January 1999
Enter Freely and of Your Own Will
Welcome to Cheryl DuCoin from Spring Branch (in the Greater Houston
area) and to Elizabeth Bartmess who is just from Houston. We are glad to
welcome both of you on board. Again we want to apologize for our error
in listing Stuart Turnbull and Steve Deyo in invisible electrons in the
December issue. We are not quite yet ready to make
http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/ the official home of the Info-Alert and
leave ListBot behind but we are definitely getting close. If you want to
give archived copies a look this is where you should go, or if you have
plain vanilla email and want to look at this current version where you can
follow the links.
Friends of Fandom Info-Alert - http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/
The RuneSword Howls Again!
According to Science Fiction News of the Week, Michael Moorcock has signed
a deal with publisher Warner Aspect to write three more novels in his
famous Elric fantasy saga. Elric was not only the first aspect of the
Eternal Champion but was identified in a 1997 Online Worldcon Interview as
Moorcock's favorite character. The books--titled The Dreamthief's
Daughter, The Silverskin and Mournblade--will be published in hardcover
format beginning in late 2000 or early 2001. The new novels will continue
the stories of Elric, the wandering Prince of Ruins; Rose von Bek; Kirla,
the Dreamthief's Daughter; Duke Arioch of Chaos; and other characters both
familiar and unfamiliar to fans of the series.
Michael Moorcock - http://travel.to/moorcock/
Moorcock's LoneStarCon bio -
http://www.io.com/~lsc2/bio/moorcock.html
Elric of Melnibone -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0441203981/fantasicfuturesbA
Transcript of 97 Worldcon Interview -
http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/worldcon97/MichaelMoorcock.html
Science Fiction Weekly - http://www.scifi.com/sfw/
What? No Slash?
Kimberly Murphy-Smith, formally editor of the e-zine Power Star, some of
whose issues we once distributed from an earlier version of 001-Science
Fiction (which ran on a computer BBS), has returned. This time her
fibromyalgia-arthritis-inflamed fingers are only being taxed quarterly.
(Talk about typing through the pain.) The first issue of her new web- and
email- zine, The Hot Corner, contains such diverse offerings as her own
Shadow tale of hospital mystery and murder, the script for "Principia
Discordia: An Entertainment For Coffeehouse Theater" which is actually a
fair introduction to discordianism, and a Hazel Kohler tale of Captain
Scarlet And The Mysterons (but without the Mysterons), but this is OK
since there is a companion piece by Jason Helwege, "How To Tell If Your
Boss Is A Mysteron Agent". Like Power Star, The Hot Corner is an eclectic
hotbed of Media based fiction, but also carries some useful non-fiction
entries like Ye Olde Trivia And Collectibles Shoppe where the proprietor,
Bennet Pomerantz, reviews a delightfully eccentric collection of fannish
collectibles. Speaking of collectibles, there is a limited edition paper
copy of the Zine available for $5 via the US snail mail system.
Submissions to The Hot Corner are restricted to no more than PG-13. So,
yeah, no slash.
The Hot Corner - http://members.aol.com/hczine/
Ye Olde Trivia And Collectibles Shoppe -
http://members.aol.com/hczine/curissue/hc11.html
Speaking of Zines, Zines, Zines
Several Unlimited will be doing their Internet Zine Sale again in 1999.
Last Year they sold about $6,000. in Zines. Additionally they have
purchased six dealers tables at this year's RevelCon. So if you would
like them to handle your zine for either the Internet Sale or for RevelCon
(or both), now is the time to let them know. The forms and letters for
the Internet Zine Sale should be going up on their Web Page Real Soon Now.
Unlike the the Hot Corner above, the Several Unlimited Internet Zine Sale
will handle zines across a variety of maturity levels from dirty old
ladies, on up. :-)
Several Unlimited Internet Zine Sale -
http://members.aol.com/ErikaF/su/sale.htm
Revelcon - http://www.clever.net/cam/revelcon10a.html
Several Unlimited and Other Texas Fan Organizations -
http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html
Bruce Sterling Alert
In a November Sterling Online Interview, Gardner Dozois asked Bruce if he
would be pleased or dismayed to run across a Bruce Sterling cult. Bruce
allowed that he pretty much already had one, but figures he will be okay
as long as he can avoid the temptation to build an armed compound
somewhere in Guyana. Talking about John Glenn, he predicts the advent of
a new class of Geezer-heroes as a hot social trend. He describes his new
book, Distraction, as a novel in which a politician is the hero, but
promises he will never have to do such a perverse thing again.
