Volume 1, Issue 30 October 2012 2

Editorial: Real Soon Now seems to be a theme for my fanac of late. I’m having a harder time writing and editing in anything resembling a timely manner. Dating and conrunning are eating into my creative output. I may have to see if I can find someone interested in replacing me at the next DSC. I’ve definitely seen a few folks out there with the skills and love for Southern Fandom to do it. The tshirts I mentioned last issue can be obtained by contacting Patrick Molloy at [email protected]. They’re $15, with an extra $5 if we have to mail them to you, but we’re also more than willing to hand-deliver them if you’ll be at the same con as Patrick. The cover art for this issue is by Jose Sanchez. Thanks again for that. In addition to our usual features, this issue includes a book review from Rich Dengrove. Enjoy!

Colophon: Editor & SFC President: Warren Buff [email protected] (919) 633-4993 8712 Wellsley Way Raleigh, NC 27613 USA All contents copyright their creators. This zine is free, either by direct email or www.efanzines.com. A letter of comment or other contribution will get you on my mailing list, as long as I remember to put you there. If I forget, bother me a second time, or however long it takes to add you. I haven’t been printing this one, which leaves me free to use as many pages as I wish, and do things like color. It also lets me use all the contributions I can muster, so fire away! 3

Calendar of Events:

October 18-21: Wincon (Dallas, Texas – www.omgwincon.com) October 19-21: Zombicon (Fort Myers, Florida – www.zombicon.com) CharCon (Charleston, West Virginia – www.charcon.org) Oni-Con (Galveston, Texas – www.oni-con.net)

October 26-28: Fangcon (Nashville, Tennessee – www.fangcon.org) Necronomicon (St. Petersburg, Florida – www.stonehill.org/necro.html) Geek Media Expo (Nashville, Tennessee – www.geekmediaexpo.com) HallowCon (Dalton, Georgia – www.hallowcon.com) October 26-27: Rising Star 21 (Bluefield, West Virginia – www.rising-star.org)

November 1-4: EuroQuest (Pikeville, Maryland – www.boardgamers.org/specific/eg12ann.htm) November 2-4: MACE (Charlotte, North Carolina – www.justusproductions.com/index.php/justus/mace/2/2/2) 15 (Hampton, Virginia – www.nekocon.com) Hurricane Who (Orlando, Florida – www.hurricanewho.com)

November 9-11: Anime USA (Washington, D.C. – www.animeusa.org) Anime Blast (Chattanooga, Tennessee – www.animeblastchattanooga.com) FaerieCon (Hunt Valley, Maryland – www.faeriecon.com) Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention (Memphis, Tennessee – www.memphiscfc.com) Millenniumcon 15 (Round Rock, Texas – www.millenniumcon.org)

November 14-18: Board Game Geek (DFW Airport, Texas – www.boardgamegeek.com) November 16-18: Chibi Pa Future (Deerfield Beach, Florida – www.chibipa.com/home.php) ShadoCon (Tampa, Florida – www.shadocon.com) (Springdale, Arkansas – www.arkansasanimefestival.com) Sugoicon (Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky – www.sugoicon.org/current/index.htmll)

November 23-25: Darkover 35 (Timonium, Maryland – www.darkovercon.org)

November 30-December 1: Upstate Steampunk (Anderson, SC – www.upstatesteampunk.com) 4

December 2-8: Furry Cruise (Port Canaveral, Florida – www.furrycruise.com)

December 8-9 : Yama-Con (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee – www.yama-con-tn.com)

December 14-16: Holiday Matsuri (Orlando, Florida – www.holidaymatsuri.com)

December 16-23: End of the World Cruise (Miami, Florida – www.end-of-the-world-cruise.com)

April 19-21: DeepSouthCon 51/JordanCon V (Roswell, GA. It’s good to see DSC getting around to different states on a regular basis again – we’ve held the last three in Tennesse, North Carolina, and Texas, and are about to go to Alabama and Georgia, with bids for the next couple of years featuring Virginia and Louisiana. Supposing those bids work out (and keeping in mind that other bidders could emerge), we’ll see seven states in seven years, which would be the most diverse run of DSC in our history. It’s a good time to be in Southern Fandom, so come enjoy it with us! Guests of Honor will be Seanan McGuire and Michael Whelan. Memberships are currently $45. www.jordancon.org)

August 29th-September 2nd, 2013: LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention (San Antonio, Texas – Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Marriott River Walk, Marriott Rivercenter. Guests of Honor will be Ellen Datlow, James Gunn, Willie Siros, Norman Spinrad, and Darrell K. Sweet, with Toastmaster Paul Cornell and Special Guests Leslie Fish and Joe R. Lansdale. All my usual bits about why you should go to Worldcon still apply. But even more importantly, it’s the first Southern Worldcon since 1997 (LoneStarCon 2). Let’s descend on this en masse and show our support for Texas. Memberships are $160 through June 30th. www.lonestarcon3.org)

May 2014: Contrails/DeepSouthCon 52 (Bristol, Virginia – More information RSN)

14-18 August 2014: Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (London, England, United Kingdom – ExCeL London. Guests of Honor will be Iain M Banks, John Clute, Chris Foss, Malcolm Edwards, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, and Bryan Talbot. It’s Worldcon. It’s London. Need I say more? Memberships are $160.)

