February 2019 – March 2019 Number 197

© Mark Ford 2019

Meetings:- St Augustine’s Anglican Chuch Hall, 100 Sydney Rd, Coburg, Vic.

Getting there: Tram No 19 North Coburg, from Elizabeth St in the city, or Tram no 8, Moreland Rd from Glenferrie Rd, Toorak, to Stop 132. Upfield train line to Moreland Station.

On street parking. Space on the road next to it, which is closed to through driving. Melway Ref 29 H3. Cyclists can use the Upfield bicycle path.

Meetings of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club take place on the third Friday Night of the month. Unless it is Good Friday. Since 1952 The MSFC is a place where people who enjoy science fiction and fantasy meet to Most Club Nights – Gold coin for members, $5 for nonmembers. discuss their love of books, TV, film and Some nights may cost an extra fee, such as Trivia Nights. coffee. Premises open at 8pm on the third Friday of the month, events start CONTACTING THE MSFC. at 8.30pm. Lights out at 11pm.

General enquiries. Sustenance - Hot food, cold snacks, coffee and hot chocolate and Soft [email protected] Drinks are available. Clubzine. Editor: LynC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNTS FOR MEMBERS [email protected]

Single membership $35 Website Show your MSFC membership card Family or household $45 www.msfc.sf.org.au when asking for these benefits. Interstate Ethel the Aardvark email

subscription $25* Our Facebook page: 20% discount with cash or debit card, https://www.facebook.com/Mel and 15% discount with credit cards off bourneSFClub *plus $10 for interstate subscribers all books at: Our open Facebook group: wishing a hardcopy Ethel subscription. Sybers Books https://www.facebook.com/ (Hard copy not available O/S) 38 Chapel St Windsor 3181 groups/4658278007 phone 9530 2222 All denominations are in Australian Postal address dollars. Please send us Australian 668 Glenhuntly Rd MSFC currency or equivalent, able to be banked Caulfield 3161 in Australia. phone 9523 6686 PO Box 110 Our treasurer will thank you. Moonee Vale Vic 3055 5% off books and magazines at:

MSFC membership benefits Minotaur 2018/2019 MSFC Committee 121 Elizabeth St President: Melb 3000 A year-long subscription to this Alison Barton www.minotaur.com.au fanzine, Ethel the Aardvark, five/six phone 9670 5414 Financial Secretary/ issues per year. Treasurer: 10% off all SF books at Mark Ford Discounts at selected Melbourne Dymocks bookshops. Southland shop 3067-68, Committee: Westfield Centre Cheltenham James Allen (librarian) Voting rights at the Annual General phone 9584 1245 LynC (Ethel Editor, Meeting! If you are good you can actually Memberships & Outgoing stand for election! MSFC LIFE MEMBERS Communications) Alan Stewart Access to use the MSFC email list via the Bill Wright Webmaster (not committee): Communications Officer Clare McDonald Bruce Gillespie Dick Jenssen aka Ditmar The pleasure of being in a place where Helena Binns people share your enjoyment of science James Allen aka Jocko [Copyright for all artwork fiction and fantasy. Lee Harding (deleted by request) and articles remain with the Merv Binns Artist/Author Race Matthews Robin Johnson Original artwork will only Krin Pender-Gunn be returned on request.]

