We have zines to share!
From the N3F:
From Nic Farey, This Here:
ONLY THREE MORE DAYS UNTIL NEXT CLUB MEETING ON ZOOM!
The club’s next meeting is scheduled for this Saturday, February 10, on ZOOM from 1:00PM-5:00PM!
THEME: We’ve chosen to attach a Mardi Gras theme to this month’s meeting! Mardi Gras celebrations are now ongoing in New Orleans, and conclude on February 13. SF/F cosplayers can certainly appreciate, and perhaps derive inspiration from the colourful, exquisite costumes of Carnival!
ATTENTION! IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Please note that, regrettably, we were unable to secure confirmation of our requested booking of the Lachine Legion’s meeting hall sufficiently in advance of our selected meeting date this month.
Rather than cancel the meeting outright, we have opted to instead hold our get-together entirely on ZOOM! The meeting will proceed as intended, but only online, as a video-chat on ZOOM.
So then, we will not be gathering, this month, in our usual physical meeting hall in Lachine. We will be getting together on ZOOM! 
OUR AGENDA INCLUDES:
COLOURFUL, CRAZY MARDI GRAS!—As our meeting theme this month is Mardi Gras, we’ll offer a quick primer on the celebrations, focusing on the colourful, exquisite costuming and decorative flair of New Orleans’ famous Carnival. SF/F cosplayers may well find inspiration here, for everything from a fantasy Masquerade gown to a new Batman villain!
WORST MONSTERS!—We’ll discuss and debate which are the genre’s worst monsters! From the giants of Kaiju to those slimy, slobbering horrors from outer space, from the creations of mad science to the supernatural demons of the underworld, which do you believe are the most frightening, the most feared, and those to be avoided at all costs? In other words, which are the worst monsters? But we’re asking, too, which are the most laughably ridiculous, B-movie examples brought to the screen by cheap, poor-quality special effects? In every sense of the word “worst,” which do you rate as the genre’s worst monsters?
SCI-FI’S LOVABLE ROGUES, AND WHY WE LOVE THEM!—We ask who are the Han Solos of the genre, and why are they so damned compelling, interesting, and appealing, often more so than the ostensible hero of the piece? Are we naturally drawn to the bad boy, or girl, and if so, why?
PROGRAMMING IDEAS!—We’ll be polling MonSFFA’s membership for programming ideas; we want to hear from you, the members of this club, as to the kinds of topics you’d like to see on future meeting agendas! Your suggestions are encouraged and welcome!
So join us on ZOOM this Saturday, February 10. The meeting starts at 1:00PM, but our ZOOM-chat will be open a little in advance for those who wish to log on early.
Club members have received via e-mail the pertinent information needed in order to join in the conversation. Those details will also be posted on our Website (www.MonSFFA.ca) at noon on the 10th, well in advance of our 1:00PM official start-time.
We hope to see you all online this Saturday, February 10!
Fanzines to share!
We have received zines to share with our members!
This is a new one to us, it’s from Sweden. The editor, Ahrvid Engholm, went to see Oppenheimer andbecame inspired!
The N3F sent us N3FReview202401in which quite a few books are reviewed, including A Wrinkle in Time which we’ve discussed a couple of times at MonSFFA.
Bill Burns sent us an update:
New today at https://efanzines.com are:
Rob Jackson’s Inca #23
Alexiad #132 edited by Lisa & Joseph Major
Rich Lynch’s You’re Still on My Mind #5, a letterzine companion to My Back Pages
Octothorpe #102, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
Opuntia #565, edited by Dale Speirs
Heath Row’s The Stf Amateur, February 2024 (apazine bundle)
Bill Plott’s Sporadic #77 (2023 archive issue)
—
Bill
Next Club Meeting is Set For This Saturday, February 10, on ZOOM!
The club’s next meeting is scheduled for this Saturday, February 10!
ATTENTION! IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Regrettably, we were unable to secure confirmation of our requested booking of the Lachine Legion’s meeting hall sufficiently in advance of our selected meeting date this month.
Rather than cancel the meeting outright, we have opted to instead hold our get-together entirely on ZOOM! The meeting will proceed as intended, but only online, as a video-chat on ZOOM.
So take note, we will not be gathering, this month, in our usual physical meeting hall in Lachine. We will be getting together on ZOOM!
THEME: We’ve chosen to attach a Mardi Gras theme to this month’s meeting! Mardi Gras celebrations are now ongoing in New Orleans, and conclude on February 13. SF/F cosplayers can certainly appreciate, and perhaps derive inspiration from the colourful, exquisite costumes of Carnival!
OUR AGENDA INCLUDES:
COLOURFUL, CRAZY MARDI GRAS!—As our meeting theme this month is Mardi Gras, we’ll offer a quick primer on the celebrations, focusing on the colourful, exquisite costuming and decorative flair of New Orleans’ famous Carnival. SF/F cosplayers may well find inspiration here, for everything from a fantasy Masquerade gown to a new Batman villain!
