e-APA #42

October 2007

OE: Peter Sullivan, [email protected] Deadline for next distribution: Saturday, 1st November, 2007. Administrivia

In this distribution:

● Official Organ #42 (Peter Sullivan) - 2 pages ● Feline Madness #42 (R-Laurraine Tutihasi) - 4 pages ● Boopledoggin’ #19 (Chuck Connor) - 4 pages ● September 2007 (William McCabe) – 4 pages ● At Ungodly Hours #2 (Kat Templeton) – 5 pages ● Plata #25 (Steven Silver) – 10 pages ● Pleasantly Random #25 (Peter Sullivan) - 7 pages inc. TAFF ballot ● I Never Got The Hang of Thursdays #40 (Garth Spencer) – 5 pages ● e-APA Guidelines (the OE) – 2 pages

Welcome to those who aren't members of e-APA and who have downloaded this “open” distribution from efanzines.com. We hope that what you see and read here will interest you in joining the APA and being with us each month. Becoming a member couldn't be easier – just e-mail the OE (address above) and say you're interested, then submit a PDF-format zine before the first of the month. A copy of the e-APA Guidelines is attached to this distribution.

Cover pic: The galaxy Messier 82, shown in a composite of images from the Chandra X-Ray telescope, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer infrared telescope, with colours adjusted to fit everything into the visual spectrum. From Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:M82_Chandra_HST_Spitzer.jpg FELINE MADNESS #42 Feline Madness #42 is a zine created for e-APA #42, October 2007, by R-Laurraine Tutihasi of Rolling Hills Estates, CA, who can be reached at [email protected]. I have a web site at http://www.weasner.com/ . © 2007 by R-Laurraine Tutihasi. This zine is formatted for viewing on screen. Cover illo is of our two cats, Fluffy, the black one, and Mercury.

Mike’s monthly retirement payments finally started caused. The doctor cursorily examined his foot and coming on the first business day of September. They pronounced that he had pulled a muscle in his thigh. She must have forgotten the August payment, because they also told him he was allergic to cashews, his favourite sent two payments. I am applying for my retirement food, and sent him home without even a referral. I was benefits from Hughes Aircraft, where I worked for seven rather upset and made him make an appointment with years. The company no longer exists, pieces of it having the allergist I’d seen recently. The allergist seemed been bought mostly by Boeing or Raytheon. Raytheon is sceptical of the other doctor’s diagnosis and took a blood administering my retirement benefits. It turns out the sample for the purposes of running some tests. The tests company actually doing the administration is the same as recently came back negative. All his reactions to both the one doing it for Mike’s company. nuts and insect stings were in the normal range. The highest readings were the reactions to wasps and bee Towards the end of August, Mike injured his left foot stings. I will make sure that he has easy access to an somehow. We don’t know how it happened. Since he antihistamine at all times. The other problem has refused to go to his doctor for the first couple of weeks, evolved to where there is a small nodule in the sole of we had no idea what was wrong. He did at least talk to his foot near his toes. He has an appointment with a my sister on the phone, and she thought he might have a podiatrist early in October. stress fracture. For a while it seemed to be improving; but he finally relented and saw a doctor, not our regular Our house still has not sold, but at least we are still one. She, to me, seemed incompetent and irresponsible. getting the occasional visit by realtors bringing clients. By this time Mike had developed a new problem. One The situation does not appear to be completely hopeless. evening he had symptoms that looked very like an allergic reaction to something. His upper lip and one At the beginning of September, I had lunch with a friend other unmentionable area puffed up and he was covered I made when I was working at Hughes. She gave us a in something that looked like hives on his forearms.; gift of movie passes, and we used them in mid- when the symptoms became somewhat alarming to look September to see the Neil Gaiman movie Stardust. I had at, I gave him an antihistamine to take, which helped and seen no advertising for this film, but there was some seemed to confirm my suspicion that it was allergy- discussion on a couple of the lists I belong to. That

Feline Madness #42 (Tutihasi), page 2 October 2007 prompted me to view the trailer on the web. I also recalled that I had the book, though it’s packed up. It Having finished all the busywork readying the house for was a very enjoyable fairly tale with some modern the market and the summer TV season being rather slow, overtones. One person on a list compared it to Princess I actually had more time to read magazines and books. Bride, and I think that’s a very appropriate comparison. However the fall TV season is starting up, so that’ll busy If you liked that movie, you’ll probably like this one. up my schedule considerably.

Our hot summer weather continued well into September. We are still trying to get rid of three pieces of furniture. It wasn’t until late in the month, that the weather became Initially our old cleaning woman expressed an interest more seasonal. The first rain of this season came then, but changed her mind. rather early. We usually don’t see rain until November.

Mailing Comments on e-APA #41

Katrina A. “Kat” Templeton (At Ungodly Chuck Connor (Boopledoggin’ #18): You said Hours #1): Welcome to the APA. some of the Connor family went to Australia of their My husband and I spent two days in Redding last own accord and that this was a novelty. Which part year while we visited Lassen Volcanic National Park. was the novelty, the going to Australia or of their What did your senior year English teacher think own accord? was the only sf book eligible to be considered If we can manage to sell our current house soon, literature? the rental costs should fit comfortably into our The New Yorker recently ran an article about budget. Philip K. Dick. We have many types of home mortgages here, I have some overlaps with you on favourite too. We started out in this house with a variable authors. rate loan that started out at a very low rate but We hope to attend next year’s Worldcon too, so would have risen after the third year or so. maybe we’ll meet. However we refinanced before that happened into a fixed rate loan. You can also get mortgages varying Feline Madness #42 (Tutihasi), page 3 October 2007 from ten to fifty years. Ours is the standard thirty- close second. I found those two to be the least year loan. depressing of the nominees. A credit union is a non-profit bank owned by the I guess I haven’t been paying attention. What members. When a credit union is large enough, the does the Real ID Act say? members usually get better deals than are available I’ve also made an attempt to read a book by C. J. at a commercial bank. Cherryh; I don’t remember which book that was. After having a very enjoyable conversation with her William McCabe (Another Month): I’ve only brother, because something (I no longer remember) had two experiences with computer viruses. One made it impossible for her to be at the event where was on the job. The other was that Microsoft virus the conversation took place, I feel motivated to try that went around about ten or so years ago. I again one of these days. C. J. Cherryh herself has inadvertently brought it home from work. It didn’t been cordial when I’ve talked to her, but I’ve never really cause any serious problems, and it was had an extended conversation with her. When I like purged fairly easily. people, I really want to like their work too. If our cleaning woman picks up our unwanted Peter Sullivan (Pleasantly Random 24): It’s furniture as she promised, we should be able to put standard practice here for the employment agency the car back into the garage. It’s a three-car to charge a fee to the employer. garage, and there should be plenty of space for one car in it even with other stuff there. Steven H Silver (Plata 24): I voted for V for Vendetta in first place, but Pan’s Labyrinth was a

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It’s quite stressful waiting to sell a house. We cannot when I have the time. See you all next month. move until we do. Laurraine I’m finishing this up on the early side but better to do so

