PO Box 656, Washington, DC 20044 - (202) 232-3141 - Issue #104 - Nov. 1998 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: http://members.aol.com/lambdasf/home.html LSF Party at Darkovercon (Nov. 28th, 8 PM) * * * * * For the umpteenth year in a row, a sizeable contingent of LSFers will be journeying out to Timonium, MD, over Thanksgiving weekend to attend the Darkover Grand Council Meeting (aka Darkovercon) - and, on Saturday night (Nov. 28th), LSF will once again host a another con, because youll find lots of room party for lesbian/gay/bisexual/ familiar faces there that youll also see at transgendered fen (and their friends). Gaylaxicons. The LSF room party will begin at This years Darkover Grand 8 PM on Saturday night (Nov. 28th) and Council (as in previous years) will be held last until....? Signs will be posted in the at the Holiday Inn Select, Baltimore North hotel lobby announcing the room num- (Timonium, MD), from Nov. 27th through RODDY MCDOWALL ber. LSF members are requested to bring Nov. 29th. The Author Guest of Honor 1928 - 1998 munchies, soft drinks, and finger foods as this year is Adrienne Martine-Barnes, with a contribution to the party. You dont Special Guests Katherine Kurtz (all the have to be a registered member of the Con way from her home in Ireland) and Marion Roddy McDowall, star of the to attend the LSF party - but then youd Zimmer Bradley (health permitting), and Planet of the Apes movies, died Satur- miss out on all the other fun! with Clam Chowder as the Musical Guests day, October 3rd, at the age of 70. McDowall In case you havent heard about of Honor and Artist Guest of Honor Halla. had suffered from cancer for some time, the Darkovercon, its a mid-sized (approx. (continued on page 3) but he kept it secret until two weeks before 600 attendees), fan-run convention his death. primarly (but not exclusively) dedicated NOVEMBER McDowall was a child actor from to the works of authors Marion Zimmer the age of 8; and he acted on stage, screen, Bradley and Katherine Kurtz. LSFers who LAMBDA SCI-FI MEETING and television. His genre roles included have attended previous Darkovercons * * * * the villainous Bookworm on the Batman have consistently reported having a won- The next Lambda Sci-Fi meeting will be TV series, a vampire-hunting talk-show derful time - its a small enough conven- held on Sunday, Nov. 8th, at James host in the film Fright Night, memorable tion that youve got a decent chance to Crutchfield's apartment: 1414 17th St., turns on The Twilight Zone and Night actually meet and talk with some of your NW, Apt. 413 (near Dupont Circle) - 1:30 Gallery, and (of course) the intellectual favorite authors. Darkovercon has also PM for business meeting; 2:00 PM for chimpanzee Cornelius and his rebel-leader consistently been very friendly to mem- social meeting. Please bring munchies son Caesar in the Apes films. bers of the Alternate Sexuality Commu- or soft drinks if you can. Hope to see you nity - in fact, Darkovercon has often been there! referred to as a mini-Gaylaxicon within WHAT'S INSIDE? The "Put Up or Shut Up" Minutes of the Oct. LSF Meeting (pg. 2); Jack London: F&SF Author (book review - pg. 3); Blue-Light Specials (pg. 4); The 100 Best Fantasy Films (pg. 5); Updated Membership Directory Planned for January, 1999 (announcement - pg. 5); Information about Lambda Sci-Fi: DC Area Gaylaxians (pg. 6); Con Calendar (pg. 6) 1 The “Put Up or Shut Up” can Library Association (which well be great, rarely-seen, older episodes. Minutes of the handing out at the LSF booth next Pride In movie news, Peter and Rob October LSF Meeting Day) - featuring Xena, Gabrielle, the Voy- reported on the wonderfully-done alter- ager crew, and (still on back-order) the nate timeline story, Sliding Doors. (While by Rob cast from Buffy the Vampire-Slayer. He not big on special effects, a genre staple also passed around a couple of items weaves through the films story, which is For whatever reason, LSF old- which can be purchased from the U.S. well-acted, well-scripted, and well-filmed. timers have been crawling out of the wood- Post Office: bookmarks based on last Of particular note are the great transitions work recently; and this meeting was no years James Gurney dinosaur stamps; between the two versions of the main exception - with the return of Bob and new panoramic sci-fi/space 32¢ characters life.) Also, a few people re- Summersgill from exile in New Mexico. stamps. ported on What Dreams May Come - visu- [Ed. note: Just our way of saying: ally interesting, with good effects, but “Welcome back, Bob!”] fairly lacking in story. The business