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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 06/29/90 -- Vol. 8, No. 52
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
07/11 LZ: HYPERION by Dan Simmons (Hugo Nominee)
08/01 LZ: A FIRE IN THE SUN by George Alec Effinger (Hugo Nominee)
08/22 LZ: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA by Arthur C. Clarke
09/12 LZ: STAR MAKER by Olaf Stapledon (Formative Influences)
10/03 LZ: MICROMEGAS by Voltaire (Philosophy)
10/24 LZ: THE WORM OUROBOROS by E. R. Eddison (Classic Horror)
11/14 LZ: WAR WITH THE NEWTS by Karel Capek (Foreign SF)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
07/13 HUGO BALLOT DEADLINE
07/14 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzx!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3E-301 949-4488 hotle!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl
MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. The good news is that the science fiction club no longer will
have any financial problems with AT&T. For a long time AT&T has
been cutting back our funding. Year by year we had to figure out
how to do with less. First we had to do away with some of our
subscriptions. Then we had to do away with buying the Hugo-
winners. Well, that process has come to an end. We expect that
with this year's revised budget, which is a nice round $0, we will
have to make the final cut of buying discussion books and that will
be an end to it. That is, it is an end until AT&T decides to start
charging us rent for the conference rooms.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Initially, the policy was that AT&T clubs were under no
circumstances to ask members for money. In those days they funded
us to the tune of $150/year. The idea was that the clubs were
supposed to be part of the AT&T environment, not a subscription
service. Of course over the years AT&T has decided on many
occasions that it should be asking the employees for money. You
know, United Way, Savings Bonds, AT&T PAC, etc. Once they got over
the initial embarrassment of sticking out a paw and asking for the
old mazooma, they discovered they kind of liked it. Now it is a
new AT&T tradition. High executives now get into the act, at least
a far as signing requests. Hey, it's only fair if the company pays
us for us to once in a while return the favor, right? For a while
they even had parties for the canvassers for things like United
Way. Then they figured the parties were costing them too much and
that was stopped.
So now that AT&T has gotten into the act, they figure, that is a
great way to get clubs funded. Ask the members for money. Maybe
we can run an emailathon. Get people to e-mail in with messages
like "I will contribute two dollars if Evelyn will rerun her review
of _S_h_e_r_l_o_c_k _H_o_l_m_e_s _i_n _B_a_n_g_k_o_k." Hey, I know. Some orchestras have
this deal that if you contribute certain amount you can conduct.
(Well, I am sure they are told something like "Ignore the jerk with
the baton and play it like you think it should be played. Just
start playing when he starts waving, after that let him follow you.
And this time, if he says he is conducting Beethoven's 9th, is it
asking too much to have you guys play the 9th? That guy last time
didn't even _l_i_k_e Bartok.") Maybe what we can do is for the highest
bidder, you can write the science fiction notice. Bids start at
four cents.
Anyway, what we are going to do for the time being is this. I will
cough up $20 a year out of the goodness of my spacious (specious?)
heart. The rest will probably have to be handled on a pay-as-you-
go basis with discussion participants taking turns buying the books
and loaning them out before the discussion.
2. The discussion books "Micromegas" (actually a novelette), THE
WORM OUROBOUROS, and WAR WITH THE NEWTS are now available from the
Lincroft SF Library. (These were bought just before the funds were
cut off.) [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzx!leeper
Persecution is the first law of society because it is
always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.
-- Howard Mumford Jones