Everything in its own place. Something about Fan Art ......... 03
Guest Artist: Geneva Bowers . 06
Fan Art Tribute ......................... 11
MovieTime ............................... 22
A Visit with
Edgar Rice Burroughs ............. 24
Drinking Things ........................ 28
Things We May Have Done ...... 32
Pixelarium (LoCs) ..................... 33
Cover Art Space Letterman by: Geneva Bowers
Skyliner #5 A Zine from Pixel Motel. ©2019 Pixelmotel properties owned only by donating artists and may not be reproduced without express say-so from the artist. In case you haven’t been warned, PC doesn’t live here. If you need a warning about anything, this isn’t for you, and if you can’t take a joke, go no further. Alan White Fandom’s Sin-Cake Eater
CONTACT IIIIIII
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Fan Art Hugo Winner Geneva Bowers has graciously shared her splendid art with us for this issue which lead to tracking down artists of yesterday, today and tomorrow to either meet for the first time or reacquaint in this cross-generational celebration of Fan Artistry! What a Long Strange Trip It's Been, as Jerry Garcia was want to say. Nostalgia allows a few of us to mine the gray cells back to the days when artists and writers were held prisoner only by the means with which their work could be reproduced, assembled and distributed. In fact, it was a group effort. I remember nights in Bjo Trimble’s basement watching the mimeo drum spin and joining the group of silent robots walking endlessly ‘round and ‘round the kitchen table collating pages of her latest masterpiece. I met Bjo at Forry Ackerman’s digs in 1960 and discovered I lived only a few miles from her. She introduced me to fanzines and fannish doodles known as “Fan Art”. Art was basically lauded for originality and the technical ability of drawing into a wax stencil, plus the arcane skills of running a mimeograph. If not that, then being funny, fannish and mentioning other fans was a must. The only way of showing off your art was in poorly reproduced fanzines and convention art shows. But there were some stunning successes too. In fact, some of the work was so damn dedicated, you might wonder why, since zines are now remarkably easy to produce, and there are artists like Geneva Bowers and other Hugo nominees, most covers today are photographs and clipart. Exhibit A. Bjo Trimble, 1965
Time and energy shared with friends is a good thing, though the current zine revival has repurposed the word “Fanzine” and returned to paper and scissors which old timers may think more craft project than zine. Artwork for “The Reign of the Super-Man” in the fanzine Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization #3 (January 1933). Written by Superman creators Jerry Siegel as “Herbert S. Fine”; illustrated by Joe Shuster.
Fan Art Hugos began in 1967 when there was a marked difference between fan and pro art. In fact, the first winner was Jack Gaughan, taking both Pro and Fan Art Hugos that year. < Jack Gaughan Pro Art for The Wrecks of Time by Michael Moorcock - 1967 Jack Gaughan Fan Art > Captain Rats - 1967 1965 to 1974 Jack was nominated for eleven Pro Hugos taking home three consecutive rockets. He scored a nomination and win for Fan Art Hugo in 1967. It’s fair to ask a current definition of Fan Art as I readily admit I don’t have a clue. In the realm of Comics fandom, the line between Fan and Pro is barely negligible if at all. In TruFandom, you can’t see either shore, the distance becoming vast indeed since the days of George Barr (5 noms, 1 win), and Alicia Austin (3 noms, 1 win). The new generation of artists have successfully closed the gap on that score. Publishing and distributing a zine was tenuous at best, and with much grinding of teeth an artist would send off perhaps a week’s work to a fan-ed which may never see the light of day, nor be returned. Instead of an original, I once sent a photocopy of a fillo to a faned who severely scolded me for destroying “the very concept” of fan art. Today, with so many modes of creation and venues for distribution, least of which is a historical fanzine format, someone much younger and more active will have to tell me just what is the purpose of Fan Art today, and is Fan Art actually done for fans? Back in the day, art was shared for free to liven up fanzines when Fandom was small enough you at least knew (of) everyone. Art since the inception of home computers and the internet, gallops hand in hand with the mainstreaming of science fiction and fantasy. As fandom has become a worldwide phenomenon, ubiquitous, yet less about creativity and process while more about derivative replication making an accurate definition more important now than ever. Definitions are contradictory and Rules seem vague at best. So far, my pleas have fallen on deaf eyeballs, so yes, I’ll need your help.
