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Editorial

By Andrew Poulsen

Well, this editorial was, until today (31/3) going to waffle on about how pleased I was with the format changes we have made. But yesterday afternoon I received a letter from Chris Noaro of Lower Hutt informing me that his best friend, Andrew Freeman, of Auckland, had died the previous Thursday. Andrew was a member of this club, and it was due to be his birthday in April. He would have been twenty-one.

I was really freaked out by this. Partly because he was a member of the club, and partly because he died at such a young age. I am turning twenty myself next Sunday, and the thought that human life is so very frail really hit me hard. Andrew is the third person under the age of 21 I have known of who has passed on this year. One was eighteen and another was nineteen.

One died of a heart attack, another died in a car accident (she was the passenger), and Andrew died of Asthma.

I would like to personally offer my condolences to Andrew's family, although I never actually met him or spoke to him, I mourn his passing with you. Human life is such a short existence, it's got to be enjoyed while it can, every moment should be special, because, as we all know, it can end tomorrow.

Which is all the more reason to spend time smelling flowers, walking through parks, stopping to admire beauty wherever you see it, because, who knows, it may not be here to enjoy tomorrow.

I would like to thank Chris for taking the time to write and tell me about Andrew. He's lost a great friend, and I sympathize with him. Losing close friends is a pretty hard blow.

Okay, onto what I started previously. What do you think of TSV Volume 3? Are the fonts nice, or should we go back to the way it used to be in Volume 2? The same goes for the Letters column, which do you think is better? The old format, or the new columns. Should we use the columns for more than just the Letters column? Would you like to see more photo's, or more original artwork? How many comic strips can you cope with per issue? I want all these questions answered and more! So, please return the questionnaire and tell me what you think. I'm really proud of this `zine, and this club, but we can't improve anything if people don't tell us what they want!

There's been a lot happening in Christchurch lately. Some of the over 15's (all we could contact by phone) had a brilliant party at Stephen Murray's recently. Thanks Stephen. We're looking forward to our next meeting on April 10. We've got Role Playing days and Writers Workshops in the planning, along with a Mid-winter Dinner for all Chch members, video marathons, and lots more! Jon and Paul are starting to plan things in Auckland, so the Northerners can get active too! We've got people in Nelson that are interested in starting some activities, and a possible video marathon in Wellington. Things are really starting to hot up. This is the NZDWFC's year!

Just as a matter of interest, the NZDWFC currently has a membership of over 100. Members range in age from 8 to 49 years of age, with the average age of members being around 19-25 years old. The NZDWFC is currently the largest science fiction association in New Zealand. So people, what do you think of that? Not too bad, is it! However, we are still hard up. We lost about three or four dollars on everyone's 1988 membership. Hopefully with sales of `Shada' and `Best Of TSV (vol. 1)' [available in May/June], we'll be able to rebuild our bank account. At one point our balance hit a low of $3.00 and we still had several large bills to pay. If you want to help improve things even more, we need money and members. So, please support our Merchandise, which in turn supports the club and tell ALL your friends about the club. We need new members. The more the merrier!

Well, that's enough lecturing from me. Drop me a line sometime. I want to hear from you!

Best Wishes,
Andrew Poulsen.

This item appeared in TSV 12 (March 1989).