1993 - 07/1993 Meeting

Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 02/11/08.

PETER SCANLAN

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: July 10, 1993.

Meeting Site: Peking Duck House, Closter, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 31.

Meeting Program: Slide show by science fiction artist.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1993 Philip J De Parto:

Although there have been a number of Association meetings which have drawn bigger crowds and have featured better known guests, it is doubtful many have overcome so many obstacles as the one held on July 10, 1993.

The S. F. A. B. C. had made a commitment to the Peking Duck House Restaurant for 30 dinners in return for the use of the eatery's private room on a no fee basis. Among the obstacles to be overcome with this achievement of this quota were a week-long 100+ degree heat wave, gale-like winds that uprooted trees and closed area roads shortly before the meeting, the opposition of two science fiction conventions (Shore Leave and Readercon) and a major party to siphon off our members, and a guest speaker who was hardly a major name in the field. Our quota was 30 dinners. We gave them 32.

Dinner was scheduled to be at 5:30 PM. It actually started a bit later, but not terribly much. In any dining group of this size, there will always be a couple of people with difficulties with food or the service, but there was no system-wide breakdown. Overall, it was about the most smoothly run restaurant meeting that we've had in a number of years.

Our guest speaker was artist Peter Scanlan. Mr Scanlan is one of the newer artists in the science fiction illustration field. He has done work for Baen, Tor, and the Science Fiction Book Club, as well as gaming companies and Universal Studios. He showed slides of his work and answered questions from the audience.

This was the artist's first slide show given to anyone outside his immediate family. What it lacked in polish, it made up for in charm. After showing us a number of paintings of aliens modeled upon his father, several of our group requested a meeting with his father. Compounding Mr Scanlan's lack of experience in putting on a show was the exhaustion caused by the artists’ bachelor party the previous night.

After he had given the presentation and answered some questions, we turned the tables. Since this was his first slide show, we asked the audience to make suggestions as to how his presentation could be improved. There were many worthwhile points raised.

The meeting closed at around 9:45 PM. About half the group trekked over to the Westwood Diner for talk and chat afterwards. Our thanks to everyone who attended and helped make the evening a success.