Gardner has an nice excerpt from Bruce's short story Taklamakan on the
Asimov Web Site.
Bruce Sterling - http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/
Distraction -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0553104845/fantasicfuturesbA
Online Interview Transcript -
http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/1998/BruceSterling.html
Asimovs - http://www.sfsite.com/asimovs/
Taklamakan - http://www.sfsite.com/asimovs/fiction/tak.htm
Laura Mixon good for most Libraries
Or at least, so says the Library Journal, speaking of her novel, Proxies.
Sort of a combination of cyberpunk and bio-tech thriller taking place on a
near future world with projections in several directions, global warming,
nanotech, the first interstellar mission (Ursa Major), McCaffrey's shell
people the way it would really work, all crossweaved with unchanging human
nature as exemplified by greedy corporations, secret government projects,
and the subtle difference between love and hate.
Laura Mixon - http://www.digitalnoir.com/
Proxies -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0312854676/fantasicfuturesbA
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
January releases from Marion Zimmer Bradley, C.J. Cherryh, Stephen R.
Donaldson, and L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
For more listings and more detail (updated monthly), see
http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
Speaking of L.E. Modesitt, Jr., come to OwlCon in Houston on January
22-24 and meet Mr. Modesitt himself! Buy his new book and get his
autograph!
Ready to try an online con? EOSCON II (Avon Books' online sf&f con)
will be held Jan. 30, 1999 between 12 noon and 4 PM CST. The con
promises to have lectures, panels, chat, prizes, interactive
storytelling and will feature a number of author guests. For more
information [NOTE: URL has changed from last month's Info-Alert!] see
http://www.e-horizon.com/eoscon2/ .
See also our monthly What's Happening list at
http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
Houston-area and Texas Science Fiction Organizations
Zines!! If you have zines you?d like to sell, remember to check out
Several Unlimited?s upcoming March-April 1999 Internet Zine Sale at
http://members.aol.com/ErikaF/su/sale.htm
To find out more, see our listing at
http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html .
Science Fiction on TV
Babylon Project: The Crusade might debut as early as March or April 1999
(rather than the earlier predicted June 1999) now that there will not be
NBA Playoffs during that time period to schedule around. Stay tuned!
For more information about Science Fiction on TV, see our listing at
http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html .
Mars Attracts or Back to the Red Planet
Mars Polar Lander -- due to become the first spacecraft to set down near
the edge of Mars' southern polar cap -- pierced through a blustery,
cloud-covered Florida sky at 3:21 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, January 3,
atop a Delta II launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Station's Launch
Complex 17B. The spacecraft, launched successfully on the first day of
the launch period, is equipped with a robotic arm to dig beneath the
layered terrain of the Martian polar region and two microprobes to crash
into the planet's surface and conduct two days of soil and water
experiments up to 1 meter (3 feet) below the Martian surface.
Mars Polar Lander is the second of two spacecraft launched to the red
planet during the December 1998-January 1999 Mars launch opportunity. Mars
Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander are the second set of spacecraft to
be launched in NASA's long-term program of robotic exploration of Mars.
Mars Climate Orbiter was launched December 11, and is scheduled to reach
Mars next September 23. Onboard Mars Polar Lander are two microprobes
developed as the Deep Space 2 project under NASA's New Millennium Program.
The Deep Space 2 probes will smash into the Martian surface as a test of
new technologies for future planetary descent probes.
Initially there were some problems with the star camera, which is used for
attitude determination during the long cruise. It was not able to acquire
a specific set of stars to establish the spacecraft's position in space.
