Mike Hodel's Hour 25

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November 2002


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Index to our previous shows

  • Shows from December, 2002
  • November 29, 2002 - Loscon 29
  • November 17, 2002 - Laurie R. King
  • November 3, 2002 - Tom Doherty
  • Shows from October, 2002
  • Shows from September, 2002
  • Shows from August, 2002
  • Shows from July, 2002
  • Shows from June, 2002
  • Shows from May, 2002
  • Shows from April, 2002
  • Shows from March, 2002
  • Shows from February, 2002
  • Shows from January, 2002
  • Shows from December 2001
  • Shows from November, 2001
  • Shows from October, 2001
  • Shows from September, 2001
  • Shows from August, 2001
  • Shows from July, 2001
  • Shows from June, 2001
  • Shows from May, 2001
  • Shows from April, 2001
  • Shows from March, 2001
  • Shows from February, 2001
  • Shows from January, 2001
  • Shows from November - December, 2000
  • Shows from September - October, 2000
  • Shows from July - August, 2000

  • Loscon 29

    On Friday - November 29th, 2002 - Hour 25 was at Loscon bringing you interviews with some of the convention's Guests of Honor. Our first guest was writer David Weber, well known for his military SF and fantasy. Our next guest was Tadao Tomomatsu, the convention's Chairman. And our last guest was Patty Wells, the fan Guest of Honor. The home page for Loscon has some nice bios for these folks, so I'll just point you there for more information.

       David Weber - Picture  Copyright © 2002 by Suzanne Gibson.
    David Weber

    Tadao Tomomatsu - Picture  Copyright © 2002 by Suzanne Gibson.
    Tadao Tomomatsu
         Patty Wells - Picture  Copyright © 2002 by Suzanne Gibson.
    Patty Wells
    All pictures Copyright © 2002, Suzanne Gibson


    LOSCON 29

    Note : It is obviously to late for you to go to this year's Loscon, but the information below will point you to information about Loscon 30, which will be happening over Thanksgiving weekend 2003. We'll see you there.

    It is almost Thanksgiving in the U.S., and here in Southern California that means more than just time for turkey dinner and football. It means it's time for Loscon, the annual convention put on by the good folks at LASFS.

    To let you know about this year's Loscon we've got an interview with Tadao Tomomatsu, the convention's chairman. I had so much fun just chatting with Tadao, and enjoying his great sense, that we hardly got around to actually talking about the con. But then again, enjoyable conversation is what conventions like Loscon are all about. So if you want the hard info on the when, where and whats... look below or follow the links to the LASFS and Loscon web sites.

    And if you're in the Southern California area, drop on by. We're going to be doing Hour 25 live at the convention and we'd love to see you there. And while there you'll be able to enjoy the company and conversation of other people who enjoy recreational thinking.

    November 29 - December 1, 2002

    Burbank Hilton and Convention Center
        2500 Hollywood Way
        Burbank, CA 91506
        Hotel Telephone : (818) 843-6000
        Hotel Fax : (818) 842-9720

    Tadao Tomomatsu : Con Chair
    Writer Guest of Honor : David Weber
    Artist Guest of Honor : Nene Thomas
    Fan Guest of Honor : Patty Wells

    Hour 25, Panels, Dealers Room, Art Show, Ice Cream Social, Filking, Gaming, Masquerade, Dancing, interesting conversation and much more.

    Web Sites for more information:    LOSCON 29    LASFS    Previous LOSCONs

    LASFS {The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society} holds meetings each Thursday evening at 8:10 PM in their clubhouse at 11513 Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood, California. {Their clubhouse is just east of the Hollywood Freeway (170).} If you're in the area,drop on by. You'll probably make some new friends. For more information call them at : (818) 760-9234.



    Listen to this show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:04:09}
      Or
    • Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening and interview with David Weber. {34:51}
    • Click here for the Tadao Tomomatsu interview. {11:02}
    • Click here for this week's space news. {8:54}
    • Click here for the Patty Wells interview. {6:59}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{1:42}
      Or for more Hour 25 Interviews
    • To hear more about previous Loscons, use these links to hear our Loscon shows from 2001 and 2000.
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.
    Click here if you have a problem hearing the show and you're using Internet Explorer.


