/head>
Kronos July Newsletter of the Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society
This in updated , corrected and complete July newsletter.
About a third of the earlier one was missing and some didnt go out at all.
Sorry for the inconvience.
Want to contact the bemscribe .
Call 292 - 1306
e-mail bemscribe_too@hotmail.com
Snail mail: Bemscribe / D A Hussey
115 38th Ave. N . Nashville, Tn 37209
=============================
Check out the Pookha's pages of the Fantastic at http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/
Just got done with adding a lot of new stuff.
Especially to the two convention pages http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/sf_cons.html
and http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/sf_tn.html.
Both of them now have links to Dept of Transportation web sites
were you can find out about road way conditions, plus weather links
and a link to the Southwest Airline on line reservation page.
=================================================================
Contents in order:
Information about the next meeting
Program : convention slides
News about Roger Sims (updated)
Plans for the club picnic
Club officers
Special Notes on Upcoming Cons
Conventions in the past:
Special Request from Inconjunction, Midwest Con Review and Dan Caldwell's Westercon report.
WorldCon News:
Info on rules to be voted on in Australia,
not too late to vote, San Jose only real bid for 2002?
Fan News
Bill Paynes mother gueen of the festival, Fan Anniversaries , Lee Billings in Houston
Author news
About Stephen King's recovery (updated) and Sharon Green has some good news.
Misc. Interesting Stuff
Minutes fleeting from the past:
The Calendar
With upcoming conventions plus cutoff dates, Nashville stuff
plus an update with a change in location for
the Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem Picnic
=========================================================================
The next meeting is JULY 14TH (Yeah, Yeah it's late: the first was on a Thursday)
That is this Wednesday.
The gathering of the fen starts at 6 PM.
Business meeting at 6:30 p and program at 7pm.
The place the Green Hills Public Library which 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
==============--------------------------------------------===========================
The program this month.. will be RJ's slides of Parthecon and Libertycon.
.so come prepped in your best MST3k mode.
Next month in honor of the upcoming worldcon (which none of locals are going to.. bo ho) will be ..
Who would you pick to be a guest of honor at the World Con and why.
Do you think it is a good idea to limit the honor only to authors who have
been writing SF for at least 30 years.
Or should it be 20 years or no guideline at all dealing with how
long they have been writing SF.
For a possible what if??
Say Tom Reamy had lived for ten more years and had published several more books
the quality of " Blind Voices". If you knew he was seriously ill and would not be around
for another 10 years would you make an exception??
The meeting next month is Wednesday August 11th.
---=======-----=====-----=======-------========-----===
news about Roger Sims and how surgery went..
If you noticed if Roger wasn't there very much for the beginning of Midwest Con
it was because he was undergoing a series of tests about his heart.
After many tests the doctor finally decided he did have some blockage
and is scheduled for a triple by-pass operation on Friday the 9th.
If I don't hear anything before the newsletter goes to print
I will put an update on the web version probably by Monday.
Send good will messages to:
Roger & Pat Sims
34 Creekwood Square
Glendale OH 45246
Or their e mail address at: 73473.2247@compuserve.com
Lots of thanks to Bill Bowers is acting as sort of "Update Central"
and for passing along info about Roger.
Be nice if Roger is up and around by Rivercon..
Steve Francis needs somebody to keep him in line. (grin)
--------------------------------------------------------
Updated Monday July 12th
This is a slightly condensed version of an email sent by Bill Bowers.
An earlier e mail from Bill also noted there is a chance that Roger
and Pat may still make it to the Worldcon.
Australia watch out.
------------
From
Bill Bowers to the Timebinders Mail List and others))
I visited Roger at the hospital this afternoon.
Well, to be more accurate, I had a nice long conversation with Pat at the
hospital this afternoon, while Roger napped!
Pat said that Roger seems a little more "groggy" today than yesterday, but
I recall from my own experience that there is a very definite up 'n down
"cycle" during post-op recovery. Plus Pat mentions that Roger is still on
super-strength pain medication, and as that is decreased.... Roger is,
other than being tethered to the nasal oxygen thingie (oh
tech-speak-babble, fail me now!) -- un-tubed, although his neck area looks
like a poorly-designed Trill. He has taken several walks, and when he was
up to conversing, totally understandable.
He's still a bit "puffy", but his color is good, and the bandages have been
removed from his left arm, whence they took one of the necessary veins for
the by-pass. (There, and his upper chest; none from his thighs/legs, which
will help with the recovery.) Pat's current "guess" is that he'll be sent
home Wednesday, rather than Tuesday -- but in either case I find it remarkable.
