Ed Bryant (1945-2017)

Ed Bryant. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Science Fiction author Ed Bryant, who died in his sleep after a long illness, was found February 10 reports Locus Online.

Bryant discovered science fiction at the golden age of 12 when he purchased the August 1957 issue of Amazing Stories. A decade later, he made his way to the very first Clarion Workshop in 1968, where he sold a story to Harlan Ellison’s Again, Dangerous Visions that became his first professional publication.

John Clute’s entry about Bryant in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia captures one of the reasons for the author’s meteoric ascent in Seventies sf.

His conversational, apparently casual style sometimes conceals the tight construction and density of his best work, like “Shark” (in Orbit 12, anth 1973, ed Damon Knight), a complexly told love story whose darker implications are brought to focus in the girl’s decision to have her brain transplanted into a shark’s body, ostensibly as part of a research project; in the story, symbol and surface reality mesh impeccably. The setting for many of the stories in this collection is a California transmuted by sf devices and milieux into an image, sometimes scarifying, sometimes joyful, of the culmination of the American Dream…

Registering an exception to the overall regard for Bryant’s work was Thomas M. Disch, who named him as part of “The Labor Day Group” (1981), a set of young writers whose work stroked fannish sensibilities, and as a result often won Hugo and Nebula awards. This provoked a response from another Disch target, George R.R. Martin, “Literature, Bowling, and the Labor Day Group”, which gave Bryant a deceptively lighthearted defense.

The Colorado resident was a 7-time nominee for SFWA’s Nebula Award, winning twice – “Stone” (1979) and  “giANTS” (1980) – as well as a 3-time nominee for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards. The International Horror Guild Awards named Bryant a Living Legend in 1997.

Bryant has been a prolific short fiction writer whose career has been regularly punctuated by new collections of stories — Among the Dead and Other Events Leading up to the Apocalypse (1973), Cinnabar (1976), Wyoming Sun (1980), Particle Theory (1981), Neon Twilight (1990), Darker Passions (1991), The Baku: Tales of the Nuclear Age (2001), Trilobyte (2014), and Predators and Other Stories (2014).

He regularly contributed to George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series, appearing in five different volumes.

His other professional gigs included writing an annual media coverage essay in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology, which he did for over 20 years. He also edited an anthology of original stories and some poems, 2076: The American Tricentennial (1977).

Bryant’s fame did not rest entirely on his writing. He was in great demand as a convention toastmaster, gaining the pinnacle of notoriety by conducting the Denvention Two (1981) Hugo Awards ceremony on roller skates.

[Thanks to  Andrew Porter for the story.]

The 1980 Timewarp Finalists

By Nicholas Whyte and Colette Fozard: Over the last two weeks of October 2016, Worldcon 75 organised the 1980 Timewarp Project to test the new systems we have been developing for the new Hugo rules.We asked people to revisit of the sf and fantasy of 1979, and submit nominations as if they had been voting in the 1980 Hugos. 33 people did so, including numerous Anders and commenters on the previous File 770 post on this topic. This is our initial report of what would have been on the final ballot, if the nominations submitted had been processed by today’s rules. This does not, of course, in any way replace the real Hugo Final Ballot from 1980, which is firmly embedded in history.

There are some major differences between today’s Hugo rules and those in force in 1980. Each category has at least six finalists, and there are several more categories – Best Professional Editor and Best Dramatic Presentation have been split, and Best Fancast, Best Semiprozine and (for this year at least) Best Series have been added. The new EPH counting system means that the top six vote-getters are not necessarily the six finalists. We also had to invoke the new rule barring more than two stories from the same TV show from appearing on the final ballot. Not surprisingly, there were not enough nominations in Best Fancast category to make it worth while proceeding with it for Timewarp purposes.

In several categories, one or more nominees received sufficient nominations to qualify as a finalist, but which would have been omitted from the final ballot under the current rules if they had been in force in 1980. The normal practice for the Hugos is to publish notes on such removals only after the Hugo votes have taken place and the awards presented. As there will be no such vote in the 1980 Timewarp project, the Timewarp Coordinators are publishing the notes on eligibility decisions now.

The Timewarp Coordinators are still finalising the presentation of the full EPH counts of the last ten rounds for each category, and anticipate being able to publish them soon. Meanwhile, here is the final ballot as it would have emerged from the nominations submitted in the 1980 Timewarp Project.

BEST NOVEL

  • The Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke (Gollancz /
    Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
  • Harpist in the Wind, by Patricia A. McKillip (Atheneum Books)
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (Pan Books)
  • Titan, by John Varley (Berkley/Putnam)
  • Kindred, by Octavia Butler (Doubleday)
  • Roadmarks, by Roger Zelazny (Del Rey / Ballantine)

(30 ballots submitted, 40 works nominated)

Comment: The real 1980 Hugo ballot included The Fountains of Paradise (which won), Harpist in the Wind and Titan, but also Jem by Frederik Pohl and On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch.

BEST NOVELLA

  • “Enemy Mine”, by Barry B. Longyear (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September 1979)
  • “Far Rainbow”, by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (first US publication, in 1979, was Far Rainbow / The Second Invasion From Mars, Macmillan; originally published by Mir in 1963)
  • “Mars Masked”, by Frederik Pohl (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1979)
  • “The Moon Goddess and Son”, by Donald Kingsbury (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, December 1979)
  • “Palely Loitering”, by Christopher Priest (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1979)
  • “The Tale of Gorgik”, by Samuel R. Delany (Asimov’s SF Adventure Magazine, Summer 1979; Tales of Neveryon, Bantam Books)

(22 ballots submitted, 18 works nominated)

Notes:
“Fireship”, by Joan D. Vinge (Analog) received enough nominations to be on the final ballot, but is ineligible due to 1978 publication.
“Palely Loitering” received nominations both for Best Novella and for Best Novelette, in both 1980 and in the Timewarp. In 1980 it received more nominations in the Best Novelette category, and the Hugo administrators therefore located it there, commenting that this was the appropriate length. For the 1980 Timewarp, however, it received more nominations for Best Novella than for Best Novelette, and in addition the Timewarp Coordinators believe that it is within the permitted length variation for Best Novella, so it is included in that category instead.

Comment: “Enemy Mine” (which won) and “The Moon Goddess and the Son” were on the real 1980 Hugo ballot for Best Novella; so were “Songhouse” by Orson Scott Card, “Ker-Plop” by Ted Reynolds and “The Battle of the Abaco Reefs” by Hilbert Schenck. As noted above, “Palely Loitering” was a Best Novelette finalist in 1980.

