CVER ART by: Mats Öhrmann EDITRIAL “Fifty years ago [now 100], most of the words It is April the 5th and the TAFF- and GUFF-winners heard by an American were personally spoken to have been announced. Great news! him as an individual, or to somebody standing Johan Anglemark for TAFF and Marcin Klak, the nearby. Only occasionally did words reach him as Fandom Rover for GUFF! Both were pitched the undifferentiated member of a crowd – in the against UK-candidates and both managed to win classroom or church, at a rally or a circus. Words anyway. I take it, that should settle the debate were mostly like handwritten, sealed letters, and whether or not TAFF is a US/UK-only thing. Both not like the junk that now pollutes our mail. Today, have shown, that all it takes is some ganas (as words that are directed to one person's attention the Spanish would say). Most surprisingly (to me), have become rare. Engineered staples of images, was that Marcin managed to win against Steve ideas, feelings and opinions, packaged and and Alice Lawson, who I have considered BNF's delivered through the media, assault our for 20 years. It is fortunate for Marcin (and all his sensibilities with round-the-clock regularity.” friends, including myself) that fandom is such a “The Right to Useful Unemployment and its forgetful community of people. professional enemies” – by Ivan Illich, 1978 Secondly, beginning with this issue, I will attempt ------to account for the many sci fi short films which are made publicly available on youtube. There are TABLE F CONTENT literally hundreds of films I never heard of before. EDITORIAL...... page 02 Which is funny, because I am known as a major film-buff. I will also continue to report on worthy Why Fantasy is more popular than SF documentaries to view and spare you the waste of by Wolf von Witting...... page 03 time sifting through drivel.. The rating in CounterClock reviews will in future WorldCon 75 Helsinki report...... page 05 be given with zero to ten clocks. So far, in all of A Fannish Fantasmagoria my life, I can only think of two short films which I'd by [Anders] Bellis give ten clocks. Is Icelandic Fandom a Thing? That would be “The Town Where No One Got Off” with Jeff Goldblum and Ed McNamara, the season by Einar Leif Nielsen...... page 12 one, fourth episode of The Ray Bradbury Theatre, SCI FI SHORT PIECES...... page 14 from 1985 (directed by Don McBrearty) and and Star Trek Continues Mummy Daddy. Likewise the fourth episode of the first season and also made 1985, but from Steven LoCol...... page 23 Spielberg's Amazing Stories. In fond memory remains also The Murderer with Event Calender Update...... page 27 Albert Brock (1990, directed by Roger Tompkins) THE FINAL WRD...... page 28 from the Ray Bradbury Theatre and the 1955 ------episode featuring Tom Ewell in The Case of Mr "What good did ever come from all that Pelham from Alfred Hitchcock Presents (of which I talking around all those tables?" yet have to view seasons 2-7), both clearly deserving 9 clocks. [Brent in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, 1970] ------As for the lead article in this issue, I am going to “To see the present clearly, let us imagine the quote a man you probably never heard of before, children who will play in the ruins of high-schools, and I am likely to quote him a lot in this issue. Hiltons and hospitals. In these professional Ivan Illich was a Croatian-Austrian philosopher castles turned cathedrals, built to protect us and a Roman Catholic priest, born 1926 in Vienna against ignorance discomfort, pain and death, the and died in December 2002 in Bremen, Germany. children of tomorrow will re-enact in their play the He studied theology and philosophy at the delusions of our Age of Professions, as from Gregorian University in Rome and obtained his ancient castles and cathedrals we reconstruct the doctorate in history at the University of Salzburg. crusades of knights against sin and the Turk in He went to the United States in 1951, where he the Age of Faith. served as assistant pastor in an Irish-Puerto Children in their games will mingle the uniquack Rican parish in New York City. From 1956 to 1960 which now pollutes our language with archaisms he was vice-rector of the Catholic University of inherited from robber barons and cowboys. I see Puerto Rico. them addressing each other as chairman and His book “The Right to Useful Unemployment and secretary rather than as chief and lord. Hopefully its professional enemies”, written in 1978 contains adults will blush when they slip into managerial many passages serving as an eye-opener to the pidgin with terms such as policy-making, social adverse effects technology has on us. ------planning, and problem solving.” Ivan Illich, 1978 My editorial rant continues on page 28 WHY FANTASY IS work and our travels would bring us all across the Universe. But that was a very naïve vision of the future. We were not ready to believe Orwell, Boye MORE POPULAR THAN SF and Huxley. Though certainly, the trends were already there, which Ivan Illich's book The Right by Wolf von Witting to useful Unemployment made abundantly clear. There is no question about the popularity of the fantasy genre overshadowing science fiction. But why? Is it, that science, reality and knowledge has caught up with the genre? Are there no more frontiers? Most people don't think much about why they like something, they just do and go with it. I believe the preference for the fantasy genre to be a subconsciously made choice. Fantasy represents freedom, while science fiction increasingly is understood as the technology used to enslave us. We now have a society obsessed with control, security and surveillance. And the so called security is not there to protect us. It is there to protect those who control wealth. The individual citizen is only protected as far as we remain cogs in the machinery of society. Refuse to comply, and the state is authorised to use force against you. Step out of line, and you will either end up in the gutter, in jail, or pharmaceutically lobotomised. This dystopia is no more a dark vision limited to literature, but a fact of our current reality. - You could have told us, it would come to no good! Surveillance does not prevent crime. What it - We did! does, it helps corporations to bombard us with Artwork by Wolf von Witting (1983) targeted advertisement. Lawyers do not resolve All which has come, has been predicted. Those injustice. Airport security scans confiscate little who saw the future coming were no seers like which you can't buy in the Duty Free Shop after Nostradamus, merely educated men and women. you have passed the scan. We have a mandatory Scholars who had studied the fabric of the state, and questionable system of education (with the and philosophers who understood the nature of exception of Finland) which favours and produces the human being, economists who understood the a uniform breed of citizen. From the cradle to the ultimate consequence of Nixon taking the dollar grave, we are in the hands of professional off the gold standard. We have been doomed to experts, whose ideals we are forcefully subjected repeat the mistakes of the past, because even to, whether we agree with them, or not. though those who lived it never forgot, we see ------now the 3rd and 4th generation after those who “The West won the world not by the superiority lived it. And they are more or less gone. And by of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its now most angles of history have been twisted and superiority in applying organized violence.” tweaked. [Samuel P. Huntington, Patriotism! There's a word of our time. But while The Clash of Civilizations, 1997] the individual is capable of feeling loyalty or ------How can science fiction be attractive, when all our patriotism, a state is not capable of reciprocating technology and all our inventions have the side such sentiment. Your sacrifice is appreciated. But effect of removing more of our freedom? if it suits the state better to expel you, it will do so without hesitation. It wasn't always like that. When I began reading Fantasy on the other hand, represents a world in SF, we hoped our technological progress would which the individual and the capability of the make life easier and more comfortable for us. It is individual can give full autonomy. It is also a world how we ultimately envisioned it. Remote controls, in which the words honour and loyalty still have a to zap the blinds open and shut, automatic doors, meaning. Sure, there is also deceit, but who has light switch and flying cars. Robots doing our dirty courage, honour and loyalty is the one admired.
3 None of these traits value anything in the world Somehow we all became exposed to a terribly we have evolved into. The words exist as memory flawed and experimental economic theory of a time with valiant knights, protectors of the weak, the good and the destitute. In the early 60's, Acatzingo, like most Mexican The soldiers of today fight and die for the rich and villages of its size, had four groups of musicians for commerce. Who wins the war, gets to rebuild who played for a drink and served the population the by war devastated country. It's good for the of eight hundred. In 1978 records and radios economy. Most educated people are already hooked up to loudspeakers, drowned out local aware that this is what today's wars are about. talent. In a similar way, all over the world, music and culture is standardized. And while the global The past had clean air, a rich animal life and large market certainly has a large variety of choices, it areas of unexplored country. Today every piece of doesn't necessarily serve the best product. It is land has a fence or a border around it. Mammals more profitable for the cheapest production. of the wilderness are driven to extinction. Fortunately, their popularity to serve as a carpet, a Even well-heeled shoppers acquire, with each fur coat, as chess pieces or as a tapestry on the new commodity, a fresh experience of disutility. wall, is in decline. There are less Apes on the They suspect they have purchased something of planet, than there would be people if we round up doubtful value, perhaps soon useless [See: everyone in Munich, Germany. Hell freezes over Planned Obsolescene on Wikipedia], or even before we turn into the Planet of the Apes. dangerous [See: Compact fluorescent lamp on Wikipedia], or something that calls for an array of In the past, money had real value. Gold, silver even more expensive complements (Illich). (such and copper coins, represented the true value of as the acquisition of a digital camera, which may what you had in your purse. Now we accept require a new computer system). fictional value tokens, created out of thin air and Technology which creates freedom: inflated by the whim of states and central banks. THE BICYCLE – THE IRON HORSE And everything must be taxed. You can not A galloping horse does 40-48 km/h (25-30 mph) achieve an independent self-sustaining household In many ways, the bicycle is as useful as a horse. because if you were rich enough to own your It is environmental friendly and good for ones home, you'd have to tax for it, until you must physical condition. For movement within small surrender your property to the bank or the state. towns it is much better suited than a car. It's a pity Depends on who you've been coerced voting into that its use hasn't been made more attractive. power. And you are led to believe that it has to be ------so. Because school is not going to teach you, that “Counterproductivity anything can be other than what is. The main notion of Ivan Illich is the concept of You are also led to believe, that the past was full counterproductivity: when institutions of modern of injustices. Such as no voting rights for women. industrial society impede their purported aims. Yes, the feudal lords could also be unjust. But For example, Ivan Illich calculated that, in 1970s ruling by the grace of god, meant doing what was America, if you add the time spent to work to earn best for the people. And some rulers may actually the money to buy a car, the time spent in the car have done what was best for the people, same as (including traffic jams), the time spent in the today, that some politicians actually care. health care industry because of a car crash, the time spent in the oil industry to fuel cars...etc., In our imagination it is always easier or harder and you divide the number of kilometres traveled than living the reality of a society with less per year by that, you obtain the following advanced technology. You find your own piece of calculation: 10,000 km per year per person land, build your own house, give birth to your divided by 1,600 hours per year per American children in this house and if you so desire, bury equals 6 km per hour, the real speed of a car.” your ancestors in your own Garden of Peace. It's (Wikipedia) splendour limited only by your own ingenuity and your ability to make the right friends (or enemies). We executed an individual calculation in the spirit No borders, no tax, no laws other than what you of the above example for one particularly efficient yourself endorse and uphold. For eggs, you keep and low-cost, second hand, car in Italy and came chicken, for milk and cheese you keep a cow or a to the conclusion that this car moved at a goat. For vegetables and fruits you have your own whopping 14 km/h, which is a comfortable speed garden. Before the 20th century, the definition of on a bicycle, while 6 km/h is promenade pace. bad times, was when you had to buy your food. [WolfEd] ------The existence and nature of modernized poverty If I would have had any choice when I would have remained hidden, even in ordinary conversation, preferred to live, which time period would I have as long as it primarily affected the poor. chosen? I don't know. I am not sure. Interesting Ivan Illich question. I really have to think about that one...
