Written by Fred Patten, and published on the LASFS Rex Rotary, November 10, 1965. Intended for Apa L, Fifty-Sixth Distribution, LASFS Meeting no. 1474, November 11, 1965. Address: 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90025. Phone: GRanite 3-6321.

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This has been a good weekend for talking with out-of-town fans. Saturday, I went down to the Garden Grove Friends of the Library Book Sale, and ran into Gregg Wolford. Saturday evening, I got to the Coxes' for the surprise birthday party for EdCo just as Roy Tackett phoned from Albuquerque to wish Ed happy birthday; Ed was still out being decoyed away from the house while the guests assembled, so those present talked to Roy instead. And on Sunday, Andy Porter phoned here for a nice long fangab.

One of the things we discussed was the size of Apa L. With the average LASFS attendance increasing slowly but steadily, we need more copies to hand out to the club; in addition to which, most contributors (who've commented one way or the other) have clearly expressed a desire to see more out-of-town contributors in Apa L, even if this does mean raising the number of copies required. I've therefore been sending feelers out to various out-of-town fans that I think might be interested in becoming active in Apa L; the new total of copies required will depend partly on the number of new out-of-towners we get. (It'll probably be at least 50 in any case, and it may well be 55 or 60.) I'd asked Andy by postcard if, now that Apa F is folding, many more of the Fanoclasts would like to get into Apa L; Andy replied Probably Not, except maybe for Ross Chamberlain, who would act in effect as a replacement for Dick Lupoff, who's supposedly gafiating from weekly apas. Andy also suggested we cut down on the number of copies of Apa L needed by limiting circulation only amongst contributors, rather than making the contributors go to the expense of providing copies for freeloaders who never contribute, and non-fanzine fan members and guests who probably won't understand or care what Apa L is all about, anyway. The arguments against this viewpoint have already been stated at some length, such a s getting the non-pubbing members and guests (such as Fred Hollander, Milt Stevens, Betty Knight) active, using Apa L to attract guests into returning rather than alienating them by telling them "You can't have one", etc.

Andy does have a point in wanting to keep the cost down, though, and it's the main reason that I've been trying to hold the copy requirement as low as possible. It costs money to produce an Apa L zine, particularly to the out-of-town contributors who have to mail their zines here. The average cost to our New York contributors to mail a zine out here weekly is at least 80¢ or better; if they don't get their zines finished until Monday or Tuesday and have to air-mail them here to make sure they arrive in time, it's likely to be well over $1. And, of course, the more pages a contributor has -- and one reason such contributors as Ted White are the valuable members they are is that they produce such nice looong zines -- the more it's going to cost him. Andy's postage bill last week came to better than $2.00, and I think Ted's about equaled it -- and this is just what they paid to get their zines here, not counting the 50¢ they each pay weekly to have the Distributions sent to them at First Class rates. This is already a ridiculously large amount for any fan to be paying, and the more copies we require -- the more sheets of paper that have to be included in these envelopes -- the more the cost is going to rise still higher. The result may well be that, rather than attracting new out-of-town contributors, we tax out the ones we have now. And I certainly don't want this to happen. So it's not just a matter of blithely saying, "Let's raise it to 50 or 60 copies; it's just a few more cranks on the mimeo"; for our out-of town members, it's a lot more than that. A happy balance is going to have to be hit.

I'd like some comments from our out-of-towners on this -- how many copies of their zines they regularly run off, at what rates they mail them, what the average postage bill is, etc.; also, how they feel about the idea of having to produce 50 or more copies of their zines. Would anyone consider this an intolerable hardship? Also, does anyone know of any other out-of-town fans who might be interested in getting active in Apa L? Creath, how about anybody in SFPA? Rich, what about the Apa-45'ers? Ted and Dave, do you know of any other New York fen who might be interested? If there's any Fanoclasts who might like to be active sometimes, though not on the weekly-rush basis, would it be feasibly cheaper for several of them to bring their zines weekly to the Fanoclast meetings, pool 'em and send 'em out here in one package? Would Boardman be interested in getting active again?

--oOo-- ** BOOK REPORT ** -oOo-

Succession in Astropolis, by Eugène Jolas, Paris: the Black Sun Press, 1929 84 p.