Feline Madness #42 (Tutihasi), page 4 October 2007 BOOPLEDOGGIN' #19

Autumn is, once more, upon us to be known that Boopledoggin’ is © 2007 by And now, back to the regular deprogramming... Skate Press/Chuck “should scrambled eggs have Shiny as a brand new dime, feathers in it?” Connor. No rights are retained Sadly due to some sinus slime mould, I've not been But the Prat in Black before, during or after publication – all rights are able to complete all the mailcomms this month, so Is here to hack returned to the respective authors/ artists (unless it's going to just have to be a bit of a rush job... the material has been obviously ripped off from Out another somewhere) on acceptance. OO:- Ah, the October mailing out to General Public Boopledoggin' (waiting in the wings are, of course, Major Disaster, Skate Press Producktions are available for Corporal Punishment, Master Bates and Seaman Just in Trade/Usual, LoCs (Letters of Comment), CoCs Stains), though with the limitation that "this is probably Time! (Cards of Comment), and anything of an not a good time to start confessing to your fellow e- APAeans about your ongoing illegal drug use, or listing interesting and curious nature. the interesting diseases you've contracted over the (for those who know Dylan Thomas' triangles) years..." there is probably little left for me to talk about At the time of typing this, Mr. Connor has a cold. this month... But onwards, onwards! And with a snuffle and a sneeze the walking biological disaster zone formally known as E Ungodly Hours/Kat:- Welcome to the Minkey House! Connor 0157 “A hack, a wheeze, and a gobbet of Spotted the Talking Heads line from Same As It Ever infected mucus!”prods and pokes at the keyboard Was, which I suppose sums up the way I feel at the in the hope that something intelligent will be seen moment, personally, but that might just be because I've been having a 100% pure caca month. There's nowt to appear before your very eyes. you can do except weather it out, safe in the knowledge that someone, somewhere, is worse off than you (I just So, before he snorts the entire contents of a Vick's wish I could find the bugger so I could have a good Inahler in one sitting, Chuck “Death On Legs” laugh, but...) Connor would also like to add that Boopledogs are a part of eAPA, the electronic apa that appears in Best of luck in regard to the employment side of life. PDF format once a month, under the deft hand of What sort of thing are you looking for/at? Given my Peter Sullivan. time over again I'm not sure I would have gone into IT as I have done, but then I understand with the recent Prior to retiring to his death bed, Mr “I hope you influx of ex-Eastern Block migratory workers there's no get this then I can laugh my [part of his anatomy longer a shortage in the trade skills these days. There again, to become a qualified/certified plumer & fitter best not described in the pages of an apazine takes around 5 years and involves certified designed for distribution to a family group such as apprentaships (yep, checked that one out a few years this] off at your suffering!” Connor also wishes it BOOPLEDOGGIN' #19 ago, especially when one nematode quoted me a labour guys do around here?" (see it and you'll appreciate the Arizona? Raytheon? Nope, I'll leave that alone. But, I charge of $180 per hour just to do some tiling.) punchline far more than cold on a page.) was sorry to hear about the problems with your teeth. I've not had any major work done apart from the goldies Animated film recommendations? Flushed Away is the To move on. Books. Like yourself, growing up in the (crowns and fillets) - so have not had the joys of root one at the moment. I remain a little sceptical at the wilds of East Anglia (I'm an ex-London/Irish/Yorkshire canal work, or associated infections. Also, of course, Disney material because of its tendency to pull away mongrel, hence the lack of a sixth finger or webs the stress of moving won't help your immune system, from the humour too early - making it safe and fluffy, between my toes) books were something that came alas. which is fine in small shots, but if you go back to from house clearances, auctions, secondhand/junk shops Finding Nemo the only time the humour really works is and the like. My reading has been ecclectic, but I don't in regard to the sharks (Barry Humphries puts in one feel that I have any 'holes' in them. I may not have read hell of a performance) and the occasional semi-visual Finnegan's Wake, but according to some I'm one of the (the fish tank in the dentist's office, the seagulls "Mine- lucky ones. Each book is, in fact, a discovery - the first Mine-Mine-Mine!") - Over The Hedge and Open one being whether or not you feel you cna finish it. I've Season have their good points as well (Hedge for the never pushed myself into completing a book I dislike - send-up of the SatNav Society we're becoming:- "Make it taints you for the author who, like the rest of us, may an illegal U-turn now.", amongst other things.) Of have been having a bad day at the time. course, Shrek I and II still have the ability to go beyond Disney - even taking the piss out of it in regard to the Also nice to see mention of CDs and DVDs in the Kingdom, etc - though I've not seen III yet, which will Libraries as it gives people the chance to try at a small probably be out for the Christmas battle, along with hire cost, rather than be put off by the gamble at a much Pirates at World's End, and Hairy Porker - but if you higher price. The old habit of changing the dollar sign want to get into something that is out-and-out Limey to for a pounds sign still continues in the UK - the latest the core, then get a copy of Kinky Boots - it's based on a being Billy Gates Gruff and the Windows of Vista - true story, and apart from one cringe-ish moment, has which is why a lot of audio CDs in the UK are priced at an excellent catwalk finish (though also check the around $20 - $30. And George dubble-yuh Bush is deleted scenes for the original ending, which makes so taking shots at the Chinese for ripping people off? much more sense to it all, rather than the curtailed one they edited the movie down to. And good luck with the writing. As you say, the more you practice, the more proficient you become, but one Also, recently viewed was something called The Big cardinal rule is never write what you're not happy with. Bang from Warner TV (we got to see a Final Pre-Sales Don't discard things, they can come in useful at a latter Cut of the pilot that popped up on the Internet - date, but things can write themselves once you're happy exceedingly funny on many levels, especially when the with where they're going. opening scene is of the two male leads in a sperm bank RYCT Moi: Accents remain curious and I usually have for the 'gifted'. That leads on to a line "So, what do you Feline/R-Laurraine:- Hope the house sale has now gone a good ear for things but the one that finally let me through and that you're on your way to the joys of down was in the American version of Creature Comforts - where interviews are conducted with the BOOPLEDOGGIN' #19 public, then the recordings are animated so that it seems RYCT WAM: Many thanks for the overview - I was a to past manipulations (Locus was forever Best Fanzine like animals are being interviewed. This is all latecomer to the event, but guessed most of the stuff. because of its subscription based voters, all the 'retro' Aardman/Nick Parks stuff that worked really well in the stuff that is some kind of 'apology' for not getting a win UK (there is an animated guide dog for the blind, and Another Month:WAM:- Sorry to hear about the failed in years gone by - and if it wasn't good then, why is it the person who was interviewed was actually a blind interview, but as they say, if you don't keep putting considered good now? - and in regard to the Langford woman - or some women at the seaside who were yourself out there then people are not going to know thing? Well, I can still count him as friend and fan, but animated as a collection of molluscs on a stone at low you're available. I know, it's a bit hokum-ish, but it's I'll put hand on heart and say that apart from the odd tide.) When it came to the American version it seemed true in many respects. Also, how long will you be Ansible here and there I've not seen any of his 'other to lose the humour, and at one point there was an doing the BSFG newsletter as I thought that was only fanwritings' for many a long year - regarless of whether animated hound dog and for the life of me I just could going to be a temporary thing? or not they are in electronic or paper formats.) The not understand a single word of the soundtrack - I think other obvious question is that of importance - why it was cajun, or something, but so convoluted and fast RYCT Moi: Radio 7 is good for catching up with some doesn't the rest of the world consider them to be worthy that I just gave up on it. of the more vintage comedy, but one thing has annoyed of mention unlike, say, the Booker, etc. I've never seen me with the likes of Radio 4 and that is the seemingly the point of them, to be honest - apart from seeing who random way they treat comedy. There is the regular politically aligns up with who - and as you say, this 18:30 - 19:00 slot, but there is also an 11:30 - 12:00 slot year's stuffed ballots were just as prevelant as previous and one much later in the evening. I never got to hear years' stuffed ballots, so even as a supporting the Hamish & Dougal material that went out at around community it seems that we cannot run a clean shop. 23:30 - though having heard it from other sources I can't see what was different from, say, material contained in RYCT Moi: You forgot about the need for temple bells The News Quizz, or Haven't A Clue, etc (saying that it - the RamaLamaDingDongs... Life's a bitch, especially was being run late owing to content.) when proofing from one machine to the other and then bagging things up in PDF with a nagging feeling that Like most people, if you're careful and not an airhead you've missed something - or quite a lot of things going then your chances of coming up against a virus is by all the XXXXX check-up-on marks in this copy minimal at the very worst - and I've not known a virus alone... Sadly, as I'm four floors below ground level checker engine not to throw a false report out now and these days it's a case of knocking this out in a text again (at one time it was rumoured that the researchers editor, transferring it above ground, then passing it behind the now long-gone Dr. Solomon's AV software through OO after checking for any check-marks... were writing their own virii and releasing them into the wild in order for their software to be the first to catch it I think with me it's the time and experience element that and clean it.) makes the 17-year cycle all the more interesting. It's the same with other pheonima that have odd cycles, and Pleasantly/Peter:- You had to do it. You had to open how people over the centuries/millenia have interacted up the big jar of worms that is the Hugo thing. I remain with them. very much disinterested in the whole show, mainly due BOOPLEDOGGIN' #19

Ah, the old Girl Scout cookies always reminds me of take benefit away from those who rightfully deserve it, voted itself exempt of the data protection act, and thus Tim Curry in Loaded Weapon "I'm your worst then I'm certainly in favour of it. making itself immune to public scrutiny on so many nightmare." "No. My worst nightmare is waking up to levels? find my dick's dropped off." - not their best, but still a The technology has been here for years - the chip gem or two. As mentioned above, I've been soaking up concepts in your credit/debit cards were trialed via BT RYCT R-Laurraine: I've never paid a fee to an agency, the two seasons of Hamish & Dougal, with the way back in the 1980s in a JV with France (which was except when I've been recruiting for a company and was wonderful wordplay and more than the occasional why a lot of French telephone cards had gold contact involved with the likes of Reed, etc. The one thing that risque comment. Sadly, one R4 18:30 programme to points on them for a while - and now the chips have taught me was that when an agency rep starts getting just come off has been The Bearded Ladies - wonderful enough to store your whole life's story, including your lax or stroppy I can remind them just how much they sketches and interactions - and I understand that the medical and police records.) are going to make on a successful placement "And all News Quizz is just about to come back to the Friday for sitting on your arse answering the telephone and evening slot. All I need now is Clue on a Monday Yes, it's a fine line between police presence and police pimping my skills and experience." It's a sad fact of eveing and peace will be restored to chaos. state, but where were the protests when the government working with the tossers that most recruiting agents in the IT side of things have a trade knowledge quotiant in Virgin(ontherediculous)media's broadband has also the negative, rather than having any idea of what the been under discussion in the pages of MicroMart (issue bloody job entails. 971) which mentions the whispered takeover of Virgin Media by the Carlyle Group (asset strippers - er, sorry, And there I'm calling it quits for the time being. Next private equity company) Saly the days of NTL's issue will be the cat soup – er Ketchup – well, yous opening recorded message "If you are telephoning to knows what I means. report a fault with your telephone service, please make sure it is plugged in first." Whatever, all that remains to be said is

RYCT Jan in regard to ID Cards. It's curious to note (apart from the fact that the Govt. cannot produce accurate figures for the number of legal immigrants per Goodnight out there, annum) that the glorious LibDems put forward an idea that any illegal immigrants in the UK for longer than 10 years should be made a resident, provided they meet several critearia - one of which is that they have no criminal record. Well, correct me if I'm wrong here, but whatever isn't entering a country illegally a criminal act? I've tried to keep out of debates in regard to ID cards because I lived with them for so long (and still do to you are… some degree working for various defence companies), but if such helps to cut down the number of illegals who September 2007 readings from poets and obscure local around parts of the image? Will your text authors. The city is running a whole have to be in rectangular blocks? That I know I shouldn’t leave these things series of festivals over this month but this sort of thing. to the last minute but … is the only one that’s free. There’s a book I feel there’s so little happening to “Kat” Templeton festival with three or four events (usually me. I’ve been out of “work” much too What’s a newbie? This apa is only just readings) every night for a fortnight. long. I put in around 30 hours a week at 41 issues old and a lot of us haven’t been There’s a comedy festival and a “Black the moment on various voluntary projects in it that long. OK so some of us have film” festival that are probably advertised and none of it pays. A lot of it seems to history beyond this. Give it a year and at the venue – wherever that is. Nothing go unnoticed too. A week ago the trust you could be more established than on the scale of the arts festival. The local that I have been working for the last few some of us. paper reports that the city has not applied years had their AGM with presentations Programs like InDesign sound like a for funding for the arts festival next year to any of the volunteers that turned up. good idea but they don’t necessarily so it probably won’t happen. The person making the presentation was deliver that much within the limits of the I’m not feeling that well. Sometimes I an outsider (or at least someone I’ve contribution. As I remember it, the first have fevers and headaches that wear me never met) and supposed that I’d only time I tried Pagemaker on this contribu- out for a day or so. A doctor once said been there a couple of months. And I tion, I had to play with the settings to get that I should take paracetamol for the thought I was one of their more visible it within the appropriate limits and that fever. I’m not sure it helps. If I take more volunteers. The two items I had followed was without any images. It’s worth using than the child’s dose at these times it were from the local forum, and the local high compression jpegs for pictures and seems to upset my stomach and leaves history society. Either of them should the web settings for pdf output. If you use me with more pain and fever than I have known how long I’d been at this. multiple fonts, you’ll have to trust that started with. Both of them had finished with a note people have them installed or create saying that their various publications something that doesn’t look so bad in would be available at the back of the hall Mailing Comments Times New Roman. at greatly reduced prices. Maybe I’m Admin Some people surprise me by being able to remember the first book they ever expecting too much and I’m really work- Someday. If I get around to it. If I read/owned/bought. I know my father ing for a branch of vanity publishing. work out how to use the relevant piece of bought me books from second-hand This was also the month of the city’s software. If... I’ll turn in a few more pic- shops when I was young. It’s likely that annual arts festival. It runs over a week- tures and stuff. Right now I’m not that some of these were bought before he left end in various city centre squares. They organised and I’m finding out how limited home (when I was 7 or 8) and I believe have lots of bands that hardly anyone I’ve been of late. It’s worth knowing what some were bought before we moved to would ever have heard of, painting dem- you’re using to produce whatever section this city (when I was 6) and I think I re- onstrations for the kids, bits of theatre, you want the image(s) for. Can you work

