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Well, I did say in the first issue that if I ever got letters of comment I'd print them. And it's only been... um... nevermind.
Chris Garcia
garcia@computerhistory.org
Picked up the two issues you had dropped off in the fanzine lounge and read them while laying around the lobby of the Hilton drinking Dr. Peppers smuggled out of the Fan Lounge.
Your WorldCon routine sounds exactly like mine...only I panicked slightly more heavily and had fewer issues of the Drink Tank to pass out than I expected. I certainly did procrastinate, mainly via the route of the DVD.
I love Phillip Jose Farmer and the Fabulous Riverboat was pretty good, but the Riverworld books just aren't my faves. I love Mark Twain, so any book where he shows up is going to get a strong read, but there just wasn't much that I loved about Riverworld. Now, Farmer's The Lovers or Woman a Day, those are greats.
Noted. Will look for those at Powell's next time...
I'm very interested to see how the JETS goes. I'm standing for TAFF and I'm studying up and ramping up support for the other funds. There's also the push to send John Hertz to Japan that I'm certainly going to be supporting. Sadly, there was no DUFF this year, which is a shame as I would have loved to have met another Australian fan at WorldCon.
I thought Dead Man's Chest was a great popcorn flick. Plenty of hamster cage inspired action. The fights were great, the effects were good and I'm a huge fan of Bill Nighy. I'd say it was worth every penny I paid.
A really good guide to Disneyland. I've been about 100 times over the course of my life, and I still make the same mistakes (trying to take the most popular rides when the place is at it's busiest) though I've found a few secrets. If you're not planning on riding with a friend, use the single rider line. Usually, that lets you go around the back and get in even faster than Fastpass. I by-passed an hour+ line more than once using that technique.
My usual approach, particularly for the roller coasters since my SO has to wait while I try to ride them, is to show up when the park opens and ride the popular stuff within the first couple hours. Admittedly, since this requires you to be (a) a morning person and (b) capable of riding multiple roller coasters straight after breakfast, it may have limited applicability.
You do a great social calendar. David Moyes, one of the staff of SF/SF on eFanzines.com, puts together our Bay Area calendar and it's pretty good for a local calendar, though you go above and beyond in getting your national con listings. I've been trying to get the N3F to do a national set of listings, but they don't listen to me...
Well, if they ever do, somebody let me know. I can always use more sources to compile from...
Lloyd Penney
1706-24 Eva Rd.
Etobicoke, ON
CANADA M9C 2B2
5...Right off the top, mention of Smofcon. Many years ago, 1989 in fact, Smofcon was in Toronto, and I was the chairman. We discussed a lot of interesting and pertinent topics, and we ate and drank a lot. It was a good time, and if I recall, it broke even. We never did get the post-convention publications done, mostly because all the recording tapes went missing.
Great reading list...the classics are always worth reading because many more modern writers use many of the same ideas. Also, some of the older books you list by SF writers are much more accessible than newer books, through used book stores, at much cheaper prices. That's been my experience, anyway.
That's a big factor in how I come to read them in the first place: I try to keep my trips to Powell's within a certain dollar range, so I can either buy a couple hardcovers, or mix new and used paperbacks to get a whole armload of books at the same price.
I love the idea of d20 embedded in a bar of soap, just to get the gamers to wash. I've run and worked on a lot of conventions, and there have been times when I've gone down to the lower level of the hotel to where the gamers were (somehow appropriate). The whiff that these guys left behind reminded me of a locker room after the big game. Gamer...gamy? Coincidence? Hmmm?
6...When Yvonne and I prepare for Worldcon, we often put out a collapsible box to throw things in when we think of things we want to do/bring for Worldcon. This box can go out up to three months before the event. We know we can't think of everything all at once, but three months certainly improves our chances. We also put out our luggage and put items of clothing we'd like to bring with us. By the time we have to pack, we need only the basics we can't pack early, like underwear and socks. We had everything we needed in Anaheim, and a few things we didn't.
Ah, that sounds like the sort of thing organized people do. My problem's more of a getting-stuff-done sort of thing, but that sounds like a useful way to stop being so surprised the day before we leave when we discover just how much luggage we're bringing.
It's great to see you're reading authors like Michael Stackpole and Doris Piserchia. These are folks who have deserved much more attention than they ever got.
I'll say-- you, Mr. Penney, are the first person I've encountered who knows who Doris Piserchia is.
I attended LAcon II in Anaheim in 1984, and we made a quick trip to Disneyland, just to say we'd been there. There was little we were interested in, and the audioanimatronic Abe Lincoln didn't turn our crank at all, so we went to Tomorrowland. We quickly dubbed it Yesterdayland, as it seemed to be about what the 1950's through the 1970's would look like, and it seemed quite quaint. We returned rather quickly, and unfortunately, not impressed at all. We did not go to Disneyland this year; as far as I'm concerned, LAcon IV was my theme park, and I had a great time.
I do my own convention list, of conventions in Canada and in the US a relatively short drive away from the border. As for my own future convention attendance, we plan to be at Con*cept 2006 in Montreal in October, and at Astronomicon 10 in Rochester, New York. Just after the Rochester convention, we will be at the Canadian Space Summit 2006 in Ottawa.
Looks like you don't like to give out any personal information in your zine; that's probably wise, but if you hadn't posted on RASFF that issue 6 was available on your website, I might not have remembered your name. Nowhere in either issue does it appear. Also, do you plan a letter column for issue 7? I found three e-mail addresses for you, so I will send this letter to all three. Let me know which one is the best.
Take care, and I look forward to the next issue.
Well, the intended address is picofarad@bidalaka.com. I'll try printing that along with the URL, and put them on the front as well as the back. Assuming of course that I remember I was going to do that when I do the layout...
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