They say it's a way of life. Well, it's certainly not the only thing I do, although I do go to an occasional science fiction convention. The last one I attended was the Baltimore Worldcon convention (August 1998), wherein I ate a surfeit of Maryland crab. This year I also attended 5Con (mentioned below), a very very miniscule but worthwhile convention held in alternate universities in Western Massachusetts. What I liked about it was that the panel discussions each only drew in a few people -- but just enough to turn the discussions into real conversations amongst the speakers and the audience. Prior to that convention, however, my most recent one had been the Worldcon held over in Scotland back in 1995, amply recorded on my Scottish pages.

I participate in A Woman's APA, Golden APA, Frank's APA, and the Junto (Amateur Press Associations). I once put out my own fanzine, Convergent Realities, but it died after issue seven, and there's no plans anywhere for a revival. Actually, I haven't been all that involved in fanzine fandom (unfortunately, because I do enjoy reading them), but I'm planning a gradual revival of participation in my copious *ahem* free time. People I've met through fandom tend to be thinkers on a wide range of topics, and often have a free-flowing outlook that I find appealing.

SF Sites of Interest:

• Locus Magazine. Provides convention listings, new book and story news, author news.
• Conventions around the World.
• SF Resource Guide.
• SF Archives, from the United Kingdom.
• SFF-NET, links to SF author websites among other things.

Some Author Websites of Interest:

• Charles de Lint. It's a very friendly site, and includes not only information about his writings, but a link to his artist-wife's site, plus notes on music and his own ventures into graphical arts.
• Maureen F. McHugh. A fascinating site which includes a couple of her short stories, and some essays published no where else, as well as commentary and reflections based on her years spent in China.
• Bruce Sterling. This site isn't actually posted by Sterling, but it does contain a wide range of provocative articles and much material about him.
• Raphael Carter. While I've only read one book by Carter, this site is well-presented, containing poetry, essays on unconventional topics, and more.
• Try Sff Net for listings of some authors -- many are obscure, but some are not. I was most interested in Joe Haldeman's site, and in eluki bes shahar/Rosemary Edghill's sites, of those I investigated. And to this list I now add Holly Lisle, Kevin O'Donnell Jr., and Eric S. Nylund.

A Few Local (to me) Conventions:

• Lunacon. This year's guest (1998) was Octavia E. Butler, the author of the excellent Parable of the Sower. Held in Rye Brook, New York, at the infamous "Escher Hilton". March.
• 5 Con. This year it was held at Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. It moves around, but stays in the area. Guests this year included Esther Friesner (author of humorous SF), Debra Doyle, and James D. MacDonald. April.
• Readercon. Held in July, somewhere in eastern Massachusetts. I've yet to attend, but friends report it is typically good -- fairly quiet but in a good, connecting, way. The premise here is that media-oriented SF is markedly downplayed, so that focus can be centered on books and book authors. (Yes, you can quibble that books are media, too -- but, oh, nevermind.) Considering attending, perhaps. Guests in 1998 were Bruce Sterling, the "cyberpunk" author, and co-author of the excellent The Difference Engine; and Lisa Goldstein.

Nifty newsgroup I've very occasionally been reading, but not posting often to: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Another interesting one which I have yet to post to, if only because it attracts a LOT of mail: rec.arts.sf.written

Diann's thumbnail booklists:

• The Science Fiction portion.
• The Fantasy portion.
• Everything else. (Okay, this has nothing to do with SF, but tough.)

• Everyone by now knows where Amazon.com resides.