ConNotations

FYIBook Discussion GroupsWe have two monthly book discussiongroups going, one at Glendale PublicLibrary on the first Thursday of eachmonth and another at Barnes and Noblein Metro Center on the fourth Thursdayof each month. Here’s a schedule ofupcoming books:GLENDALE PUBLIC LIBRARY: 1stThursday of each monthJan 6: Scent of Magic - Andre NortonFebruary 3: Bimbos of the Death Sun Sharyn McCrumbMarch 2: Folk of the Air by Peter BeagleApril 6: The Stranger by Mark TwainMay 4: Firebrand by Marion ZimmerBradleyJune 1: Paris in the Twentieth Century byJules VerneFor information on the Glendale groupcontact Sue Martin at (623)939-7815BARNES & NOBLE METRO CENTER: 4th Thursday of each monthDecember 16: Harry Potter and theSorcerer’s Stone by J.K. RowlingJanuary 27: Something Wicked ThisWay Comes by Ray BradburyFeb 25: Perseus Spear by Julian MayMarch 24: Time Enough for Love byRobert HeinleinApril 28: Forty Thousand in Gehanna byC.J. CherryhMay 26: Hammer of God by ArthurClarkeJune 23: Snowbrother by S.M. StirlingFor more information on the Barnes &Noble group contact Stephanie at(602)973-2341If you would like CASFS to sponsor abook discussion near you, please contactStephanie at the number above.Upcoming Star Trek Event:CreationSource: WWW.Creationent.comPhoenix, AZ, Sat & Sun FEB 12th &13th, 2000 Mesa Community CenterStar Trek & Sci-Fi Media Conventionwith guests: Robert Beltran (Star TrekVoyager’s Chakotay), Grace LeeWhitney and Star Trek expert RichardArnold. Other guests to be announced.!!!!ATTENTION!!!!This may be yourlast issue ofConNotations.If you have not attended an Arizonaconvention (LepreCon, HexaCon,CopperCon or TusCon) during the lasttwo years this is your last issue ofConNotations unless you are a paidsubscriber. Subscriptions are availablefor 10 for 4 issues mailed bulk, 15for 1st class postage. Make checkpayable to ConNotations and mail toPO Box 62613, Phoenix AZ 85082Page 2CASFS Business ReportDear Faithful Reader,By the time you read this, we will havecompleted another year’s worth ofmeetings in the merrily controlled chaosthat is CASFS. What have we done thisquarter?CopperCon 19 was successful-especiallyin the eyes of the lucky group that spentFriday night hanging out with our AuthorGuest of Honor, David Weber, in thelobby. Brett Bass, the Artist Guest ofHonor, delighted all who stopped by theart show with both his conversation andhis insanely fast airbrush. Everyone whobid on a blank canvas (and there wereseveral) took home a stunning paintingcompleted over the weekend.CopperCon 20 has announced authorPhilip Jose Farmer, artist Vincent di Fate,and musician Cecelia Eng as Guests ofHonor. Additionally, long-time fan andlocal horror writer Adam Niswander hasaccepted the brand-new position of “LocalAuthor Guest of Honor.” Plus, HexaCon10 is gearing up for a gaming conventioneven better than the last one.In financial news, ConNotations isgetting close to being self-supporting. Ifyou run a business or a convention, pleaseconsider purchasing an ad to support themagazine. CASFS also managed toobtain its very own credit card machine,which made its successful debut atCopperCon.CASFS continues to recruit new fanswith our two monthly book discussions atthe Glendale Public Library and theBarnes & Noble store at Metrocenter. Wealso plan to have another booth at thePhoenix Public Library’s Book Festivalon April 8, 2000. Mark your calendarsand be sure to stop by!Have a happy holiday!Until next time,The Frantic ScribeA New Wave: Publish-On-Demandby Patrick ConnorsIn this issue of ConNotations, I reviewed Peter L. Manly’s novel DragonThree Two Niner. In this article, I reviewits publishing process. Why? It ispublished electronically.Availability of this book is differentthan most. You can order it from thewww.scifi-az.com Web site eitherelectronically or as a soft-cover, using aprint-to-order process.I reviewed the electronic edition, whichis distributed