Obviously there is an extended recovery period ahead for Roger, but is does
appear that the operation was a total success, and now it's just a matter
of time, therapy and exercise. (Easy for me to say, eh?)
Bill Bowers |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The club picnic will be August 21st at Laguardo Recreation Area on Old Hickory Lake.
We have the pavilion again this year.
(Thanks a lot to the park officials at the Old Hickory main office and Laguardo..
and not at all to the non customer service people at Reservation America)
The site is almost smack dab in between Gallatin and Lebanon.
We will be sending out more detailed directions soon.
There is a swimming area with sandy beach.
The club will be providing some stuff but since this is a potluck picnic bring something to share.
============================================================================
Club Officers
She who must be obeyed ( yes I am stealing that from "Rumpole of the Bailey" so..)
.Anita Feller president
Our money man and club photographer is Ray Jones .
Robert Edwards, Pat James and a cast of ones come up with some of our programming.
.(they must look at the newsletter and wonder how my programming got so messed up..
oh no.. ouch ouch.. ok I will be good (( for about a paragraph ( grin hee , hee)
and of course Bemscribe as the pookha
For back issues of the newsletter go to http://www.oocities.org/area51/dimension/4242/clubs.html
Ghosts of Conventions Past:
Inconjunction
Went to Inconjunction this year. They want to hear from you:
"Did any of your people make it to Inconjunction this year? If so, any
feedback would be appreciated."
Andy Andrews
andya@indy.net
===================================================================
Convention Review
Midwest Con
One on of the largest contingents ever of Nashville fen attended the 50th Midwest Con/
FanHistoricon 9.
Ken Moore led the way by flying his truck to the Blue Ash.
Dan, Anita, Tom and I came in the next wave with John Hollis and Charlie Williams arriving later.
Most of the time the trip for us was pretty eventful.
That is if you don't count silly fools who are tired of living pulling out of dead stop
on the shoulder of the interstate directly into traffic without looking..
directly in front of us. Of course, this happened just as I dozed off just
to be awakened by the car swerving sharply to the left
and the sight of a car appearing to sit still in the middle of the interstate lane.
Of course, there were the road barricades that appeared without warning
(ahh somebody makes TDOT look good)
The funky OTIS road system that Ohio uses (what interstate construction)
anyway we made it up in one piece and actually found the hotel even though
Dan left the map in the trunk.
And me made an obligatory stop to get powerball tickets.
Even Tom Feller who is one of the most level headed people I know purchased a ticket..
ahh the lure of easy money .. an obscene amount of money at that.
We knew we were there because there was the Bob Evans with the Blue Ash Hotel tucked behind it.
I had heard the Blue Ash had been remodeled.. sometimes this isn't an improvement.
When the others were checking in into the hotel I headed around the corner
to the site of last years cons suite.
Well the room was there but the room wasn't the same.
Gone was the very handy bar with its sinks and fridges.
Plus the atmosphere seemed changed, the light was now bright and harsh.
In place of the bar was a row of counters along the back wall. One tiny sink and no fridge at all.
I found out later this was only one of a number of reasons why
the Midwest people were no longer happy as they had been with the hotel.
I sort of seen some of this before. A hotel getting gussied
(the Blue Ash not only redid some of their function space and changed their color scheme
they put up a lot of frilly curtains)
up and renovated often isn't good news for fans.
The rates often go up, the function space you loved is no longer usable
or sometimes even there, their banquet managers pressure you to have more food functions
and sometimes, mostly without cause,
they look as fans as scruffy visitors who will scratch up their nice place.
But I came to Midwest con to see people not for the hotel.
Right away I ran into people I knew. The Chalkers were there and Eva had David's prom pictures.
Yep prom.. and David is heading off to college this fall..
I Hope this makes some of you feel as old as I do.
Steve Francis was there and Sue would be coming later.
Talked a little to Steve during the weekend but almost every time I saw Sue
she was engrossed in a game of Wizard.
Dick and Nicki Lynch were there and I would like to report the rumors of the demise
of Mimosa were premature.. There will be at least two more issues after it is
just wait and see. Dicks travels to Eastern Europe a lot for the US government
that has to do with trade promotion not to large industries but rather to emerging small businesses.
And this is demanding more and more of his time plus, as he pointed out to Mike Resnick in a later conversation.. whenever Resnick wins a Hugo it will increase his earnings. Every time Mimosa wins a Hugo it costs them more money since more people want a copy of it.
Pat and Naomi were there. Pat was saying once again that I needed to contribute
to the upcoming anniversary issue of Kappa.
I also learned Naomi was not going to do a party ( drats no cheesecake.. no chicken nummy thingees)
She learned later that two parties had changed nights because they didn't want to be up against
one of her parties.
