|
John Carr
05-29-2009
00:25 UT
|
2009 IRREGULAR'S MUSTER
Once again, the Irregulars met at
the Original Waffle House on Atherton Street in State College,
Pennsylvania, in the heart of Hostigos. It was a beautiful spring
Pennsylvania day with a few dark clouds in the sky.
David
Hines and Wolf Diehr were waiting for me when I arrived at the Waffle
House at 9:30 a.m. the meeting time. Dennis Frank arrived shortly
thereafter and we waited in line about 10 minutes for a seat; not bad
considering it was Graduation Day at Penn State!
We had
an interesting conversation and a delicious breakfast. Since there were
only four of us this year, we decided to caravan together in Dennis's
car. We took the long way to Altoona in order to visit Bellefonte
(Hostigos Town) and stopped at the visitor's center so that Wolf could
take some pictures.
From there we drove to Williamsport
(about 50 minutes away) to the Lycoming Historical Museum to meet with
John Hunsinger at 1:00 p.m. David Hines was our guide as he had met
John while doing his own research on Beam and said he was very helpful
and knowledgeable about Williamsport. David is also a forensic
archaeologist and told us some interesting stories about his time in
Iraq, identifying remains in mass burial sites.
We reached
the museum right on time and John Hunsinger was waiting for us just
inside the foyer. He quickly informed us that he had only met Beam a
few times, when he did volunteer work at the Lycoming Museum, and that
Beam was quite the character. When they found a small cast-iron cannon
at the museum, Beam volunteered to proof it and everyone was surprised
when it went off without blowing up in their faces! Later they used the
sentry cannon at local football games; Beam was usually there to fire
it himself.
John informed us that Beam's friend Bob was
unable to attend because his wife was very sick. Bob, a former English
teacher, had been a drinking pal of Beam's and knew much more about him
than John. Maybe we can meet with him next year.
He also
took take us on a grand tour of the Lycoming Historical Museum. He had
worked on a number of exhibits, including the American Civil War
dioramas and the electric train collection.
John
Hunsinger said that someone, who was there for a lecture, had approached
him that morning after he saw John's copy of my Piper biography. He
told John that he was related to Freida Coleman, who was the wife of
Beam's best friend, Ferd Coleman. John introduced us and it turned out
he was her nephew, Paul Baumgartner. He remembered working for the
"Shoppers' Guide" with his brothers for Ferd Coleman in the very early
1950s. He said the "Shoppers' Guide" wasn't always real popular with
the local residents, since it was an early version of the "Pennysaver"
and chock-full of ads, so they and often got them handed back. One of
his brothers used to stuff them into the local sewers! Paul was more
conscientious and distributed each and every one of them, a
pain-in-the-ass which he still remembers vividly!
He also
knew Don Coleman and his younger brother Bud, who was close to the same
age as Leonard. We discussed Bud's tragic air accident, which sadly
mirrored that of his Dad's. It turned out Paul was the cousin who'd
sent Don a piece on Piper in the local paper, which Don had later
forwarded to me. I also met his wife, who remembered Aunt Freida
telling Piper stories with great fondness. It was an unexpected
pleasure to make their acquaintance.
We left Williamsport
and took Uncle Wolf and David on a tour of Seven Hills Valley and other
local Piper spots near Williamsport, including the transposition
drop-off point. Everyone was excited about seeing the turnabout and
little cliff, as well as the farmhouse where Piper was picked up by the
transtemporal conveyer.
From there, we decided to go to
Altoona and visit Piper's burial site. We were also on a hunt for the
American Legion brass sign that listed Altoona's notable Civil War
veterans, among them Beam's grandfather, Captain Henry Beam Piper!
Our
first stop was Fairview Cemetery. Appropriately, there was a light
rain falling just about the time we reached the Cemetery. We made our
way to the Piper/Maurer family plot and showed Wolf Beam's burial site.
Meanwhile, David told us that he'd seen Herbert Piper's grave marker on
his previous visit some ten years earlier. Dennis and I had gone over
that entire area (which included several hundred memorials) and had
never found a trace of Herbert's marker. Beam was buried next to his
mother, Harriet Piper. David went to the other side of her marker and
picked up a piece of wood and began to dig into the earth. While the
cemetery was deserted, I was a bit shocked by his casual bit of grave
digging.
