SWILnews #2
                              for the week of Sept. 18-24, 1988

EVENTS AND NEWS:
   Saturday the 24th (this coming Saturday) is the date of the trip to the Pennsylvania 
Renaissance Faire.  We only have one van now, which can hold 18 people, but Wayne Finegar has
kindly agreed to drive his car, so there's room for a couple more.  See Alex Weirich for more
information, or check the SWIL bulletin board to see if there are still spaces left.
   At the meeting, we decided to subscribe to Visions, the intercollegiate sf and fantasy
magazine, with part of our book budget.  We may decide to continue our subscription to
Aboriginal SF as well, or to subscribe to Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
   We determined to buy a copy of _Vacuum Flowers_, by Michael Swanwick (our speaker-to-be),
for Birdwainer.
   The sf discussion table topic for the 24th will be Star Trek, in all its aspects, with
some emphasis on the books, of which there are several in Birdwainer and several more in
George.
   Several rule changes were made in the Pterodactyl Hunt.  There will be two new monsters:
the Medusa, who challenges people to freeze in odd positions; and the Unicorn, who can be
lured with various kinds of horse snacks.  The Siren from last Spring's game will re-appear,
along with all our old friends the Vampire, the Werewolf, the Orcs and Hobgoblins, the Black
Knight, the Oracle, the Trolls, and of course the intrepid Pterodactyls and their eggs.
There will be no scrolls, so the Vampire has returned to total invulnerability.  For more
information, including more complete rules, talk to Joel Offenberg.
   Information about the Tenth Anniversary t-shirts and how to order them will be on the
SWILboard soon if it isn't already.

SLIGHTLY OLD NEWS:
   The Nebula Award winners for 1987 were:
Best Novel: _The Falling Woman_ by Pat Murphy.
Best Novella: "The Blind Geometer" by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Best Novelette: "Rachel in Love" by Pat Murphy.
Best Short Story: "Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm.
Grand Master Award: Alfred Bester.

BOOKS:
   A. A. Milne, known primarily for children's poems and the Winnie-the-Pooh books, also
wrote a book called _Once on a Time_, described in an ad as a "delightful fairy tale for
grown-ups."  It's $3.50 in paperback from Signet, and has been out, I'm told, for a month or
two now.  Has anyone read it?  Anyone want to review it?

ATTENDANCE:
   Josh ("not Mackay") Smith became the first member of the class of '92 to become a
nonmember of SWIL by attending three consecutive meetings.  Congratulations, Josh!  I
erroneously stated last week that nobody was to be dismembered.  To be dismembered this
coming Saturday if they're there are Amanda Raff and longtime member Jessica Hines.
   Those attending this latest meeting included my ex-co-president John "Where the hell is
he?" Halbert, Alan Levi, Ellie-allie-shilly-shally Weiss, Sarah Katherine, ztaK neraK (upside
down), Mikey "skate punk" B., Deborah ("I'm not in a creative mood today") Holtzman, Living
Death, Dooflozzius, John "Sally asks 'Schizophrenic, are we?'" Halbert, Sally Ann, Bruce
"the" Hahne, Lisa "no not baseball" Batt, Jessica "two down, one to go" Hines, Ranjiet "not
Xavier" Peterson III, Josh "not Mackay" Smith, I'mhere, I'm-not-sure-I'm-here-Rosner, A.
Raff, Jeff "Orac" Hildebrand, Alex the Hedgehogless (and very depressed about it, I may add),
Stainless Steel Cowboy, Dan Diaz (the knife-less), Geoff "middle-name" Dare, YOMP, Mikala,
Brian Inouye, and Number Two.

We want information!  INFORMATION!
                                    By hook or by crook,
                                         Number Two