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Martha Ellis Gellhorn (St. Louis, 8 de novembro de 1908 – Londres, 15 de fevereiro de 1998) foi uma escritora e jornalista norte-americana, considerada por muitos como uma das maiores correspondentes de guerra do século XX.

Martha cobriu praticamente todos os conflitos mundiais que ocorreram durante seus 60 anos de carreira. Gellhorn foi também a terceira esposa do escritor Ernest Hemingway, com quem permaneceu casada de 1940 a 1945. Após uma longa batalha contra um câncer e quase que completamente cega, ela cometeu suicídio aos 89 anos.

Biografia
Martha nasceu em 1908, em St. Louis, no Missouri. Era filha da sufragista Edna Fischel Gellhorn e de George Gellhorn, um ginecologista alemão. Seu pai e sua avó materna eram judeus, sua avó por parte de mãe era protestante. Seu irmão, Walter Gellhorn, tornou-se professor de direito na Universidade Columbia e seu irmão mais novo, Alfred, foi um oncologista, professor universitário e decano da Universidade da Pensilvânia.

Aos 7 anos, Martha participou da "The Golden Lane", uma manifestação pelo sufrágio feminino na Convenção Nacional do Partido Democrata de 1916, em St. Louis. Mulheres carregando sombrinhas amarelas e usando faixas amarelas se enfileiraram em ambos os lados de uma rua principal que levava ao St. Louis Coliseum. Um quadro dos estados estava em frente ao Museu de Arte; estados que não haviam emancipado as mulheres estavam vestidos de preto. Martha e outra garota, Mary Taussig, ficavam na frente da fila, representando os futuros eleitores.

Carreira
Gellhorn se formou na John Burroughs School, em St. Louis, em 1926 e se matriculou no Bryn Mawr College, na Pensilvânia. No ano seguinte, abandonou o curso para buscar carreira como jornalista. Seu primeiros artigos foram publicados no jornal The New Republic. Em 1930, determinada a ser correspondente internacional, Gellhorn foi para a França, onde ficou dois anos no escritório da United Press em Paris. Ela acabou demitida depois de denunciar um caso de assédio sexual da parte de um colega da agência. Nos anos seguintes, viajou pela Europa, escrevendo para jornais dos dois lados do Atlântico e cobrindo o mundo da moda para a revista Vogue. Nesta época, tornou-se engajada no movimento pacifista e escreveu suas experiências no livro What Mad Pursuit, de 1934.

De volta aos Estados Unidos em 1932, Gellhorn foi contratada por Harry Hopkins, a quem conheceu devido a sua amizade com a primeira-dama, Eleanor Roosevelt. Os Roosevelts a convidaram para morar na Casa Branca, onde ela passou várias tardes ajudando Eleanor Roosevelt com a corrrespondência e com a coluna semanal da primeira-dama chamada Women's Home Companion.

Gellhorn foi contratada como investigadora da Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), criada por Franklin D. Roosevelt para dar um fim à Grande Depressão. Viajando pelos Estados Unidos, ela reportava à agência como a Depressão estava afetando o país. Primeiro, ela esteve em Gastonia, na Carolina do Norte. Depois, trabalhou com Dorothea Lange, fotógrafa, para documentar o dia a dia de fome e desemprego os norte-americanos.

Seus relatórios se tornaram parte dos arquivos oficiais do governo sobre a Grande Depressão. Elas foram capazes de investigar tópicos que, geralmente, não eram acessíveis às mulheres. Sua experiência na agência levou a um livro de contos, The Trouble I've Seen (1936). Em Idaho fazendo o trabalho da agência, Gellhorn convenceu um grupo de trabalhadores a quebrar as janelas do escritório da FERA para chamar a atenção para seu chefe desonesto. Embora isso tenha funcionado, ela foi demitida da agência.

Hemingway

Gellhorn conheceu Ernest Hemingway em uma viagem com a família para Key West, na Flórida, no Natal de 1936. Gellhorn fora contratada pela Collier's Weekly para escrever sobre a Guerra Civil Espanhola e assim os dois decidiram ir para a Espanha juntos. Celebraram o Natal de 1937 juntos em Barcelona.

Na Alemanha, Gellhorn relatou a ascensão de Adolf Hitler; na primavera de 1938, meses antes do Acordo de Munique, ela estava na Checoslováquia. Após a eclosão da Segunda Guerra Mundial, Gellhorn descreveu esses eventos no livro A Stricken Field (1940). Ela depois escreveria sobre a guerra da Finlândia, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapura e Inglaterra.

Em junho de 1944, Gellhorn solicitou ao governo britânico um credenciamento de imprensa para relatar o desembarque das tropas aliadas na Normandia. Sua solicitação, bem como a de todas as jornalistas mulheres, foi negada. Sem uma credencial de imprensa, ela fingiu ser enfermeira e conseguiu uma vaga num navio-hospital, onde se trancou em um banheiro. Dois dias depois, ao desembarcar e ver a quantidade de feridos, ela se tornou carregadora de macas. Gellhorn foi a única mulher no desembarque das tropas na Normandia em 6 de junho de 1944. Gellhorn também estava entre os primeiros jornalistas a reportar sobre o campo de concentração de Dachau depois que foi libertado pelas tropas norte-americanas, em 29 de abril de 1945.

Gellhorn e Hemingway viveram juntos por quatro anos, com breves momentos separados, antes de se casarem em novembro de 1940. Hemingway ainda vivia com sua segunda esposa, Pauline Pfeiffer, até 1939. Cada vez mais magoado com as longas ausências de Gellhorn durante suas reportagens, ele se questionava o que ela preferia ser, se uma correspondente de guerra ou sua esposa em sua cama. Porém, ele mesmo iria até o fronte da Segunda Guerra, nas campanhas na Itália, para tentar impedir seu trabalho. Quando ela chegou a Londres, por meio de uma perigosa viagem oceânica, encontrando uma cidade devastada pela guerra (ele havia desembarcado lá onze dias antes dela, através de um vôo da RAF no qual ela havia providenciado um assento para ele), ela lhe disse que não aguentava mais. Ela tinha descoberto que Hemingway se entediava rápido, o que aconteceu com suas outras esposas. Depois de quatro anos tumultuados de casamento, eles se divorciaram em 1945.

Últimos anos
Depois da guerra, Gellhorn trabalhou para a Atlantic Monthly cobrindo a Guerra do Vietnã e os conflitos entre árabes e israelenses nas décadas de 1960 e 1970. Seu aniversário em 1979 foi passado em meio às guerras civis na América Central. Ao se aproximar dos 80 anos, Gellhorn começou a cair fisicamente e, embora ainda conseguisse cobrir a invasão do Panamá pelos Estados Unidos em 1989, ela finalmente se aposentou do jornalismo no início da década de 1990. Uma cirurgia de catarata não foi bem-sucedida e a deixou com a visão permanentemente prejudicada. Gellhorn disse que estava "velha demais" para cobrir os conflitos dos Bálcãs na década de 1990.

Ela conseguiu uma última viagem ao Brasil em 1995 para fazer uma reportagem sobre a pobreza, que foi publicada na revista literária Granta. Este último feito foi realizado com grande dificuldade, pois sua visão estava falhando e ela não conseguia ler seus próprios manuscritos.

Gellhorn publicou vários livros, incluindo uma coleção de seus artigos de guerras, The Face of War (1959); The Lowest Trees Have Tops (1967), um livro sobre o Macarthismo; relatos de várias de suas viagens (incluindo uma com Hemingway), Travels with Myself and Another (1978); e uma coletânea de seu jornalismo pacifista, The View from the Ground (1988).

Vida pessoal
Seu primeiro grande relacionamento foi com o economista francês Bertrand de Jouvenel. Começou em 1930, quando Gellhorn tinha 22 anos e durou até 1934. Ela teria se casado com Jouvenel se a esposa dele tivesse assinado o divórcio.

Gellhorn conheceu Ernest Hemingway em 1936, casando-se com ele em 1940. Gellhorn se ressentia de sua fama de "terceira esposa de Hemingway", sempre atestando que nunca quis ser uma "nota de rodapé na história de alguém". Como condição para conceder entrevistas, ela exigia que o nome de Hemingway não fosse mencionado.

Enquanto esteve casada com Hemingway, Gellhorn teve um caso com o general da brigada paraquedista dos Estados Unidos James M. Gavin, comandante geral da 82ª Divisão Aérea. Ele foi o mais novo comandante de uma divisão do Exército na Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Em 1945, depois de seu divórcio de Hemingway, Gellhorn teve casos com Laurance Rockefeller, empresário norte-americano, (1945); William Walton, jornalista (1947) e; com o médico David Gurewitsch (1950). Em 1954, casou-se com o editor da Time, T. S. Matthews. Eles se divorciariam em 1963.

Gellhorn morou em Londres antes de se mudar para o Quênia e depois para Devauden, uma vila ao sul do País de Gales. Ela ficou bastante impressionada com a gentileza do povo galês e morou lá de 1980 a 1994 antes de finalmente retornar a Londres por causa da saúde.

