Lloyd's Locs Box - Fanzine letters of comment
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Lloyd Penney" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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04:15 pm
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Loc on NASFA Shuttle Vol. 28 No. 4 (Mike Kennedy, ed.)
Dear NASFans:
It looks like there’s a bit of chaos going on with your computer; I wish you the best of luck in recovering that info. In the meantime, here’s a loc on the April Shuttle.
(Not to worry…yes, it’s Mother’s Day, and I will be calling my mother later on today.)
Yuri’s Night came and went in Toronto, too. Unfortunately, the plans they made for it made it so expensive to go to, we couldn’t afford it. We hope that it won’t be so expensive next year. I think they could use the attendance. Meanwhile, yesterday, there was a full day of free fun at Science Rendezvous, a free to the public event at all of the local universities and some research facilities. We had a great time.)
It is good to see that your regional convention has still got life in it. Our national convention, the CanVention, is the same in that it is a rider convention, and this year, it’s at Keycon 25, just next weekend. Unfortunately, Canada is a very big country, and the airfares to get anywhere in it are pretty expensive. It usually means that we can’t get to the annual CanVention unless it is held in Toronto, Ottawa or Montréal. By this time next week, we should know who’s won the Auroras.
Many thanks, PieEyed, for your e-mail. The story goes ever onward, and I look forward to more chapters. I missed it here. Recovery is at hand, and a resolution to the problem is in the distance. I sound like a fortune in a cookie…
That’s all for now, folks…take care, good luck in data recovery, and see you next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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08:54 am
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Loc on Ish 4 (Garth Spencer, ed.)
Dear Felicity and guest editor Garth:
Comments will now approach you at sub-light speed via the miracle of the Palm Tungsten E2 and keyboard, and eventually the Internet. I am sitting in the atrium lobby of the CBC building in downtown Toronto, cooling my heels and working ahead on fanzines at my leisure. How often does that happen these days? Those comments will be about Ish 4.
Garth, by your words, has Ish become another newsletter for BCSFA? Just wondering. I thought BCSFAzine was doing the job just fine. To be honest, I thought Ish was Felicity's personal zine. I remember the clubs in Los Angeles and Boston (LASFS, NESFA) has not only their club newsletters, but also fat club fanzines that would serve as not only club perqs, but also as a great club project that everyone could contribute to. I remember the last few issues of Proper Boskonian from NESFA. I used to get a lot of publications from Boston, and I am sure they were sick to death hearing from me. The definition of fannish seems to vary from city to city, from era to era, and even from fan to fan. We may be operating on definitions that are turning yellow with age. Fandom can be as serious and constructive as you like, or as navel-gazing and fun and silly and weird as you like. Some fans you and I know use the term insurgent. The variety in fannish experiences and approaches keeps your numbers relatively high.
I don't have issue 3 with me...from what I read about furry fandom, the term yiff standing young, incredibly f*ckable furry/fan/feline. Being or feeling yiffy...well, you can take it from there. Yes, all knowledge is found in fanzines, but some of that knowledge should come with disclaimers.
It's confession time... I'm an Atomic Betty fan. I've seen every episode, it's Canadian as all get out (take place in the fictional town of Moose Jaw Heights), and it is animated in Vancouver. It's also sfnal and silly and fun, with green aliens, little girls with secret identities, and a cat who looks suspiciously like Ming the Merciless. A third season is on the way, and AB fans say halleluiah.
I am going to pack it up, go to work, and fire this off to you when I get home this evening. For such a busy network as the CBC, this atrium is pretty quiet. And, it's Friday night, too. Take care, and if memory (the Palm's, not necessarily my own) serves, I have to respond to issue 420 of BCSFAzine. Perhaps I can get onto that when I get to work. Take care, and see you next Ish.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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08:49 am
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Loc on Physicality of Word on Paper 2 (Anna Davour ed.)
Dear Anna, or Åka:
It's been just more than a month since you gave me Physicality of Words on Paper 2 at Ad Astra. I apologize for sitting on it for so long, but life has gotten in the way, as it usually does. I have a little more control over it now, and so I have the time to write some comments.
I will say at the beginning that it was great to finally meet you and Nicholas and your daughter. I hope you enjoyed the convention. I'd like to read your impressions of the convention alongside any recollections of Swedish conventions.
I recommend to your Fearless Fantasy Fans in Kingston that pubnights work wonderfully well. There are few clubs in Toronto, and all are serious writers' groups or media fan organizations. We really have nothing that could be called a general science fiction club. As a substitute, for the past 10+ years, we've had two pubnights a week, the First Thursday and Third Monday of each month, as an area where local fandom can gather. If you have reason to come to Toronto outside of conventions, let us know, and I can tell you when and where the pubnights are.
I have tried to learn as much French as I can, knowing the benefits of understanding a second language, but in multicultural Toronto, there is actually little opportunity to use it and keep it. But at least, I am pretty familiar with French pronunciation, which comes in handy at working the trade shows I work at. That's how I would know that your last name is pronounced da-voor'.
Winter...well, we did have a very snowy winter this year, and it took a long time for it all to melt. Some parts of Alberta are still getting snow, as much as 40 cm. As you say, it's our climate, but it is easy to grouse about the weather when much warmer weather is never far away to the south.
I think many of us were lonely, geeky kids who were misunderstood by just about everyone, and about our own interests, always labeled weird, and therefore not worthwhile. The idea of fandom, once the idea was successfully communicated (which did not always happen), showed that not only were you not unique in your interests, but that you could share your interest and exult and succeed in it. It created a few extroverts in this horde of introverts, and as sub-culture that has now lasted over 75 years. I cannot think of anything else I could do that would secure me the friends and loved ones I have today. I found fandom in my late teens, and was introduced to apas in my early 20s, and then onto fanzines. My first fanzine came from Marc Ortlieb in Australia while I was a member of an apa, and I went for the greater readership a fanzine provides. I have now been in the letter column for more than 25 years, and I am still having fun.
I look forward to issue 3...maybe you can tell us about your studies, and what you hope to take back home to Sweden. One more year, so I hope the family is enjoying the city.
Many thanks for your zine, take care, and I'll keep an eye out for issue 3.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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10:42 pm
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Loc on Opuntia 64.5 & 65 (Dale Speirs, ed.)
Dear Dale:
As always, things pile up, especially in these crazy days for me, and part of the pile-up is a huge stack of zines. Yvonne and I went to Las Vegas for a week to enjoy some vacation, do a little early celebration of our upcoming 25th wedding anniversary, and attend Corflu Silver, the annual fanzine con, this time in Vegas as well. I brought back 15 or more zines, so with those I have at home, the stock phrase if, my work is cut out for me. Now that I am (maybe) fully recovered from the trip, I have two issues of Opuntia to answer first, 64.5 and 65.
64.5...$80 a barrel for oil? Already, that's the good old days, with oil just crossing $126 today, I believe. The dollars are still around par, and the Canadian economy is still looking good in comparison to many economies around the world, and it is thanks to oil. We seem to have become northern sheiks to some. Fort McMurray has become the destination of a modern gold rush. Some people I know in the northern States have not only heard of Fort McMurray, but are actively looking at going there to see if they can make some decent money. All want to go, but few will succeed; a northern Las Vegas, where many will gamble, but few will win. The labour shortages in Calgary are proof. I would imagine that students in the Calgary area are also in high demand, and they may be among the few who will take on the service jobs for the $12 an hour you wrote about.
