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Eyup!

Josefov — 11/10/2009 8:32:25 AM

[quote=ShaunCG]I think this deserves a thread of its own.[/quote] I'll think about it. I'm a bit shy and don't know how to start ;)

Eyup!

ShaunCG — 11/10/2009 8:16:13 AM

[quote=Josefov]I'm a bit of a specialist in good Sci-Fi from former Eastern Bloc mainly Polish, Russian and Czechoslovak if anyone would ever be interested. [/quote]

I think this deserves a thread of its own. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts and recommendations and I'm sure others would too!

Funnily enough I also hail from Yorkshire; I was born in Wakefield and shortly after lived for ten years in Humberside (a tiny village called Luddington not far from Crowle and Scunthorpe). I've since spent 17 years in the South so I am thoroughly soft now (I still pronounce grass, bath etc. properly of course). ;)

Humour in Scifi Literature

Roy — 11/9/2009 11:25:06 AM

This story made me laugh though the Bush (Jr) era when it first appeared, 2005, seems a long time ago now. It's around 6300 words

What do you want from your SF Publishing House?

cosmicdeserttrolley — 11/9/2009 9:21:59 AM

Hello Everyone, My name is Matt and I am studying MA Publishing. One of my projects is to turn around a hypothetical Publishing House which is losing customers, authors and staff. We are focusing on SF and 'alternative world' books and we need to find out a what would entice you to chose one of our hypothetical books. I have a few of questions below and if you could feedback to me with your opinions and requests I would appreciate it greatly. You don't have to answer every question but these are just some themes we have been discussing. -What was the last SF book you read and where do you usually buy books from? -Do you think publishers could offer more in the way of extra events like live book readings and signings, conventions, chances to meet with other fans and competitions to have your own work published? -Do you want the publisher of your SF books to only focus on publishing SF? -What is most important when reading a SF book? The series brand? Author brand? Sub-Genre? Is the Author’s name the biggest selling point? -Where do you think it is best for a publisher of SF books to promote new authors, titles and events? -What do you think would improve publisher-reader relations? What incentives would make you want to buy a book by a new author? Thank you, Matt.

Does anyone remember this?????

Josefov — 11/9/2009 9:01:04 AM

Not sure if it's going to be of any help after so many months and it's not a definite answer either but it reminds me a bit of the Hogben Family from Henry Kuttner's stories. Were they drinking a lot?

Humour in Scifi Literature

Josefov — 11/9/2009 5:07:03 AM

Going back to the topic for a sec. :) I've seen Lem already mentioned although I would recommend The Cyberiad as the one to start. Lem himself said that if he were to be remembered by one book only, it should be that one and it happens to be the funniest (IMHO) one as well. Well worth having a look is also Kir Bulytchev and especially his Gusliar Wonders. Absolutely magical little stories from the Gusliar village where there's magic, communism, aliens, moonshine and lots and lots of brilliant sense of humour. A little bit similar would be Monday Starts on Saturday by the Strugatsky brothers. Imagine the scientific institute for magic in the Soviet Union of the 70's. And then it gets better :)

Eyup!

Josefov — 11/9/2009 3:49:20 AM

Ey up lads! I'm in Leeds so it looks like it might be grim up here, but at least we read books :) I'm a bit of a specialist in good Sci-Fi from former Eastern Bloc mainly Polish, Russian and Czechoslovak if anyone would ever be interested.

November BSFA Monthly London Meeting - MICHAEL MARSHALL / SMITH Interview

Tony Keen — 11/8/2009 2:12:18 PM

On Wednesday 25th November 2009, from around 7pm

MICHAEL MARSHALL / SMITH (Author of Only Forward, The Straw Men, Bad Things, The Servants and other novels) will be interviewed by Kate Bodley

Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)

Map: here.

All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.)

Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5).

There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

FUTURE EVENTS:

(No meeting in December)

27th January 2010 – JIM BURNS interviewed by Pete Young
24th February 2010 – DAVID EDGERTON interviewed by Shana Worthen
24th March 2010 – BSFA Awards meeting *

* Note that this is a month with five Wednesdays

Odds & Ends

Anthony G Williams — 11/7/2009 1:56:24 PM

A catch-up with various items this week.

