• 2011 Minutes
• July 2011 Minutes
• June 2011 Minutes
• May 2011 Minutes
• April 2011 Minutes
• March 2011 Minutes
• February 2011 Minutes
• January 2011 Minutes

• 2010 Minutes
• December 2010 Minutes
• November 2010 Minutes
• October 2010 Minutes
• September 2010 Minutes
• August 2010 Minutes
• July 2010 Minutes
• June 2010 Minutes
• May 2010 Minutes
• April 2010 Minutes
• March 2010 Minutes
• February 2010 Minutes
• January 2010 Minutes

• 2009 Minutes
• December 2009 Minutes
• November 2009 Minutes
• September 2009 Minutes
• August 2009 Minutes
• July 2009 Minutes
• June 2009 Minutes
• May 2009 Minutes
• March 2009 Minutes
• January 2009 Minutes

Some much older meeting notes are available on our Archive page

July 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, July 1, 2011

Robin Monogue reporting

June 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, June 3, 2011

Robin Monogue reporting

May 2011 Minutes

April 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes
Meeting of Friday, April 8, 2011
Robin Monogue reporting

The meeting is being held on the 2nd Friday of the month because it's an A month, and because holding the meeting on April Fool's Day is scary.
Meeting was called to order at 8:30pm, but we were late, so I just started typing at 8:33. Present were Jack, Kent, Richard, Robin, Terry, Don, Joe, Cary, Ted, Brendan, Connor Erin and Karen came a bit later.

Officer's Reports

President: Jack had nothing to report
Vice President: Joe had nothing to report either other than he brought The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things and How to Do Them.
Refreshments: brought banana bread, which is cooling on the counter (and why we were late) and some unusual cheese that Karen sent over.
Secretary: Is working on updating the website.
Treasurer has absconded with the money to Sacramento, although the club checkbook is still here. She deposited the receipts for COSine 2012. Final bills for COSine 2011 have been paid.

Committees:

COSine 2012: Joe reports slower progress than hoped, although we do have a hotel contract at this point. Ted has details. One question is whether we want to include a breakfast with the room rate for the con, and the consensus seemed to be no on that among the members of the committee, although we are still undecided.

Ted reports that the flaw from last year is still in the test contract and indicates facilities charges were per day, but that is wrong according to our rep at the Crowne Plaza. Dates are January 1/27-1/29 2012. Complementary internet, rooms 3 days before or after the event in our room block will be counted for our room nights. Function space may or may not have internet for free; the hotel is changing their provider so they don't know yet. Rooms - with breakfast buffet would be more than without - Ted has the figures. They want us to choose one option or the other. Given the costs, a lot of us thought we should have breakfast included in the room rate. We should indicate the usual value of the breakfast buffet on the website to demonstrate the added value. Our rep is looking into the Summit room door security issue. We can lock it ourselves if we have to sort of - there's a fire door. They did lock the whole 4th floor for us when we weren't using it because too much open access up there.

We got all the space we had last year, but another 2nd floor room we requested will be changed to an office and will be unavailable. $4k if we have 40 room nights. 50 = $1500. 60 = $750. An alternate proposal is $3500 for 40, 50 nights = $1500 with $500 of catering. 60 nights $500 facility + $500 food minimum. Last year we did about $300 in catering/bar. We added some catering info. We feel the value to the con of having the bar is worth the money we spend on it. Having it helps keep people at the reception. We need to change the minimum room reserve number downwards. Our historical number of rooms is about 50. Make sure we continue to have forkage waiver for the hospitality suites this year. Ted found in section 3.1 - Group may provide food and non-alcoholic beverages in Cimmaron, own audio, and own decorator for pipe and drape.

Charlie Stross respnded, but will contaact us again in a week, possible medical issues with his wife. Joe will follow up with Mem depending on what happens. Jack suggested asking a local author just so we can get a guest. We will discuss it again next month, and consider what to do then. Panic has been deferred until May.

June meeting we will select a chair for 2013.
July meeting will be the first Friday of July. We're not sure if we'll have a picnic. We can talk about it next month. Jack offered to run it at his place.

New Business: Terry has decided that we need to hold a group workday to clean out and organize the COSine stuff in the garage. She is thinking of running it in June, probably on a Sunday. Tentative plan is Thursday June 2nd, 10am.

Meeting adjourned at 9:59pm.

Book discussion: Pride of Chanur by CJ Cherryh. 1st book in a 5 book trilogy.
About exciting adventures of rodent cat people, lots of strange politics. Evidence in others of this series that this is tied to her Alliance in Downbelow Station and another Cyteen universe book. She's tied a lot of her books together. Authors with many books seem to have the desire to tie all their stories together in a common universe. Many different aliens in this series.

They started talking about a lot of other CJ Cherryh books, and how she handled aliens. This one is a first contact story from the other side.

March 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes
Meeting of Friday, March 4, 2011
Mary Mormon reporting
Mem took notes for Robin as her machine was down.

The meeting was called to order at 8:40pm. pres has nothing to report. VP is not feeling vice-ish. Vice SubCommittee has oatmeal cookies with cranberries and blueberries to report. The Secretary is working on a memorial page.

Treasurer's Report: ENT Savings $7668.75, Checking $2913.46, PayPal $697.72, Total $11,279.93.
There are still a few outstanding COSine bills. COSine 2012 memberships have not yet been deposited.

Attending: Kent, Don, Mem, Jack, Joe, Robin, Terry, Connor

Book Committee: We are set through December. A few outstanding reimbursements for books.

COSine 2012: Ted and Joe have looked at the hotel with Dana and are looking at a contract similar to last year. May be able to sub catering for facilities cost. Also looking at getting free breakfast for a small increase in room price. Dana is sending a sample contract. GOH is still not confirmed. This should be settled in the next week or two.
Our beloved President wants to be sure that it is in the minutes that anyone who wants to run COSine 2013 should speak now or forever after hold his peace.

No old business.
New Business. we went through the meeting dates from now to August.

Meeting adjourned at 9:07pm

February 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes
Meeting of Friday, February 4, 2011
Robin Monogue reporting

Jack called the meeting to order at 8:27 pm.