BEST NOVELETTE

  • “The Ancient Mind At Work”, by Suzy McKee Charnas (Omni, February 1979)
  • “Fireflood”, by Vonda N. McIntyre (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1979)
  • “Galatea Galanta”, by Alfred Bester (Omni, April 1979)
  • “Out There Where The Big Ships Go”, by Richard Cowper (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1979)
  • “The Pathways of Desire”, by Ursula K. Le Guin (New Dimensions Science Fiction Number 9, ed. Robert Silverberg, Harper & Row)
  • “Sandkings”, by George R. R. Martin (Omni, August 1979)
  • “The Woman Who Loved the Moon”, by Elizabeth A. Lynn (Amazons!, ed. Jessica Amanda Salmonson, DAW Books)

(22 ballots submitted, nominating 24 works)

Note:
A tie for sixth place meant seven finalists in this category.

Comment: The real 1980 ballot had six finalists, including “Sandkings” (which won) and “Firefloood”. The other four were “Options”, by John Varley,  “Homecoming” by Barry B. Longyear, “The Locusts” by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes and “Palely Loitering” by Christopher Priest (see above).

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Daisy, in the Sun”, by Connie Willis” (Galileo, November 1979)
  • “The Extraordinary Voyages of Amélie Bertrand”, by Joanna Russ (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1979)
  • “Red as Blood”, by Tanith Lee (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1979)
  • “Unaccompanied Sonata”, by Orson Scott Card (Omni, March 1979)
  • “War Beneath the Tree”, by Gene Wolfe (Omni, December 1979)
  • “The Way of Cross and Dragon”, by George R. R. Martin (Omni, June 1979)

(18 ballots submitted, nominating 23 works)

Comment: Again, the real 1980 ballot had three of these, “The Way of Cross and Dragon” (which won), “Unaccompanied Sonata” and “Daisy, in the Sun”. It also included “Can These Bones Live?” by Ted Reynolds and “giANTS” by Edward Bryant.

BEST RELATED WORK

  • Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials, by Wayne Douglas Barlowe and Ian Summers (Workman Publishing)
  • In Memory Yet Green : The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954, by Isaac Asimov (Doubleday)
  • The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends , by Humphrey Carpenter (Houghton Mifflin)
  • The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction , by Ursula K. Le Guin, edited and with introductions by Susan Wood (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • The Science Fiction Encyclopedia / The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: An Illustrated A to Z, ed. Peter Nicholls (Doubleday / Granada)
  • The World of Science Fiction: 1926-1976: The History of a Subculture, by Lester del Rey (Del Rey / Ballantine)

(20 ballots submitted, nominating 19 works)

Comment: The real 1980 ballot for Best Related Non-Fiction Book included The Science Fiction Encyclopedia (which won), In Memory Yet Green, Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials by Wayne Barlowe and Ian Summers and The Language of the Night ; it also included Wonderworks by Michael Whelan.

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

  • Alien: The Illustrated Story, by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson (Heavy Metal)
  • The Day The Law Died, by John Wagner” 2000 AD (86-95)”
  • Invincible Iron Man 129-137: Demon In A Bottle, by David Micheline, Bob Layton & John Romita Jr (Marvel)
  • Jeremiah, by Herman Huppen (Le Lombard)
  • Micronauts #1-12, by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden
  • Valhalla: Cry Wolf, by Peter Madsen
  • X-Men 125-8: The Proteus Saga, by Chris Claremont & John Byrne (Marvel)

(9 ballots submitted, nominating 18 works)

Notes:
Superman vs Muhammad Ali, by Denny O’Neil, and “X-Men #111”, by Chris Claremont, both received enough nominations to be on the final ballot but are ineligible due to 1978 publication.
The Uncanny X-Men as a series received enough nominations to be on the final ballot, but is deemed ineligible because an internal X-Men story line also qualified for the final ballot with more votes.

Comment: there was no equivalent category in 1980.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

  • Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, screenplay by Dan O’Bannon (20th Century Fox)
  • Mad Max, directed by George Miller, produced by Byron Kennedy, screenplay by James McCausland and George Miller (Kennedy Miller Productions/Mad Max Films/Crossroads)
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture, directed by Robert Wise, produced by Gene Roddenberry, screenplay by Harold Livingston (Paramount)
  • Stalker directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, produced by Aleksandra Demidova, written by Arkadi Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky (Mosfilm)
  • The Muppet Movie directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, written by Jack Burns and Jerry Juhl (Associated Film)
  • Time After Time directed by Nicholas Meyer, produced by Herb Jaffe, screenplay by Nicholas Meyer (Warner Brothers)

(23 ballots submitted, nominating 24 works)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

  • Battlestar Galactica: The Hand of God, produced by Glen A. Larson, directed and written by Donald Bellisario (ABC)
  • Blake’s 7: Star One produced (and directed) by David Maloney, written by Chris Boucher (BBC)
  • Doctor Who: City of Death produced by Graham Williams, directed by    Michael Hayes, written by “David Agnew” (pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams and Graham Williams) (BBC)
  • Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks produced by Graham Williams, directed by Ken Grieve, written by Terry Nation (BBC)
  • The Incredible Hulk: The Snare produced by James D. Parritt, directed by Frank Orsatti, written by Richard Matheson & Thomas E. Szollosi (Universal Television)
  • Sapphire & Steel: Escape Through a Crack in Time: Part 1 produced and directed by Shaun O’Riordan, written by P.J. Hammond (Associated Television)

(10 ballots submitted, nominating 21 works)

Notes:

Mad Max, perhaps surprisingly, is less than 90 minutes in length. However, all of its nominations were in the Long Form category and the Timewarp Coordinators decided to keep it there.

Doctor Who: City of Death, Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks and Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden all received equal numbers of nominations in both Long Form and Short Form categories. In keeping with recent Hugo tradition, although all three are longer than 90 minutes, the Timewarp Coordinators moved them to Short Form.

We then faced another problem: both Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks and Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden received enough nominations to be on the final ballot in joint sixth place. (One for casual, one for best, perhaps.) But Doctor Who: City of Death received rather more nominations than either, and also (easily) qualified for the final ballot . Under the new rules, no more than two stories from any one show are allowed to be on the ballot.

In a real life Hugo situation, we would have consulted the show-runners, but unfortunately neither Graham Williams nor Douglas Adams is now available for consultation. The 1980 Timewarp Coordinators therefore chose Destiny of the Daleks rather than Nightmare of Eden for the 1980 Timewarp final ballot, because we like it better. (No offense meant at all!)

Comment: The real 1980 Hugo ballot for Best Dramatic Presentation included five feature-length films. Four of these made it as Timewarp finalists for Long Form category – Alien (which won the 1980 Hugo), Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Muppet Movie. The other was Disney’s The Black Hole.

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

  • Ben Bova
  • Terry Carr
  • Edward Ferman
  • David Hartwell
  • Stanley Schmidt
  • George H. Scithers

(7 ballots submitted, nominating 12 candidates)

Note:
Robert Asprin received enough nominations to be on the final ballot, but had published only one anthology by 1979 and is therefore ineligible.
David Hartwell scrapes into eligibility thanks to acknowledged editorial work on L.W. Currey’s 1979 collection, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction and Selected Nonfiction.

