File 770:164 and Alexis Gilliland - eFanzines

48 Pages·2014·2.46 MB·English

December 2014 1
2 File 770:164
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AAAArrrrtttt CCCCrrrreeeeddddiiiittttssss
Taral: 3, 44
Alan White: 2
164 Bill Rotseler: 42
Brad Foster: 5, 7, 46
Steve Stiles: Cover, 9, 14

Sue Mason: 15, 19
File 770:164 is edited by Mike Telephone: [phone]. Alexis Gilliland: 4, 8, 11, 43, 45
Glyer at 1507 1/2 S. Sixth Ave., E-Mail: [email protected] Jose Sanchez: Bacover
Arcadia, CA 91006
Editorial Notes by Mike Glyer
This year’s paperzine edition of File 770 begins with my own medical within days, breathing became easier I have been increasing my activity
update. I’m doing far better than in March, when I complained to my ever since.
doctor about shortness of breath and he dramatically asked, “Can you To date the changes have been visible in small ways – I registered
drive yourself to the hospital or should I call you an ambulance?” 200 consecutive days posting to my blog after I got out of the hospital. I
I spent six days in the hospital after a CAT scan showed numerous also had the energy to organize the program for Smofcon 32, held this
blood clots in both lungs. These had broken free of a large clot in one December. There’s still infinite room for improvement. Hopefully
leg. I was put on blood-thinners that kept new clots from forming while that’s what I’ll be reporting about next time.
the body gradually disposed of the existing ones. I felt much better
Asimov Still Holds The Record
This past May a Nebula cere- was Gene Wolfe, author of “The Island of Doctor Death and Other

mony oversight – neglecting to Stories.”
call on Robin Wayne Bailey to As Wolfe stood up a SFWA officer promptly whispered the correc-
give his tribute to Frank Robin- tion to Asimov. Asimov went pale and said he’d made an error. There
son -- sent ripples in all direc- was “No Award” in the Short Story category. Wolfe sat back down.
tions. Even though SFWA Eyewitness Harlan Ellison (writing in Again Dangeous Visions) says
President Steven Gould re- everyone felt awful: “Around him everyone felt the rollercoaster nausea
solved it within hours, that was of stomachs dropping out of backsides. Had it been me, I would have
more than enough time for so- fainted or screamed or punched Norbert Slepyan of Scribner’s, who was
cial media to replay every gaffe sitting next to me. Gene Wolfe just smiled faintly and tried to make us
and grievance that ever hap- all feel at ease by a shrug and a gentle nod of his head.”
pened at a Nebula Weekend. Fortunately, the mistake was eventually redeemed. As the author
However, nothing can rival explained: “A month or so after the banquet I was talking to Joe
Isaac Asimov’s ghastly mis- Hensley, and he joked that I should write ‘The Death of Doctor Island,’
take at the 1971 Nebula Awards saying that everyone felt so sorry for me that it was sure to win. I
ceremony. Nor has any other thought about that when I got home and decided to try, turning things
gaffe worked out better for the inside out to achieve a different story.”
injured party in the long run. He did, and his novella “The Death of Doctor Island” won a Nebula
On Saturday, April 3, 1971 in 1974. Wolfe adds, “After that a hundred readers or so challenged me
the leading science fiction pro- to write ‘The Doctor of Death Island.’”
fessionals were seated around Which he also did. The story appeared in Immortal, Jack Dann’s
banquet tables in New York’s 1978 anthology. (Though no Nebula that year.)
Les Champs Restaurant watch- Before long these stories were gathered in The Island of Doctor
ing Asimov hand out the Nebulas. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980), that delightfully-
Asimov had been pressed into service at the last minute. While that named collection of Wolfe’s best short fiction.
was not a problem for anyone who loved an audience as much as the Nor was he done. Gene Wolfe would write a fourth iteration –
Good Doctor, it meant that he had little time to study the handwritten “Death of the Island Doctor” – to be packaged with the previ-
list of results. In those days the emcee was not only given the names of ous “Island” stories for a specialty edition, The Wolfe Archipelago
the winners, but the names of the runners-up, which he also announced. (1983).
When Asimov came to the Short Story category his eyes slipped In the end, oyster-like, Gene took a little irritant and turned it into a
over “No Award” and he read the first real name on the list — which string of pearls…
December 2014 3

