First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, March 5, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Notes aren't formatted for the web yet, my apologies.

FFF June 4, 2010 Present were Joe, Ted, Mem, Robin, Richard, Terry, Kent, Robin, Jack, Don Pres – no report VP – chocolate Secretary – COSine page updated Trustees – some novel recommendations – Lee Modesitt – Hays? , Gathering Storm, Powers of Midnight Committees: Mem is negotiating with the Crowne Plaza to run COSine. We think we can get something workable with them. The one problem is potentially Mysticon which is scheduled to use the main ballroom the same weekend. He said there would be 40 dealers, and 250 rooms. There is no reference to this con anywhere we can find. Do we run against this con, if it exists, or move the weekend? There is potentially a problem if the dealers actually do number 40 at that con. 3rd & 4th floor would be the space. One is just a ballroom with windows all on one side. Much pre-function space, with chairs and couches. There are two hospitality suites linked together. Have wet bars, corkage/forkage waiver, but no alcohol. Half of the big ballroom will be dealers and art show, and fan tables. 3rd floor will be video (Telluride), 2 other rooms on that floor (small) – can be gaming space. Executive boardroom could be used as well for games and author readings. Main programming in the Rampart Room, 3rd floor, sets up for 120. Prefunction space for Registration. Mem will arrange for a tour. There are some locking closet spaces available. Or we could use the convention center on the 1st floor. Biggest drawback is that dealers and art show would need to be in an interior ballroom with no natural light, and is long and narrow. We may need to ask for signage and coat racks. Badge checking will be important with the other con. Room rates. They usually charge 9.99 per day for internet in the room, free in public areas. Mem asked for $74 without internet rather than 79 with it. They want to charge for up to triple. MileHiCon is 89 for single double, 114 for triple, and 139 for quad. We need to come up with 50 room nights. The Academy has been very bad about telling us how many room nights we have. The Crowne Plaza will give us a page and let our people book rooms through that. Some walkins are a big part of our Con. Thursday through Sunday should count (Mem is negotiating this). There is a significant price break at 50 nights. If we can get 60 room nights. Kent suggested that we advertise a free membership to program participants if they get a room night. Advertise the rooms, and ask if people are going to stay that they reserve in advance if possible. There is a restaurant with a buffet, although it isn’t included with the room. There’s a convenience store as well with coffee, bagels, sandwiches and the like. There are pedestrian bridges over all the major roads getting to the neighboring restaurants. We will need to make a new restaurant guide. Don started babbling about gold-panning for some unknown reason. Really. Wtf Something about blowing bubbles because Joe was blowing bubbles for Sappho. Could do a treasure hunt. I volunteered to do the Con Suite. Karen for the art show. Jack volunteered for the dealers. Mem will provide a list for the previous ones. Book selection committee has books through the end of the year. We’re running into a problem with the loaner books. We’ve been buying 2 copies of the books, but might consider buying 4 instead. The books are ultimately raffled off at the COSine book raffle. Old business – july picnic is cancelled due to lack of support. Meeting could be held the 2nd Friday of July if we opt to do so. We will meet on the 9th. The secretary was reminded to put the notes up on the web. If you google COSine 2011, it gives you the mathematical function rather than our website. The Committee to change Google will work on making Google show our site. Mem proposed bringing Sharon in early so she can do a signing at the library and some other publicity. Bookstores will work with us on signings. Make sure the room night counts. They will give us 2 upgrades for free at the Crowne Plaza. New Business - We might do a labor day picnic. Email Mem about Jules Verne movie night in November. Fantasy series coming up, trilogy. Move the September meeting to the 2nd weekend because of the Labor Day holiday Make flyers for Westercon. Make full page size, 100. Meeting was over at 9:32p Books. Mem made a segue when we were talking about Labor Day weekend, no one used to run things that weekend, so WorldCon was established then Now there is talk of moving WorldCon to July 4th weekend, which would mean killing westercon. There’s been some talk of retiring it on it’s 65th birthday, which will be in 2 years. Frederick Pohl, the Way the Future Blogs. Nominated for a Hugo. He’s been writing the blog for a couple of years now. Jack thought the Fred Pohl book was much better. The other book (Jack Williamson’s) was more personal. Fred is a much better writer in several people’s opinions. He had a lot more to do with the business of science fiction than Mem realized – dealing with publications, agents, editors. Pohl was the guy to go to if you couldn’t sell a book to Campbell. Explained something of why the rates were low, and it had a lot to do with magazine distribution. Had to sell them through the magazine distribution network, and there was only so much room on the trucks. Most are now by subscription now, but in the past more newsstands. Newsstands can be found at grocery stores and walmart, but not as common anymore. Bookstores have some. More people subscribe. Many are going online. Often can subscribe and get access to the entire back issue run. Many of the SF authors were members of the American Communist Party. It was very common in the fan community for some reason. This was all before WW2. The book provided a different perspective on communism as it was at the time. Got into times that Mem remembered. Many of the big cons started in the 1950’s. WorldCon and Westercon were combined one year. People were reminiscing about the beginnings of conventions in the 60’s and 70’s. Big southern cons didn’t start until the 1980s. Mostly people started cons and didn’t stop, so there was an explosion in the number of conventions. Comic cons split off in the 1950s. Trek cons began independently. Fred said something about early cons- he couldn’t remember or imagine anyone at the time who was a SF reader who didn’t want to be a SF writer. Terry thought there were always readers, but they weren’t the ones who went up to talk to him as much. Writers who wind up being published out of the slush pile are encouraged still to go to conventions, so they can meet people in the field and become known. Kent was talking to George Martin this past weekend. He began going to cons, and that is how he met people in the industry. It can be fun to hang out in the bars with the pros, because they were the only ones that had the money. The only publicity was through the letter columns in the fanzines, so if you did n’t read and write in them, you were less likely to be aware of the cons. Pre-internet, conventions were about the only place you could find other people to talk about books and SF interests. Now fandom is so enormous, there are many subgenres. Media made a big change, and brought a lot of people to conventions. People who were different from the old fans. Gaming brought in yet another set. Wargames, then RPGs. Fandom is now made of many groups with different interests. Gaming conventions were around by the mid 70s. D&D 1975 or so. We were wondering what would happen if you sent an old coupon from a book in – get these three books for 50 cents each. Editing books, Pohl talked about his experiences. Trying to get authors to do more, and write better. He was married a number of times – very Heinleinian. (Heinlein reference). Pohl is 91 now. He was on panels at Denvention. His wife was on several as well. Williamsons book is more personal, more about his life rather than fandom in its entirety. Fandom was a part of his life. Pohls book is more involved with other people. Williamsons is more about his own viewpoint, and works. Pohl was in NY, Williamson was in New Mexico. Different perspectives.

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, Mary 7, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Started 8:42pm. Present were Mem, Cary, Melissa, Jack, Kent, Robin, Ted, Joe, Don, and Richard

President, VP, no report People shook their fingers at the secretary for not posting the minutes. I am very naughty.

Treasurer: Mem reported the finances in our various accounts. $10616.33, plus checks.

Trustees: were all present

Books are posted for the upcoming months.

Vice: Chocolate truffles were brought by Jack. Mem said she remembers when Jack used to do more vice than that. And he had red hair.

Party July 4th weekend. Party will be Sunday at Jack’s house.

1954 version of 20k leagues, email mem – Sept meeting also may sample the 1912 version, silent film.

