2014 - 10/2014 Meeting

Page Created: 08/07/14. Last Updated: 12/22/14.

RAJAN KHANNA

Books:

.....Falling Skies (October 7, 2014 Release)

Rajan Khanna's first science fiction novel, FALLING SKIES, is coming out from Pyr Books on October 7, 2014. The work blends tropes from post-apocalyptic fiction, steampunk and zombies. It received a star review from LIBRARY JOURNAL and was called a "solid and memorable debut " by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

The author's short fiction has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Northern Frights, Shimmer Magazine and in original anthologies from John Joseph Adams. His reviews and other non fiction has appeared at tor.com, Talking Comics and elsewhere.

He has also read stories by other writers for Escape Pod, Lightspeed, Podcastle and other podcasts.

Author Site:

.....http://www.rajankhanna.com/

MEETING SUMMARY

Meeting Date: October 11, 2014.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church (classroom).

Official Attendance: 15.

Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Author.

NOTES:

NEWSLETTER ACCOUNT

Our original speaker had to bow out, our literary fans were at the Capclave convention, our media fans were at New York ComiCon, a batch of our regulars had other engagements and we lost our anticipated meeting room less than 24 hours before the start of the event, but somehow the October 11, 2014 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County muddled through rather nicely, albeit with a lighter attendance than we would have hoped.

The meeting site comment has a story attached. At 6:30 PM on Friday, October 10, 2014, I received a call from the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church. The church's Fellowship Hall, our normal meeting venue, was unavailable because it was jam-packed with bric-a-brac donated for a fund-raiser. Given the lateness of this notice, it would not be practical to relocate or reschedule the meeting, so we discussed a variety of scenarios including holding some or all of our events in the classroom, the Wesley Room and/or the church worship area itself.

Ironically, the low attendance worked to our advantage when we held the Ice Nine discussion and the meeting proper in the small classroom. Had we duplicated the September turnout, things would have been squeezey and uncomfortable. The church generously waived the month's rental fee due to the circumstances.

The Ice Nine pre meeting discussion was particularly lively, with Deb talking about the New York ComiCon. There was also talk about Ren Faires, movies (THE WIZARD OF OZ), television series (GOTHAM), books (ANTI-GODDESS by Kendare Blake), comic books (the upcoming cancellation of the Fantastic Four title), and a whole lot more.

Our speaker was science fiction writer Rajan Khanna. His first book, FALLING SKY, had been published by Pyr Books earlier in the week. The author's short fiction has appeared in APEX AND ABYSS, BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES and in various original and reprint anthologies. Mr Khanna has also narrated stories by other writers for ESCAPE POD, LIGHTSPEED and other podcasts. He is a graduate of the Clarion West science fiction writers' workshop.

Rajan Khanna does not start off with a plot. He gets an idea for a scene or character, types out a few paragraphs and saves it in a Word File. He repeats this process a number of times and links them together for a narrative. In the case of FALLING SKY, the idea was that a man wakes up in an airship and that he would like to get to the ground, but something prevents him from doing so. It was only later that the author realized that the reason the man could not descend to the surface was that there was a plague of zombies down below. (Continued at 10/2014 Meeting on club website.)