William McCabe Page 1 member what some of them were (Hans acting editor), I may try Geoff Ryman’s record. Now the rest of the band is Andersen & Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Adrift Was. dead, they get to use the name again. in The Stratosphere by Professor A M It’s not that hectic most month’s but Blood Ties has been running on Low, a biography of Francis Drake) none of those are too long. The SFRG Living for over a month now. If you’ve because I had those books for some has given out 1,000 + page novels got digital cable you should be able to years after. I know that I went through before. The best of those is probably get free “On Demand” reruns of the last my third set of primary school “readers” The Prestige ahead of the other Priest episode. Knowing Living, they’ll prob- at age 10 in my third primary school but none of them are great. ably run a marathon and repeat it to (they wouldn’t just take my word that I death anyway. could read). Apart from the fairy tales, I Chuck Connor Usual recommendation for free PC don’t remember what was in any of I’ve no idea whether I absolutely security is ZoneAlarm and AVG both are those books. I also know I read “The need to get a passport to go to Ireland good and available on download Hobbit” before I was 10 on the recom- and after all that, I didn’t get to go any- (zonelabs.com, free.grisoft.com). mendation of my school headmaster way. ZoneAlarm doesn’t support older (pre (and didn’t think that much of it). Surprising what old records we Windows XP) operating systems At the moment I get through an SF/ have in common. Do you mean that the anymore and I don’t know of a replace- Fantasy novel and a book of poetry “Snatch & the Poontangs” record actu- ment firewall in that case. most months (two library reader’s ally had a CD release? My old vinyl groups - the poetry isn’t on every month) copy doesn’t have a copyright date or a R-Laurraine Tutihasi maybe another SF novel (review copies name for the record company. I’m not sure what you’d mean by for the BSFG newsletter) and maybe If you’re going to slip adverts into “Science Fiction Related Music”. other things. This month that means SF books in the bookshop, it’s a good There’s a lot of leeway in there. There’s Adam Roberts - Polystom (SFRG), idea to have them printed on book- the subject matter of songs, the contri- Christopher Priest - The Prestige marks. The shop is less likely to com- bution from a writer, all the way down to (bought cheap) & The Separation (re- plain and the customer is more likely to the band-name or a track title. You also view). Since the poetry group haven’t keep them - at least ‘til they finish the get the odd pop star who once had an met this month, I have 3 weeks to get book. SF story published (Graham Parker - through Satyendra Srivastava’s Sir I have an old live album by an act The great trouser mystery) and the odd Winston Churchill Knew My Mother. known as “David & Sylvain” called “To- movie connection (according to Before then I will also have to finish kyo Dolls”. As I understand it, they got to Moorcock’s - official - novelisation of Jonathan Lethem’s Girl In Landscape for use the name “New York Dolls” for the “The Great Rock’n’roll Swindle” the the SFRG. If I don’t get many reviews tour because the band were supposed cinema usherette played by Irene Handl for the BSFG newsletter (I’m currently to do it but they couldn’t use it for the is really Jerry Cornelius’ mum). The

William McCabe Page 2 question is what do you mean by SFRM The idea of identity cards would lain. One of their relatives even got to and what do you expect? There’s a have done a lot better than it has if it be Prime Minister. Most people would good chance that between us we can had been presented at a time that peo- only remember him and that only if come up with a fairly long list and some ple were concerned with identity theft they’d studied 30s/WW2 history. Bir- of it won’t have been in a magazine set. rather than one when the government mingham has been trying to tell people Thanks for the explanation of where were being portrayed as dictatorial after that some of the locals have become you’re moving. It does sound isolated the terrorist scares. There was a time famous for years. The only trouble is ‘tho. when most of the country would have that most of the ones that did came from There are probably still people that willingly given their fingerprints if they somewhere else and didn’t exactly hang would be offended if you said someone thought that would prevent someone around either. from Lancaster spoke with a “Yorkshire” else using their credit card or emptying accent. There’s a lot of rivalry between their bank account. Garth Spencer Yorkshire and Lancashire from the Wars They have free papers in this city of the Roses to inter-county cricket Steven H Silver from time to time and depending on matches. The most indecipherable It surprised me to find two of the where you live. This week I had a call accents I’ve heard were Scottish. Hugo best novel nominations as legit from the council asking what I thought of free downloads on the internet. I might theirs. They’ve been distributing it for Peter Sullivan, get around to reading them sometime. free to everyone in the city for years – I’ve never really felt that much There’s also been a couple of literary except for here. I don’t know if it’s that about the Hugos. I never seem to read awards for Cormac McCarthy’s “The they can’t get anyone to do it around the books before the vote. I haven’t read Road” in the last couple of months. I’ve here or that they just miss me out. The magazines for 20 years so I miss just not read it but it’s one of at least two local magazine that I’ve been volunteer- about all of the short stories too. It’s just recent “literary” novels about a trip ing at doesn’t deliver to me either. It as long since I used to see movies at across post-apocalyptic America. definitely used to be because the local the cinema regularly and most of those The last time they replaced the Forum was supposed to deliver our side weren’t SF. I’ve never really broken into sewers around here I was told they of the tracks/major road and just didn’t fandom so I’ve not seen enough disturbed a horde of rats that ran bother. Recently, I met someone on our fanzines to judge and wouldn’t really through the streets for a while. I must street delivering it, said that I hadn’t want to vote for anything I have seen. have been out at the time because I saw been getting it for a while and was told From the material I saw at the time, none of it. that it would be ok now. I got in and the first B5 panic came somewhere in Nobody remembers most dead discovered that it hadn’t been delivered series 3 with the jump into the future politicians. There was a local dynasty of this time either. I caught up with her and pre-empting a lot of material. mayors most of them called Chamber- was told “I didn’t think there was a

William McCabe Page 3 house there”. The magazine still doesn’t come through the letterbox. “Monty Python & its predecessors” (plural too). It would be interesting to find out what you think the predecessors were. I’m not sure how much of ISIRTA turned up outside the UK and I wouldn’t have thought “Do not adjust your set” showed anywhere else. I thought all American SF/Fantasy TV shows were produced/filmed in Canada (or New Zealand) for the last decade or so. I’m not sure whether Birmingham “fandom” would be recognisable as such to most people. I’ve seen Pete Weston a couple of times in the last 5 years and he’s sent me the first 3 issues of his revived fanzine because I am insulted in every one of them. The local group even has its own convention and (legally) the chairman has to be a member of the group but that’s about all the connection between the two there is. The BSFG produces a newsletter and has regular meetings. Some of its members may still go to conventions. If they do, they don’t talk about it at meetings. They do not mention fan publications of the last 20 years. They do not produce fanzines.

William McCabe September 2007

William McCabe Page 4 At Ungodly Hours #2

Written by Katrina A. “Kat” Templeton for e-APA #42, October 2007. Kat hails from the suburbs of Sacramento, CA and can be reached at [email protected]. Snail mail address provided upon request. A Citizens for Boysenberry Jam production. Homepage: http://www.retstak.org * LJ: http://katster.livejournal.com/

