Martin Morse Wooster, Silver Spring, Maryland

I understand the fanboy imperative to impulsively collect writers' autographs. I've pruned a lot of the SF books I bought in the 1970s, but I've kept all the ones that I had signed, including at least two Gordy Dickson books where Dickson and Sandra Miesel sat at the same table and Dickson signed as the author and Miesel signed as the critic (she wrote the introductions). I still go to book signings and get books signed -- just not as many as I did when I was 19 and thought a signed paperback was Way Cool.

We don't have enough information to know whether or not Robert Anton Wilson was being rude to Reece Moorhead. Wilson was nice to me in correspondence and the one time I met him. Maybe Moorhead caught Wilson at the end of a long day or maybe Wilson was tired and wanted to take a nap. Of course writers should be courteous and professional to their fans, but readers shouldn't expect authors to be "on" all the time.

About your Atlanta Worldcon report: I'm glad you reprinted it, and sometime you should tell us how you segued ftom having an MFA into being a lawyer. [Behold the story in this issue.] Do we know what happened to Judy-Lynn Del Rey's Hugo? Has anyone else ever refused a Hugo? I fully understand why Lester Del Rey refused his wife's award, but there should have been a more gracious way of refusing the prize than what Del Rey did.

I agree, and had an argument after the ceremony with Del Rey's representative on that very topic. I also told Ben Bova, who had encouraged fans to vote for Judy-Lynn, that fans appreciated what he had tried to do even if his fellow editor did not.

Mike Resnick (and Laura Turtledove's) piece on musicals was, like most of Resnick's pieces for you, very entertaining. I can imagine the pitch meeting for Carrie. "The Phantom of /the Opera has a chandelier crashing every night -- we'll flood the stage with gallons of fake blood!" I also find it very hard to believe that anyone would pay money to see a musical version of The Iliad called Home Sweet Homer. As for Monty Python's Spamalot, it's popular enough that it's about to play Washington for a second tour. I wanted to see it the first time it was in town, but the run was sold out.

As for Gary Robe's piece, at first glance the line "I know how they put the sealing wax on a bottle of Maker's Mark" is one of the least likely pickup lines ever. But it makes perfect sense, and I cheer the fellow who makes a nice living making sealing wax.

I also enjoyed Charles Mohapel's ComiCon report. I can't imagine having fun at any convention with 125,000 (!!) people, even if many of them are photogenic babes. But it looks like if you went to the less attended panels, you might have a good time -- and come home with far better swag than SF cons give away.