(ps nummy is yummy to a greater power)
Oh yeah somewhere in here I registered for the convention.
And Dick Spelman asks a simple but for me difficult question..
how many Midwest cons had I been to. See they were putting color stars on your badge
to signify how many you had attended. I was like oh no I have to pass a test to register.
And it isn't easy to remember. I attended my first Midwest con in my first year in fandom.
It was the year of the Holidome were Ken Moore and Cliff Amos pranced around in purple bikinis
complete with cummerbund.
I went to several more Midwest cons in a row and then I missed several years.
That pretty much set up a pattern till now.
I sorta came up with between 8 and 11 for an answer.
Tom Feller had the easiest time answering since this was his first Midwest con.
A little later on Joel Zakem and Corliss asked if I wanted to go out to dinner.
The offer was tempting but I decided I needed to wait and see what the gang of four wanted to do.
Mostly so I could act as navigator and keep Anita amused.
Joel had suggested the most intriguing place.
A restaurant that was a combination of French pastry shoppe ,
South American and Mediterranean cuisine.
So we decided to try Mayas out. When we arrived we found a very busy place in a strip mall.
There already a table full of fen that included Joel and Corliss put the Lynches and several others.
All of the rest of the tables were full too. So we headed outside to wait and I decided to take a little walk. That's when I discovered playing ying the pastry filled restaurant was a weight wathcers office.
We finally got seated only to learn that they were out of a lot of the dishes. including the El Boliviano called a taste tour of Bolivia that was going to order.. sigh.. Well after taking that great leap I fell back on the safe choice of the Cobb salad, Anita had of all things meatloaf, while I forgot what Tom and Dan had but do remember that everyone liked their food once it got there… because the it took a very longgg time for the food to come out. ( I later heard this was unusual ).
The biggest disappointment of all things was the pastry.
Both Anita and I got chocolate eclairs and darn it the thing was cold..
it almost tasted as if it had been frozen and was thawing out.
But for all I know this may be some type of northern summer thing, sigh.
Anyway we went back to hotel and the gang of four split apart to check out parties:
On Friday night Frank and Millie had a skiffy party
and Julee and Chris Tate had a party for the con that used to be known as Contact.
Spent a lot of time at both parties chatting with people
and I actually survived a dose of the skiffy punch.
The major topics of the weekend (besides the usual finding out what everybody had been up to)
centered on the 2002 WorldCon race and plans for attending the Australian WorldCon.
(it appeared that about half of the fans at Midwest were going ..
maybe someone will send a trip report )(hint..hint..)
Rumors and idle speculation about whether Rosewell would or could become
a real full-fledged bid were flung about.
Actually having the con is Albuquerque was banded about.
All you could get out of Bruce Pelz was something about having San Jose
honcho Keven Standlee and proposed fan guest of the Rowewell
bid taken away by a flying saucer and then later returned.
But Bruce did sell a lot of pre supporting memberships.
Onto Saturday morning.. almost at the last minute I decided to attend the Breakfast Banquet.
Mike Resnick was acting as toastmaster because Bob Tucker had just recently sent
word he couldn't make it. (the master of ceremonies curse strikes again..
so far I believe Resnick is still ok..)
I sorta gathered before the banquet that Pat Sims wasn't to thrilled with the hotel.
Part of hit had to do with the remodeling of the room for the con suite.
Soon I would learn of another reason.
The breakfast had been scheduled for the atrium but instead was moved
to a very narrow space nearby thanks to preparations for a wedding
that was to take place there later in the day.
Resnick was very good, the food was ok, but the company was enjoyable.
After the banquet I eventually made my way to the dealers room which
as usual was full of lot SF books. But for once being in a weird mood
and not seeing anything that just leapt off the table saying take me home
I decided not to buy anything. After all I already gave money to Larry Smith at Libertycon.
As Saturday went on I had started to worry about Andy and Jodie Offutt
because I knew they had planned on coming. Went by the con suite and there they were.
Due to being according to Jodie a " good patient" and mostly obeying his doctors
Andy has made a remarkable recovering since his surgery and scare in the Spring.
It was really good to see them again.
Andy was in rare form as he told people about how the experience has changed him.
Personally I believe the Andy of the last 12 years ago has been evolving
over the Andy about 20 years ago.
Over the years he has become a more cheerful and easier person to be around.
But he was definitely in high chipper form.
Well Jodie is Jodie and she seems to have held up rather well through all of this.
Which is with her good spirits intact.
On Saturday afternoon I did something I thought I would never do at MidWest Con.. go to a panel.
Well technically it wasn't MidWest con but rather the before mentioned FanHistoricon 9
which was happening within MidWestcon.