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Rebel Yells: News and note from all over

Joy V. Smith:

Dear Warren,

At first glance, I missed your colorful and fun cover art, but the drawing is a perfect tribute. Thanks for the con news and listings also.

LOCs: Lloyd, I hope you did well at Steam on Queen (cool title), the steampunk street fair. I've been to a few festivals as a vendor over the years...

The University of California's Eaton Collection (the world's largest collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy) sounds very impressive, and that's a great way to share it--on YouTube and their blog, which I'm going to check out.

Appreciatively, Joy V. Smith

And also:

SF Reader is back: http://forums.sfreader.com/content/1-the-front- page?s=c14df280c2ecc2512a880efb9077114c

Joy My writing blog http://pagadan.wordpress.com/

The Ray cover seems to be a common subject of comment, and the remarks have been uniformly appreciative. I’ll have to make sure Alan Beck gets them (I’m not certain whether he reads the zine every issue). Thanks for the link to SF Reader, which I’m passing along.

John Purcell:

Hello, Warren!

I am glad that you had a good time at DeepSouthCon 50; from all reports, it sounds like it was a splendid convention and makes me wish Valerie and I could have made it. Next year's will probably be out of the question since our major convention in 2013 will be LoneStarCon 3 just west of us in San Antonio. (Well, it is a 3-hour drive, but that's not so bad.) Since I'll be hosting the fanzine lounge there, we should be seeing a fair amount of each other. 6

Speaking of LSC 3, that will be my first world science fiction convention since 1978. Thirty-five years. That's not too many. At any rate, should be fun and we're looking forward to it.

You will, of course, regale us in these pages about ChiCon 7. Funny story time, and not too long a story, either. When the worldcon was in Chicago back in 1982, I was living in Minneapolis and pretty active in the local club (Minn-stf), and pubbing fanzines every so often. Chicago is not that far from the Twin Cities - approximate 440 miles, or a solid 8 hour or so drive via Interstate 94 - and practically the entire club was going. I didn't, though. Instead, I went north to the Voyageurs National Park on an 11-day fishing trip. Caught a lot of fish, too, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I came back so relaxed and refreshed, which, if I had gone to ChiCon 4, would not have been the result. Then I wrote a not-worldcon report about that fishing trip for my fanzine, THIS HOUSE. And so it goes.

Say, thank you Dravecky for noting who won the DSC49 Hearts Tournament. For some reason not knowing that for the last year has bugged me. A very belated congratulations to Ruth Cruise for her triumph.

I agree with Lloyd Penney and Rich Dengrove about older fans embracing the newer fans. Like Lloyd intimates, the newer forms of fanac do keep us old pharts in fannish shape; by this I mean the blogs, websites, e-zines, podcasts, and so on. The Science Fiction universe is so much broader and all-encompassing now than when many of us first encountered it that it is inevitable that fanac itself will change to match the media changes. And you know, I don't mind. As Lloyd says, it keeps us on our toes, and that is A Good Thing.

Good issue again, Warren, and I thank you for producing it. Until the next one pops up on good, old efanzines.com, keep your stick on the ice.

All the best,

John Purcell

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Indeed, I’m looking forward to seeing you in San Antonio! While it’s a shame we won’t get to hang out at DeepSouthCon, getting together at a Worldcon in the South is just as fine. Chicon was a blast – six nights/five days of great conversations. I mean to get it written up in my perzine, Consurgito! We’ll see when that happens.

Margaret Middleton:

Warren:

The Update arrived in my in-queue while we were in the middle of moving from Little Rock, AR to Eupora, MS, so I've only just-now got around to reading it.

I notice you left C.J.Cherryh's name off the GoH list for FenCon, so went and checked at the website to make sure she was still coming before I wrote you. The way the website list is laid-out, though, I can see exactly how you missed her name, because it does not line-up with the names you quoted.

MY IMPRESSIONS OF DSC-50 Despite my having been rather a regular at Khubla Khans and Rivercons back when I first got into Fandom (late 1970's), this June's DSC was only my second DSC; the first having been last year's edition at FenCon.

Rick Helmich and I drove to from Little Rock to Huntsville for this. Nobody warned me about the Space Center’s “rocket park” RIGHT ALONGSIDE I-565!!!

One comes over a hill, and OMG: is that a Saturn V on the horizon! it IS!!!

