Some sf-fantasy related events, Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro, Jan-Feb 2014
Erotic Writers of America sf/fantasy/horror special interest group meeting postponed for medical reasons. The male officers are pregnant.
Thursday January 2, 6:30 PM Sci-Fi Adult Book Club. Nokomis Library, 5100 34th Ave S, Minneapolis
Join our discussion of new and interesting sci-fi titles. Bring along your recommendations for future meetings. Lending copies may be picked up at the information desk prior to meeting.
Tuesday January 14, 7 PM East St Paul (ESP) Speculative Fiction Writers Meetup
Davannis Pizza and Hot Hoagies -- East Side, 310 White Bear Ave, Saint Paul, MN
We're set up back in the party room with our pizzas and manuscripts. Feel free to stop and order your food when you arrive.
As we head into 2014, our topic of discussion will be The Do's and Don'ts of World Building. Even though we may have creative license to build a world of our own design, there are basic rules that should apply. Readers will expect that there is some semblance of order involved, no matter which sub-genre we are writing in.
Once again, we will be critiquing three submissions. The guidelines are....
http://www.meetup.com/MinnSpec/events/155146702/
Thursday January 16, 6-8 An Evening at the Night Vale Public Library. Nokomis Library, 5100 34th Ave S, Minneapolis [Teen event] Spend an evening devoted to the popular podcast, "Welcome to Night Vale." Enjoy Night Vale crafts and activities, participate in a costume or art show, and of course, "All Hail the Glow Cloud!" Librarian repellent will be provided.
Sunday January 19, noon-1:30 Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers (MinnSpec) Writing characters with minds different from mine. This workshop may cover topics like this:
* Synesthesia
* Help! I'm a man and I need to write about my woman protagonist falling in love.
* I need to write a character who's a psion. What's a good way to do this?
* My character is an alien who can see radio waves. What's a good way to do this?
Dan Goodman and Margaret Taylor will both talk about synesthesia from personal experience
Further information: www.meetup.com/MinnSpec/
Thursday February 5, 6:30 PM Sci-Fi Adult Book Club. Nokomis Library, 5100 34th Ave S, Minneapolis Join our discussion of new and interesting sci-fi titles. Bring along your recommendations for future meetings. Lending copies may be picked up at the information desk prior to meeting.
Saturday February 22, 3-4 PM Author Talk: Patricia C. Wrede Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Pkway, Brooklyn Center [Teen event] Wrede is an acclaimed local author of numerous fantasy and young adult books, including the beloved "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" as well as the Mairelon books and the Old West Frontier Magic series. Wrede will read from her books and answer questions. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Information for the Minnesota Science Fiction Society (oldest surviving local sf club) at www.mnstf.org
Information for the Geek Partnership Society and numerous affiliated groups at http://www.meetup.com/Geek-Partnership-Society/
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Saturday October 19, 2013 Picked up two fantasy novels from Southeast Library.
Maz Gladstone, Three Parts Dead. Tor, 2012. Enjoyable. Pulpish, with interesting characters and a background which held up.
Note: the cover shows a young Black woman, fully clothed. (Since the book isn't set in our world, "Afro-American" would be inaccurate.)
Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Found it boring.
***Rain mixed with ice pellets today. Rain mixed with snow coming up. I think I can put away my shortsleeved shirts.
***comment from soon_lee on LiveJournal, October 19:
"Liver (more mushy) & giblet (more chewy, even sometimes rubbery) have very different textures."
Here's what the OED has to say:
giblets...
the liver, heart, gizzard, and neck of a chicken or other fowl, usually removed before the bird is cooked, and often used to make gravy, stuffing, or soup.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/giblets?view=uk
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/giblets
***In conclusion, _Hideous Progeny_ is a thoroughly researched and
well-structured introduction to eugenicist thought on disability in
classic horror films. It reveals eugenicist uses of disability as
pernicious, and offers a variety of nuanced and developed arguments
about the use of horror to undercut eugenical rhetoric, and, more
importantly, presents it as fundamentally unstable, "obsessively
fascinated with the deviance it claimed to abhor" (p. 7). Such
fascination is as relevant to contemporary cultural studies of
disability as it is to 1930s horror films, and _Hideous Progeny_ is a
valuable contribution to discussions of disability, spectacle, and
eugenics in genre fiction and film.