I went to a panel on myths and legends which had Roger Sims , Jack Chalker and Howard de Vore on it.
We saw a brochure for the first MidWestCon site, which was a resort on a lake,
and we marveled at the prices .
I also heard what was supposed to be the definitive version of several myths and legends
including the one with Harlan, a water balloon and a fan breaking down a door to get a Harlan.
(it wasn't a water ballon for one thing.. it was a paper bag full of water
.. need to check my own notes more carefully)
The new part I learned that has always been left out in the versions I heard
was that Harlan was on one side of the door and the enraged fan was on the other
but didn't try to break down the down until Harlan rolled a firecracker underneath the door.
Then the fan got pissed enough to break the door down.
Harlan was saved by Lynn Hickman who put Harlan out on ledge and then to a fire escape.
Leigh Brackett was said to be John Wayne's favorite screenplay writer
and that she would tell people when she came back to Midwest
that she came to Ohio to get sane and to Hollywood to get paid.
A story that Ken Moore may have found interesting if he had been at the panel
was one about an Electra Lockheed and a fan.
The Electra Lockheed was known to have some problems.
The nervous fan made the mistake of asking the pilot about this.
The pilot told him that the plane was wonderful to fly, very smoooth.
It just had this one little problem that every once in awhile a wing would fall off.
One of the major activities going on during the con was a group of fans that belong
to the Timebinders organization, which is dedicated to preserving fannish history,
were busily scanning photos, fanzines and other printed fannish memorabilia into computer form.
As interesting as the panel was I just got so sleepy..
brain couldn't convince the body that it didn't need a nap.
Body replied heh.. Saturday afternoon at MidWest con is when you are supposed to nap to
get ready for Saturday night. There weren't as many parties this year as usual for the con.
Possibly due to the 2002 bid running almost unopposed and the possibility that
the CanCun bid for 2003 is slowly fading out.
There was a very nice Torcon party complete with beer that I thought was good
a cream ale from a Microbrewry in Toronto.
Lloyd Penny mentioned that even some people in Toronto didn't know about some of the beers.
Anita and some of the others sort of warmed up to the bid when
I pointed out to them Toronto is actually farther south than some parts of the US.
( a small story that doesn't have anything to do with the bid or fans but Toronto plays a part.
Last summer a plane flew from Nashville to Toronto.
It was supposed to pick up a new crew , more fuel and head back home.
Well, it didn't make it back until the next day. What happened was that one
of the flight attendants came on board to do some prep work and rushed off the plane screaming.
She let them no she would not fly to a place that harbored such creatures,
as was on the plane. What was it. Nothing but a harmless green bodied, golden winged,
red eyed cicada. )
Spent the rest of night wandering between the party the con suite and our room for little breaks.
The party closed early and stayed up fairly late before turning in.
Before we left I had one of my occasional bright ideas
and asked if there was another way out of town, which there was.
Good thing since as we headed out we ran into a driving rain storm.
But we eventually made it back home after buying more lottery tickets and I discovered mallo candy cups.
======================================================================
Dan Caldwell's Westercon Report
Back in April, I just missed getting into a writing workshop that Dean Smith and Kathryn Rausch
started on the Oregon coast. However, every year at Westercon, they put on a 2 day Conference
called the Dean and Kris Show. It's mostly lots of useful information a new professional writer
needs to know. They are not only authors, but have been editors
( F&SF and other things) and publishers ( PulpHouse ).
So we get a view of the publishing industry from all angles.
In May. I was looking at the Westercon web site and the con had decided to hold writer's workshops
during the con - manuscripts critiques and all that good stuff.
Suddenly I was interested in going.
This year Westercon was held in Spokane Washington.
It's in the EASTERN part of the state. I checked the Southwest Airlines web site and they had a $99 fare
each way. BUT you have to change planes in Seattle and the only connection occurs at 1pm in the afternoon
. Oh well, it's cheap.
I buy membership, plane tickets and hotel room.
The main hotel is sold out already, but I get in the overflow for $20 less per night.
I can stand that.
So of course I'm running late Wednesday morning and do not have time to buy a sandwich
to eat on the plane. Southwest saves lots of money by feeding you only peanuts.
I starve, I sleep, I gaze blankly out the window. I am NOT alert.
Oh yeah, clouds all the way, no scenery.
The plane is 45 min. late leaving Nashville so they can remove some freight
to avoid having to make a gas stop in...Spokane. I get to Seattle just in time to board the Spokane
flight that is thankfully at the gate next to the one I arrive on.
Otherwise the flight was uneventful. If anything interesting happened, I slept through it.
Spokane, cool, dry, partly sunny. I have gone from 90 degrees & 90 per cent humidity, to 60 / 60.
