TTThhheee RRReeellluuuccctttaaannnttt FFFaaammmuuullluuusss 82 The Reluctant Famulus # 82 July/August 2011 Thomas D. Sadler, Editor/Publisher, etc. 305 Gill Branch Road, Owenton, KY 40359 Phone: 502-484-3766 E-mail: [email protected]

Contents

Introduction, Editor 1 Old Kit Bag, Robert Sabella 5 A Tribute, Editor 7 Rat Stew, Gene Stewart 8 More Old News, Editor 10 Hopewell Culture, Al Byrd 11 Stargazing, Matt Howard 16 Ocean’s Seven, Sheryl Birkhead 18 Still More Old News, Editor 20 Harmonie, Leigh James Martin 21 LoCs 23

Artwork

Sheryl Birkhead Covers, 15, 29, 39 Aidan T. Blohm 22 Don Blair Collection 21 (insert in large picture) Helen Davis 11, 12, 13, 14 Kurt Erichsen 5, 8 Brad Foster 35 Alexis Gilliland 23, 27, 37, 41 Indiana Historical Soc. Lib. 22 Internet 2, 3, 4, 7 Terry Jeeves (bless his soul) 25, 31 A. B. Kynock 16 Rotsler (bless his soul) 17, 33 Unknown 21 (large picture)