Em 1949, Gellhorn adotou um menino, Sandro, de um orfanato italiano. Ele foi formalmente renomeado para George Alexander Gellhorn e apelidado de Sandy. Gellhorn foi uma mãe dedicada por um tempo, mas não era por natureza maternal. Ela deixou Sandy aos cuidados de parentes em Englewood, Nova Jersey, por longos períodos enquanto viajava, e ele acabou matriculado em um internato. O relacionamento deles distante e amargo com o tempo.

Gellhorn e a escritora Sybille Bedford se conheceram em Roma em 1949 e logo se tornaram amigas íntimas. Sobreviveu por muito tempo à volatilidade de ambos os lados e implicou muito apoio moral, criativo e financeiro para sua amiga por parte de Gellhorn até que ela terminou a amizade no início dos anos 80.

Morte
Em seus últimos anos, sua saúde piorou muito. Ela estava quase cega e com um câncer de ovário que tinha se espalhado para o fígado. Ela morreu em 15 de fevereiro de 1998, em Londres, por suicídio, depois de ingerir uma cápsula de cianeto. Seu corpo foi cremado e suas cinzas espalhas no rio Tâmisa.

Legado
O Prêmio Martha Gellhorn de Jornalismo foi criado em 1999 em sua homenagem.

Obras
What Mad Pursuit (1934)
The Trouble I've Seen (1936)
A Stricken Field (1940)
The Heart of Another (1941)
Liana (1944)
The Undefeated, (1945)
Love Goes to Press: A Comedy in Three Acts (1947) (com Virginia Cowles)
The Wine of Astonishment (1948) (republicado em 1989 como Point of No Return)
The Honeyed Peace: Stories (1953)
Two by Two (1958)
The Face of War (1959)
His Own Man (1961)
Pretty Tales for Tired People (1965)
Vietnam: A New Kind of War (1966)
The Lowest Trees Have Tops (1967)
Travels With Myself and Another (1978)
The Weather in Africa (1984)
The View From the Ground (1988)
The Short Novels of Martha Gellhorn (1991)
The Novellas of Martha Gellhorn (1993
Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn (2006)
 Yours, for Probably Always: Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love and War 1930–1949 (2019), editado por Janet Somerville.

Ligações externas

 Martha Gellhorn fala sobre a Guerra Civil Espanhola (stream de transmissão da BBC Radio 4)
"The Arabs of Palestine", por Martha Gellhorn
"Is There a New Germany?", Martha Gellhorn, The Atlantic Monthly, fevereiro de 1964

Naturais de St. Louis (Missouri)
Mulheres jornalistas dos Estados Unidos
Mulheres romancistas dos Estados Unidos
Jornalistas suicidas
Mulheres na literatura
!Mais Teoria da História na Wiki (Mulheres)
!Mais Teoria da História na Wiki (Wikiconcurso de edição)


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This unique city, where the three great religions lived together, is a must-have place among your travel plans. Hatay, sometimes referred to as the "Queen of the East," was chosen by UNESCO as the "city of peace." Many mosques of historical periods, courtyard houses and mosaics are hosted by this mosque and also hosts many tourists with their beaches, baths, springs. If you have a plan to travel to Hatay and if you need a car, you can rent and book your car at Hatay Airport and Hatay with Cizgi Rent a Car in order to pass the best, most convenient and most convenient time.
Those who prefer to stay in Hatay prefer Antakya and İskenderun districts. In this city which develops every day in terms of tourism, it has become more convenient and more options with the hotels in this city. we believe that you can find the most suitable accommodation for your budget, keeping in mind that four-star and five-star hotels, as well as urban hotels, boutique hotels and pensions. If you prefer a stay in the city center, you can reach a lot of flavor stops more easily and you can feel the historical and cultural texture more closely..
Hatay province has an important geographical structure due to tourism. The region from Hatay to Belen-Kozaklı Village, Samandağ-Kapısuyu Village and Altınözü's Madenboyu Village to Syrian border, where the Amanos Mountains are divided into two, was declared as "Wildlife Protection Area".
Güzelyayla (Soğukoluk) which is bound to Hatay Belen county is 15 km to Iskenderun. Away. Soğukoluk Plateau, which is located in a place where the mountains and the sea are merged, is covered with pine forests at an altitude dominated by the locality. Today this area is used both as a settlement area and as a promenade area.
Near the town of Serinyol, connected to the central district of Hatay, 30 km from Antakya and Arsuz districts. It is a spring in the size of 210 decares of land located in the distance. The plateau is 1,100 m above sea level. It is a highland, wooded area.
Batıayaz (Teknepinar), which is bound to Hatay Samandağ district, is a famous spring with natural water resources. 15 km to Antakya. Westayaz plateau, which is in the distance, is used as a picnic place and settlement area. Apart from these highlands, Hatay Province is 14 km. Distance Nergizlik Plateau; Çataloluk Plateau; It is 14 km from Iskenderun. In the distance, Atik Plateau famous for its water; Area Plateau; On the Iskenderun-Arsuz road there are also Gülcihan and Topaktaş Plateau which are natural beach and resting places.
City transportation in Hatay is provided by municipal buses and minibuses. Because settlements are close together, you can often reach them with one vehicle. You need to be a Kentkart owner in order to use public transportation in Hatay. Buddha provides great convenience in transportation. You can also take a taxi to the airport in a city where you can choose a taxi. You can choose the best priced car for you from our search section on our website or by coming to Hatay Airport and Hatay car hire office. And to explore Hatay you just have to get on the car.


