Mimosa 13 letters column; title illo by Diana Harlan Stein
{{ We know we've said this before, but publishing a fanzine is both laborious and fun. The difficult part is actually putting the issue together -- soliciting material to publish, editing the material into a fanzine, and producing copies for 300 or so people and fan organizations on our mailing list. Receiving your letters of comment in the mail is the fun part, and is the energy source that motivates us. We're particularly pleased when we hear from first-time readers; the first two letters this time, in fact, are from first-time respondents. From time to time we hear from loc writers who are disappointed that more of their letters don't see print, or that only find their names in our 'We Also Heard From' list. We apologize, but ask you to keep writing your letters; your purpose is still being served, because we send your comments, whether or not they appear in print, to the respective contributors. Meanwhile, we were once again gratified by the sizeable number of letters (and trade fanzines) we received from Mimosa 12. First up are a selection of comments about our trip to Los Angeles for the ninth Corflu fanzine fans' convention...}}

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K. Hainsworth, Redondo Beach, California
My local shop orders a copy of Science Fiction Chronicle for a certain customer, and when he moved away a couple of months ago, they put his unclaimed copy on the rack for sale. His loss was my gain -- I discovered it, snatched it up, and have been buying it ever since. It lists fanzines available, so here I am, writing a loc to Mimosa, which was the first one that arrived. I opened it eagerly, and read, to my surprise, an article that mentions my very own neighborhood {{"Corflu Odyssey" }} I live but a stone's throw away from Manhattan Beach, site of the hellish getting-lost-on-the-way-to-the-restaurant story. It was somehow very humorous to open up a fanzine published 2,000 miles away and read about familiar landmarks that I pass every day. (By the way, I think that you were generous when you described the Cockatoo Inn as "trying desperately to retain its dignity." When my friend Sean's bar mitzvah was held there a decade ago or so, the place had already had a few whacks with the tacky stick. By now it must look like a Fifties time capsule!)

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Sam Long, Springfield, Illinois
Your "Corflu Odyssey" was very entertaining and fannish. About the cat figurines with one paw raised that you saw in Japantown: They are called Maneki-neko, beckoning cats, because the cat is not raising its paw in greeting, but rather is beckoning customers into the establishment in the Japanese fashion, paw up with the pads facing away and down. The Japanese beckoning gesture is made by waving the fingers to and fro with the palm down or away from the beckoner rather than up or toward the beckoner as we in the West do it; thus a Japanese person for cat beckoning to someone appears to an American or European to be waving good-bye. The cat figurines originated a little more than 200 years ago, as ceramic figures beckoning customers into two teahouses next to a popular Shinto shrine near Tokyo. The beckoning cats became popular, and over the years smaller versions of them became the mascots of people whose business depends on public patronage. The closest parallels to the beckoning cats that I can think of in our culture are the trademark figures some restaurant chains place outside their doors, e.g., the Big Boy, or Ronald McDonald, or the burger King; and we might consider the cigar-store Indian as an example from the past.

But back to "Corflu Odyssey": whatever happened to Herbangelism? I've always thought Ghu was the supreme fannish deity (pace Chat), for is not 'ghu' the first word a trufan says as a baby? On the other hand, perhaps this fannish deity business is Overdone...

An' I seen 'er furst a-pubbin' on a mimeo black as soot,
An' a-wastin' fannish kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot.
Bloomin' idol o' egoboo
Wot they calls the great ghawd Ghu.
Plucky lot she cared for idols when I gave her some corflu.
-- "On the Road to N3F"


For some reason -- I'm not sure why -- I find medical stories à la Sharon Farber's series {{"Tales of Adventure and Medical Life" }} particularly interesting. I always turn first to the "Vital Signs" department in Discover, and read the "Annals of Medicine" articles in New Yorker when they appear. I enjoy the lucid and thoughtful prose of Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and the classic and adventurous fiction of A.C. Doyle, MD. It has been noted that physicians who go into writing often make excellent authors because of their training in close observation, deduction, and the careful and exact use of world. Sharon is very ably carrying on the tradition.

Richard Brandt's article {{"My Place in Medical History" }}, from the other end of the stethoscope as it was, was interesting, but also a bit alarming. How did the TSS bacteria get into his bloodstream? Through a scratch got while he was weeding, perhaps? His experience is a salutary reminder to the rest of us that even in these days of medical miracles, we can still easily get infections that can kill if not promptly and properly diagnosed and treated Richard had a close call; Jim Henson wasn't so lucky.

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Andi Shechter, Seattle, Washington
It occurs to me that I've been reading Sharon Farber's articles in Mimosa on a regular basis, and have never written to say just how wonderful I think they are. Whenever I see a copy of Mimosa, that's what I immediately flip to, and I've never been disappointed. I have a memory of Sharon coming to a party at my apartment many years ago (it must have been around 1977 or 78). The party was apparently held on the day that, according to Bishop Usher the earth had begun, Sharon brought an anniversary cake to celebrate -- complete with a sign on a toothpick reading 'you are here'. In all those years of internship and residency and no-sleep, she hasn't lost her edge. I hope to keep reading her "Tales of Adventure" for years to come (there are always new adventures in medicine, yes? Ask Richard Brandt!)

