The Middle Tennessee SF Club
The special December party edition of Kronos.
The Christmas party is December 18th once again ,
The next club meeting is January 12th, 2000.
Green Hills Public Library at 6pm
-------------------------------
In this issue of Kronos:
Our Party on the 18th
From the club meeting
Fan News
Wedding News
More Fan News
Filmaking in Andorra
True Fan Travels
Death of Walter Willis
Convention Reports
Chambananacon
Libertycon Party
ConCat
Contact
Convnetion news
Balticon , Ga Filk, Duckcon, ConCave room lottery
Worldcon news
Killing a rumor or what really happened with the WC bid parties
at Aussie con.
Chicon
More 2004 bid news
World Fantasy Awards
Publishing News
Noted Web Sites
Calendar
The library is located at Green Hills Mall but not in the Mall.
At Hillsboro Rd & Crestmoor (a Krystal is on the corner)
turn right and go down Crestmoor and look for the library sign. Or call the library at 615 - 862- 5863
Can't make the meeting.., come by our after the meeting place at Rotiers on Elliston off of West End down the street from Tower.
We usually get to Rotiers by 8:20.
Anita Feller president
Ray Jones Treasurer
Robert Edwards, Pat James programming, and cast of ones...
Bemscribe as the pookha
D A Hussey as Bemscribe as the pookha
Want to contact the Bemscribe
e-mail bemscribe_too@hotmail.com
Check out my web page at http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/
For back issues of the newsletter go to
http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/clubs.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Christmas party will be the December 18th
The party will start at 5pm but if you want to come by
and help decorate drop in earlier.
This year we will be providing the food (things like meatballs, sausage balls, deli trays, sweets, ham biscuits, relish tray with zesty pickles) plus non-alcoholic punch and other soft drinks
(it's BYOB on the heavy stuff)
We will be charging five dollars to help cover the cost of the room.
-----------------------
at the meeting
An upcoming appearance by multi award winning Nashville resident Lucinda Williams on Austin City Limits was mentioned
(look for it in reruns)
Discussion of what to do about New Years…
who is going to be where, who is on call and so on.
Dan has proposed a door prize be given to the first beeper with person attached to go off.
( We already know that Tom Feller will down in Jacksonville working
and RJ has just found out that he has to go into work on the first)
What some of us are reading:
Pat James the second in a series by Victoria Strauss, Dan has been reading In Search of Churchill and House Atredies,
Plus Vernor Vinge's the Peace War. Charlie has been reading Tanith Lee and Robert has been reading a guide to web publishing and Kinky Friedman.
Much debate about a possible late New Years party the last weekend of the month which also maybe a combination club anniversary party, rebirth of Bems and on Sunday a superbowl party.
The Not a Con Party will be January 29 & 30th.
We will have a hospitality room and some other suprises.
------------------------------
Fan news
Local fan news
Tom Feller (http://hometown.aol.com/tomfeller. e-mail address is tomfeller@aol.com .)
dropped us this note about where he will be New Years Eve:
"Actually I'm planning to be in Jacksonville, FL,
which is on the Atlantic ocean." (( This is after the last issue were I said he would be on the Gulf coast...) Hmphf Jacksonville is near the Gulf Stream… same thing.
And yeah I can blame it on the dyslexia...I just got right and left mixed up... and they are bodies of water… after all I am only supposed to keep track of highways… yeah that'd the ticket (as John Lovetz would have exclaimed).
Oh and in another note Tom mentioned: "Eric Lindsay, a long-time SF fan, has moved his fanzine Gegenshein to the web. I've never met Eric, but we were in an APA together for 10 years. (Remember apas? It was a kind of papernet.)
Issue number 85 is http://members.tripod.com/~eric_lindsay/sf/geg85.htmand
#86 http://members.tripod.com/~eric_lindsay/sf/geg86.htm".
Sorta former local fan news..
Saw James Fulkerson and Kathy Horning at Chambanana. They were doing very well and had recently bought a house.
-------------------------------------------------------
Fan Social Event of the Season
Had to be the marriage of Naomi Fisher and Pat Molloy on Saturday during the Thanksgiving weekend.
I had known about the wedding since sometime back in the summer
but have kept quiet about by special request.
I didn't go to the wedding.
I went to a convention (see the report below) were I spent almost as much time sleeping as I did awake. If I had gone to the wedding one of the lowlights would have been Naomi thrashing me with her bouquet as I snored my way during the ceremony.
While I didn't go several of my spies did attend and said it was one of the most beautiful weddings they had ever seen.
The wedding took place I the Delta section of the Opryland Hotel.
For those unfamiliar with the hotel this is the area with almost an enclosed forest complete with quarter mile indoor river with catfish.
The wedding was an all day event with a sort of pre wedding gathering starting at 10am that went on till about 2 pm. The gathered fans which included fans from Nashville and other parts of Tennessee plus from Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama and other far out scattered areas were in attendance.
