LAST CLUB MEETING OF 2024 SET FOR THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23!

MonSFFA will hold its last regular meeting of 2024 this Saturday, November 23! We will gather in our usual “Salle Maisonneuve” meeting room at the Nouvel Hotel at 1:00PM. (The last club activities of the year, our Christmas and Holiday celebrations, will take place in early December.)

With the season upon us, among the topics we’ll be exploring are Christmas/Holiday-themed SF in both print and on screen. We’ll also be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas for next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

Note: the latest issue of Impulse will be distributed electronically tomorrow. However, due to the ongoing nation-wide postal strike, the print version will not be mailed out, as usual. Copies will be made available at the soonest possible date, for those who may be collecting the news bulletin.

See You All This Saturday…

Zines to share!

We have zines to share!

From Garth Spencer: ObdurateEye45

From Nic: BEAM 18 reduced copy

Yes, finally!…
With the barely unusual apologies for the two year delay between issues, especially to our fine contributors, whose print copies will hopefully be sent out at some point in the next couple weeks along with a select few others. Those of you who are happy with the pdf and don’t need a physical copy, please let us know because that will, of course, save $$…
Note to readers: many if not most of the articles within were written in 2023, so please adjust your time sense accordingly when perusing…

Nic & (pp) Ulrika

From Bill Burns:

  • New today at https://efanzines.com:
  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #45
  • Octothorpe #122, the Hugo-winning fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Ethel the Aardvark #226 and archive issues 24, 174
  • Nic Farey’s BEAM #18

N3F: FanAct202411

 latest issue of The N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono.  Greetings from your President! N3FReview202410

I attach the latest issue of The N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono.  Books are a central SF fandom.  I hope you liek some of the books reviewed here and consider buying them.

We have a short story contest.  It is for largely unpublished and amateur writers, not for professionals.  There are no entrance fees.  There are cash prizes. The rules follow:

2024 N3F Amateur Short Story Contest

Story Contest Rules and Entry Blank

Now and then, it has been suggested to open the N3F Amateur Short Story Contest to professional writers, writers who have had one or two sales. I’ve never favored this. It is my opinion that we want new blood. We want to reward the new kids on the block. To be blunt, we want writing that is not that good. We want stories from people who don’t know their object from their subject, who don’t know where commas go, and who use apostrophes to denote plurals — but who have a story to tell. I want stories from guys nobody’s ever heard of…but in the years ahead, we will. Those who are already successful don’t need the encouragement of our little contest. If they were to enter the contest, the danger is that they’d win, every time, and crowd out the promising newcomer.

 

1. This contest is open to all amateur writers in the field, regardless of whether they’re members of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. For the purposes of this contest, we define an amateur as someone who has sold no more than two (2) stories to professional science fiction or fantasy publications.

2. Stories entered in the contest must be original, unpublished, not longer than 8,500 words in length—and related to the science fiction, fantasy, or similar genres in the opinion of the judge.

3. Email attachments of Word documents are acceptable for submission. Manuscripts on paper should be typed, single sided on 8 1/2″-by- 11″ white paper, double spaced, with pages numbered. The name of the author should not appear anywhere on the manuscript to ensure impartial judging. Photocopies are acceptable, if they are of good quality. Computer printouts must be legible.

4. Contestants can enter up to three stories. Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) if you would like your story returned at the end of the contest. Stories will not be returned without an SASE. Do not send your only copy in case of accidental loss. We are not responsible for lost manuscripts.

5. Email entries will be accepted. Send to Jefferson P. Swycaffer at abontides@gmail.com. No guarantee can be made of email receipt. Privacy and property rights will be absolutely respected. No one other than the Short Story Judge will ever see the submission.

6. There are no entry fees.

7. Cash prizes totaling $100 will be awarded as follows: First prize is $50, second $30, and third $20. Honorable mentions and semi-finalists will receive a certificate of award.

8. Send all manuscripts to the contest manager: Jefferson Swycaffer, P. O. Box 15373, San Diego, CA 92175-5373; abontides@ gmail.com. Emails with the story attached in word format are preferred. Paper manuscripts are acceptable. All entries must be received or postmarked no later than Dec. 31, 2024.

