8) YOUR SF/F TOP-TEN LISTS

We’ve asked club members to prepare a SF/F top-ten list on any science fiction, fantasy, horror, or fannish topic—for example, top ten classic Star Trek episodes, or top ten Hugo-winning novels, or top ten sci-fi film sequels, or the top ten scariest horror movies, movie monsters, top ten spaceships, comic book superheroes, games; it’s your choice as to the specific focus.

We’ve posted a couple of lists received below, but this portion of the meeting will take place largely on ZOOM, where each participant will have opportunity to present their list. We ask our list-makers to include, perhaps, a few illustrative images which can be shared with the group as they impart their top ten. And, be prepared to field questions and/or, perhaps, defend your choices!

Those unable to join our video chat today may still submit in writing their own SF/F top-ten list via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. Include a quick description or outline of each of your entries and explain why you’ve included each, and why your fellow genre fans might also enjoy the selections you’ve listed.

In honour of Easter, her are my…

Top Ten Science Fiction and Fantasy Rabbits

By Keith Braithwaite

10) THE WHITE RABBIT: a character appearing in the many adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, including Disney’s and Tim Burton’s, shown.

9) THE RABBITS OF WATERSHIP DOWN: not a Disney movie, by any stretch!

8) THE GIANT RABBITS OF NIGHT OF THE LEPUS: ridiculous monsters in a ridiculous film; so bad it’s good!

7) FRANK: a darker Harvey (see next item), if you will, haunting the protagonist of 2001’s Donnie Darko.

6) HARVEY: a “pooka,” in celtic folklore, and the invisible McGuffin of this charming 1950 Jimmy Stewart film.

5) THE MONSTER RABBIT-IN-THE-HAT, TWILIGHT ZONE—THE MOVIE: a terrifying sequence!

4) THE RABBIT OF CAERBANNOG: a killer rabbit appearing in 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail; hilarious!

3) ROGER RABBIT: star of the ground-breaking 1988 live-action/cartoon hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

2) HUTCH, HIS FELLOW RABBITS, AND THE WERE-RABBIT: as seen in the wonderful Wallace and Gromit adventure Curse of the Were-Rabbit, all are deserving of mention, here!

1) BUGS BUNNY: his cartoon adventures traverse many genres, including SF, fantasy, and horror!

Top Ten Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors’ Pen Names

By Sue Denham 

10) STAN LEE: the legendary Marvel Comics writer’s real name was Stanley Martin Leiber.

9) PAUL FRENCH: pen name used by Isaac Asimov when writing his Lucky Starr juveniles.

8) DOUGLAS SPALDING: pseudonym used by Ray Bradbury.

7) A. N. ROQUELAURE: Anne Rice wrote her racy Sleeping Beauty trilogy this name.

6) MAGNUS FLYTE: pseudonym employed by writing duo Christina Lynch and Meg Howrey, authors of City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams.

5) VICTOR APPLETON: the publishing house pseudonym used by writers of the Tom Swift books.

4) RICHARD BACHMAN: pseudonym used by horror writer Stephen King; Bachman is derived from the name of the Canadian rock band Bachman, Turner Overdrive, a favourite of King’s.

3) JAMES TIPTREE, JR.: probably the most famous example of a female writer employing a male pseudonym to favour book sales; it wasn’t until 1977 that Alice Sheldon’s cover was blown. She also wrote on occasion as Raccoona Sheldon!

2) EANDO BINDER: pseudonym for brothers Earl and Otto Binder—“E” and “O” Binder!

1) CORDWAINER BIRD: when he felt that his work had been unforgivably fiddled with against his wishes, Harlan Ellison used this pseudonym!

This is Post 3 of 7.

6) MATHEMATICAL FICTION: IS MAGIC JUST ANOTHER SOURCE OF MATH?

We continue on ZOOM with an exploration of “Mathematical Fiction,” described as a genre of creative fiction in which mathematics and mathematicians play an important role. Edwin A. Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is, perhaps, the most familiar example.

“Mathematical Fiction might not be popular but has been around since 1884,” says Kofi Oduro, this segment’s presenter. “We will discuss how this can be relevant in many sci-fi/fantasy-based worlds and check some work on databases that keep track of it. How do we conceive such a world and what differences can we use to alter it from our world?”

Those not equipped to join our ZOOM discussion may contribute, nonetheless, by using this post’s “Leave a Comment” feature to ask questions and type in commentary.

This is post 2 of 7.

5) UNDER LOCK AND KEY!

On ZOOM at this time we’re discussing those places, often secret, in science fiction and fantasy where are stored strange alien objects, or relics mythological, or books and instruments of magic, and other such items. Libraries, laboratories, warehouses, museums—what locales do you know of from SF/F literature, film and television, or comics in which things mysterious, powerful, dangerous, alien, or just plain weird are kept under lock and key?

