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45-461: BSFS is an active organization which hosts many free, public events at its headquarters in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore City. Located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, it holds a business meeting on the second Saturday of each month at 7 PM that covers planning for Balticon and general BSFS organizational issues. It also hosts an anime, manga, and gaming social event on the third Saturday of

90-501: A (non-functioning) streetcar . Its only production of consequence was starting Balticon SM (1966) and it has in common with the present group only the name, spirit, Balticon, and continuity of the same three founding members. There was no formal BSFS during the intervening years, but several fans managed to keep the Balticon SM tradition alive by holding Balticons SM number 3 through 8. The present Baltimore Science Fiction Society

135-487: A Maryland school/schools. The BSFS has presented the Compton Crook Award each Balticon SM (since 1983) for "... the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year ...". The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon SM (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) and presented with

180-429: A few by Asaro. The CD has twelve songs, eleven originals and a cover of " Sound of Silence ". Asaro, who did not know how to sing, took voice lessons in preparation for the recordings, and continues to train and perform. Asaro has described how the collaboration inspired her work, as exemplified by the song "Emeralds", which she was not able to finish until she and Ani were in the studio recording his vocals. During 2009,

225-580: A preponderance of influential writers, including noted fantasist Jack Chalker and Robert Howard scholar Mark Owings, attracting luminaries Roger Zelazny (who at the time was still working for nearby Social Security Administration), Joe and Jack Haldeman , and many others. There was a close alliance with neighboring WSFS, with strong cross-pollination, aiding the growth of both organizations, assisted by Jerry Jacks, Gay Haldeman, and Stephen Patt. It went into suspension as an organization after an election of officers which proved disastrous on October 12, 1968, on

270-608: A principal dancer for two dance groups at Harvard: The Mainly Jazz Dance Company and the Harvard University Ballet. After she graduated, her undergraduate students took over Mainly Jazz and made it into a club at the college. She has completed two terms as president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) (2003–2005) and during her tenure established the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her husband

315-415: Is a collaboration between Catherine Asaro and the rock musicians Point Valid . The project resulted in a CD, Diamond Star (Starflight Music, April 2009), which is a "soundtrack" for the book, Diamond Star ( Baen Books ). The novel tells the story of Del-Kurj, a Ruby Dynasty prince who would rather be a rock singer than sit on the throne. The lyrics to the songs appear in the novel Diamond Star and were

360-521: Is a General Social Meeting which follows right after that. And on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, the Games Club of Maryland hosts a gaming day called Alphabet Soup at BSFS headquarters from 12 –6PM. Authors such as Catherine Asaro , Philippa Ballantine , Charles Shields, T.J. Perkins, and others have spoken there in recent years. It maintains a large free lending library, cooperates with other science fiction organizations, runs www.bsfs.org which

405-540: Is a detailed website with extensive resources, and conducts other public outreach events promoting literacy. BSFS is an open, equal organization which welcomes every gender, sex, religion, and creed. BSFS sponsors a young writers contest for Maryland students named "The Jack L. Chalker Young Writers Contest." BSFS conducts the annual Bobby Gear Memorial Charity Auction to fund the BSFS Books for Kids program which gives free reading books to students in cooperation with

450-687: Is a disqualification, in which event a judge from another court, or a retired appellate judge, may be specially assigned to sit in the place of the disqualified justice. In practice, almost all cases are heard by seven justices, though a quorum for the court is five justices. While it is generally an appellate court and hears most cases on appeal, the Supreme Court of Maryland has exclusive jurisdiction over certain matters, such as legislative redistricting , removal of certain officers, and certification of questions of law. Additionally, it had exclusive jurisdiction in death penalty appeals prior to

495-611: Is also noted for including sophisticated mathematical concepts in her fiction. The method of space travel used in the Skolian Empire books comes from a paper Asaro wrote on complex variables and special relativity that appeared in the American Journal of Physics . The novel Spherical Harmonic involves an imagined universe based on the Hilbert space described by the spherical harmonic eigenfunctions that solve

