The Year Of Falling Apart

Despite my longstanding pledge not to bore the population in general with my old age ailments, I feel compelled to recount a bit, for family archival purposes, my experience in what I am calling 2014: The Year of Falling Apart. Except for my long-standing belief that when you get old, shit hurts, I’ve been very blessed with good health and minimal serious aches and pains. Consequently, 2014 has been a moderately frustrating year. Shortly after Christmas 2013 I began experiencing some upper back pains that would gradually work around to my chest, also some stomach problems. I attributed this to the stress I felt in January over five major writing deadlines in a month’s time. There was some relief after I got over that hurdle but then the pain crept back. It was joined occasionally by something that was the opposite of reflux. I did not have a problem with things coming back at me; my problem was that I was sometimes unable to swallow. On one occasion with Joe Moudry I simply had to take my lunch home in a box. I couldn’t swallow well enough to eat it. Same situation a few weeks later at a family dinner with guests. My doctor, Tom Nolen, suspected gall bladder issues with the upper back pain. He scheduled me for a gall bladder ultrasound test. That proved negative (or positive, depending on how you interpret the results). Let’s just say I was okay. When the problem persisted he set me to a nuclear medicine clinic for additional gall bladder testing. Again the result was negative/positive as the first one above. Meanwhile, my doctor reminded me that it was way past time for me to have a colonoscopy because I had been dodging that for 10 years or so. I agreed. When I had my pre-procedure interview with the gastroenterology physician I mentioned the back and chest pains and swallowing difficulty. He said he would investigate the swallowing problem with an esophagastroduodenoscopy (no wonder they just call it EGD!) procedure when he did the colonoscopy. I believe that is referred to as an “upper and lower” in colloquial terms. If there can be any good news in the prep, it is the fact that a fleet enema is no longer required for the colonoscopy. I came away from the morning’s unpleasantness the good news that there were no colon problems and a set of 10 lovely color pictures of my innards. Dr. Day said the procedure took a little longer than usual because I had a “loopy colon.” Nancy had great fun texting that to the family and so did they responding to it. As for the EGD, I have an ulcer of some sort that may be the culprit. I am now on a two-pill regimen with instructions to come back for a repeat procedure in two months. Although I have had an occasional recurrence of the eating difficulty, the pills seem to be providing significant relief. Also, I haven’t had one of the back pains in several weeks.

On the Treadmill In July we rejoined the YMCA in nearby Alabaster to make certain programs such as swimming lessons, available for Atticus. I acquiesced to Nancy’s insistence that I begin an exercise program with her at the YMCA. When we were signing up, the Personal Trainer, happily typing data into her computer, asked what I wanted to accomplish ( i.e., weight loss, 1 muscle tone, energy boost, etc.) She pretty much lost it when I said my primary goal was to get my wife off my back. “They don’t have that one on the list, but maybe we should add it,” she said. Dourly I began doing a mile of treadmill walking and tension reps on 10 or 12 weight machines. I have been very diligent about maintaining the two-day-a-week schedule. Not long after starting this routine I learned that a bulging belly button was not the result of too many years of unchecked pork skins and beer, turning my original “inny” into an “outy.” The bulge was actually a hernia. I should have recognized it as I had an inguinal hernia back in the ‘80s. I decided I will return to Dr. Nolen for yet another referral after the first of the year. Meanwhile, consulting with one of the PTs at the Y, I have backed off from exercises that should add any undue stress. I did reduce the weight from 30 to 10 pounds per rep on some exercises as an added precaution. I am still walking a mile per outing. I have tried to increase the number of days I do this to offset the loss of the other exercises. And to head off the anticipated, “Don’t you feel so much better after you work out?” No, I don’t feel so much better. I feel hot and tired and sweaty and in need of a tall glass of ice water. Hopefully, any follow-up on the above will require no more than a paragraph next issue.

Kilby Prison, Lenny Kaye The Internet and Fandom I have been dabbling in eBay for 10 years or so, mostly sports media guides and game programs, stuff that I accumulated in more than 40 years of part-time sports writing. I’ve also sold a few other things, some first edition magazines, a few breweriana items. In early October I ran across a 1966 copy of The Kilby Sun, a tabloid-type newspaper published by and for the inmates of Kilby Prison, Alabama’s main lockup at the time. I didn’t figure there would be any interest in it, but listing costs are negligible. Within a few hours, I received the following question: “Hello there, Do you have any other issues of this newspaper? If so, I’d be interested in buying whatever you have. Best, Michael.” As it was, I did have several other issues, all of which I had picked up while writing a newspaper feature story on the prison paper. I responded to that effect, saying I’d be happy to work out a deal for the remaining copies after the auction ended. I signed my response “Bill Plott” as I always do rather than just using my eBay ID. A few hours later I received: “Thanks! Would you by any chance be Billy Joe Plott who once contributed to SF fanzines?” It turned out that Michael P. Daley edited The Tattooed Dragon Meets The Wolfman, the 200-page catalogue for a New York exhibition of 1940-71 fanzines belonging to Lenny Kaye. About half a dozen of the zines in the show were ones that had been addressed to me. Lenny Kaye, whose named sounded vaguely familiar, but it took a little Googling to put him in perspective. Kaye was a member of The Patti Smith Group and a music historian. He put out several fanzines himself – Obelisk, Sadistic Sphinx, Hieroglyph and Pharoah – and was involved in fandom for several years. A press release noted that “these fanzines represent ground zero for the zine explosion that was to come years later in rock, punk, skate, fashion and art. They are the origination of modern DIY publishing.” Still, two questions came to mind. First, how did Kaye come by fanzines that had been addressed to me? For that I have no answer. Second, how did Michael Daley stumble across an eBay listing for a bit of obscure Alabama memorabilia and what was his interest in it? Surely, he was not a Kilby “alumnus,” tracking down souvenirs of the old days. The answer: “I am 2 currently writing a book about prison periodicals, and so I am building a research library of these publications for myself.” How about all of that, Coincidence Lovers!? We negotiated a reasonable price for the other issues of the newspaper plus some bonus items that included a two-page typed letter from the Kilby warden about the paper, a copy of a Nevada State Prison literary magazine from the same period and a copy of An Incompleat Puzzle, a collection of stories and poems by inmates at an Alabama Youth Services facility. This little book was edited by my longtime friend Danny Gamble, who taught creative writing to the teenagers for several years.