I was also amazed at how well he worked with his
improvised tool; it's always a pleasure to watch an expert work, whether
it's a talented guitar picker or an experienced archaeologist. Within
minutes he'd dug 3 or 4 inches into the sod and, lo and behold, there it
was -- Herbert Piper's granite marker! He quickly cleaned off the
entire face and pushed back the surrounding dirt and vegetation -- all
without getting his hands dirty in all the mud.
For the first time, Dennis, Wolf and I got a look at Beam's father's grave marker.
Our
next part of the journey took us into downtown Altoona, a virtual maze
where there are two sets of numbered streets. We found the former
building of the Penn Alto Hotel, where Beam would get his Katinkas and
occasionally dinner, which is now a series of homes for the indigent.
David remembered that the old American Legion building was right next to
the Penn Alto. We wandered through the nearby streets for half an
hour, but couldn't find it. After another drive through the maze of
downtown Altoona, David had a memory flash and we returned to the Penn
Alto. He took us across the street to the civic building and there it
was -- the brass plate. We stared to search for Beam's grandfathers
name. We had to move some leaves to find it, but there it was "Henry
Beam Piper."
We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant,
talked up a storm and then headed back to State College and home. All
in all, a great day with some wonderful discoveries and the best of
company.
Uncle Wolf took some pictures, but I don't know if they turned out.
John Carr
|
|
Mike Robertson
05-28-2009
01:02 UT
|
I've been waiting patiently to hear how this year's muster went. Are there any pictures?
Mike Robertson
|
|
David Johnson
05-27-2009
20:11 UT
|
~
Tim Tow writes:
>I read on wikipedia that the copyright has lapsed on Piper's
>works allowing them to be released through Project Gutenberg. Is
>this true?
Yes, for most of Piper's work. Some items, like _Lord_Kalvan_of_Otherwhen_ remain copyrighted.
>Does this mean that anyone can use Piper's concepts in their own
>works now, e.g. someone other than Jerry Pournelle can write a
>sequel to Space Viking?
Yes (for those works with expired copyrights).
David
|
|
Tim
05-27-2009
15:30 UT
|
I read on wikipedia that the copyright has lapsed on Piper's works allowing them to be released through Project Gutenberg. Does
this also mean that anyone can use Piper's concepts in their own works
now, e.g. someone other than Jerry Pournelle can write and publish a
sequel to Space Viking or write sequels to the Fuzzy stories? By the way, I did get ahold of that copy of Adventures of Little Fuzzy and will be posting a review shortly. Edited 05-27-2009 15:32
|
|
David Johnson
05-26-2009
13:50 UT
|
~
Jim Broshot wrote:
> What would have been Calvin's age as of May 19, 1964?
>
> I assume that he would have been the same age on his new time
> line. So could he still be 'alive' in 2009?
John would be the expert here but I'm guessing Kalvan would be
pushing
80, though I imagine rebellious Zarthani princes, like Space Vikings
(and bold pirates), are not know for their longevity. . . .
Down Styphon!
David
--
"Our rulers are the barbarians among us. There isn't one of
them
. . . who is devoted to civilization or anything else outside
himself, and that's the mark of the barbarian." - Otto Harkaman (H.
Beam Piper), _Space_Viking_
~
|
|
|
Spam deleted by QuickTopic 10-28-2012 07:16
|
|
David Johnson
05-24-2009
01:36 UT
|
~
Tim Tow wrote:
> "Time was ... like s sheet of paper."
>
> That and the definition of sentience, "able to talk and build a
> fire."
>
[snip]
>
> Were these Piper original concepts?
Well,
Beam himself attributed the idea of parallel worlds to John Dunne in
"Time and Time Again." The second idea is presented as a
long-standing one within Federation culture in _Little_Fuzzy_.
Whether or not it was original to Beam in his fiction I don't know. . .
Yeek!
David
--
"Naturally.
Foxx Travis would expect a soul to be carried in a holster." - Miles
Gilbert (H. Beam Piper), "Oomphel in the Sky"
~
|
|
Tim
05-22-2009
10:52 UT
|
"Time was ... like s sheet of paper."
