Public

Visible to everyone

Order of the Golden Sprout 8

Document: 

This one is open for public viewing Smiling

Online Publications

Welcome to the Order of the Golden Sprout online publications page.

This is where you will find all our electronic media including copies of back issues of the magazine as well as new ones as they appear.

Most of this content is limited to members only, sorry Sad but there has to be a reason to belong on top of the great magazine and badge you get, the organised events, the newsletters and this website to name some of the benefits....

Book Signing - London

0

Robert will be signing his latest masterpiece, "The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age", at London's Forbidden Planet Store......

Details to follow.

Book Signing - Leicester

0

Robert will be signing his latest masterpiece, "The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age", at the Leicester Phoenix Square....

http://www.phoenix.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=487


 

Book Signing - Lincoln

0

Robert will be signing his latest masterpiece, "The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age", at the Lincoln Asylum......

http://steampunk.synthasite.com/robert-rankin-book-launch.php

 

 

Antipope anniversary t-shirt

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Robert's "The Antipope" there was, as you no doubt know, a party - what would a Robert Rankin / Goldensprout party weekend be without a T-shirt Puzzled

These sold well over the weekend but for those people who didn't get one or those who didn't manage to get along at all there are a few left in stock...

Don't miss out on owning this one-off and limited production (and putting some much needed moolah in the club kitty Eye-wink ) - order yours today Smiling

 

Robert at BSFG

0

On the 8th of April Robert will be the guest speaker of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group, details from their newsletter are:

Dining with Dinosaurs!

0

A Grand Joint Picnic in Crystal Palace London, with our great mates ZZ9, The Douglas Adams Fan Club. Many Golden sprouts are also ZZ9 Members, so it it will be a great opportunity to meet up with friends old and new.

If you hope / plan to come along let us know HERE

This is an open event to all friends of either The Order of the Golden Sprout or ZZ9 Smiling
 

 

 

 

Beer and Bodies

0

A general meet up and a few beers but with the added attraction of a visit to The Huntarian Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.  Here you can see the bones of Charles Byrne, The Irish Giant, a whole host of fascinating medical exhibits and some very scary looking medical instruments.

If you're in or around the smoke then why not come along?

Let us know via the forum post HERE if we should expect to see you Smiling

FICTS T-Shirts @ Genki Gear

SFX Weekender

0

After last years resounding sucess by Robert as the master of ceremony for the SFX awards and the SFX weekender it was pretty much a given that he'd be back.....

He is - February 2011.

A goodly crowd of Golden Sprouts turned out for what was a damn fine weekend last (earlier this) year and I hope to see planty of you along again at SFX Weekender 2.

More Info

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Collectormania

0

Robert will be attending the weekend of this November's Collectormania at Olympia, London. Come along and say Hi if you are in the big city, it's always good to see any of you Smiling

London Collectormania

 

 

Book Signing - Waterstone's Oxford Street Plaza, London

0

Robert will be taking part in the Waterstones, Oxford Street Plaza, Haloween event and signing books on the 30th October. He is down for a 1300-1400Hrs so get along if you can.

Details HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Rankin Exhibition - Lincoln Museum

0

There is an exhibiton of Robert's artwork at Lincoln Museum's "The Collection". It runs from the 2nd September to the 25th September and admission is free Smiling

Well worth a visit - more details HERE

 

 

Book Signing event

0

On Saturday the 18th September Robert will be at Forbidden Planet London signing his newest novel - The Japanese Devil Fishgirl and other Unnatural Attractions.

Update - what's on at Dacon?

Dacon is now rapidly approaching, 24th-26th September 2010, and a weekend of great entertainment is nearing its final planning stages.

Take a look at some of the stuff that's going to be happening:

There will be a full itinerary of parties, panels, games, guest talks and general mayhem running over the whole weekend with TWO programs running side by side giving you the option on what you want to be a part of.

Robert at the MCM London Expo

0

News just in at Goldensprout towers, Robert is going to be at the MCM London Expo where he will be hosting the SFX Blastermand quiz.

More deatils from SFX here

And about the Expo here

What's happening at Goldensprout

A few things to get out there and make you all aware of so time for a newsletter....

Firstly a couple of things we have been up to.

On Friday 23rd April Robert was the special guest and speaker at the Brentford St. George's day celebrations. A fine day was had by all and it was good to see a few club members pop along and join us in The Flying Swan (AKA - The Magpie and Crown) for some welll earned ale and toot.

