Nova Mob meeting 4 June 2025 – Dr Andrew Milner on the near-future visions of Kim Stanley Robinson

Critical Mass News

Kim Stanley Robinson and his near-futures

As well as being a renowned author and scientist, Stan Robinson is one of the nicest people in science fiction.

“Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his Mars trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The Atlantic has called Robinson’s work “the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing.” According to an article in The New Yorker, Robinson is “generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers.” [Wikipedia]

💥 💥 💥

Prof Milner!

“Andrew Milner (born 9 September 1950) is Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Monash University. From 2014 until 2019 he was also Honorary Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick. In 2013 he was Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at the Institut für Englische Philologie, Freie Universität Berlin.

“Locating Science Fiction is arguably Milner’s most important, potentially paradigm-shifting, book. Academic literary criticism had tended to locate science fiction primarily in relation to the older genre of utopia; fan criticism primarily in relation to fantasy and science fiction in other media, especially film and television; popular fiction studies primarily in relation to such contemporary genres as the romance novel and the thriller. Milner’s book relocates science fiction in relation not only to these other genres and media, but also to the historical and geographic contexts of its emergence and development. 

“Locating Science Fiction sought to move science fiction theory and criticism away from the prescriptively abstract dialectics of cognition and estrangement associated with Fredric Jameson and Darko Suvin, and towards an empirically grounded understanding of what is actually a messy amalgam of texts, practices and artefacts. Inspired by Williams, Bourdieu and Franco Moretti’s application of world systems theory to literary studies, it drew on the disciplinary competences of comparative literature, cultural studies, critical theory and sociology to produce a powerfully distinctive mode of analysis, engagement and argument. The concluding chapter is preoccupied with environmentalist thematics occasioned by Milner’s growing interest in Green politics.” [Wikipedia]

You are invited to a Nova Mob meeting gathered around a big TV screen at the Kensington Town Hall, for Dr Andrew Milner by Zoom: 

Wednesday 4 June 2025 8.00pm – 9.00 Melbourne (7:30-8:30 Adelaide) (formal close), first floor Creative Hub.
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 4 June 2025

8.00pm – 9.30 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time

7.30pm – 9.00pm Adelaide time

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4177583193?pwd=VjdPL1BhSTBNclN2YnRsejN3Y1hlUT09

Passcode: nova
Meeting ID: 417 758 3193

Critical Mass May 21: Nebula Award Short Story nominees 2024

Snippets, Critical Mass, Critical Mass News

The current nominees for Best Short Story in the Nebula Awards are:

We’d like members of Critical Mass to read a few of the short stories, beginning with


Evan: a Remainder
Evan is suddenly coughing up bones, like, A LOT of bones, but that’s not even in the top ten strangest things that have happened to him since he moved into his new (possibly haunted) duplex . . .

and The V*mpire,

The vampires aren’t even the worst part about being a teenage trans girl on tumblr.

which appeared in Reactor.

You can also read the stories from Lightspeed magazine: Five Views of the Planet Tartarus and
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read .
And Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole is available from Clarkesworld.

A reminder, we meet in person at 6:30pm on Wednesday,May 21st at the Minor Works Building, 22 Stamford Court, Adelaide.
[If you enter from Sturt Street, there’s an open path between 50 and 52 Sturt Street
leading to the community centre]
For those who can’t make it in person, they’re welcome to join us via zoom

Zoom details

6:30pm Adelaide, 7pm Melbourne/Sydney, Noon Helsinki, 10am London, 9pm Wellington

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83196030896?pwd=m2ImO2Z7bGfLtmLvJJHeoci1455Vtr.1

Meeting ID: 831 9603 0896
Passcode: 570773

Murderbot looking good

Critical Mass News, Snippets

The first two episodes have been released in the series, and they bode well for the series.

Hailing from Academy Award nominees Chris and Paul Weitz (About A Boy) and based on Martha Wells’ best-selling book series The Murderbot Diaries, the show follows a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients.

SciFiNow’s Rachael Harper talked with Skarsgård about playing a sardonic robot who can’t help but take a liking to humanity…

Trends in SF

Critical Mass News, Snippets

Hi All,
At the end of last meeting we speculated what themes might be prevalent in this year’s Hugo/Nebula nominees given the political situation.

Our Predictions: (i) Cli-Fi, (ii) rogue AIs, (iii) Aliens as a commentary on current life,
(iv) Fantasy/Escapism, (v) Dystopian politics, (vi) LGBT, (vii) Space Opera

Dystopia and LGBT were very prominent in this year’s Nebula short stories.
I hope everyone also reads the Omelas story!

In contrast the themes for novels were not so different from previous years
(see attached; below).

