The Lunatic Fringe
DISCRETION. We are not allowed to reveal the
number of the room in which GoH Karel Thole and Jean Owen
broke the bed.
MALCOLM EDWARDS leaps to our defence! `I can't
imagine why Brian Aldiss thinks he's the only person you print
misinformation about....' He also mysteriously asserts that he will
not pay (see #6) but `will ensure that those who owe will. It's all
Richard Evans's and Jo Thomas's fault anyway. KvT professes himself
happy.'
BRIAN BURGESS HURLS BACK. `As from now [Sunday],
Brian Aldiss will no longer get free pork pies or milk from me!' Brian
Aldiss, in tones of rising hope: `You mean if I insult him enough
he'll never talk to me again?'
CHRIS BELL SPLUTTERS: `You know, you really
are a grade-A 22-carat first-class ning-nong sometimes, Langford!'
QUESTION. Why exactly did Lawrence Watt-Evans
think that he was Brian Aldiss and that John Brunner should go to bed?
BLOODY HELL. Alex Stewart's nose exploded
after yesterday's Millennium party -- but not, said fascinated bystanders,
sanguinously enough.
WELL, MALCOLM THINKS IT'S FUNNY: Timmy Edwards
(3) at breakfast: `Soft white bums are my favourite.'
A Noun: `Cement'
EXPOTEL TRAVELLERS PLEASE NOTE!!! Pick-up times
for transportation to the airport/harbour are displayed on the board
next to the Expotel Desk in the lobby. It is imperative you check
here the day before departure.
ASTONISHING BARGAINS! The Confabulation
flyer tells it like it is: `Children born on or before 13/4/81 pay the
supporting rate, and small children (born on or before 13/4/87) pay
nothing.' `Confabulation would like to announce that their child
rate is actually for -- oh, you guessed....'
IAN SORENSEN wishes to apologize. No, not for
that, just for having no issue of Conrunner out.
LOST & FOUND. The Ops Room currently holds
a bottle of `pils -- sorry -- pills' (ho ho), a Ferrari 348 (yes), a
Casio watch, a sum of money (state amount/currency when claiming, or
it goes to TAFF), some pb novels and more. Call in if you're
missing any possessions or vital bodily parts.
FAITH UNZIPS. Faith Brooker has lost her leather
coat in or near the Mainsail Bar. `It's got zips.'
STREWTH! `There are 3 bloody Kiwis (NZ persons)
at bloody Helicon. This should be recorded in the bloody newsletter
as we have bloody travelled a bloody long way. Colonials bloody rule!'
HOARY. In the interests of programming efficiency,
Brian Ameringen suggests combining his next Erotic SF panel with the
massage workshop.
XENOBIOLOGY quiz correction: `A score of 75%+
will earn the undergraduate a degree certificate, and the HIGHEST
scores will also earn valuable Xenobiology research books, including
[etc, etc].'
LIFTS WANTED. Four Russians seek lifts, singly
or together, to London from Weymouth ferry arriving 2250 Monday or Tuesday
(drivers' choice) or Poole ferry arriving 1800 Tuesday. Volunteer driver(s)
to Russian desk in Dealers' Room, or contact Yuri Savchenko via Voodoo
Board.
AWARDS. Ask Joe Haldeman for a look at `the
funniest trophy given at Helicon' (in fact the Futuro Remoto prize for
best SF novel published in Italy, 1991: Joe's The Hemingway Hoax
won).
RESTAURANT PLUG: Bamboo Garden, Cantonese
cuisine, Burrard Street. `Looks like a café, but the food's good.'
Phone 71301 (maybe). Dave Ellis
LONELY HEARTS: `To the Finnish Zombies -- I
like you! Zombies make wonderful game pie; but only if well hung. (See
Woad Warrior for details.)'
EUROCON 1994: £12 registration at the
Romanian desk (Dealers' Room) will make you friends for life -- `We
love your Western currency.'
Chopping & Changing
UNLIMITED LUNICON THEATRE CO: Cabaret, silly
games and worse -- Golden Lounge, 2000 Sunday.
Disco (2200 Madisons Nightclub): astonishing concessions have
been made! Rather than `smart dress', you are allowed to come in anything
you like (Martin Hoare: `Oh good, I'll come in the Land-Rover.').
In a massive policy reversal, pints of Mary Ann will be served and will
cost no more than in mere bars.
DEALERS' ROOM CLOSES at 1600 on Monday!
But What Can Replace a Fanzine? (Monday 1100 Regency) Lilian
Edwards, listed as chair, is not here; panellists now include Pam Wells.
Cybergamesmaze (Monday 2000) ran into black ice and is now
replaced by Multilingual Charades.