Time On Her Hands, Again Heloise: “Dear Readers: The loud banging of cabinet doors slamming shut is something we can all do without. Instead of buying felt to cushion the cabinet doors, thinly slice wine corks and glue the slices onto the corners of the cabinet doors and drawers. It will save you time, money and some peace of mind.” Bill: “Have you ever been worried about cabinet doors?” Nancy: “Only when they’re standing open and I bang my head on them.”

My 6,128 Favorite Books That’s actually the headline on a story that ran in The Wall Street Journal in October 2012. The clipping surfaced recently as I was wading through one of the stacks of accumulated paper in my office. The piece by Joe McQueen was an excerpt from One for the Books, which was scheduled to be published by Viking (Penguin) that week. McQueen said his reading started with borrowing books from bookmobile when he was seven years old. The habit grew exponentially and has him now sometimes reading a dozen or more books simultaneously. He goes on to explain his reading habits such as disdaining any book critics describe as “luminous” or “incandescent.” He notes that he read John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flats during one sitting while listening to a nine-hour Jerry Garcia guitar solo on “Truckin’.” While the overall essay was quite interesting, it also disappointing in that he never explained how he came to decide on 6,128 books. Does he keep a list of all of the books he’s read? If so, when did he start? Surely, he could not remember all of the books he read from the bookmobile, using that as a starting point. I guess what I really find annoying is the fact that I never thought of doing that when I was a teenager. Wouldn’t it be super cool to have such a list to look back on today?

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“I’ve never yet come out of a bookshop without purchasing something… Sometimes I half-heartedly determine not to buy anymore books until I have read the ones I already have, but such madness soon passes.” – Al Andrews

The Tattooed Dragon Meets the Wolfman: Lenny Kaye’s Science Fiction Fanzines 1941-1970. Edited by Johna Kugelberg, Jack Womack and Michael P. Daley. (Published by Boo-Hooray for the 2014 Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair. $40, letter-size pb)

Daley graciously gave me a copy of this book as a spinoff from our eBay transaction and correspondence further detailed in my natter. This is a wonderful trip down memory lane with front cover reproductions of nearly 100 fanzines. All are printed on colored stock to recreate their original appearance. Include is a two-and-a-half-page introduction by Kaye, who wrote: “It started with science fiction. But once granted entrance into the hallowed halls of trufandom, as referred to by the inner circle of cognoscenti, it seemed that was merely the secret password, the key that unlocked the pearly gate, the answer to a Sphinx’s riddle. Once initiated, you entered an arcane fraternal order that was a social world unto itself, a mythology and milieu of people with eccentric characters, a distinctive lingual, a companionship that even today, staring at an accumulation of ‘fanzines’ more than half a century old, bring a burnished glow of shared subculture.” My God, is that not what all of us felt when we crossed that threshold from the mundane world to fandom? And, like many of us from the 1950s and 1960s, Kaye discovered fandom through the letter column of Amazing Stories. His first fan contact was with Jack Chalker, who, in his history of Baltimore fandom, credited me with bringing him into the inner circle the same way. I do not recall the nature of my contact with Lenny back then, but he references me indirectly: “To know someone in Opelika, Alabama, to write to a small town in California or Indiana; to witness the shenanigans and in-jokes of science fiction clubs in Los Angles (LASFS)

and Seattle; was to feel the world around me unfold its map, and affirm my placement in the universe.” 4 Aside from that heady egoboost, the real pleasure in this book is seeing all of those fabulous fan-art covers that adorned such classic fanzines as Yandro (Robert and Juanita Coulson), Quandry (Lee Hoffman), Camber (Alan Dodd), Spectator (Bruce Pelz), Spaceship (Bob Silverberg), JD-Argassy (Lynn Hickman), Warhoon (Richard Bergeron), and CRY of the Nameless (Elinor and F.M. Busby) to name a few. Each cover is accompanied by a caption of identification, often with additional information of fannish lore. A spectacular piece of work, worth every penny of the asking price.

The Chigger Patch of Fandom published by Bob Farnham of Rossville, Ga., and Nan Gerding of Roseville, IL. Note the address label at center-right.

QUEEN OF WANDS by John Ringo (Baen Fantasy, 2012 $7.99, pb) This is the second book in Ringo’s urban fantasy series featuring Mississippi housewife Barbara Everette. In the first volume (Princess of Wands), Barbara finds herself suddenly enmeshed in a battle between traditional forces of Good and Evil. At the core of all of these stories is an acceptance of religion, or rather religions, as the key force for Good. In fact, these forces play out in the end in a conclusion not unlike the one in Will Farrell’s great Christmas film Elf. A devout Christian, she is soon connected with equally devout followers of other deities. All in this circle, known as the Foundation for Love and Universal Faith, bring worthwhile tenants of their particular faiths to the battles. And, in X-Files fashion, they must work with a somewhat unwilling Federal Bureau of Investigation division called Special Circumstances. In this book our demon fighting, soccer mom is off to assist fellow associate Doris Grisham, who prefers to be known as Janea. A stripper and High Priestess of Freya, Janea is comatose because of some magic gone bad. Part of the rescue effort for Janea’s imprisoned soul will involve fighting zombies. As with the first volume, we get multiple stand-alone-but- connected stories. The first book had three such tales and this one has two. Also, the second story takes place at a science fiction convention, this time it’s Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Barbara’s husband Mark, something of a couch potato, remains oblivious to his wife’s 5 alter-egoish second life, accepting her out-of-town trips to Foundation meetings matter-of-factly if they don’t cause too much disruption at the home place. “Mark was not someone she could sit down with and calmly explain that she was now fighting demons. Demons didn’t exist in the world of peanut processing,” Ringo writes. Daughter Allison is not nearly so dense, largely because she came to realize that it was Mom who rescued her and her teammates from a demonic softball coach in one of the previous stories. During the rescue she saw Barbara bring a dead cat back to life. Lazarus the cat is now Barb’s familiar. As Barbara prepares to leave she is confronted by Allison: “Mom, I know, okay?” Allison said, gesturing with her chin at the cat still perched on Barbara’s shoulder. “No, you don’t ‘know,’ Allison,” Barbara replied, tartly. “You suspect some things, and you think you know others. But you do not ‘know’ anything.” “I know where that cat came from….I mean, ‘Lazarus’ is a little obvious, isn’t it, Mom?” Their conversation seems a likely precursor to further adventures in which Allison may be able to lend a hand. And who knows, maybe even Mark will wake up. These are pleasing characters in engaging stories. Keep the Special Circumstances coming, Mr. Ringo. Quotable: --She was not a proselytizer. She believed in the doctrine of Witnessing, being the best Christian you could be every single day and converting by example. --“Me, I’d damn you and be done with,” Barb said.”But I tend to be rather Old Testament. Jesus is the forgiving one.” --“How many blood sacrifices?” Kurt asked. “Nine for each Wife,” Sharice replied. “Of ‘good station,’ generally meaning innocent of major evils themselves. For Stepfords, the average crack addict is insufficient. Don’t ask, you’re getting into occult quantum physics. Let me point out that I spent last night in the astral plane, which is not exactly sleeping. Can’t you just Google this?” --Sword combat is poorly understood in modern times. Fencers dance around, touching each other for points. When the sword was the height of killing technology, nobody tried for “touches.” The point was to render your opponent incapable of further combat. The best way to do that wasn’t to hack at their body, but at their limbs. Casualty analysis of medieval combat showed that some sixty percent of the casualties were due to loss or arms or legs. Then all you had to do was let them bleed out screaming. --Cats rarely obey orders but they do have a certain amount of common sense.

