MonSFFA’ s Executive: MonSFFA CALENDAR OF EVENTS Bernard Reischl Except where noted, all MonSFFA meetings are held President (& self proclaimed Emperor :) Sundays at 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the Hotel Espresso (formerly the Days Hotel), St-François Room, 1005 Guy Street, corner René Lévesque. Keith Braithwaite & Lindsay Brown Vice-Presidents Programming is subject to change, check our website for latest developments. Sylvain St-Pierre June 13, 2010 Treasurer Meeting cancelled in favour of a garage sale on the 12th Appointed Positions: and bowling on the 13th. PR, Membership, editor of Impulse July 25, 2010 Keith Braithwaite Annual MonSFFA BBQ (rain date: August 1, 2010) Web Master Bernard Reischl August 15, 2010 Editor of WARP Fancraft Workshops: Members try their hand at a variety Cathy Palmer-Lister of sci-fi-themed crafts in a series of workshops Board of Advisors (BoA) September 19, 2010 All members in good standing! Guest Speaker: Olivier Xavier speaks on his professional career, the Please help us plan our activities! modern visual effects industry, and the FX techniques employed by low-budget independent filmmakers. On the Cover Introduction to Computer Gaming: A primer on popular computer Our cover this issue comes courtesy Keith Braithwaite, gaming (François Ménard) who colourised an old black-and-white marker sketch he'd made a few years back. The Emperor's flagship, October 17, 2010 painted in the Imperial colours of war and bristling with Future’s History: The evolution of the Captain Future weaponry, orbits the Empire's homeworld. character over a variety of media. (Marquise Boies) Weird Sci-Fi Technologies: A review of some of the more bizarre technologies to be found in the annals of science fiction. (Sylvain St-Pierre) Write to us: Commercial Advertising: A look at advertising’s use of SF to sell products MonSFFA and services. (Alice Novo, Berny Reischl) c/o Sylvain St-Pierre 4456 Boul. Ste-Rose November 21, 2010 Laval, Québec, Canada Signs and Symbols, Legends and Mythologies: An examination of H7R 1Y6 their origins and connections. (Lindsay Brown, Marc Durocher) www.monsffa.com Star Trek Remastered: An appreciation of the remastered versions of the original Star Trek episodes, in which the visual effects President: have been updated. ( Wayne Glover) [email protected] Fan Film Theatre: Screenings of some of the most interesting and recent examples of SF/F fan films available on the Web. ( Berny Reischl) editor: [email protected] December 4, 2010 MonSFFA's Annual Christmas Dinner & Party Details to be announced. As is our tradition, we will be collecting toys and items of non-perishable food for donation to Sun Youth’s Christmas Basket Drive. In the spirit of the season, please give to benefit those less fortunate in our community. The Real Fine Print: WARP is published quarterly by the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (MonSFFA), a non-profit organization of fans interested in sharing their love of science fiction and fantasy. The opinions expressed in WARP are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of MonSFFA or the editor. To reprint any article, please contact the writer, or ask the editor to pass on your request. The use of copyrighted material is generally discouraged, but it’s hard to talk about Star Wars without stepping on toes; our apologies to the copyright holders, no serious infringement is intended. This is an amateur production, your tolerance is appreciated by your fans. WARP 74 / Spring 2010 / 2 Spring 2010 • Vol. 24 • 02 T A B L E of C O N T E N T S FEATURE ARTICLES Books / 25 Sea Serpents / 5 Under Heaven / Shadowrise / Wake / Watch Castles of Dreams & Nightmares / 7 The Last Mage: The Dragon’s Mouth / 9 Conventions & Events / 26 Small Pox & Other Acts of God / 14 Wild Hunt / Robert J. Sawyer at Indigo Stargate Enterprise / 15 Awards / 18 DEPARTMENTS REVIEWS You’ve Got Mail / 3 SFF Sighting / 6 Big Screen, Little Screen Monitor Screen / 19 Upcoming Conventions & Events / 4 Movies released 50 years ago /Summer Releases / Robot MonSFFA Discount Programme /13 Chicken Star Wars II / Dr Who: The Infinite Quest / Genre The MonSFFun Page /28 Movies Compilation / The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello Anime North was this past weekend. nominations, I am on the Hugo ballot this Yvonne and I are not anime fans, but the year, in the category of Best Fan Writer. AN committee has tried their best to The excitement of this has yet to fade, and provide non-anime programming, and to I am hopeful for some great news in show their attendees there’s more to August. Finally, the day I am writing this popular culture than anime. There’s a lot is my 51st birthday!, so I am taking the of walking to do at the Toronto Congress day to do as I