Tag Archives: R. Graeme Cameron

Spider Robinson Commits to Next Year’s VCON

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R. Graeme Cameron has stepped in as chair of next year’s VCON. Happily, as one of his first acts, was able to announce that Spider Robinson, prevented by illness from attending VCON 40 this past weekend, has agreed to be Master of Ceremonies for VCON 41 in 2016. Cameron says, “I know I speak for all local fen (fen everywhere for that matter) that we are glad he is recovering his health and we can hardly wait to see him again. Always good times when he is present at VCON!”

And how came The Graeme to chair next year’s con? He tells the tale after the jump….

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Ditto Reborn!

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By R. Graeme Cameron: The fanzine fan’s relaxacon, Ditto 20, will be held Friday, September 30 to October 2, 2016 in conjunction with VCON 41, in a site to be announced in the Vancouver Lower Mainland Region in British Columbia, Canada.

Nothing set in stone yet, but one thing is for sure, in addition to the hotel bar/restaurant there will be a “wet” hospitality suite running throughout the combined convention.

To attend VCON 41/Ditto 20 it will be necessary to purchase a VCON membership and, if coming from out of town, to book a room at the hotel.

VCON membership rates and hotel fees TBA as soon as determined. Ability to purchase VCON memberships online and book rooms at the special VCON discount rate online will be announced as soon as both options go live.

Ditto 20 membership fee not yet determined. Since it is intended that Ditto attendees receive a Ditto Badge, a Ditto program book, and possibly a commemorative fannish anthology in addition to the VCON badge and program book, it is likely at least a nominal Ditto membership will be charged on top of (but separately billed) from the VCON membership to help defray costs. Ditto membership fee to be determined through consultation with fen interested in attending. Might be as low as $20 or even $10. A token fee. Or maybe no fee. Advice sought.

What is required is that potential attendees register now or ASAP their intent to attend Ditto 20 so that the Chair R. Graeme Cameron, can figure out how many people will be involved. This will greatly impact Ditto program planning.

Typically Fridays are devoted to socializing. Saturday usually involves a single and limited track of programming. VCON will provide a room for this. Sunday?

Tentative program items envisioned include:

  • A Ghoodminton demo or tournament.
  • A fanzine Auction.
  • A fan-fiction play or movie script read aloud by participants.
  • A gelatin printing demo.
  • Two or three panels, lectures or presentations on fanzine topics.

The Chair is open to any and all selections, and above all offers to present or participate in whatever events are decided on.

Remember that Ditto is traditionally a light-hearted fannish-fun event and not meant to be at all sercon.

Think of it as a week-long party.

Contact rgraeme(at)shaw.ca to communicate your ideas and/or join the list of people intending to attend the convention (memberships come later). No doubt there will be much discussion on Facebook as well.

Vote for the Faned Awards

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Sample Faned Awards certificate by Taral Wayne.

Example of 2011 Faned Awards certificate by Taral Wayne.

Voting in the fifth annual Faned Awards is open until September 28, 2015.

Created by R. Graeme Cameron, the award recognizes excellence in Canadian fanzines – no matter where the contributor is from.

  • Anyone of any nationality who contributed to Canadian Fanzines is eligible.
  • Anyone of any nationality who reads Canadian SFF&F Fanzines may vote.

There are five categories: Best Artist, Best Writer, Best Letter of Comment Writer, Best Canadian Fanzine (which are voted on by readers) and Hall of Fame (which is juried).

Winners receive a certificate illustrated by Taral Wayne and, eventually, once an inexpensive method of reproduction is established, a magnificent “Faned” sculpture designed by Eric Chu and sculpted by Lawrence Prime.

Says the Graeme —

In an era when science fiction fandom has gone mainstream (a good thing by the way) the “Faneds” remain devoted to celebrating traditional science fiction fanzine fandom (also a good thing) in Canada (in terms of publications) and throughout the world (in terms of contributors).

Past issues of the award newsletter, The Fanactical Fanactivist, can be found at eFanzines.

Voting is done manually – mark the eligibility list below and e-mail the text to Cameron at — rgraeme(at)shaw.ca

Instructions and eligibility list follows the jump.

Faned design
Faned sculpture

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2014 Faned Awards

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Here are the results of the Faned Awards balloting. The winners were unveiled at VCON 39 on October 5 by R. Graeme Cameron.

(Point system applied. 1st choice = 6 points, 2nd choice = 5 points, etc.)

BEST WRITER (in a Canadian SF&F fanzine circa 2013)

Winner: Taral Wayne (97 points)
1st runner-up: Dale Speirs (51 points)
2nd runner-up: Garth Spencer (48 points)

BEST LOC WRITER (in a Canadian SF&F fanzine circa 2013)

Winner: Brad Foster (55 points)
1st runner-up: Eric Mayer (51 points)
2nd runner-up: Sheryl Birkhead (47 points)

BEST ARTIST (in a Canadian SF&F fanzine circa 2013)

Winner: Brad Foster (95 points)
1st runner-up: Steve Stiles (70 points)
2nd runner-up: Teddy Harvia (51 points)

BEST CANADIAN FANZINE (circa 2013)

Winner: Broken Toys, editor Taral Wayne (87 points)
1st runner-up: BCSFAzine, editor Felicity Walker (62 points)
2nd runner-up: Opuntia, editor Dale Speirs (58 points)

2014 FANED HALL OF FAME

Fred Hurter Jr., editor of Censored from June 1941 to 1951, a fanzine noted for its high quality silkscreen covers and wide-ranging variety of content. Surpassed Light and inspired the creation of the fanzine Canadian Fandom.

[Thanks to R. Graeme Cameron for the story.]