That and the definition of sentience, "able to talk and build a fire."
are my two favorite explanations of concepts in science fiction.
Were these Piper original concepts?
|
|
David Johnson
05-20-2009
06:36 UT
|
~
Calvin Morrison and the Paratime Secret
"He wasn't at any
time in the past or the future of May 19, 1964, when he'd walked into
that dome of light. He'd settled that in his mind definitely. So what
did that leave? Another time-dimension.
"Say time was a plane,
like a sheet of paper. . . . He wished he'd read more science fiction;
time dimensions were a regular science- fiction theme, and a lot of it
carefully thought out. Well, say he was an insect, capable of moving
only in one direction, crawling along a line on the paper, and say
somebody picked him up and set him down on another line.
"That
figured. And say, long ago, one of these lines of time had forked,
maybe before the beginning of recorded history. Or say these lines had
always existed, an infinite number of them, and on each one, things
happened differently. That could be it."
Today is the 45th anniversary of Calvin Morrison's accidental
transposition
to Aryan-Transpacific Sector, Styphon's House Subsector and the
beginning of his new life as Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.
Oath to Galzar!
David
--
H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan Saga: http://www.hostigos.com
~
|
|
Tim
05-19-2009
09:11 UT
|
Thanks for the suggestions. Piper had such a rich collection of
stories. Again I wish there were more. I haven't read them Paratime yet
but will start soon. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky was pretty
inspirational with its concept of gates to other worlds. It piqued their
interest about being able to go from place to place without physically
traversing the distance. Now any magic gate or other dimensional portal
is called a wormhole by them. They also know the difference
between a mere 3-d transportation portal that transports one through
space vs. a 4 dimensional portal that traverses time and space. I keep telling them they got to study science and develop wormhole technology when they get older. We shall see. Edited 05-19-2009 09:18
|
| |
Spam messages 238-236 deleted by QuickTopic between 01-24-2014 01:09 AM and 10-28-2012 02:16 AM |
|
Lensman
05-19-2009
00:13 UT
|
See. See Little Fuzzy. See Little Fuzzy run. Run, Little Fuzzy, run! That damnthing is getting close. See. See Uncle Jack. See Uncle Jack shoot the damnthing with the big 12.7 double express rifle. See. See Beam. See Beam write gun porn. See the author describing a rifle shot as hurtling a half-ton of beast backwards. Write, Beam, Write! Edited 05-19-2009 00:22
|
|
Tim
05-18-2009
13:42 UT
|
I'll have to check out Star Rangers then. I see so many stories nowadays
on fantasy with magic, especially time traveling ones. It would be good
to have a science fiction based time travel story. Kids in Paratime,
perhaps.
I believe there is at least one series like that already, but it seems to be outnumbered by the ones based on magic.
|
|
Jim Broshot
05-18-2009
06:55 UT
|
On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:40 AM, QT - Tim
<qtopic-42-tnfVKeAH3s4T@quicktopic.com> wrote:
> I've been interested in introducing my children to science
> fiction but have found very few appropriate books.
>
> Anyone have suggestions for the pre-teen reading age?
Going OT but
Books
by Andre Norton, for example STAR RANGERS (I think that is the title)
comes to mind. One of the first SciFi books I ever read, and as a
preteen, as I recall.
Jim Broshot
|
|
Tim
05-18-2009
06:40 UT
|
I just ordered a copy from Ebay. I now vaguely recall this book,
but never got the chance to read it. I'll post a review after reading
it. I've been interested in introducing my children to science fiction but have found very few appropriate books. Anyone have suggestions for the pre-teen reading age? The
short stories in Worlds of H. Beam Piper such as aforementioned
Omnilignual, Day of the Moron, Time and Time Again, The Mercenaries, the
Answer, or Crossroads of Destiny are ones I've considered. With all the interst in alternate history, a Crossroads of Destiny TV show might be successful now. Edited 05-18-2009 06:44
|
Jon Crocker  05-10-2009
05:01 UT
|
I'm not that surprised that they had to rework it a lot- it's hard to
work a stomping-death, rightful beat-down and subsequent shooting in
self-defense, and trial hinging upon the question of sapience into a
children's book...
