The National Fantasy Fan Produced by the National Fantasy Fan Federation Vol. 9, No. 3 September 2009 National Fantasy Fan Federation 2009 Officers President: Sally Syrjala, P.O. Box 149, Centerville, MA San Jose, CA 95118; [email protected] 02632-0149; [email protected] Historian: Jon D. Swartz (see Directorate) The Directorate The Editorial Cabal Chairman: Dennis Davis, 25549 Byron St., San Editors: OPEN (March) Bernardino, CA 92404-6403; [email protected] Heath Row, 101 Russell St. #4-R, Brooklyn, NY 11222; Vice Chairman: Sarah E. Harder, 1574 Notre Dame Ave., [email protected] (June, September, and December) Belmont, CA 94002; [email protected] Online Editor: Ruth R. Davidson (see Election Teller) Joe Schaumburger, 4308 Lariat Drive, Baytown, TX 77521 Reviews Editor: Jon D. Swartz (see Directorate) David Speakman, 501 Moorpark Way #83, Mountain View, CA 94041; [email protected] Art Editor: Sarah E. Harder (see Directorate, Vice Chairman) Jon D. Swartz, 11600 Starview Trail, Austin, TX 78750; [email protected] Publisher: Craig Boyd, P.O. Box 25631, Little Rock, AR 72221-5631 Secretary: Dennis Davis (see Directorate, Chairman) Distributor: Dennis Davis (see Directorate, Chairman) Treasurer: William Center; [email protected] Advisor: Ruth R. Davidson (see Election Teller) Election Teller: Ruth R. Davidson, 4807 Capay Drive #2, Bureaus and Activities Artists Bureau: Sarah E. Harder (see Directorate, Vice N3F Historian: Jon D. Swartz (see Directorate) Chairman) Neffer Amateur Press Alliance (N'APA): R-Laurraine Birthday Cards: R-Laurraine Tutihasi, P.O. Box 5323, Tutihasi (see Birthday Cards) Oracle, AZ 85623-5323; [email protected] Neffy Awards: David Speakman (see Directorate) Blind Services: Steven T. Rose, Jr.; Round Robins: Lorna Hansmann, 148 W 220 S, Orem, [email protected] UT 84058; [email protected] Correspondence: Sarah E. Harder (See Directorate, Vice Short Story Contest: Jeff Redmond, 1335 Beechwood Chairman) NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505; [email protected] Gaming: George Phillies, 48 Hancock Hill Drive, Webmistress: Ruth R. Davidson (see Election Teller) Worcester, MA 01609; [email protected] Welcommittee: Cynthia Richter, 1740 Ocean Ave. #11B, Kaymar Awards: William Center (see Treasurer) Brooklyn, NY 11230 The Mangaverse: Ruth R. Davidson (see Election Teller) David K. Robinson, 88235 Highway 9 #5, Lineville, AL Membership Cards: Dennis Davis (see Directorate, 36266-6944 Chairman) Writers Exchange: Joy Beeson, 1700 Park Ave., Winona Membership Drive: Dennis Davis (see Directorate, Lake, IN 46590; [email protected] Chairman) Open positions: Computer Gaming, Convention N3F Bookworms: David Speakman (see Directorate) Coordinator, Future Fandom, and Teaching Science Fiction. Please volunteer! The National Fantasy Fan, Vol. 9, No. 3: The Official Organ of the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F). This issue was completed Sept. 2, 2009. The editor was Heath Row. The editor for the next issue is Heath Row, 101 Russell St. #4-R, Brooklyn, NY 11222; [email protected]. Please send your submissions and questions to that person or the editorial cabal bureau head or advisor. All opinions herein are those of the writers and do not reflect the opinions of the staff or other members of the N3F except where so noted. Submission deadline for the next issue is Nov. 15, 2009. This zine is to be published quarterly in March, June, September, and December through volunteer effort. All material in this issue was contributed for one-time use only, and the copyright is retained by the contributor. Reproduction in any media of any portion of this publication is prohibited without official permission of the current president and directorate or the individual contributor. ©2009 The National Fantasy Fan Federation—http://www.n3f.org 2 Letter from the Chairman his is a letter from me as chairman of the National lot of good material on the latest movies and other sorts of Fantasy Fan Federation. I am standing in for our things that you all will find interesting. Tpresident. David and I have also set up a presence on Facebook, The year 2009 is going to be over shortly, and 2010 will largely because there are several current—as well as soon be here. Looking back on the last year, I think the former—Neffers on the social network, and because I N3F made a few improvements of note. spend a great deal of time on Facebook. So the N3F now We've managed to publish the clubzine regularly due in has a group on Facebook, and I encourage all Neffers to large part to the efforts of Heath Row, who joined us check it out. recently—and then volunteered to edit the zine for us. I I think the N3F needs to move with the times in our think he is doing an outstanding job. efforts to meet the needs of our