portion of the In book news, Pat Cadigans meeting was all Rob - with a call for LYF newest book, Tea From an Empty Cup, assistance in putting together and distrib- has hit the stands. Also, watch for a great uting the Press Release for the Gaylactic first novel by Carolyn Ives Gilman, Half- Network Awards. Anyone with sugges- way Human, with lots of gender and sexu- tions on where to promote the award - or Peter passed around some mate- ality issues. A few people also recom- anyone interested in helping in any way - rials from the LSF P.O. box, including (I kid mended books by Susan Matthews: Ex- should contact Rob. He also asked (actu- you not) a brochure for a Florida retire- change of Hostages and Prisoner of Con- ally, begged) for assistance with the LSF ment community for gays and lesbians, a science. Website. With the registration of LSFs video catalog from a new gay video ven- In LSF events news, we went new domain name (www.lambdasf.org), it dor, a flyer from the Dugout Sports Club over a list of upcoming LSF events. Nan will be easier for others to be involved. in Rockville (talking about their new gay and Kay are organizing a trip to see Antz Rob pointed out that the Website needs ownership and pushing for gay clientele), on Saturday, Oct. 17th. The LSF (almost more involvement to stay timely and to and a hilarious mock photo of the Friends annual) trip to the Maryland Renaissance grow; and he and Nan offered to shepherd cast (if Friends were filmed in Tennessee). Festival is set for Sunday, Oct. 18th. Fi- and teach web page creation stuff to Peter also passed around a few issues of nally, the outing to see our own Joe Parra anyone who wants to help. After a few the latest Toyfare magazine and the new star in Mousetrap (Wayside Theatre, Win- people suggested talking about what they Borg Queen action figure. Tim reported chester, VA) is set for Saturday, Oct. 24th. wanted to see on the Website, discussion tha the Elvira action figures w1ll be out was stopped by the declaration (by Rob) ASAP. that he didnt particularly care what any- In television news, mention was one wanted to see unless they were will- made of the new Fantasy Island (okay, ing to actually do the work. A number of but not great), Cupid (genre premise, but volunteers stepped forward; and Rob and not very genre in production - still, rather Nan will be checking in with all of them good), War Planets (from the creators of soon. If anyone else is interested in help- Reboot - very Babylon 5-ish, and wonder- ing with the Website, contact Rob or Nan. ful so far), Brats of the Lost Nebula (the Finally, Rob mentioned the recent addi- new Henson production - okay so far, lots LYF tion of the LSF discussion e-mail list and of promise), 7 Days (which is unlikely to the fact that the manual, announcement- last that long), and Monkey Magic (com- only list would continue to be maintained. puter-animated cartoon - mixed comments). If a man cannot explain With Robs business out of the In addition, upcoming premieres include (in terms that any reasonably way, we moved on to the social part of the Nightman (Robs comment: How that well-educated person meeting. The usual name circle was done, series survived to a 2nd season while can understand) with its usual strangeness. Joe R. re- something like My So-Called Life died is what he is talking about, ported on his upcoming trip to see the way beyond me!), Star Trek: Voyager there is an excellent chance John Glenn launch; and we all wished him (5th season, can you believe it?), Deep that he himself does not know. well. Tim reported on the upcoming Fall Space 9 (with a new Dax), and Earth: In, a wargaming convention hes helping Final Conflict (with Boone, the main char- -- L. Sprague de Camp -- to run. Carl passed around newsletters acter, getting offed). Finally, Peter re- from the Niagara Falls and San Francisco ported that Maryland Public Television is excerpted from Science Fictionisms, Gaylaxian chapters; and he showed off once again showing Dr. Who episodes in compiled by William Rotsler the newest bookmarks from the Ameri- their entirety and in order, including some (Gibbs-Smith, 1995) 2 Jack London: This dystopian story verges on being a socialist manifesto. F&SF Author The Unparalleled Invasion a book review by Carl Cipra (1910): This is a yellow peril story about the Chinese bid for world conquest. (Lon- don was a war correspondent during the Fantastic Tales, by Jack London Russo-Japanese War, 1904.) It also envi- (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1998) sions the possibilities of biological war- trade paper, $11.00 fare.