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9th October 1971 |
Checkpoint is a news and reviews zine published by Peter Roberts, The Hawthorns, Keele, Staffs, UK, every fortnight or so. Subs are available at 4/20p (1st Class), 5/20p (2nd Class & Europe), and 6/$1 (foreign airmail). North American Agents: Charlie & Dena Brown, 2078 Anthony Av, Bronx, NY. 10457. Australian Agent: David Grigg, 1556 Main Rd, Research, Victoria 3095. Duplicated by Darroll & Rosemary Pardoe. Back issues available at standard rate or 10/$1 (seamail). News this issue from Nick Shears (SA), D.West, Brian Robinson, John Piggott, Hartley Patterson, Bryn Fortey, and various publications. Restormel Press Publication: 50.
1973 EASTERCON: The possibility of OMPA members running the British Easter, Convention in 1973 which was hinted at Worcester now seems to have developed and a bid will definitely be made, Ken Cheslin (36 Chapel St, Wordsley, Stourbridge, DY8 5QP, Worcs) appears to be in charge and since Kench is also OMPAn AE, this seems fair enough. The proposed site is Birmingham, specifically the Midland Hotel (under new management since the 65 Brumcon). The manager swears that the bars will stay open as long as anyone wants to drink, incidentally. A mixed con is planned, probably with a fannish emphasis, and it's intended that the whole thing will be run by OMPA members. The bid will, of course, need confirming at Chester next Easter; but at the moment no other bids exist, so...
OMPA itself now has 25 members and the 63rd mailing has just appeared with 220 pages from 14 people (total for the 62nd was 258pp). Enquiries should go to Ken at the address above.
NOVACON: The third Progress Report has appeared showing that member-ship has risen to 106, above that considered as a hopeful target. Hotel Booking Forms for the Imperial were also distributed (£2.75 + 11% is the charge for a single with b&b) and various other arrangements (commemorative covers, fancy dress party, banquet, and so on) have been made. Appearing on the programme will be John Brunner, Chris Priest, Bob Shaw, James Blish, Ken Bulmer, James White, Pete Weston, Jack Cohen, and others. Novacon is on the 13th/14th of November and membership is 50p from Vernon Brown, Pharmacy Dept, Univ of Aston, Gosta Green, Birmingham 4. I warn you, though – I'll be there!
LACON: The 2nd Progress Report is now available and lists 351 thus far registered for the 1972 Worldcon. Britain, I note, has eight members, compared to Germany's ten and Australia's thirty four... If you want to register, send £2.50 to me; you'll receive the four pre-con reports, programme book, and final report plus, of course, Hugo nominating and voting ballots. A new 40p supporting membership is also available which will entitle you to membership card and LACon badge only. Any queries can be sent to me.
LATE COA: Terry Hughes, 407 College Av, Columbia, Mo 65201, USA.
FANZINES RECEIVED: An asterisk indicates a recommendation.
Midgard 8 & 9 (d.12&9pp. 1/4 O,A4,& fscp!). Hartley Patterson, Finches, 7 Cambridge Rd, Beaconsfield, Bucks. Free, Fantasy gaming.
Hell 2 (d.50pp. 1/4 o), Brian Robinson, 122 Mile End Lane, Heaviley, Stockport, Cheshire, SK2 6BY. Free, General – Jeeves, Taylor, &c.
Qwertyuiop 5 (d.31pp. 1/4 o). Sam Long, 49 Park Close, Oxford, OX2 8NP. 10p or 25¢, General & personal.
Erg 36 (d.21pp. 1/4 o), Terry Jeeves, 230 Bannerdale Rd, Sheffield, S11 9FE. 4/30p. General & personal.
*SF Commentary 22 (d.50pp.A4). Bruce Gillespie, GPO Box 5195AA, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. 9/$3. UK Agent: Malcolm Edwards, 28 Kinch Grove, Wembley, Middx HA9 9TF. 9/£1.50. Sf – Lem, Rottensteiner, &c.
Norstrilian News 32 (d.5pp. 1/4 o). Bruce Gillespie as above, 20/$1.20. News.
*Scythrop 23 & 24 (d.23pp&4pp. 1/4 o). John Bangsund, Parergon Books, GPO Box 4946, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. 6/$240. UK Agent: Ethel Lindsay, Courage House, 6 Langley Av, Surbiton, Surrey. 6/90p. General.
Wombat 2 (d.26pp. 1/4 O). Ron Clarke, 78 Redgrave Rd, Normanhurst, NSW 2076, Australia. Free. General & personal – Chandler, &c.