It’s not what it was in 1960, nor should it be; so let’s take a gander at fannish art today. TruFandom still has it own accolade: The FAAn Award given at the annual Corflu, much like the Hugos except for, ummmm everything. And in these waning years, it’s become more a self congratulatory event for celebrating things they barely remember doing. But as if to prove my point, the purview of older fandom has become so rigid, they don’t allow themselves to enjoy the wider selection of younger fan artists available. If not for Steve Stiles I would have no idea who any of the Hugo contenders were, nor even how I would find out who they are. Thus, inspiration for this issue. How the tribute went down: I tracked down fan artists, starting with anyone nominated for a Hugo still extant; anyone winning a Rotsler or FAAn Award. A few had passed; some had bowed out with no possible contact info. There was a pair of “I’ll think about its," and a pair of “I’m too busy” letters, fair enough. I never asked anyone to actually do any art, just share something representative of what they have done. Venturing into the web unknown I posted to many Facebook pages smacking of fan and genre art; some immediately deleted by admin. Then Deviant Art, Pinterest, Googling Fanart names of yore. China, Canada, Sweden, France, Russia, all about the U.S. A few years back, Taral and I assembled an online Fan Art Gallery lest those gone before be forgotten. It was like pulling teeth and eating their pets. And in the end, interest in such things proved nonexistent. I was hoping the youngsters would come through for this project. With invites exceeding 200 I really thought I’d get at least thirty takers. Who wouldn’t want to share an issue with Geneva Bowers? Nic Farey thought I’d only get two; oh ye of little faith. Well, I showed him, I got 11 (crap!), and not a one under fifty! Not a single younger artist responded. Perhaps they have the same tunnel vision as the old timers. But to be honest, why would they contribute to zines boasting a completely different fannish frame of reference to which they normally subscribe? Oh well, it is, what it is. . . Thanks to artist wranglers Brad and Taral for casting the nets even wider, much appreciated. Let’s hope when younger artists see Geneva’s work in these pages they will be less reticent to share; they are always welcome here. So with great pleasure let’s visit our Hugo winning guest artist: Geneva Bowers. . .
GUEST ARTIST GENEVA BOWERS
Geneva Bowers is a self taught freelance artist residing in the North Carolina Mountains. Her love of nature and fantasy influences her artwork in every degree. Her main medium is digital, working in Adobe Photoshop and Art Studio Pro. When not drawing, she loves to go for a quick cycle and watching cheesy court shows.
WEBSITE
In 1960 I received fanzines through the mail and fandom became more than a concept; fanzines made it tangible. Brightening covers and each page of badinage were illustrations; outlandish, stylish, pithy yet singular of color. Zines were like smoke signals launched by isolated fans declaring “Here I am and here’s how I see it!” Many cartoons were early avatars of the fans themselves. Listen closely, you can hear voices from sixty years prior; smell the fuzzy paper and ink they were printed with - essence of Fandom itself. However, when Fandom went mainstream with the advent of Star Trek/Wars, history reset itself. Go ahead, Google “Fan Art”, evidently, fanart started yesterday. I’ve been grousing over being out of touch with fandom, particularly fan artists. Thus it’s up to me to offer the olive branch. Our Guest was an easy call for the Best Fan Artist Hugo. The images of Geneva Bowers are delightful in their style and personal originality, breathing a fresh nuance of science fiction and fantasy into real world daydreams. Today them millennial young’ns have the mob, the mode, the enthusiasm and the means to cover the world with art in a heartbeat. They also have the ability to use modern utilities in creating their art in spectacular new ways. We may have been here first, but they are here now. Just maybe it’s time we learn something from them. Let’s see what we get. . .
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TARAL WAYNE
Canada
“If I’ve become a “lifelong fan,” it wasn’t for the lack of trying to be something else – illustrator, comic book artist, writer, SF editor… But being a “fan” seems to be what I was cut out for. I’ve been involved in many aspects of fandom, but my real avocation is self-publishing. Strangely enough, in fanzines I have been illustrator, comic artist, writer and editor. After more than 40 years of this, I have a few tangible assets to show for it as well – a handful of Hugo nominee pins for fanart, a plaque for lifetime achievement, some geegaws from other Worldcons, and I was Fan Guest at the 2009 Montreal Worldcon. My main problem is where to go from here…”
FURAFFINITY / DEVIANT ART / FANZINES / MORE
STEVE STILES U.S.
I discovered fandom in 1957 and began drawing for fanzines in 1959: I never stopped since then and was first nominated for the Fan Artist Hugo in 1967 (my friend Jack Gaughan got it and deserved it). Fourteen nominations later I finally copped the rocket in 2016. But my main reward in fandom is the fun I get from contributing to science fiction fanzines and trying to see what bizarre new ways I can go in the general direction of nuttiness. Doing fan art was instrumental in giving me the confidence and experience to branch out into prodom. My first sales were a number of cartoons for Paul Krassner’s magazine, The Realist (one of them wound up framed in Hugh Hefner’s office). Over the years I’ve since worked for any number of underground and mainstream comics, my proudest gigs being my eight year stint at Mark Schultz’s award-wining title, Xenozoic Tales,
and working with Dick Lupoff on The Adventures Of Professor Thintwhistle, perhaps the first steampunk graphic novel. I was also chosen to be the artist for a L’il Abner reboot in 1990 but the deal fell through ten days before I was to sign the contract, gol durn it! Currently working on a 200 page graphic novel and a 140 page anthology of my underground comics work, The Return Of Hyper Comics, but I’m still addicted to fan art: For a further look at what I do, visit my website.
WEBSITE
VICTORIA LISI
U.S.