Is even less of a downtown than Chattanooga. The only modern buildings appear to be the hotels along
a river walk similar to the one in Austin. But this one has a real walk, with the buildings
set back from a tree line river bank. Very nice.
I find the workshop and walk in suitcases and all. It's 2 pm there and 4 by my watch.
The evening session starts at 9pm my time and last 2 hours.
We dissect the plotting in BACK TO THE FUTURE. Out about 11:15. Into the hotel bar next door.
Several fans and con com also there. Three beers later, I feel much better.
Or maybe just feel less of anything. Back to my room and bed.
The morning session starts at 10am local time and find out lots of interesting stuff.
. Like a new author can expect a $3,000 - $10,000 advance that should cover about half of the print run.
If you want to heavily promote your books out of your own profit, do it on the SECOND book,
so that its sales are higher than book one. It's the authors and agents that make
most of the money in the publishing business, not the publishers.
( this is based on their PulpHouse experience I think)
New York publishers didn't discover the PC until 1995 or so.
One of the reasons for the smaller print runs, is that now they know EXACTLY
how many books an author is selling. And for most authors, advances are based
on the previous book's sales. Being a big name doesn't get you an automatic big advance any more.
It's not like you get to the $100,000 advance level and stay there.
For various reasons, you may sell one novel for $100,00 and the next for $10,00.
An author's income can vary enormously from one year to the next.
The con which starts on Friday has about 2,000 people and feels like a small worldcon.
I had a manuscript critique Fri and Sat at 10am. My short story survived fairly well.
I need to lop off the first 8 pages, but relatively few other changes are needed.
Another writer, 'Weinstein' I think, had a story THE PRICE OF EYES, that I liked a lot.
I don't have his name down, because I didn't realize I was supposed to give my copy
of his manuscript back.
Budrys does not mince words. If it's bad he tells you in polite but blunt language.
He told 'Weienstein' that "You write beautifully. If you stay with it, you have
a great future in this field." I wonder if he has his feet back on the ground yet?
Found the con suite, bheer, and the filk in that order after dinner a little after 7pm.
Only one filker I recognized.
Heard only one song each night I was familiar with..
Essentially the same schedule on Sat. The novel got shredded.
Cardboard characters, talking heads, info dump, etc.
Back to the drawing..er, type..oh yes, word processor.
I didn't go to many parties because I didn't know anyone there
except Scott & Jane Dennis and Janice Gelb. All were quite surprised to see me.
Scott and I passed each other on the river walk about midnight, thinking "That looks just like..
No, it couldn't be."
I had to leave early (9 am) on Sunday because Southwest had NO cheap seats left for Monday.
With the time change I didn't get back to the house till nearly 8 pm.
So I missed about half the con. What I saw I liked and am thinking of attending some more Westercons.
***************************************************************
Australian WorldCon news:
Guess what it is not too late to vote for the Hugos and the site for the 2002 WorldCon.
To vote for site selection:
There are bid forms on the convention web site.
They can either be downloaded in PDF, which is the preferred format for submission.
To print the form you need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader or printed from the html version.
A couple of notes if you want to vote for the WC site:
You must be a real person and not a club. You must either be
a supporting or attending member of Aussiecon Three.
You have to pay a voting fee. (Which is $30 US and is advance supporting membership fee).
This means you will become a supporting member of the 60th WorldCon, whoever wins.
Mail your ballot paper and voting fee to:
If voting by mail, ballot papers must be received by August 15, 1999.
AUSTRALIA60th WorldCon Site Selection
PO Box 12534
Cincinnati OH 45212
----------------
Hugo ballot:
You can also download The Hugo ballot in either in pdf or html from the Aussie Con 3 website.
The deadline for the Hugo ballot to be received in Australia is 13 August 1999.
Yep a different deadline than for the site selection.
But unlike the site selection you can fax the ballot.
fax to: +61 3 9639 1511 (011-61-3-9639-1511 from North America).
If you send in the ballot after July 30th you better count on faxing it.
Also write your name and membership number (if known)
at the bottom of each page you send by fax. Faxed ballots must be signed
(unsigned computer generated faxes are not valid).
Mail your ballot to:
1999 Hugo Awards, PO Box 12096, A'Beckett St,
Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.
Oh yes, you must either be an attending or a supporting member of the Australia worldcon
to vote for either the Hugo's or the site selection. Currently a supporting membership
is $45 until July 31st. This may mean it needs to be there by the 31st.
( oh yeah and if you want the stuff to get there before 2000 it needs to be airmailed)
Guy Lillian is urging voters to vote for Ian Gunn for best fan artist for the Hugo.