Officers reports:

President: Jack had nothing to report. Which is the same as what the president always reports. Joe said he set a bad precedent (insert rim-shot here).
Vice: Joe reported that the refreshments committee has ice cream from COSine, along with various sundae toppings. The vice requirement is thus satisfied.
Secretary: Robin is behind on the web updates. PayPal page for COSine needs to have the price updated.
Treasurer: Mem has a report. COSine deposit not made yet. Outstanding checks which were handed out today. Paypal, Savings, Checking (add amounts)

Present were Robin, Ted, Joe, Jack, Richard, Mem, Kent, Erin, Karen, Terry, Brendan, Connor, Melissa, Ben and James.

We had a random audit on one of the memberships purchased via PayPal at the convention. PayPal decided to reverse the transaction because we couldn't prove that we had shipped the membership. We will get the money afterwords, because PayPal is stupid.

Committee Reports

Book Committee: We are set through the end of the year. Books have been ordered.
Refreshment committee brought ice cream and toppings. They will be served shortly.

COSine 2011: The art show did well, artists seem happy. Sales were good but not the best we've ever had. Gaming went well, no problems. Brendan got the borrowed games returned to Petrie's with no problems.
Action item: High-quality print of COSine 2011 cover to be matted and framed. (2 copies)

The hotel sent us a letter saying they would love to have us back in 2012. Mem suggested that Joe formed a committee to work with the hotel and have either Ted or Mem involved so that there is continuity with the hotel. We got a very nice letter from Sharon Shinn. We also got a note from Wil McCarthy, Sarah Hoyt, Connie Willis, the Lickiss', Carol Berg, Ronnie Seagren, etc.

The only issues we had with the hotel were some with locking rooms, or getting them opened. Some people complained that they had to have the internet charges removed from their bills. Kent thought the hotel was too big for us. The distance from the sleeping rooms to the facilities was bigger. We could ask for some of the closer in rooms if we like. There were special rooms for people with pets. There were various suggestions of rickshaws, pedicabs, etc, although this might be a bit impractical.
The tower area was very good. Upper rooms didn't get the traffic flow that we'd like. Need to have more activities upstairs if we use the tower again. Kaffeklatch or readings could be up there. Registration was fine where it was.
Dealers room / art show area security issues. There is a door that they can't lock. The dealers were unhappy that there stuff was unsecured. The elevators were stopped but not the stairwell. Next year for the room we want our own locks with multiple keys, and chains. the keys were at the desk, but the person didn't know that. Had to cut lock both days. We need our own.

If we have a dance, we need a security person in the dealer's area. We can put in the contract that cleaning staff can only access the area when our people are there. Saturday morning they opened up all the rooms before we were there and left them wide open. This is not good.
We might have a 2nd person on con suite to open in the morning to serve pastry and coffee. The video room can use more speakers.
We need more late night programming, and more special programming upstairs. Joe forgot to bring the program info. More staff in the restaurant on Saturday (just like every other con hotel restaurant).

Jack will take over sending information to Locus - we need to get it set ASAP if we want to get onto the online lists - must be 4 months in advance.
Registration needs 2 computers. Registration and Operations could be separated. Need one with the printer and one with the Daimo. One should just be for printing labels for Reg. Art show also had a printer.

Mem has started documenting what needs to be done to run the con, along with a timeline. She wants the information and files to be shared with subsequent con chairs.

COSine 2012

We have 54 people signed up for next year, including some IOU's. Another recommendation was that we move pre-reg for next year down to the 3rd floor outside main programming. Joe still doesn't have a response from a guest. Planning on returning to the Crowne Plaza. Want the hotel committee appointed so they can get a proposal in hand soon.

The 2012 COSine website updated. Mem will do programming with an apprentice. Robin will do Registration. Jack dealers. Brendan should do gaming. Terry at-con programming. Shannon and Anita Romero might be willing to work on PR and press releases. Distributioon of flyers and bookmarks. Put bookmarks in the books of all the authors that will be at the con. Brendan said he would do publicity.

January 2011 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes
Meeting of Friday, January 7, 2011
Robin Monogue reporting

The meeting was called to order at 8:31pm.

Officer Reports

President: Joe was not here.
Vice: This month's vice consisted of various leftovers from the holidays including many cookies
Secretary: I updated COSine page, added list of authors. Minutes not updated yet.
Treasurer: We have $2785.24 in checking, $7666.96 savings, for a total of $10,452.20 in bank. $849.67 in PayPal account, not including one new $45 membership from tonight. Still have some money to deposit, about $200 or so.

Special order of business

Election of officers for next year

Jack was nominated as president by Mary. Joe was also nominated by the trustees. Jack won the election for 2011.
VP: Kent was nominated by trustees, Robin nominated Joe. Joe will be VP for 2011.
Secretary: Robin was nominated by the trustees. Approved by acclamation.
Treasurer: Mem nominated by trustees. Approved by acclamation.
Trustees: Current are Jack, Richard and Cary.
Nominations: Richard, Kent, Ted

The secretary needs to update officers on the website.

Old business

The tax situation will be dealt with after COSine, so long as we keep our total bank balance below $15k.
Insurance for the convention. Mem reimbursed for pizza from last month.

New business

Mem had new bubbles.

Committees

Book Committee: Has taken under advisement the recommendations made on the official book committee napkin two months ago, and has created a reading list through next October. Purchased ABE books $90.12. Committee needs to be reimbursed for the purchase. Mem suggested that we could read the books early so that the two copies we are buying can be handed around more easily.
We need someone to get a copy of Kevin Anderson book(s) for the book raffle. He will be attending COSine. Mem was supposed to have told me that but didn't. We will fix it after the meeting. Jack and Melissa will go to the bookstores to find books before COSine.

Present were Jack, Kent, Mem, Terry, Robin, Ted, Richard, Don, Brendan and Connor. Joe, Cary, and Melissa came later. Jack wasn't listening and was officially reprimanded by Cary at Mem's behest.

The brownie committee in the form of Terry, would like to resign for a year. Terry nominates Brendan and Connor as the refreshment committee for 2011. Mem believes that Terry should write instructions for them, but Terry said they have their mother to do so. They were accepted by acclamation.