New Horizons is the British Fantasy Society's magazine of new fiction. Issue 3 has been with me for a while, but that pile by my bedside has been stacking up….The following stories are included:

Pastoral Effect by Adam J Shardlow: in a future of increasingly bloodthirsty reality TV shows, the perfect set-up has an unexpected result.

Happiness = G + V + C by Philip Suggars: when the formula for happiness has been determined, happiness becomes mandatory - or else.

Hunt by Debbie Bennett: a young hoodlum accidentally summons the supernatural Hunt; he has to choose a victim, or fall to the Hounds himself.

Seems Only Right by Mathew F Riley: a bizarre setting in which society, including interpersonal communication, is gradually breaking down.

Veronika by Douglas Thompson: a psychiatrist is drawn into the tangled world of a young female Goth.

Spring by Sophie Essex: a brief glimpse of an intense relationship; not really SFF.

Mr Smith by Philip Palmer: a reluctant superman has to face up to his responsibilities. Wryly amusing, this one is my favourite.

Next, Attica by Gary Kilworth. This fantasy novel follows three children moving into an old house which proves to have an attic stretching off into infinite distance, populated by various odd and supernatural beings. This promised to be intriguing, especially since it comes with a glowing endorsement from Neil Gaiman, but I found it sadly uninvolving. There is a lack of drama and tension; first one thing happens, then another, without any apparent logic or purpose. The children (who are supposed to be bright) spend much time trying to rationalise what they are experiencing and then behave with remarkable stupidity. The plotting has holes, too: they find a glass bottle which is important because it allows them to carry some water with them, but first we are told that one of the children goes off exploring, taking the bottle with him, then shortly afterwards the remaining two are drinking from it. I find that kind of carelessness irritating as it breaks the credibility bond between author and reader. I stopped reading the book about a quarter of the way through.

Moving from the page to the screen: I started watching a new (to UK TV) US SF series Defying Gravity. This is set a few decades in the future and concerns a manned six-year tour around several planets of the Solar System. The emphasis in the first couple of episodes was on the human relationships, with the technology and exploration very much secondary. This was not very promising (for me, anyway) but there were hints of something mysterious going on, some guiding intelligence lurking on board. I would have followed it for a bit longer to see if it developed into anything worthwhile, but first I managed to lose my recording of episode 3 and then the channel it is shown on became badly disrupted by the digital changeover and won't be worth looking at for the next month anyway. Some things are not meant to be…

Looking on the bright side, a new series of Spooks has just begun on a channel which I can receive. OK, it's not strictly SF but it's way beyond anything MI5 actually does and is consistently the most gripping thriller on TV. I'm relieved that the weekly episodes don't run to more than an hour - that's as much as my nerves can stand!

Finally, to the movies with X-Men 2 (better late than never…). A good follow-up to the original classy thriller, which really needs to have been seen first to make any sense of the sequel. The battle between two groups of mutants over their relationship to humanity continues. High drama with twists and turns, good acting and some of the tastiest mutants you could wish for, with Kelly Hu joining Famke Janssen, Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn (I am still intrigued by how a ferocious female with scaly blue skin and yellow eyes can be so outrageously sexy). Sit back and enjoy!

(An extract from my SFF blog)

BSFA Awards 2009

Donna Scott — 11/6/2009 6:22:35 AM

There is going to be an article announcing this in the next Vector, but I would like to let you all know that you can start sending me your nominations for this year's BSFA Awards. Remember, to nominate, you must be a member of the BSFA, so I will need some evidence from you (membership number, full name, and postcode). If you are unsure of any of your details, please write to me sooner rather than later so I can check your credentials. The categories we are looking for are: Best Novel; Best Short Fiction; Best Non-Fiction and Best Artwork. Works published by the BSFA itself (whether in book form, on the website, or in one of the magazines) are not eligible for any of the awards. Otherwise, the eligibility criteria are as follows: • The Best Novel award is open to any novel-length work of science fiction or fantasy that was published in the UK for the first time in 2009. Serialised novels are eligible, provided that the publication date of the concluding part was in 2009. If a novel has been previously published elsewhere, but not in the UK until 2009, it is eligible. • The Best Short Fiction award is open to any shorter work of science fiction or fantasy, up to and including novellas, first published in 2009 (in a magazine, in a book, or online). This includes work that appeared in books and magazines published outside the UK. • The Best Artwork award is open to any single science fictional or fantastic image that first appeared in 2009. Again, provided the artwork hasn't been published before 2009 it doesn't matter where it appears. • The Best Non-Fiction award is open to any written work about science fiction and/or fantasy which appeared in its current form in 2009, in print or online. To get your nominations to me, send them to: Snail mail: Donna Scott, 11 Stanhope Road, Queen’s Park, Northampton, NN2 6JU Email: awards@bsfa.co.uk Please note that all nominations must reach me by Saturday 16 January, 2010.

