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.
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