Cambridge University Science Fiction Society
and Jómsborg the New
Next meeting: Sunday 15 November, 19:30pm (until 22:00 or so), Sidney Sussex
Topic: CYBERNETICS. (In particular, I am wondering what the society would think of the combination of cybernetics and space travel. As in being wired in to a spaceship, or similar. Because that would be pretty cool, right?)
Una McCormack
On Sunday the 22nd of November, we are having a speaker meeting with Sci Fi Author Una McCormack. If you would like to join us for dinner beforehand, please email Carol (cbhl2).
Library access: not this week
(but email Roseanna if you must)
The library catalogue is here: catalogue Please don't email Roseanna asking "Does CUSFS have X" unless you both (a) haven't found X in the catalogue, and (b) have reason to believe CUSFS recently bought X.
We have a library in the New Museums site. Our Glorious Lady Librarian Roseanna will not be there at the usual time of Thursday at 4:30 this week, this having nothing whatsoever to do with her work. Friday at 3:30 remains a possibility -- email her (rmp51) if you cannot live without going underground. She might also get books for you if you email her.
Carol informs us that we we will be discussing The Year Of Our War by Steph Swainston later in the term. The society has 4 copies of this novel, though they were purchased over the summer so aren't on the catalogue yet. Carol will bring the two copies that live with her along to the Sunday meeting.
Message from the Meadkeeper
Enlightened and most worthy Members of CUSFS, as your Meadkeeper* I am
asking you to write a Drabble - a short story of exactly 100 words, no
more, no less. These (and any other works you might wish to submit) will
provide material for the writing workshop, which will take place on Sunday
the 25th of October, and then will be published in TTBA. [Chairbeing's
note: old copies of TTBA can be found here].
Your Drabble can be dramatic, tragic, enlightening or simply humorous but
what it must be is short. And it may win you a bottle of the finest mead!
(By which we mean Broadland's Norfolk Mead). Please email submissions to me
at eim21 before Sunday the 25th, or else bring them along to the meeting
where they can be discussed and enjoyed. After this, a select committee of
myself, our glorious Chairbeing and our magnificent Reeve will go away and
over the course of the next week meet and choose a winner who will be
ceremonially presented with the bottle of mead for their pains.
All experiences and styles are welcome, having not written before you will
be seeing my attempt at the workshop [Chairbeing's note: Of course, Ed
won't be allowed to win, since he's a judge] and I hope to see yours.
An essay on and amusing examples of the drabble can be found here.
Your Meadkeeper, Edward Morland
*The Meadkeeper runs the writing workshops. Why? I've no idea ... answers
on a postcard ...
The CUSFS/Jómsborg Veizla (annual dinner) was held on the 12th of June.
If you have photos from this glorious event, you can try emailing me (ey221) and seeing if I'll put them up.
CUSFS (and later Jómsborg the New) has been bringing literary
discussion of Science Fiction and Fantasy to students and the general
public in Cambridge since 1963. Every week during University Full
Term we have a discussion on Sunday evenings, be it on an author, a
theme, or the latest bizarre theory explaining why there's nothing
good on TV anymore. We tend to alternate between Science Fiction
discussions and Fantasy discussions (which, until 1996, were the
exclusive preserve of Jómsborg).
Current information
If you would like more information on what CUSFS does, please contact the committee at
soc-cusfs at lists dot cam dot ac dot uk.
News
CUSFS now has an official IRC channel, #cusfs on the irc.srcf.ucam.org server. If you're unfamiliar with IRC and the link doesn't work, try the assassins IRC instructions, replacing "#assassins" with "#cusfs".
The library sale is still open, to both members and non-members. Details
are on the sale page; get your requests in soon!
This website is updated intermittently. We will try
to get it right every time, but if you notice something broken, please mail
soc-cusfs at lists dot cam dot ac dot uk.
Likewise, please get in touch if you have any suggestions for changes or
additions to the site.
Valvepunk, where the transistor was never
invented, is being developed by CUSFS as a shared world.
The original artist for the CUSFS Cuddly Alien
you see above has been found! Jeremy Henty, take a bow!
Archive information
Some other Web pages
- BSFA - the British Science Fiction Association
- Eastercon, the British National Science Fiction convention
- Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention
- Recombination, a science fiction and games convention
in Cambridge in 2007
Last recorded update: October 19 2009, by Elena Yudovina
Please send comments and queries about CUSFS and this website to
soc-cusfs at lists dot cam dot ac dot uk