The meeting of the gathered fen and family of the wedding party seemed to go along very well without too much culture shock.
The ceremony took place at 3:30 with Naomi's brother acting with great enthusiasm as the flower girl.
Sue Starke, Corlis Robe and Annette Carrico were Naomi's attendants. (one spy noted that while all the attendants looked very lovely , Annette especially looked so with her dress.)
Naomi had a very elegant dress which she had describe in an earlier Kapa mailing as being shantung silk and Alencon lace with pearl beading, long sleeves and train. Breath taking was a term I heard used.
The wittnesses said one of the great moments was after the minister
declared them husband and wife and Pat had lifted the veil to kiss her
Just after they turned to face the gathering that Naomi let out a very heart felt sigh with a smile.
After the ceremony the entire wedding party floated on the river in boats down to the reception area.
There was a full buffet dinner, plus a live band for after dinner dancing.
Sometime later on several of the fen adjourned to the room of Toni Weisskopf and Julie Wall in the hotel.
Where of course they had a room party.
Pat and Naomi were going to honeymoon in Australia.
I wish them all the best in the world and a lot of wonderful happiness together.
-------------------------------------------
There was another wedding that I have just heard about. Just before Constellation in Huntsville Mike Weber and his love Kathy went off eloped and got married. They then went on to the convention.
Check out Mike's web site for more details and wedding photo's.
http://weberworld.virtualave.net/mike/huntsville1.html
We also send a lot of good wishes to Mike, Kathy and their girl.
( Kathy's daughter now Mike's stepdaughter)
On his web site he has a very interesting page featuring some very old photos from a Kubla long ago( remember the Kazoo band) http://krasnegar.tripod.com/we_were/we_were.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More Happy Fannish news:
Carol Resnick was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer. It was caught at a very early stage and hadn't spread. The doctors were confident they had got it all. But, to make sure and to reduce the chance of recurrence down to almost nil she most of the summer and part of the fall undergoing radiation treatments.
She finished awhile back and everything looks wonderful.
It was just so good to hear about someone who beat back that nasty monster.
------------------------------------
I get mail from time to time from the Mike Resnick mail list. Unlike a couple of other author mail lists I have seen Mike is an active participant there. From time to time he posts stories and other non-fiction stuff along with convention trip reports.
The little thing below is one of the most interesting:
From Mike:
" OK, guys -- I have to share this with you. Some time back I made a deal with Joiseph Guirao, a movie producer from the tiny country of Andorra, to let him turn THE BRANCH into a feature film. To get funding, he asked for a second contract, which allowed him to make a 30-minute condensed version, which he would then show, to potential backers. I agreed, and hadn't heard from him until today.
Here's part of his e-mail"
: *************************>
Dear Mr. Resnick,>>
Its me again, the man from the little country named Andorra.
I finally finish the movie, and it was very hard.
I know is nothing to compare with an regular production,
especially when you don't have the money to do it the way you want, and when the police is around the location to stop us if we try to shot one take.
out of the private propriety, in any exterior place under the jurisdiction of the government .
But finally I make it. With some piece of negative from different olds commercials, my old camera and all my heart.
The History of the shooting is to long to splay you in a foreign language to me, is more easy to me to talk than to write.
But I can tell you some thing about the shooting. I choused for the short the title of " YOU SHOULD DON´T TAKE THE NAMEOF GOD IN VAIN". And I make the English subtitles.>
The negative of the movie was in danger to be destroyed by the authorities and finally it was rescued by the Danish director Lars Von Triers. He think is a little peace of art. But not every one thinks the same, especially the bishop of Andorra and the justice. I was in the court, ,and now I can't have any professional activity in my country for 15 years, they call me Larry Flint !
I'm 31 years old now an a lot of dreams and projects to do, so I move in two days to Madrid, to try to start again.
************************
"This is Mike again. I have to think that when I finally get my hands on this maybe-masterpiece, it'll be one of the all-time great collector's items. (I just auctioned off the manuscript to "Hunting the Snark" on e Bay for $222.50; this of what a copy of -this- baby will bring.) Anyway, nobody's gotten rich on this particular movie yet, and I suspect no one ever will...but any guy who bucks the police and the archbishop to make a Resnick movie is aces in my book , so I think I'll extend the option for the full-length feature for as long as he wants, and if he's short of cash, I'll carry him for as long as it takes for him to get his life together again.-- Mike "
______________________________________________________
Bemscribe again… Andorra, which is a real country (I had to admit I sorta thought maybe our legs were being pulled at first), is a co principality between France and Spain.
------------------------
More Fan news:
Chris and Julee Johnson Tate
The following happened on their way back from a Florida vacation.
A true story from Julee:
I'm going to print this out and send it to BH&G,
with a picture of the piece.
Can't decide if I should take the picture of the piece partially stitched, in the Q-Snaps, or if I should take it after it's framed.
