It was not a dark and stormy night, it was not even raining and it is never dark in downtown Sydney. I was at the university of Technology on 15 Jun 2001 where, my contacts had informed me, the meeting was to take place.

Presently the room began to fill with people I recognised as members of that elite group of individuals known around town as the Sydney Futurians. They were rumoured to be involved in the reading and discussion of Science Fiction. I inconspicuously took my place amongst them, this time their activities would not go unobserved.

The meeting began innocently with the discussion of science in the news, obviously a ruse designed to throw any infiltrators off the scent. I expected such devices and waited patiently to find the real reason for the meeting.

Of many newsworthy scientific discoveries mentioned I remember only one. The agent known as IW revealed the discovery of a method of lie detection by measurement of the short delay in brain activity, which precedes an intentional lie. Although they knew the principles of the new lie detector it would do them no good as the measured delay cannot be masked or prevented, their own brains would betray them.

The real reason for the meeting soon became clear as the ‘science’ sham was dropped and the topic changed to consideration of "first person narrative in SF. Having missed the previous meeting, I did not expect this and hoped that my lack of preparation would not give the game away.

SF (and other fiction) written from the first person viewpoint was discussed before the meeting moved on to an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the style.

Some advantages were that first person was more intimate and gave greater authority than did other styles of fiction. A disadvantage mentioned was that some writing authorities state that the personal pronoun should be avoided at all times. This brought to mind the rule that in official reports and formal letters, "I" should be replaced by "the author".

Another disadvantage of first person style is that the reader "knows" that at least the teller of the tale survived to tell the tale. That is unless it is revealed, usually right at the end of the story, that we are reading a journal left by the last survivor before he too is perishes.

An example of the style was given by the reading of a short story by Edwina Harvey along with consideration of how the story might have been written in other styles including Noir, Fantasy, Eldritch Horror, Space Opera and even Pornography. It was generally decided that first person was the best style for that particular story.

My further careful investigation uncovered the information that the next two meetings would cover the topics of "Something from nothing" on 20 Jul 2001 and "Treason and Treachery in SF" on 17 Aug 2001.

Signed and transmitted on 28 Jun by

John FOX