Victoria Lisi has worked as a fine artist, fantasy and children’s book illustrator, toy inventor, writer and college art instructor. She has won two fan Hugos (1981 & 1982) and numerous art awards. Subjects include imaginative realism, fantasy, plein air, urban sketching, portraits, still life and landscapes. Victoria has written two books: “Vibrant Children's Portraits” (North Light Books) and “Soul Trip” (co-authored with her husband). Both are available from Amazon. One of her paintings will appear in the latest “SPLASH 20 The Best of Watercolor.” She is available for illustration, commissions, teaching workshops and private lessons. Look for her on Instagram and Facebook.
WEBSITE / EMAIL INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK
FRANK WU
U.S.
Frank Wu won four best fan artist Hugos (2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009) and then permanently withdrew from the category to share the limelight.
His fanzine work has appeared most often in Chris Garcia's Drink Tank, but also in In a Prior Lifetime, Emerald City, Speculations, blah blah blah. Other fan work was done for assorted conventions, including various Worldcons, BayCon, Arisia, Willycon, RavenCon, blah blah blah. Other art has appeared in Amazing Stories (like this giant laser tank!), Realms of Fantasy, Fantastic Stories, Talebones, Mothership Zeta, blah blah blah. More recently, Frank has forsaken art for writing, with three stories appearing in Analog (yeah! SFWA membership!), including a story about a robot and an
octopus that won the Anlab award for - HEY! WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS! GO OFF AND MAKE SOME OF YOUR OWN ART!
WEBSITE twitter: @thefrankwu
LUBOV
U.S.
Lubov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and immigrated to the United States. Perhaps it is the art of the fantastic - fantasy, phantasmagoric - that draws Lubov's imagination and skills as an artist. Lubov studied art at the Chicago Art Institute, but maintains her true knowledge of art - her sense and sensibility comes via her own studies. There is technical mastery in her work; mastery in the sense of the old masters. Lubov's art is a return to the pre-Raphaelites' storied imagination, a thesis of art that resonates for Lubov. (Lubov's artistic inspirations include Adolphe-William Bouguerau, John W. Waterhouse, Maxfield Parrish, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Victor Mikailovich Vasnetsov, Arkhip Kuinji, Alphonse Mucha, and Rembrandt.) Lubov paints with oils, the most difficult painting medium of all. The technique itself is six hundred years old and nothing since can match the sheer power of this very human mode of expression when handled by such an expert. A Chesley Award nominee, Lubov's work has appeared internationally in numerous print publications and galleries, on multiple cards for games, covers of various event programs, and magazines. She is also a regular guest artist and speaker at numerous science-fiction and fantasy conventions.
WEBSITE
BRAD FOSTER
U.S.
Brad W. Foster is fascinated by robots, both toy and otherwise, to an almost uncomfortable degree. Beyond that personal quirk he creates artworks with pen and ink, or more recently with digital dots, for both fannish and professional reasons. Yes, he lives to draw, and he draws to live. It could be worse.
WEBSITE
ROSS CHAMBERLAIN
Once upon a time, when I was young and even more foolish than I am now, I was a simple reader of weird and scientifically adventurous fiction, inspired by pulps and comic books of lured into so-called science fiction fandom in New York in 1964, I got into the world of fanzines, and learned there was more to it than anticipated. I was not alone among the weird and introspective in that microcosm did not prevent me from gaining some sense of community. I was encouraged to do some of my best work, while at the same time felt a bit overwhelmed. Over the decades since, as the community expanded and has balkanized, I think my work has improved, though largely moving into computer-aided output. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m hugely grateful to those friends who have stood by me and propped me up over the years.
U.S.
ULRIKA Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;BRIEN
U.S.
I think of myself a neo fan artist, and have for the last thirty-seven years. Very diligent researchers can find my art on the covers of disties of APA-L from the early 1980s. I've been drawing since I was able to hold a crayon, and my grandparents' house probably still has the purple crayon decorations on the walls to prove it, albeit under several layers of wallpaper or paint. The oldest scar I have is on my left thumb, from an old watercolor paint set made in the bad old days of Not Remotely Child Safe toys. It probably didn't help that I was too young to realize that pressing down on my lid with my thumb still in the tin wasn't a good idea. And all these years later, I'm still very much only just learning how to use my art supplies correctly. But I love the work for its own sake, and every now and then, I create something that really pleases me.
TEDDY HARVIA
U.S.
Teddy Harvia is the well-known pen name of David Thayer. He has drawn scores of wild beasts, strange BEMs, and big-nosed whiz kids from a world far from Earth who use short words to make fun of all kinds of things in scores of toons and fan art for flyers, zines, and con pubs since 1967. He lives with wife Diana and four fat cats in Dallas, Texas. To earn his keep, he works with words at a high-tech firm.
WEBSITE / FACEBOOK
Marc Schirmeister
U.S.
