October: The Unincorporated Man

We wrapped up the September book club before the end of August just to prove how efficient the book club is. After a great discussion of The City & The City, we decided to read The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin. We’ll meet at 18:45 on Monday, October 5 in the reading room (look for the fireplace) at the Erie Community Library.

Hugo Awards

Just in case anyone missed it (and just in case anyone is actually reading this blog), the 2009 Hugo Award winners are out. Neil Gaiman won his second Hugo for The Graveyard Book. (We read it here first.)

Plug: Escape Pod

What good is this rarely-used blog if I don’t promote things I appreciate?

It may not be entirely fair to promote anything as “surprisingly good”, but that was my first reaction to Escape Pod. It’s a weekly science fiction short story podcast with good production values and interesting stories. Each episode is different, and some are better than others, but I generally find myself amused by the podcast.

If you’re interested in more Charles Stross, Escape Pod arranged a live reading in front of an audience of Rouge Farm.

Escape Pod spawned two other podcasts, PodCastle (fantasy) and PseudoPod (horror). I listen to PodCastle; their definition of “fantasy” is far broader than the epic high fantasy ghetto I’ve come to despise. Try In the House of the Seven Librarians, which seems appropriate given our book club’s venue.

“September” book club meeting (in August)

A fair coin toss decided our next book in favor of The City & The City, by China Mieville. We’ll meet a week early, since the first Monday in September is Labor Day, on Monday, August 31 at 18:45 in the reading room (look for the fireplaces) at the Erie Community Library.

We’re considering this the “September” meeting even though it takes place on the last day of August.