THE DAY THE SWILNEWS STOOD STILL
SEPTEMBER 20, 1991

     The Pterodactyl Hunt is just two weeks away and we have matters that
need to be taken care of before then. Most importantly we need to figure out
which variations of the rules we will be using this year. This will all be
hashed out on Saturday, so if you have ideas, comments, suggestions, or just
want to know what's going on, be sure to show up at the meeting on
Saturday.  (If you see this SWILnews before then, sorry that it's a little
late.)

     Sunday, September 29th is the date for our annual trip to the Ren
Faire. There is a sign-up sheet on the SWIL board in Parrish.  Talk to Josh
Smith if you have any questions.

     Future events are still pending. Our fall filksing is still without a
date. (Would you let your child go on a date with a filksing? I thought as
much.) However there will probably be filksinging going on as part of SWIL
the 13th: Reunion Part II which will take place October 18th-20th. More
information to follow, same bat-time, same bat-place. (Put down that
baseball bat now please.)

     The SWIL discussion table seems to be happening on a weekly basis. We
will meet Thursdays at 10pm in George in Hallowell basement. (Now designated
as room #42.) Next week's topic is "What makes aliens alien?"

     In outer world news, the 5th season of Star Trek the Pep.. er the Next
Generation will premiere locally on channel 29 Saturday September 28th.
(Probably at 7pm.) Rumors continue to fly about the future of Doctor Who,
but the BBC refuses to comment on any of them. In other words, nothing new.

     Review: _The Vor Game_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. This book recently won
the Hugo award for best novel of the year. I'm not sure why. It's fun space
opera with spaceship chases, feuding empires, and interstellar battles
galore, but it really breaks no new ground. It's simply the same stock plot
that has been done over and over since the pulp magazine beginnings of SF.
If you want light fluffy reading it's recommended. If you want serious SF
there's a lot of better books out there.

     We dismembered 6 at our last meeting (Beth Bruch, Charles Danforth,
Charles Deily, Kendra Eshleman, Andrea Hall, and Robert Richardson) and have
3 more up for dismemberment this week. (Sylvia Chong, Annie Fox, and Gloria
Wong) And now the: Attendance (from 9/14/91 meeting): Nao "Reading about sex
for my seminar" Parkhurst, Anduin "Who can guess my name's origin?" Touw,
Beth "Where are my _keys_ Mary Anne?" Bruch, Josh "Fill Square with Drop
Object" Smith [I think I'll take the long way back to my home square.], Deb
"my coffee spilled again?" Barolsky, Charles "Enginerd" Deily, Peter "yet
another inane quote... AGAIN." Wong [Nicely repetitiously redundant.], Deb
"your coughee spilled again?" Holtzman [uh oh, that could spread germs],
Melissa "I eat my bagels with honey" Shaner [But do you eat them with your
knife?], Kendra "yeah I'm cool now" Eshleman, jere7my "The world today seems
absolutely crackers" tho?rpe [Is that why the food has been so starchy?],
Charles "Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so." Danforth, Andrea "Do I
have to decide on a quote" Hall [Well no, not if you don't want to.], David
"divaD reuA" Auer, Josh "social orange-juice drinker" Burdick, Jorge "I
guess I have to write something here" Oria [Well, perhaps], Randy
"Agathwarg" Brown, David "Zaibatsu Akbar" Randall, Sylvia "No I am not hung
over" Chong, Peter "Howdy fellow Earther" Wagner [Is he talking to you?
Nope, no Earthers here.], Gloria "Wongkers!" Wong [Ah, I see, apologies.],
Wendy "Why am I here? I was looking for the Future Librarians of America
Fall Book-stamping Festival!!" Waesche [Stamp, stamp. Ya know, the trouble
with trying to stamp books is that they run away. Get back here. Stamp.],
Andy "Anduin's a river, ennit?" Perry, Laurasauras, Not Bhadrika, Annie Fox,
Sandcastle Master of SWILdom