IN THIS EDITION:

NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO REGULAR MEETING IN SEPTEMBER!
Instead we're having a party. See THE AFTER-THE-CON BASH below.

THE AFTER-THE-CON BASH
THE DIRECTORY PROJECT - UPDATE
HUMOR - TRUE STORIES
BOOKS
A DAVID BRIN NON-INTERVIEW

THE AFTER-THE-CON BASH
By David Henninger

Once a year we gather to celebrate the successful completion of another InConJunction. Not the Dead Dog Party where we celebrate our survival of another InConJunction. This is The Bash. This year it will be once again, at Dave and Robin's house. The date is Saturday, September 19th. Things begin around Noon. And continue to about 10:00 PM. (This may interfere with stargazing but Robin has to work on the Hancock County Hospital Applefest the next day.)

The original date was to be the 20th. Unfortunately Robin was needed at the Applefest and I suddenly had a family obligation on the 20th. Jeff and Vicki graciously agreed to merge the Quantum meeting with the Bash. We are the same people after all.

Please bring a covered dish. Don't everyone bring desserts. We'll cook something meaty on the grill. Right now we're thinking of turkey.

E-mail or call for directions if you need them.

THE DIRECTORY PROJECT - UPDATE
by David Henninger

When I began the club directory it looked like a simple, straightforward project. Create the layout, insert the pictures and data, take it to the printer, and you're done. Actual man-hours of work: four or five. I've spent far more than that on a painting. I never suspected that so many people would be so reluctant to send me data.

The book is completely laid out. All of the names, addresses, phone and E-mail addresses are entered for everyone who was on the roster as of last March. What is missing is biographical information on all but a few members. Much of this I can write myself, but I don't know everyone and my information could be out of date.

All I need are a few simple facts. What are your interests in SF and Fantasy? What other interests do you have? What talents? Where do you work? What is your job? (A nurse might be a pediatric trauma nurse, for example.) What club or con offices have you held? Have you done anything unusual in fandom or mundane life? If there is anything in this list you don't want to mention, leave it out. There is no need to write creatively, just send me a list. I'll take care of the rest.

If I had all of this data, and photos today, I could have it to the printers by the end of the first week in September. Right now I can't be sure it will be done at all. There will be questioners available at the Bash. Please complete one and return it as soon as possible.

HUMOR - TRUE STORIES
Contributed by Pam Barker

1. Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two (counterfeit) $16 bills.
2. A man in Johannesburg, South Africa, shot his 49-year-old friend in the face, seriously wounding him, while the two practiced shooting beer cans off each other's head.
3. A company trying to continue its five-year perfect safety record showed its workers a film aimed to encouraging the use of safety goggles on the job. According to Industrial Machinery News, the film's depiction of gory industrial accidents was so graphic that twenty-five workers suffered minor injuries in their rush to leave the screening room. Thirteen others fainted, and one man required seven stitches after he cut his head falling off a chair while watching the film.
4. The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons, setting a $500 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.
5. A bus carrying five passengers was hit by a car in St.. Louis, but by the time police arrived on the scene, fourteen pedestrians had boarded the bus and had begun to complain of whiplash injuries and back pain.
6. A convict broke out of jail in Washington DC, then a few days later he accompanied his girlfriend to her trial for robbery. At lunch, he went out for a sandwich. She needed to see him, and thus had him paged. Police officers recognized his name and arrested him as he returned to the courthouse in a car he had stolen over the lunch hour.
7. Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.
8. When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still refused, so the robber called the police and was arrested.
9. A Los Angeles man who later said he was "tired of walking," stole a steamroller and led police on a 5 mph chase until an officer stepped aboard and brought the vehicle to a stop.
10. An award should go to the United Airlines gate agent in Denver for being smart and funny, and making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo ~ During the final days at Denver's old Stapleton airport, a crowded United flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS." The agent replied, "I'm sorry sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these folks first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He aked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?" Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate." With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United agent, gritted his teeth and swore "#@&$ you!". Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to stand in line for that, too." The man retreated as the people in line continued laughing at him.

BOOKS
Suggested by Amazon.com

The Hand
by Frank R. Wilson

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679412492/ref=ad_sn1

Neurologist Frank R. Wilson takes a close look at the human hand, and concludes that our dexterous mitts have a lot to do with the development of our big brains. Anthropologist Ian Tattersall says, "Frank Wilson restores the hand and the structures that move it to the center of our evolution and relates them ingeniously to the cognitive uniqueness that we normally consider the hallmarks of humanity." Ponder that the next time you twiddle your thumbs.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
by Paul Hoffman

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786863625/ref=ad_sn1

Mathematical genius is endlessly fascinating, perhaps because it is so rare and so often occurs in individuals whose lives are singularly odd. Paul Hoffman spent 10 years chronicling the nomadic wanderings and incredible problem- solving marathons of prolific, eccentric mathematician Paul Erdos, one of those rare humans whose brain is wired for math ... and little else. Erdos's quest for mathematical truth shows that obsession doesn't have to be destructive.

"The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" is an entertaining and enlightening look at an odd genius whose life was full of joy.