At one point, the C$ hit $1.10 again the US$, and life was grand. We purchased what US$ we could afford, and it served us well for saving for going to Las Vegas. Reality has set in, but having the dollars at near-parity has been helpful I don't feel like I'm subsidizing the banks any more, and I have American friends who can't understand how Canada got so expensive all of a sudden.
The question I hear many ask...if we can send a man to the moon, why can't we sent a man to the moon now? George W. Bush may have made his announcement about man returning to the moon and going to Mars, but I think that was just rhetoric. Bush wouldn't know anything about going to the moon; his advisors just thought it would stir whomever he was talking to that day. I hope his successor will have some kind of vision for going to Mars; we could use some collective goshwow about going back to space instead of the usual dreary and sad news from Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are still oil wells taking some oil out of the ground in central western Ontario around Oil Springs and Sarnia. Some can be seen as you drive past on Highway 402.
A coincidence of some sort has been noticed by the local media. For several months now, if the price of oil is $X, the price of gas at the Toronto pump is $X/100. Today, the price of oil is $126 a barrel, and gas is $1.26 a litre. Seems to be fairly steady, too.
I hadn't heard of the Wildrose Alliance, but I am not surprised at the numbers of political parties that have risen from the west. I still remember the western separatist parties when I lived in Victoria. Doug Christie made for good theatre and good headlines.
65...Some years ago, a friend gave us some meal tickets from the Barnum and Bailey Circus. These were the tickets the roustabouts would give to the circus chow-wagon for their meals. I am unsure of their value, but I expect that the era of the collector will come to an end sometime in the next 20 years, and we might cease to wonder about the value of our varied rare possessions. Still the coupons are a link to a long-gone era.
The food coupons as barter currency... perhaps this is where we learned to use unofficial currencies, like the Canadian Tire scrip and the TTC token. (The value of the token seems to be about $2.25 these days, or in an emergency, seems to be a regular substitute for a toonie.) A proud Canadian tradition...
We should have a good report on this year's World Wide Party. It's on a Saturday this year, so the time is right to party. I have gotten in touch with Benoit Girard after these many years, and I hope he will come to the Montréal Worldcon. I will be in charge of the fanzine lounge, so perhaps I can sneak him in and people can come and meet with him.
At Torcon 3, I joined the SFSA at their South African party, and I'm sure their foreign memberships helped reinforce their treasury. I never did renew, but the SFSA has been very good to me in sending me issues of Probe. Issues 136 and 137 arrived just a day ago, and I will respond to them as soon as I can plough through that stack of zines I wrote about a little earlier. I wish SFSA good luck. Too many clubs die from apathy; theirs seems to be responding and growing.
As I type this on my Palm Tungsten E2 and keyboard, I am sitting in the central atrium of the CBC Building on Front Street in Toronto. An old friend walked through the lobby, and unintentionally recreated a similar event in this setting from close to 10 to 12 years ago. Jennifer Scott is a working journalist, recently of the Discovery Channel, and it was marvelous to see her again. Perhaps coincidence again, but still a pleasure to see her.
Before I get too maudlin, I will sign off, take this home, transfer the document to the big computer, print it and pop it in the mail to you. Are you thinking of coming to Montréal for the Worldcon? Take care, and see you next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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11:49 am
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Loc on SF/SF 63 - 65 (Jean Martin & Chris Garcia, eds.)
Dear Chris and Jean:
I’m back to my old habits. I’ve let things slide, and now I am officially three issues of SF/SF behind. The old catch-up routine should be second nature by now. Here goes with 63 to 65.
63…Welcome back from the UK, Mr. Garcia, and I expect reports of your escapades will be in to fandom as a whole shortly. Jean, that Montréal in/en ’77 button Chris got may have been one of the bag of buttons I purchased from Andrew Porter a couple of years ago at Corflu Toronto. First things I did with the buttons was give them to the Montreal bid. If anyone should have them, and know something about their own history, it’s the folks in Montréal.
Chris, if you had been at Corflu Silver in Las Vegas, you’d have a lot of zines to comment on. I was given, over the course of the weekend at the con, 18 assorted zines to read, enjoy and comment on, which means my locking workload just got a lot bigger. I figure I’m now about 30 zines behind, e- and paper. Great weekend, met so many people I’d only been corresponding with for decades, and party galore. Also, talked with Art Widner! Ninety years old, and still fanning. And Vegas itself was fun, too, with touring the strip, seeing Fremont Street several times, and touring the Hoover Dam. Next Corflu will be run by Randy Byers in Seattle somewhere, so this might be the opportunity to party with the fanzine masses.
Before the Internet came along, we mailed letters and checked the answering machine cassette tape for any messages. But that’s not important right now… What websites am I usually on? There’s all the Canadian job sites I inhabit, but you’d never need them, so I won’t tell you their names… There’s YouTube, LiveJournal, FaceBook, ICanHasCheezBurger.com, IHasA HotDog.com, I-Am-Bored, eFanzines.com, Cartoon Brew and SF Awards Watch. Plus there’s seven different webcomics I check every day. And I do realize that if it wasn’t for all these websites I check, I’d get a lot more done.
The Global Frequency pilot sounds like it might have been good to see. For me, Michelle Forbes goes back to TNG, and that’s the reason I’d like to have seen it.
I wish there was something like WonderCon in Toronto. Some might say that the annual fanXpo is it, but this convention has employed different names in the past, and unfortunately, it’s just a big dealers’ room, and anything you might have wanted to see there is available, at an additional charge. I remember seeing Lou Ferrigno advertised at the fanXpo some years ago.
Whoa, there’s Chris Garcia in a photograph! Whoodathunkit? Was this a quick editorial meeting? Chris, I think I’ve realized your superpower…you said you’d recently gotten a haircut. If you ever needed to disappear completely, you could shave off your beard, and get a brushcut, and no one on the face of the earth would ever recognize you. Like you, Jean, I am very much looking forward to the second Narnia movie. I think it’s starting this weekend. Chris, some dead presidents will be on their way RSN for a TAFF report.
64…I hope the Babbage engine has been set up, and in one piece. Years ago, Ad Astra was the site of a display of original marionettes from the Thunderbirds series. The guy who shipped them in found out that several of the marionettes were more fragile than he anticipated; they were not shown, and I have no idea what happened to them afterwards. It was great to see several of the Tracy puppets.
My loc…I don’t have a laptop, but I do use my Palm Tungsten E2 and its accompanying keyboard. Always handy, and sometimes makes for great conversations. I found out I’m not the only Canadian fan that uses this combination; Montreal fan Sylvain St-Pierre also has this, and he used it to write his trip report when he went to the Japanese Worldcon last year.
Chris, Dian Crayne is now on Trufen, and she has been mentioning the FUNcons from time to time. I wonder if a further interview from Dian, or an article written by her, would be in order. Might be a welcome addition to BArea history. Some years ago, Yvonne tried an experiment in a different convention. It was a one-day event we called Science Fiction Saturday, and it consisted of all the programme items other local conventions said they couldn’t possibly do. We had panels on filk, old time radio, pulp magazines (From this panel, the local pulpcon arose…it’s on tomorrow!) and the best websites to check out. We had not only a film room, but an audio listening room where our local radio fans played shows like X-1 and the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. It was a popular success to the few people who went to it; it was held in Brampton, northwest of Toronto, where we lived at the time. We lost some big money, but there was some consolation for Yvonne in the form of an Aurora Award the next year.
There is an annual pirate village in Toronto, but not at the level of popular piracy there is in the BArea. I have a few pirate items I could wear, but little opportunity to do it.
