No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags/nf_archive_10.iso/MAGS/STEN/STEN09.MSA/NEWS.TXT/ZUNDER1.ASC

Text File | 2010-04-21 | 39KB | 713 lines

                           *******************
                           *                 *
                           *  INTERLEAVINGS  *
                           *                 *
                           * from Tom Zunder *
                           *                 *
                           *******************



     Interleavings is a new column in which Tom Zunder airs his rants  and
raves,  and  reviews  anything  that comes  across  his  path.   It  won't
necessarily be ST or computer oriented,  but it *will* be entertaining and
literate - qualities that are short supply in the ST world.

     Interleavings was born out of a disczine called (surprise, surprise!)
Interleave  that  was  adult and entertaining in the  best  sense  of  the
words.   It ran to two issues (reviewed in STEN #7) but folded due to lack
of feedback and contributions.   (Now, we've been here before, haven't we,
gentle  readers?   Nothing gets produced in a vacuum <and I  *don't*  want
any  corrections  from  smart aleck physicists  out  there!>;  STEN  is  a
cybernetic  system  that need constants feedback in order to  improve  and
expand. You have been warned.)

     Interleavings will appear in STEN and in the re-launched ST News,  so
apologies  to nyone who reads boths zines - Tom's logic is that the  zines
are  aimed  at  different audiences (I'm not so sure about  that)  and  so
there'll be minimal overlap.   He's also keen on seeing the  Interleavings
file appear on BBs, so log on, tune in and upload.



                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                            ~ INTERLEAVINGS ~
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     This  issue  of Interleavings will consist of me babbling   on  about
something  and nothing,  then a few book and films reviews by  myself  and
other people,  with more babbling to wrap it up.   I would recommend  that
you  print  this  article before reading it.  I will not  mindlessly  fill
Interleavings  with  material  for it's own sake,  so  please   send  your
comments on what you think I should have left out or  included...


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         ~ The Babble Commences ~
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Well here I am,  listening to Crosby,  Stills, Nash and  Young whilst
my ST prints out ST News.   I find that there  is a limit to the number of
articles  I  can read on  screen so I've decided to get the  rest  printed
out  whilst I type this ARTICLE.   I'm typing on a notebook PC,   a  386sx
from  MESH  which  I've got for a month on   evaluation.   It's  a  lovely
little baby and runs Windows  well.   I will not be recommending buying it
because  of  the moulding quality and the annoying fact that the   battery
compartment  regularly pops open!   Bit lousy that.   Also the LCD  screen
doesn't cut out when you shut the  case,  which it should really,  just to
save power.

     At £950,   it shows how hard it is going to be for Commodore,  Atari,
Acorn  and  probably Apple to compete with the PC standard  in  the  90's.
With  the PC mass-produced in Taiwan its  costs are going to  continue  to
plummet,  and with Microsoft  now setting some serious sound and  graphics
standards  it   is  going  to  be  difficult  for  the  small   production
companies  to get the price/performance ratio right  enough to  carve  out
niche markets.  I mean,  who's going  to buy an Atari TT at £2000 when one
can  get a similar  spec 486 for the same or less?   I suspect the  answer
will   be not many,  which is a great shame since the ST,  Amiga  and  Mac
are  much  nicer  platforms than the PC.  The  power   required  to  drive
Windows  is terrifying when you compare  it with Gem ticking away  happily
on a 512k ST.

     Of  course the real failure is that of Acorn.  The ARM  chip  at  the
heart  of the Archimedes was one of the first  RISC  (Reduced  Instruction
Set Chip) processors out and a  very powereful little beast too,  and  yet
the  Arch is  still in the educational ghetto,  despite the fact that   at
work we emulate a PC running Windows on the Arch at  about the same  speed
as a 286!   And that's all in software, a  remarkable feat for a different
processor.   Anyway,  Acorn   are  shifting  some  ARMs  commercially,  as
printer driver  chips,  logic controllers etc,  so,  ironically,  the chip
in your printer may end up more powerful than the one in  your PC!

