August 15, 2026 CLUB MEETING; Post 2 of 2, 5:00PM – Thank You, Clean-Up, Wrap-Up

5) THANK YOU

We thank our workshop leaders for their expertise and guidance, this afternoon, as well as all of you, our members, for taking part, whether downtown in person or here online. A tip of the hat, as well, to all who helped to plan and run today’s get-together. Don’t forget to comment on today’s meeting (www.MonSFFA.ca).

6) NEXT MONTH’S MEETING:

Next month’s club meeting will take place on Saturday, September 19. We will welcome a guest speaker via ZOOM, Canadian independent SF author Sean Robins, who will discuss themes explored in his latest series, the story of a battle android that gains consciousness, and talk about his writing career in general. Sean’s I, Anomaly series is available on Amazon: https://mybook.to/YqPCYkm

We’ll also be revelling in our favourite “so-bad-they’re-good” sci-fi B-movies, and examining the genre’s doctors and scientists.

Check in periodically here at MonSFFA.ca for updates.

7) SIGN-OFF

Thank you all for taking part in our August 2026 meeting. We hope everyone enjoyed today’s Fancrafting Workshops! As always, we appreciate the enthusiastic involvement of our members, and we look forward to having you join us again next month. Until then, have a good evening, enjoy the waning days of summer, and keep watching the skies (the Perseids were at their peak a couple days ago, but are still active for another week or so).

AUGUST 15, 2026 CLUB MEETING; Post 1 of 2, 12:30PM – Introduction and Agenda

1) INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s August 2026 meeting! We are gathering, today, in-person downtown, and online via ZOOM, to share our passion for sci-fi! Today’s meeting is devoted to our annual Fancrafting Workshops, providing folk with opportunity to exercise their creativity!

Genre fans are often avid crafters; fancrafting” is a term we’ve coined to describe the act of a SF/F fan creating a SF/F-themed craft! The afternoon will be dedicated to several, hands-on, how-to workshops on SF/F-themed craft projects, including the making of simple, construction-paper dinosaurs or sci-fi movie monsters, the fashioning of genre-themed jewellery, and more. See how it’s done, learn a new craft, and try your hand!

Those who cannot be here in person are invited to join our ZOOM-chat and take part from the comfort of home! Proceedings will be getting underway shortly. To take part via ZOOM, see the instructions, immediately below (Item 2).

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM, the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up 30 minutes before the meeting’s start-time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure. A closing post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today’s workshop leaders, and to preview next month’s MonSFFA meeting!

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

To take part in this afternoon’s Fancrafting Workshops online, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts: Fancrafting Workshops 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.

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

Meeting ID: 815 4748 7625
Passcode: 020304

3) AUGUST MEETING’S THEME:

MonSFFen are encouraged to bring in, for our display table, examples of their own fancraft, completed projects, those in progress, or both! Share your SF/F-themed creative undertakings with the group!

4) AGENDA:

1:00PMFancrafting Workshops

Several workshops will run concurrently throughout the afternoon, all having a SF&F component. Watch, learn, try your hand!

4:30PMFinal Thoughts, Clean-Up, and Wrap-Up

We close the afternoon with final thoughts, questions, and commentary on today’s meeting, or on other sci-fi or club-related subjects members may wish to briefly share with the group. Your feedback is always welcome, folks!

5:00PMEnd of Meeting 

Please Note: While we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda for one reason or another, or reschedule planned presentations/discussions. Therefore, please understand that all programming is subject to change!

The meeting officially begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the afternoon!

