Norwescon 6 Program Book

Norwescon 6

The full souvenir program book for Norwescon 6.

Michael Brocha, Steve Gallacci, Jeff Levin, Andrea Levin, Jerald Anderson, Mindy Brigden

Northwest Science Fiction Society

March 17–20, 1983

Frank Portwood

Contents copyright © 1983 by the Northwest Science Fiction Society for the contributors

English

NORWESCON SIX

[Art by Richard Powers all in black and grey, somewhat abstract, appears to be a figure holding a flag on a staff standing atop a rocky outcropping.]

SEATTLE - MARCH 17–20 - 1983

[Ad: [Art by Richard Powers of a woman in an abstract landscape with another figure standing in the foreground in a fighting stance.]

from the SPACETIMEWARP PAINTINGS/POWERS portfolio (16 paintings; Doubleday, 1983)

A bound volume of these paintings in a Private Limited Edition of 90 copies signed by the artist, will be produced in late 1983.]

NORWESCON 6

SEATTLE • MARCH 17th - 20th, 1983 • AIRPORT HYATT HOTEL

Guest of Honor
JACK WILLIAMSON

Artist Guest of Honor
RICHARD POWERS

Fan Guest of Honor
ART WIDNER

Toastmaster
ALGIS BUDRYS

The Norwescon 6 Program Book is dedicated to the memory of Hélène Flanders

Sixth Annual Northwest Regional Science Fiction Convention

Sponsored by the: Northwest Science Fiction Society
P.O. Box [REDACTED]
Seattle, WA 98124

Program Book Production:
Michael Brocha, Steve Gallacci, Jeff Levin, Andrea Levin, Jerald Anderson, Mindy Brigden

NORWESCON 6 CONVENTION COMMITTEE

General Chair: Richard Wright
Administrative Assistant: Dave Grimes
Convention Secretary: Jeanine Gray
Public Relations & Hospitality: Elizabeth Warren
Business Manager & Legal: Dave Bray
Business Assistant & Treasurer: Bob Suryan
Member Services: Carolyn Palms
Mail Services: Lauraine Miranda
Publications: Michael Brocha
Program Book Advertising: Michael Brocha & Kennedy Poyser
Convention Services: Judy Lorent Suryan
Operations Assistant: Brian Loomis
Office Services: Libby Evans & Jeanine Gray
Masquerade Office: Kit Canterbury
Gofers: Barbara Hunter
Green Room & VIP Liaison: Judy Suryan
Site Services: Bob Suryan
Troubleshooters: Don Glover
Security: Dave Grimes
Signs: Jenifer Parkinson
Site Gags: “Jeeves”
Program / Stage Services: Mike Citrak
Stage Management: Beth Dockins
Masquerade: Kit Canterbury
StarDance: Michael Citrak
NORWESCONe & Special Functions: Judy Suryan
Fan Olympiad: Mark Richardson
Technical Services: Robby LaPlant
Property Services: Jenifer Parkinson
Media Services: Mark Schellberg
Video Program: Mark Schellberg
Film Program: Tony Blankinship
Media Programming: Mark Schellberg
Amateur Film Contest: Jim Cobb
Media Tech: Chuck vanderLinden
Program Director: Jon Gustafson
Program Assistants: Leroy & Sue Berven
Programming: Jon Gustafson
Static Programming: Thom Walls
Art Show: Steve Gallacci
Dealer’s Room: Dave Bray
Computer Room & Programs: Paul Schaper
War / Role Games: Becky Desmarteau & Don McKinlay
Short Story Workshop: Michael Scanlon
Trivia Bowl: Ray Miller
Photo Services: Thom Walls
Food Functions: Carolyn Palms

Table of Contents

Welcome 2
Art Credits 3
Programming 5
Guest of Honor: Jack Williamson by Clifford Simak 16
by Fred Pohl 17
Checklist 17
Fan Guest of Honor: Art Widner by Russ Chauvenet 18
“Modest Proposal” Rides Again by Art Widner 18
Art Guest of Honor: Richard Powers by Vincent Di Fate 20
by David Hartwell 20
Toastmaster: Algis Budrys by Algis Budrys 22
Guests of Norwescon 25
Walt Disney’s Something Wicked This Way Comes 42
Blinky Henderson Again by Richard Lupoff 48
The Bomb, 1945–??? by Jack Williamson 51
Gallery 54
Departments 72
Films & Video 76
Preregistered Membership 81
In Memoriam 87
Acknowledgements 88

[Drawing by Warren of the Seattle skyline with the Space Needle in the foreground and Mt. Rainier in the distance.]

Contents copyright © 1983 by the Northwest Science Fiction Society for the contributors

Welcome

[Art by Richard Powers of a woman with outstretched arms flying against a patterned background.]
Copyright © 1983 by Richard Powers

Welcome, my friends, to Norwescon 6. As Judy Suryan says, “Norwescon is a party for 1400 of my closest and dearest friends.” Indeed, this is how all of us feel. It is just great having you here, and we will enjoy seeing you again.

One of the really wonderful things about Norwescon is that the professional writers, artists, and editors are all part of our ‘family,’ too. Jack, Richard, Art and ‘A. J.’ and the rest are all neat people, and are anxious to meet and talk with you.

One place to meet pros and fans with like interest is at programming panels. With as many members as Norwescon has, we like to run multi-track programming. This way we are sure to have a little something foreveryone. Enjoy the programs and continue the dialog in the halls afterwards. I believe that Jon Gustafson, even with the hardship of working ‘out of Moscow’ has done a remarkable job of putting together the kind of programming that will interest and delight all of you. Read the programming blurbs herein, and enjoy!

When it is time to relax, meet old friends and make new friends in Elizabeth ‘Dragon Lady’ Warren’s Hospitality Suite, in the Hyatt’s dining room or bar, or the ongoing hall and room parties. Whenever two or more fans congregate, the conversation is sure to be animated and interesting.

For further involvement, we would surely appreciate your help behindthe scenes. We can always use a hand in setting up the panels, hosting the doors, etc.

Please go to Convention Services, Room 414, and sign on board. I think that you will also enjoy this aspect of Norwescon.

Finally, welcome back to the Hyatt. As you probably know, we wanted to alleviate some of the crowding by going to a larger hotel. Since others did not want to deal with us, and the Hyatt was pleased to have us return, we came home again. Enjoy the facilities, party in the 400 & 600 Wings, please be quiet in the 100 & 200 wing, and feel at home. Thanks, ‘Hyatt’!

Welcome to Norwescon, and have a good time. That is what it is all about.

— Richard Wright

Art Credits

John Alexander — 8
Alicia Austin — 63
George Barr — 40, 69
Jim Bearcloud — 68
Julie Cummings — 81
Debie D’Amico — 83
Vincent Di Fate — 61
Leo, Diane & Lee Dillon - 62
Stephen Fabian — 56
Steve Gallacci - 8, 23, 26, 30, 32, 34, 39, 51, 73, 78, 83
Jack Gaughan — 25, 64
Tim Hammell — 77
Kevin Johnson — 71
Janet Kramer — 27, 30
Carl Lundgren — 60, 72, 81
Don Maitz — 58
David Mattingly — 15
Rowena Morrill — 57
Cindy Murata — 6, 12, 14, 72
Becky Oakley — 75
Richard Powers — cover, inside front cover, 2, 19, 20, 21, 23, 54, inside back cover
Victoria Poyser — 59
Tarkas - 22, 32, 37, 66, 76
H. R. Van Dongen — 65
William R. Warren, Jr. — 1, 48, 55
Michael Whelan — 5, 70
Ray Williams — 67

[Ad: PRINTS by MICHAEL WHELAN
from Glass Onion Graphics
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Brookfield, CT 06804

[Art by Michael Whelan used for the book and film of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010, of the starchild in Jupiter with its eyes framed by the monolith and the spaceship Discovery in the foreground.]]

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U.S.A.
$18.00 for 12 issues (2nd class)
$34.00 for 24 issues (2nd class)
$25.00 for 12 issues (1st class)
$48.00 for 24 issues (1st class)

CANADA
$20.00 for 12 issues (2nd class)
$38.00 for 24 issues (2nd class)
$25.00 for 12 issues (1st class)
$48.00 for 24 issues (1st class)

OVERSEAS
$20.00 for 12 issues (sea mail)
$38.00 for 24 issues (sea mail)
$32.00 for 1 2 issues (air mail)
$60.00 for 24 issues (air mail)

INSTITUTIONAL
$20.00/yr in U.S. (2nd class)
$22.00/yr in Canada (2nd class)
$27.00/yr USA/Canada (1st cl)
$22.00/yr Overseas (sea mail)
$34.00/yr Overseas (air mail)

All subscriptions are payable in U.S. funds. Canadians, please use bank or postal money orders. Institutional subscriptions are the only ones we will bill

Enclosed is: $ [] New [] Renewal
Sample Copy—$1.95

Programming

[Art by Michael Whelan of a family of cute fuzzy aliens sitting on a log by a river flowing off into the distance between tall craggy cliffs.]
Copyright ® 1983 by Michael Whelan

Program Key:

The following schedule shows the major programming events only. All events will run for one hour unless otherwise noted, and it would be very wise to pay particular attention to your Pocket Program, as any changes in content, time, or location will be noted there. Some minor programming events, the film schedule and video schedule will be shown on the Pocket Program. Many author’s readings and interviews and news broadcasts are also listed only on the Pocket Program. Enjoy the con!

Thursday, March 17, 1983

2 PM

Registration Opens (Upper Lobby) Your chance to avoid the infamous Friday morning rush.

5 PM

The Hospitality Suite (Governor’s Suite) begins being hospitable.

6 PM

Norwescon Film Festival (Flight Lounge) A terrific selection of 16mm films, featuring: Dr. Strangelove, Mad Max, Marooned, and Fail Safe.

8 PM

Opening Ceremonies (Phoenix A, B, & C) Toastmaster A. J. Budrys introduces our Guests of Honor Jack Williamson, Richard Powers, and Art Widner.

9 PM

Practice Party (Governor’s Suite) The green starts in the beer but later goes to your face. Faith and Begorra!

10 PM - Midnight

Dancing (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) Time to trip the light fantastic (but be sure to help it up, afterwards).

[Map of the Hyatt Seattle with convention spaces marked.]

Friday, March 18, 1983

8 AM

Registration Opens (Upper Lobby) Friendly faces prepare for your onslaught.

Hospitality Suite Opens (Governor’s) Norwescon’s fabulous hostess, Elizabeth (Dragon Lady) Warren, and her crew help you start your day on the right foot.

9 AM - 11 PM

Art Show Opens (Office Modules) Artists check in their works followed by Oohs and Aahs.

Norwescon Film Festival (Flight Lounge) begins; check your Pocket Program for details.

11 AM

Artificial Intelligence in Computers (Phoenix A & B) Jack Williamson, Jerry Loomis, and Ted Pederson discuss the possibilities of creating electronic intelligence.

The Rise of Fantasy (Phoenix C & D) Lucius Shepard leads the panelists in discussing whether or not the recent influx of fantasy is a sign of our troubled times.

11 AM - 6 PM

Dealer Room Opens (Satellite Room) If you want it, they’ve probably got it … for a price. Collectors welcome.

[Cartoon by Murata of a person walking by tables of merchandise while carrying a bag and two armfuls of purchases, including a unicorn.]

Noon

SF: Why Not Write it Right? (Phoenix A & B) Writers Cyn Mason and Robert Adams join the editors Shawna McCarthy and Stanley Schmidt in pointing out the pitfalls for the beginning writer. Watch that first step… .

How Good Are The ‘Pop-Sci’ Magazines? (Phoenix C & D) Elton Elliott, J. F. Bone, Joel Davis and J. Ray Dettling discuss the merits … or lack thereof … of the science magazines written for the layman.

Costuming on a Budget (Phoenix E) Betty Bigelow and Julie Zetterberg lead the discussion on how to look beautiful (or strange, or handsome, or weird) without breaking your Visa account.

1 PM

Economics of the Art Field Today (Phoenix A & B) Famed sf artist Richard Powers discusses the field with fellow pros Wayne Barlowe and Darrel Anderson.

Cons—How To Do Them Right! (Phoenix C & D) Northwestern convention chairpeople Beth Finkbiner, Steve Bard, Bryce Walden and David George tell you how to put on a successful convention. I mean, if you really must put one on, at least listen to the people who know how.

From Fan Artist to Pro (Phoenix E) Victoria Poyser, once a Seattle area artist, shows her slides on how she made it to the Big Time. A marvelous show by a delightful artist.

2 PM

Why Read SF, Anyway? (Phoenix A & B) Millions of dollars are spent every year on sf books and magazines: why? A. J. Budrys, Elizabeth Lynn, Jerry Loomis and F. M. Busby explore this fascinating topic.

Apollo 13 (Phoenix C & D) Art Bozlee and William Warren take you down memory lane (astronautically speaking) with this exploration of one of the most famous of the manned Lunar expeditions.

SF and Fantasy Poetry (Flight Lounge) Gene Van Troyer, Bruce Taylor and John De Camp explore this too-often overlooked field.

Trivia Bowl Preliminary Round (Phoenix E) Watch in awe as trivial fact after trivial fact is ruthlessly exposed in time-honored tradition.

3 PM

Who Runs SF? And What Are They Doing With It? (Phoenix A & B) David Hartwell tries to find the answers to this burning question with the help of F. M. Busby, Richard Wright, Charlie Brown and Debbie Notkin.

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Science Fiction Teaching and Academia Phoenix C & D) Jack Williamson, Art Widner, Elton Elliott, Michael McClintock and Wayne Hooks show you that taking sf out of the gutter isn’t so bad, after all.

Artist Jam (Flight Lounge) Come to see and hear artists draw and talk. Find out just how they do fit artists into those tiny jars.

4 PM

The Role of Research in SF Writing (Phoenix A & B) Joel Davis, Megan Lindholm and Jerry Loomis discuss how research affects current sf and how a writer goes about researching a topic for his/her work.

Interview with Richard Powers (Phoenix C & D) Local fan and art lover Bob Doyle interviews Norwes- con’s Artist Guest of Honor, Richard Powers.

L-5 Space Station “Town Hall” Meeting (Flight Lounge) Representatives from the local L-5 Society will explain an ambitious, Norwescon-long project they are planning.

5 PM

How to Commission Art (Phoenix A & B) Darrel Anderson and fellow artists Victoria Poyser, William Warren and Wayne Barlowe tell you how to obtain that perfect piece of art without the hand-to-hand combat of an art auction entering into it.

“At the Novels” (Phoenix C & D) Shades of Siskel and Ebert! Elinor Busby and Bubbles Broxon review some of the highlights of past sf/fan- tasy novels in their unique way.

The Jody Scott Show (Flight Lounge) The one, the only, the infamous Jody Scott in her traditionally untraditional show.

6 PM

Krull & Spacehunter Preview (Phoenix A & B) Studio publicist Teny Zuber will present a slide show of these upcoming Columbia Pictures feature films.

7:30 - 9:30 PM

Favorite Films (Flight Lounge) A collection of shorts, parodies and computer generated films from Stephan Lester. Re-shown Sunday at 6 PM.

8 PM

SCA Dance Show (Phoenix B & C) Members of the SCA take you through the steps of some of history’s best dances.

9:30 PM

Norwescone Ice Cream Social & Stardance (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) Delicious ice cream, mind-boggling lighting effects and all the dancing you can stand continue as trademarks of Norwescon. Orbital Be-bop!

[Cartoon by Alexander of a very large-eared alien eating an ice cream cone.]

Early Autograph Session (Conference A) As many authors as we can round up will be there in an attempt to alleviate the rush at the Saturday evening session.

Volcano Party (Governor’s) Once again, with St. Helen’s threatening to put on a show, we try to appease the volcano gods with these festivities.

Saturday, March 19, 1983

8 AM

Registration Opens (Upper Lobby) its weary eyes and faces the madding crowds.

Hospitality Opens (Governor’s) for coffee and doughnuts and Visine.

9 AM - 11PM

Art Show Opens (Office Modules) Now is the time to get that bid up on the art you want, while your competition is still bleary-eyed.

Norwescon Film Festival (Flight Lounge) Check your Pocket Program for the time of your favorite classic.

10 AM

The Robotic Revolution (Phoenix A & B) Give me transistors or give me death? In Japan, they’re welcome; in Detroit, they’re feared. Jack Williamson, Jerry Lommis and Steve Schlich explore the reality amongst the myths of robots.

SF Media vs. SF Literature (Phoenix C & D) Maureen Garrett, Frank Catalano and authors have a battle of the arts on this panel. What are their strengths and weaknesses? Which is better?

Extraterrestrial Vertebrate Morphology (Phoenix E) Artist Steve Gallacci examines the evolution and design considerations inherent to vertebrate lifeforms.

10 AM - 6 PM

Dealer Room Opens (Satellite) And you thought they were greedy yesterday! The dealers aren’t philanthropists, either!

11 AM

Clarion: What It’s Really Like (Phoenix A & B) The most famous of the writer’s workshops gets a going- over by some of its grads, including Dean Smith, Michael Armstrong, Julie Stevens and Lucius Shepard.

Word Processors (Phoenix C & D) What are they, what will they do, what’s the latest innovations? Explore the electronic help of the future with Steve Schlich, Vonda McIntyre, Judith Dyer, John De Camp and Steve Perry.

Film and Science Fiction (Flight Lounge) Gordon Erickson, Kim Runciman, Jim Welch and Steve Dimeo discuss the state of science fiction films and their contributions to the cinema as a whole.

[An astronaut in a ship cockpit.]

Trivia Bowl Prelims (Phoenix E) Watch the most trivial minds in the Northwest battle it out for fame and fortune. Well, fame, anyway.

Noon

Editors on Editing (Phoenix A & B) Editors Shawna McCarthy, David Hartwell, Stanley Schmidt and A. J. Budrys tell how editing can turn a poor story into a good one … or vice-versa.

The Shuttle: “Houston, We’ve Got A Problem!” (Phoenix C & D) What happens if or when we lose a shuttle and its crew in the unthinkable accident? Art Bozlee leads the discussion with William Warren, George Harper, Greg Bennett and David Brin.

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Sky Ripper

FROM THE AUTHOR OF HAMMER’S SLAMMERS, TIME SAFARI, AND THE DRAGON LORD: A NOVEL THAT WILL HAUNT YOU.

BY DAVID DRAKE

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ISBN 48544–1
$3.50
352 PAGES
APRIL PUBLICATION]

Making a Good Film (Flight Lounge) Karl Krogstad, Mark Schellberg and Jim Cobb delve into the processes of how to combine the elements of film to make a good visual story.

Fandom in the 40’s (Phoenix E) This time, the trip is down the fannish memory lane, as Fan Guest of Honor Art Widner and his friends explore the wonderful time of war, paper shortages, and fandom.

1 PM

Jeff Walker Previews … (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) In one of our major events of the con, Jeff Walker previews Superman III, Right Stuff, Never Say Never Again, Greystoke, and Twilight Zone. And you thought last year was a good one for movies!

How to Handle Rejection (Phoenix E) Moderator (immoderator?) Steve Bieler flashes us with his collection of rejection slips, ably assisted by Steve Schlich, Frank Catalano, and Linda Blanchard.

Film: Art of the Impossible (Flight Lounge) How they do all those impossible things in the movies.

2 PM

Return of the Jedi Preview (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) Howard Kazanjian, Sidney Ganis and Maureen Garrett preview the third installment of the Star Wars saga and will show the documentary film, Making of Jedi Monsters.

The Emergence of Gay and Feminist SF Writers (Phoenix E) Jerry Jacks, Debbie Notkin and Stephanie Smith delve into a question made even more interesting by the recent rise of Fundamentalism.

2 PM - 4 PM

Amateur Film Contest Showing (Flight Lounge) Is this where the next Spielberg or Lucas will come from? A run-through of all the amateur films entered.

3 PM

Violence in SF and Fantasy Art and Literature (Phoenix A & B) Darrel Anderson, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Wendy Adrian Shultz and Wayne Barlow discuss a topic of widespread interest in fandom.

Writing Scripts - A Page at a Time (Phoenix C & D) Ted Pederson, Elton Elliott and Sharman Di Vono tell you how to work in the realm of visual drama, pathos, and Saturday morning cartoons.

Howard Kazanjian and Sidney Ganis Autograph Session (Phoenix E) Here’s your chance to meet these two fascinating gentlemen up close.

4 PM

Animation, Graphics and Film (Phoenix A & B) William Warren, Karl Krogstad and Sharman Di Vono delve into what has become a resurging art form, thanks to new blood … and computers.

Exobiology Slide Show (Phoenix C & D) What would the dinosaurs be like if they hadn’t gotten wiped out? What if other species had evolved slightly differently? John Alexander takes you on a fascinating journey through time in a most unusual manner.

