Coming Up! SF&F Literati on the THIRD Monday of May:

SF&F Literati go Into the Storm, in May!

Selection: Into the Storm, by Taylor Anderson

When: May 20 (third Monday!) 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Oak Park Barnes & Noble Bookseller, 11323 W 95th Street

Overland Park, KS 66214, on the 2nd floor.

Order this book from Barnes & Noble, or other fine booksellers.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker, a Great War-era destroyer, finds itself retreating from pursuing Japanese battleships. 

Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, desperately leads the Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover, only to emerge into an alternate world. A world where two species have evolved: the cat-like Lemurians and the reptilian Griks, and they are at war.

With its power and weaponry, the Walker’s very existence could alter the balance of power. And for Reddy and his crew, who have the means to turn a primitive war into a genocidal Armageddon, one thing becomes clear. They must determine whose side they're on. Because whichever species they choose is the winner.

Note: there are four books in the “Destroyermen” series; this is Book 1.

Get ready now for next month!

Hugh Howey's book Wool is the selection for the June 24, 2013 meeting.  It will be here sooner than you think!

Overview from Barnes & Noble:In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. 

His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

Note: Hugh Howey gave a live presentation about his novel on March 13, 2013 in the Kansas City area, as part of the Rainy Day Books events series.  Howey also was featured in the Kansas City Star.   

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Taylor Anderson's website for the Into the Storm cover art, and to Barnes & Noble for the cover of Wool.

KaCSFFS Meets Today!

ConSuite Food and Miscellaneous Business

Where: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111

When: TODAY, May 18, 2013
Times: Executive Board Meeting-5:30 p.m.--Regular Club Meeting: 7:00 p.m. (note this is a change from previous meetings).

Executive Board Meeting:
The new President, Ty Gephardt, has announced an ambitious agenda for the Executive Board Meeting, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  As mandated by the 2012 Bylaws, all Board meetings are OPEN meetings, and may be attended by all interested club members.  The agenda covers:

ConQuesT Topics

o   Current Status, Updates, & Needs

o   ConSuite Location

o   Closing Ceremonies specifics

o   ConQuesT SOPs

o   Victoria's 5 Year Budget Proposal

o   Ken's GOH 2015 Suggestion

Future Meetings

o   June Picnic, theme?

o   July Program?

Yahoo Groups Code of Conduct

o   present code to BOD

o   discuss response options

Ty's ideas for 2013

ConSuite Food:
As previously announced elsewhere, today's KaCSFFS Meeting will (we hope) showcase some ConSuite favorite recipes (we also hope you'll bring them to ConQuesT next weekend!).

Ty Gephardt Reviews “Legacy”

Taking the 50-Word Review Challenge!

The book: Legacy
The author: James H. Schmitz
The reviewer: Ty Gephardt
Available from: Amazon

A would be pulp fiction story with a strong female lead that falls down in almost every scene. Following the standard tropes of pulp SF, this wild tale of mystery and intrigue revolves around Plasmoids, a lumpy, inert, biomachine of many parts. Unfortunately, Schmitz fails to adequately describe this and almost everything else to help realize what would be a fascinating tale. The narrative relies heavily on flashbacks for scenes readers have read. Regrettably, this extends to the climatic final act taking the form of “you know Bob, that fight a few months ago. . .” Pass on this book!

Readers, Please Comment: Did you enjoy this review? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree? Please share what you think!
More reviews coming soon!
COVER IMAGE: Courtesy of Amazon.com.

Jon Moss Reviews "A Canticle for Leibowitz"

Taking the 50-Word Review Challenge!

The book: A Canticle for Leibowitz
The author: Walter M. Miller
The reviewer: Jon Moss
Available from: Barnes & Noble

Miller’s award-winning novel stands the test of time and justifiably deserves to be continuously in print.  So many questions to ponder, presented through Miller’s monastic brothers preserving the last scraps of our civilization and an undying Jewish hermit (assumedly the Wandering Jew of legend) searching for Him who said ‘Come forth!’ Even though the Cold War is over, and mutually assured destruction no longer so assured, A Canticle for Leibowitz posits convincingly that ‘those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.’

