NEXT CLUB MEETING: SATURDAY, APRIL 13

1:00PM-5:00PM                                                                               Le Nouvel Hotel

1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu)  “Salle Maisonneuve” (Conference Floor, South Tower)

…and simultaneously on ZOOM!    www.MonSFFA.ca

APRIL’S AGENDA INCLUDES:

The Eclipse Experience – Club members recount their experiences observing the total solar eclipse of April 8 and share any photos they snapped of the event. Not for some 80 years will another such eclipse take place in the skies over Southern Québec!

The Spark That Lit the Fire: What Got You Into SF&F? – Moderated discussion of our earliest exposure to science fiction and/or fantasy; MonSFFen recall the novel, short story, comic book, movie, or television show that introduced them to the genre, and sparked their life-long interest in SF/F.

William Castle: Hollywood’s Maestro of the Movie-Marketing Gimmick! – A presentation on the career of prolific producer/writer/ director/actor William Castle. Touting such “amazing” cinematic “technologies” as “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-O,” Castle is remembered for the hyperbolic marketing gimmicks he employed to promote his oeuvre of horror/thriller and sci-fi B-movies, which included House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler (both 1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Strait-Jacket (1964), and Bug (1975).

and more…

April’s Meeting Theme: Spring is here! The weather is warming, the days are longer, gardens are budding, the birds are returning, the club is meeting downtown again, and we’ve just witnessed a rare total solar eclipse right here in our own backyard! Life is good! We invite members to share their eclipse experience with the group, and to simply enjoy the season!

Please note that MonSFFA has moved to a new meeting hall, back downtown! We are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel on René-Lévesque Ouest (corner St-Mathieu), just one block west of our former, pre-pandemic downtown locale (Hôtel Espresso)! Yes, we’re back in our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks, and we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on April 13th!

We have concluded our brief relationship with the Lachine Legion, with all appropriate thanks to that institution for having hosted us in 2023 and early 2024, and are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel’s “Salle Maisonneuve!” Le Nouvel is located on a major downtown bus line, and is a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Our Following Meeting: Saturday, May 11, with guest speaker Rich Larson (Annex, Ymir, Tomorrow Factory), acclaimed by Gardner Dozois as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.”

Lots of zines arrived in the past few days. Enjoy!

From R-Laurraine Tutihasi: PurrMew90

From Joe Major, Alexiad: Alex133

From Garth Spencer: SHOOTING MY CUFFS 12

From the N3F, some of their own zines, and some pass-alongs:

Tightbeam354, De Profundis #594 – February 2024, MT VOID 2304,  ObdurateEye341, Space Cowboy’s Accretion #5 Jan 2024, NAPA269

Updates from Bill Burns. Click here to read ! https://efanzines.com

• Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #2
• Nic Farey’s The Incompleat Register 2024 Results – details of the 2023 FAAn Awards
• Opuntia #567, edited by Dale SpeirsOctothorpe #104, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
• Kat Templeton’s Rhyme & Paradox #5 and Notes on a Saturday Morning
• Journey Planet #79, edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia et al.
• Heath Row’s The Stf Amateur, March 2024 (apazine bundle)
• Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #37
• Guy H. Lillian III’s Spartacus #71
• Ethel the Aardvark #224 and archive issues 22, 176
• WOOF #35 (2010), Alan Stewart, Official Collator
• Perry Middlemiss’s Small Steps Down a Local Street #2
• Leigh Edmonds’ Ornithopter Mk.IIa
• Octothorpe #105 a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
• Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – Mar 2024
• Dan Harper’s ABwoF #12
• Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #3 and Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Book #1

 

THANK YOU

We thank for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming Keith Braithwaite, Joe Aspler, and Cathy Palmer-Lister, as well as all of our contributing participants. And, of course, we thank all of you who joined us on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together.

NEXT MONTH’S CLUB MEETING

MonSFFA meets again on Saturday, April 13, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. Details will be forthcoming; check in with us at www.MonSFFA.ca for updates, the next issue of our club news bulleting, Impulse, and for additional content.

SIGN-OFF

Have a good evening, all, and we’ll see you next time!

SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION—We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

Following are the slides that will be shown during this presentation, just as a back-up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s March 2024 meeting! This afternoon’s proceedings are soon to get underway. We are meeting live and person at our new meeting hall in the Nouvel Hotel, downtown! For those joining us online, today, see the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate. Technical issues may arise; please bear with us as we adjust to a new facility!

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude shortly before 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up about 30 minutes in advance of the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure. A second post at 2:30PM will offer the presentation slides we’ll be showing in the meeting hall during our look at proto-SF, just as a back-up. Our third and concluding post will go up at 4:45PM to officially thank today’s presenters and discussion moderators, and to publish the date of our next meeting.

THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

1:00PM – NOW SHOWING Join us for a fun and challenging game. We’ll show you a movie poster advertising an SF/F motion picture, but with the film’s title, recognizable tag line, and credits masked off or blurred out. Will you be able to provide the title of the film? Beware! It won’t be as easy as this example!

1:30PM – CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FAN KIND! We share our experiences meeting SF/F celebrities! Come prepared with your stories of having met famous SF/F stars—writers, actors, artists, etc.—especially if said encounter was a tad unusual! And, show off any autographs and unique mementos you consequently obtained, or photos of your meeting!

2:30PM – SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

3:30PM – BREAK! Club news, raffle 

4:00PM – Open Discussion/Q&A You may have questions about our new meeting hall, or other club business, or just cool stuff you’d like to tell your fellow club members about; the floor is open!

4:45PM – Wrap-Up and Clean-Up!

Please note that, 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. Please also note that all programming is subject to change!

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: 884 5820 9960
Passcode: 598901

Sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!

THE NEXT MonSFFA MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, FROM 1:00PM-5:00PM! AND WE’RE MOVING BACK DOWNTOWN TO A NEW MEETING HALL!

Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (South Tower)!

…plus, our meeting will also be accessible simultaneously  on ZOOM!

via: www.MonSFFA.ca

ATTENTION EARTHLINGS!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

MonSFFA is moving back downtown to a new meeting hall!

We’ll be meeting in “Salle Maisonneuve” of Le Nouvel Hotel! Le Nouvel is located on a major bus line, and is just a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Note that this new locale is only one block west of our pre-pandemic meeting place, the Hôtel Espresso (corner Guy and René-Lévesque)! We’re returning to our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks! And we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on the 9th!

Meeting Theme: Our March 2024 meeting precedes St. Patrick’s Day by about a week. The city’s Irish heritage has long been a part of Montreal’s cultural mosaic. MonSFFen are encouraged to wear something green to the meeting, perhaps a shamrock!

MARCH AGENDA INCLUDES:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FAN KIND!—We share our experiences meeting SF/F celebrities! Come prepared with your stories of having met famous SF/F stars—writers, actors, artists, etc.—especially if said encounter was a tad unusual! And, show off any autographs and unique mementos you consequently obtained, or photos of your meeting!

SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION—We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

NOW SHOWING—Join us for a fun and challenging game. We’ll show you a movie poster advertising an SF/F motion picture, but with the film’s title, recognizable tag line, and credits masked off or blurred out. Will you be able to provide the title of the film? Beware! It won’t be as easy as this example!

Subsequent Meetings: Saturday, April 13 and Saturday, May 11!

The March 2024 issue of the club’s news bulletin, Impulse, is now available for viewing or download (“Impulse” page).

Click here: ImpulseMarch2024(OnlineVersion)PDF

THE NEXT MonSFFA MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1:00PM-5:00PM!

At: Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (South Tower)!

…and concurrently on ZOOM!

www.MonSFFA.ca

ATTENTION! IMPORTANT NOTICE:

MonSFFA is moving back downtown to a new meeting hall!

We’ll be meeting in “Salle Maisonneuve” of Le Nouvel Hotel! Le Nouvel is located on a major bus line, and is just a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Note that this new locale is only one block west of our pre-pandemic meeting place, the Hôtel Espresso (corner Guy and René-Lévesque)! We’re returning to our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks! And we hope to welcome home both current and former club members; see you all on the 9th!