4 ”Bellis, you're on a panel now,” said James turns into a fannish fantasmagoria, where what Worrad, idly leafing through the programme happens seem to happen in a not very orderly or booklet as we and some others were having a comprehensible fashion, sort of like in a dream, beer or two at the outdoor tables of the bar. making you confused, and oblivious to the ”Am I?” James showed me. ”Oh, yes ... so spacetime continuum. Not only do you find I am. Thanks. See you!” And I ran off, to be on a yourself totally outside your everyday life for the panel I was on. (I did take time out to buy another duration of the convention, you find yourself beer which I brought with me to the panel, though outside normal reality, entering this fantasmagoria - I will not be on a panel unless I can have a beer non-sequence of events. while being on the panel.) However, another kind of fantasmagoria - That, in a nutshell, says something about or nightmare, rather - may very well be the a WorldCon experience. A WorldCon experience prologue to the convention.
Prologue to the convention Two days before I was to fly from Athens to cash I needed not only to pay for them repairing Helsinki, my computer died a death. Just went my computer, but in order to pay for the hotel and dark and impossible to switch on again. Next everything else in Helsinki. morning, I went to the service station at the local The cash was stashed in my savings account. MediaMarkt. When they'd checked it, they said The bank informed me, matter-of-factly, that since that this was an impossible job. The computer I had not withdrawn any dosh for more than two was dead. But they'd give it a go anyway and they years, I obviously did not need the money, so they would call me in the afternoon. They did. They had blocked the account. I could not withdraw a said that it was an impossible job. The computer single cent. Asking them what I had to do in order was dead. to make them unblock my account, they informed In a sense, that was lucky. Because in the me, just as matter-of-factly, that I needed to meantime I'd been to the bank, to withdraw the produce one of two things:
5 1) The latest telephone bill for my father's landline comes strolling along through this horrendous telephone. (My father doesn't have a landline storm as if he was talking a Sunday walk in the telephone. He's got a mobile.) park, but Jimmy vas Morrison. I stared incredulously at him. 2) A document from the Swedish Embassy - since I am, although half Greek, a citizen of Sweden - As he reached the entrance to the bar, I asked stating at what Swedish company I am employed. him: (I am not. I am a freelance translator, editor, and ”Jimmy! What on Earth are you doing outdoors in writer.) this rain?! Have you gone totally insane?!” Jimmy raised his eyes, looking towards the sky, This is Greece. Greece under the crisis. Greece and said: under capital control. The thing they were doing to ”Oh, is it raining? I didn't notice. In Scotland, this my account is called just that, capital control. They is just a small shower.” want to keep the money. So they keep the money. As for that thing with my father's telephone bill, don't even ask. An incredible piece of Greek legislation. No computer. No money. But as I went over to MediaMarkt to collect my dead computer and throw it in the bin outside, another turn of events awaited me. ”We called in our real expert. He managed to revive your computer. It is no longer dead. Here it is. It'll cost you twenty euros.” I did have twenty euros. I paid them. Then I had forty euros and my VISA credit card. A day later, I boarded my nightflight to Helsinki.
At the convention We now find ourselves at another disconnected event at the convention. I don't know exactly what day this was, but it may have been the Saturday. Anyway, these enormous cloud banks - no, get me right: ENORMOUS - began building over the roofs of the nearby houses. This all looked like Independence Day, only the thingies they managed as special visual effects in Jimmy vas Morrison in the torrential rain. Independence Day were pathetic by comparison. The best party during the entire convention was Loads of us fans were sitting down the convention Lena Jonsson's and Lucy Huntzinger's birthday bar, at their outdoor tables, drinking beer, party. They had rented this party room facility with watching this spectacle first in fascination, then in a bar counter and an enormous balcony outside, mounting horror. Ominous is not the word. Surreal situated at the very top of the hotel and thus with and totally unreal are the words. a spectacular view of Helsinki. The party room And then of course, it all exploded. A was furnished with armchairs and tables and thunderstorm so sudden, and so horrendous as whatever, and Lena and Lucy had invited a large pertains to both thunder and downpour - no, get number of friends to celebrate their birthdays with me right: DOWNPOUR (we are talking tropical cake and champagne. As I was sitting talking to times ten here) - that I was vaguely reminded - Caroline Mullen, sipping champagne, someone well, by the THUNDER - of a Motörhead concert. nearby, I forget whom, said: The volume at a Motörhead concert would blast ”Bellis, you are on a panel right now! Is it going your eardrums. So did this thunder.. well?” As we all ran indoors in panic and confusion, the ”Am I?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. ”But it's thunder and the wind had tables and chairs just ten to nine! My panel doesn't start until nine.” whirling through the air like autumn leaves, which ”Bellis, that clock is slow. Look here, my mobile. made it a wee bit hard to run indoors, but quite It's nine o'clock right now.” naturally I still managed not to spill a drop of the ------beer I had just bought. An acquired skill, they say, People have lost the confidence to shape their own desires. The world-wide discrimination against the but I was actually born with it. autodidact has vitiated their confidence in determining About twenty minutes later, as I was huddling in their own goals and needs. the entrance to the bar, smoking a cigarette, who [Ivan Illich, The Right to Useful Unemployment, 1978]
6 Lucy and Lena, the birthday girls! This, in my opinion, makes for a far more lively To my horror, running through the enormous panel, far more relaxed, than if one sits there convention facility, trying to find the programme repeating stuff that one has learnt by rote. So I room I was supposed to be in, and which had began by asking the audience if anyone could probably been changed for another one anyway, I please pop down to a bar (there were several) realised that I would not have time to buy my and buy me a beer, waving a banknote around, panel beer, ran on, and finally, with the help of two but someone in the audience just came forwards or three or four people in the crowds milling and handed me a can of beer, saying it was on around everywhere, mostly being in the way, I him. Whomever you were, thank you kindly once managed to find the programme room, arriving again! just three minutes or so late. As this panel was, as mentioned, on at nine o'clock p.m., when all the parties were in full swing, I had expected a crowd of about three people. In some disbelief, I noticed that the room was full to capacity and then some and then some and then some, as it turned out that the subject Heavy Metal, Science Fiction & Fantasy was a rather popular subject. At the outset, there were to be four or five panelists, but already before the convention, most of them reported that they couldn't make it, which left Suzanne van Rooyen and me. We were asked if we would do the panel anyway, and agreed to. We had then decided to not prepare, not structure the panel, but instead doing it the way I have always preferred to do panels – you know what subject the panel is about and you just begin Bellis and Suzanne van Rooyen, the panel Heavy discussing the subject and you simply see where Metal, Fantasy & Science Fiction the discussion takes you, as if it was a discussion And then we began. Suzanne is a natural. So am at a dinner table or, even better, down the pub. I. So, not to beat our own drum, but I am very
7 pleased to report that for the remainder of the actually do remember that I first met Kaja and convention, I had one fan after another, a large Jimmy at the EuroCon in Dublin in 2014! Or was number of them all in all, come up to me and say that the LonCon in London a week earlier...? that the heavy metal panel was one of the very best programme items they'd been to, at this We now find ourselves in the hotel bar, some convention or any other. It saddened be that other evening, around a table where I am having Suzanne could not attend the convention the dinner with my good friend Jerry Määttä and some following two days, and thus did not herself get to Finnish fans I hadn't met before, among them hear these wonderful compliments. But here's to Tanja Välisato, who earlier on, as the same you, Suzanne – they all, without exception, said company were having drinks at another table in that you were brilliant! And you were. the hotel bar, jumped up from her chair as I was on my way to the bar and told me that the heavy metal panel had been brilliant, which marked her as a heavy metal fan, having us talk quite a lot about the world of metal during dinner. At one point during dinner, however, I had to go out for a smoke, and sat down in a group of fans outdoors, where I began introducing myself to a woman I had not met before, whereupon she said: ”Come on, Bellis! It's Margaret!” ”Oh,” I said, ”so sorry! But frankly, I must admit to not recognising you. You see, my face blindness ...” ”But Bellis! Don't you remember our night together?!” Margaret sounded a bit miffed. In mounting terror, I desperately tried to remember at what convention in the fantasmagoria maelstroem of memories I might have spent a night with Margaret, but I could, for the life of me, not come up with even a clue. By now, everyone else was laughing out loud, as Kaja Grzegorczyn Margaret launched into a rather graphic description of our adventures. But hold on. The birthday party was maybe still I had to ... I had to ... Well, do something! going on? It was supposed to end at ten o'clock, ”Yes! Of course! Now I ...” since the party room was rented until then, but ”...do not remember, Bellis!” said Margaret. ”Come who knew? On my way there, I ran into my good on, now! It's me, Lisa! Lisa Konrad!” friends