#1~B FEBRIIARY 1### Co·EdHors: .onfiHion Rnie. EdHor: Haren Hellekson l Crail Jacobsen .eil Barron • ~ • IrI.": W .. [;] STARTIIIG OUT Alan Elms Not so very long ago at all, I got a phone call from Joan Gordon. The good news, she said, was that I had been elected to become the next vice president of SFRA. The very bad news was that Lynn Williams, the president-elect, had sud­ denly died. The however-I-wanted-to-take-it news was that, according to the SFRA bylaws, I was now the president-elect. Initially I wasn't sure how I wanted to take it. Lynn would have been an energetic and wdl-qualiftd president, and the news of her death was a shock. I had agreed to run for the vice presidency with no further organizational ambitions. Joan said I could decline the presidency if! felt it was more than I had bargained for, but she hoped I'd accept it. As you can see, she persuaded me. In part, my decision was based on Joan's willingness to provide continued support, assistance, and encouragement. (As immediate past president, Joan remains a full participant on the Executive Board.) Our two reelected officers, Carolyn Wendell and Mike Levy, have also been very helpful, as have our new editorial team of Karen, Craig, and Neil, and our ex-ex-president, Joe Sanders. Adam Frisch, the other vice presidential candi­ date in the 1998 election, responded with enthusiasm when the new Executive Committee asked him to ftll the vice presidential vacancy. So with all that help, I think I can do the job. My other reason for decid­ ing to take it on is the importance of SFRA to me. Science ftction research and teaching don't Cut much ice in academic psychology. On the other hand, when I began to study science ftction writers from a psychological perspective, I was quite uncertain as to how such work would be received by the literary scholars and teach­ ers already immersed in the fteld. At my first SFRA conference, in Rolla in 1984, I was quickly made to feel at home by such people as Walt Meyers, Mack and Sue Hassler, Brian Attebery, and Brooks Landon. I was also taken under the gentle wings of Muriel Becker and Betsy Harfst, who continued to look out for me at later conferences. At the half-dozen or so later conferences I've attended, I've found further friendship and intellectual stimulation from such people as Neil Bar­ ron, Dave Mead, Susan Stratton, Jim Gunn, Jack Williamson, and Gary Westfahl. The SFRAReview (ISSN I068-395X) is published six times a year by the Science Fiction Research As­ sociation (SFRA) and distributed to SFRA members. Individual issues are not for sale. For informa­ tion about the SFRA and its benefits. see the description at the back of this issue. For a membership application. contact SFRA Treasurer Michael M. Levy or get one from the SFRA Website: <http:// www.uwm.edu/-sandslsfra/scifi.htm>. 2 And then there's the SFRA listserv, through which I've become familiar with the current interests and ideas of many members who can't get to the conferences, as lIonlidion Re,ie. JI well as those who do. Though I'm active in several other professional organiza­ tions, ranging in size from enormous to miniscule, SFRA soon became the one that Disch Dreams felt most like family. It still does-now more than ever. Neil Barron lIonlidion Rnie. J2 • ei.: ~ Invaluable Index ~ FORWARD THE REYIEW Neil Barron Karen Hellekson and Craig Jacobsen lIonlidion Rnie. J2 This issue marks the beginning of a new year for the Review, and with Difficult Bibliography that comes changes. We've begun our Approaching... feature by focusing on Wil­ Neil Barron liam Gibson's Neuromancer. Through the generosity of our contributors we are lIonlic.ion Rnie. JJ able to bring you a trove of valuable information for anyone interested in teaching or researching the book that helped define cyberpunk. In fact, there was so much Gorey Galore that we had to edit it down to shoehorn it all into this already beefy issue. Check Neil Barron the call for submission for future features (a new one every month), and submit! lIonlidion Rnie. JJ You'll also notice that we've changed the layout a bit, and included our Awards Bargain first letter to the editors and the first installment of an ongoing graphic narrative. Neil Barron We are also lucky enough to be able to print a poem from a Pulitzer Prize winner. lIonlic.ion Rnie. J4 This issue also contains the first President's message from Alan Elms and the regular yearly reports from the rest of the SFRA Board (except VP Adam Goosebumps Frisch, who at deadline was still recovering from having been shanghaied into that Michael Levy position), including