65…You’ve got the 2011 CorFlu in San Jose? Let me win the lottery, and I will be there! Cost us megabucks to get to Vegas, but we had the best time. Who awarded you the 2011 Corflu? It was only confirmed at Corflu Silver that Randy Byers would be getting it for 2009.
Chris, one great access point for all things animation, especially for New York and California, is www.cartoonbrew.com. The two guys who run it are big names in the animation industry, and I always see listing for events in LA and elsewhere in SoCal. It would be a good source for España to check out for the listings.
We wanted to go to Yuri’s Night in Toronto, but the organizers (never found out who they were) priced it so high, we couldn’t afford it! It was to be held at the Ontario Science Centre, which is a great place to hold it, but priced out of our league, and besides, we were saving for Vegas…
I am so done…I have a rehearsal for a radio play I’m doing for some students at the International Academy of Design and Technology downtown at 2pm, so off this goes, and soon, off I go. Take care, folks, and I’m sure I’m behind with Drink Tanks already.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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12:03 pm
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Loc on Ansible 249 & 250 (David Langford, ed.)
Dear David:
Two issues of Ansible have I, issues 249 and 250. Congrats on such a number, by the way…comments come to mind, and are made temporary by the tikkatikka of the keyboard. Allow me to demostrate.
249…Not only would I like to read about the Eastercon and Chris Garcia’s TAFF report, but I’d like to read reports about Chris’ presence at the Eastercon. I gather he represented us well, and did not cut a swath through the convention as we might have expected.
After reading in several places about Larry Niven’s “solution” to help hospitals, I have to wonder if this is Niven’s way of screwing up the Bush regime even further? The Sigma group was supposed to be offering viable solutions to societal problems, and that doesn’t sound like anything helpful.
When there was the announcement of the death of Ray Bradbury in this issue, how many readers had a moment of cardiac shock, expecting that it was the author Ray? That shock will come soon enough, I fear. Learning of the death of Sir ACC was a shock, but not entirely unexpected. Yvonne started a book of condolences to be sent to the Clarke family; it’s been at conventions in Toronto, Niagara Falls, NY and Las Vegas, and with luck it will be to the International Space Development Conference in Washington before going to the UK.
Pete Young got married? Well, now we know why there’s been no Zoo Nations in a while. Who’s Benji?
250…Has there yet been a resolution to the Rowling/Vander Ark mess? As expected this case has dropped out of the public spotlight, at least over here. I smiled at Neil Gaiman’s remarks, and scowled at Card’s usual bile.
My own training is in journalism, and we were always taught to be objective, and not let any preconceived notions get in the way of your treatment of the story. And then, I see the stupidities of the press, like the Telegraph, Newsweek, the Guardian and the Sunday Mirror and Sunday Herald, not to mentions the various idiocies the local press carries off on a regular basis, and in many ways, I am glad I never got the chance to work as a journalist. I probably would offer impartial coverage of these events, and they’d never get printed.
The FAAn Awards…Robert Lichtman and I seem destined to split the Warner Memorial Award. I came in second this time around. The finishing order may well be reversed next year in Seattle. The Corflu in Las Vegas was a wonderful time.
Again, congratulations on 250 issues…unexpected by you, but appreciated by many. No news from over here unless you’re getting something from Anticipation. Both Yvonne and I have come out of our retirement to work this Worldcon; Yvonne is working with Farah Mendelson on the science track, and I am running the fanzine lounge. Think you may come back to Canada next year? I hope so. Take care, and see you next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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06:48 pm
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Loc on Picofarad 12 (Petréa Mitchell, ed.)
Dear Petréa:
Sorry it’s taken a while since you’ve let everyone know about it, but here are some comments on Picofarad 12. Happy Star Wars day!
I am not much into anime, but I will say one thing about it…it is terribly sanitized for North American children. God-fearing bible-tumpers wouldn’t know what to do if Sailor Moon took on more sailor scouts, especially the other ones in Pretty Soldier, and especially the one that changes gender when he transforms…
I am certain that so many people will tell you that the Hugos are for science fiction and not anime, although the boundaries between all these genres are getting blurrier all the time. The local anime convention gets 15k each year, and revenue flow is in the seven figures. Olphartism has me in its grip, and I like what I like.
I hadn’t heard about Spirit taking the Martian winter off; I might check in with NASA and see what their website says. I just hope that with it being shut down for that long, Spirit will be able to start up again. It’s amazing that both rovers have been going for as long as they have, a tribute to their builders.
I think it’s official, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have written more Dune than Frank Herbert ever did. I admit I have not been tempted to see what the post-Frank Herbert books read like. I did receive a sample of one book years ago, and it didn’t attract me at all.
My loc…that dollars are about par now, which meant our trip to Las Vegas about a week and a half ago now, which was expensive enough as it was, didn’t have to pay that much more for the exchange rate. Je comprend un petit peu de Francais, and that’s about it. Having a smattering of French would definitely help in your stay in Montréal, but it isn’t necessary. There will be some French-language programming at Anticipation, but the majority of the programming will be for the vast majority of the people who will be there, English-speaking fans, wether English is their first or second language.
I never did see Will Smith’s I Am Legend. I have the book, and from what I saw, the book will do just fine. The idea of a destroyed America is becoming an old idea, and an all-too-possible reality, and this is why there may be few people actually trying to do something constructive and green.
I’ve met Ursula LeGuin once; nice lady. I’d wonder what her grandkids think of all this SF/fandom stuff, if they even suspect it’s there?
Of the conventions listed on the Social Calendar, I attended Eeriecon Ten and Corflu Silver, and might be attending Anime North and Polaris. No promises on those two, though. There used to be an Ambercon up here, but like many things, it went away out of lack of interest.
I think I’m done here. Take care, and let me know when the next issue is due up.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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04:15 pm
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Loc on Nukking Futz 17 (John Purcell, ed.)
Dear John:
Happy Star Wars Day! (May the fourth be with you…) And now that that’s out of the way, I finally have a little time to catch up with the last apazine you sent to me Nukking Futz 17. I meant to get to it before going to Vegas, but time waits for no one.
Furry little nutcracker on the front page. Little beggars are getting proactive, aren’t they?
Are you Herr Doktor Professor Purcell yet? Almost there? Sounds like it won’t take long now. So, you are 54, Herr Doktor? Happy belated birthday from a kid, to be 49 on June 2. Just because you get older, nothing says you have to grow up or act your age. So there, nyeahhh!
The Garcia kid is back, still scribbling furiously in an attempt to show the boss he’s hard at work. I pretty well spent everything in Vegas, so I need to find a bank to sell me some dead presidents to send to Chris for his trip report. I am trying to access the chat on Bill Mills’ Ustream site, hosted by Peter Sullivan. Someone is looking into the camera, probably Peter, but I cannot see any chat yet.
Got to meet John and Audrey Hall, and both appeared to enjoy themselves. I got me a plastic-covered, Cerlox-bound copy of Motorway Dreamer, and it will get a loc rsn. (By the way, your idea of doing some reviews of some of the zines I picked up in Vegas is great. I will do that, and start with zines that haven’t been reviewed before. Some of the titles I brought home haven’t seen light of day in years.)
The battle between FIAWOL and FIJAGH continues. I think I am somewhere in between, as I spend as much time as I can in my fanac, and still take time to look for full-time work. Fortunately for me, Yvonne’s fanac closely follows my own, and we fan together. She is quite understanding. Do get yourself a copy of the Silmarillion. This book is where Guy Gavriel Kay cut his eyeteeth doing a little research for Christopher Tolkien, and he is credited in the book.
