Brum Group News The Monthly Newsletter of the BIRMINGHAM SCIENCE FICTION GROUP SEPTEMBER 2020 Issue 588 Honorary President: CHRISTOPHER PRIEST

Committee: Carol Goodwin (Chair); Pat Brown (Treasurer); Dave Corby (secretary); Theresa Derwin (Publicity Officer); Carol Goodwin (Newsletter Editor); Ian Morley (Membership Secretary); Novacon 50 Chair: Alice Lawson & Tony Berry website: Email: www.birminghamsfgroup.org.uk/ [email protected] Facebook: Twitter: www.facebook.com/groups/BirminghamSFGroup/ @BirminghamSF

BSFG Meetings cancelled

Editorial: I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who took the time to respond to my request last month for people to contribute or keep up to date. As you can see from the “And What Did You Think? Section below, there has been an excellent response which is much appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did and maybe it will encourage more of you to get in touch. Stay well. CG

AND WHAT DID YOU THINK? THE LETTER COLUMN OF ‘BRUM GROUP NEWS Anything to say about the Group, meetings or SF in general? Email your opinions or queries to me at [email protected]

The BSFG Auction – Michael Jones Since time immemorial the auction of members' contributions following the AGM has been a valued and enjoyable event in the Group calendar. I can remember when our favourite auctioneer used to stand in front of an audience of twenty or thirty, cajoling them into paying more

than they expected for things they didn't know they wanted. But things have changed. Last January what we had was a sort of tabletop sale and although some money was undoubtedly made for group funds, whether anything much remained unsold and what may have happened to it are matters on which I am unable to comment. I wonder if it may be time to consider abandoning the idea or, at least, devising an alternative format which would work better and, one hopes, more profitably. However, it is not my place to say what it might. be. Perhaps other members, or the committee, might have some ideas. MJ

GHOSTS by Chris Morgan One advantage of being old––I've met so many authors now dead. From Bob Shaw at the first Novacon, my first con, who said, "Come, meet Anne McCaffrey and James White," to those comets of our ghetto and famous even outside it, Adams, Banks and Pratchett, who shone very brightly, not for long enough, now dead. I remember James Blish, who invited me for a meal, I remember Frank Herbert, late arriving in Brum, who crossed out his printed name as he signed, I remember Isaac Asimov, unforgettable, I remember Roger Zelazny, Robert Sheckley, John Brunner, who died at a convention, Rob Holdstock, who was my best man, Ray Bradbury, that I shared a room with. Dozens more. Is writing SF bad for your health? Kills you young? Only Fred Pohl (we had an Italian together in Brum) who died at 93 would say no. I'm dizzy from the deaths. I spoke to them all. I have their books. Those books are the ghosts of their authors, with a life of their own, conjuring up the spirits of the dead. As long as the books exist, so do their creators. Imagine them, hunched over typewriters in stuffy rooms, little exercise except for their minds, so that all of us in this room and generations to come 2 could be amazed, astounded, thrilling wondered by their inventiveness. Yes, these dead are always with us: by their books ye shall know them, and the pages of the books, white and flapping, through the long reading hours of the night, are their immortal ghosts. 21st August 2015

Life During Coronavirus Ian Stewart You invited news from Brum Group members in the latest BG News. We’re all OK here, so far. I think I was the first planned speaker to cancel, back before lockdown. Looking forward to the event being reinstated, when it's safe to do so. You'll have a backlog! Being retired and living on the edge of Coventry, we've been in a better position than people stuck in city centres and worried about their jobs. We were able to get out for an hour every day during the first lockdown phase, and kept shopping to a minimum. The main activities we lost were about four trips overseas --- two cancelled, two abandoned before booking. (Of course, we'd taken out annual travel insurance for them all. Ho hum.) Oh, and the Discworld Convention, which should have been running as I write. (I've been hooking up electronically, which is better than nothing.) I've kept busy writing (one new pop maths book now accepted by the publisher, one SF novel allegedly being looked at, one new SF novel part written) and doing my maths research (two papers accepted during lockdown, plus continuing to work on a 900-page book with my American collaborator Marty Golubitsky). We see The Tribe from time to time (our two sons and the eldest one's family), since they live in Coventry. Overall, life is much as it would have been anyway. One thing I do miss: Warwick Uni is closed right now, and I can't go in for coffee and a chat, which I usually did twice a week. But basically, I can't complain much --- except about the dreadful mess our government is making of everything it touches.

