The Back Page
(Look, when you've typed the previous six stencils on the trot you're in no shape to think of subtle witty meaningful titles swiped from pretentious mainstream rubbish [sic] like what Kev Smith does.)
"I got whistled at by a builder's van entitled Ian Williams!" [Hazel, 28/6/78]
Peter Weston is embarrassed. You see, Ursula Le Guin herself sent a fan letter on Andromeda 2, saying how super was Mike Rohan's story. (No, she didn't mention mine. Sometimes I despise my great friend Mike.) Peter would rather like to quote the letter in Andromeda 4, as part of the introduction to Mike's tale in that collection. There is one snag. Mike has not submitted a tale, despite frantic phone-calls of solicitation.
"You could send him so-and-so," I would say urgently. "I'm sure Peter would like that."
"No," Mike would grumble, "that one's too good for Andromeda..."
Silicon Report:
When this issue is finished I shall go to Silicon. I shall get there by means of transport, probably Kev's car. [Dunno why I give him credit, mind you: never a mention of my brilliant duplicating in the latest Dot.] At Silicon I shall become less than sober, more than once. Curry will be eaten. Fans will fall over, among them Leroy Kettle. The Norwich group will not appear. Much scandal will be repeated and invented, with the names of Jack Robson and Hilma appearing repeatedly. Attendees will be inundated with fanzines... Drilkjis 3, Dot 4, Nabu 5, Twll-Ddu and (so rumour has it) Siddhartha. Recipients of these noble publications will use the fact of their being handed over at a con as a cheap excuse to refrain from response. When the convention is over I shall have a headache, a large hole in my bank balance and several books Rog Peyton could not sell to anyone else. This has been my very first Proleptic Convention Report. I think I prefer the other kind, but it seems just as easy to write the damn thing beforehand, doesn't it? Even if I get it All Wrong the kindly members of Silicon will be too tired and over-emotional (or over-tired and emotional, or both in Greg's and Leroy's cases) to notice, much. Thank you. [22-8-78]
TWLL-DDU Nearly Fourteen
TWLL-DDU 1101
TWLL-DDU D
Call it what you will, it comes from Dave Langford
22 Northumberland Avenue
READING
Berkshire
RG2 7PW
United Kingdom