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540-707: Is being slowly renovated as time and money allow. On December 15, 2004, after a long fight by BSFS the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled favorably on the tax exemption status of the BSFS building, reversing a ruling by the Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation. The decision forced the state to revise the Maryland property tax code for literary organizations and other non-profit organizations that serve an educational purpose. Along with

585-406: Is known as a hard science fiction writer for the scientific depth of her work. The amount of science varies from book to book, with novels such as Primary Inversion , The Radiant Seas , and Spherical Harmonic on the most scientifically dense end of the spectrum, including elements such as equations and diagrams of quantum mechanical wave functions and Klein bottles . Stanley Schmidt ,

630-435: Is one justice from each of the state's seven Judicial Circuits. Each justice is required to be a resident of his or her respective circuit. The circuits are currently as follows: Maryland Judicial Circuits Unlike most other American federal, state, and local courts, the justices on the Supreme Court of Maryland wear red robes and with white cross-collars, reminiscent of British court dress . Judges at all other levels of

675-716: The Eastern Shore at Easton as well as on the Western Shore at the State capital. The Maryland Constitution of 1851 divided the State into four judicial districts. Voters of each district elected a judge to the Court of Appeals for a ten-year term. The Court became responsible solely for appellate duties and sat only at Annapolis, whereas before it sat in various locations throughout the State. Five judges, each elected from one of five judicial districts, were prescribed by

720-597: The Laplace Equation , and some prose in the book is written in the shape of the sinusoidal waves found in the spherical harmonics. Her novel The Quantum Rose is an allegory to quantum scattering theory and is dedicated to her doctoral advisors and mentors in the subject, Alex Dalgarno , Kate Kirby , and Eric J. Heller . The novella "Aurora in Four Voices" includes topics ranging from Fourier series to integration problems in calculus . In essays in

765-613: The Maryland Constitution of 1864 . The Maryland Constitution of 1867 (currently in effect) returned to the older form of requiring Court of Appeals judges to assume trial court and appellate duties. In seven judicial circuits, the Governor, with Senate advice and consent, designated a chief judge. In the eighth judicial circuit in Baltimore , the voters elected the chief judge. These eight chief judges then constituted

810-963: The National Academy of Sciences , Harvard , Georgetown University , NASA , The American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ), The Global Competitiveness Forum in Saudi Arabia, the New Zealand National ConText Writer's program, the University of Maryland, the US Naval Academy , and many other institutions. A former ballet and jazz dancer , Catherine Asaro has performed with dance companies and in musicals on both coasts and in Ohio. She founded and served as artistic director and

855-617: The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) and the United States of America Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS). Asaro is a member of SIGMA, a think tank of speculative writers that advises the government as to future trends affecting national security. She is also known for her advocacy of bringing girls and women into STEM fields and for increased diversity, and for challenging gender roles and literary expectations in her fiction. She has been an invited speaker or visiting professor for various institutions, including

900-580: The Attorney Grievance Commission and State Board of Law Examiners in attorney disciplinary and admission matters. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland, designated by the Governor, is the constitutional administrative head of the Maryland judicial system. Cases typically come before the Supreme Court of Maryland on a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Appellate Court of Maryland . The court can decline

945-514: The Celtic rock song "Ancient Ages". Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland (previously the Maryland Court of Appeals ) is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland . The court, which is composed of one chief justice and six associate justices, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis . The term of the Court begins

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990-402: The Court of Appeals. Judicial reorganization in 1943 provided for a five-member Court of Appeals elected for terms of fifteen years. The five judges included two from Baltimore City and one each from three appellate judicial circuits. In 1960, the number of judges was increased to the present-day seven. Until 1994, there was one from each of the first five Appellate Judicial Circuits and two from

1035-794: The Diamond Star Project expanded to include Donald Wolcott, a jazz pianist who accompanied Asaro in concerts. In 2010, Starflight Music released the EP Goodbye Note by Asaro and Wolcott, which includes the song "No Answers with in Paradisum" from the Diamond Star soundtrack, rewritten and sung by Asaro. In 2010, Marty Pell joined the Diamond Star Project as an additional pianist, and in 2011, Greg Adams replaced Wolcott as Asaro's primary accompanist. In 2018, Asaro teamed up with author and songwriter Arlan Andrews to do