Also known as Schirm (born February 6, 1958), is a classic arts illustrator, comic artist and animation storyboard artist; mostly a "behind the scenes" player in furry fandom since its beginnings. His professional and freelance works includes stints at Warner Bros., DIC, and Saban. Early contributor to Vootie (precursor to early furry fanzines,) also credited for the long running APA Rowrbrazzle for the first nineteen issues, then gave up control to long-time science fiction, animation, and furry connoisseur, Fred Patten. Schirm was active in science fiction fandom from the early 1970s, and his covers and filler art appear in many SF zines. He currently resides in Pasadena, California.
KEN FLETCHER
U.S.
I learned to read from ‘funny-animal’ comic books and Walt Kelly’s ‘POGO’ was an early treasure. Age 10, I found ‘MAD’, magazines and explored collections of cartoon books from the library. The books included sophisticated art: British cartoonists, Virgil Partch, George Herriman, Heinrich Kley. and left me feeling I could learn the craft. In 1965, I met older fans, well-informed about conventions and culture, histories, & mythologies (often evolving with the help of fan artists). In 1976 Reed Waller & I started a small cartoonists’ APA that helped to jumpstart furry fandom. I felt I could add to the fan culture and continue to be an amateur cartoonist, contributing to several internet art archives.
WEBSITE
ALAN WHITE
U.S.
In 1960, Alan printed his first zine and began a life doing the fan art tango. He attended the first San Diego Comic Con in 1970 while working with Kustom Kar King Ed "Big Daddy" Roth at MovieWorld then moved to Los Angeles to work in the motion picture industry creating advertising material for 20 years. He worked on the "Bob Burns Halloween Extravaganzas;" created several conventions, helped with many others and was a constant figure in art shows through the 70s. He won several awards for Best Fantasy Art at WesterCons and a Walt Disney award for Best Photography, wrote syndicated movie reviews while producing scads of zines and other fannish material. Retired in Las Vegas after 10 years of casino art and now creates websites, has written several horror novels and produces Skyliner.
WEBSITE
STAR TREK EXPERIENCE Attraction Tour and Closing Ceremony. 8:52 CLICK ME AND VISIT YOUTUBE!
STAR TREK EXPERIENCE Garage Sale 6:50 CLICK ME AND VISIT YOUTUBE!
ROBERT SAWYERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PLUG FOR XANADU LAS VEGAS! 1:25 CLICK ME AND VISIT YOUTUBE!
WAR OF THE WORLDS: GOLIATH Joe Pearson chats about his classic Sci-fi, Steampunk feature film. 5:05 CLICK ME AND VISIT YOUTUBE!
Congrats to Paul and Linda for their recent jolly nuptials - fan style. Paul is the son of our own Westside Insurgent Brenda Dupont, and normally found hobnobbing with the likes of SpongeBob Squarepants aboard a U.S. submarine sailing the seas in search of SPECTRE villains and alien life forms. Linda, also in the service is one of those, “If I told you what I do, I’d have to kill you” sorts, so least said about that, the better. More importantly, they are fans! Star Wars pretty much and have a large coterie of like-minded friends, some traveled from the alien shores of Hawaii just for the occasion of wearing a damn costume in the middle of Halloween day and watching these two get spliced. Yep, Halloween. Yep, that chapel with the drive-thru window. And they weren’t the only thus attired lining up at the marital trough. There were groups of costumed couples piling up in the chapel lobby fore and aft waiting for their chance to set sail on uncharted seas. There were times it was hard to tell just what Darth Vader went with which party! Getting hitched by Elvis seems so blasé today. Back at the D, Paul and Linda sprang for tickets for all to “Marriage Can Be Murder,” a dinner show everyone enjoyed and ruminated over on their way to their rooms, or disappeared onto the floors to try their luck. There was a hearty few who wandered off to the Trilogy of Terror scary show; this was Halloween after all, and returned pale and shaking. At least for two of this mob of salty sea dogs, “Trick or Treat” will always have another, more interesting connotation. VIDEO HERE ◀
For the better part of my life I had lived only an hour’s journey from one of fantasy fiction’s most famous Figures, the late Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose stories of interplanetary adventure have thrilled millions; yet I had never met him. Having gone out of my way to shake hands with H.G. Wells, Abe Merritt, Hugo Gernsback, Frank R. Paul, Austin Hall and many other science fiction celebrities, I decided it was high time I paid my respects to the creator of “Tarzan of the Apes”, “John Carter of Mars” and “Carson of Venus”. Perhaps it was because he lived so near me in California that I had contented myself with the thought that I could visit him at any time. Anyhow, I finally did so and spent three hours talking to him about his work, hearing him confirm much of what I had read about him and deny what was mere legend. He lived, as every Burroughs fan knows, in the San Fernando Valley, in the little community once known as Reseda, until his fame overshadowed the town and gave it the name of Tarzana. But as an admirer of his I actually had trouble finding him. The gas station attendant couldn’t direct me, and the drug store owner was no help; he didn’t even have a Burroughs book in his circulating library. I began to wonder: how famous is fame? Then I found I’d gotten the name of the street wrong and had overshot our mark by about a mile, so I went back and finally came to a large rural-type mailbox bearing the Burroughs name. But the palatial residence I expected didn’t materialize. The great sprawling estate of my imagination was a modest six room house surrounded by a garden and a lush lawn, with an orchard in the rear. The house had a builton porch, where the owner spent much of his time reading.