Kaja Grzegorczyn and Jimmy the Storm She laughed out loud. Wanderer, who live in Scotland, and who had, out of sheer kindness, brought me a bottle of fine, Of course. This was Lisa Konrad. And yes, I do Scotch single malt whisky! We went up to their know Lisa Konrad. Of course I do. How hotel room to get the bottle and I suggested that embarrassing. And no, we have not spent a night they should tag along to the birthday party and together at some convention or other in the that we should also invite the birthday girls for fantasmagoria maelstrom, so I once again some whisky. Not knowing if the party was still became the laughing-stock of the company sitting going on, we went up. there smoking and drinking, looking properly Now, as we made it into the party room, staff were embarrassed behind my Bausch & Lomb Ray-Ban cleaning up, but just told everyone as follows: ”We Wayfarers. I hope no one noticed. have to clean up now since it's ten o'clock, but Having finished my second cigarette a few please, do carry on, no problem.” So the party moments later, I quickly sneaked back into the went on until about two o'clock at night, and the dinner. ------fine whisky brought by Kaja and Jimmy was much appreciated, not least by me, and I also had a CLCKTALK very interesting conversation with Moshe Feder, - I have to finish issue 32. whom I've only met once before – neither of us - Really, which one is that? could remember where or when, but at some - The one after issue 31. The April 2018 issue. convention somewhere. And of course, that's the March is over soon. thing. You meet such an enormous number of - No, it's still ten days. people at conventions, especially WorldCons, that - Yeah, but I am not publishing a roll of toilet it all finally becomes a maelstrom of memories, paper. you know... a fannish fantasmagoria. However, I [a conversation of mine, WolfEd]
8 Some other night in the maelstrom there was a Japanese party in a most charming little wooden cottage in the vicinity of the convention premises, and as I was standing drinking saké with Martin Smart and a number of others, someone turned up with the flyer advertising the Chinese bid for a WorldCon. To our astonishment, it said that the Chinese government would pay airfare, hotel accommodations, and food for anyone wishing to attend the convention, should they win, and we all immediately wanted to sign up, of course, and then vote for them, but as it turned out, the Chinese representatives at W75 had, upon being asked about it, already claimed that this was misprint. A misprint! The final paragraph of the flyer, in bold print at that, claiming all this ... was a misprint. A good way to get people to vote for your bid, though. And claiming that it was a ”misprint” after they've done so. Moshe Feder One of Martin's friends was Russell Smith, whom But for the remainder of the convention, I called I'd never met before. We threw ourselves into a Lisa Margaret. Next time I see her, that may be fascinating discussion featuring James Bond, the name I remember her by. among other things, before returning to the main So it goes.
9 lobby party down at the convention hotel centre, ...and now we once again find ourselves at some where the fantasmagoria maelstrom once again other time and place in the fantasmagoria took over.. maelstrom of W75. I am up offensively early one ...and now I suddenly find myself on my way to morning, in order to conduct the Guest of Honour the convention, on the day of arrival. As I arrived interview with my old friend John-Henri Holmberg, at Helsinki airport, I tried to locate the airport train. and as I find myself running into the convention Staring in disebelief, I noticed that the information facilities, I also find myself staring into a screen was in Japanese. This is actually true and completely empty, enormous hall, where the I offer photographic evidence. interview is supposed to take place. Funny, since it is about to start in all of two minutes. Running back through what seems to be miles and miles of convention facilities, I end up at the information desk, where Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf informs me that they'd sent an SMS to my mobile, informing me of the change of venue. Funny, since I don't have a mobile. I find myself wondering where they got my mobile number, but an issue of more immediate concern is where I am to interview John-Henri, so I concentrate on this issue. Carolina tells me, and of course this new programme hall is situated at the other end of the miles and miles of convention facilities, so I have to stop off at one of the bars and buy a beer. After having drained the glass, I buy another one, and begin to run again. Finally ending up in the right programme hall, I perform the pleasant task of interviewing John-Henri. You see, John-Henri talks in five minute, improvised but perfect mini essays, which could be transcribed and published verbatim. Most often, they also end with a surprising, humorous punch line. To interview him is a pure pleasure – one can just throw in a very occasional comment or question, and then sit back, relax, drink beer, and enjoy the show...... and now we once again change time and place and find ourselves on the panel about Greek fandom, featuring Stamatis Stamatopoulos, Kat Kourbeti, Alexandros Zochios, and me. As Information screen at Helsinki airport, in Japanese. with either my speeches or my other panels or panels I've been on in order to talk about Greek Having finally located the airport train, after fandom, in England, in Åland, in Spain, in walking around and about inside the labyrinthine Sweden, and now in Finland, the audience – a airport for about half an hour, I tried to avail myself fairly large one on this occasion – was honestly of a ticket from the machine on the platform. This interested in, and asking questions about, Greek proved impossible, since it claimed that my VISA fandom, which, in the shape and form of the credit card was invalid. It was not. After three Athenian science fiction club ALEF, is very active attempts, I was noticed by a Finnish gentleman, indeed. In spite of this, the panel I put together who offered to buy me a ticket. He didn't even about Greek fandom at W75 was the last one I want me to pay for it, but I managed to force the will ever do. Five years after having discovered five euros on him, out of the forty I had ALEF, I have so far been unable, with one very brought.The journey into Helsinki was spent in notable exception, the sf author and fan Kelly some nervousness, since if my VISA credit card Theodorakopoulou, who attended the EuroCon in should turn out to be deemed invalid by the cash Barcelona in 2016, to generate any interest dispensers of Helsinki as well, and by those little among Greek fans in Athens to in any way stay in machines they use in shops and into which you touch with fandoms in other countries. Of the stick your VISA credit card in order to pay, I was three fans joining me for our panel at W75, only facing a rather cumbersome problem moneywise. Alexandros lives in Athens, and is thus like Kelly Finally locating a row of cash dispensers at the an exception, but not through my doing; on his Helsinki central railway station, I tried one, being own accord. Stamatis has been living in London most relieved when it spat out 250 euros. Buoyed for the last five years or so, and Kat Kourbeti lives up by this, I took a bus to the convention centre.. in Helsiniki, and both are quite naturally thus active
10 in fandoms outside of Greece. Anyway, after these in the fantasmagoria maelstroem of W75, finding five years, with lots of talk talk talk of an Athenian that I am unable to finish a proper convention convention and going to conventions abroad and report, since I've missed about two thousand joining international fannish FB pages and Counterclock deadlines already, and since I whatever, nothing has happened from the Greek simply do not know where to stop... side of things – which is, on the face of it, perfectly in order. Everyone should quite naturally ...wherefore this could possibly be the first be active in fandom in any way they want, and if instalment of my report, with another one to the members of a science fiction club are not maybe follow. Or maybe not. I wouldn't want to intersted in taking part in activities across the hold Wolf up time and again for another run of boundaries of their country, or, as in this case, issues of Counterclock, but the decision is his. their city, that's up to them. However, I have So, for the moment I'll continue my journey personally lost interest in ALEF's activities, which through the fantasmagoria of W75 alone... nice of are very impressive, to be sure, but to me tend to you to have tagged along this far ... and hope to be endless repetitions of the same, year in and see you in a further instalment. year out. However, I have, thanks to the Greek fantasy author and fan Maria Petrou, who has Cheers! -- Bellis also grown tired of ALEF, discovered a completely different group of pros and fans in Athens, Death Disco. This may sound like an odd name, but firstly, Death Disco is not a disco but a bar, and secondly, they stage cultural theme evenings about authors and themes in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror at this bar of theirs, situated in the very centre of Athens, a bar which they run themselves. In future, I think that Death Disco will be Greek fandom's connection with fandoms abroad ... and I am currently harbouring far-off dreams about a convention in Athens, having the dead dog party staged at this brilliant bar. We'll see.
After this digression, I will now lose myself totally After the thunderstorm.
11 story, Christianity Under a Glacier (Kristnihald undir jökli), that could be considered genre fiction and was inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula. But still many literary-minded people would disagree. Especially if you go back 15 years or more. In the 20th century and in first years of the 21st genre fiction was considered childish and not worthy of mainstream consideration. It didn't matter that popular authors like Andri Snær Magnússon and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir wrote in the genre. Their novels were not discussed as such. Andri Snær's novel Lovestar was nominated for a Philip K Dick award and almost everything he writes could be considered genre fiction, but he has never been considered as a genre writer.