I was thrilled to find the latest issue of BH&G Cross Stitch magazine. Not only did it have a profile of Ruth Sparrow and mention Cecilia Turner, it had a project from my favorite designer, Patricia Anderle.
As I was on vacation, I finished (except for the last line) and beaded Just Nan's Last Stitches, cut my fabric and put it in my Q-Snaps, got my floss and started the alphabet for Intertwined Squares.
Of course, I chose the purple variation, because that's my
favorite color. It went very quickly, as did the vacation.
On the way home, I stitched until the sun fell below the horizon, stopping only to change CD's for my husband, who was driving. In just a few days, I had finished almost two-thirds of the pattern.
A few hours later, north of Atlanta, my husband decided to pull off to get gas. The gauge was not even touching the "E," but the car sputtered and stopped on the off-ramp. Cars were whipping by us at incredible speeds, with no one pausing to help. We waited for a few minutes, in case someone might stop, but something told me to get out of the car.
Chris had to crawl through and come out the passenger side,
the traffic was so bad. We had no reflectors or flares (a concern as our Saturn is a dark purple) and we were wearing dark clothing,
so we were concerned about walking to the nearest gas station.
I offered to walk last, because my athletic shoes had reflective ovals on the heels, but my husband would not hear of it.
He re-iterated his complaint that we didn't have a white flag or anything.
And, I thought of the Anderle piece I was working on, in the car. It was on white Laguna, on my eleven inch, white Q-Snaps. I got back in the car, pulled it out of the bag, took the needle out and put it between the pages of the magazine, and that is what my husband carried up the dark off-ramp, to let passing vehicles know there were pedestrians. It helped, because the hundreds of cars that whipped past us in the few minutes we were walking all moved to the other side of the lane.
Soon, a nice man stopped to give us a lift. The wonderful clerks at the convenience store lent us their gas can and one of the young men drove us back to our car. I stood behind the car, with the piece outstretched, because our gas tank was on the driver's side,
and it worked--the cars all moved to the other side of the ramp, away from Chris.
Sure enough, the gas gauge was off and we were able to get back to the station and fill our tank. I tucked the stitching back in its bag, with a prayer of thanks, and we got home in a matter of a few more hours.
This evening, after some unpacking, greeting our cats and errands, I set up my Ott lamp, pulled out my needlework and finished another band. I plan on finishing it before the end of the year. When I get it framed, I will place a copy of this essay on the back, for this piece of cross-stitch truly saved our lives. Julee Johnson-Tate
-----------------------------------------------------
Sad news..
Walter Willis who has been ill for sometime died recently..
In case you don't know whom Willis is go to
http://www.fanac.org/fanzines/Enchanted_Duplicator/Enchanted-00.html and read one of the most famous pieces of fan fiction ever printed The Enchanted Duplicator, which was written by Willis and Bob Shaw.
I am hoping to print a longer obit next issue.
------------------------
Conventions
Chambanacon
My mother underwent surgery for the cataracts in her other eye
the beginning of November.
Let just say that for several weeks' life was a little bit hectic.
Everything went real well and she is seeing better than a long time. But, she is in her 80's so it was a little bit of a concern to make sure she behaved and did not overdo.
Along with the last several months I had been feeling real tired and stressed. As much as I wanted to go to the wedding I started feeling that I needed to get out of town and not think for a weekend about all the things I needed to be doing.
And with possibly the last Chambanacon (it isn't) coming up and long way after that to Concave (probably my next con) I decided to go to the con.
Which just as well since I spent most of my time sleeping. I slept on trip up in the back seat of Tom and Sherry's car in a nest of pillows and blankets. I would probably gone and taken a nap when we arrived except the person we were sharing a room with had gone out to eat without dropping off a key for us.
I would go to a little of the Friday night filk and from time to time come back to room for little catnaps.
Slept late on Saturday and went out to eat lunch at a very unusual restaurant Basmati which was mostly Indian with some Middle Eastern dishes.
The buffet was very good and the dishes to my surprise worked well together.
After lunch I went back to the hotel were I laid down for a nap.
I had intended to go and see Samanda Juede and Don Cook's fan goh presentation at 3pm but couldn't wake up long enough to get out of bed.
Andy offutt was on at four but still naptime seemed to be a good thing to do.
Just a little before five I was able to get up and wander down to Andy's session.
He told more terrifying details about the heart episode (it is so good t see him doing so well)
Among other things. He also mentioned that fans needed to go and breed more fans.
At the same tine he admitted that this is not a sure-fire solution as known of his kids turned out to be fans and probably only one of them reads SF on a regular basis.
I did make it to the huxster room, which was small, but I did spend money at Glen Cook's table.
Went to the filking Saturday nght. Most of it was rather good and my filk loving friends were in heaven.
The only thing for a Saturday night there seemed to be a lot of slow sad ballads.
