Westwind #59 April–May 1982

NWSFS, Norwescon 5

The April–May 1982 issue of Westwind, containing the Norwescon 5 post-convention wrap-up, an account of the March 1982 STS-3 Columbia space shuttle mission, John G. Cramer discussing FTL communication, and a short fiction piece by Frank Catalano and Joel Anthony Davis.

• Editorial Writes
• Lauraine Miranda’s NewsFS
• Calendar
• Norwescon 5 Wrap Report
  • The Chairman’s Corner
  • Norwescon Five: An Extremely Biased View
  • Registration
  • Dragon Lady’s Bar & Grill
  • Masquerade
  • Operations
  • Art Show & Auction
• NWSFS Elections
• The Ultimate Closing Ceremony — Just for Openers
• Serpent’s Tooth by Jon Gustafson
• John G. Cramer’s Better Than Fiction
• Lucubrations
• Announcements
• The Slipped Disc Syndrome

Elizabeth R. Warren

Northwest Science Fiction Society

April–May 1982

Julie Zetterburg-Sardo

Contents copyright (c) 1982 for the contributors by the Northwest Science Fiction Society.

English

Westwind: Clubzine of the Northwest Science Fiction Society

April-May 1982 No. 59

[Image: Art by John Barnes of two figures in space suits standing on the outside of a large space station orbiting a planet with a space ship visible in the distance.]

artist

John Barnes, a voice in the wilderness, seems to be a mysterious character whose work has appeared in WESTWIND since its early days. As evidenced by our cover, his work is bold and striking, but he is still awaiting his “his big break” into pro-published artwork. Regrettably, we have very little additional information about this promising artist.

in the wind…

Editorial Writes Page 3
Calendar Page 4
Chairman’s Corner Page 5
NORWESCON 5 Wrap-Up Page 5
NORWESCON 5 Review Page 5
Registration Report Page 9
Hospitality Report Page 9
Masquerade Report Page 9
Operations Report Page 10
Art Show Report Page 11
NWSFS Elections Notice Page 12
Ultimate Closing Ceremony Page 13
The Serpent’s Tooth Page 15
Better Than Fiction Page 16
Lucubrations Page 19
Announcements Page 20
Slipped Disc Syndrome Page 21

[Image: Cartoon by Bill Warren of an astronaut in undershit and boxers repairing a space suit while muttering, ‘Darn, darn, darn!’]

WESTWIND - the newsletter of the Northwest Science Fiction Society. Issue 59 — April-May 1982 Published by the Northwest Science Fiction Society - Richard Wright, Chairman ([REDACTED]); Linda Hoffer, ViceChair ([REDACTED]); Thom Walls, Sec’y-Treasurer ([REDACTED]). Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the publisher.

Editor: Elizabeth Warren. Layout: William R. Warren, Steve Gallacci. Labels: Tony Pepin. Typing: Elizabeth Warren, Richard Wright. Printing: Michael Brocha. Cover: John Barnes. Back Cover: S. Fox. Editorial Contributors: Richard Wright, Greg Bennett, Lauraine Miranda, Randy Hoar, Judy Lorent, Kit Canterbury, William R. Warren Jr., Jon Gustafson, John G. Cramer, Frank Catalano and Joel Anthony Davis. Interior Art: William R. Warren Jr., Tarkas, S. Fox, Sharree Sledge, E. Fern, Steve Gallacci, Steve Edwards.

Contents copyright (c) 1982 for the contributors by the Northwest Science Fiction Society. WESTWIND is mailed monthly to members of NWSFS. Membership is $7 per year. (Non-subscription, $4 per year.) Please mail to NWSFS, POB [REDACTED], Seattle WA 98124. Advertising accepted; must be received camera-ready by the first day of the month of issue. Mail to NWSFS. Full page (7.5 x 10), $20; half page (7.5 x 5), $12; quarter page (3.5 x 5), $7; eighth page or business card, $5.

NWSFS Information Hotline: [REDACTED].

EDITORIAL WRITES:

[Image: Drawing by Bill Warren of a dragon with long dark hair, wearing glasses and smoking a cigarette, working at a typewriter while surrounded by stacks of paper and soda cans.]

Hello, hello? is anyone out there? I have heard a lot of rumors that few of you are actually reading this thing. That upsets me a little. A lot of work by a lot of people goes into this newsletter every month. There are writers and artists and of course me, and we give up a lot of our time to get this to you. And you have paid for it. You never know, I may be hiding information in here. So please, at least look through and read the calendar. I hate to have to tell people that it was in the WESTWIND.

For any of you who were wondering, we didn’t put together a WESTWIND for April because of a few things. One was I had a severe case of the post-con blues. Another was everyone elsehad a case of let’s miss the deadline, and our wonderful printer, Michael Brocha, was backed up to the wall with previous commitments. Michael does a wonderful job of the printing, and gets very little ego-boo out of the deal. Fortunatly for us, volunteer labor is worth more than we pay for it.

V-Con is coming up real soon now and I hope that you all have made plans to attend. There is a flyer in this magazine (if you are lucky and the Post Awful hasn’t found a way to lose it). Judy Lorent is planning our usual Seattle in 81 party on Sat. night. See you there.

Oops, I almost forgot. Another reason that we had no April WESTWIND was that my kids got a week out of school at about the same time that I usually do all the typing and layout. My apologies to Sue and Leroy Berven who held the April social at their home. If the WESTWIND had been published on time maybe the party would have been better attended.

Richard Wright wants me to remind you all that as members of NWSFS you have the right to examine a copy of the club’s bylaws. If you would like a copy of your very own, send one U.S. buck to him (to cover printing and postage) and he will send you one.

Elections are coming up again. Nominations will be accepted during the business meeting of the May Social. See other articles in following pages for more details.

[Image: Drawing by Bill Warren of a house seen from above at night, with sounds coming from inside: ‘Klack klack klack (shit!) klack klack klack (giggle giggle) klack klack klack (sob) klack klack (shit!)’.]

lauraine miranda’s newsfs

Lauraine didn’t get her report to us in time, so all you new members and all of you who have moved will see your names here next time.

[Image: Art of what may be a robotic dinosaur skull.]

calendar

May 21–23: V-CON 10. Kings Best Western, Kingsway, Burnaby BC [REDACTED], $40/$50. GoH Ben Bova, FGoH Robert Runte, TM Michael Walsh. Vancouver’s long-running con features films this year, plus space programming, sf&f gaming, panels, trivia, costume dance, cartoonist war, dealers, art show, and a Seattle party. Memberships $15 at the door.

May 29: NWSFS SOCIAL. Hosts: Doug Booze, Pat Mallinson, Linda Hoffer. [REDACTED] N. 76th St., phone [REDACTED]. General meeting and nominationof officers at 5:30, Potluck at 6:00, Social at 7:00. BYOeverthing. A fun time will be had by all. Join us!!!

June 5: SCA REGIMENTAL BALL. At Floral Hall, Everett, $2 hall fee. Potluck dinner, call Lady Victoria, [REDACTED], for food assignments. BYOeverything. 7:00 Setup, 7:30 Formal reception and costume judging (Flashiest Dress Military and Most Eligant Lady period costumes), 8:00 Dinner, 9:00 Brief Court, 9:30 Dance – courtly dances of the ages (with instruction). For more info, call Capt. Evan ([REDACTED]).

June 26: NWSFS SOCIAL AND ELECTIONS. Host Lauraine Miranda, [REDACTED] Beacon Ave S, [REDACTED] or [REDACTED]. 5:30 General Meeting,6:00 Potluck, 7:00 Social, 8:00 Elections. BYOeverything, including meat for Bar-B-Q.

