1 August, 2013 Askance Volume VI, Number 4 Whole Number 29 Edited and published by John Purcell, 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, TX 77845-3926 Contents © 2013 by John A. Purcell. Contact information: [email protected] 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, TX 77845 Even so, all rights revert to original artists and authors upon publication. What you have here in your hands (or on screen) is another Mythical Publication. Copies of this fine, semi-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 $3.00 USD. Bribes are also accepted. Of course, if you send in locs, articles, and artwork, you just earned a life-time free subscription. Heck of a deal, eh? Special LoneStarCon 3 Issue CONTENTS Bemused Natterings…………………………………….3 A Legend of Aussiecon, by Bill Wright…………….….7 RE: LONCON 3 FAN PROGRAMME, byJim Mowratt.…..9 Chattacon XXXVIII Report, by Mike Lowrey………..11 At Least My Brilliant…, by Taral Wayne…………….16 Fanzine Reviews……………………………….……...18 From the Hinterlands…………………………….…...21 Regional Convention Calendar……………………….31 What’s Next – and when!..............................................39 ARTWORK: Front cover: Taral Wayne. Sheryl Birkhead – 2; Ian Gunn – 3; clip art – 5; image Googled Aussiecon – 7,8; Image Googled Loncon 3 – 9; image Googled Graham Charnock – 10; image Googled Chattacon 38 – 11; Photos supplied by Mike Lowrey – 12, 14; amymebberson.tumbler.com – 16; Steve Stiles – 18; image Googled middle of nowhere – 21; Teddy Harvia – 25; Brad Foster – 33; Jose Sanchez – 37; Photo by Valerie Purcell - 39 Back cover: Teddy Harvia. Member: FWA (since 2007!) 2 TCOB (TAKING CARE OF BIZNESS) Yes, I am calling this the Special LoneStarCon 3 Issue of Askance; the 71st World Science Fiction Convention is being held at the Gonzalez Convention Center, Sa Antonio, Texas, from August 29th to September 2nd, 2013, and Valerie and I have been looking forward to attending for the last year. Face it: the last world convention I attended was Iguanacon II, the Phoenix, AZ WorldCon held over Labor Day weekend of 1978. That is 35 years between WorldCons. As some folks would say, “that’s not too many,” but considering that this year’s premier event in the science fiction community is being held almost in my backyard – San Antonio is roughly a three hour drive from College Station – this was almost as much of a no-brainer as my attending Corflu 24 in Austin, Texas, in 2007 (a two-hour drive from home). So, this is one of those things that given the opportunity to take in the biggest event of the science fiction community’s calendar, we are there. Be that as it may, we still have things to take care of before LoneStarCon 3 hits. As I write this, it is three weeks before the con begins on August 29, 2013, and both of us have a lot to do before then. For Valerie, it is preparing a lot of artwork for the artshow and Artist’s Alley , plus the cover for this year’s WOOF collation. WOOF, for those of you who don’t know what that acronym stands for, is the Worldcon Organization Of Faneditors, and WOOF is essentially the World Convention’s APA (Amateur Press Association). A such, this is a publication that comes out only oce a year, traditionally collated on the Sunday of the WorldCon and each contributor to the WOOF APA gets a copy. If there are any exta copies, those are available usually at the whims of the OE (Official Editor) for that year. This time, it’s me: John Hertz, who has served in this capacity in the past, asked if I would be willing to be the OE of LSC3’s WOOF, and I accepted. Having an artist for a wife made it easy to procure a cover, and what I then had to do was get the word out to all and sundry as to what the copy count is for this year’s WOOF, when the collation would be, plus getting the details from everyone contributing so I can get a table of contents together and run off copies. This last item typically is created on site, and if I get contributions early enough I could conceivably bring the TOC to San Antonio. I don’t see that happening, though; I know how these faneditors operate. My other duties over the LSC3 weekend are fairly straightforward, but require a good amount of preparation. As I said in the last issue and also in three issues of Askew this year, I am the host of the Fanzine Lounge at LSC3, and taking a historical approach. Each day the fanzine lounge will feature some means of fanzine reproduction that fans have used since