All posts by Cathy Palmer-Lister

Astronomy News

A SPIRAL COMET

Space Weather News for March 12, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

A SPIRAL COMET: Astronomers are monitoring Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks as it approaches the sun for a close encounter in April. Several amateurs have noticed something strange about the comet’s core: It’s a spiral. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong solar flares are underway
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Above: The spiral core of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks photographed by Jan Erik Vallestad of Sunnfjord, Norway

Fanzines

We have zines to share!

We have zines to share! Enjoy!

Hi Cathy!
Finally got around to a second issue of “Great Galloping Ghu!”
May it be of some interest.
Cheers! Graeme

An update from Bill Burns:

  • Newly featured at https://efanzines.com are:
  • Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #63 and supplement The California Mercury V1N6 (1940)
  • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #41
  • Ethel the Aardvark #223 and archive issues 21, 177

From the N3F:

Review of Books N3FReview202402

FanAct202402

TNFF202402

2024-01-IM10051

The magazine Worlds of If has risen from the dead under the leadership of Neffer Jean-Paul Garnier. The first issue is attached. Worlds of IF #177

Books

Locus list of Forthcoming Books

Locus List of Forthcoming Books: MAR 2024

  • KAGE BAKER • Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales • Subterranean Press, Mar 2024 (c, hc, eb)
  • BODHISATTVA CHATTOPADHYAY, ED. • Inhumans and Other Stories: A Se¬lection of Bengali Science Fiction • MIT Press, Mar 2024 (oa, tp, eb)
  • SEB DOUBINSKY • The Horror • IFWG Publishing Interna¬tional, Mar 2024 (na, h, tp, eb)
  • HARLAN ELLISON • Greatest Hits • Sterling/Union Square & Co., Mar 2024 (c, tp, eb)
  • HADEER ELSBAI • The Weavers of Alamaxa • Harper Voyager US, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
  • HADEER ELSBAI • The Weavers of Alamaxa • Orbit UK, Mar 2024 (tp, eb)
  • KIM HARRISON • Three Kinds of Lucky • Ace, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
  • VERONICA G. HENRY • The Canopy Keepers •Amazon/47North, Mar 2024 (tp, eb)
  • LUCY HOLLAND • Song of the Huntress • Macmillan UK, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
  • LUCY HOLLAND • Song of the Huntress • Orbit US/Redhook, Mar 2024 (tp, eb)
  • HAO JINGFANG • Jumpnauts • Simon & Schuster/Saga Press, Mar 2024 (tp, eb)
  • STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES • The Angel of Indian Lake • Simon & Schuster/Saga Press, Mar 2024 (h, hc, eb)
  • STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES • The Angel of Indian Lake • Titan Books UK, Mar 2024 (h, hc, eb)
  • JOE R. LANSDALE • The Unlikely Affair of the Crawling Razor • Subterranean Press, Mar 2024 (na, h, hc)
  • LEE MANDELO • The Woods All Black • Tordotcom, Mar 2024 (h, hc, eb)
  • SEANAN MCGUIRE • Aftermarket Afterlife • Astra House/DAW, Mar 2024 (tp, eb)
  • PREMEE MOHAMED • The Siege of Burning Grass • Rebel¬lion/Solaris UK, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
  • THOMAS OLDE HEUVELT • Oracle • Hodder & Stoughton UK, Mar 2024 (h, hc, eb)
  • ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Alien Clay • Macmillan/Tor UK, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
  • MOSES OSE UTOMI • The Truth of the Aleke • Tordotcom, Mar 2024 (na, ya, hc, eb)
  • TIMOTHY ZAHN • The Icarus Job • Baen, Mar 2024 (hc, eb)
Dinosaurs and Company

Fossil reveals 240 million year-old ‘dragon’

Fossil reveals 240 million year-old ‘dragon’

By Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC News
NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF SCOTLAND Dinocephalosaurus orientalis
NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF SCOTLAND

Scientists have revealed a new, remarkably complete fossil – a 16ft (5m)-long aquatic reptile from the Triassic period.

The creature dates back 240 million years and has been dubbed a “dragon” because of its extremely long neck.

It is called Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, a species that was originally identified back in 2003.

This spectacular new fossil has allowed scientists to see the full anatomy of this bizarre prehistoric beast.

Dr Nick Fraser, from National Museums Scotland, who was part of the international team that studied the fossil, said this was the first time scientists had been able to see it in full. He described it as “a very strange animal”.

 “It had flipper-like limbs and its neck is longer than its body and tail combined,” he said.

The researcher speculated that a “long, bendy and flexible neck”, with its 32 separate vertebrae, might have provided a hunting advantage – allowing Dinocephalosaurus orientalis to search for food in crevices under the water.

The fossil was discovered in ancient limestone deposits in southern China.

“This discovery just adds to the weirdness of the Triassic,” Dr Fraser told BBC News. “And every time we look in these deposits, we find something new.”

Marlene Donelly An artist's impression of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis swimming alongside prehistoric fish known as Saurichthys
Marlene Donelly
Artist Marlene Donelly recreated a scene of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis swimming with prehistoric fish.