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[Art by Carl Lundgren of two pigs in a library reading a book together.]
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[Art by Carl Lundgren of a person looking at a unicorn standing on rocks by a stream.]
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Current Trends in the Cinema (Flight Lounge) Jeff Walker, Kim Runciman, Steve Dimeo and Michael Armstrong discuss what films are currently the most popular and the future of science fiction, fantasy and horror films.

“Horseclans” Society Meeting (Phoenix E) Robert Adams, creator of the “Horseclans” world, hosts a meeting for all those interested.

5 PM

Military Uses for the Moon (Phoenix A & B) Here’s a program guaranteed to be lively! Art Bozlee, William Warren, George Harper and Greg Bennett bite hard into a tough topic.

5 PM - 6:15 PM

Richard Powers Slide Show (Phoenix C & D) Richard Powers shares slides of his 30 years' work in the sf art field, and will answer questions in the last half hour.

5 PM - 6:30 PM

Karl Krogstad Film Presentation (Flight Lounge) Karl will show several of his latest works, which include Catharsus, Palm Sunday and clips from his newest endeavor, Strings. A question-and-answer session will follow.

TAFF-DUFF Auction (Phoenix E) If you want to spend your money on bizarre things and help a couple of worthy causes, here’s your chance. Jerry Kaufman hosts.

6 PM

'84 Westercon Meeting (Phoenix E) Bryce Walden hosts this informal gathering of the Portland Westercon concom. If you are interested in helping out at the con or just want to find out more about it, this is where to be.

7 - 8:30 PM

Meet-the-Pros Autograph Party (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) The latest in a series of record-setting sessions. Professional writers, editors and artists will sign books, small scraps of paper, this Program Book, arms, legs, or whatever else you have handy (with the possible exception of blank checks).

[Cartoon by Murata of two people holding wine glasses and pointing at a table with various creatures on it, one of whom is an upside-down, hiccupping human. One of the people is saying, ‘I like this sculpture’, the other replies, ‘uh, that’s the artist’.]

8 - 11 PM

Artists' Champagne Reception (Office Modules) Here’s your chance to meet the artists.

9:30 - Midnight

Masquerade and Entertainments (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) Frank Catalano Emcees our Gala Costume Parade as the crowd wonders … will the Catalano Fan Club strike again? Plus some superb entertainment!

[Cartoon by Murata of two people in medieval dress dancing, as one steps on the trailing sleeve of the other’s dress.]

10 PM

“Seattle in 1981” Bidding Party (Governor’s) And yet another thankful celebration of the loss of the 1981 Worldcon bid.

Midnight

Film: Mad Max (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) The first film of two, Mad Max has become a very popular film in the circles of fandom. The Road Warrior, its sequel, is still playing at Seattle area theatres.

Sunday, March 20, 1983

9 AM

Registration Reopens (Upper Lobby) In space, no one can hear you groan … but they can here.

Hospitality Suite Opens (Governor’s) You are welcome to the coffee, but please don’t step on anything that is still twitching.

9 AM - 10:30 AM

Art Show Opens (Office Modules) For those of you who want to get in that last-minute bid on that rare Far- glestein print.

10 AM - 5 PM

Dealer Room Opens (Satellite) Quick, now that they’re groggy, hit them for all they’re worth!

11 AM

The Great E. T. Silence: Where the Hell IS Everybody? (Phoenix A & B) David Brin explores the many reasons why we haven’t heard from the Galactic Federation … and why we might not.

Hitchhiker’s Guide Fan Club Meeting (Phoenix E) James “Ford Prefect” Smith presides over the information-filled meeting (no Vogons allowed).

11 AM - 1 PM

Art Auction (Phoenix C & D) Held later this year so you can actually see what you’re bidding on. Steve Gallacci and his loyal auctioneers try to pry the last remaining dollars from the art lovers.

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Noon

Russian Science Fiction (Phoenix A & B) Art Widner and others examine literature from behind the Iron Curtain.

Trivia Bowl Prelims (Phoenix E) Quick, Sulu’s first name is… ? BUZZ! Tsk, tsk, too late. You wouldn’t have made it into this, the third round of the famed Norwescon Trivia Bowl.

1 PM

Amateur Film Contest Awards (Flight Lounge) As the tension mounts, the three best films will be given their much-deserved awards. Showings of the films will follow.

The Writer/Cat Symbiotic Link (Phoenix E) Bubbles Broxon, Lorna Toolis and others will explore the seeming inevitability that cats are the true intelligence behind science fiction. It makes purrfect sense to some.

1:15 PM

Advanced Designs for Space Transport (Phoenix D) They’re on the drawing boards now. Some unofficial-but stimulating—progress reports from Dani Eder and Richard Reinert, who think up these … well, distinctive … approaches.

2 PM

Space War Tactics (Phoenix D) George Harper takes aim at some cherished notions about organized nastiness Way Up There.

Mythology, Archaeology and Fantasy (Phoenix E) Richard Purtill presents a fascinating show, complete with illustrations, on the relationship of these subjects.

[Cartoon by Murata of a number of people messily feasting at a large table as one turns to a passing waiter carrying a full roasted pig on a tray and asks, ‘pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?’]

2 - 5 PM

Banquet and Guest of Honor Speeches (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) No rubber chicken for the crowd! A sumptuous, serve-yourself buffet is followed by the man with lots of panache (is that like quiche?), our Toastmaster A. J. Budrys. Speeches by Jack Williamson, Richard Powers and Art Widner will be followed by art show and masquerade awards.

Banquet Speeches (Phoenix D) The doors will be opened to all those who would like to hear the speeches, but were too late to get tickets.

3 PM

Children’s SF and Fantasy Literature (Phoenix E) Vancouver fan legend Fran Skene leads Sharman Di Vono, Michael McClintock and Elizabeth Lynn in a fascinating discussion of the literature of the young.

4 PM

Future Insults (Flight Lounge) Don’t expect to hear “Aw, yer clone wears Army boots!” in this panel, so ably staffed by Cyn Mason, Steve Perry and others.

Trivia Bowl Finals (Phoenix E) Minute madness reaches its thrilling (or is it silliest) climax. Join the pointless pursuit of the hopelessly obscure, as contestants try to remember Darth Vader’s shoe size.

5 PM

Thom Walls' Norwescon (Flight Lounge) Take a trip, stumble and fall down the Norwescon memory lane as Thom Walls regales us with his fabulous collection of slides. (“And here’s a shot of Aunt Mazie winning the Helmet Bash in '79.”)

The SF/Sherlock Holmes Connection (Phoenix E) Bubbles Broxon and friends explore the relationship of the fans of these two genres.

5:30 PM - 6:45 PM

Fannish Olympiad (Phoenix A & B) We heard your requests and cries … but we’re putting it on anyway. NWSFS defends its … honor? … against other clubs in the Northwest in events that boggle the mind (and don’t do the stomach any good, either).

6 PM

L-5 Society Wrap-up (Phoenix D & E) The L-5 Society gives its report on their con-long project.

7:00 PM

The Technology of Future Writing (Phoenix E) J. T. Stewart moderates, as Marilyn Holt, Judy Dyer, Jane Hawkins, Eileen Gunn and Frank Denton consider how improvements in gadgetry may change the ways they write.

7:15 PM

The Artist as Part of the Space Design Team (Phoenix A & B) Putting engineering into art, and vice- versa, by some of the folks who have made it a career. The results don’t merely look good, they should fly better.

8 PM - 10 PM

Closing Ceremonies (Phoenix A & B) Toastmaster A. J. Budrys and Chairman Richard Wright close things down with capable assistance from Jack Williamson, Richard Powers and Art Widner.

10 PM

Spring Rites (Phoenix A & B) Medieval religious rites celebrating the Vernal Equinox.

Dance (Phoenix C, D, & E) If you didn’t get enough dancing before, here’s your chance to overdo it.

Dead Sasquatch Party (Governor’s) “Dragon Lady” Elizabeth Warren hosts the final bash of the con with leftover everythings.

Midnight

Dead Sasquatch Ceremonies & Orgy (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) If you have to ask, you probably don’t want to know.

[Ad: Gross Prophets

[Faces and hands above clouds.]

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
-T. S. Eliot

A GROSS PROPHETS PRODUCTION
with a grant from the Addams Family.]

[Art by David Mattingly of various adventurers and aliens on a rocky alien landscape.]
Copyright © 1983 by David B. Mattingly

Guest of Honor Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson

An Appreciation of Jack Williamson

by Clifford D. Simak

I don’t suppose that Jack Williamson and I have met more than half a dozen times and yet I count him as one of my firmest friends. No one, of course, can explain the chemistry of friendship. Perhaps one of the factors that explain my friendship for him is that, in many ways, our lives have been so much alike. This, in some strange manner, I think, gives us a sense of sharing. We both were born and raised on hardscrabble farms, he in Arizona Territory and I in Wisconsin. We both, in our early years, knew poverty. Both of us, early on, had a dream of writing which, at the time, seemed impossible of achievement. Both of us fared better than we had any right to hope. We both did become writers and we got along in other fields as well—he as a professor at Eastern New Mexico University and I as an editor at the Minneapolis Star and Tribune.

The first time we met, at a science fiction convention (I can’t remember when or where), we became instant friends. I suppose it could be said that we had been friends before that. Each of us had read the other’s work and there had been a few (a very few), letters exchanged. That, however, could have been no more than an academic friendship; we could have later met and disliked one another. That was not the way it was. As we talked, it seemed a common line of thought and perception ran between us and drew us together. We ended up, that first time, sitting in a corner, away from all the others, doing a little drinking and talking as easily as if we had known one another all our lives. That is the way it has been ever since. Each time we met we have managed an afternoon of talk. For me these occasions have taken on the dimensions of sharp memories that give me a good feeling deep inside my gizzard.

Jack, however, is more than a friend; he has become, as well, one of my favorite writers. What a man is shows up in what he puts on paper. He likes people. That can be detected in the way he handles his characters. Under his deft hand they spring to life in full dimension, well-rounded, with blood and spirit in them, people you can become acquainted with and who come to mean a great deal to you. This is a greater achievement that can be well imagined. Many writers create characters, hanging tags on them; thus tagged, they are moved through the narrative in much the same manner and for the same purpose that pieces are moved upon a chess board. Jack’s characters need no tags; you recognize them from their first appearance. His special magic makes them people, many of them sharing his innate sense of decency, standing for the qualities he stands for.

Also he has a feeling for the cosmos. To many readers this must, at times, appear as something of a surprise, revealing a complexity that would be unexpected of a writer who is always careful to keep his characters with their feet solidly under them. It is this very insistence that his characters be solid that makes his use of the cosmic seem almost commonplace—although, thinking of it later, you know that it’s not commonplace. In the writing, as Jack does it, the cosmic concept becomes acceptable; you are able to reach out and touch it, perhaps even grasp at an understanding. But later, thinking on it, it becomes a thing of wonder.

More often than not his protagonists are drawn in a romantic light, yet underneath this urge to romanticism lies a strata of hard sense, of realism, perhaps ingrained within the writer’s character during those hardscrabble days of long ago. This seeming contradiction (among others) makes Jack Williamson the great writer that he is; it gives his writing balance.

If all of this seems critically analytical, it is not. It is simply off the top of the head impressions of a reader who knows something about the multiplicities of the writing craft. In my experience it seems to me that a writer, more often than not, writes with his raw and exposed nerve endings. The great writers write that way because they cannot help it, can write in no other way. I have absolutely no critical sense and am glad I haven’t. A deep, sharp critical sense must get in the reader’s way and subtract from the enjoyment of reading. To employ a critical sense must be akin to the bleak task of a writer proof-reading his own work, alert to every possible error, to all those nuances of what he thinks his work should be.

As a man, Jack Williamson is my friend, as a writer, he is still my friend. I enjoy both the man and his work.

If there is anything herein that he may not like, may not agree with, he’ll chew me out, but in his gentle, drawling, unhurried way, worried that he may hurt me, but too honest not to mention it. And I won’t mind. Such a chewing out I can take.

Jack Williamson

by Frederik Pohl

There’s a question that comes up a lot when I speak at science-fiction cons, and it goes like this:

“Why do you collaborate? Isn’t it just about as much work as writing a book by yourself? Don’t you run into conflicts of personality and deadlocks on how a story is to be written —and then, to cap it all, don’t you have to give the other guy half your money? Is it not, in short, a terrible waste of time?”

And the answer is:

“Yes, but.”

Or, to put it more explicitly, “Yes, all of that is true, in fact it’s worse than you can possibly imagine-but not when the person you’re collaborating with is Jack Williamson.”

You see, in a lot of significant ways collaboration is like marriage. How well it works depends on the person; you spend a lot of time dealing with each other; your success and peace of mind depends a great deal on the other person; and you can’t take too unrelenting a view of what’s your responsibility and what’s his—both sides have to go more than halfway. The most significant difference, in fact, or at least what strikes me as most significant at this moment, is that collaboration does not possess marriage’s built-in procedures for making up differences of opinion. So in order for a collaboration to work, you have to have someone as a partner who has more than the normal human allowances of such qualities as kindness, tolerance, industry and good humor-not to mention creativity and talent. What you have to have, in short, is somebody a lot like Jack Williamson.

The other thing you want to have, when seeking a collaborator, is somebody who is really good at things you yourself don’t do nearly as well. Jack and I have written eight novels together (the eighth, Wall Around A Star, is just out—go buy it!), and I admit without shame that a lot of the parts of all of them that I like best are Jack’s contribution. Example: the marvelous jewel-like caverns and grottos in The Reefs of Space still give me pleasure when I think of them. I would pay a high price to wander around such delightful settings—but I didn’t make them up. Jack did. When people compliment me on those scenes, I never forget who deserves the credit for them. (Of course, I never say anything—but I never forget.) Of course, Jack doesn’t limit the exercise of that wonderful gift for glowing color to the stories we write together. You’ll find it in everything he ever wrote, as late as his most recent solo novel, Manseed, and as early as his Amazing Stories of the 1920s and 1930s, like The Metal Man and The Stone from the Green Star. Your average neofan may not remember all of those stories, but the true aficionado of science fiction classics surely will. I remember them very well —particularly The Stone from the Green Star, because it happens that that story revolutionized my life.

You see, when I first began reading science fiction I didn’t have any money to speak of, so I bought all my magazines in second-hand stores. It was a thrifty way to get a fix when I needed one, and if it weren’t for Jack Williamson I might still be doing it today. The Stone from the Green Star is what did me in. My favorite secondhand store happened to get a copy of the first installment of it almost as soon as it was off sale; I bought it at once, rushed home and read it—and then was consumed with a dreadful hunger to find out how it all came out. The conclusion was still on the newsstands. Sooner or later it would turn up second-hand … but I couldn’t wait. So I hurried out to the corner newsstand and plunked down my quarter. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Over the next decades my newfound status as a fullfledged newsstand buyer cost me hundreds of dollars. That’s all Jack’s fault, but I hardly ever reproach him with it, (But that, too, I never forget.)

You can’t talk about Jack Williamson without mentioning one of his most attractive attributes. I refer to the presence in his life of that marvelous person, Blanche Williamson. I’ve had the pleasure of the company of both Williamsons in a lot of interesting places, at a solar-energy center in New Mexico, wandering around the megaliths of Stonehenge and at more sf cons than I can count. These are people who have made the transition from covered wagons and sod huts (literally!) to jetting all over the world with grace and good will. You’ll enjoy their company this weekend! —and I only wish that I could be there to share it with you.

Williamson Checklist

The Girl From Mars, with Dr. Miles J. Breuer 1929.*
Lady in Danger, 1945.*
The Legion of Space, 1948.
Darker Than You Think, 1948.
The Humanoids, 1950.
The Green Girl, 1950.
Seetee Shock, as by Will Stewart, 1950.
The Cometeers including One Against The Legion, 1950.
Dragon’s Island, 1951. (reprinted as The Not-Men)
Seetee Ship, as by Will Stewart, 1951.
The Legion of Time including After World’s End, 1950.
Undersea Quest, with Frederik Pohl, 1954.
Dome Around America, 1955.
Star Bridge, with James E. Gunn, 1956.
Undersea Fleet, with Frederik Pohl, 1956.
Undersea City, with Frederik Pohl, 1958.
The Trial of Terra, 1962.
Golden Blood, 1964.
The Reign of Wizardry, 1964.
The Reefs of Space, with Frederik Pohl, 1964.
Starchild, with Frederik Pohl, 1965.
Bright New Universe, 1967.
Trapped in Space, 1968.
The Pandora Effect, 1969.
Rogue Star, with Frederik Pohl, 1969.
People Machines, 1971.
H. G. Wells: The Critic of Progress, 1973.
Farthest Star, with Frederik Pohl, 1975.
The Early Williamson, 1975.
The Power of Blackness, 1976.
Dreadful Sleep, 1977.*
The Best of Jack Williamson, 1978.
Brother to Demons, Brother to Gods, 1979.
Alien Intelligence, 1980.*
The Humanoid Touch, 1980.
Birth of a New Republic, with Dr. Miles J. Breuer, 1981.*
Manseed, 1982.
Queen of the Legion, 1983.
Wall Around a Star, with Frederik Pohl, 1983.

* Pamphlet or chapbook—not a full-sized book.

Fan Guest of Honor Art Widner

[Art Widner]
Photo by Marvin Ellis

Arthur Lambert Widner Jr.

by Russ Chauvenet

Norwescon fans who are offered the privilege of seeing and hearing Art Widner in person are already so fortunate that they can endure a few remarks by myself. Art goes back to the beginnings of fandom. He is mentioned 3 times in The Immortal Storm, and 35 times (plus photo) in All Our Yesterdays. The editor of Fanfare in the early days, and Yhos both then and now, Art founded the Stranger Club in Boston, promoted the early Boskones, and attended the first five Worldcons. In his perceptive review of the first twenty years of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association mailings, Bob Pavlat rightly includes Art as one of the most important early members who helped set standards for style and participation that have enabled FAPA to endure until the present day.

At the same time, Art was the principal author of the first National Fantasy Fan Federation constitution, and a leading early enthusiast in establishing the NFFF organization which has also confounded critics by its vitality and long life.

Except for twenty years of gafia between 1950 and 1970 Art might have become even better known than he is today, but in the last dozen years following his return to fan activity, he has attended most Worldcons and Westercons. He has also rejoined FAPA and resumed the publication of Yhos after a minor lapse of 34 years between two consecutive issues.

By profession a teacher of English, Art has been able to take advantage of more liberal modern conditions to discuss science fiction in the classroom, something that just wasn’t done when he and I were growing up. There are few people around with a better understanding of what science fiction was, is, and might be than your present guest of honor, Art Widner.

“Modest Proposal” Rides Again

by Art Widner

It is a melancholy object to those who live in this great country to behold, as they pass through (if they dare) the central portions of our great cities. The South Bronx, central Detroit, Watts, even the Fillmore in San Francisco —all are dismal sights to decent Americans. The streets filled with idle ruffians, harlots, drug pedlars and assorted riff-raff of every description; the graffiti blatantly insulting the values responsible citizens hold dear; the over-flowing garbage cans; the burnt out buildings; all bear testimony to a decline of standards and a fall from greatness.

Yet again, as we travel through the countryside, we find nature’s simple pleasures interrupted by miles of chain link fences, with dire warnings posted at intervals: GOVERNMENT PROPERTY-KEEP OUT! We cannot see the malignant birds crouched deep in their underground nests—but we know they are there. We heave a melancholy sigh for the necessary evil; National Security Must be Served.

And yet, if one could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of turning these blots upon our honor into sound useful contributors to the Gross National Product, he would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.

My proposal has many virtues to recommend it, which I will elucidate in a moment, but the grand design knits all threads together by using one evil to dispose of the other; in short, it advocates bombing hell out of all our noisome slums in the inner cities.

Now of course, the natural reaction of the right-thinking patriot is that this is utter insanity. Yet bear with me but a moment, and you will see many advantages that are not apparent at first glance.

Firstly, there is the efficiency of the nuclear explosive. Think of the savings involved in accomplishing in one second, what otherwise would take millions of man- and equipment-hours, with the usual cost overruns, graft and boondoggling. Indeed, it might never get done properly by old-fashioned government business methods.

Secondly, although some faint-hearted liberals might object, it is clear that the gain would be far greater than the loss, for those eliminated would be only the welfare chiselers and other dregs of society. One needs only to contemplate for a moment the near total reduction of the HEW budget to have one’s thinking clarified. Moreover, the beauty of the whole concept is that it would be far more merciful than the present grinding, long-drawn-out process favored by this administration. Further, the unemployment problem would largely be solved, since the shiftless inhabitant of the slums has by far the highest rate among any segment of our population.