Which of course had the effect of making me sleepy again and I would go back to the room from time to tine for a refreshing catnap.
Bill and Brenda Sutton and Juanita Coulson were some of the filkers in attendance. I hope to have a filk report from some one else next month.
About the only draw back to the con was that the only seating in the non filking con suite were two large round tables which were taken over by the card players at night leaving almost no place in the suite to just sit around and visit. A couple of smaller tables and more chairs would be nice (there was room).
There is a lobby area just outside the con area in front of registration but those chairs were always full.
There were several panels besides the filking as programming but I didn't get to any off them.
They also had a real film not video program.
Oh yes there will be more Chambanacons so we are not losing this one.
After next year Mike David Brim will be stepping down as the chair and Phread Langford will be taking over. The con may or may not stay at it's long time hotel after that. But it will continue.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ConCat
Charlie Williams and his sister Jennifer headed up to Knoxville for ConCat. So did a lot of other people from Nashville.
Except they werent going to the convention. They were headed up to the UT / Vanderbilt game. And a lot of the fans were going to stay at the ConCat hotel. The hotel spooked by the thronging football fans decided to impose a four person limit per person in hotel sleeping room as aa way to cut back on partying.
The convention was able to keep open access to con attendees to the con suite but the word got out that there couldn't be any room parties. Fans who had planned on throwing a party were encouraged to through the party in the con suite.
Charles Dickens and Patricia Clements donated food that they had planned to use for a Parthecon Party. They went ahead and put the food out with some signs and flyers. Later Saturday night the Chattacon people did the same.
Some good bad news was that Dragon recently had a heart attack but was recovered enough to attend the convention.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Contact report from Steve Francis:
. Contact was only 110 people this year, but
still a lot of fun (especially the hot tub). The future of Contact is still
up in the air, Chris and Julee are not going to run it next year...so who
knows? Steve
By the way Steve has written a multi page Australian trip report that is helping the fanzine become more of a reality. Now if a couple of more things come in.
--------------------------------------------
Interesting convention news:
Starting with 2001 Balticon will be moving from Easter weekend to Memorial Day weekend.
I don't really know what this says about the future of Disclave.
-----------------------------------
More convention news:
Received a note about Ga Filk from Brenda Sutton among other things it mentioned
The toastmaster is Walt Baric, ( who will be traveling in from California due to a recent relocation of the Baric household to the west coast) and Interfilk guests are the trio Puzzlebox .
------------------------------------
If you don't already have a room for Chattacon it is probably too late.
Remember the deadline for the ConCave room lottery is fast approaching.
Contact Gary Robe for a flyer which has the entry form or I will have some extra flyers at the Christmas Party.
Concave, c/o Gary Robe, PO Box 3221, Kingport, TN 37664.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rumor Killing Time:
Time to kill a silly rumor that has been in limited circulation since the Worldcon.
The San Jose bid did not go "bankrupt" neither did they use up all their budget on parties on one party.
Nor were the Torcon people evicted from their hotel due to not playing by the insane hotel corkage rules.
They took a look at the rules and the prices and they moved.
I first came across this thing in the Smofs mailing list. I decided to run corrections here just in case the rumor has floated around this part of the country.
Below is part of letter from Larry Hancock the chair of the bid committee for Toronto.
A little summary:
the Torcon people had originally been allocated Friday and Sunday night for the party. But they could not get any guarantees on what was the food and corkage situation. Whether the hotel would supply both food and beverages or if the committee could do their own food. Due to not getting a final word they decided not to do a party on Sunday night.
When in Sydney they learned that yep the hotel had to supply all food and beverages at what Larry described as ," large price and small size of all servings". They told the hotel they would not be giving their party after all.
" We made this decision because we could not see any benefit to giving
our pre-supporters money to the hotel.. it didn't make any sense at all to
line their pockets with our money. (Our decision appears to have been
confirmed by the cancellation of ConJose's Friday night party.)"
"We were later informed that our withdrawal did contribute to making the
hotel see things a bit differently and that may have assisted other parties."
"Thursday, we approached the Pacific Terrace International who bent over backwards to make us feel welcome.. they provided a large room and closedoff an attached piece of the bar for our private use. We gave them a
fixed amount of money for which they provided a LOT of food and non-alcoholic beverages. And anyone who wanted alchohol could buy it and still enjoy the party room."
"The party on the Friday night was a great success for everyone who walked the little distance to get there. One person, as they left, told us "NOW it feels like a WorldCon". "
Now on the San Jose bid party:
The bid did not go bankrupt nor did they spend all of their party funds on the one party. What did happen was that due to the highway robbery of the hotel and the skimpy food they provided Kevin Standleee decided to cancel the second party for what was in all intents and purposes an unopposed bid.
Con Jose committee ( a separate entity than the bid committee) help sponsor a Past & Future Worldcons Party, jointly hosted by four Worldcons (Bucconeer, Chicon 2000, M.Philcon, and ConJose).
