Gegenschein 85 April 1999

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A science fiction fanzine from Eric Lindsay, at PO Box 640, Airlie Beach, Qld 4802 Australia. Jean's phone number is (07) 4948 0450. I don't have a home phone. Jean stole it, because I wasn't there. Then she stole the phone line (07) 4948 0435 for her fax, because I wasn't using the line. Then she stole my modem, because I wasn't using it. Then she borrowed time on my desktop computer when her one broke. Then she borrowed my laptop computer, since she wanted to run Windows 98 and Office 2000 (beta) for an editing job. I think my Psion is still safe. It reminds me of the time Dorothy Parker was asked by her editor why she wasn't in the newspaper office, and she replied "Someone was using the pencil". Commenced late January 1999, unlikely to be finished until April. You think you get more time when you don't have a job? Hah, have I got news for you!

Bits and Pieces

Futurian Society of Sydney

Taking its name (and with several members) from the 1939 organisation, this meets at 7:30 p.m. on the third Friday of each month in Room 1615 (16th Floor), Tower Building, University of Technology, Sydney, at 13-73 Broadway (the room is in the corner overlooking the ABC and Darling Harbour). Devoted to discussion of written science fiction. There is little formal structure, and no entry fees. Newsletter can be obtained by sending a SASE to Ron Clarke, PO Box K940, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Rev. Dalrymple, PO Box 2, Bexley North NSW 2207 produced a small pamphlet regarding Futurian activities, and those of other SF groups in Sydney. Discounts are available to members at some bookshops and groups. Web pages are available at linus.socs.uts.edu.au/~iwoolf/writings.htm or email Ian Woolf at iwoolf@socs.uts.edu.au

George Turner Prize

For the second year, Bantam announced a $10,000 prize for fantasy and science fiction. Transworld Publishers, Ground Floor, 40 Yeo Street, Neutral Bay NSW 2089 is the address, and you need to get a copy of the conditions of entry. The prize is an advance against royalties, and you contract for first publication. They also ask for a $30 handling change. Entries usually end in January each year.

But Is It Food?

Have you noticed the Food Standards Code seems to be changing, now that there is a joint Australia and New Zealand food authority, ANZFA. The change appears to be towards the lowest common denominator, rather than towards whatever standard best promotes food purity and safety. Margarine fats and oils no longer need be exclusively of vegetable origin, leaving it open for manufacturers to make them from saturated fats. Chocolate need no longer contain cocoa, which makes the entire idea of chocolate pretty pointless then in my opinion. It is proposed that chemical and antibiotic residues need no longer be removed from milk. Check with some of the consumer affairs bodies in your state.

Convenience?

There are over 84,000 ships over 100 tons, and 20,000 of these are registered under "flags of convenience". Over 18% of all world shipping is done under the flag of Panama, and over 13% under the flag of Liberia. Such ships are disproportionately involved in accidents, groundings, oil spills, appalling safety records, and fraud against crew members who often wait months for low pages.

Why do we let such ships enter our ports unless they can meet our own safety standards, and, if shipping between Australian ports, our own crew conditions?

Telecoms

I can't believe the way the Australian stock market has reacted to communication sttoccks. It is normally a lot more sensible about technology companies than is the US market.

A third of Telstra was sold by the government back in November 1997, with buyers paying an initial installment of $1.95, and a second installment of $1.35 due in Novvember 1998. Telstra installments opened on the market on its first day at $2.67. Last time I checked in January 1999 it was at $8.15. Optus went to market in November 1998 at $1.85, and was 15 times oversubscribed.

Magazines

Australian Owned Companies Association

Promotes buying from Australian owned companies via lists of ownership, supporting informative labelling laws, spreading information about the problem, and general lobbying. If every family in Australia moved just $50 of their weekly purchasing from overseas owned companies to Australian owned companies, we wouldn't have a balance of payments problem. Buy your children a job by sending locally. Membership $550 a year, or $25 for their magazine. PO Box 440, Rydalmere NSW 1701 phone +61 (2) 9898 0309 fax +61 (02) 9638 5670 www.ausbuy.com.au or email ausbuy@magna.com.au

