Order of the Golden Sprout The New Robert Rankin Fan Club

Hi to all you sprouts out there, here it is - newsletter number three. I am going to keep this short as the next magazine is out at the end of May (and there won't be a June Newsletter, unless there is any breaking news) but there were a couple of things I felt should be out there now.....

London Sci-Fi Week.

Hi and welcome to this, the second newsletter of the new club.

Only 55 days until the next issue of the magazine should be with you so I figured it was time for an update on what is going on with the club and what we are looking forward to in the near future. I hope to get a news letter out like this every month, with the exception of magazine issue months, but only if there is anything to tell you.

Large 4

Switched on my 'puter this morning, it made a fizzy noise followed by a pop and went dead. Found a new power cable (after much digging in the garage) - fitted it and all seemed to be right with the world.

Two hours late, and half way though editing some video to DVD it stopped dead and has stubbornly refused to work since, boll**ks.

Have now stripped it down and removed the hard drive and am jury rigging a power adaptor and SATA to firewire 400 adaptor to see if I can rescue all my files!

Order of the Golden Sprout

Newsletter Number 1 - Update

It has become clear, from e-mails received, that there are a couple of things I need to clear up from my initial newsletter, here goes.

Problems on the web-site - these are in hand. We are trying to add as much content and interactivity as possible on what is a very new site. Our Webmaster, James Shields, is working his socks off to keep up with any any errors as they occur and this will be, whilst not everyones ideal, the DB's of a site...... I hope

The Big Party

The last ever issue of The Brentford Mercury and a double size issue at that (hence the slightly higher price - I need to cover the postage cost)!

Tons of content including original stuff, including artwork, from Robert and some special bits from the archives.

Order of the Golden Sprout
News letter No.1

A big hello to all of you out there, past and present members of Sproutlore and present members of The Order of the Golden Sprout.

This is the first news-letter of the new club and a format I will use to get information out to you if there is important news with too long until the next magazine. It is also the last time I will send it by this means, the Sproutlore shop mailing list, in future they will come via the new websites newsletter mailing list.

Issue two of the Order of the Golden Sprout should have arrived with everyone by this date and this means all existing club members will have been asked to renew via the new club and will therefore have full forum and website access. This means the old club now goes into archive and the forum will close - if you haven't signed up to the new club I would suggest this is the time to do it by.......

We are aware of French and German editions; also, at least one of Robert's novels has also been translated into Polish. although we don't currently have details of this.

French Editions
Bragelonne are Robert's French publishers and at this stage have published the following

Well, I know this great website, I understand they have a biography, reviews and even apparently a groovy forum where you can chat to other Rankinphiles about... well about just about anything really! In addition to that, there's Robert's Wikipedia article.

Well, there's quite a few on various sites around this here interweb; among them are the following:

Sproutlore is no more. After more than ten years of service Sproutlore's illustrious leader, Mr James Bacon, decided to retire from service to the fans of Rankin, and passed he torch to a new leader.

Our new guv'nor Ian "Captain Fantastic" Case, after much consultation and deliberation, decided not to retain the old name as Sproutlore was very much James' thing. James was Sproutlore and Sproutlore was James.

If you want to chat to people on-line, then our forum is the best place to do it.

If you want to talk the proverbial toot with us "In Real Life" (whatever that is), then you should come to one of the club events. They're always fun and everyone is very friendly. Oh OK maybe not everyone, but most people are very friendly and some of them are even sane.

There's two categories here: authors that tend to be compared to Robert, and authors that inspired him.
In category one:

Again, no definitive answer to this, so there's a thread on the forum for discussing it.

Obviously there's no definitive answer to this. so we've created a thread on the forum where you can discuss it.

Reviewed by James Bacon.

As most of you know, or will shortly learn, I am a discerning reader of Roberts books. They are not always to my liking, sometimes I can’t get into them, and then again, I still rate some of his books in my Top five ever. So I don’t usually write about them. 

Due date for issue 3 to be with you.

The big event this summer will take place over the weekend of the 24, 25 and 26th of July. To celebrate Robert's 60th Birthday and the Necrophenia paperback launch we will be spending the Saturday cruising up the Thames on our private boat to Kew Bridge, from here we will disembark to Fangio's Bar where we will enjoy an evening of booze, buffet, music and toot....

Full itinerary here:

Due date for issue 2 to be with you.

If you had the please renew sticker on your envelope with issue one then you need to have done so before now if you want to receive this issue on time.

Official date the first issue should be with you by.

The madness that was large is resurected over the weekend of 27-29 March in it's birthplace, Derby.

A unofficial event officially supported by the fan club and organise by our northern branch. Catch up with old friends, make new friends, have a blast.

More info here....

http://www.thegoldensprout.com/forum/37 

The annual event at Earls Court, London.

Robert is an Official Guest this year so come along if you can.

More info here....

http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

 

Picocon is the annual one-day Science Fiction & Fantasy convention run by the Imperial College Science Fiction society (ICSF). It takes place on Saturday 28th February in Imperial College's Student Union (London).

This year Robert is a Guest of Honour and will be doing a talk etc....

More information here.....

http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/social/events/picocon/ 

Of interest to many of you in here....

"The Steampunk Hidden Cabaret is coming to the Marlborough Little Theatre. We have Victorian Time-traveling performers, a mad scientist and a plethora of market stalls, all imported from a technologically retroactively advanced future!"

 

It's in Brighton and Robert will most likely be along, if you see him say hello.

More Info here

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52419260937

Just what it says on the tin - old issue of the mercury. This one is from June 2008

Just what it says on the tin - old issue of the mercury. This one is from January 2008

Just what it says on the tin - old issue of the mercury. This one is from January 2007

Just what it says on the tin - old issue of the mercury. This one is from May 2005

Ok so one of thems dressed as a pilot but they are both 'space cadets'

 

Our ex-leader, James, excepts a token of appreciation for all he has done from Robert.