Several possibilities could have accounted for this temporary difficulty,
including particles dislodged at launch forming a thin halo of dust around
the spacecraft. But diagnostic images taken by the star camera confirmed
Wednesday that too much stray light was being reflected off the
spacecraft's backshell. After a change in orientation, things worked
perfectly.
Mars Polar Lander mission launches -
http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/astronomy/news/1999/solarsys/990103.html
Mars Society (Houston Chronicle writeup) -
http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/exploration/mars/text/mars.html
Mars Society homepage -
http://www.marssociety.org/
Galileo Studies Jupiter's Magnetic Personality
Instruments studied a previously unexplored region of Jupiter's
magnetosphere as Galileo flew through the huge planet's plasma sheet. The
plasma sheet, which lies along Jupiter's magnetic equator, is an area that
exhibits a high concentration of plasma, or ionized gases. This allows
relatively strong electrical currents to flow, and reates dynamic
interactions between the plasma and Jupiter's magnetic field. The plasmas
originate on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, are transported outward by the
magnetic field, and ultimately flow outward with the solar wind. These new
data will help scientists understand the plasma's final fate.
The spacecraft's next scheduled encounter will be on January 31, when
Galileo performs its final flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa during the
current extended mission. After that, the spacecraft will fly by Callisto
four times, then will lower itself in preparation for two flybys of Io.
Project Galileo home page - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/
FFFFeedback
Dear Clif,
Its been lonely here missing my old buddies from the Future Visions store.
But finally I have some time to get involved with my SciFi friends.
Been writing like crazy. I have a short story called "The Cities Of
Earth" finished and now copies are floating around & I hope it will be
published. It's about human colonists isolated from Earth by an alien
blockade. After the aliens (Algollians) were defeated, ships were sent to
find out the fate of Earth. Anyway, a lot of fun to write.
Now I'm writing a new story called "Empire Of The Dead". A talented
computer graphics artist, Scott Ross, whom I met on a park bench at
LoneStarCon, has done beautiful illustrations for me.
Anyway, I'd like to be on your Email list for Friends of Fandom. But
when I went to your site it was confusing when asked for a password.
What's the procedure?
I'd like to join. Make it so.
Cheryl DuCoin
Cheryl,
It's so. You're in. Good to hear from you. Sounds like you _have_ been
busy. Be sure and let us know when and where the stories are published.
I assume that you are _not_ talking about the Scott Ross that used to be
with Industrial Light and Magic? Time gap while I consulted the web -
apparently with Digital Domain now?
http://www.d2.com/text/about/founders.html
Hopefully the sign-up procedure will be simpler very soon. But a note
works fine.
Good Luck with the writing!
- Clif
Doug Herrington wrote:
Hi Margaret! Thanks so much for your quick reply. To be honest I don't
Anyhow, I do indeed intend to attend a number of the area conventions. I
Thanks again. It was nice to hear from you.
I hope you and Clif have a great holiday season.
Doug
Doug-
- Margaret
Thank you for your SF site!
Why is SF so low profile or dormant in Houston of all places? Gotta see
Steve Deyo
Steve, I'm answering your message rather than Margaret (which I'm sure
Houston has SF groups rather than an SF group. I find myself curious as
However... Some of us in Friends of Fandom have long wanted the
Science Fiction _is_ low key in Houston for a metropolitian area of its
I'm putting you on the mailing list for our monthly email publication (The
- Clif
If anyone else would like to comment, please send us email. And
Send any email comments or suggestions regarding fannish activities/events
Be seeing you!
Margaret A. Fincannon, Friends of Fandom &
Warning, Will Robinson!! Fine print detected ahead!...
remember where I found your page. I was already on the fandom mailing
list. Perhaps it was there. I haven't been sure how to go about getting
involved in Houston fandom. I am originally from Ottawa, Canada and
haven't really been active since leaving two years ago. (With the
exception of a trek to WorldCon in San Antonio. With it that close, how
could I pass it up?
just wondered if there were any SF clubs or (especially) writing workshops
that met regularly. Since I am on my own in Houston, I am kind of in a
void at this point and don't know a soul involved with any of the
organizations. So.... rather than continue to be a hermit, I was just
touching base to find out if any people met regularly. I get the sense
that Houston does not have as active a network as some other cities. Is
this correct? Just wondering.
