June 1999
GNU Blood
We would like to welcome on board all the people who signed up for the
Info Alert at the International Space Development Conference. This
is one of our larger growth spurts to date, surpassed only by our original
burst when we spammed everybody whose email address we knew a year and
a half ago, and the reasonably big sign up at Revelcon this last
April. So, a big thank you for joining the crew to Jim Davidson,
Greg Bennett (who is out in Las Vegas planning space hotels), Joe
Rauscher, Laura Domitz, Karen Meschke (yes, the Worldcon chair a few
years back), Terry Berry, Lauren Keeper, Lynne Phillips, Mary Beth
Weiss, Margaret Middleton (yes, the legendary filker), Kathleen
Kilpatrick, Catherine Asaro (yes, the author of the Skolian Empire
series of novels), Monica Visinsky, Carol Johnson, David Cawood,
Bill Wald, Donnie Lowther, Bennett Rutledge, Russ Ault, and Karen
Weiss. Not added at the Space Conference, but email addresses we
are very glad to add to our list all the same; welcome aboard to
John Lowsley, Larry Friesen, Jeff Haverlah, Terry Lambert, John
Dumas, Marissa Dryden and Jo Nell Salling. If that looks shorter
than some of the lists of new people have in the past, it's because
we left out where everyone was from this time, but the distance
awards go to Joe Rauscher and David Cawood, both from Washington DC.
Fasten your seat belts, and bring your laptops to an upright
position, I'm afraid the ride is a little bumpy this time around.
And we are off....
DeForest Kelley Gone
DeForest Kelley (aka Leonard "Bones" McCoy) passed away Friday June
11, 1999 at the age of 79. He was beloved by millions for his
portrayal of the crusty deep-space doctor on the original Star Trek
series.
"DeForest Kelley was a Southern gentleman all of his life - a kind,
good, wonderful friend," said William Shatner, who played Capt. James
Kirk. "I will miss him." Added Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock: "He
represented humanity and it fitted him well. He was a decent, loving,
caring partner and will be deeply missed."
Mrs. Kelley has requested that no more flowers be sent. She has run
out of room for them. However, if you would like to donate to a
DeForest Kelley Memorial Fund at either the North Shore Animal League
or the Harvard Medical School, please see the web page at
http://www.kilroywashere.com/sarah/memfund.htm .
News Reports on DeForest Kelley's Death
Reuters - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/re/story.html?s=v/nm/19990611/re/entertainment_kelley_1.html
States News Service - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/california/story.html?s=v/rs/19990611/ca/index_2.html#19
Associated Press - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/ap_us/story.html?s=v/ap/19990612/us/obit_kelley_5.html
1999 Inductees for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame (founded 1996) chooses
up to four inductees per year. For 1999, the honorees are: Ray
Bradbury, Robert Silverberg, Jules Verne, and Abraham Merritt.
In previous years, the Hall has inducted:
1998: Hal Clement, Frederik Pohl, C.L. Moore, Robert Heinlein
1997: Andre Norton, Arthur C. Clarke
1996: Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell, Jack Williamson, A.E.
van Vogt
For more information about the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall
of Fame,
see:
Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame
http://www.kcsciencefiction.org/hof.htm
Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame (SFWA link)
http://www.sfwa.org/news/sffhof.htm
Science Fiction News
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~sfcenter/news.htm
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
New books announced from Poul Anderson, Catherine Asaro, C.J. Cherryh,
Charles DeLint, Raymond E. Feist, Steven Gould, Joe Haldeman, Jane
Fancher, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Kurtz, Mercedes Lackey, Anne
McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon, Terry Pratchett, Charles Sheffield, Allen
Steele, Sean Stewart, Harry Turtledove, and James White. June
releases from James P. Hogan, Jody Lynn Nye, and Bruce Sterling.
For more sf&f new book listings and more detail (updated monthly), see
http://www.clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
On Monday, July 13 7-8 PM at Austin's SF and Mystery specialty bookstore,
Adventures in Crime and Space, Dave Wolverton will be signing his new SF
novel from Bridge Publications, A Very Strange Trip. This book, a
collaboration with best-selling dead Dianetics author L. Ron Hubbard, is
about the time-traveling adventures of a young West Virginia moonshiner.