How Healthy Is Revenge of the Hump Day,
The committee took its action on May 20.
the Eaton Collection?
The author of the complaint said he originally
The estate of Jay Kay Klein has donated $3.5
e-mailed Archon’s board about his concerns in
million to the Eaton Collection of Science
March after reading issues of Revenge online.
Fiction and Fantasy. The gift, announced by
Not satisfied with the response, he repeated
UC Riverside officials on August 28, is the
them at an open meeting of Archon organiz-
largest ever received by the UCR library and
ers. When the board voted to keep Bolgeo as a
ranks among the top 25 donations cam-
guest, he resorted to social media in protest.
puswide.
The committee promptly capitulated:
Klein contributed his photo collection of
“The board of directors has heard the
66,000 images of sf fandom and authors to the
voices of our attendees. We have decided that
Eaton Collection prior to his death in 2012.
it is in the best interest of Archon to withdraw
The collection was valued at $1.4 million.
the invitation to Mr. Bolgeo as Fan Guest. We
Both gifts are credited to the relationship
did not make this decision lightly, however.
he established with Melissa Conway, the li-
This situation is a lose-lose for Archon, for
brary’s special collections director.
Mr. Tim Bolgeo, and fans in the Midwest and
A cash donation of such magnitude might
South. When we asked Mr. Bolgeo to be our
have appeared one more step in the triumphal
guest last year, we made a commitment we
march of the Eaton Collection’s development
were forced to break. Repercussions from
were it not just three weeks earlier that Nalo
these discussions and the resulting decision
Hopkinson, sf writer and teacher of creative
will affect everyone for months to come.
writing at UC Riverside, fired off this SOS:
However, this convention is not for the Com-
“I’m sad to have to report that new library
mittee or the Staff, it is for the fans and you
administration doesn’t seem to appreciate the
have spoken.”
value of the Eaton Collection or the expertise
Bolgeo said he was completely taken aback
that goes into it. Since spring of this year, their
by the complaint, and some of his friends are
accomplishments have included driving out brary dean involving plans to establish a
equal parts mystified and enraged. He set
staff members and pushing changes to collec- ‘focused Eaton unit’ with two full-time staff
about trying to explain himself in this post,
tion policies that would reduce the Eaton’s positions. There has also been movement to-
which says in part:
holdings, its value to researchers and as a ward creating an advisory body composed of
“I have really tried my best to be color
repository of our community’s history, and its faculty and administrators from both our col-
blind all my life. I think what torques me off
standing as a world-class archive.” lege and the library whose charge would be to
the most is that The Revenge of Hump Day
Hopkinson said she felt the faculty of the sf oversee the Eaton. We are cautiously optimis-
was called a Racist Rag by that dude. He even
research cluster was in the alarming position tic about these initiatives and hope that they
put one of the jokes on the page but left out
of having to protect the collection from the will lead to an enhancement, rather than a
the ‘Tacky Alert’ point that I always put on
new library administrator. diminishment, of the value of the Collection.
something that is of a sensitive nature. Hell
But Hopkinson followed that warning with Late in 2014 the university created a new
guys, I poke fun at Blacks, Whites, Indians,
this provisional good news just one week position called the Jay Kay and Doris Klein
Baptists, Catholics, Italians, Irish, Jews, etc. I
later: Science Fiction Librarian in University Li-
was raised with ethnic humor and I still enjoy
“We three profs in the science fiction re- brary at UC Riverside. The person hired will
it. He also cut and pasted all kinds of scandal-
search cluster at UCR met with Dr. Stephen be “responsible for all aspects of the develop-
ous stuff from the Revenge only to leave out
Cullenberg, the Dean of Humanities. He’s the ment, stewardship and promotion of the Eaton
the headings on where it was or the complete
person who had the vision a few years ago to Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy,
article. I have always depended on the reader-
create a faculty research cluster to promote the housed in the University of California, River-
ship of the Revenge to keep me straight and
Eaton. (I should be clear that the profs in the side Library’s Special Collections & Ar-
balanced and I had thought that y’all had done
research cluster are not employees of the chives.”
a pretty good job of it. Yes, The Revenge of
Eaton. Drs. Vint and Latham are in the Eng- The deadline for applications is January 19.
Hump Day is Politically Incorrect, but it is
lish Department and I — not a Dr — am in
presented with tongue firmly planted in my
Creative Writing.) Dr. Cullenberg told us that Archon 38 Cancels cheek and hopefully will make people think
he’s had a message from the new UCR library
Bolgeo As Fan GoH about the ideas that are presented in it. A place
administrators. They’re beginning to work on
where people can agree to disagree.”
The Archon 38 committee revoked its invita-
a few proposals aimed at addressing our con-
Times change. Archie Bunker got away
tion to Tim “Uncle Timmy” Bolgeo as the fan
cerns about the way they’re managing the
with being an equal-opportunity-offender in
guest of honor after someone on Facebook
collection.”
1971. That pose isn’t as widely accepted in the
identified only by an online handle posted a
And Eaton’s Dr. Rob Latham wrote about
age of social media.
lengthy complaint characterizing Tim Bolgeo
that meeting on Facebook in a tone of cautious

as a racist, providing examples of ethnic jokes
optimism “We were apprised of recent, poten-

and other remarks published in Bolgeo’s zine
tially positive news emanating from the li-
4 File 770:164
THE YEAR IN SF AND FANTASY AWARDS
Nebula Award Winners under the nom de plume Stephen Tall. The
award has been given since 1983.
SFWA presented the 2013 Nebula Awards on