Dave Hardy To be honest, it hasn’t made an enormous difference to me, so far anyway. I’ve been freelance since 1965, so am well used to working at home. So I mainly miss not being able to go to the Brum Group - and greatly regret the 3 cancellation of Novacon - one of my highlights of the year! Also not being able to go out for a meal with friends etc. (I know this has been relaxed a bit, but it’s not the same …). I still haven’t bought or read a new book for quite a while, and am picking more or less at random on the hundreds of books on my shelves. At the moment I’m reading THE RAGGED ASTRONAUTS by Bob Shaw — one of my favourite authors, not surprisingly as he was a friend, to the Brum Group as well as personally, and many of his books are signed ‘To Dave …. ’ and of course we did GALACTIC TOURS together. I did consider writing a ‘retro-review’ of this, but it is the first in a trilogy so there is not much point unless I intend to review all three. Oh - and I’m currently working on a quite large commission: a 20”x30” acrylic painting of an extrasolar planet for a client in Nashville, USA!

Wendell Wagner I thought you might like to know about what my experiences with doing things online are like here (in the Washington, D.C. area). There are three groups which meet monthly which I belong to which are more or less concerned with science fiction and/or fantasy. One of them is a group which meets one evening at a restaurant for a meal for general discussion which is more or less related to science fiction. That one has simply postponed all meetings until restaurants open up again here. The second group meets at members' houses where we discuss what science fiction or fantasy books we've read. That one cancelled the March meeting. The April and May meetings were online. I skipped the April one. The May meeting worked O.K, I thought. The June meeting will be online. The third group is a standard book discussion group which meets in members' houses where we discuss a book someone has picked, the books usually being science fiction or fantasy. We had March, April, and May meetings online. For March, we just had general discussion about past and future books and meetings (and I skipped that meeting.) For the April and May meetings, we were also online and discussed that month's book. Those meetings went reasonably well, I thought. We used the Zoom or the Discord apps for the meetings. So I think it does work O.K. to have a few online meetings, though soon we will get tired of this. Incidentally, Balticon, one of the two big science fiction conventions in the Baltimore/Washington area, was converted to an online convention a month or two before it happened. Membership in it was changed to being free, and the people who paid early got their money

4 back. Again, it worked O.K. Yeah, I could only go to panels and other talks. I think there was the equivalent of a con suite, but I didn't go to it. Yeah, I missed going to the dealers' room and hanging out with friends, but there was no way to do that online. I don't know when I will next have a chance to see all of you. I have been to five Brum Group meetings since I moved back to the U.S. in 1990, including the August social last year. I hope to be able to see you all sometime soon.

