Here are my somewhat cryptic notes from last night's meeting.
Notes from R-SPEC Meeting, 7 April 2009
9 in attendance, including 3 first timers (Steve, Megan, Steve); Dave E., David P., Craig, and Ruhan joined later
General discussion of group, stories, member activities
Began meeting at 7:40pm
One Steve remarked that he has read Jasper Ford but doesn't understand the nature of the piece
Alicia went over recent history of the group and structure of the group
Update on anthology - all contracts back, galleys out, one more wrinkle with publisher, hope to have copies out by June, launches at WAB and BN, maybe one more at the beach
Next month Katherine McGuire, Leader of IP/Tech Practice Group at Woods Oviatt Gilmann, to speak on copyright issues/DRM
Looking into group attendance of WorldCon in Montreal this August
Several members will be attending EerieCon (Vernor Vinge Guest of Honor) April 17-20 or thereabouts
NEBULA NOMINEE DISCUSSION/VOTE
Short Story Nominees
Button Bin, Mike Allen - 1
Dreaming Wind, Jeffrey Ford
Trophy Wives, Hoffman - Ruhan votes for this or Mars aTG
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss - Craig votes
Tomb Wife
Don't Stop, James Patrick Kelley
Mars, A Traveler's Guide - David H. liked but didn't read any of the others, 1 vote from the online poll, Ruhan votes for this but also likes Trophy Wives
Novellettes
The Ray Gun, A Love Story - Alicia votes
Dark Rooms
Pride and Prometheus - Craig votes
Night Wind
Baby Doll
Novellas
Space Time Pool - Nice romantic fantasy, mediocre prose, Elyse and Alicia don't really get why it's nominated
Dark Heaven
Dangerous Space - only real spec element was gender of pov character - Alicia votes
Political Prisoner
Novels
Little Brother - Craig votes
Powers - Elyse and Alicia couldn't get through the book
Cauldron
Brasyl - Alicia provisionally votes since loves Ian MacDonald's stuff
Making Money
Superpowers
So, why don't we read the magazines?
Audio instead of text
More venues available
Dive started before the explosion of online content
Decline in subscriptions partly due to lack of inclusion on fundraising sales, but those sales were money losers
Is there a connection with the birth of the Space Age? China is on upswing for Space Age and is seeing huge numbers of science fiction fans, while markets that had Space Age in the 50s-70s are ebbing
Aim circulation at young people - gets better results
Young people discuss
Better acceptance in other parts of the culture
Kids emulate what parents do - if parents read, kids read
Graphic novels can appeal to people that would otherwise not read books for pleasures
Stimulates a different portion of the brain
Disappointment factor because of early scifi predictions that were completely inaccurate?
Totalitarian countries have big scifi interest because is outlet
Steampunk might be a response to the disappointment - recognition of value of well-understood technology
Technology follows its course rather than conforming to what humans want/need
Rossum's Universal Robots - play that introduced the word "robot"
Carol Churchill has a play about clones with no exposition
Don't need exposition as much because so much of science fiction has been embraced into our culture
Closer to magic emotionally, though intellectually is science
Adjourned around 9:15pm