There is a very nice image of the cover at
http://www.eden.com/~acs/images/vstripbig.gif . Basically Everett Dumphee
is selected to transport the first prototype time machine to the
Experimental Weapons Battalion in Denver, Colorado, but he takes an
unexpected detour into early and pre-historic America when the machine
activates. This looks to be a nice contrast to his Galaxy spanning
Golden Queen series that has kind of a Poul Anderson feel. Wolverton
has also written several Star Wars books, notably "The Courtship of
Princess Leia" and has collaborated with dead Dianetics author, Hubbard,
before, when editing Hubbard's Writers of the Future collection.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Wolverton has intermixed some mind-blowing
Science Fiction with some high-end hack work for hire. (Clif's Opinion) But in
spite of the collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard, this looks like it may be one
of Wolverton's really good ones, but you have to understand I'm guessing
since I've only read the synopsis.
Given enough lead time, Adventures in Crime and Space can get your mail order
book personalized by Wolverton. Their web page and ordering information
can be found at http://www.eden.com/~acs/ .
Joanne Burger (February 13, 1938 - June 11, 1999)
I (Clif) had not been a member of the Houston Science Fiction Society
(HSFS) very long before I heard an excited "Joanne's going to make this
meeting".
I didn't know what to expect and after I met Joanne Burger, I was hard
put to understand what the air of anticipation was about. And yet, it
was not long before I too came to anticipate her all too infrequent visits.
For one thing she shared a love for John Campbell's Analog and is the
only person I know with a more extensive Analog collection than my own.
For another she had a wry subtle sense of humor and the amused smile
you can see starting to peek at one edge of her mouth at
http://www.clever.net/cam/ILLO/joan1.gif was a frequent feature.
Over the years, I got to know Joanne better. She was the first person
I knew with a small library in her restroom "because my friends will
read the medicine bottles if there is nothing else to read".
Dragons of all kinds collected her. Once a year the HSFS would troop
to Lake Jackson and Joanne's for our annual beach party.
Joanne published several fanzines and in that pre-personal computer
age owned a mimeograph machine and an IBM Selectric typewriter
with replaceable balls for each font.
One of Joanne's characteristics was the effortless way she would adjust
her conversation level to match the person she was talking to, be they a
fellow chemical engineer or the little girl down the street.
She was soft spoken, agreeable, but in her own way had a will of iron.
If she admired anyone, it was her boss, the one she would replace after
his retirement. She was a research chemist for Dow Chemical Company
and a devout (and serious) Catholic and moved easily between those
worlds, and the world of Science Fiction fandom and later the Society
for Creative Anachronism.
She published a list of Forthcoming SF before Locus started, and book
publishers wanting to be listed or reviewed would flood her with paperbacks
and sometimes pre-prints. Small groups of us would head up to Lake Jackson
for an occasional weekend, relaxing and reading at Joanne's. Then she would
load us up with books that didn't make her cut before we left. Many are the
nights I've driven through the fog between Lake Jackson and Houston. A lot
of the books she has given me are boxed in storage with the rest of my life,
waiting for the day they will once more rest on my bookshelves.
Joanne herself did not drive. She didn't see the point of it. She did
perfectly well without it. She was provided with transportation to work
and when she was in Houston she would call on one of her visitors to ferry
her from bookstore to bookstore. When in recent years she decided she
needed to drive, she simply learned in the same competent manner in which
she accomplished everything.
Attending Science Fiction conventions with Joanne was always interesting.
She knew a vast swath of people, writers, fan politicians, and dealers, and
it was always hard to predict who she would or wouldn't know. She spent a
week or so visiting Piers Anthony once on her way back home.
Attending World Science Fiction conventions (Worldcons) with Joanne
was particularly interesting.
I couldn't tell you which two Worldcons they were, but the two that
stick in my mind were the one where she wasn't there an hour before the flight
so I took the electronic shuttle [the peoplemover at IAH] to her hotel to find
she had already left and then the electronic shuttle back just in time to see
our plane taxi down the runway.
The other one was the year she took a friend's bright 12 year old (blue-eyed
blond) girl (who semi-regularly played D&D with us and spent many of her
Saturdays and summer days at Joanne's) and watched in amusement as
she remained oblivious to the small band of suitors (her age) that sprang up
at the convention.
Joanne's Dungeon and Dragon (and Empire of the Petal Throne) games were
both whimsical and deadly and when her face took on an impish grin and her
eyes sparkled, you knew you were in trouble.
