Editor: Keith Lynch. Assistant editor: Wade Lynch.
Please direct all correspondence to editor@wsfa.org. Please put either “for publication” or “not for publication” on the subject line. (It MUST contain one or the other, or else your email may be deleted unread by spam filters.) I can also be reached by snail mail at 220 Cedar Lane #62, Vienna VA 22180-6623 USA.
After months of work, the complete text of one of Don Miller's WSFA Journals (issue #84, the highest numbered issue I've been able to find) is finally online. It's dated December 1974.
It is immense. It contains more book reviews than the following 18 years of WSFA Journals put together. More fanzine reviews than the following 27 years of WSFA Journals put together. More movie reviews than the following 28 years of WSFA Journals put together. More letters of comment than the following 30 years of WSFA Journals put together. Fiction by Joe Mayhew and Alexis Gilliland. Book reviews by Mike Walsh. An irate letter by Harlan Ellison. And much, much more.
It's online at http://www.wsfa.org/journal/, along with all later issues, including this one -- over thirty years. All fully indexed.
This means we finally have issues online by all fifteen of the WSFA Journal editors: Beverly Brandt, Erica Ginter, Dan Joy, Sam Lubell, Keith Lynch, Joe Mayhew, Ginny McNitt, Don Miller, Mary Morman, Rosa Oliver, Marianne Petrino-Schaad, Rachel Russell, Lee Strong, Somtow Sucharitkul, and Jane Wagner. (Note that this is not the same as the list of WSFA secretaries, since the jobs of secretary and journal editor used to be separate.)
Many thanks to Wade Lynch for scanning issue #84 and most of the later issues.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can find the elusive issue #85. (We're also missing #80 and #82.) #85 may not exist. My best guess is that #85 exists, and #86 does not, but I could be wrong about either, though probably not about both.
It may sound like we're 3/4th done placing WSFA Journals online, since the Journal is forty years old, and we have thirty years online. But in fact we've barely started, since Don Miller's issues are far larger than anything which has roamed the earth since the asteroid struck WSFA in 1975. (That's one theory about what happened to the club in the mid-70s. Records of that era are sparse.)
Instead of immediately starting work on the even larger #83, I've decided to take a breather. Unless #85 turns up, I don't plan to work on any more back issues until the graphics are caught up. Many of the back issues, including #84, don't yet have their graphics. Until then, I'll be working on placing old meeting minutes online. Of course current meeting minutes, the current WSFA Journal, our calendar of upcoming events, and other present-day concerns will always take priority.
The Nebula awards were given on April 30th. Since I knew exactly when they would be awarded, I delayed the production of this issue just long enough to get the winners in.
Novel: Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Eos, Oct 2003)
Novella: “The Green Leopard Plague,” by Walter Jon Williams (Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2003)
Novelette: “Basement Magic,” by Ellen Klages (F&SF, May 2003)
Short story: “Coming to Terms,” by Eileen Gunn (Stable Strategies and Others, Sep 2004)
Screenplay: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson. Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien (New Line Cinema, Dec 2003)
Science fiction and fantasy fans are not much into conformity. It might not be visually obvious, but if only from our reading choices, we are rebels. And it is to this attitude that Pat Murphy speaks to in her chapbook A Flock of Lawn Flamingos. A rebel, a fairly quiet one, looks to balance the excessive order in her community.
Live Oak Estates is a pleasant townhouse development in California,
one that seems at peace and harmony. All this is changed when
anthropologist Joan Egypt moves in, complete with a collection of
blow guns, darts and shrunken heads. Nancy Dell, the narrator of the
story, realizes after witnessing the meeting of Joan and Pete Hoffer,
the president of the Home Owners Association, that the orderly, quiet
neighborhood will never be the same. Joan listens to Mr. Hoffer's
explanation of the regulations, looks over the lawn ornaments in the
area and decides there is room for some individual expression. The
next day there is a flock of flamingos in the front of Joan's house,
fifty in total. This is the first shot in a war that would eventually
draw in all of Live Oak Estates.
No, there is no violence in this war, but many salvos. The neighbors can hardly ignore the battles, what with talking gnomes, giant flamingos and more being countered by meetings of the Home Owners Association, which grows from a grim few in attendance to a large group with a party atmosphere. And this is what the story is all about, getting people to voice their opinions, letting variety in their lives and giving everyone some control. But don't think of this as an us-versus-them (or Joan versus Mr. Hoffer), we-will-conquer type scenario. Joan is not trying to defeat Mr. Hoffer, but achieve balance, her chaos against his order.
This fun book is great for anyone who has lived with a repressive Home Owner Association or just enjoys bucking the system a bit. And since it has no science fiction or fantasy in it, this review has its own bit of rebellion in it, too. So expand your horizons with A Flock of Lawn Flamingos.
