NASFA 'Shuttle'
The SHUTTLE August 2004 The Next NASFA Meeting will be 21 August 2004 at the Regular Time and Location
The Next Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting will be 2P, 5 September 2004 at Mike KennedyÕs House { Oyez, Oyez { NASFA Calendar
The next NASFA meeting will be 21 August 2004 at the AUGUST regular time (6P) and the regular location. Call BookMark 06Ð08 ConGlomeration 2004 Ñ Louisville KY. (256-881-3910) if you need directions. 06Ð08 Crescent City Con 2004 Ñ Metairie (New Orleans) The August program will be Òcoin-struction.Ó Hone your LA. science fiction or fantasy imagination with building projects 08 Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting Ñ Mike using pocket change (bring a bunch!) and special connectors KennedyÕs house. (supplied). 08 BD: Jim Woosley. The August after-the-meeting meeting will be the final 13Ð15 Armadillocon 26 Ñ Austin TX. club pool party of the summer at Russell McNuttÕs house. The 14 BD: Edward Kenny. usual rules (bring your favorite drink and a food item to share) 21* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at apply. BookMark. Program: Coin-struction. ATMM: Pool The next Con Stellation XXIII: Delphinus concom meet- Party at Russell McNuttÕs house. ing is scheduled for Sunday 5 September 2004 (2P, Mike 21 BD: Deborah Denton. KennedyÕs house). Future concom meetings are scheduled for 19 September, 3 October, and 14 October. All but the last of SEPTEMBER those are Sunday meetings at Mike KennedyÕs house. The 14 02Ð06 Noreascon Four/Worldcon 62 Ñ Boston MA. October meeting is the last-minute Thursday meeting at the 03Ð05 Outside Con 17 Ñ Dickson TN. hotel. 03Ð06 Dragon*Con 2004 Ñ Atlanta GA. DonÕt forget the September NASFA meeting will be the 03Ð06 Mephit Furmeet 2004 Ñ Memphis TN. more-or-less-annual NASFA picnic. Marie McCormack and 05 Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting Ñ Mike Mike Cothran will host (210 Vincent Road in Huntsville). KennedyÕs house. WeÕll gather starting early afternoon (2P-ish) until we drop. 06 Labor Day. Bring a drink and a dish to share. Grills will be available. 09 BD: Mike Cothran.
Inside this issueÉ Spider-Man 2 Review ...... 4 Minutes of the July Meeting ...... 2 Awards Roundup ...... 5 LibertyCon 17 Review...... 2 Letters of Comment ...... 6 Deadline for the September 2004 issue of The NASFA Shuttle is Friday, 3 September 2004. 1 11 BD: Ray Pietruszka. The regular meeting location is the upstairs meeting room at 12 Grandparents Day. BookMark on South Memorial Parkway. The Executive 16 Rosh Hashanah. Committee meeting (if scheduled) is at 5P. The business 17 Citizenship Day. meeting is at 6P. The program is at 7P. Anyone is welcome to 18* More-or-less Annual NASFA Picnic Ñ 2P-ish until attend any of the meetings. There is usually an after-the- whenever at Mike & MarieÕs house. NOTE: This meeting meeting with directions available at the program. takes the place of the regular September meeting. 19 Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting Ñ Mike KennedyÕs house. 22 Atumunal Equinox. July Minutes 24Ð26 Anime Weekend Atlanta 10 Ñ Atlanta GA. by Samuel A. Smith, Jewel-Liar (not!) 24Ð26 Fencon Ñ Dallas TX. 25 Yom Kippur. The July meeting of the North Alabama Science Fiction 26 BD: Jenna Victoria Stone. Association was called to order on Saturday, July 17, 2004 in 30Ð03 Archon 28 Ñ St. Louis MO. the upstairs meeting room at BookMark at 6:13:50P by Presi- dent Mary Ortwerth, the Gavel, and the Crickets (Sam pre- OCTOBER warmed-up his cranky digital recorder). 03 Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting Ñ Mike OLD BUSINESS KennedyÕs house. Mike Kennedy: Is moving the October meeting new 08Ð10 Ditto 17 Ñ Orlando FL. business or old business? 