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OtherRealms Issue 25 Part 17
Electronic OtherRealms #25
Summer/Fall, 1989
Part 17 of 17
Copyright 1989 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved
OtherRealms may not be reproduced without permission from Chuq Von Rospach.
Permission is given to electronically distribute this
issue only if all copyrights, author credits and return
addresses remain intact. No article may be reprinted or re-used
without permission of the author.
Your Turn -- Letters to OtherRealms (continued)
Ken Meltsner
I hope the deadline has slipped a bit for OR 25, as we received our
copy on 6/17. I mean, I knew the mail was bad in Schenectady, but ...
The issue looks good, despite your troubles with the printer driver. By
the way, I heard Ready,Set,Go! was going to split into two editions,
one "professional" and one more low-level.
Small, inconsequential comments:
Impressive electronic readership. If you count in all the sites which
read USENET material, but can't respond easily (like much of MIT) it
may be even higher. Are you going to be involved with the CLARInet
people?
(p.5) If you take Asimov's as a base with its 72K subscribers,
Amazing's showing in your poll is pretty good, although it does have
strong newsstand sales (stronger than IASFM, actually). Aboriginal with
10-14K subscribers is right on the mark, or a bit low in your poll. I
was surprised by Analog's poor performance; if Schmidt has lost the
techies in his audience to IASFM, he's in big trouble.
(p.15) Beowulf wasn't the one who woke up in the cavern under the
moor. It was a company of Vikings.
Real comments:
I agreed whole-heartedly with your opinion of the new Gunn
encyclopedia. It's essentially a second-rate reference book, useful
only when other works aren't recent enough. I suspect Gunn didn't
manage his contributors very well, and allowed personal biases to
affect the subjects covered. The number of decent authors that are
missing is scandalous.
Thanks for "The Contrapunk Manifesto". It's closer to my attitudes
towards writing and reading SF than those of the annoying Gibson-
wannabees. I mean, I knew Bethke had a sense of humor ("It came from
the slushpile" is wonderful), but he's smart, too.
I also appreciated Dean Lambe's seconding of my opinion of The
Seekers. Budspy was good, but TS and his other recent novel Chained
Heat were both pretty bad. I'm hoping they were both trunk novels and
do not represent his current writing. We have Ursus, but I'm waiting
for a slow day before I bother to read it.
[[Yes, the mailing deadline slipped. Obviously.... As of this issue,
I've tossed out Ready, Set, Go for PageMaker. The kicker was when the
folks at Letraset not only denied that a bug that was killing me off
existed, but tried to claim that what was happening wasn't possible. I
found out that a couple of months later they did admit that there was
an interaction between their program and a utility (that did happen to
be on my system) but that they had no intention of fixing it -- people
could live without the other program.
I really, really like PageMaker. Aldus doesn't assume I'm stupid and
the software doesn't crash or get in my way. I did this issue of
OtherRealms in about 40% of the time it took me to do it in Ready, Set,
Go. that much productivity difference is worth switching all on its
own.
No, I'm not involved with Clarinet, and don't plan on it any time soon.
From the rumors I've heard, expect bad news from TSR on the fate of
Amazing Stories in the next few months. If what I've heard (from a
number of different sources) Pat Price is leaving the magazine and it's
going to go through a major shift in direction that is going to make SF
fans rather unhappy..... -- chuq]]
David Thayer
I read with interest your comments about Thrust. Constructive criticism
is a good thing, but fans who live in glass houses should not throw
stones. I suppose I'll have to subscribe to Thrust to get my
contributor's copy to see it for myself.
Since proofreading is a part of my real-life job, finding typos in fan
publications has always been an amusing pastime for me. Even with an
electronic spell checker, they sometimes slip through.
You should check your text for misspelled names. Last issue it was
"Sheila" for "Sheryl"; this issue it is "Ransom" for "Ranson". Most
readers hardly notice typos of common words, but misspelled names they
take personally.
I enjoyed seeing cover art by Tad Williams. I sat next to him on the
flight out of New Orleans after Nolacon. He mentioned that he had
started out as an artist before turning to writing. Seeing the drawings
of a writer adds another dimension to my appreciation of their fiction.
Your response to Brad Foster's question about your not taking ads was
enlightening. Ads influence how readers view both reviewer and
reviews. Advertisers expect some degree of loyalty from those to whom
they have given money. I had not heard your economic explanation before.
I have heard your name mentioned several times in the midst of the Hugo
controversy. I half-expected to read something about it in
OtherRealms. What's going on?