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Categories Cyprus
Question: What Is Cyprus Music?
1 What kind of music is in Cyprus?
2 What Cyprus means?
3 Is Cyprus mostly Greek or Turkish?
4 What did Cyprus used to be called?
5 Is healthcare free in Cyprus?
6 What food do they eat in Cyprus?
7 Is Cyprus an Arab country?
8 Is Cyprus dangerous?
9 What religion is Cyprus?
10 Is Cyprus safe to live?
11 What race are Cyprus people?
12 What race are Greeks?
13 Is Cyprus a 3rd world country?
14 Why is Cyprus so British?
15 What culture is Cyprus?
What kind of music is in Cyprus?
Cypriot traditional music is similar to the traditional music of Greece with Turkish and Arab influences, and includes dances like sousta, syrtos, ballos, tatsia, antikristos, arabiye, karotseris, sinalik, chiftetteli, zeimbekiko and the mandra dance.
What Cyprus means?
The official symbol of the 1960 state, the Republic of Cyprus, is a dove flying with an olive branch in its beak in a shield inscribed with the date 1960, all within a wreath of olive leaves, symbolizing the desire for peace.
Is Cyprus mostly Greek or Turkish?
Cyprus had a total population of 573,566; of whom 442,138 (77.1%) were Greeks, 104,320 (18.2%) Turks, and 27,108 (4.7%) others.
What did Cyprus used to be called?
The de facto state of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed in 1975 under the name of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus. The name was changed to its present form, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, on 15 November 1983.
Is healthcare free in Cyprus?
State healthcare in Cyprus is not free. Healthcare costs are covered by both the state and through patient contributions. These are known as co-payments. Cyprus's national health service is called the General Healthcare System (GHS).
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What food do they eat in Cyprus?
Dishes of Cyprus Traditional Cypriot foods include souvlakia (grilled meat kebabs), shaftalia (grilled sausage), afella (pork marinated in coriander), fried halloumi cheese, olives, pitta bread, kolokasi (root vegetables), lamb, artichokes, chickpeas and rabbit stews (stifado).
Is Cyprus an Arab country?
The majority of people think that Cyprus is an Arab country. But in reality, the Republic of Cyprus isn't considered an Arab country. Arab identity is the state of perceiving oneself as an Arab and as relating to being Arab.
Is Cyprus dangerous?
Cyprus is generally very safe to travel to, even though it is geographically close to countries hit by terrorism and wars. Petty crime does occur, especially during the holidays and summer.
What religion is Cyprus?
Religion is closely tied to one's cultural identity in Cyprus. The majority of Greek Cypriots identify as Orthodox Christians, while most Turkish Cypriots identify as Muslim. There are also small Maronite, Armenian Apostolic, Anglican and Catholic Christian communities.
Is Cyprus safe to live?
Cyprus is one of the safest places in Europe. The crime rate is very low on both sides. Of course, there are instances of non-violent and non-confrontational street crimes, and it's better not to give petty criminals an opportunity. But on the whole, Cyprus is a safe and peaceful place to live.
What race are Cyprus people?
The people of Cyprus represent two main ethnic groups, Greek and Turkish.
What race are Greeks?
The Greeks or Hellenes (/ˈhɛliːnz/; Greek: Έλληνες, Éllines [ˈelines]) are an ethnic group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
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Is Cyprus a 3rd world country?
The Republic of Cyprus is not a third-world country. A third-world country would be an economically developing country with a low Human Development Index (HDI), a high unemployment rate, political instability, and widespread poverty. People don't call "Third-World" countries these days.
Why is Cyprus so British?
A British protectorate under nominal Ottoman suzerainty was established over Cyprus by the Cyprus Convention of 4 June 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War, in which the British occupied the island as a consequence of the Ottoman Empire's actions throughout the duration of the war.
What culture is Cyprus?
The culture of Cyprus is divided between the northern Turkish and the southern Greek sections of the country. Since 1974 the Turkish community in northern Cyprus has promoted its own Turkish and Islamic culture, supporting its own newspapers and periodicals and changing many place-names to Turkish.
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This article is about the Soviet/Russian reusable space programme. For the orbiter launched in 1988 see Buran (spacecraft). For other uses, see Buran (disambiguation).
The Buran programme (Russian: Бура́н, IPA: [bʊˈran], "Snowstorm" or "Blizzard"), also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter programme" ("VKK" is for Russian: Воздушно Космический Корабль, "Air Space Ship"), was a Soviet and later Russian reusable spacecraft project that began in 1974 at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute in Moscow and was formally suspended in 1993. In addition to being the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian reusable spacecraft project, Buran was also the name given to Orbiter K1, which completed one unmanned spaceflight in 1988 and was the only Soviet reusable spacecraft to be launched into space. The Buran-class orbiters used the expendable Energia rocket as a launch vehicle. They are generally treated as a Soviet equivalent of the United States' Space Shuttle, but in the Buran project, only the airplane-shaped orbiter itself was theoretically reusable. While Orbiter K1 was recovered successfully after its first orbital flight in 1988, it was never reused.
The Buran programme was started by the Soviet Union as a response to the United States Space Shuttle program. The project was the largest and the most expensive in the history of Soviet space exploration. Development work included sending BOR-5 test vehicles on multiple sub-orbital test flights, and atmospheric flights of the OK-GLI aerodynamic prototype. Buran completed one unmanned orbital spaceflight in 1988 before its cancellation in 1993. Orbiter K1, which flew the test flight in 1988 was crushed in a hangar collapse on 12 May 2002 in Kazakhstan. The OK-GLI resides in Technikmuseum Speyer. Although the Buran class was similar in appearance to NASA's Space Shuttle orbiter, and could similarly operate as a re-entry spaceplane, its internal and functional design was distinct. For example, the main engines during launch were on the Energia rocket and were not taken into orbit by the spacecraft. Smaller rocket engines on the craft's body provided propulsion in orbit and de-orbital burns.
The Buran orbital vehicle programme was developed in response to the U.S. Space Shuttle programme, which in the 1980s raised considerable concerns among the Soviet military and especially Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov. An authoritative chronicler of the Soviet and later Russian space programmes, the academic Boris Chertok, recounts how the programme came into being.[full citation needed] According to Chertok, after the U.S. developed its Space Shuttle programme, the Soviet military became suspicious that it could be used for military purposes, due to its enormous payload, several times that of previous U.S. launch vehicles. The Soviet government asked the TsNIIMash (ЦНИИМАШ, Central Institute of Machine-building, a major player in defense analysis) for an expert opinion. Institute director, Yuri Mozzhorin, recalls that for a long time the institute could not envisage a civilian payload large enough to require a vehicle of that capacity.
Like its American counterpart, the Buran orbital vehicle, when in transit from its landing sites back to the launch complex, was transported on the back of a large jet aeroplane — the Antonov An-225 Mriya transport aircraft, which was designed in part for this task and remains the largest aircraft in the world to fly multiple times.[full citation needed] Before the Mriya was ready (after the Buran had flown), the Myasishchev VM-T Atlant, a variant on the Soviet Myasishchev M-4 Molot (Hammer) bomber (NATO code: Bison), fulfilled the same role.
The Soviet reusable space-craft programme has its roots in the very beginning of the space age, the late 1950s. The idea of Soviet reusable space flight is very old, though it was neither continuous, nor consistently organized. Before Buran, no project of the programme reached production.
The idea saw its first iteration in the Burya high-altitude jet aircraft, which reached the prototype stage. Several test flights are known, before it was cancelled by order of the Central Committee. The Burya had the goal of delivering a nuclear payload, presumably to the United States, and then returning to base. The cancellation was based on a final decision to develop ICBMs. The next iteration of the idea was Zvezda from the early 1960s, which also reached a prototype stage. Decades later, another project with the same name was used as a service module for the International Space Station. After Zvezda, there was a hiatus in reusable projects until Buran.
The development of the Buran began in the early 1970s as a response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program. Soviet officials were concerned about a perceived military threat posed by the U.S. Space Shuttle. In their opinion, the Shuttle's 30-ton payload-to-orbit capacity and, more significantly, its 15-ton payload return capacity, were a clear indication that one of its main objectives would be to place massive experimental laser weapons into orbit that could destroy enemy missiles from a distance of several thousands of kilometers. Their reasoning was that such weapons could only be effectively tested in actual space conditions and that to cut their development time and save costs it would be necessary to regularly bring them back to Earth for modifications and fine-tuning. Soviet officials were also concerned that the U.S. Space Shuttle could make a sudden dive into the atmosphere to drop bombs on Moscow.
Soviet engineers were initially reluctant to design a spacecraft that looked superficially identical to the Shuttle, but subsequent wind tunnel testing showed that NASA's design was already ideal. Even though the Molniya Scientific Production Association proposed its Spiral programme design (halted 13 years earlier), it was rejected as being altogether dissimilar from the American shuttle design. While NPO Molniya conducted development under the lead of Gleb Lozino-Lozinskiy, the Soviet Union's Military-Industrial Commission, or VPK, was tasked with collecting all data it could on the U.S. Space Shuttle. Under the auspices of the KGB, the VPK was able to amass documentation on the American shuttle's airframe designs, design analysis software, materials, flight computer systems and propulsion systems. The KGB targeted many university research project documents and databases, including Caltech, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and others. The thoroughness of the acquisition of data was made much easier as the U.S. shuttle development was unclassified.
