December and January Meetings

Band of Brothers - 12/11/2004 6:00 pm at Rick's
Agenda:
1) Comestible refurbishments.
2) Good and bad of this first Grand Slam.
3) Do we need a new name, Trifecta / Perfecta?
4) One of the things learned is that the audio and print experiences are very similar and very repetitive for this particular material. Future Slams will need stronger material to avoid early saturation.
5) Varley news and views and how you too can contribute to the Varley vade mecum.
6) The possibility of modifying the Mangy Tome for Bennett incentive reasons. Pro: Keith will read Varley; Con: Huge Mangy Tome was designed aroud Varley comparision.
7) Rick's suggestions for future Grand Slam projects.



Titan - 01/15/2004 6:00 pm at Keith's (the date had to be changed because of Doug's work schedule)
Agenda:
1) Food
2) Maps of Gaea
3) Why we love this book.
4) Keith's excuses for not reading anything but Varley in the past two years.

Finaly made it

I finaly Made it here. Looks interesting...alot like the BBS's of the 1200 baud rate era.

Grand Slam Progress

Rick and I talked yesterday about the current Grand Slam, Band of Brothers. Rick watched the miniseries first and is now concurrently reading the book and listening to the audio book. I first listened to the audio book and am now reading the book, but I may have to begin watching the videos before I finish the book because the discussion date, December 11th, is fast approaching.

I am finding that having listened to the audio version has weakened my interest in doing the reading. The material is just not strong enough to warrant consecutive readings. We will have to be more careful in selecting the next Grand Slam subject. Foremost it will have to be a masterpiece on the print level, since reading a book takes the most personal effort and time. Rick suggested that perhaps we should not attempt to both listen to and read the same material since the audio and reading experiences are comparable. (Would such a thing be called a Mini-Slam?) I am beginning to agree. We are learning that even though the skills of reading a book from ink spots on paper, and listening to someone else read the words of a book on a recording, are dissimilar, the end result is very similar to the language center of your brain. I am anxious to try this experiment on a masterful piece of fiction next time.

Here is a sampling of audio books I have listened to, listed in order of how much I enjoyed listening to them:

Dracula, Bram Stoker (Fiction Masterpiece)
As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto (Enthralling Non-Fiction)
Transfer of Power, Vince Flynn (Well Paced Spy Fiction)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Chuck Barris (Surprisingly Witty Unauthorized Autobiography)
The Duel, John Lukacs (Churchillian WWII History)
The Great War: American Front, Harry Turtledove (Alternate History)
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson (Evolutionist Cosmology Propaganda)
Moby Dick, Herman Melville (Overrated Fiction / Whaling Encyclopeda)

Now is the time to start nominating future Grand Slam or Mini-Slam candidates.

Rick and Doug present each other with Certificates at the October 2004 Fictionados Awards Banquet.
Photos by Doug Eigsti

Web Site Updates News

(1) The Huge Mangy Tome Project has been updated. Check the Fictionados home page for details.

(2) I have posted a review of THE JOHN VARLEY READER on Amazon.com. and on the Varley Vade mecum site.

(3) Read the John Varley interview in the October issue of Locus Magazine. I have added a link from the Varley Vade mecum home page.

=Doug Eigsti=