07.07.09
Meeting July 16
We are still trying out Thursdays as the meeting day, but we stay with the week of the second Tuesday of the month. Confusing? Anyway, this month the meeting will be on Thursday 16. Time and place as usual: 7pm at The Sleepless Goat.
The topic this time is the Earthsea books by Ursula K LeGuin. Specifically, we will focus on comparing the early (original trilogy) with the late, to see how the author changed her style and her ideas about this world in the time between writing them. We decided to talk mainly about the first book (The Wizard of Earthsea, 1968) and the fourth (Tehanu, 1990), so those two are the reading assignment.
Hope to see you then!
06.04.09
Summer reading for the FFF
The reading assignment for June is “Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear. It’s a novelette (a longer kind of short story), and it can be found online here. Also look at the comments collected here, which might be a starting point for the discussion (mild spoiler warning, perhaps read the story first).
The June meeting will be held on Thursday June 11, 7pm, at The Sleepless Goat.
For July, we will read the first and the fourth of the Earthsea books by Ursula K Le Guin: A Wizard of Earthsea and Tehanu, to compare them. There is almost thirty years between the publication dates of these, and we will discuss what made Le Guin want to go back and reimagine this world, and also how her style and voice have changed over the years. If you are really serious, you can read the rest of the series as well!
For August, we decided to read The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman’s latest young adult title and also nominated for the Hugo Award. This book we will contrast with Un Lun Dun, a YA title by China Mieville. Two British fantasy authors: similarities, differences, influences.
05.07.09
Meeting May 12
The next meeting will be on May 12. Come and make plans for how the Fearless Fantasy Fans can take over the world! We will also decide on time and place for a picnic or dinner together. And possibly chat about things we have read and liked lately.
Time: 7 PM. Place: The Sleepless Goat, downtown on Princess.
03.17.09
April meeting
The next Fearless Fantasy meeting will take place on April 14, 7 PM at The Sleepless Goat. This time we have planned to discuss the Nebula Awards nominations. Note that if you follow that link you will find more links: some of the stories are available online. Anyone can find time to read at least one short story, or to find out a little about the nominated authors, so that we have something to discuss.
We also have some loose plans for a second meeting in April, perhaps a movie night or something fun to do together.
And before April even starts, a possibility for the interested is to go to the Ad Astra science fiction convention in Toronto.
02.27.09
The Nebula Awards, and more about Andre Norton
The nominations for the Nebula Awards are out! If things go the usual way, we will soon see lists of links to all the short works online. Why not discuss the nominated works for our April meeting? Update: SF Signal has links to those of the nominated works that are available online.
These awards are presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America. SFWA also has created the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Andre Norton is our topic for the March meeting (see previous post).
Here is the official Andre Norton web site, with, among other things, a guide to the Witchworld books — useful for those like me who find it difficult to understand how the books are related to eachother. (This is one of the examples of how Fantastic Fiction is not so reliable when it comes to older works.)
02.24.09
March meeting
The next meeting is on March 10, 7pm at The Sleepless Goat.
The theme for this meeting will be Andre Norton. Read something by her, or something about her, and come talk about her writing: good, bad, interesting, influential?
If you have been to at least one of our meetings you know that the group got a donation of books and videos to take care of and give good homes. There is still some left. Write to fearlessfantasy [at] gmail.com if you want to know more.
02.07.09
The meeting on February 11 changed location *updated*
Due to some odd miscommunications at the library, no rooms are actually available at the advertised date for our information and discussion night about Neil Gaiman and the Worldcon. We are working on finding a new location, most likely at Queen’s. I will post the new loction here as soon as I know what we have, and the library publicity people will help us get the information out.
The new location is at the Grad Club, located on the corner of Barrie and Union (see map). Time: still 7pm.
If you are interested, there was an article about Neil Gaiman and Coraline in Toronto Star last Friday after his visit to attend the premiere of the movie. (Via Neil Gaiman’s Journal.)
01.30.09
Neil Gaiman, the Worldcon, and everything
As you might know, we are arranging a meeting at the library on February 11, open for everyone, where we will talk about Neil Gaiman and about the World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal this summer. It will be more of meeting and discussion than lecture, but we will bring tons of information and stuff. More information here. (If you have seen the notice in the Queen’s Gazette calendar I will have to point out that this will be a discussion about Neil Gaiman, not with him. To actually meet him you will have to try for example the Worldcon.)
