sign in sign up
<<
Home , Bill Congreve, Brimstone Press, Deborah Biancotti, Jane Espenson, John Picacio, Kaaron Warren

- 2

for ANZAPA #267 - J u n e 2012 and for display on eFanzines (www.efanzines.com)

o-o-o

Contents

This issue’s cover ...... 3

The Lady Varnishes ...... 4

Vale (1920-2012) ...... 5

Letters from (North) America...... 7

Conventions held and on the horizon ...... 9

Awards at the Natcon – Sunday evening 10th June 2012 ...... 12

Hugo Awards - 2012 nominations ...... 16

Fan Funds represented or commented on at Continuum 8 ...... 19

Surinam Turtles - trade paperbacks online for US$18.00 from Ramble House: http://www.ramblehouse.com..... 21

Book review – ‘A Kingdom Besieged’ by Raymond E Feist (in his Riftwar Cycle) ...... 22

Going Down on the Espy...... 23

Stefan zone ...... 24

The Planets – a journey in music and film with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra ...... 25

Art, etc. credits… Cover: Graphic by Ditmar Page 2 Photos of Bill Wright and Dick Jenssen Page 20 Advertisement for Gin Pills Page 3 „The Benthic Florae‟ illo by Ditmar Pages 21 Surinam Turtle Press book titles Page 4 „The Lady Varnishes‟ illo by Tim Train Astounding Stories April 1935 cover Page 7 Illustration by Ian Gunn Page 22 Raymond Feist book cover Pages 9-11 Convention logos Page 23 Photo of Alfred Felton (1831-1904) Page 12 Photo of Dick Jenssen . Photograph of „The Espy‟ hotel Page 16 Photo of Mervyn Binns Page 24 „The Planets‟ concert book cover NASA images of the Planets 3

This issue’s cover The Entelechy Graphic and notes by Dick Jenssen

As exclusively reported in the cover notes for the previous issue of Interstellar Ramjet Scoop, a major research effort – Project Frangible – is underway at the Large Hadron Collider, initiated by a serendipitous computer glitch which allowed a momentary glimpse into another universe (that is, another brane). Thanks to the efforts of the scientists and technicians involved, these transitory glimpses can be stored in great detail and thereby investigated thoroughly. As IRS pointed out, although the rifts into the other brane are spatially and temporally random, one complete thread of events has been pieced together – the first view was the cover graphic of the previous IRS. The last image is this issue‟s cover.

A paper, by Dr. Martin James, fully detailing the events between these two images is published in the June 2012 issue of The Journal of Reproducible Results under the title: “Evolution: an Alien Vivification”. The physics, chemistry, biology, geology, etc., are covered as completely as possible. Although IRS was aware of these results, it was also agreed that publication of the final outcome by us would not be made until Dr. James‟ paper was available.

On the alien planet, in the alien universe, an attempt at creating life was observed by Project Frangible: the initial seeding of the oceans of the lifeless world by robots was the subject of the last cover of this journal. As is obvious from this issue‟s cover graphic, the experiment was spectacularly successful, and life is abundant. The investigation into how life was generated revealed that the „seed‟ sown was almost identical to DNA as we know it on our world. Amazingly, the biologists of Project Frangible were able to determine not only that fact, but also some, though not all, of the major differences between the two forms of DNA. It is this similarity, and also that dissimilarity, which apparently accounts for the life displayed in the cover photo to be almost identical to life on our planet, and yet to take forms which, here on Earth, were millions of years apart in evolutionary terms. There are alien trilobytes (extinct here for 250 million years) coexisting with alien liopleurodon (the “shark‟ - extinct some 160 million years ago), and alien diplodocus (vanished 150 million years past), and alien jellyfish akin to Aequorea, Chrysaora, and Cyanea (here still flourishing). What is completely alien, with no Earthly counterpart, are the benthic florae.

The benthic florae 4

The landscape depicted is the same for both this and the previous covers‟ graphics. The ocean is now seen to be but a shallow sea, as is obvious from the background „diplodocus‟, whose neck and head are above the water surface. The mineral „cucumbers‟ on the ocean floor have vanished – it is hypothesised that the early vegetation fed on these deposits before adapting to what is available in the ocean floor.

Further research is, of course, ongoing. As new results are forthcoming, they will be exclusively reported on in the pages of Interstellar Ramjet Scoop. The most urgent area of study concerns the alien DNA. It has so many features in common with the structure and architecture of Earth DNA that it raises a plethora of questions. Is the similarity simply a coincidence? Or does life, as we know it, depend critically on DNA, as we know it, throughout all branes? Is carbon crucial? And – most importantly – does alien RNA exist? If so, what is the evidence, and what of its structure, behavior and properties? If alien RNA is not present, then how does life exist? DISCLAIMER I notice from Roger Ebert's (June 7th) enthusiastic review of "Prometheus" that part of the plot deals with "Alien humanoids, in suspended animation, [who] incredibly have DNA that's a perfect match for our own". Please note that this issue's cover, and notes, were created many moons ago (and on Earth, not under those of Mars). Clearly, either this is another quotidian example confirming Jung's concept of synchronicity, or an amazing coincidence, or is validation of involuntary telepathic communication. Perhaps I should get in touch with to explore litigation? Improve your word power. The sequence of events depicted in this and the previous IRS cover images – the alpha and the omega, as it were – show the progress from the potentiality of life to the actuality of life. That is, they are a visual representation of that entelechy. The complete Oxford English Dictionary – the 20-plus volumes of it – defines: Entelechy In Aristotle's use: The realization or complete expression of some function; the condition in which a potentiality has become an actuality. Ditmar The Lady Varnishes from Badgers Dozen (March 2012) edited by Tim Train Tim Train is a popular Melbourne pub poet. His fanzine is called „Badger‟s Dozen‟ and, unless you are lucky enough to meet him, it is obtainable only from a wall rack in the Sticky Institute, a State-sponsored underground cave haunted by paper fanzine editors, in a subway under Flinders Street railway station. Reprinted here is Tim‟s review of an apocryphal motion picture.* BORN HEIRESS TO A VAST FORTUNE, the Lady Mary Worthington Upperleigh-Upperleigh was cheated of her inheritance, whilst still at school, by her dastardly Uncle Houndstooth. Forced to live on her wits, Lady Mary becomes indentured to a local carpenter, and eventually starts her own business. This autumn, enjoy Director Alfina Pitchfork‟s thrilling historical epic,

The Lady Varnishes . .

