fans of sf, fantasy, horror & whimsy
A new Doctor Who trailer revealed episode titles for 60th Anniversary Specials.
Moments before the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final came live from Liverpool the new Doctor Who trailer announced the titles as:
Roman’s going to look at N K Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010),
The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
The Kingdom of Gods (2011)
This fantasy trilogy is set in a world where one country rules, partly due to its enslavement of several gods, giving the ruling Armari family immense power.
Yeine Darr is summoned to the magnificent floating city of Sky by her grandfather Dekarta, the ruler of the world and head of the Arameri family.
As Yeine is also Arameri, he names her his heir — but he had already assigned that role to both his niece and his nephew. Traditionally the issue is resolved by a fight to the death. Yeine seems an unlikely victor, but there are background political ploys which may work in her favour…
If you’re in Adelaide, meet at kappy’s in Compton St (near the market).
Doors open at 6:15 for a 6:30pm start.
Time: Wednesday May 17, 2023 — 6:30 Adelaide, 7:00 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86711562991?pwd=L0VoYjkrRlIwWU05QmxWU0tqaUZiZz09
Meeting ID: 867 1156 2991
Passcode: 535708
Lee Harding, author of Displaced Person, passed away 19 April
Lee Harding, Australian SF and Children’s writer, photographer, and anthologist, passed away peacefully after an illness (1937-2023).
Chandler, Ditmar, and Australia Children’s Book Award winner (for Displaced Person v.t. Misplaced Persons) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harding_(writer). Condolences to family, friends, and fans.
The June Nova Mob will be a celebration of Lee Harding’s life. Please lock in June 7 in your diaries.
Wednesday June 7th:
7.30pm – 9.00pm Adelaide time
8.00pm – 9.30 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4177583193?pwd=VjdPL1BhSTBNclN2YnRsejN3Y1hlUT09
Passcode: nova
Meeting ID: 417 758 3193
ReConnect is a 2023 convention for science fiction, fantasy and horror fans and professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.
Two+ days of panels, discussions, talks, and socializing — all online to revitalize fandom in preparation for the 2024 national convention.
The convention is running online on the weekend of June 2nd.
For more info/membership details: ReConnect
Shades in Shadow
Three brand new short stories set in the world of the Inheritance trilogy.
A newborn god with an old, old soul struggles to find a reason to live. A powerful demon searches for her father, and answers. And in a prequel to the Inheritance Trilogy, a newly-enslaved Nahadoth forges a dark alliance with a mortal, for survival. . . and revenge.
The Awakened Kingdom
A novella which takes place after the events in Kingdom of Gods
As the first new godling born in thousands of years — and the heir presumptive to Sieh the Trickster — Shill’s got big shoes to fill. She’s well on her way when she defies her parents and sneaks off to the mortal realm, which is no place for an impressionable young god.
Wednesday 3 April 2023
Best-selling author Max Barry is our guest on 3 May to tell us about his alternate worlds sliding doors trousers of time alternate histories novel The 22 Murders of Madison May. Many will recall his excellent and popular novel Jennifer Government followed by Lexicon. Madison May was published during lockdown and hasn’t had quite the same media presence but is equally enjoyable and even more unputdownable – it’s a one-sitting book. And Max is an excellent public speaker as well as writer.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’
“In Queens, New York, 22-year-old real estate agent Madison May is showing a house. The buyer, a man she’s never met, is friendly, engaging . . . and claims to be her soulmate from a parallel life. She’s in danger, he tells her. He’s come to save her.
“Later that day, newspaper journalist Felicity Staples is assigned to report on Madison May’s murder. Discontent with her own life, Felicity finds herself drawn into a shocking conspiracy involving a powerful group who have harnessed the ability to slip between lives – to move between one version of reality to another.
“On the run, turned into an imposter in her own life, Felicity is forced to seek the truth behind Madison May, the woman who is murdered over and over, in different ways, wherever she goes. For only by saving Madison May can Felicity reassemble the broken pieces of herself.”
Max Barry is the author of numerous novels, including Jennifer Government, Company, Machine Man, Lexicon and Providence. He is also the developer of the online nation simulation game NationStates. Prior to his writing career, Barry worked at tech giant HP. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters.
Max Barry and The 22 Murders of Madison May
Please share this invitation with like-minded friends and fans
You are invited to an in-person Nova Mob meeting at:
Wednesday 3 May 2023 8.00pm – 9.15pm or so, first floor Conference Room
Kensington Town Hall, 30 – 34 Bellair St
Kensington Melbourne VIC 3031
For those who prefer not to travel or are unable to attend face-to-face. Zoom session broadcast from the Kensington Town Hall. Questions or comments typed into the Zoom chat will be discussed as the opportunity permits, and you’ll have as much airtime as the other Mob members at the venue.
You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Wednesday 3 May
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
We’re on Mastodon
After a gruelling candidate search we’ve opened an account on Mastodon, it being a place of clear ethics which does not sell users and their data as commodities. Click the invite to follow!
https://mastodonbooks.net/@NovaMob
https://mastodonbooks.net/invite/YECXVBUk
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Lee Harding, author of Displaced Person, passed away 19 April
Very sad to learn that Lee Harding, Australian SF and Children’s writer, photographer, and anthologist, passed away today peacefully after an illness (1937-2023). Chandler, Ditmar, and Australia Children’s Book Award winner (for Displaced Person v.t. Misplaced Persons) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harding_(writer). Condolences to family, friends, and fans.
