Science Fiction and Fantasy Events in Toronto, January 2012

These events are from the science fiction & fantasy calendar I run.  If you have an event that's not listed, email me (jessica.strider@gmail.com) and I'll put it on the calendar and add it here.  While I try to get the details correct, always check the links to confirm event information. I'll be updating this post as I learn of more events.

Wednesday 11

The Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Featuring Violette Malan, Douglas Smith and Shari Lapeña

Where: Augusta House (152A Augusta Avenue, Toronto)
When: 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Join us to welcome in the new year with a trio of stellar authors...

Violette Malan has a PhD from York University in 18th-Century English Literature, but reports that most people don't hold it against her. She started reading fantasy and science fiction at the age of eight, and was writing stories not long after. Violette has been a book reviewer, and has written feature articles on genre writing and literature for the Kingston Whig Standard. She has taught creative writing, English as a second language, Spanish, beginner's French, and choreography for strippers. On occasion she's worked as an administrative assistant, and a carpenter's helper. Her most unusual job was translating letters between lovers, one of whom spoke only English, the other only Spanish.

Douglas Smith is an award-winning Canadian author of speculative fiction (fantasy, SF, horror, supernatural, and the ever popular "undefinable"), with over a hundred story sales in two dozen languages around the world, including InterZone, Amazing Stories, Cicada, Baen's Universe, Weird Tales, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Postscripts, On Spec, and The Third Alternative (now Black Static, as well as anthologies from Penguin, DAW, and others.

Shari Lapeña worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before turning to writing fiction. She is a graduate of The Humber School for Writers, where her mentor was David Adams Richards. Her first novel, Things Go Flying, was shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award. She won the Globe and Mail’s Great Toronto Literary Project contest, and was shortlisted for the 2006 CBC Literary Awards. Her second novel, Happiness Economics, was published in September, 2011. She lives in Toronto and is currently at work on her third novel.

Wednesday 12

1. Toronto Library Talk: Robert J. Sawyer interviews William Gibson
Where: Toronto Public Library (Toronto Reference Library)
When: Thursday, January 12, 2012 (doors open at 6:00 p.m. / interview at 7:00 p.m.)
(SOLD OUT)

2. Toronto Libarary Talk: Black Holes are like Kinder Surprises and Other Short Stories from the Universe
Where: Gerrard/Ashdale
When: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
This program has been postponed and rescheduled to Thursday January 12th at 7 p.m.

Hear stories of the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy,
extra-dimensions, parallel universes, quantum computers, and more. Join us as we host the very engaging Johannes Hirn from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto.

Sunday 15

Space-Time Continuum SFF Discussion Group
Where: Bakka Phoenix Books, 84 Harbord Street
When: 1 pm
Topic: The Year's Best Science Fiction : Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (2009) edited by Gardner Dozois

Wednesday 18

Toronto Library Talk: Black Holes are like Kinder Surprises and other Short Stories from the Universe
Where: Don Mills Auditorium
When: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Stories of the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, extra-dimensions, parallel universes, quantum computers and much more! Join us for a lively talk with the engaging Johannes Hirn from the University of Toronto's Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Saturday 21

Book Launch for Alyxandra Harvey's BRIAR ROSE

 Where: Bakka-Phoenix Books (84 Harbord St)

When: 3pm

[I got this event from Lloyd Penney's email event list.  It's not listed on the Bakka-Phoenix site, so call for confirmation: 416-963-9993]

Space Trek

Durham Improv presents an original interactive dinner theatre production, 'Space Trek',

Where: Jester's Court (279 Queen St.)

When: 6:30 PM

Tickets: $50 and include a buffet dinner. For tickets and information,visit www.durhamimprov.com or call 647-899-3342.

Space Trek, an homage to Star Trek, is an interactive dinner theatre production. "It has the feel of the Tim Allen movie Galaxy Quest," explains writer/director Stephanie Herrera in a press release. "Our show is set at amini sci-fi convention where the actors from an 80's TV show are spending time with their fans in Port Perry. This interaction with the audience is comprised of dinner with the stars as well as a Q and A and autograph session. Throughout the night, the characters start revealing their true personalities as their walls come down, with hilarious comical chaos. This mini convention will be complete with a merchandise table, an overzealous host and sci-fi groupies." "Everyone in the cast just loves the whole sci-fi genre, we are fascinated by the people who immerse themselves in the culture and above all, we love improvising with a live audience," she adds. "It's a show for people who love Star Trek and even for people who hate it, there's something for everyone."  

