The Drink Tank Issue 153 the DVD player entered into kids could climb and hang. A lot of the house (for my TV). There kids would jump from the 3rd set onto was a video store down the the grass and collect a lot of applause. way, a Wherehouse, where I would jump from the top, the 5th we could rent either VHS set. I never broke anything doing that or Beta tapes (and could do stupid move, but I twisted my ankle so until 1992) and we often among other minor discomforts. I was rented ten or more videos in also the king of taking kickballs off of a week. We rented one a lot: the face. A kid would throw one at me Viva Knievel! I loved it. I have and I’d just take it. That made me very watched it since and have much feared when fights would break discovered that it is perhaps out. the worst film ever made. The addition of bikes to my life It’s got a terrible story, Evel, made me want to jump over things. My who plays himself, is one of great aunt Bethel lived in Lake Isabella those actors who makes me in South-Central California. It was a think I’ve got a chance. Lau- dry place, I never saw the lake at all, Again, another hero of my youth ren Hutton is in it, and even I thought but there was a hill that ran at about has kicked it. This one is the one who that Leslie Nielsen was a terrible choice an 8% grade and it must have run a brought me out of my shell and made to play a drug lord. Martin Balsam in half-mile or so down to an empty lot. me want to jump over stuff. And of Mitchell is far more convincing. The That’s where I learned how to ride a course, I tried. I tried a lot. A couple film was awful, but it introduced me to two-wheeler. I chewed up my knees of times I actually made it. Of course, Evel. I was a little too young to remem- and palms when I was going 20 miles this is the article where I say that Evel ber too many of his jumps from when per hour down that hill with no idea Knievel was my hero, and he kinda I was a kid, though I remember seeing how to make the brakes work. When I was, but this is also the article where I them on Wide, Wide World of Sports came back a year after that, I had my recall one of the strangest moments of once in a while. I heard him a lot over own bike and the kids I had been play- my dating career. the years on various TV shows, in- ing with that previous summer were Yeah, it’s one of those articles. cluding the Bionic Woman. He was a still there. Let’s go back to 1979. We had a major part of the grade school collec- And I wanted to jump something. video cassette recorder. It loaded from tive subconscious. We would play imagi- So, we grabbed some wood from the top. It was the one that lasted well nation games where one or the other of one of the poorly-guarded construction into the 1990s and was finally retired us would do stunts. I couldn’t skate- sites that still seem to abound in that in the year 2001. I loved it well and board or anything, but I could jump off little city. We set up a ramp and put even after we got a regular VCR in the of things and land, usually hurting my- various things between the end of the mid-1990s, we had it on top of it, ready self just enough to make it look cool. ramp and the landing area. We jumped to go into service if it should be called We had this thing, a fifteen foot high each others bikes and even each other. upon. It was finally retired a year after series of pipes that were set up so that That was good old The day Lisa Calau agreed to go He played Evel Knievel with a style and fashioned stupid out with me I had been shopping for panache that really pushed the enve- fun. I went last and comics. I wasn’t at my normal shop, lope of subtlty. We rented it and took it I was to jump two it was Lee’s Comics I think, and I ran back to her place. bikes. I made my into a girl I kinda knew. We were talk- We were watching it and we way down and I ing and for some reason, there was an kissed a bit amd then, oddly, she fell would have cleared Evel doll up behind the counter. She asleep. Deep asleep. We were kissing them, if we had was a cute girl, so I was showing off one second and then she was out like a nailed the ramp to and she played along. We were reen- light. Evel hadn’t even made his big- the supporting box- acting the crash over the Snake River gest jump yet! Her roommates came es. I went down and when she was laughing really hard. home from Rocky Horror a few minutes since I wasn’t any Somehow the fact that I had tickets to later, when I was kinda panicking and good with the brakes, I was going way a film on the next night came up and Terry said that she had narcolepsy. fster than any of the other kids had she said she’d love to come and see Who knew. gone. I ended up hitting the ramp