Issue #79, May 30th, 1997

Days of Fandom
edited by Andy

It's always the throwaway lines that get me in trouble: Several correspondents, including F.M. Busby himself wrote in to point out that I was in error when I attributed the best fanzine Hugo won by Cry of the Nameless to "regional prejudice." Cry actually won its Hugo in Pittsburgh, at the 1960 Worldcon, not at the Seattle Worldcon of 1961, as I ham-handedly implied. And it's worth noting that Buz, et al, did remove themselves from consideration for the award when they hosted the Worldcon the year after their win. I'm not sure who or what the author of this misinformation may be, other than my own faulty memory, but I stand corrected in both my misapprehensions in regard to Cry and in my impression that the phenomenon of local fans disqualifying themselves from Hugo consideration is of contemporary origin. I suppose we should save up our rooting for home town titles until the FAAN award balloting -- only about ten months to go . . . .

Get-well wishes go out to young Heloise Tudor, who was hospitalized with a mysterious infection that left her dangerously dehydrated. Happily, the last word from Martin was that everyone would be going home before the end of the month (Martin and Helena had virtually camped out in the hospital during the crisis), and that Heloise was improving, although doctors were still not sure exactly what had been wrong with her. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Rog Ebert remembers: In the editorial of the new Science Fiction Age, Scott Edelman quotes from an interview he conducted (for their sister magazine, Sci-Fi Entertainment, he says) with fannish-wunderkind-turned-Pulitzer-winning-columnist Roger Ebert. Despite rumors that he shuns mention of his fannish roots, Rog talks at some length about his fanzine days, crediting fandom with teaching him to read critically, and still sounding a little goshwow about having his LoCs printed "right next to those of legendary BNFs . . . like Buck and Juanita Coulson, Harry Warner, Harlan Ellison, Ed Gorman, Wilson Tucker and Richard Lupoff."

Brit stalwart Ken Bulmer, fan and pro for over fifty years, suffered a stroke in late March of this year. Vince Clarke reports that Ken's condition has improved since then, but he is still looking at a long period of convalescence and rehabilitation, and would probably benefit more than ever from get-well cards and letters. Vince encourages people to send such to him via his e-mail at vincentian@cix.compulink.co.uk, but one expects that regular paper mail sent to him c/o 6 Wendover Way, Welling, Kent DA16 2BN UK would reach Ken as well.

Tiptree moving again: We've heard that the seventh annual James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award for achievement in gender-related science fiction will be given at Readercon in 1998. Speaking of Readercon, belated best wishes to David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, who were married on March 29th of this year. Can a tiny little editor be expected soon?

Disclave S&M Massacree? Some really wild rumors have issued from this year's Disclave, the DC-area Memorial Day con. At least the blame doesn't appear to fall on fandom this time: Someone, alleged to be a New York City police officer, rented the room above either the green room or the con suite, depending on what story you read. This fellow, along with one or more presumably willing companions, used the room as an impromptu S&M dungeon for the weekend. This pastime came to an end when someone was hung by her feet from the room's ceiling sprinkler head, which exceeded said fixture's load-bearing capacity. The flooding and general chaos which followed has already been immortalized in at least three filksongs.

Still no sign of TAFF: I'd hoped to be able to announce the opening of the 1997ñ1998 TAFF race in this issue, but we still have no definite word from either of the administrators. At least one potential candidate has asked me when I thought the race would begin; I encouraged them to contact Dan Steffan with their questions, as I do anyone else concerned. When an announcement is made, we'll pass it on to you here.

Issue #79, May 30th, 1997

Return to the table of contents.

Previous article: Dr. Fandom Goes Out, by Ted White.

Next article: Bela Lugosi's Dead, by Lesley Reece.