(1) WSFS TRIAL COMMITTEE REPORT NOW AVAILABLE. [Item by Kat Kourbeti.] The report of the Trial Committee is now available to read on the Lumi Platform for current WSFS/Worldcon members. 

The full report is comprised of one main report document and one for appendices, which includes a transcript of an interview with Dave McCarty. Neither document will be available to download as they are only meant to be accessed by current WSFS members, but they will be viewable on the Lumi platform which people can log into through the LACon Portal. 

The next virtual session of the Business Meeting will take place on Sunday 9th August at 9am PDT, and the report (as well as the Trial Committee’s resolutions) will be discussed in executive session, meaning none of the proceedings will be recorded or broadcast on LACon’s YouTube channel. The minutes (as well as the report itself) will only be available to WSFS members by request via the MPC after the Business Meeting is adjourned.

(2) HWA REMOVES TRUSTEE. The Horror Writers Association today removed Sèphera Girón as Trustee from its Board of Trustees. The action followed publication of Girón‘s comments about AI and its opponents in her “In the Trenches” column in the August 2026 installment of the HWA Member Newsletter. See HWA’s statement, quotes from Girón‘s comments, and excerpts from the social media response at the link: “Horror Writers Association Removes Sèphera Girón as Trustee”.

(3) SPSFC COMPETITION FINALISTS. The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition 5 named six finalists today. See the titles at the link.

(4) NPR FEATURE ON “THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS”. [Item by John A Arkansawyer.] Just this afternoon. It’s not bad, and it’s got Bradbury talking in it, briefly:  “Today is the day after Ray Bradbury’s post-apocalyptic world” – hear the NPR audio broadcast clip at the link.

(5) CHERRYH UPDATE. C. J. Cherryh posted some encouraging words about the Washington state wildfire on Facebook.

The air is clearing, finally. Smoke has given both Jane and me a nagging cough—not often, unless we’re trying to eat. I have an ionizer running. But you can see less haze on distant prospects.

We’re just staying tucked down to relieve the pressure on streets and facilities: WE have a kitchen and ample food in storage, where some don’t have that luxury and won’t for a while. The manager of our favorite pub lost his whole house.

Had my regular checkup with the doc—all good news. I’m doing fine, bloodwork and all. I’ve dieted off weight: she approves.

We’re still cleaning up from the sort we did when we hauled out emergency stuff—reorganization is in order.

Outside is still not pleasant, but getting there. The heavy smoke has blocked sunlight, so at least we do get cooler temperatures —at least that has been a relief. Otherwise we’d be in the mid-90’s.

(6) PLURIBUS Q&A. “Rhea Seehorn ‘Pluribus’ Interview & Season 2 Questions” at Deadline.

DEADLINE: In a very cheerful, upbeat reflection of whatever you want them to be. What were your thoughts when that landed for you, how incredibly relevant that was, whether by accident or not, and how did you and Vince [Gilligan] talk about it?

SEEHORN: I knew that Vince doesn’t write in themes. He’s not trying to speak to a specific theme. I also knew that he’s been mulling over some of these questions about humanity, society, all of the plethora of questions that the show brings up for 10- plus years.

So, believe it or not, I was surprised when we started doing the press junkets and people were bringing up, “Oh, this is a commentary on AI, right?” And I get it now and I know I look like an idiot, but I get so focused on playing the character in the story that she’s in, that I try very hard not to think about how I want it to be interpreted or what is this theme that this is speaking to. I didn’t think about the pandemic. Of course, that got brought up. Of course, there’s a comparison to be made there with isolation. And I’m a very extrovert-introvert, 50-50 person, and so I very much need my alone time, but the pandemic tested that, so be careful what you wish for, right? And I think Carol’s going through that.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

August 5, 1966 — James Gunn, 60.

Director James Gunn, who you surely know if only for the Guardians of the Galaxy films, has a very interesting career which we’ll look at tonight.

His first film, decidedly not genre, was Tromeo and Julietwhich I’m sure you can figure what its source material was. It definitely would’ve made Shakespeare pale it as quite extreme levels of sex and violence characteristic of almost every Troma film, not to overlook Gunn revised the ending. Anyone here seen it? It has a rather decent 61% rating among audience reviewers over at Rotten Tomatoes. 

Far sillier and not at all likely to offend lovers of classic literature, he scripted next Scooby –Doo and slightly later Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. Really he did. Rotten Tomatoes gives them, well, let’s just say stink, stank, stunk ratings, but sandwiched in between these, and definitely not silly, he penned Dawn of the Dead. Versatile writer, eh?

His first directing gig (which he scripted as well) was Slither in which the plot such as it is has a meteorite bringing an intelligent alien parasite to Earth. Naturally I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes — it has a strong sixty percent rating among critics and audience reviewers with Allison Shoemaker of Fox 10 Phoenix saying, “Slither is a visceral experience from the first, but as the creature grows, so does the film’s daring.”

So what next? His final work before the film you him know for was Super, described as a black comedy superhero film, again was written and directed by him. A short order cook becomes a superhero without actually any superpowers. Huh. Let me repeat. Huh. It gets a decent 50% at the usual place. 

