Best-selling author Max Barry is our guest on in July 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.
This meeting will be zoom only
Max Barry and The 22 Murders of Madison May
Please share this invitation with like-minded friends and fans
You are invited to the July Critical Mass zoom meeting at 6:30pm July 19th (Adelaide)
By Zoom : Critical Mass Time: Jul 19, 2023 6:30 Adelaide, 7:00pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney Every month on the Third Wed
As several Critical Mass attendees will be interstate or overseas, this meeting will be Zoom only. Questions or comments typed into the Zoom chat will be discussed as the opportunity permits, and you’ll have the chance to discuss other matters after the main presentation.
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
The 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award winners were announced at ReConnect, a 2023 natcon in New Zealand on Sunday June 4th. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents.
“The machines we have now, they’re not conscious,” [Ted Chiang] says. “When one person teaches another person, that is an interaction between consciousnesses.” Meanwhile, AI models are trained by toggling so-called “weights” or the strength of connections between different variables in the model, in order to get a desired output. “It would be a real mistake to think that when you’re teaching a child, all you are doing is adjusting the weights in a network.”
Chiang’s main objection, a writerly one, is with the words we choose to describe all this. Anthropomorphic language such as “learn”, “understand”, “know” and personal pronouns such as “I” that AI engineers and journalists project on to chatbots such as ChatGPT create an illusion. This hasty shorthand pushes all of us, he says — even those intimately familiar with how these systems work — towards seeing sparks of sentience in AI tools, where there are none.
from a piece in File 770 quoting an interview in the Financial Times
Story has a beginning, middle and an end, with a resolution/catharsis
Suspension of disbelief: Story/world/characters must be believable and internally consistent
We care about the characters… either because they are likeable or a (macabre) curiosity as to who will survive
The world is viewed through the actions of the protagonist rather than (heavy) exposition
Do you think these elements guarantee a good SF/fantasy story? What would you add to this list? Are there SF/fantasy books you would recommend even though they don’t seem contain these elements?
Share your experiences with books that you don’t think pulled it off even though they seemed to have followed a good formula. Does a good story in fact need to follow any “formula”?
Have the requirements changed from the early days (say, 30s or 70s) SF/Fantasy?
This meeting will be zoom only
Zoom details:
Critical Mass Time: Jun 21, 2023 6:30pm Adelaide, 7:00pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
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.
Zoom Details:
Time: Wednesday May 17, 2023 — 6:30 Adelaide, 7:00 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
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.
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.
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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