Hello Folks, We had another good turnout at last night's meeting, breaking double digit attendance once again. The vast majority liked our time travel story collection, with only a couple of us not caring for it much. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Time: 9 PM Eastern, 8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, 6 PM Pacific, and 01:00 UTC. Place: Book Nook at http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e The book we're reading this month is Starfarers by Poul Anderson. This one's available from Bookshare at http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/5988 (Listed as only in Good condition, however.) It is also available as a digital download from the BARD site at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.49154 Here's the NLS Synopsis: Astronomers have discovered the possibility of advanced civilizations in the far reaches of the galaxy. A group of ten scientists boards the starship Envoy for a journey that will take thousands of years to complete. Although they eventually encounter another civilization, they are unprepared for the ramifications of the adventure. Here's a longer description from Booklist, taken from Amazon's page for this book: An observatory on the far side of the moon detects strange energy emissions from deep space, which leads to the discovery of space-faring aliens and a drive engine that will power human ships at near light speed. A ship is constructed, and a crew of 10 is chosen to make the trip to try to contact the aliens, even though the ship won't be able to return to Earth for thousands of years. As the explorers reach out to the far side of the galaxy, interacting with three radically different alien races, Earth undergoes a series of radical changes. When and if the crew returns, it is a gamble that they will come back to a recognizable home planet. Master storyteller Anderson uses this backdrop to explore how individuals, cultures, and civilizations react to paradigm shifts and the resulting cycles of expansion and equilibrium. He posits that humanity's desire to explore could ultimately be destructive, but it is integral to our nature. Recommended. SF Grandmaster Poul Anderson was praised for many things in his long and versatile career, including his ability to evoke a sense of wonder and the long view as few other SF authors have. Hope to see another great turnout and a lively discussion of this one next month. Evan