I wrote a letter to Kevin Standlee who clarified for my tired brain that the Worldcon con party was funded from the budget of Con Jose whose chair is Tom Whitmore.
----------------------------------
Kevin also said in his reply about canceling the party:
Bemscribe:> also because you couldn't get a good value for money> spent because of problems with the hotel.
Kevin: "True. We could have afforded another night's party at Aussiecon Three, because our income was a little more than I expected and we had some contingency funds; however, given the way the hotel treated us, I didn't see
anything to be gained by throwing even more money at them, so I took the advice of my party team leader (Cheryl) and cancelled the second night's party. Consequently, BA2002 ended up with a larger operating surplus than I expected, and will be able to turn more money over to ConJose than was originally budgeted.".
--------------------------------------------------------------------
For a first hand report about the bids vs the hotel check out Cheryl Morgan's con report at
http://www.emcit.com/emcit049.htm
You may also want to check out her fanzine Emerald City at:
http://www.emcit.com/index.htm
---------------------------------------------------
Other Worldcon Bids
Cancún, Mexico for 2003
http://world.std.com/~sbarsky/concancun.html
-----------------------
There is a committee for the 2004 Worldcon bid for New York City.
Actually it is the NIEUW AMSTERDAM WORLDCON bid.
Some of the committee include:
Robert Sacks General Secretary
Brian Burley Executive Director & Chief Facilities Officer
Roberta Rogow Chief Bid Operations Officer
Thom Anderson Treasurer
For now, mail to Robert Sacks (4861 Broadway 5-V,
NY NY 10034-3139
And the most wildly specualted thing is if MCFI will bid for 2004,
and where???
-----------------------------------------------
Worldcon News
Pat McMurray Secretary of the Aussiecon Business Meeting
announced that the final version of the minutes is now
available after corrections and comments have been made by
Tim Illingworth, Morris Keesan, KevinStandlee, and BenYalow.
http://www.cooky.demon.co.uk/1999
----------------------------------------------
Chicon 2000
Chicon is trying to gather all the Worldcon Filk songs
or a song book titled Worldcons past.
. please send any new or old song about worldcons
tojanmagic@enteract.com or filk@chicon.org.
-----------
An interesting note with the Chicon hotels not taking reservations before February or March , with the ultimate hotel rate being unkown (though the Chicon progress report mentions that the rate will be under $ 150 for all the hotels ( some significantly lower the report says) There are people who are waiting to find out how much the rooms will cost before they make a decision to attend. And if they wait until Febrauary then they will miss out on nominating the Hugo's unles they buy a supporting membership and upgrade later.. Which is $ 40 and fourty dollars and even more for a couple and that is a lot of money. Of course a lot of truefen say you should nominate and vote and buy supporting memberships to the Worldcon every year even if you don't plan to go. This was pretty common place when a supporting membership was less than $25 .
All of this is because you must either have had a membership in the previous Worldcon or become a member of the current worldcon by January 31 st of the year of the convention to be eligible to nominate something for the Hugos .
The attending membership for Chicon right now is $150 and will go up.
Please make checks payable to Chicon 2000, and send them to
Chicon 2000 Registration
P. O. Box 642057
Chicago IL 60664
---------------------------------------------------------------
Another rumor to be killed:
Stellarcon in High Point, NC is not moving to Charlotte now
or anytime in the future.
But they are running for the DSC.
--------------------
From Ansible the results of the World Fantasy Awards:
Novel : Louise Erdrich, for TheAntelope Wife,
Novella: Ian R.MacLeod for `The Summer Isles' .
Short Story : Kelly Link, for "The Specialist's Hat'.,
Artist: Charles Vess
Special non pro: Richard Chizmar,Cemetery Dance Publications. ,
Life Achievement: Hugh B.Cave.
-----------------------------------------
Still more convention news:
--.DucKon IX June 16-18 2000 Filk Guest Murray and Cathy Porath
.Arlington park Hilton/Sheraton hotel 3400 w.euclid ave. Arlington Park , Il 60005847-394-2000$20.00
untill dec 31, 1999, $30.00 thought april 30.$40.00 at the door
.http://www.duckon.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thre famous (infamous ) Bob Embler and Outside Con Chair
( co chair? Member of Triad conspiracy?
Has a new e mail address and a new computer
( instead of a Fischer Price one)
OutSideBob@cs.com
------------------------------------------------
Gaming News:
Sometime soon the Clarksville Gamemasters guild will be
fianalizing plans for Chaos Con II.
http://www.clarksville.com/gamemastersguild/
------------------------------------------------------
Publishing News:
Warner Books has announced a novel contest for unpublished
SF & Fantasy writers. The winner will be published by
Warner Aspect which features,
"first novelists of outstanding talent and potential."
