Inca 18 - Before we were so rudely interrupted - eFanzines.com
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Inca 18 Before we were so rudely interrupted...
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Incantations 18, colophon, Corflu info – Rob Jackson
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Incantations 18
Inca 18 Rob Jackson
December 2020
Silver linings in the
Contents COVID cloud
Colophon; Incantations 18; Corflu info Fannish fun from far away
Rob Jackson 2
When Bubble Gum Was a Nickel
Taral Wayne 4 You didn’t open this fanzine to read about the
The Baby-sitter’s Club tribulations, tragedies and travails of the world
Curt Phillips 11 under the COVID pandemic, so I won’t rehearse
The Fanhistorical Bum them now, though Ghu knows I could fill the whole
Sandra Bond 12 fanzine with them if I hadn’t got better things to
Fun in the Shadow of the Plague do. What I want to do is pick out the positives that
Murray Moore, Rob Jackson, John Purcell, we in fandom can take with us into the future.
Joe Pumilia, Sandra Bond 13 Yes, there are some.
Circulation
Letters of comment 28 The first one is the mushrooming growth of video
conferencing to keep us all in touch with each
other. I have a horse in this particular race, as for
Artwork & photos the last 6 years or so (with the exception of
Tynecon III, where I was doing Other Things to
Front cover photo Rob Jackson 1 run the convention) I have run a video stream
Concorde Clip art 3 from Corflu, with at least four goals: live watching
Bubble Gum header Taral Wayne 4 of the programme from afar; a chat stream for
Bubble gum cards Clip art 5-11 both those at the con and remote viewers; remote
Trip report photos Rob Jackson 13-23, 27 auction bids where practical; and recording the
App screenshot Windy.com 24 programme for posterity.
Photos Michael Dobson 29-31
Photos Kim Huett 43 It’s no secret that running these has steadily
Back cover: Venetia Jackson 48 become easier and more successful as the video
streaming technology has improved, with more
Published by Rob Jackson, Chinthay, Nightingale user-friendly controls and less delay. The last
Lane, Hambrook, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 three years have been a lot better with a transfer to
8UH. Email robjackson60@gmail.com or YouTube, and the links in my Corflu Heatwave
jacksonshambrook@uwclub.net. All rights report later this issue give a good view of what
returned to the authors/artists upon publication. went on. But there was still a delay to the chat,
and the remote participation is limited to just that
Availability: Paper version available for – chat, with no remote video.
substantial & relevant paper fanzines in trade;
significant letters of comment; contributions; The advent of multi-user input in apps like Zoom,
other big favours; or friendship! PDF version MS Teams, Google Meet, Facebook Messenger,
online soon via www.efanzines.com through the Skype, or FaceTime has totally changed all that.
kind offices of Bill Burns. If you prefer the PDF With a half-decent moderate speed internet
for space reasons, trade a small zine, an e-zine, loc connection, you can now all see each other and
occasionally, or are simply interested, let me know. talk in real time. And the need and demand for
This version is sent by email a few days ahead of that technology has suddenly burgeoned as we
the eFanzines upload. have all been cocooned indoors for weeks at a
time. Cometh the hour, cometh the tech.
Front and back covers: Front: taken outbound
from Heathrow to Austin on 10 March 2020, over Once we meet again in real life, do we need to stop
Kitaa, Greenland. doing that? I say no, we don’t. The pluses in
Back: Odin’s Ravens, by Venetia Jackson. Artwork Zoom, for example, are huge. Real-time video
for part of forthcoming range of pins based on conferencing allows us to try all sorts of New Stuff
Norse mythology. if we want, such as showing a screenful of remote
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Inca 18 – page 2
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Incantations 18, colophon, Corflu info – Rob Jackson
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audience members on the projector screen of the had a lot of difficulty really relaxing and enjoying
Corflu convention hall. Online viewers may it.
perhaps – with suitable control by a moderator or
meeting host – ask questions and generally First, they rescheduled for November 15th. I had
interact with the real-life event in the hall. It mixed feelings about that date as it meant I would
would make auction bidding as easy for faraway have had to miss Novacon 50. But they had to
viewers as for those in the hall. There would of cancel that too as the risks from the virus were just
course be a need for careful control, but at its best as great. (And Novacon 50 was postponed by a
this could be memorably good fun for all year anyway.)
concerned. We can also record all the Zoom calls
for posterity just as we do the YouTube videos. Now rebooked for June 17th next year – a
Thursday, as there are so many postponed
Done properly, this could turn future Corflus into weddings that the venue’s weekends were all
even more of a fanzine fans’ Worldcon than it is booked up already! But at least we should be able
now. In English only so far, though – video to relax, worry about the virus a bit less and have
conferencing is pretty good nowadays, but we fun. A more relaxed wedding, even if a belated
haven’t yet quite got as far as real-time verbal one, is another silver lining.
translation software….
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Lockdown magnum opus
Corflu Concorde
While we’ve been stuck at home, some of us have
been Doing Stuff. It is possible to be creative,
New date – 5-7 Nov 2021
rather than just binge-watching, turning into click-
bait or obsessively doing Joe Wicks exercises. (I
prefer Lucy Wyndham-Read myself anyway.)
Mercure Holland Hotel,
Bristol, UK.
The greatest fannish example of that must be what
Pat Virzi, Jeanne Bowman, Alan Rosenthal and
Rich Coad dreamed up at Corflu Heatwave. A Visit www.corflu.org for Progress
mass of material Bill Bowers had got nearly ready Reports 1 & 2, and more details
for Outworlds 71 before he died in 2005 was
merely the seed-corn for a quite stupendous
publication, Outworlds 71/Afterworlds. Though Con chair Rob Jackson; Memberships and
Pat had the highest profile role with the layout, I treasurer Keith Freeman; US Agent Pat
know Jeanne, Alan and Rich did a load of behind-
the-scenes work gathering material – they got me Virzi; FAAn Awards Administrator Nic
to take a walk-on part, as well as contacting many Farey.
long-gafiated fans whose work was in Bill’s files.