Fanews 19/20 & 21/22 (sd.10&12pp.A4). Uwe Sitzenstock, D-3321 Salzgitter-Ohlendorf, Gartenweg 2, Germany. 10/2.70DM. German news (in German).
Tellus International 1 (d.6pp.A4). Gerd Hallenberger, D-3550 Marburg, Alter Kirchhainer Weg 52, Germany. l0/65p. German news (in English).
*Energumen 9 (d.54pp.A4). Mike & Susan Glicksohn, 32 Maynard Av, Apt 205, Toronto 156, Ontario, Canada, 50¢. Sf & fannish – Silverberg, White, &c.
*Locus 94/95/96 (d,9,10,& 8pp.A4). Charlie & Dena Brown, 2078 Anthony Av, Bronx, NY 10457, USA, 12/$3. UK Agent: Malcolm Edwards, as above. 10/£1.50. Sf news. 1971 Hugo Award winner, incidentally.
*Rats 10 (d.23pp.A4). Bill Kunkel & Charlene Komar, 72-41 61st St, Glen-dale, NY 11227, USA. 25¢. Faanish – Ray Nelson, Bob Leman, &c.
WSFA Journal 77 (d.48pp.A4). Don Miller, 12315 Judson Rd, Wheaton, Md. 20906, USA, 4/$1.75. UK Agent: Brian Robinson, see above. Sf & general.
Son of the WSFA Journal 22,23,24,25,26,27,28,& 29! Cd.10pp average. A4) Don Miller, as above. 12/65p. book news & reviews.
*Granfalloon 13 (d.60pp.A4). Linda Bushyager, 111 MacDade Blvd, Apt B211, Sutton Arms, Folsom, Pa 19033, USA. 4/$2. Sf & general – Tucker, &c.
('d' by the way stands for 'duplicated', 'sd' for 'spirit duplicated'. 'A4' covers British A4 paper size, American quarto, and European quarto)
FANZINE NEWS: Note that Charlie & Dena Brown have now become US Agents for Checkpoint. Many thanks to them. // Brian Robinson (address above) is the new UK Agent for The WSFA Journal, having taken over from Don Turnbull's temporary stint. // Rumours that Speculation may fold are circulating – apparently Pete is returning manuscripts.// Trevor Jones is said to be shortly engaged and thus 4M may also fold.// Malcolm Edwards, however, denies rumours that Quicksilver may go the same way. // A London co-operative, VUG Publications, plan to print the following fanzines: Fouler, Quicksilver, Macrocosm (Rob Holdstock), Motorway Dreamer (John Hall), and an enigmatic Gilbert...
COAs: John D.Berry, 35 Dusenberry Rd, Bronxville, NY 10708, USA.
John Foyster, c/o 6 Clowes St, South Yarra, Victoria 3141, Australia.
John Piggott, Jesus College, Cambridge. (university term)
TAFF NEWS: There will be no TAFF race next year, mainly because of financial difficulties. The Americans will choose someone to send to the 1973 Eastercon, however, and voting will close earlier than usual to allow more time for travel arrangements. (Locus 95)
NOREASCON: Total membership for the 1971 Boston worldcon was 2078, an estimated 1600 actually attending. Various items of interest appeared at the Business Meeting: the Drama Hugo has been expanded to include all media; the Best Pro Artist and Best Fan Artist awards have been reorganized to prevent anyone winning both; mail balloting for worldcon sites is now confirmed; and finally the notorious NASFiC was revived (an American national con for years in which the Worldcon leaves that country), though Hugoless. Defeated were a motion to change the Hugo into an English language award and Irwin Strauss' cartographic guidelines to the rotation zones which caused some amusement at Heicon. For a full coverage of Noreascon, I recommend Locus 95.
WEIRD TALES: The first volume of a bibliography of French sf has been published by Michel Liesnard (Ave E.de Meersam 43, Berchem Ste-Agathe B-1080, Bruxelles, Belgium).// South African news: SFSA short story competition has now had 320 requests for entry forms, all from SA, J'burg fan Trevor Watkins intends entering the Cape-to-Rio yacht race next year; Melanie Stevens and Chris Muir married on Oct 2nd.// Philip Strick interviewed Arthur Clarke on Late Night Line a couple of weeks ago; subjects were various, but included satellites...// Malcolm Edwards is engaged and is planning to marry in Feb/March next year.// Tolkien news: D.West (48 Norman St, Bingley, Yorks, BD16 4JT) is publishing 450 copies of Illustrations to J.R.R.Tolkien on Nov 20th. Price £1.80 (26 illustrations, printed one side only, 10x7 1/2 ). There's a pre-publication offer @ £1.50, by the way. A folk/rock group from the Gloucester area are Tolkien addicts and take their lyrics from his works. Called Dragblod The Firefly they consist of three blokes and a girl and are looking for bookings which they'll play for expenses. Contact: Cleveland Wrecking Yard, 175 Newcastle St, Burslem, Staffs.// Anne Girling is now in residence at the Lady Spencer Churchill College of Education at Wheatley, Oxfordshire.