Unshelved Volume 1 by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (Overdue Media, 2003, letter- size pb, $14.95 new, got this copy used on the internet) Thanks to Sheila Strickland for introducing me to this delightful comic strip set in Mallville Public Library. There is a great cast of characters. Dewey, the young adult librarian, mainly reads comics and graphic novels; Adore Tamara, a beautiful young black woman and idealistic children’s librarian; Colleen, a cranky, old-fashioned computer illiterate who brings her new baby to work; Naked Ned, “who takes Freedom of Expression to new lengths; Buddy the Book Beaver, an ex-con tree surgeon who is the new summer reading program mascot. And, of course, the patrons. Anyone who has ever dealt with the public in retail or government, has to have a host of stories about those characters. Many of them show up here in a 6 delightful collection of stand-alone strips and also ongoing story lines. Here’s a bit of dialogue from one: Dewey: “There are two kinds of people. The kind that return books on time, and the kind that return them late. Merv: What about me? I didn’t return them at all.!” Dewey: “There are two kinds of people we let live…” Three more strips are on the back cover of this issue. There is newspaper-type syndication of this daily strip. It is a webcomic, created in 2002, and currently with a “virtual circulation in excess of 45,000 readers,” according to a September posting on Wikipedia. was an online strip.

Trencher #1, Keith Griffin (Image Comics, May 1993) Since returning to fandom, I have occasionally begun buying comic books again, almost exclusively in thrift stores, where post-Silver Age stuff (still printed on newsprint in the ’70s and ‘80s) can occasionally be found along with more recent books. This thrift store find was created, written and drawn by Mr. Giffen with coloring and lettering by Lovern Kindzierski. I know I am old and in the way, but this is unquestionably the worst comic I have ever read. The story line, if there was one, was beyond my comprehension. The artwork – unbelievably bad. Splotchy, murky stuff that resembles Crayolas melting in the back window of a car. I will be interested in Comments from Gary, Bob and other comic fans to this admittedly hatchet-job review of someone’s creation.

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Adventures #1 (Walt Disney Publications, June 1990) Now this is a comic book worth having! I picked it up at 2nd and Charles with Joe Moudry during one of our monthly lunch visits. It was only a dollar and I figured Atticus might enjoy it because he’s very much a Mickey Mouse and friends fan. And like my experiement with Rocky and Bullwinkle and Mighty Mouse videos, I was surprised at what a hit it turned out to be. I was also surprised by the quality of the stories. I was expecting little short bedtime type stories. Instead, I found two lengthy adventures, not unlike the ones that used to run in Uncle Scrooge comics when I was a kid. Because of the length of the stories, Atticus is quite happy to have just one read to him at a sitting. It is not that he really understands Uncle Scrooge’s wealth and the labor being performed by Donald, and his nephews Huey, Dewy and Louie in the money bin. But there are a lot of little nuances that appeal to him. In some ways more important, I am teaching him about sequential art. It’s so easy to forget that a new generation does not have the reference points that you have. Atticus now knows that the balloons represent what people are saying. He understands that vertical zigzag lines represent the path of a bouncing ball and that those squiggly black things above Donald ‘s head represent anger. I have also gotten him tuned into a character with what appears to be two heads is actually just quickly turning his head from left to right. This has been fun. I look forward to searching the bins at 2nd and Charles for some other books that he can relate to.

Big If by Mark Costello (Norton, 2002, hc, Amazon purchase) I searched the internet for a cheap copy of this book after hearing a review of it on National Public Radio. The reviewer was recalling a book that he had read in the past and particularly liked. I believe the context was the recent scandals in the U.S. Secret Service, the 7 background for this novel. Vi Asplund is on a Protection detail for the vice president during a primary campaign in New Hampshire where she and her brother Jens grew up. Jens has become a computer game creator, working for a company called BigIf. There is no real story line, per se, just very strong characters. We get alternating narratives and Vi’s work with the Secret Service and Jens’ writer’s block-type problem over finishing a game called Big Todd. His wife Peta, Vi’s girlhood friend, is a Realtor. In the concluding passages, the two threads come together when a former associate of Jens at BigIf is shot in an apparent attempt on the VP’s life. For me some of the description of game creation got rather lengthy and tedious (a description of one of Jens’ creations runs seven or eight pages), but Costello’s insightful, very witty chronicle of the lives of the Secret Service agents makes it a book worth reading. There are many details about how protection efforts are put together and carried out. The author recognizes the idiocy of bureaucracy at any level, including the respected Secret Service. We never know the name of the vice president and it is irrelevant. The agents’ work is the same regardless. I think the most intriguing thing to me was learning that agents on the “ropelines” are not looking at faces for untoward behavior. They are looking at hands. I slapped my forehead and said, “Well, of course! Hands are where the guns are. Seeing the gun first is obviously the most important thing.”