An extended review is available on Moss's blog.
 
Readers, Please Comment: Did you enjoy this review? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree? Please share what you think!
More reviews coming soon!
COVER IMAGE: Courtesy of Lake County Library System.

Jon Moss Reviews "To Reign in Hell"

Taking the 50-Word Review Challenge!

The book: To Reign in Hell
The author: Steven Brust
The reviewer: Jon Moss
Available from: Barnes & Noble

-->

Brust’s second published novel, To Reign in Hell, seemed to me almost an alternate history/legend/mythos to Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not having read Milton’s works thoroughly, I probably missed much of Brust’s subtleties, wit and demonic humor. I still smiled at his quirky repartee among the bit characters. He coaxed me into sympathizing with the traditional enemy host, illustrated that truth can be in the eye of the beholder and perception is everything.

An extended review is available on Moss's blog.
 
Readers, Please Comment: Did you enjoy this review? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree? Please share what you think!
More reviews coming soon!
COVER IMAGE: Courtesy of Barnes & Noble.

Kansas City Horror Book Club

Breathers: A Zombie's Lament

By S.G. Browne

Details: Sunday, May 12, 2013; 12:00pm until 1:30pm at Westport Coffee House: 4010 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, Missouri.

Westport Coffee House is located in Westport a block west of Broadway and shares parking with the nearby shopping center.

Synopsis: For fans of Max Brooks’s The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death.

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

Darkly funny, surprisingly touching, and gory enough to satisfy even the most discerning reader, Breathers is a romantic zombie comedy (rom-zom-com, for short) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more. Provided by Amazon.com

The official Facebook Event page.



This event was organized by Earline Beebe on behalf of the KC Horror Book Club. If you are interested in this or any other upcoming events by the KC Horror club, please join our group! Book cover is © Random House under their Three Rivers Press imprint, and was provided by Amazon.com

Laser Rangers 2013 May Meeting

Learn more at this Month's Facebook Event Page! 

A short will precede our first feature!

Presented in stunning Blu-Ray high definition!

Day the Earth Stood Still

(1951, Appox. 92 minutes); Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Frances Bavier

An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. 

Check out this awesome trailer.









~~~~~
Between features, we will have our traditional potluck. Please bring something that matches our food theme above or bring something for yourself.
~~~~~

Forbidden Planet

MAIN FEATURE!
(1956, 98 minutes); Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, & Robby the Robot

A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret one of them has.

A truly fantastic space epic. Rewind and watch this reimagined trailer!

The home of the Laser Rangers is located about four miles north of the Kansas Speedway, NW of the intersection of I-70 and I-435 on the Kansas side of the Greater Kansas City area.

IMAGE CREDITS: The information for all of these shows come from the invaluable IMDB. The movie posters come from Wikipedia or the movie's  respected distributors.

Thanks to Ken Keller for finding our movie trailers.  

The movie screen frame image used for the Laser Rangers contact information is courtesy of Psychology Today Online. Many thanks to these websites!

Graphic design for the modified Forbidden Planet poster done by Jan Gephardt. Art direction by Ty Gephardt.

Jon Moss Review "Bridge of Birds"

Taking the 50-Word Review Challenge!

The book: Bridge of Birds
The author: Barry Hughart
The reviewer: Jon Moss
Available from: Barnes & Noble

--> An Asian adventure packed with action, mystery, myths, ingenuity, humor and hope. Hughart kept me riveted with each new chapter, each new adventure, each twist in the labyrinth. While some character dialogue seemed too modern for a tale of Ancient China (that ‘never was’), the relentless pace of events kept me turning pages faster and faster. I highly recommend Bridge of Birds to all lovers of fairy tales, legends and high adventure.  

An extended review is available on Moss's blog.
 
Readers, Please Comment: Did you enjoy this review? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree? Please share what you think!
More reviews coming soon!
COVER IMAGE: Courtesy of Hunch.

Jon Moss reviews "Curse of the Mistwraith"

Taking the 50-Word Review Challenge! 