as an Adobe Acrobat .pdfformat file. PDF stands for PortableDocument Format, and it really isportable. There are options a publishercan use to make one of these files easy toread, and the publisher has done anexcellent job in formatting the documentfor ease of use. However, there were moretypographic errors than there should havebeen.Printed copies of the book are made toorder. The printed copies which I haveseen from this press are good enough fora casual read, but still relatively primitivecompared to even the cheapest paperback.Presumably time, experience, andadvances in low-cost printing willimprove the quality of the printed copies.One thing print-on-demand makespractical is custom bookbinding. I askedabout the availability of a set of pages andend-papers for Dragon Three Two Ninerfor the purpose of making a custombound copy, and have been informed thiswould not be a problem.The ordering process could stand to bebetter streamlined, but is typical of smallbusiness over the Internet. SciFi-az.comuses a third-party ordering system whichworks well enough. I have, however,heard reports of difficulty in ordering. Itwould serve all concerned well to placethe book on Amazon or Barnes andNoble, and to remember that Internetaccess and ordering still has a long wayto go before it’s universal - even amongthe science-fiction community.What is CASFS?What is really behind putting on a convention? What the funds raised by a conventionused for? Why not attend a meeting and find out? We’re the sponsor of ConNotations,CopperCons, HexaCons, SmerfCons and other conventions. We are a charitable, nonprofit organization that exists to further science fiction, fantasy and science fields inArizona. CASFS currently meets at the JB’s Restaurant at 2560 W Indian School Rd inPhoenix (NW corner of I-17 and Indian School). The meetings begin at 8PM and areheld on the last Friday of the month Jan. Through Sept. And on the second Friday of themonth Oct through Dec. Everyone is invited to attend two meetings as a guest (nonmember). Membership rates are 12/year plus an initial 3 application fee and rates arepro-rated for the amount of the year remaining. For more info Call: Stephanie L. Bannon(602)973-2341 Webpage: www.casfs.org email: casfs@casfs.orgConNotationsWho’s Who This IssueEditor: Stephanie L. BannonCo-Editors: Craig L. Dyer & SueMartinGraphics Editor: Craig L. DyerFilm & Video Reporter: Barry BardStaff Writers: Pam Allen, Barry Bard,Michael Griffin, Daryl F. Mallet,Shane Shellenbarger, Tom Tuerff, LeeWhiteside, Randall Whitlock, MikeWillmothLayout & Design: Stephanie L. BannonKeeper of the Mailing List: Craig L.Dyer and Doug CosperContributors: Robert Barber, PatConnors, Lewis Geoffrey, JohannaMartin, Gary SwatyLabeling Crew for Volume 9 Issue 3:Stephanie L. Bannon, Mark & DanielleBoniece, Pat Connors, Craig L. Dyer, Ray& Pinkie Gish, Scott Glener & Friend,David & Angel Hungerford, Sue & JoMartin, Bob & Lori LaPierre, NickSchumacher, Gary SwatyAbout ConNotations: ConNotations isthe fan published newszine of the CentralArizona Speculative Fiction Society(CASFS) an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Circulation is estimated at 4,000 readers for this issue,primarily CASFS members and attendeesof recent AZ sf/f conventions.Subscriptions: The newszine is currentlysent free of charge to anyone who hasattended a CASFS or LepreCon sponsoredconvention in the last two years and to allCASFS members. Subscriptions areavailable. Cost for a four issue subscriptionis: 10/USA (bulk); 15/Canada & Mexico(First class) or 23/Europe (airmail). Ratesfor other countries available upon request.Copyright: Articles, fiction, photos andartwork in this issue are copyright of theauthor/artist and cannot be reproduced inany manner without their written consent. Ifno author or artist is credited the artwork orarticle is copyright of the Central ArizonaSpeculative Fiction Society.Publication: Publications dates are currently April, June, August & December.Publication date of this issue is 12/8/99;mailing date is 12/13/99.Advertising: ConNotations reachesapprox. 