PO Box 656, Washington, DC 20044 - (202) 232-3141 - Issue #102 - Sept. 1998 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: http://members.aol.com/lambdasf/home.html

Gaylaxicon 1999 “Video Madness” Party Gayteways Is Completed - Con Committee Meeting Set for Sept. 19th Finally! announced by Rob Gates (New Location, reported by Rob Gates Same Old Madness) 1999: THE 10TH GAYLAXICON After almost two years, it’s fin- That’s right, gang, it’s time for ished! Gayteways is Lambda Sci-Fi’s first another bout of “video madness”! It’s set foray into ‘zine publishing. It’s been a for Saturday, Sept. 19th - beginning at 3:00 long time coming; but the finished prod- The Gaylaxicon 1999 ConComm PM and lasting until ??? However, the uct is fabulous. It includes original fiction, will hold its next meeting on Saturday, latest outbreak of this dreaded mania is poetry, and artwork submitted by LSFers, Sept. 12th, beginning at 4:00 PM. All are scheduled for a brand-new location: the members, and others. welcome. The meeting will be held at the home of LSFer Bethany Ramirez in Takoma As a reminder, our premise was home of LSFers Nan & Kay. There will be Park, MD! to put together a collection of quality, a BBQ grill out on the patio - so BYOG Other than the new site, the rest -positive, non-slash, non-porn, genre (bring your own grillables) - and the usual of the “rules” remain the same. As with works. The idea was originally put for- munchies and soda. previous Lambda Sci-Fi “Video Madness” ward by Philip Wright and myself in 1996. The main discussion topic for parties, bring along your favorite genre With Philip’s unfortunate passing in the this month will be “potential event spon- videos (, , horror); Spring of 1997, Michael Cornett took over sors” - so, come with your ideas (includ- attendees will vote on which videos to co-editor duties. ing contact information) and we’ll put watch on the two different “tracks” of Gayteways debuted at together a complete sponsorship plan! programming. The party will also include in Baltimore; and copies will be We’ll also hear reports from various com- the traditional LSF pot-luck pig-out, so available for sale at future LSF meetings, mittee members on various aspects of the bring along something scrumptious to through the Gaylactic Network, and wher- convention; and we’ll begin planning for eat. We’re not pre-assigning categories ever else we can manage! our first Progress Report (scheduled to be of what food to bring; everyone should mailed out in October). just bring something from one (or more) of ΛΨΦ With Gaylaxicon about a year the following “basic food groups”: appe- away, the committee will begin holding tizers (veggies, chips, etc.); a main course SEPTEMBER monthly convention meetings, starting (enough to serve at least 4-5 people); LAMBDA SCI-FI MEETING with this one. (In other words, there’ll be dessert (of course!); non-alcoholic drinks * * * * another meeting next month, in October, (both diet and regular). The next Lambda Sci-Fi meeting will be and every month after that.) How to Get There held on Sunday, Sept. 13th, at James For directions to this month’s The party will be held at Crutchfield's apartment: 1414 17th St., meeting - or for more information - contact Bethany’s home in Takoma Park. It’s NW, Apt. 413 (near Dupont Circle) - 1:30 Gaylaxicon 1999 Co-Chair Jack Frost at located at 805 Maplewood Ave., Takoma PM for business meeting; 2:00 PM for (703) 567-8530. Park, MD (phone 301-495-0427). social meeting. Please bring munchies or soft drinks if you can. Hope to see you there! ΛΨΦ (directions continued on page 5) WHAT'S INSIDE? The No-Sleep, Post-Worldcon, Post-Move, "Where's-the-LSF-Box?" [August] Minutes (pg. 2);Hugo Award Winners An- nounced at Bucconeer (pg. 2);Looking at Looking Backward (book review - pg. 3);A Cartoon by Chris Browning(pg. 3);Worldcon Wrapup (pg. 4); Quatermass and the Pit (video review - pg. 5); Information about Lambda Sci-Fi: DC Area Gaylaxians andCon Calendar (pg. 6) 1 Hugo Award Winners An- The No-Sleep, Post- nounced at Bucconeer Worldcon, Post-Move, reported by Carl Cipra "Where’s-the-LSF-Box?" [August] Minutes Here ’tis, gang, the list of Hugo Award winners, as voted by the membership by Rob of Bucconeer, this year’s Worldcon. The Hugos (first awarded in 1953) are “amateur” (or “fan”) awards, in that the voting is not