Barnes and Nobles - Sci-Fi Fantasy nites 3rd Monday each month starting January!

Hey gang, big experiment in the making. Given that the following:

1. Jedi_natalie is an important part of this club, and she is an avid reader.
2. I like the literary bend that Lord of the Rings has taken on and still maintain a fan base.
3. Much of Dragoncon is devoted to Star Wars, Star Trek , LOTR, and Anne McCaffery.
4. I need to take a more active part in building the fan base of our club.
5. We need a broader base to build our club on, and both Sci-fi and fantasy cuts across our demographics nicely and hits our target market.
6. Drawing fans to Mitch's Tavern has not been successful for club growth.

Therefore be it known to all that:

I'm starting a sci-fi / fantasy book club and meet and greet over at
Barnes and Nobles

Where: Barnes and Nobles at Brian Creek Commons, I-540 at US70, 1 mile west of Angus Barn.

on the 3rd Monday of each month starting January 19, 2004 , to start. We can always move it to a more convenient time and date.

This will be our new meeting place for the TTF fan force and local Lord of the Rings fan club but with a literary bend.

I'm hoping that this book club will lead to larger discussions of books in the sci-fi fantasy genre. It will allow us to have bigger group events and more social outings.

We'll target at least one book to read and discuss at the following meeting.

It will better coordinate fan activities with literary activities, leading to invitations of authors to be invited discuss their works.

High expectations? you bet.

 

Next sci-fi fantasy book club meet is Jan 18, Barnes and Nobles Briar Creek Commons, 7PM.

 

That sounds like fun. I will deffinately try to come just keep me posted.

 

Last nights meeting was really fun, you guys! I'll stick with 3rd mondays for the philosophical bend we seem to be leaning towards, and come up with a topic or two to expound upon. Great start, everyone!

I love the idea of getting together for the hockey games. Dumb question - Where is the schedule, Natalie? more importantly - which ones are you going to?

Jayners will you be sure to write up a capsule of what we talked about and put it up on triangletradefederation.org? Thanks, everyone! Welldone !

 

Not a problem. Don

My computer is still a mess but I'll get one written out and give it to Natalie.

-Janers

 

Thanks, Jayners.
I've asked Lori the B&N rep to make it a sci-fi fantasy nite. Someone will pick out a book / or a topic from a book with a philosophical question to disucss. Dinner or movie thereafter, both within walking distance.

 

Our next meeting is at
Monday February 16 7 PM
Barnes and Noble, Briar Creek Commons - with dinner and / or movie afterwards.

Here are the books to read for next month's meeting and topics / questions to discuss:

1) Urban Fantasy: Finding the Fae in the Everyday. Suggested reading:
_Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman and/or _Dreams Underfoot_ by Charles deLint

Western civilization is a very serious society. Why do we turn to fantasy in our lives when reality dictates reason and knowledge should guide us? Are we better because of it? Why?

 

I'm afraid I won't be able to go . I have a hockey game that night and I'm even going to have to cancel that. I have a Space-Time Physics test the next day and I can't take any chances. Study, Study, Study...sums up my life.

 

Reminder the meeting is this Monday.
That's ok Natalie, we know you'll be there in spirit.

 

I'm definately going to be there.

 

Next month - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K le Guin, and we'll talk about Gender Bending.

 

I'll be out of town on business for Monday March 15 so I need a volunteer to run the meeting for me at 7PM that night at B&N. Your contact at Barnes and Noble is Cislyn Smith.

 

Cislyn will facilitate the meeting itself on Monday, no need for anyone to volunteer now.

 

Thanks to Minacia who updated the headers with next month's meeting on April 19. Bring a favorite Star Wars prop or collectible this time!

 

opic : Immortality

Bring a prop or collectible and discuss

Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein, Shivering World by Kathy Tyres, or Immortality by Ben Bova. Be prepared to discuss living as an immortal and how to live one's life the best way possible.

 

Hmm time to go get the Interactive Artoo aka my Pet.

Or should I bring Vader?

* debates*

Hehe

 

Doesn't matter - bring something fun..
Reminder - Meeting is this Monday at Barnes and Noble
7PM

 

I wish I could join you guys this week. I am reading the book here in FL. It is a really great book so far. Have fun.

 

I tried to get as much work done tonight as possible so I could make the meeting tomorrow. It didnt' go as successfully as I had hoped but I still might be able to make it depending on how my proff's office hours go tomorrow.

 

Oh guys, I can't make it this month. We have some ridiculously early work call tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will be able to make the next one. Sorry. Have a great meeting though!! May the Force be with you....

 

Let's see how this one turns out as far as participation - Monday's seem to be difficult for most of us to make it.

 

So how did it go??

 

Natalie, Jane, and I made it, with only one other new person arrived, who read the B&N flyer. Although this is a nice way to meet people, it's definitely not working from a club recruiting standpoint. Natalie Jane and I will discuss this and come up with more targeted club membership ideas. I think specific flyers around the campuses on bulletin boards and at hobby and game shops is the focused way to go about getting new members. Plus I'd like to borrow Kevin's idea of a barbecue at my place in June with movies and star wars gaming.

 

I like doing the book club thing too. Maybe since so many of us are SW fans we could have one recommended reading be a SW book. I am interested in reading a wide variety of books though so I'm hoping this summer to get back into the reading thing. Maybe we should still do soem of the meetings at B&N just vary it up a little bit or do the B&N meeting once a month and then do a movie get together or osmething during the month or do the B&N bi-monthly - that might work.

Anyway I pulled out my leisure reading book last night and read 30 pages or so. Big thing for me since I odn't think I've read in that book for 4 months or so. I can't wait to get back into reading more. I miss it.

 

I like the book club thing too. The seriousness of the topics are great to make one think in depth, and deep thinking is a quality that's in short supply. Goodness knows we need to. I like the depth of topics and that's good to continue as a facet of the club. I like the idea of opening up the topics to more fun reading too. Some people are just too scared of deep serious discussions - but - you know that ultimately all sci-fi is seriously deep when one pulls the layers back. Beyond the "It's fun to save the Universe" aspects, even Star Wars has the elements of depth - Greek tragedy, and war - it touches on the visceral elements of the human condition - love, hate, power, control, destiny, honor, duty, betrayal, struggles of good vs evil. The club has been active for two years now. Fun meetings should be at the heart of what we do, and I encourage all elements of what we can evolve to be, serious or fun.