so it. I was excited because she was cute She woke up a bit later and we fast that it pushed down and sent the enough to be seen in public with and I finished watching the movie. wooden boxes flying forward, knock- wasn’t on the best of streaks. We were ing down the bikes. I managed to stay going to see the Crow, I think, and I on the bike for a few yards beyond the was very excited to see it. crash site and then ended up among I picked her up and we chatted the scrub in the lot. That was the worst until we got to the theatre. The movie part. Plants hurt. was good and afterwards we went off We tried it again, this time with for some coffee at the Coffee Society kids holding the boxes. I went to the and we chatted for another couple of top and came down, adding a little hours. We were both hopped up on more brake this time. I didn’t clear the coffee and having a good enough time second bike. My back tire caught the together that we decided to go to the handlebar of one and it bent it. Some- video store and get something to watch how, I managed to land it though. That at her place. She lived with two other other kid, a girl named Sara as I re- girls and a dude named Terry. member it, was pissed. She hit me a lot We went to Blockbuster and and had to explain it to her dad. She went through the hundreds of videos. came out to watch the rest of us jump We mocked titles and laughed found the next day. She told her dad she lost the Evel Knievel movie that starred control and ran into a stop sign. She George Hamilton. I love George Hamil- had a new bike the next time I visited a ton. He’s a huge talent in an exception- few months later. ally tanned skin and high-priced suit. Everyone knows I was a big news before Taral did. pages tumbled out of the machine, supporter of Montreal in 2009, I am pleased to see Taral receive waste paper needed to be slipped and I’m planning on attending this honor because he’s overlooked by between the finished ones to prevent that magnificent con. I’m also many fans, despite his long history. smudging. Unless you used Twiltone a lover of FanArt and here is Frank Wu with a fine interview This may be because he rarely travels mimeograph paper, which came in a with a Fan Artist who is also or exhibits his art outside his native rainbow of colors. the Fan Guest of Honour at Toronto. His work shows up in When I asked Taral to send Anticipation: Mr. ! fanzines, but these aren’t read by a me some pictures of himself, he even large segment of fandom. included this one, of Taral sucking a Another disadvantage he has is fan into a mimeograph. In Twiltone Yet Green: An Interview of Taral Wayne by that he often draws anthropomorphic Frank Wu characters, too easily dismissed as “furry art.” While he was one of the Part the First founders of this genre, Taral’s artwork is head and shoulders above most of Introduction what is seen in convention artshows. His linework is impeccable: powerful, Mike Glicksohn once described clever, supple. Unlike most furry artist Taral Wayne as “one of the most art, his characters are anatomically significant figures in the entire history believable. They have a liveliness to of Canadian fandom.” Others seem them; they are adorable without being Photo credit: Paul Wilson to agree, as Taral has been chosen to coy or too cutesy. be Fan Guest of Honor at the 2009 Taral is simply one of my Taral told me that the fan was World Convention in favorite fan artists, so I’m glad to see “Paul Wilson, son of Bob, who is THE Montreal. him finally get his due after all these Robert Charles Wilson. Old friends The announcement of this years. And it has been many years. from the 70’s, so he forgives me for honor came at the 2007 When Taral suggested the maiming members of his family.” half a world away, in Japan. present title for this interview, I “At least I had the sense,” Taral Taral’s reaction was typically self- had to admit to him that I didn’t told me, “not to send the photo of me deprecating. “I’m not used to good know what “Twiltone” was. Taral in the silver lame mini-skirt.” news,” he noted. “So I reached for kindly informed me that it was Recently, Taral’s voice was loud the phone to tell the first 500 people special mimeograph paper. Back among the din, when he voiced his I could think of. Damnit, though... in the days before Xerox copiers, displeasure about the design of the I knew I could find a lead slug in a fanzines were printed on mimeograph 2007 . The design of the chest of gold coins!” Almost everyone machines, which used a thick, trophy is partially pre-ordained by he called was unavailable - possibly pasty, slow-drying ink. As printed they were in Japan and had heard the the World Science Fiction Society’s