ArmadilloCon is the con which regularly has a track for would-be
authors. The "beginning author" panel members are published sf authors and
working sf editors. It's held each year in Austin. The next one will be
held Sept. 10-12, 1999.
See http://www.golem-computing.com/dillocon/ .
Plus, ArmadilloCon is attended by a slew of other published authors,
working sf editors, sf agents, & (of course) avid sf readers. (It's a good
situation because some time back "critical mass" was achieved and the
authors on their own come to see their author/editor friends, etc.
ArmadilloCon is fortunate in this regard.)
The Houston Ritual SF Breakfast group meets near downtown Houston on a
regular basis and includes at least one published author among its
regulars. The group is a social gathering (not a writer's workshop itself)
and you can hear discussions about computers, rocketry, science fiction,
NASA, politics, and more on any given occasion.
See http://www.flash.net/~aajiv/
There are a number of general writer's support groups all around
Houston. At one time Jeff Graeber was part of such a group in
The Woodlands. I know that Jeff has an interest in science fiction but I
do not know if the group has any current authors working on science
fiction short stories (or novels).
There are also many "fan fiction" authors in Houston. If you are at
all interested in writing about established characters or in an
established world (such as Star Trek) you might be interested in writing
for a fanzine or participating in an online written adventure.
Several Unlimited (See http://members.aol.com/ErikaF/su/su.htm)
meets on a regular basis here in Houston. They are currently "on hiatus"
for the holidays but regular monthly meetings will resume in January.
Quite a few of this group's members are deeply involved in writing/editing
fan fiction and fan fiction magazines ("zines").
The "online fan fiction" group is the Starfleet group.
See http://www.flash.net/~mrbasil/
(I don't believe these people actually meet in person but rather interact
in written form.)
Please do try to make OwlCon in January. A number of the regular
Houston sf crowd should be there (that is, in addition to the gamers). It
will depend on Clif's schoolwork whether he & I make OwlCon. (This will
be, WE HOPE, his last semester in pursuit of his computer science Ph.D.
degree. He's almost ABD [all but dissertation].) Hope you have a great
holiday season, too!
Hope this gives you some leads. Welcome to Houston (in person) sf!
I'm glad that you've decided to come out to the cons (rather than to
continue to be a "hermit"). Give a try to the groups listed above.
Hopefully, one (or more)will pique your interest!
It's helped me (new to Houston) to find the local SF group ... such as
it is.
what we can do about that...
has to be disappointing), but she thought that maybe I could give a better
reply to your question. First of all, let me say thank-you on her behalf
for letting us know that the site was useful. She always gets a lift when
the work she puts in helps people.
to which you consider the local SF group, Several Unlimited or the
Saturday Morning breakfast group perhaps?
organization to sponsor an SF group, particularly one that included a
literary component rather than straight media (as Several Unlimited
primarily is). We had at one time a person who was all set to spear-head
such an organization but he ran out of gas on us. I think we could help
provide such an organization a jump-start followed by benign neglect.
size. Nowdays we (Friends of Fandom) mostly lay infrastructure for other
groups rather than making a frontal assault on that. The last such group
was Houston FACT (sponsered by another non-profit organization of fans),
but it died when its leading lights left Houston. Our book discussion
group ground to a halt. SF Conventions are being squeezed to death by the
hotels. None of this means that you couldn't start an group that would
really put Houston Science Fiction on the map. If you think you would be
interested in doing that with some help that we could provide (we have for
example a giant mailing list of people that have been interested enough in
Science Fiction to attend an SF related convention), then we need to talk.
Info-Alert). Let me know if this is a bad idea.
that wraps up another issue.
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).
Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Vice Pres. of Publications
http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@clever.net
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The Friends of Fandom Information Alert is an official publication of
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furtherance of its tax exempt purpose. The information contained
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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nor the officers or board of directors of Friends of Fandom. Friends of
Fandom is a nonprofit, literary, scientific, and educational 501(c)(3)
corporation committed to encouraging and facilitating interest and
activities pertaining to science fiction, fantasy, and science fact in its
various forms.
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