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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 02/11/94 -- Vol. 12, No. 33
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
02/16 Demo of Electronic Hugo and Nebula Anthology (MT 3D-441)
03/09 A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller (Vividly Memorable SF)
03/30 THE MIND PARASITES by Colin Wilson (tentative)
04/20 VALIS by Philip K. Dick (tentative)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 holly!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 holly!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 quartet!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Frequently in science fiction novels the protagonist sits down
to a computer screen to read a book, but in real life we haven't
gotten there yet--or have we? ClariNet Communications decided to
give it a try, and produced the _1_9_9_3 _H_u_g_o _a_n_d _N_e_b_u_l_a _A_n_t_h_o_l_o_g_y, a
CD-ROM which contains all of that year's Hugo-nominated fiction,
all of that year's Nebula-nominated short fiction, samples of the
non-fiction and fan writing, and artists' portfolios. There's even
a hypertext version of Vernor Vinge's _F_i_r_e _U_p_o_n _t_h_e _D_e_e_p, complete
with the author's annotations.
But of course you need a computer and software to view the contents
of this CD. So next Wednesday, March 16, at noon in Middletown
3D-441 (yes, our august chairperson's office) we will have a PC set
THE MT VOID Page 2
up to demonstrate this new technology. You won't have time to read
all of a novel, or even an entire short story, but you can see some
impressive artwork by the leading science fiction artists and get a
glimpse into what the electronic future may hold. Join us! (You
don't even have to read a discussion book ahead of time!) [-ecl]
===================================================================
2. Well, we had another storm of the century this year. That
phrase is something of a joke with Evelyn and me since last year we
had three storms and each one was dubbed "the storm of the century"
and not one dropped enough snow on our driveway to make it
necessary to shovel. For five years, give or take a year, I have
been writing on how some mysterious force watches over Evelyn. At
the risk of boring long-time readers, I will just say that it is
nominally Evelyn's responsibility to keep the driveway clear. That
is a figurehead position like the fact that the Queen of England is
the nominal head of the Anglican Church, but I kind of doubt that
she goes around getting stuck up about it and telling people what
to believe and exercising power. Evelyn is stuck up, tells me what
to believe, and exercises power, but not really over the driveway.
But somehow she became the driveway queen for one year and suddenly
the driveway stopped needing to be done. It was something
supernatural, I think. Since then we have had snow deep enough to
shovel only once, though other areas relatively nearby seem to get
more than we do. Oh, we might get an inch, but it goes away soon
enough, but something seems to be watching over Evelyn and the
driveway. I wonder if this is how new religions are born?
Anyway, earlier this year when the Northeast was just lambasted
with a storm, it left a little ice on our driveway and really bent
over the tree in our front yard, but had done little otherwise.
But in the papers I read that it was a devastating storm. (Even
this last storm was small compared to the Massachusetts snows of my
youth.) There was a commentator on NPR who mentioned that perhaps
ice storms and cold weather are good for you. He says that in warm
climates people don't work as hard. They are laid back and go out
picnicking. Cold, he thinks, is nature's way to tell us we should
get to work. Well let me quote from Orson Welles from _T_h_e _T_h_i_r_d
_M_a_n. "In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had
warfare, terror murder, and bloodshed, but they produced
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In
Switzerland, they had brotherly love they had 500 years od
democracy and peace--and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."
Well you know what else they had in Italy? A warm Mediterranean
climate. What did Switzerland have? Snow. Lots of snow.
===================================================================
THE MT VOID Page 3
3. THE ALIENS OF EARTH by Nancy Kress (Arkham House, ISBN 0-87054-
166-8, 1993, 327pp, US$20.95) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
This book of eighteen stories is Nancy Kress's second collection.
(The first _T_r_i_n_i_t_y _a_n_d _O_t_h_e_r _S_t_o_r_i_e_s was published in 1985 by
Bluejay and is out of print.) This one includes the two Hugo-
nominated stories "And Wild for to Hold" and "The Mountain to
Mohammed." (They were both nominated for Best Novelette for 1990,
and when "The Mountain to Mohammed" won, Kress was presented with a
button that read, "I lost the Hugo to Nancy Kress.")
All but one of the stories in _T_h_e _A_l_i_e_n_s _o_f _E_a_r_t_h share one common
element: they take place on Earth (hence the title). Beyond that
they range from horror ("To Scale" and "Philippa's Hands") to
fantasy ("Spillage") to straight science fiction ("People Like Us"
and "The Mountain to Mohammed"). Though no medical training is
listed in Kress's biographical data, many of her stories deal with
disease and the medical profession: "Inertia" has the victims of a
disfiguring plague in a quarantine camp; "The Mountain to Mohammed"
deals with the allocation of medical care in the future "Cannibals"
looks at the dying-off of an alien species; "In Memoriam" examines
a new treatment for the elderly. Time travel and parallel worlds
are also common themes ("The Price of Oranges" and "And Wild for to
Hold"). "The Battle of Long Island" combines the two, being a
story of parallel worlds told in the setting of a battlefield
hospital.
My personal favorite is "The Price of Oranges," but all the stories
are excellent examples of how we are the "aliens of earth." I
recommend this collection.
(Note: Kress's _B_e_g_g_a_r_s _i_n _S_p_a_i_n has just been released in paperback
by AvoNova. I recommend that as well.)
===================================================================
4. The Black Maria Film Festival, a collection of short films, is
making its annual tour. The program at each location differs, and
there are several films of science fiction or fantasy interest.
The remaining screenings near our membership include:
2/15, 7:40PM, Kean College, Hutchenson Hall J-100,
Morris Ave, Union NJ, 908-527-2307 (ext 2693)
2/24, 8PM, Montclair State College, Calcia Fine Arts Bldg. Aud.,
Upper Montclair NJ, 201-893-4307
3/3 & 3/4, 8PM, Hirshhorn Museum, Independence Ave at 8th St SW,
Washington DC, 202-357-3280
3/11, 8PM, Saratoga Springs Public Library, 320 Broadway,
Sarasota Springs NY, 518-584-7860
3/12, 8PM, Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. 21 Normandy Heights Road,
Morristown NJ, 201-540-1177
THE MT VOID Page 4
3/31, 3PM & 8PM, Monmouth College, Guggenheim Theatre, Cedar Ave,
West Long Branch NJ 908-571-3449
4/10, 3:30PM & 8PM, Burgdorff Cultural Center, 10 Durand Rd,
Maplewood NJ, 201-763-6808
4/21, 7:30 PM, New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, 68 Elm ST,
Summit NJ, 908-273-9121
4/24, 8PM, University of Massachusetts, Herter Gallery, Fine Arts Center,
Amherst MA, 413-545-6964
4/29, 7PM, Rutgers Film Co-op & NJ Media Arts Center, Rutgers Univ,
Milledoler Hall, Room 100, New Brunswick NJ, 908-932-8482
5/5, 8PM, Zone Art Center, 395 Dwight St, 2nd Floor,
Springfield MA, 413-732-1995
Some of these are free; some charge admission. Call the numbers
given for further information. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
A religion that requires persecution to sustain it is
of the devil's propagation.
-- Hosea Ballou