MAY 2002 ISSUE 368 Brum Honorary Presidents: BRIAN W ALDISS Group HARRY HARRISON Committee: Ne w s Vernon Brown (Chairman) Vicky Cook (Secretary) Pat Brown (Treasurer) The Free Monthly Newsletter of the Rog Peyton (Newsletter Editor) BIRMINGHAM + Steve Jones & William McCabe SCIENCE FICTION GROUP NOVACON 32 Chairman: Martin Tudor FRIDAY lOTH MAY PETER WESTON THIS YEAR'S FAN GUEST OF HONOUR AT HELICON, JERSEY, TALKS ABOUT CONVENTIONS, AVOIDING GETTING DRUNK, HUM-AND-SWAY SESSIONS AND HOW TO BECOME A SECRET MASTER OF FANDOM You thought you knew it all? Hah! man didn’t take prisoners. Immediately No way. Peter Weston will introduce seeing that British fanzines were full of you to the part of being a science fiction every subject except science fiction he fan that other fans don’t reach. set out to Change the World. If you Reportedly a robot built by the were a science fiction fan, you talked original Birmingham SF Group in the about SCIENCE FICTION, dammit! early 60s, he appeared almost overnight His fanzine ZENITH - later with no known history and immediately SPECULATION - became THE ‘zine caused a storm in British fandom. This for all self-respecting SCIENCE JUNE Meeting - Fantasy author Juliet E McKenna will be talking to the Group. 1 I FICTION fans, containing articles by The meeting will take place in the many famous SF authors such as Lichfield room on the second floor of Frederik Pohl and H Beam Piper among the Britannia Hotel, New Street others. In the mid-sixties he wrote a fan (entrance in Union Passage almost column for the BSFA’s official journal opposite the Odeon). It will VECTOR under the pseudonym commence at 7.45pm so please arrive ‘Malcolm Edwards’, two full years early, get your drinks from the bar before the REAL Malcolm Edwards and be seated in plenty of time. entered British fandom. His foresight At the bottom of the ramp from New was extraordinary. Street Station, turn right, cross over In 1971, along with Vernon the road and you’ll find Union Brown, Bob Rickard and myself, he Passage about 20-30 yards along. organised the Eastercon in Worcester, with Anne McCaffrey as Guest of FORTHCOMING EVENTS Honour. Three months later, Peter, Vernon and myself started the May 15 - Special Preview of STAR Birmingham SF Group that is still WARS 2: ATTACK OF THE running now - 31 years on! CLONES at the USC cinema in the He went on to greater glory by Arcadian Centre, Hurst Street. It will being Chairman of a British WorldCon start at 11.40pm (20 minutes to - not once, but twice! How did he midnight). Tickets are £4.50 each - manage all this activity? Had he cloned £3.50 for students and children - and himself? Was there no end to this man’s must be bought in advance. To ensure energy and enthusiasm? you get your ticket, book with Andy - But, sadly, there was. All on his mobile 07970 782686. Andy is positronic robots have to be recharged also a member of the Birmingham and the Weston Mark-PR model was no University SF Group and will be exception. Dropping out of fandom and making sure that members of both SF the Brum Group after a 25-year plus Groups are guaranteed tickets. stint, nothing was heard of him until he visited the Brum Group last year. News June 28-30 - the SCIENCE FICTION of his re-entry into fandom spread RESEARCH ASSOCIATION quickly and h e was invited to be Fan CONFERENCE will be held at New Guest of Honour at this year’s Lanark, Scotland. Theme of the Eastercon in Jersey. conference will be Utopias. Guests of And now - fully recharged and Honour are Pat Cadigan, Paul McAuley ready to attain even greater heights - and Ken MacLeod. Keynote speaker Peter is back and we welcome him to will be Andy Sawyer. Cost is £264.00 the Group to talk about his life in (all meals included) for SFRA and SFF fandom, how he feels about his return members - see website for other fees, and how he succeeded in shedding off etc. Info from 22 Addington Road, the problems of rust. RGP Reading, RG1 5PT, UK. email: Farah Mendlesohin - [email protected] 2 or Andrew Butler, ambutler@enterprise. net JOAN HARRISON website: www.sfra.org/sfra2002.htm It is with great sorrow that we August 9-11 - CONTEXXT (UNICON report the death, from cancer, of 20) at University of Gloucestershire, Joan Harrison - wife of our Oxon, UK. Guests of Honour: Keith Honorary President Harry Harrison Brooke and Ben Jeapes. Details from - on Sunday 21st April. Nigel and Sabina Furlong, 17 Cow Joan was well-known to most Lane, Didcot, Oxfordshire, 0X11 7SZ, Brum Group