Sol Rising Issue
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Special Worldcon Issue $2.50 Free for members. Want to become a member? SOL RISING Check out the back page for more info. The Newsletter of The Friends of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy SOL RISING Friends of the Merril Collection Number 29,August 2003 Inside Articles 1 My Residency 7 Inside the Merril Guestbook Columns 2 View from the Chair 3 From the Collection Head 5 So Bad They’re Good There’s always something interesting going on at the Merril, from readings by world famous Info Bits authors to our annual Pulps show and sale. Photos by Andrew Specht. 3 Events 3 Special Thanks 3 Worldcon Notes My Residency 6 Volunteers Needed! 8 Membership and By: Robert J. Sawyer Renewal n April, May, and June of 2003, I was writer-in-residence at the Merril Collection. Many people have thanked me for my generosity in doing this- Iso let’s start by setting the record straight. It was a paying job, funded by the Reach Us Toronto Public Library and the Friends of the Library’s South Region. They’re Friends of the Merril Collection, the heroes of this, and I am extremely grateful for their support. c/o Lillian H.Smith Branch, TPL, My residency began with a reception for library board members and staff at 239 College St. 3rd Floor, Toronto, the Toronto Reference Library, with refreshments provided by the Friends of the Ontario, M5T-1R5 Merril Collection (thank you!). At that event, I said that being writer-in-resi- www.tpl.toronto.on.ca/merril/home.htm dence at the Merril is “an honour without parallel” for an author of science fic- www.friendsofmerril.org/ tion. And it is: to be asked to take on a role that had only ever before been held Call for Submissions! Contact Sabrina ([email protected]) - continued on page 4 if you wish to submit articles, essays or art pieces. Be a part of SOL Rising, speak out! SOL RISING Friends of the Merril Collection View From the Chair Number 29, August 2003 Torcon 2003 By: Jamie Fraser Executive Committee s this column is for our special Worldcon issue it may contain material Athat is already familiar to some of our regular readers. Chair Worldcon, or TorCon 3 as we also know it, takes place in Toronto August 28th Jamie Fraser through September 1st, and is split between various locales across the downtown Vice Chair core. Thousands of people from across the globe will be attending this prestigious John Rose event, many of whom will be visiting the Merril Collection for the first time. It’s been thirty years since our last TorCon and much has changed since then. In Treasurer 1973, the Spaced Out Library was only three years old and hadn’t yet achieved its Ted Brown current status as one of the world’s best collections of speculative fiction and relat- ed non-fiction. An awful lot can happen in thirty years. Secretary Donald Simmons In 1990, The Spaced Out Library was changed to The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, named after Judith Merril whose dona- Manager of Special tion of her personal library formed the basis for the original collection. The Collections Collection was moved to a newly built, custom designed library building in 1995. David Kotin The Friends of The Merril Collection was formed in 1981 by members of the science fiction community in order to support the Collection, to broaden public Members at Large awareness of the Collection and it’s holdings, especially the Canadian content, Mary Armstrong and work with the Toronto Public Library Board. 1987 saw the first issue of SOL Sabrina Fried Andrew Specht Rising, the Friends’ newsletter/magazine, which has become a popular and award winning publication. Past Chair Lucy White The Friends also encourage interest in the Merril Collection by sponsoring readings and publications, lectures and special events, and through cross promo- Editor / Designer tions and displays with other Special Collections of the Toronto Public Library. Sabrina Fried A sampling of some of the many authors to have appeared at the Merril Collection Head Collection over the past few years would include: Steven Brust, Orson Scott Card, Lorna Toolis Neil Gaiman, Terry Goodkind, David Hartwell, Nalo Hopkinson, Tanya Huff, Don Hutchison, Robert Jordan, Ursula Pflug, Robert J. Sawyer and Robert www.friendsofmerril.org/ Charles Wilson. SOL Rising, the newsletter of the Friends of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy, is published by the Friends of the Recent special events have included a lecture by Andrew Watt on the French Merril Collection, c/o Lillian H. Smith Branch, TPL, 239 College St. 3rd Floor, Toronto, fantasy artist Albert Robida; Dr. Elizabeth Miller gave a wonderful lecture and