Stone Hill Launch Times
September 1997
A Wade in the Water publication by Raggedy Ann Morris
74273.1607@CompuServe.com
-or-
ann@stonehill.org
ph: 813/677-6347
P.O. Box 2076, Riverview, FL 33568
Web pages: http://www.stonehill.org and http://www.milieux.com
NECRONOMICON NOTES
It seems as if we just finished one
NECRONOMICON and now it's almost time for another. We're pretty much ready
for it though. The award ribbons and medallions have been ordered. The T-shirts are being printed. The schedules are in the process of being put together. It's looking good.
If you wish to work at the convention but have not yet signed up for a job, there's still time to get one. We have need of panel hosts, video helpers. con suite staff, people to help with the children's programming (especially someone who is interested in the costume workshop for kids), security and general gofer duties.
Again, this year, Stone Hill members and guests at the convention will be allowed to enter the masquerade as we have special "judges' awards" that can be given to those contestants if they merit them. This will in no way affect the chances of the convention member participants winning one of our beautiful first or second place costume awards. We would just love to see lots of lovely, frightening, funny, or just plain weird costumes in the contest.
I just got off the phone from talking to a fellow from Toronto who is going to be participating in the Middle Earth tournament sponsored by I.C.E.. We are going to have tournament participants from all over the U.S. and obviously some from outside the U.S. We always have some members from outside the Southeast but we will have more than usual this year. I hope everyone will take the opportunity to talk with these visitors and make new friends as well as show them what we in the South are famous for-hospitality.
If you have any items for the charity auction, please bring them to the October Stone Hill meeting or to the convention. We can give receipts if you would like to take their value as a deduction on your taxes. NECRONOMICON is a non profit organization and so is our pet charity, Wildlife Rescue, Inc.
We've gotten lots of nifty-keen movie stuff to give away. I guess after all my years of writing to the movie studios, asking for goodies, they have put me on the freebie list. I had huge boxes arriving at my house before I'd even sent letters asking for items to give to our members. We have posters, buttons, and T-shirts. Some of the studios that have donated these promotional items to us are Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Universal. They have come through for us year after year.
I guess that's all the convention news for now. Be sure you put October 10-12 on your calendar. You won't want to miss out on the fun.
OCTOBER 5 STONE HILL MEETING
Don't forget that the Stone Hill meeting will be the first Sunday in October. We can't have it on the second Sunday
because we'll all be at NECRONOMICON. The meeting is a blood drive meeting
and will be held at the Bennett home at 12215 Spottswood Dr., Riverview, FL. The
phone there, in case you need directions, is 813/671-2859.
BIRTHDAY WISHES
Okay, guys, I have a list of how to say "Happy
Birthday," in 100 languages. I got the list from the most excellent Web of Culture web site. If you wish to check out this super-cool site, the URL is:
www.worldculture.com
Till I run out of languages, each birthday person will get his own special wish from my list.
Scott Ciencin - September 1-Veels geluk met jou verjaardsdag! (Afrikaans)
Julie Oswald - September 6 - Urime ditlindja! (Albanian)
Dale Shuman - September 10 - Gueter geburtsdaa! (Alsatian)
James Thomas Hillyard - September 13 - Melkam lidet! (Amharic)
Pat Aylward - September 14 - Eid milaad saeed! (Arabic)
Lauren Podolak - September 17 - Taredartzet shnorhavor! (Armenian)
Richard Lee Byers - September 21 - Yamod d'Mooladah Hawae Brikha!
(Assyrian)
Chris Littell - September 21 - Ois guade winsch I dia zum Gbuadsdog!
(Austrian-Viennese)
Richard Louis Newman - September 25 - Zorionak! (Basque)
Mike LoBue - September 30 - Ungil el cherellem! (Belauan-Micronesian)
FILKER'S FOLLY
The way things come together can be a little strange. People often ask those who write where they get their ideas. Well, here's how one of mine reared it's mischievous head and ended up here.
One day recently, I was pondering over what causes certain people to become
friends. It came to me that what makes friends is a sense of a spiritual connection.
The phrase that presented itself in my mind to describe that was "communion of
hearts." I liked it. It was a good phrase. More had to be done with it. I was sure it would become a poem. A few lines formed and I wrote them down so as not to forget them. Then, I left them alone to percolate for a while. A few days later, I woke up with bits of a tune in my head. I realized that it was from CAPERMAN, a CD by the Tannahill Weavers. What happened next was that I discovered that the lines I'd written earlier in the week fit the tune that was playing on my mental phonograph. Well, that was it! I went to the computer and the whole rest of the poem came to me that morning. Of course, by then, it wasn't just a poem but also a song, a filk song since the tune is borrowed. I suspect that Robert Tannahill, who wrote the song "The Braes o' Balquhidder" sometime in the early 1800s won't mind too much.
This song does not have a science fiction, fantasy, or horror theme but I wish to share it with you because it tells how I feel about the friendship that draws people together.
COMMUNION OF HEARTS
tune: Robert Tannahill's "The Braes o' Balquhidder"
Lyrics: Ann Evelyn Morris
I have been to the mountains.
I have been to the shore.
I have wandered in far places
I need travel no more.
I have found what I was seeking
In a place where love starts;
Where friends have come to gather
There's communion of hearts.
You can count on the starshine
To guide you in the night
And the sun is there to lead you
As you move through daylight.
You must follow your own pathway
To the place where love starts;
In a place where friends await you
There's communion of hearts.
We have been on a journey
To find where we belong.
We have turned what was weakness
Into something that is strong.
We have built our own bridges
To the place where love starts.
Where we have come together,
There's communion of hearts.
Where we have come together,
There's communion of hearts.
August 31, 1997
SOME TOTALLY COOL WEB SITES
I never was a surfer girl until I experienced the
waves of the Internet. In my quest for bigger and better thrills, I have come across a couple of
sites that will be of interest to just about every SF fan who has Internet access. You can get to
quite a few author's pages through SFF NET. The URL is: www.sff.net/
There are pages there dedicated to several NECRONOMICON friends. Ben Bova's page has an excerpt from his new book MOONRISE as well as information about his other books. (His book MARS has been optioned for the movies.) Jack Haldeman's page has the online version of PAW PRINTS, a book of cat poems by Jack with illustrations by Jeannette Spencer. (Back in 1990 we sold hard copies
of PAW PRINTS at NECRONOMICON to help raise money for Wildlife Rescue, Inc.) There are also some very nice words about our convention and our group. Lawrence Watt-Evans has his "Misenchanted Page" on SFF NET also. You can find out about his work there and there are some neat images of stages of the cover illustration for his newest novel.
Another fun page to go visit is PADRAIG O'HLCEADHA'S BOOKMARKS. This one
has lots and lots of SF and fantasy links. You can be in for a long session when you get on this
page. The URL is long too. It's: http://arrogant.itc.icl.ie/BOOKMARK.html
Of course, there are always the Stone Hill sites to check out at www.stonehill.org and
www.milieux.com. While you're at it, you might as well drop in and see my page for Tampa's
Fencing Academy at http://milieux.com/stonehill/ann My monthly newsletters have things that
are not just for fencers. The quotations are cool, if I do say so myself.
TILL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE AND HAVE FUN!
Email the STONE HILL SF ASSOCIATION AT:74273.1607@CompuServe.com
Snail mail to: P.O. Box 2076, Riverview, FL 33569
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