Life, the Universe, and ear. I would have loved the chance to meet him, but alas, it was never Everything to be. He left the world suddenly, not by picking up the signal from a passing spaceship as would have befit him, but by something as So here we are, the second issue of AUgH, being produced for e- ordinarily mundane as a heart attack. It was a sudden loss, and the APA #42. It would be remiss of me to let the issue pass without a tip world is missing something without him. of the hat to Douglas Adams, who postulated that the Answer was However, I know where my towel is. More importantly, I know simply 42, leaving everybody to wonder what the Question was. why it’s important to know where my towel is. I have Douglas Ad- My first encounter with Douglas Adams’ books was in high ams to thank for that. school. A bunch of us in the summer drama class were entasked with helping our teacher move classrooms for the upcoming school In the days of the comet year. This involved hauling several boxes of books across campus. Of course, being the bookworm I confessed to being in our last epi- Let’s set the wayback machine all the way back to the spring sode, I was poking through them after I finished hauling and stum- semester of 1997. Way, way back. I was in the second semester bled across a book entitled The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. of my freshman year of college and I was still getting used to the I’d been reading science fiction for a while, and thought to myself, environment. So when it came time to sign up for classes, I ended “Hey, this’ll be fun, somebody pretending to write a tourist’s guide to up in world civilization, statistics, and astronomy for non-majors. the galaxy!” and swiped the book from its box. Back when I went to orientation, I heard two pieces of advice It wasn’t what I was expecting. It was better. My poor friend that came along the grapevine. One was to never take a math class Eileen had to put up with me quoting constantly from the book, as it from Professor Wu, advice that I managed to abide by through four just kept getting funnier as I read along, and I had to share. I’m not years of undergraduate work. The other one was to find, at some entirely sure Eileen understood my obsession, but she put up with point in your Cal career, time to take astronomy for non-majors from me, so I owe her a debt of gratitude. Professor Filippenko. I resolved to do the latter as soon as I got to After I finished the first book, I wasted no time getting my mitts Berkeley, but I was thwarted by the fact that he wasn’t teaching that on the rest of the series. I also discovered that one of my teachers fall. No matter, the time would come soon enough. had the old Infocom adventure game installed on their Macintosh, And that’s how we get to the spring of 1997. In terms of astro- so I spent several class periods when I should have been correcting nomical events, it was the best time I could have possibly chosen to papers trying to figure out just how you got the babelfish into your take astronomy. Over the course of one semester, there would be a that while Clarke’s idea was nice, it was not true that it was a failed total eclipse in Siberia, a partial lunar eclipse over the part of North star, because Jupiter just didn’t have enough mass to have become America Berkeley was in, Mercury was going to be visible on the a star in the first place. The answer didn’t really matter; I thought it western horizon, and, to top things off, a comet forecast to be the was nifty that an astronomer doing research on the Keck telescope brightest one in twenty years. It would be the spring of Hale-Bopp would pause and take the time to answer a freshman non-major’s madness and I was enrolled in an astronomy class for it. silly question that didn’t even exactly pertain to what the topic in On the first day, Professor Filippenko set the tone by asking us class was but to something she read in a science fiction novel. to call him Alex, something that was completely foreign to me. All Now, Keck (which is in Hawaii) wasn’t the only telescope Berke- through school, I was taught that you be respectful to your elders by ley astronomers go to regularly. There’s also Lick Observatory, high referring to them by their title and surname. A professor coming out on the slopes of Mt. Hamilton above San Jose, which is about an point-blank and saying that we should call them by their first names hour and a half from the Berkeley campus. Every semester Alex nearly blew my mind. (For a while, I was calling him Professor Alex, offers for a few of the members of his astronomy class to go along as I was hesitant to give up the title.) to Lick and see just what it is that profession- I don’t know if I can tell you just how special a al astronomers do. However, there’s a catch. professor Alex is. He teaches at a large research The intro class is probably about six hundred institution, where there’s not much glory in teach- people, and Alex picks maybe ten of them to go ing, particularly not your subject for non-majors. on this trip. Thus, he created a contest. Yet, he’s happily taking the time to teach a large It started as a simple essay contest, but over lecture hall full of students and then afterwards the years, students kept getting more and more entertain questions in office hours. I made a creative until finally he simply declared it a cre- point of going to every single one of them, be- ative contest. Find the most creative way to tell cause even if I just sat quietly in the corner as him that you wanted to go to Lick and you might other students asked questions, I’d learn some- just end up getting to go. thing. I sometimes suspect Alex had even more I ended up writing an astronomy tabloid. It fun teaching in office hours than he did in lecture, was a two sheet (front and back) affair. I called which says something. it The Astroloid, and proceeded to give it the Not only did he do that, which goes above and tagline “Who needs truth when there’s a whole beyond what’s required from him in the teaching universe out there to distort?” My first issue had department, but he’s always approachable on e- the headlines “Bacteria from Mars found to play mail. I had just gotten done with Arthur C. Clarke’s chess, gin rummy”, “Starship found orbiting Sat- 2001 sequence (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, urn” (complete with doctored photograph of the and 2064) and I e-mailed Alex with a simple query: was it really true Enterprise next to Saturn), and a third story I’m not recalling. And in that Jupiter was a failed star? the ads section, right under a plea from an unnamed Berkeley as- I’ll never forget the response. Not so much for the answer to tronomer to all aliens for information on black holes and supernovas the question, but because his answer came within the hour. The e- was “Girl seeks chance to go to observatory.” It was goofy, and I mail started, “Hi, Kat, I’m at Keck in between observation runs and wasn’t sure Alex was going to like it at all. I figured I’d tackle your question…” Then, he proceeded to explain I was wrong. Alex loved it. He picked me as one of the people to go to Lick on one of his observing runs. In celebration, I joyfully secrets loose. Humbling because despite the hugeness of the tool, produced a second edition of The Astroloid with headlines about the there is a realization that it is a incomprehensibly large and ancient Wookie running for student council and aliens apologizing for mis- universe out there, and the telescope is like peering through a key- leading Hale-Bopp cultists (complete with doctored photo showing hole at it. a UFO behind the comet – and note when I say doctored, I mean Us three students were mostly quiet through the whole test, oc- deliberately and obviously so). casionally voicing a thought like that, but most of the time it felt Somewhere around here, I have a couple copies of both those is- almost sacrilegious to speak. We sat their, in what had almost be- sues. I’ve seen them in the last couple years, tucked in with graphs come a cathedral to the pursuit of knowledge when one of Alex’s of supernova radiance from the trip to Lick they earned me. And graduate research assistants came in to fetch us. now that I think about it, I never I still suggest to Berkeley un- did anything with them, but that dergraduates that they take Al- was probably my first tentative ex’s class. He’s just that sort of foray into this world, or at least it professor, who can shine light could have been if I’d known any- on some of the darkest secrets thing about this world. the universe has. He’s done it But I diverge from my sub- in research – he was part of the ject. I won the trip to Lick that team that used supernovas to year, and even now, some ten date the universe and discover years later, it’s one of those ex- if it was expanding – but more periences I vividly remember. I importantly, he does it in teach- stood there, and the lights of San ing. Jose spread across the valley At the end of August, I stayed below me. Hanging in the west- up all night to watch the lunar ern sky was Hale-Bopp. To the eclipse happen. I don’t think I northwest, you could see the fog would have done this if it hadn’t bank making its near-nightly raid been for Alex’s class. Indeed, I on San Francisco and Berkeley. suppose that’s the best praise I But while the view was not to be can give him – I still look up. missed, the highlight of the night was when the telescope opera- tors were running the nightly calibration, and told us students that Notes on the Passing as long as we stayed still along the wall, we could sit in the room Scene with the telescope as they put it through its paces. There’s something both empowering and humbling sitting un- derneath a working three-meter telescope. Empowering because Wow, it’s been a busy month. So much so that I see as I type the tool above your heads is being used to probe for the universe’s these words that it’s just past midnight on October first, so I’ll have secrets and members of your species built it and run it to pry those to hurry up and get this assembled into a usable fanzine right fast. The biggest thing to report is that I got the last bunch of libraries I needed, so LibraryQuest stands finished. That’ll change eventually just jump right in and say something. Here goes nothing! as branches move and new branches get added, but I’m pleased to say that I have been in the building of every single Sacramento Pub- Boopledoggin’/Chuck Conner: I like the pictures. Maybe you lic Library branch and have checked out an item from each one. should have been the go-to guy on Peter’s request for sci-fi art for School has started. I’m taking two classes – PHP coding and the October issue? *grin* Other than that, I read, but don’t have how to use Adobe InDesign. This issue will be the first that I’ve put much to comment on. together in InDesign, so it may not look like much yet. But as I learn more, I hope it’ll be reflected in the ‘zine. Feline Madness/R-Laurraine Tutihasi: Moving is so much fun. Montreal won the 2009 Worldcon, which makes me happy. It It’s been two years since the last big move (going from Redding was the first worldcon bid that I had contributed money to. Then, to Sacramento) here, but we’ve still got boxes to unpack and go while Nippon2007 isn’t technically the first worldcon bid that I’ve through. So much else to be doing, I suppose. How fares trying to joined – that honor goes to Denver, which I’ve had plans to attend sell the house? Given the way houses for sale have been multiply- for a bit – it is the first Worldcon in which I have participated, even if ing like rabbits here in Sactown, I imagine it isn’t easy, but I don’t it was simply to vote for the Hugos and in site selection. I’ll actually know what the real estate climate is like down in the Southland. be at Denver in 2008, which will mark my first Worldcon attendance. I want to get down to Tuscon one of these days; I hear it’s a nice Woo. place. I almost applied to the University of Arizona for graduate I’m a die hard fan of the California Golden Bears, the sports school, but at the last minute decided to concentrate on Berkeley teams of my alma mater, and I just have to mention in the latest and the University of Washington, so I didn’t actually do it. It seems college football rankings, they have my beloved Golden Bears at like a really nice place. number three in the country, for the first time since 1951. Knock on wood it stays that way, Cal football has only recently gotten good in Another Month/William McCabe: Man, do I know what those the last five years. months are like! In some ways, September’s felt that way for me. Other than that, it’s been relatively quiet around here, other than There’s so much to do, so little time, and so many things scattering being frantically busy, as I run my mom to one appointment or an- my attention like detritus from an accident scene. I’m also looking other and keep up with schoolwork and chores. I’m slightly hoping for a job, and not having much success, but a lot of that is because October will be much the same. I’m a part-time caregiver to my mom, which means I have to run her to her appointments and such. It makes it hard. A bit of commentary Pleasantly Random/Peter Sullivan: Well, personally, I voted for Chris for the Hugos, partially because he was the only person And now for the fun part. on the ballot I really knew, having met him at Baycon and Wester- All: Howdy again. My apologies if I don’t have much to say yet, con. (I knew vaguely of Langford and Scalzi, mainly because of because while Peter has given me the whole list of passwords, and the sturm und drang over Scalzi’s nomination, but it didn’t really I did go back and read some of it, my memory is sorta fried given count.) I did look at work examples where I could, but this can get how busy I’ve been this month, so pardon the paucity of comments, tricky when some folks have a web presence and some don’t, and it I suppose. Next month will probably be a bit better, as I start picking makes it difficult to be fair to those who don’t have such a presence up the threads of conversation. when I don’t exactly have access to the things in which they write. I How is one supposed to do this? Well, I guess the best way is to am proud to say that I read every single fiction work nominated for than I do. (She’s the family genealogist.) That said, there’s some a Hugo this year, which is probably more than some manage. And pretty nifty graves at that place. I love the tree headstone. yes, I love this year’s Hugo base. In re your comments to Chuck: There’s badges for producing I Could Never Get the Hang of Thursdays/Garth Spencer: fanzines? Why didn’t anybody tell me back when I was in Girl Canada fascinates me. It’s a possibility in the near future that I Scouts? (And given how long I was in Scouting and the fact that might be moving up there; my boyfriend is a Haligonian currently I’m here leads me to be mostly authoritative when I say that no, trapped in London, Ontario. (Okay, he’s going to graduate school they’re probably not made from at Western Ontario.) I’m a native real Girl Scouts.) Californian and snow and ice are In re your comments to Jan: foreign terms; I’m trying to con- I reproduce your LOLcat here. vince him that Vancouver is nice. *grin* (That, btw, is my cat I don’t think it’s working. *grin* Stormy.) That said, I think there’s some- In re your comments to Garth: what of a boon to having this inter- I think the aversion comes from net thing for distributing fanzines. the fact that if the procedures for It allows folks like you to still pub- your job exist in written form, it’s lish even if you don’t exactly have easier to get rid of you. At least, the money for mailing the issue that’s probably the psychology around, and it allows folks like behind it. me to stumble across interesting things. (And then maybe they’ll Plata/Steven Silver: I love even join in! Horrors!) taking the train, at least the com- muter line between Sacramento All, again: Well, that was fun! and the Bay Area. I’d love to take I’ll look forward to next month. it further, but I’ve never had the opportunity and the money align As always, I remain: to make it a fun trip. (I can prob- ably afford to go coach the whole way, but I had a friend who did Denver to the Bay Area that way, and bought a plane ticket back, it was such a nasty ride.) Maybe I’ll do it on the way to/from Denver; --kat rumor has it some of the Bay Area fandom contingent might be tak- ing the train. I’ve always wanted to go to Russia. Sometime, I should prob- ably just go ahead and do it. It sounds like you had a good time there, even if it was a quick trip. Cemeteries are always neat, although my sister likes them more Plata 25 Steven H Silver