Houston had no Science Fiction Conventions. There were comic conventions
and nostalgia conventions, and even things that called themselves science
fiction conventions, but were really comic or nostalgia conventions with
Trek merchandise in the dealers room.
After John Campbell died and Ben Bova took the reins at Analog, Joanne and
I, while discussing the lack of SF conventions in Houston, were spurred into
action by Bob Stahl. We would run our own convention and invite Bova as
the GOH. At first Johnny Lee was going to help us, but had to drop out. The
name Erraticon (because knowing us, the con would run erratically) was Joanne's
idea. Joanne negotiated with the Bovas and talked them into flying second
class not first.
I invited well-known filker Margaret Middleton to be our fan guest.
Since Joanne was in Lake Jackson, I did the lion's share of negotiating with
the hotel. In retrospect, given our later troubles with the hotel, this may
have been an error. Certainly she would have been more firm with them.
We traveled to other conventions to take notes, volunteering at D-con and flying
to El Paso for Willie Siros's first con. We discussed the conventions, what we
liked, what we didn't, where people were making mistakes, what their strong
points were. Perhaps Erraticon would not be so erratic.
Erraticon lived up to its name. It opened opposite the original Star Wars
movie (in 1977). Half the con hotel burned down the night before the convention.
When we arrived from the airport with the Bovas, the hotel had no room for
them. One of our giant Texas cockroaches attacked Ben Bova during his guest
of honor speech. The fans we had working security broke into the hotel's cold
drink supply and emptied them of soda. Most of the art work arrived the day
after the con was over. The con continually stayed one step from disaster.
Joanne and I had a blast.
A two-person con committee is something I will never do again though. It
tired me out, thoroughly. Joanne handled her share and then some of keeping
the con running. But by the time that the filk sing started the first night
I could barely keep my eyes open. A few songs later I retreated to my hotel
room. Joanne filked far into the night. The next morning I woke after the
con was supposed to be in progress. I tumbled from my room and staggered down
the hall. Joanne was awake, cheerful, and had everything under control.
Throughout the convention she was tireless. Actually, I can't ever remember
Joanne being tired. She was never actually energetic, and yet she never tired.
The following year was a strike year for Dow Chemical and I was not about to try
to hold a convention by myself. There was never an Erraticon II nor actually
was there a need for one. Mike Riley had supplied the films for Erraticon
and Margaret Middleton talked him (and his films) into coming to her convention
in Little Rock. Enjoying both conventions, Mike determined that he was going
to change Mysterycon into a Science Fiction Convention. And that led in turn
to CONTEX and subsequently to Friends of Fandom. And so Joanne's and my little
convention left echoes that are still ringing in Houston Fandom today.
I had to get to know Joanne very well before I came to realize that there
were dozens of people who Joanne quietly helped with no splash or fanfare.
Joanne always did something to support Channel 8 Public Television. One year
she bought a sky dome box for a baseball game in the Channel 8 auction. High
above the astrodome, surrounded by the boxes of wealthy companies, the HSFS
ate pizza and partied, generally ignoring the game. Another year she purchased
a special NASA tour at the Channel 8 auction and a small group of us got to
go through the NASA mockup of America's first space station (Skylab) and later
film Joe Pumilia touching the "Do Not Touch" sign on an earlier craft.
Joanne steered me to Anne McCaffrey's Ship Who Sang. Once she tossed me a
book and said "here - take this". I was surprised that it was a book of
stories by Anne McCaffrey. After I read it, the next time I visited Lake
Jackson I told her that it was disappointing. It might as well have been
titled "Anne McCaffrey's light romantic fluff". Joanne gave me an impish
grin and asked "Why do you think I got rid of it"? It was the same grin
she used when she handed me a book she got from England titled Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, while the people visiting were going to bed, knowing
full well that I would sit and read it while everyone else slept. When I
reached the part where Deep Thought reveals the answer is 42 I sat there
shaking the couch with silent helpless laughter trying not to wake the room.
The next morning she asked me how I liked the book, a little smile playing
at one side of her mouth.
Joanne and her interest in Georgette Heyer (many years she attended the
Heyer tea in costume) introduced me to a wonderful writer that my interests
would have never led me to in a million years.
She was active in the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F) for many years.