Costello creates some interesting characters and weaves fascinating histories of them in the back story. Quotables: --She loved her father simply and completely then. She watched him as astronomers watch stars. She saw him in the house across the marshes from the sea, slippered after dinner in the den, puffing Wild Cherry Borkum Riff, leafing through The Accident Reporter, Shop Safety Monthly, and the latest OSHA circular. He said the hour after supper was the best time in the world. He said the den was civilization. --Felker had briefed them on the specialness of Texas as an operational milieu. Texas was a carry state….Anyone except a felon or a person judged insane by the state court system could, and did, carry a concealed handgun, and fenderbenders on the highways routinely erupted in small-arms fire. Felker said that Texas would always be the Valley of the Shadows to the Service. They had come here once with a president and had left eight hours later with a completely different president, and some things you can’t live down, he said. Memory, futility, disgrace – that was what they carried through the carry state. --There was something in this business of making monsters real or realistic which filled Jens with a deep sense of unease, as if the game were poised to cross some kind of line. --People understood Walter as the plodding adjuster, not as the eccentric atheist. Jens saw it the other way….If Walter could see the lies of scripture, why couldn’t he see the lies of the loss-and-compensation charts devised by The Connecticut? Why was an eye worth thirty thousand dollars, not twenty and not forty? Walter wouldn’t buy into the lie of the motto printed on his money, yet he went about adjusting, serving The Connecticut, buying into a much bigger lie, or so it seemed to Jens.

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The Lost Ones from 300 Sometimes I extract several fanzines from the mailing to take with me to waiting rooms if I have doctor’s appointment or am having an automobile serviced. That was what happened with three zines from the 300th Mailing. So, herewith are the MCs for those Lost Ones.

Dumbfounding Stories #19/Kent Of course, the opening comment has to be how sad I am that you are leaving the apa. And you do so without us ever getting an opportunity to meet since your plans for DSC52 fell through. I do understand how changing interests and obligations can pull you in another direction After all, aren’t those things that are pertinent in most cases of gafia/fafia/dafia? You will be missed and most certainly welcome back if your situation changes.

The New Port News No. 276/Ned Lovely cover and also insert with another fine piece of Tim Kirk artwork. Thanks for sharing both of them. The Blenderman back cover was funny although I had to scurry to the internet to look up 9 Slenderman. I’m still not sure I grasp what that is about and where 12-year-old girls fit in the picture. I find myself torn by the staple question. The book lover side of me wants to see publications properly hanged in that basic left-to-right format. On the other hand, if I’m reading a zine in a situation where I have only one hand completely free, the single upper left staple is a godsend. I can even flip it over to the next page with one hand! Why do you people even make me think about such things? There was marginal success with my wife’s vinegar and baking soda attack of the ant hill. I think Nancy really just got some pleasure from making a personal attack upon the creatures for the bites and nuisance they created. The remainder of the season has followed the usual approach of my spreading some commercial powder around the mounds. Your brother doesn’t collect anything. Interesting. I don’t think either of my brothers does either although both dabbled in things like stamps and coins in their younger days. My middle brother may still collect coins. When we saw him in Germany in 1999 I took him several mint rolls of the state quarters. But then, he was doing a lot of business with coins and other collectibles in German flea markets. Maybe I was just providing inventory for him because I don’t recall any conversations about filling in blanks in a collection. Dwarves not only keeps you away from the very “to dwarf” but also rolls off the tongue so much nicer when you say it. Such musings of Little People, midgets, etc., invariably call to mind Will Ferrell’s hilarious film Elf. The scene that owns me is when Peter Dinklage, portraying a Little People book writer, tells Ferrell, “I told you not to call me an elf again” and then launches himself the length of the boardroom table.

Variations on a Theme #100/Rich Beautiful photo of the double rainbow over Bristol. I missed seeing that but then I was fortunate to escape driving in the rain. In retrospect you may have gotten the better deal. Also enjoyed the other Bristol photos. Curiously, I did not venture down to straddle the line. However, we had driven through Bristol some years back, appreciating the sign and overall quaintness of the place’s geography. I am more envious of the trip to Norway. As always your recounting of your travels is a fun read and always accompanied by such compelling photos. “The 300th mailing is a significant one for the apa (and my prediction is that there will not be a 400th one…” I suspect you are correct, sir. My quick math projects such a mailing would be in 2031. Given the ages of so many of us and the increasing lack of interest in the printed word versus the digital word…. Also, I would guess that Isaac Robe is the only member under 40 – another telling demographic. Very nice remembrance of Dean Grennell. I’m not sure if I ever met him in my previous fannish incarnation, but I certainly knew his name.

Remembering Pittcon, 1960/me I really had nothing to comment on here except to note that I had intended to print the backside of my Pittcon nametag that appeared on the cover. One of the four (I think) autographs of Robert A. Heinlein that I secured that weekend was on the flipside. Here ‘tis:

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And some leftovers. Misplaced notes resulted in a couple of additional comments to Sheila and Jeff getting left out in the MCs on the 300th Mailing. Sheila: I still consider Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale one of the best novels I’ve ever read. I can see your concerns for parallels in today’s world, especial with the Tea Party running amuck. I read another Atwood novel, whose title escapes me, and didn’t find it very interesting at all. To be perfectly sexist, there was far too much about what everybody was wearing. Jeff: ct. Larry and Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs, I think I must be the only Child of the ‘60s who detests John Lennon’s “Imagine.” I don’t find it evolutionary or meaningful, at all. I think it is trite and hokey, written on the intellectual level of a 7th grader who fancies herself a poet. But then, I thought Yoko and the bed- in was silly, too.

Back to the Present

The Southerner #301/Gary I imagine that with your work schedule, you are not reluctant to pass the OEship on to some other sucker. At any rate, thanks for keeping the ship afloat forth the past two years. I am going to miss your creative treatment of Southern icons on the covers for the OO. And special congratulations on the very special 300th Mailing.

