Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group

Banquet

sparkymark — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:41:16 GMT

Douglas the once-or-future president told me he would like to see some of us fœtid types at the OUSFG banquet this year.

It is Sat of 7th week (3/3/12) at Al-Shami in Jericho starting at 7pm.

Contact me for more information if you don't have the relevant wherewithal.
He says "please sign up before the end of the week if you intend to come."

I'm assuming any of your actual undergraduates are on nuMedia hyperconstructs like Bebotube or Penguin Cafe Orchestra

e_pepys — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:58:46 GMT

Hi,

Well our Tentacular Vikings evening had Vikings, but so far no tentacles. It did have a time-travelling dragon born from its grave in the Pitt Rivers, which I hope you will agree is a whole different sort of cool.

Conrad made a brief plot outline, which I've put under a cut below. I doubt that will mean much to those where weren't there, but I hope this will be a spur to anyone who was and wants to have a go at some writing - either a more detailed plot outline, or some actual story. Feel free to post here.

Tim.

Personal Timeline

2050 – Born
2065 – Given dragon (15)
2070 – Travels back to viking village
750 – Killed in viking village (with dragon)
1900 – Reborn at same age (20)
1900-1910 – Mentored by archaeology professor
1910 – Dragon reborn, comes to him and tell him he has to go back to save himself. Travels back in time to 1880
1883 – Archaeological dig
1880-1900 – Becomes leading figure in Archaeology (at Oxford)
1900-1910 – Mentors himself
1910 – Travels forward in time
2030 – Lives some of the rest of his life.
2065 – Gives young self dragon
2065 – lives rest of life, then dies

Draconic timeline

1910 – (re)born. Talks to professor. Takes protagonist to do dig
1880 – After taking him back, does lots of time travel (possibly with protagonist)
1910 – returns to protagonist to take him forward in time
2030 – lives with protagonist
2065 – Given to young protagonist

Three Stories

1^st: 1883, Dig, told by other student on dig
2^nd: 1883-1910, told by professor protagonist
3^rd: 2065-2070, told by Dragon

OUSFG Award 2008/9 Shortlist - Erratum

oxfordhacker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:34:45 GMT

coalescent has pointed out that one of the books on this year's shortlist is not eligible! I have updated the list to reflect this...

The Actual OUSFG Award 2008/9 Short List

oxfordhacker — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:36:36 GMT

As I mentioned earlier, the shortlist for this year's OUSFG Award has been decided:

The shortlist
(Determined by discussion, followed by GOOD/BAD voting, with a second round of discussion to resolve ties)

God Is Dead by Ron Currie (1 Aug 2008)

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod (6 Mar 2008)

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (29 Jul 2008)

~~Declare by Tim Powers (18 Jul 2008)~~ ^*

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (7 Jul 2008)

The Family Trade (Merchant Princes 1) by Charles Stross

Your duty to the group is to try to formulate some sort of informed opinion on each of these by the end of next term; then turn up to the award meeting, share said opinions and cast your vote.

^* ETA: coalescent points out that the Tim Powers site doesn't think that there's a UK edition of 'Declare', so it looks as if this is an error by Amazon. We'll look into it further, but for the moment it looks like it's not eligible, and the shortlist's down to five. You should read it anyway, though, because it's really good.

Honourable mentions
(books which got enough 'GOOD' votes to make it onto the 'medium list', but were then discarded after the second round of discussion)

The H-bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter (1 May 2008).
Everyone agreed it sounded fun, but no-one in the room had read it so we didn't really feel that we could whole-heartedly endorse it.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (3 Mar 2008)
As above, all we could say is that we'd heard that it was supposed to be good.

Making Money (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (16 Jun 2008)
Suffered from more-or-less the opposite problem to the previous two, in that everyone already knows whether or not they like Pratchett.

