Checkpoint 57

CHECKPOINT is published by Darroll Pardoe, 24 Othello Close, Hartford, Huntingdon PE18 7SU, England. It is available for news or trades, or for 10/60p (Foreign Rates: Belgium 10/60F, France 10/6F, North America airmail 5/$1.00, Australia airmail 8/$1.00. No foreign cheques, please). Free sample on request. This issue dated November 21st 1974. Our phone number is 0480-56072. A.89


DUFF CAMPAIGN OPENS

Nominations have closed in the current DUFF campaign. Voting has begun and will close on May 31st 1975. The winner will travel to the World Convention in Australia in 1975. As an incentive to participate, all voters whose ballots are received before March 29th will be eligible to take part in a raffle for Sandra Miesel's embroidered version of Jack Gaughan's illustration of 'Striding Murderer' from "The Dragon Masters" by Jack Vance.

There are three contenders this time around: John D. Berry, Jan Finder and Rusty Hevelin. Vote for whom you will (but it would be nice if more than three British people voted this time). Our own votes are going to John Berry, a fine trufan and choice for DUFF.

THE NOVA AWARD Jim Linwood, A.S.M., has corrected and amplified my comments last issue. He writes "All the Novacon judges, Greg Pickersgill, Keith Walker, Andrew Stephenson, Ina Shorrock and myself, were chosen by the award coordinator, Gillon Field, early this year. The above mentioned were the sole judges, but during their discussion of the nominated magazines, they were joined by Hazel Reynolds, who has taken over the award administration, and Ken Slater, who would have to make a speech and present the award. The last two mentioned were not judges.

All the nominated magazines with one exception were read by the judges. The exception was 'Foundation' which was considered ineligible for two reasons (1) as it could only be obtained for money it was not considered an amateur magazine; (2) the editor didn't submit any copies of the nominated issue. I should point out that the Nova award was conceived and is administered entirely by the Novacon committee, the judges having no influence over the qualifying rules or the nomination of fanzines." Thanks, Jim. I must repeat though that in my opinion the need for a British fanzine award is dubious at best and that as currently constituted the Nova award is worthless.

COME IN BSFA YOUR TIME IS UP The present whereabouts of the BSFA are still obscure, but the other day a flyer arrived from Keith Walker advertising 'Operation SF', a 'Living Science Fiction Organisation' about which I know nothing (Keith didn't mention it at Novacon). Nobody at the 'One Tun' last time seemed to have heard of it either, so it looks very much like an individual effort on Keith's part. Peter Weston wrote to me expressing his thoughts on the subject, and I have to say that they coincide largely with my own. Here's what Peter said "For the last two months Vernon Brown has been chewing over this subject. He first wanted to reorganise the BSFA but then realised that too many others have sunk out of sight in that mire. So Vernon decided that something new and better is required. He took the opportunity of Novacon to discuss this with others of like mind with the hope that some ideas would be established to present at Eastercon.

The thing is, any new organisation must not just repeat the mistakes of its predecessor. It needs to be thought about, structured, and its purpose defined. Interested parties please get in touch with Vernon.

That's why I'm a little concerned about Keith Walker's apparently rushing into forming 'Operation SF'. I'm not clear if anyone else is involved with Keith but I think something like this shouldn't be a unilateral, one-man project if it is to have any chance of success. What I'm saying is that the whole subject of a successor to the BSFA needs discussion at the Eastercon and that until then no-one should start rushing around on their own. The question of a central organisation for fandom is too important to play with. Incidentally, I have no plans to get involved in any new group."

FANZINES RECEIVED

ERG 48 (Terry Jeeves, 230 Bannerdale Road, Sheffield 311 9FE) (5/50p) Terry has sent me the genzine version of his fanzine. Previously I've had the OMPA version, which, in accordance with my usual practice, I haven't mentioned here. ERG is regular and interesting, though some of Terry's views are a bit conservative. Good article on hand-cutting illustrations on to stencil. (4.11)

FANEW SLETTER 15 (Leigh Edmonds, PO Box 74, Balaclava, Victoria 3183, Australia) (10¢A) Back on schedule with Leigh's return from Discon. Invaluable for keeping up with Aussie news. (4.11)

FORTHCOMING SF BOOKS 22 (Joanne Burger, 55 Blue Bonnet Ct, Lake Jackson, TX 77566, USA) (50¢ airmail, 6/$1.50 seamail). This is a listing of forthcoming SF books (9/74 through to 1/75). I see the H-M hardcover of THE LORD OF THE RINGS is $35.00 now! (4.11)

INFO 3 (R.A.J.Zielschot and J.C.Raasveld; Boerhaavelaan 88, Utrecht, Netherlands) (Fl. 9.75 or BF40). Beautifully produced and includes a photo section taken at Eurocon 2. One or two familiar faces appear including Vernon Brown and Hazel Reynolds. The fanzine is in Dutch, incidentally. (4.11)

LOCUS 166 (Charlie and Dena Brown, Box 3938, San Francisco, CA 94119, USA) (18/$12 airmail or 18/$6 seamail). Mostly book and fanzine reviews in this issue of the SF Newspaper. They're a bit behind on fmz: the only issue of CP mentioned is 51, though the list claims to include fanzines received Aug-Oct. (6.11)