Also, I loved your story {{ed. note: in "Corflu Odyssey" }} about Dave and his mobile phone -- you guys did exactly what I would want to do in that situation and probably would only have thought of later.
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Diane Fox, Hazlebrook, New South Wales, Australia
Interesting article by Sharon Farber about the patient faking blindness -- yes, I'd like to know her motivations. Surprising that she went through with the unpleasantry of the spinal tap -- sounds like she thought she might have something wrong, and it would do no harm to check it out. Continuing on Medical Matters with Richard Brandt's article, if I'd had tingling hands while weeding, and taken sick afterwards, I'd have expected that some sort of chemical was to blame -- I've heard some horrifying tales of insect sprays and weed killers (the infamous Agent Orange is more powerful version of the latter). I'd have been extremely relieved to find out that a bacterial infection was to blame. I don't think toxic shock is very widely known about in Australia yet, but it is associated with tampons, so Richard would have heard the same annoying jokes if he'd been treated here.

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Tom J. Fülöpp, Poprad, Slovakia
Read, smile, open the dictionary, jot down a new word, read, laughter... This is the way I carried on several hours until I turned the last page of Mimosa 12, then shut my atlas which I look into when reading a zine and thoughtfully leaned on the back of my chair. Behind closed eyes I saw my aching head trying to cope with that flood of English, and I knew I just have read a piece from the fannish sky...

All that you wrote in "Corflu Odyssey" is so much different from reality over here, that it more resembles to me an American movie than common life. Airplane and rental car, restaurants and parties, mistakes and big fun. It is written so vividly that I felt like I was in LA, laughing at Foss' hand-drawn map and 'Dave' and his telephone number.

Sharon Farber's medical adventure was excellent and, especially this article, I regret ted that I can't read its previous six parts. I didn't even have to know the meaning of some diseases mentioned, but I laughed just imagining The NICU: Not Just an Ordinary Airline or that faked faker obediently holding up the hammer in a 'paralysed'hand.

David Thayer's discovering SF literature in the Vietnam War {{"War Fiction -- A True Story" }} was also very impressive; not many people have entered fandom this way, I think...

One point more: I found very useful those short explanations you write above each article -- it helps me to understand what led you to publish this or that and what the previous parts were about.

Chat cartoon by Teddy Harvia
Ben Indick, Teaneck, New Jersey
I can't believe David Thayer is really David Thayer and not anagrammatially Teddy Harvia. Must be a different David Thayer. Teddy seems much more younger. Kindly explicate.

{{ You mean there might be other David Thayers?!? }}

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Jürgen Thomann, Weil am Rhein, Germany
I liked David Thayer's second report of his adventures during the Vietnam War more than his first. Telling which books he read under difficult circumstances and how he found the source of endless reading eventually was very impressive.

A zine like Mimosa doesn't exist in Germany. It is hard to find articles about fan history and living as a fan. You especially won't find stories about being a fan which aren't related to fandom. Also, all articles in the two Mimosa issues I read are written in a style German fans wouldn't write. The only zine which comes near to the Mimosa style in Waldemar Kumming's Munich Round Up which publishes translations of Shaw and Langford.

This reminds me to mention the very good illustrations in Mimosa. Your artists don't just simply illustrate, they even interpret the articles.
illo by William Rotsler and Steve 
Stiles
Todd Mason, Fairfax Station, Virginia
Congratulations on your second well-deserved nomination. Issue #12 might be the most impressive issue of those I've seen; it certainly maintains a high standard. My copy of Wollheim & Carr's World's Best SF: 1970 is in storage, but I remember the Tiptree story as "Your Haploid Heart"; as for Thayer, but under much less trying circumstances, it was one of my introductions to SF. I can't get over the feeling that Farber is "A little cold around the heart", to swipe a phrase, more so that is necessary for psychic self-preservation in medicine.

Kyle's memoir of Isaac Asimov {{"I Remember Ike" }} is one of the best I've seen recently -- most of the obituaries I read or experienced through electronics were infuriatingly inaccurate or misleading, even A.C. Clarke's on NPR, where Clarke sought to accredit Asimov by tracing the Star Wars films' genealogy from Foundation and its sequels. Without yet having read the November Asimov's, the best posthumous tribute to Asimov I've seen has been Budrys' in F&SF, written with knowledge that I.A. was seriously ill but with some hope of recovery. Even Edward Ferman got some obvious facts wrong in his requiem -- your work in attempting to preserve fannish history, you can see and I know you do, thus becomes even more important: if Asimov, "our" least obscure figure, can be so carelessly misrepresented at the most solemn occasion of review of his life and work, who then can speak for the events that helped shape the SF/fan community? (Time for portentiousness remedy, I know.) Your contributors. You. Keep it up, please.