exclusively by professional readers; Hugo Yeah, yeah, I know - I said I was winners are chosen by ballot, generally by a mail-in ballot to the members of that year’s going to stop naming the minutes differ- Worldcon. ently every month; but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Best Novel Best Professional Editor I arrived at the August meeting Forever Peace by Gardner Dozois a half hour late - without having slept the night before while trying to finish Best Novella Best Professional Artist Gayteways - only to discover that no one “...Where Angels Fear to Tread” Bob Eggleton had been taking any notes or minutes. So, by Allen Steele my completely fried brain and handwrit- (Asimov’s, Oct/Nov 97) Best Semiprozine ing were put to the test. Any errors, Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown weirdnesses, or things not-of-this-Earth Best Novelette are completely the fault of my over-abused “We Will Drink A Fish Together” Best Fanzine mind. by Bill Johnson (Asimov’s, May 97) Mimosa, edited by The big news in the business Nicki & Richard Lynch meeting was that there was *no* new Best Short Story Gaylactic Network news to report and no “The 43 Antarean Dynasties” Best Fan Writer discussions on Network issues. We did, by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s, Dec 97) Dave Langford however, discuss an LSF issue: the pos- sibility of registering our own domain Best Related Book Best Fan Artist name on the Internet and moving our The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, Joe Mayhew website (and Gaylaxicon 1999’s) to a new edited by John Clute & John Grant web host. Nan & Kay offered to pay the John W. Campbell Award for Best New monthly hosting fee for a particular web Best Dramatic Presentation Writer of 1996 or 1997 service; and Jim Williams offered to pay Contact Mary Doria Russell for the domain name registration. With ΛΨΦ those offers on the table, the group over- whelmingly approved the plan... so watch fandom” gathering). Michael reported on replaced. soon for the appearance of: the small-but-fun recent group outing to That was it - no dinner trip, no lambdascifi.org the 18th Century Market Fair - including wild arguments, no grandstanding. Thank- LSF T-shirts were distributed to commentary on Bethany’s choice of head- fully, rather boring. I made it home all right, those who had pre-paid for them. The gear to purchase. with Carl and Peter’s help, and took a nice shirts look fabulous and were thankfully Jack offered to coordinate plans loooooooong nap. in time for us to wear them at Worldcon. for the upcoming LSF Avengers movie Gayteways was reported to be “almost” outing, scheduled for Sunday, August finished, with plans to absolutely have it 16th. Various people reported on recently- done by Worldcon. (These plans suc- seen trailers and upcoming flicks, includ- ceeded. Refer to theGayteways article on ingA Bug’s Life,Antz , Prince of Egypt,My ΛΨΦ page 1.) Peter distributed stuff from the Favorite Martian, and Blade. Niko also LSF P.O. box - nothing excessively excit- praised a new Elizabeth Lynn novel, Science Fiction writers ing. Peter also passed around an amusing Dragon Winter. Finally, updates on the do have their blind spots “head swap of the month” from an action- world of genre TV were made, including: despite the fact that figure magazine - it crossed X-Files with the departure of Terry Farrell (“Jadzia Dax”) we're all geniuses, . He also mentioned that he was fromDS9 , her replacement by a new “Dax,” we're all marvelous people, completing the LSF Directory Update. and the departure of Jeri Taylor from the and some of us can spell. A final planning brainstorm was Star Trek production world. In addition, --- Isaac Asimov --- done regarding Worldcon. Then Dan rumor has it that the actor playing “Boone” gave us a brief report on his recent atten- will be leaving Earth: Final Conflict; no excerpted from Science Fictionisms, compiled dance at Albany Anthrocon (a “furry news on whether he’ll be killed off or by William Rotsler (Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1995) 2 Looking at Pretty cool - a building design "... And for those long space missions, Looking Backward influenced by a work of science fiction. a self-gratification device!" a review by Carl Cipra As I’d never heard of either Bellamyor his book, I made