FAAn Awards Ceremony and Business
At over 500 beautifully laid-out pages, it is surely Meeting to be held by Zoom
second only to Warhoon 28 in the superfanzine
pantheon. The layout is as neat as Bill would have videoconference on Sunday March 28th
done, with a stunning Ditmar front cover, and it is 2021 – time to be announced. Awards
a well-bound US letter-sized paperback and compere Jerry Kaufman.
distributed professionally using Amazon’s POD
services. You just must see it. Attending memberships £50 or $60 till
further notice, but an increase likely
Better late than never spring or summer 2021. Supporting
membership £15 or $20.
Last issue I said my daughter Venetia (cover artist PayPal to jacksonshambrook@uwclub.net
last issue, and back cover this) was to become (UK) or https://paypal.me/PatVirzi (US).
Venetia Easton in March. This was to be a week
after Corflu Heatwave, just as lockdown was
approaching. Sadly, with only 24 hours’ notice, 49 memberships to beginning of
the venue told Venetia and Simon they had been December 2020 (38 attending, 11
pretty much ordered to cancel. As we were frantic supporting).
about the risks from the virus, the cancellation was
probably a blessing in disguise as we would have
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Inca 18 – page 3
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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It may well have begun with the honorable Why did I keep them? I couldn’t have said, then or
intention to sell tobacco to minors. now.
In the late 19th century, cigarettes were sold with Yet I had treasured them, shuffling the pasteboard
cardboard stiffeners in the packages. To appeal to cards in my hand, regarding each one carefully,
the smoker, colourful pictures were often printed examining them for hidden meaning, memorizing
on the inserts, which soon grew popular in their their order and anxiously seeking missing cards to
own right. At first these were simple fill gaps in my collection as soon as I had the nickel
advertisements for the cigarette brand, associating to buy another pack. Every card had its own
it with manly interests – such as soldering, mystique. Who was the Toronto Argonaut
warships, locomotives, big game hunting, Indian football player with the outlandish name,
chiefs, sports figures or famous stage actors. In Rountree? Why did the jersey of the Boston
time, the subject matter became truly Bruins have a wagon wheel emblazoned on the
encyclopedic, with thousands of examples, and front? What meaning hid in the rows of
attracted serious collectors. meaningless statistics there were on the back of
every baseball player’s card? It would be a few
The practice spread to other products than more years more before I had all the answers.
tobacco, the most prolific being collectible cards
promoting brands in the highly competitive field of Although I’m still a little unclear about the wagon
English tea. These too attracted enthusiastic and wheel…
well-heeled collectors, but the focus of collectible
tea cards was much the same as it was for tobacco. Collecting sports cards never appealed to me very
strongly, however. There were far more
In the years leading into the Second World War, interesting subjects – that could be printed on a
cigarette cards disappeared, a casualty of paper three-and-a-half by two-and-a-half inch card –
shortages. But for one reason or another, a than Tim Horten on ice skates! From very modest
number of tea companies kept up the practice of beginnings, I began to hoard cards of every
including one or more cards with their product. description. Some genres were so obscure that I
Even before then, however, an even more can’t adequately describe them anymore, and
noteworthy form of collectible had appeared: the others are so famous that they have been reissued
Bubble Gum card! as inexpensive reprint sets from a comics shop.
Bubble gum cards had been around for years Almost any card collector would know about Mars
before I was born. They had been preserved Attacks, and probably has a set in his own
mainly by the collecting mania of youngsters, collection. That’s why I won’t talk about it. Even if
whose hero-worship at the temples of baseball, they barely know Mickey Mantle from Joe
football, and hockey had a long pedigree. Even I Namath, millions of Boomers have a set of Mars
owned an assortment of sports cards … although I Attacks as the sole example of a nostalgic
had even less interest in sporting events than I had touchstone of their vanished youth. In my
in my school lessons. opinion, those cards were merely gaudy, poorly
executed and never deserved their iconic status. I
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Inca 18 – page 4
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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don’t recall seeing them at the neighborhood store
where I bought my comic books, and only learned
of their existence many years later.
Destination
Moon
My first serious
effort to collect
bubble gum
cards were a
series called
Destination
Moon, were
internet search suggests that I might have to spend
printed by
three or four thousand dollars for the complete set
Topps in 1957.
today.
Card by card,
the set
illustrates the
very early days
of the space
race, beginning
with Sputnik 1, and rapidly enlarging on the
ambitious schemes of Verner von Braun and Willy
Ley. In barely a dozen of the first cards, the first
manned expedition to the Moon was launched and
the first lunar colony established. I resist the
temptation to quip that from Earth orbit to the
moon was all downhill…
“Outgrowing” things is false wisdom, not only
because old childhood collections are valuable
today, but because it is foolish to pretend to be
“mature” … even if you are.
Nevertheless, the plan to establish a permanent
scientific base on the moon was quickly followed
by the colonization of Mars, then in rapid order the
exploration of the outer planets. The culmination
of the 88-card set was the discovery of sentient life
in another solar system.
Bug-eyed monsters with disintegrator rays is B-
Movie claptrap by comparison.
