Joseph Major, Louisville, Kentucky

http://members.iglou.com/jtmajor

[Comments on] The Altitudinous Route: I see you felt about Kansas about what we did. Kansas rest stops in particular are minimal. In Kentucky, in Indiana, we are used to finding a substantial building, with brochures describing local and not so local sights, computerized maps of the weather, even a friendly attendant. In Kansas, except for the first stop after the border, there was nothing. The building had only restrooms. And the soft drink machines were behind bars!

I think it was during WWII that somebody distributed replicas of the Liberty Bell, to inspire patriotism and national spirit. Kentucky's is at the Old Capitol building, a place I know well from my days in Frankfort. (I knew the New Capitol building even better, having played in it many times.) We saw one other replica at the Truman Museum.

The Richthofen Castle is at 7020 East Twelfth Avenue.

[Comments on] Challenger 28

Editorial addition: And for Yowler the cat, who shouted and mewled beneath our windows, annoying us, until we got our wish, and wished we had never wished it. Worse yet, two days before the big storm, someone came along and helped himself to Tim Lane's and Elizabeth Garrott's cat Shadow, who was on a leash in front of their house. Their other cat, Neville, is noting the vacancy. Shadow used to jump up in my lap.

Want a few more cats? Our gift!

Critters Sheryl Birkhead Has Known and Loved: For some reason, one of my grandmother's chickens used to chase me away from the barn. Lisa's sister had a similar conflict with one of her great-grandmother's hens. Ma Hat took a hatchet and dealt out the supreme measure of punishment, then had chicken soup for little Esther's soul.

Lisa has her stories of Digger and Shaggy. I had issues with Mother's poodles, which never seemed quite to get used to the idea that I lived there too.

Resnick: At this writing, it looks as if Curlin will skip the Breeders' Cup. In the unlikely event that Lisa doesn't mention it, she was dubious about Big Brown all along, because of those quarter cracks in his hooves. In fact, she was worried that he would through a fluke do well, and then those bad feet would be bred into the next generation.

Right now, she is seeking out pictures of Bernadini foals, noting their resemblance to the sire, and thinking with joy of 2010 and 2011 and ...We may try to go see him again at Darley, in Lexington, on Martin Luther King Day. Last time it was 20 degrees before wind chill.

SF Entering the Great Divide: In further defense of Green's thesis, I note that a greater proportion of SF/F works these days are marketed as romances. Perhaps because interstellar stories work down to Wars of Incomprehensibly Powerful Beings, and planetary stories are The Cyberpunk Kid ... neither of which holds at least this reader's interest. Then you have alternate histories, which are all over. One (a particularly unlikely and politically and ethnically biased one) won all the awards this year.

Between the Candle and the Star: I would point out that fanzine panels are always scheduled during the opening ceremonies, just before the closing ceremonies, against the GOH reading, during the Masquerade ... small wonder that fanzine fans feel shut out.

New Dog ... Old Tricks: I don't think I could ever live with a dog again (see above about my mother's poodle) but Pepper looks so darned cute!

The Future Is Almost Here: All one has to do to see the misguided optimism of Kurtzweil's thesis (and hence of Singularity predictions) is to watch 2001. We do not have regular spaceflights to the Moon. Bob Tucker was disappointed, as we all well know. Benford pointing out how people won't all fall in line, but will think differently, is a needed corrective that few seem to consider. Indeed, citing Blade Runner is apropos. It's used as an example of the two-tier society, the grand glorious futurians hovering above a crowded underclass. I thought of this when reading about Hong Kong.

Edison's Conquest of Mars: Which was one of the first examples of fan fiction. Serviss was also one of Edison's assistants, so this might also be one of the first Mary Sues. (Also, I get the impression that it was based on a pirated edition of War of the Worlds which set the invasion in New Jersey, forty years before Orson Welles.)

From Fan to Filthy Pro, in Ten Easy Steps: It hasn't worked for me.

Lord of the (Show) Rings: There is a Dog Show Channel! There is! I'd come into the bedroom and Lisa would have the television on, showing a dog show. I said "You've got it on the Dog Show Channel again." She'd say, "There's nothing else on," and then, "There's no Dog Show Channel!" If there isn't a Dog Show Channel, how come you can find a dog show on 24/7?

The Pride of Lions: And my cousin Bob married for the fifth time at the age of 65, to a woman younger than his own daughter. Eight years later, they had a son.

What took him so long? Never mind. I know.

"Gangway! Hot Organ!": The story of an effort so superlatively overwhelming that it overcomes the ability to compensate. What were the responses in SFPA 101 like? The thought boggles the mind!

A Hideous Confession: They're still doing those sorts of books. Now, they're sold in mainstream bookstores, with fabulous publicity campaigns, richly textured covers, and no shame. They're called Romances.

The Chorus Lines: Brad W. Foster: I get the impression that Comic-Con is a giant bazaar for popular-culture items of which comics are a small and declining part. One consumes, not participates.

Bob Kennedy: And now the "crazy complainant" has a college degree. To many people the Duke Lacrosse Team case was more about class than about race, since the stripper was also attending the local community college, which put her at odds with the students at an elite university.

Me: Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons. Ohhhh I am sooo sorrrry ..

Lloyd Penney: Yes, you are specifically invited to the Fan-eds' Feast. We want to celebrate you!

Not only fan editors but contributors and members of the Chorus are invited. Look for an announcement of the site and date of the next Fan-eds' Feast in a Zine Dump RSN.

