TO BE CONTINUED... Volume 1, May 1994 The Newsletter of the Midwest Science Fiction & Fantasy Society Third Issue News and Blues If you 've been with us since the beginning, you know how much effort has gone into creating the MSFFA and keeping it going. You've gotten three issues with news, reviews, con calendars, and other things of faanish bent. We now have the difficult task of winnowing out the people who haven't responded in some way with submission material, or with the $5.00 membership. Without your support we can't afford to keep sending out copies. If you send us a con report, or some artwork, or most anything that we can use in the pages of "To be CONtinued" you will keep receiving future issues. We'll know that you care about the existence of fandom in the Midwest, and want to help it grow, to stay healthy. I would love to find a stash of money someplace, and be able to send out hundreds of issues of this newsletter to everyone on our mailing list, but like you, I am a working stiff when I'm not at a con, and there are finite resources to divert to this cause. Ditto that for my co-director. I do have one request of you, if you choose not to contribute to the MSFFA in some way. In this issue is a convention calendar, and a MSFFA flier. Please pass this information along to someone who isn't currently receiving it, and give them the chance to see what we're offering. IF the MSFFA isn't for you, maybe someone you know will find something they like in our pages. If this is your first issue, let me tell you a few things about the MSFFA. There is a basic vision behind the birth of the Midwest Science Fiction & Fantasy Association: We would like to become a regional, non-profit service organization designed to help people in the Midwest enjoy every aspect of Science Fiction and Fantasy as well as the fannish community at large. Our best resource is of course, You! We have an amazing strength and diversity in numbers. Some of us have been in fandom for years, and want to share our experiences. Some are just starting to explore areas of interest outside of their favorite movies, or watching Star Trek on TV. With a centralized information resource, you can be in touch with other fans with similar likes, or be exposed to concepts and ideas you haven't thought of before. We can help organize local functions, connect people who need a ride to a convention or a hotel room with people who have one. Or simply provide you with something to do while there. As a service to those who run conventions in the Midwest, we will advertise and promote their conventions in our newsletter. We will also publish Con reports and reviews. Market information and general submission hints can be found in these pages. Even if you have no wish to become involved in the SF & F convention scene, the MSFFA can still serve you as an individual. What are you looking for? Write and tell us. Got a local group that needs a free plug? Send the information here for everyone to see. Please remember, the MSFFA will only be what fans choose to make of it. Please get involved, and give your support today. I'd like to hear your ideas on the newsletter, and the MSFFA as well. Thanks, R. Allen Jervis, Co-director Stand Up and Be Counted! As a fledgling Non-Profit group supporting SF and F in the midwest, the MSFFA hates to make a pitch that sounds like something from Public Television, but there's no way around it. Without the support of concerned fans throughout the region, our efforts are limited. We'll try to struggle along on a shoe string of course, but we'd like to accomplish a great deal more. And there's a lot of good that an umbrella organization like the MSFFA can do out there. We exist to serve fans in any way possible: through the information service of our newsletter, our support of midwest conventions, the convention we are planning, and simply by helping fans unite and organize. Many fans have signed up for our newsletter in the past few months. We appreciate that. We've had a fine start, but we need to expand even more from here. This is only a beginning. The printing and mailing costs of the newsletter alone are becoming quite substantial. You can help the MSFFA in several ways. First, if you haven't paid your $5.00 basic membership, please do so today. We're glad that you're enjoying the newsletter, but remember that only the first three issues are free. If this is your third issue, and we don't receive your membership by issue number four, your subscription will end here. We'll keep you in our database, but we won't be sending you any more newsletters. We're sorry about that, but we simply can't afford to send the newsletter out for free indefinitely. Five dollars is not a lot to ask. If you'd like, you can pay us in postage stamps. A book of postage stamps per member would help out greatly. Donations of stamps are always appreciated and will be used exclusively for MSFFA mailings-one of our biggest expenses right now. And as always, donations to the MSFFA cause