NEWS IN BRIEF .... Actor Chadwick Boseman has died aged 43, from colon cancer. He had been diagnosed 4 years ago but kept the news quiet and continued to work. He was most famous for his inspirational role as Black Panther in four Marvel movies including the BLACK PANTHER film, which was the first superhero film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture …. The Amazon Prime adaptation of Iain Banks’ Culture series has been cancelled. Reasons are unclear with the author’s estate saying timing wasn’t right, while the scriptwriter says he is mystified by the move …. BSFG Member Janet Edwards short story collection EARTH PRIME is now available as an ebook for £3.99. It is set in the Portal Future Universe of her published Earth Girl series …. Publisher Head of Zeus have a new SFF imprint, Ad Astra. The first six new titles that will be published on 1st October are HOLD UP THE SKY (Cixin Liu), SOONER OR LATER EVERYTHING FALLS INTO THE SEA (Nebula Award winner Sarah Pinsker), ASHES OF THE SUN (Django Wexler), UNCONQUERABLE SUN (Kate Elliott), ATTACK SURFACE (Cory Doctorow) and THE LOST COLONY (A G Riddle) …. FIYAH magazine is sponsoring new SFF awards. They “seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.” The inaugural Ignyte Awards finalists have been announced. Details of the finalists and voting for the winners is open to anyone until 11th September at https://bit.ly/34L3rDK .... The Royal Mint is issuing a commemorative 50- pence coin to celebrate scientist Rosalind Franklin. The coin will include 5 her Photograph 51 which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix …. The acclaimed 2000’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica will be shown on BBC 2 from early September. All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer …. A free ebook celebrating the Dr Who exhibitions at Blackpool and Longleat. It has over 400 pages and 80 contributors and can be found at https://bit.ly/31H69IE .... Data gathered by the NASA Dawn spacecraft have shown that dwarf planet Ceres is an ocean world with salty water under its surface. CG

FORTHCOMING BOOKS September is a bumper month with publishers releasing hundreds of books on 3rd September alone, hence the extended book listing this month. (NB Prices given are Recommended Retail Price and may be available at cheaper prices). At the moment, given the situation, many publishers are changing the release dates on new books to later in the year. The publication dates given below are correct to the best of my knowledge, but may change at short notice.

THE TROUBLE WITH PEACE (The Age of Madness 2) by Joe Abercrombie / Gollancz / 512 pgs / £20 hardback / ISBN 978-0575095915 / 15th September. Industrial revolution comes to The First Law world.

PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke / Bloomsbury / 272 pgs / £14.99 hardback / ISBN 978-1526622426 / September 15th. Piranesi lives alone in the House, but someone new has appeared. By the author of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL. 6

TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS by Christopher Paolini / Tor / 880 pgs / £20 hardback / ISBN 978-1529046502 / September 15th. SF. As war erupts among the stars, an unexpected and strange First Contact means that one human, Kira might be humanity’s final hope.

THE TRIALS OF KOLI (The Rampart 3) by M R Carey / Orbit / 480 pgs / £8.99 paperback / ISBN 978-0356513492 / September 17th. SF. Koli must travel through deadly forest to reach lost London and the mysterious tech of the old times.

NOTES FROM SMALL PLANETS by Nate Crowley / HarperVoyager / 256 pgs / £12.99 hardback / ISBN 978-0008306861 / September 17th. SF. A pastiche “travel guide” to all the must-see locations of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

PRIME DECEPTIONS (Chilling Effect 2) by Valerie Valdes / Orbit / 464 pgs / £9.99 paperback / ISBN 978-0356514437 / September 17th. SF. Captain Eva become involved in a covert war between an intergalactic crime ring and a secret alien research organisation.

DRACULA’S CHILD by J S Barnes / Titan Books / 576 pgs / £8.99 paperback / ISBN 978-1789093392 / September 22nd. An unexpected tragedy exposes the problems in the Harker family’s relationships whilst a new evil arises on the continent.

DEAD MAN IN A DITCH (Fetch Phillips 2) by Luke Arnold / Orbit / 448 pgs / £8.99 paperback / ISBN 978-0356512921 / September 24th. 7

Urban fantasy. Rumour has it that Fetch can bring back magic, so when a murder appears to be magical, he is brought in on the case.

BATTLE GROUND (Dresden Files 17) by Jim Butcher / Orbit / £16.99 hardback / ISBN 978-0356515710 / October 1st. A Titan has declared war on Chicago and Harry must save the city.

RUBY by Nina Allan / Titan Books / 224 pgs / £7.99 paperback / ISBN 978-1789091724 / October 6th. A story cycle exploring the enigmatic elusive figure of horror actress, Ruby Castle.