everything you ever wanted to know about the SFRA budget. Correspondence J5 We've also got the index for the 1998 issues. Of course we also have the usual slew Letter to the Editors of the insightful fiction and nonfiction reviews that, logically enough, are the heart Graphic lIarra.in J5 of the Review. Croatoan Even with these changes, which we think are pretty nifty, we'd like to see Laura Jacobsen the Review do more. Accordingly, we've put together an SFRA Review web page, accessible through the main SFRA page at <http://www.uwm.edu/~sands/sfra!scifi. htm> or directly at <http://members.aol.com/sfrareview>. While the design of the site may not win any awards (except perhaps for minimalism), we'll be using it to post calls for submissions, provide information on upcoming issues, and, with the SUBMISSIONS permission of the authors, offering downloadble versions of select articles from the The SFRAReview editors encourage submis­ Review. Our primary purpose for this is to offer material in a format that members sions. Please send submissions to both editors. can easily manipulate for their own classroom needs, and thus we'll be focusing on If you would like to be put on the list of non­ the Approaching... articles. We also may present the "director's cut" version of arti­ fiction reviewers. please contact Neil Barron directly. The general editorial address for the cles that we've been forced to whittle on for space considerations. SFRAReview is: And finally, though we hate to admit it, we've caught Millennium Hype <SFRAReview@aoLcom>. Fever. We've mastered whatever qualms we once had and accepted that 2000 is going to be the big year no matter what people who can count say. The Review is Karen Hellekson. Coeditor already looking forward to the big December issue with exciting plans for a big 742 N 5th Street finish. Lawrence, KS 66044 <[email protected]> i.:~ • i.: i.: •• ; <khellekson@hotmaiLcom> (for attachments) = SECRETARY'S REPORT Carolyn Wendell Craig Jacobsen. Coeditor In November, I mailed out 255 notices for membership renewal. I wrote 208 E Baseline Road #311 Tempe. AZ 85283 the letter of greeting, but the questionnaire sheet to be filled out was taken directly <[email protected]> from the Web site, where the information is kept updated. Reminders will be sent out before March. Neil Barron. Nonfiction Reviews Editor I am also now the keeper of what remains of the SFRA flyers (about 200); I 149 Lime Place because some of the information is now dated (costs, Web address), I have printed Vista. CA 92083-7428 up a correction sheet to be put into the flyer. If anyone wants flyers to distribute, <rneilbarron@hotmaiLcom> please let me know and I will be happy to send them out. ~.:. ~ ~ -.;' = TREASURER'S REPORT Michael Levy SFRA BOARD ELECTS V.P. Despite fears that a dues increase would cost us membership, and despite Soon after the new SFRA officers took continuing problems with the SFRAReview, I believe that 1998 has ended on an office in early January 1999, they con­ optimistic note. As usual, the SFRA lost some members last year, but we picked up vened to appoint a new vice president others (thanks in part to our new Website). Total membership declined from 310 The death of Lynn Williams (reported in in 1997 to 305 in 1998, but this was apparently the result more of the sparse atten­ dance at our 1998 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, than of a negative reaction to SFRAReview #23 7), the winning presi­ the increase in dues. dential candidate, meant that the win­ This dues increase (to $80 for a standard membership) was necessary, of ning vice presidential candidate, Alan course, because the lower dues level at which the organization had stayed for some Elms, was now the president Adam time ($60 for a standard membership) was simply inadequate to cover costs. In Frisch, who stood for office for vice presi­ fact, it was discovered in 1997 that the SFRA had actually been running in the red dent in the lost election, was asked to be for several years. This situation had not previously been noted because each year's vice president, and he agreed. membership renewal money was covering the previous year's shortfall. Unfortu­ nately, by 1997, that shortfall had grown to more than $4,000, and the problem Welcome to all the members of the had become obvious. SFRA Executive Boord! Since it was not at all clear that even this substantial dues increase would solve SFRA's financial problems, the Executive Board also made the decision to • I I. decrease the cost of the SFRAReview by publishing it in a less expensive format.