The New Port News 277/Ned Ah, all is right with the world. The rift in the space-time continuum has been repaired. All of us interlopers have been banished to our proper places. Ned is the Early Bird again and with the usual good cover. I like Kelly Freas’s illo very much. You appear to have an antique lawn mower collection to go along with your typewriters, mimeographs and printed items. Electric mowers that are 25 and 40 years old! Maybe that’s what I should have gotten instead of all of those gasoline engines I’ve killed. I am, indeed, death on all internal combustion engines. Some years back Nancy bought herself a Cadillac-version of the Troybilt tiller. I was not allowed to use it for quite some time. Fortunately we’ve been blessed with an Hispanic friend who does most of that lawn stuff these days although he, too, seems to be gasoline engine-challenged occasionally. He manages to keep them going for much longer periods of time than I ever did. On your comment to Janice: “…it is rather late in the day for any fan not to understand ‘how planes fly, when there are many websites that explain the basic concepts of aerodynamics.” That is assuming the reader would understand those basic concepts. I am going to stick with a 11 realistic explanation for flying: It’s all magic. I’ve been in Kennesaw a number of times over the years, but I had no idea the city required gun ownership. Just how is that enforced? Do city inspectors knock on doors and say, “Show us your guns”? I’m afraid they would just have to fine me. There is a history of depression among some family members and we’re raising a toddler. No thanks, I don’t need a loaded firearm in the house. I really don’t believe such a law would stand up in court. Ct Jeff Copeland. Frazz is the title character in a comic strip by Jef Mallett. It’s a clever strip, made a bit more appealing because of the stereotypes it twists. Frazz is a white guy who is the janitor at an elementary school. I’ve enjoyed it for years. Regarding your comment to Moudry on preferring fiction to nonfiction. I read a Loren Eiseley book decades ago and was totally engaged by it. He was a really fine craftsman and his philosophy of nature was compelling.

Meanwhile on the Yellow Submarine/Fred Nothing much to say since I am so totally out of this loop on this little enterprise. Carry on, you funny people.

The Typo King #27/Bob I love the “Breaking News” cartoon. It’s too bad there is note of hard reality to it. Enjoyed the others, also. You always have a goodly collection throughout. The Lassie strip by Mike Peters reminded me that I have watched portions of a couple of Lassie TV shows on one of the religious channels while waiting for the first football game to air on Saturday mornings this fall. One of them actually starred as a guest the great Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, post his crippling car wreck. He was coaching Timmy’s team in a wheelchair. Ct. Larry on television in the background. I’m with Bob. I cannot imagine trying to do any real work with television on. It is almost impossible for any human being to ignore a live screen. When I am in a waiting room with material I want to read, I try to sit under the TV. I still hear it, but I am not distracted further by the video. When I was working it was the same way with radio. Music was not passive, it was participatory. I could ignore the clatter of wire machines, ringing telephones and loud interviews across the room, but hearing a song I knew disrupted my concentration. Ct my Pittcon eating notes, there are people who are interested in foods that others enjoy in their travels. If it doesn’t interest you, then skip that sentence or paragraph. I am puzzled over why this annoys you so much. Perhaps others don’t find someone else discoursing on home repairs, the weather, or old radio interesting. Ct one of your comments on PANdemic: “Bill Plott actually bought a load of newsprint pulp paper that he used to print his fanzines. It resulted in some, shall we say, interesting results.” My first thought was, surely I didn’t do that! Then, some little tickle of faint recognition says, “Dear Lord, I think I did do that.” Your comments were too kind. I’m sure the results were horrible. I can imagine how some of those pages looked, given my laziness over slip-sheeting and re-inking. Ct. Tom on naps. I am not a nap person. If I take a nap during the day, it is because I am sick or just totally exhausted from limited sleep. I become irritated if I even get drowsy during the day. I splash cold water on my face, walk around, anything to shake it off. I think it is basically a resentment of needing to sleep. However, this is not to say I awake ready to jump on 12 the day. I am definitely not a morning person. I need coffee and time to adjust. It has taken considerable adjustment since Atticus started pre-K, which has a specific 8-8:15 arrival time.

The Official Editors…of SFPA, Mailings 1-300/Guy Thanks so much for putting this together. It’s a great bit of catch-up for me. I had no idea some people like Joe Staton, Stven Carlberg, Dennis Dolbear and Alan Hutchinson had been OE. I knew Joe, of course, and met Dennis at DSC51 in Roswell. I have never met some of the other folks and hope to correct that situation down the road. This is a great piece of fannish history. In fact, I’m going to make a copy of it to keep out for eference.

Uncle Lon’s Unofficial Box Scores/Gary I know you don’t want to hear another word about discrepancies but…if Jeff and I are tied for 6th on the Early Bird list how come I have 10 and he has 9? Oh well, I appreciate your putting this together each mailing. It’s always fun even when slightly skewed.

Spartacus No.4/Guy Do tell us that really happened in Starbucks. What a wonderful story! If you made it up I’m going to thrash you about the head and shoulders with a wet noodle when next we cross paths. Otherwise, I’m jealous as hell. Lot of interesting stuff in your natter and the letters, but I got behind and failed to make my usual notes for comments while I was reading. Mea culpa, everyone. However, I will offer this tidbit. Like most fans I cannot resist the temptation to pick up any printed matter, especially if it is free. Such was the case with half a dozen of Rick Norwood’s old fanzines on a freebie table at DSC52. Among them was ALACK #1, a New Orleans one-shot thrown together by Craig Shukas and Norwood on a Sunday afternoon in August 1969. Before the mimeo’d wonder was completed they were joined by Don Markstein and one Guy Lillian III. Markstein exhorted young Lillian to “write fanzines” since he seemed to enjoy it. To which the youngster replied: “Not that kind of fan, I fear. Fandom is a part of my present life; I can guarantee nothing about its permanence relative to the rest of me.” Glad you were able to keep this silly SF stuff in perspective, Guy.

Variations on a Theme #101/Rich Another fine issue with gorgeous photos and interesting travel/con report. Ct. Ned/A- bomb/WWII, I suspect you are right that a blockade would likely have brought Japan down within a couple of years. At the same time, I suspect four years of grueling combat, thousands of casualties and rationing at home played on the thinking to the tune of Let’s Get This Over. Going back and looking at the celebrations following the surrender of Germany shows just how weary of war our population was. It was not like today where most families are untouched by an Iraq or Afghanistan situation. During WWII there was virtually no family unaffected by war. On long-distance driving, we will do a little longer trip if we are in the Tundra, which is double cab V-8. It is a very smooth and comfortable ride. In the camper, a 31-foot wind catcher, the longer trips are a lot more tiring. Also, they almost always include a four-year-old who get pretty tired of riding even when he has his favorite DVDs to watch. 13 Ct. Sheila on birds and cats. I’ve seen blue jays dive bomb cats but the one most common for us has been mockingbirds. You pretty well know when they have little ones in a nest. Of course, the cat always pretends nothing is going on, strolling indifferently across the yard as the bids swoop down. “Don’t let ‘em see you sweat” is the cat motto.