Constitution. Each year the trophy Ultraman. (Ultraman also appeared artifacts. But I do agree that Taral consists of a silver rocketship, though at the opening ceremonies for the has a point with his “Mighty Mouse” the design of the base changes year Hugo Awards ceremony, fighting off logic. to year. The folks in charge of that various giant monsters.) Taral also said, “Someone I year’s Worldcon often pick a design Not afraid to express his know suggested that had Nippon which reflects the host venue. The opinions, Taral called this “The chosen Astroboy instead of Ultraman, Hugos given at the 2003 Toronto Ugliest Hugo.” He explained: “Every it would have resonated with far Worldcon had a wooden base cut Worldcon designs its own Hugo more North American (and probably like a maple leaf. Philadelphia’s Award, the only constraint being European) fans.” Thus: 2001 Hugos featured Ben Franklin’s that the traditional chrome rocket kite. The Japanese Worldcon’s Hugo must be included. Most years, the base featured their native superhero award is tasteful and restrained.” This year’s Nippon was the first Worldcon in Japan. “I don’t know what anyone expected, but it surely wasn’t this -- the rocket sharing honours on a tacky base of Mt. Fuji with Ultraman. Ultraman is a cheesy kind of superhero giant-robo from Japanese TV in the 60’s. It’s the equivalent, say, of George Reeves as Superman on American TV at about the same time. But whereas a veil of forgetfulness is mercifully being drawn gradually over the memory of Reeves, Ultraman seems to have become the de facto spirit of Japanese science fiction. Taral compared representing science fiction with Ultraman to “representing The Dispossessed, The Foundation Trilogy, and Bladerunner with a statuette of Mighty Mouse.” Personally, I was pleased, partially because I grew up on Ultraman, and partially because I won one of the But Taral cleverly suggested an alternative design for the Hugo. An It is a beautiful design, but, alas, elegantly shaped glass rocket: not allowable under the World Science Fiction Society’s Constitution, which demands the traditional metal rocket ship design. One final note before proceeding to the Interview Proper. A wonderful article about Taral entitled “I, Fanartist” appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of Challenger. [http:// www.challzine.net/22/22taralw.html] I highly recommend that article, and have tried to cover new ground in the present piece.

Interview, Part the First FW: The article about you, “I, Fanartist,” came out in 2005. What have you been doing since then?

TW: It sometimes seems that nothing remarkable has happened since, but that can’t be true. If I search my memory, there’s the appearance of my long, heavily researched article on Red Dwarf in Banana Wings last year. (I did a related cover for it as well.) Then early this year I finished production of a collection on CD Rom of Mike Glicksohn’s Energumen, Xenium, major one-shots, and other great material. More recently, I began a gallery on a web site called FurAffinity, where anyone can view something like 200 examples of my artwork and a lesser assortment of fan writing.

(The gallery can be found at http:// www.furaffinity.net/user/saara/) to a friend next to him while he sheet of Letraset, of course. It was negligently signed his illo in my copy of printed on paper and you couldn’t FW: Please tell us more about that Simulacrum. Then suddenly Bill does rub it down on anything. I inserted photo of you and Paul Wilson. His dad, a double take worthy of silent film, the sheets in one of my two issues of Robert Charles Wilson, was one of the and says, “Hey, wait a minute! That’s New Toy, I think. It must have been a first friends you made when you came not mine!” The mind boggles that I brilliant stroke, because a lot of people into fandom in 1971. Do you have any ever missed the opportunity to write wrote to me about it. In fact, someone funny stories about them? it up. But there’s nothing more to the in the UK once asked if he could incident, really. He went right back to reprint the sheet in his zine a few years TW: The tricky part here is telling some story that doesn’t embarrass talking with his friend and ignored me. later. the subjects… unacceptably. Both Maybe it was just as well that Paul and his dad are somewhat easily nobody understood my true intentions mortified too. For instance, do I tell in making that fake Letraset. It was about the time Bob bought a rare 78 taken as a tribute to Bill Rotsler. rpm vinyl recording of Louis Jordan Nothing of the sort. I never liked and broke it right after… only to find Rotsler’s art. The thought behind a second copy of it in another store his illos might be witty, but