11 Columbus Day (observed). Mike Cothran and Marie McCormack volunteered their 11 Thanksgiving Day (Canada). house for the September NASFA picnic. The picnic will be on 12 Columbus Day (traditional). the regular meeting day in September, and the regular meeting 14 Con Stellation XXIII ConCom Meeting Ñ at the con at BookMark will not be held that month. hotel. Election of the 2005 Con Stellation chair (or co-chairs): 15Ð17 Con Stellation XXIII: Delphinus Ñ Huntsville AL. In addition to Sam Smith, who was pre-nominated at the June 15Ð17 Necronomicon Õ04 Ñ Tampa FL. meeting, additional nominations were received for Anita Eis- 15Ð17 Capclave 2004 Ñ Vienna VA. enberg and Marie McCormack as co-chairs, and Doug Lam- 23* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at pert and Mary Ortwerth as co-chairs. After much digression BookMark. Program: Con Stellation Post Mortem. (but I digress), Anita Eisenberg and Marie McCormack were ATMM: TBD. NOTE: This is one week later than elected co-chairs for the 2005 Con Stellation. (Welcome back, usual due to Con Stellation. Marie!) They immediately announced that this will probably 24 United Nations Day. be Con Stellation XXIV: Lepus. (BunnyCon!) 24Ð31 Sci-Fi Sea Cruise Ñ departs from Galveston TX. NEW BUSINESS 25 BD: Marie McCormack. Mike Kennedy: We need to move the October NASFA 28Ð31 World Fantasy Convention 2004 Ñ Tempe AZ. meeting, since it conflicts with Con Stellation. After much 29Ð31 HallowCon Õ04 Ñ Chattanooga TN. discussion, it was decided to move the October meeting to be 31 Daylight Savings Time Ends. one week later than usual, on Saturday 23 October. 31 Halloween. Randy Cleary announced that he has a collection of flyers for upcoming conventions. NOVEMBER CONVENTION BUSINESS 02 Election Day. Mike Kennedy is thinking he might ÒdressÓ for the Chair- 11 VeteransÕ Day. manÕs Reception at the con, should any others be inclined to do 11 Remembrance Day (Canada). so as well. (No further comment.) 12Ð14 Mace Ñ High Point NC. Mike has proofs of stickers for ÒClan KennedyÓ to be 13Ð14 CoastCon Jr. XIII Ñ Biloxi MS. NOTE: Changes given out at the con. seem to be in the wind for this convention, so check There was much discussion of dolphins. for updated information before making plans. The next Con Committee meeting will be held on Sunday, 20* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at 8 August at 2:00P at Mike KennedyÕs house [now past]. After BookMark. Program: TBD. ATMM: Mike Ken- this, con committee meetings go to two per month. nedyÕs house. We have received word that Pat McAdams has a job again, 22 BD: Nancy Renee Peters. at a bookstore in Nashville. Congratulations Pat! 23 BD: Mike Kennedy. The meeting was adjourned at 6:44:19P. The program was 23 BD: Wilson ÒBobÓ Tucker. LotR Trivial Pursuit. The After-The-Meeting Meeting was a 25 Thanksgiving Day. pool party at Russell McNuttÕs house. 29 BD: Howard Camp. 30 BD: Joshua Kennedy. 30 BD: Richard Gilliam. LibertyCon 17 OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO a Convention Review The North Alabama Science Fiction Association meets on by Mike Kennedy the third Saturday of each month. (Unless there is a large nearby convention being held that weekend Ñ in which case LibertyCon 17 was held 23Ð25 July 2004 at the Holiday we often move the meeting to the second or fourth weekend.) Inn in Cleveland TN. (Cleveland is couple of dozen miles up 2 I-75 from Chattanooga. LibertyCon moved to this hotel after Directions on the convention website provided the few clues losing their original choice a few months before the con.) one needed to get to the hotel with no missteps. The view from Invited guests included Literary GoHs Larry Niven and Jerry the hotel, which is on top of a good-sized hill, was quite nice. Pournelle, Artist GoH Steve Hickman and MC David Weber. Since I was going to run a room party for Con Stellation Other notables expected to attend included Steven E. Cobb, Friday night and since I didnÕt get out of Huntsville as early as David Deitrick, Eric Flint, Sharon Green, Dr. Les Johnson, Dr. I wanted to, much of my time between arrival and Liberty- Greg Matloff, Dr. Travis Taylor, Hank Reinhardt, and Toni ConÕs Opening Ceremony was spent unloading the car, schlep- Weisskopf. ping things to my second-floor room (no elevator, unfortu- LibertyCon is one of my favorite cons to attend for a nately), and setting up