Everything You Need to Know
About George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers
by Natalie Zutter George R.R. Martin writes in
the “Oldies But Goodies” section of his official website, “ . . . I had been a professional writer for
twenty-five years when A Game of Thrones was
published in 1996.” Before he set sail
for Westeros, before he had even begun constructing the intricate history of
ASOIAF, Martin was exploring the far reaches of space writing sci-fi/horror
hybrids in another self-created universe known as the “Thousand Worlds.” In this GRRM-verse exists Nightflyers, a “haunted spaceship” novella that is
being resurrected as a television series on Syfy. forty years ago, Nightflyers has existed in many forms: novella, expanded novella, movie, and now a
TV show that will turn a story into an ongoing series. Nightflyers, as well as the Hugo and Nebula-winning
novelette Sandkings, was the direct
result of a writer being told he couldn’t do something: “ [T]he inspiration for both of those
stories,” Martin
explained, “was a statement I
read somewhere by a critic, to the effect that SF and horror was opposites, and
fundamentally incompatible. As a
lifelong fan of both, that assertion struck me as nonsense, so I set out to
prove it wrong by blending the two genres together. Worked out pretty well for me.” The original version, clocking in at
23,000 words, was published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in
1980. The next year, Martin expanded the
novella to 30,000 words so that it could be included in Dell’s Binary Star
series, which pairs two works in one book; Nightflyers joined
Vernor Vinge’s cyberpunk novella True Names. The later Nightflyers, which
was also published in Bluejay Books’ 1985 collection, is Martin’s
preferred version. In 1981, Nightflyers was nominated for the Hugo Award for
Best Novella. While it did not win the
Hugo, it did win the Locus Award (for Best Novella) and the 1983 Seiun Award in
Japan (for foreign short fiction). Read
extensive article with pictures at
How to Talk to People, According to Terry Gross The NPR host offers 8 spicy tips for having better
conversations. “Tell me about yourself,” a.k.a the only
icebreaker you’ll ever need. The beauty in opening with “tell me about yourself” is
that it allows you to start a conversation without the fear that you’re going
to inadvertently make someone uncomfortable or self-conscious. Posing a broad question lets people lead you
to who they are. As an interviewer, Ms.
Gross’s goal is to find out how her subject became who they are; as a
conversationalist, make that goal your own.
A good conversationalist is somebody who is fun to talk to,” she said. Ms. Gross, it’s worth noting, is very
funny. If you can’t be funny, being
mentally organized, reasonably concise and energetic will go a long way in
impressing people. Jolie Kerr Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/style/self-care/terry-gross-conversation-advice.html See also The Would-Be Lyricist: In conversation with
NPR's Terry
Gross at
https://www.comnetwork.org/insights/terrygross/
Silent Night might be one of the sweetest
Christmas carols there is, but following the trail of the man who wrote it
exactly 200 years ago involves an unexpectedly macabre twist. "The skull is embedded behind
there," says guide Sepp Greimel, pointing at a nativity scene over the
altar of the chapel we're stood in. The
skull, mercifully not visible, belongs to Josef Mohr, Catholic priest and joint
composer of the Christmas carol that has been translated from its original
"Stille Nacht" into more languages than there are countries in the
United Nations. Its final resting place,
the small Austrian town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, is aptly named for his most
famous verse: the Silent Night
chapel. From the top of a nearby levee,
the river Salzach can be seen making a large U-bend only a few hundred yards
from the chapel. Beyond it, the
picturesque town of Laufen lies over the border in Germany. They had both prospered from the river trade
in salt, especially since a large boulder in the bend, known as Nocken, forced
barges to stop here, unload and reload. The
Salzach was the blessing of the two towns, but also, thanks to frequent floods,
their curse--hence the levee. "There
was a terrible flood here in 1899," Greimel says, his voice trembling as
if he'd experienced it himself. "It
destroyed the old Oberndorf center. "The
villagers then decided to build a new church 600 yards to the south, on higher
ground." It was an earlier flood
that was responsible for "Silent Night." For the full story, it's time to go back to
the beginning. The Oberndorf museum at
the old parsonage opposite the Silent Night chapel picks up the story with its
exhibits focusing on that Christmas Eve, 1818.