This book begins as follows: "And twilight dreamdrooms rosily over the world. Soon night will unleash its thousand monsters, mysteries will flishflash through the hours, the wonderful will be resurrected by sacerdotal hands. I walk alone into the hallucinated walls. My fever seeks Eden in the tumbletimble of the houses. Where is the messenger of the miraculous spaces?"

I couldn't care less where the messenger is. Anybody who expects me to wade thru the other 83 ½ pages of this has rocks in his head.

-- BEING COMMENTS ON LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

Ted White -- I'll bet Bruce wishes he has the money it'd've taken for all those supposed Charter Flights to New York to steal your typewriters. ## Hey, I recall that old Mickey Mouse serial set in the future -- Mekania or Mekainstra, wasn't it? -- but I recall it most clearly from a Big Little Book, though I recall remembering at the time that I'd read the story earlier in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES. Would you know when that serial was printed in the comic book? I'd like to see how far back my memory goes. They and the Donald Duck stories also in WDC&S were the material on which I learned to read -- I had a gift subscription from some relatives until I was about ten years old, and my mother used to read it to me until I could read it by myself -- and I could read before I entered school. A lot of those Mickey Mouse adventures were unabashed & uncredited steals from recognized literary works; every now & then I come across some story such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz" that I remember reading in Mickey Mouse first. (I must say that Disney did a much more original adaptation for Mickey of The Prisoner of Zenda than Burroughs did in The Mad King.) I notice that the Disney comics are now running straight classic stories "starring" the Disney characters, such as The Hound of the Baskervilles with Mickey as Sherlock Holmes, Goofy as Watson, Gladstone Gander as Sir Henry, etc. Pluto as the Hound, naturally. They're "cute"; nowhere near the standards of the old serials. ## I'm currently reading several Mexican comic books; I haven't exactly learned Spanish from them yet, though I have picked up all sorts of handy phrases as "Shoot him down", "Look out! It's going to explode!", etc. ## King Julian was actually quite well written; I enjoyed reading it as a story, rather than finding it something merely worth wading through for its curiosa value. The only place it seemed to fall down was where the love interest was brought in; it all seemed too forced, and the girl didn't seem natural -- I was reminded of Knight's criticism (in In Search of Wonder) of Austin Hall's utter ineptitude at portraying the opposite sex. ## Be sure to let us know what you think of raising the copy requirement. As you're turning in 50 copies anyway (thus proving yourself a Ghood Man), I'd imagine you'd be for it.

Fred Whitledge -- I wonder who's responsible for that epitaph on W. C. Fields' tombstone? It's unlikely to have been Fields himself if what I recall reading about him is true -- that he hated funerals, and left instructions in his will that his body be cremated and the ashes strewn over the nearest golf course (his widow had the will set aside on the grounds that its contents obviously proved he was non compos mentis, or something, and gave him a fancy and expensive burial anyway). ## Another Friday Nighter; good! Since we lost the vote to change the Meeting night the last time it was brought up, we don't want to bring it up again so soon as to make ourselves obnoxious. But soon now... ## There are two editions of Alice's Adventures Underground available now; this Dover paperback for $1.00, and a hardback Xerox edition for something like $3.95. Though the Xerox edition is beautifully printed, bound, and boxed, I recommend the Dover. Not only is it cheaper, but it also contains a fair amount of added material, including a special introduction by Martin Gardiner.

Felice Rolfe -- I'll bet that John Daly would love to get that manufacturer of artificial horse manure on "What's My Line?" I can just see it now -- "And now we'll show our audience what Mr. Twiddlethonk's occupation is." (Off-camera voice): "Mr. Twiddlethonk manufactures artificial horse manure for mushroom growers." I wonder what the audience reaction would be to that one?

Gil Lamont -- "...a pen name, Don A. Stuart, derived from the maiden name of Campbell's wife, Dona Stuart." -- Sam Moskowitz, his profile on JWC. Have fun giving SaM that all-expenses-paid trip from New Jersey to the Alhambra Shopping Center. ## Stanley Grauman Weinbaum, Clifford Donald Simak, James G. Ballard, and I think that Budrys' middle name is the Janvier he used in "Paul Janvier". I also have a vague recollection of reading someplace that Doc Keller's middle name is Henry, but vague recollections win no prizes.

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STORMS OF AMBITION

By James Lewis McElroy, Jr.