Sarah Endacott on the phenomenon at Nova Mob meeting 3 August 2022
Face to face at Kensington Town Hall on 6 July, or join by Zoom, invitations below
“I’m looking at all the movies, the TV series and briefly mention the animated series. The themes I will be exploring are: war, violence, evolution, science vs military, human intelligence, race, slaves/workers.”
Sarah Endacott on the phenomenon Meet the speaker face to face at the Kensington Town Hall (Melbourne)
You are invited to a Nova Mob gathering at: Wednesday 3 August 8.00pm – 9.30 pm Melbourne first floor Conference Room Kensington Town Hall 30 – 34 Bellair St Kensington Melbourne VIC 3031
Simultaneously with a Zoom meeting. COVID-19 protocols apply. Please don’t attend if you feel unwell, nor if you are not fully vaccinated.
Beata Sznajder is going to talk about John M Ford’s World Fantasy Award novel, The Dragon Waiting. Roman will discuss Ford’s novel (published post-humously), Aspects, published earlier this year.
The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2021 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2022 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for November 3-6, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, in Louisiana.
The Life Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, will go to Samuel R. Delany and Terri Windling.
The World Fantasy Awards finalists for Novel/Novella
Which means Nova Mob member Lucy Sussex is in a Locus-Award-winning non-fiction publication
Congratulations all!
In April 2022 Iain McIntyre spoke to the Mob about his and Andrew Nette’s (eds) newly-published book Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985.(He also memorably described his growing up as a fan in Perth, W.A.)
In June 2022 the Locus Awards were announced, and as pithily reported in Ansible:
Locus Awards SF NOVEL: A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. FANTASY NOVEL: Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. HORROR NOVEL: My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. YA NOVEL: Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders. FIRST NOVEL: A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark. NOVELLA: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells. NOVELETTE: ‘That Story Isn’t the Story’ by John Wiswell (Uncanny 11/21) SHORT: ‘Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather’ by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3/21) ANTHOLOGY: We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 ed. C.L. Clark & Charles Payseur. COLLECTION: Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders. MAGAZINE: Tor.com. PUBLISHER: Tor. EDITOR: Ellen Datlow. ARTIST: Charles Vess. NONFICTION: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985 ed. Andrew Nette & Iain McIntyre. ART BOOK: The Art of Neil Gaiman& Charles Vess‘ Stardust by Charles Vess. SPECIAL: Codex Writers’ Group.
The Pop Culture Explosion Bundle – curated by Nick Mamatas is currently available from storybundle.
The bundle includes the Locus Award winner and Hugo Award nominee Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985, the seminal examination of British punk One-Chord Wonders, Michael Moorcock’s provocative essay collection London Peculiar, and much more. Many of these titles are available as ebooks for the first time, and exclusively for this bundle!
Note that the two predecessors to Dangerous Vision and New Worlds,Sticking it to the Man and GirlGangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats are part of the bundle.
The ebook bundle available until July 28th from Storybundle
You can read more about them here, and make sure to click on each cover for a synopsis, reviews and preview of each book!
“She Who Became the Sun is a 2021 fantasy novel by Shelley Parker-Chan. Parker-Chan’s debut novel, the novels tells a re-imagining of the rise to power of the Hongwu Emperor in the 14th century. “
“The book is a finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction and the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel.”
“Zhu Chongba, the son of a family in an impoverished village, is foretold in a prophecy to achieve greatness. However, after a bandit attack leaves the village devastated and most of the family dead, he dies of heartbreak. His sister then assumes his identity to go study at a Buddhist monastery, and begins plotting her own survival and her own path to greatness.
“ The novel has been noted to touch on themes of gender, sexuality, and diasporic identity. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Parker-Chan described the novel as “a queer reimagining of the rise to power of the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. It’s also a fun story about gender,” adding that mainstream white Australian culture had “a particular type of Australian masculinity that is held as the ideal. This excludes every other kind of masculinity, especially queer masculinity and Asian masculinity.”
Our guest speaker in June is Nina D Campbell, who has just published her crime novel, Daughters of Eve. Nina studied theatre and literature at university before stumbling into the world of work in the midst of the recession that we had to have. She cobbled together a respectable career as a professional writer, working across the community and public sectors, before a midlife health challenge changed her priorities. Nina now writes fiction full-time, with a focus on stories about strong women.
When a high-profile murder lands literally at her feet, Detective Emilia Hart sees a chance to expand her caseload beyond the endless succession of domestic violence she is forced to investigate. But this is no simple investigation. Another body, turns up, then another. Then more – a lot more. All men, all shot with a similar MO. It’s not until a manifesto taking credit for the crimes is published by a group calling themselves Daughters of Eve that Hart confirms a link between the victims.