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Editorial: The Librarian's column. Welcome to the March 2019 edition of Ethel. “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise In our February meeting, Mark Ford (our they make as they go by.” Financial Secretary (aka Treasurer)) gave a Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt (Love presentation on the theories abounding his work, trying not to use his work practices, about where Middle Earth is set. This was Jocko) extremely well researched, and presented, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a complete with pictures. (Even if the great 2019. Sorry I operating system didn’t understand that 12a missed the deadline for comes after 12!) the last Ethel, but I was in Despite having the T-shirt to prove it, holiday mode, busy Hobbiton is not in New Zealand! reading Adam Hill's book We are extremely fortunate in being able to Best Foot Forward. Good bring you this talk with the pictures in their book, quite enjoyed his intended order. Mark has also provided a stories of his time as a cover illo in the style of Tolkien’s own comedian and MC. drawings. Also the roundup of local events in the next My 2019 is off to a good start - had fun at the two months. There are a lot of items to bring January meeting of the club and then at the to your attention at this time of year. Next February meeting I enjoyed Mark Ford's very issue, being the July issue, should also successful Where is Middle Earth?/Tolkien incorporate the results of as many of the presentation, even as I struggled to show his awards as I can find out1. images in some sort of the correct order. Unfortunately Ed is still wrestling with his More good things coming for meetings in the software and there will be no more acrostics next few months, although no meeting on for the foreseeable future. He has provided good Friday, April 19th. MSFC does not meet several reviews though some of which will on good Friday. Some of our members will have to held over for the next issue, but be at Swancon 44 in Perth with International some of which do appear. Guests Charlie Jane Anders and Also being held over is the 2nd part our Annalee Newitz, and Australian Guest sewing lesson. Next issue, being the issue Jonathan Strahan. Sadly I won't be, but that before our AGM will also have to incorporate is a matter of money and time off work. some required matter. Should be a great convention. Art, this issue comes from Mark Ford, David L Russell, and Carol Kewley. The Header on the Anyway after I finished cover is provided by Stephen Campbell. the Adam Hills book I Hope you enjoy. went on and read the LynC latest Laundry book, The Labyrinth Index, by Charlie Stross and now I am re-reading The Frood; the authorised and very official history of Douglas Adams & the Hitchhikers Guide to 1 If anyone would like to see their club or the Galaxy by Jem Roberts. I love the event listed here – please drop me a line. Laundry books with their mix of Lovecraftian (Next issue will deal with late May, June, and monsters and bureaucratic British spies early July.) fighting against them. This latest one,

Page 3 published in 2018 is about the Laundry it will be safe and accessible to members. fighting a great and terrible horror - Perhaps we need to re-think the library. Privatization. I really enjoy There are books I grew up reading that are Charlie Stross's books forgotten today. I know Bruce Barnes has a and count myself lucky copy of a Simon Black space story by Ivan that I got the first one, Southall, but does anyone else? I would also The Atrocity Archives make the point that many of the SF stories I from the club library, consumed as a child were not in books. They years ago (Published in were TV shows like SPACE PATROL and 2004). I have got most of FIREBALL XL5 and they were movies like the rest of the series DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEKS or IT CAME from Darebin Public FROM OUTER SPACE. I also used my Crystal Library. (They have a set to listen to US space launches like Apollo great SF and F section at both 8. Of course I will never forget the grainy the Northcote and Preston branches, not black and white TV coverage of the Moon sure about Fairfield, and Reservoir is just a landing that I watched live in Pascoe Vale bit odd.) Re-reading South Primary school hall. What a wonderful The Frood is me time to be alive. Anyway our library needs revisiting my early days work and thought and a working bee of Fandom. I began sometime in the future. with Hitchhiker's Guide Till next time to the Galaxy and this Cheerio, Jocko book is reminding me of many of the things I experienced in Hitcher's fandom. It even mentions things like the fanzine Pangalia which 2018 Chandler award winner Edwina Harvey edited in Sydney. Nice. Just did a Google™ search and if you want a Pangalia, eBay™ has #7 from 1986 for sale. You can buy it now for $40.00. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hitchhi kers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy-Fanzine-Pangalia- 7-GEN-/263340104463. Perhaps I should try and sell some of my fanzines!

So I am busy reading SF, which I source where I can and am doing fannish things as they come up. But what of our library, frozen in storage since the end of 2013? We have added a few new books, but we still cannot put it all back on shelves somewhere

