Category: Snippets

 Philip Pullman has announced that The Book of Dust, a new epic fantasy trilogy, which will stand alongside his bestselling series, His Dark Materials, will be published in October around the world.

Set to come out on 19 October, the as yet untitled first volume of The Book of Dust will be set in London and Oxford, with the action running parallel to the His Dark Materials trilogy.  […] Pullman’s brave and outspoken heroine Lyra Belacqua will return in the first two volumes. Featuring two periods of her life – as a baby and 20 years after His Dark Materials ended […]

Announcing the new books, the Oxford-based former teacher said he returned to the world of Lyra because he wanted to get to the bottom of “Dust”, the mysterious and troubling substance at the centre of the original books. “Little by little through that story the idea of what Dust was became clearer and clearer, but I always wanted to return to it and discover more,” Pullman said.

In a description that will resonate with the current political climate, he added that “at the centre of The Book of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and enquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free”.

— from The Guardian, 15 Feb

Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem

Lethem’s now-classic update on San Francisco noir features a hardboiled, highly sarcastic detective named Metcalf, a murder, and a conspiracy that might just go all the way to the top. But this version of San Francisco also features uplifted animals (like the Mafiosi kangaroo Metcalf keeps running into), mature babies with their own subculture, and quantifiable karma that people use as social credit—when you use up all your karma, you have to go to cryo-sleep until you pay it off. Against this background, Metcalf attempts to solve the murder of Maynard Stanhunt, despite the fact that no one seems to want him to solve it. And, oh yeah, in this universe asking questions is socially unacceptable, and detectives are utter pariahs. Did I mention that guns literally play disturbing music when you draw them? Gun, With Occasional Music was nominated for a Nebula Award in 1994.

— from  Leave Your Heart in San Francisco with 10 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Stories! by Leah Schnelbach on Tor.com.
Check out the other 9 on their website!

You always get asked, “When did you know you wanted to be a writer?” And, of course, there’s no answer, or a thousand answers that are all equally valid. But I usually say, “In high school, when I read Zelazny’s Lord of Light.”
— Stephen Brust, witing on tor.com “Five Roger Zelazny Books that Changed My Life by Being Awesome”

Before we start this year’s  series of talks proper, we thought it would be good to have a session for newcomers.

Come along and

• Meet other Crit Massers
• Get tips on how to give talks to Critical Mass;
• Discover how to read and contribute to the website; and
• Suggest what you’d like us to feature this year.

So for February 1st, we invite you to think about what you’ve read/seen/heard in 2016 and tell us

(a) what’s new and exciting

— why is it interesting?

— is there anything like it in the field of sf/fantasy?

(b) what old stuff you’re discovered in the last year;

(c) what you’ve enjoyed over the new year break.

As usual, a 7pm start at kappys, 22 Compton St in the City on Wednesday, Feb 1st

Bring your mobile device to look at the website!

You’re cordially invited to join us in celebrating thirty years of this discussion group which meets once a  month to critically discuss SF & Fantasy.
Traditionally, our last meeting of the year is an outing for food & drink.

This Wednesday, December 7th, we’re meeting at a cafe/bar called East of Norman, which is on Sturt Street, just east of Norman Street, adjacent to the Ergo Apartments.
Turn up at 6pm, and feel free to bring a friend to help celebrate!

https://www.facebook.com/events/211529335965878/

alchemy was once a cutting-edge science, one that well-respected men like Isaac Newton and Giordano Bruno thought would heal society’s political and religious rifts. Crowley’s new edition of the alchemical Wedding attempts to resituate it in these terms. Published during the year of the book’s 400th anniversary, with Gorey-like illustrations by Theo Fadel, The Chemical Wedding is living and breathing yet again, reopening a bizarre and understudied chapter in European history.
— Emily Nordling,  The Alchemy of SciFi: John Crowley’s New Telling of The Chemical Wedding book review at Tor.com

I know it was announced months ago at the Nebula Awards ceremony, but I just wanted to point out the well deserved win by George Miller and his team.

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road, Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

Other nominees:
Ex Machina, Written by Alex Garland
Inside Out, Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original Story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
Jessica Jones: AKA Smile, Teleplay by Scott Reynolds & Melissa Rosenberg; Story by Jamie King & Scott Reynolds
The Martian, Screenplay by Drew Goddard
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Written by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt

Details of the nominees and winners of the Nebulas at SFWA

Feet of Clay is the new production by the Unseen Theatre Company, another australian premiere of a Terry Pratchett Discworld story.

Runs at the Bakehouse, Wed to Sat at 7:30 until Nov 5th

Unlike the previous production, Wee Free Men, this is a more compact story, a who done it with murders and villainous plots— or more precisely, a how done it, as the head of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Commander Sam Vimes (played by Mike Shaw), tries to figure out the connection between a puzzling series of murders and the attempted poisoning of the Patrician, ruler of the city. The familiar shape of the murder mystery setting makes for an exciting tale, even if you’re unfamiliar with the exotic setting in Discworld.

Along the way, we encounter the Dragon King of Arms in the heraldry shop (a nice performance as a haughty vampire by Belinda Spangenberg), with a suitable groan worth of puns in the coats of arms presented for our delight.

We also encounter a lost Golem, the Watch’s new dwarf Alchemist (someone’s got to do all the CSI forensic stuff, right?) — Cheery Littlebottom — played by Alycia Rabig in an awesome beard, with a fondness for sparkly earrings…

It turns out a lot is at stake, as Lord Vetinari (Danny Sag) is being slowly — but surely — poisoned, despite the best efforts of Vimes & the City Watch to protect him. If only they could figure out how the poison is being introduced…

Meanwhile, various guilds are plotting to reintroduce the monarchy to introduce stability in succession upon the patrician’s death.

Kahlia Tutty reprises her role as Angua, and Hugh O’Connor turns in a nice performance as Captain Carrot, to round out the capable City Watch team.

The set makes good use of the stage, with an elevated office for the Patrician (naturally) on one side, and a City Watch desk on the other side of the stage. Twin doors centre stage represent a couple of shop locations, and there’s room front stage for street scenes.

It’s a fun evening, running around 2 hours, including an intermission. 

Worth a look!

Our last discussion for the year (December is usually an expedition to a restaurant for food)! As usual, 7pm at kappys, 22Compton Street.

The Who

No-one has offered a topic, so I’m going to suggest members visit the ABC and have a look at the first two episodes of the new Dr Who spinoff, Class.
Episode 1: For Tonight We Might Die:
http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/class/ZW0907A001S00

Episode 2: The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo :
http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/class/ZW0907A002S00

Coal Hill School has become Coal Hill Academy, and we follow the misadventures of some students and their teacher (appropriately named, as she is rude and spikey), Miss Quill.

The What

As we have noted elsewhere, attendance at Critical Mass has been down this year (though the author sessions provoked some interest). We basically want to find out what we can do to attract more people: do we need to change the venue? time? format? content?; and what can we do to attract more people?

Feel free to answer the quiz we have sent out, or post a comment to this post.