fanzines first began back in the early 1930s. So one day will be simple typewriter and carbon paper, another day will be a demonstration/workshop on hectograph, then there will be a mimeograph demo/workshop, then the whole shebang will wrap up 3 with a desktop publishing day. I did have plans to use a ditto machine, but unfortunately those fell through. For that, I apologize, but there will still be much to do and enjoy in the fanzine lounge. Besides the requisite comfy chairs and loveseats for conversation, the lounge will have banquet round tables with chairs for folks to sit, converse, play cards or some other game (I’m bringing a couple games), plus other fun things (coloring paper, crayons, coloured pencils, origami paper, etc.), so the lounge is designed for camaraderie and conversation during the whole of the convention. And the big advantage is that there is a bar next to the fanzine lounge. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? So come on over, peruse the fanzine tables – freebies, fan fund auction items, zines for sale, etc. – and enjoy the company of fans who take part in this literary productive side of fandom. It is my sincerest hope that young fans who will be cruising the exhibit hall in the Gonzalez Convention Center will stop and partake of the planned and unplanned events. It should be a fun time. WHY THIS CONVENTION IS IMPORTANT TO ME For the past month I have been mulling this topic over and over inside my head. These ruminations reveal a number of reasons for why I look at LoneStarCon 3 as such an important event. First and foremost, this will be my first WorldCon since Iguanacon back in 1978. There are some definite similarities between the two, the big one being that both are HOT, as in triple-digit high temperatures; for those of you who favour the Celsius scale, that translates into the high 30s and low 40s. For example, when it hit 105° F last week here in College Station, Texas, the equivalent Celsius temperature is 41°. Brother, that is hot! Factor in the humidity factor – which is usually over 60% everyday – then according to the heat index, that feels like 112° F, or… Well, you get the idea. In comparison, during Iggy the average daily high was 110° F, but the humidity was a bone-dry 10-20%, if that much. So both of these cons will be “feeling” about the same, heat-wise. Fun-wise, both should be similar, but it has been 35 years since my last world science fiction convention, and from what I can tell so far, this beast has changed dramatically in that time. So another part of me is very curious to experience a 21st century WorldCon and marvel at the changes both positive and negative. Some aspects have not changed: fans still grouse about the Fan Hugos, and voting blocs, the so-called BNFs who rule the roost, so to speak; stuff like that. And like in 1978, there is a national political issue hanging over the host state. Thirty-five years ago the issue was women’s rights: Arizona was refusing to sign the Equal Rights Amendment that would guarantee women full and equal rights. The ERA had passed both houses of the American Congress and had gone to the states for ratification (needing 2/3rds of the states to vote yes) by June 30th of 1982, but failed to do so. Arizona, being very pig-headed about the issue, refused to ratify, prompting Iguanacon Guest of Honor Harlan Ellison to protest by refusing to put any of his money into the state coffers; how well I remember the Winnebago he lived in parked outside the Phoenix Hyatt. I also remember Harlan sitting inside a plastic tent in the Hyatt’s Atrium tippy-tapping on a manual typewriter a story that would eventually become “Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" 4 W", one of the longer titles Ellison created. Damn story even won the Hugo Award for best short story at the following year’s world convention. But I seriously am off topic here. What I’m getting at this year is how the Texas State Legislature, led by its cheerleader Governor Rick Perry, is waging a full-blown yet undeclared war on women. This has been going on for quite a few years actually as the Republican Party in this state – and across the country, too – seems to “have it in” for limiting women’s access to health care, closing down Planned Parenthood offices, abortion clinics, and blocking virtually anything that would benefit women who happen to be 53% of all registered voters in Texas (regardless of party affiliation).