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Lloyd Penney, Brampton, Ontario, Canada
I wrote a column for Astromancer Quarterly a while ago which mentioned Isaac Asimov, and the charisma and charm the man had. I met him only twice, and I wish I'd had the chance to talk with him many times more. In my early days, connected with Trek fandom, Isaac would speak about science fiction and whatever else his heart desired, at the Trekcons of the `70s that used to be held every Labour Day at the Statler-Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan. (It's now the Penta, in case anyone wonders what happened to the hotel that did have Pennsylvania 6-5000 as its main desk number.) I've no doubt that some of the Trekfen there had no idea who he was, but most did -- he didn't live that far away, and probably took a cab to the hotel and back home. I think that he knew that no matter your interest in the sf universe, whether you read his work or just watched Trek, you knew the feeling of goshwow, the discovery of science fiction in one form or another.

Walt Willis' short bit {{"I Remember Me" }} is a signpost of fannish life, and a signal that our Shields of Umor have grown tarnished with time. The bit from Robert Bloch about meeting and corresponding with other fans in order to survive and enjoy fandom is spot on. (I met Robert Bloch for the first time at Rhinocon 2, an sf&f and horror con in London, Ontario, just a while ago. A very short conversation about fanzines...later, we auctioned off a shower curtain with his autograph on it. Bloch was superb that weekend, and a great gentleman, too.)

In the letters column, I must agree with you and R Laurraine Tutihasi on fleeting fame with fanzines and cons. I have been working on cons for eleven years now, and the people who know that live between Detroit and Montreal. I've been working on fanzines, pubbing and loccing, for about 5 or 6 years now...not long ago now, Greg Hills called me from Australia to ask if I would nominate him for DUFF. I was happy to, seeing I sent Greg issues of Torus, and he sent me issues of Secant, and we've corresponded through the zines for while. When I asked if I should indicate where I'm involved, since I'd be unknown to Australian fans, Greg told me that most of Australian fandom knew my name. Oh, frabjous day, a double helping of egoboo, and thank you very much.

Also in the letters column, a minor point in your comment to Andy Hooper -- the Winnipeg Worldcon is 'Conadian', while the annual national convention in Canada is the 'Canvention'. I wonder how many of the people who aren't going to Conadian are doing so out of pure xenophobia, and how many are not going because they are far from bosom buddies with the con chair. I refuse to think that fans in the U.S.A. aren't attending because of sour grapes, so there must be a legitimate reason. What is it?

{{ We know of several people who have said they aren't planning to attend Conadian, but we've not heard of anyone who isn't going because of a dislike of Canadians. [Are you sure you're not overreacting on this?] As for us, we're looking forward to the convention. For one thing, it may afford us the only opportunity we'll ever have to see that part of Canada. }}

illo by Phil Tortorici
R Laurraine Tutihasi, Los Angeles, California
I had a different reason from Andy Hooper's for voting for Winnipeg. I have decided to support the bid most friendly to a non-smoker sensitive to smoke. Both Louisville and Winnipeg replied to my enquiries. I applaud them for that since this year neither Atlanta nor Glasgow responded, and I voted for neither and do not plan to attend. I hope to attend Winnipeg. If I can find a job early next year, I should be able to save enough money.

In reference to Mark Blackman's letter, Los Angeles still has Rent-a-Wreck. I did not find their prices particularly low. Lower was a company called Ugly Duckling. Their cars operate but lack any of the extras, such as air conditioning. I used Rent-a-Wreck several years ago in Phoenix. They rented brand new Ford LTDs.

{{ Hmmmm.... }}
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Buck Coulson, Hartford City, Indiana
I'm certainly not going to Winnipeg, but then I doubt if I'm one of the fans that Andy Hooper particularly wants to see. For that matter, I don't know of any forthcoming worldcon that Juanita and I are going to.

Also, I agree with R Laurraine Tutihasi about making more lasting connections through fanzines. But one can also do this at a local fan club. Meetings at conventions are usually quite short; frequently there are long intervals between cons, and one meets a lot of people at a con. All this makes it harder to remember specific names and conversations. All my oldest friends, including my wife, were first met at club meetings or during personal visits.

Concerning your opening comments, you ought to come out here sometime for your collecting. Ball University, some 25 miles from us, has college sweatshirts imprinted 'Ball U'. Juanita has one, but they're actually rather scarce in fandom.

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George Flynn, Cambridge, Massachusetts
R Laurraine Tutihasi is of course correct that it's harder to receive recognition in convention fandom than in fanzine fandom, but I don't think it's because there's a greater likelihood of offending people in the former. (Pause to contemplate great feuds in fanzine history...) No, the main reason is just that cons are more perishable than zines -- though this may be starting to change: we just brought out the first of (we hope) several videos of Noreascon 3.

