Monthly Archives: May 2022

Upcoming meeting

REMINDER: WE MEET SATURDAY, JUNE 4TH

WE ARE MEETING THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 4TH.

 On the Menu:

  • Improv poetry, by Kofi
  • Part 2 of Keith’s Terrors of Topanga Canyon (Part 1 is here)

Also:

  • Panning for the field trip to Rail Museum & August meeting
  • Show and tell, What are you reading/watching, Raffle

Untold Scenery, Decoded Imagery

by Kofi

Worlds intertwine

As the words do in these lines

Combine at will

Even if time were to be still

What may occur, who really knows?

Can these words and aura be the hidden device

That brings the surprise to a world never told

Where the colors are smell by the nose

Where the occurrence of the unknown

Is part of the times

Consider it commonplace

Part of being regular,

Actions aren’t seen in singular

Join us in the journey, to see what comes across our face

In this phase

Would it be familiar?

Or a whole different pace

 

Fanzines

Zines to share!

More Zines arrived!

Nic Farey sent us This Here, lots of footy news and lovely art by Ulrika O’Brian. TH 53

From the N3F, the N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono

N3FReview202205

Fiction

2 … A Long Time Until Now by Michael Z. Williamson … Review by Trevor Denning
3 … A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs … Review by Caroline Furlong
5 … A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) … Review by Tom Feller
6 … Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire … Review by Perry Middlemiss
6 … Alexis Carew series by J.A. Sutherland … Review by Jim McCoy
8 … Beat The Devils by Josh Weiss … Review by Jason P. Hunt
9 … Chaos on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer … Review by Tom Feller
9 … Dark Sojourns by Beth H. Adams … Review by Heath Row
10 … Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin by Terrance Dicks … Review by Heath Row
11 … Drosselmeyer: Curse of the Rat King … Review by Trevor Denning
13 … The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delaney … Review by Perry Middlemiss
13 … Escape From the Future by Paul Clayton … Review by Michael Gallagher
16 … Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard … Review by Perry Middlemiss
16 … Five Hard and Crunchy SF Tales by Michèle Laframboise … Review by Robert Runté
17 … Foundation by Isaac Asimov … Review by Heath Row
19 … Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov … Review by Heath Row
19 … The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood … Review by Heath Row
21 … Jaguar Rising by Amanda S. Green … Review by Pat Patterson
22 … Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell … Review by Perry Middlemiss
22 … Light Unto Another World by Yakov Merkin … Review by Caroline Furlong
24 … Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny … Review by Perry Middlemiss
24 … Magnetic Brain by Volsted Gridban … Review by Heath Row
25 … Marymae and the Nightmare Man by A. M. Freeman … Review by Caroline Furlong
27 … Mission: Interplanetary by A.E. van Vogt … Review by Heath Row
28 … Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia … Review by Declan Finn
30 … The Mummy of Monte Cristo … Review by Trevor Denning
32 … My Luck by Mel Todd … Review by Declan Finn
34 … The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler … Review by Perry Middlemiss
34 … A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers … Review by Perry Middlemiss
35 … Responsibility of the Crown by G. Scott Huggins … Review by Pat Patterson
36 … The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons … Review by Tom Feller
36 … Servants of War by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond … Review by JE Tabor
38 … The Star Beast by Robert Heinlein … Review by Chris Nuttall
42 … Thunder God of Mars: A Superhero Prose Novel … Review by Trevor Denning
43 … We Dare: Semper Paratus: An Anthology of the Apocalypse edited by Jamie Ibson … Review by Pat Patterson
45 … When Valor Must Hold Edited by Rob Howell and Chris Kennedy … Review by Pat Patterson
46 … Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton … Review by Caroline Furlong

Non-Fiction

49 … Fandom: Confidential by Ron Frantz … Review by Heath Row
50 … My Memoirs of the Dark Shadows Conventions by Anthony Taylor … Review by Heath Row
51 … The Politics of Fandom by Hannah Mueller … Review by Heath Row

Prose Bono

53 … Character Analysis: A Tale of Two People by Chris Nuttall
54 … Trimming Out the Story by Cedar Sanderson

FINIS … 55

Astronomy News

METEOR OUTBURST POSSIBLE MAY 31

Space Weather News for May 24, 2022
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

METEOR OUTBURST POSSIBLE NEXT WEEK: Debris from a shattered comet is approaching Earth, and it could cause a meteor outburst on May 31st. Experts caution that this is an uncertain forecast. The shower could be a great storm, a complete dud, or almost anything in between. Whatever happens, sky watchers in North America will be in the right place to see it; the shower is expected to peak almost directly above southern California. Sky maps and more @ Spaceweather.com.

[] 
Above: Broken Comet 7P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, the source of next week’s possible meteor outburst.

