Checkpoint 3

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Checkpoint is a news and reviewszine published by Peter Roberts, The Hawthorns, Keele, Staffs., UK. every fortnight or so. It can be yours for news or *money*. Subs are 5/20p (2nd. class) or 4/20p (1st class). Foreign airmail subs are 8/dollar (4/20p). US Agent is Arnie Katz, 59 Livingston St, Apt 6B, Brooklyn, NY, 11201. Australian Agent is Dave Grigg, 1556 Main Rd, Research, Victoria 3095. Checkpoint 3 is duplicated by Darroll & Rosemary Pardoe, to whom thanks.

SPECULATION CONFERENCE: This Birmingham conference on Saturday, June 12th, is the next item on the fannish calendar. It is being held at the Birmingham & Midland Institute (10.00am – 6.00pm) and costs £1.25 including lunch. Tickets are available from the Secretary, BMI, Margaret St, Birmingham 2 (Phone: 021-236 3591). Speakers will be James Blish ('Some Nebulae'); John Brunner ('Looking Back at the Future'); Philip Strick ('Heinlein – A Perspective'), and Chris Priest ('Difficulties and Solutions'). Also present is George Hay's National Book League & Science Fiction Foundation exhibition ('The Best of SF') and a *bar*. There'll be a room party the night before at the Imperial Centre Hotel (the site for the Novacon); rates are about £2.75 B&B (Phone: 021-236-6751).

NEW BIRMINGHAM GROUP: Continuing in the tradition of Midlands expansion in the fannish field, the Birmingham SF Group has been reorganized after a lapse of some five years. Meetings will be a mixture of the formal (talks, films, auctions, displays, and so on) and the informal (drinking). The first meeting is on Friday, June 25th at 8pm in the George Room of the Imperial Hotel. Hold fast friends, the centre of the Universe is shifting again...

HOAX & COUNTERHOAX: Charles Platt writes to say that I have been misinformed regarding the "Resnais" jigsaw advert in the Eastercon programme book and adds "I have been happily in America for the last few months, out of contact with British fandom, uninterested in it, and happy to remain that way." Since I'm unable to verify my original information, I naturally retract my initial statement in Checkpoint one. The source of the advert thus remains open to rumour...

Pete Weston considers the advert "a pretty feeble trick" particularly since people may have written unwittingly to "The Rare SF Co". He is more perturbed, however, by a malicious letter received from a 'Leslie Smith' with a New York PO Box address which both he and I consider a further hoax. It manages to accuse Pete Weston and the Convention committee of 'smearing' Amazing Stories (oh, and the rest of British fandom too). Anyone receiving this or similar letters should disregard them.

RADIO SUCCESS: Radio London's SF programme is now fortnightly by popular demand: Sunday morning, repeated Monday lunchtime on 95.8Mhz VHF.

BELGIAN CON: The weekend of 17/18th April saw the gathering of some sixty fans in Antwerp for the Belgian National SFan II Convention. The Saturday session was held at the Cecil Hotel, coincidentally the centre of Antwerp fandom in the middle and late fifties, and was devoted to a business meeting which discussed various European SF awards and future conventions. A rambling party followed which continued well into Sunday morning. The Sunday session included French and Flemish speakers, a forceful & authoritative address by GoH Donald Wollheim and some entertaining reminiscences by Fan GoH Jan Jansen who spoke of the days when Alpha & Contact were names of note in the international fan field. The entire con was excellently coordinated, in 3 languages, by Chairman Simon Jukes [sic: should be Joukes] and attendees included Martin Box, Paul Torfs, Danny de Laet, & Willy Magiels from Antwerp, Michel Feron from Hannut, George Coune from Brussels, Leo Kindt from Rotterdam, & Ron Bennett from SHAPE. (Skyrack News Service)

VISITORS TO UK: Expected this August are Philip Jose Farmer (staying in Scotland), Charles Platt and wife, and Australian Peter Darling on his way to Noreascon.

