Fred Hollander - Yarst on people who don't put official titles on their fanzines, even sloppy one-sheet one-shots. You're the bane of the bibliophiles. Though this is better than nothing at all from you, even so. ## How come Freeman and Lucas stopped coming to the club, by the way? Too much schoolwork, or are they just disinterested in us?

Don Fitch -- Ah, your First FAPAzine is coming up? Welcome to the group! I'm glad we didn't lose you from the Waiting List, as we almost did -- I know that while I was on my five-year crawl to the top, I lived in terror that I would someday forget to respond to the FA, or send my 25¢ yearly fee in. Now we just have to remember to pay our dues once a year. I don't suppose you'll become one of FAPA's most active contributors, but I hope you'll do more than the minac requirements. ## Gee, I hadn't realized that the previous week's cover was a parody of Schu's art by Terry, though I did feel that it wasn't up to Schu's usual standards. He's trying so much experimental stuff these days, though, that I thought that it might be a new idea that hadn't worked out. Oh, well. ## Yes, there are several people in Apa L who I think would enjoy the associations in a regular apa very much. Tom Digby, Ken Rudolph, and the Craynes, to name a few. FAPA and SAPS should both be worth the wait to these people.

Chuck Crayne -- Heck, I don't think the clock on my stove has ever worked. Nobody in my family ever used it, in any case. My stove is a hand-down from my parents, that they had to get rid of when they moved into a condominium complex that had its own built-in appliances. It's been in the family for 15 years or more now, I guess. Anyhow, there have never been any chefs in my family, and the stove never did get used to the full potentials of its mechanical capabilities -- the clock-timer was never used, as I say, and the salt-&-pepper holders on either side of were also allowed to ossify through disuse. I don't mind, though -- the oven and all the burners work, and that's good enough for me. ## All this is aside from your point, of course. It sure does sound like planned obsolescence. Isn't that the sort of thing the Better Business Bureau wants to hear about?

Sally Crayne -- What is "solid commentable material"? True, such things as personal nattering and fiction is often difficult to comment upon. On the other hand, would we really want to see Apa L without any fan fiction by Len or Dian, or without any personal diary-type material by Bĵo or you? I don't think so. There are writing forms that some of us can handle very well, and that others of us can't handle at all; and it's to the benefit of the group that those who can do something usually do it. Dian herself is well-rounded in here contributions. At any time, she's liable to have fiction, personal nattering or editorializing, &/or mailing comments. Whichever it is, it'll be well worth reading. So I'd say that no one type of writing should be verboten or frowned upon; people should do what they can do the best.## Moving parties do seem to be dead, as you say; and of course it is a Good Thing if they aren't going to get anything done. This is another example of How LASFS Has Changed Since I Joined It. At that time, there was a lot more group interest and support in anything that went on, whether it was an official club activity like a picnic, or publishing SHAGGY, or something more personal like helping a member move. The old moving parties used to be big affairs, with a dozen people or so showing up, and everybody working until the job was complete -- then relaxing to play cards or socialize. There were sometimes three or four cars at a time driving back and forth between the two addresses, carrying furniture to the new house. This sort of thing does seem to be passé now. As the club has tended more to divide itself into ingroups, and as there are regular parties almost every weekend now, there's no longer the impetus for everyone to come together and spend a day working in social camaraderie. In my big move, I was counting on at least two cars showing up other than my own to carry material; and on getting an early enough start to make at least two trips from West L.A. to Santa Ana. As it was, Al was the only person who showed up before I started making specific phone calls for help, and I didn't get that desperate until early afternoon; with the result that we only had time to haul one load of material down to Santa Ana, and also that when Al's Econoline and my car were filled, there was nothing left for anybody to do. (Fortunately, the Pelzes arrived at this point with their Ox to be filled, or the few people who were arriving to work would've come for nothing -- as the Johnstones did when they came out to 1825 Greenfield Ave. after everyone had either left for Santa Ana or gone home; with all available vehicles en route to Santa Ana, there had been no point in leaving an expediter behind to direct any further work efforts.) So while a lot did get done, it wasn't nearly as much as could've been done by one of the old-style moving parties, and it wasn't nearly as much fun as it should've been. Moving a stove or refrigerator with five or six fen is relatively easy; with only two or three, it's hard work. Of course things weren't helped at all by the fact that most of L.A. fandom had been up until 6 that morning or later at Lon Atkins' party the preceding night; I had been afraid that would cut into my moving party as soon as Lon started inviting people, but I didn't feel I could ask him to uninvite them again and call off his party just so everyone would be fresh to work for me the next day. Anyhow, with one thing and another -- I admit that 30 miles and more to Santa Ana is a good bit farther than our moving parties used to go, at the best of times -- the moving party as a social event was a complete bust, and I doubt that there will ever be any more like there used to be -- not unless the whole club undergoes a change in spirit back to as it used to be in "the Good Old Days" of the late '50's and early '60's. ## You're another who'd like a LASFS trip to a cultural spot, eh? Good; how many others? From the LASFS Calendar that Bruce just published, we'll probably have trouble working it in any weekend unless we're willing to have it conflict with something else. I for one am not interested in bowling, and I don't think I'll care for four full days of Pleasure Faire, so sometime around mid-May could go. Let's get together and talk this over with anybody else who's interested in a series of LASFS trips to art museums, the zoo, and the like

Lon Atkins -- You have a good plot fragment, but your dialogue doesn't flow naturally, even if it is supposed to be archaic. Also, your various terms describing speech -- purred, breathed, growled, etc. -- are a bit too flamboyant. You're at your best in describing your settings and inanimate objects; the first two paragraphs are very good. ## Yeah, I'd like to have the original hardcover edition of The Worm Ouroboros, too -- the original, original hardcover with the beautiful dust jacket and endpapers that were left out of the more recent printing. I like the cover illustration on the Ballantine edition quite well; it's much better than the artist's covers for the Tolkien books.

Ken Rudolph -- I had to pay $64 in State income tax, and I got a refund of $69 on my Federal tax, so I came out a bit ahead. ## I think LSD could also be compared with Fred Pohl's Cheeri-Gum, in "Everyone's Happy But Me". Remember? That was the euphoric drug that wasn't habit-forming (physiologically speaking), so people stopped bothering not chewing it. ## All Heinlein is Great up to 1960; then begins the decline he's just now pulling out of. Sixth Column was the first s-f novel I ever read; it started me on the stuff, and it's still one of my favorites. Beyond This Horizon is one of the plots that Campbell is supposed to have assigned to Heinlein.