COSine 2011 Committee:
108 members as of an hour ago. We've taken in just over $3000. We haven't been doing much publicity, except for emailing our previous members. Need to do more. Meeting with hotel tomorrow at 12:30. Rampart ballroom is set up for now. Kent suggested that we get a laser measuring device. Mem has room for 2-3 programming items. We started talking a lot about suggestions for panels.

Games: MahJongg Friday 8-10p, Elaine will run Dominion.

Sharon is coming in Thursday afternoon. Someone needs to pick her up and take her to the hotel. FFF members are invited. think of a restaurant and suggest to Mem. Elaine or Terry might pick up Sharon. Need to get her back promptly on Sunday.

Hotel rooms: we need to make our 50 hotel room nights to guarantee the rates on our function space.
Setup will begin at noon on Friday. Registration will open at 3pm, gaming will open at 5pm on Friday. Convention closes at 3pm on Sunday. Consuite open later. 10pm Sunday for consuite. Need to be out by midnight.

Restaurant guide needs to be made. Ted volunteered for the restaurant guide. Mem will send an old copy.
Signage: Need something at the front elevator lobby. Registration 4th floor.

COSine 2012 Committee
Need to find GOH.
It will be held the last weekend of January in 2012. Joe will email GOH candidates. $30 for at con reg price for next year. $15/25/20 day rates for 2012 make 2 days the same as weekend rate.

Meeting adjourned at 10:28pm

We should put GoH book next year in December so we can actually talk about it.

Book Discussion

We liked Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn. Angel series is a romance. Jack called it a bodice ripper, but we disagreed. Terry found the narrative to be disjointed. Kent said it was one of her earlier books. Some say it's one of her best books, and by far the best of the angel series. Kent thought she was writing the same story over and over a bit by the end of the series, but that the first few had a good plot progression. Archangel was Shinn's second book. Kent thinks she got better as a writer, and her most original book. It depended heavily on the Bible for its inspiration and is derivative in that way. Heinlein - people picnicking on the spots where they were going to drop rocks in Moon is a Harsh Mistress. People stood on the mountain where Jovah was going to wreak destruction in Archangel.

We debated whether the religion was the same among the people and the "Jewish" people. Ted said there was some superficial similarities with the Star Trek "The World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky". But he hadn't read the book. Mem said she played fair in this book by giving you hints that it's a SF based world with tech. Anne MacCaffrey didn't really play fair in that way in the Dragonriders books. There was no way to guess it had been a tech-based world until much later in the series. The people know they colonized the world, but don't have any written records. Low tech world except for the theological technocracy. Asimov reference - Foundation. Mem likes the bioengineering of the angels. Higher body temp and metabolism. Different bone structure - some of this may be from later books.

Jack wondered why the world hadn't been destroyed years earlier when Raphael sang with the wrong woman. He reiterated that he thought it was a romance novel. Kent was playing with his RC car, which scared the cat. There were places in the world where Jovah seemed to hear the prayers of the people better. The angels flew up high to sing their prayers to Jovah.

December 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes
Meeting of Friday, November 10, 2010
Robin Monogue reporting

It was our special matching book and movie meeting featuring 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so we got together early to have time to view the movie. We watched 20,000 Leagues in 2 different versions. I was making cookies so I missed the 1916 silent movie version, but saw parts of the Kirk Douglas version from 1954. The story was supposed to be set in 1866.

Meeting was called to order at 9:28 pm.

President - Joe had nothing to report. Mem asked why the president never had anything to report on. She suggested that he could dance.
Vice President - There was plenty of vice this evening, including pumpkin pie.
Secretary - website updates. Need to change name of COSine 2010 to 2011 for dealer email. Mem asked Elaine about secretary notes from when she was secretary. Mem used them to correct the master reading list. There are only 15 or so missing books from the past 15 years or so. Joe had some notes on a piece of paper. If he can find it, we'd like to get the information to coordinate our lists. Mem will send her info so I can put it on the web.
Treasurer: Mem will give me the numbers on a piece of paper. We have about $10,500 in the bank, $450 in paypal. COSine 2011 has about 75 members. We will eventually move money from PayPal to the savings account. We have enough in checking to cover our usual expenses. We might be losing $6 a year on interest.

Trustees: It's December so the trustees have to do something this month. Richard, Jack, and Cary (sp) have to nominate a slate of officers. They nominated the existing slate. Elections will be next month, new officers will take office in February.

Commitees:

Update the bylaws committee needs to find them first. Robin should see if she has a digital copy of them.

EIN update and speaking to the IRS has not yet been done. They either need to recognize the number that we have or give us a new one.

Book Committee - sent out a note to the membership asking if we approved. I didn't see it, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

COSine 2011:

We have a list of program items, and Mem is trying to fit people into the schedules. None of the bestselling novelists want to be on the panels about how to write bestselling novels. Only the neophyte authors want to. They will have fun telling each other how to write books. We have many dealers this time, but a few are there to promote their own books. Mem and Jack will go over the list of current dealers. Mem wants another progress report mailing ,and perhaps a mail to our former members. Need program artwork. Please reserve hotel rooms ASAP. We need to make our room block. Mem needs to send Robin the link for the hotel block.

ConSuite budget - Mem will look at the numbers. Probably $400. Jack has the shed full of con suite supplies. We have coolers and such. We can ask the hotel if they have refrigerated drink coolers for the hospitality suite. Mem will send name of rep for hotel.

COSine 2012. We don't have a guest of honor selected. Joe needs to send out letters. Nothing else to report yet for 2012.

Old business

We need to look into possible changes in our tax status and our EIN that seems to not be recognized by the IRS. This involves a lengthy time of being on hold with the IRS.
We may want to get some insurance quotes so that we don't have to get one-time event insurance for COSine.

New business

Jack would like the stereo equipment brought out to the car. Joe said we'd get pumpkin pie with whipped cream as a reward.
Terry thinks we should reimburse Mary for the pizza tonight.
Mary announced that Christmas is coming. There is also a full lunar eclipse coming just before midnight on the 20th.

Meeting adjourned at 10:07pm.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Mem looked up the definition of league, which is 3 miles. In the past she had thought it referred to the depth, but it really means the distance they traveled around the world while in the Nautilus. He charted the journey from the first day he was on the ship.