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

  • Jim Baen
  • Terry Carr
  • Judith Lynn Del-Rey
  • Lester Del Rey
  • David G. Hartwell
  • Pat LoBrutto
  • Terri Windling
  • Donald A. Wollheim

(4 ballots submitted, nominating 9 candidates)

Note: Beth Meacham received enough nominations to be on the final ballot, but did not edit any books in 1979 and is therefore ineligible. (The Timewarp Coordinators are grateful to Ms Meacham and to Pat LoBrutto for clarifying their eligibility status for us.)

Comment: Four of the finalists for the real 1980 Hugo Best Professional Editor ballot are on the Short Form list above – they are George H. Scithers (who won in 1980), Edward L. Ferman, Ben Bova and Stanley Schmidt. The fifth of the real 1980 finalists, James P. Baen, is on the Long Form list above.

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

  • Christopher Foss
  • Frank Kelly Freas
  • H.R. Giger
  • Rowena Morrill
  • Boris Vallejo
  • Michael Whelan

(13 ballots submitted, nominating 20 candidates)

Comment: The real 1980 Hugo ballot included Michael Whelan (who won) and Boris Vallejo. It also included Vincent Di Fate, Stephen Fabian and Paul Lehr.

BEST SEMIPROZINE

  • Fantasy Tales, edited by Stephen Jones and David A Sutton
  • Locus, edited by Charlie Brown
  • Science Fiction Chronicle, edited by Andrew Porter
  • Science Fiction Review, edited by Richard E. Geis
  • Starlog, edited by Howard Zimmerman
  • Thrust, edited by D. Douglas Fratz
  • Science Literature, edited by Yang Xiao

(11 ballots submitted, nominating 10 candidates)

BEST FANZINE

  • Ansible, edited by David Langford
  • File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
  • Janus, edited by Janice Bogstad and Jeanne Gomoll
  • Pyrotechnics, edited by Jeff Duntemann
  • Rune, edited by Lee Pelton and Carol Kennedy
  • Starship, edited by Andrew Porter

(12 ballots submitted, nominating 13 candidates)

Notes:
Best Semiprozine and Best Fanzine caused us the most trouble by far of any categories.
Science Literature is the magazine now known as Science Fiction World, aka Sci Fi World and its one nomination – enough to get it on the final ballot – was made under the current title rather than the 1979 title.
File 770 received enough votes to received enough nominations to qualify for the final ballot in both Best Fanzine and Best Semiprozine. The Timewarp Coordinators believe that it falls under the current Fanzine definition, even in 1979.
Locus, Science Fiction Chronicle and Science Fiction Review all received enough nominations to qualify for the final ballot in both Best Fanzine and Best Semiprozine. The Timewarp Coordinators believe that they fall under the current Semiprozine definition, even in 1979.
Thrust was nominated only in Best Fanzine, but was clearly a semiprozine under current definition by 1979, and the Timewarp Coordinators have therefore re-located its nomination to Best Semiprozine.

Comment: All of the real 1980 finalists for Best Fanzine appear on one or other of the above lists – Locus (which won), Science Fiction Review and Thrust as Best Semiprozine finalists, and File 770 and Janus as Best Fanzine finalists.

BEST FANCAST

Insufficient nominations, not very surprisingly.
(3 ballots submitted, nominating 4 candidates)

BEST FAN WRITER

  • Richard E. Geis
  • Mike Glyer
  • Arthur D. Hlavaty
  • David Langford
  • Bob Shaw
  • Susan Wood

(13 ballots submitted, nominating 10 candidates)

Comment:  The above list adds Susan Wood to the real 1980 Hugo ballot in this category. Bob Shaw won in real life.

BEST FAN ARTIST

  • Alexis Gilliland
  • Jeanne Gomoll
  • Joan Hanke-Woods
  • Lars “LON” Olsson
  • Victoria Poyser
  • Bill Rotsler

(8 ballots submitted, nominating 11 candidates)

Note:
Michael Whelan received enough nominations to be on the final ballot in this category, but was clearly a professional artist by 1978, and received more nominations as such.

Comment: The real 1980 Hugo ballot in this category had six finalists – all of the above, with the exception of Lars “LON” Olsson and the addition of Stu Shiffman. Alexis Gilliland was the winner.

BEST SERIES (and qualifying 1979 volume)

  • The Count of Saint Germain (Blood Games), by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (St. Martin’s Press)
  • The Dragonriders of Pern (Dragondrums), by Anne McCaffrey (Del Rey / Atheneum)
  • The Faded Sun (The Faded Sun: Kutath), by C.J. Cherryh (DAW)
  • The Merlin series (The Last Enchantment), by Mary Stewart (Hodder & Stoughton)
  • The Morgaine cycle (Fires of Azeroth), by C. J. Cherryh (DAW)
  • The Riddle-Master trilogy (Harpist in the Wind), by Patricia MacKillip (Atheneum)

(11 ballots cast for 18 candidates)

Comment: There was no Best Series category in the real 1980 Hugo ballot.

BEST NEW WRITER

  • Lynn Abbey
  • Diane Duane
  • Karen G. Jollie
  • Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)
  • Barry B. Longyear
  • Somtow Sucharitkul / S.P. Somtow

(13 ballots submitted, nominating 11 candidates)

Comment: The real 1980 John W. Campbell Award for best New Writer went to Barry B. Longyear. The six finalists were the above, plus Alan Ryan and minus what in retrospect seems a surprising oversight: Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb), whose first story was published in 1979.

The Timewarp Coordinators are grateful to all who participated in this exercise, and particularly to the DevOps Division of Worldcon 75 for innovative coding solutions.

[File 770 editor’s note: Whyte and Fozard included several renderings of titles in Chinese and Russian, but unfortunately Wordpress reproduces Chinese and Cyrillic characters as question marks, therefore I have not been able to include them in the posted version.]

Remembering Ron 

Editor’s note: I’m reprinting this tribute to famed British sf fan Ron Bennett to mark the tenth anniversary of his passing.

By Rich Lynch: I remember that I read the news of his death in the November 2006 issue of the newszine Ansible:

Ron Bennett (1933-2006), long-time UK fan who was the 1958 TAFF delegate and edited the classic sf newsletter Skyrack (1959-1971), died on 5 November soon after being diagnosed with leukemia. He was 73.

The life and death of one of the most important and notable British science fiction fans, reduced down to just a few lines of text.  That I hadn’t even known he was ill made it all the more disheartening to read.  I feel very fortunate that I became friends with Ron Bennett, and regretful that it happened only in the last decade-and-a-half of his life.  It started with correspondence, back in 1991, when I was editing the manuscript that became Harry Warner’s fanhistory of the 1950s, A Wealth of Fable (SCIFI Press, 1992).  Ron appears in several places in the book, and I had contacted him to clarify something that in the end turned out to be nothing more than a typographical error.  But that got him on the mailing list for Mimosa, the fanzine that I co-edited (with my wife Nicki) that specialized in the preservation of the history of science fiction fandom, which eventually led to our first face-to-face meeting in Glasgow at ‘Intersection’, the 1995 Worldcon.