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So Where on Earth is Middle- that he had plagiarised in the writing of his Earth? fiction. He made the whole thing up and only used A presentation to the MSFC on inspirations from things that he had seen or February 15th 2019 by Mark Ford done himself. But for too many people that is not When Waterstones readers were asked to acceptable and numerous people have tried vote for their favourite book of the twentieth to locate Middle Earth from Tolkien’s life, century, twenty five thousand people interests and the world around him. responded and the most popular book with Tolkien was a professor of English/Anglo one fifth of respondents was Lord of the Saxon who spoke some twenty languages, Rings. The result was incredulity and The admittedly some of them were creations of Daily Telegraph decided to discover the real his own but that was only possible because winner and commissioned their own poll and of the languages he already understood. In produced the same result, naturally The Folio creating his languages he decided to create society decided to settle the matter and people and stories for them. In 1914 he asked their members and for the a third time wrote the poem The Voyage of Earendel the the result was the same. I remember reading Evening Star, which would eventually these details and couldn’t remember where I become part of The Silmarillion. After the had got them from so I googled most popular First World War there were many more book in the English Language and I found a stories and he began to share some of them page that had a list of best selling books and with his children and their friends. When Lord of the Rings was in first place and The some of these stories were published as The Hobbit was in fourth. Hobbit, the question of where they came I mention these details to show the a lot of from arose and his answers rang true. The people have an emotional investment in the nature of The Shire did fit very well with the tales of Middle Earth which I discovered area south of Birmingham where he grew up when I heard the Peter Jackson was going to and descriptions of topography fit the area, adapt the Lord of the Rings for the movies. some of the names seemed similar as well, My thoughts were it’s about time but others Sandyman’s Mill from Hobbiton seemed a were outraged that the movies was going to perfect fit for Sarehole Mill, a 250 year old be shot in New Zealand. structure that can be seen today. Middle Earth is England and it will always be England. End of story. And that brings us here, where is Middle Earth actually? In looking at what Tolkien had in mind when creating his magnum opus, the one word that kept recurring was plagiarism. As a professor he would have warned his students about plagiarism and the correct uses of footnotes, sources and like and he seemed to have taken this to heart in his As for Sarehole itself, the village has been hobby, once his stories began to be swallowed by the growth of Birmingham and published he consistently tried to deflect the largest open spaces in the area are golf questions away from his inspirations and courses. several occasions he actually used the word Travelling from The Shire, Tolkien began to plagiarism himself in asserting that the entire look further afield and when describing story came from his mind and that there Rivendell and the Misty Mountains, friends were no historical events, places or legends could see a place that he and they had

Page 5 visited in 1911. Lautenbrunnen Valley in the Swiss Alps. The fact that this had been a hiking trip seemed to add to the similarity.

And once published everyone wanted a piece of what was becoming Middle Earth. Tolkien received some rather enthusiastic responses from Germany, they saw all sorts of similarities with Norse Mythology and he was even asked if he considered an Aryan. There was the Ring of the Nibelung and Bilbo had stolen a magic ring, it had the feel of a Nordic tale and Middle Earth was essentially a translation of Midguard. Essentially Middle Earth is the world of men. Tolkien’s response was that he couldn’t consider himself an Aryan as they were fiction too and he added that today he wishes he was Jewish. His response was edited by his publisher and the Germans never found out what he thought, his attitude to The Ring of Nibelung was noteworthy in of itself. The Ring of the Nibelung was written by Richard Wagner between 1848 and 1874, and was made to look like a Norse Saga but the original source material, The Nibelungenlied, was centred Another result of the popularity of The on southern and central Europe; it even Hobbit was the request for a sequel. included a historical figure, Attila the Hun. Something Tolkien hadn’t considered and Whose empire was centred south of was something of a distraction from his work Germany in Hungary. In short the Opera had and hobby, after all The Hobbit was purely somehow spoilt the original source material, the publication of things he had already one suspects that he might have had a worked on, writing a book to order was similar view if he had known about the something else. Something it took him nearly movies based on his books. two years to start, The Hobbit II just wasn’t Golden rings were found by archaeologist in working and he gave it away for a time. England on a regular basis and while visiting When he eventually returned to The Hobbit an archaeological dig at a place called II, it was The Lord of the Rings. And it Dwarf’s Hill a curse tablet was uncovered introduced more of Middle Earth, namely which was made to protect a ring. This Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Isengard, Harad, reminded the diggers at this site of a Ring Rhun and a few others. There were a host of found fifty years earlier that matched the new places to identify and most people description. looked in England again. The inclusion of Saxon names like, Theoden, Eowyn, Eomer, Page 6

Theodred, Eorl, Freya, Hama, Fram, added to that, some mountain ranges make Theodwyn, Grimbold, Gamling, Edoras, u turns. The Carpathians Mountains in Boromir, Faramir and Denethor to name a particular produce a curve that to some is few, suggested to many people that Rohan reminiscent of the mountains that encircle and Gondor were English. Leading many Mordor, maybe Transylvania is Mordor and people to suggest the Malvern Hills are the Rohan is Hungary. Except that the mountains White Mountains that separate Rohan and that encircle Transylvania don’t separate it Gondor. Logically the Rohan are the ancient from Hungary but face in opposite direction. kingdom of Mercia and Gondor are Wessex. The names and the language fit but the Saxons didn’t ride horses, Kings and nobles would have but not enough people to draw a link between Mercia and Rohan.