Note that there's a brief summary at the end.
The regular First Friday meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association was called to order by President Samuel Lubell at 9:17 pm on April 1st, 2005 in the basement of the Gillilands' in Arlington, Virginia, the usual First Friday location. Before calling it to order he said “The Third Friday meeting of the Baltimore Science Fact Association -- April Fools!”.
In attendance were President Samuel Lubell, Vice President Cathy Green, Secretary Keith Lynch, Treasurer Bob MacIntosh, Trustees Barry Newton and Steven Smith, Capclave Present Michael Walsh, Capclave Future Elspeth Kovar, Drew Bittner, Alexis and Lee Gilliland, Tamara Griesel, Paul Haggerty, Scott Hofmann, Eric Jablow, Dan Joy, Bill Lawhorn, Ernest Lilley, Nicki and Richard Lynch, Keith Marshall, Walter Miles, Lance Oszko, Kathi Overton, John Pomeranz, Rebecca Prather, Judy and Sam Scheiner, George Shaner, Gayle Surrette, Michael Taylor, Elizabeth Twitchell, Adele Tyhurst, James Uba, and Madeleine Yeh. 35 people. Ted White arrived after the meeting. Jim Kling and Ivy Yap were marked present, and Homer Eon Flint written in, but weren't seen by the secretary.
Lee pointed out that according to the minutes in the WSFA Journal, we had already held the April 1st meeting, so we should adjourn.
The president asked the secretary what business had been done at the previous meeting. The secretary replied that no business had been done at the Madigans' on the 18th, since there was no quorum, but:
TREASURY: Bob said we had $20,740.73 in the main account, plus $15,000 in CDs. Bill remarked on the fact that the bogus minutes in the April WSFA Journal got both numbers exactly right.
CAPCLAVE PRESENT: Mike Walsh said Guest of Honor Howard Waldrop is ready to provide two original 10,000 word stories, which will be published in a booklet to be given out free with every Capclave membership, and that won't be available to anyone else. If a book dealer wants ten of them to resell, he will have to buy ten memberships. Eric asked if this wouldn't encourage people to pay for a membership and not show up. Cathy said the Post Office loves it when people buy stamps and never use them, as happened with many of the Elvis stamps. The size of the print run will be decided on a month before the convention, when we have some idea how many members we will have. Any left-over booklets will be given to the author. The president asked if this was mentioned on the fliers. Mike said not yet, but that Mike Nelson is working on one that will. Colleen, who is currently in London, is in charge of Capclave publicity at Balticon. [Nobody mentioned it, but there will be a Capclave meeting at Peggy Rae's at 2 pm on April 9th.]
CAPCLAVE FUTURE: Elspeth is working on marketing, and thinking about who to choose as guest of honor.
TRUSTEES: The trustees don't yet have a slate. The president asked them to have one by Third Friday. Steve said anyone who wants to be an officer should talk to one of the trustees.
ENTERTAINMENT: Alexis mentioned the Foxtrot, Get Fuzzy, and Pearls Before Swine comic strips in today's Washington Post, and how their panels were interchangeable. He said it's part of a plot for cartoonists to take over the world, and that he's going to volunteer.
ACTIVITIES: Lee said that Ravencon will be held April 20th through 23rd of 2006 in Baltimore. Alexis is their fan guest of honor, Terry Brooks is their writer guest of honor, WSFAn Mike Pederson is point of contact. Someone pointed out that those dates land on implausible days of the week for a con. [ After the meeting, via email, con chair Mike Pederson said it's in Richmond, not Baltimore, will be April 21-23, 2006, and the guests will be Terry Brooks, Tom Kidd, Alexis Gilliland, and Lee Gilliland. ] Nine free tickets to the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie will be given to randomly chosen interested WSFAns at Third Friday, with two people per ticket. Those who can't make it to third Friday should contact her. The showing will be the final week of April, i.e. about a week after the movie opens to the public. She didn't yet know the date or location. She said there's also a Titanic con that weekend.
PUBLICATIONS: The secretary said April WSFA Journals are available, along with various back issues. [By the end of the evening 15 Aprils, 3 Marches, and 1 February were taken.] He forgot to include the page numbers on the table of contents, so he compensated by adding extra staples. Half the issues have two staples; half have three. He's aware of the ancient fannish staple war and doesn't want to restart it. The Hugo nominees were announced one day too late to get into the Journal, but he had printed out one copy and taped it to the wall. Lee pointed out that former WSFAn Steve Stiles was a nominee.
