THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Greetings, I hope everyone had a really great holiday season. There are 2 major items that I want to talk about this issue. One is that it is time again to nominate for the Hall of Fame award. Please send me your nominations either by snail mail e-mail or Phone by March 1st. So that a ballot maybe included in the spring issue Scientifiction. There is a list of past recipients in the back of your membership directory for your convenience. The second matter is not a happy one for me. It concerns club dues and the financing of First Fandom. After this latest dues period where dues notices were sent out to the members that owed dues, of that group only 25% of the membership sent in their money. Now, compared to other clubs, $10 is not a lot of money for dues. It gets you a newsletter and voting rights and free memberships to several conventions around the country, including Archon in St. Louis, which extends to First Fandom members 2 free memberships a year. Just this one convention alone is worth the membership dues, as it would cost $50.00 to go to the convention itself. The convention then presents you with a badqe that gets you into the VIP suite so you can have a sandwich and talk to friends quietly. I will be extending the deadline for membership dues till Feb 15th for those that forgot or lost the notice or whatever. Please send your dues to our treasurer Keith Stokes 108th Terrace, Lenexa Ks. 66210. With the dues received being what they are I am in the tough position of saying that if you have not paid your 2003 dues then this is going to be you last newsletter. You will not be taken off the membership roles; you will be put on the inactive list and not sent a newsletter or allowed to vote or nominate. When your msto ed reCeive your newsletter a9ain and votin9 rights This is not a step that I wish to take but must as it is not fair to the dues pavinq members. * Don't forget to check out the website for First Fandom at www.firstfandom.org Joan Marie 2 FIRST FANDOM REPORT CONTENTS: SUMMER, 2002 pemssion31 C°ntentS ma9azine are copyrighted and cannot be reprinted without the publisher s THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Joanie Knappenberger . , . DINOSAUR TRACKS Howard DeVore, Curt Phillips, Terry Jeeves Arthur C. Clarke. .......................................... FANZINE RETROSPECTIVE Jon D. Swartz . 1.................................... ARCHIVAL MATTERS Don Dailey.............. ...................................... HARMONY: Jim Harmon.................. FAN PROFILE: Robert A. Madle Robert A. W. Lowndes ....................................... TRANSITIONS Walter R. Cole Editor, Jim Harmon Art Director, Barbara Gratz Harmon Special Features Editor, Jon D. Swartz Contributing Editor,- Don Dailey Cover, "Mindsnake", If Science Fiction, November 1960 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY FIRST FANDOM. PUBLISHER, JIM HARMON 634 S SRD DR' BURBANK| CALIFORNIA 91506, E-MAIL: JIMHARMONRDQ@EARTHLINK NET FIRST J°ANIE ^P^™ 1474 SUMMERHAVEN DR. ST Lo Js MO 63146-5440, E-MAIL: [email protected]; SECRETARY, JOE L HENSLEY 2315 BLACKMORE ft ' M4DISON. !N 47250; TREASURER. KEITH STOKES. %FIRST FANDOM P O BOX 34MSKS thTfirst fan^^^^ THE SL0GAN "™e dinosaurs of science fiction and AU- ™DEWRKS OF FIRST FANDOM. AND MAY NOT BE USED PERMISSION OF THE ORGANIZATION-.COPYRIGHT ©2002 BY FIRST FANDOM TO^har^ ADDRESS ALL CONTRIBUTIONS AND LETTERS OF COMMENT TO JIM HARMON, EDITOR, SCIENTIFICTION FIRST FANDOM PUBLICATIONS DINOSAUR TRACKS HOWARD DEVORE and had gained the nickname Banks Mebane lived in Rotten Robert'. Robert apparently Meboume Fl. right down the beach was an exhibitionist and would walk from Cape Caveneral. He either up to a group of women and ask lived on or near the beach. Every them if they'd like to see his equip­ morning after breakfast he would go ment. Someone would stop him for a run on the beach, he did this before he could get his zipper down Mebane style taking about 2 hours but we couldn't be on the scene all to stroll a mile down the beach. He the time. would interrupt his stroll to pick up Finally Friday evening he was interesting objects on the sand. I talking to three women and offered remember one morning he picked to show it to them. Nobody stopped up a little blonde in a 3 piece bikini him this time and he unzipped his but that's another story. Another pants. morning he picked up Rotten Ah! These were Midwest-con Robert, they became friends and he women. They had experienced told Robert about the Midwestcon Randy Garrett, Harlan Ellison, and Robert was eager to attend Isaac Asimov. Rotten Robert one. so the next June he brought him to Midwestcon. Within a couple could not hold up to their of hours Robert was well known standards, these were veterans! 