THE HAT GOES HOME
— Faned: Mike Glicksohn. Conreport detailing Glicksohn’s 1975 trip to Australia to attend the 33rd Worldcon in Melbourne as Co-Fan Guest of Honour (sharing the honour with Susan Wood). The title is appropriate, as he was renowned for his signature Australian-style bush hat he wore at conventions, and now he and his hat were going ‘home’ at last.
Numerous artists enliven the pages, including Taral, Phil Foglio, Sheryl Birkhead, Derek Carter, Bill Rotsler, Harry Bell, Tim Kirk, James Schull, Jackie Franke, Cathy Hill, Sam Long, and Barry Kent MacKay. I particularly liked MacKay’s rendition of a Wombat wearing a propeller beanie. And Glicksohn’s capsule description of a Wombat:
“The Wombat is the world’s most delightful, endearing, charming and utterly stupid inhabitant. It would probably take at least three of them to be the equivalent to a Trekkie. They stand around in placid bewilderment radiating an air of stolid acceptance and I loved each and every one of them.”
One thing which puzzles me are two comments concerning Ursula K. LeGuin. I will quote the first: “Her joy and enthusiasm for what was, to her, a brand new experience – fandom – was obviously real and spread to those who were sharing the experiences with her.” The second comment also implies she was new to fandom. Why am I puzzled? Because she was Guest of Honour at VCON 1 here in Vancouver back in 1971, and I should think the local fans attending (including several from Oregon & Washington States) would constitute at least her initial introduction to fandom. VCON 1 (or the Vancouver SF Convention as it was then called) was in fact the very first SF con she ever attended. There must have been others between then and the 75 Worldcon?
But perhaps I quibble. This could well have been her first contact with legendary full-bore fandom, such as the likes of US Fan Bob Tucker who had been popular, infamous and mischievous from 1938 on. Glicksohn has occasion to tell several Tucker anecdotes born of this trip, including:
“…That was the sort of night it was. And when we all gathered in the con suite to see Bob Tucker awarded the coveted Golden Boob Award for sexism in science fiction fandom, well, it seemed like an appropriate place to quit, leaving Bob roaming through the halls of the Southern Cross desperately seeking the young lady from whose torso the definitely outstanding trophy had been cast…”
Perhaps the greatest value of this trip report lies not so much in the description of the 33rd Worldcon but in Glicksohn’s account of all the Australian fans he met, not just in Melbourne but in Sydney, Canberra and other Australian cities & towns, for he moved about the country quite a bit. I was particularly gobsmacked by his description of Ron Graham’s SF collection:
“How can one describe what is probably the greatest single collection of science fiction in the world? Forry may have a larger collection of sf memorabilia but even he was left breathless when he visited Ron’s library. Practically every pulp, book, magazine known to sf fans is there, many of the rare old ones being represented not once but several times. Bound sets of all the pulps, two copies of FANCY 1, over 700 original Virgil Finlay drawings, many of them scattered in large piles on a desk top. More old fanzines than one fan could ever read, including the entire Donald Wollheim collection he sold to help start DAW Books…”
Great galloping Ghu! Donald Wollheim is the only fan on record as having seen and reviewed Canada’s first fanzine, THE CANADIAN SCIENCE FICTION FAN, pubbed out of Vancouver circa early 1936 by faned unknown. No copy is known to exist. Could it be? Could Wollheim have kept it in his collection? Could it be among the items Ron Graham purchased? Could Glicksohn have stood within inches (or feet at least) of a copy of this mythic zine? Within reach of solving the mystery of the identity of Canada’s first faned? I guess we’ll never know. Can’t help but wonder if Graham’s collection is still intact, and where it might be housed. Can anybody tell me?
[ I have since found out the bulk of the collection was donated to the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney. Will follow up on this. ]
I’ll leave off with what must have been one of Glicksohn’s favourite moments:
“Or, best of all, standing talking to Bob Silverberg when a young fan holding a program book comes up and hangs around us for several minutes. Finally Bob takes the book and asks, “Would you like me to sign this?” and the boy takes it back, hands it to me and says, “Please autograph my book?”
