Checkpoint 47

This is CHECKPOINT-47, now published by Darroll Pardoe, 24 Othello Close, Hartford, Huntingdon PE18 7SU, OX. Sub rate remains at 10/50p for the present, but an increase in postal rates is coming soon. April 19th, 1974.


AND ON THE THIRD DAY.... Checkpoint, as you see, is still alive; I have taken over the rights from Peter Roberts and will continue to publish Checkpoint as a news-and-chatzine with basically the same philosophy as before. Existing subscriptions will be honoured. News of all kinds will, of course, be welcome. I know litho isn't exactly the customary format for a fannish newszine, but since the Pardoe mimeograph packed up around Christmas, it's been that or nothing. I should point out that printing costs are about 2p a copy, which added to 3p postage makes exactly the sub rate of 5p.

THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL BRITISH EASTER SF CONVENTION 'Tynecon74' took place on 12-15th April at the Royal Station Hotel in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Attendance was a record; about 350 people actually turned up at the convention out of a total registration of 504. This is the first time the total has topped 500 at an Eastercon. This year's convention was remarkable not only for its excellence (it's one of my personal Best Three, topped only by the Baycon and possibly Bristol (1967)) but by the large number of attendees for whom this was their first convention. This influx of new faces was in large part due to publicity in 'SF Monthly' and surely bodes well for the future of British fandom.

THE ORGANIZERS this year were the local Gannet group: Chairman was Ian Maule, secretary Ian Williams, treasurer Rob Jackson, and the committee was completed by Harry and Irene Bell. Harry handled the Press, Guest-of-Honour was Bob Shaw, and fan GoH was Peter Weston. As usual I missed a lot of the programme; the most memorable event was a fannish Wizard of Oz pastiche put on by a group of people headed by James Blish (as the Wizard Of First Fandom). The audience had been nicely warmed up beforehand by Vera Johnson's filk song, but the real hero of the hour was Ben Jackson the dog.

THE BANQUET was as you would expect a Convention banquet to be; Dave Kyle was Toastmaster as usual. Bon Shaw made his GoH speech at the Banquet; it had been planned for the evening before, but after a series of programme shuffles and postponements, it was moved to the next day when the fans in the hall started getting restless. The Doc Weir Award went to Malcolm Edwards for (one assumes) his work with Vector. The BSFA's British SF Award went to Arthur C. Clarke for 'Rendezvous with Rama' and a special citation to Brian Aldiss for 'Billion Year Spree'. Mike Rosenblum and Ken Bulmer were made Life Members of the BSFA. The Ken McIntyre Award was not presented this time. The BFS's August Derleth award went to 'CONAN' (comics); 'LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE' (films); Mike Moorcock's 'JADE MAN'S EYES' (short story) and 'HROLF KRAKI SAGA' (by Poul Anderson) (novel). An Eddie Jones painting was raffled among TAFF voters; this was won by Tony Sudbery. This year there was a special event: the presentation of the awards to the winners of the Gollancz/Sunday Times SF Competition. The cheques were presented by John Bush of Gollancz, and the winners were: 'Shipwreck' by Charles Logan and 'Catchworld' by Chris Boyce (novels); also short stories by James Alexander and Garry Kilworth.

THE BUSINESS MEETING of the Convention was the liveliest for some time. The night before it had seemed that three bids were likely; as it turned out there were only two, the Manchester bid having withdrawn in favour of 1976 (for which they requested, and got, the meeting's approval). In view of the confusion the two year in advance system has caused in the past, I doubt the wisdom of reviving it, even though all concerned were at pains to make clear that next year's Convention is not bound by the decision, The two bidders for 1975 were a Bristol convention committee with Keith Freeman as chief spokesman; and a SEACON (South-east Area) committee spoken for by Rob Holdstock and Malcolm Edwards, and containing a formidable combination of forces including Peter Roberts, Peter Weston and the Rats. The latter bid won by a large margin.

OK FOR UK IN 79... Peter Weston then outlined the plans of the committee (comprising also Messrs Edwards and Roberts) for the 1979 Worldcon, which they hope to bring to London in that year. The year was carefully chosen for reasons which seem unexceptionable. Voting will be at the East Coast Worldcon in 1977; they have my total support, and I hope that of many other British fans. Now all they have to do is convince enough people on the other side of the Pond.

A NOTABLE OMISSION was a fanzine auction, due apparently to a paucity of fmz sent in for auctioning. I hope this isn't going to be a regular thing: I like a good fanzine auction at a convention. There were some good films, though, chosen for their dramatic ('Omega Man', 'Slaughterhouse-5') or amusement ('Son of Kong', 'Creature in the Black Lagoon') value. Congratulations to the Convention Committee for a really enjoyable weekend.

THE DELTA FILM COMPETITION was won by a humorous film called '5-4-3-2-1' – I never did work out what all the young lads with torches running through every scene were meant to signify, however.


FANZINES RECEIVED. I'm glad of this opportunity to mention the fanzines I've been getting – they do pour in at an incredible rate, and I sometimes feel guilty about it since all I usually do is trade SPINGE for them.

