The next meeting of the Club With No Name February 11, 1998 6 pm early arrival 6:30pm business meeting 7 pm Chattacon Slides ( Thanks to RJ) After the meeting meeting Rotiers Lee Billings is having a Chocolate Decadence Party February 21 Bring a chocolate dish to share Call Lee at 889 - 5951 This is going to be a long flyer without a lot of fun stuff such as book reviews and con reports. Most of it is housekeeping or club keeping. Some of the stuff that needs to be discussed when bringing a new entity to life.(sigh) And it does tend to ramble. Sorta wanders like my mind does sometime. Does anyone know where to acquire a tether for the mind. But before we get to the business stuff there is the news: Most of stuff at the meeting concerned the club. But, other chat included plans for the chili bash ( oh the pain, the pain) Chattacon and the ConCave room lottery. On the Boston for Orlando World Con bid. The latest news is that the Boston for Orlando bid has chosen the Swan/Dolphin at Disney World for the facilities. Check out their web site at http://world.std.com/~sbarsky/b2001.html Not really a correction more of an amplification... Susan Stockell pointed out that Arthur Clarke is now Sir Arthur Clarke. See the Ansible section.( Ps well actually the knighting ceremony has not been held ..bem scribe) Local Fan news.. Charlie Williams is the latest ailing fan. He is once again suffering from a recurring leg circulation problem. You can send well wishes to Charlie at either : cswill@aol.com or 1415 A Russell St. Nashville, Tn 37206 This is by the way of Uncle Timmy and from Sharon Green herself at sharongreen@worldnet.att.net Sharon has been selling Diana Santee #3, Tanderon, from her web site http://www.integritytech.com/sharong.html. During what she termed a computer crisis several of her fans got together and presented her with a new computer system., "I nearly fell over from the shock. I never expected anything so wonderful," she said. Also, in a couple of weeks she will be offering one copy of the pageproofs of Book Three of The Blending for auction. Details will follow. More good news...from Sharon: Sharon ‘s entire backlist will be reprinted some time soon. - An interesting art show to check out : Landscape Vision: Works of Charles Brindley at the Tennessee State Museum through March 1. Not really sf or fantasy but worth the look for his use of color and composition. almost a fantasy landscape with out the fantastic beings. If you know of an interesting art exhibit, please let me know. Other Fannish News More on Donna Pass From a friend Jane VentersDike: Donna was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago. She went through several rounds of chemo but nothing worked. It never spread but it refused to go away. She taught up until Thanksgiving this school year. (Yeah, everyone thinks that is amazing.) For the last 9+ months she was carrying an oxygen tank around everywhere because her lung function was so bad. At the end she was on mask O2 push 90%. I flew over the week of Christmas to see her and at that time I knew she was not going to see the new year. She died Christmas Eve (between Anna's birthday and Christmas---good timing to the end----). She died peacefully and ready. All prayers are accepted for Randel , the boys, Liza, and Anna. We have set up a Memorial page at our web site. Go leave stories and messages about Donna there. Send card to Randel and the boys at: 131 Penn Station, Savannah,Ga. 31410. Thank you for your care, Jane Convention News.. The Parthecon web site is alive...http://posiedon.tnstate.edu/Parthec Joe Haldeman is the GoH, Mark Maxwell the Artist GoH, Andrew J. Offutt Master of Ceremonies Membership: $25 before March 20th. $30 after and at the door. Half price for age 7-11, under 6 years old -- free. Send memberships to: Parthecon XXVI c/o Patricia Clements 710 Emily Drive Goodlettsville, TN 37072 for more information call (615) 851-2059 or email patsijean@msn.com The hotel: Days Inn just off Briley Parkway near the airport. Planning to throw a party?? Then ask to be placed in building 3 where dealers, art, and gaming were at Kubla 25. ROOM RATES ARE $58.00 PLUS TAX PER NIGHT FOR 1-4 OCCUPANTS. RATE IS GUARANTEED through MARCH 20, 1998. Mention you are with Parthecon to get the special rate. ConCave is at the end of this month. The room lottery has been held. Memberships are now $ 15 (best bargain in fandom) till February 13th (which is a Friday) they go up to the whopping sum of 20 bucks after that. The con s Feb. 27th- March 1 at the Shining Hotel AKA Park Mammoth Resort in the scenic big city of Park City, Ky. Send those big bucks to : ConCave c/o Gary Robe POB 3221 Kingsport, Tn. 37664 MidSouthCon is next month . Their memberships are $25 now and go up to $30 after March 1. Yeah it is going to be held in that casino again. And make that room reservation before March 1( to ensure availability) the flyer says. POB 11446, Memphis, Tn. 38111 is the address. Little Screen Big Screen news... From sci fi wire..The ending of the movie "Sphere" based on the Michael Crichton’s book of the same name is being reshoot. Supposedly because it didn’t "test well ". The X Files in February will have scripts by Stephen King and William Gibson. Chris Carter the X Files creator is the co writer with King on the story " Chinga". The episode will air this Sunday. February 8th. Disney/Pixar have the sequel to Toy Story coming out next November. Bug Story features a blue ant known as Filk. Hmmmm! The January issue of Ansible included: speculation on whether Sir