This is SKYRACK number 81, dated 10th July 1965 and published by Ron Bennett, 52 Fairways Drive, Forest Lane, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. Four pages of sf news and fannish chitchat which remain the lowest priced news pages in the field. 2/6d for 6 issues. 35¢ in the USA (70¢ airmail) for 6 issues, also, and subscriptions may be sent to Robert Coulson, holder of many Bob Tucker recommendations, at Route 3, Hartford City, Indiana 47348. Publishable news always welcome.

New Worlds lines up Convention Special…Inside

LONCON PROGRAMME TAKES SHAPE

THE PROGRAMME FOR THE LONDON WORLD CONVENTION which will be held over, the Bank Holiday weekend at the Mount Royal Hotel, Marble Arch, London W.1 is lining up well, with a good variety of interesting items on the provisional agenda. , As well as the official opening ceremony and the usual introductions, the evening of the first day, Friday 27th August, will feature a talk by Harry "Deathworld" Harrison, entitIed Science Fiction, the Salvation of the Modern Novel. During the afternoon of the same day there will be a film show. Other talks lined up for, the weekend conference will be delivered by Geoff Doherty, John Brunner, Brian Aldiss (the Guest of Honour),TAFF Delegate Terry Carr, Fantasy & Science Fiction’s Ted, White and Special Speaker Arthur C. Clarke. Panel will cover such items such as Science Fiction in Europe, fan and professional opinions on the sf scene and will feature such names as Walter Ernsting, Josef Nesvadba, Mack Reynolds, Charles Platt, Forry Ackerman, Dave Kyle, James Blish, George 0. Smith, Al Lewis, Mike Rosenblum, Tom Schluck, James White, Bob Silverberg, Fred Pohl, Ken Bulmer, Edmund Crispin, Jack Williamson, Poul Anderson, Donald Wollheim, Michael Moorcook and Boyd Raeburn. The Delta Group films will be shown, Tom Boardman Jr will be the Banquet's Toastmaster, there will be a Knights of St Fanthony Ceremony, a fancy dress party compered, by Arthur Thomson and auctions conducted by Phil Rogers and Ted Forsyth. There is also a chance of a showing of a special BBC TV film made in New York.

Space only precludes my presenting this provisional programme in full, but from the standpoint of quantity alone it would certainly appear that the above outline listing should kill off the various rumours circulating around fandom that the Worldcon's policy of "under-programming" will leave, empty more time than is actually spent on programme items. The four day programme is, without doubt, as packed with worthy items as any previous worldcon.  -rmb

FURTHER ON THE WORLDCON: The World Convention is the major event of the science fiction calendar. Normally, the convention is held over Labour Day weekend in the United States. One previous convention was held in Canada and there has been one previous convention in the U.K., the 1957 LonCon. The LonCon II Committee is composed of former TAFF delegate Ethel Lindsay, the first winner of the Dr. Arthur R. Weir Memorial Award Peter Mabey, former BSFA Publications Officer James A. Groves and former BSFA Secretary Ella A. Parker, who is the Convention Chairman. Membership fees are 15/- or $2 for non-attending members and 21/- or $3 for attending members. The Treasurer is James A. Groves, 29 Lathom Road, East Ham, London E.6.

Hotel rates at the Mount Royal, which include bed and continental breakfast, have been specially reduced for the Convention and are: £3 or $8.66 for a single room, 55/- or $7.96 per person for a twin-bedded room and 50/- or $7.25 per person for a double room. Single rooms are at a premium and it is not unknown for fans to share a twin-bedded room.

LATE STARTERS TO WORK were packed off in an unusual fashion on the morning of Thursday 22nd July, the dulcet voice of Ella Parker ringing in their ears. Ella was interviewed on the BBC Home Service programme, Today on the background of the worldcon. Ella told of the many different types of people with an interest in sf, spoke of authors discussing plots in lounge corners,, mentioned collectors and the late Don Ford's apple-box packed cellar (I might mention here that Don's apple boxes contained one of the most comprehensive collections of pulps and paperbacks in the USA),and altogether gave what must undoubtedly be the best and most sensible interview ever recorded by a fan to the general public at large.