Plata is written and published by Steven H Silver’s Argentus Press for e-APA. Steven can be reached at [email protected] or via his website at http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag. If you prefer more traditional means of contact, you can reach Steven at 707 Sapling Lane, Deerfield, IL 60015-3969. ©2007 by Steven H Silver. You can read my blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/shsilver. the early twentieth century, the last time they won the Stuff About Which You Don’t Care World Series, the championship between the winners of the National League I am a Cubs fan. (founded 1876) and the American For those of you in the League (founded UK, this means I am a 1901), was in 1908. supporter of the Although they baseball team known returned to the as the Chicago Cubs, World Series one of the oldest several times since baseball teams in then, the last time existence with a storied they played in the and colorful history that World Series was in dates back to 1870. 1945, a year in which many of the Although the Cubs other teams had were a top tier team, their star players off frequently winning the fighting the Nazis National League and the Japanese. championship in the The Cubs didn’t nineteenth century and

Plata 1 really lose any players that year because they were all series since 1945. The reasons most people give for this classified as unfit for military service. Baseball was are a) the Curse of the Billy Goat and b) P.K. Wrigley. allowed to continue, and its players ineligible for the draft, Since the latter scenario is less interesting, we’ll look at it during World War II because Franklin Delano Roosevelt first. pronounced its moral effect on the country essential to the war effort, although many of its stars did enlist. P.K. Wrigley The Wrigley family has been involved with the Cubs So, why bring up this painful topic? since 1915 when the team was sold to a restaurateur named Charles Weeghman. Weeghman had some Last night, as I write this, the Chicago Cubs clinched their financial troubles and in 1918 William Wrigley, the division. In the long run, this probably means nothing, chewing gum magnate, bought a majority interest in the but in the short run, it means they move to the playoffs club. He continued to field winning teams, making it to next week. the World Series in 1918, 1929, and 1932, the year William Wrigley died. His son, P.K. Wrigley took over Major League Baseball in the US is essentially divided running the team and made it to the Series in1935, 1938, into the following way: There are two leagues (see and 1945. However, P.K. realized that by selling a day at above), which actually use slightly different rules. Each the ballpark as family entertainment and making the main league is divided into three divisions (East, Central, attraction the ballpark itself (Wrigley Field, built in 1914, West). At the end of the season, the teams with the is the second oldest ballpark still in use), it didn’t matter if highest winning percentage in each division make their the team won or lost. Many of the teams P.K. Wrigley league’s playoffs, along with a fourth “wild card” team fielded after that realization were subpar. There was no which has the highest percentage and didn’t win in their need to pay money to the players if people would come division. This year, whichever team is the wild card in the anyway, and his philosophy worked. When P.K. Wrigley National League will have a higher winning percentage died in 1977, the only team the Cubs fielded that had had than the Cubs. A two-round play-off series is held in each a chance of making it since 1945 was in 1969, and they league, with the winner of the second round going to face folded late in the season to the New York Mets, stoking a the winner from the other league in the World Series. hatred of the Mets that survives to this day.

Although the Cubs haven’t made the World Series since Following Wrigley’s death, his son, William Wrigley III 1945, they have made it to the playoffs…in 1984, 1989, walked across Michigan Avenue from the Wrigley 1998, and 2003, although they haven’t won a playoff Building in downtown Chicago to the Chicago Tribune

Plata 2 and sold the team in order to pay estate taxes. The Saturday Night Live to create a skit about the fictional Tribune continued P.K.’s philosophy until 1984, and Olympia Diner based on the Billy Goat Tavern. although the Cubs have made it to the playoffs five times since then, there is still no sign of the World series Anyway, in many of the Cubs runs for the World Series coming to Chicago. since 1984, the Cubs have had Sam Sianis, Billy’s son, trot a Billy goat around the field in the hopes of bringing The Goat an end to the curse laid by Billy Sianis, to no effect. When the Cubs played in the World Series in 1945, a Apparently, for the curse to be lifted either the original restaurateur named Billy Sianis, who ran a small tavern goat has to be allowed in or Billy had to do the curse called the Billy Goat Tavern, bought two tickets to the lifting. World Series. When he got there, the park wouldn’t allow him in because his companion was his pet Billy goat. The Poor Fan As if there aren’t enough stories to explain the Cubs’ Sianis stood outside Wrigley Field and cursed the Cubs, inability to get to the World Series in 99 years, in 2003, a saying that because they wouldn’t allow his goat into the new story was created which denigrated a Cubs fan. park, the Cubs would never play in another World Series. Sixty-two years later, the lesson to be learned is that you The Cubs were leading the Florida Marlins in the second shouldn’t piss off a Greek and his goat. round of the playoffs and were only five outs away from winning the playoff series with a score of 3-0. A foul ball Sianis’ restaurant has other places in Chicago lore. was hit along the left field line and as Moises Alou Michigan Avenue is a multi-level street, and on the lower reached for it, a fan, named Steve Bartman, who was level, beneath the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago listening to the game on the radio in the front row, also Tribune buildings, is the initial location of the Billy Goat reached for it. Tavern. This made it a prime watering spot for Chicago’s hard drinking reporters and the politicians who wanted to In baseball, there is a tradition of fans getting to keep foul leak secrets to them (it isn’t too far from City Hall). balls as souvenirs if the ball is hit into the stands (also Furthermore, members of Chicago’s comedy troupe, home runs, although at Wrigley the tradition is to throw a Second City, used to eat there because, well, it is cheap, home-run ball hit by the opposing team back onto the and comics are notoriously poorly paid. In the 1970s, field). Bartman saw the ball coming his way and reached this led to former Chicago comics like John Belushi and to catch it. Although the ball was over the stands, Alou Bill Murray, who were working in New York on the show

Plata 3 could have caught it for an out. Bartman got in his way life back to normal, which it usually is, although every and another fan wound up with the ball. now and then he is sought for interviews and many still curse his name. After that play, the Cubs fell apart, giving up 8 runs and losing that game and the subsequent game (which I 2007 attended). Bartman’s name, address, and place of Some years, like 1984 and 2003, the Cubs really did employment (he works at my wife’s company) were deserve to make it to the World Series and luck got in the published by the newspapers and he was harassed and way. Other years, like 1998, they really just stumbled in. hounded. My wife’s company had to hire extra security In fact, in 1998, they lost the last game of the season and to keep the news teams off their property. it looked the San Francisco Giants would take the wild card spot. However, the Giants lost their game and a The ball wound up in the hands of an attorney named one-game playoff was forced between the two teams, Jim. Jim sold the ball for $ 113,824.16 to restaurateur (do which the Cubs won. you see a trend here) Grant dePorter who used the ball as a publicity stunt for Harry Carey’s restaurants (Harry This year, the Cubs had a strong second half of the Carey was the Cubs announcer from 1981 until his death season, based on which no one could argue that they in 1998), eventually hiring special effects expert Michael earned a spot. The Milwaukee Brewers also had a Lantieri to destroy the ball in a controlled explosion on strong season, but the last month or so saw the Brewers February 26, 2004. In the months leading up the the struggling. This past week, the Brewers began to regain explosion, when the ball was on display, traffic to the ground while the Cubs had a losing streak. Although it restaurant increased by 30%. Lantieri apparently tried looked like the Cubs would eventually win the division, it several different techniques for destroying a baseball, was far from assured and the Cubs have broken our reportedly going through fifteen balls a day from hearts too often to start celebrating. December through February. Working at Wrigley Bartman, meanwhile, turned down job offers from the Several years ago, I spent two summers working at Florida Marlins and several roles offered by Hollywood Wrigley Field. When most people say something like and television. He made large donations to the Juvenile this, it means that they sold beer or peanuts during the Diabetes Research Foundation in honor of Ron Santo, a games (which is what my brother-in-law did. I did former Cubs third baseman who suffered from diabetes something different. and is a double amputee. Bartman’s goal was to get his

Plata 4 On Sundays during the season, when the Cubs are The Optimist says the glass is half full... playing on the road, Wrigley Field is open for tours for a The Pessimist says the glass is half empty... minimal charitable donation ($10, which goes to Cubs The Cubs fan asks, "When's it gonna spill?" Care Charities). I spent the two summers giving tours of the ballpark. The tours included the standard places Hugos open to the public, like the concourse under the stands, I’d like to thank any and all Hugo voters for their support the stands, and the bleachers, but also non-public areas as I once again mounted an assault on David Langford, like the press box, the visitor and home team locker much as a flea mounts an assault on a bison. rooms, and the security office. Two of my more interesting memories were getting to watch a Cubs game Should I Add Something More to my Resume? on television from within the confines of the visitor’s Last year, in an effort to simplify, I shocked everyone on locker room and escorting a woman out to the warning the ISFiC Board of directors by not standing for re- track in center field so she could scatter her husband’s election. I didn’t make my announcement until after I was ashes. nominated because I wanted to make sure someone who I felt would do a good job was nominated to replace me. The tours, of course, included information and trivia As far as I know, I am the only person on the board who about the Cubs’ history and the stadium’s history. The was consistently reelected unanimously. tour guides were pretty good on the whole and worked to debunk legends and stories about the field while Despite being off the board, I’m still tasked with a) presenting information in an interesting and memorable running ISFiC Press, and b) acquiring the permit for the manner. annual relaxacon ISFiC runs since Picnicon is held in a park in my hometown so I get a price break on the Cubs Joke permit. There’s a joke I tell, I may have originated it, I think I did, but there is also a chance I heard it somewhere. So, I’ve been off the board for almost a year (elections are in November) and I got a call from Robert Garcia of So, what is the difference between an optimist, a American Fantasy Press the other day. The board of pessimist, and a Cubs fan? directors for Twilight Tales (http://www.twilighttales.com/), a fourteen year old reading series in Chicago, is undergoing change and he wants to know if I’m interested in joining the board of directors. He claims that

