Copyright 1998
The Electronic Edition
David Henninger, Editor
Robin R. Brunner, Publisher
The Circular of Janus is a publication of the Circle of Janus Science Fiction Club of Central Indiana. Subscription is included with membership, $10/year. For information, write to Circle of Janus, P.O. Box 68514, Indianapolis, IN 46268-0514 or e-mail davidhenninger@cs.com
IN THIS EDITION:
NEW OFFICERS!!!
PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS
by Mike Cowper
SEC'S NOTES
by Lynnette Cowper
IMMORTAL TRAVELERS
by Dave Henninger
MOVIE RUMORS
by Dave Henninger
NEWS BITS
A LETTER FROM JEAN WHITELAW
BOOKS
A LETTER FROM DON DAILY
THE UFO MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER
NEW OFFICERS
New Officers are:
President: Mike Cowper
Vice-president: Vickie Merriman
Secretary: Lynette Cowper, by acclamation
Treasurer: Linda Dunn, by acclamation
Sergeant at Arms: Andy Andrews
ConChair 2000: Keith Chike
For details of the election see Lynnette Cowper's Sec'c Notes in this issue.
PRESIDENTIAL PONDERINGS by Mike Cowper, President
This is going to be rather short. I've been quite busy at work lately and haven't had much time for pondering. However I do have a couple of quick things to mention.
First I'd like to thank everyone for electing me president, and I hope I can do a good job.
I've been contacted by the organizers of ConSept. They are interested in some sort of sister convention relationship with InCon. In particular they would like some advice on where to have a convention and maybe some help in making some contacts. I'm going to invite someone from there to come to the next meeting and tell us a bit about them and what kind of arrangement they'd like. I like the idea of being sister cons and would like to see what we can work out. I think it could work to benefit both of us.
In other news. The new baby in our household has not arrived yet. I suspect that it will be a couple more weeks yet. So we'll probably be at the February meeting.
Well that's about all I've had time to ponder on this month. It's been a busy one. Hope to see all of you at the meeting.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
SEC'S NOTES by Lynnette Cowper, Secretary
The January meeting of the Circle of Janus was held on Jan 3rd, 1998, at the Children's Museum. The meeting opened at 7:33 PM. 32 adults and 1 child were present. All officers were present.
Jeff opened the meeting by reminding everyone to pay dues and explained that since the newsletter had said the meeting started at 8:00 that the elections would not be held until then.
The minutes for November '97 were accepted as published. All bills from InCon '97 have been paid.
In convention reports, for InCon '98, Andy reported that there would be a quasi-concom meeting after the meeting and that there would be an official concom at 6:00 PM prior to the next CoJ meeting at the Children's Museum.
Randy Porter reported nothing new for InCon '99.
As Dave Henninger was not present, there was no report about the idea for the new club directory.
In new business, Andy mentioned that the club would need a new meeting place, as this is the last year we can have the Children's Museum. Several possibilities were mentioned. Those mentioning them will look into them.
Randy Porter mentioned that he is going to do a top-down review of InCon departments, at some point in the near future at the Marriott. The meeting is only open for past conchairs, present concom members, and past department heads. Anyone may submit agenda items to Randy. There will be a later report to the club at a meeting.
Jeff opened nominations for '98 club officers.
Keith Chike had been nominated via e-mail for the offices of President, Vice-President, and ConChair 2000.
For Sergeant at Arms, Vicki Merriman nominated herself and was seconded by Andy. Rhea Foxfell also nominated herself and was seconded.
For ConChair 2000, Lynette Cowper was nominated by Kat Robertson and seconded by Andy. Both Angalee Shepard and Kat Thompson were nominated and declined.
Randy Porter declined the nomination for Vice-president.
Vickie Merriman declined the nominations for ConChair 2000 and President.
Rob Pyatt declined all nominations.
Mike McCormick, who had been nominated for Vice-president had never accepted the nomination, and was not present at the meeting to accept or to pay his dues, and so was also removed from the running.