Election Special!
IF I RULED THE UNIVERSE.... Winner:
First Tiger Hobbes, a late entry (65 votes). Genghis Khan scored 28
or 1 (one horde, one vote), Boadicea 20, Tim Illingworth 10 (plus 539
disallowed proxy votes from Atlanta fandom), Stupendous Man (`I only
need one vote -- and this duplicator!') 6, Sir Edmund Blackadder 3,
Ming the Merciless 0. Thog the Mighty spells universe `gllb'.
Campaign run-down: Sir Edmund Blackadder thanked everyone
who came to his pre-victory party last night in the basement
Boudicca wanted to know who this upstart was. Boudicca: she has
the experience! Unlike Genghis Khan. Tim Illingworth acknowledged
Blackadder's party and pointed out that under the hotel contract he
owes the HdF £1000 corkage plus 50p for delousing Baldrick.
Ming the Merciless: `Whoever wins the debate gets to run the
1996 Eastercon.' Stupendous Man's amazing mental strength,
he said, will help him defeat the whiles (sic) of short person!!
Alison Scott says: `Mittenshaw-Hodge has got a cheek campaigning
as Blackadder when the fan who most resembles Sir EB just happens
to be married to Ming the Merciless!' Rog Peyton soothed:
`What's all this Ming-fucking?' Thog the Mighty took the
hint and went to bed....
Islands in the Net
OVERHEARD: `We had a theological problem at
the charades -- is Ghu more powerful than Tim Illingworth?' [Thog
the Mighty says: `Cannot settle order of precedence between louse and
flea.'] `You spend all your time raking it out and poking
things down it....' `That Chris Bell! Only fakefans go
to bed -- the parties were still on at 0600.' `I'm coming to
Colorado even if you are politically incorrect.' `When Thog the
Mighty eat cheesecake, cheesecake know it been eaten.'
SIGHTING: a member of HdF hotel staff was seen
putting up Con Killer posters! After hours of paranoia and bad
taste yesterday, Douglas Reay won and became our Official Hannibal Lecter.
THE CORKAGE £500 MYSTERY. No, it wasn't
Martin Hoare. Hawaii or Busted.
OVERHEARD AT THAT BIDDING SESSION: Alison
Scott: `We will run an escort service at night.' Sue Mason:
`We will offer reindeer tasting and stag parties.' Steve Davies,
asked how much chocolate would be imported: `Cubic feet or metric tonnes?'
`Yes.' Sue Mason: `We're willing to sacrifice the fat.'
Steve Davies again: `It's a modern hotel with 18th-century
railway décor.'
TRICENTENARY. In 1693, the world-famous actress
and sf author Eliza Haywood was born: her 1738 The Adventures of
Eovaai, Princess of Ijavea: A Pre-Adamitical History has been a
strong favourite in sf con charades ever since. It was a good year for
translations, with Sir Thomas Urquhart doing volume 3 of François
Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, and Jacques Sadeur's epic
making it into English as A New Discovery of Terra Incognita Australis,
or the Southern World. (The Plain People of Fandom: Really
desperate to fill up the space, eh? Heliograph: So much for cultural
uplift, you lowbrows.)
`REMEMBER HIS NAME, AND KEEP WATCHING,' Roger
Zelazny tells Antivity readers re a book called Warpath,
by, er, by ... we scanned the ad in vain.
WSFS BUSINESS MEETINGS will henceforth be conducted
entirely in LOGJAM. Language-designer Robert
Sachs said: `Chthlh@ ft$ gn Ryl*h. Fth&gn fthgn I% I+ Sh£b
Nigg&®&th. And the shoggoth Tm Ill&ngwrth rode in on.
By B*g!'
THAT LIGHT NORWEGIAN TOUCH. The Eurocon in
North America (combined with NASFiC) continues. Latest offer for Eurocon
1996: To be held on Norwegian territory with an extensive video programme
-- Dave Lally has so far paid for the only ticket sold. Venue: Bouvet
Island (Nor.), South Atlantic, the most isolated island on the Earth.
It appears unknown to Lally -- but known to the Eurocon Committee --
that his ticket is one way (and which TV series would he be forced to
watch continuously?).
VOX POP (newsroom): `We've already done this
long bit you've just typed up.' `Oh, well, yeah, uh, leave it there
anyway.' `By George, Watson, sometimes you have flashes of insight!'
`Illuminatory, my dear Holmes.' `Thank you for making me a virgin
again!' `Are we still working on your neck and back, Dave?'
`The good thing about talking about Report on Probability A is
that no one's ever finished it.' `Oh, did Aldiss?' `Don't these
Anne McCaffrey jokes just drag on?'