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!
PETER S. BEAGLE • I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons • Simon & Schuster/Saga Press, May 2024 (ya, hc, eb)
