AMIS FOR LXICON
Whilst it has long been known that the Cheltenham
gang which is organising this year’s Easter
Convention (The Gloucester LXIcon) possesses a
wealth of originality, enterprise and imagination,
it is highly pleasing to note that they are not
waiting until the convention itself (Good Friday -
Easter Monday) to impress us with these qualities.
The first announcement of note and importance, as
you’ll see from the Newsletter which is included
as a flier to this SKYRACK, is that Kingsley Amis
is to be the LXIcon’s Guest of Honour. I believe
that this is the first time in the history of sf
fandom that a main stream writer who has but
dabbled in sf has been invited to a convention in
this honoured capacity and the move certainly
reflects the committee’s enterprise.
Brian Jordan reports that Mr. Amis’ name is
cropping up in other literary journals apart from
SKYRACK.... The Scientific American, The Times
Literary Supplement, and it is also noted that
following a TV interview early in the month, Mr
Amis was interviewed on sound radio (BBC Home) on
Sat 25th (“World of Books” ) re “New Maps of
Hell.”
OTHER NEWS ON THE LXICON can be gleaned from the
enclosed flier. The programme appears to be
shaping up nicely....fan films, the Don Ford
slide-show, “Forbidden Planet,” Eric Bentcliffe’s
TAFF talk and "This is Your (Fan) Life” (It could
be you!), auctions, the fancy dress ball. Gee, but
I’m glad I’m booked in!
There evidently will be three auctions this year
in aid of different funds. I’ve agreed to run the
TAFF auction and and hope for some original cover
art work from Nova publications. Stateside fan,
Lynn Hickman, has donated 5 two-year subscriptions
for his Hugo-nominated fanzine JD-ARGASSY and I’m
now throwing these open to a pre-con postal ballot
(The top-price on each subscription will of course
then become the reserve price at the convention.
If convention bidders fail to meet this reserve,
the postal bidder will take the subscription.
Stateside fen especially may be interested in this
deal?).
EPITAFF is the name of Eric Bentcliffe’s booklet
account of his 1960 TAFF trip to the Pittsburgh
Worldcon. This production is now almost ready for
publication, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a
sample of this work and I certainly look forward
to reading the entire report. 7/- or $1. All
profits to TAFF.
COLONIAL EXCURSION, my own TAFF trip report, is
also nearing completion. While there has been no
apparent rivalry between Eric and I, it’s
surprising the way that our reports have paralleled
one another in production. C.E. also sells for 7/-
or $l with a pre-publication price of 5/- or
75cents. )
******************************************************************************************** fillinyourSKYballotformnowfillinyourSKYballotformnowfillinyourSKYballotformnowfillinyourSKYballotformnow ********************************************************************************************
THE DIRECTORY OF 1960 SF FANDOM containing the
addresses of over 500 fans is circulated free to
members of OMPA and is included in the February
FAPA mailing. Non-OMPAns and non-FAPAns may obtain
copies from either Ron Bennett or Bob Pavlat for
1/6d or 25 cents.
FLIERS.... once again SKYRACK has its share of
fliers, the LXIcon report, Eric Bentcliffe’s
latest mi, and two sheets from Archie Mercer on
camping and TAFF. This last named sheet has given
my. sense of ethics a bad shake, for I’m wholly in
support of RON ELLIK FOR TAFF and I hope that I’m
not drawing support away from him by circulating
this sheet for Archie.
GEORGE LOCKE is now in Nairobi on his latest army
posting. Before leaving England, George came up to
Harrograte for the weekend the last SKYRACK was
issued and included a lengthy flier of his own. We
looked round all sorts of bookshops and spent a
terrific afternoon and evening as guests of
Michael and Betty Rosenblum in Leeds. George
browsed through Michael’s books and files of The
Futurian and Spaceways whilst I played over
Michael’s latest lp’s and drank apricot gin.
Howard Rosenblum (age 12 and threequarters)
retained his World Astron chanionship and Betty
was once again nominated for the Michelin Guide.
George was also introduced during the weekend to
Colin Freeman, editor of SCRIBBLE, who filched a
file of back issues of SMOKE and let George win 9d
at solo.
LES SPINGE 5 (Ken Cheslin, 18 New Farm Rd,
Stourbridge, Worcs. 1/-. 3Opp). Ken’s latest
offering arrived only this morning, making this
the quickest reviewing in SKYRACK’ s extremely
lengthy history. This “wild, abandoned fanzine”
now looks a little in format like other fanzines
we know and love but is printed in green ink
throughout. The material is not as mouldy cheese
as might be expected though. Harry Douthwaite cuts
a neat front cover. Ken editorialises on various
subjects from 1960 as a year through de Camp’s "Incomplete Enchanter.” George Metzger columnises.
Mike Deckinger clears snow. Dave Hale immortalises
Linwood and Rispin, Jim Linwood himself
contributes a new slant on the stream of
consciousness pieces. Alan Dodd writes about 4D
Jones. And Linwood reviews fanzines. Not a top
fanzine by any means, but certainly a fun loving
effort, and once again showing improvement.
