Friends of Fandom - Info Alert

      December 1998

      New Blood

      Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books

      New books announced from Lynn Abbey, Poul Anderson, Piers Anthony, Greg
      Bear, Hal Clement, Peter David, Kate Elliott, James P. Hogan, Guy Gavriel
      Kay, Andre Norton, Jody Lynn Nye, Terry Pratchett, Josepha Sherman, Robert
      Silverberg, Bruce Sterling, Judith Tarr, Harry Turtledove, Tad Williams,
      and Timothy Zahn. December releases from Ray Bradbury, J.M.Dillard,
      Katherine Kerr, Elizabeth Moon, and Elizabeth ann Scarborough.
      For more listings and more detail (updated monthly), see
      http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .

      Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons

      Ready to try an online con? Avon Eos took out a full page ad in the
      December issue of Locus to cordially invite you to their second annual
      real-time, online science fiction and fantasy convention, EOSCON II, to
      be held Jan.30, 1999 between 12 noon and 4 PM. The con promises to have
      lectures, panels, chat, prizes, interactive storytelling and will feature
      a number of author guests: Dennis Danvers, Raymond E. Feist, James Alan
      Gardner, Susan Matthews, Paul McAuley, Maureen F. McHugh, Saverna Park,
      and more. For more information, see http://www.avonbooks.com/eos .

      See also our monthly What's Happening list at
      http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .

      Houston-area and Texas Science Fiction Organizations

      tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'? ("Do you speak Klingon?") An informal online
      gathering of Klingon language enthusiasts will be held from 1-3 p.m. CST
      on the last Saturday of the month, at mush.kli.org port 2218. If you're
      a longtime student of the language, if you're just starting to learn it,
      or if you're simply curious, you're invited to attend. For more
      information, email qeyyoH or Lisa
      .

      To find out more, see our listing at
      http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html .

      Science Fiction on TV

      Next B5 movie will be Call to Arms, set to air January 3, 1999. Babylon
      5?s spinoff series, Crusade, will now debut June 2, 1999. (Apparently it
      just was not possible to have the series ready by the beginning of January
      1999.)

      Our hats are off to longtime Lurker?s Guide to Babylon 5 editor Steven
      Grimm. He?s done a fantastic job over the years, almost by hand! (He
      writes all his own html, answers all his own email, etc.) It?s been a
      one-man labor of love which I early came to rely upon and savor. Find out
      what?s next for the Guide now that the Babylon 5 series has come to an
      end. See:
      http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/misc/whatnext.html

      For more information about Science
      Fiction on TV, see our
      listing at http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html .

      Science Fiction at the Movies
      Thumbs up, I (Margaret) say, on Star Trek IX "Insurrection". As a
      true and loyal Trekker, I attended the first showing of the movie on the
      day it opened, December 11. (I was even conveniently off work that day,
      due to something called a "floating holiday"!)
      OK, it's not as good as Star Trek IV "The Voyage Home" (the
      "whales" Trek movie) but it is considerably better than Star Trek V "The Final Frontier" (the one where Kirk & crew discover both a
      never-mentioned previously older half-brother of Spocks and God trapped
      at the center of the galaxy. God insists on commandeering the Enterprise
      for His escape, leading to one of my favorite lines by Kirk in the film
      "If you're God, why do you need my ship?"). I even liked Star Trek IX
      better than Star Trek VIII "First Contact", although "First Contact" was
      reasonably good.
      "Insurrection" takes a lighter tone than did "First Contact" and
      has both humor and a bit of romance to it. I highly recommend it as a
      "date" movie and can't wait to take Clif to see it with me. (He
      couldn't go with me the first time because I went in the middle of the
      day and he was still at school.)
      For more on Star Trek IX and to download the theatrical trailer,
      see the Star Trek IX Web site:
      http://insurrection.startrek.com/
      Speaking of movie trailers, as an added bonus I also got to see
      the Star Wars trailer for Episode 1: "The Phantom Menace" while I was at
      the movies. No, it wasn't shown during the previews for Star Trek but I
      got the theatre personnel to tell me both that they DID have a copy and
      that it was showing during previews before "Rugrats" and "It's a Bug's Life".
      Naturally, I was hopelessly hooked the second that the familiar
      Star Wars music began! R2D2 and Yoda are back, looking like their old
      selves. C3PO is back but looks like a skeleton of himself. (Yes, Kenny
      Baker, Frank Oz, and Anthony Daniels, respectively, are all back!)
      Somehow, I'll have to wait until May 21, 1999, the scheduled release
      date. For more information and to download the theatrical trailer to
      see it for yourself, see the Star Wars Web site at:
      http://www.starwars.com/index.html

      Space, The Final Frontier

      Knee-Bone connected to the Thigh-Bone?. Yes, Zarya is now connected to
      Unity and we have an embryo International Space Station!
      For more information, see

      Intl Space Station (official site) http://station.nasa.gov

      Endeavor STS-88
      http://station.nasa.gov/station/assembly/flights/sts88/index.html

      Yahoo! Full Coverage
      http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Tech/International_Space_Station/

      NASA: Johnson Space Center (official site) http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/

      For the next best thing to being there, visit the newly re-born Burke
      Baker Planetarium which re-opened December 11, 1998.

      With the renovation this fall, the Burke Baker Planetarium has become the
      world's first full-view immersive video theater. This wrap-around
      experience, called Sky Vision, will cover the new tilted planetarium dome
      with seamless moving video images of the Earth below and the wonders of
      the universe above. The Burke Baker Planetarium is the first planetarium
      in the world to display this new high-resolution video technology.