Of course, I wasn't that old when I read
Little Fuzzy for the first time - I'm pretty certain that when I read
the scene where Jack shoots Kurt Borch, I thought something along the
lines of "wow, I bet mom didn't know *this* was in here when she checked
it out from the library!!" So I guess I have that Michael Whelen cover
to thank for a whole lot of Piper books that I've read.
|
|
Jack Russell
05-09-2009
22:34 UT
|
_Little_Fuzzy_ has been adapted as a children's book, but it bore virtually no resemblance to the original story.
Jack
< replied-to message removed by QT >
|
|
Gilmoure
05-09-2009
15:33 UT
|
Man, never heard of this children's version rework. Weird!
Am now
picturing a Little Fuzzy story in the old Golden Books style (Pokey
Lil' Puppy). Or a Dick And Jane style book. Wish I was an artist.
Might be fun!
G
On May 9, 2009, at 8:21 AM, QT - David Johnson wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >
|
David "PiperFan" Johnson 05-09-2009
15:31 UT
|
~
Links for Adventures and Whelan
Visit the Discussion Forum at the QT link above for unbroken links to The Adventures of Little Fuzzy and Michael Whelan's cover illustration.
~
|
|
David Johnson
05-09-2009
15:21 UT
|
~
Tim Tow wrote:
> Have any of Piper's work been adapted as children's stories? The
> Fuzzy stories would seem a natural fit.
Yep. _The_Adventures_of_Little_Fuzzy_:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResu...ntures+little+fuzzy
Michael Whelan did the cover for this one too:
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/catalog/collectiondetail.php?
products_id=217
> Omnilingual would make a
> great inspirational story to seed interest in science for kids.
Perhaps, except that the ancient Martian premise might not work so well in an elementary science classroom today. . . .
> I know Heinlein wrote juveniles,
_Four-Day_Planet_
has been described as a "juvenile" too, but it's one of my favorite
Piper yarns--and I haven't been a juvenile in decades!
Monster Ho!
David
--
"Do
you know which books to study, and which ones not to bother with? Or
which ones to read first, so that what you read in the others will be
comprehensible to you? That's what they'll give you [at
university] on Terra. The tools, which you don't have now, for
educating yourself." - Bish Ware (H. Beam Piper), _Four-Day_Planet_ ~
|
|
Tim
05-09-2009
14:36 UT
|
Maybe this could revive interest in Piper's works.
Have any of
Piper's work been adapted as children's stories? The Fuzzy stories would
seem a natural fit. Omnilingual would make a great inspirational story
to seed interest in science for kids.
I know Heinlein wrote juveniles, but I don't think many science fiction works have been written for much younger ages.
|
|
|
Spam deleted by QuickTopic 10-28-2012 07:16
|
|
Gilmoure
05-09-2009
04:06 UT
|
D'oh! Stripped my html address. Oh well, go to tor.com and search for Piper; you'll find it.
G
On May 8, 2009, at 9:00 PM, QT - Gilmoure wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >
|
|
Gilmoure
05-09-2009
04:00 UT
|
Here it it is: <http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_co...blog&id=17194#19030 >
POSTED WEDNESDAY MARCH 11, 2009 04:33PM EDT
Sapience and responsibility: H. Beam Piper\s Fuzzy books
JO WALTON
On May 8, 2009, at 6:32 PM, QT - David PiperFan Johnson wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >
|
David "PiperFan" Johnson 05-09-2009
01:32 UT
|
~ Just ran across a pretty good review of the Fuzzy Trilogy by Jo Walton over at Tor. David ~ Edited 05-09-2009 01:33
|
|
David Johnson
04-28-2009
13:45 UT
|
~
Tanit attacked by pirates!
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=800250
Satan take that accursed Prince Viktor of Ras Hafun!
David
--
"You
know, it's never a mistake to take a second look at anything that
everybody believes." - Rodney Maxwell (H. Beam Piper),
"Graveyard of Dreams"
~
|
New Topic
My Topics
Views:
35310
(Unique:
9358
) / Subscribers:
27 | What's this?