Burroughs himself opened the door. And I liked him at first sight. He had aged, of course, since he posed for the familiar photo on the dust jackets of his books, but I wouldn’t have taken him for 73. He had lived to see science catch up with and outdistance some of the wild imaginings of his earliest writings. “In some of my early Mars stories,” he recalled, “I made the mistake of describing amazing airships which traveled at the incredible speed of two hundred miles an hour.” He led me through the living room, on the floor of which was a handsome black and white zebra skin, out on to the porch. He took an easy chair beside which lay the scattered pages of the Sunday paper; nearby on a table was a pile of cartoon books. On one wall hung the ornate robe of an Indian chief and a Japanese silk painting of a slinking tiger. A pair of Oriental equestrian statuettes stood on twin tables on either side, and by the door leading to the backyard orchard was a huge vermilion jar decorated with ebony elephants and other jungle figures. Amid this colorful tableau, we talked. I asked if it was true that he wrote his first stories on the backs of old envelopes, as I had read somewhere. “That wasn’t so”, he said. But he did use old letterheads which he had printed when he went into business for himself years ago, and for which he had no better use when, as invariably happened, his venture failed. He was an unsuccessful businessman for several years before he tried writing fiction, and succeeded. So much that his Tarzan stories, translated into various languages from a Turkestan dialect to Hindustani (not forgetting Esperanto) have sold over thirty-million copies, while a score of full length films adapted from his books have added to the rich proceeds of his imagination. In addition, he gathered a small fortune from the use of his universally famed ape-man in newspaper cartoons and comic books. He had also been on the radio, with Burroughs’ son-in-law playing the lead along with his daughter Joan. Few dream-children have been as profitable for their creator as Tarzan. He also debunked the story that he began to write because he couldn’t sleep. “I wrote because I was hungry, not through insomnia,” he told me. “I had a wife and two children to support, and I wasn’t making much money. But I did have a lot of weird dreams; both sleeping and waking. I thought I’d put them down on paper and see if they'd sell.”
He was 35, having tried several different jobs - cowhand, policeman, railroad patrolman, salesman; he was working for a patent medicine firm. It was his duty to check their adverts in the pulp magazines of the time, and he sampled some of the stories in them. He thought he could do as well, if not better, and so he began to write-fast. In his early days, once he got started, he could turn out a novel in a month or two at the most. His first story, “Under the Moons of Mars,” ran as a serial in ALL-STORY MAGAZINE (Feb.-July, 1912) which for years previously had been featuring the fantasies of Garrett P. Serviss, George Allan England and others. He was paid about half a cent a word for it, and wrote under the pseudonym of “Normal Bean,” which appeared as Norman Bean. Five years later it appeared in book form as “A PRINCESS OF MARS”, to be followed by the rest of the Mars series. But before John Carter continued his exploits, “TARZAN OF THE APES” had made his bow in the October 1912 ALL- STORY, and in hard covers two years later. He was such a success that ALL-STORY and ARGOSY leapt at the chance to publish his adventures through the decades before they were presented in book form for the benefit of his followers throughout the world. They also featured his tales of the world “AT THE EARTH’s CORE”, “THE MOON MAID”, “PIRATES OF VENUS” and others. “THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT”, so beloved of early AMAZING readers and all who grew up on his stories, and which he himself titled “The Lost U-Boat,” was first published in BLUE BOOK in 1918. I asked if he, as a youngster, had been fond of fantasy fiction-if, for instance, he had devoured Wells, Verne or Rider Haggard, but he said simply “No.” The second story he wrote was “THE OUTLAW OF TORN”: he intended it to be a serious historical novel and did a lot of research for it. The effort wasn't wasted, however, as he drew on the material later for “TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE”. The handwritten manuscripts of the first stories of Tarzan and John Carter are carefully preserved, he told us. The original Tarzan of the Apes is still his favorite. “Re-read it a few months back. My memory was never very much good, so every once in a while I get out one of my own stories and re-read it.” He autographed for me one of the rarest of his works, the novella “Beyond Thirty,” romance of a barbarian. Britain of the 22nd Century, full of wild men and beasts. One of the others produced a copy of the Esperanto “Princino de Marso” and got him to sign it in Esperanto. Then we got to talking of space travel. “What do you think of a trip to Mars or Venus?” I asked. He considered. “Well, I don't think it will come in our lifetime. I’d be interested in knowing what they find there, but I don't think I’d care to go myself.” One of us, fresh from reading “THE MOON MAID”, pointed out that in 1926 he had predicted radar as coming in 1940, in the shape of “an instrument which accurately indicated the direction and distance of the focus of any radioactivity with which it might be attuned.” I asked if he had spent much time thinking up such names as Barsoom, Gathol and Pellucidar. “Oh, I thought them all out carefully,” he assured
