Karen Schaffer, Potlatch 12 Chair

Potlatch is a wonderful convention about exciting books and intriguing ideas, with thoughtful panels, stimulating conversations, and superb hospitality. In short, it'll be the best party in town, and we hope you'll be there with us.

We have many events planned, such as the now-traditional Saturday afternoon tea and Tiptree bake sale, the Sunday brunch banquet, Clarion West Scholarship Fund auction, Algonquins (informal programming) on all sorts of subjects, a fine consuite, and a fabulous programming lineup.

Remember that our book of honor, The Rediscovery of Man, by Cordwainer Smith, is available from NESFA Press at a 20% discount for Potlatch members if the book is ordered directly from them. See their website, www.nesfa.org/press for details. It's a great book, and I'm looking forward to some of the conversations it will inspire.

Janet Lafler and Debbie Notkin

Potlatch programming will retain its extremely participatory, passionate character. We do this by designing our panels with ringleaders, who not only moderate the panel itself, but also choose the participants and plan the direction of the conversation. We're always looking for ringleaders and participants—let us know what you want to do for Potlatch programming.

Remember, the sooner we hear from you, the more likely we are to be able to accommodate what you want (whether it's a new idea, or a particular panel you want to ringlead or join).

We'll have a panel Friday night, five on Saturday, and one on Sunday. We're looking at a variety of plays or performance readings for a Saturday night event.

Some panel ideas we're thinking about right now:

In the context of Cordwainer Smith and The Rediscovery Of Man:

• Slavery and slave revolts in SF and fantasy
• The mythology of intelligence agencies
• Posthumanity in Cordwainer Smith's fiction

More general ideas:

• Adult-onset comic book fandom
• Regionalism in SF and fantasy
• Single-sex societies in SF and fantasy

We have lots more ideas—which ones we use will depend on which ones get potential ringleaders excited. What are you hoping to discuss?

And don't forget: ideas that don't make it into the limited number of panel slots are always welcome at our spontaneous, less-formal Algonquins.

Karen Schaffer

John Clute says "The Rediscovery of Man collects between one set of covers all the short fictions of the unmatchable, unthinkable Cordwainer Smith. All are magnificently weird, most are plain magnificent, and one or two are the nearest thing to perfection that you or I will ever chance upon in our little lives."

This is our book of honor. Smith is best known for his short stories, most of which take place in the Instrumentality of Mankind universe, sometimes hundreds or thousands of years apart. NESFA Press has collected all of the stories and arranged them in internal chronological order, allowing us to appreciate the millennial sweep of Smith’s vision.

The stories Smith tells are complex, spilling over with ideas. They read like future fables, with a compelling mix of poetry, cynicism, and hope. They address topics such as post-traumatic stress ("Scanners Live in Vain"), abuse of political prisoners ("A Planet Named Shayol"), and racial prejudice ("Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" and other stories of the Underpeople). But don’t let me give you the impression that all of Smith’s stories are depressing; cynical hope or hopeful cynicism, life still goes on. Smith’s stories satisfy on many levels.

Cordwainer Smith was the pseudonym of Dr. Paul Linebarger, a professor of Asiatic politics at Johns Hopkins University. Linebarger grew up in Asia and Europe; his godfather was the Chinese republican reformer Sun Yat Sen, a close friend of his father’s. By the time Linebarger was a young man, he knew six languages and was familiar with several cultures. His background explains the depth and insight he brought to his stories and to the future history that he constructed.

NESFA Press is making The Rediscovery of Man available to Potlatch members at a 20% discount. See their web page for details and an order form: www.nesfa.org/press/.

More information about Cordwainer Smith and The Rediscovery of Man can be found at: www.cordwainer-smith.com/ /books.htm#rediscovery

Lisa Hirsch

Dave Clark

Allen Baum

As we've done in the past, we'll have a toy - and game - room at Potlatch.

The rooms and times won't be known until later, but we do know we need attendees to volunteer to bring their favorite toys and games:

If you like to play it, or play with it, consider bringing it to Potlatch.

Kate Schaefer

Clarion West is an intensive six-week summer workshop for writers interested in pursuing professional careers. It focuses primarily on the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Since 1984, Clarion West has provided training and inspiration for some of the field's most respected authors and editors; since 1992, Potlatch has provided substantial and much-appreciated scholarship support. The upcoming workshop will run from June 22 through August 1, 2003, featuring Nancy Kress, Kathleen Ann Goonan, China Miéville, Elizabeth Hand, Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Samuel R. Delany as instructors.

Only 17 students will be selected. Application information is available on the Clarion West website at www.sff.net/clarionwest, or by writing to Clarion West, 340 Fifteenth Avenue East, Suite 350, Seattle, WA 98112.

Clarion West is a non-profit literary organization. Minority and special-needs students are strongly encouraged to apply.

Linda McAllister

The auction at Potlatch is Clarion West's main fundraiser for its scholarship program, and a grand opportunity to benefit future writers while benefiting yourself as well. A wide variety of cool objects will be up for auction, which will take place Sunday afternoon after the banquet. If you have items suitable for auction that you'd like to donate to a tax-deductible science fiction cause, please send 'em along. Monetary donations, also tax-deductible, are cheerfully accepted as well.