This has thankfully been changing in the past decade, thanks to fresh new voices that grew up watching Star Trek and reading The Lord of the Rings. These young authors have gone to cons abroad, met like-minded people and want to create something similar at home.
It All Started at Nexus In 1992, a store called Myth opened in Reykjavik. I remember it mainly as the go-to place for all things Warhammer. Kids and adults went there for all things science fiction and fantasy. It became Is Icelandic Fandom a Thing? the center of Icelandic geek culture but unfortunately the store did not last out the decade. By Einar Leif Nielsen But thankfully some of the owners opened Nexus Iceland has always had a rich heritage of genre which has been the staple of Icelandic fan culture fiction. Some might not see it right away but for 20 years. No matter what your poison is. Be it underneath the hard exterior of the locals there is books, movies, games, comics or cosplay Nexus a deep love of the unexplained. For example, you is the place to go. The board gaming community would be surprised to learn how many Icelanders there is especially strong. They have also started actually believe in ghosts, elves and spirits. The youth programs for teenagers that want to learn county's coat of arms has a giant, a bull, a dragon and play roleplay or board games and through the and a vulture and according to legend these years they have held numerous happenings and monsters are islands protectors. Even the old supported fan events like IceCon, Iceland's first Norse religion has had a resurgence in the past fan convention. decades and a new temple to old gods is being built in Reykjavik. But why is this fantasy a big Nexus has become a staple of the country's part of the Icelandic identity? The country's nature society and shows us how popular SFF really is in is most likely to blame as it can be both terrifying Iceland. It is often full of people and during and magnificent all at once. If you travel across December you can barely get around the store. Iceland you´ll see geysers, glaciers, black But I would recommend it to every fan that makes desserts and volcanos. And don't get me started his way to Iceland. on the weather. There is a saying that if you don't like the weather in Iceland wait five minutes. The Generation That Could Because of nature’s harshness the natives In the past decade, there have been a slew of respect and admire their surroundings but also new genre writers. Most of them started out as fear them. But even with all of this there hasn't fans. They were willing to try write something new been a lot of Icelandic SFF and the islands fan in Icelandic and because of their experiments culture is very young. science fiction, fantasy and even weird fiction have been published regularly by Icelandic Realism is Mainstream authors. Although none of the books have been Most Icelanders read folk tales and some of the best sellers some have done quite well. For old sagas have elements of genre fiction. Even example, Emil Hjörvar Petersen book Víghólar Iceland´s Nobel laureate Halldor Laxness wrote a was optioned for film and Hildur Knútsdóttir alien invasion Winter series has been very popular.
12 Alexander Dan (IceCon's 2016 chairman) has about 50/50 locals and foreign fans. Everybody also recently signed a two-book deal with was very happy with the relaxed setup, were Gollancz for the translation of his book Hrímland people in panels sat on sofas, and the single-track and its follow up. Many other authors have done program. Many fans from the Nordics showed up new and interesting things and the creative writing which strengthened ties and helped Icelandic fans program at the University of Iceland has offered become a part of a bigger fan community. classes in genre fiction. So every year Iceland's SFF becomes richer and more people look at IceCon was conceived as a biannual con so the these book that were previously only available in next one will be this year (2018), October 5-7. The English. guests of honor are Naomi Novik and Terry Brooks. It will be held in the same venue as last time, Iðnó, and we aim to have the same relaxed atmosphere. Although we plan to have a two-track program this year if possible. So if you always wanted to visit Iceland this is a great excuse and you could meet some great fans too.
The Future is Bright With a rich history, folk tales and Norse mythology Iceland has a lot to say in SFF. It also has a lot of young talent on the horizon and fan community that is quickly organizing. We hope that the future Panel at IceCon, photo: Johan Anglemark is bright and that we can strengthen our global fan community and bring people together. Icecon Now and Then The first-time Icelandic fans gathered was in 2013 ------for small fan fest called Furðusagnahátíð. It was a We know what happens to people who stay place to meet people and start something special. in the middle of the road. They get run over. The people who met there later created IceCon which was held for the first time at Iðnó in 2016. Ambrose Bierce ------Elizabeth Bear and Karin Tidbeck were the guests of honor and other world-renowned writers such Below: IceCon, the main auditorium as Scott Lynch and Kij Johnson also attended. photograph: Johan Anglemark About 100 people showed up and attendance was
13 The Brain Hack, 2015, 18 minutes, UK IMDb: 7.2 (443) 8 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qLD02PTHko Written and directed by Joseph White With: Edward Franklin and Alexander Owen The Brain Hack is a smart, short, sharp, shock. Sci Fi Short Film n Youtube Well done, there. [WolfEd] You may not be surprised to read there are short Sci Fi films on Youtube. But I can tell from the THE WORST: individual number of views of those films and from the number of votes they have on the IMDb that we have a treasure trove of film here, which many are unaware of. After watching my 20 first films, I can tell that they often have good quality and I feel no different as if I was watching a new run of Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. The advantage of a short film, is that it rarely is longer than it needs to be. And these are not examples of amateurish film-making. These films are well made on a professional level. Even the ones that suck. But when they do, they suck on a professional level. THE BEST:
Judy, 2016, 10 min, USA IMDb: 7.9 (13) 9 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYT9vk5b3BY Written and directed by: Ariel Gardner and Alex Kavutskiy, With: Kate Freund (Judy), Brady Novak and Paul Isakson as Pete Banowitz Even though Pete Banowitz reacts in a perfectly normal and understandable way, little about Judy Redeem the Beginning, 2014, Sweden is predictable. If you only wish to watch one short Written and directed by: Dennis Petersen, 15 min film today, this is the one you have to see. Sexy, outrageous and hilarious. IMDb: 6.7 (13) 3 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1og2sjufrs THE SMART ONE: The cinematography is excellent. There is action, but little acting and a tripe revenge story-line. A dead girl is reanimated to kill the bad, bad men who killed her and her innocent mum and bring glorious honour before another sunset. So she goes on a rampage, brutally killing three men and Petersen thinks two wrongs make one right, just like two minus makes one plus in math. “You have to be either predator or prey,” he says “and to make no choice at all, is also a choice.” It's either to be an asshole, or to be shit upon. Well, we already know that Aristotlean two-value logic is fucked up. But if you are not sure about it, you may even enjoy this piece of crap short. Violent, good looking, pointless.
14 A better Swedish short was made by A.Wallin: TRANSCRIPTION OF MELBOURNE FLIGHT SERVICE The transcript portion of the communication between Valentich and Melbourne Flight Service as released by the Australian Department of Transport follows: (FS - Flight Service, DSJ - Frederick Valentich aircraft designation). 1906:14 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand? FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic. DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I am, seems to be a large State Zero, 2015. 16 min aircraft below five thousand. IMDb: 6.7 (546), 6 Clocks: 1906:44 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, What type of aircraft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgPMyvZMBY0 is it? State Zero has some wonderful post-apocalyptic DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot affirm, it is four footage of Stockholm. You are transported into an bright, it seems to me like landing lights. environment similar to the one in I AM LEGEND 1907 FS Delta Sierra Juliet. (2007) and this could be, meanwhile somewhere 1907:31 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet, else on the planet. For your benefit the actors the aircraft has just passed over me at least a speak English, but the futuristic craft below wears thousand feet above. insignia of the Swedish airforce. FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft, confirmed? DSJ Er-unknown, due to the speed it’s travelling, is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity? FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity. 1908:18 DSJ Melbourne, it’s approaching now from due east towards me. FS Delta Sierra Juliet. It's not a great film, but at least you have no clue 1908:41 DSJ (open microphone for two seconds.) what is going on... which leaves a mystery to be 1908:48 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, it seems to me that pondered upon. You will not be bored out of your he’s playing some sort of game, he’s flying over me skull and the acting is rather passable. two, three times at speeds I could not identify. 1909 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what is your actual level? DSJ My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero zero. FS Delta Sierra Juliet, and you confirm you cannot identify the aircraft? DSJ Affirmative. FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, stand by.
I just can't get enough of watching Stockholm in 1909:27 DSJ Melbourne, Delta Sierra Juliet, it’s not an aircraft it is (open microphone for two seconds). ruins. If you are a Swedish sf-fan, then it is a must see. We have not been spoiled with Swedish sf. 1909:42 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, can you describe the -er- aircraft? The Last Transmission, 2016, USA DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, as it’s flying past it’s a long IMDb: 6.8 (5) 7 Clocks: shape (open microphone for three seconds) cannot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EII9U3DVSA identify more than it has such speed (open Written and directed by: Stephen Turselli microphone for three seconds). It’s before me right Based on a true story about a young Cessna pilot now Melbourne. and an aging air traffic controller whose lives 1910 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger and how large collide one fateful night in and over Roswell, New would the - er - object be? Mexico. [IMDb] Being a former traffic controller, I 1910:19 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne, it find this envisioning of the event almost charming. seems like it’s stationary. What I’m doing right now is As I attempted to find out when it happened, the orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me story I found was The Disappearance of Frederick also. It’s got a green light and sort of metallic like, it’s Valentich, who took off from Melbourne on the 21st all shiny on the outside. of October 1978. It explains, why the traffic FS Delta Sierra Juliet controllers didn't jump on the phone to NORAD. 1910:46 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone I would have jumped. for three seconds) It’s just vanished.