Civil War News
Much as I wish that I had completed the set of To celebrate the centenary years of the American
Destination Moon that I had been collecting, I Civil War, Topps Bubble Gum issued an 88-card
failed. Even worse than never finishing the set, I set of Civil War News. It was not an imaginative
was dumb enough to think I had outgrown such name, but the series was impressive in both the
childish interests, and let them go … and was only quality of illustration and the factual accounts on
able to buy back a nearly complete set from a the reverse sides. The artist commissioned to
dealer some time in the late 1980s. A quick paint the illustrations was Norman Saunders, a
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Inca 18 – page 5
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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veteran of pulp magazines and trading cards, who
also created the paintings for the controversial
Mars Attacks series. Without question, the 1963 I had most of a complete set when I was young. As
cards exceeded even Mars Attacks for bloodlust with the Destination Moon cards, I allowed myself
and gore … but were grounded in historical fact. It to think I was too grown up to keep such things.
is easy to gloss over a demonic-looking Martian Some years later, I managed to buy a handful of
disintegrating a victim with a death ray, but a the now-precious keepsakes, but I despaired of
troop of Federal soldiers torn into bloody shreds every owning a complete set again.
on a dynamited bridge had the ring of truth to it
that I reveled in!
However, sometimes all things come to those who
Not every card featured such nauseating detail. wait. At the Montreal Worldcon in 2009, I found a
Many depicted peaceful enough scenes, such a card dealer who had a complete set in excellent
meeting between President Abraham Lincoln and condition. By scrimping and borrowing money, I
General Grant. Or another, in which two injured managed to acquire the set before any other
soldiers – one Reb, one Union – who ministered to collectors discovered it. Because it was the
Worldcon, they were probably too excited by
moth-eaten old pulps and dog-eared paperbacks,
to notice the treasures I sought! I’m embarrassed
by the princely sum I paid for those 88 pasteboard
cards, but it might have been a shrewd investment.
Out of curiosity, I browsed some web sites for Civil
War News, and found that my set would likely cost
me three-or-four-thousand dollars today!
Along with the ubiquitous stick of gum, Civil War
News came with a series of reproductions of
Confederate bank notes. They were only three-
fourths of the original size, but the reproduction
was superb! The reverse side was generic, but
resembled authentic bills … that is, except where
each other’s wounds. But there was little left to the
imagination about the horrors reproduced on most the actual Confederate bills were printed on one
of the other cards ... such as one that showed side only. In those cases, the imitation was better
than the original! There were seventeen different
hunkered down soldiers who used the corpses of
their own fallen comrades as a shield to stop the types, with one folded in half and included in every
bullets! Every card had a short, factual summary package of five cards.
of the events on the reverse; none were made up.
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Inca 18 – page 6
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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buccaneers during the great days of piracy on the
high seas. Each card illustrated cut-throats such
Blackbeard or Black Bart, in portrait, with added
scenes from their exciting (if often short and
sordid) careers. On the other side was a short
summary of their crimes, and their usually violent
ends. The cards were well researched, and the
real-life portraits of sadists, canny captains and
simple brutes endlessly fascinated me.
Over the years, I’ve looked for surviving imitation One almost has to admire Major Stede Bonnet, a
Confederate bills, but have only found a single one gentleman of good breeding, whose life of
to replace those I once owned. They would have boredom led him to join Blackbeard for adventure.
made a hefty total of around $3,500 in various He was hanged in Charlestown in 1718.
denominations. I have occasionally thought about
buying more from eBay, or some dealer online, but
it would be a waste of money at this point. Today,
I have a dozen of the genuine articles in my
collection. It would be absurd to spend so much
money on reproductions now.
Bartholomew Portuguese, on the other hand, was a
coward, terrified that his crew and other pirates
would recognize him as a poltroon! To belie his
reputation, he took risks that no one else would
dare, was fabulously successful in his piracy and –
on one notable occasion – stole millions in gold
Pirates Bold (Fleer) and silver from under the nose of the governor at
Once again, I took leave of my senses when I Port-au-Prince.
became a young man, and assumed that – because
I had turned 18 or 19 – I was all grown up. As Bob Consider Li Fong, a Chinese pirate who operated
Dylan sang, “I was so much older then, I'm off Taiwan in the 1860s, and at one time
younger than that now.” commanded over forty ships in his fleet! His
secret weapon was a sort of grenade, made from
The Fleer company was the other, great competitor powder and a fuse, and thrown by hand. He
to Topps. Between them, they dominated the disappeared abruptly in 1864, his ultimate fate
unknown.
Chief Tom, a South Seas pirate of the Malay
Peninsula, was also highly successful using native
canoes, spears and krises … until he encountered
the overwhelming power of the British Navy.
Nor should any study of high-seas piracy overlook
Anne Bonny and Mary Reid, the “Harley Quinne
and Poison Ivy” of buccaneers. Although they had
teamed up together, these were two very different
women: despite speculation that they might have
been lesbians, they eventually had a falling out.
Mary met a young man, with whom she fell in love.
candy shelves in my youth, and produced one of Unfortunately, she was later
the more remarkable card series. Pirates Bold captured, then sentenced by a British judge to be
chronicled the exploits and personalities of hanged. She cheated the gallows by dying instead
of the fever in prison. Anne Bonny, was also
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Inca 18 – page 7
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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sentenced to hang, but – as far as history knows –
she was able to escape and was never heard from
again. Despite the comely good looks on the cards,
there are unfortunately no accurate depictions of
either woman, and we are free to imagine what a
pair of hard-boiled seadogs really looked like after
weeks at sea!
While I once had a large number of cards from
Pirates Bold, I was unable to collect the entire set.