We noted some similarities to Around the World in Eighty Days. Professor and his manservant. Even fewer women in 20k leagues than there are in Lord of the Rings. There were two women in the 1916 version of the movie. In Mysterious Island the movie there were also two women, but not in the book. They save a woman in Around the World from being burned on her husband's funeral pyre. More popular current fantasy series have some strong female characters. MZB, Andre Norton, et al were writing strong women characters. Men writing them is more modern and less common. Authors expectations are different now than they were. Shakespeare had strong female characters, but was writing during Elizabeth's reign, so he had an ulterior motive, or perhaps just an example.

The book is very dense, some of the sentences are quite convoluted. To translate it into more readable English you would have to break the sentences up into shorter ones. As it is, they are hard to parse. Mem thought it would be easier to read in French. There was a lot of data dump - boats going at certain speed and heading, which is characteristic of much of early science fiction. Professor might have been paleontologist studying fossils in Nebraska. They don't say what he does other than writing a book about sea creatures.

The idea of an electric generator was new for this book. Electricity was a very young science at this time. Kent said it was an etheric power source. Michaelson-Morley experiment hadn't happened yet, so there was still belief that light traveled through the medium of the ether. They had to go up to the surface to take readings to know where they were. That was still the case up until WW2. Inertial tracking systems have been there a long time, but were less accurate in the past. Periscopes are also newer. The concept is simple, but it is hard to make them for submarines without leaking.

The little boat was done well in the movie - it fit well with the description of the book. The science was current for the time, despite some things we know now to be wrong. Heinlein reference - shooting people with magnetic acceleration to the moon. Acceleration would kill them.

Steampunk - Victorian style with steam tech and big engines. We talked about the origin of the steampunk movement. It was 23 years ago in a letter to Locus that the term was coined. There is definitely a steampunk feel to a lot of the early science fiction books.

end of notes.

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November 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, November 5, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

It was the evening of Medieval Day at Monument Academy and of Anna's birthday party. Present were Mary, Kent, Jack, Ted, Robin, Joe, Don, Richard.

Art programming panel for Cethy: Artists selling online, eBay stores and such. Art and the digital marketplace.

Joe called the meeting to order at 8:26pm.

Officer Reports

President: Nothing new to report.

Vice: No vice today. Cethy was supposed to bring the vice, but she wasn't here. Maybe she will come later. We have to wait 7 minutes until we start the grandfather clock, which is set to 8:34.

Secretary: Nothing to report.

Treasurer:
Cethy arrived with vice in the form of chocolate brownies and Erin. Melissa arrived. We resumed hearing from the treasurer.

We have moneys. Specifically we have $7664.76 in savings, and $2548.53 in checking, for a total of $10,213.29 in the bank. Our PayPal account has $411.52. There were $290 of undeposited funds from MileHiCon where memberships were sold for COSine. Our total cash assetts are $10,914.81.

Re setting up as a charitable organization, our EIN doesn't seem to work, and now the IRS has informed our bank that our number doesn't match. Terry came. Someone needs to sit on the phone with the IRS for a long time to straighten out the mess. The EIN should have been issued by the IRS via the bank. When we opened the new account, we supposedly had an EIN but now they don't like the number. We had some paperwork that had the number. Joe and Mary will look into it further.

Trustees: Need to nominate the slate of new officers for next meeting. We will vote in January.

Committees:

COSine 2011 - had a table at MileHiCon. Gave away many flyers, and sold a number of memberships, including some via PayPal. We need to add an artist/author option, and a dealer option including the table fee - need to talk about that. Don't want it on the web directly. Text - if you want a dealer table, please contact dealers@cosine (we need to figure out the specific addresses to use due to spam on some of the old ones. Old cosine email addresses are badly compromised because they were on the web, getting tons of spam. We created new ones, which we should use. May need to change them periodically to reduce spambots picking them up. Forwards set up on Pair for cosine, probably firstfridayfandom addresses. We may need to update those.

The week prior to MileHiCon, Mem finished vetting the email addresses for COSine and sent out a progress report. 2 mails, one to members, and 1 to non-members. We received some favorable comments at MileHiCon from those. Some folks wanted to register online. We only had a few requests to be removed, and had about 40 bounced emails that will need to be removed from our list of about 400 people.

Anita Romero is an experienced corporate executive who wants to write. She knows many of the writer's groups in Colorado. She will be deputy for programming this year. Will be getting some people who are mostly newly published writers who want to be on programs. Mem has a Facebook group for COSine programming and is talking to authors there.

This year we can have two simultaneous program tracks at least part of the time. Carrie Vaughn will be there, Connie and Courtney, trying to get Ed Bryant to be there and have him and Carrie on a panel together to talk about horror fiction.

Robin will run the con suite. Jack is handling dealers.

Art show, dealers, and special events will be in the large ballroom - author signing, dance. Mem suggested that Jack and Karen go on a date together to check out the ballroom and see how we want to partition it.

The fairies (from the faerie convention running opposite ours in the same hotel) were at MileHiCon. They have lowered their rates. The dealer's room pass is $45. Terry thinks they made it that to meet our membership cost. They think they will have 250 dealers. Their membership for dealers has dropped to $500. Extra price for the fairy balls on Friday and Saturday night. We didn't know that fairies had balls. Their convention is in a totally different part of the hotel, and we don't expect a lot of overlap. The guy running this still thinks that there will be hundreds of people going to this faerie convention. Mysticon.

We need to get some publicity out there for COSine. Color flyers or bookmarks. Bookstores, libraries. Mem asked library about reading with Sharon Shinn on Thursday. Still needs to hear back.

COSine 2012 Joe will be running. Mem needs to send him a sample letter to contact the potential GoH.

Screen was purchased, Jack will be reimbursed for it. Next month is our movie. Jack has the projector and screen. He will bring them for December. Robin will get the movie. 20,000 Leagues under the sea will be the December movie and book. Get both 1916 silent version and Disney Kirk Douglas.

Book committee is looking for recommendations. Email them to Mem. Robin has volunteered to be on the committee to replace Robin Clune who is in Germany drinking beer. We will discuss a free ebook. You can write suggestions on the napkin where Terry wrote her suggestion, or email Mem.

Brownie committee was Erin.

