Sometimes it’s possible to find treasures just by reading the publishing page in a book. I did this last night with a book I listed and found it had been published specifically to commemorate The 33rd World Science Fiction Convention held in Melbourne August 1975. Worldcons are held in different cities around the world every year and this was the first one in the southern hemisphere.

Worldcon is a very significant event with speculative fiction fans coming from around the world. I went to Worldcon (also called Aussiecon 2010) and it was wonderful with panels on so many different features of writing and fandom.

My eldest had managed to get herself into a play. Written in the 1950s it was a very controversial play of the era focussing very closely on womens total emancipation from men. I enjoyed it very much and was thrilled to be seated with the father of science fiction fandom in Australia, Merv Binns and his wife, Helena. They are both lovely people.

I’m sure you want to know what Merv Binns has to do with the book. Apparently it was his idea to put together an anthology and so Lee Harding did exactly that. The book is called Beyond Tomorrow and is available for sale here. It has some wonderful authors in it including Ursula Le Guin who was also a guest of honour for Worldcon in 1975 and our very own Tony Morphett who has written so much for Australian television including writing the screen play of D’arcy Niland’s The Shiralee.