This is SKYRACK Number 49, edited and published by Ron Bennett, 13 West Cliffe Grove, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. 6d per copy. 6 issues 2/6d. Stateside subscriptions to Bob Pavlat, 6001-43rd Avenue, Hyattsville, Maryland @ 6 for 35cents surface or 65cents airmailed. News of interest to SF fans always welcome. Cartoon & heading by Arthur “Atom” Thomson and contributions from Burkhard Bluem, Larry Crilly, Archie Mercer, George Locke, Ken Slater, Ron Ellik, Ethel Lindsay, Ted Forsyth, Jim Linwood, Chris Miller, Eric Jones and others.  
4th February 1963

NO TAFF CANDIDATE YET  ..  SCITHERS IN TOWN  ..  ELLA MOVES  ..  NEW DIRECTORY HERE

WITH LESS THAN A MONTH TO GO to the TAFF nomination deadline of 28th February, no nomination for a candidate to stand in the fight to decide who will travel from the States to this country next year has so far been received by either TAFF Administrator, Ron Ellik or Ethel Lindsay. In so far as Bill Donaho’s chief nominator Ken Potter would prefer him to stand for election in the 1965 campaign Bill has declined nomination this year, and another well-fancied runner, that old war horse Rick Sneary has declined to run on health grounds, even though there has been some kindly behind the scenes double dealings in the matter by Joe Gibson and the LASFS bunch. The nomination period may now have to be ex­tended. What are you people waiting for? Get someone nominated pdq!

AMRA’S GEORGE SCITHERS was in the UK last month on a flying visit. The last overseas visitor to the Canterbury Road Penitentiary, he met Ted Forsyth, Peter Mabey, Joe Patrizio and Ella Parker and endulged in a sidetrip up to Durham to visit artist Jim Cawthorn.

SKYRACK POLL voting time is here again. More on this inside.

ELLA PARKER MOVES - AT LAST. The London County Council has condescended to move Ella into a new flat after having had her packed and ready for two months. New address on back page. Ken & Irene Potter planning move back to Lancaster.

NOMINATIONS ARE INVITED for this year’s Hugo Awards. These nominations are sorted out and the best placings in each category go forward into a final ballot which decides these most worthy Awards. To be eligible to nominate, writes dear old Dick Eney, fans must be members of the DisCon (this year’s Washington DC WorldCon) or else have been member of last year’s ChiCon. One nomination from each member is invited for each of the following categories. Novel, Short Story, Dramatic Production, Best Prozine, Best Pro Artist & Best Fanzine. To be eligible for nomination the item must have appeared (been copyrighted, published/at least one instalment appeared/active) in 1962. Ballots close 15th April and should be sent to Eney at 417 Ft Hunt Rd., Alexandria, Va., USA.  NOTE UK DISCON MEMBERSHIPS SELL AT $1 or 7/- (Ethel Lindsay or Ron Bennett).

IF YOU FEEL LEFT OUT FROM THE LABOUR PARTY’S VOTE TO CHOOSE A NEW LEADER, use your energies instead on the ballot form which is included in this issue as a flier. This is the voting form for the fourth annual poll to attempt to assess the merits of British fandom during the past year. To obtain a true assessment of the worth of contributions to the British fan field makes for just a little interest in this apathetic world of ours, so why not vote? This is a carry over from the Good Old Days when everyone, just everyone, was supporting the FANAC poll, so let’s get with it once again, huh? To help you, the following non-apa publications appeared from British fans during 1962: Hyphen, Fandoodle, Orion, Scribble, Camber, Haverings, Parker’s Peregrinations, The Skyrack Newsletter, The Skyreck Newsletter, Vector, The Harrogate Convention Programme Booklet, Bastion, Les Spinge and Northlight.

