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December 2019 Vol. 12, No. 3 Whole No. 47

Edited & published by John Purcell, 3744 Marielene Circle, College Station, TX 77845-3926 USA

Proofreading on this issue is courtesy of our cats Inga, Eyegore, and Froderick. If there are typos anywhere in this issue, these are the responsible parties. Good help is so hard to find these days.

Contents © 2019 by John A. Purcell. Contact information: [email protected] Even so, all rights revert to original artists and authors upon publication. Disclaimers are a dirty business, but are always included. You understand why. I know you do. What you have here in your hands (or on screen) is another Mythical Publication. Copies of this fine, back on a quarterly schedule fanzine can be had for The Usual, which means expressed interest, submission and eventual inclusion of articles and artwork, letters of comment, and cold hard cash in the amount of $3.00 USD if you want a printed copy mailed to you. Bribes are also accepted. Of course, if you send in locs, articles, and artwork, you just earned a life-time free subscription. Consider yourself lucky, indeed. Table of Contents Bemused Natterings……………………………………………..…3 Rules of Acquisition, by Taral Wayne……………………...6 Gonna Roll Them Bones, by John Purcell………………..9 Book Review: by ye editor Bodacious Creed, by Jonathan Fesmire……………..17 Figby, by Bill Fischer………………………………………………19 State of the Fanzines……………………………………………..20 From the Hinterlands………………………………………..…..23 Convention Calendar……………………………………………..28 What’s Next…………………………………………………………..37 Taral Wayne writes about the cover: “It’s almost hard to believe that this drawing is about six years old, and it was originally drawn for a fan who wanted to have a special cover for his convention report. Somehow, the con report was never written, however. Other, more immediate concerns kept me from doing, but eventually I stirred myself to ask whether it would be alright if the art was published somewhere else. The fan who originally commissioned gave his blessing ... but, then, I forgot about it again all over again. And again. Part of the problem was that there didn’t seem an obvious place where a cover marked all over with “Fans in Black” could obviously be published. Fortunately, John Purcell said he was more than happy to give this Men In Black homage the cover space in needed, and with a little Photoshop manipulation it was easily done. This is a tale of procrastination, and failed plans, that are familiar to most fanartists. It would be a redundant to repeat it in this as well as in many other instances. Sadly though, it become grown less common for me to contribute fan art at all, and seeing old work left unused such as this only makes the oversight all the more piquant.” Art Credits Front cover by Taral Wayne Sheryl Birkhead – 2; Brad Foster – 3; John Picacio – 4; Julie Gomoll – 5, 20; clip art – 6, 8; Nicked off Internet – 7, 14, 23; Photos by John Purcell – 9, 11, 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21; Jose Sanchez – 22; Craig Smith – 27; Teddy Harvia – 28, 31, 36. Back cover – Ditmar

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Out of the fire, into the pan, jump into the oven, turn up the heat… By now most folks in the scientifictional fanzine multiverse probably know that I am co-chairing the upcoming annual fanzine fan’s convention, Corflu, here in College Station, Texas. The dates for this extravaganza are March 13-15, 2020, and it will be held at the Hilton College Station Hotel and Convention Center: all information relating to this event can be found at www.corflu.org . When you go to that website there are multiple links to registering for Corflu 37, booking your room, and other information. The 2020 FAAn Awards ballot is also available there as well, plus all of the Progress Reports that detail all sorts of things about the upcoming convention. It should be a grand gathering of the clan, complete with two – count ‘em, two! – Corflu 50 guests, Tommy Ferguson, who is coming all the way from Northern Ireland, and Howard Waldrop, venturing forth from far-flung Austin, Texas. Many other notables in the fannish multiverse will be there as well. Again, go to the Corflu 37 website and click on the members link on the left menu to see who else shall be there. The registration fees for attending memberships increase on January 1, 2020, so act fast and beat the bump. Supporting memberships remain at $25 USD and £20 GBP for the duration. For my part, I will do my best to get this issue finished and posted as quickly as possible to help get the word out, so do not be surprised if Corflu 37 – a.k.a., Corflu Heatwave – is mentioned more than once in the following pages.

ArmadilloCon 41 Report Normally I would write up convention reports as a separate article for this fanzine, but due to time constraints – see above nattering – I decided to share some brief thoughts about the 41st edition of ArmadilloCon, held over the weekend of August 2-4, 2019, in that aforementioned far-flung city of Austin, Texas. This was my second ArmadilloCon – a year ago I attended my first, bringing the 2018 TAFF winner Johan Anglemark along during his TAFF travels across North America – and this time my darling wife Valerie joined the revelry. I warned her ahead of time that ArmadilloCon is a very literary-based science fiction convention, that it is not as faannish a con as we are accustomed to, but is still populated by excellent people. This year a long-time friend of mine, Matthew B. Tepper, would be there promoting the now just completed LosCon 46 in Los Angeles, which he was chairing. It was great fun to see Matthew again, and Valerie and I enjoyed many a wide-ranging conversation with him over the weekend.

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I introduced Valerie to many science fiction fans, writers, and artists over that weekend: notable among them are John Pocacio, Dan Tolliver, Scott Cupp, John Gibbon, Joe Lansdale, William Ledbetter, Rie Sheridan Rose, Brad and Cindy Foster, and many others. A very nice surprise was seeing Spike there, and also local writer Howard Waldrop. We also chatted with ArmadilloCon 41 Writer Guest of Honor Rebecca Roanhorse. The con’s cast of characters included Dan Tolliver as the Fan GoH, Toastmaster Marshall Ryan Maresca, the Science Guest was Moriba K. Jah (a brilliant young (48 years old is much younger than me!) aerospace engineer), and the Special Guest was Martha Wells, whose Murderbot series is now on my Must-Read list; so far I have only read the first book, All Systems Red, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and now I want to read the rest of them. (Word up: a stand- alone Murderbot novel, Network Effect, is due out in May 2020.)

Like I said, most of the panels were focused on SF literature, although we did join John Picacio’s demonstration game of Loteria: he was one of the many artists present, and man alive, is his work beautiful! Loteria is a traditional Mexican card game that is very similar to Bingo, but uses picture- story cards – some of which are shown here - instead of numbered balls drawn at random. The caller of the card drawn usually makes up a story to go along with the card in their hand, while players match the image on their tabla (a visual Bingo card, if you will) and cover it with a bean. Like regular Bingo, when a player covers a row across, top-to-bottom, or diagonally, that player cries out “Loteria!” and the images are confirmed. It is a very fun and unique game. If you have a chance, if John is at a convention and giving a demonstration of his Loteria game cards, go and enjoy.

Due to ArmadilloCon’s focus on literary science fiction and fantasy, most of the panels dealt with topics such as “Aliens Among Us” (ably moderated by William Ledbetter) and “Crossover SF”, although I question the inclusion of “Godzilla in 2019” on the program, but hey, it’s Godzilla, so I‘m not complaining. Matthew B. Tepper moderated a retrospective panel on Isaac Asimov on Sunday, and the “SF Pictionary” game was an hour’s worth of silliness that proved Brad Foster is not very good at Pictionary. In fact, not being an artist is an advantage at that game.

The hospitality suite was small, but well-stocked with nibbles and drinks both hot and cold. It was never over-crowded, which is perfect for people to sit and converse. On Friday night in the consuite, Melissa Tolliver hosted the first annual “Open Mic Night”: fans were invited to share original stories, poems, tell bad jokes, or sing songs if they so desired. Since I had brought my acoustic guitar, I played two original songs there. Unfortunately, I flubbed up the first line to a stanza on “Progression in Green 4 | P a g e

Major,” but I did a reset, and started again at that point then finished the song. Oh, well. It was good practice.

All in all, ArmadilloCon 41 was a lot of fun, and Valerie and I plan on returning next year for its 42nd iteration. In the meantime, I need to get more involved with preparing for Corflu 37, which I am chairing, which transpires three months from now.

Am I panicking? Not really. A bit anxious, yes, but I’m not worried too much. I have good people helping me, so I am positive that I can host a small convention that can be as convivial and fun as ArmadilloCon.

Who is in this issue

Mostly me, unfortunately, but after last issue’s Steampunk- themed effort, this is actually A Good Thing because it forces me to do two things: (1) finish off the Czechia portion of my 2017 TAFF trip, and (2) write up a book review of Bodacious Creed by Jonathan Fesmire, one of last issue’s Steampunk author survey contributors. But two people definitely helped to flesh out this particular issue, both of whom are regular contributors to this not-so-regularly published fanzine.

Bill Fischer My good friend from long ago college days – and one third of the folk trio I was in during the height of the Disco Craze during the mid-Seventies (I really want him to write something about those days) – Bill is back with another installment of our favorite lab assistant, Figby. As you may recall from last issue, Figby and his professorial colleague are off to a conference in Romania, which is where this tale resumes.

