But my name doesn't begin with D...

For the second successive year, the common fans of Britain have spoken, and have given us third place in the Novas, behind Banana Wings and Attitude. But the folks from Attitude have very generously said they'll let us be second next time. Above, a very surprised and embarrassed (though not nearly as embarrassed as Doc Weir Laureate & Multiple Nova Award winner Mark Plummer™) Sue Mason wonders where you put the batteries.

A fully detailed, comprehensive and accurate Leeper-style Novacon report may be found later in the fanzine. Meanwhile, we seem to be eating and drinking again. We have survived Christmas with a wide variety of family and friends, and are settling down to do the traditional Don't You Lot Have Anything Better to Do Over New Year Double Issue.

Unfortunately, fate has intervened in the form of the central heating falling to pieces. A worried Plokta spokesman said, "It just came away in me hands. Hmmph." The plucky Plokta cabal kept going, fortified by gallons of sake and half-price Christmas chocolate. Far worse than that, though, was the death of the Brave Little Flatbed Scanner which after years of sterling service (we had a special Windows 3.1 machine just for it) decided to turn up its toes and go to the great junkyard in the sky at exactly the worst possible time.1998 has not been a good year for superfluous technology so far.

The entire cabal are looking forward to welcoming Ulrika O'Brien to Britain as the US-UK TAFF delegate. The Plokta cabal can hardly wait to introduce her to the typical British pleasures of pie 'n' eel shops, whelk stalls, tripe, haggis and laver bread. Of course, nobody who likes lutefisk will have a problem with any of this, we're sure. We have already volunteered to provide Ulrika with superfluous technical support throughout her stay. Plokta outside broadcast vans will be on hand for up to the minute coverage of her trip. Maybe.