Tim Train

* .. in fealty, perhaps, to George Sand, the gay companion of carpenter Frédéric François Chopin Ed. 5

Vale Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) Master storyteller Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91. His most famous novel is “, a dystopian classic published in 1953. Named for the temperature at which paper ignites, the novel depicts a near-future society in which firemen don‟t extinguish fires but instead books, and where the complacent populace, numbed by nonstop television and advertising, seems all too eager to embrace enforced ignorance. Many of his early stories, first published in magazines, were gathered together and published under two titles, (1950) and (1951). The former is a fix-up novel tying together loosely connected tales inspired by childhood reading and experience. The latter volume consists of eighteen stories that explore the nature of mankind. Whilst each is a complete story in itself with no plot or character connections with the others, a recurring theme is how the cold mechanics of technology affect the human condition. Bradbury, Heinlein and Asimov were the three twentieth century science fiction authors who most made it into the literary mainstream. During Bradbury‟s prodigious writing career more than eighteen million copies of his books were sold. Many of his works have been adapted into television shows or films. He never won a Pulitzer Prize, but he did receive a special Pulitzer citation in 2007 “for his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and .” Ray Bradbury attributed to two incidents his lifelong habit of writing every day. The first of those occurred when he was three years old, when his mother took him to see a performance of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The second incident occurred in 1932 when he twelve years old. A carnival entertainer with the stage name of Mr. Electrico touched the young man on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end and shouted, "Live forever!" In an interview in 2001 Bradbury remarked, "I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico. He gave me a future. I began to write full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago." It was then that Bradbury first started to do magic, which was his first great love. If he had not discovered writing, he would have become a magician. Take Me Home by Ray Bradbury June 4, 2012, from The New Yorker June 4, 2012 Farewells and homecomings are the theme of Take Me Home, Bradbury‟s last published work, an essay in the Science Fiction issue of The New Yorker published in the first week of June 2012. Bradbury recalls how he “went a trifle mad” as a child when he discovered Buck Rogers and the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs while living in his grandparents‟ boarding house in Illinois. Following is an excerpt from the piece... I memorized all of “John Carter” and “Tarzan,” and sat on my grandparents‟ front lawn repeating the stories to anyone who would sit and listen. I would go out to that lawn on summer nights and reach up to the red light of Mars and say, “Take me home!” I yearned to fly away and land there in the strange dusts that blew over dead- sea bottoms toward the ancient cities. Bibliography Novels  (1950) The Martian Chronicles – a fix-up novel tying together mostly previously published stories.  (1953) Fahrenheit 451  (1957) – Fix-up novel of previously published, loosely connected stories.  (1962) Something Wicked This Way Comes  (1972)  (1985) Death Is a Lonely Business  (1990) A Graveyard for Lunatics  (1992) Green Shadows, White Whale – Fictionalized autobiographical reminiscences, portions of which had been previously published as individual stories.  (2001) From the Dust Returned – Fix-up novel of previously published, loosely connected stories.  (2002) Let's All Kill Constance  (2006) 6

Collections In addition to these collections, many of Bradbury's short stories have been published in multi-author anthologies. Almost fifty additional Bradbury stories have never been collected anywhere after their initial publication in periodicals,  (1947) Dark Carnival  (1951) The Illustrated Man  (1953) The Golden Apples of the Sun  (1955) The October Country  (1959) A Medicine for Melancholy  (1959) The Day It Rained Forever  (1962) The Small Assassin  (1962) R is for Rocket  (1964) The Machineries of Joy  (1965) The Autumn People  (1965) The Vintage Bradbury  (1966) Tomorrow Midnight  (1966) S is for Space  (1966) Twice 22  (1969) I Sing The Body Electric  (1975) Ray Bradbury  (1976)  (1979) The Fog Horn & Other Stories  (1980) One Timeless Spring  (1980) The Last Circus and the Electrocution  (1980) The Stories of Ray Bradbury  (1981) The Fog Horn and Other Stories  (1983)  (1984) A Memory of Murder  (1985) The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone  (1988) The Toynbee Convector  (1990) Classic Stories 1  (1990) Classic Stories 2  (1991) The Parrot Who Met Papa  (1991) Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed  (1996)  (1997)  (2001) Ray Bradbury Collected Short Stories  (2001) The Playground  (2002)  (2003) Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales  (2003) Is That You, Herb?  (2004) The Cat's Pajamas: Stories  (2005) and Other Stories  (2007) Who Ate His Tail  (2007) Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band is Playing & Leviathan '99  (2007) Summer Morning, Summer Night  (2009) Ray Bradbury Stories Volume 2  (2009) We'll Always Have Paris: Stories  (2011) The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition – Volume 1, 1938–1943

Anthologies Bradbury edited these collections of works by other authors  (1952) Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow  (1956) The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories

Bill Wright 7

Letters from (North) America Loc from Lloyd Penney Lloyd Penney is a well-known Canadian letter-hack and fanzine editor. He has won the FAAn Award for Best Letterhack four times for his LoCs, which are widely enjoyed by science fiction fanzine editors and their readers.

1706-24 Eva Rd., Etobicoke, Ontario, CANADA M9C 2B2 April 26, 2012 Dear Bill: Many thanks for yet another Interstellar Ramjet Scoop, the April 2012 issue. Letter to be written, comments to be made, a letterhack‟s work is never done. The Large Hadron Collider is an amazing device, to be certain, and I certainly wouldn‟t have wanted to pay for it. I gather the cost is in the billions of US dollars. I wish Mr. Higgs could find his bosons… Let‟s hope there‟s more brains in that brane than in this brane. We could use more reality; we don‟t seem too happy with the reality we have. My letter…CUFF this year was won by a relatively new fan, Deb Yeung. She will be heading off to this year‟s CanVention in Calgary. The job I had at the advertising agency ended prematurely, so the hunt is on yet again. Chicon 7 sounds like a great place to be, and Chicago isn‟t that far away from Toronto, but Yvonne and I have decided to take a pass on Chicon 7 and next year‟s LoneStarCon 3 in , , in order to have enough time to save for a grand trip to London for the 2014 Worldcon. We haven‟t voted on the 2014 Worldcon yet, but London‟s is the only bid. We also want to see some of England perhaps a week or two before the convention. We know this will be our final overseas trip, so we want to make it a good one. (I believe Peter Sagal has had to withdraw from being a special guest at the convention.) Hard to believe that Chris Garcia is on the Hugo ballot four times, making him one of the most nominated fans ever. He‟s even up against himself. The chance to vote will be coming soon, with the next progress report, I believe, so now to see if Chris gets a Hugo this year for the way he accepted his Hugo last year. I am expecting a workman soon to net our balcony…keep the pigeons off it, so we can reclaim the balcony and enjoy it this summer, more time enjoying it, and less time cleaning it. So, I will wrap, say my thanks, and fire this letter off into the ether. Or e-ther, if you‟d like. Take care; see you in a couple of months. Yours, Lloyd Penney Lloyd, I talk about Awards in this issue, listing nominations for the Hugo Awards (to be presented at Worldcon (Chicon 7 on September 2nd, 2012). And I have done the same for Australia‟s Ditmar Awards presented at the Aussie Natcon (Continuum 8 on June 10th, 2012), with the winners highlighted in a box. In recent years, to encourage nominations, the Internet has allowed easy distribution of lists of books that are eligible for various popularity awards. So it‟s surprising there aren‟t a lot more nominations than were actually submitted. There will always be cabals putting in organised nominations for notorious self-promoters. Once controversial, the practice seems to have morphed into a venerable tradition. Some use must have been made of the aforesaid lists because there has been a slight but measurable increase in awards nominations worldwide in recent years. For example, a record 1,011 nominations were received for the 2012 Hugo Awards – a pitifully small number considering SF fans are reputed to be voracious readers. Even if that is still true, few of us bother, or find it intimidating, to participate in the Awards process, That‟s why, in my introduction to the Hugo nominations, I have taken pains to outline the Nomination process Ed. perspective

downunder

8

LoC from Eric Mayer Pennsylvania USA

Eric Mayer discovered fandom in 1972. From 1978 to 1995 he published Groggy, a mostly dittoed perzine that often featured hectographed covers. He spent 2011 producing E-Ditto, an electronic version of the personalzines he used to enjoy back in the 1970s. All 17 issues of E-Ditto are available on e-Fanzines: http://efanzines.com. His 2012 zine, with a slightly changed format, is called Revenant. It also is available on e-Fanzines. Friday April 20th, 2012