Locus forthcoming books

Locus forthcoming books

AUGUST 2026

  • ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT • A Trade of Blood • Hodder & Stoughton UK/Hodderscape, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT • A Trade of Blood • Penguin Random House/Del Rey, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • OLIVIE BLAKE • Dreamland • Macmillan/Tor UK, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • OLIVIE BLAKE • Dreamland • Tor, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • TERRY BROOKS • Brona • Penguin Random House/ Del Rey, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • JILLIAN CANTOR • The Season of Light and Darkness • Simon Pulse, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN • Devil Inside • Titan Books UK, Aug 2026 (v, hc, eb)
  • CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN • Devil Inside • Harlequin/Mira, Aug 2026 (v, hc, eb)
  • P.A. CORNELL • The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories • Stars and Sabers, Aug 2026 (c, v, tp, eb)
  • SARAH BETH DURST • Sea of Charms • Macmillan/Tor UK, Aug 2026 (1st US, v, hc, eb)
  • SAARA EL-ARIFI • Earthbound • Harper Voyager UK, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • SAARA EL-ARIFI • Earthbound • Penguin Random House/Del Rey, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • C.A. FLETCHER • The Two of Us at the End of the World • Orbit UK, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • C.A. FLETCHER • The Two of Us at the End of the World • Orbit US, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • ERIC FLINT & GRIFFIN BARBER • 1637: The Pilgrim’s Passage • Baen, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • CAROLYN IVES GILMAN • Testament of Leaves • Fairwood Press, Aug 2026 (na, tp, eb)
  • CHLOE GONG • Eyes of Kings • Simon & Schuster/ Saga Press, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • FRANCES HARDINGE • Traitors’ Nest • Macmillan/First Ink UK, Aug 2026 (ya, art, hc, eb)
  • JAMES PATRICK KELLY • The Book of Bots • Fairwood Press, Aug 2026 (c, tp, eb)
  • KATHARINE KERR • Zyon • Arc Manor/Caezik SF & Fantasy, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • BO-YOUNG KIM & SOPHIE BOWMAN, TR. • A Plagued Sea • Tor/Nightfire, Aug 2026 (h, hc, eb)
  • T. KINGFISHER • Daggerbound • Tor/Bramble, Aug 2026 (v, hc, eb)
  • JONATHAN MABERRY • Bewilderness • WordFire Press, Aug 2026 (tp, hc, eb)
  • SUYI DAVIES OKUNGBOWA • Season of the Serpent • Orbit US, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • CHINELO ONWUALU, ET AL., EDS. • Africanfuturism Short Stories • Flame Tree Collections UK, Aug 2026 (an, hc)
  • LESLYE PENELOPE • The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass • Orbit US/Redhook, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • SARAH PINBOROUGH • They Say a Girl Died Here • Macmillan/Flatiron/Pine & Cedar, Aug 2026 (h, hc, eb)
  • TIM PRATT • The Jewel and the Comet • Angry Robot UK, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • NATASHA PULLEY • The Salt King • Orion UK/Gollancz, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • NATASHA PULLEY • The Salt King • Bloomsbury USA, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • BETH REVIS • Chaotic Orbits • Astra House/DAW, Aug 2026 (om, tp, eb)
  • ANTHONY RYAN • Upon the Forge of Battle • Orbit UK, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • ANTHONY RYAN • Upon the Forge of Battle • Orbit US, Aug 2026 (tp, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Preaching to the Choir • Rebellion/ Solaris UK, Aug 2026 (hc, eb)
  • SHEREE RENÉE THOMAS • The Tongue I Dream In • PM Press, Aug 2026 (c, tp, eb)
  • CHUCK WENDIG • The Calamities • Penguin Random House UK/Del Rey UK, Aug 2026 (h, hc, eb, tp)
  • CHUCK WENDIG • The Calamities • Penguin Random House/Del Rey, Aug 2026 (h, hc, eb)

AUGUST “FANCRAFTING” WORKSHOPS TOMORROW!

Genre fans are often avid crafters; “fancrafting” is a term we’ve coined to describe the act of a SF/F fan creating a SF/F-themed craft! And that is what’s on our agenda tomorrow, Saturday, August 15, as we return to our downtown meeting hall at the Nouvel Hotel for our August Fancrafting Workshops!

The afternoon will be dedicated to several, hands-on, how-to workshops on SF/F-themed craft projects, including the making of simple, construction-paper dinosaurs or sci-fi movie monsters, and the fashioning of genre-themed jewellery. See how it’s done, learn a new craft, and try your hand!

Also, MonSFFen are encouraged to bring in, for our display table, examples of their own fancraft, completed projects, those in progress, or both! Share your SF/F-themed creative undertakings with the group!

See you all tomorrow, Saturday, August 15!

P.S.: MonSFFen will recall that the digital version of Warp 117 was released back in May, but print copies were not available at that time due to a printer-ink shortage. Update: after several months delay, we’ve finally received our back-order of printer ink, and so we expect to have a limited number of print copies of Warp 117 available tomorrow at this August meeting!

Eclipse today, Aug 12, peak of Perseid meteor shower.

Today’s (very) partial eclipse begins today at 12:50. It will peak at 1:45, end at 2:38.

There are details here: https://montrealgazette.com/news/partial-solar-eclipse-montreal-wednesday-perseids-shower/

Also, the Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight. Best seen under a dark country sky, the shower will be at its best since it is also new moon. The weather is not promising, but the shower eases off gradually, so you might catch a few later in the week.

EXPLODING COMET MCNAUGHT

EXPLODING COMET MCNAUGHT: There’s an exploding comet in the morning sky. Comet 220P/McNaught was a nondescript speck of 17th magnitude in late May when it suddenly multiplied in brightness 7000-fold. It was fading back toward obscurity when, on Aug. 5th, it exploded again. The second outburst (650x) propelled the comet to 7th magnitude, an easy target for binoculars and small telescopes.