Taral Wayne Not to be outdone, Taral does a two-fer again by supplying a fun cover and another article. He has written extensively about Roman coins and other collectible items in this fanzine before, but this time around Taral shares the tale of another type of collectible near and dear to our hearts: an old fanzine. It is an interesting tale, for sure, and I am thrilled to have it in this issue.

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Rules of Acquisition

Taral Wayne

Although a month has gone by that was rather like the last one, it hasn’t been entirely uneventful. It has been a lot more like the last month than I liked, however, since it continued to be little more than an endless number of appointments with various doctors and nurses who demanded to poke and probe me, and I think I spent almost one afternoon out of every three with changing dressings, giving blood or being wired for echoes. So unchanging are these inflexible rituals that I’m not going to recount them again this month.

Speaking of which, it was also the time of the year again for another inflexible ritual – the Canadian National Exhibition. It rolled around early in August, as always, and will finish on the last day of summer, when the melancholy drudges who have to return to school will realize, as always, that the best part of the year is finally over. Of course, this is of no consequence to me, since I haven’t had to worry about school for well over 45 years. Nonetheless, it was time for the “Ex” once again.

Unlike past years, when I was passed through the gates as “disabled," admittance was no longer free. Still, seniors get in at half price, which isn’t too bad a deal.

I’m forced to report that there was even less to see at the Ex than there had been the year before – a trend that I suspect is irreversible and will eventually end in some sort of “privatization" that will convert the CNE to a glorified Wal-Mart, selling sponsored products that anyone could buy at any other “Big Box” store. In the meantime, however, I enjoyed the event as best I could, and did what I had been looking forward to since last year: I bought the incredible home-made fudge, home-made honey and home-made maple syrup, ate a deep-fried Mars bar and had a frugal falafel dinner.

I also found a couple of dealers I knew. I traded one of them some Russian-made military toys in exchange for a large, 18th century Czarist-era five-kopeck bronze coin that is about the size of a poker chip. Then I hunted up the other dealer and quickly struck a deal to buy some old Canadian banknotes that were missing from my collection – a $50 bill from 1937, and a $100 bill from the 1954 series. They were not actually as expensive as you might think, considering that $100 in the 1950s was more than a week’s wages … but today might pay for a dinner for two at a medium-priced steak franchise.

There was little more do that I haven’t already done the previous year, but I soaked in the ambiance for all it was worth, and confess that I enjoyed myself. There would little point to a detailed report, however.

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I very nearly sold a thousand-dollar fanzine to Robert Silverberg. The zine was produced by Forrest J. Ackerman, as a record of Robert Heinlein’s Guest of Honour speech at the 1941 Worldcon, and only published by mimeograph in a very limited edition of 100.

The demand was insistent, however, so Ackerman re-used the re-stencils to run off a second hundred copies. The main difference is that the first edition used green ink on the cover, and the reprint used black. In either case, the speech remained a collector’s item for at least forty years, so if you wanted to read it, you either had to find a reprint in some obscure 1940s magazine – or possess one of the original mimeographed copies. The situation remained thus until the 1980s or later, when the speech was finally reprinted in a modern, professional magazine.

It so happened that I had bought an original copy of this speech back in the 1970s … for $2.

When last reported, a reputable dealer in New England was offering one for sale at $1,200 US!

More interesting to me, personally, was that Robert Silverberg announced through his contacts that he was looking for a copy. I was able to contact the writer, and verified that he was interested in acquiring my copy.

While I am not a great fan of Heinlein’s, my possession of an original copy of that 1941 speech was a considerable coup, and the source of some pride. But $1,200 was $1,200, and I thought the money would console me nicely for its loss. Even at a negotiated lower price, the exchange rate between Canada and the US would still leave me able to clear $1,000, Canadian.

I wasn’t counting on Silverberg apparently not being willing, or perhaps not able, to afford that sort of money. As we exchanged e-mails, it became obvious that he expected we could exchange something of equal value. The problem was that I no longer collected SF novels – nor the professional correspondence that Silverberg also offered. Perhaps an actual first 1940s edition of Isaac Asimov’s Caves of Steel, or The End of Eternity, but hardly anything less would compensate me. Certainly not one of Silverberg's later epic fantasies, such as Gilgamesh the King or Lord Valentine’s Castle. Not even his 1969 novel – Nightwings, my favourite – was likely to be worth more than $50 in the first edition.

With visions of an easy thousand dollars vanishing from my grasp, a delightfully absurd idea popped into my head. After being nominated so many times for my own Hugo, it was not hard to convince myself that in fact, dammit, I deserved a Hugo! Fandom has changed so much in the last few years, however, that there is effectively nil chance of winning one now … all the more so since I am inevitably fading out as a light in the fannish firmament. But here was Robert Silverberg, who had won four! Did he really 7 | P a g e

need so many? It was understandable that the writer cherished his most creative work, and the recognition for it that he rightly deserved in the 1950s and 60s. But really… Gilgamesh the King? Could he not spare even a token of one late effusion of his fading genius? Judging from his response, apparently not. I rather imagine that the reply to my suggestion was written in a rather testy tone of voice. The last I heard from Silverberg, he was trying to talk a university library into trading some of his personal correspondence for an original copy of the speech. Apparently, he puts a very high value on his correspondence, but unfortunately it is very little more than boring shop talk to me, and so has no appeal. One wonders whether fate has been unkind to Silverberg, and if he actually cannot not afford a twelve-room, Beverly Hills home with a kidney-shaped swimming pool and a large, German luxury sedan, as I had always imagined … or whether he just could not accept that a poorly-printed old fanzine that was only a few pages long could be worth more than ten or twenty dollars. It was a disappointing outcome, but I am not in the business of Being a Nice Guy to Famous Science Fiction Writers. But still, that disappointment has lately been redeemed by another, far more successful deal. For some time, I had been willing to sell most of my furry comics – even sought-after titles like Usagi, Albedo, Captain Jack, Fusion, Bone and many others. I have not read any of them for, probably, twenty years or more. Nor did I have any great desire to so. So I struck a deal with a furry dealer, who said he would be able to drive to Toronto to buy the stuff from me. It was on his way, so neither postage nor gasoline would be needed to get the comics back to New Jersey. I don’t know whether I made any profit on them, but I doubt I could have lost much – and, while, I owned them, I had only the dubious “pleasure” of possession.

I also had the satisfaction of doing better on the transaction with the comics dealer than I would have with Mr. Silverberg…

- Taral Wayne

Guide to Latin Linos in this issue page 5: Ignorance of the law excuses no one. page 6: The power derived cannot be greater than that from which it is derived. page 10: Time reveals all things. page 14: The usefulness of something is not invalidated by the consequences of its abuse. Page 16: Suppression of the truth is the suggestion of falsehood. page 18: Anger is a brief madness. page 32: An appeal to the ignorance of facts. Source: More Latin for the Illiterati, by Jon R. Stone (1999)

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Gonna Roll Them Bones

Still more TAFF 2017 trip reportage

from John Purcell

In our last episode our decrepit heroes, John and Valerie Purcell, spent a week in Helsinki, Finland, doing TAFF Delegate Things at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention (August 9-13, 2017), and preparing for the start of their return back to the wilds of Texas. Before then, though, they had to endure another seven days of travel. Immediately lying before them was Prague, Czechia, which meant another foray into a foreign city with nobody there to hold their hands and show them around. Once again, they were strangers in a strange land… Late afternoon on Monday, August 14, 2017, Valerie and I were in Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, only this time we were incredibly excited about our next destination: Prague! Going there was a given on my TAFF trip because Valerie’s paternal ancestors immigrated to America from Czechoslovakia in the mid- 19th century. In fact, this entire trip was a journey through both ancestry lines: I am of English and Irish origin, possibly Norman (my family name goes back to 11th century Normandy as Puirselle), and Valerie’s parental lines are Scandinavian and Czech. We kept this in mind when designing the eventual TAFF trip route: first to England, side trip to Wales, then France, Netherlands, Finland (via Riga, Latvia), Czech Republic, then back to England to fly back to Houston, Texas on August 20th. Thus far everything had gone fairly well, considering. When I say “considering” that means we had to contend with unexpected, shall we say, inconveniences? One must admit that arriving in a strange city – let alone a foreign country – in the dark of night is not the best planning, but sometimes that is just how plane and train schedules work out. So far on our trip we had survived arriving in Paris, France, in late evening, and still made it to our hotel just fine (see “Riding on the Metro” in Vibrator #46 (November 2017) for that sordid tale). And even though we landed in Riga, Latvia, at sundown, by the time we had made it to our hotel for that overnight 22-hour layover to catch our connecting flight to Helsinki the next day (viz, “Piss on It” on www.efanzines.com ), we managed to get to our hotel in Riga without too much trouble: we simply had to walk further than usual once we got off the tram that stopped three blocks from the Knights Court Hotel. With our pile of luggage, that’s a decent trudge and drag. But we did it. So now our Air Baltic flight from Helsinki was due to land in Prague at 7 PM local time. Still light out. No problem, right? Yeah. Still a problem.