The construction of the shuttles began in 1980, and by 1984 the first full-scale Buran was rolled out. The first suborbital test flight of a scale-model (BOR-5) took place as early as July 1983. As the project progressed, five additional scale-model flights were performed. A test vehicle was constructed with four jet engines mounted at the rear; this vehicle is usually referred to as OK-GLI, or as the "Buran aerodynamic analogue". The jets were used to take off from a normal landing strip, and once it reached a designated point, the engines were cut and OK-GLI glided back to land. This provided invaluable information about the handling characteristics of the Buran design, and significantly differed from the carrier plane/air drop method used by the United States and the Enterprise test craft. Twenty-four test flights of OK-GLI were performed by the Gromov Flight Research Institute test pilots and researchers after which the shuttle was "worn out". The developers considered using a couple of Mil Mi-26 helicopters to "bundle" lift the Buran, but test flights with a mock-up showed how risky and impractical that was. The VM-T ferried components and the Antonov An-225 Mriya (the heaviest airplane ever) was designed and used to ferry the shuttle.
The flight and ground-testing software also required research. In 1983 the Buran developers estimated that the software development would require several thousand programmers if done with their existing methodology (in assembly language), and they appealed to Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics for assistance. It was decided to develop a new high-level "problem-oriented" programming language. Researchers at Keldysh developed two languages: PROL2 (used for real-time programming of onboard systems) and DIPOL (used for the ground-based test systems), as well as the development and debugging environment SAPO PROLOGUE. There was also an operating system known as Prolog Manager. Work on these languages continued beyond the end of the Buran project, with PROL2 being extended into SIPROL, and eventually all three languages developed into DRAKON which is still in use in the Russian space industry. A declassified May 1990 CIA report citing open-source intelligence material states that the software for the Buran spacecraft was written in "the French-developed programming language known as Prolog", possibly due to confusion with the name PROLOGUE.
Until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, seven cosmonauts were allocated to the Buran programme and trained on the OK-GLI ("Buran aerodynamic analogue") test vehicle. All had experience as test pilots. They were: Ivan Ivanovich Bachurin, Alexei Sergeyevich Borodai, Anatoli Semyonovich Levchenko, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Shchukin, Rimantas Antanas Stankevičius, Igor Petrovich Volk and Viktor Vasiliyevich Zabolotsky.
A rule, set in place for cosmonauts because of the failed Soyuz 25 of 1977, insisted that all Soviet space missions contain at least one crew member who has been to space before. In 1982, it was decided that all Buran commanders and their back-ups would occupy the third seat on a Soyuz mission, prior to their Buran spaceflight. Several people had been selected to potentially be in the first Buran crew. By 1985, it was decided that at least one of the two crew members would be a test pilot trained at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (known as "LII"), and potential crew lists were drawn up. Only two potential Buran crew members reached space: Igor Volk, who flew in Soyuz T-12 to the space station Salyut 7, and Anatoli Levchenko who visited Mir, launching with Soyuz TM-4 and landing with Soyuz TM-3. Both of these spaceflights lasted about a week.
Levchenko died of a brain tumour the year after his orbital flight, Bachurin left the cosmonaut corps because of medical reasons, Shchukin was assigned to the back-up crew of Soyuz TM-4 and later died in a plane crash, Stankevičius was also killed in a plane crash, while Borodai and Zabolotsky remained unassigned to a Soyuz flight until the Buran programme ended.
Igor Volk was planned to be the commander of the first manned Buran flight. There were two purposes of the Soyuz T-12 mission, one of which was to give Volk spaceflight experience. The other purpose, seen as the more important factor, was to beat the United States and have the first spacewalk by a woman. At the time of the Soyuz T-12 mission the Buran programme was still a state secret. The appearance of Volk as a crew member caused some, including the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight, to ask why a test pilot was occupying a Soyuz seat usually reserved for researchers or foreign cosmonauts.
Anatoli Levchenko was planned to be the back-up commander of the first manned Buran flight, and in March 1987 he began extensive training for his Soyuz spaceflight. In December 1987, he occupied the third seat aboard Soyuz TM-4 to Mir, and returned to Earth about a week later on Soyuz TM-3. His mission is sometimes called Mir LII-1, after the Gromov Flight Research Institute shorthand. When Levchenko died the following year, it left the back-up crew of the first Buran mission again without spaceflight experience. A Soyuz spaceflight for another potential back-up commander was sought by the Gromov Flight Research Institute, but never occurred.
Site 110 — Used for the launch of the Buran-class orbiters. Like the assembly and processing hall at Site 112, the launch complex was originally constructed for the Soviet lunar landing programme and later converted for the Energia-Buran programme.
Site 112 — Used for orbiter maintenance and to mate the orbiters to their Energia launchers (thus fulfilling a role similar to the VAB at KSC). The main hangar at the site, called MIK RN or MIK 112, was originally built for the assembly of the N1 moon rocket. After cancellation of the N-1 programme in 1974, the facilities at Site 112 were converted for the Energia-Buran programme. It was here that Orbiter K1 was stored after the end of the Buran programme and was destroyed when the hangar roof collapsed in 2002.
Site 251 — Used as Buran orbiter landing facility, also known as Yubileyniy Airfield (and fulfilling a role similar to the SLF at KSC). It features one runway, called 06/24, which is 4,500 metres (4,900 yd) long and 84 metres (92 yd) wide, paved with "Grade 600" high quality reinforced concrete. At the edge of the runway was a special mating-demating device, designed to lift an orbiter off its Antonov An-225 Mriya carrier aircraft and load it on a transporter, which would carry the orbiter to the processing building at Site 254. A purpose-built orbiter landing control facility, housed in a large multi-storey office building, was located near the runway. Yubileyniy Airfield was also used to receive heavy transport planes carrying elements of the Energia-Buran system. After the end of the Buran programme, Site 251 was abandoned but later reopened as a commercial cargo airport. Besides serving Baikonur, Kazakh authorities also use it for passenger and charter flights from Russia.
Site 254 — Built to service the Buran-class orbiters between flights (thus fulfilling a role similar to the OPF at KSC). Constructed in the 1980s as a special four-bay building, it also featured a large processing area flanked by several floors of test rooms. After cancellation of the Buran programme it was adapted for pre-launch operations of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
Following a series of atmospheric test flights using the jet-powered OK-GLI prototype, the first operational spacecraft (Orbiter K1) flew one test mission on 15 November 1988 at 03:00:02 UTC. The spacecraft was launched unmanned from and landed at Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh S.S.R. and flew two orbits, travelling 83,707 kilometres (52,013 mi) in 3 hours and 25 minutes (0.14 flight days). Buran never flew again; the programme was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2002, the collapse of the hangar in which it was stored destroyed the Buran orbiter.
An aerodynamic testbed, OK-GLI, was constructed in 1984 to test the in-flight properties of the Buran design. Unlike the American prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise, OK-GLI had four AL-31 turbofan engines fitted, meaning it was able to fly under its own power.
The only orbital launch of the Orbiter K1 Buran (also known as ""OK-1K1" or "Shuttle 1.01") was at 3:00 UTC on 15 November 1988 from pad 110/37 in Baikonur. The unmanned craft was lifted into orbit by the specially designed Energia booster rocket. The life support system was not installed and no software was installed on the CRT displays. The shuttle orbited the Earth twice in 206 minutes of flight. On its return, it performed an automated landing on the shuttle runway at Baikonur Cosmodrome.
1991 — Orbiter K2 Ptichka unmanned first flight, duration 1–2 days.
1992 — Orbiter K2 Ptichka unmanned second flight, duration 7–8 days. Orbital maneuvers and space station approach test.
1993 — Orbiter K1 Buran unmanned second flight, duration 15–20 days.
1994 — Orbiter K3 Baikal first manned space test flight, duration of 24 hours. Craft equipped with life-support system and with two ejection seats. Crew would consist of two cosmonauts with Igor Volk as commander, and Aleksandr Ivanchenko as flight engineer.
Second manned space test flight, crew would consist of two cosmonauts.
Third manned space test flight, crew would consist of two cosmonauts.
Fourth manned space test flight, crew would consist of two cosmonauts.
Amusement rides and Buran shuttle test vehicle OK-7M/OK-TVA at Gorky Park in Moscow.
After the first flight of a Buran shuttle, the project was suspended due to lack of funds and the political situation in the Soviet Union. The two subsequent orbiters, which were due in 1990 (informally Ptichka) and 1992 (informally Baikal) were never completed. The project was officially terminated on 30 June 1993, by President Boris Yeltsin. At the time of its cancellation, 20 billion rubles had been spent on the Buran programme.
The programme was designed to boost national pride, carry out research, and meet technological objectives similar to those of the U.S. Space Shuttle programme, including resupply of the Mir space station, which was launched in 1986 and remained in service until 2001. When Mir was finally visited by a space shuttle, the visitor was a U.S. Shuttle, not Buran.
The Buran SO, a docking module that was to be used for rendezvous with the Mir space station, was refitted for use with the U.S. Space Shuttles during the Shuttle–Mir missions.
On 12 May 2002, a hangar roof at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan collapsed because of a structural failure due to poor maintenance. The collapse killed 8 workers and destroyed one of the Buran craft (Orbiter K1), as well as a mock-up of an Energia booster rocket. It was not clear to outsiders at the time which Buran programme craft was destroyed, and the BBC reported that it was just "a model" of the orbiter. It occurred at the MIK RN/MIK 112 building at Site 112 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, 14 years after the first and only Buran flight. Work on the roof had begun for a maintenance project, whose equipment is thought to have contributed to the collapse. Also, before the day of collapse, there had been several days of heavy rain.
Most of the geo-location below show the shuttle bodies on the ground; in some cases Google Earth's History facility is required to see the shuttle within the dates specified.
1989 45°57′53″N 63°18′18″E / 45.96486°N 63.30496°E / 45.96486; 63.30496 Spaceplane not visible; no available satellite photos. 15 November 1988 Built in 1986, only flightworthy orbiter. Launched on an unmanned, remote controlled flight; two orbits and landing (with heavy crosswinds and a self-initiated approach direction change) at Yubileiniy (Jubilee) Airport, Baikonur.