The Dreaming Void (Void Trilogy) by Peter F. Hamilton (2 May 2008)
The consensus seemed to be that it was 'pretty good space opera'. This didn't seem to be a good enough reason to include it.

Halting State by Charles Stross (4 Sep 2008)
There were two Strosses with the same number of votes, and 'The Family Trade' garnered more enthusiasm so we picked that one.

Virtual Shortlist
(this would be the shortlist if we'd based on the poll in this community earlier this week)

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod (6 Mar 2008)

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (29 Jul 2008)

The Prefect (Gollancz S.F.) by Alastair Reynolds (10 April 2008)

Galactic North (Gollancz S.F.) by Alastair Reynolds (8 Nov 2007)

Halting State by Charles Stross (4 Sep 2008)

The OUSFG Award 2008/9 - Virtual Shortlist

oxfordhacker — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:01:33 GMT

As you may or may not know, we determined the OUSFG Award short list at last week's meeting. I will post the official list later this week, but first I thought it might be interesting to see what it would have been if we'd allowed virtual people to vote instead of cleaving to the not very science-fictional method of only allowing votes from people who were physically present. The poll below mirrors exactly the method by which the short list was determined on that night. If you also read my journal you'll see another version of the same poll. Feel free to vote in either or both, as all results will be offhandedly discarded in favour of the choices of the loyal few who actually turned up. Let that be a lesson to you...

View Poll: The OUSFG Award - You should have been there edition

Geek socs quiz

freya_9 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:57:56 GMT

Last night our team won! Yay!
For anyone interested, below is my round (the first letter of each word is given, and each is space-themed. For those who went to the quiz, #8 has been replaced as previously it was the first half of # 16.) I haven't LJ-cut this post intentionally; so that people may have a go and then leave answers in comments without spoilering others.

i.e. L-S_ _ _ _ = L-Space

1. S_ _ _ _ E_ _ _ _ _ _ _
2. S_ _ _ _ O_ _ _ _ _ _
3. S_ _ _ _; T_ _ F_ _ _ _ F_ _ _ _ _ _ _
4. S_ _ _ _ T_ _ _ _ _ _ _
5. G_ _ _ _ _ Q_ _ _ _
6. S_ _ _ _ O_ _ _ _
7. I_ A G_ _ _ _ _ F_ _, F_ _ A_ _ _
8. S_ _ _ _ I_ _ _ _ _ _ _
9. S_ _ _ _ S_ _ _
10. M_ _ _ _ _ _ F_ _ _ S_ _ _ _
11. S_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
12. S_ _ _ _ S_ _ _ _ _ _
13. S_ _ _ _-T_ _ _ C_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
14. S_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
15. H_ _ _ _ _ S_ _ _ _ T_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
16. H_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ B_ _ _ _ _
17. L_ _ _ I_ S_ _ _ _
18. S_ _ _ _ A_ _ _ _
19. D_ _ _ S_ _ _ _ N_ _ _
20. K_ _ _ _ _ _ S_ _ _ _ C_ _ _ _ _

Longlist for the OUSFG award 2009

freya_9 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:45:04 GMT

The book must be published in UK mass market paperback edition for the first time between October 2007 and September 2008 inclusive.

Before They Are Hanged: Book Two Of The First Law (Gollancz SF S.) by Joe Abercrombie (second volume of a gritty fantasy series)

Air Apparent (Xanth Novels) by Piers Anthony (30 Sep 2008)

Of Fire and Night (Saga of Seven Suns) by Kevin J., Anderson (Nov 2007)

Metal Swarm (Saga of Seven Suns) by Kevin J. Anderson (Jun 2008) (improves with series)

Harm by Brian Aldiss (21 Aug 2008) (near-future, war-on-terror commentary stuff)

The H-bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter (1 May 2008) (alternate history, set in Liverpool around the Cuban Missile Crisis; nominated for Clarke Award)

The Elves of Cintra (Genesis of Shannara) by Terry Brooks (29 Jul 2008)

Now and Forever; Somewhere A Band is Playing & Leviathan '99 by Ray Bradbury (1 Jul 2008)

The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley (26 Oct 2007)

God Is Dead by Ron Currie (1 Aug 2008) (novel-in-stories about a future in which God is killed in Darfur; nominated for Crawford First Fantasy book)

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (3 Mar 2008) (won the Hugo and Nebula!)