9. The Short Story Judge is a published science fiction professional, and also a loving fan of the sf and fantasy genres. All comments and critiques are solely the Short Story Judge’s opinion, but he promises to be constructive and polite.

10. Stories will also be reviewed by the Editor of the N3F Fiction zine Eldritch Science; authors of suitable tales will be invited to submit their tales for publication in our zine. This review and invitation will only occur after contest winners have been announced, so it can have no effect on the contest outcome.

11. The NSF may want to publish an electronic book including top entries from one or more years of publication. You will not be contacted about this until after the contest is over and prizes have been awarded. If we want to publish your story, you will have to sign over to us first world serial rights. Your willingness to sign over rights cannot affect whether or not you win the contest. Winners will be notified as soon as the judging is completed. Announcements and notifications of winning entries will be made by March 2025. Please take your time and submit your best work. You can resubmit stories previously entered if they did not win previously. All entries will be kept confidential and will be judged fairly and anonymously. The deadline for all entries is Dec. 31, 2024. Good luck!

Please supply on a separate page the following information as your entry form.

Title of story (for identification): Author’s name and address: Author’s email address:

I have read the above rules for the 2024 N3F Amateur Short Story Contest, and I agree to them.

Signature/Date: ________________________________________________________________________

Mail to: Jefferson Swycaffer, P. O. Box 15373, San Diego, CA 92175-5373 ; or email abontides@gmail.com

Remembering Tony Todd, 1954 – 2024

Most of us will remember Tony Todd as Kurn, Worf’s brother, but he is probably better known as the Candyman.

https://www.startrek.com/en-ca/news/remembering-tony-todd

Todd first appeared in the Star Trek universe as the Klingon Commander Kurn, son of Mogh and brother of Worf, in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Sins of The Father,” then returning for “Redemption” and “Redemption, Part II,” as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s “Sons of Mogh.”

In the fan-favorite DS9 episode, “The Visitor,” Todd portrayed the adult Jake Sisko as Captain Benjamin Sisko’s son spends decades of his life trying to rescue his father following an accident.

In a 2010 interview with StarTrek.com, recalling his experience with “The Visitor,” Todd shared, “‘The Visitor’ changed my life, not just in terms of convention appearances, but at the time that episode was done the Internet was just exploding and I remember sitting for hours just basking in the glow of the love that was being written about that single episode.”

“The story behind my doing it is that the woman who raised me, my aunt, was a single woman, and she’d passed away at the beautiful age of 82,” continued Todd. “I’d just finished Candyman 2 and it devastated me because she was a person I talked to every day. Fortunately, she was able to see some of the beginnings of my success. But I was in a state of shock and I wasn’t able to work for four months. They sent me the script for ‘The Visitor.’ It wasn’t a complete offer, but they sent it for my consideration and wanted me to come in and see them. So it was the role that got me up off the bed, out of the house, and into the producers’ office. When I went in, I saw a lot of actors who I felt were of the age and who were people I respected. But I went in and I got it. So that was sort of my homage to the parental figure in my life that I loved and cherished.”

 Full details of his life and career on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865302/

NEXT CLUB MEETING IN 2 WEEKS!

Just a quick reminder to all that this month, November, the club will be meeting a little later in the month than usual. We are scheduled to gather in our familiar “Salle Maisonneuve” meeting room at the Nouvel Hotel on Saturday, November 23, at 1:00PM.

With the season soon upon us, among the topics we’ll be exploring is Christmas/Holiday-themed SF&F. We’ll also be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas for next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025!

See You All on the 23rd!

Greg Hildebrandt (1939-2024)

Greg Hildebrandt (1939-2024)

Artist Greg Hildebrandt, 85, died October 31, 2024.

He frequently collaborated with his identical twin brother Tim (1939-2006) as “The Brothers Hildebrandt,” achieving fame for their illustrations of works by J.R.R. Tolkien, frequently featured in calendars. They also illustrated a 1975 edition of Tolkien’s Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham.