COSine –Mem will look at the Crowne Plaza on Tuesday with Ted. Jack mentioned the hotel they are building behind the Hollywood theater. It will apparently have a convention center attached, although there isn’t much food there yet. Its still developing out. It will probably be expensive.
Update the website for COSine. Add Sharon Shinn Mem will also go back and look at rooms at the old LeBaron. No food nearby. Good function space, rooms were in poor condition last time, but it has been several years. Our need for function space is increasing. We’re too big for the smaller hotels we can take over, but not large enough to fill the big ones. Mem is having a party in august, with ponies, and bocce ball. New business? Terry’s not here. Mem made good brownies. No other stuff. Meeting adjourned 9:03pm MEQ book. Jack complained that this book was part of a series and didn’t have a satisfactory ending. Mem said the 2nd didn’t either, and it’s been about three years since Time Dancers was published. Mem said it was supposed to be a trilogy. Richard said “so was Wheel of Time”. There’s a significant time frame covered by the books. It is definitely a first book in a series. Cary said it flowed well for him. He didn’t like the 2nd as well, and noticed some idiosyncracies in the author’s writing style. The author seems to be a baseball fan. The protag on his 12th birthday was in a train wreck with his family, and they were killed. He found out he was immortal. His parents died before they could tell him that they are different from everywhere else. They stop aging at 12 until some mysterious thing which wasn’t well explained. Something about finding a soul mate before being able to finish maturing and have offspring. They would go back to the Pyrenees during an eclipse to find their soulmate and trigger their maturation. There aren’t many MEQs, but several seem to show up in the book. They are kids, and they appear very similar to each other – family resemblence. In earlier history it was easier to handle their non-aging. Modern day records make it more difficult. Heinlein reference, Lazarus Long – immortals had to move around, were eventually feared or hated by normal people. Book ends at the end of WWI. Spanish flu outbreak. Public records start to outstrip foundation’s effort to disguise their identity. Kent had trouble believing a lot of it. Both because they were children moving around, and because the author seems to have no real experience with any of the settings other than St Louis. That area was recognizable, others were painted with broad strokes rather than having detail. They only looked like children, but were in fact not. Many of them were hundreds or thousands of years old. The protag was very young, born in the 1860s. He didn’t know who he was because his parents died. He eventually learned from others, but it took time. Mem said it was annoying that with all these unanswered questions, when they finally met someone who could answer it, it was delayed. Let’s talk about it in the morning – but somehow this never occurred. Supposed to be some kind of exercise in patience, but invariably something would happen to the person before they could talk. The MEQ don’t know who they are anymore. They are trying to remember who they are, but the Remembering is an event coming up. Something about the right 5 people being in the right place at the right time, which will cause some event and everything will be revealed. Don read the Gelfling prophecy from Dark Crystal. Time for the Stars – also has time travel stuff and young characters – juvies all have young characters as Jack pointed out. MEQ are aliens MEM thinks. Pre-human race perhaps? Seemed to have observed the growth of the human race. Precursor. They got lost when the Carthaginians took a boatload of them. Jack thought it was the Phoenecians. They were taken to Carthage and sacrificed them. It was enough of them to create a problem. Other cultures came to know about them in the Pyrenees, and that’s how they came to be kidnapped. Mass execution of 50 or 100 of them was such a large part of their population that they lost some of their history. Cary thought they didn’t know it all even then. They saved 43 of them off the ship. There’s some guy going around killing them, but he’s only gotten a couple of them. Killed Z’s grandfather, who was an adult at that point. The magic children heal magically as well. Kind of like wolverine in the XMen, but not as fast. Some injuries they can’t heal from. One may have lost a limb, but it grew back. One was unique in missing a tooth. One had a scar. Sailor had a weird eye, clouded. He had witnessed the killing of the children and was traumatized. Brendan kind of liked it, but was confused by parts. History dropping was scattered through the book. Mention of major historical events. Hannibal crossing the Alps. One of the mahouts was a MEQ. Had to run off because he didn’t want to be part of the Carthaginians. 2nd book ends with Nagasaki. Web says there will be a third book, but it hasn’t appeared yet. Mem hopes he doesn’t get bored of this before finishing the series. Ecology doesn’t make sense because they don’t have enough children. The most we’d seen is a family of 2-3 children, so they aren’t replacing their numbers. It is frustrating that the book doesn’t end the story. Mem said she is catching more detail on a 2nd reading. Jack asked if there was any significance to TS Elliot showing up. Other than to make a cameo appearance and show that it is St Louis. Caught them just before puberty when they are still children rather than adolescents. They found people to act as chaperones for them to survive in modern society. Two girls were passed down among the empresses of china, as an heirloom. New Orleans people were attached as body guards for one woman for 20-30 years. They were pages, or part of her retinue. He spent 12 years on the ship, seeing the world. 5 stones. Any of them that have a stone can influence other people. Will make them stop and forget if you tell them to. We began to talk about Lost. How people lost track of all the plot threads. We’re lost with lost. Coming to the end, and still no one knows what’s going on. Secret conspiracies, even Survivors – scifi show is doing something like that – British PBS show. We began talking about TV shows.

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, April 9, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

I think I missed the beginning of this meeting as my notes are incomplete.

Talked about 2010, Arthur Clarke, the lack of development of the space program. China vs the US race to Mars in Red Thunder by John Varley.

COSine – need to find a location for the con. Need to find out if the new hotel they are building up by Hollywood Theatre has function space. Crowne Plaza down south, or Academy Hotel again. Doubletree World Arena. Want good food within walking distance ideally. Want a hotel set by June. Hopefully this year they won’t sell whatever hotel we get after we get a contract. Nor will the sales manager be residing in California and only visiting once a month.

Other business? - July picnic perhaps, Sunday 4th for those people who aren’t out of town – no July meeting other than that. Put up map to Jack’s house. Could run a movie meeting beginning at 7pm. September meeting. Jules Verne – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 days – Journey to the Center of the Earth will watch the 1954 version.

End of Notes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, March 5, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

I didn't write down who was present, probably because I was taking notes on paper rather than the computer. Or because I'm a noob. Something like that. Meeting was called to order at 8:47pm. We wondered how ordered we needed to be, since we tend to be a pretty disorderly crowd. We could line up in 2 straight lines at half past nine, but no one was named Madeline, much less the youngest. The youngest present was probably Sappho.

Vice President - vice was provided in the form of desserts

Treasurer - Mem said she would move some of the money from checking into savings, and told me to cash the check from COSine for the sale of my artwork, which I still had in my wallet. We had $7653.20 in savings, $2867.77 in checking, plus $140 in deposits for a total of 10,660.97 in the credit union. Additionally there was $262.83 in our PayPal account, for a total of $10,923.80. This was with $367.88 in outstanding checks, leaving a net of $10,555.92 for the sum of the club's cash. We spent some of our money this year acquiring a projector, which will not be a typical expense. The book committee requested funding so we can buy more copies of the books each month. The COSine hotel bill was fully paid off. We paid half the cost of rental charges for mics. There was about $100 worth of remaining expenses that hadn't been finalized yet.

Cosine 2011

We need to look for a different hotel still. Robin needs to update the website.

Book Committee - Books set through November of 2010. We have copies of all but the Kage Baker book. Girl Genius will be in July.

We thought about doing a picnic over 4th of July weekend if enough people were around. Next month is an "A" month, so the meeting will be on the 2nd Friday. Mem is having her Getting Even party on August 7th, and the meeting for August will be the 2nd Friday, on the 13th. Meeting was adjourned at 9:12pm

Book Discussion

Passage at Arms by Glen Cook - Joe said it was the first cookbook we have ever discussed. It included a lot about submarine warfare and WW2 stuff adapted to the SF genre. Ted said it wasn't totaly implausible. Jack said interstellar war is always implausable, and that there is never any believable justification for it. The book never really explained the whys. It was much like a war movie. Warp drives and hyperdrives made the places they can hide different from subs today, but they still included an inversion layer of sorts. Cramped quarters and being hunted constantly, as well as being out of contact with central command all featured prominently. The book was from the point of view of a war correspondant. Kent said Cook has 2 styles of writing, one of which is the Nero Wolfe style. The dead alien in the basement does all the thinking. If it has metal in the title, it's good. Grizzly old military fantasies about wizard wars are one type.

