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Has anyone tried recently to deny the fact that there is at present in FAPA sufficient deadwood to kindle a big enough fire to toast marshmallows for all of fandom ... and roast the souls therein to boot?
Every mailing I've received so far has had a definite odor of "Barely meeting activity requirments" about it. In fact most of the FAPA mags I've seen in the past year consist almost solely of ratings of other FAPAzines. Possibly slight comments. Seldom discussions of other zines or material other than reprints from the editors' subzines and old lithographs. Does a reprint from a recent subzine or a left-over litho really merit activity credit? I might distribute such material through FAPA but I certainly wouldn't ask for such material to serve as my eight pages.
Some mags in the past year have had material in them worth reading. From the last mailing I recall a few. WILD HAIR with Van Couvering's account and Laney's warning, FANTASY JACKASS with Tucker's memories and adventures, GEM TONES with a semantically questionable guest editorial, and several others.
WILD HAIR inpressed me. It actually looked like a magazine and not just a page of typing that someone had stepped on. It had a cover and at perusal appeared readable. I saw at first looking thru it, interesting looking headings, signs of satire, and short paragraphs. Not to mention that it was neat. Very few other FAPA magazines are so.
Van Couvering's adventure with Degler was fun to read. And Laney's argument was interesting. I would like very much to read similar articles from the pro-censorship group and from those who disagree with FTL's argument. This is FAPA business and deserves discussion. It is a more vital issue than the recent Ackerman-affair.
Tucker's account was reminiscent of Jack Speer's IN MEMORIAM: SPIRIT OF FOOFOO. Altho it might not be vital to the further existence of fandom and science-fiction, it's fun to read and interesting to the fan who is interested in other fans. The fan who doesn't care about things non-stf wouldn't enjoy it. I am in favor of accounts of adventures like this. Sometimes people can be as interesting as nuclear fission.
GEM TONES's anti-tolerance article almost brought me to writing a reply but being as lazy as the other members of this noble organization, I was unwilling to do semantic battle via typewriter. So I rationalized that any intelligent and critical reader could see the fact that fancy word-play doesn't always make for good logic.
There were other interesting items in the last mailing. But very few really worth while items. There was a lot of mimeography of the kind that gives a bad name to the medium when it is usually the operator who is at fault. If you can't get a neat mimeo job off your machine, try cleaning your typewriter keys and inking the mimeo evenly. Neatness and legibility help a lot.
But a bit of worthwhile material helps a lot more ...
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Hard copy provided by Geri Sullivan
Data entry by Judy Bemis
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