We may have to rewrite the bylaws before the 1st of the year. We passed some changes to our bylaws last year, as well as changing our tax status. The bylaw committee will handle it. The napkin was being filled up with suggestions for books that we should read.

Old business:

discussed under treasurer - tax stuff.

Insurance - Kent has found us a company that will give us insurance for the convention as an event policy - for $380. A yearly policy might cost about the same if we can find someone. Liability insurance is required by hotel. The other is a personal property coverage for rented or borrowed property. If we can get an annual policy in the future, we should. We might need a special faerie rider on the policy.

The December meeting will be the 2nd Friday of the month due to SMOFCon. Ah-December - December 10. We will start at 6pm so we can watch the movie and then hold the meeting.

KRDO is giving out free tickets to Harry Potter premiere red carpet event via some sort of contest. Joe got some of his stolen pulp fiction back. It is 9:25 - closed the meeting.

Book Discussion: Ice World by Hal Clement

Joe said it was originally published in Astounding, but web said Worlds of If. Joe is probably right. Our website asked if the book has held up as well as Mem. Mem says the book has held up much better because it has great knees. Mem will get one great knee in 2011, and another in 2012, just in time for the world to end when the Mayan calendar runs out. Mem thought the book actually had held up very well. Clement carefully gives the impression that this is a future human society until partway through the book. It was very well done. By the time you realize that the tentacled sulfur-breathing people aren't human, you have established a rapport with them. They are people in the eyes of the reader.

One potential criticism is that the aliens aren't very alien. They are very much like us and have a similar society. Some people like that, and others think they are too dissimilar. Clement writes about people who happen to look different. The book is a quick read and a good story. Seems almost like a Heinlein ripoff in some ways. Family dynamic. Written in 1953, 1952 in the magazines. Mem said she came out in 1952, but not in a magazine.

The common influence in the stories from the 1950s might be Campbell, because he told many of the contemporary authors what he wanted to publish, and they went out and wrote it. Campbell had more money to pay authors for the magazine stories. Hal Clement was a high school science teacher, and so was his alien protagonist. He was saying the aliens couldn't believe there could be life on such a cold wet planet. We have trouble believing that anyone could live on such a hot sulfurous world. It's a deliberate echo of our own scientific speculations about alien life.

Richard thought it was odd that they sometimes used the Earth names for the planets. It was likely an error in editing, and no universal replace with computers back in the day. Some references were likely missed in initial edit. Clement never explains the basics of the aliens' physiology. We have trouble believing it because of our understanding of biochemistry. He doesn't offer a good explanation. He carefully avoids telling us much about them. Today's writers would have written a more detailed book and included 500 pages of world-building. It is refreshing reading shorter novels. Nowadays you don't get 150 page books. You get Dune, and Dusty Destiny of Dune. The book made its premise, and while it may not be ruggedly provable, it is worth reading for the story. Books should focus on the story, rather than just providing some speculation or gimmick.

end of notes.

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October 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, October 1, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Jack, Mem, Kent, Terry and Joe waited for us, because we were late. The meeting was called to order at 8:55pm.

Officer Reports

President: Joe had nothing to report.

Vice President: Kent reported that there was the usual vice, mainly consisting of brownies.

Secretary: Robin updated website with notes from the previous meeting - late as usual.

Treasurer: Mem read treasurer numbers. We have money, and we expect a number of checks at MileHiCon. Updated numbers will appear in the November report.

Committee Reports

The COSine commitee talked before we got there because we were late. We have more space and much better space than previous facilities, in addition to much better accessibility with multiple elevators (that aren't in the kitchen!). They will put some furniture in the elevator lobbies for us. If we use a dedicated video room it will be small, although we can put it in other program space. It will be easier to find room for stuff at this new hotel.

Mem has been working with Anita Romero to do some programming. She may be able to help spread the word to local authors and groups. We could still use someone to do publicity but Mem is doing what she can. Will find out if the library would like Sharon to do an event. Bookstores will probably push us to have her there on Saturday, which goes against our own convention schedule. We'd like her to speak beforehand so we can hand out flyers or book marks for the con.

COSine 2012 will be chaired by Joe. Nothing to report yet.

Screen committee - Jack found a 120" movie screen that is probably too big. He also found a smaller Epson screen that can fit different formats - 16:9 or 4:3. between 5-6 feet tall. He will buy that.

Book Committee: We will read Archangel by Sharon Shinn for January. Send recommendations to Mem. Have Mem send master list of books that we have read. We have talked about a lot of books even though we didn't start out doing regular book discussions. Mem started talking about an Archivist position. The consensus was that's probably not really necessary.

There is no sex committee. That falls under vice.

No old business.

New business:

Posts about charities online. IRS allowing groups that qualify as very small charities to file a postcard form in October of this year. If we do that, we will be forgiven whatever previous filings we should have made. Will also qualify us as a charitable organization. We could become tax deductible, which might give us a benefit with hotels. We might need to change our bylaws. Mem moves that we do that. The only paperwork we have done is the state corporation. If we change it to a charitable organization, it is the easiest type of tax return to file. If we dissolve the corp, we have to give the money to charity rather than keeping it. We would have done that anyway, so it doesn't change anything really other than our tax status. To change our status we need the EIN number and financials. Needs to be filed by October 15th. The motion passed unanimously.

Meeting closed at 9:41pm.

Book Discussion: Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress

The book was about how humans used to see ghosts and talk to them. The aliens came along and bred that ability out of humans, so they couldn't do it anymore. Then the aliens felt guilty about it afterwards. No one knows why they did it in the first place. We are on the first road now, but then there is the 2nd and 3rd roads. Ghosts hang around for awhile. The book had a weird ending.

Jack liked the book, even though a woman wrote it. He likes Willis, Bujold.

The aliens came down saying "Woo woo woo, we want to atone for our sins", but no one really knew what they had done. Then they raised some kids with the ghost gene that were able to see the ghosts. One planet had the gene and the other one didn't, and the teams had to figure out what the difference was. Something went wrong and the aliens weren't around to fix it. THey get back to earth, and everyone is paranoid.

The planet of people who see ghosts don't believe in gods and live communally in a harsh environment. Aliens have brought some of the people back to earth, but the people of earth are paranoid. Little girl saying goodbye to a ghost. They are breeding the ability to see them back in. Jack thought the weird part was that the alien atoners were on earth at all, not so much the little girl.