the the same day? Or the time Paul draftsmanship was elementary. Any rode a motorized cherry picker? Or idiot could draw that stuff, and I set should I relate the time Bob and I out to prove I was just the idiot to draw covered Victoria Vayne with pink crazy it. I finally confessed this to the British foam? On the whole I think I’d be fan who’d asked about reprinting safer keeping all that to myself. Tight the Rotsler Letraset. Perhaps my lipped, I am… confession was why in the end he I can add that the illo in question never did. So now the cat is out of wasn’t the only fake Rotsler I ever the bag. Everyone will hate me. But FW: Taral, you’ve done artwork after drew. In fact, I had mounted quite there it is. In my opinion it’s good in a famed fanartist Bill Rotsler, copying his a campaign of pastiching fandom’s limited sort of way, but I still don’t care style. Then you asked him to autograph pre-eminent fanzine artist. The all that much for Bill Rotsler’s artwork. it. And only after he signed it did culmination was a fake sheet of Rotsler realize that he hadn’t actually Letraset I made up, using a sheet The mercury gag will be too drawn the piece. Is there more to the of the real thing for details, and a obscure at this point for almost story? large number of imitation Rotsler everyone. At the time, Twiltone figures of several types, complete with paper was becoming hard to find. TW: The story was pretty much exclamation points, balloons, and complete in itself, though doubtless In the great tradition of hoaxes other items useful in making up your it could be expanded upon for comic past, Victoria and I were spreading own Rotsler cartoons. It wasn’t a real effect. So there he stood, talking the story that Twiltone paper was going out of production because the to start with. Maybe a few hundred, bleaching process involved mercury, tops, if you included gamers and chat which couldn’t be entirely recovered lines. The first (in LA) from the extra-absorbent paper. It no doubt began the growth, and the sounded very plausible, and it took a introduction of Furry Muck opened lot of people in. I’ve found it repeated to exponential expansion. earnestly by other faneds over the But that doesn’t really explain what years. But it’s a complete load… its appeal was to so many people. One thing is clear though. Most of FW: The furry art genre was largely the increase in membership was from the creation of people such as you and quarters no one expected. I won’t go Marc Schirmeister, as well as the into details, but the fandom seemed artists of self-published comics like to attract what has been called sexual Albedo, and Cutey Bunny. You were outlaws -- guys who liked leather and even Guest of Honor at the third furry growing long fingernails, eye shadow, convention, around 1991. Where did and bondage, or had unhealthy the idea of come from? Do relationships with critters stuffed with you think it’s changed or morphed into fire retardant fluff. Furry fandom also something you didn’t envision? appealed to Internet role players, who evidently just saw it as another flavour The conventional date for furry TW: of fantasy gaming. Many of them also fandom’s birth is 1984. That’s the brought their costuming skills with year Marc Schirmeister mailed out the Brazzle cover by Mike Kazaleh them, creating yet another mode of firstRowrbrazzle . There were furry Fletcher had started the earlier apa attraction. fans before the APA, for underground comic sometime in of course. Some of them insist furry the 70’s, before Reed became famous The result was a fandom that fandom existed years before. But for Omaha the Cat Dancer. Quite a rapidly evolved away from its original though many of the faces in ‘Brazzle lot of the contribs were about funny roots in the b/w funny animal comics had been hanging around SF cons animals, but not exclusively so. With of the 80’s. (Comics, for example, like going way back, there was no sense , though, the word furry Albedo, Captain Jack, Usagi Yojimbo, of them being a separate community appeared to describe the adult funny Critters, Dreamscapes, Cutey Bunny, for funny animal appreciation. They animal genre for the first time. The and Omaha the Cat Dancer). Now it would have described themselves then practice of calling the fans “furries” was a haven for almost any sort of as comic book fans, animation fans, followed close behind. So that’s where role players, Goths, totemists, anime manga and anime fans. it comes from. fans, gamers, or the polymorphically perverse who were seeking a novelty. Rowrbrazzle grew directly Why is it popular though? Who All you had to do was make up some out of Vootie. Reed Waller and Ken knows? It wasn’t a very large group sort