are also always welcome. Thank you! Next, you can get involved in the MSFFA and volunteer some of your time. Make use of our newsletter, send us something for the forum column, write a short review of the most recent con you attended and send it to us. If you know something other fans would like to hear about, jot it down on a post card and mail it to us. The same goes for any suggestions you might have. The MSFFA maintains an open door policy! Encourage others to join the MSFFA with you. As you organize yourselves, the parent group of the MSFFA will supply you with guidance and support. Support cons in your region and attend them regularly. Volunteer to distribute our fliers at cons, bookstores, and gaming shops to help us reach other fans. Form a MSFFA Convention Volunteer Squad, and volunteer your time at cons. Note that we prefer these groups to consist of five or more members in good standing, and to be formally recognized by the parent group first. The point is that there's a lot to be done out there to make fandom in the midwest bigger and better for everyone. At this time, a shortage of funding is making it difficult for the MSFFA to achieve some of its goals. We greatly desire to be more active and more effective in the region. Please help us. We need more funding. If you believe in what we are trying to do, give us your support and let us go to work for you. Emmett G. Pittman, Co-Director WindyCon Convention Review by W. A. (Bill) Thomasson In 1973, a group of Chicago fans decided the Windy City was too large to be without a regional con. So the next year they started one, and invited as their Guest of Honor a young University of Iowa graduate student whose first novel had not yet hit the stands. That novel was The Forever War, and in 1993 Joe Haldeman returned to Windycon as its twentieth GOH. I wasn't on hand for the first one, but was happy to be at number 20. I arrived rather late on Friday afternoon, with a number of con activities already well under way: There had been a writers' workshop in the morning, and the film room had opened at 2 PM with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" At 4 PM, no less than five tracks of programming began. To provide some idea of the choices, these were filking (music), a Science Fiction Research Association (academic) conference, "Art for Non-Artists" with P.D. Breeding-Black, "Inking & Coloring for Comics" with Todd Hamilton, and four artists talking about "The School of Hard Knocks." At 5 PM there were panels on "That Time of Month: Editing a Magazine," with Algis Budrys, Kim Mohan, Barb Young, and Kandis Elliot. "Things that Go Bump," with Richard Knaak, Barbara Hambly, and Phyllis Eisenstein, and "Do SFX Make a Good Movie," with J. Bottcher, N. Hildebrandt, and A. Sperling. I chose to skip all these, however, in favor of a quick tour of the Huckster's Room. At Windycon, Friday night Opening Ceremonies are a truly major event. In addition to the usual "this is the con, it is now open" announcements and rituals, there are major speeches by each of the Guests of Honor. In addition to Haldeman, these included Kelly Freas and his wife, Laura Brodian, as Artist GOHs, Algis Budrys as Editor GOH, Bill Higgins as Fan GOH, Barry B. Longyear as Toastmaster, and George Alec Effinger and all (living) past Windycon chairmen as Special GOHs. The past Windycon chairmen, however, were not called upon to speak. Any attempt to do justice to the speeches in a short con report is obviously hopeless. One of the most memorable, however, was Brodian's description of how Freas persuaded someone who was convinced that her niche in life was as a radio music commentator to get back into art. Among other things, this involved handing her the brush and telling her to put the finishing touches on a con program cover due the next day, while he went off to bed. It is also worth mentioning that Longyear briefly reprised his "Bee" costume (Barry "B." Longyear - get it?) from previous Windycons, and Budrys responded by displaying the T-shirt advertising his new magazine. After Opening Ceremonies, the parties began. Highlight for me was the one thrown by ConClusion - the Las Vegas in '99 Worldcon bid (which, surprisingly, is being run from Chicago). This featured champagne (with tuxedo-clad bartender), hors d'oeuvres, and deliciously gooey desserts. Very much a class party, and a good advertisement for the bid. Best of all, it started at 8:30 - unlike most parties, early enough for those of us who commute to have a good time and still get home at something resembling bedtime. After all, there's a full schedule of panels tomorrow! Saturday opened with "The Red Pen of Doom," an editors' panel featuring Algis Budrys (TOMORROW Speculative Fiction), Kim Mohan (AMAZING), Mike Resnick (anthologies), Brian Thomsen (TSR books), and Bill Fawcett (packager). Thomsen mentioned that, when he was at Time-Warner, he had to balance the books he liked with schlock that would sell because it had dragons on the cover. At