July 2–5: WESTERCON 35. Phoenix Hilton (Adams) Hotel, $29. GoH Gordon Dickson, FGoH (Vancouver’s) Fran Skene, TM David Gerrold. $25 at the door. Info [REDACTED].

July 31: NWSFS SOCIAL. To be determined, maybe in Bellingham.

July 31-Aug 1: Midsummer Night’s Scream. Bellingham WWU Relaxacon. Room and board about $22/day, membership $4 til July 17, $6 door. Info Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, WWU Viking Union, Bellingham 98225, or call [REDACTED].

Aug 13–15: CONGENERIC. Beaverton OR Greenwood Inn, $35. GoH Marta Randall. Memberships $7, $9 door. Banquet and Lisa Free art print $8.50. Dealers, panels, parties, dance, swimming. CON, POB [REDACTED], Portland OR 97212, [REDACTED].

Aug 13–16: Mythcon XIII. Chapman College in Orange CA. With Marion Zimmer Bradley, Tim Kirk, Paul Edwin Zimmer, Katherine Kurtz. Theme is The Celtic Influence on Fantasy Literature. Info POB [REDACTED], Orange CA 92667, [REDACTED].

Aug 27–29: dragonflight. Seattle Univ. Memberships $10 til July 1, $15 door. Role playing, board, video games; art show, dealers, panels, movies. Info POB [REDACTED], Seattle 98111.

Aug 28: NWSFS SOCIAL. Hosts Sue and Leroy Berven, Michael Scanlon, and Ray Miller. [REDACTED] SW 97th St, phone [REDACTED]. Big backyard Bar-B-Q, fun and games.

Sep 2–6: CHICON IV WORLDCON. Hyatt Regency, Chicago $42/$52/$62. GoH A. Bertram Chandler, AGoH Kelly Freas, FGoH Lee Hoffman, TM Marta Randall. Memberships $15 supporting, $50 til July 15 attending. Info POBox [REDACTED], Chicago IL 60690.

Sep 25: NWSFS SOCIAL. At MOSCON, Seattle alternative to be announced.

Sep 24–26: MOSCON IV. Cavanaugh Motor Inn, Moscow ID, $31/$37/$40, call [REDACTED] or [REDACTED]. GoH Marion Zimmer Bradley and Wendy Pini, FGoH Steve Forty. Memberships $12 til Sep 15, $15 door. Famous Art Show, Jacuzzi party, Seattle party, dealers, masquerade, panels, etc. SASE info to POB [REDACTED], Moscow ID 83843.

Oct 8–10: NONCON 5. Regency Motor Hotel, Edmunton, Alberta. GoH C.J. Chrryh, FGoH Steve Fahnestalk, TM Jon Gustafson. Memberships $10 til May 31, $12 til Aug 31, $15 door. Art Show, parties, lots of fun, eh! Info POBox [REDACTED] Edm AB Canada T5J 2P1.

Oct 23–24: NORWESCON 5.5, Seattle Hyatt. More details to come.

Oct 29–31: WORLD FANTASY CON 82. Park Plaza Hotel, New Haven, Conn. GoH Peter Straub and Josepf Payne Brennan, AGoH Don Maitz, TM Charles Grant. Memberships $25 attending, $10 supporting. Info POB [REDACTED], East Hartford Conn 06108.

Nov 12–14: ORYCON 82. Hilton Hotel, Portland, $50. GoH Robert Silverberg, FGoH Jeff Frane. Memberships $10 til May 31, $12 til Oct 31, $15 door.

[Image: Art of a small space ship flying along.]

NORWESCON 5 WRAP REPORT

The Chairman’s Corner

[Image: Drawing by Bill Warren of four identical men in silver suits, boots, and with belts and holsters, facing each other on a shiny floor.]

richard wright

SOCIALS Even though the official word did not get out, the Hotline recording and word of mouth info passing caused a rather large group to show up for the April Social. Many thanks to Sue and Leroy Berven, Mike Scanlon, and Ray Miller for having us over. We had such a good time that I insisted asked that they have us back for a big summer Social in August.

The May Social will be a Pat, Doug, and Linda production (see Calendar) and should be a lot of fun. Now that we are back on a monthly Social schedule, let us all turn out and have fun together. OK?

NORWESCON About 1400 of our nearest and dearest friends (as Judy Lorent is wont to say) showed up for a four day party last month, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. I am sure of this because I kept getting stopped in the Hyatt halls and told what a great convention it was. I am pleased that NORWESCON was so successful, and extremely proud of all the people who put in so much time to make it so.

One of the more interesting aspects of NORWESCON 5 was the group participation by some of the area fan organizations. The SF&F club from WWU in Bellingham (who just finishedputting on their own quite successful VikingCon) provided much of the site services functions, troubleshooting, signing, and such (and had time to win the Trivia Bowl, too). Tacoma’s Galactic Neighbors United group ran the computer room, scheduled the security staff, and ran much of the three-channel, 24-hour-a-day video program. And members of the PSST Outposts helped in many other valuable ways.

For the first time this year, we had a significant involvement from the Society for Creative Anachronism, much to our pleasure. The Royal Court was in attendance, and the SCA put together several interesting panels and a Sunday afternoon Tournament.

I believe that this shows that NORWESCON is coming of age, that it is truly a regional convention that has the backing and participation of the region’s fans. We must continue this whole region involvement and keep it strong.

Now, let us turn this report over to others and have a con review from our Chairman-in-Exile, Greg Bennett, and reports for all the various NORWESCON departments. But, again, let me express my appreciation for all the great work done by all the fine people who helped to make this such a wonderful NORWESCON. Many, many thanks.

[Image: Art by S. Fok of a woman looking at alien-looking mushrooms.]

NORWESCON FIVE: An Extremely Biased View

by Chairman in Exile and (despite his noises) Proud Papa, Gregory R. Bennett

“That’s a vicious rumor!” became my by-line as I toured the hails of the Seattle Hyatt Hotel during NORWESCON 5, March 18–22, 1982. At this fifth NORWESCON (actually the 10th convention in Seattle with activities sponsored by the Northwest Science Fiction Society), several fans had taken up the habit of introducing me as the Founder of NORWESCON. As one who becomes uncomfortable when facing a frontal attack of egoboo (loving it all the while, of course), I fell into a protective posture of absolute denials as never-ending praise of the convention was unleashed upon me.

Let’s heap that praise where it is due -on the heads of those who have carried on with the Northwest regional science fiction convention since I moved to Houston some two years ago. What I left them was a foundation of sorts: an organization, a handful of enthusiastic people, some sound fiscal philosophies, and perhaps a dose of my own personal whims toward ever-increasing splash, grandeur, and pomposity. But, what they have built on those foundations has exceeded even my own uncontrollable imagination, and the results have been absolutely wonderful!

The star of the show at an sf convention is whatever you bring away from it, and in addition to the pleasant memories, NORWESCON 5 handed its members a program book unmatched by any others that I have seen. The book is beautifully laid out, entirely typeset (even to the ads which came in in wretched condition), and mixes top- notch artwork with the non-stop entertainment of its text throughout all of its 96 pages. From its full-color foldout front cover by Michael Whelan to back cover art by Lela Dowling and Whelan, it contains articles, original fiction, and even outrageously amusing descriptions of the program items that would make the book Worth Printing even if it did not happen to be a convention program book. (Lucky news for those who did not join NORWESCON: I understand NWSFS has some leftovers for sale, cheap.) ($5.00 to NWSFS PO box - ed.)

