Thursday, August 26, 2004
(E) Earisheen, Erg, Emerald City
Earisheen #3 / James Bacon, 211 Black Horse Ave., Dublin 7, Ireland / The first issue I’ve seen of an attractive zine from this year’s TAFF winner, with photo-illustrated articles about beer (I’d enjoy it more if I knew what “Sproutlore” is), Mecon 7, and – not photo-illustrated – an exhaustive philological analysis of “the ‘C’ word,” correctly described as “the most offensive word in the English language.” Then up spake the Bey of Algiers. After a paean to the Ford Capri, Andi Evans and Mike Capey exult over the life and career of the unfamiliar Irish novelist Flann O’Brien, whose work I should evidently tap, and Bacon adds an anecdote about how local fandom repaired a lout’s damage to their meeting pub, purely out of largesse. And speaking of Irish novelists, I just made a Joycean pun.
Erg 166 / Terry Jeeves, 66 Red Scar Dr., Scarborough, N. Yorks. YO12 5RQ, U.K. / Treasure this issue of what must be fandom’s senior fanzine, since Terry claims it will be his last. Ailing, 82, and annoyed unto near insanity by a clogged e-mail inbox, he just can’t handle it anymore – and that makes this zine an occasion to regret. But it’s a good entry – the ninth installment of Terry’s World War II memoirs, informing us boomers of a soldier’s laugh-a-minute life. The story of the shipboard latrine and the wags who sent flaming wads of ... paper down its slough would make a pacifist out of Jerry Pournelle. (Terry asks for volunteers to print the remaining 12 chapters of his reminiscences, and Challenger’s hand is raised.) A long article on “tail-less” aircraft features Terry’s own artwork and some fascinating facts. I send Erg to Rosy’s stepfather for just such articles: he’s a WWII bomber navigator and aviation buff, so he can groove on these pieces. Oh, we will Erg, and Terry’s art, and articles, and Penelope Fandergaste, and the sense that fanzines belong to real people in the real world and that they’re not just recording life, but making it better ...
Emerald City / Cheryl Morgan, cheryl@emcit.com / http://www.emcit.com / What can I tell you: the very best. I must reluctantly leave e-only zines out of this issue, but don’t be fooled: Emerald City represents the future of this hobby. Read it.
Erg 166 / Terry Jeeves, 66 Red Scar Dr., Scarborough, N. Yorks. YO12 5RQ, U.K. / Treasure this issue of what must be fandom’s senior fanzine, since Terry claims it will be his last. Ailing, 82, and annoyed unto near insanity by a clogged e-mail inbox, he just can’t handle it anymore – and that makes this zine an occasion to regret. But it’s a good entry – the ninth installment of Terry’s World War II memoirs, informing us boomers of a soldier’s laugh-a-minute life. The story of the shipboard latrine and the wags who sent flaming wads of ... paper down its slough would make a pacifist out of Jerry Pournelle. (Terry asks for volunteers to print the remaining 12 chapters of his reminiscences, and Challenger’s hand is raised.) A long article on “tail-less” aircraft features Terry’s own artwork and some fascinating facts. I send Erg to Rosy’s stepfather for just such articles: he’s a WWII bomber navigator and aviation buff, so he can groove on these pieces. Oh, we will Erg, and Terry’s art, and articles, and Penelope Fandergaste, and the sense that fanzines belong to real people in the real world and that they’re not just recording life, but making it better ...
Emerald City / Cheryl Morgan, cheryl@emcit.com / http://www.emcit.com / What can I tell you: the very best. I must reluctantly leave e-only zines out of this issue, but don’t be fooled: Emerald City represents the future of this hobby. Read it.