This left:
For President: Mike Cowper and Keith Chike.
For Vice-President: Vickie Merriman and Keith Chike
For Secretary: Lynette Cowper, nominated by Randy Porter, seconded by Mike Cowper
For Treasurer: Linda Dunn, nominated by Andy Andrews, seconded by Mike Cowper
For Sergeant-at-arms: Andy Andrews, Vicki Merriman and Rhea Foxfell
For ConChair 2000: Roseanne Packer, Keith Chike and Lynette Cowper
The results of the election were:
President: Mike Cowper
Vice-president: Vickie Merriman
Secretary: Lynette Cowper, by acclamation
Treasurer: Linda Dunn, by acclamation
Sergeant at Arms: Andy Andrews
ConChair 2000: Keith Chike
In other announcements and reviews:
Vickie Merriman mentioned the possibility of getting logo watches for the CoJ.
Randy Porter gave a good review to the movie Mousehunt.
Jeff Thompson mentioned that Starship Troopers was now out on tape. Actually I said *I* had seen it on tape, not that it was out. - Jeff
Chris Canary said that Alien Resurrection was good until the last 15 minutes, which "sucked."
Judy and Joanne both gave good reviews to Postman.
Chris Miller stated that the MIB computer game had excellent graphics.
Chris Canary mentioned that Dark Forces, Jedi Knight 2, was also a good game.
No one at the meeting had attended the recent Star Trek con, but people had heard that they had guests and nothing else. Randy and Rob did crash it after hours, but it was dead.
Brooks mentioned an old and rare bookstore on South Franklin, just south of Washington. It was a collection of small shops, open 10 to 6, Monday through Saturday. He was impressed by their selection of science fiction.
It was also mentioned that William Fortschen's 6th book of the Legionnaires series is out.
The Babylon5 movie was to be released tomorrow, followed by a rescored pilot with new scenes. The first episode of season 5 is Wednesday, the 21st.
Good reviews were given to Tomorrow Never Dies and As Good As It Gets.
Chaos was declared at 9:00 PM.
The after-the-meeting gathering was at Flakey Jakes, as usual.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette R. F. Cowper
IMMORTAL TRAVELERS
By now you've probably heard about the new immortality enzyme. Two scientist at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Dr. Woodring Wright and Dr. Jerry Shay have found a way to rejuvenate cell tissue.
Human aging is really cell aging. In the lifetime process of dividing and redividing of the DNA molecules in each cell, tiny fragments of the ends of DNA strands are lost. As the molecules get shorter and shorter, losing genetic information in the process, the cell ages and eventually dies. As the cells age and die the body ages and eventually dies.
When a baby is conceived, however, you have to have pristine, perfect cells. Enter telomerase, an enzyme that reverses the process and causes the DNA to reconstruct itself and begin the whole process over. Wright and Shay found a way to isolate the enzyme. They added some to a culture of human cells and placed that beside another culture of untreated human cells. After a while the untreated culture aged and died normally. the treated cells however are still doing well. They are effectively immortal.
Wright and Shay do not promise true immortality and they don't believe a human treatment will be available soon but they have stated that in the not too distant future the human life span could be "Several hundred years". Yes, we could live in the world of Conrad, Lazarus Long, and Duncan Mcleoud.
Applications such as growing new organs by stimulating stem cells are already being talked about as well as new treatments for alzhimers and other age related disorders. The social implications have been explored extensively in fiction but consider this one small possibility:
Suppose we can create a propulsion system with present technology that could achieve enough velocity to shorten the travel time to the nearest stars to say about fifty years. If a starship crew had a life span of several hundred years they could make the round trip a couple of times and still have a comfortable retirement.
Who needs a warp drive? The stars are ours!