Sky & Space

Southern Astronomy

These two magazines cover space development, and astronomy in the southern hemisphere. 12 issues of either cost A$70 posted within Australia, overseas Sky and Space is A$136 while SA is A$140. Contact Sky & Space, PO Box 1233, (80 Ebley Street), Bondi Junction, NSW 1355 Australia, or visit the Sky & Space Shop. Phone +61 (2) 9369 3344 or fax +61 (2) 9369 3366

Books Read

Books in Australia have traditionally been free of sales taxes. This ends when the Goods and Services Tax hits readers. Expect your books, magazines and newspapers to incurr a 10% tax. If your income doesn't increase, and you don't cut expenses elsewhere, this means you buy that many fewer, so authors get less money, publishers get less money, bookshops get less money. Some of them will go to the wall, and we will again get less choice in our reading. Authors will probably go on writing, even though many are doing the traditional "starving in a garret" stunt.

Publishers were recently hit by the loss of the book bounty, and now face lower sales, publishers additional costs. All their service providers, editors, designers, printers, bookbinders, will be charging publishers the 10% tax. So publishers are laying out more initially on books, some of which may sit in warehouses and bookshops for months or years before they can recover the extra tax paid. Many books are pulped, so I assume the publishers have to wear the tax they have already paid for the services that went into producing these lost books. It is only ten percent you say. There are a hell of a lot of people and organisations in publishing who would just love to be making a ten percent margin on their product. I think this will mean the end for many marginal publishers.

LoCs

Xmas Cards 1997

Merv and Helena Binns
Lindsay and Kim Botten
Dorothy and Ron Coker
jan howard finder
Al and Elaine and Sioblian Fitzpatrick
John and Diane Fox
Lync and Clive and Roger and Estelle
Adrienne Losin
Betty Lyle and Alan Lyle
Nicole at Long McAuglan
Karen Pender-Gunn
Bob and Margaret Riep
Yvonne Rousseau and John Foyster
David L Russell
Graham Sale
Ben Schilling
Womble and Gerald Smith
Brian Stephenson
Milton and Carolyn Weber

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Andy Porter's Science Fiction Chronicle is a bimonthly Hugo nominated newsmagazine, essential reading for those interested in the SF field. I am Australian agent. A$47 for 6, A$77 for 12, A$107 for 18 issues.