TSR, he has both more and less freedom: There are certain things TSR simply doesn't do (and other things it has traditionally not done well), but within those limits the sales force can turn an acceptable profit on almost any book he chooses. He also mentioned that SF is one of the things TSR has traditionally not done well, but his job is to change that. This discussion of genre limitations prompted Budrys to mention that TOMORROW will buy anything, regardless of genre, that he likes. As Resnick pointed out, however, the fact that the magazine's owner/publisher is named Algis Budrys gives editor Budrys much more freedom than usual. For those who wonder how to break into by-invitation-only anthologies, such as those Resnick edits, he provided the answer: Send him a sample of your very best work. If he likes it, there is a good chance he'll contact you in the next year or so about doing something for him - a previous track record of published work is not required. Resnick and Fawcett also discussed the difficulty of maintaining continuity in shared-world anthologies - a major reason such anthologies are not as popular as they once were. Fawcett, for example, mentioned that Janet Morris had introduced time travel into Book 5 of The Fleet, and this required an explanation in Book 6 of why time travel could be used only in rare, special circumstances. The next "panel" I attended was a 1 PM presentation by Bill Higgins on the DC-X rocket ship. For those who may know even less about the subject than I did, this is a 1/3-scale prototype of MacDonald-Douglas's proposed Delta Clipper-1 (DC-1 - sound familiar?) single-stage-to-orbit rocket. As Higgins pointed out, a ship of the DC series "will land on its tail on a jet of flame, the way God and Robert Heinlein intended it to." The basic concept is that new materials have a sufficiently high strength-to-weight ratio to allow construction of a single-stage ship able to reach low-earth orbit using conventional fuels. Since this avoids wastefully throwing away the earlier stages, operating costs should be much lower than for the Space Shuttle. The DC-X is an unmanned proof-of-concept prototype, limited by its size to a maximum altitude of 18,000 feet. Testing is still in its early stages, but so far things seem to be going well: It has been shown that the engines can be fired at 12-hour intervals for many days, supporting the hope for a turnaround time closer to that of a commercial airliner than of the Space Shuttle. And the ship has been flown - Higgins described his trip to White Sands last summer to witness the DC-X's initial liftoff. This amounted to little more than a "bunny hop" of a few dozen feet, but it nevertheless demonstrated that the ship is fundamentally operable. From there I moved on to the panel on "A Specialized Art" (i.e., the short story) with P.J. Beese, Laura Resnick, George Alec Effinger, and Lawrence Watt-Evans. The basic question, perhaps, was, "How is a short story different from a novel?" The question is particularly complex for Resnick, however - she writes Romance novels, but then turns to SF short stories when she feels the need to do something completely different. Beese, on the other hand, feels that writing a novel and a short story are basically similar, except that less of the background material actually appears in a short story. And except, Resnick added, that a short story typically gets written in two to three days. At another level, Effinger suggested that a short story achieves one effect, while a novel operates at several different levels. There are also differences in the level of economy: Whereas every word must count in a poem, in a short story it is every sentence and in a novel every chapter! That essentially agrees with the observation by Watt-Evans that a novel can stand much more filler. Both Effinger and Watt-Evans noted that, whereas beginning writers often think an idea is a story, that's actually the easy part - Effinger has notebook after notebook of story ideas, and Watt-Evans has 3 MB on disk. The story is actually how the idea is worked out. Watt-Evans also noted that a proper short-story ending is needed, not just a short punch line. Another point he mentioned is that, whereas characters in his novels often play against type, in a short story they typically are what they seem. Indeed, he uses what can almost be called stereotypes, where the entire character is implied by one or two characteristics. Or, as Resnick put it, the short story character is defined by the situation, with nothing special or unique to him or her as an individual. I skipped the 3 o'clock panels for a chance to visit the Art Show, with its usual mixture of expensive Big Name art, amateurish amateur pieces, and just about everything in between. At 4, however, it was impossible to miss, "It's Tough to Be a Legend," with Fred Pohl, Algis Budrys, Kelly Freas, Joe Haldeman, and Jim Frankel. And yes, it can be tough. As Pohl noted, Theodore Sturgeon became aware that he was a