Thursday 26

oronto Library Talk: Robert A. Douglas

Where: Palmerston Branch
7:00 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
In "That Line of Darkness: The Shadow of Dracula and the Great War", Robert A. Douglas talks about how the current appeal of the Gothic is rooted in the late nineteenth century.

Saturday 28

11th annual Klingon Assault Group Feast!   

Where: ? [I was notified of this event via Lloyd Penney's email list, no location was mentioned and I couldn't find details for the event on the KAG site]

When: Time: 5:00pm until 11:00pm

Cost: detailed below

As usual, the menu will be heavy on the Klingon food, with an eye towards items that can actually be eaten by humans. The incredible qIjtoQ will be in command of the kitchen this year, so those of you who were at the KAG party at SFContario know how good it's going to be!To cover the cost of the food, we will be charging admission.

There will be a graduated entrance fee: 

$10 for costumed KAG members (if you are a member of KAG, and you wear what you usually wear for Klingon events)

$12 for other costumed fan groups (if you are a member of a group such as the 501st, SFI, SG16, or TSS, and dress appropriately, or in club shirts for those whose armor makes it hard to sit or eat)

$15 for non costumed fans (everyone else; if you have a costume but are not part of one of the clubs I named, contact me privately beforehand)

In addition to the food and drink, there will be several entertainments,including an interclub trivia challenge, filk singing, and more!

Space Trek

Durham Improv presents an original interactive dinner theatre production, 'Space Trek',

Where: Jester's Court (279 Queen St.)

When: 6:30 PM

Tickets: $50 and include a buffet dinner. For tickets and information,visit www.durhamimprov.com or call 647-899-3342.

Space Trek, an homage to Star Trek, is an interactive dinner theatre production. "It has the feel of the Tim Allen movie Galaxy Quest," explains writer/director Stephanie Herrera in a press release. "Our show is set at amini sci-fi convention where the actors from an 80's TV show are spending time with their fans in Port Perry. This interaction with the audience is comprised of dinner with the stars as well as a Q and A and autograph session. Throughout the night, the characters start revealing their true personalities as their walls come down, with hilarious comical chaos. This mini convention will be complete with a merchandise table, an overzealous host and sci-fi groupies." "Everyone in the cast just loves the whole sci-fi genre, we are fascinated by the people who immerse themselves in the culture and above all, we love improvising with a live audience," she adds. "It's a show for people who love Star Trek and even for people who hate it, there's something for everyone."  

Monday 30

Toronto Library Talk: Professor David Klausner discusses the Canterbury Tales
Where: Deer Park Program Room - 2nd Floor
When: 2:00 p.m.
Join Professor Klausner of the Medieval Studies of U of T as he takes us on a medieval pilgrimage to Canterbury. Professor Klausner will use the original pilgrim stories to paint a portrait of the social, political and religious climate of the time. Register in person or at 416-393-7657.

Movie Review: Darkest Hour

Director: Chris Gorak, 2011
imdb listing

Pros: action interspersed with reflection, set in Moscow, humans all work together after the attack despite nationalities, interesting alien design and premise, good special effects

Cons: protagonists aren't particularly likable, scientific impossibilities

Four Americans and a Swede visiting Moscow band together after an invasion of invisible aliens wipes out the city.

Once you get past the scientific impossibilities (which, if you're not scientifically inclined you may not even notice are present - my husband had to explain them to me later), this movie takes the best elements of Cloverfield and joins them with 28 Days Later.  You see the aliens land and watch a terrifying first contact, after which the protagonists hole up for a few days.  When they emerge, they must deal with the wreckage of a decimated Moscow.

There's no shaky cam footage and tension is increased by occasional quiet moments when the full extent of the invasion is considered, the director's willingness to kill off characters and the 'early warning' system the characters devise.  The characters themselves, while not particularly likable are more 'everyman' than irritating targets you're cheering the aliens on to kill.  Having said that, only one death made an impact on me emotionally.

It was great to see Russian actors playing the Russian characters, and an invasion movie that doesn't take place in the US (or Japan, for that matter).  Moscow was a fun location, and seeing the Americans and Russians work together without 'we're better than you' posturing was a real treat.

The special effects were well done and the alien design original.  The premise behind the aliens themselves was quite clever.  And there's a real beauty to the falling alien craft at the beginning of the film, bringing to mind the meteor shower in The Day of the Triffids. 