Worse, I failed to keep them. A number of years
ago, I had a chance to buy back at least a few of the
cards from a dealer in Los Angeles. There were
more available, and I am fervently wish that I had
spent the money for more of them … but, even in
giants from when the world was young? They were
the 1990s, they had become pricey. A mere ten
meticulously recreated from the best scientific
them were as far as my money would go at the
knowledge of the time, and described briefly on
time. I’ve since seen them quoted online for $10 to
the reverse sides. It is somewhat regrettable,
$20 apiece!
however, that a few years later there was a
revolution in our understanding of the extinct
Brooke Bond Dinosaurs & Space Age giants – including dinosaurs, marine creatures and
A little different were the cards produced by the pterosaurs – which largely left the Brooke Bond
Brooke Bond tea company! They were small, only cards obsolete. For instance, the classic T. Rex in
1 ½ by 2 ¾ inches, and they were included in the Brooke Bond collection depicts a tail-dragging,
boxes of tea bags. Mainly depicting wildflowers, upright-walking monster that we now know
trees, insects, various wildlife and marine walked like a ballerina on tip-toes, tail rigid and
creatures, most of the albums produced by Brooke head upright! But never mind … those cards were
Bond held no attraction for me. Fortunately, my evocative of an unknowable, ancient world,
mother liked tea well enough that I was able to regardless of how our knowledge of it has changed
collect one entire set of both the Dinosaurs, album since…
5, and The Space Age, album 12.
Perhaps because they were “educational,” I kept
But dinosaurs! What boy could not be entranced my original set from the 1960s, and sent away to
by these gorgeous full-colour paintings of vanished the tea company’s branch office in Montreal for an
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Inca 18 – page 8
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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“official” album. I don’t have a copy of the order pack at a time. I was apparently lucky, and bought
form for the album, but I do have one for almost the entire set without duplications. The
additional sets of cards. They were a modest fifty maker was neither Topps nor Fleer, who were
cents each in 1963. It would be fair to guess that known to every gum-chewing kid in most of the
the album I had sent for was a similarly modest world. In fact, I had no idea who printed these
cost. cards. I threw them away, along with most of my
old collection! Now all that is left is a vivid
The album was organized with blank spaces for memory of what they had been.
mounting the cards, two to a page, and opposite
each card was a reproduction of the reverse side on
which a text described the image. After days of
agonizing over whether I should keep the cards
loose, or paste them in place, I dutifully mounted
them in the album permanently … but not without
much backsliding over the decision, and useless
remorse afterward.
In 1969, Brooke Bond released a new series of
collectable cards. Unlike previous series, which
had always been about the natural world, The
Space Age was about space travel, planets and
stars. Naturally, I collected this series as well, The cards represented the year-by-year winners of
sent for the album and pasted the cards into their the Indianapolis 500 race, beginning with the
proper spots. I have my original set, snug in a victory of the Marmon Wasp in 1911. The Wasp
mylar comic book bag along with the bag in which was a tea-crate on four wheels, winning the race in
my Dinosaur album is kept. six hours and forty-two minutes, at an average
speed of 74.56 m.p.h. Slightly slower than the
It was once a point of pride for Toronto that the average driver on a U.S. interstate, I should
city had a planetarium. Unfortunately, the city imagine.
also has a reputation for its philistine character,
and it is true that Toronto has allowed many The racers gradually picked up speed over the
important cultural attractions to vanish. To list years, the winning car averaging over 100 mph by
them is heartbreaking, and not really relevant. 1932, and imperceptibly gaining a more
However, the loss of the McLaughlin Planetarium streamlined and slinkier appearance along the
also entailed the loss of the original paintings of way. By 1953, the cars were looking somewhat
the art from The Space Age, which hung in a modern, and speeds averaged over 120 mph.
special gallery. No doubt that art has another However, the final year celebrated by the cards
home now, but where? Down the memory hole was the 1959 winner … which clocked just shy of
along, with other discarded treasures. 136 m.p.h. What happened at the Indianapolis
500 in future years, I have only a general idea –
cars such as the lovely, rear-engine Lotus-Ford
revolutionized the race in the ‘60s, but that’s
outside the scope of my interest. Progress marches
on, however. Today’s Indy 500 racer looks more
or less like all the rest, resembling an oversize lawn
mower covered with sponsor’s decals.
Although I lost my original cards, I recently
discovered online images of the entire set. It
would be nice to have my own again, but in the
grand scheme of things, that isn’t high in my
priorities. I was satisfied to simply download the
Indianapolis Speedway Winners images, and reflect on memories that had nearly
How it came to be that I had a nearly complete been forgotten. I was also able to solve a minor
collection of cards depicting the Indianapolis 500 mystery about who printed the Indianapolis
winners, I no longer quite remember. I certainly Speedway Winners cards. Even so, there are
never attended the Indianapolis race. I don’t recall almost as many questions about why they were
ever witnessing a race of any sort, whether drag or created by anyone as unlikely as a manufacturer of
sulky. But I have a memory of having been floor waxes and polishes, whose motto was “Hey,
someplace where an unfamiliar brand of bubble Mom – don’t forget to buy Hawe’s, the finest in
gum was available, and I started buying it, one paste and liquid waxes.”
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Inca 18 – page 9
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When Bubble Gum Was A Nickel – Taral Wayne
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The Endless Shuffle
Articles come to an end, sooner or later – but with
a subject as inexhaustible as bubble-gum cards,
you literally cannot come to an end. Every year,
dozens of brand new card sets are created by
leading publishers like Topps and Fleer, and
others whose numbers change constantly. With all
the will in the world, you could not list them all …
much less collect them.
Nor do I want to.
