Checkpoint 40

– CP 40 –

Checkpoint 40 is a news and reviews zine published by Peter Roberts, 87 West Town Ln, Bristol, BS4 5DZ, UK. Subs are 10/40p (2nd Class & Europe), 6/$1, 8/R1, 8/$A1 (foreign airmail). Sample copy free.

Agents are: (USA) Charlie & Dena Brown, 3400 Ulloa St, San Francisco, Calif.94116; (Aus) Robin Johnson, Box 4039, Melbourne, Vic.3001; (RSA) Nick Shears, 52 Garden Way, Northcliffe 4, Johannesburg, Transvaal.

Cartoon by John D. Berry. News from: Andy Porter, Gerald Bishop, Eddie & Marsha Jones, Malcolm Edwards, Philip Payne, and others.

Restormel Press Publication: 86. 17th June 1973. mi 4/2 rides.


"ALL FANDOM PLUNGED INTO WAR – AGAIN" So says Andy Porter in a recent letter, and he could very well be right. The trouble concerns last year's worldcon in Los Angeles and alleged misappropriation of income. I'm in no position to comment, but I'll print Andy's allegations verbatim.

The LACon's "final progress report states, among other items, ad revenues of $788.50 and expenses for their programme book of $4510.38.

"This is a pile of shit and I have the figures to prove it.

"Ad revenues, PR 1: $70.00
"Ad revenues, PR 2: Can't find my copy, so figure it as $00.00
"Ad revenues, PR 3: $100.00
"Ad revenues, PR 4: $109.50
"Ad revenues, PR 5: $20.00
"TOTAL AD REVENUES, ALL PR's: $299.50

"Ad revenues, Fan, Prog.Book: $612.50
"Ad revenues, Pro, Prog.Book: $1040.00
"TOTAL AD REVENUES, P.B.: $1652.50

"MINUS MY COMMISSION FOR SELLING ADS IN PB: $260.00 / $1392.00 plus or minus.

"TOTAL: $1692.00

"DIFFERENCE FROM REPORTED INCOME: plus $903.50

"COST PER MY CONVERSATION WITH THEIR PRINTER AND FRED PATTEN OF PRINTING PROGRAMME BOOK: $2800.00

"ASSUME MISC. EXPENSES (includes over-run of 200 PB's for tearsheet copies, stripping halftones, etc.): $500.00

"TOTAL PB EXPENSE: $3300.00

"DIFFERENCE FROM REPORTED EXPENSE: minus $1210.38

"TOTAL UNEXPLAINED INCOME DIFFERENCES: $2113.08

(cont.over)

(Andy Porter – cont.) "Now, I know what the income from advertising was – I sold over $1000.00 worth of pro ads in the programme book alone. So I know that the figure given for ad income is wrong. And going through the publications and totalling up income is easy to do, if time-consuming. I just want to know what the hell is going on with LACon; if they want to pad their wallets a little then they should know better than to use such patently false figures."

Andy also makes allegations that the LASFS made considerably more than the $50 (mentioned in the final report) from the convention.

Any comments or information welcomed – I just hope there's some fairly simple answer and that the wrangling and potential 'warfare' won't last too long. Heigh ho.

DISCON II, THE WASHINGTON WORLDCON: Roger Zelazny and Jay Kay Klein are pro and fan guests of honour at the 1974 worldcon in the Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington (Aug.29th - Sep.2nd). All those in Britain who wish to join should send £1.20 (supporting) or £2 (attending) for membership to Eddie & Marsha Jones (25 Mount Way, Bebington Hall Park, Higher Bebington, Ches.L63 5RA). Please make cheques payable to Eddie or Marsha, not Discon; the first progress report is out and will be posted to all new members.

TAFF: Those of you who read mi first will have seen that I've accepted nomination as a TAFF candidate for 1974 – thanks to everyone who suggested and encouraged me to stand; I still can't quite get over it, mind, I mean, me! Wow! Thanks again. Details of nomination will be published as soon as everything is finalized. At the moment I just want to state my firm intention to write a TAFF trip report, if elected – something that hasn't been seen for several years (though the Moffats intend to publish one – see below). I don't wish to blow my own trumpet, so please just vote as you see fit. But please do vote in TAFF when the time comes...

And the time is coming fairly soon, as it happens. Deadline for the nomination of TAFF candidates is August 15th 1973 (that entails the following – a £2 bond plus a statement that the candidate is both willing and able to make the trip, if elected; a brief platform (100-150 words); and the signatures of five nominators, three from Europe, two from the host country). Ballots should be distributed in time for the TORCON and the deadline for voting will be Easter 1974. The winner will attend DISCON II in Washington. TAFF administrators are Eddie Jones (UK), Len & June Moffatt (US), & Mario Bosnyak (Ger).

THE MOFFATT HOUSE ABROAD will be the title of Len & June's 1973 TAFF trip report; they hope to illustrate it with photos and publish it later this year.

COMICON CANCELLED: The 6th British comic convention, scheduled for July in London, has apparently been cancelled because of lack of support; only a few people registered, it seems.

TORCON 2, THE CANADIAN WORLDCON: The fourth Progress Report has arrived from this year's world convention in Toronto. Hugo Award ballots and 1975 voting forms are amongst items included. Remember to vote for AUSSIECON 75, if you're a member – and if you're not, its $4 (supporting) and the UK Agent for TORCON 2 is Pete Weston (new address: 72 Beeches Dr, Erdington, Birmingham 24).

COVER EXHIBITION: The display of original cover paintings for Granada sf paperbacks will be at the following bookshops during July:

July 4-7th: A.Brown & Sons, 24-8 George St, Hull.
July 16-19th: Briers Bookshop, Cleveland Centre, Middlesborough.
July 30-Aug 6: Bisson & Parker, 25 Wheeler Gate, Nottingham.