By then I had learned a lot more about Ron’s activities in that 1950s Golden Age.  He had published two focal-point fanzines – the newszine Skyrack and also a more general interest fanzine, PLOY, which lived up to the name by beginning its run with issue #2 to make readers believe they had missed the first one (there was even a letters column with comments from a few friends in the know, who heaped praise on the fictional first issue).  He was also described as a key player in the unraveling of one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated in science fiction fandom – the celebrated Joan W. Carr, who was ultra-active in British fandom for about four years during the mid-1950s but didn’t actually exist.

Ron Bennett playing Brag at Repetercon in 1964. Photo by Dave Barber.

Ron Bennett playing Brag at Repetercon in 1964. Photo by Dave Barber.

Ron himself was also ultra-active in British fandom during the 1950s and into the 1960s, and his fanac diminished only after temporarily relocating to Singapore in 1967 for employment as a teacher of the children of British army personnel stationed there.  By the time I finally met Ron, in the Dealers Room at Intersection, I had become familiar enough with his personal fanhistory that when we were chatting about the circumstances surrounding his move to Singapore, he was so impressed by the breadth of my knowledge that he asked me in jest if I also knew the airline and flight number he had booked!

It was two years later that Ron started contributing what became a series of nine entertaining and illuminating articles for Mimosa, the first being an account of his time in Singapore and how (in that era of the Cold War) he once had to ward off the overtures from a Russian spy.  Following that, Ron wrote short, amusing, anecdotal histories of PLOY and Skyrack, and also a thoughtful and warm remembrance of another of British fandom’s most prominent members, Vin¢ Clarke.  But it was Ron’s article about the four Kettering Eastercons of the mid-1950s that provided more information about the “Joan Carr” hoax and in doing so contradicted the general belief that he had been the person who had outed the hoax – it was true that he had been inadvertently tipped off by another fan who was in on the ruse, but that had been the entire extent of his involvement.

Ron Bennett and Nicki Lynch in 2002.

Ron Bennett and Nicki Lynch in 2002.

Ron’s last article for Mimosa, which appeared in the final issue of the run, described the first Worldcon that he ever attended, the fabulous 1957 Loncon.  This was the first time a Worldcon had been held in Europe, and with its compact size (which allowed everybody to meet everybody else) and unprecedented international nature, arguably it was the most important science fiction convention that has ever been staged.  Ron attended several other Worldcons, including the very next one in California where he was the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund delegate, but the only other time where we crossed paths at a Worldcon was in 2002 at San Jose.  It was totally unexpected and happened on the very last day of the convention.  He was in the States to visit his son, who was editing a Silicon Valley-based computer trade journal of some kind, and just showed up unannounced.  The only reason Nicki and I found him at all was because of a chance remark I overheard from someone who’d sold him a book in the Dealers Room.

That was the last time I ever saw him.  I had thought we’d meet again at the 2005 Worldcon in Glasgow, and had even requested a program item from the convention committee where I could interview him to see what other bits of knowledge we could glean about the 1950s and 1960s.  But for whatever reason, Ron didn’t attend and with a travel schedule that had been “carved in stone” I really couldn’t go and seek him out.  But if I’d known he only had a bit more than a year left, I would have tried a lot harder.

With all of his years of fan activity and involvement in the storied events of decades past, I’d always thought that Ron Bennett would have been an ideal candidate for a Worldcon Guest of Honor.  I do believe it would eventually have happened, but time ran out on him.  All of what’s left are the memories and recollections from people who had been fortunate enough to have known him.  These have been some of mine.

New Fanhistory Videos from Fanac.Org

The YouTube Fanhistory Channel has added a selection of videos from Worldcons of the 1970s and 1980s.

Ms Marian’s Bedtime Story

11 minute video. MidAmeriCon, the 34th World SF Convention, was held in Kansas City in 1976. This entertaining video, framed as a children’s story, is full of references to the fannish lifestyle and how fans live Fandom as a Way of Life. It was created in the summer of ’76 to be used as filler on the convention’s closed circuit channel. The material is part of the Video Archeology project coordinated by Geri Sullivan.

 

Constellation (1983) Worldcon: Masquerade

1 hour, 48 minute video. This video of the masquerade shows the wide variety of costumes and skill levels that were shown. At around 1:42, there is information on how the masquerade was judged and the winners are announced and shown again at the end.

 

Panel: Women in SF: Their Right and Proper Place

1 hour video. MidAmeriCon (1976) Worldcon Panel: Women in SF: Their Right and Proper Place. This video of the panel “Women in SF” features Susan Wood, Kate Wilhelm, Marta Randall, Amanda Bankier and Suzy McKee Charnas. Includes an interesting description by Suzy McKee Charnas of her evolutionary networking of female SF writers. This video will give you good insight on where the discussion regarding women writers in SF was in the mid 70s as well as a few choice editor anecdotes. Note: there are a few sound problems. Part of the Video Archeology project coordinated by Geri Sullivan, with technical work by David Dyer-Bennet.

 

MidAmeriCon (1976) Worldcon – George Barr and Robert Heinlein, Guests of Honor

One hour 15 minute video. MidAmeriCon (1976) Worldcon – Speech by George Barr (Fan Guest of Honor) plus tributes to Robert Heinlein (Pro Guest of Honor) along with his response. This video of the Guest of Honor Banquet includes tributes to Robert A. Heinlein from Wilson “Bob” Tucker, Alfred Bester, Frederik Pohl, George Scithers, Jerry Pournelle, L. Sprague de Camp, Larry Niven and others. There’s a lot of respect and love evident in these tributes, and not a little humor. Part of the Video Archeology project coordinated by Geri Sullivan, with technical work by David Dyer-Bennet.

 

[Thanks To Andrew Porter for the story.]

Three Dave Kyle Moments

By John Hertz: Many of us have lots of them.  Here are three of mine.

In April 2017 will be Lunacon LIX, the New York convention hosted by local club the Lunarians.  For years I was such a regular attender that some folks thought I lived in New York.  I’ve moderated Lunacon panels, I’ve taught Regency dancing, I’ve judged the Masquerade, I’ve been Fan Guest of Honor, I’ve listened to people sing “Demons in your bed will eat you up.  Do not call your mother; who do you think let the demons in?”

One year as I went looking for a seat in the Masquerade audience I found Dave Kyle ushering.  I was impressed by this modern Cincinnatus.  The original, in the days of the Roman Republic two and a half millennia ago, was plowing his farm when a group of Senators rushed to see him.  The army was trapped and in great danger.  Cincinnatus had been named Dictator, a rare position bringing supreme power.  He called up more men, defeated the enemy, and went back to his plow.  Cincinnati, Ohio, was named for him.  Dave had chaired the World Science Fiction Convention and here he was plowing away like anybody else.