She headed the N3F tape bureau copying audio tapes and frequently served on
the board of directors of the N3F. One year, after having difficulties with
some of the directors, Joanne also ran myself and Johnny Lee for the board to
discover if her coattails were wide enough to sweep us into office too.
They weren't (which was just as well), but her new fellow board members proved
to be much easier to work with. Eventually she gave up the N3F and most
APAs (Amateur Press Associations) but until fairly recently she stayed active
in a children's literature APA, fitting given her love for, if not all children,
at least selected individuals.
Growing increasingly concerned about her mother, Joanne moved her mother
in with her, and afterwards I felt awkward about asking to visit. Both of
us became more involved with our own lives and only crossed paths occasionally.
For I while I depended on T'Pell for news of Joanne, but then I saw less of
T'Pell. I was aware when Joanne's mother died only long after the fact, and I
am not sure that she knew I was divorced before she set foot in Brad Frank's
Future Visions Books. She talked Dow into sending her to a UH class in neural
networks, the same class that I had taken from a different professor in my
quest for the elusive Ph.D., and the last long talk I had with Joanne was a
discussion of our differing views on the significance of artificial neural
networks.
She enjoyed my surprise that she had learned to drive. I was even more
surprised when I learned she moved to Pasadena, not far from where I lived.
At Joe Pumilia's HSFS reunion, when I learned she had email I was positively
enthusiastic. She was still working for Dow but was training her replacement
and telecommuting. She sent an email asking for help in locating a course
for "Louisa (the lady I live with)" and Margaret and I did our best to help.
This too was a surprise. Joanne had always been so independent and self
sufficient that the idea of her voluntarily sharing a small apartment with
someone else just didn't click. I got permission to send her a sample Info
Alert.
After Joanne's memorial service, listening to Louisa (who introduced
herself on the phone as Joanne's virtual daughter) things began to click
into place. Joanne had helped Louisa and her little girl after an
accident. Louisa was there when Joanne's mother died. When Louisa got
married, Joanne took them with her to Europe for their honeymoon. The
costume that Joanne had Louisa wear to the Dow party to give them something
to talk about (I can just see Joanne's sly impish grin now). How they had not
yet moved books from Joanne's Lake Jackson house to Joanne's Pasadena HOUSE.
How that Joanne's workstation was set up in a room out of the main path, but
where she could look out into the den while she worked and see Louisa and her
daughter. I may not have my facts completely straight here, but I caught the
gist.
Honestly, I think that Joanne was amused by Louisa, the same way she was
amused by Johnny Lee, or for that matter, was amused by me. I think that she
loved Louisa's little girl.
It's just an opinion.
Joanne had seen a cardiologist for an irregular EKG. Her legs were
swollen. She was given something for her legs. Louisa was unsatisfied
and felt they should find out the reason. She pointed out that they lived
near the world's major center for heart problems and Joanne agreed that if
she didn't feel better by the beginning of the next week she would go to
M.D. Anderson. Friday, Louisa came home and Joanne was dead.
You never know.
Joanne, ...
I miss you already.
In Memoriam: Joanne Burger - http://www.clever.net/cam/burger.html
If you wish to make additions, please email Margaret.
Art for Arts Sake
Back in the April issue we printed a letter from Patti Prevett who has
gotten in the painting mood again and whose art has been invited to
Conestoga '99, coming up next weekend June 25-27. We wanted to
also point out that her new web page was
http://www.flash.net/~prevett/index.html .
Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
Fans will have two cons to choose from June 25-27, 1999. Conestoga '99
will be in Tulsa, OK while the Gathering 1999: Gargoyles World Tour
will be held in Dallas, TX. DeepSouthCon 37 / Crescent City Con XIV
is coming up August 6-8 in the New Orleans, LA area.
For a more complete listing see our monthly What's Happening list at
http://www.clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
Ghosts of Cons Past
We haven't really talked to anyone yet who was at I Think Therefore I Con.
[Margaret here. HINT, HINT. Anyone who was there want to drop us
an emailed line for next time???]
The International Space Development Conference was both fun and
fascinating.
It had the typical organizational and communication difficulties of a new
con committee (apparently it has no equivalent of the defacto standing
Worldcon Committee). But it more than made up for it in sheer program
excellence.
Hitting a few of the highlights, many many groups (mostly underfunded)
are working towards the commercialization of space. We are finding more
and more types of life in very strange places in the earth, water from
hot springs, for example that was previously tested as pure is actually
teaming with very exotic forms of life we didn't even know how to
detect before (raising some interesting legal questions).