Wish you’d been at Corflu…you and Chris Garcia were missed, and asked after. It looks like the convention may have gotten close to the 100 mark, with all warm bodies. I took home a small mountain of fanzines, took part in the play, chatted endlessly, and happily received a few compliments on my letterhacking capabilities. Winning the Harry Warner award would have been the cherry on the sundae, but I came in second to Robert Lichtman. A great holiday.
Congrats to Valerie on her graduation on the 8th. There are now opportunities to meet virtually, as I am on the Ustream.tv site that hosts the new virtual fan lounge. Having some fun there.
Just over the page, and mouthing off to the virtual fan loungers. I’m having a good Sunday, so I wish you the same, and hope that I’m not too late to get this into future NF.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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04:33 pm
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Loc on Warp 69 (Cathy Palmer-Lister, ed.)
Dear MonSFFEN:
Many thanks for issue 69 of Warp, and once again, happy anniversary. You can all take some pride in being able to keep a club and paper fanzine in this age of e-files and websurfing at home. Comments on what's within...
My letter...that is an old letter. Time for an update. The CNIB let me go just before my three months was up, and as far as I can tell, it was because my manager couldn't get the department on budget, so I was let go to save money. I have since been at Panasonic Canada, and I still have my work at the Globe and Mail and BBW, but the hunt for full-time work goes ever on. Cathy, I did have a great time in Vegas, and at Corflu Silver. There was a direct-to-web camera so that those who tuned in could see what was going on in the main room in real time, plus comment on it. The convention had 93 actual attendees, and as many as 38 virtual attendees. This feature will be going on in what will be called the Virtual Fan Lounge. The first event it will cover will be a party in Vegas...tonight!
Sylvain says that the trip from Montréal to Yokohama was a grueling trip...I guess the Japanese will find out first hand when they make the reverse trip next year. I hope there will be a meeting sometime this year, possibly at Con*cept or just before, so that as many Anticipation committee members can gather as possible. We might take the train.
One common question I have heard some American fans ask is that if I was to go to the Montréal Worldcon, would I have to speak French? I think that after the Japanese Worldcon, having some of the local language/un petit peu de le language wouldn't hurt, but it is not necessary. Besides, how many times have I been to Con*cept, and how many times have you heard me speak French?
If a deity appeared to me, and said "I AM WHAT I AM!", I'd probably ask him if he was Popeye. And, I'd spend my eternity in peridition, but at least I'd be warm and laughing my head off.
Yeah, there are no founding members of MonSTA around, but I did find Geoff Bovey through Facebook. He’s living in Boise, Idaho these days. And that Tungsten/keyboard combination that Sylvain has…well, we’ve got it, too. Very handy. I wrote five letters of comment while we were flying to, having fun in, and flying away from Las Vegas. Sylvain, how did you store your article to a USB drive? My Palm has a 1Gb SD card in the top slot, and it saves all my writing when I take my Palm/keyboard combination in my travels.
I haven’t seen any of the remastered original Trek episodes, but I’d like to. The eleventh Trek movie is a year away, I think…great typo of Theresa’s, with production beginning on November 7, 2207. With a date like that, it wouldn’t be a science fiction movie, but a documentary.
And there’s Lou…he shocked me by attending Ad Astra this year. I hope he had a good time. Greetings to Trudie and Kevin! It has been a very long time. Yvonne and I will be at Con*cept in October…hope you will be, too.
I’m going to fold this up and get it out. Yvonne and I are going to the annual dinner of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute tonight, so we’ve got to get spiffied up and ready to go. Have a great weekend, Cathy, and see you next issue. Going to Polaris? We’re not sure yet…
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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11:11 pm
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Loc on The Original Universe 4 (Jeff Boman, ed.)
Dear Jeff from Jericho:
Got your e-mail reminding me about writing a letter for The Original Universe 4, and it was on my short list of zines to be answered shortly, honest...
While I remember, have you seen Iron Man, and what have you heard about it? I am not a comics reader, but I am knowledgeable enough to know that it's about time there was an Iron Man movie, and Robert Downey Jr. was an odd choice to play Tony Stark, but the movie seems to be doing well at the box office. Comments?
I know Tamu better than I know Emru, but Tamu did let me know via Facebook that Emru has leukemia, and that he is looking for a suitable bone marrow donor. I hope that donor can be found soon. I am not sure how donors can be found...getting a bone marrow sample is an invasive procedure. Can suitability be found through a blood sample instead?
Last time I had my blood checked, both my HDL and LDL levels are high to very high. My doctor figures I have naturally oily blood. Works for me, although I do have to start adjusting my diet if I want my clothes to fit properly again.
To the best of my knowledge, the Paradise City Comics Con in Toronto is on the same weekend as Polaris. This might be the kiss of death for both conventions to be competing with each other. I must check those dates again, and I'd suggest you do the same. I prefer the train, but if you can get yourself a lightweight chair, flying should be no problem.
When it comes to comics, the characters may be copyrighted, but the backstories aren't. I guess whoever takes over the character can change entire personal histories because the readership continually changes. How many times has some of Superman's history changed? It seems some of that history is graven in stone, but monor characteristics change, for comics, and the two television shows recently shown, Lois and Clark and Smallville. Poetic licence, I guess. Deux ex meshuginah...I like that, and puts it very neatly.
A question I shouldn't ask...if in the Transformers movie, Megatron has been tracking the Allspark since the 1800s, what did the Transformers transform into back then? Most of them are based on 20th century vehicles and machines. I've already seen mention of a second movie in the papers recently.
When we went to Vegas, it was warm here, and Vegas was 90+ degrees Fahrenheit. When we returned, it was cold here, and I think the drastic temperature change has affected us. Found a good reason why you don't want to go to Jamaica...480 murders there the first four months of this year.
125 Mb is a small amount of capacity, but it does us fine for small files. Every week, I work on a document for the Globe and Mail...I do it at home, e-mail it to my address at work, and copy it onto my thumb drive as a back-up. Twice now, the document I e-mailed to myself evaporated, and I've had to go to the back-up. The 4Gb drive will come in very handy shortly. I have seen 8Gb models, and I also know that Panasonic makes high-density 8Gb and 16Gb thumb drives and SD cards.
The Palm I am currently typing on (I am in the lobby of the CBC building in downtown Toronto right now...I hope to get this to you late tonight) is my second Tungsten E2. I think the power supply failed, and with the warranty, it cost me less than $100 to get it fully replaced. However, I still have the digitizer fix programme, just to make sure. Should this unit fail, I may have to look into getting a Blackberry. I am very used to having a personal organizer with me.
Yvonne and I will be at Con*cept this year, too. Yvonne will be doing the same kind of space, science and technology track she has done at Ad Astra. The heads of programming at Con*cept are Chris and Emily Knight, also of Toronto...they live about seven bus stops north of us. There's the possibility they might travel with us to Montréal in October. I've already mentioned you to them as being willing to do a fanzine panel with me...how about it? I recommended Cartoon Brew to you because Emru Townsend sometimes shows up there...CB did something about Emru's leukemia.
I have a taping at the Ontario College of Art and Design at 6pm...afterwards is work, and them, I can get home so I can snd this loc to you. Take care, and see you next issue, and definitely in the fall.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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11:04 pm
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Loc on MarkTime 85 (Mark Strickert, ed.)
Dear Mark:
Many thanks for issue 85 of MarkTime; hope I'm not too late with a response. Yvonne and I just finished up a week in Las Vegas, and we are still a little jetlagged. Part of the trip was early anniversary celebrations, and some was attendance at Corflu Silver, the annual fanzine fans convention, held at the Plaza hotel in the Vegas downtown area.