There was some sort of tangent that I didn't take notes on, then we went on to talk about the book, and it's resemblance to WW2 movies. Only the narrating character had any real depth to him. Very typical war story. It dwells on self-analysis as a substitute for characterization. Character keeps going over the same issues repeatedly until you theoreticaly understand him.

End of Notes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, February 5, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Present were Joe, Terry, Ted, Mem, Kent, Jack, RP, Robin, Don, and Richard

We began with a discussion of COSine finances, prior to the opening of the meeting. Depending on how we count it, COSine made money or lost $200 or so.

The meeting was called to order at 8:12. The new officers are taking office as of this month, which explains why I am taking notes this time around. The official gavel was passed on, and it’s probably somewhere else. No one here had it.

Old Officers (Terry asked if Joe was calling them old) - or rather Outgoing officers:

Treasurer – Mary is handing the office to herself for 2010. Mem gave me a list of members of the organization. She also gave me a summary of the FFF accounts and finances. There is $1344.60 in undeposited funds for COSine 2011 memberships, with 52 paid memberships, 5 of which are unpaid. Reimbursement of the suspiciously symmetrical amount of $47.47 was approved by acclamation.

Secretary – Kent is outgoing. He had the minutes on the floor somewhere on a legal pad, under a Zappos receipt. We waived the minutes, and Kent handed the legal pad to Mem so she could transcribe them and put them on the website. Robin is incoming secretary due to not ducking fast enough.

Vice President – Cary outgoing, Kent incoming. Kent deputized the vice of chocolate to Terry, who provided brownies. Other vices will be handled accordingly in the future.

Outgoing President – Joe. Nothing to report. Incoming – also Joe. We have a club!

Outgoing trustees. We elected officers and have handed over the duties. New trustees are Cary, Richard, and Jack.

We talked about whether unpaid members still had the right to make smart-alec comments, and decided it was a fundamental right. But perhaps the unpaid members should be required to come up with a Heinlein reference.

Projector Committee. We have a projector, and Jack has been reimbursed. We should purchase a replacement lamp for the projector, although this one is rated for 2000 hours. The lamps are about $200.

Book Committee - Next 4 months are selected. Mem would like to choose books through the end of 2010. She wants to do Fred Pohl’s book The Way the Future Was which is a history of fandom. The very first WorldCon, 1939 had a fan feud between right and left wing fans. The right wingers excluded some of the authors including Frederick Pohl.

We started talking about books. Katherine Kurtz will be the GoH at MileHiCon, but many of us have some memories of reading her in the past. Charlie Strass – The Family Trade Selling Jesus – Lain Singularity Sky The Gathering Storm – Sanderson 12th book of Wheel of Time written after Jordan’s death. There is a synopsis of the plot online at some fansite that Richard will direct us to. He says that Sanderson wrote most of it.

Rachel Cain is the other guest at MileHi, one is a vampire series, the other is the Weather Warden series. Ill Wind is the first book. Mem is taking further suggestions for books via email.

COSine Committee 2010
We had a con. People came and seemed to have fun. There were no complaints particularly. We were concerned that Lee was surprised by the small size of the convention, but he seemed to have a good time. We’ll likely be about 200 to 250 dollars in the hole. Ted said at that rate we have enough money to keep running until 2050 or so. We had some catering this year at the autographing, which people appreciated. The Steampunk ball went very well, and people danced until midnight. Programming was not as well attended as previous years, generally 25-50 people. People enjoyed the panels and they went well. There were maybe 15 people gaming at any given time, but often less. This is still more than previous years. Movies were only a few people at a time. Wall-E was well attended as well. About 174 members this year.

COSine 2011
Mem is chair. Sharon Shinn has accepted as Guest of Honor. We are looking at some other hotels, although we may not move. The Clarion may or may not have renovated. They removed the restaurant. The Crowne Plaza down south is one we’ll look at.

Old business: none

New Business: Sylvia is three. Mem would like to ask the president to appoint Terry as the deputy assistant president in charge of chocolate, because she had no office. We decided to appoint a chocolate committee to consist of Terry and Brendan.

Joe asked everyone about text messages and who texted. Most of us can receive them, but none of us is big on texting. We talked about texting while driving, which is now illegal in Colorado, which led to texting while walking and being hit by bicycles, which led to reading while walking, and also being hit by bicycles.

Gaming was not a very good draw for the convention. RP suggested doing a breakout room instead of a dedicated gaming area. We could do some activities other than gaming. We still want to draw more gamers in if it’s possible. More work needs to be done for that to be successful.

Opus apparently has died – the artistic con, not the penguin from Bloom County. They had skipped 2008 because of WorldCon, but ran sort of last year. They weren’t making enough money and because they were run as a for-profit con, they apparently shut down.

I’ll make flyers for COSine 2011. We talked about conventions people are going to. GhengisCon is soon.

Mem moved that we form a flyer distribution committee and that Jack be the head of it. StarFest. We talked about StarTrek movies and how awful the 5th one was.

Meeting closed at 9:15.

Book was Ill Met by Moonlight, by Sarah Hoyt, her first published book. She writes a wide variety of books, under several names. The book is about faerie and Shakespeare, and factions. Shakespeare’s journey to faerie is what causes him to become the bard and great poet that he was. Mem thought it had some of the problems that first novels often do. Pacing mainly. Very Shakespearean. Mem liked the way faerie was portrayed. You would have no way of knowing that English was not her native language because her writing is extremely fluent. Richard felt there were some conflicting mythologies, from Disney, to the wild hunt. “Everyone has the wild hunt” Terry didn’t see too much of a dichotomy because the little flittering fairies were not mentioned in great deal.

Stardust – the novel was first. We digressed a lot. Debated whether Glory Road was a fantasy.

Back on topic. What were the strengths of the book? There are a lot of references to Shakespeare, especially Midsummer Night’s Dream. You’d miss them if you weren’t familiar with it. Mem liked the ending. Writing was good, but Jack thought it was boring. Heinlein in Faerie. Long slow agonizing slog through what people are thinking and feeling. It covers very little ground, but covers it very profoundly. Keeps building up, leading you to expect “naughty parts”, but doesn’t actually deliver them. Sensual novel with no physical consummation.

End of notes.

January 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, January 9th, 2010

Kent Bloom reporting

ATTENDING:

Mary, Terry, Kent, Don, RP, Jack, Shannon, Mike, Connor, Brendan, Ted, Robin, Joe.

Meeting called to order at 8:25pm by President, Joe Sokola.

OFFICER REPORTS:

The Treasurer reports nine paid members.

Ted Monogue, for the Trustees, announced the following slate of nominated officers: Joe Sokola for President, Kent Bloom for Vice President, Mary Morman for Treasurer, Robin Monogue for Secretary, and Jack Heneghan, Cary Quinn, and Richard Karsh for Trustees. No other nominations were received. All nominees were elected by acclamation to take office at the February meeting.

The President has nothing to report. The Vice President Cary reported that vice exists and there is cobbler in the kitchen. The Secretary reported that the minutes were posted on the web. The Treasurer reporded $11,992.59 in all accounts combined One check for $42.14 is outstanding. $2100 is dedicated to COSine. The dues just received are not included in these amounts.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

The Projector Committee has nothing. Cary says we will have something before COSine.

The Book Committee says our schedule is set.

OLD BUSINESS: None.

NEW BUSINESS: None

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The next SCA Dance Practice is the 4th Wednesday in January. COSine is busy. The con is in 2 weeks. 87 advance members. Budget is $3500-$4000. Scedules are set. Program Book deadline is 15 January. $25 membership set for COSine 2011 at con.

NEXT MEETING: First Friday in February.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:44pm.

December 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, December 11th, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

ATTENDING: Cary, Jack, Richard, Terry, Mary, Kent, Robin, Ted, Joe, and Shannon.

