5) THANK YOU

We thank for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming Cathy Palmer-Lister, Keith Braithwaite, and Danny Sichel, all of our contributing participants, as well as everyone who helped to plan and run this meeting. And, of course, we thank all of you who joined us here in person, and on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together (www.MonSFFA.ca).

6) NEXT MONTH’S CLUB MEETING

MonSFFA meets again on Saturday, May 11, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. Join us as we welcome guest speaker Rich Larson, who Gardner Dozois acclaims as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.”

And, check in with us at www.MonSFFA.ca for updates and additional content; the latest issue of our club news bulletin, Impulse, is also available on our site for viewing or download.

7) SIGN-OFF

Have a wonderful rest-of-the-weekend, and we’ll see you at our May 11 meeting!

1) INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s April 13, 2024 meeting! This afternoon’s proceedings are soon to get underway. We are meeting live and in person at our new meeting hall in the Nouvel Hotel, downtown! For those joining us online, today, see the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate on ZOOM.

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up shortly before the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure.

A closing post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today’s presenters/discussion moderators, and to publish the date of our next meeting.

2) MEETING THEME FOR APRIL

Spring is here! The weather is warming, the days are longer, gardens are budding, the birds are returning, the club is meeting downtown again, and we’ve just witnessed a rare total solar eclipse right here in our own backyard! Life is good! We invite members to share their eclipse experience with the group, and to simply enjoy the season!

3) THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

1:00PM—The Eclipse Experience

Club members recount their experiences observing the total solar eclipse of April 8 and share any photos they snapped of the event. Not for some 80 years will another such eclipse take place in the skies over Southern Québec!

1:30PM—The Spark that Lit the Fire

Moderated discussion of our earliest exposure to science fiction and/or fantasy; MonSFFen recall the novel, short story, comic book, movie, or television show that introduced them to the genre, and sparked their life-long interest in SF/F.

2:30PM—William Castle: Hollywood’s Maestro of the Movie-Marketing Gimmick!

A presentation on the career of prolific producer/director/ writer/actor William Castle. Touting such “amazing” cinematic     “technologies” as “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-O,” Castle is remembered for the hyperbolic marketing gimmicks he employed to promote his oeuvre of horror/thriller and sci-fi B-movies, which included House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler (both 1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Strait-Jacket (1964), and Bug (1975).

3:30PM—Break

Raffle, club business, and finalizing of plans for club’s field trip in June.

4:00PM—Sci-Fi Balderdash

Another round of our SF/F version of the popular parlour game, Balderdash. Guess which synopsis of an actual SF/F title is real, while at the same time trying to fool your opponents into choosing as the real synopsis the fake one you just wrote!

4:45PM—Clean-Up/Pack-Up

Out by 5:00PM.

While we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda for one reason or another. Therefore, please also note that all programming is subject to change!

4) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To take part in this afternoon’s meeting online, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts:

This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here:

Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand; you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 839 3957 5954
Passcode: 360767

The sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!

MonSFFA’s Next Meeting is Tomorrow, Saturday, April 13, from 1:00PM-5:00PM!

Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (Conference Floor, South Tower)

…and concurrently on ZOOM!… www.MonSFFA.ca

TOMORROW’S AGENDA INCLUDES:

The Eclipse Experience

Club members recount their experiences observing the total solar eclipse of April 8 and share any photos they snapped of the event. Not for some 80 years will another such eclipse take place in the skies over Southern Québec!

The Spark that Lit the Fire

Moderated discussion of our earliest exposure to science fiction and/or fantasy; MonSFFen recall the novel, short story, comic book, movie, or television show that introduced them to the genre, and sparked their life-long interest in SF/F.

William Castle: Hollywood’s Maestro of the Movie-Marketing Gimmick!

A presentation on the career of prolific producer, director, writer, and actor William Castle. Touting such “amazing” cinematic “technologies” as “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-O,” Castle is remembered for the hyperbolic marketing gimmicks he employed to promote his oeuvre of horror/thriller and sci-fi B-movies, which included House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler (both 1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Strait-Jacket (1964), and Bug (1975).

