March 6th, 2020 at 12:01 am
Last In-Person WSFA Meeting: Who’s Supposed to be Responsible?
Full house tonight said Bill. Bob said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, first Friday meeting in March about to begin.” This opened the March 6th, 2020 WSFA meeting. Little did the WSFA members know this would be the last time they would meet in person for many many months.
Sam L read minutes. Sam S. gave us our money talk $$$ year over year $$$ Next month, year over year smaller, because we got World Fantasy in our account. Renewed our trademark for Capclave. Usually $. This year Maryland had a mandatory $ expedite charge plus $ for a physical copy of the document. Sam L turned over insurance forms. Sam S said already paid this.
Bill for Capclave present said one new member in Feb, returning GoH Ken Liu at P&P, programming meeting next Sat. George for Cap Future said “Not to leave the room.” Sam S, said you are in the other room. George is waiting for hard date of Capclave before approaching the person he wants about coming. No point in pushing issue until we have a date.
Click the link for the full text of the March/April 2020 WSFA Journal, including the Minutes of the March 6th, 20th 2020 / April 3rd, 17th 2020 meetings.
Note: Publication date is set to the date of the Journal, rather than the date posted, for indexing purposes
February 18th, 2020 at 9:16 am
WSFA will meet in our Maryland location for 3rd Friday this week (2/21/2020). (Email Secretary @ WSFA dot org for directions.)
The Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the Jan/Feb issue of Uncanny Magazine (issue 32) at https://uncannymagazine.com/
These stories are available for free online. And two of the stories are also available in podcast format. Remember you don’t have to read all the stories. Read those that seem interesting to you and participate in the discussion of those stories and just listen to the rest of the discussion.
First Friday in March we will read the Jan/Feb issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Then Third Friday we will do the March issue of Clarkesworld.
January 3rd, 2020 at 12:01 am
Bob banged the gavel for January First Friday (1/3/20). “Ladies and gentlemen, first Friday meeting in 2020. It’s 9:16. Alright boss, how about you tell us what we did at the last meeting in 2019.”
Sam L. read minutes and email from Sam S with budget. “I will not be at the meeting on Friday, here is my January treasurer’s report. We currently have $$$, which is $$$ more than one year ago. The increase is a combination of three items: the surplus from World Fantasy (approx $$$), the surplus from Capclave (approx $$$), and the surplus from WSFA Press (approx $$$$). In this past year, separate from Capclave, we had $$$$ in income (dues + t-shirt sales) and $$$$ in expenses. About half of the latter was to purchase the tshirts from Offworld Design.”
Click the link for the full text of the January/February 2020 WSFA Journal, including the Minutes of the January 3rd, 17th 2020 / February 7th, 21st 2020 meetings.
Note: Publication date is set to the date of the Journal, rather than the date posted, for indexing purposes
November 13th, 2019 at 8:35 am
The Third Friday WSFA meeting will take place in our Maryland location this Friday, Nov 15th.
The Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the current issue of Clarkesworld featuring stories by Mathew Kessel, Gregory Feeley, and Elizabeth Bear plus more. At http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
Remember, you don’t have to read all the stories to participate in the discussion. The stories are free. And one of them is in podcast form so you can listen instead of reading.
November 1st, 2019 at 12:01 am
Let’s get started said Prez Bob opening the 11-1-19 meeting. It is the First Friday in November. Last meeting at Capclave we had a quorum and introduced people to WSFA.
Sam S reported the treasury had almost $$$ and said year over year is up relative to this time last year, $$$ because we haven’t yet paid hotel bill from Capclave. Sam S said Collette put it on her credit card and they haven’t finalized the bill yet. They gave her a preliminary bill and then a second final that didn’t match so they are finalizing it.
Sarah read Capclave report from Bill’s email. We have a surplus.
The general response online has been positive. There was one complaint about the sign in the con suite to refrain from discussing politics. We will review and discuss this for next year as we will be less than a month from the general election.
Click the link for the full text of the November/December 2019 WSFA Journal, including the Minutes of the November 1st, 15th 2019 / December 6th, 20th 2019 meetings.
Note: Publication date is set to the date of the Journal, rather than the date posted, for indexing purposes
October 29th, 2019 at 1:45 pm
November is near. First Friday will be this Friday, Nov 1, in Virginia.
We will have a reading from new author Tom Crepeau. We will also discuss Capclave.
The committee to discuss SF will talk about the Sept/Oct issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This is their 70th-anniversary issue and it is crammed with lots of big names. Kelly Link, Paolo Bacigalupi, Michael Moorcock, Elizabeth Bear, Maureen McHugh, Ken Liu, Esther Friesner, Michael Swanwick, and Gardner Dozois. If you read only one magazine issue this year, you want to read this one.
See everyone Friday.
NOTE: Our calendar app is not working. If you need directions to the meeting, please email <webmaster@wsfa.org>. We’re working on the issue.
October 12th, 2019 at 10:40 am
September 19th, 2019 at 11:46 am
The Third Friday (Where does the time go?) WSFA meeting will be held tomorrow 9/20/19 at the Maryland home of Candy and Grig Larson. The Committee to discuss SF will be reading September issue of Clarkesworld which is free online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
September 6th, 2019 at 12:01 am
Trials and Tribulations
Bang, bang went the gavel signifying the start of the 9-6-19 WSFA meeting. “Hearye heary, we are about to start. Everyone who wants to be at the meeting get settled,” said prez Bob.
Mr. Treasurer Sam S said WSFA has $$$, year over year $$$. “Let’s throw a Capclave,” said the crowd. “Throw it where?” someone asked.
Bill said, Capclave just had a meeting; a lot of you were there. Meeting to get us going. Deadline for program book is this weekend so everything got rushed. Some things going on. Things are progressing. Program is about a third of the way done, and will be done soon. Will go on website and we could advertise it. Positive in that respect. We are on track for attendees. Hopefully when program gets up we will have more people. David Keener has workshops lined up. Nothing too major. Progressing well.
Click the link for the full text of the September/October 2019 WSFA Journal, including the Minutes of the September 6th, 20th 2019 / October 4th, 18th 2019 meetings.
Note: Publication date is set to the date of the Journal, rather than the date posted, for indexing purposes
August 17th, 2019 at 10:32 am
The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2019 WSFA Small Press Award:
- “Baggage,” by Leslie Burton-Lopez, published in When to Now: A Time Travel Anthology, Fairfield Scribes, (October 2018);
- “The Djinni and the Accountant,” by Hal J. Friesen, published in Fire: Demons, Dragons, and Djinn, ed. by Rhonda Parrish, Tyche Books, (August 2018);
- “Familiar in Her Angles,” by E.A. Brenner, published in Metaphorosis, ed. by Morris Allen, (September 21, 2018);
- “The Hydraulic Emperor,” by Arkady Martine, published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 20, ed. by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas (January/February 2018);
- “The Spider and the Stars,” by DK Mok, published in Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers, ed. by Sarena Ulibarri, World Weaver Press (June 2018);
- “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander, published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 23, ed. by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas (July/August 2018);
- “The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change,” by Virginia M. Mohlere, published in Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 34, ed. by Jennifer Lyn Parsons, (May 30, 2018); and
- “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow, published in Apex Magazine, Issue 105, ed. by Jason Sizemore, (February 2018).
The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2018). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.
The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 18-20, 2019 at the Rockville Hilton, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD.
