All posts by Cathy Palmer-Lister

Fanzines

Zines to share!

Zines to share:

From Leybl in Israel: CCNovember2023-v01

Updates to e-fanzines from Bill Burns:

J.L. Farey’s JenZine #7

Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #60 & 61

Ray Palm’s The Ray X X-rayer #173

Heath Row’s The Stf Amateur, November 2023 (apazine bundle)

Garth Spence’s The Obdurate Eye #33

Nic Farey’s This Here…#69

Rich Lynch’s You’re Still on My Mind #4, a letterzine companion to My Back Pages

Octothorpe #96, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line

Upcoming meeting

Meeting on the 26th of November

Exceptionally, our next meeting will be later than usual, and on a Sunday, November 26th.

There will be 3 presenters: Lil and Carly, Joe, and Danny.

Joe has sent us this outline:

Air Shows and Aviation Museums

by Joe Aspler, with contribution by L.E. Moir

Many SF fans are modelers and fans of old airplanes. This is a presentation on airshows and aviation museums. These include the RAF Museums (London and Cosford), the National Air and Space Museum (Washington), the USAF Museum (Dayton), the Imperial War Museum (Duxford), the RCAF Museum (Trenton), and the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum (Ottawa).

During my life as a business traveller, I spent the equivalent of more than three years on the road: airplanes, airports, hotels, meetings, taxis, rental cars….. That’s one reason why I missed so many monthly MonSFFA meetings, and several ConCepts as well. One benefit at least was that I could arrange side visits. Some destinations had air museums. Other destinations even had an air show.

This is a presentation on some of those places. Note that you’re seeing only a small selection of a vast number of aircraft. All are rare, and some are irreplaceable last examples.

World Con / NASFiC

Stranger than science fiction: Inside China’s newest landmark

The Chendu SF museum was commissioned in 2022 to host this year’s 81st annual World Science Fiction Convention, nicknamed Worldcon. A building of this size and complexity would typically take four to five years to build, says Flores. But the 59,000 square-meter building — which is three times the size of the Sydney Opera House — went from concept to completion in just 12 months.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/30/style/chengdu-science-fiction-museum-hnk-spc-intl/index.html

Stranger than science fiction: Inside China’s newest landmark
By Rebecca Cairns, CNN
Published 11:07 PM EDT, Sun October 29, 2023

The museum opened in October 2023 to host Worldcon, the first time the event has been hosted in China, and only the second time in Asia. "It looks like the future," said Dave McCarty, vice-chair of Chengdu Worldcon and an organizer with the event for two decades. He hopes that the dedicated space will support the growing industry, as well as technological innovation. "I think that science fiction is the fuel that feeds the engine that drives progress," he said.
The opening ceremony, hosted in the Hugo Theater (named after the science fiction writing award, itself an eponym of sci-fi author Hugo Gernsback), revealed a giant glass wall that allowed audiences in the theater to watch a drone LED display taking place outside, said McCarty. "It is the best facility by far that the Worldcon has ever been hosted in," he added.
If it looks like a work of science fiction, that's because it is: the new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in the capital of Sichuan province, in Southwest China, would comfortably fit into the set of an intergalactic space adventure or alien invasion tale. <strong>Look through the gallery to see inside the stranger-than-fiction landmark.</strong>
If it looks like a work of science fiction, that’s because it is: the new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in the capital of Sichuan province, in Southwest China, would comfortably fit into the set of an intergalactic space adventure or alien invasion tale. Look through the gallery to see inside the stranger-than-fiction landmark.

Arch-Exist

The museum was commissioned in 2022 to host this year's 81st annual World Science Fiction Convention, nicknamed Worldcon. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the building went from concept to completion in just 12 months.
The architects used polygonal modeling software to create the dynamic building shape, a digital tool that creates a 3D simulation of the building. This also allowed the team to simultaneously design and construct the project.
The multimedia "Time Tunnel," which connects visitors from the parking area to the main building, is a standout feature. "It's organized around science fiction, and nurturing that culture," Ohashi added.
The architects use reflective materials and carefully placed lighting to create a futuristic feel, including mirror-clad hallways, silver-encased escalators, and gently shimmering terrazzo flooring made with recycled broken glass and mirrors.
Using digital modeling analysis, the team were also able to account for weather and environmental factors, such as the angle of windowpanes or the roof overhang to protect interiors from direct sunlight.
Sustainability was a key concern, and the designers focused on making the buildings operations as efficient as possible. The atrium skylight has a special coating on the glass to protect against heat gain from direct sunlight, while reducing the need for artificial light during the day.