MACHINE (White Space 2) by Elizabeth Bear / Gallery / 496 pgs / £19.85 hardback / ISBN 978-1534403017 / October 6th. SF. A space station begins to unravel after a routine search and rescue mission returns with a sick crew and a damaged ship-mind.

THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE by Kim Stanley Robinson / Orbit / 576 pgs / £20 hardback / ISBN 978-0356508832 / October 8th. SF. In 2025 the Ministry for the Future is established to protect all living creatures, present and future. CG

CINEMA FILM RELEASES Some cinemas are re-opening but with limited screenings. There is no guarantee that you will be able to find these films locally. Listings should not be necessarily taken as recommendations. Release dates are subject to change. View at your own peril!

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TENET – Release date August 26th. SF. A secret agent must manipulate time to prevent World War III.

THE NEW MUTANTS – Release date September 4th. Five young mutants are held in a secret facility against their will.

BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC – Release date September 23rd. Two middle-aged rockers time-travel to find a song to save the universe.

WONDER WOMAN 1984 – Release date October 4th. Superhero Wonder Woman is in the 1980’s and faces new foes.

 B O O K R E V I E W S  (REVIEWERS please note: - all reviews should be emailed direct to me at [email protected] Deadline for each issue is 14 days prior to the date of the monthly meeting) DARK ANGELS RISING (Dark Angels 3) by Ian Whates NewCon Press / 229 pgs / £12.99 paperback / ISBN 978-1912950591 Reviewed by Pauline Morgan. All of us, at some point have wondered what it would be like to have a super- power, even speculated what it might be. Authors, whose only power is a way with words, may give their characters those powers. In urban fantasy, the power to change shape or immortality are common. In the comics many of us read in our youth the superpowers may be the result of a mutation but in science fiction there is always alien technology. In the future Ian Whates has created, alien technology can be found in well-hidden caches. No-one is quite sure why they are there, or what the objects were intended for. By trial and error, some have proved to be useful, others highly dangerous. In PELQUIN’S COMET the crew of that ship find a cache with items which give the crew members superpowers. These are the Dark Angels. The second book in this trilogy, THE ION RAIDER, takes place ten years after the first when the crew of the Comet 9 have gone their separate ways. Some of them are brought back together when someone appears to be systematically killing them. This time the book ends on a cliff hanger. DARK ANGELS RISING begins with action. Saavi – known as Cloud – is able, when in her cloud chamber, to plot possible futures and guide the rest of the team towards the best outcome. Thus they are able to rescue Mosi from a torture chamber and reach Drake before he asphyxiates on the planet he has been teleported to. The place where they found the artefacts that give them the superpowers is Lenbaya. This is like the Eldorado for cache hunters, the ultimate cache. At the end of THE ION RAIDER, it turned out that the alien creature known as Mudball, and that most assumed to be a kind of pet that hung around with Drake, is one of the Elders who created the caches in the first place. He is not as benign as they thought and has been manipulating them for a long time. Now there appears to be a race to reach and find a way into Lenbaya. Arrayed against the Ion Raider and crew are several formidable opponents all of which want the treasures they think they will find there. This is pure space adventure. The pace is relentless, leaving the reader breathless, and the characters are engaging. In some respects, the trilogy would be better as one novel as some of the nuances are set up in the first volume and jumping in here with DARK ANGELS RISING would mean losing some of the coherence. The problem of putting all volumes under one cover would mean that two of the magnificent Jim Burns covers would be lost. (Review copy kindly donated by Ian Whates)