Joe called the meeting to order at 8:15pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President has nothing to report. The Vice President Cary reported that the Refreshment Committee (Terry Adams) had provided hot caramel and things to dip in it and hot cider. The minutes were read and approved. The Treasurer Mary reporded $11,790.84 with outstanding money due the book committee and publicity for COSine.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Terry Adams for COSine 2010 reported things about normal. We have 83 members but not all are paid, and Terry will meet with the hotel soon. Went over the merchants list to verify the table count. May send out emails to current and past members.

COSine 2011 is probably not going back to the same hotel. Talking to Elizabeth Moon.

The Book Committee wants to add Fred Pohl's autobiography of fandom The Way the Future Was to the book list.

The Projector Committee is looking at a used projector. Still looking. Moved, Seconded, and Passed: To amend the by-laws to have officers serve from February through February with the election still being held in January. OLD BUSINESS. None.

NEW BUSINESS. None

The Trustees nominated Joe Sokola for President, Kent Bloom for Vice President, Robin Monogue for Secretary, and Mary Morman for Treasurere. Nominations for Trustees are Jack, Carey, and Richard.

NEXT MEETING: SECOND Friday in January because of the New Year's Day holiday.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:22pm.

November 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, November 6th, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

ATTENDING: Cary, Don, Shannon, Robin, Ted, Terry, Kent, Michael, Jack, Richard, and Joe.

Joe called the meeting to order at 9:16pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President had no report. The Vice President Cary reported VERY nice vice in the form of a chocolate slow-cooker cake from the Refreshment Committee (Terry Adams). The Secretary had no minutes for the last month and no action from October. The Treasurer left a written report that we have $11241.46 in the treasury less some outstanding checks.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Terry Adams for COSine 2010 reported no problems. We have 74 members so far, and the COSine committee had a meeting earlier in the evening.

The Book Committee said that no written suggestions were received and oral suggestions had been forgotten. Despite this a list of books for the new year is up on the web and two copies of each have been ordered. Asked for and received approval for $77.52 in book costs.

The Projector Committee must make their selection by next month.

The Trustees had no report but were informed they must have a white board (as opposed to a slate) of officers to nominate for 2010 at the December meeting. OLD BUSINESS. People attended MileHiCon and gave away COSine flyers.

NEW BUSINESS. None

NEXT MEETING: SECOND Friday in December and SECOND Friday in January.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:35m.

September 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, September 4th, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

ATTENDING: Mary Morman, Kent Bloom, Robin and Ted Monogue, Don Pelton, Jack Heneghan, Richard Karsh, Michael Lewis, and Joe Sokola. Cary Quinn came in late.

Joe called the meeting to order at 8:17pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President had nothing new to report. The Vice President Cary was not present to report, but there were brownies, chips, and sodas despite that. The Secretary reported that the minutes had been pace to the web person. Mary waved the minutes. The Treasurer reports that we have $11282.70 in the treasury with outstanding checks of 92.12.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

COSine past reports no activity.

Terry Adams for COSine 2010 said we need a fan table for MileHiCon. Plans for MileHiCon were discussed. Robin and Terry will work on finishing the COSine tablecloth for the fan table.

The Book Committee asked for suggestions by next meeting for next year's book reading list.

The Projector Committee has not done anything. OLD BUSINESS. None.

NEW BUSINESS. Michael is new.

NEXT MEETING: 4 September

Meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.

August 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, August 14th, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

Joe called the meeting to order at 8:26pm. We had two new people attending - Linda and Lewis. There was some discussion of the world as a turtle a la Pratchett.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President reports nothing new. The Vice President Cary reported vice in the form of brownies and baklava after the meeting. The Secretary reported that the minutes were available but had not yet been put up on the web. The minutes were waived. The Treasurer reports that we have $11278.02 in the treasury. We still owe $12.12 to Mary for books.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

COSine past reports no activity.

COSine 2010 said we need a dealer's room manager. Shannon volunteered to do advertising. Gaming was also discussed. Lee Modesitt will fly to Denver and rent a car. We need someone to run the Friday and Saturday evening events. There will be a Steampunk Regency Dance on Saturday. is thru December - see web.

The Book Committee is set thru December - see website for details. We have one copy of Modesitt's Imager.

The committee to study a projector purchase has not done so.

The committee to produce a Nubella Award for Barbara Hambly was not present (Jack). OLD BUSINESS. None.

NEW BUSINESS. None.

NEXT MEETING: 4 September

ANNOUNCEMENTS. Tacticon will be held over Labor Day weekend. Nandesukan will be the weekend after Labor Day. MileHiCon and Bubonicon at the usual time. There may be a FalCon at the Air Force Academy.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:18pm.

July 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

PICNIC!

Meeting of Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

Joe called the meeting to order at 7:14pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President says we have a club. The Vice President was MIA. The Secretary reported that the minutes for last month are missing, but Jack found them. The Treasurer reports that we have $11323.15 in the treasury. We still owe $12.12 to Mary for books.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

COSine past reports no activity.

COSine 2010 started the nagging chain. Flyers are in progress. Table for MileHiCon will cost $35 for electricity.

The Book Committee has selected books through January. Next month's topic is the August issue of F&SF Magazine.

OLD BUSINESS. None.

NEW BUSINESS. Mary requests reimbursement up to $95.08 for expenses for the picnic. Moved, seconded, and carried. The Treasurer will handle reimbursement.

NEXT MEETING: 14 August (SECOND Friday).

Meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.

June 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, June 5th, 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

First Friday Fandom met on Friday, June 5th, 2009, at the home of Kent Bloom and Mary Morman. Present were Mary Morman, Terry Adams, Kent Bloom, Don Pelton, Richard, Joe Sokola, Ted, Brendan, and Connor Monogue, and Karen and Erin Jordan.

Joe called the meeting to order at 8:28 pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President had nothing to report. The Vice President was not present. The Secretary reported that the minutes have been posted and that there will be no stuffed animal bondage tonight. The Treasurer reports that we have $10014.58 in savings and $1304.04 in checking for a total of $11318.62 in the bank. This includes $1300 for COSine 2010.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

The Book Committee has books through December. Copies of the books to lend are on the top shelf in the hall. Next month are the Hugo Nominated short stories.

COSine 2009 reports no activity and they need final attendance numbers.

COSine 2010 has nothing to report. Still recruiting for events and dealers.

The Committee to Find the Bylaws reports that the bylaws are in the garage in a box.

The Projector Committee has not done anything yet.

The Vice President showed up at this point and announced that vice for the month is cookies and brownies.

OLD BUSINESS. Mary reminded us that we need to make a Retro-Nubella award for Barbara Hambly for MileHiCon. Jack will take this on and will talk to Dan Hoyt and to MileHiCon.

NEW BUSINESS. Terry asked about filing taxes for the club. Melissa says we need 25K$ passing through the account before we are required to file. She will verify that.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mary talked about http://paperbackswap.com. There is a gaming convention tomorrow. Flyers are available. It will run 11:30ish to midnight. Another is scheduled for late in July with 52 hours of gaming. Terry reminded people that the July meeting will start at 4pm on July 3rd and will be a BBQ.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:26 pm.

May 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, May 1st , 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

First Friday Fandom met on Friday, May 1st , 2009, at the home of Kent Bloom and Mary Morman. Present were Mary Morman, Kent Bloom, Robert Harbone, Walter LeBoulanger, Shannon, Jack Heneghan, Joe Sokola, Don Pelton, Keith McClune, Terry Adams, and Sheila McClune. Ted, Brendan, and Connor Monogue, and T'Chris arrived late.

The meeting was called to order by the President at 8:14 pm.

OFFICER REPORTS: The President had nothing to report. The Vice President reported that we have a sufficency of vice and wine. The Secretary reported that the minutes for April are in a safe (but unknown) place. The office of Treasurer is still in transit but current Treasurer reports that we have $11339.44 in the bank which includes $1300 for COSine 2010. The Trustees were not present to report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: The Projector Committee has not met yet. The COSine2009 Committee was not present. The COSine2010 Chair says she has openings for people to help and would like you to contact her. The Book Committee has set aside a shelf in the front hall for copies of F3 books. There are copies of the scheduled books for the rest of this year.