“Of hundreds of such moments was my Aussiecon composed.”
1976 – (#1 – Aug)
HAVE I MOVED? YET AGAIN
— Faned: Robert Runte. Perzine out of Edmonton. (Detail to be added)
1993 – (#1 – Jun)
HIBITED HAPPENINGS
— Faneds: Norman G. Browne & Frank Stephens. Clubzine of the Vancouver SF Society, pubbed out of Vancouver B.C. in the early 1950s. Title refers to the informal ‘nickname’ of the club, ‘The Hibited Men’.
1952 – (#1 – Mar) – Edited by Browne. Single sheet offset printed. 2 pages, probably club natter dealing with minutes, election results, upcoming meetings, and possibly containing references to other clubs & proposed affiliation with the Canadian SF Association.
– (#2 – Apr) (#3 – May) – Both edited by Browne, & both expanded to 4 mimeographed pages. This may possibly indicate the presence of locs by such as Chester Cuthbert who was active in the CSFA at the time.
– (#4 – ? ) – Edited by Frank Stephens, taking over after Browne moved to Edmonton. Also 4 pages, probably mimeographed. The club continued into 1953 at least, so there may have been further issues
That the clubzine was so small indicates it was intended strictly as a club newsletter, all evidence of greater fannish ambition consisting entirely of member’s contributions to Browne’s perzine VANATIONS. He seems to have been the only one in the club interested in fanpubbing as such.
Highly unlikely any copies of ‘HIBITED HAPPENINGS’ survive now, but there was sufficient widespread awareness of its existence in the 1950s to guarantee its inclusion in the ‘H’ section of the Pavlat/Evans Fanzine Index published in February 1958. Browne was proud of the contacts he had established with other clubs, and it is undoubtedly the act of trading HIBITED HAPPENINGS for other clubzines that brought it to the attention of Pavlat & Evans.
[ See VANATIONS, VANCOUVER SF SOCIETY, PAPA, CONCUPISCENT TALES, PAR, TORATIONS, DAMN!, FILLER, NORMAN G. BROWNE, THE HIBITED MEN, SEVENTH FANDOM & DOCTOR OF FANOLOGY]
HISSY FIT
— Faned: Margot Dame. Feminist/furturist perzine out of Vancouver, B.C. At least two issues. (Details to be added)
1996 – (#1 – ? ) (#2 – ? )
HONQUE
— Faneds: Norm & Gina Clarke. A perzine pubbed out of Ottawa, Ontario, in the mid 1960s. (Detail requested!)
Arnie Katz wrote in VEGAS FANDOM WEEKLY #99 ( 2007 ): “Norm Clarke & Gina Ellis ( Clarke ) edited a fanzine that made up in non-stop hilarity what it may have lacked in refined and slick appearance. Norm’s lurid tales of ‘skree-honking’ and the fine writing of both Gina & Boyd Raeburn guaranteed a good read, liberally punctuated by laughter.”
1964 – (#1 – Fall
1965 – (#2 – Winter/Spring) (#3 – Jul) (#4 – ? ) (#5 – ? )
HOODOOCON PROGRAM BOOK
— Faneds: D. Walton-LeBlanc & R. LeBlanc. Hoax convention program book, 12 pages of inventive humour.
1982 – (#1 – ?Sep)
HORIZONS SF
— Faneds: Various. Fictionzine pubbed by the University of British Columbia SF Society, Vancouver, B.C., beginning in 1979. Currently (year 2002) not being printed due to lack of funds & lack of editor. Therefore not open to submissions. But will undoubtedly be revived at some point in the future. (details to be added.)
Writing in 1985, Garth Spencer stated: “HORIZONS SF now seems to be a biannual fictionzine featuring some 5 SF stories, up to 3000 words each per issue, 2 or more poems, science articles up to 2500 words, B&W art & SF cartoons.”