me. “I discarded many combinations of syllables before I was satisfied with ‘Tarzan.’ I think the name of a character has a lot to do with his success, don't you? And I don't believe in describing them too accurately; I've never given Tarzan’s actual height. I leave as much as I can to the reader’s imagination.” He wasn’t too happy with Tarzan’s transformation into a screen hero. He had thought of him, he said, as a pretty grim character, and the movies made him too humorous for his liking. He has a projector, with prints of “THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN” and others, but he hasn't seen all the Hollywood versions of his stories. Of the nine different actors who have played the part, he liked Herman Brix the best. “He was absolutely fearless!” I suggested “THE MONSTER MEN” as a likely movie, and he said it had been considered on and off for years. The only fantasy volume, apart from his own, was Otis Adelbert Kline’s “THE PLANET OF PERIL”. The story goes that Kline’s “Buccaneers of Venus,” which appeared in WEIRD TALES, was declined by ARGOSY because they preferred to use Burroughs’ first Venus novel instead. A monstrous tiger skin covered the floor of this room, where we saw a collection of oddments including a stone turtle which Burroughs had dug up himself. In the hallway hung a real human head which its hunters had shrunk, and from which I shrank. He could never bring himself to touch it, he confessed. There was a beautiful bronze statuette of a sabre-tooth tiger done by his son, who illustrated some of his books. John and his brother Hulbert collaborated on several science fiction stories, beginning with “The Man Without a World” in the 10th Anniversary issue of THRILLING WONDER. Burroughs said he never rewrote, and never wrote a character into a situation from which he couldn’t extricate him, though often he had no idea how the story would end. He once tried the Dictaphone, but couldn’t find a stenographer who could spell and punctuate correctly, so he continued to type his own manuscripts. Although he never had a formal education in grammar, a piece from one of his books was once used as an example of good English in a British textbook. Just before I left, my host produced an autograph book and asked for my signature. Collecting visitors’ autographs had become a hobby in recent years, and I signed in his fourth book. As I departed we shook hands, said that he had been honored by my visit and what I had to say about his work. “Not everybody is quite sincere,” he added, “but I believe you have been. Thank you for calling, and if I don't recognize you next time I see you I hope you won't think too badly of me, I have a terrible memory.” ◀
Drinking Things So You Don’t Have To
Physical Transformation Edition - Public Service Message #3
Meltdown
Jekyll & Hyde
Why would you name your product after something you don’t want? That’s like naming your extra spicy meatballs Diarrhea Planets.
Crave the sensation of beating someone to death with your walking stick? Yearn no more; here’s a Theacrine tag-team to unleash upon strangers wandering dark alleyways, and your nervous system!
What is it? A 12 oz can melting off the shelves at a whopping $4 per unit and sold as a weight loss product in what they refer to as a “Fat Attack”. Selling Points: Promises “Body Remodeling” and does whatever 825mg of Sodium and 7500 Ketones can do to/for you. Meltdown contains Theacrine, described as: “Like caffeine, Teacrine® stimulates the central nervous system at higher doses and decreases central nervous system activity at lower doses. But unlike caffeine, Teacrine® does not seem to affect blood pressure. Teacrine® might also lessen liver damage caused by stress and reduce pain and swelling.” Hmmm, since there is no caffeine, looks like you can sleep through the transformation. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping to wake up 30 pounds lighter and 40 years younger. I’ve tasted worse, felt nothing, but look forward to promised body remodeling; into what I can’t say but almost anything would be a plus. Meltdown doles out a minuscule 18 calories per can. Tastes Like: Tang® and Rust, probably from the Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium cocktail. Result: Boredom. Observation: Regret shelling out the four bucks. Website
What is it? A 16oz. can containing “A nootropic component of the Kucha leaf that has demonstrated the ability to boost mood, motivation, energy, and focus.” A two part concoction being Jekyll: a powder that wakes up the 98lb. weakling within you, then completes the transformation with a chilled can of HYDE! The can reads “Transform yourself from Jekyll to Hyde with the controlled fury of the Power Potion.” Yeah baby. Selling Points: Read the book, drink the potion! Just remember, they die at the end. Tastes Like: I settled on “Pineapple Cooler” though can promises “Does not contain fruit juice.” Not bad, akin to Mango and Cod Liver Oil. Judging by similar products, you don’t buy this for the taste, anyway. Result:
Got a nervous buzz, made me want to run around the block. Decided to go to the gym against my nature, which isn’t a bad thing! Observation: An 8oz. cup of coffee contains 95mgs of caffeine. At 350mgs, this is like pounding 31/2 cups in 4 gulps. They warn against imbibing while pregnant, but just between the two of us, binging Hyde while preggers, has Hollywood written all over it. Website