Some of the forms of life under extreme conditions are unusually small
and are starting to look more like the Mars rock "fossils". NASA is taking
a lot of the old fusion research and reworking it into a plasma space-drive
(we don't care if it takes more energy to run than it produces if it can flat
scoot). The dealers room featured a virtual reality simulation of the surface
of Mars. But the highlight was a special tour of NASA. We got to watch
Mission Control during the latest shuttle mission while the director
of flight controllers talked to us. One word. Cool!
We (Clif & Margaret - who got in on discounted volunteer memberships )
worked our sweat equity for Bill Parker & Tech Services and so the warts
were a bit more visible to us than to the average attendees. (Yes, we got
those slide projectors and video projectors between rooms as fast as we could!!)
Bill and Dave Branda were IMPRESSIVE juggling the different unanticipated
demands for equipment and when an hour came when we suddenly
absolutely needed to provide more TVs and VCRs than we had available,
Bill scavenged a VCR and jury-rigged a computer screen projector to save
the day.
The Klingons did the security, which for this conference might not have
worked, but in fact, the IKE (Intergalactic Klingon Empire) did a very
creditable job under difficult circumstances! And they kept their good
humor all weekend!. Great job, guys, er people, er Klingons.
They were in full makeup and costume for the gala Saturday night. There
was much talk at the ISDC as to how quickly humans could start leaving
the planet (even as tourists!) and when humans could start to settle the
Moon and, later, Mars. I (Margaret) felt that having the Klingons
there, in full regalia, could only have been considered as symbolic of
a future interstellar race welcoming humans to the stars!
For more information on the IKE, peruse our SF organizations page at
http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html
Ghost of Worldcon Future (Do you know the way?)
Back in April, we reported under the heading of "Inscrutable Secret
Masters of Fandom" that the San Francisco in '02 Worldcon bid and
the competing San Jose in '02 Worldcon bid were in the novel position
of having the same bid committee.
The Bay Area in 2002 Bid Committee originally planned on using the
San Francisco Marriott as their major hotel but it began to make
unreasonable demands and then withdrew from negotiations with the
committee altogether. They put together an alternate proposal centered
on the Argent (formerly ANA) Hotel, one of the 1993 Worldcon hotels.
In the meantime, the San Jose Convention & Visitors' Bureau presented
the Bay Area committee with an attractive proposal centered on San Jose.
The Bay Area committee decided to let the site selection voters make the
decision, and filed both bids.
Now, on June 14, the Argent informed the Bay Area bid that they had
given the necessary space in the hotel to another group that was able
to make a firm commitment NOW, while the Bay Area bid was unable to
commit until after the voting at Aussiecon Three, the 1999 Worldcon.
The convention bid chair, Kevin Standlee, after meeting with members
of the committee, determined that, without the Argent, the Bay Area in
2002 bid would be unable to put together a workable San Francisco
proposal. The committee therefore has withdrawn their bid for San Francisco
and is now is concentrating all of its attention on the San Jose bid.
Memberships in Bay Area in 2002 remain valid for the San Jose site,
even if they were purchased when the bid was only for a San Francisco
site. For more information see the press release at
http://www.sfsfc.org/worldcon/combined/news/number9.htm . As additional
news becomes available it will be posted on the San Jose in 2002 Worldcon
bid site at http://www.sfsfc.org/worldcon/ .
Science Fiction At The Movies
Now that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has had its final two-hour episode,
will it be the next Star Trek at the cinema? Probably not, says series
star Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), according to Entertainment Weekly. See:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?1999-06/10/11.23.tv
However, has your VCR been hungry for Star Wars: Episode One? Fox has
secured the rights to broadcast The Phantom Menace (according to the Los
Angeles Times) and plans to broadcast it uncut and commercial free
sometime next year. (Can you say big $$$) See:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-tv.html?1999-05/27/11.15.tv
Meanwhile, Texas Instruments will show its hot new digital projection
technology to public audiences for the first time beginning June 18th in
conjunction with Lucasfilm Ltd's digital demonstration of Star Wars:
Episode I--The Phantom Menace.