4 One woman looked at it, she said "I science fiction and more and more think its a mouse, I can see it's little about the alternate lifestyles that some tail” Another said, "No, its either a wart aspects of sf fandom represent. I or a tiny pensis" The third said Its suppose these things are all right if you definitely a pensis but I've never seen like them, but first and foremost it's the one that small before" .Rotten Robert stories and writers that interest me. zipped his pants back up, turned his When I go to conventions and overhear . back and walked away, They had "BNFs" talk about how science fiction is ' cured him of his tendencies, at least just "something they used to read", it temporarily. seems to me that they have missed the point. CURT PHILLIPS Me, I'm a science fiction fan. and I guess I always will be1! I'm very honored to be con-sidered for associate membership in First TERRY JEEVES Fandom. The late Lynn Hick-man was Dear Jim, a friend of mine and I would be proud I just got the latest Scientifiction to be part of an organization he helped and felt like a few comments That found. cover for Death In The Stratosphere I Beyond that however, I feel a seem to remember it concerned a kinship to the traditional science fiction rocket blasting off and crashing 'fandom that First Fandom was founded through an invisible - but solid - layer to celebrate in the first place. Though around the Earth. _born in 1959, I grew up on the SF & I was very sorry to hear of Forry “STF of an earlier generation. The having to sell his collection because of stories of Laurence Manning, Neil R. legal fees. No doubt about it, in a legal Jones, and CAPT S. P. Meek are as case the only winners are the lawyers. familiar to me as any of the science Everyone else gets taken to the fiction writers practicing today. Give me cleaners. a good Nelson Bond story or a new I see the President mentions Dave Jack Williamson novel any day over Kyle and the Knights of St Fanthony. most of what's published as science As a member I’d be interested to know fiction these days. Certainly, good sf is if they are still operating as I haven't being published today; Allen Steele, heard a word in ages. Robert Sawyer, and Joe Haldeman are The section on 1937 fanzines was a writers (among others) who tell bit teasing as few of us would have excellent stories. Jack Williamson is access to them. I'll throw in my teaser. still working at the top of his form, may I have a complete run of Wally Gillings he long continue to do so. fanzine Scientifiction from 1939. plus It seems to me that for a good many the others which follow Maybe I could years being a sf fan has changed. It do a piece on them. has become less and less about A good read as usual. All the best actually reading and discussing good Terry 5 HIGHLIGHTS OF SIR ARTHUR’S SIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE EGOGRAM 2001/2002 Dear Jim: F.Y.I. - Obviously 2001, of all years, (AS PICTURED ON HIS HOLIDAY deserves an Egogram, though it is CARD): My “Dune Roller" indelibly stained with the events of 11 (apologies to Julian May). Built by September. I am still spooked by the partner Hector Ekanayake. Placed fact that, in 1973,1 chose that very date 87 out of 88 in the Colombo Con­ in Rendezvous with Rama for the worst course D'Elegance, beating the disaster in human history. Several SPACEGUARD Foundations have corporation garbage truck by a now been established as a result of the handsome margin. novel. Although I hope never to leave Sri All the best. Arthur Clarke, Lanka again, I did the next best thing 3/12/02 by appearing as a convincing 3-D Hologram at the Comdex Exhibition in Las Vegas on 13 November. - 2002 Nov 12 FANZINE RETROSPECTIVE 2 by Jon D. Swartz The subject of the first “Fanzine Retrospective" was an issue of Amateur Correspondent, a fanzine from the 1930s. This time we take a close look at an issue of The Fanscient. a rather unique fanzine published during the late 1940s/early 1950s. The Fanscient for Spring, 1949 (Volume 3, Number 1/Whole Number 7) The Fanscient was edited by Donald B. Day for the Portland Science-Fantasy Society. Published from September 1947 until Spring-Summer 1951, this sercon publication appeared for a total of 13 issues The last issue was double-sized (64 pages) and double-numbered (13/14).