By John Hertz: On Thursday night August 22nd I saw this year’s Down Under Fan Fund delegate Bill Wright in person for the first time since 2010.

He saw the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society in person for the first time since 1972.

Bidding to hold the first World Science Fiction Convention in Australia brought him then. He’d come to L.A.Con, the 1972 Worldcon, in retrospect L.A.con I. Chuck Crayne and Bruce Pelz co-chaired. Naturally Bruce made sure Bill joined the LASFS.

After that Bruce made sure the LASFS got a clubhouse. We’re in our third now. Bill said we were just as mad — ahem — jolly as before. We said “Welcome home.”

If you see him on his DUFF trip you can say that too. Home is where the heart is.

In the San Francisco Bay Area he saw Chris Garcia who took him through the Computer History Museum, Robert Lichtman who took him through fannish history, Jim Mowatt the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund delegate with whom my TAFF counterpart Jacq Monahan and I have tried to cross Bill’s path as much as possible, Spike, and a host of others.

Walking into the Clubhouse I asked Marty Cantor “Where’s Bill?” Marty said “In the library.” Best answer. Bill will see another fine library later when he visits the New England S-F Association.

LASFSians often come for the Business Meeting and leave before the program. That’s probably because our business is monkey business.

By way of raising money we auctioned off books, a doublet, and an empty bottle, we tried to auction off a framed poster for the Barbarella movie but Bill muttering “You can’t let go of that” outbid everyone so it stays, and the usual suspects — including me — and Bill — paid pun fines. First-timers were introduced. Ceremony honored Fuzzy Pink Niven and Michelle Pincus who have done much for the Club. Failing to get Jerry Pournelle to tell a 1979 Worldcon story I started telling it wrong and that worked. There was cake for Ray Bradbury’s birthday. Death does not release you.

I drove Bill to one of our two (I think) aftermeetings, at the Coral restaurant which I said he could mnemonize as the Coral Sea. He talked s-f with John DeChancie and I seeing Dana Ginsburg helped her put stamps on poctsarcds (H. Warner, A Wealth of Fable pp. 163-64, 2nd ed. 1992).

Kim and Jordan Brown were Bill’s hosts for the night. Kim catching a breath from her work on the 2013 Worldcon gave us tea. Bill gave them a jute tote-bag with “Advance Australia Fair” on it in two-part harmony. I left about three. At breakfast the Brown young tried the song.

By now Bill is in Las Vegas.