For those not participating in our ZOOM chat, today, you may still contribute by submitting your examples via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.

1) INTRODUCTION

As we put behind us for another year the delicious indulgences of festive chocolate, we gather what rich, remnants of sculpted brown rabbits, chickens, and eggs remain in our refrigerators, place them on a snack plate next to our mouse pads, and hop to another of the club’s monthly online gatherings.

Welcome, one and all, to MonSFFA’s April 2023 e-Meeting!

We trust those of faith enjoyed a Happy Easter, or Passover, or Ramadan, all three religious holidays coinciding this year, an occurrence of only thrice per century, or roughly once every three decades.

Meanwhile, in a final, ruthless broadside, winter slammed the Montreal area in particular with a freezing blast reminiscent of 1998’s devastating ice storm, plunging well over a million Quebec households and businesses into darkness. Ice-coated, fallen tree limbs and branches littered neighbourhood streets and yards, and for many, power was out for two or three days, and for some, as many as six!

But the weather has been warm and sunny in the wake of all that, and so do we shun the glorious spring and huddle around our monitors once again, eager to enjoy this afternoon’s agenda of sci-fi fun!

Let’s begin.

2) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 897 1464 2092
Passcode: 576970

3) MEETING AGENDA

Here is the agenda for this afternoon’s get-together:

As always, all scheduled programming is subject to change.

4)

How well do you know the SF/F screen’s aliens and creatures, and more specifically, their eggs? In honour of Easter, just passed, we offer this quiz.

With only a frame of film showing the egg, or eggs of an extraterrestrial being, or a monster, correctly identify said being and/or the film or television series episode in which it appears?

We have prepared for you a dozen eggs!

Good luck! The answers will be revealed in this e-meeting’s final post of the afternoon, which we’ll put up at 5:00PM.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fun, Online, With Friends…

See You Tomorrow Afternoon!

Join us next Saturday, April 15, at 1:00PM, right here at www.MonSFFA.ca for our April 2023 e-Meeting!

Take part by contributing your top ten list of sci-fi books, authors, heroes or villains, cool spaceships, epic movies, TV shows, actors or actresses, comic books, artists… whatever you choose to highlight, just as long as it has to do with sci-fi or fantasy!

Simply list your favourites in ascending order, tenth to first, maybe share a few illustrative images, and in a few sentences for each entry, tell us about of your choices!

You are welcome to e-mail your top ten lists and images (JPEGS, please, as e-mail attachments) to us in advance for inclusion on the site, or present them live on ZOOM during the e-meeting next Saturday!

Send your lists, in advance of the e-meeting, to: veep@monsffa.ca

Dinosaurs in the news

• Patagotitan on show in London, UK
• Did dinosaurs have lips? Canadian scientists say they have cracked the mystery
• What fossil eggs found in Alberta reveal about how dinosaurs became birds

Patagotitan on show in London, UK

A colossus has landed in London: A cast of what was one of the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth is now on show at the Natural History Museum.

Watch: A timelapse movie of Patagotitan’s assembly at the Natural History Museum

By Jonathan Amos, BBC Science Correspondent

@BBCAmos

The largest is a 2.4m-long femur, or thigh bone. It’s been erected upright to give visitors an extraordinary selfie opportunity.

READ MORE: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65094602

Did dinosaurs have lips? Canadian scientists say they have cracked the mystery

As with many details about dinosaur physiology, an absence of living specimens has left a lot to the artistic imagination. Perhaps because humans are smaller than many dinosaur species, and also edible, popular representations of the ancient creatures are often strongly focused on their teeth.

This tradition is evident in the Hollywood version of dinosaurs as depicted the 1993 film Jurassic Park. Many of the movie’s most memorable scenes feature a tyrannosaur with jaws agape. But even when the giant reptile’s mouth is shut its teeth remain plainly visible, like a row of murderous icicles.

READ MORE: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-dinosaur-lips-canada-scientists/

What fossil eggs found in Alberta reveal about how dinosaurs became birds

Emily Chung · CBC News · Posted: Apr 03, 2023 5:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: April 4

 

Seventy-five million years ago in southern Alberta, a river flooded, burying the eggs of bird-like dinosaurs nesting on the nearby plain. Now, tiny pieces of those fossil egg shells offer new evidence about how dinosaurs lived, bred and evolved into birds.

A new study shows emu-sized, meat-eating troodons were as warm-blooded as birds, with body temperatures of more than 40 C. But unlike modern birds such as chickens that can produce one egg a day, troodons used a very slow egg-forming process similar to the one used by reptiles like crocodiles.

That supports a previous hypothesis that nests found containing up to two dozen eggs were shared by multiple troodons, similar to the way ostriches share communal nests today.

READ MORE https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/dinosaur-egg-shells-1.6799550