The Reluctant Famulus is a product of Strange Dwarf Publications. Many of the comments expressed herein are solely those of the Editor/Publisher and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of any sane, rational persons who know what they are doing and have carefully thought out beforehand what they wanted to say. Material not written or produced by the Editor/Publisher is printed by permission of the various writers and artists and is copyright by them and remains their sole property. Permission is granted to any persons who wish to reprint material presented herein, provided proper and due credit is given both to the author/artist who produced the material and to the original publication in which it appeared. TRF maybe obtained for The Usual but especially in return for written material and artwork, postage costs, The Meaning of Life, , and Editorial Whim. TTThhheee RRReeellluuuccctttaaannnttt FFFaaammmuuullluuusss Introduction: In the Oddest Places America is a beautiful country with natu- isn’t much of interest to tell about them. ral scenery as varied, beautiful, and breathtak- They were just plain folks. ing as that of just about any other country in There was another somewhat more nota- the world. Some of the scenery, such as the ble man who settled in that area a bit over a Rocky Mountains on the West coast are awe- decade before my ancestors and a year or so some in its splendor. New England has its after Alabama gained statehood in 1819 notable mountains, coastline, and other attrac- when it was still Indian Territory. tions. Tennessee and North Carolina have the [Editor. A bit of clarification might be in Smoky Mountains and Virginia the Blue order here. When the man first settled in Ridge Mountains. Of course there are also Alabama, it was Indian Territory ceded to the Appalachian Mountains. All in all there is the U.S.. When the new county of Benton no part of this country without at least some ( amed after Senator Thomas Hart Benton) measure of beauty even if it doesn’t compare was formed in 1832 it encompassed an area with the Rockies and certain other breathtak- extending to the Alabama/Georgia State line ing scenery. Then there are places in Ameri- and so included the Borden property. Over ca which while worth seeing because of their the years, Senator Benton decided slavery natural beauty might not seem particularly was wrong and the Union must be preserved. noteworthy or compelling but which, for a This didn’t sit well with the residents and so time, held the promise of becoming some- they renamed the county Calhoun after Sena- thing more and offered a surprise to visitors. tor John C. Calhoun, staunchly pro-slavery Last issue I mentioned that I was born in and secessionist. On December 6, 1866, the my grandparents’ home in rural Calhoun county of Cleburne ( amed after Confeder- County, near Piedmont, Alabama. The word ate Major General Patrick Ronayne Cle- piedmont means “foot of the mountains” burne.) was formed from parts of Calhoun, (more or less). The city of Piedmont, Alaba- Randolph and Talladega counties. The Bor- ma is aptly named, for the Appalachian den land ended up in Cleburne County, as Mountains run through Georgia and into did some of my ancestors even though they Alabama. Not surprisingly, then, there is never moved an inch; a somewhat common mountain scenery of sorts, either small moun- occurrence since the beginnings of this coun- tains or large hills. Still, it is an attractive and try.] varied landscape and in the past has drawn According to historical accounts, “The settlers from the east and north. Among them earliest settler on the Borden property, soon was my great-great-great-grandfather Thom- after Alabama was admitted to the union, as Sadler and his family. They came from was John A. Borden. He entered his land at South Carolina by way of Tennessee and into Huntsville and became the possessor of one Calhoun County around 1832 or so and set- thousand acres west of the spring, lying tled near a place called White Plains, in the along Terrapin Creek, a rich lowland which Choccolocco Valley and remained there the flooded each year. At a bend in the creek he rest of their lives. But this article is not about built a large grist mill to grind his wheat and them—something I’m certain will make corn. Nearby, Mr. Borden built the well- many of you thankful—because there really known Borden dwelling. The open hallway 1 extended the length of the structure,with liv- composed of twelve men from Atlanta, New- ing rooms on each side. With wide fireplaces nan, and Carrollton, Georgia, bought the land and many-paned windows, it sat snug and from the Wheeler family and had assembled comfortable, facing south, with three sides on a knoll above the spring a two-story hotel protected by the mountains which towered to replace a small twenty-room structure above and around it. In which had been used ear- later years the Borden lier. dwelling in proved to be ”The hotel had been an interesting feature be- formerly owned by the cause of its location. The Fruithurst Company, a long avenue of old ce- corporation which in dars, so old that the 1894 secured large hold- trunks were divided, ings of land in the east- which led to the old central part of Cleburne homestead created as County as the site for a much curiosity and inter- Aerial view colony of Swedish vin- est as did the house. yardists who came from Minnesota for the ”After Mr. Borden, Arthur Alexander purpose of raising grapes for the making of bought 160 acres which included the spring wine. The vineyard colony established the and the land around it. Mr. Alexander’s son, town of Fruithurst, which was incorporated Matthew, purchased 400 acres surrounding in 1896. The hotel building, established origi- the acreage owned by his father. Matthew nally as a clubhouse for prospective land buy- Alexander married Annie Borden, daughter ers, was short-lived, for within a few years of John Borden. the company went defunct. “Then came Calvin M. Wheeler, who “The Borden-Wheeler Company pur- bought the spring property, which was chased the clubhouse and employed J. C. increasing in value because Bass of Carrollton, Geor- the spring was becoming gia, to dismantle the well known for its ‘magic structure, move it six- qualities’. Mr. Wheeler mar- teen miles to Borden ried Sarah, the daughter of Springs, and reconstruct Arthur Alexander. So from it as the Borden-Wheeler these three, Borden, Alexan- Hotel. The moving was der, and Wheeler, come most accomplished with the of the families living at Bor- use of mules and wag- den Springs. (To which I am ons. The Borden-Wheel- related in one way or anoth- er Hotel, consisting of er.) close up view one hundred rooms, was a marvel of southern “Borden Springs was one of the most architecture, and immense for so small a romantic spots of Alabama. It lies in a valley place. It was a structure with wide porches, between mountains that lie unbroken for four- and its many windows caught the sunlight teen miles on either side. Borden Springs is from all points. located on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, “The hotel with its broad wings was sur- ninety-two miles from Birmingham and sev- rounded by mountains covered with pine, enty-five miles from Atlanta, in Cleburne maple, oak, elm, sweet and black gum trees, County near the Georgia state line. Shortly ash and the ‘grandsire gray-beard,’ with his before 1900 the Borden-Wheeler Company, long, snowy locks. Among the trees were 2 great blocks of limestone, with their chang- guests,but the resort was unable to attract ing veins of color. There was soon a village patronage in numbers sufficient to support of cottages around the hotel, built of rough such lavishness. The rates were reasonable lumber, much screen- for the times, at $15.00 ing, and creosoted in per week or $50.00 per brown and greens to har- month, American plan. monize with the back- It became known as a ground of the trees. week-end resort and ren- Every cottage had elec- dezvous. Approximately tric lights, running forty em- ployees were water, and maid ser- retained through each vice. week, a- waiting the “So much was said large crowds on the about the magic proper- week ends. Rates for the ties of the spring that the management adver- weekends were somewhat higher. Perhaps tised the water as being ‘a close second to nowhere in Alabama were there better or Ponce de Leon’s famed ‘Fountain of Youth’. more elaborate appointments and conve- Near the hotel stood a small cottage built of niences in a hotel. French cooks were hired logs that were hewed and peeled by hand, to prepare fancy meals which were with a puncheon floor. This was the home of unequaled in the state. The orchestras which Sarah Alexander Wheeler and C.M. Wheeler, furnished music during the meals and for who were among the pioneers of Borden dancing were the best that could be obtained Springs. Often the resort, better known as in Alabama or Georgia. The entertainment Borden Springs, was called Borden-Wheeler was superb but costly. Springs. “Socially prominent people from all After the death of Calvin M. Wheeler, parts of Georgia and Alabama made up the the spring property was sold to the Borden- clientele. The hotel was open from May to Wheeler Company, which improved it. The October, although June 1 through Labor Day modern hotel had windows everywhere, fill- was considered the season. The Borden- ing the building with Wheeler Company oper- light so that it was like a ated the hotel for only a huge sun room. Broad few seasons and then galleries, rooms with the stockholders sold high ceilings, and wide their holdings to J. C. spaces seemed to beck- Bass, who had moved on with an air of gaiety. the building from From the knoll on which Fruithurst. Mr. Bass the hotel stood, the ter- operated the hotel until raced lawns, green as his health failed in emerald and smooth as velvet, dropped down 1920. His son, Bernard, then acquired the past the wide dancing pavilion to the spring. property and operated the hotel until 1927, There was a swimming pool, golf course, and when he sold his holdings to a Florida syndi- blooded horses for the entertainment of cate headed by Leon Prine of Fort Meade. guests. Mr. Prine operated the hotel until 1933, when ”The hotel was furnished with every it closed and was never reopened. adornment that money could buy, which lent “During the years of several ownerships, to the happiness and pleasure of the Charles W. Smith held a mortgage on the 3 property, and he ultimately acquired it byfore- area, not that far from where the resort waslo- closure. Fire swept the hotel and the twenty cated. They might at least have heard of Bor- cottages in 1935, leaving nothing but ashes. den-Wheeler Springs Resort e- ven if they The people of Borden Springs must have felt had never seen it even from a distance. Had I as Cinderella did when the clock struck known about it when my parents were still twelve, all her fine clothes vanished, and she alive I could have asked them or my uncles was left in rags and ash- or aunts about the resort. es, her lovely golden It’s far too late for that chariot only a pumpkin now, of course. My Uncle shell, her milk-white Marvin Sadler, the steeds only white mice. youngest of the six chil- But, after all, she really dren, passed away May 6, was the girl with whom 2011 They’re all gone the prince had danced, now and there is no one and in the end she mar- left who might have been ried the prince and was able to tell me about Bor- happy ever after. So it den-Wheeler Springs was with the Borden- Resort and those long Wheeler enterprise. All gone days of their youth. of the things that were there at the beginning Such is life One of the reasons my wife and I were untouched: the spring, the trees, and the have been in that part of Cleburne county is mountains which were provided by nature. because not far from where the Borden- Borden Wheeler Hotel had the appearance Wheeler resort was located is the Borden and appointments of an important spa, compa- Springs Church of Christ situated on a tree- rable to the finest in the South, but it was too shaded hill. Adjacent to the church is the Bor- far elaborate for its location. den Springs Church of Christ Cemetery “Borden Springs resort grew to such pop- (Also known as New Bethel Cemetery.) ularity that the Seaboard Railroad issued where my grandfather William H. and grand- excursion rates to the resort. A one-way fare mother Sadie W. Sadler are buried along from Birmingham was listed at $2.77 (this with two of my aunts and their husbands, my and a season ticket at $4.60.) The rates from grandfather’s younger brother and his two Atlanta were slightly lower.” wives and several other Sadlers to which I After all these years and after having am related. My great-grandfather James and driven around that area, I learn that at one grandmother Sarah are also supposedly time there was a fairly well-known, if some- buried there, as is one of his brothers, what exclusive, resort in a place I certainly Samuel, and my 3rd great-grandfather and never would have expected one to be. It is an mother, their other son and five daughters. attractive and scenic area but it seems curious Unfortunately, there are no markers to show that such a resort would have existed there where they are buried. Calvin M. Wheeler for even the few short years it did. Some- and his wife are also buried there with a sub- times what seems to be a prosaic piece of stantial marker. It feels rather strange to visit country can hide a long forgotten secret. a cemetery where I am related to many of After learning about Borden-Wheeler those interred there either directly or collater- Springs Resort I find myself wishing I had ally. In the case of Calvin M. and Sarah A. known about it 20 or 25 years earlier. It oc- Wheeler, I am their great-great grandnephew. curred to me my father and his brothers and For what little it’s worth. sisters had lived and grown up in that general (Source: Historic Alabama Hotels and Re- sorts, by James F. Sulzby) 4 The Old Kit Bag #22 er of high-concept space opera. He creates wondrous worlds with believable characters Recommended Reading in well-plotted stories. I consider him the Poul Anderson of the new generation. His I am somewhat disappointed with the Revelation Space trilogy was outstanding, as majority of books currently being published was its companion collection Galactic under the guise of fantasy and science fic- orth. If you prefer a standalone novel, tion. I follow the new and forthcoming book either the mystery Century Rain or the lists published in various locations, and the police procedural The Prefect are good start- news can be depressing for a lifelong sf fan. ing points. According to the current (June) issue of One of the most sophisticated space Locus, in the first four months of 2011 there opera series is Iain M Banks’ Culture series. were 78 science fiction books published, com- These novels are often very dense and pared to 139 fantasy novels, 51 horror novels packed with ideas with slow-paced plotting. and 98 paranormal romances. Which trans- But their richness of depth and characteriza- lates to 21% of the f&sf novels published so tion are worth the effort. Of the Culture nov- far this year were actually science fiction. els I have read, my favorite is Look To This does not mean there is no science Windward. fiction available for fans of that minority sub- Another popular “New Space Opera” genre; it is just a bit more difficult to find writer, along with Reynolds and Banks, is good sf amidst the clutter of urban fantasy Stephen Baxter, whose stories emphasize sci- and vampire/zombie fiction. So for those of entific speculation and sense of wonder. He you who wish to read modern science fiction has written dozens of novels, but readers new which follows the classic tradition with no to him might try his collection Resplendent, interference from horror tropes or the rapidly- which contains some outstanding short fic- becoming-boring trope of steampunk, here tion and basically tells the entire history of are some works of science fiction from the his popular Xeelee series. An excellent stan- past decade which can stand proudly along- dalone novel is The Time Ships, his award- side the classic works of Heinlein, Asimov, winning sequel to H.G. Wells’ The Time Clarke, Silverberg, Anderson, Niven, Machine. Zelazny and other grandmasters of earlier Jack McDevitt is perhaps my favorite generations. current writer, combining crisp storytelling Space Opera: with future history comparable to the works Alastair Reynolds is my favorite writ of Isaac Asimov in his prime. Two series are 5 worthwhile reading, the more wondrous novel which aroused my sense of wonder Academy series and the historical mysteries even in its somewhat depressing setting. of the Alex Benedict series. It is not a coinci- Also good is his first collection Pump Six dence that he has been nominated for the and Other Stories, whose highlight, in my Best Novel Nebula Award eight times, win- opinion, is the wonderful “The Fluted Girl.” ning in 2005 for Seeker, one of his Alex Alternate History: Benedict novels. A recommended standalone Another old-timer, although first pub- novel which shows all his strengths is Infini- lished a bit more recently than C.J. Cherryh, ty Beach. is Kim Stanley Robinson, who began writ- World-Building: ing in the early 1980s and is still turning out Although C.J. Cherryh is an old- novels whose writing compares nicely to timer, having begun publishing f&sf in the Cherryh’s, although where she prefers the far- mid-1970s, she is probably the most active future and depths of space, Robinson tends to writer from that decade with her world-build- stick closer to home. The Years of Rice and ing novels and their deliberate-paced plot- Salt and Galileo’s Dream are both detailed ting. Most of her recent science fiction has alternate histories. The former upsets the been in her Foreigner series which is now up entire history of modern Europe by killing to its 13th book. It is an excellent series in off 90% of the population during the Black which she develops an alien world while Plague, so that the past 500 years were domi- examining the relationship between the nated by Asian countries instead. The latter native atevi and humans there on a diplomat- is both a biography of the great scientist ic mission. Cherryh knows better than to Galileo as well as a look at a future Jovian write a long, open-ended series without any colony which brings the historic Galileo conclusion, so the Foreigner series is subdi- there for advice and consultation. Both are vided into trilogies, each of which has its definitely worthwhile reading. own story-line which concludes at the end of Michael Chabon is a literary writer the trilogy. Try the first trilogy consisting of who truly appreciates and understands sci- Foreigner, Invader and Inheritor. If you ence fiction, and who has written two of the prefer a standalone, Finity’s End is more best alt histories of the past decade. The space opera than world-building, but equally Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay good. is the better of the two, a coming of age nov- There is no current writer better at cre- el involving golems and comic books, while ating original and wondrous worlds than Chi- his Hugo and Nebula winner The Yiddish na Miéville who is a fine plotter as well. His Policemen’s Union is an excellent noir mys- best works might be the Bas Lag novels, con- tery set in an alternate Alaska. sisting of Perdito Street Station (which was Guy Gavriel Kay writes alt historical my favorite novel of the 2000s), The Scar sagas rich in both character development and and Iron Council. But just as good is his world-building. The Last Light of the Sun police procedural The City & The City was based on the Viking invasions of Eng- which deservedly tied for the Hugo Award land, and Under Heaven is based on ancient last year. Chinese culture. Although his fiction is usu- And what novel did it tie with? Paolo ally grouped under fantasy, its structure is as Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl. I am not a much sfnal as any novels on this list. fan of near-future dismal sf, having disliked Unclassifiable: nearly the entire Cyberpunk sub-genre, but Robert Charles Wilson usually writes Bacigalupi’s writing is excellent, and this contemporary novels about ordinary people novel is a taut, well-plotted character-based dealing with wondrous situations. Spin was 6 a deserving Hugo winner, and it has a sequel missioned a monument memorializing John Axis (which I have not read, but which was Wilkes Booth and his assassination of Abra- well-received). Julian Comstock is a future ham Lincoln. history which flies in the face of most sf writ- The stone shaft, about three feet tall, ers’ love of the singularity, postulating a col- bore the inscription: “Erected by Pink Parker lapse of technology and a return to 19th cen- in honor of John Wilkes Booth for killing tury type civilization. It is also a political Old Abe Lincoln.” novel and a war novel, succeeding well on all Parker hoped to place the monument in three levels. front of the Pike County Courthouse in Troy. Ted Chiang is undoubtedly the best Local officials resisted the idea and declined science fiction writer who has never written a his request. He was determined to place the novel. In fact, in twenty years he has barely monument where it could be seen, so he exer- published enough short fiction to fill two vol- cised his First Amendment rights and placed umes, although, in fact, only the first half has it in the front yard of his home. It stood there been published in book form so far. Stories for many years, facing Madison Street in of Your Life was published nearly a decade Troy, much to the mortification of reporters ago, one of the best single-author collections from across the nation. ever. Several of his recent novellas have Proclaimed as the “only monument to been published in book form though, includ- the memory of an assassin that stands on ing the highly-recommended The Merchant American soil” by the Northern press, the and the Alchemist’s Gate. monument's existence became major news in So there you have it. One dozen 1920. By that time it had been already been authors whose science fiction can stand up standing for 14 years. against the best writers of any era. There is The nation's newspapers got some of the no need for any lifelong fans to say there is details wrong. It was widely reported funds nothing being written than appeals to them. for the monument had been raised by an out- Trust me: these authors rock! pouring of community support and it stood on the town square, neither of which was true. A Less Than Welcome Tribute The controversy reached its peak in 1921, with letters from across the nation Joseph Pinkney “Pink” Parker was a demanding that the monument be taken police officer, teacher, Baptist church mem- down. But in ber and Confederate veteran who lived in the midst of all Troy, Alabama the furor, Pink He was better known, however, for hat- Parker passed a ing Abraham Lincoln. way. His sons His animosity toward the slain president had the inscrip- was displayed each year on the anniversary tion honoring of Lincoln’s death. Parker would dress in his Booth removed finest clothes to celebrate the event. Because from the monu- Troy was a Southern city in South Alabama, ment and it was most local residents either humored or quiet- re-carved to ly supported the macabre annual celebration serve as Park- of the assassination. er’s tombstone. In 1906, Parker took things to a new lev- el, causing outrage across the nation. He com- 7 People Talking About People” crate fell on him--Serling reportedly had vicious nightmares the rest of his life and slept as few as two hours in 24. “There is no knowledge that is not pow- His writing confronted his demons, and er.” --Ralph Waldo Emerson, rubber glove-in- the hypocrisies of society that led to them. a-box manufacturer. After writing several well-received plays for # television, he landed his own series, TWI- Over 4th of July weekend, which is per- LIGHT ZONE. versely called Independence Day by the TZ demonstrates repeatedly a lesson enslaved corporate drones stirred to national- genre writers rarely learn and SF specifically istic jingoism by the sight of flags and fire- rejects more often than not, that of develop- works and the taste of greasy barbecued ing the human aspects of a story and empha- meat, the Science Fiction Channel ran a TWI- sizing the idea, which is simply the MacGuf- LIGHT ZONE marathon. This prompted fin. some of what pass for thoughts these days. A trite notion, such as an antique watch I’d been considering how spies were pro- that can stop time, offered Serling a chance liferating on TV these days, and how appro- to explore what effects on people and their priate it was, given the Soviet turn toward relationships such a quirk