Review Zine 40

Edited by Susan Smith-Clarke
December, 1995.



All enquiries and correspondance to:
6 Bellevue Road
Faulconbridge
NSW 2776
e-mail: s.clarke@nepean.uws.edu.au
Also now available on the internet: http://www.ar.com.au/~medtrek


FOREWORD:
Most of the reviews are done this issue by Tim Clarke, Joanne Kerr and myself. Reviews of new releases, well-loved books, fanzines, television shows, movies, conventions, and other sf fan-related activities are welcome.
If you wish to get copies of ReviewZine please send a long s.s.a.e. to me at the editorial address. Also a donation of some stamps towards the cost of the printing. From now on, the issues will be in reduced print to save postage costs and we're also starting a subscription rate of $1 per issue for those who are interested in getting this zine on a regular basis.
Some reviews are reprinted in other Clarke & Kerr magazines such as Beyond Antares, Chronicles and Double Play. Reviews may be reprinted by other magazines if they first receive written permission.
If we receive no response in some way, to the complementary issues we are sending you, it will be taken for granted that you no longer wish to receive the zine At present, Joanne and I are both in the same financial boat with a leaky hull. This doesn't apply to our trades, of course.
This zine is now being distributed to clubs, and libraries , as well as to individual fans. Also, if you have an email address and would rather receive the magazine electronically, please email me and I'll add you to our list of electronic subscribers. Anything to save a tree!

Susan



CONTENTS THIS ISSUE
What's happening
News
Media Watch
Reviews: New Releases
Upcoming Releases
Reviews: Books
Reviews: Movies
Reviews: Fanzines
Reviews: Fan Events
Letters
Ads
Clubs
We Need Your Help

WHAT'S HAPPENING:
January 26 - 29th MUTAGEN - Dr Who Convention.
GoHs: Peter Davidson, Chris Barrie, Paul Cornell. Attending $90. GPO Box 910G, Melbourne, Vic 3001.

February 10th, 1996. THE FIFTH MELBOURNE St VALENTINE'S BALL.
The Victoria Hotel, Little Collins St, Melbourne. 7.00 pm to midnight. Cost: $32.00. Dress: formal/formal costume. Make cheque payable to Red Squadron Victoria, P O Box 1230, Ballarat Mail Centre, Vic 3354.

:::- February 17th, 1996 THE FIRST SYDNEY St VALENTINE'S BALL - a Night for Romantically Inclined People.
From 7pm - 11.30pm at Elim House, Burwood. $50 (includes 3 course buffet & drinks). Dress: formal. Make cheques payable to Medtrek, c/- Patricia Anderson, P O Box S113, Homebush South, NSW 2140.

:::- March 2nd, 1996. WINE & MASSAGE PARTY. From 4.00 pm. Venue: 6 Ian Parade, Concord. Bring a bottle of wine (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), massage oil and towel. Be prepared to participate. Cheese fondue dinner provided (one non-alcoholic). $6 (lucky door prize).

:::- March 9 - 10. NEWTCON. Wine tour of the Hunter Valley.
Venue: Molly Morgan Motor Inn. Cost: Details: Peter McMullen or Rebecca Kennedy, P O Box 388, The Junction, NSW 2291. Enclose a s.s.a.e.!

April 4 - 8, 1996. THE FESTIVAL OF THE IMAGINATION '96
(CONFUSION 96/SWANCON 21). Lit/Media NatCon. Venue: Kings Hotel, Perth. GoHs: Bruce Sterling, Neil Gaiman & Robin Pen. Membership $60 until Sept 30; Supporting $20; Voting $10. Enquiries: GPO Box G429, Perth, WA 6001.

:::- April 20 - 21: THE REUNION #4. Another in this series of minicons for nostalgia, chatting to friends, and veging out. Features soft toys picnic, barbecue, Saturday Night Dinner at the Jade Garden Restaurant (extra $20), prizes for silly captions, couch potatoes, everyone must participate in at least one event for the weekend. Newsletter to be created.

May 3 - 5, 1996: PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS -
a Babylon 5 Convention with Jerry Doyle (Garabaldi). Full membership $95 until 1/12/95. Write to New Horizons, P O Box 492, Corinda, Qld 4075. We'll be seeing you there!

Queens Birthday Weekend, NZ: CONSTELLATION NZ Natcon.
We're all going! GoH's Michael Moorcock & James Digman. $50 membership until the end of January. (Forms from Susan Clarke) P O Box 29-119, Fendalton, Christchurch, NZ. If you are interested in joining the group booking for your flights over there, please contact Susan. (ten already going!). Please note that you can pay off the con through me as their agent. Cheques to be made payable to "Andrew Scott".

BASICON 2 1997 Media NatCon
Melbourne Uni Student Union $20. Date and other details tba. P.O. Box 567 Blackburn 3130

:::- Australia Day Weekend, 1997: MEDTREK 5.
Confirmed venue: UWS Hawkesbury, Richmond, NSW. Four days of fan-orientated fun. All media. Theme: Masquerade. So get out your favourite super-hero outfits, fans, masks, books and zines about heros, villains, the mysterious, the romantic, and be prepared to dance all night at the Masked Ball. Membership now $50.
Write to: Susan Clarke, 6 Bellevue Road, Faulconbridge, NSW 2776

March 28 to 31 1997 : CONSPIRACY 1997
18th New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention. Airport Hotel Wellington N.Z. PO Box 10104, Wellington, New Zealand. (See letter col this issue)
Email: concom@sans.vuw.ac.nz

AUSTRALIA in '99 Bid for the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention. $10 pre-supporting rate. P O Box 99, Bayswater Vic 3153.