     Well that's PCs.   I think I should stop talking about  them  really,
since they're are so very dull and waffle  on about something else,  since
it does seem to be the stream  of conciousness which people like from  me.
As Andrew  Richards once said,  it's the rambling nature of  Between   The
Sheets that he likes,  not any sense of direction at  all!  What's Between
The  Sheets?   Well that's another  story,  but essentially it's a  little
bimonthly  fanzine   that I've done for years.   It's sort  of  a  gamer's
zine,   but  really  it's a way for some ex-University friends and   I  to
keep  in touch and bounce ideas,  news and gaming  things off  each  other
in.   It used to be a play by mail  zine but all the games sort of petered
out,  and  I'm  rarely all that punctual in getting it out.   Some of  the
articles  I  put around have been in BTS,  and this will  probably  be  in
there in an edited form in the near  future...   I tell you what, I'll put
a glossary at the  end that'll help you get around what I'm talking  about
in this article.


                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                              ~ WHO AM I? ~
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Who  am  I?   Good question.   And what am I doing  in  this  erudite
computer  disk  zine?   An even better question.   I'm  Tom   Zunder,  I'm
British and I live in Rotherham,  near  Sheffield.  Rotherham is a town of
about 300,000 people  which grew up,  as did Sheffield,  around the  iron,
steel   and coal industries.   As such it has suffered quite   a  dramatic
decline,  but  it's  in  many  ways a prettier  town   than  the  East  of
Sheffield,  although  not  as nice as the  West.   Like many towns  it  is
dwarfed  by  its neighbour  and many people do not know  of  Rotherham  or
think of it  as a suburb of Sheffield,  which it is not.  I am 26, have  a
degree  in Economic and Social History from Sheffield  University and  was
born in Croydon, South London.

     I am married to Ann and we have three kids,  two from  Ann's previous
marriage.   Ann  is  older than me which  explains the age  of  the  kids.
Lisa  is 12 and goes to  secondary school up the road,  Michael is 10  and
is  at  the junior school.   Matthew is our new son,  and is just  over  a
year  old.   Lisa likes books,  puzzle games on the  computer (she has  an
Electron),   Michael  likes  sport  and   adventure/arcade  games  on  the
computer (he has a Lynx).   Matthew likes egg custard,  books and pressing
keys on  the computer and listening to it beep!   Ann is a sales   manager
for British Steel,  used to be a teacher and has  a degree in  Physchology
and  French.   I am a buyer for a  bearings company and also used to  work
for British  Steel.

     I  guess I'm rather different to many of the public  figures  in  the
computing  and ST worlds,  altho' in other ways I suspect   not.   I  like
heavy  metal but I'm more into R&B,  blues and  reggae,  (what a pity  Ann
isn't!)    I like programming a bit,   but I can't cope with an XBIOS  any
better than a mad  rotweiller with rabies.   I think demos look cute but I
can't  for the life of me imagine why people keep writing  them when  they
could  be writing games or word processors  or hard  disk  utilities,  for
god's  sake.   I  did once write  a kid's adventure  game  with  Talespin,
which  was very  kindly reviewed,  and which a lot of people  have  bought
from  me,  but  to be honest anyone can write in Talespin  since  it's  so
intuitive.

     I  also  used  to compile a disk magazine  called   Interleave  which
Martyn  Dryden liked enough to make  licenseware.  Only one copy ever  got
bought,  so  Interleave was a bit of a failure really.  I used SANDP20 for
the shell,  which is actually a  good way to do a disk zine.   I might  do
issue 3 one day,   but I'm not so very sure.   Sigh.   Anyhow I'm  writing
this   because Richard Karsmaker of ST News and John Weller of  STEN  sent
me very complimentary  letters and I couldn't really refuse,  now could I?
So,   here  we  are,  you're stuck with a contributor who  isn't   Danish,
German,  Swedish, Norwegian and can't write very  well in Basic, let alone
assembler...