MIK building, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan  2002 45°55′39″N 63°17′51″E / 45.92750°N 63.29761°E / 45.92750; 63.29761 Spaceplane not visible; shadows. 1988 to present Housed in MIK building in area 112, Baikonur with an Energia booster mockup and other Energia hardware, destroyed in a roof collapse on 12 May 2002, which killed eight workers.
GRAU index 11F35 K2 Second flight article, first series, 95–97% complete MIK building, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan  45°55′42″N 63°17′53″E / 45.92836°N 63.29809°E / 45.92836; 63.29809 Shuttle not visible, in building. 1988 to 2002 Built in 1988, housed adjacent to the Buran.
 2015 45°56′26″N 63°19′06″E / 45.94046°N 63.31841°E / 45.94046; 63.31841 Spaceplane not visible; in building. 2002 to present Moved to the MZK after the roof collapse in the MIK.
GRAU index 11F35 K3 First flight article, second series, 30–50% complete Inside Tushino Plant, Moscow, Russia 1991 to 2006 Built 1991.
Car park on Kimki Reservoir, near plant.  2007-2011 55°50′29″N 37°27′59″E / 55.84136°N 37.46625°E / 55.84136; 37.46625 Need history. 2006 to 2011 Moved outdoors.
on 11 September 2016 through 11 May 2018 55°34′17″N 38°08′35″E / 55.57125°N 38.143°E / 55.57125; 38.143.
GRAU index 11F35 K4 Second flight article, second series, 10–20% complete. Tushino plant, Moscow, Russia  1991–present Build started 1991, some pieces of 3K2, like heat tiles, have found their way onto eBay.
GRAU index 11F35 K5 Third flight article, second series, very small amount assembled Scattered. 1988 to present All parts have been scattered and are unidentifiable.
OK 0.01 Airframe and shake test bed article Outdoor pad, area 112, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan  45°55′11″N 63°18′36″E / 45.91963°N 63.30996°E / 45.91963; 63.30996 Use history. 1988 to January 2007 Built in 1982, deteriorated considerably outdoors on pad.
2007 45°54′35″N 63°19′04″E / 45.90963°N 63.31789°E / 45.90963; 63.31789 January 2007 to present Refurbished in 2007, now on outdoor display.
OK 0.02 Atmospheric test article, two extra jet engines in rear to facilitate take-off. Ramenskoye Airport, Moscow 55°33′47″N 38°08′50″E / 55.5631°N 38.14716°E / 55.5631; 38.14716 No history available this far back. 1999 Built in 1984, used in 25 test flights. On display at MAKS-1999, Russia's most prestigious airshow.
2002 33°51′50″S 151°11′48″E / 33.86392°S 151.19662°E / -33.86392; 151.19662 Use history to see shelter; shuttle not visible. February 2000 to September 2000; afterwards stored on the site until about Oct 2002 Sold and sent in February 2000 to the Sydney, Australia 2000 Olympic Games. Displayed inside a light structure, stored outdoors there afterwards.
Manama harbor, Bahrain 26°11′54″N 50°36′09″E / 26.19826°N 50.60243°E / 26.19826; 50.60243 Use history. July 2004 to 2007 Stored outdoors in Bahrain while the ownership of the spaceplane was legally contended.
2008 49°18′43″N 8°26′47″E / 49.31185°N 8.44628°E / 49.31185; 8.44628 Shuttle not visible; in building. 2008 to present Purchased from Roscosmos State Corporation when it won the legal battle, displayed indoors.
OK 0.03 Electrical test article. Checkout and Test Building (KIS), RKK Energia Plant, Korolev, Russia  55°55′17″N 37°47′57″E / 55.92132°N 37.79929°E / 55.92132; 37.79929 Not visible, in building. This location shows a half-scale memorial of Energia and the Buran, perhaps meant to be replaced. 2006 to 15 October 2012 Built in 1982. Stored inside.
Grounds of the RKK Energia plant 55°55′01″N 37°47′58″E / 55.91685°N 37.79937°E / 55.91685; 37.79937 15 October 2012 to June 2017 Stored outside by 15 October 2012, intended to be placed on permanent display.
Sirius Science Center, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia 43°24′52″N 34°56′57″E / 43.41441°N 34.94917°E / 43.41441; 34.94917 June 2017 to current On permanent outdoor display at the Sirius Science Center in Sochi, Russia.
 2015 45°56′26″N 63°19′06″E / 45.94046°N 63.31841°E / 45.94046; 63.31841 Spaceplane not visible; in building. 1988 to present Built in 1983.
OK 0.05 Environmental test parts from forward fuselage Unknown 1988 to present Destroyed, parts used for OK-TVA.
2010 55°43′44″N 37°35′49″E / 55.72876°N 37.59688°E / 55.72876; 37.59688 Use history. 1995 to July 2014 Served as a not-as-popular-as-expected attraction, a small restaurant, and bicycle storage. It did outlast the amusement park at that site, however, before it was next moved.
2014 55°49′56″N 37°37′22″E / 55.83219°N 37.62291°E / 55.83219; 37.62291 Use history. July 2014 to present Moved to VDNKh on 5 July 2014, assembled by 21 July. The shuttle acquisition is part of VDNKh refurbishment.
OK 0.08 Components used for static thermal and vacuum tests. Outdoor display at Clinical Hospital № 83 FMBA on Orekhovy Boulevard in Moscow.
Unnamed Wooden wind tunnel model, 1/3 scale. Ramenskoye Airport, near Moscow, Russia, photographed in 2013.
2013 up to 2013 Has been destroyed in or after 2013. Photographed at Zhukovsky Airfield by Aleksander Makin.
BOR-4 1982–1984 Sub-scale model of the Spiral space plane 1:2 scale model of Spiral space plane. 5 launches. NPO Molniya, Moscow.
BOR-5 ("Kosmos") 1983–1988 Suborbital test of 1/8 scale model of Buran 5 launches, none were reflown but at least 4 were recovered. NPO Molniya, Moscow.
Wind tunnel models Scales from 1:3 to 1:550 85 models built; see unnamed test article in table above.
Over time, several scientists looked into trying to revive the Buran programme, especially after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
The 2003 grounding of the U.S. Space Shuttles caused many to wonder whether the Russian Energia launcher or Buran shuttle could be brought back into service. By then, however, all of the equipment for both (including the vehicles themselves) had fallen into disrepair or been repurposed after falling into disuse with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2010 the director of Moscow's Central Machine Building Institute said the Buran project would be reviewed in the hope of restarting a similar manned spacecraft design, with rocket test launches as soon as 2015. Russia also continues work on the PPTS but has abandoned the Kliper program, due to differences in vision with its European partners.
Due to the 2011 retirement of the American Space Shuttle and the need for STS-type craft in the meantime to complete the International Space Station, some American and Russian scientists had been mulling over plans to possibly revive the already-existing Buran shuttles in the Buran programme rather than spend money on an entirely new craft and wait for it to be fully developed but the plans did not come to fruition.
On the 25th anniversary of the Buran flight in November 2013, Oleg Ostapenko, the new head of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, proposed that a new heavy lift launch vehicle be built for the Russian space program. The rocket would be intended to place a payload of 100 tonnes (220,000 lb) in a baseline low Earth orbit and is projected to be based on the Angara launch vehicle technology.
The Buran orbiter ranks among the world's first spaceplanes, with the North American X-15, the Space Shuttle, SpaceShipOne, and the Boeing X-37. Of these, only the Buran and X-37 spaceflights were unmanned.
Unlike the US Space Shuttle, which was propelled by a combination of solid boosters and the shuttle orbiter's own liquid-fuel engines fueled from a large fuel tank, the Soviet/Russian shuttle system used thrust from the rocket's four RD-170 liquid oxygen/kerosene engines developed by Valentin Glushko and another four RD-0120 liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines.
Because Buran's debut followed that of Space Shuttle Columbia's, and because there were striking visual similarities between the two shuttle systems—a state of affairs which recalled the similarity between the Tupolev Tu-144 and Concorde supersonic airliners—many speculated that Cold War espionage played a role in the development of the Soviet shuttle. Despite remarkable external similarities, many key differences existed, which suggests that, had espionage been a factor in Buran's development, it would likely have been in the form of external photography or early airframe designs. One CIA commenter states that Buran was based on a rejected NASA design. See the § Programme development section above.
Buran had no main engines; take off and ascent trajectory were accomplished with the Energia rocket whose four main engines were expendable. The three Space Shuttle main engines were part of the orbiter, and were reused for multiple flights.
The core Energia rocket was equipped with its own guidance, navigation, and control system - unlike Space Shuttle whose entire control system was in the orbiter.
Unlike Space Shuttle's boosters, each of Energia's four boosters had their own guidance, navigation, and control system, which allowed them to be used as launch vehicles on their own to deliver smaller payloads than those requiring the complete Energia-Buran system.
Energia could be configured with four, two or no boosters for payloads other than Buran, and in full configuration was able to put up to 100 metric tons into orbit. The Space Shuttle orbiter was integral to its launch system and was the system's only payload.
Energia's four boosters used liquid propellant (kerosene/oxygen). The Space Shuttle's two boosters used solid propellant.
The liquid fueled booster rockets were not constructed in segments vulnerable to leakage through O-rings, which caused the destruction of Challenger.
The Energia rocket was not covered in foam, the shedding of which from the large fuel tank led to the destruction of Columbia.
Energia's four boosters were designed to be recovered after each flight, though they were not recovered during Energia's two operational flights. The Space Shuttle's boosters were recovered and reused.
Buran's equivalent of the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System used GOX/LOX/Kerosene propellant, with lower toxicity and higher performance (a specific impulse of 362 seconds (3.55 km/s) using a turbopump system) than the Shuttle's pressure-fed monomethylhydrazine/dinitrogen tetroxide OMS engines.
Buran was designed to be capable of both piloted and fully autonomous flight, including landing. The Space Shuttle was later retrofitted with automated landing capability, first flown 18 years after the Buran on STS-121, but the system was intended to be used only in contingencies.
The nose landing gear was located much farther back on the fuselage rather than just under the mid-deck as with the NASA Space Shuttle.
Buran included a drag chute, the Space Shuttle originally did not, but was later retrofitted to include one.
The lift-to-drag ratio of Buran is cited as 6.5, compared to a subsonic L/D of 4.5 for the Space Shuttle.
Buran and Energia were moved to the launch pad horizontally on a rail transporter, and then erected and fueled at the launch site. The Space Shuttle was transported vertically on the crawler-transporter with loaded solid boosters.
The Buran was intended to carry a crew of up to ten, the Shuttle carried up to eight in regular operation and would have carried more only in a contingency.
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Hendrickx, Bart; Vis, Bert (2007). Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle. Springer-Praxis. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7. ISBN 0-387-69848-5.