15 FS Delta Sierra Juliet IMDb 6.8 (160) 6 Clocks: 1911 DSJ Melbourne, would you know what kind of Directed by Kibwe Tavares, 14 min. aircraft I’ve got? Is it a military aircraft? Written by Jack Thorne With: Daniel Kaluuya, FS Delta Sierra Juliet, Confirm the - er ~ aircraft just Malachi Kirby and Louis Mahoney vanished. Mbwana and his best friend Juma are two young DSJ Say again. men with big dreams. These dreams become FS Delta Sierra Juliet, is the aircraft still with you? reality when they photograph a gigantic fish DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet; it’s (open microphone for leaping out of the sea and their small town two seconds) now approaching from the south-west. blossoms into a tourist hotspot as a result. But for FS Delta Sierra Juliet Mbwana the reality isn't what he dreamed and 1911:50 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, the engine is rough- when he meets the fish again, both of them idling. I’ve got it set at twenty three twenty-four and forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of the thing is coughing. them can survive. [IMDb] FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what are your ------intentions? I don't really see science fiction as fiction. I can DSJ My intentions are - ah - to go to King Island - ah imagine colonies on Mars and everything. - Melbourne. That strange aircraft is hovering on top Sigourney Weaver of me again (open microphone for two seconds). It is ------hovering and it’s not an aircraft. The Time Agent, 2016, South Korea FS Delta Sierra Juliet. Directed by: Jude Chun, 25 min 1912:28 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Melbourne (open IMDb: unranked, 7 Clocks: microphone for seventeen seconds). With: Gwui-Oong Choi, Young-Hee Jeon ------https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeSRwdq5M_E Frederick Valentich was born on 9 June 1958 in An Agent from the future comes to the past to Melbourne. It has been proposed that he may prevent crimes. The only way for him to return to have staged his own successful disappearance. the future is simply to wait. During this time, he If so, then he will be 60 in June and off the radar must live in complete isolation. This would drive for 40 years in October. No evidence of extra- most men insane, but it suits the solitary agent terrestrial involvement has been found. just fine... until one day, when he runs into a girl about to commit suicide. [IMDb] Around the World in 8 Short Sci Fi Movies: Seam, 2017, USA Written and directed by: Elan Dassani, Rajeev Dassani, 19 min IMDb: 6.1 (101) 6 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDjcWlCT8rg The Dassani twins, born 1979 in Nashville, Tennessee, were filming in English, Arabic and Mandarin in Jordan, Hong Kong and LA. So, this is NOT really an Arabic SF-film. “When Yusef discovers his beloved wife Ayana is a Sleeper, a living android bomb left over from a past war, he has only one choice: flee with her to the border of the Machine homeland in the desert, and pray they can make it before time runs out”. ------Best defence, not be there! Mr Miyagi – Karate Kid ------The Fisherman, 2015, Spain, 20 min Written and directed by: Alejandro Suȧrez Lozano IMDb: 6.6 (237), 7 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0hlyv6sss This spanish film, made in Hong Kong proves that pretty actors are not needed for a good story. Honourable old Wong has been a squid fisherman for nearly all of his life, but unfortunately, nowadays, he struggles to make ends meet. Soon, his fishing rod's bell will Jonah, 2013, UK / Tanzania cheerfully ring, but does he really want to surface https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZ9Y-kKcqo his prized catch? [IMDb]
16 Doubles, 2014, USA, 19 min IMDb: 6.6 (29), 8 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-tE82cX324 Written and directed by Jacob Motz. Oh, I really like this one. Perhaps because the actors seem like very normal people. But also because their facial expressions efficiently reduce and replace the dialogue where words must fail. [WolfEd] ------Questions are a burden to others; answers are a prison for oneself. Patrick McGoohan ------Rakka, 2017, Canada, 22 min The Army Within, 2014, Australia, Mexico, IMDb: 7.4 (3149), 7 Clocks: Greece, 17 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjQ2t_yNHQs IMDb: 6.3 (34), 4 Clocks: Written and directed by: Neil Blomkamp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GfS1JiETr4 (known for District 9 and Elysium) Written and directed by: Andy Sutton With: Sigourney Weaver, Robert Hobbs and Aliens drop from the sky like meteorites all Eugene Khumbanyiwa. around a dark urban area. Without leaving the “A tale of a dystopian future where an unknown hint of an impact crater, they immediately jump alien group have colonised the earth and up and start slashing people with huge raptor humans struggle to fight back.” [IMDb] In the claws. The wounded, if female, give birth to endless flood of post-apocalyptic drama which ferocious killer baby aliens within a few hours or appear to dominate the short film scenery in the turn to insane murderous virus affected half- same dismal way the superhero-genre dominates aliens, if male. At the end of this dark film, the cinema today, the contribution by the renown two last human survivors face a family of deadly South-African director doesn't stand out much and hungry invaders. The end. from its competition. However, the appearance of Curtains followed by suspenseful dramatic Sigourney Weaver, in this film, now age 68 and music. Enough of this shit!! Supposedly an still going strong, confirms her position as first Award winning sci fi short. Really? For what? Lady of science fiction-film. [WolfEd] Well... the Aliens-CGI are okay. [WolfEd] Augmented, 2016, UK, 8 min On the brink of an alien invasion childhood IMDb: 7.0 (9), 7 Clocks: sweet hearts Traye and Sally are thrust into an https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lSMsFIxjhs inescapable turn of events. Now Traye has to Written by Ross Peacock, Ben Shillito face his biggest fears while protecting the girl Directed by Ross Peacock. A welcome change he loves as she fights for her life. The entire from the many aftermath-productions. Here's a human race is now forced to battle the army short in the spirit of Phillip K Dick, how reality within. [IMDb] could be manipulated by the use of nanobots, ------hijacking the optic nerve and the feed to the "What's normal? Well, that's a good question. brain. Eight and a half minute long and not a Normal is what everyone else is and you are not. waste of your valuable time. [WolfEd] [Soran, Star Trek : Generations]
17 STAR TREK-Fans have a treasure-trove of full Phase II, and Star Trek Continues. feature films and episodes to view for free on An episode I most certainly am going to watch is: youtube. Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection STAR TREK - Starfleet Academy (1997) IMDb: 7.7 (80) - (made in 2005, released 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFjKV9IcGV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkuJG1_2MnU This used to be a video game and somehow it has been turned into a film. It doesn't exist on Fan production can also be excellent. I stumbled across some truly excellent fan production, so IMDb as a film. Have only had a brief look at it, well done, that they merit a category of their own. so far. But it looks interesting. Star Trek – Of Gods and Men (2007) IMDb: 6.3 (1068) 6 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFqAME7dx58
Star Trek – The New Voyages (2004-) and Star Trek Continues (2014-2017). You should watch them in that order and follow the evolution from amateurish to awesome. My attitude towards more Star Trek under James T Kirk was negative to begin with. I don't enjoy reminiscing the past half as much as to journey further into the future. That's perhaps why Star Trek Renegades appealed to me, getting a taste of what happens after ST-Voyager. But Star Trek-TOS had some gruesomely bad episodes near the end of its five year mission, cut short. And there were still stories to be told. Marc Scott Zicree is producing youtube videos in his own Mr Sci Fi channel. Being an owner of the complete Twilight Zone-dvd collection, already familiar with Zicree's Twilight Zone Companion, was interesting for me to see what the man is like, and listening to his 25 minute introduction to the full length episode.Star Trek - Captain Sulu Series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4197h-lJxBk It is actually the 4th episode of Star Trek Phase II -The New Voyages. Not a bad place to start. I continued with watching episode 3 – To Serve Star Trek – Renegades (2015) All My Days. And that was all it took to have me hooked on The New Voyages. IMDb: 4.9 (3123) 6 Clocks: Not only did they have George Takei and Walter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE2Wgop9VLM Koenig in it, but the script for the former, World Star Trek – Horizon (2016) Enough and Time, was so well written, had it not IMDb: 5.8 (458) Unclocked. had to be pitched against the brilliant Doctor Who https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l94v4YOqxOc episode “Blink”, but had come at a time of lesser BSG and Who-hysteria, it might as well have won Fan productions are full of imperfections. You the HUGO. Because it was good material. need perhaps really to be a hardcore fan to enjoy some of them. There are a lot; Federation One, Apart from Takei and Koenig, as well as TOS- Helena Chronicles, Hidden Frontier, Intrepid, writers David Gerrold and D C Fontana backing Odyssey, Starship Exeter, Starship Farragut and the series with scripts, Gerrold also directed 3 more. You may not find all, or even half of them episodes. Captain James Cawley deserves a on youtube. But you should find a full run of standing ovation as executive producer. Starship Farragut as well as full runs of the two 11 episodes done over a time period of 12 years. most prominent (and successful) Star Trek fan productions, Star Trek New Voyages, aka as The first two episodes still in the amateur range,
18 evolve quickly to semi-professional. Another that none of these got paid for their contribution reason to look at the New Voyages first... and that they therefore have returned to their fans You become more forgiving to any guy with some of the good vibes they picked up at media- pointed ears and blue shirt as Mr Spock, any guy conventions. with red shirt and Scottish accent as Scotty any black girl as Ltn Uhura, etc