for the party. I did have one problem relaxing, fun time. Though they did have a few teething with my room Ñ the air conditioner was completely iced over problems in the new hotel (about which more later) they didnÕt and thus functioning poorly Ñ but the hotel promptly reme- disappoint this year. died it. Score one for the good guys. Finding the hotel proved to be no bid deal. ThereÕs only the I did get set up for the party (including posting notices, one Holiday Inn in Cleveland and itÕs quite near the Interstate. etc.) in time to take a breather for a while and make it to the 3 Opening Ceremony. This appeared to be the first time that earlier this summer.) David Weber had been a convention MC, but he did a nice job I did have time to make the rounds of the con, though, and and got the convention off to an official start. The ceremony say my goodbyes to many. I was already pulling out of the was scheduled for only a 30-minute slot (which was plenty of parking lot when Ken Moore flagged me down and told me that time) followed by a 30-minute autograph session. In the latter there was a major traffic jam on I-75 southbound, apparently case 30 minutes was decidedly not plenty of time, especially caused by several wrecks earlier in the day. Rather than sweat since it has been quite a while since GoHs Niven and Pournelle that out, I decided to stay and ended up scratching up four for have appeared in this part of the country. Fortunately they were another game of spades. (Um, I didnÕt mention all the cards I able to schedule another session later in the convention to pick played or kibitzed during the weekend, otherwise this review up the slack. Kudos to Sue Thorn and the rest of the crew that would have been much longer.) The traffic jam was still at full arranged this. crawl when I left an hour or two later, but by then the hotel had The Con Stellation party may have been the only one maps available for a suggested back route. (And thanks to Judy Friday night, though I canÕt be sure. In any case, we had a good Breitbach for letting me know about that.) crowd during the three hours we had scheduled. I had estab- Early in the review I promised more about the facility. lished a nominal 11P end for the party on the signs I posted in Some of that is scattered about above, but there are a couple of part to accommodate playing in the first round of the spades topics I wanted to address. tournament. I had arranged with most of the players on my One of the distinguishing features of LibertyConÕs previ- table to meet at my hotel room after the party, but various ous facility (which they were in for a number of years) was a holdups got in the way. In the end only one other of the patio area that was in a corner between the hotel lobby and originally-scheduled players (MC David Weber) made the function space (including the Con Suite). For a con that was game. I played just well enough to advance to the second both good (giving great flow to the space and a place for round, though I subsequently lost out there and didnÕt make it smokers to gather that was still close to all the action) and bad to the finals. (It was cold comfort that the player I lost to in the (said place was often insufferably hot in July and the heat and second round went on to win the tournament.) smoke often invaded the Con Suite as the doors were opened David Weber was late for the first-round table because he quite often). In this yearÕs hotel, LibertyCon tried to recreate was finishing a reading in the Con Suite. (It had been moved this by adding some artificial shade to a patio area in the hotel there because one of the small function rooms the convention courtyard. However, it was not located conveniently to much had counted on was unavailable Friday night. It had only two of the function space, and the Con Suite was on the second readings scheduled for that evening, and was available to the floor, so the flow was certainly not the same. (I never got to it con the rest of the weekend; so they coped OK with this once during the weekend.) This is nothing