    The Great Hour 25 Disk Crash of 2002 - On-Going News

    As a result of our recent hard disk crash the Hour 25 newsletter mailing list has vanished into the digital darkness. It would be very helpful if subscribers to the Hour 25 Newsletter would resend their email addresses to me {wwjames@earthlink.net} so I can reconstitute the Newsletter mailing list. {If you have done this "post-crash" then I have your email address and you don't need to do anything.} New editions of the newsletter will start coming out "real soon now".

    In the same vein, if you previously sent in an entry for the Karen Willson Five Word Challenge, now would be a good time for you to fish around in your "sent mail" folder and resend your entry. Or come up with a new one and send it in. {And please put "Five Word Challenge" or some approximation thereof in the subject line of your email to make it easy for me to keep track of your entry.}



    Links for more information relating to this week's show

    David Weber
  • You can visit the Baen Free Library to read free{!} electronic versions of some of the books that Dave and I talked about tonight. Or you can go to the Baen WebScriptions site where you can - for a modest price - get electronic versions of various books before they appear in print.
  • You can learn more about David Weber by going to the web site for his Unofficial Fan Club.
  • You can order copies of David's books from the David Weber Web Page at Baen Books.
  • If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 web site, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web. {People who have subscribed to the newsletter before should do so again as I am having to regenerate the Hour 25 Newsletter Mailing List following the Great Hard Disk Crash of 2002. «Sigh».}

    Space News
  • James Oberg broke the news about Russian plans for "demanning" the ISS. Click here to read his report about this situation. {I'd love to know how he got the JSC documents that describe their plans for dealing with this problem.} Jim Oberg is one of the good guys. His books and articles are known for their accuracy and up to the minute reporting. You can read more of his articles and reports at his web site. Most highly recommended!
  • You can learn more about the current status of the Galileo project by going to its web site.

    Russian Space Activities
  • Information about the Russian space program can be found at the Russian Space Web. Additional information about the Russian space program can be found at Sven's Space Place.
  • Perhaps the best place to learn about the Russian space program, both current and past, is at the famous Encyclopedia Astronautica. This web site has a wealth of information and one can spend many hours there learning about Russian and American space projects. Most highly recommended!

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Reusable Launch & Space Vehicle News web site web page that is part of the Hobby Space web site is a really good place to watch for news about, well... Reusable Launch Vehicles and related subjects. I check it out just about every day and often find news there that doesn't show up anywhere else. Give it a look. {And while you're there be sure to check out some of the site's other pages. Wow! Is there a lot of information there.}
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

    Please note web pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

  • Return to the Index for this month's shows


    This Week - Laurie R. King

    On Sunday - November 17th, 2002 - our guest was Laurie R. King, an author whose books are always interesting and great fun to read, be they set in the Victorian era featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell or in contemporary times featuring San Francisco detective Kate Martinelli.
    Her new book, Justice Hall, brings back the Bedouins Ali and Mahmoud Hazr from O Jerusalem and involves Holmes and Russell in a case involving deceit and treachery. All set against the backdrop of the early 20th century and the cultural changes brought about by World War I. As she has done before, Laurie extends the the Holmes universe into new territory while not violating the spirit of the original stories. Highly recommended.

    Now I know that some people may wonder why we're covering a Sherlock Holmes book on a show that is oriented around science and science fiction. Well, there are many answers to that question.

    On the one hand, Laurie King is a really good writer and we enjoy her books, but just as important she has many great insights into the craft of writing. If you want to be a writer, Laurie is someone you should pay attention to.

    On the other hand, the world view of the Holmes stories is a great match for the world view of science fiction since both revolve around rationality and the idea that the world is, after a fashion, knowable and understandable. As a result, many of the people who enjoy science fiction also enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories.

       Laurie R. King
    Copyright © 2000, Seth Affounado courtesy of Bantam Books

    Justice Hall by Laurie R. King - Cover  Copyright © 2002 by Random House books.
    Cover Copyright © 2002,
    Random House Books
    And on the gripping hand, I love Sherlock Holmes stories and came to them through Hour 25. Mike Hodel was a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and often talked about them on the air and even wrote a Holmes story of his own, Enter the Lion.

    Unlike many people I had not read Sherlock Holmes as a boy, but hearing Mike talk about the stories got me interested in them. And then one day I found Mike's book in a bookstore and decided to give it a read. I was hooked. From there I went on to read and enjoy the original Conan Doyle stories and all the other stories people have written using Holmes as a character.

