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.
On the restless night of June 3, 1989, a young engineer visiting Beijing for a trade conference had a nightmare. He dreamt of a battalion of children fighting in a whiteout blizzard under the penetrating light of a supernova—that is, the sun was about to go out. The next morning, tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square to clear the thousands of protesters who had occupied it for months demanding more openness and democracy in China. The nightmare in the dreams of June 3rd and the nightmare in the reality of June 4th inspired Liu Cixin to write his first novel, The Supernova Era, though it would not be published for more than 10 years. Liu Cixin is easily the most prominent science fiction author in China today, and his Three Body Problem trilogy made waves when its first volume won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015. But his writing career, and by association the flourishing of Chinese science fiction in the wake of Three Body’s success, began with a dream.
The 200 Sci-Fi Worlds Bundle – Curated by J. Scott Coatsworth:
We’ve included fifteen sci-fi anthologies and collections showcasing 139 authors and more than 200 individual stories, but it’s available for a limited time only! This StoryBundle features a wide variety of themes – fighting climate change, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, future crime, hopepunk, sci-fi zombies, space marines, exosapiens, LGBTQ+ heroes, and so much more. With 139 authors, chances are that you’ll find some new writers to love.
You can read more about them at Storybundle, and make sure to click on each cover for a synopsis, reviews and preview of each book! Offer available until 26th May.
Lucy Sussex will discuss Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as part of the Matter of Britain. It’s a combined face to face and Zoom meeting, with the speakers both speaking from the round table at the Kensington Town Hall.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Nova Mob meeting 4 May 2022
Terry Frost on The Green Knight (2021 film)
Lucy Sussex on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Arthurian legend)
Combined Zoom and face-to-face meeting.
Lucy and Terry will be speaking on location from the Kensington Town Hall.
Terry Frost won the 2021 William Atheling, Jr. Award for Criticism or Review, for his reviews in Terry Talks Movies. His YouTube channel of film reviews has more than 1.2 million hits and has a patreon option. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG3hwNZQ6FyrJVyE50fUqRQ
Lucy Sussex is an Honorary Fellow at Federation and La Trobe Universities and has taught at Clarion West, been shortlisted (as editor) for the World Fantasy Award, is currently on the Hugo ballot within the context of McIntyre & Nette’s Dangerous Visions… and has won various sf awards including the Ian Gunn Memorial Award for services to sf fandom.
Lucy and Terry are Nova Mob members.
Thanks to Lucy for organising this topic and speakers.
Lucy Sussex on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Arthurian legend)
Combined Zoom and face-to-face meeting.
Lucy and Terry will be speaking on location from the Kensington Town Hall.
Terry Frost won the 2021 William Atheling, Jr. Award for Criticism or Review, for his reviews in Terry Talks Movies. His YouTube channel of film reviews has more than 1.2 million hits and has a patreon option. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG3hwNZQ6FyrJVyE50fUqRQ
Lucy Sussex is an Honorary Fellow at Federation and La Trobe Universities and has taught at Clarion West, been shortlisted (as editor) for the World Fantasy Award, is currently on the Hugo ballot within the context of McIntyre & Nette’s Dangerous Visions… , and has won various sf awards including the Ian Gunn Memorial Award for services to sf fandom.
Lucy and Terry are Nova Mob members.
Thanks to Lucy for organising this topic and speakers.
It’s worth watching the movie before the Mob meeting.
“As of November 2021, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 89% based on 278 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site’s critics’ consensus reads, “The Green Knight honors and deconstructs its source material in equal measure, producing an absorbing adventure that casts a fantastical spell.”[35] As of November 2021, on Metacritic, it had a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”. [From wikipedia]
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of folk motifs: the beheading game, and the exchange of winnings. Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, each of which ends in a rhyming bob and wheel;[1] it draws on Welsh, Irish, and English stories, as well as the French chivalric tradition. It is an important example of a chivalric romance, which typically involves a hero who goes on a quest which tests his prowess. It remains popular in modern English renderings from J. R. R. Tolkien, Simon Armitage, and others, as well as through film and stage adaptations.