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By the time we left Václav Havel Aiport on a train to Vlavni Nadrazi, the main station in the heart of the city, it was starting to get dark, and that’s when the fun began. The first thing we had to do was get our bearings and figure where in Prague our accommodations were located. Unlike Paris, Riga, or Helsinki where we had hotels booked, we had rented an apartment for our three-days in Prague for a very low rate; well, by our standards it was low. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a kitchen that had a launderette (small clothes washer) built in, full bath, a spacious living room (wide screen television), and windows that let in a lot of daylight. No air conditioning – again – but hot weather wasn’t an issue this time. The apartment was in the Zborov part of Prague, less than three blocks from the tram stop we would use to go back and forth into the city center. Now this is all fine and good, but I will give you, gentle readers, three guesses as to what happened on that darkening evening of August 14, 2017. Your first two guesses don’t count, either. I will wait. [‘Jeopardy’ theme song plays] Welcome back. If you said “got lost,” then you’ve been paying attention to the other segments of my TAFF trip report. Boy, did we! The stupid thing is, at first we were actually going in the right direction on the correct tram line. The GPS on our iPhones worked perfectly. We took a short tram ride from the train station south to a stop at a cross street called Vinohradská, where we disembarked with our luggage to get onto the yellow (or žlutá) tram line. So far so good. Unfortunately it was at this exact time that Valerie’s cellphone battery crapped out from overuse, and my cellphone battery was very low, too. This affected the directional feature of the GPS, which said we were going east instead of west towards our destination. I discovered this after a half dozen stops, so we got off at the next stop, crossed the street, and hopped onto the next yellow tram to go back in the opposite direction (i.e., west). Please keep in mind we had two good sized suitcases, two carry-on bags, and I’m also wearing a backpack. If we had the Bag of Doom with us – which had been safely transported back to Croydon by the Fishlifters from the Worldcon – we would have been physically traumatized. As it was, this was starting to get old and we were getting frazzled. Guess what? [”Jeopardy“ theme plays two and a half notes and is cut off with a screech] We had been heading eastward toward the Zborov area the first time we boarded the žlutá tram line. We discovered this because this time we crossed the Vltava River, which is west of our destination. Once again off we clambered with all of our luggage, crossed Vinohradská Avenue yet again, and I found a police officer who actually spoke English who confirmed that we were finally heading in the correct direction: take the žlutá tram east on Vinohradská for 3 kilometers and get off at Ĉernická ulice (street). So we did. By the time we made it to our apartment (I called ahead (my phone was barely working at this point) to let them know we would soon be there) it was 10:45 PM, which really wasn’t that bad (it wasn’t our usual after midnight arrival time, thank the stars), but once again we had trudged and dragged our western asses around a foreign city in the dark. This habit we seriously had to break.

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Thankfully, Prague at night is a beautiful city. Daytime, too. In the morning, we enjoyed the view from our apartment, took pictures with fully recharged cellphones, and I called Liam Proven, whom we were to meet later that day when he finished work. For those who may not know Liam, he is an English sf fan who lives and worked in Brno, Czechia (roughly three hours east of Prague by train), but was moving to Prague for his job. The deal we had made with Liam was that he The main room of our Prague 2-bedroom apartment. would have the use of the other bedroom in our rental apartment during our stay. He had business to attend to in Prague, so this worked out very well for everyone. The question obviously was not what to do while waiting for Liam, but where to go while waiting for Liam. We figured the best use of our time was to use daylight hours to become better acquainted with our surroundings and using the tram system efficiently. The narrow, cobblestoned street outside our apartment building curved up a steep hill – well, not too steep, but it sure seemed like it to our tired legs – that wound up around 19th and early 20th century buildings, mostly the former, as it climbed up towards Vinohradská Avenue, passing a small park embraced by old streets, where we boarded the žlutá tram line. Our destination on this beautiful sunny day was the New Town – actually not really new, since King Charles IV laid it out in 1348 – part of Prague, notable for many museums, and Wenceslas Square, which we had accidentally discovered the previous evening during our confused wanderings. Clearly, it is much easier to navigate in daylight when not dragging all your luggage around. We marveled at the beautiful old buildings, especially the massive National Museum at the north end of the Square, which we sorely wanted to enter but feared we’d get lost inside. We meandered in and out of shops, stopped in for refreshment at the Londoner Pub (one of dozens of internationally themed pubs and restaurants lining Wenceslas Square), and generally soaked in the international vibe of this 670 year old ”new” part of Prague. The next day and night Street outside our apartment building.

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we would be exploring Old Town with Liam. For now, though, we stuck with the area immediately surrounding Wenceslas Square so that we would not lose our bearings and return to the apartment without getting lost. Again. This time we actually managed to not do that! Drawing upon our experiences of using the London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Helsinki mass transit system, we moved around Prague without difficulty. Score one for the traveling Americans. We visited the Alphonse Mucha museum (very affordable and delightful). For readers not familiar with Mucha’s work, he was one of the finest artists of the Art Nouveau movement, and Valerie and I have long admired his work. After that, we wandered more, took even more photographs, and simply enjoyed the international urban vibe of New Town Prague. This city was probably the most visually fascinating part of my travels across Europe. There was so much to see and do, and the architecture is an incredible mixture of old and new, depending upon where in the city you were. And getting around was remarkably easy, once you became accustomed to the maps and directions, and affordable. Very affordable, in fact. A person earning a moderate income in America – let’s say, an annual salary of $45,000 – converts to 996,770 koruna in Czechia, which would place one well up the wealth ladder in Prague. When we reserved our apartment for the three and a half days of our stay, we thought that the 775 Kĉ per day rate was going to tap out our cash reserves, so imagine our surprise when that translated to a mere $35 a night in US currency. As a result, we felt rather like the hoity-toity upper class American tourists since we felt that we didn’t have to watch our spending as much during our stay in Czechia. So around we wandered, happily taking pictures of the varicolored buildings, all the while marveling at the simple fact that we were in fricking Prague! Around 1700 hours – that’s 5 PM for the American readers here – Liam Proven called, asking for the address of the apartment we were staying at, saying that he would be there in roughly an hour. To shorten this part of the tale, Valerie and I wandered back to a tram that would return us before 1800 hours, even though Liam did not really get there until nearly 1900 hours. He had misjudged how long it would take to travel out to that part of Prague. It didn’t matter, anyway, since that gave us more time to straighten up and have a bit of dinner prepared. After enjoying a nice home-away-from-home home-cooked meal, we sat around chatting for a few hours before crawling off to sleep. Tomorrow was to be a busy day roaming the streets of Prague. This time, though, we would know where we were going.

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The next day – August 16, 2017 – was Valerie’s birthday. We were only spending a total of three and a half days in Czechia and wanted to make the most of it, so with Liam Proven as our local guide – or is that loco? Sometimes I get those two words confused – the three of us planned out an itinerary for the day that focused on Old Town Prague, having dinner there, and then walking across the St. Charles Bridge at sundown. Liam swore on a stack of baklava that that is the best time to take in the beauty of that part of the city. Well, how could we argue? He had been there before, so we succumbed to his personal judgment. Liam Proven, reading a Prague street sign. Let it be known that if any of you reading this ever get the chance to go to Prague, Czechia, on vacation, do not hesitate, just do it. Prague, in my estimation, is one of the most photogenic cities I have ever seen. The three of us took the tram down to the New Town area of Prague again, where Liam led us around, pointing out key historical buildings, all the while keeping up a patter worthy of an experienced local guide. Valerie and I took dozens of pictures on our iPhones – most likely duplicating subjects, but we didn’t care; memories for both of us – during our meanderings, and the hours swiftly passed. The architecture here was marvelous, but once Liam took us through the gate into Old Town it was like that scene in Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out into Oz. Our jaws dropped and Valerie and I probably looked like we were trolling for flies, our mouths agape in wonder. It was as if we had immediately stepped through a time portal, shifting the three of us three to four hundred years further into the past. Some of the buildings were indeed that old, probably older. The streets were cobblestoned, worn smooth by centuries of feet and weathering. One of the must-sees of our trip was the Astronomical Clock, but unfortunately it was under a year-long restoration at that time – see what I did there? – so it was covered by scaffolding. No matter. It was still one of the coolest things we had seen during our trip. It is definitely in each of our top ten lists. Onward we trod through Old Town with Liam leading the way. Occasionally he would get turned around as we found ourselves on the same street a few times, but that was okay; it gave us a chance to see ancient architecture we had missed the first one or two Astronomical Clock after renovation. times through. Liam did apologize for these misdirected routes, explaining that he had only been in Prague a few times before since he had mostly been living in Brno. Oh, well. We forgave him. At one point we took a coffee break at an outdoor café, sitting at a table next to a monument to George Smetana, a great Czech composer of the 1800s. The eventual goal of our walk

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was to be on the St. Charles bridge at sunset; Liam – and all the tourist literature – stated that if there was any one single place to be at the right time, that was it. “Trust me,” he said. “It’s magical.” So on we went, wending our way through narrow, winding streets. Eventually we would celebrate Valerie’s birthday that night at a restaurant in Old Town, but first: to the bridge! The crowds became thicker but not impassable, full of locals and tourists leisurely strolling in the general direction of St. Charles Bridge as the sun descended. Liam timed it out perfectly: the sky was just beginning to darken as the three of us approached the bridge. The atmosphere was festive, and the air was filled with conversation, music, the aroma of food vendors, and history. We walked onto St. Charles Bridge as lights began to turn on all around us, and the statuary lining the bridge was marvelous. Liam pointed across the river. “There it is: Prague Castle,” he said, and let the sight do the rest.

