Most of our meetings are on Sundays at 8pm in Balliol College. We will meet at the Balliol Porter's Lodge before making our way to the meeting room.
See below for details, and sign up for the ousfg-announce mailing list to receive a reminder and details for each meeting.
Please remember that Sunday is the first day of the Oxford Week, so do check the dates below if you are unsure.
| 8 Oct | Sunday | 1st Week | 3pm Parks | Chat / Library | Afternoon in the park, followed by Library. Come along to the University Parks between 3pm and 5pm on Sunday to meet the crew and fellow geeky freshers, see what we get up to, and maybe play some Werewolf. We'll meet near the Keble Road entrance (around here). Look out for us on a bright rainbow picnic blanket. If the weather prospects look poor, we'll adjourn to Balliol. Keep an eye on Discord in case of updates. |
| 15 Oct | Sunday | 2nd Week | Balliol | Discussion | Desert Planet Books. What are the ten SF and Fantasy books most worth reading and why? OUSFG's traditional first meeting of the year asks you to nominate and vote for your favourite books to establish our ten favourite books for the year! Audience contributions are encouraged, but no worries if you are new to SFF or just feeling a bit shy! This is an excellent place to find out about books that you may not have yet come across, and hopefully introduce the society to hidden gems that we have not heard of. |
| 22 Oct | Sunday | 3rd Week | Balliol | Discussion |
Collaborative storytelling discussion, Tentacular Vikings
takes a theme and runs with it as we all work together to write (or at least plan) a story.
Last term we planned an anthology of short stories where the inabitants of
a tired British town are confronted by a mysterious salesman and his demonic contractual offers.
Previous stories have involved
a miners' strike on the surface of the sun,
Boom Sticks,
the St Giles' Fair's role in keeping freshers
from disappearing into parallel dimensions,
and finally an explanation for why we keep crashing on that dratted desert planet.
Oh yes, and tentacular Vikings. |
| 29 Oct | Sunday | 4th Week | Balliol | TV / game | Halloween watch party, featuring Black Mirror episode Metalhead followed by a game or two of Werewolf. This is a party game about finding a murderous traitor among our number. We have our own version of the rules, carefully honed over many years. |
| 5 Nov | Sunday | 5th Week | Balliol | Quiz | OUSFG will again be hosting the Oxford Geek Quiz! Please join us and help us compete for the crown of 'the one wot won that year'. Every society needs ideally at least 2 rounds: if you are willing to donate rounds (on the condition that you cannot answer them during the Quiz), send them through to Emily or on Discord at any point before Saturday, 4th November. Meet at 7pm Balliol Lodge. |
| 12 Nov | Sunday | 6th Week | Balliol | EGM and Discussion |
This meeting will start with a short Extraordinary General Meeting to ratify
changes to the OUSFG Constitution mandated by the Proctors. Then will follow a discussion on Religion in Science Fiction and Fantasy. What are the many ways that Religion is received in SFF? How does it make us feel when we see real-world religions or their circumstances reflected closely in fictional parallels? When are religions in fictional worlds done with nuance, and when are they dismissed or assumed too quickly? Join our Week 6 Discussion session, where through the wonders of a multi-disciplinary membership, perhaps we can begin to wrap our heads around the pivotal role that Religion plays in speculative fiction. Discussion led by Michael. |
| 19 Nov | Sunday | 7th Week | Balliol | Speaker |
Publishing your (SFF) writing.
Dream of seeing yourself in print, but don't know where to start? Join author Zohar Jacobs to explore common
myths, tips and secrets from the publishing industry, with plenty of time for questions. From workshops to cover
letters, you'll learn how to develop yourself as a writer – and why you shouldn't worry too much about the odds. Zohar Jacobs is an author of speculative fiction. A graduate of Viable Paradise and a SFWA member, she has stories published or forthcoming in the Sunday Morning Transport, Small Wonders, Analog, Clarkesworld, and Asimov's. She lives in Oxford, where she was a student and active OUSFG member once upon a time. You can find her on Twitter (for now) as @zoharjacobs. |
| 26 Nov | Sunday (TBC) | 8th Week | Balliol | Party | Xmas party with the Star Trek Society. Date and time to be confirmed. |
Next term,
A. Y. Chao will be coming to speak to us.
She is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal,
the first in a trilogy following charmingly profane half-fox spirit, half vampire Lady Jing.
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousfg/misc/termcard-23mt1.html last modified 4th November 2023 by
