This is SKYRACK number 84, published on 4th October 1965 by Ron Bennett, 52 Fairways Drive, Forest Lane, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. Six issues for 2/6d or 35c. Six issues sent airmail 70c. Subscriptions from U.S. readers may be sent to Robert Coulson, Route 3, Hartford City, Indiana 47348. News of interest to sf fans always welcome. Contributors this issue include Brian Aldiss, Bob Tucker, Alan Dodd, Tony Walsh, Peter Campbell and Arthur Thomson. Cartoon by Kris Carey.

Vienna in sixty-six.

DEATH OF E.E.SMITH

Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D., author of the Skylark and Lensman stories, died on 31st August at Seaside, Oregon, following a heart attack.

"Doc" Smith, who was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1890 held a doctorate in organic chemistry and had worked for the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and for several private companies with which he had held executive–technical positions. The Skylark series spans his entire writing career, his first published story being The Skylark of Space which appeared in 1928 whilst Skylark Duquesne has recently appeared in If. Doc, - a long–time friend of fandom, will be sorely missed.

THE TRANS–ATLANTIC FAN FUND

TAFF Administrators, Terry Carr and Arthur Thomson (17 Brockham House, Brockham Drive, London SW 2) are now accepting nominations for candidates for the 1966 Campaign to choose a delegate to travel from this side of the Atlantic to the 24th World SF Convention, the Cleveland "TriCon" next August. The campaign is open, say Terry and Arthur in an official news release, to any European fan who is eligible and who is nominated. Closing date for nominations is 1st December, voting then continuing until 13th April 1966.

Following some little discussion, especially in the Stateside fanzines, the voting system this year will be somewhat different from that previously employed. Inaugurated this year will be the Australian Hare system, a vote counting technique which incorporates its own built in run–off count. Basically, the Hare system works as follows: On the first ballot only first place votes are counted. The lowest scoring candidate is then excluded from any further count and the second choice votes of his supporters become their first place votes, a second count then being taken. This continues until a final ballot between the last two candidates.

When voting one should rank the candidate in the exact order in which one prefers them. If one votes for only one candidate and this candidate is eliminated, further votes are automatically forfeited. Under no circumstances may a fan vote more than once or enter the name of any one candidate more than once on a ballot

Also new this year is the Candidate with the strange name of "Hold over funds." This choice, which will be on the voting forms, is similar to the "No award" vote in the Hugo ballots, giving the voter the opportunity to express the opinion that no TAFF trip be undertaken in any given year, perhaps because the entire slant of candidates does not whet his appetite or because he feels that TAFF should slow down its programme of fan visits between countries. "Hold over funds" may be listed in any place on the voting form, being then treated as any other candidate entry. If the final, majority, vote in the election is against the sending of any candidate then the TAFF funds will be held over until a fresh election the following year.

Nominations are meanwhile being invited.

So far known to be running in the forthcoming campaign is a leading figure in international fandom, Hanover's Tom Schluck, whose nomination machinery is grinding along satisfactorily, and it is understood that there is a chance that Eric Jones will run also. So far the only certainty for the slate is old Dover Funds and personally I'd hate to see him win.

BAD S.F. GROUP FORMED

On Saturday 25th September Bristol fandom officially came into being by adopting the title the Bristol & District Science Fiction Group. Fifteen fen, including Peter Mabey, Keith and Wendy Freeman, Beryl Henley, Frank Herbert, and Eric and Margaret Jones, were present at the inaugural meeting which took place at the Walsh’s new residence at 61 Halsbury Road, Bristol. Meetings are scheduled fortnightly on Saturday evenings. Anyone interested in attending/joining should contact Tony Walsh.

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL

Whilst our minds are focused on the West Country.... Cheltenham Arts Festivals Ltd is this week featuring a Festival of Literature which includes items such as "Folk Song Today," "Character in the Modern Novel," "Crime & Literature" and on Friday 8th October at 8pm in the Town Hall, "The Future of Science Fiction" - a discussion with Anthony Burgess, Robert Conquest, Edmund Crispin and Brian Aldiss. Eric Jones mentions that he hopes to attend, with intentions of asking Brian what connection meat pies have with s.f.

HARROGATE - CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE

Visitors to Harrogate are increasing in direct proportion to the square of the number of years lived here. Following the pre-con visits of Susan and Jim Caughran (who very kindly drove me down to London) and Brian Varley (who attended a local solo drive and won a prize), we've had the further pleasurable visits of Iain Ward-Campbell (who drove me down from London), Terry & Valerie Jeeves (who made a flying call to pay Terry's OMPA subscription) and Phil Rogers and Dave Kyle. Dave stayed on in England for some few weeks after the con, visiting Bert Campbell, Ted Carnell, Norman & Ina Shorrock, Keith and Wendy Freeman and Phil. Phil drove him to Harrogate so that we could all play brag until the early hours and then departed back to Scunthorpe. And Dave, who stayed on to brave the local weather, left behind him a trail of souvenirs in the shape of a briefcase, shaving cream and a pair of socks. It is understood that he'll be back to collect them all next Easter.

BRIAN ALDISS informs me that this week’s Sunday Times colour supplement contains something of interest ::: Colin Freeman is now happily out of isolation and back in circulation and should be answering a three-month pile up of correspondence.

VECTOR 34 (Aug 65; the Journal of the BSFA, edited by Roger Peyton) Another good, sound and very readable issue, with news and reviews and an excellent article by Bob Parkinson on Samuel Beckett, Whatever faults the BSFA may possess, the credit balance is high if reckoned only upon the standard of the present day Vectors. In Peyton the BSFA has as fine an editor ever to enter fandom and it will be a sad day when he and Vector part company. When one considers how close was that parting earlier this year...