Get a Spock chop! Vulcan haircut extravaganza in London on 16th November

spocktacular — 11/6/2009 3:29:41 AM

Do you fancy getting your very own Vulcan barnet? To celebrate the release of Star Trek on DVD, on 16^th November from 10am – 12.30pm, London’s Fish Soho will be offering a free Spock Chop, yes your very own Mr Spock haircut, to those who want to Live Long and Prosper. All you need to do is email spock.chop@shinecom.com to register your place. Prizes to be won on the day

Eyup!

Martin — 11/5/2009 1:02:52 PM

I just reviewed All You Need Is KILL as it happens: http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2009/09/the_lord_of_the.shtml Altered Carbon is very different, no mecha suits, just people able to swap flesh bodies.

Call for submissions: Anthology of stories on music

markharding — 11/5/2009 12:32:33 PM

Hi all

Call for submissions

I'm putting together an anthology of fantasy and science fiction stories on the theme of music.

Headline points are:

# £80per author

# Submissions deadline 30th April 2010

# There are VERY specific guidelines so check these CAREFULLY at http://www.music-strange-fiction-submissions.info/

I'll be printing the anthology in perfect bound paperback. Also in ePub format.

If you are interested in submitting it'll be worth keeping an eye out on the website as I'll update it with news as things go along.

Hope tp hear from you. Good Luck!

Mark H

Lightning does sometimes strike twice

PeterW — 11/5/2009 12:11:42 PM

The last BSFA mailing was delayed by several weeks because the company that was actually sending out the mailing ceased operations. The printing company we have been using for a number of years retrieved the magazines (all packaged for mailing), sent them out for us and said that it could continue doing this for us at an apparently reasonable price.

We learned a couple of days back that the printing company has ceased trading. Several other printers have already been suggested, but there could be a bit of delay while things get sorted out.

Eyup!

spaceghost — 11/5/2009 11:43:30 AM

Yeah I lived in Heaton about 7-8 years ago, on Heaton Road and Wilmer Road. I've got lots of friends who grew up round there too. Maybe you'd know some of my mates.

I might give Morgan a go. I read a book that sounds like it has a similar premise to Altered Carbon (in as much as it's about a war fought in robotic suits) called All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. I'd recommend it if you like pulpy, action-packed SF. There's some Groundhog Day style time travel in it too.

Eyup!

Martin — 11/5/2009 11:15:40 AM

Mostly Heaton but my family live in Shipley and Bingley these days. With Morgan I reckon you are best of beginning at the beginning: Altered Carbon. It is the first of trilogy which starts of a bit cyberpunk and becomes increasingly MilSF. He's currently writing a fantasy trilogy but he's also done a pair of standalone novels, most notably Black Man.

Eyup!

spaceghost — 11/5/2009 5:29:34 AM

Thanks for the welcome Jim. What part of Bradford did you live in Martin? I actually grew up in Eccleshill and I've lived in many other areas of Bradford since then.

I've never read any Richard Morgan. What would you recommend as a first book?

Eyup!

Jim Steel — 11/4/2009 3:19:27 PM

Yorkshire, eh? Bloody wonderful country. Welcome!

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Eyup!

Martin — 11/3/2009 8:49:54 AM

Hi spaceghost, I'm from Bradford myself (although currently in exile). Have you tried Richard Morgan? He is one of the most interesting British SF writers at the moment.

Eyup!

spaceghost — 11/3/2009 4:33:46 AM

Hello everyone. I've only just found this forum and joined right away. I'm a 38 year old from Keighley in West Yorkshire and I'm a fan of SF in all it's forms. Book wise, I especially like the culture novels of Iain M Banks but I've also read a bit of Peter F Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick and a few others.