Everyone likes maps but that doesn’t always point the way, Tolkien taught Languages not Geography and this leads us to the most unusual place to find the places listed in The Lord of the Rings. And that place is Africa,

Tolkien was born in Africa, South Africa, but Those who looked at the maps of Middle he left as a small child and had no memories Earth and decided that if The Shire was of the place. In addition to being born in England then the rest of Middle Earth had to Africa, his parents were married there, his be in Europe. This brings us to a criticism of father died there, he had no personal Lord of the Rings by geologists, namely the knowledge of the place and he was mountain ranges seem to follow straight fascinated by Africa, reading everything he lines and in some cases form right angles. could find. And in his two year hiatus This ignores the possibility that different between The Hobbit II and The Lord of the mountain ranges could be of different ages Rings, Africa was continually in news, the and formed by different plate tectonics,

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Italian invasion of Abyssinia and Haile Selassie’s exile in England. So what places are there in Ethiopia that could have found their way into The Lord of the Rings, the most obvious one, is the most important, Gondor was there when the ring was lost by Sauron, or at least the kingdom of Numenor which preceded Gondor, and it was there when the ring was destroyed. In the book the capital of Gondor was Minis Tirith, while the kingdom in Ethiopia shared the name of its capital, Gondar. Gondar was a huge walled enclosure that included Gondor was the successor kingdom to the numerous castles palaces and churches. earlier Numenor while Gondar was the While Minis Tirith was located on a successor to Axum. In the case of Gondor, mountainside to allow them to keep an eye the kingdom was reformed by two brothers on Sauron and his tower at Barad-dur, while and it was two brothers that presided of the Gondar is located in the foothills of the conversion of Axum to Christianity. Both Simeon Mountains allowing it to view Lake kingdoms saw the disappearance of their Tana in the distance and the reason this was ruling dynasties and ruled by other families necessary was because Gondar’s enemies until the return of the original dynasties. And were located on the other side of the lake in in the case of Ethiopia a literal return of the Bahir Dar. Both kingdoms were ruled by an King in 1941. The symbol of Gondor was a ancient line of monarchs, the first being Elros sacred object to the people there, The White who was descended from Elves and Menelik Tree of Gondor, this being parallel by a who was the son of Solomon. similar sacred object that was believed to be protected by Gondar and that was the Ark of the Covenant.

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The historical Gondar had allies who were famous horsemen, the Oromo tribe, centred on their capital Lalibela which was known by another name approximately a thousand years ago, Roha. The Oromo eventually lost their capital during a war in the sixteenth century that saw them move from their ancestral homelands into the central portion of today’s Ethiopia, building the mountain fortress of Ankober, this also mirrors the There were also people and events in migration of Rohan who also migrated and Ethiopia’s history that bear looking at for constructed Edoras on a peak as well. similarities to The Lord of the Rings as well, firstly the Nine Saints of Abyssinia who bear a similarity to the Istari Wizards. Not all of them, just five, the first being the saint that was originally looked on as the leading figure among them until supplanted by another of their number. While considered the leading saint of Abyssinia, Abba Aregawi’s monastery was the preferred site of pilgrimage and its most note worthy feature being its location, built on top of a mountain that was so precipitous it could only be accessed by climbing a rope. There is a story about Tekla Harad and Rhun were allies of Sauron and Hamanot, who was the saint the supplanted enemies of Gondor and Rohan. The historical Abba Aregawi, climbing this rope to visit the kingdom of Gondar’s enemy from the Monastery when the rope snapped and he sixteenth to nineteenth centuries were the was saved by being caught by a flying Harari people centred on their capital Harar. creature, tradition has it that he was caught Not two enemies, just one, while Harad was by an angel. in the south and Rhun was in the east, Harar was in the east but the Oromo and Gondar did have to face invasions from the south as well. The kingdom of Numenor had been a sea faring people and when they fell and Gondor took its place they lost their association with the sea and the Harad replaced them as sea faring people. This is mirrored in Ethiopia, as Axum was a major trading power and when they fell Gondar became a landlocked kingdom while the Tekla Hamanot was very different to most of Sultanate of Mogadishu which included the other saints, he travelled about on Harar eventually took control of trade by sea. horseback, he carried a sword, hunted for his Interestingly one of the commodities traded food and involved in the politics of the day, by Axum was elephants which parallels the and in particular he was involved in the Mamakil used by the men of Harad while in restoration of the Solomanaic Dynasty after battle. Gondar had been ruled by the Zagwe Dynasty for some three hundred years. In helping to restore the descendants of Solomon, Hamanot had assistants from

