Written by Fred Patten, and published on the LASFS Rex Rotary, June 23, 1965. Intended for Apa L, Thirty-Sixth Distribution, LASFS Meeting no. 1454, June 24, 1965. Address: 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90025. Phone: GRanite 3-6321.

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Our mimeography lightscope here gave up the ghost last weekend in a manner to make Doc Smith proud; there was a blinding flash and a deafening report, and the air stunk of burning insulation for the next half hour. The insulation had frayed off the electric cord where it entered the scope, and the result was a most spectacular short-circuit. I've jury-rigged it back into service by taking the shade off a small table lamp and putting that inside the scope, but the results still leave something to be desired. I don't know whether the scope can be repaired or not; even if it can, I doubt I'll find time to have it done before the WesterCon.

This lightscope has been floating around LA Fandom ever since I can recall, and I don't have the slightest idea whose it is. What I'm mostly wondering is whether it's LASFS Rex Ass'n property, in which case the Rex Ass'n will pay for its repairs or buy a new one, or whether it's Al's or some other fan's on permanent loan out here, in which case I'll probably have to pay for repairs or replacement out of my own pocket. Does anybody know who the legal owner of the thing is?

News note: '"King Kong" by Delos Lovelace, a novelization based on the original screen play of the hit movie of 1932 by Marion C. Cooper and the late Edgar Wallace, will be published in October by Bantam. This movie tie-in was originally published by Grosset and Dunlap in 1932 and has never been issued in a later edition of any kind.'

To commemorate the decision, Bantam sponsored a literary evening party on May 24, in a suite in the Empire State Building. The main attractions of the evening were a special showing of the original movie, followed by a talk on "King Kong to Viet Cong; 30 years of Guerilla Warfare".

I don't know about the book, but I'd like to see the text of that talk!

While I don't usually pay much attention to junk mail advertising, I got one card last week with an announcement that might be worth following up:

"Open House at the new United Nations Center, Pacific Chapter, 1051 Westwood Blvd., L.A. 24. Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27. Two until Five P.M. International music, Refreshments, and a preview of unique gifts from around-the-world: antique jewelry from Israel, crystal from Sweden, capes and ponchos from Peru - and much, much more. Your hosts: Steve Allen, Whitney Blake, Joe Flynn, John Forsythe, Barbara Rush, Carl Reiner, Robert Vaughn." Or are we all too busy preparing for the WesterCon?

-- BEING COMMENTS ON LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

Ed Cox -- It's hard to imagine Frank Long doing a best job of anything, except maybe consistent placing at the bottom of any AnLab rating I can conceive of. ## How does STOBCLER work? Do the members sit up on a pedestal and beat off the hordes of waitinglisters as they swarm out of the walls?

Milt Stevens -- I'd be interested in knowing what you thought of The Blue Flamingo if you do read it. I thought it was great; Lloyd Eshbach said he had it among the books that Fantasy Press was scheduled to publish until it went broke; Don Wollheim thought it was crud and that Bok was a lousy writer, August Derleth thought about the same (though he phrased it more politely), and others have equally divergent opinions. ## The Star Kings was one of Signet's first sf paperbacks, back around 1950, but for some reason it's never been reprinted. I haven't read The Laws of Chance or Between Worlds yet, although several people have recommended the former to me. Possibly Ted can recommend them to Terry Carr or Larry Shaw for publication as Ace or Lancer Science Fiction Classics?

Gregg Wolford -- Well, you've got an original title here. It's original because it's misspelled; it should be borogove, and there have been several fantasies entitled BOROGOVE. (Also several titled GYRE and other Jabberwockian references.) ## A very good first issue; such of it that can be read, at least. If you can get that ditto in good working order, BOROGROVE should turn out to be a good Apa L zine.

Len Bailes -- I don't have the text to the original Gilbertian libretto so I can't swear your meter is right or wrong, but this one reads better than any of your others so far. I do notice, however, that to scan "insufferable" has to be pronounced INsuFRAble, and "devastating" has to be slurred quickly instead of being pronounced distinctly. ## I can't quite decide whether it fits Norm Metcalf or Ed Wood best; Metcalf, I guess.

Dwain Kaiser -- I think maybe the P.O. has it in for you. THOTG ##15 and 17, postmarked a week or more apart, arrived here the same day; #16 got here a week later. ## Very good Pederson art; I'll have to dredge 4 or 5 Apa L covers from him while he'll be out here at the Con, where I can get at him.

Fred Hollander -- Redd Boggs seems to be berating us for all sorts of sins lately; I wonder what his reaction will be to the ghastly evil he committed by miswriting your name? (A man's name is sacred and all that.) ##Sure, Una Puerta hacia el Verano is The Door into Summer; what makes you think it doesn't sound right? ## An excerpt from Stockton's The Great War Syndicate is in Conklin's The Best of Science Fiction; it contains all the really pertinent passages from the complete version. I rather liked it, even if dialogue was nonexistent.

Barry Gold -- I have a feeling that there's another Apa C going someplace, but I can't swear to it. or maybe it was another reference to yours that I'm thinking of, though I don't recall hearing about this CalTech one before now. I dunno. ## Sorry if I don't list all the publishers of each Apa L zine exactly right. Getting the Dist'ns ready before 10:00 is a hassle anyhow; I don't have time to look through long, involved, or deliberately hidden colophons to find out who's really publishing any given zine each week. By now, I just barely glance at zines with distinctive formats (Pelz's, Lupoff's Harness', Boggs', etc.) to find out how many pages they have; if a couple of these decided to exchange formats, or one of them added another publisher without changing formats, I probably wouldn't catch it. I may take to listing all NY fanzines as by Dave Van Arnam, to eliminate the nuisance of trying to figure out who "Van Arnam" is this week. ## With THE BEST OF APA L to get out, I don't have time for "Gilbert's" CARCASILLA; I've also had to let his N'APA membership lapse. Heck, it was all I could do to get that TAPSzine out only a week after the deadline.