WORST MONSTERS!—We’ll discuss and debate which are the genre’s worst monsters! From the giants of Kaiju to those slimy, slobbering horrors from outer space, from the creations of mad science to the supernatural demons of the underworld, which do you believe are the most frightening, the most feared, and those to be avoided at all costs? In other words, which are the worst monsters? But we’re asking, too, which are the most laughably ridiculous, B-movie examples brought to the screen by cheap, poor-quality special effects? In every sense of the word “worst,” which do you rate as the genre’s worst monsters?
SCI-FI’S LOVABLE ROGUES, AND WHY WE LOVE THEM!—We ask who are the Han Solos of the genre, and why are they so damned compelling, interesting, and appealing, often more so than the ostensible hero of the piece? Are we naturally drawn to the bad boy, or girl, and if so, why?
PROGRAMMING IDEAS!—We’ll be polling MonSFFA’s membership for programming ideas; we want to hear from you, the members of this club, as to the kinds of topics you’d like to see on future meeting agendas! Your suggestions are encouraged and welcome!
So join us on ZOOM this Saturday, February 10. The meeting starts at 1:00PM, but our ZOOM-chat will be open a little in advance for those who wish to log on early.
Club members have received via e-mail the pertinent information needed in order to join in the conversation. Those details will also be posted on our Website (www.MonSFFA.ca) at noon on the 10th, well in advance of our 1:00PM official start-time.
We hope to see you all online this Saturday, February 10!
Meeting of Feb 10, zoom only
Due to circumstance beyond our control, we will meet February 10 by ZOOM only. The link will be posted on our website just before the meeting.
COLOURFUL, CRAZY MARDI GRAS!—Our meeting theme this month is Mardi Gras, aand we offer a quick primer on the celebrations, focusing on the colourful, exquisite costuming and decorative flair of New Orleans’ famous Carnival; SF/F cosplayers may well find inspiration here!
WORST MONSTERS!—We discuss and debate which are the genre’s worst monsters, in every sense of the word “worst”. Got some pictures? We can share your screen!
SCI-FI’S LOVABLE ROGUES, AND WHY WE LOVE THEM! Who are the Han Solos of the genre, and why are they so damned compelling, interesting, and appealing?
PROGRAMMING IDEAS!—We’ll be polling MonSFFA’s membership for programming ideas; we want to hear from you, the members of this club, as to the kinds of topics you’d like to see on future meeting agendas! Your suggestions are encouraged and welcome!
Meeting of February 10: The Raffle Prizes
RAFFLE PRIZES on offer for the Feb 10 meeting
Click the thumbnails to view full size image.
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February 2024 Impulse Now Available!
The February 2024 issue of Impulse is now available!
To view or download this latest issue of Impulse, click here: February2024IMPULSE
Impulse is the monthly new bulletin of the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (MonSFFA). The electronic version is available on this Website, and past issues are archived, here, as well (see Impulse page). Print copies are available at the club’s in-person meetings, and are distributed by postal mail upon request.
Exoplanet WASP-69 b is followed by a staggeringly long tail
One hundred and sixty light-years from Earth, an exoplanet orbits the star WASP-69. Although it’s been previously studied, astronomers have just confirmed that the blazing-hot world is trailed by a 350,000-mile-long (563,270 kilometers) gaseous tail
WASP-69, given the formal name Wouri by the International Astronomical Union in 2019, is a K-type star somewhat like our Sun but slightly smaller. The planet with the tail, however, is much different from anything in our own solar system.
That’s because WASP-69 b, named Makombé in 2019 to match its host star (Wouri and Makombé are both rivers in Cameroon), is a hot Jupiter. This class of planet is defined by two major factors: its size similarity to our own gas giant planets and its close-in orbit around its host star.
WASP-69 b certainly fits the bill: It is about 10 percent bigger than Jupiter — though only 30 percent its mass — and orbits its star at a distance just less than five percent the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun. This means the exoplanet is constantly scorched by stellar radiation to a degree that would make even Mercury sweat.
WASP-69 b was the subject of considerable attention in the summer of 2022 when it became one of the first targets of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
In new research published Jan. 9 in The Astrophysical Journal, a team led by astrophysicists at UCLA has revealed the planet’s atmosphere is escaping into space, creating a cometlike tail that stretches at least 350,000 miles (563,270 km).
Zines to share
Zines to Share!
From MonSFFriend Guy Lilian: Spartacus ,SPARTACUS no 70
An update from Bill Burns over at efanzines:
I received a flurry of fanzines following the snow, and here they all are at https://efanzines.com
Guy H. Lillian III’s Spartacus #70
Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – Jan 2024
Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #62
Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #453
Octothorpe #101, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
Bill Plott’s Sporadic #78, 78.1, 79 (2023 archive issues)
Opuntia #564, edited by Dale Speirs
Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #39 & 40
Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #63, 64, 65
—
Bill
Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission
Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission
By Kelly Ng BBC News
Japan’s Moon lander has resumed operations after being shut down for a week due to a power supply issue.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it re-established contact with the lander on Sunday, indicating that the glitch had been fixed.
Its solar cells are working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight, the agency said.
It could not generate power when it landed on 20 January as the solar cells pointed away from the Sun.
With the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) spacecraft, Japan became only the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union, China and India.