It looked like a fairy castle overlooking the river and city. This was easily in the top three most beautiful sights of the entire trip. We walked the length of the bridge and back again, eventually located that restaurant Valerie had selected for her birthday dinner because it had an extensive gluten free menu. Liam is a vegetarian, so he had no problem finding something to his liking, and I could care less: if it sounded good, looked good, and smelled good, I was going to eat it. It was a delicious dinner all around, and a wonderful way to celebrate Valerie’s birthday in the land of her ancestors. The next day – August 17th – was scheduled as a day trip out to Kutna Hora, a one hour train ride east of Prague. According to her grandfather’s memoirs, that village in the heartland of Czechia was where his grandparents came from when they immigrated to Missouri in the mid-19th century. Our goal was not only to see if we could find evidence of Prochaskas (her maiden name) living in the area, but also to visit the Sedlec Ossuary. Alighting at the station in Kutna Hora, we walked up the main street leading into the village. The day was sunny and warm, and the small homes and establishments lining the streets had

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a marvelous old world charm. The object of our walk, the Cemetery Church of All Saints, stood prominently before us. Hopefully we would be able to find grave markers with names of Valerie’s ancestors there. As it turned out, we did not. What names and dates we did find went all the way back to the 15th century, and there were numerous older, overgrown gravesites. Valerie quipped, “knowing my family, they’re completely covered and forgotten by now.” A sad comment, but considering the age of this church and cemetery, I would not be surprised. Everywhere we had been – even inside the Church itself – locals had said to her, “Oh, Prochaska? Ah, that is a common name.” None of the tombstones in the churchyard cemetery had a single, readable marker with the name “Prochaska” on them. Not a one. A bit disappointed, we went back into the Church itself to go underneath it into the Sedlec Ossuary. Words cannot adequately express the complete shock the three of us felt as walked down the steps and into the Ossuary. Its history dates back to 1278 when the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec was sent to the Holy Land by King Otakar II of Bohemia, and returned with a handful of earth from Golgotha, then sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery. From that point on, this pious act resulted in that cemetery becoming a desirable burial spot throughout Central Europe. The church proper was first built around 1400, and has been periodically updated and restored. In the early 16th century, a half-blind monk of the order was given the task of exhuming the skeletons and stacking their bones in the chapel, arranging them in ornate patterns. The legend goes that upon completion of his task, the monk’s eyesight was fully restored. Valerie entering the Sedlec Ossuary. The end result is staggering. Everyone entering the Ossuary was silent out of respect to the dead and the sheer magnitude of the bone arrangements. Massive pyramids of skulls stood in each of the four corners, and incredibly intricate designs were displayed throughout. It is estimated that the bones of 60,000 people were used, and more burial sites are discovered as restoration work to shore up the foundations and walls of the church continues. It is hard to describe the sight, At one point Valerie said that when she approached one of the skull pyramids she felt an energy that brought tears to her eyes. It made her wonder if the bones of her ancestors had sensed her presence and reached out. No question, being here was overwhelming.

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Church of All Saints in Kutna Hora, Czechia.

Detail of just one decorative arrangement.

Once we left Sedlec Ossuary, the three of us stopped at a local establishment on our return walk to the train station and enjoyed a late lunch. We all agreed that this was an experience that none of us would ever forget. A leisurely stroll back to the station for our return to Prague helped walk off the A section of ceiling decorative bones in Sedlec Ossuary. delicious meal, and we enjoyed the rolling scenery of this part of Czechia. Valerie noted that she could understand why her ancestors chose to settle in Missouri because the rich Midwestern farmland bore a strong resemblance to their native homeland. That made good sense to me. Eventually we made it back to our apartment in Prague before it became too late. We then packed up our bags to get ready for the next day. The less we had to do on the morning of August 18th, the better prepared we’d be for taking the train back to the Prague airport to catch our flight back to England. The last leg of my 2017 TAFF Trip was at hand: one final evening in London at Fishlifter Central, then off to our train to Liverpool on August 19th. So far we had accomplished all of the main trip objectives but one: to walk in the steps of the Beatles. Then it would be over to St. Ockport one last time to see Paul and Cas Skelton, who would see us off at Manchester Airport for our flight back to Houston and home. The long journey was almost over. But wait: more adventures awaited.

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Book Review: Bodacious Creed, by Jonathan Fesmire. Self-Published, 2017. 361 pages.

One of last issue’s contributors to that article about writing Steampunk literature is Jonathan Fesmire, who writes The Wild Steampunk Blog , which is on his homepage jonathanfesmire.com, and one can subscribe to the Wild Steampunk Newsletter. His previous novels are Children of Rhatlan and Tamshi’s Imp, two fantasies that have been well-received. Bodacious Creed is his first full-length foray into Steampunk, and such a grand entry it is. The hero of the book is U.S. Marshall James Creed, one of the most famous Marshalls of the Wild West (in this alternate time frame, that is), and his efforts at tracking down the notorious outlaw Corwin Blake has brought him to Santa Cruz, California. Blake has a reputation of being a savage, indiscriminate killer who takes great joy in taunting U.S. Marshalls who simply can never capture Blake and put him away once and for all. Blake has a knack for escaping from their clutches, and literally laughed in their faces while doing so. In short, Blake is a real Old West asshole. On the good side of the law, James Creed is a real Old West “gonna catch that bastard” U.S. Marshall with a reputation for always catching his man. The set up to this novel is that Creed has tracked Blake to the west coast town of Santa Cruz, the setting of the book. Essentially, this is almost a standard Western tale, but this story is set in the time of steam, so there is a lot of the Steampunk ethos that lifts the plot to an interesting level. Add into the mix the heroine of the tale, Anna Lynn Boyd, the madam of the House of Amber Doves bordello in Santa Cruz, a very respectable establishment in Santa Cruz. Anna is also an inventor of various mechanical devices on the side, such as steam-powered steelies (think robots) and other mechanical devices in her secret underground laboratory beneath the bordello. Her lover, Jonny, is a mute who likewise is a brilliant tinkerer and doctor (well, not legally, but he’s really good at mending bodies in various ways), and together they are quite a team. Naturally, all is not sweetness and light because Anna’s House is in the upscale area of Santa Cruz while her rival bordello, Plowshares, lies across the railroad tracks, is a much seedier establishment catering to the rougher elements of Santa Cruz. Meanwhile the Railroad Flats area of town down by the bay is the real crime-ridden area, anchored by Iron Nelly’s Saloon, and the 17 | P a g e

word around Santa Cruz is that Corwin Blake is circulating in that area and causing all sorts of trouble. Santa Cruz’s head lawman, Marshall Bateman, already has his hands full with the criminal element in the Flats, and Blake is now a major part of that problem. There is also a rumor floating around that a crime Syndicate is behind the mess in the Flats, but Bateman has no firm clues about its existence. So Marshall Bateman has no idea of the disaster brewing in Santa Cruz, but simply knowing Corwin Blake is there, and if the famed Marshall Bodacious Creed (I love that name, by the way) is involved, Bateman knows this is going to be one crazy mess. The ultimate plot twist that makes this story so enjoyable is that Creed is killed by Blake following one of the outlaw’s vicious sneak attacks on the Marshall’s Post in town. Head Marshall Bateman is killed, and Creed tears off after Blake, but is also killed by the outlaw. At this point Fesmire’s carefully planted backstories come into play as Anna Boyd, following instincts based on her strong attachment to Creed, conspires with her lover/assistant Jonny to steal Creed’s body out of the town morgue, and, in a brilliant steampunk nod to Frankenstein (duly referred in the story), brings the corpse back to her hidden laboratory in an attempt to revive Creed through mechanical, steam-planted devices and accessories. Thus, the mechanically resurrected Creed is a Steampunk zombie, not a traditional zombie. Anna and Jonny’s machinations allow for Creed to remain a Good Guy, the hero of the tale, even though his appearance and unexpectedly enhanced physical abilities freak the living bejeezus out of the townsfolk. That’s the core set up to Bodacious Creed. Naturally, there are numerous back-stories and plot complications throughout, and Jonathan Fesmire does a fine job of blending all this information together in a well-paced, tightly knit story. I really don’t have the time to get into all the fun steam technology and such of Fesmire’s alternative history of 1876 Santa Cruz, California and the old west of that timeframe, but bringing in little sidelights such as the popular use of Tesla bulbs, hidden underground laboratories, a mechanicals factory run by Miles Morgan (who has a monopoly on technological invention in California), and Morgan is surreptitiously supplying Anna Boyd materials for her work – to whom she slyly supplies some of her inventions in return – and is being spied upon by an unknown Syndicate plant in his factory, and so on and so forth, and Bodacious Creed turns into a wild, raucous adventure in the Wild Old West of the Steam Age. This book is a great start to what could be a fun series that proves Steampunk is not the sole province of Victorian England. No question about it: if you like Steampunk literature, Bodacious Creed is worth getting. Go to http://jonathanfesmire.com and follow the links to order your copy.