                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                             ~ SAM AND DAVE ~
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     So  let's  get with it.  Enough of the self introduction  and  on  to
something  marginally  less interesting instead;   SAM and  DAVE.  Do  you
remember  in  the Blues Brothers that John Belushi  and  Dan  Akroyd  were
listening  to a collection of Sam and  Dave?   Well ever since  then  I've
been  meaning to get  around to checking it out,  but when you  walk  into
Woolworths  and ask for them all you get from the  attendant is a look  of
complete  bafflement,  so off I  went again,  feeling like a fool and  yet
knowing  that   there'll  be  a compilation  sitting  on  a  cheapo  label
somewhere.  Indeed  there  was.   As I popped into Tandy to  get  my  free
battery  (they  give you a free battery a  month if you get  a  card  from
them) I saw just what  I wanted in their cheap CD section.   Off I toddled
to   continue  shopping,  and  whilst stuffing my face at  Burger  King  I
opened the case to discover....  no CD!   Damn, I  went back and they were
most  apologetic.  Home I went  with the newly discovered audio  recording
and slammed it  into the slot.

     Oh  bliss  of bliss!   Now I know why the Blues  Brothers  has   that
oblique  reference to Sam and Dave.  Nearly  everything that  Belushi  and
Ackroyd play was done by the  cheery S&D first.   Boy,  John and Dan  must
have loved  their predecessors,  because they played the tracks just  like
'em.   I've  got to say that Sam and Dave still have  the edge over  their
movie progeny,  so if you see this  and like good bluesy music,  including
much that wasn't  in the film, then GET IT, IT WILL ONLY BE CHEAP!


                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                    ~ ROBIN HOOD, PRINCE OF THIEVES ~
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Well,  I guess you all saw this at the cinema,  right?   Well I would
have done too,  in fact Michael and I saw 15  minutes.  But, and this is a
beauty,  he was taking his  newly discovered girlfriend to the movies, and
I  was  chaperone.   The girlfriend didn't like film,  too much   fighting
(actually she was right,  given that she was 9)  and so we left.   Michael
was  great;  he behaved like a  little gentleman,  didn't complain or  get
upset and was  charming right up to returning her to her  house.   So,  we
then waited for the video which has just been released  in the UK.

     I  sat back to enjoy this gorgeous film with the truly  evil  Sheriff
of Nottingham and Mike McSane and all that  and...  I hated it.   The more
I watched,  the more the historical  incongruities grated on me,  so  much
so  that they really spoiled  what was,  if I were honest,  a really  good
adventure  film.   See it if you haven't, mark me down as an idiot if  you
have,  but  I wish it hadn't been set in history but  in a fantasy  world.
Nottingham's a day's walk from the  white cliffs of Dover, pah!


                                 ~~~~~~~~
                                 ~ NEKO ~
                                 ~~~~~~~~

     Not Nico the singer with Velvet Underground,  <See J.W's entry in the
glossary at the end of this article.> but a  Windows program which I  want
an  ST  version for.   It's a  little cat which runs  around  the  desktop
chasing  the  mouse which has turned into,  wait for it,  a  mouse.   It's
lovely,  it  falls asleep if the mouse doesn't move,   sometimes  it  just
romps  off  for the hell of it,  it   scratches,  it  is  adorable.   Stop
writing  demos  and  write  me a TSR for the ST which'll give  me  my  own
little pussy  cat!


                                 ~~~~~~~
                                 ~ VGA ~
                                 ~~~~~~~

     Why  doesn't  Atari add a PC standard VGA card to the ST   and  offer
VGA  resolution?   I mean,  they're all made in  Taiwan,  they could  just
walk  down the road and buy a few  thousand.   VGA monitors cost the  same
as  the ST one,  but does  anyone know if there's any reason it  can't  be
easily  done?   It's all a 16  bit bus after all...   We could  have  some
sensible graphics  then, mutter, mutter.

     Anyway  that's enough of that,  and here we go with  some   crunchier
reviews.


                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     ~ REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS ~
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


                           RED DWARF, THE BOOK
                             by Grant Naylor


     Okay,  so  I guess you've all read this,  the book of the   smash-hit
comedy series of the same name?   Well,  some of  you may not,  especially
in  furthest Iceland,  so here  goes.   Red Dwarf was a British TV  series
based around the  adventures,  largely comic spoofs of SF,  of the crew of
the  ship  "Red Dwarf".   The "crew" so to speak  actually   consisted  of
Lister,  a scouse slob who miraculously  survived the demise of the  whole
ship  whilst  in  suspended animation,  Rimmer,  the  hologram  of  Arnold
Rimmer who died with the rest of the crew millions of  years before,  Cat,
a  being descended from the ship cats  with a remarkable sense of its  own
vanity  and passing  resemblance to a very dapper  human,  and  Kryten,  a
robot   whose only function in life is to serve,  and serve,  and   serve,
and make cucumber sandwiches.