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Matthias Hofmann, Friburg i. Br., Germany
In general, Mimosa is very well edited. Interesting, clear and crisp. Small wonder that it won a Hugo as »Best Fanzine of the Year«, finally. I also like the short introductional text to every article.

Although Dave Kyle's reminiscences lack a little bit of consistency in terms of being a collection of anecdotes rather than a real article, it is good that Mimosa reflects current events in fandom or the science fiction field in general. The danger of a fanzine such as Mimosa is that its contents is yesterday-oriented too much. Most of its contributions concern fandom of the forties and fifties, which is okay and highly interesting for me. But...don't you think that Mimosa should cover fandom of the nineties as well? (Your Opening Comments were about Corflu, etc., but I think that this is not enough and the exception from the rule!)

{{ We welcome well-written first-person articles from all fan eras, but there are only two years of the 1990s (so far), in comparison with a combined 30 years for the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. }}

On the final note, I like to point out that almost all of the artwork you published in Mimosa #12 is top-notch! Whether it's Joe Mayhew, Teddy Harvia, Peggy Ranson, or Stu Shiffman -- awesome stuff!

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Harry Warner, Jr., Hagerstown, Maryland
I believe Dave Kyle's memoir of Isaac Asimov is the longest article of its type I've been in a fanzine since his death. It's certainly among the best. One thing impresses me, mute evidence of how much Asimov was liked by fans. I haven't seen even the vaguest hint in any fanzine since his death to the effect that his behavior around female fans could be labeled as sexual harassment if done by almost any other male in fandom or mundania. That's as much love as never having to say you're sorry.

If Sharon Farber continues to turn out these wonderful accounts of hospital adventures for you for a few more issues of Mimosa, there will be enough of them to fill one season of a real life television series along the lines of the cop reality shows that have grown so popular. I once played a minor role in a drama involving a woman who couldn't be convinced she was getting better. It was during the same broken hip winter that I mentioned in my last loc. My surgeon got me up on crutches and took me into the room of another of his patients, to demonstrate to her that it really was possible for a person with a hip fracture to get around on crutches, something she insisted her own broken hip prevented. I teetered and tottered a good bit and Dr. Swatten never did tell me if I'd given a convincing performance, but at least she had listened to me walk out of there and down the corridor without a crash indicating that I'd lost my balance.

David Thayer's contribution is different from the rest of the issue in its basic grimness despite its surface light touches. I think it's one of the finest fanzine articles I've seen this year and I hope it's remembered if a fanthology for 1992 is someday put together, even though it isn't the all-out humor that usually dominates such collections.

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Dennis Dolbear, Jefferson, Louisiana
The article by Ted White {{"The Bet" }} is the one I found most interesting, since as a fervent record collector -- a group never quite in their right minds -- I can sympathize with both parties in the Ted White-Harlan Ellison dispute, although Ellison's drawing a pistol was absolutely beyond the pale. (I'm thinking of Mike Glicksohn's reaction to Lester Boutillier's Don Walsh article {{ed. note: in the Mimosa 11 letters column }}. I wonder what he thought about this?) I guess what White should have done was relieved Ellison of a couple dozen -- maybe fewer -- of the choicest items, and told Harlan that the lesson for today was never bet anything you can't afford to lose with a shrug, and if this was all he paid for learning that valuable lesson, it was cheap at twice the price.

{{ Would you want to try relieving Harlan of some of the choicest parts of his collection? Not us... }}

But like I said, I understand both sides. White's lust for expanding his collection is the same sort of mania that impels individuals I know to be utterly pacifistic in normal life to step on my hand (s'truth) at book fairs, just to get at some Winston juveniles. And Ellison was probably simply driven over the edge by the thought of losing his...that I can really understand!

David Thayer's article on discovering the joys of SF in the middle of the hell of Vietnam was gripping, but I had a start when he said, "No flesh and blood Aslan was coming to save me and my buddies..." since I read it as "No flesh and blood Asian was coming to save me and my buddies..." And I immediately thought, no, they're out there in the jungle, trying to kill your white ass.

illo by William Rotsler
Gary Deindorfer, Trenton, New Jersey
Nice preliminary descriptions of L.A. and the cat signs in Japantown, etc. in your opening comments. And LASFS headed for a three thousandth meeting! That is a beautiful, living example of fannish timebinding. Tell this to Dale Speirs in the letter column, where he says that most sf clubs burn out after five years. What is even more amazing is that during the rioting of not so long ago, presumably the LASFSers went to that Thursday night's meeting too. What pluck! What courage! Well, maybe not THAT Thursday night, eh?

{{ We've read that five people did, in fact, show up for the Thursday night LASFS meeting during the L.A. riots, maintaining the LASFS consecutive weekly string of meetings }}

Dave Kyle's memories of Isaac Asimov are wonderful. My own tiny contribution to the Asimov Legend is that when I was a teenaged neofan, the Coulsons accepted a humor article I wrote for Yandro entitled "The Chancelike Workings of Chance" by Isaac Lassitude. This was a take-off on Ike's science articles. Next issue I was steeped in glorious Egoboo, because the Master had the lead-off loc in the letter column, allowing something along the lines of: 'every barb went through and through me'.