My nominee for Best Dramatic Production of 1982: the opening of the NORWESCONe Ice Cream Social and Stardance on Friday night. The convention’s stage management department built a tunnel into the hotel’s ballroom for the event that gave me the feeling of entering one of my favorite space opera conveyances, with electronic wizardry blinking lights and pouring mysteriousvapors about my feet as I went; but the best is yet to come. The rooms’s interior had been transformed into something reminiscent of a trip to Metaluna, with a dance floor adorned by a huge construction that must have been a model of some spaceship navigation device, and row upon row of indescribable lightwork surrounding the professional sound system. Then, the show started. Throbbing rock music masked the noise of our engines as they built up thrust during the countdown, twin videobeam projectors threw amazing graphics across the room, smoke generators poured their stuff across the floor, and two laser beams knifed out from the disk jockey’s den in time with the music. I stood entranced as Beth Dockins danced about the mist, her silver lame outfit and streaming wands aglitter in laser light. No one in the room wanted to break the spell they had woven, so we stood with mouths agape, uttering dumbfounded inanities of gratitude, until members of the crew dragged us out onto the floor to get the dance started.

We started NORWESCON as a practice WorldCon, and from this year’s program listing, they’re still practicing! Three full tracks of programs ran throughout the convention, and this year Steve Bard (who now doubles as program director as well as convention chairman) managed to find even more fascinating people to discuss an array of topics that would keep every fan busy during the day from the most ardent space buff to most dedicated purple-thumbed 'zinepubber. Once again, I found myself speaking to standing-room-only audiences on three program items: origins of Northwestern conventions and clubs, this year’s WorldCon, and my beloved Space Shuttle. Other programming included a hilarious interview where Toastmaster Dick Lupoff switched roles with Guest of Honor Tom Disch, a well-executed theatrical adaptation of Fan Guest of Honor Bob Shaw’s “The Enchanted Duplicator”, and an array of technical presentations that must have left the Boeing Company unmanned throughout the convention.

The Fannish Olympiad made a return engagement this year, augmented by a traveling trophy presented during the banquet, and the Trivia Bowl was held again with lights blinking and bells ringing amid the frenzied ponderings of perspiring contestants. A new innovation for NORWESCON 5 was a scavenger hunt, which provided me with continuous entertainment throughout the convention even though I did not sign up to be a hunter — my autograph was one of the items that intrepid scavengers had to seek. The Huckster Room sported its usual variety of salable commodities, including a limited edition NORWESCON 5 T-shirt by William Warren modeled after the nostalgic covers of Astounding. And the Art Show recovered from the previous NORWESCON’s embarrassing faux pas when this year Randy “Tarkas” Hoar proved beyond question that the artists themselves could run an excellent professional show.

Tony Blankinship’s film program concentrated on some classics, such as THX 1138 and The Man Who Fell To Earth, leaving the stock stuff to the 3-channel video program that was braodcast throughout the hotel. Another innovation of the convention was the addition of a live newscast three times a day on one of the video channels, where even I found myself being interviewed about nearly every topic under the sun.

Spirits were somewhat dampened during the banquet by news of the death of author Philip K. Dick, and Tom Disch set aside his GoH speech to pay homage to one of sf’s great talents. But, the banquet was not entirely without its usual levity – Toastmaster Dick Lupoff’s uncanny anecdotes kept the diaphrams jumping in spasmodic contortions throughout the rest of the Great Meal’s program.

Ah, but even this greatest of conventions had its problems, and it would be unfair not to mention a few. At NORWESCONs past, my personal favorite moment of the convention has been when I got to inflict the Break Even Award on some unsuspecting neofan whose membership put the convention’s financial status into the black; but, sadly, we were unable to present that particular award this year. (The happy news is that now, some two weeks after the convention, it appears that the balance sheet finally did sqeeak into the plus column as some old receivables lethargically arrived.)

For the first time ever, Liz Warren’s convention hsopitality suite suffered from NORWESCON 5’s cashflow setback and ran out of soft drinks on Saturday night; although the con suite was otherwise one of the most delightful places to be throughout the convention, with the Dragon Lady’s troop of hospitable bartenders pouring freely to members who had the requisite ID, and buckets of Aplets and Cotlets augmenting Carl Sagan’s Primordial Soup Party on Saturday and quiche and chocolate mousse on Sunday.

For the second year in a row, the video program reception was poor in most areas of the hotel due to hotel technical problems. Considering the importance of the video program in squeezing NORWESCON into the available facilities, solving these transmission problems ought to be a priority concern for the committee’s technocrats during the coming year.

My final plaint concerns the programming schedule. In the chaos of planning the times of some of the events on Saturday night, the schedule made it impossible for some of the participants to get away for dinner until the wee hours of the morning. This happenstance wasn’t entirely disappointing for me, since my scheming for a rollicking mob exodus to a fannish face feed recovered itself into a delightful dinner for two, but the growling tummies of those who were forced to put off dinner did little to aid their already somewhat exhausted state. Although it is nearly impossible to plan all the bugs out of such an active program schedule, especially with Murphy’s Laws running at their peak efficiency during sf convention planning sessions, it may be prudent in the future to carefully allow for refuelling the bodies of the convention’s more active program participants. Especially late in the convention, this topic deserves some priority consideration.

When asked by the mundanes here why I was flying all the way to Seattle for a weekend convention, I replied that I just couldn’t miss My Baby’s birthday. Now that the party is over, I can happily say that I am absolutely enchanted with and insufferably proud of the way the baby has grown up!

[Image: Drawing by S. Fox of a woman in a spacesuit.]

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Yes, please send me NIEKAS (a Hugo winner).

1 Year $7
2 Years $14
Bill me
Payment enclosed

Send to [REDACTED] School Street
Laconia, NH 03246

NIEKAS SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY]

registration

Lauraine Miranda of the NORWESCON 5 registration dept. would like to thank the following people who donated their time and effort to help out.

Kathy Anderson
Steve Berry
Steve Bieler
Jessi Brenner
Mary Cole
Kit Canterbury
Janet Dye
Libby Evans The Broughton-Neiswangers Elizabeth Fern
Walt Guyll
Patricia Hedke
Linda Hoffer
Barbara Hunter
Glen Kilpatrick
Kathryn Krauel
Janne Miranda Janice Murray
April Owens
Caroline Palms
Penny Perry
Kris Renke
Michael Scanlon
Mark Schellberg
Dianne Villaflor
Bryce Walden

And all those people who got sucked into her room on Thursday night; The Black Hole Crowd.

[Image: A harpy in flight.]

dragon lady’s bar & grill

The Hospitality Suite at NORWESCON 5 seemed to be a rousing success. We were almost always out of everything no matter how often we went out to get more. The beer supply didn’t disappear this year, but we sure did go through a lot of hard liquor. I did not keep a bottle by bottle count this year of how much we went through, but we spent nearly 3 thousand bucks on what we did have. That is a heck of a lot of booze and goodies. If any of you have a complaint about how it was done, please contact me through the NWSFS post office box. We are always looking for ideas and want to know what we did wrong. Thank you for making NORWESC0N 5 the best so far.

The Hospitality Dept. of NORWESCON 5 would like to thank very much the following people for their time, effort and ability to put up with the Dragon Lady and still do a good job:

Debbie Tatarek
David and Julia Samson
Robert Stephenson
Diane Lane
Becky Thomson
Bob Suryan
Michael Faletti
Wendal Muggenthaler
Wendy Boelter
ObiDoug Kenobi (alias Superman)
and any other bodies who helped out while I wasn’t looking and therefore don’t remember.