Sci-Fi Balderdash

Another round of our SF/F version of the popular parlour game, Balderdash. Guess which synopsis of an actual SF/F title is real, while at the same time trying to fool your opponents into choosing as the real synopsis the fake one you just wrote!

and more…

April’s Meeting Theme: Spring is here! The weather is warming, the days are longer, gardens are budding, the birds are returning, the club is meeting downtown again, and we’ve just witnessed a rare total solar eclipse right here in our own backyard! Life is good! We invite members to share their eclipse experience with the group, and to simply enjoy the season!

Please note that MonSFFA has moved to a new meeting hall, back downtown! We are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel on René-Lévesque Ouest (corner St-Mathieu), just one block west of our former, pre-pandemic downtown locale (Hôtel Espresso)! Yes, we’re back in our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks, and we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on April 13th!

We have concluded our brief relationship with the Lachine Legion, with all appropriate thanks to that institution for having hosted us in 2023 and early 2024, and are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel’s “Salle Maisonneuve!” Le Nouvel is located on a major downtown bus line, and is a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Our Following Meeting: Saturday, May 11, with guest speaker Rich Larson (Annex, Ymir, Tomorrow Factory), acclaimed by Gardner Dozois as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.”

MonSFFA’s Next Meeting is this Saturday, April 13, from 1:00PM-5:00PM!

Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (Conference Floor, South Tower)

…and concurrently on ZOOM!… www.MonSFFA.ca

APRIL’S AGENDA INCLUDES:

The Eclipse Experience

Club members recount their experiences observing the total solar eclipse of April 8 and share any photos they snapped of the event. Not for some 80 years will another such eclipse take place in the skies over Southern Québec!

The Spark that Lit the Fire

Moderated discussion of our earliest exposure to science fiction and/or fantasy; MonSFFen recall the novel, short story, comic book, movie, or television show that introduced them to the genre, and sparked their life-long interest in SF/F.

William Castle: Hollywood’s Maestro of the Movie-Marketing Gimmick!

A presentation on the career of prolific producer, director, writer, and actor William Castle. Touting such “amazing” cinematic “technologies” as “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-O,” Castle is remembered for the hyperbolic marketing gimmicks he employed to promote his oeuvre of horror/thriller and sci-fi B-movies, which included House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler (both 1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Strait-Jacket (1964), and Bug (1975).

Sci-Fi Balderdash

Another round of our SF/F version of the popular parlour game, Balderdash. Guess which synopsis of an actual SF/F title is real, while at the same time trying to fool your opponents into choosing as the real synopsis the fake one you just wrote!

and more…

April’s Meeting Theme: Spring is here! The weather is warming, the days are longer, gardens are budding, the birds are returning, the club is meeting downtown again, and we’ve just witnessed a rare total solar eclipse right here in our own backyard! Life is good! We invite members to share their eclipse experience with the group, and to simply enjoy the season!

Please note that MonSFFA has moved to a new meeting hall, back downtown! We are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel on René-Lévesque Ouest (corner St-Mathieu), just one block west of our former, pre-pandemic downtown locale (Hôtel Espresso)! Yes, we’re back in our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks, and we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on April 13th!

We have concluded our brief relationship with the Lachine Legion, with all appropriate thanks to that institution for having hosted us in 2023 and early 2024, and are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel’s “Salle Maisonneuve!” Le Nouvel is located on a major downtown bus line, and is a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Our Following Meeting: Saturday, May 11, with guest speaker Rich Larson (Annex, Ymir, Tomorrow Factory), acclaimed by Gardner Dozois as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.”

ATTENTION ALL MonSFFA MEMBERS and FRIENDS!

Now that the eclipse is over, we take the opportunity to announce that the latest issue of the club’s news bulletin, Impulse, is currently available for viewing or download (as a PDF)!