Dear Bill This LoC on IRS April 2012 is only a few days after we sent our taxes off to the IRS! Things have been hectic this year and I am falling behind but isn't that always the case? Neat cover. My first reaction, before reading the discussion of it further on was to wonder if we were looking at the future equivalent of shooting wolves from a plane? My thought being that the big aircraft was shooting a small missile at the creature on the ground. The ESV version of Daniel 9:27 reads: "And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." So maybe the winged craft delivers the desolator and then eliminates it. (Must have been scary as hell reading the Old Testament by the light of burning camel dung.) Anyway I look forward to the second instalment in June 2012. Provided they keep that darnn collider turned off and avoid world-ending abominations. Sent by the God Particle, perhaps? Speaking of which, an Apocalypse themed convention? Hmmmm. Last year the world ended twice, if I recall correctly, and this year I know it is ending December 21st according to the Mayan calendar but whose world ended earlier this month with Doomcon? Aside from the cover the highlight of the issue was the poem by Gordy Byron. Pretty decent effort by a neo and I'm glad you encouraged him by publishing it. Now if he would add a few faanish references and make the lines rhyme he'd really have something. Loved Tim Train's cartoon but I have no comment because nothing I can think to say is as humorous. "The purples must have dried out." Or so it says on your first page and that caught my eye. Indeed. When I was producing a dittoed fanzine back in the eighties most of the ditto masters I was able to obtain seemed to have dried out and would barely produce a print. Luckily that is no longer a problem. Weird isn't it. We write words down and can never guess exactly what they are going to bring to another person's mind apart from their actual meaning. Re Lloyd's letter...a world where people don't die to get out of the way of coming generations wouldn't be a very pleasant world I'm afraid. Nice article on Mighty Mouse but my favourite super rodent was Atomic Mouse. He got his power from atomic pills. One big and one small for different amounts of super power. He popped one or the other when he got into a fight. Bet we wouldn't see him around today. It's not many fanzines that contain a zine inside a zine but that's what the Stefan Zone feels like. Funny stuff. I don't know about his health insurance plan though. I thought Australians might not be in the same boat as Americans when it comes to health care. Well, actually Americans aren't exactly in a boat unless you define "boat" as open water in the middle of the Pacific. And the sharks are circling, in the guise of health insurers. So, you ask, where does the health care come in? To which I can only explain as our health insurers do ahahahahahaha!!! See, laughter is the best medicine isn't it? Unfortunately you have a 1,000 belly laugh deductible here. The boat pictures were interesting. That paddle steamer reminded me of Davey Crockett and the River Pirates from back in the fifties. You sure pack a lot of stuff in a short fanzine! Best from Eric Mayer Hmm. Eric likes the poem „Darkness‟ by neofan Gordy Bryon Neofan? Just a minute, Eric.„Darkness‟ was first published in 1816, which predates SF fandom as we know it. Let‟s say we recognise him as a fannish precursor, given that „Darkness‟ has images from Brane cosmology written two centuries before its science was articulated. Does that, I wonder, make Byron eligible for a Retro-Rhysling Award in the long form poetry category? Ed. Conventions held and on the horizon unCONventional 33rd New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention, 1-4 June 2012 was held at Surrey Hotel, 465 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland GOH: award-winning author and artist Trudi Canavan Fan GOH: Lorain Clark FFANZ laureate: Edwina Harvey represented the Australian science fiction community and, on her return to Australia was happy to discuss her experiences there with members of… Continuum 8 Australia’s 51st Natcon was held in Melbourne on 8-11 June, 2012 .

Chair: Emilly McLeay said “In 2012, Continuum 8 was the first Continuum to also be the Australian National Science Fiction Convention.” The editor attended Continuum 8 and opines that it had the best formal programme of any science fiction convention he has attended in the last decade – except for the lack of gaming space, no doubt due to the limited number of function rooms in the convention hotel. One hesitates to speak ill of the C8 committee, which generally ran things well; but they were less than imaginative when confronted with frustrated gamers without a space to play. The hotel was fully booked by C8 members, so it would have been logical for the committee to commandeer two excellent gaming tables under cover beside the swimming pool. The pool environs had been pre-booked for a wedding party on the first day of the convention, but the area was almost deserted thereafter. Personally, I had nothing to complain about with respect to the hotel management‟s spirit of cooperation. Their storage room was always available to convention members, whether or not they were hotel residents; and, when I asked for a quiet corner for an Author‟s kaffeclatsch, I was shown to a screened alcove in the hotel dining room that was ideal for the purpose. A waitress obligingly switched off the muzak for the duration, so the kaffeclatsch fan group could sip coffee and interact with their Author in peace and quiet. Programmed topics were crisply defined and obviously geared to bring authors, publishers, editors and readers up to speed with what is going on in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror and related arts and media, There was a greater than usual proportion of session moderators who had taken the trouble to brief their panellists and plan such things as the balance between panel discussion and audience participation.

10

Such perfection does not arise by chance. I knew in advance that any convention run by Emily McLeay was going to be good, but I didn‟t realise how good until I attended the events themselves. In my capacity as awards administrator for the Australian Science Fiction Foundation, I had spent months preparing for the presentation of two major awards at Continuum 8. They are the A. Bertram for outstanding achievement in science fiction and the Norma K Hemming Jury Award for race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in speculative fiction. Both presentations were well received. Afterwards I received congratulatory feedback from authors interstate who had received Twitter feeds from members of the audience as the presentations were made. Visit: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~asff/ for details. Ditmar Awards, the top Australian popularity awards for speculative fiction and related arts and media in various categories, were also presented at Continuum 8; as were the Continuum Foundation‟s Chronos Awards that are similar in style and definition to the Ditmars, which for their part were modelled originally on the Hugo Awards presented at to members of the World Science Fiction Society (i.e. Worldcon members). There‟s an article on this year‟s Awards at Continuum 8 in this issue, It includes the winners of awards presented there., viz.. the Chandler, Hemming, Ditmar and Chronos awards, as well as nominations voted for the Ditmar and Chronos awards and nominations for the Hugo awards to be given at Chicon 7 – see below…

ж

Chicon 1 – 2nd Worldcon in 1940 Chicon 2 – 10th Worldcon in 1952 Chicon 3 – 20th Worldcon in 1962 Chicon 4 – 40th Worldcon in 1982 Chicon 5 – 49th Worldcon in 1991 Chicon 6 – 58th Worldcon in 2000

And now, Chicon 7 is the 70th Worldcon in Chicago, Illinois, from August 30th to September 3rd, 2012.