Ok now Disney hires him to write (the first with Nicole Perlman who picked this film because her loved of science fiction, the next two by himself) and direct the Guardians of the Galaxy films. He entered negotiations just two years prior to the film premiering with the possible directors including future MCU directors Peyton Reed and the duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

Need I say all three films were extraordinarily successful films? At Rotten Tomatoes right now, they carry audiences review ratings of 92%, 87% and 82%. Yes, they did fall off slightly with each film, but an average of 87% is damn good.   

Two years ago, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Peter Safran to become co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. That means they’re overseeing yet another reboot of the DC Expanded Universe. (I’ve lost track of how often this has occurred.) This starts with Superman out next year which, no surprise, he’s writing and directing.

Oh, remember that Warner Bros. Coyote v. Acme film still being a Schrödinger’s Roadrunner? (Try to catch that one!) He along with Jeremy Slater and Samy Burch wrote the story for it. Not the script as Burch did that. 

What else should I mention? Well, he was one of the Executive Producers on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame; he’s the motion capture for Baby Groot in the first two of the Guardians films; and finally he was Doctor Flem Hocking in The Toxic Avenger IV. Yes, Troma Films produced The Toxic Avenger films.

So why am bringing this film to your attention? Because it is where we connect Gunn to Marvel. The narrator of this film was none other than Stan Lee himself so we can assume that two of them met and spent some time together while filming this, a reasonable assumption indeed. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• xkcd features a star collector on the Antiques Roadshow.
• Brewster Rockit fights back with a fantasy twist.
• F Minus busts a scammer.
• Wumo hates to share the spotlight.

(9) ELECTRONIC ARTS SOLD. “The Sims and EA FC maker Electronic Arts sells for $55bn to Saudi-led group” reports BBC. (Subscription required by readers outside the UK.)

The sale of gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) for $55bn (£41bn) to a group of buyers including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been finalised.

The American company is known for making and publishing best-selling games such as EA FC, formerly known as Fifa, The Sims and Mass Effect.

The investors, who include Affinity Partners – led by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – are taking EA private, meaning all of its public shares will be purchased and it will no longer be traded on a stock exchange.

It is thought to be the largest leveraged buyout in history, meaning a significant part of it is paid for with borrowed money, which the company will have to pay back.

This is because as well as the $36bn it has already put into the deal, PIF needs to borrow $20bn from investment bankers JPMorgan to close it, with the business taking on the debt.

How paying back this debt will affect EA as a business has been the source of much speculation from journalists and analysts.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier surmised it could lead to “mass layoffs, more aggressive monetization, and other big cost-cutting measures“, for one of the industry’s biggest companies….

… While the Saudi Arabian government has spent years denying such claims, Osborn said the EA deal could present another way of allowing it to project its influence.

“If the PIF’s football strategy limited them to ownership of Newcastle United and some Saudi Pro League teams, owning EA hands them a relationship with the 20,000 players, 750 clubs and 35 leagues at the top of the professional game,” he said.

“What is clear is that a state seeking to shape perceptions now owns an asset with proven reach to billions of people.

“How it uses it in the years to come is something we should watch closely.”

PIF is controlled by Saudi Arabia’s prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose government has been accused of human rights violations….

(10) JODRELL BANK SUPPORTERS. “Find funding and save Jodrell Bank, stars and academics say”. The BBC reports on a public letter. (Subscription required by readers outside the UK.)

More than 150 public figures have signed a letter calling for the government to reverse a “foolish” decision and “find funding immediately to save Jodrell Bank”.

About £2.8m has been pulled from the Cheshire observatory, leaving the University of Manchester needing to find alternative cash by 2028.

Signatories of the letter include astronaut Tim Peake, musicians Sir Brian May and Jarvis Cocker, Scotland’s Astronomer Royal Prof Catherine Heymans, physicists Prof Jim Al-Khalili and Prof Brian Cox, and Judy Spence, the daughter of the site’s founder Sir Bernard Lovell.

The UK Research and Innovation agency (UKRI) has said it had to focus on projects that delivered “the greatest long-term impact”.

The observatory, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is dominated by the enormous Lovell Telescope, a structure that was voted Britain’s greatest unsung landmark in 2006.

All scientific observations at Jodrell are expected to cease on the 1 April 2028 unless alternative funding can be found.

Twenty-eight jobs are at risk at the observatory, but its closure would also affect the work of nearly 3,000 scientists who use it in their research.

When the plan to cut funding was announced, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the UK’s world class research was “absolutely central to creating a better future for the UK”.

“I am committed to working with UKRI to ensure the UK remains able not only to sustain its world-leading research capabilities, but also to invest in the next generation of scientific facilities and infrastructure that will underpin discovery, innovation and growth in the years ahead,” he said.

The letter was signed by a number of figures who have presented TV shows at the observatory, such as Prof Jim Al-Khalili

The open letter was signed by a number of figures who have played concerts or broadcast from the observatory, including guitarist Johnny Marr, electronica pioneer Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk, the bands New Order, Elbow and Doves, comedian Dara Ó Briain and poet laureate Simon Armitage.

It stated Jodrell Bank was “an icon in UK cultural and scientific history”, which was the “thriving, thumping heart of space observation, research and education in the UK”.

“This beacon of science is more ambitious than ever, with exciting plans already under way that will ensure the UK’s relevance and leadership in the rapidly evolving domain of space exploration and utilisation,” it said….

[Thanks to Mark Roth-Whitworth, Kathy Sullivan, Steven French, Kat Kourbeti, John A Arkansawyer, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Chris Barkley for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson.]