The church organist at the time was Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher
only five years older than Mohr, who worked in the village of Arnsdorf three
miles north. As floodwaters from the
Salzach had been regularly inundating Oberndorf--including the church of St
Nicholas--water damage had left the organ in need of a visit from the tuner. To provide alternative music, Mohr picked up
a poem he'd written and asked Gruber to put it to music for guitar and two
voices. Gruber knocked it out in an
afternoon. Although Gruber had a
portrait painted during his rather successful lifetime, there was no image left
of Mohr, who died young. To create a
likeness, a sculptor, Josef Muehlbacher, had Mohr's skull exhumed from his
grave in the village of Wagrein, the priest's last posting. All the portraits we have of him, including
those in the Silent Night chapel, are Muehlbacher's imagined impressions. For whatever reasons, the skull never found
its way back to Wagrein, and is interred behind the nativity scene in the
Silent Night chapel meaning, somewhat ironically, that his remains have not
been left to sleep in heavenly peace. John Malathronas
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/silent-night-salzburg/index.html
Thank you, Muse reader!
In 1859,
John Freeman Young, second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida,
published the English translation of
Silent Night that is most frequently sung today. The common melody we
know today differs slightly from Gruber's original (particularly
in the final strain) which was an up tempo, dance-like tune in 6/8
time versus the slow, melodic lullaby version generally sung
today. The original manuscript has been lost; however, a manuscript in
Mohr's handwriting which has been dated by researchers as ca. 1820, was
discovered in 1995. The melody of "Stille Nacht" bears
resemblance to aspects of Austrian folk music and yodelling showing the
influence of the musical tradition of Gruber's rural roots. Another popular story claims that, once
performed, the carol was promptly forgotten until an organ repairman found the
manuscript in 1825 and revived it. The manuscript by Mohr dated 1820 and
the fact that Gruber published various arrangements of the carol throughout his
lifetime would seem to discount this story as another romantic legend. Mohr's manuscript is kept at the Museum
Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg. See graphics at http://unforgettablechristmasmusic.blogspot.com/2012/02/history-of-song-silent-night.html
NEWS IN
BRIEF New York Motorists Vote To Shift Wreaths That
Have Infuriated Them For Years
The Holland Tunnel connects lower Manhattan with Jersey City, N.J. For decades, the decorations that adorn this
landmark tunnel during the holiday season have been driving some commuters nuts. https://www.npr.org/2018/12/17/677504185/new-york-motorists-vote-to-shift-wreaths-that-have-infuriated-them-for-years
Connecticut-based
internet service provider Charter
Spectrum has been ordered to pay customers $62 million in a fraud
settlement after the state attorney general found it had misled customers by
advertising internet speeds it couldn’t deliver. According to a December 18, 2018
announcement, it’s the largest consumer refund from an ISP in US history. The total consumer fraud settlement is $174.2
million, the rest of which will come in the form of premium channels and
streaming services. Individuals will
receive between $75 and $150 each. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nepmj7/ny-state-residents-will-get-dollar625-million-in-settlement-for-terrible-broadband A petition accusing Disney of "colonialism and robbery" for
trademarking a phrase used in the film The Lion King has attracted more than
30,000 signatures. "Hakuna
matata" means "no problem" or "no worries" in the
Swahili language, which is spoken across East Africa. Disney first applied to trademark the
catchphrase in 1994--the same year it released The Lion King
animation. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46605515 A Kentucky
radio station has decided to show its support for the newly controversial song
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” by playing it on repeat for two hours. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/radio-station-supports-baby-cold-outside-playing-repeat-two-hours-straight-220515962.html This
year's winter solstice is special,
as it falls on the night of December’s Full Cold Moon, December 21, 2018. Although the moon will not peak until the
following night, December 22, for most people around the world, a near full
moon will be visible for many nights during this time period. The last time
these events coincided was 2010, and according to The Farmer's Almanac, the next time a
full moon will actually peak during a winter solstice won’t be until 2094. https://people.com/home/winter-solstice-2018/
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com December 19, 2018 Issue 2007
353rd day of the year
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