Milt Stevens: When Clarke introduced Asimov at the Mensa meeting in London, taking regard to Asimov's aversion to flying which led him to take a liner from New York to London, he said that he had scheduled a special showing of "A Night to Remember" for Asimov, and afterwards they would discuss fun things to do in lifeboats. Do they show Titanic on those Caribbean cruises (like the one my nephew took to his wedding, and his wife left him two months later), and if they do, do they post security guards forward to keep dim-bulb couples from standing on the bow shouting "I'm flying, Jack!"?

Liz Copeland interview: RiverCon '75 was maybe my second or third con. Maybe we ran into each other. Or maybe not, that was when I drank a pint of wine and couldn't get Tim Lane, Grant McCormick, and Bruce Gardner to believe I had seen Poul Anderson. Even though he was there.

Martin Morse Wooster, Silver Spring MD

Laura Haywood-Cory makes many valid arguments. In the age of the Internet, people; come to fandom in all sorts of ways, and we ought to allow lots of fandoms at our cons, as long as groups are quiet and don't try to drown out or intimidate people. But I prefer to spend time with people who read a lot. I don't have very much in common with the avid filker or costumer. And it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that reading and writing ids the center of what our fandom does, and we ought to give precedence as fan guests of honor to fen who do a lot of reading and writing.

Joseph Green makes some interesting points, but I don't think he can extrapolate from a list of who won the Hugo for best novel to reach the conclusion that "SF writers are pulling back from the vastness and openness of interstellar space to return to Earth." Individual Hugo races have their own quirks. Lots of fans have read Harry Potter, for example, but I think the reaction to J.K. Rowling's indifference to winning the Hugo (for what IMHO is her weakest book) ensured that none of her other novels would even be nominated. Similarly, Michael Chabon's Hugo win does not seem a forerunner of a string of victories for alternate universe Jewish dystopias. Green would have made a stronger case if he addressed Geoff Ryman's movement for Mundane SF, which calls for realistic near-future stories that don't involve space travel or time travel.

I enjoyed the many animal stories, with the best pieces being those by Sheryl Birkhead and Mike Resnick. The smartest dog I ever knew was Jefe (or, as his owner called him, "Jeffy").

John Parcell, College Station, TX

Good gravy, Guy; I thought our mailbox was going to rupture when trying to extract the envelope containing Challenger 28. Fortunately, both zine and mailbox are fine. A full recovery is expected for both.

I may not fully recover from reading this huge zine for awhile, though. That is one monster of a zine, reminding me of those Days of Yore when mammoth twill-tone fanzines used to fill the mailbox. Those were the days, weren't they? Good to see you're trying to fill that void, and doing it quite admirably too, I might add.

So sorry to hear of your latest Best Fanzine Hugo setback. Too bad; I like both Challenger and File 770, so if you were to lose out to someone, Mike Glyer's a good fellow. I suspect that this year's 30th Anniversary issue of File 770 may have had something to do with the results, but who knows? Both are wonderful zines, and from what I have read in LJ's and all, the final results took a while to compute. It must have a very close vote.

I can't tell all that I know, but I can say that I'm again encouraged. But as I said in my trip report, at the time all I felt was ridiculous – itself a ridiculous way to feel.

But, I really need to address the most important issue that you raise in this latest, err, issue of your zine. Of course, I refer to that question you raised on page 86: "Which should I want most: a long life or a good pizza?" This is exactly like that age-old conundrum, which came first: the chicken or the egg? A harder question to answer has rarely been raised, and in this day and age when health is a major concern of everyone, you would think that a long life is tantamount to personal fulfillment. On the other hand, I know of precious few worldly goods as personally fulfilling as a good pizza. So maybe we should look at this question existentially: since we're all going to die eventually, you might as well go for that good pizza. Extra mushrooms and black olives, of course, but hold the anchovies.

Olives?!?

Since I am back in the letter column, allow me to echo Jerry Kaufman's sentiments about Taral Wayne being selected as Fan Artist GoH at Anticipation. Taral is indeed an excellent choice for any convention anywhere. He has had a long career providing art and articles to fan-eds, his style is distinctive, and I think Taral is a fine choice. Congratulations to Taral!

The artist whom you have honored in this particular issue, Sheryl Birkhead, likewise has a long fannish pedigree. (You likee the pun?) For years Sheryl has supplied the fannish press with her distinctive style, and I am glad you have given here a place of honor in Challenger . Good show, Guy. Her opening article was a delight to read, and gives us a much better appreciation of her background and longevity in fandom. A fun cover illo, too, I might add.

As for comments on any particular contents of this Brobdingnagian tome, I feel rather overwhelmed. Suffice to say that I finally finished reading this sucker a couple nights ago (10 Aug 08), and my favorite pieces were Mike Resnick's insights into being a dog show handler (my personal favorite breed is the border collie), "Birth of a Notion", Rich Dengrove's article about Edison's Conquest of Mars, and your story behind SFPA 100. I can't even begin to imagine plowing through a 1,748 page apa disty [1,750! Remember, I miscounted.]; sometimes I find SNAPS a bit much lately, and that's usually between 60 and 90 pages long. What a story you told! Even better: you all survived. Now that says something.

Ah, me. Take care, and thank you again for a wonderful issue. I can't wait to see the sports issue. Maybe I can write up something for it about coaching my son's soccer team. That might fit. In the meantime, relax and enjoy the coffee.