( sounds good to me)
======================================================
The Rosewell Bid for 2002.
Yep there was some interesting speculation about this bid .
And you can still presupport it for just $5.00
Make the checks out to Bid Chairman, Liz Mortensen, and mail them directly to her at:
Liz Mortensen
12746 Adelphia Avenue
Sylmar, California 91342
roswell2002@oocities.com
=========================================
As some of you already know the San Francisco bid has been withdrawn by the Bay Bid
people since they lost the Argent Hotel and wouldn't have had enough hotel rooms
within a reasonable distance. Their San Jose bid is still alive and according to the
committee San Jose has far more reasonable prices on things like the hotel rooms.
There has been a lot of mixed reaction to this news, a lot of it negative.
How much of it has to do with the current bid and how much is it from the
previous San Fran worldcon sometimes get blurry.
A lot of fans are disappointed because they do take extra vacations days
to site see in the worldcon cities. And while there is mass transit
between the two cities it still means taking a little bit of a trip.
In what could not have been a more timely manner Ben Yalow
posted to alt. fandom cons on usenet a report on his inspection trip to San Jose.
You can find an archived copy of it on Deja.com at
===============================================
end part 1
kronos pt 2
Conucopia 1999 Northamericon
The room block is more than 75% full. And guess what .. the attending membership is $100.
Yep the same that it has been for a long time.
The reason they give is that the Marriott reduced their hotel rate.
Supporting membership is still $20.
Linda Dunn will host a meeting of the South/Central region of
the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America at RiverCon.
SFWA members should contact her for details.
--------------------------------------
Outside Con
There will be an Outside Con this year. But with slightly different leadership. The flyer sez ..
The world's only outside Sci Fi Convention a wholly owned subsidiary of Bob Embler productions.
Well not any longer because the flyer continues..
(lets just say there has been a revolution.)
Halt!
As of the 5th of June the capitalist PIG DOG known as the BOB is no longer exploiting
the Oppressed Sci Fi Masses!
The Glorious People's Revolutionary Committee for the Liberation of Outside Con is now in CHARGE!
The People's Outside Congress will be held: September 10-12 1999,
at Camp Marymount in Fairview, Tn.
Just South of Nashville, TN.
Reservation Price $25 capitalist cash Until 1 September 1999.
At Door Price $35 evil exploiter of the masses price.
Write all letters of mark payable to: Outside Con
Send reservations to: David Haynes, 316 Dunbar Cave Road, Clarksville, TN 37043
Ph. (931) 553-2810
E-Mail RKrimini@AOL.com
Ok enough of that.
Outside will have the same fun stuff including the usual silly stuff
like boots n bikini contest and nearly nekkid twister.
Plus good food, cabins in the rooms, a nice rustic hall for the fen to gather in,
a lake and lots of scenic hiking trails. And since you are out in the woods you can really see the stars.
The cabins have beds but you need to provide your own bedding.
There are bathrooms and shower houses but you have to bring your own shampoo
(this isn't some high flaurtin' capitalist hotel after all)
there will be food provided at different times during the weekend but you can bring
an already prepared dessert for the contest Saturday night.
Bug spray and flashlights are also a good thing to bring.
A group can ask to rent a cabin together
(the membership covers your cabin space and food plus some drinks.)
and there will be a cabin just for single females and other for single males
if you don't have a group of people to bunk with.
==========
Fan news
Well Known Nashville fan, chief chef for many years at outside con,
SCA merchant, and former co chair of Kubla Khan Bill Payne..
well this really isn't about Bill but about his mother Ida.
She was honored at the RC & Moon Pie ® Festival in Bell Buckle, TN as the RC Cola Queen.
The festival was held on Saturday June 20th and a couple of days before the event
USA Today had a small article in it about the Festival including a photo of Bill's mom.
(super cool) and what is so funny our local paper didn't even cover the festival
until several days later.
Pretty bad considering this ranks right up there with Mule Day in Columbia.
At Border Raids Bill had several people approach him to talk about the story in USA Today.
Bill was sorta surprised because they were from different parts of the country and Bill
had the impression that USA was printed in regions.
(nope that is the NY Times).
Anyway it's pretty grand because as some of you know Bill's mom has been in ill health for a while.
This is the reason why he has cut back on a lot of things because he
never knows ahead of time when his mother will need him to work in the antique shop and other things.
------------
Anita and Tom Feller are celebrating their second anniversary this month.
I am afraid I have blanked the date from my mind.
On the day of their wedding I did an awful thing the my big toe.. caused a trauma orthopedic
to say oh that's gross through I did make to the wedding.
Which was very nice. It is good having Tom here in Nashville.