Manuscripts must be double-spaced and typed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, and they must include a business-sized self-addressed-stamped-envelope for response. Submissions must be received between Dec. 15, 1999, and June 30, 2000, and they need to include a disposable copy of a synopsis of the complete story plus the first several chapters of the manuscript (up to a maximum of 60 pages). There is a limit of one entry per person, and only finalists from the first round of judging will be invited to submit their complete manuscripts. Entries can be sent to: Warner Aspect First Novel Contest, Editorial Department, 1271 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020.
------------------------------------------------
Plug for Andre Norton's High Hallack Genre Writer's Research and Reference Library .
The library is an non profit organization and depends on donations of both money and books .
If you would like to support the Library with books,
please contact them first. ..
And since the library has its tax excempt status any donations are deductible. Make checks payable to: High Hallack, 114 Eventide Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37130.
By the way the Nashville Scene had a very nice write up about
Andre Norton and High Hallack in the November 18th issue.
------------------------------------------------------
More featured web sites:
Fannish E-Mail Directory
John Lorentz
http://www.spiritone.com/~jlorentz/email/
-------------------
http://www.fanac.org/
The Fan History Project
This site is devoted to the preservation and distribution
of information about science fiction and science fiction fandom.
fanzine, fan photos, filk songs plus convention info and other
fannish things
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://fanac.org/timebinders/
The Society for the Preservation of the History of Science Fiction Fandom, AKA the Timebinders who are working on preserving fannish history.
http://www.fanac.org/
Fan History plus archives of fanzines and convention photographs.. Definetly worth some serious browsing time.
Time binders Mailing list:
To join the Time Binders mailing list send e mail to
LISTSERV@SFLOVERS.RUTGERS.EDU
and put subscribe timebinders Firstname Lastname
in the body of the message.
Also they are always looking for any fanish memorabilia .
Contact Joe Siclari at jsiclari@gate.net about donating
to the collection.
Oh and the web site is sponsored by This site is
sponsored by the Florida Association for Nucleation And Conventions
(F. A. N. A. C.), Inc. which is sponsored by MagiCon,
the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention..
--------------------------------
Another fannish web site worth exploring is the Memory Hole site
from England. It's focus is the preservation of fanzines
and and helping wayward fanzines find their way to a good home
where they will be loved and appreciated.
It's child the Memory Hole annex is dedicated to preserving
convention publications.
Find out more about Memory Hole at http://www.gostak.demon.co.uk/ and the Memory Annex at http://www.cooky.demon.co.uk/index.html.
Plus for those seeking fanzines: You can get a sample bundle of fanzines for about $10 US .
And let them know if you want current or historical fanzines, or ones from a paticualr company or just a sample
. GREG PICKERSGILL
3 BETHANY ROW
NARBERTH ROAD
HAVERFORDWEST
PEMBROKESHIRE SA61 2XG WALES U.K
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links for the pages above can also be found at Bill Bowers : Fan Basic 101 site.
http://www.galaxy-7.net/squib/links3.html
The Fan Basic site also has links to both print and electronic fanzines, home pages of fans, reference works and convention & club listings. Also is a section entitled works which has links to some classic pieces of fan writing including :
A Sense of FAPA Edited by Richard Eney [1962; Anthology, Egoboo For Algernon by Terry Carr Fancyclopedia II from Dick Eney,
The Willis Papers ;Illustrated by ATom (Arthur Thompson)
Edited by George W. Field; Published by Ted Johnstone [August 1961 Partial]
------------------------------------------------------------
Local fan web pages
Robert Edwards
http://userweb.nashville.com/~robert.edwards/links.htm
---------------------------------------------
Allen Steele's web home has a new address:
http://www.sfwa.org/members/steele/index.html
----------------------------------------
Space Science News
Some interesting articles about the loss of Mars Polar Lander
----------
Scientist Unfazed, Even if Work Is Lost in Space
By KENNETH R. WEISS, LA Times Education Writer
About UCLA planetary scientist David Paige who hasn't had too much luck with Mars.
Paige iaccording to the article was in charge "of a $22-million package of experiments aboard the Mars Polar Lander ".
", Paige is in charge of the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor. The elaborate package of instruments includes cameras, weather sensors, a robot arm ( that should be digging ) beneath the Mars surface, and a gas analyzer to determine if the soil contains water."
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/reports/mars/lat_paige991206.htm
----------------------------
http://www.discovery.com/news/archive/news991202/brief2.html
Discovery had an article on the web before Crimson Friday about
how JPL already was already nervous about the mission.
"There are two big craters inside the landing ellipse,"
says Phil Kanoke, flight engineer.
If the Lander were to set down inside either one,
its antenna might not be able to find Earth. " hmmmm
-------------------------------------------------
Pathfinder was part of the Discovery Program.
But guess which 2 out of f3 failed missions is in the Surveyor program.
Guess which program has authority over all of the Mars missions in the next decade.
Guess who is the prime civilian contractor for all the missions.
Yep Lockheed Martin.
