Knot a Fanzine #1
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
KNOT A FANZINE #1 December 2020 Produced by Marc Ortlieb P.O. Box 215, Forest Hill, Vic 3131 Australia who doesn’t do that sort of thing anymore. [email protected] NOTES FROM THE SPECTACLE CASE A number of years ago I decided that I wasn’t going to produce fanzines any more. The cost of postage was ridiculously high and I’d pretty much severed my connections with fandom, with the exception of the occasional poker game with Julian Warner, Seth Lockwood, Carey Handfield, Cindy Clarkson and Justin Ackroyd, none of whom produced fanzines any more either. I had limited contact with some fannish friends, via Facebook. I even dropped in on a couple of Melbourne conventions - albeit usually briefly. But I’d discovered an alternate “fandom” - Scouting - which managed to expand to the point that I was looking after a District of Cub Scouts, was looking after a Box Hill Scout Group, was assisting on courses training Cub Scout Leaders, was on the committee for a major annual camp for Scout Leaders and was attending Cub Scout camps at Pack, District and State level. I also managed to fit in working full time as a Science Teacher. Anyway, things changed. In October 2018, ANZAPA (The Australia New Zealand Amateur Press Association) celebrated its 50th anniversary and, given that I’d first joined in 1975, I figured that I should contribute to the mailing. I’d retired from teaching and, though my involvement in Scouting hadn’t decreased (and still hasn’t) I found that I had time on my hands. My ANZAPAzines started to increase in size and I found myself writing articles for ANZAPA that, in the past, I would have used in my genzines. I still had no particular interest in producing a genuine, but that old devil egoboo raised its ugly head. Why, I thought, should I confine myself to torturing only the members of ANZAPA with my deathless prose when I could be inflicting it on a wider audience? Granted the idea of actually printing and distributing a paper fanzine was still not particularly attractive but the Internet was offering an easier way of distributing fanzines, and I already had the articles in digital form. I’d even thought of a catchy title for a fanzine containing all of my ANZAPA contributions, naturally stripped of the Mailing Comments which were specifically aimed at ANZAPA members. I would call it Compendium. I then procrastinated, having picked up an additional Scout Group to manage and having discovered that leading two Groups was taking up lots of my time with liaising with the local Council and dealing with personnel issues and ensuring that the Scout Halls were maintained in reasonable nick. Then come 2020…we’ve had bushfires and COVID-19 and so what better way could there be to round ff that sort of disastrous year than by putting together my ANZAPA compendium? Given that I’d adopted a knot motive in naming my ANZAPAzines, the title chose itself. So welcome to the first issue of Knot A Fanzine. My current aim is to produce an issue every year - a target that should be achievable given that I already have the material for #2 waiting to be assembled. (I won’t put it out until after the December ANZAPA - now in pdf format - goes out later the month.) The fanzine reflects an assortment of interests while still making occasional mention of science fiction. I felt that I needed to tie it intro the ostensible reason that most of us became fans - science fiction - and so, to ensure that I maintained some sort of attachment, I went to my bookshelf, where I have a load of issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - in some sort of chronological order. Thus you will find issues of F&SF from 1969 onward reviewed in these pages. The zines also reflect my interest in the history of Australian fandom, though not with the sort of historical scholarship displayed by ANZAPA founder Dr Leigh Edmonds. Other regular themes are the works of Lewis Carroll, evolutionary science, rock music and even Scouting and knotting. I don’t anticipate a letter column, given that this zine will only appear annually and while members of FAPA may be willing to wait a year to make comments on fanzines, given that this is the Internet Age, with Facebook comments being made and seen within minutes of publication I don’t think such responses are particularly apposite. Oh yes and, in the past, I offered my zines for the usual or for a naughty in the bushes. As an old fan and tired married I can’t really justify that either. As for the title of this editorial that has a venerable history, dating back to when I used to indulge in certain substances