His Worldcon was the 14th, New York, the Biltmore Hotel.  In those days we had a Banquet and gave the Hugo Awards there.  Dave was at the head table.  He later recounted, in Mimosa — for which he wrote two dozen articles —

As was customary, those who didn’t pay to eat could come into the room to hear the speeches at the proper time….  One of the gofers [please don’t write “gophers”, throwing away the joke of having to gofer this and gofer that – JH] told me the Fire Marshal was complaining that the stairs to the balcony were blocked by those non-eaters sitting there, waiting to take positions for the after-dinner ceremonies. “What do we do?” “Tell them,” I said, “that they can’t sit there.”

This became the catch-phrase “Dave Kyle says you can’t sit here”, a kind of Banquet’s Ghost he was never allowed to live down.  But he laughed too.

That night at Lunacon, Dave told me “Actually you can sit wherever you like.”

Here is Dave at NyCon II, sitting with bow tie and dark glasses; Larry Shaw at podium, John Campbell and Robert Silverberg to Kyle's left. Porter says, "Not my photo; I was 10 years old."

Here is Dave at NyCon II, sitting with bow tie and dark glasses; Larry Shaw at podium, John Campbell and Robert Silverberg to Kyle’s left. Porter says, “Not my photo; I was 10 years old.”

– o O o –

A while before Torcon III, the 61st Worldcon, Dave phoned asking if I was going to attend.  Yes, I said; I had written up Mike Glyer, the Fan Guest of Honour (note spelling), for the Program Book, and was to build an exhibit about him in the Exhibit Hall.  Dave asked, are you going to wear that propeller beanie?  Yes, I said, I always do at cons.  Dave asked if I’d help him with a presentation on Hugo Night.

He was going to bring the propeller beanie that had been placed on the head of Bob Bloch at Torcon II.  Bloch had been Pro Guest of Honour there and at Torcon I.  Meanwhile he had inconsiderately died so Torcon III could only make him Ghost of Honour.

Dave was going to be the Propeller Beanie of the Past and wanted me to be the Propeller Beanie of the Future.  I tried to say I felt unworthy but he was having none of that.  Then I thought of something else.  I always wear white tie on Hugo Night, I said.  The propeller beanie doesn’t really go with that costume.  It would be like running with the ball while playing soccer.  Well, he said, see if you can find a way.  Okay, Dave; for you, anything.

I thought maybe the propeller beanie would fit under my top hat, so I could by raising the hat do what some costumers call a “reveal”.  That didn’t work.  Finally I found I could get the beanie into my inside breast pocket.

At the con we managed to rehearse.  I was to stand back while Dave gave introductory remarks.  Then I should step forward, don the beanie, and retire again while Dave had a few more things to say.  Simple enough.

Came the event.  Dave took the lectern.  He spoke.  I joined him.  I took off the top hat, drew out the beanie, and put it on.  The crowd went wild.  A photo of this was put in Locus.  I guess a man in formal clothes and a propeller beanie was a One of Us moment.  Anyhow I smiled, bowed, and stepped back so Dave could go on.

John Hertz receives Big Heart Award at Torcon 3.

John Hertz receives Big Heart Award at Torcon 3.

He began speaking about the Big Heart, highest service award in the SF community.  He went on to describe the year’s recipient.  Slowly the light dawned.  He was talking about me.

The whole story, telephone, Past, Future, rehearsal, and all, had been a ruse to make sure I should be there.

Dave gave me a plaque and a rosette.

I had been snookered.

– o O o –

The North America Science Fiction Convention is held when the Worldcon is overseas.  In 2005 the Worldcon was at Glasgow and the NASFiC was at Seattle.  Monday morning in the hotel lobby after the NASFiC Dave said “Let’s go to the Science Fiction Museum.”

The Museum had just opened in 2004.  It had been designed by Tim Kirk, whom its founder Paul Allen had hired because he liked Kirk Designs’ proposal, not knowing he got a man who had won five Hugos as Best Fanartist before turning pro.  Kirk’s task was no small challenge, not least because so much of SF was, as Hamlet said “words, words, words”; if the Museum were dominated by visual-media SF that would be a serious under-representation.  Kirk had done wonderfully.

Who could be a better partner in wonder for an expedition there than Dave Kyle?

We went up to the Kyles’ hotel room.  Ruth fed us breakfast.  She was as always solicitous and helpful, but would the two boys ever be seen again?  Also I had a plane to catch.  We decided the safest plan was to get a taxi and pay the driver to come back at a set time.  In the Museum we then took turns pulling each other away from things.

The ground floor had the SF Hall of Fame, relocated from the University of Kansas.  Just added, along with Philip K. Dick, were Chesley Bonestell, Ray Harryhausen, and Steven Spielberg, the first SF artists other than writers to be inducted.

Also on the ground floor was a timeline, with Hugo Gernsback, Carol Hughes and Buster Crabbe as Dale Arden and Flash Gordon conquering the Universe, The Pocket Book of SF our first paperback collection of short stories, John Campbell, Orson Welles broadcasting The War of the Worlds, Heinlein with Rocket Ship Galileo Paul Allen’s first SF book, and Nineteen Eighty-four, just to mention a few points from 1925-1955.

Downstairs, three galleries with themes Brave New Worlds, Fantastic Voyages, and Them!  In Voyages was a Space Dock, with orbiting ships visitors could select for miniature documentaries.  Them! held an Interplanetary Lounge, variously imagined aliens, robots metal or mortal, and a Cargo Bay art gallery including Kelly Freas and Richard Powers.

I mustn’t leave out Harlan Ellison’s typewriter or the books Dave had published.

One “ship” floating past was a city, New York, New York (“What city has two names twice?”), from James Blish’s Cities in Flight; the crew that Kirk assembled, many of whom were veterans of Industrial Light & Magic, used Blish’s text, the best book covers they could find, and extrapolated views of Manhattan.  The first of these four novels came to be known as They Shall Have Stars; it was originally Year 2018! in which we now almost are, and Dave did not quite live to see.

Dave Kyle Remembered in Photos

Andrew Porter shared these photos of Dave Kyle taken at various Worldcons over the decades. All but the first were taken by Porter himself.

Here is Dave at NyCon II, sitting with bow tie and dark glasses; Larry Shaw at podium, John Campbell and Robert Silverberg to Kyle's left. Porter says, "Not my photo; I was 10 years old."

Here is Dave chairing NyCon II: seated with bow tie and dark glasses; Larry Shaw at podium, John Campbell and Robert Silverberg to Kyle’s left. Porter says, “Not my photo; I was 10 years old.”