4,000 science fiction, fantasy,gaming and horror fans throughout thePhoenix metro area, the Southwest andnationwide. Our ad rates are:Back cover/ 150, 100/full page; 70/two-thirds page; 50/half page; 35/one-third page; 25/one-fourth page; 18/one-eigth page. Moreinformation can be obtained by contactingStephanie L. Bannon, Email: leigh@primenet.com or dyer@maricopa.edu orMail: PO Box 62613, Phoenix, AZ 850822613 Phone or FAX; (602)973-2341Submission Info: Writers and artists areencouraged to submit work for publication.While we cannot pay you for your effortsyour work will be seen by over 4,000 fansacross the Southwest and the country. Youwill retain the copyright to your work forfuture publication. To submit your work orfor more information please write to:ConNotations; PO Box 62613, Phoenix, AZ85082-2613 or contact us via Email atEditors@casfs.orgContact Information: ConNotations andits contributors can be contacted by mail atPO Box 62613, Phoenix, AZ 85082-2613or via email at editors@casfs.org.ISSN: 1082-7765Volume 9 Issue 4

PRO NOTESby Daryl F. MallettThe End of the ’90s. But Not of theMillenniumWell, folks, here’s the last column forthe 1990s. It is NOT, however, the lastcolumn of the century/millennium.that,as all of us educated people know, isNEXT December 2000). I know no onetruly cares, and everyone’s going to partylike it’s.well.1999, but PLEASE helpdebunk this common misconception!Save the world! Educate others! Butenough about Y2K.Travel since last time included myannual trip to Two Harbors, MN to sit onthe shores of Lake Superior with friendsShanda Elking and Cody MichaelBarker. Then it was further north to TheInternational Wolf Center in Ely, MN,where I had my annual visit with wolfbiologist Bill Route; Keiko Aylsworth,the researcher at the Center; and the threesurviving members of the pack(Mackenzie, Lakota and Lucas; Kianapassed away just before Christmas 1998).Then it was on to Minneapolis/St. Paulto visit one of my dearest friends, horroranthologist and vampire queen PamKeesey. During the trip, I attendedDiversicon 7, whose GoHs included theever-wonderful Nalo Hopkinson and L.A. Graf (Karen Rose Cercone and JuliaEcklar). Other attendees included artistRodger Gerberding, Eleanor Arnason,fellow Orange Countyian Martha Hood,editor Eric M. Heideman, RebeccaMarjesdatter, Lyda Morehouse, RobertSubiaga Jr., Michael Levy, Peg Kerr,Phyllis Ann Karr, Michael Levy, Russell Letson, and many more. I also got tovisit with superFens like Joseph Agee,Harry LeBlanc, and Michelle Clark,who introduced me to her extendedfamily, including her beautiful andcharming daughter Shaya (Hi, Shea!).As usual, my profound thanks to everyonein Twin Cities fandom and pro-dom fortheir hospitality and wonderfulness.NASFiC in Anaheim was great fun thisyear as well. Fellow scribe JeremyBloom and newcomer Shell Majury andI trooped around the convention together,wreaking havoc. GoHs Jerry Pournelle,Ellen Datlow, and Dick & Nicki Lynchwere great fun.Others in attendance included Jim &Viki Blaylock, Tim & Serena Powers,Harry Turtledove, Laura Frankos,Frank Kelly & Laura Freas, SharonKing, Bob Eggleton, Sue Dawe, ScottWelch, Jim Brunet, Sheila Finch,Harlan Ellison, David Brin, BridgetMcKenna, Bill Wu, Rob Chilson, MikeToman, Gardner Dozois, Pat Murphy,and so, so many others. Truly a wondrous event for those of us unfortunateenough to have missed Melbourne.We got word there that Jim White hadVolume 9 Issue 4passed away. That was followed by theloss in September of Marion ZimmerBradley, so, as usual of late it seems,there has been much sorrow in our littlefamily this year. Go hug those you love!Thankfully, Rick Cook is doing well inrecovering from his heart surgery!After that, it was on to Potrero, CA andSierra Vista