November 2009 meeting

The November meeting will take place on Tuesday 24th at 6pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street; the book under discussion this month is the entrancing fantasy from Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus.

October 2009 meeting

Apologies for not updating for so long, mostly due to personal reasons. The group has been continuing to meet regularly and is still going strong, with the October meeting due on Tuesday 27th from 6 to 7pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street (we’re usually right through at the back of the downstairs restaurant section). The book for this month will be near-future Interface by Neal Stephenson and Frederick George.

October 2008 meeting

Apologies for the gap in posting on here but due to distressing personal circumstances I’ve not been maintaining any of my normal personal sites for some time and am just returning to them and this one now. The book choice for the October meeting of the Book Group is the seminal graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine’s list of 100 best novels of the last 80 years. The meeting will be on Tuesday 28th of October from 6 to 7pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street.

March meeting

Apologies for being late posting details, but between being on holiday and then superbusy I clean forgot to update the blog, so very quickly the March meeting will be on Tuesday 25th at the usual time of 6pm in Henderson. Susan has the choice this month and has selected The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, which I am looking forward to if mine ever turns up in the post…

February meeting

It’s Alexa’s first ever turn to pick a book this month and she has gone for Mobius Dick by Andrew Crumey. No, I don’t think it is about a man with a very elastic willy who gets it tied in an improbably endless knot… The February meeting should take place on Tuesday 26th from 6 to 7pm in the usual haunt of Henderson’s on Hanover Street.

January meeting

Alex has picked the book for this month, Kirsten Bakis’ Lives of the Monster Dogs, which I confess I don’t know a thing about other than the fact it involves talking dogs (is that really fiction??) and it seems to be only available second hand.  The meeting will on Tuesday 29th January at the usual time of 6pm in Henderson’s on Hanover Street, all are welcome to come along and join in.

December meeting

For the final meeting of 2007 we will meet a week earlier than usual on the fairly sensible grounds that our usual last Tuesday of the month would have been on Christmas Day, so we will be meeting instead on Tuesday 18th of December, at the usual time of 6pm in the normal haunt of Henderson’s on Hanover Street. It’s my turn to pick a book this time and I’ve gone for a classic by Tim Powers, the Anubis Gates, a brilliant mix of historical fiction with science fiction and a touch of magical fantasy as a modern scholar on a time travel trip to the 1800s to see Coleridge speak finds himself stuck in the past. I’m hoping the rest of you enjoy this as much as I do, its one of those books that figures on a lot of writer’s favourite book lists.

November meeting

The next meeting of the Edinburgh SF Book Group will take place on Tuesday 27th November at 6pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street. Beth has the choice this month and has picked out the debut novel by Glasgow author Hal Duncan, Vellum: the Book of All Hours, one of my favourite books of recent years. The book defies easy categorisation – it mixes fantasy, science fiction and mythologies into a fascinating mix of alternate realities and characters through the Vellum, the book which may – or may not – have been written by Angels and contain the words of God describing the fabric of reality itself. The US edition of Vellum recently won a Spectrum Award, which is given out to gay-friendly SF.

October meeting

Jer has the choice for October and has selected a work which, like the Atwood we’ve discussed, straddles literary and science fiction (not mutually exclusive fields, despite what some literary snobs may say), Hard Boiled Wonderland at the end of the World by Haruki Murakami. Following a very enjoyable fourth anniversary meeting last night (happy birthday us!) our next meeting will be on Tuesday 30th of October at the usual time of 6pm in Henderson’s on Hanover Street – all are welcome.

For those who want to plan ahead Beth has chosen Glasgow author Hal Duncan’s astonishing debut Vellum for November and I’ve settled on Tim Powers’ Anubis Gates for December.

September meeting

Chris has picked the recent paperback by Edinburgh-based Charles Stross, Glasshouse, for his choice this month. For those who haven’t read him Charlie is one of the fast-rising names in SF and he’s been picking up awards to go with the good reviews. This is quite an accessible novel by him, touching on the nature of identity, technology, gender roles, literal identity theft, power, control mechanisms for society and also has his cynical humour (which includes stabs at reality TV shows). The meeting will be on Tuesday 25th of September at 6pm in the usual venue of Henderson’s on Hanover Street.