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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 02/23/90 -- Vol. 8, No. 34
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
03/07 LZ: THRICE UPON A TIME by James Hogan (Affecting the Past)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
03/10 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Terry Bisson
(author of WYRLDMAKER and WALKING MAN)
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
04/21 NJSFS New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Josepha Sherman
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzx!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3D-225A 949-5866 homxa!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 lzfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. At AT&T we are inventing the future every day. (Can you tell I
am bucking for a job in advertising?) But what does the future
hold for communications devices? Does ISDN really hold all the
answers? Are there new frontiers beyond "call waiting"? Find out
in our next Leeperhouse film festival, 7 PM, March 7, when we will
show you
The Future of Communications
THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955) dir. by Joseph M. Newman
BRAINSTORM (1983) dir. by Douglas Trumbull
Yes, we found two films based around advanced communications
devices.
THE MT VOID Page 2
As the average non-science-fiction fan what science fiction is
about and you will probably get a list like "monsters, death rays,
aliens, flying saucers, interplanetary warfare." Of course, you
and I know differently. Well, _T_h_i_s _I_s_l_a_n_d _E_a_r_t_h is the film they
are thinking of. It has all that and more. And it features the
do-everything communications device, the Interociter. Universal
Pictures was competing with MGM to see which studio could make the
more popular science fiction film. MGM made _F_o_r_b_i_d_d_e_n _P_l_a_n_e_t and
Universal made _T_h_i_s _I_s_l_a_n_d _E_a_r_t_h, basing it on the novel by Raymond
F. Jones. I wouldn't call it really thought-provoking science
fiction, but it really is the greatest whiz-bang sci-fi film of the
pre-_S_t_a_r-_W_a_r_s era. If you have never seen it, you really should.
Now, if you want science fiction--as opposed to sci-fi--you cannot
do a whole lot better than the first 70 minutes or so of
_B_r_a_i_n_s_t_o_r_m. The film is about a device that can reproduce in one
mind exact mental images from someone else's mind. What starts out
looking like an amusing toy with applications in the entertainment
industry becomes more and more significant as time goes on, until
it becomes obvious that it will transform humanity into something
else. This device is more versatile and more important than the
laser. And the film does a very good job of showing what the
industrial research community is really like. (As an aside, there
is even some discussion of room temperature super-conductors about
five years before that topic would make world-wide headlines.) Due
at least in part to the death of Natalie Wood, this film founders
in the last third, but I would still contend it is the best science
fiction film of the 1980s.
2. This year's Nebula nominees are as follows:
- Novel:
- Poul Anderson, _B_o_a_t _o_f _a _M_i_l_l_i_o_n _Y_e_a_r_s (Tor)
- Orson Scott Card, _P_r_e_n_t_i_c_e _A_l_v_i_n (Tor)
- John Kessel, _G_o_o_d _N_e_w_s _F_r_o_m _O_u_t_e_r _S_p_a_c_e (Tor)
- Mike Resnick, _I_v_o_r_y: _A _L_e_g_e_n_d _o_f _P_a_s_t _a_n_d _F_u_t_u_r_e (Tor)
- Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, _T_h_e _H_e_a_l_e_r'_s _W_a_r
(Doubleday/Foundation)
- Jane Yolen, _S_i_s_t_e_r _L_i_g_h_t, _S_i_s_t_e_r _D_a_r_k
- Novellas:
- Lois McMaster Bujold, "The Mountains of Mourning"
(_A_n_a_l_o_g, _B_o_r_d_e_r_s _o_f _I_n_f_i_n_i_t_y)
- John Crowley, "Great Works of Time" (_N_o_v_e_l_t_y)
- George Alec Effinger, "Marid Changes his Mind" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Megan Lindholm, "A Touch of Lavender" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Judith Moffett, "Tiny Tango" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Howard Waldrop, "A Dozen Tough Jobs" (Zeising Brothers)
THE MT VOID Page 3
- Novelettes:
- Greg Bear, "Sisters" (_T_a_n_g_e_n_t_s)
- Megan Lindholm, "Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man"
(_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Mike Resnick, "For I Have Touched the Sky" (_F&_S_F)
- Kristine Kathyrn Rusch, "Fast Cars" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Robert Silverberg, "Enter A Soldier. Later: Enter Another
(_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s, _T_i_m_e_g_a_t_e)
- Connie Willis, "At the Rialto" (_O_m_n_i, _T_h_e _M_i_c_r_o_v_e_r_s_e)
- Short Stories:
- Mary Aldridge, "The Adinkra Cloth" (_M_a_r_i_o_n _Z_i_m_m_e_r
_B_r_a_d_l_e_y'_s _F_a_n_t_a_s_y _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e)
- Michael Bishop, "The Ommatidium Miniatures" (_T_h_e
_M_i_c_r_o_v_e_r_s_e)
- Orson Scott Card, "Lost Boys" (_F&_S_F)
- Suzy McKee Charnas, "Boobs" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Geoffrey A. Landis, "Ripples in the Dirac Sea" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
- Bruce Sterling, "Dori Bangs" (_A_s_i_m_o_v'_s)
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper
Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most
dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American
act that could most easily defeat us.
-- William O. Douglas
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