Showcasing at the AMC Burbank 14 in Burbank, CA and the Loews
Meadows 6 in Secaucus, NJ, the digital demonstration gives movie buffs
the opportunity to view the first all-digital showing of a full-length motion
picture in broad theatrical release from a leading movie studio.
This history-making event introducing digital projection to movies has
been compared to the showing of "The Jazz Singer" which introduced
"talkies" to movies in 1927, a notion that Texas Instruments is pushing to
the hilt.
Instead of using the traditional canisters of celluloid film, the movie was
transferred to a digital master under the supervision of Lucasfilm's THX
Group. For movie audiences, the benefit comes from seeing images which
surpass those of film -- especially after a movie has been showing for several
weeks. Digitally-projected images don't suffer from the same deterioration
over time that film-projected images do.
For movie distributors, the all-digital approach provides solutions to
their recurring concerns about the physical distribution of film; the high
cost of film prints, the number of film prints needed, reduction of piracy
and cost effective management of distribution. But will the movie theatre
owners buy into it? It remains to be seen, but the Force is strong with
this one.
Texas Instruments Digital Light Processing - http://www.ti.com/dlp/
Press Release at
http://www.ti.com/dlp/docs/it/resources/press/pr99/031199.shtml .
The Force is also strong with the Lucas bank account. Hasbro reports
that Star Wars toys are selling even better than expected.
After five weeks, more than twice as many Star Wars figures have sold
through retail in comparison to a similar time frame during the first movie
re-release in 1997. The numbers are particularly impressive in light of
exit polls showing that relatively few children have seen the movie in the
first four weeks. With schools letting out and children starting their
summer vacations, it is anticipated that the numbers will rise sharply.
Note from librarian Margaret: Not only is there an adult novelization
of Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks but there
is a children's version by Patricia C. Wrede PLUS several children's
paperbacks starring Anakin Skywalker, Jar Jar Binks, and other Star Wars
characters. I had never seen multiple books (for children AND adults)
come out at the same time regarding ONE movie!
And all of these not only are checking out at my public library branch but
each title has many people on hold for it as well!!) AND if you like to
listen to audio cassettes in your car on long commutes, Phantom Menace
is already available on audio!!
I have to admit, however, Lucasfilm knows where its next generation of
Star Wars fans is coming from. It's hooking them both with the movie
and their own 2nd grade level books such as Anakin to the Rescue (Step
into Reading. Step 2 Book.) by Cecilia Venn and Star Wars Episode I :
Jar Jar's Mistake (Step into Reading. Step 1 Book.) by Nancy E. Krulik.
You can follow the latest Star Wars related news stories at
http://www.clever.net/cam/news.starwars.html
Web - The Final Frontier
As part of the continuing trend of fandom's move to the Internet, Starbase
Houston is toying with the idea of moving their newsletter, The Log, edited
by Neil Olsen, to the web where it would be protected by a password available
to members. They are also considering the possibility of Starbase Houston
acquiring their own domain name. Pool parties, however, will continue to
be held at members homes and not on the net.
Neil is also soliciting reviews of the documentary movie, Trekkies by
Denise Crosby. Who know, perhaps our boss, Friends of Fandom Vice President
of Publications, Dave Branda, will write us one someday. (P.S. from Margaret-
Dave - -Pay no attention! You're doing great with your management style!!!)
You can contact Neil at ncolsen@QuarksBar.com . The latest Starbase Houston
Information is always available at the Warp Line at (713) 790-0044. The
official Trekkies site is http://www.trekdoc.com/ and the Yahoo "Full
Coverage" site on this movie is at
http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Movies/Trekkies/ .
Zines Redough
Several Unlimited is reporting $4800 in zine sales from Revelcon, no telling
what that figure will be after adding in the Internet Zine sales. Needless
to say they will be doing it again next year.
A small but vocal contingent of Several Unlimited went up to MediaWest con
and all they brought us back were some interesting Convention reports. Hope
that the reports are soon added to their web page at
http://members.aol.com/ErikaF/su/su.htm . Particularly interesting were
Dee Beetem's comments on the last two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
which were pulled from the air after Columbine.
Information on Houston and the Greater Texas area Fan Organizations can
always be found at http://www.clever.net/cam/clubslist.html .
Webzines
Anotherealm: A magazine of Speculative Fiction - This is a Semi-pro zine
featuring science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They pay $5.00 per story
with 5,000 words of speculative fiction tops. A new story is added each
week and you can register to receive each one in your email. Archived
issues are sold in paper version, or at least the one archived issue so
far ($5.95 in paper magazine form). They claim to be the fourth
most-visited speculative fiction e-zine on the Internet (Who knows, they
might even be right).