Antagonist (Childe Cycle) by Gordon R. Dickson and David W. Wixon (4 Mar 2008)

The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen) by Steven Erikson (Jul 2008)

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen) by Steven Erikson (12 Feb 2008) (Apparently the earlier ones in the series are good.)

Murder in Lamut (Legends of the Riftwar) by Raymond E. Feist and Joel Rosenberg (Jul 2008)

Trouble Magnet (Pip and Flinx Novels) by Alan Dean Foster (18 Jul 2008)

Exceptions to Reality by Alan Dean Foster (1 Jul 2008)

Lost and Found by Alan Dean Foster (18 Jul 2008)

Patrimomy by Alan Dean Foster (1 Sep 2008)

PAX BRITTANIA: LEVIATHAN RISING (Pax Britannia) by Jonathan Green (15 Mar 2008)

Jumper by Steven Gould (5 Feb 2008)

The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (3 April 2008) (near-future dystopia, sort of a British Handmaid's Tale. Won the Tiptree, nominated for the Clarke)

Sidney's Comet by Brian Herbert (25 April 2008)

The Race for God by Brian Herbert (30 Nov 2007)

Forest Mage (Soldier Son Trilogy) by Robin Hobb (Dec 2007)

The Dreaming Void (Void Trilogy) by Peter F. Hamilton (2 May 2008)

Path of Revenge (Broken Man) by Russell Kirkpatrick (Aug 2008)

The Right Hand of God (Fire of Heaven Trilogy) by Russell Kirkpatrick (Mar 2008)

In the Earth Abides the Flame (Fire of Heaven Trilogy) by Russell Kirkpatrick (Feb 2008)

Across the Face of the World (Fire of Heaven Trilogy) by Russell Kirkpatrick (Jan 2008)

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay (5 Feb 2008) (won the World Fantasy Award)

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (29 Jul 2008)

Netherwood by Michele Lang (25 April 2008)

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod (6 Mar 2008) (war-on-terror one; nominated for Clarke and BSFA Awards)

Cowboy Angels (Gollancz S.F.) by Paul McAuley (12 Jun 2008) (multiverse story - version of America that calls itself "the real" decides to go and liberate all the others)

Brasyl (Gollancz S.F.) by Ian Mcdonald (28 Aug 2008) (won the BSFA Award)

Black Man (Gollancz S.F.) by Richard Morgan (1 Nov 2007) (won Clarke Award; big book about genetics, gender, race)

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson (29 April 2008)

Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson (23 Sep 2008)

Earthbound by Richard Matheson (29 April 2008)

Maelstrom (Twins of Petaybee) by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (26 Feb 2008)

OCTAGONAL RAVEN . by L. E. Modesitt and Jr. (30 April 2008)

The Death of Chaos by L.E. Modesitt Jr (5 May 2008)

SOARER'S CHOICE L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (Corean Chronicles) by Jr. L. E. Modesitt (14 Feb 2008)

The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: v. 2 (Solaris Book of New Science Fiction) by George Mann (3 Mar 2008)

The Solaris Book of New Fantasy by George Mann (3 Dec 2007)

Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M Lerner (1 Aug 2008)

Making Money (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (16 Jun 2008)

Declare by Tim Powers (18 Jul 2008) (fun; british agent. Author wrote the Anubis Gates => good.)