BOOK: Ernest has 13 of the 12 [sic] stories. He's only missing Joe Haldeman's and L. Neil Smith's. L. Neil Smith is hospitalized with a foot infection. Ernest decided against Jerry Pournelle. Cory Doctorow's novella was rejected by Ellen Datlow so we will have the exclusive first publication. This means we have first publication on everything except the Brin story, which is shared with Amazing Zeppelin Stories. He may reject that story so that he can state that everything is first publication. He will need five or six thousand dollars for printing. The printers need everything by May 25th, and his deadline to the authors is April 15th. The only problem is with the cover; Bob Eggleton's cover depicts the destruction of Washington DC, despite Ernest's instructions otherwise. Ernest will choose another artist, possibly Hannah Shapero, though her works aren't “hard edged enough”. He added Gayle to his committee, which also includes Drew Bittner, Sam Lubell, Mike Walsh, and himself. Drew is working on a press kit. Eric asked him about the unsolicited stories he's received. He responded that he has four or five of them and they “aren't terrible”. He has sample contracts from Mike Walsh, David Hartwell, and Ellen Datlow, and hopes Mike Walsh will look at them and make an amalgam out of them, after which Ernest will find a lawyer to look at the resulting contract.
OLD BUSINESS:
Mike Walsh opposed spending money on any individual's medical expenses. He suggested donating to the SFWA emergency medical fund instead. Alexis suggested donating $50 to that fund. Mike Walsh suggested $500. Elspeth suggested $100. Alexis accepted that as a friendly amendment. Madeleine asked what SFWA is. Alexis and John explained what SFWA and the SFWA emergency fund are. John suggested that we vote separately on each proposed amount, and if none of them get the majority, that we donate nothing. Madeleine objected that under John's plan if each of three amounts gets a third of the votes, we would donate nothing even though everyone wanted to donate something. So John suggested that we first vote on whether to donate some amount, and then go back and fill in the blank.
The motion to donate some amount passed. John suggested $250. Ernest and Mike Walsh concurred. Cathy suggested $100, since that's what we donated last time someone died. Rich also suggested $100. Eric asked what other charities Eva (Jack's widow) supports. Elspeth answered The Sierra Club, BSFS, and a ferry preservation society. Eric suggested splitting the difference, giving some to SFWA and some to another of her charities. The president responded that a motion to donate to another charity would be in order once we've decided what to do about SFWA. Alexis said $100. Barry suggested $250, as it's more useful. Lance said $250 of medical care only lasts an hour. The president said we should raise our hands for any amount we're willing to donate to SFWA, and lower them when the amount exceeds the amount we're willing to donate. By this method, we settled on a donation of $100 to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund.
Eric moved that we donate $100 to the ferry organization, if it exists, otherwise to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Steve suggested that we table Eric's motion until Third Friday. He will get a list of Eva's charities by then. Ernest objected to tabling. The president took this as a new motion to donate to the ferry organization. Alexis said we should table, since we should have the list before voting. The motion to table failed. Ernest said he wanted to get a list of charities before we vote, but wanted to get an agreement in principle that we would donate some amount to something, as he won't be at the next meeting. After some discussion, he withdrew his motion to donate. Summary: We will donate $100 to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund; Eric's motion to donate $100 to the ferry organization is tabled.
[ Eva's Caringbridge and Livejournal entries both have: “In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted at the Sierra Club, Save the Bay/Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Emergency Medical Fund.” ]
NEW BUSINESS: None.
The president asked if it was anyone's first, second, or third meeting.
It was Tamara Griesel's and Adele Tyhurst's second meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The secretary made the usual first announcement: Announcements should be submitted in writing, or via the email address on the cover of the WSFA Journal, or via the email address on the website.
Our hostess, Lee, made the usual second announcement: Use toilet paper, not paper towels, in the toilet, and don't let either of the two cats outside. There is a Titanic convention coming soon.
Bob said our insurance rates didn't go up.
Lee asked where the Capclave banner was. Mike Walsh said it was in the president's car.
Mike Walsh will be traveling more on business. He will go to London twice a year, and to Frankfurt once a year, including the Monday after Capclave.
Bill Lawhorn says that Ivy Yap says hi. Scott said that she and Jim Kling are back in Bellingham.
Barry said that Meridel is going back to Japan for the semester, and that she has a new 3 GHz laptop computer.
Rebecca said that according to the Washington Post she will be one of the first people to speak at Fairfax County's budget hearings on Monday.
Kathi will be hosting a discussion of the stories in the April Asimov's upstairs after the meeting. Also, Connie Willis will be on the Fast Forward cable TV show this month.
Lance had discount coupons for a bead show, and an extra membership for a Costumecon on Ogden, Utah. Beads will be taking him to Melbourne and Brisbane in June.