IMMINENT ISSUES: Speculation will probably appear in June; on hand are the complete proceedings of the Eastercon (minus the fanzine panel which is destined for Cynic), a Piers Anthony column intended for SFR, Larry Niven's revised Presicon speech, four pages of Eastercon photos, and more. The photos will have a wide distribution, including Cynic, some 1800 copies being printed. Pete Weston now has his own duplicator, a Gestetner 260, acquired through Exchange & Mart. Quicksilver 3 is promised for July and Erg 35 is on stencil with conrep and the 3rd episode of the Postal Menace. Material on hand for Egg includes Gray Boak's column, a new column by John Brosnan, and an article by James Parkhill-Rathbone on fandom (particularly that of the thirties in Britain). It'll probably appear July/August.

FANZINE COLLECTORS: Lisa Conesa, 54 Manley Rd, Whalley Range, Manchester, M16 8HP wishes to buy/swop/steal the following old fanzines: Grimwab, Amble, Mor-farch, Compass, and Badinage. I have one spare copy of The Mentor 17 on Clarke here and I'll accept subs at 10p a copy for future issues. The same rate applies to The Fanarchist (Dave Grigg) starting with no.4.

GLADIATOR SPORT: Returning to Belgium after an enjoyable week's visit to England for the Eastercon, Ron Bennett had what he describes as an "interesting experience" on the M1 when the right hand front tyre of his car blew out, forty miles north of London. "In the right hand lane too," says Ron who is still wondering how the various cars involved in the game of real life dodgems managed to avoid a collision. Meanwhile poor Ethel Lindsay has failed her first test – the best of luck next time, Ethel. Me? I just stick to the buses...(and the radish-eating Moulton, natch).

RESUSCITATED: Hartley Patterson has taken over War Bulletin, formerly Dave Berg's Diplomacy mag, and expects to have no.12 out by the end of the month, Midgard 3 is now out as well.

TERRY JEEVES FOR TAFF: Supported by Checkpoint, Keele SF Circle, all resident members of the Bristol & District SF Group, and the Lostwithiel in 84 Committee! Vote Jeeves for TAFF!

FANZINES RECEIVED: The following fanzines have been received since last issue. All are normally available for letters, contributions, and trades as well as *money*. An asterisk indicates that the fanzine is recommended.

*Tomorrow And... 5 (printed:28pp.A4). Jerry Lapidus, 54 Clearview Dr, Pittsford, NY.14534, USA. 50¢(5/2$). Sf & fiction – offutt, etc.

Moebius Trip 7 (duplicated:36pp.A4). Ed Connor, 1835 N.Gale, Peoria, Ill.61604, USA. 3/$1. Sf & general - Chapdelaine, Pauls, etc.

*Beabohema 15 (duplicated:46pp.A4). Frank Lunney, 212 Juniper St, Quakertown, Pa.18951, USA, Sf & general – Laney, Katz, etc.

*Starling 17 (duplicated: 40pp.A4). Hank & Lesleigh Luttrell, 1108 Locust St, Columbia, Mo.65201, USA. 35¢(3/$1). General – Tucker, etc.

*Outworlds 7 (printed:47pp.A4). Bill & Joan Bowers, PO Box 87, Barberton, Ohio 44203, USA. 4/$3. UK Agent: Terry Jeeves, 230Bannerdale Rd, Sheffield, S11 9FE. 4/80p. Australia: Dennis Stocks. 4/$A2. – Berry, Jodie Offutt, Gilliland (Sf & general).

The Mentor 17 (duplicated:39pp.A4). Ron Clarke, 78 Redgrave Rd, Normanhurst, NSW.2076, Australia. A25¢. UK Agent: me. 10p. general.

*Locus 82 & 83 (duplicated:8ppe.A4). Charlie & Dena Brown, 2078 Anthony Av, Bronx, NY.10457, TFSAO 12/$3. UK Agent: Malcolm Edwards, 236 King's College, Cambridge, CB2 1ST. Australia: Bruce Gillespie. 10/£1.50. 10/$A3.50. Sf newszine – Barr(83).

*Focal Point 28 & 29 (duplicated:12ppe.A4). Arnie Katz, 59 Livingston St, Apt 6B, Brooklyn, NY.11201, USA. 6/dollar. UK Agent: me. Aust. Agent: John Bangsund. Fannish newszine – Carr, Warner, White, etc.

Norstrilian News 27 (duplicated:3pp.¼o). Bruce Gillespie, GPO Box 5195AA, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. 20/$A1.20. UK Agent: Mervyn Barrett, 178 Walm Lane, London NW2. US Agent: Charlie Brown. 10¢. 3p. Sf & fannish newszine.