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (29 May 2008) (greek gods)

The Prefect (Gollancz S.F.) by Alastair Reynolds (10 April 2008)

Galactic North (Gollancz S.F.) by Alastair Reynolds (8 Nov 2007) (short stories collection - Revelation Space-verse)

Land Of The Headless (Gollancz S.F.) by Adam Roberts ( 13 Mar 2008) (Author is an English Prof. At Cambridge.)

Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson (1 Oct 2007) (end of climate change 'science in the capitol' trilogy)

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (7 Jul 2008) (Dickian paranoid thriller)

Variable Star (Tor Science Fiction) by Spider Robinson (27 Nov 2007) (entertaining)

The Modern World (Gollancz S.F.) by Steph Swainston (13 Nov 2008) third in a new weird fantasy series)

Halting State by Charles Stross (4 Sep 2008) (nominated for the Hugo. Ace cover art.)

The Family Trade (Merchant Princes 1) by Charles Stross (was published by Tor UK in paperback in Nov 2007.)

The Hidden Family (Merchant Princes) by Charles Stross (July 2008)

Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman (23 Nov 2007)

The Last Colony by John Scalzi (29 Jul 2008)

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi (12 Nov 2007)

Island in the Sea of Time by S M Stirling (18 Jul 2008)

The Sky People by S.M. Stirling (1 Dec 2007)

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas ( June 2008)

Beyond the Gap (Opening of the World) by Harry Turtledove (April 2008)

The Gladiator Gladiator (Crosstime Traffic) by Harry Turtledove (30 Sep 2008)

The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper (Jul 2008)

Bloodmind by Liz Williams (15 Feb 2008) (this one is published over here but not in the US!)

Hell Hath No Fury (Multiverse II) by David Weber (12 Aug 2008)

Hell's Gate (Multiverse I) by David Weber (29 April 2008)

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber (2 Jan 2008)

With a Single Spell by Lawrence Watt-Evans (25 April 2008)

The Misenchanted Sword (Legends of Ethshar) by Lawrence Watt-Evans (25 April 2008)

Ninth Talisman: Annals of the Chosen by Lawrence Watt-Evans (1 May 2008)

With a Single Spell by Lawrence Watt-Evans (25 April 2008)

Sword of the Deceiver (Isavalta) by Sarah Zettel (1 April 2008)

Charlie Stross Discussion This Evening

freya_9 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:44:07 GMT

This evening, Charlie Stross will be talking with us as of 8pm in St Hilda's College - Vernon Harcourt Room. He is an awesome author - not to be missed! http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousfg/misc/termcard-08mt1.html

Catalogue

osymandias — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:04:31 GMT

After an evening of data entry, part of the OUSFG library (about 1/3 of the open shelves) is now detailed online at http://www.gurulib.com/ousfglib.

Hopefully over the next few weeks the rest should go up as well.

OUSFG Award Results

osymandias — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:29:02 GMT

As nobody had posted this, for those who weren't there:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora
2. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
3. The Fourth Bear
4. The Atrocity Archives
5. Scar Night

By which we conclude that OUSFG prefers books with 'The' in the title.

three strikes and your off the net for life - we have today SUNDAY to crosspost this everywhere

x_mass — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:52:39 GMT

In a nutshell: Members of the European Parliament were asked to vote for a draconian three-strikes-and-you're-out policy that would force ISPs to monitor users for signs of file sharing behaviour and cut them off. They very sensibly voted against it. Now an entirely different bill is before the IMCO and ITRE committee — a sensible and boring Telecoms Package — and a whole bunch of stealth Intellectual Property Rights amendments which have crawled out of the woodwork. And guess what they're about?

If you live in the EU, read this now (then act on it, please).

think this doesn't apply to you because you don't download?
its not a big step to three strikes for an illegal or imoral act!

OUSFG Award Shortlist

coalescent — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:27:59 GMT

I see from my email that this year's shortlist has been announced:

Scar Night by Alan Campbell
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

emily_shore — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:45:16 GMT

Nominations for the 2007 Nebula Award, including a Ted Chiang story:

http://www.sfwa.org/awards/2008/NebPrelim2007.html

Does anyone know whether "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon is eligible for the OUSFG award this year?