Ernest will hold a meeting of his book committee immediately after the WSFA meeting.
Paul said he would show some proposed changes to the Capclave web site on Alexis's PC after the meeting.
Lee made the usual final announcement: Chairs are to be moved to the edges of the room after adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:07 pm. 50 minutes.
The last people left at about 12:30 am.
It rained all evening, quite heavily at times.
Kage Baker's new book Life of the World to Come is the most recent book in her The Company series, well sort of anyway. I wasn't too impressed with her first Company book, In the Garden of Iden. But she keeps getting better and better. This one is not primarily about her heroine Mendoza, although she does appear at the start and near the end. It is really the story of Alec Checkerfield, the man who Mendoza fell in love with twice before, in two previous incarnations. And I found it to be the best of her books so far, in part because Alec is much more active a character than Mendoza, who always struck me as reacting to events rather than causing them.
The world of The Company is very complex, involving time travel, immortal cyborgs, and several mysteries that have stretched through multiple volumes of the series. The book opens with Mendoza, an immortal cyborg who has disobeyed orders from Dr. Zeus, trapped in the distant past. She encounters a man who is the living duplicate of someone she had encountered twice before, under two different names and in two different time periods. The book then jumps to the distant future, where everything is tightly regulated. Alec Checkerfield, a super genius, manages to reprogram a computerized teaching toy to help and protect him. And since he was fascinated with pirates, the program takes the form, and ethics, of a pirate. Gradually, he finds out that there is a mystery in his origins and how it is tied to Dr. Zeus Inc. and three geekish men, fascinated with the past and who do genetic creating for Dr. Zeus.
It seems that the three geeks have been tasked by Dr. Zeus with creating a substitute for Zeus' Enforcers who look out-of-place in a world without Neanderthals. They create three test models, the two men Mendoza encountered in previous books and Alec. But Alec, once he discovers the truth, has his own agenda and for the first time in the series it looks like Dr. Zeus may not get everything it wants.
Now, while this is in many respects a Company novel, and the Company parts really cannot be understood without reading the prior books, it is also the story of Alec Checkerfield. And, while his origins are tied to the Company, he does not know this for most of the novel so a new reader would not know any less than the character does and would discover the information together. Now, although the copyright page says nothing of prior appearances, I know I have read several short stories published in magazines about the early life of Alec Checkerfield and his pirate companion (including at least one that wasn't incorporated into this novel). And those stories did not say he was connected to the Company at all (I suspect Baker made the link after the stories were published separately, perhaps because a book about Alec would sell better if connected to her well-selling series.)
Fans of Kage Baker and The Company have probably already read this. For the rest of the sf audience, most of this book could be understood without reading the prior volumes although reading the earlier books is still better for enjoying The Life of the World to Come. I recommend this book, even for those who felt the previous books were a little too passive.
May 1995:
First and Third Friday Meetings at the Gillilands' and Ginters', with 49 and 42 people present. Treasury $6,130.71. Joe Mayhew was elected secretary, replacing Lee Strong. President Covert Beach, Vice President Terilee Edwards-Hewitt, and Treasurer Bob MacIntosh were re-elected. No offices were contested; the trustees' slate passed by acclamation. Two WSFA Journals, 10 and 8 pages, were published in May. (Two issues were published almost every month from early 1995 through mid-1996, ending only when editor Joe Mayhew had a heart attack.) Disclave was held Memorial Day weekend at the Techworld, with Dan Hoey as chair, and Charles Sheffield and Bob Eggleton as guests of honor.
May 1985:
First and Third Friday Meetings at the Gillilands' and Olivers'; Fifth Friday at Jack Heneghan's. Treasury $5,704.10. Alan Huff was elected president, Mike Walsh vice president, and Ginny McNitt Secretary. Bob Oliver was re-elected treasurer. No WSFA Journal was published between February and June. Disclave was held Memorial Day weekend at the New Carrollton hotel (which was called “The Sheraton Inn” this year but not the previous or the next). Mike Walsh was chair, Ed Bryant and Bob Walters were the guests of honor.