Hey Mrs. Peel/mike Thanks for the wonderful collection of Diana Rigg photos. A die-hard Avengers fan back in the day, I was quite prepared to run away with her if she’d just given me a call. Alas, time passes and things change. When I next recall seeing the delectable Ms. Rigg, she was hosting Mystery on public television and it was somewhat disturbing. There was a rigidity to her faced that made it seems almost like a mask. I can only assume that she was botoxed to hell and back. Like excessive makeup, some ladies just don’t know when to leave well enough alone. I can’t believe that she didn’t age gracefully. Nevertheless, I have treated myself to the complete boxed set of Mrs. Peel DVDs.

Spiritus Mundi 263/Guy Congratulations on the sale of the house, even if you did take a loss. At least the burden of continuous payments is over. I am overjoyed to see such an upbeat issue of SM after those months of uncertainty that you and Rosy have endured. I hope by next issue there is something positive on the job front to share, also. Yes, John McDonald nailed the developers’ rape of Florida very well and long before it became a kind of high profile environmental issue. Condominium, a non-Travis McGhee novel, is the one I remember most about the developers. Your reference to that old hitchhiker was refreshing. His named wouldn’t be Skink, by any chance? Good luck with eye and dental coverage. We found that dental is impossibly expensive after a certain age. Insurers seem to have no awareness of preventive dental care as a deterrent to other ailments. Eye care, just forget it. Unless you have glaucoma or such there is little help. Just dropped about $400 for new glasses, second pair in a year. Maybe you are yet young enough to avoid some of these shortcomings in the system. Ct. Rich and JFK, you say, “…such a baffling horror. When I say ‘baffling’ I mean emotionally baffling – “How could this possible happen to him? To us?” I agree. Few of us had any reference points that could remotely relate to that idea. Within a few years, sadly, we were inured to such horrors. Ct. to Jeff and Ned, these time travel discussions have gotten far too complex for me. I prefer the simplicity of the George Pal movie. Rod Stewart dragged the machine out of the lab and across the yard so he would be where he last saw the very hot Yvette Mimieux. I’m with Rod, stay in the same place. Ct. Jennings, I like your comment on the direction of fanzines: “Zines like ours are anachronisms – I prefer them to blogs, infinitely, but I see where fandom is headed, and it’s in the direction technology takes society as a whole. Blogging is simply easier to the editors, the writers, the readers. It isn’t better.” When I first shared the revived Sporadic with newer generations, I told them to consider it a printed blog, maybe one with limited password access..

Peter, Pan & Merry #116/David Thanks for the insight on Scalzi’s “reboot” of H. Beam Piper’s Fuzzy novels. I think I will try to work Scalzi’s effort into my To Read stack, but only after I get a chance to read Piper’s sequel. 14 On Butcher, I realize there are a lot of books in the series. I don’t mind that with characters like Dresden. It’s no different than reading 87th Precinct or Miss Marple mystery novels. I can’t view multi volume epics quite the same way for some reason. As noted here previously I enjoyed the initial books in the Robert Jordan George R.R. Martin sagas but viewed the number of volumes necessary to conclude the tale too daunting – especially when I already have such a huge stack of others awaiting my attention. Al Capp made some seminal contributions to popular culture during his time. I guess a lot of them, like Sadie Hawkins Day, have faded now but his ability to satirize was unexcelled.

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The FPA Tricentpublication Index/Jeff Wow, wow, wow! What an extraordinary contribution to mark our milestone 300th Mailing. My only complaint is the lack of a blank line to separate the mailings. That makes it a little hard to scan quickly. Neverthelss, thanks for all you put into this.

The Campaign Tentacle #2/Joe Just to be clear, that’s your photo on the campaign flyer. I don’t have that much hair anymore. Let’s hope our collating sessions are as enjoyable as talking about the possibility of them has been.

Oblio #213/Gary Great cover. Jack Davis was always my favorite of the humorous illustrators at EC and Mad. He always did wonderful, expressions with eyes, and little details in his splash pages are always amusing. On this one I didn’t notice the open-toed boot immediately. Some great features in this issue. The story on typewriters was quite interesting. I wrote a newspaper feature story in the ’60s on an Alabamian named Pratt who developed a typing device of some kind. Too long ago to recall the details now. If it surfaces in one of storage box rummages, I’ll put it in Sporadic. The highlight, of course, is your discourse on comic book abuse. A delightful reminiscence that I can relate to, having done similar things with various collections over the years. For example, I remember using cellophane tape instead of philately hinges occasionally when I collected stamps, thus devaluing those little pieces of paper. I had autographed Auburn football programs from the ‘50s that I wrote the score in ink on the covers. My brief excursion into coin collection was probably the worst. I kept seeing comic books I wanted and was always popping the coins out of those little albums. If the coins happened to be returned, they had been handled with dirty hands many times. I’m sure I wrote my name on the covers of comics, also. A delightful piece; if there is a patron saint of comics or collecting in general, I will pray for your forgiveness….I wonder how Father Ray will react to that when I ask him Sunday? Ct. your remarks on Guy’s Hopalong Cassidy piece, it occurs to me that my favorite cowboy was probably the Durango Kid. I think it was something about that secret hideout, a kind of cowboy Bat Cave. I don’t recall if I ever had any hero-specific gear unless it was Roy Rogers stuff. Ct. Sheila and bosses, we went through a phalanx of four or five managing editors in less than a year at The Tuscaloosa News in the ‘70s.I remember one guy who only lasted two weeks. He and his wife came to town for his interview in a horrible downpour. Whether it was the rain 15 or just Tuscaloosa in general, she went back to Florida and he quietly vanished two weeks later. A good friend among reporters was given the post, and no one congratulated him because we all knew he was incapable of handling the job. Of course, these kinds of situations crate a tension dynamic that is difficult for everyone on the staff. Somewhere I wrote all of that down because it was a textbook case of top-to-bottom mismanagement. I wonder if I can find it again? By the time I got to The Birmingham News, I just stayed out of sight and let the new guy come meet me. Ct. Isaac and wisdom teeth. Sometime in the early ‘70s I had a minor wisdom tooth problem and had it extracted. I then let a Tuscaloosa dentist persuade me that it would be a good idea to go ahead and remove them all. The plan was to do two and then the final one. The doubleheader laid me up for several days. What was I thinking? I told the remaining wisdom tooth it had nothing to worry about unless it caused me trouble. That rascal is still there.

Tyndallite V.4 No. 177/Norm Not a lot to respond to this time except to say I always enjoy your sharing your deep knowledge on the science fiction field, particularly the authors.

