Every family has that one member who stretches themselves to do something new. Every family has that little stash of Aunt Lilly’s watercolors in the attic, or Grandpa Joe’s carved duck decoys. The work may be naïve or even embarrassing, but they are precious. They are precious, because they are a reflection of the person, the artist and the times. It’s always sad to find forgotten art work, especially when the work shows real skill and promise, as in the paintings of Edward Foster. The 1950s Edward Foster was a civil engineer just starting his family. It was during this time he took on a personal project. He would learn to draw and paint. It was never his intention to be an illustrator or a fine artist. Like many folk in the mid-20th century, he had the optimism, anything could be done. Being able to paint, to Ed Foster was a needed self-improvement. He had sketchbooks filled with drawings he made from advertisements, photos and on occasion, his wife would pose for him. He enrolled in painting courses and invested in oils, pastels and drawing supplies. His work improved; even though his interests changed later, the skills he developed as an artist went on to support him as a print maker and book binder. He did mostly portraits and yes they were naïve and awkward. But they are compelling as well. They seem to float in their own world with its cold light. The anatomy of the boxer stiffens in some areas and atrophies in others. The most attention is paid to the well modeled head and the shiny highlights along the surface of the skin. In the portrait of his wife, Ruth we see a more emotional and abstracted image. The shadows and modeling of her face is rich with color. She is monumental in composition. This is the woman he loves, sort of goofy, and dynamic. The other portraits show the mode of the day. You can tell they are from the 50s. The profile of the woman wear-ing a hat is obvious. Low contrast and awkward in execution, I can’t help but think he wanted to do something main stream and just didn’t have the heart. The young man in the jacket, staring into space is a better portrait. He

Found Art, Discovered Talents.by Maurine Starkey

is substantial and sits in a real world. I do like the exag-geration in the eyes. All the images try to be naturalistic and twist in places to the more abstract. It would have been interesting to see him continue to paint. I believe he would have developed a solid style with more time and confidence. But he had a little daughter and a wife to support and after a while he put his art away. It’s the fate of a lot of amateur artists, real life steps in. I believe he painted for another reason. His work and study trained him to be an observer. Ed Foster went on to learn his father in law’s printing and bookbinding business. His skills as an civil engineer adapted quickly to the technical issues involved with the print shop. Color, composition and design were invaluable assets when working with type and enhanced the character of bookbinding.Unfortunately no attention is paid to preserving these little treasures. Dismissed by family members as follies and much of it considered too embarrassing to keep or display. Their creations, like Ed’s, are left to languish in attics and store rooms. Some are just too poorly ex-ecuted. But it’s not the finished work that’s important, but the experience of doing it. And sometimes a little gem will sparkle out of the stack of canvases worth the time to clean it and hang onto. Learning something new never wastes a disci-pline in another genre. Why I used the portrait of the young woman. I like calling her, Rocket Girl. It had a strong 50’s style to it that many of us associate with Science Fiction. The background was just funky enough to give the piece a bit of storytelling. MyS

Pieces from Ed Foster Page 2 (l-to-r)Portrait of a Young ManStylish Lady

Page 3 (top-to-bottom)Snooty PortraitRuth FosterMike

Page 4 Black Fighter

Ed Beecher’s Thoughts on 2013’s FIlms!

A little while ago you were asking for a list of top 10 movies for 2013. While there were some very good ones out there, mine are a pick of both the good and bad. All of this leads up to the Oscars, which origi-nally, were awards given to the best box office movie and not the most touchy-feely movie. Here is a list of the 688 films of 2013 http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2013/top-grossing-movies Some of my favorites did not even make the top 20. My top 10 (in no particular order) are: Hunger Games Worlds End This is The End Rush Good 'ol Frieda Gravity CBGB Zero Dark Thirty Star Trek The 2 Hobbit movies as 1 movie Also: Despicable Me 2 Monsters University Wolverine Killing Me Softly Silver Lining Playbook Django Unchained Also, as you know, there are some movie that you will say you like and everyone else will look at you like you just farted in church. Red 2 Internship WWZ Lone Ranger Wreck-It Ralph The Wizard of Oz Elysium And the films I just did not like. Not because they were bad films but because they were hyped so much and they did not live up to the hype. Man of Steel (one of the only films that when they make the porn version, they will not have to change the name ) Thor 2 We're the Millers Great Gatsby Identity Thief After Earth ( a truly terrible film with good CGI)