May 1975:
No WSFA Journal (that I can find a copy of, anyway) was published between December 1974 and August 1978. Disclave was held Memorial Day weekend at the Sheraton Park. Alexis Gilliland was chair, Gordon Dickson was Guest of Honor. 360 people attended. Alexis and Doll had a rather flexible deal with the hotel: whatever space they weren't using that weekend, we got. Sometimes the program would wander about in the hotel from place to place, but impromptu programming such as the “Fannish Inquisition” usually could get space to carry out any sort of nonsense they had in mind. Some photos of this con are at http://www.fanac.org/Other_Cons/Disclave/d75-p00.html
May 1965:
President Banks Mebane, Secretary Elizabeth Cullen, and Treasurer Phil Bridges were re-elected. Mark Owings was elected vice president. Jay Haldeman married Alice Krieg on the 10th. 26 people were at the Third Friday meeting at Elizabeth Cullen's in DC. There was $79.20 in the club treasury. Alexis read from the novel he wrote. Don Miller asked for meeting minutes to include in the WSFA Journal, which had started publication two months ago. Disclave was held early in May at the Howard Johnson's in Wheaton, beginning an unbroken string of Disclaves which would be held in May of every year through 1997. Banks Mebane was chair, Sam & Chris Moskowitz were guests of honor. 83 attended. This was the last free Disclave, but Alan Huff was recruited to sit by the beer tub and collect a dollar from any he could.
May 1955:
Meetings on First and Third Sunday at Dot Cole's, 10 and 10 present. 12 present at the Fifth Sunday party. Phyllis Berg, chair of the membership committee, wrote letters to past members. Most replied that they'd wait until WSFA moves back into DC. (Meetings in 1955 were held at Dot Cole's, way out in Arlington. They moved back to DC the following year, and remained there for over a decade.) Ted White was elected president, Bob Pavlat vice president, Phil Bridges secretary, Bill Berg treasurer. Treasury $35.26. No Disclave was held between 1953 and 1958.
The Hugo nominees were announced one day too late to get into the April WSFA Journal. So here they are in the May issue.
Voting for the Hugo Awards is open to all adult attending and supporting members of Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, which takes place in Glasgow from 4 to 8 August 2005. Ballots were mailed to existing members with Progress Report 4 during April 2005. Eligible members will be able to vote online and printable ballots are available from the convention web site. Information about joining Interaction and voting for the Hugo Awards, may also be found there. The closing date for receipt of ballots is 6:59 pm EDT on July 8, 2005.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday, August 7, 2005, in Glasgow as part of the convention.
The 2005 Hugo Awards nominations listed below include finalists in 14 categories, plus the John W. Campbell Award (not a Hugo).
(Not a Hugo Award; an award for best new science fiction writer of the past two years, sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered by the current Worldcon committee.)
Four of the five Hugo-nominated short stories are available for free online, as are four of the five novelettes, and two of the five novellas. See http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/002707.html
“Worldcon”, “World Science Fiction Convention,” and “Hugo Award” are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
Note that there's a brief summary at the end.
The regular Third Friday meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association was called to order by President Samuel Lubell at 9:15 pm on April 15th, 2005 in the downstairs of the Madigans' in Greenbelt, Maryland, the usual third Friday location. There was a fire in the room's fireplace.
In attendance were President Samuel Lubell, Vice President Cathy Green, Secretary Keith Lynch, all three trustees (Adrienne Ertman, Barry Newton, and Steven Smith), Mike Bartman, Drew Bittner, Carolyn Frank, Alexis and Lee Gilliland, Erica and Lydia Ginter, James Griesel, Paul Haggerty, Cassandra Hetzel, Scott Hofmann, Eric Jablow, Bill Lawhorn, Ernest Lilley, Nicki and Richard Lynch, Candy and John Madigan, Keith Marshall, Cat Meier, Evan Phillips, Joe Radko, George Shaner, Elaine and Steve Stiles, Gayle Surrette, Michael Taylor, Elizabeth Twitchell, and Adele Tyhurst. 25 people. Jim Kling and Ivy Yap were marked present, but weren't seen by the secretary.
The president asked the secretary to thimbolize the previous meeting. The secretary didn't know what thimbolize means, so instead he summarized what business had been done at the previous meeting, which was at the Gillilands' on April 1st:
TREASURY: The treasurer wasn't present.
TRUSTEES: Steve Smith announced the trustees' slate for the annual election, which is to be held on May 6th at the Gillilands':
He pointed out that the trustees' slate is presented simply to make sure that we have at least one candidate for each office, that we welcome nominations from the floor, and that the election will go faster if you bring your own writing implement. Eric asked if being an officer was compatible with being the head of a committee. Steve said yes, but said he didn't think anyone had been Disclave chair and held another office at the same time. Sam said he had been secretary and Capclave chair at the same time, and that there was a long period when the Disclave chair and the president were always the same person. The secretary said that our bylaws say that someone can hold two offices only if one of them is con chair. [Actually, that clause seems to have disappeared from our bylaws some time between 1985 and 1995, implying that any member can hold any number of offices.]
ENTERTAINMENT: The Gillilands recently returned from a Titanic convention in Southampton, England. Melvina Dean, age 93, the youngest of the three surviving Titanic survivors, was present at that convention, and unveiled a bus which is named for her. Eric asked how many millihelens of beauty it takes to launch one bus.
