This is a transcription of paper minutes done by Matt Strait in 2015. Note that we *do* have the Rune bid handout that Karen didn't have when she wrote these minutes, and it is included below the minutes here. (But we *don't* have the letter that *that* says should be attached to it!) I have approximately preserved the original formatting, and also preserved a few typos (marked with "[sic]" -- but other text in brackets is original). I may certainly have also introduced new typos or inadvertently corrected some. For understanding errors introduced, it might be helpful to know that the minutes-proper were typed in completely manually up to about 3/4 of the way through, while the rest and the RUNE bid was OCR'd and then checked over. Note also the reference to "Anokon 1982" in item 2. At least four other records clearly give the name of this con as Plergbcon, so this is likely just someone misremembering (it did come after Anokon 1, Anokon 2, Not-Anokon 1 and Not-Anokon 2). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc. December 16, 1985 Directors Attending: Jan Appelbaum, Don Bailey, David Cargo, Scott Imes, Gin Nelson Others attending: Joyce Scrivner, David Cummer, Lynn Anderson, Dan Goodman Eric Heideman, Karen Schafer, Mark Richards, Karen Johnson Agenda: Karen Schafer/postage meter Joyce Scrivner 40 acres of land Dan Goodman/Rune bid Post Office bulk permit Letter from Gerri Balter David Cummer/Minn-STF hotline Lecture series Item 1: Karen Shafer has postage meter logos to show to the Board. One is from Ken Fletcher and one is the Odbert Minn-STF logo. She found the original logo stat with Frank Stodolka, and will give it to Jerry Stearns/Minicon Publications when she is finished with it. The Board approved these two designs. Item 2: Joyce Scrivner reported that Stu Shiffman lost for a time a check from Anokon 1982 for TAFF business. She returned the unendorsed check and asked for a replacement. (Note: that Anokon didn't 'make' money. Apparently money was made, put in a bank account, and charges "diddled" it away.) Don suggested the Board write to Stu, say that no, the check can't be replaced, but here's a $50 donation to TAFF. (Never walk in a straight line when a curved one will do?) Board approved. David Cargo will take care of this. Gin voided the check (and don't you dare say anything). Item 3: Fallcon 1986 bid. Joyce Scrivner wrote up hotel and other information for her bid. She explained the hotel setup in detail. (The hotel is next to Bandana Square in St. Paul's Energy Park.) Don said it looked a bit expensive, and the Board may need to subsidized [sic] the registration fee. Airfare for the GoH is from Atlanta to Mpls. (after Worldcon). Joyce didn't have a committee lined up yet. This may be a problem. General discussion by the Board and others on whether Minn-STF members are really interested in having fallcons anymore. There is a feeling that there's not enough interest. Gin called the question, to give Joyce the fallcon. Yes: David, Jan, Scott. No: Don, Gin. Abstained: Gin (Count that again, please.) Joyce has the fallcon. (Interesting note: Jan said that Minicon went to having an Executive Committee eight years ago because no one volunteered to be con chairman.) Item 4: 40 acres of land. Jan reported that a friend of Peter Larsen has offered Minn-STF 45 acres of land (and the friend would get a tax write-off). The Board has until December 19 to decide to accept or turn down the offer, and do paperwork if it accepts. Vote: No: Don, Gin, Jan, David. Yes: Scott, subject to seeing the land first and checking the legal aspects. Item 5: Rune bid by Dan Goodman and Eric Heideman. Dan started by saying that he's not entirely awake, then explained their proposal. Karen Schafer has offered to do the mailing list for Eric and Dan. David Caro liked the bid from Dan and Eric, AND Michael Butler's proposal. Don was concerned about the printing quality, and thought Dan and Eric might have a production problem. (Note from Scribe: apparently a handout by Dan and Eric was distributed to the Board members, and that has the specifics of the bid on it. No copy is available to the Scribe for inclusion in the minutes.) David Cargo proposed that the Board get more detailed financial information from both bids. Rest of the Board agreed. Base information on a mailing list of 1200 names. Gin wrote down a fairly extensive list of the things the Board wants answers to by the next meeting. Eric wants to pay an honorarium of $5 to $10 to writers of fiction for Rune, if he and Dan get the editorship. The Board indicated they would have to think about this. Don Bailey suggested a budget of over $3000 is too high. $1500 may be too low. Try to come in somewhere between there. Item 6: U.S. Post Office saga. Good news: the review of our bulk mail permit was completed and notice given to