Citation: Hannah Tweed. Review of Smith, Angela M., _Hideous Progeny:
Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema_. H-Disability, H-Net
Reviews. October, 2013.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38628
***From Twitter:
Mr Rossignol @jimrossignol
The internet contains so many sentences starting "Am I the only person who..." and the answer is always "no".
Retweeted by Texas Triffid Ranch
Al Jazeera America @ajam
Video: California man secures health insurance for $1 per month through Obamacare http://alj.am/1c4C4V6
Lauren Hall-Lew @dialect
Labov announces that the Atlas of North American English is being made available for Open Access! Whoo hoo! #NWAV42
Retweeted by Benjamin Lukoff
Davho Pldal @SnarkOnTap
Freedomworks CEO says shutdown was a brilliant strategy. Freedomworks is going broke. Coincidence? Uh, no.
Maz Gladstone, Three Parts Dead. Tor, 2012. Enjoyable. Pulpish, with interesting characters and a background which held up.
Note: the cover shows a young Black woman, fully clothed. (Since the book isn't set in our world, "Afro-American" would be inaccurate.)
Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Found it boring.
***Rain mixed with ice pellets today. Rain mixed with snow coming up. I think I can put away my shortsleeved shirts.
***comment from soon_lee on LiveJournal, October 19:
"Liver (more mushy) & giblet (more chewy, even sometimes rubbery) have very different textures."
Here's what the OED has to say:
giblets...
the liver, heart, gizzard, and neck of a chicken or other fowl, usually removed before the bird is cooked, and often used to make gravy, stuffing, or soup.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/giblets?view=uk
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/giblets
***In conclusion, _Hideous Progeny_ is a thoroughly researched and
well-structured introduction to eugenicist thought on disability in
classic horror films. It reveals eugenicist uses of disability as
pernicious, and offers a variety of nuanced and developed arguments
about the use of horror to undercut eugenical rhetoric, and, more
importantly, presents it as fundamentally unstable, "obsessively
fascinated with the deviance it claimed to abhor" (p. 7). Such
fascination is as relevant to contemporary cultural studies of
disability as it is to 1930s horror films, and _Hideous Progeny_ is a
valuable contribution to discussions of disability, spectacle, and
eugenics in genre fiction and film.
Citation: Hannah Tweed. Review of Smith, Angela M., _Hideous Progeny:
Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema_. H-Disability, H-Net
Reviews. October, 2013.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38628
***From Twitter:
Mr Rossignol @jimrossignol
The internet contains so many sentences starting "Am I the only person who..." and the answer is always "no".
Retweeted by Texas Triffid Ranch
Al Jazeera America @ajam
Video: California man secures health insurance for $1 per month through Obamacare http://alj.am/1c4C4V6
Lauren Hall-Lew @dialect
Labov announces that the Atlas of North American English is being made available for Open Access! Whoo hoo! #NWAV42
Retweeted by Benjamin Lukoff
Davho Pldal @SnarkOnTap
Freedomworks CEO says shutdown was a brilliant strategy. Freedomworks is going broke. Coincidence? Uh, no.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
I Don't Want to Be Normal. I Want to Be Healthy. #2 Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com. 612-298-2354
Thursday October 10, 2013 At Steeple People Thrift Store, found a manbag which I liked better than the one I'd been using.
Across Lyndale Avenue to the Wedge Coop.
***Among the new books at Central Library, found: Paula Guran, The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons. (Mammoth is the publisher; unfortunately, none of the angels or demons are mammoths.) Recommended; theological accuracy not guaranteed.
***I arrived at the Adult Children Anonymous meeting place with a large backpack. Someone remarked that I was obviously prepared for any emergency.
No, I said. I only had one elephant gun.
***From politicalwire.com:
Drunk Dial Congress
A new service randomly connects you to the office of a Member of Congress so you can yell at them.
drunkdialcongress.org
***From Twitter:
Jim Antle @jimantle
Don't believe the liberal pollsters on the shutdown. These are the same skewed polls that said Obama would be reelected.