1080-784: The Earth 66 million years ago and caused mass extinctions , including the demise of the dinosaurs. The Saga of the Skolian Empire, informally called the Skolian Saga, is a series of science fiction novels, novelettes and novellas revolving around characters from an interstellar empire known as the Skolian Empire and their power struggle with the rival Eubian Concord . The arc of the books unfolds over several generations of characters and revolves around political intrigues, but also contains subplots regarding romance , physics , bio-enhancements , and virtual computer networks . Asaro

1125-400: The Governor appointed all of the judges. Five judges were commissioned in 1778, but that number was reduced to three in 1801. The Court was restructured in 1806 by dividing the State into six judicial districts with a chief judge and two associate judges for each district appointed by the Governor and Council. Together, these six chief judges constituted the Court of Appeals which began to sit on

1170-552: The Maryland judiciary wear the more customary black robes. Justices of the Supreme Court of Maryland who no longer wish to work full time, or wish to have more control over their schedules, may become senior justices and be appointed to hear cases if: they were not removed or involuntarily retired from the bench, they did not leave the bench for reason of disability, they did not leave the bench because they lost an election or did not gain Senate confirmation, they were not censured by

1215-538: The Sixth Appellate Judicial Circuit (Baltimore), but a Constitutional amendment realigned the circuits to create seven circuits with one judge from each. Since 1975, the Court of Appeals has heard cases almost exclusively by way of certiorari . As a result, the Court's formerly excessive workload has been reduced to a more manageable level, thus allowing the Court to devote more time to the most important and far-reaching issues. Maryland

1260-782: The Skolian Empire . Catherine Asaro was born on November 6, 1955, in Oakland, California , and grew up in El Cerrito, California . She attended Kennedy High School in Richmond, California , as part of the Richmond Voluntary Integration Plan . She has a B.S. with highest honors in chemistry from UCLA , and both a master's in physics and a PhD in chemical physics from Harvard University . When not writing and making appearances at conventions and signings, Asaro teaches math, physics, and chemistry. She

1305-506: The abolition of capital punishment in Maryland . The Supreme Court of Maryland likewise retains original jurisdiction to discipline all attorneys admitted to the practice of law in Maryland. It can impose penalties ranging from reprimands to the ultimate punishment, disbarment. The seven justices of the Supreme Court of Maryland are appointed by the Governor of Maryland with Senate consent. They serve ten-year terms. However, note that

1350-493: The back of some of her novels, Asaro explains the mathematical and physics basis of the ideas used in the books, in particular Spherical Harmonic, The Quantum Rose, and The Moon's Shadow. In the anthology Aurora in Four Voices (which includes the novella of the same name), Asaro describes the mathematical basis of several stories in the anthology, including the use of Fourier transforms, Riemann sheets , and complex numbers in "The SpaceTime Pool." The Diamond Star Project

1395-436: The ballot for re-election says only 'for continuance in office'. I.e. there is no opposing candidate. The justices of the court are required to be citizens of and qualified voters in Maryland. Prior to their appointment, they must have lived in Maryland for at least five years, and must have lived for at least six months in the appellate judicial circuit from which they are appointed. They must be at least thirty years of age at

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1440-540: The cash award. Compton Crook , who used the nom de plume Stephen Tall , died in 1981. He was a long time Baltimore resident, a Towson University professor, and, of course, a science fiction author. The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was first formed on January 5, 1963, on the back seat of a Trailways bus, by people returning from a meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). Early founding members including

1485-453: The inspiration for the CD. Point Valid is an alternative band originating in Baltimore, Maryland , with Hayim Ani on vocals and guitar, Adam Leve on drums and Max Vidaver on guitar. Ani wrote most of the music for the CD, and Asaro wrote most of the lyrics, as well as music for three songs. Ani also contributed three original compositions, both music and lyrics. Most of the vocals are by Ani, with