Twygdrasil and Treehouse Gazette #147/Rich Another great cover. Gold Medal could sure come up with some spicy come-ons for the soft porn back then. And as I recall some of the mysteries were actually readable stories. I didn’t realize you had such a travel ordeal getting to Bristol. It was a fun gathering. I’m sorry for Gary about the low turnout. Those who didn’t come missed a nice weekend. That was a funny remark about George Wells in the trivia contest: He is very knowledgeable but I wondered if his knowledge was organized enough for a trivia contest. George knows so much that sometimes his brain seems to leap ahead to another fact before completing the one he was sharing. I do hope he and Jill are over their health issues. The saga of your niece Joan hits very close to home for us. We have a quite similar situation in our family. It is not one I am ready to share in a public forum but I suspect that somewhere down the road it will be a therapeutic and cathartic bit of natter for me in these pages. I see a tentative connection between an apa and scrapbooking, largely because of the natter. Most of us detail things that are going on in our lives, some that relate to fandom, many that relate to our mundane activities. As Gary Brown and I have both noted in our fanzines, a lot of our natter is archival, family history stuff. Many of us also post photos from family activities. It is a form of scrapbooking, just not traditional. But then, what about fandom is traditional? I enjoyed your remarks on opera as a body compared to beer for me. I am not an opera fan but there are two that I have really enjoyed over the years – Porgy and Bess and Three-Penny Opera. I am probably one of the very few people around today who has read DuBose Heyward’s Charleston novel Porgy that resulted in the opera. Every time there has been a production on public television I have watched it. Bertold Brecht’s piece I’ve only seen performed once, but I always liked the popular aspects of the music, i.e., “Mack the Knife,” especially Louis Armstrong’s version. The Music Department at the University of Montevallo did Three-Penny Opera many years ago, and it was a fine production. I guess these are both in the category of light opera, though, not the kind of performances that you prefer. I had never heard that the bombing of Dresden was Allied, particularly British revenge 16 for the blitzkrieg, but it sure makes sense. Connie Willis’s Blackout/All Clear sure presents a vivid background for what the bombing of London was like. There was also an extraordinary documentary about the miraculous saving of St. Paul’s Cathedral during a night of heavy bombing. Yeah, I can see why revenge might be a factor. But then I have a hard time seeing how military minds would select a china center as the revenge venue. Munich and Berlin seem likelier targets for revenge. I currently use knockoff cartridges with my HP Office Jetpro 8100. They work just as well as the HP cartridges, which is to say, they suck. Most of my needs are black and white, so that’s okay. Neither cartridge is worth a tinker’s damn for color. No matter how many times the cartridges are shaken, the color is still horrible. Regarding your Ghandi and Gorbachev dolls, I am reminded of the story a former colleague told about her son’s GI Joe toys. She was exhorting the lad to pick up his GI Joe dolls, when her husband testily stepped in and said, “Those are not dolls; they’re action figures.”

All Along the Watchtower Vol. 3 No. 106/Larry Well, I guess you got that off your chest. Most of us have had some occasional frustration over inattention to detail in this OEship. Hopefully, that is behind us now. I’m sure Gary will sort out your dues situation and you will still be on board. All of that being said, you need to come out of your hermit cave and join Joe Moudry and me for one of our monthly lunch-and-bookstore meetings. It’s a most pleasant diversion.

Sex Organs of Flora/Jeff Good luck with your freelancing effort. It seems like you have a pretty good handle on it getting started. When I retired I was determined to finally get one of my baseball projects in book form. The question was: Would I have the self discipline to sit at a keyboard without a boss and a paycheck in the wings? .I took the first two weeks off completely, then went to work. To my delight, I was quite capable of disciplining myself. Hopefully, the finished product will be released by McFarland early next year. (I dunno as I’m still awaiting word on any rewriting that needs doing.) Your daughter Allie’s little essay on appreciating what we have was wonderful. Regarding Wikipedia on Stephen Hawking: “…meals were often spent with each person silently reading a book.” We almost always read while eating, although we certainly have conversation, also. If we are heading out to a restaurant the newspaper usually goes with us. Nancy also carries her Kindle and iPad. Reading is just such a huge part of our lives, and there is no sense of rudeness to be reading at the table. Nice assortment of reviews. We were surprised by The Lego Movie, also. I went in, expecting to be bored to tears, hoping a huge bucket of popcorn would get me through it. It turned out to be a very clever piece of work, just delightful. Ct. Fred and Bluetooth, I use Bluetooth only in my truck. When I was preparing to drive to Bristol for DSC52, I needed to replace my CD player. It turned out that the unit I bought was Bluetooth ready. The young man hooked it up for me. You are still distracted when talking on the phone, but at least you can have both hands on the steering wheel. It’s a safer way to go.

Frequent Flyer/Tom Nancy discovered Wisconsin string cheese on a visit to Milwaukee decades ago. It remains a staple in our refrigerator. It’s great snack when you can’t figure out what you want and the kids and grandkids 17 have all liked it, too. The problem I have is keeping enough for myself. Monty, our shih tsu loves it. He can be sound asleep in the next room and immediately comes to life if I open the fridge and take out a piece of string cheese. I don’t know if it’s sound or smell, but he’s there even before I get the wrapper off. The NFL’s lack of a consistent policy made several cases of domestic abuse even more newsworthy. I think Ray Lewis has paid his dues, especially since his idiot wife seems to have forgiven him. As for Adrian Peterson, I have mixed feelings. I was spanked as a child – deserving it on each occasion – and do not feel warped from it. I was also paddled in school and most assuredly deserved each of those punishments. I was a real little shit in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. We have spanked our kids but not to excess like Peterson did. Usually just a swat of a hand on the butt gets their attention and alleviates a tantrum or misbehavior. This happened last summer in Pennsylvania. Atticus kept wandering off the sidewalk into the street despite several admonitions. Finally, he got the swat on the hiney. A young woman thrust her face in mine and Nancy’s said we shouldn’t do that. This was the subsequent conversation: Nancy: How old are you? Woman: 25. Nancy: How many children do you have? Woman: None. Nancy: Then, butt out. You don’t know anything about it. During the entire discourse, Nancy, who was several inches shorter than buttinski, was on the attack, verbally backing the woman to edge of the street in question. For the record, Atticus stayed away from the street the rest of the outing. I prefer withdrawal of privilege, but that doesn’t always work.