against LibertyCon, disruption.) itÕs just a realization that the venue does affect many character- Saturday I took in one panel I particular wanted to get to istics of a convention. (Toni Weisskopf, Sharon Green, and Elizabeth Barrette on the And speaking of the Con Suite, it was probably on the the necessities of editing) and a trip through the Art Show. second floor because thatÕs where the best suite was located. There were several pieces I would have like to have tried for, Unfortunately, the hotel has no elevator which meant all but all of them were beyond my price range. I never did make supplies (food, ice, drinks, etc.) had to be carried up by hand. it to much of the dealer space. One of the drawbacks of this IÕm sure this was a major headache (or backache) for the staff. hotel for LibertyCon (noting that all venues have one problem They coped with both this and a goof by the soft-drink supplier or another) was that they had to have a Òdealers alleyÓ rather that had the fountains sent to the wrong place Friday and not than a traditional single room. With each dealer set up in their available to the convention until Saturday. Hopefully if Liber- own hotel room, it was less convenient to just wander from tyCon is in the same hotel next year they will find some way to dealer to dealer and I never saw what the vast majority of them have the Con Suite on the first floor as it would be both easier had on offer. on the staff and potentially have better access from the pro- I also decided to go to the Banquet. It had a somewhat gramming areas. Nonetheless, I was very happy for the job the somewhat odd start time of 5P so they could have the speeches Con Suite staff did this year. Food from there (and the various before the buffet line was thrown open. I got a great table for parties and the banquet) sustained me for the weekend. I the speeches, but it turned out to be the last one to get in line for realized on Sunday that I hadnÕt bought a meal except for the food. Nonetheless there was both plenty of food and pretty banquet the whole weekend. good quality. Wherever LibertyCon ends up next year, itÕll remain on Having no bids to defend, I didnÕt make it to the art my list of cons to be attended. I donÕt make it every year, but auction. The masquerade, though, I always try to attend at any I certainly go whenever I possibly can. I hope to see you there. con. As it turned out, I got a dose of auctioning anyway as some of the non-art charity auction items (books and the like) were put up for sale during the judging interval at the masquerade. Interestingly, one of the better entries in the masquerade was Hey, Big Spinner, Spin a a puppet show by a fellow I had seen at the furry con earlier this year in Huntsville. Little Web for Me Sunday was mostly a getaway day, despite the fact that I a Movie Review had taken some of the party supply boxes to the car the previous by Mike Kennedy day. There was one panel I did want to attend (Con Economics 101) but it was at 11A and I was just too busy getting out of my Spider-Man 2; PG-13; Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, room. Hopefully HuntsvilleÕs Sam Smith did a good job of James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J. K. Sim- representing the side as a panelist. (I had begged out on that mons, et al.; Written by Alvin Sargent (screenplay), Stan Lee when Kerry Gilley was looking for suckers, er, participants and Steve Ditko (comic book), and Alfred Gough, Miles Millar 4 and Michael Chabon (screen story); Directed by Sam Raimi; Produced by Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Awards Roundup Stan Lee, and Grant Curtis; Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures; 127 minutes WORLD FANTASY AWARDS NOMS Nominations for the 2004 World Fantasy Awards (for ItÕs probably futile to publish a review of Spider-Man 2 in works from 2003) have been announced. Two nominees in the Shuttle since by the time this gets in your hands the movie each category reach the ballot via votes submitted by members will likely have coasted to over $360 million in domestic ticket of the World Fantasy Convention. The rest of the ballot is sales and the majority of you will probably have seen it. completed by a panel of judges. This yearÕs judges are John Nonetheless, since I contributed by $8 toward that all-time top- Clute, Sherwood Smith, Michael Stackpole, Alain Nevant, and 10 gross, IÕll put in an additional 2¢ worth. Scott Wyatt. The winners, including one or more winners in the Spidey 2 was, of course, one of the most hyped movies of Life Achievement category (candidates not announced in the year. For the most part, it lived up to that hype, delivering advance) will be selected by the judges and will be announced a heaping plateful of action and special effects, and just enough at this yearÕs WFC, to be held 28Ð31 October 2004 in Tempe character development to at least make a nice side dish. AZ. The nominees are: Anyone who saw the first Spider-Man movie or who has Novel at least a modest amount of familiarity with the comic book The Etched City, K. J. Bishop (Prime Books) universe from which it was taken would find few surprises in Fudoki, Kij Johnson (Tor) Spider-Man 2. After all, itÕs pretty much a given that good will The Light Ages, Ian R. MacLeod (Ace) triumph in the end, but the personal life of Peter Parker aka Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton (Tor) Spider-Man will remain as screwed up as ever. Veniss Underground, Jeff VanderMeer (Prime Books) Tobey Maguire does a quite credible job in the dual role. Novella It would have been unfortunate if, as was rumored before ÒA Crowd of Bone,Ó Greer Gilman (Trampoline: An Anthol- shooting started, physical problems had kept him out of the ogy, Small Beer Press) movie. (Or perhaps it was a contract dispute Ñ depending on ÒDancing Men,Ó Glen Hirshberg (The Dark, Tor) who you believe.) Kirsten Dunst also does a credible job as ÒThe Empire of Ice Cream,Ó Jeffrey Ford (Sci Fiction love interest Mary Jane Watson. Alfred Molina was suitably 02.26.03) over the top as super-villain Doc Ock though less impressive ÒExorcising Angels,Ó Simon Clark and Tim Lebbon (Exorcis- in the pre-Ock obsessed-scientist aspect of Dr. Otto Octavius. ing Angels, Earthling Publications) Spider-ManÕs nemesis (and Peter ParkerÕs supposed friend) ÒThe Hortlak,Ó Kelly Link (The Dark, Tor) Harry Osborn is played again by James Franco. Perhaps itÕs the Short Fiction material heÕs given, but I found FrancoÕs performance less than ÒAncestor Money,Ó Maureen F. McHugh (Sci Fiction great. IÕm also less than enamored of ParkerÕs Aunt May 10.01.03) Parker as played by Rosemary Harris. On the other hand, J. K. Circle of Cats, Charles de Lint (Viking) Simmons seems to have been born to play newspaper editor J. ÒDon Ysidro,Ó Bruce Holland Rogers (Polyphony 3, Wheat- Jonah Jameson and comes close to stealing every scenes heÕs land) in. ÒGus Dreams of Biting the Mailman,Ó Alex Irvine (Trampo- The strength of the Spider-Man mythos in the comics Ñ line, Small Beer Press) Peter ParkerÕs angst and the trouble his dual nature causes for ÒO One,Ó Chris Roberson (Live Without a Net, Roc) his loved ones Ñ comes dangerously close to being a problem Anthology in the movie incarnation. For two movies now weÕve had The Dark: New Ghost Stories, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor) Parker/Spidey not get the girl, have one problem after another Gathering the Bones, Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell, and with his Aunt, get browbeaten by his employer, and scrape by Dennis Etchison, eds. (Voyager Australia; Voyager UK; at school despite his reputed brilliance. In comic book form this Tor US) seems to work better than on the big screen, perhaps because Strange Tales, Rosalie Parker, ed. (Tartarus Press) a two-hour movie lasts so much longer than reading a typical The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & issue of a comic book. By the end it wears a bit thin that the Discredited Diseases, Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts, character is so selfless most of the time. (The plot