BASRA Journal 4/1 (duplicated:22p.¼o). J. England, 64 Ridge Rd, Kingswinford, Staffs. £1 (membership BASRA). Amateur scientifics.

4M 1 (Printed:20pp.A4).
Editor: Trevor Jones, 7 Weller Place, High Elms Rd, Downe, Orpington, Kent, BR6 7JW.
Available for: trade, contribution, LoC, 5p.

The editorial in this new British fanzine explains that their policy for contributions will favour sf and fiction and adds: "..a lot of fans think of fanzines as being magazines about fans. This we are not!" All of which is a pity, since if there's one oversubscribed field in British fanzines, it's the straight sf scene; few indeed are the British fanzines that don't feature sf articles or reviews and even the amateur fiction writers are catered for by a variety of publications (although admittedly irregular ones).

Nevertheless the first issue has a certain faanish flavour, including as it does a fake letter column (B.W.Allthis, Phil Bluebottle, etc) and a column by George Townsend, 4X-ample, which is said to "libel a few sf fans". The review section is mixed and somewhat over-brief if this is what 4M intends to concentrate on. The remainder consists of a short story by B.K.Lascher, 'Ama', an assessment of VoT by D.F.Burke, and a progress report on Amazing/Fantastic by Jack Rivers.

4M indulges in three editors (Trevor Jones, Roger Jones, and George Townsend) and manages to communicate a welcome feeling of editorial presence and control (something frequently lacking in first issues and indeed many fanzines generally). Worth supporting, I'd say.

COAs: Pete Weston (home telephone) 021-459 1573.
Jim Linwood, 125 Twickenham Rd, Isleworth, Middx.
Ron Bennett, British School, SHAPE, BFPO 26. (Quicker than alternative)
Bruce Gillespie (see p.3).

HUGO NOMINATIONS: On the off-chance that someone hasn't seen them:

Novel: Ringworld (Niven), Star Light (Clement), TAU Zero (Anderson), Tower of Glass (Silverberg), Year of the Quiet Sun (Tucker). Novella: 'Beastchild' (Koontz), 'Ill Met in Lankhmar' (Leiber), 'The Region Between' (Ellison), 'The Thing in the Stone' (Simak), 'The World Outside' (Silverberg). Short Story: 'Brillo' (Bova & Ellison), 'Continued on Next Rock' (Lafferty), 'In the Queue' (Laumer), 'Jean Dupres' (Dickson), 'Slow Sculpture' (Sturgeon). Drama: 'Blows Against the Empire' (lp), 'Colossus:The Forbin Project', 'Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers' (lp), 'Hauser's Memory', 'No Blade of Grass'. Pro Artist: The Dillons, Freas, Gaughan, Eddie Jones, Jeff Jones. Pro Mag: Amazing, Analog, F&SF, Galaxy, WoT. Fan Artist: Austin, Fabian, Gilbert, Kirk, Rotsler. Fan Writer: Carr, Digby, Fishman, Geis, Pauls. Fanzine: Energumen, Locus, Outworlds, SFR, Speculation.

For what it's worth, my choice is: Energumne (or Energumen), Mike Gilbert, and Terry Carr. The professional stuff I leave...

NOVACON: Vernon Brown now has about 70 members and a Progress Report should be out before you read this Checkpoint. 50p to Vernon at Room 623, University of Aston, Birmingham.

BRITISH FANZINE AWARDS: Several people have expressed interest in Phil Muldowney's suggestion last issue and John Piggott has several ideas on their administration: "1. The voting shall be carried out in two stages – nomination & final ballots. 2. Nomination ballots should be generally distributed. 3. Eligible to nominate will be: a) con members) b) all fans normally resident in the U.K. 4. Nominees must be normally resident in the U.K. and must produce or regularly appear in U.K. fanzines. 5. Nomination ballots should be accompanied with a donation; the organisers should be separated from the con committee. 6. Final ballots should contain three nominees in each category & should go to con members & other voters."

Mailing Codes: 'T' is for trade, 'A' is for apple, 'S' is a sample, a number is your last paid issue, 'N' is for news, and the dreaded 'XXX' is your very final issue.

Jeeves for Taff!

Return Requested if Undelivered.

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Converted to digital form by Ned Brooks, August 2005