Go to the “Impulse” page of this Website, or just click here: ImpulseApril2024(OnlineVersion)PDF

As part of the agenda, we’ll all be sharing our eclipse experiences this Saturday, April 13, at our upcoming club meeting (see the Impulse, above)!

So bring in any eclipse photos that you may have snapped, or send them as .jpgs to president@monsffa.ca in advance of the meeting so that we may share them with the group on the big screen!

Enjoy the April 2024 Impulse, and we hope to see you all at the meeting on Saturday!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Appearing in Person at MonSFFA’s Saturday, May 11 Meeting: Rich Larson!

This is an early heads-up to announce that SF writer Rich Larson will attend our May 11 meeting as guest speaker! Rich’s books include Annex, Ymir, and the short story collection Tomorrow Factory. He has been praised by Gardner Dozois as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.” Currently based in Montreal, Rich was born in Galmi, Niger, and has lived in Spain and the Czech Republic. His fiction has been translated into over a dozen languages, among them Polish, French, Romanian and Japanese.

Rich will speak on his personal creative process, the mechanics of writing short fiction, the business of selling same, and the transition to novel writing. A Q&A will follow, and Rich will cover, as well, his experience with the Emmy-winning television adaptation of one of his stories for LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS!

***********************************************************

MonSFFA’s May 2024 Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 11, 1:00PM-5:00PM

at:

Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (Conference Floor, South Tower)

See Rich Larson’s bibliography at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database: isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Rich%20Larson

Read some of Rich Larson’s fiction online at: https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/Rich_Larson.html

NEXT CLUB MEETING: SATURDAY, APRIL 13

1:00PM-5:00PM                                                                               Le Nouvel Hotel

1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu)  “Salle Maisonneuve” (Conference Floor, South Tower)

…and simultaneously on ZOOM!    www.MonSFFA.ca

APRIL’S AGENDA INCLUDES:

The Eclipse Experience – Club members recount their experiences observing the total solar eclipse of April 8 and share any photos they snapped of the event. Not for some 80 years will another such eclipse take place in the skies over Southern Québec!

The Spark That Lit the Fire: What Got You Into SF&F? – Moderated discussion of our earliest exposure to science fiction and/or fantasy; MonSFFen recall the novel, short story, comic book, movie, or television show that introduced them to the genre, and sparked their life-long interest in SF/F.

William Castle: Hollywood’s Maestro of the Movie-Marketing Gimmick! – A presentation on the career of prolific producer/writer/ director/actor William Castle. Touting such “amazing” cinematic “technologies” as “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-O,” Castle is remembered for the hyperbolic marketing gimmicks he employed to promote his oeuvre of horror/thriller and sci-fi B-movies, which included House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler (both 1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Strait-Jacket (1964), and Bug (1975).

and more…

April’s Meeting Theme: Spring is here! The weather is warming, the days are longer, gardens are budding, the birds are returning, the club is meeting downtown again, and we’ve just witnessed a rare total solar eclipse right here in our own backyard! Life is good! We invite members to share their eclipse experience with the group, and to simply enjoy the season!

Please note that MonSFFA has moved to a new meeting hall, back downtown! We are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel on René-Lévesque Ouest (corner St-Mathieu), just one block west of our former, pre-pandemic downtown locale (Hôtel Espresso)! Yes, we’re back in our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks, and we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on April 13th!

We have concluded our brief relationship with the Lachine Legion, with all appropriate thanks to that institution for having hosted us in 2023 and early 2024, and are now meeting in the Nouvel Hotel’s “Salle Maisonneuve!” Le Nouvel is located on a major downtown bus line, and is a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Our Following Meeting: Saturday, May 11, with guest speaker Rich Larson (Annex, Ymir, Tomorrow Factory), acclaimed by Gardner Dozois as “One of the best new writers to enter science fiction in more than a decade.”

THANK YOU

We thank for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming Keith Braithwaite, Joe Aspler, and Cathy Palmer-Lister, as well as all of our contributing participants. And, of course, we thank all of you who joined us on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together.

