Had an incident of small world syndrome. I originally met David Gerrold, WAY back when, on GEnie. Yeah, back in 1986 or so, I was online even then, and using my mom's account, paid for by my dad. I asked how to change my userid to Captain Sciffy, and found out just a few years ago that's it's entirely possible that Marah marahsk was the moderator of the SF Forum back then. Online, he was discussing Star Trek, his latest books (I think Voyage of the Star Wolf), and his failed ST:TNG script, Blood and Fire.
I later met him again at Westercon in Anaheim, in 1989. I found the dealers table for Dangerous Visions bookstore, and saw a copy of that script. As I picked it up, the shopkeeper shouted, "Hey David, wanna autograph your stuff for this young lady?" I had a nice talk with him again, and he remembered Captain Sciffy from a few months earlier too. :)
That con brings up several small world syndrome episodes, and past-con experiences. My friends from Phoenix attended. Harlan Ellison was also a guest. Last year at Dragoncon, I saw my friend Heather again, my best friend from Phoenix. She's coming to visit me in Chicago for Windycon, and she was holding my hand when my son was born. Also, at that Dragoncon, Harlan Ellison was again a GOH.
Another instance? At that Westercon, Harlan had an unannounced midnight story hour. When I lived in Springfield, Missouri, from 1994-1998, a friend and I shared past con experiences. "Oh, you were two away on his left? I was three away on his right!" So, really, I COULD list you as a job reference, and say I've "known" you since 1989, right? Yeah... 5 years? I can do that! ;)
In 1990, David Gerrold was GOH at Coppercon 10, and my Chicago friend, Neil, came to visit me in Phoenix. This was Neil's first, and only con. David had a panel called "Meet David Gerrold", which we both attended. Neil asked, "Mr Gerrold, what can we do to bring good quality sci-fi back to television?"
David replied, "Okay, first off, I'm not sure where to begin with that sentence. There's at least three things wrong with it. To start with, Hi, I'm David. Next, please don't use the term 'sci-fi'. That's a term the media came up with, and us 'science fiction afficionados' do not appreciate it. Third, you're assuming that we ever HAD good quality science fiction on TV!" This brought numerous laughs and groans. "But, to answer your question, the first thing we do is kill all the producers." (More laughter.) "No, seriously, we have to start there..."
He went into a lengthy discussion, and Neil was remembered. For an encore, Neil later asked Leslie Fish to sing "the Kipling song". As Leslie described it from memory in 2000, "I literally threw THE BOOK at him and said, 'Here. Find it. I have the original 7-foot long shelf of original filk. I can only carry so much." Neil replied, "Eek."
For a second encore, Neil got himself drunk on Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, and proceeded to enter the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest. He was awarded the "Golden Spitball Award" for the following:
There was a ninja turtle named Fred Who took Miss O'Neill to bed. He tried to teach her ninja, But it screamed and it pinched-a, till Fred's ninja face turned red.
He followed that up with another encore, drunkenly dancing the Time Warp at midnight. Meanwhile, Heather and I went for a different encore. We'd heard that David Gerrold loved cookies. We took Neil out for pizza, and stopped (in costume, of course), at a shop to buy some cookies. We put them in the car, to wait for the following day. We forgot to bring them to the hotel room. It's Phoenix, remember. Doh! So, at the autograph signing, we donated to the AIDS foundation Los Angeles, and showed David a melted bag of Oreos, and chocolate chip cookies. "Um... we tried?" He grinned and laughed, and said something about his room, a spoon, and enjoying them later! ;)
Ahh, I miss Phoenix cons... and so many of the people there. Some close friends of mine have passed away, and others aren't doing too good. :( The energy level and sense of community there is something I haven't seen since, but Toronto fandom does come pretty damned close. Chicago seems to thrive on chaos!
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Martian Child
Date: 2005-09-18 11:43 pm (UTC)I later met him again at Westercon in Anaheim, in 1989. I found the dealers table for Dangerous Visions bookstore, and saw a copy of that script. As I picked it up, the shopkeeper shouted, "Hey David, wanna autograph your stuff for this young lady?" I had a nice talk with him again, and he remembered Captain Sciffy from a few months earlier too. :)
That con brings up several small world syndrome episodes, and past-con experiences. My friends from Phoenix attended. Harlan Ellison was also a guest. Last year at Dragoncon, I saw my friend Heather again, my best friend from Phoenix. She's coming to visit me in Chicago for Windycon, and she was holding my hand when my son was born. Also, at that Dragoncon, Harlan Ellison was again a GOH.
Another instance? At that Westercon, Harlan had an unannounced midnight story hour. When I lived in Springfield, Missouri, from 1994-1998, a friend and I shared past con experiences. "Oh, you were two away on his left? I was three away on his right!" So, really, I COULD list you as a job reference, and say I've "known" you since 1989, right? Yeah... 5 years? I can do that! ;)
In 1990, David Gerrold was GOH at Coppercon 10, and my Chicago friend, Neil, came to visit me in Phoenix. This was Neil's first, and only con. David had a panel called "Meet David Gerrold", which we both attended. Neil asked, "Mr Gerrold, what can we do to bring good quality sci-fi back to television?"
David replied, "Okay, first off, I'm not sure where to begin with that sentence. There's at least three things wrong with it. To start with, Hi, I'm David. Next, please don't use the term 'sci-fi'. That's a term the media came up with, and us 'science fiction afficionados' do not appreciate it. Third, you're assuming that we ever HAD good quality science fiction on TV!" This brought numerous laughs and groans. "But, to answer your question, the first thing we do is kill all the producers." (More laughter.) "No, seriously, we have to start there..."
He went into a lengthy discussion, and Neil was remembered. For an encore, Neil later asked Leslie Fish to sing "the Kipling song". As Leslie described it from memory in 2000, "I literally threw THE BOOK at him and said, 'Here. Find it. I have the original 7-foot long shelf of original filk. I can only carry so much." Neil replied, "Eek."
For a second encore, Neil got himself drunk on Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, and proceeded to enter the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest. He was awarded the "Golden Spitball Award" for the following:
There was a ninja turtle named Fred
Who took Miss O'Neill to bed.
He tried to teach her ninja,
But it screamed and it pinched-a,
till Fred's ninja face turned red.
He followed that up with another encore, drunkenly dancing the Time Warp at midnight. Meanwhile, Heather and I went for a different encore. We'd heard that David Gerrold loved cookies. We took Neil out for pizza, and stopped (in costume, of course), at a shop to buy some cookies. We put them in the car, to wait for the following day. We forgot to bring them to the hotel room. It's Phoenix, remember. Doh! So, at the autograph signing, we donated to the AIDS foundation Los Angeles, and showed David a melted bag of Oreos, and chocolate chip cookies. "Um... we tried?" He grinned and laughed, and said something about his room, a spoon, and enjoying them later! ;)
Ahh, I miss Phoenix cons... and so many of the people there. Some close friends of mine have passed away, and others aren't doing too good. :( The energy level and sense of community there is something I haven't seen since, but Toronto fandom does come pretty damned close. Chicago seems to thrive on chaos!