After sports cards, the vast majority of collectible
cards are without question published mainly for
Jazz Musicians younger collectors. These are the endless series of
While they are somewhat obscure, an internet photos showing how Luke Skywalker saved the
search will find numerous hits on the Indianapolis universe, in seven or eight series from the original
Speedway Winners. Not so a set of bubble-gum movie alone … never mind the many sequels that
cards I collected in the early ‘60s, which featured followed. Similar photo cards exist for every other
jazz musicians. I have looked high and low, and fantasy or science fiction series, from Star Trek to
have not yet found any mention of these black- Babylon Five. Similar cards in even more lavish
and-white cards. The odd thing is that I had no editions are collected by fans of superhero comics.
interest in jazz when I was twelve, but only bought They are without question the most common type
the cards from curiosity, and then discovered that of collectible cards. But they are not limited to
the gum was actually delicious! Normally, most such obvious fare.
bubble gum was sugary, stale and tasteless, and at
worst it would shatter like maybe even cut your There were cards for The Beatles. Cards for The
tongue like glass if you weren’t careful! But this Munsters and The Addams Family. Cards even
gum was soft, and had a perfumey taste that I liked for the Brady Bunch! Cards for Get Smart,
enough to end up with a considerable stack of Batman, Zorro, Davy Crockett, The Monkees, The
pasteboard. Once having chewed the gum, Twilight Zone, The Man From UNCLE, early jet
however, I began to wonder what this “jazz” stuff fighters, drag racers and the history of World War
was all about… II. You’ll Die Laughing was a series of captioned
jokes from the endless Universal monster movies.
Much as I wish I could claim that I discovered a In my original collection I once owned a series of
life-long love of jazz at that point, it would be a lie. Basil Wolverton faces, and Believe it Or Nuts, that
The fact is, I didn’t develop even a remote interest claimed to be amazing but true facts … but which
in the musical form until I was much older, and to always turned out to be a corny gag on the back of
me jazz was what old people listened to. I heard it the card.
everywhere, but it was a long while before I began
to appreciate it. I have a new collection, that I built up after
discarding my first one, but I’m not actively
Still, the cards exercised a strange fascination over collecting as I used to. Apart from the Civil War
me. Count Basie. Duke Ellington. Louis News and Destination Moon cards – which I
Armstrong. The performer who I most clearly wanted badly enough to spend serious money for
remember from the cards was Lionel Hampton … them – I have only a few oddities that I picked up
mostly because he was shown in performance with here and there. The Fifty-Three Stations of the
his xylophones! Other performers played sax, Tokaido, which may fall a little outside of being
trumpet, clarinet or perhaps drums, but the bubble-gum cards, but are identical in form and
xylophone? How could anything be cooler? function. Another of my contemporary
acquisitions includes Remember Pearl Harbour,
Unfortunately, I have never been able to discover a and another is a collection of what I fondly think of
blessed thing about these enigmatic cards. I don't as handgun porn. I'm a little embarrassed to
know who printed them, only that it was around admit that eventually I even acquired a reprint set
1962 or 1964, and they were sold for a nickel for of Mars Attacks.
only one summer. Despite repeated attempts to
turn up information on the Internet, I’ve had no With a pasteboard universe as wonderful and
luck whatsoever. Someday, perhaps, I’ll find a infinite as this, who would be content with
lead. basketball players or Wookies? Not for all the
bubble gum in the world!
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Inca 18 – page 10
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The Baby-sitter’s Club – Curt Phillips
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The Baby-sitter’s Club
Curt Phillips
When I was in Nursing School I was given an Club”, of which she'd read the first 6 in Norwegian
assignment to go to a local elementary school and back home, and those very 6 books were among
assist a 4th grade teacher for a while. I’m not sure the books she’d brought with her to Virginia. I
the teacher was thrilled about having me there asked her to bring one of them to our next session.
because her assignment for me was to pass on a
problem that she hadn’t been able to solve herself. I’d been a part time book scout for many years and
There was a new student who’d just moved to the knew where I could find copies of the Baby-sitter’s
school from Norway (her father was an Engineer Club books in English, so that afternoon I visited a
who’d been transferred by his company) and this couple of flea markets and picked up the first
child – a painfully shy 9 year old girl – could dozen or so for next to nothing. And at our next
barely speak or read English, and dropped into a session, she showed me her Norwegian edition of
class full of rowdy Appalachian Americans as she’d the first Baby-sitter’s Club book, whereupon I
been, she wasn't getting much out of her classroom reached into my backpack and pulled out a copy of
experience and was falling behind. So my the same book in English. That was the first time I
assignment was to take this kid – named Kristen – saw that child smile.
to the school library for a couple of hours a day
and help her with her English skills by talking to So with both books open, she read that book aloud
her, encouraging her to talk back, and by having to me and suddenly reading in English was no
her read aloud in English. Kristen was obviously longer a chore for her. It had become an
very intelligent – probably more so than me – but adventure. I gave her that book and all the others
her lack of communication skills was a huge to keep, and that’s what we read for the rest of our
impediment. However she was eager to try, and so sessions. Kid learned to read pretty well, too, and
we spent part of the first session with her her teacher later told me that she’d perked up in
struggling through some forgettable book that her class, showed much more confidence, and was
teacher had picked out until I finally realized that I doing much better in school overall. I’ll call that a
needed to think outside the quite limiting box that win.
the teacher had placed us both in. I called a halt to
her agonized reading, put that book aside, and we When I was about the same age as my Norwegian
started talking about her life in Norway and the student, I was reading my way through some of the
things she liked. This improved the session in an “children’s classics”, and in doing so I read “Little
important way because where before I’d been Women” by Louisa May Alcott. I quite liked it, and
having to pronounce and explain certain English found the sequel, “Little Men” to read next. Also a
words in that dreadful book we’d been provided good book. A few days later in school our teacher
with, now Kristen would stop and mentally run had everyone tell what books they’d last read, and
into Norwegian words that she’d have to explain to as you might expect, most of my classmates had
me in English. The student had – without her been reading works of rather limited substance.