 

Tributes

Colin Cantwell, designer of ‘Star Wars’ ships

Colin Cantwell, designer of ‘Star Wars’ Death Star, dies aged 90

Cantwell was best known for designing and constructing prototypes of the X-Wing, Star Destroyer, TIE Fighter, Death Star and other ships for “Star Wars: A New Hope,” the first movie in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise.
According to his website, he designed the spaceships used in the 1977 movie two years earlier, building the models and photographing them when they were completed.
Cantwell’s website also noted that he was UCLA’s first animation graduate, after persuading the university to add an animation major.
Upcoming meeting

Improv Poetry at our June meeting!

Don’t forget: Our June meeting is scheduled for the 4th, a week earlier than usual,  in order to avoid conflicting with Scintillation. Our newest MonSFFAn will regale us with a session of improve poetry! Asked to send us a blurb to describe his presentation, Kofi sent us a poem!  This meeting is going to be so much fun! –cpl

Untold Scenery, Decoded Imagery


Worlds intertwine

As the words do in these lines

Combine at will

Even if time were to be still

What may occur, who really knows?

Can these words and aura be the hidden device

That brings the surprise to a world never told

Where the colors are smell by the nose

Where the occurrence of the unknown

Is part of the times

Consider it commonplace

Part of being regular,

Actions aren’t seen in singular

Join us in the journey, to see what comes across our face

In this phase

Would it be familiar?

Or a whole different pace

–Kofi

 

 

Movies

Star Wars: Millennium Falcon Pembrokeshire exhibition to open

See the pictures and video  here. —cpl

It is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy and capable of completing the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

What is less well known about the Millennium Falcon is it truly was the last ship to be built at the Royal Pembroke Dockyard.

The life-size model was built in Pembroke Dock in 1979 before being shipped to movie studios

Now an exhibition will tell the story of how Han Solo’s beloved spaceship was built in an aircraft hangar in the Pembrokeshire town in spring 1979.

It will tell the story with photographs, film, models and costumes.

The project was so secret it was codenamed The Magic Roundabout, but eventually word of the “UFO” being built in the western hangar got out.

A BBC Wales crew even paid a visit to the team at Marcon Fabrications who were tasked with building the gigantic intergalactic cruiser.

The engineers normally worked for petrochemical and oil companies.

It took three months to build before being transported to Elstree Studios for production of the Oscar-winning The Empire Strikes Back.

READ MORE

Science and technology

The Future is Now: Smart Contact Lenses

I’ve read so many SF stories in which people accessed the Internet (or whatever it was called in the future) via an implant or contact lens. Information floated in front of their eyes.  It looks like this is no longer Science Fiction! –CPL

From the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61318460

Could contact lenses be the ultimate computer screen?

By Emma Woollacott
Technology of Business reporter

Published
Mojo lensMOjo

Smart contact lenses promise to bring data directly into your field of view

Imagine you have to make a speech, but instead of looking down at your notes, the words scroll in front of your eyes, whichever direction you look in.

That’s just one of many features the makers of smart contact lenses promise will be available in the future.

“Imagine… you’re a musician with your lyrics, or your chords, in front of your eyes. Or you’re an athlete and you have your biometrics and your distance and other information that you need,” says Steve Sinclair, from Mojo, which is developing smart contact lenses.

His company is about to embark on comprehensive testing of smart contact lens on humans, that will give the wearer a heads-up display that appears to float in front of their eyes.

READ MORE

Reading

Hawk Among the Sparrows

Following the meeting of the 14th, Brian sent us this review of Hawk Among the Sparrows, one of the stories that was referred in during Joe’s presentation, Too Many Connecticut Yankees. –cpl

Hawk Among the Sparrows
by Dean McLaughlin

While flying a covert mission to observe a nuclear bomb test, Howard Farman and his armed, strategic reconnaissance aircraft “Pika-Don” are to forced to land near a small airfield. Confronted by French soldiers, he realizes he has somehow been transported back to the Western Front of World War One. Not only will he have to convince a fellow “Americaine” of the concept of time travel, but that his Mach 4 jet can actually fly. With his plane out of fuel, can he improvise a method to filter common field kitchen kerosene (paraffin) into something approximating jet fuel. But even this will take at least 500 gallons to make a test flight. He also discovers how little he knows about flying during this era. The unwieldy, rotary engined (engines that turn with the propellers), open cockpit biplanes have little in common with modern jets. During his first flight in one of the squadron’s planes, he experiences a “dogfight” and “airsickness” at nearly the same time. His plane is nearly shot down by an infamous German ace, who has shot down so many of the squadron’s pilots. Even if he can manage to refuel his plane, can he stop an enemy ace where so many others have failed. Pika-Don’s radar is unable to lock onto the mostly wood and fabric fighters, it’s heat seeking missiles useless. In air combat the first rule is “Speed is Life”.

The story actually holds up very well, being nearly as much an aviation story masquerading as science fiction. At one point his friend Blake asks Farman “How can you fly when you don’t have the wind on your face?”

“How can you fly if you can’t judge the wind currents around you.” which could be be life or death knowledge for the pilot with little instruments to guide them.