    So for me, Sherlock Holmes and Hour 25 will always be joined together. A show with one leg in the future and the other in that world of fog, gaslights and hansom cabs, the world where it is always 1898. Thanks, Mike.



    LOSCON 29

    It is almost Thanksgiving in the U.S., and here in Southern California that means more than just time for turkey dinner and football. It means it's time for Loscon, the annual convention put on by the good folks at LASFS.

    To let you know about this year's Loscon we've got an interview with Tadao Tomomatsu, the convention's chairman. I had so much fun just chatting with Tadao, and enjoying his great sense, that we hardly got around to actually talking about the con. But then again, enjoyable conversation is what conventions like Loscon are all about. So if you want the hard info on the when, where and whats... look below or follow the links to the LASFS and Loscon web sites.

    And if you're in the Southern California area, drop on by. We're going to be doing Hour 25 live at the convention and we'd love to see you there. And while there you'll be able to enjoy the company and conversation of other people who enjoy recreational thinking.

    November 29 - December 1, 2002

    Burbank Hilton and Convention Center
        2500 Hollywood Way
        Burbank, CA 91506
        Hotel Telephone : (818) 843-6000
        Hotel Fax : (818) 842-9720

    Tadao Tomomatsu : Con Chair
    Writer Guest of Honor : David Weber
    Artist Guest of Honor : Nene Thomas
    Fan Guest of Honor : Patty Wells

    Hour 25, Panels, Dealers Room, Art Show, Ice Cream Social, Filking, Gaming, Masquerade, Dancing, interesting conversation and much more.

    Web Sites for more information:    LOSCON 29    LASFS    Previous LOSCONs

    LASFS {The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society} holds meetings each Thursday evening at 8:10 PM in their clubhouse at 11513 Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood, California. {Their clubhouse is just east of the Hollywood Freeway (170).} If you're in the area,drop on by. You'll probably make some new friends. For more information call them at : (818) 760-9234.



    Listen to this show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:21:49}
      Or
    • Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening. {13:43}
    • Click here for the Tadao Tomomatsu interview. {21:37}
    • Click here for the Laurie R. King interview. {44:17}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{1:53}
      Or for more Hour 25 Interviews
    • Click here to listen to a previous show featuring Laurie R. King.
    • To hear more about previous Loscons, use these links to hear our Loscon shows from 2001 and 2000.
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.
    Click here if you have a problem hearing the show and you're using Internet Explorer.


    The Great Hour 25 Disk Crash of 2002 - On-Going News

    As a result of our recent hard disk crash the Hour 25 newsletter mailing list has vanished into the digital darkness. It would be very helpful if subscribers to the Hour 25 Newsletter would resend their email addresses to me {wwjames@earthlink.net} so I can reconstitute the Newsletter mailing list. {If you have done this "post-crash" then I have your email address and you don't need to do anything.} New editions of the newsletter will start coming out "real soon now".

    In the same vein, if you previously sent in an entry for the Karen Willson Five Word Challenge, now would be a good time for you to fish around in your "sent mail" folder and resend your entry. Or come up with a new one and send it in. {And please put "Five Word Challenge" or some approximation thereof in the subject line of your email to make it easy for me to keep track of your entry.}



    Links for more information relating to this week's show

    Laurie R. King
  • You can learn more about Laurie R. King by visiting her Official web site or her publisher's web sites at Random House for her book Justice Hall and Bantam Books for her book Folly.
  • You can learn more about Laurie R. King and her books by visiting any of the various web sites dedicated to her works. You might start your explorations with these; The Beekeeper's Holmes Page, Laurie R. King and the Phenomenon of Mary Russell, and to find out what other people have been saying about Laurie's books you can go to the Ex Libris Reviews Web Site .
  • If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 web site, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web. {People who have subscribed to the newsletter before should do so again as I am having to regenerate the Hour 25 Newsletter Mailing List following the Great Hard Disk Crash of 2002. «Sigh».}

    Space News
  • Very complete coverage of the recent changes to the NASA Space Launch Initiative can be found at the NASA Watch web site. Be sure to view this story about the changes to SLI.
  • You can learn more about the current status of the Galileo project by going to its web site.