MOVIE RUMORS
Larry Ulrey discovered The Movie Rumor Web site, "Coming Attractions". It's dedicated to passing along stories about movie projects being considered, what's being shot and the films about to come out. The site is at http://corona.bc.ca/films/hompage.html. Click on "Movies by genre" and pick Sci-fi. Here are some of the things I found. Unless otherwise noted all films are in the discussion, script circulation stage and may die of lack of interest before they ever see a camera.
Alien 5- The battle goes to Earth
Alien Vs Predator- Based on the comic the two species are fighting on the turf of a human space colony.
Area 51- Based on the Atari arcade game.
Armageddon- Due out real soon. Bruce Willis tries to blow up some asteroids before they strike earth.
Battlestar Galactica - Again?
Back to the Future 4
Beowulf- This one is apparently a go. Christopher Lambert will star as the hero of the epic poem. Except it will be set in a post apocalyptic future. Barbarians amid junk, how original.
Bladerunner 2
Brother Termite- Big termites!
The Crow: World of gods and Monsters- The third Crow film will probably be made.
Dark City- Filmed! William Hurt in a strange city with artificial memories.
Deep Blue Sea- Hunting genetically altered sharks for sport. Wanna guess who's the hunter?
Deep Impact- Due out this summer. Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, lots of others. I guess Bruce Willis didn't blow it up.
The Eleventh Plague- A plot to destroy the world with biblical plagues
Fantastic Voyage- Same concept, alien body.
Fortress 2- Christopher Lambert again
Independence Day 2-
Jurassic Park 3-
Legionnaires- This one is strange. The movie has a cast but no plot is given. The producers are trying to fund the film by soliciting donations from British SF fans. Give enough and you're in the picture. Cast: Jason Connery, Robin Curtis, Mark Ryan, John Carrigan, and Walter Koenig.
Logan's Run
Matrix- This summer. Another Keanu Reeves cyberpunk film
MIB 2- this one is inevitable!
Mothership- A spaceship full of children. Two kids try to find the ships secret and stay alive.
My Favorite Martian- Looks like a go! Christopher Lloyde as Uncle Martin.
Nemo- Captain Nemo on the maiden voyage of The Nautilus.
Planet of the Apes- Why?
Predator 3
The Prisoner- No information is available on this, drat it!
The Silver Surfer- based on the Marvel comic.
The Six Million Dollar Man- This project is most likely dead.
Skeptics- Disbeliever in UFOs investigates one and disappears.
Soldier- Looks like a go. Kurt Russell fighting on another planet.
Species 2: Offspring- Yes they are making it. (Try to avoid bad puns here.)
Star Trek 9- Due this November. The whole cast including Bret Spiner. Frakes directing.
The next three Star Wars films- Go!
Terminator 3- Rumor only, probably not.
Time Bandits 2- Terry Gilliam wants to do it.
Total Recall 2- The old cast, including Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone have been asked. Jonathon Frakes may direct. (Wasn't Stone killed?)
Wing Commander- Based on the game.
X - The Man With the X-ray Eyes.- Remake of The Man With the X-ray Eyes.
The X-files- This Summer
Also listed are possible movies based on books that we'd like to see. (And hope they don't screw up.)
Battlefield Earth
Enders Game - Card has written a script.
Fahrenheit 451- Mel Gibson wants to make it and Ray Bradbury likes what he has seen.
Foundation- The Asimov classic. New Line Cinema wants to do it but the project hasn't gone very far.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Adams has worked on a screenplay. It might be out in 2000. Here's Douglas Adams dream cast; Arthur: Simon Jones, Ford: Jeff Goldblum, Slartibartfast: Sean Connery, Zaphod: Michael Keaton, Marvin: Stephen Moore, Trillian: Amanda Donahoe. Who could laugh at Sean Connery's name even if it is Slartibartfast?
Man Plus- The Fred Pohl novel
The Martian Chronicles
Red Dwarf- The stated plan is to film a total of 52 TV episodes including those we've already seen, sell them to Fox network here in the US and make enough money to make two feature films.
