The September Issue of Kronos
The newsletter of
the Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society
Wednesday October 13 will be our next meeting

At the Green Hills Library
which is located at Green Hills Mall
but not in the Mall.
At Hillsboro Rd & Crestmoor
( a Krystal is on the corner)
Turn go down Crestmoor and the drive
to the library is to the left past F. Scott's.
Or call the library at: 615 - 862- 5863

Upcoming Conventions and other stuff to do...



September

17th Public Night at Dyer Observatory
Dr. D. Weintraub speaks about the Origin of the Moon

18th preregistration for FalCon in Bowling Green, Ky
goes up from $ 15 to $ 20 at the door.

18-19 Tavern Brawl sponsored by Shire of the Rising Stone
at the Circle YI Camp in LaVergne, Tn.

19th The Sherlock Holmes group will be taking a field trip out to the Barn Dinner Theatre
which is featuring An Evening With Sherlock Holmes.
The play runs through October 24th.

24th The Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society at Dyer Observatory
on Oman Drive off of Granny White Pike in Brentwood, Tennessee.

25th 8:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. Vanderbilt Stevenson Center Observatory public viewing night
The Vanderbilt Campus Observatory is located on the tenth floor
of the Physics-Astronomy building, on the Vanderbilt campus.

25 - 27 Contact 16 in Evansville at the Holiday Inn-Airport.
Fred Pohl GoH. Contact, POB 3894, Evansville In. 47737

30th prereg for Earth Gate in Lexington , Ky ( Nov 20 - 22) goes up to $35.
From $ 30. Call 1 - 800 - 423 - 9388 for more info

1st The Hyatt Regency Hotline will not take reservations at the WindyCon rate past October 1st!

Hyatt Reservation Hotline at (800) 233-1234 to reserve your room, be sure to tell them you are with WindyCon.
Windycon November 13 - 15. Hyatt Regency Woodfield Schaumburg, Illinois

2-4th Context XI Harley Hotel Columbus, OH.

2 4th Tigercon 3
Tigercon is a FREE science fiction convention
that is held at the STARFLEET Region One Fall Conference
Memphis , Tn. At the University of Memphis.
Special Guest:Dr. Lawrence Schoen, Director Klingon Language Institute
Kcushing@memphis.edu.

9-11th Ohio Valley Filk Fest

Constellation in Huntsville, Al.
oGuest of Honor: Mike Resnick (1998 Hugo Winner!) oMaster of Ceremonies: Tim Powers o
Artist Guest of Honor: Bob Eggleton (1998 Hugo Winner!)
oFan Guest of Honor: David O. Miller
Con*Stellation is sponsored by NASFA,
the North Alabama Science Fiction Association.
Membership Rates: at the door $35
Children's Rates Available
To Register or Request Information Write to:
(Please Send a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope)
Con*Stellation XVII: Hydra
P.O. Box 4857
Huntsville AL 35815-4857
email to: constell@traveller.com or visit us at our
WWW site: http://www.hsv.tis.net/~constell/constell/index.html
Phone: 256-880-8210 ask for Marie (no collect calls, please)

Airport Sheraton again, a Four Points Hotel by ITT Sheraton,
1000 Glenn Hearn Drive, Huntsville AL.
The hotel is located in the Huntsville Madison County International Jetplex.
Rooms are $59 (plus all applicable taxes) for 1-4 people per night.
For reservations, call them at (800) 241-7873 (which connects directly to this hotel)
or (256) 772-9661, mention Con*Stellation for the convention hotel rate,
and be sure you make your reservations early.
Parking will be validated for all convention members. Park in the Short Term Parking Area.

Anime Weekend 4 Atlanta P.O. Box 13544 Atlanta, GA 30324-0544P
phone (404) 364-9773
Email awa@anime.net Try our new URL: http://come.to/awa Atlanta Marriott North-Central

14th Middle Tennessee Science Fiction Society Club Meeting
Scary Storytelling

15th The Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society at Dyer Observatory
on Oman Drive off of Granny White Pike in Brentwood, Tennessee

15t preregistration closes on Oct. 15th for Windycon.
$30.00 for adults and children 12 or more years old.
$40 to register at the door and after the 15th .
Allen Steele is the GoH.

WindyCon XXV
PO Box 184
Palatine, IL 60078-0184

16th Vanderbilt Stevenson Center Observatory 12:00 P.M. - 2:00 P.M.

16 - 18th FalCon Ramada Inn Bowling Green, Ky.
GoH Kerry Gilley
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/8386/falcon2.html

27th Vanderbilt Stevenson Center Observatory

some time in late October Octocon.

A little bit more about Andre Norton.

Robert Edwards and Pat James have talked with Andre's assistant.
Several people have enquired about how she is doing including
some of the librarians from Murfreesboro.
Andre is not able to travel very far but we are hoping
that her assistant will be able to come to one of our meetings.



Fan News

Special news from: Irv Koch

I am engaged to be married to Kay Pinckney
(formers Pres. of the GA Sherlock Holmes Club, among other things)
on Dec. 28, 1998, PM, Grace United Methodist Church on Ponce DeLeon,
Atlanta. Details and specific invitations TBA. Mucho TBA


August saw the grand opening of
THE OTHER SIDE STUDIO AND GALLERY

John Hollis and I went Friday night and several other fans went Saturday night
of their grand opening. The studio grew mostly out of the desire and need of several
local SF and Fantasist artists wanting a studio.