May 17 in San Jose.
Best Novel DeepSouthCon 52 Awards
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Three traditional Southern fan awards were
Orbit UK) presented at Contrails, DeepSouthCon 52,
Best Novella in Bristol, VA on May 17.
‘‘The Weight of the Sunrise,’’ Vylar Kaftan Rebel Award: Judy Bemis
(Asimov’s 2/13) Phoenix Award: Steve Jackson
Best Novelette Rubble Award: Gary Robe, for
‘‘The Waiting Stars,’’ Aliette de Bodard (The screwing up the SFPA ego boo poll
Other Half of the Sky) Congratulations to all — and a hat tip to
Best Short Story Guy Lillian III for pointing out that this is
‘‘If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,’’ the third time that Robe, founder of the
Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13) satirical Rubble Award, has won his own
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding creation….
Dramatic Presentation
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director; Alfonso 2014 BSFA Award Winners
Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, writers)
The British Science Fiction Association
(Warner Bros.)
announced the winners of the 2014 BSFA
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult
Awards at Eastercon in Glasgow on April
Science Fiction and Fantasy
20.
Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)
Best Non-Fiction

Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer.
2014 Arthur C. Clarke Award Best Art
Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice won the 2014 Cover of Tony Ballantyne’s Dream London
Arthur C. Clarke Award. by Joey Hi-Fi.
The news was announced at the SCI-FI Best Short Fiction
LONDON Film Festival on May 1. Leckie Spin by Nina Allan
received £2014 of prize money and a Best Novel
commemorative bookend. The 2013 Tiptree winner was selected by a (tie) Ack Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell
The selection was made by a panel of panel of five jurors: Ellen Klages (chair), (tie) Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
judges composed of chair Andrew M. Butler, Christopher Barzak, Jayna Brown, Nene
Duncan Lawie and Ian Whates for the British Ormes, and Gretchen Treu. 2014 Tolkien Society Awards
Science Fiction Association, Sarah Brown and
The winners of the inaugural Tolkien Society
Lesley Hall for the Science Fiction 2014 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards were announced at the Tolkien
Foundation, and Georgie Knight for SCI-FI-
Award Winners Society’s Annual Dinner in Hay-on-Wye, UK
LONDON. The awards director is Tom
on April 11.
The Campbell Award for the Best SF Novel
Hunter.
Best Article
and the Sturgeon Award for Best Short Story

John Garth, ”Tolkien and the boy who didn’t
were presented June 13 at the Campbell
2014 SF Hall of Fame Inductees believe in fairies”
Conference in Lawrence, Kansas.
This year’s additions to the Science Fiction Best Artwork
John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Hall of Fame are: Jenny Dolfen, “Eärendil the Mariner“
Strange Bodies, by Marcel Theroux
Leigh Brackett Best Book
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
Frank Frazetta Paul Simpson and Brian Robb, Middle-Earth
“In Joy, Knowing the Abyss,” by Sarah
Stanley Kubrick Envisioned
Pinsker
Hayao Miyazaki Best Novel

Olaf Stapledon J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (ed.),
2014 Compton Crook Winner
The Hall of Fame is now part of the Icons The Fall of Arthur
Charles Gannon’s Fire With Fire (Baen) has
of Science Fiction exhibit at the Experience Best Website
been named the winner of the 2014 Compton
Music Project Museum in Seattle. Emil Johansson, LOTR Project
Crook/Stephen Tall Award.
Founded in 1996, the Hall of Fame was Outstanding Contribution Award
The Compton Crook Award is given by the
relocated from the Gunn Center for the Study Christopher Tolkien
Baltimore Science Fiction Society to the best
of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas
first novel by an individual (no collaborations)
to its permanent home at EMP in 2004. 2014 Philip K. Dick Award
published each year in the field of Science

The winner of the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award,
Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Selection is made
Tiptree Award Winner announced at Norwescon 37, was Countdown
by vote of the BSFS membership.
The 2013 Tiptree Award winner is Rupetta by City by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books).
The Award is named for science fiction
N.A. Sulway of Queensland, Australia. The award is given to “the distinguished
author Compton Crook (d. 1981), who wrote
December 2014 5
original science fiction paperback published 2014 British Fantasy
for the first time during 2013 in the U.S.A.”
Award Winners
The judges also gave a Special Citation to
The winners of the 2014 British Fantasy
Self-Reference Engine, by Toh EnJoe,
Awards were announced September 7 at
translated by Terry Gallagher.
FantasyCon 2014 in York.
The Philip K. Dick Award is sponsored by
Best Fantasy Novel
the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and
(The Robert Holdstock Award)
the Philip K. Dick Trust
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
The 2014 judges were Elizabeth Bear
(Small Beer Press)
(chair), Siobhan Carroll, Michael Kandel,
Best Horror Novel
Jamil Nasir, and Timothy Sullivan.
(The August Derleth Award)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
2014 Prometheus Awards
(HarperCollins)
The Libertarian Futurist Society selections for
Best Novella
the Prometheus Awards of 2014 are:
Beauty by Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)
Best Novel
Best Short Story
(tie)
“Signs of the Times” by Carole Johnstone
Homeland by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books)
(Black Static #33)
Nexus by Ramez Naam (Angry Robot Books)
Best Anthology
Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame)
End of the Road, Jonathan Oliver (ed.)
Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold
(Solaris)
Special Prometheus Award
Best Collection
Leslie Fish, author-filksinger, for the
Monsters in the Heart by Stephen Volk (Gray
combination of her 2013 novella, “Tower of
Friar Press)
Horses” and her filk song, The Horsetamer’s
Best Small Press
Daughter.
The Alchemy Press (Peter Coleborn)
Author Vernor Vinge also received a
Best Comic/Graphic Novel
Special Prometheus Lifetime Achievement
Demeter by Becky Cloonan
Award in a separate ceremony at Conjecture/
Best Artist
ConChord over the October 10-12 weekend.
Joey Hi-Fi