There was no Old Business.

There was no New Business.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The new people present (Harbone, Shannon, and Walter) were introduced. They are interested in running some RPG gaming at COSine. Mary talked about the visit she and Kent made to the Heinlein house on Mesa Drive.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:46 pm.

March 2009 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, March 6th , 2009

Kent Bloom reporting

First Friday Fandom met on Friday, March 6th , 2009, at the home of Kent Bloom and Mary Morman. Present were President Joe Sokola, Secretary Kent Bloom, Treasurer Mary Morman, COSine 2009 Chair and Trustee Ted Monogue, Trustee Robin Monogue, COSine 2010 Chair Terry Adams, Richard Karsh, TChris Gardner, and Jack Heneghan. Vice President Carey Quinn and Don Pelton arrived later.

The meeting was called to order by the President at around 8:30 pm. Reporting as last year\rquote s Treasurer, Joe said that COSine took in money and spent money. Mary will take over the accounts this month and deposit the COSine 2010 membership fees.

The Secretary reported that, since he wasn't at the previous meeting, he did not have minutes. The Corporation registration was renewed for 2009 online with the Colorado Secretary of State for $10. Mary has the minutes from the January 23rd election special meeting.

L. E. Modesitt will be GoH at COSine 2010.

The President had nothing to report.

The trustees report two new members.

Committee Reports:

The book committee selected books for the rest of 2009:
The book for April will be Rhiannsu, The Bloodwing Voyages by Diane Duane.
The May meeting will be held on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 8pm. The book will be llumination by Terry McGarry.
The June meeting will be held on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 8pm. The book will be A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer.
The July meeting will be held on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 8pm. Our discussion topic will be the short stories nominated for the 2008 Hugo award. By June, most or all of these should be available online.
The August meeting will be held on the second Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 8pm. Our meeting will discuss the August issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.
The September meeting will be held on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 8pm. The book will be whatever wins the "Best Novel" Hugo for 2008.
The October meeting will be held on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 8pm. The book will be the science fiction classic More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.
\tab The November meeting will be held on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 8pm. The books will be the classic A Canticle for Leibow by Walter Miller and it's posthumous sequel Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman
The December meeting will be held on the second Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 8pm. The book will be a selection by Lee Modesitt, our Guest of Honor for COSine 2010.

COSine past reported. Ted says he is working on financials. Receipts were collected from several people.

COSine future reported. Terry says a hotel contract has been signed with the Best Western Academy Hotel, same hotel as this year. Jack will run the con suite. Mary will be guest liason and run programming. Looking for volunteers for other jobs. Currently 65 are pre-registered for COSine 2010.

Mary will chair COSine 2011.

Old Business: We need to get Nubella Award supplies and make a Retro-Nubella to give to Barbara Hambley when she is GoH at MileHiCon this coming October.

Opus con is next weekend in Denver.

There was no other business.

Next meeting will be April 10th.

There will be a picnic before the July meeting on July 3rd starting at 4 pm. Terry will coordinate food.

The August meeting will be on the second Friday because of Worldcon.

The December meeting will be on the second Friday because of SMOFcon.

Cary and Don came in here. No report from the VP.

Carey says Clarion Hotel is mostly the same as it was, but split into a Clarion Hotel (with function space) and a Comfort Inn. There does not appear to be a restaurant any longer.

A committee was formed to look into buying a projector for COSine. Carey and Jack were appointed to the committee.

Mary reported for the website committee that she can update the club web site. She will modify it this month. TChris will take over as webmaster.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15.

January 2009 Minutes

2 January 2009 (submitted by Secretary Mem Morman)

Attending: Kent, T'Chris, Jack, Joe, Terry, Melissa, Mem, Ben, James, Cary

VP called the meeting to order at 8:30. President is at Disney World. VP says there are cookies all over the table and they get thrown away if you don't eat them. There is bread pudding and hard sauce. Secretary sent out the minutes. Treasurer says we got more COSine memberships and a cash membership for the Yakuras. We got a $10000 grant from Denvention. Last year we had 13 F3 memberships, so far this year we have 8.

Book Committee: The topic for tonight is Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness. Next month's topic is Bloodwing Voyages by Diane Duane.

Cosine Report: We met with the hotel this week. We have seven reservations so far including our GOH and con suite reservations. We have five dealers with six tables. Badges will be premade and prelaminated and Kent will add DYMO labels for badge names. There will be a meeting at the hotel on January 14th at 6:30pm? Terry will confirm with Ted. Cary is not here so we have no report on movie schedule. There are screens in each room. We have nothing formal for gaming at all at this time. Cary came in and said that he needs to clarify with T'Chris getting the projector.

Trustees: Have been charged with creating a slate of nominees. Kent doesn't want to do it. After recess, the trustees reported. The slate is: Joe for President, Cary for Vice, Mem for Treasurer, Kent for Secretary. Trustees: Ted or Robin or Jack or Melissa. Cary says we ought to have a publicity and membership role under some officer. VP forms a new Publicity and Membership committee to discuss this with Cary, Terry, Melissa, and Joe. Kent offered to go get his drums and play them for the kangaroo court.

New Business: We discussed the non-updating of the website. VP appointed Jack, T'Chris, and Mem as the committee to investigate the website. VP instructed them to please reach some conclusions in a timely manner.

Old Business: none

Mem moved that we recess while the trustees meet. No one paid any attention.

Adjourned at 9:39pm

Book Discussion: Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness. Jack said that the Hainish ambassador was a blithering idiot. Mem said that was because he was male, and it was a specific plot device to parody gendered people. The book was associated with an essay on gender in 1976 (later revised in 1987). T'Chris made an obligatory "Star Trek" reference but Jack interrupted him so we couldn't hear it. The book discusses the fact that there are no wars on Gethen, but there's no conclusion that this is a result of not having gender. There are lot of subtle parallels to Earth - Gethen is way out at the end of nowhere away from the rest of Hainish society. In the Gethen society there are no protector/nurturer roles and children are raised by the whole society. Left Hand of Darkness is the fourth of the Hainish novels. Jack feels that it didn't hold up well because we have problems seeing a galactic society sending someone as clueless as Genly as the ambassador to accomplish this task. T'Chris pointed out that there is a lot of original Star Trek "prime directive" kind of stuff in this. They send one person with his ship and his ansible, but no weapons. And of course they take the ship and the ansible away from him right off at the start. LeGuin keeps dropping bombshells on us in this book and then treating them as everyday occurences - Genly is black and that fact is sublty mentioned but not worthy of comment. For a 1969 book that is a big thing. Jack says Heinlein would not have liked this world and would immediately have started a war to make everyone have gender.

December 2008 Minutes

12 December 2008 (submitted by Secretary Mem Morman)

Attending: Don Pelton, Kent, Terry, Mem, Joe, Jack, Connor, Cary, Richard Karsh, James, Ben, Melissa, Cethy, Erin, Ted.

VP called the meeting to order at 8:33. President is missing. VP reports that there are brownies and Kent wanted her to solicit for more vice, but she turned him down. Secretary had sent out the minutes to the First Friday list. Minutes accepted. Teasureer says we have money and that memberships for COSine are trickling in. We have about $2400.

Book Committee: Next month is Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness and this is available at the library.

Trustees: Looking for volunteers for officers. Please contact Kent, Cary, and Melissa with suggestions for a slate of officers to nominate.

Dues are due in January and it's $10 for the year. Jack moved to reduce the dues to $5. Died for lack of a second.

Recess until Ted and Robin arrive.