1916 - 2007 Every December I give a thought to Walt “Doc” Daugherty. Born December 18. He was one of the original Fandomites, had a myriad amazing hobbies, and was Forry Ackerman’s lifelong chum known as “The Power Behind the Throne” throughout the well boggled kingdom of “The Count Dracula Society”. It's been said Walt was belabored by others for his grandiose fannish plans that never came to fruition. And yet, 72 years later we still attend Westercon, his brainchild and fannish tradition that sees no signs of slowing down. I met Walt in 1963 by way of the "Count Dracula Society" where we both held some office or another and it was easy to see by anyone's Walt - Cosplay 1941 measure, he was a renaissance man. We spent many afternoons at the L. A. Photo Center, Milt Larsen's Magic Castle and conventions where he would display his collection of genre photographs in his "Watch the Vulture” exhibit. A charter member of LASFS (Los Angeles, Science Fantasy Society), Guest of Honor at conventions, received many awards and with Forry Ackerman, created the "Evans-Freehafer Big Heart Award". He was an endless source of knowledge on Egyptology particularly dealing with King Tut, and took several trips into the jungles of South America exploring the pyramids of ancient civilizations. His interests spanned tropical fish, stamp collecting, parakeets, auto racing, gardening, model building, and he was a lightening Quick Draw (22/100ths of a second)! He was a professional ballroom dancer, winning his first contest at 9 and last at 71, winning over 600 awards, (film of him dancing appears He play ed a co in four M*A*S*H episodes). He was a rpse in Key Lar go - 19 private detective, actor, photography 48 instructor, motion picture stand-in and stuntman (for Red Skelton, Robert Hutton, and Cary Grant). At last he retired from the City of Los Angeles. "Walt has a kind of world record for being a hobbyist; something like 52 major hobbies. He retired, I think in 1946 as the dance champion of America, in waltz I believe, and he's very knowledgeable about Egypt. He did fanzines in his day, and in 1941 at the world convention, he was the first person to record speeches, in particular Heinlein’s "Discovery of the Future". — Forry Ackerman
Watch the Vulture at Westercon 22, 1969
Pic by: Alan White
Pic: Richard Harmatz, L.A. Times
Pic by: Alan White
Don Glut’s tribute to Walt in an early issue of “Occult Files of Dr. Spektor” from Gold Key comics.
Me, Forry, Walt and Karl Freund Universal Studios, 1968
Walt, Don Reed and Ray Harryhausen
Pic by: Walt Daugherty
Forry, Verne Langdon and Don Post harangue the photographer
Gordon R. Guy and Shovel-man Fritz Leiber Official Dracula Society Zine
Robert Bloch chats up Walt
Walt’s job resumé photo
My Westercon Memorial for Walt with Mary Ellen Daugherty
Things we may have done…
If there is anyone in town who enjoys fandom and being around fans, it’s James and Mindy. Every year, holidays become memorable events. Everyone participates with a mountain of dandy vittles, tubs of drinkables and a jolly spirit one and all. James and Mindy also run VSFA (Vegas Science Fiction Association), celebrating every month with movies, gaming, book readings, costumes and fun. This is the closest thing to Fandom you’ll find here. Even the Neverwas Haul gets festooned with lights for the holidays while wintering in Las Vegas. DeDee takes to the balcony and assures safe traveling ahead. Land Ho!
DeDee and Brenda Dupont gear up for adventure.
LloydPenney I know you said that it would take a while to get on with producing the next Skyliner, but here I am anyway. Some cogent comments (Ghod, I hope!) will follow this opening paragraph. Like so! More remarks on the wonderful art! I keep seeing here and there (especially here) how fandom is fading. Those here who say they are the new heart of fandom aren’t all that friendly, so they are largely ignored by us. I guess you can call us part of NuFandom, although we do have contacts with local NuFans. I don’t even hang out with the older fans here because…they are now us. Anyone else has mostly gafiated, or they live a distance away. We’re having our steampunk fun, and crafting fun, and a little bit of traveling. No one who attends cons these days has any idea who Yvonne and I were, and there’s no reason why they should. Do we have successors? No, we don’t, and perhaps there’s no reason why we should. It’s another time. The fan awards are no longer for the fans. That’s the Hugos, and here, the Auroras. The Fan Auroras go to the pros who might run a convention, or readers who work with the pros to promote them on websites. I used to get nominated for my fanzine activities, but today, not even a nomination, so I figure my time there has passed. Margaret Brundage’s artwork…I do recognize it, from some of the old Weird Tales I’ve seen. Looks like she supplied the horny kids of that era with all the eyecandy they wanted, and more. (Just for the record…I wonder what Margaret Brundage, given she was a Hitler expert, would think of Herr Trumpenstein?) The cover of Amazing Stories reminds me of one thing I’ve been busy with…you might know that Amazing has once again been revived, owned now by Steve Davidson, with Ira Nayman as editor-in-chief. Ira lives in Toronto, and I offered my assistance as a copy editor and proofreader. Ira took me up on it for the second issue, so I hope that my name is Art by Moebius
