Random Jottings 11 This Isn’T the Fanzine You’Re Looking For
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Random Jottings 11 This isn’t the fanzine you’re looking for. Issue 11 Not the Fanzine You’re Looking For Random Jottings 11, Not the Fanzine You’re Looking For, is an irregularly published magazine edited and published by Michael Dobson. It is available for customary fannish reasons or editorial whim, and can also be found as a free PDF at http://efanzines.com/RandomJottings/index.htm (along with most previous issues of Random Jottings), or in print from your favorite online book retailer at a modest price. Copyright © 2016 by Michael Dobson and Timespinner Press. All rights revert to the individual contributors. Letters of comment to [email protected] or to 8042 Park Overlook Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20817-2724 USA. Table of Contents (all by Michael Dobson unless noted) This Isn’t the Fanzine You’re Looking For ..........................................2 Where’s the Fire, Son? ..............................................................................7 First Call, by James Dobson .................................................................13 Friday Night, by James Dobson ...........................................................15 Boxing Lessons .......................................................................................19 Seven Days in May .................................................................................31 Random Jottings on Random Jottings (letters) ..................................51 Credits .......................................................................................................56 Other Titles from Timespinner Press .................................................59 This Isn’t the Fanzine You’re Looking For This Isn’t the Fanzine You’re Looking For UNTIL A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, Random Jottings 11 was scheduled to be The Murder Issue. On April 13, 1975, on my way home from seeing Young Frankenstein, I heard what I thought was a backfire or maybe a firecracker, but what turned out to be gunshots. An unemployed Silver Spring carpenter was on a shooting spree in suburban Wheaton, Maryland. Not really comprehending what was going on, I drove right past the killer and one of his victims. The shooter was white; all the victims were black. Seven people in total were shot; two died and one was left in a wheelchair. The killer was gunned down by cops at the scene. The story was on the front page for a couple of days, but with no trial and only two dead, it was quickly forgotten by history — though not by those affected by it. In 2010, I did a post on my Sidewise Thinking blog called “Eyewitness to Murder.” (It and my other Wheaton Murders posts can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/zpmqwbn.) As a result of the post, I got an email from Alta Sligh Ayers, daughter of the first two victims. (Her father was killed; her mother wounded.) We ended up having lunch on the anniversary of the shootings in 2011, and have met on the same day every year since. In subsequent years, I kept finding other people connected to the shootings, leading to additional blog posts. In the back of my mind, I thought one day I’d write the story as a long article or very short book, given that no one else was likely to do so. However, I’m not a journalist; those kinds of investigative skills are not something I have in abundance. That’s why I was happy to get an email last July from Washington Post reporter Mike Rosenwald. “Greetings,” he wrote. “Through a roundabout way — namely, George Pelecanos — I recently learned about the old shooting in Wheaton. I came across This Isn’t the Fanzine You’re Looking For | 3 What Is This Weird Publication, Anyway? For those of you not “in with the in crowd,” amateur journalism (“ayjay”) is a venerable hobby that once upon a time included such people as Lewis Carroll, H. G. Wells, and H. P. Lovecraft, all of whom produced their own amateur magazines. For reasons not well understood, the ayjay hobby migrated into science fiction fandom starting in the 1930s, and amateur magazines became generally known as “fanzines” — even though few fanzines are “fans” of anything in particular. Instead, a fanzine is a reflection of the interests and enthusiasms of its editor, and takes on whatever shape the editor chooses. Because there’s no money in this (except for money being spent, of course), fanzine editors live high off Maslow’s hierarchy, doing it either for peer recognition or simply self-satisfaction. I first published fanzines while still in high school, stopped, and started up again in 2003. Since 2008, I’ve published an issue a year, timed to coincide with Corflu, a small convention (this year in Chicago) for people in this small hobby. (Corflu is short for correction fluid, a