10) “WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING?” On ZOOM at this moment, we’re asking “What are You Reading, or Watching?” Give us your quick book report, or your brief review of a film or TV show you’ve recently enjoyed!
For those not participating in our ZOOM chat today, you may still contribute by submitting your concise book reports or movie and television-series reviews via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.
Time for a break! News, displays, & raffle prizes! |
Get your Bheer & Chips!
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Our July meeting will be a BBQ in the park! Come join us at Maisonneuve Park to celebrate Keith’s birthday!
We are renting the Legion Hall in Lachine for a real, live in person, meeting! It’s a bit far for many, but easily reached by public transport, and has lots of free parking. We are going to test the WiFi in hopes of a hybrid meeting.
Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 085/090
3015, rue Henri-Dunant,
Lachine, Qc,
H8S 1R5
Click the thumbnails to view full size image.
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6) SHOW-AND-TELLFor those participating on ZOOM, today, we open the floor to any club members who have “fancraft” projects to showcase—sci-fi scale models, SF/F woodworking or needlecraft, whatever genre-themed, hands-on project it may be that you are working on at present, or have recently completed. Share your fancrafting experience with the group!
Those not equipped to join our ZOOM chat for the show-and-tell may contribute by using this post’s “Leave a Comment” feature to type in a quick description of any such project on which they are currently working or have recently completed.
Keith Braithwaite is on vacation this week, but offers the following discovery, which may be of interest to this group; Keith writes:
While combing the Web for paleontological art some years ago for a presentation I was preparing, I came across a series of beautifully rendered monotone illustrations by artist Zdeněk Burian, produced for an illustrated Czech edition of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Burian (1905-1981) was an influential paleoartist whose dynamic canvases depicting prehistoric life set the template during the mid-20th century for the reconstruction of dinosaurs. His work, portraying the ancient beasts as active animals, anticipated and later embraced the Dinosaur Renaissance before the thinking of scientists like Robert Bakker became widely accepted.
Applauded worldwide for his paleoart, Burian’s paintings graced several books on prehistoric life published in the 1960s and 1970s. My high school’s library stocked a couple of these, and that’s how I became aware of his work. But as I discovered decades later, he was also a prolific book illustrator, turning out hundreds of illustrations for Czech editions of adventure novels by such renowned authors as Rudyard Kipling, James Fenimore Cooper, Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. But he most enjoyed illustrating Jules Verne.
His non-paleontological illustration work is not well known outside of his native Czechoslovakia (today, the Czech Republic and Slovakia). It should be!
Strikingly dramatic, painterly, and deftly crafted, the work that most captured my attention, of course, was produced for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and absolutely deserves to be seen by a wider audience. So, this is my small way of doing just that, showing and telling all of you about Burian’s extraordinary illustrations of the Verne classic. (Click on an illustration to enlarge the image.)
5) GUEST SPEAKER
We welcome, now, for a ZOOM chat our special guest, Olivia Atwater, who will speak on “Fantasy as Satire.” Olivia sent us this brief note:
Biography: Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn’t what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repairperson.
Fantasy as Satire: Though you can write a satire in just about any genre, fantasy lends itself particularly well to the idea for reasons both structural and psychological. Olivia Atwater discusses a few well-known examples of satire within the fantasy genre, and elaborates on why they succeed so well at their aims.
For more on our guest, visit her Website: oliviaatwater.com
1) INTRODUCTIONCanada is on fire!
Across the width of the country, Canada is experiencing an unprecedented wildfire season, with over 400 forest fires burning, about half of these vast and out of control. Firefighters are overwhelmed in the face of this scorching onslaught. Canadian crews have been augmented by teams and equipment from the U.S., France, Spain, and countries as far away as South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
The season started earlier than usual this year, and with a hot, dry summer forecast, in almost every province and territory, fires may well burn for weeks to come, and perhaps longer. Predictions are that this wildfire season could extend through July and August!
Some 3.5 million hectares of Canadian forest has already been reduced to ashes, roughly 13 times more than the typical ten-year average, as communities in the path of monstrous columns of advancing flame were evacuated. Homes have been destroyed, thousands of people displaced, and a pall of acrid smoke and haze descended upon Canadian cities and towns at various times these past couple weeks, drifting south, as well, to blanket the American Northeast. People were advised to avoid strenuous activity outdoors, such was the elevated degree of smoke in the air. About ten days ago, New York City recorded the worst air quality levels in the world! Rain and shifting winds seem to have since mitigated the worst of what was playing out as a truly apocalyptic scenario one might expect only in an over-the-top science fiction/disaster movie.
Climate change, the science tells us, is at the heart of the extreme weather and environmental conditions—storms, flooding, heat waves, drought—that we are likely to experience regularly in the years to come. But in a more direct way, we are to be held responsible, at least with regard to these forest fires; most were ignited by the carelessness of people—a casually tossed cigarette butt, improperly extinguished campfire, etc.
Meanwhile, in another sign of an impending Armageddon, authorities are warning Quebecers to remain on guard for rabid racoons migrating across the border from Vermont! Steer well clear of any unusually aggressive racoons you may encounter on the hiking trail or in your backyards, wildlife experts advise. 
This afternoon, we welcome a special guest speaker on the topic of “Fantasy as Satire,” and recall some of the voyages of the Enterprise. We’ve also prepared for you a sci-fi trivia quiz (below).