legend, and started playing the part of Theodore Sturgeon. This was not good for either him or his career. Or you can become a legend for the wrong things. Kelly Freas, for example, is best known to the world at large as the creator of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman - which he insists he wasn't. Indeed, the fundamental concept for the character goes back well into the previous century. And a recognizable "Neuman" had already appeared in the magazine before Freas ever got involved. Nevertheless, the thing he is most often asked to autograph is Mad. At that point, Budrys got angry and walked out, although it was never clear to me what he was angry about: Could it have been something in the first few minutes that I missed? Anyway, after that, it was almost an anticlimax when Haldeman pointed out that there are advantages to being a legend. The original middle section of The Forever War was replaced because his editors felt it was too depressing. His legendary status has allowed him to reinstate that material in the new version, however. Saturday night was the masquerade, a formal stage production complete with Master of Ceremonies, stage lighting, and sound effects. Many of the costumes were interesting and well-done, although none took this noncostumer's breath away. However, a special mention for presentation goes to Charles Galway for his exciting sword dance, "Arabian Fantasy." After the masquerade stage and chairs were cleared away, the space was turned into a dance floor for the Masked Ball. I don't dance, however, so I stopped briefly by the MSFFA party, then headed for home. Sunday morning opened with a panel on "Zines." Panelists were Mike Glyer, of well-known newszine File 770, Bill Higgins, chair of the Council of Editors for Pyrotechnics (the official zine of General Technics, the group for people who like to build things and fiddle with machines), and Melissa Clemmer, who is associated with a number of Trek zines (including, but not limited to, "slash" - the depiction of homoerotic encounters between well-known characters, especially Kirk and Spock). Editing a fanzine turns out to be surprisingly like editing a prozine. First, you have to find material to publish; if you're not paying, that involves leaning on your friends. Then you have to put the material together and get the zine out the door. Since you don't have professional copy editors, however, it becomes necessary make any necessary manuscript corrections yourself. And all the panelists agreed that the fanzine field has a serious problem with "editors" or "publishers" who go far beyond simple correction of typos to almost total rewrites of the submitted material - without even the courtesy of informing the contributor. The flip side of that, for any zine that has acquired some notoriety or gotten on a "writers' market" list, is the totally inappropriate submission - fiction to File 770, for instance. Media zines, it was noted, tend to be different from SF zines. And SF fans will be surprised and disappointed to learn that they were earlier as well - there was a zine for Honeymooners fans in the 1950s, significantly before any fanzines appeared in SF. This led to a discussion of Trek fan literature (both slash and nonslash), and why it seems to be so strongly female oriented. Glyer suggested this reflected the sense of community generated by writing fanfiction in a shared universe; men, he suggested, were more likely to be loners who communicated through APAs (Amateur Press Associations - essentially letter-writing groups). Clemmer extended this by saying that Trek fandom, and similar fandoms, provided women with acceptance; women had for a long time felt they didn't have a real voice in SF, and these fandoms provided them with a forum where they no longer felt insecure or excluded. Bill Higgins was also on the next panel, entitled "Compufun" but really about computer networks. Start of the panel was delayed, however, because a gopher had put the "Compufun" sign at the room next to that where the zines panel had been held - which was NOT the room announced in the pocket program. Those of us who followed the sign (including Higgins) took almost 15 minutes to discover that the other two panelists (Steve King, a USEnet node administrator, and Mike Warren, who is active on CompuServe and other commercial networks) and the rest of the audience were in the originally announced room. Finally the panel got started, however, with King's remark that the Internet is a perfect example of advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic: As a computer user in Illinois, he sends his personal demon off to retrieve a spell (program) from a magical library (a file-list program known as a "gopher") in Canada. That section of the library, however, is now in Switzerland. So, at the speed of light, off to Switzerland his demon goes, and is handed the spell that has that moment been retrieved from Australia. But such wizardry is not the only use of computer