But for just the sake of argument, let us adopt an Humanitarian pose. It will become apparent that this project is so well-founded, that even though we spare the lives of the useless, it will still be economically and socially feasible to follow through with it. So much will be saved over conventional methods that the population of the target cities could be evacuated and resettled on the outskirts of suburbia. Since clean bombs would be used, radiation would be gone in just a few short years, and large parks would be created in place of the slums. This would make the suburbanites happy since all would be equidistant from their great park. The former ghetto-dwellers would be happy with their new housing and schools, and desegregation would no doubt proceed apace, since the suburbanites would now see the benefit of busing their children to the newer and better schools. In addition, the suburbs would now be contained, as they formerly contained the original ghetto. However, there need be no fear of the old system being perpetuated, since the inhabitants of the suburbs, possessed of inborn self-respect and initiative, would not allow their property to deteriorate, and also, through superior economic instinct, would soon take over the more desirable portions of the new outer ring. Nor would the former ghetto-dwellers take umbrage at this, since, unlike their former condition, squeezed into the center with no escape, they would now be afforded the beauties of the wide open spaces, deserts and mountains, not unlike their redskin cousins —an elegant solution. City planners have long shown us the advantages of the torus-shaped city over our present congested, knotted, crossroad towns run amuck.

But by no means does this exhaust the benefits of the proposal. Consider, thirdly, that we have got rid of possibly 200 extremely dangerous weapons that might otherwise have been used to kill decent people.

Fourthly, the brave generals who now keep eternal vigilance over these engines of destruction, their fingers quiveringly poised above the red buttons, would be allowed to push those buttons and relieve that awful tension. Imagine how grateful they will be! And how they could then return to their duties with the danger of an accidental launch greatly reduced.

Fifthly, when our enemies see us destroy our own cities, they will not only gnash their teeth in frustration, but be shamed into emulating us. As our statesmen have so often told us, we must deal from a position of strength. Unfortunately, they seem not to have read Tolkien, who has shown us that moral strength lies in getting rid of power, not collecting it. We will be able to say then, with great moral strength, “We have gotten rid of 200 of ours; now you get rid of 200 of yours.” And once both sides see how easy it is, there is no reason why it should not continue until all the evil birds have flown. When there are no more rotten slums to cleanse, the birds will be sent to outer space or simply dismantled.

I profess in the sincerity of my heart that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by promoting the cause of world peace, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I own no city property nor any stocks in weapon-making corporations.

[Art by Richard Powers of a woman holding a knife while standing on an outstretched hand.]

Artist Guest of Honor Richard Powers

[Art by Richard Powers of a person’s face, in a somewhat flowy, abstract style.]

Richard Powers: An Appreciation

by Vincent Di Fate

As a life-long observer, and for just slightly less time, a practitioner of science fiction art, if you were to ask me who were the most influential artists in my field, I would be able to answer you without a moment’s hesitation. Although there have been many whose works are widely known and celebrated, in terms of pure innovation, there are really only two whose art shines above all others in the admittedly brief history of fantastic illustration.

The first of these innovators is Frank R. Paul, who from the works of earlier artists such as Grandville and Robida, created the first consistent body of work with a direct link to the literary genre. He was the major influence in establishing the “gadget portrait” as the most durable and widely recognized form of science fiction art. The ingenuity of Paul’s ideas and the brightness of his palette project a conspicuously positive view of the technological future.

On the other hand there is the work of Richard Powers who draws much of his inspiration from the surrealists and in so doing, has created a somewhat darker view of what lies ahead. This is not to say that Dick’s visions of tomorrow are limited solely to those of horror and despair for his paintings are sometimes whimsical, but rather that he uses the dreamscape so unique to surrealist art as the backdrop to most of his work. Thus, like the puzzling mysteries of science, there is a mystical aura of the unknown and the unknowable in all that he does. His work recognizes the fundamental truth that Man, by the limits of his perceptions and the nature of the universe, is denied absolute knowledge.

The acknowledgement of these ideas are not the common objectives of commercial art. These are the things of which a finer Art is made. Dick’s work is not so much an ephemeral amusement for the eye as it is food for the mind—a special something that lingers long after the memory of other, more accessible visions have faded.

I understand, of course, that some of you may not find Dick’s work particularly palatable (no pun intended) for it is, by virtue of its very nature, intended to be shocking. It is meant to make us uneasy, to send a shiver down the spine and leave us with a feeling of vulnerability. That there are some so vocal in their opposition to Powers' art, is clear and irrefutable evidence that it works. That he has sustained a career for nearly thirty-five years in both the spheres of “Fine” and commercial art and has been highly successful at both, is truly a mystery for the Ages and a personal achievement worth many times the value of all the Hugo Awards he’s been denied these many years.

As for the man himself, I must admit that after nearly fifteen years of knowing him, I know very little about his life. I should, I suppose, tell you something of his background and his upbringing, but I know almost nothing of this. I know that he grew up in and around Chicago, that he is recognized as a major American surrealist painter and that he has had a number of highly successful shows at museums and galleries both here and abroad. The rest will be obvious to you when you meet him at the convention. He is a rather athletic looking gentleman for a man of his years. He’s married to a very pretty lady named Tina and he’s bound to be one of the most charming and intelligent people you will ever meet.

You might conclude from all this that I’ve said, that I have a very high opinion of Richard Powers and his contribution to the science fiction field, but just how high an opinion I simply can’t express in words without sounding overly patronizing. To state my beliefs as simply and directly as I can, it is my earnest opinion that Richard Powers is about the best there is or probably ever will be.

Richard M. Powers (Laz/Org)

by David G. Hartwell

Let me tell you about Richard Powers. He and his wife, Tina, are close friends, the godparents of my son, Geoffrey, and I have about a dozen of his paintings in my home, only some of them SF illustration work (but those include Childhood’s End, Particle Theory, The Goblin Reservation, Brain Wave, The Drowned World… eat your heart out, collectors). Years before I met Richard in the sixties, the first two SF paperbacks I ever bought had Powers covers and the covers, as well as the contents, helped set me on the road I travel today in the SF world.

I took Powers seriously then and still do. He can use paint, in a field where most of the artists still have to resort to comic book outlines, in a field where fashionable taste seems to have frozen at about the period of Virgil Finlay (early twentieth century romantic illustration). Okay, so SF fans don’t have to like the present but I got the idea from my reading and from Powers’s art that SF is about change and progress. SF is supposed to expand the mind with new, visionary horizons. And Richard Powers has done this steadily, over thirty years, in the process doing more paperback SF covers than any other artist ever. I for one am tired of hearing him bad- mouthed in some quarters as “too modern” for SF.

But I digress.

The Powers' hospitality is legendary in this part of the country (especially if you play tennis). He operates out of a house in Connecticut with a big, bright studio, a tennis court, a sauna, pool, several small buildings which he is often remodeling. He takes about 75 various vitamin pills a day and, in his seventh decade, is a compulsive and excellent tennis player, an omnivorous reader (literature, political and cultural essays, mysteries, P.G. Wodehouse), listens often to jazz and has sophisticated taste in classical music. He’s an ex-boxer, football and baseball player, most often drinks Myers’s Rum (and can tell great tales of disgraceful pub-crawls in Jamaica over the years). He’s a Catholic kid from Chicago, tough, brash, self-confident, six foot three or four. He likes good science fiction, but doesn’t find too much that is up to his standards these days.

Powers has been known to stand up in public and say that if no one ever paid him to do another SF illustration, then he wouldn’t do it just for fun, which makes some fans crazy. But you see, he’s an artist and he would do art (not illustration) whether anyone paid him or not. The reason he’s done so much SF illustration is that he could do some respectable art and get away with it (get paid) more often in SF than anywhere else. Come to think of it, I know writers who work in the field for the same reason. I think he’s the most revolutionary SF illustrator since Frank R. Paul and Chesley Bonestell, popular with fans or not, and the best contemporary artist ever to work regularly in the SF field. The fashionable youngsters of the year could learn a lot of craft from him.

Richard was fashionable in the 1950s in the paperbacks when Ian Ballantine started his SF line. Ballantine used Powers almost exclusively for a decade for SF covers and Richard proceeded to bring most of the good ideas in contemporary art into SF illustration —I’ll never forget the shock of those Ballantine covers when I was a kid, and then the greater shock when I visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the first time in the sixties and saw those same ideas on display all over the museum. Powers has challenged all the illustrators who have been fashionable at one time or another in the SF world for the last thirty years (ask Vincent Di Fate or Jack Gaughan —they’ll tell you).

Richard Powers does political cartoons (he did them regularly for years for the Berkshire Eagle), writes satirical poetry, and thrives on insult humor (watch out, he’ll attack first). He is adept at the rare art of invective and has no mercy when pursuing a jibe —he searched through cartons of boxes of crackerjacks to find a ring for his engagement to Tina (a tennis pro, who sometimes beats him at tennis, and pays, and pays).

As you can perhaps now see, Richard is not one of those people who will agree with you just to be friendly if he doesn’t. He demands strength of character from himself and (more, I think) from those around him. He’ll heap sarcasm on you, if you slip up in conversation, phrased in a mixture of precisely-used polysyllables and gutter insult, then laugh loud enough to rattle your bones. Actually, now that I’ve known him for more than fifteen years I think he likes nothing better than disagreement. A blunt, tough argument wakes him up, keeps boredom at bay. He’s an artist, but not one of those vague, non-verbal types. He looks at the world and really sees it, and can talk about it as well as paint it or draw it or sculpt it.

The range and level of execution represented by the work of Richard Powers, in a field where a lot of people prefer schematic diagrams to art, is a continual challenge to everyone who takes SF seriously. Powers’s art is about visionary growth, change. We need him. He’s a real pro.

[Art by Richard Powers of two figures standing on a large semi-organic tower.]

Toastmaster Algis Budrys

[Algis Budrys]

Pop-Up Toastmaster

by Algis Budrys

Algis Budrys, this year’s toastmaster, is a four-slice, pop-up model with chrome facings and Bakelite handles, an ornament to any kitchen.

Born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in a land long ago and far away, he has had the appropriate look in his eye ever since. Famed for his cryptic wit— few realize that his novel, Rogue Moon, is actually a parody of a con report-he additionally brings to his Norwescon duties all the panache of a man who has sold trucks for the International Harvester Company.

Having in the course of his career also represented Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Pickle Packers International, Inc., the Louisiana Yam Council, the Butterball Turkey Institute, Cherry Growers, Inc., and the Baking Soda Institute, Budrys is the perfect man to stand up at a banquet. It remains to be seen whether he can be persuaded to sit down again. Students at the Clarion SF writing workshop these past six years can testify to his vocal persistence.

Norwescon 6 is not the first occasion for a Budrys appearance in Seattle or at the Hyatt Seattle. Those who were here at the '61 Seacon may remember the wretched sight of Budrys throwing himself into the pool shortly after the Hugo winners were announced. Budrys himself claims to remember nothing about it, and will stick to that position if asked. He has only pleasant memories of the Northwest, and hopes to add to them. With that objective in mind, he asks that those encountering him in the halls speak to him softly, gently, and, if female, plesantly.

For the record, Mr. Budrys is now at the advanced age of 52, when pleasantries are appreciated, and is the author of about 200 pieces of fiction, some of them novels, many of them SF. These have appeared over the years since 1952, and some have appeared in good places. Some were worth doing.

In addition, he has been an assistant editor at a number of SF places, beginning with Gnome Press and Galaxy Magazine. In 1961, he became editor-in-chief of Regency Books, which published quite a bit of non-SF work by notable SF authors, and in 1963 became editoral director of Playboy Press for a period of a year and a half. He has not often worked as an editor since then, having wandered into advertising and public relations between 1966 and 1974 (the pickle and truck period). Since 1974 he has freelanced all his work, which includes stints in political PR, operating The Unifont Company—a communications consulting firm— teaching writers, and producing some fiction, including Michaelmas, a novel, and some shorter pieces.

He’s currently at work on a number of projects, including an SF novel, a contemporary novel about science, an anecdotal book on bicycling, a collection of his book reviews, an SF teaching text, and a Budrys issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. With its January, 1983, issue, F&SF named him its Book Review Editor, and he expects to do 12 columns a year for that publication, perhaps thus exemplifying one of his prime theories of editing.

He considers himself primarily an SF writer, but what with one thing and another he’s gotten into these various sidelines over the course of his life. A youthful interest in pickup trucks led him first to becoming “Jeffries Oldmann,” a writer for Car Speed and Style, Custom Rodder, and Cars Magazine. This culminated, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in his becoming supervisor of the International Truck public relations account for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency and then in becoming operations manager of Woodall’s Trailer Travel Magazine and the other Woodall publications. Youthful exposure to speechwriting and press contacts led him into PR work in the first place. The combination of this experience and his editorial years led to the founding of Unifont, which has done everything from co-publishing a bicycle repair manual with Rand McNally, designing the logo of the Evanston, Illinois, Police Department Community Aides, introducing a jewelry designer’s work to the publisher and editors of Vogue, to publicizing a schismatic Congregationalist church.

He’s not sure of how he gets into all this sort of thing, but vaguely puts it down to insatiable curiosity about how things work. Things of which he is particularly proud include a number of friendships in SF; the novels Who?, Rogue Moon, The Iron Thom, and Michaelmas; several short stories; the bicycle repair manual, Bicycles … How They Work and How to Fix Them; a biography, Truman and The Pendergasts; two consecutive years of “99” badge privileges at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; his years of teaching at Clarion; being an occasional member of the Popular Science vehicle testing team in the 1970s; and his wife, Edna, and their four sons, all of whom work.

Wife, sons, cat, car, bicycles and typewriter, they all live in one big house in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb; Budrys and typewriter sit in a former basement coal bin and confront each other daily, although he does occasionally take time out to formulate scurrilous remarks about his betters, some of which he promises to deploy in the course of this year’s banquet.

“I’ve never actually been a toastmaster before,” Budrys admits, “but I’ve been privileged to watch the best of them-Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, Sam Moskowitz—and I believe I’ve grasped the technique. You pop up between speakers just long enough to draw fire but not long enough to get hit, and everybody knows the punches of your jokes before you get to them but they’re too polite to say so. I intend to acquit myself nobly, but if convicted will appeal.”

[Art by S. A. Gallacci of a bearded man holding a toaster next to a bag labeled ‘fusion toastmaster’ and attempting to sell it to an alien woman with two children hanging on her.]

[Art by Richard Powers of an alien landscape.]

[Ad: Whispers Press

WHISPERS PRESS Presents:

FOUNDATION’S EDGE
ISAAC ASIMOV

It has been over a quarter of a century since Isaac Asimov’s third and last Foundation novel. In the interim, Dr. Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy was honored with a Special Hugo Award as the Best Science Fiction Series of ALL TIME. The Whispers Press is extremely pleased to announce its acquisition of FOUNDATION’S EDGE, the long-awaited sequel to the Foundation Trilogy. We will be doing this landmark book as a very special First Edition. In the tradition of the turn-of-the-century’s collector’s-editions, FOUNDATION’S EDGE will be Smythe-sewn and bound into a three-piece case consisting of a genuine leather spine with cloth sides. The book’s paper will be acid-free stock for extended shelflife and the top edge will be exquisite gilt. This is a collector’s edition that should not be missed.

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Guests of Norwescon

[SUSAN ALLISON]
Photo by Charles N. Brown

Susan Allison is SF editor in chief for Berkley/Ace Books.

[Darrel Anderson]

Darrel Anderson, an artist from Colorado, has shown his work at various conventions. His popular prints are direct-image offset lithographs using up to seven ink colors. Anderson’s work has also appeared in a variety of magazines.

[Cartoon of a fuzzy alien caterpillar.]

[Kim Antieau]

Kim Antieau of Bandon, OR, has recently completed an SF novel, Killian. The first chapter will appear this spring as a short story in Isaac Asimov’s. She has several novels inprogress.

[Robin W. Bailey]

Robin W. Bailey is the author of the fantasy novel Frost (Timescape, March 1983). He has just submitted the sequel, Skull Gate, and is working on a third novel, Hegira. Robin W. Bailey lives in Kansas City, MO.

[Steven Bryan Bieler]
Photo by Pauline Palmer

Steven Bryan Bieler has recently had two short stories published in Isaac Asimov’s, “Good Golly, Miss Molly” (Nov. 1982) and “Eat Metal” (Jan. 1983). Another is forthcoming in an anthology Wet Visions. In addition, he has self-published a succinct book of essays and parodies, entitled Why Don’t You Get a Real Job? Bieler lives in Seattle with his dog, Cedric.

[Art Bozlee]

A self-styled space technologist and contributing editor to Westwind, Art Bozlee’s varied background includes twelve years of applied nuclear research, a stint as a professional racecar driver, photographer and pilot.

[David Brin]

David Brin is the author of Sundiver. His recent short SF includes “Coexistence” and “The Postman” (Isaac Asimov’s May & Nov. 1982). Dr. Brin teaches at San Diego State University and works on projects involving the space shuttle.

[Charles N. Brown]
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen/Locus Publications

Charles N. Brown is founder and editor of Locus, the premier newspaper of the SF field. He has won seven Hugos for Locus, including the 1982 Hugo for Best Fanzine.

[Mildred Downey Broxon]
Photo by William J. Murray III

Mildred Downey Broxon had short fiction in Chrysalis, Stellar 3, Universe 5, Isaac Asimov’s and Vertex. She has written two novels, The Demon of Scattery (with Poul Anderson) and Too Long a Sacrifice. Her most recent work has been “Night of the Fifth Sun” (Isaac Asimov’s May 1982). Mildred Downey Broxon lives in Seattle, WA.

[F.M. Busby]

F. M. (“Buz”) Busby of Seattle is the author of numerous short stories in the SF field plus, recently, two fantasy stories. His published books are The Demu Trilogy, Rissa Kerguelen, All These Earths, and Zelde M’tana. Upcoming from Bantam next year are The Star Rebel, the first of two books covering the early life of Bran Tregare “the pirate,” and The Alien Debt, a direct sequel to Rissa. The second Tregare book, under the working title Star Rebel’s Quest, is near completion.

[Drawing by SAG of a lizard-like person aiming a large shoulder-mounted gun.]

[Frank Catalano]
Photo by J.W. Michelinie

Frank Catalano is a professional freelance writer and award-winning broadcast journalist. His writing includes over 60 published articles and stories, including sales to Omni, F&SF, Analog, Rigel and the forthcoming anthology of Pacific Northwest SF, Wet Visions, reviews for United Press International; and columns in several magazines and newspapers. He currently is a book review columnist for Amazing and works full-time as Afternoon News Anchor/Reporter and Science Editor for KING-FM in Seattle, an all-news radio station.

[Michael G. Coney]

Michael G. Coney, of Sidney, B. C., has authored the books Syzygy, Monitor Found in Orbit, The Jaws that Bite, Rax, Friends Come in Boxes, Charisma and Neptune’s Cauldron. His most recent novel is Cat Karina (Ace 1982). He has a novel, The Celestial Steam Locomotive, Part I, forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin this Fall. He is currently working on another novel in the same series as Cat Karina and the second and third parts of The Celestial Steam Locomotive.

[Joel Davis]
Photo by Marie Celestre

Joel Davis is a science writer whose articles and news reports appear in Omni, Science Digest, Science and Mechanics, Analog, Writer’s Digest and other publications. His first book, Endorphins: New Waves in Brain Chemistry will be published next February by Dial Press. He lives in Olympia and is not a clone of the publisher of Analog and Isaac Asimov’s.

[John De Camp]

John De Camp is primarily a mainstream poet, but his book, In The Shadow of Atlantis, is a poetic fantasy. He has had a story accepted by Wet Visions, an anthology of Pacific Northwest SF.

[J. Ray Dettling]

J. Ray Dettling has published many SF stories as well as science-fact articles covering a broad range of technical fields. For two years he has been the science columnist for Amazing. J. Ray Dettling lives in Saratoga, CA and is currently working on new video game concepts.

[Ted Dikty]

Ted Dikty lives in Mercer Island, WA, and currently publishes SF non-fiction.

[Steven Dimeo]

Steven Dimeo, a resident of Hillsboro, OR, edits the New Oregon Review, a literary journal. He reviews SF films for Cinefantastique. His short fiction has appeared in such publications as Amazing, Crosscurrents, Michigan Quarterly Review and Oui. Steven Dimeo is currently putting the finishing touches on Witching, a novel of the occult.

[Judy Dyer]
Photo by Ray Stone

Judy Dyer is an office systems consultant for Boeing Computer Services.

[Tribal tattoo-style art of a dragon.]