Page 9 another saint, this being Selwanos. And men. In the case of Gondar and the Oromo, Selwanos was remembered mostly for his they came into contact with Portuguese ability to talk to animals. Unlike the Istari explorers while fighting against a Jihad from Wizards, the Nine Saints didn’t all live at the the south and east. In desperation the ruler same time, Selwanos and Hamanot were the of Gondar promised the Portuguese that if last of the nine while the first Aregawi they sent help, they would be allowed to preceded them by centuries they do send missionaries when the war was over. resemble the White, Grey and Brown Two years later, a Portuguese army led by Wizards, the Blue Wizards disappeared into one of the sons of Vasco De Gama was sent the east and parallels two of the nine saints from India, and when they arrived who left Axum to travel into the wilderness. Christopher De Gama found that Gondar had been overrun and the King was holed up in the Monastery of Abba Aregawi. Several battles followed and the threat to Gondar and the Oromo was removed. The arrival of missionaries from Europe seemed benign at first but after many decades new fault lines formed over the existence of the old ways built around a thousand years of African isolation and the As mentioned before, the early saints were new ways from Europe. This led to open war associated with Axum and in looking up when the death of a Catholic King saw the Axum on the internet; the first images that succession of his Orthodox son, such was the appeared were giant stone pillars that were bitterness of the new war that the enemies built to look like towers. They were built all of a hundred years earlier came back as allies over Axum and were over twenty metres in of the king and a new capital, Gondar, was height, the tallest one still standing is twenty built close enough to keep an eye on Bahir four metres tall and in the late thirties a Dar which housed the Portuguese monastery twenty six metre pillar was taken to Rome as from which the new enemies resided. spoils of war. The largest known tower was Unlike Barad dur there was no Mont Doom found to be thirty three metres tall and still or volcano near Bahir Dar, but twenty to exists although it now rests on its side. A thirty kilometres from Bahir Dar can be possible inspiration for the multiple towers found the Blue Nile falls, not actually a mentioned in The Two Towers. volcano but its local name Tis Isat translates to something akin to Smoke and Fire or Smoke of Fire. Before the construction of a Dam upriver, the falls produced a tremendous amount of noise and the spray of the water was said to look like smoke from a fire.

While there is no individual person in Ethiopian history that mirrors Sauron, there were events that match the story of Sauron, namely someone who originally was believed to be a friend and then betrayed the world of

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This has led many people to see a connection And while on the subject of Mordor, the with Tolkien’s military service during the First largest feature of East Africa is the Rift Valley World War inspiring the Dead Marshes and which runs through Ethiopia, and while Mordor’s black gate. closer to the modern capital of Addis Ababa than Gondar, Bahir Dar and Ankober the Danakil Depression with its volcanic vents, frequent earthquakes and extreme temperatures and in the 1930s extremely hostile Afar Nomads would have been a reasonable analog of the Gorgoruth Plateau in Mordor.

And no doubt, there will be further studies, books and even movies exploring the life of Tolkien and what inspired him. And in the not too far future as well, in May of this year a movie about the young Tolkien will be released in the United Kingdom, and I’m sure there will be plenty of Australians waiting for its release here.