networks. Warren described how he had once needed a part for a '51 Packard hearse, and locate d it by signing onto the antique car forum in CompuServe. And Higgins (who primarily uses Internet - but almost all networks have Internet gateways now, so that is hardly a distinction) noted that networks are making it easier and easier to locate a group sharing almost any interest. That's especially true of SF, of course, since many computer types are also SF fans. And, lest anyone be intimidated, both Higgins and Warren noted that networks are not hard to use and getting easier all the time. There are other ways to have fun on the networks as well. One in interactive games, where you play in real time against opponents anywhere in the country, or the world. Warren noted that he had killed BattleTech opponents in Kansas. King goes in more for multi-user interactive dungeons - some of which, he noted, are SF rather than fantasy, and some of which function more like "public houses" were people get together for discussion than like games where the action is the thing. And someone from the audience recommended Sierra Online for its beautiful graphics and the great fun it offered evenings and weekends; the interaction was described as being like an online GenCon (the national TSR gaming convention). On another front, King mentioned "Internet Radio" - a half-hour "radio show" every week that those with fast modems can tap into live, or that can be downloaded to be read later. The talk then turned to the future, when computer nets will tie us all ever-closer together. As Higgins pointed out, the Mars lander could well become an Internet node. And Warren suggested that the ultimate supercomputer might prove to be all of us tied together. None of this is really news to the SF community, of course. As King mentioned, Snow Crash provides a good near-future view of networked virtual reality (Higgins described the book as a Cyberpunk parody that was a lot of fun). And someone in the audience commented that the communications network in Fire upon the Deep corresponded precisely, one-to-one, to today's USEnet. After Compufun, I took one last swing through the Dealers' Room. There I bought some books I had been looking for, and decided I should try Haldeman's Worlds trilogy. I also got a demon-knight T-shirt for my 23-year-old son and a very nice crystal dragon for my wife Then it was time for Closing Ceremonies. In contrast to Opening Ceremonies, these were quite low-key: "Thank everybody who helped make the con a success, and we'll see you next year." Which, God willing, they will. MSFFA Art Contest We'd like to get a few more entries in our art contest. The deadline for the MSFFA Art Contest will extended until we have more entries to vote on. C'mon you artist-types out there! This is for a good cause, and even though we can't pay a lot, we do promise to give you recognition and exposure. We are still looking for hot new designs for our MSFFA LOGO. Please send us your best B&W renditions. We'll print the top selections for the membership to vote on. The winner will be awarded $25.00 and full membership in the MSFFA. As an added note, the MSFFA (a Non-Profit Organization) also needs donated art work to use in its newsletter and on future promotional items. The lack of art work so far is making some of our promotional efforts difficult. If you artists out there have any material you could let us use, B&W or color, please send it in! In return, we'll always do our best to give our contributing artists recognition, and special consideration at MSFFA sponsored events. We need and appreciate your support! Once again, please help us make this work! National SF & F Workshop Available Are you a Science Fiction or Fantasy writer looking for other writers or a workshop? The Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop exists to provide participants with a communication link, a way to exchange ideas, information, and news pertaining to the writing of science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction. They offer many valuable publications at affordable prices. Write to them at: SF and Fantasy Workshop 1193 S. 1900 E Salt Lake City UT 84108 First MSFFA Meeting Small, But Productive The first MSFFA meeting was held on Sunday, February 20th at the Four Seasons Restaurant at 7:30 p.m. near the South Bend airport. Several concerned fans showed up to talk with the us about the MSFFA's plans for the local convention and promotional efforts to raise funding. For an initial icebreaker, the meeting went well. Several of the Fans have convention experience, and the group included a professional artist and a pro writer. The food was good, too! Several members shared their experiences, and offered tips on running a convention and on faanish endeavors in general. A stack of photos taken at WindyCon were passed around sparked several antedotes. The differences between fan run conventions, and others like the Creation cons was stressed. If you have information