GRAVE SECRETS (Lavington Windsor Mysteries 1) by Alice James Rebellion / 300 pgs / £8.99 paperback / ISBN 978-1781088616 Reviewed by Carol Goodwin Comic urban fantasy seems to me to be dominated by US authors with a few notable exceptions such as Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) and Neil Gaiman etc. Of those British authors, many of them seem to centre around London, so it is doubly refreshing to read one set in Staffordshire (technically I guess that makes it a “rural” fantasy?) Toni Windsor is an estate agent by day but a necromancer by night! Not that she’s evil – far from it, she just likes to sit in the graveyard at night and chat with a newly raised corpse! They don’t remember anything and as long as she feeds them and remembers to banish them when finished talking, there’s never been any problem. Apart from that she only uses her skill

10 very rarely to occasionally secretly help her policeman brother to identify a cause of death. Apart from family no-one else knows about her necromantic abilities and life is otherwise pretty routine and boring. The biggest excitement is talking to Bredon Havers, a courteous and interesting corpse from the 1700’s who unusually remembers her. That is until she meets Oscar, an attractive and flirtatious vampire looking to buy an old house (with cellars!) and through him she is introduced into vampire society. Vampires have recently been legally recognised and given rights in Europe, as their blood can heal some diseases, and many are re-locating from persecution in the USA, where there is a “Stake on Sight” policy. The official recognition and protection has led to a mini-property boom, which is good news for estate agents. As she and Oscar get closer, she has to cope with the outdated and arrogant assumptions of vampire society, Oscar’s grumpy but handsome boss, Benedict, and try to avoid being killed by a rival vampire gang, while on the way also trying to solve a murder mystery! As if that wasn’t enough, she has to keep her abilities secret as vampires tend to kill necromancers, given that their ability to control the dead also extends to vampires. I loved this book – it is laugh-out-loud funny. I found myself thinking of it as Bridget Jones meets True Blood –a rom-com with vampires and zombies. The dialogue is sharp, witty and one of the highlights of the book. Toni herself is an amusing and entertaining character who somehow gets involved in one disaster after another. Throughout she is kind, friendly, loyal and intelligent and the reader can understand why Oscar, Benedict and Bredon like her. Yes, on one level it follows some of the conventions of the sub-genre, but the worldbuilding is good, the various strands of the plot come together to a successful conclusion, and it rattles along at a good pace and kept me not wanting to put it down to the end. Now I just want to see how the story continues in the next book. Definitely recommended if you like humorous fantasy writing. CG (Review copy kindly donated by Rebellion) 11

THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson Hodder & Stoughton / 336 pgs / £14.99 hardback / ISBN 978-1529387148 Reviewed by Carol Goodwin The multiverse theory has been used by many SF authors, from Philip K Dick’s THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE all the way through to more modern versions such as Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter’s The Long Earth series. Micaiah Johnson’s THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS is a welcome addition and manages to breathe new life into an old (and sometimes tired) trope. The technology for accessing alternative Earths is relatively new and only universes with the greatest similarities to Earth Zero can be accessed. So far there are 382 realities that have been “unlocked”. Earth Zero is the only one which apparently has developed the ability to travel the universes. It is a world damaged by climate change, pollution and disease. Society is unequal with the fortunate few living in walled cities with greater access to food, medicine, technology and shelter from the heat. Outside the walls are the poorer people, those who helped build the city but who for the most part are not allowed to live there. Information and resources from the alternative Earth’s are potentially highly valuable but there is one major snag. A person can only enter another world if their counterpart (or doppelganger) is dead in that world. However, as accessible universes are those with the least divergence then for the most part, people have similar lives – the rich remain rich and the poor remain more likely to die. Suddenly the poor, the undervalued, refugees etc have a value as they have more dead counterparts. However, this is only for a lucky few. Cara is one of these, a “traverser” and is highly valued as she is dead in all but eight of the 382 possible universes. This status has given her a job for the last six years and an apartment in the walled city of Wiley (though not the full security of a citizen) while her family must remain outside in the wastelands. Having lived a life of hunger and hardship, she is content to put herself first and enjoy the benefits. That plan is disrupted however when news comes through that one of her eight remaining doppelgangers has died and she is 12 sent to that reality. Stranded there for a while she must interact with the counterparts of those from her own world, but the changes and information she discovers reveal a plot that endangers not only her world but the whole multiverse. Having learned to be selfish as a defence mechanism, Cara must decide whether she is willing to act to save others. This is excellent SF. It touches on lots of issues such as privilege, exploitation and family dynamics. Cara is a complicated character affected by her past and also the histories of all her dead alternates. On one level this has left her mercenary and apparently hard-hearted from knowing that there are so many paths she could take in which she doesn’t live. On the other side, she feels guilty to be a survivor when so many others haven’t. Also having to interact with different and, in some cases, kinder versions of her family and significant others ultimately makes her question her own choices and develop as the story progresses. It is satisfying as a reader to see how she moves very much from a passive to an active figure with agency. The worldbuilding is good, with both the Ashtown and Wiley city societies shown to have good and bad aspects. While the concept of multi- verses may have been used before, this is a fresh and unique take on the theme and one I recommend to anyone who likes intelligent SF. CG (Review copy kindly donated by Hodder & Stoughton)