So in the time between Tolkien’s hiatus between The Hobbit II and The Lord of the Rings, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia occurred along with the removal of one of Axum’s stone pillars to Rome. In that period he spoke to friends about Africa and in interest in Ethiopia’s past, with the history of Portuguese explorers looking for the fabled Christian Kingdom of Prestor John he would have naturally found plenty of material to This article was taken from notes for a satisfy his curiosity. Haile Selassie’s assention discussion at the February 2019 meeting of to the Ethiopian throne in 1930 inspired a the MSFC, the theories were taken from a considerable curiosity in the country with variety of places in print and on the internet, numerous books and magazines about the the inspiration for the discussion was the geography and history of that country being result of reading a book by Michael Muhling published and less than a decade later the about five years ago that explored a possible Italian invasion and Haile Selassie’s exile in African connection with The Lord of the Britain spawning a fresh round of curiosity in Rings. the Ethiopia. Mark Ford 2019 We will never know for sure whether any of what has been discussed has any validity, as said before Tolkien never talked about his inspiration for Middle Earth beyond a few references to places he had actually been to.

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Book Reviews: Rich Larson is represented twice, which is Year's Best Science Fiction thirty not bad for a yearly anthology! Greg Egan, fifth Annual Collection another Australian author is here, and I was able to understand the story, which is always (St Martins Griffin, 2018) in doubt, as some of his works are too Reviewed by Ed McArdle obscure for me, but not this time!

Lies Sleeping Ben Aaronovch. 2018. Reviewed by Edward McArdle.

I bought the Year's Best Science Fiction thirty fifth Annual Collection, and it may be the last. Its editor, Gardner Dozois died earlier last year, and he has made a mammoth effort in the series.

Among other things there was a summary of There is a bit at the start of this novel where all the science fiction stories and films and TV the author suggests that if anyone is having shows. This was 35 pages already, and trouble keeping up they should read all the included a list of who had died! previous novels first. This is on page 2. And The stories were also very good, being a so they should. This is the seventh novel in summary of all that was written in the year. the series. Presumably these were some sort of team When I read the first novel, Rivers of London, effort, as Gardner Dozois could not have I was not really impressed. It was my being read everything! At the end there is a list of immersed suddenly which caught me off all the stories submitted for consideration, so balance, but since then I have enjoyed all the the 677 pages were not all that was books. submitted! But the books are just one long story. You really do need to read them all in order! As is usual, the authors represented here are In the first story the storyteller reveals he is mainly big names! Like Nancy Kress, Alastair in the London Police, Magical Division, and Reynolds. and Sean McMullen. Sean by the end he is married to one of the Rivers McMullen's story is of a past that never of London! You have to read it all! happened, so that history is different. So he One of the threads is that the villains also can offer a different slant on things. His work reappear at intervals, and one of them is one is also in a current issue of Fantasy and of his colleagues who has been taken over by Science Fiction, November/December 2018. an unfortunate fate! She can be anyone if I Nancy Kress' story Canoe is about a group of understand correctly. explorers meeting an extra-terrestrial life- So I recommend that you read this series form. Her stories are always worth reading. completely before it gets too long!

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Victorian ‘News’ : Ethel congratulates everyone on the This is only Victorian Related Events and list. Obviously you can’t all win, but it News. For an Australia Wide listing, try is an honour just to be on the list. joining the Australian Science Fiction Congratulations. Foundation ($20) and receiving their ‘Instrumentality’- http://asff.org.au The A. Bertram Chandler Award The A. Bertram Chandler Award is for AWARDS: “Outstanding Achievement in Australian ‘Tis the season for competitions and awards. Science Fiction”, in recognition of the Actually many of these awards are in some contribution that science fiction writer A. phase or other all year round, like the Bertram Chandler made to Australian Chandler which is actually open to Science Fiction and to Australian fandom in nominations permanently, but in the months general. It is Australia’s premier award for leading up to the Natcon, awards announce lifetime achievement in science fiction. It is short lists, open up for nominations, or some administered by the Australian Science other activity. Fiction Foundation. Past winners have included some of our very own such as Bill Ditmar Awards: Wright, Bruce Gillespie, Merv Binns and The Ditmar Awards honour achievements in Jocko (amongst others). a range of fields within Australian speculative The Australian Science Fiction fiction fandom. It is voted on by the fannish public and awarded at the Natcon. (That's Foundation is seeking nominations for Continuum this year) the 2019 A. Bertram Chandler Award To nominate a work for an award, one must To nominate someone whom you believe be "a natural person active in fandom, or a has made a significant contribution to full or supporting member of the national Australian science fiction and/ or Australian convention of the year of the award ". fandom, write or email to the ASFF, P.O. Box You can nominate using the form at 215 Forest Hill Vic 3131. Email https://ditmars.sf.org.au/2019/nominations. address: [email protected] html. An incomplete list of eligible works and The nomination needs to detail the people can be found at nominee’s achievements and why you https://wiki.sf.org.au/2019_Ditmar_eligibility consider the nominee worthy of the 2019 _list. Award. The nomination need not be seconded, but Aurealis Awards: it needs to have your name, as nominator on (https://aurealisawards.org) it, so that the ASFF can contact you if Saturday May 4, 2019, Jasper Hotel, necessary. Melbourne. This is a jury run award for Nominees should be recognised members of excellence in Australian Science Fiction. the Australian speculative fiction community, whether in professional areas such as Winners of the 2018 Sara Douglass Book publishing or from the myriad fandoms that Series Award, Aurealis Awards, and the make up the scene. Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be If accepted, nominations are added to the announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony Chandler Awards Nominations List and taking place in Melbourne at the Jasper Hotel considered by the Jury (usually the ASFF on Saturday May 4, 2019. Details of the Committee). Nominations may be rolled over event and a link to the online ticketing from year to year. options will be available soon. The winner of the 2019 Chandler will be The Finalists have now been announced and announced at Continuum 15, the 58th are available on their web site. Australian Science Fiction Convention.