Best Non-fiction:
2014 Sidewise Award Winners Speculative Fiction 2012, Justin Landon and
The recipients of the 2014 Sidewise Awards Jared Shurin (eds) (Jurassic London)
for Alternate History were announced at Best Magazine/Periodical:
Loncon 3 on August 16. Clarkesworld, Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace and
Short Form Kate Baker (ed.) (Wyrm Publishing)
“The Weight of the Sunrise” by Vylar Kaftan Best Film/Television Episode
Long Form Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere,
(tie) David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)
The Windsor Faction, by D. J. Taylor Best Newcomer
Surrounded by Enemies: What If Kennedy (The Sydney J. Bounds Award)
Survived Dallas? by Bryce Zabel Ann Leckie, for Ancillary Justice (Orbit)
The British Fantasy Society Special Award
2014 Mythopoeic Award Winners (The Karl Edward Wagner Award)
Farah Mendlesohn
The winners of the 2014 Mythopoeic Awards

were announced at Mythcon 45 in Norton,
MA, on August 10. Miscellaneous Awards
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Presented at Loncon 3
for Adult Literature

Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni
Special Committee Award: Jerry Siegel and
(Harper)
Joe Shuster, in recognition of the first
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
published appearance of Superman.
for Children’s Literature

Holly Black, Doll Bones (Margaret K.
The Forrest J Ackerman Big Heart
McElderry)
Award: Vincent Docherty.
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award

in Inklings Studies
First Fandom Hall of Fame: John Clute
Jason Fisher, ed., Tolkien and the Study of His

Sources: Critical Essays (McFarland, 2011)
First Fandom Posthumous Hall of
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth
Fame: John “Ted” Carnell and Walter H.
and Fantasy Studies
Gillings
G. Ronald Murphy, Tree of Salvation:

Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North (Oxford
Sam Moskowitz Archive Award (for
Univ. Press, 2013)
excellence in collecting): Mike Ashley
6 File 770:164
Fandom’s Tangled Web
Tadao a Flat-Out Success Glasser also reported the intriguing
fact that the host and president of this
at ConQuest 45
pioneer club was an Afro-American
They couldn’t bear to hold ConQuest 45
living in Harlem: “During the early
without Tadao Tomomatsu. Although
months of the Scienceers’ existence
the con’s original choice for toastmaster
— from its start in December 1929
was forced to cancel early this year be-
through the spring of 1930 — our
cause of family needs, fans found a way
president was Warren Fitzgerald. As
to let him preside over the weekend’s
previously mentioned, Warren was
events anyway. Now that’s true love.
about fifteen years older than the
(Comparable tributes have been paid
other members. He was a light-
to popular fans from time to time.
skinned Negro — amiable, cultured,
Friends of Vin¢ Clarke made a life-sized
and a fine gentleman in every sense of
icon of him and took it to conventions in
that word. With his gracious, darker-
1986.)
hued wife, Warren made our young

members welcome to use his Harlem
Furry Convention Evacuated home for our meetings — an offer we
After Chlorine Gas Release gratefully accepted.”
When I read that the Scienceers
Nineteen people were treated at local
club was founded in 1929 I gave a
hospitals and thousands of guests evacu-
sardonic little laugh, because I re-
ated from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare,
membered any number of Westercons
including furries in costume present for
where I heard another eofan, Aubrey
MidWest Furfest, after chlorine gas was
MacDermott, harp about the Oakland
released in a stairwell early on Saturday,
club he’d co-founded in 1928. At the
December 6.
time I had the young fan’s tendency
The source of the gas was chlorine
to scoff whenever some geezer fussed
powder left in the 9th floor stairwell said
about fine points of an-
the Rosemont Public Safety Department.
cient fanhistory. Now I’m no longer a
Investigators believe the gas was created
young fan and I have to laugh because
intentionally and are treating it as a
Aubrey managed to etch that 1928
criminal matter.
date on my memory anyway.
Toby Murono, chair of 2014 Mid-
MacDermott also did some fussing
west Furfest, announced online: “Our
in a 1980 issue of Asimov’s when he
staff has assisted authorities in their
thought Darrell Schweitzer had
inquiries to our fullest capabilities and
slighted his contributions to history:
we have encouraged our attendees to aid
“I see by reading Darrell
us in this process. At this point in time
Schweitzer’s article in the December
we are unable to comment further as this
79 issue of lASFM that I founded an
matter is a pending investigation by the
‘impure’ Science Fiction club in Oak-
appropriate law enforcement agencies.”
land in June 1928.
People were allowed to return to the
“We had over twelve ‘impure’
Hyatt about three-and-a-half hours after
members to start. Among them were
the incident began and the convention
Clifton Amsbury, Lester Anderson,
returned to “almost normal operations”
A. S. Bernal, Louis C. Smith, Ray and
by Sunday morning.
Margaret St. Clair, Fred Anger, Vin-