I also read comics, particularly 2000ad and Judge Dredd. I also read manga such as Battle Angel Alita, Eden and Nausicaa. I'm a fan of anime too. Some favourite titles are Macross Frontier, Gundam 00, Noein, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell SAC and Cowboy BeBop.

Favourite SF on the big and small screen include Alien, the Star Wars trilogy (original), Blade Runner and the recent Battlestar Galactica 're-imagining'.

I'm always on the look out for new stuff and I'd appreciate any recommendations, particularly for good books. Anyway, that's me. I look forward to talking with you all and hopefully making some friends here.

How well is science portrayed in Science fiction films?

hanthony — 11/2/2009 8:34:22 AM

The weekly science journal Nature is hosting a debate at Kings Place in London on Monday 9th November on this topic. http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/spoken-word/words-on-monday/the-nature-autumn-09-debate-2

What you reading?

ShaunCG — 11/2/2009 6:48:08 AM

I for one am not reading "Falling to Destiny", a fun new nsci fi novel that came up from Down Under.

However, a friend did recently email me PDFs of "Moon People" and "Moon People 2". I might have to invest in a bottle of vodka before I risk reading those.

The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card

Anthony G Williams — 10/31/2009 3:22:03 PM

The Worthing stories were among the first that Card ever wrote, and this volume bring together all of them: a novel, The Worthing Chronicle, and a collection of short stories set in the same universe. This is set in the far future, when humanity has spread unchallenged across many worlds. On one remote, medieval and insignificant world, a small isolated village lives peaceably as it has done for countless generations, until tragedy strikes: suddenly, they start suffering accidents and experiencing pain, something previously unknown. At the same time a couple of strangers enter the village, an old man and a young woman, who communicate only by telepathy. They stay at the inn and ask the innkeeper's son to write down their story, which they relay to him at night in vivid dreams. The book alternates between telling the story of events in the village, and of those in his dreams.

Long before, some people had developed the ability to read minds but were almost entirely wiped out in a fierce reaction against them; the survivors were all members of the Worthing family, and kept their ability (known as the Swipe) hidden. Human civilisation was highly sophisticated, with the more prominent citizens living for hundreds of years by the expedient of spending most of it asleep via the drug somec, only waking occasionally. The story being told in the dreams in that of the old man, Jason Worthing, who had spent thousands of years asleep. As the book progresses, the circumstances which led to Jason's arrival and the return of pain are gradually revealed.

The other stories in The Worthing Saga are divided into two groups, Tales of Capitol and Tales from the Forest of Waters. In both cases, they describe the same events with the same characters as are covered in the novel, but in more detail and from different perspectives. Tales of Capitol are set in the former capital planet of the human empire, entirely covered by one continuous building and nominally ruled for millennia by Mother, who wakes for one day every five years to check on progress. Tales from the Forest of Waters is set on a remote planet in which the Worthing family develop their psychic abilities.

The Tales of Capitol contain a story which made me smile wryly, about a woman who becomes famous simply by continuously recording every aspect of her life for sale to her fans. She eventually loses the ability to distinguish reality from the show she puts on for the recordings, including in her personal relationships. Judging by the publicity gained today by some "celebrities" who are famous for constantly parading their private lives in public, it seems that life is imitating fiction once again.

Overall, an interesting collection with an unusual setting. Relatively slow-paced but well told, focusing on what it is to be human. One key aspect of the Worthing universe leaves me puzzled, though – the attractions of somec. In Capitol society, the higher the ratio of sleep time to waking time, the higher the status. But people don't actually live any longer in subjective time, and in only waking occasionally for relatively brief periods they become separated from friends and family, and detached from society; surely increasingly lost and alienated as time goes by. Perhaps I'm missing something…

(An extract from my SFF blog)

fun new sci fi novel FALLING TO DESTINY

peter3053 — 10/31/2009 3:55:03 AM

May I recommend to your members my new novel FALLING TO DESTINY by Peter Fleming?

