Thursday, August 26, 2004
(P) Peregrine Nations, Plokta
Peregrine Nations Vol. 4 No. 1 / J.G. Stinson, P.O. Box 248, Eastlake MI 49626-0248 / tropicsf@earthlink.net / $2 or t.u. / A collage of stickers adorns this issue’s color cover of one of my favorite perzines – we don’t see enough personal zines nowadays, and I blame the net. Anyway, Jan leads off with LOCs, as usual, a lettercol of a lively tone, just like the zine. (No shock, that.) Featured is Jason Burnett, a local dude just entering fanzine fandom, whom I got meet when Geri Sullivan came to town. After the letters Lyn McConchie describes “Concepts of Hospitality” she’s encountered in fandom, and E.B. Frohvet discusses end-of-the-world SF. Quite a sub-genre, “eschatological” science fiction ... it runs the gamut from War of the Worlds through When Worlds Collide to Mad Max and Lucifer’s Hammer. When a whelp I used to scan such disaster stories as The Big Eye and One in Three Hundred and give myself nightmares. Seems to me such stories aren’t so much about the destruction of the world as about rebuilding society according to the writer’s utopian fantasies. Jan’s concluding “free book” contest asks about Tom Disch. See? I knew ...
Plokta 31 / Steve Davies, 52 Westbourne Terrace, Reading, Berks U.K. RG30 2RP; Alison Scott, 24 St. Mary Rd., Walthamstow, London U.K. E17 9RG; Mike Scott, 2 Craithie Rd., Chester U.K. CH3 5LJ / locs@plokta.com / www.plokta.com / One of the “warning lights” on the iPlokta (get it? For “iPod”?) drawn by Alison Scott for the cover reads “Too Many In-Jokes”, and the brilliant, evial cabal that creates this perennial Hugo nominee takes care to avoid this pitfall in this issue. After all, everybody loves underwear (or “foundation garments,” which must be the British term), so they can identify with Flick’s article on same, and all pet owners can commiserate with Giulia de Cesare as she tries to fit her cat with the proper collar, and everybody, no doubt, has gotten soused with her book club and gone about shouting the “c” word with Lilian Edwards, and everybody needs “Olde Plokta’s Almanack” to tell them what the dates mean, true? True? True. I no longer feel alien amongst Sue Mason’s wonderful fan art and the incomprehensible stories in the margins of this joyous creation.
Plokta 31 / Steve Davies, 52 Westbourne Terrace, Reading, Berks U.K. RG30 2RP; Alison Scott, 24 St. Mary Rd., Walthamstow, London U.K. E17 9RG; Mike Scott, 2 Craithie Rd., Chester U.K. CH3 5LJ / locs@plokta.com / www.plokta.com / One of the “warning lights” on the iPlokta (get it? For “iPod”?) drawn by Alison Scott for the cover reads “Too Many In-Jokes”, and the brilliant, evial cabal that creates this perennial Hugo nominee takes care to avoid this pitfall in this issue. After all, everybody loves underwear (or “foundation garments,” which must be the British term), so they can identify with Flick’s article on same, and all pet owners can commiserate with Giulia de Cesare as she tries to fit her cat with the proper collar, and everybody, no doubt, has gotten soused with her book club and gone about shouting the “c” word with Lilian Edwards, and everybody needs “Olde Plokta’s Almanack” to tell them what the dates mean, true? True? True. I no longer feel alien amongst Sue Mason’s wonderful fan art and the incomprehensible stories in the margins of this joyous creation.