cent Brown, and later Forrest J Acker-
Early Science Fiction Clubs:
man. We had the imposing name of
Your Mileage May Vary East Bay Scientific Association until
Several fanwriters celebrated December The real skinny on Tadao’s appearance at the Forrie joined. Then we changed the
11 as the anniversary of the first science ConQuest 45 benefit auction. Top: Photo by Jn name to Golden Gate because Forrie
fiction club meeting. Was it? Mohning. Below: Photo by Ruth Lichtwardt. lived in San Francisco. Since he was
Eofan Allen Glasser made the claim only twelve years old, his mother
that his New York club, the Scienceers, would not let him take the long trek
Fitzgerald, Nathan Greenfeld, Philip Rosen-
was “the first of all science fiction clubs” in an across the Bay to East Oakland, by street car,
blatt, Herbert Smith, Julius Unger, Louis
article for First Fandom Magazine #4 (1961): ferry, red train and then again a street car. So
Wentzler, and myself, Allen Glasser. With the
“The exact date on which The Scienceers we on occasion all went over to Forrie’s Sta-
exception of Fitzgerald, who was then about
came into being was Dec. 11, 1929. The ple Street home.
thirty, all the members were in their middle
founding members, as I recall, were Warren “We read, discussed, traded magazines,
teens.”
December 2014 7
wrote letters to magazines and authors. We towards science than sf (some of the
even put out a hectograph sheet each Scienceers would be drawn away to join an
month for the members. amateur rocket group) but
“I know only too well that at that time their members were part of the social net-
East Coast fans considered any activity work of earnest teenaged readers of Gerns-
more than 100 miles from New York to be backian magazines, many of
non-existent. But surely not today. As a whom became inextricably linked to 1930s
matter of fact Sam Moskowitz in his Im- sf fandom. Glasser and MacDermott each
mortal Storm mentions Clifton Ansbury, claimed the club they helped found was the
Lester Anderson, and myself.” first sf club to meet regularly in-person —
Moskowitz’ Immortal Storm testifies to one in December 1929, the other in June
both MacDermott and Glasser’s 1928.
Scienceers. “Aubrey McDermott” is men- I learned Ned Brooks had scanned a
tioned in connection with the Science Cor- photocopy of first issue of The
respondence Club – which was in general, Planet, published by the Scienceers in July
as its title states, a club that did all its ac- 1930, and he kindly sent the images to me.
tivity by mail, begging the question of in- A squib on page 3 says the Scienceers pub-
person meetings. while Clements’s had twenty-five members. lished meeting notices every Friday in the
Fortunately, another historian has recon- Membership was not mutually exclusive and New York Evening World, confirming Allan
ciled the international correspondence club indeed overlapped. Although he was the foun- Glasser’s memory about the weekly meeting
and the in-person meetings of the Oakland der of one SCC, Dennis was also the sixth schedule.
chapter. John Cheng’s Astounding Wonder: person to join the other, where he served as As for Aubrey MacDermott and the East-
Imagining Science and Science Fiction in chairman under Clements’s presidency. bay Science Correspondence Club, several
Interwar America says: “…In 1928, Aubrey MacDemott, Clifton years ago Fred Patten had a conversation with
“In 1928 Aubrey Clements of Montgom- Amsbury, Lester Anderson and Louis C. Cliff Amsbury, one of the other members. “He
ery, Alabama formed what he called the Smith on the Berkeley-Oakland side of San said that, yeah, MacDermott and other S.F.-
“Science Correspondence Cloub,” announcing Francisco Bay began meeting monthly as the area teenage s-f fans often got together in
the club in the pages of Amazing and gather- Eastbay Science Correspondence Club 1928, so they were first. But those were all
ing members as responses came in. In the (ESCC). Raymond Palmer, originally a Chi- one-shot social meetings. They did not hold
same year, while corresponding among them- cago SCC member, suggested a national club meetings.”
selves, Walter Dennis and Sydney Gerson, c/o merger between the various organizations. By The Scienceers had more traits of the pro-
4653 Addison, Chicago, Illinois, also set upon late 1929 the two original SCCs and willing totype sf club. Yet the Eastbay group identi-
the idea of a correspondence club, which they members of the ESCC, which had reorganized fied itself as a club and met socially in 1928
also called the “Science Correspondence as the Eastbay Scientific Association, merged more than once. Depending on your preferred
Club,” to disseminate “science and scientific into one club under a constitution drafted by criteria, either club could claim to be first.
thought among the laymen of the world.” Dennis, Clements, and A.B Maloire of Which leaves things nicely unsettled, so we
They announced their idea in the pages of Chealis, Washington.” can have this argument again next Decem-
Amazing Stories Quarterly and by the next Both the Scienceers and Eastbay Science ber…
year their group claimed two dozen members Correspondence Club may have leaned more
7 Against Chaos Signing at Blastoff Comics Draws Harlan Ellison
By John King Tarpinian: On January 18,
Blastoff Kids: Ken Steacy, Paul Chadwick and The Growler.
Harlan Ellison, Paul Chadwick and Ken
Steacy helped celebrate Blastoff Comics 2nd
Anniversary by signing their graphic novel, 7
Against Chaos .
Harlan was in good spirits as was the gag-
gle of fans lined up outside in the 85 degree
California sunshine. The store made sure
everybody was properly hydrated by passing
out water, not to mention feeding the parking
meters for customers.
Being that I am a collector of fountain
pens I was pleased to see that Harlan bought
his case of pens and ink to sign the books
with. A class act indeed.
Since She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed decided
we’d take the dogs on a hike from Ferndale
Park to the Griffith Observatory, and having
stood outside interacting with the attendees, I
did not stick around much after that so this is
a short-and-sweet report.
8 File 770:164
We honored current and past officers and illustrating, and things too fierce to mention.
directors (either kind) present. Even this club- We calculated when our pentachiliad
house couldn’t hold all our members, espe- would be and ended “See you there!”
