Cover by Rocky Kelley

As we barrel toward the August 29 premiere of Rayguns Over Texas at LoneStarCon 3 (aka the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio, I am presenting book excerpts, one contributor per day.

Today’s selection comes from Scott A. Cupp‘s memoir “Books Are My Thing: Adventures in Texas Science Fiction.”

My plans for Rayguns always included essays centering around the rich history of Texas science fiction. Along those lines, I tapped writer and bookseller Scott A. Cupp for a very personal account on much of the past 40 years. He also produced the volume’s appendices on Texas science fiction writers and artists.

AggieCon remained the regional convention. At AggieCon 6, I met Tom Reamy. Reamy was there promoting his short story “Twilla” in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as well as selling memberships to the World Science Fiction Convention to be held in Kansas City in 1976. I bought my membership for (if I remember correctly) $5. The AggieCons were great in those days. The student run Cepheid Variable club managed the convention. They put together a film program that, in the days before VCRs made it easy to own or see a film, was amazing. I remember watching The Wizard of Oz, Jason and the Argonauts, and Flesh Gordon (a film Reamy had worked on) on their huge screen.

In 1977 I was there when they screened The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time. This was a major deal since the week before the University had kicked the Gay Liberation organization off the campus. TAMU, at this time, was still heavily influenced by the Corps of Cadets, which produced many military leaders. The Rudder Tower auditorium had around 800 or so attendees, with maybe 30% members of the Corps. When Frankenfurter came down in the elevator and began singing “Sweet Transvestite”, you could hear the collective gasp of the Corps and the rapid exit of a large portion of the audience.

AggieCon was also great because the Memorial Student Center there had a large serpentine lounge known as Phred. I spent many fine evenings on the sofas there discussing books, films, and life in general with writers I had met there, like Joe R. Lansdale, Bill Crider, James Reasoner, and Neal Barrett, Jr. At first we were left alone to our discussions but over the years other fans came to hang out, listen to our conversations, and contribute. Few who were there will ever forget the “Mars Needs Chickens” discussion.

Excerpt from “Books Are My Thing: Adventures in Texas Science Fiction” © 2013 by Scott A. Cupp.