“Every Version of You sneaks in some really hard, fundamental questions about the mind-body problem, what it means to be human, what we are willing to sacrifice for another, and what – if any – is the difference between living and being alive.” —Locus Magazine
Our guest (via zoom) in November is Grace Chan, whose novel Every Version of You won several best book awards in 2022, including the University of Sydney People’s Choice Award at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Not just a literary novel, but an excellent work of science fiction as well.
Every Version of You was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year. It was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Indie Book Awards. It has been optioned for a film adaptation.
We will talk with Grace Chan for about 20 minutes, then open the discussion up for comments/questions from the audience. Several shorter works are available via links on her website.
The meeting will be at the community room at Christie Walk from 6:15pm — entry from 101 Sturt Street.
The Huntington has acquired the papers and personal library of Kim Stanley Robinson, acclaimed science fiction author of the Mars trilogy and The Ministry for the Future.
The archive includes manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, photographs, and Robinson’s personal reference library.
Highlights include drafts of nearly all of Robinson’s major novels and annotated works by authors who have shaped his thinking.
The collection will be processed with the goal of making it available to researchers by 2027.
The Huntington announced today that it has acquired the papers and personal library of Kim Stanley Robinson, a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards.
Robinson is the author of more than 20 books, including his bestselling Mars trilogy—Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), Blue Mars (1996)—and the widely praised 2312 (2012), Shaman (2013), New York 2140 (2017), and The Ministry for the Future (2020).
“It’s a deep pleasure to have my archive go to The Huntington,” said Robinson. “I remember visiting from Orange County when I was in school; as a lifelong library lover, I was amazed there could be such a big and beautiful one. Since then, I’ve known The Huntington as the home of the Octavia E. Butler papers, and I’m proud to have mine join hers there. Science fiction is the genre best suited to expressing Southern California—as our work will show. I’m also honored to have my papers join the library that holds those of other authors I admire, such as Hilary Mantel and Thomas Pynchon.”
“If you haven’t met star-traveler Ijon Tichy, clear a little room in your heart: he’s moving in.
Stanisław Lem is probably best known as the author of Solaris, but his stories about space voyager Ijon Tichy are his true gems. A critic in the ’70s wrote that Stanisław Lem was the most-read sci-fi writer in the world, and Lem is likely the most translated Polish sci-fi/fantasy author (though Andrzej Sapkowski, with the help of a certain white-haired Witcher, is rapidly closing the gap!).
But despite Lem’s enduring popularity, quiet Ijon—“Tichy” is a play on the word for “quiet” in Czech and Russian, stemming from an ancestor who remained silent throughout his own trial—remains a stranger to many readers today. And that’s a shame: Ijon Tichy is a lovable bumbler and a clear-eyed comedian. He represents the victory of a goodhearted, collegial comic over cynicism and solipsism. He may be more of a quiet observer than most heroes, but here are just a few reasons why Tichy is a sci-fi protagonist you’ll be very pleased to meet…”
These two authors wrote many books which influenced later science fiction/fantasy works, including movie adaptations of their books.
Significant works
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering before these subjects were common in the genre.. His most notable science fiction works include The Time Machine (1895), which was his first novella, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), the military science fiction The War in the Air (1907), and the dystopian When the Sleeper Wakes (1910)
Jules Verne was born on February 8, 1828, in the city of Nantes, France . He is best known for his works A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,The Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne is often referred to as the ‘Father of science fiction’ because he wrote about space, air and underwater travel before aeroplanes, spacecrafts and submarines were invented. He died in 1905.
For the October Critical Mass, we invite you to choose a novel to talk about, and note subsequent novels, radio dramas, films and TV series based on them. Hopefully we will decide which was the most influential.
Join us at the Minor Works Building, 22 Stamford Court, at 6:30pm (Adelaide) on Wednesday October 15th.
Via Zoom: 6:30pm Adelaide, 7:30pm Melbourne, 9pm Auckland and 9am London
It’s worth a look at the Science Fiction roundup by Lisa Tuttle in The Guardian. The September column looks at The Naked Light by Bridget Collins; Exiles by Mason Coile; Alchemised by SenLinYu; Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei; and Big Time by Jordan Prosser.
Exiles by Mason Coile (Baskerville, £16.99)In 2030, three astronauts arrive on Mars, on a one-way mission to prepare for full-scale colonisation. They find their robot-built base, the Citadel, severely damaged, and one of the robots missing. The remaining two offer different explanations: the missing robot malfunctioned and caused the damage before fleeing, or the Citadel was attacked by an unseen, hostile alien force, and the third robot went in pursuit and has not returned. A taut, terrifying thriller, sadly the last work from Mason Coile, a pseudonym of award-winning author Andrew Pyper, who died in January.