us that we can continue using the permit. We qualify! Limitations include mailing only our own material and that it be properly identified. The permit is good only for the one post office station. This approval is an update to the original approval date of December 27, 1972. Item 7: Letter from Gerri Balter regarding information of hospitals responding to our offer to donate sf magazines to them. General response was poor; they seemed concerned that the material was not appropriate for their clientele. Don suggested authorizing purchase of sample copies to show to the 6 places that seem possible recipients. Vote: Yes: David. Don, Jan. Gin. Abstained: Scott. Gin will work on this, call places, will purchase zines and distribute them. Board authorized $30 to cover purchase of demo copies. After we get response back from the hospitals, then the Board can vote on what to give each place and for how long. Item 8: David Cummer is getting fried doing the Minn-STF hotline. He's talked to Mark Richards about being a possible replacement. He'll also mention the search on the hotline. This should also be announced at the next club meeting. Item 9: Lecture series. Eric Heideman reported that the Minneapolis Public Library will let Minn-STF use the Heritage Hall for a lecture series. Meeting fell apart at 10:39 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Johnson Recording Secretary ============================================================================================== Subject: RUNE editorship bid by Eric Heideman and Dan Goodman to: Minn-Stf Board of Directors From: Dan Goodman Note: Attached should be most of a letter from Eric to me. My editorial emphasis would be on making RUNE useful to hopeful sf and fantasy writers, and entertaining to the rest of the readership. Eric agrees with this; since what he thinks is most useful and is most interested in diverges from what I'm most interested in and consider most useful, we would divide responsibility along those lines. What I'm interested in is how-to and resource-access information not available elsewhere. I'll start with something which several Board members ("several" = at least one and no more than five) have seen in an early version: The kind of worldbuilding Hal Clement did with a sliderule for MISSION OF GRAVITY, and Clement and a very few others have done since, many more people should now be able to do with microcomputers. To the best of my knowledge, almost nothing's been written on this. The available pieces on "world processing" assumes use of sliderules and/or graphs. (Some also has the same kind of flaw as instructions for beginners which assume they're familiar with assembly language; but that's another matter.) I've compiled (and interpreted) some of the available information, and revised it to answer and include some of the comments and suggestions I've gotten. (Also included are my comments on programs for storing and sorting information, and for getting words down on paper). If we're chosen as RUNE editors, I'd use the latest version to elicit comments from established SF writers who I consider likely to use computers for designing background. (I'd intended to do this anyway; the difference is that I'd do it sooner, and the answers would get wider circulation.) It would also go to some sf writers who I don't think of as hard science writers, but who 1) write computer columns and articles or 2) use computers. The latest revised version, replies from pros, and some comments from fans would go into the first issue of the Heideman-Goodman RUNE. This would begin a regular column which, in future issues, would include the more useful comments and whatever additional information I gathered from other sources seemed worth including. Even for typing, most of the available information on using computers boils down to "Editors don't like dot matrix printing!". When books on writing sf and fantasy discuss typing equipment in detail, they discuss the differences between manual and electric typewriters; some do mention the newfangled Selectrics. And except in Jerry Pournelle's BYTE column, I've seen no mention of storing and cross-referencing background information except on paper. [Note that in the three paragraphs above, I've carefully avoided computer jargon at least four times, in favor of words which mean something.] Other material I would solicit/encourage would include: Reviews of books on writing sf and fantasy. Articles on what published authors do which hopeful writers should emulate or avoid. (The latter should provide a certain amount of humorous material.) Material on kinds of background information which both published and not-yet-published authors often get wrong. One example is religions which authors THINK they know about; I have knowledgeable people in mind to ask for material on Roman Catholicism