Original program book created by Stanley C. Skirvin

hat follows is a page-by-page list of the contents of the Cinvention program book, with a link to each page (or page pair) described. (Once you've accessed any page, the rest are accessible through a menu at the bottom of each page.) At least 90% is given over to ads, of the following types:

• {AD: size} indicates a (professional or amateur) commercial ad;
  
• {BID: ...) indicates an ad in support of a world- (or other) con bid;
  
• {SUPPORT: ...} indicates a personal or club ad which may (but does not necessarily) express solidarity with the worldcon; and
  
• {SUBSIDY} indicates a typewritten fill-up-the-book ad placed by a CFG member or known fellow traveler.

The CFG's Web Geek wishes to thank Stan Skirvin, Margaret (Ford) Kiefer, Roger & Pat Sims, and Bill Bowers for their assistance in sorting out the "who's who" of the non-commercial ads.

ow this program book came to be part of the CFG's online Cinvention record is something of a wonder in itself. During the 1997 Octocon, another CFG member told the Web Geek that he'd spotted the booklet in a local used book store. Wasting no time, the Web Geek scurried over the following Monday and snatched it up for a comparative pittance. Quickly digitized, it then languished for some time while the Web Geek dealt with other, more pressing matters. When he found time to return to it shortly after New Year's, though, he ran into a serious problem: how to categorize (and contextualize) the contents. The commercial (whether amateur or professional) and convention bid ads were easy to define. But the rest...? Some had graphics, some contained hand-lettering, some were merely typewritten names: what was going on here? The Web Geek found himself in well over his head, and with only limited help from the latter named in the acknowledgement above. Then, on a Saturday afternoon in late February 1998, when it was his turn that evening to host the CFG's (more or less) biweekly meeting, the phone rang: "Hello, is this [Web Geek]? My name is Stan Skirvin..." Long since relocated to Arizona, Stan had come back to Cincinnati to attend a funeral. While here, he had called old friends in the CFG who informed him of the meeting...and the rest, as they say, is history. Fan history. Explicated. Thanks, Drew...

URL: http://www.cfg.org/history/cinvention/pb/index.htm All material © Cincinnati Fantasy Group, unless otherwise credited.   Last updated: Monday, August 25, 2008     Created for the CFG by Scott Street (scottst@ix.netcom.com).       Maintained by the author. Comments, questions & broken link reports: (webgeek@cfg.org).