Mimosa 21
Reviewed by Leigh Kimmel
Mimosa 21 is the latest issue of the fanzine that took the Best Fanzine Hugo last year. Dave Kyle's "SaM -- Fan Forever" was a fascinating reflection upon the role of the late Sam Moskowitz in the early days of fandom. It was rather poignant to read about how he would let past events rankle and jump upon every opportunity to present his own views of them. Yet it is such a very human response, to desire to have one's own role look the best possible.
I also enjoyed the second installment of Jack Chalker's "A Short History of Baltimore Fandom" (and *loved* the propellors atop each of the o's in the title). Alas, the fannish politics sounds all too familiar, as I have come across some of the exact same behavior in other fan clubs I've been associated with. The one at my undergraduate alma mater has since dissolved, at least in part over bickering about what to do with the club library, which had been homeless and packed in boxes after it lost its closet in the Channing-Murray Center my freshman year.
Howard DeVore's "Way Down in Verona" was a reminder of one of the things that fans would rather not have to think about but often do -- the shysters who prey upon fans' trust. Although Robert Michael may be gone, his ilk continue to make such ridiculous offers in the backs of magazines, etc. The latest scam seems to be bogus literary agencies and book doctoring schemes, although the recent New York Attorney General's crackdown may put a damper on it for a while. Occasionally one of these outrageous deals does come through, but all too often, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Thank you to Mike Resnick for the excellent bibliographic essay of fannish historiography, "The Literature of Fandom." Reading it, I wonder how many readers realize that this man who is now a professional writer and multiple Hugo winner (and even more multiple Hugo loser, but always cheerful about it) was once one of the major leaders of Chicago fandom.
Campbell winner Michael A. Burstein's "Asimov and Me" was an interesting view of a major writer by a new writer. Asimov was well-known as a curmudgeon, although under his crusty exterior he had a warm and generous heart (I suspect he cultivated the brusque exterior to prevent parasites from leeching him dry by endlessly presuming upon his good nature, as has been known to happen to creative persons who let their generosity become too well-known). I always hoped to meet Asimov "someday," but it never happened, and the day I got the word of his death, I cried (poignantly, I had a dream of meeting him shortly afterward).
The latest installment of "Through Time and Space With Forry Ackerman" had yet another of those poignant moments, when one is with someone for the last time, not realizing that it is going to be the last time. When he told about his final meeting with the ailing Bela Lugosi, I kept thinking of all the major sf/fantasy figures we've lost in the past year, several of whom I had the opportunity to meet shortly before their deaths, never suspecting that I'd never get to see them again. In this last year I've learned just how fragile and precious life can be, and to never pass up a chance to tell someone how much you care about them, because you may not get another.
The missing correspondence files Walt Willis mentions in "I Remember Me" sound all too familiar. I've been trying to locate a box of my own stuff, and I haven't yet been able to decide whether it's tucked away in some odd corner or if I've thrown it away by mistake.
Ron Bennett's "May I have the Pl...?" with all the different ways he smuggled the word PLOY into his text, had me laughing myself silly.
"Three Remembrances of Joni Stopa" was yet another of those sad ones, poignant because I never got to meet this fine woman, and while all these wonderful stories of her life made me *want* to meet her, I never will be able to.
The letter from the late Bill Rostler, along with the various elaborations of his cartoon of a man with a giant question mark (I especially liked the one with the hair-drier theme -- I believe that was a collaboration with Alexis Gilliland) were touching. He will be missed.