(  As a change of pace this post is a series of extracts from Al Ashley's fanzine of the forties, En Garde. The Elastic Limit is an interesting example of early science fiction criticism, The Midgicon is a fascinating (to me at least) account of what a book buying expedition was like back in 1943, Slan Center is, I believe, the first time the concept of a fannish community was set out in print, while The Little Man Who Wasn't There describes a confrontation of Al's with that most notorious of forties fans, Claude Degler. )

Some of you may not be aware that Dave Langford has stored on his website many of the columns and articles that he has written over the years. If so then you probably aren't aware that I've been 'helping' Dave by ferreting out ancient items of Langfordia and transcribing them so he might have the privilege of adding the html and making the results public. Anyway, having gone to the trouble of transcribing all this material I'd like to be certain that somebody besides Dave and myself knows that it's there. So I've gone to a little further trouble and compiled a list of the relevant material. And here it is:

No, Not Pyorrhoea
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/pieria-k.html

How Unlike the Home Life of Our Own Dear Queen
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/mood70.html

George the Tortoise
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/george.html

The Young Assassin's Guide
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/y_assass.html

Unique Aspects of British SF
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/unique.html

It's Smart To Have a Welsh Address
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/welshadd.html

The Horror In the VAT
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/vat.html

The Hole In Reality
AND HOW TO COVER IT UP
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/holetd15.html

"A Day In the Life ..."
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/day-life.html

Getting Educated
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/oxontd20.html

The Cash Register Tolls For Thee
http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/cash-reg.html

I have now transcribed over 50K of John Brosnan's fannish material. If you go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/john_brosnan/ you can read it for yourself. Please note that this is a temporary archive. I've put most of what I have of John's writings online in order that you can see what's available and make suggestions about what which items should or should not go into the final collection. While I've been somewhat selective in regards to John's later work (it being relatively well known), I've transcribed nearly everything he wrote before moving to England that I have copies of. Since not all his early pieces are perhaps worth being presented to a wider audience I'd like some feedback.

This also you to see what I'm might be missing. I know there are a number of John's Scab fanzines I not included and there might be other pieces that I don't know about. Feel free to let me know if I'm missing anything worthwhile.

One last point, because this is only a temporary archive I've not gone to the trouble of including html into the text as I normally would. I know this can make reading the pieces a little difficult at times so for that I apologise in advance. Besides, if you want the fancy version all you need do is wait for the .pdf of the completed collection.

( This is definitely the most interesting article about using laundromats that I've ever read. I'd advocate that more people should be forced to wash their clothes in public if I thought the end result might be material as good as Terry's. The title is mine though as this story originally appeared as part of Terry Hughes Sez, which was the column Terry wrote for John D. Berry. I thought the article deserved a title of its very own though. )

( In my ignorance I always assumed the heroes of those magazines featuring westerns were cowboys. Apparently it's far more complicated than that as Redd Boggs makes clear in this lengthy article about one of the early pulps. )

( Physician, heal thyself. But first Mr Jackson, will you tell us what really happens at the hospital once visiting hours are over? There aren't too many professions guaranteed to pique the interest of the average person in the way that the medical profession does. Which is hardly surprising given how much more drama occurs in a hospital. Who can resist reading about the medical life? )

( You may not be aware of this but there was a time when Australian censorship laws were extremely repressive. For years, indeed for decades, Customs personnel worked to protect the Australian public from anything stimulating, and waged a ceaseless war against fandom and its depraved tastes. (Which doesn't explain why John W. Campbell's 'Who Goes There?' was denied entry, but then the ways of the censor are indeed mysterious.) Here then is a report by John Bangsund on that conflict. )

Since I have access to rather a lot of John's fannish material, permission from him to republish it, and the means to do so, I am in the process of preparing a volume of his writings for us to remember him by. I've already discussed the idea with Leroy Kettle and have the blessing and and support of John's friends in England. My plan is to turn the end result into a .pdf and offer it to the eFanzines website where it would be publicly available. This is the most sensible option given the collection is past the 25k mark already. I'm also continuing to post to Ylem but as you've noticed at a somewhat reduced rate. So much to do and so little time.

( In this thrusting future of nanowrimo and submitting fiction by email it behoves us to sit back and recall just what crimes are being committed in quiet little suburban homes all over the planet in the hope of getting published. It is with that in mind that I commend to you the following cautionary tale by Mal Ashworth. And for those who feel Mal's parody is somewhat exaggerated I leave you with the following warning, The Eye Of Argon. . . )

( It's common practise for fans to write up their disasters, and has been for many years. The day everything went wrong is a classic fannish topic and it's easy to see why, what with all the inherent dramatic tension and potential for humour that disaster allows. The phrase <i>'at least I'll get an article out it'</i> has become one of the great truisms of fanwriting. It's the safe option though, and just a mite predictable. Of course the alternative is to write about the non-disasters of everyday life, which is not an easy topic to make interesting. Still, I think Judith Hanna is well up to this task. )