SF-literature-fans have a nasty habit of sneering at media-fans, myself included. Yes, of course, there are the shallow waters. But when something like this emerges, it makes me pause. Perhaps we are wrong? ST-Continues closes the gap between TOS and the first Star Trek The Motion Picture. And it does so in a brilliant and spectacular way. A worthy end When I thought it couldn't get any better, it did. to the Original Series. I watched an interview with Transferring only Kim Stinger as Ltn Uhura from Vic Mignogna after the conclusion of the series. the New Voyages cast, and introducing Chris It explained a lot about how they got to make a Doohan (the son of James Doohan) as Scotty, the difference. And how they deserve to be lifted out cast of ST Continues quickly grows on you. Also of the anonymous folder of ST-Amateur because of the great face shuffle during Phase II productions and into the ST-TOS folder as its and because of the brave introduction of new natural conclusion. Well done, there! characters, it didn't take long before I began to ------marvel at the great similarity and accuracy with Of course, you don't have to watch it on youtube. which the original show was recreated. Down to Here's their website: www.startrekcontinues.com/ details of how light effects were used and what ...and it is still for free. You will love it, even if characters did with their arms and hands when you are not a Trekkie. ------idle. The further into the show, the more eerie the similarity between Vic Mignogna and Bill Shatner. Friday the 13th : the Series, aka Friday's Curse There is nothing amateurish about ST Continues. IMDb: 7.6 (2,602) 7 Clocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oLm5C1Or- Perhaps because the people behind it were no w&list=PLWd1wrSxpf4Kepsr5sJOQ1C3B81VUQZNT amateurs. The cast of guest and support actors is an impressive reading. There's Colin Baker, the “An old antique dealer made a pact with the Devil to sixth Dr Who and Nicola Bryant, his companion. sell cursed antiques. When he dies, his store is Lou Ferrigno, the incredible Hulk and Erin Gray, inherited by his niece Micki and her cousin Ryan. Col. Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers in the 25th With the help of Jack Marshak, they fight to retrieve Century. Jamie Bamber from BSG and John de the antiques from the people who bought them to Lancie, best known as Q. We have to assume stop them from causing harm.” [Paul Sasse, IMDb]
19 If you think the BBC is bad for throwing out all of Documentaries by a science fiction-writer the old Doctor Who-episodes in black and white, that's NOTHING compared to what NASA did. JOHN MICHAEL GDIER All Telemetry lost from the Moon missions. Godier is a science fiction-writer whose real talent NASA used to have clear and sharp images of appears to be making interesting documentaries. Armstrong walking on the moon. Not any more. Perhaps his books are also brilliant, but I have not News that these analog data tapes were missing read any of them (yet), so it is not for me to say. emerged on August 5, 2006 when the printed and Where to begin? It is difficult to pick a favorite, online versions of The Sydney Morning Herald because I keep seeing one after the other and published a story with the title One giant blunder they are all high quality. Why not start with a short for mankind: how NASA lost moon pictures. The one to get the taste:- The Star that shouldn't exist missing tapes were among over 700 boxes of and the Vanishing at TYC 8241 2652 (4 :33 min) magnetic data tapes recorded throughout the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUkKeCQ241A Apollo program which have not been found. On August 16, 2006 NASA announced its official See what I mean? Or listen to his own half minute search saying, "The original tapes may be at the short and concise presentation. Goddard Space Flight Center ... or at another https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEszlI8- location within the NASA archiving system", W79IsU8LSAiRbDg "NASA engineers are hopeful that when the tapes are found they can use today's digital technology to provide a version of the moonwalk that is much better quality than what we have today. NASA held a news conference at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C. regarding the missing tapes on July 16, 2009 – the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's launch from Cape Kennedy. The multinational research team looking into the missing tapes – mostly retired engineers who had worked on the original broadcast in 1969 — [..snip..] They concluded that the data tapes – with the SSTV signal – were shipped from Australia to Goddard and then routinely erased and reused a few years later. [WIKIPEDIA] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes Godier's youtube channel not only reports the ------Experience of a DVD-Collector by WolfED news on what's out there, but also offers some entertaining and well founded speculations: Most of my friends know, I am somewhat of a film- buff and I can pride myself with having one of the 10 SETI Messages most extensive legal collections of fantastic film in That We May Not Want to Receive (21:36 min) digital format and in Europe (region 2). I've got https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVpHTMj3XM some 3800 original factory-made dvd's and am by 10 Unsettling Solutions to the Fermi Paradox now sick and tired of hearing that piracy is a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBf7uAxk6ds&t=1s crime. I much prefer the THANK YOU – for buying this dvd. Anyway, I have learned two important Where ever you choose to start, if you are things, that I would like to share with you. Both of interested in astronomy and the universe I believe these things related to how long you can enjoy you will be as thrilled as I am to hear more. [WoW] your dvd's. You see, the factory-made dvd's are ------And while we are on the topic... Assuming the universe is prone to somehow change the position of the indeed some 15 billion years old; how can sources of light crystals in the plastic. Okay, I will not profess to at a distance of 10 billion light years be more than 10 understand the science of it, but I once got the tip billion light years apart (opposite sides of the night sky)? to boil the dvd's for 45-50 seconds and this would And still I have found no answer to my query, since it was restore the crystals to factory setting. I have tried discovered some 20 years ago, that the neutrino has this and been surprisingly successful with it. It mass; has anyone calculated the effect this may have on really works! The second discovery I made, is that photons which need to travel over distances of a few if there is less air in the dvd-box, then there is less billion light years? [WolfEd] ------risk, over time, that you need to boil your dvd. The less air there is, the less it can be affected by the Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict humidity in the air, which cause the crystals to accordance with the limitations and incapacities shift in their position. I have not tried, and I do not of the human misunderstanding. know if this also works with self-burned dvd's, but then again I don't have many of those. Ambrose Bierce
20 The early 70's brought a renaissance for classical DIAMOND DGS DEVOLUTION music. I don't know if it was prompted by the epic 2001 Space Odyssey, which famously announces Mars (1972), Life on Mars (1971). Enough to merit the upgrade of humankind with the sunrise fanfare Bowie to be invited as GoH to an sf-convention. from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, But that never happened. Such a convention fittingly followed by Johann Strauss' "An der would have been run down by other fans, unless schönen blauen Donau" We were optimistic. Bowie would have agreed to come secretly as a Perhaps Clockwork Orange (1971) should have surprise guest. Boy what a surprise!!! served as a warning, but we do not associate In the realm of weird music, there was always Beethoven's 9th Symphony with disturbing, violent Steve Harley & THE COCKNEY REBEL, whose images. In 1975 ends Rollerball with Toccata and albums THE HUMAN MENAGERIE (1973) and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach and PSYCHOMODO (1974) at least ranged into the Alien revisits the same part of Mozart's "Eine bizarre. I was sad to see the band disappear into Kleine Nachtmusik" - Romance Andante, we also a fog of mediocre anonymity after their album heard in This Island Earth (1955). THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1975). But It was exactly the right time for a Band such as those three truly were the best years of theirs. Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And even though we are 47 years down the road from TARKUS, I still haven't come up with a short story to fit its tank- armadillo in.
Hold on... processing... In matters of science fiction in music, there was not too much going on other than Tangerine Dream, which I may return to in a separate article. There was the oddball David Bowie, who put out Steve Harley's lyrics were not only great poetry, several songs to inspire. Space Oddity (1969), but generally difficult to follow, being cockney. My Starman, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from first nephew is named after one of his songs.
21 In the late 70's came ALAN PARSON's PROJECT Jeff Wayne surprised us all (sf-fans) with his 1978 with several albums appealing to sf-fans. double-LP, the Musical Version of The War of the Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Worlds, which only 28 years after its release was Poe (1975) was sorted under Edgar A Poe in the followed up with its live on stage concerts. I guess great recordshop SATURN in Cologne, because technology needed to catch up. Meanwhile the nobody had yet noticed Alan Parson's Project and narrator Richard Burton (1925-1984) deceased, the Germans were not yet so good at the English which by no means prevented him from appearing language as they are today. But I, Robot (1977) at the concert in form of a large floating head. certainly got attention. And then there was the American band DEVO
I bought the album because of the title, but I can't say I was disappointed. It was a pleasant surprise Weird, outlandish, bizarre, and sci-fi cult... to hear Steve Harley again, who sang a track on it (The Voice). The follow-up, PYRAMID (1978) was DEVO's album Q:ARE WE NOT MEN? even better and THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY A: WE ARE DEVO (1978) was an LP I used to flip CARD (1980) remains one of my favourites. back and forth, while listening to the song. Another great voice, IMHO, was David Essex. Like Steve Harley, he had 3 years which clearly were the best years of his life Curiously enough, exactly the same years as Steve Harley's (1973- 1975), though Essex didn't have any sf-flavours at all. What he did have in those years, was Jeff Wayne's orchestral back-up. Which I later think of as having been his real edge.
