Friends of Fandom - Info Alert
October 1998
New Blood
Welcome aboard to our new recruits, Bob Stahl and Judy Craft in
Houston, Joe Deaver from Arlington Texas, and Robert Manders
From Silver Spring, Maryland. Buckle your seatbelts and we're off.
How far off, you'll have to judge for yourself.
Fannish Disasters
On September 21, Nancy Tucker Shaw, the widow of British fan
humorist, Bob Shaw, suffered a sever and massive stroke. By the
following day she was again lucid and joking with her nurses, but
remains paralyzed on her left side according to Plokta News
Network, roughly speaking, our London counterpart. Ansible
reports that also on September 21, Eleen Tacket, wife of Roy
Tacket, the 1997 World Con Fan Guest of Honor, died.
September also saw the death of First Fandom's Leigh Couch.
All in all, September was not a good month for fandom.
For more information see:
Plokta News Network - http://www.plokta.com/pnn/
Ansible - http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/ftp/pub/SF-Archives/Ansible/
Forthcoming SF&Fantasy Books
October releases from Piers Anthony, Peter David, Gordon R. Dickson,
David Eddings, Harry Harrison, Robert Jordan, Nancy Kress, Mercedes
Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, and James White. For more listings
(updated monthly), see http://clever.net/cam/forthcomingsf.html .
Forthcoming SF, Fantasy, & Gaming Cons
One West Texas con and two East Texas/Louisiana cons are coming up fast.
Gamers will be marking their calendars to attend NovaCon XIV Oct. 16-18 at
Texas A&M in College Station. HubCon II will be held the same weekend,
Oct.16-18 in Lubbock, sponsored by Lubbock Star Trek Fan Club, Legion
West, West Texas Anime Hecklers, and 10,000 Animeniacs. ExotiCon One will
be held for the first time Nov.20-22, in the greater New Orleans area,
Check out the details on our What's Happening list at:
http://clever.net/cam/concalendar.html .
Houston-area and Texas Science Fiction Organizations
Don't get enough filking? How about a monthly dose with Judy Craft?
Here are their rules:
1. We have one cat. She is 11 years old and will probably hide the whole
time. We also have a new kitten. He is intrepid and will want attention
2. The house is not child proof, but children are welcome if you respect
the caveat.
3. I will have wine and cider. I don't drink beer, so you probably don't
want me selecting it, so bring your own.
4. I will have various teas and tisanes (herbal teas) available, both iced
and hot available. Also fruit juice, and soft drinks
5. Bring filk books, folk music books, Tom Lehrer song books if you have
them, instruments, and a willingness to sing or listen.
6. There is no rule six.
7. During filking, please take conversations out to the patio so as to not
talk over the singers.
8. Do not park in reserved spaces. All the spaces near my apartment are
reserved. Visitors need to park along the fence. Really.
9. Crash space is limited (mostly floorspace, but one queen bed could be
made available ) . And as for a traditional filkers breakfast, I need to
be at the 9:30 am service at 1st UU in the museum district, so it would
truely be an early am IHOP run.
To find out more, see the listing at http://clever.net/cam/clubslist.html
Science Fiction on TV
Last four episodes of Babylon 5 set to air beginning October 28! Also,
next B5 movie (River of Souls) due Nov. 8. Enjoyed the premieres of
Raven, Mercy Point, and/or 7 Days? Check out their home pages and learn
more about these series! For more information about Science Fiction on TV
(including series' official Web home pages), see our listing at
http://clever.net/cam/sftv.html .
Space, The Final Frontier
Last time we mentioned the problems NASA was having with placing
the Mars Global Surveyor into the second phase braking orbit. The second
try was successful and the Surveyor is doing its long slowdown just fine.
Future Mars exploration is on track as NASA took delivery of the Mars
Polar Lander which will launch around Jan. 3. It will work together with
the Mars Climate Orbiter (to be launched Dec. 10) to study the water cycle
at the Martian South Pole (the frozen carbon dioxide pole rather than the
frozen water pole), and then to learn more about climate change and
current resources on Mars generally. The Polar Lander will have two of
the new Deep Space 2 microprobes to search for water several feet below
the Martian surface.
Cassini is still making its way through the inner solar system on its
way to Saturn. Meanwhile Galileo is still busy in the neighborhood of
Jupiter, and the word is that NASA is fixing to release some truly
spectacular photos Tuesday Oct. 13, including daytime and nighttime
views of lightning on Jupiter, the first-ever color picture in visible
light of a ghostly glow created by an aurora on Io, a Jovian water cloud,
and volcanic hot spots on Io while Io was eclipsed by Jupiter. Catch them
at:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov , http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo and
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo .
Back at Earth, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite is showing that the still
existing El Nino in the Pacific Ocean appears locked in a battle with a
possibly waning La Nina. In plain English, the rapid cooling that had
occurred in the central tropical Pacific has slowed and decreased in size
since August while the vestiges of the hotter water system still remain.
Is this a symptom of global warming? About all the weather scientists
will commit to is that the weather system is in transition. The US -
French TOPEX/Poseidon images are available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino
Also back on Earth, space pioneer John Glenn is revving up to be the first
geezer in space. We think that's great, and look forward to the day when
all us neo-geezers can make it into space without being rich and powerful
politicians.
October Info Alert (continued)
Science Fiction on the Web
Cary Semar, short story editor of Aphelion: The Webzine of Science
Fiction and Fantasy, left a message on our Board, 001-Science
Fiction, saying they are looking for submissions by both new and
established writers. Unfortunately they are not yet paying for
stories, but offer an audience, a byline, and a link back to your
home page if you have one.
Aphelion is worth a look, for the cover art, if no other reason.
The level of fiction is higher than you might expect, and while
you obviously won't find any big name writers, there are some
present, such as McCamy Taylor who are consistently excellent.
Her best writing is either an odd combination of fantasy and
Science Fiction, or a combination of fairy and gritty urban
reality, and features plots twists in plenty. Here though, she
rings in with her own rift on the Dracula story in a deceptively
quiet mood piece.
There seems to be an excessive number of Serialized Stories which doesn't
make a good combination with a shaky archive system.
There are also some notable features such as Robert Wynne's "A
Word in Your Ear" which tackles censorship this time around.
Although there are other places to catch it on the web, this
is an appropriate place to find Ian McDonald's daily strip, Bruno
the Bandit.
Aphelion: The Webzine of Science Fiction and Fantasy
http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/index.html
001 - Science Fiction
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=24083
McCamy Taylor
http://www.nationwide.net/~taylorjh/
Bruno the Bandit
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/5167/index.html
Same Web Channel
We have mentioned the Austin bookstore, Adventures in Space and Crime,
here from time to time for various reasons. The have now reserved their
own domain name. After October 15, they will be available at
http://www.CrimeandSpace.com . Last we heard from them they were looking
forward to October 9th when such notables as Bruce Sterling, Don Webb,
Lawrence Person, Jessica Reisman and Tom Cool would be hanging around the
store as sort of an overflow from the latest version of the Turkey City
Writer's Conference. That will be over by the time you read this, but if
you are in the area of Austin you can still make the Wednesday, October
14, appearance of Pat Cadigan, the Queen of Cyberpunk, from 5 to 7 pm.
She will be signing her new novels, Tea From an Empty Cup and The Making
of Lost in Space.
Adventures in Crime and Space - http://www.CrimeandSpace.com
Tea From an Empty Cup
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0312866658/fantasicfuturesbA
The Making of Lost in Space
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0061053937/fantasicfuturesbA
You Knew IT was Coming Eventually!
The infernal orders have set up their own web page where you can sell
your soul to the devil without ever leaving the comfort of your own home.
None of this "three wishes" nonsense. You fill out a web form stating
what you want in return for your soul. If they consider your soul worth
it (and not a sure thing anyway) they get back to you. If you think we
are kidding, check it out for yourself.
Sell Your Soul for Fun and Profit!!!!
http://www.gaijin.com/EvilPeople/BloodContract.html
FFFFFeedBack (screech!)
Bob Stahl writes:
::Way Cool!
::Thanks for sending me the newsletter! Please continue to do so--let
::me know if there should be money involved...
No money needed. Of course Friends of Fandom as a non-profit _never_
turns down donations.
Joe Pumilia writes:
::There must be a reason why I am listening to Led Zeppelin's WHOLE
::LOTTA LOVE, which I especially hate, and replying to a recent FOF's
::Info Alert emailing. It is because I'm eager to congratulate you &
::Margaret on reviving both the PO and TALES FROM TEXAS (Lew Shiner's
::Texan version of LOCUS of many years ago) under a new name and in
::electronic form.
So, Joe, is that good?? Seriously, thanks for the encouragement.
Danielle Dabs Monson writes:
::Please take me off your list. Thanks.
Well, you can't win them all.
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://clever.net/cam/fof.html fof@clever.net
And for those who love to read the fine print ...
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However, we make no guarantees. All opinions expressed are those of the
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