realizing it – become the teacher, and suddenly When my turn came I began talking about “Little
she became much more invested in the process. Women”, and the class exploded in laughter. Even
the teacher was snickering. Astonished, I asked
Of course, being the reader that I am, I asked her if what was so funny, and was told, “you read a girls’
she liked to read and she assured me that she loved book!”, and the laughter came again.
her Norwegian books. I asked her to tell me about
her favourites and she discussed them with As I sat there listening to all that childish laughter,
increasing animation, and I began to recognize a three thoughts came to me. One, that I was sitting
kindred soul. Kristen was indeed one of us, a in a classroom full of idiots, two, that it had never
reader who found herself surrounded by non- occurred to me that there were books that only
readers who believed that we were the odd ones. girls were supposed to read and books that only
boys were supposed to read, and three, that even if
Most of the books she mentioned among her that was so, I would still read whatever I wanted to
favourites were unknown to me, but then she told read and to hell with anyone who didn't like it. I’ve
me that her favourite of all was “The Baby-sitter's kept to that resolution ever since.
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The Fanhistorical Bum – Sandra Bond
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The Fanhistorical Bum
Sandra Bond
I was born ten thousand years ago
And there’s not a thing in fandom I don’t know
I saw Forry and Morojo sitting cozy in their dojo
And I’ll whoop the fan that says it isn’t so.
I’m just a travelin’ jiant, the fanhistorical bum.
Highly educated, through fanhist’ry I’ve come.
It was I invented FAPA, ’twas in the year oh-one,
And that's about the biggest thing that fan has ever done.
I went and joined the LASFS, ’twas in the year oh-two,
I helped keep up the clubroom and I always paid my due.
I drank with Burb and Laney and we had a lot of fun,
And that’s about the biggest thing that fan has ever done.
I was right there in South Gate in ’58
I've seen Judy Merrill brought in on a plate
I've seen Willis, White and Shaw all contriving puns galore
That reduced me to a sad and broken state.
I'm just a travelin’ jiant, the fanhistorical bum.
Hitchin’ through the universe like Degler with his thumb.
I’ve got a file of Fouler including issue one,
And that’s about the biggest thing that fan has ever done.
My finger is in every fan’s affairs.
I saw Hoffman take Bob Tucker unawares.
And I swear I saw complete Charles Platt jumping on that suite
And helped Ella kick his ass right down the stairs.
I saw Gretchen Schwenn bite Buechley on the knee,
And she called for help to old Redd Boggs and me.
But I snuck off with Ted White who had a date that night
To meet Lichtman on the Farm in Tennessee.
I’m just a travelin’ jiant, the fanhistorical bum.
Highly educated, through fanhist’ry I've come.
I’m older than First Fandom and I’m younger than Pete Young*
And that’s about the biggest thing that fan has ever done.
I was born ten thousand years ago
And there’s not a thing in fandom I don’t know
I saw Nicholas and Dorey working on an SF story
And I’ll whoop the fan that says it isn’t so.
* this is true, fact fans
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Fun in the Shadow of the Plague – Murray Moore and others
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Fun in the Shadow of the
Plague
– to Texas and Back for Corflu Heatwave
Poster on wall of
Fargo’s Pit BBQ diner
in College Station
Introduction by Rob Jackson
There was a time before COVID-19. Yes, our Corflu Fifty guest who was flying from Belfast,
really. In another age, back before we at Heathrow to start our trip to College Station, I
could only see our friends gazing back at had also booked to fly to Glasgow for a two-day
us from in front of cluttered bookshelves, conference about psychological trauma. Sounds
we were actually free to travel. appropriate, doesn’t it?
Amazingly, that was less than 8 months
ago as I write this, though it seems an eon. Justified but only partly informed fear about
coronavirus (as it was known before the specific
I know we may soon be freer again, but name of COVID-19 was chosen) was already
while we are here, let’s look back at how spreading, and 40% of the attendees had cried off.
we made the best of the transition, and had
fun while we were seeing this tunnel ahead Those who still turned up were roughly divided
of us but still looking up at the sky. into the obsessionally anxious who were already
wiping every available surface at every
At the beginning of March this year, less than a opportunity, and those who hadn’t a care in the
week before I was due to meet Tommy Ferguson, world and merrily scrabbled with their fingers in
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Inca 18 – page 13
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Fun in the Shadow of the Plague – Murray Moore and others
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bowls of cheesy nibbles at receptions without a whisky, so for some reason I am having to
single thought for what germs they might leave proofread especially carefully just now.”
behind on the other nibbles.
However, I was mostly in the worrier category –
The fact that they still held a civic reception at City here is what I wrote on the Friday during the
Hall for the conference at all, replete with canapes return trip:
and whisky cocktail tasting, showed how slow
everyone was to adapt. That evening I wrote: “I Easyjet up to Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon
had a pleasant 20-minute walk back this evening was still packed, sadly. Am in Departures during a
from a drinks reception at the City Chambers with long wait for the flight back – got here at 5 pm and
civic dignitaries. There were some tasters of malt gate due to open around 7.55. Flight 8.40, back to
Gatwick 10 pm, train into Chichester 11.50 pm? Be
nice if there is a spare seat.
I have a pack of antibacterial baby wipes with
which to wipe any surfaces I am likely to touch. I
have already wiped down two bar tables which felt
suspiciously sticky, and seen my first paranoid
passenger with a mask. (Hundreds and hundreds
without.) Touching surfaces (in toilets, door
handles, loo flush handles etc) is a bigger risk than
breathing air shared with other basically healthy
passengers.
