Meeting of April 3, 1987 at Jack Heneghan and Elaine Normandy's, President Michael Walsh presiding, Secretary Erica Van Dommelen taking minutes. The meeting was called to order at 9:12. Treasurer Steve Smith reported $14,681.09 in the treasury. The trustees announced their slate of candidates for the upcoming elections.
Disclave 1987: There will be a meeting April 12 at the hotel. Joe is looking for someone to coordinate the Senior Prom, Eva Whitley having resigned. Many top names are expected as guests.
Disclave 1988: Not present.
ConCon 2: The executive board is looking to run a Smofcon (but not the Smofcon) over Columbus Day weekend, probably in Crystal City. The con would have programming and a con suite and little else.
Old Business: The Third Friday meeting will be at Balticon, in the Preston Room.
New Business: Jack Heneghan suggested that the Journal be mailed out to members every month. Discussion, including the necessity of a computer for such an endeavor, followed. Those interested should talk to Jack or to Joe Mayhew, Future Secretary Presumptive.
Announcements: Steven Fetheroff has a new job and a new computer.
Starring: Steven Fetheroff, John Pomeranz, Lee Hagee, Chris Smith, Erica Van Dommelen, Joe Mayhew, Dan Hoey, Steve Smith, Michael Walsh, Mel Scharadin, Barry Newton, Judy Newton, Stewart Gammill, Lance Oszko, Lee Strong, Chris Callahan, Lee Uba, Candy Gresham, Dave Gresham, Dick Roepke, Jack Chalker, Eva Whitley, Jack Heneghan, Kathi Overton, Elaine Normandy, Brick Barrientos, Alan Huff, Charlie Schorr, David Lassman, Neil Ottenstein
TRUSTEE'S SLATE FOR 1987 ELECTION
President: Michael Walsh
Vice President: Erica Van Dommelen
Secretary: Joe Mayhew
Treasurer: Dan Hoey
Trustee: Steven Fetheroff
Trustee: Cat Slusser
Trustee: Jim Edwards-Hewitt
Meeting of April 17, 1987 at Balticon, President Michael Walsh presiding, Secretary Erica Van Dommelen taking minutes. Bill Mayhew told a joke; the meeting was called to order at 9:07. Minutes were waived; the treasurer was nowhere to be found; somehow courage was found to proceed.
Poker Table, Entertainment, Disclave 1988: Not present.
Disclave 1987: A productive meeting was held last Sunday; the Prom has a new captain at the helm; the State of Maryland demands 10% of the gross income if we can't prove federal tax-exempt status; the lawyer was rebuked in absentia.
Discon 3: Participated in a Bids of the Future panel earlier today.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:16.
Halfway through Robert Bloch's opening address, the beautiful blonde stranger sitting next to me leaned over, put her rose red lips to my ear, and whispered, "What does GoH mean?" She was pointing to David Brin's name in the program.
"Guest of Honor," I whispered back, fighting the urge to nibble on her ear.
"Ooh!" she squealed, looking at Brin with awestruck eyes. "You mean he wrote something?"
Yes, that's the kind of fan we get at Minicon. If you need Serious Panels discussing Important Topics, forget it. But if you want to party with people who think that Dune is a movie novelization, Minicon is a great place to boil off a few ounces of excess brain mass. Pre-con parties start the Tuesday before Easter (Minicon is always held on Easter weekend--the hotel is grateful for the business); I'm writing this on the Tuesday after and I've heard that the last post-con party is still going at the hotel. Minicon is a party animal's convention.
Correction: a domesticated party animal's con. About 2,000 people showed up this year, from Chicago, Winnipeg, Toronto, Kansas, Oklahoma, Milwaukee (now those people know how to drink), California, Arizona, -- even the North Dakota fan was there. And yet, except for some jerks who mistook the whirlpool for a urinal, it was a remarkably civilized con. No balcony divers. No trashed hotel rooms. No loonies with weapons aside from the lazertaggers, and after I knocked one flat in the parking lot I felt better about them. (Sorry, but where I come from, when you walk out to your car and some guy jumps out of hiding and starts running, it means you caught the sumbitch trying to steal your tape deck.) In short, we had a great party and the neighbors didn't call the cops.
Before you get the idea that Minicon is strictly a party con, though, we do get a pretty good collection of pros. ASFFA was there (great party, but by the time I got to it I was so fried that I thought I could remember all the artists' names without writing them down), along with Bloch, Brin, and the usual mob of Liavekites (Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Pat Wrede, Kara Dalkey, Pamela Dean). Some scintillating new talents (Curtis Hoffmann, Phil Jennings, me) spent the whole con trying to act like jaded old pros; even Gordon Dickson broke tradition and attended this year.
UNABASHED PLUG: Buy Curtis Hoffmann's book, Project Millennium, only $2.95 from Ace Books. He needs the money.
ANOTHER UNABASHED PLUG: Baen Books just signed Phil Jennings' novel, Tower To The Sky. Look for it.
Pat Price, editor of AMAZING and one hell of a nice guy, showed up, looking far more comfortable than he did at Worldcon. (Want to do something positive for the state of modern SF? Write to TSR and tell them what a great job Pat's doing.) Gordon Garb, late of Weird Tales and Digital "The Last Starfighter" Productions was there as well, discoursing at great length on the eldritch forces that put DP out of business. (Anybody need a computer graphics genius? Gordon's available.) Also attending were Jane Yolen, Ellen Kushner, Diane Duane ...
Never mind. The point is, Minicon is not some dinky regional con held in a cornfield (actually, Bloomington was a cornfield 20 years ago). Why don't you give it a try next year? The address is:
Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 8297 Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408
To everyone who contributed to the WSFA Journal over the last year: THANK YOU!!!!!