Retweeted by Josh Gerstein
Friday October 11, 2013 The Star Tribune had an article on the upcoming Zombie Pub Crawl. The Brain Eating Contest will use veal brain tacos, which I'd never heard of before.
***Intentional communities designed for autistic people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/garden/the-architecture-of-autism.html?hpw&pagewanted=all&_r=0
***From Twitter:
Nancy Friedman @Fritinancy
Portmonthteau of the day: Socktober. http://soulpancake.com/socktober/
Swedish Canary @SwedishCanary 9 Oct
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as a basis for a system of government is starting to sound better every minute.
Retweeted by Bug G. Membracid
Thursday October 10, 2013 At Steeple People Thrift Store, found a manbag which I liked better than the one I'd been using.
Across Lyndale Avenue to the Wedge Coop.
***Among the new books at Central Library, found: Paula Guran, The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons. (Mammoth is the publisher; unfortunately, none of the angels or demons are mammoths.) Recommended; theological accuracy not guaranteed.
***I arrived at the Adult Children Anonymous meeting place with a large backpack. Someone remarked that I was obviously prepared for any emergency.
No, I said. I only had one elephant gun.
***From politicalwire.com:
Drunk Dial Congress
A new service randomly connects you to the office of a Member of Congress so you can yell at them.
drunkdialcongress.org
***From Twitter:
Jim Antle @jimantle
Don't believe the liberal pollsters on the shutdown. These are the same skewed polls that said Obama would be reelected.
Retweeted by Josh Gerstein
Friday October 11, 2013 The Star Tribune had an article on the upcoming Zombie Pub Crawl. The Brain Eating Contest will use veal brain tacos, which I'd never heard of before.
***Intentional communities designed for autistic people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/garden/the-architecture-of-autism.html?hpw&pagewanted=all&_r=0
***From Twitter:
Nancy Friedman @Fritinancy
Portmonthteau of the day: Socktober. http://soulpancake.com/socktober/
Swedish Canary @SwedishCanary 9 Oct
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as a basis for a system of government is starting to sound better every minute.
Retweeted by Bug G. Membracid
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Not Yet Overused in Urban Fantasy
These have been used (and perhaps overused) in other kinds of spec-fic. However, if they've been used in urban fantasy, they haven't reached the "Oh no -- not another ___ story!" level.
1. Once there was an evil race which terrorized the universe/multiverse. They were defeated, but:
a. A few survived on a planet they call Earth (Michael Shaara, "All the Way Back.")
b. They were imprisoned in a space with only three spatial dimensions (Colin Kapp, Transfinite Man.)
2. Organizations which can accurately predict the future compete with each other to shape it.
3. All the technology we think is science-based is really magical.
4. Devils are actually the Good Guys. William Blake seems to have believed this, at least part of the time. (Note: If you want believable characters, don't write William Blake into your story.)
5. After a catastrophe, the only people left alive are a man called Adam and a woman called Eve. This one was overused in science fiction by 1950, if not before; I suspect it's not very salable in any related genre.
6. Men and women belong to different species.
These have been used (and perhaps overused) in other kinds of spec-fic. However, if they've been used in urban fantasy, they haven't reached the "Oh no -- not another ___ story!" level.
1. Once there was an evil race which terrorized the universe/multiverse. They were defeated, but:
a. A few survived on a planet they call Earth (Michael Shaara, "All the Way Back.")
b. They were imprisoned in a space with only three spatial dimensions (Colin Kapp, Transfinite Man.)
2. Organizations which can accurately predict the future compete with each other to shape it.
3. All the technology we think is science-based is really magical.
4. Devils are actually the Good Guys. William Blake seems to have believed this, at least part of the time. (Note: If you want believable characters, don't write William Blake into your story.)
5. After a catastrophe, the only people left alive are a man called Adam and a woman called Eve. This one was overused in science fiction by 1950, if not before; I suspect it's not very salable in any related genre.
6. Men and women belong to different species.
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