Monthly Archives: June 2024

Fanzines

Zines to share!

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Zines to share!

From Nic Farey, This Here: TH 76r

From the 3NF,
 The N3F Review of Books N3FReview202406

Fiction
2 … Archangel by NR LaPoint … Review by Declan Finn
4 … The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins … Review by Graham Bradley
6 … Brother, Frank by Michael Bunker … Review by Graham Bradley
7 … Deathbringer by Blake Carpenter … Review by Jim McCoy
9 … Deeper than the Darkness by Gregory Benford … Review by Jean-Paul Garnier
9 … The Dream of the Iron Dragon by Rob Kroese … Review by Neovictorian
11 … Going Ballistic by Dorothy Grant … Review by Becky Jones
12 … The Groundskeeper: Raking Up the Dead by Cedar Sanderson … Review by Pat Patterson
13 … Hauser’s Memory by Curt Siodmak … Review by Jean-Paul Garnier
13 … The Icarus Job by Timothy Zahn … Review by Declan Finn
15 … Kindred by Kelly Grayson … Review by Pat Patterson
16 … Monster Hunter Bloodlines by Larry Correia … Review by Graham Bradley
18 … Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer … Review by Graham Bradley
19 … Out of the Soylent Planet by Robert Kroese … Review by Ginger Man
21 … Pirates of the Electromagnetic Waves by Fenton Wood … Review by Rob Kroese
22 … The Powers of the Earth by Travis J. P. Corcoran … Review by Rob Kroese
24 … Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir … Review by Graham Bradley
25 … Scattered, Smothered and Spellbound by Kelly Grayson … Review by Pat Patterson
26 … The Schrödinger Paradox: Entanglement by Holly Chism … Review by Pat Patterson
27 … The Thing From HR by Roy M. Griffis … Review by Michael Gallagher
29 … Virus Thirteen by Joshua Alan Parry … Review by Jason P. Hunt
31 … White Ops by Declan Finn … Review by Ginger Man
Series Reviews
33 … Riptides, Storm Surge, Flotsam of War and Ratchet’s Run by Blaine Lee Pardoe
… Review by Jim McCoy
35 … Uplink Squadron and Second Flight by JN Chaney and Chris Kennedy
… Review by Jim McCoy
Literary Criticism
37 … The Symbiosis of Adventure Fiction and Futurism: A 19th and 20th Century Dialogue
by Franklin Dalcò Grande
Prose Bono
39 … For the Boys by Cedar Sanderson
40 … The Quirky Reader by Cedar Sanderso

Fanzines

Zine from South Africa to share!

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From South Africa, PROBE 200X

ToC:

3. Editorial
4. Chairperson’s Special Note
5. Magazines Received/ Books Received
6. Nova 2023 Finalist. Sue Woodward.
“The Handprint”
20. Interview with ChatGPT
26. Blasts from the past …. PROBE through the
Decades
29. Nova 2023 Editor’s Choice. Ruan Botha
“The Owl – Episode 1”
35. The Three-Body Problem. Gavin Kreuiter
38. Tex Cooper. Eulogy.
40. Digby Ricci. “Shadowy Union. SF and
Horror”
46. Nicola Catellani “That Gentleman in the
Room”. Winner XXVII Trofeo RiLL

Astronomy News

An asteroid to pass between Earth and Moon

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 Asteroids in the news this week

An asteroid will pass between Earth and Moon just a day before Asteroid Day! Good timing, but the scary thing is that it was only discovered last week.

Remember Apophis? This asteroid made headlines when it was thought it would impact Earth in 2029. It won’t, but it might take out a few communication satellites. It will likely be visible to the naked eye.  

From the Planetary Society:

 The U.S. government recently completed an asteroid impact preparedness exercise. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of State Office of Space Affairs, recently went through a hypothetical scenario in which an asteroid was found on a collision course with Earth. This was the fifth such exercise, and the first to incorporate the results of NASA’s DART mission. NASA published a summary of takeaways from the exercise.