     The series was absolutely brilliant,  hysterically funny  and sent up
most  SF  cliches in a raucous and riotous  manner,  as far  from  Douglas
Adams as possible.   A second  series was produced and I live in hope  for
the  third.   <Now showing!>  Thus it was with some dread that I  received
the book on  Christmas Day.   Oh no!  The book of the incredibly funny  TV
series; it'll be crap.

     I  am pleased to say that it is in fact funnier,  with at  least  two
thirds  of  the  book bearing little relationship   to  the  series,  thus
allowing Grant Naylor,  the author,   full license to make us  laugh.  And
boy  did I laugh.   The part  which details Rimmer's pathetic attempts  to
cram  three  months exam revision into ten minutes had me rolling on   the
floor in hysterics,  whilst Ann fervently wished she  hadn't bought me the
book  after  all.   The book is a  corker and if you want to have  a  good
science  fiction   laugh,  without  needing to really like  SF  or  either
Douglas  Adams or Terry Pratchett,  then this is a good  place  to  start.
Watch out for the hysterics tho'.

(PS:  One gorgeous fact,  the author Grant Naylor is in  fact two people!)



                       MOVING PICTURES: DISCWORLD 9
                            by Terry Pratchett


     This  is  (I think) Discworld Book 9.   For those of  you  in   Kiev,
Terry  Pratchett has been writing books about  Discworld,  a  disc  shaped
world  upon the back of a great  turtle for some little  while.   Humorous
in  a  Buster  Keaton/Monty Python/Conan way they have  brought  tears  of
merriment to my eyes on many an occasion .  He usually  writes one a  year
and it is with some happiness that I  greet the latest book.

     I  will have to say that Terry Pratchett must be due for  a  backlash
by  now,  and it is true that his books follow  similar formulas,  but  it
would  be  true  to say that most  comedy does;   all  jokes  are  closely
related  to a large  family of jokes.   I still enjoy the Discworld  books
immensely,  and I can recommend them to anyone.  Yup,  anyone, fantasy fan
or  not.   If you do start,  start at  the beginning,  with the Colour  of
Magic.  If you already  know the books, read on...

     Moving  Pictures  is  set around the plotline of  cinema   coming  to
Discworld,  through  unseen  forces in the   Dungeon  Dimensions  planting
ideas  and aspirations into  people's heads.   Firstly the alchemists  are
nudged to  invent the technology,  then people are drawn to "Holy   Wood",
site of a decadent city torn down and drowned  eons ago,  where they build
a shanty town of star struck  would-be actors, directors etc.

     Into  this very wittily constructed comic tribute to  the film  world
and its vanity,  we find an apprentice wizard who  never wants to pass the
exams,  a starstruck actress, and  a wonder dog who doesn't look the part.
Death  makes  a   minimal  cameo appearance and  the  Librarian  is  in  a
supporting role,  but the star of the piece is Cut My Own  Throat Dibbler,
the sausage purveyor who turns movie  mogul.   A very enjoyable read,  not
as hysterical as Red  Dwarf, but a goodie for all us Discworld fans.



                         THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
                            by Robert Heinlein

     Before  I went on holiday last year I went out to buy   some  reading
matter.   I  bought two remaindered books and  two full price  ones.   The
most  expensive book I bought  was this one,  because it was big  and  the
premise   of  the   tale  looked  quite  appealing;   travelling  in   six
dimensional  space  to a multitude of parallel worlds  where  things  were
subtly different.   For example, the  blurb said, a world where the letter
"J" doesn't exist.

     "Okay", I thought, "I'll go for that..."

     I  cannot  say how crap this book is,  there are not  words   in  the
English  language  crude and violent enough to give  my full  anger  at  a
rambling  pile of words obviously  knocked off a word-processor with  more
concern to word  count than anything remotely close to a good  read.   The
plot  is  non  existent,  the main focus of interest  is  a   schoolboyish
fascination  with  sex (ie not even  interesting) and page  upon  page  of
vapid dialogue  between characters obsessed with 1930s pulp novels.

