2002 - 11/2002 Meeting

Page Created: 09/23/10. Last Update: 09/23/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 05/21/08.

ANN LEWIS

Books:

The STAR WARS Essential Guide to Alien Species

The author's blog is: http://annmargaretlewis.blogspot.com/.

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: November 9, 2002.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 43.

Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Writer.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The November meeting of the Science Fiction Association was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey on Saturday, November 9, 2002.

Pre meeting activities consisted of Taras Wolansky showing episodes of BLUE SEED at the Anime Associates. The Final Frontier discussion of the women of STAR TREK started slowly, but built to a respectable number. The event was moderated by Pamela Webber and began at 6:30 PM.

There were any number of sideshows going on before, after, and during the meeting. John Upton brought a photo album of shots taken at the Worldcon Masquerade. Philip De Parto had a book showing photos of the house decked out for last month's Halloween Party. Robert Yeager displayed a number of newly purchased items which shall adorn Yeagermanse.

Among the good smells coming from the kitchen were Roy Greenberg's brewed tea, Carol Smith's mulled cider, and Pam-made microwaved popcorn. A number of different people brought food. Thanks to everyone who contributed and to Carol who transformed the random offerings into an attractive basket display across the kitchen table.

The evening's speaker was Ann Lewis. Ms Lewis has written and edited for DC Comics and Mayfair Games in Chicago. She had played the company's DC Heroes Roleplaying Game while in school and was soon writing and editing for that project. The contacts she developed at Mayfair soon led her to New York and DC comics. The move was at first a stressful one, filled with lonliness and tears. She eventually acclimated to the metropolitan area and met her future husband, Joseph.

DC Comics has some hard and fast policies to compartmentalize the activities of its employees. As a member of the liscencing group, the department which oversees outside companies using the DC characters in other media like games, coloring books, movies, etc, she was forbidden to be part of the editorial area which produces the comic books. She found a loophole around this by writing a few stories for yet another area, the UK division. Her proudest creation was a story featuring a "must have" toy parody of Tickle Me Elmo--Huggable Emu.

She left DC after a few years to freelance. Del Rey editor Steve Saffel had worked in the comics industry for many years and went to bat for her to write THE STAR WARS ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ALIEN SPECIES. Although the book was a reference book based on aliens depicted in the movies and certain books and comics, Ms Lewis was able to engage in a bit of creativity by writing short vignettes illuminating the creatures described.

Our guest had a number of interesting comments on the strengths and shortcomings of the various STAR WARS movies. Among other things, she pointed out that while the original film had one climax--the destruction of the Death Star--later films had multiple climaxes which diffused the viewers' emotional payoff. She also talked about a "What If" piece of STAR WARS fan fiction she wrote. In her tale, Darth Vader joins the rebels and survives THE RETURN OF THE JEDI. The big man in the black suit and helmet has to go around convincing everyone: "Hey, I'm one of the good guys. Really!"

She has recently written an unusual novel combining elements of science fiction and of fantasy. The book is set in a future with spaceships and aliens, but the central premise is fantasy. Jewish lore talks about the Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and mortals. These creatures are evil in Jewish folklore, and some accounts lay the Tower of Babel and other Biblical incidents at their doorstep. The Great Flood was sent to eliminate their kind.

In her book, Ms Lewis imagines a family of Nephilim who are not evil, and who are spared the flood by being relocated to another world. Their descendants lost track of their origins as the millennia passed and their world was contacted by a future starfaring mankind. The heroine of the novel must uncover the secret of their past.

All in all, a good meeting with a lot better attendance than we expected. The only downside were some problems with service at Matthews' Diner.