and Sonoita, AZ for SCAevents, and COMDEX-Las Vegas in November, where I saw Jerry Pournellechecking out all of the latest technology.Kevin J. Anderson reports that the “bestnews is that my Dune prequel,” HouseAtreides,” is currently on its third weekon The New York Times bestseller list(and on Publishers Weekly, The WallStreet Journal, USA Today, and just about every other list). Just finished a twoweek book signing tour of the westernU.S. with Brian Herbert, then spent aweek touring in England with Rebecca[Moesta].”Rick Cook is still recovering fromheart surgery. He “is still annoyed by(“suffering from” is putting it toostrongly) diabetes,” but he has it undercontrol with diet and exercise. Meanwhile, he is “eagerly awaiting” publication in Analog of “Obsidian Harvest,”the Aztec dinosaur detective noir story hewrote with Ernest Hogan, and is working on the sixth “Wiz” novel (currentlywithout a title). So far he has managed toconvince himself “that Ernest’s turningup with a new, larger, heart on hiskeychain after his surgery is just acoincidence.” Keep getting well, Rick!Marian Crane reports that LeeMartindale “recently bought a shortstory of mine, “The Blood Orange Tree,”for publication next summer in her SF&Fanthology Such a Pretty Face, fromMeisha-Merlin Press. A very old anddownright clunky version of this storywon an at-con writing contest at the 1991WFC, and first got the attention of myagent. I’m glad that it’s finally found agood home. My SF&F textile art made abrave showing at the 1999 WFC inRhode Island: one necklace sold, anothergiven an honorable mention (with eighthonorable mentions, among them nameslike Donato, Leo & Diane Dillion, andAlan Clark, I feel very honored indeed.)Although I’ve been entering and placingin mainstream art shows for several years,WFC marks a satisfying foray back intothe SF&F community.” Welcome home,Marian!Artist Max Espinoza reports: “I’mcurrently finishing my play entitled“Weather Permitting,” which I hope tohave on a stage sometime in the year2000, and will also be working on mycollection of comic strips called BabylonBrothers. As ever, the caricature businessis still keeping our [Max and colleagueRuben Gerard] ventures alive!”Alan Dean Foster sold “Time BelongMountain,” a non-SF novel set incontemporary Papua, New Guinea, toForge and “Interlopers,” a contemporarydark fantasy, to Ace.Alan says he “spent a nice day withArthur C. Clarke in Colombo, SriLanka in January Sri Lanka’s a beautifulplace, so long as you ignore all the military activity due to the ongoing civil war.Went diving in the Maldives. Was GoHat the New Zealand National SF Convention in Auckland in March. Drove thelength of the country and visited withMurray & Pam Ball (author of the greatcomic strip Footrot Flats) in Gisbourne.Went diving in the Cook Islands. In August was a guest at Star Wars Night inDortmund, Germany, after which visitedfriends in Vienna. Also stopped off inPrague, Cracow, and Bratislava. A busytravel year, yielding much excellentmaterial for future work. ““Am currently writing high fantasy,“Kingdoms of Light,” for Warner Books,incorporating material from my visit toEastern Europe.” He also attended theWorld Fantasy Convention in Providence,Rhode Island in November 1999.Artist Ruben Gerard is on the roadpublicizing his collection of Penny andWade comic strips called “More Chocolate, Less Stress.” He has also beenpicked up as a regular contributor by TheFullerton Observer, a newspaper inOrange County, California.Fiona Kelleghan reports that she is“busy, busy here. I’m working on threeessays for Salem Press—on DavidMamet, Paul Zindel and John Fowler.These will go to a Cavendish encyclopedia on literature, aimed at high schoolkids. I’m also about to send an essay andinterview on/with SF writer Paul DiFilippo to the British SF ‘zine, “TheEdge.” I’m just returned from WorldFantasy Con, where I interviewed WorldFantasy Award nominee Sean