I want to thank those of you who have written to express enthusiasm about my new novel, Asphodel. Some of you have been very eloquent, and I appreciate your taking the time to share your delight. Now the tough part, for me. I'd like to ask for you to please share your reactions with people you think might also like Asphodel. Word of mouth is the best publicity. These days you can "talk" to a lot more people by leaving reviews on bookseller websites. It only takes a short time and may help sales.
An added bonus is that you can also encourage the author!
When we had our office built onto our house some dozen or so years ago, we also purchased matching office desks. These came "to be assembled," except apparently the shippers didn't think that the tops arriving intact was a requirement. Four tops were delivered before we received two that didn't have a crushed side along one edge.
After the desks were assembled, we had two spare desktops. Jim was prepared to cut them up and put them in the trash, when I had the brainstorm that if we put legs between them, they'd actually make a pretty classy coffee table that could go in front of the picture window. Jim did this and we were very happy.
But a dozen years of cats running and sliding, strong sunlight, the occasional open window, and one mystery spill, made the once spiffy coffee table look a bit shabby. And for some reason we really needed more room for books.
Once again, my problem solving abilities and Jim's gift for making dreams into reality came into play. In front of the large window in our living room, we have a rough pine box. This box serves many purposes. It stores board games. It's a low table. It's a backrest for people who sit on the floor. And, most importantly, at least according to our four feline co-residents, it is the perfect place to sit and watch birds.
We humans appreciate that the rough wood doesn't show damage from cat claws, or from the occasional splash of rain. Therefore, when Jim and I started considering what we'd like to use to replace the office coffee table, we rejected many options as too delicate. Glass-topped furniture didn't appeal, because that's just something else that needs to be kept free from paw prints and dust.
Eventually, Jim decided that he could build us a bookcase. He found some rough finished wood intended for accents on walls or decks. A great advantage of this was that it was already stained and grooved so that pieces would fit tightly together, making a beautiful top. He found molding with a leaf and vine pattern for the top and front edges. He bought lumber and nails. Then he set to work.
When Jim was done building, he painted everything but the top matte black, so that the new bookcase coordinated with our desks, which have light colored wooden tops and black sides. Magnificent!
In case you wonder, the books on the shelves are part of our working library of history, archeology, and linguistics. The ornaments are, starting at the top left: a kaleidoscope that was a gift from our friends Scot and Jane Noel, because they really liked my novel, Child of a Rainless Year; next a blue and silver fabric dragon I bought at my first ever SF con – Lunacon in New York; then a Japanese bento box I use to store the parts for small craft projects in process. On the right is a black and white cat stuffy that, except for the red chiles on its fur and whiskers, is a ringer for our cat, Kwahe'e. This cat was a gift from Sharon and David Weber on one of their visits to New Mexico. Finally, on the bottom is a faux bronze statuette of wild horses that was a gift from Jim's parents.
Best of all, the new bookcase is cat-approved. They're up and down from it all day, and state categorically that they're the finest ornaments of all.
I did pick a novel to read, and enjoyed. Now I'm meditating on which will be my next audiobook. Decisions, decisions!
The Dark Prophesy: Book Two of the Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan. Audiobook. Looking forward to Book Three, which comes out later this year. We're already sure we know who the third evil emperor will be. Pretty obvious – which isn't bad. Just obvious.
And Having Writ… by Donald R. Bensen. Alternate history from 1978. Nice twist is having events related from the POV of an alien. Glad I skipped the intro, though, as it had a major spoiler.
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. I tried this one in audio and gave up because of the reader. Now into the print version. Very different from other work by her that I've read.
The Dragon of Despair by Jane Lindskold. About a third through.
ALAN: While we were talking about themes in costuming, I remembered a rather disturbing trend I observed that I think began in the 1980s – a lot of fans started dressing in futuristic, militaristic uniforms and stalked around conventions waving science fictional weapons of one sort and another.
This group was so prominent that it even had a name. We referred to these people as "Jackboot Fandom" (at least that's what we called them over here). I didn't like the trend at all. The glorification of militarism that it implied made me feel very uncomfortable. But for a long time, I seemed to be in a minority of one. I remember I was on a convention committee once and I suggested that perhaps we ought to have a weapons policy to try and curb this sort of threatening display. My suggestion was ridiculed.
Perhaps I was ahead of my time. These days, weapon policies are very common and Jackboot Fandom has all but disappeared, thank goodness.
JANE: The late 1980s was when I first started attending cons, but I can't speak to Jackboot Fandom specifically. If it was there, it was part of the general landscape.
Certainly there are still are people who dress in a semi-military fashion. Let's face it, a uniform is a pretty easy costume option.
ALAN: Indeed it is, and I have no objection to it per se. But when it is taken to extremes, it can be more than a little threatening and it makes me feel uneasy.
JANE: I agree. As you noted, weapons policies are now a common element at conventions.
I remember many years ago attending a convention where the con-com took "peace bonding" weapons to an extreme clearly meant to make swaggering around in a costume with a weapon look ridiculous. Swords and guns were tied into place with liberal amounts of fluffy pink ribbon.
ALAN: What a brilliant way of cutting the Gordian knot. Ridicule never fails!
JANE: I don't believe this particular element survived more than a con or two, but while it lasted, it made its point.
What's interesting is that these days the fans in military costumes are often involved with convention security. In the U.S., this began in the mid-1970's with a group that still exists today: The Dorsai Irregulars.
The Dorsai Irregulars were founded by Robert Asprin who asked permission from Gordon R. Dickson to name the group after his super-solider race, the Dorsai. The need for the Dorsai Irregulars was linked to a factor we discussed a few weeks ago – the growth and fragmenting of fandom. When everyone wasn't part of the same small "family," problems – including harassment and theft – began to crop up.
Conventional security groups didn't understand fans and often made matters worse – so the fans decided to police themselves. You can read more about the Dorsai Irregulars and their history here.
ALAN: I think that's a good idea, but I suspect that fandom in New Zealand is probably still a bit too small to need the formality of that kind of organisation. Though having said that, we certainly do have a need for some mechanism to cope with harassment and the like. Recently our conventions have followed trends from overseas and have set out specific harassment policies with designated people who can be approached if problems develop.
JANE: Harassment policies are a great idea. Even just the statement that certain types of behavior won't be tolerated creates a safe space. But sometimes that safe space meets unusual challenges.
Back when I lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, a convention I was associated with was being harassed by the Christian evangelist Jerry Falwell and his followers. Our local fans were warned in advance not to rise to the bait and they didn't – not even when Falwell and some of his followers went into the restaurant and made loud comments about "That Satanic D&D convention." When this didn't work, Falwell and a few of his cronies stood in the lobby and began to sing hymns.
ALAN: That must have been quite a sight to see! I always enjoy it when "christians" find themselves out-christianed.
JANE: As was mentioned in the comments a couple weeks ago, David Weber's Royal Manticoran Navy has a very visible following, complete with uniforms. However, RMN club members are not all militaristic. Several times, I've encountered a fellow who dresses up as a member of the clergy. I believe he even performs religious services. Although the RMC sometimes offers convention security, their main focus (outside of Weber's fiction, of course) is fundraising for charity. One of their pet charities (pun intended) is big cat rescue, in honor of the treecats who are key elements in the series.
You can read more about the RMC here.
ALAN: And of course it's only a short step from cosplayers to furries. On the surface, furries are just cosplay people who like to dress up as furry animals, and they are definitely a genuinely interesting, and often extremely cute, sight at conventions. But the fact that they are a recognised (and recognisable) sub-group suggests that perhaps there is rather more to them than just that.
JANE: Oh! I was Guest of Honor at a furry convention some years ago, and found out a lot about the complexities of that particular fandom. Let's talk more about it next time!
In these Wanderings, I've mentioned Asphodel on and off as I've been writing it. Now Asphodel is available as a trade paperback. Prefer e-books? You can also find Asphodel on Kindle, Nook, i-Tunes , GooglePlay, and Kobo.
Now that Asphodel has been released, I feel more comfortable talking about it. Don't worry. There won't be any spoilers.
Nameless in a doorless tower graced with seven windows, she is imprisoned. Who is her jailer? What is her crime?
After she discovers the secret of the seven windows, the nameless one, accompanied by two impossible companions, sets forth on fantastical journeys of exploration. But, for the nameless one, learning her name may not be a welcome revelation, and the identity of her jailer will rock the foundations of a tower that has come to be as much refuge as prison.
From various comments, I've gathered that some people think that Asphodel belongs to one of my existing series. That isn't the case. It's a stand-alone novel, and likely to remain so.
Asphodel had an interesting starting point. The only writers' group I belong to is called First Fridays. First Fridays was founded by Tony Hillerman, Norm Zollinger, Madge Harrah, and several other New Mexico authors to be a place where professional writers could meet up and talk shop. Its only rules are that First Fridays has no officers, no agenda, and that all members must be professionally published.
Her words hit me between the eyes. I realized that, since I'd finished my last project, many weeks had gone by without me writing any fiction. Non-fiction, certainly. But no fiction. Business considerations seemed to take all my time. Worse, whenever I started thinking about writing something, all that business stuff started chattering in my head. The buzzwords of the moment. The latest argument on social media.
I realized I didn't really like the inside of my own head very much.