members, having been UK. email: [email protected] at many conventions including website: NOVACONs www. cix. co. uk/-bugshaw/uniconwin/ Joan was petite and great fun but with a look that could kill if you November 1-3 - NOVACON 32 - the upset her. I will always remember Birmingham SF Group’s very own one incident that happened in the convention will be held at the Quality mid-70s. I’d known Joan for several Hotel, Bentley, Walsall, UK. Guest of years but hadn’t seen her for about Honour - lan McDonald, author of 2-3 years. In that time I'd grown a DESOLATION ROAD, ARES beard. I was down in London at one EXPRESS, CHAGA, etc., etc. Cost of of the old Tun meetings and about registration is £35 - send to five or six of us were standing NOVACON 32, 379 Myrtle Road, around when Joan and Harry Sheffield, S2 3HQ. arrived. Joan came up to the group email: [email protected] and warmly greeted each fan with a This is the one event that YOU should hug and a kiss - except me. be attending! It is not too soon to Obviously she hadn’t recognised register! Especially if you require a me, so I said “Don't 1 get a hug single room. then?”. She gave me that look and turned away - then slowly turned All details are correct to the best of our back as some hint of recognition hit knowledge, we advise contacting organisers her. She looked at me - “Rog????” before travelling. Always enclose a Then she threw her arms around me stamped, self-addressed envelope when and I got my hug. writing to any of the above contact addresses. I didn't get to see Joan as often as I would have liked but I’ll always Any information about forthcoming SF / remember her with great fondness. Fantasy / Horror events are always I’ll miss her. welcome - please send to me at The committee have sent a card rog@rogpeyton. fsnet. co.uk. tell me about it from the Group to Harry and their in the shop or phone me at the shop on daughter Moira. RGP 0121 643 1999. 3 FROM THE CHAIRMAN at [email protected] or write to Alan at 2 Old Port Close, Tipton, The best-known natural law after West Midlands, DY4 7XN before the e=mc2 is probably Sod’s First - “If end of May. VB anything can go wrong it will!” and it has just operated again. ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARD 2002 Last month the Committee initiated an advertising campaign. This Nominees for Best Novel are:- month Alan Woodford had to resign PASHAZADE - Jon Courtney Grimwood due to pressure of work leaving us with (Earthlight) a couple of problems. FALLEN DRAGON - Peter F Hamilton Because Alan appears as a contact (Macmillan) on our posers and cards, they are now BOLD AS LOVE - Gwyneth Jones outdated so please destroy any that we (Gollancz) sent you for distribution. If you have THE SECRET OF LIFE - Paul McAuley put any up, please leave them for the (Voyager) MAPPA MUNDI - Justina Robson time being and Alan will pass on any (Macmillan) contacts for the next month or so. As PASSAGE - Connie Willis soon as we get things sorted out we will (Voyager) send you some corrected posters and cards. The winner will be announced at the We now need another Membership Science Museum, London on May 18th. Officer and Treasurer. Pat has The winner will receive a cheque for volunteered to do the latter for the rest £2002 and an engraved bookend. of the year but we still need someone to deal with memberships. The job is 2002 NEBULA AWARD NOMINEES obviously important but its not too onerous - it will take, on average, some Nominees for Best Novel are: ten minutes a week plus attending committee meetings once a month in the THE QUANTUM ROSE - Catherine Asaro City centre. Access to a computer is (Tor) very useful but not absolutely ETERNITY’S END - Jeffrey A Carver necessary. (Tor) We also need one or two people MARS CROSSING - Geoffrey A Landis who usually attend Group Meetings and (Tor) who arrive early, to sell raffle tickets. A STORM OF SWORDS Although a simple job its important - - George R R Martin (Bantam) the Group’s financial balance is on a THE COLLAPSIUM - Wil McCarthy knife-edge and the raffle brings in (Del Rey) money that we really need. THE TOWER AT STONY WOOD - Patricia A McKillip (Ace) If you are interested in any of the DECLARE - Tim Powers above posts/jobs, please contact me at (Subterranean Press/Morrow) the May or June meetings, or email Rog 4 PASSAGE - Connie Willis audience. The novel is an alternate (Bantam) history of the last 600 years in which the Plague has wiped out the whole of THE 2002 HUGO AWARDS Europe.