a mental note to look it up Has serendipity ever led you to “some day.” And thus things sat until I a fascinating book? You know what I happened to find a cheapy Signet Clas- mean - you just sort’a happened onto sics copy in a used book store. one? Well, it happened to me again re- Well, talk about a case of sic cently. transit gloria mundi! It seems that this Back in April, I was working on little book I’d never heard of (and, ‘fess a course design task force in downtown up,you’d never heard of it either!) was one L.A. One day, a co-worker suggested we of the most well-known and influential make a lunchtime trek to see the Bradbury novels of its time! Here are a few stats from Building, just a few blocks away. How the foreward by Erich Fromm: could I pass up the chance to visit a -- It was the third most popular book at building I’ve seen so many times in genre the turn of the century (after Uncle Tom’s Chris Browning films? (In case you’re not sure what I’m Cabin and Ben-Hur) and was translated 98 talking about, the Bradbury Building has into over twenty languages. punch version, in a world without plastics been featured - among other places - in the -- It stimulated utopian thinking to such an or electronics) and even an ingenious filmBlade Runner and during the opening extent that, in the decade following its version of the musical clock-radio to wake sequence for each episode of the TV se- publication in 1888, some forty-six other folks up in the morning (live orchestra, via ries The Theater.) So, off utopian novels were published in the U.S. telephone). In fact, I couldn’t help but we went. alone. think about the similarities betweenLook- And there it was - fairly -- Between 1890 and 1891, 165 “Bellamy ing Backward and Jules Verne’s Paris in unpreposessing on the outside, but glo- Clubs” formed all over the U.S., devoted the Twentieth Century - although, unlike rious and very familiar on the inside: all to discussing and propagating the aims Bellamy, Verne didn’t have such an overt that light falling into the open center court expressed in this novel. socio-political agenda in his novel; and, from the glass roof five stories overhead; -- In 1935, three independent surveys all unlike Verne, Bellamy actually managed two open-cage elevators enclosed in free- listed this book as the second most influ- to get his novel published! standing shafts; all those office balconies ential book published since 1885 (Das On the whole, I found Looking surrounded by wrought-iron grillwork. Kapital being the first). Backward to be a fascinating read - par- Very nice. And then I read the little info The story itself is (in my opinion) ticularly since I just ran across a reference sheet they give to visitors... “just OK.” (And just how many utopian to it the other day in the most recent novel It seems the building was com- novels have been models of deathless by another of my favorite authors, Daniel missioned in 1892 by Lewis Bradbury, a prose anyway?) In Chapter 2, our young Pinkwater’s The Education of Robert mining millionaire turned real estate de- hero, a gentleman of 1887, goes to Nifkin. As I said, serendipity. veloper. To design the building, Bradbury sleep in his specially-designed subterra- If you’re interested in utopian eventually settled on a little-known drafts- nean bedroom and takes a rather longer fiction, I recommend Bellamy’s Looking man named George Wyman; and Wyman nap than he intended. In fact, he isn’t Backward; it’s especially appropriate as had been greatly influenced by a piece of awakened until the year 2000, when the we approach the big Two-Zero-Zero-Zero utopian speculative fiction, Looking chamber is accidentally discovered by an ourselves. And, if you find yourself in Backward by Edward Bellamy. The hand- excavation crew! The bulk of the novel downtown L.A., I highly recommend a out cited one passage in particular as recounts his experiences in learning about visit to the Bradbury Building. It’s located reflecting how Bellamy’s novel influenced the utopian world of twenty-first-century at 304 South Broadway. There’s no charge Wyman’s design of the Bradbury Build- America - a land of peace and prosperity for walking in and looking around; after ing: where every U.S. citizen owns a share in all, it’s an office building! For information, “It was the first interior of a twen- the