Elizabeth (The Dragon Lady) Warren

masquerade

The NORWESCON 5 Masquerade was conceived, directed and enjoyed by a small crew of some 9 to 13 resorceful zealots who were as follows:

Crew Chief Kit Canterbury Crew
Carol DeMont II
Julie Zetterberg
Sue and JohnTaubeneck
Tony Sardo
jan howard finder

Plus two wonderful but woefully anonymous gofers whose names the crew chief negligently failed to write down.

As the masquerade loomed nearer, other convention crew appeared to assist in the great hour of need and are fondly remembered.

This fine crew managed 47 beautiful and bizarre maquerade contestants through the best NORWESCON Masquerade to date. And naturally, next year’s performance will exceed this one if the contestants continue to improve as much as they have in the past.

Seventeen awards were presented- and Judges Julian May Dikty, Betty Bigelow, Richard Wright and Mary Hamburger declared this a most difficult task due to the quality and ingenuity of the costumes.

Awards presented were as follows:

Best of Show;
Carol Moyes as Ambassadress Scene Senet, a character from her own unfinished book.

Best Performance;
Brad Snowder as Jasper a medieval terran prankster.

Most Humorous;
Cameron Craigie who brought the house down with a deliciously recognizable portrayal of Carl Sagan.

Fantasy Awards were;

First Place- Rochelle Eldridge as a Hopi Kachina doll.

Second Place- Scott Allen asa dragon.

Third Place- Pippin Sardo as a Gypsy Moth hotly pursued by a green moth trap.

Science Fiction Awards were;

First Place- Kathy Pillsbury as Crown Princess Ardala.

Second Place- Jennifer Sennet as Gemma a space captain.

Awards for Best Character From a Book;

First Place- Nick Gerety as Magneto from Marvel Comics.

Second Place- Mark Chapman as Doctor Victor Von Doom.

Third Place- Brian McNett as Arthur Dent from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Honorable Mention;
Jerry Eveland as Asmodeus.

Best Character from Media Awards;

First Place- D.J. Driscoll as Ursa, a Kryptonian villainess from Superman II.

Second Place- Blake Mitchell as Lt. Staavick from Vengeance of Khan (Star Trek The Motion Picture II).

Third Place- James Smith as a Cylon Centurion from Battlestar Galactica.

Lucasfilm Media Awards;

First Place- Vincent Cabrio as Boba Fett.

Second Place- Marjorie Stratton and children as Galadriel, Pippin and Merry from Lord of the Rings.

There will be more catagories and more awards possible next year, and the masquerade committee is eager to give them away. There are only 9 months to get your costumes ready!

operations

For myself, NORWESCON 5 was the best ever. This was due largely to the wonderful crew working at the convention. The Convention Services staff was no exception to the rule. The five sections and all their departments worked at a fever pitch throughout the 3 1/2 day con. This enabled me to get more sleep and relaxation at this NWC than I have at all the previous NORWESCONs combined.

It would be impossible for me to name all the people that worked at the con. There is simply not enough room. However, there are a few people that must be acknowledged. First and foremost, I want to mention my second-in-command Michael Citrak. You may have noticed a blur running through the halls of the hotel, that was Michael. Have screwdriver, will travel. Thank you little brother for all your help.

Section Chief Pat Mallinson did a marvelous job with the media section. I hope you were able to see our great line-up of SF&F movies and news broadcasts on one of the 3 TV channels we took over for the weekend. In addition, our 16 mm film program was every bit as tasty as the network offerings, Many thanks to you and your crew.

Jay Parks and company took care of the Site Services section, This included troubleshooting, security and the signs that helped you find your way around the hotel. The video games, computer games and role-playing games were also under the keen eye of this group.

Do you remember that marvelous light show at the dance and at the masquerade? If you want to thank the right people look no further than the Olympia Contingent and Michael Kenmir who headed our Stage Services section. With their help, this year almost everything ran on time. Love and Kisses to you all!

No job is finished until the paperwork is done, or started for that matter. Barbara Hunter and her crew made sure that statement became true in the Office Services section. I have to make a note of something at this point. You get to know and admire people after you have seen them stuck in a little room for three days and on Sunday evening they are still smiling.

Doug Booze was also stuck in a little room of his own taking care of yours, mine and the cons equipment for the Property Services section. You have no idea how glad I am to know it was Doug and his crew taking care of it all all. I am also very relieved we were able to find Doug still alive and breathing under all that on Monday morning.

There is also some key personel that need to be recognized for their many contributions. They are:

Mark Schellberg- Video Programming Computers and Security.

Peter Citrak, Beth Pockins, Paul Wocken, Sharee Sledge, Dee Kidd-Lighting and Sound.

Gordon Erickson, Becky Simpson- Projectionists.

Mark Cecil, Richard Wright, Starbuck, Doug Taylor, Mark Schaper-Stage Management.

Jeanine Cray, Becky Simpson, Libby Evans, Feona, Bob Suryan-Office Staff.

Chuck van der Linden-Technical Services.

Kit Canterbury- Information Booth.

Marci Malinowycz-Signs.

Shirin Salzer, Jenifer Parkinson, D.J. Driscoll, Henry Eiling, Dan Levine-Video Services.

I am sorry that we didn’t have enough room to name you all, but we do appreciate and thank you. A Tacky Awards Banquet will be held in June and all NORWESCON staff are invited to attend. More information on this in next months WESTWIND.

Judy Lorent

art show & auction

Now that I’ve had my lobotomy, and the scars are healing well, I can write this report with a smile.

As you’ve probably noticed, the artshow was very successful, and we’ve had many favorable comments. We earned a little over $7000.00 in sales (Lunacon didn’t clear $3000.00) and a thousand of that was collected during the champagne receptions. (Isn’t it amazing how a little “bubbly” removes all the bidding doubts?)

I’ve heard a few people mention that they thought the artshow had fewer artists participating this year. On the contrary, we had 11 more artists than last year! We had so much more space because of a small engineering feat which created a convincing illusion. I hope everyone enjoyed the elbow room and the relaxed atmoshere. The music program went over very well (before and after the guest speeches were filtered out).

[Image: Cartoon of two people in robes holding up a map in front of a tree stump with a large toad impaled on a fork, as one says, ‘This is it! The fork in the toad.’]

Now the information you read this whole article to find out; the highest grossing artists (interpret that statement as you will) and The Orb Award recipients.

Our very own home-grown William Warren was the higest paid artist at Norwescon 5 (ed. For the second year in a row.). Number 2 on the totem pole was Daniel Reeder, 3 was our Guest Artist, Michael Whelan, 4 was Thomas Barrett from Boston, and 5 was Ray Williams. The Orb Awards went like this; Best of Show - Kevin Johnson, Best Fantasy - Kevin Johnson, Best Science Fiction - Michael Whelan.

I hope everyone read all of the above very carefully, because you’ll notice the Pacific Northwest artists not only reaped most of the money but the awards as well! I’m sure if you keep treating them well they’ll stop all this talk of moving to New York. Since I have been allotted this space, I would like to thank all the artshow staff for creating the type of artshow every con should have.

John Alexander
B.C.
Jan Howard Finder
Jon Farrelly
Duane Robinson
William Warren
Steve Gallacci
Jane Hawkins
Kevin Johnson
Janet Kramer
Ray Williams
Lee Winkle
Randy (Tarkas) Hoar

NWSFS Elections!