Topic: Critical Mass Time: Jun 22, 2022 6:30pm Adelaide / 7pm Melbourne
Doors open at Kappys in Compton St at 6:15, meeting starts at 6:30 Adelaide time.
The Locus Awards run on Zoom over four days, the first three of which have book readings from 8.30 to 11.30am Adelaide time*; the fourth day runs from 2:30am Sunday to the actual ceremony at 7:30am. There’s a $15 membership for those who can’t afford the $45 full price. The reduced membership doesn’t include the t-shirt and programme, but does include access to all online events and a subscription to the digital magazine for 6 months. More details: https://locusmag.com/2022-locus-awards-weekend/ List of finalists: https://locusmag.com/2022/05/2022-locus-awards-top-ten-finalists/
Some reviews of the books in the bundle: The Dragon Business by Kevin J. Anderson
“Love this story. Bulldozed through it the first time so taking it slowly second time around to appreciate it more.”– Persis Gretna
Mythology 101 by Jody Lynn Nye
“A great sense of humor.”– Piers Anthony
Mis Spelled by TH Leatherman
“This was an extremely enjoyable book. The hero and the supporting cast were all likable, and I especially appreciated that the hero was able to succeed without violence most of the time. The humor and the world-building were both first rate, and the story ended in a satisfying manner while still leaving room for a sequel.”– Amazon Review
Kradak the Champion by Shawn Inmon
“Well, here I go again down one of Shawn Inmon’s rabbit holes. No one digs them better. Steve, Rista, and Grint are something else. This quest is just the right mix of adventure, drama, darkness, and humor.”– Michelle Gwynn, author
The Thing from HR by Roy M. Griffis
“I laughed far too much as this crossover of office politics and eldritch horrors.”– Reader review
The Night Sheriff by Phil Foglio
“The Night Sheriff is Phil’s first solo-authored prose work, and he brings every bit of genius to it that he normally devotes to the comic-book and graphic novel medium. Know that with The Night Sheriff you’re in for an adventure at the hands of a master storyteller.”– Marion G Harmon, Bestselling author of the Wear The Cape Series
Fools’ Day by Patrick Thomas
“Slick… Entertaining.”– Paul Di Filippo, Asimov’s
His Angelic Keeper by Melinda Kucsera
“…it didn’t take long for things to get interesting and exciting. This book leaves you with wanting to read more. I love these books, they have the fantasy, action, adventure and world building that I enjoy, but they also are “nice” in a way where they are[n’t] as dark or steamy as some books are. I do recommend these, they are a nice change.”– Roberta, Amazon
Magic and Misrule by KM Merritt
“The setting was just immersive enough to complement the fun and brisk plot such that I happily started and finished this story in one sitting! I genuinely laughed out loud multiple times. Lastly, I can’t stress enough how skillfully the author represented some very underrepresented people/characters while completely succeeding in making that representation a nonissue to the plot. I can’t wait to read the next installment of this saga!”– Goodreads Review
Og-Grim-Dog by Jamie Edmundson
“a marathon of craziness that will tickle your sense of humor. Loved all the gritty characters and enjoyed the fast-paced action plot.”– Reader review
Hatched – Dragon Farmer Book One by Caren Hahn
•”The writing is eloquent. The story feels new and different from others I’ve read. Dragon farmers! Genius!”– Reader review
The Simple Delivery by Andrew Claydon
The story has wit and style, is full of great characters, heroes and villians, conspiracies and alliances and a great ending. Loved it and look forward to more of these.– Amazon Review
Quest by A.J. Ponder
“The writing is magnificent. This book is made for reading aloud, it fair rollicks along, a huge vocabulary with marvellous character drawings, funny dialogue and conversations. The best parts though, to encourage fully engaged adult interaction with child, are the footnotes the author has made which are really for adult eyes only. Funny, wicked and sometimes a bit naughty. There is no happy living after in this story either! No handsome prince, no evil witch. So the traditional fairy tale is turned on its head, and I hope to see more of Syvalla’s adventures, because she is well set up to take on more baddies.”– Felicity Murray, The Read
This month, we’ve got a special screening of Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece, Metropolis.
This is the newly restored edition, including the 25 minutes of “new” footage found in 2008 at the Buenos Ares’ Museo del Cine. If you haven’t seen this version, you’re in for a treat. The film runs for just under 150 mins, so this will be a longer than usual Crit Mass meeting. Feel free to bring a friend!
If you want to join us via zoom, it’ll have to be for the post-film discussion at 8:30 Adelaide time. (We don’t have the rights to zoom the film, alas.) We are starting half an hour early this month, at 6pm Adelaide time.
Critical Mass at Kappys, 5:45 for a 6:00pm start on Wednesday, May 25th.
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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