or suggestions that might be of use to us, please put it in writing and send it to us for our files. Numerous others voiced their willingness to attend the meeting after the fact, saying that they were unclear on the time, date, and place of the meeting. In the future, please note that all meetings will be listed in the newsletter. Mark the date on your calendars and plan to attend if you can! Featured Conventions DUCKON III & ARCHON 18 This issue we're featuring not one but two conventions for this edition of the MSFFA newsletter: DucKon III. & & ARCHON 18 DUCKON III is an up and coming Chicago area con held at the Lisle Hyatt, Lisle IL, June 3-5. Registration is $35.00 at the door. The hotel room rate is $62.00 each night. Call 1-800-233-1234 for reservations. Author GOH: C.J. Cherryh Artist GOH: Ed Reck Filk GOHs: Clif and Carol Flynt Fan GOH: TBA ARCHON 18: June 24-26, 1994, $19 through May 1994, $22 at the door. Guest of Honor: Jack Chalker; Artist Guest of Honor: J.R. Daniels; Toastmaster: Martha Soukup; Fan Guest of Honor: "Elst" Weinstein. Hotel: Collinsville Gateway Center and the adjacent Holiday Inn, 1000 Eastport Plaza Drive, Collinsville, IL 62234-6103. Call 800-551-5133 or 618-345-2800. Standard rooms and executive suites are $77 single thru quad. Please let both us (c/o Bob Stoltman (314-822-2743) and the hotel know if you plan to throw a party. There will be four to six simultaneous tracks of professional, fan, and academic panels, Saturday evening Grand Masquerade competitions, art show and auction, dealers room, gaming, Friday night meet-the-pro's reception/dance and hall-costume contest, three video rooms, hospitality suite, and more. For any other information write to ARCHON 18, PO BOX 483, CHESTERFIELD, MO 63006-0483. (Please include a SASE) Or you can call the Archon Hotline at 314-FAN-3026. The MSFFA will continue to attend and support both of these and other midwest conventions. Hope to see you there! Database of Midwest Fandom The MSFFA is in the process of putting together a Master Database of fans and convention attendance for the Midwest. We are in the process of building and exchanging this growing database with fans and conventions throughout the region. This is just one service that the MSFFA would like to provide. We don't plan on charging for the info. We advocate free exchange of info for the benefit of all. Think of it: a master demographic directory of fans and their interests. Midwest Conventions, there's a lot of needless duplication of effort out there. Send us your database, and we'll send you ours. And on top of that, we'll continue to send you updated versions as the Midwest Database grows! Fans, send us a quick note or a postcard with your name, address, and phone number. Tell us what conventions you regularly attend, what your general interests are, and if you are willing to work as a volunteer at conventions. If your information changes, send us an update. This type of information will be invaluable to cons throughout the region! Information exchange is key to making fandom and conventions throughout the midwest bigger and better! We can do this! MSFFA Forum News, reviews, rumors and maybe even some facts buried in here... potential spoiler content, you are warned... * If you haven't gotten a confirmation from your hotel for ConAdian, the 52nd World Science Fiction Convention (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sept 3-5, 1994.) by now, you may wish to phone the hotel in question There were a few rumored problems with reservations that were faxed or mailed in, and double checking before the convention arrives is always a good plan. * Word is that singer Meatloaf has been signed to play the lead in a remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"... wonder where they got the idea for that ? * Look for Jack Nicholson doing the werewolf bit in a movie to be called "WOLF" prelim info in SCI-FI Entertainment magazine looks good. SFX makeup by Rick Baker. The rest of the magazine is interesting too, sorta feels somewhere between Starlog and Cinemafantastique. Worth a look, though the schedule of the SCI-FI Channel is a bit skimpy and buried.... * TEK WAR will become a regular series sometime within the year. Shatner's next book, STAR TREK MOVIE MEMORIES, will pick up where his current MEMORIES book left off. The new book would discuss the TREK movies, especially about the person who was supposed to replace Spock in ST:TMP before Nimoy decided to become Spock again. * WILLIAM GIBSON muttered that, after working on the Johnny Mnemonic film and meeting a producer, he knew exactly how a virus felt when it met with its own specific antibody. Upcoming feature movies: Interview with a Vampire (Tom Cruise) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Robert De Niro) Mary Riley (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde ) Julia Roberts Forbidden Planet (remake slated for Christmas release) Flintstones (John Goodman, Rick Moranis) The Shadow (Alec Baldwin) The