CRINGEBINDER DUPLICATOR FOR SALE. The Gestetner which has seen service in producing many well applauded fanzines, Les Spinge amongst them, is to be sold. Offering first options to fans, owner Ken Cheslin gives the following information: Gestetner 320. power operated duplicator. One owner. Machine is 4-5 years old and has been well looked after. Includes a lock up cabinet, 3 ink changes, an automatic slip sheeter and a dozen or so tubes of ink. Cost, about £150 new. £80 o.n.o. Ken Cheslin, 18 New Farm Rd., Stourbridge, Worcs.

COLIN FREEMAN, Scribble editor and OMPAn extraordinaire is at present fafia. Forced Away From It All by an attack of an unspecified contagious disease. Colin is at present virtually incommunicado, being in an isolation ward at Scotton and having his visiting list cut to his brother Stanley. Colin is still able to receive letters of course but will not be able to answer them for the time being. If you wish to pile up his slush pile, well, his address remains as: Ward 3, Scotton Banks Hospital, Ripley Road, Knaresborough, Yorks.

THE LATEST NEW WORLDS contains the first part of Harry Harrison's Bill The Galactic Hero, a new. Aldiss short. and the promised Peristyle column, a good light touch. NW 154, dated September, will be out at the end of` August to coincide with the London Worldcon and will be a special Brian Aldiss Appreciation Issue in recognition that he is  the Convention's Guest of Honour. The issue will contain Aldiss appreciations by Peter White and Edmund Crispin and two new Aldiss stories as well as the second part of the Harrison serial, a surrealistic Colvin story, a short by a very promising newcomer, David Masson of Leeds and a new story by Bob Silverberg.

AT THE U.S. WEST COAST CONVENTION, Westercon XVIII, held in Long Beach, Calif., over the first weekend in July, Harlan Ellison mentioned that according to the official sales report, one half of his recent Ace double novel sold some two hundred thousand more copies than the other half.

Briefly, the latest fanzines: A very refreshing newcomer has appeared in FANKLE (Ivor Latto, 16 Merryton Ave., Glasgow W5; 1/6 per, 4/- for 4) which contains a well laid-out 30 pages comprising a BrumCon report, an insight into London beatnikism, an assessment of Scotland's J.T.M'Intosh and various other interesting pieces. I like the overall tone of this zine (as well as recognising the worth of the contents) and eagerly await more. And especially more from the obviously talented editor himself. .

A leading contender for this year's fanzine Hugo Award is ZENITH SPECULATION and the latest issue, the ninth, is a very fair indication why the magazine has been so nominated. Joe Patrizio discusses the scientific element of sf, Archie Mercer discusses the Blish "Okie" series and Richard Gordon, who is fast becoming recognised as an authority worth recognising, discusses Edmund Cooper. There are reviews, letters and excellent news departments to back up the main contents and as might be expected the artwork is amongst the field's best. ZENITH is obtainable from Peter R. Weston, 9 Porlock Crescent, Birmingham 31 @ 2/- or 35cents per copy.

Another fanzine with a decided science fiction slant is Charles Platt's TOMORROWSCOPE (18E Fitzjohns Ave., London NW3; 4 issues 3/-) of which the 4th issue appeared at the beginning. of the month and the fifth is due within a week to ten days. This is a comprehensive and extremely well balanced review magazine which should be at least sampled by any thinking reader.

BUMBLIE 3 comes from John Barfoot, 212 Scrogg Rd., Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 6. A quiz, amateur stories, spelling and grammatical mistakes and a cheery hale and heartiness permeate through this PADzine. The humour is a little heavy handed.