London Film and Comic Convention

0

Robert will have a table at this, come along and say hello / talk some toot.

London Film and Comic Con

Shatterday

Amazon ASIN: 

Shatterday by Harlan Ellison – 3 out of 5.

This is a collection of 16 short stories ranging from 5 to 60 pages in length (well 60 pages is probably a novella or novelette). Over all I enjoyed it. I'm not really very used to reading short stories, as I'm more a novel person, but it made for a nice change.

Grinny

Amazon ASIN: 

Grinny by Nicholas Fisk – 3 out of 5.

This one was another audio-book for the car. Nice & short at 2 disks (2 hours 25 mins), it's a kids SF book from 1973 read here by the legendary Andy Crane.

Helliconia Spring

Amazon ASIN: 

Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss - 3 out of 5.

555 pages (in my edition anyway) is to many for this story & it's only book one of a trilogy. That is my main problem with this book. The pages go by & not a great deal happens, a shame really because it's pretty well written & in the most part quite entertaining. There is some great intrigue in here, but it can get lost amongst all the waffle. It's just all too slow.

The first 125 pages are really just a prelude in the form of an (almost) self contained novella.

Life During Wartime

Amazon ASIN: 

Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard - 2.5 out of 5.

This seems an odd choice, both for an SF Masterworks book (the edition that I read), as it's neither especially great, nor offensively bad, but just okay with some good bits & some mediocre bits.

There isn't all that much SF in this book. There is some near future war technology & a some psychic shenanigans going on, but it's one of those - “is it really a SF book” kind of things.

The book is broken into five definite sections, each of which has it's own separate location & plot.

Robert in New Zealand

0

Just like it says....

New Zealand Convention

Magazine Issue 5 out

0

The second year of The Order of the Golden Sprout officially begins with issue five of the club magazine, for those of you with us since issue 1 now's a good time to check your membership is up to date to ensure your copy Smiling

 

St.George and the Ripper

0

This has now transformed in to a two day weekend event....

On the Friday (23rd) Robert will be taking part in the Brentford St.Georges day celebrations which will most likely involve him doing a spot on stage as well as having a stall for book signing etc. At the moment there is not a lot of information but there is much talk of food stalls, british ale stalls, bands, morris men and so on. All taking place in Brentford and centred around the magistrates court.

Come along if you can, I'm sure in the evening we will sample much ale and talk much toot....

The Time Machine

Amazon ASIN: 

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells – 2 out of 5.

The bulk of this 90 page story is in the form of a lengthy monologue, where our time traveller related his adventure to his colleagues. This is bookended by some scene setting & an epilogue.

This may well be the original tale of time travel but, for me, it's certainly not the best. Our main character is not particularly likeable for a start, either in the way he tells his story, which often comes over as a rambling stream of thought, or in his actions within the story itself.

Double Star

Amazon ASIN: 

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein – 2 out of 5.

A Hugo winner for best Novel, awarded in 1957 & a pretty short book at 143 pages. It's written in a fairly chatty style, later we find that Lawrence Smith, aka The Great Lorenzo, is relating the story in his own words from several years after the events therein.

The basic plot is that Lorenzo, an out of work actor, is employed to impersonate a political leader who has been kidnapped just as he's on the brink of a major political break through.

Enders Game

Amazon ASIN: 

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card – 4 out of 5.

In the past I have traditionally read mainly modern-ish novels. Some years back I decided I should try to get through a few more classics, including those that have won the Hugo or Nebula or both. Enders Game was on my list for just this reason, although at 1985 it's not all that old. I knew absolutely nothing about the story before I picked this up & didn't even know what the title meant. As it turns out “Ender” is the nick-name of our hero & “Game”s is what they have Ender playing at Battle School.

Fat

Amazon ASIN: 

Fat by Rob Grant - 4 out of 5.

Here we have the classic triple strand story. We have essentially three separate short stories with the chapters alternating between them all. This is my favourite type of story telling as, when written will, at the end of each chapter you just want to get back to that story thread again, causing you to rattle through the pages at a cracking pace.

Our three stars are Grenville Roberts, an overweight TV chef with anger management issues. Jeremy Slank, an advertising / PR chap who's thrown into the deep end at short notice.

Syndicate content