[Ad: Bantam Books

SF&F

Bantam Books 1983: Publishing Only the Best In Science Fiction and Fantasy

Ray Bradbury * DINOSAUR TALES (June)
The Machineries of Joy
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Martian Chronicles
The Illustrated Man
Dandelion Wine
A Medicine for Melancholy
I Sing the Body Electric!
The Golden Apples of the Sun
Long After Midnight
R is for Rocket • S is for Space
David Brin * THE TIDES OF KITHRUP (September)
Sundiver
Edward Bryant * CINNABAR
Joy Chant * WHEN VOIHA WAKES (November)
THE HIGH KINGS (October)
Red Moon and Black Mountain (June)
The Grey Mane of Morning
John Crowley * LITTLE, BIG (October)
Beasts (November)
Engine Summer (December)
Samuel R Delany * NEVERYONA
Tales of Neveryon
Dhalgren • Nova • Triton
The Ballad of Beta-2
Babel-17 • The Fall of the Towers
Empire Star (September)
Randall Garrett & Vicki Ann Heydron * THE GANDALARA CYCLE:
The Steel of Raithskar
The Glass of Dyskornis
The Bronze of Eddarta (May)
Well of Darkness (December)
Harry Harrison * THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT FOR PRESIDENT
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!
The “To the Stars” Trilogy:
(Homeworld, Wheelworld, Starworld)
West of Eden (coming in 1984)
David A Kyle * Z-LENSMAN (August)
The Dragon Lensman • Lensman from Rigel
Ursula K Le Guin * THE COMPASS ROSE (July)
The Beginning Place • Orsinian Tales
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters
The Earthsea Trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea,
The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore
Stephen Leigh * DANCE OF THE HAG
A Quiet of Stone (coming in 1984)
R A MacAvoy * TEA WITH THE BLACK DRAGON (May)
Damiano (coming in 1984)
Mike McQuay * MATHEW SWAIN: THE ODDS ARE MURDER
Jitterbug (coming in 1984)
Warren Norwood * THE WINDHOVER TAPES:
An Image of Voices • Flexing the Warp
Fize of the Gabriel Ratchets (July)
The Planet of the Flowers (coming in 1984)
with Ralph Mylius * THE SEREN CENACLES (October)
Byron Preiss & Michael Reaves * DRAGONWORLD
Elizabeth Scarborough * THE UNICORN CREED
Song of Sorcery
Bronwyn’s Bane (December)
Robert Silverberg * MAJIPOOR CHRONICLES
Lord Valentine’s Castle
The Book of Skulls • The World Inside
The Masks of Time (July)
Thoms (August) • Tower of Glass (September)
Sharon Webb * EARTHCHILD (November)
Earthsong (coming in 1984)
Marc Scott Zicree * THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION

[Bantam Books logo]

Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York 10103 Bantam Books Canada, Inc., 60 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 601 Toronto, Ontario M4T 1N5]

[Elton T. Elliott]
Photo by Craig Peterson

Elton T. Elliott has sold a novel, The Sword of Allah, to Fawcett, in collaboration with Richard E. Geis. It is scheduled for Fall 1984. He is currently at work on a projected trilogy, and on another novel with Geis.

Elton writes an opinion column for Science Fiction Review.

He lives in Keizer, Oregon.

[Dale Enzenbacher]

Fantasy sculptor Dale Enzenbacher is a co-winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Artist (he shared the honor with Alicia Austin). The pieces he is exhibiting this year will show why he is called The Mad Sculptor of California.

[Robert Frazier]
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Robert Frazier currently has a series of poems on scientists and the history of science running in Isaac Asimov’s. His poetry has also appeared in the anthologies, Pawn to Infinity (Ace 1982) and Dragons of Darkness (Ace 1981). He is currently working on an anthology of poetry to be published in 1983 and edits Star*Line, the newsletter of the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

[Sidney Ganis]

Sidney Ganis is a Senior Vice President of Lucasfilm Ltd., and has orchestrated the marketing strategies for the Star Wars series and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Most recently he has served as Executive Producer of two television specials: “Great Movie Stunts: Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and “The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He received an Emmy for the latter special.

[Maureen Garrett]

Maureen Garrett is Director of the Star Wars Fan Club and Fan Relations for Lucasfilm Ltd. She has also done illustrations for fanzines and Amateur Press Associations.

[Rick Gauger]

Rick Gauger’s short stories have been published in Analog, Destinies, Omni and elsewhere.

[William Gibson]

William Gibson of Vancouver, B.C. has sold SF stories to Omni, Shadows, Universe 11 and others. One of his recent stories, “Burning Chrome,” (Omni, July 1982) is a 1982 Nebula Award Nominee. He has a story, “Red Star, Winter Orbit,” (with Bruce Sterling) forthcoming from Omni.

[Janet D. Gluckman]
Photo by San Jose Mercury & News

Janet D. Gluckman has authored Rite of the Dragon, a novel of political intrigue, Mr. Cato’s Dream Machine, a children’s fantasy, and has had a short piece, “Negwenya,” published in Dragons of Darkness (Ace 1981). Ms. Gluckman lives in Cupertino, CA.

[Drawing of a dragon curled around itself.]

[Sherry M. Gottlieb]

Sherry M. Gottlieb is the owner of the world’s oldest and largest SF bookstore, A Change of Hobbit, in Santa Monica, CA. She is also the designer and program coordinator for an immensely popular weekly panel course offered through the UCLA Extension (Dept. of the Arts): “Escape Velocity: Exploring the Worlds of Speculative Fiction.”

[Jon Gustafson]

Jon Gustafson has authored a column for the fanzine, Science Fiction Review and has been a contributor to Brian Ash’s Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Peter Nicholls' Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and the Starlog Science Fiction Yearbook. He co-edited the fanzine New Venture (1974–76) and currently the fanzine PESFAnzine. His book review column, Serpent’s Tooth, appears regularly in Westwind.

[George Harper]

George Harper is a science writer by trade and author of the SF novel Gypsy Earth (Doubleday). He has recently authored a three-act SF play, “Final Exam.”

[David Hartwell]

David Hartwell is the Director of Science Fiction for Timescape Books, edits a little literary magazine named The Little Magazine, is the editor of the Gregg Press line of SF, and publisher of Dragon Press.

[Drawing by SAG of an alien.]

[Ad: Signet

EXPLORE THE WORLDS OF SIGNET SF

[A spherical space station with a ring of extra domes around it, with three astronauts in space suits floating outside.]

Robert Adams
Brian Aldiss
Poul Anderson
Isaac Asimov
James Blish
Pierre Boulle
Octavia Butler
Arthur C. Clarke
L. Sprague de Camp
Samuel R. Delany
Harlan Ellison
Philip Jose Farmer
Jonathan Fast
Martin Greenberg
James E. Gunn
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert P. Holdstock
Fred & Geoffrey Hoyle
Zach Hughes
Walter Irwin
John Jakes
Frank A. Javor
M. Bradley Kellogg
G. B. Love
Ann Maxwell
Mark McGarry
R.M. Meluch
Barbara Paul
Terry Pratchett
Mike Resnick
Stephen Robinett
Joel Rosenberg
Robert Silverberg
Theodore Sturgeon
Joan D. Vinge
Charles Waugh
Robin Scott Wilson
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Nicholas Yermakov
Roger Zelazny

The Best in Science Fiction From Signet

Signet SF
New American Library
[REDACTED] Broadway
New York, New York
10019]

[Marilyn Holt]
Photo by Tyson Greer

Marilyn Holt, a Seattle resident, is a book reviewer for The Seattle Times and Western Wildlands. She has published a study of Joanna Russ' writing entitled “No Docile Daughters: A Study of Two Novels by Joanna Russ,” in Room of One’s Own.

[Dean Ing]

Dean Ing of Ashland, Oregon, was a Hugo and Nebula finalist in 1979. He is the author of the novels Soft Targets, Anasazi, Systemic Shock, Pulling Through and High Tension, all published by Ace. His short SF and nonfiction articles have appeared in Analog, Destinies and Omni. Forthcoming is a new novel, Single Combat (a sequal to Systemic Shock) from Tor Books.

[Drawing by SAG of a spaceship in flight.]

[Drawing by Tarkas of an ant-like vehicle.]

[Howard Kazanjian]
Photo by Barb Lakin

Howard Kazanjian was executive producer, with George Lucas, of the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” In 1982, he produced the documentary, “The Making of the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” for which he won the Emmy. Howard Kazanjian is currently producing the third film in the Star Wars series, “Return of the Jedi,” scheduled for release May 25, 1983.

[Jim Kingsley]

Jim Kingsley, of Corvallis, OR, is president of the Official Fan Club for Battlestar Galactica.

[Karl Krogstad]
Photo by Thomas Wunsch

Karl Krogstad is the Northwest’s leading independent filmmaker, having produced 22 films in 14 years of work and winning awards in 26 film festivals, both national and international. He is known for his fantastic and bizarre style. Both live action and animation are fair game with “The Party Line,” perhaps his best known comedy, which was recently shown at the Tate Gallery in London and the Cinematheque Franchise in Paris.

[Jerry Loomis]

Jerry Loomis' short SF has appeared in The New Era and in a collection of his SF, The Heart of the Two-Mile Game.

[Elizabeth A. Lynn]
Photo by Paul Nelson

Elizabeth A. Lynn has written several novels including A Different Light, the three books of The Chronicles of Tornor and, most recently, The Sardonyx Net. One of her novels, Watchtower, won the World Fantasy Award. Her short fiction has been published in such places as F&SF, Isaac Asimov’s, Millenial Women, Berkley Showcase I, Amazons!, Basilisk and Other Worlds I. Some of her short fiction has been collected in The Woman Who Loved the Moon and Other Stories. Elizabeth Lynn lives in San Francisco.

[Shawna McCarthy]

Shawna McCarthy is the editor of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. This is her first Norwescon, as well as her first trip to the Pacific Northwest.

[Vonda N. McIntyre]
Photo by Jeff Levin/Pendragon Graphics

Seattle’s Vonda N. McIntyre won the 1979 Hugo and Nebula Awards for her novel, Dreamsnake. She has published three other novels, The Exile Waiting, The Entropy Effect and The Wrath of Khan, and a short story collection, Fireflood and Other Stories. Her latest book, Superluminal, will be published by Houghton Mifflin in October, 1983.

[Patricia McKillip]

Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Patricia McKillip’s fantasy novels include The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and The Throme of the Erril of Sherill. Her most recent novel is Stepping from the Shadows (Atheneum). A short work of hers, “The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreat” appeared recently in Elsewhere II (Ace). She is currently working on a fantasy and an SF novel.

[George R. R. Martin]

George R. R. Martin of Santa Fe, NM, is the winner of three Hugos and a Nebula Award. In the years when he hasn’t won, he has been a perennial finalist for both awards. He has authored three SF story collections, A Song for Lya and Other Stories, Songs of Stars and Shadows and Sand-kings, and three novels: Dying of the Light, Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle) and, most recently, Fevre Dream (Poseidon Press 1982). Mr. Martin is also editor of the New Voices SF anthology and has another novel, The Armageddon Rag, forthcoming from Poseidon Press.

[Cyn Mason]
Photo by N. K. Hoffman

Cyn Mason has been published in Isaac Asimov’s and SF Chronicle. She is editor of Wet Visions, a forthcoming anthology of Pacific Northwest SF. Cyn Mason lives in Seattle.

[Julian May]

An SF writer and costume buff, Julian May is finishing the fourth and final volume in her Pliocene Quartet, The Adversary. The first two books in the series, The Many-Colored Land and The Golden Tore will be issued in paperback by Del Rey in Fall 1983. The third book, The Nonborn King, was just published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin. May has just signed contracts for a new series, the Galactic Milieu Trilogy, which will detail events in the future world that served as a background for the Pliocene novels. Julian May lives on Mercer Island, WA.

[Mario Milosevic]

Mario Milosevic has sold SF to Ultra, Space & Time and Quavara. A newcomer to the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Bandon OR with his wife, Kim Antieu. He is now working on an SF novel.

[Dr. Alan E. Nourse]
Photo by Irene Fury

Dr. Alan E. Nourse was trained as a physician but has amassed a substantial record as an author. His SF works include Trouble on Titan, Rocket to Limbo, Scavengers in Space, Raiders from the Rings, The Universe Between, Psi High and Others, and Bladerunner (no relation to the movie by the same name). Dr. Nourse has also written an impressive number of adult and juvenile works of nonfiction. He was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America for 1968–69. Dr. Nourse lives in Thorp, WA.

[Ted A. Pedersen]

Ted A. Pedersen is the author of more than 60 teleplays, including “The Bionic Woman,” “Flash Gordon,” “Spiderman” and “The Smurfs.” He uses two personal computers, a Xerox 820 and a KayPro II Portable, for his current projects: a near future conspiracy novel, the screenplay for Robert L. Forward’s “Dragon’s Egg” (originally an animated film, now in work as a live-action movie), and assorted computer software. He shares a Santa Monica apartment with his wife, Phyllis, and two cats.

[Drawing by SAG of a fighter jet.]

[Steve Perry]

Steve Perry has had work published in Isaac Asimov’s, Galaxy, F&SF and Omni. He is the author of The Tularemia Gambit (Fawcett). He has also authored two fantasy novels for children (one in collaboration with Michael Reaves) and has two other novels in the works.

Victoria Poyser
Photo by Andrew Porter

Victoria Poyser, late of Olympia, has done covers for Timescape, DAW, Doubleday and Tor Books. Her black and white illustrations have appeared in various books, magazines, fanzines and convention publications. She won the Hugo Award as Best Fan Artist in 1981 and 1982. She lives in New York City with her husband, Kennedy, and two children, Astra and Bryan.

[Ad: Houghton Mifflin

Just Published

THE NONBORN KING
by Julian May

[A person wearing a cowboy hat, body armor, and starry cloak.]

Julian May began her remarkable saga with The Many-Colored Land, which was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and continued it with The Golden Tore. The Saga of Pliocene Exile has been called “a series of such scope and complexity that it will eventually rival The Lord of the Rings … as among the best that science fiction has to offer.” — Elton T. Elliott, Science Fiction Review. Of The Golden Tore, Baird Searles wrote: “Wagnerian in scale… I read it with the same avid excitement I felt for The Many-Colored Land, and I finished it with the same craving for more” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine).

Well, here is more, as Aiken Drum, a young human with awesome mental powers, manages to usurp the Tanu throne. The same magic blend of adventure, rich pageantry, humor, and parapsychological drama, marks volume III of May’s now-classic epic.

$16.95 Now at your bookstore

Coming in the fallfrom Houghton Mifflin Company:

THE CELESTIAL STEAM LOCOMOTIVE, by the award-winning novelist Michael Coney. Spanning untold eons, worlds, and dimensions of future time, this epic novel expands the horizons of Dune and Riverworld. $9.95

THE SILMARILLION, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first trade paperback edition of Tolkien’s all-time best best seller. $7.95

WELCOME, CHAOS, by Kate Wilhelm. A science fiction thriller on the order of Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, which won the Locus, Hugo, Apollo, and Jupiter awards. $13.95

SUPERLUMINAL, by Vonda McIntyre, winner of Nebula, Hugo and Locus awards. The womanstar-ship pilot in McIntyre’s “Aztecs” undergoes the replacement of her human heart and sails her craft into four, five, and more dimensions. $13.95

THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH, by Karen Fonstad. The road map to Tolkien’s magical kingdom. $14.95

And for all enthusiastic science fiction writers:

NOTES TO A SCIENCE FICTION WRITER, by Ben Bova. The basic handbook for aspiring science fiction writers, by the multiple Hugo award - winning editor and author. $5.95

HOW TO BE YOUR OWN LITERARY AGENT, by Richard Curtis. “The problem is not praising Curtis' book beyond believability… an impossible task. It is, simply put, indispensable. You can’t do better.” — Harlan Ellison $12.95

Houghton Mifflin Company
Two Park Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108]

[Richard Purtill]

A philosophy professor at Western Washington University, Richard Purtill has written books on ethics, the philosophy of religion, logic, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. He has written the fantasy novels Golden Gryphon Feathers and The Stolen Goddess. Murdercon, an SF murder mystery, was recently published by Doubleday. A new fantasy, The Mirror of Helen, will appear in 1983 from DAW.

[Frank Robinson]
Photo by Jenny Bauer

Frank Robinson is the author of The Power and A Life in the Day of … In collaboration with Thomas N. Scortia he has authored The Prometheus Crisis and The Gold Crew.

[Jessica Amanda Salmonson and Wendy Adrian Schultz]
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Jessica Amanda Salmonson, a resident of Seattle, is the World Fantasy Award-winning editor of the anthologies Amazons!, Amazons II, Heroic Visions and Tales by Moonlight. Her three novels are Tomoe Gozen, The Golden Naginata and The Swordsman. Her short stories have appeared in Elsewhere, Hecate’s Cauldron, The Berkley Showcase and numerous others. She also edits a small newsletter about women warriors of history, legend and modern heroic fantasy.

Wendy Adrian Schultz has illustrated such novels as Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s The Golden Naginata and Phyllis Ann Karr’s Wildraith’s Last Battle. She has been involved in researching swashbuckling women of history and has prepared an art folio depicting some of these boisterous ladies, whose exploits equal or exceed the wildest fantasy novels. Previously an art teacher in St. Louis schools, she had made her home in Seattle for the last few years, managing a marginal subsistence from her art.

[An alien ship with tentacles.]

[Michael Reaves]

Michael Reaves is the author of the novels Dragonworld (with Byron Preiss) and Darkworld Detective; has had short fiction published in F&SF, Universe, and Weird Heroes; and has written numerous TV scripts. He and Steve Perry have recently completed another novel, Hellstar.

[Joanna Russ]
Photo by Ileen Weber

Joanna Russ is the Nebula Award-winning author of such novels as Picnic on Paradise, And Chaos Died, We Who Are About To, The Two of Them, The Female Man and Kittatinny: A Tale of Magic. Ms. Russ has contributed incisive book reviews to F&SF. Her short fiction has recently appeared in Heroic Visions, Elsewhere II and F&SF (Nov. 1982).

[Stephen Schlich]]

Stephen Schlich of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has had a short story, “Top of the Stairs,” published in Twilight Zone (Feb. 1982). His story has since been transmuted into a screenplay making the rounds in Hollywood. He has sold a story, “Rribbit,” to Wet Visions, a forthcoming theme anthology of Pacific Northwest SF, sold 2 computer cartoons to InfoWorld, and written chunks of the new WordStar Reference Manual (forthcoming).

[Stanley Schmidt]

Stanley Schmidt is editor of Analog and several Analog anthologies. He is also author of a novel, Newton and the Quasi-Apple (1975) and has recent or forthcoming stories in F&SF, Isaac Asimov’s and Twilight Zone.

[Jody Scott]
Photo by Helen Reynolds Portrait Studio

Jody Scott wrote the SF novel Passing for Human (DAW), won an MWA award for her mystery novel Cure It With Honey (Harper) and has published numerous short stories in such places as Escapade, Fantastic and the The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her latest book, I, Vampire, is soon to be released by Berkley. Ms. Scott resides in Seattle and is currently finishing another novel, Starmasters.

[Stephanie Ann Smith]

Stephanie Ann Smith lives in Portland, OR. Her latest short story “Blue Heart,” was published in the Nov. '82 issue of Isaac Asimov’s.

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[Julie Stevens]

Julie Stevens is a lawyer who currently practices in her hometown of Coos Bay, OR. Her first short story, “Miles to Go Before I Sleep,” appeared in Isaac Asimov’s (April 1982). She has two more stories forthcoming this spring and an SF novel looking for a publisher.

[Bruce Taylor]

Bruce Taylor has had stories published in New Dimensions 9 & 10 (ed. Robert Silverberg), the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Matrix (creative writing supplement to the University of Washington Daily). He lives in Seattle, WA.

[Drawing by SAG of a dragon in flight.]

[Gene Van Troyer]
Photo by Bernard Versari

Gene Van Troyer has had stories and poems published in Vertex, Eternity, Hayakawa SF Magazine (Tokyo) and the Umbral Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry. Formerly the editor of Portland Review, a literary magazine, he is now the associate editor of Star*Line, the newsletter of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Presently he is completing his first novel and seeking a publisher for it and a collection of poems.

[Eric Vinicoff]

Eric Vinicoff is publisher/editor of the SF magazine Rigel. He has sold numerous stories to SF magazine and anthologies. Recently, his story, “The Snake and the Staff,” appeared in Analog (Nov. 1982). Another, “Caster,” will appear in an upcoming anthology, Men of War (Tor).

[Carl J. Waluconis]

Carl J. Waluconis (a.k.a. Wally Coins) is the author of Whispers of Heavenly Death (Manor).

William R. Warren, Jr.
Photo by Thom Walls

William R. Warren, Jr. has been active in fandom since 1968 and his artwork has appeared in numerous fanzines, program books and other fan publications. He contributed artwork to the Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble and has won Best of Show at Westercon 33, V-Con, Wichacon 1.

[Drawing by Phil Yeh of silhouettes of a human and a unicorn walking through woods, with the text, ‘artist and friend in the great northwest’.]