I am just sorry I don't have the fanzine out since Tom has contributed a significant amount to it. Sigh..
By the way Tom and Anita will be fen GoH at Constellation this fall.
---------
Lee billings to stay in Houston.
Yep, Lee and Russ while not ready to tie the knot or anything like have decided that this
is a serious relationship .
This means that she will be coming back to Nashville sometime soon to pick up the rest
of her stuff from her condo.
The only problem seems to be that Houston doesn't have has many contra dancers as Nashville.
Glad that everything is working out for Lee and Russ.
-------
A new Knight from the area:
Some of you may know the merchants who were at the first Parthecon Jeff and Rhonda Law.
- In the SCA Jeff is known as Xavier now Sir Xavier McLeod since he was knighted at Border Raids.
Congratulations well earned Sir Xavier.
--------
Send out our sympathies to Charlie Williams and his sister Jennifer over the death of Charlies
brother in law Brady who died unexpectadly of a heart attack over the weekend.
==============================================
Author News
First the update.. Stephin King has now been released from the hospital and is at home
were he will continue therapy.
He is still scheduled to go through several more surgeries some time in the future.
Stephen King: got most of this from the Central Maine Medical Center web page.
Stephen King has now been upgraded to fair condition by the hospital where he went throught five
surgeries since the accident.
He has started to get about some in a wheel chair
and has started on a physical therapy and exercise program.
===========================
Sharon Green 's son Brian and his wife Maria are wanting to move to Tennessee.
=======================
Misc. Odd Stuff
robert.edwards@nashville.com sent this :
The web page for the nominees for the Darwin award.
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin1999.html
Fleeting minutes from the Past:
Most of this is from the June meeting.. a little slipped in from earlier.
Wouldn't you know. We have a special guest, Sharon Green, and a small disaster strikes.
We were bumped from our meeting room by some martial arts group.
And I knew we had the room booked until September.
Found out what happened were we reserve the library room for a year but there were only 8
spaces on the form. The library was supposed to pencil in the other four months.
But they forgot. Well things worked out ok.. The librarians let us play in the corner of the library
and went ahead and reserved us for the next year.
So now we have a place to meet until next summer.
Dan Caldwell (courtesy of Caldwells Kamikaze Cab Service)
was nice enough to go and pick up Sharon since she doesn't drive after dark.
It was a lot of fun having her and she fit right in with the group. (a frightening thought)
The discussion ranged from her upcoming book to ancient computers we used to have
plus, differences in regional cuisine.
Sharon's Book Five of the Blending should be out from Avon by now.
At the time of the club meeting she was busily working on the sixth book
and when the series is done there will be eight in all.
We asked her something about the fifth book and she said once she is done with the book it
is out of her head and she is thinking of the current one.
The Blending has five " good characters" and five "bad characters" plus
about a dozen ancillary characters and she is concentrating on what the are doing
in the present manuscript.
Some of the discussion veered toward what was happening in the publishing world
and that Piers Anthony's latest proposal had been turned down.
As Sharon put it the " accountants are in charge".
One of the little side things that popped up was whether men read fantasy
and one male member quipped, " I read the Tennessean". (Nashville's only surviving daily paper)
The discussion about ancient computers came about because Sharon once lost 10 pages
of work on an Atari because it took so much time and effort to save any thing on
the computer that had two floppy drives and no hard drive.
(She now has a new IBM Aptiva.)
(ps on a side note.. is there some type of market for amiga's?
If so I know of one complete with box and disks and accessories.)
Some of the books members are reading : Jenny Wurts "Rift War", " Daughter of the Empire" ,
Anita read " Memoirs of a Geisha".
Dan has been reading Harry Turtledove with a little bit of awe.
Robert Edwards talked about Glen Cooks Black Company book.
Some of the other news was that Anita announced that James Hogan has agreed to be the GoH at Parthecon.
On some news that had to do with the Parthecon hotel :
we learned that it is indeed illegal to lock all the doors to a building except one .
Unless there is a push bar was people can get out but not back in.
There was talk about the Charlotte worldcon.
An interesting thing was that Bob Embler found out you could go round
trip around the world for $1800 as long as you keep on going west.
======================================================================
July
15th
Membership for Rivercon
$25 and $ 35 hereafter and at the door
17th new date for Libertycon picnic\
==============
July 23-25,
Space Con Wapakoneta, OH. (Canceled)
July 23 - 25 1999. Watsonian Weekend VIII and the 40th Annual Running of the Silver Blaze.
Join fellow Sherlockians for a fun filled Chicago style weekend. For details contact
Susan Diamond, ASH, BSI, 16 W 630 Third Ave. Bensenville, IL 60106, or call 630-227-9127.
