- Brandon Butler, a Canadian Speculative Fiction writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia currently residing in Toronto and a former winner of the Writers of the Future Contest in Hollywood, California, is announcing the launch of a Kickstarter campaign which is sure to interest some of our readers. The campaign launches today, May 9th. –CPL
- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brandon-butler/the-science-fiction-tarot/description
- THE SCIENCE FICTION TAROT
A collection of 22 weird and wonderful short stories inspired by the cards of the Tarot. 
Monthly Archives: May 2022
Ncuti Gatwa: BBC names actor as next Doctor Who star
From the BBC:
Actor Ncuti Gatwa will take over from Jodie Whittaker as the star of Doctor Who, the BBC has announced.
The 29-year-old will become the 14th Time Lord on the popular science fiction show, and the first non-white performer to play the lead role.
Scottish actor Gatwa, who was born in Rwanda, is best known for starring in Netflix’s sitcom Sex Education.
He told BBC News: “It feels really amazing. It’s a true honour. This role is an institution and it’s so iconic.”
Speaking on the red carpet before Sunday’s Bafta TV Awards, where he is nominated for Sex Education, Gatwa said the role of the Doctor “means a lot to so many people, including myself”.
He added: “I feel very grateful to have had the baton handed over and I’m going to try to do my best.”
Gatwa will make his debut as the Time Lord in 2023.
Potentially Very Active Sunspot Group
An active sunspot group often means we are in for aurora displays. –CPL
Space Weather News for May 3, 2022
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
GET READY FOR MORE FLARES: A new and potentially very active sunspot group emerged today. It announced itself with an X1-class solar flare, which caused a strong shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean and Europe. More flares may be in the offing as the sunspot turns toward Earth. Developing story @ Spaceweather.com.
![[]](https://mcusercontent.com/0c5fce34d5ca05f64a13d085d/images/ab4aff95-8eb9-1cde-be4e-fbfec99693a2.jpg)
Above: The extreme ultraviolet flash from today’s X-class solar flare. Credit: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
Meeting of May 14: So Many Connecticut Yankees!
Join us on May 14th for a discussion panel led by Joe Aspler: So Many Connecticut Yankees!
Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) was not the first time travel story. However, it was probably the first in the subgenre of the person transported to an earlier era, who decides to bring his new home “up to date” as part of his survival plan. 21st century inflation has brought us from one individual to entire islands, fleets, and towns.
We invite people to discuss their favourite time travel stories of this genre. We’ll begin with the following.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain (1889)
Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp (1939)
Nantucket, series, by S.M. Stirling (1998 – 2000)
Axis of Time, series (aka World War 2.0) by John Birmingham (2004 – 2007, plus short fiction)
1632 series (aka Ring of Fire), started by Eric Flint; expanded into a shared universe with many contributors, many novels, much short fiction. Their online magazine also features non-fiction articles and discussions of how to adapt 21st century technology to the 17th century. And it’s still going strong.
Don’t miss Keith’s presentation, MonSFFA May 14th
The Terrors of Topanga Canyon: B-Movie Monster-Maker Paul Blaisdell’s Fleeting Sci-Fi Film Career
Artist and sculptor Paul Blaisdell is fondly remembered by fans of mid-century sci-fi cinema for his memorably outlandish B-movie creatures.
In the mid-1950s, Blaisdell earned a reputation among independent genre film producers like Roger Corman for quickly designing and cheaply fabricating movie monsters, leading to his rapid rise and brief reign as the go-to monster-maker among Hollywood’s low-budget sci-fi/horror filmmakers. Often donning his monster suits to play the beasts on screen, Blaisdell’s special effects work was too frequently uncredited, and just as quickly as he rose within the industry, the rapacious nature and changing fortunes of the movie business conspired to drive a disillusioned Blaisdell entirely out of the entertainment field by the early 1960s, never to return.
Today, his then-largely unsung contributions to the field are acknowledged and heralded by modern Hollywood.
Members will be sent an invitation to the zoom session on the 14th of May. visitors are welcome, please contact <president@monsffa.ca> for the link to zoom.
Zine to share!