"Most of our history in space has been communicated in terms of action - what people do, a chronological list of events which have transpired - as opposed to the human experience of having done those things." Story Musgrave Guests of Honour: Author: Mike Resnick Website: https://chicon.org/ Astronaut: Story Musgrave E-mail: [email protected] Artist: Rowena Morrill Postal address: P.O. Box 13 Agent: Jane Frank Stokie, IL 60076, USA Fan: Peggy Rae Sapienza Registrar: tel. +1-847-681-3960 Special Guests: Former NASA flight controller: Sy Liebergot National Public Radio host and cultural Lothario: Peter Sagal Toastmaster: John Scalzi

11 Conventions on the horizon (continued)

Conflux 8 On the Beach Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th September 2012 Novotel Canberra, Australia

Conflux 8, the eighth speculative fiction convention held under the Conflux name in Canberra, will be held at Novotel, a four and a half star hotel located in the city centre. Website: http://www.conflux.org.au/index.shtml

Guests:

Keri Arthur Keri Arthur, author of the New York Times bestselling Riley Jenson Guardian series, has now written more than twenty-five books. She's received several nominations in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards and has won RT's Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy. Keri lives with her daughter in Melbourne, Australia. Keith Stevenson Keith Stevenson is a speculative fiction editor, reviewer, podcaster and author. He's the publisher with Coeur de Lion Publishing, an Australian-based independent press which has, so far, picked up three Aurealis Awards, one Ditmar, one Vogel and a for its published titles.

Keith began his editing career as editor of Aurealis Magazine from 2001 to 2004. He set up Coeur de Lion Publishing, with fellow author Andrew Macrae, in 2006 and in 2008 he became the science fiction and horror reviewer for Aurealis Magazine until 2010. Keith also produced and presented the Terra Incognita Speculative Fiction Podcast for thirty shows from late 2008, featuring the best Australian speculative fiction read by the authors who created it. He has also variously organised, convened or judged in the Aurealis Awards since 2001. ж

Conflux 9 2013 Natcon Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th April 2013 at Rydges Capital Hill, Barton, Australian Capital Territory http://confluxnatcon2013.wordpress.com

Guests: International Guest of Honour: Nalo Hopkinson International Editor Guest of Honour: Marc Gascoigne Fan Guest of Honour: Rose Mitchell Australian Guest of Honour: Karen Miller Special Guest:

12 Awards at the Natcon – Sunday evening 10th June 2012

The Awards ceremonies at Continuum 8,(Australia‟s 51st Natcon) ran like clockwork thanks to meticulous planning by the Hosts nominated by the committee. Impresario Ian Mond was less than his ebullient self, having succumbed to food poisoning earlier in the day. But he still managed to keep the show rolling with the help of co-host Kirstyn McDermott whose projected slide show running in lock-step with each presentation engaged the audience in the action. No less than twenty-nine awards were presented or mentioned in an hour and a half. Competition Winners As is traditional in Australian Natcons, a short story competition sponsored by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation but run under rules formulated by the convention committee was held in conjunction with Continuum 8, Although the convention originally offered prizes in two categories, i.e. Written work and Non-written work, only written entries were received. Three prizes were awarded, of $250, $150 and $100, respectively. First Prize of $250 was won by: Pattern for Knitting a Galaxy by Stephanie Lai Second Prize of $150 was won by: The Armour by Jessica Reid Third Prize of $100 was won by: Stitch the Sun by Liz Barr All three stories were printed in the Continuum 8 souvenir book and the prizes presented at the Awards ceremony. Lizbt Action coordinated competition and the judging.

The A Bertram Chandler Award, Australia‟s premier fan award for outstanding achievement in science fiction was won by author, impresario and auteur: Richard Harland.

The Norma K Hemming Award for race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in Australian speculative fiction was tied, the Judges – writer and editor , editor and publisher Rob Gerrand, writer Tess Williams and editor Sarah Endacott - being unable to separate the top two shortlisted entries. The joint winners are: AA Bell for Hindsight, and the late Sara Warneke (1957-2011) writing as Sara Douglass, for The Devil‟s Diadem In addition, Honourable Mention certificates were awarded to authors Sue Isle, Meg Mundell and Tansy Rayner Roberts for works of exceptional merit selected from the Judges‟ shortlist of nine works from forty-one entries.

The Peter McNamara Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction was won by: .

Ditmar Awards 2012 In 1968 Dr Martin James Ditmar Jenssen, a Melbourne University scientist specialising in Antarctic meteorology and one of the illustrious founding members of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club, was part of the organizing committee for the 8th Australian Science Fiction Convention held in April 1969 in the Melbourne Science Fiction Club‟s meeting place in the loft of McGill‟s Newsagency‟s Somerset Lane warehouse, where the first Australian Science Fiction Awards were given. He writes, “The committee met on a particularly stifling summer's day in the clubroom's oppressively hot confines. There came the usual protracted and meandering discussion trying to fix on a popular name for the awards - Constellation, Southern Cross, DownUnders…Finally, thirst overwhelmed me, and my frivolous nature erupted, with the result that I facetiously suggested that they be called 'Ditmars'. To my surprise, this found favour, with MSFC‟s patron Mervin Binns being the most vociferous in support. Dick Jenssen financially supported the Ditmar Awards until they were firmly established as the Australian national science fiction achievement awards. That is why, forty years down the track, we still have the Ditmar Awards.

13

In recent years, administration of the Ditmar Awards has been delegated to a permanent subcommittee of the business meetings of Australian Natcons chaired by 2011 DUFF laureate David Cake who represented Australian SF fandom at Renovation (the 69th Worldcon in Reno, Nevada) in August 2011.

Following is the official list of nominations for the 2012 Ditmar Awards. The winners in each category are boxed.

