stepped forward to accuse Ekpeki of purloining her work and passing it off as his own. And in the writing community, there is no greater crime than plagiarism.
As a result, he seemed to be on everybody’s shit list. He lost his Board Member At Large position within SFWA, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Association. And a lot of people on social media verified that they’d had difficulties with him as well. FIYAH Con, for example, said that they’d had difficulties with him in the past. Naturally the racist trolls who hounded him, and possibly even caused him to be detained by Federal officials when he was supposed to be attending a convention in L.A., did a victory lap over his demise. Because of course they would. Jon Del Arroz even accused SFWA of falling for a “Nigerian Prince scam.” It all felt like a bitter pill to swallow. And that, we all thought, was that.
But wait! Not so freakin’ fast! By November 8th, File770 reported that the two main accusations made by Erin Cairns against Ekpeki were proven to be false!
Let me just read part of it for you: “File 770 has identified the publication. An anonymous source in a position to have direct knowledge has verified that when Ekpeki submitted the story (1) his cover letter identified Erin Cairns as the co-author, and (2) the manuscript had both authors’ named on the title page. File 770 has seen archived copies of the documents.”
Boom!
Take that, racists! And take that too, Jon Del Arroz, you utter shlemiel! You’ve been proven to be full of shit – AGAIN!
Now, Ekpeki isn’t 100% off the hook, here. He has still been shown to be difficult, as various other outlets have reported, and he has a history of not being clear with people he’s worked with. Is he a good writer? Yes. A good editor? It seems so. A good collaborator? Eeeeh, maybe not. But if you were bummed out that a guy you stood up for, and possibly even gave money to, turned out to be a skunk, well, you can breathe a sigh of relief. He’s not a skunk, just a porcupine.
The reason we know with absolute certainty that the trolls who harassing Ekpeki were doing so solely due to his nationality and color of his skin, is because the main person who coordinated the GoFundMe to get Ekpeki into the U.S. during Chicon 8, was an upstanding man named Jason Sanford.
Sanford was the one person who had evidence relating to Erin Cairns claims dating back to 2022, when she first told him that a well-known author had exploited her work. But she didn't reveal to Sanford who the author in question was. So he was in the dark about all of it. Had anyone else had any evidence against Ekpeki, they would have brought it to Sanford's attention way back in 2022 in time for Chicon 8. But that didn't happen. Why? Because nobody else had anything solid, either.
Now that this particular issue has come to light, Sanford has stated in his newsletter that he wishes Cairns had named the author in question beforehand, and that’s understandable, but now that Ekpeki has been at least partially vindicated, he shouldn’t feel so bad.
The other big news story that broke is, of course, the dumpster fire burning across the Internet – no, not X.com, although that’s a total sinkhole, too – I speak, of course, of NaNoWriMo.
NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month, suffered a lot last year because it had gotten bloated, and bureaucratical, and the leadership sucked, and they had a weirdo in charge of the forums, and it was just drama, drama, drama. I went into it in detail last year, if you feel like checking out the Starship Fonzie episode from a year ago.
Now, this year, NaNoWriMo has again stirred controversy, this time by issuing a position statement on the use of generative A.I., which initially stated that A.I. can be a useful tool for those who are disabled or from marginalized communities who would otherwise not have access to the inner circle of the publishing industry. Well, naturally this ignited a huge backlash. After all, NaNoWriMo is supposed to support human beings doing the writing, not have machines do it. I mean, the whole point of NaNoWriMo was to encourage the kind of commitment it takes to sit down and write a novel, and using A.I. just seems to be cheating. So, the was a huge hue and cry, and NaNoWriMo amended their statement, and then amended it again when that proved inadequate to quiet the critic, and then amended it again, and then amended it once more, and that finally resembled something that the few NaNoWriMo participants left could live with. But the damage was done. Most people participating now refer to their novel as their “November writing project,” or participate in some other private way.
Which leads me into my next segment. I’ve been known to sometimes have a bogus commercial on this podcast from time to time. But this time, I have a real commercial. That’s right, an actual sponsor. Now, admittedly, that sponsor is me, and so the actual amount of money I’m earning from this advertisement is zero, but it’s an actual ad this time, not a fake one.
Here it is: A word from our sponsor. Not so sort of.
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year?
Well, don't.
Seriously, November is a stupid month to do a national writing month. You have TONS to do that time of year, whether it be taking down the Halloween decorations, putting up the Christmas decorations, getting ready for Thanksgiving, getting a jump on your Christmas shopping, making sure you get your leaves down to the curb before the final leaf-pick-up day in your city or village, etc., etc.
You don't have time for novel writing in November. Unless you're a complete hermit, none of us do.
Which is why, for the second straight year, I'm pushing the idea of "NotNovWriMo." That is, doing your novel writing month in some other month besides November.
My personal pick? January. When the holidays are over, all the parties have concluded, and you're there with a (hopefully) mild hangover on January 1st with nothing better to do on your day off than watch an old movie or, better yet, start on your book's opening chapter. But you pick the month that suits you.
Best of all, all you need to do is write. You don't need to buy a t-shirt, or participate in a group, join a Discord forum, or have to put up with the endless B.S. and tiresome drama that NaNoWriMo has undergone in recent years.
Screw 'em.
Not-November Writing Month! It's a beautiful thing!
Time to hear about the fun stuff happening in Milwaukee!
Well, as I’m finishing this podcast, I’m also getting ready for Krampusnacht, which is happening this Sunday, December 1st, which is tomorrow. Krampusnacht is an old German tradition. It has to do with St. Nicholas’ Day. St. Nicholas, as we all know, gives out candy and presents to all the good children. But Krampus, he’s kind of the opposite character. Krampus will deal harshly with all the children who have been bad. He’s sort of a goat-headed, Satanic looking hobgoblin. But he’s furry, so that’s adorable.
Now, as I said, this is an old tradition which has been celebrated in Germany and elsewhere in Europe for centuries. But in Milwaukee, it’s only been going on for the last several years. Which is odd, because this was never done before, not even in Milwaukee’s heyday of being the German Athens of the Midwest. These days, Milwaukee isn’t as German as it used to be; like a lot of Midwest cities, most of the white people fled to the suburbs in the 60’s and 70’s, but the German heritage of so many people left its mark on Milwaukee in more ways than just the brewing of beer. This is one small way in which the old German ways are beginning to reassert themselves in Brewtown, and it goes hand in hand with other German things like its Christkindel Market, Biergartens, and restaurants like Mader’s and Kegel’s Inn.
The Milwaukee Science Fiction & Fantasy League will have a table there! Come down and say hi! And we’ll be featuring our Wall of Fame along with a bunch of other vendors. If you get a chance, check it out. The event begins at 3:00 and lasts until 9:00 PM. There’s a parade and bonfire to close out, and it’s a lot of fun.
Well, recently we had a couple of birthdays. One was mine. I’m now 54, and feeling great. But last Monday was also the birthday of another Milwaukeean, the actor Jeffrey Doucette, who turned 76. You know what that means, let’s Pour Him A Cold One!
[Beer Pour]
Jeff Doucette was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Marquette University High School in the mid-1960s. After high school, he attended Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, where he became the very first Theater Major. In 1974, he moved to Chicago, joining The Second City improv theater. While there, he met Ernst Emling, and the two of them formed the comedy duo Jeff and Ernst. They toured the U.S. with folk singer Bob Gibson.
In 1976, Doucette moved to Los Angeles, where he networked with many important comedy stars, which helped his acting career. To date, Doucette has appeared in over 92 films and television series. Items of genre interest include Splash, Weird Science, Alien Nation, and 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Doucette is also a writer and director of sci fi. One of the two plays he’s written is called Big Head Women, a science-fiction comedy.
Interestingly, he also played the role of Benjamin Franklin in numerous television commercials.
In 2014, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Student Film Festival Hollywood (ISFFH).
For all this and more, Jeffrey Doucette, YOU deserve a Cold One!
No interview segment this time. We're sort of doing an abbreviated episode, you know, just to get back into things. But I anticipate we'll have one more episode before the year is out. In the meantime, thanks for listening, and... hang in there, everybody.
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