Piocon 2008

purplecthulhu — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:45:46 GMT

Picocon 25 will take place on Saturday 23rd February 2008 the Imperial College Union Building, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2BB.

Guests of Honour

Paul Cornell
Cory Doctorow
Liz Williams

http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/social/events/picocon/index.html

OUSFG Award 2008 Longlist -- first draft

footnotetoplato — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:24:21 GMT

My first attempt to create a longlist, mostly created by trawling through Amazon.

Eligibility criterion: published in UK mass market paperback edition for the first time between October 2006 and September 2007 inclusive.

If you find anything which you think shouldn't be on the list, or can think of anything which deserves a chance and I've missed, please say so! I may well find some more before the meeting on Wednesday, but it seemed worth posting this here now to allow other people to add things to the list before then.

Hope to see some of you on Wednesday!

Resplendent: Destiny's Children Book Four (Gollancz S.F.) by Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 13 Sep 2007)
Navigator (Gollancz S.F.) by Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 26 Jul 2007)
Emperor (Gollancz S.F.) by Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 8 Feb 2007)
Conqueror by Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 12 Jul 2007)

Armageddon's Children (Genesis of Shannara) by Terry Brooks (Paperback - 5 Jul 2007)

Beguilement: 1 (Sharing Knife) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Mass Market Paperback - May 2007)

The Ladies of Grace Adieu: And Other Stories by Susanna Clarke (Paperback - 3 Sep 2007)

The Younger Gods (Dreamers 4) by David Eddings and Leigh Eddings (Paperback - 1 May 2007)

The Fourth Bear (Nursery Crime Adventures 2) by Jasper Fforde (Paperback - 28 Jun 2007)

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (Paperback - 5 April 2007)

Phantom (Sword of Truth 10) by Terry Goodkind (Paperback - 4 Jun 2007)

End Of The World Blues (Gollancz S.F.) by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Paperback - 9 Aug 2007)

Forest Mage (The Soldier Son Trilogy) by Robin Hobb (Paperback - 2 Jul 2007)

You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps by Tom Holt (Paperback - 2 Nov 2006)

Voices (Annals of the Western Shore) by Ursula Le Guin (Paperback - 3 May 2007)

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gollancz S.F.) by Scott Lynch (Paperback - 1 Feb 2007)

A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice & Fire) by George R.R. Martin (Paperback - 6 Nov 2006)

Changelings (Twins of Petaybee) by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Paperback - 1 Jan 2007)

Temeraire: The Throne of Jade (Temeraire series book 2) by Naomi Novik (Paperback - 6 Aug 2007)
Black Powder War (Temeraire 3) by Naomi Novik (Paperback - 6 Aug 2007)

Lady Friday (The Keys to the Kingdom) by Garth Nix (Paperback - 5 Mar 2007)

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (Paperback - 27 Sep 2007)
Thud! by Terry Pratchett (Mass Market Paperback - 2 Oct 2006)

Zima Blue and Other Stories by Alastair Reynolds (Paperback - 15 May 2007)

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross (Paperback - 6 Sep 2007)
Glasshouse by Charles Stross (Paperback - 1 Mar 2007)

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Paperback - 17 Aug 2007)

Shadowplay (Shadowmarch Trilogy) by Tad Williams (Paperback - 6 Mar 2007)

The Awakened Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker) by Karen Miller (Paperback - 27 Sep 2007)

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon; Brian Williams (Paperback - 3 Jul 2007)

Poison Study (MIRA) by Maria V. Snyder (Paperback - 21 Sep 2007)

Grave Sight (Gollancz S.F.) by Charlaine Harris (Paperback - 13 Sep 2007)

Jango (Noble Warriors) by William Nicholson (Paperback - 8 Aug 2007)