Sidney Coleman, Dave Kyle and James White at the 1987 Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Sidney Coleman, Dave Kyle and James White at the 1987 Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Walter A. Willis, left, James White, center, and Dave Kyle in 1987. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Walter A. Willis, left, James White, center, and Dave Kyle in 1987. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Lloyd Eshbach, left, Dave Kyle, center, and Erle Korshak at the 1988 New Orleans Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Lloyd Eshbach, left, Dave Kyle, center, and Erle Korshak at the 1988 New Orleans Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Dave Kyle avd Chuck Harris at the 1995 Glasgow Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Dave Kyle and Chuck Harris at the 1995 Glasgow Worldcon. Photo by and copyright © Andrew Porter

Rich Lynch and Dave Kyle at ConFrancisco in 1993. Photo and copyright © Andrew Porter

Rich Lynch and Dave Kyle at ConFrancisco in 1993. Photo and copyright © Andrew Porter

Andrew Porter wrote about Dave Kyle’s passing:

Yesterday, I saw Dave at Bill and Mary Burns’s End-of-Summer party in Hempstead, Long Island, NY, where he was very frail, but his mind remained sharp and clear. I’m happy to say that many of his fan friends, some of whom he’s known for many decades, were there to greet him and have long talks with him.

Dave was one of science fiction fandom’s very few remaining links (with perhaps only Robert A. Madle and Erle M. Korshak) to pre-World War II fandom, and to the very first World SF Convention. His passing diminishes the field, and pulls the curtain a little tighter between those living today, and the world and fandom as it was.

Dave Kyle (1919-2016)

David A. Kyle at Chicon 7. Photo by John L. Coker III.

David A. Kyle at Chicon 7. Photo by John L. Coker III.

David A. Kyle, who chaired the 1956 Worldcon (NyCon II) and was fan Guest of Honor at the 1983 Worldcon (ConStellation), died September 18 at 4:30 p.m. EDT “of complication from an endoscopy” reports his daughter Kerry.

Just yesterday Kyle had been shown on Facebook enjoying New York fandom’s “End of Summer” party.

Kerry Kyle wrote:

I know he was 97 and frail, but his spirit was strong, his heart was huge, and I’m still in shock. I’m still surprised. I expected him to last a few more years. I expected to be making him dinner tonight. And I’m bereft. And at the moment I don’t really want to type much.

I know many in the Fannish community loved Dad as well and are equally as bereft reading this. I hope it …makes you feel better to know that, as always, Dad chatted about science fiction with the EMT who brought him to the hospital and with the nurses who made him comfortable. He chatted about the love of his life–science fiction–genuinely interested in hearing what they read and watched. Always spreading the word and wishing to instill within them the flame he had within himself. And, yes, he made constant jokes and terrible puns that charmed everyone in the hospital….

Dave’s wife, Ruth, predeceased him in 2011. They met at a convention in 1955. The next year she served as Secretary of the Worldcon in New York, which Dave chaired, and the year after that they married, trufannishly honeymooning at the 1957 Worldcon in England, traveling there with 53 friends and in-laws on a specially chartered flight.

Dave and Ruth had two children, Arthur and Kerry.

Kyle was one of the most active fans from sf fandom’s earliest days. He attended the 1936 meeting of New York and Philly fans which decided to dub itself the first science fiction convention in advance of the Leeds event announced for 1937. He wrote the “Yellow Pamphlet” that helped inspire the “The Great Exclusion Act of 1939” but, unlike his fellow Futurians, was not kicked out of the First Worldcon. In later years he was made a Knight of The Order of Saint Fantony, won the Big Heart Award, and in 1988 received the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award.

Kyle also had a notable professional sf career. Dave Kyle and Martin Greenberg made history by co-founding Gnome Press in 1948. Together they published dozens of volumes of classic sf in hardcover for the first time. Gnome Press went under in 1962.

Kyle’s 1956 NyCon II is particularly remembered for producing the year’s Hugo Awards by affixing Oldsmobile rockets to a decorative wooden backing. The L-shaped base displayed the rocket standing upright while concealing its hollow underside.

A list of Kyle’s autobiographical fanhistory articles for Mimosa can be found here.

Arthur C. Clarke receives Hugo Award from chairman Dave Kyle at the 1956 Worldcon, NyCon II.

Arthur C. Clarke receives Hugo Award from chairman Dave Kyle at the 1956 Worldcon, NyCon II.

Brighton WorldCon ‘87: A Slightly Delayed Report

Conspiracy 87 logoBy R. A. MacAvoy: I had thought to begin this trip report with the idea it was something lost in the mail.  Lost for many, many years.  That seemed clever at first, but I realized that my memories aren’t close to clear enough for me to get away with that.  Not even with people who know how muddled my memories can be.  So, instead, this is a trip report to a con that didn’t get written in 1987, but is being written now, in 2016.  In a way, that makes it easier.  I don’t really have to explain getting things muddled.  I can simply be glad I remember anything.

In early 1987 I was between books, and as always in that situation, I felt desperate to do something fannish to keep my hand in until the next idea came my way. And I was reading that the World Con, which was going to be held in Brighton, was having the usual difficulties getting funds together, so I reasoned I could solve their problems and mine with one very long journey, from the West Coast of California to the South Coast of England and back.  This was not really financially responsible, of course.  My income was, at the time dedicated toward building onto our excuse for a house, whilst Ron’s income kept us living in it day to day.  But still, I could take it off my taxes.  Business expenses, or some such.

I went alone, because Ron could not get time off to travel with me. It seems, then and now, the software industry doesn’t allow for holidays except at the most peculiar times, such as when we went to the arctic circle in mid-winter.  But that happened many years later.  To Brighton World Con I went alone.

And going that way isn’t particularly fannish. At the time, it seemed to me that fans travelled in close packs, crept into hotel rooms unnoticed and slept on the floor, hoping not to be noticed.  This might explain why SF conventions, even large ones, were not particularly desired events at hotels around the world.  That, plus the fact that SF fans have an abysmally low bar bill compared with most any other sort of convention, and hotels do depend upon the bar bill when hosting conventions.

So. I arrived alone at Brighton and was put into a room at the Radisson Hotel, which was far above my pay-grade, but also far away from the convention center.  I remember I thought about all the unused space in my room, and wondered if I ought to sneak some more fans of some sort into the hotel.  But I literally didn’t know anybody, and also, I wasn’t confident I could pull it off.

I walked down the road between the Radisson and the convention center, and across the way was the water and the famed Brighton Pier. At the time it was a mess.  There were signs warning of danger and unsafe surfaces.  The Channel itself reminded me very much of Lake Eerie, where I grew up.  As long as one can’t see the other side, any body of water seems to be an ocean.

The lines for registration were very long and registration is more than usually dreary when one shows up alone. When I finally got to registration there was a great deal of ka-tah over which sort of badge I should have.  I was certainly no sort of guest, but I wasn’t to be considered a proper sort of fan, either, as I had, at the time, published six or seven books in the field.  So I was shuffled around until I had some sort of badge with my name on it and something that described me as a writer, but as nothing special.  And that is the perfect description of what I was and what I intended to be at the con.  Nothing special.  No panels.  No responsibilities.  Free.

What does a lonely fan do at a convention, when presented with the leaflet describing the coming programming? I know what I did.  I looked immediately for the dealer’s room and the art show.  And the masquerade, of course. Panels were the last thing on my mind.