     Do not buy this book.   I have only read half of it and  this is  the
first  book in years where I have not even managed  to find  the  smallest
morsel  that  would justify finishing  it.   If anyone would like  a  door
stop, apply at the usual  address....



                                COUNT ZERO
                            by William Gibson

     Many  of you may have already read this book,  but I got  it for  the
first  time  this holiday and was very relieved  to read it  after  I  had
been so sadly browbeaten by the  above disaster by Heinlein.   Gibson, the
graffiti  artist   of cyberpunk,  has presented in Count Zero a  story  of
three  threads,  one of Count Zero,  a naif "hotdogger" who  ran  the  net
with  some  software  he didn't understand,  a   mercenary  attempting  to
"extract"  an employee who wishes  to leave his company and a  fashionable
ex  art  gallery  director in Paris hired to discover  the  artist  behind
some obscure art.

     The  strands  develop  and twist as the plots  move  closer  to  each
other,  with the ending in many ways as obscure and  potentially  mystical
as  the  opening of the book.   It is  the travelling to this end  that  I
particularly enjoyed,  but  the view of the near future presented in  this
book  is   wonderful in that it is so obviously today but  developed   and
accelerated by the technology that we already have.    This familiarity is
what  makes  cyberpunk so exciting to  me;  at last  someone  has  written
science  fiction which  realises just how close and realisable the  future
is...


                                GOODFELLAS
                        A Film by Martin Scorcese

     This  film is one of the rush of Mafia inspired films  which  flooded
out  of Hollywood last year.   Unlike The  Freshman which I thought was  a
worthless  piece  of  junk,    this  film  is  excellent.    Violent   and
uncompromising,  it   assaults your mind with the life of a  "wiseguy",  a
mobster  and the life he lived until he realised that he  was next on  the
hit  list and entered the Witness  Protection Program.   Played by  Robert
de  Nero,   the   character  is  wonderful  in  his  essential   humanity,
revealing the slim divide between civilized values and  reality.

     The hero of the film is unrepentant,  his greatest regret  is that he
no  longer  can  live the life.   The life that he   regrets  was  one  of
violence,  money,  violence,  drugs,  violence and power.  It is the power
that  gives the  gangsters the high in this film,  it is the violence  and
self delusion which brings home the barbarism of these   "goodfellas".   I
loved this film,  it brought the  Godfather back to mind but in a far less
romantic way.   This film has a surreal quality, but it is the  surrealism
of  the  underworld,  the  bizarreness of a  society in  which  people  do
actually rub each other out.

     I  am not going to detail the film,  that's best left to   the  film,
but  I would recommend it totally,  even to  those who of you who'll  hate
the enormous amount of bad  language that it has in it.



                          FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND
                        Directed by Roger Corman

     Unlike the above,  I feel this film does merit a  traditional review.
It  is the most recent production of  Roger Corman,  the man who made  all
those  wonderful  Vincent Price films such as the RAVEN,  the  RED  DEATH,
the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER etc.   To that end Corman  is a low  budget
wonder.  producing  gory but enjoyable  films which manage to  rise  above
Hammer Horror and pip  all the other low budget makers to the post.

     Frankenstein Unbound was probably low budget,  it has a  few  special
effects  which probably cost a bob or two,   but the majority of the  film
was  probably knocked off in  Scotland for not very much.   As such it  is
really  quite   an enjoyable romp into a novel by Brian  Aldiss  (a  novel
I've  read and like) in which a scientist is thrown into  the past by  the
side effects of a weapon which he  developed and which then promptly  went
out of control...   (er, do you begin to get the point?).  He reappears in
Switzerland  just in time to meet Dr.  Frankenstein,  a  character he  had
thought fictional.   He follows him,  sees the  monster,  who is free  and
murdering, and is knocked out.

     So,  okay  for now,  but when he awakes and goes to town,   he  meets
Mary  Shelley.    Mary,   for  those  of  you  who  don't    know,   wrote
Frankenstein.   Anyhow,  it's all good fun,  involves Byron, Shelley and a
good  bit  of  time travel,   ending in a  finale  that  Michael  Moorcock
wouldn't  mind   writing.   If  you fancy a good film out  of  the  Hammer
mould but twenty/thirty years on,  get this one out of  the video  shop...



