+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+--+-+--+-+ VOLUME TWO NUMBER ONE | | ========================================== +___________+ FFFFF SSS FFFFF N N EEEEE TTTTT | ++ | F S F NN N E T | ++ | FFF SSS FFF N N N EEE T | | F S F N NN E T |_________| F SSS F N N EEEEE T /___________\ ========================================== | | BITNET Fantasy-Science Fiction Fanzine ___|___________|___ X-Edited by 'Orny' Liscomb <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> CONTENTS Editorial Orny Narret Chronicles 6 Mari A. Paulson Featured Author: ROBERT ANTON WILSON Orny The Thrust Jim Owens Game Review: TWILIGHT:2000 Guy Garnett Island Murph <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> Editorial Greetings, all! Well, first let me apologize for the lateness of this issue, but things have been going on mighty fast. Two-two will be out sooner, I promise! Well, this summer has a wonderful lineup of fantasy and science fiction films, and I heartily suggest that you keep your eyes open for them. Also, Terry Brooks' new Shannara book is out, as is a new book by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle about an alein invasion of Earth, called "Footfall". FSFnet is in need of some submissions (as always), and this is the first issue of volume two, which will last through the summer, and then volume three will begin in the fall. Now that summer is here, most people have gone home, and FSFnet needs both contributors and members! Be sure and recruit people who are into fantasy and SF for the zine, so we can continue to send it out. And if anyone has any neeto ideas about a special issue, by all means, speak to me! For those of you at VAX/VMS and MVS nodes, FSFnet is being sent out in a new manner which can send the file by CMS DISK DUMP or SENDFILE. I have taken the liberty of using sendfile for those nodes for which DISK DUMP is awkward; however, if you have trouble reading FSFnet in, just drop me a line, and I'll work on it. Aiming to please, you know... Well, have a great summer, all! And send in those reviews and so forth, and spread the word! Now on to the REAL stuff... Orny <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> The Narret Chronicles Book the Sixth Samo flew over the nighttime skies of North America, his mind reeling. "The largest urban centers will have the highest photon emissions." Samo said to himself. "Shock waves travel through this mainly nitrogen medium at lets see, exactly, yes, that should do it. Now all I've got to do is fly over a large metropolitan area such as that one on the east coast, veer upward at an angle of, yes and return from over the ocean at half that velocity. There. That should do quite nicely," Samo continued as he set the controls on a course for New York City. Samo broke the sound barrier as he flew over Kennedy International Airport, sending a sonic boom crashing through the city. "Did you see what I think I saw, Albright?" "I was just going to ask you the same question. I've never seen anything like that radar pattern in my twenty-three years in this tower!" "It looked rather like a ball, or a bubble. Say, do you think it could have been a weather balloon?" "No way. I've seen balloons before, and they're much smaller, besides that thing, whatever it was, had to be doing at least Mach 3, and SR-71's only reach Mach 2.2 at top cruising speeds! I'm calling Dover Control." "Hello, Operator? Please connect me with Dover Air Force Base's Control Tower, 301-716-2000, Person-to-person with Maj. Jeffries" "Maj. Jeffries, here." "Hi Bill, it's Jim Albright at JFK. Listen, we just got a bogie on two screens, simultaneously that had a pattern similar to a weather balloon only larger and it was doing about Mach 4. Are you boys testing a new toy, or is this thing a possible threat?" "Well Jim, I'll level with you. We've been monitoring it on the national scopes, and we don't know what it is either. It came out of nowhere, suddenly appeared over Chicago 15 minutes ago, Made a beeline for New York, headed out over the Atlantic, and now it's starting back for the midwest. As to Soviet threats, we've received no messages by diplomatic courier, and intelligence has made no reports about any new aircraft. The 71's we keep on 24 hour standby are being fueled, and we've got two of our best pilots suiting up for an intercept." "I hate to think of the possibilities if it is Soviet. A bird like that could bomb any American city and escape completely unscathed before we could even fire an anti-aircraft missile." "We know, and the President is being notified. Say Jim I'll need to ask a favor of you." "Anything--name it." "Make sure this stays under wraps for now. Inform your staff--anyone who saw that thing, not to talk about it, the last thing this country needs right now is a panic created by the press." "Sure, you got it, we didn't see anything." "Great, thanks. I've got to go now, but I'll let you know what develops..." "...Ah, NORAD, Seeker-1 here, this is Colonel Roberts, neither Captain Phillips nor I have seen the bogie. What is it's present position? Over." "Seeker-1, NORAD here, bogie heading 270 at 25,000 ft. slowed to Mach 2. Fly on heading 285 at 25,000 full-open to intercept in 2.45 minutes. Over." "NORAD, Seeker-1, proceeding 285 at Mach 2.2 . Roberts out ." "What do you think we'll find sir?" Phillips asked. "Your guess is as good as mine captain. But since you asked my opinion, I think that ever since the top brass closed the Bluebook Project a lot of weird things have happened." "What kind of things sir?" "Well it just seems to me that since the books have been closed on extra- terrestrial visitation