Greetings from Xanadu Las Vegas!
Just a reminder that this is the last week for our early-bird pre-registration discount! Register by the end of the week for only $40 for the WHOLE WEEKEND of activities -- a $25 savings off the at-the-door price!
Register online here: http://www.xanadulasvegas.com/getyourregistrat.html
Xanadu Las Vegas is an exciting new science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention for all media related to the genre -- books, TV, movies, comics, games, and anime. It will be held Friday-Sunday, April 17-19, 2009, at the Plaza Hotel and Casino, located at the west end of the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas. Convention activities include guest speakers, vendors and exhibitors, an independent film festival, costumes, games, parties, and more!
For more information about our convention activities and our guests of honor Robert Sawyer, Joe Viskocil, and Brom, please visit our website at http://www.xanadulasvegas.com/
Please come join the fun!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
SNAFFU meeting - Are Vampires Sexy? Lust or Blood Lust
Join us for the regular SF Club meeting (SNAFFU) at the Clark County Library - 2-4pm Sun Oct. 26.
Topic is "Are vampires sexy?" Also - my sister Mica Deerfield will be attending - some of you may have met her before and she looks forward to seeing some local SF fans. She is visiting from Bath NY and points east for her birthday (she's 29 again, and again...)
What makes vampires so interesting? Is it that they scare us or fascinate us or do we find them sexy? Novels from Anne Rice to Tanya Huff and many more have had unique perspectives on vampires. From Dark Shadows to Moonlight to the new True Blood series and more, vampires have become a staple on TV. Movies and stage plays have also explored their nature (and ours).
Location is the Large Conference Room at the Library (Flamingo at Maryland Parkway). This is the nice room downstairs from the theater area. If there is interest, we will go out for a meal afterwards. There are no dues.
Also we will discuss possibility of moving SNAFFU to a new location in 2009.
Topic is "Are vampires sexy?" Also - my sister Mica Deerfield will be attending - some of you may have met her before and she looks forward to seeing some local SF fans. She is visiting from Bath NY and points east for her birthday (she's 29 again, and again...)
What makes vampires so interesting? Is it that they scare us or fascinate us or do we find them sexy? Novels from Anne Rice to Tanya Huff and many more have had unique perspectives on vampires. From Dark Shadows to Moonlight to the new True Blood series and more, vampires have become a staple on TV. Movies and stage plays have also explored their nature (and ours).
Location is the Large Conference Room at the Library (Flamingo at Maryland Parkway). This is the nice room downstairs from the theater area. If there is interest, we will go out for a meal afterwards. There are no dues.
Also we will discuss possibility of moving SNAFFU to a new location in 2009.
Book review: Nation by Terry Pratchett
Thank you to the publisher for sending us a review copy and to Xanadu Press Person Jackie Monahan for writing this review!
A pair of 13-year-olds from opposite ends of the globe find themselves thrust into the position of being the moral and seemingly magical custodians of an island that has been swept clean of its inhabitants by a tsunami of unprecedented size. Daphne is the lone survivor of an English ship that’s been tossed into the jungle like a toy. She’s the educated and inquisitive daughter of royalty. Mau has returned from a neighboring island, having completed phase one of a solo initiation rite. He inhabits the world between boyhood and manhood, believing he has no soul. The two young founders of this embryonic nation are joined by a steady stream of survivors, all questioning their previously held belief systems.
Pratchett’s vision of a tropical post-tsunami world springs to life in human terms that transcend time and place in his latest effort, Nation. The New York Times bestselling author creates a 19th century parallel universe that is recognizable enough, but has literary permission to create its own history and rules of existence. Proper British values vie with ancient native customs. Gods of stone and metal are revered and offer the promise of salvation. A mysterious cave contains ancestral bones and untested legends. Locaha, the death god watches over the fledgling colony, never far away and always in a cheerful mood.
Illustrating his mastery of human nature, both good and evil, Pratchett’s characters engage in commentary that indicts societal bias and notions of Caucasian superiority. The prolific author (more than three dozen books and too many awards to list, including the Carnegie Medal) has a straightforward style, allowing the reader to discover his hidden revelations without extended melodrama or convoluted twists.
