1998 - 05/1998 Meeting

Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Updated: 10/25/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 04/12/08.

ERNEST LILLEY

SFREVU Website: http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=7154

VIDEO PROGRAM:

"Hungry Are the Damned" (THE SIMPSONS)

"STAR TREK" parody (MAD TV)

"The Galaxy Being" (THE OUTER LIMITS)

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: May 9, 1998.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 31.

Meeting Program: Informal Meeting. No Program.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County met on Saturday, May 9, 1998 at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church. The venue was the result of a scheduling conflict with a theatre rehearsal at the Cultural Center discovered the afternoon of the day before.

This was only one of several mishaps affecting the meeting. Club director Philip De Parto and Pamela Webber were both sick, with Philip suffering the additional mishap of cutting himself while unpacking the TV/VCR combo from the box. The weather was foul for the third consecutive day. Finally, our scheduled guest called at 4:30 PM on Saturday to inform us that she was too sick to make an appearance.

We assembled a hodgepodge of programming that functioned reasonably well. We extended the duration of the book sale by a half hour to allow additional browsing and conversation. The meeting proper began at 8:30 PM. After the usual announcements, we screened a short tape brought by Roy Greenberg which included "Hungry Are the Damned" from THE SIMPSONS and a STAR TREK parody from MAD TV. We then invited club member Ernest Lilley to give a talk.

Ernest is the editor of SFREVU, an on-line science ficton review publication available at no charge at http://www.member.aol.com/SFRevu. You can subscribe by emailing SFRevu@aol.com with either "Notify Me" (to get notices when the WebPage changes) or "Email Subscription" (to have the text version sent to you) in the subject.

Ernest explained that a couple of years ago, he had produced SCI FI FREQUENCIES, a news and review 'zine to complement the work that Tony Tellado and he were doing with the SCI FI TALK radio show. When the show folded, he realized that he could run an on line review magazine for less time and money than he had for FREQUENCIES.

SFREVU is not done for profit. He encourages people to make use of its contents, provided the 'zine's URL is listed and he is credited.

He tries to interview at least one Hugo winner a month. Much to his surprise, he is getting recognition for it. David Brin, for example, has asked him to stop sending it to him.

Future plans include the possibility of publishing a hard copy once a year, in time for the World Science Fiction Convention. He is also considering buying a short story from a name writer to include in this issue.

When asked if he, himself, had any literary aspirations, Ernest replied that he would like to be a writer, but that he can never seem to get to the end of a story, but that he could get to the end of a review. He also revealed that he has wanted to run a magazine since he was a kid.

Mr Lilley concluded by stating that it's a thrilling and exciting feeling to be a legitimate part of the science fiction community, and to have a hand in spreading the word about a good new writer like Mary Doria Russell or J Gregory Keyes.

After Ernest's talk and the question and answer period were over, we offered those present a choice of what to do next. The winner was to watch the premiere episode of the classic THE OUTER LIMITS, "The Galaxy Being" starring Cliff Robertson. This beat out a panel discussion and readings from favorite science fiction stories.

Thanks to Charles Garofalo and Roy Greenberg for help with the refreshments, William Molendyk, Anthony DiPrima, and Andrea Woodle for help transporting the books, to Roy Greenberg, Ernest Lilley, and Pamela Webber for helping fill in programming, and to Pamela Webber, William Wagner, and everyone else who assisted with the set up and clean up.

Closing note: we enjoy the company of our members whenever they arrive. We would, however, appreciate it if some of you made more of an effort to be there at the start of the meeting.