My Hugo Nominationsby Chris Garcia

Art by Michele Wilson

I have a tradition. Sometime around the start of hte New Year, I go to Denny’s. I go to Denny’s a lot, but at that time, I start thinking about what I’m going to nominate for the Hugo, and I start writing the article that you’re currently reading. There are, no doubt, any number of things I’ve totally forgotten, but that’s what this is about, ain’t it? So, the first one is Best Novel. Last year, I read about 20 SF/Fantasy novles of various types. There are a few that I may well have on my ballot. First, it’s Shh! It’s a Secret A Novel about Alieans, Hollywood, and the Bartender’s Guide by Dan Kimmel. Dan’s a friend and he wrote a great, hilarious novel about Hollywood, aliens, and booze. It’s great and you should check out http://fantasticbooks.biz/fantasticbooks/sf/1617207330.html. Dan’s also eligible for the Campbell Award. Interesting... Gil Carriger is a fave, and she didn’t let me down with Etiquette & Espionage, the first of her new Finishing School novels. I really like the characters she’s giving us, including a look at the young version of one that we all loved from her Parasol Protectorate novels. I’ve not read the second book in the series yet, but it’s also eligible, I think. That would take up TWO spots on my ballot! Looking down the ballot, one of my favorite films of this year was Spike Jonez’s Her. It’s the kind of science fiction film that people who don’t like science fiction won’t consider science fiction. It’s beautiful, emotionally satisfying, dark at times, absolutely joyous at others, and most importantly, it’s accessible to folks. Yeah, it’s not at all a new story, Lester Del Rey wrote something like it back in the 30s, but really, it was so magnificent. And weird. Spike Jonez revels in the weird... Next is a wonderful feature film called The Conjuring. A wonderful horror film with some of the best acting of the year. Of course, there’s Iron Man 3, and Hunger Games: Catching Fire, even if Ravin’ Dave McCarty hates it, and as far as smaller films go, Loveless Zoritsa (Crna Zorica) was a 2012 film, but I believe it had it’s first US showing in 2013, which would make it eligible, if I understand things correctly. As far as Dramatic Presentation: Short Form goes, I’ve got a bunch. Archer always does fun SciFi, and the

two-parter Sea Tunt, where the ISIS gang goes to visit SeaLab. It’s awesome. Short films are another thing I’m always trying to get people to consider. The Fabulous Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore came close to the ballot (if only some idiot Hugo Acceptance hadn’t made the ballot!) and this year there’s a lot of great shorts. The first one is called Lullaby for Lucius and Sumat, which is a beautiful film, showed at Cinequest, and deserves every recognition it can get. http://www.whosearmystudios.com/lullaby-for-lucious--sumat.html has more information. Then there’s No Rest for The Wicked. It’s a great film, it won Best Short for Cinequest last year, It was directed by Ryan Shifrin, who I believe is the son of Lalo Shifrin, who wrote music of it (as well as Bullitt!) and it’s got Ray Park and various other English actors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OWLL0p78NQ is a trailer for it. If you can get to see it, the amazing 48 Hour film called Sorry About Tomorrow. It’s gonna be in Cinequest, we’ve got a great little Science Fiction program and it’s one of the reasons I worked towards putting it together. http://www.motke.net/films-by-motke.php has more info on the wonderful filmmaker who made it. It might be a good reason to come to Cinequest the first week in March. There’s a wonderful television program called The Neighbors. If you like science fiction, and you like to laugh, it’s the one to go to on Friday nights at 8:30. The premise is brilliant: aliens have landed, and they’ve gathered at a Housing Community in New Jersey. The season finale was great, featuring both the amazing George Takei and Mark Hamill, and it was really really funny. Great stuff. Best Fancast is an area I spend a lot of time in. You may not have heard the Podcasts I do - Leaf & Let Die (http://leafandletdie.weebly.com), Themed for Your Pleasure (http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/themed-for-your-pleasure-podcast.html), Fanboy Planet (I’m often a Guest - Fanboyplanet.com) or Nerdvana (where I’m a regular, but not on every episode - http://nerdvanapodcast.com) but I gotta pitch The Three Who Rule - Radio Free Skaro (Dr. Who podcast at www.radiofreeskaro.com), I will also gently remind you that there’s always Linda and my Documentary series 5 Cons - http://5consdocumentary.weebly.com which is either a Fancast or a Related Work, we’re not sure.