Plata 5 being on the board is a low profile, low work job, with which captured other family members appeared on their meetings held quarterly and I would not be required to website. attend all, or even any, of the weekly reading series. Finding My Way to San José In addition to the reading series, Twilight Tales publishes Thirteen years ago, Elaine and I visited San José for her a line of chapbooks and is expanding into trade cousin's wedding. While there, we visited the Winchester paperbacks, web-publishing, and other areas. Mystery House and then drove up the coast to spend a few days in San Francisco. This Monday, October 1, I’ll be attending the series which will also mark founder Tina Jens’s retirement and the last In 2002, I wanted to visit San José for Con José, but I meeting of the series at The Red Lion, at least wasn't able to make it happen. temporarily. The Red Lion is being torn down and the series has found new digs until the Red Lion is rebuilt Last year, we tried to make it to San José for a cousin's and re-opened. I’ll be meeting with the board of directors bat mitzvah, but United cancelled our flight and couldn't and the outgoing members to see if I think it is a job I get us out to San José for three days, in time for want to take on, and to see if they all want to work with Christmas, but after the bat mitzvah. We didn't go. me. This September, I got a request from one of the teams I Family in the Newspapers support at Cisco to fly out to San José for a meeting. Back on Talk Like a Pirate Day, my ten year old nephew, Although there is a travel restriction in place, my Ari, published his first book review. The review of a manager liked the idea and pushed it up the ladder. Her sports novel appeared on the Chicago Tribune’s website. boss’s boss decided that she also wanted to address the group and made my attendance contingent on her being Also in September, a staff reporter from the Glenview given ten minutes in front of the group. They agreed and Announcements was dispatched to my parents house to four days later, I was off to San José. take photos of my family celebrating a Shabbat dinner. The pictures appeared as part of a “Day in the Life of The meeting went well and my boss’s boss wound up Glenview” series on the web and in the newspaper this having another commitment and wasn’t able to attend, past Thursday, September 27. The aforementioned although I made sure to swing by her office to meet her. nephew, my sister, parents, and my younger daughter, Melanie, all appeared in the paper. Additional pictures

Plata 6 However, I didn’t have time for anything other than work. the issue and lay out the artwork. Fake letters of Although I had hoped to link up with former E-Apa comment for the mock section are still welcome. member and co-Hugo nominee Chris Garcia, I couldn’t make it happen. Similarly, I wasn’t able to get together They Show Up in the Strangest Places with any of Elaine’s family. Elaine and I were watching “Galaxy Quest” last night and all of a sudden I realized that one of the Thermians, After work on Monday, I did go in search of a Chinese Lahnk, was played by Rainn Wilson, in one of his first restaurant, armed only with a GPS. The first five places I roles. He is now, of course, better known as Dwight went were either solely take-aways or counters, while I Shrute on the American version of “The Office” and was looking for a real restaurant. The six place I tried, appeared in “The Last Mimzy,” based on the Henry after which I Kuttner short story “Mimsy planned on just Were the Borogoves.” finding a real restaurant, turned Construction Continues out to be what I Our road is still under wanted and was construction, as it has been located on a short for the past two months or street in Sunnyvale so and will be for another with about a dozen two months (which will other restaurants make the shipment of of all ethnicities Finding Magic so much from Irish to Thai to more interesting than it Japanese to needs to be). I’m including Mexican to Italian. a photo out our bedroom window from September so Argentus you can see the fun we’re I finally think I have having. all the articles for Argentus. Now I just have to find the time to format

Plata 7

You Write, I Wreply: the Swift-boaters or because the one-time member Chris Garcia falls disagreed with his positions on any into one of those camps. Pleasantly Random number of issues. I imagine our

I made my comments about the Hugos in last ish, so I’m not going to rehash them here. I did finally get to meet John Scalzi in the flesh yesterday as I write this, when we were both at the Great Lakes Booksellers Association annual conference. We wound up sitting around the bar shooting the breeze on a variety of things, from SFWA to Piers Anthony to, of course, the Best Fan Hugo.

RYCTJan: You’re comments about a purple background to Jan’s Slow Blog made me decide to run this issue’s text in mock-mimeo purple. And regarding voting for Bush, I know people who voted for him because they honestly think he’s representing their interests and values and I know people who voted for him because they couldn’t see themselves voting for John And here we have Robin (age 9) demonstrating what happens when you shove Kerry, either because they believed a bunch of pencils into a bag that is filled with water.

Plata 8 Feline Madness Fisch Schlapping Song." (which them of sleep for 2 days and then combines the skit with the Python giving them a bed, with sirens going Just looking on the cat on the cover song “Finland” off every thirty minutes, and so on. makes my allergies want to flare up. To be kept on, you had to go longer I’ll send you a bill for the Benedryl. RYCTWilliam: You mention “Snatch at the various tasks than your and the Poontangs.” A couple opponents. Each competitor was Given the dental issues, I’m glad months ago, I was talking with kept in isolation and they weren’t the move seems to have gone well. Karen Abbott, who recently wrote a informed when or if anyone had Now we just have to hope that the wonderful non-fiction book about given up on any particular item. housing market heats up and you’ll Chicago’s vice district in the 1900s It makes me realize that if sell the old house quickly and for called Sex in the Second City, and people are viewing this type of thing what you’d like. she mentioned finding a high-end (and worse) as entertainment, it is “entertainer” from Hong Kong who no wonder that atrocities like Abu Another Month went by the name Poon Tang. She Ghraib and Guantanamo are has not been able to confirm that as shrugged off. The prize for this Best of luck to your brother. Hope the origin of the phrase, but thinks it reality show was US$25,000 (in its the adoption is quick and painless likely. second season, apparently raised and brings him years and years of to $50,000. joy and the house as well. RYCTPeter (I think). Earlier today, Adam-Troy Castro brought a RYCTR-Laurraine: A credit union is Boopledoggin’ reality show to my attention. Run on like a private bank that is owned Fox, which is interesting since their and controlled by its members as a This month’s opening was highly entertainment divisions runs all cooperative. reminiscent of “The Fish Slapping sorts of tripe that would offend Dance,” from the 1972 “Monty many of the people who watch their At Ungodly Hours Python’s Flying Circus” episode a’” news division. The show is called Mr & Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Solitary and it basically has people Welcome to the group, Kat. I was Popular.” Of course, the idea of the undergoing various things like out in the suburbs of Sacramento dance was later recycled by Eric counting tasks that grew more and twice, back in April 2001 as I helped Idle for use in the opening more complex while the strobelights open the Crate and Barrel store in sequence of “Spamalot” with "The and loud sirens interfered, depriving Roseville. After work, I would drive

Plata 9 up into the mountains or out to the autographed copies available I imagine the bottom line on the T- American River, just because here through http://www.isficpress.com. shirt you’re wearing on page five is in Chicago the land is so flat. something along the lines of “for Pixar is coming out with a complete relatively large values of two.” FWIW, my bachelor’s and master’s collection of Pixar shorts on degrees are both in history (general November 6, although if you have I Never Got the Hang of and Medieval). Amazingly, I’ve all the Pixar theatrical releases on Thursdays managed to maintain almost DVD, you probably will have most constant employment since 1995, (but not all) of the shorts already. You apologize for the disjointed when we moved to Chicago, never, The Discs will contain "The nature of your ‘zine like it is a of course, in my field, but in jobs Adventures of Andre and Wally B.," problem. Have you ever taken a that pay significantly more than I "Luxo Jr.," "Red's Dream," "Tin look at Plata? All it is a series of would ever make with history. Toy," "Knick Knack," "Geri's Game," thoughts on disjointed topics. Almost constant because I was "For The Birds," "Mike's New Car," between jobs for 7 weeks in 1999 "Boundin'," "Jack-Jack Attack," You share the names from Slickity and for a similar amount of time "One Man Band," "Mater And The Jim’s but not the contents of the earlier this year. Ghostlight," and "Lifted." various dishes? How will I know if I should order a Vagrant Elements of I believe the first “real” science Some of my favorite novels set in the Human Soul (which would be a fiction I read was either Rocketship San Francisco or Northern good name for your fanzine, given Galileo or Time for the Stars, either California are the humorous novels your earlier apology). by Heinlein. However, earlier, I by Christopher Moore. know I devoured the “Matthew Looney” series by William Beatty. Aiding me in LibraryQuest is http://www.worldcat.org, which lists You mentioned Rob Sawyer as one the holdings of thousands of library of your favorite authors. Back in catalogs worldwide and makes 2004, I published his short story achieving the object of your quest collection Relativity, which won the both easier in some ways, but also Aurora Award. We still have more annoying in others.

Plata 10 Pleasantly Random 25 HELLO, good evening and welcome to the 25th issue of Pleasantly Random, written for the September 2007 issue of e- APA It is written by Peter Sullivan, of Sunderland, England.

E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.burdonvale.co.uk Livejournal: http://ceemage.livejournal.com / Chris Garcia for TAFF

“Why should America suffer alone?”

For those who came in late, just about everything you need to know about the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund can be found on the unofficial TAFF web site at http://www.taff.org.uk. Chris Garcia blames me for making him run for TAFF, but it's not my fault really. I sent a casual e-mail suggesting that he might like to think about it, and he e-mailed me back “I've been thinking about it.” So you see, it was going to happen sooner or later anyway. The worst I can be accused of is bringing it forward a little. Anyway, for want of anything more constructive to do, I registered the web address http://www.chrisfortaff.org and put up a basic website. The main part of which is the “Chris for TAFF” news. Of course, with most TAFF candidates this wouldn't be that big an issue, but with Chris, it's a matter of tracking fanzines, livejournal posts and other Garcian activities, so sometimes it can be a bit of a stretch to keep up. It's an interesting experience, actually, trying to track someone like this –

http://www.chrisfortaff.org Page 1 of 5 sort of like cyberstalking, but with permission. With the cancellation of the 2006 race, the website was put into cold storage over the winter, but is now back in regular update mode again. So, why Chris for TAFF? Firstly, I think that Chris Garcia would be an excellent TAFF delegate for the trip. He's been toastmaster for several US conventions, so isn't going to be over-awed by a British Eastercon, and would be an interesting panel member on many potential subjects, as well as the traditional “Future of TAFF” panel. (Rumour has it that, like the ravens at the Tower of London, if an Eastercon fails to run a TAFF panel, then many bad things will happen.) As far as a trip report goes, Chris has issued a “30-day pledge,” promising to have his full trip report out within 30 days of returning home. For most people, this would be just sheer bravado, but Chris's fanzine output over the past few years (plus finishing National Novel Writing Month in three of the alloted 30 days!) show that he's capable of doing it. And I would see Chris as an “investment for the future” for TAFF as well. In the short term, fund-raising for the rest of his own term. And as a potential “eminence grise” of TAFF for the future when the Langfords and the Nielsen Haydens of today's TAFF are no longer here. But really, the executive summary answer of “Why Chris for TAFF?” is the same as the answer to “Why publish an APA zine?” or “Why get involved in Science Fiction fandom at all?” Because it's fun. A TAFF ballot is attached. If you don't want to vote for Chris Garcia, please vote for your favoured candidate and support TAFF anyway. Thank you.

http://www.chrisfortaff.org Page 2 of 5 Sweepies on e-APA 41

At Ungodly Hours 1 (Kat Templeton)

Welcome to e-APA! Don't worry about being "a relative unknown" - I was a complete neo-fan when I started in e-APA. Everyone's very friendly. Some of them occasionally gnaw on a legbone or two, but that's just their way of showing they like you. At least, that's what they said to me. “Philip K. Dick is always good.” See, you're fitting in already. I know that, when I was young, I had special dispensation at the local library. Although I only had a junior ticket (4 books out at any one time), I was actually allowed to have the full 8 books out at any one time as if I had an adult ticket. My mother squared this with the librarian after the time I had taken out 4 books and read them all in the car on the way home... The idea of visiting all of the libraries in your county sounds pretty cool, not to say fannish.

