CHECKPOINT 54 CHECKPOINT is published by Darroll Pardoe, 24 Othello Close, Hartford, Huntingdon PE18 7SU, England. Subscription rates are 10/60p (France 10/6F, Belgium 10/60F, N. America airmail 5/$1.00, Australia airmail 8/$1.00). Also available for news or trade. Free sample on request. This issue October 10th 1974.
At 0630 on Thursday 26th September the venue of Kitten Fandom meetings, 6 Hawks Road, Kingston-on-Thames, was raided by the London Bomb Squad. The present occupant of the flat previously the abode of Gray Boak, Bernie Peek, was rudely awakened in the early morning by a Woman Police Constable shining a torch into his hirsute face enquiring "Are you male or female?" "Well," drawled Bernie, "Last time I looked I was male." The room was quickly filled by several officers looking for explosive substances; the contents of the room gave them much concern as Bernie is a full time chemist and also a photography and electronics buff. After sniffing and tasting assorted chemicals and poking various pieces of circuitry they began to interrogate Bernie asking if he was associated with any known terrorist group..."I've never heard of Ratfandom," he screamed as they.... eventually they left leaving Bernie to his slumbers. The only unbelievable aspect of this story, according to Bernie, is that anyone, even the fuzz, could possibly wake him before 9 am. (Jim Linwood)
THE NORTH EAST SCIENCE FICTION GROUP will hold its first formal meeting at the Bridge Hotel, High Level Bridge, Newcastle-on-Tyne on Friday November 8th at 7.30 pm. The meeting will, take place in the large upstairs room, and will feature Brian Aldiss talking about 'What Science Fiction means to me'. NESFG membership is £1.00 a year (to Rob Jackson) or you can pay 20p to attend the one meeting.
MEANWHILE, IN CHELTENHAM Graham Poole writes "My recently re-revived Cheltenham SF Group held the first meeting for a couple of years and was fairly successful. There's at least one chap who seems extremely keen at writing and jumped at the chance of attending Novacon. Then there's another chap who used to go to the White Horse in the days of yore..."
AND IN BELGIUM Belgium now has its Anchor-Fandom, devoted to Bheer-drinking and Darts-playing. Membership is free, and the person to contact is André de Rijcke, Baron Cyriel Buysseplein 13, B-9820 Sint Denijs-Westrem, Belgium. (Simon Joukes)
A NIGHT AT THE ONE TUN We went along to the First-Thursday-of-the-Month gathering in London last week, and are happy to report that the move from the 'Globe' hasn't affected the popularity of the event. In fact, although the floor area in the bar at the 'One Tun' is greater, the people density seemed just as large as it used to be at the 'Globe'. Apparently the 'Globe' hasn't yet been pulled down, and now that we've moved away they've installed a new sign showing an astronaut and planet. The 'One Tun' is in Saffron Hill, close to Farringdon tube station and only a short walk from the 'Globe'. There will be an additional (pre-Novacon) meeting on October 17th.
BENELUXCON 2 will be held on November 9/10 1974 at Evert Kupersoort (a conference complex) in Amersfoort, Netherlands. Jointly organized by NCSF and SPAN; the membership fee is 65 Guilder (£10 or so) which includes accommodation and food. Write to Gerrit van Oven, Dalweg 12, NL- Soest, Netherlands. Since well known Dutch SF expert Jo Dautzenberg is going to present an attack on fandom, fen are asked to leave their water-pistols and rotten tomatoes in the wardrobe.
SECOND NATIONAL FRENCH SF CONVENTION is scheduled for April 28th to May 4th 1975 at Angoulême. The programme includes lots of films (in the town's various cinemas) and the French prizegiving ceremonies (Best French SF novel etc). The various hotels and meeting sites are scattered over the town, which might be a bit fragmenting (it was at Heidelberg). Write to Simon Joukes, 'De Oude Roos', Geleeg 7/8, B-2860 O.L.V.Waver, Belgium.
BENELUXCON 3 (SFANCON 6) has been changed from May 1975 to avoid conflict with the French convention; it will now be held in July. The exact date and site will be announced later. Guest of Honour is James White; fan GoH Waldemar Kumming. Attending membership (including the films) is £2.20; the British agent is Vernon Brown (Pharmacy Dept., University of Aston, Gosta Green, Birmingham B4 7ET). The international multilingual programme as usual, with even larger art show and book exhibitions. The committee hopes to present some short plays, mime and an SF music concert. If you have any suggestions Simon Joukes (address above) would be glad to hear them. This convention we recommend: all British fans, fannish or serious, will feel at home.
EUROCON 3 will be held in Poznan, Poland in May or June 1976. No further information as yet. The British agent is Vernon Brown and the local agent in Poland is Czeslaw Chruszlzewski, Zarzad Glowny, Zwiasku Literatow Polkich, Krokowskie Przedmiesce 85, Warsaw, Poland (write him in German). Suggestions and ideas to be submitted in triplicate! (to the Convention Coordinator, Pierre Versins, CH-1463 Rovray, Switzerland (in French or English) to the Western Europe Secretary-General, Jean-Paul Cronimus, 8 Avenue de Montpellier, F-12000 Rodez, France (in French or German) and to the Eastern Europe Secretary-General, Peter Kuczka, Attila u.35, H-Budapest I, Hungary (in French or English)). The Chairman will probably be Stanisław Lem. Three Europa Awards will be given, Best Novel, Best Short Story, Best Illo (I don't know how they'll be decided).