cially because Death Does Not Release You.
I brought greetings from Paul Turner,
who’d invented our Building Fund, and from Ellison and Pournelle
Roger Hill, one of the Cal Tech gang which
Recovering From Strokes
included Ed Buchman our first president, and
Two of LA’s leading science fiction writers
Dan Alderson the eponym of the space drive
suffered strokes within months of one another.
in The Mote in God’s Eye. Turner was in the
Both are mending well.
desert. Hill was in Illinois. Buchman was pre-
Harlan Ellison was hospitalized with a
sent. Alderson was in After-Fandom.
stroke on October 9. His right side was para-
June Moffatt having joined in 1947 was the
lyzed. However, everyone who saw and spoke
longest-time member in attendance. Heedless
with him found his mind to be sharp as ever.
of Methuselah’s Children neither Gerrold nor
As Josh Olson described a specialist’s visit
the rest of us put her into the chair.
with Harlan: “She’s checking for slurring and
We heard historical minutes from our first
loss of memory, and he’s being quintessential
clubhouse, and a Forrest J Ackerman note of
Harlan – talking a mile a minute, and throwing
the first meeting there. Some things never
out more obscure references per minute than
change.
anyone can possibly keep up with.”
Jerry Pournelle said when Turner thought
After Ellison was allowed to go home, he
up the Building Fund, Pournelle had told him
caught up with reading everyone’s wishes for
“You’re out of your mind”; Turner answered
his recovery:
“Sure I am”; we should also remember Chuck
“Things here move on apace; no major
Crayne and Bruce Pelz who made it happen.
The Tetrachiliad inconveniences; Susan is a marvel of patience
Up to then Pelz had shown no evidence of his
and adaptability; you and hundreds of other
By John Hertz ability to conjure money from stones.
close friends, casual friends, acquaintances old
Tom Locke announced the apparent dis-
The 4,000th meeting of the Los Angeles Sci- and new, have been noted, smiled-back-upon,
covery of magnetic monopoles. Larry Niven
ence Fantasy Society was held on Thursday, and appreciated. The remarkable Get-
said Shipstar was out in hardback, showed a
April 10, 2014. WellQuickly Gift Basket containing the
copy, and donated it to the library. Gerrold
Yes, “tetrachiliad” is Greek to me too (so Shroud of Turin was especially eye-opening
showed a precious hardback of Mote he’d had
its ch is like chorus). Writing it seemed the and converted me on the spot to Russian Or-
as a birthday present. He donated it to the
fannish thing to do. thodox Catholicism.”
library needling Niven and Pournelle to auto-
The LASFS, my local s-f club, is I’m proud Jerry Pournelle experienced “a small
graph it.
to say the oldest in the world. Most of us stroke” on December 16. He is been making
Fred Patten didn’t mention his new book
rhyme “LASFS” with joss fuss but Len Mof- good progress, but was expected to remain in
Funny Animals and More. He remains exem-
fatt always rhymed it with sass mass. May a long-term acute rehab assignment for
plary as a general-interest fan who happened
yours live so long. I realize that’s something speech/throat and physical therapy, at least
to become a big name in his special interests.
like “May you live in interesting times.” Ours through the holidays.
So does Lee Gold; we’d read her first-
have been. On December 26, Pournelle told readers of
clubhouse minutes. We adjourned to the pro-
From the name you’ll see we as long ago his blog: “I think my head is all right, and I
gram, a panel of members who’d joined over
as 1934 were coppering our bets (to use an am recovering. Alas I used to be a touch typ-
the decades.
English Regency expression) with “science ist and I am now learning to be a two finger
No one joining in the 1930s was present or
fantasy”. Technically science fiction and fan- typist. At present I am a one finger typ-
admitted it so Charles Lee Jackson II an-
tasy are distinct. Practically – well – ist. Call it 1.1 finger, but after today’s ther-
swered for them. June Moffatt spoke for the
I saw Mike Glyer there. But Glyer keeps apy , maybe 1.2; I am learning. I just made the
40s; Bill Ellern, the 50s; Milt Stevens, the 60s;
forgetting where he’s put his pen (see “Twice Spock sign.”
Glyer, the 70s; Karl Lembke, the 80s; Cathy
Times” in A.A. Milne’s Now We Are Six). So Incidentally, when Harlan Ellison called to
Beckstead, the 90s; Peter Santell, the 2000s;
here I am. wish Jerry well, they discovered that Jerry had
Mimi Miller, the 10s. Stevens learned of us
The meeting hall in our current clubhouse, been put in exactly the same room at St. Jo-
while reading fan-news columns in the prozi-
our third, was crowded. So were the social seph’s hospital that Harlan had occupied.
nes. Santell learned of us while a seminary
hall, the computer room, and the library, with Seems like that room deserves a com-
student but then worked hours that kept him
members who didn’t care to attend the meet- memorative plaque.
from meetings for twenty years.
ing. Some things never change.
In the 50s we rented a room in the Prince
On a table near the door was a display of
Rupert Apartments, which still exist and now Drink Tank’s Sunset Date
historical photographs. Among refreshments
charge $480 for what had cost us $40, i.e. Chris Garcia and James Bacon will ring down
in the social hall was a box of Cthulhu Peeps.
about the same. the curtain on their Hugo-winning fanzine The
I being among the few to rhyme “Cthulhu” in
Through the years we’d maintained our Drink Tank on January 31, 2015.
a limerick took one. It had no – heh heh.
involvement with Westercons, started our They’ll keep doing Journey Planet and
President Eylat Poliner called us to order.
local Loscon, and by virtue (look it up) of Chris will continue Claims Department, and
Poetic license is part of life. She introduced
individual members had much to do with Exhibition Hall and Klaus at Gunpoint. Which
former president David Gerrold who took the
Worldcons, Bouchercons for detective fiction, is to say, they’ll still keep eFanzines as busy
chair. In fact for decades we didn’t have a
and Animé L.A. Also collecting, costuming, as Chicago’s O’Hare International…
president, we had a director, but I’m leaving
fanzines, filksinging, gaming, pro writing and
some things out.
December 2014 9
Lasting Impressions
2014 FAAn Award
News from the World of Fanzines Winners

