1M3 ay 2005 MEMORIES C.J. Henderson LIFEMEMORY Johnny Eponymous THE NEW SEMESTER SCHEDULE Allen Coyle WORDS TO LIVE BY Sheryl Nantus FRIENDS AND FOOD Sandy Parsons Plus… POETRY COMICS FILK And… CONVENTIONS REVIEWS CELEB TEN DEAR CTHULHU www.nthzine.com May 2005, Issue #13 C ONTENT S FEATURES The Editor’s Rant by Michael D. Pederson ...................................................................2 Conventions .....................................................................................4 Spine Bender by Michael D. Pederson ..........................................................................8 Celeb Ten: David Franklin by Ron McClung .........................................................12 The Gaming Closet by Ron McClung .....................................................................14 Comics .........................................................................................44 Dear Cthulhu by Patrick Thomas ..........................................................47 FICTION Memories by C.J. Henderson ......................................................................................16 LifeMemory by Johnny Eponymous ............................................................................26 The New Semester Schedule by Allen Coyle ........................................................28 Words To Live By by Sheryl Nantus ..........................................................................36 Friends and Food by Sandy Parsons .........................................................................40 POETRY /F ILK River of Eyes Going Nowhere by Joey Froehlich .................................................38 Bob Goes to Alpha-Centauri by Joey Froehlich ....................................................38 Zombie Love Blues (The Re-Animation) by Mike Allen .......................................38 The Venusians vs. Venice by Jennifer Mercer .........................................................42 A Stable Connection by R. Cleaves .........................................................................48 Cover and title illustrations for “Memories” by Billy Tackett Nth Degree is a free, quarterly semi-pro fanzine. We encourage you to submit your manuscripts, illustrations, or photographs, but cannot guarantee the return of any unsolicited materials. All contributors retain individual rights to their contributions. Six-issue subscriptions are available by sending $18 to: Nth Degree ; 8600 Queensmere Place #2; Richmond, VA 23294; 804-270-0384; email [email protected]. Back issues are available for $3 each. Nth Degree #13 is ™ and © by Big Blind Productions, May 2005. Printed by Capitol Color Printing; Fredericksburg, VA, www.capitolcolor.com. May 2005 1 the editor’s STAFF PUBLISHER /E DITOR Michael D. Pederson Rant ASSOCIATE EDITOR Michael D. Pederson, Publisher/Editor Robert Balder STAFF ARTIST What does it mean to be a semiprozine? According to the Constitution of the J. Andrew World World Science Fiction Society, a semiprozine must meet at least two of the following criteria: GRAPHIC DESIGN 1) have an average press run of at least one thousand copies per issue; 2) pay its contributors and/or Michael D. Pederson staff in other than copies of the publication; 3) provide at least half the income of any one person; 4) have at least fifteen percent of its total space occupied by advertising; 5) announce itself to be a WITH THANKS TO semiprozine. Nth Degree meets criteria numbers 1, 4 and 5, so we are technically a semiprozine. Brandon Blackmoor But what does that mean? Alan Beck That’s a question that I frequently ask myself. Particularly in regards to how I handle my Susan Blackmoor Rants. In a professional magazine, the editorial is a forum for the editor to pontificate on issues Erik Cotton that are important to him/her and might spark reader interest. In a traditional fanzine, the edi - C.J. Henderson torial tends to be more of an open letter from the editor to his/her friends and readers, usually Lloyd Montgomery filling them in on what he/she has been up to lately. I generally try to take a middle ground— Tee Morris whimsical updates on how the zine is doing or mildly amusing opinions on things that I notice Krisi Pederson going on in fandom. James S. Reichert Like a professional publication, I have thousands of readers that I’ve never met and probably Tony Ruggiero never will. Like a fan publication, I have hundreds of readers that I have met and partied with Bob Snare and gotten to know pretty well. Billy Tackett So, how to handle personal news? For those of you who consider this to be more of a pro - Cate Twohill fessional publication, look away. For the rest of you, let me fill you in on what’s been going on Patrick Vanner in the Old Dominion for the last few months. In November, Cate and I decided to separate and will be getting a divorce. It was a reason - BIG BLIND PRODUCTIONS , I NC . ably amicable breakup and she may still occasionally contribute to the zine. She probably won’t 8600 Queensmere Place #2 be attending any more conventions though. Richmond, VA 23294 In January, I moved