Swiss-cheese memory strikes again
Sep. 14th, 2008 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thatcrazycajunA day or two ago, I posted here about the passing of Joan Winston, one of the three women who made my entry into fandom possible. I wrote the following mistakenly thinking that it was Joan who I met and got to autograph my copy of Star Trek Lives!, when in fact upon going back to the autograph in question, I have discovered that I goofed severely. The woman I met was not in fact Joan, but her co-author Jacqueline Lichtenberg. Aside from my colossal mistake in attribution, the event is described as it actually happened.
And finally, at a Worldcon just a decade ago, I had the pleasure of meeting her in person and saying "thank you" to her for giving me access to this marvelous world, as her panel was ending. She was gobsmacked to see that I had my battered, sticker-covered, first-edition copy of STL with me for her to autograph. "Oh, my God," she said to the other panelists as they were preparing to leave the room. "Look what he's got!" Then, to me, "Do you have any idea how much this is worth?!?" Evidently even a copy in such poor condition was hard to come by anywhere by this time; I can only surmise it was out of print. She graciously signed both it and the copy of Making I also proffered, chatting me up like a kindly old Jewish mother all the while. I came away with a sense that my fannish career had come full circle at last.
I feel like ten tons of raw hammered ass. How could I make such a mistake? And now I wish I had actually met Joanie...because now, I never will. But she and Jackie and Sondra all share credit for my having discovered fandom; having read the first book, I knew to grab Joan's solo follow-up book on sight when I found it. And I owe much of my life over the last three decades to these three amazing ladies. I make most profuse and humble apologies to all and sundry, and to Jackie, Sondra Marshak and poor Joanie's shade especially, for the error.
And finally, at a Worldcon just a decade ago, I had the pleasure of meeting her in person and saying "thank you" to her for giving me access to this marvelous world, as her panel was ending. She was gobsmacked to see that I had my battered, sticker-covered, first-edition copy of STL with me for her to autograph. "Oh, my God," she said to the other panelists as they were preparing to leave the room. "Look what he's got!" Then, to me, "Do you have any idea how much this is worth?!?" Evidently even a copy in such poor condition was hard to come by anywhere by this time; I can only surmise it was out of print. She graciously signed both it and the copy of Making I also proffered, chatting me up like a kindly old Jewish mother all the while. I came away with a sense that my fannish career had come full circle at last.
I feel like ten tons of raw hammered ass. How could I make such a mistake? And now I wish I had actually met Joanie...because now, I never will. But she and Jackie and Sondra all share credit for my having discovered fandom; having read the first book, I knew to grab Joan's solo follow-up book on sight when I found it. And I owe much of my life over the last three decades to these three amazing ladies. I make most profuse and humble apologies to all and sundry, and to Jackie, Sondra Marshak and poor Joanie's shade especially, for the error.
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Date: 2008-09-14 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 01:36 pm (UTC)