Please note that I am happy to put in any upcoming event that you want advertised.


NEWS: Let me know if I got too much news this time around. . . or if you want more. . . I appreciate your comments.
December, 1995

FOREVER KNIGHT has been cancelled. A writing campaign is being conducted at the moment before the decision to cancel becomes irreversible. Write to: Tristar/Columbia Pictures TV, 10202 Washington Blvde., Culver City, CA 90230, USA or USA Network, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, USA. Or check out:


RED DWARF fans will be happy to know that seventh season of the show is due to start filming in March 1996. And the blooper reel "Smeg Outs" is now available. It is presented by Robert Llewellyn and Craig Charles.
November, 1995.

1995 ASFMAS Results
Best Fan WriterChris Ballis
Fan ArtistSteve Scholz
Best News ZineThe Communicator
(Edited by Derek Screen)
Best Fiction ZineStrange Matter
(Edited by Sian O'Neale)
Best Audio VisualConstantinople Masquerade Video by Carol Tilley

1995 MEDIA NATCON MASQUERADE
Best Costume Under $10
The Edited PerjoranJane Tisell
Best Presentation
Zen CostumeKaren Pender-Gunn
Best Innovation
Chux Berry
& Buddy Holly
Sharon Tapner
& Derek Screen
Best Costume
I ResidentJames Allen

A MELEE OVER MONKEE MEMORABILIA
Former Monkee Peter Tork will make a cameo appearance - along with the "Monkeemobile" funny car, on an episode of "Wings". In the episode entitled "She's Gotta Have It," Helen (Crystal Bernard) gives her marriage its first real test drive when she embarks on a compulsive spending spree that ultimately lands her in a bidding war at a Monkee Memorabilia auction with Tork. The object of their pursuit: the Monkeemobile.

. Tork starred from 1966 to 1968 on NBC as one of "The Monkees," a quartet assembled to star in a free-form comedy series inspired by the Beatles' film, "A Hard Days Night."

Graham Green notes that he is part of a team that is in the process of publishing a science fiction based magazine that will include sf based articles. Submissions invited.
Correspondence to u922303@student.canberra.edu.au

The magazine Aurealis has been soliciting judges from the fan and professional community for a proposed new set of Australian Science Fiction awards, to be administered by Aurealis. There are eight proposed awards, consisting of Long Fiction and Short Fiction in each of the areas SF; Fantasy; Horror and Young Adult.

"My first professional Star Wars story will be in Australian bookstores (well, Galaxy at least!) in January! I'm so pleased.... I just sold #2 which will be published in the US next May. Spoke to the editor and he's accepted #3 and wants as many as I can give him. Also, he tells me that George Lucas is going to use my created rebel base (named Eyrie) in the new collector cards series!
. The story is titles FIREPOWER and will appear in West End Games' publication The Star Wars Adventure Journal #8 (dated US release November 1995). The second is entitled DESPERATE MEASURES and will appear in issue #10."
--- Carolyn Golledge
October, 1995

Concerning the new Alien Nation telemovies:
. "BODY and SOUL will air on 10th October in the States. Fox bosses are so pleased with what they have seen that the date has been brought forward. There was speculative talk that the show would be aired in December, but now the opposite has occurred. MILLENNIUM will now air in November or December.
. BODY and SOUL looks really good, with stunning special effects, says Craig Binkley, who attended an advanced showing on 17th September. To top it all more Alien Nation shows (including TIME BOMBS) look likely, or in the words of Kenny Johnson, 'Very optimistic'."
Pete Chambers

RON SERDUIK, former employee of Galaxy and well-known media-fan, has opened a bookshop in Brisbane called Pulp Fiction, specialising in fantasy, sf, crime and mystery.

Online Information Release:

World Wide Web Information Release - October 1995

Announcing the release of the Cult TV Net Directory, a comprehensive listing of Cult TV information on the Internet ans World Wide Web.

For immediate access, please point your browsers to the following
URL:http://www.ar.com.au/~jriddler/index.html

Cult TV shows listed include:

    * X Files
    * Star Trek
    * Babylon 5
    * Doctor Who
    * Highlander
    * Forever Knight
    * Quantum Leap
    * Due South
and many more...

For more information about the web pages please contact Jen at
jriddler@ar.com.au
. Please visit the directory soon.

    Information this time from:

  1. Murmurs. Produced by New Horizon, 776 Cavendish Road, Holland Park, Qld 4121.
  2. NBC Xtra
  3. Susan Adair
  4. The Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet. Produced by the Australian National Science Fiction Association by Marc Ortleib, P O Box 215, Forest Hill, Victoria 3131.
  5. Engage magazine from Mike Broadhurst. mdb@leicester.ac.uk

    * Bill Hupe, USA

  6. SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM by Bjo Trimble, P O Box 6858, Kingwood, TX 77339-6858, USA - available for subscription, US stamps, trade newsletter/fanzine... Australian agent: Shayne McCormack, 49 Orchard Road, Bass Hill, NSW 2197.


You can now read ReviewZine on-line at
http://www.ar.com.au/~medtrek/index.html

You can also mail your enquiries to either
medtrek@ar.com.au or
s.clarke@nepean.uws.edu.au

Happy lurking!

MEDIA WATCH As part of its travel supplement on the weekend, The Australian Magazine 11/11/95 featured a column and photo on a London pub decked out in Star Trek memorabilia. Staff and regulars wear costume, the menu includes "Kirk Kebabs", "Tribble Burgers", etc.'

Thanks to The Bullsheet #44