Arthur Clarke was the first sf author knighted for his literary achievements. David Brin possibly embarrassing himself in the Los Angles Times. A very humorous report on the B5 academic conference. News that Eugene Shoemaker’s remains will be on the moon when the Lunar Prospector crashes there sometime next year. And the 1997 Mythopeic Award winners. Ansible may be skipping a couple of issues in 1998 due to the hospitalization of his dad and cash flow difficulties. Hope that everything looks brighter soon for Dave. To receive _Ansible_ monthly via e-mail, send a message to ... Majordomo@imi.gla.ac.uk ... containing the sole text: subscribe ansible The problem of the Chili Bash The former Nashville Science Fiction Club had a long standing tradition of holding a chili dinner in February. It was always very popular..it was like church at Christmas. So far it seems people want to have it, but where and when are the big questions. The possibilities are: Have it in February. Valentines weekend is out due to many conflicts The last weekend is ConCave. Sunday the February 22 is open. Have it on a Wednesday night as part of a B5 party.(at a members house) postpone it to March. Where to have it. Someone’s house. The library meeting room...the library is open Sunday afternoon. Someplace else. If you cant come to the meeting, but might want to come to the chili bash (especially if you bring chili) call me at 292-1306 (leave a message) or e mail at dah2@hotmail.com and let us know what you think. The first meeting of the new club..went well. Most of us really liked our new home . The major drawback is the early starting time and the traffic in the congested Green Hills Mall area. Also Susan Stockell passed along that someone commented that the location favored the west Nashville area and why not consider the Donelson library. It is off the Briley Pky exit on Lebanon Rd. Susan e mailed this info. "By the bye, I spoke with Gloria Coleman at the Donelson branch library. They have a room that seats about 40-50 people. It's available on: the 1st Tuesday, the 4th Tuesday, the 1st Monday, and the 3rd Monday. They're open till 8pm, and there are restaurants All Over The Place. The closest is sort of right across Lebanon Rd.: Mama Taori's. When it rains it pours: Collector’s World dropped us a note about meeting there for free. But and it is a big one..the space is in a corner of the store. No privacy for business meetings . There was some discussion at the meeting that it would be a nice site for a program that would draw a lot of people and act as a way to recruit new people. Robert Edwards who is familiar with the store noted that we need to stay away on the nights the new comics come in. The store also has a very large section of collectible sci fi media stuff. Including a lot of cool and rare Star Wars stuff. There is something to consider... Several of the libraries are open on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. We could rotate the informal group ( no business discussions allowed) to the different libraries. We can have munchies , as noted elsewhere, at the Green Hills Library. Now for the good stuff about the Green Hills library. It is in a central location of a fairly upscale neighborhood. Parking is right in front. No long treks up a poorly lit hill. There is only the one meeting room; just to the right as you enter. It is only $ 5 month. The library is happy that we are there. The room is big enough to accommodate a much larger group. It is clean. We can bring in munchies as long as we keep them in our room and clean up after ourselves. The room has a real screen for watching slides. There are a lot of possible after the meeting places nearby. (But then, we could consider having the after the meeting meeting some place closer to the east side of town as another compromise) Davis Kidd and Dad’s Used Books are both within a couple of blocks of the library. Which could either be positive or a negative considering the lack of restraint some sf fans have around books, especially Davis Kidd. Also, if you have the time you can stop by Bookman in Hillsboro village while it is still there. Or go shopping in Green Hills Mall and laugh at the prices in Castner Knott like Anita did. The early time actually has a lot of advantages. Going to eat at 8:30 and getting home by 10 pm is a vast improvement over eating at 10pm and home by 11:30. (Sigh we are getting to old) On the Name game: Yep we are still the club with no name but we have received a lot of suggestions: TennSF, suggested by Allen Steele who wishes he could be there (uh huh)but was pondering on how life sucks as he was preparing to celebrate his 40th birthday in Dominica (poor Allen)we were so appreciative of Allen’s sincere wishes that we decided to honor him some how. We first bandied about making him president or even dictator. Concerned he really could show up at a meeting we reconsidered and in light of many members exclaiming "he cant be that old" and variations thereforth it was decided by acclimation to name him "Juvenile Delinquent" Emeritus. Others include: Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society, which is the front runner. This could be a name that would go below another name , for instance. Psi Phi Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society Or for the informal party meetings Psi Phi would be listed in larger letters and for the regular business meeting Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society would be on top and Psi Phi in smaller letters below. Yes, all the meetings will be under the auspices of the one club. But, it would be nice to have a way to emphasize the difference between the two. Cumberland Valley Science Fiction Club, John Hollis had a suggestion from his friend Steve Meade of which I ‘am only giving the initials..TSFCFC..if you want to know what they stand for ask John. I am saying this because let us just say the name is sort of an obscene joke. One of the oddest was the Nashville Cemetery Appreciation Society Nashville Chapter founded in the hereafter. The following were submitted by Sherry Norris: The Volgarian Poetry Appreciation Society. This is too narrow and the only people who appreciate Volgarian poetry are Volgarians. ( or those that are in fear of their lives..BS) The Psi Phi Chapter of the Gallactic Encyclopedia Explorers.