They aspire to pick up enough web traffic that they can sell advertising
and pay their writers 3 cents a word. They also feature reviews, a message
board, and one of those round robin things where each person adds a
paragraph. It reminds me of nothing more than someone's BBS moved
to the web, but it's actually kind of fun.
Anotherealm - http://anotherealm.com/
Science Fiction on TV
J. Michael Straczynski now a "rock star"!
Babylon 5 fans among the astronomers at Kitt Peak Observatory (in
Arizona) recently have named an asteroid for none other than the creator
of B-5. Says Straczynski (according to the June 1999 issue of Locus),
"Suffice it to say it's a tremendous honor. Finally, I'm a rock star...."
See: http://www.dailyscifi.com/news/1463_main.html .
The major networks have now announced their Fall 1999 TV Schedules.
Renewed for Fall are: Sliders, 7 Days, Star Trek: Voyager, Xena,
Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, & X-Files. Crusade is showing
this summer (and we HOPE that the Science Fiction Channel will pick
up Season 2). Hercules will be airing its final eight episodes this fall.
Series which have either been cancelled (or ended their first-run
episodes) are: Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Millennium, Highlander: The Raven,
& Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
For more information about Science Fiction on TV, see our listing at
http://www.clever.net/cam/sftv.html .
Mir, Mir In The Sky
You have to admire the Russians. They have kept the Mir Space Station
flying with spit and bailing wire long past any reasonable expectation.
Certainly long past its expected lifespan when it was launch thirteen
years ago.
No one has kept a manned spacecraft flying longer, and through an
incredible string of troubles, including a near-fatal crash with a
cargo ship.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union funding became ever more shaky
until a deal was struck with the US to supply Russian space station
expertise and hands-on training in the course of development of the
International space station.
Now many Americans and other international spacefarers have spent
time on Mir including Shannon Lucid who set her record for an American
woman in space during her 188-day stay on Mir.
The flexible Mir component architecture is to be the basis for the
new International Space Station. But now most U.S space officials
feel that Mir is a drain on the Russian space program and is contributing
to delays with the new station. (While the Russians have launched
some of their modules they are about a year and a half behind schedule
on the critical service module (which will include astronaut living quarters)).
Russia agreed to ditch the Mir with a controlled burn aimed at a
remote stretch of the Pacific Ocean, but bowing to pressure from
the Energiya company that built and operates the station and a ground
swell of public feeling led by former cosmonauts, Vitaly Sevastyanov
and German Titov, now members of the lower house of the Russian parliament,
President Yeltsin agreed that the station could stay up if Energiya
could finance it on their own.
Government financing runs out in August when the last crew returns to
Earth, but it will be left in orbit until its birthday in February 200.
The Mir costs about $250 million a year to operate. Sergei Gromov,
Energiya spokesman said the station is stacked with expensive and
valuable scientific equipment that should be harvested for use on the
new international space station. Additionally Mir could even serve as
a kind of lifeboat for the new station in case of an emergency evacuation.
"Who knows, maybe by that time (February) the situation will change and we won't have to bring the station down ... and the invaluable equipment on board can again serve mankind."
At a news conference Sevastyanov said "To sink the station would be a crime against posterity".
"To save the station, we are ready to deal with anybody," said Gromov.
"By drowning the Mir, we are drowning our future for dozens of years
ahead".
"With the loss of the Mir, the Russians are going to lose their last
great space achievement, a home for humans in space," said Charles
Vick, a senior space researcher with the Federation of American Scientists.
Mir 27 Commander Viktor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Gennady Padalka and
French Astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere will be the last crew on Mir
unless someone can come up with the funding.
Two Worlds - - One Sun
There is an image of the Sundial being sent to Mars aboard the
lander of NASA's Mars Surveyor 2001 mission at
http://www.skypub.com/news/images/990423news01.jpg .
According to Sky and Telescope the idea was dreamed up by TV science
popularizer, Bill Nye ("the Science Guy") and the actual justification
for the Sundial is as a calibration target for the lander's camera.