great rational/socialist corporate en- call (213) 626-1893. tieth-century public building that I had tity that the nation has become. There are, ever beheld, and the spectacle naturally of course, great expository lumps about impressed me deeply. I was in a vast hall just how wonderful and fulfilling Ameri- full of light, received not alone from the can society is in the year 2000, as well as windows on all sides, but from the dome, ponderous explanations of why it’s so the point of which was a hundred feet grand and how it got that way. On the above... The walls and ceiling were fres- other hand, Bellamy’s story also includes coed in mellow tints, calculated to soften some fascinating “predictions” that fore- without absorbing the light which flooded shadow aspects of our own time. There the interior.” are, for instance, credit cards (a hole- ΛΨΦ 3 Gaylactic Network. We sold 9 Gaylaxicon the long nights, the heat and humidity, 1999 memberships, 5 Lambda Sci-Fi mem- and the general stress of everything go- Worldcon N berships, 14 copies of Gayteways, and 1 ing on, I had to pop into the Green Room Wrapup additional LSF T-shirt. In addition, we for aspirin on more than one occasion. by Rob Gates made a number of new friends and con- Of course, I was also “working nections for the Network and for the convention,” canvassing for poten- Gaylaxicon. We also received donations tial guests and ideas for Gaylaxicon 1999. of yummy special treats from two different There were plenty of regular Gaylaxicon It seems like such a long time ago Worldcon Bid Committees: ice cream, guests in attendance at Worldcon who we now, what with buying a house and mov- sundae sauces, and whipped cream from got signed up for Gaylaxicon 1999 - and a ing, that I can hardly believe that it’s been the “Boston in Orlando in 2001” Bid; and number of new faces that we’ll likely see only a few weeks since Bucconeer, the mouth-coloring gumballs from “ added to our professional guest list. We 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in 2003.” It seems we’ve become a wel- even had authors trying to track *us* held in Baltimore. This certainly wasn’t come institution at Worldcon! down, to find out how to become guests my first Worldcon - it’s because of a Perhaps the biggest reason this at Gaylaxicon 1999! previous Worldcon that I’m here in Wash- Worldcon was so memorable, though, is What with the Gay Fandom Suite, ington and participating in LSF - and it because I served as a “panelist” on two the discussion panels I either participated won’t be my last! But for many reasons, panels which I’d helped define (as part of in or monitored, and the author- this was the second most memorable the Network’s attempt to be included in schmoozing, I had relatively little time left Worldcon I’ve ever attended - only paling Worldcon programming). Both Peter and for my usual Worldcon endeavors. Other in comparison with Magicon (Orlando’s I served on two “Gay Science Fiction 101” than the panels I was on or the “gay Worldcon), where I met Peter... but that’s panels - one for books and one for media. panels” I monitored, I attended only 3 another story entirely. Peter also served as part of a panel that discussion panels. After 8:00 PM, I never After a nightmare of a day on discussed Baltimore/Washington area saw anything but the Gay Fandom Suite, Wednesday (Aug. 5th) dealing with the science fiction clubs. Overall, there were so I missed all the parties and special con hotel over some “space” issues, the 5 Worldcon discussion panels specifi- events. I did make it to the Dealers’ Room Bucconeer crew was able to provide us cally mentioning the words “gay,” “les- and the Art Show, but not for long periods with what turned out to be a perfect loca- bian,” or “homosexuality” in their titles - of time; and I bought significantly less tion for the Gay Fandom Suite. A huge with another handful of panels having than I have in previous years. thank you! - and a complimentary guest significance to our Community. In addi- For me, the Bucconeer highlights membership to Gaylaxicon 1999 - goes to tion, there were a number of readings, occured mostly outside the official con Cathy, our hotel liaison from the Bucconeer autograph sessions, and other events events: sitting with new author Susan concomm! Cathy’s professionalism and which featured authors