might have. Com- Nazi fascism everything’s taking. menting on the human condition elevates Added to this, USA Network’s motto even the least-inspired episode of TWI- “characters welcome” and its remarkable run LIGHT ZONE, and leaves the viewers with of new, superior shows, from BURN at least a touch of compassion. NOTICE to WHITE COLLAR and SUITS. Focusing on people and relationships What are they able to do right so often others among them makes for good drama and come- can’t seem to do at all? dy--good fiction. Then here comes Rod Serling to answer SF, stuck on ideas, tends to speak in the question. Serling was a jarhead who grandiose terms about a human condition served at Leyte in a bomb squad during that, as often as not, seems distinctly other World War II. He became a writer, he once than human. Niven still gets credit for slicing said, to get the bitterness off his chest. a ring out of Dyson’s sphere but can anyone Having seen not only war-related deaths name a character from Ringworld ? among his brothers-in-arms and friends, but Lately, SF and most other genre fiction the accidental beheading of a fellow soldier has been feasting on its own moribund limbs. during an impromptu comedy routine the fel- Eating itself to fuel “new” work, which is low was doing to entertain his comrades--a 8 simply a rehash of old work, popular fiction SF. risks becoming as irrelevant as literary fic- Derivative, plagiarized, and craven, the tion long since has. Whether vanishing up material produced is calculated neither to one’s own ass, or regurgitating reassuring challenge nor to elevate. Not that sugarcoat- pabulum decades past nutritive content, fic- ed escapism is bad for the pocketbook. Pan- tion cannot thrive or remain relevant by such dering remains reasonably profitable. Why, stratagems. though, has it become so bad? We’re going retro. Having no future Escapism dominates genre and YA domi- does that. Factor in a lack of imagination and nates sales in large part because readers want a desperation to pander to the Lowest Com- easily-digested, pre-chewed pabulum with mon Denominator and you explain it. salty sugar and sweet sweat, to feed their That readers unfamiliar with the history familiarity demons. They panic with any- of a given genre see everything old as new thing else, and anxiety rules if they can’t tell again licenses much of the derivative work. precisely the kind of fiction they’ve picked Why strain when pilferage serves as well? up by page one, and how it’ll turn out. What was once pastiche is now sense-of-won- Reassurance is their goal, and they do der inspiring innovation, then, and ideas con- not care a whit about writerly ambitions or sidered hoary by our grands are shined up to goals of literary glory. Innovation freezes sparkle anew during current award cere- them like deer in a spotlight and anything monies. genuinely original will simply baffle them It’s explicable when one recalls that cur- into hostility, the way abstract expressionism rent genre writing have only a past. What has riles rednecks. gone before is all that is available to deriva- Reinforcing comfortable delusions, tive types. They eat their dead or go hungry. avoiding anything prompting thoughts of real- Once SF in particular had a future. Once ity, and ensuring that everything turns out as it envisioned many futures and reveled in expected from the first soothing word are the exploring the implications, ramifications, and hallmarks of escapist fare. Escapism is qualifications of this or that trial future. unfair, however, because it cheats the reader, There was a sense of wonder, yes, and adven- not to mention the writer, of even a chance at ture, too. We genuinely felt we could survey significance. and conquer the future. Not that readers care about such things. Today we know to a fair certainty our Anyone wishing to get even close to children’s lives will be less than ours, and making a living by writing keeps such cavils our grandchildren may not get a chance at in mind, as well as writing to a 4th-to-6th much of a life at all. We see things closing grade level. Doing these things guarantees in. This syncope is societal, personal, and nothing, but violating them practically guar- thus cultural. One is reminded of the Sex Pis- antees low to no sales. tols howling about No Hope and No Future Editors often call for “new” this and as they returned to basics with a vengeance. “creative” that--ignore such words. What Refreshing, revitalizing punk aesthetics they mean is, “Send stuff I like and I’m not have not shaken SF from its doldrums, sick of.” What ever that is. though. We continually see space opera domi- Some editors offer detailed likes and dis- nate awards and now Young Adult SF as likes or strict, picayune lists of parameters-- well. A general turning away from so-called these are bullies seeking to remote control hard SF is now a stampede as wish-fulfill- victim writers. They will be impossible to ment and other pure escapism becomes stan- deal with and should be avoided. dard fare across the spectrum of published Editors who focus on formatting show 9 where their minds are, and it’s not on fiction. The original court order was obtained when Avoid such martinets and harpies. Mrs. Kennedy complained her husband was Best advice: Write ONLY what YOU in the habit of locking her in the privy. The want, for the sake of the story. That’s it and couple is reported to be having difficulties that’s all. If you like it, ignore all naysaying, with their marriage. (from 1902 newspaper) critiques, and advice. This won’t assure you of being published or being liked by readers Judge Lowe Throws Case Out of but it will give solace when you haven’t wast- Court - Says Bogus Booze ot illegal ed your life writing to others’ standards. from 1920 newspaper That’s really the truth. A good story well told is the basis for fic- Garland Orr, of Hartselle, charged with tion. Fancy stuff takes things away from obtaining money under false pretenses in con- basics, and thus away from readers, or listen- nection with his alleged sale of 100 gallons ers. Make them impatient or, worse, bore of water to Floyd Jacobs, former deputy sher- them, and they’ll go find a more interesting iff, was this afternoon held to the grand jury voice to hear. on $1,000 bail by Judge W.T. Lowe, follow- Good fiction is people talking about peo- ing his preliminary trial. ple. As Rod Serling and many others have Floyd Jacobs, the complainant, took the shown, this not only does not exclude genre stand as a witness and related how he was fiction, it enhances and enlivens genre fic- alleged to have been victimized by Orr. He tion. SF is the literature of ideas, some say. said that he had contracted with Orr for the Keep the ideas subordinate to the people and delivery of 100 gallons of whiskey and had their relationships and you’ll do fine. met a man on a pike outside Albany during the darkness of night who had delivered to him ten containers of 10-gallons capacity And now for some more old news: each, which upon later examination were said to contain water. Jacobs could not identify Arrested the man delivering the spurious “liquor”. Henry Gomez appeared in police court Attorney for the defense, seeking dis- this morning on charges of disorderly con- missal of the case, declared the state had not duct. After getting drunk and being told to proved anything against Orr. The defense leave a local saloon, Gomez returned with a contended that the state had not proved that stick of dynamite and blew the front door to the contents of the containers was not smithereens. from 1887 Huntsville newspa- whiskey. per The judge then recessed the court in order to ascertain the contents of the contain- Strange Love ers, after which the charges were cheerfully dropped. Huntsville After a prolonged courtship, Edward T. Lowery and Elizabeth Gentry From 1875 were married Saturday in a simple ceremony A Huntsville clergyman married a cou- at a friend's home. All seven of their children ple the other night, received his fee and sent were in attendance. The couple has no plans them away, apparently satisfied. But a day or for a honeymoon. two later the bridegroom returned and said Decatur - Ordered by the court not to that he had come to pay more, as the woman molest his wife, Stephen J. Kennedy was had turned out so much better than he expect- jailed for heaving chunks of cheese at her. ed and was a wonderful cook. 10 A Visit to Hopewell Culture ational Historical Park Lost civilizations fascinate Alfred D. Byrd mica, or galena—all substances me. As an aspiring writer of specu- apparently sacred to the Hope- lative fiction, I’ve long toyed with well—and effigy pipes with a time-travel novel in which a viewpoint char- which Hopewell shamans sought visions with acter from the present witnesses a lost civi- the aid of native tobacco. Here, one can buy lization's fall. Sadly for my writing the novel, the books that I’ll be recommending at arti- travel to sites of a lost civilization for cle’s end. research into it lay beyond a research ana- When Helen and I reached the visitor lyst's modest means—or so I thought. Imag- center, park rangers were training a class of ine my chagrin when, one day while I was elementary-school children in the Hopewell’s looking at a map of Ohio, the words hunting weapon, the spear and atlatl. (The “Hopewell Culture National Historical Park” bow and arrow didn’t reach the Eastern leapt out at me. I’d been overlooking a van- Woodlands until around 700 C. E.) The chil- ished advanced culture in my own backyard. dren were making casts of only twenty or thir- (I use “advanced culture” for the Hope- ty feet; a skilled atlatlist, I’ve read, can hurl a well Exchange because archaeologists debate spear nearly the length of three football whether the Hopewell were truly civilized. fields. I suspect that, if the children’s spears Perhaps, as I describe just five of what were had been tipped with authentic points of once hundreds of Hopewell cultural sites, chert, they would’ve traveled far farther than you’ll answer the question for yourself.) they did travel. In view of where the chert Hearing of my interest in the park, friend might’ve gone on an errant cast, it may’ve and fellow writer of speculative fiction Helen been best that spears were blunted. E. Davis volunteered to go there with me. After I’d driven to her house near Dayton, Ohio, she drove me on to Chillicothe, an unprepossessing central Ohioan town that may once have been to the Hopewell Exchange what Mecca is to Islam. Chilli- cothe was actually the center of two advanced Native American cultures: the Ade- na (about 1000 B. C. E. to 200 B. C. E.), and its successor, the Hopewell, (about 200 B. C. E. to 500 C. E). It’s the latter and more advanced of these cultures that the park com- memorates. Hopewell Culture National Historical One comes to Mound City to see, not a Park comprises five units, only three of museum or spear-throwing, but mounds. which are now open to the public. The park’s When Americans settling what would be- centerpiece is Mound City, just off of Ohio come Ohio found the site, it held as many as 104, west of town. Here, the visitor center’s twenty-three mounds within a three-foot-high museum holds ancient ornaments of copper, rectangular earthwork enclosing 15.6acres. 11 Sadly, nearly all of the mounds were from the banks of the nearby Scioto River. destroyed when, during World War I, the For reasons that I’ll discuss later, we United States Army built Fort Sherman on can’t be sure of what the Hopewell believed, the site. (It’s now likely pointless to ask why, but some archaeologists suspect that the with all of the open land in the United States, Hopewell shared a belief-system with his- the military built a camp on an archaeologi- toric Eastern Woodlands Indians. If so, a cal site.) Luckily, from excavations of the funerary mound likely represents the Earth bases of the mounds, and from the magisteri- Diver myth, in which a sacred bird dove into al survey of Ohio’s mounds done by Ephraim creation’s primeval waters and returned with Squier and Edwin Davis in the 1840s, archae- earth that, spread onto a turtle’s back, ologists have been able to restore the mounds became the North American continent. By to their appearance of fifteen hundred years erecting a funerary mound over an important ago. man, the Hopewell were magically ensuring To those of us reared on skyscrapers, his re-creation, rebirth into the Other World. shopping malls, and sports complexes, the This is a world of reversals—left is right, mounds seem modest until we grasp that men light is dark—ruled by the moon. The Hope- and women hauling sand, clay, and river soil well likely deemed some of the grave a basket at a time built them all by hand. Like goods—items of polished copper and mica, all other Eastern Woodlands Indians, the which function as mirrors—as portals into Hopewell never developed the wheel or the Other World. domesticated any beast of burden. They did, Sometimes, additional burials took place however, develop a sense of beauty. Seen around or atop the original burial, so that a from the visitor center, the mounds at Mound mound grew generation after generation by City have something of a accretion. We know that Japanese garden’s grace the sites of the mounds and proportion. continued to be sacred The mounds at even after the fall of the Mound City are funerary Hopewell Exchange mounds raised over the because Native Ameri- gravesites of important cans who succeeded the men, likely successful Hope- well in a dark age hunters, clan leaders, and performed what are shamans. A mound gener- known as intrusive buri- ally began as a wooden als into the tops of charnel house built for Hopewell mounds. an important man’s death. Within the house, Mounds rose in highly specific locations. a pit was lined with ritually significant sub- Southern Ohio’s rivers generally run in a bed stances, often red cedar or mica. After the below two or three terraces formed by glacial deceased was placed into the pit, he received scouring and glacial melting. The Hopewell grave goods—generally an atlatl and a brace built their monumental earthworks on second of spears; a ritually broken effigy pipe, most or third terraces, broad, flat areas below the likely the one that he'd smoked in life; and surrounding hilly countryside and above his- headbands and gorgets of copper, mica, or toric floodplains of nearby streams. At galena. The charnel house was burned down Mound City, one can see how the whole over him. Over its ashes, the mound was countryside would’ve looked in Hopewell raised in layers, starting generally with white times as one walks downhill through open clay and proceeding to sand and black earth woods from the enclosure on the second ter 12 race to a stretch of the Scioto River that ments runs southwest towards the modern looks as if a dugout canoe could go past at city of Portsmouth, where the Scioto joins any second. Central Ohio, lovely even today the Ohio River. North of High Banks Works along the Scioto’s banks, was likely some- lie remnants of a road, fifty miles long, bor- thing of an earthly paradise in Hopewell dered by six-foot-high embankments, that times. runs to an identical linked circle and octagon Near Mound City lie two other units of at Newark, east of Columbus. Archaeologists the park, both currently closed to visitors— suspect that the road from Chillicothe to sadly so, as they hold what was likely ancient Newark linked stops on a pilgrimage made Chillicothe’s most spectacular architecture. by visitors to central Ohio in Hopewell times. In both cases, the units have been closed for These two sites may’ve been linked to a third archaeological excavation and restoration of major site at Portsmouth. sites badly degraded by modern agriculture Now, let’s get back to sites that we can and industry. visit. Southwest of Chillicothe, Hopewell Straight across the Scioto from Mound Mound Group lies within a double enclosure City lies Hopeton Earthworks, a fused circle north of Paint Creek, a tributary of the and square enclosing sev- Scioto. The site was once eral acres. According to the farm of Mordecai surveys conducted by Cloud Hopewell, who William F. Romain, the gave his name to a culture earthworks were laid out that had occupied his land. with a unit measure of The group once featured 1053 feet, and the square Ohio’s largest mound, is aligned with sunset at Mound 25, which was actu- the winter solstice. This ally composed of three unit, as well as alignments mounds fused in a line to with astronomically signif- form a structure 33 feet icant events, is a regular high and 500 feet long. feature of Hopewell architecture. As there Sadly, none of this is visible today, as I were generally no long-term settlements by learned to my disappointment when Helen monumental earthworks, one assumes that and I visited the group. The archaeologists they were used for major gatherings at recur- who dug the mound, as well as the other rences of astronomical events that they mounds on the site, made impressive discov- marked. eries, but did not restore the land to its origi- A couple of miles south of Chillicothe, nal contours. Today, one must imagine what on the Scioto's eastern bank, lies High Banks stood there once. One can still see the walls Works, likely in Hopewell times the center of of the enclosures, heavily overgrown with ceremonial activity at Chillicothe. The cen- shrubs. I must confess that, when I visited the tral structure at High Banks Works is a large site, in the summer of 2010, I was too archae- circle linked to an octagon with eight open- ologically naïve to know what I was seeing. ings, each “guarded” by what some archaeolo- On a second trip there, I may notice far more gists call a sentinel mound just inside the than I did on the first. entrance. Just outside the octagon, archaeolo- No imagination is needed at Seip Earth- gists have found postholes for a smaller, but works, several miles farther southwest of still impressive wooden structure that mir- Hopewell Mound Group on a terrace above a rored the earthen circle and octagon. wide southerly bend in Paint Creek. Here, a A path bordered by earthen embank complex earthwork consisting of a circle and 13 a square fused to a large irregular circle es, not only to see old things, but to learn encloses 121 acres. On these, one can find how they were used. The purpose of monu- postmolds where several large wooden struc- mental Hopewell earthworks, we can’t say tures stood. Dominating these and the sur- with certainty, as the Hopewell left no writ- rounding landscape is Seip-Pricer Mound, ten records of their life, and oral legends of the largest remaining Hopewell mound. this likely vanished in the plague that ended Oblong, it’s 33 feet high by 160 feet across mound-building cultures in America after by 240 feet long. It hardly lessens one’s first contact of Europeans with Native Ameri- appreciation of the mound to learn that it’s a cans. The archaeological record of the site, reconstruction. Seip- however, gives us a Pricer’s complete exca- good notion of what vation revealed it as went on there. the site of burial of One finding that over 100 persons, each tells us what may’ve with lavish grave gone on is that the goods including a Hopewell, for their cache of some fifteen place and time, were hundred freshwater wealthy and had a pearls. sophisticated artistic As the mound is a tradition. Central Ohio reconstruction, one was the focus of a far- may climb it. From its flung trade network summit, I got an insight into what I suspect that brought valuable raw materials and fin- was its use. In origin, Seip-Pricer was a funer- ished goods from as far away as the Great ary mound, but, likely, something as impos- Lakes, Yellowstone Caldera, and the Gulf ing at it is meant far more to the Hopewell Coast. In this network, far more came into than a grave marker. Archaeologists suspect Ohio than left it, as if outlying cultures were that, at turns of seasons and at full moons, bringing tribute—or offerings—to the Hope- some mounds were gathering places where well. Flint, obsidian, copper, mica, galena, the Hopewell held feasts, told tales, conduct- and seashells mingled far from home to cre- ed trade, and contracted marriages. Seip- ate works that impress viewers even today. Pricer, at least in my imagination, would We can say that the Hopewell did not have been perfect also for outdoor theater. Its exact tribute by warfare, as archaeologists summit, flank, and base could’ve represented find scant evidence of violence in bodies or the Upper World, the Middle World, and the buildings from Hopewell times. Archaeolo- Lower World as teams of actors, dressed in gists find clear forensic evidence of orga- brightly dyed textiles and sporting ornaments nized violence before Hopewell times, and of bone, shell, pearl, copper, and mica reen- even more evidence afterwards, but the acted the lives of the important men buried Hopewell times apparently comprised seven beneath them. The wooden structures, then, hundred years of peace. The Hopewell were could’ve been “motels” for an audience that experts in making and using spear and atlatl, had traveled from afar by canoe along Paint but apparently used them only for hunting. Creek to see the spectacle. The Hopewell were in any event never At times, we can only speculate about numerous enough for conquest, as they the Hopewell because the archaeological formed only a dispersed population living in record doesn’t give us all of the certainties open hamlets. The people that built the monu- that we want. At any historical site, one wish mental earthworks was largely a hunter-gath- 14 erer culture that supplemented game, nuts, These formed a defense against continual and berries with a modest amount of grain warfare that would characterize the Late grown in small plots by Hopewell dwellings. Woodlands and Fort Ancient cultures. The grain consisted of sunflower seeds and Archaeologists at first thought that invaders seeds of several plants now deemed bringing in the bow and arrow and maize- weeds—maize, as corn is known among a- based agriculture had displaced the gronomists, did not form a significant part of Hopewell, but fine-scale stratigraphy shows the Hopewell diet. When one considers the that these innovations appeared only two hun- scale of Hopewell earthworks and the scarci- dred years after the exchange’s end. Archaeol- ty of persons to build and maintain them, one ogists speculate about overpopulation, cli- must suspect that, after meeting their needs mate change, or widespread religious disillu- for food, clothing, and shelter, the Hopewell sionment, but none of these potential causes were almost continuously busy with their cer- has so far been proved. emonial sites. We may never know what happened to The ceremonies may well have involved the Hopewell unless a time-traveler witnesses an ancient form of religion. Although archae- their culture’s fall. Thereby hangs a tale . . . ologists find no evidence of warfare in the Hopewell Exchange, they do find evidence Recommended Reading: To learn more of the of large-scale shamanism. Besides effigy Hopewell (and of their predecessors, the Ade- pipes, one finds other evidence of a belief- na, and of their successors, the Fort Ancient), system ancestral to the modern Native Ameri- you may enjoy Ohio Archaeology, an Illus- can vision-quest—carvings of men dressed as trated Chronicle of Ohio’s Ancient American wolves, bears, deer, or birds of prey, as well Indian Cultures, Bradley T. Lepper (Orange as structures that might well have been sweat Frazier Press, 2005); Mysteries of the Hope- lodges. One model that, though controversial, well, Astronomers, Geometers, and Magi- fits all of the known data is that the Hopewell cians of the Eastern Woodlands, William F. lands were governed by a shamanistic theoc- Romain (The University of Akron Press, racy that organized the construction of the 2000); and Indian Mounds of the Middle monumental earthworks as centers of pilgrim- Ohio Valley, Susan L. Woodward and Jerry age for much of Native American North N. McDonald (The McDonald and Wood- America. For seven hundred years, this theoc- ward Publishing Company, 2001). racy motivated a small, dispersed population to use much of its free time in raising hun- dreds of earthworks, each of which took per- haps generations to be built. (For an analogy to the proposed Hope- well theocracy, one can look at Western Europe during the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church motivated the con- struction of monumental Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals.) What ended the Hopewell Exchange? Archaeologists can say only in general that, about 500 C. E., the exchange broke down, and monumental mound-building ceased, as a population that had lived in small, open hamlets moved into large, stockaded villages. 15 Indianaania: Where I Go For My Stargazing