on the masthead for that issue. I was asked again for the third issue, so I hope it arrives soon. Being on the masthead for Amazing? I don’t do bucket lists, but that would be a dream for me. That second issue is at the printers’, so I hope that dream comes true. You know, as I write this, Douglas Rain died, and he was the voice of HAL 9000 in 2001. And now, Stan Lee has kicked it. I have never been a comics reader, but with his passing, you know you’re old. Some who are younger admit they had no idea who Stan was. Now I KNOW I’m old. Fandom is not the term it used to be, as you say in the locol. A graphic heavy zine is certainly expected from you, given your talents and software. Nic Farey wonders if Journey Planet gets locs…well, they get one from me, but there have been issues where I know absolutely nothing about the subject matter, and submit it to Chris and James and crew. My loc…I did join the Fanzines Facebook group, and there’s a few people I know, but most of the members remember comics fanzines. I am not a pot smoker, or smoker of any kind, but I have applied to work with a couple of the suddenly rich Canadian cannabis companies, and I will see if I can provide them with what they need. Done for now! Good to see another issue, and I am sure you’ve got another issue on the go right now. Thanks for all of this, and see you with another one. Thanks Lloyd, you speak an uncommon wisdom and you’re taking it far better than I. I fell victim to persistence of vision, thinking Fandom as we know it would always be there, despite my eternal declaration Fandom was little more than an ill-mannered calamity of clashing egos fading away like the circus freaks at the end of “Juliet of the Spirits”. But it was a mere blip in the hippocampus I identified with far too quickly and far too completely in 1960. I’ve been going through withdrawals for 30 years as fandom, like my hairline is slowly receding into oblivion. Las Vegrants is a microcosm of TruFandom and a perfect example. The Katz residence, once known as ‘The Launch Pad” was the local vortex of fannish activity. The frenetic meeting place from where fans, zines, commentary, outings and activities ebbed and flowed. Now a few ghosts remain, those who neither read, nor watch, nor create, nor comment and nothing has been launched in years. Fandom’s library of thousands of books remain hidden, sad and lonely in the darkness of the garage since its conception years ago. Conversations trivial and mundane once held in such disdain by fandom are the sole products and if Arnie takes one more ass-over-teakettle tumble, what little is left may be no more. Fandom once brimming with potential, is now a cornucopia of inertia. Good luck in the employment market and scoring a tip of the hat from Amazing Stories. Yes, there will be another issue, no doubt about that, maybe two more is as far as I can see at the moment. I too am running out of gas and inspiration (sigh). ◀
And That’s That! Yeah, I enjoy social interaction, but I can’t say I’m a joiner. Sure, I’ve only become a member of a pair of fannish groups over the years, but haven’t had much luck with it. It was October 13, 1966 I joined L.A.S.F.S. (The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society). I thought it would be swell to have an actual membership card from such an august body. I know this because you can go to the L.A.S.F.S. website and still see my name on the membership roster. After all, “Death Will Not Release You.” I received Shangri L'Affaires for a while. Never got the damn card, but then things went dark and never heard from any of them ever again. In fact, by August 7, 1986 I had completely forgotten I was a member and on a whim, joined the club again, silly me. But after all, it would be swell to have an actual membership card from such an august body and immediately never heard from any of them ever again. I received some kind of notice from the N3F, (National Fantasy Fan Federation). I did something for them back in the 80s; don’t remember what and wasn’t sure if I was a member of those blokes either. Ghu knows I never received a membership card so I couldn’t tell. They now offer a $6 electronic membership and on a whim joined the club to see what would happen. Maybe I could send them some artwork as of late their Tightbeam covers have turned to the crap side of the force. The group has been around nearly as long as L.A.S.F.S. and it would be swell to have an actual membership card from such an august body. It’s been over a month and I have yet to hear a peep out of them. All is well.
Art by Lee Nordling
Still atwitter from the Ultima Thule flyby? So here we are, safely on the other side of the New Year, like stepping from one dimension into another; transported through time and space. Wishing you all a jolly, productive year, especially L.A.S.F.S. Just keep in mind, we’re moving into those years we used to read about and think were so cool. But we are the ones responsible for making them cool, so if in fact Fandom is fading into the abyss of marginalized history, let’s not go gentle into that good night, but make them funky youngsters wish they had stopped by to chat before the dying of the light. Raise some damn hell, ya’ll and have a great 2019. — With apologies to Dylan Thomas
SOMETHING DIFFERENT and FREE BACK ISSUES
HERE
Except for this. . . We’re leaving in a white Cadillac with my baby in the back. - Geneviève Waite When I was young my mother mentioned someday I might get cataracts. I thought she said Cadillacs and ordered two. They’ve just arrived. Over the space of a single month, what was once a “Well, son, we’ll have to take care of those one of these days,” has flipped to “Omigod, they’re as thick as Coke bottle bottoms, and looking through them is like playing the “Bird Box” challenge with the Shroud of Turin. It’s always something. I’ve spent the last month with my nose pushed up against the monitor. Oh well, I have something to blame for layout calamities, but with any luck by next issue these things should be chucked out of my head and all will be well. On the other hand, I hope the last time I saw any of you, you were looking fab for if this thing goes south, that’s how I’ll remember you forever.
See you on the other side.