Rendezvous With Rama- Due Dec. 31, 1999! With Morgan Freeman.
Ridley Scott's Metropolis- The possibilities boggle.
Sphere- Presumably based on the Chrighten novel. Due this February. Dustun Hoffman, Sharon Stone.
Stranger in a Strange Land- The HeinLein Classic. Someone has a script and is looking or support. don't hold your breath. Occasional rumors of a movie have come around now and then for the past 20 years. Popular opinion is Hollywood is afraid of it.
The Zen Differential- Based on William Gibson's Count Zero. So far just an idea.
There are a lot more. Check out the web site!
NEVER MIND SPECTER. WATCH OUT FOR THE JUDGE!
Three screenwriters are suing United Artists, MGM, and just about everyone else associated with the new James Bond film except the actors, saying they stole the whole plot from them. Jeffery Howard, Chris Beutler, and Jay Schlossber-Cohen claim their script was shown to Madeline Warren, wife of Bruce Feirstein. Feirstein has sole screenplay credit for Tomorrow Never Dies. The plaintiffs claim that the Bond film is nearly identical to their script except for the hero.
NEWS BITS
SCARIER THAN FILM
A man named Jonathan Norman has been arrested and charged with stalking Steven Speilberg. His intent was apparently kidnap and rape. When arrested he was found with a kidnap kit containing handcuffs, duct tape and razor blades. Also found was a shopping list that included dog collars, eye masks, nipple clamps, chloroform, and a stun gun.
MARS METEORITE IS QUESTIONED
Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at U of C have said that tests they have done indicate that the fossilized life forms found in a meteorite in Antarctica came from Earth and not from Mars. They claim to have found nothing that could not have originate on Earth.
Gibson and McKay of NASA however stand behind their conclusion that the fossils are extraterrestrial. Gibson questions the methods used by Scripps. Scripps analyzed the fossils and the minerals around them when he feels they should have tested only the lifelike structures themselves.
RIGHT WHALES ALIVE!
Believed to be extinct for more than a century, about 100 to 150 right whales have been found near New Zealand. The right whale was believed to have been hunted to extinction.
In addition to an abundance of oil that led to their near demise this particular whale has a few other interesting features including the largest testicles in the world (2,200 pounds each) and a nine foot penis.
A LETTER FROM JEAN WHITELAW
Dear Robin,
Things have been jumbled this past year and I suspect you've been carrying me and it's time to throw some money back into the pot.
Peg and I enjoyed ourselves so much at the Con this summer. It's been a long dry stretch for us both. Peg was sitting in the lobby when we first checked in and a man came up and said "Are you one of the well known 'Grandmas for Space'?" It's nice to know we've been remembered.
Because of a problem I have with swallowing I had to go into the hospital last month. While they were pumping me back up with IVs they decided to go whole hog and put a feeding tube in my stomach. It sure solves the dehydration and eating problem. I've been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into a costume but haven't come up with any good ideas yet.
Peg is still fighting off dialysis and nursing various scrapes and bruises received when she was bowled over by a friendly Labrador.
Like it says on our T-shirts, "Old age is not for sissies!"
Does anyone have tapes of the masquerade contest from last Chicon? We ordered the professional tape but they're still tied up in a lawsuit and who knows when that will be settled. If somebody dose and could make copies for us we would be very grateful. and would pay for them. Lord knows, we're not likely to do anything like that again. Or even if they taped up at the following InConJunction just to show our families what we get up to.
I am also looking for the book club 3 in 1 edition of Five Twelve's of Heaven by (I think) Melissa Scott. I am certain my son borrowed it but he denies all knoledge. Its about a woman space pilot born into an Islamic space faring society who enters into a three person marriage to two men to escape control by her uncle when her grandfather dies. I'd even be interested in the paperback if anyone runs across them.
Hope to see you all next summer.
Jean Whitelaw
BOOKS:
ARTHUR C. CLARKE & LORD DUNSANY
For immediate release . . .