THE DIRECTORY OF 1962 SCIENCE FICTION FANDOM. It’s Directory time once again! This eighth annual listing contains the up-to-date whereabouts of over 500 fans the world over including the addresses of over three hundred Stateside and 120 British fen, as well as representatives of fandom in such widespread areas as Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Eire, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Tape recorder owners and telephone numbers are included in many cases. This is a completely revised. listing - over eighty new names have -been added., over a hundred “dead-wood” names omitted and well over a hundred other addresses which have changed in the last year are shown. This is a record 58% turn-over of change on last year’s Directory. Arthur Thomson once again has contributed a cover which is worth the price of the listing alone. $1 or 5/ sterling from Ron Bennett or Bob Pavlat. 1/6d. or 25 to Skyrack readers and other accredited SF fans, past and present. Note that this year’s Directory will not be circulated through either FAPA or OMPA and members may obtain copies, while supplies last, for 3cents or 2d.

SPECIAL OFFER! Copies of COLONIAL EXCURSION, the bulky report of my TAFF trip to the USA and the 1958 SolaCon are still available at 7/- or $1 from Ron Bennett or Bob Pavlat. Profits ploughed back into TAFF. While supplies last I’ll throw in a copy of the new Fan Directory to any C.E. customer.

THE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB OF LONDON held its AGM on 20th January and apart from taking out a DisCon membership in the Club’s name, conducted. its usual switch around of officers. Ted Forsyth switched from Chairman to Chairman, Ian Peters switched from Treasurer to Treasurer and Keith Otter refused to play by dropping out of the Secretary’s position which has now been filled by poor over-worked Ethel Lindsay. Where but in Skyrack can you read four lines like that? Other news from the SFCoL is that Joe and Anne (Temple) Patrizio are hoping to boost the National Productivity Year with a July infant. (EAP ; EMF)

THE EYE VIEW FILM GROUP, formerly the Magic Eye Group (Hon Sec 154 Bayswater Road, London W.2) a London film society is beginning a season of SF films and is inviting memberships from those interested. One year’s subscription is a guinea with a small extra charge for each attendance, reports Ella Parker. George Locke mentions that representatives from the Group recently attended a Thursday evening Globe meeting and asks by way of a postscript thought for today, “If they show the Lair of the White Worm, we could call the showing Worm’s Eye View,” which just goes to show how these professional authors’ minds work.

CHAOS 1 (January 1963; Roy Kay, 91 Craven Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire. l8pp. 1/6d). It’s quite a time since we had a brand new zine appearing in this country but Roy Kay has set a good example to other would-be publishers with a first issue that follows the better and more persistent traditions of fandom. To begin with Roy has obviously met up with the established fan’s reluctance to part with material to a promised but unestablished zine. When that sort of thing happens the would be editor/publisher is put to writing the whole zine himself, and Roy here has had to do just that, in addition to drawing his own cover illustration and interior fillos. The result is that fresh tang of inexperienced quality that is often described - for want of a better word by those who like to sit on the fence and wait and see - as promising. Roy produces a shoal of interesting writing on correspondence courses, space detection in the outer reaches and other window dressing.

THE PANIC BUTTON 12 (Feb 63; Les Nirenberg, 1217 Weston Rd., Toronto,Canada. 40cents in USA) Number 11 slipped by by arriving bang on Sky’s publication day and here already is number 12! Now well past its teething troubles in its transition from fanzine to nationally distributed satire mag, PB still caters somewhat to fannish tastes in reading matter and. draws on fannish contributors. An attempt at realistic mature so called poetry by one Barry Lord is pretty feeble but the rest of the issue fairly sparkles with Les’ own feature game Medopoly taking top honours and other fannish contributions coming from Deindorfer, Norm Clarke, DeMuth, Arioli and a British fan writing under the name of Alan Trogg.

SHANGRI-L’AFFAIRES 62 (Nov 62; Al Lewis & Ron Ellik, 1825 Greenfield, Los Angeles 25, California, USA. 5 for 7/- or $1 from Ron Ellik or from Archie Mercer, 70 Worral Rd., Bristol 8.) Arriving bang slap in the midst of my reading Laney’s famous fan memoirs, this official organ of the LASFS shows quite a difference from the atmosphere displayed in the Club by FTL. Fred Patten does the honours with minutes of the meetings and other locals, Bjo, Alva Rogers, John Trimble and Al HaLevy contribute very readable material. Of prime importance and interest, however, is the first instalment of Ron Ellik’s report of his 1962 TAFF’trip to the UK and. the Harrogate Convention.