[[The Hugo controversy is something best left disappearing into the
dust. It was an unhappy episode that I hope we have learned from. I
have my own ideas of who did what (and I'm convinced there is a who,
and I'm convinced they did a what to the nominations) but I'll keep
them to myself. It's time to move on.
With the use of hindsight it's easy to second-guess how Noreascon
handled it. On the other hand, I was talking to some of the folks on
the concom as everything was happening and felt at the time that they
were doing their best with a bad situation. I doubt I could have handled
it better knowing what they did, so it's hard to yell at them much.
I do, however, want to yell a lot at the who who did do the what,
whoever it is. There were a lot of people affected by the ballot-
stuffing controversy. I know (unfortunately) from experience that
everyone in the affected categories was proverbially raked through the
coals -- as a nominee in Best Fan Writer (*and* the only first time
nominee) I kept getting mail and phone calls from people saying "do you
know what so-and-so was saying about it at Infarcticon?". For a while,
it made me very sour about the awards, and I'm a lot less thrilled
today at the thought of winning awards than I was when I found out I
was nominated. Instead of being a lot of fun, it was somewhat
embittering and cost me my naive, boyish enthusiasm at being
acknowledged by my peers. A Hugo would be nice. But I find it hard to
build up a lot of enthusiasm about it right now, considering all the
hassles I went through this year (and then losing -- but to good people).
It's obvious that they won't get caught and aren't likely to volunteer
themselves up to the executioners. There isn't a lot positive that can
come out of endlessly going over it again and again, so I'm moving on
and we'll let the past drop into the distance and start worrying about
the future. -- chuq]]
We Also Heard from: Boris A Zavgorodry (USSR), Peggy Ransom, Keith A.
Walker, David Shea, Ken Meltsner, Taras Wolansky, Steven Fox, Doug
Fratz, Brian Lumley, Diane Duane
Subscriptions
OtherRealms is available for "The Usual" or by arranged trade. You can
also spend money on it, at $2.85 a copy of $11 for a four issue (one
year) subscription.
Back Issues
I have donated all back issues of OtherRealms prior to #24 to TAFF for
their fundraising efforts. People interested in older copies of OtherRealms
should contact Robert Lichtman, P.O. Box 30, Glen Ellen, CA 95442.
TAFF is the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, which raises money every year to
send a fan to an overseas convention.
Submissions
OtherRealms is looking for reviews on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror
and related non-fiction. We cover book-length material only.
Authors are solicited to discuss their books in the Behind the Scenes
section. This series allows you to describe the background and research
that went into your book and the things that make it special to you.
Please submit Science Fiction and Horror material to Chuq, Fantasy and
Science Fact material should go to Laurie.
OtherRealms is also interested in a variety of feature material about
the field and authors. Please query everything except reviews.
Submissions can be made via electronic mail or the old-fashioned
ink-on- paper format. Please include a SASE.
Unless otherwise agreed upon, OtherRealms uses first serial rights on
material.
Artwork
I am currently well stocked with artwork. Since I don't like holding
onto material forever, I'm asking that people please hold off
submission of new material until after the first of the year to let me
clear out some of the backlog.
Letters
OtherRealms solicits your feedback. We want to know what you think
about the magazines and about the SF field. Letters will be considered
for publication unless otherwise requested. They may be edited for
space or content (but not context!) as necessary. Addresses will not be
published unless you permit it.
Is this your last issue?
The number on your label is the issue your subscription dies. Negative
numbers indicate a complimentary subscription. If the number is zero,
this is the only time you'll see OtherRealms unless I change my mind or
you Do Something.
OtherRealms
Science Fiction and
Fantasy in Review
Issue #25
Summer/Fall, 1989
Copyright 1989 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved
Editors
Chuq Von Rospach
Laurie Sefton
Contributing Editors
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
Charles de Lint
Rick Kleffel
Dean R. Lambe
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Alan Wexelblat
OtherRealms may not be reproduced without permission from Chuq Von Rospach.
Permission is granted to electronically distribute only on
non-commercial networks and if all copyrights, credits and return
addresses remain intact.
No article may be reprinted or re-used without the permission of the
author. All rights to material published in OtherRealms hereby reverts
to the author.
OtherRealms is published quarterly in January,
April, July and October by:
Chuq Von Rospach &
Laurie Sefton
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA. 94560
E-mail addresses:
chuq@apple.com
CompuServe 73317,635
lsefton@apple.com
CompuServe 74010,3542
Deadlines
Deadlines is the 15th of the month prior to publication. Publication is
the 30th of the month. Next deadline: December 15.
Book Ratings
[*****] One of the best of the year
[****] Above average
[***] A good book. Recommended
[**] Flawed. Has its moment
[*] Not recommended
[] Waste of trees
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