members—and to David Speakman has continued to do outstanding hopefully meet the needs of future members. things for the club, and we now have two new Web sites Be sure to make note that this issue is the election because to his efforts. In particular, we now have issue. As the last issue before the annual N3F elections, it http://tightbeam.net, which is an online version of our old will include candidate platforms by some of our members letterzine Tightbeam (also now the name of the letter who are running for office, myself included. Just turn to column in The Fan). The site is accessible to everyone, but page 27. Please, everyone, vote. Participation is important. Neffers have some extra privileges. David has also made This is your club. http://www.fandominion.com available. FanDominion has a —Dennis Davis Table of Contents “Dimension X-3000” by Shane McGrath......................cover Fiction: “The God Monologues”........................................17 National Fantasy Fan Federation 2009 Officers.................2 2009 N3F Short Story Contest Entry Form.......................20 Bureaus and Activities.........................................................2 Re: The Review Section....................................................21 Letter from the Chairman....................................................3 Smoking, Writing, and the Moon Landing.........................26 Submission Guidelines.......................................................3 2010 N3F Election Platforms............................................27 Tightbeam: Letters of Comment..........................................4 Bureaus and Activities Reports.........................................28 Historical Vignette: Bonfire, December 1943......................5 Secretary's Report............................................................30 Member Spotlight: Jack Robins..........................................6 Treasurer's Report............................................................31 Sidebar: How I Joined the Futurians...................................7 Membership Roster...........................................................31 Convention Report: Westercon 2009..................................9 In the Next Issue...............................................................32 From the Bridge: Perspectives on Star Trek.....................11 Convention Calendar........................................................33 Dialing Down the Gnarl with Rudy Rucker........................14 Membership Application....................................................35 Sidebar: Rucker, Reviewed...............................................16 Illustrations.............................................credited throughout The National Fantasy Fan Submission Guidelines This is the official clubzine for the N3F, a combination of are preferred. Paper submissions won't be returned without the old Fan (the official reports) and Tightbeam’s reviews, an SASE. Submissions can be made to the editorial cabal con reports, poetry, and fiction. Art—covers and chief (the current president), the current editor, or the illustrations—is always needed. The Fan is published advisor; query first. Send art to the art editor; send reviews quarterly in March, June, September, and December. to the reviews editor. Please send only copies of your work, Deadlines are the 15th day of the month before the not originals. If you’ve never submitted an article to a zine publication month (e.g. May 15 for the June issue). When and aren’t totally comfortable with writing, please consider submitting, paper copies are fine, but electronic formats writing a letter of comment. All submissions will be edited. 3 Tightbeam: Letters of Comment njoyed the June issue, especially the page size. was completely lost in the movie. Been catching up on NCIS episodes on disc since In the book, if you recall, Harry puts his invisibility cloak Ethe analog signal switch off. I refuse to go digital over himself when he and Dumbledore realize the bad signal and have been called “caveman.” Still hunting for a guys are coming. Dumbledore uses his magic to heavy club to hit that guy. immobilize Harry—to save him because he knows Harry Trying to read Kite Runner, but snuck a peek of the would defend Dumbledore despite them being movie. Other titles on reading list to get through—mostly outnumbered. Harry wants desperately to help but cannot non-sf. Recalled some years ago there was an anthology because he cannot move! All he can do is watch in agony of sf short, short stories running to mere paragraphs. Only as Dumbledore is killed. That is the powerful scene in the natural to see short stories limited to 140 characters. Hope book. In the movie, what do they do? Harry goes "below you can print some in a