Best Novel ------* The Shattered City (Creature Court 2), Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperCollins) * Burn Bright, Marianne de Pierres ( Australia) * Mistification, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books) * The Courier's New Bicycle, Kim Westwood (HarperCollins) * Debris (The Veiled Worlds 1), Jo Anderton (Angry Robot Books)

Best Novella or Novelette ------* "The Sleeping and the Dead", Cat Sparks, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press) * "Above", Stephanie Campisi, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press) * "The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt", Paul Haines, in The Last Days of Kali Yuga () * "And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living", , in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press) * "Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary", Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press) * "Below", Ben Peek, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Short Story ------* "Breaking the Ice", Thoraiya Dyer, in Cosmos 37 * "Alchemy", , in Thief of Lives (Twelfth Planet Press) * "The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker", Martin Livings and Talie Helene, in More Scary Kisses () * "All You Can Do Is Breathe", Kaaron Warren, in Blood and Other Cravings (Tor) * "Bad Power", Deborah Biancotti, in Bad Power (Twelfth Planet Press) * "The Patrician", Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Collected Work ------* The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press) * Nightsiders by Sue Isle, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) * Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) * Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) * Ishtar, edited by Amanda Pillar and K. V. Taylor (Gilgamesh Press) Best Artwork ------* "Finishing School", Kathleen Jennings, in Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (Candlewick Press) * Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, for The Freedom Maze (Small Beer Press)

14 Best Fan Writer ------* Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus! and Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth * Alexandra Pierce, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus!, Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth, and Randomly Yours, Alex * Robin Penn for “The Ballad of the Unrequited Ditmar” * Sean Wright, for body of work including "Authors and Social Media" series in Adventures of a Bookonaut * Bruce Gillespie, for body of work including "The Golden Age of Fanzines is Now", and SF Commentary 81 & 82

Best Fan Artist ------* Rebecca Ing, for work in Scape * Lisa Rye, for "Steampunk Portal" series * Dick Jenssen, for body of work including work in IRS, Steam Engine Time, SF Commentary and Scratchpad * Kathleen Jennings, for work in Errantry (tanaudel.wordpress.com) including "The Dalek Game" * Rhianna Williams, for work in Nullas Anxietas Convention Programme Book

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium ------* SF Commentary, edited by Bruce Gillespie * The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond * The Coode Street Podcast, Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe * Galactic Chat, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Sean Wright * Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce

Best New Talent ------* Steve Cameron * Alan Baxter * Joanne Anderton

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review ------* Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, for "2010: The Year in Review", in The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010 (Ticonderoga Publications) * Damien Broderick and Van Ikin, for editing Warriors of the Tao: The Best of Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature (Borgo Press) * David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely for "Reviewing New Who" series, in A Conversational Life * Alexandra Pierce and Tehani Wessely, for reviews of Vorkosigan Saga, in Randomly Yours, Alex * Russell Blackford, for "Currently reading: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke", in Metamagician and the Hellfire Club --- The Continuum Foundation called upon various guest presenters to give its Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in 2011. This is a popularity award similar to the Ditmar awards in which nominations are received and voting takes place in accordance with published rules.

The winning entries in each category are boxed.

15 Best Long Fiction  Black Glass, Meg Mundell (Scribe Publications)  Mole Hunt, Paul Collins (Ford Street Publishing)  The Key to Starveldt, Foz Meadows (Ford Street Publishing)  The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Paul Haines (Brimstone Press)  Scape e-zine, edited by Peta Freestone  Changing Yesterday, Sean McMullen (Ford Street Publishing)  Thief of Lives, Lucy Sussex (Twelfth Planet Press)  No Award

Best Short Fiction  Neverspring, Peta Freestone (in M-BRANE SF #25)  The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt, Paul Haines (in The Last Days of Kali Yuga)  Gamer’s Challenge, George Ivanoff (by Ford Street Publishing)  One Last Interruption Before We Begin, Stephanie Lai (in Steampowered II: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories)  So Sad, the Lighthouse Keeper, Steve Cameron (in Anywhere But Earth)  No Award

Best Fan Writer

 Jason Nahrung  Alexandra Pierce  Peta Freestone  No Award

Best Fan Artist

 Nalini Haynes  Marta Tesoro  Rebecca Ing  Rachel Holkner  No Award

Best Fan Written Work

 Dear Space Diary, Sam Mellor (Blog – Fiction)  Tiptree, and a collection of her short stories, Alexandra Pierce (in Randomly Yours, Alex)  Interview with Meg Mundell, Nalini Haynes (in Dark Matter 3)  No Award

Best Fan Artwork

 Girl Torque, Nalini Haynes (Cover for Dark Matter 3)  Dangerous Penguins, Marta Tesoro  Blue Locks, Rebecca Ing (Scape 2)  No Award

16 Best Fan Publication

 The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond  Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alexandra Pierce  Bad Film Diaries, Grant Watson  Dark Matter, edited by Nalini Haynes  No Award

Best Achievement

 Trailer for Gamer’s Challenge, Henry Gibbens (Ford Street Publishing)  Continuum 7 Opening Ceremony Video, Rachel Holkner (Continuum 7)  Conquilt, Rachel Holkner and Jeanette Holkner (Continuum 7)

Best Artwork award not presented (insufficient nominations)

The Continuum Foundation‟s inaugural Infinity Award recognising a member of the Australian science fiction community whose contribution to that community is so conspicuous that his or her name will never be forgotten, was won by MSFC founder member, anchor man of the Club in the first three decades since its foundation by Race Mathews in 1952 and essential player in the campaign to hold Aussiecon (the 33rd World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne in 1975), was presented to the winner of the Forest J Ackerman Big Heart award at Aussiecon 4 (68th Worldcon in Melbourne in 2010), Mervyn Binns. ж Hugo Awards - 2012 nominations Awards are important because they focus attention on books and stories that their nominators think are worth reading. The 2012 Hugo awards are the top awards for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. This year they will be presented at Chicon 7 (70th Worldcon in Chicago) on Sunday, 3-Sep-2012. Becoming involved in the Hugo Awards can be intimidating if you don‟t understand the process. You can visit: http://chicon.org/membership.php now to join Chicon 7 as an Attending, Young Adult or Supporting member. When you have your membership number and Hugo PIN you immediately become eligible to apply for your Hugo Voter Packet: http://chicon.org/hugo-packet.php. Following directions in the packet it‟s easy to inform yourself about the works under consideration before voting online. Thanks to the Internet, a record 1101 but still not large enough number of valid nominating ballots were received from members of the World Science Fiction Society which, for the purpose of 2012 Hugo nominations, consists of members of Renovation (last year‟s Worldcon) and Chicon 7 (this year‟s Worldcon). The second stage of voting will be to choose a winner from nominations in each category, when the voters will be members of Chicon 7 only. The nominations are: Best Novel (932 ballots) Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor) A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit) Embassytown by China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

17 Best Novella (473 ballots) Countdown by Mira Grant (Orbit) "The Ice Owl" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction November/December 2011) "Kiss Me Twice" by (Asimov's June 2011) "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" by Kij Johnson (Asimov's September/October 2011) "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" by Ken Liu (Panverse 3) Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA) Best Novelette (499 ballots) "The Copenhagen Interpretation" by Paul Cornell (Asimov's July 2011) "Fields of Gold" by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four) "Ray of Light" by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog December 2011) "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com) "What We Found" by Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011) Best Short Story (593 ballots) "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld April 2011) "The Homecoming" by Mike Resnick (Asimov's April/May 2011) "Movement" by Nancy Fulda (Asimov's March 2011) "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011) "Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue" by John Scalzi (Tor.com) Best Related Work (461 ballots) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by , David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz) Jar Jar Binks Must Die... and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books) The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image) Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire Writing Excuses, Season 6 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, , Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson Best Graphic Story (339 ballots) Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press) Fables Vol 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo) Locke & Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW) Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation) The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo) Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) (592 ballots) Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely, directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel) (Season 1), created by and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, , , and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, , , and (HBO) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.) Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount) Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