(smart little puppy lamb ) At one time the " marriage of two clubs" popped out and everyone liked that as an description of what we are trying to do with the clubs. It is a phrase and not a name nomination. Of course, some people probably believe it is some type of tainted spawn of an unholy union. We don’t care. We just want to have fun. Actually I sorta like Psi Phi Spawn of The Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society For the newsletter Suggested name was: Kronos I cant remember any others... Suggested logos or mascots: Greek letters for psi phi, a blue tick hound, an owl was suggested but Susan said she would like to see us get away from bird mascots ( this would go with the Athena greek motif) a weathervane with a spaceship, hour glass with sand flowing upward, rocket ship in the shape of a geritol bottle- reece 25 hour clock Present at our first meeting were a couple we hadn’t seen in a long time Robert Edwards and Pat James. John Hollis, Lee Billings, Anita Feller, Susan , me, and Ray Jones also were on hand. Dan Caldwell was missing due to Courtney" Fran " Bray having a car wreck. A young kid rear ended her on Briley parkway. Happily Fran and car came through the ordeal mostly ok. Mark Edward’s is sitting in on a jazz program on WRVU through the spring semester. Ray Jones has agreed to be our acting treasurer till we have elections.( And probably will continue afterward.)So far, I am the newsletter editor. Lee Billings has volunteered to wrangle the database into shape. Money was also an issue .. it always is. Due to sending 3/4ths of the mailing by e mail, and the space just costing $5, we actually had a surplus. We are considering charging $ 6 per year to receive the newsletter if you cant attend the meetings.Of course getting it through e mail is free. On to other stuff.... A decision needs to be made on the officers. So far we have a treasure and newsletter editor. So we may need/want: President, chair being or whoever is in charge of the meeting.( Head Fool) Being or Beings in charge of programming. A suggestion has been made to either draw from a hat for next months program or select whoever isn’t at the meeting to come up with the program next month.Of course, we are up the proverbial creek without a ladder if they don’t show up the next month either. We need to think about publicity. The publicity for the club will come out after we have everything settled. Lee has volunteered to create a sign for the club. The membership roster will probably be a joint effort between the treasure, newsletter editor and the database keeper. We may have a group of people to help keep track of birthdays, and other personal stuff. I still like the idea of someone acting as guide/ greeter to newbies. We had Rickey Shepard doing this at the WKU SFS. I received a comment from someone about how having a greeter reminded them of WalMart. But we have to remember that a lot of new people coming to the meeting may love science fiction but not have clue about science fiction fandom. Less face it; fandom is similar to a tribal society with its own ways and language. The guide could act not only as a welcome committee but also explain sf conventions , fanzines ect to the newcomer. The club may wish to consider investing in copies of the NeoFans Guide . It is something to think about. I know how to get them, through the Kansas City SF group. More on programming Lee Billings has volunteered to do a filk presentation at Collector’s World. Robert Edwards mentioned bringing in some of the other groups such as the Star Trek clubs and the SCA. All of us agreed it was a jolly idea. Anita mentioned we need to check out the Amateur Rocket Society in Huntsville to see if they are still interested in doing a program. Lee mentioned having a night devoted to book reviews which bought about an admission from one person they hadn’t read a sf book in over a year.. Then, another also admitted that due to over work, and the lure of the tv plus other activities ,they hadn’t read a novel in over a year. Of course, can you be a sf fan and not read sf could be a program. A long time ago at a kubla I was reading an sf book until Cliff Amos came along and admonished me saying that real fans don’t read sf at conventions.. then some one else chimed in with real sf fans don’t read sf. Books on tape were discussed and peirls of them. A story was told how someone driving to Little Rock was in the midst of listening to Diane Duane’s " Dark Mirror"( a Star Trek book I believe) when the tape reach an interesting part just as the turn off sneaked passed... they were miles passed the exit before they realized what happened. Sigh finally at the end... bye Back to home
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