SCIENCE FICTION NORTHWEST

The Chairman, ViceChairman, and Treasurer of Science Fiction Northwest, the parent body of NWSFS and NORWESCON, are elected by the NWSFS membership at their annual June meeting. Ballots are mailed by June 5 to NWSFS members whose dues are paid up for the period from the last Saturday of March through the last Saturday of May of the current year. Ballots may be cast by mail or in person at the June NWSFS General Meeting. Teller procedures are printed on the ballot.

Any NWSFS member who has been a member in good standing for twelve (12) months preceding June, and who may sign contracts in the State of Washington, may be nominated for any one of the three offices. Nominations may be made by mail or phone to Lauraine Miranda, Chairwoman of the Nominations and Elections Committee, (NWSFS PO Box, or [REDACTED]). Anyone may nominate, but permission of the nominee must be secured. Nominations may also be made in person at the May NWSFS General Meeting. If you wish to run for office, or nominate someone to run, please contact Lauraine as soon as possible.

[Ad: NORWESCON 6

Rates: $15.00 until … ?
($12.00 for NWSFS members)

Make checks payable to NORWESCON 6

and
COMING THIS FALL

NORWESCON 5.5

Write: NWSFS
P.O.Box [REDACTED]
Seattle, WA98124

[Image: A large space ship orbiting a planet with moons in the background.]]

[Ad: And now, a message from our sponsor …
These conventions have been brought to you by:

THE NORTHWEST SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY (NWSFS)*

[Image: A six-limbed creature reaches out to hold the front paw of a four-limbed antelope-like creature.]

Publishers of the monthly club magazine Westwind, and creators of many diverse and fascinating social activities …

Club memberships are a steal during this limited-time, limited-supply offer. For the rock-bottom price of only $7.00 per year. To get your very own membership, just send a check or money order; along with your name and address to:

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P.O. Box [REDACTED]
Seattle, Wa. 98124

Offer good until 12/31/99 … or while supply lasts …

* Pronounced “Nizz-Fizz”]

The Ultimate Closing Ceremony - just for openers

[Image: A man walking through a door from a space with an alien and a spaceship to a space with an astronaut standing in front of a launching Space Shuttle.]

As NORWESCON wrapped down on Monday morning, March 22, something was notably absent: that old, familiar “Ho, hum, back to the mundane world” feel- ing, commonly referred to by fen in general as the ‘post-con blues’. Usually, a convention weekend is followed by a Monday morning pervaded with the bittersweet memories of the excitement, the shared dreams of starstuff, with a liberal helping of fielding queries from mundanes and perhaps a dash of a vicious hangover.

But Monday, the 22nd, was different this year. NORWESCONites emerged from the beloved Hyatt to enter a mundane world being watched by two astronauts in a reusable spacecraft the size of a small airliner.

Columbia lofted only about an hour behind schedule, and despite minor problems with spacesickness and a malfunctioning zero-gravity toilet (passengers are advised to read the instructions carefully), the mission really brough home the impact of the new generation of space exploration vehicle.

Mission Commander Jack Lousma, a veteran from Skylab 3, and pilot Charles ‘Gordon’ Fullerton, who crewed on one of the ‘Enterprise’ approach and landing tests in 1976, rode their magnificent flying brick with its bellyfull of intricate scientific experiments into a fairly standard,nearly-equatorial orbit at approximately 11 am Cape time, 8:00 here in Seattle. Once in near-earth orbit, they set up housekeeping and began their regimen of tests and observations.

On this third mission of the Space Transportation System (STS-3), the experiments included a nine-instument package from the Office of Space Science and Applications. The pallets carried on previous missions, managed by the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications, and delt primarily with terrestrial applications of the shuttle, such as laser mapping and oceanographic readings. The OSS-1 pallet carried on this mission concentrated on the effects of the spacecraft on its environment and vice- versa, and for the first time required extremely close communication between no less than four major agencies. First, the Johnson Space Flight Center, responsible for the astronauts and the vehicle. Second, the Kennedy space center for Launch and Landing operations. Third, the Marshall Space Flight Center for pallet engineering, and finally the Goddard Space Flight Center for overall administration, assembly of the payload pallet, testing operations, flight operations, data handling and liaison with the principal investigators. The pallet was constructed by the European SpaceAgency to fit into the shuttle’s 15-foot high payload bay.

In addition to the OSS-1 pallet, there were separately sponsored experiments for solar ultraviolet and X-ray observations, botanical and biological tests, a micrometeorite detection experiment, and a medicinal manufacturing package to determine procedures for the synthesis of urokinase, an anti-coagulant - a process which is six to eight times more efficient in zero gravity than on earth. Also, manufacturing procedures for microscopic latex spheres for cancer research, filtration and blood-cell counting were studied. While a one-gee environment limits the size of such spheres to about two microns, sphere up to 50 microns are possible in a zero-gee manufacturing environment.

If awards were to be given for experiments, the prize would go to a thermal canister experiment, testing canisters to protect future experiments, which tipped the scales at eight hundred and five pounds. (Yes, 805.) The most disapointing experiment had to be a student experiment on zero-gee insect flight; of 12 bees, only one survived the mission.

And the award for the most spectacular aspect of the mission has to go to the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator Arm, which not only operated flawlessly, but gave us the added plus of carrying a television camera with it. We were treated to breathtaking views of Columbia as it (literally) held a camera at arms length and took self-portraits. (Say “Gees”—)

Still another space first for STS-3 was an unprecedented delay due to poor weather at the landing sites. First, the dry lakebed strip at Edwards AFB was rained out; then, high winds at the first alternate in White Sands, New Mexico threatened to force Columbia down on the permanent concrete strip at the Cape. Finally, Lousma and Fullerton were cleared for a delay of another day in orbit, the first time a spaceship was stacked up into a holding pattern.

While we will attempt to keep WESTWIND readers updated on the progress and planning of future flights, here are a few brief highlights; the next mission (STS-4) is tentativelyscheduled for July 27, but may be moved ahead as early as June 27. NASA is endeavoring to reduce the time between flights, eliminating or shortening the built-in holds (which I never have had explained to my satisfaction, anyway) and otherwise normalizing the schedul for routine operations.

For Columbia, STS-4 represents the final shakedown cruise, and the routine operations will commence in November. 0V-099 Challenger will be become operational in January of 1983, followed by Discovery in January of 1984 and Atlantis in 1985.

Negotiations are currently underway for a privately-financed fifth orbiter, which would be owned by a large banking corporation and operated by NASA. The added capacity of the fifth orbiter to carry commercial payloads would be used to compute the profits derived from private ownership of such a vehicle.

Sounds like a Heinlein story, doesn’t it. NORWESCONites, consider yourselves vindicated! The wheels of the “real” world turn very slowly, but when we can step out of today’s Science fiction convention to find yesterday’s science fiction incarnate, there may yet be a chance that all your doomsaying friends are wrong!

We wish to acknowledge the Gulf Coast Science Fiction Society of Houston, Texas for the compilation of “The Junior Astronauts Manual”, the prime reference for this article. Thank you Greg and company.

[Image: A wizard looking into a glowing orb.]