NEWS: I've held this issue of Checkpoint for some time in the hope that more news of some description might appear. However, it doesn't seem that much actually will. I know this is partially the result of a lack of anything peculiarly interesting transpiring in British fandom, but nonetheless I would still appreciate a postcard or letter from you if you have information or just gossip, chatter, or comment, For example, news from London is notably lacking – what does finally reach me comes by a roundabout and curious route, perhaps because Londoners assume that someone must already have told me of any happenings. I must therefore assure you that no letter is considered redundant or superfluous and I do appreciate receiving them.
With some luck there'll be a Gerbish column next time, though that rather rests in Gerald's hands (and the publicity men of the publishing companies too...).
SCYTHROP 23 (duplicated:23pp. 1/4 o)
Editor: John Bangsund, Parergon Books, GPO Box 4946, Melbourne 3001. UK Agent: Ethel Lindsay, Courage House, 6 Langley Av, Surbiton, Surrey. Available for: trade, contribution, LoC, 6/$2.40 or 6/90p.
The arrival of an issue of Scythrop is an event to brighten the day and restore all faith in fandom and fanzines; it must, indeed, equal the discovery of a Hyphen in the letter-box, although Scythrop's inconsistency and irregularity (spiced with continual rumours of disaster) adds the feeling of relief to its reception, Hyphen and Irish Fandom may have been taken for granted; but you clutch a new Bangsund fanzine and give thanks that another has actually appeared and that you've really got one. You may safely gather from this that Scythrop is one of my favourite fanzines and one that's only matched for enjoyment by occasional issues of the American fannish fanzines, Energumen, or Fouler. That's not to say that Scythrop bears any resemblance to Fouler, I hasten to add. The Aussiezine is beautifully produced and organized and bears all the signs of careful and intelligent editing.
This 23rd issue is somewhat smaller than the two previous ones and slightly less meticulously laid out, However, John has cast his net once again and captured a good few pieces. D.G.Compton, author of Chronocules, &c, writes a short informal article advocating the broadening of the sf field (amongst other things). He does seem to contradict himself though, since he also suggests that the label 'sf' should be abolished or perhaps made 'respectable'; the article itself is enjoyable, but the conclusions and suggestions are, as you see, more than somewhat confused.
George Turner and Henry Coachman write a batch of book reviews which are fairly reasonable, especially since their individuality manages to appear. Henry Coachman also adds his own, somewhat Philistine humour: "The cover is the best part of the book: illustrates nothing inside, but may be presumed to be symbolic of something such as a sheila in a fishbowl hat." (on Farewell Earth's Bliss by David Compton).
Finally there are a couple of poems by James Goodwin and a fine reprint from The Review by Peter Mathers who takes a twisted look at Workers' Theatre. In addition there's a letter column which includes a filk song from Poul Anderson and a mass of Feghoots by Bob Bloch, Archie Mercer, and others plus John's own ambulating editorial, 'The March of Mind'.
If you don't see every issue of Scythrop, I'm afraid you're missing the best fanzine around today. I suggest you rectify the situation at once – highly recommended.
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The BRITISH WEIRD FANTASY SOCIETY, catering for all devotees of fantasy, horror and the supernatural, is now fully operational. For a reasonable yearly membership fee, an exciting array of services is available. There is the society's magazine, Dark Horizons, and a monthly Bulletin with news and information, free advertising and details of Society services. Other services include, a lending library (already quite extensive), a fanzine library where you can keep up with the latest fan-magazines, a magazine chain, circulating the professional magazines, an amateur writers circle where you tales can receive constructive criticism, and you in turn can offer comments on others' stories, an Information bureau and a correspondence circle. Future plans also include a Convention. All these services are yours for 75p, the annual subscription, which should be sent to the secretary, ROSEMARY PARDOE, 15 SELKIRK COURT, WHITLEY ROAD, LONDON, N17 6RF. If your interests lie anywhere in the macabre genre, the BWFS is the ideal thing to involve yourself in. Join Now!