Stewartand SF writer Patrick O’Leary. These Iwill send to Science-Fiction Studies.Desultorily working on fiction.”Katherine A. Lawrence says: “Lookon the Sci-Fi Channel early Friday mornings, and local syndication for “RoswellConspiracies.” Katherine’s “MonsterWithin” episode should air theoreticallysometime in March 2000. For a continually updated list of her most recentcredits, check out www.wordmagik.com.Daryl F. Mallett’s interview withDiana Gabaldon will appear shortly onPhantastes: The Online Journal ofFantasy Criticism www.nocturne.org/phantastes is the URL. A short story,“Crystal Clear,” appeared in the mostrecent issue of M&V Magazine, andcomic book Hero-Lore #1: Battle Scarswas released at the International ComicConvention in San Diego in August.Books turned in by the end of 1999included: “Pilgrims & Pioneers: TheHistory and Speeches of the ScienceFiction Research Association AwardWinners” (ed. w/Hal W. Hall; SFRAPress); “Wail!,” a book he edited, by BeatConNotationswriter Brio Burgess (Jacob’s LadderBooks); and “The Gargoyle,” anotherbook he edited, by Gary Lovisi (GryphonBooks). He is currently working on anonline support desk document for NOW!Internet Tools; a business plan; andnumerous essays for St. James Press’International Directory of CompanyHistories and Vocational Biographies.Appearances scheduled include EstrellaWar (Queen Creek, AZ) in February ’00.Daryl’s writing website is atwww.geocities.com/Area51/1295 andwww.bluefiretech.com is his business site.Jack McDevitt appeared in Novemberat the Camden County Library in Georgia. On 25 Jan 00, he will appear in anonline chat with Paul Levinson, sponsored by Isaac Asimov’s Science FictionMagazine and SciFi.com . For twodays (19-20 February 00), he will appearwith Much Ado About Books at thePrime Osborn Convention Center inJacksonville, Florida. His new novel,“Infinity Beach,” will appear that monthalso from HarperPrism, and his websitecan be found at http://www.sfwa.org/members/McDevitt/ .Dennis McKiernan reports: “I’ve acouple of stories in anthologies which areforthcoming in March of ’00: “This is aTest,” in Treachery and Treason (RocBooks) and “For the Life of SheilaMorgan,” in Spell Fantastic (DAWBooks). In June ’00, my novel SilverWolf, Black Falcon, another tale set inMithgar, is due in the bookstores. Mystory “Darkness” is in the hardcoveranthology 999: New Tales of Horror andSuspense, which was released on 9/9/99.This anthology also features StevenKing, William Peter Blatty, and manymore writers, twenty-nine authors in all.In my opinion, the best story in the anthology is P. D. Cacek’s, a splendid tale.”Yvonne Navarro was seen lurking atWorld Fantasy Con in Providence, RI.She reports: “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer:The Willow Files, Vol. I, published byPocket Books,” was released “in December (just in time for the holidays—toottoot!). It’s now available from Amazon.com, and its subpage on Darke Palace(http://www.para-net.com/ ynavarro/willow.htm) contains the cover and anexcerpt.” In February 2000, Deadtimeswill be available from DarkTales Publications (http://www.darktales.com) in tradepaperback format.Cover and excerpt available on DarkePalace soon.” And “That’s Not MyName,” the psychological thriller I’vebeen working on now and again for somenine years, was finished this summer[1999] and is scheduled for publication byBantam Books in June 2000. Cover andexcerpt available on Darke Palace as soonas we have it. The current project in theworks is an original adult novel calledBuffy, The Vampire Slayer: Paleo,about. You guessed it! Dinosaurs( Cont’d on page 10 )Page 3

