John Purcell
Holy cow, Guy! I just spent the better part of the last hour- in which I really should have been in bed, since it's now almost three in the morning - perusing your latest issue, the June, 2006 number, in drop-jawed awe. Challenger #24 is one of the most well put together webzines I have yet seen. Okay, there may not be many of these yet, but with the likes of Planetary Stories, eI, Emerald City (now sadly defunct) and others out on the Internet, yours is remarkable. Congratulations on putting together such a fine webzine.
All credit for the web edition of Chall goes to Patti Green [ ;-p ]. The print version - which I regard as the basic one - is mine.
I guess I am a bit based in the past, as far as fanzines go. The material in #24 would find prominence in any zine, electronic or dead-tree, and there really isn't any one single piece that I can honestly saw really hooked me. Of course, the over-riding theme of recovery from Katrina still challenges me - seems to me that your zine's title now has a certain irony, doesn't it? - and the writings of Benford, Resnick, and others in here (especially in the letter column) really bring this tragedy home. Now I really do wish we had had the chance to get together earlier this summer when you were in town dropping off those boxes of zines for the TAMU science fiction collection. Next time, don't forget to let me know you're coming!
Like you, I am a big supporter of Al Gore. Even with the recent congressional election victories for the Democrats, I am a bit leery of what they and the Republicans will be able to accomplish. My hope is that Gore will declare. So far only Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa (whom I met back in 2000 when Gore was campaigning on the ISU campus in Ames) has declared, with Senator Barack Obama considering the possibility. I like these two men and respect their positions, but I do think that if Al Gore were to declare, he would be my main choice. It is my opinion, though, that much like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Gore could do much more good as a non-President; however, with the shift of power now in place, a Gore presidency could result in some major long-range programs that would make a difference environmentally, economically, socially, and politically in this country. Who knows? President Gore might even begin to sway foreign opinion of America back in our favor. My fear is that he would be hampered much like Carter was: a too-intelligent of a man stuck in a position where no-one really wanted to hear what he was saying.
Like you, I am a big supporter of Al Gore. Even with the recent congressional election victories for the Democrats, I am a bit leery of what they and the Republicans will be able to accomplish. My hope is that Gore will declare. So far only Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa (whom I met back in 2000 when Gore was campaigning on the ISU campus in Ames) has declared, with Senator Barack Obama considering the possibility. I like these two men and respect their positions, but I do think that if Al Gore were to declare, he would be my main choice. It is my opinion, though, that much like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Gore could do much more good as a non-President; however, with the shift of power now in place, a Gore presidency could result in some major long-range programs that would make a difference environmentally, economically, socially, and politically in this country. Who knows? President Gore might even begin to sway foreign opinion of America back in our favor. My fear is that he would be hampered much like Carter was: a too-intelligent of a man stuck in a position where no-one really wanted to hear what he was saying.
The trouble with getting Gore to run for the presidency is that plenty of people are interested in what he has to say now. An Inconvenient Truth is one of the three most successful documentaries of all time. His perspective on global warming is winning converts in every civilized government
posted by ;-p at 3:14 PM
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