“The story describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur‘s Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious “Green Knight” who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him, at which the Green Knight stands, picks up his head, and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle at which he is a guest. The poem survives in one manuscript, Cotton Nero A.x., which also includes three religious narrative poems: Pearl, Cleanness, and Patience. All are thought to have been written by the same author, dubbed the “Pearl Poet” or “Gawain Poet,” since all four are written in a NorthWest Midlands dialect of Middle English.[2][3][From Wikipedia]
Those seeking to read this poem in the original Middle English (North West Midlands dialect) are asked to click here.
In Person: Kensington Town Hall
You are invited to a Nova Mob gathering at: Wednesday 4 May 8.00pm – 9.30 pm or so, 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, or if you are not fully vaccinated.
By Zoom – as transmitted from the Kensington Town Hall
The Day the Earth Caught Fire– This cerebral mix of conspiracy a-go-go and sci-fi (from 1961) was written and directed by Val Guest. Simultaneous nuclear testing by the U.S. and Soviets triggers an alarmingly rapid shift in the Earth’s climate. As London’s weather turns more tropical by the hour, a Daily Express reporter (Peter Stenning) begins to suspect that the British government is not being 100% forthcoming on the possible fate of the world. Along the way, Stenning has some steamy scenes with his love interest (sexy Janet Munro). The film is more noteworthy for its smart, snappy patter than its run-of-the-mill special effects, but delivers a compelling narrative. Co-starring veteran scene-stealer Leo McKern.
Since publishing her debut novel Ammonite in 1993, Nicola Griffith has won the Otherwise Award (formally the James Tiptree, Jr Award), the World Fantasy Award, the Nebula Award, the Washington State Book Award, and no less than six Lambda Literary Awards, as well as being shortlisted for the BSFA Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Locus Award. The Bending The Landscape anthologies she edited with Stephen Pagel were landmark works of LGBTQ+ speculative fiction. Griffith’s work spans genres, from near-future speculative fiction to historical fiction and fantasy, from noir-esque detective fiction to space opera. She’s even written the award-winning nonfiction memoir And Now We Are Going to Have a Party: Liner Notes to a Writer’s Early Life (2017).
Griffith’s refusal to stay still is part of what makes her such a compelling writer, yet it can make it difficult to know which one of her books is the best place for a new reader to start.
If you’re interested in space opera, read Ammonite
“And these places you go, the people you find, do you come to care for them? Or do you only study them, like strange shells you might find on the beach?”
Griffith’s debut novel immediately established her as an important new voice in genre fiction, and it’s easy to see why. Ammonite is a key work of feminist SF, the missing link between Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and Kameron Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion. The novel is an epic adventure set on an alien planet, with enough cool worldbuilding and biological speculation to appeal to any space opera fan. Ammonite tells the story of Marghe, a xenobiologist and linguist sent to study the planet of Jeep by the Company.
Jonathon Thornton, where to begin reading the work of Nicola Griffith, tor.com
Note: her new novella, Spear, has just been published, and is available as an audio book read by Nicola herself.
Chicon’s Hugo shortlist announced for Best Related Work. Congratulations Lucy! Congratulations Iain and Andrew!
On Wednesday 6 April Iain McIntyre spoke to the Nova Mob in a blend of COVID-imposed isolation prepared talk and live-action Zoom Q & A about Dangerous Visions and New Worlds – Radical Science Fiction 1950 – 1985 edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre.
On Friday 8 April opened an email from Mob member and former WorldCon Chair & Co-chair Perry Middlemiss:
“Congrats Lucy, and well done Murray for getting the timing of Wednesday’s Nova Mob meeting exactly right.”
Chicon have announced the Hugo shortlists and Dangerous Visions and New Worlds – Radical Science Fiction 1950 – 1985 is on the ballot for Best Related Work! Iain said:
“thanks for the call. We were told a few weeks back but sworn to secrecy so I couldn’t mention anything the other night. It is very exciting.”
We can’t really claim credit for the timing because various circumstances did prevent Iain speaking at the Mob sooner. What wonderful recognition for the book, its editors, and its contributors, including Mob member Lucy Sussex! Here’s hoping it wins its category – the scholarship is certainly worthy of a Hugo.
As agreed last time, we would look at the recent winners of Best Short Story for the Hugo, Nebula, Ditmar and BSFA Awards for 2021. (Since the BSFA won’t be declared before easter, we’re looking at the 2020 recipient).
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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