                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      ~ RACING AT CASTLE DONINGTON ~
                      ~   MY DAY IN A RACING CAR   ~
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     It  is  my  great  fortune  to  be  invited  to  various  events   by
suppliers.   It's  also my great misfortune that I have often have to  say
no,   usually  for the simple fact that I can't justify taking  the   time
off to attend.   However,  when a certain power  generation  company,  who
also sponsor the weather,  asked me if I  would like to go racing,  and  I
mean go racing myself,  I  couldn't resist.   I booked a day's holiday and
at  8.30  on the  morning concerned I was there in my  jeans  and  leather
jacket, waiting eagerly to get behind the steering wheel.

     I've  never been greatly interested in motor sports,  the   sight  of
cars going round doesn't do much for me.   I'd rather  watch horses, to be
quite  honest.   The thought,  however,  of  actually putting myself in  a
small  box  of fibre glass with a  2000 cc engine roaring  at  my  back...
that was something I  could relate to!

     We began with saloon cars,  to be accurate Astras.   16v GTE  Astras,
but  basically unmodified,  apart from the roll cage.   I  sat  innocently
next to the American instructor and watched  happily as we began to  shift
onto  the  track.   Moments later I  was quietly screaming  inside  as  he
screamed  round the curves  and bends at speeds which defied  gravity  and
my sanity.   All  of a sudden this was a very bad idea,  especially  given
that  it was my turn to drive next!

     At  first the blue funk I had entered made me drive   appalling,  but
on  the third lap it all fell into place.   The  cones they laid  out  and
used to show where to brake,  turn,  and accelerate all made sense.  There
really was a formula to  making the circuit,  all I had to do was keep  to
it.   I  jumped  out of the car a much happier man and into the tiny  seat
alongside  a driver of what they call a Sports 2000 car.   I  call it  two
bits of red plastic with an RS Cosworth engine  indecently mounted  behind
it.   All was okay tho, I was lying  down with the wind whipping around me
and it was  exhilarating.  I was sure I could do this!

     We moved onto the car park.   After this introduction to the  circuit
and  high speed cars,  we had to move onto the next   test;  go-karts!   I
won't  dwell  on  this,  since you must know  how much fun  a  lawn  mower
engine  can  be,  but suffice to say  that several  bumps  and  hysterical
laughter  later and we were  definitely having a good time.   Now  it  was
time to get into  the proper cars.

     The  Vauxhall  Lotus is a nice car.   It's essentially  a  cut   down
Formula  1  car  which is raced in Formula Vauxhall,  which   used  to  be
Formula Ford.   It's a lovely car and designed to  people smaller than  me
with  little feet.   I didn't care though.   In I  leapt,  jamming  myself
down  into  the  small  space and  recklessly fitting  my  feet  over  the
pedals.   The mechanic  started the engine with a battery he carried under
his  arm  and moments later I was doing 90 and 4000 revs!   We  were  just
practising,  accelerating up hill, decelerating down to a 180  degree turn
followed by more of the same.   It was great.   Now  if only they'd let me
onto the track...

     But it wasn't time yet;  first we were to eat and then do  some  skid
control  in  a  car with wheels that were  independent   of  the  steering
wheel.   This was really good fun,  but  terrifying to watch.  Then we had
to  three point turn and  slalom our way around a layout whilst keeping  a
ball in a  hollow on the dash,  in the shortest time.  And then we had the
go-kart competition!   I must add that by now it was absolutely  bucketing
down with  rain,  the skies had opened.   We climbed into waterproofs  and
bumped,  jostled  and generally had hysterics around the go   kart  track.
Drowning your opponents was not allowed, but a  viable option!