"Silent Thunder"
by Katy Payne

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684801086/ref=ad_sn1

More than a decade ago, naturalist Katy Payne felt something like the vibration from an organ's lowest notes while standing near an elephant cage at a zoo. Ever since, she has studied the possibility that elephants might use infrasound to communicate. Her studies have brought her close to these huge mammals--close enough that she's grief-stricken over their senseless slaughter. Payne's moving book examines the zoological and sociological significance of elephant communication.

NEW IN PAPERBACK

"Who Goes First?"
by Lawrence K. Altman

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520212819/ref=ad_sn1

Lawrence K. Altman's fascinating examination of self- experimentation in medical research explores the contributions made by doctors using themselves as guinea pig that have helped advance the state of modern health care. This intriguing aspect of research has been all but ignored, until now.

"The Whole Shebang"
by Timothy Ferris

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684838613/ref=ad_sn1

Timothy Ferris delivers "The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report." This comprehensive guide to everything from cosmic evolution to quantum weirdness will answer all your questions about black-hole thermodynamics, the shape of space, and the ambiguities of cosmology.

"The World Watch Reader on Global Environmental Issues"
edited by Lester R. Brown

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393317536/ref=ad_sn1

"The World Watch Reader" is the definitive place to look for essential information on the state of the earth. This edition covers the big problems facing humanity at the turn of the millennium: energy production, climate disruption, oceanic and freshwater ecosystem health, and social instabilities such as resurgent diseases and rising refugee flows. Required reading for the environmentally literate.

A DAVID BRIN NON-INTERVIEW

David Brin is truly a science fiction luminary. Among his notable works are "Earth," "The Practice Effect," "Glory Season," "The Postman," and the award-winning Uplift series. Brin's latest book is "Heaven's Reach," which completes the second Uplift trilogy. He's also just published a nonfiction book about privacy called "The Transparent Society." Brin stopped by Amazon.com's offices to chat with us about "The Transparent Society." We asked him all kinds of questions, but none quite like the ones you'll find below in this mock interview he wrote for our Science Fiction and Fantasy e-mail subscribers.

The book featured in this e-mail is David Brin's "Heaven's Reach." You can find it at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553101749/ref=ad_sf1

My Amazon.com Interview... ?
by David Brin

Amazon.com: You are sometimes called a modern Bard of Optimism. But is optimism valid any longer in today's society?

David Brin: I have good reasons for thinking things are getting better. From the Neanderthal era until just a few generations ago, an opinionated contrarian like me would most likely have been burned at the stake. But in this culture I'm well paid and respected for spinning scenarios about the future ... and nobody even gripes when my prophecies sometimes prove wrong! I get to criticize icons of authority in every direction, without fear. Is it any wonder that I appreciate getting to live in such times?

I grew up watching missiles streak into the heavens, wondering if some might return to blast everyone to bits. I was vaccinated against diseases that crippled cousins of my parents' generation. I spent scores of hours tormented in a dentist's chair, a common experience in my day that kids today cannot even imagine. I've seen a nation teeter on the edge of chaos (the sixties) and come back more honorable than before. I've also seen science unroll blueprints of the universe before our eyes. (I even got to help unroll the plans a little.) We live in an era of change. How people deal with it, for well or ill, seems a worthy topic that no genre handles better than science fiction. And much of the change we've seen offers some reason for hope.

Alas, many people who benefited from this marvelous young civilization call it "decadent." They say our ancestors were better than we are ... as if that statement honors past folk somehow. In fact, we are a mightier, wiser, better people ... exactly as our ancestors would have wanted us to be. And if our great-grandchildren aren't vastly better than us, I plan to come back and haunt them!

Don't call that optimism. Call it reasonable ambition. If you want a real optimist, look up Ray Bradbury. Guy's nuts. He actually likes people.

Amazon.com: You claim you may be the last great science fiction author ... because of modern dentistry?

Brin: Fillings. Young folks don't have as many nowadays. Turns out they're radio antennae to Zone X, where all the great story ideas come from. I hears 'em all night long. Unless that's the country station next door, frying my neurons at 50,000 watts ... urk.

Amazon.com: Some readers find it hard to believe the same person wrote "Glory Season," the humorous "Practice Effect," and "The Transparent Society." Are the worlds of fiction and nonfiction that different?

Brin: I may be best known for big, brash space adventures like "Heaven's Reach." But I like to alternate the gaudy, far-future stuff with works that are more intimate and close to home. "The Postman" wasn't even marketed as science fiction. As for the dilemma of secrecy that I discuss in "The Transparent Society," I also talked about it in "Earth." But sometimes a topic is just too complex and important to handle in a novel alone. Nonfiction is ten times the work, for a tenth of the money. But you get to work out an idea in some detail without having to interrupt it with the next car chase or love scene.

Still, all told, I'll stick mostly to fiction. For one thing, my characters can't sue me, no matter what I put them through!

Amazon.com: Is there an overall theme one can see in every book?

Brin: I try not to be repetitive or boring, but I'd have to guess that all my works are in some way about growing up. Peter Pan sounds romantic and all that. But in the long run we'll win far greater rewards by looking the universe in the eye, and accepting responsibility for taking care of part of it. I guess you could compare our situation to being a parent. Serious ... and it can be loads of fun.