To keep myself from falling into old patterns, I divorced myself from my computer. Instead, I took out an address book that had been part of a set my sister-in-law, Beth, had given me one year for Christmas. I pulled out a box of colored pens, sat down at the kitchen table, and promised myself one hour a day just to write.
The first word I wrote was "Asphodel." The story flowed from that point. Whenever I found myself thinking too hard, I'd pull out my set of Story Cubes, grab a few at random, throw them down, and then work whatever hit me into the story. I changed color pens a whim. When I started, I thought I'd only be writing a short story but, when I finished the address book, I found there was more story there. I grabbed a notebook in which I keep track of birthdays and started writing on all the blank pages. When I was done with that, I found another partially-used blank book. Finally, I ended up with a spiral notebook.
When I finally wrote "The End" I found myself curious as to how much I'd written. I started typing and discovered that I had something like 58,000 words – too long for most short fiction markets and, anyhow, the story defied most market categories.
Jim was curious about what had been keeping me so absorbed all those weeks, so I printed him a copy. When he started coming home and telling me about where he was in the story, what he was wondering about, I began to wonder if I'd accidentally written something that was coherent to someone other than myself. As a test, I asked a couple of friends I could trust to be brutal with me if they'd read it. They both did, both liked it and both said they hadn't wanted it to end.
I balked at writing more for no reason other than to write more. But I promised to keep myself open to the idea that there was more story. And a few weeks later, the characters started talking in my head, picking up as if we'd never stopped. I wrote more, gave the manuscript to a few more friends – deliberately picking some who I thought would hate it. No one did.
As a final test, I read the whole manuscript aloud in twenty-minute intervals to my gaming group. Not only did they seem taken with the tale, they didn't have any trouble remembering what was going on, even though a week, sometimes more, would have gone by between readings.
So, I decided that I wanted to share the story with a larger audience. My agent offered to shop the manuscript around, but I was so closely immersed with the tale by now that self-publishing seemed the best option. Rowan Derrick (who as one of my gamers was familiar with the story) agreed to do the cover, taking on my request to put together a photo mosaic that would be both surreal and firmly anchored in the material of the novel.
And now, here it is… My paper ship built from scraps and colored ink. I hope you will climb aboard and take the trip – discover for yourself the secret meaning of Asphodel.
With the impending release of Asphodel taking a lot of my spare time, I haven't picked my next novel to read, but have been reading the most recent Smithsonian before bed.
Can She Break the Glass?
The Wind in His Heart by Charles de Lint. Very strong. I liked it!
Page: Protector of the Small, Book Two by Tamora Pierce. Audiobook. Re-read.
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones. Re-read. Well worth it!
The Dark Prophesy: Book Two of the Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan. Audiobook. Just a few chapters in.
The Dragon of Despair by Jane Lindskold.
JANE: As you were saying last time, Alan, fan costumes aren't necessarily restricted to costumes based on visual media. This is absolutely true… In fact, clever readers of these Tangents may notice that the fans who were shown last week cosplaying Sailor Moon (media) are shown cosplaying characters from a novel.
Do you have any cool examples?
ALAN: Yes I do. In 1979 the Worldcon was held in Brighton, in England. I was there, and at the masquerade (that's what we call the formal costume contest and presentation) I saw the most breathtaking costume I've ever seen. A very beautiful (and very courageous) woman appeared in front of the crowd as the heroine of Robert Silverberg's award winning novella, Nightwings. She was completely naked apart from a G-string and a huge pair of wings. The wings were hooked across her shoulders and attached to the G-string at waist level to help balance the load. The wings themselves were so enormous that she needed two handmaidens to support and carry them behind her. The applause for her costume was deafening, and not just because she was naked and beautiful, but because the whole effect was simply stunning. She really was the Nightwings character.
The BBC had a camera crew at that convention and you can get a glimpse of her on Youtube here.
She appears roughly 20 minutes into the film.
If you watch the whole thing, see if you can spot me. I am briefly on camera, but if you blink you'll miss me.
JANE: I looked but I couldn't find you, but then I'm not sure I'd recognize me from 1979, much less someone else.
ALAN: As we've said, the idea of dressing up to attend a convention has never really gone away. These days all kinds of brilliant costumes are in evidence. The people who do this are called cosplayers, and often they combine their interest in costuming with a passion for live role-playing.
JANE: Did you know that the word "cosplay" is actually Japanese? It has its roots in Japanese anime/manga fandom, and is an abbreviation of "costume/costuming play." Such pseudo-English words are fairly common in modern Japanese. A few years ago, "cosplay" started being applied to costuming in general, and so made its way into English.
ALAN: That's interesting. I didn't know the derivation. I'd assumed it was just a Humpty Dumpty portmanteau word.
JANE: And it is… Just with an origin a bit more eclectic than most.
Live action roleplaying (or LARPS) started showing up around the time I was first attending conventions. I believe that the initial impetus was related to the popularity of vampire fiction and, in particular, to a series of roleplaying games then published by White Wolf. Vampire: the Masquerade was the first of these. As the title indicates, the idea is that vampires live among us, masquerading as normal humans. Therefore, the initial LARPers actually didn't wear costumes.
However, even without costumes, they stood out at cons because they used a variety of poses to indicate whether the character was using magical abilities. One of the most common, as I recall, was hands crossed over the chest, which meant that the person was invisible. So you'd have these people (usually dressed in black) pacing around the convention with their arms crossed over their chests, not interacting with anyone because they were invisible. It was, to put it mildly, surreal.
ALAN: Of course it was – this was at an SF/F con and a con is not a con without a touch of the surreal somewhere around.
JANE: But getting back to what we were saying earlier, even leaving out those costumes where the influence may be as much media-based as from the text – for example, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones or various comic books — there are many examples of fan costumes based on novels. Roger had numerous photos of fans costumed as characters from his Amber novels. When Tamora Pierce came to Bubonicon, a group of fans (featured in today's photo) did a complex group costume as characters from her Tortall universe. I've even heard of fans cosplaying Firekeeper.
ALAN: Costumes can also often be thematic rather than being derived from specific literary or other media characters. So, for example, we may have cyberpunk or steampunk costumes, beeping or ejecting clouds of steam. And in these days of the fear of a zombie apocalypse, hordes of the undead are not uncommonly seen lurching around conventions.
Did you know that in 2011, Wellington City Council actually implemented a Zombie Apocalypse Plan (known as ZAP)?
ALAN: ZAP had its serious side – Wellington has regular earthquakes and, being a coastal city, is very susceptible to tsunamis. Anything that makes the populace consider the consequences of a disaster has to be a good thing, if only to force them to prepare for it by laying in supplies of food and water. And vinyl records, of course.
ALAN: Yes. ZAP suggests that the very best way to dispose of a zombie is to hurl a vinyl record at its head so that the skull is pierced through and through.
Just in case any of our readers think I'm joking, information about ZAP can be found here.
JANE: I believe you, even without the link. You wouldn't lie to us!
In addition to costumes based on published fiction or literary themes, there are costumes based on a character from a role-playing game or from the costumer's work-in-progress. I always enjoy these because they're a reminder of how many different forms the creative impulse can take.
ALAN: But as wonderful an addition to a convention as costumes can be, sometimes they can indicate an unsettling trend. Maybe we can talk about that next time.
JANE: This week I'm interviewing Walter Jon Williams, the award-winning author of numerous science fiction and historical novels, about his latest release: Quillifer.
So, Walter, I always start interviews with this question: In my experience, writers fall into two general categories: those who have been writing stories since before they could actually write and those who came to writing somewhat later.
WALTER: I decided I wanted to be a writer as soon as I knew there were such things as writers, which was before I had learned to read or write. I would dictate stories to my parents, who would write them down for me. Fortunately, none of these efforts have survived.
JANE: Your latest release is Quillifer. To the best of my knowledge, this is your first Fantasy novel. What drew you – who are best known for cyberpunk (Hardwired) and space opera (the Praxis series) – to trying your hand at Fantasy?
WALTER: Sometimes the universe just gives you a story and tells you to write it. I took a 90-minute walk while listening to an audiobook of Peter Ackroyd's biography of Shakespeare, and by the time I came home I had six books plotted and the name of my character.
That happened a number of years ago actually, but I hesitated since I knew that I'd have to give up my SF career to write a six-volume fantasy. Then I managed to sell Quillifer to one publisher and a continuation of my Praxis SF series to another, so I ended up living in the best of both worlds.
But the main reason I'm working on the series is that I find Quillifer an irresistible character. I hope readers find him likewise.
JANE: Quillifer (who insists on being called only by his surname) is very much the "charming rogue" type of character. In this, he's definitely a first cousin to one of my favorite of your characters – Drake Magistral whose story is told in the three "Divertimenti" novels: The Crown Jewels, House of Shards, and Rock of Ages.
What is the appeal of this sort of character for you?
WALTER: Rogues see through pretense. Han Solo punctures the solemn nonsense of the Star Wars movies, Flashman exposes the hypocrisies of the Victorian era, Rhett Butler laughs at the South's code of chivalry, and Loki is the one you watch in the Thor movies.
Rogues tell the truth. And of course rogues are very charming, which they have to be if they're going to go around telling the truth all the time.
And one note: Quillifer isn't Q's surname, exactly, it's the only name he's got. He doesn't need another one.
JANE: Thanks for the correction. I'd missed that!