SYNCON 75 January 24/27 1975 at Dunmore Lang College, MacQuarie Univ., North Ryde, NSW, Australia. Information from Eric Lindsay, 6 Hillcrest Avenue, Faulconbridge, NSW 2776, Australia.
AMON HEN 12 (The Tolkien Society Bulletin; TS membership is £1.50 or $5.00 to Mrs. Janet Gibbs, 49 Beresford Road, London N5). Book reviews, meeting notices, letters.
BIG SCAB 3 (John Brosnan, Flat 1, 62 Elsham Road, London W.14) (usual) The latest issue of this nice little fmz works over Malcolm Edwards and the SF Foundation, among others. Recommended.
BFS BULLETIN (BFS membership is £1.50 to Sandra Sutton, 194 Station Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7TE) Good book and film news and reviews. Litho on thin card, curiously enough. Illustrated by Jim Pitts and others. (Sept/Oct 1974 issue).
SHADOW 21 (Dave Sutton, 194 Station Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7TE) (40p) The last issue of this fine fantasy magazine; fiction by Jean Ray and Gordon Larkin, Mike Ashley on psychical detectives, Brian Frost on vampires, Patrick Quigley on LeFanu.
MATHOM 12 (Grahame Lamb, 28 Wellesley Road, Croydon CR9 2BN) (for a letter or a stamp) Various letters and chatter about and around Tolkien subjects, rather like Middle Earth-Worm in fact.
FROM BEYOND THE DARK GATEWAY 3 (Edward P.Berglund, 472-46-7335, Box 67, CoA DLIWC, Pres/Monterey, CA93940, USA) ($1.25) A well illustrated and printed fanzine of Lovecraftian fiction. Worth getting (unless you are one of those unfortunates antipathetic to Lovecraft).
UNTERHELIOS 3 (JoeD Siclari, 4304 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10312, USA) (usual or 75¢) A good fanzine with a large film content; the main item is an article on Chaplin films.
SPANG BLAH 3 (Jan Finder, PSC Box 614, US Air Base, 33081 Aviano, Italy) (free?) Intended as a newszine for American fans in Europe. Four times a year is a bit infrequent for a newszine, though.
LOCUS 164 (Dena and Charlie Brown, Box 3938, San Francisco, CA 94119, USA) (I think Peter Weston is still British agent, though they don't list him on their colophon) This issue is a detailed Worldcon report.
DE PROFUNDIS 71 (LASFS, 11360 Ventura Bvd, Studio City, CA 91604, USA) (The LASFS Newsletter). Mostly local news.
TREPONEMA PALLIDUM 3 (Richard Bartucci, Peach Hall Dormitory, Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2105 Independence Bvd, Kansas City, M0 64124, USA) Moderate sort of fanzine, strangely enough printed on one side of the paper only.
INSTANT MESSAGE I56 (NESFA, Box G, MIT Branch Station, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA) ($5.00/yr) Club news and accounts. Very regular.
TABEBUIAN 15 Mardee and Dave Jenrette, Box 330374, Grove, Miami FL 33133, USA) (British Agent is Alan Dodd, 77 Stanstead Road, Hoddesdon, Herts). Small, pink, litho and full of wondrous things.
NADIR 2 (13 Rue des Petites Ecuries, Paris 75010, France)(4F) (my copy came from Claude Lamamy, 67 Rue de l'Ourcy, Paris 75019) If you can read French, why not get this? Ranges widely over SF (including some fiction), comics, music and cinema. And what's more they like LES SPINGE.
FANZINE FANATIQUE (4?) (Keith Walker, 2 Daisy Bank, Quernmore Road, Lancaster) (usual) Oh dear, Keith seems to have a touch of doom on the production of fanzines. This one is as illegible as his previous publications. This being so, to say of 'Inworlds' that it 'doesn't announce free spectacles for those who go crosseyed trying to decipher its microtype' is rather uncalled for.
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The first Progress Report of the Currycon is due out soon, reports Rog Peyton.
Peter Roberts tells me that the 1979 British Worldcon Bidding Committee now has over 360 supporting members (well over 200 of them American). Good going, folks.
LASFS is currently celebrating its 40th birthday; GoH at the 40th Anniversary Banquet will be Robert Bloch.
Harry Harrison was at the 'One Tun' meeting on 3rd October.
The Tolkien Society held an 'Oxonmoot' recently; 13 members of the TS spent a day touring Oxford looking at the Tolkien sites.
The first British Star Trek convention was held September 28/9 in Leicester. Some fans who turned up and tried to register were told that the convention was full, and no more registrations were being taken. Imagine that happening at a SF convention!
The BSFA appears to be in crisis again, with committee resignations and no publications.
The American prozine IF is folding from January and merging with GALAXY.
A one-day convention and AGM is planned by the British Fantasy Society for early next year, probably in Birmingham.
SPAN runs a contest for black-and-white SF illustrations open to pros and amateurs. First prize £25, second £15, third £10. Info from Simon Joukes (address above). A selection of the best entries will be exhibited at BENELUXCON 3.
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Roscoe is the only true Ghod, incarnate in the form of a beaver.