Cool things in the past have include books, manuscripts, advance reading copies, autographed by the author or by the author's pseudonym, a Moebius-strip scarf crocheted by Vonda McIntyre, a bookbag decorated by Rachel Holmen, t-shirt proofs by Freddie Baer, pieced vests by Kate Schaefer, rare fanzines, spiffy jewelry, a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition, and some stuff in really bad taste.

For further info, contact me at auction@potlatch-sf.org or 650-328-2741. Donations can be sent to Linda McAllister, 149 Webster St., Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Zed Lopez

Potlatch not only benefits the Clarion West writers workshop, it also hosts a Clarion-style workshop at the con. It's a great opportunity to get a taste of Clarion, while honing your craft with fellow writers and our instructors.

The Instructors

Cory Doctorow won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 2000, is the co-author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction, and has two novels and a collection forthcoming.

Howard V. Hendrix is the author of Lightpaths, Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, and dozens of short stories.

Rachel Holmen was the publisher of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine until it ceased publication in 2000, and was the co-editor of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Worlds, and a contributor to The Portable Writers' Conference.

Debbie Notkin is a consulting editor for Tor, and the editor of Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award anthology.

The Workshop

The workshop will be organized into small groups, each led by one of the instructors. In a Clarion-style workshop, everyone reads and critiques all the stories in advance of the workshop meeting. To register, each participant submits a story, and copies will be mailed to every participant in his or her group about a month before the con.

At the workshop meeting itself, the participants and instructor sit in a circle. The instructor chooses which story to critique, and starting with the person next to the story's author, the other participants give their critiques, going around the circle. The instructor may enforce a time limit on the comments. The author remains silent during his or her story's critique and the instructor always critiques last. Finally, the author has a chance to comment on the critiques and ask questions, and there is some time for general discussion.

This is repeated for the rest of the stories.

Registering

To participate in the workshop, you must be a registered member of Potlatch. Choose a complete science fiction or fantasy story of yours of up to 5000 words, and print it out in correct manuscript format. Make five complete photocopies, each copy stapled or paper-clipped together, and mail them to:

Zed Lopez
PO Box 12546
Berkeley, CA 94712

Previous writing experience is not necessary, but please include a brief description of what your writing background is. ("This is my first story" would suffice, if appropriate.) Please also enclose a check for $10 (for postage and other workshop expenses) made out to Clarion West/Potlatch 12.

Your submission must be postmarked on or before January 15, 2003. This deadline is firm to allow time to forward the manuscripts to all participants and instructors and give them time to read and critique them. Please plan accordingly.

For more information, please check our Web site:

www.potlatch-sf.org/workshop.html

If you have further questions, please send them to workshop@potlatch-sf.org.

Debbie Notkin and Guy Thomas

We will be returning to the beautiful Ramada Plaza Hotel in San Francisco's Civic Center district, a few steps from the BART and a few more steps from the library. (www.ramadaplazasf.com)

You can reserve your $99/night room now by phone to (415) 626-8000 or by fax to (415) 861-1460. The online reservation system is accessible from the website, but covers the whole Ramada system and will make it harder to ensure that you get the convention rate. (The same is true of the 800 reservations number: 800-227-4747.) However you make your reservation, please be sure to mention Potlatch 12.

We're negotiating the banquet menu with the hotel. Banquet price is currently $25 per person; we'll do our best to make sure that stays the same or gets reduced. You can reserve your banquet seat with the form in this PR, or on our website.

You can register for Potlatch and buy banquet tickets and t-shirts on line using PayPal. Go to this URL and follow the instructions:

www.potlatch-sf.org/potlatchreg.html

Lyn Paleo and Doug Faunt

Thinking about transportation? Think PUBLIC transportation!

This year we will provide extra encouragement for public transportation. After all, both Civic the Center BART station and many MUNI (local transit) lines are right outside the hotel door. We’ll have a special section in the Native Guide on how to use San Francisco’s transit systems, and we’ll even sell discounted Muni tokens at the registration desk. The restaurant section of the Native Guide will list special dining places only a quick trip away by Muni. So, get ready to experience the con by public transportation.

Our Web site already includes lots of good information on how to get to the hotel from the San Francisco airport, the Oakland airport, or rail lines:

www.potlatch-sf.org/routes.html

Potlatch 12 Members

Registration Form

Please complete a separate registration form for each person who is attending Potlatch.

___ $35 through Nov. 30, 2002 ___ $20 youths 11-17
___ $40 Dec. 1, 2002 to Feb. 8, 2003 ___ $10 supporting
___ $45 at the door ___ free for children 10 and under

Please make checks payable to Clarion West/Potlatch 12. You can also register online via PayPal; just go to this URL and follow the instructions: www.potlatch-sf.org/potlatchreg.html

Name ________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

E-mail _____________________________Phone________________________(optional)

I also want to: __ volunteer __ participate in the program __ participate in writers Workshop

To reduce our printing and mailing costs, we are sending progress reports (and possibly a few other Potlatch announcements) by e-mail. We will not share your e-mail address with any organizations other than Clarion West and future Potlatch concoms. If you want to receive paper copies of progress reports, check here: ______

Potlatch 12

6405 Regent St.
Oakland CA 94618