and artists who Matthews and her partner in the Gay drive kept us from getting trampled in the are members of our Community and/or Fandom Suite, discussing the changes in hotel’s bureaucratic shuffle; and she and regular attendees at Gaylaxicon. gay-inclusiveness in the genre; chatting Marty Gear (the concomm’s facilities chair) The discussion panels I served about real estate with and made sure we got treated well by both the on went great. Both played to packed Shariann Lewitt at 4:00 AM on Sunday convention and the hotel. Unfortunately, houses, with SRO crowds in the back. It morning; having someone comment posi- the afternoon-long meeting meant that was amazing to see so many faces I didn’t tively on a particular story in Gayteways there was no time left for me to see the immediately recognize from either the (mine!); and just generally meeting and sights before the opening of the Gay Gaylactic Network or from past talking to friends new and old. Fandom Suite that evening. Gaylaxicons. The discussions moved I won’t be attending Worldcon Unlike last year’s Worldcon in along well; and the audiences got in- next year (Melbourne, Australia); but you San Antonio (where we only had a Gay volved in the topics and seemed to really can bet that I’ll be in Chicago in 2000! Fandom Suite on 2 nights), this year we enjoy the talks. In fact, this ended up planned for an open Suite for all 4 nights being true for all of the gay-related discus- of the convention. Every night, begin- sion panels at Worldcon; and a lot of ning at 7:30 PM, we were there setting up credit goes to everyone in the Network for (often wrangling with the hotel over ice or promoting these events - with special dirty tablecloths) for an 8:00 PM opening. credit to Peter for his hard work as the And every night we stayed open until 2:00 Network’s Worldcon Liaison. It was defi- AM - or later! The Suite wasn’t located in nitely interesting to be sitting on the other the same hotel as the Worldcon Bid Par- side of the table at a Worldcon; and the ties, which cut down on the random party pre-panel preparations and post-panel browsers; but we still had a packed house carryover discussions really gave me a most of the time. It was hard work but well better sense of just how hard professional worth it, both personally and for the guests work at these conventions. With ΛΨΦ 4 Quatermass and the Pit intelligent writing. All three were origi- a video review by Michael Cornett nally BBC television serials that were later re-made into films. All three were recently Different from Hammer Films’ Martians, trying to leave their dying race’s released on video by Anchor Bay and usual fare of period horror, 1967’s mark on the universe, tinkered with the have never been available on video in the Quatermass and the Pit (shown in the ape-men’s genetic makeup and then re- U.S. before. (A fourth entry in the series, U.S. as Five Million Years to Earth) is set turned them to Earth - where the Martian The Quatermass Conclusion, was made in contemporary London. A crew expand- ship crashed. Quatermass and his friends for British TV in the 1970s, starring Ralph ing the London subway station at Hobb’s soon discover that some humans have Richardson; but it was never re-made into End comes across several prehistoric skel- race-memories of the Martian wars of ex- a film.) etons. Archaeologists take over, then termination and that the ship itself is alive NOTE: Also currently available uncover a mysterious object that’s ini- and gathering power! on video are: Dracula, Prince of Dark- tially classified as an unexploded WWII It’s difficult to describe the ness (an OK entry in Hammer’s Dracula bomb. Space scientist Bernard Quatermass movie’s exquisite plot in full or to give a series); The Lost Continent (very strange, (Andrew Keir) joins archaeologists good idea of how skillfully it mingles hor- not terribly good); and Rasputin, the Mad Rodney (James Donald) and Barbara ror and science fiction elements into a Monk (yawn). Coming soon are: The (scream queen Barbara Shelley - also seen cohesive whole. I can say there’s plenty Devil Rides Out (Hammer’s finest film); in Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Vil- of allegory here - of the devil and of Nazis Frankenstein Created Woman (also very lage of the Damned) in their investigation - and that the acting (including an early good); The Mummy’s Shroud (OK); The of the object. Soon they determine it’s not performance by Julian Glover), the script Witches (yawn); The Viking Queen (she’s a missile; it’s an alien spaceship millions (by Nigel Kneale), and the directions (by a Celt, not a Viking); A Challenge for of years old! Roy Ward Baker) are universally superior. Robin Hood (never seen it); The Ven- Meanwhile, bizarre psychic phe- Quatermass and the Pit is excellent sci-fi, geance of She (odd); Slave Girls (deliri- nomena and sightings of demonic crea- a genuine classic of the genre. ously campy); The Satanic Rites of tures plague the area; and the three inves- Quatermass and the Pit is the Dracula (gag); and The Legend of the tigators discover that the area is long third in a series of sf/horror films from Seven Golden Vampires (weird, but fun) known for that sort of thing. The discov- Hammer, the first being The Quatermass - with possibly more on the way if the ery of the corpses of insectoid, gargoyle- Xperiment (aka The Creeping Unknown) current series is successful. like aliens in the craft confirm their suspi- and the second being Qua-termass 2 (aka cions. Slowly, they piece together the Enemy from Space). These other two story... Millions of years ago, insectoid entries in the Quatermass series both star Martians came to Earth and took a few American Brian Donlevy as Quatermass ape-like beings back to Mars. There, the (which didn’t ring true) and some very ΛΨΦ

DIRECTIONS TO THE to Flower Ave. (just past Washington Driving, from Silver Spring: Take Adventist Hospital, on the left). Turn left Piney Branch Ave. to the intersection SEPT. 19TH on Flower Ave. Take Flower Ave. about with Flower Ave. (about a mile north of the "VIDEO MADNESS" PARTY 1/4 mile to Maplewood Ave. (immediately intersection of Piney Branch and Philadel- after soccer field on the right). Turn right phia/410). Turn right on Flower Ave. and Bethany Ramirez onto Maplewood. Bethany’s house is 805 continue along Flower for about 3/4 mile 805 Maplewood Ave. Maplewood Ave., the 2nd house on the to Maplewood Ave. Turn left on Takoma Park, MD right from Flower Ave. Maplewood Ave. (just after the small col- (301) 495-0427 Driving, from DC: Take North lection of stores on your right). (Now Capitol north and north and north... At follow directions in 2nd paragraph of Driving, from the Beltway: Take some point, North Capitol will veer off to “Driving, from the Beltway. Note: If you the Capital Beltway (495) to the New Hamp- the right but the “main road” (now called pass Columbia Union College, you went shire Ave. South offramp (Exit 28). Take Blair Ave.) continues straight ahead - take too far.) New Hampshire Ave. a few miles to the the “straight ahead” route. You should be Via Metro: Take the Metro Red East-West Highway (410). This intersec- following along the Metro route (to your Line to the Takoma Station. Someone will tion is at the top of a hill, with a large U- right). At the Takoma Metro station, turn come by Takoma Station to make pick-ups Haul rental facility on the left. Turn right right (under the Metro bridge) onto Carroll at 2:30 PM and 2:45 PM. on East-West Hwy. Go about 3/4 mile to Ave. Carroll Ave. is a winding road that Carroll Ave. (the first busy intersection). will take you to Flower Ave. (Now follow Make a hard right onto Carroll Ave. directions in 2nd paragraph of “Driving, Take Carroll Ave. about 1/2 mile from the Beltway.”) ΛΨΦ 5 * * INFORMATION ABOUT LAMBDA SCI-FI: DC AREA GAYLAXIANS * * Lambda Sci-Fi is a Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror fan club for Gay people and their friends. Annual membership fees are $15, for which you will receive this monthly newsletter and a membership directory. Newsletter submissions are always welcome. Meetings are generally held on the second Sunday of each month at a private residence. The next Lambda Sci-Fi meeting will be held on Sunday, September 13th, at James Crutchfield's apartment: 1414 17th St., NW, Apt. 413 (near Dupont Circle) - 1:30 PM for business meeting; 2:00 PM for social meeting. Please bring some munchies or soft drinks if you can. Hope to see you there! Lambda Sci-Fi: DC Area Gaylaxians is an affiliate of the Gaylactic Network, an international organization for gay people and their friends who are interested in science-fiction and fantasy.