The book: Curse of the Mistwraith
The author: Janny Wurts 
The reviewer: Jon Moss
Available from: Barnes & Noble 

Great prose, good characters, intriguing plot twists. I absolutely loved the first half of this book, riding along in the headlong rush to the first climax. I struggled a bit with the aftermath and could only watch in disgust and horror at the damage done to the characters I’d come to know and love. It made for great drama, sometimes almost melodrama, but boring it was not. I highly recommend this novel to fantastic fiction fans everywhere.

An extended review is available on Moss's blog.
 Readers, Please Comment: Did you enjoy this review? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree? Please share what you think!
More reviews coming soon!COVER IMAGE: Courtesy of Barnes & Noble.

April Meeting Follow-up

Introducing our New Executive Board
We barely managed a quorum of dues-paid members at our April 27, 2013 meeting to hold an official election, but with a final flurry of payments, we did it.  We had no mail-in votes, but the online voting echoed and reinforced the verdict of those attending in person.

Incoming and outgoing Presidents Ty Gephardt
and Diana J. Bailey, at the April 2013 meeting.

It was a safe bet we'd make history, because the election of either President candidate would be historic for KaCSFFS in some way.

The history we chose to make was electing the first, second-generation KAXFAN President in club history: Ty Gephardt's birth was announced at a KaCSFFS meeting in 1985, he joined on his own for the first time at age 15, and he is now President for the coming year, Ghod help him.

President was the only contested position on the Executive Board, but we have new faces in other positions, as well.

L-R New Secretary Kristina Hiner takes over from
Sherri Dean, the outgoing Secretary.

When incumbent Secretary Sherri Dean announced she was not running for another term, relatively new member Kristina Hiner stepped up to self-nominate. No other Secretary candidates opposed her, so a vote for this office was not needed. 

Kristina already has become an active voice on the new Board. Along with other, younger members of this Board, she is helping to add a more youthful perspective than that of the Baby Boomers who have dominated for decades.

L-R ConQuesT 2013 (CQ44) and 2014 (CQ45)
Chairpersons Victoria L'Ecuyer and Jesi Pershing.

We also have a changing of the ConQuesT Con Chairpersons on the Executive Board.  

The 2013 ConQuesT Chairperson remains Victoria L'Ecuyer, but she stepped down from the Board position so her Vice-Chair, Jesi (Lipp) Pershing, another second-generation KAXFAN, could step up.  

For most of her term on the Executive Board, Jesi will be the Chairperson of the upcoming ConQuesT.  She also ran unopposed.

Cindy Norton (working hard
during the April meeting)
remains KaCSFFS Treasurer.

Jan Gephardt (giving a
report at the April meeting)
will remain Communications
Officer of KaCSFFS.

Other Board positions will remain unchanged, because the incumbents self-nominated, and no one ran against them.  

Cindy Norton remains the Treasurer for a fifth term.  An accountant for a local business and part-time IRS worker, she brings considerable experience to the post.

Jan Gephardt remains the Communications Officer for a third term.  She was trained as a journalist, and worked for many years in the fields of marketing and education.

Both of these are voting Board Member positions.  

Diana Bailey continues as the
KaCSFFS Registered Agent.

The Registered Agent for the club is a non-voting position that often remains unchanged for many years because there are legal aspects to changing it, and especially while we await a decision from the IRS regarding our 501 (c) 3 designation, we don't want any unnecessary legal rearrangements. Diana Bailey continues as the Registered Agent.

Board members may be contacted online via the KaCSFFS Facebook Page, the KAXFEN Yahoo Group (for current members only), or by posting a comment to this blog (see below), or via snailmail at P.O. Box 34413, North Kansas City, MO 64116.

PHOTO CREDITS: We are grateful to several people for the photos used in this post.  The wonderful William Tienken provided the images of Ty with Diana, Kristina with Sherri, Jan Gephardt at the April meeting, and Diana Bailey at a meeting in the summer of 2012, all via his posts on Facebook.  The photo of Jesi Pershing is courtesy of Keith Stokes's MidAmerica Fan Photo Archive (Chicon VI section).  The photo of Cindy Norton was taken by Jan Gephardt, also at the April 2013 meeting.