sticky substance used to cover up errors on a mimeograph stencil.) Previous issues of Random Jottings have been: 1. The Genzine Issue (1970) 2. The Name-Dropping Issue (2003) 3. The Not-So-Good Samaritan Issue (2008) 4. The Alternate History Issue (2009) 5. The Odell Dobson Memorial Issue (2010) 6. The Cognitive Biases Issues (2011) 7. The Sidewise Issue (2012) 8. The Watergate Issue (2013) 9. The My Brilliant Fannish Career Issue (2014) 10. The Improbable History Issue (2015) Issue 1 and issues 4-10 can be found as free downloadable PDFs at http://efanzines.com/RandomJottings/index.htm. I plan to add issues 2 and 3 Real Soon Now. Issues 8, 9, 10, and the one you’re holding in your hand were produced using the CreateSpace print- on-demand system and are available in print form from Amazon, complete with full wrap-around color covers, at a modest price. 4 | Random Jottings 11 your fascinating blog posts on the incident. I’m gonna do a big piece on what happened, which seems relevant and important given the horrific event in South Carolina. I’d very much love to speak with you. Interested in getting together?” Indeed I was. This led to two pieces that appeared in the Washington Post in December. The main piece, “The Haunting Link Between Two Mass Shootings,” covered the victims forty years after the fact (http://tinyurl.com/jojdc2c). The second, a sidebar titled “It Couldn’t Be Someone Shooting People in Downtown Wheaton” (http://tinyurl.com/o592bf3), was about my involvement. As good and as welcome as those newspaper articles are, they’re still ephemeral. These killings need a more permanent memorial, and my publishing imprint Timespinner Press is all about history. Last year, my anthology Improbable History did double duty as Random Jottings 10, so I figured I’d do it again. It took nearly three months (and a ridiculous $1,900) to acquire the book rights to the articles. I do have lots of other material on hand, but actually making this into a legitimate book, even a small one, would have taken more time than I had left. Enter Plan B. Why is There a Flying Boat on the Back Cover? This issue of Random Jottings is a miscellany (or perhaps a gallimaufry; I’m not sure) — not that there’s anything wrong with that. The first piece is about my son James, currently finishing his second year as a cadet at West Point, followed by two short pieces by James himself. The second piece is a bit outside the box —literally. It’s adapted from my day job as a management writer and speaker. When I started writing management books, my wife’s major critique was that I was really good about explaining theory, but I didn’t tell people exactly how to do the things I was recommending. When I’m working with paying customers, I have to watch my tendency to go off on obscure historical tangents before getting to the money shot, but given the audience here, I figured I could get as obscure as I wanted. Practical applications are provided, but left as an exercise for the reader. Finally, in honor of Corflu, I’ve provided a list of events, people, and holidays for each of the seven days bracketing the convention. This Isn’t the Fanzine You’re Looking For | 5 (Although Corflu is officially only three days long, most of the crowd comes early and stays late.) You can find the reason for the back cover by checking out May 16. Dedication I met both Ned Brooks and Anita Lapidus through this hobby of amateur journalism. Ned was one of the first people I knew in fandom, starting with my second convention (DeepSouthCon V, Atlanta 1966). Always cheerful, generous, and kind, Ned put me up (or should that be put up with me) in his Newport News home during my relocation from North Carolina to DC in the early 1970s. I remember his reassurance as he drove me to the restaurant where we were going to have dinner. “Don’t worry; I’ve never had a fatal accident with a fan in the car.” My last dealings with Ned came only days before his accidental death last year; he was the official editor for that month’s mailing of SLAN-apa, and I’d just reimbursed him through PayPal for the extra postage in sending RJ 10 through the apa. I had known Jerry Lapidus for a number of years before he married Anita, a fellow student at Syracuse University. The Lapidii, both theater majors, moved to New York City, and I was a frequent houseguest at their Upper West Side apartment. Anita also became a good friend, and we kept in touch after they moved to Florida. While recuperating from cancer surgery, Anita suffered a massive heart attack. Although the prognosis from her cancer was not good, she might still have had many months or even years left, time that has now been taken from her and her family. She said before her passing that she had two main regrets, not seeing her daughter Kim married and not being able to read the last two volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire.