He was an old fan, and tired. His rheumy eyes blinked at the telescreen, but his thoughts were in the past...
"Arrrgh ... I remember...! remember there was FANTASY MAGAZINE, and SCIENCE FICTION TIMES, NOVAE TERRAE used to publish news items too, by a young fella named Carnell, there was S & SFF REVIEW and STFANEWS and STF NEWS and STEFNEWS; there was SCIENCE FICTION NEWSCOPE, and something else that sounded like all the rest.. it was published in the end when the editor thought that the new justified it ... big ' eaded ... then there was STRAIGHT UP and SCIENTIFICTION and SCIENCE FANTASY REVIEW and CONTACT and FANAC and SKYRACK and... "
He was interrupted as the telescreen flashed a warning rod; an excited announcer appeared. "Flash! Scientists have confirmed that the Moon is falling towards the Earth!" The old fan heaved himself upright, toothless gums champing with excitement. " Ah, now ".he cried. "Now there might be another
T.A.F.F. RESULT
| Represented by hardly any fanzines and not even mentioned in the FANAC Fan faces Poll, the winner of the TransAtlantic Fan Fund turned out to be a 6' 3" real American type oldtimer yclept Don Ford. Don spent some days in London before visiting the fleshpots of the North and impressed as a Quiet Man very conscious of his position. It's a pity that normal circumstances don't allow more time for the TAFF delegate to get acquainted with the host country's fans.....you can't really dig a fan in the course of a party or two. (This goes double for another US type, Dave Kyle, who kept on Don's coat-tails on his way round Britain - a new hazard for a TAFF winner. To ensure that British fans forgot that he was sueing two US fans (who erred by doing all they could to help Londoners) Kyle put on the most fuggheaded film show ever to mar a British Convention.) We hope the headline didn't give you heart-failure, Ron - or if it did it was over quickly. SFN may be infrequent, but we like to give the news... |
NOVA NO NOVAThis afternoon British science-fiction was literally within feet
of suffering its worst blow since the War. At two o'clock the Popper
Carton factory, Great Suffolk St., SE I, well known to London s-f
fans as housing the offices of NOVA PUBLICATIONS, closed for the
weekend and five minutes later smoke was seen rising from the basement.
The fire took hold so rapidly that by the time the brigade arrived
the ground floor was well alight. Within a short time roaring flames
engulfed that half of the building; in the other half, separated
only by a wall, were the administrative offices and that of Ted
Carnell, editor of NEW WORLDS, etc. More than 100 firemen using
20 appliances fought flames which leapt 60ft into the air, and clouds
of smoke blacked out the neighbourhood. The fight to prevent the
fire spreading was eventually won, but the three-storey section
of building where it originated was completely gutted.Separated by that wall from blackened girders and charred roof rafters were piles of s-f 'zines, cover originals, editorial work, etc., representing the heart of British pro. publishing ... and last, but not least, two cine films loaned to British fandom by Belle and Frank Dietz showing the '57 World Con, etc., which Ted was waiting for Vince Clarke to collect ... Future issues of the NOVA publications should feature some really hot stories... |
Latest offer received by the SFClub of London in their clubroom quest was letter from agents who offer two well lit offices with central heating and porter-operated lift midway between the two Aldgate Tube Stations for £350 per annum on a 7/14 year lease. Regretfully declining this offer, Vince Clarke told an SFN reporter "We were thinking of about 350/- per annum." The search continues; anyone know of a hovel going cheap in the central London area?
EDITORIAL
From Vince Clarke, Inchmery,
236 Queens Rd London S.E. 14
"Gee, fellas, I'm humiliated! My prestige has exploded! To think that I should slip on a subject like this!
"When Joy and I heard that Eric Bentcliffe was standing for TAFF this time, we chorused 'What, again?' "Huh?' says Sandy. 'He's stood before', said I. 'Hundreds of times.' 'You lie' said Sandy. 'Well, at least a couple of times', said I. 'When I stood for it, for one.' 'I was Joan Carr in Egypt then,' said Sandy, 'I was out there in conditions of indescribable awfulness ... hardly able to earn enough money to fly home for Conventions...' 'Shut up' said I. Or it may have been Joy.
"So the seed was implanted in Sandy's mind by the great Technical Expert (me), and it came to pass that in the fullness of time and the last APE he said that EB had stood several times.
"The first letter of comment received on that APE was from Eric. Or, at least, not on APE - just one little bit of it. 'I stood once before,' said Eric, 'What gives.'
"So I checked and, dammit to hell, he's right. There it is in plain yellow and grey, in HYPHEN 14: Final Results; Ken Bulmer 138, Terry Jeeves 61, Eric Bentcliffe 60.
"Well, this mistake wouldn't matter in a fanzine like - well - FANAC, for instance (hi, Terry) but APE prides itself on accuracy as well as sticking to the good old fannish traditions of no self-advertising and strict neutrality regarding TAFF (at least, they should be good old fannish traditions.) So I'm hurrying into the first available print, without waiting for the next APE to sob out my responsibility for one of the very very few factual errors ever published therein.
"I wonder what made me make that mistake? Did I confuse Eric with Derek Pickles, another spokesman for the anti-London side in the warring factions of British fandom in those far off days? No, more complimentary to Eric, I think that his campaign in '55 carried so many subliminal overtones that it still sticks in the back of my mind.
"Anyway, just in case anyone has a similar vague vision of a row of Erics popping up down the vista of the years at every TAFF election, I'd like to make it perfect clear: THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND TIME HE HAS STOOD.
"And I'm blushing."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The above is in quotes because I carelessly forgot to remove them from the copy; this piece was intended for the SKYRACK due out this weekend, but unfortunately Ron had already completed stencil-cutting. See a hurried couple of lines by him on one page.
Gee, that does bring back some memories, tho.; I'm speaking now, chillun, of the days before the zap-gun was introduced into British fandom and finally outlawed as a weapon too frightful (to hotel managers) to use. There's been some changes since then, and not all of them for the better - see a slightly vicious note which has crept into a page 1 news item, more worthy of one of SFN's US contemporaries (hi, Ron) than this ancient tome. I, personally, haven't had much time for fanning in the last couple of years; turned the handle of my duper 69697 times since I bought it last September (yes, there was paper going through it, Ella) but mostly on other folk's stuff. (I like mock-modesty, don't you?) It does seem to me, tho', echoing Mr. Busby in the last CRY OF THE NAMELESS, that some of fandom's ethical values have become a little shabby. I sometimes read in the mundane press of a cop being beaten up by thugs while the ordinary citizenry stand around gawping but not interfering ... it's none of my business, Jack. Fandom circa '60 gives much the same feeling at times. It grieves me to think that I haven't the time to go into fannish affairs more fully these days, and I'm finding it irritating too ... irritating enough to feel like washing my hands of the whole shoot.
Still, if I can give a hand in producing APE it helps, and in this respect it seems to me that if there is one person in the country whom I'd like to see go across to the US and bring back a factual report on US fandom, it's Sandy. It'd be the most interesting thing in international fannish relations since The Harp Goes West. To hell with slogans for TAFF ... I'm giving a reasoned opinion.
QUOTES, NOTES, NEWS AND REVIEWS
Lifting of import restrictions on various US goods means more US s-f on British bookstalls; both reprints of more-easily-bought stories and the actual dyed-in-the-pulp US editions themselves with a sticker showing the British price.
There will also be reprinting from American matrices ... DEADLY IMAGE, by Edmund Cooper, one of the latest bookstall offerings, is a Ballantine PB in all but name.
Other recent publications in the PB field include Dick's WORLD OF CHANCE, Clement's CYCLE OF FIRE, (a carefully documented novel similar to NEEDLE in its semi-juvenile treatment), THREE FROM OUT THERE a trio by Knight/Asimov/Hamilton, THE BIG EYE by Ehrlich, SEARCH THE SKY by Kornbluth and Pohl (connected episodes giving these two masters of s-f a chance to describe a series of different societies, ending with a re-write of the MARCHING MORONS from Galaxy), EARTH IS ROOM ENOUGH, by Asimov (shorts), and TIME TO COME , a Derlerth-edited anthology of somewhat off-trail s-f shorts. Also, at least two MAD PBs....
Those interested in British PB publishers might like to note that Corgis are owned by the US Bantam Books; Pan is jointly owned by British publishers who include Heinemann, Macmillan, Collins and Hodder & Stoughton; Ace Books is controlled by a big Midlands wholesaler. At least one London distributor is conducting negotiations with Ballantine to import their s-f PBs in bulk....
PEOPLE AND PLACES... Andy Young, US Boy Astronomer and Good Fan, intends to visit Britain this summer; he's attending an astronomical congress ... also scheduled - former actifan-now-pro-author Bob Silverberg and wife Barbara ... Walter Gillings, best known name in pre-war British s-f, erstwhile editor of SCIENCE FANTASY, S-F REVIEW post-war, now P.R.O. of Ilford & District Tape Recording Society; a. good man gone wrong? ... Scots fan Ted Forsyth, newly come to London, has now found a flat in Clapham; it's hoped that he will be joined in the future by Joe Patrizio; other expatriate Scots in the London area include Auntie Ella Parker, Atom, Ethel Lindsay and part of Joy Clarke - the rest of her lives in London too, but is English ... Sandy Sanderson, part-time Boy Mathematician, has just finished working some figures on APORRHETA' s first two years of existence; 17 issues totalling 687 pages carrying over 1/3rd million words (about 366,171 says Sandy) averaging 40 and a half pages per issue every 43 days exactly (or every 6 weeks and a day if you prefer) containing; in addition to artwork, about 21,539 words, some of which APES most violent critics have admitted to be readable ... but, Sandy, why didn't you make it a monthly?....
LIFE IN THE 21ST. CENTURY, by Vassilev and Gouschev (Souvenir Press, Ltd., 21/-) translated from the Russian, features an essay by the President of the USSR Astronautical Institute forecasting a self-supporting Lunar settlement by 2000AD; othor forecasts include moving pavements in towns and bloodless supersonic surgery; nothing really startling. Oh yes, it is non-fiction. There's a new duplicating machine out in London using the xerographic process, but don't bother to wonder if it'll improve your fanzine; hire charge is £30 per week ... which reminds me; a note for aficionados - saw a Gestetner for £5 on a stall this week that differed from my two, George Locke's, Bennett's, Ella's, and any I've ever heard of; thing was in good condition but had absolutely no self-feed mechanism incorporated whatsoever ....
A Belfast bookmaker (nowhere near Newtownards Rd as far as I can find out) is offering 5 to l against a Russian man or woman being sent into space this year and returning alive; odds against the US are 8 to 1, France 12 to I, and Britain 14 to 1 ... Bob Bloch's PSYCHO, now published over here, led to the publication of a typical Bloch interlineation in the august Sunday OBSERVER, in the advert for the book; "I have the heart of a small child - I keep it on my desk in a bottle"; same OBSERVER also saw quote from fanzine INSIDE S-F used in book advert ... Kingsley Amis now does their s-f book reviews, by the way....
I'm using the old original SFN typer on this issue for old time's sake; also, just so no one can suspect a hoax ... been mighty prevalent lately, have hoaxes.
A TYPEWRITER SURVEY-
A typewriter is the most important of fandom's accessories, taking pride of place in front of duplicating accessories, tape-recorders, etc. A typewriter must express your personality to other fans for years; it can make or mar any fanzine that you produce, and can be a source of endless worry and trouble if you are unlucky.
How many times have you heard someone ask "What sort of typewriter do you recommend?" Dozens, if you've been in fandom for any length of time. And what a difficult question it is to answer; the individual can only gain personal knowledge and judgement of a limited number of machines, and on this sort of matter with so many varieties from which to choose the alternatives are overwhelming.
I therefore propose trying to run a consumer-research survey of typewriters with particular regard to their fannish applications, and the results will be available to all who participate. I would like every fan reading this to answer the following questionnaire to the best of his/her ability, and to return the answers to me by the end of July or sooner. Results will be tabulated and a full report issued by the autumn. Please help, for your own sakes and others ... fanzines and fanclubs please copy.
1) Please list makes of typewriter (and, when possible, individual patterns, such as Royal de-luxe portable, Remington Quietwriter, Oliver No 5, etc.) of which you have had sufficient experience to judge their usefulness. (It is understood that reports from individuals will refer to one, machine of a particular sort only, and that individual machines do vary.)
2) Please state which of these is, in your opinion, superior to the others.
3) Please state what points of superiority it has; if the particular machine mentioned is outside the normal price range, e.g. electric machine, please also mention under these headings any normally priced machines you would recommend.
4) Please list other typewriters in your experience which have defects from the fan point of view, and state defects.
5) What, in your opinion, are the most valuable 'gimmicks' for a typewriter to have?( eg, tabulator, infinite spacing, long carriage return lever, etc.)
6) Have you found any difference between portable and standard machines for cutting stencils?
7) Have you experienced any difficulty with the acid in stencil softening platen rollers? Do you prefer any particular composition of platen?
8) Over and above numbers, &, ?, ", ', -, and , , what other signs do you consider most useful? (+, @, *, etc).
9) If you have had any signs altered on your typer, state which, and for what.
10) If you have tried any aids to better stencil cutting (backing sheet, saran wrap, plio-fllm, etc) please give opinions as to efficacy.
11) Have you any particular tips for time-saving or ease of use of a typewriter?
SATURDAY/SUNDAY, May 28th/29th