Checkpoint is a news and reviews zine published by Peter Roberts, The Hawthorns, Keele, Staffs, UK (87 West Town Lane, Bristol, BS4 5DZ until January 1st) every fortnight or so. Subs are available at 5/20p (2nd Class) and 6/$1 (foreign airmail) – longer subs (10/40p) welcome. North American Agents: Charlie & Dena Brown, 2078 Anthony Av, Bronx, NY.10457, USA. Australian Agent: David Grigg, 1556 Main Rd, Research, Victoria 3095.
Restormel Press Publication: 53. 18th December 1971.
NOVACON: Pete Weston tells me that "the manager of the Imperial Hotel is apparently 'delighted' with Novacon takings. His chain (Centre Hotels) are now anxious to attract the 1973 Eastercon to one of their hotels." Would bidders please note and contact Pete Weston, 31 Pinewall Avenue, Kings Norton, Birmingham 30. Reduced rates &c may be offered.
Registration for Novacon II is now open: 50p to Pauline Dungate, 8 Stirling Court, Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham 15.
Finally, there is a Novacon Fanzine Auction – further details of which appear under the heading 'Fanzine Collectors' inside.
SPECULATION III CONFERENCE: Philip Strick will be Chairman of this fairly sercon gathering next year. The date is the 24th of June and the place is Birmingham University. Contact Pete Weston (address above) for further details.
LACoN: Rick Sneary asks if anyone has any auction material for the 1972 Worldcon, particularly writers and publishers. Please notify Rick or myself if you have. Registration is still £2.50 or 40p for badge and card membership only; I also have copies of the first and second Progress reports – send 5p along (in stamps) if you want to see one.
TORCON 2: The ubiquitous Pete Weston is British Agent for the 1973 Worldcon in Toronto, Canada. Robert Bloch is Guest of Honour and Bill Rotsler Fan GoH; the con itself is being held at the Royal York Hotel on September 1st-3rd 1973. Supporting membership is $3 (about £1.10) until the end of 1972.
GANNETCON: Ian Maule and Pete Presford (10 Dalkeith Rd, Sth Reddish, Stockport, SK5 7EY) are still considering ideas for a small, informal convention to be held next year in the north of England. Thus far the suggestions point to a camp-site gathering in June "in the Notts/York area", the main decider being cheapness. Please contact Ian or Pete if you have any ideas or concrete answers to problems.
BOOK NEWS FOR SF FREAKS: (by Gerald Bishop). Addendum to the December list last issue: Hardback, Minerva Press – Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Poe with Harry Clarke's illos: @ £56.30!).
January 1972.
Hardback: Faber: Poems (Mervyn Peake). Gollancz: Ringworld (Larry Niven), A Maze of Death (Phil Dick).
Paperback: Sphere: New Worlds Quarterly 3 (ed.Moorcock). Panther: Let The Fire Fall (Kate Wilhelm), Earth Is Room Enough & The Starts Like Dust (Asimov). Mayflower: Undersea City (Pohl & Williamson). Penguin: Mr Pye (Mervyn Peake). Peacock: Citizen of the Galaxy (Heinlein). Arrow: Solar Lottery (Phil Dick). Pan: The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins). Ballantine: Breakthrough & Phoenix Prime (Richard Cowper). Corgi: New Writings in Sf 20 (ed.Carnell). NEL: Whipping Star, Dune, The Heaven Makers, The Santaroga Barrier, The Dragon In The Sea, & The Worlds of Frank Herbert (all Herbert.
ETHIL THE FROG: This is the Pythonesque title for a new postal games magazine and organization. John Piggott (17 Monmouth Rd, Oxford) and Will Haven are running it and intend to specialize in British Abstraction, a variant of Diplomacy, whilst including regular Diplomacy and perhaps Risk, Shogi, &c. Novices welcome – write to John for further details.
BRUM GROUP: I managed to attend the last meeting en route from Keele to Bristol and heard Phil Strick happily stirring up trouble and abuse by reading an execrable passage from Tau Zero and comparing it with some fine Disch, Ellison, and even Sturgeon (all received with cries of "That's not sf!"); Phil demanded that sf readers should open their categories somewhat wider... Attendance was estimated at 35-40.