Book Discussion: Lots of people had read the book. Dick had read the two stories that were in a Martin anthology. Terry found the book very boring. She found Tuf unemotional and boring. Mem found Tuf interesting. This devolved into a discussion of Asperger's Syndrome and whether the Tuf character exemplified this. Kent says that the point of the story is that Tuf falls into this God Machine and in learning to use it, has to deal with becoming godlike. Mem thought that Tuf's treatment of some of the monsters gave an interesting insight into his character (that Terry said he didn't have). Jack felt that Tuf should have dispersed birth control in his initial new food preparation. Mem and Kent thought it was more interesting that first time he provides food, second time he provides food and advice, and third time he provides food and imposes birth control. The only characters who seemed to grow and change were Tuf and Molly Tune.

Ted arrived. Recess and Book Discussion were declared Over.

Cosine Report: Cethy reported the art show is all good. Would like the website to say we don't take mail-in art. Very close to being sold out of as much room as we have available. Ted says we will have a convention. All is well with the hotel. Need to let them know if we will reserve a screen. We need to do room setup. Jack says they sold the hotel as of 1 January. Ted says he will call on Monday and talk to them about it. First Friday and COSine websites will be updated this weekend. Programming will be done next week in Hawaii. Cary is working on video scheduling. He does need a screen and a projector. TChris said that he could provide the projector. Kent Reg says that we are getting reg by mail and by PayPal. He is going to need relief at the Reg table. Please contact him to sign up. Jack says he has sent George mail confirming our arrangements but has not heard back. Jack will send mem George's address for programming. Jack is handling dealers. George is available to have dinner with the convention staff on Sunday night. We get the con suite by 3pm on Friday - but probably earlier. Robin is doing publications. Need to discuss with her the mechanics of getting information to her and having the book and badges done the weekend before. Meeting at the hotel on Wed Jan 14 to decide on facilites use and do the resume. Ted will be out of town 31 Dec through 10 Jan. Terry is taking over during that time.

Adjourned at 9:48pm.

November 2008 Minutes

7 November 2008 (submitted by Secretary Mem Morman)

Attending: Spring Lea Henry, Ray Henry, Jeanne Vincent, Don Pelton, Kent, Terry, Mem, Joe, Jack, Ted, Robin, Brendan, Connor, Melissa, James, Ben, TChristopher Gardner, Cary.

Robin called the meeting to order at 8:18 pm. She will continue working on the COSine and First Friday pages as time is available. Terry (Vice) reports chocolate Sundays at MileHiCon. There were also many cookies at MileHiCon. There are cookies and brownies on the table this evening - and many sodas. This is as viscious as she intends to get.

Mem (Secretary) says she will try to work with Robin on the web. Joe (Treasurer) says we sold 14 memberships plus eight tables for COSine. Our membership is up to about 50. Membership for COSine is $40 from now until the end of the year. We have about $2300 in the account and this is larely COSine money.

Who are the trustees? Kent and two others. They must come up with a slate of officers for officers in January. Jack thinks he is one. We are not sure because Jack lost the paper plate that the minutes were written on. Ted found an email dated January 2008. The trustees are Melissa, Eric Schwartz, Cary.

COMMITTEES
Book Committee: Cary is not here but we are going to set a reading list anyway.
The November book is the August book, Austin Grossman's "Soon I Will Be Invincible".
The December book is George RR Martin's "Tuf Voyaging". Mem purchased three copies so we could all read it. She is reading one. Jack took a copy and Melissa took a copy.
The January book is "Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula LeGuin.
The February book is "Bloodwing Voyages" by Diane Duane
The March book is "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman.

The committee to find the bylaws found the bylaws and Terry Adams presented a written petition to replace Eric Schwartz as Trustee - since he has moved to Chicago. Petition was signed by Terry, Joe, Ted, and Jack. Other members of the board agree. Robin appointed Kent as a replacement. Kent is now a trustee. Now Cary showed up at 9:04pm.

COSine Committee: The hotel contract is signed and in place. You have to call the hotel to book a room. We have reserved the con suite and adjoining bedroom and reserved a suite with outside access for George so Parris can come and smoke. Ted spent $60 on a banner and flyers for MileHiCon. Robin can stick the year on the banner. Our table at MileHiCon was very successful. Gave lots of flyers and cookies. Spring Lea just volunteered to do press releases. Karen is doing the art show again this year. What will we do for equipment for the video room. TChristopher says he has a computer projector that he can volunteer. Terry agrees to be deputy chair (or possibly ottoman). Ted will talk to the hotel about having a meeting at the hotel and will give us a date in early December.

The December First Friday meeting will be on 12 December (2nd Friday) because of SMOFcon. Mem and Kent leave the next day for Hawaii.

New business: Ted would like to request an approval for and reimbursement for having the large foam core poster reprinted at cost of $30. Mem seconds. Motion passed and Ted will give receipt to Joe.

Terry Adams (2010 chair) is working on soliciting a guest of honor. The secretary is taking dictation for this and will write the letter.

It was suggested that we do the January meeting (with elections) at COSine on Friday night. Terry moved, Mem seconded. Unanimously passed. We will have a First Friday meeting and book discussion on 2 January.

Adjourned at 9:47pm.

Book Discussion: No one but Cary had read "Soon I Will Be Invincible". He recommends it to all as a deconstruction of the SuperHero plot from the viewpoint of the SuperVillain. Jack made the requisite Heinlein reference by asking if the SuperVillain tries to pound Colorado Springs with rocks from the sky. Spring Lea said that since we were all young at heart we could be known as Friday's Children. Rude noises were made in response.

Spring Lea is reading "Black Arrow" by Vin Suprynowicz. TChris is reading "The Cache" by Philip Jose Farmer and "Chasm City" by Alastair Riddle. Mem just finished Wen Spencer's "A Brother's Price". Joe is reading the first book in the Dresden series - "Storm Front" - by Jim Butcher. Cary is planning to read "Of Dice and Pen" by Fred Putter. Ted is reading Iain Banks "Accession". Melissa is reading George Martin's "Tuf Voyaging".

Cary wants to know if anyone likes steampunk. There is a steampunk meeting at Montegue's downtown. TChris is interested. Spring Lea mentioned big cities on wheels that go around eating each other - this is likely also a Heinlein reference.

September 2008 Minutes

5 September 2008 (submitted by Secretary Mem Morman)

Attending: Ted, Terry, Robin, Erin, Karen, Mem, Jack, Don, Kent, Connor, Brendan.

Meeting called to order by President Robin at 8:34pm. President reports she is working on the web page but it is not done yet. She is trying to learn DreamWeaver. VP Terry says she was too busy at Worldcon for much vice - although she did room with Ted one night at the Brown Palace. Our culinary vice for the evening is chocolate cake with custard. Treasurer Joe says we bought flyers that were out at worldcon - about $100. We have one new membership for COSine. Secretary Mem unfortunately does not have minutes from the August meeting as she was dealing with a last minute Denvention problem and could not attend.

COSine Chair Ted says we have an agreement with the Academy hotel to have all of the meeting rooms for COSine - the Academy room, the Tower rooms, and the Rockies rooms (upstairs). $3800 basic fee for all three days. Goes down to $1150 if we have 20 room nights, $950 if we get 40 room nights. Our con suite and GOH rooms count towards the 20 room nights. We expect to make the 20 room nights with no problem. Room rates are $69 for standard rooms and $99 for deluxe and $135 for jacuzzi suites - all rooms include free internet and breakfast buffet. We get two hours reserved access to the pool for the regatta. All meeting rooms also have free internet. However, no way to prevent them for renting out the center space for a wedding or suchlike if they get an offer. Jan 23-25th - week before SuperBowl - no football being played that week. Tentatively the week before the local Candlemas event. DASFA should be meeting on the 17th of January. At the moment the hotel has no reception scheduled for our dates - but it's early days yet. We do not have a room block - which means we can have our prices up to the last minute. There's no way to book online - they need to call the hotel to be part of our block.