What was the point of the book? The need for ghosts? The afterlife? Knowledge that there was an afterlife, what difference would that make in society? The planet that can't see ghosts is very religious and controlled. Terry felt it wasn't a viable society. If you can see ghosts of people who have died, then you know you don't need to fear death as much. Steal across the sky - the aliens stole people from the past and took them to another planet. Kent thinks it was just a convenient title taken from a hymn. The book jumps perspectives a lot, and gets complicated. Kent was ambivalent about the book. Terry didn't like the changing perspective because it's hard to get into any of the stories as much. Changes point of view frequently. Mem stole Kent's hymn. Ghosts coming back sort of disrupts the Earth religions.

Mem says that Terry is an ugly venomous reptile. This was somehow in relationship to a canasta game. Mem is sleepy. She has to buy 404 gift cards for work, which is a lot of gift cards.

end of notes

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September 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, September 3, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Present were: Terry, Robin, Joe, Jack, Brendan, Ted, Connor, Don. The meeting was called to order at 8:28 pm.

Officer Reports:

President - we have a club, but not a lot going on in the summer.

The VP is in Australia. The Treasurer with all our money is also in Australia, swimming off the Barrier Reef.

Secretary: Updated FFF and COSine pages, added new flyers to the COSine site. Need to add some bookmark files.

Trustees: Jack was the only one present. No new members.

Committees:

Book Committee - in Australia

COSine - Mem got a letter from the Crowne Plaza. Terry put it in her in-box. Ted asked who was going to MileHiCon. Many were. Ted will find out if Mem requested a fan table there. We need people to man the table. We will do a discount for people at MHC. The Crowne Plaza said we can make a reservations website just for our con. We need to look into that.

Screen Purchase committee - no purchase made yet. Screen will be purchased by December so we can watch the Jules Verne movie.

No old business.

New business.

Happy early birthday to Don.

Robin should add a link to Sharon Shinn's official page, and the unofficial page.

COSine 2012. Need a chair still. Jack nominated Kent, but he wasn't here. Joe is thinking about it.
We talked about several guests we might invite. Results of our secret discussions will not be revealed until we announce the guest for 2012.

Joe brought a copy of the 1939 Time magazine that has a story about the first WorldCon in it.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:12pm.

Book Discussion

The August book was The Hound and the Falcon by Judith Tarr. Jack read it partway. Terry also read it we think, even though she is allergic to it. But she was on the phone.

Melissa showed up at 9:15 or so. Terry didn't read the book, because she thought the meeting was next week.

The book was the story of fey (as in Faerie) people living amongst the normal people in the Richard Lionheart era. Jack didn't finish the series. Just dropped the book to the ground and gave up. It is about a guy who has been a monk for 70 years and looks only 17 years old. People were finally beginning to suspect something odd. Apparently they weren't that bright. He was coming to terms with the fact that he was not quite normal. We thought if you stopped aging at the age of 17 you'd notice sometime before you were 70 years old. A woman of his type shows up, she is a shapeshifter that prefers the form of a hound. Alf (like Elf, but with an A) was apparently a candidate for abbot due to his great writings. The church approved of his works, written while he was much younger. They also think he's dead. All sorts of comedy ensues, with torture and mayhem. A peace emissary was sent to stop a war between England and Wales. They want to burn Alf at the stake as a witch. His place at the stake is taken ... and he takes the form of a bird. He goes on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

He gets adopted by a Greek family. In Jerusalem? The Greek Orthodox were heathens to the Western church, they do not acknowledge the bishop of Rome as their leader. They killed all his adopted Greek family, except a couple kids that he protected. They tried to burn him as a witch again, but this time his influence with people especially Richard, and the Emperor of Constantinople saved his butt again. He was sent back to England. Jack started the third book, but it fell from his numbed fingers at the point when they were trying to accuse Alf of witchcraft again. They were going to sic the Inquisition on Rhiannon the hound lady. He doesn't know what happens, but doesn't care at this point. Sounded like the Inquisition would be the focus.

After Jack's excellent summation, Terry said she thought she would take the book out of the freezer and put it back on the shelf.

It was published originally as 3 seperate books in the mid-80's. Some of the fey can teleport themselves away to save themselves except Alf, who seems to be an idiot. He never did anything about his aging, or his ability to heal people. Unclear what the author was trying to do with the story. A guy was left at the door of the abbey, raised to be a nice Christian monk, and is 70 years old before he has self-doubts. This seems just a tad implausible. The book was an historical fantasy, based on the history of Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine emperor didn't like Alf. He was too pretty, which is probably why Richard liked him. Alf was apparently too clueless to pick up on why Richard liked him. The Emperor also wanted to kill him because he predicted the fall of Constantinople. Prophets have a lot of trouble with being killed when they predict bad things. Characters weren't all that interesting. Thea the hound is the most interesting one, but its unclear why she is chasing Alf. It takes them 2 books before they get together. 3rd book begins with her children being born. Jack found it rather boring and wouldn't recommend it.

We talked about books in general, and the lack of critical editing. We don't know what is up with authors killing off major characters. It's annoying. Books are expensive now. Ebooks are becoming more popular, but are still pricey.

End of notes.

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August 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, August 13, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

Present were Kent, Ted, Terry, Joe, Jack, Don, Robin, Richard, and Cary. Meeting was called to order at 8:37p, Friday the 13th. No one commented particularly on it being Friday the thirteenth.

Officers Reports:
President – nothing presidential to report.
Vice – nothing, although he did report that there were cream cheese sandwiches, brownies, red bean buns, zucchini bread, and other goodies. Overall a good variety of vice.
Secretary – nothing
Treasurer – we have the same amount of money that we had last month.
Trustees :nope

Committees:
COSine – Ted reported that we had a contract, Mem signed and returned it to the Crowne Plaza already. Room block of 30 rooms for 2 nights. Rooms reserved w/in 3 days of either direction of the con count towards our room nights with the hotel. Room block is Friday and Saturday. Complimentary internet/wifi, Internet specials on other sites will be applied to the group. Hospitality suites will be complimentary for Friday/Sat/Sun. 2 complimentary upgrades to suites for GoH.
Rates: Single or Double occupancy, $70, Triple or Quad, $79.