     The  day had progressed wonderfully but now it was the   finale,  the
time when they actually let you loose on the  Castle Donington circuit  in
a proper race car without a  safety net.   I revved the engine,  screeched
out  of  the pits  and hugging the curve and then turning  across  to  the
apex,  I   was  around Redgate Corner.   The spray from the car  in  front
blinded  me  as it flung itself across my visor,  and then I  tracked  the
curve  of the road and was down into the next bend.   I   throttled  down,
ramming  the tiny right hand lever up to  third gear as I listened to  the
satisfying screams of my  tyres.   Up the hill and round the next bend and
I  moved  up  to   fourth to accelerate madly  under  the  Dunlop  bridge.
Braking   at the last minute and slamming the car round and  through   the
hairpin  curves  I  was  back  on  the  starting  straight,   accelerating
exuberantly  under  the clock as I shifted to the  left,  ready  to  brake
once again and approach Redgate corner.

     I  was in heaven.   They let us have about 8 laps and I  must   admit
that it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've  ever had.   I came
third  in  the  go-karts,  but the real prize  was  the  true  delight  in
knowing that for one day I too was a  racing driver!


                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         ~ 25 HOUR ROLE-PLAYING ~
                         ~      (Almost)        ~
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Every  year  for  the  last six  (is  it  really  six?)  years,   the
Sheffield  University  role-playing  society has  run  a   sponsored  25hr
session,  in which people with more time than sense  play RPGs  constantly
for  25  hours for charity.   Actually,   as the years have  come  on,  my
comrades and I only play  about 14 hours,  but we pay for the privilege of
leaving  early!   The 25hr is always held on the night that the  clocks go
back,  hence  the  fact that it can run from noon  to noon and  yet  still
last 25 hours!   This year we played  Ars Magica,  a role playing game set
in  12th century  France with magicians as the key  characters.   I  quote
from my article for Vulcan and Other Worlds;

     "The  25hr  was great!   I really enjoyed playing my  first   serious
role  playing  for a year.   In fact since the last  25hr...   In  fact  I
hardly  ever play anything these days.   In fact I might as well  burn  my
RuneQuest  and eat my  dice for all the good they do me these  days.   The
only   time I get to role play is as a referee,  which I'm sick   of,  and
even then I'm totally without players.  Woe is  me.  Woe is bloody me!

     Anyhow,  the  25hr was my first play of Ars Magic,  as I'm  sure  the
above  paragragh  made  clear.   I loved it,  a   wonderful  evocation  of
medieval  life  and the strange  characters we call  magi.   I  think  the
magic  system is  truly lovely and although it leaves much to  be  desired
in  the sword hitting front the character generation is  quite  nice  too.
We played until 2pm,  which is and always  has been my limit for the 25hr,
and despite eating too  much salami, didn't feel too bad the next day."



                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                             ~ MORE BABBLE ~
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     We recently got a NICAM video.   My brother-in-law had one  cheap and
so  we got it at half price and plugged it into  the telly and the  Hi-Fi.
The  sound quality really is  excellent,  especially on videos  where  the
original film  makers paid a lot of attention to the stereo.   I'd  really
like   to watch Star Wars on it.   The real problem is that to   get  good
stereo I need the speakers further apart than  the walls will  allow,  but
it's still an improvement.   No  doubt when our TV dies we'll get a  NICAM
as  standard  (since they'll probably make no other by then) and   that'll
remove  the Hi-Fi from the equation,  which did  involve a lot of  cabling
from one end of the lounge out  to the extension and back again.   Roll on
video  telephones. (Not me, I think.)

     We watched IT the other night,  a film of the book by  Stephen  King.
I'm not usually a great fan of horror  films,  unless they're so awful  as
to be wonderful,  if  you know what I mean.  This, however, was excellent.
It's    three  hours  long  but  it's  worth  every  minute.    It's   not
particularly  gory,  but  it has an excellent book-like  plot  (there's  a
surprise  for  a  film) and an excellent   ending.   Role-players  of  any
persuasion would love this  story,  and any self respecting GM could  loot
it for ideas  for games to come.



                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         ~ BUSINESS, SCHMISNESS ~
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     I've been discussing business a lot recently;  you know,   the  level
of  business  or  rather complete lack of it.   Every company  I  meet  is
getting  ever more desperate,   facing order books some 20-30%  down  from
last  year,  the   sort of fall in orders which will mean death  for  many
many  companies.   I'm  fortunate,  I'm still in work,  and   work  for  a
company which has Fuji Bank (yes they're a  bank as well) behind  it,  not
Barclays  or one of the  other short-term  British  institutions.   Having
said  that,  RHP has made 10% redundancies on the shopfloor,  and  British
Steel and it's associated companies are cutting even  more.