Two large asteroids will safely pass Earth this week. Although both asteroids’ trajectories are known and neither poses any risk to our planet, one of them was only discovered a week ago, highlighting the need to continue improving our ability to detect potentially hazardous objects. That recently discovered asteroid, 2024 MK, will be observable around its closest approach on June 29 using a small telescope or binoculars.

Apophis won’t hit Earth, but might wipe out a few satellites!Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid, meaning its orbit around the Sun brings it within 1.3 times the distance between the Sun and Earth. Its full name is Apophis 99942. After Apophis was discovered in 2004, the asteroid was given a 2.7% chance of hitting Earth in 2029, causing a great deal of media attention. It also for a time had a small chance of hitting Earth in 2036. Additional observations have shown it will not hit Earth in 2029 or in 2036.

Nevertheless, in 2029 Apophis will come closer to Earth than our geostationary communications satellites, likely sparking a great deal of public interest.  READ MORE

FROM THE CBC:

Large asteroid to pass between Earth and the moon on Saturday

The asteroid was only discovered earlier this month

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News ·

Earth is surrounded by rocky bodies and bits of debris from when the solar system formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. On Saturday, one of those leftover rocks will whiz past Earth.

The asteroid is called 2024 MK and, at its closest, it will pass roughly 290,000 km from Earth. While we have plenty of small asteroids that are scattered within Earth’s orbit, this one is sizeable, ranging anywhere from 120 metres to 260 metres in diameter.

But there’s another interesting — and somewhat disquieting — fact about this large asteroid.

“Maybe the big take-home point on this one is it’s a pretty big object and it was only found 10 or 12 days before closest approach,” said Peter Brown, Canada Research Chair in meteor astronomy and a professor at Western University in London, Ont. “The last time we had an object this big or bigger pass this close to Earth was … in 2001.”

“So unlike most asteroid stories, this actually is noteworthy in the sense of … this is pretty big, pretty close.”

Astronomy News

China space probe returns with rare Moon rocks

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China space probe returns with rare Moon rocks

By Laura Bicker & Kelly Ng, in Beijing and Singapore
Full story with video:

China’s lunar probe has returned to Earth with the first ever samples from the Moon’s unexplored far side.

The Chang’e-6 landed in the Inner Mongolia desert on Tuesday, after a nearly two-month long mission which was fraught with risks.

Scientists are eagerly awaiting the Chang’e-6 as the samples could answer key questions about how planets are formed.

China is the only country to have landed on the far side of the Moon, having done so before in 2019.

The far side – which faces away from Earth – is technically challenging to reach due to its distance, and its difficult terrain of giant craters and few flat surfaces.

Scientists are interested in this less-explored side as it is hoped it may contain traces of ice, which can be harvested for water, oxygen, and hydrogen.

The Chang’e-6 mission is a source of pride for a nation which has stepped up its missions to the Moon – drawing attention from its rival, the US.

State media showed officials planting the Chinese flag with a flourish just after the Chang’e-6 capsule landed in the desert of Inner Mongolia.

China’s President Xi Jinping has called to congratulate those at the command centre of the Chang’e-6 mission.

Mr Xi said he hopes they can carry on exploring deep space and “reaching new heights in unravelling the mysteries of the universe… to benefit humanity and advance the nation”.

CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

Aurora Voting is Open Until July 13

June CSFFA Newsletter:
Aurora Voting is Open Until July 13

In this newsletter:

  • Aurora Voting is Open Until July 13, 2024
  • Instructions and Updates for Accessing the Voters Package
  • CSFFA 2024 AGM Update

Aurora Voting is Open

Voting is now open for this year’s Aurora Awards. CSFFA members have until 11:59pm EDT on July 13th, 2024, to submit their ballot. Before you vote please read this year’s voters’ package so you can make an informed vote. You must log into your CSFFA account to participate. CSFFA is open to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Our voting system uses a ranked voting method. You can rank multiple works in any category. Our Voting Method page gives you full details about how to vote. Please note, the None of the Above option is only to be used if you don’t think one or more of the works should have been on the ballot. If you are unfamiliar with a category, leave it blank.