Of course this one may not be their fault.
If you are going to do something faster and cheaper maybe you need to do a bouncy non-elegant landings like Pathfinders?
Can you be fast and cheap and do an ultra complex landing like the one the lander should have done.
There were supposed to be a sequence of timed explosions… one to release the heat shield, another to release the Deep Space Probes. Then thrusters would have to be fired in sequence.
A friend said well it worked for Viking..well Viking had a budget in billions while the Lander had a budget in millions.
--------------------------
Some other interesting quotes…
Seven years ago, Daniel Goldin, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, introduced the space agency's new mantra: faster, better, cheaper. In May 1992, he told the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs the Mars probes: ``A project that is 20 for 20 isn't successful. That's proof we're playing it too safe.''
Later he told other NASA employees:
``With a launch a month, you could go to the cutting edge
and you could lose three or four spacecraft a year.''
http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/mars07.htm
But when you start losing them:
Ed Weiler , deputy director of NASA's Office of Space Sciences
described the loss of the $165 million spacecraft
and its two microprobes, which cost $29 million,
as a crushing blow for the Mars program, that,
could cause the next Mars launch, scheduled for 2001,
to be postponed or canceled.
``I am not convinced that we will go forward with 2001.
Right now, I have no confidence that it will be a successful mission,'' he said.
And we are not the only ones having problems:
both the Japanese and the Europeans have had set backs recently
in their space program.
---------------------------------------
Sci Fi News
Neil Gaiman confirmed that Terry Gilliam will write and direct the feature film version of Good Omens, the novel Gaiman co-authored with Terry Pratchett. From the Sci fi Wire
-----------------------------
And a report in Variety says that John Cleese has signed
an agreement with ABC to write and executive produce a
stitcom about a demon possessed law firm.
It is unknown whether Cleese will act in it or not.
--------------------------------------------------
Convention listings
http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/Web/cons.html
SF-Lovers Conventions Listing
http://scenic-city.com/sfrg/
Southern Fandom Resource Guide
---------==============----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
10 - 12
Smofcon 17
/ New Orleans Doubletree Hotel
$70 at the door
http://www.sfsfc.org/SMOFcon/
----------------------------------
15th
Chattacon 25 pre reg deadline
$30 until December today 1999, $35 until January 1, 2000
and $40 at the door. / checks payable to Chattacon 25.
Chattacon 25 PO Box 23908
Chattanooga, TN
-------------------------
December 31sst
WORLD HORROR CONVENTION 2000 prereg goes up after today.
. Membership : $75 until 12/31/99; $100 until 4/30/00;
$125 at the door. Info: WHC2000 Inc.,
PO Box 32167, Aurora, CO 80041-2167;
TRBarker@earthlink.net or EBryant330@aol.com.
----------------------
January 7th - 9th
GaFilk 2000 at the Ramada Inn Atlanta Airport South,
1551 Phoenix Blvd., College Park, GA;
For room reservations call 770-996-4321,the rooms are $69.
GoH :Margaret Middleton
$40 thereafter and at the door.
GaFilk, 2175 Lenox Rd., #B-5, Atlanta, GA 30324, 404-321-2112,
xwinger@cwix.com.
---------------------------------------------------
14-16,
Chattacon 25
http://www.chattanooga.net/ccon/
Clarion Hotel. (423) 756-5150
$40 membership at the door.
Registrations received after 1/7/2000 willnot be processed.
Be warned they require legal identification at the door.
For further information, you may contact Mike Dillson
or Zanny Leach at (770) 578-8461. No collect calls please!
info@chattacon.org or chattacon.info@mindspring.com.
------------------
21-23, 2000
CONFUSION 19100.
Van Dyke Park Suites Hotel, 31800 Van Dyke Ave., Warren, MI
810-939-2860.$30 at the door; $5 supporting.
Info: ConFusion, PO Box 8284, Ann Arbor, MI 48107; 313-487-8743;
confusion@stilyagi.org.
-----------------------------
February
18 - 20
StellarCon 24 High Point, North Carolina
http://come.to/stellarcon
Ramada Inn & Conference Center /High Point, North Carolina
Sometime in the near future the hotel will change from being a Holiday Inn to a Ramada
Same place, different name. ( well at least they let them know..
it is so much fun to call your hotel and hear
the phone answered Ramada instead of Sheraton.
And this was after keeping in steady contact with the staff...
oh we forgot to tell you.. uh .. uh)
--------------------------------------------
25-27th
Concave 21
Park Mammoth Resort, Park City, Ky; rooms are a bargain at $47 .
probably one of the reasons they have a room lottery for the hotel. . $20 until 2/13/00; $30 at the door. Info: Concave, c/o Gary Robe, PO Box 3221, Kingport, TN 37664; 423-239-3106; grrobe@preferred
---------------------------------
March 3 - 5th
Chaos Con II in Clarksville, Tn at the Austin Peay University campus.