Phil Yeh is the author/artist of The Magic Gumball Machine, The Adventures of a Modern Day Unicorn, and Frank the Unicorn on the Farm, as well as five other graphic novels. Phil lives in Long Beach, California.

Michael Armstrong, a resident of Anchorage, Alaska, has been published in F&SF. He is working on several new stories and a novel set in Alaska.

Jim Baen is the editor for Tor Books, and has worked previously for Galaxy and Ace.

Steve Barnes has collaborated with Larry Niven to write Dream Park and The Descent of Anansi. His first solo novel will appear shortly.

Wayne D. Barlowe’s SF art has appeared on the cover of numerous books and such magazines as Isaac Asimov’s and Analog. A recent sample of his work can be seen on the covers of Michael McDowell’s Blackwater (Avon) horror saga. With Ian Summers, he illustrated and authored Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials (Workman Publishing 1979).

Linda S. Blanchard of Mountlake Terrace, WA, runs a local SF writer’s workshop and has authored the novelette, “Mirror of the Soul,” (F&SF Jan. 1983).

Jesse F. Bone has been missing from the last couple of Norwescons. His only excuse is that he was in Kenya for the last two years, teaching anatomy and collecting material for new stories. He is the author of The Lani People, The Meddlers, Legacy, Confederation Matador and numerous pieces of short fiction.

As co-editor of Cry, Elinor Busby won a Hugo Award in 1960 for Best Fanzine. She has sold several SF stories and is working on several Regency novels.

Sharman Di Vono has just completed a motion picture screenplay in collaboration with Dan O’Bannon. She writes for newspaper comic strips, Saturday morning TV cartoons, live-action TV and comic books. Together with William Rotsler, she developed the concept for and wrote some of the first six new Tom Swift books. Ms. Di Vono lives in North Hollywood, CA.

G. C. Edmondson is the author of several SF novels, including The Aluminum Man, Chapayeca, The Man Who Corrupted Earth, The Ship that Sailed the Time Stream and To Sail the Century Sea.

Jane Fancher is Assistant Inker for the fantasy comic Elfquest authored by Richard and Wendy Pini and has long been involved in Elfquest fan clubs.

Eileen Gunn lives in Seattle. Her stories have appeared in Amazing, and in the anothologies Proteus, and Tales by Moonlight.

Megan Lindholm a.k.a. Megan Lindholm Ogden) is the author of a recently published novel, Harpy’s Flight (Ace 1982) and “Superior Graphics” (Space & Time 64).

Michael W. McClintock teaches at the University of Montana, and has contributed to Extrapolation, Orbit, The Dictionary of Literary Biography, the Survey of Science Fiction Literature and other publications.

Robin McKinley is the author of three highly regarded fantasy works: Beauty, The Door in the Hedge and The Blue Sword. A short piece, “The Healer,” appeared in Elsewhere II (Ace).

Debbie Notkin is part owner of an SF bookstore, The Other Change of Hobbit, in Berkeley, CA. She also is a reviewer for Locus and Rigel. Debbie Notkin lives in Berkeley, CA.

Kim Runciman, a native Seattleite, writes film reviews for the University of Washington Daily, and will be graduating from the U. of W. in June.

J. T. Stewart is an accomplished poetess and a main organizer of the yearly Science Fiction Fair at Seattle Central Community College. She has been a panel participant at the various cons taking place in the upper left hand corner of the map (Orycon, V-Con, Norwescon).

Jeff Walker is a studio publicist with Warner Brothers.

Terri Windling is fantasy editor for Berkley/Ace Books. She is co-editor, with Mark Arnold, of Elsewhere (Ace) (winner of a 1982 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology) and Elsewhere II (Ace).

Teny Zuber is a studio representative from Columbia Pictures.

[Art by O’Barr of a dark-haired woman in toga-style dress standing near a large vase and bushes.].

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[A man in dark suit and top hat with his hands open in front of them, with a young boy’s portrait on the palm of each hand.]
Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce) displays tatoos of the two young innocents he is seeking to fuel his carnival of evil in Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” A Walt Disney Productions' presentation. © MCMLXXXIII Walt Disney Productions

“Something Wicked This Way Comes”

Production Information

What price would you pay to have your deepest darkest desires come true? That’s the question facing the people of Green Town, 111. when their town falls prey to a seductive stranger known as Mr. Dark and his mysterious traveling carnival, fueled by greed and torment, in the screen adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s spine-tingling fantasy, “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”

When two young boys stumble onto the carnival’s deadly and destructive secret, the burden of saving them and Green Town falls on the unlikely shoulders of Charles Halloway, (played by Academy Award-winner Jason Robards).

Something Wicked This Way Comes has sold millions of copies in paperback alone since it was published in 1962 and remains one of the author’s most popular—and personal—works.

And while Something Wicked This Way Comes has intrigued many filmmakers, it wasn’t until producer Peter Vincent Douglas teamed with director Jack Clayton and Walt Disney Productions that the faithful adaptation of Bradbury’s novel was finally brought to the screen.

Britain’s Jonathan Pryce, highly acclaimed stage actor and Tony Award-winning star of “The Comedians,” makes his American film debut as “Mr. Dark,” the sardonic carnival ringmaster. Appearing in a dual role as Dark’s ethereal emissary the “Dust Witch” and the “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” is Pam Grier. Diane Ladd is Mrs. Nightshade and veteran character actor Royal Dano is Tom Fury, the eccentric lightning rod salesman who sets the chilling tone for this compelling fantasy. Ellen Geer, James Stacy, Dick Davalos, Bruce M. Fischer, Vidal I. Peterson and Shawn Carson are also featured.

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” marks the return of director Jack Clayton to filmmaking after a nine-year absence. This is only the sixth feature film for the highly acclaimed director whose past credits include “The Innocents,” “Room at the Top” and “The Great Gatsby.” “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is producer Douglas’s second feature, the first being “The Final Countdown.”

The sets for Green Town, Ill., and Dark’s Pandemonium Carnival were constructed under the supervision of production designer Richard Macdonald (“The Day of the Locust,” “Marathon Man,” “Altered States,” “Cannery Row,” and “Super Girl”). Lee Dyer was responsible for the film’s innovative special visual effects.

The film’s musical score is by composer James Horner whose credits include “Star Trek II,” “Wolfen,” “48 Hours” and “Krull.”

Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is a Walt Disney Productions' presentation of a Jack Clayton film from a screenplay by Ray Bradbury based on his novel. In color by Technicolor. The film was directed by Jack Clayton for producer Peter Vincent Douglas, with music by James Horner. Buena Vista releases.

The Making of “Something Wicked This Way Comes”

Something Wicked This Way Comes began as a short story in a publication called Weird Tales in May, 1948. It was then called “Black Ferris.”

Ten years later, Bradbury adapted it into a screenplay after having been inspired by Gene Kelly’s direction of “Invitation to a Dance.” The author was so anxious to work for and with Kelly that he personally delivered the screenplay to Kelly’s house. Kelly agreed to direct it, but failed to raise the necessary financing.

Over the next several years Bradbury converted his screenplay into the novel which was published in 1962 as Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Meanwhile the idea of making a film version continued to intrigue filmmakers. Producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and directors Sam Peckinpah, Mark Rydell and Steven Spielberg are among those who have been associated with the property over the years. But for a variety of reasons, the film never got made.

Peter Vincent Douglas’s fascination with Bradbury’s work began when he was a 13-year-old student at The Harvard Academy in Los Angeles. He had read Something Wicked This Way Comes and other books by the author and was simply enthralled by them.

At age 21, when he was an assistant director and still photographer, Douglas met Bradbury by chance at a bookstore and learned that the rights to Something Wicked This Way Comes were available again. He immediately sprang into action and acquired the rights. The year was 1976.

An initial meeting with director Jack Clayton, whose work Douglas had greatly admired, produced a positive response. The next several years were spent working on the script and trying to package the film.

In 1980, Disney’s production vice president, Tom Wilhite, expressed an interest in the project, and in September, 1981, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” went before the cameras.

The Sets

The creation of Green Town, Ill.,—the largest set built in Hollywood since a portion of New York City was recreated for "Hello Dolly''—was one of the first priorities in bringing “Something Wicked This Way Comes” to the screen.

In three months time, Disney’s long standing generic town square set on the back lot (used in such comedies as “The Strongest Man in the World”) was bulldozed and expanded to make way for the new town. From the rubble arose a magnificent turn-of-the-century Victorian-style town with detailed facades and working sets. It took nearly 200 construction workers to build the one acre set.

Another major undertaking was the contruction of “Dark’s Pandemonium Carnival” which covered a two-acre site. Its tent and caravan-lined midway was designed to be mysterious and seductive; rich with the promise of easy money and loose women. Appearing normal and faded by daylight, it radiates a disquieting aura in the night.

An authentic antique carousel, originally built in 1918, was restored for use as Dark’s ultimate ride. The soul-stealing mirror maze utilized 50 hand-cut 5x7 foot mirrors.

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” Origins

Something Wicked This Way Comes is Ray Bradbury’s most personal book and therefore, not surprisingly, his favorite. Most of the characters in the story are autobiographical. Charles Halloway, for example, is a loving tribute to Bradbury’s own father and the two boys— Will and Jim—represent two distinct sides of Bradbury’s own personality, one a creature of reason and plan, the other a creature of emotion.

[A man in dark suit and top hat leads a circus parade along a small town street.]
Parading through town as an ordinary carnival, Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce) leads a search party through the streets of Green Town looking for two young boys who have stumbled upon the carnival’s mysterious secret. © MCMLXXXIII Walt Disney Productions

Furthermore, the story is a manifestation of the author’s lifelong fascination with magic, carnivals and childhood fantasies. As Bradbury explained to author Stephen King in the book Danse Macabre: “Something Wicked This Way Comes sums up my entire life of loving Lon Chaney and the magicians and grotesques he played in his early films. I was a raving film maniac long before I hit my eighth year. When I was nine I became a full-time magician after seeing Blackstone on stage in my home town. Magic and magicians and Chaney and libraries have filled my life. Libraries are the real birthing places of the universe for me.”

The story itself is a metaphor for life and death. As the townspeople succumb to their innermost greeds and desires they pay dearly by becoming part of Dark’s vast freak menagerie.

Stephen King describes Something Wicked This Way Comes as a “moral horror tale” and considers it to be “probably Bradbury’s best work.”

The Bradbury/Hollywood Connection

Something Wicked This Way Comes is not the first of Bradbury’s novels or short stories to be adapted for the screen but it’s the first time the author has been so completely involved in the creative process and so satisfied with the results. The film is based on his screenplay and his creative input was constant throughout.

Bradbury’s first involvement in films dates back to 1953 when two of his short stories became the subjects of film. “The Meteor” was the basis for “It Came from Outer Space” and his story “The Foghorn” was made as “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.”

In 1956, Bradbury wrote the screenplay for the film “Moby Dick” along with director John Huston.

“Fahrenheit 451” was filmed by Universal in 1966 and “The Illustrated Man” was released in 1969. “The Martian Chronicles” appeared as an NBC-TV mini-series in 1980.

Bradbury has also written for television and his credits include eight episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

Ray Bradbury Author/Screenwriter

As his legions of fans all over the world will attest, Ray Bradbury is one of the truly great contemporary authors of science fiction and fantasy. His novels, short stories, plays and poems are translated and sold in dozens of languages all over the world.

Ray Douglas Bradbury was born in Waukegan, 111., in 1920 and moved to California with his family when he was 14, two years after his career was launched by the gift of a typewriter.

After studies at Los Angeles High School in creative writing, Bradbury worked steadily to sell his work, finally succeeding at the age of 21 when his first story was purchased by Super Science Stories. That was in 1941. By the end of that year he had written 52 stories in 52 weeks and made three sales. In 1942, on the basis of six more sales, Bradbury began to devote his full time to writing. It was 1945 before he made his first sales to national publications such as Charm and Mademoiselle.

In 1950 The Martian Chronicles (connected short stories about what life might be like on Mars) sold more than one million copies. His first novel Fahrenheit 451 (published in 1953), a bitterly sarcastic story of the book-burning future, won him an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Bradbury’s numerous other books include The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, R is for Rocket, and Long After Midnight. In addition, his work is represented in more than 700 anthologies and his credits include an extensive list of magazine articles and television shows.

A resident of Los Angeles, Bradbury intersperses his prolific writing chores with frequent lectures and guest appearances. He recently wrote the scenario for “Spaceship Earth,” part of Disney’s ambitious EPCOT Center project in Orlando, Florida.

Among the author’s current projects are a new novel (his first mystery); a screenplay for an animated film called “Little Nemo” for “Star Wars” producer Gary Kurtz; an illustrated book about dinosaurs; an opera based on his story “Leviathon 99” and a new collection of short stories.

Bradbury and his wife, Maggie, divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. They have four daughters.

The Producer Peter Vincent Douglas

With Kirk Douglas for a father and Michael Douglas for a brother, it’s not surprising that Peter Vincent Douglas gravitated towards a career in motion pictures.

The 26-year-old producer of “Something Wicked This Way Comes” began his career as a photographer and while still in high school made a fairly substantial living selling his pictures.

At age 18, he joined the staff of both Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines as a photographer. Perhaps his most famous picture, one that is known around the world, is of Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz wearing seven gold medals.

In 1975 Douglas became a production assistant for producer Ray Stark at Columbia Pictures. On the film “Posse,” he and his father had an opportunity to work together, with the younger Douglas serving as post-production supervisor.

While attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, Douglas joined the Directors Guild training program, attaining credentials as first assistant director and production manager.

Douglas’s first outing as a producer was “The Final Countdown” (1980). He devoted more than two full years to the task of gaining cooperation from the U.S. government to film aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz, the country’s most advanced nuclear aircraft carrier. The film starred Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen.

Douglas and his wife Blanche, reside in Los Angeles.

The Director Jack Clayton

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” signals the return of one of the best- regarded directors of our time. After a lengthy absence, Jack Clayton returns to direct his sixth film and his first since “The Great Gatsby” in 1974.

Clayton won an Academy Award nomination for best direction with his first feature-length film, “Room at the Top” (1959). In 1961, his highly acclaimed film adaptation of the classic Henry James novella, “The Turn of the Screw,” titled “The Innocents” (with Deborah Kerr) further established his importance as a film director.

In 1964, “The Pumpkin Eater,” a story of a London housewife who was more often than not kept in a state of pregnancy, won kudos for its star Anne Bancroft. Three years later Clayton made a film of the Julin Gloag novel, “Our Mother’s House,” with Dirk Bogarde and in 1974 his film treatment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow was released.

Born in England in 1921, Clayton entered the British film industry in 1935, joining the Korda organization. He worked as an assistant on such films as “Thief of Bagdad,” “Wings of the Morning” and “Prison Without Bars” before joining Warner Bros. to work in the cutting rooms. During World War II, Clayton served as a RAF flight mechanic, transferring later to the Film Unit.

Following the war, Clayton returned to filmmaking. He served as an associate producer on two John Huston films, “Moulin Rouge” and “Beat the Devil” and held similar assignments on “The Good Die Young” and “I Am A Camera.” As a film producer, Clayton’s credits include “Sailors Beware,” “Dry Rot” and “Three Men in a Boat.”

In 1956, Clayton achieved his goal of becoming a director with a two-reel short subject entitled “The Bespoke Overcoat,” which received praise at the Edinburgh and Venice film festivals and an Academy Award. After producing “The Story of Esther Costello” (1957) starring Joan Crawford, Clayton was given the directorial assignment on “Room at the Top.”

He and his wife, actress Haya Harareet (of “Ben Hur” fame) divide their time between England and the United States.

[The man in the dark suit holds something out to two young boys as another man stands behind them.]
Carnival proprietor Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce) offers free passes to two curious trespassers (Shawn Carson and Vidal I. Peterson) while his henchman Mr. Cooger (Bruce M. Fischer) looks on. © MCMLXXXIII Walt Disney Productions

The Cast

Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Jason Robards (Best Supporting Actor for “Julia” and “All the President’s Men”) brings his highly acclaimed talents to the role of Charles Halloway, the pensive librarian who discovers hidden strength when he is called upon to rescue his son from the forces of evil.

Robards was born in Chicago on July 26, 1922. He and his father, a prominent stage actor, moved to Hollywood in 1927.

After graduation from Hollywood High School in 1939, Jason Jr. joined the Navy. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 (an experience he later relived in 1970 during the filming of “Tora! Tora! Tora!”) and served in the Pacific until his discharge in 1946. It was during this time that he began reading plays, especially the work of Eugene O’Neill, and decided to pursue an acting career.

Upon release from the service, he enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the early 1950s Robards made his off-Broadway debut and by 1956, when he starred in two O’Neill plays, he was an established star.

In 1959, Robards played the title role in “MacBeth” and the following year won the Drama Critics Circle Award for his role in Lillian Hellman’s “Toys in the Attic.” He received Tony nominations for his work in two more O’Neill plays, “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and “A Touch of the Poet.” To this day, the actor’s true love remains the theatre.

During television’s “Golden Age,” Robards starred in the “Playhouse 90” production of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and a teleplay of “The Iceman Cometh.” Other TV credits are “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” (1964, Hallmark Hall of Fame), “Noon Wine” (directed by Sam Peckinpah), “Christmas to Remember,” “Haywire,” “Washington: Behind Closed Doors” (for which he won an Emmy) and a cable special of O’Neill’s “Hughie.”

Robards' long list of film credits includes “A Thousand Clowns,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “Come A Horseman,” “Hurricane,” “Julia,” “All the President’s Men,” and “The Legend of the Lone Ranger.” Robards received a third Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actor) for his role as Howard Hughes in “Melvin and Howard.”

The actor recently starred in the controversial ABC-TV telefilm “The Day After” and will be seen later this year in the latest Neil Simon feature film “Max Dugan Returns.” He is currently playing Grandpa in the Broadway revival of Kaufman & Hart’s “You Can’t Take It With You” and will appear in a musical stage production later this year.

Robards, his wife, Lois, and children (Jake and Shannon) live in Connecticut.

Long regarded as a superstar of the London and Broadway stage, Tony Award-winner Jonathan Pryce makes his first major film appearance and American film debut as the sinister and seductive Mr. Dark.

Pryce was born in North Wales in 1947. A scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) launched him on his way to a career as an actor.

In 1972 Pryce began an 18-month stint with the Liverpool Everyman Company where he appeared in several Shakespeare plays. He later became a director there as well.

Pryce’s stage training continued at the Nottingham Playhouse, where in 1975, he played the part of Gethin Price in Trevor Griffith’s “The Comedians.” Two years later, he received a Tony Award for the same role in the Broadway version directed by Mike Nichols.

Pryce’s credits also include productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and Stratford, a starring role opposite Glenda Jackson in “White Devil” at the Old Vic, and another award-winning performance for his role in The Royal Court Theatre’s production of “Hamlet.”

The talented actor has been seen frequently on British television programs for the B.B.C. and recently appeared on American television in Shakespeare’s “Timon of Athens” (PBS) and “Murder is Easy.” In 1980 Pryce was named most promising newcomer at the British Film Awards (the English equivalent of the Academy Awards) for his role in the feature film “Breaking Glass.” Other English film credits include “Loophole” (1980) and “Praying Mantis” (1982).

Diane Ladd stars as the lonely and hapless mother of Jim Nightshade. The attractive blonde is well known for her in-depth characterizations including the wise-cracking waitress named “Flo” in the film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” She played a similar role several seasons ago on the “Alice” television series, which was based on the film.

Ms. Ladd began her show business career as a stage actress. As a 16-year- old graduate of Meridian’s St. Aloysius Academy, the Mississippi native moved quickly into the New Orleans theater scene, where she was spotted by actor John Carradine and signed as a replacement for a role in his touring production of “Tobacco Road.” She later became a Copa Girl at Manhattan’s famed Copacabana Club.

[A woman in dark dress and veil crouches over an older man with a pained expression on his face lying on the floor .]
The lovely but deadly Dust Witch (Pam Grier) gives town librarian Charles Halloway (Jason Robards) a brief taste of death by slowing down his heartbeat in “Something Wicked This Way Comes” © MCMLXXXIII Walt Disney Productions

While studying acting and dancing in New York, she landed a lead role in Olsen and Johnson’s “Hellzapoppin Revue” which was followed by her legit bow in “A Hatful of Rain.” She later received rave reviews for her performance in Tennessee Williams' revival of “Orpheus Descending.” Other stage work includes “Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights,” directed by Sidney Poitier; “One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger,” starring Robert De Niro; the national company of “Fantastiks,” the West Coast production of Paddy Chayef- sky’s “The Goddess,” Lillian Hellman’s “Toys in the Attic” and many more.

On the big screen, Ms. Ladd has appeared in “White Lightning,” (with Burt Reynolds); “Chinatown,” “The Reivers,” “Embryo,” “W.U.S.A.” and “The Rebel Rouser” with Bruce Dern (her former husband and father of her daughter, Laura).