BOOK NEWS FOR SF FREAKS: compiled by Gerald Bishop.

June (supplement to last list): Hardback: Hale; Into The Silence (Courtier), Sleepwalker's Planet (Dickson), Come, Hunt An Earthman (High), The Kernel Of Death (Troy), Galactic Takeover Bid (McIntosh), A Plenteous Seed (Sims), Project Renaissance (Williams); NEL: Bertie: The Life After Death Of H.G.Wells (Hawley & Rossi).

Paperback: Ferret Fantasy: At The Mountains of Murkiness (an anthology of parodies of Sf, fantasy, and mystery writes, including the title story in which Arthur Clarke parodies Lovecraft – ed.George Locke); Penguin: The Day Of The Dolphin (Merle), The Penguin Sf Omnibus (contains the three Penguin anthologies – ed.Aldiss), Make Room! Make Room!, Plague From Space (Harrison), The People: No Different Flesh (Henderson), A Plague Of Pythons (Pohl), The Space Merchants (Pohl & Kornbluth), The Chrysalids, The Kraken Wakes, The Day Of The Triffids, The Seeds Of Time (Wyndham); Sphere: The Jupiter Legacy, Deathworld 1, 2, & 3 (Harrison).

"MAYBE I WILL BECOME AN SF WRITER, AFTER ALL" Such were the thoughts of Malcolm Edwards when reading in Publisher's Weekly (!) that Arthur Clarke has signed a $500,000 contract with Ballantine for paperback rights to his next three novels – that's $150,000 for Rendezvous With Rama, $150,000 for The Fountains Of Paradise, and $200,000 for his twenty-year-in-the-planning magnum opus, Imperial Earth. That's roughly £200,000, kids...

SF AT THE NATIONAL FILM THEATRE: General notes in the last Checkpoint, but here's the programme for July:

1st (Sun)

The President's Analyst (USA/1968/Flicker (sic!))

2nd

Dr Strangelove (UK/1964/Kubrick)

3rd

Fantastic Voyage (USA/1966/Fleischer)
The Island of Lost Souls (USA/1932/Kenton)

4th

Dracula/Devil Doll

5th

Diabolik (RF-It/1967/Bava)

6th

Who Would Kill Jessie? (Czech/1965/Vorlicek)
The Andromeda Nebula (USSR/1958/Shorstobytov)

7th

The Fly (USA/1958/Neumann)

8th (Sun)

Wild In The Streets (USA/1968/Shear)
The Manchurian Candidate (USA/1962/Frankenheimer)

9th

Diabolik

10th

Invasion/Unearthly Stranger
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (USA/1956/Seigel)

13th (Fri)

Mothra (Jap/1962/Honda) – Invaders From Mars (USA/1953/Menzies)

14th

George Pal Retrospective All Night Show – 5 films
The Most Dangerous Man Alive/Man With X-Ray Eyes

16th (Mon)

Doctor Cyclops

18th

The Quatermass Experiment (UK/1955/Guest)

19th -End-

The Man Who Thought Life

Details from the NFT, London – only members can buy tickets.

AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUSEPARTY: About forty people, mostly fans, turned up to warm Tony & Simone Walsh's new house in Bebington last weekend – I managed to cause some surprise by turning up by bus in the middle of a bus strike; lucky I didn't know... Partying took up most of Saturday and Sunday, with plenty of drink (mostly home-made) and some fine cooking by Simone (mostly blackcurrant pies!). Those present included Gray Boak, Eddie & Marsha Jones, Norman & Ina Shorrock (and family), George Locke, Alan Rispin (and family), Dave Rowe, Gerry & Ann Webb (and dogs), Phil and Doreen Rogers, John Ramsey Campbell, John Roles, and many others. I settled down, as usual, to a game of poker in the early hourse – I was doing very nicely until Eddie gave me some Australian run of some absurdly high proof; I rather think I lost my concentration after that... Fine house, fine party – much enjoyed (thinking of moving again?!).

WHO TURNED THAT SUN OUT? Marion & Harry Turner are on a cruise to Mauretania to observe the total eclipse on June 30th – and very nice too, I would imagine. Marion, former editor of Urania (the journal of the Junior Astronomical Society), intends to write an account of all the happenings for Lisa Conesa's Zimri 6.

OUT OF THE UNKNOWN: Robin Johnson (Checkpoint's Aussie Agent) wants to know if anyone running a con has ever been able to persuade the BBC to let an Out Of The Unknown film be shown – Robin has been having some trouble: "The Sydney office has been giving off a lot of stuff about agreements with Equity or something. I need to quote a precedent." Can't remember having seen any episodes at a con, Robin, but I may be wrong. Information, please.

HARRY BELL and Irene Taylor are getting married on September 22nd "at ghod-knows-where church in Durham." (sounds a strange church, Harry) Congratulations to both – trust we can all peer at you at the Brum Novacon...

CoAs: My Newcastle and Keele addresses are all obsolete, by the way.
Pete Weston, 72 Beeches Dr, Erdington, Birmingham 24
Jim Meadows III, 31 Apple Court, Park Forest, Ill.60466, USA.

THE PIT: Into the outer darkness go the following, unless they renew; Ian Maule, Chris Fowler, Ken Faig (US), William Sheck (US), Rob Purcell (US), Julien Raasveld (Bel), and Rune Forsgren (Swe), No pendulum this time, strangely enough. Number of your last issue is on the mailing label – or arcane marks like 'T' (trade), &c.


CHECKPOINT II 40

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Peter Roberts....
87 West Town Lane
Bristol, BS4 5DZ,
United Kingdom...

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