Not everyone will like DEVO. You'll either hate them or love them. I don't think there is anything in between. I was surprised to find, they released a new album in 2010 Something For Everybody, which is just as cool and crazy as I recall them. My favourite song on it is: What We Do (...is what we do). Well done there, old men! [WoW]
22 I see promoted on social media are derivative; I hardly ever see anything that has anything vaguely close to an original idea. The one exception I shall make to this general rule is Ian Whates of Newcon Press, but he has had the guidance of his friend and near neighbour (well, perhaps twenty miles distant), Ian Watson. Plus Ian Whates does not only publish his own work, but also stuff from a variety of established writers. The avenues for even well-known writers to get their work published are contracting all the time, and even the likes of Alastair Reynolds isn't selling everything he writes (his £1 million, 10- novel deal with his publishers notwithstanding). So I try to support Mr. Whates when I can; and like so many people within this community of ours, he is a genial and pleasant character to talk to in person. There has been no other genre lucky enough to have such an open community between fans and professionals; but you knew this already. And where else but in fandom could you find a piece such as Stefano Re's article on thinking (and the dialogue between you that followed it)? I am nowadays both cheered and depressed by the state of original thought in the world at large. We are blessed with an abundance of intelligent people, who have access to more tools to assist original thought and research than ever before; yet they seem drowned out by a tide of wilful Artwork: Arthur Thomson, ATOM 1927-1990 ignorance. Almost as bad are the large number of people who claim original thought but who turn Robert Day out, when you look a little closer, to be merely Flat 2, Heatherlea, Station Road regurgitating a set line that they have taken in Kirby Muxloe from someone or somewhere else. Leicestershire4 LE9 2EN, UK For me, the act of thinking about a subject 15th January 2018 involves my finding out as many opinions on that subject as possible, but then subjecting that assemblage of knowledge to my own analysis. Apologies for not writing sooner; I get very busy Sometimes, I will agree with the majority view; as the year draws to a close and everything often I will disagree with it. Sometimes, I will find a seems to come along at once. And then I new angle on the majority view; but even if I do downloaded CC:30 and thought "I'll leave off not, I'm usually satisfied that I've thought the thing doing a major loc to Wolf until after Novacon". And through sufficiently for my opinion to be my own. now Novacon is neatly three months into the past and I can barely remember any of it. In any case, I am, however, concerned that we are seeing a for a number of sound reasons, most of which are shutting-down of independent thought when it to do with money, I could only get for one day, but comes to research (for ordinary people, not it was good fun in any case, as Novacons always professionals). Nowadays, the ease of turning to are. Highlights were a science talk on exoplanets Google and Wikipedia means that too many and the Guest of Honour speech from Adrian people are just accepting the one version of Tchaikovsky, whilst the most fannish thing I did things. Life isn't so convenient; and especially was talk Brexit with Dave Lally. Worst thing, for when it comes to recent history or politics, there is me, was the state of the book room; no dealers never one simple - or correct - answer. In these there at all, mainly people doing self-publishing, fields, it is far more important to draw on as many which for the most part does not impress me. We sources as possible, consider the various have a publishing trade for a reason; it exists to opinions and interpretations of facts, and put quality books in front of readers. Doing it hopefully synthesize your own viewpoint. The yourself is no guarantee of quality, a good read or same goes for news sources. There has been an original story. Most of the self-published novels some amusement here in the UK in the past week
23 because one of our train companies has stopped the way that media sf fandom is considered to be selling a particularly unpleasant right-wing the only true version of events by many people newspaper on its trains. That newspaper has (see? My earlier comments about finding stuff out been quick to cry "censorship" and "freedom of for yourself applies!) and too many people on the speech" whilst only offering one view of reality - its fringes of fandom think that it simply means going own - within its pages. (And the fact that a private to comic conventions, idolising actors from our company is under no obligation to uphold any of favourite shows and films, and generally these things, and really ought only to concentrate consuming product. Whereas the big thing about on running trains, seems to completely elude sf fandom, the thing that we really need to be them.) telling people at every possible opportunity, is that within sf as a whole, fandom is the place where so I enjoyed your piece on the fanzines you first many writers come from; it is science fiction's very encountered. I first found UK fandom when I went own stellar nursery, because unlike other literary to college in Newcastle upon Tyne in the middle genres, so many writers come up from the body of 1970s. Casting around for something to do, I fandom whilst absorbing a range of other picked up a freebie "What's on in the arts" influences at the same time. This is important and newspaper and saw a talk by Bob Shaw being (I think) unique, and we need to celebrate it as advertised by the North East Science Fiction often as we can; and fanhistory is one way of Group . Little did I know that the north-east of doing that. England was, at the time, home to one of the major UK fan groups of the day, the Gannets; and And the pictures of Harry Harrison and Brian the North East Science Fiction Group was an Aldiss are priceless. "official" 'front' organisation for them to secure some local arts funding to run events such as talks with writers. At this meeting, there were fanzines being circulated, in particular Rob Jackson's Maya. Maya was notable for being produced in litho rather than on a duplicator, and using comparatively sophisticated production techniques (a top-end IBM Selectric electric typewriter with variable spacing and a nice typeface), and so it didn't really look like a fanzine but something more professional. It was a while before I found out that this was not what most fanzines looked like, but by then my standards were set. Of course, these days with all our text originating on word processors, every fanzine can achieve that level of professionalism; and e- publication means that the reproduction is always as good as we, the readers, can make it. And the whole argument about staples (one or two?) has been consigned to the fannish dustbin of history... I have put the dates for Friulicon in my diary, though I'm still rebuilding my finances after 2016's Artwork: Arthur Thomson, ATOM 1927-1990 unexpected spell of unemployment. I am hoping to get some bonus from work this year, but I have To CC:31, then. no idea how much that might be, and I've I shall have to sleep on your debate with Stefano; mentally allocated that probably three or four my first reaction was to say "So all acts of altruism times over already! Certainly I intend using it to are basically self-validation, then?", which I get my 2019 Worldcon registration paid, and we thought was a ) a bit glib of me, b) surely not what shall be having at the very least a weekend away you get when you boil all that debate down to a on the strength of it. single sentence, and so c) I can't have read it I was interested to see Rob Hansen's excursion right. I'll have another try later. into European proto-fandom. I have a copy of Your personal fan history reminds me a lot of my Rob's Then, his history of British fandom, on my own; I gafiated from a lot of UK fanzine fandom in TBR pile (I am namechecked in it a couple of the 1980s because the fanzines I was geting were times). I think it's very important for there to be a nearly all talking about each other and I didn't feel solid fanhistory; otherwise, there will be people re- that this was relevant to me. But I still went to inventing fandoms every ten years or so, and conventions, until other people who I enjoyed losing any sense of continuity. I see this now with meeting at cons stopped attending; and then
24 money became an issue. I'm beginning to pick this tradition. that up again, attending conventions on my own terms, but now that we are into two-year It's an odd feeling, when someone you recognise Eastercon bidding and quite large membership as a friend of long standing is suddenly hailed as fees, I'm finding it a problem to catch up. It'll a Celebrity. We had this happen to us a few years happen, I'm sure. We have gotten a little into the back at a Novacon; we were sitting having a drink habit of using the Eastercon in particular as an and a chat with Dave Langford when a fan came excuse to visit a particular part of the country, and over, apologised for interrupting us, and asked possibly not actually attend much of the Dave for his autograph. Having known Dave since convention at all. We have ambitions to not only 1977, this just seemed strange. But this is all a do the Dublin Worldcon next year but also to stay part of the strangeness of the future, I suppose. I on for the Belfast Eurocon the following weekend. was accused last week of being a dinosaur But we shall have to see how the finances work because I disputed online with another reasonably out... well-known UK fan the statement "Everybody has a mobile phone these days".This started when a I've seen Passengers; I'm unsure how this film mutual friend complained about a car park at a would have been received had it been released local beauty spot suddenly not only having some eighteen months later, because it hinges charges imposed on it, but also requiring users to upon an act of coercive control, and I suspect that register and pay for the car park using their if it had been marked for premiére in the last mobile. I advanced a number of reasons why the quarter of 2017 or now, it might have become statement was a) possibly untrue, and b) definitely highly controversial. Otherwise, it looks excellent, unhelpful, because not everyone uses or wants to and I agree that Michael Sheen plays his role use their mobile the way the Establishment wants excellently. The other film I saw during 2017 that I us to. This other fan was criticising my position, rated very highly was Arrival, which has a bearing saying "Why should I not want to use my mobile on your comment about the number of languages phone for everything?" and then went on to attack you speak or understand. I have three languages my position as a worker in IT because my position - English, German and French - but my hobbies showed that I was out of date and unwilling to have given me a grounding in reading (to a learn new stuff. Which I refuted, saying just why greater or lesser degree) most of the other Indo- my new employers had taken me on (for my wide European languages. Sometimes, it's to the experience of different businesses), and I was extent that I can follow a whole text in something about to quote They Live ("Buy. Obey. Consume. like Dutch; at other times, it's merely sufficient for Conform.") but others came to my support and the me to observe road signs, choose the correct argument ended with my having the last word. But toilets and ask for a beer. Arrival - and its this certainly isn't the future we were promised - subtextual foundation, the Worf-Sapir Hypothesis my other half keeps asking "Where's my silver - would suggest that I think differently because of suit?", and we should certainly have had a Mars this. Certainly, at work I seem to have made a colony by now. But that's the future we wanted, bond with our resident vegan/conspiracy theorist not the one we're getting. And I don't feel 60 Pole, because he seems well-informed and (mentally) either. My knees sometimes try to thoughtful about a wide range of matters (even if I remind me of the truth of it, though. consider him to be wrong on some key points!). Though this may be influenced by his response It's getting late, and it's a work day tomorrow, so I on seeing me looking up online material about shall close now. Stanislaw Lem one lunchtime. (I do have to admit WolfEd: You remind me, that I really have to haul that I commented, modestly, that I "knew" Lem's my ass over to another Novacon. But that would one-time Western agent, Franz Rottensteiner, mean that we'd have to stretch the IceCon & UK though that acquaintance is purely through the adventure this year to five weeks. I'm not sure it pages of Bruce Gillespie's fanzine SF can be done. I would also like to visit Stonehenge Commentary...) But having multiple languages and Glastonbury at least once in my life. makes me unusual for a Brit... Mobile phones... I'm with you on that one. I don't We also got to see Blade Runner 2049 and The have one and I know at least two other grown-up Last Jedi before the end of the year. The first of non-dinosaurs who don't have a mobile phone. those I was impressed by; it is a multi-layered film The dinosaur accusation is misplaced. We don't that I will need to see again before I can draw reject computers, digital camera and other safely many conslusions about it. The Last Jedi was deemed advances of technology. But let 'em call better than I expected, though the idea of having us dinosaurs and we'll see who goes extinct when bombers in zero gravity was a bit daft. Many the brain tumours start popping up all over the years ago, I saw a review of The Empire Strikes planet. As always, I hate it when I'm right and see Back that said "Lots of whizzing to and fro in rather that I am mistaken about such preamble. oddball transport", and The Last Jedi continues But that's in a nutshell why I avoid them.