The paper describing a set of new fossils of the animal is published in the journal Earth and Environmental Science: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

 

 

Astronomy News

TWO MAJOR SOLAR FLARES

TWO MAJOR SOLAR FLARES
Space Weather News for Feb. 22, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
Giant sunspot AR3590 just unleashed two major X-class solar flares. The double blast approximately coincided with a widely-reported outage of cell phone service; however, experts agree that the flares were probably not responsible. More flares are in the offing. The sunspot has an unstable ‘delta-class’ magnetic field, and it is turning toward Earth. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
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Above: An X1.8-class solar flare on Feb. 21st (2307 UT) observed at multiple wavelengths by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Astronomy News

SOLAR ECLIPSE COMET

Space Weather News for Feb. 21, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

SOLAR ECLIPSE COMET: A comet is approaching the sun for a rare appearance during this April’s total solar eclipse. Cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is expected to be at least faintly visible inside the Moon’s shadow with a more dramatic display possible if one of its ice geysers erupts at the right moment. Full story & sky maps @ Spaceweather.com.

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Above: Venus, Jupiter and possibly Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will be visible during this April’s total solar eclipse

 

 

Fanzines

Fanzines to share!

We have zines to share!

From Garth Spenser: Shooting my Cuffs 11.

From Bill Burns, an update to efanzines:

I thought last week was busy, but I’ve just posted 15 new and archive fanzine issues at https:efanzines.com:

  • Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – Feb 2024
  • Opuntia #566, edited by Dale Speirs
  • David Grigg’s The Megaloscope #11
  • Dan Harper’s ABwoF #10
  • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #44
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #454
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #66, 67
  • Octothorpe #103, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Michael Dobson’s The Random Jottings Holiday Special
  • R Graeme Cameron’s Great Galloping Ghu! #2
  • Bill Plott’s Sporadic #50 & 51 (archive issues)
  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #36
  • Ray Palm’s The Ray X X-rayer #177

—
Bill

 

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

February 2024 CSFFA Newsletter: Aurora 2024 Updates

An update regarding the Aurora Awards, received from the CSFFA

Winter is almost over (we hope) and with it the first stage of 2024’s Aurora Awards process. Please see below for specific updates.

In this newsletter:

  1. Aurora Award Updates for February 2024
  2. An Aurora Awards History Tidbit

Aurora Awards Updates for February 2024Eligibility Lists Close Soon

Depending on when you read this, the lists for this year’s works eligible to be nominated for the 2024 Aurora Awards closes soon.  The lists will be closed at 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, February 24th.

Over the following week our eligibility team of volunteers will review all works that are still pending.  If you see something that was missed, please email us.  If it is not too late, we will try to add it.

Nominations Open in March

Nominations will open on Saturday, March 2nd.  CSFFA members have until Saturday, April 6th at 11:59 pm EST to enter your choices.  One special feature of the nomination process is that you can return as many times as you wish to add or modify your choices.  After our deadline our webmaster will lock all nominations that members have entered.

For those new to the awards, you may enter up to five choices in each category.  Each entry in a category must be unique.  If you submit the same work more than once ALL of them will be voided.  If you accidentally duplicate one you can always use the “blank” record that it at the top of each dropdown list.  Please be careful and review your choices before you submit them. Nominate what you know and enjoyed.

Special request when you nominate or ask others to nominate

Please do NOT ask friends or family to get a membership to just nominate or vote (later) for your works if they are not SF/Fantasy fans.  Members are encouraged to nominate in multiple categories.  The awards are for fans of the genre.  This is not a popularity contest to see who has the largest family.

We want people to get memberships who read Science Fiction, Fantasy, and/or Horror to help us determine the best works that were done last year.

Awards

The 2023 Hugo Awards: A report on censorship and exclusion

This is a must read report on what happened to the 2023 Hugo Awards. Also on File 770, letters from Kat Jones and Diane Lacey. 

Click here to read the report: 2023 Hugo Awards Censorship Report_Final

Extract below:

LEAKED EMAILS AND FILES REVEAL POLITICAL CONCERNS RESULTED IN INELIGIBILITY ISSUES WITH 2023 HUGO AWARDS

By Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford: Emails and files released by one of the administrators of the 2023 Hugo Awards indicate that authors and works deemed “not eligible” for the awards were removed due to political considerations. In particular, administrators of the awards from the United States and Canada researched political concerns related to Hugo-eligible authors and works and discussed removing certain ones from the ballot for those reasons, revealing they were active participants in the censorship that took place.

When the Hugo Award voting and nomination statistics were released, no detailed explanation was given for why multiple authors and works were deemed “not eligible” even though they had enough nominations to make the award’s final ballot. The only official explanation came from overall Hugo Awards administrator Dave McCarty, who said “After reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.”

However, emails and files released by another member of that Hugo administration team, Diane Lacey, shows that the rules “we must follow” were in relation to Chinese laws related to content and censorship.

Astronomy News

Possible auroras down to northern-tier US States.

Never fails, these storms hit just when we have cloudy skies. But in case we get a clearing, watch for auroras around 13th, 14th. Also, if you have solar observing glasses such as the ones MonSFFA was given by the RASC MOntreal Centre at the January meeting, keep an eye on the sun anytime it peeks through the clouds. Lots of visible sunspots!
Space Weather News for Feb 12, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: A forecast model from NOAA shows multiple CMEs striking Earth on Feb. 13th. Their impacts could cause G2-class (Moderate) geomagnetic storms with auroras across northern-tier US States. Also, there’s a slim chance they might combine to form a more potent “Cannibal CME.” Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

CME impact alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when the CMEs strike.

Above: A NOAA forecast model shows multiple CMEs en route to Earth.