She recently played Grace Kelly’s mother in the ABC telefilm.

Royal Dano is Tom Fury, the mysterious lightning rod salesman who is the harbinger of evil.

The tall, lean New York-born actor is perhaps best known for his stunning characterization of Abraham Lincoln in the early days of television. Years later, Dano provided the voice of the 16th President for the “Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln” exhibit at Disneyland at the personal request of Walt Disney. He later hung up his stovepipe hat to avoid being typecast as a Lincoln impersonator.

The talented actor made his Broadway debut in “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1946 and followed that with a string of successful shows. His nearly 50 screen credits include “The Trouble with Harry,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Culpepper Cattle Company” and “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” Dano is a frequent guest of dramatic television series. He recently played the part of Frances Farmer’s father in the telefilm “Will There Really Be A Morning?” and appeared in the feature film “The Right Stuff.”

Pam Grier, a veteran actress with more than 20 films to her credit, appears in a dual role as “The Dust Witch” and “Most Beautiful Woman in the World,” the hauntingly evil accomplice of Mr. Dark.

Her latest role continues Ms. Grier’s emergence as a serious dramatic actress following years of being typecast as Hollywood’s leading black female crime fighter in such films as “Foxy Brown,” “Sheba Baby,” “Coffy” and “Friday Foster.” Her most recent motion picture credits include “Greased Lightning” with Richard Pryor, and “Fort Apache, The Bronx,” with Paul Newman and “Tough Enough” with Dennis Quaid.

As a teenager growing up in Denver, Ms. Grier sang with a gospel choir and was active in her school’s drama society. While attending Metropolitan State College with the intention of becoming a doctor, she entered and won first runner-up and all the talent categories in the Miss Colorado beauty pageant.

In 1969, she headed for Hollywood to be a painter and singer, working daytime as a switchboard operator for a small talent agency. Evenings were spent moonlighting in stage productions, attending acting workshops and singing backgrounds on recordings by Bobby Womack, Lou Rawls and her cousin, Rosey Grier.

Ms. Grier made her movie debut in a bit role in “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and won her first leading role in “The Big Doll House” (1971), for which she also sang the theme. During the next five years she appeared in 17 other films.

Ellen Geer is the patient and accepting Mrs. Halloway. The talented actress is the daughter of the late Will Geer (best known for his popular portrayal of “Grandpa Walton”) and folksinger/actress Herta Ware. Her entree into the world of show business came early on when she accompanied her famous parents in repertory companies across the country. By the time she was 14, Ms. Geer was an accomplished performer.

In television, she was a regular on “The Jimmy Stewart Show” and has guest starred on such shows as “Dallas,” “Fantasy Island” and “Charlie’s Angels.”

Her feature film credits include “Harold and Maude,” “Petulia,” “Kotch,” “The Reivers” and “Memory of Us,” for which she also wrote the screenplay.

Ellen has extensive stage credits including the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre and the American Conservatory Theatre.

Making his film debut as Will Halloway, the rational fair-haired son of Charles Halloway, is 14-year-old Vidal I. Peterson. Peterson’s television credits include appearances on “Mork and Mindy,” “Eight Is Enough” and the telefilm, “Murder in Texas.” He is featured in the mini-series adaptation of “The Thorn Birds.” The brown-haired, brown-eyed youth has also been active in local stage productions including a starring role in “A Thousand Clowns.”

Peterson boasts an above average vocabulary and is a prodigious reader. It is not surprising that he belongs to the MGM Program (Mentally Gifted Minors). His leisure-time interests include sports and Dungeons & Dragons. He resides in Los Angeles with his family.

Shawn Carson is Jim Nightshade, the emotional adventuresome youth whose innocence is sought by Mr. Dark. His dark complexion is a sharp contrast to Will’s light features.

Carson’s previous film credits include “And Justice for All” and “Fun House.” In television he was a co-host for the “Real Kids” series and has been seen frequently in commercials. He recently starred in a CBS telefilm called “Cry For The Strangers.” His acting experience also includes some work on the New York stage.

In real life, Carson has sandy blond hair and hazel eyes. In addition to acting, his other talents include drumming and most major sports.

Blinky Henderson Again

by Richard A. Lupoff

This story is generously donated for the program book by Richard Lupoff, who comments: “It isn’t science fiction, you’ll note. But of course one is free to think of my beat-up old western writer as symbolizing a beat-up old SF writer.”

“Mr. Patterson?”

Cliff straightened his shoulders. He’d been gazing out the window, tracing cloud-patterns, waiting to hear his name called. When the young woman behind the desk called him, Cliff was on his feet and across the room promptly. As promptly, he told himself, as a youngster a third his age would have been.

“Please sit down, Mr. Patterson.” The young woman gave him a warm smile. She had striking features. Huge, dark eyes. A generous mouth. Smooth, olive skin. Jet-black, glossy hair that reached past her shoulders, drawn to one side of her head.

The name-plate on her desk said Janice Molloy.

“Thank you for taking our typing test, Mr. Patterson. You did very well.” She glanced at the buff card on her desk. “You qualify as a senior-grade typist. Eighty-eight words per minute, and only three errors. That’s remarkable.”

Cliff swallowed. His mouth was dry and there was a slight bitter taste in it. “Thank you, Miss Molloy.”

She smiled at him again. Cliff wondered if the company required new employees to practice and pass a smiling test before they started work.

“I looked in on you while you were typing,” Janice said. “I hope you don’t mind. I’ve never seen anyone type like that before. Almost everyone touch-types nowadays. I’d heard of two-finger typists, but you’re the first one I ever met.”

Cliff held his hands together in his lap. He was wearing his best whipcord outfit. His boots were shined and he tried to keep the place on his jacket, the place where it had been torn and repaired, covered with one arm.

Janice Molloy-Miss Molloy—seemed to be waiting for an answer to her comment. Cliff’s mind raced, finally he said, “That’s the way most of us worked in the old days. With the old manuals, don’t you see, you could get an even key-strike that way.”

Miss Molloy looked puzzled. “Manuals?”

“Manual typewriters.”

[Art by Warren of an older man remembering writing westerns at a typewriter.]

“What are those?”

Cliff blinked. “Before they had these electrics. You had to bang down on the keys to make 'em work. If you didn’t hit hard enough you got a faint impression.”

Miss Molloy still looked slightly dubious. Cliff said, “It doesn’t really matter. I did all right, did I? Do you think you’ll have something for me?”

Again the warm smile. Friendly and reassuring.

Miss Molloy flicked her glance down to Cliff’s card again. She looked back up at him. "I see here, where it says, previous employer, you list Warner Brothers. And the year-1952. That’s thirty years ago.

“Before your time, I reckon.”

Beneath the perfect olive complexion, Miss Molloy blushed. “By a few years.” She picked up a pencil and tapped the edge of the card with it. “It says here you were a sin —seen—can you pronounce that for me?”

“Scenarist. I wrote western movies for 'em. Didn’t get along. Didn’t like the studio system. I walked out on 'em. Never regretted it either. Not once. Until now, mebbe.”

“But Mr. Patterson.” She looked sincerely concerned. Puzzled and at the same time worried about him. As if she truly cared. “What have you been doing for the past thirty years, sir?”

“I went back to free-lancing. Did it before I went to Hollywood and did it again when I quit.”

“You wrote western movies?”

“Only a couple. When I was in Hollywood. Otherwise I write western stories. Used to write for the old pulps. Ah, those were some days, some days!” He looked behind him, suddenly aware once more of his surroundings. “Am I taking too much time?”

Miss Molloy said, “There are no other applicants here just now. I like to learn about our temps. Some of them have the most fascinating stories. One girl just last week was in here, she was running away from the Moonies. She didn’t want to go back to her parents and the Moonies wanted her to marry this older man and she was just desperate.”

She stopped and looked at Cliff. “I think it’s wonderful, you wrote western books?”

“Later,” Cliff said. “After the pulps died, most of us just switched over to paperbacks. Lee Leighton, Ernie Haycox, Alan Le May. Some of the boys even got into hardcovers. I almost did, couple times. Those were the days.”

Miss Molloy said, “I never liked westerns much. Too much shooting. I don’t like violence. But my boy friend likes westerns. Sometimes he likes to get up in the middle of the night even, and watch the old movies on TV. Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott, that kind of thing. But you just wrote books, Mr. Patterson, is that right? Well, I think that’s nice too. I guess people used to read more books than they do any more. With TV and all, I mean.”

All Cliff could think of to do was nod.

“My boy friend reads books,” Miss Molloy said. “I even saw him reading a hardcover one time. But mostly he reads paperbacks. Maybe if you told me the names of yours I could ask him if he ever read them.”

Cliff said, “Mine are out of print.”

Miss Molloy frowned. “What’s that?” “They don’t publish 'em any more. The companies that bought 'em don’t think the public wants to read 'em any more, so they stopped printing copies.”

“Oh.” A frown-line creased the perfect olive skin between Miss Molloy’s liquidly sympathetic eyes. Then she smiled, suddenly, as if she had remembered something wonderful and cheering. “Maybe he’s read some of yours. He told me he gets his books from stores that sell old ones. Used ones. He says they’re cheaper that way.”

Cliff rubbed his chin with one hand, being careful to keep the repaired spot on his jacket covered with the other. “Matter of fact, I used a few by-lines. Your friend might not know me as Cliff Patterson. Mebbe he might. Or mebbe he’d know Clifton Colt, or Clete Cody, or A. B. Steele, or Jed Ralston.”

“You used all those names?”

Cliff nodded. “I used Clete Cody to write Mustang Marauders. Clifton Colt for Pecos Hurricane. Or was it Tombstone Territory? Or Massacre at Sundown? Hah! Can’t keep 'em straight myself. But I only used Jed Ralston for the Blinky Henderson stories. Those were real, real popular.”

He smiled and shook his head ruefully. "I invented Jed Ralston for Bill Cook. What a character he was! Published Western Round-Up, I’ll never forget it, he published it out of his house. Can you believe that? Little house in New Jersey. I used to go over an help him read galleys. Nice magazine, too.

"First I did ‘Blinky Henderson.’ The readers really took to Blinky, so I did ‘Blinky Henderson Sees It Through.’ Then ‘Blinky Henderson’s Range War.’ ‘Blinky Henderson, Range Detective.’ Good gosh, Bill Cook couldn’t get enough of. the things. They just lapped 'em up. Would you believe, I wrote thirty-eight of those yarns. Only stopped in 1940 when Bill got drafted into the army and stopped publishing his magazine.

"Oh, those were the days, Miss Molloy. You wouldn’t think I’d be broke some day and looking for any kind of work I could get. I rode out the depression in grand style, supported half my friends along the way. I didn’t need any New Deal, long as they just kept publishing westerns!

“But they don’t want 'em no more. Tastes change, I guess. I called up my old agent. Collect, and he took the call, too. At least somebody remembers Cliff Patterson.”

He was going now, really going. He could tell that she was really interested, that she really cared. But he had to stop and take a couple of deep breaths to catch himself up. He didn’t have the wind that he used to, and he could feel his heart racing in his chest. Best to slow down, relax.

"He said there was just no market for westerns no more. I said, Well what about Louis L’Amour? The old saddle-stiff’s a millionaire from what I read.

“And he said, Yeah, Cliff, that’s true. But Louis is one in a million. One in a million. They just don’t want westerns. Well, unless you want to try an adult western.”

He paused and looked into Miss Molloy’s face, looking to see if she comprehended, but he saw nothing there beyond her expression of curiosity and concern.

“He sent me a couple a samples. They’re nothing but porn, that’s what they are. Pardon me. But that’s what they are. Couple paragraphs of story, none too good neither, and then biff, off with the clothes and into the hay. It’s disgusting. Pardon me, it’s disgusting.”

He looked down and saw that his fists were clenched and raised in anger. He could see the bones of his hands and his wrists. He quickly covered the repaired spot on his jacket.

“So here I am, Miss Molloy.” He sighed. “So here I am. I guess it’s this, or try and get on welfare. Huh! They don’t even have the county workhouse no more, do they? Christ amighty, Miss Molloy, I want to work!”

His voice broke and he felt sudden, bitter shame and anger. There were tears in his eyes and he sniffed and wiped them away before they could fall.

“I’m an old man, Miss Molloy. But I can still work. I want to work. I ain’t too proud to wash pots and pans or to dig holes but the doc says I can’t do that, I got to do office work. So I hope you can give me something, Miss Molloy. Because I really need the work. I do, Miss Molloy.”

She reached forward and put her hand on his.

He looked down. Her hand was smooth. The olive skin could almost have been an Indian’s.

‘Apache Ambush,’ he thought. ‘Callout at Comanche Canyon.’ ‘Ghost Dance at Zuni Wells.’ ‘Return of the Redskin Renegade.’

Miss Molloy pulled her hand back. She wouldn’t meet his eye. She opened a tan manila folder and riffled through half a dozen sheets of paper. They were forms, Cliff could see, preprinted flimsy sheets. Green, orange, pink, yellow, pale blue. Each of them was covered with printed information, boxes, lines, blanks, circles. They were marked in with three or four different colors of ink.

Closing the folder once again, Miss Molloy looked back at him. “I’m sure we’ll have something for you soon, Mr. Patterson. We have a lot of job orders, you know. They come in all the time.”

A light flashed on her telephone. She looked away from him and picked up the phone. She muttered softly into it, punched a button on the base of the phone and cradled the receiver.

She smiled brightly at Mr. Patterson. “We have your number, Mr. Patterson. I’m sure we’ll phone you when we get something.”

He started to stand up but his breath was short and his legs didn’t feel too strong. He slid back into his chair. He held his hands before him and saw they were trembling.

Miss Molloy had picked up the phone again.

He wanted to ask her when she would have work for him. What kind of work. Where. He opened his mouth but before he could make any sound he realized that she was talking softly into the mouthpiece of the telephone. He couldn’t tell what she was saying.

She looked at him, murmuring into the mouthpiece and held the receiver away from her face. She didn’t bother to put her caller on hold this time.

She gave Cliff that warm, understanding smile again. “We have your number, Mr. Patterson. There’s really no need for you to stay here. Really. No need at all.”

She looked sternly at him, turned away, and spoke into her telephone once more.

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The Bomb, 1945-???

by Jack Williamson

Note: This is Chapter 18 of an attempt at autobiography, When Wonder Was, recently completed and now in search of a publisher.

Along the far-off fronts of peace, science kept claiming new ground. By 1943, the nucleic acids were known to be the vehicles of heredity. In 1944, Glenn T. Seaborg and his associates discovered two new elements, 95 and 96. In 1945, while the first A-bombs were falling, Melvin Calvin began revealing the secrets of photosynthesis, a more creative process.

Flying at 31,600 feet at 9:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay toggled Little Man out over Hiroshima. About noon on August 9, only a few hours after Stalin declared war on Japan, Fat Man fell on Nagasaki.

At the weather station on Emirau, when we get there in July of 1945, the war has all but ended. My brief war-time diary recalls a few details of life there. We’re quartered in floored tents with electric lights and fed at the New Zealand sergeants' mess.

On August 2, 1945, I write that life here “is perhaps the most easy, simple, and regular that I have ever known. Typical white-man-in-the tropics. Chow good enough. Work not too hard, and it never interferes with movies. They’re pleasant, with screen set up against background of palms and flaming sunsets over the sea. Doing some serious reading, beginning to study French, hoping to finish a story.”

I’ve made another flight over Rabaul and Kavieng, taking off at dawn in a Marine PBJ and flying at 10,000 feet. “Pleasantly cool. Sky dark blue above, greenish above horizon. Sunrise touching piles of cloud with red and golden fire. Northern New Ireland and New Hanover spread out like dark relief maps. Saw gardens, possibly a hulk sunk in shallow water, but no installations.”

August 7, the day of the bomb. Buckley, the weatherman who tells me about it, is another science fiction fan. In times of peace, he works for the New York Daily News. “Assuming the story to be true,” I write, “atomic power threatens to upset the old world in unpredictable ways.” Yet “very little excitement created by it.”

[Art by S. A. Gallacci of a figure in a cave watching a nuclear blast in the distance.]

Buckley and I are probably the only men on the island with any notion what the atom means. After we talk it over, I comment, “The ultimate result of this greatest challange to mankind can be good—man must increase his somewhat, as the alternative to self-destruction.”

The next entry is dated August 21. “Los Negros, off Manus, Admiralty islands.” After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese have quit. I’m island-hopping again, back to the Philipines. At Finchaffen, two days later, I see a woman, “a very pretty WAC.” By August 27 I’m back on Biak after another long flight over New Guinea, five days there, exploring the fringes of the jungle and swapping tales with fellow weathermen together again from all across the squadron.

On the last day of August we take off in a C-47 loaded to 6000 pounds, twice its ATC limit, flying all day, with stops at Morotai and Leyte, we reach Manila. Next day, to celebrate the peace, I shave off the little Hitler-type moustache I’ve worn since we were on bivouac at Hobbs — it has been “a temporary emergency measure.”

September 2, the official end of the war, I “spent the day on my cot in the tent in a mud-hole.” Half disabled with a cold and dysentery and a few spots of fungus infection, I feel more letdown than victorious. I’ve been doing a job that seemed important. It’s done. I’m only a serial number now, dispensable and powerless, lost in the vast unfeeling military machine.

Men over 35 may go home on application. I decide to apply unless I’m ordered to Japan. Waiting, I visit Manila and Corregidor. Appalling damage in Intra- muros, but the people "look well-fed, happy, fairly well clothed—many in GI. Most of the younger women very pretty, with a ready smile for the GI-though in five hours nobody approached me about pom-pom. Dozens of sunk ships in the harbor, masts sticking out of the water.

"Corregidor, a depressing display of wasted human handiwork. Broken trees, bomb craters, shattered concrete dugouts. Unexploded shells. An immense gun lying in wreckage of mount. A great deal of shattered rock. Climbed over broken rock into mouth of tunnel. Bits of unburied skeleton in the rubble. Jap foot and leg still in legging and canvas shoe with separate big toe. Stench. Tunnel itself full of fallen concrete and rusting machinery. Dripping water. Turned back for want of light to clamber farther over rubble.

“Power house carved into side of mountain. Huge rooms, black from fire. Immense machines, ruined and quiet— engines, generators. Sounds of water running in dark man-made caves. Rooms where Japs had lived. Piles of seaweed. Straw baskets with rotted and unidentifiable foodstuffs. Rusting tin cans. A great malodorous litter of straw matting, paper, a few Jap shoes, refuse. Machine gun positions, small concrete rooms overlooking beach. Place must have been tough to take.”

Riding with friends in a weather jeep, I see a bit of the countryside. We attend a cockfight, a colorful but cruel affair; one wrinkled little man carried his dead cock away, “miserably weeping.” One day we set out for Ipo Dam. A guard turns us back because we might alarm the Japanese still hiding around it who haven’t yet been coaxed to surrender; they might think we had come out “to send them on their way.”

On another expedition we pick up two Filipinos, a second lieutenant and a master sergeant, who tell us they served with the guerilla forces and as spies, employed on Japanese installations and carrying information about them out to Americans who came to the Visayan Islands.

Both have been Japanese prisoners, and they tell of torture. One tells of hanging by his arms, twisted behind his back, for seven days and nights with no food or water. His weight fell from 130 to 100 pounds.

The other man shows us charred foundations where relatives and neighbors were lined up, machine-gunned, and burned in their homes by Japanese marines, “from the youngest to the eldest.” I salute the officer when we leave him, and he shakes hands with me.

With no apparent chance for duty in Japan, I apply for discharge. Turn in equipment and check service record. I get a bronze star for the landing on Leyte - for the KP and labor details there—none for the combat strikes over the Solomons and the Bismark Archipeligo. I wasn’t on flying status. Before the end of September, I’m in a replacement battalion with Priority Number 11,999, sweating out shipment home.

The men in our own disintegrating military machine aren’t all so admirable as those two Filipinos. Quartered in a tent with 17 veterans from a supply outfit, I record bits of their talk. “He’s got quite a racket. Sells the morphine Syrettes out of navigator’s kits for a hundred pesos. Twelve Syrettes in a case.” “They sold 120 cases of cigarettes for eighty pesos. That made 9600 pesos — $4800—to be split four ways. Just one deal, too.”

“The permanent party takes all the Camels and Luckies to sell to the Flips. Distributes the rest to the casuals.” “I’m in a little trouble for selling sugar.” “The FBI caught a dozen of 'em, selling gasoline and tires.”

I hear that the cook where I do KP sells twenty sacks of sugar on a duty night, lights cigars with twenty-peso bills. Walking out of camp one day, I find the .50 calibre machine guns out of a B-17 stacked on the river bank. Waiting, I suppose, for somebody to pick them up. For what? I decide not to linger or inquire.