of alter ego (or avatar). Anything would do. A polka-dot squirrel-cougar think? knew I was scanning old fanzines to with wings? Fine, welcome to the CD Rom. Whether any of that led to club… FW: You’ll be Fan Guest of Honor the invitation or not, I couldn’t say. at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon But it was just about the last thing Had furry fandom–as-we-knew in Montreal. That’s quite an honor. I expected. The invitation was made it morphed or evolved into something How did you get invited to do that? informally five or six weeks before the we didn’t envision? A few years ago a Any special plans you have for the Tokyo Worldcon, through a phone call number of furries from the American convention? from Catharine Crocket. Then Eugene east coast visited Toronto. I didn’t Heller (the bid chairman) offered the know them very well, some not at all. TW: I didn’t do nuthin, honestly! A couple of years ago I began to have a formal invitation by e-mail a few days They were here to visit some bondage after that. We talked matters over friends and hang out at the local gay bit more interest in SF fandom, and began to write more. That seemed to by phone, and I formally agreed by bars. But they wanted to meet some e-mail. Afterward was several weeks of the local furries. They asked me lead to more illustration specifically for fanzines (not just sending the of waiting, trying not to think about and another fan named Ken to meet how inevitably [the opposing Worldcon them for dinner in a chop suey house editors whatever furry art seemed innocuous enough). Next thing I bid by] Kansas City would win. I down the street. They probably hoped wanted to encourage people to vote for to freak us out with their dog collars Montreal, of course, but how could I? and leashes, but Ken and I managed The bids aren’t supposed to make their to keep poker faces. They sure as hell choices known. freaked out the waiter and other diners in the restaurant though. At the end One funny encounter was with of the evening, while they loaded up a friend here, who was determined the car with their bondage gear, one of to vote for KC. I could only suggest them turned to us and said something she might kick herself if she voted like this: wrong and found out later why she ought to have voted for Montreal. She “I know you guys aren’t gay, but shot back that even if Bob Wilson you know, you’re so cool you might was going to be GoH, she’s still vote almost be furry.” for KC. I didn’t know whether to be Us furry? I was one of the more chagrined she hadn’t guessed if earliest members of the fandom and a was me, not Bob… or that it wouldn’t noted artist. And Ken ran one of the matter anyway. first furry chat lines. And we were I’m told the primary reason I was almost furry… selected was that the concom made a So did the fandom evolve in firm commitment to having a Canadian unexpected ways, then? What do you fan guest. (Too big a conceptual step for Torcon III apparently.) That would In grade three or four, I guess, age, I still discover new inspirations have narrowed the choice quite a bit I one of the schoolteachers said I had – Hayao Miyazaki’s brilliant films to suspect. In fact, I was told there really talent and should go to art school. My name one. wasn’t another choice. mother looked at her and said, “No, I want him to earn a living”. I was And that’s where I learned everything I my mother’s son, and readily agreed. know. FW: Your drawing style is very clear, Little could I guess that I was going to very efficient. The lines are strong but spite her, many years later. (But in don’t show unnecessary guesswork or her defense, once it was obvious I was FW: And that’s where we’ll end the scribbling. Your sense of anatomy is a lost soul, she never pressed me to story for now. Next week, in the second really good, too - it feels like your people give it all up for gainful employment.) and final part of this interview, I asked have real elbows and knees and butts. Taral to discuss a few of his art pieces Yet despite all this, you didn’t take any I had the gene then. And I in more detail. art classes. Where or how did you learn practiced, practiced, practiced. But to draw? where did I learn the tricks of the trade if I never went to art school? I TW: Practice can take a lot of the attended the best school of all. I read credit. If you make mistakes long the funny papers and comic books. enough, you begin to notice them. I I was almost omnivorous. Sugar & was scribbling tanks and fighter jets Spike, Donald Duck, Little Lulu, Jerry from a very early age, and loved the Lewis Comics, Batman, Magnus Robot comics. The gene seemed to run in Fighter, Archie, Wendy the Good Little my family. I