|
Harry Bell And all honorary members of 'Gannetfandom' |
The group's AGM will be on January 7th, followed by Professor Fremlin on 'The Limits of Population' (Jan 21st), a social meeting (Feb 4th), Brian Aldiss visitation (Feb 18th), talk on sf fandom's history (Mar.17th), and Diane Lloyd, editor of Corgi Books (21st April). Meetings are in the Imperial Hotel, Birmingham, and normally start at 8.pm – non-members welcome. TOLKIEN ILLOS: D.West (48 Norman St, Bingley, Yorks, BD16 4JT) apologizes for any delays, since he has spent some time in hospital. As stated earlier, the 26 bound illos are £1.80 and are printed in colour. The Coulsons are US Agents. ($4.50) RESTORMEL FANAC: Mundane activities are, I'm afraid, cutting deeply into my time and there's not much chance of Egg 6 appearing before Easter. Still, it'll leave more time for LoC writes – 27 letter have been received so far and more are always welcome (copies of Egg 5 are available: 15p or 35¢ (Dave Grigg in Australia, Seth McEvoy in the US)). Work on Morfarch 4 actually continues! |
Does your heart quail and your face pale at the mention of
AARDVARK
fandom?
Do you hide your head in horror when approached by
WOMBAT
fandom?
Does your stomach turn and your penis shrivel at the very thought of
RAT
fandom?
Score 10 for each YES, 5 for each DON'T KNOW, 0 for each NO.
If you scored 25 or over (and, there again, even if you didn't), then you are a potential member of
Yes, Paranoia fandom. The new organisation for all those who suffer from acute persecution mania.
Led by its dynamic, tall dark and handsome First Speaker, aided and abetted by his uniquely talented, quite otherworldly Liaison Officer, Paranoia Fandom seeks to unite all people who feel that the whole world is against them. We'd like to introduce you to some extra-ordinarily gifted paranoids, who have created an exciting, mind-bending vision. These are people who see in a drop of water all the countless millions of plankton, every single one of them thirsting for vengeance against a pitiless humanity. Who can examine the foulness of one human being and envisage whole organisations made up of these same beings. Who forecast such wonderful inventions as the napalm bomb, the iron maiden, the chastity belt, John J. Pierce and the Spanish Inquisition!
It must be obvious to all that the foul and despicable world of science-fiction fandom will not allow such a fine, upstanding institution as Paranoia Fandom to blossom into existence unhindered. For this reason, it is imperative that as many potential paranoids as possible contact us at once, before our enemies have time to adjust their stun guns to kill. Just contact our First Speaker or Liaison Officer for full details. DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY NOW. At no stage will you be under obligation to join or to make any monetary contributions.
Write to:
First Speaker Piggott, 17 Monmouth Rd. Oxford, OX1 4TD; or
Liason Officer Maule, 59 Windsor Tce, S. Gosforth, N/c NE3 1YL.
We look forward to hearing from you.
FANZINES RECEIVED: All are normally available for letter, trade, &c. An exclamation mark indicates a particular recommendation.
!Energumen 10 (d.52pp.A4). Mike & Susan Glicksohn, 32 Maynard Av, Apt 205, Toronto 156, Ontario, Canada. 50¢. Sf & fannish – Liebscher, Price, Carr.
Chao 6 (d.¼o) John Alderson, Havelock, Victoria 3465, Australia. 30¢ or 40p. Sf & general.
Gegenschein 3 (d.54pp.¼o). Eric Lindsay, 6 Hillcrest Av, Faulconbridge, NSW 2776, Australia. 3/$1. Sf & general – Cy Chauvin, Bob Coulson, &c.
!SF Commentary 23 (d.50pp.A4). Bruce Gillespie, GPO Box 5195AA, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. 9/$3. UK Agent: Malcolm Edwards, 28 Kinoh Grove, Wembley, Middx HA9 9TF. 9/$1.50. Sf – Lem, Chapdelaine, Le Guin, &c, &c.
!The Fanarchist 5 & 6 (d.25&24pp.¼o). David Grigg, 1556 Main Rd, Research, Victoria 3095, Australia. 5/$1. UK Agent: myself. 5/50p. fannish.
!The Mentor 21 (d.99pp.¼o). Ron Clarke, 78 Redgrave Rd, Normanhurst, NSW 2076, Australia. 2/$1. UK Agent: myself. 5/£1. Sf & fiction.
Entropion 4 (d.32pp.¼o). Nick Shears, 52 Garden Way, Northcliff 4, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. 30¢ or 15p. Fannish & general.
!MRU 122 (sd.46pp.A4). Waldemar Kumming, 8 München 2, Herzogspitalstrasse 5, Germany. DM 1. Sf & fannish – Blish, Kage, Petri, &c. (In German).
Fanews 27/30 (sd.24pp.A4). Uwe Sitzenstock, D-3321 Salzgitter-Ohlendorf, Gartenweg 2, Germany. 10/DM 2.70. German news. (In German).