Writing again, I try to put all that into a story I call “The Rajah McCarthy and the Jungle Tomato.” A somewhat taller tale than any I hear in the tent, satirizing those black marketeers. I’m pleased with it—but it isn’t science fiction and it has never sold. Maybe it isn’t as good as I thought.

On September 29, I make sick call for the fungus infection. Long lines for bad chow. Rain keeps falling. The tent leaks and the sticky mud gets deeper. Water is scarcer for showers and laundry.

I record an odd little Freudian lapse. Sitting on my cot in the afternoon, I look at my watch. The time is 2:10, both hands together. Forgetting that I’ve just come from chow, I think it’s still morning, the watch gone wrong, the hands maybe tangled. I set it four hours back.

Later, finding what I’ve done, I try to analyze the error. I’m being discharged as “overage.” I’ve just read in some magazine that men over thirty are past their prime in both sex and creativity. The lapse involves a pun. The watch —itself a sex symbol—said it was “two” late. Setting it back from afternoon to morning was an effort to turn back the years. But actually, I comment, “I manage a good deal of courage in the face of such ideas.” I come of a long-lifed clan, and perhaps my own decline will be slow.

On October 27, after a short-arm and a flu shot, we fall out with baggage to be put in “manifest order,” grouped by separation center and in alphabetical order by ranks into groups to board the S. S. Canso for shipment home.

After waiting most of the day in rain and mud, we’re trucked to the docks, unloaded, formed again in manifest order, and finally go aboard in single file, answering roll call with given name and middle initial. Get chow about 1800. Exhausted, feet aching, I hit the sack in Hold Three, second bunk from the top and fourth from the bottom.

Next morning, to avoid KP, I volunteer for mess hall guard duty from 0800 to 1200 every day. “Post No. 15. Special orders, sir, to keep order in chow line, see that men wear shirts, keep unauthorized persons from passing through hall.”

Homeward bound, “I feel a little better, physically and spiritually.” My guard job puts me at the head of the chow line, and the duty is “mostly nominal. Spend most of the time sitting on a box at mess hall door, reading.” Salt water showers. The hold was at first hardly endurable, overflowing with sweaty men and too hot for any clothing, but I’m getting used to it.

Later, after we’re at sea, I somehow meet the first mate. “A lieutenant commander. A nice young chap.” He shows me the gear on the bridge, tells me something about the ship. “Troop transport. Single eighteen-foot screw, turning 85 rpm. Average around 12 knots. Could make 20 knots when new, now pretty well shot.”

Until November 1, we make no knots at all. Lying at anchor in the harbor with various reasons rumored. Still loading water. Steam pipe burst and under repair. At sea at last, we make around 300 miles a day. I watch the North Star, higher every night. We begin to meet cold fronts. Sea sometimes rough; I lie flat a good deal but don’t get actually sick. Heat rash and fungus go away. I’m reading Tristram Shandy and Canby’s life of Whitman. Writing a few more shorts. “A Doll’s Lullaby” —all I recall is the title. “The Fly Killer” — finally published as “The Cold Green Eye.”

“The whole experience is rather like a long convalescence. Dull, with some discomfort and a great deal of time to kill. Time to plan things to do, with a rather sinister advantage—plans can’t yet be tested. Easy to plan a good novel to do when I have a typewriter, but it won’t be that easy to write… . Stew for supper. Chow getting stale, monotonous taste. Sea still rough, ship crashing heavily into waves. Movie tonight for officers only; I’ll continue reading Whitman.”

Before dawn on November 21, I’m wakened by cheers on deck. We’re steaming up the Columbia River to dock at Portland. “Curious that sight of a milk wagon should bring tears to my eyes.” At 0900, a band and the Red Cross arrive to welcome us. WAC truck drivers take us nine miles across the river to Vancouver Barracks. Cool air smells of pines.

"At 11:30 fell in chow line for wonderful dinner. Big steak, lettuce, and tomatoes, pie and real ice cream… . A GI latrine seems strangely luxurious. Overheard remark, ‘Gee, it’s nice to be in a barracks again.’ "

Two long days and nights on the coaches down to California. A civilian again, discharged at Ft. McArthur, November 27, 1945. Told that twenty percent of us will reenlist within twenty days.

The diary ends: “Now, outside, the competition looks a bit discouraging. Housing shortage. Strikes will make it hard to buy a car. Very hard even to get stripes and patches sewed on my uniform. The moral is that I finally did it myself”

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Gallery

[Art by Richard Powers of spaceships launching from a planet.]
Copyright ® 1983 by Richard Powers

fFlarian Spacecraft Exploring a Dead Planet:
an important episode in the career of fFlarian astralnavigator m’fFlar. Only moments after this incident was painted, m’fFlar—jaw set in heroically misplaced confidence in his technological skills—steered the gigantic spacecraft into a head-on collision.

William R. Warren, Jr.

[Art by William R. Warren Jr. of a woman floating in space.] Copyright © 1983 by William R. Warren, Jr.

Stephen Fabian

[Art by Stephen Fabian of a nearly nude barbarian man and woman battling a giant snake in a grotto.] Copyright © 1983 by Stephen Fabian

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[Art by Rowena Morrill of a dragon landing by a scantily-clad woman chained to a rock.] Copyright © 1983 by Rowena Morrill

Don Maitz

[Art by Don Maitz of a woman in a white dress sitting on a ledge in front of a portal witn a man emerging.] Published by DAW Books Copyright © 1983 by Don Maitz

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[Art by Victoria Poyser of a woman in a white dress and wearing a tiara sitting in a shell as masked male and female figures scatter flower petals before her.] Copyright © 1983 by Victoria Poyser

Carl Lundgren

[Art by Carl Lundgren of a man wearing a propeller beanie looking through a bookshelf filled with science fiction magazines.] Copyright © 1983 by Carl Lundgren

Vincent Di Fate

[Art by Vincent Di Fate of a dual-hulled space station in orbit with a translucent pegasus in the background.] Copyright © 1983 by Vincent Di Fate

Leo, Diane & Lee Dillon

[Art by Leo, Diane and Lee Dillon in a woodcut style of a woman holding an urn with smoke pouring out of it.] Copyright ® 1983 by Leo, Diane & Lee Dillon

Alicia Austin

[art by Alicia Austin of a woman crouching in a spray of flowers.] Copyright © 1983 by Alicia Austin

Jack Gaughan

[Various sketches by Jack Gaughan of people, aliens, and a rabbit wearing glasses.] Copyright © 1983 by Jack Gaughan

H. R. Van Dongen

[Art by H. R. Van Dongen of a spaceship landed on a rocky landscape with a large moon rising in the distance.] Copyright © 1983 by H. R. Van Dongen

Tarkas

[Art by Tarkas of a vase shaped like the lower part of a person’s face with a flower growing out of it.] Copyright © 1983 by Tarkas

Ray Williams

[Art by Ray Williams of a wooden chest and several weapons under a tree with a note written in runes nailed to it.] Copyright ® 1983 by Ray Williams

Jim Bearcloud

[Art by Jim Bearcloud of a Go game board with Go stones plus other figures, such as a grandfather clock and a skull, and an old open book.] Copyright © 1983 by ]im Bearcloud

George Barr

[Art by George Barr of a teddy bear wearing a space suit waving a flag and holding a ray gun by a spaceship on a rocky landscape with a moon rising in the distance.] Copyright ® 1983 by George Barr

Michael Whelan

[Art by Michael Whelan of a man behind a group of feline aliens.] Copyright © 1983 by Michael Whelan

Kevin Johnson

[Art by Kevin Johnson of a knight in armor standing in a swan-shaped boat as a giant swam swims by.] Copyright © 1983 by Kevin Johnson

Departments

Masquerade

[Art by Carl Lundgren of an alien creature dressed up in fedora and trenchcoat like a noir private eye.]
Copyright ® 1983 by Carl Lundgren

Once again, we present to you one of the highlights of the convention, the Norwescon Masquerade. Our 70 + contestants, some of which have spent months making sure everything is just right on their costumes, will be showing you their work at 9:30 PM on Saturday night.

Whether you come as a contestant or a spectator, we know you’ll have an enjoyable evening. More of you than ever before will have the opportunity to enjoy the show, since we will be using all of the Phoenix Rooms.

Norwescon members are urged to enter or come and enjoy the fun as our panel of judges struggle to select the winners. We don’t envy them their task.

Once again our talented Emcee Frank Catalano will guide you through 2 1/2 hours of fabulous costumes and entertainments up to the final moments when the contestants that have won the hearts of the judges are shown again for a final round of enthusiastic applause and well deserved awards.

Masquerade contestants will all be entered in one of our 3 main categories, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Impromptu. These include sub-divisions of group and performance. Awards are possible in 11 catagories. Winners may receive ribbons, certificates, Norwescon 7 memberships or, in the case of Best of Show, an additional cash prize. Character name, source and history should be prepared and listed on the entry form. A short act (maximum of 2 minutes) may also be prepared.

The Impromptu catagory was so much fun and successful in the past, we decided to do it again. These costumes are created at the convention. Unregistered impromptu contestants should report at 6:30 PM Saturday night to Conference A (around the corner from Hospitality). Entrants will be allowed 1 assistant and 1 piece of mundane clothing (anything from a swimsuit ti a bulky robe) plus a mandatory undergarmet. They then have two hours creative expression time in a room full of bits of tape, glue, foam, ribbons, bags, paint, makeup and miscellaneous stuff from which costumes can be made. Ingenuity and brilliance under the pressure of restricted time and materials are important considerations of the judges in evaluating this catagory.

Entry forms are available at the Norwescon Information Table in the main convention lobby. Forms should be filled out and given to the people at information. Please Print Legibly. Because of the expected number of entries, contestants should register by 4PM on Saturday.

Rostler’s Rules for Masquerades

1. There should be a weight limit for the purchase of leotards.
2. Every contestant must first see him or herself from the rear.
3. Whether prince or pauper, act like it. Stay in character.
4. Speak distinctly, but not at length.
5. Learn to use the microphone, or don’t.
6. When in doubt, keep your mouth shut.
7. Learn to manage your props, accessories and music.
8. No name tags on costumes.
9. If you have something for the narrator to read, keep it brief and leave out the unpronouncable and incomprehensible and home- grown words and names.
10. If you are going to attempt a costume cliche you must do it better than ever before, or have a good variation.
11. Consider carefully before going nude, or semi-nude.
12. Remember, some people can grow a beard, and some can’t.
13. Thou shalt wear shoes to match thy costume.
14. If you are thinking of doing something funny, get a second opinion.
15. Short is better than long; funny is better than non-funny; short and funny is best.
16. Hand in a legible contest form.
17. Have something ready for a second appearance.
18. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse!

Weapons

Peace bonding of weapons will not be required at the con (we will use the honor system). However, all blade weapons, (swords, sabers, knives, etc.), must be kept sheathed at all times while in public areas. Toy blasters (wood, metal, and/or plastic construction which may or may not emit sound and/or light but nothing else), may be removed from their holsters for “Show and Tell” purpose only in the 400/600 wings. The only exceptions are for persons in private rooms, for participants of scheduled SCA exhibitions during their exhibitions, and for masquerade contestants while they are on stage. Also, do not carry real firearms. Please follow these rules for the enjoyment of all convention guests. Persons found ignoring this request will have their weapon(s) confiscated. They will be returned to the owner when they leave the convention.

[Cartoon by Murata of two people; one with a clipboard asking, ‘Well, did you confiscate this ‘Elektra’ person’s weapon?’, as the other stands near them, stabbed with a fancy dagger.]

Persona Games

Please read and follow our basic rules for Persona Games at Norwescon 6 for the fun and safety of both game players and other convention guests.

1. Have a gamemaster.
2. Meet with all your game players before playing (and periodically during the game) to make sure everyone knows these rules and the rules of your particular game.
3. Know who your opponents are.
4. Do not run, shove or tackle.
5. Confine your game to the convention site (400 and 600 wings and the convention lobby).
6. Do not use restraints on your opponents.
7. Do not interfere with the convention programming or the hotel staff.
8. Do not carry real firearms or flammable objects such as torches or firewords.

(Also see Weapons Section). These rules must be followed by all game participants. If not, the game must be stopped for the duration of the convention.

[Drawing of an elfin woman weilding a sword.]

Dealers

We are proud to present an excellent hucksters' room with booksellers, gamesellers, artists and artisans from across the country and Canada. This year we offer 60 tables in a spacious 3500-square foot facility.

We are also proud to present a “live-art” exhibit area with artists, performers, fortune tellers, etc.

Many booksellers will feature used and rare books and paperbacks, new and limited editions, pulps, magazines, rare art, posters, prints, and many other items.

Many artists and artisans will be selling original creations in various media, limited edition prints and portfolios and will be available to discuss their craft or perhaps arrange for a specially commissioned item.

Gamesellers will have all the latest in D & D, board games, miniatures, and electronic and computer games.

In the “live art”exhibit area you can get your fortune told, face painted, obtain a personalized namebadge or learn how to support the space program.

We earnestly invite you to visit the hucksters' room and exhibit area. Browse leisurely, enjoy yourself, and spend plenty of money so that those who spent so much time and effort to bring their goods to you can also enjoy themselves.

The hucksters' room is right above the restaurants and bar, off the hotel lobby (not the convention lobby).

Hours: Friday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The “live art”exhibit area is in the upper lobby, adjacent to Norwescon 6 Registration.

Trivia

If you think you know your SF trivia, you may want to sign up for the Trivia Bowl at the Information Table. Up to 8 teams of 1 to 4 sen- tients can enter, so sharpen those synapses! (Contrary to rumor, you don’t have to know what brand of tights FLash Gordon wore—but it might help.) Our demented band of trivia enthusiasts has scoured the entire SF field for new questions, and even written a few of them down. Come find out how much fun you can have with the terminally trivial.

Hospitality

Once again the Norwescon Hospitality Suite (#429, Governor’s Suite) will be lorded over by the irrepressible Lizzy (Dragon Lady) Warren. During the day drop by for coffee, munchables, conversation and rest.

[Cartoon of a dragon with long dark hair and glasses, smoking a cigarette and drinking something while seated at a table with an astronaut, humanoid dog, and alien standing behind them.]

Evenings prepare to boogie with the “practice party” Thursday night, the nostalgic “Seattle in '81 Bidding Party” (with Irish Coffee) Saturday night and the “Dead Sasquatch Party” Sunday. Whoa!

Video

Once again, this year’s Norwescon will present its exciting three-channel video network. The programming will begin Thursday and continue 24 hours a day until late Sunday evening.

On channel 3, we are featuring two news broadcasts daily which will keep you up-to-date on con happenings, the world of SF and perhaps current events directly from the mundane reality of everyday society (whew!) Attending pros will make readings directly from our video studio (audiences are welcome). Interviews with special guests will be broadcast and both the masquerade and banquet will be re-shown Sunday for those who missed it the first time through.

Channels 6 and 8 will feature a solid lineup of science fiction, fantasy and horror films, which has become a Norwescon tradition.

For detailed scheduling of what’s on the Video, consult your pocket program.

Artshow

The artshow will begin set-up on Thursday, the 17th of March, in the office modules out by the 600 Wing, providing they have arrived. Artists can begin hanging their art as soon as the panels have been erected, so helping with the former will hasten the latter!

For those artists who received a limited space warning, there will be a space priority list posted. As the hanging space situation clarifies itself, listed artists will be allowed to hang their pieces. It is vitally important that all artists who intend to show, check-in with the artshow as soon as they arrive, to confirm their intentions.

9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, the 18th, the art show will be available for the hordes to view.

9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, the 19th. Another day of art show. By noon, any space not already claimed by a tardy artist will be turned over to one still waiting to be hung. At 8 p.m. Saturday evening, there will be a champagne reception. Most of the artists should be by throughout the evening to receive the heartfelt praise they so richly deserve. After you’ve had your first few glasses of bubbly, don’t forget to bid …

Sunday morning, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., the artshow will be open briefly for those last-minute desperation bids you forgot to place previously (but meant to all along, of course).

Art Auction: This will take place beginning at 11 a.m. That’s why you came to the convention, isn’t it? All pieces which have received 4 written bids will go to the voice auction, those with 3 or less will be sold at the highest written bid —no whining now!

Other stuff: There will be a popular vote, with Awards for best whatever, and the winners will get what’s coming to them at the banquet. Full details for this, as well as other rules and such, will be posted, and the friendly artshow staff will be happy to help with any clarifications.

Amateur Film Contest

This year Norwescon is sponsoring its first Amateur Film Contest.

The filmmakers who dared enter their art will be judged by a panel of five film experts. Taking into account visual style and content, these noble experts, will decide which individuals shall be honored for their fine works.

Awards of Certificates, cash and Norwescon 7 memberships will be given to the top winners. Honorable mentions will go to other films deserving special attention.

Around the Hyatt

Our convention hotel offers many diversions for those who may momentarily wish to get away from the excitement. Chief among the attractions is Hugo’s, the hotel’s award-winning dining place. Top of the menu is their roast duck, mouth-watering, deliciously sauced. Each of the other menu items is special in its own way. Hugo’s is a real dining treat, though moderately high in price. Reservations are a must.

Next door is the Bistro Lounge, always nice for a quiet drink, with your favorite friend.

The coffee shop opens at 5:30 a.m. with Continental breakfast for those early-risers or all-nighters. For those who like to sleep in, full breakfasts begin being served at 6 a.m. Good service goes on all through the day, and you can even have a late night dinner with that someone special. Especially recommended is the Kentucky Jack and the New York Steak dinner. Open every night until Midnight.

However, if you wish to eat on the run, the closest stop would have to be the Norwescon Snack Bar located right in the convention lobby. Good, quick food and a price that’s just right.

If you need a pack of cigarettes, or a nice present for a new friend, try the gift shop across from the hotel desk. Frazzled? Have your hair frizzed in the beauty/barber shop.

If you have any other needs, ask the hotel desk or a member of the convention staff.

[Ad: Dragonflight

[Dragonflight logo]

Dragonflight
Dragonflight will be held at Seattle University, August 26, 27, and 28, 1983.

Pre-Registration Information:
Till July 1: $12
Till August 20: $15
3 Day Pre-Registration

Dragonflight northwest Regional Gaming Con Offering:
Board Games, Miniatures, Role-Play Games
Invites you to its 3rd Annual Convention

Further Information Available by Writing:
Dragonflight
P.O. Box [REDACTED]
Seattle, Washington 98111]

Handy Phone List

King County Sheriff’s Dept.: [REDACTED]
Fire Department: [REDACTED]
Aid Car: [REDACTED]
Poison Control Center: [REDACTED]
Crisis Clinic: [REDACTED]
Metro Transit Rider Info: [REDACTED]
Seattle Public Library QuickInformation Center: [REDACTED]
Time: [REDACTED]
Pacific Science Center: [REDACTED]
Weather: [REDACTED]
Pass Report: [REDACTED]
The Ski Report: [REDACTED]
KZOK Radio Entertainment Guideline: [REDACTED]
UFO Reporting Center: [REDACTED]
Whale Reporting Center: [REDACTED]
Dial a Story: [REDACTED]
Dial a Prayer: [REDACTED]
Dial a Meditation: [REDACTED]

[Art of large, tall trees in a forest, as seen from the forest floor and looking directly up to the sky beyond the tree canopy.]

[Ad: U.S.S. Saratoga

STARFLEET WANTS YOU!

U.S.S. SARATOGA
NCC-1724

….WE ARE THE LOCAL CHAPTER OF STARFLEET-BASED HERE IN THE SEATTLE-PUGET SOUND AREA…. STOP BY OUR INFORMATION TABLE OVERLOOKING THE CON LOBBY….. OR CALL [REDACTED] (SEATTLE) OR [REDACTED] (LYNNWOOD) FOR MORE INFORMATION……..]

Films and Video

[Art of a person wearing a high-tech helmet and eye covering.]

FILMS

Mad Max

Director: George Miller
Cast: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne

R - 93 min. -

This fast paced, action-packed thriller unveils a crumbling society where sadistic policemen battle marauding motorcyclists for control of the highways in a continuous apocalyptic game of death. Furious battles between the two forces “Offer some of the most dazzling stunt driving of recent years, and it makes most American chase films look puny by comparison.” — Joe Pollack, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Fail Safe

Director: Sidney Lumet
Screenplay: Walter Bernstein
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dan O’Herily, Walter Mathau

111 min. - 1964

Fail Safe is the absorbing story of the people who have the power to destroy the world. “Fail Safe” is the point of no return; the point beyond which no man can stop a war plane that is committed to drop a nuclear bomb.

Dr. Strangelove

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott

PG - 93 min. - b&w - 1964

Some sixty international awards honor Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. A wildly comic nightmare that sees the President of the United States and the Premier of the USSR cooperating in a bizarre effort to save the world from total disaster. Screen satire at its finest and funniest, Dr. Strangelove is “outrageous, daring, inventive, devilish, macabre and scintillating comedy.” — Saturday Review.

