2007 will be the 25th anniversary of the death of Philip K Dick. We hope to commemorate this occasion by producing a memorial volume of short stories, poetry, reviews (book/film), animadversions, essays & artwork, especially in the style of his early contemporaries Finlay, Emsh, etc.). Also any previously unpublished material relating to the great man would be of special interest. This is a non-profit project and will be titled PKD: In Memoriam. The tentative closing date for submissions is October 31, 2006. If you wish to contribute send hard copy to The PKD Project, 134 Hollybank Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B13 0RL, England, UK.

June 11 marks the death of Tim Hildebrandt at the age of 67. He died from complications from diabetes. He was half of the fantastic artistic team, The Brothers Hildebrandt, who did the marvelous Tolkien calendars in the 1970s and the original poster for the first STAR WARS film. Most everyone reading this will have one or the other if not both. He will be missed by science fiction and fantasy fans as well as anyone who has enjoyed the art Tim created separately or with his brother Greg.

Jim Baen, publisher of the Baen Books line died after suffering a stroke. He was one of a kind in the publishing industry. I always considered Jim along with Don Wollheim of DAW Books and David Hartwell of Tor as the leaders in science fiction publishing. Now Hartwell is the last one around. Baen will be directed by Toni Weisskopf and it is in very capable hands under her leadership.

I guess that’s one of the things that comes with age that we don’t want to admit or even to see that we lose more and more friends everyday. A lot of them may only be those we know through their art or their words. It’s hard to admit sometimes that parts of our psyche and the way we live were formed by a picture or some words written on a page or sung in a song. If you can, let them know it. Or pass on a prayer or some comforting words if you can’t tell them in person. I don’t remember who said it first, but it makes a lot of sense. "Remember, a stranger is a friend you have not met yet."

It’s nice to see some of the new crop of musicians relying on lyrics to drive their songs rather than the loud noises that appear on the radio these days. Too much of what is being released is just noise. I imagine my parents felt the same way about some of the things I listened to in the 1960’s. James Blount and Michael Powter are two of the performers that interest me. Blount’s "Beautiful" is an interesting story song while Pouder’s "Bad Day" was a staple on American Idol this year. Taylor Hicks was good and I liked the way he put his own spin on his songs. I liked Katherine McPhee best because she has more of a classic voice and her version of "Over the Rainbow" has to be one of the best ever.

Hope everyone has a good summer see you this Fall.

Barry