Where I go for my stargaz- Matt Howard Balloon Race in 1909 ing is the Goethe Link Observa- And he was famous in tory. The telescope itself is an astronomy circles for his ama- almost exact miniature of the 200-inch Hale teur work in that field. In fact his portrait Telescope at Mount Palomar, which for just appeared on a 30's edition of The Sky. The shy of three decades was the largest telescope Sky combined with The Telescope magazine in the world. The only odd fact about all this in 1941 to become Sky And Telescope, is that Goethe Link was built ten years which is America's premier amateur astrono- BEFORE Hale. my magazine Not that you (that's the one you would freely use come across in the word “minia- any public ture” if you saw library's magazine the scope. It's mas- section and flip sive. Its plinth through looking at alone is two tons the pretty pic- of concrete, which tures). is needed to keep The short sto- the telescope in place. Its mirror is three feet ry is that in the Thirties when the Hale Tele- wide. That's as large as some tractors’ rear- scope was on the drawing-board, Link wrote wheels and when it needed re-silvering it to Professor Hubble asking for a copy of the took five of us to slowly and gingerly maneu- plans of the giant Newtonian Reflector to use ver the beast out of it’s holding and down the as the basis for a smaller version and immedi- slim curved staircase that hugs the rotunda's ately started building it, completing the work wall. in 1939. And it is only an “almost” exact minia- The full-scale version wasn't so lucky. ture because being a mere three feet in diame- The first mirror cracked while cooling. It was ter there's no control cabin housed in the busi- made by Corning (that's the company whose ness end of the 'scope. Which would other- kitchenware you wash up after your wife has wise need a midget astronomer or an India- cooked your meal. You do help with the rubber astronomer to fit into it and both of washing up, don’t you?). They also built the those are hard to come by. mirror for Link's telescope too. In fact that To appreciate the telescope and its early was the Corning honeycomb test pouring for arrival before its larger 500 Ton twin, you the 200-inch telescope. have to know something of the man responsi- The second 200 inch pouring did not ble for it, Doctor Goethe Link break, instead World War II broke out and Dr. Link was a famous, innovative sur- the mirror was buried by Corning at New geon specializing in the treatment of Goitre York in case the city was shelled or bombed. and Thyroid problems and a founder of the Remember New York was blacked-out dur- Indiana University Medical School. He was ing the war if only to stop shipping being sil- also an early aeronaut, winning the National houetted against a lit city skyline making the 16 ships easy targets for U-boats. only piece immodesty that the When the war was over the birds did not I.A.S. can be accused of. Not that an begin to sing because the birds had flown. Astronomy society with a 36“ mirror tele- Corning found that the scientists and engi- scope at its command has any need to be mod- neers that had worked on the large mirror had est. But as one of the society's past presidents joined the armed forces and then gone on to said, “being president of this society was the better things (and in some cases, a better easiest job in the world. Everybody is so place). So the telescope was further delayed pleasant.” while a work force was gathered and trained. And it could be theorized that Dr. Link Finally, in 1949 the Hale Telescope at learned something very pleasant and special Mount Palomar began operations under the from his time as a thyroid doctor because he supervision of Professor Edwin Powell Hub- was born when Rutherford B. Hayes was ble (who the Hubble Space Telescope is President and died when a second-rate movie- named after). By that time, George Ellery matinee idol ascended to that position. Or to Hale (who was responsible for the idea and put it more succinctly, Link lived just two building of the observatory) was ten years months shy of 102 years. dead. And in the previous year (1948) Doctor Link had donated his smaller version to the Indiana University. Another casualty of World War II was the “loss” of several asteroids due to lack of regular observations. This sounded like a job for the Link Observatory. Not only did it rediscover the vagrant asteroids it also discov- ered a fair number of previously unknown ones. These minor planets are now known as the Link Asteroids, which includes number 1728 in your Asteroid Spotters Pocketbook. Number 1728 is named Goethe Link. In 1964 the Newtonian optics were con- verted to an f/10 Cassegrain system. To avoid perforating the honeycomb primary mirror the focus is diverted to any one of three Nasmyth foci by a folding flat above the primary mirror. This has the advantage of allowing several instruments to remain simul- taneously mounted on the telescope. But light pollution was already degrad- ing observations so Indiana University upped and built a new facility in the Morgan-Mon- roe State Forest and modesty named it as the Morgan-Monroe Station of the Goethe Link Observatories. Although I.U. still owns the original Goethe Link Observatory it is jointly run with the Indiana Astronomical Society. Hav- ing “Astronomical” in its name is about the 17 Ocean’s Seven Sheryl Birkhead