CAPCLAVE PRESENT:
The chair wasn't present. Elizabeth urged people to reserve rooms, and to speak to Elspeth if you want to be on the party floor. Barry had three dodo puppets, which he showed us. One more is expected. Sam said he expected everyone to take turns sitting at our Balticon table. Elizabeth asked what happens if dodos and geese fight. Cathy said she's in charge of getting fliers into libraries, with Alexandria delegated to Elizabeth. Lee volunteered for Arlington.
Keith Lynch announced that he was resigning as Capclave webmaster, since Gayle and Paul want the job, since he was busy with being WSFA secretary, WSFA webmaster, Journal editor, and listmaster, and since people seemed to prefer Gayle and Paul's proposed Capclave website to his. While he hopes that Gayle and Paul will incorporate all of the content and external links of the present site, will keep the site compatible with all web browsers, and will promptly add new information when it becomes available, he will put up whatever Gayle and Paul provide to him unless the Capclave chair objects. He reminded Gayle and Paul that there is also already a Capclave '06 site and a Capclave '07 site. He has made updates as recently as today, but will make no more. Lee Gilliland eagerly applauded this announcement.
CAPCLAVE FUTURE: Elspeth wasn't present.
ACTIVITIES: Lee had fourteen free tickets for a showing of the new Hitchhiker's Guide movie “next Tuesday” [actually, Tuesday the 26th] at the AMC at the Mazza Gallerie in Chevy Chase. Each ticket allows two to attend. Few enough people were interested that no raffle was needed, so they were just handed out. So were four posters for the movie. T-shirts are expected at the next meeting.
PUBLICATIONS: The secretary said April WSFA Journals are available for anyone who didn't get one on First Friday. [By the end of the evening 4 Aprils, 1 March, and 1 February were taken.] He also announced that a sign-in sheet [printed on a 1040 form] was circulating. The deadline for submissions for the May WSFA Journal is Fifth Friday, two weeks from tonight.
BOOK: Ernest is still missing the Joe Haldeman and L. Neil Smith stories, but has all the others. Joe is stuck for an ending, and L. Neil has medical problems. He showed two covers, and said we'd be using neither of them. He has chosen an artist. He said his committee would meet after the regular meeting. Eric said the buildings on one of the covers were too tall, as there's a height limit. Cathy is working on the contract. Bill suggested adding forty blank pages to the contract to make it look longer. We're still on target to release the book at Readercon.
OLD BUSINESS:
The secretary read the list of organizations Eva Whitley wants money donated to in Jack Chalker's memory, in addition to the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, which we've already agreed to donate $100 to: The Sierra Club, The Save the Bay/Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Steve Smith confirmed that he found the same list, and couldn't find anything relating to ferries. Elizabeth moved that we donate $100 to the Save the Bay/Chesapeake Bay Foundation [http://www.cbf.org/]. The motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS:
Sam pointed out that there will be a Fifth Friday this month. Nobody offered to host it. [Some people were left with the mistaken impression that the Madigans were offering to host it.] Eric pointed out that it will be during Passover, so kosher-for-Passover food and drink should be provided.
The Madigans won't be able to host Third Friday in June or July. They can host First Friday in June. The Gillilands will check their calendar to see if a meeting swap is feasible that month. Gayle and Paul offered their house for a meeting place, even though it's not transit accessible. We'll decide what to do about June and July at a future meeting.
Lee said hosting meetings gives people an excuse to clean their house. Elizabeth moved that we “officially recognize WSFA's kind hosts and hostesses”. The motion passed.
The president asked if it was anyone's first, second, or third meeting. It was Jim Griesel's and Joe Radko's's second, and Adele Tyhurst's third meeting. [According to the secretary's records, it was also Cassandra Hetzel's second meeting, though she didn't speak up.] Adele is eligible to join, except that the treasurer wasn't present.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The secretary made the usual first announcement: Announcements should be submitted in writing, or via the email address on the cover of the WSFA Journal, or via the email address on the website. Also, there's a sign-in sheet circulating.
Candy said the bathroom door has been fixed. If you want sodas she doesn't have, tell her, and she'll get them next time. The dog can be fed anything except chocolate. The white bunny bites.
Cat said she's moving to Wisconsin, so she won't be coming to meetings quite as often. Sam suggested she start an SF group in that state, and it can keep our initials.
Lee said there's a Titanic convention in Washington DC at the end of this month.
Cathy said the Northern Virginia Doctor Who Viewing Society will be meeting at 6:45 pm on Monday in the Fairfax Government Center to watch the first episode of the new Doctor Who series. It can be reached on the 623 bus. Ernest said it can also be reached by tardis.