Eric Lindsay PO Box 640, Airlie Beach Qld 4802 Australia
Thylacon report Jean returned from Airlie Beach on Monday evening for Thylacon, and we both filled the next few days with a totally silly number of tasks. I got a fanzine done tried to buy a portable computer, and we checked out small panel vans This was between normal working days starting before 6 a.m Thursday, trains, automobiles & planes, starting at 4:30 a.m. with the alarm. And we were fed only muffins. Neil Murray taxi to Hadley's hotel on Murray Street. Walk around waterfront while the weather was fine. Helped unpack Justin's car. In Nick Stathopoulos's room, Cheryl Morgan talking electricity supply, Nik operations and work stress. Bar, with Leanne, Nick, Cheryl. Sean McMullen, overdressed daughter making fans look shabby. Kangaroo crash. Impressive car ding. Parrots in NZ, Jean's horse story. Shipwright's Arms pub Neil Murray, Cheryl Morgan, George & Parris, Robin & Alicia, Mandy Herriott, Leanne Frahm, Neil Gaiman, Nick, Jean Eric. Homeopathic drinks - lemon lime & bitters Friday Leanne breakfast, Cheryl power dressing George & Parris, Mandy Herriott cadbury tour, walk to Battery Point, etc. with Jean, then arround town alone. Lobby watching, lunch at the food court in Murray Street with Jean and Leanne. Lobby watching again as fans started arriving. Strange messages from Cary for Robin, hotel serving wine until 3, getting a glass of wine for Leanne. Person's spotted included Lloyd Flack, Justin Ackroyd, Russell & Jenny Blackford, Peter Nicholls, Nial Doran, Craig McBride, David Mcdonnell Dined at hotel with Jean & Leanne, and watched a litttle of Neil Gaimen's talk before spending the evening in the bar with Carey, Robin, Neil, Tony Power (after decades), Sean McMullen, Terry Frost (DUFF winner this year), Justin, etc. Thylacon distributed movie flyers from Village, who had a lot of "3 films for $12" offers including the Aliens films, and a bunch of other scifi. I thought that was synergistic. The 82 page folded A3 Thylacon book contained six stories, many by guests, plus biographies and the usual convention material. Apart from an unidentifiable photo of George RR Martin, it was all very readable. Niall Doran contributed a long article on bioethics. Sights and places around Hobart were covered. It includes the Ditmar nominations, a list of SF published in Australia in 1997 from Marc Ortlieb, a summary of the Hugo and Nebula awards and a list of all the past winners. A list of SF small press in Australia. A list of the past Ditmar winners. Lots of information here. Book launches included Sara Douglass' Pilgrim, and the MUP Encyclopaedia of Australain SF and Fantasy. There were a few bioethics panels, coming at an appropriate time,since newspapers were full of topic (by coincidence) a few days after the con. SF is from Mars, Fantasy from Venus didn't reach a conclusion, I believe. The banquet was very reasonable, although not I belive as fine as three years ago. Certainly a far cry from rubber chicken however. Sunday programs included the business meeting, writing for TV, getting published, and the auction, while Monday had virtual sites, more bioethics, best sf movies (Terry held out for LA Confidential, while I went for Earth Girls are Easy). Future directions and then the close. Trip 98 Special thanks to Leanne and Kerry Frahm, who again put up with us as overnight guests, following a fine dinner together at the Coffee Club. Leanne went beyond all praise by driving us to the airport before 6 a.m. Not that everyone was awake at that time. The Ansett clerk helpfully redireted the bags via Los Angeles rather than San Francisco where we arrived. Hardly his fault if he had been up since five, so they fixed that up. An actual soft boiled eggs with ham and sausage for breakfast on the 6:45 a.m. Ansett flight from Mackay. I was amazed. We spent some quality time at Brisane airport, then the Red Carpet Lounge at Sydney (Jean woudn't let me drink). then a half dozen bottles of Drambuie in the first six hours of the flight. We had used frequent flyer points to upgrade to business for the flight over. It took half the flight to discover how to work the 18 controls on the new style seat United are using, and that was after we found the operating manual. Jean's upgrade lasted until Seattle, but I was on economy from San Francisco. We finally reached Jean's parents home at Lacey using the Centralia van around mid afternoon, after being up for about 30 hours. Tuesday 24th November. It rained for fourteen days and fourteen nights. Or maybe it only seemed that way. Wednesday 25th November rain all day Friday 4th December 1997 Seattle Suzle Tompkins and Jerry Kaufman to dinner at The Third Place eatery and bookshop, then talked until nearly midnight. Saturday 5th December 1998 Shopping with Cliff Mori (Greenwood) Japanese restaurant with Cliff and Marilyn. Vanguard Sunday 6th December Janice Murray and Alan Rosenthal to The Yankee Diner, shopping at Bulldog newsagency and then the University bookstore. Marci Malinowitz over to dinner Monday 7th December To Las Vegas on Southwest, an airline that makes a bus look a civilised means of travel. But they were cheap and on time, and that was sufficient. We took some sandwiches from a deli, as they don't provide meals. The Sahara provided a convenient room after a slight delay. We arrived prior to the 3 p.m. check in time, so we went for a stroll