I also liked Steve Stiles' article {{"My First Orgy" }}. Steve has been my friend for about 30 years now, and I haven't gotten tired of the old campaigner yet. He wears well because of that inimitable Stiles Personality. Things happen to Steve that could only happen to him and seemingly not to anybody else. His first orgy, for instance: everyone gets food poisoning because they order oysters and can't do the orgy. Steve, however, is all ready to go, because he had a steak. I swear, who else could that happen to but Steve? Now, notice, he called it his first orgy. Does that mean there have been others? Let's hear about them, Steve! And the lead-off Stiles illo, by the way, is hilarious.

Good to see Ted White getting active again in fanzine fandom. He, of course, long has been one of fandom's literary masters. I have always admired his clear, no nonsense prose style. No fancy lit tricks, just commonsensical spelling out for the reader of what he wants the reader to "get."

Hurray for R Laurraine Tutihasi! She has been writing thought provoking, intelligent locs for fanzines for years now without getting the recognition I think she should have. She is such a fine writer, maybe it would add to her glory (and our enjoyment) if she would try an article for a zine once in a while, and not merely locs.

{{ We second the motion... }}

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Martin Morse Wooster, Silver Spring, Maryland
There were two major themes in Mimosa 12 -- horrible medical injuries and unusual collections. I'd rather not comment on other people's medical misfortunes (although Sharon Farber's tales were as funny as always and Richard Brandt's anecdote was particularly disgusting), so I'd rather discuss collecting for a bit.

The collection I would like to know about is Dick Lynch's collection of state capitols and suspension bridges. These must be quite hard to collect; you need to have extra-roomy suitcases, and Dick must work out quite a bit to carry them home. And how large must the closets in the Lynch household be to accommodate a few suspension bridges? However, I am now certain that the Lynch's house is very easy to spot -- just find the home with the bulging marble done in place of a roof.

{{ Maybe they do take more room, but it's harder to lose a suspension bridge than almost anything else you might want to collect... }}

The collection I most enjoyed reading about was Harlan Ellison's record collection, in Ted White's article. I thought White's piece amusing, because it was, by today's terms, a bit antique. Translate the story to today's equivalents, and it doesn't seem quite as funny (or as hard) to carry a thousand compact disks or cassette tapes.

But the collection I most sympathized with was Nicki Lynch's collection of t-shirts from college. I have a similar collection; I am trying to see a game in every professional baseball park (long-season A-ball and up) and bring something back from it. I maintain that after I have finished this Quest (which will include Japan, Mexico, other Caribbean nations, etc.) I will have obtained Ultimate Knowledge. (What knowledge would that be? I don't know. That is why it is Ultimate Knowledge.) The difference between my collection and Nicki's is that I do not just have to bring back a t-shirt; I've brought home plastic cups, scorecards, pens, and my favorite, a cap from the second Comiskey Park that honored the White Sox by just having a white sock on the center of a black diamond. It strikes me as a quirky cap, celebrating the essence of, well, sockiness.

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Sam Moskowitz, Newark, New Jersey
I found Dave Kyle's article "I Remember Ike" particularly appealing because the night before I read it I had completed a lengthy article titled "I Remember Asimov" and interestingly, there was no duplication of material whatsoever.

{{ Sam's article will appear in the next issue of A. Langley Searles' fine fanzine, Fantasy Commentator. }}

I also enjoyed the article by Terry Jeeves on old popular science magazines {{"The Wonders of Science" }}, but he had my memory spinning for a while when he referred to the January 1924 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics. He has this confused with Science and Invention. Everyday Science and Mechanics was first issued with the date of July 1930 as Everyday Mechanics. It incorporated Illustrated Science and Mechanics which had been launched about a year and a half earlier out of Chicago by another publisher. This explains why collectors referring to that 'first' issue will find it numbered as Volume 2 No. 4.

There was a January 1924 issue of Science and Invention titled The New Science and Invention in Pictures. The $12,000 contest which Terry speaks of was first featured on the cover of the October 1923 issue. With that issue Gernsback presented the first issue of the magazine completely in pictures and captions, except for the editorial, the fiction and a few departments. The idea had been tried by other magazines previously and would not catch on until Life appeared in 1936.

Oh, yes. The Harlan Ellison/Ted White bet was, to put it mildly, incredible. Ranks as one of the crazier fan incidents.

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Brian Earl Brown, Detroit, Michigan
David Kyle's "I Remember Ike" was a particularly fine tribute and Terry Jeeves' article about silly inventions was a delight, but I'd pick Ted White's article as the best of the issue. It covered a part of fan history I wasn't as familiar with, was well told, touched on the careers of a lot of people, told some very good anecdotes leading up to the central story. I truly do enjoy Ted's writing on fan history, especially his fan history even if I doubt that we'll ever agree on the theory and practice of fanzines.

