Murray writes
The 2 February meeting of the Nova Mob will be held by Zoom due to too much COVID active in the community. The Kensington Town Hall will be closed: there will not be any face-to-face meeting.
Iain McIntyre’s Dangerous Visions and New Worlds event is postponed to April. The delay will allow the event to be face to face and gives time for copies of the book to arrive in the country.
February’s meeting has 3 parts:
- The year’s topics: what would you like to speak on in 2022, and do you want your event by Zoom or face to face?
- Acknowledgement of the late Bill Wright.
- Hindsight: your science fictional recommendation from 2021. A Nova Mob round-robin discussion.
💥 💥 💥
Vale Bill Wright
Farewell to a steadfast friend of fandom
On 16 January Bill Wright died at the Alfred Hospital after a bad fall the previous week which had resulted in his hospitalisation. He was a day short of his 85th birthday.
Few people are as heavily intertwined with the history of Melbourne science fiction fandom as Bill Wright. A Life Member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club; member and contributor to Anzapa with his regular zine Interstellar Ramjet Scoop; member of the Nova Mob for decades; member of the ASFF; enthusiastic convention-goer; fan ambassador; Bill’s legacy also includes among other things the Bill Wright archive of Australian fanzines; the Meteor concept for a Melbourne slanshack; and notably the Norma Hemming Award which he instigated. Many will recall his impish humour and his pleasure at conversation. This is a sad loss.
Reported by Elaine Cochrane, who also mentioned that about two hundred messages have been received to Bruce Gillespie’s Facebook posting, and that “he remained Bill till the end.”
Bill will be acknowledged at our February 2022 meeting of the Nova Mob.
💥 💥 💥
Nova Mob 2022 topics
You may not have a novel in you so maybe talk about someone else’s.
We have four items on the 2022 calendar, for February, March, April, and November respectively. The months of May, June, July, August, September, and October are available. Do you want to claim one of those months for your topic? Let it be known at February’s meeting.
The Clarke Awards look to have permanently shifted to a late September announcement, which means we could devote the September meeting to wrangling the Clarkes.
💥 💥 💥
February meeting: Hindsight: your science fictional recommendation from 2021.
What book/film/podcast etc would you commend to others from your 2021?
A Nova Mob round-robin discussion by Zoom.
You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Wednesday 2 February
8.00pm – 9.30 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time
7.30pm – 9.00pm Adelaide time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4177583193?pwd=VjdPL1BhSTBNclN2YnRsejN3Y1hlUT09
Passcode: nova
Meeting ID: 417 758 3193
💥 💥 💥
Calendar
Mar 2 2022 Nova Mob – Perry Middlemiss on Short SF in 1965.
Apr 5 2022 Nova Mob – Iain McIntyre – Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985 by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre.
💥 💥 💥
The Adelaide Fan Review 