Uri Ilkov
	Alexander Karapanchev
	
	A VISIT TO FANCO
	                             The world at boiling point
	                             With chronocycle at auction
	                             The talisman drinks anything
green
	
	"I am in a hurry! I am ia a terrible hurry! The opening
begins in a minute!" Fanco cried out, but we, the journalists
with tirelessly clicking cameras and a bunch of mikes, had
already swept him up in our loop.
	"Well, what shall I do with you?" The strange creature
spread out his three-fingered palms. "Come on, ask! But only one
question each!"
	Alexander was the first to speak:
	"Dear friend, why do they call you Fanco?"
	"Well, it's a nice name, isn't it?" With a look of
satisfaction Fanco licked his lips with a strawberry-red tongue.
"It's a present from the bulgarian Emil Krustev. As you know, in
our circles FAN means a fierce admirer of science-fiction, who is
also a member of a club. Concerning the CO, these are, of course,
the initial letters of Coblevo. They also give the impression of
a local name, because quite a few ukrainian surnames end exactly
in co...Excuse me, but I am late."
	And the green-skinned stranger Fanco, talisman of the event,
ran off to the presidium.
	Not bad for an introduction, isn't it? We can now calmly
open up the journalistic notebooks and follow the track of
Soccon'89, the first congress of socialist countries'
science-fiction fans. It took place in the Black Sea resort of
Coblevo,in the region of Nickolaev, in the Ukrainian SSR of the
USSR.  Let's start with a few words about the origin of Soccon,
because such a grand-scale event can't do without its
predecessors. Predecessors who generously share their sweetest
and their most bitter experiences. And in this case they are not
in the least few: the Congress of Chech fans Parcon and Tatracon:
Polcon in the country of Stanislav Lem: Aelita Fancon and Novacon
in the USSR; Hungarcon; the Days of Efremov (Sofia), Neochron
(Plovdiv) and numerous other festivals of the genre in
Bulgaria... The idea of Soccon'89 was born at the Budapest
Eurocon during the summer of 1988.
	Followed by reporters with militant spirit and fearless
fans, Fanco rushed by. He made it clear:
	"No autographs! The congress has started and I must arrange
an exhibition of badges,posters and paintings, sell souvenirs and
prints,be on duty at headquarters! Later!
	Uri crushed him at this moment with an unexpectedly original
question:
	"Fanco, will you give us some statistics?"
	"Oh!" Fanco smiled. "I adore statistics! Well, come on, put
it down. About 250 participants arrived in Coblevo for Soccon'89;
over 30 writers from USSR, Rumania and Bulgaria, fans from 70
Soviet, 7 Bulgarian, 2 Polish, Rumanian, Czechoslovakian, and
East-German SF clubs. Oh, I beg your pardon, I got carried away!"
Fanco became a jade-like dark-green color from embarrassment and
disappeared. So we had to continue with the search for
information on our own.
	Alexander began to pick out the famous writers while Uri
looked up the most interesting events in the program of the
congress. Soon we were able to exchange precious bits of
information.
	Uri (turns over the pages of his notebook and the light of
recent memories passes over his face):
	"I picked out two of the reports. They are especially
interesting, because of their scientific contribution and
imagination: " The world at boiling point", by Vladimir Savchenko
(about the sharply accelerated radioactive dissociation), and
"Exit from the flask " by Igor Rosohovatsky (an attempt to deep
into the secrets of the Universe through the window of
electromagnetic waves). The most interesting talk was with the
writer Arkady Strugatsky. I also liked the " Miss Fascination "
competition, in which girls from Nickolaev delighted our eyes and
the title "Miss Soccon'89" was given to Nedialka Peeva from ABC
club - Pazardzik (Bulgaria). I can't forget the critics Vitaly
Byprov, Vladimir Gopman and Anatoly Briticov! A Bulgarian-Russian
project for an encyclopedia of the world's science-fiction was
discussed. We went on a trip to Odessa, and took photos at the
famous stair-case of Potiomkin."
	Alexander (clearly realizing that Fanco is somewhere around
):
	"Uri, you've already mentioned some of the big names of
soviet SF and I shall add some more. I also met Olga Larionova,
Vladimir Michailov, Eremey Parnov, Sergey Drugal, Caren Simonian,
Vitaly Babenco, Sergey Kazantsev, Andrey Balabucha ... Listen, I
don't think it is right to leave out the organizers of the
congress: The Writers Union of USSR, The All-Union Council of
Science-Fiction clubs and others. But what is this green fog ?"
	The fog became thicker, merging gradually into the image of
Fanco on top of a queer motorcycle with wings. In its
transparent, round tank, a rainbow-colored fuel was pulsating.
	"All right, all right!" Fanco smiled "I smelled my favorite
statistics! Where am I coming from? I couldn't stop myself, so I
visited the auction of books, posters and pictures in advance
with my old chronocycle."
	Reporter's recorders clicked at around the speed of light
and dozens of notebooks gleamed white like a flock of sea gulls.
	"Yes, you're right." The green-skinned talisman nodded. "I
will dictate to you at once the record book prices which are to
be witnessed: 35 roubles for the novel " Then Come And We'll
Think It Over " by Vladimir Michailov, 27 roubles for the short
story collection " The Waves Calm Down The Wind" by the
Strugatsky brothers and 25 roubles each for the novel "A
Dove-Cote On A Yellow Glade" by Wladislav Crapivin and the
collection of short stories "A Tiger Will Accompany You To The
Garage" by Sergey Drugal... And now, after I have saved you a
two-hours-job of collecting information, why don't you ease up on
your journalists' souls? Why don't you take a walk by the sea?