I remember Woolworth and Woolco stores from my own past; I had a short-term summer job at a Woolworth's doing on-air P.A. announcements. To the best of my knowledge the only remaining vestige of the Woolworth's chain is a distribution company with offices northwest of Toronto, operating under the F.W. Woolworth name. Those little restaurants have been reproduced in the Zeller's department store chain in Canada.
There were some Big Boy restaurants in Toronto and Mississauga, but they have largely gone away. I see the Big Boy cartoon figure on occasion, but it looks like it's been stolen to advertise other products. Gregory Coniglio complains about a Tim Horton's every 100 feet. Well, head office for TH is up here, so you can imagine how common they are on the streets of Toronto.
Arthur Treacher's did business here for a while, but they're gone, too. There was a popular pizza chain here called Frank Vetere's, but they were purchased by Pizza Hut a long time ago. (I'm not writing this at home, so I hope I'm not repeating my last letter!)
In the northwest of Toronto, there are a lot of people who came to the big city from Newfoundland, and local supermarkets carried Newfie products. The two most 0popuarl soft drinks? Pineapple Crush and Birch Beer Crush. The birch beer tasted like root beer, but was bright red. In Québec, there is spruce beer, definitely an acquired taste. Reminded me of cough syrup, though.
Transit related comments about Vegas...the bus that goes right up Las Vegas Blvd. is the 202 bus, better known as the Deuce. $5 will get you a pass good for 24 hours of travel, and hurray for that. We got our money's worth the two days we bought those passes; got us the length of the Strip and back with lots of stops in between. Well worth the Lincoln.
The Blue Jays are mediocre this season, although the recently swept the Red Sox. The Leafs suck, the Argos have some life left, the Raptors were defeated by Miami in the first round of the playoffs, and our second-season pro soccer team, Toronto FC, is doing surprisingly well. They're in the same league L.A. Galaxy and David Beckham are in. Local sports fans must content themselves with the success of the Toronto Marlies in the AHL.
All done...I am writing this with my PDA and keyboard in the lobby of the CBC building in downtown Toronto. Had an audition earlier, and have a taping tonight. My voicework career is suddenly doing well. I hope I can keep it up. Take care, and see you next issue...June, you say? Well, maybe I'm not late after all.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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04:02 pm
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Loc on The Drink Tank 165 - 167 (Chris Garcia, ed.)
Dear Chris:
It’s my second full day since coming back from Las Vegas. A great convention, and I think you would have had a fabulous time there. While I was gone, I got a lot of locs done, but can I keep up with you? No way! I have three Drink Tanks to get through, 165 to 167.
165…Claire and Mark were at Corflu, and while I didn’t talk to them much, I never heard much about your presence in the UK. Maybe they’re still trying to get over it? Anyway, I got a zine from each of them, and I’m sure there’ll be one for you in the mail RSN. I wonder if you had as much culture shock being in Britain ad I did being in Vegas. I doubt Britain has a Fremont Street Experience.
A TAFF win and trip report, and four Hugo noms and counting…hey, man, your dad would be proud of you. And, the respect of your father is something you do deserve.
There were some Britfen at Corflu…Mark and Claire, Bill Burns, the Charnocks, and a few others who were registered, but did not come to the convention for one reason or another. Bill won a FAAn Award for eFanzines.com, and that won’t be the last time, either. For the record, the winners are…
· Best Fanzine: Prolapse, edited by Peter Weston
· Best Fan Artist: Dan Steffan
· Best Fan Writer: Arnie Katz
· Best Letterhack: Robert Lichtman
· Best New Fan: John Coxon
· Best Fan Website: eFanzines.com
· #1 Fan Face: Arnie Katz
Then Len Bailes announced that the participants in the Virtual Corflu (in the chatroom), which drew as many as 38 fans at one time, had all signed a special award certificate of thanks to Bill and Roxy Mills.Other Corflu Honors: Ted White polled the audience and determined that the Past President of Fan Writers of America (fwa) for 2007 had been Dan Steffan. Finally, everyone acclaimed Randy Byers’ bid to hold next year’s Corflu in Seattle. (This comes from Mike Glyer’s File 770 blog.)
166…More Eastercon reportage. Love the photo on page 5, the steam-powered Dalek, or perhaps it’s just an enhanced salt shaker. Doctorow in any cage? Well, I can think of one person who might enjoy that. That’s just the evil in me typing…and we know what you might look like with a trimmed head and face. Oh, you’re just so cuuuuuuute…
*DING* TAFF is done, *DING* TAFF is done… What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and a lot of my money stayed there, too. So, I will find someplace that will sell me some US$, and fire it off to you at your address.
167…Yeah, I gotta lost weight, too, and the mindless munching I did at Corflu didn’t help things. I have a job interview tomorrow, so I am hoping that if I get this job, I will have lots of walking to do, and will shed some pounds and inches. How many dyslexics does it change to take a light bulb?
And, where was Leigh Ann Hildebrand’s contrib here? Forgot again? You just like the abuse, Mr. G…
It’s getting late in the afternoon, so I will finish off here. It’s not the best loc, but both Yvonne and I are still in recovery mode, and are liable to nod off at a moment’s notice. Take care, and I will work on some SF/SF comments RSN. See you then.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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01:39 pm
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Loc on SFC Bulletin Vol. 8 No. 15 (Randy Cleary, ed.)
Dear Randy and SFC Members:
Many thanks for Vol. 8, No. 15 of the SFC Bulletin. Actually, the date above lies; it is the 28th, and Yvonne and I just flew over the Hoover Dam at 28,000 feet or so. We are flying home to Toronto via Houston on our way home from Corflu Silver, the fanzine convention in Las Vegas. We had a great time in Vegas, and I had a great time at the convention. But, as we are flying, we can't wait to get home, and I've got three hours until I land at Bush International; time for a loc.
First of all, congratulations to Randy Cleary on his presidency. It's always a difficult job, but the club is lucky to have someone who's been willing to do it. And to have someone willing to do it in the future; congratulations to Warren Buff on taking up the post. I gather you'll be the next editor of this zine, Warren, so I look forward to your first issue. To both Randy and Warren, seeing the bulk mailing permit will not be renewed, I will be happy to receive further issues in .pdf format. I know from my own experiences that every club needs to find a way to reduce expenses.
Looks like from Tom Feller's con report on Libertycon that Tim Zahn makes a good guest. He's one of our guests at Ad Astra 2009. I've met him at a couple of conventions before.
As Sheryl Birkhead says, I hope Tom Sadler can be convinced to send out copies of his fanzine. Last I e-mailed him, he was thinking of trying to convert his zine to .pdf, and have it available for download somewhere.
I'm going to send this to both Randy and Warren, to say thanks to both, and to make this transition a little easier. Again, thanks to Randy, and Warren, let's have some fun with this. Looking forward to next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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01:22 pm
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Loc on BCSFAzine 419 (Garth Spencer, ed.)
Dear Garth:
Well, the date above is a little misleading...it is the 21st as I write, and I am at about 34,000 feet flying from Houston to Las Vegas to go to Corflu Silver. I should be able to send this to you by the time we get back. These 3+ hour flights need something to fill them, so here's a loc on BCSFAzine 419.
Graeme Cameron is right about taking BCSFAzine online, and I see that's exactly what you've done. There may be some who are old-fashioned enough to think they aren't getting their membership money's worth with a zine that anyone can download, but e-zines are the modern reality to offset the costs of printing and mailing. I imagne you'll be e-mailing the zine to members the same way you e-mail it to me.