(November 2020 postscript about routes of viral
transmission: We now know otherwise. Masks are
now good!)
Picturesque arcade in Glasgow city centre
----------------------------------------------------
Trip and convention report contributions by:
Murray Moore
John Purcell
Joe Pumilia
Rob Jackson
Sandra Bond
Around 40 maximum at Corflu Heatwave, minus
Expectations any walk-ins, I conclude, looking at the Attending
members and subtracting Attending members who
I know are not attending.
Friday March 6:
John:
Rob: I just received two more definite attendees, and
At this conference in Glasgow, 40% of attendees know of at least three people who will be at the
had cried off. I wonder how many no-shows there door registrations, maybe a handful more than
will be at Corflu Heatwave. that. I am expecting a total on site headcount of
40 to 50 people.
Murray:
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Fun in the Shadow of the Plague – Murray Moore and others
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Birmingham, Alabama through Mississippi to New
Outward Bound Orleans, Louisiana, for the first of two nights.
Tuesday March 11:
Murray Moore We stayed in a Best Western on an edge of the
French Quarter, on N. Rampart Street. Cheap for
Summary: us – $112 – and expensive for our car – $39.
Mary Ellen and myself, in our 2004 Toyota Prius, But you should stay within walking distance of the
Mar. 6-19, drove in 13 states. A boomerang curve French Quarter. The streets are one-way, one
through New York state, Pennsylvania, West lane: street parking is minimal: off-street parking
Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, also minimal. And staying further away, you will
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Indiana, waste time visiting and leaving the French
Ohio, and (a bit of) Michigan. Two nights with Quarter, a small part of a big city.
friends in Virginia, four nights with more friends
in Texas, and a second, half-day, visit with more And If you too have only one day, take a guided
friends in Texas. We returned without symptoms two-hour small bus tour. Little of the two hours we
of coronavirus to find non-native snowbell in spent in the French Quarter. Our local
flower in our back yard. driver/guide – she grew up in adjacent Treme –
drove us through adjacent neighbourhoods talking
Friday March 6: all the time. We stopped twice, in 1,300 acre City
Our shortest driving day, to Mars. Mars, Park and in the cemetery where the city's richest
Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. We stayed in the are buried in tombs.
Doubletree Hotel, the hotel in recent years used by
Pulpfest. I managed to visit three used book stores. In
Beckham's Bookshop I bought a bevy of used
Saturday March 7: books, including four titles by Charles McCarry,
I like driving through West Virginia; the rolling the U.S. equivalent of John Le Carre. Next, in
hills, the light traffic. Destination Abingdon, Crescent City Books, I found a reading copy of the
Virginia, and the first of two nights with Curt and complete stories of 'Saki' (H. H. Munro). Last was
Liz Phillips and their two Westies and a cat named Dauphine Street Books. The stock might have
Smudge. included one or more books I would have bought.
Small space, books floor to ceiling around three
Saturday March 8: walls with an island of bookcases and stacks of
Conversation, food, a visit to a flea market, books in the middle. I am not wide but to walk
evening meal in a Japanese restaurant in nearby around the island of books at times I turned
Bristol. The four of us sat on two of the three sides sideways. No room to crouch. Many books were
of the stove and watched the cook – Vietnamese – horizontal, bottom facing outward, thus
cook our food while he talked to us. Flaming of anonymous.
liquid occurred.
In the French Quarter the buildings with their
Smudge and I got on well. The Westies were galleries and ironwork and the glimpses of gardens
Westie-like. are interesting. Tennessee William's cottage house
was around a corner from our hotel.
I brought to trade to Curt one photo-copy paper
box of books, a smaller box of 1950s and 1960s
issues of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Rob Jackson
Fiction, and a big bag of books. In trade for my
books and magazines plus $60 I received a photo- Tuesday March 10:
copy paper box filled with early issues of the Tommy F and I were sitting waiting for take-off for
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction plus half a Austin (along with about 200 other people,
dozen 1950s issues of Galaxy magazine. including one worryingly bronchitic bloke in the
row behind) when a series of announcements
Sunday March 9: culminated in the news that the plane was not safe
Abingdon, Virginia through Tennessee to to fly due to a bird strike to a wing’s leading edge.
Birmingham, Alabama. We had to visit Curt – a They found a replacement plane, but the net result
surgical nurse – at his hospital to collect a GPS to was a 5-hour delay. As John P said when we let
pass to Keith Freeman who will use it to visit them him know, we shouldn’t have booked Hitchcock
after Corflu Heatwave. Curt thrust into my hands Airways.
as we parted several face masks.
Monday March 10:
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Fun in the Shadow of the Plague – Murray Moore and others
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early, cancelling 1 night and finding a hotel in
Austin. We kept people IntheBar posted. Some
may also have heard via Tommy on FB.
Tried desperately to make sense of Budget’s
automated phone system, failed as I hadn’t got my
booking number to hand, so I dug out my booking
paperwork – where it said they are open 6 am right
through till 1 am. D’oh. I decided that as I went to
bed early the last night and got 9 hours’ sleep, I
should be able to cope with quiet Texan dual
carriageways between 11 pm and 1 am local time.
Pat Virzi warned me online that the road was more
undulating and hilly than we might expect for
Texas, but at least I was forewarned.
Yet another hour’s delay, this time as the catering
for the plane wasn’t ready. I suppose there were
safety/hygiene reasons why they couldn’t just
reload the stuff aboard the original aircraft.
Tommy with his beer and my wine: free drink as
compensation for delay at Heathrow. (I excised Curt Phillips had an idea about this: If they’ve
myself from the attempted selfie due to severe
suddenly added chicken to the menu, you’ll know
ugliness)
what became of that bird you hit earlier...