Serpent’s Tooth

by Jon Gustafson

“A sufficiently advanced review is indistinguishable from madness”
Author: see Clarke

Piers Anthony has been around for many years, writing thought-provoking and often elusive fiction of exceptional quality. In the past few years, however, he seems to have forgotten what the word “serious” meant and has, I think, really been enjoying himself with the worlds of Phaze and Xanth. In Centaur Aisle (Ballantine/Del Rey Books, #29770, $2.75), Anthony takes his off-the- wall sense of humor and his immense knowledge of the English language, places them together between the covers of this 294-page book (the fourth book of the Xanth trilogy, by the way), and shakes vigorously. When the dust settles, you are presented with a funny, clever saga of Dor … King Dor, now that King Trent has disappeared into the wilds of Mundania … and his frantic search for the lost King. With him travel Irene, the King’s somewhat brattish daughter with the nice legs, Grundy the Golem, Smash (an Ogre), and Arnolde, a scholarly centaur. They travel the length of Xanth, past Lake Ogre-chobee and other famous landmarks and end up in Mundania near the Black Sea and about the year 650 AD (don’t ask, you’ll have to read the book for details like that). Anthony loves to play with words, as: ''But a qualm was gnawing at him. He cuffed it away, but it kept returning, as was the nature of its kind." tn fact, in this novel he’s probably violatednearly every rule of writing known and gotten away with it –the advantages of writing of a world where magic is the norm. I found this book quite delightful (and it has a very nice cover by Michael Whalen) and recommend it to you.

Leo and Diane Dillon, while not as prolific as Kelly Freas or Michael Whelan, are artists who carved – and are still carving, for that matter – out a small but important place in the history of science fiction illustrations. I first became aware of their art through a series of covers they did for Ace Books in the mid-1960’s and the cover of Pyramid’s edition of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (Ellison). In The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon (Ballantine Trade, #28449, $14.95, 8–3/4" by 11–3/4"), edited by Byron Preiss, the reader is treated to an incredible selection of their work, with 48 full-color plates, many black-and-white illustrations, and an excellent history/analysis of their works. Their range of styles is amazing, from rough wood-cuts to polished, highly-detailed paintings and everything in between. In their 20- plus years, they have won the Hugo, the King Award for Illustration, and the quite prestigious Caldecott Medal. If you have any interest in art, this book you should not miss. Highly recommended.

john g. cramer

BETTER THAN FICTION
FASTER THAN LIGHT - BACKWARD IN TIME

This article is divided into two parts: first I am going to tell you why it is impossible to communicate at speeds faster that the velocity of light, and then I am going to tell you how to do it! The method described is based on a new quantum mechanical paradox devised by physicist Nick Herbert. It is a proposed experiment which apparently gives us a way of tapping Nature’s faster-than-light telephone line.

But what’s wrong with faster-than-light (FTL) communication in the first place? The first reason why FTL communication is considered to be impossible is because it bumps heads with Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Special Relativity, let me remind you, is Einstein’s first attempt at describing the relations between space, time, mass, and electromagnetism. It leaves out the effects of gravity, which was later dealt with in the much more complicated General Relativity. Most readers of science fiction know about some of the things that Special Relativity says about time and space: (1) you can’t go faster than the speed of light; and (2) when you go as close to the speed of light as you can, the clocks on your spaceship will slow down ano you will age more slowly, and your spaceship will become much more massive. However, in addition to these effects, there is also another way of looking at special relativity which has not been so well discussed by SF authors.

The basis for Special Relativity (Einstein’s starting point) was that the laws of physics (mechanics, electricity, thermodynamics, etc.) should be the same to an “observer” (a person who is making careful observations and physical measurements) moving with a constant speed as to an observer who is not moving at all. In other words, a passenger on a fast space ship, if he doesn’t look outside to seethe universe pass by, cannot do any experiment which tells him that he is moving rather than standing still. Another way to say this is that you can’t build an “absolute speedometer” which will tell you how fast you are moving with respect to absolute space, or will tell whether you are at rest with respect to absolute space. The Universe treats moving observers the same as fixed observers in all ways and carefully conceals its “true” motion (if there were such a thing).

[Image: Cartoon of Albert Einstein wearing a tall top hat and looking at a hand of cards.]

Another aspect of Special Relativity which is important to us for FTL communication is that two events separated in space (firecrackers exploding in two well separated locations) nay happen at exactly the sane tine (simultaneously) as recorded by one observer and happen at decidedly different tines (non-simultaneous) as seen by another observer who is moving with a different speed. “Simultaneity” is not a property of absolute space-time; it depends on who is doing the measuring and how fast they are moving. There is no way of stating with absolute certainty whether one thing happens at the same time as another thing some distance away. The Universe won’t let you.

Now suppose that we equip two helpers with a pair of “instantaneous” CB radios which can send a message across any distance of space on zero time. We can then place our helpers at the positions of the two firecracker explosions, and by talking to them over the FTL radios we can determine unambiguously whether the explosions are really simultaneous or not. But if we do this, we can decide whether an observer who sees the events as simultaneous is “right” or whether another observer who sees them as non-simultaneous is “right”. This means essentially that the laws of physics not the same in the “right” system than they are in all of the other systems (which are “wrong”) because in only the “right” system can the apparent simultaneity of two events be verified by FTL communication. The FTL radio is therefore essentially an “absolute space speedometer” which we just said couldn’t be built. Therefore, such FTL communicators are inconsistent with Special Relativity and must be impossible.

While we have only talked about instantaneous communication here, with more such arguments we can show that communication at any speed greater that light-speed gives the same problems with simultaneity. Notice that any sort of FTL communication is similarly prohibited, including hand-carrying a written message through hyperspace aboard the USS Enterprise. This is very frustrating to those of us who would like to accomplish not only FTL communication but also FTL travel. Is there any way out?

Well, maybe …

The FTL communication has problems with Special Relativity only if the communication gives information about the simultaneity of the events reported. But if the FTL radio worked across time separations as well as space separations, our two helpers might have been talking to us from different times, and so we could not use their messages to tell if the events they reported were “really” simultaneous or not. However, there is also a problem with this: such trans-time communication is possible only if we permit our FTL messages to sometimes travel backwards in time! Which brings us to the other reason why FTL communication is impossible.

There is an important principle in physics, which has the status of a natural law, called the Principle of Causality (or simply, Causality). Causality says that a cause must always precede its effects in time sequence. This is equivalent to saying that information cannot be sent backwards in time. Now suppose that we arrange for our helpers to send a FTL message from one place to another distant place instantaneously. One helper whom we will call the Sender tells the other helper, the Receiver, to do something. The Sender is thus the cause of the Receiver’s action, which is the effect. According to Special Relativity, if we look at the same process from a moving system, we can change the simultaneity or relative time sequence of these separated events and make the effect precede the cause in time sequence. Instantaneous communication violates Causality, and with some calculating we can show that FTL communication at any super-light speed also violates Causality for the same reason. And so, FTL communication may or may not have a problem with Special Relativity, but it always has problems with Causality. Nevertheless, a way has been proposed for doing it!

Quantum mechanics, as I have tried to convince you in past Westwind articles, seems to describe microscopic phenomena which would seem absolutely bizarre if they happened in our macroscopic world. For example, a source of electrons send our a single electron as a wave which expands like the ripple from a stone dropped into a still pool. The wave, which represents the possibility of an electron, continues to travel and to spread out until the instant when the electron is “detected” by hitting an atom. At that instant, the electron pops into existence and the wave which has been moving in other directions vanishes. This might be described as Nature sending out a FTL message to other parts of space cancelling the wave.

There are also other aspects of quantum mechanics which seem to imply FTL communication by Nature. Almost two decades ago, J. S. Bell performed a calculation which has come to be known as the Bell Inequality. As presently interpreted, the Bell Inequality shows that any variant of quantum mechanics which is “local” (does not permit FTL cause-effect) must obey certain inequalities in the data obtained from certain hypothetical experiments, and that conventional quantum mechanics does not always obey these relations. The implication of this is that quantum mechanics is “non-local” in that it seems to involve FTL communication. This seems to make for a head-to-head test of Special Relativity and Causality (no FTL communication) vs. Quantum Mechanics.

