Written by Fred Patten, and published on the LASFS Rex Rotary, August 18, 1965. Intended for Apa L, Forty-Fourth Distribution, LASFS Meeting no. 1462, August 19, 1965. Address: 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90025. Phone: GRanite 3-6321.

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Apa L's not going to need a substitute Collator over the next three weeks after all, it seems, because I've been forced to cancel my trip to the LonCon. Several of you knew this was in the offing, but now it's definite. The reason is that I've been hit by a couple of pieces of bad luck at once. The biggest of these was getting word a couple of weeks ago that I'm being laid off my job at the Los Angeles County Law Library at the end of September, due to a decision to cut back on the staff. This hasn't come as any particular surprise; for the last month or so there's been so little work in my department that I've been doing clerical work to fill the day out; this despite the fact that one of the other regular catalogers is out on vacation and I have her work to do as well. Naturally, the Library doesn't want to have to pay full professional wages when there's not that much professional work to be done; so the decision was made to cut back the department, and as the junior staff member with the least tenure, I'm the one to go.

This hits me at a particularly inconvenient time because of my second problem, which is that I need a new car. My '55 Chevvy has given my family and me wonderful service over the past decade, but it's reached the point where it's beginning to need frequent repairs -- $20 to $30 worth a month for the past three months, anyway, not to mention a quart of oil a week. I missed out on the Trimbles' recent trip to San Diego because my generator went out, leaving me unable to get to their home before they left. I've been waiting to get a new car when I got back from Europe, probably a new '65 model being cleared off the lot to make room for the new '66's. Now, however, without a job, I'm going to find it almost impossible getting credit. So between being able to afford a trip to Europe and being able to afford a new car, I'm afraid the trip has to take second place. There are a few additional reasons for my decision, too. To let me down easy, the Library has said that if I want, I can postpone my vacation and take it at the end of September, when I leave them. This amounts to $400+ for not taking my vacation now. Also, I have a lot of job applications out -- I was hoping to get a definite commitment at another job in time to save my trip -- but nothing definite has come through yet, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to make myself incommunicado for 3 weeks just as the answers to my applications and invitations for interviews start coming in. I was hoping to get a position at the UCLA Library, but the only professional catalog opening they had was in the Engineering and Math. Sciences library, and this s-f fan didn't have enough of a scientific background for them. In addition to all this, my parents have just sold their Chesley Ave. home and will be moving into a condominium apartment in Inglewood in the next month, which means that I'm going to be busy moving out the large part of my s-f library and other belongings that're still in storage at my old home. I don't know whether to bring them here or not, because I may have to leave 1825 Greenfield, depending on where I get my new job -- I do intend to stay in the Los Angeles area if at all possible, but it may not be convenient to remain in this part of it. What with all this, I feel that I'm unsettled enough right now without dropping everything and cutting out to Europe for three weeks. I probably wouldn't be able to enjoy myself, anyway, knowing what a kettle of uncertainty I'd have waiting for me when I got back home.

So the trip has been regretfully called off, and I've already cashed in my plane tickets, which means $733 back in my pocket -- that'll be a good start toward buying my new car. My thanks to Dave Hulan for agreeing to take on the job of Official Collator while I was going to be gone, but it's no longer necessary. Those out-of-towners I'm agenting for can continue sending their material in to me. Looks as though you won't have to miss any Dist'ns after all, Gregg.

-- BEING COMMENTS ON LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

Milt Stevens -- Even 40 complete copies weren't enough last week, though we're going to hold it at that for a while, even so. I'm afraid we may not have room for any more out-of-towners, unless possibly they're willing to contribute on a very infrequent basis, as Creath Thorne does. If we didn't mind raising the copy count to 50 or 60, there's all sorts of outsiders we could bring in, but we do mind. ## Gee, I can reread The Lord of the Rings anytime without any trouble of LASFS images intruding into my mind. Maybe you aren't Sincere enough... ## Yeah, I was lucky enough to be called up for my Draft physical in Summer '63, when we were going to be out of Viet Nam by Christmas, so I didn't have as much trouble making 4-F as I might have -- the Sgt. There said they were rejecting 70% of those called down, and still making their quota. I wonder what it's like now?

Dwain Kaiser -- The only place to get gold/yellow ditto masters is in Germany (or possibly Sweden). Why not try using some of your InterApa contacts to get you some? ## I hope that if you do move out here, you'll be able to continue getting Lynn Pederson artwork. ## Have you read both versions of Dreadful Sanctuary? He completely rewrote the ending for the special paperback edition, you know.

Len Bailes -- Let us know exactly when & how you're arriving out here -- what flight number, train, bus, or whatever -- so we can be on hand to meet you.