SFINCTOR 1 (Craig Miller, Elliot Weinstein and Glenn Mitchell, 9115 Beverlywood Street, Los Angeles, CA 90034, USA) (usual or 15¢) The first issue of a new faan newszine. A rival to CP, no less. Welcome though: fandom needs newszines. (7.11)

THE PURPLE HOURS (Lisa Conesa, 54 Manley Road, Whalley Range, Manchester M16 8HP) (40p inc. postage) This finely printed anthology of poetry (including work by Aldiss, Ballard, Brunner and Moorcock, among others) was produced by Lisa for Tynecon, and copies are still available. The poetry is in a better class than most poetry that appears in fanzines: you'd probably like it if you like such things at all. (8.11)

CSFG NEWSLETTER 2 (Graham Poole, 23 Russet Road, Cheltenham, GL51 7LN) (produced for members of the Cheltenham SF Group). A good 4-page club newsletter; the revived Cheltenham Group seems quite an active organisation. They have a library and regular meetings, and are planning a genzine. (11.11)

DIEHARD 5 (Tony Cvetko, 29k15 Parkwood Drive, Wickliffe,OH 44092, USA) (usual, or 50¢) The highlight of this issue is without question the first part of a series by Mae Strelkov about South American mythology. Donn Brazier has a plan to build a Tower to the Moon by folding a fanzine 39 times! (13.11)

KOSMIC CITY KAPERS 4 (Jeff May, Box 68, Liberty, MO 64068, USA) (usual or 25¢). Jodie Offutt, Bruce Townley, Eric Lindsay and good old Anonymous write this time. Anonymous wrote a Kubla Khan Clave report: I think the Brian who was selling London in 79 memberships must have been Brian Hampton. (14.11)

INSTANT MESSAGE 159 (NESFA, Box G, MIT Branch PO, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA) ($5/yr) Regular as always; they kindly explain the :0 on my mailing label this time. (14.11)

SFRA NEWSLETTER 33 (Box 3196, College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA) (for SFRA members) News and reviews concerning SF bibliography and criticism. Interesting item about Forrie Ackerman's Fantasy Foundation. (14.11)

BFS BULLETIN 2:4 (membership in the BFS is £1.50/yr to Sandra Sutton, 194 Station Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7TE) Lots of news and reviews in this issue. The repro is more legible, but still using too great a reduction. (In case you're interested, CHECKPOINT is A5 reduced from a sheet 180mm by 250mm) (14.11)

CHAO 15 (John Alderson, Havelock, Victoria 3465, Australia) (trade or 50p) John is an amateur historian (he and Rosemary have exchanged non-fan publications in this field) and this interest overflows interestingly into his fanzine. (15.11)

MYTHPRINT 10:4 (Mythopoeic Society, 33k North Robinson, Los Angeles, CA 90026, USA) ($6 yr) This issue has the results of the membership questionnaire. The commonest age (25%) is 22-25; most members (32%) joined in 1974. (15.11)

AMON HEN 13 (Tolkien Society) (membership in the TS is £1.50 to Janet Gibbs, 49 Beresford Road, London N5). An enormous size for a society bulletin (40pp). I hope the new editors (Stuart and Rosie Clark) don't burn themselves out with over-enthusiasm. (16.11)

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ZIMRI is not dead yet. Lisa Conesa has asked me to make this clear to correct the prevailing (but happily wrong) idea that it's folded. She also says that a second PURPLE HOURS booklet and poetry soiree are planned for Seacon, though not as part of the official programme. Contributions for the booklet and thoughts on the soiree are solicited (Lisa's address is up in the fmz reviews).

THE SF WRITERS BULLETIN was at one time a useful feature of the BSFA, and Graham Poole (whose address can also be found up in the review section) is planning to revive it on an independent basis. He writes "What I visualise is a quarterly zine giving market info, writing tips, letters of comment and articles by authors of how they came into the writing field and the difficulties they experienced as a newcomer. Maybe even a piece of short fiction which the readers can comment on and pull apart"

CONVENTIONS Peter Roberts writes that Aussiecon rates are now £1.50 supporting and £5.00 attending. The third progress report should be out soon. Also, the Seacon 75 full membership has been pegged at £2.00 until January 1st. There should be a Seacon progress report out soon, too. (Peter's address is 6 Westbourne Park Villas, London W2)

BACK ISSUES of CHECKPOINT are available as follows: from Peter at 5p each or 3/10p there are numbers 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46. From me, there are 53, 55 and 56 for a 4½p stamp.

NOVACON banquet attendees were stricken by a mysterious plague: 15 or so people report feeling ill afterwards. Maybe (Pete Weston says) it should have been named BUBONICON? Pete also reports selling a TAFF report to SF Monthly, who are publishing an interview about SPEC in issue 12.

WORLD GOVERNMENT DEPT According to Gary Grady, writing in DIEHARD, one can register as a Planetary Citizen (registration is free) by contacting the Planetary Citizen Registry, 77 Metcalfe Street, Suite 708, Ottawa, Canada K1P 5L6.

P.SCHUYLER MILLER (the well known book reviewer who ran 'The Reference Library' review column in Analog) died on October 13th. ('Locus')

AMDUSCIAS PRESS The odd numbers preceded by an 'A' (this time A.89) borne by CP nowadays are press numbers in this series, in which we now number all Pardoe publications. Just in case you were wondering...