towards downtown for an hour. After settling in we contacted various friends aand made social arrangements. Long after an all you can eat buffet at the Sahara I wandered off to get somemissing supplies. The delay was because for about two hours we were too full to move. Tuesday 8th December Jean was collected by Susan, after some confusion as to the collection location for her visit with Ellie. I walked as far as New York New York, and decided that was far enough for the day if I wanted to return at a reasonable time. Checked out the Sharper Image at Fashion Show Mall, the Ethel M&M show, Atlantis and Brookstones at Caesars Palace. I couldn't decide where to eat, and ended up at CaFae in Westward Ho. An 8 ounce prime rib steak cost $4.95. I should have ordered medium, as it was a little bloody. Visited Arnie and Joyce, left FAPA material with Ken Forman, helped envelope Crifanac with Ben Wilson. Tom and Tammy gave me a lift home. Wednesday 9th December Star Trek, The Experience at the Hilton Bellagio, and on up via Mirage, Treasure Island and a free watered drink to see the Bucconeer Bay Show. Stardust for a fun book. Mall. Pizza at Riviera, fun book. Collapse at Sahara by 8:30. Drink rum and orange juice, mostly rum. Thursday 10th December Stratosphere fun book, once I foundte right spot. Bag shopping in the morning, walking past a radio station van, made up to look like a giant ghetto blaster. I'd once again overfilled my carry on wheeled bag, so a replacement was in order. I'd not had room for the past few trips. Took a fair while to walk to the right area, and then back dragging a bag. Tried the nearby Circus Circus buffet $11.75 for two. Too full to move, yet again. Plastic food is good for you, in deserts. Good salad bar, fruit, turkey. But we once again appear to have misplaced the hard to miss circus acts on the way to their Adventuredome. Caught the circus acts upstairs above the main casino after lunch. Jean returned to the hotel and I wandered as far as the Forum shops at Caesars Palace. The shoe shop didn't have any of the sandal I'd been looking at, but did have one similar to the ones I currently use. On special, reduced by heaps. And they also announced another 20% off until 6 p.m. so I bought two pairs. My pedometer showed 14.26 kilometres. Friday 11th December Caught the 204 bus west along Sahara to the Sahara Pavilions shopping center at Decateur. I had fun checking the Radio Shack. Lots of X10 stuff I'd love to be able to get at home (voltage differences preclude using it). A comupter store where I stocked up on $1 gender benders. Checked out Circuit City, which was better on home appliances than computers. Office Depot had a few WinCE pocket computers but seems to have given up on mre capable pocket models. Did get to see the HP Jupiter style CE machine. Decided to walk back to the strip, via various stores. There was an Office Max, but it didn't have much, nor did any of the other small computer outfits. Stopped at a CompUSA,where I found DIY luggage tags, something I:d long wanted. Unfortunately, the price wasn:t marked, only a really misleading stock number, the only package had been raided and some tags were missing, the queue for paying seemed interminable, and the staff didn't appear able to answer simple questions from other customers. I rapidy downrated it to the worst computer store I'd been in. Saturday 12th December After a breakfast buffet we took the 301 bus to the Luxor at the far end of The Strip. Jean fell upon a BLT, having not joined me for the buffet. Walked back to the Sahara. Sunday 13th December Pat Etheridge? Barkley Suzy and John large truck Beholder's Eye by Julie E Czerneda DAW, Oct 1998, 413pp, US$5.99 0-88677-818-2 A few shape changers try to keep their existence secret, but a young changer slips in front of a human. Then a hidden enemy strikes. Not very innovative adventure, although well enough done for its type. Krondor: The Betrayal by Raymond E Feist Voyager (Harper Collins), Oct 1998, 352pp A$35 HC 0-00-224694-5 Based on a game, and you can almost see the paper characters roll dice for their skills and characteristics. This hodge podge of events seemed utter trash, even for a fantasy novel. Standing Wave by Howard V Hendrix Ace, Sept 1998, 386pp, US$6.50 0-441-00553-5 The Knight by the Pool by Sophie Masson Bantam (Transworld), Nov 1998, 419pp, A$14.95 An interesting fantasy romance, set in France in the time of Richard the Lionheart, by an Australian writer with masters degrees in French and English literature. Not to my taste, but not just junk fantasy. Murder in the Solid State by Wil McCarthy Tor, Nov 1998, 277pp, US$5.99 0-812-55392-6 Very nicely done murder mystery, set at a nanotech convention, with the protagonist as suspect. Takes a good swipe at the quest to eliminate risk and crime. Some really good nanotech material at the start helps make it feel much more real. Recommended. Broken Symmetries by Paul Preuss Pocket, Aug 1984, 370pp, US#3.95 0-671-46046-3 Peter Slater GUT Secret Passages by Paul Preuss Tor, Aug 1998, 341pp, US$6.99 0-812-57148-7 Anne Marie Minakis Fire Angels by Jane Routley Avon (Transworld), August 1998, 436pp, US$13 A$22.95 TPB Romantic fantasy, sequel to Mage Heart, with Dion the mage against demons, and in the midst of civil war. Not to my taste, but well written. The Wanderers seemed to share many of the characteristics ascribed to Australian aboriginals.