Steve Smith has created a WSFA Wiki, at http://www.zipbeep.org/wsfa.cgi. He explained that this is a website which anyone can modify.
Elizabeth said there's a Capclave LiveJournal, at http://www.livejournal.com/community/capclave/.
Erica said her cat Wallaby had died, at age 17 or greater. And that former WSFAns Robyn and Sylvia Rissell had a daughter, their first child, named Stacia Winifred.
Steve Stiles said he has a website, http://www.stevestiles.com/
Mike Bartman said that Keith Lynch had told him that several people at the previous meeting had asked Keith to point him out, but he had had difficulty doing so since Mike wasn't present. Keith did so now, and added that the reason why people asked is that Mike's now the highest volume poster on the WSFA email list.
Alexis has a contract with Renaissance eBooks. They will be republishing his novel The Revolution from Rosinante. It will be placed on the web for a month, then it will be print-on-demand.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:58 pm. 43 minutes.
The last people left at 1:50 am.
It was cool and clear.
This is excerpted from our online calendar of upcoming events, at http://www.wsfa.org/calendar.htm. I recommend you check it frequently, in case of last minute additions or corrections. Also, it contains links to more information about the events. This is a regular feature of The WSFA Journal.
[ Editor's note: Lee Strong has resigned from WSFA, and prefers that no WSFA member except Sam Lubell contact him for any reason. However, he has not rescinded his permission to print the material he had previously submitted to the WSFA Journal. ]
This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the truly strangest Japanese
animes that I have ever seen. It starts off as a strong alien invasion
story and ends up as a baffling make-your-own-reality nonfinish.
Huge conflict of interest warning: This epic uses a lot of Christian symbology but doesn't explain itself very well. As a result, I may have missed something critical that the Japanese filmmakers intended.
Our story opens in 2015, fifteen years after a giant meteorite “Second Impact” destroyed half of humanity, with the United Nations Armed Forces garrisoning Japan against attack by the alien “angels.” Conventional and nuclear weapons prove useless and the special agency NERV brings out a synthetic lifeform called Evangelion to do battle with the enemy. Human pilots, all 14 year old children, are necessary to pilot the Evangelions to suppress the angels' defensive “AT fields.” To complicate matters, the Evangelions are revealed to be clones from the angels, which the humans only partially understand, but use to defeat their enemies. As the 13 hour plot unfolds, hidden agendas proliferate, emotional relationships turn to poison, and reality breaks down. Ultimately, almost nothing is resolved unless you count the male lead's decision to ignore his world and live in a fantasy he creates.
Other anime fans tell me they like this equivocal epic (and there are rumors of a remake and/or movie version), but I had a LOT of problems with it. The artwork, high tech battles and future science are very well done. At least some of the hidden agendas, emotional revelations and religious themes strike me as good storytelling, adding realistic depth to the characters. However, I believe that the filmmakers took things too far resulting in a confusing mess. All of the major characters have serious emotional problems and many of the plots are left unresolved. Most serious is the moral issue: The humans are shown firing on the alien visitors before the latter attack humanity, raising the question of who's good and who's evil. In the end, I was left with the uncomfortable feeling that I was cheering for the wrong side.
I rate Neon Genesis Evangelion *** on the five star scale, equivalent to a “C” on the high school A-F scale. Strong characterization and storytelling in the beginning is overcome by moral ambiguity and a puzzling nonclimax at the end. -- LS
Devadasy is apparently the Japanese word for “ripoff”
because the similarities to Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) are too
numerous to be ignored. Many of the details are different, but the
important parts are all the same, including the alien invasion,
unproven technology, the emotional problems and the “it's
all a daydream” ending. At least the sex is better, altho
that's not saying a lot.
I rate Devadasy * ½ on the five star scale, equivalent to a “D-minus” on the high school A-F scale. While not without some positive points, this blatant ripoff should be avoided. -- LS
Capclave meetings were held at the Sapienzas' house in Montgomery County on the afternoons of Sunday, February 27th, and Sunday, April 9th.
Present at the February 27th meeting were Capclave '05 Chair Mike Walsh, Capclave '06 Chair Elspeth Kovar, Lee Gilliland, Cathy Green, Paul Haggerty, Bill Jensen,Ernest Lilley, Sam Lubell, Keith Lynch, Bob MacIntosh, Mike Nelson, Barry Newton, John Sapienza, Peggy Rae Sapienza, Gayle Surrette, and Elizabeth Twitchell (16 people).
Most of the discussion was about publicity. We need at least 384 paid members if we're to break even. We had just 29 so far.
