To finish off the year we present what we think is a pretty damn fine issue, extra chewy, beginning with the first part of Greg Benford's inescapably sfnal memoir Heavy Lifting: The Many-Volume Series.
News, news, news, we got all kinds news. TAFF is off, Corflu in on, and (how we wish Langford hadn't already used the best joke) Ellison Makes Deadline! Truly these are auspicious times.
It's not every month your writing is pubbed in the same zines as Benford and Ellison, but Victor managed this with his pieces in Science Fiction Five-Yearly and this less-prestigious zine, with Hood-Mounted .50 Cals. Daily Double? Trifecta x 2/3? You decide.
Steve Green favors us with first-person reportage in re Wham Bamm Pam's Bogie remake and (no surprise) TAFF in another installment of Fannish Memory Syndrome.
Sure baby it's cold outside but there's a party, so grab your earplugs and come visit After Vanguard, or The Little Rave That Couldn't. (On second thought, those earplugs might not be necessary.)
It is indeed a proud and lonely thing to be a fan, but what does fan mean, exactly? Randy Byers, first Past President of the Fringe Fan Writers of America, explores the nuances inThe President's Address.
Penultimately, our correspondents respond at some length re driving, TAFF, Arriving and clocks in a severely-edited letter column.
And Andy brings the festivities to a critical close with the value-added Fanzine Countdown, including reviews that didn't fit in our printed edition.
We hope that Tom Lehrer is enjoying the season.
This is the seventy-first issue of a tri-weekly fanzine, edited and published by Andy Hooper,
carl juarez and Victor Gonzalez, members & founding member fwa, supporters afal,
at The Starliter Building, 4228 Francis Ave. N. #103, Seattle, WA 98103, also available at fanmailAPH@aol.com. Correspondence for Victor should be sent to 403 1/2 Garfield Street S., #11, Tacoma, WA 98444, and at vxg@p.tribnet.com. carl accepts e-mail contact at cjuarez@oz.net. See below for availability and trade info, including the addresses of our British and Australian mailing agents. This is Drag Bunt Press Production #280. Apparatchiki: Jae Leslie Adams, Dr. Gregory Benford, Randy Byers, Steve Green, Irwin Hirsh, Lesley Reece, Martin Tudor, Pam Wells, Wim Wenders & Ted White.
APPARATCHIK is the fannish equivalent of the German Commerce Raider Kormoran, a freighter with pre-1910 battleship guns bolted on deck. She terrorized British Indian Ocean shipping for 350 days, until the Australian cruiser Sydney surprised her in Shark Bay. Both ships were destroyed in the resulting engagement, observed only as mysterious flashes and smoke beyond the horizon. Apak is still available for the usual, but note that trades must be sent to both Andy and Victor (carl just wants the good ones, sent care of Andy), and/or you can get Apparatchik for $3.00 for a 3 month supply, or a year's worth for $12.00 or a lifetime subscription for $19.73, or in exchange for a mere handful of the sleeping giant's eyecrust.
For readers in the United Kingdom, Martin Tudor will accept #10.00 for an annual subscription, #19.37 for a lifetime sub, from 24 Ravensbourne Grove, Off Clarke's Lane, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 1HX, UK. Australian readers can subscribe through Irwin Hirsh, 26 Jessamine Ave. East Prahran, Victoria 3181 Australia, for $4.50, $17.00 and $28.09 Australian.
Smile Singapore. Warm Singapore. Bright Singapore.
Visit number 
since December 17th, 1996.
![[APAK logo]](logo.gif){kind=logo}