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Perhaps I should not be surprised that by working on the Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards for 2020 – to be presented at the many times aforementioned Corflu 37 coming up in three months – I have seriously been thinking about what qualifies a fanzine as a ‘fanzine’ in this day and age of electronic fan activity. Two of the questions and issues that came to mind were “what truly defines a fanzine,” and “does the medium of a fanzine really matter?”. The way I started to think about it, these are two core questions that truly need to be answered. Or, at the least, agreed upon.

In reverse order, I basically believe the medium by which a fan produces and distributes his or fanzine doesn’t really matter because it is the content that matters the most, especially when it is created by an amateur writer, artist, or editor/publisher. I am no professional when it comes to writing or editing, but it is still a personal goal to sell some fiction or poetry to a paying market. That would be another item to cross off my bucket list. Anyway, it bothers me when I see professional or semi-professional (individuals who have sold some work, but do not make a fulltime living off that work) writers, artists, and editors wedging their way into the Fan Hugo Award categories – writer, artists, fanzine – just to say that they are a “Hugo Award Winning” etcetera. In my mind, that cheapens the essence of the Fan Hugos. Let me just say that there needs to be a strict definition of “amateur” in the Fan Hugo Award categories Real Soon Now. It is bad enough that many old-time fans like me are severely disgruntled about this entire matter and barely care about them anymore. The Mass Market Media Effect has swallowed quite a few major Hugo categories as it is, so what’s a few more calories added to that beast’s diet?

Urgh! The Hugo Awards give me headaches anyway. What about the Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards – the FAAns – being presented at Corflu 37? Well, there are ten categories for any fanzine fan to vote in regarding fanzines published during calendar year 2019: Best Overall Fanzine, Best Genzine, Best Perzine, Best Whatchamallit-Zine, Best Fan Writer, Best Fan Artist, Best Online Activity, Best Special Publication, Best Letterhack, and Best Fanzine Cover Art. Nearly all of those can be found at Bill Burns’ fabulous repository of old and current fanzines, efanzines.com; more can be found at fanac.org, maintained by Joe Siclari and Edie Stern, plus even more old and new fanzines are found on sites like eBay, or the National Fantasy Fan Federation homepage. Just log on and search away.

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Now, I am wondering how many readers raised their eyebrows at the Best Whatchamacallit-Zine category. In short, that is a catch-all category – and I am sure I am going to catch it for creating this particular award, but wotthehell – for an assortment of other fanzine fan activities: these include blogs, clubzines, newszines, comic zines, media-related zines, and Apazines. Thanks to the creation of the Internet giving science fiction and fantasy fans a wealth of expressive possibilities, I figured it would be nice to give out an award that encompasses this variety of fannish expression. APAs – Amateur Press Associations – have been around for well over a century, dating back into the 19th century. These are designed as a means for writers to distribute their work through a central organizational hub – the Official Editor (OE) - where the collected members’ zines would then be shipped out in toto to all members. Fantasy literature luminaries involved with early APAs were H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and many others, and the National Amateur Press Association (founded in 1876) is actually still in existence. As many SF fans know, the first science fiction APA – the Fantasy Amateur Press Association – was founded in 1937 by Donald Wollheim and John B. Michel, and is still chugging along, albeit at an historic low membership. I am not sure wo the current OE of FAPA is, although Robert Lichtman, a longtime member, occasionally nags me to join. The longest running member at present is Robert Silverberg, who I believe has been active in FAPA since 1951. According to Wikipedia, as of August 2019, there are only 17 active members in FAPA. I receive a few FAPA-zines in trade via regular mail – such as Fred Lerner’s Lofgeorgnost (current issue pictured here) – or via efanzines.com ( such as Chris Garcia’s Claims Department). There are many other APAs still in operation, although the overall number has dwindled over the years as members have died or lost interest, but APAs are still out there. Bruce Gillespie informed me that ANZAPA (the Australia-New Zealand APA) is quite active and large these days, and R Laurraine Tutihasi directly emails her Stipple-APA (St. Paul, MN APA) Purrsonal Mewsings to me. The interest obviously is still there, and APAs in general have a long history of helping fans develop their writing skills to the point of turning into feelthy pros (like the aforementioned Robert Silverberg, but near as I can tell his talent was apparent from the get-go), which is definitely A Good Thing.

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And yes, like many sf fans, I too have been a member of quite a few APAs over the years: Minneapa (Minneapolis), LASFAPA (Los Angeles), AZAPA (Arizona), and most recently SNAPS (Southern Nevada Amateur Press Society) from 2006-2009. However, my APA days are now gone, but I do remember them. Sometimes I tap into my SNAPS zine Nukking Futz for material for Askance. In fact, the first few issues of Askance reprinted articles – with the original writers’ permission, of course – that came from SNAPS, so right there is another great reason for APAs to exist: besides being part of the group dissemination of all members’ zines, fan editors of general circulation fanzines – “genzines” be their name – frequently raid their own or others’ APAzines for material. Rich Lynch has been producing My Back Pages for a number of years now that frequently reprints some of his writings in various APAs he has belonged to in the past, and other fanzines, and it is a lot of fun to read his zine. They bring back memories. This is where I think these musings are taking me. Perhaps the real meaning of fanzines of any stripe is that they are historical records of the people and times that produced them. This is something that has been mentioned before in many places over the years. Science fiction fandom is probably one of the most self-aware sub-cultural groups that maintains a running history of itself. “Time-binding” is a term commonly associated with this self-awareness, but I like to think of fanzines – and this includes APAzines – as a means of preserving sf fandom’s history. Call it a running chronicle. After all, these are documents that can be referred to over and over again to check on questions regarding fandom’s history. Wonderful examples of this are Andrew Hooper’s articles in Chunga and Trap Door where his articles about the first Worldcon of 1939 have been appearing, detailing not only what happened, but exactly who was there, and what was their connection to Nycon I (as it was eventually labeled). It is fascinating reading, and a lot of the information Andrew has found comes from – you guessed it – fanzines produced during and right after that convention, in some cases also before the event. So as the bottom of the page approaches, it’s time wrap this up. Fandom in general owes a lot to this literary critter, the Amateur Press Association. A lot of us have been involved with them from time to time, and they have helped develop our writing and artistic skills. Hopefully these thoughts will provoke interesting letters of comment – not mailing comments, thankfully – for the next issue.

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Well, dear readers, I am in luck this time: there were actually letters received that I could use in the section for a change. It is sad that the nature of online fanzine publishing does not foment the creation of Letters of Comment (LoCs, as they are called) to fanzines due to these being essentially free to read without requiring responses; it then becomes necessary to try to publish something that can generate responses. Therefore, getting something in return for the effort is very much A Good Thing.

First up, an actual response to the 45th issue was received, so it makes sense to start with that letter first. My responses will be in this fancy-like font.

Jerry Kaufman P.O. Box 25075 Seattle, WA 98165 [email protected] 10 September 2019 Having many things better to do, I shirked them all and read Askance 45. Thought I should drop you a note to say so, especially as I enjoyed many bits of it. In particular, I liked Kevin Still's review of Cold in July. I didn't know that Joe Lansdale was responsible for Bubba Hotep, having seen only parts of it on TV. But it makes perfect sense. Lansdale's books are a bit too violent for my taste, yet Kevin makes this one sound appealing.

I also really liked Teddy Harvia's bottom-of-the-page illoes you used in your convention listings.

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I'll get around to #46 in due time; though steampunk's not one of my major interests, I've enjoyed the steampunky novels I've read.

Jerry

*Sorry for missing this loc last issue, but then again, I think it arrived after I had finished issue #46. No matter. I will pass along your kind words to Kevin when I see him at the faculty report back day in mid-January. Joe Lansdale is one of my favorite writers, but I have to be in the mood for that kind of story; when I do, Lansdale never fails to entertain. * There are still more of those Harvia bottom dwelling liner illoes on hand, and they will likely find their way into this issue’s pages somewhere.*

Lloyd Penney 1706-24 Eva Rd. Etobicoke, ON CANADA M9C 2B2

10 September 2019

I thought I’d interrupt your papers-grading and hard work on the next Corflu to actually respond to Askance 46. It’s got my article in it, too! Excellent! Time to prattle on.