Partial listing follows:
Under Offer Kaban & I. Starwood as faneds:
1980 – (#5 – Mar) (#6 – Apr) (#7 – Oct) (#8 – Nov) (#9 – Dec)
1981 – (#10 – Feb) (#11 – May)
Under Offer Kaban as Faned:
– (V2#5 – Spring?) – “Particularly interesting is an article by Richard Clark on the belief in aliens, and a short piece by Andrew Benkovich (UBC SF Soc Pres) on Canada’s participation in the European Space Agency (ESA). Richard Bartrop’s DUCK ROGERS 3 page comic continues to amuse with a satire of SKYLARK OF SPACE (E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith) and/or THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The rest of the issue is taken up by a senseofwonder editorial & some ok fanfiction. Definitely one of the best clubzines around.” – (RR)
Under Richard Clark as Faned:
1982 – (V4#1 – Oct) – 22 pages. Cover by Norma Nikkel depicting interior of a futuristic treehouse. Richard Bartrop contributes illustrations to several stories, as well as his own 3 page cartoon strip ‘Duck Rogers – the Wrath of Roarke’. Stories are: ‘For Want of an Eighth’ by N.S. Hetherington, ‘No Two Ways About It’ by Richard Clark, & ‘Oedipia’ by Alfredo Dammert.
“It’s interesting to note that two of our three pieces of fiction deal with the perhaps difficult relationship between computer technology and sex, though hopefully more by way of speculation than prophesy.” – R. Clark.
Concludes with short reviews of ‘The Beastmaster’ & ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ by Norma Nikkel.
1983 – (V4#1 -?)
– (V4#2 – Feb) – 28 pages. Cover not credited, depicts a solar eclipse with a man’s face superimposed such that his hair composes part of the solar corona flares.
Fiction: ‘Severance Day’ by Ed Kedzierski, & ‘Angular Momentum’ by Steve Wodz. Richard Bartrop contributes another episode of ‘Duck Rogers’ as well as a fullpage ‘StarWars Cantina’-style scene with cool aliens. Andrew Benkovich writes about ‘Third World Space Programmes’ (India, Brazil, etc.), Danil U. Thibault discourses on space colonies, & Richard Clark chides SF authors for assuming the future Earth will be united under a benign world government: “…as unlikely now as it has been at any time since the fall of the Roman empire. It may make for good SF, but it’s lousy fortune-telling.”
Under Kyle Robert Kirkwood as Faned:
1983 – (V5#1 – ?)
1984 – (V5#2 – ?)
Under Michael Dean Jackson as Faned:
1985 – (V6#2 – Mar)
Under Rod Lohin as Faned:
– (V7#1 – Winter?) – “V7#1 will be HORIZONS’ first theme issue, the theme being ‘Pulp Forever’. Mss. will be accepted… on anything to do with 40s-50s pulps; fiction, poems, critiques, non-fiction. Some book reviews from this era would be appropriate.”
“Managing editor Kyle Kirkwood writes that the new chief editor is Rod Lohin, who prefers a hard-science or interstellar bias to SF submissions, and will give lowest priority to sword & sorcery stories.” – (GS)
THE HOWL
— Faneds: Michael Martin, Deej Barens. Newsletter of the Starwolves Event Services Society pubbed out of Surrey, B.C., in the early 1990s. (Details to be added)
HUBRIS
— Faned: Taral. Perzine.
1977 – (#1 – Mar)
HUGIN & MUNIN
— Faned: Richard Labonte. Perzine pubbed out of Ottawa, Ontario, in the late 1960s while Labonte was a student at Carleton University. Art contributed by Murray Long. Richard is noted for introducing Susan Wood to fandom (she was also studying at Carleton U. at that time). At least 7 issues.
Taral wrote: “HUGIN & MUNIN… the sole vehicle for minor figure Murray Long. Long did several covers for HaM that were done in a bold style, probably by brush, but look a little as if they were tile cuts. They were not actually horrible, while his interior illos, drawn on stencil, were. Labonte said of Long that he was not a fan.”