The movie has a surprisingly upbeat ending.  It was a little contrived, but ultimately showed humanity at its best, willing to fight for their planet.

Ultimately, it's a fun way to waste a few hours.

Books Received in December, 2011

As a thank you to the publishers and authors who sent me books in December, here's the last 'books received' post of the year.  With the exception of A Class Apart, all the synopsis are from the Indigo website.

First up is A Class Apart by Stephen Henning. From the book's website:

Teenage twins James and Samantha Blake are caught up in a seemingly random terrorist bombing while on a school trip. Many of their friends are killed. When the twins wake up in hospital, their lives have changed forever.

The first book in the Class Heroes series.

  Next is Sabrina Benulis's gothic drama Archon.

There are some things worse than death . . .

For years, Angela Mathers has been plagued by visions of a supernatural being--an angel with beguiling eyes and magnificent wings who haunts her thoughts and seduces her dreams. Newly freed from a mental institution where she had been locked away for two years, Angela hopes that attending Westwood Academy, the Vatican's exclusive university, will bring her peace and a semblance of normality.

But Angela isn't normal. With her stain of dark red hair and alabaster skin, she is a blood head--a freak, a monster, and the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy. Blessed with strange, mystical powers, blood heads hold a special place in the Academy. Among them, one special blood head is more powerful than them all: the Archon, the human reincarnation of the dead angel Raziel. And when the Archon arises as foretold, it will rule the supernatural universe.

Barely in control of her own life, Angela has no ambition to conquer an entire universe, not when she's suddenly contending with a dangerous enemy who is determined to destroy her and a magnetic novitiate who wants to save her. But the choice might not be her own . . .

Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, the young blood head must soon face the truth about herself and her world. It is she who holds the key to Heaven and Hell--and both will stop at nothing to possess her.

 In "Archon," Sabrina Benulis has created a dazzlingly imaginative tale set in a lush, vivid supernatural world filled with gargoyles and candlelight, magic and murder, in which humans, angels, demons, and those in between battle for supremacy--and survival.

Endurance by Jay Lake is the continuation of Green. As the second book in the series, the synopsis for Endurance contains spoilers for Green.

Green is back in Copper Downs. Purchased from her father in sunny Selistan when she was four years old, she was harshly raised to be a courtesan, companion, and bedmate of the Immortal Duke of Copper Downs. But Green rebelled. Green killed the Duke, and many others, and won her freedom. Yet she is still claimed by the gods and goddesses of her world, and they still require her service. Their demands are greater than any duke's could have been.

Godslayers have come to the Stone Coast, magicians whose cult is dedicated to destroying the many gods of Green's world. In the turmoil following the Immortal Duke's murder, Green made a God out of her power and her memories. Now the gods turn to her to protect them from the Slayers.

Jay Lake brings us an epic fantasy not "in the tradition of Tolkien," but, instead, sensual, ominous, shot through with the sweat of fear and the intoxication of power.

In Stands A Shadow Col Buchanan continues the story he began in Farlander.  Again, the synopsis has some spoilers, so only read it if you've read the first book in the series.

In Farlander, the first book of the Heart of the World series, readers met Ash, an aging master assassin of the famed order of Roshun, and his apprentice Nico, a boy who always managed to be in the wrong place at the right time. Ash and Nico, one with failing health and the other with little training, were sent on a suicidal mission to fulfill a contract against the favored son of the Holy Matriarch, the ruler of Mann. The assassination of the Matriarch''s son maintained the honor and reputation of the Roshun, but further destabilized a nation already beset by strife. For Ash, fulfilling the contract came at an enormous personal cost.

Now in Stands a Shadow, driven by grief and anger, Ash embarks on a journey that takes him through the Free Ports and towards the embattled city of Bar-Khos. He arrives at the city as the Holy Matriarch of Mann orders her forces to breach the walls of Bar-Khos and bring it under her control. Renouncing the ways of the Roshun, Ash disguises himself among the Mannian soldiers, determined to go to any lengths to have his revenge against the Matriarch. . . .

The Heart of the World series is an epic adventure that, through the lens of its vibrant and unique world and engaging characters, asks intriguing questions and illuminates the humanity at the core of both hero and villain. Stands a Shadow is the second book in the series.

 Last but not least is Megan Crewe's dystopian YA The Way We Fall.

Sixteen-year-old old Kaelyn challenges her fears, finds a second chance at love, and fights to keep her family and friends safe as a deadly new virus devastates her island community.