Ah, life gets in the way, and happy projects like this one go by the wayside. At least you are the publisher as well as the editor, and you won’t get any grief from upstairs.

I have certainly enjoyed the strange world of steampunk for the past ten years or so. Because Yvonne and I were costumers in the 80s, steampunk has allowed to return to that day and have some fun. I really can’t afford the music or the books, so I certainly enjoy what I have. I have purchased, though, reference works on steampunk, which has certainly informed me as to steampunk’s history and origins. Are you still thinking of a steampunk zine? Want to do it together as co-editors?

What few books I have, one of them is the first steampunk book from Stephen Hunt, The Court of the Air. He’s written a ton of them now. Stephen was born in Mississauga, Ontario, which is walkable from where I am now, but he lives in London, I believe. The Court of the Air was a tough read, but only because it was so full of amazing ideas, it was difficult to absorb all at once. I would like to get more of his works.

Thank you for publishing my article! As I look at it, I found my own writing dull and sluggish, but it is all factual. We are still having a good time, and we have three shows to go to in October. I have made some Wizarding Worlds-oriented jewelry, and we will try to sell them at a Harry Potter event in Mississauga. Just for the record…the first photo on page 11 was taken at a general craft show in Pickering, east of Toronto, Yvonne as Queen Victoria on that page was taken at the Motor City Steam Con in Romulus, Michigan a couple of years ago, the picture of me on page 12 was on the second floor of Historic Bovaird House, while we were vending at a Christmas craft show. As you might expect, I certainly wasn’t the

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only one there in a suit and top hat… The final picture was shot in a vendor’s row at the Coldwater Steampunk Festival in Coldwater, Ontario.

Enjoyed the fiction all around…veddy, veddy British, and splendid all. I had thought to write a letter of comment in a veddy British and steampunk style, but I realized I am not that far away from that as it is.

Are you going to FenCon? I see you have Julie Czerneda as a guest, and she is a sweetie. Her husband Roger also gives good panel. Dickens on the Strand looks like quite the fun event.

Corflu…sorry, John, not a hope of attending, and I will have to save up for anything supporting. I almost got myself a plum job downtown, but was told thanks, but no thanks. The hunt continues, and Yvonne ends her current assignment shortly, and returns to her retirement. Money is tight enough as it is, so no travel for us for some time. We will see you with the next Purcellzine!

Lloyd

*I never find your writing “dull and sluggish,” Lloyd; in fact, I thought that article was fun reading. As you will shortly see another reader felt that way, too. * No, we never made it to FenCon this year – next year, we hope so! – and we had to pass on Dickens on the Strand this year, but that is an annual event that makes for a wonderful reason to have an overnight stay in Galveston. * Hang in there on that idiotic job hunt, Lloyd. At least you can attend Corflu Heatwave via Livestream courtesy of Rob Jackson, who will be running that for the weekend.*

Andrew Hooper 11032 30th Ave. NE Seattle, WA 98125

8 November 2019

I read [Askance #46] with some interest, as Steampunk has long been one of my favorite odd permutations of the speculative genre. It’s a bit jarring to consider that something as “recent” as The Adventures of Briscoe County Junior could be seen as a seminal work of Steampunk, but yes, checking the dates involved confirms that its brief, delightful run was indeed 25 years ago. Steam qua Punk is logically a phenomenon that can be no older than “Cyberpunk,” from which the punk suffix arises, just as every political scandal since 1973 is called “something-gate.” But as you observe, works which conform to the subgenre had been appearing for well over a decade. Moorcock’s “Oswald Bastable” books – The Warlord of the Air, The Land Leviathan, and The Iron Czar – certainly stand out in my mind as the first extended exercise in Alternative Electric Victoriana. Anachronistic but marvelous technology showed up in a number of writers’ work – Phil Farmer’s riverboats and airships made a big impression on me. But Moorcock’s series also looked at Victorian values and ideas about race, class and sex, and seemed to take great satisfaction in smashing them to bits with revolutionary technology. Steampunk shares a critical element with works by Wells, Verne and other early speculative writers, in believing that technology has the capacity to utterly remake the world. Proposing that this might have 25 | P a g e

happened in the past is another exercise which might lead it to happening in the future, so I don’t see Steampunk as a “backward” field at all.

I have to admit that I do prefer works which examine the Victorian mind critically to those which seem to have a nostalgic interest in elevating its inequalities. One work I would recommend to your contributors who are looking for a story set outside the British Empire is Nisi Shawl’s novel Everfair, which begins with Fabian Socialists in London, but swiftly shifts to the Congo, and proceeds through a cascading series of political and human consequences that are driven more by philosophical and political advances than by technical wonders, although such things still play a part. There is no question that is a work of Alternate History, but is it Steampunk? I think so, but I invite contradiction.

Another permutation of the Steampunk/Alternative history continuum is the “It just wouldn’t matter” story. “Custer’s Last Jump” by Howard Waldrop and Jake Saunders proposed that gasoline engine had been developed some 60 years “early,” and quickly leap-frogged the age of steam. The American Civil War was fought with fabric-winged aircraft similar to the fighters of World War I – but Confederacy still lost, and the plains nations which had been their allies awaited destruction by the US Air Cavalry. It’s clear from the tone of the tale that the aerial victory of Crazy Horse and his squadron will be fleeting, just as the real victory at the Little Big Horn only delayed the eventual end of the campaign. But Howard can’t help himself from writing about losers, so this is only to be expected.

I understand that as far as cosplay and fannish theater are concerned, the idea behind Steampunk is to enhance the Victorian age’s most baroque and gilded qualities, so judging any part of it through a contemporary political sensibility is probably counter-productive. But it still seems worthwhile to ask why we find it attractive – if it is all just top hats and fancy bodices, or is there a kind of reactionary subtext that says we wish Those People still knew their place?

Your questions to the four Steampunk authors generally steered clear of “meaning,” although asking about the likely longevity of the field is also a way of asking why it is worthwhile to begin with. I liked Gail Carriger’s observation that Steampunk is a concept that has escaped from literature to involve many other artistic forms and is embraced by diverse groups of people. One might argue that Steampunk is one of the reasons why science fiction has conquered the world, as speculating about the past is possibly more attractive than speculating about the future.

Lloyd Penney’s article on being a Steampunk vendor at conventions was charming. I thought it was an interesting illustration of the way that fandom has changed over the years. Time was, any fan could bring a trunk full of sf paperbacks to a con and expect to at least swap some of the them with the fans and hucksters present. Now, fans can hope to sell things from vintage watch fobs to artisanal mustard at cons, and books are relatively scare.

And then I must make some comment on your own fiction, “Sun Thunder.” It’s a brave fan who puts their own stories in a fanzine for the razorbills of the world to see; happily, your writing is pleasant to read, and I was happy to keep going to the splashdown. What was a bit funny to me, however, was that fantastic elements of the story struck me as reasonably believable, while the more mundane aspects of human behavior were more difficult to accept. It’s true that the sudden reverse in the pov characters’ attitudes toward their would-be hijacker was exactly the sort of thing that would find in Boy’s Own Fiction of the era, but this didn’t help me to take the enterprise seriously. I was also very curious about the air-bikes which the assailants used in their attack on the Sun Thunder. I assumed they had some sort 26 | P a g e

of envelope of gas or other lifting system, but you didn’t give us a lot of description there. And anytime you set something in the postbellum south, you involve the whole question of Who Won the War and Why, and you also avoid giving any clue to those questions. But you have succeeded in interesting me in your world and making me wonder what happens next.

Taral’s punning stunt in “The Grime is Afoot” was like a waft of Fandom’s Silver Age, when Feghoots walked the Earth. SF Fandom has always had an affinity for Sherlock Holmes, whose adventures were both scientific and fictional. Stu Shiffman would have loved this piece.

So this was a cool issue. I like it when fanzines are about things – and those things can be jazz and sports cars, I don’t mind – as opposed to the recounting of unremarkable personal experiences, jury duty, etc. Personal natter is also intrinsically interesting when I have any acquaintance with the writer, but it seems to take something more than diary entries and book reviews to get me to comment. Anyway, fanzines with no letter column are a sad thing, so hopefully this will spare you the necessity of publishing one in Askance #47.

Andy

*Andy, thank you so much for the fantastic letter! I edited out a little of the introductory section, but the rest of it was definitely worth running here. Therefore, some responses to your comments. *There are various types of Steampunk that I enjoy reading more than others, and the subgenre has grown enough to appeal to Young Adult readers, or those inclined towards dystopias/utopias, westerns, supernatural/horror, military, and so forth. Steampunk Literature is likely to be with us for a long time. * Say, I am pleased that you enjoyed my foray into the Young Adult Steampunk Western genre. Your comments on the ending match my feeling about the ending being too contrived; my original ending would have pushed the word count past the limit for the anthology I wrote it for, so I truncated it, and felt that the ending suffered as a result. I am in the process of revising it back to my original intent, and expanding the whole concept into a series of related stories featuring the two primary characters. Eventually the Toothless character becomes part of the story-line in a future tale. I need to work out the specifics about the air-bikes, and regarding “who won the Civil War,” my basic assumption is that the Union remains victorious in my alternate steampunk history of post-bellum Texas.