1530-420: The intermediate appellate court from the Court of Special Appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland . The new names became effective on December 14, 2022. As Maryland's highest court, the Supreme Court of Maryland reviews cases of both major and minor importance. Throughout the year, the Supreme Court of Maryland holds hearings on the adoption or amendment of rules of practice and procedure. It also supervises

1575-463: The long time editor of Analog magazine, wrote that Primary Inversion is "an impressive first novel; not just a good story, but the kind of speculation we too seldom see – really new science that just might be possible." Asaro is noted as one of the few female science fiction writers who also has a doctorate in hard science, in Asaro's case a PhD from Harvard in theoretical Chemical Physics. Asaro

1620-407: The month from 2 – 6 PM. BSFS also hosts a Speculative Fiction Critique Circle for science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. writers to receive feedback on their work: that Circle meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. There is also a Book Discussion Circle that meets on the 4th Saturday of every month, from 6:30 to 8 PM, to discuss and analyze an assigned book; then there

1665-634: The petition, and refuse to hear the case, or it can grant the "cert," and hear the appeal. The justices sometimes decide to hear an appeal before the lower appellate court has heard the case. This is known as the Court 'granting certiorari on its own motion', or 'reaching down'. In this instance, the writ of certiorari is issued to the trial court, rather than to the Appellate Court of Maryland (Maryland's intermediate appellate court, or appellate court of right). The court does not sit in panels; all seven justices sit on each case ( en banc ) unless there

1710-518: The plethora of regular events it hosts, BSFS also maintains a popular SF resources website with something for everyone who likes science fiction in any of its cultural art forms. Catherine Asaro Catherine Ann Asaro (born November 6, 1955) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, singer and teacher. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of

1755-492: The second Monday of September. The Court is unique among American courts in that the justices wear red robes. As the highest tribunal in Maryland, the Court of Appeals was created by Article 56 of the Maryland Constitution of 1776 . The Court was to be "composed of persons of integrity and sound judgment in the law, whose judgment shall be final and conclusive in all cases of appeal, from the general court, court of chancery, and court of admiralty". With counsel, advice and consent,

1800-423: The time of appointment, and must have been admitted to practice law in Maryland. Appointees should be "most distinguished for integrity, wisdom and sound legal knowledge." After initial appointment by the Governor and confirmation by the Senate, members of the court, at the first general election occurring at least one year after their appointment, run for continuance in office on their records without opposition. If

1845-508: The voters reject the retention in office of a justice, or the vote is tied, the office becomes vacant. Otherwise, the incumbent justice is retained in office for a ten-year term. This requirement of voter approval is similar to provisions in the Missouri Plan , a non-partisan method for selecting judges which is used by 11 states. Like all Maryland judges, members of the Supreme Court of Maryland must retire by their 70th birthday. There

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1890-485: Was John Kendall Cannizzo (1957–2018), an astrophysicist at NASA . They have one daughter, a ballet dancer who studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge and UC Berkeley. Catherine Asaro is the daughter of Frank Asaro , the nuclear chemist who discovered the iridium anomaly that led the team of Luis Alvarez , Walter Alvarez , Frank Asaro, and Helen Michel to postulate that an asteroid collided with

1935-753: Was director of the Chesapeake Math Program and has coached various nationally ranked teams with home, private, and public school students, in particular the Chesapeake teams for national tournaments such as the Princeton and Harvard-MIT competitions. She also taught a gifted program in math and science at the Yang Academy in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Her students have placed at the top levels in numerous national competitions, including

1980-478: Was formerly one of only two states whose highest judicial body was called a "Court of Appeals" rather than a "Supreme Court," along with the New York Court of Appeals . In the 2022 general election held on November 8, 2022, voters approved a constitutional amendment to change the name of the court to the "Supreme Court of Maryland", and the title of its judges to "Justice." The same amendment also renamed

2025-548: Was restarted in 1974 when it was incorporated in the State of Maryland . It applied for and was granted IRS tax exempt status. BSFS is the third Science Fiction society in the country to own their own meeting place. LASFS ( Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society ) and NESFA ( New England Science Fiction Association ) are the other two. The former theater at 3310 East Baltimore Street , in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore,

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