The small rescue group I “work” with just a note that the shelter was naming them (well I am the volunteer medical co-ordina- Wind and Wave. I later found out the kittens tor, which means I am in charge but no one had gone into the county’s foster home sys- has to listen to me) has both a cat side and a tem—and seem to be swallowed up. dog side. While I do not tell the volunteers So, on Sunday, I scheduled in a long what animals to accept into the program, I do time slot to meet the new foster and create try to make my feelings known. Neither out records and examine Ocean (the give-up group is known for its communication skills. sheet said her original name was KiKi). I I often hear, quite a while after the fact, that a called the veterinarian named on the give-up new dog or cat has entered the books. Many sheet and surprise surprise: they had no such times I just scratch my head and wonder why. cat in their patient database. Fine, this is usu- The group is no-kill and will go to great ally the way it goes. length$ to maintain the animals they accept, The new foster and her significant other but some times I have to wonder, What were showed up on time (always a good sign) and they thinking? was happy to get Ocean out of the carrier. Last week I was told a new volunteer fos- That answered my first question about what ter had pulled a cat from the county shelter name they had settled on. They said they had the previous week. I managed to get the medi- tried calling KiKi but got no response and fig- cal records from out transport person. Hmm. ured Ocean actually sounded a bit more exot- This was supposed to be a year old Cali- ic. Okay. co/Tortoiseshell cat that had come into the First thing was to check out the coat col- county facility with two kittens and pregnant or (yeah, pretty obvious, I know—but is it?). again. In case anyone is interested, the give The answer was not even slightly in ques- up reason cited was TOMNY (too many ani- tion: brown tabby (well a ticked tabby, hav- mals). It is not unusual for such a young cat ing nothing to do with her state of mind) and to already have had kittens and be pregnant white. One question answered. Next thing again, but it is not the most common sce- was to get her weight. She settled right into nario. What it seemed to mean was that we my weighing basket, purring away. 10.68 were getting a relatively healthy young cat, pounds. Give up sheet says 6.8 pounds. 6.8 pounder, that was already spayed, vacci- C’mon let’s be fair. She had been with the nated, de-wormed, tested, and microchipped. foster for a week and maybe spent that whole Compared to the really old dogs and cats the time pigging out. But, wait, the records also volunteers had chosen lately, I thought this said she had been spayed and listed as preg- might be a refreshing change. This just might nant with 6 . . . Wouldn’t that counteract at be one that was ready to be adopted. least a lot of snacking? Okay, table that prob- Then I looked at the shelter records. lem for the moment and move on. What have we here? Their records said At that point I actually looked at the cat. Ocean was a brown tabby and white. Okay. I got tunnel vision. Unless I was really going Maybe someone was both color-blind and around the bend I would guess that she was just a bit plain blind. I couldn’t find the ages at least a 5-8 year old cat—not a kitten. It is (or any other information) of the two kittens, something hard to quantify, but, well . . . She 18 just looked older. The next step was to get didn’t. Ocean decided enough was enough some objective evidence of age. Okay. First and tail talk said she was going to start taking off her eye lenses showed aging changes I action if things did not change. usually associate with cats at least 7 years old We let her walk around the room as we but the kicker was when I opened her mouth. discussed the findings. Turns out they had I must preface this with the comment that I wondered if she really was a kitten. She was had no trained help and that most cats playful enough but . . . The traits listed on the “resist” having their mouths examined. Read give up sheet (such as being a lap cat and lik- that as I usually get bitten. Ocean was, as ing being carried) didn’t fit. What we have felines go, a pretty good sport about it all. here is a multiple choice cat. We now had First off she looked like she was (or not as three lists of items: the Give up information, the case may be) sporting grandma’s den- the Shelter’s information, and my exam infor- tures—all her incisiors, those tiny teeth mation. Would anybody care to guess which between the “fangs” (cats have six up top and of the three I trusted most? six below) were missing. Lightning-like It was not until I got home that I really mind—that makes it a start of 12 teeth miss- got angry with myself. The top priority was ing. Before I had processed that, I winced at the reproductive status. If this cat really was the red and swollen gum around the base of not spayed then the odds were good that she the broken upper right fang and then the was pregnant. I did not want to be responsi- swollen redness of the unbroken left ble for letting more unwanted kittens enter one—ouch—that’s gotta hurt. All her gums the world. Sigh. If only I had just shaved ... were receding. Unless she had spent most of But I assumed at least the surgical history her life pretending to be a rock-chewing was correct. But if nothing else was, then Dobie I pretty much had the evidence to why should that be? prove this was no a kitten. She obviously had I called the foster and told her the vet not been brushing. I would wager that it who had (supposedly) done the surgery (but takes quite a bit longer than a year to build no mention of the mouth problems?) was on up that (caution, scientific term ahead) call 24/7 and would be glad to see the cat amount of gunk. and, if he did not specifically remember her, Okay. Move on to the rest of the exam. to shave and look for the scar. I must be the Heart rate slightly elevated. Temperature (I only one concerned. It has now been 48 use the veterinary ear thermometer; much hours and no call back. Early Monday morn- safer for the staff!) normal. Ears. Check. ing I called the county shelter and asked. Not Nose and chin. Check. Thyroid and local too surprising, the rescue group co-ordinator lymph nodes. Check. Ribs, skin—wait a quickly launched into an explanation of cut- minute—wasn’t she just (well three weeks backs, how no one was trained, how they ago) spayed? Okay, hold on—still possi- took whatever the owner/give up said and ble—poke gently. She had the muscle tone of that is what was put on the record--including a pregnant cat and the shape of one who has sex, color, breed, age, weight. Hey—that been pregnant—often. I asked the foster to isn’t quite true. Give up says calico, shelter help me turn Ocean over on her side so I says brown tabby and white (I say brown tab- could look for the surgery site since I could by and white). Don’t quibble over facts. She not feel the healing incision (but it had been admitted that the give up sheet we had was three weeks...). Well the fur had been clipped not for the cat we had. She said it was totally but was growing back. At this point I made a possible the cat was five or seven or— Oh big strategic blunder. I should have re- yes, the kittens she came in with were 5 clipped the area and looked for the scar. I months old. Right. Backtracking. That meant 19 she would (as a one year old ) have gotten got him home. The boy got home first, and pregnant at about 2 months old. Um—highly seizing a shotgun, fired the load into his unlikely. Okay, at this point what have I father's heart. It is stated, almost incredibly, proven? A one year old cat could not have that the father, although shot and badly bleed- been the mother of five month old kittens and ing, drew a revolver and fired twice at his pregnant again—but did that have absolutely son as he ran off. The boy escaped and at last anything to do with this (i.e. Ocean) cat? accounts had not been seen in the neighbor- Nope. My head hurts. hood, and no one has pursued him. Great. I still have no idea of the history of the cat. I cannot trust any records I have On Saturday last, at New Market in this been handed and, well, if I don’t get a chance county, a young man, George Norris, raised a to see her again, if we wait two months, we’ll difficulty with another young man, Bud Pow- know for sure if she has been spayed. Who’s ers, and the town marshal, William Mullins on first? I don’t know . . .. tried to arrest him. Norris drew his knife and You may have guessed by now that I do resisted arrest. Mullins struck Norris with his not actually know the ending of this story stick: and a young man, William Fuqua, yet. Ocean will be “visiting” a board certified threw a stone at Mullins, striking him on the veterinary dentist and a local clinic will be head and knocking him senseless. doing the pre-anesthesia bloodwork. I have Attempts were made by other citizens to already asked them to (can you guess?) arrest Norris and Fuqua, but they drew their check for a spay scar and guestimate her age. guns and the citizens being unarmed, they I figure that, with a second opinion, I can made their escape. Parties have been out hunt- average out an age, but I really can’t do ing them, but to no avail, and it is supposed much about kittens or no kittens. Just have to they have left the country. Our informant wait and see—and so will you. says that new brandy made at stills near New I’m just glad she’s such a sweet cat.The Market is the cause of the trouble and is caus- SPCA is not exactly ecstatic about having yet ing a good deal more of trouble in the neigh- another older cat with expensive problems. borhood. As it stands, the best possible conclusion is that she has been spayed, is “only” 5 (not the Once upon a time someone said, “When 7-8 I suspect), has no bloodwork abnormali- you do a thing do it well.” Evidently burglars ties, the dentist is feeling charitable and only who last night ransacked John Cicero's store will charge $500 instead of the $800 or so I on the corner of Washington and Holmes suspect, and the foster falls in love with her Street believed in this teaching. and adopts her. Problem (whatever it turns They entered through the rear door, but out to be) solved. You’ll find out next time. were not satisfied with merely breaking the lock. They took the entire door off and set it





neatly to one side. Mr. Cicero early this morn- ing reported the loss of more than 1,000 Some News Bits from 1907 cigarettes, a batch of cigars, some boxes of candy and various other small items as well Near Huntsville on Sunday last, a boy as $6.00 which was in the cash drawer. killed his father. The facts, as told to us, are that the boy left the house of his father, And that’s enough old news for now. Let Hawk Houston, and went to the farm of Mr. the celebration begin. Or not. Wm. R. Day, and Hawk went after him, and told him he intended to whip him, when he 20 Indianaania Attempts At Utopia: Harmonie

Now this here is the first Leigh James Martin George Rapp, who of two stories of two com- believed he had the one munes that occupied the true interpretation of God's same site in the early 19th Century but not at word and having got that done then it was the same time, of course. Nowadays that time for God to turn up and the new Millenni- there site ain't nothing but a round day trip um to begin. As usual, God didn't reply to the from Tom Sadler's place, but back in the day R.S.V.P. but Rapp was so bullheaded that on it was way out in the wilderness. the day he upped and died he was quoted as One commune was an industrious bunch saying “If I did not so fully believe that the of religious nuts led by a benevolent dictator Lord has designed me to place our society who kept his cards close to his chest, that before His presence in the Land of Canaan, I way there's about diddley squat known about would consider this day my last.” them, except they made a honking load of According to those who visited Har- money. monie the folks worked like the dickens but The other was an it was a whacked-out quiet autonomous cooperative that fell place with no laughter and not flat on its kisser but it did have much yackety-yak. Sometimes men of letters and teachers so the community's band would there’s a whole heaping helping play for workers in the fields or known about them... Rapp would be there bellowing But this is hitching the cart words of compliments and before the horse, so let’s begin at encouragement through his the beginning... speaker trumpet. The first community at It should also be noted that “Harmonie,” Indiana was a Ger- Harmonie was not quite in the man religious sect that first set- middle of nowhere but you tled in Butler County, Pennsylva- could see it from there. It was nia, 1803, but had got the heck well west of Fort Vincennes on out of there come 1814 when some of their the Ohio River, and Fort Vincennes was the properties were vandalized by jealous and “final outpost of civilization” at that time [2]. irate neighbors. With German efficiency, work ethic and Harmonie certainly fitted neat as a new elbow grease, the small village grew and dress into the historian Dennis Hardy's grew and was up in the bucks with Father paradigm of a Nineteenth Century Commune Rapp holding all the purse strings. Having [1]: A Charismatic leader with supreme self- been denied a loan from the U.S. in 1806 (by confidence. A planned self built town. Pro- one vote), come 1823 they were loaning mon- ducing their own food and selling the bulk ey TO the State of Indiana and Frederick for income. Plus dress reform and moral Rapp (George's “son”) was part of the Consti- reform (sexual reform, as it were, they each tutional Convention that framed Indiana's had to keep their pride in their pocket). first constitution. Their charismatic leader was Father Whilst waiting for God, Rapp “praised 21 Mammon” by making sure the Harmonieists more modern consensus of theologians have didn't have any idle hands for the Devil to since come to the conclusion that he was employ and Harmonie was said to have probably a liar). More folks left. Frederick $2,000,000 in the kitty, and that’s in 1825 Rapp, who handled the management side dollars. died in 1834, George Rapp bought the farm Anyway you slice it, Harmonie became a thirteen years later and that was virtually the victim of its own success. Its goods had to go end of the society but with all the legal wran- by river to reach the big markets but there gling the dissolution wasn't wound up until were times when the Lord wasn’t willing and 1905, one hundred and two years after the creek didn’t rise because the waters of the Rapp's first commune started. Wabash River by Harmonie was of unreli- Any which way, back in 1825 Rapp sold able levels. Some times even the flat bottom off Harmonie to Robert Owen who renamed barges could not dock so Rapp and his follow- it New Harmony, but that’s a whole another ers headed back to Pennsylvania and rebuilt story… just sixteen miles from the boomtown of Pitts- burgh, which provided a ready market for the Rappites' goods. That there is one theory. Another is that the commune's success once again irritated their poor neighbors to the point of animosi- ty. From the very beginning of the commune, they built themselves a granary that double- dipped as a fort with portholes wider on the inside then the outside. This was not so they could defend the tar out of it against those pesky Indians. It was so they could defend the tar out of it against other pesky settlers. Despite that the commune mill was ******* seized as public property by order of the Indi- Sources: ana General Assembly when the neighbors [1] Alternative Communities In ineteenth complained about being overcharged for Century England by Dennis Hardy Pub: stores and grinding. Longman 1979 And by dang, if there ain't a third theory [2] The ew Harmony Story by Don Blair that a decease outbreak had them high-tailing Pub: New Harmony Publications Committee out of Dodge. 1959 And there's the rub... writing about the Also see: The Angel And The Serpent by Harmonie years is like writing about the dark William E. Wilson Pub: Indiana University ages. The only documents they left behind Press 1964 were one hymnal, one diatribe of faith and business letters. Once back home in Pennsylvania a con- stitution was drawn up and in not so many words it anointed George Rapp as dictator. Giving a name to what was already known was just too much for some folks so some folks left. Then Count Leon showed up. He claimed to be the second coming of Jesus (a 22 From the Electronic Void

From: ed Brooks and why I have no idea. I agree–no matter what started the Trian- May 27, 2011 gle Shirtwaist Factory fire, it was the lack of escape routes and fire extinguishers that Hi Tom - caused the disaster. Any such factory would have a fire sooner or later from an electrical Thanks for the spectacular zine! Funny short or an over heated bearing or a cigarette covers. I never heard of “Hazel Green”, but I butt, but it need not have been lethal. I was have heard of Opelika. I worked with a man just reading an account of a cloth mill in from Opelika at NASA, and one of the South Carolina in the 30s; gruesome enough, founders of the Southern Fandom Press but they did keep the flammable debris swept Alliance, Billy Joe Plott, was from there. up and sprayed water to suppress the cotton The Routt story would dust. Where I worked, a make a good horror movie; steel-reinforced brick and you’re bound to have trou- stucco building only two ble if you build on an Indi- stories and with five exits, an mound! they went overboard in the I hope the Hunts- ville other direction and built newspaper archives sur- two fire-escape stairwells! vived the recent tornadoes. There was nothing Fans who lived there had flammable in the place to evacuate, though they except the paper in file cab- are back now. inets and bookcases and I did mean PVC of course - Poly-Vinyl desk drawers. In the 29 years I worked there, Chloride. This house has mostly copper– the only fire we ever had was in the original which is fortunate as they used it to ground desk-size Xerox copier; the copy paper the electrical system. Some building codes would sometimes burn to an ash in the heater call for half-inch copper rod driven 6 feet that fused the image. We kept a little vacuum into the ground, but Georgia is said to have cleaner by the machine to vacuum out the no building code. And driving a rod through ash. the red clay and granite here would be labori- ous. Where I lived in Virginia was basically Best, Ned a tidal swamp and much softer. But I must have just as good a ground with the 50 feet of [[Hazel Green is one of those small towns copper pipe between the basement wall and few people have heard about–until some the meter. I found that the jumper to the unusual event brings it to the public’s atten- breaker box was loose and fixed it. tion. Opelika, on the other hand, is much Bells are as good a thing to collect as larger and so more prone to being the scene any. I see glass bells fairly often at the thrift of noteworthy events. Rather interesting, store. I have only one bell here, hanging from that; two extremes almost, one at the north a rafter in the basement. It’s hammered raw end of Us 431, the other at the south copper with a wooden clapper and very reso- end.//Good point about the Indian mound. nant; it will continue to sound for over 10 sec- There does often seem to be some sort of onds. Very crude and rough. Who made it curse or whatever placed on such places and 23 which people ignore to their peril.//As far as From: Joseph T. Major I know, Huntsville seems to have escaped the worst of the tornadoes. I can’t say the same 1409 Christy Avenue for the city of Cullman in Cullman County, Louisville, KY 40204-2040 about an hour’s drive south of Huntsville. I May 27, 2011 know a housing subdivision north of Hunts- ville, Carter’s Gin, suffered extensive dam- Dear Tom: age according to what I saw online. My aunt, who lives near tiny Toney, Alabama was Cover: “Les Aventures de Nitnit” — affected. She lost three or four trees in front does this mean what when he grows up he of her house along Beaver Dam Road and will be known as “Poupou”? Les kudos to had a small bit of damage to her house but Erichsen for a brilliant takeoff. nothing serious. Her next door neighbors Introduction: Or at least the Stiles illo, weren’t so fortunate. Part of the roof of their which shows what happened when Ginny house was torn off–this while my aunt hap- married Harry. Or something like that. pened to be visiting them–and the rest fell in The Old Kit Bag: But do any of them just after they had exited the house. The have talking squids in space? Sabella can neighbors had to move to a rental house in point out how diverse the employment of lit- the interim.// I was sure you meant polyvinyl erary elements in SF is until the cows come chloride, as that seems to be the most favored home (see the odd news bits appended), but replacement by do-it-yourselfers for galva- to those outside our little bubble, SF is still a nized pipe. I believe copper is the next more semi-literate mess about talking squids in frequently used material. Your red clay space and other such tripe. Has he read A sounds as bad as the brown clay and lime- Reader’s Manifesto (2002)? B. R. Meyers stone here in Kentucky. o building code! wrote there about how “literary fiction” was How could bureaucrats allow that?//It’s profoundly devoid of those elements Sabella amazing to see all the different sorts of bells finds worthwhile in SF. in spite of the basic shape of them. I’ve got Kentuckiana XIV: Which shows that cut-glass bells, copper bells, brass bells, James Abram Garfield had unexpected porcelain (I think.), a couple of iron or steel depths. The circumstances of his shooting are ones and bells shaped like angels, Santa not without their peculiarities. He was taking Claus, a fish, a dog, a snowman, an old-fash- an ordinary train to give a speech at Williams ioned pitcher, a Coleman lantern, and even a College. He didn’t have an entourage; he little brown jug complete with a cork stopper. went to the station with the Secretary of And of course bells shaped like bells. Some State, and the Secretary of War was there to are cheap. Others not cheap but not expen- see him off. sive either. I acquired whatever struck my The Secretary of War was Robert Todd fancy and was reasonably affordable.//Re- Lincoln. garding fire prevention–it seems to run to Anyone Want to Needle Their Health extremes. Either little or none or far more Insurance?: I have a lot of health problems than is reasonable and necessary. The file (the skin cancer operation being the latest) cabinets you mentioned might have provided but my insurance company has been pro- some protection, provided they weren’t wood- foundly cooperative. The dental insurance en ones. Probably three or four large fire ex- company, now (I have just had to pay $$ tinguishers in strategic places might have forthe replacement of a crown in one of been adequate.]] Lisa’s teeth) . . . From the Readers: John Purcell (1): Kill 24 Devil Hill is a sand dune. Those things move research easily enough. Just as and Zombies books are proliferating. For worked on the place to build the memorial, example, Alice in Zombieland, which is not a back in the thirties, they relocated the dune sick joke of my making. Others, yes, but not as best as Orville Wright and the guys could mine. recall and covered it with some very prickly Ray Nelson: John Wayne was awarded ground cover to keep it from migrating . the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a rather Henry Welch: I had no choice about visit- different award, and of more varied distribu- ing the doctor to tell me I had a dozen or so tion. It’s even been given to one SF writ- serious health problems and then er—Robert Conquest. provide me with expensive pre- Tom Doubrley: After read- scription medications. The stom- ing about the guy in Arizona ach cramps were agonizing. And who got shot sixty times by the then, more recently, there was SWAT squad which was raiding that place on my nose that his house in error, I think you wouldn’t heal. should count yourself lucky. Ned Brooks: The plumber Chris Garcia: (What, not replaced the PVC pipe with cop- ChrIs GarCia?) Vonnegut didn’t per after the freeze and rupture. It want to be associated with talk- was cheaper than keeping up the ing squids in space. He’d rather cellar swimming pool. I’ve heard be associated with David Irving. about acid corroding copper Al Byrd: I recall, and I’m pipes, usually from college girls sure our Editor does as well, the trying to keep fashionably thin. Civil War Centennial. It started out well, as I Eric Mayer: It’s somewhat ironic to note remember, but then just sort of dropped from that the presentation of Frankenstein’s Mon- public notice. It hadn’t been that long ago ster that is the most true to the original is the that the last Civil War veteran had died. one done by Fred Gwynne. He spoke fluent- John Purcell (2): Degenerative photo- ly, wittily even, desired to use his great copying—once I had a manuscript from a rel- strength in productive fashion, but was ative about finding the rest of the family in shunned because he looked “different”. (The Hopkinsville (she was from the part out show could use the trademarked flat head, West, descended from the relative who had neck electrodes, and green skin look because been cut out of his father’s will after having they had the rights from Universal, which sold a slave and horse and kept the money had done that for their movies with Karloff.) for himself, and who was lynched in St. Reply to me: The furnace problem seems Louis for shouting “Hurrah for Jeff Davis!”). to be more high-stress uses. It was a thermal copy and faded to where it Bob Sabella: There is a debate going on was almost unreadable. over the relative position of podcasters on the By running it through the copier, set at fanzine list. One podcaster looked over the maximum darkness, and then repeating with Hugo Nomination list and announced that he that copy, I managed to get a readable copy hadn’t ever seen anything on the list except which I then transcribed. One tinkers with StarShipSofa. Doesn’t even look at efan- the output until the desired result is achieved. zines.com? Namarie, Gene Stewart: Alas, , Detective novels are always common, Joseph T Major because it’s possible to do the character 25 [[I’m sure Kurt thanks you for your approba- printed on paper amateur publications? It’s tion.//Aw gee . . . Your only comment remote- just too much trouble, apparently. Also appar- ly related to the Intro was about Steve Stiles’ ently some people can’t tell the difference fillo. And, strictly speaking, it didn’t have between a printed fanzine and a podcast. If anything to do with the Intro. I guess I the person you mentioned had tried visiting should have left a big blank spot there.//I’m eFanzines.com he might–just might–grasp still trying to figure out how someone came the difference. Maybe. I’d better shut up now. up with the idea that SF was about talking //Um . . . I’m the one who commented on squids (or any other sea based life) in space. detective novels featuring real historical peo- It could be due more to a gross lack of real ple like Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, et al. familiarity with the genre and/or the refusal I’m not surprised someone would come up even to attempt to become familiar. Some peo- with something like Alice in Zombieland. ple get a preconceived notion into their Apparently it’s too much trouble for those heads and never try to dislodge it. Then too writers to create a new and wholly original some people would rather remain in blissful character, whether a detective or some other ignorance of the nature of such odd things as type of protagonist. It’s almost, or perhaps in SF.//I think there have been mentions of a way, like fanfiction in written SF and cer- Robert Todd Lincoln’s misfortune in having tain TV and movie series.//What amazes me been haunted by the assassinations to two about your example of the man in Arizona is presidents.//I don’t know about John but I that the SWAT team fired off 60 shots. At one was being facetious in my comments about man. Were they extremely poor shots? Didn’t Kill Devil Hill. So any deviation in the hill’s they know when to stop? Did they think they location could be attributed to faulty memory were in some TV crime/cop series? Were they on the part of Orville, et al.?//There are situa- just trigger happy? Hell, I doubt that the tions in which copper would be more suitable team which took out bin Laden needed any- than pvc, though the latter is much easier to where near that many shots. Getting into the work with; no soldering needed. A person compound and up to where he was, maybe. just needs to be careful not to get the pvc But not against one man and one woman. I cement all over him/herself. Yeah. Stomach also wonder if there was any disciplinary acid can be pretty corrosive. Just have an action taken.//Your comments to Chris Gar- attack of acid reflux and see how that feels. cia. That’s pretty much what I said (I think.), And like so many other things, copper though I didn’t mention the obligatory doesn’t last forever.//It’s curious how the squids. Vonnegut tried to distance himself filmmakers decided Frankenstein’s monster from SF even though he did actually write should have a flat head and electrodes pro- some//Yes, there was a certain amount of truding from each side of its neck. But you’re attention paid to the Civil War Sesquicenten- correct that in the novel Frankenstein’s cre- nial at the beginning but hardly anything ation spoke pretty much normally and intelli- now. I’m thankful I subscribe to Civil War gently. I don’t remember about the witty Times and America’s Civil War because they part. It has been a while since I read the are spotlighting the fact. But on the other book.//It’s not surprising that eventually hand there are people who have little or not someone would come along who was appar- interest in something which happened so very- ently completely ignorant of the history, long ago (to them) and well before their nature, and focus of the Hugos in general entry into the world. Who cares about all and the fanzine category in particular. Why that old stuff? Even though the Civil War and bother with familiarizing one’s self with the the American Revolution had profound af- fact that the fanzine Hugos were intended for fects on subsequent generations and the 26 nature of our nation. To each his/her own to interesting but aggravating questions. An and I certainly don’t expect others to be inter- extreme case might be the popularity of the ested in all the same things I am.//Thermal “Left Behind” novels, which tell tales set in a copying may have seemed like a good idea at universe in which the fundamentalist reli- the time but I’m sure seems less so these gious belief of the swiftly coming End Times days.]] (May 21, 2011, the most recent such predic- tion, came and went without incident) featur- ing the Rapture is a reality. A digression ALEXIS GILLILAD here, Rapture fandom–even fundamentalists 4030 8th Street South, Arlington, VA 22204 like to be entertained, is bigger than we are, and the “Left Behind” books are a profitable May 28, 2011 franchise, selling in the tens of millions, to Dear Tom, encourage ever more sequels to the World's end. The idea of the Rap- Thank you for TRF ture is distilled from the #81, with the classy (and Book of Revelations, no doubt expensive) front which was originally a and back covers by Kurt fever dream of the impend- Erichsen and Brad Foster ing destruction of the respectively. Good stuff, Roman Empire, the evil the former being witty and oppressor of the nation of funny, while the latter was Israel. In one sense Revela- most elegantly drawn. tions offers a happy ending In “The Old Kit Bag” Bob Sabella muses to history, and for that reason it continues to on the ideal science fiction story, which must seize the imagination in every age, so that surely vary with the age and inclination of Revelation fans study the bible (which trans- the individual reader. Thus, the young reader lation?) for hidden clues to the day and hour might be seeking an explanation of the when God will reward the just and punish the world, or maybe just a useful insight on the wicked. As an unbeliever, I would call Reve- opposite sex, and would read voraciously in lations a prediction whose shelf life has long lieu of having unavailable first hand experi- since expired, but it talks to every age, and ence. Between 11 and 13 I read and reread the fantasy of the Rapture that it inspired, Rudyard Kipling for those reasons, until in will persist and continue into the future. May 1945 I discovered science fiction with In “Rat Stew” Gene Stewart has a some- Murray Leinster's “First Contact.” (My father what different take on science fiction as bought that issue of Astounding for the arti- opposed to competing genres, which he cle it had on the V-2 rocket.) When the atom doesn't really define except maybe as what bomb was dropped in August 1945 I imag- might be called literary fiction. If we consid- ined that reading science fiction had prepared er the Gaussian distribution curve as repre- me for the atomic age. Sigh. Wiser is not nec- senting what people will read, literary fiction essarily happier. Older readers might prefer is targeted at the extreme high quality end of an entertainment that panders to the beliefs the curve and consequently has a very small they have embraced, old, familiar tropes with potential audience—the tiny area under the the virtues of fine writing and characteriza- tail. Which means that it faces genre extinc- tion, and often reread a lot of their old tion, unlike more lowbrow stuff, including favorites. Generally, this might be considered sci-fi, which panders to a larger audience. as preferring the comfort of having answers Gene mentions Sherlock Holmes and by 27 extension the detective genre. There is a and unlimited. To which I replied that I had Holmes fandom, of course, but there are any worked for eleven years in the Thermochem- number of writers who have produced enter- istry Section of the National Bureau of Stan- taining fiction that sells well and is also grace- dards, and that the heats of formation of fully written. Given that Sturgeon's Law says every chemical bond were now known and that go percent of everything is crud, it is had been published, so at least that one part appropriate to pan for gold in the remaining of the scientific garden was finished and com- lo percent, where, if the sample is large plete. My point was that at least some sci- enough—like every detective story ever writ- ence—that closest to human experience, was ten, we will find ourselves a canonical sam- finite and understood. ple of excellent writing done in the service of What else? Sunday we saw “Kung Fu a good story. Panda 2” which was excellent. The sequel Which segues to canonical science fic- was bit darker, a bit more melodramatic than tion, and my admission that I haven't kept up the original, but it was well written and with the field. Part of this is the field's fault, throws in a hint of a third sequel. A sheet of since so many new books are published each cartoons is enclosed for your contemplation year that it is impossible to read them all. and possible use. Part of this is my fault for lacking the interest Best wishes, and energy to read more than I do. I recently read (and in parts reread) Roger Zelazny's “The Complete Book of Amber” which is a [[I thought it worthwhile to have the covers page turner, but perhaps less than the sum of done on a glossy cover stock. They deserved all its parts. Should I have spent that time and it. Kurt and Brad certainly have distinctive effort reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's and different styles and approaches.//I sus- “The Mists Of Avalon” which has sat unread pect you’re correct about the ideal SF story on my shelf for years? Or the latest novel varying with the age and inclination of the from China Mieville which I haven't even individual reader. As one ages he or she ac- bought yet? quires new experiences and (it is hoped!) To some extent the future seen from knowledge which should change and shape 1945 is different from the future seen from his or her attitudes, tastes, interests. People today, in part because science has moved the change. One hopes they change for the better boundary line between science fiction and but often there’s little or no change in some fantasy towards fantasy, and in part because people or it’s for the worst. Yes. Wiser is not we are half a century deeper in the future. necessarily happier nor does everyone be- Arthur C. Clarke famously imagined the geo- come wiser with age. Don’t we all look for stationary communications satellite, complete the familiar and comfortable? I’ve heard of with switchboard operators. The reality was the Left Behind series but never had any incli- far more robotic. As we learn more about nation to read them. I don’t doubt that the space, the less likely it appears that Buck- Rapture fandom is bigger by far than SF fan- Rogers, Flash Gordon, Captain Future & Co. dom. Religious fiction in any form is a large are going to have any sort of non-virtual exis- market. By now most people should be aware tence. Indeed, the family of futures embrac- that the man who predicted the End Time for ing what science predicts, all seem to be dis- May 21, 2011 later claimed his calculations tinctly on the unheroic and anti-romantic were off by a little bit. According to him it side. At a convention I once was on a panel will actually occur in October, 2011 (about with the late Charles Sheffield, where he the same date, I think). So much for predict- argued that science was essentially infinite ing such things. He’s not alone in predicting 28 the end of the world and then being wrong. or not. My favorite of his cartoons in this The Bible in general and the Book of Revela- issue is the one on page 53. tions in particular are subject to a variety of Bob Jennings indeed writes a long letter; interpretations based on who’s doing the three and a half pages of my June letter col- interpreting.//Thankfully SF usually isn’t con- umn is taken up by his letter; he belongs to sidered “literary” (more like trash by some) the old school of commenting on a fanzine and, to some people/critics, far from it and apparently, and likes being an active fan. His beneath their consideration. And much too letter in your lettercol was interesting read- “low brow” as you note There is indeed a ing. Holmes fandom and a fair number of writers Dave Rowe's comment on Google, I sug- offering their additions and interpretations to gest everyone try googling “breasts, images” the Holmes canon. Are they any good or any and see what they get. I don’t suggest, improvement over Doyle’s though, that they then click original creations? I have no for further images. idea. I’ve not been tempted to On copiers, HP has the read them.]] monopoly around here; I think that would get you simi- From: John Thiel lar results.