So many people have their own ideas of what is fannish, sercon, insurgent, and other terms from the fannish past. We'll never agree to the definitions, so we'll just have to muddle along and have the best time possible. I might sound heretical to some, but most of us follow our interests, and seek out the fun. At Corflu, I'll be getting my fill of sercon, and that's good, too.
John Purcell should know that I am producing this loc using the same equipment that got me through jury duty, the Palm Tungsten E2 and its matching keyboard. I plan to use whatever spare time I have this week to write what I can. I've had to learn some time management skills to get what I get done, done, without falling too far behind.
My loc...Ad Astra was a great time this year, as it is most years for me, and I am far from objective on this one. Yvonne ran the space, science and technology track, very well received (so much so, she's been asked to run a similar track for Con*cept this October), we saw so many old friends, including Karen Wehrstein and Shirley Meier, and we ran a killer party on Saturday night. We know we said we were retired...now, we're calling it a vacation, and we have once again offered our services to Ad Astra to join their committee, and perhaps look after the con's publicity and advertising. I whipped up a quick con report for Graeme, and it may appear in the next WCSFAzine.
You're right about doing what you can afford, and we are all in that boat. Some can afford more or much more than others, but that doesn't make them any more the fan. Sure, I know some people who went to the Tokyo Worldcon last year on a whim, bought the tickets and off they went. I'd like to be able to do that, but I can't, and I live with it. (Yes, here I am on a jet writing this, but this is something we've saved for, for a long time. It's our 25th wedding anniversary in May.) Do what you can afford. It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you got, sez the Sheryl Crow song.
The fan funds have done their stuff, even CUFF. I think Lance Sibley will do well, but I think he may be hard-pressed to actually write a trip report. I hope he will surprise us with something readable.
Re discussions about the second Canadian Conrunners Conference in Kingston...I didn't suggest Kingston as a venue for the event, but I had received a regular issue of Meetings & Incentive Travel Magazine I get from Rogers Publishing, and with the issue came a booklet extolling the virtues of a Kingston location, and listing all function space and convention facilities in Kingston. To those who did suggest Kingston, I thought that booklet might make their choice within Kingston easier. I still have the booklet, and the offer to send the booklet to the organizers of CCC2 still stands.
Congrats to Martin and Christina on getting a new property for their renfaire. We've been talking to regular convention and renfaire dealer Adam Smith a lot lately...looks like no hope of a renfaire in the Toronto area, save for the annual event that takes place on the rear grounds of Casa Loma, or the pirate village at Old Fort York.
As I now write...it is the end of my hectic third day in Las Vegas. We've visited a few places on the Strip, enjoyed the Fremont Street Experience, and today, took in a tour of the Hoover Dam at the Nevada-Arizona border. Now, we are resting our weary bones, wondering if a vacation should be so busy.
I will send this when the calendar matches the date at the top. Take care, and I hope to be more timely with the next letter. I won't be on vacation then.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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01:09 pm
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Loc on OSFS Statement 357 (Sandi Marie McLaughlin, ed.)
Dear OSFen:
Many thanks for Statement 357. It is actually six days before the above date, mostly because Yvonne and I are in Las Vegas, doing some early celebrating of our 25th wedding anniversary, and we will also be attending Corflu Silver, the annual fanzine convention, also celebrating 25 years. I've got my PDA and keyboard, and I'm getting caught up on fanzines when there's a quiet moment.
Let's combine robots and upcoming movies, and we have Wall-E, the newest Disney/Pixar movie, coming up in June, plus somethng else I'm looking forward to, the next Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, coming up in mid-May.
I have always liked time travel stories, and we don't get many any more, mostly because people demand total factuality in their science fiction, which seems almost counter-intuitive to me. I don't mind a little fictional science in my science fiction. That's why I think I'll stick with older science fiction like James Schmitz' fiction, an under-appreciated author, like so many of his time.
Just a few years ago, I kept hearing about something called Web 2.0, which waws supposed to be an overlay on the current Web/Net to make it easier and faster to use. Is the Grid that much of any improvement, and will any of it be applied to make the Web/Net better?
Now that we are back from Vegas, what's next on our fannish agenda? We might be at Polaris, depending on whether we are running the Ad Astra table there. We'll see what the committee would like us to do for Ad Astra 2009. Take care all, and see you next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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01:03 pm
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The Fek'lhr You Know Vol. 10 No. 6 (Joe Casey, ed.)
Dear Joe:
The date above is actually wrong; it's actually the 23rd as I write, but Yvonne and I are in Las Vegas, on vacation, exploring this crazy city, and eventually attending the annual fanzine convention called Corflu. I have my keyboard with my PDA, so I can write locs as I relax. Here's some comments on Fek'lhr Vol. 10 No. 6.
I have never been a gamer, perhaps preferring the fact that you don't need to arrange anything with others when you sit down to read. I find that gamers are certainly more competitive than I am, so the idea of the game suits them.
We had a very good time at Ad Astra this year. Yvonne was once again in charge of the space, science and technology programme track, and together, we threw an Aparticon in our hotel room. Seemed to be well-attended, and we got the feeling there was a lot of positive feeling about the con. The con farmed out the con suite to various groups to promote themselves, with mixed success. A group of video bloggers took over the suite, but were too busy video blogging to actually run the suite. I found the guests to be nearly invisible, but then, I wasn't looking for them.
I gather that Sid likes a little drama in his life, and he did something similar to Toronto Trek/Polaris some years earlier by seeing something he thought was wrong, and he stirred the pot as much as he could. I found out that while Ad Astra was happening, Sid was in Calgary. I think he'd better stay there.
Speaking of Polaris, it looks like it might be our next convention. We are offering our services to Ad Astra again to be in charge of publicity and advertising, so we might be at the Ad Astra table. Nothing is certain yet.
We'll be in Vegas for a few more days and we are going to party hearty this weekend, and escape home on Monday. I'll send this to you then. Take care, and see you sometime this summer.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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12:56 pm
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Loc on Visions of Paradise 127 (Robert Sabella, ed.)
Dear Robert:
Many thanks for VoP 127. I'm kinda writing this on the road before the date above, mostly because we're on some long-awaited holidays, and given my time management habits, I will be trying to write locs wherever and whenever I can. You're up next!
I think the complaints about there not being enough SF to read are really from older readers who may not be finding enough familiar names to read. There are so many new names out there, it's difficult to know who's good, and who's a one-book wonder. We try not to judge by its cover, but I think there are visual cues about some SF books, and they may not be there any more, or the cues have changed. I can see that we are victims of SF's volume of new books; how do we read even a small percentage of the books available? However, we can take heart with the increasing number of books, a measure of the genre's health. I guess I am atypical by not reading much fantasy, and not reading any horror, and it's been a long time since I've read any of the SF magazines. There's just a limit to the money and time you can devote to SF. Sad to say, but it's true. If I had my way, I'd be taking a shopping bag full of stuff away from my local SF bookstore every week.
Good to see you still keep in touch with FeiFei. Given the current situation with Tibet, and the fact the Olympic torch relay has been disrupted almost everywhere, I wonder what her take is on China's and the world's reaction to support for a free Tibet is. I won't say much about Tibet right now; my own country has had its own brush with a region trying to gain independence.
What kind of reputation do you have at your school? Sounds like some students consider you to be a rough one to deal with, and then find out afterwards that you're a pussycat after all. How do reputations like that one start? Men who tough in their jobs are seen as leaders; women who act the same are seen as bitches. It's not fair to them, and my ex-principal sister-in-law would agree.