SF ECHO/MOEBIUS TRIP 19 (Ed Connor, 1805 N Gale, Peoria, 61604, USA) (75¢ or the usual; l64pp dp 7x4). I marvel at amount of work the unusual format must entail, Good letter column, and there's a review of Heinlein's 'Time Enough for Love' by Philip Jose Farmer.

IT COMES IN THE MAIL 8 (Ned Brooks, 713 Paul Street, Newport News, VA 23605, USA) (22pp dp USQ). Ned's diary-style personalzine (vaguely reminiscent of the old APE) is mostly fanzine reviews this time.

BREAKTHROUGH 3 (Henry Bitman, P0 Box 968, Azusa, CA 91702, (usual? 28pp dp USQ). In appearance and content an ordinary sort of fanzine with nothing particularly outstanding – but he says he pays for material published. Wow!

STARLING 27 (Hank and Lesleigh Luttrell, 525 W Main, Madison, Wisconsin 53703, USA) (usual or 75¢; 48pp dp USQ). Starling, now ten years old, continues in its usual vein. Good repro and artwork, good letters, and Bob Tucker writing about his movie projectionist career.

GODLESS 6 (SP4 Bruce D. Arthurs, 527-98-3103, 57th Trans Co., Fort Lee, VA 23801, USA) (usual or 35¢). Reasonable material, a mixture of sercon and fannish, and an interesting letter but I'm afraid the repro is rather spotty (or did I just get a bad copy?).

KOSMIC CITY KAPERS 2 (Jeff May, Box 68, Liberty, MO 64068, USA) (usual or 3/$1.00; 38pp dp USQ). Most of this issue is taken up with a report of the Dallas convention in mid-1973 by Howard Waldrop, who was one of the organisers. Interesting as being written from the inside: he seems to have had a hectic time.

DYNATRON 57 (Roy Tackett, 915 Green Valley Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107, USA) (usual, or 25¢ for a sample; 22pp dp USQ). The green fannish fanzine, this time including a piece of faanish foolishness by Darrell Schweitzer. I like it, but I don't everyone would. There's a sense of timebinding about Dynatron; a most desirable commodity.

BY OWL LIGHT 6 (Frank Denton, 14654 8th Avenue SW, Seattle WA 98166, USA) (54pp dp USQ). This is entirely devoted to trip to the British Isles last year. He covered a lot of ground and has vaguely antiquarian tastes. An outsider's view of Britain is always worth reading: sometimes I wonder if it's really the country I'm living in that they are talking about.

RITBLAT/GRIM NEWS 2 (Greg Pickersgill, Flat 1, 62 Elsham Road, London W.14, UK) (usual or 5/50p) (30pp dp 4to). Pickersgill is now definitely the fastest rising star of British fanwriting. I (amazingly enough) find myself entirely in agreement with views on children and femmefans. As Greg says, women in fandom are all right 'so long as they're someone else's, or have worked into it on their own' – affirm , affirm. Rosemary agrees too, being one of the latter category and a rabid libber. This fanzine I recommend, and Greg will know what a reversal that is for me.

SON OF THE WSFA JOURNAL 125 (Don Miller, 12315 Judson Road, Wheaton, MD 20906, USA) (10/$2.00). This issue is largely SF book reviews, and a couple of pages of fanzines. I find the layout too crammed for comfort, though.


CONVENTIONS

SEACON The British Easter convention for 1975 will be held somewhere in the south-east, possibly Brighton. Registration is 50p to Peter Roberts, Flat 4, 6 Westbourne Park Villas, London W2.

NOVACON 4 Will be held in the Imperial Centre Hotel, Birmingham, on October 25/27th 1974. GoH is Ken Slater. Registration is 50p to Robert Hoffman, 44 Middleston Hall Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham 30.

DISCON II, the 1974 Worldcon, is at the Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington DC, over August 29th/September 2nd 1974. Supporting membership is £1.20 to Eddie and Marsha Jones, 25 Mount Way, Bebington Hall Park, Higher Bebington, Cheshire L63 5RA. The GoH is Roger Zelazny and fan GoH is Jay Kay Klein.

AUSSIECON The 1975 Worldcon, in Melbourne. Supporting membership is £1.40 to Peter Roberts (address above). The GoH is Ursula LeGuin; fan GoH Mike and Susan Glicksohn.

SFANCON 5 is being held in Ghent over 31st August/1st September 1974. Ken Bulmer is the GoH and Peter Roberts (TAFF permitting) is fan GoH. Registration is £1.35 to Vernon Brown, Pharmacy Dept., University of Aston, Gosta Green, Birmingham B4 7HT.

EUROCON 2 is not dead; a French group have apparently taken the title for a convention in Grenoble in July 1974. I don't have much information on this, but Peter Nicholls of the SF Foundation may be able to help.

THE 1979 WORLDCON The committee bidding for a British worldcon in this year would welcome pre-supporting memberships at 40p to help defray the costs of advertising and so on. Money to (yes, you guessed) Peter Roberts, at the address above.


CHECKPOINT 47, APRIL 19th 1974. NEWS OF ANY KIND WELCOMED.