Revolting Science Fiction by Ian Woolf and Peter Eisler

One of our members explained that the Crusaders were repelled by sheep.
Apparently an entire castle was manned by sheep, fooling the Crusading
knights into a prolonged siege. Wayne Turner reported his WA trip to
SwanCon. Among the SwanCon special guests were Terry Dowling, Neil
Gainman, Jack Dann and Storm Constantine. Garry Dalrymple reminded
everyone that Star Trek Voyager was starting to be screened.
There.was.great.enthusiasm. Sliders was also coming to our screens that
very night, nobody had remembered to tape it. Bugs was also starting.

Brian Walls reported that TV series based on a toned down Mad Max was in
the works, so look out for Mild Max. Babe of course was the toned down
version of Razorback. Manga animation "Ghost In the Shell" was showing at
the Mandolin theatre and the Valhalla Cinema. Aliens 4, starring Wynona
Ryder and a clone of the late Ripley is also in the works, and will
hopefully stay there. Strange Days had started the night before and was
highly recommended. A feature of the movie is millennial celebrations
being held a year early on December 31st 1999, the writers apparently
missed this point. Brian mentioned that the technical term for Russian
scientists entering Chernobyl for pre-retirement study, is "stalkers"
taken from the Strugatsky novel "Roadside Picnic", released as the movie
"Stalker". However as most scientists read science fiction, this is not
surprising.

Ian then proceeded to some scientific tidbits culled from New
Scientist magazine. The painkiller ibuprofen, found in such
over-the-counter drugs as Nurofen, and Naprosyn has shown an ability to
help prevent Alzheimers disease and is useful in treating the
illness. Unfortunately it has such drastic effects on the stomach with
long-term use that it is unusable.Rock-eating bacteria with no reliance on
sunlight have been discovered living happily 1000 metres below the Earth's
surface in conditions similar to Mars. This means that either similar
organisms may be discovered on Mars, or failing that, that these bacteria
could be introduced in a terraforming effort. The sub-surface
lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystem is known as SLIME for short. They
subsist on hydrogen generated in a reaction between water and ferrous
silicates. NASA is preparing to protect itself from lawsuits from
green-exploiting anti-technology eco-luddites for its upcoming Martian
missions. They are carefully getting lawyers to scrutinize their two dozen
failsafe quarantine systems for bringing Martian soil back to Earth for
study. Earth First representatives are believed to be carefully holding
several meteorites for questioning. Star Trek tricorder-style scanners
have been developed to detect jaundice in babies so that they can be
properly treated with the conventional blue and green lights. Against
traditional wisdom, it has been discovered that human nerve cells can be
induced to regrow after damage. Statistically, people who drink co ffee
have a lower suicide rate. A new no-risk treatment for short-sightedness
is to mould the eyes into the required shape instead of putting lenses in
front of them or cutting them with blades or lasers. New nappy linings
made from sugary hydrogel can hold more than 1 litre of urine.

The politically-correct self-censoring Internet software service
"Surfwatch" banned the entire Whitehouse domain due to the evil actions
of the Clinton's cat Sox on his Web page. The web page contained the
naughty word "coup les", so it was banned, as is this article. This
same action of banning material based on automatic keyword searching
has led to America Online pulling the plug from the International
Breast Cancer Support group discussions. Clinton's staff called the Sur
fwatch company and the Whitehouse was given a special exemption from
the consequences of Sox's crime. This appears more than hypocritical in
light of Clinton's recent Communication Decency Act. The Easter Long
Weekend saw the SydCon roleplaying game convention. Peter and Ian
co-wrote and co-ran a comedy troll freeform game, and won trophies for
another game. The UNSW Unisearch House second-hand booksale was on the
following weekend [yes you missed it, and its only on every two years].
Ian produced his certificate of Sainthood from the Universal Life
Church. Peter's was in the mail.

