More journeys into the Number 20: history of science fiction Autumn 2012 fandom in Britain. RELAPSE “Another totally absorbing issue full of fascinating information. I love it!” - Don Allen, e-mail comment. INSIDE: ‘A Truly Generous Chap’ by Ian Watson; ‘New Worlds for Old’ by Charles Platt; ‘Out of this World’ by Mike Ashley; ‘Goodbye, Harry!’ by Tom Shippey; Bob Shaw - the family photographs; AND MORE........ RELAPSE Oh dear, eighteen months since the last issue. That’s much too long, and just when 1 was generating a nice bit of momentum in my quest for stories about the people & places who have shaped British science fiction and its attendant fandom. Must do better! But please keep telling those tales to me, Peter Weston, at 53 Wyvern Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 2PS; or by e-mail to pr.westonfa,blinternet.com. This is the printed edition for the favoured few who contribute, express interest or can’t switch on a computer, but I’ll send the pdf on request and it goes onto the eFanzines website a month after publication. “...the mixture as before, in the best possible way; history mixed with anecdote to result in a cracking read.” - Sandra Bond, LoC You may be reeling in shock because for the first time since issue #3 there’s no Giles cartoon on the cover. No, not a policy change but just my taking merciless advantage of something Ian Watson wrote in a brief LoC on the last issue: “Not much of a send-off for ‘poor old Brunner’ what with your deciding that he didn’t achieve all that much really, and some geezer calling him a pratt (evidently worse than your usual prat). However, in accordance with Brunner's will, because LiYi is selling The Square House she has just kindly returned a jolly good painting which my Judy did of John and Marjorie and me and her and Jess, at a CND march in London during the Seventies. (Brunner wrote the anthem of CND.) Heroic stuff. This now hangs at the top of my stairs, so each time I go upstairs I see Brunner at his best, j Viva Brunner! as Marjorie would have declaimed, with a great growl in her voice.” (17-4-2011) I replied, “Sorry, the ‘pratt’ with two ‘t’s was my fault, not the geezer wot wrote it (Brian Aldiss). But rather you than me - for some reason I’m not sure I'd really want to see JB's happy smiling face looking down on me when I went to bed at night. Still, as something of a historical artefact (the painting, not you), it would be interesting to see it. Any chance you can use your digital camera to take a good shot for my next issue, please?” A couple of weeks went by, and then Ian answered, “Just when you thought I'd forgotten, here's Judy's historic painting of our CND march through London in the 1980s, with Judy, Brunner, Marjorie, me, and Jess at the front. The chap on the right merely looks associated with us, but wasn't. Don't print the picture at all big because the quality mightn't be too good, though it's my best shot out of 10.” I was deeply impressed; “That really is a cracking painting you know, I had no idea Judy was such an accomplished artist. In fact, it's so good I'm thinking of dumping the great Giles next time and putting it on the cover. See attached mock­ up, which I've done to show you the idea. It illustrates your article next time very nicely.... Oh, sorry, didn't I mention that? “There's a certain fascination about John and Marjorie on the march, and not a lot is known - or at least, remembered - about what they did, and since you and Judy joined them at least once, I wondered whether you might care to jot down a few memories? You mention that he wrote the CND song, and David Redd has just reminded me that he also wrote a novel, THE DAYS OF MARCH, which I confess I've never seen, so it might be interesting to bring that in as well.” Like a good ‘un, Ian readily agreed; “You cunning fiend! Okay I'll try to jot down something even though actually I don't remember any details brilliantly. What's the deadline? (Because I'm a bit busy finalising ‘The Mammoth Book of SF Wars’.) And daughter Jess is going to take a GOOD photo of the painting next week, having dismissed my photo as unfit for publication, even though it looks perfectly okay to me under repeated zoom.” “Heh-heh, cackled the cunning fiend.... That's super, Ian, I do appreciate it. Just tell us what you can remember, accent of course on John & Marjorie rather than the politics. Those were great outfits, by the way, John in deerstalker, Marjorie in leopard-skin coat, and you in your Lenin-cap! The image of Judy is particularly striking, I thought, very much seems to capture her personality. And Jessica looks a mischievous little minx! The photo seems O.K. to me. but if Jessica can improve it, fine. I assume it was done in sepia, rather than this being any artefact of your camera? And I love that placard, 'Remember to Dust Your Frogs' (or is it ‘Oust your Frogs’ - what did they have against the French. I wonder?).” Ian set to the very same morning (a true professional), though I expressed surprise at the result: “You cleverly thwarted my fiendish plan with the article; it's great, and very interesting in the way it describes how your friendship with the Brunners developed, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I'd envisaged an account of the march itself, maybe a couple of good stories about John & Marjorie en-route and something about the philosophical underpinnings which motivated you and Judy to join them.” Ian replied, “I remember NOTHING about the march itself, or anything that happened during it. I clearly remember other CND demos I was on, such as taking a Slovenian visitor to RAF Molesworth, burning the American flag outside Upper Heyford, trespassing on a right of way across an airfield elsewhere, but none of these were Brunner-related. Apart from what the painting reveals I recall nothing about the Brunner-related one, alas. By the way, re. photo credit, Jessica’s name is Black (not Watson) these days. None of that marrying stuff, but she & Kris both changed their name by deed poll to Black. Jess intends to exhibit the Brunner painting at the next Eastercon, and maybe some of Judy's other stuff, on a not-for-sale basis.” And so I had both a cover and a nice little article, just like that, thanks to the kindness and patience of Ian - I wish it was always so easy! To complete the project I leaned-on David Redd in similar fashion and he came up with a splendid review of THE DAYS OF MARCH - a book I’ve not encountered myself. Together they add a little more to the Legend of John Brunner, a man who will not easily be forgotten. 2 Unanswered Questions Last time I ended my preamble about the Wally Gillings feature with several unanswered questions; where are the Gillings sons (Ron & Anthony)? I asked, and were they still sitting on Wally’s historic collection of SF material? While I was rather hoping that more information might eventually be forthcoming, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the immediate reaction from Greg Pickersgill, who wrote: "Are you actually asking at one point whether Walter Gillings' collection and/or possessions are still extant? Well, so far as I know they're not. In fact a significant amount of stuff was recently (within the last few years) found by accident (by someone who recognised what they were seeing) in a skip. I ended up with some of it, the rest either already dumped or in the hands of dealers (not much, as I recall). There's not a lot more to this story but perhaps the final facts should be ascertained.” “WHAT!!” I expostulated. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? Who found what where and when?” “Right then, this Gillings thing,” said Greg. “This all happened back in 2007 when I had an e-mail from Graeme Roberts (bookseller, used to go to cons, you may remember him - one of the Gamma gang) operating at the time as ‘Magpie Books’. He asked me to ring him about a collection of books and fanzines he had partially rescued from going to the tip. “I phoned him as suggested and he told me that a quantity of material had been found in a skip by someone just wandering around, who was book-connected and identified it as Walter Gillings' material. The stuff was collected sharp-ish and at least some of it ended up with Graeme Roberts. “It transpired that the house outside which the skip was parked had been more or less abandoned and was in the process of being cleared, probably for renovation or rebuilding. The house had apparently been derelict for some years but with the previous owner’s possessions still inside. I no longer recall whether it had actually been occupied by Gillings, or by someone who had taken charge of some or all of his possessions. “Eventually a box of material arrived, but despite saying there was probably more to send I never heard further from Graeme.