Moved by Mem that we pay Denvention3 $228 for various pieces of durable convention equipment that we are buying for use at COSines. Seconded by Ted, passed by acclamation.

Moving on to COSine jobs. Terry doing events and consuite. Kent doing reg. Mem doing programming. Ted is chair. Cary is doing videos. Karen is art show. Jack is guest liaison. Robin is program book. Gaming - mem has some people who may help but no one from the club stepped up to be in charge. Dealers is Melissa with Jack to assist. Publicity is a distributed effort. Someone needs to join the GRRM fan groups and talk up the con. Discussed purchasing a computer projector for the video room at Tech for Less.

We are looking for a Friday night event to replace Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream which has been done to death. Mem and Terry will do a treasure hunt.

Terry volunteered to do COSine 2010 - she was approved by acclamation. Steven Brust, Spider Robinson, and Elizabeth Moon have been suggested for guests. Jack suggested Emma Bull (who lives in Tucson). Joe suggest Kristine Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. Erin suggest Eric Flint or David Weber. Robin suggested R.A. Salvatore.

The October book is The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman. The November book is the August book, Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible. The December book is George RR Martin's Tuf Voyaging.

adjourned at 10:53pm.

July 2008 Minutes

It is 8:32 and Robin started the meeting. Joe, Erin, Jack, Cary, Kent, Mem, Karen, and T erry were also present. Everyone was eating chocolate cake except Mem who was typing with her broken hand. Mem read the minutes and Jack objected to the fact that Sappho was referred to as a person. He wanted Sappho altered. Mem said Sappho had already been altered. Joe says we have about $1800 - about half dedicated to COSine. The VP delivered pasta and chocolate cake, that was all the vice for the day.

Robin says Ted is working on a contract for COSine but Worldcon is getting in the way. Kent says he is old business. Mem pushed Joe to get the paypal account opened up again. Mem got a fan table for COSine/First Friday Fandom. People who are not running Denvention will have to man the table.

August 1 meeting will be a Denvention work meeting starting at 5pm. We will be doing laminating of badges and organizing things for the truck to Denver. September will be the 5th and we will keep that date.

Meeting adjourned at 8:55pm.

June 2008 Minutes

6 June 2008 (submitted by Secretary Mem Morman)

We spent some time talking about Denvention and looked up art show information for Don Pelton who is thinking of putting some of his little castles in the show. We got a little bored waiting for Robin and Ted so we explored the 1919 Influenza Pandemic, the world population counter, the doomsday clock, and a live web cam of corn growing in Iowa. Not to mention pictures and videos of glowing cats.

Terry the VP called the meeting to order at 9:12pm. No report from the president, who was absent. The VIP said she was tired. Mem read the minutes from last month and everyone waived. Joe says money is the same place as last month and he has no COSine report yet because he is dawdling. He hasn't done the the PayPal stuff yet either. Terry chastized him for his negligence. Cary for the book committee says that he knows we had a book but he doesn't remember which book was on the list for next week. But he found it. The July book is Three Days to Never by Tim Powers. The August book is Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible. The September book is whatever wins the best novel Hugo at Denvention. The October book is The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman.

Since Ted and Robin are not here, we do not have the COSine committee for 2009. The Trustees have nothing to report. We all told each other how old we were for the Old Business section. Sappho is the youngest person here and Kent is the oldest. Under new business we discussed getting a fan table at Denvention. Jack will contact the con about getting a fan table. We had an ad exchange for COSine and need to have an ad in the Quick Reference Guide for Denvention.

Jack requested a viewing of a Hugo rocket. Terry declared the meeting closed at 9:40pm and Kent went and got a rocket to show people.

May 2008 Minutes

2 May 2008

Since our president Robin is in New Jersey doing a student internship in ultrasound, VP Terry chaired the meeting. We waited around for Ted to arrive. We discussed late night programming for Denvention and came up with some good ideas. Our requisite Heinlein reference was to cannibalism in Stranger in a Strange Land. This led Kent to suggest the Alfred Packer memorial panel on "Cannibalism in Science Fiction", and Terry and Mary followed up with "Sex and Perversion in The Lord of the Rings".

The meeting was called to order at 9:21 or something like that. No report from the absent President. The VP says there are brownies and cake and that's enough vice for anyone. This is the first time the secretary has been at a meeting since she was elected so she has no minutes. Before the evening is out Ted will show Mem how to update the website. Mem signed to club up for "meetup.com".

Joe says $1700 in the bank about $900 of which is designated for next cosine. PayPal acct has been suspended pending better documentation of our non-profit status which means people can't give us money. Joe and Ted will need to work on this. Joe needs to send a voided check, our state paperwork, and our bylaws. Right now we can get payments but can't take money out.

BOOK COMMITTEE: Cary is the only committee member present so he has to tell us what to read for next month. June meeting will be the Hugo nominated short stories which should be available on the web. We talked a bit about the nominations for the various categories and the fact that four of the five nominated novels are available free for download to Denvention members.

July meeting will be on the SECOND FRIDAY because Mem and Kent are going to Westercon. August meeting will be 1 August First Friday.

Ted gave a COSine report. Cethy will do artshow, Jack will do guest liaison, Robin will do Program Book. Kent will do registration, Mem will do programming. Terry will do events. Cary will do video. We need someone for dealers, con suite, and publicity. We are looking at using the Academy Hotel again despite the problems with access. George RR Martin is our GOH.

Old Business: Kent is old but he has no business.

New Business: Michelle Ossiander is our new person at this meeting and she has no business.

The meeting was closed at 10:10. Cary objected, but he was too late.

Book Discussion: Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Came out in 2001. Kent says that it is one of her least interesting and unusual books and is very standard in both plot and character. Robin says Paladin of Souls is better - Kent says it is fun. This is the first in a five book series with one paladin for each of the five gods. In a revision of "old" business Mary and Don sang the theme from the Paladin TV series. Cary liked the view of a saint from the inside rather than the inside. Mem agreed that this did give an interesting perspective. In the five god pantheon the Bastard, god of leftovers, seems the most interesting. We agreed that this was very different from the Vorkosigan books, but Mem pointed out that it was very close in style to The Spirit Ring, which was the first Bujold book that she read.

Massive flashbacks can really interrupt the flow of a novel, but the little tidbits dropped sporadically throughout the story quite neatly gave the reader the pieces needed to understand the "twist" at the culmination of the novel. Mem read the last half of the book while recovering from food poisoning and said that she identified deeply with Caz and the demon gnawing at his stomach. Kent says this is a theme in this series - the paladins always seem to have a stomach ache while the saints tend to live a happy life.

So far three of the five novels have been written - the daughter, the bastard, and the son. We wondered if she is planning on finishing the other two books? No one seemed to know.

The discussion digressed to a discussion of Bujold's ebooks and ebooks in general. Terry commented strongly that she is physically uncomfortable with ebook readers - especially reading in bed. This led to the comment that ours may be the last generation that feels this way because our children our growing up reading a computer screen. On the other hand, the opportunity to take a dozen books with you on vacation all in paperback-sized reader is a distinct advantage.

March 2007 Minutes

March 2. 2007

First Friday Fandom:

Vice

Treasurer

State registration postcard will be done this month so we don't devolve

Secretary

Minutes sent by email

President didn't get them

She has been told to join the list.

"Prince is Back" referred to the artist formerly known as Prince is now known as Prince again.

Refreshment committee

Book Committee

Book for tonight is John Varley Red Lightning/Red Thunder

Book for April is "Retief" by Laumer

COSine 2007

Con Suite paid

Hotel repaid GOH suite expense

Hotel reported 15 Friday/ 16 Saturday / 2 Sunday Room nights

We think we had 50+ total. Room nights. Too late to adjust with hotel 123 total memberships.

$3345 income dealers/members

COSine 2008

We need to promote with Denver

We need to promote with Gamers

Water Stations

Coffee Stations?