E.B. Frohvet's letter just shows how subjective our enjoyment of SF is. However, I agree with him that the genre has moved forward faster than my tastes have. I expect that I shall be reading older novels, and may move back to my original reading material, the anthology. Maybe my patience for the longer works is waning, and I'm an old school space cadet, longing to travel beyond the Rim.
I remember the Olive Garden restaurants...they were one of the many chains that failed in Canada. Plenty of US-based chains have succeeded, mostly because they opened Canadian-based offices and subsidiaries, and there's also lots of Canadian-based restaurant chains like Jack Astor's. Yvonne has a lot of newly-diagnosed food allergies that means there are few restaurants we can go to.
My loc...I eventually had to travel about 20 to 30 miles to find a used book store willing to take the big box of books I had. No luck on the job front, but every so often, I come across a number of interesting jobs all at once, and out go the resumes.
(I am now writing this loc at about 28,000 feet as Yvonne and I are winging our way to Las Vegas (via Houston) for Corflu Silver, and some celebrations of our own... May 28 marks our 25th wedding anniversary, and we're vacationing a little early.)
Panasonic got rid of me as soon as they could, and the job hunt continues. I could have gone to that website Brant Kresovich wrote about, but nothing beats the hunt and the musty smell of a bookstore. You never know treasures you'll find, shelf after shelf, box after box.
All done for the moment. This is being written before the date above while I cross the continent. Take care, and see you next issue.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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02:46 pm
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Loc on Trap Door 25 (Robert Lichtman, ed.)
Dear Robert:
Thank you for a paper copy of Trap Door 25. I am going to try my best to get this ready and off to you before we’re off ourselves to Las Vegas. Yvonne and I plan to spend some quality time together in LV for our 25th wedding anniversary celebrations, before it’s time for the 25th Corflu. Lots of 25s there. What else can I say but to look inside for inspiration.
I don’t like the term ‘obitzine’ either, even though I admit I’ve used it a few times. Any zine that marks the passage of time with obituaries of leading and popular fans gets that tag, like File 770 and Ansible and Locus, and this fine zine, I guess. This happens when the obits pile up. Sometimes, half of Ansible is listings of those who have passed in the past month. With all this in mind, my condolences on the passing of Calvin Demmon. Living this far north usually means I never get to meet these people who mean so much to those closer to them. He obviously made his impact, and he had the writing wit to impress the readers.
I like Skoan as a fanzine title…one I’ve used in the past was Daf2t, which stood for Definitely Another Fanzine from Toronto, with a variation Da2ft, Definitely Another Apazine from Toronto.
There were and are a number of American-born fans in Toronto. I wonder what brings them up here, sometimes far away from where they lived, and in a whole ‘nother country. Calvin Demmon working in Edmonton, Bob Shaw living in Calgary for a while, so many more. I found that the magazine Demmon worked on had been founded in 1973 as the St. John’s Edmonton Report, expanded into three separate editions to service British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the rest of Western Canada, and shut down all operations and editions in 2003.
Sidney Coleman was another memorable character I never met…I enjoyed the Benford article in a past issue of eI. John Nielsen Hall mentions the Turfan depression, and I have been looking on the Trufen list for some reference to the Trufan depression, but as some comedy shows say, not everyone has the same sense of humour.
If I had the time and the money, I’d volunteer to rummage around in Mike Glicksohn’s basement, and sort his zines. I’d probably spend a lot of time on Mike’s back deck, reminiscing and laughing. His back yard is a delight; I can see why not much work gets done.
As Langley Searles says, I am also glad that the Warner collection is safe and intact. I’d also like to dig through that collection and sort it. (Here I am offering to sort collections, and I can’t even sort my own. Grass is greener on the other side of the fence, I suppose.)
I had plans to print out e-zines long ago, but realized that with limited space, I would suddenly have so many more printed zines, I’d need probably another packages of Banker’s Boxes just to hold them. I have a file on my desktop that says Zines to Print, but I suspect that I will just burn them onto a CD. I probably have enough e-zines to fill at least one CD, and part of a second.
Michael Dobson reminds us all not to put too much faith in your idols, or you may be disappointed. The people you idolize are not there for you, but for themselves, to make a living and enjoy the attention that comes with it. I don’t really go to conventions hoping to meet a particular author or actor, so I’m not disappointed. So many who go to conventions looking for a particular actor are often disappointed by a similar snarly attitude Michael got from Ted Geisel. The actors are everyday folks with bills to pay, a family to raise, and a high-visibility career to nurture, and they’d rather be on a set making serious cash than be at your little convention.
Tim Marion echoes the faned’s nightmare…thanks for the nice zine. When I first showed some interest in fanzines, local fan (at the time) Mike Wallis showed me a handful of zines he’d received, and we talked about how best to get them, and what best to do to exchange for them. At the time, I wasn’t certain what to write about, and only recently was I confident enough to give what bits of artwork I’ve created to John Purcell for his zine, so I felt that if I could do anything, it would be to write for the locol. And, it’s been a pleasant 25+ years. I don’t like short letters, but on occasion, large letters can be carved up to provide an article from the contents.
Greg Benford, will writing for fanzines (gasp!) mean you’ve got to turn in your SFWA membership card and decoder ring? Hope not…I’m starting to think about doing a genzine, and I might pester Rob Sawyer for an article or two. Years ago, Rob was the convenor for the last general SF club the Toronto area had, the Ontario Science Fiction Club, or OSFiC. John Purcell, you’re right about chatting up the actors…years ago, we had the chance to dine with George Takei at a Toronto convention, and Yvonne talked to him about public transit, one of George’s passions, especially when he was in BArea politics. George insisted we sit with him, and we talked about the new Spadina line in Toronto, which we noticed the fanboys were faunching to fawn over George about his Trek days. Sometimes, I think all these folks want it a chance to talk about something else.
I’ll take that lottery win Taral speaks of, too. Yvonne is the only driver between us, and she is getting tired of road trips, too. We will be going to Montréal for their annual convention this year, with Yvonne running their space, science and tech programme, and I’ll probably do a panel with Jeff Boman on fanzines, and Yvonne would like to leave the car home and take the train. That sounds very good to me; we’ve done it before. Downtown Toronto to downtown Montréal in about four hours or so? Nice and relaxing, especially for the one who usually does the driving.
Well, I have just hacked my way onto the third page, so I hope this is the kind of meaty eLoc you were hoping for. Happy to oblige. We shall meet in about a week and a half in Las Vegas!, and looking forward to it. See you then.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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02:46 pm
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Loc on Askance 7 (John Purcell, ed.)
Dear John:
It is massive catch-up time for locs on your zines, and with some luck, some fanzine reviews. First of all, time to comment on Askance 7, the first annish! Congrats on that, and what else to say?…
I’m sure you’re finding that while a regular fanzine is fun, real life takes you away from having more fun. That’s why I’ve had to refuse any and all invitations to join apas. The job hunt is keeping me busy, and I am also taking on more voicework projects. I have to see if I can do another fanzine column before heading off to Vegas and seeing you and lots of others at Corflu. That’s my mission this week to get caught up and get locs off to those who I’ll see.
I was still expecting to see David Burton’s Pixel return, so that’s a shame to see that. Did David send out a general e-mail about Pixel not returning?
James, what I take from your essay is that Nazism, in whatever form or name it takes, can happen here. To be honest, to see how liberties and freedoms were restricted by the Bush regime, plus the hint of it that came from the new Department of Homeland Security, made me think that Nazism or fascism could arrive on this continent. I think I was among the first to describe some of Dubya’s actions as being fascist, and I see I am not the last. The rule of law must be enforced fairly, and applied to all, and Dubya will start looking like a fair man once the prison at Guantanamo Bay is shut down.