please, and catch up on Centre, and we just hung out and met up commitments like a loc. As soon as I finish with friends on the Saturday, and we this up, e-mail it to you, and send you a participated in the Steampunk Tale!, I have some other commitments to Hetalia/Wonderland fashion show on look after as well. Take care, Cathy, and Sunday. I’ve already heard an attendance see you as soon as the new issue is ready. figure, unofficial, of course, of 18,000. Looks like there were lots of happy Yours, June 2, 2010 people, and it seemed more crowded than Lloyd Penney in previous years, so I’d say the 18,000 Dear Cathy: figure is fairly accurate. Our next Hi, Lloyd! Emperor Reischl may be demanding convention will be Polaris in Richmond your devotions soon, and when Berny I Hill in July. You’re on the Hugo Ballot! Wow! does, he may be looking at being deposed. Great article from Graeme Cameron. That’s a win in itself! Congratulations! Although, I think he’d prefer that. He Everyone should know their own history, The review of The City and the City realized too late it’s not a paying job. Here for fandom does have a long history, in is by one reviewer, Danny Sichel, and comes the Wrath of Berny… many places. Anticipation may have also he’ll be glad you noticed how he wrote it My letter…Yvonne is now at helped to illustrate the history of fandom in the style of the book. He was worried Shredit, the document shredding company, and Montreal fandom in particular. The readers might not “get” it. and their head office is in Oakville. I spent MSFS would celebrate its 65th anniversary Donald Simmons gives a figure of six months working at The Law Society of next year. And great review of The City 18,000 warm bodies for Anime North. I Upper Canada, and I’m job hunting again. and the City, written by two reviewers? can’t imagine that many people! There might be the chance to return to the Ah, there we are on page 24. Good I wish you well in the job hunt, and Law Society in the fall, but I’d rather have party, and we were a little over-dressed hope you and Yvonne can make it to something full time. I have found a because we’d just come from the Aurora Con*Cept. Montréal Steampunk group on Facebook, Awards banquet. Yours in fandom, plus steampunk groups across the country. John Hertz won DUFF, I didn’t win I’m sure the local group could do some the Aurora this year, but it is always good Cathy programming at the next Con*Cept. to be nominated, and speaking of WARP 74 / Spring 2010 / 3 From Guy Lillian’s Zine Dump 25, a Nikolai Krimp’s The Last Mage and Alice carries on. review of WARP 72: Cathy was the last Novo’s “Message in a Bottle”, books and Challenger’s tributee for her help with the movies are reviewed, a concert of film Wow, thanks, Guy, what a nice Montreal Fan-Eds’ Feast. She also edits a music is hailed (by Cathy herself), as is the review! dandy club-genzine. This issue features a Salon de la Passion Mediévale et Guy even published our logo with it! funny cover – the Enterprise orbiting a Historique – an anachronist event, as you Cool! green egg – and color photos throughout. can guess. More good photos of creative And BTW, Guy Lillian III is also in The best pictures hail Forry Ackerman SFnal Easter eggs, and a cool quiz the running for a Hugo, again, I think this (and some movie props he leant involving alien women from the movies is the 10th ? Good luck, Guy! Challenger is MonSFFA) and the late film producer, and the actresses who play them. a great zine! Charles Schneer. TAFF winner Steve Worldcon may be over but MonSFFA http://www.challzine.net/ Green greets the club before chapters of Upcoming Events Compiled by Dom Durocher & Lynda Pelley June 4-6 What-the-Fur (anthro) Montreal, QC Aug 13-15 Otakuthon (anime) Montreal, QC http://whatthefur.ca/ http://www.otakuthon.com/ July 3-4 ConBravo (Anime) Oakville, ON Aug 27-29 Fan Expo (SF multi-media); Toronto, ON http://www.hobbystar.com/fanexpo/ http://conbravo.com/ September 2-6 AussieCon IV, the 68th World Con, June 25-27 TwiCon (vampire con - True Blood, Melbourne, Australia Twilight, Vampire Diaries); Toronto, ON http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/ http://www.twicon.org/ Sept 3-6 Dragon*Con (SF multi-media); Atlanta, GA July 8-27 Fantasia (film festival); Montreal, QC http://www.dragoncon.org/ http://www.fantasiafest.com/ Sept 11-12 Comic-Con (Comics, media) Montreal, QC http://www.montrealcomiccon.com/ July 16-18 Polaris - formerly Toronto Trek (SF media); Toronto, ON Oct 1-3 Con*Cept; Montreal, QC http://www.tcon.ca/polaris/modules/tconguests/ http://www.conceptsff.ca July 22-25 San Diego Comic Con (SF Oct 28-31 World Fantasy Con 34, Columbus OH multi-media); San Diego, CA http://www.contextsf.org/WFC/ http://www.comic-con.org/cci/ Oct 2 London Scale Model Show