Through circumstances it evolved into a studio and gallery.

Lynn Harris who also has artwork at the gallery did a lot of the preparation work
according to Kevin.
This is something special for Nashville and I encourage all of you to visit the place.

It is located just off the Main/ Gallatin Rd area at 1022 Woodland Street
(former location of Fusion Gifts) .
It also features the work of several other local artist such as
Wayne Hibbs and from out of town Mark Maxwell
and Debbie Hughes.

The new SFC President is Julia Wall.
She can be reached at: .jlwall@usit.net.
or by snail mail.
470 Ridge Road.
Birmingham, AL 35255-0202.


Philadelphia in 2001: The Millennium PhilconŽ was the winner of the 2001 worldcon bid.
You can reach them at:
Suite 2001, 402 Huntingdon Pike
Rockledge, PA 19046
E-mail: phil2001@netaxs.com
Memberships current costs (through the end of 1998) below
. Prices are quoted in American dollars
and will shortly be shown in other currencies.
Please make out your check to: The Millennium Philcon.
I got the following info from the Philadelphia web page.
I took out the info on a couple of special categories
that had to do with special levels of support.

Voter: Conversion Cost in American Dollars

Pre-Support, Pre-Oppose, Pre-Suppose -- $ 50
Did not presupport -- $ 60

Non-Voter:
Attending Membership Cost in American Dollars
Pre-Support, Pre-Oppose, Pre-Suppose -- $ 115
Did not presupport -- $ 125
Child born after 9/1/89 (no child care) -- $ 50
Supporting Membership Cost in American Dollars New Supporting -- $ 40

Hmm a world con membership that is $ 125 attending right off the bat.
Yep I was disappointed that Boston/Orlando lost especially since I put out a lot of money.
Yes the Philadelphia people were really nice and I am sure that Philadelphia is a nice town.
But I really have to want to visit a city to put out the big bucks for something like a world con.
So I guess that means I am a fake fan now. Oh well.

So I guess the moral is unless you are going to attend the worldcon
no matter were it is think twice about voting.
Things were different when supporting memberships and voting fees were inexpensive.
But now, supporting membership and voting fee combined can easily reach $ 80.

After worldcon I talked to several people about why Philadelphia won...
Some of the reasons given....

That the majority of fans at Bucconeer were from the Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, New York area.
Philadelphia is a lot closer than Orlando is.
( I also heard but have not been able to confirm the small number of mail in ballots.
Most of the voting took place at the con)
Resentment toward moving the bid to another city.

Philadelphia had better food...
i.e. real sandwiches at the party.

That fans on a tight budget take this type of thing into consideration.
Sort of a comfort of the fen thing as opposed to aesthetics.
As a side note
several people mentioned they thought it was odd how the parties overall did not put more of their money
toward real food since they were not serving alcohol.

That there were a lot of sweets, almost too much according to a couple of people.
Some believe that hotels and the cost of going out to eat
would be cheaper in Philadelphia than in Orlando.

They had already been to Disneyworld.

On Bucconeer overall....

People had a good time. One person had trouble finding the food map .
Most of the events went well except the masquerade.
The room the masquerade was held was very cold and the lights didn't want to work.
MC Marty Gear fell of the stage but recovered and gallantly carried on.
Most of the programming was interesting and went on without any real terrible glitches
except they didn't seem to know you don't schedule your GoH C J Cherryh speech at 11 am Saturday.
It was mentioned to me that it did appear that some fen that had attending memberships may have stayed away due to the room confusion.
Think about it... to get a good deal on airfare you have to reserve several months ahead... but what do you do when you don't know if you have a hotel room.
The most complete coverage I have seen so far of Bucconeer appeared in the August issue of the NASFA Shuttle. Reviews of the convention itself, business meeting, parties , Hugo voting. Mike Kennedy and Pat Brooks did the reporting. The shuttle is now on the web.

If you have acrobat reader check out http://www.hsv.tis.net/~constell/nasfa/index.html.

Oh by the way I picked up some Allen Steele book news from his web page.

Meisha Merlin Publishing is now taking advance orders for the limited hardcover edition of the next collection, Sex and Violence in Zero-G.

Subtitled "The Complete `Near Space' Stories," the next book will contain all 15 stories in this chronology, including five previously collected in Rude Astronauts with a timeline as an appendix.

The hardcover edition will be approximately 350 pages in length,
- and will be printed on acid-free paper; cover dimensions will be 9" x 6." - Each will be individually autographed by Allen.

- Allen sez... - ." So if you want me too specifically sign one to you, your spouse, - your Uncle Harry, your boss, etc.
I'll oblige so long as you give us specific instructions - with your order. None of this mass-produced, stamped-in signature crap; we treat our friends right. "

Orders must be received by Nov. 1, 1998.

The cost is $30.00, plus shipping: $4.00 for one book, $7.00 for two, $8.50 for three, and $10.00 for four. Overseas customers and bookstore owners, please contact the publisher.

Meisha Merlin Publishing

P.O. Box 7
Decatur, GA. 30031
or find their web site at:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/MeishaMerlin
The trade paperback edition will appear in bookstores by January, 1999,
about the same as the mass-market paperback edition of A King of Infinite Space

This is about it for this month.
A couple of closing notes....
The Friends of the Public Library is holding a used bookstore the second Saturday of every month through at least December. 10 am to 3 pm.
700 2nd avenue S at the old Howard School Building