1967? – (#1-3 – ? )
1968 – (#4 – Feb) (#5 – Jun)
– (#6 – Sept) – Reviewed by UK fan Peter Roberts in CHECKPOINT #0, Dec 23rd, 1968. “In his editorial Richard Labonte says ‘a showcase of sorts for Canadian fandom.’ A fair enough comment. The editorial itself, ‘An Editor’s Ravin’s,’ plus ‘CSFiC: Testimonial or Requiem’ by Mike Glicksohn, and ‘Ah, ACUSFOOS’ be Earl Schultz all help provide the uninformed about the about the current state of Canadian fandom.”
Roberts then commented on Mike Glicksohn’s fanzine review column ‘The Zinephobic,’ basically calling it unbalanced because of too-high standards of criticism. For example, regarding Glicksohn’s comments on Randy William’s ECCO 4, Roberts says “ECCO is not the best fanzine… but it is better than many, and nowhere near as bad as this review indicates.”
“On the fiction front, Ray Nelson provides a very readable story in ‘Strange Mara.’ This author appears to have a penchant for lost love story lines. Well worth reading.”
“I’m afraid I cannot say the same for ‘On Incongruity’ by Colin Stafford. This short-short is based on a mathematical definition of the infinite. If this fact isn’t appreciated than I don’t think the story itself will be either. I didn’t get it, and still don’t, but I must admit to being rather poor at maths.”
“Also present are in-depth film/book reviews of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, various assorted reviews in ‘ExHellinations,’ and a neat Sherlock Holmes & Forensic SF’ article by Chris Redmond.”
“Plus a name-dropping letter column, ‘HaMlocs’ which is enough to send most fan writers green with envy. LoCs from such worthies as Alexei Panshin, George W. Price (of Advent Publishers), and Isaac Asimov are included.”
“to sum up… I feel able to recommend HaM as a fanzine worth looking at and deserving of your attention.”
1969 – (#7 – Feb) – Cover by Derek Carter depicts a Wright Brothers style biplane head-on. The cowboy pilot with handlebar moustache sitting on the lower wing grips control sticks on either side of him. There is a telescope on the wing to his right, a wrought iron lamp dangling from the upper wing to his left, and an old-fashioned phone behind him. One bomb is suspended by string from the lower wing, and perched on the upper wing is a character sporting a top hat with a turkey feather, manning a Lewis gun. Very cool.
“Interior art by Alexis Gilliland & others. Book reviews by Susan Wood. A 3 page satire of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Also a letter from George Barr defending the film. Fanzine reviews, including one of TRUMPET #8 (a premier SF fanzine of the 1960s).”
HYPERSPACE
— Faneds: Paul Young & J.D. Waryk. Semi-pro quarterly to feature “fiction, op/ed articles, and graphic & sequential art.” Proposed to begin publication out of Victoria, B.C., early 1986.
Commenting on a listing in SCAVENGER’S NEWSLETTER #27 where HYPERSPACE is described as a product of West Coast Fan Publications, “a nonprofit organization promoting illustrated fiction, literature & art, and providing services for writers & artists”, Garth writes: “I keep getting the feeling that either Paul or J.D. don’t know whether HYPERSPACE is to be a fanzine, a semiprozine, or what; that they don’t know what are requisite policies for each kind of periodical, and make up what they don’t know.”
Finally, in MAPLE FEAF RAG 24/25 (Oct 1986), Garth Spencer wrote: “HYPERSPACE has folded. Disagreements between Paul Young & J.D. Waryk have resulted in the suspension of HYPERSPACE before it appeared. To hear it from both sides, it appears that Paul saw J.D. blowing up everything to grandiose proportions, or getting carried away with projects that were still reaching the planning stages; and J.D. saw Paul changing plans around when he thought they were going full speed ahead. Oil & water.”