Transcribed and summarised by Elaine Walker. Sections of it may be blogged in more detail later.
The newsletter is A4 pages folded into A5 size. The colour is mostly yellow except for some inserts in the middle. The front page has again Shaun Tan’s drawing of what looks like a spaceship or aircraft modelled on a butterfly bracketing the title of the convention.
The Final Newsletter
Bracketing the information about the guests is what looks like either grass or reeds, four images each of which is a reflection of the one next to it.
Guests of Honour
Storm Constantine
Neil Gaiman
Special Guests
Jack Dann and Janeen Webb
Fan Guest
Robin Pen
Additional Guests
Stephen Dedman
Sara Douglass
Terry Dowling
Sean McMullen
Nick Stathopoulos
Grant Stone
Sean Williams
Ashley Wood
Newsletter – March 1996
URL no longer extant
Page 2 (inside cover) was FACTS
This contained the name of the con, the postal address GPO Box G429, Perth WA 6948. (The PO Box number is the same but the postcode is different now.)
April 4-8, 1996
Membership rates:
Full – $75 until 31-3-96, $80 at the door, $25 per day; Supporting $20; Voting $10
Venue: The Kings Perth Hotel with alternate accommodation at The Inntown Hotel.
Contact details: Richard Scriven and Julian Ackermann (No I’m still not going to put their numbers and email here now)
Page 3 – The Chair Speaks
Mostly this was a welcome to the last newsletter from Richard Scriven, the Chair of the convention, a note that this was mostly programme and voting information for the Ditmars and Asfmas, but also some information on accommodation, the con hotel’s block now being full, but some alternative hotels being named (at this point as well as the Inntown official alternative Miss Mauds and The Sebel were also mentioned as being local). He noted the increase in membership in the final days before the con.
He also wanted to thank Martin Livings for editing the Newsletters.
| “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred” (Super Chicken) |
Pages 4-7
The Programme
I’m not going to reproduce this entirely, but I will pick out anything I think is particularly interesting, including the introduction. Any spelling or grammar errors are as in the program.
All programme items and times are subject to alteration due to unforeseen circumstances, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, panellists sleeping in, items abandoned due to lack of interest, new items created due to lack of lack of interest, and so on. Thank you.
Thursday
08:30 PM Worshipping the Mutant Tube
Why do SF TV shows develop cult followings. Why are they popular and what do they actual give you?
Friday
09:30 AM Son of Rubber Suit Monsters
What does it take to make a truly BAD film. Not one of those mediocre blah – fests, but something magnificently awful. A celebration of “bad is better than mediocre”.
Saturday
09:30 AM Conflict of Comic Book Cultures Panel
The big four – America, Europe, Japan and Australia. What’s happening, are they all becoming the same?
Sunday
07:30 PM Dr Who in the 90’s
Has it finally died, is it just in hibernation; can he regenerate for a unprecedented 9th time?
Monday
11:30 AM Women in Medieval Literature
Discussion on the portray of women in Medieval Fantasies and whether they actual did or could exist
The inserts were the Foldalope (mint green) with the forms for joining and volunteering. The official voting form for the Australian Science Fiction Media Awards and the Ditmar Awards (yellow) and Things to know (at a glance) (blue) which contained information on when things started and ended, contact details, travel information for interstate fans, information on the con hotel, and information on the Area, vague information on ATMS, fast food, restaurants, transport and parking.
The back page had the Accreditations.
Page 8
The Accreditations
Newsletter March 1996 is a publication of The Festival of the Imagination, © 1996
Editor: Martin Livings
Contributors: Julian Ackermann, David Cake, Martin Livings, Robin Pen, Richard Scriven, Jonathan Strahan, Shaun Tan.
Committee: Julian Ackermann (Secretary), Stefen Brazil, Nick Evans (Treasurer), Richard Scriven (Chair), Brian Trump, Elizabeth Trump.
Friends of the Festival
Sue Ann Barber, Robin Clarke, Tom Edge, Russell Farr, Martin Livings, Jonathan Strahan, David Yeates.
The Festival of the Imagination is an official project of the Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation Inc and runs under its directives. WASFF is a non-profit incorporated organization.
| Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!
(Dr Strangelove, 1963) |