of this movie eds. (Night Shade Books) does attempt to address this as Parker tries to give up being Trampoline: An Anthology, Kelly Link, ed. (Small Beer Spider-Man for a while. In the end he fails, of course.) Press) Despite these shortcomings, Spider-Man 2 is quite a good Collection summer-action-no-thought-required movie, which is certainly Bibliomancy, Elizabeth Hand (PS Publishing) reflected in the box office. A preliminary release date (4 May Ghosts of Yesterday, Jack Cady (Night Shade Books) 2007) has already been announced for a third movie, though GRRM: A RRetrospective, George R. R. Martin (Subterra- few rumors have reached the usual online sites. ThereÕs a broad nean Press) hint near the end of this movie (which I wonÕt relate here to More Tomorrow & Other Stories, Michael Marshall Smith avoid a spoiler for the few of you that still may plan to go for (Earthling Publications) the first time) about who the villain (or at least one of the The Two Sams, Glen Hirshberg (Carroll & Graf) villains) may be. Personally I hope itÕs misdirection. Artist All in all itÕs a recommended movie, especially for those Brom Donato Giancola wishing to just relax and have a bit of fun. While some aspects John Jude Palencar John Picacio of the human condition are addressed more by the Spider-Man Jason Van Hollander series than most other comic-book-related movies, donÕt ex- Special Award, Professional pect to take it too seriously. Just go and have a good time. Peter Crowther (for PS Publishing) 5 John Howe and Alan Lee (for artwork in The Lord of the Stephen Jones, ed., By Moonlight Only (PS Publishing) Rings) Stephen Jones, ed., The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant (for Small Beer Press) Vol. 14 (Robinson/Carroll & Graf) Sharyn November (for Firebird Books) Joel Lane, ed., Beneath The Ground (Alchemy Press) David Pringle (for Interzone/service to the field) Andy W. Robertson, ed., William Hope HodgsonÕs Night Sean Wallace (for Prime Books) Lands, Volume 1: Eternal Love (Wildside Press) Special Award, Non-Professional Jeff Vandermeer and Mark Roberts, eds., The Thackery T. Deborah Layne and Jay Lake (for Wheatland Press) Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Paul Miller (for Earthling Publications) Diseases (Night Shade Books) Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker (for Tartarus Press) Best Collection Dave Truesdale (for Tangent Online) Ramsey Campbell, Told by the Dead (PS Publishing) Rodger Turner, Neil Walsh, and Wayne MacLaurin (for SF Christopher Fowler, Demonized (SerpentÕs Tail) Site.com) M. John Harrison, Things That Never Happen (Night Shade MYTHOPOEIC AWARDS ANNOUNCED Books) The Mythopoeic Society
7 P. O. Box 4857 Huntsville AL 35815-4857
***************************************************************************************************************** The NASFA Shuttle is the newsletter of the North Alabama Science Fiction Association, Inc. This is the August 2004 edition (Volume 24, Number 8). NASFA Officers for 2004: President Mary Ortwerth; Vice President Mike Kennedy; Secretary Sam Smith; Treasurer Ray Pietruszka; Program Director Karen Hopkins; Publicity Director Doug Lampert. Shuttle Editor Mike Kennedy. Comments, inquiries, and contributions of writing by email to: [email protected] Ñ EDITORIAL ADDRESS (EMAIL) Comments, inquiries, and contributions of writing by snailmail to: Mike Kennedy, 7907 Charlotte Drive SW, Huntsville AL 35802-2841 Ñ EDITORIAL ADDRESS (SNAILMAIL) Dues ($), subscriptions ($), and Official Mail to: NASFA, Inc., P. O. Box 4857, Huntsville AL 35815-4857 Ñ OFFICIAL ADDRESS Contents Copyright, © 2004. All rights revert to contributors. All opinions are those of the individual authors and do not reflect club policies other than by coincidence. LoCs subject to edited printing. NASFA Dues = $15/year (Family rates available) Subscription only = $10/year Single copy = $1.50 each. *****************************************************************************************************************
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