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.)
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.)
11.14.08
December meeting
Our next meeting will be on December 9, second Tuesday of the month as usual. Place: The Sleepless Goat (downtown, on Princess). Time: 7pm.
This time we will talk about Charles de Lint. Read anything you like by him, find out what you want about him, and come talk about his writing.
The discussion about Iain M Banks this Tuesday was interesting. Of course, it’s always more fun with more people!
10.19.08
World Fantasy Awards
At our last meeting (report coming…) I said that there are no big awards coming up soon that I know of. Wrong! Of course I should be aware of The World Fantasy Awards (click the link to see the list of nominees). Not as well known as the Hugo, but for some of us maybe more interesting. And the World Fantasy Convention this year is in Canada, in Calgary to be precise, and really soon: Oct 30-Nov 2. Watch out for the World Fantasy Award result. Reading for a future meeting?
09.23.08
British Fantasy Awards
At Locus Online, I see that a list of winners and finalists of the British Fantasy Awards is available. Perhaps of interest.
Don’t forget that our next regular meeting will take place on the second Tuesday of October (that is Oct 14) at The Sleepless Goat! Time: 7 pm. This will be a general book recommendation meeting.
07.08.08
Meeting tonight!
This is a very late reminder, so if you didn’t know before you will miss this meeting. This time, as I have written here before, we will bring our examples of catastrophies and apocalypse in speculative fiction (or whatever you prefer to call it).
One book that might be of interest in connection to this topic is the anthology Wastelands, with 22 stories of the apocalypse. One of them is When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (the link will bring you to the full text of the story) by Cory Doctorow, which is one of the stories I’m bringing with me to discuss tonight!
05.21.08
Link party!
Well, a little one anyway.
The winners of the Canadian Prix Aurora Awards have been announced. Robert Sawyer has the whole list.
The Toronto Star had an article about steampunk style last Friday. If you’re interested, also take a look at the excellent article Steam Dream.
One of the most talked about new books at the moment is Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. You can actually download the book from the website (yes, it’s made available by the author) if you are the kind of person who might read books on the computer screen. Also check out all the news and how-tos relating to the book.
About our group: the meeting was attended by only one person, so it was not really a meeting. Following our regular schedule, the next meeting will be on June 11, and I guess the topic from this month will be taken up at that meeting: catastrophies and the end of the world as it appears in fantastic literature. Bring a story or some examples that you find interesting. If you are not one of the regular members, make sure to get in touch with us before to make sure that you find us!
05.06.08
Free fiction online
There is a wealth of free fantasy and science fiction stories to be found online, if you know where to look. Infinity Plus has an archive of stories and novel abstracts which is kept online although the site is no longer being updated.
Futurismic posts a list every Friday with links to new online fiction. It was also from Futurismic I learned that Cory Doctorow’s new YA novel Little Brother is made available for download by the author.
If you have any favourite sources of old or new fiction online, why not share them with us in the comments!