The dealers’ rooms were huge, and the art show was glorious. I can say today I’ve never seen the like of the art show at Conspiracy ’87.  I remember especially one man who created art out of skulls he found as roadkill.  These were mostly skulls of raptors, including owls, although I believe I saw a few fox skulls as well.  In the eye sockets of the cleaned skulls he inserted gems, beveled in silver or gold.  Sometimes, he also placed jewels in the foreheads.  They were stunning, and the price was astronomical.  To me, at least, astronomical.  I did set my eye on some of the plaster reproductions of such skulls, which were indistinguishable from the real thing, in my eye.  There was one of an owl’s skull . . . I wondered if I had the chutzpah to wear a jeweled owl’s skull around my neck, once back at the ranch. But more about that later.

The first convention assemblage was a large open forum. A sort of welcome to the convention, I suppose, with numerous speakers from the Brighton Fan Community.  They were all young men and all seemed to have the same message.  It was an angry message.  They said that Americans, (and they made no clear distinction between Yanks and Canadians, so I suppose we were all in that boat together,) had hijacked this British convention.  They were extremely irate.  I was flabbergasted, because the message I had received from my friends who worked at Locus and at The Other Change of Hobbit back in California, had been that we must rescue the convention, which was in danger of bankruptcy.  Since then I’ve learned that every convention is in danger of bankruptcy.  That is a convention’s normal state of existence.  But as I’d come so very many miles with the idea I was helping, I have to say my feelings were hurt.  The other repeated message told us from the podium of that one huge assembly was that Americans did not write proper SF, but instead stories of ‘Red Indians in Outer Space’.  That, like the owl’s skull, will be important to this story later.

Luckily, I don’t remember a single name of the angry young men who spoke from the podium that day. I don’t think any of them were writers.  Those names I would have remembered. I watched the audience carefully from my position standing near an exit door.  (That is my preferred position at all convention events.)  The people I could tell were American, mostly by their shoes, for at the time Americans wore a sort of brightly-colored trainer than was uncommon footwear to other people, seemed to shrink into their seats.  And I watched for the rest of the convention as the Americans went about their business, getting into and out of lifts, and dodging people in hallways, muttering the word ‘sorry’ almost as a mantra.  I have never seen a less confident lot of hijackers in my life.

I must repeat here that the angry young men of Brighton did not represent anything of Britain, or of England, but themselves. Because the cost of meals at the convention hall was so steep, I began to make a practice of darting out of the building to get my meals at near-by shops, where the locals were so warm and friendly, and so careful to guide a visitor into not buying more food than she could likely afford, that any idea I might have had of extending the distinct feeling of unwelcome beyond the doors of the convention center died aborning.  I also visited a florist and bought daisies, first to have someone to talk to and later to have silly things to give away.

As it turned out, it was not only the Americans who felt rejected by the welcoming speeches. There were Dutch, Swedish, Australian and Italian fans at the convention also.  We met at the bars and in lobby corners and had a fine convention of our own.  And it was there that I met my own Jugoslav translators, who had come with the specific idea of meeting me.  (I never knew I had Jugoslav translators.)  It was flattering and embarrassing to meet them, especially after I stood them up at a meeting we had scheduled the first day, which flew out of my head completely with the overwhelm of the con.  So I spent the next few days chasing them down hallways, constantly apologizing, and trying to explain that yes, I was that naturally disorganized and that I did appreciate them.  I really did.  Finally we all made up.  In years to come, when there was no longer a Jugoslavia, I used to wonder what had become of the two of them.  They were sparkling with enthusiasm and energy.  I know I gave them daisies.

Doris Lessing signs at 1987 Worldcon. Photo by Frank Olynyk.

Doris Lessing signs at 1987 Worldcon. Photo by Frank Olynyk.

During the convention I missed the opportunity to meet two people I would have liked to meet. The first was Doris Lessing.  I stood within three meters of her and said to myself go on. Step forward.  She can only look through you and give a blank smile.  She can’t hurt you.  But I couldn’t.  I was so very intimidated at the idea of being in the same room with Doris Lessing that I couldn’t move.  In the end, it doesn’t matter.  I have often been in the same room with her work.

The other person I didn’t meet was Dave Langford, who was one of the fan GOHs.  If I could have known the future I would have sought him out and said Langford, one day in the future we will be friends, and so I’d like to shake your hand now. But of course, I didn’t know and I didn’t shake his hand.  These days, I post or comment to him almost daily, and I suppose time travel is completely unnecessary to the process.

***

The second morning of the convention I had a most peculiar experience. Even for convention fandom, it was most peculiar.  I was under the awning of the convention center, waiting for the doors to open. (I am incurably early for everything.  That is, when I haven’t forgotten to show up at all.)  I put my backpack and convention bag down and sat with my back against one of the awning posts, waiting for the doors to open.  A minute or so later another fan appeared.  A young man.  Very young.  He stood there and looked down at me.  His eyes narrowed and he asked me where I had gotten that badge.

I thought he was inquiring about registration, but as I opened my mouth I saw he already had a badge. “Where did you get THAT badge?” he repeated, heatedly. “It’s not yours.  Everyone is going to know it’s not yours.”

I had no idea how to answer him. Should I show him my passport? My driver’s license? But then, why should I show this boy anything?  I pointed to the name.  R.A. MacAvoy.  “That’s me,” I said.  I looked at his badge, but I have no memory of what his name was.

With complete assurance, and with fists balled at his side, he told me “I know R.A. MacAvoy, and you’re not him!”

There were so many layers of misunderstanding in this I didn’t know how to address it. It did know to slide up the steel post I’d been leaning against, so I’d be on my feet.  I told him my name was Roberta A. MacAvoy.  I hate to say that to people, because the name ‘Roberta’ has always fit me as well as roller skates fit a pig.  But it was the clearest explanation I could give.

His voice rose to a shout. “It’s Robert A. MacAvoy.  What is he?  Your father?  Or did you make up this fraud from scratch?”

It occurred to me that the boy had conflated me with Robert A. Heinlein somehow. Perhaps he was young enough not to know the difference.  But his mental processes had ceased to matter at this moment, as he was approaching me square-shouldered and full of belligerence.  My mind raced.  I was I a foreign country and I did not know what my rights of self-defense were.  I was imagining ending up in jail for hurting this idiot.  I was also imagining my refusing to defend myself and ending up in hospital.

At that moment the big glass doors burst open and two men in convention center security uniforms came to stand between us – between me and the angry boy. One security man quietly asked me what was going on.  I replied to him that I had no idea what was going on, but that I was profoundly glad to see him.  The other security man tried to touch the young fan and was repeatedly brushed away.  A few seconds later I was in the convention hall.  It was almost time to open, after all, and I was very grateful.  The security man even carried my backpack and swag bag into the hall with him.  I might well have forgotten them and left them in the street.

To this day I have no idea why my identity was questioned by the young fan so strenuously. It’s a mystery.  Thank ghod it didn’t become a bloody mystery.