And it's always fun to hear Roger Sims and Howard DeVore talk about the wild and crazy days of midwestern fandom {{"A Brief History of the Morgan Botts Foundation" }}. I'm not quite sure why Howard decided to call his weekly poker game 'The Morgan Botts Foundation'. I know Roger explains who Morgan Botts was, but not exactly what it meant to Howard or fandom in general at the time.

I loved Linda Michaels' drawing for the letters column. I'm so glad she's finally sending art out to fanzine editors. And I hope she will continue to do so after the Niagara Falls worldcon bid for 1998 is resolved.

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Patty Peters, Dublin, California
The Wayne Third Foundation of the early seventies sounds a lot like Roger Sims' description of DSFL in 1952: lots of people sitting around an office in Wayne State's student union building. Some talking, most just staring into space. We didn't have Howard DeVore at the moment, so enter "The Suburban Femmefen." (We were not yet named.) Four teenage girls showing up at an SF club meeting can disrupt the dull balance of things just enough, and parties became regular. I don't remember a lot of poker, but beer (and whatnot) was plentiful. Since that took a little more than 20 years to repeat, I wonder what the next couple of years willbring to Detroit fandom.

It's good to see fans like David Thayer are coming to feel comfortable writing about their experiences in Vietnam. I was too young to be involved myself but, being the youngest-by-far of a large family, my life was touched through a brother-in-law and several cousins. The first time I realized young people could die was when I attended the funeral of a cousin lost in a helicopter. Watching the news footage nightly must have had effects I still do not realize. It was good to have the space program as counterpoint, but is strange to have the two inexorably linked in my memory. People shooting at each other, people capering about in low gravity, and people burning their neighbor's homes (or their own brassieres) are the images that come back to me when I remember being ten.

Ted's account of "The Bet" was both well-crafted and entertaining. My mind's eye stayed in Harlan's apartment, watching him go from disbelief to outrage to the snapping-point as each batch of his precious albums were carried away. To be a fly on the wall and hear the dialogue he must have carried on with himself while Ted and Larry were in transit! I guess this goes to show that everything can become a funny story eventually. That would have taken longer than 22 years for me, though.

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Gary Brown, Bradenton, Florida
For some reason, this struck me as your best issue of Mimosa yet. Dave Kyle's remembrance of Isaac Asimov was both informative and moving. Roger Sims' "A Brief History of the Morgan Botts Foundation" made me chuckle. Only real fans can relate to the truth hidden in this article.

I'd say my favorite piece was "The Wonders of Science" by Terry Jeeves. Funny, all too true, and intriguing. Who wouldn't be anxious to read, and believe, stuff like The Municipal Announcer and 'A Flying Car in Your Garage'. Oddly enough, after reading Jeeves' piece, I turned on CNN to watch a clip of an invention called 'the spring walker', a device that allows humans to cover more ground, faster with less effort. The device looked like the inner structure of some smaller dinosaurs. It may prove that dinosaurs did get around on pogo sticks, as has been theorized by some.

illo by Joe Mayhew
Jeanne Mealy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
"The Wonders of Science" by Terry Jeeves was a delight to read. There's a sense of wonder, indeed, when reading his descriptions of the amazing (potential) inventions that Hugo Gernsback and others expected would exist any day now. A surprising element to this article was the contrast between the (potential) inventions and Terry's living conditions. A soap-box car powered by an old washing machine motor was hardly a possibility when their washing was done in an iron tub with a plunger, scrubbing board and blue-bag (what is that?)! {{ed. note: 'Blueing' was used to whiten clothes before there were chlorine bleaches. Don't ask us how it worked... }} I was also reminded of Mad magazine's bizarre inventions -- am I dreaming, or did some of them become reality? I would swear I saw cartoons making fun of people wearing radios strapped to their heads, for example.

"My First Orgy" -- bait and switch, I wail! The article was full of teasers about Steve Stiles' experience with both food and sex -- AND NOTHING HAPPENED! That makes it a potential orgy, not his first actual orgy. And then there's that punchline. Ohhhhhhhhhh, Steve. How could you DO that to us?

In the letters column, if George Flynn is correct, it's a shame that younger fans are addicted to computer bulletin boards (and whatever else exists by now) and aren't attracted or even aware of the fanzine network. The slower fanzine traffic and the quick computer connections each have their advantages and disadvantages. Nearly-instantaneous "conversations" via computer are entertaining and satisfying. On the other hand, it's easy to say something inappropriate that might be thought better of when writing a LoC. Will there come a time when only the older crowd actually writes a letter or prefers holding a zine to tapping a keyboard and reading a screen? I doubt it. There are throwbacks in every generation.