 

CNN  — 

The seven-point metallic star floats on the glassy surface of the lake, reminiscent of a far-flung future civilization, or a spaceship touching down on an alien planet. It looks like something straight out of science fiction. Which it is, in a way: it’s the brand new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China.

From one side, the dynamic roof mimics the sloping mountains in the distance; from another, the canopy takes on the appearance of a cloud, its cantilever arches suspended above seamless panes of glass.

“From every angle, it will always look different; it will always look unusual or unexpected,” said Paulo Flores, one of the project directors at Zaha Hadid Architects, which designed the museum.

Perhaps more unexpected than the design itself is the time it took to build.

The museum was commissioned in 2022 to host this year’s 81st annual World Science Fiction Convention, nicknamed Worldcon. A building of this size and complexity would typically take four to five years to build, says Flores. But the 59,000 square-meter building — which is three times the size of the Sydney Opera House — went from concept to completion in just 12 months.

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Models

Prometheus: First Look At Stargate’s Next Ship Model

Prometheus: First Look At Stargate’s Next Ship Model

(With thanks to Mark Hicky for bringing this to our attention.)

Check out the first look at the Prometheus model, coming soon from Master Replicas.
Darren @GateWorld  | 
| October 24, 2023
Prometheus (Master Replicas)

Your Stargate fleet is getting a brand new ship, courtesy of Master Replicas. This week the company is revealing the Prometheus model, with a first-look exclusively here at GateWorld. Check it out below.

As with previous ships in the line we expect the Prometheus model will be made of ABS plastic and die-cast metal. It will measure 8 inches (20.3 cm) long and 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) wide, and come with an included display stand. That’s just shy of the Daedalus model, at 8.8 inches.

The ship made its debut in the sixth season episode “Prometheus,” only later being formally christened with that name. The model bears the ship’s distinctive boxy look from the television series, as well as the experimental moniker “X-303” emblazed on the side.

Prometheus (Master Replicas)

Master Replicas advises us that the model will be available for sale in February (a delay from the previously announced November window). Pricing has not been announced yet, but previous Stargate ships have averaged somewhere around $60 U.S.

MonSFFA Website

The Weird Aliens of Early Science Fiction

From the BBC, a look at some interesting early ideas on what aliens might look like.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231019-the-weird-aliens-of-early-science-fiction

Humanity’s ideas about aliens have been evolving for millennia – but in the era before television, they were considerably stranger.

In October 1961, Betty and Barney Hill sat down with an astronomy lecturer at their home in New Hampshire, and made an extraordinary claim. The previous month, they had been snatched by aliens! Their description of the little grey creatures became the archetypal alien of movies and TV. But before then, the aliens that came from our fevered imaginations were much weirder!

 

Fanzines

Lots more zines to share

Lots more zines have been arriving in the mail! In order of reception:

First, some updates to e-fanzines administered by Bill Burns

  • Heath Row’s The Stf Amateur, October 2023 (apazine bundle)
  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #32
  • Opuntia #558, edited by Dale Speirs
  • David Grigg’s The Megaloscope #9
  • Taral Wayne’s Dark Toys #76
  • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #37
  • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #40
  • Alexiad #130 edited by Lisa & Joseph Major
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #55 through 59
  • Octothorpe #94, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line

From Garth Spencer:

At last, from the fevered imagination that brought you mocha tea and the Mad Science Forum, we present OBDURATE EYE #32, the personalzine that should have appeared a week ago!

Obdurate Eye 32

And also from Garth:

Shooting My CUFFs #7

From the N3F:

Tightbeam349

Origin202310

FanAct202310

Time’s Arrow_Jean-Paul L Garnier

And from Leybl in Israel, the war issue

CCOctober2023-v01

 

Dinosaurs

Canada’s biggest and best triceratops skull on display in Alberta

 ‘Calli’ specimen is most preserved, nearly complete triceratops skull known from Canada
Lily Dupuis · CBC News ·
a fossilized dinosaur skull pictured against a black background
The fossil’s black tint is believed to be caused by large amounts of manganese present in surrounding groundwater during fossilization, similar to the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s ‘Black Beauty,’ a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil found in the same region. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology)After seven years of work, the best preserved and most complete triceratops skull coming from Canada — also known as the “Calli” specimen — is on display for the first time since being found in 2014 at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.

A museum new release calls the specimen “unique” because of where it was discovered, the age of the rock around it, and how well it was preserved.

Click here to read more

a man in a red apron stands next to a three horned dinosaur skull
Preparation technician Ian Macdonald stands next to the massive dinosaur skull he spent seven years preparing. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology)

 

 

Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association