NEXT MONTH’S CLUB MEETING

MonSFFA meets again on Saturday, April 13, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. Details will be forthcoming; check in with us at www.MonSFFA.ca for updates, the next issue of our club news bulleting, Impulse, and for additional content.

SIGN-OFF

Have a good evening, all, and we’ll see you next time!

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s March 2024 meeting! This afternoon’s proceedings are soon to get underway. We are meeting live and person at our new meeting hall in the Nouvel Hotel, downtown! For those joining us online, today, see the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate. Technical issues may arise; please bear with us as we adjust to a new facility!

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude shortly before 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up about 30 minutes in advance of the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure. A second post at 2:30PM will offer the presentation slides we’ll be showing in the meeting hall during our look at proto-SF, just as a back-up. Our third and concluding post will go up at 4:45PM to officially thank today’s presenters and discussion moderators, and to publish the date of our next meeting.

THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

1:00PM – NOW SHOWING Join us for a fun and challenging game. We’ll show you a movie poster advertising an SF/F motion picture, but with the film’s title, recognizable tag line, and credits masked off or blurred out. Will you be able to provide the title of the film? Beware! It won’t be as easy as this example!

1:30PM – CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FAN KIND! We share our experiences meeting SF/F celebrities! Come prepared with your stories of having met famous SF/F stars—writers, actors, artists, etc.—especially if said encounter was a tad unusual! And, show off any autographs and unique mementos you consequently obtained, or photos of your meeting!

2:30PM – SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

3:30PM – BREAK! Club news, raffle 

4:00PM – Open Discussion/Q&A You may have questions about our new meeting hall, or other club business, or just cool stuff you’d like to tell your fellow club members about; the floor is open!

4:45PM – Wrap-Up and Clean-Up!

Please note that, while we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda. Please also note that all programming is subject to change!

JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers
Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 884 5820 9960
Passcode: 598901

Sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!

THE NEXT MonSFFA MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, FROM 1:00PM-5:00PM! AND WE’RE MOVING BACK DOWNTOWN TO A NEW MEETING HALL!

Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (South Tower)!

…plus, our meeting will also be accessible simultaneously  on ZOOM!

via: www.MonSFFA.ca

ATTENTION EARTHLINGS!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

MonSFFA is moving back downtown to a new meeting hall!

We’ll be meeting in “Salle Maisonneuve” of Le Nouvel Hotel! Le Nouvel is located on a major bus line, and is just a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.

Note that this new locale is only one block west of our pre-pandemic meeting place, the Hôtel Espresso (corner Guy and René-Lévesque)! We’re returning to our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks! And we hope to welcome home both current and dormant club members; see you all on the 9th!

Meeting Theme: Our March 2024 meeting precedes St. Patrick’s Day by about a week. The city’s Irish heritage has long been a part of Montreal’s cultural mosaic. MonSFFen are encouraged to wear something green to the meeting, perhaps a shamrock!

MARCH AGENDA INCLUDES:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FAN KIND!—We share our experiences meeting SF/F celebrities! Come prepared with your stories of having met famous SF/F stars—writers, actors, artists, etc.—especially if said encounter was a tad unusual! And, show off any autographs and unique mementos you consequently obtained, or photos of your meeting!

SCIENCE FICTION BEFORE IT WAS CALLED SCIENCE FICTION—We look at works of proto-SF. Tales of travel to other worlds, of alien beings and robots, and of interplanetary war date back decades and centuries prior to the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, often cited as the first true science fiction story. Well before the term “science fiction” was coined, works such as Johanne Kepler’s Somnium and Lucian of Samosata’s satire True History included elements of what, today, we define as SF! We’ll examine these and other works of science fiction before it was called science fiction.

NOW SHOWING—Join us for a fun and challenging game. We’ll show you a movie poster advertising an SF/F motion picture, but with the film’s title, recognizable tag line, and credits masked off or blurred out. Will you be able to provide the title of the film? Beware! It won’t be as easy as this example!

Subsequent Meetings: Saturday, April 13 and Saturday, May 11!