Reading: Astonishing Trap Door Stories
Music: misc. classical
Link o' the Day: Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire

Freelancing typesettin' machine heah!

I blasted through another fifty pages of the Hollywood book and a good chunk of edits for the Bulletin. Work progresses along nicely.

The weather was just too weird today. Cloudy, not raining, then raining while the sun was shining. This is George Bush's fault! Mark my words!

I'll blame Bush also for me being so tired right now.

But that of course won't slow down my projects. The way I have my schedule laid out, I'll have a couple of free weeks coming up to work on Sleight of Hand #2! I swear it! Sure, there are some well-regarded fanzines that come out once a year--or even once every five years, but I'd hoped on a more frequent schedule. I'm learning one of the true trials of an editor--hustling authors can be a real pain in the ass. And I am not good at trying to bully these folks who have promised me articles--this is work-for-free after all. Pure egoboo and fandom fun. Just the same, I'm aiming to have issue 2 out well before Torcon.

To read issue #1, download it here--over 2,000 visitors!. (Needs Acrobat Reader.)

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Astonishing Trap Door Tales is an all-fiction fanzine from Robert Lichtman. I'm still immersed in the main story " Sense of Wonder" by Gordon Eklund--a satirical, recursive science fiction/time travel story--not quite in the tradition/style of Barry Malzberg--but close. There's also a short piece by Charles Burbee originally printed in 1946 in F. Towner Laney's The Acolyte. But for the Eklund story, here's the opening:

"Die, Gernsback, die!" I hiss.
With my guts jammed in my throat like a palsied python I shove my revolver right smack straight into the drooling, slack-mouthed visages of the crazed maniac cowering in front of me, his eyes bugged like frogs in a soup, the lips like two skinned mackerals.

If this issue ever goes online at efanzines.com I'll be sure to let y'all know.

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And while I'm tossing out links, today's link of the day goes to a webcomic I've recently come across: Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire. The artwork is decent--not great, but decent. What makes it for me are some of the characters and the overall interaction and running storyline. Oh... and I like Deegan's pipe and hat.

Cheers!