#2130

Written by Fred Patten, and intended for Apa L, 2130^th Distribution, LASFS Meeting No. 3578, March 9, 2006.
Golden State Colonial Convalescent Hospital, 10830 Oxnard Street, North Hollywood, California 91606-5098.
Telephone: hospital(818) 763-8247; personal (818) 506-3159 * eMail:fredpatten@earthlink.net

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Michael Burlake brought me to last week's LASFS meeting. I cannot recall when I last saw such a crowd; over 100 people. Burlake had to unpack me & my wheelchair at the club, and then find parking a block or so away. The bribes were especially good for this last week of Loscon 34 bidding; I pigged out on all the chocolate that I could stand. (I could have eaten more of the string cheese, though.) My thanks to Frank Waller for loading a plate of goodies for me, and protecting it from other fans until I had time to eat it all. Susan Gleason, Sherri Benoun, and Greg Bilan all put on good final presentations, but Gleason seemed the most assured and enthusiastic about her plans and how she would run Loscon 34 if she won, and this carried through to the voting. Her bid won by a clear majority on the first ballot.

On Saturday, Rob Powell took me to the Estrogen Zone meeting. It was virtually deserted this month, except for us and the Van Wagners who were running it. There were a few more LASFen around, like Tadao Tomomatsu, but I think they were there to work on the clubhouse more than to attend the EZ screening. Presumably the absences were due to people going to either of the two conventions last weekend, ConDor XIII down in San Diego or Consonance 2006 up in Milpitas.

Or maybe nobody was interested in the EZ program of a Roger Corman film festival this month. Beast from Haunted Cave, Creature from the Haunted Sea (the Creature looks like a pre-Sesame Street Muppet), She Gods of Shark Reef ("filmed in the Territory of Hawaii", which brought back memories of that ever-popular junior high/high school social studies debate topic throughout the 1950s: Should Hawaii and Alaska Be Granted Statehood?), Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (not a true Corman film since most of it was a dubbed, uncredited Soviet s-f movie), and The Wasp Woman. We left during the latter, being Corman'ed out by that point. Powell cel-phoned his father at ConDor XIII and I said "hello" to everyone within earshot at the con.

I have to turn in this ˇRR! for publication before Tuesday evening when Michael Burlake will take me to the March Comic Art Professional Society meeting, so here is what is scheduled at it instead of my report of it:

Please come join us on March 7 at 8:00pm as we welcome our special guest speaker Bill Robles, veteran courtroom illustrator. Bill has worked for many decades in this field covering many major trials from the Manson Family to Michael Jackson. He told me the other day that he even had to cover one of the recent California executions. Bill will be bringing along a selection of his art to show us, and has his share of interesting tales surrounding them.

Anthro #4, March-April 2006, is now online with my latest book reviews and an article about how I came to edit my Best in Show/Furry! anthology: http://www.anthrozine.com/

Tim Susman of Sofawolf Press is continuing to keep the authors & editor (me) of Best in Show/Furry! informed about iBooks' bankruptcy:

Hi, all,

Well, the news is that there is no news, but we have a couple things to relay. First off, the bankruptcy proceedings for iBooks and the disposition of the rights to the collection will likely take 6-12 months. We'll be handling it and updating you all periodically as we get more info. Sofawolf will continue to sell "Best In Show" as that predates the contract we signed with iBooks.

The rights to your individual stories, i.e. your ability to go market them elsewhere, are unaffected. The contract was to reprint the collection as a whole, and there were no provisions preventing you from taking your stories elsewhere.

The chances of us getting anything back from iBooks other than the rights to the collection (such as royalties) are slim to none. Again, I'd reiterate my last message: if you want a copy or want your friends to have one, purchase it now from Borders or one of the online stores:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596873191/qid=1139800789/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2439002-9482314?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Powell's: http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-1596873191-0

bn.com:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=fF3weI4DUm&isbn=1596873191&itm=1)

As always, let me know if you have questions, but for now, things are pending the lawyers associated with the bankruptcy. Hopefully I won't have to bother you again for a while...

