| Volume 38, Issue
1 Winter 2015 Wyrms & Wormholes Minions Wanted Yes, friends, bubbly is still flowing at the vast, fortress-like Star*Line editorial enclave! For the first time in nearly twenty years, we are proud to have published a Rhysling Award winner, Mary Soon Lee’s long poem Interregnum from S*L 36.4. Also, our color covers will continue for a while, thanks to Mary Soon Lee and an anonymous donor who each gave $100 to, um, cover covers, and to Shirley Valencia, who gave $10. Thanks, you guys! We’ll try to spend it well. Subscriptions to the Magazine of Speculative Poetry and Dreams and Nightmares are offered as perks to $100 donors. Despite perennial rumors that the SFPA status quo is maintained by a cabal of hidebound dinosaurs, along the lines of the preserved brains in Alexandra Erin’s “Institutional Memory” on p. 8 of this issue, in actuality SFPA is controlled by its volunteers, of whom there are never enough. Most key volunteer positions are lucky to have even one qualified candidate with the necessary skills, availability, and willingness. Here, ideally, I’d blather on about electing officers who have proven themselves through prior service, but the truth is that the SFPA officers also are generally comprised of whatever hardy souls dared to offer themselves for immolation, or newbies who were inadvertently sucked into a clutch of tentacles. And so are the other positions. … You would think they And it took several sharp jabbings and Originally, I was asked to step in as webmaster / designer for sfpoetry.com, then the same for eyetothetelescope.org, then as the editor of this very publication, then mailing it, then doing layout for it, the directory, Dwarf Stars, occasional Rhysling Anthologies (not this one, though!), and finally the membership database. Thankfully, the Star*Line and Dwarf Stars mailings have been mostly taken over by the capable Brian Garrison. All those other tasks, however, were originally within the purview of at least four different individuals, rather than just me. I could use some help—and it is unwise to repose so many functions under the aegis of a single frail mortal. The website needs a revamp, which my Jurassic training is not up to speed on; I intend stepping down as Star*Line editor in 2017, if not before; and we’d like to have backup layout people, given that three different SFPA publications require these skills (familiarity with InDesign and book-layout conventions strongly recommended). You too, Reader, can easily rise to power as an éminence grise, verte, or whatever hue you favor, just by taking on a few—or even one–of the many duties that maintain the function, such as it is, of SFPA. Approach our president to volunteer. Wave your prehensile forelimb on the sfpanet@yahoogroups.com listserv (still our best venue for presenting ideas to the largest segment of the organization gathered in one place, and the only one where general discussion among members occurs) to not only volunteer but to make—and evaluate the merits of—suggestions for improving SFPA. I hope to encounter you and your bright and shining evolutionary visions there. But don’t go too far in castigating your stodgy predecessors. The original éminence grise, Cardinal Richelieu, is reputed to have said “Give me six lines written by the hand of an honest man, and I shall find therein some reason to hang him.” and the dreams came back In hopes for the new year, — F.J. Bergmann Buy this issue of Star*Line for $3.00
plus $2 U.S./$3 international shipping.
To order, send a check made out to the SFPA the PO Box listed on the officers page. or pay SFPATreasurer@gmail.com via PayPal. Credit-card payments are accepted through PayPal. Better yet, become a member and never miss an issue!Star*Line Staff: |
 |
Table of Contents Features
Poetry
Illustrations
|