LADY OF SHADOWS (The Empty Gods 2) by Breanna Teintze Jo Fletcher Books / 336 pgs / £16.99 paperback / ISBN 978-1787476462 Reviewed by Carol Goodwin The first book in this series (THE LORD OF SECRETS) was an enjoyable sword- and-sorcery style book set in a secondary world where performing magic is painful and toxic for the user. The main protagonists were an unregistered young wizard, Corcoran Gray; Brix, a runaway slave who can absorb the toxic effects of magic; and Jaern, an ancient “god” who they release from imprisonment and who is really a powerful wizard. The three become reluctant allies until Jaern reveals his true motives and only Gray is in a position to defeat him.

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At the start of the second series, Gray is now trying to cope with his nightmares and the consequences of being resurrected into Jaern’s body, one which has magical scripts hidden just under the skin. When a visit to an old friend results in Brix being infected with a magical plague that kills in a number of days, he is forced to aid the Mages Guild, an organisation that wants him dead, in finding the source of the mysterious disease in time to save his beloved Brix. Although this is the second volume of a series, it is perfectly possible to follow most of the story with very minimal information from the previous volume. Although I missed the sarcastic comments and dialogue with Jaern, Gray now has a new foil in his reluctant ally and captor, the Mage Guild Examiner, Dace. The verbal sparring between the two as they are forced to rely on each other is entertaining especially as Dace has his own agenda and secrets to protect. Their search leads them to Brix’s home town where they must confront another old and powerful “god”, one who has a previous history with Jaern, whose body Gray now wears. Like its predecessor, this book has great pace and some fun action and peril scenes. Gray also continues to be a likeable and fallible character, one who is prepared to take risks and endure pain to help others. Dace is not just a carbon copy replacement for Jaern’s role in the plot and adds some interesting twists of his own to the overall narrative. LADY OF SHADOWS is easy to read with an entertaining plot and an interesting villain, and while the story reaches a satisfying conclusion, there are also enough developments to allow the series to continue. While there is still plenty of action and some casualties, I found it refreshing to read something that isn’t all grimdark or requires the reader to keep track of a cast of thousands. This is a high-spirited and thoroughly enjoyable book. Much like Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser or Jen Williams Copper Cat series it has heroes who are closer to true human nature than the overpowered supermen of some fantasy writing. If you like those books, you will probably find much to enjoy in this series. CG (Review copy kindly donated by Jo Fletcher Books)

FORTHCOMING EVENTS All details are correct to the best of our knowledge, we advise contacting organizers before travelling. Any information about forthcoming SF/Fantasy/Horror events is always welcome – please send to Carol at [email protected]

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DAN HANKS & CHRIS PANATIER, 8th September. SFF authors’ Book Launch with live Q&A. 6:30pm. Free. Book at https://bit.ly/31FvQJj