[Image: Callout text: The implication of this is that quantum mechanics is ‘non-local’ in that it seems to involve FTL communication…]

It took almost another decade for experimental physicists to solve all the problems in the way of actually performing these tests. These tests involved polarized light. To describe this, let me pause here to say a few words about polarization. Light (from radio waves to gamma rays) is a wiggling electric field travelling through space in a particular direction (say east). The electric field can be pointing in any direction which makes a right angle with the direction of the light. If the electric field wiggles north-south, for example, then we say the light is horizontally polarized, and if it wiggles up-down then we say it is vertically polarized. Polaroid sun glasses, for example, pass only vertically polarized light and block horizontally polarized light. This is because most “glare” is horizontally polarized.

The Bell Inequality tests involved using a special source of light to prepare two photons of light which travelled in opposite directions but were in exactly the same state of polarization, and to measure the intensities of such pairs of photons as the plane of polarization of the measuring apparatus was rotated. There were many experimental problems requiring years if careful work. But when all the experimental problems were solved and the results checked and verified, quantum mechanics was the clear winner of the “confrontation”. The “local” theories had been vanquished, and conventional quantum mechanics, by winning, had been demonstrated experimentally to be “non-local”. Mature had been caught communicating faster than the speed of light! However, the communication was done in such a way that there seemed no way of using the experimental setup to provide “observer-to-observer” communication, to tap Nature’s FTL telephone line. In fact, the impossibility of using the Bell Inequality test apparatus for FTL communication between observers was demonstrated mathematically.

However, physicist Nick Herbert may have found a way of tapping Nature’s FTL telephone after all. From one perspective, the reason the Bell Inequality experiments do not permitobserver-to-observer communication is because each observer has only one photon to play with, on which he may do only one measurement. The information from that measurement is not enough to tell him the complete polarization state of the photon. Herbert’s gimmick is to use the phenomena of stimulated emission to “xerox” the photon many times so that many measurements can be made. This is done by running the single photon through a laser “gain tube” which “amplifies” the light without changing its quantum state. The light is then split up with partially silvered mirrors into a number of beams, each of which is measured for polarization. It appears that such laser amplification will permit one observer to deduce what sort of measurement the observer on the other end of the experiment has done, which is equivalent to instantaneous communication from one observer to another across time and space.

Let me make an analogy here, which may make the situation clearer. Suppose we are playing a card game in which Player 1, the Sender, divides the deck of cards in one of two ways: either red-black or high-low. He then chooses half of the deck at random (say “low”) and gives it to player 2, the Receiver, who is to guess which way the Sender divided the deck. If the Receiver is allowed to draw only one card from his deck (say the two-of-hearts) he has no information on how the deck was divided. But if he can draw two (or more) cards he can do better. For example, if he draws the two-of-hearts and the three-of-spades, then he knows the deck was not divided red-black and so must have been divided high-low. The permitting of several draws from the deck is equivalent to permitting several measurements of the photon after laser amplification.

Herbert’s work is not yet published, but already a number of groups have heard of the scheme and at least one experimental group in Italy may be well set up to try it. I have been working on the analysis of the scheme for several months, and while I have identified a number of sources of noise which will make an experiment very difficult, I have found nothing which will block the FTL signal.

The Herbert Experiment is in direct conflict with Causality. One could design a version of the experiment, for example,in which the sender’s photon was bounced off a retro-reflector on the Moon and back to the laboratory, in which the signal would reach the Receiver about two seconds before it was transmitted by the Sender! Such experiments produce a plethora of Causality paradoxes which are familiar to SF readers (and which make my head hurt to think about). Such as: “What if after you receive a message from yourself in the future, you decide not to send it?” Those of you old enough to remember Asimov’s “Thiothimoline” articles in Astounding will know what to expect.

So what happens next? It seems unlikely to me that Nature would have gone to all the trouble of arranging the Universe so that we can’t know the future and are completely under the dictates of Causality, only to leave us a quantum mechanical loophole by means of which we can know the future after all and evade Causality. But if there is some subtlety in Herbert’s scheme which blocks the signal, no one has found it yet. Perhaps the only recourse will be to try it and see what happens. Maybe the time stream of the Universe is a two-way street after all.

[This article is based on a talk of the same title presented at NORWESCON-5 on March 20, 1982.]

lucubrations

WESTWIND sometimes gets letters from our readers, we have wanted to print then, but we do have space limitations. But I couldn’t resist with these two. If space allows and we may carry this as a regular feature.

Dear Elizabeth and Staff,

You certainly know how to run a nice convention. I really enjoyed meeting so many interesting people and the workshops and panels have inspired ne to better things. I was so inspired that I felt I should show you how the con changed my lifestyle. (See Illustration)

I’ll be there next year with bells on. Keep up the good work. Lauraine runs a tight ship. It’ll take three people to replace her. Best wishes,

Elizabeth Fern
Ellensberg, WA.

[Image: Cartoon of a woman wearing a propeller beanie sitting on the ground reading abook as a child stands next to her, a baby sits in a high chair nearby, and two people look on from a doorway.]

(We also got a nice card from Bryan Barret, but Lauraine’s mom is collecting stamps and cut it in half. The half that I can read says “such a marvelous… had a great… look forward to next years con. All the best, Bryan.” [Mission San Jose, CA.])

announcements

This year marks the 10th anniversary (or 11th awarding) of the prestigious Hogu and Blackhole awards. These awards are given in the spirit of satire and good humor, but also with a taste of revenge. They try to acknowledge not only the hoaxes of fandom and everyday life, but also the events and people who conspire against our having a good time. But above all, these awards, given out at the annual Hogu banquet during WorldCon, is a fan award. They endeavor each year to get as many fans to nominate from as many areas as possible.

Nomination deadline is June 1, 1982. Liz Warren and Judy Lorent have copies of the Nomination Ballot. Call, or see them at the Social, to get yours.

Frank Catalano has asked us to ask all of you photographer types if there are any pictures of the crab leg thing at the masquerade of NORWESCON 5. He needs pictures of both halves of the people wearing the legs. Write to Frank care of the NWSFS post office box. He says he will pay for the duplication costs.

STARBLAZE Editions from Donning Publishers continue to show up on our local bookracks, and good books they are. Some recent releases have been: The Hugo award winning They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley (reviewed in March WESTWIND); Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett, writing as “Robert Randall”, have released the concluding volume of their Nidorian saga, The Dawning Light, illustrated by Barclay Shaw, oversize paper, $4.95; Mallworld by Campbell award-winning Somtow Sucharitkul gathers the Mallworld stories printed in “Asimov’s”, and a new story, into one oversize volume illustrated by Karl Kofoed, $4.95; and the Frankenstein saga continues in a new series beginning with Frankenstein Lives Again, a trade paper ($4.95) with a wrap-around cover by Ken Kelly and interiors by Danforth.

The latest word from Glass Onion Graphics is that Michael Whelan has been commissioned to do the cover of Arthur C. Clarke’s new novel, 2010: Odyssey Two, published by Ballantine/Del Rey. Congratulations to Michael, NORWESCON 5’s Art Guest of Honor.

SUPERDANCE II Pat Mallinson and her group of hard working people are having a dance to benefit The Viking Fund and Delta Vee. Feed a starving Robot and give $4.00 and meet friends, old and new at the Seattle Center North Court on June 12. Call Pat at [REDACTED] in you want to get in on the fun.