One thing we need to add to the website: If a guest who reserved in the room block leaves early there will be a $75 fee, unless the desk is informed at the time of check-in.

Meeting rooms, beginning 8am Friday, through 5pm on Sunday for all function space.
Tentative function space usage will be:

• Summit Ballroom on the 4th floor – author signings and other large events
• We have the lobby areas associated with each of our function areas, good for fan tables and the like.
• Rampart Room on 3rd floor, seats 120 – Main Programming
• Cimarron Room 1 & 2 on 3rd floor for hospitality
• Cripple Creek, Telluride, Silverton as breakout rooms
• Executive board room 3rd floor – office?
• Snowbrush room, 2nd floor – seats 120 for secondary programming.

We have everything on 3 and 4 – sharing the 2nd floor. Group must obtain final approval from the hotel before publishing meeting room names, so all of this is entirely unofficial and not finalized. The hotel may reassign us.
We can have food and non-alcoholic drinks in the hospitality space. We can provide our own AV equipment. The function space prices drop dramatically if we get more room nights, so it is very important that we get as many as possible. If we have any catered functions – we can’t take away any leftovers. We can have a cash bar, $75 fee for the bartender unless they hit a minimum of $350 in sales.

They want all money within 3 days of event. 24 hour cancellation fees. If they cancel on us, they will try and find equivalent space. If we cancel, we owe them a lot There is a force majeur clause – all usual including curtailment of transportation facilities. Ted is assisting as speaker to hotels.

We can’t put anything on the walls. They will hang 2 banners, and provide 5 easels. They will charge us for getting rowdy and calling security. Shipping charges to hotel are pretty fair.

We need to demonstrate an insurance waiver for half a million limit. It might cost less to buy a policy that covers us for a full year. They want to be named on policy, but it isn’t a requirement. It might be hard to get insurance for a club of this size. We are still looking into this.

They reserve the right to enter the function space at any time. The Ballroom will be locked down at night, including the catering entrance, so it will be safe to leave art and merchandise there. Nothing else is on that floor, if we want to post a guard, we could.

We talked about electrostatic cling sheets for signage. They are apparently different from dryer static cling sheets.

The hotel has talked about giving us a free meeting room in October, might have FFF down there so we can do a walkthrough. They have an indoor atrium with swimming pool and hottub. Ballroom should be tall enough for art panels and lights, has good windows. Would it be better to do the ball on 2nd floor? Probably not – long narrow room.

Art show is thinking of charging a small panel fee to discourage people from reserving and then not showing up or reserving more panels than they really need. Work on the website – publish changes.

COSine 2012 – need to begin thinking about it. We need to start asking guests of honor.

Screen Committee:
Screens cost less than $500 for the size we need. Jack was talking about making a screen. We would need to consider the portability of it. Ted said although he thought it would be good to acquire our own, the Potters said they would let us borrow theirs. It is a regular home movie size.

Book committee – has books through end of the year.

Old business – none
New business – none
Announcements – WorldCon, Kent and Mem will be going to that. Highland Games in Highlands Ranch
Ponies showing up at 2pm on Sunday, kids under 50 lbs
NDK after next months meeting – September 10-12
Next meeting over Labor Day weekend, but we are all boring and have no plans.
Balloons Friday and Saturday (Labor Day). Get up early to see them.

Meeting adjourned – 9:34pm.

Terry was allergic to the book for next month, and has to put it in the freezer before she can read it. Jack said it was terrible, although he was not allergic to it.

This month's book was Empress of Mars by Kage Baker.
Terry thought it was hard to get into. Kent said the other books were only peripherally related to this one. Two lawyers are the connection to the other books. Protaganist is the barkeep, the bar is the Empress of Mars. Kent thought it was a very stock formula book. Follows many of the Heinlein juvies, many of the modern space opera books. The Irish provide most of the background, drink a lot, and fight. Very stereotyped. How they ended up on Mars in the fist place was a bit unclear according to Jack. Transported a lot of people and stranded them. Kind of like Australia, but they intended to strand the people there. Corporation thought they could make enough money. The corporate people were too English, the Irish were too Irish. They ran out of their basic capital, stranding people.

Environment required a lot of engineering to make it livable. Science was not very believable in the book. That wasn’t what it was about. It was about people overcoming the evil bureaucracy. The author doesn’t get into the details. She does talk about brewing and the effect of reduced air pressure – things don’t taste as good, lack of scent in the air. They live on protein paste and the like for the most part. The bees are kind of cute – mechanical nanotech bees. In the book the bees don’t do well in the cold and thin atmosphere. They had to make mechanical ones to pollinate the plants. They become the machina for the dues ex machina part of the book. Defeat the evil absentee landlords by taking away the bees, patenting them, and selling them elsewhere.

We agreed that this was not her best work, and seemed to be cranked out to formula. Not as polished as some of her other works. Not as creative or innovative. Not a bad book, and Jack thought it was a fun enjoyable read. Things happen just the way you expect – no big surprises. A bit of a curve ball ending up with the church and bureaucracy getting their comeuppance. Tied up in neat little bows. Simple book, but was fun to read.

The East India trading company got bought by an Indian. Hasn’t been much of a factor for some time, even though it’s hundreds of years old. The company books are about Dr Zeuss Inc, an art thief with a time machine. Takes kids and raises them as its agents. Buries art to recover it in the future. Corporation managed by effete snobs, can’t take the thought of blood, meat, - all vegetarians. Steal children – but it’s only their agents who do that. Fairly convoluted – one of the agents of Dr. Zeuss’s opponents features in the Empress of Mars. Some of the company books are very good according to Kent, others are less so. Some is a war between master computers and their agents. In the Garden of Eden is one of the better books.

Baen books are poorly proof-read and copy-edited. Advanced reader copies especially. Amazingly the Gor books still being written. Cary suggested a random Gor book title generator – Deadly Banjo-players of Gor. And with that, the notes are done.

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July 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, July 9, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

It was raining (although it wasn't a dark and stormy night). Present were Joe, Mem, Robin, Brendan, Terry, Jack, Kent, Ted, Richard, Don, Erin, Karen, and Connor. The meeting was called to order at 8:31pm.