---------=====================
July 24
Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem meet for picnic meeting.
New Location : the TheHawk's Place:
Home of Jim & Susan Hawkins
Story: The Crooked Man
(contact me if you need directions)
============-----------------===================---------
July 30-August 1
RiverCon XXIV. Executive West Hotel,
Louisville, KY; 800-626-2708; rms. $62.
GoH: Esther Friesner; AGoH: Gary Williams; FGoHs: Pat & Roger Sims;
Toast Master : Lawrence Watt-Evans.
: RiverCon, PO Box 58009, Louisville, KY 40268-0009;
=============================================
August
6th - 9th
DSC /Crescent City Con
Best Western Landmark Hotel 2601 Severn Ave.,
Metairie, LA 70002
504-888-9500
Room rate is $69.00 (You MUST mention you're with Crescent City Con.)
Mike Resnick - Author Guest of Honor, Steve Jackson - Gaming Guest of Honor
Toni Weisskopf - Fan Guest of Honor
George Alec Effinger - Toastmaster, Barbara Hambly - Special Guest
Call, E-Mail or Write: Robert Neagle 504-488-0489
CCCNO@AOL.COM Crescent City Con P.O. Box 52622 New Orleans, LA. 70150-2622
Crescent City con http://www.fatsnake.com/ccc/index.html#Links
==========================
August
8th The Son of BeachCon, Memberships $20 through today, $25 from then to April 30, 2000
Deep South Con 38 May 19 -21, 2000
Jekyll Island Inn, Jekyll Island Ga.
send memberships to: Steve Francis
5503 Matterhorn Dr. Louisville, Ky. 40216
general info: Son of Beach Con
POB 1271 Brunswick, Ga. 31521
======
11th
Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society Club meeting
---------=============----------------------------======================
21st
The Middle Tennessee Club picnic Laguardo Rec. Area at the pavilion
===========-------------=======================
24th Make your hotel reservation for the convention formerly known as Contact
at Holiday Inn Airport at 4101 US 41 North / $ 62 + tax a night including poolside rooms
call 812- 424- 6400
================
26-29
Conucopia 1999 North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC)
At-the-door memberships are $100 for full attending, $50 for one day.
Conucopia, c/o S.C.I.F.I., Inc.
P. O. Box 8442 Van Nuys CA 91409
Anaheim Marriott, across the street from Disneyland.
Jerry Pournelle Writer Guest of Honor
Ellen Datlow Editor Guest of Honor
Richard and Nicki Lynch Fan Guests of Honor
==========================
September
2nd - 6th
The 57th World Science Fiction Convention Aussiecon Three,
Melbourne, Australia
E-mail Address: info@aussiecon3.worldcon.org
Guests of Honour Gregory Benford
Bruce Gillespie editor of SF Commentary and Metaphysical Review.
George Turner another intended guest of honor died of a stroke in June.
Australian SF critic and writer. The con is dedicated to his memory.
====================
. 10-11
Join Holmes Under the Arch members, societies from Missouri and Illinois, for a
Weekend at Baskerville Hall in St. Louis. '
For details contact: Holmes Under the Arch, 7101 Mardel Ave.,
St. Louis, MO 63109
Telephone 314 645 1145, or e-mail: huta1999@aol.com
===================
10th The Convention formerly known as Contact
- Memberships $20 till Sept. 10 , 25 thereafter and at the door
========================
10th - 12th Outside Con
Camp Marymount Fairview, Tn
========
Sept. 18
Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem meet and eat at Chaffin Barn Theater
========================
24-26 th Convention formerly known as Contact ( now a relxacon)
Holiday Inn Airport - Evansville, IN
Contact
POB 3894/ Evansville, In. 47737
ContactSF@aol.com
-----==========================--------------------------
October
1st Membership Rates will go up on Chicon 2000 worldcon memberships.
http://www.chicon.org/depts/volform.htm
================================
October 8 - 10, Fal'Con
Inn phone number is 502-781-6610 rooms are $48 + tax
United Gamers Association POB 767 Bowling Green, Ky. 42102
===================
13th Middle Tennessee SFS meeting
==========================================
October 29 - 31, ConStellation in Huntsville, Al.
Airport Sheraton in the Huntsville Madison County International Jetplex
GoH Allen Steele, Fan Goh's Tom & Anita Feller
. $ 30 through September 27. $ 35 thereafter and at the door
ConStellation XVIII Lupus POB 4857 Huntsville, Al. 35815
/ constell@traveller.com
=============================
November
10th Middle Tennessee SFS meeting
====================
20 th Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem meet - Silver Blaze
all for now...
thank god I am free at last
well until next month.
back to the Pookha Lair