Doesn't everyone know who Ambrosius Aurelianus is?

[johan]

At the moment I'm reading Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark. I liked it very much to begin with, but now, after having read somewhat more than half the book I think it is losing pace and I'm not sure whether the too obvious plot is meant to be this obvious or if the author somehow has written it for people with no knowledge of mythology. Anyhow, I'm starting to drum my fingers, wanting something more surprising to happen. Also, the main protagonist's mix of being extremely well versed in things like ogham and archaic Welsh but not knowing any Arthuriana is stretching my credibility.

Other than that... The First Tuesdays of Upsalafandom are amazing. We seem to be in a streak with about 25 people showing up each time. Good fun. I had written a quiz this time, but I think I misjudged people because it was apparently much more difficult than I had imagined. Next time I'll arrange a small book lottery, I'll pick a few nice books from the Alvar Foundation's bookpile and have people buy tickets at 5 SEK each or so, and let the winner(s) choose books for the total amount I collect. I believe we should try to make other things happen too, than just chatting and drinking. Ideally I'd like to start these evenings off with a small talk by someone on a favourite subject, and then go on to the pub afterwards.

Comments

[thette.livejournal.com]

It was so much fun, as always.

[etherealfionna.livejournal.com]

This is what the Dublin SciFi Club does, and has been doing for the last few years. A talk or presentation, a raffle, some socialising.

We/they found that it tends to lose energy, so the odd month with nothing but socialising is quite a good idea. And you need someone to chair each meeting otherwise it never gets started. The quality of the raffle prizes has deteriorated, too.

[jophan.livejournal.com]

Well, there is also a shortage of people who would want to/be able to give a talk on a subject which would interest most of us, so I'd imagine it would only happen a few times a year.

And yes, when I talked about this tuwr also pointed out to me that Dublin fandom does this. The book raffle was my own idea, so I guess mediocre minds occasionally think alike, but the having a talk first and a beer after is common in many sf clubs around the world.

[tuwr.livejournal.com]

Hm. We could continue to emulate Dublin fandom (and why shouldn't we? That is an exceedingly emulation-worthy fandom!), and join up in teams of about four each for next quiz. Then it could be more difficult, and it's probably a good excuse to talk to new people. Or something.