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The Norma K Hemming Award The Norma K Hemming Award is given to 15 word story competition: mark excellence in the exploration of themes Write a speculative fiction story… in exactly of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability 15 words! Stories are to be submitted via in a speculative fiction work (e.g. science twitter, using the hashtag #con15words. A fiction, fantasy, horror) by Australian citizens shortlist will be published in the con book, and/or residents, and first published during and a winner will be announced during the eligibility period. Past winners have Continuum. Stories do not need to fit a included Claire Coleman and Foz Meadows theme — the word count is the challenge. (both 2018) and Margo Lanagan (2013), amongst others. GROUPS and MEETING DATES: The Judges are currently in judgement, and the winner will be announced at the Natcon. ASFF - http://asff.org.au At Continuum, The Australian Science Fiction Short Story Competition and even shorter Foundation (ASFF) will be awarding the 2019 (15 words) competition: A. Bertram Chandler award and the Norma K. Continuum 15, Australian Natcon 58 (June 7- Hemming award. They will also have a 10, 2019) has announced it is running a short ceremony for the 2018 A. Bertram Chandler story competition, partly sponsored by the winner, where the commemorative award Australian Science Fiction Foundation, along bowl will be handed over, as it was not quite with a Twitter-based competition for best ready in 2018. 15-word story. They will also be handing over a cheque for the winner of the Short Story Competition. Short story competition: Theme: Alternative Realities MSFC ( http://msfc.sf.org.au ) the next Categories: OPEN (age 18 and up): First place meeting will be held in the usual place – St will receive a cash prize from the Australian Augustine’s Church – details page 2. Science Fiction Foundation. Second and third March 15: Video Night prize are to be confirmed closer to the con Jocko will present a DVD, We are hoping to date. JUNIOR (18 and under): There will be a get SHADA. first, second, and third prize, to be confirmed (SHADA was the intended final story of closer to the con date. Season 17 of Doctor Who. It was the final To enter the open competition, authors must story written by Douglas Adams.)2 be either a member or a supporting member of C15, or pay a $20 entry fee. April 19 is Good Friday and therefore no (Email [email protected] if meeting. you’re not sure whether or not you’re a Next meeting will be Sunday April 28 13:00 member yet!) Entry fees will be payable via to 16:00 (1pm to 4pm) at Edendale. Guest TryBooking or direct deposit -- that TBA and Trivia Quiz. information will be in the next Continuum newsletter. Entry to the junior competition is Dr Who Fan Club of Victoria ( FREE. Entries must be received by http://dwcv.org.au ) midnight Monday 30th April 2019. March 16, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm @ the Hub Email entries to [email protected]. Docklands. Stories must be no more than 3,000 words. A Topic: Daleks complete list of rules will go up on the Continuum website in the near future.