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Darroll Pardoe, Hoole, Chester, United Kingdom
Terry Jeeves's article on the remarkable inventions in Uncle Hugo's magazines calls to mind a more recent crazy inventor named Arthur Pedrick, who flourished in the 1970s. This gentleman had been a patent agent, and acquired some sort of a grudge against the British Patent Office. When he retired he used his extensive knowledge of the procedures to file patents which, although their subject matter was utterly ludicrous, were yet written in acceptable form and gave the Patent Office no way of rejecting them. So for several years a wonderful series of patents issued in Pedrick's name. For instance, there was the automobile in which the passengers sat at the front, and the driver in the back seat (somewhat raised so as to be able to see over them). Best of all was his crowning glory, the combination 1,000 megaton orbital weapon and selective cat-flap. The patent for this (I still have a copy somewhat) was full of wonderful nonsense about his cat Ginger being troubled by the black cat from next door coming in through the cat-flap and stealing his food. Hence the flap which opened only for cats of the appropriate colour. Apparently the technology was also adaptable to large nuclear missiles in orbit which would detect the launch of any surface-based missile and paste the country involved. How the Patent Office much have gnashed their teeth when they were forced to grant this patent! But they had no way of avoiding it.

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Steve Jeffery, Kidlington, Oxon, United Kingdom
Your Corflu trip report was full of entertaining bits and pieces. I've never eaten in a Peruvian restaurant, but I suspect amplifiers are not a traditional part of their folk music, unless the tops of the Andes are provided with more power points than I suspected.

Terry Jeeves' "The Wonders of Science" is like an orphan looking in on a toystore window at Christmas. With the Municipal Loud Hailer, it is probably best that Gernsback went into SF magazines rather than civil engineering. Some of the other ideas, like personal air conditioning, surface occasionally in Japanese patents. Japanese researchers are encouraged to patent furiously, and the review system seems to take a lax view of novelty or practicality. I remember one for a refrigerated hat, to cool the brain.

I laughed at "The Bet" until about halfway through, and then it turned ugly and disturbing. Harlan might write like an avenging angel (when the muse takes him) but anyone who fools around with a gun like that, unloaded or otherwise, ought not to be let out without supervision. Harlan may have got his records back, but he lost. I wonder if he realizes how much he lost.

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Terry Jeeves, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I enjoyed Vince and Chuch's excellent piece on map stamps {{"Seen Any Good Stamps Philately?" }} immensely, and agree with Vince's comment on boring (older) UK stamps being replaced by the current flood of ghastlies. I just spent £6 on the Tolkien issue -- only to find it was a slim booklet of natter about the man, plus a load of completely normal definitive issues. What a rip-off!

Now to the heading of that article, where it says that Vince helped to found the British Science Fiction Association. As far as my memory serves, he had no part in it other than attending the general fan meeting at Kettering {{"ed. note: in 1958 }}. At that meeting, Eric Bentcliffe and I were reluctantly elected as joint Secretaries, Archie Mercer was Treasurer, and Ted Tubb was to edit Vector, with me duping it. A few weeks later, Chairman Dave Newman vanished from fandom, Tubb sent me some material and resigned as editor, and Eric and I were left to create a BSFA from nothing. Eric did all the secretarial work, and I edited, duplicated, collated, and mailed out the first four issues of Vector. Between us and Archie Mercer (at the purse strings), we were BSFA for its first year. Then Bobbie Gray became Vector's editor, I became (over two more years) Vice-Chair and full Chairman, and Gillian Adams became Secretary. Ella Parker followed me as Chairman, as far as I can remember. I don't think Vince had any hand in the BSFA formative years.

{{ Thanks for the additional information. The two sources we have on 1950s British fandom (Rob Hansen's Then #2 and Harry Warner, Jr.'s A Wealth of Fable) indicate that Vincent Clarke's contribution to the formation of BSFA came much before the Kettering convention of 1958. Vince was one of the most visible agitators (in print, that is) for the formation of a national fan organisation; that was what we referred to when we stated that 'he helped found the BSFA'. Obviously, you, Eric, and Archie had an even greater role, that of keeping BSFA alive for the first few years after it was formed, and we apologize for the oversimplification. }}

Darroll Pardoe is a trifle off in his comments in your letters column on the Knights of St. Fantony and Doc Weir Awards. KTSF was a fun thing, not an old fogey's power bid. The ceremony was just a send up. The Doc Weir Award (as we set it up -- and I was one of the Committee) was NOT awarded for fannish work or merit. I proposed the wording accepted, so I know...it was to be voted on by anyone interested enough to attend the annual Con, and attendees were urged to vote for "The one you would like to see win the Doc Weir Award." It may have been abused and altered in later years, but that's how we set it up.