Boopledoggin' 18 (Chuck Connor)

I believe that you don't need a passport to travel to Ireland, as it is part of the same border control area as the UK. However, in practice, most (all?) airlines require a form of photo ID to travel anywhere at all, the most common (and preferred) form of which is a passport. So I guess the answer is, like Schrodinger's cat, both yes and no. I think you'll find that Flea Markets were originally 'flee markets' – people selling all their worldly goods before doing a runner. Oh, and I'm not normally a grammar nazi, but I'm not sure “probably more easier” sounds 100% correct. Credit unions exist in England as well, but ours are typically fairly small operations. In the USA, they are a viable alternative to a commercial bank – much as building societies were over here before the carpetbaggers destroyed nearly all of them.

http://www.chrisfortaff.org Page 3 of 5 Feline Madness 41 (R-Laurraine Tutihasi)

It must be frustrating just waiting to move, and I guess that the current state of the US housing market doesn't help. (Normally I would assume it wouldn't make sense to talk about such a thing as “the US housing market” - regional markets at most – but the current down-turn would appear to be fairly nationwide if the stories in the British press are to believed.) That said, all you really need is one buyer to pop up from somewhere. On closed captioning for British accents – I believe that it was discussed whether Rab C. Nesbitt (a comedy series set in Glasgow, with very heavy Glaswegian accents) should be subtitled in-vision for an English audience. As it was, they provided the usual closed captioning for the deaf, which was apparently used by many hearing listeners as well.

Another Month (William McCabe)

Radio 7 is an excellent station, and probably the digital radio station I listen to most (other than the cricket on Radio Five Live Extra). Not that we have a digital radio – I listen on TV via Freeview. It always seems a bit wasteful to switch on the TV just to listen to the radio, but so it goes.

Plata 24 (Steven Silver)

Totally agree that it would make sense to include all the past distribution's passwords every so often so that people don't have to go back searching for them in old e-mails. For obvious reasons, I won't do it this month (doh!) but will try to remember next time. Nag me if I forget. I do find train travel the most civilised way of travelling long-distance in England, as long as the train is not too crowded (in which case it's Hell on Earth). The local train operator is now offering free wi-fi, so I can keep myself busy even if the scenery isn't that attractive.

http://www.chrisfortaff.org Page 4 of 5 I gather that the latest plan is to bar people who don't have Real ID compliant identification from any federal government facility, including national parks. Gotta protect Yogi Bear from those terrorists, you know. I'd forgotten about the link between the length of Alice's Restaurant and the gap in the Nixon tapes until you reminded me. And my bad for attributing “Close, but no cigar” to Groucho Marx. I guess there's an inevitable tendency to attribute any cigar-related quotation to Groucho – I've even seen Rudyard Kipling's “A woman is only a woman, but a cigar is a damn good smoke” attributed to Mr. Marx.

I Never Got the Hang of Thursdays 39 (Garth Spencer)

I think that the drift to electronic-only fanzines is an inevitable one, and nothing to be ashamed of. Major kudos to those who seek to stem the tide in the meantime, however. The Fishlifter's Banana Wings is probably the most shining example of a paper-only fanzine these days. A Startling Press Production

http://www.chrisfortaff.org Page 5 of 5

2008 TAFF Ballot — North America to Europe

What is TAFF? The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well- known and popular fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. Interested fans all over the world vote on the candidates, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than $3 or £2. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible. Who may vote? Voting in the 2008 race is open to anyone who was active in fandom prior to April 2006, and who contributes at least $3 or £2 to the Fund. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot: only one vote per person, and you must sign your ballot. You may change your vote any time prior to the deadline. Deadline: Votes in this race must reach the administrators by Midnight, PST, Saturday 17 November 2007. This is 8 AM, GMT, Sunday 18 November 2007. Voting details: TAFF uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank the candidates in the exact order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes for the lowest-ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes. This process repeats itself until one candidate has a majority. Your votes for second and third place are important, but you may give your candidate only one ranking on your ballot. In order to win, a candidate must receive at least 20% of the first-ballot first-place votes on both sides of the Atlantic, separately. Any candidate failing to receive this minimum percentage on either side will be dropped, and the second-place votes on their ballots counted as first-place votes in the next ballot count. Thus candidates and their supporters will need to canvass fans on both sides of the pond. You may send your ballot to either administrator, but it will be tabulated with the other votes from the side of the Atlantic on which you reside. Votes from fans not resident in either Europe or North America will not count towards either 20% minimum, but are important to the outcome of the race. Hold Over Funds: This choice, like "No Award" in Hugo balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no TAFF trip this year, if the candidates do not appeal. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position, and is exempt from the 20% requirement; thus, if it receives a majority of the votes on the final ballot, no TAFF trip will be held this year regardless of how many votes Hold Over Funds received on the first ballot. No Preference: For voters who prefer not to choose between candidates, but don't want the trip held over. Donations: TAFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction; such generosity has sustained the Fund for over 50 years. TAFF is fandom's oldest travel fund, and one of its worthiest causes — give early and often! Please contact your nearest administrator for details. Candidates: Each candidate has posted a bond, promising — barring Acts of God — to travel, if elected, to: Eastercon 2008, and has provided signed nominations and a platform (overleaf).

Please read both sides of this ballot before voting. Send entire sheet as your vote.

Name: ______Address: ______Phone number or e-mail address: ______(We need your full contact details. TAFF may need to contact you regarding your ballot or to send out newsletters. We do not publish this data or pass it to any other organisation.) Signature: ______

Enclosed is ______as a contribution to TAFF.

Please make checks/cheques, etc., payable to: ‘Suzanne Tompkins’ for US dollar checks mailed to Suzanne. ‘TAFF’ for all UK (sterling) cheques posted to Bridget Bradshaw/Claire Brialey.

If you think your name may not be known to the administrators, then in order to qualify your vote, please give, in the space below, the name and address of an active fan (not a fan group, a candidate, or their nominator) who is known to them and to whom you are known:

Active fan known to the administrator: ______

2008 TAFF Ballot — North America to Europe

Chris Barkley In many world cultures, the pilgrimage is seen as a serious undertaking; a sacred journey to a place of personal or spiritual importance. When I first entered fandom in the 1970’s one of the first (and most exotic) things I learned about was the TransAtlantic Fan Fund, where sf fans were exchanged from the far-flung corners of the United Kingdom and North America. TAFF is not only our annual pilgrimage; it is one of our most important cultural traditions. It would be an exquisite honor to visit the land that gave us such icons as Olaf Stapledon and Doctor Who.

Nominators: Johnny Carruthers (US), Colin Harris (UK), Marcia Kelly Illingworth (UK), Michaele Jordan (US), Laurie Mann (US)

Linda Deneroff For over 35 years I've had my fingers and toes in many fannish pursuits, ranging from convention running to Star Trek and Star Wars fanzines. I've worked on many conventions including Worldcons and Worldcon bids on both the left and right coasts, in capacities ranging from volunteer to treasurer to chair, starting with Lunacon in the early 1970s, (1980 chair, James White GoH!). Today I live in Seattle, where I help produce Foolscap, a small literary-and-art oriented convention. I love reading, traveling, and attending conventions. I'm thrilled to be nominated, and I hope you'll vote for me.

Nominators: Margaret Austin (UK), Hank Graham (US), Tim Illingworth (UK), Margaret Organ-Kean (US), Kevin Standlee (US)

Chris Garcia Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before. Chris Garcia is a fan. He’s from Northern California. He writes zines like The Drink Tank, Claims Department and Science Fiction San Francisco. He’s been a member of ANZAPA, FAPA and a few other APAs. In general he writes as often as he breathes. Chris does game shows at cons, likes fried food, enjoys a good bourbon, plays a mean game of poker, likes cons with Fanzine Lounges that turn into parties, and will talk and talk and talk. He also once fell down a mountain. Ask him about it.

Nominators: James Bacon (UK), Arnie Katz (US), Mark Plummer (UK), John Purcell (US), Ted White (US)

Christian McGuire I’m a reader, conventioneer, and club fan. I was a regular contributor/first O.E. of The Gallifreyan Home Companion (a Dr. Who APA), and written for other fine fanzines. I’ve met many British and European fans over the years without getting to know them. My theory of conventions is that everything serves the opportunity for great conversation. If chosen for TAFF, I’d sit down to as many parts of the conversation as possible to meet new people and get to know those I've only briefly encountered before. I’d take a ton of notes, some photos, and write a great trip report!

Nominators: Chaz Boston Baden (US), Vincent Docherty (EU), Mike Glyer (US), Milt Stevens (US), Robbie Bourget & John Harold (UK)

Please read and fill out both sides of this sheet. Send in entire sheet as your vote. Do not detach this portion! I vote for (rank 1, 2, 3, etc.):

[__] Chris Barkley [__] Christian McGuire [__] Linda Deneroff [__] Hold Over Funds [__] Chris Garcia [__] No Preference

Send ballot & donation to:

North America - Suzanne Tompkins, PO Box 25075, Seattle, WA 98165 USA. Checks payable to: Suzanne Tompkins. Email [email protected] with questions/comments.

Europe - TAFF c/o Claire Brialey, 59 Shirley Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 7ES UK throughout the voting period, or Bridget Bradshaw, 39 (1F2) Viewforth, Edinburgh, EH10 4JE UK after 10 Sep 2007. Cheques payable to: TAFF. E-mail [email protected] with any questions, or if you would like to use PayPal.