25 Artwork: Arthur Thomson, ATOM 1927-1990 Lloyd Penney 1706-24 Eva Rd, Etobicoke, ON and get people going from one side of the country to the other. I hope we can get it going again, and CANADA M9C, 2B2 find candidates who will care about running, and 4th March 2018 keep it going after their trips. We still have to vote for TAFF, but finances may not allow for even a Still behind, still getting with it, and still writing small donation. when I can. I now have issue 31 of CounterClock, In some ways, fandom here has mostly gone and I will write what I can, and get it to you asap. away. The idea of a community of science fiction The front cover, with a spacescape and clock fans seems to be a foreign one, for I find that faces, say both Twilight Zone and steampunk to most people here go to an event, usually a big me. We do celebrate Christmas to some extent, comics or anime convention, and leave by but we also remember that the worst present that themselves. Merchandise seems more valuable you could get for that time of year is a sudden than friendships and acquaintances. We miss it in substantial debt. I got a list of present ideas from some ways, and in other ways, we decided to look Yvonne, and I followed it, and when I paid for an elsewhere for that community, and we have found item, I used my debit card. No debt was incurred, it in steampunk. There’s far too many conventions the number of gifts was minimal, and Christmas and events here in SF fandom, which I think has was happy for both of us. hurt the idea of community, while there are all too few steampunk events, and there is a level of I gather that Europe has had some extensive community there, but given our short time, we snow storms. Now, usually, at this time of year, we haven’t been as involved as we might like. have some substantial snow on the ground, with big snowbanks by the road. We don’t have that Karl-Johan Norén’s loc… Indeed, there is a this year, but Europe does. Friends in Lincolnshire vibrant con culture in the US, but like in Europe, have been snowed in, and the traffic reports there Canadian conventions try to stay in touch with sound fairly familiar. Spring is nigh, and we may one another, and the idea of CUFF, as stated have some early heat. earlier, might help with that kind of revival. In our case, what keeps Canadian conventions apart is With all the TAFFish ads here and there, I can say sheer geography. that CUFF here in Canada was let go for a few years, and there are now steps taken to revive it, My loc…Yvonne is enjoying her retirement, and is
26 keeping very busy with other projects. My part- time job had very full-time hours for the first three months there, but now, those hours have been reduced to extremely part-time, so the job hunt resumes, and the job I have gives me a little cash, and the ability to say that I am employed, and not .. much more than that. Did I know that Georges 29th June - 1st July is CANCELLED Gallet was the first French SF fan when I met Due to limited interest in the venue. ------him? Thanks to the fannish history books I have, yes, I did. THE UPDATED COUNTERCLOCK EUROPEAN EVENT CALENDER: Finally…condolences to European fandom on the passing of Lars-Olov Strandberg. We continue to NEXT UP: lose our founders and friends, and he is but one of them. I hope his works will be honoured at upcoming conventions. Time to go…I have work tomorrow, but only a few hours’ worth, so I should get myself ready for it. There is much to do, and a few big things to look 14-15 April into, and some e-mails to look out for tomorrow as Forum Geeseknäpchen, Luxemburg City I look for more work. Take care, enjoy the GoH: tba upcoming spring, and see you with the next issue. http://luxcon.lu/
WolfEd: The loss of Lars-Olov Strandberg has Having moved the location of the event to central affected all Swedish sf-fans. It will from now on Luxembourg, should make the convention more always be something sorely missing from our attractive for foreign visitors. Last time we checked, the membership fee was 2 or 3 EURO. It is not likely conventions. At Infinitesimalcon 2, April 1999, we to have changed drastically. So, don't worry. Just go tried to have and to do everything a regular con there! had, but in the compressed space-time-continuum of approx. five minutes. On the question if the convention was missing anything a regular sf-con should have, the quick reply by Janne Johansson was “Lars-Olov Strandberg”, which was both true and striking. He wasn't present at that one, though he had been to basically every other con in Sweden. Then we laughed. 15-17 June in Stockholm, Sweden But Lars-Olov is not the only one sorely missed. I GoH: Ian Watson, M.R.(MIke) Carey, Kij Johnson didn't get any “In Memoriam” for Randy Byers, Membership: 350 SEK, 35 EUR and then I decided not to do any more obituaries https://fantastika2018.wordpress.com/ in CounterClock. FILE 770 does it so well for all of us. And I recall something Randy wrote in an issue of CHUNGA about us all being part of something greater than the individual. Our friends leaving us behind are not forgotten in these pages. Here they are a living part of our history alongside Willis, Rotsler, Tucker and Atom. 11-13th May, Zagreb, Croatia And when Lars-Olov comes to mind, and I am 40th Anniversary of SFERAKON this year. sure he will, then his memory lives on here. http://sferakon.org/ WAHF: José Sanchez, USA, Bojan Ekselenski, Slovenia, Alan White, USA, Karl-Johan Norén & Rolf Strömgren, Sweden, Michael Wangenheim, Germany ------Pray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner 11-14July, Avilés, Spain confessedly unworthy. https://celsius232.es/ Ambrose Bierce https://celsius232.es/why-foreigners-should- come-to-spain-for-the-celsius-festival/
27 14-15 July, Turku / Åbo - Finland GoH: Lauren Beukes, Maria Turtschaninoff 9 -11 November, Park Inn, Nottingham, UK https://2018.finncon.org/?lang=en GoH: Chris Beckett Membership: (currently) 48 GBP http://www.novacon.org.uk/n48/ See also (for events omitted here):
19-22 July, EUROCON, Amiens, France Membership: 50 Euro until May 31st http://eurocon2018.yolasite.com/ http://scifiportal.eu/ ------EDITORIAL RANT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2: This book and many things Stefano Re has been enlightening us about brought me to a deeper understanding of the main attraction with fantasy literature. Not the superhero fantasy, or the ELSTERCON - SFCD Con voyages ấ travers l'impossible, but the fantasy in 21 - 23 September, Leipzig, Gerfany which technology is limited or mostly absent. GoH: Alastair Reynolds, Kai Meyer, Prof Manfred Nagl and others (tba) I was going to bla-bla some more, but find myself Membership. (35 EURO) http://www.fksfl.de/ suddenly on page 28 with a weary head and a https://www.facebook.com/elstercon weary mind after a long and cold winter. My friends, I think I need a vacation. Let me skip straight to the THE FINAL WRD I've been doing this for six straight years now, with roughly 4 issues / year (including the Clockwise specials). Guess what! Also on 21 – 23 September, but in Copenhagen I'm tired and feel that I need a vacation. Which is The Danish annual convention. why I have decided to take a long and relaxing GoH: Jeannette Ng (UK, originally from Hong Kong) summer holiday during which I pursue other... membership: 325 DKK (43,50 Euro) ...interests. I predict that I won't be able to keep https://fantasticon.dk/ my fingers still for longer than until September. That is still almost half a year. Thank you, for your support, active and passive. It has been a marvellous ride since 2012 and I look forward to closing Clock volume 3 with issue 33. As usual, nothing like what I expected... But I hope you can enjoy this issue anyway!
Reykjavik 5-7 October, Iceland Bee seeing you! - Wolf GoH: Naomi Novik, US & Terry Brooks, US ------science fiction, fantasy, horror & comics fan con COUNTERCLCK # 32 Membership: 60 Euro Wolf von Witting http://icecon-reykjavik.is/ Via Dei Banduzzi 6/4 33050 Bagnaria Arsa (Ud) - Italia Email: wolfram1764 - at - yahoo - dot – se Croatia / Serbia branch reporter Bojana Nariel Lubina, Zagreb The National Irish Science Fiction Convention Greece / Sweden branch reporter October, Dublin, Ireland Anders Bellis, Stockholm / Athens GoH: Pat Cadigan https://registration.octocon.com/ Photographers: Joerg Ritter (Gerfany) https://www.facebook.com/octocon/ and Sergii Paltsun (Ukraine)
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