Hymoliga Eight (a mobile talking Martian plant), Kim Hawthorne (a space ethicist from the not so distant future) and the mysterious narrator who goes by the name of "Ishmael Starbuck" join together as fugitives through space and time, travelling to Titan, where all art has been banned, to renaissance Finland (where they encounter the alien race known as "sea monks") and to distant Tarsarsus, which is being ravaged by self-perfecting robots called the Pelagyans.

Adventure science fiction with a human touch a good dose of wit.

Check out the blurb at amazon.co.uk or barnesandnoble.com.

Paperback. Great cover great title, fun blurb, great read. It'd look good on your shelf.

It's not every day that a piece of sci fi comes up from Down Under.

Gratefully,

Peter Fleming

fun new nsci fi novel FALLING TO DESTINY

peter3053 — 10/31/2009 3:53:39 AM

May I recommend to your members my new novel FALLING TO DESTINY by Peter Fleming?

Adventure science fiction with a human touch a good dose of wit.

Check out the blurb at amazon.co.uk or barnesandnoble.com.

Paperback. Great cover great title, fun blurb, great read. It'd look good on your shelf.

It's not every day that a piece of sci fi comes up from Down Under.

Gratefully,

Peter Fleming

What you reading?

George Berger — 10/29/2009 4:13:15 AM

Thanks, Martin. I've never seen it.

What you reading?

Martin — 10/29/2009 3:40:15 AM

[quote=George Berger]My comment on "Flash Forward" (p.4) is an overgeneralisation[/quote]

It fits with what I've read of Sawyer. Anyone seen this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashForward_(TV_series)

What you reading?

George Berger — 10/28/2009 1:04:09 PM

My comment on "Flash Forward" (p.4) is an overgeneralisation, although its structure does not show this. One can write a good SF story that contains both action and scientific-seeming descriptions, but no speculative scientific connections between these two aspects of the text. One must ensure that the characters' circumstances and behaviour are so vividly and convincingly portrayed that one suspends one's disbelief and becomes fascinated by their motivations and deeds. Sawyer's book failed to produce this mental state in me, since the plot did not interest me. My favorite example of success here is Dick's "Eye in the Sky."

October BSFA Monthly London Meeting - Ian McDonald Interview

Tony Keen — 10/28/2009 3:44:01 AM

This interview will now be conducted by Simon Bradshaw (former SFF Chair).

Due to illness Tony Keen is unable to conduct this interview. He sends his apologies, and thanks Simon for stepping in at short notice.

What you reading?

ShaunCG — 10/27/2009 11:07:36 AM

[quote=Martin]It is quite slow-moving by the standards of a glacier... I've just started The Year Of The Flood by Margaret Atwood. No talking squids as yet.[/quote]

My first draft of that post was more hyperbolic on this point, but then I remembered that about half a dozen Events do occur in the first 200 pages. Even if one of those is "protag gets a bit disillusioned at a dance".

The pre-London chapters are genuinely a drag with intermittent exceptions.

Ian: I am enjoying the luxurious prose and sense of place, yes. At this point I feel more fond of the book than I can really articulate, heh.

What you reading?

Ian Whates — 10/27/2009 9:05:33 AM

Have to admit that I loved The Light Ages. Yes, this does for 'dynamic' what Heston Blumenthal does for conservative food preparation, but the richness of the narrative and the magical Dickensian world the author conjures up kept me totally enthralled. This isn't so much reading gold as reading velvet.

What you reading?

Martin — 10/27/2009 8:18:09 AM

It is quite slow-moving by the standards of a glacier... I've just started The Year Of The Flood by Margaret Atwood. No talking squids as yet.

What you reading?

ShaunCG — 10/27/2009 5:19:19 AM

I'm finally reading Ian MacLeod's _The Light Ages_. I like his writing, and the portrayal of a socialist activist is wryly earthy. The story is quite slow-moving by contemporary standards; this is not necessarily a bad thing. I will have to see where it eventually leads.

What you reading?

George Berger — 10/26/2009 1:36:27 PM

"Flash Forward" holds its own as the most disappointing SF book i have read in years. A boring, pretentious ,technothriller whose central speculative scientific premise is completely unsupported by the cutting-edge scientific setting.

What you reading?