A gaming con./ http://www.clarksville.com/gamemastersguild/conv.htm
Preregistration is $10.00 Registration at the door will be $15.00.
Dealers may contact Mike Sorensen at sorensen@rtd.com.
Chaos Con II will again include table-top and live action role-playing, miniatures, strategy and board games, collectable card games, and computer games. We will again have an anime schedule, dealers room, and the auction. Also an art show, panel rooms, and several new special events are promised.
contact bytoast@aol.com.
--------
March 3-5th
Corflu in Seattle , Washington.
-------------------------------------------------------
March 24-26 th
MILLENNICON minus one
http://www.millennicon.org
Kings Island Resort and Conference Center,
Kings Island, OH; 800-727-3050; GoH is Ben Bova.
( the person in a round about way responsible for me being in fandom ) $30 until 2/29/00; $35 at the door; Children: 6-11 $10. Children 5 & under: Free. Info: Millennicon, 143 Schloss Ln., Dayton, Oh. 45418; 513-933-0452; millennicon@mvfl.org.
---------------------------------
march 24 -26th
Mid South Con http://www.midsouthcon.org/
Memphis TN
the Sheraton Four Points Hotel at 2240 Democrat (at Airways) In Memphis, TN. The phone # is (901) 332-1130
Note: on march 1 2000 the hotel's name/franchise will be changing--
the address and phone number will remain the same,
but the sign out in front will be Holiday Inn.
The room are a flat rate of $73 per night (up to four people).
Be sure to tell the hotel that the reservation is
for the MidSouth Science and Fiction Convention or you will
get stuck with a higher room rate.
$25 until 3/1/00, and $30 at the door.
Please make your check payable to MidSouth Science
& Fiction Conventions, Inc.
Our address is:
Midsouthcon 18
P.O. Box 11446
Memphis, TN 38111-0446
---------------------------------------------------
March 31- April 2
Galaticon
Chattanooga , Tn.
-------------------------------
April 28 - 30
Parthecon , Nashville, Tn.
Days Inn Airport
Patsijean@home.com
------------------------------
April
30th
prereg for Son Of Beach Con May 19 -21, 2000
goes up after today.
----------------------------------
May 5-7
http://www.rockon.org/
-- Roc*Kon -- Little Rock, Arkansas
------------------------------
. May 11 - 14
WORLD HORROR CONVENTION 2000.
Adams Mark Hotel, Denver, Co.
. GoHs: Peter Straub, Melanie Tem, Steve Rasnic Tem,
Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczynski; EGoH: Ellen Datlow;
TM: Dan Simmons. Membership : $75 until 12/31/99;
$100 until 4/30/00; $125 at the door. Info: WHC2000 Inc.,
PO Box 32167, Aurora, CO 80041-2167; TRBarker@earthlink.net
or EBryant330@aol.com.
The Bram Stoker Awards Ceremony.
At this point, plans are coming together for
the Horror Writers Association to present the year
2000 Bram Stoker Awards at WHC2000.
http://www.horror.org/stoker.htm
--------------------
May 19 -21, 2000
The Son of BeachCon
http://www.technonet.com/~wcfrancis/flyer.htm
Deep South Con 38
Jekyll Island Inn, Jekyll Island Ga.
Jekyll Inn room rates are: Island side, $79; Ocean view,
$89; Ocean front, $99; 1-bedrroom Villa,
$119; 2-bedroom Villa, $139..
Reservations must be made by April 15, 2000,
after which the room block will be released to the public.
The hotel phone numbers are (800) 736-1046 and (912) 635-2531.
Inn phone number is 912 - 635-2531
Fen Guest of Honor : Pl Carruthers-Montgomery and Larry Montgomery
$25 from then to April 30, 2000
and $ 35 thereafter and at the door
send memberships to:
Steve Francis
5503 Matterhorn Dr
Louisville< Ky. 40216
general info: Son of Beach Con
POB 1271 Brunswick, Ga. 31521
E-mail for general information: wcfrancis@compuserve.com
E-mail for general information (here): wcfrancis@technonet.com
-----------------
Memorial Day weekend ( 26th - 28th)
Libertycon
Chattanooga, Tn (actually East Ridge)
-----------
Marcon 35
http://www.marcon.org/
Hyatt Regency
Columbus, OH
-----------------------------------------
Ditto 13 ("the Millennial Ditto")
22 to 24 September, 2000.
$30 att, $15 sup, $10 under12 until the end of this year.
Make 'em payable to NEIL KADEN.
No hotel yet, but probably near the Dallas Galleria.
Contact info:
Ditto #13 c/o CircleNK
801 Timberwood Circle
Fairview, TX 75069-9183
972-569-6899
http://www.circlenk.com/ditto13.htm
kaden@alum.mit.edu
http://www.circlenk.com/ditto/index.htm
The Web of Ditto
back to the Nashville clubs page
to the Pookha Lair