The Looking Glass Wars: Seeing Redd (Looking Glass Wars) by Frank Beddor (Paperback - 3 Sep 2007)

Lamb by Christopher Moore (Paperback - 2 Aug 2007)

Evil for Evil (Engineer Trilogy) by K.J. Parker (Paperback - 2 Aug 2007)

Sons of the Oak (Runelords) by David Farland (Paperback - 2 Aug 2007)

Odalisque (Percheron) by Fiona McIntosh (Paperback - 5 Jul 2007)

Of Fire and Night (Saga of Seven Suns 5) by Kevin J. Anderson (Paperback - 4 Jun 2007)

Fat (Gollancz S.F.) by Rob Grant (Paperback - 1 Jun 2007)

Never the Bride by Paul Magrs (Paperback - 3 May 2007)

The Tide Knot by Helen Dunmore (Paperback - 1 May 2007)

The Voyage of the Sable Keech by Neal Asher (Paperback - 6 Oct 2006)

Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff (Paperback - 7 Dec 2006)

Al Reynolds

e_pepys — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:58:06 GMT

This Wednesday (21 Feb) will be our author talk, given by Alastair Reynolds, who wrote the Revelation Space series and Century Rain, amongst others. The title of the talk is "Writing Hard SF in the 21st Century: how not to box yourself into an N-dimensional hypercorner"

The talk is at 8 PM in St Hilda's Lady Brodie Room (see the termcard for directions).

Picocon: 17th Feb

purplecthulhu — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 09:44:46 GMT

Late notice I'm afraid, but in case you've missed it, Picocon will be on Saturday 17th Feb at Imperial College London.

Guests are: Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross and Farah Mendelsohn

More details can be found here:

http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/social/events/picocon/index.html

OUSFG Award Candidates 2006/7

osymandias — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:20:07 GMT

This is an initial list of candidates for the ousfg award this year. I'm not certain if all of them are correct, or if there are others that should be being considered. I'm not actually organising this, just posting on livejournal, so I'm probably not the best person to fire emails of suggestion at - probably sending them to the OUSFG list would be the best thing.

If people want to put this up on the OUSFG wiki or other places members are likely to see it, that would be good :-)

Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Paperback - 7 Sep 2006)

False Gods (Horus Heresy) by Graham McNeill (Paperback - 15 Jun 2006)

Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla v. 5 by Stephen King and Bernie Wrightson (Paperback - 2 Jan 2006)

Raising The Past by Jeremy Robinson (Paperback - 15 Sep 2006)

Darwin's Watch: Science of Discworld III by Terry Pratchett, J. Cohen, and I. Stewart (Paperback - 3 Aug 2006

Horus Rising (Horus Heresy) by Dan Abnett (Paperback - 20 April 2006)

Temeraire by Naomi Novik (Paperback - 7 Aug 2006

The Swarm: A Novel of the Deep by Frank Schätzing (Paperback - 22 May 2006)

Scattered Suns by Kevin J. Anderson (Paperback - 5 Jun 2006)

Sunstorm (Gollancz SF) by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 13 April 2006

Engaging the Enemy (Vatta's War) by Elizabeth Moon (Paperback - 30 Mar 2006

Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy) by Fiona McIntosh (Paperback - 1 Dec 2005)

No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey (Paperback - Oct 2005)

The Hammer of Darkness by L.E. Modesitt (Paperback - Sep 2006)

The Road to Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson (Paperback - 27 Mar 2006)

The Oracle's Queen (Tamir Triad) by Lynn Flewelling (Paperback - 3 Jul 2006)

Shadow of the Giant (Shadow Saga) by Orson Scott Card (Paperback - 2 Feb 2006)

Learning the World: A Novel of First Contact by Ken MacLeod (Paperback - 4 May 2006