I also heard from: John Hertz, Jose Sanchez, David Thayer

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There are lots of conventions in the area, so as usual I have edited things down to science fiction, fantasy, comics, and some other major conventions of note – like on page 31.

Ikkicon

Austin's Premier Anime Convention December 27 - 29, 2019 Renaissance Hotel Austin 9721 Arboretum Boulevard Austin Texas 78759 Greater Austin, Texas area "...We pride ourselves in bringing together the most amazing anime and pop-culture fans and guests to enjoy our events, panels, and workshops.... We are proud to be fan-run, fan-made, and will always put the community first to ensure we have the most successful convention possible." "IKKiCON will have a number of events to enjoy, including but not limited to, karaoke, gaming, anime music videos, dances, live music, cosplay contests, a dealers room, an artists alley and art show."

Teen Comic Convention & Geek-fest!

Saturday February 15, 2020 9 AM - 4 PM Manvel High School 19601 Highway 6 Manvel, Texas 77578 (Greater Houston, TX area)

See also: Brazcon (Brazoria County Teen Comic Convention) A FREE family-friendly comic convention for ages 10-18, but all are welcome! Brought to you by the Brazoria County Library System, Alvin ISD, and Communities in Schools - Texas Joint Venture.

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Owl Con LII

Gaming, Fantasy, & Science Fiction Convention February 28-March 1, 2020 RMC/Ley Student Center Rice University Houston, TX

OwlCon is an annual gaming convention at Rice University, Houston, TX, dating back to 1980. We feature table top and live action role playing games, miniatures games and events, historical miniatures, board games, card games, a dealers room, and more.

Gaming events will include RPGA and PFS events and specials, official tournaments for Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy, many tabletop games, several LARPS including Vampire and Call of Cthulhu, and many other games with prizes galore! OwlCon will once again be swarming with official demo folks for various game systems to give you a chance to try some of their great games. We will also have an anime room and a Dealers room.

PoP Con at San Antonio Public Library

Popular Culture Celebration at the San Antonio Public Library Saturday, February 29, 2020 Greater Houston, TX area Author GOH: Charlaine Harris Author Panelists: Christopher Golden, Ilona Andrews, Grace Draven, David Liss, & Martha Wells Artist GOH: Jeffrey Alan Love Artists: Justin Chase Black, Kiri Ostegaard Leonard, & John Picacio Special Guest: Sera Gamble Fan Groups: Lothal Temple [Star Wars costuming], Amtgard, USS Bexar [Starfleet], Ghostbusters SATX, Star Wars Society of San Antonio Panels, Anime, Gaming, Cosplay Contest, & more!

North Texas Teen Book Festival

Saturday March 7, 2020 8 AM-5 PM Irving Convention Center 500 West Las Colinas Blvd. Irving, TX 75039 Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex area

The North Texas Teen Book Festival strives to connect our reading community, adding dimension to the reading experience through diverse author panels and dynamic discussions in a safe and fun environment. ...Both Middle Grade and YA authors sign books, meet their readers, and discuss their books in over 50 small breakout panels.... Books will be sold for each author at the event.

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NOTE: The Festival itself is free but you will need to pay for parking and you will need to purchase any books you want signed [see Web site about parking fee and bringing your own books from home to be signed]. NOTE REGARDING SEATING AT EVENTS: All readings and panel discussions are on a first-come- first-served basis unless otherwise indicated. The Speed Date with a Book event and some Author Signings will be ticketed.

Sponsored by Friends of the Irving Public Library; Irving, TX; Sam Houston State University; and MedAlert Occupational.

Women of Wonder Con

Women fans networking & education Saturday March 7, 2020 Dallas Public Library 1515 Young St., 4th Floor Dallas, TX 75201 Downtown Dallas area/Metroplex area

Women of Wonder Con exists to support women in creative industries of all types and to encourage new generations to follow in their footsteps. Women of Wonder con is a FREE [one-day]event that offers opportunities for networking, education, and encourages women and girls as they navigate sometimes difficult creative fields. Women of Wonder Con offers information and guests from many media formats as possible (comics, graphic design, fine arts, film making, acting, etc.).

Sponsored by Friends of the Dallas Public Library, Dusk Comics, ShoNuff Studio, and Wilde Designs.

All-Con XVI

Multi-format convention featuring autographs, gaming, comics, & a burlesque show. March 12-15, 2020 Crowne Plaza Dallas Near Galleria-Addison 14315 Midway Rd Addison, TX 75001 (DFW Metroplex area)

For three days All-Con provides an umbrella of content supporting fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Renaissance, Anime, Costuming, Theater / Performing Arts, Mystery, Art, Crafts, Collecting, and Film Making. To help 'give back' there are several charity events at the convention every year.

All-Con is fan organized and built on community participation. We offer a track dedicated entirely to cross promoting clubs, conventions, and events. The best part is you may cross promote as a panelist for FREE as long as we have space and your content is appropriate. Don't forget to bring flyers for the flyer table. 30 | P a g e

Corflu 37 (Heatwave)

Fanzine fan con March 13-15, 2020 Hilton College Station & Conference Center 801 University Drive East College Station, Texas 77840-2116 (Bryan/College Station area)

Corflu is a small, annual convention of science fiction fanzine fans....Fanzines are amateur magazines published by science fiction fans, usually exchanged freely with other fans in trade for their own fanzines, or for contributions or letters of comment. Although they may talk about science fiction, they are just as likely to talk about any other subject, including the lives, activities, foibles, and opinions of other SF fans.

The SF fanzine field originated in the 1930s...Before the advent of the Internet, fanzines were printed, often by mimeograph, and mailed to other fans around the world. (SF fandom has been called, with some justice, "the paper Internet.")

Today, many fanzines are published online, either on efanzines.com or their own websites, although there are still plenty of printed fanzines being produced....

[T]he fanzines celebrated at Corflu and by the FAAn Awards are those that still focus on written SF and its fannish community.

The name "Corflu" is derived from CORrection FLUid, a substance that allowed typing errors in mimeograph stencils to be corrected, which was in much demand during the low-tech, pre-computer days of fanzine publishing.

What happens at a Corflu? Conversation, mostly. Corflu is a get-together and a social event....Though Corflu is in many ways a reunion of old friends who come back year after year to have a good time, new people are welcome if you are interested in the right thing – fanzines, of course!

If you want to have a good time at a Corflu, but you’re new to the fanzine community, go to efanzines.com (though other sites with fanzines are of course available), and read a few of the zines there.

But more than just reading, the fanzine field is about having fun taking part. Don’t just read – write a letter of comment (LoC) or an article....

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RevelCon 31

March 20-22, 2020 Houston, Texas area

RevelCon is THE only fan-run relax-a-con/zinefest in the Southwest US. It's a fab weekend of vids, panels, art, zines, merchandise, food and frolic! [Note - Revelcon is an adults-only/18-and-over con.]

FanExpo Dallas

Comics, Sci Fi, Horror, Anime, Gaming. Friday, March 27, 2020 4:00pm - 9:00pm Saturday, March 28, 2020 10:00am - 7:00pm Sunday, March 29, 2020 10:00am - 5:00pm Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas 650 S Griffin St. Dallas, TX 75202 (downtown Dallas, TX)

Comics, Celebrity Guests, Artist Alley, Panel discussions, Cosplay/Masquerade, Movies, Comics, Toys, Video Gaming, Games, TV, Horror, Original Art, Collectibles, Anime, Manga & More! Over 60,000 fans in over 600,000 square feet. Presented by Dallas Comic Con.

AggieCon 51

Anime, gaming, & cosplay con. (Presumably March 2020) Bryan/College Station, TX area

AggieCon is the oldest, largest student-run fan convention in the world! It is a bit of a "congloma-con," because we cater to all types of fandoms, including Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming, Horror, Anime, TableTop Gaming and many more! Every one is welcome to our convention. We are proud to say we are a family friendly event!

The convention is proudly run by Cepheid Variable, one of the oldest Texas A&M student organizations who are devoted to the support and promotion of all things geeky.

We are excited about the return of AggieCon classics such as the 24-hour tabletop, anime, and video gaming rooms. As we get closer to Con we will be releasing more information. Hope to see all of you there! See also: AggieCon Facebook page. Brought to you by Cepheid Variable

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CyPhaCon

Lake Charles, Louisiana's Premier Anime, Gaming, and Science Fiction Convention April 3-5, 2020 Lake Charles Civic Center 900 Lakeshore Dr. Lake Charles, LA 70601 Lake Charles, Louisiana area

Anime Industry Panels, Anime Screenings, Artist Alley, Board Games, Charity Auction, Cosplay Events With Prizes, Dealer Room, General Cosplay All Over, Guest Panels, Live Action Role Playing, Role Playing Games, Video Gaming, Workshops. Brought to you by Cypha LLC.