!SF Times 124/5 (p.136pp.A4) Hans Joachim Alpers, 2850 Bremerhaven 1, Weissenburger Strasse 6, Germany. Sf & underground. (In German).
!Locus 100 (d.17pp.A4). Charlie & Dena Brown, 2078 Anthony Av, Bronx, BY. 10457, USA. 12/$3. UK Agent: Malcolm Edwards, address above. 10/£1.50. Sf news – Harry Warner, &c.
Some very fine fanzines this time; but none from Britain, you'll note. Only one from the US as well, the result, I believe, of the continuing dock strike (or its aftermath).
FANZINE NEWS: Bob Wilson (210 Markland Dr, Apt 1001, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada) has sent an information sheet on Mechta, a new sercon magazine devoted to "comment, criticism, and scholarship in sf." The first issue should appear soon, price 35¢. Pete Colley and Pete Presford are starting a fanzine (address on page one); no title has been chosen so far. I might note the continued existence of the Central Contributor's Pool, an organization designed to help the new faned with material. It rests with Roger Waddington, 4 Commercial Street, Norton, Malton, Yorks, at the moment.
FANZINE COLLECTORS: A postal auction of various fanzines is being held in aid of Novacon funds. Material is varied, but includes Shaggys, Axes, Fanacs, Yandros. Skyracks, and so on. Closing date is Jan 31st 1972 – lists from Vernon Brown, Pharmacy Dept, Univ of Aston, Gosta Green, Birmingham 4.
I now have copies of Dave Grigg's Australian fmz, The Fanarchist 5 and 6, at 12p or 5/50p. Otherwise, there's single copies of the following: Shaggy 58 (12p), Gothique 9 (10p), complete Son of New Futurian 1-4 (5p each, 12p the lot), Monstrosities 2 (Doug Smith – 80pp, including Planet of the Apes transcript, @ 15p), Granfalloon 9 (15p), The Mentor 19 (20p), No Eyed Monster 16 & 17 (5p each).
""""" " " " " """"" | Your last issue, if crossed. Rates on first page. |
""""" " " " " """"" | Number of your last issue |
CoA:
Mr & Mrs Dany Frolich, 615 Alvar St, New Orleans, La.70117, USA.
Terry & Carol Carr, 1525 Oregon St. Berkeley, Ca.94703, USA.
John D.Berry, 625 Scott, 607, San Francisco, Ca.94117, USA.
TV & RADIO: (Gerald Bishop) Christmas this year is a bit of a boom time for sf & horror on radio and tv. Christmas week includes (included by the time most of you read this, but the BSFA Tape Library will have copies of everything, we hope. Write to Gerald Bishop, 10 Marlborough Rd, Exeter, EX2 4TJ for details) four Tales of Horror and the Supernatural by Blackwood on Radio 4 in the mornings, The Horror Story on Thursday evening at 6.30 (Radio 3), part 2 being Evans & Jonathan Miller talking about ghosts and M.R.James, and A Ghost Story For Christmas on BBC 1 ('The Stalls of Barchester' by M.R.James – 11.05pm Christmas Eve). 'Pioneers, Oh Pioneers' is a play on Radio 4 (20th) by Rod Coneybears and appears to be an sf-fantasy – it stars Ed Bishop from UFO.
Christmas Day has Verne's Around The World in 80 Days on BBC 1 and Captain Sinbad on my local ITV station (Westward). The following Monday sees the start of James Hilton's Lost Horizon in 10 parts at 8.45am (R4). On Tuesday 28th there's a 1½hour complete Dr.Who feature on BBC 1 at 4.20pm – Dr Who And The Daemons. A new series starts in the first week of 1972. Ray Bradbury's play 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit' is being broadcast on Radio 4 at 3pm, Wednesday 29th. All this is in addition to the regular Land of the Giants, Joe 90, and Star Trek, making it a Wonderful Xmas?
Gerald Bishop.
The Horror Story on the 30th has Evans & Ballard on Psychohorror, incidentally.
Any news for Checkpoint 14, please send to Bristol before 30th or so. Next issue will be largely devoted to reviews. Advertising sheets are freely included if fannish, 25p charge if you're trying to sell something! 100 copies, please. Try and renew subscriptions before they actually expire, please, since it makes everything somewhat easier. Thanks. A Happy New Year to everyone (he said, in the best approved manner)...
HARRY BELL DID THE CARTOON!
from:
Peter Roberts
87 West Town Lane
Bristol, BS4 5DZ
United Kingdom.
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AUSTRALIA IN 75!