In celebration of Arthur C. Clarke's 80th birthday, Anamnesis Press is proud to announce the imminent (January 1998) publication of ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND LORD DUNSANY: A CORRESPONDENCE, ISBN 0-9631203-0-1, $19.95, in a limited collector's edition. This book, edited by Keith Allen Daniels, collects the previously unpublished correspondence between science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke and fantasy legend Lord Dunsany, ca. 1944-1956. Topics discussed include space travel, the exploration of Mars and the Moon, poetry, H. P. Lovecraft, etc.
Lord Dunsany's letters, written in flowing cursive with a quill pen, are reproduced throughout the text.
Please make check or money order payable to Anamnesis Press, P.O. Box 51115, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
For more information about Anamnesis Press and its publications, please visit our web page at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/anamnesis/.
GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC
Set in a near-future where anti-memory drugs are distributed free and "evolved" animals take their place alongside humans, Jonathan Lethem's novel debut, Gun, with Occasional Music, blends science fiction and hard-boiled detective fiction in a 21st century Berkeley. Originally published in hardcover by Harcourt Brace in 1994, Gun, with Occasional Music is now available from Tor Books in trade paperback.
Lethem depicts a nightmarish world in which the Inquisitor's Office hands out -- and takes back -- "karma points" and the society as a whole is addicted to a variety of drugs collectively known as "make" -- Addictol, Forgettol, Believol -- sanctioned by the government and freely distributed.
It is also a world in which genetic engineering has created "babyheads," infants engineered to grow up faster than their natural bodies, an aberrant and angry group of bald-headed punks beyond their parents' control and abandoned to the streets.
Conrad Metcalf is a p.i. (Private Inquisitor) with more than the usual problems: he's switched nerve endings in his sex organs with his absent girlfriend; he's running low on the karma points that keep him out of the state-ordained deep-freeze; and he keeps asking questions in a futuristic world in which mind-numbing drugs are pandemic and curiosity is considered rude at best. After the murder of Dr. Maynard Stanhunt, the Oakland urologist who'd recently hired Metcalf to tail his wife Celeste, Metcalf finds himself caught between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse. But it isn't until his own karma runs out and he emerges from a six-year freeze to an incomparably bleaker world that Metcalf finally puts the pieces together.
According to Kirkus Reviews, Gun, with Occasional Music "slings cyberspeak and tags from Raymond Chandler with equal panache....A first novel whose mix of genres and voices comically focuses a nightmarish hash of yesterday, today and tomorrow." Booklist says, "Amid its smartly delivered first-person narrative and crackling dialogue, even a tough-talking kangaroo that intermittently tangles with Metcalf seems plausible. An outstanding debut." Library Journal praises Gun, with Occasional Music and writes "...this first novel imparts a new meaning to the work mystery. Spare prose and tight plotting create a taut sf thriller that should appeal to both sf and mystery fans." Science Fiction Age says "Call it tech noir if you must...This is not an Orwellian future. Lethem allows the reader to inhale another blend of dystopia, a page from a book of Huxley's." The San Francisco Chronicle writes "A deft blendof comedy, suspense and grim vision, "Gun, with Occasional Music" leaves you both amused and uneasy."
Jonathan Lethem has published nearly thirty short stories in a variety of anthologies and magazines in the United States and England. His stories have been reprinted twice in The Year's Best Science Fiction, and in 1991 he was a finalist for the Nebula Award. Lethem is currently working on a new novel which engages in a critical dialogue with the Western films of John Ford -- particularly "The Searchers" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" -- in a setting he calls "the extra-terrestrialfrontier." Also in the works is an epic novel set in the Brooklyn neighborhood of his childhood.
Lethem lives in Berkeley, California.
Gun, with Occasional Music
By Jonathan Lethem
A Tor Trade Paperback
ISBN 0-312-85878-7
272 Pages/$10.95