Message Stones

Usenet is an ephemeral thing, but once in a while something comes along that I feel like keeping. Here are two that seemed as though they deserved another audience, both taken from rec.arts.sf.fandom.

First, from the delightful Jo Walton:

Hit N now. Stop reading this post. This is not the story of NH'Patrick and his legendary love for NH'Teresa, not how he won her from the city of salt nor how he rescued her from under the mounds of paper. This is not the tale of heroic F'Gary and how he saved them all from the collapsing Iguana. It was a long time ago. The sun is a different colour now, and all of fandom is changed. None of it happened anyway. This is just usenet. Press N now, and go away.

Some whisper, in the undercity, where they scuttle from light to light and gather together round the glowing screens, that NH'Teresa will come back, one day, to rasff, when the mounds of paper have again been cleared away. And some listen to the beguiling words of N'Esfa, for as long as those words are known then Clown Town and Alpha Ralpha Boulevard and Old North Australia itself will not be forgotten, though they are no more, though they are at the other end of a time and there never was anyone else who could tell them like that, for the Chinese Sage and Lord Dunsany had only the one child. This is not his story either.


A slice of life from Loren MacGregor:

Let me tell one of my stories about New York: I was at the airport, and at the time (I don't know if it is still true) there were various information booths--card tables, really--set up for people from differing ideologies, where they would try to attract the attention of passers-by, to pass on literature and get donations if they could. There were several different ideologies represented, but most of the people were at lunch. As a result, the poor guy behind the Black Panther information booth was trying really hard to represent ALL of the ideologies, passing out literature and answering questions as best he could.

It was not your typical picture of a Black Panther, whatever your picture might be. I liked it a lot.

These stories are copyright 1998 by the authors.