     Can this level of economic decline be considered  "natural"?   The UK
has  never  fully recovered from the  massacre of the early  80s,  and  we
slip  further down the  tables of OECD countries every time they  issue  a
table.   I  can't help feeling that given the total failure to   follow  a
monetarist  economic policy (when did you last  hear about money  supply?)
the  Tories need to address the  fact that if they are going to  play  the
fiscal  game they  should play it with some plans,  rather than  resorting
to   the old stop-go election-chasing no-idea-what-  we're-doing  policies
of  the 50s and 60s.   It was those  stop-go cycles of  inflationary  boom
and  deflationary  slump which destroyed Britain's post war lead over  the
world, so why are we doing it all again?



                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                             ~ KIDS' STUFF? ~
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     I've been refereeing the kids recently,  running "Dragon   Warriors",
that  paperback  role playing game that Dave  Morris  and  Oliver  Johnson
wrote  some years ago.  It's  been great fun,  and delightful to  see  how
soon  they  move  from roll playing to role playing.   I must  admit  that
despite my belief in role playing I had never realised  how young you  can
be and still get it under the skin so  well....



                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                           ~ DIRE, DIRE, DIRE ~
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     I saw Dire Straits on September 3rd 1991.   It was my  first visit to
the Sheffield Arena and I must admit that  I thought the place was  really
quite impressive.   I did  not,  however, really enjoy the concert.  I can
summarise  this as follows;

     The  Security kept everyone sitting down and in place,  except   that
in  doing  so they spent three quarters of the gig in  front  of  my  seat
arguing with people who wanted to go to  the front.

     The  stadium  is designed to present the seats with a  view   of  the
central playing area,  therefore to watch the band  at one end you have to
strain  you neck looking sideways  around the people  alongside  you.   My
toe was badly hurting from an infection.

     Mark  Knopfler  has  about as much charisma as  a  brick;  he   can't
interact with an audience to save his life.   For  most people there  that
didn't  matter,  they  would have  applauded him if he'd played  with  his
dick, but I found  it fairly poor.

     Because  of  all the above the  experience  was  clinical,   painful,
irritating  and above all,  a disappointment.   A  shame really since  the
music was excellent,  the light  show was superb and everyone else  seemed
to enjoy it.



                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                              ~ THE END?  ~
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Oh  well  that's it for this article,  which has  meandered   crazily
from  subject to subject without porpoise or  meaning.   I hope it  didn't
tire you too much.

     My address for contacts is;

     Tom Zunder
     23 Rosedale Way
     Bramley
     Rotherham
     South Yorkshire
     S66 0LE
     United Kingdom



                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               ~ GLOSSARY ~
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~

BETWEEN THE SHEETS

     A  paper  zine  produced bimonthly by myself and  my  ex   University
colleagues.   Reviews of books,  films and  theatre, roleplaying games and
what we've done.  £2.00  for 5 issues.


GM

     A  Games Master (or Mistress).   A person who umpires a  role-playing
game.


INTERLEAVE

     A  short  lived diskzine distributed thru' the South  West   Software
Library,  produced  within  SANDP20 (a build your own diskzine  shell)  it
wasn't very successful but some  people liked it...


SOUTH WEST SOFTWARE LIBRARY

     One  of  the best UK PD libraries for the Atari  ST,  run  by  Martyn
Dryden,  who  was  interviewed  in STEN 7.   Write  to  this  address  for
your catalogue:

     SWSL, PO BOX 562, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 2YD.


STEN

     The  ST  Enthusiasts Newsletter,  produced by John Weller  and   Dave
Mooney.   This  is  a  British  diskzine for the Atari  ST  which  I  find
intelligent and worthy of a read.  Contact:

     John Weller, 49 Haylett Gardens, Surbiton Crescent,
     Kingston, Surrey, KT1 2ER.


ST NEWS

     ST  News is a Dutch diskzine produced by the same Richard   Karsmaker
who  produces the Ultimate Virus Killer.   Very  English European  with  a
demo angle, ST News is readable  and intelligent.



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