***

That’s about what I remember from Conspiracy ’87. The panels were like panels everywhere.  The running up and down the streets of Brighton was not my usual convention experience, as it took place outdoors.  The masquerade was astonishing. I bought the replica owl’s skull, with silver and garnets.  Between earthquakes and moving house, somehow I no longer have it.

But, if you remember, I began this by saying I had gone to Brighton between story ideas. I came home with a good one. At least I think it’s good.

I wrote a novel about red Indians in outer space. Because the First Nation people are no more red than any other group of humans, I had my protagonist genetically altered to be really red.  And I added in descendants of the people of the subcontinent of India, just to complicate things. It is the only real Space Opera I have ever written.  So I got my money’s worth out of the anger of the young men of Brighton.  In fact, the advance of that book paid for the roof of our house.

Peggy Ranson (1948-2016)

Peggy Ranson. Photo by Vincent Mariano.

Peggy Ranson. Photo by Vincent Mariano.

Peggy Ranson, a very popular fanartist in the 1990s, passed away March 16 from cancer. The family’s obituary is here.

She grew up in Memphis, and attended Memphis State University. While living in New Orleans she worked as a commercial artist for D.H. Holmes and the Times Picayune.

Ranson was employed as an ad illustrator when she volunteered to help with the 1988 New Orleans Worldcon. Guy H. Lillian III remembers, “She co-edited the Nolacon II program book with me, did scads of inimitable and exquisite fan art, and graced every moment we spent with her.” Lillian writes that this piece was her first fan art.

23ranson

She was an L. Ron Hubbard Illustrator of the Future contest finalist in 1990, and attended the awards ceremonies (see photo).

Illustrator of the Future 1990. Peggy Ranson is fourth from right. (Kelly Freas is fourth from left.)

Illustrator of the Future 1990. Peggy Ranson is fourth from right. (Kelly Freas is fourth from left.)

Ranson was a Best Fan Artist Hugo nominee every year from 1991-1998, winning in 1993. Lillian liked to say she was only the second fan from Louisiana (adopted) to win a Hugo (the first was Camille Cazedessus, publisher of ERB-dom.)

Peggy Ranson with HugoShe did countless pieces of art for conventions, bids, and fanzines, and for charitable publications like the Charlie Card Fund’s 1991 Fantasy Art Calendar. Her work won Best in Show at the 1991 Worldcon art show (Chicon V).

There’s a small gallery of her black-and-white art at Fanac.org.

Ranson cover for Challenger

Ranson was a guest of honor at DeepSouthCon 34 in 1996, and Armadillocon 20 in 1998, and other small cons across the South.

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 she fled to Memphis. Afterwards she wrote a long account of her escape and what it was like to return to the heavily damaged city in Challenger 23.

maureen_origAlthough she did some cover art for professional publications, she does not seem to have pursued that as a vocation, for many of her assignments were for books by writers or small press publisers she knew well. This includes her covers for The NESFA Index to Short Science Fiction for 1989 (1992), Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordperson: The Complete Stories (1993) a paperback of George Alec Effinger stories from Swan Press, Girls for the Slime God (1997) a collection of stories edited by Mike Resnick, and Birthright: The Book of Man (1997) by Mike Resnick. She also did interiors for magazines, including Algis Budrys’ Tomorrow Speculative Fiction.

Ranson is survived by a sister and two brothers (one of them her twin), and several nieces and nephews.

“If I Ran The Z/o/o/ Con” Reloaded and Reissued

If I Ran The ZooSasquan guest of honor Leslie Turek is preparing a 4th edition of the Worldcon runners’ role playing game If I Ran the Zoo…Con for delivery in Spokane. The cover illustration is by Merle Insinga, and interior cartoons by Steve Stiles. Preorders are being taken by OffWorld Designs.

First introduced and played at Smofcon 3 in 1986, If I Ran the Zoo…Con lets players lead a committee through the Bidding, Planning, and At-Con phases of a World Science Fiction Convention.

The game has been revised and updated with nine new scenarios, some contributed by Priscilla Olson, Mark Olson, and John Pomeranz.

The new scenarios include a crisis about losing a hotel while bidding, and a thinly-disguised adaptation of the 1997 Disclave flood. Leslie Turek continues: “Other scenarios cover things that are new in Worldcon-running since the 1980’s, such as web sites, social media storms, exhibit space layout, and the Hugo Loser’s party. No, we don’t address the Hugo controversy (too soon), but we do talk about Hugo base design (couldn’t resist the phrase ‘People are losing their balls’ – if you were at N3, you’ll understand that one).”

I was one of the lucky players when the game debuted in 1986.

Here’s is Leslie Turek’s description of that experience from Mad 3 Party #16 (February 1987):

The game was designed to be both an ice-breaker and also something to get people thinking about some of the perennial con-running problems in a humorous setting. (Joe Mayhew referred to it as a consciousness-raising technique.) It’s not clear how many consciousnesses were raised, but there certainly was a lot of hilarity.

First, three teams (known as con committees) were selected by leaders from each region: Mike Walsh for the East. John Guidry for the Central, and Mike Glyer for the West. Game officials were Chip Hitchcock as the SMOF (who read the game scenarios). Alexis Layton as the Independent Accountant (who kept track of the score), and Tony Lewis as Murphy (the element of chance). Murphy was aided in his job by a spinner in the form of a day-glo propeller beanie created by Pam Fremon.

The game took the committees through three phases: bidding, planning, and at-con. For each turn, the committee chose a chairman and also drew a scenario to play. Scenarios, which were written by a number of contributors, including such titles as:

Bidding:

  • Choosing the Bid Committee
  • GoH Choice
  • Booze
  • Pre-Supporting Memberships

 

Planning

  • Masquerade Length
  • The Big Premiere
  • The “Relationship”
  • Kids’ Programming
  • Ups and Downs (Elevator Management)
  • The Contract

At-Con

  • Turning the Tables (No-show Hucksters)
  • The Lady and the Snake
  • The Ice
  • Keep on Truckin’ (Logistics)

As each situation was read, the chairman would be given a number of options to select from. The committee could be consulted, but the chairman had to make the final decision. In some cases, the next situation was a direct result of the chairman’s choice, but in most cases, Murphy was also consulted. Murphy would spin the spinner and the SMOF would select the next situation according to that result. As the situations progressed, the team would win or lose Financial poings (representing money), People points (representing staff effort), and Goodwill points (representing the reaction of fandom and others whose cooperation is needed by the committee).

Many of the scenarios covered more than one phase. For example, a decision made in the planning phase might have results later in the game during the at-con phase. Murphy played a role here in deciding when each team would have to deal with the consequences of its earlier decisions. Murphy’s favorite line began, “Remember when you decided to….?”

The total game consists of 43 scenarios, and in about 2 hours of play we managed to go through only about 2/3 of them. After the game (which was won by the Central team), each member was given a printed copy of the full game to take home with them.

There were big plans in the 1980s to make a text-based computer game from the script. So far as I know that never happened, but MCFI and NESFA have kept the print version going for nearly 30 years.