K70

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Sept. '97, from A.Vincent Clarke, 16 Wendover Way, Welling, Kent, DA16 2BN, for PoE APA

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UPDATE

I didn't think I'd be away from the good ship Jenny Haniver for so long, but the lure of native dancing girls, rum, and e-mail was too great. I can resist everything except temptation, as the man said.

For those who haven't heard of me, I've been reading SF for rather a long time (tho' the desire to collect every magazine faded around about 1955), and I have fairly large collections of books and fanzines. Domesticity ended many years ago, but I managed to hang onto the baby, who is now grown up and has had two daughters of her own. I've been living on my own for about 18 years, and will have to sweep up the floor soon. Fandom, though, has been my second family. I've been torn for years between the opposing views of FIJAGDH and FIAWOL – Fandom is Just a Goddamn Hobby and Fandom is a Way of Life. Truly, I don't know.

The previous sixty-nine issues of 'K' (named after Potassium, which at some distant time in the past was medically prescribed and gave me a lot of energy and the desire to join PoE), haven't been large, and have largely consisted of thoughts inspired by other member's efforts. I'm afraid you're stuck with this. Sorry.

READING

I'm looking at a 630p. tome entitled Nelson's Letters to his Wife and other documents (Routledge & Kegan Paul '58). Thought I was just an intellectual fly-weight, didn't you? Matter of fact, you're right – this book is intended to go to Ken Bulmer, an ancient friend and flat-mate of mine (as you will know if you've read the fan-history THEN). Ken had a bad stroke, and is still confined to a wheel chair with paralysis of his right side. I just hope that when I deliver it he doesn't say "Oh, I've read that!" Darn thing weighs nearly 3kg.

More lightweight have been Dave Langford's The Silence of the Langford and The Dragonhiker's Guide to Battlefield Covenant etc., both collections of parodies, reviews, and generally fannish stuff from numerous outlets – fanzines, computer zines, etc. Marvellous reading.

The Demon-Haunted World by the late Carl Sagan is thoroughly recommended – a sustained and entertaining onslaught against muddled thinking, with special reference to flying saucer enthusiasts.

You may remember that I've previously mentioned Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue (English & How it Got That Way), a book about our language by an American journalist living in this country – "In common speech some 4,000 words are used differently in one country from the other". Not only is it educational, but there's a sense of humour evident throughout, so when I saw Bryson's name on [[ceases here, unfinished]]