ESPRIT Vol 2 No 3 (Daphne Buckmaster, 8 Buchanan
Street, Kirkcudbright, Scotland ; l/6 or
20cents;50pp) This queen amongst discussion zines
opens with a short article by Ray Nelson on
individuality and solitude. Jim Norrie
experiences wild talent. John Rackham puts forward
a theory that sounds vaguely Fortean. Nan Gerding
writes on studying. There are 27 pages of letters
and short bits by Les Gerber, Harry Turner and
dear old Max Cranium. Highly recommended.
VECTOR 10 (The o-o of the BSFA. £1 for year’s
initial subscription to Archie Mercer 434/4 Newark
Rd, North Hykeham, Lincoln. Edited by James
Groves, 2 Lathom Rd, East Ham, London E 6). This
56 page winter VECTOR is another of the same ilk
of well laid-out, well duplicated, well edited
VECTORS (It strikes me that the question, “Has
there ever been a sercon o-o of the VECTOR
quality?” might be worth asking). Apart from the
official reports (which make interesting reading
in themselves) George Locke shows how sf has been
ingrowing into a rut. Pat Kearney writes fiction
(I’ve seen far worse from Fredric Brown). Films
are reviewed. Ken Slater shows that he’s still
alive (where are you, where are you?) by
Chuntering. Books are reviewed. Fan and prozines
are reviewed. Paul Enever’s classic fanzine piece
on ants is reprinted. Several pages of letters make
up another worthwhile issue.
HAVERINGS 4 (Ethel Lindsay, 6 Langley Avenue,
Surbiton, Surrey. 6d.10pp). I wasn’t too keen
originally on this latest project of Ethel’s, a
slimzine devoted to fanzine reviews, but HAVERINGS
has made rapid strides and this latest offering
shows vividly why Ethel’s terse viewpoint has been
so valuable to OMPA over those past five or six
years. Apart from the highly individual style,
HAVERINGS is worth keeping as a record of what is
what on the zinescene. Why, it might even come in
handy when you’re filling in your SKYRACK ballot
form!
VOID 23 (Ted White, 107 Christopher St, New York
14; Available in UK by sending Ron Bennett 1/-
; 34pp). As VOID’s UK agent, I suppose I should
mention the magazine occasionally, but this
particular issue is worth mentioning in its own
right, including as it does material from Lee
Hoffman, Walt Willis, John Berry, Bob Shaw and
being THE WALT WILLIS APPRECIATION ISSUE. One
shilling.
changes of address Brian Jordan, l5 New Cross Drive, Woodhouse,
Sheffield. Terry & Miri Carr, 1818 Hearst St.,
Berkeley 3,
Calif.
Ella Parker reports having a card from George
Locke in Tripoli en route for Kenya.”A very
touching picture of mother and child...camels.”
.... Recent visitors to London have included Mike
Evans and Dave Hale. Visitor deserving a special
mention to herself was Jill Adams who attended a
Friday BSFA meeting at Ella’s .... RETRIBUTION 16
(John Berry, 31 Campbell Park Ave, Belfast 4)
announces the end of the GDA .... CAMBER 12 (Alan
Dodd, 77 Stanstead Rd, Hoddesdon, Herts) a big
improvement over the previous issue; devoted
mainly to the film, PSYCHO. Most horrific fnz
cover I’ve ever seen. .... Jim Linwood, 10 Meadow
Cotts, Netherfield, Notts is UK agent for Bill
Donaho’s giantzine HABAKKUK. 50 cents or 3/6d per
issue .... Bruce Burn and Norman Shorrock sent
cutting from the Daily Mail covering the paper’s
TV 1961 “Get Ahead” programme. Taking part in the
16th Feb programme was old time fan Wally Gillings
with a tape magazine for the blind idea.
Rolf Gindorf reports “The 2nd Niederrhein (Lower
Rhineland) Con was held in Dusseldorf on the Jan
14/15 weekend and brought 38 fans from all over
Germany together, despite it’s announcedly
unpolitical, unserconnish and regional character.
Highlights were a discussion of the mess German SF
is still in, a free-swinging auction with a highly
satisfactory result as far as German fan auctions
go, and a panel on the respective merits of
faanish and conventional (i.e. predominantly
SF-slanted) fandoms. This discussion was soon
ended for lack of (courage of) supporters of the
latter faction. Expected English guest, Ivor
Mayne, whose visit had been announced by Swedish
fen, failed to turn up. When all was over
everybody agreed that they had had wonderful time.
Meanwhile, the Hamburg Group, sponsored by the
EUROTOPIA, announced the formation of a
Trans-European Fan Fund. TEFF is expected to
operate like TAFF, its aim being to get each year
a German fan to a European Con. Most likely places
are, of course, England and (possibly)
Sweden.”
Next issue will include, it is hoped, results of
the FANAC (Terry?) aand SKYRACK fan polls. SKYRACK
voters receive a free issue....vote now! |