and on Judaism. Another is rural life. Many fantasy writers don't seem to realize that horses are less mythical than unicorn. And one semi-prozine printed a story in which the editor of the lone newspaper on a low-population world (several thousand people) had trouble filling pages because there wasn't much news. (Anyone who's lived in the country or a small town for a few years knows that the newspaper can be largely filled with the more printable political infighting, social notes, and press releases from various organizations. And that the really interesting news is carefully kept out of the paper.) A third is the history "everyone knows" which ain't so. A fourth is varieties of English other than the author's; British authors writing what they fondly consider to be American spoken English (and Americans confident that their British characters sound authentic), Midwesterners unknowingly inventing alternate world New England dialects, conservatives who think they know how liberals talk, etc. "How I do it" pieces by local pros. What about fannish material, and material which didn't fit into either my main areas of sercon interest or Eric's? Divided up. Eric can get material from some people more easily than I can, and vice versa. Submissions and letters not obviously intended for or best handled by one of us would be divided up. We would get together at least once a month. What if one of us wants to publish material the other doesn't consider worth printing? We reserve the right to criticize each other's choices in print. I'm confident of my ability to get my share of material for RUNE (and very confident of Eric's ability to get material). However; if there is room, there's a fair amount of material in MINNEAPA and Stipple-Apa which is worth reprinting, and which is different from anything published in most genzines. Credentials: I took a less-than-quarterly "monthly" newsletter (EINBLATT), made it genuinely monthly, and increased the information content greatly. I'm particularly pleased that the job I did as EINBLATT editor enabled my successor to do a better job. I wouldn't expect that we'd make as great an improvement in RUNE. On the other hand, I don't think as great an improvement is needed. To begin with, there isn't nearly as large a gap between the schedule on which RUNE has been published and the "right" schedule. Other credentials: I've read a high percentage of the magazine sf published since some time in 1953, and a less unreasonable percentage of sf published in book form. Some of this has been worth reading. I've contributed to weekly apas since 1964, monthly and less-often apas since 1965, and to by-mail fanzines since some time in the late Sixties. Some of this has been worth reading. SCHEDULES, PRINTING, AND OTHER PRACTICAL MATTERS: Eric and I are confident of ability to put out four issues a year. If it turned out that, for whatever reason, we couldn't manage it, we would resign. Eric says in the attached letter to me that the beginning of May would be a good starting time. I agree. It would give us sufficient time after Minicon (more important to Eric than to me), and would enable us to solicit material (and possibly conduct interviews) at Minicon. As Eric says further, we could get out a fairly thin first issue earlier than that. The schedule probably wouldn't be strictly quarterly; a particular issue might come out earlier or a bit later, if one or both of us needed to avoid a time conflict. Projected size: about forty pages per issue. More, quite possibly, if there was more material we really wanted to print in the next issue. Unlikely to be less, but possible for a particular issue under special circumstances. Printing: Eric has an arrangement lined up which sounds good to me, and which I think will sound good to the board. I'll let him explain it, unless he has to miss this Board meeting. I have a back-up alternative. Both planned and backup printing arrangements would provide good quality at reasonable cost. Neither would be as cheap as if mimeo were used; both would be a lot simpler for us. Budget: Current RUNE budget is a reasonable approximation, I think. Considerations: Per-sheet printing cost would be about the same as for Minicon progress reports. Copy count would be in the same range as for the current RUNE; but some people would be added and others dropped. Subscription rates would remain the same for now. Postal costs would be the same per copy as for the latest RUNE; but I think we'd be able to deliver more of the copies in person, and some could be sent through campus mail. Sources of supplies would change, which would affect costs. Some costs would depend on whether Minn-Stf or people within Minn-Stf could give supplies and/or loan equipment. ==============================================================================================