    The Shenzhou Project
  • Click here to go to the Go Taikonauts! web site, an unofficial web page covering the Shenzhou project and other aspects of China's space program. {Please note that this web page has not been updated in over a year.}
  • The Encyclopedia Astronautica is a fabulous reference source for information about various space projects, including China's current activities. You can read more about the Shenzhou spacecraft and view many pictures of it at their Shenzhou web page. Check our their Chinese Space Station web page or their Chinese Lunar Base web page to learn about China's plans for Space Stations and Lunar exploration in the coming decades.
  • This web site has some great pictures of a model of the Shenzhou spacecraft.
  • On-going news about China's space program can be found at this Space Daily web site.

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Reusable Launch & Space Vehicle News web site web page that is part of the Hobby Space web site is a really good place to watch for news about, well... Reusable Launch Vehicles and related subjects. I check it out just about every day and often find news there that doesn't show up anywhere else. Give it a look. {And while you're there be sure to check out some of the site's other pages. Wow! Is there a lot of information there.}
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

    Please note web pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

  • Return to the Index for this month's shows


    Tom Doherty

    On Sunday - November 3rd, 2002 - our guest was Tom Doherty, the owner of TOR books. We got the chance to chat with Tom while at this year's World Con and I'm really glad we had the chance to talk.

    We've had many authors on Hour 25 over the years, and so we've gotten to hear about writing from their perspective. But we haven't had many publishers on the show. This conversation with Tom Doherty gave a fascinating insight into how books are published and the history of science fiction publishing.

          Tom Dougherty at ConJose.  Copyright © 2002, Suzanne Gibson
    Copyright © 2002, Suzanne Gibson
    Tom Doherty is someone who learned about publishing from the ground up, having started out handling distribution for various publishers. Over the years he moved into increasingly more responsible positions within the publishing business and then in 1980 he founded TOR books. Today TOR books is a major publisher of science fiction and has done much to promote the literature for people who enjoy recreational thinking. Thanks Tom. You done good.



    Listen to this show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:10:19}
      Or
    • Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening. {15:55}
    • Click here for the Tom Doherty interview. {51:27}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{2:16}
      Or for more Hour 25 Interviews
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.
    Click here if you have a problem hearing the show and you're using Internet Explorer.


    The Great Hour 25 Disk Crash of 2002 - On-Going News

    As a result of our recent hard disk crash the Hour 25 newsletter mailing list has vanished into the digital darkness. It would be very helpful if subscribers to the Hour 25 Newsletter would resend their email addresses to me {wwjames@earthlink.net} so I can reconstitute the Newsletter mailing list. {If you have done this "post-crash" then I have your email address and you don't need to do anything.} New editions of the newsletter will start coming out "real soon now".

    In the same vein, if you previously sent in an entry for the Karen Willson Five Word Challenge, now would be a good time for you to fish around in your "sent mail" folder and resend your entry. Or come up with a new one and send it in. {And please put "Five Word Challenge" or some approximation thereof in the subject line of your email to make it easy for me to keep track of your entry.}



    Links for more information relating to this week's show

    Charles Sheffield
  • The death of Charles Sheffield makes our world a poorer place. I will miss him greatly. You can learn much about him and his books by going to his web site.
  • The Washington Post has a nice obituary about Charles Sheffield here.

    Tom Doherty
  • Information about TOR books can be found at their web site.
  • Information about Baen books can be found at their web site. {And to find out why I included a link to Baen books in an interview with the owner of TOR books... well, you'll just have to listen to the interview. < grin>
  • If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 web site, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web. {People who have subscribed to the newsletter before should do so again as I am having to regenerate the Hour 25 Newsletter Mailing List following the Great Hard Disk Crash of 2002. «Sigh».}

    Space News
  • You can learn more about the Stardust mission by going to the Project's web site.
  • Information about the recent loss of a Soyuz booster and other news from the Russian space program can be found at Russian Space Web. Additional information about the Russian space program can be found at Sven's Space Place.
  • Perhaps the best place to learn about the Russian space program, both current and past, is at the famous Encyclopedia Astronautica. This web site has a wealth of information and one can spend many hours there learning about Russian and American space projects. Most highly recommended!

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Reusable Launch & Space Vehicle News web site web page that is part of the Hobby Space web site is a really good place to watch for news about, well... Reusable Launch Vehicles and related subjects. I check it out just about every day and often find news there that doesn't show up anywhere else. Give it a look. {And while you're there be sure to check out some of the site's other pages. Wow! Is there a lot of information there.}
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

    Please note web pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

  • Return to the Index for this month's shows



    Back to Hour 25 Home Page


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