Having learned his lesson from previous meetings, Peter opened the topic
of Rebels and Revolutionaries in science fiction with the observation that
Steve Perry's Matador series is the thinking man's Star Wars. Whereas the
rebels in Star Wars relied on mys tical powers and a magic knife to win
when the badly formed plans failed completely; the revolutionaries in the
Matador series rely on skill and detailed plans that work. Peter then
continued his list of appropriate titles. Lloyd Biggle Jnr's "The Still
Small Voice of Trumpets" and "The World-Menders" both have a Galactic
Government agency set up to foment revolutions that end in democracy, but
which have a strict code of secret subtlety, because "DEMOCRACY IMPOSED
FROM WITHOUT IS THE SEVEREST FORM OF TYRANNY". F.N. Busby's Tregare
series has a rebellion against a tyrannical Earth-based government. C.J.
Cherryh's Alliance-Union-Cyteen series involves a civil war between the
tyrannical Earth-based government and the rebels over hundreds of years
and sever al worlds. Robert Frezza's "Small Colonial War" involves rebels
fighting a Japanese-culture Earth-based tyrannical government, where the
government troops choose to side with the rebels. Simon Green's
"Deathstalker" has a miltary hero leading a rebellion against his Empress'
Earth-based tyrannical government. Frank Herbert's "Dune" concerns the
drug-based rebellion against the Galactic Imperial tyrannical Earth-based
government. Elron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth" features humans rebelling
against an alie n tyrannical Earth government. Michael Moorcock's
Runestaff series is about a hero who fights an evil tyrannical Earth
government despite his headaches. "Fallen Angels" by Jerry Pournelle,
Michael Flynn and Larry Niven features organised science fiction f ans
rebelling against an evil green-exploiting anti-technology eco-luddites
American-based tyrannical government. Voerman's "Weird Colonial Boy"
rebels against a British-based tyrannical government by being silly. Brian
reminded us that Star Wars had rebels, too. And so did Total Recall,
Johnny Mnemonic, and Logan's Run.

Ian brought out his list. Earth, by David Brin features physicists
rebelling against United Nations restrictions to bottled black hole
research. Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano" has people rebelling against an
automated tyrannical Earth-based government. "L ord of Light" by Roger
Zelazny has people rebelling against a tyrannical Hindu-based government.
"Software" by Rudy Rucker is about Lunar robots that rebel against a
tyrannical Earth-based government. "A Gift from Earth" by Larry Niven is
about colonists who rebel against a tyrannical organ-transplant based
government. "Footfall" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is about science
fiction writers rebelling against an alien tyrannical Earth-based
government. "The Space Merchants" by Cyril Kornbluth and Fre derick Pohl
is about a rebellion against a tyrannical advertising agency government
based on Earth. "Bio of a Space Tyrant" by Piers Anthony is about someone
who rebels against a democracy and sets up a Jupiter based tyrannical
government. Garry explained that Piers Anthony has owned a Basenjis.

Garry raised Sterling and Gibson's "The Difference Engine", which featured
the computer revolution arising simultaneously with the steam revolution.
Cyril Kornbluth's "Syndic" features rebels against the Mafia-based
tyrannical American rulers, without any help from the unelected US
government-in-exile. The "Alien Nation" novel, "Day of the Descent" by
Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens is about alien rebels seeking refuge in
an Earth-based government. During the gravitational recession that we had
to have, Barrington Bayley's "Zen Gun" features a colonia l girl rebelling
against an Earth-based tyrannical cosmic pig empire utilizing "the
absolutely ultimate weapon that can never exist". "The Weapon Shops of
Isher" and "The Weapon Makers" by A. E. Van Vogt has magic weapon shops
selling extremely automatic weapons and pushing people to revolt against
the tyrannical Earth-based government with the slogan "THE RIGHT TO BEAR
WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE"; only in America. Nineteen Eighty-Four by
George Orwell is a light romp through an Earth-based tyrannica l
government by one of its rebels. The TV series "V" featured rebellion
against Lizard Nazi tyrannical Earth-based government.

Wayne Turner told us about Phillip Jose Farmer's Dayworld series, and
its rebellion against a tyrannical Earth government, and his Riverworld
series which involved a rebellion against a tyrannical Riverworld-based
government. Kevin Dillon raised Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress". This is about Lunar revolution against a tyrannical
Earth-based government. Heinlein's "Beyond This Horizon" features a
super-rebel against a Eugenic Earth-based tyrannical government. His
"Sixth Column" or "The Day after Tomorrow" features a Reverend-led
rebellion against Han Chinese tyrannical Earth-based government. Kim
Stanley Robinson's Mars series features 21st Century Martians rebelling
against an Earth-based tyrannical governmen t. In Armageddon 2419 by
Phillip Francis Nowlan, Buck Rogers rebels against the Han Chinese
tyrannical Earth-based government. In John Varly's "Ophiuchi Hotline"
human rebels survive alien invasion and a tyrannical Earth-based
government by use of the ultimate galactic 0055 number.