July 1998

New Arrivals

A Big Thank You to the newcomers swelling our ranks. We are pleased
to welcome Jane Davis and Amy Stephens from Houston, John in Conroe,
Randy B. from Sherman, Kenny Love in Crockett, and Rick Thomas over
in San Antonio and Pops from ... well Pops didn't say where he was from.

How Fast Things Move

Commenting on Tad Williams' newish novel, _River_of_Blue_Fire_,
Amazon.com called his Otherland Series "neo-cyberpunk". It makes you
wonder who will have the first "post-cyberpunk" novel.

Fannish Disasters

Long time active Houston Fan and Convention Attendee, Ann McKannan,
has been diagnosed with cancer. The news is fortunately not as
disastrous as it could be, as the prognosis on her chemotherapy is
promising. If you know Ann, even if only slightly, why not send
your thoughts and best wishes to her at annbit@hal-pc.org .

Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books

A new book forthcoming from Peter David (Imzadi II) and July releases
from Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Kim Stanley
Robinson, Howard Waldrop, and Tad Williams. For more listings
(updated monthly), see http://clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .

Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons

Houston-area gamers will be gathering July 17-19 (NEW DATE) for San
Con 5 (San Jacinto College). Literary fans won't want to miss
ArmadilloCon 20 coming up August 28-30 (Austin). Star Trek fans (BOTH
Federation and Klingon) won't want to miss TrekFest 98 (Houston)
Saturday Sept.12. Babylon 5 fans will be in Dallas Sept. 18-20 for
Stellar Occasion 5.

Check out the details on our What's Happening list at
http://clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .

Houston-area and Texas Science Fiction Organizations

On July 18, Starbase Houston will host a garage sale to benefit
TrekFest 98. The sale begins at 9 AM and both Trek and non-Trek (such
as computers, electronic, household, and clothing items) are needed.
This is a fun event, which is also a fund raiser for TREKFEST 98
(jointly sponsored by Starbase Houston and the Intergalactic Klingon
Empire) featuring Tony Todd, the actor who fills the Klingon role of
K'urn (Cmdr. Warf's brother). For more information, email Robert
Greenbaum at robg@wt.net and/or see the TREKFEST 98 listing on our
What's Happening Calendar at http://clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .

Science Fiction on TV

Wouldn't mind seeing B5 Cmdr. Susan Ivanova in action again? Catch
the new Babylon 5 made-for-TV movie _Thirdspace_ Sunday July 19 at 7
PM CDT on TNT!
For more information, see our listing at
http://clever.net/cam/sftv.html .

FFFFFeedBack

Last time we commented on a new recruit, Lord Budda.
He writes:

:Friends of fandom,
:You wish to know who I am then here it is. My name is Eric Graham, I
:was born and raised at the American Army Base of Baumholder, Germany.
:I presently go to school at Park College, in Parkville, Missouri. But
:I go back to Germany in the winter and summer.
:
:Sincerely,
:Eric Graham
:Lord Budda
:Garf
...
:Keeper Of The Sacred Spluge
:"It's the end of the world. :AND IT'S ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!!!!"

Um, thanks, Eric (we think).

We also heard from Jon Eiche:

: I really like your Texas Area Fan Sites page in the Friends
:of Fandom site. I was wondering if you would or have considered
:putting up a page to post role-playing groups looking for members or
:members looking for groups? Have you thought about it?

As Margaret pointed out to John, in a return message, we not only list
ARGH, but also Amtgard and the SCA, both arguably role playing groups,
in the list of Houston and/or Texas Science Fiction Organizations at
http://clever.net/cam/clubslist.html . Still, it would be possible
for us to put up a message board where gamers could leave messages to
get together both online and off. Is there any interest in us doing
that? (If so, email friends_of_fandom@iname.com)

Finally, we heard from Carol Ann McCaleb a little while back:

:This is a great service! Thanks for the info. I learned about
:several things of interest to me, my family, and some friends.
:Sharing your e-mail address with some of them. Keep up the good
:work.

Awww. That's sweet, Carol. Thanks. We appreciate you letting us
know. Anyone can send us suggestions regarding people who might be
interested in receiving a sample copy of Info Alert, or you can
forward it on yourself.

For now, send any email comments or suggestions regarding fannish
activities/events in the greater Houston area (or within Texas) or
regarding this Info Alert to friends_of_fandom@iname.com . 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 the 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://clever.net/cam/fof.html
****************************************************************
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However, we make no guarantees. All opinions expressed are those of
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