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Robert Lichtman, Glen Ellen, California
You know, it was months ago that I read Mimosa #12, and while I enjoyed it immensely -- I believe it's by far the best issue you've done so far -- I have very few other checkmarks. One is by Eve Ackerman's letter, which I regard as high praise for Mimosa in its ongoing emphasis on fanhistory, and particularly on the direct reminiscences of the fans who were originally involved. The other checkmark is by Bloch's letter and its mention of sending off his autobiography to his publisher. As you can well imagine, starting after Labor Day I began making more frequently checks of the various bookstores, both stfnal and straight, that I visit. So far it doesn't seem to have been issued; as of last Saturday, Tom Whitmore (at Other Change of Hobbit in Berkeley) didn't have copies either on hand or coming.

{{ We're hoping that it's soon available, too. Meanwhile, readers should be aware of the re-issue of The Eighth Stage of Fandom by Wildside Press, a collection of Bloch's fan writings. }}

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Don Fitch, Frijo, California
After reading each issue of Mimosa, I think back over the contents and decide that well over half the zine deserves permanent, archival preservation, either in zine form or as reprints in (hardback) collections & anthologies. Much thought I like the traditional paper (both nostalgically and tangibly), I have to admit that it isn't likely to hold up for much more than 50 years (if that), and I sure hope you're mimeoing a few more copies on archival, acid-free bond paper, and/or preserving the master copies of the pages & a few good photocopies of them, in secure places, so that they can be reprinted easily (artwork & all) when the time comes.. and, of course, that you're also preserving the text on computer disk, for similar purposes. No? Oh, well... At least I've been very glad to see that you've produced substantial over-runs, and have copies of these for sale at occasional Conventions. Too many excellent fanzines, of far more than ephemeral interest & importance, have had less influence than they should, simply because the editor's financial restriction limited the print-run to the (small) mailing list.

{{ Thanks for the compliment. Actually, we do save our WordPerfect disk files of each issue (which includes everything but the artwork), as well as the paste-up masters of each page. We don't mimeo extra copies on special paper, but our first issue is now ten years old and the fibertone paper hasn't noticeably embrittled. }}

illo by Charlie Williams
Kristin Thorrud, Oslo, Norway
Personally I must admit that I'm a bit critical of the whole LoC business -- it's become such a duty to some people, it seems compulsive; although it ought to be impulsive. I am myself a poor LoC-writer at the best of times, always was, and always will be. Furthermore I'm in a very unstable phase of my life, unlike a lot of other (older) fans who seem to have settled down, finished their studies long since, and have steady jobs. I'm in the final uncertain (read 'traumatic') stages of my studies, have been moving around too much (from Norway to Sweden and back again), live separate from my husband (because of my studies), and exist on a student loan/grant. It goes without saying that fanac for me is very much a question of having surplus energy.

Myself, I'm usually happy if people send me LoCs once in a while to show me they're still alive out there, but I don't expect it or demand it. It's not that I don't understand you; because I used to publish more sercon fanzines some years ago, and of course the letter columns were for fun then. But I soon tired of those zines, and wanted to do something just for my won pleasure instead (self-centered, perhaps?). Your kind of zines carry so may expectations from various people (who expect to see their LoCs, articles, etc. in print); the zine that I publish now is totally free from forced publishing, and subject only to my own whims and creative urges (and economy). Sometimes I really believe the letter columns are a matter of status and great pride in some zines; but mind you, I too think that feedback is nice.

This criticism is not directed towards anyone in particular, but was intended as a constructive exchange of views; I just wish to question the system. I think that your kind of zines are important; they give us a sense of continuity and communication, in sharp contrast with my egotrip of a fanzine.

Anyway, I do appreciate getting Mimosa. I'm grateful that you still bother to keep me on your list, because LoCs aren't my forte as you will have realized by now.

But then, this turned out to become a LoC after all, didn't it?

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We Also Heard From:
Harry Andruschak; Nancy Atherton; Pamela Boal; Lester Boutillier; Ned Brooks; Terry Broome; G. M. Carr; Russ Chauvenet; David Clark; Vin¢ Clarke; Chester Cuthbert; James Dignan; Carolyn Doyle; Cathy Doyle; Tom Feller; Eva Hauser; Lynn Hickman; Irwin Hirsh; Arthur Hlavaty; Rhodri James; Deb Hammer Johnson; Kovacic Josip; Ruth Judkowitz; Dave Kyle; Dave Langford; Hope Leibowitz; Fred Liddle; Ethel Lindsay; Adrienne Losin; Joseph T. Major; Gary Mattingly; Patrick McGuire; Pat Molloy; Joe Moudry; Pär Nilsson; Stan Nuttall; Jodie Offutt; Elizabeth Osborne; Hans Persson; Derek Pickles; Peggy Ranson; Gary Robe; William Rotsler; Dave Rowe; Ron Salomon; Ben Schilling; Julius Schwartz; Julie Scott; Steve Sneyd; Alan Stewart; David Thayer; Roger Waddington; Henry Welch; George Wells; and Taras Wolansky. Thanks to All!

Title illustration by Diana Harlan Stein
Other illustrations by Teddy Harvia, William Rotsler & Steve Stiles, Phil Tortorici, William Rotsler, Joe Mayhew, and Charlie Williams


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