Ontario, M5T 1R5. This is issue number 29, August 2003. This newspaper is provided free - continued on page 4 of charge to members of The Friends; see back page for membership application from or write THE to the above address. All material contained herein that is credited is Copyright 2003 by the MERRIL COLLECTION OF author of the piece; all other material is SCIENCE FICTION Copyright 2003 by The Friends of the Merril AND Collection. “MC=(sf)2” is copyright 1994 by The SPECULATION FANTASY Friends of the Merril Collection. All Rights Reserved. Printed in Canada. LILLIAN H. SMITH BRANCH,TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY 3rd Floor 239 College St. Toronto, Ontario M5T1R5 Tel: 416.393-7748/9 Fax: 416.393.7741 [email protected] ISSN: 1199-2123 Hours: Monday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 9-5 For Inquiries Please Contact Above address c/o The Friends of the Merril Collection 2 From the Collection Head Collectors and Collecting: A Gentle Madnes SOL RISING By: Lorna Toolis Friends of the Merril Collection “I just want to check if you have any books by [insert the author’s name here] that I Number 29, August 2003 don’t have,” the person standing at the information desk tells me. This is a common Special Thanks exercise: a serious collector of a particular author will expend a great deal of effort to ensure that he or she owns everything by that author, everything. The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy orCon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention, will take place in wishes to thank the following donors Toronto over the Labour Day Weekend, in two weeks and change. This for their generous gifts: makes the members of the science fiction community extremely happy. T Prof. Elizabeth Cummins More precisely, it will make the book collectors extremely happy. The best part of Mr. Russell Howe any Worldcon, for a collector, is the dealers’ room, where everything they have Mr. David Kotin ever wanted to own in their lives may be found in one place. Rather like the Mr. Bill Vrantisidis Merril Collection, except that they can buy the books and take them home. It is hard to explain the passion for owning books to normal people, those being non- Events collectors. People who are addicted to drugs, rather than paper, are reasonable by comparison. August 21 to October 19, 2003 It is a very common pastime for members of the science fiction community. I Books on loan from the Merril remember attending a meeting of sf collectors in my early teens where the oldest will be part of the Other Worlds: member of the group was explaining, “You always need three copies: one to read, Get There From Here exhibit taking one to wrap in mylar and keep as your good copy, and one for trading, later.” place at the Toronto Reference Library At the time, this seemed to make perfect sense. The copy you read is going to August 27, 2003 be damaged by the body oils on your fingertips. (As I recall, he also advised turn- ing the pages with the tip of a fine pin, feeling that this was less invasive). Your The Merril will be hosting a panel mint copy you will wrap up and keep safe forever, and your trading copy you will discussion on the fantastic in reluctantly part with many years later, when making an arrangement with a fellow Canadian literature as part of the 2003 Academic Conference on collector, who will not be tempted by mere money. Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Margaret Atwood will be in Some people who collect books read and re-read them. Others don’t read them attendence as the keynote speaker. at all, either because they don’t want to risk damaging the books, or because the joy of possession has replaced the need for intellectual understanding. This is the For more information contact Dr. Allan Weiss, Conference Chair, frame of reference which produces the T-shirt which says, “Whoever dies with the [email protected] most books, wins!” Worldcon Notes Both groups have a major problem, that being storage space. Long ago, I real- ized that I had to ignore the well-intentioned advice of my collector friend: not only could I not afford to buy three of every book I wanted, I didn’t have the The Friends of the Merril will have a table outside the dealers’ space to store them. (I should mention that my friend’s basement is packed wall room in the fan tables area at to wall with boxes of books, with anthill-like tunnels allowing access to the boxes. Worldcon this year. Friends T-shirts, His wife retains a corner of the basement for the washer and dryer). mugs, memberships and back issues of Sol Rising will be available for sale The issue of compact stacks in the stack area of the Merril Collection, some- at the table.