For more information on TAFF, visit: http://taff.org.uk

Reproduction of this form is encouraged. It is the official voting vehicle and must be reproduced verbatim. Anyone doing so should substitute his or her name here: http://taff.org.uk web site I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40

For e-APA #42, October 2007

Mundania Meanwhile, Back In Our World

More and more the allegedly real world looks to me Since we’re welcoming a new member, and some of like a put-on. Or like mediocre television. Time, the major categories of fan activity have been on my perhaps, for some critical review, like Harlan mind anyway, a little review of current fandom might Ellison’s early-70s television criticism in the L.A. be in order. Free Press. “Fandom”: I am beginning to wonder if we should I’ve been thinking about a sort of fanzine about use the word anymore, since what I was introduced to mundania, and I’ve said this before. My working title in the early 1980s no longer describes the hobby is Fool’s Paradise, because a key element of groups we now have; in fact there’s such variety in whatever’s wrong with mundania is our tendency to the hobby groups that show up at conventions, even live entirely in our favourite fantasies, I mean small ones, that I don’t know if they have anything in worldviews. That is how I explain people like our common. various disconnected ethnic communities, and our city hall, and our local police forces, and some Your experience of fannish diversity may be different. members of my family. APAs: I had the idea for some time that APAs were If I suggest that is also what has happened to the pretty much distinct from fanzines; or that they grew current American federal administration, am I going out of fanzine fandom, as a sort of cost-saving to be put on a blacklist? Or just written off as another measure, for people who wanted a limited group to liberal pinko comedian wannabe? maimtain contact with, or who wanted limit groups to focus on particular topics.

October 2007 I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40 p. 1 From time to time I have tried to compile materials focus had shifted from fannish fandom to a whole for a fandom guide, specifically to Canadian fandom. variety of subfandoms, and the shift occurred twenty What I noticed was how sharply the number of APAs years earlier. diminished, at least APAs I could track down. By now most of you have seen the news about the Awards: From fanzines and conventions, and upcoming Worldcon, in Montreal in 2009. We’ve passages in this APA, a newcomer can work out that discussed this a bit already. there are a lot of annual awards for SF, and fantasy, and horror; that some are voted on by fans, and some I’m not all that enthused about big cons, especially are juried awards; and there are continuing quarrels the size of Worldcons; less on their own account than about whether the awards go to the right recipients. because conrunning, and especially Really Big Cons, By now you will have seen the news about the 2007 have attracted some badly crazy people. Personally I Hugos. cope better with small numbers of people anyway.

In this connection I have a little news. The Canadian I have completely lost track of current and future SF and Fantasy Awards – Auroras, we call them Westercons. Okay to attend, for me; but the one I nowadays – will be presented this month at VCon 32, worked on – in Greater Vancouver, in 1991 – turned here in Greater Vancouver. Or did I say that already? to complete hell. (We got a badly crazy person Now, an organizer wants me to be one of the forcing her way into the chairmanship, and never presenters. (I have some history with these awards.) faced her down.)

The Auroras could be better promoted, and especially With a little prompting I recently resumed a project I the books and stories and fanzines and fans that can have attempted before: a digest of things I observed, be nominated. Which is ironic, since the Auroras things I read, advice I found about running were conceived to spotlight Canadian science fiction. conventions. This time, though, I am avowedly writing a polemic. Chuck Connor won’t be surprised I Conventions: For a while, in the early 90s, I got the am arguing that SF conventions, even small local idea that the focus of attention and interest in fandom ones, are just a bit more than us amateurs should take had shifted from fanzines to conventions. Actually the on. I’ve said this before. It’s little wonder if there

October 2007 I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40 p. 2 seem to be more and more limited-scope, special- The Canadian Unity Fan Fund could also stand to be interest conventions. better promoted. Which again is ironic; CUFF was conceived (sometime in 1979 to 1980, like the Some years ago a Pacific Northwest group started Canadian SF and Fantasy Awards) to raise Canadian ConComCon, a specialized convention for regional fans’ awareness of other Canadian fan groups. conrunners. I have recently been invited into CanadianConrunners, an email list for people with Fanhistory: From the foregoing you can tell I did experience, or at least opinions on the subject; they some information-gathering, since the time I entered will be holding a conrunners’ convention in Ontario fandom. You can also tell I hold opinions, whether or in the near future. Maybe within the month. not I had quite enough information on which to found them. Fan Funds: We get ourselves into situations, and only then see the Christopher Garcia is running for TAFF. Good for consequences. him. The unexpected always happens, no matter how you I am a member of the FanFundAdmin email list, but have tried to control outcomes. haven’t gotten a lot of news from it recently. There are more kinds of people and motivations and In the past I was a delegate and then an administrator agendas than any people can grasp. of the Canadian Unity Fan Fund. Consequently I received word when Brian Davis, in New Brunswick, People cling grimly to convictions that may be was vastly delayed in his duties by illness; and again, illusions, even self-destructive ones. when a previous delegate decided he had to step in to carry on the administrative duties. Some people won’t listen to what they must hear, no matter how vital the advice is. We now have an appointed, rather than an elected, CUFF delegate coming to VCon 32. Go figure.

October 2007 I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40 p. 3 Fanzines: There have been a number of curious My overview of fandom is at the outset of this developments with fanzines over the last quarter- contribution. You may take it with a peck of salt – century, most of them well-known. There seem to be obviously I have an excess of opinions – but it should less fanzines published in Canada today than there let you know there is no Academie Fansez to tell you were a quarter-century ago, even taking electronic how Fandom Ought To Be, it’s pretty anarchic and zines into account. Or is that an illusion? The self-invented. immediacy of email groups and blogs seems to have attracted many people away from fanzines and apas; Your apazine tells me that you’re more educated than is that merely the normal displacement we have seen I am; at least, you finished degrees before getting into whenever a new medium occurs? fandom.

What I find curious, in my own experience, is that I My reading tastes overlap yours. In recent years, don’t have time to read fanzines the way I once did. though, I’ve been rereading more fiction than I’ve Going to the post office box used to be like having bought new. Still, somehow, I end up having bought Christmas on a monthly or biweekly basis. Now I may twice as many books as I have room for. This is receive zines by email, or notification from dumb. efanzines.com, but I have to rely on slow and untrustworthy releases of Acrobat. Maybe I just need Boopledoggin’ 18 / Chuck Connor to clean up my computer system. So you’ve been reading Tony Hillerman, too? Mailing Comments Yeah, the reassertion of authority over accountability At Ungodly Hours #1 / Katrina Templeton seems to be the fashion now, in all the English- speaking countries. The story used to be that You’re like me, I’ve been really uncomfortable Canada’s government was the most secretive and meeting a whole gang of new people. I think almost unaccountable in the Commonwealth, did you know? all of us experience the same thing. Every MP has to swear a secrecy oath. Me, I find it hard to believe that Canada does anything other parliamentary governments don’t do.

October 2007 I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40 p. 4 ? / William McCabe Reyct me: I’m just about to reinstall the original DOS for this computer system, which may erase my email As I implied to Katrina, newsletters are pretty much and Internet connections for a while. Consequently I what you create them to be; you have a lot of leeway am wrapping up and sending this contrib. first. for inventing your own guidelines.

Thank you for your remarks about cons and about Me, I tend to rely on compiling information under a writing. sequence of headings – editorial, locs, ads, calendar of conventions, newslike objects, articles or columns Feline Madness #41 / R-Laurraine Tutihasi or reviews – but other editors seem to have other conceptions. That’s a great cat picture! Pleasantly Random #24 / Peter Sullivan Sounds like you and Mike are on top of your moving project. I am not surprised if your co-workers are really averse to documentation. I now think that’s just human. Reyct me: thanks for the entry about the online Fancyclopedia accepting fanhistories. This appears (I Plata #24 / Steven Silver say, appears) to be a place where such files can be edited. I had about decided to move my fanhistories RAEBNC to a Wiki site, where people could add the modifications their recollections dictated.

October 2007 I Never Quite Got the Hang of Thursdays #40 p. 5 e-APA Guidelines e-APA is an Amateur Press Association primarily for science fiction fans, and is an attempt to bridge the format and style of traditional paper-based APAs with newer digital publishing formats.

Publication format: Each fanzine will be in Adobe .pdf format.

Distribution frequency: Distributions are made once each calendar month. Deadline for submitting a fanzine is the first of the distribution month. The OE will compile the distribution and make it available as soon as practical (generally on the 2nd), and will notify members by e-mail when the distribution is ready for downloading. Bill Burns has generously agreed to provide server space and bandwidth for e-APA at eFanzines.com.

Activity requirements: Members are expected to contribute activity at least once every other distribution. Missing three consecutive distributions will cause the member to be dropped from the active roster; he or she will no longer be able to contribute to distributions. The OE may waive activity requirements for a member for serious reasons. Each fanzine must have a maximum size no larger than 300K in size (the equivalent of 4 to 6 pages, depending on content and graphics); there is no minimum size requirement. This is to keep the distributions at a reasonable size for members using dial-up connections. Activity may consist of either written or graphic material primarily by the member. Fanzines are e-mailed to the OE for inclusion in distributions.

Official Editor: Elected for a one-year term by ballot by eligible active members in January. The OE is responsible for receiving, archiving, and making distributions available for downloading, and for keeping track of member activity requirements. The OE will publish in each distribution an “official organ” (OO) with a table of contents of the distribution, a list of members, and any other official information required.

Membership: Membership is open to anyone. The active roster will consist of no more than 15 members. Prospective members should let the OE know by e-mail that they want to join, and will be expected to contribute to the next distribution. If the active roster is full, a waiting list may be started. Those on the waiting list may download distributions, but can’t submit fanzines for distribution. Distributions will be password protected at the eFanzines site; members may, at their discretion, make their e-APAzines available to the general public at eFanzines as well, or through any other medium.

Dues: There are no dues for e-APA. At the moment, Bill Burns is providing free server space at eFanzines.com for e-APA. Should it become necessary or desirable in the future, members will be accessed dues to cover server space and bandwidth costs.

Amendments or changes: These can be made to this set of guidelines at any time after being voted on by the active members. A simple majority by active voting members is enough to amend or change the guidelines.

Miscellaneous: If members don’t have or can’t afford the Adobe Acrobat program for generating .pdf files, a free program called PDFCreator is available. This does an excellent job of creating .pdf files from virtually any word processor or text editor. It can be downloaded at: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ Another less complete alternative is a small program called AcroPAD. This creates .pdf files from plain text files, using either its built-in text editor, or from text files created in other applications. It can be downloaded at: http://www.dreamscape.it Another alternative is PDFProducer, a very small program (the archive is only 29K) that will convert plain text files to PDF. You can control the page size and rotation, along with choosing one of three fonts for text. Very easy to use. URL for downloading is http://naramcheez.netfirms.com/pdfproducer.html Note that these are PC programs. While I don’t claim to be an expert on creating PDF files, I’ll be more than happy to help anyone with PDF problems if I can.

For further information or to join e-APA contact the OE, Peter Sullivan, at [email protected]

Last Revised: Friday, December 2, 2005