Meridian — 10/26/2009 12:17:58 PM

Currently reading "Flash Forward" by Robert J. Sawyer in order to do a review for bookgeeks.co.uk, it's ok. His writing style is fairly straightforward if a tad shallow. It's a pretty easy read.

Next will be Kim Stanley Robinson's "Gallileo's Dream" for a review on SFRevu.com

New Scientist magazine

Anthony G Williams — 10/25/2009 5:17:43 AM

New Scientist magazine recently (19 September) included a special feature on SF under the heading "The Fiction of Now". It kicks off with an article by Kim Stanley Robinson who argues that British SF is currently in a golden age and is undeservedly ignored by the literati when it comes to nominations for literary prizes. This is followed by a series of very short stories, consisting of just a few paragraphs, by Ken Macleod, Ian McDonald, Nicola Griffith, Stephen Baxter, Paul McAuley, Ian Watson and Justina Robson. Geoff Ryman has a piece on what the world may really be like in 100 years, and there are reviews of novels by Greg Egan (Oceanic), Iain Banks (Transition), Margaret Attwood (The Year of the Flood), Fay Weldon (Chalcot Crescent) and Charles Stross (Wireless). All credit to the magazine for its occasional promotions of SF as well as its often thought-provoking summaries of current scientific developments and their potential implications.

A good example of the latter is the recent four-part series "Blueprint for a Better World", in which its contributors look beyond the usual gloomy forecasts to propose and justify a wide range of measures which could be introduced now in order to improve our prospects. They vary from the social through the political to big science projects. The proposals are often controversial (especially the social ones), such as legalising the use of drugs and collecting everyone's DNA profile at birth. Adopting genetic engineering as a way of boosting crop yields in drier environments also won't sit well with everyone. Putting more emphasis on living long, happy lives rather than accumulating material wealth through continuous economic growth is an interesting social idea; switching to a shorter working week (but working longer days) might achieve that as well as saving energy. Taxing carbon to encourage its economical use, plus encouraging local "green" power generation and eating less meat, all address global warming, but so does finding ways of cooling the planet (it now being too late to avoid significant warming just through reducing CO² emissions). More generally (and in my opinion perhaps the most worthwhile, although also the most difficult) would be to promote rational decision-making rather than acting on gut feelings and superstition; especially on the part of politicians, but also the general population. The series finished with brief descriptions of twenty-nine of the most promising ideas in the field of green technology.

That issue (3 October) also considers the implications for the planet of the latest computer projections from the UK Meteorological Office which indicate that if we carry on as we are now, the Earth could warm by an average of 4°C within the next half-century. "Catastrophic" is a reasonable word to use for the forecast outcome as far humanity is concerned. It is still not too late to avoid this, given a serious and sustained global effort. Holding down the increase to just 2 degrees is still feasible; but it seems that the probability of that happening is no higher than 50:50. More and more political leaders are coming around to the realisation that this is a serious and rapidly growing problem which needs action now, but public acceptance of that is sluggish and unwilling if not resentful.

Another article considers how the planet might recover from runaway global warming and the associated mass extinctions, by examining the record in the rocks from the last time there was a period of rapid and substantial warming. This was the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum of 55 million years ago, when the Earth heated by 9ºC over a period of a few thousand years. Hint: forget humanity, think rats and cockroaches…and maybe ten million years before biodiversity gets going again.

All in all, this is a magazine which constantly contains items of interest to any follower of science or SF (as well as many good ideas for SF writers!). Highly recommended.

(An extract from my SFF blog)

UFO Sighting!

Anthony G Williams — 10/25/2009 5:15:48 AM

"What I find most damning about the whole UFO movement is that they've got 60 years of history and absolutely nothing to show for it other than accumulated and often contradictory anecdotes. I say, cut through the crap: it's a testimony to the imperfection of human perception and the suggestibility of the human mind, nothing more."

- P Z Myers

UFO Sighting!

Gary Spencer — 10/24/2009 3:37:14 PM

Wait till dusk, ideally in large-windowed modern building without curtains or blinds. Then just watch those reflected internal light fittings appear like glowing ships in the dim sky outside. Take photographs, but leave out all the details that would give it away. Amaze your friends!

Car headlights in the distance work a treat in the countryside. The land is so dim that they look like they are flying in odd patterns.