Gregory J. Hildebrandt was born January 23, 1939 in Detroit MI. Both Hildebrandts joined the Army Reserve after high school, then attended art school briefly before dropping out to become working artists. They worked on animated and documentary films and illustrated children’s books before moving to their popular calendar work in the 1970s. The success of those projects led them to thriving careers as cover artists, illustrating works by Terry Brooks, Lester del Rey, Anne McCaffrey, and more. They also painted movie posters, including for Star Wars and the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings. Their illustrated novel Urshurak (1979), co-written with Jerry Nichols, showcased their own ideas for a fantasy film.

The brothers began to pursue separate careers in the 1980s, with Greg mostly illustrating children’s books, before collaborating again in the 1990s for Marvel and DC comics and more cover art. After Tim’s death in 2006, Greg largely retired from making art.

Some of his work is collected in The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt (1979), Hildebrandt Collector Cards (1992), 30 Years of Magic: Greg Hildebrandt II (1993), Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt (1997), and Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years (2001).

For more, see his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

 

Locus list of forthcoming books: November

Locus list of forthcoming books: November

  • OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI & CHINAZA EZIAGHIGHALA, EDS. • The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023) • Arc Manor/Caezik SF & Fantasy, Nov 2024 (an, tp, eb)
  • ALLAN KASTER, ED. • The Year’s Best Science Fiction on Earth 2 • AudioText/Infinivox, Nov 2024 (an, tp, eb)
  • RAMSEY CAMPBELL • The Incubations • Flame Tree Press UK, Nov 2024 (c, h, hc, eb)
  • GREGORY FROST • Beyond Here Be Monsters • Fairwood Press, Nov 2024 (c, tp, eb)
  • DAVID J. SCHOW • Suite 13 • Subterranean Press, Nov 2024 (c, hc, eb)
  • MAURICE BROADDUS • Breath of Oblivion • Tor, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • T.L. HUCHU • The Legacy of Arniston House • Macmillan/Tor UK, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • T.L. HUCHU • The Legacy of Arniston House • Tor, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • ISABEL IBAÑEZ • Where the Library Hides • St. Mar­tin’s/Wednesday Books, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • ISABEL IBAÑEZ • Where the Library Hides • Hodder & Stoughton UK/Hodderscape, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • L.E. MODESITT, JR. • Overcaptain • Tor, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • TAD WILLIAMS • The Navigator’s Children • Hodder & Stoughton UK/Hodderscape, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • TAD WILLIAMS • The Navigator’s Children • Astra House/DAW, Nov 2024 (hc, eb)
  • EUGEN BACON, ED. • Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction • Bloomsbury Academic, Nov 2024 (nf, tp, eb)
  • MERCEDES LACKEY, ED. • Feuds • Astra House/DAW, Nov 2024 (oa, tp, eb)
  • ELIANE BOEY • Club Contango • Dark Matter INK, Nov 2024 (pb, eb)
  • A.J. HACKWITH • Toto • Ace, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • KAT RICHARDSON • Storm Waters • Fairwood Press, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • DAVID SANDNER & JACOB WEIS­MAN • Egyptian Motherlode • Fairwood Press, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • TASHA SURI • The Lotus Empire • Orbit UK, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • TASHA SURI • The Lotus Empire • Orbit US, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • K.B. WAGERS • And the Mighty Will Fall • Harper Voyager US, Nov 2024 (tp, eb)
  • CORNELIA FUNKE • Inkworld: The Color of Revenge • Scholastic/Chicken House, Nov 2024 (ya, hc, eb)
  • PHILIP REEVE • Thunder City • Scholastic Press, Nov 2024 (ya, hc, eb)

Fanzines catch-up!

Lots of zines to share!

