2000 - 01/2000 Meeting
Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/25/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/12/08.
PAUL LEVINSON
Novels:
Borrowed Tides
The Consciousness Plague
The Pixel Eye
The Plot to Kill Socrates
The Silk Code
The Author's website is: http://www.sff.net/people/paullevinson/
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: January 8, 2000.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 33.
Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Writer.
Notes:
The meeting began with a screening of THE SAGA BEGINS a music video by Weird Al Yankovic telling the story of STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE to the tune of Don McClean's AMERICAN PIE.
A book sale was held in conjunction with the meeting.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2000 Philip J De Parto:
... Author Paul Levinson was the featured speaker. Mr Levinson is the author of the science fiction novel, THE SILK CODE, nine books of science fact, and about 30 science fiction short stories. He is currently the President of the Science Fiction Writers of America.
Our guest was already a confirmed sf junkie when he got a note from the librarian of his junior high school requesting he see her. The woman had noticed that the only books he had borrowed were those in the science fiction section. She explained that a person's mind is like a person's body, if you put only poison into a person's body, the body becomes physically ill. If all you put into a person's mind is this sort of stuff, you will become mentally ill. Therefore, she would not allow him to check out any further science fiction. Young Mr Levinson therefore never again set foot in the school library, confining himself to the books in the municipal library.
It was a natural progression for our guest to become a science fiction writer as he was always interested in becoming a participant in any activity which interested him. Writing sf was really no different than performing in the band to which he belonged.
Although he began working on ideas for science fiction short stories, his first published article was actually a response to a newspaper column attacking the music of Paul Mc Carthy. He received $ 5.00 for the work.
He put aside his literary endeavors while working on his thesis for his PhD. When he resumed writing, his initial efforts were in non fiction. But ideas for stories kept cropping up while he was researching non fiction, and he was soon writing them down and sending them out.
He first broke into the limited circulation semi pro and small press marketplace. He related a series of adventures in which a magazine would accept a story and go out of business before actually publishing it. This happened often enough that when he graduated to bigger markets, he wondered if he would be remembered in science fiction history as the man who killed ANALOG MAGAZINE.
The author is especially interested in the science fiction/mystery interface. Many of his stories feature forensic scientists who must unravel murderous puzzles in the future. Think of a high tech QUINCY.
A good deal of his talk concerned his position as the President of the Science Fiction Writers of American. His first position in the organization was on a committee to determine the eligibility criteria for science fiction short stories which appeared in electronic and other non print formats. As a science fiction writer who had written a number of non fiction books about computers and other matters, and as a teacher of media communications, he was well qualified to be on the committee. His work on this and other committees generated positive word of mouth.
He was recruited to run as Vice President of SFWA by Robert Sawyer on the "I"m not gonna die in office and the VP doesn't have any real duties" platform. When Bob Sawyer resigned, Paul Levinson found himself in charge. He completed his term and ran for reelection on the "I'm not Norman Spinrad [his opponent in the election]" platform.
It has generally been a satisfying stint. When he opined that he felt that he must be doing okay as the number of death threats he received had fallen to under ten, there was a voice from the back of the room inquiring, "So how is Harlan doing, anyway?" Our guest obliged with a Harlan Ellison story.
THE SILK CODE, his first novel, is a recent hardcover release from TOR Books and features Phil Damato, future detective, and hero of several stories originally appearing in ANALOG.