18 Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) (512 ballots) "The Doctor's Wife" (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales) "The Drink Tank's Hugo Acceptance Speech," Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation) "The Girl Who Waited" (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales) "A Good Man Goes to War" (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales) "Remedial Chaos Theory" (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC) Best Semiprozine (357 ballots) Apex Magazine edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore Interzone edited by Andy Cox Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al. New York Review of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer Best Fanzine (322 ballots) Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia File 770 edited by Mike Glyer Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al. SF Signal edited by John DeNardo Best Fancast (326 ballots) The Coode Street Podcast, & Gary K. Wolfe Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer) SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith Best Professional Editor - Long Form (358 ballots) Liz Gorinsky Anne Lesley Groell Patrick Nielsen Hayden Betsy Wollheim Best Professional Editor - Short Form (512 ballots) John Joseph Adams Neil Clarke Stanley Schmidt Jonathan Strahan Sheila Williams Best Professional Artist (399 ballots) Dan dos Santos Bob Eggleton Michael Komarck Stephan Martiniere Best Fan Artist (216 ballots) Brad W. Foster Randall Munroe Spring Schoenhuth Maurine Starkey Steve Stiles Taral Wayne

19 Best Fan Writer (360 ballots) James Bacon Claire Brialey Christopher J Garcia Jim C. Hines Steven H Silver John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (396 ballots) Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2010 or 2011, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a ). Mur Lafferty Stina Leicht Karen Lord * Brad R. Torgersen * E. Lily Yu *2nd year of eligibility

I didn‟t spot any Australian or New Zealand writers among the nominations. Not that I can complain since I forgot to nominate any. I suspect not too many Australasian fans remember to nominate local works for Hugos awarded overseas. That only happens when the Worldcon comes to the Antipodes, as it did in 1975. 1985, 1999 and 2010. It‟s the same with Japanese fans who recently hosted Nippon 2007, but it‟s harder for them to get involved in Hugo ballots run from overseas because of the language barrier, albeit many Japanese are bilingual and, after all, English is the imperial language. Local writers benefit when Worldcons go overseas. It isn‟t a perfect system, but it works for us in that, irrespective of where the Worldcon is held, we get to pick some fine stories to read among each year‟s nominations. Bill Wright Fan Funds represented or commented on at Continuum 8 National Australia Fan Fund (NAFF) Sarah Parker was the 2012 NAFF laureate representing the Western Australian speculative fiction community at Continuum 8 (51st Natcon) on 8-11 June 2012. A veteran of more than fifty science fiction conventions with a well-deserved reputation as a Room Party hostess, Sarah more than earned her keep by sharing her time with authors and their fans and participating in the programme at the direction of the convention committee. In particular, she gave a sterling performance as co-presenter with the editor of the Norma K Hemming Award for race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in speculative fiction, where there were two Winners trophies and three Honourable Mention certificates to be awarded in ten minutes. The Get Up and Over Fan Fund Fan Fund (GUFF) – Australasia to Europe Kylie Ding (from Western Australia) was the 2012 GUFF laureate who ably represented the Australian and New Zealand speculative fiction community at Olympus, the British Natcon held last Easter 6-9 April 2012. Olympus was one of those rare British convent ions hosting both North American and Australasian fan fund representatives. The winner of the 2012 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), this time sending a North American fan to Europe, was Jacqueline Monahan, who won a close race against Warren Buff and Kim G. Komfel. Kylie Ding‟s win over rival candidate Grant Watson couldn‟t have been closer. She won by 47 to 46 votes. Kylie has family commitments that will keep her in the UK until late 2012. On her return she will take over the as Australian administration of GUFF from 2009 GUFF winner Sue Ann Barber. Down Under Fan Fund (DUFF) The ballot for DUFF in 2012 resulted in a win for „Hold Over Funds‟. It means there won‟t be a DUFF trip this year. Hopefully that will afford the fund‟s administrators on both sides of the American Lake (the Pacific Ocean) both the time and opportunities to raise funds for a DUFF trip in 2013.

20 About fan funds TAFF DUFF GUFF NAFF FFANZ CUFF Fan Funds Home · DUFF · GUFF · FFANZ · NAFF · Other Funds

About Fan Funds, their origin, what they’re for, how they work and why you should support them.

It started in the 1950s when a group of fans in the United Kingdom decided it would be nice to send their mate Walt Willis to a Worldcon in Chicago. Walt was very appreciative and went out of his way to help the convention and represent his country to the best of his ability. On his return, he filled several fanzines with reports from the convention. Remember, this was well before the Internet so fanzines were the only way people got to hear about far away conventions. From this small beginning, the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) that sends a European representative to North America, and vice versa, in alternate years, was born.

The Down Under Fan Fund ( DUFF) alternately sending fans between the US and Australia was the next major fan fund, and this was followed by GUFF, which stands for either Going Under Fan Fund or Get Up- and-over Fan Fund, sending fans between Europe and Australia. The Fan Fund of Australia and New Zealand (FFANZ) sends delegates to each other‟s National SF Convention.

As well as Inter-national fan fund there are also Intra-national fan funds. Examples are the Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) and the National Australia Fan Fund (NAFF) that take fans from one region to a major convention in another region. Still other funds are "one offs" that raise money to bring a specific fan to a specific convention. For example, the Tucker Bag fund brought the late Bob Tucker from the U.S.A. to the 1975 Aussiecon, and the Bring Bruce Bayside fund enabled Australian fan Bruce Gillespie to attend the Corflu and Potlatch conventions in California in 2005.

Fan Fund laureates represent the best their country has to offer at the host country‟s top convention. They enrich fandom globally and their delegates are good company. That‟s why you should support them with your donation when the time comes to vote for the candidate of your choice.