Thomas: John Thiel

It was a pleasure to look [[I’m not familiar with Zap at your front and back covers on issue 81. Comics, so I’ll take your word for They had exactly the effect upon me of cheer- it.//Unfortunately Kitt Peak wasn’t named ing up the aspect of mundanity fandom after Kitt Carson. I know. I checked online. A seems presently to wear. Other than that, I’m surveyor by the name of George K. Roskruge not very fond of the Zap Comics-like quali- named it after his sister (I don’t think her ties of the covers, as I never did care for the name was Kitty or something like that.), who Zap approach, but that's putting those effects had married a man named William F. Kitt. It (as I see them) to very good use. was originally spelled “Kit’s” until the Kitt Kitt Peak would seem to be named after family agitated to get it corrected.//All I can Kitt Carson, I can’t believe it would be other- say is Bob Jen-nings goes into great detail in wise. his locs and is very enthusiastic about it. The Noting Alexis Gilliland's comments, yes, one in this issue is yet another example. He’s I saw the Grim Reaper cartoon in the sameis- certainly more dedicated than most loccers. sue and I thought, “It must have been some- Between his fanzine Fadeaway and his locs thing like ‘coming right up’” or “service with he certainly has a lot to say. I, for one, a smile”, though I did note also that Alexis wouldn’t even attempt trying to equal him.// had done a grim reaper cartoon for Alexiad That’s one of the hazards of doing an online in August 2008; just a coincidence that there search with any search engine. Even the was something on hand again at that time. seemingly most innocuous word one enters He's got the reaper in a cartoon in the April can produce some unexpected, disturbing, 2011 Alexiad too. And I think he portrays and unwanted results. As I once found out this figure well. It adds much to the humor inadvertently a few years back, much to my of his cartoons to see this recognizable disgust. And I had a heck of a time ferreting archetype among them. So, thanking him for out and removing all the nasty bits deposited fulfilling my wishes, whether coincidentally all over the hard drive.//Fortunately 29 although HP has a large presence in the mar- sure looks as tho the regular and periodic ketplace there are other companies from death rate of her many grooms had a helping which to purchase whatever printer, copier hand involved, very likely hers. or all-in-one a person needs or wants. More interesting to me, but also sadder, Whether or not they have the same problems is the fact that the house and property was as HP of running out of ink without notice is allowed to decay and fall into ruins thru the another matter.]] years. Clearly the widow Routt put a lot of time and money into making the house and 29 May 2011 property a showcase before she was shamed out of the region, and it is sort of disappoint- From: Bob Jennings ing that few of the owners since then both- ered to maintain the residence. Hi Tom; I suppose history is filled with these types of incidents. They merely illustrate the Received my copy of Reluctant Famulus foibles and failures of the human animal. The #81 yesterday, and sat down immediately to times may change, but the behavior of the read it. human animal really does not. I was really impressed by your full color Bob Sebella’s [sic](Sabella) column this front cover, on gloss card stock yet. The time was something of a letdown. Yes, there scene is very funny, a great satire on the are many types of stories, and many types of TinTin stories. The art is a dead-on imitation science fiction venues, and also many differ- Herge’s style. I thot a chance for an extra ent kinds of writers to explore all of that. I chuckle was missed with the top line which have no objection to somebody listing their could have been rendered “Les Adventures favorite stories and why they fit into this type De NitWit”, but that’s just me. or the other, but I was hoping for more detail The full color back cover was excellent on why those specific titles happened to too, but it was far overshadowed by the front strike his fancy. cover masterpiece. Gad, color on both cov- Gene Stewart’s column was more invit- ers! Color ain’t cheap by any means. Did you ing that last time. Actually, most readers of hit the lottery recently or something? non-mainstream novels do indeed need some I found the issue to be interesting read- perception early on that the story they are ing, but unfortunately I don’t find as many- reading will fit the genre type they are inter- comment hooks this time round as last. Your ested in. In order to make sure there is no con- write-up of the possible Alabama black-wid- fusion in the minds of readers (or retailers), ow husband murderer Elizabeth Routt was paperback books especially, slap a cover on one of those. The coverage was well present- the book that will very clearly tell the ed but there isn’t a lot that can be added to prospective reader exactly what he is getting. the story of a mystery and scandal that is For example, “The Ox-Bow Incident” is a over a hundred years dead and gone. It seems grim examination of human guilt, prejudice to me that the extravagant Ms Routt may and social behavior, but it is also a western, have been both an unfortunate survivor and a and almost every edition of that book has a killer. It seems likely that several of her mar- picture of a horse and a rider in western garb riages were ended by the premature death of along with the hangman’s rope (and some- her mates. In those days many diseases and times a Winchester rifle) right on the front health conditions that we can catch today cover. went untended and sometimes unnoticed Science fiction books which do not fea- until it was too late. On the other hand, it ture rockets, futuristic machines, robots, 30 strange weap- ons and the like often resort to this tragic event, try the traditional “White surrealistic art such as the kind famously House Blues”, which has been rendered in used by Richard Powers back in the 1950s to fine style by many folk singers over the show the potential buyer that he is indeed get- years, with a memorable bluegrass version ting a science fiction book. recorded by Flatt & Scruggs. Most of those Readers who are looking for one kind of versions are easily available, and any version fiction often object, sometimes vehemently, is superior to that Johnny Cash thing. when something else gets shoved under their I dunno; “The Sorrows Of Sheryl” soap noses. In the decades from the 1960s to the opera this time round tries, in her own words, present, for example, the Maga- to discuss some uplifting and hap- zine of Fantasty and Science Fic- pier news, but it doesn’t really tion has presented a number of read that way. The first thing I stories that are clearly neither sci- would do if I were Sheryl Birk- ence fiction or fantasy, and read- head, is to get myself a different ers (including me, by the way) health insurance company. The- complained bitterly about that. If GoldenRule/United Health Care I am plunking down good money people sound like vicious, greedy for a science fiction magazine, I racketeers, determined not to want science fiction, not some- spend one penny of their money thing else. on anything while at the same Back in the 1950s John time bilking their policy holders Campbell tried to slip a few left- out of every nickel they can. over inventory stories from My health insurance compa- Unknown Worlds into Astounding, figuring ny provides free vaccinations for the Shin- SF readers wouldn’t mind an occasional fan- gles serum, and they arrange for your own tasy tale in the mix. Boy was he wrong. The medical doctor to be shipped a dose and then reaction against that was violent and loud. help arrange a visit so you can be vaccinated Campbell retreated immediately. the same day the medicine arrives. Real easy, Book editors want the writer to provide no problem, no extra expense, not even a co- the set-up right away. This is not being insult- pay for the office visit. In fact, I asked some ing to the reader; it’s assuring the reader that of my friends this morning, and all of their he is getting what he wants. health insurance companies had similar poli- Alfred Byrd’s continuing coverage of cies. All of us have had the Shingles vaccine, the obscure parts of Kentucky during the Civ- including one guy who is living in near pover- il War still does nothing for me. On the other ty and happens to be on MA State assisted hand I have to wonder what kind of tone deaf Medicaid. That’s six different plans, no prob- musical lout he might be when he endorses lems, no co-pay. the Johnny Cash song that discusses the mur- Again, if I were Miss Sheryl I would der of President Garfield. look around for another health insurance com- Uh, Johnny Cash’s tune about the death pany, someone that doesn’t use a pentagram of Garfield is almost universally recognized as a company emblem, or ask their policy as the worst song Cash was ever associated holders to sign the contracts in blood, say. with. It is crummy, musically inept, with I’m a big folk music fan and yet I must words that are forced, jammed actually into a admit I have never heard of the Show of contrived scheme to make the thing barely Hands group before reading the Eric Barra- singable. clough article this issue. I enjoyed this essay If you want a better musical coverage of a lot. The skillful blending of the duo’s musi 31 cal lyrics into his article flow was quite an able commodity. You can always go out and effective bit of writing. earn more money, but if you lose you’re It is startling, and also alarming to dis- teeth, you’re out of luck, because you only cover that nowadays in Britain the govern- get one set of adult teeth, and if you loose ment has stretched its tentacles even into the them you will surely regret down the line that area of amateur music at pubs and open you were too stupid to spend the money right venues. I can understand the club owners’ now to make the necessary repairs that could reluctance to fill out a lot of time consuming have saved those teeth. paperwork, especially if you have to do that I agree with Bob Sebbella’s every time a new group comes along and [sic](Sabella’s) letter column comments wants to play. This kind of bureaucratic —there are lots more science fiction and fan- harassment seems to already be killing off tasy stories being produced out there today, the home grown music scene in the UK. It’s more than anybody can possibly read. difficult not to believe this is a deliberate Hard core fans like you and me may attempt to stamp out amateur music. Maybe think primarily in terms of the established the government types perceive new young magazines that publish this stuff, but as a mat- singing groups of any kind as a hotbed for ter of fact the print magazines are in serious political dissent and have decided to cut the financial difficulty these days. Meanwhile plant right at the root before it can ever flow- the Internet has opened up vast venues of pub- er. Looks like they are succeeding. lishing for professional and talented amateurs I’ll have to check around and see if any to explore both science fiction and fantasy. Show of hands CDs can be obtained over But as a matter of fact you don’t even here for less than exorbitant rates. have to go that far. One of the things the sci- To you and John Purcell in the letter col- ence fiction explosion of the late 1970s and umn---get the dental work you need done. Do 80s did was to make science fiction and fanta- it right now. Don’t delay. Dental problems sy acceptable to a lot more people. So you do not miraculously heal themselves; they can now find science fiction and fantasy sto- just get worse and worse. Whether you have ries in lots of places you would not normally adequate dental insurance or not, get the expect to see it, including places as diverse as work done. Playboy Magazine and community church Here are the hard facts: you only get one magazines. It’s everywhere. The number of set of adult teeth in your life. Those teeth- new books coming out in both hardback and have to last you the rest of your life, and paperback from recognized publishers far unless you are planning on keeling over dead exceeds the ability of even an Evelyn Wood in the next few weeks, that means those teeth speed reader to consume, and that doesn’t have to last you for many more years. take into account all the small press maga- Yes, making the needed repairs can be zines, specialty, vanity, venture and short run expensive, but you know what, that’s what publishers, not to mention the pure-e-reader the hell money is for. Money is a commodity publishers. Not to belabor the point, but it’s that is there to make your life livable, to everywhere. make your life comfortable and even enjoy- Hey, I’m still using dial up for my com- able. You do not live your life so you can puter. I don’t want to watch movies over my accumulate large sums of money squirreled computer, and the computer is primarily used away in some bank. That money is there to for business. I never go to porno or game be used, and the very first place it should be sites and I have never streamed either audio used is to maintain and improve your health. or video over the machine and have no desire And by the way, money is also renew to ever do that, so dial up works just fine for 32 me. plenty of human beings out there who act The primary reliance of slave holders on like vicious jerks, but I think the general slaves of African racial types demonstrates structure of modern civilization is both the reality that it is easier to keep track of kinder and far more stable than you or many slaves with dark brown skin. White or Latino of the other letter writers picture it. I would slaves could escape and easily blend in with rather live right here and right now than in the general population, but the chocolate any other place and time. brown face in the sea of white faces is a sure Or perhaps you would prefer to be living sign that this is a member of the slave class. in medieval Europe as the armies of Genghis I recently replaced my inkjet Khan sweep thru? Or perhaps printer with a full service copier. you’d prefer to live in colonial The machine costs a lot more ini- Philadelphia during the time of tially but the unit cost per printed the yellow fever epidemic? Or pages is considerably less. In my perhaps you’d prefer to live in business (selling books thru the Kentucky during the days of the mail) this is a significant cost fac- Civil War, where, as was noted in tor. The inkjet printer always start- Al Byrd’s article, the armies of ed beeping and flashing dire warn- both the Confederacy and the ings whenever the ink ran low, but Union raided and stole livestock, as a point of pride I never changed food, supplies, weapons and any- the ink until I shot a blank page. thing else not nailed down to Then I knew for sure there was no keep themselves going so they more ink left. could slaughter each other in The new copier runs on a ton- pitched battles? Maybe you’d pre- er cartridge that lasts a long long fer the Roman Empire as small- time, but when it turns out it simply stops, pox invaded from India and decimated the meaning there is nothing left. Sometimes I entire European population. might get half a page of printing running No thanks. There are problems right now thru, but when the copier says it’s out of ton- that need to be addressed, but I like the USA er, then it truly is. in 2011 better than any other place or time I I’m actually surprised you haven’t seen can envision. any of the “I welcome our new— (alien, Interesting issue. I’m looking forward to feline, penguin, fascist, Insect etc etc) over- the next one. Thanks for running my address lords. They are everywhere around here, espe- in your letter column. As mentioned, I am cially prevalent with the post graduate groups absolutely opposed to the new trend of who are out looking for jobs and aren’t find- fanzines not running the names/addresses of ing much there. You can buy variations all their letter writers. Fans need ways to keep in over the internet. If you want to keep up on contact with each other. what’s hot in T-shirt logos and sayings you need to visit CafePress.com every now and ---Bob Jennings again. Lots of interesting designs and com- 29 Whiting Rd. ments, some quite humorous. Oxford, MA I notice a lot of editorial carping and 01540-2035 whining about how awful human beings are and how screwed up our civilization is. [[ The thing is, people of every age and civi- Yeah, really? I doubt it. Yes, there are trou- lization have complained about the condi- bles, economic, military, social, and there are tions in the country in which they live and 33 longed for the good old days—which often obsess over it, which may be wrong but I’m weren’t as good as they remember. It’s hu- not about to apologize for it.//One last thing: man nature pure and simple. But just the man who produces The Old Kit Bag is because people “. . . carp and whine . . .” Robert Sabella. I’ll assume those were two doesn’t mean that they’d rather be else- typos.//I have a reputation for not editing where. You use a variation on the old, tired, locs received in response to TRF and I admit and lame argument of, “If you don’t like it it. As is obvious, I chose to print your loc in here, go live somewhere else ( like Russia, whole, as I usually do. As for my response— orth Korea, China, or wherever).” People Well— It’s not meant to be adversarial or need to vent their anger and frustration from antagonistic but merely a clarification, if you time to time even if it does no good. Those will. I would very much like to remain on as people (even the editor whom I presume amicable terms with the readers as I possibly you’re including) are just doing what comes can. I hope that can be achieved. From this naturally. They’re voicing opinions held at point on, the subject ends because I don’t that particular time. That’s all they really want to find myself involved in some sort of are—opinions. And as we all know or should ongoing dispute, argument, or or ugly ex- know, everyone has an opinion. By speaking change. Therefore, I caution that from now up, people are exercising their right to free on think over carefully what you’re going to speech, something guaranteed by the 1st say. This should also serve as fair warning Amendment to the Constitution. They see that, starting with TRF 83, if I feel it becomes things they feel are wrong and want to let oth- necessary I will edit any locs as I see fit.]] ers know, and they have the right to do so as long as it doesn’t lead to treason or insurrec- From: Al Byrd tion. If you’re happy and satisfied with this country, fine. Good for you. ot everyone Dear Tom, feels the same way and very well may have good reasons.//In spite of any “carping and Thank you for TRF 81. Again, you’ve whining” I'll say that on the whole I’m satis- given your readership a colorful and striking fied with this country. It has been good to me cover. I wonder whether it’s a specimen of and is a beautiful and wonderful place to what I've heard called Neo-Retro. It would live. There are so many good points that I certainly have opened some eyes in Retro won't dare try to list them all. I and othersare times! Also, as a microbiologist, I can’t help not as stupid as you may think and are well wondering about the genetic engineering that aware of conditions in other countries and in it would take to produce a terriersaurus. It earlier times. In fact, to replace one that was looks like a companion that many would like old and in bad condition, I recently pur- to have. chased an American flag made in this coun- I loved your Alabamiana article. Indian try by an American company. I intend to fly it mounds and a merrie widow in the antebel- every day, weather permitting, to show my lum South–what could be better than? I par- pride and patriotism.//And by the way: I do ticularly enjoyed the quotes that you included print addresses when the loccers include in the article. I envy writers of the early Nine- them. But sometimes I receive a loc by e-mail teenth Century; they could get away with and it doesn’t have an address appended for prose the purpleness of which modern riders whatever reason and so no address is includ- of the sage dare not approach. There is, by ed. I have no way of knowing if the address is the way, a Hazel Green in Kentucky, one left off out of forgetfulness, the writer choos- county over from West Liberty, but, as far as es not to include it, or what. I choose not to I know, no tale even ap- proaching the juici 34 ness of the one that you told took place there. is one of a kind. Bob Sabella's “Ideal Science Fiction Sto- Thanks to those who had kind words for ry” would be an excellent resource for new- the Sue Mundy and Stovepipe Johnson arti- bie writers. Not only does it give clear defini- cles. Such men make for fine stories, but may tions of what such a story is, but it also gives we not live through their like again. a list of sterling examples of the craft. If only A brief piece of Michiganiana, inspired I had time to reread all of the novels that he by the mention of Vernor’s Ginger Ale: when recommended–especially The I lived as a boy in Ferndale, Stars My Destination. I can my family's house was think of nothing else quite across the street from a bot- like it. tling plant for Squirt, Hires Gene Stewart certainly Root Beer, and Nesbitt’s put his finger on what's miss- Orange. When my father ing in so much contemporary reported to the police a writing–exuberance. Some of break-in at the plant, its own- those old writers had their ers rewarded his family with faults, but being boring a whole case of Pink Squirt. wasn't one of them. Some made the snide remark Thank you for printing that the bottlers were trying my perhaps lengthy article on to get rid of the stuff, but I the Battle of Middle Creek. myself liked it. I'll now be moving on from Again, thank you for the American Civil War, at another fine issue of TRF. least for a while. My next Now, to touch up my article three articles (you should be on Serpent Mound and Fort getting the second of these, on Serpent Hill, and to pick out Helen E. Davis’s best Mound, any day now) will be on Mound pictures of our trip there. Builder sites in Ohio, from personal research Best wishes, for my time-travel novel in progress. (First Al byrd draft at last finished, longmonths of revision ahead.) Afterwards, I may move into Ken- [[I’ve never heard of eo-Retro, so I tucky in the time of Daniel Boone. couldn’t say if Kurt’s cover was an example Certainly, there’s a lot of early Kentucky of that or not. It may be that the terriersaurus sites almost within walking distance of where was indigenous to some other planet and so I live. no genetic engineering was involved except My head hurt after I’d read Sheryl Birk- by that of ature.//The Black Widow was an head's article on getting reimbursed for a interesting story and possibly one nobody shingles vaccination. The process that she would have expected to unfold in little Hazel described is more complex than anything that Green. Oh yes. Writers of the 19th century I had to do to get a master’s degree in micro- —and especially news reporters—had a ten- biology. dency toward such sensationalistic prose. My thanks to Joseph T. Major for recall- And still do these days. The news account of ing the name Grimm's World. I hadn’t known the Abner Tate Trial was another good exam- that the novel that I'd read had been expand- ple and would have fitted in well with the ed into a longer version. I wonder whether it tabloids existing these days. It’s not surpris- was as exotic and charming as the original. ing there would be another Hazel Green Grimm’s World is another of the works that somewhere in this country, and maybe oth- 35 ers.//The Stars My Destination is certainly looking back at what I’ve read so far this worth reading again as are certain other year, since we’re at about the halfway point. works.//Oh yes. Squirt, Hires Root Beer, and Of the 39 books finished so far, I think 9 esbitt’s Orange. I’ve enjoyed the first and would qualify as science fiction, and while third over the years. I’ve preferred A&W most are from the late nineties into this Root Beer over Hines, the latter which I’ve decade, there is even an oldie, finally read had a few times. Pink Squirt. Considering the Poul Anderson’s “The High Crusade” from fact that Squirt has a grapefruit taste to it, 1960. But there is also a lot of stuff on the pink squirt isn’t such a surprise. After all, list that doesn’t drop into the sf section of the Squirt has the Ruby Red version, which is bookstore that is just as wonderfully imagina- pretty good IMHO. Apparently, however, tive. I tend to not really look at genres, just at Ruby Red doesn’t contain pink grapefruit what sounds like a good read. (Also, what is juice in spite of its name. Someone once in the extra-cheap close-out section.) claimed one of the ingredients of Squirt was I don’t know if I've written it here turpentine. I don’t know about that. The before, but I’ve found that some of my ingredients list does mention glycerol ester of favorite books are novels. I don’t mean that wood rosin which is claimed to be a food to be confusing, it's just that the covers for additive. Maybe that’s where the claimant many of these will have the title of the book, got the notion. Oh—and don’t forget good then the words “a novel by” before the name old Detroit-based Faygo and its Faygo Kid. of the author. No other genre indications giv- “Which way did he go? Which way did he en. I’ve read some amazingly fanciful and go? He went for Faygo.” Sadly Faygo no weirdly inventive books that way. This years longer uses that advertising. Maybe it’s just read list so far is up for anyone of idle curiosi- as well.]] ty to check at http//www.jabberwocky graphix. com/readlist.html From: Brad Foster Regarding Sheryl’s latest adventure this June 8, 2011 time, at least it does have a happy ending. Though about halfway through, considering Greetings Tom ~ all she was having to put up with, I was start- ing to wonder if just risking shingles Hey, I think this has to be the thickest wouldn’t be the easier route to take! I particu- issue yet in quite some time! Nice to see you larly liked her comment about how the insur- are getting enough material to put out this ance company had “built in several sure to hefty package. And with such a killer cover make-me-fail safeguards.” That seems to be from Kurt on this one. Great job of matching the way most business operates these days: the style of the art, even the fonts, for you can get something done, but you’re Tintin...er, Nitnit.... Loved it! going to have to jump through a LOT of Afraid my own art files have gotten a bit hoops to get there, in the hopes that you’ll thin right now. The good news is that’s be- just give up at some point and go away. cause there has been a lot of paying work to These people don’t often have to deal with do, but the bad news is I haven’t been able to someone with Sheryl’s tenacity. Get ’em, do any drawing for fun. Still, did have one Sheryl! We celebrate your victories. unused piece on hand from the last round of crazed doodling, and including that here to stay happy~ keep my end of the fannish exchange thing. Brad All the stuff from Sabella and Stewart Brad W Foster this issue about what makes up sf had me PO Box 165246, Irving, TX 75016 36 'Comment Worthy' articles nor should you [[The issue did end up being longer than I look to including contributions solely from had expected. But I’m not complaining. I’m that point of view. A good article is a good glad I’m able to acquire a fairly good article and you consistently provide same. amount of material to publish. Often I’m There are many reasons for not commenting, afraid I won’t have enough for even half a firstly the article is so complete in itself that dozen pages.//I’m guessing that Kurt is a fan comment is superfluous with nothing to say of TinTin and so is familiar with that charac- but I liked it. Then while the reader may have ter and his associates. I know only a little bit enjoyed the article, its subject is outside the about TinTin and have seen a couple of knowledge or experience of the reader who episodes years ago on a PBS station, I think. may not thus feel qualified to comment. Then When I saw Kurt’s cover I knew it would of course a problem that may be common to make a good pairing with your comic as the many, the desire to get a LoC back to you in back page. Other folks seem to agree.//It’s good time while being short of time oneself, good to hear you’ve been so one comments on those getting a lot of paying items closest to ones work; that helps pay the heart. bills.But it’s affect on your Love the back cover. fan stuff is bad news for us Brad's work always brings faneds. Grab all the money a smile to my visage and you can while you each item I notice (or can.//Over the past few realise again) what a con- years I’ve read more fic- summate artist he is this tion in other genres and time I particularly noticed history/biographies than I his skill with perspective. have SF. Some of the SF has been older stuff I enjoyed the front cover, delighted to and some by newer by writers with whose know my beloved Tintin (favourite of those work I’m familiar as well as some writers long ago days when our children were whose work I’ve never read before. I too look young) has decedents in the future. Just a bit for what appears to be a good read and in worried, might Kurt be accused of plagiarism the “extra-cheap” closeout section. Thank or breach of copy right or some such? goodness for the bookseller Edward R. Hamil- My favourite internal illo this time is ton. Through him I’ve been able to acquire Steve Stiles on page five. If only I had such a reasonably priced books without having to cookbook. make trips to somewhat distant bookstores. Interesting story from your native Alaba- The books come to me by mail.//Sheryl’s may ma. I have forgotten exactly how the quote have been a minor victory compared to some goes but remember that it finishes 'To loose but any victory is a cause for celebration. three husbands is downright careless', Mrs She can be and is a very tenacious person.]] Routt was to say the least, doubly so. There is definitely a film in that story. I also like From: Pamela Boal your snippets of news from the past. Nothing really changes, in fifty or so years people Dear Tom, will be wondering at similar news items from today, items usually generated by PC bureau- Big thanks for The Reluctant Famulus crats. 81. First to answer your reply to my LoC on Both Bob and Gene make the point that 80. No you do not need to supply more SF readers are varied in their tastes and inter 37 ests but demand certain qualities and ingredi- garding Sheryl’s article. I may be wrong-- ents. I also find Bob's choice of books very and she is free to correct me if I am--but I much to my taste. I also share Gene's outrage think her getting a shingles inoculation has at the publishers contempt of their reader- something to do with her being a veterinari- ship. an.]] Hooray for Sheryl and her fortitude in dealing with the health insurance. As we all From: Milt Stevens know it is the companies job to gather in our money and avoid paying out by any means. I June 11, 2011 am just a little puzzled though. Why would Dear Tom, Sheryl's primary care physician think a Shin- gles vaccination appropriate? In Reluctant Famulus #81, you speculate Interesting letter col as ever. that every state must have some interesting or Thanks again, curious stories. California seems to have an oversupply. Of course, we have a couple of Pamela. major industries devoted to making up sto- ries. If you find it difficult to invent your [[My usual intent--and hope!-- is to present own lurid stories about your sex life, you can material I think the readers will find interest- hire someone to do it for you. It all goes to ing, entertaining, and worth reading. I look prove that the best things in life are imagi- for items odd, unusual--and, on occasion-- nary. what I think might be controversial and possi- Bob Sabella’s consideration of the ideal bly cause people to think. While there may be SF novel reminded me of the times Galaxie people who feel any given subject is outside Press sent people to cons to ask us what we their knowledge or experience that doesn’t wanted to see in a science fiction novel. I usu- necessarily mean they aren’t qualified to com- ally answered that I wanted to see something ment. (Heck there are people who don’t let a I hadn’t seen before. That answer didn’t little thing like that stop them from sounding seem to satisfy them. I suppose it isn’t really off on something anyway.) With that sort of a complete answer. Yes, I do like novelty, view they may be shortchanging themselves. but not all novelty is interesting. It is possible But I do understand that there are occasions for authors to come up with new ways of bor- when articles just don’t engender any com- ing me. I want wild technology, bizarre soci- ment from some people. I know I’ve been that eties, and exotic locales. I also want guys in way in regard to articles I’ve read in other space ships doin’ stuff. fanzines. Readers shouldn’t be overly con- Bob Sabella might consider SF novels in cerned about getting a loc to TRF “in good regard to E. M. Forester’s ‘Aspects of the time”. I try as much as possible to be flexible Novel.’ Forester explains how to put a novel with my deadlines.//Regarding “ othing real- under a microscope. Most SF writers don’t ly changes . . .” I doubt very many (if any) think all that much about how they structure towns in this in this country these days has a novel. Of course, there are a couple of livestock foraging in the center of town, or books that won a Hugo as best novel without town square. On further consideration, even being a novel. though, that might be so in some other coun- Commonly, I remember the ideas in a sci- tries. On the other hand human nature hasn’t ence fiction novel without remembering the changed greatly over the decades and cen- plot of the characters. Sometimes I remember turies. People still do and say stupid and a feel or a texture. I don’t always like the feel incomprehensible and tactless things.//Re or texture I remember. I tend to remember 38 very good novels and very bad novels. I for- between is evanescent.//That’s Gene for you. get most novels in the middle. He tries to stir things up any way he can in Gene Stewart uses a lot of ad hominems. the hope of producing some sort of reaction, His writing would be better if he didn’t. favorable or not.]]