Neil Gaiman recently was awarded the Newbery medal, a prestigious award in children’s literature, for his The Graveyard Book. If you are interested to know more, go here for streaming radio and an excerpt of the book.
Hope to see you on February 11, especially if you are new to FFF or to fandom!
01.27.09
The Hugo Awards at Anticipation
As you might know, the Hugo Awards are the great awards of fandom to the best works in science fiction (in the widest sense, of course fantasy is included) in several categories. You can read all about the rules other things on The Hugo Awards website. If you are planning on going to the World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal this August (this year the convention is called Anticipation, in case you are confused), you can vote. Actually, you can still nominate if you get your membership this week.
It’s always easier to vote than to nominate, at least in my opinion. To nominate I would like to have a better overview of what has been coming out in the field, and when it comes to for example short fiction there is so much coming out that I have no idea where to start.
People have asked me about how to get the membership. If you click on the link “register online” you will be asked for credit card information over PayPal. This works fine even if you don’t have a PayPal account. In case you don’t have a credit card, or don’t want to use it, there is also the option to print the registration form and send it to the committee with a cheque. They also take money orders. There is always a way!
Anyway, for the information meeting at the library on February 11 I will bring membership forms and all sorts of information. (And if you have seen the little notice in the calendar of the Queen’s Gazette I need to tell you that there will be no discussion with Neil Gaiman, only about his writing and related things.)
Until then, if you like, you can check how many of the Hugo winners for best novel you have read. How many of the authors have you read? How many of the winning books? Here is the complete list (I hope it’s correct). There are of course also the awards for best novella, novelette and short story, and dramatic presentation, and related books, and editor, and fan writer, and fanzine, and so on… we’ll take them another time!
- 1946: The Mule by Isaac Asimov
- 1951: Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
- 1953: The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
- 1955: They’d Rather Be Right, Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
- 1956: Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
- 1959: A Case of Conscience by James Blish
- 1960: Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
- 1961: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
- 1962: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
- 1963: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
- 1964: Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
- 1965: The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
- 1966: … And Call Me Conrad by Roger Zelazny [tie]
Dune by Frank Herbert[tie] - 1967: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
- 1968: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
- 1969: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
- 1970: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- 1971: Ringworld by Larry Niven
- 1972: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer
- 1973: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
- 1974: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- 1975: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
- 1976: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
- 1977: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
- 1978: Gateway by Frederik Pohl
- 1979: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
- 1980: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
- 1981: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
- 1982: Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh
- 1983: Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov
- 1984: Startide Rising by David Brin
- 1985: Neuromancer by William Gibson
- 1986: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- 1987: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
- 1988: The Uplift War by David Brin
- 1989: Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh
- 1990: Hyperion by Dan Simmons
- 1991: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 1992: Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 1993: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (tie)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (tie) - 1994: Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
- 1995: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 1996: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
- 1997: Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
- 1998: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
- 1999: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
- 2000: A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
- 2001: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
- 2002: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- 2003: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
- 2004: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 2005: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- 2006: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
- 2007: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
- 2008: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
01.13.09
Neil Gaiman and the Worldcon
Neil Gaiman is an interesting author, and we thought it would be fun to have a Neil Gaiman theme meeting now that he is coming to the Worldcon in Montreal and everything. What we will do is an open information and discussion night at the library. Here is the official invitation text:
This summer, Montreal will be hosting the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention (also known as Worldcon), the most important annual meeting on the science fiction and fantasy calendar. The prestigious annual Hugo Awards will be handed out at the convention.
Neil Gaiman, one of the masters of contemporary fantasy and the author of the ground breaking graphic novel Sandman, is a Guest of Honour this year. His writing has won him numerous awards and a new movie
based on his novella Coraline is scheduled to be released on February 6th.Want to learn more about Neil Gaiman and the Worldcon? Then join us for an evening of information and discussion on February 11th at 7pm at the Central Branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library. This event is hosted by Fearless Fantasy Fans and KFPL.
(If you happen to read this on January 13, remember that there is also a meeting tonight, at 7pm at the Sleepless Goat.)