PROMOTION EFFORTS
PROGRAM ITEMS
FLIER/WEBSITE ITEMS
MISCELLANEOUS
Present at the April 9th meeting were Capclave '05 Chair Mike Walsh, Capclave '06 Chair Elspeth Kovar, Cathy Green, Bill Jensen, Sam Lubell, Keith Lynch, Bob MacIntosh, Barry Newton, John Sapienza, and Peggy Rae Sapienza (10 people). (Others may have arrived later -- Keith left early.)
We still only had 29 members.
We will be paying Howard Waldrop $500 for the two stories in the book that is to be given to all Capclave members and to no-one else. Carol Emshwiller only asked for “a pittance” for her work on its cover. Mike Nelson is in charge of the book.
We have bad credit. The Silver Spring Hilton won't take itself as a reference, and the Hyatt Regency where '03's WFC was held claims we were slow to pay. Peggy Rae says we were slow because we disputed some of their charges.
Cathy is in charge of library publicity, with Elizabeth delegated to Alexandria, and Lee to Arlington.
Colleen is in charge of our table at Balticon. We won't have tables at any other cons.
Barry brought, and showed, three dodo puppets. One more is on back order. Peggy Rae said we should get more, as people will want to buy them.
Sam said the photos on the WSFA website have too low a resolution for showing in slideshow mode at tables at cons, and asked where higher resolution pictures are. Keith said that last he knew Sam had a box of WSFA photos -- Keith didn't receive it when he took over from Sam as club secretary. Keith suggested that if nothing better than what's in the pichist directory of our website can be found, that we display four photos per screen.
Mike Walsh said New Orleans used beads, and we should use red tape. Sam will get red ribbon.
There was extensive discussion of the Capclave website. Gayle & Paul's proposed website apparently looks snazzier in some of the commonest browsers. (Since the consensus seemed to be for their site, and since Keith is busy with so much else, Keith resigned as Capclave webmaster (but not WSFA webmaster) twelve days later on Third Friday, and said he will make no further changes in the existing Capclave website, and will put up whatever Gayle & Paul provide. As of press time (May 1st), they haven't yet provided anything.)
Keith will make sure various relevant websites and lists of upcoming cons know about Capclave. (Now that he's resigned as Capclave webmaster, he has no other Capclave duties that he knows of. He will table-sit at Balticon, and gofer at Capclave itself, but is not on the Capclave Yahoogroups list, and doesn't plan to attend any future Capclave meetings or hotel walkthroughs.)
Bob will deal with PayPal.
Sam is in charge of getting Capclave bookmarks to give away.
Barry is the keeper of the calendar.
Someone will ask Paul Parsons if he will write a neighborhood guide.
Kathi Overton will be dealing with the AFI Theater to see if they will schedule some sort of SF film festival to coincide with Capclave. She should also ask if we can place fliers during any SF films they run in the meantime.
Larry Smith has agreed to display one of our dodos. Not sure if this is just for Balticon, or everywhere he goes between now and Capclave. Also not sure if he'll be taking memberships for us.
There should be some thanks sent to everyone who registers.
April 30th should see a final draft on the flier.
May 20th (third Friday WSFA meeting) there'll be a mailing party for fliers to a number of lists being made available to Capclave. Sam Lubell will buy stamps ahead of time, when he knows how many we're going to need. Barry needs to consolidate lists and let him know.
June 30th will be the last day for the $30 advance reg rate.
Colleen should be the major point of contact for info on the web site; with Sam Lubell echoed as a backup.
Sam should recruit staff for Capclave publications.
Peggy Rae Sapienza will be the GoH liaison; Mike Walsh will see that they're made aware of this.
Mike Walsh will also task Walter with contacting Eva Whitley about a possible Jack Chalker remembrance item on the program.
Here are more of the time travel itineraries from SMOFcon 22, continued from the previous four issues. They were all handwritten, so please forgive any errors of the secretary's in transcription.
SMOFcon Time Travel will be concluded next month.
Parts of the April issue were intended as an April Fools' joke; parts weren't. Please contact me if you can't tell which is which.
Alexis responded to the attendance report by saying he has been to all but one of the meetings at his house. I will make sure next year's attendance report reflects this, except that I will continue to leave completely blank the columns for any meetings at which attendance wasn't taken, since doing anything else would be unfair to those who were present but not listed.
The deadline for June's issue is Third Friday, May 20th. (This is a week early since I won't be able to produce the issue on the last weekend of the month due to Balticon.) Earlier if possible. Later is good, too, if you don't mind your submission not appearing until the July issue. As always, I eagerly solicit material. Fannish autobiographies, reviews of books, movies, and fanzines, reports on cons, reports on scientific discoveries and talks, letters of comment, cartoons, essays, thoughts about the future of Capclave, WSFA, and fandom, and pretty much anything else that you think WSFA members would enjoy reading.