Melbourne Science Fiction Club in Coburg, Victoria, Australia | Publisher

Melbourne Science Fiction Club

Locality: Coburg, Victoria, Australia

Address: 100 Sydney Road 3058 Coburg, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.msfc.sf.org.au

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23.01.2022 Today we remember John Hurt who passed away on this day, the 25th of January 2017. John Hurt had a long and varied career as an actor who played the full range of characters from heroes to villains and everything in between. His work in movies and television saw him play villains like Caligula, Adam Sutler and King Cotys. Characters that could be best described as victims have included John Merrick, Kane, Winston Smith and Garrick Ollivander and heroes that have included Aragorn, Hazel Ra and The War Doctor. He passed away three days after his 77th birthday.

22.01.2022 Happy birthday to Bill Finger who was born on this day, the 8th of February 1914. A comic book writer whose co-creation of Batman was only one aspect of his influence on the world of Batman. As the creator of the Batmobile, the Batcave, Gotham City and Robin, The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, The Scarecrow and The Riddler. He passed away in 1974 a few weeks before what would have been his 60th birthday.

21.01.2022 Harry birthday to Jerry Goldsmith who was born on this day, the 10th of February 1929. Jerry Goldsmith was a conductor and composer who in a fifty year career composed the themes to many iconic movies and television shows. These have included, Star Trek the next generation and Star Trek Voyager. Movies that he composed music for included Planet of the Apes, Alien, five Star Trek films, The Mummy, Small Soldiers, Gremlins, Mulan and many others. He passed away in 2004.

18.01.2022 Happy birthday to Gregory Benford, who turns 78 today, the 30th of January. Gregory Benford is an astrophysicist whose work in science fiction has existed side by side with his work in physics and has strived to include as much hard science in his fiction as possible. Best known for his Galactic Centre Saga novels, Gregory Benford has also written time travel stories, alternate history and an authorised sequel to Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. He was a guest of honour at Aussiecon Three and in an unexpected crossover between science and science fiction, his proposal to build a giant lens in space is portrayed when Ogden Wernstrom constructs one in the TV series Futurama.

17.01.2022 Today we remember Frank Herbert who passed away on this day, the 11th of February 1986. Originally a journalist, Frank Herbert started writing science fiction in his mid twenties when he wrote short stories for Fantastic, Astounding Science Fiction, Startling Stories and Amazing Stories. Originally he struggled to make enough from his science fiction to make it his sole source of income and it wasn't until several years after he wrote the novel that he is best known for , that he was able to take up writing full time. The novel Dune itself had since sold over 20 million copies and Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune were all highly successful as well. He was 65 when he passed away.

12.01.2022 Happy birthday to Robert E. Howard who was born on this day, the 22nd of January 1906. Robert E. Howard always aspired to be a writer but was never in a position to write full time. For his entire adult life Howard went from employer to employer writing in his spare time and selling the occasional short story to various magazines, journals and newspapers. In this time he became a friend of H.P. Lovecraft and was a recognised member of the Lovecraft Circle. A lover of adventure stories, Howard is credited with developing the Sword and Sorcery genre and eventually would create the character Conan the Cimmerian. Tragically, Howard would end his own life in 1936 just as his work was beginning to develop a following and his most well known creation, Conan, would live on in comics, television and movies.

11.01.2022 Today we remember Edward Page Mitchell who passed away on this day, the 22nd of January 1927. Edward Mitchell was a journalist who also wrote short stories for the newspapers that he worked for. While at the New York Sun, he would have over two dozen stories published that covered topics like time travel, faster than light travel, cyborgs, teleportation, thinking machines, cryogenics and rather controversially for the 1870s a story about a future in which society allowed women the vote and inter-racial marriage. He is probably better for his time as editor at the New York Sun when he wrote the editorial, 'Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus'. He was 76 when he passed away.

09.01.2022 Today we remember Ursula K Le Guin who passed away on this day, the 22nd to January 2018. First published in the early 1960s Ursula Le Guin was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays. Writing science fiction and fantasy, she is best remembered for her Earthsea series of novel. She was 88 when she passed away.

08.01.2022 Happy birthday to Tom Baker who turns 85 today, the 20th of January. An actor who's voice was once voted the fourth most recognisable in Britain, behind the Queen, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher, Tom Baker has had a varied career in Theatre, Movies, Radio, Television and Computer Games. And in Tom Baker's own words, the best job he ever had was when for seven years he was welcomed into millions of homes as the Fourth Doctor.

06.01.2022 Happy birthday to H.R. Giger who was born on this day, the 5th of February 1940. A surrealist painter whose fame principally derives from his work on the movie Alien, which won an academy award for best visual effects. Giger's work wasn't simply restricted to the creation of the Alien from the movie, he was also a set designer and elements of his work were used in all the Alien movies and Prometheus. Added to his art books, record covers and even video games, his images have become a part of our culture. He passed away in 2014.

05.01.2022 Happy birthday to Maureen McHugh who turns 60 today, the 13th of February. Maureen McHugh had her first short story published in 1988 and since then she has written four novels and over two dozen short stories. Her short story, The Lincoln Train won a Hugo award in 1996 and her first novel, China Mountain Zhang won the James Tiptree Jr award in 1993. She also worked for 42 Entertainment where she worked on the Alternate Reality games, Year Zero and I Love Bees.

04.01.2022 Happy birthday to John Williams who turns 87 today, the 8th of February. A conductor and composer, John Williams has had a very long and distinguished career composing music for Movies and Television. There is not one person who hasn't heard music that he has written. From the theme for the TV series, "Land of the Giants", "Lost in Space" and 'Time Tunnel" to all eight Star Wars movies, the first three Harry Potter movies, two Superman movies, all the Indiana Jones movies, ET, AI and many others.

04.01.2022 Happy birthday to Jules Verne who was born on this day, the 8th of February in 1828. Considered the father of Science Fiction, Jules Verne has been the second most translated author in the world behind Agatha Christie. Starting with 'Five weeks in a balloon' in 1865, Verne published nearly sixty books in his lifetime and a further eight were published posthumously. He passed away in 1905.

03.01.2022 Happy birthday to Frank Frazetta who was born on this day, the 9th of February 1928. Frank Frazetta was an artist who started out in comics and eventually his art began to be used for book and magazine covers. Warren Publishing were a regular user of his art for the covers of Creepy, Eerie, Blazing Combat and Vampirella. His book covers proved to be especially popular and the fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E Howard seemed to suit his artistic style. Adding movie posters and record covers, it is likely that most people have seen his art somewhere. He passed away in 2010.

03.01.2022 Happy birthday to Nancy Kress who turns 71 today, the 20th of January. Nancy Kress was originally a teacher who began writing in 1976, writing both fantasy and science fiction, she has written over two dozen novels, four short story collections and over a hundred works of short fiction. The winner of two Hugo awards and six Nebula awards, some of her better known works include, Out of all then bright stars, Beggars in Spain, The Flowers of Aulit prison, Fountain of Age, The Erdmann Nexus and Probability Space.

01.01.2022 Happy birthday to Mary Robinette Kowal who turns 50 today, the 8th of February. A professional puppeteer as well as novelist, Mary Robinette Kowal's first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2010. She also had short stories nominated for Hugos for Evil Robot Monkey and For Want of a Nail. She would win a Hugo for her novelette The Lady Astronaut of Mars.