Teen Book Con: The Greater Houston Teen Book Convention

Mission: To celebrate and promote reading by connecting teens with authors. April 4, 2020 Doors open at 9 a.m. Cypress Woods High School 13550 Woods Spillane Blvd. Cypress, TX 77429 Greater Houston, TX area

NOTE: TeenBookCon is open to everyone (and FREE thanks to our generous Sponsors). Priority seating will be given to teens at all sessions.

NOTE: There are 25+ authors at TeenBookCon. You will be choosing from multiple panel sessions throughout the day. Please see our full list of sponsors!

Hill Country Comicon

Comic convention April 4-5, 2020 New Braunfels Civic/Convention Center 375 S Castell Ave New Braunfels, TX 78130 Greater San Antonio / Hill Country area

Here to promote FUN, ART, LITERACY, & IMAGINATION through comics and pop culture. Embrace your nerdiness at a family-friendly, comic convention. Comic books, toys, cards, games, artwork, cosplay, apparel, guest creators, celebrity . Break out your capes, helmets, light sabers, and wands as we gather for a fun weekend in the lovely Hill Country

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Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con

Comic Book & cosplay con FREE admission and FREE parking Saturday, April 18, 2020 10am-6pm and Sunday, April 19, 2020 10am-5pm Lee College 200 Lee Drive Baytown, TX 77520 (Greater Houston, TX area)

Cosplay Contest for cash prizes, Vendors, Special Comic Book Guests, Artists, Authors, Cosplayers, Panels (art, comics, cosplay, podcast, etc.), inexpensive food, fun, games, a Silent Auction, and prizes! For more information, email [email protected] and/or see our Facebook page.

South Texas Comic Con

Comic con. April 24-26, 2020 McAllen Convention Center 700 Convention Center Blvd McAllen, TX 78501 (McAllen, Texas area)

Comics, celebrities, art, collectables, cosplay contests.

Yellow City Comic Convention 2020

Gaming Con. For the Community, By the Community. Friday, May 8, 2020 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm Saturday, May 9, 2020 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Sunday, May 10, 2020 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Embassy Suites by Hilton Amarillo Downtown 550 S Buchanan Street Amarillo, TX 79101 Amarillo, TX area

Guests, Panels (including fantasy writing), gaming, cosplay, video screenings, Dealers Room, Artist Alley, and much more!

Official charity: Children's Miracle Network Hospitals

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Epically Geeky Expo

May 16-17, 2020 Central Texas College campuses. Mayborn Science Theater 6200 W Central Texas Expy. Killeen, TX 76540 Greater Austin, TX area

Epically Geeky Expo will be held in multiple locations on the campus of Central Texas College. Our fan- driven event features vendors, artists, programs and panels and some special guests. All proceeds from the event go to our Central Texas College Foundation, a 501(C)(3)nonprofit with a focus on providing student scholarships.

We want you to actively participate, learn and create at our event! When you come to EGX, you become part of our community -- you'll make new friends, learn new tips and tricks and get exposure to lots of different ways to express and challenge yourself through gaming, cosplay, fandom and more.

What makes our event unique is our FANS, PANELS AND PROGRAMS! The event is completely fan- driven, with a large group of volunteers serving to steer us in the right direction. You'll also find lots of hospitality, plenty of food, talented artists and vendors with an awesome array of geeky merchandise. It's the highlight of OUR year, and hope it will be the highlight of yours! All that awesome PLUS proceeds go to support our College Foundation scholarships and projects.

ComicPalooza: Texas' Largest Comic and Pop Culture Event

Comics & gaming con May 22-24, 2020 George R. Brown [GRB] Convention Center 1001 Avenida de las Americas Houston, TX 77010 Hotels (Host listings with skyways to GRB): Hilton Americas–Houston [Primary host hotel] 1600 Lamar Houston, Texas 77010 Marriott Marquis Houston 1777 Walker St. Houston, TX 77010 Other official host hotels listed: The Westin Houston Downtown, Hampton Inn Houston Downtown, The Omni Houston Hotel [NOTE: ComicPalooza usually has over 40,000 in attendance.] (downtown Houston, TX)

ComicPalooza's mission is to provide the best and biggest annual multi-format pop culture convention in the southwest region of the United States, serving not only the fans of comics, science fiction, fantasy,

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video and table top gaming, anime, music and film, but also as a trade show and showcase for the studios, publishers, and manufacturers in those industries.

Largest comic con in Texas. Over 40,000 attendance. Live Art Event, Comicpalooza Film Festival, industry panel discussions, roller derby games, quidditch matches, live music, dancers, circus performers, and much more. Comicpalooza is also one of the largest art events in Houston, featuring scores of artists as well as numerous writers, celebrities, and performers, and much, much more!

SoonerCon 29

Oklahoma's Greatest Pop Culture Experience Science Fiction, Fantasy, Gaming Con June 26-28, 2020 Embassy Suites by Hilton Norman Hotel & Conference Center 2501 Conference Drive Norman, OK, 73069 Oklahoma City, OK area

Join us for the 29th annual SoonerCon convention, the OKC metro's original longest-running SF fandom and pop culture convention. Events include: Art Show, Gaming, Cosplay and Masquerade. Charity. Panels and Workshops. Video Rooms.

Anime screenings and epic Cosplay Contest with prize support by BERNINA OF OKLAHOMA CITY and cash prizes. Plus, massive art show, tons of vendors, gaming, live performances, workshops and much more.

Calling all miniature painters! It's time to start working on those figures for the SoonerCon 29 Miniature Painting Competition June 26 - 28. Enter to win fabulous prizes from Game HQ Inc and Reaper Miniatures. We'll also have mini painting workshops, free Paint N' Take, Sophie Says and Speed Paint! See also SoonerCon Facebook site. SoonerCon is a 100% nonprofit convention, brought to you by The Future Society of Central Oklahoma. We are proud to announce that FSCOK is a federally recognized 501(c)3 public charity. THANK YOU for your support! For more information visit www.fscok.org or email [email protected].

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This actually is not hard to predict. Obviously, the fact that I am chairing Corflu 37 – nicknamed Corflu Heatwave since mid-March in College Station, Texas can feature daily high temperatures in the 70s – is going to take up the bulk of my time, so the 48th issue of Askance won’t likely appear until late April 2020, or even the end of May. The contents of that issue will include a post-mortem/report on Corflu 37, which is going to be a unique angle for me to write from: organizing a convention instead of merely being an attendee. It will possibly be a reflection of what Michael Dobson wrote in his fanzine Random Jottings #17, although in a different voice. We shall see how that turns out when we get there. Naturally, if anybody else has something to contribute in terms of an article of some sort – no themed issue, so it’s wide open for topics, gang – feel free to send it on in. This is, after all, a science fiction fanzine, and All Knowledge is Contained in Fanzines.

As for Corflu 37, there has been a bit of a shuffle at the management level. My cohort in crime, Pablo Miguel Alberto Vasquez, recently finished earning his Master’s Degree over in London, England, and finally returned home to Austin, Texas, by November 2019. At the present time Pablo is getting it ready for publication – a good idea – and has begun the application process to doctoral programs. So he is still busy on that kind of stuff, but probably won’t begin any further studies until next fall. Therefore, he finally has some time to help out on Corflu Heatwave. Well, while he was busy working on his Master’s Thesis, I assumed full control of organizing Corflu 37: getting the hotel contract settled and signed, writing and publishing the Progress Reports – three of those so far; four, if you count the prospectus – and doing all sorts of other necessary things related to setting up a small science fiction fanzine convention. I drew upon my experiences of working on quite a few Minicons and attending Corflu Quire (Austin, TX in 2007), plus other conventions and worldcons over the years to help set up the basics for Corflu 37. A major thank you also goes to Michael Dobson for his marvelous pre and post Corflu 36 issues of Random Jottings, and Rob Jackson’s Inca #16 of summer 2019, which have helped immeasurably in preparing Corflu 37. Additionally, I thank Bill Burns and others (Ulrika O’Brien, Curt Phillips, Nic Farey, Geri Sullivan, et al) for all of their help from running past Corflus who have provided valuable input towards ensuring a successful Corflu 37. I thank you all from the bottom of my fannish heart. The end result of this is that I had the convention pretty well organized, with a few glitches here and there, by the time Pablo returned. We talked over an idea of mine recently, and he agreed we would assume new titles. Therefore, since Heatwave has been my baby so far, I will now be known as the Con Chair and Pablo, as my co-conspirator, will be known as the Con Settee. This set up means that he will now take over in key areas - online publicity and during-the-con needs – from this point on. We believe that this will be a very positive arrangement. Ergo, the goal is for attendees to have a good time while here. Go to www.corflu.org for all registration information. The FAAn awards ballot is ready to go, too (watch your email and snail mail boxes). Thank you, all, and I look forward to seeing many of you fine people there.

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