Robert Sabella’s list of future histories sum up my own reading interests…adventures in a set universe in the future, with good people and amazing ideas, settings and actions. Seeing that most of these series are set in the future, did we all enjoy these stories because we were worried about our future, and the stories gave us some ease from that worry?
I agree with you, John, fanzines are a fun way of participating in fandom, and in my own experiences, costumes, collecting, art, filk, and so many more activities, are also fun. You have to put into fandom to get something out; you can’t just sit there and demand to be entertained. I know some who have, and were disappointed.
Cars are in our future, too. We own a 1998 Suzuki Esteem station wagon, and it was a new car when we drove to the Baltimore Worldcon in 1998. It’s taken us to a few more Worldcons, and to dozens of other conventions, but now, it’s a little rusty around the edges, there’s more than 270,000 km on it.
I seem to be the kind of fan that usually works on most of the conventions he attends, unlike Andy Tremblay. Yvonne and I have been away from conrunning for about three years, and we have now decided to call it a vacation. We will be rejoining the local convention committee, and seeing what we can do to advertise the con, and get more people involved. It was 25 years our first time in; who knows how long we’ll last this time?
My loc…found out that Chris Garcia himself will be running the fanzine room for Denvention. We will be tossing some ideas around to see if there are any ideas we can share. If we are all fringe fans as Randy Byers says, I sure there will be those who say they are at the fringe of the fringes, and will complain loud and long, or simply rejoin in their difference. Instead of feeling pushed to the fringes, that’s where we’ll feel the most comfortable, away from the centre no one wants to be in. Let’s just call ourselves fans, no matter our interest, and we’ll all feel included.
Dale Speirs may not be considered for the fanzine awards, but Dale has won in the past an Aurora Award in the category of Fan Achievement (Fanzine) for Opuntia, and with his zine being the only nominee on this year’s ballot, he’s about to win a second Aurora. He has been recognized for his work, but he should have had a FAAn award by now.
Chris Garcia has already used two zines to produce part of his trip report, so I hope it will be ready soon. What are you waiting for, Chris? Several Garciazines have seen the light of day; he must have had a laptop and was typing away all through his trip. I plan to do much the same thing on the way to Las Vegas. On our trip to Las Vegas for Corflu Silver, in about ten days or so as I write, we will be leaving Toronto very early in the morning, and will have an hour’s layover in Houston. Our flight will take about 7 hours each way, so we will be back in Texas much sooner than we expected, although not for long.
I will wind up, say my thanks, send you something more written a little later on, and say see you in Vegas!
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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09:43 pm
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Loc on File 770 152 (Mike Glyer, ed.)
Dear Mike:
I’ll start off with congratulations on 30 years of File 770. These days, getting anyone to carry on with a project for more than six months is cause for celebration. Thirty years is beyond an achievement, and thank you for sticking it out. It’s issue 152, and here are some comments on the contents.
I think my first issue of File 770 I received, after Yvonne purchased my first subscription when you were the FanGoH at Ad Astra III in Toronto in 1983, was issue 58, possibly issue 53. It’s been a while. I would need to check the envelope 152 came in to see how many issues I have left in my sub. I can’t even remember the last time I sent you cash for a sub.
I heard a lot about Chris Garcia’s TAFF trip, but heard absolutely nothing about the Francises’ DUFF trip until cracking open this zine. I will have to purchase both reports once they see print, just to see what impact these folks have had on fandom around the world. As far as Chris goes, I want to see what he did at Orbital. (I can imagine the reports…)
Congrats to Diana, not only for the Imperishable Flame Award, but for the Hugo nomination. The closest I’ve come to a silvery rocket lately is the golden rocket at Rob Sawyer’s home. Diane must feel fabulous with this new fannish achievement.
Didn’t realize that Frank Wu has won three Hugos. Truly a selfless gesture to step aside so that others may enjoy the massive egoboo that comes with a rocket. I know where everyone would expect me to go next, but I shall refrain. Selflessly. We’ll see if others pick up the obvious next sentence.
The obits carry on forever. When Arthur C. Clarke passed away, it was a few days before this year’s Ad Astra. Yvonne quickly got a book of condolences ready, and Apogee Books publisher Rob Godwin produced some programming for the convention. Rob was a friend of Sir Arthur’s, and is in close touch with brother Fred, who isn’t doing well himself. Yvonne will be taking the book of condolences to Eeriecon 10 in Niagara Falls, NY in a few days, and then to Corflu Silver in Las Vegas. Once we return, the book will go to Rob Godwin, who will take it to the 2008 International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC.
Another great report from John Hertz, and as many have observed, with John being such a Nipponophile, who better than to be sent to Japan for a Worldcon? A true brainwave from Murray Moore. I have not seen Shibano-san for some years now, and I have some hopes that I will be able to see him again. I hade the offer to the Japanese committee to be their Canadian agent; I still wish they’d said yes.
I had heard the Montreal parties were great, and I did sample the ice cider…wonderful. I could get used to that. I must wonder what the maple stew was… I had wondered what fanzine content there was in Japan, but what John says here is a disappointment. The Denver and Montréal rooms will be much better, guaranteed. I was pleased by my finish with the Fan Writers Hugo race…hope to do better in coming years, fingers crossed. I wish that future fans may have the chance to enjoy a Worldcon in an exotic place.
Yvonne and I miss seeing Roger and Pat and Dick, and we hope they are comfortable and secure in their new abodes. Health to them all; it seems sometimes there is a dwindling supply.
A great essay/memoir from Taral. Indeed, George Reeves was the best Superman, but Kirk Alyn was good as well, and in a more recent age, Christopher Reeve did a great job.
I suppose I must archive my own zines at some point…having them alphabetized by title is about the best I can do right now. I know some use photocopy paper boxes, but I don’t know what the rest of us would do if it wasn’t for Banker’s Boxes. I’ve got 20 to 25 of them full in an nearby locker.
As has Francis Hamit, I’ve crossed the 30-year mark in fandom, and Yvonne has, too. We’ve passed 200 cons, and could compare our early days with modern days, but I think the best thing to say is that they are just different. We see our world change as time marches on, and fandom is no different. We have decided that while we could grouse about the way things used to be, we’ll just adapt for something different, and carry on. Francis, we have kept all our badges, too, on a large drape hanging on the wall of our bedroom. In a few years, the drape will be full.
Hello to Joe Major…Japan has their Seiuns, and Canada has Auroras. The Torcon Hugo ballot had no Canadians in the fan Hugo categories…I hope there will be at least a couple in Montréal. Speaking of which…Yvonne is working with Sir David Clement and Farah Mendelsohn with Anticipation’s space and science programming, and I have been approved as the head of the fanzine lounge. I won’t have Milt Stevens’ budget from LAcon IV, but I will see what I can do to make the room comfortable.
More voiceover work these days, especially for the local universities and art colleges. Perhaps soon I can put together a demo disk from all these projects and make the professional attempt.
It’s Sunday night, and I am toast. I worked the annual spring meeting of the Ontario Dental Association…yup, working trade shows again. Gotta make a few bucks along the way. There’s a job interview tomorrow, and afterwards, general pre-pack for a daytrip to Eeriecon Ten in Niagara Falls, NY, and then a week in Vegas, celebrating 25 years, and then enjoying the weekend with the Katzes and many others at Corflu. I hope the beginning of your 31st year of publication will start soon. I’m greedy enough to want the next issue. Take care, congrats again to Diana and Chicken! to Sierra, and see you next mailing.
Yours, Lloyd Penney.
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