J June, 2010 Volume IV, number 2 Askance number 20 Edited and published by John Purcell, 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, TX 77845-3926 Contents © 2010 by John A. Purcell. All rights revert to original artists and authors upon publication. So there. What you have here in your hands (or on screen) is another Mythical Publication. Copies of this fine QUARTERLY fanzine can be had for The Usual, which means expressed interest, submission and eventual inclusion of articles and artwork, letters of comment, expressed interest, and cold hard cash in the amount of $2.00 USD to cover mailing of a hard copy. Bribes encouraged. Of course, if you send in locs, articles, and artwork, you‟ve earned a life-time free subscription. Heckuva deal, eh? Contact information via e-mail: [email protected] contents Bemused Natterings........................................................................................................3 Political Philosophy, by William R. Wright......................................................................7 Against the Fall of Empires, by Taral Wayne..................................................................10 Things We’ve Learned, by Robert Whitaker Sirignano...................................................17 Why Aussies Don’t Throw a Pig on the Barbie, by John Straede....................................20 Penney for your Thoughts, fanzine reviews by Lloyd Penney.........................................21 Figby, by Bill Fischer........................................................................................................23 Tales from the Convention, by Lloyd Penney..................................................................24 From the Hinterlands, by the deluded, but delovely, loyal readership...........................26 Wikiphilia: The Fried Encyclopedia, by Bill Fischer..........................................................37 Regional Convention Calendar........................................................................................42 The Time-Binder’s Wife, by John Purcell……..…………………………………………….…………..…….48 What’s Next....................................................................................................................51 Cover: Ditmar (“Robot’s Lament”) Photo by Valerie Purcell – 3; photos by John Purcell - 4, 5; clip art – 7, 8 ; filler art sent by Bill Wright – 9; Taral Wayne – 10, 35; image googled “President Obama” - 1; image googled “Nimitz-class carriers” – 13; Steve Stiles & Bill Rotsler – 16; image googled “life-stages” – 17; Jose Sanchez – 19; from old “Asterix” strip – 20; Alan White – 21, 34; Lloyd Penney – 24; image googled “hinterlands” – 26; image googled “furry con” - 29; image Googled “Invader Zim” – 33; image Googled “Pinky and the Brain” – 36; Leslie Hawes – 42; image Googled “armadillo” – 44; book scan by John Purcell – 47; Sheryl Birkhead – 51. Back Cover: recently received convention flyers from F.A.C.T. Member FWA (since 2007!) 2 DUFF results The results are in: John Hertz won the 2010 DUFF race, North America to Australasia, by a vote total of 73 to my 47. If you go to www.File770.com/DUFF you can see the complete voting breakdown by rounds. Interesting stuff, if number crunching cranks your chain. Okay, so this is old news in the fannish universe since it is now June and the results were announced in the first week of April. My, how times have changed. Back in the day a two-month turn around in getting the news out with all the various fanzines responding to said news would have been positively fast, or at least, typical response time. Nowadays with the Internet speeding things up, what once was fast is now ponderously slow. It all strikes me as an interesting commentary on communication here in the early 21st century. So John Hertz will be the North American fan heading down to Aussiecon IV later this summer. Good for him. I have never met John, but have read lots of his writings in assorted fanzines, notably File 770 and his Apa-L zine, Vanamonde, which he mails out to folks in batches of five. He seems like a good fellow, so I don‟t mind losing to him. What I find really amusing about this whole deal is that I came in second. Four rounds of vote tallying, eh? Interesting. Folks are already encouraging me to try again in 2012, which is flattering. Will I? Don‟t know. It is way too soon to even think about that. Right now, I simply want to thank all of the folks who supported me – Arnie and Joyce Katz, Lloyd Penney, Bill Wright, Bruce Gillespie, and Guy H. Lillian III – and those of you who actually voted for me. Thank you all so very, very much, you poor, benighted sods. As far as this year‟s DUFF race goes, I must admit that it wasn‟t until the final ballot came out that I learned John Hertz was in the running. It really surprised