Musical Notesby Tom TuerffTom Smith -- “Debasement Tapes”Tom Smith is everything that’s goodand bad about filk music all rolled intoone.The good: He’s an incredibly giftedword crafter. He bills himself as the“world’s fastest filker.” His parodies aredead-on, they “scan” the song he’sspoofing damn near perfectly, and he’sbasically a pretty funny guy.His new CD, “Debasement Tapes,”shows this off with great success.The bad: Well, this is something thatyou can’t really get away from in filkmusic, but when Smith goes for the truly“in” joke, or writes about a TV show,book or single episode, he assumes thatyou read, watch and enjoy the samethings he does. And when this happens,you got trouble in River City. (Nowthere’s an “in” reference I bet some ofyou don’t get. See what I mean?)“Debasement Tapes” certainly has its“in” joke moments. The best one isprobably the design and title of the albumitself, a rather hilarious nod to one R. L.Zimmerman from Hibbing, Minnesotaand his pick-up band, the Hawks.The album kicks off with “Five Years,”a parody of Barenaked Ladies’ “OneWeek.” Imagine trying to write a parodyto a song like that. But Smith succeeds. Ihave to admit that I have no idea whathe’s writing about here. It’s obviously aTV show that was on for five years that Inever watched--Babylon 5 maybe?I think my favorite song on here is “Beour GOH,” to the Disney tune “Be OurGuest,” where Smith sums up the prosand cons of being a guest of honor at ascience-fiction convention.From the “You either get it or you don’tdept.: “Barenaked Coburn,” a song thatcombines Bruce Cockburn’s “If I had aRocket Launcher” with BarenakedLadies’ “If I had a Million Dollars.” Ifyou know the original songs, this one’spretty good. If you don’t, then you missout on the point of the whole thing. Iadmire Smith’s ability to just let the ideasfly and see if they stick.Smith recorded this album in thebasement of his mother’s house before alive audience of friends, somewhere inthe Midwest. Knowing what basements inthe Midwest look and sound like myself,my hat is off to him for getting the decentsound that this CD has.Another plus to this CD is there areabout 80 million songs on it. So if you seeit on a table at a con, trade some greenpresidents for this one.Ookla the Mok -- “Super Secret”Filk bands don’t happen too often.You’re not gonna get a lot of gigs if yougo into a bar and sing grunge music withthe words “Captain Kirk” and “Buffy” inthem. However, there are rather delightful exceptions to this rule.Which brings us to Ookla the Mok.When you have a name that sounds likea Burr Tillstrom puppet on acid, you’regoing to sing and play like one, too.That’s what makes Ookla the Mok somuch fun. I’d like to say that I wish theband had maybe rehearsed a little morebefore putting most of these songs downon tape but I think that might have ruinedit.Ookla the Mok is an acoustic groupwith a much more general approach tofilk than Mr. Smith. More often than not,they go after genres and stereotypesrather than specific characters in the scifi world. Their new album, “SuperSecret,” is a kind of ans-in-outer-space-while-sippingCaptain- Beefheart-through-a-straw nonstop good time.The first song on this album is “TheUber Tuber,” basically a superhero themesong about Mr. Potato Head. Otherhighlights include “Tandem Bike,” whichshows off the odd side to femininebehavior in relationships, and “CowboySecret Space Detective,” where a fullygrown man puts off yet again decidingwhat he wants to be when he grows up.My absolute favorite song on here ( andone of my favorites for the whole year) is“Stop Talking About Comic Books or I’llKill You,” which is what I’ve wanted tosay to every person I’ve ever met who wastoo obsessed with anything, whether itwas comic books, Pokemon, Anime, StarTrek, religion or you name it.Musically, these guys aren’t thegreatest, but that’s clearly the point. Theywill have you

On the Babylon 5/Crusade front, the prospects of Crusade continuing are nil. Ratings were fairly decent, especially considering the level of promotion TNT did for the series, but the only other viable outlet, the SciFi Channel, just wasn’t interested in footing the bill for more. It’s unlikely that TNT will repeat the series