Mummy Planet of the Apes (??) Lost in Space (?) Star Trek: TNG Movie AI (Stanley Kubrick) Star Gate (Kurt Russel) Time Cop (Jean Claude Van Damme) Puppetmasters Batman III MSFFA Market Report The following is an up to date listing of most of the major markets for SF & F. If you are an author looking for a market, please consult The Writer's Market or The Literary Marketplace in your bookstore or Library for further information. Especially for the short story market, it is always very wise for authors to familiarize themselves with a magazine by reading through a few recent issues. Some magazines and most book publishers offer writers' guidelines on request. Always enclose a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) big enough for the return of your manuscript or a standard sized envelope with first class postage for the editor's response and mark the ms. 'DISPOSABLE' to save yourself the return postage. As hard as it is, learn to reject rejection and keep writing, trying, and believing in yourself, even when no one else will. If you get a rejection slip, file it and send the story out to the next publisher on your submissions list. With each word you write you become a better writer. Writer's learn by experimenting and making mistakes. Not every story will work, but you'll grow and learn something from each one. Most writers establish themselves through a process of steady maturation and persistent trial and error. Keep going. The SF & F short market is healthy, but very competitive. The big names get the big slots in mags more often than not because their names on the cover sell more magazines. But they didn't get where they are without talent. For new and unknown writers it is normally easier for them to break into magazines with short pieces ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 words in length. There are five additional publications which might be of interest to authors. They are: LOCUS (The standard monthly trade publication for SF & F.) Locus Publications, P.O. Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661. $22.00 for 6 issues (1/2 year, 2nd Class, USA) Science Fiction Chronicle (Another valuable trade magazine.) P.O. Box 022730, Brooklyn NY 11202-0056. $29.00 for 12 issues (1 year, Bulk Rate, USA) The SFFWA Bulletin (The quarterly report of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Bulletin is available to members and non-members alike.) Pulphouse Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1227, Eugene OR 97440. $15.00 for 4 issues (1 year) THE REPORT, Pulphouse Publishing, Box 1227, Eugene OR 97440 $15.00 for 6 issues (1 year) Writer's Digest, P.O. Box 2124, Harlan IA 51593-2313. $21.00 for 12 issues (1 year) Current Magazine Markets: Charles C. Ryan, Editor: ABORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION, P. O. Box 2449, Woburn MA 01888-0849 Stanley Schmidt, Editor: ANALOG, 1540 Broadway, New York NY 10036 Gardner Dozois, Editor: ASIMOV'S SF, 1540 Broadway, New York NY 10036 Richard T. Chizmar, Editor, CEMETARY DANCE, P.O. Box 858, Edgewood MD 21040 Barbara G. Young: DRAGON MAGAZINE, P.O. BOX 111, Lake Geneva WI 53147 Kristine Kathryn Rusch: FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, P. O. Box 11526, Eugene Oregon 97440 Morgan Fox, E.J. Gold, Editors, GALAXY MAGAZINE, P.O. Box 370, Nevada City CA 95959 David Pringle, Editor: INTERZONE 217 Preston Drove Brighton BN1 6FL United Kingdom Marion Zimmer Bradley, Editor: MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY'S FANTASY MAGAZINE, Box 249, Berkley CA 94701 Ellen Datlow Editor, OMNI, 1965 Broadway, New York NY 10023-5965 Jonathan E. Bond, Editor: PULPHOUSE Pulphouse Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1227, Eugene OR 97440 Shawna McCarthy Editor, REALMS OF FANTASY, P.O. Box 527, Rumson NJ 07760 Scott Edelman, Editor: SCIENCE FICTION AGE, P.O. Box 369, Damascus MD 20872-0369 Algis Budrys, Editor: TOMORROW SF, P.O. Box 6038, Evanston IL 60204 Current Book Publishers: When submitting a manuscript to a publisher, it is always a good idea to send it directly to an editor. Try to avoid ending up on the slush pile. Editors also change jobs routinely. If you wish to be certain, get the number out of Writers' Market and make a quick, polite call to the publisher and inquire if the editor is still with them, his or her current title, and if he or she has an assistant. If so, send your work to the assistant. That's where it will end up anyway, and you might save yourself some time. If the editor has left that publisher, ask for the name of another editor, etc. Bigger, more important editors (Senior Editors, Editors-in-Chief, etc.) will usually have a stable of established writers who they work with closely. They often don't have time or the inclination to take on new writers. Send your work to one publisher at a time, simultaneous submissions are widely frowned upon by the industry as a whole. It is difficult to be patient when waiting for a response. If a publisher holds on to your