research the number of bogie sightings hasn't really dropped. Now if most of the reported cases were hoaxes as the project's final report states, then why do people continue to report sightings with the same continuity as before. Even when they don't have the chance of our investigating their story to back them up. I don't know captain, I just don't know." "You're right sir that doesn't make sense. Now this...could the soviets-" "I know what you're thinking and the answer is doubtful. They couldn't even get to the test level without our intelligence finding out. Besides, at the briefing we were told the craft created a sonic boom at Mach 3 and the russians don't have the metallurgical technology to create an alloy malleable enough and heat resistant enough to prevent heat fatigue of the metal due to air friction. " "In other words your saying this bogie really could be extra-" "I'm saying no such thing, Captain. I'm merely pointing out the possibility that there is more out there than we are capable of understanding. and that's all. I make no allusions as to what those possibilities are. Listen Dave, I've given more than half my life to this Air Force, and there are a few things I've learned. One of them is that if you come across something you can't explain, and you're enjoying your career you don't ask questions. Most likely there's someone who doesn't want you to know something, and if you don't get curious, you'll be fine. I've lost more pilots for "Disturbances of an emotional nature," than anything else. Is any of this registering, captain? "Uh, yes sir, sort of." "'Uh, yes sir sort of.' What kind of cocka-maime answer is that son? Give me a big 'Yes Sir!' or 'No Sir!'" "Sir would you please look out your starboard window. It's the bogie, three o'clock low!" Mari A. Paulson Ed. Note: This work is a piece of fiction. All characters, places, and events portrayed in this work are fictitious. Any similarity with actual people, places, or events, are disclaimed by the author and this publication. "The Narret Chronicles" are copyrighted (C) 1985 by Mari A. Paulson <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> Featured Author: ROBERT ANTON WILSON Robert Anton Wilson is a very interesting author. His works deal almost entirely with the Illuminati and other mystic horrors of the modern world. Wilson's life has been filled with strange probings into all forms of the occult, and he was a close friend with the late Professor Timothy Leary, a well-known occultist. Wilson's works began with the "Illuminatus!" series, originally written by Wilson and Robert Shea as a parody of modern mysticism, the Illuminati, and the U.S. government. "The Eye in the Pyramid", "The Golden Apple", and "Leviathan" were originally meant to be farcical, written in a style similar to that infamous style of James Joyce. The "Illuminatus!" series was reprinted recently by Dell. The better-known "Schrodinger's Cat" trilogy (the two other volumes being titled "The Trick Top Hat" and "The Homing Pigeons") is a master work of confusion and fear, and is perhaps Wilson's best work. "The Masks of the Illuminati" is a single volume work, describing the encounters one Sir John Babcock has with Albert Einstein and James Joyce, and the trick Aleister Crowley plays upon them all. "The Cosmic Trigger" is Wilson's attempt to explain the events of his life that have convinced him that there is something other than that which we know, and is very interesting and persuasive. All the previous are available from Pocket Books. Also available in hardcover only is "And the Earth Will Shake", a full-length novel by Wilson. Wilson's unique style cannot be adequately put into words. His writing often tries to shock the reader, sometimes becomes philosophical, and sometimes becomes disjointed, but his tales of the Illuminati are so absolutely bizarre, and yet, somehow, plausible, that his books often leave the modern reader horrified. Lovecraft and Chambers wrote of books that would drive one insane to read. Wilson has created the horror that these authors have written about. I once lent a copy of "Masks of the Illuminati" to a friend. She reported to me that when she finished it one evening, she pulled the sheets over her head and hoped she'd wake up sane in the morning. Wilson's writing is truly unique. Orny <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> The Thrust The forest stretched out as far as the eye could see, tall green pines and spruce trees. But here there were no trees, only charred stumps. A long wound had been made by the ship as it crashed. Now it lay, buried in dirt, inert. Yet it was not a wreck. A repair ship stood beside it. The repair robots had done a good job. The ship now had wings to replace those destroyed in the brief but violent landing. Those new wings flexed as repulsor fields lifted the ship into the air. "Take care. Remember, wait until you get to op temperature before going to full thrust. I'll take care of those bogeys." "Roger, Gabriel. Have fun." The ship's main engine came to life gently pushing the ship up into the afternoon sky. One hundred miles away two interceptors rammed through the atmosphere. The pilots watched in anger as the first ship slid across their radar scopes. Then the repair ship rose up to replace it, and the pilots gleefully armed their nuclear missiles when they saw that it was hovering. Greg, alias Gabriel, watched his own detector scope in quiet joy. On one side of the scope the blip representing the survey ship built up velocity. On the other side the interceptors closed rapidly. The survey ship was not going to be able to outrun the attacking craft