The FAAn Awards were presented May 4
at Corflu 31 in Richmond, VA.

Best Genzine
Banana Wings, edited by Mark
Plummer & Claire Brialey

Best Personal Fanzine
Flag, edited by Andy Hooper

Best Single Issue
Trap Door #30, edited by
Robert Lichtman

Best Web-site
efanzines.com

Best Fanzine Cover
Inca 9 cover by Harry Bell

Best Fan Artist or Cartoonist
Steve Stiles

Corflu Fifty Picks Geri Sullivan announcement October 17. “We’re starting
with the earliest from the 1930s and going up Best Fan Writer
Corflu Fifty administrators Rob Jackson and
Rich Coad announced that Geri Sullivan is the to 1950. That gives us First Fandom and Andy Hooper
Golden Age plus post-war. And that’s just the
group’s selection to travel to Tynecon III: The
beginning. We’re inviting a select group of
Corflu in Newcastle in March 2015. She not
fans (and I’m not sure yet who’ll they’ll be, Harry Warner Jr. Memorial
only said yes, but told Coad, “Yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, oh my god, yes!” that’s something that you and File 770 might Award for Best Letterhack
be able to help with) to help transcribe the text
Both Corflu Fifty members are invited to Robert Lichtman
of these fanzines in an apa-style working
send their $25 along. Those who are not mem-
group
bers are invited to join or to contribute to
support Geri’s trip this coming year. “We are not placing full reproductions Lifetime Achievement Award
online; that way, we respect copyright and
Mail checks made out to Rich Coad, at Ray Nelson
privacy. Instead, we’re building a searchable
2132 Berkeley Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95401;
database that will contain the full text of the
or PayPal to [email protected]
For UK contributions, Rob Jackson, Chin- zines.” Other honors bestowed at this year’s con –
thay, Nightingale Lane, Hambrook, Chiches- The transcription will enable the UI Librar-
ter, West Sussex PO18 8UH, or by PayPal ies to construct a full-text searchable fanzine Corflu 31 GoH
to [email protected]. resource, with links to authors, editors, and (picked from a hat as is traditional)
topics, while protecting privacy and copyright Gregg Trend
by limiting access to the full set of page im-
Hevelin Fanzines
ages. Past President of fwa
To Be Digitized Balestrieri adds, “I’m very excited about it (by acclamation)
Over 10,000 fanzines in the Rusty Hevelin and very grateful to everyone that’s made this John Nielsen-Hall (Unc. Johnny)
collection will be scanned and incorporated happen, especially the University’s Office of
into the UI Libraries’ DIY History interface. Research and Development and Library Ad- Next year’s con, Corflu 32, will be in New-
Hevelin’s collection was donated to the ministration, who originated the idea and were castle, England. Tynecon 3: The Corflu is
University of Iowa Libraries after his death in generous with funding to get it started. Please scheduled for March 27-29, 2015, the
2011. let folks know and I’ll be in touch as Greg and weekend before Dysprosium, the 2015
Peter Balestrieri, curator of science fiction I work out the details of how the transcription Eastercon at London Heathrow.
and popular culture collections, made the will happen.”
10 File 770:164
players, Costner’s brother-in-law. In fact, the
brother-in-law is ranting about foreclosing on
the farm, which has become a money-losing
proposition ever since a chunk of it was
plowed under the build the baseball diamond.
There’s a ruckus, and Costner’s daughter falls
off the home-made grandstand. She lies un-
conscious on the ground, not breathing. Cost-
ner’s wife is running to the phone in the farm-
house, but he shouts for her to stop. Time
dilates as Costner waits to see if acting on
intuition will save his daughter, or kill her.
Archie Graham hesitates, then steps across
the baseline. At that moment, a close-up
shows his sports shoes transforming back into
the clunky, black dress shoes of a small-town
doctor. The impossibly-old Doc Graham
strides over, lifts the child half-upright, slaps
her on the back, and helps her cough up the
nearly lethal bit of hot dog that she’d been
choking on. It’s a type of salvation, and is
purchased at a price. The crisis past, Kevin
Reflections on Field of Dreams Coster makes a sudden connection and half
tells, half asks Graham, “You can’t go back!”
It’s a touching moment, if much more so
By Mike Glyer. [Written in July 2004 under close to your dream without ever realizing it, for Costner’s character and for me, in the au-