We knew we might either be arriving in College
Station 2 am, or if the hire car place closes too
Corflu Heatwave Memories
Wednesday March 11:
John:
John: The May 2020 issue of Askance contained a fairly
As of 11:15 PM last night they were in Austin and lengthy convention report from my perspective as
checking out the rental car to drive over. No word the chair of Corflu Heatwave this past March, but
yet from either Rob or Tommy this morning, but it was not a truly comprehensive recollection of
knowing the roads they were taking and using what happened during that weekend. Naturally,
GPS, they should have reached the Hilton around there are many other memories that I did not
1:30 AM or so. They’re probably still asleep at share in that report. This will recap some of the
present. little things that made that convention memorable
for me.
Rob:
Yes, made it safely, more or less! It was indeed
Joe:
around 1.30 am that we got here. Currently doing Early in the year, Al Jackson reminded me that
battle with the Hilton basic wifi which is like Corflu was coming back to Texas. I was excited
treacle. Will see Tommy downstairs at around because I had been unable to attend its visit to
9.20. The drive was moderately OK, middle of the Austin years back. At that time I had no idea
night as it was in our heads. Once or twice my lane anything like Corflu existed. The Houston SF
discipline was imperfect and the car’s lane detector Society (i.e., HSFS, founded 1969 by Lisa Tuttle,
said “Consider taking a break.” Bloody bossyboots now a writer living in Scotland) only exists now in
hire cars. But it made me realise that as well as the memory of a few old people. Despite the
tired I was utterly famished, and Tommy present plague, some of us still meet for Saturday
brilliantly produced one of two huge cookies he breakfast, along with other SF fans (some in a park
had bought at the Starbucks at Heathrow with the under a large ash tree, some in a restaurant when
munificent £10 vouchers we had been given for the local regulations permit).
bird strike delay. My driving distinctly improved
after that. Slept well, but I for one may still flake
out around 10 pm this evening.
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Fun in the Shadow of the Plague – Murray Moore and others
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Three of us from the old HSFS planned to attend excursion set for that evening at BJ’s Restaurant
Corflu. In alphanumeric order they are: and Brewhouse (their in-house beers are good and
varied) for the 16 people present. That was a
Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV, scheduled as a panelist. deliciously fun gathering, which continued back at
Physicist and rocket scientist who trained Apollo the consuite before everyone turned into
astronauts. pumpkins and crawled to their respective hotel
rooms.
John Moffitt, astrophysicist and geologist, who
identified some of the fossils you found locally – in Rob:
fact he has a very boring mollusk named after him, I have some time this morning (10 am here now)
nattica moffitti. in which to remind myself how it all works and
find out if YouTube is working any differently from
Joe Pumilia (myself), panelist, retired small town last year. Then with luck it will be similar to last
reporter, author of a double handful of sci fi and year, with Bill distributing a link at the beginning
horror stories, and one-time publisher of one- of each session, and a chat alongside the
shots and official zines for the HSFS. stream. You will have seen Geri's question about
online bidding.
Murray:
A majority of Corflu attendees are regulars or In other news, Pat Virzi has kindly agreed to be the
semi-regulars. Then there are interesting local US Agent for Corflu Concorde next year. So $
attendees not met previously and likely met never checks (not cheques, that's £) to her once the bid is
again. I do not expect to meet John Moffitt again. ratified.
Moffitt also is a member of the 200-member- Online bidding is less time-critical for a paper
strong trilobite-collecting community. For photos, bidding system than for a live auction. However I
search John Moffitt + geologist + trilobites. may have to give online bidders a Cook’s tour with
the webcam of any items of major interest. This
John: year I have a 12-foot USB extension flex, so should
The event started with the Fan Meet-Up at the be able to walk around more easily with the
World of Beer pub directly down University webcam.
Avenue from the Hilton Hotel, site of the
convention. Only a few out-of-towners had arrived, As well as the Triodes, among the items I have
notably Tommy Ferguson (one of Heatwave’s two brought with me is a lengthy run of Vibrator series
Corflu 50 guests), Rob Jackson, and Pat Virzi, who 2, 2-39, missing 6, 15, 26, 32.
was part of the Hospitality Team with my wife
Valerie. We chatted and enjoyed drinks for a few Good news on the YouTube front: the latest
hours before heading back to the Hilton, where we version of the YouTube Studio Live Control Room
learned others had begun arriving, but it was too seems easily understood even by a person of More
late to do anything, so Valerie and I went home to Than A Certain Age like me, and it is easy enough
rest and build energy for Thursday. to decide that a Corflu stream is not “Made for
Kids” but won't need an age restriction. Also, it
recognised the webcam straight away. I think we'll
be good to go once there is something worth
Thursday March 12: watching.
Murray: The controls from the live chat enable me (or
New Orleans to College Station, Texas, for the first whoever else is monitoring things this end; it
of four nights. West through Cajun Louisiana, the might be Bill B or Pat V or someone else reliable &
highway elevated for miles above swamp, into competent) to block any unwanted posts or
Texas, through Beaumont and its massive oil/gas posters.
processing plants to College Station, location of
Texas A & M University (1876). Another bit of good news: the initial rubbish WiFi
has been replaced by a complimentary upgrade
Pandemic was declared this date. courtesy of one of the nice chaps at Reception.
John: Off out now to find some cash envelopes to store
Thursday was a full day: setting the hospitality whatever anyone gives us for memberships for
suite (hereafter referred to as the consuite) was the next year.
major Thing To Do, and I was pleasantly surprised
that this was achieved fairly quickly. A late
afternoon poolside discussion resulted in a dinner
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Inca 18 – page 17
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