This is what it looks like now:

“We observed the comet in outburst on August 8th,” say photographers Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger, who used a 12-inch robotic telescope in Namibia. “It has a shock wave front.”

The comet is in the constellation Cetus near the star Mu Ceti, best seen around 4 AM local time. Its expanding atmosphere is already wider than 7 arcminutes–a quarter the size of a full Moon–with a short tail pointing away from the sun.

Some observers are comparing 220P to Comet 17P/Holmes, which famously exploded in 2007. Holmes brightened a million times, becoming a naked-eye object that you could watch expand from night to night without a telescope. “Mini-Holmes” might be a better name for 220P, although the resemblance is undeniable.

After the first outburst in May, telescopes monitoring 220P’s debris found it rich in gas. Some astronomers suspect a fragment broke off the nucleus, exposing fresh ice to sunlight. If so, more explosions may be in the offing. The comet is near its minimum distance from the sun (a 1.64 AU perihelion on June 14th) and still being exposed to disruptive solar heat.

If only one more fragment falls off, you won’t even need binoculars.

more images: from Ismael Civera of Villatoya, Spain; from Mike Olason of Tucson, Arizona; from Rafael Etges of Huntsville, ON Canada

AUGUST CLUB MEETING DOWNTOWN DEVOTED TO “FANCRAFTING” WORKSHOPS!

Genre fans are often avid crafters; “fancrafting” is a term we’ve coined to describe the act of a SF/F fan creating a SF/F-themed craft! And that is what’s on our agenda in just one week’s time, on Saturday, August 15, as we return to our downtown meeting hall at the Nouvel Hotel for our August Fancrafting Workshops!

The afternoon will be dedicated to several, hands-on, how-to workshops on SF/F-themed craft projects, including the making of simple, construction-paper dinosaurs or sci-fi movie monsters, and the fashioning of genre-themed jewellery. See how it’s done, learn a new craft, and try your hand!

Also, MonSFFen are encouraged to bring in, for our display table, examples of their own fancraft, completed projects, those in progress, or both! Share your SF/F-themed creative undertakings with the group!

See you all on Saturday, August 15!

P.S.: MonSFFen will recall that the digital version of Warp 117 was released back in May, but print copies were not available at that time due to a printer-ink shortage. Update: after several months delay, we’ve finally received our back-order of printer ink, and so we expect to have a limited number of print copies of Warp 117 available at our August meeting!

THE SUN’S SURFACE IS WEIRDER THAN YOU THOUGHT

Space Weather News for Aug. 5, 2026
Free Space Weather Newsletter

THE SUN’S SURFACE IS WEIRDER THAN YOU THOUGHT: A giant telescope in Hawaii just saw something unprecedented on the sun. The surface of our star, it turns out, is covered with tiny ripples and whirlpools that previous telescopes could not see. The images were published Aug. 5th in the journal Nature:

Solar physicists have long suspected these swirls exist, but they were simply too small to see. The Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s largest with a 4-meter mirror atop Haleakalā on Maui, finally has the resolution to catch them.

The Maui-sized whirlpools are caused by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Van Gogh famously painted them in Starry Night.

Here on Earth, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities make ocean waves curl when wind blows across water. On the sun, the “wind” is plasma. Where magnetized plasma and non-magnetized plasma slide past one another at different speeds, the boundary between them rolls up into vortices.

This could help solve the long-standing puzzle of where solar flares get their power. These explosions are driven by magnetic energy. The newfound whirlpools build up that energy, creating little reservoirs of power for flares and CMEs.

Even if you don’t believe it or understand it you will love the movies. Watch them here.

August 2026 Issue of Impulse Now Available!

Attention MonSFFA club members! The latest issue of our club news bulletin, Impulse (August 2026) is now available for viewing or download! Visit the “Impulse Page” of this Website, or just click here: ImpulseAugust2026(OnlineVersion)PDF

Past issues of Impulse can also be viewed or downloaded via our Website (www.MonSFFA.ca); visit the “Impulse Page.”

This August issue reviews the club’s 2026 summer activities, including our Field Trip to the Montreal Planetarium, and our Barbecue-in-the-Park!

Enjoy this issue of Impulse!

Annual book sale – Saturday October 17

MONSFFA’S Annual Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Sale.

Saturday October 17, 2026

TIME: 12:30 – 16:00

Thousands of books at cut-rate prices! Also, magazines, comics, DVDs!

Oui, il y aura des livres, revues, et BDs en français!

Bulk purchase bargains as well!

PLACE:

Hôtel Nouvel, 1740 René Lévesque Ouest, corner St-Mathieu.

Paid parking in the hotel, or metered parking on the street.

Near the Guy-Concordia Metro station (green line) and the Lucien-L’Allier station (Orange line). Easy connections to the REM!

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Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association