Author: kwoll

File770 notes

DisCon III notified members today that the Hugo Voter Packet is available to download at the members’ area.

This download of materials from Hugo Award finalists is supplied free of charge* as a courtesy by creators, publishers, and studios. The purpose is to allow those who are voting on the Hugo Awards to make an informed choice among the finalists. We deeply appreciate the publishers, studios, authors, artists, editors, and other creators who have generously provided their works to this year’s Hugo Voter Packet. We also ask that you honor publishers’ and creators’ request that you reserve these copies for your personal use only and that you do not share these works with non-members of DisCon III.

BEST NOVEL

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press / Solaris) – EPUB, MOBI, PDF       

The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit) – EXCERPT PDF

Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury) – EXCERPT  – EPUB, MOBI, PDF

The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books / Solaris) – EPUB, MOBI

BEST NOVELLA
Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Finna, Nino Cipri (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com) – EPUB, MOBI

Full details of material from other Hugo award categories at File770

*Note that the package, which is available to supporting members (cost US$50),
also includes the right to vote for the Hugos in all categories.

The Road to Fame — D.R. Smith
ISBN 978-1-913451-79-0

This early example of UK fan fiction – in the modern sense of stories that make free with other authors’ characters – was written in the 1940s and first published as a collected edition in 1953. There have been multiple reprints but no previous ebook.

The expedition team led by cranky Professor Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World here joins assorted characters from other fantastic fiction – including the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter of Mars and Tarzan), John W. Campbell, E.E. “Doc” Smith (the Skylark and Lensman series), H.G. Wells and several others – on a quest for literary immortality.

The perils en route are reminiscent of the much earlier The Pilgrim’s Progress and the somewhat later The Enchanted Duplicator:

“On the journey you will have to face such obstacles as the Impassable Precipice of Public Ridicule, the high passes of the Mountains of Contempt through which howls the High Wind of Carping Criticism, the Bog of Apathy in the lowlands beyond, and the vast waterless Plain of Mediocrity where hunt the Wild Wolves of Fierce Competition.”

This ebook takes its text from the 2004 reprint by Ruth Berman’s McArdle Press (still available; see “Acknowledgements and Publishing History” within for purchase details) and adds a substantial profile of its British author D.R. (Donald Raymond) Smith. This was written by Rob Hansen for Peter Weston’s fanhistorical journal Relapse, which ceased publication before it could be printed.

Published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the TAFF site on 30 June 2021. 25,000 words.

Deadline reports:

Jennifer Lopez is set to star and produce in the Netflix sci-fi thriller Atlas with Rampage helmer Brad Peyton directing. Aron Eli Coleite is writing the most recent draft of the script based off Leo Sardarian original script.

The film follows Atlas, a woman fighting for humanity in a future where an AI soldier has determined the only way to end war is to end humanity. To outthink this rogue AI, Atlas must work with the one thing she fears most — another AI.

More details at Deadline

Due to the Melbourne lockdown, the MSFC have had to move their Quiz Night online.

Nova Mob and Critical Mass members are invited to join in on Friday, June 18th from 8pm Melbourne time (7:30 Adelaide time).

There’s a general chat for the first half hour, then we settle in for 90 odd minutes of quizzing, lead by the quite querilous Roman, ably assisted by Lync & Jocko.

The details:

MSFC Quiz night
Time: Jun 18, 2021 08:00pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney; 7:30 Adelaide

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81569017213?pwd=OVg4TXRqaHExcnhiK1BhY285VkZoZz09

Meeting ID: 815 6901 7213
Passcode: quizzy

Note that we have moved to the 4th Wednesday of the month, and our meetings now start half an hour earlier, at 6:30 pm at Kappys.

We continue our look at nominees for the Novella Hugo: this time we’re discussing Finna, by Nino Cipri (Tordotcom) and Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom).

We will start Critical Mass at 6:30pm Adelaide time (7:00pm Melbourne).

You can attend in person at Kappys in Compton St, or join us via zoom.

Zoom Details:

When: Jun 23, 2021 6:30pm Adelaide, 7pm Melbourne

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87082198629?pwd=bmRlV2FRWXNHYnBWUUh5RXhNaUZ3QT09

Meeting ID: 870 8219 8629
Passcode: 467822

A new River Song adventure, The Ruby’s Curse, written and performed by Alex Kingston.

Doctor Who: The Ruby’s Curse

A River Song Novel By: Alex Kingston
Narrated by: Alex Kingston
Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
Release date: 20-05-2021
Language: English

1939, New York. Private-eye Melody Malone is hired to find a stolen ruby, the Eye of Horus. The ruby might hold the secret to the location of Cleopatra’s tomb – but everyone who comes into contact with it dies.

Can Melody escape the ruby’s curse?

1939, New York. River Song, author of the Melody Malone mysteries, is forced to find a reality-altering weapon, the Eye of Horus – but everyone who comes into contact with it dies. River doesn’t believe in curses – but is she wrong?

Eugen Bacon, the African Australian writer and editor, lends her voice to one of the stories featured on the ABC’s Bookshelf podcast “Reading Western Sydney, a hot country town & fantasy Africa remade”.

…And entire new worlds are created, drawing upon West African mythology and the layers of colonialism, in Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s epic fantasy, Son of the Storm (read by speculative fiction writer Eugen Bacon).

We’re going to have another go at looking for the best Novella. Here are the Hugo nominees for best novella:

• Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
• Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
• Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)
• Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom)
• Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tordotcom)

We’re going to discuss them over the next few meetings, so please read Come Tumbling Down and The Empress of Salt and Fortune in time for discussion at the May meeting.

As usual, the meeting will start at 7pm Adelaide time, May 19th. If you wish to attend in person, come along to Kappys — doors open at 6:45. Zoom details follow for those who prefer to join us that way.

Zoom: Critical Mass: a look at the hugo Nominees for Best Novella
Time: May 19, 2021 7:00pm Adelaide, 7:30 Melbourne

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89766768424?pwd=SUFjdkhYNWxrTlpjTDA5amFCMjRlUT09

Meeting ID: 897 6676 8424
Passcode: CritMass21