GARBISTAN 2 (Charles Platt, 71 Sinclair Road, London W.14) A well-written but very prejudiced Birmingham conreport, a Dave Wood article on Playboy (Actually, the Playboy reader is not the debonair man about town, but instead is the would-be debonair man about town. In effect the magazine was created for a non-existent audience, an excellent example of putting basic psychology (projection) to work), a party report and a sheaf of letters make up what could be an excellent issue. Unfortunately, the predominant air of "let's be snide — it'll pass for biting humour" places the magazine fairly in the category of Fanzines Best Forgotten Quickly. Platt as a Fan and as a Person possesses so much obvious talent, clearly observed in recent fanzines like Beyond and in his professional writings such as the New Worlds story Lone Zone, that it is somewhat pathetic to find him wasting his time on such as this.

Whilst on the subject of Charles Platt, his excellent and formerly regular reviewzine, Tomorrowscope, is decidedly overdue and it is understood that the zine has folded, a fact to be deplored. Also understood is that objections were being made to the reviews in Tomorrowscope by certain publishers, a fact even more to be deplored, for entirely different reasons. To balance to some degree this loss from the fan-field there is the good news that Pete Weston is after all not to fold Zenith Speculation.

A CHECKLIST OF POUL ANDERSON (A limited edition compiled and published by Roger Peyton, 77 Grayswood Park Road, Quinton,Birmingham 32 @ 3/6d. Also available at 50¢ from Hank Luttrell, Route 13, 2936 Barrett Station Road, Kirkwood, Missouri 63122, USA). Like a dictionary, a checklist lacks a meaty plot which results in people thinking twice before shelling out their hard earned ££$$££'s (the hell with cliches I say) and which results also in little praise and egoboo for the compiler. A pity, for work goes into the compilation and when checklists are as well and as attractively produced as this one, a very thorough and up-to-date listing, then obviously one does not need to think over the matter at all. This is a good buy.

THE "ASTOUNDING" CHECKLIST, part two, the long and eagerly awaited, is available from Terry Jeeves, 30 Thompson Road, Ecclesall, Sheffield 11 @ 4/6d, Those of you who already own part one won't require the superlatives, merely those two words, "is available."

Some ten years ago book plating was a very popular feature of collecting sf, and there was some degree of competition amongst artists to produce the best and most reasonably priced book plates. Coming somewhat too late to win any prizes but decidedly worth a purchase are four different designs by Ken McIntyre, 212 Commonwealth Way, Abbey Wood, London SE 2, extremely good value at a mere two shillings per sample packet of one dozen,

Those fans who might be interested in seeing fandom from a completely new angle, from a standpoint where Hong Kong is mentioned in terms as .familiar as, say, the Left Bank, could try The Gryphon. Number 17, the June-July issue is undoubtedly the best to date and is definitely recommended for its sheer readability. The Gryphon from John Foyster, PO Box 57, Drouin, Victoria, Australia.

CHANGES OF ADDRESS:

Brian Aldiss, Jasmine House, Holton, Wheatley, Oxford.
Dave Barber, 1a  Walsoken House, Walton Rd., Wisbech, Cambs
Charlie Brown, 2078 Anthony Av., Bronx, New York 10453, USA.
Peter Campbell, 15 Wilson St., Workington, Cumberland.
Betty Kujawa, 508 Sutton Place South Apts, 500 Osceola, Winter Park, Florida, USA (until 31 March 1966)
Dave & Ruth Kyle, Route 2, Potsdam, New York 13676, USA.
Bob Tucker, Box 506, Hayworth, Illinois 61745, USA.
Brian & Frances Varley, 11 Toronto Place, Leeds 7, Yorkshire.
Tony & Simone Walsh, 61 Halsbury Rd., Redland, Bristol 6.

SNIPPETS: Shirley Jackson, author of The Lottery, Raising Demons, etc, died 9th August aged 45. ::: Ratatosk (Bruce Pelz, Box 100, 308 Westwood Plaza, LA, Calif 90024) did a fine job reporting the London Worldcon in its 2nd Sept issue, at the same time scooping the entire field with its speedy publication ::: Alan Dodd (77 Stanstead Rd., Hoddesdon, Herts) has published a fine account of his recent trip to Poland and would undoubtedly send any interested parties a copy. Alan also sends along a cutting from Daily Express 15th Sept which tells the happy tale of Science Fantasy editor Kyril Bonfiglioli having last year bought a painting at a country sale for £40. The painting which was subsequently revealed to be a Tintoretto was recently sold for £40,000. There is no truth in the rumour that Science Fantasy's rates are to be increased to 5 cents a word ::: 1964 Pacificon gave $105 to the LonCon for Hugo Awards, a further $100 to the LonCon itself, $300 to TriCon, $200 to Project Art Show, $200 to TAFF as well as other donations elsewhere::: Now, Rich Mann, is there any chance of your paying me the $7.60 you've owed me for a year? Indeed, is there any chance of your doing other than merely ignoring my letters? ::: Yandro 150 has just rolled in and is well up to the standard which won editors Juanita & Bob Coulson this year's Hugo. 1/9d, 4 for 6/- or 12 for 14/- from Alan Dodd ::: Various congratulations rolled in on the convention coverage last issue and many thanks to all who wrote. Usually the letters of comment received by a newszine are but critical and it was very pleasant to have such a mail bag full of congratulatory comments ::: Bill Burns is starting a 3-year course at Leeds University ::: Gollancz releases this month include Harry Harrison's Bill, The Galactic Hero and the Damon Knight edited A Century of Great Short SF Novels ::: Harry Bell of Newcastle is bringing out a fanzine called Grimwab.