“An eloquent testimony to the possibilities of intelligent comment in film! Side-splitting funny!” — Newsweek

Marooned

Director: John Sturges
Cast: Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman, Lee Grant, Nancy Kovack

G - 134 min. - 1969

Nominated for three Academy Awards.

As demonstrated by this well-made, thrilling, space epic —based on Martin Caidin’s novel—yesterday’s science fiction is likely to be today’s fact. All the technicalities of space launchings, shown in authentic detail, are familiar from TV’s coverage of moon shots.

The plot enters the unknown, when the engine of an American spacecraft misfires, marooning 3 astronauts in orbit. The film builds the suspense into a finale of electrifying tension.

The Hobbit

Voices of: Orson Bean, Richard Boone, Cyril Ritchard and John Huston

78 min. - 1978

Tolkien’s classic tale has been animated and brought to the screen. The epic struggle waged by the dwarves, elves, men, and a hobbit against a dragon, goblins and wolves emerges as a film to delight all ages.

Fabulous World of Jules Verne

Narrated by: Karel Zeman

82 min. - b&w - 1951

A melodramatic tale of science and villainy using Verne’s submarines, volcanoes, and scientists, devised by the narrator.

The Shadow

27 min. - 1976

A live action dramatization of Hans Christian Andersen’s story in which a philosopher’s shadow takes on human form and becomes the master of the philosopher.

Jupiter Odyssey

Producers: NASA

28 min. - 1976

Fascinating view of the Pioneer space vehicle and its fly-by of Jupiter, with beautifully executed simulations of what scientsists expected to see, as well as the fantastic photographs of Jupiter and four of its moons taken by Pioneer Eleven.

Universe

27 min. - 1976 NASA’s Academy Award winning film about the Universe.

Film: Art of the Impossible

27 min. - 1972

Director Michael Ritchie introduces us to the filmmaker’s art using clips from his films, and others'.

Animation Pie

25 min. - 1975

A lively group of children demonstrate various ways of producing animated films, experimenting with pixilation and many other filmmaking techniques.

Claymation

18 min. - 1978

This entertaining and informative film shows us how clay animation films are made. Using scences from “Closed Mondays,” “Mountain Music,” “Martin the Cobbler,” and some entirely new animation, animator Will Vinton and his merry troupe of animators discuss and demonstrate the principles and processes of the unique filmmaking technique.

Visit From Space

19 min. - 1969

A small girl is picking apples when she meets a space man.

What On Earth?

10 min. - 1966

A report by the “National Film Board of Mars” and its findings about human life.

Trip To The Moon

8 min. - b&w - 1902

The first science fiction film ever made.

Shorts

K-9000: A Space Oddity
Omega
Cosmic Zoom
Bambi Meets Godzilla
Bambi’s Revenge

VIDEO

Once again, this year’s NORWESCON will present its exciting three-channel video network. The programming will begin Thursday and continue 24 hours a day until late Sunday evening.

On channel 3, we are featuring two news broadcasts daily which will keep you up-to-date on con happenings, the world of SF and perhaps current events directly from the mundane reality of everyday society (whew!) Attending pros will make readings directly from our video studio (audiences are welcome). Interviews with special guests will be broadcast and both the masquerade and banquet will be re-shown Sunday for those who missed it the first time through.

Channels 6 and 8 will feature a solid lineup of science fiction, fantasy and horror films which has become a NORWESCON tradition.

A list of films which are going to be shown is below. For detailed scheduling of what’s on the Video, consult your pocket program.

Young Frankenstein
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Moonraker
Hardware Wars
Flash Gordon
The Black Hole
Alien
Rocketship
Doc Savage
Blade Runner
The Lathe of Heaven
King Kong
Somewhere in Time
Altered States
Silent Running
Dark Star
Love at First Bite
Watership Down
Logan’s Run
Excalibur
Moon Zero Two
Capricorn One
Lord of the Rings
Meteor
Rollerball
Popeye
Barbarella
Brave New World
Superman II
Simon
Circle of Iron
Hangar 18
Wizards
Love and Death
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Valley of the Gwangi
The Last Wave
Star Wars
Dragonslayer
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Star Trek II—The Wrath of Khan
For Your Eyes Only
Cat People
Time Bandits
Firefox
Outland
The Nude Bomb
Destination Moonbase Alpha
2001: A Space Odyssey
Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet
Star Trek—The Motion Picture
Superman—The Movie
Time After Time
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
TRON
Quest For Fire
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (all episodes)
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark

[Art of a close-up of a panther’s face.]

MEDIA PROGRAMMING

Thursday, March 17

6 PM

Norwescon Film Festival (Flight Lounge) Begins a handpicked selection of films in 16mm played at various times thoughout the weekend.

Friday, March 18

6 PM

Krull & Spacehunter Preview (Phoenix A & B) Studio publicist Teny Zuber will present a slide show of these upcoming Columbia Pictures feature films.

7:30 PM

Favorite Films (Flight Lounge) A collection of shorts, parodies and computer generated films from Stephan Lester. Re-shown Sunday at 6 PM.

Saturday, March 19

10 AM

SF Media vs. SF Literature (Phoenix C & D) Maureen Garrett, Frank Catalano and authors have a battle of the arts on this panel. What ar their strengths and weaknesses? Which is better?

11 AM

Film and Science Fiction (Flight Lounge) Gordon Erickson, Kim Runciman, Jim Welch and Steve Dimeo discuss the state of science fiction films and their contributions to the cinema as a whole.

Noon

Making a Good Film (Flight Lounge) Karl Krogstad, Mark Schellberg, and Jim Cobb delve into the processes of how to combine the elements of film to make a good visual story.

2 - 4 PM

Amateur Films (Flight Lounge) A run through of all the amateur films entered.

2 PM

Return of the Jedi Preview (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) Howard Kazanjian, Sidney Ganis and Maureen Garrett from Lucasfilm Ltd., will make a presentation on the third installment of the Star Wars Saga and will show the documentary film, Making of Jedi Monsters.

3 PM

Howard Kazanjian & Sidney Ganis Autograph Session (Phoenix E)

4 PM

Animation, Graphics & Film (Phoenix A & B) Karl Krogstad, William R. Warren, Jr., and Sharman Di Vono will examine the current developments in the field of animation and computer graphics.

Current Trends in the Cinema (Flight Lounge) Jeff Walker, Kim Runciman, Steve Dimeo, and Michael Armstrong discuss what films are currently the most popular and the future of science fiction, fantasy and horror films.

5 PM

Karl Krogstad Film Presentation (Flight Lounge) Karl will show several of his latest works which include Catharsus, Palm Sunday and clips from his newest endeavor, Strings. A question and answer session will follow.

[Drawing by SAG of an anthropomorphic fox or cat.]

Midnight

Film: Mad Max (Phoenix A, B, C, & D) The first film of two, Mad Max has become a very popular film in the circles of fandom. The Road Warrior, its sequel is still playing at Seattle area theatres. Please allow time for setting up the projector after the Masquerade is over — Thank You!

Sunday, March 20

10 AM

Hercules & House of the Long Shadows (Phoenix A & B) A selection of slides will be shown from both of these upcoming films.

1 PM

Amateur Film Awards (FlightLounge) As the tension mounts, the three best films will be given their much-deserved awards. Showings of the films will follow.

5 PM

Norwescon Photo Study (Flight Lounge) Thom Walls, Norwescon photographer, will give a slide presentation with photo’s from all five previous Norwescon’s.

* Be sure to check your Pocket Program for changes or additions to this Media Program.

AMATEUR FILM CONTEST

This year NORWESCON is sponsoring its first Amateur Film Contest.

The filmmakers who dared enter their art will be judged by a panel of five film experts. Taking into account visual style and content, these noble experts, will decide which indiividuals shall be honored for their fine works.

Awards of Certificates, cash and NORWESCON 7 memberships will be given to the top winners. Honorable mentions will go to other films deserving special attention.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NORWESCON would like to thank the following companies for helping in preparing this year’s Media Show.

Group W Cable
Henry Foss High School
Magnolia Hi-Fi & Video
Sterling Recreational Organization (SRO)
National Screen Service
ABC Television

FILM & VIDEO PERSONNEL

Media Services: Mark Schellberg
Film Programming: Tony Blankinship
Projector: Jason Gray, John Cooley, Chris Stone, David Bowman, Linda Grimes, Bruce Durocher, and Butch Day.
Video Programming: Mark Schellberg
Video Operators: Mark Schapper, Sean Murphy
Camera: Mike Bentley, Chris McDonnell, Larry Dawson
News: Jenifer Parkinson, Tony Blankinship
Media Programming: Mark Schellberg
Special Programs: Stephan Lester
Amateur Film Contest: Jim Cobb
Projection: John Lindsay
Media Technical Services: Chuck vanderLinden
Consultation: Dennis Pernaa, Leo Hoover

[Ad: Magnolia Hi-Fi and Video

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• 50 inch directional screen
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• Audio out-put terminal allows connection to your Hi-Fi system
• Three video in-puts enable use with videodiscs, video cassettes, regular TV programs and even video games and home or personal computers

SALE PRICE: $1,999

[A large screen projection TV that unfolds from a wood cabinet, with the screen unfolding like a lid and the front extending to reveal three large projection lenses.]

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[Magnolia Hi-Fi and Video logo.]
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MAGNOLIA VIDEO
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One mile south of Southcenter

BELLEVUE
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LYNNWOOD [REDACTED] 196th S.W.
1 Blk. E. of Fred Meyer]

[Ad: Windycon X

[Drawing by B. Jorns of three sailing ships approaching the Chicago skyline.]

WINDYCON X

OCTOBER 7 - 9, 1983

Author Guest of Honor: George R. R. Martin
Artist Guest of Honor: Victoria Poyser
Fan Guest of Honor: Ben Yalow
Toastmaster: Wilson “Bob” Tucker

Windycon returns to Columbus Day weekend and to the Arlington Park Hilton, site of the 1978 and 1979 cons.

Windycon X will feature two tracks of main programming, as much fan and special interest programming as we can squeeze in, full-sized art show and dealers' room, movies, gaming (both computer and conventional), our famous brown paper bag masquerade and all the usual.

Membership Rates:
$12.00 through 9/15/83
Higher at the door

Write for information on dealers' tables and art show submissions.

Windycon X
P.O. Box [REDACTED]
Chicago, Illinois 60690

Norwescon 6 Preregistered Membership

[Art by Carl Lundgren of several nude women on a flower-strewn hilltop fawning over either a robot or an astronaut.]
Copyright © 1983 by Carl Lundgren

[MEMBERSHP LIST REDACTED]

[Drawing of a feather]

[Ad: The Fairie Rynge

Custom & Fantasy Jewelry

Robert Azzato ~ Jeweler

Fantasy Figurines]

[Drawing by SAG of an elf woman sitting next to a rock and two faceless lizard-like creatures.]

[Ad: Melb’n in '85, with several koalas wearing propeller beanies eating flowers and saying, variously, ‘Smoooooth!’, ‘These daffodils will never replace eucalyptus leaves’, ‘Ahh, it’s orright, mate’, and ‘It’s god! I see god!’.]

[Art of a woman in a fancy headdress holding and gazing at a small orb.]

[Ad: Tales by Moonlight
premieres Saturday at the Autograph Session
Edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson]

[Ad: BCSFA / V-Con Eleven

[BCSFA logo]

KEEP IT UP, SEATTLE!

CONGRATULATIONS ON YET ANOTHER SUPERB CONVENTION. WE LOOK FORWARD TO MANY MORE NORWESCONS.

C’MON UP SEATTLE!

LET’S KEEP THE PARTY GOING! C’MON UP TO VANCOUVER FOR V-CON IN MAY!

V-CON Eleven
May 20–22, 1983

C’MON UP FOR THE LATEST EDITION OF THE LONGEST RUNNING CONVENTION IN THE NORTHWEST: V-CON!

OUR COMMITTEE IS WlRED FOR THIS CON, WHICH WILL FEATURE EXCITING NEW PROGRAM IDEAS, WORKSHOPS FOR WRITERS, ARTISTS AND FlLMMAKERS, OUR LARGEST EVER ART SHOW AND THE RETURN OF V-CON 3’S GOH, FRANK HERBERT!

LOOK FOR OUR ROVING COMMITTEEMEMBERS HERE AT NORWESCON AND GET IN ON THE GROUNDFLOOR BEFORE WE, LIKE, TAKE OFF, EH?!

[Drawing of a long worm with Frank Herbert’s face.]

Guest of Honor: FRANK HERBERT
Fan Guest: ELIZABETH WARREN
Artist Guest: WILLIAM R. WARREN, Jr.
Toastmaster: GEORGES GIGUERE

Or: send $15.00 before May 7/83 to V-Con11, P.O. Box [REDACTED] Bentall Centre, Vancouver, B.C. V7X 1A2 Canada.

The Grandaddy of Northwest Conventions

[Drawing of a beaver wearing a propellor beanie holding a sign that says, ‘support your local beaver!’]

MAKE VANCOUVER YOUR CHOICE FOR
WESTERCON 39
VANCOUVER IN 86]

[Ad: RUSTYCON 1
January 20–2 1984

GOH: Robert Lynn Asprin
ART: Bill Warren Jr.
FAN : Jerry Kaufman

Information Write:
RUSTYCON 1
P.O. Box [REDACTED]
SEATTLE 98146]

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Be everywhere at once.

All types of beepers

• Tone alert
• Silent alert
• Tone and voice
• Digital display

[Map of the Seattle area with Bellingham, Port Angeles, Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, and Olympia marked.]

Wide Range tone alert paging
Local tone alert and voice paging

[A McCaw Telepage pager.]

McCAW TELEPAGE
[REDACTED] 116th Avenue. NE.
P.O. Box [REDACTED]
Bellevue, Washington 98009

or 1–800-[REDACTED]-BEEP]

In Memoriam

In Memoriam Hélène Flanders

by Steve Bard

July 12, 1944 - Chesterfield, England to August 13, 1982 — Vancouver, B.C., Canada

[A woman with dark, curly hair sits next to a young girl.]
Hen Flanders with Becky Warren (1979).
Photo by Dave Wilson

On Friday, the 13th of August, 1982, the 38 year old office manager of a Vancouver B.C. life insurance company was found raped and strangled to death in her ground floor flat in Vancouver’s west end. Evidence of break- in, evidence of struggle, nothing stolen. So say the police. So say the newspapers. You say: “My, my— what’s this world coming to.” And move on to the next news story… .

Away at a convention in Oregon that weekend, I received the “emergency” phonecall with shock, anger and utter disbelief. I mean, accident or disease I could comprehend, maybe even accept eventually, but Hélène Flanders murdered?!! No, no, you don’t understand: murder, you see, is something that happens to nameless people in newspapers and on the 5 o’clock news, not to someone you know, someone you love … and certainly not on “Friday the 13th,” for chrissakes! How gauche! If this is someone’s idea of a sick joke, I’m not much amused.

But somehow, strangely, perversely, it is true. Swiftly, inexorably, this beautiful, vivacious lady, who lived life so freely, so fully, is murdered, mourned and summarily reduced to a handful of ashes. Not soon forgotten, to be sure, but then, that doesn’t do her much good, does it? And neither does it give me much satisfaction to contemplate a slow and painful death for her assailant. Any being who could justify taking the rest of Hélène’s life away from her before she was through with it is not “human” in any meaningful sense. Small consolation indeed in vengence wreaked upon such detritus.

Realization dawns gradually, grudgingly, grievously. Lovely, lively Hélène is gone. As in “forever”. Never again will I talk to her or hold her warm hand. Never again will she play her favorite song, “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty, shake her head, and say “Boy, is that ever me.” No more funny notes in the mail. No more nothing … ever … never. Her murder remains unsolved.

Hélène (“Hen”) Flanders entered Vancouver fandom with considerable splash shortly after discovering Westercon XXX in 1977. She is fondly remembered for teaching Vancouver fen how to dance, for being BCSFA- zine’s best editor, and for running into a Vancouver fire station in her “Frankenfurter” costume screaming “I need a fireman!” She was bright, witty, zany, irrepressively warm and friendly, and very very classy. To say that she will be missed defines understatement.

It isn’t much comfort that Hélène lived more of life in her 38 years than most folks do in 100. That, you see, was one of her special talents, and she had, moreover, the power to infect others with zest for living. Unfortunately, so was her life vastly more tragic than any of ours—which makes the irony of this final injustice all the more unbearable. In the face of fear, adversity or infirmity she would always hearken to her past, smile, and say to me: “… Remember, Stephen, I’m a survivor!”

Lord, but I wish she could say that to me today.

Acknowledgements

[Several members of the Norwescon 6 convention committee gathered on a staircase.]
Photo by Thom Walls

Norwescon 6 Convention Committee, left to right: Steven A. Gallacci & Hürhürük, Michael L. Citrak & Garfelina, David C. Bray with Bill the Plat-a-pus & Rus the Walrus, Carolyn Palms, Lauraine Miranda, Beth Dockins & Teddy, Dave Grimes, Elizabeth (Dragon Lady) Warren & Dragono, Jeanine (Neeners) Gray & Mark Schellberg, Leroy F. Berven, Richard Wright, Thom Walls, Armondo & Michael Brocha. Missing: Bob Suryan, Judy Lorent Suryan, Libby Evans, Jenifer Parkinson, Sue Berven, Brian Loomis, Michael Scanlon, Ray Miller, Paul Schaper, Becky Desmarteau, Don McKinlay, & Jon Gustafson.

Norwescon 6 is sponsored by the Northwest Science Fiction Society, Judy Suryan, Chairman. Author biographies in the “Guests of Norwescon” section written by Jerald Anderson. “Departments” text written by Committee Department heads. Special thanks to George Barr for creating our name tags. Thank you to Liberty Orchards for the wonderful Aplets & Cotlets. Special thanks to Gene Burk at PNTA for technical assistance. Registration bags courtesy of Trident Imports. And a big thanks to the artists and owners of contributed artwork.

Norwescon gratefully acknowledges the contributions of these people and of the convention committee listed on page 1 of this program book. We also appreciate the many hours given at the Convention by the dozens of volunteers who are helping to host the doors, run errands, work registration, and to produce all the behind- the-scenes magic that makes this Convention work. If you wish to join them, it would be greatly appreciated. The volunteers coordinator can be found in operations.

Thank you all very much !!!

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Bantam Books — 28
BCSFS - 84
Dragonflight — 74
Elliott Bay Books — 38
Fairie Rynge — 82
Fantasy Newsletter — 50
Glass Onion Graphics — 3
Houghton Mifflin — 35
Locus — 4
Carl Lundgren — 10
Magnolia Hi-Fi & Video — 79
Melbourne in '85 — 82
Pendragon Graphics — 53
Philadelphia in '86
Rustycon — 85
Signet — 31
SF Chronicle / Starship — 41
Starfleet — 75
Tales By Moonlight — 83
Tor Books - 7, 9, 11, 13
Walt Disney Productions — 42 - 47
Western Telepage — 86
Whispers Press — 24
Windycon — 80

Thanks to our PROGRAM BOOK PRINTER
Scottsman Printing of Lacey

[Pendragon Design logo.]

Program Book Production & Layout: Michael Brocha, Steve Gallacci, Jeff & Andrea Levin, of Pendragon Graphics, Mindy Brigden, & Jerald Anderson.

Slave Art: Steve Gallacci, Bill Warren.

a recent drawing by Lilith Laszlo K. (Kafke)
an obvious pseudonym for pFalla de Asainte Phalle (author-illustrator 1960-).

illustration for the Khronfale of Ulan; yet another work-in-progress under an overly generous grant from the Lazarus Organization.

[Art by Lilith K of a giant creature’s skull with a very long, straight horn, above drawings of a hut with people weaving outside of it, a man with a hawk on his arm, and a turbaned man.]

Inter alia, Ms. K. has instituted a ruinous lawsuit against all living (and one dead) executives of LAZ/org claiming sexual harassment and yerkes herpes (a bivariant). LAZ/org is mega-counter-suing on the grounds of separate but equal—at the very least—sexual harassment, enticement, entrapment, industrial espionage and the shame of psoriasis.

The Lazarus Organization, when cornered, let all be warned, plays litigious hard-ball, regardless of gender, race, color, creed or previous condition of servitude.

Ed. Note: Shortly before press time, it was announced that all legal action has been dropped to the mutual satisfaction of everyone concerned save the shysters. Ms. K. is again under the exclusive management of the Lazarus Organization.

[Art by Richard Powers of a woman surrounded by wavy lines and figures.]
a RICHARD POWERS illustration for a work in progress: The fFurther fFoibles of fFirth m’fFlar by Lev. T., The Poet Lefty Cohen (McCoy-McCohen)