How Many Voted For the Faneds?

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R. Graeme Cameron teases our interest in the Faned Awards by releasing the vote count – 25 in all, 12 Canadian, 13 American. But we have to wait ‘til VCON for him to reveal the winners.

The Graeme says that by Faned Award standards 25 votes constitutes an earth-shattering improvement over last year’s 19.

Bearing in mind I released the ballot only a few days ago (cause I wasted so much time working on the VCON program book), the results aren’t bad.

Next year, as I won’t be doing the program book, I’ll start my ballot publicity at least a month or two before the deadline. The number of voters might well shoot up as high as 30 as a result.

Vote for Faned Awards

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Voting in the 2014 Faned Awards is open until October 1 at midnight (PST)

Created by R. Graeme Cameron, the award  recognizes excellence in Canadian fanzines – no matter where the contributor is from. In the same spirit, this year he’s letting anyone in the world who reads Canadian zines vote, too.

Voting is done manually – mark the eligibility list below and e-mail the text to Cameron at — rgraeme(at)shaw.ca

Instructions and eligibility list follows the jump.

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Radical Reform Of The Faned Awards

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R. Graeme Cameron, Founder and sole member of the non-registered and non-existent Canadian Fanzine Fanac Society and administrator of his self-invented Faned Awards has decreed all the world should enroll and vote in this year’s awards – a radical change from the Canadian-only rule of prior years. He explains:

Last year 19 people voted. Considering the size of Canada compared to the United States, this compares rather favourably with the FAAn Awards (roughly ten times as many voted for the latter).

However, 19 votes is rather meagre. Canadian fanzine fandom hasn’t exactly been expanding at an exponential rate of late. What to do?

Since most of the fan artists active in Canadian zines are American, many of the letter of comments coming from outside Canada, some of writing content likewise, and there’s a distinct possibility most of the readership resides in other lands, I have decided to throw open the Faned voting process to ANYONE who reads Canadian zines. The emphasis will still be focused on Canadian zines exclusively, but the vote will be open to any and all loyal readers of those zines, no matter which county they live in.

I will distribute ballot information in an upcoming issue of The Fanactical Fanactivist within a week, along with instructions on how to vote (email) and who can vote (certified fanzine fans who read Canadian zines).

My goal, this year, is to DOUBLE the number of votes. Staggering concept, what?

Unboundaried ambition, I’d say!

Fanac_Awards_2011_-_Unknown_Faned small

2013 Faned Awards

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The winners of the 2013 Canadian Fanzine Fanac Awards have been announced. For the first time they were selected by popular vote. Some related voting statistics are here.

Hall of Fame: Leslie A. Croutch (for 1940s/50s fanac, & zine Light)
Best Fan Artist: Taral Wayne
Best Letter of Comment Writer: Lloyd Penney
Best Fan Writer: R. Graeme Cameron
Best Fanzine: Space Cadet, by R. Graeme Cameron

[Via Taral Wayne and SF Site News.]

Graeme Cameron, Brazen Award Giver

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R. Graeme Cameron presented his Elron Awards at VCON 37 on September 30 – awards personally “bronzed” by The Graeme himself. The Elrons are fandom’s oldest ongoing spoof awards, predating the Hogus and Black Holes. And the winners are:

  • Avro Arrow Fen, for nearly convincing the Canadian Federal Government to revive the Arrow project cancelled more than 60 years ago
  • Dutch Birdman ‘Jarno Smeets’ for not choosing the more obvious solution to manned flight, i.e. cloning giant Pteradactyls to ride on
  • Professor Parker for wasting effort creating artificial yet living Jelly Fish when more calimari is what’s needed
  • James Cameron for funding Parker’s experiments in order to seed the bottom of the ocean (hence deep dive project) to grow a fleet of killer jellyfish so that he really can become ‘King of the World’
  • The Mars Expedition One ‘Reality Show’ Project, for cheapening a cherished dream (Colony on Mars) yet still making it possible… maybe…
  • Disney Execs re John Carter flick, for sabotaging their own film with lousy promotion
  • The geeks who programmed the copyright ‘bots which cut short the livestream broadcast of the 2012 Hugo ceremony
  • Swill by Vile Fen Press, for Worst Fanzine
  • And, of course, John Norman for 40+ years of genuine swill

Next, Cameron presented his selections as winners of the 2012 Faned Awards for achievements in 2011:

  • Best Fan Artist: Scott Patri
  • Best Fan Writer: Taral Wayne
  • Best Loc Hack: Michael John Bertrand
  • Best Fanzine: Swill by VileFen Press
  • Hall of Fame: Nils Helmer Frome (Editor of SupraMundane Stories circa 1937)

Only Canadians are eligible for the Faneds, designed to promote Canadian SF&F fanzine fandom and its heritage.

Space Cadet #19

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R. Graeme Cameron’s Space Cadet #19 [PDF file] has many things to recommend it, and I will mention two of them.

There is Andrew Hooper’s meticulously considered and finely-styled article “Attack Ships on Fire: Memories of Bladerunner,” written in commemoration of the movie’s 30th anniversary. His work is always a pleasure to read.

And there is a bit of news I’ve seen nowhere else – Cameron says Montreal’s annual  Con*Cept is dead:

This is the traditional general-interest SF con put on every year by MonSFFA, the Montreal SF club. Cathy Palmer-Lister stepped down as Chair and there was no one to replace her. Never mind trying to get enough volunteer gophers, they couldn’t fill the roster of the ConCom committee.

The con’s Facebook page confirms this development, although the Con*Cept website still gives the impression things are proceeding as planned for an October event. I also scoured the MonSFFA website for hints of trouble without finding any. However, the report appears credible.