work longer than their listed response time, that might be a good sign. Wait a week or two more and send a brief, polite letter inquiring on the status of your ms. Enclose a stamped post card along with your submission for the editor to send back to you to acknowledge receiving your ms. If a rejection comes back, don't take it personally. They rejected the work, not you. Shake it off and send the ms. to the next publisher on your submissions list. Never give up, and keep working on your next project. Some publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, partials, proposals, or even queries. You must have an agent to submit your work to them. And it is well known that you normally have to be published to have an agent. Wait until you get your first offer. Then get an agent to help you with the deal. And on principle, you should never pay an agent a reading fee. Agents who are respectable will wave the reading fee on a work they are sincerely interested in. If you ask them to wave the fee and they refuse, don't waste your time. There are too many agents making their bread and butter off of reading fees. Don't let anyone become a parasite on your hopes and dreams. Getting back to publishers, if they say query first (a query is a letter, as brief as possible, telling the editor what you have to offer), then query first. If they say send a partial (usually three chapters) and outline, or the entire ms., then follow their instructions. Good fortune! Editors: John Douglas, Chris Miller, Toni Weisskopf: AVON BOOKS, 1350 Ave. of the Americas, New York NY, 10019 Editors: Jim Baen, Josepha Sherman BAEN BOOKS, P.O. Box 1403, Riverdale NY 10471 Editors: Tom Dupree, Janna Silverstein, Jennifer Hershey, Heather McConnell BANTAM SPECTRA, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10103 (No unsolicited mss. Query first.) Editors: Susan Allison, Laura Anne Gilman, Ginjer Buchanan: ACE SF & FANTASY, Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Editors: Betsy Wolheim, Sheila Gilbert, Peter Stampfel: DAW BOOKS, 375 Hudson Street, New York NY 10014-3658 Editors: Veronica Chapman, Shelly Shapiro, Ellen Key Harris, Deborah Hogan DEL REY BOOKS, 201 E. 50th St., New York NY 10022 Christina Marciona, Asst. Editor: HARPER COLLINS, 10 East 53rd St. New York NY 10022-5299 Editors: Amy Stout ROC/ONYX BOOKS, 375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014 (Query first.) Wayne Chang, Editorial Asst. WARNER ASPECT BOOKS, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020 Editors: Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Beth Meacham, Claire Eddy, Greg Cox: TOR BOOKS, 175 Fifth Ave., New York NY 10010 Editors: Brian Thomsen, Exec. Editor, Bill Larson, Eric Severson, Rob King, Jim Lowder, Pat McGilligan, Marlys Heeszel, Sue Weinlein: TSR BOOKS, P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva WI 53147 Local MSFFA Meeting & Potluck To all members and interested persons, there will be another local MSFFA meeting of the parent group on Sunday June 26th out at Bendix Woods County park, St. rd 2 and County Line rd, New Carlisle, IN. The rain site is the Four Seasons Restaurant where we held the first meeting. Time for the picnic will be 2:30 p.m. Please RSVP if you are planning on coming, so we know how big a crowd to expect. This meeting will be another relaxing icebreaker and discussion session, mostly about MSFFA goals for the future, and especially about plans for the local convention, 2-B CONtinued. This will be a good chance to meet and greet other area fans and enjoy the beauty of a St. Joseph County park. Bring picnic items and come share the fresh air and fannish camaraderie. For those outside of the local South Bend area and those who are otherwise unable to attend, an account of the salient points discussed at the meeting will be summarized in the next edition of the MSFFA newsletter. Bring your ideas and suggestions along and come talk with us at the meeting. "To be CONtinued" is the newsletter of the Midwest Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. No reproduction of any part is permissible without written permission from the MSFFA. Rates are $2.00 an issue, or free to MSFFA members. Write to: MSFFA, P.O.B. 665, South Bend, IN, 46524. Email: Voyager@irishmvs.cc.nd.edu or Flashcat@AOL.com. Comments, submissions (we handle both Mac and PC formats!), and information are gleefully accepted! If you live in the Midwest, and would like to take advantage of our free ride/ride section, our fannish want ads, or just plug your group, club or zine, drop me a line. Also, the MSFFA will be appearing at DucKon, in Lisle, IL, and fliers and navigational beacons will abound. We usually have munchies and something to drink, and various little seen video diversions... check us out! R.allen Jervis Co-director, MSFFA *My apologies as to the sparseness of artwork in this issue. I am starved for new submissions! The MSFFA logo on page 2 is a submission by John Gilchrist and the artwork on page 6 is by Steve Saffel.