think my mother could Witch, it was all food for the muse. sketch a little, though rarely did. Pretty much everything but Marvel. I She encouraged me when I was a was giving up comic reading by the little boy. But I don’t recall her with time Marvel became a force. Feature pencil and paper after that. My uncle cartoons and animated films like on the other hand, was much more Pinocchio and How the Grinch Stole artistically inclined. He drew and Christmas were delicacies in my diet. I painted his own Christmas cards for ate on a regular basis from the trough example. He built model kits too. of TV, mostly, relishing early shows Unfortunately it was just something like Ruff & Ready, and The Bullwinkle he did in his spare time, as a hobby. Show. There was a continuing round Uncle had no interest in pursuing of new discoveries over the years. I his talent seriously, and let’s face it, wish I had known of Will Eisner’s you don’t become Max Ernst or Walt Spirit, The Freak Brothers, Walt Kelly, Kelly by dabbling. It takes a lot more Asterix or Herge’s Tin Tin earlier, but I commitment than that. had to find them late. Well into middle Letter-Graded Mail writing this sent to [email protected] before the by my loyal readers detailed results are Let’s start with a brief note from my out, so any- man Steve Green! thing I say Hi Chris, here may be Brianna Flynt and Frank Wu making me cover much the same ground in their look fool- articles, albeit from slightly different ish within perspectives. Personally, I’d have been 24 hours much happier if Fred Phelps and his (as opposed gang of hatemongers had hit a wall of to the more public disgust, rather than legal ac- normal tion; unfortunately, abhorrent as his making me views are, they are scarcely confined to look fool- the walls of his so-called church. ish within Very true. They hit a serious wall the next few of public disgust (at one point they months, were showered in urine tossed by a which is passing car if the papers are to be entirely to believed) but they keep it up. be expected Once again, many congratula- and even tions on winning TAFF. Whilst it’s normal). highly unlikely Ann and I will be at But I always short! Orbital (I’m not a big fan of Eastercons, felt that you had a reasonable chance, Well, I still think that Christian as I believe I’ve mentioned here before), in that I perceived you as the “fanzine was the best candidate and that we look forward to catching up during fans’ candidate” standing against three any of us would have been a good your grand tour of these isles. “convention fans’ candidates.” In choice. I typically sell myself exact- -- Steve fact, potentially even stronger than ly right while most others give me I’ll make sure we get a chance to that, in that you’ve always been, far too much credit. in both word and deed, a proponent of hang and chat. I’m sure you’ll be inundated “big tent fandom.” Heck, there’s And now...Peter Sullivan! with trip advice from previous TAFF not many people who could get away delegates from both sides of the At- Well, I’ve updated the chrisfor- with missing Corflu due to a prior lantic, and they’ll have a much better taff website for the second time this commitment to toastmaster a costum- idea than me how to structure your evening, so time for a turbo-loc. I’m ers’ convention. Don’t sell yourself limited time. I don’t know if a Britrail pass might be worth looking at for get- say that I have a lot of stuff already ting about - the website seems fairly taken off my plate to think about. coy about revealing a price, probably The easy stuff, finding a cheap because they can tell from my web flight, Britrail pass and such, is all browser that I’m in England. Trains I have to worry about! are probably the best way to get about The chrisfortaff website margin- - you get to see the countryside, and ally beat out www.taff.org.uk with the although Brits famously don’t talk *to news, but only just. And Dave Lang- each other* on trains, they can easily ford did have rather more pages to be brought out of their shell by talk- update than me... ative Americans. Remember, in the world of the in- I’ve looked into a Britrail pass and ternet, it only matters who gets to I’m going for one of the flexible the news first! You did a lot of work passes (I’ll be buying a first class on the site and it was a nice little pass, but personally covering the piece of work and it will forever be difference between First Class and an important part of the future of Standard) and I’ll get to roll around TAFF races! the country. I’ve never done a lot of The one that really brings it train riding, so it’ll be fun! all home is http://www.taff.org.uk/ As I’ve said before, we have not taffhist.html, already