See you Wednesday (and safe & fun travels)
Andrew

Summary of predicted themes from the 19 novels nominated for 2024-5 Hugo/Nebula awards:

  • 4/19 Escapism: Humor/Comedy/Adventure/Pirates/High Fantasy – others? (19/19 Fantasy)
  • 9/19 LGBT
  • 3/19 Space Opera
  • 1/19 Aliens
  • 1/19 Robots (AI)
  • 0/19 Cli-Fi

Nova Mob May 7th:

Critical Mass, Critical Mass News, NovaMob, Snippets

Murray MacLachlan writes

James Cambias – 7 May – The Miranda Conspiracy – Baen Books

Jim Cambias writes “I’m making my first visit to Australia in April and May, and I’ll be in Melbourne between May 6 and May 9. I’d love to meet some of Australia’s SF fan community. My seventh novel, The Miranda Conspiracy, just came out.”
Jim will be our guest speaker on 7 May!


Baen Books are pure quill SF and it’s a real pleasure to welcome Jim and his wife to Melbourne! They will be joining our pre-Mob pub meetup dining too.
Here’s the Baen page for his new book:
https://www.baen.com/the-miranda-conspiracy.html
Jim’s personal blog is here: https://www.jamescambias.com

“Political intrigue on Uranus’s moon Miranda, intertwined mysteries among the super-rich ruling class, and a lost treasure from deep space add up to trouble for Adya, Daslakh, and Zee. Unravel The Miranda Conspiracy, a new Billion Worlds novel now available from Baen Books!”

Face to face 

You are invited to an in-person Nova Mob meeting at: 
Wednesday May 7th 2025 8.00pm – 9.00 (formal close) Melbourne, first floor Creative Hub.
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.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4177583193?pwd=VjdPL1BhSTBNclN2YnRsejN3Y1hlUT09
Passcode: nova
Meeting ID: 417 758 3193
8pm Melbourne, 7:30pm Adelaide

Please don’t attend if you have symptoms that could be COVID 19 or similar.
Our COVID-safe Plan continues to apply and we remain mask-friendly for those who wear them.
Murray MacLachlan|
Convenor

Boop arrives on Broadway

Critical Mass News

Betty Boop has arrived on Broadway, nearly a century after she first boop-oop-a-dooped her way onto the big screen. “Boop! The Musical,” like the “Barbie” and “Elf” films that preceded it, imagines a transformational encounter between an anthropomorphic character and the real world (well, a fictional world full of people)….

…Jasmine Amy Rogers, the actress starring as Betty Boop on Broadway, described her as “full of joy” and “unapologetically herself.” “She is sexy, but I don’t think it is merely sex that makes her sexy,” she continued. “I would say it’s the way she carries herself, and her confidence and her unabashed self.”…

Betty, created at the height of the Jazz Age, is obviously modeled on flappers, and her relationship to music history has been a subject of debate and litigation.

see the story in the NY Times

Hugo 2025 finalists

Critical Mass News

Best Novel (1,078 ballots cast for 554 nominees)

  • The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape UK)
  • The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader; Sceptre)
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
  • Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US; Tor UK)
  • Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom; Tor UK)
  • Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK)

Best Novella (739 ballots cast for 209 nominees)

  • Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)
  • The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom; Titan UK)
  • The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)
  • The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
  • The Brides of High Hill, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

see https://locusmag.com/2025/04/157974/ for more details

Critical Mass April 16th: Kinds of SF

Critical Mass, Critical Mass News

Andrew and Kate have been looking at past Hugo/Nebula nominees to see if there’s any pattern as to reader preferences in various years.

DATA: Of the books nominated for Hugo/Nebula per year, what fraction had a particular label.

TO CONSIDER: Chicken or egg – more published or more interest 

FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION: How would we label older titles? Is there more diversity now?

Figures Hugo = Red; Nebula = Blue;

  • Points are 5-yearly binned nomination rates (number of books with/out a tag).

Here are three categories

Cyberpunk

  • Bladerunner released 1982 – Egg?
  • Neuromancer published 1984 – Egg?
  • Matrix 1999 – early 2000s – Chicken!

Steampunk

  • Parallels with Romance as Victorian themes often romantic settings?
  • Why the sharp peak in 2008-2013?

Time Travel

  • 1970s spike = 2001 Space Odyssey, Slaughterhouse 5?

Please download the notes from Andrew and consider what themes are missing,
or examples which should be considered.

SFF trends – Questions for discussion 2.rtfDownload

Critical Mass will meet at 6:30pm on Wednesday, April 16th at the Minor Works Building,
22 Stamford Court, Adelaide.
[If you enter from Sturt Street, there’s an open path between 50 and 52 Sturt Street
leading to the community centre]
For those who can’t make it in person, they’re welcome to join us via zoom

Zoom details

https://unisa.zoom.us/j/89022584672?pwd=bzysad1E2jrrJayXadBiRGKPyI6wwm.1
Password: 463437

6:30-8pm Adelaide, 7-8:30pm Melbourne, 10:30-12 noon London