“Deadly Earnest” was a late-night horror host that appeared on Australian commercial television stations between the years 1959 and 1978.
Played by five different actors in each of the mainland States over the course of this nineteen-year period, the host was used to introduce horror films and brought an element of comedy to them during a time when Australia had an unofficial ban on importing horror. This thesis argues the hosts were in part a mechanism to sanitise the genre by pairing horror with comedy, and part branding to establish the films as a homogenous identity or product. Their case is contrasted with the challenges comic books faced in the same era.
Martin Dunne explores the various Deadly Earnests in a talk at the September Critical Mass.
In Person: 6:30pm Sept 17th at the Minor Works Building, 22 Stamford Court.
The bundle is curated by Robert Jeschonek: What is it about space opera that makes us love it so much? The action, the exotic settings, the colorful characters, the alien species? The promise of countless adventures in the face of the great unknown? Or is it mostly just the incredible wow factor of all the ships…the technology…the planets…the ray guns and laser swords? In many ways, it’s the ultimate escapist genre, transporting us to places and situations that dwarf our everyday troubles. And yet, at its heart, space opera is all about us—what it means to be human, and how we can triumph over our human limitations. To find out more about the 11 books, including three StoryBundle exclusives and four trilogies, click here, and make sure to click on each cover for a synopsis, reviews and preview of each book!
Paul Kincaid, our speaker on Wednesday 3 September, writes “The title of the talk is “Molly and Lemady and Keith”, but that’s really all that’s needed beforehand. I make passing reference to most of his books during the talk, especially Pavane and The Chalk Giants and Molly Zero, but there is no great need for people to rush out and read them first. (I’m rather hoping that people might be tempted to rush out and read them afterwards, but that is a different thing.)”
You know the deal. One of science fiction’s finest critics on one of science fiction’s most interesting writers, directly dialled in to the luxury of your own home or gathered with the fen as we cluster around a large screen in the pristine fashionable white-and-grey expanse of the Conference Room at the Kensington Town Hall, Melbourne.
Meeting details are below, closely followed by a report of last month’s discussion of the best Hugo candidates. The Hugos are announced tonight as I write this.
I’m travelling this month and so the usual second reminder email is unlikely to happen. If you rely on that nearer-the-night reminder, please set your social calendars and reminder alarms now to Paul Kincaid on Keith Roberts.
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Molly and Lemady and Keith
Paul Kincaid is our guest for September’s meeting, speaking about Keith Roberts via Zoom from the UK.
“Pavane (stories March-July 1966 Impulse; coll of linked stories 1968; rev with “The White Boat” [December 1966 New Worlds] added 1969) superbly depicts an Alternate History in which – Elizabeth I having been assassinated, the Spanish Armada victorious and no Protestant rise of capitalism in the offing – a technologically backward England survives under the sway of the Catholic Church Militant. The individual stories are moody, eloquent, elegiac and thoroughly convincing. The Inner Wheel (coll of linked stories 1970) deals with the kind of gestalt Superman-cum-Telepathy theme made familiar by Theodore Sturgeon‘s More Than Human (fixup 1953) and is similarly powerful.” — Science Fiction Encyclopedia, text by John Clute.
Please share this invitation with like-minded friends and fans
Face to face
You are invited to a Nova Mob meeting gathered near a big Zoom-related TV screen at the Kensington Town Hall: Wednesday 3 September 2025. 8.00pm – 9.00 (formal close), first floor Presentation Room. Lift access. Stairs access. Both available.
Zoom meeting closes about 9.20pm or so. Kensington Town Hall 30 – 34 Bellair St| Kensington Melbourne VIC 3031
By Zoom – simulcast You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Please join us on-line!
Wednesday 3 September 2025 8.00pm – 9.30 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time| 7.30pm – 9.00pm Adelaide time
The winners of the Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book were announced on August 16, 2025 by Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention.
The winners are:
Best Novel: The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape UK) Best Novella: The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom) Best Novelette: ”The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”, Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s 9-10/24) Best Short Story: “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is”, Nghi Vo (Uncanny 2/24 Best Series: Between Earth and Sky, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Nikka VanRy published a list of 100 Must-Read SF books by female writers at Bookriot. “From YA to adult lit, from magical realism to epic fantasy to post-apocalyptic sci-fi feminism, from short stories to series, there’s a book on this list for every single reader. Do note that I’ve only listed the first book in any given series, so expect that this list could easily give you ten times as much reading power (especially with those stick-to-your-gut epic fantasy series). I’ve also only included one book per writer to showcase the widest range of voices from sci-fi fantasy novels by female authors”
We invite you to choose one work on that list, or one which you think should be there, and come along to persuade us it is worth reading.
We meet at the Minor Works Building at 6:30pm Wednesday August 20th for the discussion. If you can’t make it in person, you can join us via zoom.
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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