And the most impressive of all are actually out-of-focus birds. Little white balls that move strangely.

I once saw geese in formation getting hit by the setting suns rays. They really did glow like fireballs. I was genuinely gobsmacked for about one minute, until they got nearer.

This is a famously inexplicable film of UFO's making crop circles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M6vP8-SbU0

Try and tell yourself that they aren't just out of focus birds. The rest is wobbly time-lapse editing.

There really is NO good evidence for the 'UFO's are aliens' hypothesis at all, anywhere, anyplace. If anyone knows of any whatsoever I would love to see it.

Gamesfest 4 24/10/20009 Watford

gamesfester — 10/22/2009 1:36:45 AM

Great news! [b]Steve Jackson[/b] co founder of Games Workshop and co creator of the Fighting Fantasy series will be attending GamesFest 4 with Fighting Fantasy books. More Good News ! Elliott EastoeTalisman Consultant, Playtester and Rules/FAQ Archimage of Fanatsy Flight Games will be running our [b]Talisman [/b]tournament!

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October BSFA Monthly London Meeting - Ian McDonald Interview

Tony Keen — 10/20/2009 11:36:36 AM

On Wednesday 28th October 2009, from around 7pm

IAN MCDONALD (award-winning author of River of Gods, Brasyl, short story collection Cyberabad Days, The Dervish House [due out 2010], and others) will be interviewed by Tony Keen (London meetings organizer).

Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)

Map: here.

All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.)

Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5).

There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

FUTURE EVENTS:

25th November 2009 – MICHAEL MARSHALL / SMITH interviewed by Kate Bodley
(No meeting in December)

27th January 2010 – JIM BURNS interviewed by Pete Young
24th February 2010 – DAVID EDGERTON interviewed by Shana Worthen

Forum layout gone wrong?

Anthony G Williams — 10/19/2009 3:10:59 PM

Yes, it's OK now, thanks.

Forum layout gone wrong?

Del — 10/19/2009 6:28:15 AM

Should be fixed now. Could someone check it and post the results back here please?

Forum layout gone wrong?

Del — 10/19/2009 4:52:48 AM

[quote=ShaunCG]I've just checked this on my IE7 and taken a screenshot of the problem:

http://www.twitpic.com/m42v8
[/quote] Great stuff, thanks Shaun. I think I know where this is going wrong. Should have if fixed soon.

Forum layout gone wrong?

ShaunCG — 10/19/2009 4:31:25 AM

I've just checked this on my IE7 and taken a screenshot of the problem:

http://www.twitpic.com/m42v8

Penguin Books Study Day - incl. SF workshop. 24th October, Bristol

humxs — 10/19/2009 3:47:56 AM

The University of Bristol Penguin Archive Project is holding a Readers' Day on Saturday 24th October, 10am - 4pm, titled 'Introducing Penguin'.

It is a series of lectures and panel discussions focusing on Penguin, its output and its history, and includes a workshop on classic Penguin science fiction, from Brian Aldiss to Roger Zelazny. The workshop is led by James Pardey, creator of The Art of Penguin Science Fiction website (http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/). He will also take part in the panel discussion.

For more information, and to download a booking form, please visit the Penguin Archive Project website at:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/penguinarchiveproject

Advance booking essential.

Forum layout gone wrong?

Del — 10/19/2009 3:00:12 AM

Hey Tony, I have checked out the layout but can't see any problems. I use IE8 and FF 3.5 now so I can't tell if this is just an IE7 issue. WIll do some more research and see if I can get a fix. D.

The Large What????

George Berger — 10/19/2009 2:08:38 AM

That's hilarious Tony. I'll pass it on to a relative who works on "it" all day at the Cern. In the late 50s or early 60s there were several records (I think 2) called "Pardon My Blooper." They contained mistakes of that sort made on the American radio. I remember many of them, but shall mention only one here. "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Hoobert Heaver!" Although my sense of humour for bloopers of all sorts is now working full-blast, I'll restrain myself and say no more.

The Large What????

Anthony G Williams — 10/19/2009 1:39:05 AM

I just had to share this one: in a forum discussion on The Large Hadron Collider, one poster inadvertently transposed two of the letters in a classic typo, thereby renaming the beast.

I give you: The Large Hardon Collider!