back to Richmond. I lived here for sixteen years before moving in with 804-270-0384 Cate and I am very happy to be back. However, it is just a temporary move while I look for a job (anyone looking to hire a magazine editor?) and a new house. That means that there will be Send $18.00 to the yet another move in my near future. You can check out my Rant way back in Issue #4 for my above address to receive feelings on moving. I haven’t grown any fonder of it in the past two years. a 6-issue subscription. In March, we sold the house in Stafford. I miss it already, although I couldn’t be happier about Back issues are available being out of Stafford. We were far too close to the traffic nightmares of Northern Virginia for my for $3 each. tastes. And there were no good Thai restaurants nearby. Which brings me to the present. All of this personal business has made me adjust the Nth Degree schedule for the zine a bit. Normally we’d have an issue out in March, another out in May is a quarterly and then the next one in September. Instead, I’ll put one out in April and then adjust the rest semi-pro fanzine. of the year accordingly. Thanks to everyone for their support and patience. www.nthzine.com 2 Nth Degree May 2005 3 C ONVENTIONS Philcon 2004 CONVENTION December 10-12 Philadelphia, PA S CHEDULE http://www.philcon.org/2004/ M AY -J ULY Until recently, Philcon’s attendance ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 paid attendees. A few years ago Philcon moved its location and May 6-8 LepreCon date, and seems to be suffering from being too close to Carefree, AZ Christmas. Last year attendance dropped to just over 1,000 paid www.leprecon.org/lep31 memberships. It is my understanding that this year attendance May 13-15 Motor City Comic Con dropped again, to between 700 and 800 paid memberships. It is Novi, MI my hope that the con committee has taken note and will be taking steps to remedy this. www.motorcityconventions.com/motor_city_comic_con/ Despite the drop in numbers, those in attendance still had a wonderful time. This year, the Artist May 21 Maryland Faerie Festival Guest of Honor was Joe Devito. The scheduled Writer GoH, Brian Aldiss, was unable to attend due Upper Marlboro, MD to health problems, but the con was able to book Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski in his place. www.marylandfaeriefestival.org As every year, the merry Nth Degree Crew was in attendance as well, running a table in the Dealer’s May 27-29 Oasis Room and dispensing the much-sought-after glow-in-the-dark drink cup at their room party. Orlando, FL The venue—the Marriott Center City Hotel—is worthy of mention. Philcon obtained this www.oasfis.org venue when they hosted the World Science Fiction Convention in 2001. It is a four-star hotel in the May 27-29 Conquest heart of Philadelphia and is a beautiful facility. My family had reserved two rooms, but found when Kansas City, MO we arrived that the hotel had mistakenly given away one of our rooms. They promptly upgraded our www.kcsciencefiction.org/con36.htm reservations to two adjoining suites at the Marriott Concierge Deluxe Hotel next door, at no extra May 27-29 Conduit charge. The staff at this hotel is nothing if not professional and discrete. With no fuss, we spent the Salt Lake City, UT weekend in rooms that were easily double the size of the standard room at the con hotel. http://conduit.sfcon.org/CONduit/ As in previous years, Philcon had enough activities to satisfy just about anyone. There was an May 27-29 Marcon Art Show with auction, along with a full weekend of panels discussing various aspects of artistic Columbus, OH endeavors; a Dealer’s Room with dozens of merchants; a Masquerade competition; a gaming room www.marcon.org with competitions running around-the-clock; an anime room with showings running from late May 27-30 BayCon Friday until late Sunday; a movie room with a similar schedule; Filk performances; readings by var - San Jose, CA ious authors; and of course, seven or eight panel discussions running simultaneously on such topics www.baycon.org as graphic novels, sex toys of the future, the business of writing, space exploration and Internet May 27-30 MediaWest*Con fraud. In addition, the con committee added a new activity, a networked computer gaming room Lansing, MI separate from the main gaming room, running such popular games as Unreal Tournament and www.mediawestcon.org 1942. And, of course, they had the Philcon Writers Workshop, my favorite activity each year. May 27-30 Balticon This year Philcon was different for me. In the past, my family and I scattered once we arrived. Baltimore, MD My son and I would help with the Art Show set-up (and earn our badges for the next year), while www.balticon.org my wife and daughter took advantage of the wonderful shopping to be found in Center City. My June 3-5 ConCarolinas son would then focus his time on gaming and anime, my daughter on anime and shopping, my Charlotte, NC wife on shopping and jewelry design, and me on various panels on writing with some videos thrown www.secfi.org/concarolinas/ in when I could find time.