Admission fees to the Seattle Art Museum in Volunteer Park and Seattle Center will be waived from 5 to 9 pm on 17 consecutive Friday evenings beginning May 7, courtesy of grants from the King County, and Seattle, Arts Commissions. There will be a nine-week Friday film series which focuses on the evolution of cinematic style and technique during the early years of this century. Program flyers may be picked up at any Public Library. (The museum continues to be free on Thursdays.) And remember The Art of Chivalry continues through June 6 at the Seattle Center museum; a fascinating show!

[Image: An alien-looking space pod flying by.]

“We can’t offer much besides credit and a hearty thank you, but we desperately need someone with the facilities and training to edit, add credits, and duplicate VHS video tapes from the Razz Bazz Rep’s production of The Enchanted Duplicator at NORWESCON 5. We will, of course, buy the tapes and pay other reasonable expenses. Can you help? Call Shelley at [REDACTED] evenings.”

United Artists reminds us that the Don Bluth production “The Secret of NIMH”, a lavishly produced animated adventure/fantasy is targeted for a July release. Don Bluth Productions was formed in 1979 by a large group of animators who left Walt Disney Studio with a total commitment to prove that classical animation is still a valiant and valid art form. Newsletters 1 and 2 for “NIMH” are available from Julia Pascal, UA, [REDACTED] 7th Ave, NYC NY 10019.

[Image: Cartoon by Bill Warren of the Easter Bunny by a row of large painted eggs, one of which has just launched an alien facehugger onto the Easter Bunny’s face.]

Original Short Fiction by Frank Catalano & Joel Anthony Davis

The Slipped Disc Syndrome

It had been a long night. And day. And night.

Hargrove Elbertson sat at his Osborne 1, his hands lying limply on the keyboard, his head bowed, as if listening to the quiet whirring of the drives reading the Memorex discs. He had been at the computer playing with the WordStar program for nearly two full days now, stopping just long enough to phone out for pizzas and make porcelain deposits of biologically processed pizza.

Elbertson was behind on the deadline.

As he sat there, listening to the disc drive whirring and the rain coming down on the roof of the custom-designed tract home, he vaguely remembered a promise to Vonda to have her over and check out the computer. She was the only real computer expert he knew – he’d bought the special Osborne system on her recommendation, and had even made the special design changes she’d suggested. When she called and heard that he was up against another deadline, she sounded somewhat concerned, and said she wanted to come over to check her modifications. He tried to remember if he’d consented or not.

Suddenly the house was in daylight.

Elbertson jumped up — not enough to be on his feet, but enough to knock the chair out from under him. His glassy-eyed stare at the five-inch monitor screen was replaced by one of surprise as he hit the floor.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed.

He untangled himself from the green secretary’s chair and stood up. His attention was immediately grabbed by the small black box, hooked up with a network of cables to the Osborne’s innards. It was the thing Vonda called the “random generator”, a device she said would make him more creative in short stints at the computer. But now, after a long stint, the multi-colored lights on the box were no longer flashing on and off, but instead were solidly on and pulsing ominously.

And there was still the matter of the daylight, Elbertson reminded himself.

Despite all the strange things people had warned him against when he moved to Southern California, one of them was not sudden changes in the sky brilliance. It didn’t help Elbertson’s state of mind any to open the curtains on the sliding glass door leading to the patio, and see that thebrightness persisted in all directions, as far as he could see.

[Ad: SOFT BOOKS. [REDACTED] Marion St., Toronto, Ont., Canada, M6R 1E6. We buy/sell Arkham, Grant, Necronomicon, etc. Write for catalogue. HPL:THE BOOKS, this being a biblio. of those books etc. that bear the HPL byline. Cross- indexed. Fifty 8 1/2 by 11 sheets, side stapled, 100 copies, published by SOFT BOOKS, $9.00 Please mention this ad.]

[Image: A woman and a tall insectoid alien walk next to each other.]

It was, Elbertson realized, the sun. He didn’t want to figure out what the sun was doing out at night.

His foggy reflections were interrupted by the slamming open of a door. Elbertson turned, and saw Vonda running toward him through the front hallway.

“Oh my God,” she greeted him with. “How long has it been like this in here?”

Elbertson shook his head. “About five minutes, I think. Why? What’s wrong.”

She pulled the curtain completely open. “Look for yourself.”

Above them, they saw two brilliantly colored cigar-shaped craft pull away from them at right angles, then go speeding across the sky toward the horizon. Elbertson turned his gaze to the desert that was forming where his small fish pond has been in the back yard. Off in the distance of the rapidly-growing stretch of desert, the Eiffel tower stood with a Zepplin discharging its passengars from a dock at the tip.

“Damn. Damn. Double-damn,” Vonda swore. “I knew I may have made it too strong. And with all that time in operation…”

“What are you saying?” Elbertson asked.

She gestured toward the strange scene, a scene that kept changing slowly. Elbertson now noticed rapids beginning underneath the Eiffel tower, with a space shuttle and crew shoooting them.

“My random generator. It was designed for use in short bursts, to alter things slightly, temporarily, to give writers the creative bursts they all love. But when you went on this writing binge, I never figured how that would affect the generator when it had access to all that fresh creative copy filed on all those discs in a high- powered computer. It’s now fused in the ‘on’ position, and is taking creative liberties with everything you’ve interacted with since it was turned on. Nothing around here is safe, now that my generator has access continuously to those memory discs.”

“You mean…,” Elbertson began, realization slowly dawning.

“Yes,” Vonda said with a grim look on her face. “Are we real, or are we Memorex?”

[Image: Cartoon by Bill Warren of an astronaut sitting dejectedly on an asteroid next to an anchor trailing a broken cable, saying, ‘…double damn…’.]

[Ad: [Image: Art by Bill Warren of several small space fighters flying over a landscape.]

ART IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Northwest artist William R. Warren, Jr has won no less than four best-of-show awards and five first-place-in-class awards at science fiction conventions since 1980. He has been the highest grossing artist two years running at Norwescon 4 and 5, and has ambitions of “going pro.” Signed limited-edition photoprints of several of his favorite pieces are now available, as well as sf and fantasy imprinted sportswear by himself, Seattle’s own Steve Adams, and Hugo-award winnerMichael Whelan (some of these Moscon III tees are signed by the artist.) Additionally, we now carry a line of Space Shuttle patches, insignia, hats, belt buckles and souvenirs. Send SASE for list.

[Image: Art by Bill Warren of a lizard-like alien dressed as a cowboy, smoking a cigar and holding a blaster pistol.]

We accept commissions for original artwork, nametags and illustration. Watch for notices of new items available soon. DESPITE RUMORS TO THE CONTRARY, WE DO STILL HAVE A FEW SELECT SIZES OF THE NWCE LIMITED EDITION TEE/JERSEY, men’s small & medium & 1 ladies L.

SCI-FI (SKIFFY) CENTRAL
[REDACTED]
[REDACTED] Pioneer Way East Puyallup Washington 98134

Drop by our table at V-Con 10]

[Image: Art by S. Fox of a humanoid alien in a robe holding a staff with an orb at the top.]

A Westwind Subscription Is Included in NWSFS membership, at $7.00 per year. Westwind is mailed on the 15th of each month.

Contributions of art, reviews, articles, etc., are welcome. Deadline is the first day of the month of issue.

P.O. BOX [REDACTED] SEATTLE, WA. 98124

Advertising is accepted- see page 2