Officers Reports:

President – Joe has nothing to report. We have a club. Mem asked how he knew, and he said it was in the bylaws. (Which we found long ago.)
Vice President – the chocolate committee has provided us with our vice for the evening. No interesting vice at Westercon. There were fireworks after the con. The treasurer made a rude gesture at the VP.
Secretary – notes are online, but some formatting still needs to be done. Anchors were fixed on the site.
Treasurer – reported on our funds.
Trustees: Richard, Jack, Cary – nothing to report. The trustees are very trusting. No membership applications.

Committees:

Books: Book committee has ordered a bunch of books. We have 3-4 copies of all the upcoming books for the next several months. Bring back all the books that belong to the club so they can be given away at the book raffle at COSine. Mem has been picking up books by local authors and by Sharon Shinn. We had a donation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We have books assigned through December. Need suggestions for next year. We would like to get up through June of 2011.
Movie should be in December along with the book. We will read a Sharon Shinn book for January. Need to get suggestions for books to Mem in writing, whether via email, on a napkin, or a paper plate. Or we could pin it to Mem’s brain in the back hall. The squeezy rubber one. If we pin it to her brain, she is sure to notice it.
Mem has collected a list of all the books that we have read in the past, at least the ones that we listed on the web. Robin should add a page to the website that lists the books. Joe has some old info on the books as well. We debated whether we had book discussions the first couple of years. I think we did. The whole Heinlein reference thing started pretty early on when Tim complained that we were always referring to Heinlein books that he hadn't read.

Terry suggested that we have a nap committee. Sappho is an example of the committee, but she isn’t a member, even though she has a Facebook page of her own. Mem noticed that Connor is taller than Cethy.

COSine Committee:
We will be holding COSine at the Crowne Plaza, and the same weekend as Mysticon. $70 for single and double rooms, and $79 for triple and quad. That includes internet, but not breakfast. We have asked for some reserve rooms for programming. We can use a decorator for pipe and drape, and don’t have to pay the hotel's prices. We do not need to pay for their video equipment, but may need to buy microphones. We may need to buy a screen, since we end up paying $100 or more per year to rent them. It will save us money to purchase one.
We created a committee to buy a screen, and it needs to be decided before November or so. Richard, Ted, and Cary will form a committee. We will need to figure out where to store it. Report is requested prior to October.

Art show: Karen was sitting on the ottoman. She is going to run the art show as she has in the past.

Mem is thinking of doing the October meeting at the hotel. That will let us plan the event. We may hold that month's meeting at an earlier time.

Richard suggested that we offer discounted day passes for COSine to those who are attending Mysticon. It might pull people in from their event. Richard was thinking of heavily discounting it. Mem said we need to consider if we want to get crossover. Our day rates are already pretty low as it is. His thought is that we won’t get people otherwise. Perhaps a dealers room and art show pass. It might convince some people to attend our con. Jack thought it might pick up a few people. We will look into Mysticon further. Karen doesn’t care who comes in and spends money. We did have a problem in previous years with people bidding on art and then not showing up when it came time to pay. That can happen with any con though.

Robin will work on producing art for the cover for COSine by September. Although at this rate, it may be the end of September.

Mem needs to ask MileHiCon for a fan table.

Old business: none

New Business: none

Announcements: Mem was subtly waving her hand. She is having a party. Mustn’t be tardy. And don’t bring Zulus. There will be ponies. We can’t ride them because we are all too big. We will be at GenCon.

Empress of Mars in the 2nd weekend of August. It sounds like an Edgar Rice Burroughs book, but is actually by Kage Baker.

We digressed into the subjects of Catan tiles, 3D boards for the same, and 3D printers that have fallen beneath $1000 now.

Mysticon wants $500 or more for dealer tables. Events of this sort sometimes guarantee a minimum gate. They have guaranteed the hotel 250 rooms per night. We have to meet our room guarantee for this event. We need 50 room nights for Thursday through Sunday.

Con suite will be in a hospitality suite, with corkage waiver (non-alcohol). Robin will run the con suite. Jack wanted to be on the nap committee.

There was a Go Tournament run by Karen. July 31-Aug 8. Erin is doing registration. Don talked about making things with his laser.

Robin needs to update the flyer and website now that we have a hotel and info on that. Room rates.

We mentioned Carrie Vaughn. Local author, cat series books. Did 2 non-cat books recently. One YA, one SF or fantasy.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:11pm

Mem will send me a copy of the booklist in Excel.

Book Discussion

The graphic novel Girl Genius is the book for discussion this month. It won a Hugo for graphic novel in 2009. Phil Foglio drew a strip accepting the Hugo after the fact. The authors call it a gaslight romance, it’s very Steampunk. The gadgets can be important, but the story is very much character-driven. Agatha is a spark, the child of the Heterodynes. There are also biological constructs in the story, along with constructed clanks (robots). The Yakuras showed up at 9:30. Ben, James, Melissa. We got into discussions of comics and the like. End of notes.

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June 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, June 4, 2010

Robin Monogue reporting

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

Officer Reports:
President – no report
Vice President – chocolate was present as our customary vice.
Secretary – COSine page updated, still need to update the FFF page

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.

As an alternative 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 occupancy. MileHiCon is $89 for single double, $114 for triple, and $139 for quad this year, just as a reference.

We need to come up with 50 room nights. The Academy has not been good 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.

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 strenuously 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 Shinn 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. 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 were sold at newsstands.

Newsstands can be found at grocery stores and Walmart, but are not as common anymore. Bookstores have some. More people subscribe directly. 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 back in the day. 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.

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May 2010 Minutes

First Friday Fandom Minutes

Meeting of Friday, May 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.
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.

New business: Mem is having a party in August, with ponies, and bocce ball. Terry’s not here. Mem made good brownies. No other stuff.
Meeting adjourned 9:03pm

Book Discussion: The MEQ by Steve Cash

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 protaganist on the day of 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 and the Spanish flu outbreak. Public records start to outstrip the 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 protaganist 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 explain things, 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.

The 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 MEQ 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. The protaganist spent 12 years on the ship, seeing the world. There were these 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.

---

April 2010 Minutes

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

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March 2010 Minutes

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

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February 2010 Minutes

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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