Why don't you dip yourselves into the inexhaustible fans'
atmosphere?"
	And we relaxed. We took a walk. We had a drink with fan #1
of the USSR, Boris Zavgorodny. We crossed the rooms of dozens of
" congressmen", we shook hands with friends old and new. It
seemed as though the friendly evenings had no end... We sang
songs, listened to rock, watched video-films, danced with the
charming " Miss Soccon" and her runners-up, wrote down the text
of 2 congress-songs (created there, on the spot, to glorify the
event).
	Indeed, the film program was rather meager, the kitchen
didn't shine with rabelaisian abundance, and besides - that
insidious lightning.
	What lightning, the naive lover of the genre will ask?
	Oh, this was an experience quite as in the novellette "A
Billion Years To The End Of The World" by the Strugatsky
brothers. In this story, if you remember, the Universe keeps its
secrets fervently and doesn't give Homo Sapiens the chance to
grasp its inner mechanisms. It was the same in Coblevo. The
Universe didn't let the fans find out all its secrets. This time
its blow was embodied in a lightning strike which put the pumping
station out of action and temporarily deprived us of water.
	Alexander (puts in order his thick collection of fanzines in
5 languages):
	"Uri, co-author dear, let's take just a little more care of
our readers and run a Magic Kaleidoscope for them."
	Uri (starts digging in his heavy collection of badges):
	"O.K. Now we'll show them a few pieces from the most
precious treasure of Soccon - the unique communication between
the creators and admirers of fantastic art. It's just as if an
invisible camera accompanies their numerous meetings..."
	And so - a Kaleidoscope! The quick as a boy Sergey Kazantsev
cuts goat's cheese and dictates to 3 fans the new address of the
magazine "Uralski Sledopit" whose editor-in-chief he is. The
Bulgarian Lyubomir Nikolov (although in pajamas, he's a
prize-winner of "Eurocon'87") gives an interview to the giant
Sasha Kolomietz from Omsk. Getti... Geni... excuse me, Gedeminas
Beresnevichius from the Lithuanian club "Dorado" gives us a
present: the perestroika fanzine "Infosphera" in English, while
the writer Sergey Drugal from Sverdlowsk, once a general of
railway transport and now a magician with words, goes on about
the enormous market of Odessa "Privoz" in the company of
journalists from the Bulgarian FEP magazine. Do you feel the
fragrance of the musk-melons "Kolkhoznicka", do you see how
brightly the scarlet grape and nut cakes shine, how the
thousand-footed crowd seethes between the stalls? At the same
time the Romanian writer Alexandru Mironov presents his native
literature and Arkady Strugatsky speaks on the Ukrainian radio
and then sights over the pile of autographs he has to give,
without which they won't let him go...
	Attention, everybody: the Kaleidoscope goes on! Vladimir
Riabinsky from the Habarovsk club "LEF" (Lovers of erotic
science-fiction) makes tea for his new friends from the youngest
Bulgarian club: "George Lucas" in Svilengrad. Andrey Balabucha
talks about the future soviet medal "Alexander Beliaev", Rositza
Panayotova from Sofia smiles, with spread-out, freshly varnished
like mother-of-pearl nails, the delegates of Olomoutz (CSSR) sign
the surrealistic poster of Parcon '89... A badge, a smile, an
affectionately pronounced title or a hand-colored booklet can
work miracles, can open the hearts of fans and writers all over
the world.
	"Well, well, all over the world? Stop, stop!" Fanco, who has
peeped in our Kaleidoscope, scolds us. "Well, old boys, you'll
still have to trim your journalists' plumes quite a lot."
	The Soccon talisman put out his strawberry tongue and drew a
	paper-pellet out of his funnel-like ear.
	"Come on, why put on such faces? Do listen to the flood of
awards which will pour over your charming delegation..."
	And we, the representatives of the most numerous foreign
group, held our breaths.
	"Award for creative achievements - to the writer Lyubomir
Nikolov; award for contribution to the clubs' movement (fan # 1
of Bulgaria) - to Ivailo Runev; second award in the short-story
competition - to Atanas Slavov; 2-nd prize for fanzine - to
"Models'89", published by the Sofia club "Ivan Efremov"; 2-nd
prize for a badge - to the "XXI century" club from Plovdiv.
	"And I mustn't forget: A prize is also to be given to FEP
magazine, which was a sponsor of the congress. Well, will you buy
me a drink?"
	"But Fanco, you're amazing! From where did you get so much
preliminary information?"
	"Fanco is in all the juries!"
	"And what does he drink?"
	"Fanco drinks anything green if it doesn't spoil his slender
line: peppermint syrup, creme de menthe, chartreuse, fig-cognac,
beer in green bottles..." The talisman gave a wink, listened to
the ticking of his biological watch and suddenly grew dark. "Oh,
the closing ceremony starts in a minute! And I must provide
cakes, sign heaps of diplomas, arrange the presidium! I'm in a
hurry! I'm in a terrible hurry!"
	"Well, well" Uri tried to stop him. "When shall we have a
treat like real fans?"
	"Later, later!" Fanco squeezed our hands with feverish
haste. His three-fingered, green-skinned hand was as warm as a
human's. "If we don't happen to meet in the crowd, we'll make up
for it at Soccon'90. Bye!"
	There was no other way. So although we didn't burn with
desire, we went to the closing. What if there were some other
Bulgarian prizes which Fanco had forgotten to mention?