Other relevant links
Mars Gloabal Surveyor - Welcome to Mars
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/
Mar's Surveyor Mission 98 (Midway to Mars)
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/status990521.html
latest news from http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/status.html
The Write Stuff (Pen and Ink Optional!)
James Wallace Harris has wanted to write Science Fiction for almost
forty years. He hasn't done it. That might be sad, but it has had
one very good result. He has an incredible web site.
Over the years he has kept an eye on the job skills required to
become a science fiction writer. Here you will find the many
professional and semiprofessional magazines looking for short story
writers. Also, the book publishers looking to fill the shelves each
month with SF books. And there is quite a bit accessible from here
about marketing SF stories in books, magazines and Web sites. You
will further find links to major books about writing SF.
What is really amazing is that the page we list here
SciFan: Writing Science Fiction - http://scifan.com/fiction/
is not the top level of his web site, it's just the subset aimed
at writing. Be sure to hit the home button to see the incredible
scope of this site.
For more information about writer's resources see our listing at:
http://www.clever.net/cam/writers.html
FFFeedback
From Marissa:
When and where does your club meet?
Marissa,
I assume that you are talking about Friends of Fandom, as that is
the group I'm most strongly involved with. We are, however, not a
club. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that engages in
educational, scientific, and literary activities related to the field
of Science Fiction and while we do have officer's meetings and board
meetings that are open to the public, (and we are always looking for
volunteers to fill different officer slots and help with different
projects) they are business meetings rather than club meetings.
At one time we sponsored a reading group, but eventually attendance
became too low to justify the meetings. At different times we have
put on Science Fiction Cons, held writers workshops, put sf magazines
in libraries, helped other groups out with their projects, co-ordinated
multi-group projects,and we have a regular email and Web newsletter
that we would be happy to email you. In fact, I will email you a sample
issue as soon as I finish this message, but the latest issue can always
be found on the web at http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/ (Click on the
line that says "Our Current Info Alert".)
Friends of Fandom has a web page at http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html
and an email address of fof@www.clever.net, which at the moment goes to me.
- Clif
Reply From Marissa:
Thank you so much for all the information!!!!!!!
I was emailing to find out about Starbase Houston.
My interests are Star Trek and Star Wars.
I moved to Houston from Dallas January 1st for a new job, I am a
photojournalist for "the News Of Texas" (On channel 55 at 5am, 7am, 11:30am,
4:30pm, and 9:00pm!)
I am currently the Military XO for the USS Joshua out of the Dallas Fort
Worth Metroplex.
I am so glad to have made contact with someone in Houston!!
If there is a club that you attend that you think I would have an interest
let me know and Maybe I could meet you there.
Thank You again for your response!
Marissa,
StarBase Houston is a Star Trek club with a lot of history, being around
since the glory days of the original show. It's primary interest is
Trek but the group has other interests as well. Unlike most SF related
groups, it has traditionally had a fairly balanced male/female ratio. At
one time it was the largest and most active club in Houston, but that may
no longer be true. Their Web page is at http://web.wt.net/~robg/sbh/ and
the contact person is Robert Greenbaum at robg@wt.net .
From Anita Haddock:
By the way, really like the newsletter. Have sent parts of it to
various people. If they want the whole thing, do I just forward it? I
haven't done that but once, and that was with a jpeg. Same difference?
Let me know.
Anita,
Glad you like it. Forwarding is ok, but let them know that you are forwarding
it as opposed to us spamming them. Appreciate you letting people know
about it. Thanks Anita.
- Clif
Anita,
You could always just give them this URL:
Friends of Fandom Info-Alert
http://www.clever.net/cam/archive/
They could read the current Info-Alert here, read any (or all) back
issues, and they could sign themselves up for their own free email
subscription.
- Margaret
And that wraps up 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@www.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 click on "sign up" on any of our
Web pages as listed above and register. Alternately you can
register directly on http://www.clever.net/cam/register.html .
Be seeing you!
Margaret A. Fincannon, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
Clifton B. Davis, Friends of Fandom Info-Alert Staff
http://www.clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@www.clever.net
And now we crank up the fine print generator....
****************************************************************
The Friends of Fandom Information Alert is an official publication of
Friends of Fandom, distributed in electronic and print form in
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
individual contributors and may not necessarily reflect either the
official position of Friends of Fandom or the opinions of the editors,
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. Here is your red shirt and welcome to Starfleet
Security Ensign Kenny.
*****************************************************************
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