Vote for what you know and what you enjoyed.

NOTE: If you are only voting because you have a friend or family member on the ballot, we would prefer that you refrain. The Aurora Awards are for fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Voters Package Update

This year’s Aurora Awards voters’ package is now available to CSFFA members to download. To access the package, log into your account and you will see the link from your member home page. These files are only available to download until Saturday, July 6th. Voting for the awards closes the following Saturday.

Download the categories you wish to read. The files have been zipped so you will need to open then to extract the works. Each zip file contains a Word document that gives you an overview of what is contained in that category. Note: The Zip file for Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration was recently updated to include a missing file and fix an incorrect link; if you downloaded this category earlier than July 14th you may wish to re-acquire it.

By downloading the files, you accept the terms and conditions (agreeing not to share the files) for the download package. Accepting these terms and conditions is a legally binding agreement.

Works in our voters’ package have been kindly provided by the nominees and their publishers. They are there to help you make informed decisions when you vote. Voting has begun and is done by ranking each work so it is helpful to have read as much as you can in the categories you wish to vote in.

Note: This year’s graphic novel category has been split into two downloads. Both are quite large and may take extra time to download. Please be patient.

 

CSFFA 2024 AGM summary

All motions were approved:
a) Acceptance of Finaicial Statement of 2024: Yes 22; No Response 2
b) Acceptance of Board Actions of 2023: Yes 23;, No Response 1
c) Election to the CSFFA board of directors of Aymen Saidane, and re-election of Murray Moore, CLiff Samuels, Garth Spencer, Jean-Louis Trudel: Yes 22; No Response 2

Twenty-three members voted on the motions before the deadline.

President Murray Moore and Vice-President Cliff Samuels reviewed 2023 (CSFFA’s presence during Pemmi-Con, and the 2023 Awards) and answered questions.

Fanzines

More zines in the mail!

Tightbeam 357 Tightbeam357

June 2024
What is Tightbeam? We are the N3F literary fanzine, not the novel and anthology fanzine, but the fanzine that tries to cover all tastes in fandom, such as anime, comics, cosplay, films, novels, biographies, poetry, music, short stories, food, …

Also received, an update from Bill Burns

New today at https://efanzines.com are:

  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #40
  • Octothorpe #111 a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #73
  • Opuntia #574, edited by Dale Speirs — Bill
MonSFFA Website

Nasa ‘Earthrise’ astronaut dies at 90 in plane crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw99wj5e5q8o

Nasa ‘Earthrise’ astronaut dies at 90 in plane crash

By Max Matza, BBC News
Getty Images Anders in his spacesuitGetty Images

Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who snapped one of the most famous photographs taken in outer space, has died in a plane crash at the age of 90.

Officials say a small aircraft he was flying crashed into the sea off Washington state.

Anders’ son Greg confirmed that his father’s body was recovered on Friday afternoon.

“The family is devastated. He was a great pilot. He will be missed,” a statement from the family reads.

Anders – who was a lunar module pilot on the Apollo 8 mission – took the iconic Earthrise photograph, one of the most memorable and inspirational images of Earth from space.

Taken on Christmas Eve during the 1968 mission, the first crewed space flight to leave Earth and reach the Moon, the picture shows the planet rising above the horizon from the barren lunar surface.

Anders later described it as his most significant contribution to the space programme.

Nasa Earth peaking out behind the Moon in iconic photoNasa

The image is widely credited with motivating the global environmental movement and leading to the creation of Earth Day, an annual event to promote activism and awareness of caring for the planet.

Speaking of the moment, Anders said: “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing that we discovered was the Earth.”

READ MORE: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw99wj5e5q8o