Con Calendar by Carl, Peter, James, and Kendall September 11-13, 1998 LIVING OUTSIDE THE BOX (BiNet-USA's Mid-Atlantic Region 4th Annual Retreat). Claggett Retreat Center (Buckeystown, MD). Registration: $90 for dormitory lodging, $115 for cottage lodging. Registration fee includes all workshops and activities, lodging, and meals. Contact the registrar, Kendall Bullen, at 517 North Ripley Street, Alexandria, VA 22304-2713 (ph. #703/212-2083) for more information. E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www2.ari.net/binet

October 2-4, 1998ZONCON 98. Best Western Hotel & Conf. Ctr. (Baltimore, MD). Guests: Hudson Leick (Xena's "Callisto") & Mira Furlan (B5's "Delenn"). Hotel rates: $85/night (sgl-quad); must make res. by 9/1/98 (800-633-9511). Membership: $50 for weekend, without "Mingle" banquet; $85 with banquet (daily rates available). Make checks payable to "ZonCon" and send to: Zoncon, PO Box 1549, Ellicott City, MD 21043. E-mail: [email protected]

November 6-8, 1998SCI-CON 20. Holiday Inn Executive Center ( Beach, VA). Guests: Will Shetterly (GoH) & Emma Bull (Special GoH), Coleen Doran (Artist GoH). Hotel rooms: $66/night (sgl. or dbl.) - for reservations(deadline 10/17/98) call 757-499-4400 or 1-800-HOLIDAY (Ask for Sci-Con rate). Membership: $30 until 10/31/98, $35 at the door. Make checks payable to "Sci-Con 20" and send to: Sci-Con 20, P.O. Box 9434, Hampton, VA 23670. E-mail: [email protected] -or- [email protected] Website: http://www.scicon.org

November 13-15, 1998PHILCON 98. Adam's Mark Hotel (). Special Guests: Tom Savini, Walter Jon Williams. Membership: $35 until 10/24/98; $40 thereafter (none after 11/3/98). Make checks payable to "Philadelphia Science Fiction Society" and send: Philcon 98 Registration, PO Box 8303, 30th Street Stn., Philadelphia, PA 19101 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.philcon.org

November 13-15, 1998FARPOINT 98. Omni Inner Harbor (Baltimore, MD). Guests: Robert ("Gowron") O-Reilly, Stephen ("Vir Cotto") Furst, Richard ("Apollo" fromBattlestar Galactica) Hatch. Membership: $45 for all 3 days ($30 for Sat. only, $25 for Sun. only). Make checks payable to "Farpoint, Inc." and send (with 2 SASE's) to: Farpoint, Inc., 6099 Hunt Club Rd., Elkridge, MD 21075. For info, call: (410) 579-1257 Web Page: URL http://www.bcpl.net/~wilsonr

November 27-29, 1998DARKOVER GRAND COUNCIL MEETING XXI. Holiday Inn Select, Baltimore North (Timonium, MD). GoH: Adrienne Martine-Barnes; Special Guests: (health permitting) and Katherine Kurtz. Hotel rooms: F $73/night (up to 4 in a room). Membership: $30 until 11/1/98 ($35 afterwards and at the door). Make checks payable to "Armida Council" and send to: Armida Council, PO Box 7203, Silver Spring, MD 20907. (This is a very les/bi/gay/trans-friendly convention. It's been called a "mini-Gaylaxicon" within another con.)

October 8-11, 1999GAYLAXICON 1999: THE 10TH GAYLAXICON. Washington, DC. Guest of Honor: ; Artist GoH: Nancy Janda. Membership: $50 through Aug. 1, 1999; $60 at the door. (No mail-in registrations after Sept. 1, 1999.) Make F checks payable to "Gaylaxicon 1999" and send to: Gaylaxicon 1999, c/o Lambda Sci-Fi, PO Box 656, Washington, DC 20044. For more information, call 202/232-3141. Send e-mail to: [email protected] Also check out: http://members.aol.com/lambdasf/home.html 6