ObdurateEye44

Issue 361 of Tightbeam is attached

Table of Contents

Art
Front Cover … The Hidden Library by Alan White
Back Cover …Floating Isle by Tiffanie Gray
Letters
4 … Jose Sanchez
4 … Lloyd Penney
Anime
5 …Mother of the Year by Jessi Silver
Books
8 …Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams …Review by Heath Row
Comics
9 …ELITE Asks “Is Superman Relevant?” …Analysis by Jason P. Hunt
Movies
10 …Dr. Giggles …Review by Heath Row
SerCon
11 …Alonzo Deen Cole Bio-Bibliography by Jon D. Swartz, Ph. D.
Television
14 …CBS’s Under the Dome …Review by Jim McCoy
Food of Famous Authoress
16 …Carrot Cake from Cedar Sanderson

FanAct202410

Updates from Bill Burns at e-fanzines

    • New page for North, a 2001 road trip report by Jae Leslie Adams and Steve Swartz
    • Pete Young’s Every Place I Read Your Goddamn Fanzine #9
    • The October 2024 distribution of e-APA, the members-only electronic APA, is free for all to read
    • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #52
    • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #44
    • Perry Middlemiss’s Little Blue Number #23 & Small Steps Local #4
    • Octothorpe #120, the Hugo-winning fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
    • Heath Row’s The Stf Amateur, October 2024 (apazine bundle)
    • Guy H. Lillian III’s Spartacus #76
    • John D. Berry’s dot-fanzine: comma
    • David Grigg’s The Megaloscope #14
    • Alexiad #133 edited by Lisa & Joseph Major
    • Opuntia #584, edited by Dale Speirs
    • Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #458
    • Journey Planet #85, edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, et al
    • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #47
    • Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – October 2024
    • Octothorpe #121, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
    • Nic Farey’s This Here…#80
    • Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #71

CCOct2024-v01

TNFF202410

TH 80r

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT!

Greetings fellow sci-fi fans!
As the final paperwork on our recent Super Sci-Fi Book Sale is completed, I wanted to take a moment to express my personal gratitude, as well as that of the club, to all MonSFFA members, and friends of the club, who answered the call and volunteered to help with the sale. On the eve of the event Friday night, on the Saturday morning of the sale, and late-afternoon/evening, post sale, folk stepped up to help us unload and cart boxes of books, set-up our sales tables, and then pack it all up at day’s end. This is a monumental task, and we greatly appreciate your efforts on behalf of MonSFFA; our book sale simply could not happen without the help of volunteers, so again, thank you!
We are also very appreciative of the many donations of books—in some cases whole carloads!—that we received. So a “Thank You” is in order, as well, to all who donated to the cause. This annual book sale is a major fund-raising event for our club; know that all proceeds are directed to MonSFFA’s operating budget.
Our treasurer will report on the sale during the upcoming November 23rd regular club meeting, but I can tell you that this 2024 installment of the Super Sci-Fi Book Sale was quite well attended and added north of $800 to the club’s coffers. It had been some five years since we had held the sale, the yearly event having been scuttled during the pandemic and post-pandemic period, and frankly, we were unsure of the number of people who might return after such a prolonged hiatus, given lingering post-pandemic anxieties. We were very pleased to see a good turnout, resulting in one of our more lucrative results! So, a final thank you is proffered to all who attended and availed themselves of the fantastic bargains we had on offer!
Happy reading, everyone, and we’ll see you at next year’s Super Sci-Fi Book Sale!
Follow the club at www.MonSFFA.ca, and drop in to one of our regular meetings to see what we’re all about!
Keith Braithwaite, President, MonSFFA

AN X-CLASS DOUBLE SOLAR FLARE

Lots of aurora activity coming up!

Space Weather News for Oct. 26, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

AN X-CLASS DOUBLE SOLAR FLARE: Solar activity remains high with an X-class double solar flare on Oct. 26th. The explosion hurled an impressive CME into space, and it appears to have an Earth-directed component. Several big sunspots are turning toward Earth, so this could be the beginning of a week of stormy space weather. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong solar flares are underway.

Click the picture to view the flare in action.

An M9.5-X1.8 class double flare on Oct. 26th. Extreme ultraviolet movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

BIG SUNSPOTS AND AN X-FLARE

Space Weather News for Oct. 24, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

BIG SUNSPOTS AND AN X-FLARE: A big group of new sunspots exploded this morning, producing an X3.3-class solar flare and an impressive CME. The CME will graze Earth on Oct. 26th, possibly causing a geomagnetic storm. More flares are in the offing as the sunspot group turns toward Earth. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

A phalanx of active sunspots is turning toward Earth.

Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong solar flares are underway.

 

Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association