Advertisement The Working Woman’s Friend

21 Book review – ‘Away from the Here and Now’ by Clare Winger Harris

Surinam Turtles - trade paperbacks online for US$18.00 from Ramble House: http://www.ramblehouse.com Leat herb ack turtl es on fam ed Suri nam Beach are the inspiration for trade paperback publisher Surinam Turtle Press, an imprint of Ramble House, itself a pretty small company. Editorial director Richard Lupoff is a science fiction author, film scriptwriter, actor and a big name in science fiction fandom, being regularly featured in award-winning fanzines such as Banana Wings. Richard had the good sense to commission Ditmar to do some of his cover graphics (pictured above). If only the stories inside could match that quality, and - surprise, surprise - they do! Suss them out on http://www.lulu.com/ramblehouse. The Surinam Turtle Press edition of The Savage Gentleman by Phillip Wylie is now out of print. It is a testament to the artist that Amazon will sell you a copy for $87 from one of their second hand dealers, despite the fact that another paperback edition with an introduction by Richard Lupoff is available from Bison Books (University of Nebraska). A copy of Sideslip will cost you $318 from an Amazon dealer. The latest offering to emerge from this cornucopia of goodies is Away from the Here and Now , sugar coated science by Claire Winger Harris (Jan 1891- Oct 1968) who is credited as the first woman to have published stories in her own name in science fiction magazines. She wrote only one novel, Persephone of Eleusis: A Romance of Ancient Greece, published in 1923. Away from the Here and Now: Stories in Pseudo-Science is a collection of her shorter works first published by Dorrance Book Publishers (Philadelphia) in 1947. Mr Lupoff‟s reprint has a front cover (at left) by celebrated Australian graphic artist Ditmar Jenssen whose work graces the covers of IRS, SF Commentary and other quality organs of omphalistic epistemology. Ditmar says his cover illustration was inspired by Stanley G Weinbaum‟s classic short story The Lotus Eaters first published in the April 1935 issue of Astounding Stories in which researchers from the Royal Society and the Smithsonian Institute visit Venus and find a species of warm-blooded mobile plants with a communal intelligence. Note: All Weinbaum’s SF and Fantasy stories are available in four paperbacks from Leonaur Press: http://www.leonaur.com/. If you are not a British resident order them from Amazon.uk, rather than through Leonaur, to save on postage. Dorrance‟s original Away from the Here and Now cover featuring an American spaceship landing on the Moon became science fact rather than science fiction with the advent of the Apollo 11 spaceflight in July 1960. That is when Buzz Aldrin became the first man to land a space ship on the Moon and Neil Armstrong was first to step on to the Moon six hours later. Editor Richard Lupoff relegated the original front cover to a small miniature on the back cover adjacent to a list of titles of stories in the book. Why should you buy this book? Whilst in the years since her death Clare Winger Harris‟s stories have been reprinted from time to time, the Surinam Turtle Press edition of Away from the Here and Now is the first new edition of this important collection since its initial publication in 1947. This talented and historically significant author deserves a fresh introduction to a large and appreciative new audience.

22 Book review – ‘A Kingdom Besieged’ by Raymond E Feist (in his Riftwar Cycle) „A Kingdom Besieged‟ by Raymond E Feist, first published in Australia by HarperVoyager in 2011.0 Three decades ago, young Raymond Feist attended the University of California where he and his friends created a role-playing game based on their own imagined universe, which they called the world of Midkemia. Feist has drawn on that worldscape for most of his impressive literary output which, in aggregate, his publishers call The Riftwar Cycle. Mages create „rifts‟ through multi-dimensional space connecting planets in different solar systems as well as locations outside any known cosmology. Magician, first published in 1982, began the cycle by introducing Pug of Crydee as the viewpoint character for the entire series. It was the first book in a trilogy known as the Riftwar Saga. There are, in fact, ten distinct Sagas in the Riftwar Cycle, consisting of the following twenty-nine novels. Riftwar saga Legends of the Riftwar  Magician (1982)  Honoured Enemy (2001) with Wm R Forstchen  Silverthorn (1985)  Murder in LaMut (2002) with Joel Rosenberg  A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)  Jimmy the Hand (2003) with S M Stirling Empire saga Conclave of Shadows  Daughter of the Empire (1987) with Janny Wurtz  Talon of the Silver Hawk (2003)  Servant of the Empire (1990) with Janny Wurtz  King of Foxes (2004)  Mistress of the Empire (1992) with Janny Wurtz  Exile’s Return (2005) Krondor’s Sons Darkwar saga  Prince of the Blood (1989)  Flight of the Nightghawks (2005)  The King’s Buccaneer (1992)  Into a Dark Realm (2006) Serpentwar saga  Wrath of the Mad God (2008)  Shadow of a Dark Queen (1994) Demonwar saga  Rise of a Merchant Pince (1995)  Rides a Dread Legion (2009)  Rage of a Demon King (1997)  At The Gates of Darkness (2010)  Shards of a Broken Crown (1998) Chaoswar saga The Riftwar Legacy  A Kingdom Besieged (2011)  Krondor: The Betrayal (1998)  A Crown Imperilled (2012) planned release  Krondor: The Assassins (1999)  Magician's End (TBA) not yet published  Krondor: Tear of the Gods (2000) A Kingdom Besieged is first novel in The Chaoswar Saga, the last of ten multi-novel sagas in the Riftwar Cycle. The story begins by introducing a demon character named Child, whose development reveals much about demonkind and gives yet more tantalizing hints to the nature of the gods. We begin to have some idea of how major protagonists in earlier books will feature in the last two. To say more would be to spoil the story, especially for readers who have followed the series from the beginning. Until recently each book in the cycle could be read on its own without the reader needing to have read any of the earlier books. That has become more difficult towards the end when the number of characters that Feist (and the reader) has to keep track of can clutter the story line. Not often, but it‟s there.. The cycle, with its life-affirming existential philosophy, is epic fantasy at its finest. Philosophy begins with acting, feeling, living, thinking human beings. Life stresses in this increasingly brutal world we inhabit can bruise the spirit and leave any of us with a diminished sense of self-worth. Recreational reading is the antidote. For that reason alone, this antepenultimate novel in Raymond E Feist‟s marathon series of rattling good yarns is recommended. A Kingdom Besieged copyright © by Raymond E Feist 2011 ISBN 978 0 00 726478 0 Trade paperback published by Harper Collins under its Voyager imprint (www.voyager-books.com).

23 Going Down on the Espy The following preamble is presented with abject apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson. The Espy fades in Becton's shade, It's mildewed turrets old in story. Then sunset's reach across the beach Fires palm trees tinged with glory. The Esplanade Hotel is a venerable pile that occupies prime position on an elevation overlooking the most developed section of St Kilda Beach. In the great days of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century when St Kilda was the diplomatic and social hub of Australia (Canberra was still a dream and Melbourne was, in effect, Australia‟s capital city), the edifice was the home of Alfred Felton (1831-1904) co-founder of Felton Grimwade and Company, wholesale druggists and manufacturing chemists. Having no direct descendants, he established in his Will a philanthropic trust known as the Felton Bequest, “to support culture and the community.” Victoria‟s National Art Gallery is a monument to his memory. The Esplanade Hotel, or „The Espy‟ as it is called for short, is another. The poem epitomises St Kilda Beach as seen from The Espy at dusk. A more sinister regime obtains by night. The beach precinct is host to animals of various levels of age and sophistication who turn a human face to one another in vain efforts to conceal their desperate desires. Some are sex beggars. Others seek a chemical solution to real or imagined woes. But all these lonely people have one thing in common: they are, not to put too fine a point on it, prey. Their predators are cashed up sex hunters and drug dealers. That isn‟t necessarily a Bad Thing. A certain amount of experimentation with life in the fast lane is thought by some to be healthy in the young. But what has developed in the underground culture of modern-day St Kilda is perilous in the extreme. Ten years ago, the youngest person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer‟s disease was thirty-eight years old. A sustained history of drug-induced high blood pressure weakens small arteries in the brain. They become clogged with plaque, affecting memory and cognition progressively until death supervenes. Nowadays, we have teenagers displaying symptoms of Alzheimer‟s disease brought on by the ingestion of methamphetamine, commonly known as „Ice‟. 'Ice' is a potent stimulant in the form of recrystallised methamphetamine hydrochloride. It dissolves in water and breaks down to smaller particles. It generally takes the form of clear crystallised chunks. Ice induces a profound sense of euphoria in the user by stimulating the release of dopamine and noradrenalin in the central nervous system and by blocking their re-uptake. Ice is a "power drug". Its use is typically followed by prolonged depression and fatigue. In contrast to base cocaine, smoking meth will extend its effects for up to 24 hours per ingestion. Smoked in a base form, methamphetamine is unappetisingly known on the street as SNOT. It gets its name on account of its resemblance to the natural product of the same name and can only be smoked. It is very addictive and extremely destructive, as witness demented youngsters wandering the St Kilda streets and foreshore and clogging medical wards at nearby Alfred Hospital. A growing number of formerly tolerant local residents, revolted by the sheer destructiveness of „Ice‟, has taken to keeping a diary to record instances of suspected drug activity. Police resources are stretched and the Constabulary needs such evidence to target their law enforcement efforts. Setting aside the drug problem, for those of us who are old enough to remember the post-WWII history of St Kilda, there remains the Bay Window lounge chairs at the venerable Esplanade Hotel as a reminder of better times. From there, we exchange reminiscences about the Good Old Days when St Kilda was the playground for allied troops on R & R leave from the Korean and Vietnam wars. Becton Corporation may have built adjacent premises that threaten to overshadow the St Kilda foreshore, but the locals can still say, “I saw the Sun go down on palm trees from the Esplanade.” Bill Wright