As I type this on 21 July, Morris is part of a Civil Air Patrol cadet field-trip from the Starkville area to see the museum and one of the Imax movies.

“Why am I not there with them?” you might well ask.

Two reasons: [a] the Highway Department scheduled a mandatory training session, on a computer-based timekeeping system which I will be using for exactly two weeks (one pay period cycle) before I retire, on Friday afternoon 20 July. [b] I don’t want to do that facility on the run. I want to be able to spend a whole day, or maybe even two, looking at the exhibits. [[update the next day, after Morris got back from Huntsville: it is definitely going to take TWO days. At least.]]

[ahem] Back to the convention.

Given Dr.Demento as one of the guests, there was a Funny Music Project music track, but frankly it struck me as firmly out in the lower 5% tail of the bell curve of filk, because there really was NOT all that much F&SF content in the songs I heard. After the 8 con, I exchanged some emails with Lee Billings, who grew up in Southern Fandom and does a good bit of hucking in Southern conventions, and she reports Southern Fandom is definitely suffering a filk drought. Most of the “southern” filkers I know are either [a] based in Tennessee or Kentucky, and I met them originally at one-or-another Rivercon at Louisville, which abuts Midwestern Fandom there at the Ohio River, or [b] based around Atlanta and I met them at GaFilk.

Mary Dubuisson, in southern Mississippi, has started a Gulf Bay Filk Group on Facebook, which can provide a coordinating mechanism for filkers in the south to plan meetups at conventions, and start the corruption proselytizing. I am looking seriously at attending DSC 51 / Jordancon 5 in April; with Seanan McGuire as a GoH, how can I not!?!

I went to a higher percentage than-usual of panels this con, especially ones featuring Writer GoH Lois Bujold.

And I exerted myself to make contact with the Southern Fandom Confederation, now that I’m moving to Deepest Mundania [aka Webster County MS].

Regards,

Margaret Middleton

Thanks for the correction on the FenCon GOH list. I wouldn’t want to slight FenCon or CJ Cherryh, so I’m glad that got noted. Nobody warned me about the Rocket Center, either, and I somehow missed it on my first trip. On my second, I was told we were going there, and I still got a shock when the Saturn V poked over the horizon. Glad to know I’m not the only one. If you’re looking to make a return trip to Huntsville, there’s always Con*Stellation. I highly recommend another trip.

Lloyd Penney:

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

September 9, 2012

Dear Warren:

There’s a huge pile of e-zines ready for me to respond to…at least, it’s on my desktop. Paper zines have become rare, but I have a short stack of those. Not on my desktop, but on the top of my desk. SFC Update Vol. 1, No. 29 is the top of the e-stack, and here are some comments. 9

Great portrait of Ray Bradbury by Alan Beck. As long as his books have a place of honour on our bookshelves, he won’t really be gone.

Chicon 7 is done and gone, and I wish I’d been there. You know the reasons…more and more, I am becoming a local fan, and at some point, I doubt I’ll be able to travel at all. It looks like more and more pro writers would rather go to Dragon*Con than Worldcon, especially if they aren’t on the Hugo ballot. Things do change, and while I wish things were they way they were before, wishes won’t make it happen, and time marches on.

The Steam on Queen event was a great time. Beautiful weather, a steampunk day for over 4300 people, and about $600 of sales for us within six hours. Steam on Queen 2 has already been announced for June of 2013, with more vendors and longer hours, so we will definitely be there. I’ve already had a couple of stock creation days, and we’ve found interesting things here and there, so we will be ready with two tables full of goods.

I should check out those Eaton Collection YouTube videos, and see what they have to say. They have a copy of our CUFF report from many years ago.

Joy Smith’s Oasis 25 con report was an interesting read. Reports like this one remind me that I need to learn how to simply attend a convention again, after being on the committee for so long. Pace yourself, but try to see as much of it as you can, panels, con suite, art show, dealers’ room, masquerade and room parties. And, keep in mind that as attendees’ expectations and interests change, and as laws change, too, ways to run a convention will change as well, and I have promised myself I won’t be the cranky old man who might say that things were done differently in my day, grump, grump…

Time to fire this off to you. Yvonne and I are hosting a Victorian high tea next weekend, and after that, we have to get ready for two conventions in November, SFContario 3 where we will be helping out a lot, including being guest liaison for FanGoH Chris Garcia, and Loscon 39, where we will be FanGoHs ourselves. Should be a great time.

Done for now, take care, see you next issue.

Yours, Lloyd Penney.

While there are a lot of pro authors at Dragon*Con, there’s still a huge number at Worldcon. The pool of SF writers has grown so large that both cons could program heavily (even for them) and still not use all of them. Someday, I’ll know what it’s like to attend a con where I’m not promoting something, working, or doing panels. Maybe not, at this point – I’m finding myself on panels a bit more often, without having meant to go that route. I just moderated a panel on YA literature at Capclave this past weekend, which had the blessing of a truly knowledgeable set of panelists to keep me from looking uninformed – just set them loose and ask a few good questions to keep it moving, then acknowledge some from the audience every now and again.