which I carried in an old spectacle case that fitted comfortably in the ancient army greatcoat. Both have been relegated to history, or the local rubbish dump. 1 Wye Knott #1 Produced for ANZAPA by Marc Ortlieb P.O. Box 215 Forest Hill Vic 3131 Australia. The Revised Australian Apas List This is based on a list originally created for ANZAPACon Two and modified, both there and subsequently at ARCon. Australian apas have a fifty year history, dating back to Leigh Edmonds founding of APA-A in 1968. APA-A became ANZAPA with its third mailing, and, as ANZAPA, is still running. Although there were other apas between 1968 and Aussiecon in 1975, the influx of fans in 1975 led to a boom in Australian fanzine production, and, coincident with this, the founding of several apas, which flourished in the late 70s and early eighties, but which had died by the time of Aussiecon Two in 1985. Some Australian apas seem to have spun off overseas apas, Morningstar taking its inspiration from Alarums and Excursions, the U.S. role playing apa and the Furry Animals APA being descended from Rowbrazzle. In addition, there are the media apas, like Centro and Strange Matter, which seem modeled more on the A&E1 model than the FAPA2 model that ANZAPA, APES and APPLESAUCE followed. There have also been special purpose apas, such as QVC and the Grong Grong Gazette the purpose of which has been taken over by the Internet in one form or another. My suspicion is that none of these apas, apart from ANZAPA, still exist but I could well be wrong. I’d be fascinated to discover that there are other apas that have come and gone since I first compiled this list. AUSTRALIAN AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATIONS A working list 1975 Aussiecon Apa An apa for committee members and other workers ANZAPA still running (See APA-A below). APA '83. Apa for the Australia in '83 Worldcon Bid Committee APA Nova Circa 1970. An apa associated with the Nova Mob. APA-A started in October 1968 by Leigh Edmonds By mailing three it had been named ANZAPA Apes. Adelaide apa which started with a crude, rude & vulgar orientation Alan Bray was the first O.E. 1976 Applesauce Sydney based apa Originally edited by Ken Ozanne, with later stints from Jack Herman and Peter Toluzzi. Terry Frost was OE when it died in 1984 Centero Media orientated apa edited by Nicki White from Canberra Conglomeration. WOOFlike apa connected to media Natcons edited by James Allen Furry Animals APA edited by Craig Hilton & Paul Kidd Hocus Pocus Invitational apa run by Joy Window Morningstar A Gaming Apa, along the lines of Alarums & Excursions. Ca 1979 Edited by Phillip MacGregor from Sydney QVC (Quatre Vingt Cinq) Apa for the Aussiecon Two Committee SAPS Sydney regional apa for the SSFF ca 1974 Saturday Morning Age Weekly apa centred on the Magic Puddin Club 1976 Scapa Flow SCA apa edited by Peter Ryan ca 1989 Silly Point Cricketing apa edited by John Foyster Two mailings produced. 1989 Strange Matter Sian O'Neale. Dr Who & media apa. The Grong Grong Gazette Apa/Newsletter connected to the 1975 LeGuin Workshop, edited by Randal Flynn The Phantom Zine. A W.A. apa with comics orientation but with general apa stuff too. Larry Dunning O.E. 1981 ZAPA A Melbourne regional apa, founded by Steve Palmer and briefly edited by Derrick Ashby 1 Alarums & Excursions. American Role Playing apa which is still going under Lee Gold its founder. 2 Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first of the sf based apas. From the U.S.. Still going but very much smaller than it used to be. 2 NOTES FROM THE SPECTACLE CASE So, I’ve completed my first year of complete retirement. Do I miss school? Not in the least. As so many of my fellow retirees have noted, it’s hard to work out how I managed to do things and still work at the same time. One of the things I did think of doing with my retirement was becoming more involved in fandom again but I intend to make this a very limited return from the Glades of Gafia. It will, I suspect, involve the occasional ANZAPA contribution and some work helping Carey and Justin to administer the BG*FF (Bloody Good Fan Fund) which will be raising money to get Bruce Gillespie to the New Zealand Worldcon in 2020. Otherwise my weeks will follow their current slothful pattern: Monday – Scout Heritage Centre, either Mackie Rd or Elm Street. Sorting donated badges & scarves, cataloging Scouting related newspaper articles and preparing our 2019 Centenary of the Wood Badge display. This also involves pleasant natter over morning tea and lunch and ensuring that everything is ready for any evening visits I’m assisting on for later in the week.