SPACEPORT CORNWALL, 16th September. Online lecture. Hosted by Go Space Watch. A new company planning to launch small satellites to LEO by 2021 from Newquay. 7:30 pm. £3. https://www.facebook.com/events/3331634000213135/

JOE ABERCROMBIE VIRTUAL TOUR, 14th – 30th September. Online. THE TROUBLE WITH PEACE Book Launch. Book at https://joeabercrombie.com/the-trouble-with-peace-virtual-tour/

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI UK VIRTUAL TOUR, 16th – 23rd September. Online. SF author chats with various guest authors. Peter Hamilton (16th), John Scalzi (17th), Adrian Tchaikovsky (19th), Arkady Martine (22nd). Various prices. Booking details via https://bit.ly/2EHLlYl.

INTERSTELLAR PRECURSOR MISSIONS, 26th September Online. Hosted by BIS West Midlands. Robert Swinney talks about work on interstellar travel. 7:30 pm. Free. Booking mandatory https://bit.ly/3jttHa0

ADAM NEVILL, ANDREW BANNISTER & JOHN JARROLD in conversation, 26th September. Newark Book Festival. Online. SF, Horror and Fantasy Panel. 7-30pm. £2.50. Book at https://bit.ly/3gHbX9d

I4IS PROJECT GLOWORM, 2nd October Online. Hosted by BIS. Lecture – “A Laser Sail demonstration mission – a first step to interstellar probes”. 2 pm. £5. Booking mandatory. https://bit.ly/2EJWWGu

EVENT HORIZON, 15th October. Online. Rhiannon A Grist & Ely Percy discuss parallel universes. Free www.shorelineofinfinity.com

LONDON FIRST THURSDAY SFF GROUP, Online. Virtual first Thursday. Details at https://medium.com/@BohemianCoast/first-thursday- london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f

CONVENTIONS and EXHIBITIONS EDGE-LIT 9, moved to 7th – 8th November, Derby. Literary SF/Fantasy festival. Speakers to be confirmed. Tickets £50 at www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/events/edge-lit-9 OPEN FOR NOW

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STOKERCON UK (Now Renamed as CHILLERCON), 28th – 31st January 2021, Scarborough. International Horror Convention. Guests of Honour Mike Carey, Kim Newman, Grady Hendrix etc. At the Grand/Royal Hotels, Scarborough. £115 Non-HWA Members. https://chillercon-uk.com

SATELLITE 7, moved to 19th – 21st February 2021, Glasgow. Guest of Honour Aliette de Bodard, Margaret Walty. At Crowne Plaza, Glasgow. Membership £70. https://seven.satellitex.org.uk

CONFUSION (EASTERCON), 9th – 11th April 2021, Birmingham. Guests of Honour Dan Abnett, Nik Vincent, Dave Lally. At the Hilton NEC. Membership £70. Registration now open at www.confusion2021.uk

BRISTOLCON, 3Oth October 2021, Bristol. Guests of Honour Adrian Tchaikovsky and Anna Smith Spark. Doubletree Hotel. £20. Details at www.bristolcon.org

NOVACON 50, November 2021, Nottingham. Guests of Honour: tbc. Mercure Nottingham Sherwood Hotel. Details at www.novacon.org.uk

FUTURE MEETINGS OF THE BSFG ALL MEETINGS CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

BRUM GROUP NEWS #588 (September 2020) copyright 2020 for Birmingham SF Group. Articles, artwork and photographs must not be reproduced in whole or part without the consent of the editor and/or the respective authors. This issue produced by Carol Goodwin ([email protected]). Thanks to all the named contributors.

ABOUT US... The Birmingham Science Fiction Group meets on the second Friday of each month. Membership is £25 per year per person (or £35 for two members living at the same address). This includes the 12 free issues of the Newsletter plus reduced entrance fee at each meeting. Details of how to join/pay can be obtained at a meeting or by email to [email protected]

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