: Tim

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ˇZANAHORIAS ELECTRóNICAS!

-- Comments on Last Week's Distribution:

Oh, All Right!!! - (Lembke) Your proposal of a Yugo Award "named for a cheap car that won't go anywhere under its own power" was anticipated over 35 years ago by the live hippie rock band at the 1970 Worldcon in Heidelburg that called themselves Trabant after the East German equivalent of the Yugo: "we're smelly and we won't work!" I understand that both the Yugo and the Trabant were engineering marvels compared to the Dacia, the Romanian equivalent.

Fish Out of Water #160 - (Helgesen) When did you buy Edgar Rice Burroughs in department store bookshops? They were commonly available starting around the early 1960s, when Ace Books and Ballantine Books starting reprinting all the Burroughs titles. I am not sure when department stores stopped having book departments, but presumably about the time that department stores became extinct outside of shopping malls, which all had separate, larger B. Dalton &/or Waldenbooks bookstores just a few steps away.

I Head For X - (Gold) The flimsy raincoat that you got me seems sturdy enough for the limited use I give it, although it is so flimsy that it may well disintegrate after a few more usages. ## From the use that your parents put the small area halfway up the steps to, it sounds like you had a wine cellar no matter what the proper name for the space may have been. ## "Silly Castora" are the words that you have to Google on to get the references to Phil Castora associated with silliness. I did not find any specific references to "silly Castora", either. ## To quote one Internet reference literary site on Eugénie Danglars in The Count of Monte Cristo, "A brilliant musician, Eugénie longs for her independence and despises men. On the eve of her wedding, she flees for Italy with her true love, Louise d'Armilly." Later in the novel, the Count encounters the two of them petting together in a passionate scene that leaves little to the imagination. ## The Pibgorn comic strip has put Shakespeare's words into the mouths of some of the strip's regular cast, so their appearance could not be changed. ## Maggots are more disgusting than mice (I do not think I need to qualify that with a "probably"), but maggots are not likely to zoom into ladies' skirts like mice might do to hide. They just lie in place and squirm.

Godzillla Verses #77 - (DeChancie) If you are satisfied to wait for publishers to come to you to ask to republish your out of print books, okay. ## I agree that the nighttime views of L.A. and the San Fernando Valley from Mulholland Drive are quite spectacular. Unfortunately, the daytime views are usually mostly of smog. Mulholland Drive itself during the daytime is worth seeing, though, for its twisty but scenic view along the crest of the mountains surrounding the L.A. basin.

Toodequirtle #1 - (Castora) I still miss Merry Maladies. ## "I'm sorry I couldn't enjoy [Inherit the Earth] as much as I should have." How much should you have enjoyed it? Who determines how much any of us should enjoy something that is a matter of individual taste? ## The Frankenstein comic book in the 1940s was by Dick Briefer, from 1940 to 1949 and 1952 to 1954. It has a cult following today. See http://www.americancomicarchive.com/feature.html for some of the best art samples. Briefer gave the Monster a distinctly unique appearance to avoid legal trouble with Universal Studios' copyrighted (trademarked?) Frankenstein Monster/Karloff image.

De Jueves #1468 - (Moffatt) I would have thought that nobody would index books under the cover artist's name (unless maybe an art collector?), but it looks like Amazon.com has proven me wrong. ## Since ERB had never been to Africa, maybe he did not know about the bugs and other little nasties when he wrote the Tarzan novels. Of course, if he did, he probably would not have cared since he was writing pulp adventure fiction with no pretense of being realistic.. ## The fat old man in that Pibgorn strip is Thorax, an (apparently) omnipotent being who is a regular character.

Vanamonde #668 - (Hertz) Yes, sitting under a fig tree out of the fig-bearing season is quite safe.