the inspiration of Ken Gire’s “Reflections on some men would call that a tragedy. dience, than for Doc Graham, who seems well
the Movies”.] Doc Graham dismisses such sentimentality aware that he passed through this refiner’s fire
Walking through Chisholm, Minnesota with disarming frankness, saying, “Now if I’d once before. He knows he will always choose
under glistening streetlights, Ray Kinsella, only been a doctor for five minutes, that to be a servant, and be satisfied and fulfilled in
played by Kevin Costner, a middle-aged hip- would have been a tragedy.” making that choice. He is honored for that
pie on a mission, hikes right back into 1972 That humorous line is the measure of a choice, as well, starting with all the resur-
and catches up with Doc Graham. mature man. Doc Graham long ago laid down rected ballplayers on that field in Iowa. And at
His rendezvous with Graham, played by his selfish baseball dreams in favor of a “real that point a certain truth begins to dawn on
grey eminence Burt Lancaster, is slightly sur- job” that serves a community, and being faith- Costner, and on me as I identify with his char-
prising, because Costner and a traveling com- ful to his wife. Which ought to trouble Kevin acter, that questing all over the country has
panion played by James Earl Jones have al- Costner more than it seems to because so far taught him to value what’s found in his very
ready verified that Graham died years before in the movie choosing baseball has nearly own backyard.
they arrived on the scene. Costner, however, is destroyed his own livelihood and caused him The movie’s leitmotif question and answer
no longer a stranger to anachronism since to abandon his wife to their creditors and hos- – “Is this Heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.” – ripples
pitching batting practice to the shade of Shoe- tile relatives. with possibilities. Does it merely typify the
less Joe Jackson on a diamond etched into the Soon thereafter the scene ends without Doc shallow expectation of “cultural Christians”
cornfields of his Iowa farm. Graham agreeing to come with Costner, who that if you’re a good person you go to Heaven,
His experience has made him into a mis- leaves, bewildered by this disappointing out- which will be like a National Park populated
sionary for baseball immortality. Whatever come. Yet when Costner and James Earl Jones by our ancestors? Or is it just as ignorant to
spirit or force brought back Shoeless Joe has resume their road trip the next day, the teen- suppose that Heaven will be someplace utterly
also dispatched Costner through time and aged hitchhiker they pick up proves to be an supernatural and alien, rather than the per-
space to testify to an anonymous small-town aspiring minor leaguer named Archie Graham. fected image of a place God has tried to teach
doctor who once had ambitions to play for the It’s a mystery that seems to leave the past and us to live in all our lives?
New York Giants. present in a tangled knot. However, to obsess about the theological
Costner gets Doc Graham to describe his Assuming this turn of events represents implications of Field of Dreams is to overlook
practically nonexistent big-league career, con- God operating outside of time, what does the its real message, compatible with nearly any
sisting of being dispatched by the legendary screenwriter intend for me to think about religion – don’t wait til Heaven. Take advan-
John McGraw to play the field in the last in- God’s nature? That he’s created a Heaven tage of our chance right now to live with peo-
ning of a season-ending game. He never even where virtuous people who have deferred their ple as God would have us do.
got to bat. Costner assumes he’s been sent to dreams are rewarded in the afterlife by having
bring Graham back to his ball field in Iowa, them fulfilled? Then does that imply that Doc
and begins to bait the hook by asking about Graham wasn’t truly fulfilled by the choices
Graham’s unfulfilled desire to compete with he made? Ah, wait, and the screenwriter will
the big leaguers. Doc Graham looks him in the answer that question.
eye, asking, “And are you a man who could Soon Archie Graham is in Iowa, ducking
grant such a wish?” But it’s a rhetorical ques- brushback pitches from one of the Chicago
tion, because Graham obviously lacks that Black Sox, watched by Costner, his wife, his
wellspring of discontent Costner was expect- daughter. Also present is someone who is
ing, so Costner primes it by saying, to come so incapable of seeing these supernatural ball-