NEWS ON THE CHELTENHAM CIRCLE from Eric Jones seems a little happier than the sad string of woes mentioned last issue. Eric points out that the Club’s weekly income is only just over six shillings, with a weekly expenditure of over £1. The excellent club rooms will have to go but this does not mean that the Club will fold, only that they will have to revert to meetings in local pubs. Here’s wishing you better times, people.

APART FROM THE SKYRACK POLL ballot form (vote, you rotten lot, vote) included as a flier, you’ll be pleased, Steve Schultheis, with the other bonus sheets afforded you this time around. From Dave Hale (whose latest is out, I understand.) comes a sheet canvassing your vote for the Doctor Arthur R. Weir Memorial Award, open to all Peterborough Con Members as voters. Dave urges you to vote for Britain’s Miss America 1961, Ella A. Parker. Personally, I’d prefer you to ignore this appeal, and vote as I urge you. To me, there is only one person worthy of this initial award, one person who has done more for British fandom and the BSFA in particular than any other. That person is Ella Parker. Second, is a TAFF Report order form from Ethel Lindsay who already has my dollar and who asks me to mention that she’s working so hard at producing the report that she greatly doubts whether Haverings will appear before the end of March. Bear with her.

KEN SLATER & THE DAILY EXPRESS reported late December that ex-fan Kingsley Amis is resigning his fellowship at Cambridge to emigrate and start a fan club in Majorca ::: George Locke is buying a glider ::: Disney is filming T.H. White’s “Sword in the Stone.” ::: Jimmy Groves of SFCoL has produced a stefnic game based on territory gains in star systems ::: German NiederrheinCon to be held 23/24 March. Write Rudi Gosejakob, 41 Duisburg, Moltestrasse 62, DBR. ::: Fracas in DC. Cutting from Larry Crilly states that a religious cult, the Founding Church of Scientology is denouncing the government for seizing its teaching equipment, the Hubbard Electrometers, named after founder Ron Hubbard. L. Ron is described in the cutting as “British science fiction writer.” ::: Trimble artzine Pas-tell has new British agents, Brian & Frances Varley, 47 Tolverne Rd., London SW 20. ::: Norm Metcalf, P0 Box 336, Berkeley 1, Calif, USA is worried because mail for him is still turning up at his old, old Tyndall AFB address ::: ”This One Works” reads the heading and thank you very much for the chain letter “started February 1950 and never broken.” Straight into the fire .::: Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group’s President, Christopher A Miller recently announced his engagement to Miss Jennifer Crowe of Wisbech ::: From TAFFman Ron Ellik come two issues of Starspinkle, a new bi-weekly news & chattersheet. Looks as good as Fanac in its heyday ::: Ella Parker has resigned as BSFA Publications Officer and previous editor Jimmy Groves has nobly stepped into the vacancy. BSFA Library has now completed its move to Liverpool. ::: Peter Mabey new SFCoL member. He was to have been made a member in December, but Nasty Ted Forsyth pointed out that he would have to pay up a whole year’s dues. Peter opted to wait a month.  ::: Spalding Guitarist Dan Morgan has been running a course of lectures on jazz, covering the music from Morton to MJQ. Yes, Dan Morgan the SF writer. Remember his guitar at Kettering? ::: Thank you someone for a British Money Order worth 5/- sent 4th December from Hannover 1, DBR. This is a worthless piece of paper until you communicate with me. Write, please. :::

COA dept:
Jhim Linwood, 27 Cotleigh Road, Kilburn, London NW 6.
Ivor Mayne, 33 Chadwell Court, Green Lanes, London N.4.
Ella A Parker, Flat 43, William Dunbar House, West Kilburn, NW6.
Terry Carr, 41 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn 1, N.Y., USA.