[This is a text-only version of the Minicon 6 program book, created in 
2010. It does not attempt to reproduce the formatting of the original 
(except when doing so is trivial), but rather is meant to be as 
accessible to people and computer programs as possible.  This file does 
not contain the text of advertisements.  Errors may have been made in 
transcription, others are lovingly reproduced from the original.  Check 
the scans if it matters to you which are which.]

Program Book Minicon 6 the Stereo-opticon!

Minicon 6

The Stereo-opticon Convention Committee

Louie Spooner--Chairperson
	Larry Nichols--Secretary
	Margie Lessinger--Treasurer
Linda Lounsbury--Registration	Anthony Tollin--Hucksters & Publicity
Joel Lessinger and Larry Nichols--Auction
Ken Fletcher--Art show & Publications
Tim Boxell--Program Book Art Editor	Mary Merlin--Pro writer's content
Jim Young--Chairman emeritus
Dave Harsh, Chuck Holst, Al Kuhfeld, Bev  Swanson, & Frank Stodolka

The banquet will be held a 4:00 in the afternoon, Saturday.  It will be 
a cold buffet of cold cuts, breads & cheeses, relishes, & hot 
spaghetti--followed by award announcements and a speech by our guest of 
honor, Ruth Berman.  The convention committee will be selling banquet 
tickets ($2.50 per person) until midnight Friday.

If you are taking a hotel room, please remember to mention that you are 
with the Minicon when you register with the hotel.  This will ensure 
better blocking of our rooms.

If you would like to form a discussion group on any topic, pick up a 
discussion group form at the registration desk.  These will be posted 
for sign-up  by interested convention attendees, and will allow the 
con-committee to announce the Topic, Time, and Place of meeting.

If you have any questions about the convention, the hotel, or finding 
your way through downtown Minneapolis, don't hesitate to ask a member of 
the concommittee for assistance and information.  We hope you have an 
enjoyable time at the Stereo-opticon.


Thanks to Mike Wood for the use of his ditto machine.

Cover art by Jim Young and Ken Fletcher.

The following pages contain a portfolio of art by local Minneapolis fan 
artists, compiled by Tim Boxell.  Included is work by Dave Harsh, Al 
Kuhfeld, Jim Odbert, Jim Schumeister,  Dick Tatge


GUEST of HONOR

RUTH BERMAN

I became acquainted with Ruth Berman slightly over two years ago.  She 
was publishing T-Negative, a very well written Star Trek fanzine in need 
of artwork to add some color to its pages.  I was a fan-artist searching 
desperately for a fanzine to discover me.  Miraculously, my illos found 
her fanzine.  

Soon thereafter, I was startled to discover some very unusual aspects of 
Ruth's fan-publishing.  Examining closely the publishing dates of her 
Trekzine, I discovered that she had published seen issues in the first 
year of its "bimonthly' existence.  Now anyone who's been around fandom 
for any length of time knows that such a thing just isn't done in 
fandom.  A fanzine claiming "bimonthly" publication is published 
quarterly at best, while a far more realistic figure is annually.

Had I known more about Ruth, I wouldn't have been as surprised, for I 
would've known that Ruth Berman had published nearly as many fan 
publications as the rest of Minn-Stf combined.  The first issue of her 
fanzine, All-Mimsy, was published before she discovered fandom itself.  
23 issues of a genzine, Neolithic, soon followed.

(continued--)

Minicon 6

the Stereo-opticon Program---

Friday April 7 	12:00 Noon	Registration opens.
				Set up of hucksters, art show,
				& games areas.

		7:00		Opening Meeting--Introductions,
				drawing for pro writing contest.

		7:30		BEM Panel: Tim Boxell, Al Kuhfeld,
				Dick Tatge, & Jim Young.

		8:30		MOVIE: "New Dimensions in Speculative
				Fiction" (a seminar hosted by Harlan
				Ellison).

		9:30		PARTY SUITE OPENS

Saturday, April 8 11:00		Registration opens.
				(Art show, hucksters, games)

		12:30		MOVIE: To be announced.

		2:00		Auction: Joel Lessinger & Larry
				Nichols, auctioneers.

		4:00		BANQUET: Presentation of artshow
				awards, reading of the winning contest
				stories, and a speech by our
				Guest of Honor, Ruth Berman--all
				following our enjoyable buffet.
				Announcement of Minn-Stf elections.
				Costume contest awards.

		6:00		MOVIE: "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

		9:30		PARTY SUITE OPENS

		12:00 Midnight	SCA Baronial Costumed Feast

Sunday, April 9	11:00		Registration opens.
				(art show, hucksters, & games)

		12:30		Auction: Joel Lessinger & Larry
				Nichols, auctioneers.

		3:00		Closing meeting, convention status
				report, critique, MSFS, Inc, news.


(Ruth Berman, continued--)

As she became better acquainted with fandom, she applied her energies to 
an attempted revival of the Minneapolis Fantasy Society, and    entered 
the fannish sport of sports, conhopping.

She was soon bitten by the APA bug, as she cranked out 19 issues of 
Pantopon for FAPA, 26 issues of Dinky Bird for SAPS, and 107 (whew!) 
issues of Roquat for Los Angeles fandom's weekly APA-L.  Yes, Melvin, 
even six issues of Pooka for the Children's Fantasy APA.

She has had articles published in such diverse zines as Yandro, Cry, 
Spockanalia, Amra, Shangri L'Affaires, The Baker Street Journal, among 
others.

Ruth's fanac was not to be limited to any one fandom, though.  Through 
the years, she has built up an excellent collection of OZ materials, and 
as founder of the Professor Challenger Society, she published 
half-a-dozen Sherlock Holmes fanzines.

Ruth developed an appreciation of NBC's STAR TREK series which, coupled 
with her fannish experiences, made her a valuable addition to the staff 
of Lincoln Enterprises, where she edited Inside Star Trek, the show's 
official newsletter.  Later, she would continue her STrek fanac in her 
own fanzines, T-Negative, and the Star Trek Song-book; and as director 
of the Karidian Light Opera and Piano Moving Company's production of 
Filbert and Sullivan's space aperetta, "H.M.S. TREK-A-STAR".

In recent years, her poems have been published in several literary 
magazines, including Saturday Review, and she has had a story published 
in Four Quarters.  Another story, "Ptolemaic Hijack", appeared in World 
of Fantasy (Spring, 1971) while two other stories, "3-OK" and "Stretch 
of Time" have been accepted by the Magazine of Fantasy and Science 
Fiction and Analog, respectively.

--Anthony Tollin