before they could launch their missiles. Greg didn't worry for the survey ship, though. He touched a few controls, and the repair ship started to slide through the air at a right angle to the path of the other ships. The pilots of the interceptors considered. If they continued their pursuit of the far craft, they might still catch it. On the other hand, the closer craft was almost in range. They decided to take the closer, more sure victory. At a distance of twelve miles, the interceptors fired their missiles. They banked hard, and put as much distance as they could between themselves and the target as they could. In the repair ship, Greg smiled as the scope reported that the survey ship had reached operational temperature and had gone to full thrust. With it safely out of the way, Greg could now leave. He reached out and touched a button, just as the missiles fired their warheads. Twenty miles away, the interceptor pilots' stomaches clenched in thrilled excitement as they watched the blast through their flash goggles. Had they been one hundred miles further away, they might have seen something even more spectacular. In the instant before the nuclear explosion, a seemingly pencil- thin line of violet flame drew itself five hundred miles straight up. It then curved, as Greg punched in the command to go home. Jim Owens <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> Game Review: TWILIGHT:2000 "Division commander to all units: Good Luck, You're on your own." So ends the player's introduction to "Escape form Kalisz", the starter scenario included in GDW's new Role-playing Game, Twilight:2000. Twilight:2000 is set in Europe in the year 2000, after a five year long world war. World-wide casualties are over 50%, and rising. The governments of most major countries (the US included) have been eliminated or fragmented. Wide-spread convertional warfare and liberal use of both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons has destroyed most communication and trade routes. The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) has run rampant, and lingers in some areas. Most major cities are radioactive ruins. The players are (or were) soldiers in the US Army, part of the last NATO drive into Poland. The primary objective of a Twilight:2000 player is to stay alive. If that gets boring, he can also try to strike a blow for freedom, democracy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the de facto government of the United States). Twilight:2000 consists of 2 rulebooks, one for the players, which describes how to generate a character and conduct simple combat. The Play Manual (as GDW calls it) has plenty of illustrations and examples. The Referee's Manual covers many of the same topics as the Play Manual, but in greater depth. It also includes sections on experience, disease, and the campaign background. With the manuals are a set of tables, again divided into separate player's and referee's charts. In the way of campaign support, GDW has included a detailed price list and equipment descriptions separately from the rulebooks. There is an introductory adventure, "Escape form Kalisz", to start the campaign, and a map of Poland. Twilight:2000's strong points include: Randomly rolled attributes, but the player can select a character's skills. Character generation, while not extremely fast, is straightforward. The combat system is detailed, and covers all of the weapons in the game well. On the other hand, Twilight:2000 is plagued by typos. Most of them are easy to figure out (like switching from B for Back in the chartbook to R for Rear in the manual) but can be confusing when they are first encountered. Compounding this is the extensive use of abbreviations (all skill names are abbreviated to 3 letters), again easy to figure out, but confusing untill you are used to the system. The only serious problem with the design is the heavy use of charts. The referee really needs a copy of the Player's Manual, the Referee's Manual, and the Referee's Charts open in front of him at all times. The combat system is completely table-driven, which means that in combat the referee has to organize his time, or forever flip through the chartbook. All in all, Twilight:2000 may be the best new RPG released in the last year, my complaints above notwithstanding. (I have many more gripes about every other RPG I can think of) Twilight:2000 is complete all by itself, and well worth the $17 price tag. Guy 'WildStar' Garnett <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<> 4/1/85 Island An island unto myself. Where I can sit and watch. I can look around and see all the beautiful things. The simple and the complex, the large and The small, the conspicuous and the not-so-conspicuous. I am in awe of it all, of them. And they, of me. For I am here to care for And protect them, to keep the balance. I am here to prevent what happened the last Time this project was attempted. Responsibility to One's position was not my predecessor's strong suit. It is so beautiful here. How could he have left His garden unattended for so long? It was so Unmanageable by the time he got back to it that it Had to be razed and left barren for a mere eternity. Well, it is beautiful now. And my task is to keep It this way, maintain the balance. Not necessarily An easy task, but an enjoyable one. Yes..., maintaining The beauty while balancing the evolution will not be Easy, but it will have its rewards. My garden will become Something infinitely more special than it is already. The sun is setting now for the sixth time. I shall rest tomorrow. Michael Murphy <>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>