Even so, discoveries abound, both scientific and human, that unfold in layers, each adding a colorful square to the quilt of his emerging civilization. Pratchett sets forth a collision course between science and superstition, captains and cannibals, history and heritage, and ultimately, sacrifice and survival. Add a whisper of romance and Pratchett’s ability to quip and quarrel, and you’ll find an originality and imagination big enough to house the alternate universe he creates.
Nation delivers, and you may even want to apply for citizenship before civilization
sets in.
A pair of 13-year-olds from opposite ends of the globe find themselves thrust into the position of being the moral and seemingly magical custodians of an island that has been swept clean of its inhabitants by a tsunami of unprecedented size. Daphne is the lone survivor of an English ship that’s been tossed into the jungle like a toy. She’s the educated and inquisitive daughter of royalty. Mau has returned from a neighboring island, having completed phase one of a solo initiation rite. He inhabits the world between boyhood and manhood, believing he has no soul. The two young founders of this embryonic nation are joined by a steady stream of survivors, all questioning their previously held belief systems.
Pratchett’s vision of a tropical post-tsunami world springs to life in human terms that transcend time and place in his latest effort, Nation. The New York Times bestselling author creates a 19th century parallel universe that is recognizable enough, but has literary permission to create its own history and rules of existence. Proper British values vie with ancient native customs. Gods of stone and metal are revered and offer the promise of salvation. A mysterious cave contains ancestral bones and untested legends. Locaha, the death god watches over the fledgling colony, never far away and always in a cheerful mood.
Illustrating his mastery of human nature, both good and evil, Pratchett’s characters engage in commentary that indicts societal bias and notions of Caucasian superiority. The prolific author (more than three dozen books and too many awards to list, including the Carnegie Medal) has a straightforward style, allowing the reader to discover his hidden revelations without extended melodrama or convoluted twists.
Even so, discoveries abound, both scientific and human, that unfold in layers, each adding a colorful square to the quilt of his emerging civilization. Pratchett sets forth a collision course between science and superstition, captains and cannibals, history and heritage, and ultimately, sacrifice and survival. Add a whisper of romance and Pratchett’s ability to quip and quarrel, and you’ll find an originality and imagination big enough to house the alternate universe he creates.
Nation delivers, and you may even want to apply for citizenship before civilization
sets in.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Reminder: Xanadu Las Vegas all-committee meeting this Sunday, new time!
Attention, Xanadu Las Vegas volunteers and potential volunteers! We are having an all-committee meeting this Sunday, October 19, at 4 PM (new time!!!) at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. We meet in the central lobby area of the third floor convention center -- if that is occupied by another event, we will meet in the dome of the sports bar on the second floor.
Please note that all Xanadu Las Vegas meetings have been moved back from noon to 4 PM at the request of several committee members. Also, please note that the location of the marketing committee meetings has changed to Scott's home. The Xanadu Las Vegas 2008 committee/volunteers schedule has been updated to reflect these changes.
See you at the meeting!
Please note that all Xanadu Las Vegas meetings have been moved back from noon to 4 PM at the request of several committee members. Also, please note that the location of the marketing committee meetings has changed to Scott's home. The Xanadu Las Vegas 2008 committee/volunteers schedule has been updated to reflect these changes.
See you at the meeting!
Star Trek: the Experience coming to Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas?
Great news, Vegas Star Trek fans!
Today's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports rumors that owners of Star Trek: the Experience and the owners of the Neonopolis mall are in negotiations to bring the Trek-themed ride and exhibit to the Fremont Street Experience downtown. This is just a few blocks away from the site of Xanadu Las Vegas!
Today's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports rumors that owners of Star Trek: the Experience and the owners of the Neonopolis mall are in negotiations to bring the Trek-themed ride and exhibit to the Fremont Street Experience downtown. This is just a few blocks away from the site of Xanadu Las Vegas!
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