Ready To sign with Silverwood

No Brownies assigned yet

COSine 2009

Nothing to Report

No New Business

Adjourn Meeting at 9:05

February 2007 Minutes

February 3, 2006 Meeting

At 8:56pm the meeting called to order. Mary said that the living room was in a different time zone because the grandfather clock said it was 8:45.

Officer's Reports

Treasurer - most of the bills were payed. We likely made about $300 on the con, though not all receipts have been submitted. Still some money in the PayPal account

Secretary waived minutes. Nothing to report

We checked in the bylaws to make sure we were not holding an outlaw meeting. Quorum is 1/4 of the normal members, with at least 2 officers present. Need a quorum for any meeting at which a vote is taken. So it turned out that our meeting was legitimate after all, or rather that we met the required quorum.

Committees

Reading committee decided on a list of books. Robin Clune had the list when last we checked. We’ll hunt her down sometime. Scott allegedly emailed it to me, but I hadn't seen it yet. (Have since received the list).

COSine 2006 Committee

Ted proposed dissolving the COSine 2006 committee. Kent said we should get a final report first.
Our Guests of Honor got home, they made money on some book sales.
Kent asked if we had paid all outside bills yet, and if not suggested we not dissolve the 2006 con committee yet. Jack suggested not dissolving the committee for another month, just to keep Mary on tenterhooks for another month. Mary gestured at Jack.

Regency Dance was fairly well attended at the con this year. People had fun. Seemed to have 20 or 25 people in one place at any given time.

COSine 2007

20 prereg including 2 dealers tables.
Eric contacted potential GoH, but has not heard back yet.

Jack has been keeping the P.O. box going. $136 / year. Rather than continuing to pay this, we will send mail to Kent and Mary’s house. 1245 Allegheny Drive. Will save time checking it and money if we just cancel the PO Box.

4th weekend of January is preferred - if it doesn't conflict with the local SCA event Candlemas. Also need to check with the hotel.

Cary was volunteered for video stuff. Mike doesn’t want to do it this coming year. Will ask Robin C. for dealers. Karen will do art show. Penny Tegen should be contacted to find out if she is willing to run gaming.

COSine 2008 - Jack is in the process of contacting a potential GoH.

Old business - going to have alternate dates in March and April, and try meeting Sunday afternoons. We'll see how many people will be able to attend vs Friday nights.

January 6, 2006 Meeting

Present were Terry, Mike, Pamela, Ted, Mem, Karen, Erin, new Sean, Michelle, Kent, Jack, Sean, Joe, Jay, Melissa, RIchard, Robin, Eric. Also Sappho and the green laser pointer.

• Ted - President
• Kent - VP
• Joe - Treasurer
• Robin - Secretary
• Trustees - Terry, Jack

Ted was nominated for president. He nominated Jack. Jack declined. Ted was chosen by acclamation

Kent was chosen by acclamation for VP

Robin M nominated for secretary and was chosen by acclamation.

Joe nominated for Treasurer and was chosen by acclamation.

Trustees - Terry, Jack. Karen was nominated, Melissa nominated, Richard. We voted. If I recall correctly Melissa won, but I neglected to make a note of it in the excitement of actually getting to vote on something.

Committees

COSine Committee- spent most of the meeting talking about it.

Old Business - should we run COSine again? Should we move dates? 3rd Saturday is the DASFA meeting so can provide a conflict

Eric showed up, didn’t have money. Ted paid dues for him. He was asked if he would be willing to be COSine chair. Eric said he’s willing. Joe had also volunteered and when pressed agreed that he wanted to do it rather than merely being willing to do it.
Joe will be con chair, Eric vice chair. They are inclined to keep the con in January.

We talked some about potential guests of honor for COSine 2007 and 2008. Various people are looking into it.

December 16, 2005 Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 8:16pm.

Officer's Reports:

Trustees - we must nominate a slate of officers for elections next month.
Jack said we should put up the existing slate of officers for next year. Kent president, Ted VP, Robin Secretary, Joe Treasurer. Suggested swapping Ted and Kent

Committees

For next month - Need to talk about the future of COSine Book Committee nothing
Refreshments not here

COSine Committee

There are not a lot of members pre-registered so far.

Scott isn’t here due to family issues. He may be unable to work on the con depending on how things go. He’s supposed to do programming, but we don’t know what he’s gotten done to date.

Mary has been traveling a lot and is behind on stuff due to being out of the country.

Jay has been working on getting Dr. Maglik.

Cary is running Anime

Mike is in charge of movies.

We need to have a COSine meeting. Will meet to cut up bookmarks tomorrow at 3pm

Ted will set up merchant table stuff on PayPal

Will have a Regency ball - Want of Management will be the theme song. ;-)

November 4, 2005 Meeting

Thank you to Ted for taking notes for the meeting.

Meeting was called to order at 8:37 PM.

Art show for COSine - 7 artists confirmed, planning on having an auction 1-2 pm on Sunday, panels from Denver confirmed. Kent doesn’t want an auction, but we'll have one anyway.

Officer’s Reports

Vice Pres - nothing

Treasurer - 1 new membership, $330 cosine memberships from MileHiCon, 2 paypal memberships. Balance ~$2000.

Secretary - Ted is taking minutes.

Trustees - no cats allowed to be members of FFF.

Refreshments committee - Eric not present. Terry provided cake - it was good. Yakuras brought stuff as usual (Thanks!)

COSine

Mem wants people to distribute flyers, and wants Robin to print more bookmarks. Bookmarks to be distributed too - 1000 printed to start.

Note - COSine add should be in MileHiCon booklet. MOTION - allocate $250 for COSine publicity. Motion passes unaminously. 11 adult & 1 child membership sold during MileHiCon

MileHiCon report - Terry reports party went well. Good turnout, party divided into two parts, fun part and business part. Close on to budget. COSine and Denver2008 shared table and party space. Made good contacts and laid foundation for recruiting workers if Denver2008 wins.

Iron-on transfers - Terry wants another set of Denver 2008 transfers, 2 buffaloes for TV covers, and 1 set for COSine on white with Rocket ship.

Cary - working on anime for video room, will coordinate with Mike. Wants to coordinate with programming on schedule. Scott Humphries is doing the programming for COSine.

Looking at doing hotel walkthrough weekend before Thanksgiving. Terry will try to confirm a day and time. Mary will need to do this for November. COSMIX construction was raised as a concern. Bijou bridge teardown won't be until January 2007, so won't affect this coming con.

Need to get updated membership list from Mary later. Will post info to FFF list when she gets back.

Jay - Scientific programming - Dr. Magglet will come. Wil McCarthy will come. Ice cream will be done with Rocket Scientists. Need to talk about Dinner with Guests of Honor at Hotel Walkthrough.

New Business - December meeting, will be moved to December 16th (3rd Friday). Official FFF start time will be 8:00, even though people didn't come until 8:30. March & April meetings will be first Sunday at 4:00 - same place.

Trustees need to select officer slate for next meeting. People who want to be an officer should contact the Trustees.

Jack suggested we promote a Worldcon in Las Vegas, even if they don't want it.

Terry moved the meeting be adjourned. Jay got the Heinlien reference in just under the wire - Las Vegas appeared in the book Friday.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:34 PM

Book Discussion - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke

History of Magic in England - footnotes are great, no action - it really plods. Jack and Terry found the language (pre-Victorian) annoying, especially the archaic spelling.

Historical notes are great, but overwhelming. Kent hated the book. Not a plot driven book, Jack says not a character driven book either.

Level of research, and details of the alternate history is impressive and totally “realistic”. Book is totally unique - not like anything else people have read.

No action, no character development, no excitement. Melissa said “The book has the character development of Heinlein without the action”

Jack thinks it doesn't deserve the Hugo. He thinks it's more fantasy than SF. It's a great thing to put you to sleep - it took him two months to finish.

Jack thinks it would appeal to Tolkein fans. Terry thinks it’s kind of like the Silmarillion.