Castles and Cons/Janice Another intense pulling together of hotels and airlines. At least this one seems to be mostly fun and not business. I wonder, though, if you and Stephen eve get a little tired of being on the road so much? I think it would be very draining for me. But maybe that’s age talking. Enjoyed both cartoons.

Trivial Pursuits #175/Janice I like Stephen’s observation about middle names. I had never thought about the universality of parents’ using them for disciplinary emphasis. For example if my mother had said, “William Joseph, stop doing that,” there was a lot more concern than simply, “Bill, stop doing that.” Another universal disciplinary phrase is, “I’m going to count to three --, one, two…” Daughter Maggie was on a beach in Spain when you heard a young Spanish mother say to her child, “Uno, dos.,” Maggie said she knew immediately that some youngster was on the verge of being in trouble! Yet, it is interesting that you and your brother have no middle names. I was in high school with a guy who had no names, just the initials “J.T.” Speaking of names, when I took over the Information Services office at the University of Montevallo in the early 1980s, I had a delightful secretary named Barbara Williams. Babs could be a little bit whacky at times, apparently a lifelong trait. She related one day that when she started out as a PE teacher, she didn’t call the roll. She was somewhere in Texas with a classroom of Hispanics. Barbara, who knew not one word of Spanish, thought she had several kids named Jesus. She didn’t know it was pronounced Hey-soos. Great collection of cartoons this issue. I especially love the impeachment one. I can’t 18 recall any public figure who has been vilified and deliberately lied about as much as Obama. The problem is this black man had the effrontery to get elected President – twice. Not that I’m 100% in his camp. He has been disappointing in many ways, especially the stonewalling and lack of transparency during the past year. The Tom Tomorrow Trek back cover is hilarious and incredibly clever.

Fingertip Reality #88/ Joe Ah, so many commonalities to touch on. Not the least of which is the death of your mentor Glenn House. I am so sorry that our fellow SFPANs never got to know him. I think my first contact with our mutual dear friend Glenn was in the early ‘70s. The earliest clipping surviving in my battered House family file folder is a July 1, 1973 spread in The Tuscaloosa News on Ma’Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea. That, of course, was the extraordinary folk art-type museum his mother built from scratch in rural Pickens County, Alabama. But I think I wrote at least one piece on Glenn prior to that. I know I interviewed him about insulator and bottle collecting. He got into Navaho Kochina dolls for a time, constructing beautiful replicas of those Native American icons. When he became the main spoke in the Book Arts wheel at the University of Alabama, I carried my journalism classes from the University of Montevallo to Tuscaloosa for a field trip every year. My students got to make a couple of sheets of paper by hand and set type out of a California job case. I also wrote a piece on Jerry House, Glenn’s brother, who was a noted session musician in Nashville, also a songwriter. Jerry’s biggest hit was probably one that stuttering Mel Tillis did called something like ‘If you’ve got the Hoss, I’ve got the Saddle.” I asked Glenn if he thought Ma’Cille picked up on the sexual innuendo. Glenn just smiled and said, “We’re all assuming that Momma thinks it’s a song about a horse.” I did not know until I saw Glenn’s obituary that he had designed the logo for the old Moon Winx Motel in Tuscaloosa. That sign was a landmark decades after the motel had closed. Remarkably, it was one of the surviving structures after the deadly, deadly 2010 tornado leveled nearby Alberta City. When the sign finally falls, Glenn’s work will live on as Druid City Brewing Co., has incorporated a variation of the sign in their logo. What a wonderful, talented family! Glenn’s death, yes, untimely at 85, is still painful for me as I’m sure it is for you. Turning to a subject that is not so much sad as it is annoying, I am equally irritated with the post-9/11 attachment to “God Bless America.” Actually, it’s a fine, stirring, patriotic song. What I object to is its replacement of “Take me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch at baseball games. A happy compromise would be to make it a part of baseball tradition. Essentially, play 19 both songs. Let’s have the tribute to the tragedy of 9/11; then, let’s brighten up our world again with baseball’s happy anthem. Ct. Jennings and your photos of the delectable Miss Harlow, what can one say except, maybe wow! Or thank you. Ct. Gary Brown and metal pica pole. Pica stick, the term shared with you by Glenn House, was quite familiar to me in my pre-digital journalism days. I find it interesting that point is still a measure for type sizes even in the digital world. Indeed, the fact that it is still there is both comforting and facilitating when I’m working on a fanzine. Regarding H. Beam Piper and Little Fuzzy, I thought I bought the sequel at the same time. I have a paperback titled Fuzzy Sapiens and it is billed on the cover as the sequel. Is The Other Human Race a title variation?

IRRegular #7/Isaac I am indeed envious of your trip to the Guinness brewery at St. James Gate. That was one of the stops we planned on a post- retirement Ireland trip. Then, Nancy had to have two hip replacements in a year’s time… We haven’t given up, but the likelihood isn’t nearly as good now. In fact, the whole trip, con and noncom activities, sounds like it was a blast. We did have a nice London trip several years ago, one of those incredible bargains you sometimes stumble across online. If I remember correctly, I had about 40 or so different UK beers on that trip. That’s counting some I brought back and a swallow or two from whatever Nancy was having in some pub. Enjoyed the overall trip report very much. Your contribution is a little sparse at times, but you have been a fine, enthusiastic, youthful addition to SFPA. I hope you’ll stick around with us codgers.

Tennessee Trash #120/Gary Spectacularly beautiful pictures from your travels. I am so envious of that grand outing, especially the Guinness and Stonehenge experiences. I’m not that big a fan of Guinness Stout, but it is a serious icon in the beer world. I think you misunderstood the tongue-in-cheek nature of my story about the two cops in Kingsport. They were exceedingly friendly and cooperative. The football stuff was all meant to be humorous because that’s the way it really played out among all four of us. If I suggested that they were rude, it was a huge mistake on my part. Good Sam covered the wrecker service that got us out of the asphalt. I thought about billing the Sunoco station for the new hitch but figured it wasn’t worth the effort. Weird coincidence that we were in your neighborhood when that happened. Thanks for the additional insight on H. Beam Piper and Jim Butcher. I expect to get to the second Fuzzy book soon. I have the second Dresden book in hand when the mood hits me to read it.

2014 SFPA Egoboo and OE Election Ballot/Gary I hope you don’t have a repetition of the mail mix-up this time. I know that had to be absolutely maddening to have those additional ballots popping up as they did.

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