Edited by Garth Spencer
Table of Contents
Pandemic Measures in BC Now
Locs .
From How Do We Human (in preparation)
Fanzines and their Titles
Pages and Groups I administer
News from Bree
Next Club Virtual Meeting is in Two Weeks!
Zines to Share!
Lots of zines to share!
This Here, edited by Nic Farey, has a most interesting article about defining “fanzine”. You’d think it would be obvious, but nooooo–when fans start splitting hairs, they don’t know when to stop.
From George Philies, the N3F Review of Books N3FReview202204
From Bill Burns over at e-fanzines
Catching up with site updates after returning from my UK Eastercon trip, I’ve added these new issues at https://efanzines.com
Michael Dobson’s Random Jottings #2, 3 & 21
Opuntia #523, edited by Dale Speirs
Octothorpe #56, a regular fannish podcast by Liz Batty, John Coxon and Alison Scott
Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #41
Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #33
Nic Farey’s This Here…#52
William Breiding’s Portable Storage #7
I also have some new pages to add to the site, which I will do soon.
—
Bill
LOCUS FORTHCOMING BOOKS: MAY 2022
LOCUS FORTHCOMING BOOKS: MAY 2022
- ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Eyes of the Void • Orbit US, May 2022 (1st US, tp)
- JONATHAN STRAHAN, ED. • Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance • Rebellion/ Solaris, May 2022 (eb, tp)
- NEAL ASHER • Weaponized • Macmillan/Tor UK, May 2022 (eb, hc)
- DEREK KÜNSKEN • House of Styx • Rebellion/Solaris, May 2022 (eb, tp)
- ALASTAIR REYNOLDS • Eversion • Orion/Gollancz, May 2022 (eb, hc)
- CASSANDRA ROSE CLARKE • Singing with the Devil • Harlequin/ Carina Press, May 2022 (eb)
- HOLLY BLACK • Book of Night • Tor, May 2022 (h, hc, eb)
- JONATHAN MABERRY • Kagen the Damned • St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2022 (h, hc, eb)
- CHRISTOPHER RICE • Decimate • Amazon/Thomas & Mercer, May 2022 (h, hc, tp, eb)
- KATHLEEN O’NEAL GEAR • The Ice Ghost • DAW, May 2022 (hc, eb)
- SIMON JIMENEZ • The Spear Cuts Through Water • Penguin Random House/Del Rey, May 2022 (hc, eb)
- GUY GAVRIEL KAY • All the Seas of the World • Penguin Random House/Berkley, May 2022 (hc, eb)
- SHARON LEE & STEVE MILLER • Fair Trade • Baen, May 2022 (hc, eb)
- CHRISTOPHER MOORE • Razzmatazz • HarperCollins/Morrow, May 2022 (hc, eb)
- GUY GAVRIEL KAY • All the Seas of the World • Hodder & Stoughton, May 2022 (hc)
- CHRISTOPHER ROWE • These Prisoning Hills • Tordotcom, May 2022 (na, tp, eb)
- TADE THOMPSON • The Legacy of Molly Southbourne • Tordotcom, May 2022 (na, h, tp, eb)
- NGHI VO • Siren Queen • Tordotcom, May 2022 (na, hc, eb)
- JONATHAN STRAHAN, ED. • Someone in Time: Tales of TimeCrossed Romance • Rebellion/ Solaris US, May 2022 (oa, tp, eb)
- PIERS ANTHONY • Six Crystal Princesses • Open Road, May 2022 (tp, hc, eb)
- D.J. BUTLER • Abbott in Darkness • Baen, May 2022 (tp, eb)
- HOLLY BLACK • Book of Night • Penguin Random House UK/Del Rey UK, May 2022 (tp, eb, hc)
- ANDREW CALDECOTT • Momenticon • Quercus/Jo Fletcher, May 2022 (tp, eb, hc)
- DHONIELLE CLAYTON • The Marvellers • Macmillan/Holt, May 2022 (ya, hc, eb)
- CHRISTOPHER BUEHLMAN • Blacktongue Thief • Orion/Gollancz, May 2022
- SAM J. MILLER • Boys • Beasts, & Men, Tachyon Publications, May 2022 (c, tp, eb)