Yours truly, Milt Stevens From: Dave Rowe 6325 Keystone St. 8288 W Shelby State Road 44 Simi Valley, CA 93063 Franklin IN 46131-9211 [email protected] 2011-June-18

[[Yeah. From what I’ve read and heard Dear Tom, about California there certainly does seem to be an overabundance of curious, crazy, odd, Brilliant cover! Looked just like a conti- and bizarre tales and places. Such as the nental European bande dessinee magazine Winchester House. It doesn’t surprise me and the heavy glossy stock clinched it. Kudos that there are “. . . A couple of industries to Kurt. Altho' Captain Haddock in drag was devoted to making up stories.” With the pres- a bit too much to take. Even tho' it was a ence of the film industry green, alien, tentacled in Hollywood, which deals drag. with made-up stories and By the way,the the illusions of reality, Steve Spielberg / Peter anything is possible. I Jackson Tintin movie have to agree with you will be out on December that “. . . The best things 4th or 1 lth and there in life are imaginary.” will be a 3-D version. And Hollywood strives hard to fulfill that. Looking at Brad's bacover and the After all, what can one expect from a state Hodges' fillos, it seems only a matter of time where Dianetics and, even worse, Scientolo- before someone accuses them of taking ille- gy were created and founded. Good old gal substances while illustrating. In reality, Elron. What a monster he created with his it's not a fair comment as artists on drugs “religion”. So it isn’t surprising that actors, (especially L.S.D.) think they're producing having spent their careers in imaginary masterpieces only to find in the sober light worlds on film, should embrace Scientology. that it's literally nothing but scribble. One of The line between reality and illusion doesn’t the exceptions being Robert Crumb who seem to exist for them.//I suspect I’m like you came up with his odd style while floating on regarding SF in wanting to see something I some weird drug cocktail. Definitely not haven’t seen before. I like your comments advised. about authors in the sixth sentence of the sec- And Ray Nelson's comment about Walt ond paragraph of your loc. I like even more Disney echoes something Bob Godrey said the last two sentences. Thanks to the hard- (Bob won at least two Oscars for his own ani- headed realists that’s the sort of thing we’ll mation so he knows what he's talking about). only see in written SF and TV or movie ver- He said that Walt Disney was the greatest ani- sions. It certainly won’t be in real life.// o mator in the World because he got other peo- one ever said the Hugo-winning choices ple to do the hard work. made sense.//That’s extremes for you: only THANKS to John Purcell for the lead on the very best or the truly awful and execrable Shelley, will follow that up. works are long remembered. Anything in It's amazing that TRF's concentration on 39 history isn't found in other fnzs, After all, Brad nor Hodges are ingesting and illegal most SF is based in the future and if the narcotic substances. Their imaginations author doesn't know his history the progres- don’t need any chemical or pharmaceutical sion to his “Future History” or even the mode help. Crumb may possible have been the of operation can be totally unbelievable. exception to your statement in the preceding Tom, only you would print a four and sentence. His stuff was strange and almost half page long loc and then tell the writer surreal. At least what little of it I’ve seen has “you've pretty much reiterated a lot of points been.//It seems that Walt Disney was typical which have already been covered in the last in that he got others to do the creative work couple of issues.” NOTE TO EVERYONE: while he took the lion’s share of the credit, to Tom does NOT edit your locs, PLEASE use and old cliche. I imagine his making WRITE ACCORDINGLY. large amounts of money soothed his con- And somewhere in TRF81 you meant to science.//Regarding your penultimate para- say of TRF “All the years...” but what you graph. Hmm . . . Dang it! Yet another typo typed was “Ally the tears...” There have nev- that sneaked past me. Or maybe it was my er been truer words said about fanpublishing. subconscious at work bringing out the Thanks for another highly readable issue truth.//And, again, I’m seriously considering and a big, healthy locol. changing the policy of not editing the letters even if it might cause consternation among some folks.]]

[[Well, it being his first letter of comment From: Robert Kennedy and since he had gone to all that trouble I thought it only fair to let him have his say 1779 Ciprian Avenue since he had gone to so much trouble. On the Camarillo, California 93010-2451 other hand, I didn’t feel much inclined to (805) 987-2164 respond at a similar length to his Loc. [email protected] Besides, I felt there were already enough pages and I didn’t want to subject the read- June 28, 2011 ers to more Tom Sadler inanity. (Or whatev- er.) There are good reasons for heavily edit- Dear Tom, ing LoCs and bad ones. I guess I’m too idiosyncratic to go in either direction. Or My thanks for #79, #80, and #81. else too damned lazy. //[First, I apol- Nice front and back covers on #81. At ogize for jumping the gun on something you the moment I can’t seem to find the other two wrote in your loc but I felt compelled to do issues. But, I did read them. If you could so. I may have been wrong in doing it. Time see the inside of my house you would under- will tell, I suppose.//Kurt can be counted on stand. No longer having a wife or a control- to come up with something unusual and unex- ling legal authority to give me orders it’s a pected for a cover. I wondered how the cover mess. When I got out of the Navy I was a would be received. It has been mostly posi- neat freak. But that has been lost over the tive--as it should be.//TinTin. One more years. movie I’ll probably never see since I haven;t Very much enjoyed was your been to a movie theater in a long time and “Introduction: Did She—or Didn’t She?” and it’s doubtful I’d ever buy the DVD when it I look forward to your next installment. The comes out. Of course I could always rent or newspaper articles from 1800s and early borrow one.//I’m fairly confident that neither 1900s were interesting. As usual the article 40 by Alfred Byrd was both interesting and my right hip. informative. Sheryl Birkhead has more prob- Another fine issue. Keep them coming. lems than any 10 people. Her perseverance is a credit to her. [[I do understand that you can’t find the John Purcell: You are welcome. copies of #s 79 & 80. My filing system (Ha! I don’t know where you and many other That’s a joke.) is, to say the least, chaotic. I fanzine editors find the time to produce your can never find things in the places I expect works. And where do you find time to give them to be. One day, completely unexpected- responses to locs that are often longer than ly, you’ll find them. When you don’t need the locs themselves? them.//I had hoped the story about the black Eric Mayer: I was widow would be interested in your com- received with some inter- ments concerning The est. I’m glad to see that Daughter of Time by a few readers appreciat- Josephine Tey and your ed it. I hope you find the further mentioning intro in this issue of Horace Walpole?s His- some small interest even toric Doubts on the Life if you have no com- and Reign of Richard ment.//I am often III. Back in the early astounded by the prob- 60?s my friend Margaret lems with which Sheryl O?Grady lent me her copy of The Daughter is faced and how she manages to cope with of Time and said that she thought I would them.//I don’t know about other faneds but I enjoy it. She was right. I do not recall hear- manage to set time aside to produce issues of ing or reading anything about Walpole?s TRF. Of course being retired affords more work. But, given that it was almost 50 years opportunities to devote time to my obsession. ago my memory might be lacking. Thomas As for my finding the time for those long B. Costain was also in the process of writing responses to locs-- Well I’m often surprised a book, or books, in which he too was going at that myself and I have no idea how I do it. to clear Richard III of the charges made by All too often when I’m ready to write my Thomas More and William Shakespeare?s replies I have this fear that I won’t have any- play. He gave Tey full credit for beating him thing to say. Then, once I get going, it seems to the punch. As the result of reading your to get out of control and I probably write too comments I obtained from Interlibrary Loan much. And although the time passes it RICHARD III: The Great Debate ? Sir doesn’t seem as if it has been that long.//I’ll Thomas More?s HISTORY OF KING have to get a copy of The Daughter of Time-- RICHARD III ? Horace Walpole?s HIS- and I would if I didn’t get distracted by all TORIC DOUBTS ON THE LIFE AND those other books . . . The book about REIGN OF KING RICHARD III Edited and Richard III also sounds interesting. But the Introductions by Paul Murray Kendall (1965; same applies to that. If only I could avoid reissued 1992 - W. W. Norton & Company). being distracted. It would seem some people A very interesting read and I recommend it. for whatever reason took an intense dislike to As to the claimed deformities of Richard Richard III and, as usual, made him out to be III they all appear to be false. Well, apparent- far worse than he really was. History, depend- ly one of his shoulders was lower than the ing upon who wrote it, can sometimes do that other. Gee, my right shoulder is lower than too.]] my left shoulder and my left hip is lower than 41 From: Lloyd Penney tal with my Ontario health card, and that was 1706-24 Eva Rd. all the paperwork I was connected with. At Etobicoke, ON no point did I pay extra for anything, fill out CANADA M9C 2B2 additional paperwork, have some authority deny me any benefits, or wonder that any- June 28, 2011 thing might go wrong after the operation. I showed my health card, and that was it. Easy, Dear Tom: and no years of paying off the costs after- wards. The system was there when I needed Thank for yet another entertaining issue it. If this is socialism, then I will happily take of The Reluctant Famulus, issue 81. This it. time. I’ve got the time for a loc, now to see if Scotty could never change the laws of I have any other incentives that might actual- physics, but we are discovering that there ly get me going on this…don’t mind me, may be exceptions, and exceptions to those Tom, just fatigue. exceptions, plus other areas of physics we are What a great cover…with a French-Cana- only now able to explore. And, we’re pretty dian wife, I certainly know about Tintin, and good at bending the law of physics if we how popular he is, especially in the French- can’t break them. style bandes dessinées. I wonder who was Gene Stewart is right, the best customer Kurt’s model for the curvy…being in the for a businessman today is one who owes lounger? you money, and then more money, and I really should do some more research more…they have to pay up at some point. into my family tree. On my mother’s side, There’s just so many people who have lost they went as far as finding a horse thief, and any idea of budgeting, or realizing that you then stopped, perhaps afraid they might find have to save for something if you really want something or someone even worse. it. The USA owed close to $15 trillion…I There have been some books I’ve greatly wonder if the amount of money owed by enjoyed that most people thought was crap, each member of the American public to a and some books everyone loves, I’ve said company or credit card is comparable? I have meh, and put it down. It’s all personal taste, read recently that the main reason why so but for me, it’s also originality in the ideas much funding goes into ways to extend a put forth as premise of the book. I agree with lifespan is to really extend the number of Bob’s comments on China Miéville’s years an individual person can pay taxes. books…fresh ideas, and after reading a cou- Al Byrd is right, mention of writers like ple of China’s works, I felt vaguely dirty. I Zelazny and Simak, and Poul Anderson and would take from that mission accomplished, Isaac Asimov, after all these years, is at least China. It’s one thing to be entertained, and be some proof that their writing will survive pleased with a well-written novel, but if other long after their deaths. I also hope it will sur- emotions and feelings rise, that author has vive after our own deaths. I would like to done a fine job. think that this fine literature excited and My condolences to Sheryl Birkhead…I inspired so many young men and women to do not know much about the USA healthcare look to the stars, and imagine what had never system, and from what I read, it’s just as been imagined before. well. A few years ago, I had an eye operation My loc…I never did have that cataract where I needed to have the retina in my right operation. The appointment wound up being eye reattached. I am very lucky in that the another doctor’s attempt to add me to his ini- surgery was a success. I presented the hospi tial client list. I have since blown him off, but 42 my optometrist has got me hooked up with ther into his/her ancestry. He or she just another ophthalmologist, and I have an might find an illustrious ancestor who more appointment with him soon. Not long after is than makes up for several horse thieves. I’ve an appointment with my regular ophthalmolo- not found any horse thieves or bank robbers gist, and I am hoping that I can get this among my ancestors so far, although my cataract removed in the fall. great-great-grandfather Hezekiah Tanner You’re right, we do have our share of served briefly in the 1838 Indian removal. It whitewash. Our current conservative govern- was’t for very long, only a few months, and ment seems to be masters of wilding the he was about 19 at the time. Looked at from whitewash; they reveal nothing, and defend the perspective of current times it would be their secrecy by claiming national security. considered shameful. But he was young and The Conservatives just got a majority govern- possibly didn’t know better or had a change ment; they abused their power when they of heart..//I haven’t read anything by were in minority, and now to see how they Mieville and I’m not sure I’ll ever get around abuse their majority power. It’s coming… to him considering all the other writers in If we are still trying to eavesdrop on the whom I’m more interested. It does make me ETs, they might be saying rude things about wonder, though, what work of his it was you us. Who’d want to hang out with THOSE read that made you feel “. . . Vaguely dirty”. hicks? I think all three choices John Purcell There are novels which produce a less than outlines are completely true. We are an ongo- pleasant or positive reaction--and sometimes ing experiment, and once we go past our even disgust and repulsion. We readers can’t expiry date, for global ruination or nuclear always avoid encountering such works. hijinks, it is possible that someone will take There are too many dark and disturbing notes, publish their paper, and go on to anoth- things about humans which cannot be avoid- er experiment. ed and of which we may need to be aware.//I Bob Jennings…I’d like to get your hope the works of Simak, Anderson, Hein- fanzine! I don’t know how to do it, other than lein, Asimov, Clarke, and other SF writers to say that if you have paper copies, great, will survive a very long time. If it does, those but if they are .pdfed, that’s fine, too. works probably won’t be in any familiar form It is now getting officially late, for me, such as printed books (a damned shame). anyway…the job hunt resumes first thing What future form that will be is anybody’s tomorrow morning. This goes out to you, and guess. I won’t be around to see it anyway. then is saved on my LiveJournal for my ever- //Yeah, whitewash is the favorite of govern- expanding archive of letters. Many thanks for ments all over the world and always will be I all of this, Tom, hope all is well in Owenton, fear.//More than likely any ETs who do exist and we will see you with the next issue. may be totally unaware of our existence for Yours, one reason or another.Just because we Lloyd Penney. humans are searching for other intelligent life doesn’t necessarily mean other life forms [[You’d have to ask Kurt about the model for are.//Here’s hoping you manage to land a “. . . the curvy . . . Being . . .”//Family histo- job by or before the next issue of TRF reach- ry research can be interesting and exciting-- es you. I don’t know if Canada’s unemploy- and also frustrating when a researcher keeps ment rate is better than the U.S.’s or worse. I hitting brick walls because of missing or non- know there are other countries with far high- existent records. Well there are worse things er unemployment rates. Even so, if you’ll par- than being a horse thief but even so a don me, America is still the best place to live researcher shouldn’t be afraid of going fur- even with any flaws it may have.]] 43