CME-Zine 003

Special Saskatoon Spec Fic Pub Night Issue

A reminder to all and sundry that Saskatoon’s first Speculative Fiction pub night will be occur this Thursday, Jan 27 at 7:30 in the back room of Amigos Cantina on 10th Street, 1 block east of Broadway. Join us for food, fun and fights as we hang with fellow fans in an atmosphere of relaxing camaraderie.

Can’t Get enough of my SF Books

Funny, I never ate Sugar-Crisps in my life, yet approaching 50, that ditty remains a part of my awareness. Hoping that SF can manage to do the same, I set out to create a list of great books for 2010. The realization of how little I got read last year, coupled with the discovery of exactly how many people do exactly the same thing was bit humbling. So, instead, I point you to a few places where you may discover other people’s lists.
Strange Love For Science Fiction Blog has interesting tidbits regularly, but for today, the writer points to several lists, including on YA specific:  http://strangelove4sf.blogspot.com/2011/01/best-sf-books-2010-list-mania.html
Amazon lets you select between Editors’ Picks in book and ebook format, or top customer picks (presumably by sales)  http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000628171
Coming at it from the other end, in 2009, Fantasy Book Critic’s Liviu listed 10 most anticipated reads of 2010. http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2009/12/livius-top-ten-anticipated-novels-of.html

The Imagiquarium of Sol III

The depths of Earth’s oceans are one of the few remaining unexplored frontiers: Among National Geographic’s treasures for writers:
Their top ten most viewed photo galleries for last year, National Geographic imagery, including video, of the Pacific Barrel eye fish, with its transparent head, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/fish-transparent-head-barreleye-picture/
And fish that walk, rather than swimming, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/photogalleries/100524-new-species-handfish-walk-science-pictures/

Hobbit Hopes dashed

Another crushing blow delivered to humanity’s hope that furry-feeted short beings will emerge as a real species to rescue us from the forces of evil. Emeritus Professor Charles Oxnard of University of Western Australia reports increasing evidence that so called Home Florensis was simply homo sapiens with iodine deficiency.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100928025514.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciencedaily+(ScienceDaily:+Latest+Science+News)&utm_content=Google+International
Coming hard-on-the-heels of international Actors’ Unions warnings to their members not to accept roles in the upcoming Hobbit movies, this may be a death blow to those with dreams of sailing in to the west with the elves any time soon.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/09/26/hobbit-unions-actors.html

Site Selection:

Possibly a bit cumbersome for deciding which restaurant to gather at, still one can’t help but think honeybees are on to something. Science Daily reports an interesting tidbit about how bees find new homes from the book Honeybee Democracy
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100928153151.htm

Genetics in a nutshell

“Not True. The fight or flight instinct is coded genetically. Instead of fleeing, he chose to fight, bare-handed, against a brawny member of the weasel family” Who can put Geekdom and imagination more firmly in their place than Sheldon of Big Bang Theory. Above is Sheldon’s rebuttal, in a recent episode, to a comment that his uncle’s death is hardly the result of a genetic trait. If you aren’t watching Big Bang Theory, I can only pity your descendants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory

WTF?

If you aren’t reading the daily WTF, I must ask “Why TF Not?” While a large share of them are so geeky as to go over my head, the ones that are not are definitely worth the triage process. A recent particular favourite, from the “bikeunsure” page: “Why My Remote is Not Operating the Air Conditioner”
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Bikeunsure.aspx

Surplus of Toasters

With a look-and-feel that is even more soap-operaish than the original, Battlestar Galactica precursor series Caprica isn’t for everyone. Those missing the feel of the original may find the “midquel” more to their liking. “Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome” follows Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20's and a recent Academy graduate, as he enters the first Cylon War a decade in.
http://blastr.com/2010/10/battlestar-galactica-preq.php

The Wrath of Fen

Who know what dangers lurk in making tiny errors in reporting? It kind of depends. If the reporting is related to genre activities, you’d best be prepared to suffer the mis-consequences. http://www.cjr.org/regret_the_error/the_wrath_of_khan.php

Mega Joules: Large releases of Fannish energy

• World Fantasy Convention - Oct 28-31, 2010
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, Columbus OH
• Guests of Honor: Dennis McKiernan, Esther Friesner, David Hartwell, Darrell K. Sweet

• SFContario - Nov 19-21, 2010 (updated Sept 4)
• Toronto Ontario Canada
• Author GoH: Michael Swanwick; Editor GoHs: Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden; Artist GoH: Billy Tackett; Fan GoH: Geri Sullivan; Filk GoH: Karen Linsley,
• Toronto's newest science fiction convention.
• G-Anime - Feb 5-6, 2011
• Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
• Guests:Hubert Corriveau, Dawn McKechnie (Kaijugal), Julien Mathern, Liana K, Marie Bilodeau, Jay Odjick, Mélodie Courchesne, Ïve Bastrash, Robert Smith, Ontario Anime Society
• Con-G : Feb 19-20 Guelph, ON
• GeekFest MTL : 5-6 Mars 2011
• Tornoto Comic-Con : 18-19-20 Mars 2011
• FilKONtario : 1-2-3 Avril 2011
• Salute 2011, Apr 1-3, Burnaby, BC
• Ad-Astra : 8-9-10 Avril 2011
• SCI-FI On the Rock, Apr 16-17 2011, St John, Newfoundland
• Mtl Comic-Con : 8 Mai 2011
• Edmonton Pop Culture Fair, May 15, 2011, Edmonton, AB
• KeyCon : 20-21-22 Mai 2011
• Anime North  : May 27 -29 Toronto, ON
• Prariecon June 3-5 2011 Brandon, MB
• What the fur : 3-4-5 Juin 2011
• Grand Roludothon : Juin 2011
• Calgary Entertainment Expo, Jun 17-19 2011, Calgary, AB
• Polaris : 15-16-17 Juillet
• AI-Kon, July 15-17, 2011 Winnipeg, MB
• Animethon 18, Aug 5-7, 2011, Edmonton, AB
• Otakuthon : 12-13-14 Août 2011
• Fan Expo : 25-26-27-28 Août 2011 (4 Days)
• Can-Con : 9-10-11 Septembre 2011
• V-Con : 30 Septembre - 1-2 Octobre 2011
• Cape & Kimono : 30 Septembre - 1-2 Octobre 2011 (Tentative)
• Creation Con (Salute to Supernatural) : 7-8-9 Octobre 2011
• Con*Cept : 14-15-16 Octobre 2011
• WizardCon, Oct 28-30 2011, Winnipeg, MB
• Hal-Con, Nov 12-13, 2011, Halifax, NS
• SF ConTario : 18-19-20 Novembre 2011

Coronal Mass Ejection (“CME”) number 003 is Copyright (c) Kent G Pollard, 2010. Errors and omissions are my own, everything else is shared with the Spec-fic fans of Canada. While I am active in several organizations, this newsletter is my own, and in no way represents the official viewpoints of any such group.