Meeting Theme: Our March 2024 meeting precedes St. Patrick’s Day by about a week. The city’s Irish heritage has long been a part of Montreal’s cultural mosaic. MonSFFen are encouraged to wear something green to the meeting, perhaps a shamrock!

MARCH AGENDA INCLUDES:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FAN KIND!—We share our experiences meeting SF/F celebrities! Come prepared with your stories of having met famous SF/F stars—writers, actors, artists, etc.—especially if said encounter was a tad unusual! And, show off any autographs and unique mementos you consequently obtained, or photos of your meeting!

SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION—We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

NOW SHOWING—Join us for a fun and challenging game. We’ll show you a movie poster advertising a SF/F motion picture, but with the film’s title and stars masked off or blurred out; will you be able to provide the title of the film?

Subsequent Meetings: Saturday, April 13 and Saturday, May 11!

4) THANK YOU

We thank for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming Josée Bellemare, Danny Sichel, Cathy Palmer-Lister, and Keith Braithwaite, as well as all of our contributing participants. And, of course, we thank all of you who joined us on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together.

5) NEXT MONTH’S CLUB MEETING

MonSFFA meets again on Saturday, March 10, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. Details will be forthcoming; check in with us at www.MonSFFA.ca for updates, the next issue of our club news bulleting, Impulse, and for additional content.

See you next month!

6) SIGN-OFF

Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone; until next we gather, keep well and safe!

1) INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s February 2024 meeting! This afternoon’s proceedings are soon to get underway. Our Lachine Legion meeting hall booking for this month remains unconfirmed at this time, unfortunately, so we will be getting together exclusively on ZOOM, today! See the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join us online and participate.

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up about an hour in advance of the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure. A second, concluding post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today’s presenters/discussion moderators, and to publish the date of our next meeting, which we expect will return us to our hybrid model of live-and-in-person and virtual.

THEME: We’ve chosen to attach a Mardi Gras theme to this month’s meeting! Mardi Gras celebrations are now ongoing in New Orleans, and conclude on February 13. SF/F cosplayers can certainly appreciate, and perhaps derive inspiration from the colourful, exquisite costumes of Carnival!

 

2) THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

Please note that, 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. Please also note that all programming is subject to change!

1:00PM

COLOURFUL, CRAZY MARDI GRAS!—As our meeting theme this month is Mardi Gras, we’ll offer a quick primer on the celebrations, focusing on the colourful, exquisite costuming and decorative flair of New Orleans’ famous Carnival. SF/F cosplayers may well find inspiration here, for everything from a fantasy Masquerade gown to a new Batman villain!

1:30PM

WORST MONSTERS!—We’ll discuss and debate which are the genre’s worst monsters! From the giants of Kaiju to those slimy, slobbering horrors from outer space, from the creations of mad science to the supernatural demons of the underworld, which do you believe are the most frightening, the most feared, and those to be avoided at all costs? In other words, which are the worst monsters? But we’re asking, too, which are the most laughably ridiculous, B-movie examples brought to the screen by cheap, poor-quality special effects? In every sense of the word “worst,” which do you rate as the genre’s worst monsters?

2:30PM

SCI-FI’S LOVABLE ROGUES, AND WHY WE LOVE THEM!—We ask who are the Han Solos of the genre, and why are they so damned compelling, interesting, and appealing, often more so than the ostensible hero of the piece? Are we naturally drawn to the bad boy, or girl, and if so, why?

3:30PM

BREAK!—We’ll take a quick break for refreshments at this point, hold our raffle, then immediately following, dive into a brainstorming session on programming ideas for future meetings.

4:00PM

PROGRAMMING IDEAS!—We’ll be polling MonSFFA’s membership for programming ideas; we want to hear from you, the members of this club, as to the kinds of topics you’d like to see on future meeting agendas! Your suggestions are encouraged and welcome!

 

Club members have received via e-mail the pertinent information needed in order to join in the conversation on ZOOM. Those details are also posted right here!

3) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT 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: 811 1208 8455
Passcode: 153624

Sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!