Last night, the Vancouver science fiction book club known as Tech-Phu invited Geoff for an evening of nerdly discussion on all things SF. Geoff had loads of fun.

The Tech-Phu gang know their stuff. Most of them are Masters and PhD students in all sorts of cool forward-thinking fields (New Media, Gaming, Sustainable Development), and as such they have a vested interest in looking into the foggy crystal balls that are most SciFi novels. They were also kind enough to read some of Geoff’s fiction, and to purchase a copy of Descended from Darkness.

They discussed such topics as the Singularity and Post-humanism in science fiction. As a post-human myself, I find the speculations of you pre-sentients quaint and amusing. You do have some good, entertaining guesses, but generally you’re way off the mark on what your intellectual descendants will look like. You all seem to think our motives will be unknown and unknowable. Not really. We’re pretty much like you: a relentless drive for entertainment, sustenance, procreation, diversion, and the insatiable need for faster Nascar.

Stimulating discussion, delicious food, and cold beer; what’s not to like? Nerds need to get together more often. After all, it will be nerds who save the world post-singularity (or will it? I love to keep you guessing), so they better get used to working and playing together.

Every year, the good folks at Clarkesworld Magazine host a contest to pick their readers’ favourite stories published that year. If you enjoyed “Teaching Bigfoot to Read“, why not vote for it as your favourite?

Soon we will have T-shirts for sale to support Bigfoot (and person) literacy. Here’s what the art will look like:

Tired of waiting for that pesky federal election that never seems to arrive? Are you eager to vote for something, but unable to pick between the candidates for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards? Why not nominate one of Geoff’s stories for the Prix Aurora Awards!

The Auroras are awarded to Canadian writers of Speculative Fiction; basically, they are the Canadian equivalent of the Hugos. Stories and novels are nominated by readers, and the stories that receive the hightest number of nominations are put on a short list, which are then voted on by readers in a separate ballot. The Auroras are awarded at CanVention every year which, in 2010, will be held in beautiful Winnipeg.

Three of Geoff’s stories are eligible for nomination in the Short Fiction category this year:

“Teaching Bigfoot to Read” Clarkesworld #28, January, 2009

“Lo’ihi Rising” Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show #15, November, 2009
“The Most Successful Man in the World” Strange, Weird and Wonderful, Summer, 2009

If you think any of those stories are worthy of an Aurora, you can nominate them here.

For a listing of other great Canadian SF, check out the Canada SF Works database for great English and French stories and novels for your consideration.