updated to in- just crash space but a real guest room famous car park in Gateshead (“Get clude Chris Garcia at the end a long available here, but given the limited Carter”), but I believe they may be line of past TAFF greats. Starting with time you’ll have to get around, I would knocking that down before you arrive. Walt himself, Vin¢, LeeH, Ron Bennett, fully understand the principle of “the Damned urban renewal!!! Atom, Langford, the Nielsen-Haydens, better offer.” In any case, I’ll see you at I believe that it is traditional for and more recent names as well. I re- Orbital. TAFF to ask the guest convention for a ally ought to end this with a fannishly You best better believe that I’ll be free membership -- although not quite sarcastic “My ghod, what have we staying with ya for a night or so! 100% traditional for the convention to wrought?” Unfortunately, I seem to Orbital will be exceptional! agree. Might be worth asking, though. have something in my eye... If you do come up this way, I And remember you can start asking The names on that list are amaz- can’t really think of anything especially Suzle for TAFF funds right away, so ing. I have had much fun chatting fannish to show you, unless we can no need to hold back on booking that with the Moffatts at LosCon over the persuade Ian Williams out of hiberna- flight. last couple of years and they won tion to show us the spot in Sunder- I’m very lucky to have a great set in the 1970s. There’s Dan Steffan, land High Street where The Gannet of folks who are lookin’ out for me. one of the best fan artists ever, and *used* to be. For film fandom, I guess I Bug and Suzle hae taken care of a so many others. I’m not worthy! I’m could take you to see the world’s most lot of things already and I’m glad to not worthy! me back in the chair, a mere twenty- three years after my first gig, juggling both a celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the first British science fiction convention (in the opinion of many fans, myself included, the first true sf con) and our sub-theme, the UK’s accelerating shift towards becoming a surveillance society (a nod to our guest of honour, Charlie Stross). The latter was emphasised by Iris, our inflatable eyeball, which floated up the ceiling during our opening ceremony and Birmingham was the venue for these Fannish Memory Syndrome hovered over the weekend’s proceedings weird gatherings of like-minded Steve Green until Rog Peyton finally auctioned her individuals, conventions, and whilst the off on Sunday afternoon. first of these I experienced firsthand To the Quality Hotel near Walsall, Running a convention is like – Fantasycon 3, two months short of my for another three-day episode in British premeditated murder: months in the seventeenth birthday – was reassuringly fandom’s most successful soap opera, planning and it’s all over in a flash. non-interactive, I’d soon handed over Novacon. One moment, Ann and I were enjoying my membership fee for another event It’s been a major factor in my life for a pre-con committee curry with Charlie in the city centre, Novacon 7. My life more than three decades. As I wrote in and his partner Feorag; the next, we has remained intertwined with the UK’s the latest instalment’s first progress were heading back to our room after longest-running regional sf convention report, “Saturday, 5 February 1977: the the traditional “dead dog” beer tasting, every since. day everything changed. I’d wandered sliding down the adrenalin roller- “After running Novacon 13’s into the Andromeda bookshop on coaster and wondering which fannish alternative programme in the bowels [Birmingham’s] Summer Row (never a black hole the intervening seventy-two of the Royal Angus Hotel (leaving in wise move: back then, Rog Peyton could hours had disappeared into. our wake scenes of decadence and scent spare change at fifty paces; he’s Needless to say, much as I reckon destruction unknown since Caligula’s now down to forty-nine). I can’t recall if we did a solid job, I immediately vowed Rome), I actually found myself chairing I was already aware of the Birmingham never to take it on again. Better pencil Novacon 14. This instalment proved so Science Fiction Group, then at the top a gap into my 2030 calendar, just in successful, the following two had to quit of its game, but it can’t be a coincidence case… Birmingham and relocate to Coventry.” that I turned up for a barnstorming gig Now, you might think I’d have by co-president Brian Aldiss thirteen learned my lesson back in those dark days later. [Heading above adapted from a photograph days of Thatcher, Reagan and the first “More crucially, I learned that taken by Ian Sales.] TAFF War, but no: this November saw