Dave Van Arnam -- Beam Piper was one of my favorite authors. His stories always moved, even when it was obvious how they were going to come out, as in Lord Kalvan here. When the conclusion wasn't so clear-cut, as in Uller Uprising, A Planet for Texans, or Null-ABC, you really had some reading pleasure. Has anybody heard any word of the manuscript for the third Fuzzy novel?; somebody (SaM?) was telling me at the WesterCon that it'd been lost. ## From my impressions of Warlord of Kor, Invasion from 2500, Wizard of Lemuria, and Android Avenger, plus what you say here, I'd predict that Ted shows more promise than Terry or Lyn. If Lin wasn't trying for any more than a shallow pastiche, okay, but it's hard to judge his potential with nothing but this to go on. Frankly, I can't recall the plot of anything of Terry's I've ever read (except for "Hop-Friend"), and he's not turning out much these days that I can tell, as long as he's busy at Ace. Ted is working at writing, as we all know; his material is fast-paced and holds together; if he borrows styles (or Is Influenced By) other authors, the result is still original enough that it's not a bald pastiche of any specific other author. As you say, Terry and Lin had better step up their production if they don't want to be left way behind. ## You don't know Teddybear Sims? And I thought you were an old-time fan. How long has it been since Rog Sims was active outside of local Detroit fan parties, anyhow? ## Yes, the 1924 Oz movie I had in mind was the one with Larry Semon -- the one blithely combining Ozma and Dorothy, using a backdrop of St. Basil's and the Kremlin for Oz, and committing several other major sins. I think this was the only Wizard of Oz movie (except for the classic Garland-Bolger-Haley-Lahr-Morgan version), though there've been several stage plays, I believe, both of Wizard and other Oz books, all of which had almost nothing at all to do with any of Baum's books, other than in their use of the names and characters. Probably the "purest" movies are the ones Baum did himself in the mid-1910's; here he made the movies first and then based the books on them afterward, and even here he made some fairly extensive revisions between the two forms of the stories, so the movies aren't straight filmings of the books. (Scarecrow and Patchwork Girl.) Actually, I think Disney probably would make a rather good Oz movie -- or rather, Oz has been so diversified over 39+ books, most of which being undeserving of the title of classics, that t here isn't that much for Disney to ruin. A lot of Oz is supposed to be cuddly, don't forget; while this was generally played down in the 1939 movie, which stuck pretty much to the main action, they did drag in the little ballerinas from Lullaby Land, and the Lollipop Kids in one brief scene. An Oz movie would be right up Disney's alley; he'd hardly have to write it down at all.

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"Blast furnaces and steel works have made tiny Luxembourg into a world power."

-- Official tourist brochure

"Which world?"

-- Bruce Pelz

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Ted White -- I for one would very much like to see your revised version of The Man from Broken Crossing, to compare it with your original version. Hey, wouldn't all this come under the heading of that panel at the WesterCon, how fandom helped/affected your professional career? What would Harlan say about our writing your story for you like this? ## Interesting to see what the inspirations for Android Avenger were. I agree with your self-criticism; after that lovely beginning, the book slows down to some pretty mundane action with just a think s-f veneer, though fortunately it starts coming alive again about chapter nine. Yes, I do think you satisfactorily explained everything at the end, or at less satisfactorily wrapped up all the loose ends. Your protagonist has discovered what's going on, how he's being manipulated, and who's controlling him. In a standard, if not entirely original climax, he fights his way face-to-face with his controller and destroys him in personal combat, thus (emotionally) proving his independence as a free agent. He's come to an acceptable personal relationship between his real master (father image), the computer, and his girl friend; by ceasing to worry about his (racial) being an android instead of a natural human, he's solved that problem, too. I interpreted your loose end -- Tanner's learning his antagonist's identity while this is still unknown to the master computer -- as a reinforcement of the emotional conclusion, proving again that your protagonist isn't just a mindless robot under the computer's control (and whoever controls the computer), but is an independent thinking person, with a conscious identity of his own. Indeed, it smacks a bit of intuition and mysticism prevailing over pure materialistic logic; your article on "Mysticism & Hedonism" is particularly interesting in this light. And finally, Tanner has decided what the answer is to the underlying problem of what's wrong with Society, and has the goal of reforming it, answering the "whither now?" that a lot of books leave unanswered. All in all, I felt that you wrapped things up quite nicely as far as the emotional impact of your book goes, even if there may be a few logical loose ends still dangling -- how did Tanner discover Nash's identity before the computer knew it, how is he going to reform Society? On the other hand, how many s-f novels do answer the questions of this sort that they raise? I came out of this without the usual feeling of total confusion I have after reading most modern Phil Dick novels, so as far as I'm concerned, you've beat him at his own game. As I said before, I don't think this is any classic, because it does pretty much follow a formula, and that mystery-writing in the middle doesn't help any; but I do think it's a very promising beginning to your career as an s-f author, and I'm looking forward to reading these other books you and Dave have mentioned here. Do you know of any release dates yet?