The House of Storms by Ian R. MacLeod (Paperback - 6 Feb 2006

Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson (Paperback - 5 Jun 2006

Favole: Stone Tears: Bk. 1 by Victoria Frances (Paperback - Oct 2005)

Titan by Ben Bova (Paperback - 19 Jun 2006)

Treason by Orson Scott Card (Paperback - 18 Jan 2006)

Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove (Paperback - 24 Oct 2005)

Transcendent: Destiny's Children Book 3 (Gollancz SF) by Stephen Baxter (Paperback - 14 Sep 2006)

Y: The Last Man: Paper Dolls by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (Paperback - 23 Jun 2006)

The Hero (Posleen War) by John Ringo and Michael Z. Williamson (Paperback - 14 Nov 2005)

Cally's War by John Ringo and Julie Cochrane (Paperback - 20 Mar 2006)

Coyote Frontier by Allen M. Steele (Paperback - 2 Feb 2006

Settling Accounts: Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove (Paperback - 13 Feb 2006

The Warrior-Prophet (Prince of Nothing) by R.Scott Bakker (Paperback - 19 Jan 2006)

The Wizard of Karres by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and David Freer (Paperback - 24 Jan 2006

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6)

Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Paperback - 7 Sep 2006

Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan (Paperback - 3 Aug 2006)

Flight of the Nighthawks (Darkwar) by Raymond E. Feist (Paperback - 4 Sep 2006)

Troy: Lord Of The Silver Bow: Lord of the Silver Bow No.1 by David A. Gemmell (Paperback - 3 April 2006)

Spirit Walker (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness) by Michelle Paver (Paperback - 28 Jun 2006)

Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer (Paperback - 6 April 2006)

Going Postal (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (Paperback - 1 Oct 2005)

Dragon's Blood by Todd McCaffrey (Paperback - 3 Jul 2006)

Shaman's Crossing (The Soldier Son Trilogy) by Robin Hobb (Paperback - 3 Jul 2006)

Century Rain (Gollancz SF) by Alastair Reynolds (Paperback - 3 Oct 2005)

Olympos (Gollancz SF) by Dan Simmons (Paperback - 12 Jul 2006)

Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton (Paperback - 5 May 2006)

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge (Paperback - 1 Sep 2006)

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold (Paperback - Jun 2006)

George R R Martin ??

Gifts by Ursula K.Le Guin (Paperback - 6 Oct 2005)

Priestess of the White (Age of the Five) by Trudi Canavan (Paperback - 6 Jul 2006)

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (Paperback - 8 May 2006)

Straken (High Druid of Shannara S) by Terry Brooks (Paperback - 2 May 2006)

Sleepside by Greg Bear (Paperback - 27 Jan 2006)

Quantico by Greg Bear (Paperback - 3 Jul 2006)

Crystal Gorge by David Eddings and Leigh Eddings (Paperback - 2 May 2006)

Flight of the Nighthawks (Darkwar) by Raymond E. Feist (Paperback - 4 Sep 2006)

Chainfire by Terry Goodkind (Paperback - 6 Feb 2006)

Dark Assassin by Anne Perry (Paperback - 4 Sep 2006)

9Tail Fox (Gollancz SF) by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Paperback - 10 Aug 2006)

Devices and Desires (Engineer Trilogy) by K.J. Parker (Paperback - 5 Jan 2006)

No Present Like Time (Gollancz SF) by Steph Swainston (Paperback - 13 Jul 2006)

The Hidden Family by Charles Stross (Paperback - 3 Jul 2006)

Accelerando by Charles Stross (Paperback - 1 Jun 2006)

Shadowmarch by Tad Williams (Paperback - 2 Mar 2006)

The Crimson Sword (Legend of Asahiel) by Eldon Thompson

Public Announcement: Picocon

purplecthulhu — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:53:46 GMT

Since people have been asking, I am told I can now reveal that Picocon will be on Saturday 17th Feb.