me, and my first thought was “Well, he‟s gonna win.” Up until that point I thought I had a real shot at it. Oh, well. John is going to be a fine DUFF representative, and I fully expect to see his trip report published in File 770, or at least a large part of it. If he wants to send part of it my way, I would be honored to publish one segment of John‟s Aussiecon IV trip report here in Askance. The way I look at it, there‟s a fun way to get another new name to appear in these pages, and quality writing, to boot. In the meantime, congratulations Mr. Hertz, and have a safe and fun journey to Oz. 3 In case you haven’t noticed... The publication of this fine fanzine has been changed to a quarterly. Why is this, you wonder? Well, allow me to explain. There are three main reasons for the shift: 1) Time. It is my belief that giving myself a bit more time, even just one month, will make a big difference in improving the quality of this fanzine. Sometimes my written contributions feel a bit rushed when I have tried to maintain the bimonthly schedule I set for myself back in the spring of 2007. I also believe that having a few more weeks of time will give readers a chance to write locs and work on other written material for Askance. All in all, more time will be A Good Thing for the zine, and should improve the overall quality of each issue. Personally, I think I am going to enjoy having that extra month to work on the layout and visual appeal. 2) Print copies. Yes, the bane of my existence with this zine. It has always been my goal to run off a certain number of copies of each issue to mail to contributors and potential recipients who might loc and contribute other material (articles, artwork), and it pains me to admit that I have not been very good here at my end of the bargain. The procrastinator in me has always felt “Well, I have another ish coming up soon, so I‟ll do it then”, but the chance to be a good boy and do what I say never comes to pass. I have been a bad boy, Abbott, and an extra month might be just what I need to set myself on the right path. Sure hope so. 3) Feels right. A quarterly schedule just “feels” like a more leisurely pace and even gives the zine that indefinable sense of “faanishness”, which truthfully bears no stated schedule, if any regularity at all. Lots of fanzines are irregular, which reflects their editors/publishers, and we all know how irregular fans can be – and I‟m not talking about their digestive tracts, either. But I digress. All I know is that at this stage of this fanzine‟s lifetime a quarterly publishing schedule feels Just Right. Who knows? In the future the zine may return to a bimonthly schedule. Let‟s just not worry about that right now, okay? Okay. Strange days, indeed.... Our oldest child, Penny (here she is in her commencement attire), graduated from Sam Houston State University on Friday evening, May 14, 2010, and we couldn‟t be prouder. Her four year degree in Criminal Justice/Victim Studies may have taken Penny five and a half years to complete, but, hey, she got it done, and that‟s the important thing. The commencement ceremony was most uneventful - except loud, thanks to over-exuberant family members of assorted graduates - but getting there WAS eventful: we drove out of a big honking thunderstorm settled right over College Station, then followed us to Huntsville. A pretty intense storm, too. Her boyfriend Eric and Penny's father Mitch (she's actually my stepdaughter, but I've never thought of her as anything but a daughter) 4 got slowed down by the storm as well, and a few accidents caused by said T-storm, so they missed the speechifying (lucky bastards) and 75% of the graduates, but they were able to see Penny walk the stage and get her diploma, so that was good. My in-laws were already in town at a motel so they weren't affected by the storm, and Eric's folks (who likewise live here in College Station) arrived late (20 minutes) to the ceremony. Yes, it was Kind of crazy weather that night. (Sing with me, everyone: “Riders on the storm...”) Then on the way home after the CJ-graduate reception across campus, when it was NOT storming, a couple wild hogs ran across the road in front of us, barely missing our car, just as we were getting back into College Station. I guess those hogs were bolting for cover because another line of storms was due to hit town Real Soon Now. All in all, though, things went well. So late afternoon Saturday the 15th of May we all gathered at the Ficht's house (they offered since their place is much bigger than ours) for Penny's graduation party. The eating fare was brats, hot dogs, and burgers on the grill, and the forecasted rainfall never materialized. In fact, the weather was delightful. Once everybody ate and drank their fill, we all chatted for a bit then called it a night.