24

Stefan zone THE REAL AUSTRALIAN TITANIC Clive Palmer has been in the news recently with his * Poor decisions have been made throughout the plans to build a replica of the Titanic, a replica that will journey (Pink bats, School buildings, Carbon Tax, be the same in almost all aspects as the original Titanic, Mining Tax, Leadership battles) except the sinking part. This bloke still has some spare * The Captain has gone to sleep when most needed change by the looks of it if he can afford to fund a new * The ship is currently being held up by a few Titanic. In 2010 he gave his staff $10 million in lifesavers (the Independent senators) bonuses so he's not exactly the money-hungry boss that * The nearest ship (the Greens) is un-contactable Labor are trying to make out. (maybe if we try the intergalactic phone ?) I really don't think he needs to bother building an Unfortunately for the Labor Titanic, it hasn't just hit Australian Titanic - the Labor party has already been one iceberg, it has hit hundreds as it blunders through there, done that this year. In fact, the drama is still the iceberg field at full speed. There are too many playing out daily in the media for the whole country to holes for the lifesavers to block. see. Just like the original Titanic: * The Labor ship was built on flawed logic (who needs The other thing different about the Labor Titanic is that that many lifeboats ?) no-one is sailing towards it to help rescue them. * There's romance afoot (Peter Slipper) Just like in the Titanic movie, it‟s also taking such a * There's drama being played out (The Craig long time to sink, possibly another 18 months , unless Thompson taxi vouchers) someone can pull the plug sooner. * People have started to jump overboard (Bob Brown) LATEST STEFAN INVENTIONS AND INNOVATIONS Stefan Enterprises is proud to present some of the most The Stefan Virtual Piece of your Mind captures your cutting edge gadgets and concepts you'll likely see in thoughts on a topic or person and converts these into a the next few minutes. picture. You can then Twit the picture, send it via e- Hot off the production line is the Stefan 2012 mail or post it to Spacebook. politician-strength Reputational shredder. It is Do you have a backlog of work that you just can't get guaranteed to turn the most solid of citizens into a around to completing ? Are you always missing quivering mess after use. Shreds supposedly solid deadlines ? Let us help with our Virtual Completion alibis in seconds and cuts tall poppies with a single module. This program takes your incomplete work sweep. (Warning: In some instances the Mud Slinger (such as ironing, cleaning out the garage, putting device may backfire, covering the user with mud. In together a monthly report) and completes it in a Virtual extreme cases, it may overheat and shred the reputation environment, allowing you to tell anyone concerned of the user more than the intended target.) that "It's Virtually done". Unfortunately we haven't Finding it hard to shop for someone who already has perfected the transfer of completed work from our everything ? Why not buy them a Stefan Everything. Virtual environment into the real world, so you'll still A Stefan Everything can be anything the giftee thinks it have to do all the work yourself at some stage. All our is, as long as they realise they didn't have one before Virtual Completion module is good for is buying you you gave it to them. A Stefan Everything is more an some time. expensive State of Mind rather than an actual object. If All these and much more when you visit the giftee already has a Stefan Everything, buy them Stefan.com.org [I was going to use the .au here but another as no two Stefan Everything‟s are identical. discovered there actually IS a Stefan.com.au set up – Have you been giving people so many pieces of your it‟s a Hair Fashion site !]. Note that Stefan.com.org mind lately that you no longer have much left up there? only exists in the virtual environment. You must have Protect your last remaining mind mass by giving people Imagination 5.2 or higher installed to access it. a Stefan Virtual Piece of your Mind. Stefan

25

The Planets – a journey in music and film with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra On Saturday afternoon 3rd June 2012, I attended a performance of The Planets by Gustav Holst played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the elegant, albeit faded and draughty, splendour of the Melbourne Town Hall. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was a composer whose interest was not in achieving success but in creating something new with every work. Success came late in life with the first public performance of his magnum opus, The Planets, in November 1920. To his horror, he became famous overnight. As he told a friend, “If nobody likes your work, you‟re in no danger of letting the public make you repeat yourself.” The Planets, his suite for large orchestra, Opus 32, is a tone poem in seven movements titled, Mars, the Bringer of War Venus, the Bringer of Peace Mercury, the Winged Messenger Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age Uranus, the Magician Neptune, the Mystic - accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus Holst began composing The Planets in 1914, but his teaching commitments meant that he did not finish all seven movements until 1916. The work is not a complete journey through the solar system, as Earth is omitted. That‟s not surprising, as his interest in the planets was in their astrological, not their astronomical, significance; and Earth is the viewpoint world of the senses, having no place in the arcana of astrology. Like many other modern listeners, when listening to The Planets I think more of the planets of astronomy than their astrological archetypes. In this performance I couldn‟t do much else because the Conductor, Alexander Shelley, has teamed up with NASA to display moving images of each Planet taken from cameras in unmanned spacecraft.

The boldness of Holst‟s invention and the brilliance of his musical picture-painting have ensured the work‟s enduring popularity, as has its frequent appearance (or plagiarism) in documentaries and movies. The Planets‟ importance also lies in the image it gives us of musical idioms in the second decade of the 20th century. Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Sebelius, Wagner and Elgar all make guest appearances in the piece; yet, as musicologist Gerald Abraham put it, “each is dissolved in the alembic of Holst‟s creative imagination.” Bill Wright

Prepared in Melbourne for publication in Anzapa #267 June 2012 and for display on http://www.efanzines.com