2 If you have a favourite you’d like to share, let Jocko know in advance for the next video night. Page 14

Entry: Non-members $8.00 (Non-member photo and signature prices aren’t yet first-time attending a meeting: gold coin available. donation) Tea and coffee provided. Soft Drink costs. Nullus Anxietas 7 ( https://ausdwcon.org ) Some snacks may be provided, and a plate is The Australian Discworld Convention - will be also welcome. held in Melbourne at the Mantra Bell City in No Meeting in April. Preston on 12-14 April, 2019, and is based DWCV 40th Anniversary Boat Cruise @ City on Going Postal. Amongst other events will River Cruises be a Martin Pearson concert (The Unfinished May 11 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Spelling Errors of Bolkien and other comedic Tickets: singing routines). Check out their website for https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?ei all details. d=449956& For 40 years the DWCV has been there for Continuum 15: Other Worlds ( Whovians of all ages to get together to www.continuum.org.au ) Natcon 58, 7-10 discuss, debate and celebrate their favourite June 2019. Kate Elliot and Ken Liu. Jasper TV show. So now it’s time to celebrate 40 Hotel,Melbourne years of the DWCV. Current price: $215 Full, $180 Conc. If this is Cost includes a 3 hour boat cruise and food, a hardship, contact the convention re ‘needs drinks available at bar prices. based’ membership. Annual Trivia Quiz: Saturday 30th March AUSTREK (www.austrek.org ) generally 2:30pm, Kathleen Syme Library, 251 Faraday meets on the 1st Saturday of every month at St, Carlton. Entry is $10 the Northcote Town Hall at 14:00, but the There will be an Art Display this year. Contact next meeting April has been moved to the Samara at [email protected] 2nd Saturday of the month. They move back for more information to the 1st Saturday for the May meeting. Short Story Competitions are now open – see April 13 (TBC) under AWARDS. May 4 (TBC) Entry is $9 for Non Members Agnostics: For those wishing to discuss the pros and Supanova Melbourne cons of Agnosticism3, David Miller provides (https://www.supanova.com.au/events/mel the following links: bourne-2019/about/ ) 1. Agnostics Group (2.30pm. 1st Sunday) - April 5-7 2019, Melbourne Showgrounds. https://www.meetup.com/Existentialist- Still not a lot of information available, more Society/messages/boards/thread/49309377 guests have been added, cosplay registration 2. Existentialist Society (8pm. 1st Tuesday) - and volunteer registration are now open but http://www.existentialistmelbourne.org/ they still aren’t detailing which guests will be 3. Sea of Faith Network (7.30pm. 3rd at which event (Melbourne or Brisbane). Thursday) - http://www.sof-in- Anticipated guests include: australia.org/local-group- Camila Mendes (Riverdale) meetings.php?pageid=16 Jordan Connor (Riverdale) Amanda Pays (2014 & 1990's The Flash) Alan Baxter (Hidden City, Alex Caine series) Lynette Noni (The Medoran Chronicles, Whisper) Corey J. White (Killing Gravity) Jodi McAlister (Valentine series) Pricing – still sketchy - $37.50 for a day pass, 3 Not Me. I’m a firm believer and follower of Jesus or $65 for weekend pass. VIP passes and Christ. Page 15

Letter of Comment: As Potterfans, we did enjoy FANTASTIC BEASTS 2, but like so many, we were a little Dear MSFCers: confused by it all. The settings were great, so were the effects, and Johnny Depp chewed Ethel 196 is here!, and my thanks go to all of up the scenery as always, but FB3 is going to you for that. have to explain a few things, and J.K. Rowling has promised it will. I will take her at her The weather in Australia has been in the word. news a lot, especially with flooding in Townsville. I think many of us have friends in In 2014, at the National Gallery of Canada in Townsville, we do, and so far, they are safe Ottawa, there was a massive display of the and dry. Our thoughts are with you, and I works of M.C. Escher, and I took pictures of hope you can all get past this cycle of them all. I think everything shown here was roasting heat and drought, and then flood. there. The paintings were provided to the Never has climate change been so apparent. National Gallery by Escher’s oldest son, Giorgio, who had lived in Canada since 1958, Where do baby aardvarks come from? Sorry and who, I found, died only last year. kid, no deposit, no return. The market’s glutted, anyway. And, good to see you had Yours, Lloyd Penney. such a good Christmas party. This is one of Ontario, Canada the benefits of a close community.

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