Guest details to come from icsf themselves, but it is a very good list!

Food!

purpletigron — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:40:02 GMT

I want to take my sister for a wonderful Sunday lunch in Oxford without selling the family silver. My immediately thought is, the Chiang Mai Kitchen. Any other contenders?

... a former OUSFG hanger-on, who was really icsf and CUSFS due to geography...

Wake for Mike

e_pepys — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 12:32:55 GMT

As I mentioned in my last post, OUSFG will hold a wake for Mike Damesick in Oxford. I propose The Royal Oak on 21st October (Saturday of 2nd Week, not 0th Week as I suggested earlier) from 6:30pm (changed from 8pm as discussed in comments) - however if this is a bad time for people who would like to come, we can arrange a different date. Everyone is welcome, whether past or present members of OUSFG, whether you knew Mike or would just like to hear tell of him and his times in OUSFG.

Please feel free to comment here on the arrangements. I have never organised a wake before, so there may be better plans. I suggested the Royal Oak as an old (and large) OUSFG haunt, but there have been many over the years. Alternatively, if the consensus favours it, we could book a room (eg. Mitre upstairs).

If you are planning to come, please check back here in case we've changed the plans in the light of people's comments (I'll also mail everyone who asks, or has asked). We should have it finalised in the next week. I won't send any more updates to the ousfg-announce mailing list, which will shortly be used for messages for freshers.

(Edited 19 Oct 06 to change time from 8pm to 6:30pm as a result of suggestions in comments.)

Mike Damesick

e_pepys — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:37:33 GMT

Hello everyone,

Along with many other old OUSFG members, I was saddened to hear of the recent death of Mike Damesick. Please see Dermot's message below for information on the funeral, tomorrow.

As we have decided our tradition should be, the society will hold a wake in Mike's honour in 0th Week of next term. Old members who knew Mike will be especially welcome. I'll post more details closer to the event.

Tim.

-----Original Message-----
From: dermot dobson
Date: Tues, Aug 8 2006 12:36 am
Groups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Mike Damesick

Just had a late phone call, a retired colleague, Cynthia, has phoned with the sad news that Mike has been found dead in his flat in Brum.

It seems that Mike has had no contact with his family for many years and the police contacted my ex-colleague as phone records show that he'd phoned her a few times 7 years ago.

The Police have no idea who to contact for info, seems he may not have been employed much, if at all, for some years.

Cynthia feels, as do I, that it would be very sad if no-one went to his funeral this Thursday (just received this by email):

Here are the funeral arrangements for Michael Damesick. The funeral will be held on Thursday 10th August at 2 p.m. on the South side of Birmingham just off A34. It is at

Robin Hood Cemetery
Streets Brook Road
Shirley
Birmingham.

Don't yet know if work permits me to go to funeral or not.

It seems that Mike was found dead in his flat after not answering the door for some days, no other info known at present. Body released for burial, so presumably foul play not suspected.

dermot

Tough luck, fatty.

sparkymark — Thu, 04 May 2006 20:20:16 GMT

All of Karsten's moral dilemmas from last year's OUSFG talk show up here

In other news, Michelle Trachtenburg is this minute joining the ranks of Tom Lenk and the one with the robot girlfriend as Buffy second-bananas who have show up as shreddies in House.

OUSFG Award in Ansible

coalescent — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 08:50:17 GMT

Here:

Stephen Baxter was the first recipient of the Oxford University SF Group award for 'best Speculative Fiction novel published in paperback in the preceding academic year'. He was slightly bemused to learn in late November that 'Coalescent actually won last May, but the person who was supposed to e-mail you at the time and invite you to Oxford never got round to it.' Speaking as a former president, that sounds like the OUSFG I remember.

Oops. Better late than never, though!

Worldcon

purplecthulhu — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:24:11 GMT

So, who from OUSFG is going to Glasgow for the Worldcon?

BTW good luck with Caption this weekend!