“Dearest friends of Lee,
Dad passed away peacefully, in the care of a beautiful staff member, at 6.30 this morning. While I know he is no longer suffering, the sadness is immense.
I hope you have many wonderful, happy memories of him, and that you take the time to celebrate his life in whatever way you find fitting.“
The June Nova Mob will be a celebration of Lee Harding’s life. Please lock in June 7 in your diaries.
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Music by theAdelaidian
Sean Williams (composing as “theAdelaidean”) invites listeners into ambient spaces inspired by his voyage to Casey research station as the 2017 Australian Antarctic Divisions’ Arts Fellow, Thursday 22 June 2023 at Flinders University Museum of Art.
His tenth album for Projekt Records, Hyperaurea: Echoes of Antarctica reflects on his experiences during the fellowship and, fittingly, is as vast and mysterious as the continent that inspired it, running for just under four hours.
This presentation includes the album in its entirety, with a visual response created by Shane Bevin that references in part the diaries of Professor John Long, transforming the FUMA gallery into a celebration of Midwinter’s Day that the audience can enter and leave at will.
Podcast by Sean Williams
theAdelaidean (with his writing hat on) has a new season of The Word Docs beginning right now. This podcast, produced and edited by him with co-presenters Amy and Alex, explores the publishing industry through multiple lenses, and is a lot of fun! First episode here.
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June 7 – Lee Harding (1937-2023): Celebrating his Life
July 5 – Paul Kincaid
August 2 – Bruce Barnes on Brick Bradford
Also
Nov 1 – Ian Mond: Mondiale – the best books of 2023.
Adam enjoyed the series (both as novels & TV), and is going to talk about why this Wednesday.
What could possibly go wrong in a cemetery… Ali Hadji-Heshmati (playing George Karim), Cameron Chapman (as Anthony Lockwood) and Ruby Stokes (as Lucy Carlyle)
Lockwood & Co. is a young adult supernatural thriller series which follows three young operatives of a psychic detection agency (Lucy Carlyle, Anthony Lockwood, and George Cubbins) as they fight ghosts (known throughout the series as Visitors) in London, England. There are five novels in the series, published from 2013
If you’re in Adelaide, meet at kappy’s in Compton St (near the market).
Doors open at 6:15 for a 6:30pm start.
Zoom details:
Time: Apr 19, 2023 at 6:30 at kappy’s / 7:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86711562991?pwd=L0VoYjkrRlIwWU05QmxWU0tqaUZiZz09
Meeting ID: 867 1156 2991
Passcode: 535708
The Sci-Fi Exploration Bundle – curated by Adam Gaffen:
Exploration. It’s hardwired into humanity’s genes.
As far back into history you want to go, there have always been people who want to push the boundaries of what we know. Whether that was looking to the stars and wondering where those twinkling lights came from, or what was across that intimidating-looking ocean, or what the purpose of all that red stuff inside the human body, the questions never seemed to end.
That spirit of exploration has never stopped. It’s alive today, as we push boundaries in space, on the planet, and into the dreams of cyberspace. We’ve gathered ten notable authors to give you their takes on where humanity’s endless curiosity might take us.
— from Adam Gaffen’s description of the bundle.
Come with us as our voyage of exploration begins!
You can read more about the bundle here — the bundle is available until May 5th.
Some of us wonder if today’s SF fans enjoy the same sf novels as earlier SF fans.
As it turns out, there were interesting surveys taken of best SF novels in 1987 (at the British eastercon) and 2022 (a poll of the media death cult members).
SFF Concatention recently published their analysis of the comparison here.
In summary:
“the result do not show a wildly difference in SF tastes between the 1980s and 2020s generations of fans: in fact, there are similarities. 10 of the SF² Concatenation top twenty appear in of the Cult’s top 40: indeed all but one, Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination appear in the Cult’s top 30. When it comes to authors, there is an even greater similarity: 7 in SF² Concatenation top twenty top ten cited authors appear in the Cult’s top 40. This bumps up to 8 authors if Alfred (working class) Bester, author of Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination, who was not one of the top ten most cited author but was in the mix as a lower ranking author.”the result do not show a wildly difference in SF tastes between the 1980s and 2020s generations of fans: in fat, there are similarities. 10 of the SF² Concatenation top twenty appear in of the Cult’s top 40: indeed all but one, Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination appear in the Cult’s top 30. When it comes to authors, there is an even greater similarity: 7 in SF² Concatenation top twenty top ten cited authors appear in the Cult’s top 40. “
Best Science Fiction Novels Then and Now in SFF Concatenation
The BSFA awards are voted on by BSFA members and, more recently, members of the British science fiction convention, Eastercon. Their aim, according to the BSFA website, is to “seek to honour the most worthy examples in each category, but also to promote the genre of science fiction, and get people reading, talking about, and enjoying all that contemporary science fiction has to offer.”
To qualify, the work must have been released in 2022.
Best Novel (defined as a work greater than 40,000 words)
- Winner: City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Stars and Bones by Gareth Powell
- The Coral Bones by E.J. Swift
- The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard
- The This by Adam Roberts
Best Short Fiction (defined as work less than 40,000 words)
- “A Moment of Zugzwang” by Neil Williiamson
- Luca by Or Luca
- Winner: Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard
- Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- “Seller’s Remorse” by Rick Danforth
Venessa Armstrong, Tor.com for details of all awards
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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