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Ken Gilliland:

I have a request that you I hope you will consider passing along to the members of the Southern Fandom Confederation.

My name is Ken Gilland and I have written a science fiction/mystery novel called Hunter’s Moon, which is set in Raleigh, North Carolina and a fictional community in central North Carolina called Milltown. I have a limited number of free copies of the novel and I will send a copy to the first ten people who send their physical address me at [email protected]. My only hope is that if you get a copy and enjoy reading it, tell other folks.

Hunter’s moon is available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobel, etc., and is available as a paperback and an ebook. Here’s a brief synopsis.

What’s the worst thing that can happen to a scientist? For Adam Boone, it was to see something that defied scientific explanation. When he was in high school, one of friends vanished during an autumn hailstorm in a flash of light; an event only he saw. Unable to explain what happened, he lied to the authorities investigating the disappearance. Already mistrusted as an outsider in his own home town, the incident caused him and the other friends who were on the hill that night to be shunned by his neighbors.

Adam left his hometown after high school graduation, attended college and achieved his dream of becoming an archaeologist. After a near-fatal accident, Adam returns to his home state. He reconnects with his old high school friends and must face, once again the events of that night. Why have he and the others received letters taunting them about that night, hinting of future retribution? What can any of them do when faced with the abduction of their children and murder? What is the connection to that night? And why is Adam the only one who ever left Milltown? Will they find the answers under a Hunter’s Moon?

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Ken Gilland [email protected]

WAHF: Janice Gelb, who reminded me to mention how to get those t-shirts; Barbara Gatewood, with a nice history piece I mean to run in the Bulletin, which I mean to do soon; and Rich Dengrove, with the following book review.

REVIEW: JIMMY STU LIVES! by Kent McDaniel The reviewer: Richard Dengrove

I’ll be honest and say that I know the author and like him. However, that had nothing to do with the fact I found this a quick read. The most obvious reason, if not the really important one, was it possessed enough action. It was very well paced. I can’t say very much about this except I never noticed time passed when I read the novel; and it ended altogether too soon. There was another reason, besides the pacing, that kept my interest. There were enough interesting personalities. Everyone is an independent personality. Even one of the androids that came off the assembly line had a personality --- and his own code of honor. Others with interesting personalities included Jimmy Stu’s archenemy, whom, it turns out, lives by her own code too. All these leave their footprints on the tale as it unfolds. However, the red necks stand out even more. They include the hero’s independent, self-sufficient and take-no-guff girl friend. These red necks make this what one reviewer called 11

Southern Fried SF. If they are standard fare in Southern Fried, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t read much of it, and wasn’t over familiar with such characters. These red necks aren’t the only characters that would have interested me. Also interesting are the city anarchists, who work with the red necks; but we don’t find out too much about them. Next in line of interest is the author ‘s world building. The main thrust of it doesn’t differ much from other SF futures. It is the standard one where the US has started devolving into its individual States, even though, here, the US government still remains. That is why I rate it lower as a matter of interest. However, one of the specifics of this society is of interest, a church that rules entire devolved States in the South, the Church of the Living Lord. The church the hero founded. It is rare for science fiction to involve itself with religion. Philip Dick did, however; and so does the author here. The religion is, of course, a fictional one, and not too close for comfort. Very last in personal interest was the author’s thought provoking idea. Unfortunately, it would have been first in line if it had been developed. This, of course, frustrated me. The thought provoking idea concerned an evangelist who had lost his faith except for his very last brainstorm, to have his congregation pay to keep him cryogenically preserved. It creates more problems than it solves when he is awakened after a hundred and forty years with a youthful body. What he would do next is swamped, though, by the evangelist’s need to survive. So far we have dealt with what makes this novel interesting. I am next going to something that while I could rate it along the interest spectrum, I deem it better to rate it along the realism spectrum. The head of the Church of the Living Lord 140 years hence is so full of himself that he decides to fire his head of security, who was covering his derriére. That is the beginning of the end. Someone criticized that this would not have occurred in real life because a leader always knows where his bread is buttered. I have to admit that most people subscribe to this hyper-rational game theory of management. However, it is nonsense. I worked in the Federal government long enough to know that leaders need not know where their bread is buttered. And, yes, some start believing they are God. The example that sticks out, though, occurred in what was essentially private enterprise. Thus, the last point, about leaders, looked at first like a minus – at least to me – but turns out to be a plus. Added to the pluses, the other things that makes this novel interesting: the pacing, personalities, world-building, etc., I have to say go out and read it. The beach on a summer’s day or your easy chair on a cold day are as good a rendezvous as any.