All of this and more is on the agenda today! And so, let us begin…
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: 851 4737 3414
Passcode: 246023
Here is the agenda for this afternoon’s get-together:
As always, all scheduled programming is subject to change.
Those long, languid days of summer have arrived, and again do we enjoy an afternoon poolside, or better, a day at the beach, where we can dive into a good beach read. We relish farmer’s markets, an outdoor concert on a warm evening, vibrant neighbourhood street festivals, and of course, a cold one quaffed with friends on a downtown terrace. “Summertime,” as the song evokes, “and the livin’ is easy…”
With that vibe in mind, we offer this afternoon a little light entertainment in the form of a trivia challenge. Our Two-Four Sci-Fi Quiz is so named in honour of that penultimate Canadian backyard barbecue refreshment, a case of two-four!
Your challenge is to correctly answer all 24 of the following SF/F-related questions? Good luck, and, of course, play fair; no resorting to Google or another search engine for the answers! You can ask a friend for help, however, as long as your friend’s name isn’t Siri or Alexa!
1) Fill in the blank! These SF/F titles are missing a single word: The ______ Tree; Haunted______; Dinosaur ______; and Without a ______. What is that missing word?
2) First seen in the opening minutes of Star Wars (1977), what is the name of this CR90 corvette, employed as an Alderaanian diplomatic cruiser and rebel blockade runner?
3) Which of these characters does not belong? A) Jaime Reyes, B) Samuel “Sam” Guthrie, C) Dan Garrett, D) Theodore “Ted” Kord
4) Most Worldcons have been held in the U.S.; how many have been held outside of the United States?
5) Who played youngster David MacLean in the original Invaders From Mars (1953), in which the vanguard of a Martian invasion force lands in the boy’s hometown?
6) The novels Omnivore (1968), Orn (1970), and OX (1976) constitute which SF trilogy?
7) What is the title of the fifth Indiana Jones movie, scheduled to premiere later this month, on the 30th?
8) “They Were Looking For Chicks…To Go All The Way!”—the marketing campaign of which sci-fi movie employed this tag line? A) Teenagers from Outer Space (1959), B) Mars Needs Women (1968), C) Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), D) Invasion of the Saucer-Men (1957)
9) How many Worldcons has Canada hosted?
10) The Humanx Commonwealth, an organization similar to Star Trek’s Federation of Planets, is featured in the science fiction stories of which writer?
11) What two sentient species jointly administer the Humanx Commonwealth?
12) Which of these men develops psychohistory, a fictional algorithmic science that allows general predictions to be made of the future in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series? A) Harrison Bergeron, B) Harry Harrison, C) Harry Mudd, D) Hari Seldon
13) Who played Camie Loneozner in the original Star Wars (1977), only to see her scenes excised from the final cut?
14) Match the robots (left column) with the science fiction titles in which they appear (right column).
15) Who played astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston in the original Invaders From Mars (1953)?
16) The protagonists of the science fiction novel Icerigger (1974) crash-land on what frozen world?
17) “Derelict of Space” (1939), “Meteor” (1941), “Tyrant and Slave-Girl on Planet Venus” (1951), and “The Red Stuff” (1951)—who wrote these science fiction short stories?
18) Which of these science fiction characters does not belong with the others? A) Ethan Frome Fortune, B) Hellespont du Kane, C) Raymus Antilles, D) Skua September
19) Rudolph Martin, Gary Oldman, Frank Langella, and Nicolas Cage—other than their profession, what do these actors have in common?
20) With regard to the horror genre, what do the towns of Rockbridge, Midwich, Haddonfield, and Antonio Bay have in common?
21) André Morell, Andrew Keir, Brian Donlevy, and John Mills have all played which acclaimed scientist-hero?
22) In which Canadian province is set American International Pictures’ 1976 B-movie The Food of the Gods?
23) The Lady of the Sorrows (2002) and The Battle of Evernight (2003) are the second and third books, respectively, of Australian fantasy writer Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s Bitterbynde trilogy. Name the first book in this series.
24) Who played army commander Colonel Fielding in the original Invaders From Mars (1953)?
Guest Speaker: Author Olivia Atwater
Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repair person.
Fantasy as Satire: Though you can write a satire in just about any genre, fantasy lends itself particularly well to the idea for reasons both structural and psychological. Olivia Atwater discusses a few well-known examples of satire within the fantasy genre, and elaborates on why they succeed so well at their aims.
Joe Aspler: These are the Voyages…: There have been many fine ships named Enterprise. In this presentation, I will summarise their origins, their history, their battles, and the exploration that they carried out.
Discussions: August meeting at the Legion in Lachine, what are we reading or watching, or creating!
Raffles: Nine prizes are on offer to lucky winners!
And Keith’s SF trivia quiz!
From Leybl in Israel: CCJune2023-v01
This month’s roundup: • Star Trek vs. Star Trek vs. Star Trek – Part IV • About TR-3B (the advanced plane that does not exist) Our usual tidbits from the Web. – Your editor, Leybl Botwinik
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 7:30PM
Re-discover the enchanting world of John Williams on a journey spanning four decades of the composer’s work, from Jaws to Star Wars, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and more!
Led by Maestro Francis Choiniere, an army of 81 musicians and 100 choristers will deliver moving performances of Hymn to the Fallen, Double Trouble, and the electrifying Duel of the Fates. Don’t miss out on this unique tribute to the world’s most legendary film music composer, John Williams.
A riveting orchestral experience awaits!