And even more briefly, the ever growing pile of unmentioned fanzines from overseas: George Scither's Con-Committee Chairman's Guide has been published by Dick Eney, 6500 Ft. Hunt Rd, Alexandria, Va 22307. 50c. A Do-It-Yourself Guide for anyone crazy enough to contemplate putting on a worldcon. ::: Nyarlathotep no. 1 is available for 30c from Ben Solon, 3915 N. Southport, Chicago, Ill, Well produced, well laid-out. Some very good book reviews and. an excellent article, though a little too extensive for its length, on fantasy films. ::: Quark, with its "indefinable spark" and its Willis Harp column, is of course highly recommended. 25c from Tom Perry, 4018 Laurel Ave, Omaha, Nebraska 68111. Quark didn't make this year's Hugo nominations, but I fail to see why. ::: I have here number 3/4 of the Argentine SF Review published by Hector Pessina at Casilla de Correo Central 3869, Buenos Aires, Argentina and available from Peter Singleton, Ward 2, Whittingham Hospital, Preston, Lancs. Nothing spectacular but a broadening of the sf horizon and worth a try. ::: Just in is the latest Stefantasy from Bill Danner, RD 1, Kennerdell, Pa. This is the leader of the For The Sheer Fun of It fanzines and if you haven't tried Stef, then you're missing something. In the June 65 issue Colin Freeman takes a further look at the way the British live, here examining the British gentleman. ::: Published by various Gerfans, Sol is available from Tom Schluck, 3 Hannover, Altenbekenerdamm 10, W. Germany. No 41 features the 2nd part of Jock Root's Pacificon II report. ::: Two of the best regularly published American fanzines, each of which has gathered a good following and some very readable material (especially the second) are G2 (Joe & Robbie Gibson, 5380 Sobrante Ave, El Sobrante,Cal 94803. 2 for 1/9d from Colin Freeman, address elsewhere thish) and Yandro (Juanita & Buck Coulson, address also elsewhere. 4 for 6/- from Alan Dodd, 77 Stanstead Rd., Hoddesdon, Herts). If you're wishing to try any Stateside fanzines, these two, as a starter batch, should satisfy anyone.

CHANGES OF ADDRESS:
Brian Allport, 2 Bristol Rd., Wavertree, Liverpool 15.
Michael & Hilary Moorcock, 87a Ladbroke Gr., London W.11
Colin Steele, 63 Westbrooke Ave., West Hartlepool, Co. Durham.

SNIPPETS: "Having wonderful time - wish Liz were here" writes Ron Ellik from Hannover. Ron and sidekick Al Lewis have met up in the UK as promised and are at present touring the Continent. Al was staying with Arthur & Olive Thomson, met Ethel Lindsay, Ted Forsyth, Peter Mabey and Peter Weston and the Chummy Brummies, and then met up with Ron in the Hook of Holland (this is the UK? Well, could be, could be) after a flying weekend visit to Ken Slater and Dave Barber in Wisbech. These two are moving around so fast that the difficulty is correlating the reports which roll in. ::: Next TAFF campaign will most probably be set up shortly after the LonCon. ::: Con banquet tickets selling well @ 35/-. ::: Letter from our regular correspondent, Wm Temple, "Thanks for your illicit letter tucked into Skyrack. Don't you know I work for the Post Office? How much will you pay to stifle the conscientious employee in me? Was surprised by 2 items in Snippets in no.79, viz., (1) Kingsley Amis recently divorced Eric Bentcliffe, and (2) March Natural History ran an article on scientific hoaxes by Bob Silverberg. (I hadn't known Bob was that kind of practical joker.)" Yes, and thank you, Mr. Temple, sir. ::: BSFA are planning the appointment of a P.R.O. . The Association is also making inquiries into the possibility of holding a sci-fi film festival during the late summer of 1966. ::: BBC TV went mad last weekend with two programmes of interest to.fans. Patrick Moore discussed life on other planets and Fred Hoyle covered the expanding universe. ::: Recent Sunday Times colour supplement featured article called Tarzan 66 and quoted Sy Weintraub, owner of all Tarzan film and TV rights, as saying "Let's get a James Bond approach to Tarzan." The article did not mention Burroughs, but quoted Weintraub as adding "In fact, he's really English, the son of a lord, but that's all forgotten now." Correspondent Doug Small adds, disgustedly, "What chance has anybody got against an attitude like that?". ::: Keith Freeman points out that he and Wendy accompanied LiG to Minorca, yet Skyrack informed him that he was Eddie Jones. "What do you think you are?" asks Keith, "A national daily?". ::: Mike Sharp, 10 Meggitt Rd., Colcot, Barry, Glamorgan is inviting contributions to his forthcoming fanzine, Skullduggery. ::: And yes, I'll try to remember to buy a new bottle of correctine before the next issue.