      Experience the new Burke Baker Planetarium this holiday season;
      memories of your 4th grade visit will be left in the cosmic dust!
      For more information, see: http://hmns.mus.tx.us/hmns/planetarium.html

      Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous

      NEAR is the product of state-of-the-art engineering at Johns Hopkins'
      Applied Physics Laboratory. It is among the first of NASA's new series of
      innovative, low-cost, deep-space "Discovery" missions to study our cosmic
      environs. Long past its historic 1997 flyby of the carbonaceous asteroid
      Mathilde, NEAR is now gradually revealing the secrets of Eros to the
      scientists and engineers who designed its instruments and planned the
      spacecraft's orbital and observational sequences.

      The NEAR Team invites you to share in the discoveries, beamed back to
      Earth via the Deep Space Net of radio telescopes, through the wonders of
      the Internet. Whether you are a science fiction fan, or just a space
      enthusiast, these links will be updated for your use and enjoyment
      throughout NEAR's year-long mission to Eros. Come join us as we explore
      Eros! Rendezvous is on schedule for January 10, 1999. For more
      information, and the latest images see http://near.jhuapl.edu/

      Deep Space One 22 Times as Far Away As Moon

      Deep Space One ion engine sucessfully ignited. By this point it has been
      shut off and ignited several times. NASA has been testing the engine by
      revving it up to its maximum power, past the point where it can draw all
      the energy it needs from the experimental solar panels, and watching as it
      successfully performs an automatic shutdown. The navigational components
      have been performing excellently as well. In fact the only thing about
      the highly experimental vessel that has really been a problem is the
      non-experimental star tracker.

      For the latest information on Deep Space One see
      http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/

      FFFFFeedBack (screech!)

      Clif, Margaret,

      I'm on the mailing list of regular reports from NASA called STO
      (Space Team On-line) which gives personal and technical information about
      the different launchs.

      For example: STO#59 covered the following:

      Part 1: Looking Ahead
      Part 2: Upcoming chat (Chats are a regular part of STO)
      Part 3: Something new from Women of NASA
      Part 4: Helping Out with STS-95 (John Glenn's flight)
      Part 5: Watching History Repeat Itself
      Part 6: Status of Columbia processing

      To subscribe to this free on-line newsletter, send a message to:
      listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words:
      subscribe updates-sto

      Back issues are available at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/updates

      This started as a way to get school kids involved in the space program so
      the writing has a simplicity to it but is still enjoyable.

      -Beth Arganbright

      ----------------
      Dear folks--

      Thanks so much for the nice mention in your newsletter. I never cease to
      be surprised to hear that someone out there has read any of the books, let
      alone liked them. It's a cheering piece of news to wake up to in the
      morning.

      Authors, like parents, aren't supposed to have favorite children; but I
      confess that anyone who likes CLOUDS END is a special delight for me.
      It's not the easiest of the books to read, and it was certainly the
      hardest for me to write. There are all too many times when I feel that I
      significantly failed that book; so to hear from a reader who saw _the
      book_ through the haze of my mistakes and false steps in execution is, um,
      redemptive as well as gratifying in the usual way.

      I am very much looking forward to Armadillocon next year, and hope to see
      y'all there.

      Yours sincerely,
      Sean Stewart
      http://fantasy.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042897.htm

      -----------------------------
      suzanne micallef wrote:

      I am a big fan of Anne McCaffrey's and the list you have put together
      is great. Have you read her non series book called "Restoree"? it is
      a fantasy book and is very good but i could not find it on your list.
      I have also heard of a book called "Pegasus in space" but I don't know
      if it exists.

      Suzanne-

      Thanks for emailing me!

      Yes, I have indeed read _Restoree_ and immediately fell hard in love with
      it. Turns out that this was Ms. McCaffrey's FIRST novel!! What a debut!!

      I have now slightly re-arranged my McCaffrey page to make it easier to get
      around. I did have _Restoree_ on the page but stuck way by itself at the
      top (since it WAS her first novel). I have now moved it to the bottom
      here:

      Non-Series works
      http://www.clever.net/cam/mccafferylist.html#1j

      Second, I have never heard specifically of a book called _Pegasus
      in Space_. The closest I can think of is _Pegasus in Flight_. See this
      portion of my page:

      Talent (Pegasus)
      http://www.clever.net/cam/mccafferylist.html#1d

      _Pegasus in Flight_ is the third book in this sequence.

      I'm anxious to find out more about Namisha's Ship (a new book
      scheduled for publication in February 1999. All I've heard so far is
      that this book does not belong to any existing series or at least is not a
      Pern story. I hope perhaps it will turn out to be a new Brainship story.
      We'll see!!

      Hope that this helps & thanks again for emailing me!--Margaret

      FLASH!!
      Namisha's Ship is not related to any previous series. The cover has a
      woman in a starship and also a large, menacing airborne creature - See our
      Forthcoming SF and Fantasy Books Listing at:
      http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html

      AND That's About Another Issue

      Send any email comments or suggestions regarding fannish
      activities/events in the greater Houston area (or within Texas) or
      regarding this Info Alert to fof@clever.net . If you received this Info
      Alert as a sample and would be interested in receiving future editions
      directly, email clifton@cs.uh.edu or join the list by entering your email
      address on any of our Web pages as listed above (where it says LISTBOT).

      Be seeing you!

      Margaret A. Fincannon, Friends of Fandom &
      Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Vice Pres. of Publications
      http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@clever.net

      And for those who live to read the fine print ...
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      The Friends of Fandom Information Alert is an official publication of
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      therein reflects that believed to be true and accurate by its editors.
      However, we make no guarantees. All opinions expressed are those of the
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