Although Quillifer is definitely a Fantasy, in many ways it reads like a historical novel. The world-building – from architecture to commerce to religions and style of dress are all very solidly grounded. I assume your travels about the world had a definite influence on this. Is that correct? Did any specific countries influence this book? What else did you draw upon?
WALTER: I was aiming to make the world as real as I could, and I did my best to build it brick by brick. Many of the settings in the novel are based on places I've been, though of course they're all mixed together, so you end up with buildings from Gdansk in a setting from Turkey, and inhabited by people from Dorset.
Once I started doing research I kept finding out absolutely factual stuff that was far more fascinating than anything I could invent. Turnspit dogs, for example— a now-extinct breed of dog trained to run in oversize hamster wheels, turning the spits before a fire.
And King Arthur's Court, which is in Gdansk, Poland. You might have thought that King Arthur had his court in Britain somewhere, but you'd be wrong! King Arthur's Court was a high-gothic clubhouse for rich bourgeoisie, who dressed up as knights and held feasts and jousting and other entertainments. They were cosplaying the Middle Ages in the actual Middle Ages. I just couldn't make up something like that.
Happily, Quiliifer has its own plot and a very satisfying conclusion. Earlier, you said you have plans for other novels in the series. How many can we look for?
WALTER: I've contracted for two more, which will appear at approximate two-year intervals, Quillifer the Knight in 2019, and the third in 2021. If the first three books do well, I'll write the next three, and take Quillifer from the age of eighteen into old age.
JANE: You mentioned you have other projects you're working on. Can you tell us more about these?
WALTER: I'm also working on the Praxis, the Science Fiction Series That Wouldn't Die. The publisher tried to put an end to the series after the third book, but couldn't stop the public from buying them. All three of the first books have been through many printings, and have never been out of print, and it's been fifteen years! So now I have a new editor, and he's acquired three more. Right now I'm dealing with the editor's notes for The Accidental War, which should appear in September of this year.
I'd like to thank my editors Joe Monti and David Pomerico for agreeing to let me alternate books. Working alternately on Quillifer and the Praxis will keep me from getting stale on either project.
So I'll be busy for the next several years, and I hope readers will enjoy the books if they can find them, which in these days of collapsing bookstore chains is beginning to be a problem.
JANE: Thanks for taking time out of what sounds like a very busy schedule to chat. Now I shall release you to go write. I, for one, will definitely be reading The Accidental War when it comes out.
Jim's finishing off a long holiday, but even with that pleasant distraction there's been some time to read.
First Test: Protector of the Small, Book One by Tamora Pierce. Audiobook. Re-read. Warning… This book has a tough first third. Pierce does not pull her punches as to how hard a road Keladry will need to travel to become even a page, much less achieve her dream of becoming a knight.
The Wind in His Heart by Charles de Lint. Over halfway. Enjoying!
Page: Protector of the Small, Book Two by Tamora Pierce. Audiobook. Re-read. Obviously, I'm hooked all over again.
Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart by Jane Lindskold. I want to go visit New Kelvin for real.
TT: A Serpent in Paradise?
JANE: So, last time you were talking about how a larger club can embrace numerous sub-fandoms. Certainly, that can work but from what I've seen – and please remember, I'm not in any clubs — the biggest conflict seems to be at the convention level, when a sub-section of the group wants to have media guests.
Unlike author and artist guests, who attend for free or (in the cases of Guests of Honor) for expenses only, media guests are expensive and often do little more than a canned presentation, then sit and sign photographs of themselves (for which they charge even more). The movie Galaxy Quest captures this very well.
I've seen more than one group fragment over this.
ALAN: We don't have this problem – we have a national media convention called Armageddon which is run as a business (and which, I am told, makes a healthy profit).
The national SF conventions themselves are much smaller affairs, run by volunteers, and they seldom have media guests because Armageddon takes over that function for them.
JANE: There are media conventions here, too. That isn't really what I'm talking about. The problem that can arrive is when a convention that's more like what you describe as your national SF con develops a group of fans who can't understand why a media guest can't be added to the roster.
ALAN: Despite what I just said, there have been occasions when our national conventions have had media guests. If you are careful about who you invite, it can work out surprisingly well. One year our national convention had Danny Don Jules (the actor who played Cat in Red Dwarf) as the guest of honour. He turned out to be an absolutely wonderful guest – he was fun, he was funny, he was very approachable and best of all he was a very knowledgeable science fiction fan who was absolutely thrilled to have been chosen to play a part in an SF television show. It was one of our more memorable conventions – everyone had a ball!
JANE: How did Mr. Jule's participation come about?
ALAN: I presume the organiser just felt like it and so she wrote to him care of the BBC. That's just the kind of thing she would do, and she was astonishingly successful at persuading people to come and be guests at her conventions. She was very good at what Granny Weatherwax calls "Headology". She put together several excellent conventions by all by herself, with minimal help from other people.
JANE: She was lucky and I guess your national con must have a good budget!
ALAN: No. They are all self-funding from membership fees and the like. There are no external funds for the convention to draw on.
I've attended various conventions that featured media guests. Most were, sadly, pretty unmemorable. Some didn't even seem to know much about their own characters or shows. Knowing that those people were being paid large amounts to smile and sign their name, when I was racking up expenses to be there and doing multiple program items for which I carefully prepared in advance… Well, I'll just leave it there.
However, some years ago, New Mexico Tech had a very small SF convention. The organizer had a family relationship to Nichelle Nichols who played Uhura on Star Trek. She was amazing. Not only didn't she mind being at a con that was small and without a lot of frills, she was thrilled to be free to walk around and be part of the event. She went and watched the belly dancers, talked to anyone who wanted to chat, and – although I will always regret missing this – apparently went to a campus bar and tried to get the uptight students to dance. I would have danced with her, no question.
But, as with your story about Danny Don Jules, Ms. Nichols had a lot to offer as a person. Her speech was not only about Star Trek but about the responsibilities of being a role model. Anyone further from the whining has-beens of Galaxy Quest could not be imagined.
George Takei was also delightful the two times I crossed paths with him. So I think media guests may have something to offer – but only if they're permitted to be more than talking heads for their fictional selves.
ALAN: Media SF/F invites another aspect of fandom to blossom forth – costuming. Some of the costumes can be quite elaborate and are often more than just a simple copy of what the characters wore on TV or in the movie. I remember once seeing a delightful pink dalek trundling itself down a hotel corridor.
JANE: Most conventions here have formal costume contests, as well as informal "hall costumes." Some conventions give prizes for both.
Costumes can be a great way for fans to shout out what they're interested in. Our local con has some pretty magnificent storm troopers from Star Wars who show up, as well as people meticulously costumed as characters from various anime and comics.
I've actually learned about various shows by asking what inspired a particular costume.
ALAN: Not all costumes are necessarily movie-based. I remember one in particular… But let me see if I can find a picture of it to share. Then I can tell you about it next time.
This Saturday is the eighth anniversary of the Wednesday Wanderings. In all eight years, I haven't missed a single week. Many of my posts specifically on writing can be found in my book Wanderings on Writing, but there're also available on the site.
I certainly plan to continue with these Wanderings in 2018. While posts will include announcements of new projects, interviews, and progress reports, doubtless I'll wander on about whatever's on my mind.
This brings me to the matter of memory foam. Last week, Jim and I replaced the pad on our futon sofa.
Side note for cat owners: If you have a problem with cats using your sofa as a scratching post, you might want to consider a futon sofa. Although the initial outlay is similar to that for a "real" sofa, the three basic elements – the frame, the pad, and the cover – can be replaced separately. An added bonus is that most futon frames are made of wood or metal, which doesn't look nearly as much like a scratching post to a cat as do the arms, legs, and backs of a standard sofa. Best of all, you get an extra bed out of the deal, one that's a lot more comfortable than most sofa beds.
Anyhow, the first pad we bought for our futon sofa had been built much like that for a "real" mattress featuring a combination of springs and padding. It had a lot more bounce than the usual cotton batting futon, and did well by us for many years.
However, archeology is profession that is not particularly kind to backs. Eventually, Jim hinted that he'd like to get a replacement pad. When we went shopping, we discovered that there was a new option – a pad made completely out of memory foam. We tried it in the store, liked it, made our purchase, and took it home.
After removing the old pad, we cut away the packaging that covered the folded memory foam pad. We expected it to stay folded but, to our amazement, it slowly unfolded, flopping open flat.
No problem, right? After all, we had to put the new cover on, and that could only be done with the mattress flat. We worked the new cover around, admiring how tightly it fit, then shoved the frame and pad into the sitting position. We arranged the pad into place and stood back to admire the effect.
The memory foam pad – still "remembering" that it should be flat – popped out of the frame, flat as a board. After several more attempts to get it to stay in place, including sitting on the pad, we called the store. The manager gave us a few tips, including suggesting that we position the pad then place something heavy on the seat while the memory foam set into its new position.
We were at a loss as to what to use to provide even weight. Then Jim remembered that we had boxes of my out-of-print hardcover novels in the garage. We brought in six boxes, positioned the pad once more, then – while I sat on the sofa to hold it in place – Jim set the boxes down. We left it this way overnight and the next day all was well.
The behavior of the memory foam, especially its unwillingness to give up what it "remembered" as normal, made me think about my own life as a writer. A lot changed in 2017, and I expect more to change in 2018. No doubt, there will be times when my mental landscape will want to spring back into old patterns, but I plan to be stubborn and push back.